When the original film was filmed, the U.S. military intended to provide personnel, vehicles, and clothing for the film, but the producer was unwilling to remove the content of Area 51 from the script, and the military immediately withdrew from filming.

"Lieutenant Colonel, the place where the script ends ......"

Closing the script handed over by Lieutenant Colonel Lunhuo directly, Wang Jie stood up and said in a highly reinforced tone: "The one who destroys the alien spacecraft weapon must be a civilian, not the president or the military!"

"Why?"

After all, the two have worked together once, and the Pentagon representative is waiting for Wang Jie to explain.

What is the biggest reason? Of course, because the audience likes to see the little people save the world, because the mainstream American culture still has a distinct anti-intellectual and anti-elite character, because the movie can cater to the mainstream audience's mentality and make them pay for tickets.

The little people save the world, and there are always stupid pigs at the top, which can be said to be the view that Hollywood movies are trying to promote, but Hollywood movies do this, not because they agree with anti-intellectual and anti-elite, but because it allows the audience to pay out of their pockets and obtain commercial profits.

The most typical is that in all Hollywood youth school films, more than 95% of the football team quarterbacks are villains, and the film always portrays them as simple-minded and well-limbed idiots, in fact?

The quarterback is the core of a football team, usually the leader of the team, not only directing the offense on the court, but also changing the coach's strategy on the spot.

So, in the anti-intellectual and anti-elite culture, they are like senators in Congress and successive owners of the White House, and they are the most often ridiculed objects in movies.

When it is impossible to raise those simple-minded North American audiences to the height of agreeing with their own views, as a commercial film director, it is necessary to take the initiative to lower his profile and cater to the tastes of mainstream audiences.

Wang Jie himself understands these truths, but he cannot use them as reasons to persuade the Pentagon.

So, he started to talk nonsense again, "Lieutenant Colonel, the United States is a democratic country, everyone is an important part of this free country, when the country is in trouble, the people will inevitably fight to save it, in the script, our army, the Pentagon and the president, there are too many places to show bravery, and finally civilians fly planes into alien spaceships, which can just show that once it is a moment of crisis, the people and the federal government will stand together and unite together!"

"There's some truth to what you're saying. ”

As the former Soviet commissar, he still played a little role, and Lieutenant Colonel Lenho turned to another sensitive point, "Mr. William, the Pentagon is very satisfied with the tone of the film and the fighting spirit of the army promoted. ”

Definitely satisfied, if the Pentagon is still picking on the tone of such a big Americanism main theme film, it is purely a collective rust of the head.

Just when Wang Jie was so slanderous, Lieutenant Colonel Lunhuo continued: "But the Pentagon wants you to remove all the content of Area 51. ”

"Lieutenant Colonel, it's just a boo to attract the audience. Wang Jie spread his hands and said, "We don't mean to promote conspiracy theories, we just want to attract more audiences." ”

"That's not what I meant, Mr. William. Lieutenant Colonel Lenho got up from his seat and walked back and forth, "My boss is a little sensitive to this. ”

Sensitive? Wang Jie was stunned, and said in his heart that there would really be a 51 district, right?

"The Roswell incident and Area 51 have been circulating for so many years, and the public knows it's fake. ”

Truth or falsehood doesn't matter to Wang Jie at all, he doesn't care about this, "If we had mastered alien technology, wouldn't we have dominated the world a long time ago?" This is just the publicity and hype of the film to attract more audiences into the theater. ”

Lieutenant Colonel Lunhuo stopped, didn't say anything, and looked pensive.

"In my opinion, having more audiences in theaters definitely does more good to the Pentagon than it does to us. ”

In order to persuade the Pentagon to save tens of millions of dollars in weapons and equipment leasing fees, so that more money can be invested in special effects production, Wang Jie actually doesn't care about spending more money, saving is better, he mainly hopes that the military intervention will bring convenience to the filming process, Wang Jie really racked his brains in order to reduce the obstacles in the filming process, "Lieutenant Colonel, as far as I know, since the Iraq War, the army's enlistment rate has been declining, and it has even reached a historical low in the past two years. can be a recruitment commercial, but in fact it is not. ”

After a slight pause, when Lieutenant Colonel Lunhuo turned his head to look at it, Wang Jie changed to a more sonorous and powerful tone, "You have read the script of 'Independence Day,' Lieutenant Colonel! This will be the best recruitment advertising film, do you still remember the enlistment effect brought about by the release of "Top Gun"? An excellent film promoting the army is far ten or even a hundred times more efficient than the Ministry of Defense putting recruitment advertisements in major media!"

"Top Gun" in the 80s brought a super conscription effect, and after the release of this film, which was nicknamed the "F-14 Super Long MV", the ensuing teenagers flocked to watch it, and the box office soared, which also ushered in the highest enlistment rate in the US Navy after World War II.

Since "Top Gun," Hollywood hasn't made a high-impact recruitment propaganda film for many years, and "Independence Day" has a distinct character as a recruitment advertisement.

Wang Jie himself doesn't care about this, he and the Pentagon are simply interested in the cooperative relationship, since he stands in Hollywood, he must consider the problem from the current standpoint, how to do it will be most beneficial to himself?

In the not-too-distant future, from the pyramids of Cairo to the skyscrapers of Chicago, from the ruined Los Angeles to the vast Pacific Ocean, from the highways on the streets of Paris to the sandy military bases in the Middle East, the world has experienced waves of alien invasions on Hollywood screens on an unprecedented scale.

When the common home of the earth is in danger, there will always be a group of "heroes" who will come forward and fight into the battlefield with flesh and blood, save the edifice from falling, and finally thwart the conspiracy of the alien thugs, defend the earth, save the people of the world, and return to the barracks with flowers and applause after the completion of the work, hiding their merits and fame.

The "heroic feats" of these American GIs on the screen have made the global audience "awe-inspiring", the hot-blooded boys "fascinated", and also made these films unconsciously become recruitment advertisements for the US military.

In fact, it is no longer news that the US military set up a stage and Hollywood sang operas, as early as the birth of movies nearly a hundred years ago, the two sides had a close relationship, but the reason why the military cooperated with the crew at that time was for teaching purposes - the film can be used as a military school textbook.

It is precisely because of this that the U.S. military during World War II was able to directly participate in the production and promotion of conscription films, and directors such as Frank Capra have made high-level conscription films, but it is as short-lived as the "Green Beret" filmed by John Wayne, a hawkish movie star who advocated the Vietnam War, in the 60s to praise the virtues of the U.S. military.

In today's sense, "conscription films" refer to a number of high-investment commercial films that focus on shaping a positive image of the U.S. military after the film reflecting on the Vietnam War died down, starting with the popular "Top Gun" in the 80s.

However, now and in the future, with the renovation of film narrative techniques and visual language, the image of American GIs on the screen is getting taller and more majestic, and the comprehensive strength of the US military has been more and more vividly displayed.

At the same time, experienced screenwriters know how to weave advertising elements into the plot without leaving a trace, so as to greatly reduce the sensitivity of the audience, and today's "Independence Day" is like the future "Transformers", which fully possesses these qualities, and when the film is completed according to Duke's vision, you will find that the advertising intention is far less explicit than "Top Gun" back then.

From a business point of view, the crew's partnership with the Pentagon was a win-win deal that only a fool would refuse.

Since the smoke of the Vietnam War dissipated and the United States changed from a compulsory military system to a volunteer military system, the number of people joining the military has been decreasing year by year. The military spends a lot of money every year to shoot recruitment advertisements, but no matter how good the advertisements are, they are not as incendiary as well-made commercial blockbusters, and the film has a huge advantage over advertising, and its public relations and propaganda components are covered up and dissolved into a complete story, so that the audience can subtly revel in the sensory bombardment and psychological adventure of suffering with the characters, and at the same time avoid the natural resistance to advertising.

From Wang Jie's point of view, the "main theme" war sci-fi action blockbuster he produced has commercial characteristics such as a wise and brave protagonist, a passionate plot, and magnificent battle scenes, and the positive appeal generated is exactly what is needed for recruitment advertising.

Of course, Wang Jie himself does not have a mentally handicapped halo, even if he is incarnated as the political commissar of the former Soviet Union, he has said such a big talk, Lieutenant Colonel Lunhuo has not given any promises, and he himself does not have this power, but only guarantees that the original version of Wang Jie's meaning will be transmitted back to the Pentagon, and he will also appropriately help the crew to fight for sponsorship.

"Who says the Pentagon is all idiots and idiots?

After sending Lieutenant Colonel Lunhuo away, Wang Jie also complained a little that if the Pentagon was really as naïve as the movie or the Internet in his previous life, he wouldn't have to bother with such words, maybe he wouldn't have had the opportunity to bother with these words at all. There was no way, Wang Jie had no choice but to make another phone call to Bush Sr., greeted each other, and exchanged pleasantries.

In the days that followed, Wang Jie re-reviewed the thick stack of artwork drawn by the art team and the special effects team, and the alien appearance and spaceship were finalized, and the drawings were transferred to the industrial light and magic special effects department, and the model production by Stan Winston began.

In the past week, Duke has mainly focused on the model, in addition to the alien model, but also to determine the model of the city and North American landmarks, all the explosion scenes will only be shot in real time, and the film needs computer CG synthesis of the footage, also entered the advanced production stage, a computer special effects department of Industrial Light & Magic, like the model special effects team, is also stationed in the Burbank crew, constantly communicating with Wang Jie.

In addition, the actor audition has also entered the second round, and Wang Jie has to be distracted by the choice of the main actors.