Over the past few months, Michael. Clayton also completed its own final cut version of the release, and sent it to the MPAA for grading, compared with the version that was shown to critics at the beginning and sent to Venice for the film festival, this version is not too changed, only slightly adjusted in the soundtrack, and added a few explanatory shots, so as to take care of some audiences with weak professional backgrounds and let them understand the entanglement of interests in the story. The whole film is 120 minutes long, and it adheres to a neat and cold style from the beginning to the end, without making more adjustments for commercial release.

Two hours is a flash for attentive audiences, and boring for those who can't get into the play. When the doors of the theater were pushed open again, people walked out of the screening room, talking about the plot in twos and threes -- and rightfully so, as in every movie, "Michael. The feedback from Clayton is certainly varied, and even somewhat polarized. For some older audiences who love literary films, this movie touches the soul and brings a very deep and very touching touch, and for those who are younger, raised by commercial films, and whose life experience is not enough to understand the theme of this film, "Michael. Clayton can only be described as a boring action movie, and if it weren't for the sometimes thrilling scenes, they might have quit halfway.

"What do you think?" Jon asked Harry beside him, "Does it make you feel like it's not worth it to get up early on a Saturday to watch this film?" ”

Now that she's in graduate school in the Bay Area, it's only natural that she's reconnected with Harry, who had been interning in the Bay Area since college, and has now been working in Silicon Valley for a year. Engaged in the IT industry, he easily wrote a ticket-grabbing mini-program and grabbed tickets for the two of them. On Saturday morning, at 10 a.m., I met Jon at the cinema to see Jennifer Brown, two good friends. Jefferson starred in the movie.

"It's not like J.J.'s previous films......" Harry frowned, picking the words, "Simple?" I don't know, you're not going to be happy watching it — it's not going to be as cool or cool as drinking a big can of Coke...... But I understand why Venice gives the prize, do you know what I mean? ”

"I understand." Jon nodded sympathetically, "It's like Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies, it's not meant to make you happy, but you're inspired to think about it, and that feeling will last longer than the rest of Jennifer's, at least I think." ”

She and Harry are both well-educated, unlike those public school children, many of the courses are perfunctory, although there is no literature and art to the point of reading a wide range of books, to the point of developing in the direction of philosophy and profoundness, but at least the extracurricular reading materials required by the curriculum are carefully read. Although they didn't have much feeling at the time, after gradually entering the society and becoming familiar with the society, a classic movie was enough to evoke their accumulation of the year, let them discuss these more profound topics, and be aroused to re-engage with similar cultures.

"yes, it's like the Glass Menagerie we watched on Broadway." Harry also came to talk, "Is it pleasant?" This may be true on the artistic level, but not in the direct experience, but you will remember the stunned feeling after watching it for a longer time, and maybe you will come up with the name a few years later and re-immerse yourself in this feeling. ”

After "Chicago", Harry, who once liked Jennifer warmly, and then gradually faded out for various reasons, talked about his former idol with great interest again, but this time, the topic changed from herself to her work, "I really like Arthur's message at the beginning, Arthur's lines are very powerful, in fact, the theme is obvious from the beginning, I can't help but say, Jennifer's performance is also amazing, you can't even believe that "Pirates of the Caribbean" and this film will be played by an actor!" ”

"Yes, yes," Jon repeatedly, "I feel the same way, and it's hard to even decide whether I want her to do more Pirates or more of this genre......"

In Los Angeles, a six-hour drive from San Francisco, Charles finished his viewing and was walking to pick up his bike, but his pace was slower than usual — and as he walked, he was still thinking about how the film made him feel.

As a geek and cult lover, Charles began to like Jennifer from "The Fifth Sally", and he was also pleasantly surprised by the beating of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2". Clayton", also because in the promotion and film reviews in Venice, Jennifer's acting breakthrough this time was mentioned, and the role of playing a deep and desperate role, for him who fanatically likes 'Sally', "Michael. Clayton" will buy the murderous Karen (he was inevitably spoiled from the trailer), which is undoubtedly very much to Charles's appetite, plus he is a fanatical 'first time to watch the party', so he has been picked up at the preview screening, Venice, etc. After buying the screening tickets, he was almost restless looking forward to the day, and he came to line up at 7 o'clock for the 10 o'clock show in the morning (but he didn't even get to the first place, some of Jennifer's fans are crazy), and this movie failed to meet Charles's expectations in advance, in fact, it and Charles's expectations can even be said to be very different......

Cult lovers like to watch exciting shots, novel lens language, violent aesthetics, twisted reversal plots, or brain-burning details patchwork, they don't pursue or value the connotation and intention of the movie at all, it can be said that they are just an alternative commercial film audience, Charles's literary film reading experience is very narrow, he has no interest in almost all popular literary and artistic masterpieces, for him, those gentle, shot-length movies, it is simply a waste of his time.

At the same time, unfortunately, Charles is not stupid, he can be said to be a rather intelligent viewer, very good at understanding the intentions of the director and actors, so, although "Michael. There are a lot of "Spy"-style reliable details in Clayton, but he started with "Michael. What I see in Clayton is not a suspenseful story, but a sad, helpless, desperate and depressed sigh, he has already entered the society, how can he really have no feelings about the theme of the movie itself: the alienation of human nature by the system, and the final struggle of human nature?

"It's such a depressing movie, it's a happy ending, but even a happy ending is unpleasant," he muttered a silent grumble, rolled over and got on his bike, pedaling slowly, aimlessly browsing the familiar scenery, as if these windows were strange again, "I really don't like this kind of movie, it makes you re-examine your life, you have to tell yourself once again that you have to make a change, you can never give up...... It doesn't matter if it's a vulgar inspirational film, that kind of cheap warmth can only deceive fools, but because it's not ......"

Unlike after watching his beloved cult film, Charles didn't have much excitement, but was in a trance, as if he couldn't get out of the plot for a while, he shook his head while riding the car, and sighed silently, "Although I don't want to admit it, compared with "The Fifth Sally", "Michael. The connotation of "Clayton" is indeed much deeper, and there is a reason why the old Oscar group of stubborn people don't like "The Fifth Sally". Clayton really cares, and Sally the Fifth just wants to tell a cool story......"

He made a note of to-do items in his mind: when he goes back, go to Flix to see if there are any similar movie recommendations. Clayton changed his view, and perhaps, these traditional classics are not without value.

"It's just a boring movie." On the streets of New York, Paula is complaining to her new boyfriend about the two hours she had wasted, "Jennifer is so ugly in there, she looks so old - oh my God, is this who she really is?" It's horrible, I've never been so restless in the cinema. ”

Her new boyfriend happens to be a movie lover, and he's Daniel. Dai Lewis's fans, who want to see the screening in the fastest time, are not much lower than Jennifer's fans, so they got movie tickets very early, and watched them with his girlfriend who claims to like Jennifer quite a lot, and his girlfriend's opinions are a little inconsistent, "It's a good movie, no wonder the critics unanimously praised it, there are highlights in all aspects, and compared with the "Spy Movie" series, maybe there is a little less suspense, but it has more depth." ”

Glared at by Paula, he raised his hand, smiled and surrendered and stopped talking about "Spy" - Paula didn't like the movie either, "Let's talk about lunch, what are we going to eat?" ”

"Well, it's no wonder that the critics' rating has remained around 95% until now, and this film is indeed a good movie that is well balanced in all aspects." Independent blogger film critic Joel paced out of the Seattle screening room with his hands in his pockets, "Venice is still a visionary, this film is more peaceful than 'I'm Not There', and the actors' performances are more bright, which is still worthy of recognition." Whether it is from the director's technique, the actor's performance or the concept, there are no obvious flaws, on the contrary, there are very bright spots. Especially Jennifer. Jefferson, she finally proved herself, in "The Fifth Sally", her performance actually still has occasional traces of youth, especially the connection between several personalities, which is overly dramatic, but her Karen is completely natural, considering the contrast between her and Karen, this reflects a deep skill. It's a pity, if this movie is moved to 05, then she will be much less controversial after taking the movie. Her performance in this film should also be recognized by awards, and this year, it is estimated that she can only run with her. ”

Jennifer must have taken this into account, did she really give up public relations because she couldn't get the actress?" His thoughts began to turn to industry trends, "It's a pity, this is really a very good quality film, Jennifer should come forward to promote, how can she be the starring and main producer, at the beginning of the credits, her name is even in front of Sidney, if "Michael. If Clayton can win the best picture, it will also be of great benefit to her, but according to the current publicity trend, maybe even Ottie won't be able to win it......"

Because of his love of movies and industry gossip, Joel has always prided himself on being calm and objective, and has no preference for actors, but calmly analyzes the prospects for this year's Oscars from all sides: It's December soon, and all Olympic films have begun to promote themselves. Clayton, on the other hand, has been extremely quiet, barely participating in any promotional activities, and seems to disdain not even a single Oscar nomination. And the situation of this year and the 06 Oscars is completely different, this year is a good film year, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age", "La Vie en Rose", "Blood is Coming", "I'm Not There", "No Country for Old Men", "The Battle of Elira Valley" are all extremely competitive, and they are all very ambitious, except for "Blood is Coming" still can't invite Daniel, the rest of the leading actors are busy promoting themselves and the film, "Michael. If Clayton hadn't won two awards in Venice, it might have been a complete outburst of even Otti. Even if Venice won the award, because "Blood is Coming" may not want Daniel to have two leading actor nominations, scatter the votes, Jennifer has just won two Oscars, and "Michael. Clayton is not the best film in Venice - in short, under the influence of these unfavorable factors, the crew has not moved, it can only be said that it has a special mentality, which is really incomprehensible to its peers anyway.

"However, the critics have a very high rating." After returning home, Joel opened the film review summary website and flipped through the book "Michael. Clayton's new film review, "It's all rave reviews, and it looks like at this year's Outpost Awards, "Michael. Clayton is going to be in the limelight - but I don't know if Jennifer will return to the awards ceremony, she has almost completely disappeared from people's eyes in the past few months, and she is simply the most low-key Venice actress in history......"

#

Although the screening can be said to be a special situation, however, at 10 o'clock on Saturday morning, the garbage session, close to 100% attendance still made Warners feel very excited, they began to increase the number of theaters in the first round of screenings, and the major theaters also swept away their previous cautious attitude, happy to give their best theaters to "Michael. Clayton", agreed to divide according to more favorable terms for the film, and box office forecasting agencies have also begun to raise their forecasts for the first-day box office and individual theaters. The scale of the release of "Clayton" is still not too large, more than 2,000 theaters have been painted, and the scale of 4,000 theaters at the same time for box office blockbusters such as "Pirates of the Caribbean" is incomparable, after all, its subject matter is relatively niche, and there must still be a limit in terms of total box office. The distributor's strategy is to spread out the city as much as possible, even if there are not many theaters in the city, because most of the people who will like the film are adult audiences, who are less bound by geographical factors, and if they are interested, they can drive directly to see it, and they can afford the cost of it.

The results of the audience survey after the screening also made people feel very optimistic: more than 70% of the audience admitted that this was their first time participating in the premiere of a literary film, more than 60% of the audience admitted that they had rarely watched serious films with similar themes before, and only more than 20% of the audience thought that the plot of the film was dull and drowsy, about 80% of the audience said that it was a good movie, and some viewers wrote in the final message column: thought-provoking, not sensational, but tearful, very moving and other comments. Michael. The name of "Clayton" quickly appeared in the associated searches of some film and television websites, and entered the user preference list - a new concept developed since '05, and it is also the director of Big Dreams, Jim. Davidson places a lot of emphasis and attention on a statistic.

To outsiders, of course, it's Jim. Davidson's idea, but for insiders, it doesn't need to be hidden too much. Jenny took off her motion capture suit while protecting her Bluetooth headset so that she could hear Cesare's voice more clearly, "Judging by Flix's preference search, Michael. Clayton" and "The Shawshank Redemption" have entered the list of associations (see note), which shows that the audience has recognized the quality of the film after the screening, which is very good news for the box office and subsequent DVD sales, and the price of the first round of broadcast rights. ”

For art films, follow-up copyright is a very important profit-making project, and "The Fifth Sally" is still making cash for the company by selling TV broadcast rights, not to mention DVD sales, which is also a long-term and stable river of cash. If it weren't for its own box office wonderful, the number earned from the box office would have been surpassed by the follow-up copyright, so, FLIX06 began to focus on DVD rental and algorithm recommendation, it has become a new source of data that major companies are very concerned about - in the past two years, network marketing is the most popular concept, and of course this period also includes the water army, however, IMDB can try to brush, Rotten Tomatoes can be brushed, Internet forums can be marketed, but flix data, because it is linked to credit cards and real addresses, But there's no way to brush it out. That's why Cesare attaches great importance to the big data that FLIX can provide, which he believes is much more reliable than empirical box office predictions.

"Good news." The corners of Jenny's mouth couldn't stop rising - nothing was happier than getting recognition for a project you didn't expect to make money, "It's a lot better than we estimated, and when "Twilight" and "Marley and I" are finished, we'll probably have more money to do." ”

"Twilight" is basically the original team, co-developed with the summit, while Big Dream has the advantage of being responsible for global distribution, "Marley and I" is the sole proprietorship of Big Dream, and the cast is also maintained as it is, both dramas have entered the middle of filming, and the production department of Big Dream is responsible for following up, after the first round of running-in, the new department leadership ability has also been affirmed by the management, both crews are well organized, and various docking operations are also very standardized, and Cesare is no longer needed to follow up and follow.

"The original budget should be enough." Cesare said, "Is Chris with you?" His phone won't get through. ”

Jenny put on a T-shirt, straightened her hair, and walked out of the locker room, saying goodbye to her colleagues with her eyes, "He's in the hotel, maybe he didn't hear the bell, do you have something to do with him?" ”

"He's going to need to go back to Los Angeles for a medical checkup, which has to do with his staff insurance, so we're going to have to revise our itinerary, and I'm starting to worry about the situation in the Middle East, maybe he shouldn't go back to make a make-up," Cesare said, "and Chris will be working on 'Bomb Disposal Unit' in a few days, "and asked him to call me." ”

"No problem." Jenny hung up the phone and put on a smile and Anthony. Ryan waved goodbye until she got into her car, she closed her eyes and exhaled heavily, "Oh, God! Seven days to go, we can hold on, seven days to go! ”

Mary looked at her sympathetically, "James lost his temper again, didn't he?" ”

Jenny grimaced and silently answered Mary's question: Yes, James lost his temper again, with the expected production time of post-production special effects repeatedly extended, the budget has also increased again and again, and seeing that "Avatar" is going to jump again, of course, his temper is getting worse and worse, which is why Jenny never dared to ask for leave to return to Los Angeles after Venice, compared to Otti, who was destined not to win the award, she valued her and Cameron's goodwill more, this friendship is an iron friendship after a long time, and in the long run, This, of course, is more important to her.

Working in an atmosphere where the whole crew is trembling, of course, is not a pleasant thing, but what makes people happy is that half a month ago, Chris flew to New Zealand after finishing his work in Los Angeles, which gave Jenny great comfort - not only physically, but at least emotionally gave her a lot of support, and it was much easier to spit out with her boyfriend and have dinner together after work, which was much easier than being locked in a room and eating salad, and this kind of face-to-face communication could not be replaced by the phone after all.

"Hey, I'm back." Jenny swiped her card, waved goodbye to Mary, and then walked over to the terrace and kissed her boyfriend on the forehead, "Looks like you're having a pretty good day, hon." ”

While sunbathing and leisurely flipping through a novel, Chris gave her a lazy smile and said in a low voice, "Hey—it's pretty good, I just took a nap, how are you today?" ”

"It's the same as before, every moment is praying that the next shot will be finished." Jenny grimaced, "You didn't get a call from Chesa, it seems to be related to the medical exam, and there is a make-up - what do you want to eat tonight?" ”

"Call room service." Chris got up and looked for his phone, "Hey, Chesa, sorry I didn't hear ......"

After ordering a brief dinner through room service, Jenny briefly freshened up and cleaned up, and when she returned to the living room, Chris had already finished the call, and she casually asked, "What is the make-up and what does it have to do with the Middle East?" ”

"Oh, it's Bomb Disposal Unit, and they need to rework for a few days." Chris shrugged, "Because of the recent escalation of the crisis in the Middle East, the terms of the staff insurance have to be changed, in short, it's all a SAG cliché, and I have to go back to Los Angeles tomorrow." ”

"Oh." Jenny was a little frustrated - Chris's gap was only about a month, and now when she goes back, the possibility of coming back is very slim, and she will go directly to London after New Zealand, and Chris will stay in Hollywood to promote his film, and the two will meet again, probably in a few months.

Although she was indeed a little reluctant, and it was normal for the woman to complain a few words between the couple who had been reunited for a long time but were about to separate, Jenny hesitated for a moment, swallowed her dissatisfaction, and said casually, "Then let's wait for the agreed call time - let Jack and Mary worry about it, I don't want to calculate the crazy time difference now." ”

Chris gave Jenny a deep look, pursed his lips, and didn't speak, while Jenny made a puzzled expression, "What's wrong?" ”

"Room service." At this moment, there was a soft knock at the door, and a muffled voice said politely. Jenny hurriedly shouted, 'Coming,' and stepped forward to open the door. - Soon, she and Chris were seated at the table by the floor-to-ceiling window, with a simple and healthy dinner in front of them: the salad forever.

"What did you just want to say?" She picked up a knife and fork and forked a shrimp, "Are you so busy that you don't even have time to call?" Or do you not want to go to the Middle East to make up the film? That does sound dangerous. ”

Chris shook his head, picked up the cutlery as well, and thoughtfully cut off a slice of lettuce.

"It's been three months." His attitude was unusually cautious and polite, even a hint of rustiness, Jenny raised an eyebrow in surprise, while Chris further politely said, "Jenny, it's been three months since we talked in Venice. ”

"Ah......" Jenny didn't know what to say.

"Three months is a lot of time to think about a lot of things," Chris took a sip of water, but didn't take his eyes off Jenny's face, like a predatory beast, unwilling to miss the slightest movement of his prey. - He was upset, the signal was quite obvious, "I wanted to give you a few more days, but...... Anyway, at this moment, Jenny, I want to hear your answer. ”

The author has something to say: Updated~~~ Everyone has been waiting for a long time, happy Valentine's Day! How do you celebrate the holidays, everyone?