The day after the Oscars, Sony Pictures held a press conference in Los Angeles for the film "The New Spider-Man 2". Although the news was given a cold reception by the media when the news was released some time ago, reporters from thousands of newspapers and media gathered at the press conference.

In recent years, the special surname with high investment, high return, and high attention has made comic action films the most marketable genre in Hollywood. It's no surprise that the New Spider-Man series, as one of the best of them, has received so much attention. Even "Superman Returns", which is not good at the box office, or "Fantastic Four", which has a mediocre reputation, can be recognized in other ways without falling to the bottom like "Batman and Robin" ten years ago.

Judging from the feedback from the market, the audience's enthusiasm for comic book action movies is unprecedented, the first episode of "Spider-Man" swept away $750 million worldwide, and after the makeover of "The New Spider-Man", the total box office easily exceeded the $1 billion mark, even the most cautious investors will not let go of such a good opportunity to grab money, and the appearance of "New Spider-Man 2" is already expected.

The suspense left by "The New Spider-Man" at the end of the credits has created enough momentum for the launch of the sequel, and on this basis, Sony Pictures also added fuel to the fire by throwing out several blockbuster figures: an investment of $280 million, which is a full 30 million more than the previous episode, and the top salary paid to Lin Mingyang of $30 million equaled Arnold Schwarzenegger's record for the highest salary in "Terminator 3"... But at the press conference, the reporters on the scene were initially concerned about whether "The New Spider-Man 2" would become the ultimate film in the series.

Facing the question "Will there be a fourth episode of the Spider-Man series?" "Will you continue to direct a few Spider-Man movies", Lin Mingyang really admires Sam Raimi's calmness in the face of current reporters' questions, because his ambiguous evasive answers make "The New Spider-Man 3" seem to be a real possibility.

Regarding this issue, Lin Mingyang and Sam Raimi have not communicated in private, maybe Sam Raimi is still unsatisfied with the Spider-Man movie, but Lin Mingyang firmly holds the idea of saying goodbye in his heart, if nothing else, "The New Spider-Man 2" will be his last "Spider-Man" movie.

However, in front of the media, Lin Mingyang did not show this tendency, but Jessica Alba, who was also sitting at the scene, made it clear that she would not continue to play Spider-Man's girlfriend.

When the media asked the reason, Alba covered his mouth and explained while laughing: "In this film, I and Spider-Man are married and have children, should I have another one with him?" ”

Alba's rare humor fully mobilized the atmosphere of the scene, looking at the many raised arms in the audience, Alba did not give them a chance to ask questions, she immediately added:

"Of course it was just a joke, but it was Felix who convinced me to continue as the lead actress in the film, and he promised to give me more room to perform in the script, so I came... As a screenwriter, Felix has done his best, I've always thought he's a very good screenwriter, and he just won an Oscar last night... But Felix can't change the theme of the whole movie, Spider-Man is the eternal protagonist, as for the other characters, another person may bring more novelty to the film. ”

Alba wore a printed gauze dress today, with charming and simple black silk legs, while Jessica Bell, another heroine in the film, wore a nude low-cut and tall long dress, which looked dignified and elegant.

Alba was reluctant to say much about other aspects of the film, and the reporters naturally turned their attention to the equally high-profile Jessica Bell.

"Can you tell us about your role in the film?"

"Well, actually, it wasn't Mary who went to the audition at the beginning, but Spider-Man's official girlfriend Arsene Wenger, but Alba was ahead of me during the audition." For the first time in three years, Bell spoke publicly about the past in front of the media.

"Alba got the role, and of course I thought she was the best fit for the role, but I was disappointed. After the audition, I think the director has gotten everything he wants in this film. The other auditioners were gone, Sam and Felix were discussing the plot at the front desk, and I stumbled over there and overheard the conversation between them. At that time, the main role had been decided, and Sam could only say that he was sorry, but Felix asked me if I wanted to play the role of Mary, and I agreed without much thought. ”

"In the last episode, Mary was just a small character, but they made me do a lot for this character and make her very dramatic. I didn't know what they were trying to do at first, but after reading the script for this episode, I found out that Mary's character has a lot of performance in the sequel, and I was very happy about it. ”

"In The New Spider-Man, your character had an affair with Spider-Man, will your relationship go further in this episode?"

"There is new progress, but it is definitely not what you think!" Bell appeared cautious in answering this question, but she still accidentally fell into a trap designed by the reporter.

The other party then asked: "Then will you take Alba's place in the film?" ”

This guy's ultimate goal is to "provoke" the relationship between Bell and Alba, and when Bell was embarrassed about how to answer, Alba took the initiative to stand up for her.

She smiled and said, "Of course not, but Bale's character has more roles in this film than mine, which is the need of the plot." ”

Bell was grateful, but joked, "But you have Spider-Man, or else we will change it?" ”

"Don't want it!" Alba shook her head resolutely.

Seeing the tacit cooperation between the two women, the reporters felt that it was very difficult to make a breakthrough from them, so they took the opportunity to lead the topic to Lin Mingyang, who had been very "silent" at this press conference.

"Felix, which of Alba or Bell's roles is more important in your opinion?"

"The story mainly revolves around the lives of Spider-Man and Alba, but the appearance of Bale changed the lives of the two, there is only so much I can say about the plot, as for which of the two roles is more important, I think the audience will have their own judgment after watching the film." Lin Mingyang's explanation is very simple, in order to block the reporter's wild speculation, he also added: "The plot of the film will definitely not fall into that kind of cliché love triangle, in general this will be a movie about family, affection and responsibility." ”

The topic was initiated by director Sam Raimi, and finally the microphone returned to his hand, and in the face of the reporter's doubts about the style orientation of the sequel, he explained with a smile: "Felix also said just now that this film will be more warm in the plot, but I don't deny my love for the cult movie style, and you can still see the embodiment of this style in the action scenes of this film." ”

In 1980, at the age of 21, Sam Raimi made his debut film "Evil Dead" for a budget of less than $350,000, a horror film about a wild adventure and a zombie attack, without a wonderful storyline, but through extreme audiovisual language to create a fierce and bloody world.

Released in early 1983, the film won the approval of die-hard horror fans and young audiences, and was re-released no less than ten times in the United States alone, and became an icon of cult film culture in the '80s.

Now, 25 years later, Sam Raimi, who started out with low-budget B-movies, has clearly reached the pinnacle of Hollywood, can easily get huge investments, and while controlling the assembly-line production of box office blockbusters, he has naturally incorporated a deeply ingrained personal style into his work.

The criticism of "The New Spider-Man" after its release is precisely the common problem of most B-grade films. If the commercial film model of "A-level investment + B-level story" has become the mainstream of Hollywood, then "The New Spider-Man" and "King Kong" have further strengthened this model, and Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson are naturally the representatives of Hollywood emerging in the new round of metabolism.

The successful Sam Raimi has the capital to create freely, so in "The New Spider-Man", the scattered rhythms, a variety of completely different genre styles, deliberately ridiculous emotional soaps, and quirky supporting characters are all deliberately contrary to the work of a "normal" Hollywood blockbuster, but it is such a cult-style movie that has become the box office bomb of the year.

Whether the film leads the audience's aesthetics, or the audience determines the direction of the movie trend, the question has always been a topic of controversy. The original cult movies were shoddy due to limited investment, with no stars or convincing stories, but exaggerated and bizarre plot characters, bloody and erotic sensory stimulation, and a temperament diametrically opposed to mainstream movies became selling points, and their characteristics can be summarized as "rotten and stylish".

But after more than 30 years of development, the cult movie, which was originally a semi-underground teenage subculture, has gradually turned into the mainstream, with creators drawing inspiration from it, and young audiences have formed a continuous preference for this particular genre driven by curiosity.

The most obvious sign of this trend is the emergence of Lionsgate, a reading company specializing in the production and distribution of horror films, in Hollywood. Lionsgate's horror film "Chainsaw" series, known for its depictions of serial killers, has a total investment of less than $30 million, but the global revenue of the three films has exceeded 400 million.

This jaw-dropping result is enough to prove that the noir, bloody cult movies have long since become the private favorite of a new generation from the private favorite of niche fans.

Having learned the lessons of the previous part, Lin Mingyang put a lot of effort into the plot of "The New Spider-Man 2" this time, which made the orientation of the film a little more "normal", but Sam Raimi arranged a lot of "desserts" in the action scenes to repay the die-hard fans who were loyal to the "Spider-Man" series, which is a technique used in cult movies.

As the filming began, Lin Mingyang soon discovered that Sam Raimi's answer at the launch conference was not a trick. The action scenes that Sam envisioned were more than just heartbeats.

In the last episode, Lin Mingyang's Spider-Man flying between the high-rise buildings in the center of New York City is quite fascinating. With a large production budget in hand, Sam Raimi not only continued this flying format in the filming of the sequel, but also improved it further. In the film, Spider-Man's vision will be broader, and there will be more buildings in front of the audience's eyes, which will make the picture of Spider-Man flying into the sky very magnificent and vivid.

Sam Raimi has a big appetite this time, and the upgraded version of the "Flying Magic" alone can't completely satisfy him, in addition, he invented Spider-Man's new "Shuttle Magic", in this episode, Lin Mingyang not only has to fly around in the sky, but also has to learn to sneak and dodge quickly in a small space.

In order to show this new skill of Spider-Man, Sam Raimi designed a lot of thrilling scenes in the film, including Spider-Man encountering a speeding large truck in the flying, he has to pass at high speed from the connection between the front of the truck and the car, and then continue to chase the fleeing gangsters; In the air, he faced the flying guns of the gangsters in the car and took off to dodge; There's also a scene where Spider-Man glides close to the ground as he navigates through the speeding traffic, maintaining his blistering speed while dodging the oncoming cars...... One of the most difficult shots was the shot that passed between the front and the car of a fast-moving truck, which was not well computer-generated and very difficult to shoot. The biggest headache for director Sam Raimi is that Lin Mingyang is still resolutely not a stand-in. If something happens to him, even if it is a little bit of skin, it will become a sensational headline in Hollywood, and the consequences are unimaginable.

Because of Lin Mingyang's resoluteness, Sam Raimi had to make concessions, for which he not only strengthened the safety measures for the shooting, but also revised the shooting plan. In Sam Raimi's original concept, there was a camera on the left and right sides of the truck, and he wanted Spider-Man to fly through this gap, but in the end he removed the camera on the left, and the audience only saw the image of Spider-Man flying towards the camera, and on the side where the camera was removed, thick crash airbags were placed on both sides of the gap between the front of the car and the car.

Even so, Lin Mingyang's bold move still made many people worry, and Alba found Lin Mingyang before filming, and at this time he was wearing the spider suit with the assistance of two staff members. Alba knocked on the door and came in, just as he moved his wrist and was about to put on the mask.

"Can we talk about it alone?" Alba's statement was tantamount to an "eviction order", and the two staff members looked at each other for a moment before leaving the room with great interest.

Lin Mingyang was constantly adjusting his spider suit in front of the fitting mirror, Alba pulled a chair next to him with a sad face, sat down next to him, and said, "I know you like to take risks, but do you really know how dangerous that action is?" ”

Lin Mingyang clasped his hands and leaned against the wall opposite her, whether it was from Alba's somewhat flustered eyes or his concerned tone, he could feel Alba's concern for him.

Lin Mingyang shrugged his shoulders and looked at Alba with a relaxed expression, "Don't you have such confidence in me?" ”

Alba bitterly persuaded: "I'm not against you revealing your last name at some point, but it's not a cool time to pass through an air raid in a movement, how likely are you to succeed?" I don't think it's pointless for you to take such an adventure. ”

Lin Mingyang suddenly smiled and said, "You seem to care about me when you say that?" ”

Seeing that this guy looked cheap and behaved, Alba glared at him in shame, turned his head and said angrily: "I just think it's barely a pleasure to work with this guy like you, if you have an accident, the film will definitely have to be replaced, but I don't necessarily like the new guy, so I don't want anything to happen to you, that's all." ”

"Is that really the case?" Lin Mingyang smiled and brought his face to Alba's approach, and the other party was startled by his bold move, and subconsciously reached out to push him away.

Alba stood up a little flustered, and glanced at Lin Mingyang angrily, she knew that she couldn't convince this guy, and was about to turn around and leave, when suddenly a pair of strong arms hugged her from behind.

Her whole body froze there, and she didn't even resist, at this time, Lin Mingyang put his head to her ear and whispered: "Don't worry, I'll be fine!" ”

Lin Mingyang knew very well in his heart that his bold hug was already the limit of what Alba could accept now, so he didn't continue to have more intimate movements, and let go of Alba after saying that.

Standing there speechless for a long time, Alba didn't know whether she was angry or ashamed, she turned around a little tremblingly, ready to question Lin Mingyang why he did that, but what she saw was not the handsome face she was familiar with, but Spider-Man who had already put on a mask.

Alba's heart was originally full of grievances and resentment, but seeing Lin Mingyang's meticulous dress, she finally felt a little unbearable in her heart, her lips moved, and the words of accusation were still not spoken after all.

Lin Mingyang saw the entire change in Alba's expression, but it was inconvenient for him to speak while wearing a mask, so he just patted Alba's shoulder gently. As he was going out, Alba behind him suddenly stopped him.

Lin Mingyang turned around and saw Alba smiling at him, "If something happens to you, I will ignore you in the future!" ”

(To be continued)