Chapter Five Hundred and Ninety-Two Internal Preview

Chapter 592

Many years later, the soldier Ryan, who was already in his twilight years, once again came to the Normandy cemetery where 120,000 lives were buried.

The sound of the waves around the landing craft was like the uneasy cry of the soldiers before the war. The habitually trembling fingers unscrewed the aluminum kettle. Captain Miller took a gulp of water, and his deputy also stuffed a ball of chocolate into his mouth. Try to keep yourself calm.

With the helmsman's prompt about the imminent landing, Captain Miller and his second-in-command Horvath began to hurriedly again exhort the soldiers to pay attention to the landing. However, these words did not seem to have any effect, the hatch opened, and the rapid machine gun The sound of strafing immediately caused the soldiers in the cabin who had no time to respond to collapse.

This tragic scene that did not give any buffer space immediately caused many audiences in the screening room to gasp, and the constantly shaking lens of the portable camera gave people an immersive illusion.

The next picture is even more heartstrings tense.

Some people struggled to jump into the water, but were hit by bullets and never surfaced again; some struggled toward the shore, but fell on the way before they got close to the beach; Looking at the wounded comrades, after the sound of the cannon, they found that only half of the corpses were left in their hands...

Eric saw that a female executive in the distribution department sitting not far to the left had covered her eyes with an unbearable expression, and most of the others also showed a solemn look.

Glancing at Catherine beside her, the woman clutched the armrest of the seat tightly with her fingers, obviously not in a relaxed mood.

After the 20-minute invasion of Normandy. With the camera cut to the mail room. Eric clearly felt that everyone in the theater was greatly relieved. Someone raised their hand and seemed to want to applaud the just-successful war scene, but quickly realized that this kind of movie was not suitable for such a reaction, so it was put down.

Eric looked at Katherine who was not at all relaxed beside him, patted her hand, leaned over and said softly, "How about we go out for a walk?"

This is also the first internal preview meeting after the final cut of "Saving Private Ryan", Catherine shook her head and said, "Is this bad?"

Eric stretched out his hand and drew straight down, and said softly, "You have such a straight back. You are blocking other people's sight."

Katherine's mood was already extremely disturbed. Hearing Eric's slightly joking remarks, she relaxed a lot. She felt that Eric directly took her hand and wanted to leave together.

Catherine quickly broke free, but the whole person had already left the seat, so she had to walk out of the theater with Eric.

The projection room was on the first floor of the Firefly Studios Administration Building. The two left the projection room and closed the door to cut off the sound of the movie. The surroundings immediately became quiet.

Because it's Saturday. Although there are still many crews working in the studio, there are not many people working overtime in the administrative building. Eric put his hand in his pocket, glanced at Catherine, who was slender in a black leather jacket and jeans, and said, "Would you like to go to my office for a cup of coffee? Anyway, we've seen it many times, wait for them to see We'll come back when we're done."

How dare Catherine be alone in a room with this little man who is always in a state of confusion. She pointed to the concrete corridor outside the floor-to-ceiling glass window and said, "Let's go outside for a walk."

"Ok," Eric took the lead.

The park of Playa Vista Studios is generally a northeast-oriented rectangle, parallel to the Bellona Canal that flows through downtown Culver.

Eric looked at Catherine who walked out of the administrative building, and looked back with some worry in his eyes. He found a topic and said, "Catherine, I have always been curious, what is the '' in the name of Bellona Canal next to the studio. I mean, you know what?"

Because of her deep understanding of classical oil paintings, Catherine was very familiar with some of the Western mythological figures involved. Although she was a little absent-minded, she blurted out without hesitation: "That is a tall and beautiful god of war in ancient Rome..." said After finishing this sentence, the woman immediately realized something and glared at Eric, but there was no annoyance in her eyes, but a hint of shyness that was not easily discernible.

Eric smiled and said: "I think the name Bellona is very nice and suitable for you. The name Catherine is too popular."

"Then do you know that Bellona's corresponding female god of war in Greek mythology, Eneo, is a very bloody and cruel woman. According to legend, after the Trojan horse slaughtered the city, Troy bleed into a river, but she drank all the blood in the city while drunk. ."

Eric spread his hands innocently: "This kind of thing, don't need to study so deeply, I have never heard of such an unpopular side story."

Katherine smiled, with a faint smile, and said, "You brought up this topic first."

"Okay, my fault," Eric smiled and shook his head: "Then talk about something else, what are your plans next?"

Catherine said: "Take a break, walk around, and then come back to work, remember Betsy, she said Columbia University is going to have a pop art exhibition next week, and I'm going to see it."

Eric only vaguely knows that some pop art is a representative of popular culture, and has not delved into what it is.

"Maybe I'm going to New York soon, will you stay in that hotel in SoHo?"

Catherine recalled the time the two spent together at the Sixty Soho Hotel three years ago. Everything seemed as clear as yesterday, and she couldn't help but say, "It's possible, but... maybe it's at Becky's house."

"How bad it is to disturb people. I have a high-rise apartment at the Sixth Avenue exit with a view of Central Park. Maybe you can live there."

Catherine stopped and stared at Eric for a few seconds. Seeing that the little man didn't look guilty at all, she became embarrassed: "You, you have to live by yourself, I'd better go to the hotel. , so that no one will disturb."

Eric still had a faint smile on his face, and said calmly: "ok, give me a call after you live. Maybe we can still be neighbors."

Catherine felt the urge to run away. This little bastard. How can you be so stubborn, so rascal.

The woman was picking and choosing in a panic, and finally thought of a trick to 'change the subject' and said, "When the movie is finished, you asked me to save all those props for what to do, put those things in the warehouse in Ireland, Do you have to pay a small storage fee every month?"

In order to shoot "Saving Private Ryan", the crew prepared thousands of sets of costumes during World War II. There are also a variety of landing craft, off-road vehicles, and countless other pieces of props. These things cost tens of millions of dollars. Of course, Eric can't be like many movies after the movie is shot. Dispose of it at will.

What's more, he has a better recycling method in mind.

While it was fun to watch women clumsily change the subject, Eric didn't keep teasing Katherine, just in case it scared off: "I'm going to use these things to make a mini-series of WWII movies, and It is in the same vein as the story of "Ryan". It reflects the story of a company going deep into the enemy's rear after the invasion of Normandy during World War II. Catherine. You have done so much preparation before, and you must know more about the history of World War II than I do. Are you interested? To be the producer of this miniseries?"

Katherine asked: "The cost of war dramas should be high, right? How much are you going to spend to make them?"

"With these props and the production team of "Ryan", the production cost of each episode will not be higher than 10 million. I plan to make ten episodes first."

"That's 100 million dollars. "Ryan" only cost 70 million. I'm still worried about whether I can recover the cost. You have to spend 100 million to make a TV series." Catherine shook her head, then laughed, watching He said to Eric: "I almost forgot, you are the richest man in the United States now, and you are not short of money at all."

Eric has recently become accustomed to people around him making fun of him, and said with a smile: "I am the richest man in America, but not a fool. Don't worry, after the release of "Ryan", there will definitely be a wave of war movies. For a mini-series, it is no problem to recover the cost through multi-channel operations, and I just happen to be buying a TV network, and using such a mini-series can also enhance the brand effect of the TV network.”

Catherine shook her head: "I don't understand this, but I have heard some news that the negotiation between you and you broke down?"

Eric said: "There is no rupture, but it is at the last moment. It depends on whether the other side is willing to take a step back. If it goes well, I will go to New York next week to attend the signing ceremony."

"Today is the 12th, and the Oscars will be held on the 21st," Katherine said, suddenly she didn't know whether she was relieved or lost. If so, Eric would definitely have to come back after a few days in New York: "I heard that They invited you to present the Best Picture award this time, which has rarely happened before."

Because of the butterfly effect, Schindler's List, which should have appeared this year, was brought forward a year. This year belongs to the small year of the Oscars, and none of the well-known directors has released personal works.

For the sake of ratings, at the beginning of the year, the Oscar Organizing Committee Zhu Xi personally invited Eric to participate in this awards ceremony. At first, they hoped that Eric would be the first to appear to boost the popularity of the awards ceremony. In August, after the new issue of "Forbes" magazine was released, the other party changed his mind again, hoping that Eric would appear last and award the best movie of the heavyweight. This kind of award is usually given by a well-respected Hollywood celebrity, but with Eric. Rick's strength and fame in Hollywood now, and no one will think that he is not qualified for the best picture award.

"Speaking of Oscar, tonight is holding a warm-up party at the Sunset Tower Hotel. Kapoor called and invited me to show up. Your brokerage contract is also there. Would you like to come with me?"

Catherine shook her head and said, "No, I plan to go home early to rest."

Eric saw a flash of heartbeat in Catherine's expression, but then refused again. After thinking about it, he came up with a possible reason. Not only Catherine, because of the cooperation with Firefly Pictures, Cameron's brokerage contract is also in place. Catherine obviously doesn't want to meet Cameron, so Eric will not say anything.

The two walked around the corridor in the park, and drank a cup of coffee in the coffee shop. They felt that "Saving Private Ryan" was about to end, and then walked towards the administration building.

When entering the screening hall, the fluorescent lamps in the screening hall were already on, and the employees of the publicity department who participated in the internal preview were all whispering. When they saw Eric and Catherine walking in, everyone stopped chatting and was silent for a moment. After that, everyone applauded in unison.

Because the negotiations were suspended, Katzenberg, who just came back from New York to participate in the internal preview, walked over and said, "Ms. Katherine, congratulations on making a great movie, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have never seen it with my own eyes. will believe."

Katherine knew that Katzenberg wasn't telling the whole story, and he must have meant that he would never believe it was made by a woman. However, Katherine didn't mind either, smiled and shook hands with Katzenberg, and said, "Thank you for your affirmation, Jeffrey."

Katzenberg nodded, and then said to Eric: "However, Eric, there are two very important issues with this film, one is the length, 170 minutes, nearly three hours, I suggest that it is best to Edit it. In addition, it is a question of rating. If you cut out the bloody part of this film, although you will be able to get pg-13, it will lose the authenticity of the scene, but if you don’t modify it, the r rating is sure. of."

Eric knows Katzenberg's character very well. As a workaholic, Katzenberg has many executives who are good at sociability, but he tends to be straight-forward when it comes to work, so he doesn't mind Katzenberg. Grid's confession, saying: "Jeffrey, the rough cut version of this film is four and a half hours. Catherine and I have done the maximum trimming. I don't think the 170-minute market can be shortened any more. As for the r-level 'The Terminator' has proven that an R-rated film doesn't mean a box-office failure, so it's nothing to worry about. It's a war movie after all."

Katzenberg himself also realized this. After hearing the confirmation from Eric, he did not continue to entangle. As a professional filmmaker, he also felt that the plot of the film was too tight to be modified. , but in a professional instinct, he put forward his own opinions to Eric. (To be continued.)

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