965 eager to try
In the previous life, "Gravity" achieved extremely good box office results around the world and received unanimous recognition and recognition from the audience. The North American box office data was US$274 million and US$723 million. With global box office data of 10,000 US dollars, compared to an investment of 100 million US dollars, it is truly a huge profit..
What's more, after winning the Oscar for Best Director, Warner Bros. also made a lot of money in the video rental market. That's about it for fame and fortune..
In comparison, "The Tree of Life" only made thirteen million at the box office, while "Gravity" was such a success at the box office. The reason? The most outstanding thing about "Gravity" is not its philosophical reflection, but its clever combination of philosophical reflection and plot advancement. In other words, it has found the right balance between art and commerce..
Just like "Inception".
In the trade-off between art and commerce, "Inception" is slightly more mercantile, and its artistic reflection is a little weaker. Therefore, its box office is better, but its awards are even worse; "Gravity" is slightly slanted more towards art, and its artistic reflection is a little weaker. The commercial attributes are slightly lacking, so its box office performance is slightly inferior, but it is a big win in terms of awards..
This is the difference between Christopher Nolan and Alfonso Cuaron.
Countless viewers complained that the script of "Gravity" was too weak and had too many blank spaces; but in Renly's view, this is precisely the success of the film..
Alfonso deliberately left a lot of blanks. He did not preach or explain. Instead, he relied on the actors' performances to fill in the blanks, leaving the reflection and aftertaste to the audience themselves. Apart from this, Alfonso still strictly followed the rhythm of commercial movies. , within ninety minutes, the ups and downs of the story are told with twists and turns. There is no peeing in the whole process. There are climaxes/climaxes one after another, and it is completed in one go..
Therefore, all the content that Renly and Alfonso just discussed, which is so profound, so profound, and so complicated, will not be shown in the movie, but will be left in the blank and left to the actors..
Audiences who are willing to explore in depth can savor and think about it carefully; audiences who are not willing to complicate things can simply enjoy the audio-visual enjoyment brought by the movie, which is enough..
Renly likes the commercial part of "Inception", which truly interprets Christopher's own style in audio-visual entertainment; similarly, Renly also likes the commercial part of "Gravity", whose technical breakthroughs have transformed the creation of the film. Dream technology reaches its peak.
Renly hopes that the movie can retain these characteristics, just like "Edge of Tomorrow". Not all movies must be artistically processed..
what does that mean？
This means that the more esoteric the discussion between Renly and Alfonso, the more difficult it will be for the actors to perform.
All connotations and thoughts will fall on the shoulders of the actors. Especially under Alfonso’s insistence on minimalism, the lens space is relatively static, and the actor’s performance power must be subtracted, and more subtracted. ;At the same time, the actors’ performance content must be added, and more additions must be made..
This is a contradiction, which puts forward almost harsh and perverted requirements for actors. But this is not all..
There is no doubt that Sandra's performance in "Gravity" in the previous life was extremely wonderful; but on the other hand, being a woman has created some conveniences, but also created more constraints. Alfonso's thinking or More or less, it is still limited to "women", without further broadening horizons, getting rid of gender attributes, and settling on life.——
This is also the core of the discussion between Renly and Alfonso just now.
In other words, after stripping away the advantages and disadvantages of gender, the theme of the movie is even bigger, just like the philosophical core of the movie "Tree of Life", which truly traces the origin of the earth and mankind. The difficulty of the actors' performances has improved Definitely more than one level.
These requirements are the ultimate challenge for any actor. What cannot be ignored is that this is a one-man show, in which all details are magnified to the extreme. Any oversights and changes will be exposed, even for those who It takes a lot of courage for a top veteran actor to accept such a challenge.
What's more, "Gravity" is so special, and that's not all the difficulty.
At the beginning of today's conversation, Alfonso's long and eloquent speech revealed the biggest difficulty. They spent five years solving the problem of weightless shooting; next, the actors had to be in a weightless environment to complete all filming..
Renly is not a technical otaku. Although he can understand, it does not mean that he can simulate. Now, Renly is not sure what is the difference between weightless shooting and green screen environment. Is it more difficult or simpler? How does it differ from motion capture technology? What is the connection? Does it put forward different requirements for the way and intensity of performance?.
But what is certain is that before "Edge of Tomorrow" was shot with a green screen, Paul Greengrass used a combination of real scenes and special effects to ensure that the actors could truly simulate the environmental effects; and "Gravity" The outer space environment, no matter how simulated, they are on the earth, this fact cannot be reversed.
Renly enjoyed his performance experience in London's West End and never got tired of it. Even though he was working extremely hard and was even on the verge of collapse, Renly still had no regrets. In the next two and a half months, he would devote himself wholeheartedly to it; The challenge of "Gravity" is completely different. It is not a stage play, but a performance structure and method unique to the film industry. It breaks the traditional rules and creates more possibilities..
Of course, all performances are rooted in basic skills, but the form and content of the challenge have changed. The challenge of "gravity" has never been tried before, and it is also untouchable on the stage. In addition, From another angle and another level, re-examine the basic skills of performance.
Renly wasn't even sure whether he should choose Methodism or Expressionism, or a combination of the two..
First, actors must find a balance between addition and subtraction; second, the performance must have a deeper connotation without affecting the overall rhythm of the movie; third, the performance of a one-man show; fourth, the location of the weightless environment.
Everything is suggesting that the performance of "Gravity" is not only a hot potato, but also a potato covered with thorns. In order to retain the commercial attributes of the film itself and make a difference in the box office market, the actors have to bear the burden It will be further aggravated, and it will be far more difficult than a simple one-man show like "burying alive".
Any actor with any sanity left should refuse.
Not only is the $100 million investment all invested in the actors, but the box office figures of commercial movies are not determined by the actors. The actors can do their best to give top performances, but they cannot control the box office trends..
A movie like "Gravity" requires actors to dig deep in terms of performance, but also has commercial demands; moreover, box office is still the most important first appeal. Warner Bros. paid a cost of 100 million US dollars, not for Those who shoot a work of art, just like "Inception" back then, box office is their pursuit.
So, once it fails at the box office, all the blame will be on the actors..
The problem is that this is not "Titanic" or "Avatar", nor is it "Inception" or "Lord of the Rings". The commercial attributes of these movies are extremely obvious. Even if they win awards, they will not win in terms of acting and screenplay awards. The competitiveness is still extremely weak; but apart from its commercial attributes, the core of "Gravity" is a literary and artistic heart that explores philosophy..
No wonder Alfonso would emphasize again and again that all the focus of this film will be on the actors.
Without the actors’ performances, the entire movie would be meaningless—perhaps even emptier than the self-murmur and life reflection of “The Tree of Life”; on the other hand, leaving all the burden of thinking and aftertaste to the actors After that, Alfonso can concentrate on completing the filming and production of the entire movie according to the rhythm and pattern of commercial movies..
It is estimated that everyone would avoid such a difficult problem; but for Renly, at this time, his blood is boiling, his passion is surging, and he is eager to try..
This is a different challenge from a stage play, and it is also a different challenge from "Edge of Tomorrow" or "Crazy Love". Renly needs to truly understand what it means to be lighthearted and what it means to be understated but with a profound aftertaste..
After "I Fight Cancer" and "Transcendence", and after the Almeida Theater, Renly once again faced a new challenge in acting, and this is also a commercial film！
Sure enough, the life of an actor is so colorful. Never be complacent easily, and never stop casually, because the scenery after breaking through the challenges is always beautiful and thrilling..
Thinking back to his decisiveness last night, and comparing it with his current eagerness, Renly couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: after all, he still couldn't refuse, refuse a wonderful and complicated character, refuse a challenge that breaks through himself and reaches the limit..
Renly strongly suspected that it was just like those weird uncles who deceive children, always bringing lollipops and chocolates to deceive them; but for him, he didn't need these things, just a good work, and he would He is very understanding. So, does this mean that his mind is still mature?？
“In this case, we need to change the setting of Ryan's partner. Such a female character obviously has other positions and meanings in the mystery of life. Hmm... Do you have any good suggestions?？
My current thinking is that men and women are a complete community, regardless of each other, and neither one can exist without the other. Under forced circumstances, women choose self-sacrifice, not to fulfill men, but to survive the fittest in the natural environment. .Wait, is there any ambiguity in this? In an environment where the jungle prevails, are women the first to be eliminated? Such misunderstandings absolutely cannot exist.”
Alfonso was completely immersed in his story at this time. He was talking ramblingly, and at the same time he raised his right hand and gestured on the table. He raised his head to ask Renly for his opinion, but then he He was stunned, "Sorry, I forgot, you... uh, haven't agreed to join yet, sorry.”
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