Chapter 966

In the last century, "gravity" has made an outstanding box office in the world and gained the unanimous affirmation and recognition of the audience. The box office data of 274 million US dollars in North America and 723 million US dollars in the world have really made a big profit compared with the investment of 100 million US dollars.

What's more, after winning the best director award at the Oscars, Warner Bros. also made a lot of money in the video rental market, which is probably the case.

In contrast, the box office of "tree of life" is only 13 million, while the box office of "gravity" is so successful. Why“ The most outstanding part of "gravity" lies not in philosophical reflection, but in the ingenious combination of philosophical reflection and plot promotion. In other words, the appropriate balance between art and Commerce has been found.

It's like inception.

In the trade-off between art and business, "Inception" is slightly more commercial, and art reflection is weak. Therefore, its box office is better, and its awards are worse“ "Gravity" is slightly more artistic and less commercial, so its box office is a little lower, but the awards are a big win.

That's the difference between Christopher Nolan and Alfonso Caron.

Countless audiences make complaints about the "gravity" script too weak and too much blank. But in Langley's view, this is exactly the success of the film.

Alfonso deliberately left a large number of blanks, neither preaching nor explaining, but relying on the performance of the actors to fill in the blanks, reflection and rhyme to the audience themselves; In addition, Alfonso strictly follows the rhythm of the commercial film. Within 90 minutes, he will tell the story of the transition with ups and downs. There is no urine point in the whole process, and the climax is repeated, wonderful and complete at one go.

Therefore, all the contents discussed just now by Langley and Alfonso are so profound, profound and complex that they will not be presented in the film. Instead, they leave the blank space and leave it to the actors.

Audiences who are willing to explore in depth can savor carefully and think over and over again; The audience who is not willing to complicate things will simply enjoy the audio-visual enjoyment brought by the film, which is enough.

Lenley likes the commercial part of "Inception" and truly interprets Christopher's own style through audio-visual entertainment; Similarly, Langley also likes the commercial part of "gravity", and the breakthrough in technology has pushed the film's dream making technology to the peak.

All of these features are expected to be preserved in the film, just like "tomorrow's edge". Not all movies have to be artistic.

What does that mean?

This means that the more profound the discussion between Langley and Alfonso, the more difficult it is for the actors to perform.

All the connotation and thinking will fall on the shoulders of the actors. Especially under Alfonso's minimalism, the lens space is relatively static, and the actor's performance power must be subtracted, more subtraction; At the same time, the actor's performance content must do addition, more addition.

This is a contradiction, which puts forward strict and abnormal requirements for actors. But that's not all.

There is no doubt that Sandra's performance of "gravity" in the last life is extremely wonderful; But on the other hand, female identity creates a little convenience, but also creates more constraints. Alfonso's thinking is more or less limited to "women", without further broadening his horizons, getting rid of the attribute of gender and settling on life——

This is also the core of lanli and Alfonso's discussion just now.

In other words, after stripping away the advantages and disadvantages of gender, the theme of the film is even larger, just like the philosophical core of the film "tree of life", which really traces back to the origin of the earth and human beings. The performance difficulty of the actors has definitely improved by more than one level.

These requirements are the ultimate challenges for any actor. What can't be ignored is that it's a one-man show with all the details magnified to the extreme. Any negligence and changes will be exposed. Even those top veteran actors need great courage to accept such a challenge.

What's more, gravity is so special that it's not all the difficulties.

At the beginning of today's conversation, Alfonso's eloquent long speech revealed the biggest difficulty. It took them five years to solve the problem of weightlessness photography; Next, the actor has to be in weightlessness to complete all the shooting.

Lanli is not a technical otaku, although he can understand, but does not mean that he can simulate. Now, lanli is not sure what the difference between weightlessness shooting and green screen environment is. It is more difficult or simpler; What is the connection with motion capture technology, and whether there are different requirements for the way and strength of performance.

But it is certain that Paul Greengrass used the combination of real scene and special effects to ensure that the actors can truly simulate the environment; No matter how to simulate the outer space environment of "gravity", they are on the earth, which cannot be reversed.

Langley enjoys performing in the west end of London. Even though he has worked hard to the extreme and is on the verge of collapse, Langley still has no regrets. In the next two and a half months, he will devote himself to it wholeheartedly; The challenge of "gravity" is quite different. This is not a stage play, but a unique performance structure and way of the film industry, which 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, and it is also something that can not be touched on the stage. From another angle and level, we can re-examine the basic skills of performance.

Lanli was not even sure whether he should choose methodology or expressionism, or a combination of the two.

First, actors must find a balance between addition and subtraction; Second, performance must have more profound connotation, but it can not affect the overall rhythm of the film; Third, the performance of the monologue; Fourth, the location of weightlessness environment.

All of them imply that the performance of "gravity" is not only a hot potato, but also a potato full of thorns. In order to retain the commercial property of the film itself and make a difference in the box office market, the burden pressure of the actors will be further aggravated, which is far more difficult than the simple one-man show of "buried alive".

Any actor who remains rational should refuse.

It's not only that the $100 million investment is all on the actors, but also that the box office figures of commercial films are not calculated by the actors. Actors can do their best to give top performances, but they can't control the box office trend.

Such as "gravity", which requires actors to dig deeply in performance, but also has commercial demands; Moreover, the box office is still the most important first demand. Warner Brothers paid $100 million, not to shoot a work of art, just like the "Inception" of that year, the box office is their pursuit.

Well, once the box office fails, all the black pots are carried by the actors.

The problem is, it's not titanic or avatar, it's not inception or Lord of the rings. The commercial attributes of these films are very obvious. Even if they win the awards, their competitiveness in performance, script and other awards is still very weak; But "gravity" is not only a commercial attribute, but also a literary heart to explore philosophy.

No wonder Alfonso repeatedly stressed that all the focus of the film will be on the actors.

If there is no actor's performance, the whole film will be meaningless - even more empty than the self murmur and life reflection of "tree of life"; On the other hand, Alfonso can concentrate on the production of the whole film according to the rhythm and mode of the commercial film only after he leaves all the thinking and aftereffects to the actors.

It is estimated that everyone can not avoid such a difficult problem; But for Lan Li, he was enthusiastic, passionate and eager to try.

This is different from the challenge of stage play, and it is also different from the challenge of "tomorrow's edge" or "crazy love". Lanli needs to really understand what it means to lift a heavy weight like a light one, and what it means to understate but have a profound lingering charm.

After "anti cancer me" and "detachment", and after Almeida theater, Langley once again ushered in a new challenge in acting skills. Moreover, this is a commercial film!

Sure enough, the actor's life is so colorful, never complacent easily, never stop at will, because after breaking through the challenge, the scenery is always beautiful and thrilling.

Looking back on his firm determination last night, and comparing with his present efforts, Lan Li couldn't help but help but help his forehead: after all, he still couldn't refuse a wonderful and intricate role, a challenge to break through himself and push to the limit.

Lanli strongly suspected that, just like those strange uncles who cheat children, they always cheat children with lollipops and chocolates; And for him, he doesn't need these things, he just needs a good work, and he will have no idea. So, does that mean he's still mature?

"In that case, Ryan's partner, we need to change the settings. Such a female role obviously has other positioning and significance in the meaning of life. Well... Do you have any good suggestions?

My idea now is that men and women are a complete community. They are inseparable from each other and indispensable. When they have to, women choose to sacrifice themselves, not to help men, but to survive the fittest in the natural environment. Wait, is there any ambiguity? In the environment of the jungle, are women the first to be eliminated? Such a misunderstanding can never exist. "

Alfonso is now completely immersed in his own story. He talks incessantly. At the same time, he raises his right hand and draws on the table. He raises his head to ask for Lan Li's opinions, but then he is stunned. "Sorry, I forgot. You... Er, haven't agreed to join in yet. Sorry."