Seven Hundred and Twenty-Eight - Tripping the Elephant 1 Somersault

In late October, Wayne led the "Wonder Woman" crew and boarded a plane to Italy. Countless media outlets took action upon hearing the news, and almost all major mainstream entertainment media sent reporters to Italy in tacit agreement.

"Wonder Woman" has never lacked attention. Although Warner Bros. has slowly and slowly released relevant news according to the publicity plan, on the crew's side, since the audition ended, including the main actors and main behind-the-scenes team members , basically never accepted any public interviews.

Silence for crew news is usually a favorite method of great directors. James Cameron was there before, Wayne is now there, and there will be no shortage of other directors doing the same in the future.

However, "Wonder Woman" is a commercial movie after all. If you want to completely block external interference, it is basically impossible to start shooting in a low-key manner.

Wayne also fantasized about avoiding all the media flash and letting the entire crew devote themselves to their work.

But if they do this, Warner Bros. will definitely be the first to object. They can acquiesce that Wayne temporarily silences the crew in order to heighten suspense, but they will never allow the company to invest $200 million in a top-notch production. There is no movement at all in public opinion, which is inconsistent with business logic.

No film company would have the luxury to do this. If so, it must be because the film company is not professional enough and there is absolutely no other reason.

The shooting location of "Wonder Woman" is as far away as Italy, in Los Angeles, another project invested and produced by Walt Disney. The launch conference caused considerable controversy.

Just after Wayne led the crew to set off, another high-profile major project "Pearl Harbor" held an official launch conference. This project, which was announced to have a production cost of US$140 million, attracted huge attention on the day it was launched.

Both movie fans and media reporters have high expectations for this movie. The results of this year's "Saving Private Ryan" are still fresh in our minds. After the announcement of the project of "Pearl Harbor", the World War II epic, it instantly raised everyone's expectations. The sense of anticipation is immediately filled.

However, at the launch conference, the high-spirited Michael Bay faced reporters' questions and declared without hesitation that he was already one of the best directors in Hollywood, and that he was about to start filming "Pearl Harbor". It will definitely surpass Wayne Greenberg's project next summer.

"No one can be successful forever. Wayne Greenberg's dominance of the summer movie will be ended by my film next year. Of course I know that his "The Flash" did very well this year, but this movie is exactly the same. , also showed that Wayne Greenberg’s talent has been exhausted, and I will become the new summer ruler..."

Even if producer Jerry Bruckheimer saw something was wrong and hurriedly ended the press conference, Michael Bay's remarks also caused huge controversy.

If viewed objectively, Michael Bay is undoubtedly one of the most proud directors in Hollywood this year. In the eyes of relevant practitioners and movie fans, he is highly recognized.

But one thing can be confirmed, that is, no one will compare him with Wayne. From any aspect, the two are not on the same level, let alone any comparison or discussion. Once his remarks broke out in the media, they directly detonated major well-known entertainment media.

No one knows why this wind is blowing. The Hollywood director who is responsible for "Bad Boys", "The Island" and "The End of the World" seems to have his personal image posted overnight. Labeled as "arrogant", "ignorant", "shallow", etc.

"I suggest Michael Bay read Wayne's previous works. That way, he will discover his own shallowness and ignorance!"

---Kenneth Turan, "Los Angeles Times"

"A director who only knows how to explode, explode, and explode again wants to use endless explosions to compete with the great dark art. Michael Bay must be crazy!"

---David Denbigh, "The New Yorker"

"A madman who can only play with explosives wants to collide with another madman who plays with dark humanity. Michael Bay has absolutely no chance of winning. His remarks are like a primary school student who got a good grade, crazily clamoring for a fight with An adult professional boxer asks for a fight! Other than that, I can’t think of any metaphor that is more realistic..."

---"Hollywood Reporter" Todd McKenzie

Several well-known North American film critics, almost tacitly, expressed their views on Michael Bay's remarks in their newspaper columns.

However, attentive movie fans also discovered that the film critics who chose to speak out immediately were almost all Wayne supporters in previous years, and they were all based in the two big cities of New York and Los Angeles, while well-known film critics from other North American cities, But chose silence.

The reason is simple. For most North American film critics, the name Wayne Greenberg is a name that makes them hate it.

It was he who encouraged Warner Bros. to cancel its routine PR campaign with critics on the eve of the film's release, which many people knew. But no matter what angle they stand on, they try their best to discredit Wayne's film, but it has almost no effect in the summer release.

Looking back, Michael Bay's reputation among film critics is actually not as good as Wayne, a guy who wants to destroy their jobs.

Since his debut, the movies he has shot have never lacked for big scenes, especially the various explosion scenes with full visual impact, which have become the label of his works.

This is exactly the case. From the beginning of "Jedi Men", Michael Bay seemed to have opened up the two channels of Ren and Du. He suddenly found that even if he did not consider the plot logic, the story was self-consistent. As long as it exploded, exploded, and exploded again, it would be absolutely perfect. There will be no shortage of fan support.

It can be said that any term related to film art is a shame when applied to Bang Bei. This guy shoots movies from the perspective of most movie fans. It can be said that he shoots whatever movie fans like to watch.

Therefore, Michael Bay's reputation in the professional field of film is simply as bad as it can get. Whenever his new film is released, there will always be countless film reviewers and critics who attack his works as nothing more than bullshit. the difference.

When these two are mentioned together, most film critics have the attitude of watching a good show, and naturally it is impossible to make comments that favor one party.

It’s just that Warner Bros. deeply understands that the film critics as a group are indeed slowly declining, but the first to die are always those middle and low-level practitioners. At least during this period, the well-known film critics in North America The influence cannot be underestimated.

Therefore, Warner Bros. has maintained public relations with Todd McKenzie and others. Even if we put aside the summer commercial works, no company can directly ignore this group of vampires if they want to gain something during the awards season.

If the respective voices of the film critics were not enough to elevate Michael Bay's remarks to hot news, the words of the editors-in-chief of major entertainment media that followed were even more unpleasant.

Bob Strauss, the well-known editor-in-chief of "Hollywood Daily Entertainment", commented unceremoniously in the latest issue of the newspaper:

"I suggest that Michael Bay must watch Wayne's "Joker" released in 1993. Not only will this film allow him to see the huge gap between the two, it will also let him know that he is just like the film. Same name. Funny like a clown."

Bella Grant, the entertainment editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times, also spoke in her newspaper: "Hollywood has no shortage of talented directors, but every talented director who is struggling in Hollywood has to deal with Wayne... Greenberg maintains a minimum of respect!

The person they have to face is the winner of the Academy Award for Best Director, and a film master with many works ranked at the top of the list of the top 100 films of North American cinema. "

Austin Collins, the editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, even bluntly said in an interview with the media: "Michael Bay just thinks that he can be compared with Wayne Greenberg. In fact, if Wayne pays more attention to His glance is an insult to Chi Luoluo..."

Compared to celebrities who were relatively polite, fans reacted much more violently. Just after the relevant discussions had been fermenting for a day, dozens of Wayne's extreme fans surrounded the filming site of "Pearl Harbor" and held banners. , strongly demanding that Michael Bay retract his arrogant remarks.

"Someone is deliberately causing trouble!"

At the temporary studio of "Pearl Harbor" outside Los Angeles, Michael Bay's agent, Chris Karim, took advantage of the crew's lunch break to climb onto his client's director's trailer and whispered: "Damn, you better finish filming as soon as possible. We then took the crew to the Oahu military base for filming.”

Hearing the angry voice of his agent, Michael Bay's brows slowly wrinkled. "Are those extreme movie fans still out there?"

"Yes, not only those extreme movie fans, but also dozens of reporters from different media."

Nodding slightly, Michael Bay knew of course that someone was deliberately making things worse. In fact, when he said these words at the time, he did have some excitement after success, but more of it was to cooperate with Touchstone Pictures, that is, Walt Disney's publicity plan.

To put it bluntly, there are countless directors with names like Wayne Greenberg who compete with each other every year. They all do it to better expand the influence of their films at the beginning of filming. But no media has ever called it true before.

Seeing that his expression was also very ugly, the agent carefully walked to the trailer door, put his ear against the door, and listened softly for a few seconds before quietly sitting back next to his client.

"I learned some news through some channels of CAA."

Looking at the silent Michael Bay, agent Chris Kareem paused for a moment, and while organizing his words, he continued slowly: "Through relevant information, CAA has come to a conclusion, Warner Bros. There must have been some kind of tacit understanding between the brothers and Walt Disney.

These two giants secretly promoted public opinion, obviously wanting to promote the film better and earlier. Mike, I have to remind you not to trust Jerry Bruckheimer so much. Without his nod as a producer, the Disney distribution department would never do this! "

Leaning gently on the back of the chair, Michael Bay suddenly laughed. He looked at his agent, shrugged and said: "You and I both know the reason why I said those words. But I didn't expect that public opinion would condemn me one-sidedly. Self, tsk, tsk, tsk, Walt Disney..."

He is not a newbie in Hollywood. It stands to reason that if a film company wants to create public opinion for the sake of publicity, what will happen is that there will usually be media supporters on both sides, and then through the voices of supporters of both sides in the media, they will continue to Hype information about both films.

The ultimate goal must be to let more ordinary people hear the news about these two films and raise more ordinary people's expectations for these two films. This is the most normal tacit win-win approach for major Hollywood movie companies.

But now? Even Michael Bay himself thought that the Walt Disney distribution department must have seen the overwhelming condemnation of himself, which would further contribute to the long-term fermentation of public opinion, which is why the current situation has emerged.

Everyone who can succeed in this circle still has at least some pride. He lowered his head and glanced at the scattered newspapers on the table, which were full of various reports mocking him.

"Artistic? Humanistic care? Ha!"

The smile on Michael Bay's mouth remained unchanged, but there was no warmth in the smile at all, instead it was full of ridicule. "Who said my videos will only explode..."

When everyone thought that he was overestimating his capabilities and trying to compare himself with the King of Darkness with a shallow commercial film, he really wanted to prove that if he really wanted to make such a film, he would Be the best you can be.

Especially in recent years, film critics have ridiculed and criticized him. Even when the global box office of "The End of the World" exceeded 500 million US dollars, those film critics did not shut up. On the contrary, their evaluation of him has always been shallow and ignorant. commercial film director.

Some film critics, who may not have even seen "The Last Day", couldn't wait to give negative reviews. This group of people who claim to be the leaders of the film industry, when facing him, film criticism has already risen to the level of personal attacks.

A big part of the reason why there is this "Pearl Harbor" is that Michael Bay wants to prove himself. He wants to tell everyone that as long as he wants to transform, he can still make his movies a hit while taking into account the so-called humanistic feelings and social thinking.

"Saving Private Ryan" gave him great inspiration. Is there anything that can better reflect humanistic sentiments than a war movie? The more cruel the battlefield is, the more it will inevitably reflect the value of emotions between people.

Reflection on war has always been the mainstream thought in Western society. Michael Bay's ambitions are great, and his continuous success has given him the confidence to try to transform!

He has received an unprecedented high investment in this film, and it must have an unprecedented spectacle. In order to recreate the brutal and heroic war scenes of World War II on the big screen, he received the full support of the North American Department of Defense for the first time.

The Five Corners Building in North America specifically allowed the "Pearl Harbor" crew to enter the Pearl Harbor location inside the American military base on Oahu for filming!

Not to mention, Michael Bay has greater ambitions. After receiving investment from Touchstone Pictures, a subsidiary of Disney, the first thing he did was to spend huge sums of money to buy back 15 old-fashioned US military fighter jets.

Moreover, he is prepared to recreate the war scenes in the film, including explosions, air raids, and naval battles, as realistically as possible.

Not only that, with a large amount of production funds in hand, Michael Bay started construction at the same time in the filming locations needed by the crew in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mexico, and across the ocean in England and other places. A giant photo studio is needed.

In short, this project was in his hands, and he showed what it means to be heroic from the beginning.

"Just watch, Chris." Michael Bay looked at his manager with firm eyes, put away all his expressions, and said seriously: "It's not certain who will be the joke in the end! As long as the ants dare to stretch their legs , I can still trip up an elephant! This is Hollywood, the place where miracles happen, and I am not some little ant!"

Here in Los Angeles, various public opinions are making a fuss, but it does not affect Wayne who is far away in continental Europe. After the crew landed in Rome, the capital of Italy, without any pause, a group of people was immediately separated and led by the camera supervisor Robert to go filming.

Nina missed the town of Ravello, which was as beautiful as half of heaven, but she never went there. The crew, led by Wayne, headed straight for Palinuro on the Cilento coast in southern Italy.

This formerly isolated beach immediately became busy with the arrival of the crew. Schwartz directed a large group of assistants to make the final simple adjustments to the venue, while Gilmour led a group of women, tirelessly telling them how to move.

"Have you heard? Wayne. Someone wants to snipe you next summer and completely end your dominance of the North American summer season."

Wayne, who was leaning over the director's notebook, raised his head and saw Angelina Jolie standing in front of the sun. The simple linen dress on her body just covered the key undulating parts of her body.

Closing the book in his hand, he tilted his head, looked at the woman in front of him with interest, and nodded slightly. The months of body and movement training are completely worth it. The healthy lines produced by human beings' own training are completely beyond the comparison of later corrections.

“I’ve never been afraid of competition and I’ve never lost a competition.”

Smiling and waving, he looked at the messy set behind him and secretly calculated the shooting time.

It is this feeling of incomparable confidence that makes Angelina Jolie look at the man with a unique hint of appreciation.

No matter what was reported in the media, she knew that what this man said was not wrong at all. He has never been afraid of competition, and has never lost a competition. If you look closely, you will find that since entering Hollywood, the other party has been growing rapidly with brutal competition.

"I heard that the film "Pearl Harbor" was set against "Saving Private Ryan"..." Recalling the newspaper reports, Angelina Jolie joked: "This film is definitely not 'Eighteen Ban' R-rated film World War II epic! Wayne, everyone says that Michael Bay is the best director in the industry who understands the needs of movie fans. There is no other director in the industry. You won't stumble, right?"

"whispering sound."

When he heard the name "Pearl Harbor", Wayne couldn't help but sneer, and then he took out a cigarette from his pants pocket and took a long puff of it comfortably while facing the sea breeze.

"Why are you laughing?" Seeing that the man didn't take her words seriously, Angelina Jolie rolled her big eyes back and forth twice and said playfully again: "My agent has found out that Michael Bay's World War II epic is completely different from All his previous works were by no means just explosions and explosions..."

"Cough cough cough cough."

Before the woman could finish speaking, Wayne almost choked to tears because of the content of the other woman's words. He raised his hand to take the water glass handed by the assistant lady, raised his head and drank most of the glass before he recovered.

Angelina Jolie saw through the man's actions at a glance. The reason why he choked on the cigarette was just because he couldn't hold back his laughter. "Damn, what's so funny."

"I'm telling you, girl."

Seeing that the preparations in the crew were about to be completed, Wayne shook his head and said directly: "If Blastboy stops playing explosions, what do you think he will have left?"

After saying that, he ignored the surprised woman, turned around, took Nina, and walked towards the main departments of the crew. Before officially filming the first scene, he wanted to check it again.

In fact, when Wayne heard that Jerry Bruckheimer initiated and produced it, and that the director was Michael Bay, and that the latest big project of this golden couple was "Pearl Harbor," he almost couldn't hold back his laughter.

If Bang Bei stops playing explosions and pursues art instead, he knows better than anyone what will happen.

He still has the impression that Michael Bay was almost abandoned by the entire Hollywood film company on the way to seek transformation, but he was able to recover in the end because he realized this himself.

To put it bluntly, this is a typical example of someone who was deceived by film critics and then regretted it. Otherwise, there would be no Transformers movies.

After raising his wrist and glancing at the time, Wayne turned his head and glanced at the reporters not far from the crew, frowning slightly. Finally, he waved to the assistant director Gilmore and told him:

"Find a few assistants to bring some drinks to the reporters, and then tell them that I hope that after the crew officially starts filming, they will not make any sounds or movements that will affect us, especially the camera flash!"

"Don't worry, boss." Gilmore nodded in agreement while wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Just now, I have communicated with that group of reporters. After the official filming starts, they will not affect the crew."

Reaching out and patting Gilmore on the shoulder, Wayne showed appreciation in his eyes. "Okay, check it again one last time. We will officially shoot the first shot in ten minutes."

This future one of Mexico's top three heroes also has great ambitions, and he certainly knows this. Moreover, it is certainly impossible for his own crew to retain the other party for a long time. If possible, Wayne is prepared to give the other party a chance to choose after finishing this project.

Gilmore has a talent that far exceeds that of ordinary people, and as his assistant director, he has done his job carefully and carefully learned how to control a huge crew. No matter how you look at it, Wayne is willing to provide him with a The opportunity to direct, just like Zack Snyder did back then.