Capítulo 257: Chapter 257: Shock
Santa Monica.
In a screening room at the headquarters of Daenerys Entertainment, when another segment of "Batman" footage ended, Terry Semel realized it was already five in the afternoon, deeply impressed by the three hours of viewing experience he just had.
Today was May 5th, Friday.
During Simon's accidental coma in February, Semel, as a representative of Warner Bros., had flown to Australia to visit him. Under the special circumstances at that time, he couldn't find time to watch the footage of "Batman." Today was his first time seeing it.
Post-production work for "Batman" progressed alongside the shooting. After returning to Los Angeles, Simon spent just one week to roughly complete the first 6.5-hour rough cut of the film.
Semel had initially planned to spend about an hour reviewing the footage but ended up spending the entire afternoon in the screening room, completely unaware of when Simon had left.
Despite it being after office hours, Semel was tempted to watch the remaining three hours of the footage.
Can movies really be shot like this?! This was the thought that repeatedly crossed Semel's mind while watching the footage.
During the planning phase of "Batman," when Simon announced he would use as many real locations as possible, Semel expressed his concerns.
Real locations can indeed increase the audience's immersion, but they can also make a movie mundane. Essentially, "Batman" is a sci-fi movie, and more specifically, soft sci-fi, which should pursue a sense of surrealism.
Being too close to reality without infusing the movie with rich and stimulating superhero elements could easily disappoint the audience with the feeling of "this is not the superhero world I imagined."
If that happens, the movie is doomed to fail.
Therefore, in the many unsuccessful attempts by Warner Bros. to get "Batman" off the ground, directors who considered taking on the project tended to favor studio sets to create Gotham City.
Now, Semel had completely lost his initial concerns.
The film's style, evident in most of the footage where detailed color grading hadn't been applied yet, confirmed this to Semel. Simon's "Run Lola Run" had become a teaching sample in many film schools, but in Semel's view, many scenes in the "Batman" footage even surpassed "Run Lola Run."
Through Simon's masterful use of lighting, color, and composition, each shot, taken from real city streets, was like a meticulously crafted painting by a top-tier artist, with some frames worthy of being printed and hung as art pieces.
Moreover, the overall dark, cool-toned style provided a visual cue for surrealism, making the audience feel as if they were in their own city and yet in the Gotham City of the comics.
But it wasn't just the style of the shots that shocked Semel.
A young man's control over technical details of the film, though Oscar-worthy, could be imitated by other movies if they were willing to invest in a master-level crew.
What truly amazed Semel was the content, particularly the action scenes.
Traditional Hollywood action films, with the more high-end ones being Bruce Lee's martial arts movies, had some commendable performances from action stars like Jean-Claude Van Damme. Still, most were just simple exchanges lacking aesthetic appeal.
Lacking highlights, Hollywood in recent years favored action movies with gunfights like those of Sylvester Stallone, featuring muscle-bound men with machine guns plowing through enemies.
Semel had also seen some Eastern martial arts films but felt their action designs were overly complex and impractical.
The action scenes in Simon's "Batman" made Semel strongly feel like he was witnessing the future of Hollywood action films.
Fighting scenes were not just cliché street brawls. Batman's powerful yet not simplistic punches ignited passion, while Catwoman's agility and optimal display of femininity were thrilling.
Car chases weren't senseless collisions and explosions, but cars crashing and rolling toward the big screen were more heart-stopping than just blowing up a bunch of vehicles.
Gunfights weren't mindless charges into bullet showers. The thrilling face-off between Deadshot and Batman, with a CG-rendered bullet whizzing in slow motion, made Semel hold his breath. A single bullet could indeed become the focal point of a scene.
Beyond mainstream action scenes, Batman's wingsuit flying, the use of gadgets like the Batarang, and Catwoman's gymnastic skills leaping across city rooftops, to Semel, could all become textbooks for future Hollywood commercial films.
Semel was now eager to see the final cut of the film. With Simon perfecting these details and being one of Hollywood's most outstanding screenwriters, Semel didn't think the film's plot would be any less impressive.
In fact, Semel had a sneaking suspicion that this groundbreaking superhero film would also achieve a groundbreaking box office figure.
However, this feeling was not entirely positive.
Remembering that DC had sold the rights to Batman and Wonder Woman to Daenerys Entertainment and that Warner Bros. had not objected to the transfer of Superman rights, Semel was filled with regret. He firmly believed that Warner Bros. had made a series of irreversible mistakes with these superhero rights.
After all, those licensing agreements had time limits, but in reality, if the stakes were high, the rights holders would never let go.
Like the "Superman" rights, although "Superman 4" was a box office failure, as far as Semel knew, Simon paid $6 million for the "Superman" rights from the Salkinds, even though there were only five years left.
Moreover, despite the original DC contract with the British producer Alexander Salkind expiring in 1992, according to the automatic renewal clause, as long as "Superman" wasn't shelved for a long time, Salkind could extend the license if he wanted to make sequels after 1992.
Now, Daenerys Entertainment held the power over these clauses.
Evidently, as long as Daenerys Entertainment didn't let go, Warner Bros. could never get back the rights to "Superman," "Batman," and "Wonder Woman."
What a miscalculation.
After sitting in the screening room for a few more minutes, Semel stood up and headed for the door, asking his assistant, "Is Simon still at the company?"
The assistant followed him out, replying, "Mr. Westeros left for the 'Pretty Woman' film set at three o'clock."
Semel was puzzled, "Pretty Woman?"
The assistant explained, "It's a new project Daenerys Entertainment just started this week, a romance film. The competition for the male lead was intense, with stars like Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, Alec Baldwin, and Daniel Day-Lewis all trying for the script. But the role ultimately went to a second-tier British actor, apparently personally decided by Mr. Westeros, named Pierce Brosnan. The female lead is Julia Roberts from 'Steel Magnolias,' and that seems to have been set quite early."
As Steve Ross's right-hand man, Semel had been busy with Time Inc.'s merger negotiations with Warner Bros. in recent months, somewhat neglecting Hollywood news.
After a moment of reflection, unable to recall any information about Pierce Brosnan, Semel instructed his assistant to prepare a resume of Brosnan, surprised that even Harrison Ford was vying for Daenerys Entertainment's projects and didn't close the deal.
But then he realized.
Starting in the late 70s, the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" franchises kept Harrison Ford as one of Hollywood's rare A-list stars.
However, the release of "Indiana Jones 3" at the end of the month meant that Ford's two main cards would fall silent for a long time. Ford's films outside these two franchises hadn't been particularly successful, and to maintain his status after their hiatus, he would naturally seek high-potential projects.
Leaving the screening room with his assistant, Simon hadn't returned from the "Pretty Woman" set, only sending an invitation to a cocktail party that evening.
Returning to Los Angeles, Simon took a brief weekend break before diving back into work.
His first tasks were "The Bodyguard" and "The Sixth Sense."
The post-production for both films was almost complete, and Simon hadn't entirely let go of these projects while in Melbourne, with the final results meeting his expectations. This week, Simon personally adjusted some details of both films, and they would be submitted to the MPAA for rating next week.
Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston's "The Bodyguard" had its first TV trailer out, scheduled for release on June 2nd, with 2021 screens.
"The Sixth Sense," planned for release on June 30th, had already started its promotional campaign, but the final phase of its strategy had yet to be finalized.
Simon required strict secrecy regarding "The Sixth Sense" plot during production.
To this day, apart from a few core members of the crew, many supporting actors didn't even know the full plot of "The Sixth Sense." However, after viewing the final cut, executives like Amy and Ray felt that aside from the final plot twist, the film seemed quite ordinary, lacking standout features.
If it weren't for the fact that Simon himself wrote the screenplay and Robert De Niro was in the cast, Amy might even suggest adjusting "The Sixth Sense"'s release date to Simon.
John Hughes's "Uncle Buck," according to Amy, had a promising rough cut, but its post-production wouldn't be completed until mid-June, forcing the release date to be set for August 11th, at the tail end of the summer season.
Additionally, John Hughes's second film of the year, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," was already in production. This film, starting after "Uncle Buck" wrapped up, was funded by Warner Bros. and planned for a Christmas release.
Simon's original purpose of collaborating with John Hughes on "Uncle Buck" was "Home Alone," retaining a first-choice agreement for Hughes's scripts.
"National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" was first offered to Daenerys Entertainment, which Simon naturally declined.
However, with the post-production of "Uncle Buck" well underway, there was still no sign of the "Home Alone" script inspired by "Uncle Buck" in the original timeline, nor had Macaulay Culkin appeared in "Uncle Buck."
Simon planned to wait until the end of the year. If John Hughes still hadn't produced the "Home Alone" script, he would have to reluctantly 'step in.'
After spending the afternoon at headquarters with Semel watching some footage, Simon visited the "Pretty Woman" set before leaving work.
Aside from not reusing Richard Gere, "Pretty Woman" largely kept the original team.
Simon's reason for discarding Gere was similar to his decision not to consider Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct." As for Pierce Brosnan, although he was best known as James Bond in the original timeline, his tall, handsome appearance and British gentlemanly charm perfectly matched the role of Edward Lewis, the debonair Wall Street financier.
The cocktail party that evening was held at the Palisades mansion.
After being away from North America for several months, reconnecting with everyone was necessary.
Normally, Janet would be in charge of organizing such events, but with her in Australia, Simon wanted to delegate it to Catherine.
However, in recent months, Catherine had been helping Simon oversee the construction of the Point Dume estate. After Simon's collapse, she flew to Melbourne immediately, and with previous events, even the gossip tabloids no longer teased about their public closeness. However, the bashful Catherine always remained in denial.
Upon Simon's return to Los Angeles, Catherine, who had been staying at Janet's villa east of Point Dume, flew to New York, citing preparations for her next film. Clearly not intending to collaborate with Daenerys Entertainment this time, she seemed set on drawing a clear line.
In the end, the preparation of the cocktail party fell on Jennifer.
Jennifer, also thin-skinned, took the matter seriously as official business, even drafting the guest list with Amy's assistant, Vanessa. Thus, the originally small-scale cocktail party turned into a bustling business event.
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