บท 83: Jack's anxiety

"Six movie tickets, thank you."

Standing at the entrance of the movie theater, Jack couldn't help raising his head when he paid for the movie tickets of his friends, staring at the poster in front of him with an admiring look.

The time has come to December 5th, and "The Lives of Others" is finally released. This is the first time that Jack has participated in a film with such a large investment, and it is also the first time that he has more than ten lines in a movie. Although he is not the protagonist, such a role has already made him quite excited.

Only with a successful start will there be a bright future. This movie is just a supporting role. Maybe he can have more roles in the next movie? The black movie poster is divided into two parts, the first half is the big head of Wesler with earphones eavesdropping, and the lower half is the hug of the other two protagonists in the room. Looking up at the big poster, he wondered, maybe next time, even if he can't have a huge headshot on the poster like Kevin Spacey, he can at least have a chance to show himself like the two people below, right?

Jack has always wanted to be famous, and since the day he came to Hollywood, his idea has not changed. Especially relying on the success of Enigma Company which his friends have started, his desire to become a star has become stronger and stronger.

With this longing, he forced several of his friends to watch this movie. Compared with him, there are more important people among them: the director, leading actress, screenwriter, and film editor are all here, but if it is asked who is the most interested in the movie, no one can compare with him. "Movie tickets already bought... oh Alex! Can't you stop calling people for a second? I know you're busy these days, but can't you spare 2 hours to watch a movie with us? This is a movie starring me."

"This is also a movie released by our company—I still have to keep an eye on the movie's box office," Alexander complained, with some dissatisfaction on his face. At such an important moment as the release of the film, as the person in charge of the film company, instead of waiting for the news from the box office in the company, he went to the cinema to watch the movie. In his opinion, it was a bit unscrupulous. He was reluctantly dragged into this matter, "There is a copy in the company. Why can't we watch there?"

"Watching a movie in a movie theater is different." Levi said with a smile, following Jack's footsteps and walking inside, "But Jack, you are too anxious. Charlie is still starring. She is not in a hurry. What are you in a hurry for?"

"She is the main lead and is already popular, and the audience is full of praise for her. I'm a man, an actor who doesn't have audience popularity, and it's a miserable mess," Jack said, looking at Theron, who was snuggling next to Levi, a little depressed.

In the process of becoming famous, women have many more excellent channels than men. Especially those beautiful women always have many opportunities. After "The Lives of Others" was sent to the media for a small-scale trial screening, it immediately caused a sensation. After the media dubbed the film "the best film contender of the year," "profound reflection on human nature," etc., Theron's beauty also attracted people's attention when words such as "society's deep thinking" were used. Others don't know, but Jack is very clear: Many companies have already contacted Theron, wanting to let her endorse their products after the movie.

Jack doesn't have such good luck. If he wants to become famous, he still has to rely on his acting skills.

It's a pity that people's box office estimates were not so optimistic after the test screening. Kevin Spacey is not an actor with strong box office appeal, and the other leading actors and directors are all newcomers. Although this movie is well received by film critics, how much box office can it get in front of the audience? It's still hard to say.

At least many media believe that this movie will not be a big hit at the box office.

A good movie does not necessarily make a lot of money: the "L.A. Confidential" released in the summer is also considered a top-notch movie. However, the investment of that movie was 35 million, but the final box office was only 60 million. In addition to taxes, theaters, and distribution company money, this movie is a work that loses money.

Women don't have to worry about box office revenue, but men can't. If they have the nickname of box office poison, it will be very difficult for them to do anything. Not to mention, after the Batman film released this summer fell sharply, the lead actor George Clooney encountered Waterloo all at once. That was Clooney, known as the most handsome man, and he was far behind him.

"I don't expect the movie to make much money, as long as it doesn't lose money..." Walking behind Levi, Jack also muttered.

"Have you finished your nonsense?" Clark made a gesture to make him shut up: several people had already walked into the movie theater, and talking loudly while watching a movie in the movie theater was quite rude.

Jack stopped talking. He raised his head and scanned the audience. The movie was about to start. He found that the attendance rate of the film was quite good. At least 70% of the seats in the theater were full. Such an attendance rate is already very good for a movie like "The Lives of Others."

The box office may not be as bad as people think.

While Jack was thinking, the lights in the auditorium suddenly dimmed. The screen in front of him lit up, and the logo of Universal Pictures appeared on it, which made Jack suddenly interested.

The movie begins.

The logo faded away, and a line of text appeared on the black screen.

"During East Germany, people lived under the strict surveillance of the Stasi. The 100,000 employees and 200,000 intelligence network ensured that the organization knew everything." The subtitle is very short, only one sentence, but this sentence already has enough to introduce many things. The subtitles faded, and the pictures began to appear.

At the beginning of the movie, there is a dark corridor. The policeman is holding the prisoner's arm and marching in the corridor. On both sides of the corridor, there are exactly the same wooden doors, and there is no second sound except the sound of shoes; a chilling, cold, spy vibe is suddenly created.

The two walked in the corridor for a few seconds, and when the monotonous sound and picture were a little tiresome, the two stopped.

"Stop, bow your head!" Following the policeman's words, the prisoner lowered his head, and at this moment, at the end of the camera, a person walked past the front of the corridor—this was for the sake of secrecy so that no one could see the Stasi internal staff.

Seeing this scene in the movie theater's dark environment is chilling - Jack found that this movie was far better than he had imagined.

"Sit down, put your hands on the chair, palms down." Although the prisoner walked into the room, Wiesler's unwavering voice sounded in the interrogation room, kicking off the movie.

Immediately, there was a cross-shot, two different scenes; on the one hand, Wiesler was interrogating the prisoner, and on the other side, Wiesler was explaining the main points of the interrogation to the students. In the short beginning, people already knew that Wiesler was interrogating the prisoner. Wiesler's identity: the special police of East Germany, an elite-level agent who has considerable status and can teach the secret police.

Immediately, the following action also illustrates this point. Wiesler is teaching the students experience, telling them how to analyze whether the prisoner is lying and how to destroy the prisoner's will.

In this paragraph, the actor Kevin Spacey's performance is impeccable. His whole person is very indifferent and quite rigid. He has been acting in crime-related movies for the past two years. He has his own understanding and analysis of this aspect. He performed the image of a cold-blooded agent flawlessly. Not only he but even the people who were sitting in the interrogation room and being interrogated also made people secretly applaud.

"I've said it all, I've really said it all..." The actor was on the chair, already crying.

Well done, Levi said inwardly. In order to play this role well, the actor in the movie really made a request to the crew, did not sleep for 48 hours in a row under the intense light, and experienced the fatigue and pain of the interrogated personnel. He has a very good understanding of this kind of torture. It was only through experience that such a play was staged.

Although young, this actor, named Michael Fassbender, is definitely working hard.

"What did you do that day..." The tone of the question was still quite calm, and then, the narration, without any emotion, sounded, "If you insist on not telling, you will be arrested, and your wife will also be arrested. You will be arrested, and your two daughters will be sent to an orphanage..."

The continuous increase made the prisoner collapse, and Wiesler obtained the information he wanted. Then, amidst the amazement of the students, he was not complacent but continued to explain how to keep the scent bottle so that he could catch the prisoner later.

After seeing such a class, the audience watching the movie also began to have some commotion.

Obviously, through this teaching process, the image of Wiesler's cold, ruthless, shrewd, and capable secret police has become very clear.

In the beginning, only one protagonist appeared for the entire five minutes, but it was an extremely slow progress. However, this beginning is definitely worth it.

*****

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