hollywood melon man

Chapter 345 Lecture at Beijing Film Academy
“In my more than ten years of career, the question I am asked most often is: Little Gilbert, why do you have so many wild ideas?

My answer to this is that it’s not how good my ideas are, but my ability to turn them into reality.”

"Teacher, is it like The Matrix?" a student asked loudly.

Now, students who attend Gilbert’s lectures can brag to others after they go out, saying that they have attended Gilbert’s lectures, so they are his students.

No matter whether little Gilbert admits it or not, at least here at Beijing Film Academy, little Gilbert has many students all over the world.

Recently, the University of Southern California also wants to hire Gilbert Jr. to return to give lectures as a visiting professor, and Gilbert Jr. is still considering it.

However, he had seen the teacher at the podium with high spirits before, and now he had also had a taste of being a teacher. But there were a lot of students listening to his class. For example, this time, more than a thousand people squeezed into the small auditorium.

Some students even had to stand to listen to little Gilbert's lecture.

This is a rare opportunity to learn and join in the fun, and students certainly won’t miss it.

Therefore, not only students from the Directing Department, but also students from other departments such as the Acting Department and the Photography Department came to join in the fun, which caused the students from the Directing Department to glare at them angrily.

"This is a course for our directing department. Why are you students from the acting department joining in on the fun?"

"Who says that students in the acting department can't take directing classes? Acting and directing complement each other, and director Gilbert Jr. is not exclusive to your directing department."

"Director Gilbert Jr. is the honorary dean of our directing department."

"Director Gilbert Jr. is the honorary president! There's no sign outside the door saying that only students from the directing department can attend the class. Please move in. I want to sit here."

Faced with these scoundrels, the students of the Directing Department felt like their things were being robbed, but there was nothing they could do because the teachers and school leaders didn’t say anything!
However, when Gilbert Jr. came to give lectures at the school, the people who were most shocked were the freshmen who had just enrolled.

I used to hear from senior students that young Gilbert would come to the school to give lectures every September and October, but the freshmen were skeptical.

But I didn't expect to see little Gilbert himself, alive.

Little Gilbert is a legend, much more famous than the group of directors like Chen Zichen.

This is thanks to the "Lord of the Rings" series. If this series of films had not been filmed on Chinese soil and achieved world-renowned results, Gilbert Jr. would not be so well-known here.

Facing the students' questions, Gilbert Jr. spoke frankly: "Many people dream of impressing the top executives of film companies with a sophisticated script, but it is actually unlikely.

If "The Matrix" was written by a new screenwriter or director, it would definitely not be released to the audience so soon.

But when I proposed this project, the film company would definitely invest in it based on their trust in me.

So I advise all young people to never dream of soaring to the sky without making any preparations.

Some people said that I got my first directing opportunity because of my relationship with director Spielberg, which is true. But if I hadn’t been well prepared, I would have failed the first time.

For a young director, the price of failure may be silence for more than a decade without any opportunities.

So whether it’s through connections, or someone important appreciates you, or a film company takes a fancy to you, adequate preparation is the prerequisite for success.”

Gilbert Jr. spoke from the bottom of his heart, telling the truth, and he did not hide the fact that he got his first directing opportunity through connections.

For these students, the way out is to face the reality, still hold on to their ideals, and strive to find every opportunity.

As for the various problems you will face after leaving school, that will be a matter for the future.

The class lasted more than two hours, and later Gilbert interacted with the students and answered some of their questions.

For example, when it comes to creative problems faced by directors and screenwriters, Gilbert Jr.’s answer is: “The first thing you need to convince is the film company, so that they have enough trust in you and do not interfere with your creation.

If you feel you have enough creativity in choosing a topic, then go for it boldly; it’s best to propose an idea that doesn’t cost a lot.

Looking back at the development history of the film industry, we will discover a truth, that is, the larger the investment, the more similar the film models are. This is actually related to the conservatism of film companies.

Because film companies don’t dare to take risks on a film project that costs more than a hundred million dollars, and try out new ideas, they can only make films based on past successful models.”

"Teacher, is this also the reason why there are so few original Hollywood movies?" a student asked.

"There are actually quite a few original films," Gilbert Jr. explained, "but original films are more concentrated in small and medium-budget productions. Big-budget A-level films rarely see original films, and few original films are successful."

A student below exclaimed: "But actually, teacher, you have quite a few original films. I have watched many of your films."

"But my most successful work so far is actually The Lord of the Rings series, which was adapted from a novel, isn't it?" laughed Gilbert Jr.

"That's true..." The student thought about it and it seemed to be true.

"Chicago," which won Gilbert the Oscar for Best Director, was adapted from a Broadway musical, and the highest-grossing "The Lord of the Rings" was adapted from a novel.

This really proves that adapted movies have an advantage in mainstream commercial movies, which is unmatched by original movies. Of course, this does not mean that original movies are necessarily inferior to adapted movies. Although The Matrix is ​​not as popular at the box office as The Lord of the Rings series and has not won as many awards as Chicago, it has already left its mark in the history of science fiction movies.

From now on, whenever anyone mentions Hollywood science fiction movies, Gilbert Jr.'s "The Matrix" will be mentioned.

It is worth mentioning that "The Matrix Reloaded", the sequel to "The Matrix" directed by James Gunn, has currently grossed US$7.46 million worldwide, which is a very good result.

"The Matrix Revolutions" is scheduled to be released in early July next summer and will continue to reap box office revenue.

Warner's TV department has some ideas for this series. They want to make a series that tells the story before "The Matrix".

Gilbert Jr. has communicated with Warner's TV drama department and provided them with some ideas, including the war between humans and robot AI, how robot AI will win, how the world will become like this, etc.

One good thing about working in Hollywood is that you don’t have to deal with the worry of the big scissors. Although you can’t shoot whatever you want, at least there are no restrictions on most subjects.

If a similar film or TV series is made in China, Old Tian told Little Gilbert, the higher-ups will think it is the end of the world, which means we no longer exist. This is absolutely not possible...

So, sometimes the creator's ideas and the person in charge's ideas conflict with each other, which is very annoying.

Of course, the situation is different, and we cannot use this as an excuse to attack the Scissors. It turns out that despite the restrictions, talented directors can still make good films.

Hollywood doesn't have many restrictions, but it still produces a lot of bad movies.

Ultimately, the creation of a film has something to do with restrictions and policies, but the human mind is the decisive factor.

If the industry is underdeveloped, you can develop it; if you don’t have the technology, you can learn it; the biggest problem is that you don’t have the brains.

Unfortunately, few people realize this.

There is also a very interesting thing. After "The Matrix" became a hit, a Brazilian cartoonist stood up and accused Gilbert Jr. of plagiarizing his unpublished comic manuscripts and demanded compensation.

This kind of thing is ridiculous. If the manuscript has not been published, how would young Gilbert know the story in his manuscript unless the cartoonist showed it to a friend and the friend sold it to young Gilbert?

There is never a shortage of people in this world who want to join in the fun and try to make trouble, and this Brazilian cartoonist is no fool.

He simply used this incident to attract attention to himself. There are many similar things in Hollywood.

Disney and Warner are even more anxious about this than Gilbert Jr., so just let the legal department handle it!

After finishing his lectures at Nortel, Gilbert Jr. also ended his trip to China and embarked on his journey back to North America.

He returned to North America in mid-October, when the North American box office of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was $5.79 million. At this stage, the film could actually be withdrawn from the theaters.

After all, Warner and Disney both plan to release the DVD of "The Two Towers" in November, so there is no point in waiting any longer.

The fact that North America is still maintaining small-scale screenings is entirely due to the excellent work done by Disney and Warner in retaining the number of theaters in order to obtain Oscar nominations.

During this period, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" has earned more than 1 million US dollars in box office overseas, officially pushing the film's global box office over 15 billion US dollars to 15 billion US dollars.

It seems unlikely to break the $16 billion box office, but this box office is enough to ensure that "The Two Towers" wins the North American and global box office championship this year.

However, such titles are useless to Gilbert Jr. Others would be excited for a long time when they won the weekly box office champion, but he won the annual box office champion, which was as easy as drinking water.

As "The Two Towers" is about to end its theatrical journey, just like last year, countless movie fans are undoubtedly looking forward to "The Return of the King".

On October 20, Gilbert Jr. announced on his social media account that the upcoming DVD of "The Two Towers" will include half an hour of deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes footage.

The deluxe edition DVD will also feature the trailer for "The Return of the King" for the first time.

This undoubtedly whetted the appetite of movie fans, and they are full of anticipation for the upcoming DVD.

In addition, Gilbert Jr. also revealed that he is about to produce a low-budget film, and all the work left for "The Return of the King" is promotion and distribution.

As a person who can't sit still, Gilbert Jr. said he wanted to make a low-budget movie to pass this boring time.

At the end, Gilbert Jr. also revealed that he will shoot a story about pirates next year.

He dreamed of becoming a pirate and having adventures since he was a child, but his dream never came true, so he hoped to make a movie to realize his dream.

However, the latter two pieces of information did not attract the attention of movie fans, as everyone's attention was focused on "The Return of the King".

As the North American distributor, Disney announced the release date of "The Return of the King" early on, which will be released on the first weekend of the summer season in May next year.

When faced with this powerful opponent, other film companies have only one strategy: hide, the farther the better.

Everyone knows that next year will be the final chapter of "The Lord of the Rings Series", and the film will burst with incredible energy by then.

(End of this chapter)