Chapter 155: Talking Nonsense with a Straight Face
Chapter 155: Talking Nonsense with a Straight Face
On July 10, the first-week box office for Running Out of Time was officially released. Although George Nosen’s article had stirred up a wave of doubt among the public, the film’s own reputation had not been affected much. More than seventy percent of film reviews praised the movie. Therefore, despite the continued pressure from the still-popular Batman, Running Out of Time still took in more than twenty-seven million dollars over its first three-day weekend. Columbia had mixed feelings about this figure.
The good news was that, during the summer season, weekday box office usually accounted for forty to fifty percent of the entire week’s box office. Running Out of Time still had a chance to break the forty-million-dollar mark in its first seven days. Although it definitely could not match the astonishing forty-five-million first-week result of Ghostbusters II because of Batman, this number was already enough to let the Columbia executives, who had been worrying about Running Out of Time’s box office for half a month, sleep well. If the first week reached forty million, then the total box office still had a good chance of breaking two hundred million dollars.
The worry, however, came from the precedent set by Ghostbusters II. Columbia was very afraid that this film would follow in Ghostbusters II’s footsteps and suffer a box office drop of more than fifty percent in its second week. Although no blockbuster like Batman would appear afterward, after just experiencing Ghostbusters II’s sharp rise and fall at the box office, it was inevitable for Columbia to have this kind of concern. Movies were like gambling. No one knew what would happen next.
Therefore, when the storm caused by George Nosen’s questioning article had only just begun, Columbia quickly treated it like a serious threat and gathered all its executives to discuss countermeasures. The consequences of such a matter were difficult to predict. Perhaps people would read it, laugh and chat about it for a few moments, then forget it. But Columbia also discovered that many sides did not seem willing to let this argument be so easily ignored. In only a few short days, quite a few media outlets had begun fanning the flames.
They absolutely would not allow Running Out of Time, which originally had strong momentum, to be affected by this wave of doubt. Moreover, Columbia had already decided to adopt Eric’s suggestion of “topic marketing,” using the film’s product placements and the television clips from Eric’s series as hype topics to push the second-week box office higher. But for this plan to be carried out smoothly, this wave of doubt had to be clarified first. Otherwise, the topic marketing would be very difficult to achieve the expected effect, and it might even overlap with the previous doubts to create an even worse situation.
While the executives were troubling over how to clarify that Running Out of Time was not the work of a ghost director, the small box of videotapes Eric had carried into the conference room immediately made everyone’s eyes light up. After playing several sections of the tapes, everyone quickly settled on a countermeasure.
Inside the Los Angeles branch office building of CBS, Eric was making final preparations with a female host named Sophia Temple. They would soon record a program called The Sophia Talk Show. If they wanted to clarify the doubts as quickly as possible, what method could be more convincing than playing set footage on a talk show in front of millions of viewers?
When one executive proposed this suggestion, the first thing Eric thought of was the famous Oprah Winfrey Show. After all, that program was simply too well-known. Unfortunately, this idea was quickly dismissed, because each season of The Oprah Winfrey Show aired from September of each year to May of the following year. Right now, it happened to be during the program’s hiatus. Moreover, even if The Oprah Winfrey Show were not on hiatus, arranging a schedule within a few short days would not be very likely.
Settling for the next best option, Columbia quickly arranged another program called The Sophia Talk Show through CBS, with whom they had a good relationship. This talk show was clearly imitating The Oprah Winfrey Show. Unfortunately, Eric had never heard of it in his previous life.
Sophia Temple was a very elegant white woman. She wore a tasteful burgundy business suit, with black hair, blue eyes, and a high, straight nose bridge. Eric felt that her appearance somewhat resembled Courteney Cox from Friends in his previous life, only she had a bit more scholarly air than Courteney Cox.
After speaking with her, Eric also understood why this talk show had remained unknown in his previous life. This follow-the-trend production probably would not last very long.
Because Sophia Temple’s personality was very refined, and her manner of speaking was proper and measured. Eric guessed that she must have come from a wealthy family and received a full elite education. Although this woman was talented, her personality was somewhat conservative. Therefore, Eric felt that she was better suited to the kind of serious, high-end interview program that interviewed entrepreneurs, scientists, or government officials, not this kind of talk show that required interaction with guests and the ability to stir up the audience’s atmosphere.
In comparison, Oprah, who came from the bottom of society, was different. In order to stir up her program’s influence, she could expose her childhood experience of being sexually assaulted by relatives, perform all kinds of exaggerated funny actions on the spot, and cry or laugh with guests on the spot. Eric was certain that the conservative Sophia Temple could not do any of these things.
“Ms. Temple, Mr. Williams, the set is ready. We can begin recording.” A staff member pushed open the dressing room door and said this to Eric and Sophia, who were discussing the details.
Eric and Sophia left the dressing room side by side and walked toward the studio.
“When it comes to directors, the first impression that appears in many people’s minds is surely those old men with big beards, messy hair, and eccentric personalities. But starting last year, an outlier appeared in Hollywood’s circle of directors. Not only is he young and handsome, he is also extraordinarily talented. Even more surprising is that this young man’s consecutive films have all achieved jaw-dropping box office results. Heh, I’m sure everyone already knows who he is. Now, please welcome today’s guest, Mr. Eric Williams.”
After a practiced opening speech, and at Sophia’s signal, Eric walked in again while holding the small box. The production team had originally suggested simply placing the box of videotapes onstage beforehand, but Eric refused. The main purpose of appearing on this program was to clarify the ghost director rumor, so naturally, the deeper the impression left on the audience, the better.
Amid the screams of the girls below the stage, Eric smiled and waved at the camera before sitting down with Sophia.
“Eric, are these gifts you prepared for everyone? Do you want me to help hand them out?” Sophia smiled and pointed at the box Eric had brought in.
Before Eric could answer, the girls below the stage excitedly screamed again. A few even could not help standing up to look at what was inside the box.
Eric pressed his hands down slightly in embarrassment, signaling for everyone to quiet down before explaining, “Sorry, everyone. I came in too much of a hurry today and couldn’t prepare gifts. As for these, they’re just some videotapes. As for the contents, I’ll keep them secret for now. There’ll be a surprise for everyone later.”
Although quite a few people in the audience let out disappointed sighs, they still quieted down.
Next, Sophia and Eric began the standard talk show interview process: getting familiar, reminiscing about childhood, looking back on the past, savoring the present, and looking toward the future.
Most of the questions had been discussed in advance. In this regard, Sophia was indeed just as Eric had judged earlier: relatively conservative. Even the occasional sudden minor question did not make Eric feel the slightest bit difficult to handle.
After chatting about Eric’s past for more than ten minutes, the two began shifting the topic toward the focus of this interview.
“Eric, many people say that compared with your previous films, Running Out of Time’s style changed a little too drastically. What do you personally think of these evaluations?”
Eric stared at Sophia’s pretty face and began talking nonsense with a straight face. “Actually, to be honest, the appearance of my previous films all involved a great deal of coincidence. At the time, my father suddenly passed away, and I had no choice but to drop out of school and work at a small restaurant. But that wasn’t the life I wanted. I had been very interested in movies since I was little, so the script for Back to Seventeen came about. Back to Seventeen was something I prepared for myself because I wanted to enter Hollywood. Home Alone was inspired when I was chatting with little Stu. One night, the little guy came to my house to visit. At the time, I was filming Back to Seventeen, and little Stu asked me whether he could also act in a movie. I said yes, and so Home Alone appeared. The creation of Pretty Woman’s script was also very coincidental. So, Running Out of Time is the film I truly and completely wanted to make from the bottom of my heart. I had the idea of making this film a very long time ago. For this reason, I even invited Mr. Tom Hanks before filming Pretty Woman.”
“Oh, so your previous films were all just casual side projects? If a lot of directors in Hollywood heard what you just said, many of them would be heartbroken.” Sophia asked teasingly, and laughter once again rose from the audience. If Eric had really casually produced several films with astonishing box office results, many Hollywood directors who had struggled for years would probably want to run headfirst into a wall.
Eric quickly smiled and denied it. “Of course that’s not the case. For every previous film, I worked hard and put my heart into it. I think that if a person wants to achieve something, one very important thing is that even if you aren’t very interested in something, you still have to work hard to do it well.”
Sophia nodded thoughtfully. “Eric, although you’re still so young, with your achievements, you definitely won’t face too many restraints and limitations when making films from now on. Does that mean your future films will all be in the style of Running Out of Time?”
“No. I prefer trying new things, so my future films will definitely be varied. I also don’t want to be labeled as a certain type of film director at such a young age.”
“But over the past few days, I’ve heard a viewpoint like this: even the most outstanding master directors will definitely have similar elements appear across their films. But some newspapers have analyzed that Running Out of Time has not even the slightest common point with your previous films. It’s like... like they were made by two different people.” Sophia gazed at Eric and raised this relatively sharp topic.
The audience immediately held their breath. In fact, many people had already guessed why Eric had come to participate in this talk show, so they were very curious about how Eric would defend himself.