Chapter 682 682 The Matthew Effect
Matthew Effect (Matthew. Effect) originated from a sentence in the "Bible - Matthew's Gospel", "If anyone has, he will be added to make him redundant; if there is none, even what he has will be taken away. From this, sociologists have derived the concept of "Matthew effect" to describe the phenomenon of polarization prevailing in the field of social life.
The so-called Matthew effect, further explained, means that the stronger the stronger and the weaker the weaker, after a person achieves success, subsequent luck will follow, and vice versa. In short, it can be understood that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
The same applies to the Matthew effect in Hollywood. When a director or actor achieves success in succession, all successes will come one after another, and then seize the opportunities of success one by one to be among the top ranks; and when a director or actor has experienced failure, there are often only three things, he 's career will slide into a trough, and then fall into a quagmire that is getting worse and worse. The phenomenon of polarization is widely distributed to every corner of society.
Hugo is currently the one who keeps accumulating negative effects in the Matthew Effect. Even the success of four consecutive works still cannot reverse the negative impression in the eyes of the media, not only because of the bad downturn in the past three years, but also because of this. There is no pattern to the success of the four works.
"Smell the Fragrance and Know a Woman", "The Righteous Sea", "Sleepless in Seattle", and "Schindler's List" can be said to be four different types of works, and the factors for their ultimate success are also different. "Smell and Know a Woman" was achieved by Al Pacino, "Righteous Sea" was developed by Rodney King, "Sleepless in Seattle" was a romantic comedy, and "Schindler's List" was The strong Jewish support, and the difference in trajectories of success, means that success is difficult to replicate.
Therefore, it is bound to be difficult for the media to reverse the negative impression of Hugo at the first time. In addition, the "Pulp Fiction" that has just been completed and the "Speed of Life and Death" that is about to start shooting are still completely different from the trajectories of the previous four works, so this time The negative response from the media is to be expected.
"Variety" magazine, which has always been known for its seriousness and rigor, expressed incomprehension to Hugo's choice, "When Lancaster chose 'life and death', it also means that he is willing to try action movies again, It's a good thing. This young actor with the handsome face and acting skills of Marlon Brando, and the athleticism of Harrison Ford, we can't wait to see him on the big screen. show.
But the question is, is 'life and death speed' really the best choice? Cinematographer-turned-Jean-de-Bont has no directing experience, and is best known for his aggressive cinematography, but not really recognized; while the writers and producers are both first-time filmmakers , it is really difficult to make people feel trust.
If Lancaster is willing to shoot action movies, I believe Hollywood can at least provide him with countless scripts to choose from. Now is the golden age of action movies. In the past three years, a total of 35 works of the same type have been produced. There are at least nineteen action movies known to have been approved.
There are so many choices, including big productions and luxurious casts, as well as excellent scripts and innovative themes, but Lancaster chose 'life and death speed', a work that does not see any advantages, any highlights, or any value. incomprehensible.
This is Lancaster's second unintelligible pick in the past six months, the last 'Pulp Fiction' and Quentin Tarantino to look forward to, just $250,000 The remuneration has shocked Hollywood so far, leaving many top production companies unable to find a reasonable explanation; and this time there is no reason for the 'life and death speed'.
With the great success of four consecutive works, Lancaster has ushered in a golden opportunity for his career to reach the top, but in the face of such an opportunity, he made an inexplicable choice twice in a row. How will it develop in the future? Unpredictable. "
It can be seen from the comments of "Variety Show" that although on the surface there are various speculations and doubts about Hugo's choice, in essence, there is no expectation for the script of "speed of life and death", and it can even be said that It is to degrade the level of the entire "life and death speed", which is a very common situation in Hollywood, and it is not uncommon.
In the final analysis, "Variety" still believes that Hugo's choice of "life and death speed" was a very bad decision.
Another authoritative media in the Hollywood industry, "The Hollywood Reporter", also expressed a similar view to that of "Variety", but their rhetoric was more intense, and they asked in a sarcastic way, "Is Lancaster choosing to commit suicide? ?"
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Lancaster chose the $8 million 'Pulp Fiction' first, and then the $28 million 'Life and Death,' and it seems that overnight, Hugo It is inseparable from low-cost independent films. With today's rising film production costs, Lancaster has rejected all invitations for works that cost more than 60 million yuan, and devoted himself to low-cost production. This makes one wonder: Did Lancaster give up career development?
After experiencing the fiasco of three consecutive high-investment works such as 'Hudson's Eagle', Lancaster seems to have fallen into a situation of panic, and he is now more stubbornly sticking to the field of low-cost works, which is actually In a move to reduce the risk of the work, if the work fails, the losses will not be so painful; but once the work is successful, it will be a beautiful turnaround battle.
There is no doubt that this can be regarded as a sensible strategy, but it seems limited, conservative and unmotivated, which is definitely not the best way to survive in a competitive Hollywood. In the face of discerning audiences, troublesome critics, and demanding professionals, such a conservative and cautious choice will only dim Lancaster's aura of superstardom.
Perhaps, the low-cost 'speed of life and death' is not a big problem even if it fails, but Lancaster has ignored another thing. Continuing to participate in low-cost production will only make the stars around Lancaster gradually disappear. And then little by little, his chances of becoming a top superstar were wiped out. So, maybe, he's on the road to self-destruction. "
"Hollywood Reporter" is not too harsh on "speed of life and death", but uses the adjective "suicide" to express disapproval of Hugo's choice. In fact, the core focus of their focus is that Hugo did not accept 15 million The US dollar salary to perform in a big production, giving up the opportunity to become a top existence, is a fatal blow to Hugo's future career development.
But in other words, "The Hollywood Reporter", like "Variety", is not optimistic that "Life and Death" can break the fixed thinking and achieve success.
More than The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article with the headline "Another question-marked choice for Lancaster, its second straight failure?"
"USA Today" reported the "speed of life and death" this time with news with ironic headlines such as "28 million US dollars investment ushered in 'Mr. 10 million'".
"Entertainment Weekly" chose "Lancaster's collision with rookie director, rookie screenwriter, rookie producer, reckless or visionary?" For a discussion, at the end of the news, they concluded that "Hugo Too eager to prove yourself is likely to be self-defeating, and I just hope that this failure will not bring 'Hudson's Eagle'-style consequences."
The headline of the "New York Post", which had sparked a spark with Hugo in the previous encounters, was very direct, "Self-destructing choice, Vanity Fair lost its way." They believed that Hugo was now too confident in his box office appeal and chose There is a reason for the "speed of life and death". "What the low salary has in exchange is bound to be Lancaster's right to speak to the crew, and Lancaster's presence can be seen in the joining of Bullock and DiCaprio." , commented that Hugo is gradually reaching out to the field of production, showing his arrogant side. The success of four consecutive works obviously made Hugo completely lost his way. "This will be a disaster."
On the whole, professional media are generally not optimistic about the development prospects of "Life and Death", and even think that it is a disaster even more terrible than "Pulp Fiction". After all, "Life and Death" is a purely commercial movie. If it fails, then everything has failed. There is no room for Hugo's acting skills, and there is no other room for manoeuvre. The box office will be life and death.
When Nicholas McLen read these news reports, he couldn't help but find it very interesting, watching his colleagues in the media under the banner of thinking of Hugo, and then bombarded Hugo, directly confirming the relationship between him and Hugo For the discussions and judgments of these media, this is really a unique scene for Nicholas.
These news reports were analyzed very powerfully, as if Hugo was really facing a terrible and bad situation, but Nicholas noticed it at a glance, and all the media did not mention the "speed of life" script problem. Although the crew has not announced the details, the outline of the story is enough to see the novelty of this script. This is also the most important reason why Hugo was willing to choose this script, but it was ignored by everyone.
Therefore, the media is really a very magical thing. They chase the facts, but the views reflected from different angles, positions and positions are completely different and even strongly deceptive, even if Nicholas himself is in this industry. One of them couldn't help but feel very interested.
However, Nicholas noticed a very peculiar sight, and he was sure that other media colleagues would soon notice, and even if he didn't notice it this time, it was bound to fully surface the next time.