Hollywood Director 1992

"Ben, what's wrong with your leg?"

As he went downstairs, Link noticed Ben Affleck was limping.

"Ah? It's nothing. I accidentally kicked an iron plate just now. It'll be fine after moving it a few times."

Ben Affleck quickly stomped his feet a few times to show that it wasn't a problem.

"That's good. We'll start filming 'The Blair Witch Project' next week. The filming cycle will be about ten days, so prepare in advance."

Link said as he walked, and introduced Renée Zellweger beside him to the two of them.

The three of them would be filming a movie together next, so it would be convenient to work together if they were familiar with each other.

Arriving at the KFC downstairs of the company, Link ordered some fried chicken and drinks, and chatted with the three about the script while eating.

This script is simpler to film than 'Paranormal Activity'. It's all filmed in real scenes, without the need for background music, lighting, too much acting, or too many props. The requirements for filming are very low.

It really does resemble a documentary more.

What he needed to tell the three of them was that, regardless of whether they believed in the witch in Illinois, when filming this movie, they should try to film it with curiosity, treating the Blair Witch as a real existence.

An evil witch who has lived in the forest for hundreds of years, likes to come out at night, likes to hang many strange ornaments in the woods, and likes to take people to the corner to kill them.

After acknowledging this point, everyone will show excitement and excitement before taking action, and show curiosity, fear, despair, hysteria and other emotions when exploring in the forest.

If the performance is more realistic, the audience will believe that the Blair Witch is real, and will watch the movie with curiosity.

If it's not real, you won't be able to fool the audience.

This is the reason why Link invited them here to eat KFC, to prepare them psychologically before filming, to let them enter the role and invest in the story of the script.

If anyone can't do it, they can quit.

"Link, can I ask you a question?"

Ben Affleck asked while eating fried chicken.

"Ask away, ask anything."

"Link, will anyone watch it if we film like this? Last time when promoting 'Paranormal Activity', you also said it was a real documentary, but it wasn't. Many media outlets accused you of false advertising.

Now that we're filming 'The Blair Witch Project' and using this method, the audience shouldn't be fooled again. If no one watches it, won't this movie lose money?"

Ben Affleck asked.

"Before filming 'Paranormal Activity', I publicly stated that the first few movies were experimental films. I used movies for experiments, not caring about box office or word-of-mouth, and filming completely according to my personal ideas.

It doesn't matter whether anyone watches this movie or not. Even if I know no one will watch it, I will continue to complete this work according to my assumptions."

"Link, your idea is very cool."

Matt Damon said before Ben Affleck could, "This movie doesn't have a high investment. Even if the box office is lower than expected, it won't cause you any losses. Using this kind of script for experiments is indeed very suitable.

In addition, 'Buried' and 'Paranormal Activity' are also your experimental works. As a result, they sold very well after they were released. This 'The Blair Witch Project' also has the potential to be a hit.

In other words, you won't lose anything if this movie fails. If it succeeds, you will have another blockbuster movie. This experiment is very worthwhile."

Link smiled and said, "Matt, you're right. There's also one more point: I'm a new director and I'm not familiar with the various tasks of a director. I need to practice more before I can direct a big production.

The scripts for 'Buried', 'Paranormal Activity', and 'The Blair Witch Project' are very simple and suitable for practice. This is also why I chose to film them."

After hearing his words, Ben Affleck's mouth twitched a few times. Link claimed to be a new director who didn't know how to make movies and needed to practice more.

This sounded very reasonable, with no loopholes at all.

But the movies that this guy used to practice, 'Buried' and 'Paranormal Activity', one created a 3500 times box office return ratio, and the other became the annual box office champion, with a return ratio of more than 20,000 times.

Crushing a group of top Hollywood directors at the box office.

And Link still said that he couldn't make movies and was still practicing.

If this was heard by the group of big directors in the industry, they would definitely go crazy and hate Link to death.

"Ben, do you have any more questions?"

"Oh, no, it's very reasonable to practice with low-cost movies. Directing students in film academies often do this, but they're not as good as you. No one watches the movies they make."

Ben Affleck said.

Renée Zellweger took over and said, "Those directing students in universities are very envious when they see Link making 'Buried' and 'Paranormal Activity' with $20,000 and earning hundreds of millions at the box office.

Now, many directing students in universities are learning from Link, controlling costs to make movies, and then coming to Hollywood to gamble on luck.

Media reports say that Hollywood film companies have received many videotapes from directing students in the past few months, with hundreds of works.

The media also raised a question, who will be the next Link? From now on, Robert Rodriguez is the only director who has succeeded so far."

Link shook his head, not optimistic about those rookie directors who followed the trend. Those people don't have good scripts, solid directing skills, or box office subsidies, and the risk of loss is extremely high.

But thinking that he relied on his own strength to lead many rookie directors astray, it was also a very interesting thing.

Link continued to eat fried chicken, drink beer, and chat with the three about the script.

After Sofia Coppola arrived, Link took a few people to the studio rented by the company for a test shoot, mainly the female lead's departure and the scene where the three actors met.

Nothing is wrong, one first, one inner, one content, one in one look!

The test shoot effect was very poor.

The main reason was that the three of them had not adjusted their mentality, used too much force in front of the camera, and the acting was too obvious, making it look unreal.

"Cut!"

"Renée, don't be too serious when facing the camera. Relax your body a bit. Treat it as if you're shooting a home video. Why don't you try taking selfies with the camera?"

In the room, Link stood behind the camera tripod and said.

"Okay, let me try it."

Renée Zellweger smiled, walked over to adjust the camera a few times, set it to automatic shooting mode, and then took a few steps back, facing the camera and smiling, "Okay, this is my home. I will be leaving here this weekend to visit the legendary Blair Witch. These are the reference books I prepared, including 'Basic Reading: How to Survive in the Forest' and 'Because You Don't Know What's Going to Happen'. This is a very important book. It can explain what happened in Coffey. It looks very old, and this is my wilderness survival notebook."

Renée Zellweger took the camera and filmed a few reference books on the table.

"Cut!"

"Not bad, a little better than the last one, but the sense of immersion is still not strong enough. You need to further strengthen your identification with the role."

"Okay, I will seize the time to prepare."

Renée Zellweger smiled.

Link also tried Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's scenes in the room.

The two were well prepared and knew their lines by heart.

During the test shoot, Ben Affleck was slightly better, because this guy was very relaxed when acting, with a nonchalant look, which happened to fit the character's persona.

And Matt Damon was too serious and not relaxed enough, like he was performing a stage play.

Link chatted with Matt, gave him psychological counseling, and pointed out how to film. The situation in the second test shoot was slightly better.

"Okay, the test shoot is over. Everyone performed better than expected.

If you have no questions, we will officially start filming 'The Blair Witch Project' next Monday. It is expected to take ten days. Please arrange your work accordingly and try not to take leave during filming. Any questions?"

Link asked.

"No! I'm available at any time."

Renée Zellweger shrugged and smiled.

"So are we."

"Okay, today's meeting is over."