Hollywood Director 1992

"Link, the movie is about to be released. Are you nervous?"

At the entrance of the cinema, Chris Bauer paced back and forth, looking very anxious.

"Not nervous."

"You spent so much money promoting the movie. What if the box office numbers are too bad? All the money you made from 'Buried' will be lost."

"It's okay. If I lose it, I'll earn it back."

West Hollywood, the Museum of Art Cinema, the premiere of "Paranormal Activity" is being held here this afternoon.

The reason for holding the premiere here, instead of the AMC Theater at The Grove shopping center, is because this cinema is closer to the University of California, less than a kilometer away.

Besides this one, all 14 cinemas showing the film at the same time are also near major universities in various cities.

The reason is simple.

Before the film's release, the company submitted it to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for rating.

After review, it was rated R, meaning restricted, with viewers under 17 requiring a parent or adult guardian.

This film contains no pornography, profanity, or bloody violence, and could have originally applied for a PG-13 rating.

However, during the review, the MPAA considered the film's plot too terrifying to meet the requirements for PG-13.

The audience for R-rated movies is mostly young people who like adventure and excitement.

When they see classic horror movies, they are happy to share them with the people around them.

Releasing the film in cinemas near universities can ensure box office success on the one hand, and facilitate dissemination and promotion on the other.

As for this premiere.

Because in the publicity, "Paranormal Activity" is considered a documentary of a true event, the male protagonist is dead, the female protagonist is missing, there is no director, no screenwriter, and Guessing Game Pictures only obtained the rights to screen the film.

If Link attends with Monica, Jeremy Northam, and others, it would ruin the film's sense of mystery.

So, there is no red carpet or entrance ceremony.

At the premiere, Link and Guessing Game Pictures invited hundreds of film critics and media reporters to attend, as well as 62 enthusiastic readers who had written ghost stories for newspapers during the promotion period.

As well as Jim Carrey, Sofia Coppola, Renée Zellweger, TNT host Billy Crystal, and others.

When Link did an interview on TNT, he publicly stated that he would shoot a movie with a handheld camera and invited Billy Crystal to watch it.

Today is the day to fulfill that promise.

"Billy, welcome."

Inside the cinema, Link reached out and shook hands with Billy Crystal.

"Haha, Link, I'm a host, so I'm pretty direct. If the new movie isn't to my liking, don't blame me for saying bad things about it on TV."

"No problem. You can say whatever you want, but I think you'll like this movie."

"Haha, I hope you're right."

After seeing Billy Crystal off, Link continued to greet the others.

Including Aaron Couch, deputy editor of The Hollywood Reporter, Ross Stanton, entertainment editor of the Los Angeles Times, Max Blumenthal, editor of the Herald Tribune, and famous journalist Thomas Miller.

As well as famous Los Angeles film critics Ruthe Stein, William Wolf, Justin Chang, and others.

Some of these people are writers, some are journalists, filmmakers, and some are members of the National Society of Film Critics.

Before the advent of the Internet age, newspapers and magazines had a large audience.

These film critics, who often publish reviews in newspapers, have great influence in the film industry's public opinion, similar to 'opinion leaders'.

Some unpopular movies become popular movies under their recommendation, such as "Mean Streets" and "Unbalanced Life."

Some popular movies become big flops under their criticism.

There are many such movies, and almost all commercial movies are criticized by them.

Link maintained a calm attitude towards these film critics, because he knew what he wanted now, which was more US dollars, luxury cars, mansions, partners, and a stable and luxurious life.

Honor is secondary.

As long as the movie's box office is good enough, it doesn't matter if someone criticizes it in the newspaper.

"Hey, Link!"

Link had just seen off an important guest when someone tapped his left shoulder from behind. He looked back to the left, and someone tapped his right shoulder again. Giggles came from behind, seemingly from more than one person.

"Hi, Sofia, thank you for helping to brush the dust off my clothes. You're so nice."

"Who helped you brush off dust? I just wanted to test your reaction ability. The result of the test is that you are very clumsy."

Sofia Coppola smiled smugly.

The person who came was Sofia. Today, she changed into a more formal outfit, a black silk suspender dress, high heels, with long golden-brown hair draped over her shoulders, wearing a string of pearl necklaces and a rose gold bracelet.

She was dressed very ladylike, but the tone and actions were far from the word ladylike.

Her companion was a tall girl, eighteen or nineteen years old, with long golden-brown hair, fair skin, and a relatively three-dimensional Eastern European face, with a pair of silver-gray pupils that looked very special.

Link was no stranger to this person either. He had seen her once at the premiere of "Chaplin". She played a supporting actress in the film, Milla Jovovich, who would also be the female lead in the future "Resident Evil" series.

"This is Milla. I brought her to see the movie. Where's Monica? I can't find her."

"She's over there. The person wearing the baseball cap is her."

Link pointed to the front row of the audience.

"Monica is the female lead. Why does she have to be so mysterious?"

"This movie is a documentary. There's no acting, and there's no female lead. You have to be careful about keeping secrets when you speak."

"This is false advertising."

"This is a publicity strategy."

"Hmph, I don't care what strategy it is. If the movie isn't good, don't blame me for saying harsh things. Milla, let's go."

Sofia Coppola took Milla Jovovich to the audience to find Monica.

Link continued to greet the invited guests in the cinema.

"Sofia, are you and Link very familiar? Why are you talking to him so much?"

In the aisle, Milla Jovovich put her arm around Sofia's shoulder and asked.

"This is the second time we've met. He's a very interesting guy and very talented."

"Are you referring to 'Buried'? When 'Buried' was released at the beginning of the year, I heard from friends that the movie was cool. I was curious and went to see it, but I fell asleep in less than ten minutes. That movie was boring and meaningless."

Milla Jovovich curled her lips.

Last year, her starring role in "Return to the Blue Lagoon" received five Golden Raspberry Award nominations, which had a great impact on her career.

Later, with the coordination of her agency, she finally got an important supporting role in the popular literary film "Chaplin."

She wanted to rely on this movie to recover and get some positive reviews.

As a result, she encountered the dark horse movie "Buried."

The media used the two films to compete. Whether in word-of-mouth or box office, "Chaplin" was inferior to "Buried."

Her hard work in the movie was not noticed by many people.

All efforts were in vain.

"He wrote, directed, and starred in 'Buried' alone. No one can deny his ability.

I've also read the script he wrote. The concept is excellent, and the script design is very professional. Even my father praised him, saying he's a very promising guy.

But this guy is a year younger than me."

Sofia glanced unhappily at Link, who was talking to someone in the aisle, wearing a well-fitting suit, with a slender and tall figure. Although his facial features were not as three-dimensional as European and American men, his appearance was equally handsome in the eyes of Europeans and Americans.

What was more attractive than his appearance was his temperament: proud, confident, and ambitious.

Standing in the crowd, he was like a dazzling star.

Monica was right. This guy does have some charm.

Sofia snorted softly.

"Sofia, is that Monica over there?"

Milla Jovovich grabbed Sofia's arm and pointed to the woman in the third row in the middle, wearing a black dress and with a plump figure.

"It's her. Link said her identity needs to be kept secret. Let's sit here first, and go say hello after the movie is over, and tell Link that his new movie is terrible."

Sofia and Milla found two empty seats in the middle of the fourth row and sat down.