I’m in Hollywood

After dinner, Judy, who had promised to accompany Eric back to Jiaojiao Manor, suddenly regretted it again, and sighed with a little emotion, and Eric had to send the woman back to her residence.

Thursday, January 21st, the opening day of the 15th Sundance Film Festival.

Eric flew to Salt Lake City, Utah with Julia that afternoon. The flight from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City only took an hour. Park City, where the Sundance Film Festival was held, was more than 20 years east of Salt Lake City. km of valleys. From Salt Lake City to Park City, it was less than 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and the opening ceremony was 7 o'clock in the evening. Eric and Julia rushed to the reserved resort apartment to stay first.

Right at the foot of the Park City Ski Resort, Julia just walked into the resort apartment, she couldn't wait to take off her heavy white long down jacket, and she didn't forget to complain, It's so cold, I wouldn't have come here if I knew it earlier. .

Compared with the warmth of spring in Los Angeles, Park City, which has just snowed, has even daytime temperatures below zero.

The heating in the apartment had been turned on ahead of time. Eric sent the manager of the film purchasing department from New Line Cinema, and put the stack of participating film lists and film festival party materials handed over to him on the coffee table in the living room, and came over. Reaching out to help Julia take off her clothes, she smiled and said, Have you not been here a few years ago?

No, Julia shook her head and said, If it wasn't for Robert's personal invitation, and Secret Legacy was to be the opening film, I wouldn't come here.

Secret Legacy is a new film by Hollywood director Robert Altman. This veteran director who is good at shooting various types of satirical films has no less appeal to Hollywood stars than Woody Allen, and, because Robert Altman He is very good at shooting group scenes, and he often sees groups of big-name Hollywood stars participating in cameos in his films. In addition to shooting mainstream commercial films, in order to enhance the style and qualifications, Julia has also played roles in several Robert Altman films, so this time she will come to support.

If you don't like it, then we can just go back tomorrow. Eric hung Julia's down jacket on the hanger, took off his windbreaker, walked to the sofa by the fireplace and sat down. Look through the stack of documents.

Julia came over and leaned against Eric, and said, I don't want it, Eric, will you stay with me for the weekend?

He is always too busy on weekdays, and Eric did not refuse the rare opportunity for the two to get along, and said, Okay, let's see if there are any good movies.

Julia put her head together to read the list of participating films for the film festival. She lost interest after only reading a few copies. She took out another document and said, These films are not interesting, let's go to the party.

Although it has attracted more and more attention, the Sundance Film Festival is far from its peak.

The most obvious gap is that none of the dozens of participating films in their hands are from well-known directors, nor are there any well-known Hollywood actors. However, this also reflects the essence of the Sundance Film Festival to foster independent films and new works by newcomers. More than a decade later, although it has attracted more and more Oscar-level filmmakers, the Sundance Film Festival has become more and more commercialized.

Looking over the movie list in his hand, Eric accidentally saw a German movie called Lola Run, directed by Tom Tykwer, which was a nominated film in the World Film Unit.

Eric hasn't seen the movie,

But also heard.

Moreover, he also knows that in the past, this film had a great influence on Doug Liman's filming of Bourne Bourne, and Doug Liman also invited the heroine of Lola Run to Fernandez. Lanca Potente as Mary in Bournemouth.

I glanced at the screening time of Lola Run, which happened to be tomorrow morning, so I folded the information on this page.

The parties in Park City and Los Angeles are naturally not comparable at all. Julia looked at the after-party of a series of unknown films in her hand, and she lost interest at all. However, as long as she could spend a few days alone with Eric in peace, she was willing to do nothing, so she threw away the party information and put her arms around Eric's arm.

Hey, let's go to see this movie tomorrow morning, Eric gestured to Julia with the information about Lola Run, looked at the time, and said, What clothes are you going to wear? get ready?

It doesn't matter, there's no red carpet, Julia shook her head and said, I'm wearing my clothes.

Although the sky in winter is very short, because the entire Park City is covered with snow, the sky still looks very bright in the evening, but the temperature is getting colder.

In front of the theater where the opening ceremony was held, reporters with cameras and movie fans who came to the festival specially gathered around them. Although their expressions were full of curiosity and anticipation, they did not have the excitement of those watching movie fans at large awards ceremonies. .

In fact, this is also normal, except for Robert Redford, the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, so far, the biggest star that everyone can see should be the Secret Legacy crew that entered the theater not long ago, but this All kinds of big names are only relative to those obscure independent filmmakers.

The director of Secret Legacy is Robert Altman, and several leading actors are Julian Moore, Chris O'Donnell and Liv Tyler, who are currently only familiar in Hollywood, although they are still There are some old Hollywood actors who play supporting roles, but they can't make the young fans onlookers excited.

He raised his camera and took a few photos of the Cole Adventures crew that had just entered the set. Tony Gerson, a reporter from The Hollywood Reporter, glanced around listlessly, and began to be from Los Angeles with the same person next to him. A media colleague chats about how to get tickets to the Songwriters Guild of America party in Park City this weekend.

Although it is not in the film industry, many first-line singers will attend this party, and they will definitely get a lot of useful news at that time.

A black Land Rover slowly parked at the entrance of the theater. Tony didn't care too much. Anyway, there are many shooting opportunities from the roadside to the theater. However, after his peers glanced at him, his eyes suddenly widened. Reaching out and poking Tony hard, he said, Look, God.

Tony, who felt a little fuss about his peers, turned his head and looked over, and the first thing he noticed was Julia in that white down jacket. It seems, Eric Williams? !

How could Eric Williams come to this shitty place?

However, obviously, Julia Roberts couldn't hold other men so intimately.

Tony was still a little confused, but the entrance of the small theater was already boiling. The scattered media reporters rushed up and began to press the shutter frantically. The surrounding fans also gathered around, screaming and trying to pass the signature book in the hands of the bodyguard. Hand it to Eric.

The scene was a little chaotic for a while, Eric could only hold Julia tightly in his arms and hurriedly stepped into the theater under the protection of several bodyguards.

Seeing the disappearance of Eric Williams, the unwilling media and fans even almost rushed into the theater. Fortunately, Eric's bodyguards and theater security responded in time and blocked the surging crowd together.

Hearing the commotion outside, Robert Redford also quickly greeted him, greeted Eric enthusiastically, made a few jokes, and then introduced a spirited white-haired old man beside him: Eric , this is Robert Altman.

Mr. Altman, hello, Eric shook hands politely, smiled and said a few words. Robert Redford introduced several other young directors to Eric, and we all went together. Enter the theater.

At this time, the screening hall, which was the opening ceremony venue, also seemed a little turbulent. I just heard the news that Eric Williams will be attending the opening ceremony tonight. The first reaction of many people almost thought it was a joke. Until Eric and Robert Redford walked in together, many people finally believed it.

Feeling countless pairs of eyes staring at him with different emotions, Eric himself felt a little uncomfortable. Robert Redford personally arranged Eric to take a seat. Sit down and joked: Eric, I suddenly regret inviting you over. Depending on the situation, Sundance will definitely be very lively in the next few days.

Eric shrugged and smiled: Sorry, Bob, I definitely didn't mean to come over to steal your limelight.

Haha, Robert Redford quickly laughed: To tell the truth, if you can come here every year, I'm even willing to give you the identity of the host of this film festival. Everyone needs opportunities too much, you It just happens to bring opportunities to many people that they may not be able to encounter in this life.”

Hearing what Robert Redford said, Eric just smiled. He didn't think he was an angel, and he never felt that way. If there are dark horse works from memory in the screening film, Eric doesn't mind shooting, otherwise, he will just treat himself as a passer-by and watch from the sidelines.

Speaking of which, maybe someone can buy that Lola Run, which is considered a leak.

But thinking about it carefully, there is no need to explain it specially. Since it can be selected into the world film unit, and it is very hopeful to win, this film is naturally on the watch list of several major Hollywood film companies.

After all, although not many big Hollywood names are interested in the Sundance Film Festival, the film purchasing departments of the seven major Hollywood studios have dispatched teams in Sundance, Firefly, MGM, Fox, Columbia, these four There are many families. If none of the four families took down Lola Run, Eric would have to question the vision of these people afterwards.

The commotion caused by Eric's arrival gradually subsided, and the opening ceremony soon began.

Like the opening without any red carpet ceremony, the opening ceremony is also simple and simple. Robert Altman and several other directors from Sundance came to the stage to give a simple speech, and then entered the opening ceremony film Secret. The screening stage of Legacy.

Like the opening ceremonies of many film festivals, after the ceremony, many guests usually give up watching the opening ceremony film and leave early. But today, when the speech was over and the opening film was about to be played, no one stood up in the screening room. Everyone seemed to have instantly become loyal fans of Robert Altman.

Eric has seen several Robert Altman films, of which Eric is most impressed and even amazed by the super long shot of the opening eight minutes of The Big Game.

In the Gravity that Eric is producing, the length of the two opening long shots will reach 18 minutes, but if you compare carefully, the long shots of Gravity are more a test of the director's creativity, and, Aided by special effects technology, the technical difficulty of this long shot is not too great, and the shooting process is not really done in one go, but is synthesized through post-production.

But the opening eight-minute long shot of Big Player is a real one shot to the end, and Robert Altman's masterful perfect scene scheduling for this long shot interspersed with dozens of characters is even more impressive. .

In comparison, Secret Legacy, which is the opening film of the Sundance Film Festival, is much more mediocre.

This is a suspenseful film about the grievances and grievances between generations of women in a small town in Mississippi.

Robert Altman is very fond of using death as a plot driver for his films, and Secret Legacy is no exception. The sudden suicide of an old woman in a small town completely detonated the grievances that had accumulated between the two women for decades. Although the plot seemed absurd and ironic, the plot of the film was closely intertwined. When the mystery was solved, everyone couldn't help but let out a sigh.

Speaking of which, Robert Altman seems to be very similar to Woody Allen, both are very prolific directors, and the quality of their work is also uneven.

However, the difference between the two masters is also obvious. Robert Altman is better at storytelling and Woody Allen is better at writing people. For this reason, while Woody Allen himself was nominated for an Oscar, his films also created a series of Oscar nominations for performance awards, but Robert Altman's films are more technical awards related to scripts and directors. There is not much room for his film actors to play.

The opening ceremony video was finished, and it was already past nine o'clock.

Park City was getting colder at night. After the ceremony, Robert Altman returned to his residence early to rest. Eric and Julia were invited by Robert Redford to go to the next after-party together.

However, although they belong to the film circle, in the final analysis, the independent film group of the Sundance Film Festival and Hollywood are still two worlds. Hollywood may send 'tickets' to some up-and-coming filmmakers at Sundance, but most filmmakers with ambitions or dreams will only be short-lived at Sundance and then remain unknown.

Therefore, Eric did not stay at the party for too long, but simply ate some food at the party with Julia, and left early.