Chapter 86: Focus of Public Opinion

From its release on April 30 to its departure from theaters in mid-August, "Speed" grossed $151 million in North America over the course of three and a half months.

Despite the anticipation, when "Speed" actually achieved this milestone, the media and the public were still in disbelief.

The Los Angeles Times was direct, calling the film a cinematic miracle after its North American theater run.

What made this film legendary was its pioneering of Super Bowl promotions, inciting a media war, and even indirectly leading to the death of River Phoenix.

Even more legendary was the fact that this action film had a production cost of only $20 million, a classic example of a small investment yielding big returns.

And the director of this film was just twenty-two years old when he made it.

This land's enthusiasm for genius reached a fervent level, especially in Hollywood, the center of public opinion.

With his youth, Gilbert's fame spread quickly, turning him into a media-dubbed genius director and rapidly amassing a large fanbase.

If you ask whether Gilbert is currently the best director in Hollywood, the answer would definitely be no; many directors are better than him.

But if you say he is the most famous director in Hollywood right now, that would be indisputable.

The Hollywood Reporter noted in an article, "Never has a director been as closely followed as Gilbert, with every move attracting attention.

His legendary status combined with his age makes him a focal point, garnering attention on par with top Hollywood stars…"

This level of attention has its pros and cons. The benefit is that every one of his future projects will be the focus of Hollywood and public scrutiny.

This is actually good for movie promotions.

The downside is that such high visibility puts pressure on Gilbert, who is still young; whether he can handle the spotlight remains uncertain.

Of course, this is the external analysis.

Initially, Robert Iger was also concerned that his cash cow might lose itself due to the media's excessive glorification.

Such occurrences are not uncommon and have happened quite a few times.

So he promptly headed to the set of "Real Steel," intending to talk to Gilbert and encourage him to stay grounded and focus on filming.

"I've never cared about media evaluations, Bob…" Gilbert led Robert Iger on a tour of the under-construction set while discussing the recent media hype.

He continued, "I only care about two things: making movies and whether the audience likes them. The rest doesn't concern me."

"Looks like I was worrying for nothing. Gilbert, you're quite mature," Robert Iger praised.

"There are so many people coming and going in Hollywood, and how many have been famous only to lose everything overnight?" Gilbert seemed to have a sense of detachment from the worldly affairs: "If you want to stay in this circle for a long time, you must clearly know what you want; everything else is just a distraction."

This may be Gilbert's advantage over many others in the industry; many people in the midst of it are unsure of their fate and cannot see the future.

But Gilbert is different. Even if the butterfly effect slightly alters history, the tides of the era remain unchanged.

Facing the future with ignorance and facing it with preparedness naturally leads to different mindsets.

Robert Iger wholeheartedly agreed: "Gilbert, if you don't make movies, you could be a philosopher."

"Or I could become a success guru, write a few books, and become a bestseller," Gilbert joked.

Robert Iger laughed too; everyone knows that most so-called success gurus are just frauds.

Ironically, in North America, such legal frauds have quite a bit of breathing space; they weave a set of dreams from which people can never awaken.

From a certain perspective, these so-called success gurus are better dream weavers than Hollywood.

Robert Iger spotted engineers from Industrial Light & Magic and prop masters creating a robot.

Gilbert introduced, "This is the Twin City Warrior, which has two heads and two control centers.

It has a wide field of vision, a 360-degree view with no blind spots, excellent balance, and high aggressiveness."

"What about this one?" Robert Iger pointed to a robot designed like a samurai and said, "I really like this design; I even have a similar set of armor at home."

Gilbert didn't forget to promote Chinese culture: "This is the Troublesome Kid, Bob; the islanders just copy from next door.

This design looks ugly at first glance; you're better off collecting ancient Chinese armor; it's very cool."

"Then why don't you design a robot with Chinese elements?" Robert Iger countered.

"Of course, I have designs," Gilbert pointed to a robot taller than the Troublesome Kid and said, "This robot is from China, inspired by the giant panda, and its name is Master Bao."

In fact, during the initial script design, Gilbert planned for the young male lead, Max, to rescue a scrapped Chinese robot, replacing Adam's character.

However, after Sofia Coppola read the script, she said, "Gilbert, I know you're obsessed with Chinese martial arts culture, but this is North America; you need to focus on the North American market."

That statement woke him up. Indeed, adding some Chinese elements could be seen as a tribute to his previous life, but it shouldn't go too far.

The North American market has always been quite exclusive; recklessly introducing non-Western cultural elements poses a significant risk of failure.

So, Gilbert modified the script: the robot protagonist remained Adam, but the robot that pummels the Troublesome Kid was changed to Master Bao.

A Chinese robot beating an island robot, though it's the protagonist's robot, feels satisfying to watch.

Gilbert thought, since there's a Chinese robot, inviting a Chinese actor would naturally follow.

He then wrote an invitation letter to be sent from the Warner Bros. branch in Hong Kong to a particular actor.

The 1990s Hong Kong film market could be summed up in four words: "A box office success every two weeks."

The actor Gilbert was inviting was naturally part of that success.

While preparations for "Real Steel" were underway, a long way away in Hong Kong,Jackie Chan was preparing for "Drunken Master 2" when he received the invitation letter.

"Who sent this?" Jackie Chan wondered. What era is it that people are still writing letters?

The name on the letter was Gilbert Landrini, someone he didn't know. Jackie Chan curiously opened the letter.

To his surprise, the letter was written in Chinese.

The letter introduced that the sender was a Hollywood director currently preparing a film and, having heard of Jackie cahn's fame, wished to invite him for a guest appearance in his new movie.

Hollywood, huh? Jackie Chan had been to Hollywood early on but failed.

However, he had never given up on his desire to break into Hollywood; this might be an opportunity.

Worried that the letter's author might be a fraud and that it was written in Chinese,Jackie Chan quickly sought someone to verify it.

He happened to have friends in the United States, and soon confirmed that there was indeed a well-known Hollywood director named Gilbert Landrini.

Moreover, it was said that this director was obsessed with Chinese culture, had taken Chinese as an elective in college, and spoke fluent Chinese.

Jackie Chan's suspicions eased significantly. He then asked his friend what notable works this director had.

"You don't know?"

"What do I know?"

"Recently released in Hong Kong, "Speed" grossed over 6 million Hong Kong dollars; it was his work."

Jackie Chan was stunned. He had watched that film and had praised this American director for his progressive ideas in action films, finally moving beyond the simple "punches to the face."

But he didn't expect that this director was the one behind it.

"How old did you say he is?"

"Twenty-three, just had his birthday in June; I remember it clearly."

Jackie Chan was once again taken aback. When he was twenty-three, he was still a stuntman getting beat up, while this guy had already become a director with a global box office of over four hundred million!

Is there really such a genius in this world?

Regardless, the invitation was confirmed to be real, so Jackie Chan discussed with the boss of Golden Harvest to pause preparations for "Drunken Master 2" and head to Hollywood for a bit.

This was his second trip to Hollywood, hoping for a better outcome.

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