Talk Show

"Roger Ebert said that the movie The Departed is about two people trying to live in a way opposite their true selves. He said that the powerful tension of the story comes from the essence of human nature and the attempts of the characters in the movie to contain it. This danger comes from two aspects of self-explosion and the betrayal of others... What do you think about this?"

[A/N: Roger Ebert's film review is an excerpt from the review of The Departed.]

When Oprah finished reading the words in her hand, she raised her head and smiled at the two people before her.

"He summed it up very well." After listening to her, the person sitting nearer to her spoke, making the one farther away from her laugh, "Brad, I think Oprah's question is about our opinion on the film."

"There are already so many film critics commenting on the film; is there any need for us to do it? Edward, we just need to perform the film well; commenting is someone else's work. Of course, we must admit that Roger Ebert's comments are as good as our performance."

These words made the audience applaud, and on the stage, watching Brad Pitt, Norton, and Oprah also applauded with a smile.

Today, two of The Departed's co-stars are her guests for an interview on her talk show. They were able to crack jokes with ease, much to Oprah's satisfaction.

The popularity of The Departed has not decreased. After the first week has passed, the box office is also not low in the second week. After the first week passed, his box office increased slightly in the second week, reaching 44 million US dollars.

As one might expect, after the second week passed, it could no longer maintain the same level of popularity. This is reflected in the decline in the box office.

Although the box office declined in the third week, it still reached 35 million. In just 3 weeks, the box office figure of The Departed has exceeded 100 million.

According to this trend, it is not difficult for this movie to catch up with or even exceed Gladiator's box office.

At this time, movies have also begun to be shown worldwide - commercial films are different from literary films.

After a literary film is broadcast in one country, it may temporarily not be published in another country. Instead, they will wait until the awards are won at the film festivals.

However, as a commercial film, it is impossible not to release it in other countries as soon as possible. If the movie runs for too long, people have already talked about the film and commented too much.

Then, when it is played in other countries, it feels like leftovers, and not many people are willing to touch it - not to mention, if a movie is played for a long time, it is likely to be pirated all over the world, and no one would go to the theatre to watch it.

Therefore, commercial films have to strike while the iron is hot. When the box office is good, it has to be released in foreign countries as soon as possible.

When the movie was released, the Oprah talk show also invited the two leading actors of the film.

Brad Pitt and Norton had no reason to refuse: Oprah's talk show, the most famous talk show in the United States, invited them; how could they refuse?

It's not easy to be able to promote a movie and promote yourself at the same time.

"From Critics, the evaluation of this movie is very high now. Before the movie was shot, did you expect it? I remember that before the movie started shooting, many people said the cultural differences between Westerners and Easterners were very likely to cause the movie to not be shot well."

For Oprah's question, Brad Pitt spoke first. "I didn't expect... I don't pay much attention to the reviews in the media. I just saw this script and thought it was a great movie. Then I asked, whose movie is this? Levi's. I said, oh, Levi is a good director, so I accepted the filming."

This answer is quite serious.

Oprah nodded while Norton spoke slowly. "When I asked, is it applicable to society... Director Levi said to me: Dude, you are an American. How can you think that culture cannot be integrated as a person from an immigrant country?"

This answer, simple and direct, also made Oprah laugh. Yes, it is obviously a country of immigrants. It is really funny to talk about cultural differences.

"Just now, you mentioned the mood when the film was filmed. Can you tell me what you thought when you received the script?"

"I have to talk about it." Brad Pitt said again, "Director Levi wanted me to play the role from the beginning. I wanted to play Colin at the beginning, but the agent told me that the role of Colin had been given to Norton. I said: Norton is a good actor. Only after passing the audition did Director Levi give me the role of William."

Compared with Norton, Brad Pitt obviously knows how to make the audience happy in front of the TV. On the talk show, he talked about the inside story of the movie, which also made the audience pay more attention.

Brad Pitt's explanation was quite simple, but it still made everyone around him laugh. Oprah also smiled and nodded repeatedly, "I know you are a very dedicated actor."

Brad Pitt said seriously, "The protagonist of a movie with a box office of more than 100 million."

"Fortunately, he still chose you in the end, and you also contributed an excellent movie. Now I can hardly imagine what this movie would be like if you didn't act in it."

She gave a flattering compliment, looked at the two people before her, and said again, "Now I have a question; there is news that after the movie is released, both of you may get the Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Who do you want to be nominated more?"

This question is very sharp, and both are indeed very likely to be nominated now, but everyone knows that the situation where two people are nominated for the same movie is very rare; most of the time, only one person is nominated for a film.

So, what do these two think of the nomination themselves? This is also an interesting question.

This year is different from the past; this year's nomination is very important to them. There are not many outstanding actors this year.

Moreover, Hanks has already won two Oscars. It will be very difficult to win a third time now.

And Russel Crowe has just won an Oscar. No matter how you look at it, his acting skills are not suitable to become another person winning an Oscar in consecutive years.

If none of them do, it will be interesting to see who this nomination belongs to.

"This is not up to us..." Norton's tone hesitated, and he didn't know what to say.

"I hope it's me." Brad Pitt said without any hesitation. He pushed Norton away and rushed to say, "He still has a chance, and I have to seize the opportunity first." Brad Pitt was still open; he knew how to joke. This sentence made people laugh, and Norton laughed, "That's him; I'll wait for the next time."

"Actually, you'd better be nominated." Oprah didn't press anymore.

"That's what I said." Norton said, "So what if there is one more nomination? Will there be fewer nominations for this movie?"

*****

Thanks and kudos for my patreons 

Cherif Doghri

Scott DePaepe

MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999

Britanna

Mandy G

Adam LV

The Main Man

Marcelo Maia

Danny York

You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.