From its release on April 30th until it finished its run in mid-August, after three and a half months in theaters, Speed raked in $151 million at the North American box office.
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Despite anticipating its success, the media and public were still in disbelief when Speed actually achieved this milestone. The Los Angeles Times was direct, calling the film a "cinematic miracle" after its North American theatrical run concluded.
The film's legendary status stems from pioneering Super Bowl advertising, sparking a "smear campaign", and even indirectly contributing to the tragic death of River Phoenix. What makes it even more legendary is that it was an action film with a production budget of only $20 million, a classic example of a small investment yielding massive returns. And the director who created this film was only 22 years old at the time.
This land has a near-fanatical obsession with genius, especially Hollywood, which is at the very center of public attention. Riding on his youth, Gilbert's fame spread rapidly, becoming the "genius director" in the media's eyes and quickly accumulating a large fanbase.
If you ask if Gilbert is the best director in Hollywood right now, the answer is definitely no; there are many directors better than him. But if you ask if he's the most famous director in Hollywood right now, there's absolutely no doubt. The Hollywood Reporter wrote in its article: "Never before has a director, like Gilbert, had every move scrutinized. His legendary background combined with his age has made him a focal point, garnering attention comparable to an A-list Hollywood star..."
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This level of attention has its pros and cons. The advantage is that every future project he undertakes will become a focal point for Hollywood, the media, and the public. This is actually a good thing for film promotion. The downside is that with such high scrutiny, and given Gilbert's youth, it remains to be seen if he can withstand the pressure of the spotlight.
Of course, these are external analyses. Initially, Robert Iger was also worried that his cash cow might lose himself due to excessive media praise. This kind of thing has happened before, and it's not uncommon. So he promptly went to the Real Steel set, intending to talk to Gilbert and encourage him to stay grounded and focus on filmmaking.
"I've never cared about media evaluations, Bob..." Gilbert led Robert Iger on a tour of the set under construction, chatting about the recent surge of media praise. He continued, "I only care about two things: making movies and whether the audience likes them. I don't care about anything else."
"It seems I was overthinking it, Gilbert, you're very mature," Robert Iger praised him.
"So many people come and go in Hollywood; how many have been famous and then lost everything overnight?" Gilbert seemed to have a detached view of worldly affairs: "To stay in this industry long-term, you must clearly know what you want. Everything else won't bother me."
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Perhaps this is the advantage Gilbert has over those who are immersed in the industry. Many people are in the thick of it, unaware of their fate, unable to see the future. But Gilbert is different; even with the "butterfly effect" and slight changes in history, the big tides of the era won't change. Facing the future unknowingly versus facing it prepared, the mindset is naturally different.
Robert Iger wholeheartedly agreed: "Gilbert, if you weren't making movies, you'd make a good philosopher."
"Or I could become a success guru, publish a few books, and become a bestselling author?" Gilbert laughed. Robert Iger also chuckled; everyone knows that most so-called success gurus are just swindlers. Yet, in North America, these legal swindlers have quite a lot of room to operate, weaving an unbreakable dream for people. In some ways, these so-called success gurus are better at creating dreams than Hollywood.
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Robert Iger saw the robots created by ILM engineers and the crew's prop masters working together. Gilbert introduced one: "This is Twin Cities Warrior, with two heads and two control centers. It has a wide, 360-degree field of vision with no blind spots, excellent balance, and is very aggressive."
"What about this one?" Robert Iger asked, pointing to a robot designed in the style of a Japanese samurai. "I really like this design; I even have a similar set of armor at home."
Gilbert didn't miss the chance to promote culture: "This is Chop Boy, Bob. Japan always steals from its neighbors. This design looks ugly; you should collect ancient armor instead, it's very cool."
"Then why didn't you design a robot with elements?" Robert Iger retorted.
"Of course I did," Gilbert said, pointing to a robot a head taller than Chop Boy nearby: "This is the robot from China, inspired by the giant panda, and its name is Master Bao."
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Initially, when the script was first designed, Gilbert planned for the young male lead, Max, to salvage a scrapped robot to replace Adam's role. But after reading the script, Sofia Coppola said: "Gilbert, I know you're obsessed with kung fu culture, but this is North America; you need to prioritize the North American market."
Her words were a wake-up call, and Gilbert immediately understood. Yes, adding some elements would honor his past life, but not to an excessive degree. The North American market has always been quite exclusive, and rashly incorporating non-Western cultural elements could lead to failure.
So Gilbert revised the script: the protagonist robot was still Adam, but the robot that pummeled Chop Boy was replaced by Master Bao. A robot beating up a Japanese robot—even if it's the protagonist's robot getting beaten—still felt satisfying to watch.
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Gilbert thought that since there was already a robot, it made sense to have a actor as well. So, he wrote an invitation letter and had the Warner Bros. branch in Hong Kong deliver it to an actor.
The Hong Kong film market in the 1990s could be summarized in four words: "Two Chow, One Jackie" (referring to Chow Yun-fat, Stephen Chow, and Jackie Chan). Gilbert, of course, invited the "One Jackie."
While Real Steel was busy with preparations, in distant Hong Kong, Jackie Chan, who was preparing for Drunken Master 2, received the invitation letter.
"Who sent this?" Jackie Chan wondered. Who still writes letters these days? The name on it was Gilbert Landrini, and he didn't recognize it. Jackie Chan strangely opened the letter. Upon opening it, he saw the letter was written in .
The letter introduced the sender as a Hollywood director currently preparing a film, and having heard of Jackie Chan's great reputation, wanted to invite him for a cameo in his new movie.
Hollywood, huh? Jackie Chan had been to Hollywood early in his career but had failed. However, he had never given up the idea of breaking into Hollywood, and this might be an opportunity.
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Concerned that the sender of the letter might be a fraud, and given that the letter was in , Jackie Chan was quite suspicious, so he quickly found someone to verify it. Coincidentally, he had friends in the United States, who quickly confirmed the news: there was indeed a Hollywood director named Gilbert Landrini, and he was very famous. Moreover, it was said that this director was obsessed with culture, had majored in in college, and spoke fluent Mandarin.
Jackie Chan's suspicions largely subsided. He then asked his friend what famous works this director had.
"You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Speed, which was released in Hong Kong recently and grossed over six million Hong Kong dollars, is his work."
Jackie Chan was stunned. He had actually seen that movie and at the time even praised how American directors' ideas for action films had improved, finally moving beyond mindless punch-for-punch scenes. But he never expected it was this director's work.
"You just said, how old is he?"
"Twenty-three. His birthday was in June, I remember clearly."
Jackie Chan was stunned again. When he was twenty-three, he was still working as a stuntman and getting beaten up, and this person was already a director with a global box office of over $400 million? Does genius truly exist in this world?
Regardless, the invitation was confirmed to be genuine. So, Jackie Chan discussed it with the Golden Harvest boss, decided to pause the preparations for Drunken Master 2, and try his luck in Hollywood once again. This was his second attempt at Hollywood, and he hoped for a good outcome.
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