Chapter 200: Chills
Everyone present seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as they had been a little worried that Eric would stubbornly choose the best screenwriter award. After all, the current Eric has achieved a success in box office that most people wouldn’t be able to match in a lifetime, so it was likely for him to have a stronger desire for personal film awards. If The Others won the Silver Lion Award, it would belong to the entire team, but if it won the best screenplay award, it would belong to Eric, alone.
"Eric, it"s actually not a big deal. I think the Oscars is your real stage." As if to appease Eric, Bill Gallo joked and Jonathan Demme nodded quickly.
Eric shrugged casually, "Thank you, Bill, if only the old men of the Academy thought so as well."
The group laughed and talked some more before they separated. Eric returned to his room alone with the information about John Landis. This time, to avoid suspicion, Virginia did not live with him, while his a.s.sistant Alan lived in another suite downstairs.
There were still a few hours before night in Venice, while the east coast of the US was still in the morning, so even though he spent more than ten hours on the plane, his internal clock resulted in him not feeling too tired.
After reading the information of John Landis, Eric stayed in his room until 7 o"clock in the evening before changing clothes and going out to meet him. The agreed upon place was in a restaurant near the boutique hotel. Eric did not need a guide nor did he bring a date. Virginia is the female lead of The Others. As a result, if she was seen having dinner with one of the judges, it would definitely result in controversy. In comparison, Eric could remain anonymous. Even if he was seen having dinner with John Landis, it wouldn’t be a big deal.
John Landis was about 40 years old, wearing a pair of black-rimmed gla.s.ses on his large nose. He had a beard and a standard Jewish appearance.
‘It"s another Jew!’ Eric sighed as he thought.
According to the information he read, John Landis and Steven Spielberg are good friends, and both have had cameos in each other"s films.
In fact, John Landis was a famous director at the same time as Spielberg. In 1975, Spielberg became a top Hollywood director with Jaws, and three years later, John Landis directed Animal House which earned a box office of more than $100 million. Coincidentally, both of them became famous directors when they were just 28 years old.
However, according to the information he read, John Landis" directorial career has been slipping since the late ‘80s. Therefore, Eric had no impression of him during his previous life.
In the restaurant, John Landis ordered food and watched Eric with interest as he spoke to the blonde waitress who was able to speak English. After she left with the menu, John Landis said, "Eric, you seem well-versed with Italian cuisine."
Eric smiled and explained, "My father used to be an Italian chef."
"Oh," John Landis nodded, but didn’t mention the topic anymore. Obviously, he knew that Eric"s father had pa.s.sed away.
While waiting for the dishes to be served, Eric and John Landis continued chatting. Of course, the topic was still movies.
"The thing I find most interesting about you is not that each of your movies is from a different genre, but the fact that all of them have achieved box office success. This is very difficult to understand. You know, I have also tried directing movies from different genres, but at their core, they’re all satirical comedies. Even Steven has been trying to break through for so many years, but his most movies are all science fiction movies such as Jaws, E.T. and so on."
Eric replied, "This doesn"t mean anything, John, maybe I’m just lucky. I"ve only directed a few movies until now, once I shoot more movies, I will definitely fail, and then realize what I am best at."
John Landis listened to Eric"s words, thought for a while, before he shook his head and said, "It"s not the same. You are very different, Eric. Can you tell me where you learned to make movies? I am very curious. After all, at your age, it’s not easy to make even a simple movie like Home Alone. It took me years to acc.u.mulate experience from the time I first became involved in film production to the time when I directed my first movie. "
Of course, Eric can’t say that he had acc.u.mulated experience during his previous life, so he said, "Actually, I was just lucky. I wrote the script of Home Alone, and then luckily found a very good team. I only need to tell them what I want and they helped me make it. If I didn’t meet them, maybe Home Alone would never have come into existence."
John Landis has no doubts about the truth behind Eric"s words. Eric"s success could only be attributed to his good luck.
"I"ve watched Home Alone several times, that... Stuart Runkle, the little guy is really good. If you have a chance... actually, never mind."
Eric knew from the information he read why John Landis said this. Seven years ago, while he was directing Twilight Zone: The Movie, a horrendous accident that took place which resulted in the death of three actors, two among them barely seven-years-old.
If there had been no minors, it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal. After all, Hollywood has many such accidents every year. However, because of the two children, John Landis was dragged into the lawsuit for six years, and he was only acquitted from it last year. Although he didn’t face jail time, his career essentially ended.
"John, actually you should move on. That accident is in the past, right? And, it really was just an unfortunate accident."
John Landis took a sip of red wine before he solemnly said, "But, they insisted that I had committed manslaughter. I mean, I was just a producer. I was not even present when the accident happened. I apologized to the public, and I paid enough compensation, but some people continued holding on to this matter. I barely got out of it after a full six years. For a while, I had fallen to the point that I wanted to escape abroad like Roman Polanski. I didn"t want to go to jail."
Eric recalled the incident mentioned in the information, and gradually smelled something different from John Landis" tone.
Whether Roman Polanski was caught or not, he had indeed committed the crime. After all, he was caught with the minor girl he a.s.saulted.
However, the John Landis incident was full of controversy. Perhaps someone wanted to ruin him. If he fell, his compet.i.tors could free up a large portion of the box office. After all, although John Landis was not as famous as Spielberg in the early ‘80s, he had made two films that had earned more than $100 million at the box office, while his remaining films had also achieved decent success.
Thinking of this, Eric couldn"t help but feel a chill in his heart.
John Landis is Jewish. There is the entire Jewish circle in Hollywood who will support him. If such a person can be framed and dragged into a lawsuit for six years, he, who is alone in Hollywood, would be easy pickings. If someone decides to deal with him, he might end up in a much worse situation.
Quickly shaking his head, Eric knew it was not the time for unfounded worries, and said to John Landis, "Stop thinking about these things, John, everything is over, alright? The success of your film Coming to America from last year is the biggest indicator."
John Landis heard Eric mentioning his. .h.i.t film and smiled as he said, "Indeed, shortly after the release of Coming to America, all the controversies ended. However, if it hadn’t been such a success, who knows what position I would be in right now.
After speaking about his insecurities, John Landis felt a sense of intimacy with Eric and said, "Eric, I have watched The Others several times. Whether it is the suspense setting or the final plot twist, both of them are amazing. In May, Cannes has just selected its youngest best director winner, I believe that the Venice Film Festival will certainly not wish to look too conservative, either.”
Hearing John Landis’s words, Eric realized that he might be inclined to help him lobby for the best screenwriter award, so he shook his head and said, "John, I"m only 19 years old now. I haven"t considered too much about honor. If I win awards too early, I might lose motivation to move forward in the future. What do you think?"
John Landis was stunned, then suddenly laughed, and nodded, "I understand."
Eric also smiled, raised his goblet of red wine and clinked it with John Landis’ goblet of red wine who said softly, "Don"t worry, I will try my best."
Eric did not reply as he slowly drank the remaining red wine.
Putting down his goblet, Eric was about to talk about other topics with John Landis when he suddenly heard a familiar female voice not far behind him, along with a few vague words, "Haha, that fat guy was really funny... I’m like… hehe, and that I’m a director… but you… so funny.”
Raising his eyebrows, Eric couldn’t help but glance at the source of the sound. The back of the brown curly hair appeared in the field of his vision as he smiled. Surprisingly, Julia had come to Venice. The girl who was sitting across her must be Rupert Murdoch’s second daughter, Elisabeth Murdoch.
"Is she an acquaintance?" John Landis followed Eric"s gaze, but he was not familiar with Julia. If he saw her face, he might know her, but he didn"t recognize her just by looking at the back.
Eric nodded, "Two acquaintances, but they may not want me to say h.e.l.lo, just ignore them."
John Landis looked at the two girls from a distance, and smiled ambiguously as he said, "You should take the initiative when chasing women. If you just sit here, you won’t have any women to take home."