In recent years, in the domestic film industry, more and more stars have been competing for the ranking of appearances, and "tearing up the position" has become a widely known popular word.
The concept of "position" originated from Japanese dramas, which refers to the strict order of actors according to their importance in a work.
In fact, this phenomenon is widely present in the entertainment industry around the world, and after a hundred years of Hollywood, it has a long tradition of tearing up the position and a set of mechanisms for "preserving the position".
Today, I will talk to you about how to tear up the position in Hollywood.
However, it should be pointed out in advance that the "position" mentioned in this article is no longer a professional term belonging to a small circle, but more of a concept in a broad sense, please do not sit in the right seat.
One
It's really important
Speaking of positions, let's start with a famous, positive, positive story.
Before filming 1953's Roman Holiday, Gregory Pike was already a big star with 18 films and four Oscar nominations, while Audrey Hepburn was a young actress with little on-screen experience.
Under paramount's contract, Gregory Pike is the absolute equivalent of the film, and in the various publicity and opening credits, only his name appears separately and is prominently amplified.
But after a few days of filming, Pike called his agent and said he should be treated the same way he did.
"You can't do that." The broker objected.
"Yes, I can." Pike cut it down, "If I don't do that, I'm dead wrong." This girl will win an Oscar for this play. ”
At Pike's request, Paramount changed the poster, originally the name "Audrey Hepburn" was a small font, placed in the signature area at the bottom of the poster, and later taken to the top of the title, a line below "Gregory Pike", the letters are large, and the middle is connected with "and".
As a newcomer, Hepburn has never been treated like this, and it turns out that Pike is not mistaken, she really became an Oscar queen with "Roman Holiday".
Behind the scenes of "Roman Holiday", there is no tearing war, some are the promotion of the predecessors to the younger generations and the mutual achievements of the two actors.
This story embodies both Gregory Pike's humble and impartial gentlemanly character and illustrates the point that in Hollywood, a world where fame depends on it, position is really important.
If it weren't for Parker helping Hepburn improve her stature and exposure this time, it's unclear whether she would quickly become a big star.
For an actor, the position represents not only the affirmation of business literacy and the corresponding remuneration, but also the popularity, resources and future possibilities.
Two
If you want to tear it, you have to have a position first
In the first 15 years of the film's existence, the concept of "position" did not exist, because at that time, the filmmakers did not sign the actors at all.
The boss is afraid that once the actor becomes famous, he will take advantage of the situation to ask for more remuneration.
And the actors didn't want to sign their names, most of them were from Broadway, secretly going to make movies in order to make money (at that time, movies were low-end entertainment that could be watched with a few steel hammers), and they were afraid that once their names were exposed, they would be boycotted by the entire theater industry.
So, no one cares about the position, anonymous actresses often use the name of the film company to subrogate, such as "Beavergraf Girl", a name, used by many people.
The first actress to appear under her real name— or the first star in the history of cinema — was Florence Lawrence, who, with the help of Carl Lemmer, jumped out of Bevergraf Pictures and signed a contract with the latter's company, and her name began to appear in the subtitles of the film.
Florence Lawrence
After her, Hollywood's first generation of stars began to twinkle — Charlie Chaplin, Douglas van punk, Mary Beckford.
Since the 1930s, Hollywood has entered the golden age, the star system has reached its peak, and actors have begun to be divided into three, six, and nine, and the concept of "position" has become more and more important.
In the opening subtitles of a movie, the names of the big-name protagonists (usually two or three) often appear before the title, and it is good for small actors to have a chance to sign.
However, because the stars are all signed long contracts with the studio, tied closely, the decision-making power of the position is not in the hands of the star, and who does not hold who is not praised is decided by the owner of the blockbuster factory, and it is useless to tear it.
As long as you are not yet famous, even if you play the main role, your name is not eligible to appear before the title.
For example, Judy Garland at the time of the release of "The Wizard of Oz", her name can only appear with the scarecrow, tin man, lion and other brothers, no one expected her to be popular with this play.
Promotional photo of The Wizard of Oz
Since the 1950s, the star system has entered the era of agent agency. The actors began to leave the blockbuster factory, and the competition between them became more and more fierce.
At this time, the position not only represents fame and influence, but also directly affects the future career development.
The filmmakers are also paying more and more attention to the issue of positioning, and who is the selling point will directly determine the box office trend of the film.
As a result, tearing up positions began to become commonplace, and the opening or ending of the film (in the late 1960s, the more complete credits began to gradually shift to the end of the film), trailers, posters, theater billboards, and TV commercials, as long as it was a propaganda position that could reveal its name, could be torn.
The stars are no longer just fighting for the order in which names appear, but also the size, font, and color of the letters of the names.
Three
Forever
In the history of a hundred years of film, countless stars come and go, and who dares to say that they will always maintain "a bit"? There was probably only one person – Marlon Brando.
In 1950's "The True Colors of Boys", Marlon Brando played the lead role on the screen for the first time, and the second work "Desire StreetCar" brought him an Oscar nomination in 1952, and then he was shortlisted every year until 1955, when he won the award for "Docks", establishing his big star status.
"The True Colors of Boys"
"Desire StreetCar"
"The Docks"
Since then, Brando has played every play, never played a supporting role, and even the double male protagonist type of drama is rarely performed.
He is proud of himself, and of course, he has the capital to be proud of, and his talent and connections are unmatched.
With the decline of the old Hollywood era, Marlon Brando's career also fell into a slump.
In 1972, he ushered in a bloody work that made him famous in the history of film - "The Godfather".
The Godfather
Although Brando was nearly fifty years old at the time, and the aura above his head was no longer brilliant, in the eyes of the new Hollywood boys, he still respected the gods and deserved it.
In the film, Brando conquers the audience, but he still goes his own way in reality, which is disgusting. When he was crowned an Oscar for the second time for "The Godfather", but willfully found a person to collect the award for himself, there was a discordant voice - although the film is named "The Godfather", Brando's appearance time is shorter than that of Al Pacino, who played his son.
Pacino himself once sadly said why he only got a supporting actor nomination, and Brando can win the movie emperor little golden man?
1979's Apocalypse Now is another masterpiece of Marlon Brando's new Hollywood era, and he's still doing it again with The Godfather director Coppola, although this time he appears much less than The Godfather — only 15 minutes!
Apocalypse Now
In the film, he plays The American Colonel Kurtz, who disappeared during the Vietnam War, a legendary character who is the object of search for Captain Villard, played by Martin Sean, and is close to the end to reveal the true face of Lushan.
I have to admit that although Martin Sean went up the Mekong River against the river, as soon as Brando appeared, all the attention of the audience shifted to him, he was the eye of "Apocalypse Now", and the crazy power that tortured human nature and pointed to the anti-war theme came from him.
This great actor has proved that there is no necessary connection between his position and the length of time he appears on camera.
But in Superman, the year before Apocalypse Now, Marlon Brando suffered an unprecedented waterloo.
Swearing on set, pampering, prioritizing everything, asking for prices (after 12 days of shooting, I took away the film's salary of $3.7 million, and there will be a box office share in the future)... The seven deadly sins of the star playing the big card, he all accounted for it.
The most surprising thing is the "one-time" scandal.
You know, this movie called "Superman" is about the story of Superman, Brando plays Superman's father, who hung up after the kryptonite explosion in the opening 10 minutes, but he still demands his fame, and played the godfather to be a godfather for a lifetime? Another big name in the supporting role, Gene Hackman, also came to mix.
The end result is that Brando once, Hackman twice, and christopher Reeve, the real star who starred and played Superman, became three times.
Superman
It can be said that for most of Marlon Brando's artistic career, he deserved it, but this time in "Superman", he tore it a little too ugly.
More importantly, he set a bad example for his juniors.
Jack Nicholson did just that, in Batman, he played the villain Joker, not only demanding box office dividends (on fame is understandable), but also insisting that the name should be ahead of Michael Keaton, the newcomer who plays "Batman".
At the time, Nicholson's request seemed to be correct, the fault was that he did not catch up with a villain's big turnaround era, the clown became a bit, and Joaquin Phoenix caught up.
Marlon Brando also gave posterity the illusion that he could do whatever he wanted if he won the Oscars.
In 1990's "The Bonfire of Vanity," F. Murray Abraham asked for a moment's talk, presumably considering himself the only one of the lead actors to win an Oscar (1985 for Mozart' biography).
But he clearly miscalculated the situation, and the other lead actors — Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffiths and Morgan Freeman — were no more well-known than him?
Result F. Murray Abraham gave up his authorship in a fit of rage. Missing the express train that showed his face with the big stars, his career gradually faded.
Four
"Double-double" solution
In the mid-1960s, the screenwriter William Goldman completed a screenplay called "The Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy", and the two popular youngsters, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, were both interested in the story, and they each liked a role, McQueen playing the Japanese Dance Kid and Paul Newman playing the Chi Multi-Star Butch, there was no more perfect match.
But who exactly is it? The two sides are at loggerheads.
Foss's boss Daryl Zanuk has a proposal to print two posters, McQueen and Newman as one, the name is in the first place, it is a draw.
But even so, McQueen disagreed (which was also a solipsistic lord) and withdrew.
So Newman recommended the newcomer actor introduced by his wife Joanne Woodward to the filmmaker, this young man named Robert Redford played the Japanese dance boy, but Newman is a big star, he has to be a good one, so the name of the script was changed to "Zhiduo Star Butch and the Japanese Dance Boy" according to his requirements, and later, the film has a more familiar name - "Tiger and Panther Little Bully".
"Tiger and Leopard Bully"
In hollywood in the sixties and seventies, the two-man setting was very popular, and the pair of Steve McQueen and Paul Newman still had to soak in a pool.
In 1974's Burning Skyscraper, they were once again faced with the question of "who is it?"
"Double One" steve McQueen and Paul Newman in "Burning Skyscrapers."
Previously, the two had teamed up to defeat William Horton of the same crew, and the old star's request for a bit of a fight had been rejected by producer Fox.
Regarding the "double" solution of McQueen and Newman, Fox obviously learned the lesson of the last time, no longer engaging in double posters, but trying to find a way to position the name of the same poster.
McQueen's name is slightly lower on the left, Newman's name is slightly higher on the right, see McQueen first from left to right, see Newman first from top to bottom, in short, it's all a bit.
In addition to the poster, the two stars also divided their own territory, the trailer first appeared "Steve McQueen", the end of the film first appeared "Paul Newman", a bowl of water flat.
This "double-double" solution was so successful that it was used in many films.
For example, Renee Zelweg and Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago (strictly speaking, they are fighting for women, and the real scene of this play seems to be Richard Kiel in the middle).
The poster for "The Phantom of the Thief" is a smarter upgrade, in the visual order from left to right, reading the name Selma Hayek is a ban, looking at the image Penelope Cruz is a ban, no one can fault it.
For example, the two-male protagonist of "Presidential Team", Robert Redford is a poster and trailer, and Dustin Hoffman is a subtitle of the film.
Sometimes, just by using the opening and closing credits, you can achieve "double double".
Like Miami Storm, jamie Fox's name is in the beginning and Colin Farrell at the end. In fact, Farrell has always been worried about this. You know, when the film was being made, he was still absolutely a bit, and Jamie Fox was just a supporting role.
Unexpectedly, in early 2005, Jamie Fox was promoted to a new Oscar for "The King of Souls", and "Miami Storm" became a "double" when it was released in the summer of the following year.
So, if you're a big star, don't overlook any of the partners in the play, in a sense, they are potential opponents who can tear you apart.
Five
In fact, it can also be the finale
"Last but not least. This English sentence is very illustrative, like the "finale" that Chinese said.
There is also such a phenomenon in the film industry, where the names of certain stars appear at the end of the actor's subtitles and are prefixed with "and (and)", "with", "and (and starring)", precisely not because they are too low, but because they are very famous or their roles have special significance.
Samuel Jackson, for example, has been the last to appear in several Marvel movies. Do you dare to say that this veteran actor and the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. played by him are not important?
There are also 007 movies in recent years, each time it is the finale of the words "Judy Dench as M", and its deep meaning is self-evident.
The "grand finale" approach was already common in Golden Age Hollywood.
For example, in the opening of "Citizen Kane", the words "Orson Wells as Kane" finally appeared.
For this genius who is a writer, director, and actor, no matter where the name is placed, it cannot change the fact that "Citizen Kane" will always belong to his film.
The "finale" is more of a strategy adopted by the filmmakers.
The 1944 World War II film Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo starred Van Johansen and Spencer Qusai.
Van Johansson is a popular rookie, the box office appeal is strong, the film has long been sure that he is a bit, but Spencer Qusay is a big star who can't afford to offend, in order to avoid his dissatisfaction because of the second time, the producers specially let him "finale". Not only that, but in the opening subtitles and posters, Kwisser's name is larger than Johansson's.
In the past hundred years, the "finale" has also derived rich functions and meanings.
At times, it represents a kind of respect — the title credits for 1978's Killer Bee put golden age veteran Fred McMurray and Henry Fonda in the finale.
Sometimes, it's a complement to "The Fifth Element" that puts Luke Perry in less than ten minutes of the scene to the finale, because he is a popular idol of countless female fans, which can attract more box office.
Sometimes, you can play with it — for example, the opening credits of "Twelve Arhats" include "Introducing Tess Ocean as Julia Roberts," yes, deliberately writing the opposite.
In the opening subtitles of Hollywood movies, the name of the finalist can be elicited with different words, and which word to use is actually very exquisite.
Looking at The Lord of the Rings: The Lord of the Rings Reenactment, "Featuring Sean Bean, With Ian Holm, Andy Serkis as Gollum", shaun Binn, Ian Holme and Andy Serkis in the finale, why does each actor use a completely different prefix word? If you're a big fan of the Lord of the Rings series, you'll be able to taste it.
Six
There are too many people, how to tear
From time to time, Hollywood will make some star-studded movies, there are too many people, how to tear up the position?
The clever filmmakers have long figured out a way. Since everyone is similar, stop fighting for a short time and make some hard rules that everyone must follow — for example, ranking by alphabetical order of last name.
The 1977 World War II blockbuster "The Distant Bridge" featured 14 famous actors, including Sean Connery, Michael Kane, and Anthony Hopkins, almost everyone had a experience.
But this is a group drama, the surname alphabet ranking method, can make everyone feel at ease to cooperate.
The Distant Bridge
When Kenneth Branagh made Hamlet in 1996, he brought in several senior big names such as John Gilgood, Charlton Heston, jack Lemon to play supporting roles.
But whether on the poster of the film or in the subtitles at the beginning of the film, they follow the surname alphabet ranking method with the younger generation of actors.
In the British film industry, this seems to have become a convention, and the actor subtitles of the "Harry Potter" series of films, after the names of the three child stars, the names of other actors also appear in alphabetical order.
Americans, on the other hand, are often rulebreakers.
For example, in "Eleven Rohans", which is famous for its group plays, several of the main actors are ranked according to their surnames, which should be "Don Chandler, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts".
But in the opening credits, it's George Clooney who starts, and Don Cheadle disappears.
Obviously, the filmmakers wanted to avoid ranking problems between the big stars and didn't want Don Chandler's name to appear before George Clooney, after all, the former was just a less famous black actor, while the latter was just popular and was the soul of the whole play.
After several negotiations, Don Chandler finally gave up the signature. Such a behind-the-scenes event would be unimaginable if it happened twenty years later, when the racial affirmative action movement was on the rise. What needs Don Chandler to tear is obviously not as simple as the position.
Seven
Some people not only do not argue, but also do not sign
Some people fight openly in order to be in the first place, and some people simply do not sign their names.
There are many such examples, and the reasons are also various.
Some are due to the needs of the film's own plot, and some are because of more personal considerations, and even related to corporate politics and artistic character.
Gary Oldman played a character in Ridley Scott's Hannibal, who was completely unsightly, and in order to maintain a sense of mystery at the time of the release, he voluntarily asked that his name not appear on the cast list.
But in the credits at the end of the film, we can still find a flaw - "Nathan Murray, Mr. Oldman's assistant".
Later, the end of the Hannibal DVD version still gave Gary Oldman a name.
In fact, this practice of not attributing the actor in order to retain suspense was adopted as early as 1931's "Frankenstein".
The most famous one was "Seven Deadly Sins", in which the name of Kevin Spacey, who played the villain, not only did not appear in the opening credits, but also in many pre-screening ads.
Matt Damon was also unsigned in Interstellar, and the news of his appearance was kept secret until it was released. This is the decision of director Nolan, obviously, Damon has always played the old good guy before, and Nolan wants to use this to confuse the audience.
Many celebrities do not go unsigned, but use another name.
John Wayne starred in two of his old friend John Ford's television productions, The Van and The Twinkling Thorn, but neither was signed —or rather, his real name, and the "Michael Morris" and "Marion Morrison" on the cast were his, and his real name was Marion Michael Morrison.
The cast of "Earthquake" has a person named "Walter Matusanskayasky", who is actually Walter Matthew, who made a small cameo role for free.
Some stars are not called cameos at all in the film, they can only be regarded as "appearances", there are no lines, they are simply passers-by in the background, and the camera is swept away, just like Bin Crosby and Bob Hope in the audience in "The Great Circus".
Paramount cannot sign them, and once they are used, they are suspected of using their propaganda, and they have to pay a high amount of money for it. It would be more troublesome for something like this to happen between two companies.
When MGM's "Rebel Blood" was filmed off the coast of California, just as James Cagney was on vacation nearby, he took the initiative to find his old friend Frank Lloyd, who was the director, and asked for a group of sailors to play in the role, and one shot was cut into the play. But James Cagney was a brother to Warner at the time, and MGM could not have signed him, both from a corporate competitive point of view and from a financial point of view.
All of this can be understood, and the strangest thing is that some actors obviously have a lot of roles and do not sign their names.
For example, in "Four Rooms" with four directors, Bruce Willis played the story directed by Quentin, who starred for free because he was helping an old friend and refused to sign it — presumably to avoid conflicting with the Actors Guild's remuneration terms.
There are also some examples of many scenes but not signed, for reasons that are still unknown, such as Ashton Kutcher in "A Basket of Children" (too many children to forget?). ), Owen Wilson in "Fantastic Nights at the Museum" (because he acted in a solo exhibit?). ）。 Another example is Gene Hackman in "Law Firm", on the scene, he is the second male number, but he voluntarily refused to sign.
Why?
Now, it looks a lot like a protest. It was 1993, and tom Cruise, the number one actor, was so red that his name not only appeared in front of the title, but was as big as the title font! The lack of a signature may be a silent protest by a veteran actor against the filmmaker's excessive spoiling of "traffic".