In a foggy mansion on the British Isles, the governess Grace once again woke up from her nightmare, wiped her eyes, and began another busy day. Her husband was not at home, she must be strong.
She didn't know why, but the servants at her home suddenly disappeared some time ago, so she posted an advertisement for recruiting maids. Today, three people came to apply.
A white-haired gardener, a spirited old woman, and a confused dumb woman, the combination of the three looked very weird, but because the advertisement had been posted for so long, and no one had come to apply for it, Grace still accepted them and introduced them to the customs and rules for the house.
She didn't know whether is was because of the arrival of the three, but there were all kinds of strange things in the big house. Her daughter Annie claimed that she saw a little boy. Grace also heard some strange voices from time to time, and she also found three the new servant were always sly and seemed to be planning something. Because of this, Grace was getting more and more uneasy. Until one day, her husband who went out to fight suddenly came back. The excited Grace thought that now the family had it's backbone again life would get back on track, but her husband did not find his reunion with Grace joyous, instead, seeing his wife and children, he became sad. After spending a few days at the home, he suddenly left again.
The strange things in the old house were still going on, and with the husband's departure, Grace's spirit was getting more and more tense. Finally, one day she found that all the curtains in the old house were torn down, and as Grace had repeatedly emphasized that her two children get sick in strong sun, she became so angry that she immediately blamed the three servants and drove them out.
The two playful children ran out into the backyard garden one night, and the little girl Annie found three tombstones. Looking closely, she was horrified to find the three new servants who had appeared in the house some time ago. At the same time, the three servants also came out of the darkness again. Annie shouted at her younger brother and they ran to the gate, and the governess who also stumbled upon the 'truth' also rushed out with a rifle to protect them. The children returned to the old house and blocked out the three ghosts. Whilst Grace repeatedly prayed for three ghosts to let go of their family, the two children went back upstairs screamed, and as Grace prayed she climbed the stairs and watched a door open because of the Ghosts telekinesis, before Grace finally saw another family in reality.
Everything made Grace face up to reality. It turned out that she and her two children were dead.
Helplessly holding her two children, the heartbroken governess had to remember her sad past.
With the sobbing shrieks of Grace and the two children as if in a nightmare, the film officially ended, and as ending credits were not made yet, the lights in the auditorium lit up directly.
"Eric, how about this time?"
Jonathan Demme asked without confidence, as although he made a big change in accordance with the advice given by Eric, Jonathan still wasn't sure whether it would make Eric satisfied.
«The Others» finished filming mid-June, and then part of the post-production was carried out in the UK, because some shots were retaken from time to time. The entire crew had been in the UK until July and then returned to the United States.
Eric had visited the British film studio after the end of"Running Out of Time", personally watching the shooting of some scenes, and after checking some of Jonathan's shots, Eric was very satisfied with Jonathan's shooting results. Perhaps because Eric's previous affirmations, when Jonathan confidently submitted his edited version, the so-called director's cut, to Eric, he was confident that as he had spent a lot of effort editing it, the version will be recognized by Eric.
However, reality had poured cold water on Jonathan. Eric had frowned after watching his edited version, and then Eric had signaled the staff to play it again from the beginning. They watched whilst it rewound quickly, and then the film was shown again. Eric wrote more than 20 amendments in a notebook, involving scening, the soundtrack, editing and other aspects, almost equal in work to Jonathan's cut version.
Although Jonathan was not convinced, he did not have the final editing rights. He could only make the substantial changes in accordance with the opinions given by Eric.
After completing the production again according to Eric's opinion, Jonathan looked at the film again. He also felt that this version is much better than the version he had edited before. Not only is the plot more compact, but the suspenseful setting was more acceptably confusing and more focused on the creation of psychological suspense that made Jonathan admire this young man who is twenty years younger than himself even more.
Whilst Jonathan did a great deal of preparation in order to get the position of the film director, and some of the ideas he put forward were in line with Eric's ideas, many of his techniques still couldn't escape the embarrassments that were old-fashioned horror films. This was not Jonathan's desire, but few bad habits can be changed, and innovation, in any circle, is easier said than done.
When he heard Jonathan's question, Eric did not rush to answer Jonathan's question. Instead, he carefully compared the original film in his mind using it's difference and commonalities to the movie that he had just watched. Among the three films invested in by Firefly, «The Others»,"Steel Magnolias"and"Scent of a Woman", Eric felt the box office prospects for «The Others» was the most promising, so he also paid it the most attention.
For other two films,"Steel Magnolias"and"Scent of a Woman", Eric was giving over power much greater than for «The Others». Herbert Rose was completely responsible for"Steel Magnolias", Eric did not even participate in the editing, and whilst the final editing rights of"Scent of a Woman"were the hands of Eric, in the future, he would respect the views of Al Pacino. In comparison, for the production of «The Others» he seemed to be somewhat 'willful'. He also knew that completely overthrowing Jonathan's director's cut version is very hurtful, but he has to do it in order for it to be successful at the box office.
When he originally saw Jonathan's edited version, the reason he could list so many revisions in one breath was certainly not because of the talent of Eric himself, but with reference to the original film in his mind.
Even if he had a little talent in his previous life, it had been eroded by so many years in shackles. His only remaining professional skills were those imprinted in instinct, like an old man who has been in the kitchen for decades. The master, who without thinking, can draw up a table full of flavourful dishes according to habit.
A movie, even if based off the same material and the same script, can have large differences between films edited by different people. Eric had heard of someone re-editing just the scenes, and editing a classic serious historical film into a vulgar film, but the lines, materials, music, etc. had not changed, but rather just rearranged. Scening. Therefore, Eric was not demanding a perfect copy the «The Others» exactly as in his memory. Besides, his past life's version was not without flaws. For example, the scene where Grace's husband returns was light hearted in the original. In a horror film maintaining the tension and suspenseful atmosphere are very important, so Eric had made some modifications to the original plot in this version.
It took about ten minutes for him compare them in detail, and then Eric nodded lightly. "Yes, basically, we will just do one or two small changes to the details. As for the release, Jeffrey, inform the heads of the major film companies besides Fox and Columbia to see if they are interested in participating in an internal viewing session."
Jonathan heard Eric's affirmative words and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Jeffrey was hesitant: "Eric, it's not good to not inform Fox and Columbia. After all, isn't our cooperation with these two companies the closest?"
Eric's explained: "In the current situation, After Colombia's acquisition by the Japanese, there will be no small number of personnel changes. It's hard to say how the Japanese will manage Colombia after they get it. Currently I'm worried about even receiving the dividends for"Running Out of Time"on time, so I don't want to work with them in the short term. As for Fox, they already have the rights to distribute my next two movies, and they will only be the movies we make ourselves with out resources. "
Jeffrey suggested: "So that we look good, why don't we invite the people of Colombia and Fox, and as for working together, isn't it fine if we choose not to. If we don't invite them that would be somewhat disrespectful."
Eric looked down and thought about it, then nodded: "Well, just do as you said, also put together a preview for"Steel Magnolias". Lets put"Scent of a Woman"to rest for now. Let Al put it together slowly, so long as it can be ready for the down time at the end of the year, anyway, as that movie is to be used to attack the Oscars."
As the two men discussed the film distribution, Jonathan Demme took a chance to interject. "Eric, will you go at the Venice Film Festival in September?"
"Yes, I will at least go to the opening ceremony or the awards ceremony," Eric replied.
Among the three major European film festivals, the Venice Film Festival was the closest one to the Chinese film circle. Eric had been interested in the Venice Film Festival in his previous life. This time now that he has the opportunity, naturally he must go.
In the past year since his rebirth, Eric has been constantly busy, and there's been no time to relax. Maybe the Venice trip can be used as a vacation. As for the awards, Eric's expectations are not too big. Although the story of «The Others» is very novel, this movie is not only a commercial film, but also a horror film. Any one of these two categories is very much discriminated against by the film festival. As the film contains these two most unpleasant factors, the ability to qualify for the main competition at all has been a very good result.