Simon pushed the copy of The Hollywood Reporter he was holding towards Kathryn, smiling as he said, "Someone actually got Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep together to film a romantic comedy. The person who made that decision is truly a 'genius'".
Listening to Simon's sarcastic tone, Kathryn imagined the scene of Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep flirting, and she also found it inexplicably amusing.
Out of curiosity, Kathryn pulled the newspaper closer to herself and discovered that Simon had just been reading an article about Paramount Pictures' upcoming release of the 'Heartburn' movie on video tape.
'Heartburn' is a romantic comedy starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, which premiered this summer. The film, with a budget of $20 million, only recouped $25 million at the box office. To quickly recover funds, Paramount plans to release the film on video by the end of November.
After a brief review of 'Heartburn', the article in The Hollywood Reporter primarily discussed the industry's focus on the film's theatrical window.
After scanning the news, Kathryn noticed that the mark Simon had just made was only on a name casually mentioned in the article.
This was the screenwriter of 'Heartburn', named Nora Ephron.
Looking up again, Kathryn asked curiously, "Simon, what about Nora Ephron?"
Simon finished the rest of his milk, put down his cup, and said, "I read a review of 'Heartburn' a few months ago and was very interested in the film's plot. So, if there's an opportunity in the future, perhaps we could collaborate".
Perhaps not many people know Nora Ephron. But if 'Sleepless in Seattle' is mentioned, it would certainly be a familiar name.
Nora Ephron was the director and screenwriter of 'Sleepless in Seattle'.
Of course, this movie hasn't appeared yet. Moreover, among Nora Ephron's works, Simon's favourite isn't 'Sleepless in Seattle', but another less well-known film called 'When Harry Met Sally'.
Simon had always felt that 'When Harry Met Sally' should be Nora Ephron's peak work in romantic films.
Coincidentally, 'When Harry Met Sally' was originally released in the next few years, and Simon had just been wondering if there was a chance to snatch this movie, which was why he had made a mark on Nora Ephron's name.
However, this thought clearly couldn't be explained to Kathryn, so he just made a casual remark.
Regardless, having Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep star in a romantic film was indeed a bit reckless.
From the main creative lineup, this was clearly another CAA package deal.
Kathryn could sense Simon's reservation, but she didn't press him. She actually quite agreed with Janette's view that the little boy in front of her definitely harboured many unknown secrets in his mind.
Thinking of Janette, the scene in the bedroom last night involuntarily came to mind. Glancing at Simon, who had already finished breakfast, the woman's thoughts suddenly became scattered again. She quickly lowered her gaze, picked up her knife and fork, and pretended to deal with a fried egg.
Simon tidied the tableware and said to the woman, who was looking down, "Kathryn, you eat slowly. I'm going to Fox Studios first".
Kathryn hummed in acknowledgment, noticed Simon's movements, and then said, "Simon, I'll clean up later. Anyway, well, there's also Janette's".
Simon smiled and nodded, saying, "Alright".
Even as he said this, Simon still took his own tableware to the kitchen sink before coming out.
Kathryn watched Simon leave the dining room, thought for a moment, put down her knife and fork, and followed him out.
It was already November, and although Los Angeles was like spring all year round, the weather at this time of year had a touch of chill.
Simon took his coat from the hanger, and Kathryn, who had followed him, naturally took it, unfolded it, and helped Simon put it on, even reaching out to straighten the rolled-up collar. Simon smiled, letting the woman do as she pleased, and finally picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. Looking at Kathryn, who was wearing a burgundy turtleneck sweater, he said, "Well then, goodbye".
Kathryn felt Simon's slightly probing, hopeful gaze, but Janette's sparkling eyes suddenly appeared in her mind. She took a small step back, pretending to check if Simon's attire was alright, and smiled nonchalantly, saying, "Goodbye".
Simon didn't insist, nodded, and left the house.
To ensure as much post-production time as possible, Simon's basic work rhythm this month was filming during weekdays, rough cutting dailies on weekends, streamlining various shooting plans in the evenings, and also taking time to write some scores.
Two-thirds of the filming for 'Run Lola Run' had been completed, and all the shots from the beginning of the film to Lola's first run had been filmed. Simon's focus for the past few weekends had been on the rough cut of the first running sequence.
The development of film editing is basically a small cycle from 'non-linear editing' to 'linear editing' and then back to 'non-linear editing'.
The earliest film editing was entirely direct manipulation of film stock.
Editors could freely remove, shorten, and replace film, thus it was considered non-linear editing.
However, the workload of this most primitive non-linear editing was extraordinarily large.
For a film, based on 10 hours of footage, the cumulative length of all film reels was no longer measured in meters, but 20 kilometres. One can imagine how complicated the entire process would be to edit a film from tens of kilometres of film.
Then, the advent of linear editing finally freed editors from being surrounded by tens of kilometres of film.
The principle of linear editing is to record the film footage onto magnetic tape, and then transcribe the material from that tape onto another tape according to the editing plan.
This editing method greatly reduced the workload of editors, and it was a 'what you see is what you get' model, allowing them to monitor the editing results at any time, so it quickly became popular.
However, the drawbacks of linear editing were also very obvious. Editors could only edit images on tape in a linear sequence. Slightly more flexible operations were only inserting and replacing segments of equal duration on the tape. But if one wanted to delete, shorten, or replace shots of unequal duration in the completed edit, it was impossible.
This mode is actually similar to a music cassette. If a person presses the record button and howls a few times along with a five-minute song, they can replace their own voice, but the song is still five minutes long. If you want it to be four and a half minutes, you can only re-arrange the music and then re-record it.
After linear editing, more advanced non-linear editing appeared in the late 1980s.
By transferring film images into digital images, non-linear operations similar to original manual editing could then be performed using editing software.
It must be said that in the era of film, whether it was primitive manual editing, later linear editing, or even digital non-linear editing, it was all just an editing method. After a film completed post-production processes such as editing and scoring, the original negative of the film still had to be manually edited according to the final cut to obtain film prints that could be screened in theatres.
In 1986, digital non-linear editing was just beginning to emerge, and the technology was far from mature. Simon could only do the post-production for 'Run Lola Run' on a linear editing machine.
Although he hadn't worked with linear editing in his previous life, he had some such experiences from his other memories. Simon hired an assistant on the first weekend to help him get familiar with the linear editing machine at Fox Studios, and he had been working alone for these past few weeks.
Regardless of the era, being an editor is a lonely profession that demands a lot of patience.
The linear editing equipment at Fox Studios was billed by the hour, and Simon was unwilling to waste even a minute.
Arriving at Fox Studios, he sat down at the editing desk, gazing at the two old CRT monitors in front of him, listening to the clicking sound of the machine running. Unconsciously, an entire morning had passed.
It wasn't until a staff member reminded him that Simon snapped out of his focused work, remembering the interview he had scheduled for noon with the reporter from the Los Angeles Times yesterday.
Rushing to the main gate of Fox Studios, Peter Butler had already been waiting for a while. After apologizing a few times, Simon did not take the other party into the studio, but instead chose a restaurant on the street outside the studio.
The two sat down in the restaurant and ordered lunch. Peter Butler then turned on a recorder and placed it on the table, saying with a natural familiarity in his tone, "So, still working on the weekend?"
"Yeah," Simon nodded, "Aren't you?"
Peter Butler smiled and said, "It seems we already have something in common. That's good."
Simon also smiled: "Speaking of which, Peter, why are you interested in me? Compared to the Los Angeles Times, I'm just an insignificant nobody, right?"
Peter Butler shrugged and said, "Actually, at the Los Angeles Times, I'm also a nobody. Interviewing someone like Spielberg certainly has nothing to do with me".
"I understand. That's another commonality".
"Too bad there's no alcohol, otherwise we could have a drink," Peter Butler chuckled and continued, "However, Simon, in all fairness, I don't consider you an insignificant nobody at all."
Simon just smiled.
Peter Butler continued on his own, "I did some research on you beforehand. You arrived in Los Angeles in June, and then, as a newcomer, you were surprisingly signed by WMA Vice President Jonathan Friedman, becoming his only screenwriting client.
Then, WMA experienced an internal struggle, which was still related to you. Shortly after, the incident in Santa Monica at the end of July, although little discussed in newspapers, to my knowledge, our Los Angeles Times alone suppressed two reports attempting to investigate the matter.
And then, less than half a year after entering Hollywood, you are already directing your first film, 'Run Lola Run.' What's even more surprising is that several big names in Hollywood, Brian De Palma, David Giler, and Robert Redford, have all stated they will be credited as executive producers for this film, which is very rare in Hollywood.
So, Simon, from any perspective, you cannot be considered a nobody. A nobody couldn't achieve these things".