Although they were prepared, the subsequent media storm was more intense than anyone imagined.
After the article in The New York Times sparked a fire, it seemed that suddenly, much of the media's original surprise and admiration for 'Run Lola Run' turned into doubt.
In fact, this doubt had existed ever since 'Run Lola Run' was released.
Regardless, it seemed too bizarre for an 18-year-old who had no chance to study at a formal film academy to suddenly produce such an excellent film as 'Run Lola Run'.
It was just that, before The New York Times article, everyone was swept up in an atmosphere of admiration and worship for the young genius. Even if someone raised an objection, it was often dismissed as envy.
Now, with an authoritative newspaper like The New York Times, which has a powerful global influence, taking the lead in raising doubts, coupled with the secret pushing of interested parties, all those opinions that had been suppressed by the mainstream trend became noisy.
"Puppet or Genius? The Difficulty of Executing Key Positions in 'Run Lola Run' Revealed".
"Analysis of the Film Scoring Process: Why Simon Westeros Couldn't Have Personally Completed the Film Score for 'Run Lola Run'".
"Stunning Shots, False Behind-the-Scenes".
"The Eighteen-Year-Old Scam: A Film Marketing Deception That Fooled the Entire Nation".
"Simon Westeros's High School Classmate: He Works Hard, But He Can't Be a Film Director".
"The Real 'Capital' and 'Technology' Behind 'Run Lola Run': Heiress Janet Johnston, Columbia Film School Graduate Kathryn Bigelow".
"Former 'Run Lola Run' Lighting Designer Accuses Simon Westeros of Being All Show".
"..."
"..."
For a time, not only newspapers, but even major North American radio stations and TV stations also participated in the discussion, eagerly looking for evidence that Simon Westeros could not have had the ability to make 'Run Lola Run'. Simon's hometown of San Jose, where he grew up, once again welcomed many reporters from all over the country in a short period, and the number of reporters gathered outside Simon's mansion expanded again.
On the other hand, Simon's team also quickly launched a counterattack. However, they did not rush to clarify the facts, but instead pointed the finger at Mark Hollington, who published the questioning article in The New York Times.
Early the next morning, Daenerys Pictures issued an official statement through the Los Angeles Times, accusing Mark Hollington of making the conclusion that Simon could not have filmed 'Run Lola Run' based solely on Simon's upbringing, calling it an arrogance and prejudice stemming from his own incompetence, and even a discrimination against the lower-class citizens of the Nation based on his shallow sense of superiority as a wealthy middle-class individual.
In the United States, such a big accusation as 'discrimination' is simply too damaging.
Mark Hollington responded immediately, publicly stating that he was only asking Simon Westeros to come forward and prove that he possessed the professional ability to film 'Run Lola Run', and had no discriminatory intentions whatsoever.
This time, Simon's side did not respond again.
However, an article soon appeared in the New York Post, owned by News Corporation, refuting Mark Hollington's demand for someone to 'prove their innocence' as a very malicious and shameless act. Since Mark Hollington believed that 'Run Lola Run' was not filmed by Simon Westeros, he should personally provide solid evidence; otherwise, rashly raising doubts was a serious infringement of another person's right to reputation. Simon Westeros had sufficient reason to file a defamation lawsuit against him.
After such an exchange, Mark Hollington, unable to parry, suddenly fell silent.
However, once the public opinion storm had been stirred up, it was impossible to easily quell it. In the following days, through further excavation of details from Simon's past, analysis of the content of 'Run Lola Run', and even through messy information provided by 'Hollywood insiders,' various doubts continued to pour in.
With the help of WMA, Fox Pictures, Orion Pictures, and others, Simon also reciprocated, dealing with each move as it came.
At the same time, Hollywood insiders who had good relationships with Simon, such as Brian De Palma, David Giler, Robert Redford, and others, also began to speak out in support of Simon.
In addition, after two days of urgent consultations, Ronald Goldberg, president of Fox Pictures, approved Amy Pascal's resignation application in advance.
Daenerys Pictures immediately held a press conference, announcing that Ms. Amy Pascal, former Vice President of Production at Fox Pictures, would be joining Daenerys Pictures as the company's president.
The announcement of this news undoubtedly strengthened the confidence of many members of the public who had begun to waver under the influence of the barrage of questioning news. After all, if Simon were merely a young man who was all show, it would be absolutely impossible for him to recruit a vice president of a major film company to work for him.
However, some newspapers soon proactively exposed the 'truth,' claiming that Amy Pascal's move to Daenerys Pictures was only to personally oversee 'Final Destination', which was about to be invested by Fox Pictures and have Simon Westeros as its 'producer.' This precisely indicated that Fox Pictures had doubts about Simon Westeros's abilities.
This commotion continued until Friday, March 13th.
Many things also reached a tipping point.
Because on this day, the box office data for the tenth film week of 1987 was officially released.
Although the media turmoil during the weekdays inevitably led many ordinary people to have doubts about the truth behind 'Run Lola Run', the film's box office was not too greatly affected in just a few days.
In the new week, the box office for 'Run Lola Run' reached $25.62 million, with a cumulative box office of $57.71 million.
Clearly, just the first week of nationwide wide release almost doubled the North American box office of 'Run Lola Run'. In the next two to three weeks, as long as there isn't a significant drop, the total box office for 'Run Lola Run' will smoothly break the $100 million mark.
Following 'Run Lola Run' was still 'Lethal Weapon'.
This big-budget film, costing $15 million, earned $8.82 million in its opening week.
Although its screen count was over a hundred more than 'Run Lola Run' and its reputation wasn't bad, the box office appeal of 'Lethal Weapon' was clearly far from comparable to an 'event film' like 'Run Lola Run'. Its box office scale was naturally only about one-third of the latter.
In fact, even including the subsequent 'Platoon', 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 3', and 'Angel Heart', the combined weekly box office of the latter four films in the top five for this week was only $27.63 million, which was exactly equivalent to the box office data of 'Run Lola Run' alone.
In the afternoon.
Inside the cliffside mansion in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles.
Kathryn Bigelow took the coffee offered by Janette. Seeing Janette sit down beside her like a little girl, she laughed and moved away slightly, not letting her lean on her, then said to Simon on the other side of the sofa, "Haven't you left the house these past few days?"
Simon looked at Kathryn, who had just returned from Arizona, travel-worn, and felt very touched. During this time, although there was a lot of trouble in the media, many people he had met over the past six months, Brian De Palma, David Giler, Sandra Bullock, Jonathan Friedman, and others, were all providing him with sufficient concern and support.
Hearing the woman's question, Simon nodded and said, "Yes, anyway, there's nothing I can do by going out, so I just stayed home".
In the past few days, the reporters guarding outside Simon's mansion showed no signs of decreasing. To avoid these troubles, Simon either communicated with the outside world by phone, or Mike Medavoy, Pat Kingsley, and others personally came over. He himself did not step out at all.
Doing so did give him a lot of peace. However, many of Simon's ongoing projects had also stalled.
Although Ronald Goldberg had approved Amy's resignation application in advance out of self-interest, Fox was delaying and unwilling to sign the 'Final Destination' contract at this time.
For 'The Butterfly Effect' a month later, although Fox would not secretly play tricks like the others and even offered help, it was now clearly waiting to see the subsequent development of the situation.
Fairly speaking, with this matter ongoing, no matter the outcome, it will be difficult for Simon to completely shake off the doubts for a long time to come. Some things, even if they are false, once repeated ten thousand times, it becomes very difficult to simply clear one's name.
Kathryn held her coffee cup, and seeing Simon looking at her, she slightly averted her gaze and said, "So, what do you plan to do next?"
"This matter should be concluded," Simon replied. "I'm going to New York tomorrow. I've already arranged with NBC's 'The Tonight Show' for a slot next Monday. I'll make some explanations and statements on the show then".
Although Kathryn had never encountered the current situation, she felt that such a matter could not be resolved so easily, and she pressed, "Is that enough?"
"There will definitely be follow-up media actions to cooperate," Simon gave Kathryn a reassuring look, then turned to ask about the woman's own affairs: "And you, I remember the schedule said filming wrapped this week, right?"
Kathryn nodded, then added, "However, next week we still need to go to Oklahoma for some exterior shots. Then we'll return to Los Angeles for post-production".
The story of 'Near Dark' takes place in Oklahoma, but due to climate, tax rebates, and other reasons, the filming location was Arizona. To avoid it looking too obvious, some exterior shots were indeed needed to fill the gaps.
Simon said, "I'll help you then".
Kathryn smiled shyly and said, "In the future, people will definitely say that my movies weren't directed by Kathryn Bigelow".
Simon smiled and said, "That's perfect then, I happen to have the same problem".
After chatting for a while, Jonathan Friedman, Mike Medavoy, Pat Kingsley, Amy Pascal, and others arrived at Simon's residence one after another. Since they were heading to New York tomorrow, not everyone could go, so this afternoon was the perfect time to review the upcoming response strategy.