The preview screening of Basic Instinct was held at a theater in Century City, Beverly Hills. Setting off from Malibu, Simon and Janet began reviewing the investigation report on Sophia Fey during the drive.
Too many cases existed in his memory of wealthy celebrities suffering misfortunes some even losing their families due to unfortunate associations. Since Sophia Fey would handle matters closely tied to Simon's personal life, he was being exceptionally cautious.
Sophia Fey's background in the report satisfied Simon.
An ordinary girl from a small coastal town in Corsica, France, she graduated from Université Paris Nanterre, majoring in Public Administration. Her academic record during university was, according to the materials, stunning.
Graduating at 22, she worked at a Paris investment firm for three years before unexpectedly pursuing an MBA at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. However, she dropped out after just one year to marry her ex-husband, Paul Brenier.
Paul Brenier was a French businessman in the wine trade. The Brenier family owned their own vineyards in popular wine regions like Bordeaux, Provence, and the Loire Valley.
However, the marriage lasted only three years before ending in failure. Sophia Fey gained custody of their two children. In recent years, she had been working at a real estate agency in Nice, near Cannes, specializing in high-end property listings, with outstanding performance.
Simon flipped through the documents page by page. Janet leaned close beside him and after a moment asked, "Well? Interesting, isn't it?"
Beyond the main background, the report contained details about Sophia Fey's marriage to her ex-husband, eleven years her senior, and the reasons for their divorce. During the divorce proceedings, this woman successfully gained custody of her two children by leveraging Paul Brenier's history of domestic violence. The trade-off was receiving only a one-time alimony payment of 5 million francs. After paying for the lengthy and costly year-long divorce litigation, that sum was nearly depleted.
Clearly, the businessman named Paul Brenier was also a ruthless and decisive individual. The materials showed Sophia Fey's two children were now only 7 and 5 years old. The Brenier family's assets exceeded 300 million francs, yet Paul Brenier hadn't paid a single cent in child support for his children in recent years.
Hearing Janet's question, Simon pinched her chin and chuckled. "It's just that you come from too privileged a background. You don't understand how difficult it is for a woman with no support to make her way, and instead you find it amusing."
"That's not it," Janet said, dissatisfied, shaking off Simon's hand. She grabbed the report, rustled through a few pages, and handed it back. "Look, it's actually here. That businessman recently tried to regain custody of the two kids. He was involved in a boating accident two years ago and likely lost his fertility. Then look at Sophia Fey. Her agreeing to work for you isn't so accidental after all. She wants a powerful backer strong enough to protect her from losing custody."
Simon skimmed the pages in front of him and just smiled. "It's only right for a boss to protect their employees. Since you're so interested in this, you can handle it when needed."
Janet indeed seemed very interested, nodding with a mischievous little smirk.
Seeing the woman was about to become a full-blown imp, Simon quickly reached over to suppress her. With her ribs tickled, Janet immediately laughed and softened against him.
The screening started at 7 PM. Simon and Janet arrived at an AMC theater in Century City ten minutes early.
To maximize promotional momentum, Fox had made this preview quite a grand affair, even arranging a red carpet section. Outside the theater, a large crowd of media reporters and enthusiastic fans holding various posters had gathered.
As Simon and Janet got out of the car, the originally orderly crowd immediately became agitated. If not for the security guards, people would have surged toward them.
Seeing this, Simon didn't give interviews. He simply posed for photos briefly before hurriedly entering the theater with Janet.
They were escorted by staff to a lounge first. Fox Chairman Barry Diller and Fox Films President Ronald L. Goldstein had already arrived. Besides Basic Instinct's key creators like Brian De Palma and Michael Douglas, there were also some heavyweight critics in the lounge.
With the screening about to start, there wasn't much small talk. Everyone soon entered the auditorium and took their seats.
Simon sat with Janet, Barry Diller, and others in a slightly forward section. Scanning the room, the medium-sized auditorium with over two hundred seats was nearly full, all occupied by media reporters and critics from across North America. This showed how much effort Fox Films had put into this screening; Fox covered expenses like accommodation and travel for most of these attendees.
Once seated, there were no particularly special segments. The lights dimmed, and the film began promptly.
After a brief, psychedelic opening sequence, an explicitly intimate scene appeared before everyone, catching many critics off guard.
Although Simon's previous Pulp Fiction was bloody and violent, it didn't use nudity as a selling point.
However, this intimate scene was just the beginning. When the woman suddenly pulled out an ice pick and mercilessly stabbed the man beneath her, blood splattering, some media reporters and critics in the auditorium were practically dumbfounded.
Was this Simon Westeros script?
Was this written by the same Simon Westeros who created a string of excellent films like Run Lola Run, The Butterfly Effect, Final Destination, and even the recently stunning Pulp Fiction?
Not far from the creators in the auditorium, renowned critic Terrence Rafferty from The New Yorker, after the opening sequence ended, glanced in the dim light at the young man's figure nearby, then leaned over to ask Richard Schickel, chief critic for TIME magazine, who was also frowning beside him, "Could it be someone else's script credited to Westeros ?"
Richard Schickel also glanced in a certain direction and shook his hqqead. "I think, if not for the contract with Fox Films, Westeros probably wouldn't have agreed to have his name attached to this film at all."
Terrence Rafferty thought for a moment and couldn't help but nod.
However, he soon felt that while other famous directors or screenwriters might try to avoid associating themselves with controversial films, an unconventional young man like Simon qdmight not care about such things. Pulp Fiction had also sparked considerable controversy lately; a youth protection organization in New York had even protested to the state government over the film's frank depiction of drug injection, calling for it to be banned.
Now, after recklessly indulging in violence, was starting to blatantly showcase eroticism.
Who knew what he would do next?
Terrence Rafferty was somewhat a Batman comic fan. Seeing the suggestive scenes appearing within the first half hour on the big screen, he even worried Simon might turn Batman into an R-rated film unsuitable for children.
Heaven had been too kind to that young man.
Perhaps it was time he faced some setbacks.
With that resolution, Terrence Rafferty redirected his attention to the big screen. Even if he planned to criticize this film, he still needed to watch it carefully.
Once he focused, Terrence quickly noticed the performance of the female lead, Linda Fiorentino. He didn't actually know the actress's name but remembered her playing a quirky sculptor in Martin Scorsese's After Hours.
Thoughs of a certain elements in the film, Terrence Rafferty had to admit that, just like Sandra Bullock in Run Lola Run, Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally..., and Nicole Kidman in Pulp Fiction, Simon Westeros had once again chosen the right female lead.
However, for the same reason, this actress might find it hard to shake off her typecasting as an erotic thriller actress after Basic Instinct.
Additionally, the performance of the newly crowned Best Actor, Michael Douglas, was also commendable. Brian De Palma had displayed his fondness for Hitchcock throughout the film. Moreover, beyond the omnipresent sexual elements, the film's core, true to its title Basic Instinct, ultimately showcased how deeply rooted desires in human nature drive a person's actions.
The femme fatale heroine also manipulated the men around her using human instincts. However, her behavior perhaps stemmed from the darker instincts within human nature as well.
By the end of the screening, Terrence Rafferty realized that if the sexual aspects were removed, this would still be a somewhat worthwhile film to contemplate. But then again, if those elements were truly removed, a film titled Basic Instinct would undoubtedly lose much of its impact.
It was a paradoxical dilemma with no perfect solution.
Over two hours flew by. As the ending credits rolled, Terrence Rafferty was still reflecting on the film's plot when Richard Schickel beside him leaned over and whispered, "Roger left early."
Terrence was momentarily puzzled before remembering.
There might be more than one person named Roger in this auditorium, but the one Richard Schickel mentioned without a surname could only be that well-known critic from Chicago, Roger Ebert. Due to preconceptions from the opening, Terrence Rafferty still held some bias against the film he'd just seen. But after watching the entire movie, deep down, he wasn't as againts it anymore.
With a hint of scholarly rivalry, Terrence chuckled somewhat teasingly. "That's normal. Roger Ebert never particularly liked this suspense thriller genre anyway."
Terrence put it mildly, but Richard Schickel caught the implication and smiled along.
As one of the few top-tier critics in North America who could be considered 'established,' Roger Ebert's reviewing style was generally known for its[?]. But he made exceptions for certain genres—namely, thrillers and suspense films.
There was actually an anecdote behind this. Many years ago, the ambitious young man aspired to be a screenwriter and loved thrillers and suspense. However, his submitted scripts were repeatedly rejected. The young man switched careers and became a critic.
Because of his 'tragic experience' as a screenwriter, this self-taught critic who later became a heavyweight was particularly not fan towards thrillers and suspense films.
After sharing a few laughs, Richard Schickel, seeing the credits about to end, couldn't help but ask Terrence Rafferty beside him, "Are you going to Fox's reception later?"
Terrence hesitated. He was still very interested in Simon and had originally planned to chat with him during this opportunity.
However, Fox's reception clearly had a different nature. He had accepted the plane tickets and hotel accommodations earlier with a clear conscience—it was for work. But now, in this situation, if he attended the reception and was lobbied, Terrence felt it would be hard for him to publish overly critic the reviews of Basic Instinct.
Although after watching the entire film, Terrence Rafferty's impression of Basic Instinct wasn't too bad, he ultimately disliked having his perspective influenced by others.
Looking around, besides Roger Ebert, it was obvious others had also left the auditorium early. Clearly, despite accepting Fox's various benefits, a significant portion expressed their stance this way. Perhaps those people wouldn't even accept Fox's return tickets.
Withdrawing his gaze, Terrence Rafferty thought for a moment and said, "Forget it. I'll head back to the hotel early. I have to fly back to New York tomorrow. What about you, Charlie?"
Richard Schickel also nodded. "I'm heading back to the hotel too."
Even before the film ended, Leonard kept receiving reports from assistants about people leaving early.
Fox intended to use controversy as a marketing strategy—that was correct. But now, Leonard started to worry: what if Basic Instinct's completely collapsed? Then there would be no 'controversy' to speak of.
The reception was held at the nearby InterContinental Hotel in Century City.
Over 30% of the more than two hundred critics attending the screening didn't show up afterward, casting another shadow over Leonard Goldberg mind.
Starting with last year's The Butterfly Effect, Fox's performance had suddenly improved. This year's summer season even saw unexpected success with Big.
The company had initially placed high hopes on Basic Instinct. Leonard Goldberg also hoped to add another credential and secure a bonus before his official departure this fall, accumulating more capital for starting his new company after leaving.
But now, things suddenly seemed uncertain again.
After energetically mingling and greeting people in the crowd, Leonard Goldberg roughly gauged the critics' attitudes. In short: Intense polarization. Simultaneously, due to the excessively high expectations for Simon Westeros, this polarized opinion actually leaned more towards the critical side.
Clearly, Basic Instinct would undoubtedly face controversy, but its reception might become very poor.
Ronald L. Goldstein couldn't tell at all whether audiences would still pay for a film that was highly controversial yet poorly reviewed. Even if it was a Simon Westerois film. Or perhaps, especially because it was a Simon Westeros film.
With this headache, Leonard Goldberg approached Simon and Barry Diller, who were chatting and laughing calmly. He couldn't help but say, "You two don't seem worried at all?"