This article was written before the official broadcast of the "Watchmen" series
In the 1980s, Damon Lindelof took an extremely interesting photo in his suburban home. For some unknown reason, he was thrown into the air, about to fall on a black sofa that was worn and shiny. The yellow curtains of broken flowers and the slightly old furniture make the whole photo reveal an inexplicable sense of absurdity. No one knows why he was thrown into the air and who took this photo for what purpose. Damon's body was fully unfolded, with an expression of excitement and trepidation on his face, and he didn't know what fate would be greeted him in the next second.
To some extent this is a metaphor. Many years later, Damon, who has become a first-line screenwriter in the American drama industry, always brings a similar experience to his audience. He is always accustomed to throwing the characters and audiences in his play into a huge and mysterious mystery for no reason, relying on clues to explore the truth behind it. In "Lost" ( Lost ), survivors of a plane crash live on a deserted island, and they still enter a series of inexplicable numbers every 108 minutes while surviving. Switching to " The Leftovers " ( The Leftovers ), the world suddenly lost 2% of the population, and the remaining people have to continue to find faith and courage to live.
As for the answer behind the mystery, Damon never seemed to want to tell the audience, or in his opinion the answer was never important. This must be an adventure, requiring certain beliefs and courage. In more than ten years in the industry, Damon has become accustomed to this kind of adventure, and he will always be the one who says "no" to the audience.
Need someone
Looking back on the small screen in the first decade of the new century, "Lost" is definitely the most topical drama and a complex of contradictions. It is the last glory of the public broadcasting network, has set an epic ratings, and has won the best drama trophy in the Emmy Awards for a long time on the cable TV station. At the same time, it has fallen into the abyss, and its final ending has been controversial. It has long occupied the title of "the biggest unfinished in history" until the appearance of " Game of Thrones " nine years later . For Damon Lindelof, who created "Lost" by himself, "Lost" is more like a sweet and painful marriage that still tortured him for many years after his separation.
"Lost" is a typical product of a flash of light. It had a very shocking opening. A passenger plane crashed and fell on a deserted island. The original survivors who were like passers-by must unite to survive. The island in front of them was far more complicated than they thought, and everyone's past seemed to determine their future destiny. The earliest concept of the series came from a Hawaiian vacation by Lloyd Braun, the director of ABC TV at the time, and borrowed from " Cast Away " and the reality show "Survivor" ( Survivor ) , Then JJ Abrams and Damon joined the project. This was supposed to be a project completely led by J.J. Abrams, but after writing the pilot episode and leaving some basic concepts behind, he left, and Damon became the full person in charge of the project.
On July 24, 2004, the pilot episode of "Lost" premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con and received a good response. The entire pilot episode cost an astronomical 14 million U.S. dollars, more than twice that of other episodes of the time. In September of the same year, "Lost" was officially launched on ABC. Each episode received more than 16 million ratings, and countless viewers were crazy about it.
The success of "Lost" is all-round. It may be the first episode in the history of small screens that combines the shaping of group portraits with large-scale flashback techniques. This technique is so successful that it is even used in popular dramas such as " This Is Us " today . Everyone seems to be the protagonist, and every decision now comes from a moment in the past life. The great tension of fate makes everyone struggling, but trying to reconcile with the past is not smooth. Damon casts his shadow on Jack (Matthew Fox), the leader of the survivor team, a middle-aged doctor who has lost his father. He didn't want to take responsibility, but was pushed to the position of leader. Damon’s own experience is somewhat similar. When his father moved out from the house when he was 12 years old, the relationship between father and son began to become cold. Then he moved into his father's room and became the head of the family to some extent, with his favorite "Star Wars" sheets and "Batman" alarm clock.
Another part of "Lost" that people talk about is the ubiquitous mysterious element. The mysterious "black smoke", the dead relatives suddenly appeared and were suddenly cured of terminal illness. In the pre-Internet era where social networks are far from being developed today, drama fans who are addicted to it are endlessly discussing on old forums, proposing their own theories, and trying to give reasonable explanations. As the plot progresses, Damon's brain will have new ideas every week. He is always used to adding new mysteries without giving an exact answer.
After six years of long-distance running, "Lost" reached its end in May 2010. In six years, the series has experienced some twists and turns. The 2008 Hollywood screenwriters' strike made the fourth and fifth seasons shorter than originally planned, and the ratings were not as popular as they were at the beginning. The remaining die-hard fans are still very enthusiastic, and even postponed the then President Obama’s State of the Union speech for two hours, hoping that the final finale could explain all the mysteries. ABC arranged a four-hour long carnival that night, hoping that their proud students will have a gorgeous curtain call.
From today's point of view, the finale of "Lost" is a bit too "magic stick". In a timeline, Jack died in the final rescue operation in exchange for the rest of the people to escape from the nightmare island. While he was dying, he slowly fell into the bamboo forest at the beginning of the series, and closed his eyes contentedly. In another timeline, everyone gathered in a church, talking about the meaning of life, and finally a sunny scene. From the perspective of character creation, this is a perfect closed loop, and everyone has matured after experiencing a lot of hard work. But this religious ending did not give any answers about the mysterious elements. All previous questions still exist and will never be answered.
This is a problem that any long-run popular drama will encounter. As the attention of the series continues to rise, more and more new audiences come here. The huge number of viewers means that the main creator needs to meet all kinds of different viewing needs, and the limited length of the series will inevitably lead to the needs of certain audiences to be ignored. In the finale, the irreconcilable contradictions eventually intensified and turned into a disaster. For "Lost", Damon made his own choice like Jack in the play, a choice that is more related to the character's heart. And this choice not only brought Jack's death, but also made Damon pay a huge price.
Have light
After the bleak finale of "Lost", Damon Lindelof completely disappeared from the world of small screens for a while. He plays several film projects to start the consultant, including Deli Scott (Ridley Scott) of "Prometheus" ( Prometheus ), Brad Pitt (Brad Pitt) "zombie world war "( World War Z ) and old friend JJ Abrams " Star Trek: Into Darkness " ( Star Trek: Into Darkness ). Script consultants don’t have that much responsibility. Usually, they only need to make a few comments on the completed script and get hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation. This means that he can't use all his ideas, because this is not his project.
Even so, the failure of "Lost" still haunts Damon like a nightmare. The reluctant fans still express their anger and disappointment through various channels, claiming that Damon has completely destroyed their love. It has never been easy to recover from the pain, and some pain will even last a lifetime. Just as the divorce of his parents in his childhood caused him a blow, he later described that marriage as "a relationship completely torn apart by secular interests and beliefs without any emotional foundation."
In the fall of 2013, " Breaking Bad " ended in an almost perfect way. Damon sat in front of the TV, feeling jealous and envious. He admitted that, compared with his own "Lost", "Breaking Bad" has completed an impossible task and deserves praise. He changed his profile on his social network to "the one who ruined the finale of "Lost"," and admitted that he did not think of a more perfect ending, but the world does not always go well. At the same time, things took a turn for the better. HBO's executive vice president, Michael Ellenberg, wants Damon to control their new project, "Watching the Earth." He liked the unique style that Damon created in "Lost". Damon took the job and continued to work until one or two in the evening for a long period of time thereafter.
There are many similarities between "Watching the Earth" and "Lost". The two are like twin brothers, but they have grown up in two different families from birth, and they have become different shadows of one body and two sides. In the process of adapting Tom Perrotta's original work, Damon magnified certain elements of "Lost" and then hid others. The story takes place in a world where Thanos has snapped his fingers. The population of all mankind is reduced by 2% for no reason. These people have no similarities at all. They include celebrities like former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and writer Salman Rushdie, and more are ordinary people. . Three years after the "miracle" occurred, no one has been able to give a reasonable explanation. The remaining people must learn to continue living in grief and find the value of their own existence.
Compared with the crash of "Lost", the opening scene of "Watching the Earth" is more psychedelic, more shocking and internalized. For TV dramas, a good suspense is only half of the success, and the remaining half is how to keep it. The previous "Lost" lasted for six years, but was overwhelmed by suspense. While the original work of "Watching the Earth" is only 355 pages, maintaining suspense has become the key to the success of the series. For this, Damon chose a different way, not explaining the suspense at all, but focusing on the character's state and inner struggle , just like what he did at the end of "Lost", but this time it is more advanced. A step away.
In every minute of "Watching the Earth", there is a sorrow of forbearance, a kind of pain that can't be told and permeates every inch of skin. "Miracle" is not only as simple as taking away some people, but it seems to have taken away a part of everyone's soul. The broken mind makes the body numb, but life continues.
The hero Kevin Gary (Justin Theroux [Justin Theroux]) is the sheriff of a small town. "Miracle" didn't take away anyone around him, but it broke his family to pieces, so much so that he began to reflect on his previous life. The hostess Nora (Carrie Coon [Carrie Coon]) came to the town as an investigator. The "miraculous" three years ago took away all her family members, and she is still desperately trying to get her relatives back. But as soon as someone mentioned anything about the "miracles", Nora immediately fell back into collapse.
In addition, Damon's original iconic mysterious elements have become even more bizarre and full of religious sense. A group of groups dressed in white, refusing to speak, wandering in the small town. Occasionally, a stag appears between the speeding vehicles, and then disappears again, as if everything is an illusion. Like "Lost", the character's history will be explained through flashbacks, telling them about their lives before the "miracles" happened.
On June 29, 2014, "Watching the Earth" was broadcast on HBO. Despite the name of the former "Lost" producer, this slow-paced, ambiguous and even inexplicable drama still did not cause much disturbance among the audience, and the number of viewers was only a few hundred thousand. On the contrary, the critics changed their harsh tone and gave a positive evaluation of the drama, believing that it has insight into the nature of a certain life. Damon did not respond to this. On October 24th of the previous year, he posted the last status on his Twitter: "After repeated thinking, I decided—", and then deleted the entire account. This day is the day when people disappear in "Watching the Earth".
Even with low ratings, the good reputation still made HBO decide to continue the series. The story of the second season of "Watching the Earth" comes to another small town, where the magic is that no one is missing. The fanatical crowd turned this town into a religious shrine, praying all kinds of incredible prayers. In the third season of the story, the location changed to Australia again, the predicted doomsday flood is coming, and everyone is looking for a way to save the world. As always, this will not be the focus of Damon's story.
At the end of the whole play, the elderly Nora took some kind of machine into the world where the disappeared 2% of the people lived, and returned to Jiali to start a multi-minute monologue. Like the golden light of "Lost" 7 years ago, it doesn't explain anything. Damon just wanted to tell you, behind those layers of fog, after experiencing those unbearable past and hard travel, how strange and complicated everyone's heart is.
Just satisfy your will
From "Lost" to "Watching the Earth", Damon Lindelof went from one extreme to another, from being cast aside by thousands to no one paying attention. "Lost" was once the focus of everyone's attention, making him the first-line creator of Hollywood; "Watching the Earth" did not gain anything during the awards season. Join the team of those who have added the classic film and television classics that are not popular, and then wait quietly. Time gives a fair evaluation. Now he received a more difficult task than in the past, for the HBO adaptation of "Watchmen" ( Watchmen ).
The adaptation of "Watchmen" may be one of the most difficult jobs in Hollywood. Alan Moore's original work is dark, repressive and obscure. It completely re-deconstructs the meaning of superheroes and the political atmosphere at the time in the context of the Cold War. It became the most flashy comic book crown immediately after publication. Bright gems. There have been countless people who wanted to put "Watchmen" on the screen. "Twelve Monkeys" ( Twelve Monkeys ) director Terry Gilliam (Terry Gilliam) wrote a script, but failed. Darren Aronofsky, the director of " Requiem for a Dream " ( Requiem for a Dream ), also tried it once. Zack Snyder did it for the first time in 2009, but the theatrical version of the movie was almost a disaster, and it was not until the 215-minute final editing version was released that it saved some reputation.
Before Damon nodded to HBO, he rejected the project twice. The first time he was 38 years old, the movie version of Zach Schneider had just been released that year. The second time was two years later, and he shook his head again because he found that those people didn't know anything about this comic. There is an indissoluble bond between "Watchmen" and Damon, which is an important part of his life. In the year his parents divorced, his father gave him this cartoon, and said slyly: “It’s too early for you to read this.” For many years after that, he read this book and read it repeatedly. As the "Laughing Craftsman" failed again and again, he thought: "Father is wrong, this book is written for me." At the age of 29, Damon's father died, and their relationship has eased a lot. Before his father left, Damon held his father's cold hand and prayed with the character "Dr. Manhattan" from the book "Watchmen".
After HBO announced that Damon was about to adapt "Watchmen", fans of the original started a protest. After all, this man once messed up "Lost"; his "Prometheus" did not appear "alien" from beginning to end; he adapted "Star Trek: The Darkness", which became the movie in the 1960s. The nightmare of the crowd watching the growth of the original. In response, Damon sent a five-page open letter on Instagram, telling the indissoluble bond between him, his father and the "Watchmen." He felt that he was the right person, at least more suitable than most of the false people, and I hope everyone can believe him.
In May of this year, HBO released the first trailer for "Watchmen". In the trailer, the "doomsday clock" ticked endlessly, and a large group of people wore Rorschach's pale masks, claiming that they were everywhere. Damon did not follow the original film with a single glance, nor did he continue the plot of the previous movie version. He still followed the original framework, but made some adaptations closer to the contemporary world. The Cold War has ended for thirty years. In the past, Khrushchev, Thatcher, and Nixon were at the center of power. The threat of nuclear war has always existed. Now it is Trump, Theresa May and Putin that are in power, and the proud pluralism is collapsing. In today's more chaotic world, what kind of survival state will superheroes be like? Regarding the relationship between his adaptation and the original work, Damon used the relationship between "Old Testament" and "New Testament" to describe it, a kind of creation that is more in line with the times.
At the end of the open letter that revealed the truth, Damon quoted the words of "Dr. Manhattan": "There is no end to everything . " This is a description of the state, the state of the person, the state of the world. Damon is keen to describe the state, just as the survivors struggling to survive after the previous plane crash, and the state of people struggling to seek faith after the "miracle" that disappeared suddenly.
So what is Damon Lindelof himself? He always wears a pair of plastic glasses, keeps his bald head, and looks like he hasn't taken care of them all day. In his office there are the helmets of the Empire Guards from "Star Wars", the bullet game consoles from "Onmyoji", life-size "Star Trek" posters, some memorabilia from the "Lost" crew, and a T-shirt. , A polar bear model, and the famous circular hatch that represents the core of the mystery. These things represent all the things he has cherished, those unbearable failures, and the courage to say "no" to the audience. In other words, he was still the boy who was thrown into the air, smiling excitedly and fearfully at all unknown things.
On the wall next to all these souvenirs, there is a clock hung, like the "doomsday clock" in "Watchmen", which keeps walking, gradually approaching the limit.
Tick! Tick! Tick!
This article was first published on the Deep Focus public account DeepFocus, the text and pictures have been slightly changed.
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