On the big screen, the powerful arrow released by the taut bow startled an elderly man who had just arrived by car to bid farewell to John. This man was Professor Will, a psychologist.
Unlike the abrupt turn in the original version, the audience had already picked up on several subtle clues by this point. They realized that Will had a special connection with John, one that set him apart from the other colleagues. Some of the more perceptive viewers even began to speculate about the nature of this relationship.
Upon learning about the topic of discussion, the somewhat despondent Will rallied and began analyzing John's "immortal delusion" from a psychological perspective.
When Will found himself unable to refute John's claims, he unexpectedly lost control and even pulled out a revolver.
This marked another turning point in the film.
After some comforting and calming by the others, it was revealed that Will's wife had recently passed away. The man, having just lost his beloved, was already teetering on the brink of collapse. Learning that John could potentially live forever only deepened his sense of the unfairness of time.
In this scene, John once again showed an unusual concern for Will.
Eventually, Will's emotions settled, and sensing that John intended to end the discussion, he himself asked John to finish the seemingly wonderful yet fantastical story.
John agreed and continued to deftly respond to everyone's questions.
Before they knew it, night had fallen.
By the fireside, John played Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.
As the distant music and flickering flames filled the room, the story seemed to be drawing to a close, leading to the final climax.
"I witnessed the construction of the pyramids and was awed by the Great Wall stretching across miles."
"I saw the rise of the Persian Empire and lamented the fall of the Roman Empire."
"I encountered Jesus spreading his teachings, listened to the words of Buddha, stargazed with Copernicus, painted alongside Van Gogh, felt the wisdom of Aristotle, and experienced the brilliance of the Renaissance."
"And then, there was war."
"Endless war."
"I followed Alexander in his conquests across Europe, faced the wrath of the Mongols, witnessed the flames of Troy, and lived through the fall of Constantinople."
"The Spartan uprising, the Crusades, the defeat of the Teutonic Knights, Napoleon's Waterloo."
"And finally."
"The two world wars that marked humanity's self-destructive madness."
John's monologue, lasting over three minutes, was like a mesmerizing speech, gradually unfolding a grand historical panorama before the audience in the small cabin.
The music slowly faded away.
In the light of the fire, John gave everyone one last sweeping glance, then suddenly clapped his hands loudly, shattering the dream they were all immersed in.
As everyone returned to their senses, faced with colleagues who had nearly lost all doubt, John suddenly announced that the story was over.
It was all just a story.
Night had fallen.
It was time to say goodbye.
After sending off his colleagues one by one, John finally gifted the bow and Van Gogh painting to them, without any reluctance.
The event concluded.
Yet the woman who had quietly loved him for ten years insisted on staying behind.
They stood side by side in front of his car.
Looking up.
Above them, the winter sky was vast and empty, unchanging over the ages.
Linda asked if John would return for Will's wife's funeral, receiving a seemingly cold-hearted "no" in response, though she wasn't surprised. She then suddenly connected some of John's and Will's earlier words, revealing a truth that most of the audience had already guessed by the film's end.
"This planet is 4.6 billion years old and may last another 4.6 billion."
"Hmm?"
"Fourteen thousand years isn't much, really."
"Hmm."
"So, we're all just a fleeting moment, aren't we?"
"Yes, a fleeting moment."
In this final exchange, the camera panned upward, pulling away, gradually returning to an expansive empty shot, fixing on the infinite starry sky and the distant contours of the earth, before fading to black.
The credits rolled.
Due to Simon's deliberate design, the film never explicitly fed the audience any particular philosophical message. Instead, it focused on a series of interconnected narratives and discussions. Nevertheless, when the lights came up, the audience remained in a state of deep reflection.
After a brief moment of silence, the applause erupted in the theater.
The new version of The Man from Earth ran exactly 90 minutes, slightly longer than the original, a reflection of Simon's particular attention to detail.
Starting at 10 a.m., the film ended at precisely 11:30 a.m.
Amidst the applause, the main creators began to take the stage.
A row of chairs had been arranged on the stage, with Simon and Robert Redford sitting at the ends, clearly giving the floor to the core team. Seated in the middle were the film's four main creators: director Brett Ratner, lead actors George Clooney and Elizabeth Perkins, and "rising starlet benefiting from major backing despite the envy of many," Tricia Helfer, whose seat happened to be right next to Simon's.
Once the six of them were seated and the photographers who had been allowed into the venue had snapped enough shots, Redford took up the microphone and asked with a smile, "So, what did everyone think of the film?"
Another round of enthusiastic applause came from the audience.
After a moment, Redford raised his hand to quiet the crowd and continued, "Now, if anyone has questions, feel free to ask."
As soon as he finished speaking, a sea of hands shot up from the audience.
Redford scanned the room before settling on a reporter from Variety magazine, whose face he recognized.
The young white journalist, likely not even 30, accepted the microphone from a staff member and, as expected, directed his question at Simon: "Mr. Westeros, it's an honor to see another of your screenplays on the big screen. I'd like to ask, how did you come up with the idea for this film? Or is the character of John, in some way, a reflection of yourself?"
As the question was asked, the eyes of the hundreds of audience members in the theater widened slightly, all waiting for Simon's answer.
Seated in one of the front rows, Grace couldn't help but recall her experience with Simon in San Francisco last October when she heard the question. Her time alone with him was rare, and each encounter left a lasting impression. When she noticed the man on stage briefly glance her way, Grace quickly lowered her gaze, her cheeks warming slightly, uncertain of how he would respond.
Simon wasn't surprised by the question. With a faint smile, he glanced at a certain spot in the audience before answering, "It was just a fun idea that came up during a chat with a friend, and I decided to turn it into a film. It has nothing to do with me. If I were John from the movie, I'd be trying my best to hide, not sitting here in front of you all. I'm still quite afraid of being sent to a research lab for dissection."
Amidst the audience's laughter, Simon added, "Brett, George, and the rest of the team put in a lot of effort into this film. I'd appreciate it if you could focus your questions on the movie itself. If you go off-topic again, I won't answer."
After Simon's gentle warning, the questions shifted more towards Brett Ratner and the rest of the team, although a certain curiosity still lingered in the air.
However, Simon indeed stopped answering questions whenever they veered into more personal territory.
Each audience member was allowed only one question, and after a few people hit a dead end, no one wanted to waste their turn.
The interaction continued for over half an hour, and by 12:15 p.m., the premiere of The Man from Earth concluded successfully.
A few years ago, movie reviews would typically appear the day after a premiere.
But with the widespread use of the internet in the United States, information now spread much faster. Less than ten minutes after the premiere ended, the first batch of reviews for The Man from Earth began appearing on online forums and social media platforms.
"A stroke of genius—I can't wait to see it again."
"Oh, I can't even begin to describe how this film moved me. It's made me realize that movies never needed big stars or special effects, just pure creativity. If your imagination is rich enough, you can make a top-tier sci-fi movie without any technical tricks. Yes, The Man from Earth is a sci-fi film, but it doesn't rely on any traditional sci-fi effects. Alright, I won't give away more, but I swear to God, it's one of the best films I've ever seen."
"Simon Westeros, the man with $500 billion, is still the same Simon Westeros who made Run Lola Run."
"A breathtakingly unique sci-fi film."
"…"
Amidst the almost unanimous praise, there were, of course, dissenting voices.
One critic, identified on Facebook as a columnist for The Seattle Times, criticized The Man from Earth as "a disappointing film, filled with Simon Westeros' wild delusions."
Another freelance critic with over 800,000 followers on Facebook was even more direct: "I'm sure this film, written by Simon Westeros and supposedly made for just over a million dollars, will be a huge hit, because it will once again make the public think of Simon Westeros' many peculiarities. However, from a purely cinematic perspective, it lacks sincerity. I'm certain that in the future, it will be compared to 12 Angry Men, but where that film had deep thoughts, this one has none, and its story logic is very flimsy."
The original version of The Man from Earth
had its ardent fans and its harsh critics.
Simon's purpose in making The Man from Earth was mostly for fun, though perhaps there was also an intention to further blur the public's speculations about him. He was prepared for the media's reviews, whether positive or negative, and knew that any film was bound to be controversial. Ultimately, these reviews wouldn't affect him much.
Having done his best, Simon was content to leave the rest to the audience.
After the morning's premiere, Simon had lunch with Robert Redford and others before heading back to his mountaintop villa south of Park City in the afternoon.
Simon's schedule was far from free. Celia Miller and Ken Dixon had come to Park City specifically after returning from Ukraine, and he had to find time to deal with related matters.
This kept him busy until evening.
Given the precedent set last year and his current stay in Park City, Simon hosted another mountaintop villa party, inviting many filmmakers to attend.
This year, over 200 films were competing or screening in Park City, with the overall quality being quite high.
On Danelys Entertainment's side, besides The Man from Earth, there was another film in the main competition for narrative features—The Brothers McMullen, directed by newcomer Edward Burns. The project, with a modest budget of $500,000, was recommended by producer James Schamus, who had signed with Summit Entertainment under Ang Lee.
In history, The Brothers McMullen won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance that year and achieved notable commercial success.
In previous years, Danelys Entertainment had not interfered with the results of Sundance, but this time, Simon gave Redford a heads-up, stating that The Man from Earth did not need any accolades and suggesting the jury consider other films. This was a subtle indication that The Man from Earth should make way for The Brothers McMullen.
After all, whether The Man from Earth won an award would have little impact on its already high-profile commercial performance, while a win for The Brothers McMullen could elevate a promising new filmmaker.
Besides the two narrative features, there was also a fashion documentary, Unzipped, in the documentary competition.
This film chronicled the process of American fashion brand Liza Kabon's creative director, Isaac Mizrahi, preparing for a new season of clothing last year. Since Liza Kabon is a budget fashion brand and doesn't compete with the many luxury brands under Melisandre, Summit Entertainment accepted the collaboration. The documentary was co-funded by Liza Kabon and Summit Entertainment, with Summit handling all distribution.
Liza Kabon went all out for this brand promotion. During the documentary's filming, top models like Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Nadja Auermann, Yasmin Ghauri, Tyra Banks, and Tricia Helfer all made appearances. For the Park City screening, they even invited Cindy Crawford and several other supermodels to support the event, with the film's premiere scheduled for the following afternoon.
With several supermodels in town, the evening's mountaintop party naturally attracted attention, adding a touch of glamour to the gathering of filmmakers.
After receiving a call from Miami in the morning, where things had taken a positive turn, Bryce Levinson spent the entire day contentedly staying at the mountaintop villa like a caged bird.
As the evening fell, she felt the excitement downstairs. Initially worried about being recognized and embarrassed, she planned to stay upstairs all night. But in the end, she couldn't resist, especially after Grace Spurt, who Simon had brought in that afternoon, joined the party. Not wanting to fall behind, Bryce quietly went downstairs.
To her surprise, amidst all the familiar public faces at the party, she found that she didn't attract much attention. The tall, beautiful supermodels moving through the crowd made Bryce Levinson feel a rare sense of inferiority. Despite maintaining her looks, she couldn't compete with these youthful beauties—her son was already 17, after all.
However, thinking about what was going to happen tonight, Bryce's mindset quickly shifted.
These gorgeous women, all dolled up, were vying for the attention of a certain young man at the party. But she had already won that attention.
No matter how enchanting a woman might be, she can't win over a man who simply doesn't like her type, can she?
With these thoughts, Bryce Levinson navigated through the crowd and found Westeros in a booth at an indoor bar.
He was chatting with a few others, with two models sitting on either side of him, clearly trying to win his favor. Bryce had seen them in fashion magazines—Tricia Helfer and Patricia Velasquez, both Victoria's Secret Angels. After a moment's hesitation, Bryce Levinson decided to approach him.
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