Without Paul Collins' interference, Gilbert was able to edit the film exactly as he envisioned.
He was confident that his version of the film would win over Universal Pictures.
Meanwhile, outside, due to Steven Spielberg producing the film and the fact that it was a shark movie, Shark Beach was actually getting some attention.
Several media outlets reported on some amusing incidents that occurred during the filming of Shark Beach, and Gilbert's image as foolishly arrogant and overbearing was naturally broadcast by the media.
Some of this was a smokescreen put out by Universal Pictures, aimed at generating public interest in the film.
"During the filming of Shark Beach, according to insiders, the twenty-one-year-old director, Gilbert Landrini, was autocratic and arrogant.
Universal Pictures is reportedly considering a risk assessment and deciding not to release the film." — Los Angeles City News.
"As a rookie director, Gilbert Landrini is full of rebellious tendencies, interfering with the film company's editing rights and causing major arguments over it.
While this may be a youthful attitude, filmmaking isn't a job that can be solved with just attitude.
The prospects for Shark Beach are concerning, and it may not be released in theaters." — Santa Monica Morning Post.
"It is reported that Universal Pictures has now decided to separate Gilbert and the editor, with each editing a version. Universal Pictures will then decide which version is better." — Burbank Honest Man News.
Gilbert was delighted to see his name repeatedly mentioned in the newspapers. While it wasn't exactly good press, what did it matter?
Thirty years from now, weren't those internet celebrities all about getting famous through negative publicity, then getting whitewashed by some event?
As long as Shark Beach was released and succeeded, all the bad reputations, criticisms, and insults would turn into praise and flattery.
The media's habits had been the same for decades; Gilbert knew them too well.
It was just a shame that top-tier media like The Los Angeles Times, Time magazine, and Vanity Fair in Los Angeles weren't involved in the reporting.
Otherwise, Gilbert's bad reputation wouldn't have been confined to Los Angeles and its surrounding areas; it might have spread across the entire United States.
Still, one had to be content. These second and third-tier local media reports did manage to boost Gilbert's fame a little.
Paul Collins, on the other hand, was furious when he saw the reports. Yes, the reports criticized Gilbert, but they didn't mention his name!
He was just referred to as "an editor"—who knew who he was?
But there was nothing he could do. He couldn't control the media. Unless he was willing to pay to bribe the media, he could only watch Gilbert get scolded with no benefit to himself.
In 1991, media communication methods were quite limited, mostly television and newspapers.
If there were online media like Twitter, Paul Collins could totally tweet that he was that editor.
Unfortunately, the internet wasn't very developed then, let alone Twitter.
Gilbert wasn't Tom Cruise either; the media wasn't interested in his enemies, they just wanted to throw some insults around.
So, unlucky Paul Collins was ignored, left to quietly edit the film in the editing room.
If you got close enough, you could hear Paul Collins raging, "You're the one who should be filming in the San Fernando Valley! Your whole family should be filming in the San Fernando Valley..."
No need to say, he was definitely cursing Gilbert. It seemed Paul Collins still hadn't forgiven Gilbert.
Funnily enough, with Gilbert's "quality," he'd definitely be popular in the San Fernando Valley, though he himself would certainly not want to go there.
However, the media reports did make some ordinary moviegoers aware that a shark movie produced by Steven Spielberg was in production.
Suddenly, the anticipation for it soared.
In 1975, Spielberg's Jaws, with a production cost of nine million dollars, raked in 470 million dollars at the global box office.
The film instantly became the global box office champion of its time, and the first in film history, until it was surpassed by Star Wars two years later.
It's worth noting that Jaws was originally scheduled for release during the Christmas season of 1974 but was later postponed to the summer of 1975.
At the time, distributors worried the film would bomb, but it surprisingly achieved such high box office numbers.
It was also from Jaws that the summer blockbuster season gradually became the most important period of the year for film releases.
So, you could even say Spielberg was the pioneer of the North American summer blockbuster season, and that was 1975—you can imagine the significance of that.
After this, Spielberg continued to create one box office miracle after another, but for Spielberg's fans, Jaws always held an irreplaceable position.
And this film, Shark Beach, produced by Spielberg, became a substitute for that nostalgia.
As Gilbert had said before, Shark Beach, in some ways, could be called the spiritual successor to Jaws.
While leveraging Spielberg's name was good, Universal Pictures had now decided internally that they would determine the release strategy only after seeing the final cut.
After all, the combination of Gilbert and Gwyneth Paltrow didn't look like it could be a big hit.
Universal's disregard for this film, besides Gilbert being too young and untrustworthy, was also due to Gwyneth Paltrow.
Simply put, because Gwyneth Paltrow was a female actress.
In 1990s Hollywood, female actors had a much lower status than male actors.
At this time, most female actors were cast as eye candy, unless it was a film specifically for women or an independent film aiming for awards, only then would a female actor potentially be the lead.
Of course, there were exceptions, such as Sigourney Weaver being the lead in the classic 1979 sci-fi film Alien.
Or Julia Roberts, who took on the "America's Sweetheart" role, starring in romantic comedies.
But that was Sigourney Weaver and Julia Roberts. Gwyneth Paltrow only had her status as Spielberg's goddaughter. How could she compare to these two top Hollywood actresses?
This was also why Paul Collins focused on Gwyneth Paltrow's figure in his edit.
To some within Universal, besides the shark, the only selling point of Shark Beach was Gwyneth Paltrow's figure, commonly known as a "skin flick."
If not for Spielberg and Jurassic Park, Universal Pictures would absolutely not have invested in or distributed this film.
But now, it was too late. The money had been spent, and the film was made. Even if they weren't optimistic, the necessary work still had to be done.
The film's producer, Dormer Blake, was very concerned about the post-production status of the film. He had viewed both Paul Collins' and Gilbert's edited versions.
Paul Collins' version was exactly as Dormer Blake had expected: a very ordinary film, with thrilling plot points, but overall quite stable and unremarkable.
But Gilbert's edit completely exceeded Dormer Blake's expectations.
Firstly, Gilbert significantly shortened the film's runtime. The main feature was only 81 minutes long, and even with the end credits, it was less than 85 minutes.
A normal film usually runs for ninety minutes, or an hour and a half.
To tell the story as completely as possible, all films tacitly increased their runtime, with films over 120 minutes becoming common.
But Gilbert went against the grain, which greatly surprised Dormer Blake.
To this, Gilbert explained, "To maximize audience engagement and keep them on the edge of their seats, I removed a lot of meaningless empty shots.
A tight pace is one of the tricks to stirring audience emotions."
Dormer Blake was speechless. He had seen Paul Collins' edited version, and honestly, Gilbert's version was far superior to Paul Collins'.
Could it be that some people are truly born cinematic geniuses?
Dormer Blake felt as if he was witnessing the rise of another Spielberg, but as soon as the thought emerged, he quickly dismissed it.
It was too exaggerated; he dared not dwell on it.