You've def heard of "The Hero's Journey", the narrative structure dating back to Homer's Odyssey in ~7th century BC.
A great way to learn the framework is comparing scene-by-scene images from 2 modern classics of the story type: "Star Wars" and "The Matrix". #TheMatrix
THREAD🧵
0/ The "Hero's Journey" was coined by Joseph Campbell, an American literary prof.
He studied ancient myths and found many shared a similar character arc (AKA the "monomyth").
It follows 12 stages, with a hero venturing from an "ordinary world" to a "special world" and back.
1/ Ordinary world
The hero's normal life before the adventure begins:
◻️ Luke Skywalker lives on a farm in Tatooine
◻️ Neo is a corporate slave in The Matrix
2/ Call to adventure
The hero is faced with an event, conflict, problem, or challenge that starts the adventure:
◻️ R2D2 flashes a hologram of Princess Leia asking Obi-Wan for help
◻️ Neo is sent a message to "follow the white rabbit"
3/ Refusal of the call
The hero refuses the adventure because of hesitation, fears, insecurity or other:
◻️ Luke tells Obi-Wan he has to stay on Tatooine farm to help his aunt and uncle
◻️ When agents come to his office, Neo can escape by climbing out a window (but wimps out)
4/ Meeting the mentor
The hero encounters a mentor that can give them advice, wisdom, information, or items that preps them for journey:
◻️ Luke's aunt and uncle murdered by stormtroopers, he agrees to have Obi-wan train him
◻️ Neo meets Morpheus, who soon trains him
5/ Crossing the threshold
The hero leaves the ordinary world for the first time and crosses the threshold into adventure:
◻️ Luke follows Obi-wan to the Mos Eisley spaceport (a "wretched hive of scum and villainy", Luke is no longer safe)
◻️ Neo takes red pill and leaves Matrix
6/ Test, Allies, Enemies
The hero learns the rules of the new world and endures tests, meets friends, and confronts enemies:
◻️ Luke meets Han Solo / Chewy, starts journey
◻️ Neo meets the team on the Nebuchadnezzar Ship, learns about the "real world"
7/ The Approach
The initial plan to take on the central conflict begins, but setbacks occur that cause the hero to try a new approach:
◻️ Luke to meet Rebels on Alderaan, but the planet is destroyed
◻️ Neo meets The Oracle, who says he's *not* The One
8/ The Ordeal
Things go wrong and a new conflict is introduced, incl. a potential life or death situation:
◻️ Luke and Co. save Leia but Obi-Wan sacrifices himself to Vader
◻️ Morpheus is abducted during an ambush. Neo and Trinity return to save him.
9/ Seizing the Sword
After surviving The Ordeal, the hero gains a reward (knowledge, physical item) to take on to the biggest conflict:
◻️ Luke saves Princess Leia and has Death Star plans
◻️ Neo saves Morpheus and has confidence he is The One after fighting Agent Smith
10/ The Road Back
The hero sees the light at the end of the tunnel, but they are about to face even more tests and challenges:
◻️ Luke and Co. bring Death Star plans to rebel base and are chased by the Empire
◻️ Cypher betrays team and Neo is unable to exit The Matrix
11/ The climax.
The hero faces a final test, using everything they have learned to prevail:
◻️ Luke, Co. and rebels take on the Death Star (Luke uses the force to aim the kill shot)
◻️ Neo is killed by agents, resurrected by Trinity..he's The One and stops bullets
12/ Return With Elixir
The hero brings their knowledge or the “elixir” back to the ordinary world.
◻️Luke is a f*cking Jedi and gets a fat medal for it
◻️Neo can f*cking fly, is The One and is gonna cause some havoc in The Matrix
13/ Star Wars' creator George Lucas credits "The Hero's Journey" for improving his original script.
Prior to applying the framework, Star Wars was "a Saturday morning space movie" according to composer John Williams.
Lucas went on his hero's journey, too (naming hero "Luke").
14/ If you enjoyed that, I write interesting threads like this 1-2x a week.
Francis Ford Coppola’s new film “Megalopolis” cost $120m and he self-financed it (including money from selling his winery).
Coppola is a legend of “going all in” and “putting skin in the game”.
The GOAT example is “Apocalypse Now”, his classic 1979 war film with arguably the most insane production story ever.
Let’s rewind to 1975, the year Copolla turned 36: he is on top of Hollywood after directing “The Godfather” (1972) and “The Godfather II” (1974).
What does Coppola choose to do next? Make a film about the Vietnam War. The script was based on Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”, the 1889 novel about the horrors of colonialism in the Belgian Congo.
The major studios all said “no” to Coppola’s pitch for three major reasons:
1️⃣ He wanted full creative control
2️⃣ He wanted to own all of the film rights
3️⃣ The Fall of Saigon happened in April 1975 and the American audience wasn’t exactly asking for a Vietnam War film (the studios wanted Coppola to make another Mafia flick)
Coppola was undeterred and made a huge bet.
“The Godfather II” cost $14m and the director estimated that “Apocalypse Now” would be the same budget.
He put up $7m (mostly from those sweet Godfather checks) and raised another $7m from United Artists (which bought domestic distribution rights for ~7 years).
But the project was a disaster from the start.
Filming started in The Philippines in March 1976 and was supposed to last 3-4 months…it would take 16 months:
▫️Harvey Keitel was the initial lead but Coppola fired him after one week.
▫️Martin Sheen (Captain Willard) took the lead role but drank so much on set that he gave himself a stress-induced heart attack and almost died.
▫️Dennis Hopper was doing 3g of coke and 20+ drinks a day while on set (him and Marlon Brandon also hated each other).
▫️A typhoon destroyed 80% of the set and delayed filming for 2-3 months.
▫️Actual dead bodies — stolen from a local grave — were used on set and the Filipino government and its strongman leader Ferdinand Marcos threatened to shut down production after finding out.
▫️Marlon Brando (Col. Kurtz) demanded a huge fee ($3m+ for 3 weeks of work and 10% of the film’s gross). He then showed up late, asked for rewrites, declined to read Conrad’s book and was so overweight that the costumes wouldn’t fit (to obscure his heft, Copolla filmed Brando in the shadows and had him wear oversized dark clothing).
The budget ballooned to over $30m.
To maintain creative control and maintain all the film rights, Coppola mortgaged his home and borrowed money against his ownership in The Godfather.
After the success of “Star Wars” (1977), Coppola even asked his friend and business partner George Lucas — who was originally tapped to direct Apocalypse — for some funds.
I repeat: Coppola went ALL THE WAY IN and had SKIN IN THE GAME.
His wife Eleanor took recorded video of all the insanity and the footage was turned into a 1991 documentary (“Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse”).
The total cost for the film — including marketing spend — reached $45m.
Against all odds, Coppola finished the project and the film was released in August 1979. It grossed $105m and Coppola would make a fortune on future DVD, Home Video and other ancillary revenue streams (below is a trailer for a re-mastered cut from 2019).
During the Cannes Festival in May 1979, Coppola famously said of the film: “The way we made it was very much like the way the Americans were in Vietnam. We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane.”
Coppola also said at Cannes that “My movie is not *about* Vietnam. My movie *is* Vietnam”.
It’s def one of the best films ever but that is … a stretch of a comparison.
If you want more on Apocalypse Now, I went on Jim O'Shaughnessy’s “Infinite Loops” podcast with Rob Henderson to talk about the making and psychology of the film. open.spotify.com/episode/38OYIn…
When Iron Man came out in 2008, Robert Downey Jr. was *not* a marquee star.
He was rebuilding his career and paid a below market rate of $500k.
But the deal terms set him up for one of the great acting comebacks ever (while earnings $450m+ as Tony Stark).
Here’s the story 🧵
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) we know today was a long shot in the early 2000s.
Marvel was a public co. coming off bankruptcy in 1996 and had sold rights to its best IP (Spiderman, X-Men, Fantastic 4)
From 2000-07, films based on the IP minted cash but Marvel made little:
In the early-90s, Downey Jr. was one of the brightest young stars in Hollywood, receiving a Best Actor nomination for "Charlie Chaplin" in 1992 (@ 27yrs old).
In the 2nd half of the decade, though, he dealt with drug addiction, arrests and jail stints before going clean in 2003.
Masayoshi Son does the craziest investment swings:
▫️In mid-90s: invested $1.7B into 100+ internet firms (including a ~30% stake in Yahoo! for $100m)
▫️In 2000: was worth $78B at peak Dotcom and was the richest person in the world for 3 days (ahead of Gates)
▫️The bubble burst and he lost 99% of wealth
▫️In 2000, puts $20m into Alibaba for a 34% stake (sold out almost entirely by 2023 and made ~$72B)
▫️Lost $14B on WeWork
▫️Once owned ~5% of Nvidia but sold it all for $3.6B in 2019 (that stake would now be worth $90B)
▫️In 2016, Softbank bought Arm Holdings for $32B (still owns 90% and the stake is $114B, a gain of $82B)
Based on his ownership in Softbank and other investment vehicles, his personal wealth is currently ~$15B.