Whether it was Ron Meyer, George Lucas, or Steven Spielberg, they were all among the top figures in Hollywood. Nicole Kidman was merely a newly rising actress, and even if you added Jodie Foster, it might not be enough to make them greet her with a smile.
This circle may look glamorous, but it's also realistic. As long as someone can create value for them, they don't care whether they're dealing with God or the Devil.
Of course, there was a certain unnaturalness to Steven Spielberg's expression—it seemed like he had been dragged here against his will.
Sitting in the screening room, Ryan was still reflecting on his earlier conversation with the three titans. It was obvious they had approached Nicole Kidman because of him, not her.
In fact, including Universal Pictures, several major film studios had long been eyeing the film adaptation rights to Jurassic Park. Even though Ryan used the excuse that current special effects technology couldn't create lifelike dinosaurs and had Kingsley leak the word that they weren't considering selling the adaptation rights for the time being, it didn't dampen the studios' enthusiasm.
It wasn't surprising to see George Lucas standing there—after all, he was the head of Industrial Light & Magic, the top special effects company in Hollywood. The effects for Terminator 2 had been outsourced to them. There was probably no one more confident than him in bringing realistic dinosaurs to life on the big screen.
But looking at Spielberg's expression and thinking of the events surrounding Jurassic Park in his past life, Ryan felt a bit troubled. Undeniably, when it came to blending thrill, excitement, and childlike wonder in a film, Spielberg was the undisputed master.
However, from Ryan's observations, the Jewish director's mind was clearly not focused on this.
He wondered whether the conversation between Spielberg and Universal Pictures in his past life had already taken place.
Ryan couldn't remember whether it was in '91 or '92 that Universal invited Spielberg to direct Jurassic Park, only to be turned down repeatedly. Driven by interests, Universal eventually played their trump card: they promised that if Spielberg directed the movie, they would fund Schindler's List.
Spielberg had been trying to make Schindler's List for nearly a decade, facing countless setbacks along the way. Many people claimed that instead of making such a movie, it would be better to donate the money to Holocaust memorial museums. By the time the '90s arrived, Spielberg had finally resolved to direct it himself—but couldn't secure funding.
It's easy to imagine that Universal had him by the throat. As a result, after completing Jurassic Park, Spielberg finally had the funding to start filming.
But Universal's move also created a rift between them and Spielberg, and it intensified his desire to establish his own production company. In a way, it indirectly led to the birth of DreamWorks.
Of course, the events that unfolded were far more complex than what Ryan knew from his past life. Perhaps only God truly knows what happened between them.
If the adaptation rights were sold to another studio, would that change everything? Would Schindler's List be delayed indefinitely? That wouldn't be fun.
Although Schindler's List greatly romanticized Oskar Schindler, there's no denying that it's one of the greatest films in history—even if it's about the Jewish people.
Forget it. Let Universal continue playing the villain. There's no need for him to have a falling-out with Spielberg. Broadly speaking, they're on the same side anyway.
Still, he had to take a big slice of the pie. After all, he held the initiative—he had full control over the rights to Jurassic Park.
"Ryan, you're spacing out again."
Nicole playfully pinched his ear. Ryan snapped back to reality and realized the lights in the screening room had gone out—the movie was about to begin.
Dust-covered, wrecked cars, dilapidated and collapsed buildings, skeletal remains scattered everywhere—all of it painted a terrifying picture of the world. In this apocalyptic scene, the subtitle displayed the year—20XX.
The camera followed Sarah Connor's brief narration of the world as it panned across, finally settling on a pile of chilling human skulls.
Just as the audience was gasping at this terrifying future, a silver alloy foot suddenly stepped down, crushing a skull into fragments. The camera panned upward, revealing the full figure of a humanoid robot. Before the audience could marvel at this horrifying mechanical killer, a desperate battle between humans and machines unfolded before their eyes.
One humanoid mechanical killer after another. Enormous war machines. Even the skies swarmed with flying machines. They had no emotions or reason—only an instinct to kill. Humanity had only one option: fight to the death.
With the appearance of John Connor, leader of the human resistance, Sarah Connor's voiceover drew to a close, setting the stage for the story to come—a Terminator is sent back in time to kill the young John Connor before he can grow up, while the resistance sends a protector back to stop it. Who would find John first?
"Absolutely brilliant—this is the best sci-fi opening I've ever seen," Nicole whispered in Ryan's ear.
At this point in time, the opening war between humans and machines in Terminator 2 was nothing short of breathtaking. It showcased the most advanced filmmaking technology Hollywood had to offer—of course, fueled by millions of dollars.
The first character to appear—well, robot actually—was the T-800. With that iconic soundtrack, he arrived at a biker bar and started wreaking havoc. The fight scenes here had no grace—the T-800 was like an M1A2 tank, flattening everything in his path.
Black sunglasses, black leather jacket and pants, a black cruiser motorcycle, and a customized shotgun—this became Arnold Schwarzenegger's most iconic movie image. No contest.
When the villainous T-1000 appeared, the future savior finally entered the scene. Ryan's portrayal of John Connor bore no trace of the depression seen in The Sixth Sense or the cuteness of Home Alone. One glance, and you knew—this was a rebellious teenager.
Not many people may have noticed, but the ugly foster father was played in a cameo by James Cameron himself. Ryan tilted his head slightly but didn't spot the tyrant director.
Undoubtedly, the most image-shattering performance in the film was by Linda Hamilton. She looked much more rugged and wild than in real life. As people joked in his past life—James Cameron's favorite type of woman was always the tall, strong, and dominating type.
The film's action highlight was the hand-to-hand combat between the T-800 and the T-1000. Especially the T-1000—when he was shot by the T-800 in a mall corridor, his liquid metal body revealed its true nature through glowing silver wounds.
Cameron had also taken Ryan's suggestion—he replaced the shotgun's usual sound effect with the thunderous boom of a cannon. The result was stunning.
The hand-to-hand fights between the T-800 and T-1000 were raw and heavy—no flashy moves, no fancy choreography. Just the sheer display of a machine's brutal strength. The seemingly solid walls of buildings crumbled like tofu under their collisions.
During the chase scenes later in the film, the crew debated whether or not to show John Connor firing a gun. To the PTA and MPAA, depicting minors using firearms was one of the most terrifying things a movie could do—worse than full nudity. Such a scene could easily earn a dreaded NC-17 rating, meaning no one under 17 would be admitted. That would spell financial disaster for Terminator 2.
In the end, James Cameron only included a scene where John Connor helps reload bullets.
Ryan, who hadn't been very familiar with the American movie rating system, studied it thoroughly afterward. It reminded him of the Chinese war film Little Soldier Zhang Ga—if it were shown in North America, it would definitely be…
This film wasn't a classic based on special effects alone. Though James Cameron was a commercial director who rarely bothered with "art," he was undeniably a master storyteller. This movie fused science fiction and philosophical thought in a nearly perfect way.
This was most evident in the relationship between John Connor and the T-800. When Sarah Connor tried to destroy the T-800's CPU, John protected it with his own hands, telling his mother, "He's my friend!"
This was also one of Ryan's standout moments in the film. His rebellious exterior and pure, kind heart were portrayed with such depth that he almost completely overshadowed Linda Hamilton.
In his past life, there had been a famous line: "Being a demon is like being a human—you need a kind heart. With kindness in your heart, you're no longer a demon..."
So, when a machine develops a human heart, what does that make it? And what would it do? That's one of the themes the film seeks to explore.
Terminator 2 was not only about gunfights, cold-blooded killing, and crazy chases. It also had a tender, emotional side. John Connor forbade the T-800 from killing humans, taught it about human emotions, and even how to smile.
The T-800's most commendable trait was its ability to learn, to understand human emotions—not just to blindly follow commands like a lifeless machine.
Honestly, although this was a sci-fi action blockbuster, the number of special effects shots wasn't that high—but they were brilliantly executed. Every single effects scene was eye-catching and awe-inspiring.
From the opening war between humans and machines, to the T-1000's morphing and self-healing, to Sarah Connor opening up the T-800's head to remove his CPU—each shot was masterfully done. Even if a decade later the effects seem outdated, there's no denying that at the time, it represented the cutting edge of film technology.
Of course, all of this was closely tied to the mighty Industrial Light & Magic. Stan Winston was the top special effects master in Hollywood at the time. It was during the production of this film that he bonded with James Cameron, and they later co-founded Digital Domain—a special effects company second only to ILM.