Hollywood Hunter

Sophia Fisher rushed back just after 11 o'clock and walked into the living room on the second floor. Simon still had the script for "Gosford Park" in his hand.

Let the little man pull himself into his arms, feel him bite lightly on the shoulder of his bottoming shirt, move his body with a smile, and turn to the script in Simon's hands: "What's this story?"

Simon shows the woman the next cover: "The Daily Life of a High Society Jazz in England in the Thirties."

Sophia twisted her body to make herself more comfortable, stretched out her hand and flipped through the script together, and said, "It's boring to listen to, literary film?"

"Yeah, Altman's next work," Simon said. "You don't sound interesting. That old man will definitely be interesting to shoot."

"The one who is good at group dramas?" Sophia asked back, and nodded to herself: "That should be good, but it shouldn't make any money."

Simon shook his head: "It can be earned, Altman's works in recent years have been invested by Daenerys, the budget is not high, the quality is guaranteed, and the box office may not be conspicuous, but the omni-channel operation has not lost money, because he The movies are great for buying DVDs and re-watching them at home. Plus, these projects can be used to polish the actors.”

"I see, it's like Melisandre's own mini-brands," Sophia said, interested: "Tell me this story specifically?"

Simon thought for a moment, then said: "Probably, Sir McCordoll's house at Gosford Manor has welcomed a group of guests, including movie stars and producers from the United States, veterans who have experienced World War I, and some superficial The dignified countess who needs the support of the jazz, and the young couples who are friendly on the surface but have sharp conflicts in private, in addition, there are servants who each have their own stories. Everyone holds dinner parties, goes out hunting, sings and dances, and then the old jazz suddenly was murdered."

Sophia cheered: "Oh, starting with the murder, the story should be interesting."

Simon shook his head: "In a normal movie, a murder case will definitely become a crime. However, in this story, I feel that the murder plot is a bit redundant. In my opinion, the characters just now are one by one through the group portrait lens that Altman is good at. Showing it off is where it gets really interesting.”

Sophia reached out and turned the page of the script held by the man, and smiled: "It seems that you have always been an artist in your bones, and you don't like high-concept popcorn movies."

Simon also laughed: "It's wrong, only likes and likes more. If a person doesn't like something in his heart, it is difficult for him to do it well. Facts have proved that whether it is a literary film or a commercial film, if I want to do it, I can do it well. Well done."

Sophia recalled the directing career of the little man beside her, nodded, and then gestured to the script: "Since the murder is redundant, will you let Altman modify the script?"

Simon shook his head again: "It's just that I personally think it's redundant, but the audience still needs some emotional stimulation. After all, a project that plans to invest 20 million US dollars must always consider the market."

Having said that, he continued to accompany Sophia through the script for a while, and Simon picked up the pencil next to him and began to approve at the end.

Sophia followed, and the man wrote that the choice of the intern maid Mary McEachlan should be carefully selected, so she was curious: "Why this maid?"

Simon said: "Mary is Mrs. Trentham, um, the countess I just mentioned, a free trainee maid hired because she was poor and didn't want to give up her decency. She just entered the upper class and didn't understand anything, so she would There are many small conflicts with the people around, leading the development of the story. In addition, compared with other guests who have been immersed in the circle for a long time, Mary is a newcomer and can observe everything around from the perspective of an unfamiliar bystander, so it is easy to bring something to the audience. empathy."

After listening to Sophia, she commented: "It seems that if this role is played well, it will be very good."

"Yeah, on the other hand, if you don't play it well, or the character isn't picked well, it will pull the entire project down to mediocrity to some extent."

After he finished writing the annotations, Simon turned his attention to the woman in his arms: "How was your talk with Donna Karen?"

Sophia went to Manhattan in the morning to negotiate an acquisition project targeting another American fashion brand, Donna Karen.

Melisandre's main sub-brand in the United States, ck, after years of rapid development, although it does not reach the 'aircraft carrier' level in the Melisandre brand matrix, it also belongs to the 'cruiser' level, and the current growth also entered the bottleneck stage.

Therefore, a new development is required.

What is being negotiated is Donna Karen, who has considerable accumulation in the United States.

The company was founded in the 1980s and is an emerging brand, but it has grown quite well over the years.

Furthermore, compared to ck's boldness and avant-garde, Donna Karen's brand style tends to be simple and comfortable. Therefore, winning this company will not form too much style conflict with ck.

Hearing Simon's question, Sophia shook her head: "It's not going well. Donner's asking price is too high, and he also made a lot of side requirements, such as we can't intervene in any personnel appointment without her permission. How is this possible?"

"Then let it dry, we're not in a hurry anyway."

"I think so too," Sophia said: "It seems that the U.S. stock market has been very difficult to support for too long. Once it plummets, there may be a begging me to buy it as soon as possible. Well, in fact, I want Ralph Lauren more than Donna Karen."

Simon smiled: "Ralph Lauren has a system of its own, and it's not that easy for us to buy."

Ralph Lauren, established in the 1960s, has now set foot in all aspects of the fashion industry, including men's and women's clothing, perfume watches,

Jewelry bags, all kinds, and the operating conditions are good, the profits are stable and rich, according to the level of Melisandre, the standard "aircraft carrier" level.

Such a high-quality company, even if Melisandre gave a high premium, founder Ralph Lauren and other shareholders are not necessarily willing to sell.

Sophia also knew that it was unlikely, so she didn't continue the topic, but turned to look at the wall-mounted TV not far away: "How is the general election, I noticed outside, it's very lively today, and you are the only one sitting quietly. Here, like a man behind the scenes."

Simon wrapped around the woman's slender waist and looked at the big screen together, and said with a smile, "I was originally the mastermind behind the scenes, it's not a question of resemblance."

"Well, Lord Black Hand."

"Nice name, I want to write it down."

"Ah."

Talking and laughing, Simon had already touched the crystal ball and called for Lady A again.

Alison quickly sent a file of the latest election data, and when he left, he took the "Gosford Manor" that Simon had reviewed.

At 11:00 a.m. on the east coast, the overall voting rhythm was still not over halfway. However, according to the real-time feedback of the voting data from the Westeros family's teams in various states, Bush Jr. has a large lead, and the results have become more and more obvious. .

This is a big departure from the general election on the original timeline.

In the past, Bush barely won 271 electoral votes by virtue of his controversial victory in Florida, only one more than the usual 270 votes in the US election. It can be said that if Gore could have won in other A flip of any state can take the presidency back.

This time, from the real-time data updated again, the key state of Florida, Bush Jr. still leads by a large proportion, while several other important swing states, such as Wisconsin, Iowa and North Carolina, have been won by Bush Jr. .

Therefore, the Weijia team predicts that Bush will win about 300 electoral votes this time. Although it will not reach the large proportion of Clinton's 370 in 1992, there will never be another 2000 lawsuit.

In short, this election, there is no suspense.

Bush had obvious advantages, and Simon had a smooth afternoon, enjoying the snow with Sophia, who stayed at home, chatting with him, and interacting with the little guys occasionally.

On the other hand, the New York stock market, which was the first to end the day's trading, also had good news.

The North American stock market rebounded across the board because of the preliminary determination of the election results. At the close of Tuesday afternoon, the Nasdaq rose 3.7%, from yesterday's 7334 points to a high of 7603 points. After a slight rise yesterday, the Dow Jones index rose again today by 2.3%. Compared with 12,961 points on Friday, it has rebounded to 13,356 points in two days.

Such market feedback has made people in Silicon Valley and Wall Street feel a sense of good luck.

You must know that in the past eight years, Gore has been a staunch promoter of the new technology wave, and even claimed to be the biggest contributor to the 'information superhighway' plan. Unexpectedly, it has become the most unstable factor that may destroy the Nasdaq. .

The mantis arm is the car.

As a result, it failed miserably.

The turbulent day passed quickly. After the twilight of the East Coast, more and more states' balloting results were released one after another. By 11 o'clock in the evening, the results of this election were basically determined. Bush vs. Gore, 306 votes to 232 open.

Bush Jr. wins.

The results came out. According to the usual practice, before 12 o'clock on this day, Bush received a congratulatory call from Gore, and it was considered that Gore maintained the last trace of dignity.

At about the same time, Simon also received a call from Bush himself.

The two did not chat too much. After some polite thanks, Simon was invited to attend the inauguration ceremony on January 20 next year. Simon expressed his congratulations, but declined the invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony.

The mastermind behind the scenes still has to stand behind the scenes.

Simon didn't mean to be in the limelight.

Of course, for the interests of this side, Simon will not be polite at all.

It would be absolutely stupid to support a general election without asking for a corresponding reward, just to show a sense of presence. Therefore, in addition to the default secretary of state position, the Westeros system will get other White House cabinet positions in the future.