King of Hollywood

Chapter 54 The Influence of Movies

"Are you optimistic about Bush Jr.?" Claude showed a surprised look. (Baidu search m, Rainbow Literature Network) M

The general election in the United States is divided into two stages. The first round of voting will be held on the first Tuesday in November. Voters in each state will choose electors to represent their state. Then on the third Monday in December, state electors go to their state capitals to vote for a new president of the United States. Generally speaking, if a candidate can get more than half of the popular votes in a certain state-voters recommending electors is also equivalent to voting for the presidential candidate they support-then all electors in the state All votes will belong to him, even if half the electors in the state do not support him.

This is called the winner takes all, except for Maine and Nebraska, the other 48 states and Washington, DC. This is why Claude, although he thinks that Gore is not very dominant at present, is a little surprised that Adrian is optimistic about Xiaobu. After all, Gore has a higher approval rate among ordinary people than Bush Jr. Afterwards it became largely clear that the December vote was mostly a formality.

"You know, I don't know many things very well," Adrian spread his hands, "but because of this, I can often see things from another angle and see things that others can't see." Stuff — tell me, dear Crow, how much did Al Gore and George W. Bush each raise? Or just tell me, which raised more?”

"It should be Bush Jr." Claude gave the answer after a little recollection.

"I don't know if you have noticed, Crowe. Since Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s, the presidential campaign has become a model where whoever spends the most wins." Adrian said seriously.

"Oh?" Claude raised his eyebrows.

"Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton are all like this. Although there are only four of them, it is enough to explain some problems." Adrian stood up, "Of course, if it's just this, we can treat it as a coincidence, but we look back If you look at the history, after the Civil War, except for Franklin Roosevelt, the Democrats have never been in power for 12 consecutive years, and the Republicans have more than one."

"Clinton has been in office for two consecutive terms, so the chances of Democrat Gore wanting to be elected are slim, and that's what you mean, right?" Crowder asked rhetorically.

Adrian raised his hands: "It is true that Gore has a higher approval rate among ordinary people than Bush Jr., but it is never the voters who decide who can sit on the presidency. As the president of the United States, we have also discussed before that if the Red Empire disintegrated two to three months earlier, it would be very difficult for Clinton to defeat him. The political capital and connections accumulated by Bush Sr. are enough for him to push his son to the top. The presidency is gone, which is why I suggest that you send a personal representative to contact him, not Bush Jr., who is running for the campaign."

"It seems a little late now?" Claude frowned, "It's less than a month before the election day, even if we fall to them, it may not have much effect, let alone we support the Democratic Party .”

"Come on, Crowe, can't you not do this?" Adrian couldn't help but rolled his eyes.

That's right, traditionally, the Ron Reese family has always supported the Democratic Party—of course, Uncle Anderson supports the Republican Party, and he is a conservative. However, for major groups, hedging bets is already a common practice. Just like in this year's general election, whether it is Gore's team or Bush Jr.'s team, the media has contributed a lot of money.

"Okay, okay," Claude laughed, "In short, Bush Jr. only needs more than half of the electoral votes. From the first Tuesday in November to the third Monday in December, there is at least one more month. so anything can happen - I'll get it right away, but some things will take a while."

"Don't worry, maybe the political donation limit will be lifted in ten years." Adrian, who knew what he was talking about, replied with a smile.

Although U.S. law stipulates that the campaign team accepts a certain amount of political donations from a certain person or company, it is easy to circumvent this restriction. It is nothing more than setting up a few more funds. Since the law has become empty, it is no wonder that the upper limit on political donations was simply abolished ten years later.

This result did not surprise Adrian. Claude is very stable but also likes to do some challenging things, so he helped him rob Japan and rob the Black Empire, so he will establish together under his persuasion The media, so he will try his best to acquire tbs and so on. But the achievements are also huge. The term young and promising is tailor-made for him now. How many people can manage a large group with assets of 500 to 600 million in their early thirties? What's more, this group was formed by his hard work with his buddies.

Therefore, as long as he can successfully acquire AT\u0026amp;t Adband, Claude doesn't mind taking a gamble, and the chances of winning are great. Although investing in a senator is more cost-effective than investing in the president, sometimes investing in the president can also get a lot of benefits, such as now. Selling favors at critical moments, as long as Bush Jr. can wait for the throne of the US president, coupled with the cooperation of McDonald and others, this matter should be settled in a short time-the old fox belongs to the old fox, and he still has to do things after taking the money However, American politicians are relatively reputable in this regard.

What's more, the media is not without backers. It is not difficult to guess the plans of several other media groups. It is of course best if the anti-monopoly agency intervenes and prohibits this transaction in the name of suspected monopoly after making adjustments. It doesn't matter—since they can use their connections in government departments, the media can also use them, and they have their own ideas.

If it can't be banned, then delay it. The unofficial period of the review can reach up to 180 days, and the official period will not be much less. If it is delayed for a year, the funds required to acquire at\u0026amp;t adband will greatly increase. Each of these media tycoons who want to thwart them cannot see the prospect of at\u0026amp;t adband, but they are unable or unwilling to acquire it for one or another reason. The rapid rise will only cost 10 billion yuan a year ago, but it will only cost 20 billion or even 30 billion yuan a year later, and Comcast will compete to raise the price.

Their plan cannot be said to be bad. Under normal circumstances, if it is really delayed for so long, it may indeed fail, but if there are any omissions in key information, then no matter how you calculate it, there will be no results. At that point, the media may not have enough funds, but Adrian and Claude have some, and Adrian has already decided that it doesn't matter even if they invest all of them at that time.

To use a common saying in the previous life, in the face of absolute strength, any strategy is useless. In the absence of government intervention, it is the amount of corporate funds that ultimately determines the acquisition. Even so, if this is the final result, it is inevitable that the gains will outweigh the losses, so it is still necessary to invest in Bush Jr.

The matter was decided in this way, as before, Adrian made up his mind, and Claude carried out the specific operation, so what Adrian should do, for example, accompany Jessica to the cinema to watch "Keep the Last Dance" .

As a song and dance movie, it is already a niche in the current movie market. Although musicals are an indispensable movie type in Hollywood, there is almost no memorable song and dance movie in the entire 90s. , Lian Woody? Allen has had some troubles on this.

So "Keep the Last Dance" didn't hold any premiere. Of course, the publicity was still very good-compared to a small-budget movie-so Adrian took Jessica in disguise and went to the cinema to sit. Watch among the crowd.

This is actually the second time that Jessica has watched her first starring movie. The first time I went to see it with my family on the day of its release. After all, I haven’t been home for a long time. Fortunately, her figure has recovered, so her parents won't see her flaws. Even if her mother has doubts, she puts on some weight because of the pregnancy scene in "Dark Angel".

Adrian did not stop her body shaping exercise that started immediately after giving birth. In any case, Jessica was still very young, and with her low self-esteem when she was a child, she still valued her appearance and figure. It is completely understandable, as long as Mary It is enough to enjoy the most basic breastfeeding.

There were quite a few people sitting in the screening hall, and most of them were young people. They were all full of enthusiasm and seemed to be full of interest in the movie. Not surprisingly, this is already the second week of the release of "Keep the Last Dance". Because it is in the off-season, it has won almost 2,000 theaters, and then achieved a box office of 25 million in North America in the first week. Many people have given quite a good review.

"Both full of youthful energy and inspirational power," wrote a film critic in a column for the Chicago Tribune.

Indeed, most musicals in the past showed the world of adults, either gorgeous and extravagant, or fresh and simple. Although there were some youth musicals entirely starring young people, they were not very good and had a very small audience. And "Keep the Last Dance" first blended inspiration and love in the story, and then blended ballet and blues in the dance, so it became a somewhat different youth song and dance film. .

"Look, you're charming, aren't you?" Adrian blew ambiguously into Jessica's ear while watching the big screen.

Although Jessica didn't speak, there was still a smug smile on the corner of her mouth. Obviously, her family and friends praised her a lot before. Although Jessica's acting skills are relatively weak, she is very charming through those simple or gorgeous dances. I have to say that the choreography is very beautiful.

One of the biggest highlights of musicals is the well-choreographed dances. As for "Keep the Last Dance", the plot of the movie is relatively clichéd and simple. As soon as she came out, the heroine moved to her father's place because of her mother's death, and then met the actor, and then slowly came together because of dance, and had to accept various tests along the way.

Without the dance, this would be a very popular romance movie at best, but with the dance it's different. The choreographer put a lot of effort into this aspect, combining blues and ballet as much as possible, and using different styles of dance to show the differences in skin color and identity between the two. There is no doubt that no matter how ballet was positioned before and how long it took to evolve to where it is now, it does represent high art at present, while the blues, which has been popular among blacks for decades, was once called vulgar by many Even gaudy things happen to be very similar to the identities of the hero and heroine.

The director also handled the plot quite well, and also cooperated with the choreography quite well. For example, the heroine’s encounter at the beginning was as incompatible as ballet and blues, but they were attracted to each other in essence, and after the mutual contact, they began to have It seems that the choreographer is here to arrange the blues to integrate into ballet for the first time. Of course, bumps and bumps are inevitable. As the relationship between the hero and heroine warms up, the two dances merge very smoothly, and with the exchange of dance experience, the relationship between the hero and heroine continues to heat up until various difficulties begin to come.

In the end, the two had to separate, and the fusion of dances also stagnated. The heroine couldn't concentrate on practicing, and the hero couldn't face himself. Until the end, the male protagonist finally made up his mind to break with his previous life, and then went to find his lover. She is currently preparing to perform as a dance teacher in a certain theater. Without the male protagonist by her side, although the heroine tried her best to practice the dance created together, there were still a lot of problems in the first performance.

"Are you really ready?" asked a male teacher wearing glasses, ponytail and beard.

The heroine took several deep breaths and couldn't answer until the actor's voice came from the door: "Yes, she is ready."

As I said before, the plot is very cliché, and what follows is a scene that can be seen in all love and inspirational movies, when the hero rushes to the stage to encourage his lover: You can do it, you can do it. The heroine finally performed perfectly. Here, the director and choreographer arranged very well. Although there are ballet or blues dances from time to time in the whole movie, they all dance very well and have a feeling. There are also dances that combine ballet and blues, which are also eye-catching. A bright spot, but basically not fully showing the whole dance, until the end here.

In the quick cut, the heroine fully demonstrates this dance with her body, with the elegance of ballet and the rhythm of blues, perfectly integrated in everything, switching without barriers, sometimes soft and sometimes sexy, that's it Passionate and full of energy, even the teachers in the audience couldn't help but nod their heads along with the rhythm. The whole movie was set up for this short few minutes of passion, and the emotions accumulated in the whole movie were completely released at this moment. When the dance was over, the young people in the screening hall couldn't help but cheered and drummed loudly. clap up.

"It's perfect." Adrian couldn't help clapping his hands in praise.

Jessica, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help beaming even though she had heard such praise many times, but when the movie ended and walked out, she sighed because she thought of something.

"What's wrong?" Adrian asked strangely.

"It's nothing, it's just..." Jessica pursed her lips, "It would be great if I really did this dance."

Adrian couldn't help laughing, and reached out to scratch her nose: "Don't think so much, after all, you are not a professional dancer, and being able to train to that appearance in a short period of time is already quite remarkable."

As I said before, ballet is different from those ordinary dances. As long as the actors are given enough time to practice in ordinary dances, most of the movements can be danced infinitely close to professionals, such as the movie Adrian prepared for Nicole. It is also one of the reasons why he asked Nicole to practice dancing a lot. But ballet is different. Generally, ballet dancers start dancing when they are young, and they have strict requirements for body shape, so they have to start shaping when their bones are not fully developed. It is almost impossible to perform on a very professional stage.

The ballet troupe is also the most competitive place in the entertainment circle, even surpassing the model circle. Many ballet dancers who dance very well are backup dancers all their lives. After practicing for half a year to a year, they can really dance like professional ballet dancers. It's impossible, so for all ballet-related movies, unless the actors are young or they are ballet dancers, most of the dances are substitute dancers, without exception.

Even though "Keep the Last Dance" doesn't involve a lot of ballet, Jessica uses a lot of stand-ins, especially in the terrific dance at the end. So whenever there's a frontal shot of Jessica spinning on the movie screen, the feet aren't included, and when there's a full body spin, it's so fast that the face can't be seen clearly, and it switches to the upper body very quickly close up.

"Wait here for me, okay?" When he came outside, Adrian patted Jessica's arm, and then went to drive, but when he came back, he saw a very unexpected scene.

The movie fans who were still outside the theater were approaching Jessica, and those at the front were flocking to her in waves, looking for something for her to sign in a panic, and Jessica whose hat had been taken off With a bitter smile on his face, he couldn't refuse. Needless to say, it can be guessed that she was accidentally recognized by the fans while waiting, and the fans who had just watched the movie starring her and were amused by it, of course flocked to her.

Adrian smiled and shook his head, lowered his hat, turned the steering wheel to the front of the theater, poked his head out of the window and shouted loudly: "Jessica! Here!"

Jessica looked around after hearing the sound, ran over quickly, opened the car door and jumped up, followed the car's accelerator pedal, and did not forget to apologize to the fans: "Sorry."

"It's really welcome." Adrian said jokingly after driving the car onto the street.

Jessica smiled embarrassedly, but she couldn't hide the contented and contented look on her face. Although "Dark Angel of the End Times" had already made her famous, when did she encounter such a scene? That's the power of cinema.

!@#