Made in Hollywood

After returning to Los Angeles from New York, Duke didn't say anything more to the media and began to concentrate on preparing for "Chicago". That round of hype completely achieved the purpose of the previous publicity, and now not to mention the film's release, even if it is before the start of shooting. very far.

Shortly after returning to Los Angeles, Duke Studio moved to a location near Warner Studios in Burbank. Duke leased a two-story building, except for the middle-aged Latin woman who used to answer the phone, and recruited several others. As for the staff, since the previous two screenwriters officially left to become independent screenwriters, Duke and Sophia recruited four more screenwriters, forming the only department with real functions in Duke Studio - the editorial department.

In addition, Duke's accountant, David, will send assistants to the studio twice a week to deal with financial problems.

The slightly larger Duke Studios is still a standard shell company than a real film production company.

After entering October, the North American box office of "Saving Private Ryan" passed the $285 million mark, while the global box office officially exceeded $600 million, reaching $601.05 million, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. More than half of 1995 has passed, and anyone with a discerning eye can see that after last year's "Independence Day", Duke is about to once again take the North American and global annual box office champions in the bag.

The global box office of "Saving Private Ryan" exceeded 600 million US dollars, which also means that the 20% box office sharing clause in the director's contract was automatically activated. Duke's lawyers and accountants began to act, frequently with Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox communicated, urging them to get the split payments in place as soon as possible.

Not only the share of "Saving Private Ryan", the box office share of "Independence Day" has not been paid by Warner Bros. So far, they have only taken out 200 million US dollars of overseas box office quota to share with Duke, that is, paid 4,000 million dollars in mid-October. Warner Bros. again paid Duke $40 million on a $200 million basis.

Warner Bros. did not want to deliberately default on the remaining overseas share. After all, they have determined to cooperate with Duke for a long time, but the overseas publishers have not yet remitted the share to Warner Bros.'s account. Based on the information obtained from several aspects. This part of the money is unlikely to arrive this year.

Duke is not short of money now. The stock broker is still buying Apple and Microsoft stocks for him. The daily operating expenses of Duke Studio are limited, and the investment in "Chicago" will not be very high. He is not in a hurry to share the rest.

After a meeting with Warner Bros. CEO Jeff Robinoff and an executive vice president of Time Warner, Duke decided to split the remainder and put it into Warner Bros. financing and expansion. In exchange for the corresponding shares, become a shareholder of one of the six major Hollywood companies.

This serves both Warner's needs and his interests, and could significantly increase his voice in Hollywood and film production and distribution.

As for the box office share of "Saving Private Ryan", the two sides are still coordinating. In the next period of time, part of the North American share will be received, and the share of peripheral income will wait. This film excludes TV, video tapes and VCD copyrights that have little influence in North America. In fact, there are no peripheral sources of income, and these will have to wait until the film is released from the North American theater line. to generate substantial gains.

Like "Braveheart", which is still being shown in a few independent theaters, according to the release plan of the producer and distributor, "Saving Private Ryan" will not be removed from North American theaters before the Oscar vote. Even if it is forced to go offline by commercial chain theaters, it will insist on showing in independent theaters in several major cities, especially in the Los Angeles area.

The ultimate goal of the co-producer in the awards season is very clear, pointing directly to the heavyweight awards such as Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture, especially Best Picture, combined with the promotion of the 50th anniversary of World War II The PR strategy worked so well that they were almost seen as a bag.

According to the director contract signed by Duke, if the film hits the Oscars, he will also need to attend several key campaign events, but there is still some time before the Oscars, and he will not be needed for public relations for the time being. Duke's main energy is still on In preparation for "Chicago".

As this musical film is about to be officially launched, the main members of the Duke team have ended their vacations. In recent years, Zach Snyder, John Schwartzman, Hannah Serena and others have almost all become the top and highest-paid individuals in their respective industries.

This is a commercialized society. Duke knows very well that the team that is maintained by friendship and personal charm is actually the most unreliable team. These people can follow him. First, it is easier to succeed by following the footsteps of successful people. The second is to get real benefits.

Even so, Zach? Snyder and Sofia? Coppola also revealed to him that they will leave at the right time to seek the opportunity to direct the film alone.

Therefore, after filming the short commercial of Estee Lauder, Duke also brought this friend of Erin Lauder to Los Angeles as one of the assistant directors of the film because he was satisfied with Anna Prinz as a whole.

Except for the temporary addition of a song and dance guidance team and an art director from Broadway, the composition of the "Chicago" crew will not change much in the future. Duke will still form the crew with his own team as the core, Robin Grande As production manager, he and Sofia Coppola serve as executive producers...

Robin Grande took care of the specific overall planning. His first business was negotiating with Tom Cruise. After going through the motions of audition and make-up, Liang Tang signed the contract with a salary of 5 million US dollars. The performance contract became the first actor officially confirmed by the crew.

At the same time, Nancy also ended her engagement with Warners, Fox and Disney, the latter two having little interest in "Chicago", only Warner Bros. signed a distribution deal with Duke Studios under which they would not be involved in the film The direct investment will become the North American and overseas distributor of Duke Studio's future three films, including "Chicago", and Warner Bros. has priority investment rights if Duke Studio accepts foreign investment in the next two films.

In this way, the issue of film distribution that Duke was most worried about has been completely resolved.

According to Duke's preliminary plan, the film does not have any exterior shots and will be shot in a studio. He wants to go to the Fox Studios in Sydney, after all, there are tax incentives there, but considering that the preparatory work for the film is extremely long, In addition, if you can't get a limited number of places, Australia's tax benefits are not particularly large, and finally choose Warner Studios in Burbank.

By the end of October, the project of "Chicago" was officially approved, and the investment of the film was 20 million US dollars. Because of the relationship between the film types, according to the Hollywood practice, from the director of Duke to the actor Tom Cruise, all actors and actresses. The salary of the staff has been reduced to varying degrees compared to "Saving Private Ryan".

The preparatory work such as script formulation, scene design, song and dance compilation, etc., began to proceed in an orderly manner, but the actor audition is the next priority. The three actors, the male and female protagonists, have to accept the system in the next few months. song and dance rehearsal.

Duke did not send out any specific audition invitations, except for letting Naomi Watts, Catherine Zeta Jones and Charlize Theron come to audition, but there are still many actors' agents looking for them. The Duke Studio not only promotes its signature actors and competes for major roles such as male and female protagonists, but also introduces newcomers under its name to compete for other singing and dancing roles that can be outstanding.

There are many people in Hollywood who think that Duke is crazy, and hastily made such a huge change in style, but it does not prevent many people from wanting to join it. The reason is very simple. Duke is the top commercial director in Hollywood, even if he will not appear in the actor in the end. In the ranks, but as long as it is related to his new film, there will naturally be media hype reports, and it is not certain that it will grab the headlines one day.

No one can ignore the appeal of a great director with continuous success to an actor who is trying to climb the ladder.

Most of the agents, Duke, have been handed over to Robin Grande to deal with, but there are always some people who find him to recommend their actors through various connections.

"Tell me, Riley, what's the matter?"

Sitting in the new office of Duke's studio, Duke looked at the middle-aged man in formal suits across from him. It was definitely not a stranger who could enter his office. This was an agent from ICM.

"Can't I come over to see an old friend?"

Hearing this, Duke didn't say anything, just looked at him, they had only met a few times at the party organized by ICM, and there was no friendship at all.

"Is such that."

The agent named Riley took a sip of coffee and said, "I have an important client who is very interested in the role of Roxy. She has encountered some troubles in recent years, and her fame and works are not as good as before. ICM thinks Announcing her official return through a major production."

"You can have her audition."

Although he doesn't like the agency's involvement in his projects, Duke also understands the importance of interpersonal communication. As long as the other party doesn't touch the bottom line, he can make some accommodations, "Tell me her name, and I will have someone say hello to the casting director. "

"I thank you on behalf of Julie." Riley laughed and said sincerely, "Before I came, Miss Roberts had told her that she would love to have dinner with you if you had time."

Hearing this, and thinking about how Julia Roberts always acted in the audition, Duke immediately understood that this was a very obvious hint, but unfortunately the big-mouthed Zhu did not meet his requirements for the role, nor did he meet him. Aesthetics, can only be sorry.

"I've been busy lately." Duke declined politely. "If I have time, I will contact Julie."

He would give Julia Roberts an audition, after all, it's a topic of hype, but he wouldn't let her appear in the film. (To be continued ~^~)

PS:   Just went out, Jinan steamer has started. . . . . Ask for a ticket to cool down~~