Made in Hollywood

"It turned out to be "Pearl Harbor"!"

On a terrace facing the sea in the duke's manor, Duke said to Nancy Josephson, who was holding coffee, while sipping afternoon tea, "It turns out that you have also been duped."

"Although Michael Ovitz is no longer in CAA, his appeal is still amazing." Nancy Josephson seemed to have a very good attitude, "Don't forget, that is the heroine of an A-level production, even if it is replaced by I will make the same choice."

"You agreed to terminate the contract with her?"

It's normal for actors to switch jobs, but fired agents often have a lot of small moves. The most typical ones in Duke's memory are Tom Cruise and Pat Kingsley.

"Just an inexperienced little actor."

Putting down the coffee cup, Tina Fey, who was sitting on the other side, took the initiative to help her fill it up. Nancy thanked her and said to Duke, "I thought she was pretty, and I thought she had some potential, so she could go to the second-tier vase in the future. direction to build her, but..."

She shook her head, "Her performance in "One Hundred Thousand Fires" was too clumsy. I don't think it's worth paying a lot of resources to support her, compared to the rewards you will get in the future."

Nancy suddenly laughed, "Although your acting skills are very bad, I believe that you look at the eyes of an actor. Since you think her future is not worth investing in, I believe her future achievements are extremely limited."

"Hey, honey." Duke flicked the white china teacup with a crisp sound, and said, "Are you praising me or demeaning me?"

"You understand it yourself." Nancy opened the sugar bowl and added two pieces of sugar to her coffee cup. "Like CAA, ICM also has evaluation measures. Our evaluation of Kate Beckinsale is only C."

Consider the future of Kate Beckinsale. Except for "Van Helsing" after "Pearl Harbor", it was barely squeezed into the second-tier. Most of the time, I am afraid it is difficult to be classified as a second-tier star.

If I remember correctly, she did not play a major role in any first-line production after that, the most famous films. On the contrary, they are all small production B-level films, and the North American box office is only hovering around 50 million US dollars...

The agent may be furious at being fired by a star like Liangtang, but few care about such a small role.

Doing Tom Cruise like Pat Kingsley did with Paramount Pictures for such a small actor is not worth it at all.

Nancy Josephson, of course, is not a generous person. She added milk to the coffee and said while stirring. "Touchstone Pictures has reached a packaging deal with Michael Ovitz..."

"Robert Iger wants to cooperate with him?" Duke couldn't help frowning.

Although he is no longer working with Walt Disney, he has kept in touch with Robert Iger.

"You've been in Australia for too long and the news is out of whack."

Pick up the coffee mug, Nancy said before drinking. "Because of a conflict with Michael Eisner, Robert Iger lost his position as CEO of Touchstone Pictures, and is now in charge of Eisner's cronies."

Duke pondered for a while, "So Michael Eisner and Michael Ovitz are working together again?"

There was a lot of trouble between the two at Disney. It was simply incompatible, which directly led to Michael Ovitz ushering in the biggest failure in his life.

"Ovitz is no longer a Disney executive. Eisner and his conflict have come to an end." Nancy just said a few words, she knew Duke would soon understand, "Duke, don't Forget. It was Ovitz who brought the all-in-one package service to Hollywood, and it continued to be successful, and while Godzilla was underwhelming against your Matrix, it still generated enough money.”

"Michael Ovitz's ability in this area is worthy of any studio's trust," she added.

Duke nodded. In the face of expected profits, some personal conflicts were just minor issues.

"Who is the director?" Duke asked.

"Michael Bay." Nancy Josephson put down the coffee cup, "I have reliable information that Ovitz has reached an agreement with Michael Bay, and that little banger is about to transfer from William Morris to his banner. ."

It seems that everything is moving closer to memory.

Just as Duke thought about it, Nancy reminded, "One thing you have to pay attention to, the production budget of "Pearl Harbor" is as high as 140 million US dollars, and it is likely to be scheduled for Memorial Day next year. Show!"

"Oh?" Duke raised his eyebrows.

The best time for such a film about the attack on Pearl Harbor would be the weekend before Memorial Day, and Disney and Michael Ovitz just made the most normal choice.

But the reason why Nancy focused on mentioning this is that Duke plans to put "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" on this schedule too!

The weekends of the summer vacation are also divided into three, six and nine. The best time is the two weekends starting in May, Memorial Day and Independence Day holidays.

After some thought, Duke said to Tina Fey, "Speak to Warner Bros. about this."

Tina Fey nodded and asked again, "Our..."

"We try not to change the schedule as much as possible!" Duke said.

He has never been afraid of competition, not to mention that his opponent is "Pearl Harbor". Even if the schedule needs to be changed, the film that will be changed voluntarily should also be "Pearl Harbor".

"Michael Ovitz was ambitious. He wanted to build a new brokerage empire."

Having said that, Nancy looked at Duke and mentioned a name, "After Martin Bob left CAA, he also joined it. The history of CAA's rise proves that Martin Bob may not be a qualified decision maker. An excellent supporting role.”

Hearing the name, which he almost forgot, Duke picked up the teacup and took a slow sip, "ICM, William Morris, and CAA, will you see a new company join in to share the cake?"

"Of course not." Nancy Josephson said as a matter of course, "So, ICM and CAA joined forces to disrupt the cooperation between Ovitz and Paramount Pictures?"

Duke looked over with questioning eyes, and Nancy said directly, "Michael Ovitz wanted to package Paramount Pictures' latest Star Trek, but Eno Martin and I got the project."

Speaking of which, Nancy sighed, "However, Ovitz's energy cannot be underestimated. After losing "Star Trek", he persuaded Universal Pictures with a new racing project, which will soon enter Formal preparations."

racing? Universal Pictures? Duke struggled to recall the films related to these two terms, and after a while, he finally got the impression.

"Know the name of the project?" he asked.

Nancy shook her head, "Universal Pictures has only named the project a code name called 'Speed' for the time being. By the way, James Cameron also added a foot in it."

"Didn't he like Michael Ovitz?" Duke asked curiously.

"Cameron will not be involved in any work related to this movie." Nancy knew that what she said just now was ambiguous, and said quickly, "He just recommended an actress to the crew, who seems to be a woman in a TV series he supervised. main character."

Although Anna Prinz was in charge of the New Zealand side for the time being, Duke could not stay in Los Angeles for too long. In the following two days, he began to have frequent contact with the senior management of Warner Bros., as well as Jeff Robino. The husband talked twice, which mainly involved the sequel of "The Matrix", the announcement of the first film of "The Lord of the Rings" and the filming location of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone".

The Harry Potter series was the first to be done. Under the circumstance that Joanna Rowling voluntarily made concessions, and Duke lobbied in the middle, Warner Bros. finally agreed to "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" after hesitating for a few days. Filming will take place throughout the UK.

Duke is so positive, of course, because of the point that Rowling gave up.

Hollywood is, after all, a business circle where interests come first, and although Duke admires Joanna Rowling's behavior of sacrificing her personal interests in order to keep projects in her home country, she won't let this emotion dictate business decisions.

Then there are the two sequels of "The Matrix". Zach Snyder will definitely not be able to get the director's authority like Duke, but because of Duke, his voice in the project is far more than those of the newcomers. directors.

And finally, the release date for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

"Duke's opinion is clear."

Sitting among several senior executives of Warner Bros., Tina Fey showed enough shrewdness, "Unless it is absolutely necessary, the schedule of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring cannot be changed..."

"I also agree with Duke."

Doug Walter clearly stood on Duke's side, "We have absolutely no need to fear the competition of "Pearl Harbor"!"

Nancy Josephson said slowly, "The director of "Pearl Harbor" will definitely be Michael Bay. If Duke voluntarily backs down, it will damage his reputation."

Although the release date of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" has not been announced, it is not surprising that relevant information was leaked later.

After this sentence, the top management of Warner Bros. was silent for a while. They could not care about Nancy's opinion, but they had to consider Duke's feelings. Duke, the director, was already tightly bound to Warner Bros.

Explosion madmen are afraid of small bang mad demons. Once the news spreads, let alone Duke, the party involved, even the senior management of Warner Bros. will feel dull.

What makes them more concerned is that Duke is the guarantee of Warner's income. Do they really need to care about the competition of an imitator?

"We don't change!" Jeff Robinoff said. "Put the release date of The Fellowship of the Ring out and see how Disney and Michael Ovitz react."

Doug Walter and others showed knowing smiles, they shouldn't be the ones who are afraid of competition! (To be continued ~^~)