Made in Hollywood

The delegation from the other side of the Pacific spent a total of one week in Los Angeles and New York, and then left North America. According to the news from Time Warner and News Corporation's public relations department, after learning about Disney's current situation, the delegation added two The work done by big companies is already more biased towards Warner Fox World.

However, Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox have not relaxed, and as long as a written agreement is not reached, there is still the possibility of change in the end.

No one will underestimate the ability of Walt Disney and Michael Eisner, especially the latter, who has developed a film and television company that mainly produces animation into today's media group, which is enough to prove his skill.

As for the meeting with the mountain eagle, Duke believes that with his fame and influence, as well as the relative neutrality of the film, coupled with the friendly attitude shown from time to time, future films should enter that market. It's not a problem, maybe you can get the treatment of Nicolas Cage.

Speaking of Nicholas Cage, Duke still doesn't understand why this starring film, no matter how bad it is, can always be introduced by China Film Group?

The current situation is indeed very bad, and even Sofia Coppola, who is in a bad financial situation, is a little worried.

"It hasn't been declared bankruptcy, but it's not much better."

Sitting under the umbrella of the seaside cafe, Sofia Coppola slowly sipped the coffee and said to Duke, "You should also pay attention, Duke. Nicola was planted in the hands of proxy investors and accountants. ."

With his hands resting on the arms of the rattan chair, Duke said, "You know mine, I don't trust anyone easily."

Sophia turned to look beside Duke, "Where's Nascar?"

She was obviously joking, and Scarlett pursed her lips. "Duke trusts you more than me."

Duke didn't take the words of the two women at all, and changed the subject on his own initiative, "Is the filming of "The Peerless Queen" finished?"

"It's done." Sofia Coppola said as she picked up the coffee pot and filled Duke and Scarlett. "Only post-production work is left, and it should be in time for this year's Cannes Film Festival."

She suddenly thought of something and asked, "I heard that you rejected the invitation of the chairman of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival last year?"

"I'm very busy," Duke shrugged indifferently. "Besides, I don't like the films that are in competition either. Let me be the chairman of the jury, and the Palme d'Or list will definitely be empty in the end."

"You misunderstood Sophia's meaning." Scarlett seemed to know the inside story very well, "If you become the chairman of the jury panel, wouldn't this year's Palme d'Or at Cannes be "The Peerless Queen"?"

With that, she and Sofia Coppola both laughed.

Although this is a joke. But all festival judges have personal likes and dislikes. For example, at the Cannes Film Festival where Quentin Tastino was president of the jury, Michael Moore, with whom he had an excellent personal relationship, took the Palme d'Or.

In fact, European film festivals are no more fair than the Oscars. Even because there are too few judges and the chairman of the jury panel has too much power, it is not as transparent as Oscar's division of pork.

"You want to keep going the literary route?"

After a few jokes. Duke turned the conversation back to business and asked Sofia Coppola, "Aren't you thinking of going into commercial movies?"

Sofia Coppola raised her eyebrows, "Do you have a suitable project?"

"How about a superhero movie with a female protagonist?" Duke turned his head. Looking at Scarlett next to her, she said half-seriously and half-jokingly, "For example, the movie about Agent Natasha Normanoff."

Hearing Duke's words, Scarlett immediately became interested and said quickly, "Sophia, we have known each other for so many years, and I have always wanted to work with you again."

"Are you sure?" Sophia looked at Duke with a smile on the corner of her mouth, "Aren't you afraid I'll screw up? I need at least $100 million."

"But not now." Duke shook his head. "The time is not yet, it will take a few years."

Making a superhero movie with an all-female protagonist right now is really too risky.

"I'm going to the bathroom." Scarlett Johansson stood up and left here temporarily.

Looking at Scarlett's back, Sofia Coppola suddenly asked Duke, "Are you serious? Scarlett is a good girl."

"What kind of person Scarlett is, I know better than you."

Duke also glanced at the direction Scarlett was leaving. People grew up in different environments and grew up with different personalities. Scarlett, who was influenced by her mother, was indeed a good girl compared to the black widow she used to be. .

Of course, Duke wouldn't use the idea of ​​a mental cleanser to demand a woman around him. Now it's the 21st century.

"I remember hearing you mentioned it when I called last time." Sophia would not be stupid enough to interfere with Duke's private life, and asked about other aspects, "You are negotiating with Google, and you are going to sell the shares in Instant Share. ?"

"I do have this plan." Duke nodded.

Sophia was a little puzzled and asked in confusion, "Isn't the outside world very optimistic about this company? Although I don't like Ivanka Trump very much, she seems to be a qualified operator compared to you. ."

"You don't understand the situation." Duke thought for a while, then said succinctly, "Wall Street's valuation of this company is very high, but so far, instant sharing has not produced real profits, and according to my estimation, It won't be profitable for a long time to come."

This is only one aspect. Duke's negotiation with Google requires a share exchange. Although Google's shares will not bring dividends, from the perspective of value preservation, it is better than the one he and Ivanka Trump made. The company is less risky.

Besides, if Google completes its acquisition of Instant Sharing, Donald Trump will never get a chance to get his foot in the door again.

Duke was never a particularly generous person.

"What are you talking about?" Scarlett Johansson walked back at this moment, sat next to Duke, and said curiously, "Looks very happy."

"The great director Rosenberg..." Sofia Coppola deliberately put on a teasing tone, "planning a great business plan."

Having said that, she looked at her watch, then stood up and said to Scarlett, "It's almost time, let's go shopping."

"Okay." Scarlett walked over and took Sophia's arm.

When the two were about to leave, Sofia Coppola seemed to have thought of something, and said to Duke, "If there is a suitable opportunity, pull down Nikolai."

Sophia hardly begged him, Duke nodded slowly, "I see."

Watching Scarlett and Sophia leave, Duke sat on the rattan chair, thinking about how to help Sophia's cousin.

The debt owed by Nicholas Cage is not worth mentioning to him at all, but it is undoubtedly a very stupid act to pay the debt for the other party.

A former top movie star, no matter how good or bad his acting skills are, ultimately depends on the market reaction of his works and roles to determine his status. The level of his status in Hollywood means the difference in remuneration.

The former Nicolas Cage no longer considered the quality of projects and characters because he wanted to repay his debts, and signed contracts indiscriminately. After these works were released, most of the box office and word of mouth were extremely poor, and the market response of the previous work was poor, which directly led to When his salary fell, Nicholas Cage had to accept more works without quality assurance in order to make money...

As a result, these works continued to fail, and his salary fell again, thus forming a vicious circle.

For Sofia Coppola's sake, the best way to pull Nicholas Cage is to make him turn over. As long as the market response of the films and roles he acts in is good enough, the amount of his future salary will be determined. Guaranteed.

Duke can't do more, just work with Nicolas Cage again when the time is right.

In the second half of the year, he is preparing to shoot "Batman: The Dark Knight". If Nicolas Cage can pass the audition and meet his basic requirements, there is a role that is more suitable for him.

The former Oscar winner, when his career was at its most brilliant, had an obvious temperament that was both righteous and evil. When he played a decent role, he was simply a born good person.

"Batman: The Dark Knight" also needs an actor who can play both the decent and the villain in the end.

As the post-production of "Iron Man" entered the final stage, Duke naturally considered the "Batman: The Dark Knight" to be prepared next, and Charles Rowan's assistant rushed to Australia to meet the vacationers there. Heath Ledger and his agent, the writing team of Duke Studios, have come up with a script for The Joker, and presumably this crazy character can impress many ambitious actors.

After staying at the beach for a while, Duke greeted the bodyguard to call his car and drove back to Burbank. Although today is the weekend, in order to complete the special effects production on time, ILM, Weta Studio and visual effects The special effects team formed by the studio chose to continue working overtime.

Since there is nothing to do now, Duke also came to Warner Studios to see.

"Duke, you've come just in time,"

As soon as he entered the special effects room, Phil Sanders greeted him and said, "Anna just went to the Warner Building, and we need someone to decrypt the electronic copy of the full version."

Since the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Duke has basically abandoned film shooting in favor of more convenient digital technology, and will no longer store copies of filmed films and clips in bank vaults as before, but The digital copy also has strict confidentiality measures. If you want to open it, you need two people with different passwords to decrypt it.

It's not that Duke is being overly careful, but that Hollywood leaked copies have happened many times. (To be continued ~^~)