Hollywood Hunter

"Simon, William Duff is really good, but don't you think he is more suitable for playing a clown than a black mask?"

In the conference room of Daenerys Entertainment headquarters, the morning audition has ended. Simon and several of the main creators of "Batman" are discussing the final candidate of the black mask Roman Siannis. At this time, the other speaker of "Batman" is speaking. Joe Silvo, a producer.Joe Silvo, the top Hollywood producer who is good at action movies, is no less than Jerry Brookheimer. In the original space and time, the "Matrix" series is the pinnacle of Joe Silvo's production. Make.Joe Silvo, who is only 36 years old this year, has gained fame in recent years with "Tiger Dragon" and "Deadly Weapon".

Simon is naturally the first producer of "Batman".However, he also needs a deputy to coordinate the film's personnel, finance and venue.Joe Silvo, who has just reached a good cooperative relationship with Warner with the "Fatal Weapon" series, was recommended.Although he cannot obtain absolute control of the project, Joe Silvo also hopes to cooperate with Simon, who has created a greater miracle in the past two years. Simon is also the same.

"Joe, William’s acting is enough to hold up the black mask, but for the clown, seriously, I have high expectations for this character. I hope to find an actor who can show the evil sense of this character from the bones, not just The bad face of a natural villain like William."

William Dafoe's most famous character should later be Norman Osborne, the villain of the villain'Green Devil' in the series of Toby Maguire's "Spider-Man".But now, Dafu is just 33 years old, and he is not like a wrinkled uncle many years later. He can even be said to be a little handsome.In these years of debut, William Dafoo has worked with major directors such as William Friedkin, Tony Scott, Oliver Stone, acting and qualifications are sufficient to support the role of the black mask.

In addition, if you don’t count one of the cut-out dragon characters in “The Gate of Heaven”, the first feature film that William Duff participated in was called “Relentless”, and the director was Catherine Bigelow, "Relentless" is also Catherine's first feature film.

Simon chose William Duff to play the black mask, which actually has this reason. Of course, he did not look at Catherine's face.

For a big production involving a 50 million dollar investment, it’s not just about casting. It’s also necessary to make sure that the actors don’t have bad habits, don’t play big names, get along with other creative characters, and so on. The director habitually uses his own familiarity with the actors.Simon deliberately called Catherine before, privately inquired about some of William Duff's circumstances, and received confirmation from the woman before ranking him as the first person in the black mask.

Everyone continued to discuss for a moment, and since Simon insisted, this role was completely determined.

This afternoon is Director Gordon's final audition, which starts at two o'clock.

After the meeting, everyone went to lunch. Simon and Joe Silvo whispered some details of the film's preparations, and walked out of the meeting room together. Jennifer came with another white man who was not tall in black frame glasses. .

Simon stopped and said to Joe Silver: "So, Joe, we'll see you in the afternoon."

Joe Silvo knew that Simon had other things,

When Joe Silvo walked away, the spectacled man stepped forward and reached out to Simon: "Hello, Mr. Westeros, this is Ella Doichman."

"Simply call me Simon," Simon shook hands with each other and saw him carrying his briefcase and smiled: "If there is nothing important, let Jenny pack it for you, let's go for lunch." "

"Oh, of course," Ella Deichman handed her briefcase to Jennifer, "Trouble you, Miss Rebold."

Jennifer smiled and took the other's briefcase, but came over and whispered to Simon: "Mr. Rem is online."

Simon gestured to Ella Doichman and asked the female assistant: "Go to the car phone. I will talk to him on the way."

Jennifer nodded, Simon took Ella Deutschman downstairs, and Neil Bennett was ready for the car.

The two got into the car, and without Simon’s command, Neil Bennett walked towards the destination. Simon gave a waited look to Ella Doichman, picked up the car phone and talked to Robert Rem. The result of his contact with MGM.

After a morning of bargaining, MGM finally agreed to give up the North American distribution rights of "Rainman" for $5 million. The requirement there was that the check must be obtained by Friday.Amy and Rem's psychological expectations of redeeming the distribution rights of "Rainman" are about 5 million US dollars, but this offer is far below Simon's tolerance limit, so they immediately agreed.

On the phone, Robert Rem also asked if he would postpone the release of "Rainman". The circle is very optimistic about "Rainman", and it is not easy to temporarily raise screen resources.The distribution department of Daenerys Entertainment is fully working on "Scream", "Steel Magnolia" and "Death Poetry Club". Temporarily joining "Rainman" will certainly disrupt the team's established work rhythm.Moreover, the postponement of "Rain Man" will certainly prevent it from competing with the "Death Poetry Club" that follows.

Simon did not agree with Robert Rem's suggestion.

The public opinion on "Rainman" in the media is unsatisfactory. If Daenerys Entertainment announces the extension of the film, the image of the movie's "bad film" in the minds of the media and the audience may be completely settled.Daenerys Entertainment can not only postpone, but also spare no effort to launch a publicity offensive for this movie.

When Simon put down the phone, Land Rover Range Rover had stopped at the door of a restaurant.

Simon took Ella Doichman into the restaurant, and the two sat down, and he began to look at each other without trace.

Ella Doichman's name sounds feminine, but in fact, this isra is'Ira' instead of'Elle', although'Ira' is also unisex, but in Hebrew, ' Ira' prefers the boy's name.Deichman is clearly another Jewish surname.

The middle-aged man with glasses in front of him is the person in charge of Simon looking for Gaomen Pictures these days.

Ella Doichman is 35 years old this year, about the same age as Joe Silvo.Moreover, his intersection with the movie world is as deep as Joe Silvo.As early as more than ten years ago during his studies at Northwestern University, Ella Doichman had been involved in the distribution of a film by the famous Hollywood independent director John Kasowitz.

After graduating from Northwestern University, Ella Deichman entered the United States film industry specializing in the United States classics of art and film.

Lianmei Pictures was merged by MGM because of the "box of heaven" box office defeat, and the Lianmei Classic was disbanded. Ella Doichman founded the new film company with several other partners in 1983, also focusing on the art film field."The Room with a View" released three years ago starring Daniel Day Lewis and Helena Bonham Carter, won a box office in North America for more than $20 million at a production cost of $3 million, and was awarded on the Oscar In addition to the good results of eight mentions three.

The new film company is still in operation, but Ella Doichman was recently excluded by several partners and forced to quit the company she founded.In the original time and space, Simon remembered that Ella Doichman was responsible for the new line of film industry in the next few years, trying to enter the field of art and film industry subsidiary Jia Line Pictures, trying to compete with Miramax.It's just that New Line Pictures hasn't invested too much resources in this area, but Ella Deichman has been active in Hollywood for many years.

The two had ordered a meal and waited for the waiter to leave before Simon spoke again and asked Ella Doichman: "You have seen Michael Hoffman's "Sisters", how do you feel?"

Although Simon was many years younger than him, Ella Deichman was inevitably nervous.

This was an interview, and Ella Deichman knew it.He has just been squeezed out of the company recently, which should be considered a loser's stain. It was originally thought that Simon would be the first to ask why he would withdraw from Xinying Company, but I didn't expect it to be this.

According to the previous agreement, he felt the Daenerys Entertainment Headquarters at nine o'clock in the morning, but instead of seeing Simon, he was arranged to go to a screening room to watch a film, which has made his mark in Hollywood in recent years. The work of Michael Hoffman, a literary film director named "Sisters".

Since Simon asked about this, Ella Doichman also regained his spirit and said: "It's a very good movie. The director showed his understanding of life, love and desire through a actor's holiday journey. The film The opening and ending of Sandro Botticelli's famous painting "Spring" is very cleverly arranged. The three goddesses of beauty in the picture are part of "Spring". They represent all the beautiful things in the world and imply human desires."

After listening to Doiqiman's explanation, Simon suddenly said: "So, how much box office do you think this film can get?"

This was another surprising problem. Ella Doichman was stunned. She thought that this talented young man in the movie would continue to discuss the meaning of the film with him, but did not expect Simon. So straightforward.

After thinking about it for a moment, Ella Doichman said: "If you give it to me, you should be able to get about 5 million US dollars."

Simon was undecided and asked, "Tell me about your marketing ideas."

"This is a niche literary film, but it is not boring. The target audience should be young people between the ages of 16 and 22," Ella Deichman said while thinking, "As the first In one step, I will choose to submit this film to the Sundance Film Festival for participation. "Sisters" is unlikely to win an award, but the film criticism should be good. After accumulating a certain popularity, it can be carried out in central cities such as New York and Los Angeles. For the screening, if there is a budget of about 500,000 US dollars, I can arrange about 20 open screens and put some advertisements on the arts and media to the print media. If the box office is good, the scale of the screening can be further expanded. One of the heroines, Jennifer Connelly, will become its important publicity point. Connelly's image of Deborah in the "American Past" was very impressive for many people. She is sure Can attract some audiences into the theater."

Simon listened to Ella Doichman and shook his head: "This is a very orthodox and conservative way of distributing literary and artistic films. I can be sure that you are doing it entirely by luck, and you may not be able to get you The predicted 5 million US dollars at the box office, you can be lucky to have 1 or 2 million US dollars."

Ella Doichman’s expression flashed a little bit, and he didn’t really think that the movie could get $5 million.

Seeing that Ella Doichman didn’t speak, Simon paused for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Ella, do you like movies?"

"Of course," Ella Deichman nodded without hesitation this time: "Simon, I have been exposed to film distribution since I was 19 years old. If I don't like movies, I can't do it in this industry for so many years. "

Simon nodded, but said again: "You must have known the purpose of our meeting. But in fact, I want to find someone who doesn't like movies so much."

Ella Deichman was surprised again: "Simon, I don't quite understand."

"It's very simple," Simon said: "If you like movies, you will instinctively judge the quality of a movie in your heart, and will have a strong personal tendency. For example, if you don't like a movie, you may become Negative. I don’t think this movie sells too much at the box office, so you obviously don’t have the motivation to release a movie.”

"Simon, I won't be like this."

Simon raised his hand to Ella Doichman and said: "On the contrary, if you don't like movies so much, then movies can become very pure goods in your eyes. The first thing you think of when you get a movie How should it be sold and how can it be sold at a higher box office."

"Simon, of course I like movies very much," Ella Doichman couldn't help refuting: "But at the same time, I will do everything I can to sell a movie for a good price, as you just said."

"So, completely set aside your sense of "Sisters"," Simon looked at Ella Doichman and said, "Give me another plan, how can I sell it for the best possible price?"

Ella Doichman thought about it for a moment, and quickly looked up again, looking at Simon Road: "Totally abandon the literary and artistic attributes of this movie, then we can market it as a youthful comedy, a The boy is surrounded by three girls, and the three girls are still sisters. This gimmick is enough to attract many teenagers into the theater."

Simon raised his hands and snapped his fingers, saying, "Look, you actually know this in your heart, and you know what to do if you want to sell this movie. It's just that because of your inner morality, or out of right The respect of the movie, you just didn’t say this. But what the audience wants to see is this. We all know that Michael wants to express a lot of things through this movie, but wants to sell it, wants to attract. More people enter the cinema. During the promotion process, you must promote him with what the audience wants to see, not what the director wants to express. Sometimes, this is even cruel, but the filmmaker has to face it. In reality, most viewers are not interested in exploring the meaning of love. They just want to see a woman’s chest. It’s that simple."