Entering July, half of the summer vacation of 1987 has passed without realizing it.
Apart from "Beverly Cop 2", there is no other local hit that is expected to exceed 100 million at the box office this summer.
The estimated total box office in North America for several films including "Witches of Easttown" starring Jack Nicholson, "Predator" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and "Dragnet" starring Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd Movies that can reach 50 to 60 million US dollars are probably only small profits, and basically do not meet the expectations of major film companies.
Among them, the new film "Project The cumulative box office in June was only over 12 million US dollars. Compared with the production cost of US$15 million, although Fox Pictures will not lose money through post-production operations, this film is completely unable to live up to the high-quality schedule and publicity resources it has received.
Simon had paid attention to "Project X" before it was released, but he didn't feel much about it anymore.
The original matter has long been settled. As long as Matthew Broderick no longer provokes him, Simon will never have any interaction with him in the future.
On the other hand, on July 2, the S&P 500 index exceeded the 290-point mark. After a month and a half of silence, Simon once again began to issue trading instructions to Noah Scott, gradually clearing out the funds originally held in the Westeros company account. 4500 contracts and simultaneously started opening positions again.
In this era when there is no "daily debt-free settlement system" for stock index futures trading, there are naturally many benefits for futures traders, but the disadvantage is that Simon cannot directly use the book profits of the original 4,500 contracts to increase positions. , you must complete a liquidation and exchange of hands.
Simon originally expected to complete the change of hands in the range of the S&P 500 index between 290 and 295 points. However, after the relatively volatile June stock index futures delivery month, the rise of the S&P 500 index accelerated significantly.
Westeros Company's account opened positions on the S&P 500 Index at an average of 272 points in mid-May, but ended up clearing and changing hands at an average of around 295 points.
With an average increase of 23 points, the paper profit of each contract reached about US$11,500.
After settlement, the 4,500 long contracts in the Westeros company account, excluding various transaction fees, earned a cumulative profit of US$50.65 million in one month, and Simon's principal increased to US$125 million.
After the change of hands, the Westeros company's long positions increased to 6,800 shares, and the position ratio still reached a very dangerous 80%.
Fortunately, from July 2 to July 10, the second layout ended, and the S&P 500 index had risen to 298 points at the close of the day on July 10. In just a few days, Westeros The long contracts in the company's account once again generated a very considerable paper profit.
Simon found that he might not need to use the Wells Fargo loan again. In fact, he really didn't want to use the loan unless he had to.
Violation of the loan contract is second, and most importantly, once the misappropriation of the loan is discovered, Simon's operations in the futures market are likely to be exposed.
Compared with the daily trading volume of more than 80,000 stock index futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the thousands of contracts held by Westeros would not have much impact on the market. However, what if someone discovers that a young man who has just created a box office miracle in Hollywood has joined the game and has made a lot of money without even knowing it. Then, according to Soros's famous reflexive theory of "mutual influence between market participants and the market," the impact of Simon's operations on the stock index futures market will also be amplified, and the original market trend in his memory is likely to be affected by this. Change.
At the same time, in the last week of the filming plan, the crew of "The Last Day" returned to Los Angeles from New York and completed the opening air crash scene of the film in the studio at Fox Studios. The film was successfully completed on July 9.
Simon spent a few days discussing and confirming the detailed post-production plan of "Dead Man" with Wes Craven. On July 13, the filming of "Pulp Fiction", which had been in preparation for several months, officially started.
Inside a bar in Venice Beach.
On the third day of filming, the crew was filming the plot of gang boss Martha Wallace lobbying Butch Coolidge to fake a punch.
There is a soundtrack for this episode in the main film, but at this time, the atmosphere in the bar is very quiet.
All departments of the crew gathered around the two actors playing Martha Wallace and Butch Coolidge in an orderly manner, and there was only the narration of Ving Rhames, the black actor who played Martha Wallace.
"When all this is over, you will find that you are the one with the last laugh. Butch, although you are still strong now, unfortunately, you will not be strong for long..."
Since it is a fixed camera shooting, Simon does not need to use the monitor to check the composition of the shot in real time. Instead, he stands outside the photographer, lighting engineer and other staff, holding his arms and watching Robert De Niro's scene, which has no lines at all. ’s performance, I can’t help but compare it with the original Bruce Willis.
Among a large group of tough guy actors such as Stallone and Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis's acting skills can be said to be the best.
However, in this scene from the original "Pulp Fiction", watching Bruce sitting in front of the camera and listening to the gang boss's instructions, most people will still subconsciously have an idea, this is Bruce Willis, this is Bruce Willis Sis, this is Bruce Willis…
at this time.
Simon looked at Robert De Niro, who was holding his shoulders and slightly pursed his lips. He seemed to be suppressing his anger and unwillingness but did not dare to show up in front of the gang boss. He had only one feeling in his heart. This was Butch Coolidge, a certain person. A down-and-out boxer whose career is coming to an end but still has some ability but has failed to make a mark.
In "Pulp Fiction", Butch Coolidge's room for play is actually not much smaller than that of characters such as Vincent and Jules. But in the original film, due to insufficient acting skills or no effort at all, this character was basically played as a real-life Bruce Willis intrusion.
This is probably why the media and audiences talk about Vincent, Mia, Jules and other characters, but few people discuss a certain boxer who plays a heavy role.
In comparison, even Simon couldn't help but admire the work Robert De Niro has done in recent months to prepare for this role.
Although he is a boxer, Butch Coolidge will not appear in the ring in the film. But even so, in order to look like a professional boxer, Robert De Niro still carried out physical training for two months and gained weight.
For the current scene, Robert De Niro not only discussed the character's psychological changes and performance methods with Simon many times, but also asked Ving Rhames to record the dialogue for himself to figure out.
Now, in Robert De Niro's first scene after filming started, Simon is sure that this time Butch Coolidge will definitely leave an impression on the audience that is no less impressive than Vincent, Jules and other characters. impression.
Three minutes later, when Robert De Niro and Ving Rhames' first performance ended, Simon motioned for the others to take a break and led the two to the monitor.
In the 1980s, the image assistance system had just emerged. The monitor screen was only 6 inches in size. However, the rental price of the entire equipment was very expensive, almost as much as the rental price of the camera. In order to save budget, the previous "Lola Run" Simon simply didn't use the device.
Naturally, there is no need to be so frugal this time.
The three of them gathered around a monitor screen that was only as big as a large-screen mobile phone to watch the replay. After a while, Simon pressed pause and focused on a small detail of Robert De Niro's lips. He turned around and asked where he was standing. Robert De Niro next to him said: "Bob, what do you think?"
Robert De Niro looked at it for a moment, shook his head and smiled, and said: "Excessive force."
Simon nodded and analyzed: "As a small person, Butch is actually very afraid of Martha. His long silence has shown his inner resistance, but he can no longer dare to show too obvious dissatisfaction. So. , next, you need to restrain yourself a little bit.”
Robert De Niro didn't say much and said: "Simon, I need to brew."
Simon waited for Robert De Niro to return to his seat before turning to Ving Rhames, who played Martha Wallace.
Like Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Jules, Ving Rhames is also an original cast member.
Moreover, Ving Rhames is similar to Samuel L. Jackson in other aspects. This black actor also has a standard academic background. He studied at the State University of New York and the Juilliard School of New York, which is known as the "Harvard of Music". He studied theater performance in college and holds a bachelor's degree in art. Before that, he also had Broadway performance experience and had been playing some inconspicuous small roles in Hollywood.
Speaking of which, Samuel Jackson and Ving Rhames cannot tell that Hollywood still has deep-rooted racial discrimination after all. In Hollywood, many black movie stars have a higher level of education. Relatively speaking, the 'threshold' for white people to realize the American dream is much lower.
Due to his professional background, even though Ving Rhames did not show his face at all in the three-minute performance, Simon was amazed by his profound script skills.
Simon chatted with Ving Rhames for a few words, and he had a very good impression of this actor who played a gangster but had a quite gentle personality in reality. Finally, he extended his hand to the other person and said: "Vin, your line skills are very good. I I think we will definitely have the opportunity to cooperate in the future.”
Ving Rhames shook Simon's hand vigorously and said with a smile: "Of course, I'm looking forward to it too."
With that said, Robert De Niro said that filming could start again, and Simon ordered everyone to prepare again.
The main shooting today was a few scenes of Butch, Martha, Vincent and Jules in the bar. The scene where Martha persuaded Butch to fake a punch was shot repeatedly for an hour before Simon gave his approval.
John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson had already finished their makeup and quickly started other shots.
It was so busy that at five o'clock in the afternoon, the crew officially called it a day.
The others dispersed. Simon and several assistant directors confirmed tomorrow's shooting plan and sent today's shooting film to the Fox Studios lab. The time was already 6:20.
Inside Fox Studios.
Leaving the post-production center, Simon looked at Jennifer Raybould, who had become accustomed to following him these days. The girl quickly resigned from George Norman's law firm after his last invitation and came to work for him. Work on your own.
Slowing down and walking on the asphalt corridor in the movie theater, Simon asked the girl next to him, "Jenny, how are you feeling these days?"
Jennifer Raybould was carrying a briefcase and holding a folder in her hand. When she heard Simon's question, she couldn't help but think of her experiences these days. At the end of last month, she suddenly made the decision to give up her career as a lawyer. All the relatives around her said they could not accept it. Her parents even flew over from New York despite their busy schedule.
However, Jennifer, who has always been a good girl since she was a child, does not intend to obey her parents' wishes this time.
After several confrontations, she finally got what she wanted.
However, Jennifer also made some compromises and must complete the California Bar Qualification Examination at the end of July and officially obtain a practicing certificate. In this way, she can return to the legal profession at any time in the future.
Then, starting from July 1, the girl officially became Simon's personal assistant.
The occupational categories of secretaries and assistants overlap, but they are basically two different jobs. To put it simply, in a company, assistants usually have higher authority than secretaries.
In the past half month, Jennifer has basically been in the stage of getting familiar with her job.
Simone's career in Hollywood has just started, and there aren't many jobs that can be given to her.
However, as long as the operations in the stock index futures market are successfully completed and a large amount of capital is available, the industry under Simon's name will definitely expand rapidly, and by then, the girl will also be busy.
At this time, after hearing Simon's question, Jennifer said: "I feel like I can't do much to help you. Maybe I should take some film major courses in Southern California."
Simon heard this, but smiled and shook his head, saying: "No need, Jenny. You have to know that in Hollywood, experience is more important than academic qualifications. Moreover, I have no intention of training you to be a film producer."
Jennifer wondered: "So, Simon, what do you want me to do?"
"She's just my assistant," Simon smiled, paused, and said, "Actually, I'm doing other things recently, but it's not convenient to tell you now. After a while, you will find that you may be busy. It’s time to fly.”