As the summer season of 1987, which had an obviously weak box office performance, came to an end, the two movies related to Simon also came to an end.
On August 6, after 17 weeks of screening, "The Butterfly Effect" was officially released across North America, with box office figures finally set at US$116.95 million.
Immediately afterwards, in order to free up more screen resources for the new film "Ghost", Orion Pictures also canceled "Run Lola Run" on August 13. Counting from February 13 to August 13, "Run Lola Run" was released in North American theaters for exactly half a year, and the final cumulative box office reached US$223.77 million.
As of August, there are only three films in North America that have achieved a local box office of over 100 million this year. Two of them are from a young man who has only made his debut for a year. This has to be said to be a miracle. Just like the two movies that successively exceeded the 100 million mark in June, when the two movies were released one after another, the news about Simon in the media once again ushered in a small peak period.
However, Simon couldn't care less about these media discussions about himself.
While filming "Pulp Fiction", Simon also had to take care of the post-production of "The Last Day" and the preparations for "When Harry Met Sally." At the same time, the operation of the stock index futures market also affects his mind too much.
Most of the tense month of August passed without realizing it in this busyness.
Robert De Niro's scenes were completed in early August, and the guest scenes of Robert Redford and Nicole Kidman also ended one after another. I thought everything would go so smoothly. In the last week of August, Simon finally I still encountered the hardest nut to crack after filming started, Madonna.
On August 7th at the beginning of the month, the second movie "Who's That Girl" starring Madonna was just released in North America.
If Madonna was still trying to perform seriously in last year's "The Devil", the Madonna in "Who's That Girl" has completely given up on treatment, and all kinds of pretentious and exaggerated performances have almost 100% locked her into next year's Golden Raspberry Girl. Main character award.
When it was "Pulp Fiction"'s turn, Her Majesty's exaggerated energy obviously hadn't completely subsided, so the originally planned three-day shooting was delayed for five days.
Simon was very satisfied with the previous performances of Janet, Nicole and several other female characters, and he did not want to lower his requirements for the role of the 'little bunny' that would appear at the beginning of the film. Therefore, Simon has completely clashed with the Queen in recent days.
If you can't train you well, Simon Westeros should stop messing around.
Today is already Friday, August 28th.
In a fast food restaurant in south Santa Monica.
In these five days, some crew members who had participated in Simon's film production since "Run Lola Run" finally saw the director's 'manic' side. However, this mania has nothing to do with the filming difficulties of the movie. Instead, it is the director who personally showed Madonna shot by shot how to play "Little Rabbit".
The tall and handsome director, who is the dream lover of all the female employees on the crew, plays the female role in person, and is also a manic female robber. You can imagine how hilarious the scene will be.
Next to the counter in a fast food restaurant.
At this time, everyone in the crew was surrounding, patiently waiting for Simon to tell Madonna the story in person. Even Sean Penn stood nearby with great interest, noticing that Simon diligently handed a bottle of pure water to his wife. It’s a small move and I don’t get jealous. After reading the script carefully, he was very clear about Simon's intention of doing this, but he felt a little emotional that a certain guy did everything possible to film the final scene.
After a while.
The scene that everyone has been talking about in recent days happened again.
After Simon finished telling Madonna, he took the prop revolver in her hand, jumped up on the counter in a few moments, and without any scruples, screamed in the air where no actor was buried: "You Let him go, let him go, or I will kill you, let him go..."
After the performance, Simon still stood on the counter and said to Madonna in the audience: "Maggie, did you see it? That's it, you have to squat down a little, the robbery failed, you are very scared, and even a little collapsed. So, it’s better to shake the legs a little more, like this.”
After a serious demonstration, Simon jumped off the counter.
Madonna was initially dissatisfied with this madwoman-like character. However, Simon personally demonstrated it for her regardless of image. She couldn't help but admire this young director who had already created two box office miracles in a row before he was 20 years old, and she had completely let go of it in recent days.
After all, it's just a character.
What's more, it's not like no one calls me a crazy woman, so just go crazy.
When Simon came down from the counter, Madonna took the revolver that he handed over. After brewing her emotions for a while, she also jumped on the counter: "Let him go, let him go, or I will kill you." Yes, let him go..."
"Legs, trembling... It's too obvious again, tighten some... Okay, come down first," Simon said, waiting for Madonna to get off the counter, took the revolver from the woman's hand again, and demonstrated again.
After doing this several times, Simon saw that the effect was almost the same, and handed Madonna another bottle of pure water without leaving a trace: "Come on, Maggie, drink some more water, and then we will start shooting."
Madonna took the water bottle and glanced sideways at Simon with a teasing look in her eyes: "Little guy, is this your way of courting a woman? I have to say, you are really stupid."
Even so, Madonna still raised her head happily and drank half a bottle of purified water in one breath.
Simon then conjured up a bottle of water again, but instead of rushing to give it to Madonna, he ordered Sean Penn, Samuel L. Jackson and all the extras on the scene to start taking their seats.
As long as this scene can be completed successfully today, the scene about the Queen will also end successfully.
With this expectation, everyone in the crew cheered up.
Naturally, after several consecutive attempts, she still failed to meet Simon's requirements. During this period, Madonna was once again fed a bottle of water by Simon.
After more than half an hour, Madonna jumped off the counter and was about to walk directly to the toilet, but was stopped by Simon.
"Hey, little guy, I have to go to the bathroom. Do you plan to go with me?" She raised her eyebrows and joked. Madonna suddenly understood, stared at Simon, and said, "Did you do this on purpose?"
Simon neither admitted nor denied, and said, "Maggie, insist on finishing filming this scene. How about I treat you and Sean to dinner tonight?"
Madonna covered her belly and started to move her eyes: "It's very urgent, little guy, do you want to see me make a fool of myself?"
"Okay," Simon surrendered directly: "You agree on the conditions."
Madonna held up two fingers: "Two more songs."
"I'm just a movie director, Maggie," Simon said with a grimace, "Besides, songs also need inspiration. How can I just say a few songs?"
"Being able to play "Flight of the Bumblebee" so well and having such a great soundtrack in "Run Lola Run", I have great confidence in you," Madonna said. Seeing Simon's refusal, she rushed forward. : "Then I'm going to the toilet."
Simon quickly stopped: "There are two songs in total, any more will be gone."
"Deal," Madonna nodded cheerfully and added, "But you have to hurry up, I can only hold on for half an hour at most."
Simon shook the pure water in his hand and said, "You can go if you can't stand it anymore, but I need you to stay in this state all afternoon, and maybe work overtime."
Madonna immediately refused: "Three songs."
Simon insisted: "Only two, but I guarantee you'll be satisfied."
Madonna rolled her eyes and said, "Next time I have a concert, you will be my guitarist."
"How can this be!"
"Just one scene is enough. It's also a guest appearance. Just rehearse a little bit. And, little guy, I will pay your salary," Madonna became more and more excited as she spoke. When she finally saw Simon, she still didn't let go, so she pushed forward again: "Then I'm going to the toilet."
Simon could only nod: "Okay, there's only one game."
Madonna rolled her eyes again and continued: "Well, it's very uncomfortable to hold it in all this time..."
Simon simply got out of the way: "You'd better go to the toilet."
Madonna did not go, but said reluctantly: "Forget it, he is such a stingy man."
People are often very fragile when they resist going to the toilet. Therefore, Queen McQueen easily achieved the character emotion that Simon needed without much deliberate preparation. In the following performance, most people felt that Madonna fully expressed the emotions of a female robber who was on the verge of collapse after a failed robbery.
Although it was inevitable to work overtime for another hour, within a week, Madonna and Sean Penn's restaurant scenes were successfully completed.
After finishing the work, she once again asked Simon to help her complete the agreed songs as soon as possible, and Madonna and Sean Penn left together.
Tomorrow is the weekend.
When Simon returned to the Palisade, it was already seven o'clock in the evening.
Janet prepared dinner very considerately, and during the meal the woman told him that Noah Scott had called three times since five o'clock in the afternoon.
Simon only remembered that the highest point of the S&P 500 before the crash was over 330 points, but he had no specific impression of the specific number.
Therefore, last week on August 19, when the S&P 500 index reached 325 points, Simon once again began to liquidate 10,000 long contracts in the Westeros company account. On August 25, that is Tuesday, the S&P 500 index exceeded 330 points, and Simon also asked Noah Scott to speed up the clearance.
According to the agreed selling progress, the 10,000 long contracts in the Westeros Company account should be cleared today.
but.
Simon did not rush Noah Scott to establish a short position this time.
After dinner, Simon came to the study, and Janet followed him. After more than three months of operation, although she basically has an idea, the woman is still very curious about how much money her man makes.
Taking the initiative to call, Simon felt that Noah Scott seemed to be particularly enthusiastic today.
The two chatted for a while on the phone, and then they faxed over a series of transaction reports and accounting data after completing the liquidation of 10,000 long contracts.
At the close of trading today, the S&P 500 index had reached 337 points.
Due to the accelerated rise of the S&P 500 Index in July and August, it was difficult for Simon to establish positions in the lower index range. The average opening point of 10,000 contracts this time was 316 points, and the average selling point was about 332 points.
After comprehensive calculation, the average increase per contract was only 16 points, which did not reach the average profit level of the previous two times. But even so, the total profit after the liquidation of 10,000 contracts was completed reached 80 million US dollars.
In the end, after deducting all handling fees, Westeros Company already had US$278.56 million in its account at this time.
Although it failed to reach the US$300 million figure Simon expected. However, in three and a half months, from US$75 million to US$278.56 million, a profit of nearly 300%. Even the top elites on Wall Street cannot easily achieve such huge profits.
When Simon spoke to Noah Scott on the phone, it was already past ten o'clock in the evening in Chicago, in the middle of the United States.
In a villa in the affluent area of Naperville, a suburb of Chicago, Noah Scott specially sent his live-in girlfriend out tonight. At this time, there were only Noah Scott and two other people in their 50s in the villa. middle-aged man.
Two middle-aged men, one is Nelson Scott, the father of Noah Scott who is the vice president of American Express, and the other red-faced middle-aged man is James Robinson, the CEO of American Express at this time.
He had been listening quietly to Noah Scott's phone call with Los Angeles. When his son put down the phone, Nelson Scott asked: "How was it?"
Noah Scott shook his head and said: "Let me wait for instructions."
"What a cautious little guy," James Robinson was still holding a thick document in his hand, which was the detailed transaction records of Westeros Company in recent months. He was flipping through it and said, "But , since he was able to earn 200 million US dollars in just over three months, such caution is indeed correct. Noah, what do you think he will do next?"
Noah Scott thought for a while and said: "It will be the delivery month again soon, and the index fluctuations in September will definitely be very violent. Moreover, Westeros did not ask me to sell while continuing to build a position this time, so, he Either we should stop immediately. Or we should choose to go short. After all, most people now feel that the market has reached its top.”
James Robinson shook his head and said: "Since June, many people have thought that the market has peaked, and everyone is establishing short positions, but the result is that a certain little guy made 200 million US dollars in the blink of an eye. Tsk, 200 million US dollars. And his performance in Hollywood. I went to see those two movies a few days ago. They were indeed very good, and the box office surprised everyone. I really don’t know where that little guy came from. Come."
"I heard that I stayed in a mental hospital in San Francisco for half a year, and then I became like this," Noah Scott made a joke. Seeing the two elders smiling, he continued: "Well, Mr. Robinson , what should we do next?”