The next day, another Sundance Film Festival came to a close.
The Grand Jury Prize went to a low-budget black-and-white drama called "In Dirty Waters," which tells the story of a down-and-out screenwriter and a failed producer trying their best to raise money to make a movie.
According to previous media reviews, although "Reservoir Dogs" is controversial, it has a very good reputation and is very popular for awards.
However, because the jury members did not like this film that showed too much violence, "Reservoir Dogs" ultimately received nothing.
Daenerys Entertainment has purchased films or scripts from Sundance almost every year in recent years, and the relationship between the two parties has become very close.
However, it is precisely for this reason that in order to maintain the fairness of the Sundance Awards review as much as possible, Daenerys Entertainment will not easily interfere in the award review work unless necessary.
Simon attended the closing ceremony of the film festival and returned directly to Los Angeles.
As for the follow-up to "Reservoir Dogs", the $2.5 million project is not enough to draw too much attention from him.
In the original time and space, the North American release of "Reservoir Dogs" ended in failure, but it also led to the establishment of a long-term cooperation between Miramax and Quentin Tarantino until the Weinstein scandal broke out. Finish.
After a long talk that night, Catherine went to New York.
I didn’t have much choice, so I had to shoot subjects that I wasn’t very interested in.
Now, after accumulating several films with relatively good box office results, and with Simon's support, Catherine no longer has the troubles faced by many filmmakers who are just starting out in their careers. After being reminded by Simon, she decided to spend the next one or two years Time to carefully sort out and dig out some projects.
I also plan to go to Europe.
The great changes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, as well as the subsequent trends of these countries, made Catherine curious, and she also had the idea of filming one or two documentaries first.
From "The Gucci Mark" to "True and Brave" to last year's "Ice", the success of three consecutive documentaries at the box office has made documentaries a category of considerable concern to Hollywood.
Simon himself was able to photograph whatever Catherine wanted.
Not short of money.
It doesn't matter if the original movie "Widowmaker" is produced in the original time and space. What Daenerys Entertainment lacks most now is a huge loss-making project.
Of course, in the entire Hollywood, Simon would only be so indulgent to Catherine.
Even he himself would not be so indulgent.
After Sundance closed, it was already the end of January before I knew it.
Back in Los Angeles, the first thing to deal with was Daenerys Entertainment’s second layoff.
In the past month, after repeated reviews and evaluations by the company's human resources department, a preliminary layoff list of 800 people was drawn up. This number was smaller than Simon had imagined, but after the news was announced, it still caused controversy in the media.
The U.S. economy as a whole is still at its bottom. In 1991 just past, the federal unemployment rate reached a new high.
If it were other companies, there would be nothing wrong with layoffs at this time.
The survival of the enterprise is the most important thing.
However, Daenerys Entertainment’s layoffs are difficult for many people to accept.
Just looking at the box office data of a series of blockbuster movies produced by Daenerys Entertainment last year, the company's performance in 1991 can be seen.
A company with such excellent operating conditions still insists on laying off employees. From the outside world, it is really a sign of a very lack of social responsibility and an act of an unscrupulous capitalist.
In fact, the layoff of 800 people, taking into account all costs, can only save Daenerys Entertainment less than US$200 million in expenses each year. However, the fundamental purpose of Simon's insistence on layoffs is not to save money, but to maintain the continued efficient operation of Daenerys Entertainment.
The big company diseases of many corporate giants start from bloated personnel.
If Daenerys Entertainment wants to maintain its rapid development momentum for as long as possible, it must keep its employees with a sense of crisis at all times.
No matter how good the company is, if you don't work hard, you will still lose your job.
Therefore, it did not pay too much attention to the doubts from the outside world. After the layoff list was drawn up, Daenerys Entertainment began to implement it quickly, and all 800 employees were fired in the following week.
Some unwilling employees also tried to organize and launch a class action lawsuit, and Daenerys Entertainment was naturally not afraid of this.
The layoff process is strictly carried out in accordance with the provisions of US labor laws. It may be morally lacking, but there is no legal overstep.
Of course, allowing these people to initiate lawsuits will definitely damage the reputation of Daenerys Entertainment.
So word quickly spread in Hollywood.
If these employees who have resigned from Daenerys Entertainment continue to cause trouble, the doors of all Hollywood studios will be tightly closed to them.
To put it more bluntly, people who are restless will not be able to survive in Hollywood in the future.
With the current influence of Daenerys Entertainment, many people will not doubt that this company has this kind of strength.
You know, even big names like Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise have suffered career losses due to Daenerys Entertainment’s targeting, let alone small fish and shrimps like them.
Moreover, even if you really don’t plan to work in Hollywood, everyone still has to live. However, probably no boss would like an employee who remains entangled with his employer after being fired.
What's more, Daenerys Entertainment did not violate any rules.
If you force a lawsuit, the outcome is hard to predict.
As a result, the so-called class action lawsuit quickly died.
Completing another round of layoffs, Daenerys Entertainment subsequently announced a salary increase.
The employees who were merged from MCA into Daenerys Entertainment last year originally maintained their relatively low salary levels during their time at MCA. In this salary increase plan, the salaries of most employees from MCA have been raised to the same level as those of Daenerys Entertainment. The entertainment staff are of a very high standard.
Careful media calculations revealed that such a salary increase would basically completely offset the labor costs saved by Daenerys Entertainment’s just-completed layoffs.
The announcement of the news has also greatly reduced the negative impact of the layoff plan.
This world has never lacked discerning people.
The layoffs were followed by salary increases, making many people understand that Daenerys Entertainment's layoffs were not for the pursuit of profits, but more likely for the development of the company itself.
After salary adjustments, Daenerys Entertainment as a whole is still the company with the highest average salary in Hollywood.
This has also largely made Daenerys Entertainment employees appreciate their jobs more, thereby increasing the vitality of the entire company.
Time enters February 1992.
In the last box office week of January, the total North American box office of "The Flash", which has been in theaters for exactly six weeks, officially exceeded US$200 million, reaching US$211.81 million.
At the same time, from January 23 to January 30, the single-week box office of "The Flash" still reached US$10.77 million. Based on the long-term box office trend of this movie, it will not be a problem to earn another US$40 million in the future. "The Flash" can definitely exceed the total box office of US$250 million in North America.
"The Flash" was a box office success, and the execution of the DC Cinematic Universe plan has become smoother.
The post-production of "Wonder Woman" scheduled for this summer is nearing completion, and the preliminary preparations for projects such as "Superman", "Cyborg" and "The Dark Knight Rises" are continuing to advance.
When Simon returned to Los Angeles from Sundance, Warner Bros. began asking about a sequel to "The Flash."
The copyright of "The Flash" is completely held by Warner, and even if Simon is left aside, Warner can develop the second part according to its own vision.
However, the first film of "The Flash" has achieved such outstanding results. Such a good situation cannot be easily destroyed by the entire Time Warner team, even those who are in tit-for-tat with Steve Ross.
Therefore, the actual control of this series is in the hands of Simon, a powerful producer.
Because in addition to "The Dark Knight" and "The Flash" last year, Warner Bros. also released box office hit projects such as "Robin Hood" and "The Fugitive". Warner originally wanted Simon to lengthen the production cycle of DC movie universe projects. The resentment is also much smaller.
Malibu, Daenerys Studios.
The time is February 5th.
Disney CEO Michael Eisner rushed to the administrative area from the northern entrance of the studio and learned that Simon was at the Daenerys special effects company on the second floor of the studio, so he was brought here again.
The appointed time was four o'clock in the afternoon, and it was just the right time now.
Simon had just spent two hours checking the post-production progress of "Wonder Woman" and was in the model special effects department of Daenerys Special Effects.
Although CG is a major trend in Hollywood special effects, the demand for model special effects will decrease significantly in the future, but it will never disappear.
The model special effects department of Daenerys Special Effects is not only producing monster models as ordinary people imagine, but also superhero vehicles in the "Batman" series, large dinosaur props in the "Jurassic Park" that just started filming, and large-scale movies. The props required for scenes such as speeding cars and explosions are all handled by the model special effects department.
During a break from meeting with Eisner, Simon wanted to see Poison Ivy's look.
In the last "Batman: The Dark Knight", the two villains are the Joker and Poison Ivy.
According to the plot setting that has been basically completed, the Joker will also shine in this final chapter of the opening trilogy of "Batman", but for Simon, he is actually looking forward to Poison Ivy's performance.
The actor who will play Poison Ivy has also been confirmed.
Simon gave the role to Nicole Kidman.
There is a small coincidence in this.
In the original timeline, the role of Mia in "Pulp Fiction" was played by Uma Thurman, who later starred as Poison Ivy in 1997's "Batman and Robin."
Now, Nicole has landed the role of Mia in the new version of Pulp Fiction, and at the same time, she has also been selected by Simon to play Poison Ivy.
Of course Simon did not deliberately create this coincidence, but compared to several other actresses of the same age, Nicole is indeed very suitable for this role in terms of acting skills, fame and even body and temperament.
In comparison, Simon feels that Poison Ivy, played by Uma Thurman, can no longer be described as bad, it is a complete nonsense. Just that green tights that looked very cheap made people completely lose their illusions about Poison Ivy.
Poison Ivy was supposed to be green, not just a green leotard.
Simon's original setting was to refer to the setting of Poison Ivy in the game version of "Batman: Arkham Knight."
However, after testing, it was clear that the shirt with only one button on was not suitable for actual shooting.
After repeated adjustments by the stylist, the long sleeves and hem of the 'shirt' were cut off. After trying again, the modified 'shirt' turned into a more textured dark red leather 'jacket'. Of course, it was still short-sleeved. The hem length also just reaches under the breasts, somewhat similar to a women's sports vest.
I actually considered using plant wraps.
This is also more in line with many comic settings of Poison Ivy, but it is really difficult for Simon to accept the false feeling brought by plastic plants.
If it were many years later, it would be possible for the actors to put on motion capture suits and directly put a layer of 'real plants' on their bodies through CG. Although the current technology can do this, the effect is not very good and the cost is too high. high.
Hence the final choice of a sexy burgundy half jacket.
Poison Ivy's briefs were also changed to more conservative hot pants based on the game version.
This is also done out of actual shooting considerations. Once the character modeling in the game is completed, it will definitely not be 'exposed', which is not necessarily the case in reality.
Moreover, the actual effect of briefs is not as good as hot pants.
The most critical aspect of Poison Ivy's skin is that Simon will of course not let the character wear a cheap green tights like Uma Thurman, but will actually paint the skin green.
This is also the most complicated part of Poison Ivy's image design.
Just a simple coat of green will definitely look fake.
What Simon hopes is a very natural green, a feeling that after the audience sees it, they instinctively think that this person should be green.
Therefore, Poison Ivy's skin makeup needs to show a natural chlorophyll texture, even the details of natural skin texture and blemishes.
All in all, it gives people a sense of reality.
In order to achieve the effect Simon wanted, Daenerys special effects mobilized a team of special effects artists and makeup artists to be responsible for this. After several months of repeated attempts, they recently came up with a makeup that gradually satisfied Simon. Effect.
When Michael Eisner entered the office area of the model special effects department, his eyes were immediately attracted by several "Poison Ivy" girls with hot and slender figures.
If he didn't understand where he was, he would even think that he might have seen another race.
This is the final effect created by Daenerys' special effects team for Poison Ivy.
Nicole Kidman certainly didn't have time to follow up on the styling design herself, so the "Poison Ivy" characters were all stand-ins hired by Daenerys for special effects.
Deep down, he was a little dissatisfied with Simon's multitasking during the meeting with him, but Eisner didn't show it.
Followed the comments enthusiastically. At the same time, as a filmmaker, Michael Eisner couldn't help but envy the technical level of Daenerys' special effects. After a while, he sent away several people who spent four hours doing makeup only to be After a certain man glanced at the girl for a few times, Simon and Eisner got down to business.
It was about the side-film deal Simon originally signed with Disney for the release of When Harry and Sally.
Seeing that Simon's status in Hollywood is getting higher and higher, it has been rumored more than once that Simon may no longer direct films himself.
Disney doesn't plan to wait any longer.
After several communications in advance, Disney hopes that this film can be replaced with a cooperative project with Daenerys Entertainment.
Simon will definitely not direct another film himself in the short term, so he did not reject Disney's suggestions.
Moreover, as the original ten movie plans are gradually completed, Daenerys Entertainment also needs to continue to develop some external cooperation projects to ensure close ties with other Hollywood studios, so Simon made an appointment with Eisner today Talk.