Before leaving for Melisandre's party, Girl A had already sorted out the list of awards results for this year's Oscars.
With a total of 29 nominations, Daenerys Entertainment has won a total of 10 Oscars at this Oscar. Among them, "Schindler's List" was nominated for 7 out of 12, "The Lion King" was nominated for 2 out of 6, and the last one was "Schindler's List". "The Wedding Banquet" for best foreign language film.
In addition to films directly distributed by Daenerys Entertainment, related awards include Best Actor for "Philadelphia Story" creator Tom Hanks and Best Visual Effects for last summer's "Superman."
Taken together, Daenerys Entertainment took away half of the 24 awards in the non-honorary achievement categories of this year's Oscars that were directly related to movies. Among the four core awards of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress, only one Best Actress failed.
Arriving at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, the car was about to turn directly into the hotel parking lot when Simon noticed that there seemed to be some commotion at the entrance of the hotel.
The driver didn't let the driver stop. It wasn't until he entered Melisandre's party at the Sunset Tower Bar on the top floor of the hotel that Simon asked Angela Ahrendts who came up to him: "What's going on outside?"
Sofia Feisi did not come to the United States this time, and this year's party was hosted by Angela Ahrendts, who has been promoted to CEO of Gucci.
After hearing Simon's inquiry, Angela said: "Several media outlets under the Hearst Group are not satisfied with our sudden cancellation of their interview qualifications."
The media following Melisandre's party can be roughly divided into three levels. The first one can only take photos of celebrities on the street outside the hotel. These are basically just unpopular tabloids. The next higher level can enter the hotel and take photos on the official photo wall. To take photos and interact with the stars in front of the party, several important media under the Hearst Group were originally invited to this part; the highest level can conduct Oscar interviews with the stars at the party. There are only two cooperative media in this part, Westeros System ’s Igret portal and Vanity Fair magazine, a division of Condé Nast.
The media invitation list was originally agreed many days in advance.
Simon suddenly announced a war with the Hearst Group in the morning. The top management of the Hearst family must have received the news. However, their media probably did not expect to be immediately shut out of Melisandre's party and suddenly reduced to the treatment of a third-rate tabloid. Naturally Not happy with this.
Understanding the cause of the matter, Simon told Angela to go and deal with it personally so as not to spoil everyone's interest, so he took Catherine to join the party crowd.
Those who can be invited to Melisandre's party are basically top celebrities who have made a splash in the entertainment and fashion circles in recent years, and also include a small number of celebrities from the political and business circles.
Girl A had already made a list in advance and followed Simon to personally guide him to greet those in the crowd who needed to say hello.
In fact, many parties in the West are like this.
Although the theme of Melisandre's party is more relaxed, it cannot escape its social nature. Everyone gets to know each other while chatting and laughing. If there is an opportunity for cooperation during the chat, the next step of contact will be made.
Simon is not a hospitable person at heart, nor does he like to interact with others. However, since he is in his current position, he always has to do what needs to be done.
It's okay to do whatever he wants at all. No one can force him to do anything now.
However, if you really close your eyes and listen, it will be very detrimental to Simon's control of the Westeros system, and even quite dangerous, even if he ends up becoming a puppet, it is not impossible. Howard Hughes's bleak later life was largely due to his isolation from the world, which caused his personal life to be completely controlled by the people around him.
Catherine has been patiently accompanying Simon as a female companion, listening to the little man and Spielberg talking happily even though there is an obvious gap between them, listening to him eat a few tofu from Victoria's Secret Angels in a skillful and nonchalant tone, listening to him In a friendly tone of words to encourage the Backstreet Boys, who will release their first album this Friday, he unceremoniously rejected "Wonder Woman" actor Famke Janssen's offer to play the female lead in a pirate movie. request…
After knowing each other for so many years, it seems that except for that time when he got into a fight and passed out on the hospital bed, the little man was able to deal with everything with ease.
I really don’t know how he grew up to be what he is today.
"Yes, Roland, I have already read your script about aliens invading the earth. The title of "Days of Independence" is also very good. It can definitely be made into a blockbuster with more than 50 million US dollars. But it is a pity. You know, next summer there will be "Jurassic Park 2", and at the end of the year there will be Batman v Superman directed by you, so we'd better put this project in the summer of 1996."
Regarding the crossover set of the DC movie universe, Simon selected Roland Emmerich, who is good at multi-line narratives, after considering among the three core DC directors Jane de Bont, Roland Emmerich and Martin Campbell. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" will be directed at the end of next year. If the effect is good enough, Emmerich will also be in charge of the follow-up "Justice League".
"Stargate", written and produced by Roland Emmerich and co-produced with new director Michael Bay, has been completed. The film's effect is better than the version in Simon's memory, so it has been scheduled for May 13. This time It’s basically a summer time slot, and there’s still three weeks left before the mega-hit “The Dark Knight Rises” is released on June 3, which makes it even better than the Easter time slot originally considered.
Emmerich came up with the idea for "Days of Alone" while supervising the production of "Stargate". Because the two parties have always been happy to cooperate, Daenerys Entertainment directly bought the script as soon as the outline was released.
Emmerich also had no problem with Simon pushing the film back a year.
For next year's summer season, "Jurassic Park 2" has been locked in June, and a large-scale production "Apollo 13" has been finalized in July. If another blockbuster is included, it is likely to cause internal problems. consumption.
Moreover, Roland Emmerich has another idea: "Simon, after Batman Begins, I hope to direct this project myself."
Simon was a little surprised, then nodded quickly: "No problem, this project is your idea."
Originally, Simon wanted Michael Bay to try this project. However, Simon also understood why Roland Emmerich suddenly made such a request.
On the one hand, Emmerich probably wants to get rid of the constraints of the DC movie universe series and expand his career in Hollywood. On the other hand, he may also be wary of Michael Bay.
Because after Michael Bay completed "Stargate", he recently signed another super big project "Jurassic Park 2". Although Simon has not revealed the idea of letting Bang Bay direct "Day of the Alone" after "Jurassic Park 2", Emmerich guessed this on his own based on many signs.
After Spielberg decided to withdraw from the "Jurassic Park" series, the sequel has been quietly brewing. Not only the script, but also the complete storyboard script of the second part and the simple animation of many special effects shots have been completed. Sam Neill and Ray The two starring roles of Nee Russo are also ready-made, and the project can be started at any time.
Simon originally wanted Joe Johnston, the director of "Jurassic Park 3" in his memory, to direct the new version of the sequel. Johnston is also a very veteran filmmaker in Hollywood. He served as the special effects director of the "Star Wars" series back then. Very good at making special effects movies.
It's not just "Jurassic Park 3", "Game of the Brave" and the first "Captain America" that Simon remembers. Before that, Joe Johnston had already directed Disney's very popular "Honey," I made the kids smaller”.
However, because Johnston comes from the George Lucas family, and everyone knows that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are good friends, after Daenerys Entertainment extended the invitation, Johnston chose reject.
Joe Johnston was unwilling to join, and Simon also considered Martin Campbell, the director of the new "Wonder Woman" series.
Although the sequel to "Wonder Woman" was not immediately launched after the first part, Martin Campbell has no shortage of projects due to the success of the "Wonder Woman" series. Last year's "Speed", because the original director Jan de Bont wanted to shoot the third Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises", Simon transferred the project to Martin Campbell.
Then, Campbell recently signed a directing contract for this project with Paramount Pictures, which had already picked up Cutthroat Island.
No longer the husband-and-wife team of Renny Harlin and Geena Davis, and with Paramount, one of the seven major producers, involved, it’s hard to say what the prospects of the new “Cutthroat Island” will be.
Simon didn't stop Campbell from taking over the project.
Anyway, the contract for the "Wonder Woman" series has been signed, and as long as Daenerys Entertainment needs it, the other party must complete it.
Moreover, after the consecutive "Wonder Woman" and the upcoming "Speed" released this summer, if "Cutthroat Island" succeeds again, it can only be regarded as the icing on the cake for Martin Campbell. Once it fails, it can also make this film a success. The director felt more at ease returning to work at Daenerys Entertainment.
Therefore, for "Jurassic Park 2", Simon finally decided to use Michael Bay after watching the finished film of "Stargate".
This decision is seen by many as very risky.
Simon was not worried.
The biggest difficulty in the "Jurassic Park" series is the special effects. For the first two director choices, Simon also preferred directors with a resume of shooting special effects movies. However, for Daenerys Entertainment, if it really can't find a director who has shot special effects movies, this is not a problem.
Because the special effects team directly under Daenerys Entertainment is already very familiar with this series, not to mention the project's script, storyboards and even the animation effects of many sequel special effects shots have been completed, so it only needs to promote an outstanding one from Daenerys' special effects. The special effects director just needs to cooperate with Michael Bay.
Moreover, the most fundamental reason is that Simon has enough confidence in Michael Bay's directing ability.
The former Explosion Bay turned from MV director to Hollywood. Except for one "Escape from Clone Island" which failed for very complicated reasons, he never failed at all.
For studios, the number of movies available each year is limited.
For filmmakers, whether they are directors, actors or producers, Hollywood's film resources are also limited.
Roland Emmerich was obviously not satisfied with the success of last year's "Superman". He felt threatened by Michael Bay and instinctively started to fight for it.
To a large extent, Simon remembers that the types of films the two were good at did have many similarities.
On the other hand, allowing Roland Emmerich to direct "Days of Our Lives" himself will not affect the advancement of the DC movie universe.
According to the DC Cinematic Universe plan, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" will be released at the end of next year. This superhero masterpiece will bring about the epic "Death of Superman" event in the DC series. This means that there will be no sequels until Superman is resurrected in "Justice League".
Simon does not plan to start "Justice League" immediately. Instead, he plans to release three movies, "Wonder Woman 2", "The Flash 2" and "Suicide Squad 2" respectively, as preparations. Although they all seem to be personal superhero series, But these three sequels will see a greater crossover of superhero characters, with Catwoman, Cyborg and even a series of villains from the 'Suicide Squad' joining them, just like the second part of Marvel's 'Captain America' and Same as the third one.
As for "Cyborg", although the first one has a global box office of less than 600 million US dollars and is the lowest box office in the DC movie universe series, Warner still hopes to start the sequel as soon as possible, but it is suppressed by Simon just like the previous "Flash" series.
If the thoughts of some Warner executives are completely followed, the DC movie universe will not be enough to produce two movies a year, and other superheroes will inevitably join in. The end result will only quickly consume the audience's expectations for DC superhero movies.
Simon has always been very strong about this.
If Warner doesn't follow its plan, then everyone will break up, and then Daenerys Entertainment can happily start the Marvel Cinematic Universe series. The copyrights of the DC Big Three of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are all held by Simon, not to mention Daenerys Entertainment and the Marvel series as a super backup. Warner has basically not taken the initiative in this matter. .
After continuing to chat with Emmerich for a while, the two separated.
Hugh Grant, who rose to fame in Hollywood with "Four Weddings and a Funeral," came over with his girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley.
Simon smiled, shook hands with the two of them, and introduced Catherine next to him.
Catherine shook hands with the two of them politely, but she couldn't help but frown slightly when she heard that Elizabeth Hurley, who had a young and delicate face across from her, was more eager than her boyfriend to invite Simon to sit on the terrace outside the bar for a while.
Really!
This is the first few fairies tonight.
What's even more annoying is that the little man actually agreed.
She really wanted to find a reason to leave. Just now he actually said that if she didn't like socializing, she could go chat with acquaintances like Li An for a while, but she never did that.
Now.
Forget it, walking away now might make him lose face due to his obvious reaction to eating.
Men are very face-conscious.
What's more, subconsciously, she would never admit it, she didn't want the goblins at the party to succeed.
The four of them came to the terrace outside the top-floor bar. There were also guests here in twos and threes. There were no free seats. When Simon appeared, everyone stood up to greet him.
Simon chatted with everyone for a moment, and then he chose a sofa near the railing that a few guests had given up to sit down on. The tables and chairs were in a rectangular "Hui" layout, with a long table in the middle, one inside and one outside facing the railing. There are two couches for four people, with single sofas on both sides, which can seat ten people in total.
When he sat down, Simon took the initiative to choose the armrest on one side of the couch, and Catherine sat next to him.
Elizabeth Hurley, who had offered to come to the terrace, was not forgotten, and sat down next to Catherine, with Hugh Grant on the other side. In addition, the seats are full of young new generation movies such as Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, River Phoenix, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, and David Fincher. people.
Looking at the people around her, Elizabeth Hurley, who had originally expected to have more contact with Westeros, realized that the result this time would be like the party at the Sundance Film Festival at the end of January. At that time, many people, especially women, hoped to be favored by Westeros. However, because there were so many people, they basically didn't say a few words.
However, a girl from Canada named Mia Koschner was spotted that night. She recently signed a contract with WMA, and there were rumors that Westeros said that she might be more powerful than ICM in recent years. Winona Ryder is even more outstanding, and she is about to become famous.
Lucky girl!
Elizabeth Hurley's thoughts were floating expectantly. After Simon sat down, he already took the initiative to ask: "What are you talking about?"
Sandra sat directly opposite Simon and heard: "Moore was just talking about the supernatural events she encountered while filming "The Conjuring"."
Saying this, Sandra looked at Simon teasingly.
There are rumors that Simon Westeros is a psychic, which is very popular in Hollywood. Even Sandra asked Simon privately if he could see ghosts. Simon's answer was of course yes, otherwise How could she be so talented? Sandra's response was just a blank stare.
After securing the rights to paranormal investigators Warren and his wife last year, the "Conjuring" universe project was quietly launched.
Simon originally planned to make "The Haunting of the Morgue" as the first part of a series that can only be considered a spin-off. Now that the rights have been successfully secured, he still plans to start with "The Conjuring". The film has been completed at this time and is scheduled to be released on June 17th. The Dark Knight Rises begins two weeks later. Another spin-off series, "The Haunting of the Morgue," is scheduled to be released on October 28 as the main theme of this year's Halloween.
Among them, Simon personally confirmed Matthew Modine and Julianne Moore to play the Warrens in the mainline "The Conjuring" series.
Not to mention Julianne Moore.
The 35-year-old Matthew Modine has been tepid in Hollywood before. Many times, to the audience, he can only be regarded as the kind of actor who looks familiar but cannot name him. However, the actor actually won the Venice Best Actor in 1983 when he was just 22 years old with a Vietnam War-themed movie "Northern Lights". The situation was very similar to that of Valerie Golino, who played Catwoman.
It is worth mentioning that in history, Matthew Modine was also the leading actor in "Cutthroat Island".
It's a pity that this actor spent more than ten years after winning the Venice Best Film Award and finally got the leading role in a super blockbuster. No one expected that the film would fail so miserably, so he could still play an occasional role or two. Matthew Modine, the secondary protagonist, completely fell into decline after "Cutthroat Island" and never had any chance to turn around.
Matthew Modine and Julianne Moore have both signed on for five films in the series.
Now, after getting the leading role in "The Conjuring" series, he will inevitably miss "Cutthroat Island". Matthew Modine's situation has completely changed. In addition, the same is true for Julian Moore, who is 33 years old and is considered a late bloomer. One is a former Venice Best Actor, and the other has been honing his skills on Broadway for many years. Both of them have excellent acting skills. What they have been lacking is just opportunities.
Although it is difficult for the leading actor to become famous in horror movies, it is also very easy to transform into a horror movie.
Both of them were sitting here just now, but they got up and went elsewhere to make room for Simon and others.
There are often reports of supernatural incidents on many horror movie sets. Some may be real, but most are just publicity stunts. Everyone laughed and talked about the supernatural events on the set of "The Conjuring". Simon also did not shy away from being a psychic. He even made a cameo as a fortune teller, pretending to give Sandra a fortune, and the result was Sandra. They will inevitably encounter a 'bloody disaster' within the next month.
No one understood this relatively obscure dirty joke for a while, until Elizabeth Hurley burst out laughing next to Catherine. Everyone had an epiphany and laughed one after another. Sandra also laughed and rushed over to pinch Simon hard. .
After a moment of banter, Simon turned to David Fincher and asked the emerging director, who shot to fame last year with "Seven," about his next film plans.
"Seven", which was released on Halloween last year, relied on the quality of the film itself and Daenerys Entertainment's strong distribution through Internet channels, and the cumulative box office in North America reached US$135 million. The overseas distribution of the film is still continuing, but it has recently reached US$193 million. In the future, some overseas box office may also earn US$30 million to US$50 million.
It is expected that after overseas distribution is completed, the global box office of "Seven Deadly Sins" will reach approximately US$370 million.
With a production budget of US$30 million, a global box office of US$370 million, and a box office return rate of more than ten times, this alone propelled David Fincher to the ranks of Hollywood's first-tier directors.
However, David Fincher has never been a prolific director.
After "Seven Deadly Sins", this rising star in Hollywood has not yet decided on his next movie plan. Daenerys Entertainment also took the initiative to recommend several scripts, but Fincher did not take a fancy to them.
David Fincher listened to Simon's question and said: "I recently received a very good script. The idea came from a group puzzle game in the 1980s. It tells the story of a billionaire who lost interest in life because of his ups and downs. I received an invitation to a decrypted game, and from then on my life fell into reality and illusion, unable to extricate myself... "
Fincher briefly explained the plot of the story, and Simon remembered that this was another of his other works, "Mind Games," starring veteran Hollywood actor Michael Douglas. The production budget reached US$50 million, but it was not very successful at the box office.
Many scripts in Hollywood are often written over many years. Simon once paid great attention to this issue. The scripts he initially selected were only produced after he determined that they would not crash based on the information in his memory.
"Mind Games" was obviously another script that had been completed for many years, but it just didn't work out, so Simon didn't care.
It is not surprising that it fell into the hands of Fincher as it did before, because this involves the "very small" side of Hollywood. Many filmmakers often have their own fixed circles. In these circles, there will be no intersection, maybe They are always just parallel lines, and they can be met, even if they encounter Simon, a super giant butterfly, they will still meet.
David Fincher is another filmmaker on Daenerys Entertainment’s reserved list.
Even if "Psycho" doesn't do as well as expected at the box office, the director is definitely worth a long-term deal. Therefore, if the other party insists on filming the film, Simon will agree.
In any case, Daenerys Entertainment also needs some failed projects to 'dress up'. What's more, Fincher's films may not be successful at the box office, but their quality is absolutely excellent and they are often popular with movie fans on video tapes and other channels.
After Fincher finished the introduction, Simon said he could send the script to him for a look.
Party time flies by with non-stop socializing.
It was approaching eleven o'clock, and for many night owls, the nightlife in the City of Angels had just begun, but Simon planned to leave.
still have to work tomorrow.
Catherine left the party with Simon, got in the car and let Simon take her home as if nothing had happened.
Simon also calmly ordered the driver to go directly to the Dume Point Manor.
The woman glared in response.
Simon coaxed the little girl and said that his family had just raised a group of beautiful goldfish and that he could take Catherine back to see them.
Catherine looked like "You lied to a little girl" and finally returned to Dume Point Manor together.
Neither Simon nor his wife are pet lovers, so there must be no goldfish, and they must be in the sea under the cliffs of Cape Dume. Now that I have been deceived and returned home, there is no point in being angry, and no one will listen to me if I scream.