Having a rare free time without having to spend their own money, Rachel Weisz and Kate Beckinsale planned to spend a week in Seattle. Unfortunately, they were urgently recalled by their respective agencies after three days.
Opportunities fall from the sky.
Rachel returned to Los Angeles, and her agent Todd Winterbottom, who was so excited that he almost lost his temper, handed two scripts to her.
Both are blockbuster projects that are coveted by many Hollywood actresses of the right age: Daenerys and Fox's special effects blockbuster "The Mummy" and James Cameron's new film "Titanic."
Happiness came so suddenly that Rachel couldn't help but feel a little unreal.
At the age of 15, he started to appear in some small roles in the British film and television industry. He is 25 years old this year and has been in this industry for 10 years. The more he learns about this industry, the more he understands how rare it is to get such an opportunity. There is nothing fair in this industry. Many young actors who work at the bottom may not even get a supporting role in such a blockbuster movie in their lifetime.
And she got two in the blink of an eye.
They are all heroines.
The Oscars ceremony, which is the end of the awards season, is coming soon. Hollywood stars, big and small, who have been busy for a year gather in Hollywood, so it is also the most active period for gossip in this circle.
The opportunity that many people were vying for suddenly fell to two unknown British actresses. This kind of news was difficult to conceal and spread quickly.
Rachel Weisz's agency CAA and Kate Beckinsale's agency WMA both responded immediately and equipped the two women with the top agencies, public relations and assistant teams. At this time, the first step is to What you need to be on guard against is some messy things that will ruin the opportunity you are about to get.
In order to pursue superiority, women secretly fight each other and do anything they can.
This is especially true for women in Hollywood.
In the days that followed, Rachel was surrounded by people from the company and began to work day and night. She spent a lot of time studying the scripts, getting an in-depth understanding of the relevant information of the two projects, meeting with Daenerys Entertainment’s senior executives, and meeting with two Communicating with the main creators of the project, conducting repeated rehearsals and auditions, participating in contract negotiations with agents, starting a diet and body shaping plan almost immediately, accepting a series of media interviews to expand exposure, and so on.
Due to her suddenly tight schedule, Rachel had to voluntarily give up her small role in Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci's new film "The Secret" because the film was scheduled to be shot in Italy in May, although her role was very small. Few, but when the time comes, there will be no way to go to Italy.
As the news spread, Rachel soon learned that Kate Beckinsale had been given the opportunity to play the female lead in "Charlie's Angels".
Although it is a movie with three female protagonists, in Rachel's opinion, the heroine in "Charlie's Angels" is still more valuable than "The Mummy" and "Titanic". After all, the entertainment industry is a male-dominated world, and men and women co-star. In this case, the male star will definitely get more viewers, and correspondingly, the heroine will often not have much room to play.
The heroine of Rachel has been finalized, and the three creative cores of "The Mummy" scheduled for next summer are basically in place.
The director is the original Stephen Sommers. This young director who graduated from the University of Southern California Film School is 33 years old. He successfully entered Hollywood six years ago with his well-received film debut. The most recent director was the live-action film adapted from Disney animation " After "The Jungle Book" was released on Christmas last year, the box office was also quite impressive.
The leading actor was confirmed to be Val Kilmer.
This Hollywood actor who rose to prominence with Cruise in "Top Gun" has not been very lucky in recent years. In fact, even if it is the later events that have not happened in Simon's memory, Val Kilmer is not included. An actor who is very lucky has no shortage of opportunities, but whether it is George Lucas's special effects blockbuster "The Gathering" or "Batman Forever" in Simon's memory, or many, many subsequent films, there is always no shortage of opportunities. This actor has never had a chance to become famous.
The failure of his career seemed to be reflected in the actor's appearance.
So later, Simon accidentally saw each other in the movie "The Snowman" adapted from a Swedish thriller novel. His appearance and figure were so out of shape that you couldn't recognize him without looking at the cast list.
Simon, the big butterfly, has changed the fate of many people, and Val Kilmer is another one.
If possible, Simon would prefer the original actor Brendan Fraser, but this actor is still only a 27-year-old young man.
Yes, the same age as Simon.
Simon has seen the demos of films that the other party has participated in. Compared to the mature temperament that Simon has accumulated over the past two generations, Brendan Fraser can still be described as beautiful and fresh. Most of the films he participated in are high school students, and his appearance is still very good. The kind that could easily arouse the covetousness of some Hollywood bosses with special sexual orientations. It doesn't match the image of the unshaven libertine in "The Mummy" a few years later, and his acting skills are also quite raw.
In comparison, Val Kilmer, who has enough qualifications as a celebrity, age, image, temperament and other aspects, is just right. Moreover, this Hollywood actor who has just regained a lot of popularity with last year's "The Wire" is also willing to sign. The trilogy has a long-term contract, and the two parties hit it off immediately.
In the past, because Hollywood is a producer responsibility system, related projects still require some big-name producers to take the helm.
Daenerys Entertainment has gradually changed this pattern.
Traditional Hollywood producers often have to control the production ideas and content direction of a project. The most typical one is Spielberg. On Daenerys’ side, Simon basically decides this personally, which is actually considered a status A detached executive producer, Simon rarely has a credit card.
Therefore, Daenerys Entertainment, the producer of a series of blockbusters, is mainly responsible for logistical work, helping the director and actors solve all aspects of the problems encountered during the filming process. The creative aspect is still controlled by Simon, the behind-the-scenes boss, and the director. .
After so many years, Daenerys Entertainment also has a very stable team of producers.
Just because the core of control is usually Simon himself, these people are not as famous as those gold medal producers such as Jerry Bruckheimer and Joe Silver who need to control the overall situation.
Of the three external cooperation projects, "The Mummy" is scheduled to be released earliest, and the production team is also established the fastest. The script has been basically finalized while casting, and planning for scenery and special effects has begun. The project is expected to start in June. In order to save costs as much as possible, Simon plans to shoot the main scenes in Morocco like the original version. Morocco is located in North Africa not far from the UK. This will also make it easier for the crew to travel back and forth to shoot some relevant scenes in the UK.
From Janet's birthday to the Oscar ceremony at the end of March, Eaglet continued to advance its IPO process, and the employee stock ownership plan reaching 25% of the total equity was executed very smoothly. Simon stayed in Los Angeles to handle Dan. A series of important projects for Nelis.
The Easter and summer films such as "Tokyo 3", "Jurassic Park 2" and "Apollo 13" have all been completed. They were in the pre-release marketing stage, and "Psycho" released in the second half to the end of the year Game", the 3D animated version of "Beauty and the Beast" and "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" are all still in production and require Simon's full attention.
What followed was a series of project preparation and production from 1996 to 1997.
Not just blockbusters like "Sleepy Hollow," "Mission: Impossible 2," "The Mummy," "Jumanji" and "Wonder Woman 2," but also new films from the "Conjuring Cinematic Universe" and "Rush Hour." ” series and last year’s huge hit Jim Carrey’s new movie are among the mid-scale but equally important projects.
Among them, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" is being filmed in Australia, and Simon also plans to go to Australia after the Oscars to follow up in person.
Also this month, a lot of things related to the Westeros system are happening.
Last year's midterm elections resolved many political obstacles to the Westeros system in Washington, and the advancement of a series of bills began to accelerate.
Following the lifting of the 'Media Consolidation Ban', in mid-March, the two houses of Congress and the White House once again successfully passed the Digital Copyright Act that had been blocked last year. The most important 'Safe Harbor Regulation' made the entire Internet no longer need to worry about it all the time. Encountered mass tort litigation.
Of course, it is inevitable that the announcement of this bill will also make piracy more popular on Internet platforms.
The other "Communications Decency Act" has also entered the final stage of review. As expected, it will be voted on in April. Unless there are major unforeseen changes, it will almost certainly be passed.
As for the "Telecommunications Act" that will affect the entire telecommunications industry, even if the Westeros system and other telecommunications industry giants are involved, the obstacles will still be considerable. After all, unlike the lifting of the "media integration ban", the new " The Telecommunications Act will be a complete loosening of the information industry.
Finally, there is a capital gains tax reform bill.
Both parties have a tacit understanding to pass this bill, but they have been delaying it because of the reaction of the media and the public.
After Clinton came to power, he formulated many tax increase policies such as the 'gasoline tax' targeting all people. Now that he has started to reduce taxes, it is still a capital gains tax that makes it difficult for the general public to directly enjoy the benefits. You can imagine how everyone will react. .
Fortunately, last year's midterm elections gave Clinton an excuse to pass the blame.
Now that both chambers of the House of Representatives are controlled by Republicans, the Democrats will have to bear much less pressure from public opinion if this bill is submitted and passed.
The White House can actually deny visas.
However, Mr. President is powerless to deal with this general trend, isn’t he
As expected, the capital gains tax reform bill will probably be voted on by Congress around May.
Coincidentally, Yigrit's listing followed.
In order to avoid looking too ugly and making it difficult for everyone, this IPO will still focus on additional issuances. However, Simon can quietly start to cash out other technology stocks. With his holding period of many technology stocks, he will be able to enjoy them by then. The minimum capital gains tax rate of 15% is much easier to accept than the current tax rate of 28%.
Daenerys Studios.
Linda Vargas, Simon's royal casting supervisor, waited patiently in the lounge for more than ten minutes before her boss's office door finally opened.
After sending the two screenwriters of "Jumanji" away, Simon motioned for Linda Vargas to come in.
Sitting down behind his desk and opening the latest version of the script for "Game of the Brave" that he had just discussed with the two screenwriters, Simon asked: "What was the result?"
Linda Vargas shook her head: "Schwarzenegger's agent still insists on only signing a single film contract."
The two were discussing the casting of Jumanji.
After finalizing the plot of the 2017 version in my memory, it is naturally impossible for the former male protagonist Dwayne Johnson to use the original version. Johnson's current situation is similar to that of Brendan Fraser, and he simply cannot support this role.
After much selection, Simon found that Arnold Schwarzenegger was more suitable for the role of Dr. Spencer in the film.
The 2017 version of "Jumanji" has many comedy elements. It just so happens that Arnold is the only super star among the current action male stars who has opened up his own comedy line.
For others, Stallone is more suitable for tragic roles, and the images of Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson and others do not match at all. Simon also considered second-tier Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme, and then found that these There's a reason why action men can only make B-level action movies. Arnold's acting skills are hard to praise, but Dolph Lundgren is even worse.
When contacted by Daenerys Entertainment, Schwarzenegger's feedback was actually very positive and he expressed his willingness to star in the film.
However, you can participate in the performance, and there is no need to negotiate a long-term contract.
After successive tepid projects such as "The Cannonball Guy" and "The Last Stand", Stallone has begun to go downhill. Relying on the success of "Terminator 2" and last year's "True Lies", Arnold still maintains his reputation. At the peak, I now have enough confidence to negotiate terms with Daenerys.
For series movies, especially blockbusters, Simon likes to use relatively cheap actors, but he never refuses suitable A-list celebrities.
Although it is positioned as a long-term series, Simon's idea has always been to make the first part as good as possible, and he must not let the first part become a non-embarrassing foreshadowing of the series. This will often only make the entire series unable to proceed.
Because of this consideration, Simon is very inclined to Schwarzenegger.
At the same time, Simon couldn't let the success of the first film prevent the sequel from proceeding because of the dispute over remuneration, or fall into the position of working for the star.
Trouble.
Seeing her boss banging on the table and thinking, Linda Vargas hesitated and said: "Boss, Bruce Willis contacted me yesterday. He is also very interested in this role and even filmed a performance sample in private. Do you want to take a look?"
When Simon heard Willis' name, he shook his head without thinking: "Willis is completely inappropriate for this role. He lacks the tough temperament I want, and he is too short."
Linda Vargas knows that Willis is 183cm tall, which is actually taller than Stallone who is 178cm tall.
However, just mentioning it was already a favor. I realized that there was no room for negotiation in my boss's tone, so I said no more.
Since the beginning of "Run Lola Run", Linda Vargas has been able to serve as Simon's royal casting manager for so many years, and now also enjoys the treatment of the vice president of Daenerys Group. Linda Vargas cherishes her job very much and He is cautious and knows very well that his young boss is not a person who can be easily influenced.
I just mentioned Willis, which is considered a favor. Her boss also knows that she is giving a favor and allows it. After all, Hollywood is a circle of favors. But if she insists on trying to persuade her boss to change his mind, this will touch her casting problem. Red lines that a person in charge should not touch.
The job of the casting staff is to select actors strictly according to the ideas of the project creators, and they should never have their own ideas.