"20 million... remuneration?" The old man raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"That's right." Angela said with a smile.
If it is only estimated as an actress, even if she played Legolas in "The Lord of the Rings", she also played a lot of guardian angels in "The Matrix", and she also won the best Oscar again. For a supporting actress, $15 million is enough. But the problem is, if it is estimated from other identities - well-known director, outstanding singer, national idol and billionaire - even a salary of 50 million may not necessarily impress her.
So Angela is actually joking, isn't there a 20 million club in Hollywood? How about going in there? In a sense, though, she was rejecting Spielberg. Since the release of "The Lord of the Rings", film dealers have continued to come to her door, and she has had a lively fight in the last two films of "The Matrix", and now she is playing in "Star Wars Episode 2" released in the summer vacation. A lightsaber. Although most of the box office of these films are earned by their own word of mouth and charm, they cannot hide the appeal she played in them.
She is the most popular member of the Fellowship of the Ring, "Angela's bow posture is so handsome"; she is the guardian angel who is tossed over and over again, "She plays really well, but we want to know what that means" ; she's the unforgettable female Jedi Master, "It's definitely Lucas' best idea."
Even if these films only show half of her potential value as an actress, they are enough to make filmmakers want to fly to the flames even when they know that she has her own company and that she is also a great director. Invite her to play a role in the movie.
Of course, they also knew that it was impossible to impress her with money, so they carried out all kinds of lobbying through a lot of relationships. Angela was both annoyed and helpless about this. Those who acted as lobbyists and intermediaries were basically the high-level executives of various film companies, and they couldn't refuse it hard, so they simply took this opportunity to send an accurate signal to those producers.
"This is really a..." Spielberg made a few gestures, the eyes behind the lens squinted slightly and then suddenly let out a long breath: "Anything else to ask? Let me hear it together, Angie. ."
"There's nothing else." Angela shrugged, "Just this one request."
"Really?" The old man's eyebrows suddenly rose again.
"Really!" Angela nodded extremely seriously.
"Okay, when are you going to sign the contract?" Spielberg looked satisfied.
"If there is nothing else... Wait, what is a contract?" Angela looked at the old man in amazement.
"Since we have reached a preliminary agreement, the next step is to sign a film contract, isn't it?" Spielberg said with a smile, "I agree to your 20 million salary request."
"Um... ah... this... " Angela rolled her eyes, feeling a little out of breath. But before she could speak, the other party raised her finger and shook it: "Don't tell me, Miss Angel is going to go back on her word."
Speaking of this, the old man smiled meaningfully: "There are many ways to express your opinion, and you don't have to contact me - again, are you really not interested in this movie?"
Angela opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but then closed it again. Damn it, I should have asked for it long ago... It's too cunning to let him hear it.
How could he not be interested? First of all, the screenwriter is Andrew Nicole, an old acquaintance who wrote "The Truman World". In addition, he also played with Tom Hanks - the latter point alone is attractive enough. . Andrew has written a very interesting story this time, based on a true story of an exile who was stranded at Charles de Gaulle airport in France and could not leave.
The general content of the script is: When Victor, played by Hanks, stepped into JFK Airport in New York, a coup occurred in his home country, so his passport and other identification documents were all turned into waste paper. He can only stay in the airport and get nowhere, sleep on a chair in the hall, shower in the bathroom, and live by serving passengers passing by. This life continued for several months, and Victor also experienced American culture in its entirety in the limited space of the airport.
Yes, that's right, that's the script for that Happy Terminal. But what's interesting is that in Angela's memory, the heroine of the movie should be a flight attendant who is almost forty years old, but the script in her hand is a kind and optimistic young girl in her early twenties who has only been a flight attendant for a few months. .
"You know, Angie, when I was discussing with Andrew and a few other writers about adding a flight attendant to Victor who would guide him through American culture, I thought of you first," Spielberg continued. , "We will integrate the character you show into this role bit by bit, there is no one more suitable than you - you have tailor-made roles for many people, this time you might as well try someone else's measure for you How is your body made?"
"It sounds like I should be honored, shouldn't I?" Angela replied with a smile, knocking on the table casually, as if she was thinking about something. The old man didn't say much, just sips the black tea in the cup, waiting for the answer from the other side.
"Well, it looks like I can't refuse, but I have other requests." Angela suddenly turned her head and looked at Spielberg without blinking.
"I knew that the previous conditions would definitely not count." The old man said sarcastically, and then spread his hands: "Okay, what is it? The salary has risen to 20 million pounds?"
"No nudity, no passion scenes, no kiss scenes," Angela said bluntly.
"Sounds like you're going to play a lone heroine?" Spielberg raised his eyebrows and asked sarcastically.
"Listen to me, Steven," Angela shrugged, "If these two conditions are all right, let's talk about the most important one - leave the script with me, and I'll give it to you in a week."
"You want to... revise the script?" The old man looked surprised.
"Yes, and—I promise you will be satisfied." Angela put her hands on the table with her arms crossed, and she clearly told the other party that if she didn't agree to this condition, nothing would be discussed.
Spielberg thought for a long time without speaking, but finally he nodded: "Okay, then let me see what a great screenwriter who has been nominated for the best screenplay for ten consecutive years and won the best screenplay three times in a row can bring What a surprise for me."
"Then wait and see." Angela said with a long sigh in her heart, and then jokingly reminded: "By the way, 20 million yuan is not less than a cent."
Spielberg froze for a moment, then laughed.
Angela's decision seems random, but in fact it can be said to be well thought out. Although it was only a few minutes, many things went through my mind like a movie, so making this decision seemed like a natural thing.
As for revising the script within a week, it is not difficult. The animated version of "The Matrix" has basically been discussed. The film and animation departments have accepted her suggestion and will cooperate with different top Japanese animators. Angela Basically not involved in production except to provide ideas and appropriate advice.
So now there is only one job in the later stage of "Queen". As for the promotion of "Star Wars: The Prequel 2" and the invitations to various programs arising from it... Basically, it is still possible to refuse. Anyway, there was a small backdoor in the contract at the beginning. .
Soon the revised script was sent to Spielberg, and the surprised old man immediately called: "This is your revised script?! How could you join such a plot?"
"Is there a problem?" Angela on the other end of the phone asked lazily. "Does it destroy the overall plot or is it a bad portrayal of the characters? Or does it go against the main idea of the script?"
"Of course not. You concentrated the stories of those minor characters on one person to make the plot more compact, but..." Spielberg over there seemed to smile bitterly, "You have to know that you are a woman. main character."
"Yes, of course I know," Angela said casually, "or, you think, I'm only 23 years old now, and I can't act like a 39-year-old woman, right?"
There was silence over there for a long time, and the old man finally let out a long sigh: "You gave me a problem, Angie. It is true from common sense, but we all know common sense doesn't work for you."
"So, do you want to gamble, Steven?" Angela laughed.
"Frankly speaking, I really want to see how you play a 39-year-old mature woman, but..." Said that there was a sudden silence again, and a few minutes later the old man's energetic voice sounded: " Then take a gamble!"
"You won't regret it, Steven." Angela said and turned off the phone, then let out the same long breath.
In Spielberg's original script, Emilia was a kind and optimistic young girl who had just started working as a flight attendant. In a very accidental situation, she and Victor became friends and told each other their own stories. Spielberg wants to use such a role to guide the male protagonist, telling a crash course in American culture at the airport, and the relationship between Emilia and Victor is just pure friendship.
But Angela changed the script to the original one. Victor met a beautiful and sexy flight attendant, and then the two had a spark of love. Victor tries to find a job in order to have dinner with Emilia, but Emilia is confused because she has an unknown side.
I'm already looking forward to it... Angela looked at the phone in her hand, and her thoughts went back to the day when Spielberg came to find her in a trance, and many things flashed across her mind in just a few minutes.
At this moment, Jim's voice sounded: "Wow, it sounds like you are going to play a role that is older than your age?"
"Is there any problem?" Angela shrugged, "There are many people who play roles beyond their own age. Lindsay interprets the image of middle-aged women very well in "Hot Mom and Spice Girl" last year."
"No no no, Angie, it's different," Jim shook his head like a rattle, "I've seen that movie, because mother and daughter exchanged souls halfway through, so it made the audience have a contrast—before The image of the daughter and the image of the daughter after - such preconceived ideas will automatically give them extra points in their hearts. This is similar to the role of a child playing a mature image, because it is a child, so naturally there are bonus points. Unless your new The characters also have a strong front-to-back contrast like "Hot Mom and Spice Girl", otherwise everyone's requirements will be much more demanding."
Angela raised her eyebrows involuntarily and was about to say a few words when Jim suddenly smiled and showed his white teeth, looking at her eyes wide and round: "How is my analysis? I have been in Hollywood for the past two years. Not in vain."
Resisting the urge to hit him hard, Angela gave him an angry and funny look: "Let's talk about your work first, how's the editing going?"
"Okay, okay," Jim shrugged helplessly, and went back to his seat to adjust the edited scene, "I selected a 30-minute segment from the documentary according to your instructions, and edited it into four short segments. , you see if it is appropriate."
Angela looked at the screen, the frown and smile that Princess Diana showed was so familiar, everything seemed to have happened yesterday. She wiped her face, then patted Jim on the shoulder. "That's it."
As she said that, she turned around and walked out, and the inexplicable Jim hurriedly stopped her: "Wait, Angie, is this over?"
Angela turned around and thought for a while, then suddenly smiled and patted him again: "Good job."
"Hey, don't use such words to perfunctory me, don't you have any opinion?" Jim said with some dissatisfaction, "This is not your style, Angie."
"What do you want me to say, that you have a problem here?" Angela looked at him with some amusing, and then sighed after a while: "Remember what I said when I was preparing? I can't put my own opinions and feelings too much into the production, otherwise it will be very bad. The reason why I put you in charge of editing the required scenes of Princess Diana from the documentary is that I believe you can do it well , and also because the relationship between me and the princess is likely to affect my judgment. Do you understand now?"
Jim made several gestures, and finally spread out to both sides: "Got it."
Following him with his feet together, he held his head high and gave a standard military salute, and said with great vigour: "Guaranteed to complete the mission!"
In this regard, Angela smiled and rolled her eyes as always.
All in all, the post-production of "The Queen" went smoothly. Angela, who had no academic constraints, was not in charge of supporting roles or the theme song. Of course, it was a lot easier to make editing. Although the "Queen" she produced has made a lot of changes according to the actual situation compared to the film in her memory, she has already conceived many scenes in her head before, plus the editing she has practiced over the past few years. The ability makes the post-production efficiency of this film no worse than before.
It was only after mid-August that the speed had to be reduced a lot, because the filming of "Happy Terminal" began. Apparently, the old Spielberg was ready to start the game as soon as she promised to play the heroine.
Although I have learned a lot about all aspects, Angela was still a little shocked when she came to the studio. Spielberg's team moved the entire JFK airport to Los Angeles in a ratio of almost 1 to 1 - no way , After 9/11, major airports have improved their security levels, and it is of course impossible to shoot on the spot.
If it was just like that, it would be fine, at best it would make people sigh at his generosity. But in addition, Spielberg also invited those who opened stores in the JFK airport hall to open stores in this simulated airport. Before and after, there were almost 30 companies such as Burger King, Starbucks, American Express and so on. Came to this mock airport. Some businesses even transferred their own employees to do fake shows and really do business in a simulated airport. Even businesses that hire extras to act as shop assistants give these extras professional training so that they can act like real employees.
"Excellent, Steven, I have to admit, you guys are really brave." Angela said admiringly as she looked at the simulated airport built up, and then blinked narrowly, "Their advertising fees have already been recovered. A lot of cost, right?"
"Almost, just the big guy's rent." Spielberg shrugged, then pointed to the Boeing 747 parked outside. Before, the old man scolded him on the phone and asked if he could borrow Angela's private jet. Although she declined the request, he didn't expect the other party to get one.
As expected of Spielberg. Angela thought so in her heart as she greeted the other actors under the introduction of the old man, but while she was thinking so, others were also thinking the same.
"As expected of Steven, he was able to invite the well-known Miss Angel to be the heroine." Tom Hanks teased Spielberg while shaking hands with Angela.
"When did Mr. Good in Hollywood become so humorous?" Angela teased Hanks. Although she has only met each other in social situations for so many years, it did not prevent her from expressing her goodwill.
"Mr. Nice and humor don't seem to conflict, do they?" Spielberg interjected at this point.
The three of them laughed suddenly, and then the old man waved his hand: "Okay, let's officially start, don't make everyone wait too long."
Angela and Hanks both nodded, but while Hanks walked to the set, Angela sat in his chair and began to wait. Spielberg has spoken to her before, and her camera is generally set back. Angela understood this, she understood that the old man wanted her to have a good relationship with her, after all, this was a challenge.