Nicole put down the menu in her hand, was a little puzzled, and asked, "Who else wants to rush?"
"Julia is currently preparing a biographical film. According to the preparation progress, it will probably be filmed early next year and released at the end of next year," Eric explained without hiding anything, and looked at the script in his hand.
There are two words written on the cover of the script, "Moulin-Rouge", which translates to "Moulin Rouge" that people are familiar with later. Even those who have no interest in musicals at all, it's hard not to be impressed by Nicole's peerless beauty in this film.
Eric has naturally watched "Moulin Rouge". The film gave him the feeling that the plot is ordinary, even a bit clichéd, but the beauty of Nicole in the film is all sentient beings. In the 1990s, Nicole was not too famous even though she was Tom Cruise's wife. It is through "Moulin Rouge" that many people know that there is such a Hollywood actress named Nicole Kidman.
Hearing that it was Julia, Nicole had a slightly weird smile on her lips, and said, "Then I won't argue with her, haha. Actually, I haven't even thought about the Oscars yet, I'm just interested in this topic." I am more interested, and Pat also suggested that I try some new things. Moreover, the investor of this script has not yet been found, so I brought it to you. The screenwriter Baz Luman is an Australian, he went to Come to the set of "The Mummy 3" in Nevada this week to talk to me about the script, and I hope I can participate."
The Australian gang in Hollywood has always been relatively low-key, unlike the British gang. The actors generally have distinctive characteristics from personality to accent. However, this small circle is also quite clumsy.
However, the biggest supporter of the Hollywood Australia Gang should actually be Twentieth Century Fox under News Corporation. Many Australian directors and actors have made their mark through 20th Century Fox's films. The Baz Luhrmann that Nicole is talking about at this time is a typical example.
A few years ago, Baz Luhrmann's first work in Hollywood, "Romeo and Juliet", was produced by Twentieth Century Fox. This modern version of "Romeo and Juliet" used to have Xiao Li as the leading actor, but due to the advance of "Titanic", the leading actor was changed, but the box office of the film is still good.
Historically, Baz Luhmann has produced several consecutive films by 20th Century Fox, and has also had very frequent cooperation with Australian-born actors such as Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.
Eric opened the script and read two pages. Hearing Nicole's explanation, he asked: "Baz Luhrmann's last work "Romeo and Juliet" seems to be doing well at the box office. I happen to remember that the film was produced by Fox. .Why doesn’t Baz Luhrmann work with Fox this time?”
"I've been in touch with it, but because it's a musical, and it's an original musical that doesn't have the foundation of Broadway popularity, so Fox isn't very interested. A musical that sells well at the box office in Hollywood, um... I can only think of 1978's "The Hot Prodigal Son", which was twenty years ago." Nicole tilted her head slightly and thought for a while, then added: "Besides, Baz Luhrmann needs an investment of 60 million US dollars , which should be why Fox is unwilling to accept this project. $60 million is already a big-budget project, but this movie doesn’t have the box office potential of a big-budget film.”
Eric remembers that the logo at the beginning of "Moulin Rouge" used to be Fox's logo, but now, Fox's film production department is in charge of Elizabeth, and many things have changed.
After thinking about it for a while, although he already had a conclusion in his heart, Eric could not nod immediately at this time, but said: "Then I will read the script first, and if I think it is good, I will talk to Liz and continue to let Fox invest. I don’t want to be complained by her about always grabbing projects from Fox. If it doesn’t work, you can only let Baz Luhrmann to attract investment, but as long as you nod to join, I think Baz Luhrmann will find investment Fang is very likely."
Many Hollywood projects start with a cast of leading actors before attracting investment. If they can get the participation contracts of first-line superstars, producers can easily lobby film companies to invest, or directly raise production funds through pre-sale distribution rights.
With a world-best-selling "Mummy" series, coupled with the box office record of those previous films, Nicole can definitely be regarded as the most popular actress in Hollywood, even better than Julia. She nodded her head to express her interest in the project, there are definitely a lot of film companies that Hollywood is willing to invest in.
Nicole nodded when she heard the words: "Okay, but this script is actually not that good. What I appreciate more is the shooting concept described by Baz Luhrmann. The story unfolds, so you better find the time to talk to Baz Luhrmann in person."
Eric smiled and said, "Since you like this story so much, I'll just agree to it."
"Okay, if you dare to promise, I dare to nod, and I will give you a 10% discount on the salary," Nicole raised her mouth, looked at Eric with bright eyes, and said, "However, in this case, you'd better not let Fox I’m investing, and I don’t want Liz to be a villain in private and stab me in case I lose money.”
"Well, I don't want to either," Eric said jokingly with a scared expression. Seeing the waiter approaching with lunch, the two stopped talking for a while. After the other party put down the plate and left, Eric said solemnly: "Then after I finish the script, I will take time to chat with Orbaz Luman. How long do you plan to stay in Los Angeles?"
Nicole is currently filming "The Mummy 3" of Universal Pictures, and she also guest-starred in the spin-off "The Scorpion King" of the "Mummy" series. Eric thought that she left the group at this time, probably because it will be released next week "The Scorpion King" premiere. It's just that the release date of "The Scorpion King" is on the 17th, and there are still ten days until now. Even though the premiere ceremony was held a few days earlier, Nicole seems to be back a little early.
Nicole picked up the cutlery and cut the steak, took small bites, and said, "I only took two days off. I will shoot a print advertisement for an endorsement brand tomorrow, and I will return to Nevada the day after tomorrow."
Eric secretly overcame his psychological barrier, then picked up the knife and fork in front of him, and said, "I thought you came back for the premiere of "The Scorpion King"."
"Well, I have to come back next week. It's not like you don't know how much money the crew burns a day. How could I have been away for so long?" Nicole said, seeing Eric's slightly struggling expression, she smiled He raised his knife and fork, and joked: "Why don't you use mine, you've tried poison, look, I'm fine."
Eric smiled and cut the steak in front of him. He has been trying to reverse his increasingly serious tendency of cleanliness recently, and said at the same time: "Maybe it is a special poison. I have seen some martial arts movies in the East. There is a kind of poison called, um, fall in three steps, after you get up, take three steps, and then there will be no more.”
"Hehe, how could there be such a poison? It doesn't make sense at all?"
"I think it makes sense. It should be similar to blood toxoids, just like snake venom. After being poisoned, once the mood is agitated or struggling violently, the heartbeat and blood flow speed up, and the speed of toxin onset also becomes faster." Eric After saying this, he turned around and said, "Since you're only back for two days, you can stay with me in the studio in the afternoon. The suggestion you just made helped me solve a big problem, and maybe you can help me think of something better." Idea, let's go back to Malibu tonight."
"I can't do it this time," Nicole shook her head regretfully, and said, "I happen to have other things to do, so I won't be able to accompany you these two days."
Eric wondered: "Huh?"
"It's a friend. She came from RB and wants to develop in Hollywood. I will take her to see Pat in the afternoon and ask Pat to arrange an agent for her first. She is my best friend. If you are free these two days Time, of course I have to accompany her to get acquainted with Los Angeles."
Eric was even more curious: "Do you have friends of Asian descent?"
Nicole shook her head and said, "Not Asian, she is also Australian, but she has been working in RB for the past few years."
Eric was distracted by Nicole just now, but when she said this, Eric immediately realized that Nicole's best friend is Naomi Watts.
Calmly lowering his head and cutting the steak, Eric said casually: "Since she is your good girlfriend, let's bring her here to get to know her."
Nicole gave Eric a slight look, and said, "I'm afraid that if I bring it to you, she and I will not be best friends soon."
Eric looked innocent: "It's not good for you, the most basic trust between people."
Nicole said in a low tone: "The devil will believe you bastard, Jane has never said a word to me in these years."
Eric immediately made a gesture of surrender: "Okay, I'm guilty, but I've repented now."
Nicole rolled her eyes again and said, "I don't believe you will change your ways now."
The two were eating and chatting when Nicole's cell phone rang. Hearing Nicole's low-pitched voice screaming happily, Eric was 100% sure of the identity of a certain girl over there.
It's just that Nicole looked like she was guarding against someone from fire and theft, so Eric didn't dare to mention Naomi Watts anymore. When Nicole hung up the phone in a hurry, Eric changed the subject on his own initiative.
After eating lunch and sending Nicole away, Eric took the script of "Moulin Rouge" she left behind and returned to the studio of "Gravity", and began to discuss with Nicole Frank and the prop master who rushed over in the light box Set things up with safety rails.
Compared with Eric's methodical pace of life in Los Angeles, New York, the mood of many people these days is like a roller coaster.
At the end of June, under the pressure of the resignation of the entire management team, Firefly Investment Company gave up the plan to replace the CEO of AOL and redetermine the company's development direction. In the end, it even gave up the constraints on AOL completely. The three directors of AOL in the Firefly system All resigned.
Stimulated by a series of good news operated by Steve Case, after a brief shock, AOL’s share price began to climb again. As of the close of last Friday, AOL’s single share price had rushed to 281.01 US dollars, with a market value of more than 461. 100 million.
However, on Monday, at the small press conference held by ABC Group because of the resignation of ESPN TV CEO Steve Bernstein, Robert Iger publicly confirmed that Firefly Investing will be heavily paring AOL shares in the coming months.
The media and the market have been circulating rumors that Firefly Group will reduce its holdings of AOL stock by 10% at one time. At this time, it was confirmed by the core executives of the Firefly system, and Wall Street was suddenly in an uproar.
Anyone with a little common sense about stocks knows what kind of disastrous consequences a large-scale reduction of holdings by corporate shareholders like Firefly Investment will cause.
Under the panic of the market, the stock price of AOL, which was still rising at the opening of the market on Monday, plummeted again by 5.7% on the same day, and the stock price fell by 3.3% on the next day. The high of $41.9 billion fell to $41.9 billion, and more than $4 billion in wealth disappeared.
In order to boost market confidence, AOL used the funds raised by the management to continue absorbing the stocks sold in the market. At the same time, Steve Case decisively released AOL's financial report for the second quarter of 1998 ahead of schedule.
From April to June, in three months, AOL's second-quarter revenue reached US$922 million, with a single-quarter net profit of US$135 million. Although the quarterly net profit of US$135 million was not much, it was almost the same as the same period last year. increased by 70%. This kind of performance growth rate is rare in the entire United States.
At the same time, America Online predicts that according to the current growth rate, the company's annual net profit will reach 500 million US dollars, which is almost doubled compared with last year.
If AOL can maintain such a high growth rate continuously, it will take less than five years for AOL's P/E ratio to return to a normal level below 30.
On the other hand, the high-speed expansion trend shown by the Internet also proves that AOL has such growth potential.
After using the excellent quarterly earnings report to hype, America Online's stock price finally stopped the momentum of continuous sharp decline.
However, under the shadow of firefly investment's reduction of holdings, the market's attitude towards AOL stocks has also begun to become more cautious.
In Manhattan's World Trade Center, Morgan Stanley's president's office, another Friday came unknowingly, but John Mark didn't have any thoughts about weekend rest.
Since Eric mentioned the Russian ruble last week, he has been reading materials related to the Russian economy for the past few days. The more he understands, the more John Mark realizes the correctness of Eric's original point of view. Russia It is impossible for the ruble to escape the fate of plummeting.
Not to mention other things, but Russia's current foreign debt scale has reached more than 120 billion US dollars, and a very large part of it is short-term foreign debt of the nature of demolishing the east to pay for the west.
But on the other hand, Russia as a whole has only 13.6 billion US dollars of foreign exchange reserves used to resist foreign exchange financial risks and repay foreign debts due, which is almost only one-tenth of the scale of Russia's foreign debts.
It is entirely conceivable that once international currency speculators attack the Russian ruble, Russia has no way to fight back.
Flipping through the documents in his hand, John Mark's assistant knocked on the door, handed over a folder, and said, "Mr. Mark, this is the rough data analysis of the Nasdaq at the close of trading today, as well as the latest stock price information from AOL. .”