After being reminded by the waiter, Eric stood up, but he saw not only Murdoch coming alone, but also Elizabeth who was holding his father's arm. The girl looked at him with a slight resentment, obviously Elizabeth also knew Eric chose this meeting place to embarrass his father.
After all, she is a woman who has had an intimate relationship with him, so Elizabeth's slightly angry expression made Eric a little embarrassed.
Since Eric survived this crisis, because of the "Friends" lawsuit and the production of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" and "X-Files", Murdoch has proposed to meet and negotiate with Eric more than once, Eric made a decision before agreeing, and rejected the suggestion to go to the Murdoch family estate, and did not invite Murdoch to his own Malibu Pointe estate, but chose the meeting place on Sunset Boulevard In this restaurant in the downtown area, not only that, but Eric also had someone notify the paparazzi.
As long as Murdoch's active contact with him is exposed, not only the media will think that Fox is actively bowing to Eric, but other major film companies will definitely have bad ideas about Fox and regard Fox as A traitor to the Big Seven corporations.
But Murdoch is obviously not a fuel-efficient lamp. Not only did he pull in his daughter who had an ambiguous relationship with him, but he also pretended to be old and frail and needed help. With exaggeration, Eric will definitely be portrayed as a young and unreasonable image of a small-bellied chicken who would let an old man come to the door to beg in person before he would give up.
Cursing helplessly in his heart, Eric really wanted to pick up a cup of coffee and pour it on Murdoch's head, which was too fake. The old guy is not yet sixty years old, okay? as a traverser. Eric clearly remembers Murdoch's energetic appearance in his eighties in his previous life.
Murdoch saw Eric's expression, with an unclear smile on the corner of his mouth, he came to Eric and stretched out his hand and said, "Hello, Eric, we meet again."
"Hello, Mr. Murdoch," Eric shook hands with Murdoch, and then looked at Elizabeth beside Murdoch. The girl gave him a blank stare, but she didn't mean to say hello to Eric.
"Liz, don't be so rude," Murdoch said, although he was very satisfied with Eric being deflated in front of his daughter, but on the surface he pretended to be a strict father.
Elizabeth turned her dissatisfied look on her father again. Although she had a lot of opinions on Eric's insistence on choosing the meeting place here, she didn't agree with her father's approach. The man with more hornet's nests went straight to the dining table and sat down. Pick up the menu and look through it on your own.
Murdoch and Eric looked at each other awkwardly at the same time.
"Mr. Murdoch, let's sit down too." Eric finally spoke first.
Murdoch nodded. After sitting down, the three of them ordered food separately. After a short silence, Murdoch took the initiative to find a topic: "Liz, how is the movie you are preparing?"
Elizabeth, who had lowered her head and folded the napkin in front of her, made up her mind not to speak, heard her father asking her directly, so she had to say in a low voice, "Everything is ready, and the shooting will start at the end of the month."
"Oh," Murdoch nodded, and said, "I heard that the heroine is that... Jodie Foster, she seems to have good acting skills. This movie must be very exciting."
Elizabeth looked up at Eric and said, "Yes, someone recommended me to let Jodie Foster play the leading role. After the audition, I thought it was pretty good, so I agreed."
When Murdoch saw his daughter glance at Eric, he didn't need to think about who the person who recommended the heroine was, and looked at Eric with a smile: "Eric, or this movie will be released by Firefly. "
Eric raised his eyebrows. Before he could say anything, Elizabeth gave her father a dissatisfied look: "Dad!"
Eric followed up and said, "Mr. Murdoch, it's nothing to do with the release of Firefly. It's just that our overseas channels are not perfect, and I'm afraid it will limit the box office performance of this movie."
Eric managed to tell the truth from the bottom of his heart, but Murdoch took Eric's words as a proof that he didn't like the movie. He knew that Firefly's distribution capacity was limited, so he thought that Eric didn't want to use the limited distribution resources. On a movie that I don't like very much, that's why I refused so 'tactfully'.
In fact, Murdoch himself has also read the script called "The Silence of the Lambs" produced by his daughter. After all, Elizabeth's investment in this film is nearly 20 million, except for Julia and Drew. Apart from a million dollars, Elizabeth 'borrowed' all other investments from his father. Although Murdoch has a strong desire for control, he is still in his 80s in parallel time and space, and he still refuses to hand over the power of News Corp. But in other respects, such as economics, she never treats her children badly. Elizabeth has found her life goal of being a film producer. He didn't think about making money at all, it was just to train his daughter's ability.
Moreover, although Murdoch doesn't know much about movies, he also knows that this script is a cut-type restricted-rated horror movie. This type of movie rarely gets a high box office, and it is difficult to get recognized by awards. . That's why he proposed to let Eric's Firefly release the film just now. As for the purpose, it is still the same as at the beginning. He wants to bring Eric and Elizabeth together. Eric has now passed the biggest crisis. In the future, as long as If he keeps going steadily, he will definitely achieve great success in the media industry. If such a man can become his daughter's husband, it will definitely be of great benefit to News Corp. After a quarrel, Murdoch also confirmed that his daughter has a good impression of Eric, and the degree is quite deep. Now that there is such a foundation, then of course, it takes a lot of contact before it can bear fruit, isn't it
Thinking of this, Murdoch said to Eric with a smile: "Eric, it's just a horror movie. Isn't New Line originally dedicated to releasing horror movies, so I believe that Firefly can handle it well. There is a real need for an overseas distribution, and Fox will definitely cooperate."
Murdoch was so 'kind', of course Eric couldn't refuse, and looked at Elizabeth in a blink of an eye, but saw the girl lowered her head angrily, folded a napkin in her hand, and then tore it into strands.
"Liz, what do you mean?" Eric asked tentatively.
The girl curled her lips and said, "You can figure it out."
"That's it," Murdoch said with a smile like a parent before Eric and Elizabeth said anything.
Seeing what Murdoch said, Elizabeth did not object, so Eric nodded.
At this time, the waiter in the restaurant began to serve the three people, and the conversation paused for a while. After the waiter opened the red wine and poured it for the three people, Murdoch picked up the goblet and took a sip. After a few compliments, he said to Eric nonchalantly: "Eric, were you born in 1970?"
Here comes the meat scene.
Eric thought so in his heart, followed by a look of reminiscence on the surface: "Yes, I was born in London, but I came to the United States when I was eight years old, and I have no memory of London."
"I should go back and have a look when I have time," Murdoch said with emotion: "I remember more than 30 years ago, when Liz's grandfather died of a heart attack, I had to give up my studies and rush back to take over family affairs. Not much older than you. At that time, the newspaper industry in Sydney was controlled by three big families. Seeing the success of the "Sunday Post" and "News" I ran, they came up with the idea of these two newspapers. After I rejected the acquisition invitation many times in a row, I began to use various methods. Within one year, the newspaper company I ran received almost as many accusations and lawsuits as the sum of the previous years. Moreover, I I even received death threats. But I did not give in, and it took me 20 years to not only develop my newspaper company into the largest media group in Sydney, but also acquire the company of my former enemy in turn.”
Although Murdoch saw Eric pretending to be nonchalant, he knew that Eric must be listening to himself, so he continued: "So, Eric, what you have experienced during this time, what will happen again?" It's normal. So, I think you still have to look forward and don't always worry about these things."
Eric smiled and raised his head: "Of course I'm looking forward, Mr. Murdoch, otherwise, we wouldn't be sitting here so peacefully today."
"Then," Murdoch said tentatively, "drop the lawsuit on "Friends" "Millionaire", it's the end of February now, and the whole team hasn't made any movement yet. Eric, I think you should hurry up. I think, from now, it will take a month to promote, and after the Oscars ceremony at the end of the month, It would be a very good time to launch this program.”
"I think so too," Eric swallowed the food in his mouth, wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin, and then stared at Murdoch and said, "However, Mr. Murdoch, you also said just now that you became an Australian newspaper After the group became number one, they bought your former enemy in turn... So, what should we do this time? For the five movies of Firefly at the end of the year, the combined box office losses will not be less than 100 million U.S. dollars because of this turmoil. Therefore, Firefly The loss is not less than 30 million, but I still don't know who my enemy is?" (To be continued..)