In my memory, Julia played the role of the little fairy in "Captain Hawk". Now that Julia has starred in three consecutive movies with a box office of more than 100 million yuan, she is far behind Nicole in terms of competitiveness.
Thinking of this, Eric realized that from yesterday to now, why Nicole always mentioned Julia's name intentionally or unintentionally, and the sudden disturbance yesterday afternoon must be due to the strong imbalance in his heart .
This time competing for the role of the little fairy, Nicole's biggest opponent must be Julia. Although Nicole's last movie just failed, the popularity she accumulated with "Sleepless in Seattle" is still there, and she is still in the a In this case, competing with other Hollywood actresses for the role of Little Fairy, Nicole still has a very high chance of winning.
But it's completely different when Julia joins. What does it mean for three consecutive movies to break through 100 million at the box office? Just look at Schwarzenegger, because the box office of two consecutive films exceeded 100 million, Schwarzenegger called out a sky-high salary of 15 million US dollars for "Terminator 2".
It can be said that Julia is now the most attractive box-office queen in Hollywood. If she is interested in any movie, for the sake of profit, let alone the seven big film companies with deep pockets, even those independent production companies, they will sell their iron. Willingly 4, scraped together a high salary to invite her to act.
In this case, unless Julia took the initiative to let go, other actresses would never even try to win the role she fancy.
Spielberg could tell from Eric's expression that Eric must have known who he was referring to just now. For a highly anticipated film project like "Captain Hawk", every move of the crew will attract strong attention. The news that Julia participated in the audition of the little fairy Ting Kebeier has also been dug out by the paparazzi.
Nicole, who had been sitting silently by the side, secretly looked at Eric's face. Seeing the man's expression of hesitation. Nicole's hand holding the tableware became slightly harder.
"Eric, Sony Pictures is very supportive of this project, and funding is not a problem at all. Moreover, the producers at Samsung also hope that Miss Roberts can play the role, so the question now is, if Kidman If Miss wants to get this role, unless someone can persuade Miss Roberts to withdraw voluntarily."
Say the last. Spielberg's expression was a little ambiguous. Julia was able to become a Hollywood superstar in just two years. Everyone knew that all of this was inseparable from the support of the young man in front of him. Julia's It can be seen that the three films are all from Firefly Pictures.
Although Julia's latest "Sleeping with the Enemy" seems to have nothing to do with Eric, and Robert Shea has spared no effort to brag about his achievements, but anyone in the circle with some intelligence will not think so. Therefore, the relationship between Eric and Julia is ready to be revealed, as for the specific relationship. Spielberg is not very concerned, the reason why he came here in person today. In fact, there is another purpose, so Spielberg quickly made it clear: "So, Eric, as long as you can persuade Miss Roberts to withdraw, I can directly give this role to Miss Kidman."
Eric glanced at Nicole, and quickly said: "I will go to say hello to Julia, as for this role, I will leave it to you, Steven, if you need my help in the future, please feel free to Speak."
"Actually, I just need your help with something today," Spielberg said, looking at Eric with a smile.
Eric was stunned for a moment, feeling like he had fallen into a pit, but he was still very happy to be able to return the favor immediately: "Why don't we talk after lunch?"
Spielberg nodded: "No problem."
After lunch, the two found a place to sit in front of the French windows facing the sea. Spielberg opened the satchel he had been carrying with him since he came here, and took out a bound script from it and pushed it in front of Eric. .
"Eric, this is the script of "Captain Hawke", you can read it first."
Eric pressed the script on the coffee table and rubbed the cover, and asked, "Steven, what are you?"
Spielberg leaned back on the sofa, looked at the sea outside the window next to him, with a tired look on his face, and after a while he said: "Eric, now the newspapers are saying that I have loved I am interested in the story of Peter Pan, and I have always wanted to make this story into a movie. This statement is not wrong. However, I am now in my forties. To be honest, I have no interest in this story. Before confirming this project, I have declined several times in a row, but this time Samsung Pictures CEO Mike McDavoy, who presided over this project, used to be my agent. He personally begged me to take this project. Had to take over."
"You don't have confidence in this script?" Eric asked to the point.
Spielberg did not deny it, and said in a low tone: "I feel that if the film is made according to the script in front of me, this project is likely to be a serious overdraft of my personal reputation."
Eric still didn't pick up the script in front of him, and asked again: "Then what can I do?"
"I watched your "Home Alone" series these days, especially the second one. This sequel perfectly combines many adult elements with the children's style of the film, and it is exactly what I like about the current movie. The film is very distressing, so I hope you can help to read the script. I know that with your value, a mere screenwriting fee is definitely not enough, so if you are willing to participate in the script revision, I can work with Samsung Communication allows you to participate in a part of the investment in the film."
What Spielberg said was very sincere, and Eric couldn't shirk anymore, so he picked up the script and read it.
Spielberg quietly drank the coffee that Nicole brought to the two, paying attention to Eric's expression from time to time. Although Eric didn't show it too obviously, Spielberg still noticed that Eric occasionally Frown on the little details.
The script is very long. If it is all shot, it will take two and a half hours. Eric has not seen this movie in his previous life. Just heard something about this movie.
Originally Eric thought. As a Spielberg movie. Even if the evaluation is not high, but no matter how bad it is, it should not be so bad. But at this time, the process of reading the script made Eric extremely entangled. Stop shooting.
But this project has now started, the two leading actors, Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman, have both signed contracts, and a large sum of money has been invested in the preliminary preparations. The movie is brimming with confidence. It's basically impossible to stop.
It took Eric nearly an hour to read the script of more than one hundred pages.
After putting down the script in his hand, Eric said to Spielberg: "Steven, you have much more experience in making movies than I do, and you yourself are aware of the problem with this script, right?"
Spielberg nodded: "Samsung hopes to make this movie a movie for all ages, just like "Alien et" back then, but this script, how to say..."
"From what I understand, this movie, if made, would not please both adults and teens."
Spielberg smiled bitterly: "That's true."
"Let's talk about 'ET', the reason why this movie will be a very successful all-ages movie. Because there is something in the movie that everyone is interested in, first of all. There is a lot of human appeal, but also the friendship between et and several young protagonists is also a strong attraction for teenagers, so this movie is a huge box office success."
As his most proud work so far, Spielberg listened to Eric's analysis and nodded from time to time with a smile on his face, obviously a little proud.
However, Eric quickly turned to the script in front of him: "But this "Captain Hawk" is obviously not like this. From the perspective of the script, the movie wants to express too many things. It is difficult to sort out the relationship between the characters in the movie. Although many people have heard of Peter Pan, I dare say that most people's understanding of Peter Pan is just "a man who doesn't want to grow up." As for the superficial understanding of "big kid", as for the stories in the original Peter Pan, such as the backstory between Hawke and the crocodile, Peter Pan and Hawke, or Peter Pan and the little fairy, Very few people will know."
Spielberg is obviously aware of something, but he always fails to grasp the main point. As a dyslexic patient who is very common in Westerners, Spielberg really has no talent for writing scripts. Up to now, he For the most successful films, none of the screenwriters are his own. Spielberg could turn a story into a good movie, but he didn't have the talent to turn an idea into a good screenplay.
"So, because most people don't know the specific story of the original Peter Pan, we don't need to add so many details from the original book into the script, which will only confuse the audience."
"Sure enough, I suddenly found that I had fallen into a misunderstanding," Spielberg said suddenly: "Because I heard my mother read the entire original work to me when I was young, I subconsciously felt that others should also know all the stories in the movie. So when I was writing the script with James, I always wanted to add these details to it, and it ended up bloating the story."
Eric smiled and said: "Yes, but this is only one of the problems. The other is that the positioning of this movie, even if it is a family movie, should have a focus, just like "Home Alone 2", although A lot of adult elements have been added, but the main positioning is still children. But from the scripts I have read, the positioning of this story is very confusing. For children, they obviously don’t like the lengthy foreshadowing in the first 30 minutes. Children are the most impatient, 30 minutes is enough for them to lose all interest in this movie, but for adults, the plot of Peter Pan and his friends in Neverland is definitely not pleasing."
"Maybe we should find an element that all audiences are very interested in, and connect the two plots together," Spielberg said suddenly excitedly.
The two glanced at each other, they glanced at the same time and did not participate in this discussion, and quietly sat on Nicole who was reading a magazine not far away: "Little fairy!"
"Yeah, I think the little fairy is like et in "Alien et", which is a very lovable character. As an elf with a few inches of stature, and a little beauty, this character will get both Loved by adults and children, but in the story, the role of the little fairy is not enough, and the appearance time is a bit late, I think it should appear within ten minutes."
Spielberg took the script and flipped through it for a while, and then said: "This is indeed a good idea, and I suddenly felt that the scene where the little fairy grows bigger and kisses Peter Pan should be deleted. It's too bad, there shouldn't be any emotional scenes between them, um... Maybe a little ambiguity can be added to cater to adult audiences, but there should be more friendship between them... "
After opening their minds, the two began to discuss enthusiastically. It was not until the sun went down that Eric sent Spielberg out of the villa.
"Eric, I really hope that you can participate in this movie. I can get at least 20% of the investment for you from Samsung. I hope you can consider it. I believe that according to our afternoon After the changes discussed, this film will have great potential," before getting into the car, Spielberg still did not give up his plan to persuade Eric to join the game.
After an afternoon of discussion, Eric also regained some confidence in the story, but he still had no intention of investing in it: "Steven, this is your project, I just provided a few revisions, and I have I have to be busy with my own movie."
Although Spielberg knew that Eric's words were just excuses, he couldn't force him: "If that's the case, then let's do it. By the way, please give me an accurate message as soon as possible about the candidate for the role of the little fairy." , so that I can arrange it for you, then, I will leave first, goodbye."
"I will, bye," Eric waved, watching Spielberg's car drift away.
"Eric, this should be a good opportunity, why are you unwilling to participate in the investment?" Nicole couldn't help asking after Spielberg left.
"Although the script has undergone some revisions, the story itself has flaws and there is not much profit margin," Eric shook his head and said, "Besides, Spielberg and the two leading actors did not get any salary this time, but Directly participate in the final profit sharing of the film, do you know how much they will get?"
"Huh?" Nicole looked at Eric and uttered a puzzled syllable.
Eric stretched out four fingers: "The three of them want to take the last 40% of the film's profits. This is not the kind of profit sharing given to investors outside of Hollywood, but the omni-channel profits of the film. In this case, the producer Basically, they don’t make much money, and Sony only earns a reputation in the end. Instead of participating in the investment, it’s better to use the money to make another movie.”
Nicole has also read the report on the expected profit of "Captain Hawk". It is said that this movie will earn 200 million in the future, and 40% of the profit is 80 million US dollars.
"Eric, if... I mean if I got the part, how much do you think Sony Pictures would pay me?"
"I did Spielberg a big favor today, and I rejected his proposal to invest in capital, so don't worry, he will definitely get you a very good contract, as he hinted when he just left."
Nicole quickly remembered Spielberg's inconspicuous 'I'll arrange for you' when he left, apparently referring to the role of the little fairy. Nicole was a little excited at first, but soon asked worriedly: "Then, Julia Roberts..."
Eric patted the girl on the back and said comfortingly, "I'll call Julia first tonight." (To be continued...)