Firefly announced the "True Lies" project as early as last year during the acquisition of Disney, and the media has been paying attention to the progress of this matter, and as the preparations for the "True Lies" project began, the media also paid attention to this The actor who has been vacant in the project, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Nicolas Cage and other Hollywood stars have once become the rumored actor candidates. However, many people in the circle know that the actor that Firefly is looking for It was Arnold Schwarzenegger, and of course Arnold Schwarzenegger knew about it. And at the beginning of the year, both sides had brief contact.
At that time, Arnold Schwarzenegger was worth 15 million U.S. dollars, and the other party had no intention of giving in at all, and then the two parties temporarily dragged it down. Schwarzenegger was not in a hurry, because the box office of his previous films was all the same. Yes, Arnold didn't consider that "The Last Action Hero" would suffer in Waterloo. However, the other party obviously knew the gold content of the movie Eric personally selected, so he never refused. It seemed that he was just waiting for Firefly to take the initiative to compromise. After all , Firefly compromised once during the box office negotiation process of "Terminator 2".
Arnold is not in a hurry, and Firefly is certainly not in a hurry. No one knows the box office prospects of the movie "The Last Action Hero" better than Eric.
Now -, in the box office of the first week of "The Last Action Hero", Eric can hardly even imagine Schwarzenegger's current mood.
Just as he was about to send an email back to the production department of Firefly, asking the other party to wait another week before restarting the salary negotiations with Arnold, the phone in the room rang.
Eric picked up the phone, and a familiar voice came from the microphone: "Hi, Eric, this is Jim."
Eric replied with a smile at the corner of his mouth, and he could almost guess Cameron's intention in making this call. The two sides chatted about "Jurassic Park". After talking for a while about "True Lies" that Cameron is preparing, Cameron talked about his intention of making this call: "Eric, you must know the box office of "The Last Action Hero", right?"
"Yeah, more than 16 million US dollars in the first weekend, this data is indeed a bit miserable, two consecutive blockbuster failures. I think the Germans will calm down for a year or two, and will not easily throw money into Hollywood. And Michael May, I guess Frank Macasso and John Carley haven't taken their seats, and they will probably be replaced by Credit Lyonnais, maybe MGM will enter the auction process again... "
Hearing that Eric was still going on, Cameron had to cough twice and interrupted Eric: "Eric, we can talk about these things when we have time, I mean. "True Lies "Actor, as you said at the beginning, you hope that Arnold can play the role."
Eric still had a smile on his lips, but his tone was full of embarrassment: "Jim, you were there when we chatted, you know I wasn't very optimistic about the project "The Last Action Hero", when Arnold's The salary is too high, so I want to wait for the movie to be released before negotiating the salary with Arnold. But I didn't expect a movie with an investment of more than 80 million U.S. dollars. The box office of the first weekend is only 16 million U.S. dollars. You know " Jurassic Park cost only $75 million to make. Following this trend, The Last Action Hero is estimated to end up around $50 million. If the movie was a minor flop, I wouldn't hold back too much. But Arnold fell too hard this time, under such circumstances, his next movie will definitely be looked down upon by Hollywood collectively. The risk is too great."
Cameron over there heard Eric finished, and immediately said: "Eric, stop talking nonsense with me, don't think I don't understand you, you guy must be smiling now. Arnold can't contact you, Just call me, the salary is 3 million dollars, whether you want to use it or not, don't think about cheating on my favor."
The salary of three million US dollars, compared to Arnold's previous net worth of 15 million, is completely a bargain at the price of cabbage. But if it was Eric's turn to do this kind of thing, he would probably do the same. Hollywood is very cruel. The total cost of production and distribution of "The Last Action Hero" exceeded 100 million US dollars. With the current situation, it is estimated that all parties involved in investment and distribution can only recover about 50 million US dollars of investment. Although there is no "Cutthroat Island" was so tragic two years ago, but this level of loss is enough to drive a Hollywood superstar into dust. In the original time and space, Kevin Costner suffered a setback because of that "Future Water World". Hollywood's popular box office superstar has been declining all the way, and in the end he can only be reduced to playing the role of Superman's dad.
Therefore, for the current Arnold, it is very cost-effective to come to a big bargain at the price of cabbage and have the opportunity to turn around and squeeze into the ranks of first-line superstars again. If you don't seize this opportunity, it is estimated that in the next one or two years, no one will ask him to act in a movie again.
Eric was thinking about it, when Cameron’s urging voice rang again on the phone, Eric had no choice but to say: “Yes, of course I used it, Jim, this time it’s just for your sake, three million That's three million..."
"No, I'm just a messenger, you don't have to look at my face."
"Uh, okay, Jim, but you know, fireflies are my personal property, unlike the rich German consortium, who spend an extra ten or twenty million is like pulling out hair, so you take it easy this time. "
Cameron immediately laughed heartily: "Of course it's okay, Eric, you don't know me yet, I will spend every penny on movies."
Eric slandered for a while, because he knew too well.
The two unscrupulous and black-bellied guys fought each other unrelentingly before hanging up the phone.
Eric was about to go back to his desk to continue reading emails when the phone he had just put down rang again.
Although it was already night in London, it was still working in the afternoon in Los Angeles. Eric was also surprised and picked up the phone again. This time it was Stan Winston who called, with anxiety in his tone. Eric listened to Stan Winston's words, frowned and thought for a while, and said, "Stan, please send me a copy of the information, and I will take a look first, if necessary. I will Hurry back as soon as possible."
Something was said over there before Eric hung up the phone.
The phone didn't ring again this time, and half an hour later, Eric received an email from the digital realm.
After opening it for a while, Eric frowned tightly again.
There is another wave of job losses in the digital space.
The last time was when "Tornado" was released last year, because I saw the huge box office prospects of special effects movies. Several major Hollywood film companies have begun to increase investment in special effects for movies, and have established their own special effects departments. At the same time, due to market demand, many small special effects companies have emerged in Hollywood, or it is more appropriate to call them special effects studios. Some.
However, because Hollywood still somewhat underestimated the commercial prospects of special effects films last year, it did not spend too much to poach corners in the digital field, and the digital field was not greatly affected. But this year is different. The record-breaking box office of "Jurassic Park" in the first week has greatly stimulated several other major Hollywood film companies. In order to be able to catch up with this development trend, the poaching efforts in the digital field this time can only be described as regardless of the cost. Not only the computer special effects artists in the digital field, but also the software research team led by Ed Kamal has been greatly affected. It had a big impact. In the week since Eric left Los Angeles, the digital field received more than 120 resignation applications. At first, Stan Winston thought it was a replay of last year's situation. I didn't take it too seriously, and dealt with it completely according to last year's handling experience. However, more and more resignation applications have been received in the past two days, and Stan Winston can no longer calm down.
After reading the letter, Eric calmed down a little from his anxious mood. He first called his assistant to help him arrange the plane for tomorrow morning, and then silently thought about how to deal with this crisis.
Obviously, as the proportion of special effects movies in Hollywood movies is getting higher and higher. It is conceivable that with the scale of the digital field, even if it is doubled, it is impossible to contract all the film special effects projects of Firefly, let alone Hollywood's broader special effects film market. Since the expansion of the special effects industry cannot be stopped, we can only choose the most beneficial solution for ourselves.
And this kind of plan was considered in the process of establishing the digital field at the beginning, but he just didn't expect that the implementation time of the original plan was more than three years earlier than he originally expected.
Thinking over the details of these things over and over in his mind, the whole night passed unknowingly, and when Eric realized it, the window was already lit up.
Looking at the time, it was only after five o'clock in the morning.
Anyway, there was enough rest time on the plane, so Eric had no intention of catching up on sleep. After washing up, he walked out of the hotel room and went to the restaurant to have breakfast alone, because the plane would not leave until 8 o'clock in London time, and there was nothing to do for the time being. , Eric opened today's newspaper.
"A young Hollywood tycoon falls in love with the daughter of a British aristocrat, and the two sides tour the Thames intimately."
On "News of the World", a clear photo was published on the headlines of the front page. The photo was taken yesterday afternoon when Eric was holding an umbrella for Caroline, and the paparazzi captured it quite skillfully. It happened to be two people looking at each other. moment. Eric could vaguely recall that at that time, Caroline should be thanking herself, but the newspaper characterized this situation as two people looking at each other affectionately.
Smiling helplessly, Eric suddenly remembered that "News of the World" is also a newspaper under the News Corporation, and it was also the fuse of the famous "tapping door" in the original time and space.
Putting this matter aside, Eric suddenly remembered that he had made an appointment with Caroline to continue to visit London today, but now he definitely can't continue. Eric originally wanted to ask the branch staff to explain to the girl afterwards, but there was nothing to do right now, and since Caroline lived not too far from here, Eric decided to go there in person trip.
The lobby manager of the hotel was invited to ask for a car, and Eric directed the driver to drive to Caroline's residence.
A few minutes later, the car stopped at the door of the apartment of Caroline's crew. As soon as Eric got out of the car, he felt spotlights flashing nearby. Surprised to look over, only to find that there are also paparazzi guarding here.
Eric was about to walk into the apartment without paying attention, only to realize that he didn't know which floor Caroline lived on. Looking at the paparazzi not far away, Eric thought about it and walked over.
When the paparazzi saw Eric walking towards him, he didn't feel panicked at all, and greeted Eric with a smile.
"Mr. Williams, did you come to pick up Miss Wilson in person so early?"
Eric didn't answer, but asked, "Which newspaper are you from?"
"News of the World," the paparazzi added without hiding anything, "but if there is any breaking news, of course it will be whoever bids the most to sell it to."
Eric smiled and asked, "Then do you know which room Caroline lives in?"
"Room 203 on the second floor," the paparazzi blurted out without hesitation.
Eric thanked him, turned around and walked towards the apartment again. The moment Eric entered the door, he heard a few slight clicks again.
Because it was still early, Eric went up to the second floor along some old stairs, but Eric didn't meet anyone.
Arriving at the door of 203, Eric knocked on the door lightly, but there was no response. After several knocks, a lazy female voice sounded: "It's only seven o'clock, who is it?"
Eric was a little surprised when he heard that the girl's voice was not Caroline, but he still said, "Hi, miss, I'm Eric Williams, I have something to ask Miss Wilson, can you open the door?"
There was a slightly surprised whisper, and Eric guessed that the other party was watching him through the cat's eyes, and he didn't dodge.
Immediately the door was pulled open.
A girl in light blue pajamas appeared in front of him.
Eric saw the girl's appearance clearly, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.
The world is so small.
"You... hello, Mr. Williams, please come in," the girl didn't notice the surprise on Eric's face, but let him into the room in a panic, and said, "Mr. Williams, Sit down, I'll wake Caroline up, she, she hasn't woken up yet."
"Thank you," Eric nodded, and sat down on the sofa: "So, I don't know your name yet?"
"I, my name is Rachel Weisz, Mr. Williams, you can call me Rachel."
Eric smiled and looked at the flustered look of the girl, nodded and said, "Hello, Rachel, you can also call me Eric."
"Well, of course, yes," Rachael said, smiling at Eric, and went straight into the other room. (To be continued..)