Kapoor glanced at it, and said: "It's like this, probably in 1985, Al Pacino starred in a big Warner production with an investment of nearly 30 million U.S. dollars, but it only got a box office of more than 300,000 U.S. dollars. Because of too much pressure, I chose to take a temporary hiatus. I heard that Al is looking for a comeback recently, so I added him to the list."
Thinking of the delicate and violent blind lieutenant colonel in "Scent of a Woman", Eric could not help asking: "Kapoor, what do we have? Is there any possibility of signing Al to UTA?"
Kapoor hesitated: "I can try my best. After all, Al Pacino is one of the four talented actors who rose up in the 1970s. Although the box office of the film in 1985 was a disastrous failure, Al's performance did not have any problems. He But he has been nominated four times for Best Actor Oscar. Now that he has signaled his comeback, I believe many agencies will scramble to win him over, and we have no advantage."
Eric knew that what Kapoor said was true, so he had to say: "No matter what, we have to try to get in touch. By the way, send the invitation to the male lead of "Pretty Woman" as soon as possible, if possible , I hope Al Pacino can play Edward."
"Okay," Kapoor replied, pointing to the list of actors selected by Eric: "So, Eric, do you still want to notify these people to audition?"
"No need for now, you can contact Al Pacino first. If the other party refuses, we will contact these people again."
In the next few days, Eric began non-stop auditioning for supporting roles, scouting for the movie, contacting the shooting location, and drawing the storyboard script until late at night every night.
At the same time, Eric also took the time to contact a boarding school for girls in Los Angeles and dropped a sponsorship fee. Although the Christmas holiday is less than ten days away, the fake loli who stayed in the villa was driven to school. The girl who has nothing to do and is full of cranky thoughts is really scary. She has also awakened her night attack skills without a teacher. There will definitely be trouble if the trouble continues.
"Eric, one piece of good news, one piece of bad news, listen to that first?" On a new day, just sitting in the office and looking at the budget report for a while, Jeffrey rushed in without knocking on the door.
Eric saw that Jeffrey's expression was still mostly joy, and said with a smile: "Let's have a good one first, don't be surprised."
Jeffrey took out a contract from his briefcase and handed it to Eric, saying, "Lamborghini has agreed to our proposed sponsorship plan. They will launch a new Lamborghini ghost sports car soon. After listening to my explanation of what you said earlier , the other party quickly agreed. You see, this is a contract, a total of 1 million US dollars. When the news spread, those colleagues must go crazy with jealousy. No matter how busy the film is, it may not earn 1 million in the end."
Eric took over the contract and looked at it. Lamborghini did agree to pay 1 million US dollars in advertising costs, but the premise is that the box office of "Pretty Woman" in North America reaches 100 million US dollars. According to this base, if the box office is less than 100 million US dollars, you need to pay The advertising fee will be refunded in proportion. Of course, Lamborghini will also increase the excess in proportion.
This kind of advertising sponsorship is very common in later generations, so Eric didn't feel too much excitement, and even teased Jeffrey: "Jeffrey, you are too happy, if our movie box office can't reach It is expected that the advertising fee will still be refunded.”
Jeffrey calmed down, thinking of this possibility, hesitantly said: "Should... no, Eric, haven't you always been very confident in this movie?"
Eric waved his hand: "Okay, let's stop teasing you, let's talk about the bad news?"
"The bad news is that I contacted several famous jewelry companies, and none of them were willing to pay a penny for sponsoring Vivienne's jewelry. Only one jeweler reluctantly agreed to provide us with a set of jewelry to assist in the shooting."
It's no wonder that the other party agreed, Eric laughed and said: "Jeffrey, although I am very happy that you draw inferences from one instance, but you may have forgotten that Vivienne's identity is a prostitute, and the other party can agree to provide jewelry for shooting It's not bad."
"It's true, I'm a little careless." Jeffrey quickly understood, and tentatively said: "Eric, if I change Vivienne into a white-collar worker, I can definitely..."
"Don't even think about it, Jeffrey, it's stupid to modify the script for advertising sponsorship, you'd better be your producer honestly, don't think about the content of the film, I will listen to your suggestions."
"Okay, okay, I know I have a criminal record..." Jeffrey smiled awkwardly, and said, "Eric, has Al Pacino responded, I heard that you want to invite him to play the leading role?"
"Kapoor is in contact, but last night Kapoor called me and said that Al Pacino is in New York now, and it is said that the other party wants to perform a play on Broadway for a while."
"Then you have to make up your mind as soon as possible," Jeffrey persuaded, "The Christmas holiday is coming soon, and if the leading actor has not been decided by then, the plan to start filming immediately after the Christmas holiday will definitely be shelved."
Eric nodded with confidence: "Don't worry, I have a measure."
…
In this era, the U.S. dollar is still quite strong, and an advertising sponsorship fee of 1 million U.S. dollars is definitely a huge sum of money. Twenty years later, the Beverly mansion worth tens of millions of dollars is now only a million dollars. Lamborghini's upcoming Phantom sports car is priced at just $240,000. After spending such a large amount of money, Lamborghini quickly released the news in order to achieve the best publicity effect.
For a while, all kinds of words of envy, jealousy and hatred filled the newspaper pages.
The "Los Angeles Times" joked: "It is rumored that the production cost of Eric Williams' new film is only 7 million. Only through an advertising sponsorship from Lamborghini, one-seventh of the investment has been recovered. It seems that our young miracle The director is not only a movie genius, but also a business genius."
The "Hollywood Information" questioned: "With a sponsorship fee of one million dollars, is Eric Williams planning to shoot a sports car commercial that lasts more than 100 minutes?" The title of "Beauty" is hard for me to connect it with a Lamborghini sports car, and I'm starting to have some doubts about the quality of Eric Williams' new film."
These are just the milder words. The latest issue of "Film Review" wrote a fierce criticism: "Eric Williams is like a bastard who breaks into Hollywood, and a million-dollar advertising sponsorship , It is simply a blasphemy to the art of film. Once Eric Williams' product placement model succeeds this time, it is conceivable that driven by huge profits, those mercenary producers will , will place advertisements in movies on a large scale. Therefore, we call on all people who love film art not to go into the cinema to watch Eric Williams' new film."
Unfortunately, the style of "Film Review" is a bit high-end. Although the American people like to watch movies, they are not very interested in this kind of serious movie magazine. Therefore, these remarks only caused some waves in the circle of old-fashioned filmmakers. , but did not have much impact.
The turmoil of the outside world did not have any impact on Eric, and he was still carrying out the preparations for "Pretty Woman" in an orderly manner.
Of course, apart from the undecided male lead, the preparations for "Pretty Woman" have come to an end, and the rest of the trivial things Eric basically doesn't need to come forward, and Jeffrey is running around to take care of them.
"Eric, if you insist on inviting Al Pacino, you may need to go to New York." Kapoor said, sitting opposite Eric with a tired face.
Eric got up and made a cup of coffee for Kapoor himself, and asked, "Can you tell me the reason?"
"Al Pacino has some questions about your script and has been hesitant. So he offered to talk to you in person, but he couldn't come to Los Angeles because he was playing "Richard" in a Broadway theater during this time. Three Worlds."
Eric thought about it. Originally, he planned to go to New York to see Aniston during Christmas, and if he didn't show his face to declare his sovereignty, he would lose a lot if the little girl fell into someone else's arms.
"No problem, I'm just going to New York, Kapoor, can you come with me then? Maybe we can try to convince Al to join uta?"
Kapoor nodded: "I also have this plan. Al currently only has a private manager and does not have a brokerage company. No matter what, I will always fight for it."
"That's it. Buy the plane ticket as soon as possible. Tonight or tomorrow is fine. If we can't agree, I have to fly back to contact other actors for auditions."
After discussing this matter, Eric drove away from the company and drove to a girls' school near the Rose Bowl in the north of Los Angeles, where Drew had just been sent a few days ago.
As soon as I met the girl, she began to complain endlessly with a mournful face: "Eric, please, can you change me to another school, or I will convert to Scientology, Satanism or something? Catholic schools are so boring. And all of them are women, I will be taught to be stupid."
Eric smiled and knocked on the girl's head. His soul came from the East and he had no faith. The reason why Drew was sent here was because of Jeffrey's suggestion. The school ethos of the Catholic boarding school is very strict, and Drew can be properly restrained and polished for his overly jumpy and unscrupulous character.
"Okay, Drew, there is no way to transfer schools. I paid a large sponsorship fee. I'm here to tell you that I will go to New York in the next two days. If everything goes well, I don't think I will be back until after Christmas. You have the key to my house, if you don’t want to go home after the holiday, you can go to my place, call Jeffrey if you need anything, and he will help you.”
Drew heard Eric's words and said sullenly: "Are you going to find Aniston?"
Eric didn't deny it, nodded, and explained a few more words before driving away in a hurry under Drew's eyes like a bitch.