"Simon, Willem Dafoe is indeed good, but don't you think he is more suitable to play the Joker instead of Black Mask?"

In the conference room of Daenerys Entertainment Headquarters, the morning audition has ended. Simon and several of the main creators of "Batman" are discussing the final choice of Black Mask Roman Sionnis. At this time, another person from "Batman" spoke

A producer is Joe Silver. Joe Silver, a top Hollywood producer who is good at action movies, is no less important than Jerry Bruckheimer. In the original time and space, the "Matrix" series is

Joe Silver is responsible for the pinnacle of production. Joe Silver, who is only 36 years old this year, has become famous in recent years with "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon".

Simon is naturally the first producer of "Batman". However, he also needs a deputy to be responsible for the film's personnel, financial and location coordination. Joe, who has just reached a good cooperative relationship with Warner through the "Lethal Weapon" series,

Silver was recommended. Although he could not gain absolute control of the project, Joe Silver also hoped to cooperate with Simon, who had created greater miracles in the past two years. The same was true for Simon, and the two parties hit it off.

"Qiao, William's acting skills are completely enough to support Black Mask, but for the Joker, to be honest, I have high expectations for this character. I hope to find an actor who can express the evil feeling of this character from the bottom of his heart, not just

William is a born villain with a bad face.”

Willem Dafoe's most famous role later should be the villain "Green Goblin" Norman Osborn in Tobey Maguire's version of the "Spider-Man" series. But now, Dafoe is just 33 years old, and he is not yet

Many years later, the wrinkled uncle looks like a handsome man. In the past few years since his debut, Willem Dafoe has collaborated with great directors such as William Friedkin, Tony Scott, and Oliver Stone.

, his acting skills and qualifications are enough to support the role of Black Mask.

In addition, if you do not count the minor role that was cut out of "Heaven's Gate" that year, Willem Dafoe's first feature film was called "Heartless", directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

"Heartless" is also Catherine's first feature film.

Simon chose Willem Dafoe to play Black Mask for this reason. Of course, he didn't do it for Catherine's sake.

For a major production involving an investment of 50 million U.S. dollars, casting is not only about being suitable, but also ensuring that the actors don’t have bad habits, don’t act like celebrities, and have personalities that can get along well with other creators and other details. This is also a lot of details.

The director habitually uses his familiarity with actors. Simon had previously called Catherine to privately inquire about Willem Dafoe. After receiving confirmation from the woman, he ranked him as the first choice for Black Mask.

Everyone continued to discuss it for a while, and since Simon insisted, the role was completely confirmed.

In the afternoon is Commissioner Gordon's final audition, which starts at two o'clock.

After the meeting, everyone went to have lunch. Simon and Joe Silver whispered about some preparation details of the film, and walked out of the conference room together. Jennifer came over with another short white man wearing black-rimmed glasses.

.

Simon stopped and said to Joe Silver: "Well, Joe, let's see you in the afternoon."

Joe Silver knew that Simon had other things to do, so he nodded with a smile, said hello to the man with glasses, and then walked away.

After Joe Silver walked away, the man with glasses took a step forward, stretched out his hand to Simon and said: "Hello, Mr. Westeros, I am Ella Deutschman."

"Just call me Simon," Simon shook hands with the other person. Seeing that he was still carrying his briefcase, he smiled and said: "If there is nothing important, let Jenny collect it for you, and we will go have lunch.

"

"Oh, of course," Ella Deutschman handed the briefcase to Jennifer and said, "Excuse me, Miss Raybould."

Jennifer smiled and took the other party's briefcase, but she leaned over and whispered to Simon: "Mr. Rem is on the line."

Simon made a gesture of invitation to Ella Deutschman and said to the female assistant: "Put it on the car phone. I'll talk to him on the way."

Jennifer nodded, Simon took Ella Deutschman downstairs, Neil Bennett had prepared the car.

The two got in the car, and Neil Bennett walked towards his destination without Simon's instructions. Simon looked at Ella Deutschman and picked up the car phone to talk to Robert Rem.

The result of his contact with MGM.

After a morning of bargaining, MGM finally agreed to give up the North American distribution rights of "Rain Man" for US$5 million. The requirement there was that the check must be received by Friday. Amy and Rem were very interested in redeeming "Rain Man"

The psychological expectation for the distribution rights of "Rain Man" was around US$5 million, but this offer was far below Simon's limit, so he immediately agreed.

During the phone call, Robert Rehm also asked whether the release of "Rain Man" should be postponed. The industry is now very unfavorable about "Rain Man", and it is not easy to temporarily raise screen resources. The distribution department of Daenerys Entertainment is working hard

Running "Scream", "Steel Magnolias" and "Dead Poets Society", and temporarily joining "Rain Man" will definitely disrupt the team's established work rhythm. Moreover, delaying "Rain Man" can definitely be avoided

It competed with Dead Poets Society the following week.

Simon did not agree with Robert Rem's suggestion.

The public opinion trend in the media about "Rain Man" is not satisfactory. If Daenerys Entertainment announces the postponement of the film, the film's image as a "bad movie" in the minds of the media and audiences may be completely confirmed. Daenerys

Not only could the entertainment company not postpone it, they also spared no effort to launch a publicity campaign for the film.

When Simon put down the phone, the Range Rover was already parked in front of a restaurant.

Simon brought Ella Deutschman into the restaurant, and the two of them sat down, and he began to look at each other without leaving a trace.

Ella Deutschman's name sounds a bit feminine, but in fact, this Ella is 'Ira' rather than 'Elle'. Although 'Ira' is also unisex, in Hebrew, '

Ira' is more of a boy's name. Deutschmann, is obviously another Jewish surname.

The middle-aged man with glasses in front of him is the person in charge Simon is looking for for Gaomen Pictures these days.

Ella Deutschman is 35 years old, about the same age as Joe Silver. Moreover, his intersection with the film industry is as deep as Joe Silver. As early as more than ten years ago, while studying at Northwestern University, Ella

·Deutschman has already participated in the distribution of a film by the famous independent Hollywood director John Cassavetes.

After graduating from Northwestern University, Ella Deutschman entered United Artists Pictures, specializing in literary films and working at United Artists Classics.

United Artists Pictures was merged by MGM due to the box office failure of "Heaven's Gate", and United Artists Classics was dissolved. In 1983, Ira Deutschman established New Film Company with several other partners, also focusing on literary films.

Field. "A Room with a View", released three years ago, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Helena Bonham Carter, earned more than $20 million at the North American box office with a production cost of $3 million, and won the Oscar

Obtained good results in the 8th grade.

New Film Company is still in operation, but Ella Deutschman has recently been squeezed out by several partners and was forced to withdraw from the company she founded. In the original time and space, Simon remembered that Ella Deutschman then

For several years, Best Line Cinema, a subsidiary of New Line Cinema that tried to enter the field of literary films, tried to compete with Miramax. However, New Line Cinema did not invest too many resources in this area, but Ella Deutsch

Mann remained active in Hollywood for many years.

The two ordered their meals, and when the waiter left, Simon spoke again and asked Ella Deutschman: "You have already watched Michael Hoffman's "Sisters", how do you feel about it?"

Although Simon was many years younger than him, Ella Deutschman was inevitably a little nervous.

This was an interview, and Ella Deutschman knew it very well. He had just been kicked out of the company recently, which should be regarded as a stain on the loser. He originally thought that Simon would be the first to ask why he

I didn't expect it to be like this when I quit New Film Company.

According to the previous agreement, he had already visited Daenerys Entertainment Headquarters at nine o'clock in the morning, but he did not see Simon. Instead, he was arranged to go to a screening room to watch a movie, which was a movie that had emerged in Hollywood in recent years.

The work of Michael Hoffman, a literary film director, is called "Sisters".

Since Simon asked about this, Ella Deutschman also cheered up and said: "It's a very good movie. The director showed the hero's understanding of life, love and desire through a festival journey. The film

The opening and ending of Sandro Botticelli's famous painting "Spring" are very cleverly arranged. The three graceful goddesses in the painting are part of "Spring". They represent all the beautiful things in the world and imply human desires."

After listening to Deutschman's explanation, Simon suddenly asked: "So, how much box office do you think this film can get?"

This was another surprising question. Ella Deutschman was stunned for a moment. He originally thought that this young man with great talent in film would continue to discuss the connotation of this film with him, but he did not expect that Simon would

So straightforward.

After thinking for a moment, Ella Deutschman said: "If you leave it to me to operate it, you should be able to get about 5 million US dollars."

Simon was noncommittal and asked: "Tell me about your marketing ideas."

"This is a niche literary film, but it is not boring. The target audience should be young people between the ages of 16 and 22," Ella Deutschman said as she thought, "As the first film to be released,

In the next step, I will choose to submit this film to the Sundance Film Festival. "Sisters" is unlikely to win awards, but it should have good reviews. After accumulating a certain reputation, it can be screened in central cities such as New York and Los Angeles.

For screenings, if I can have a publicity budget of about US$500,000, I can arrange about 20 screens for the opening, and place advertisements on some literary and art print media. If the box office is good, I can further expand the scale of the screening. In the film

One of the heroines, Jennifer Connelly, will become an important publicity point for it. Connery's image of teenage Deborah in "Once Upon a Time in America" ​​left a very deep impression on many people. She will definitely

It can attract some audiences into the theater."

After hearing what Ella Deutschman said, Simon shook his head and said: "This is a very orthodox and conservative method of distributing literary films. I am sure that you are doing this purely by luck, and it is very likely that you will not be able to get it."

The predicted box office is US$5 million, if you can get one or two million US dollars, you are considered lucky."

There was a hint of sarcasm in Ella Deutschman's expression, but he actually didn't feel that the movie could fetch 5 million US dollars.

Seeing that Ella Deutschman was silent, Simon paused for a moment and suddenly asked: "Ella, do you like movies?"

"Of course," Ella Deutschman nodded without hesitation this time and said, "Simon, I have been working in film distribution since I was 19 years old. If I didn't like movies, I wouldn't have been able to work in this industry for so many years.

"

Simon nodded, but then said: "You must already know the purpose of our meeting. But actually, I would rather find someone who doesn't like movies so much."

Ella Deutschman was surprised again: "Simon, I don't quite understand."

"It's very simple," Simon said: "If you like movies, you will instinctively judge the quality of a movie in your heart, and you will have a relatively strong personal tendency. For example, if you don't like a movie, you may become a person because of it.

Negative. In your heart, you feel that this movie won’t sell too much at the box office, so you obviously have no motivation to distribute a movie.”

"Simon, I won't do this."

Simon raised his hand towards Ella Deutschman and said: "On the contrary, if you don't like movies that much, then movies can become a very pure commodity in your eyes. When you get a movie, the first thing that comes to mind is

It should be how to sell it and how to sell it at a higher box office."

"Simon, of course I love movies," Ella Deutschman couldn't help but retort: ​​"But at the same time, as you just said, I will try my best to sell a movie at a good price."

"Then, completely put aside your sense of "Sisters"," Simon looked at Ella Deutschman and said, "Give me another plan, how can I sell it at the best possible price?"

Ella Deutschman thought seriously for a moment, then quickly raised her head again, looked at Simon and said: "Completely putting aside the literary attributes of this movie, then we can market it as a youth sex comedy, a

A boy is dealing with three girls, and the three girls are sisters. Just this gimmick is enough to attract many teenagers to the theater."

Simon raised his hand and snapped his fingers, saying: "Look, you actually know this very well in your heart, and you know very well what to do if you want to sell this movie. It's just that because of your inner moral values, or because of your right to

With respect to the movie, you didn't say this just now. However, this is actually what the audience wants to see. We all know that Michael wants to express a lot of things through this movie, but he wants to sell it and want to attract

As more people enter the cinema, during the promotion process, you have to use what the audience wants to see to sell it, rather than what the director wants to express. Sometimes, this is even a little cruel, but it is what filmmakers have to face.
Chapter completed!