Chapter 507 Fish and Bait
The fact that David Ellison was able to enter Hollywood so smoothly is inseparable from the money shortage Hollywood encountered.
Nowadays, every film company is short of money. Several of the projects Warner has started have been financed by Wall Street funds to reduce their own expenses.
Disney's financial situation is relatively good. After all, Disney's peripherals are so profitable that it can maintain a good cash flow.
Disney and Warner also have projects involving Little Gilbert. From a box office and stock market perspective, as long as Little Gilbert is around, a certain basic base can be maintained.
But other companies are in dire straits. Sony Columbia Pictures has a blockbuster movie like "Spider-Man 2" this year, but it still relies on its parent company Sony to sustain it.
MGM United Artists would have declared bankruptcy long ago had it not been for the capital from Kingdom Investment Group.
Needless to say, DreamWorks’ most profitable animation department was spun off separately. Even Spielberg’s frequent moves could not solve DreamWorks’ money shortage.
Besides, today's Spielberg has a feeling of being a late hero, completely inferior to his student Gilbert Jr.
The situation of other companies is also interfering, and they are more or less short of money. This is usually the hottest time for Wall Street's film funds.
It was against this background that David Ellison's Sky Studios entered Hollywood and participated in and invested in multiple projects.
Although David Ellison is not popular with the traditional forces in Hollywood, no one will refuse the money in his pocket. This is what David Ellison relies on.
Cameron Diaz soon released the news that Gilbert Jr. was very interested in the French Baron's Napoleon biopic and was willing to invest $200 million.
As soon as the news was released, it immediately shocked the entire Hollywood and attracted the attention of David Ellison.
But the happiest person is the French baron.
Yes, he is a liar, and this is actually a Ponzi scheme he organized to attract the attention of Hollywood big shots.
And who is the richest and most influential in Hollywood today? Undoubtedly it is the famous director Little Gilbert.
For this reason, as soon as he came to Hollywood, he became good friends with Anne Hathaway. If it weren't for the special relationship between Anne Hathaway and little Gilbert, the two would have become boyfriend and girlfriend at this time.
But it doesn’t matter, as long as you have money, what kind of woman can’t do it?
His target was Little Gilbert. Under the introduction of Anne Hathaway, he met Little Gilbert and sold the project to Little Gilbert.
It’s just that Little Gilbert was not interested in this project at first. Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the worse. Little Gilbert’s assistant suddenly contacted him to discuss the project again.
This made the French Baron happy. As long as he could fool little Gilbert, most of the matter would be settled.
Little did he know, he thought he was a fisherman and patiently caught the big fish, Little Gilbert. But he was actually the bait, which little Gilbert used to fish for David Ellison.
Anne Hathaway is very anxious. Little Gilbert roped her in last time and it was a scam. Anne Hathaway regretted for a while that she almost let little Gilbert be fooled.
But somehow, little Gilbert expressed his interest in this project again.
After the last contact, Anne Hathaway found that something was very wrong with this French baron, and he smelled of fakeness.
So Anne Hathaway hurried over to persuade little Gilbert, who knew that things were not what she imagined.
"So you know the baron is a liar?"
"Yes," little Gilbert motioned Anne Hathaway to sit down and stuffed a piece of apple into her mouth.
After Anne Hathaway was eating the apple, little Gilbert explained: "I'll see if David Ellison will take the bait. As for this project, don't worry, I've known about it for a long time, and I'll tell you. "
Anne Hathaway was relieved: "I was worried for nothing."
Little Gilbert hugged Anne Hathaway's waist and asked, "What are you busy with recently?"
Anne Hathaway pouted and said: "I am currently filming "The Chronicles of Narnia" and preparing to collaborate with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal on "Brokeback Mountain."
In addition, there is also a "The Devil Wears Prada" with Meryl Streep in preparation. "
After hearing this, little Gilbert said: "These three films are all good, and they should not be bad at the box office and awards."
"Yes," Anne Hathaway continued with a pout: "It's a pity that they are all supporting roles. There is also a film called "Pretty Woman", but the scale is too big, so I rejected it."
"Why were you refused?"
Anne Hathaway rolled her eyes at little Gilbert and said, "I was afraid that you would be jealous, so I refused."
"That's right, am I so narrow-minded?"
"You are just..."
The two were quarreling for a while, and Anne Hathaway leaned her head on Little Gilbert's shoulder and complained: "The competition is really fierce. There are a dozen or even dozens of actresses competing for a popular project at the same time.
Even with the fame accumulated by Princess Yawen and your relationship, I still can't win many projects. "
This is the common dilemma faced by Hollywood actresses. There are more wolves than meat, and there are only a few movies that seem to be big hits every year.
If someone else takes it away, you won’t have to eat it.
Fortunately for the male stars, the competition among female stars is even more intense.
Little Gilbert comforted him: "Okay, okay, it doesn't matter. There will always be several big projects coming to you. If it doesn't work out, how about I leave you a role?"
"What character?" "How about Catwoman?"
"You want me to be in the Batman movie? When?"
"Anyway, there is such a role. Whether it will be possible for you to appear on the stage depends on the results of this film."
Anne Hathaway was immediately happy. She felt relieved to have such a reliable man. As for whether the movie will fail? She doesn't even consider the possibility of failure.
How could little Gilbert fail? He never fails.
While the two were deeply in love, David Ellison, who returned to Sky Studios over there, asked the studio to clean up.
The goal is to eliminate spiders.
At the same time, he also learned that Gilbert Jr. was very interested in a Napoleon project and was willing to invest $200 million.
He immediately discussed the matter with Michael Ovitz and asked him: "Michael, do you think this is reliable?"
Even the experienced Michael Ovitz was confused for a while: "With so many people in Hollywood interested in this project, there shouldn't be anything fake."
"How about we take this project away from Little Gilbert?" David Ellison said.
"Yes, yes," Michael Ovitz agreed in principle: "But you have already snatched little Gilbert's "Transformers". Something like this happened recently. He must be paying special attention to you, so it's not easy to snatch it away!"
"It all depends on people!" David Ellison was quite confident: "Not only this project, but in the future, we will grab whatever projects little Gilbert wants to invest in.
Unfortunately, there are many projects that we simply cannot grab. "
David Ellison is quite sorry. If possible, he would like to steal the "Fast and Furious" series and the "Charmed" series.
Of course, what interests David Ellison the most is the "Harry Potter" series.
But unfortunately, just after the success of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", J.K. Rowling has signed contracts with Disney and Warner for the copyright of the remaining novels.
Rowling's words were clear. She said she only trusted little Gilbert.
Facts have proved that the "Harry Potter" series has exploded with incredible energy under the control of little Gilbert, becoming one of the best-selling movie series in the world.
Especially the peripheral output value has reached an unprecedented height.
So David Ellison is very envious. If he had entered the industry ten years earlier, David Ellison would definitely have snatched this project away from Gilbert Jr.
He didn't want to think about whether he had the vision and decision-making ability?
Although he doesn't think much of little Gilbert on the surface now, he actually recognizes little Gilbert's vision in movies.
So the fish successfully bit the hook, and David Ellison and Michael Ovitz immediately came into contact with the project, and even chatted with the so-called Baron several times in person.
After many chats, both of them felt that this project had a bright future and decided to increase their stakes.
Seeing that there was a profit to be made, the French baron began to play the trick of selling for a price to see who could pay the highest price.
Because Gilbert Jr. and David Ellison were involved, other investors and film companies who were still hesitant immediately joined in, making the water even muddier.
Little Gilbert asked Ivanka to remind those friends, investors, and partners who are familiar with her to be aware that this project is fraudulent and not to participate casually.
As for other people, he has no control over them. After all, he is also a 'victim', but the price he pays is very small and can be ignored.
After all, in order for David Ellison to take the bait completely, he had to spend some real money.
As for David Ellison who was deceived, he lost a lot of real money.
Except for the Chicago heist, the filming of "Beginners" went very smoothly and was successfully completed in Los Angeles on the first weekend after the New Year.
On the evening of the final day, the crew held a final party, and executives from Warner and DC were also present.
At the final party, a representative of Lamborghini approached Gilbert Jr.: "Director Gilbert Jr., are you interested in shooting a commercial for our Lamborghini?"
"You want me to shoot a commercial?" Little Gilbert was stunned: "Did you find the wrong person?"
“No,” the Lamborghini representative said. “We’ve seen your movie, and it’s like a very long commercial. It’s very engaging.
We hope that you can use the scale of a movie to create a commercial for us. Of course, the price is easy to say. "
"This," little Gilbert did not agree immediately: "I'll think about it!"
In fact, it's not like he has never filmed commercials, but that was a lifetime ago. Lamborghini represented this proposal, which instantly reminded little Gilbert of several famous commercials.
In fact, this is just right, you can combine Lamborghini advertising and movie trailers.
After Little Gilbert proposed this idea, it was recognized by Lamborghini. Little Gilbert decided to take the time to shoot a commercial during post-production.
As for the protagonists of the commercials, they were all ready-made, and Lamborghini immediately signed endorsement contracts with Christian Bale and Jennifer Connelly.
In fact, the main signing was Bell, but considering the relationship with little Gilbert, Lamborghini added Jennifer Connelly.
This is not bad, you can earn an endorsement fee!
(End of chapter)