Chapter 117 20th Century Fox enters
Roger Moore's decision to star in "The Island" embarrassed Sean Connery.
He originally felt that the crew of "Into the Deadly Island" did not have much choice, and would eventually compromise and agree to his request.
But I didn't expect that after just a brief contact with him, after hearing his conditions, he immediately gave up the contact and chose another person.
The key person he is familiar with is Roger Moore, the third-generation Bond actor.
This made Sean Connery very angry. He got angry again and yelled and raged at home, punching and kicking his wife and son to vent his anger.
"How dare he, this bastard? How dare he?" Sean Connery couldn't restrain his anger towards little Gilbert.
If little Gilbert was in front of him at this time, he would definitely tear little Gilbert apart.
Unfortunately, this is just incompetent rage.
Little Gilbert is in great power and has won the trust of Warner and Disney. They are not afraid of this old and outdated 007 at all.
What makes Sean Connery most angry is that the crew would rather choose a more outdated Roger Moore than choose him.
What will the outside world think when this news spreads? The image of 007 is not unique to him. Can Sean Connery still accuse the crew of wrong casting?
Sean Connery, overwhelmed by anger, immediately called Martin Bob: "Martin, do you have any way to target Little Gilbert's new project?"
Martin Bob on the other side of the phone was stunned: "A new project for little Gilbert? Sean, what do you want to do?"
"That damn bastard, he dared to tease me, and I'm going to make him pay the price." The feeling of Sean Connery gritting his teeth could be felt by Martin Bob on the other end of the phone.
He comforted: "Sean, don't be angry, anger will not help.
The most important thing at the moment is to be ourselves and wait for little Gilbert to show some flaws. That will be the time for us to take action. "
Sean Connery calmed down, but was still a little dissatisfied: "Can we just watch little Gilbert continue like this and be successful?"
Martin Bob said: "No, no one can guarantee success forever, not even Spielberg and George Lucas combined."
When he said this, Martin Bob felt a little unconfident.
He always felt that little Gilbert was a strange person and nothing good would happen to him. The so-called waiting for an opportunity, when will the day come when little Gilbert fails?
In fact, it is not just the CAA Martin Bob family who hate little Gilbert. Many people in Hollywood are jealous of little Gilbert's achievements at such a young age.
Universal Pictures is undoubtedly the one that I hate the most. After all, although it is a normal business choice for little Gilbert to switch to Disney, who has made him successful all the time?
The more successful Little Gilbert becomes, the more uncomfortable it will be for Universal Pictures, which is their performance.
However, the parent company Panasonic need not be troubled. After getting into trouble in Hollywood, Panasonic finally realized that its name was of no use in Hollywood. Instead, it became a reason to be targeted. So this year, Panasonic Movies It sold Universal Pictures to a Canadian wine merchant and withdrew from the Hollywood market, leaving only Sony Columbia struggling to support it.
The film industry and the electrical appliance manufacturing industry are really completely different. In the early days, people were cheated to the point of vomiting blood.
Akio Tanii, who was well known to little Gilbert, also returned to the island country. Before going back, he made a special trip to visit little Gilbert and invited him to be a guest in Tokyo. Little Gilbert agreed.
In this way, Roger Moore became the second actor confirmed to star in the film after Nicolas Cage.
The advantage of not choosing Sean Connery is that the salary is not that high.
Roger Moore was only paid $500,000 for the film, with no box office share.
Although he has not had any productions in recent years, the salary is still a bit low for Roger Moore.
His agent Dawes also wanted to negotiate for better terms, but Roger Moore refused to negotiate at all. He agreed as soon as Charles Rowan proposed it.
Charles Rowan almost doubted his ears after agreeing so readily.
As a result, the highest-paid actor is actually Nicolas Cage, with a salary of only US$3 million without any additional terms.
Subsequently, Ed Harris, John Spencer and others passed the audition and signed actor contracts with the crew. Little Gilbert's team members also passed the review of Warner and Touchstone Pictures and joined the crew one after another.
After the contracts of these actors and team members were confirmed, it cost the crew another US$8 million, leaving little Gilbert with US$48.5 million in production funds.
If you save a little money, the money will be enough.
But at this moment, an unexpected person appeared.
While busy preparing for "The Island", little Gilbert received a call from George Lucas.
"Little Gilbert, are you free? I have a very good French chef here, come to my place for dinner." George Lucas invited little Gilbert to visit him.
Eating was just an excuse, there must be other purposes. Little Gilbert was embarrassed to refuse. After all, the film he was preparing needed the help of Industrial Light and Magic, so he agreed to the invitation.
"Okay, when?"
"Just tonight! You haven't left Los Angeles yet, have you?" George Lucas knew that Gilbert Jr. was going to San Francisco with the crew, so he found out the news in advance.
"No, then I'll go there tonight?"
"Okay, I'll open a bottle of good wine and wait for you to come."
After hanging up the phone, little Gilbert said to Naomi Watts: "Naomi, come with me as a guest tonight."
"Where?" Naomi Watts asked.
"Director Lucas made a special trip to call me at his home."
"What should I prepare?" Naomi Watts asked. "No, no, no," little Gilbert waved his hand and said, "Just be casual, this is a private banquet, just buy something and come to your door.
By the way, I’ll also bring the bag of Chinese tea leaves that I collected. "
Naomi Watts followed little Gilbert's instructions, put on simple makeup, took some tea, and went out with little Gilbert. She also bought some other things on the way.
Cameron Diaz is too naughty and Charlize Theron is still young, so little Gilbert usually brings Naomi Watts to occasions like this.
A petite woman is steady, well-informed, well-spoken, and can have a pleasant conversation with her mistress.
Although George Lucas was married in his early years, he was divorced and is not married now, he just has a girlfriend.
Arriving at George Lucas' home in Beverly Hills, Gilbert Jr. met another person, Twentieth Century Fox CEO Townsend Rothman.
"Little Gilbert, let me introduce to you. This is the CEO of Fox Films, Townsend Rothman. Townsend, this is the director Little Gilbert." George Lucas introduced both parties.
In fact, at the previous celebration banquet, Gilbert Jr. and Townsend Rothman met several times, but they didn't talk much. Now they can be considered officially acquainted.
The two greeted each other and shook hands.
"Gentlemen, dinner is ready. Let's have dinner first. Today's French chef is quite good!" Soon George Lucas' girlfriend came to invite the three of them to dinner.
George Lucas made a gesture of invitation: "Let's enjoy dinner first..."
"Okay, please..."
Everyone had a great time chatting during the dinner, and it was unique with the French meal and expensive red wine from Bordeaux wineries.
After the meal, Naomi Watts, George Lucas's girlfriend, and Mrs. Townsend Rothman went to the living room to chat, while the three men went to George Lucas's study. Talk about things.
George Lucas only served as an introducer. In fact, it was Townsend Rothman who came to see Gilbert Jr.
When Americans talk about things, they rarely mince words like the Chinese do over a wine table.
Townsend Rothman went straight to the point: "Let's just say it, little Gilbert, we at 20th Century Fox want to come in and invest in your new project,"
Little Gilbert was a little surprised, but soon he no longer found it strange.
The giants have commercial spies for each other, and some information that is not core secrets will soon be known to each other.
"Bravely Entering the Island" is such a big project, and the director is Gilbert Jr.
Gilbert's previous movies were so successful that every move he made attracted Hollywood attention. Based on past success, it’s not surprising that film companies want to get involved.
But Warner and Disney tightly control investment opportunities and do not give other companies any room to intervene.
Fox Studios was anxious and knew it could not intervene, so it planned to take a roundabout route, bypassing Warner and Disney, and talk directly to Gilbert Jr.
Gilbert Jr. said: "Mr. Rothman, you should understand that neither Warner nor Disney will allow other companies to enter. They value this project very much."
"Yes, of course I understand." Townsend Rothman nodded and quickly said: "As long as you support it, I can communicate with Jeff Robinoff and Robert Egger, and I believe they will not refuse. "
Having been in Hollywood for so long, little Gilbert certainly understands that what Townsend Rothman did is nothing more than resource replacement.
20th Century Fox has many attractive projects on hand, no less than Gilbert Jr.'s projects. If the "Star Wars" series is moved out, Warner and Disney will definitely agree.
However, for a project as popular as "Star Wars", it is unlikely to be used for resource replacement.
Considering that it would be good to have a good relationship with 20th Century Fox at this time, not to mention, at least James Cameron's big ship can have a hand.
So Gilbert Jr. said: "In principle, I have no objection to 20th Century Fox investing in this project, but Mr. Rothman, I don't want anyone to interfere with my control of the crew."
Townsend Rothman assured: "Don't worry, we at 20th Century Fox invested in this film solely because we trust you and will never interfere with your creative freedom."
After reaching a preliminary agreement, George Lucas clapped his hands and said: "Gentlemen, congratulations on reaching a cooperation, I think we should celebrate."
So George Lucas opened another bottle of champagne, and the three of them toasted together to celebrate the moment of cooperation.
On the way back in the evening, Naomi Watts was driving, and she asked: "What did you and Director Lucas, Mr. Rothman, talk about?"
There is nothing to hide. Gilbert Jr. replied: "Twentieth Century Fox wanted to get involved, so they used Director Lucas to connect the dots to gain the support of me as a director."
"Then did you agree?"
"Why not? It won't do me any harm." Little Gilbert Ajan said, spreading his hands.
After obtaining the support of Little Gilbert, 20th Century Fox quickly made some resource exchanges with Warner and Disney, and got the opportunity to invest in "The Island of the Dead".
This decision allowed Townsend Rothman to get the support of Fox's top executives, and he happily spent 10 million US dollars.
Warner and Disney each gave $5 million to bring 20th Century Fox on board.
As a result, "Bravely Entering the Deadly Island" became an investment from all parties.
The total cost of the film is US$70 million, with Disney accounting for US$25 million, and its subsidiary Touchstone Pictures is responsible for North American distribution.
Warner takes a share of US$25 million and is responsible for overseas distribution.
Melon Studios holds a share of US$10 million and is the producer of the film.
20th Century Fox occupies a share of 10 million U.S. dollars, and only pays for equal shares, and does not participate in other work.
(End of chapter)