Chapter 183 Final Audition
Just when little Gilbert was worrying about how to appease Scarlett, "Saving Private Ryan" was officially released in North America.
The film earned US$225 million in North America, successfully breaking the North American box office record for an R-rated film set by "Terminator 2".
Although it is still being screened in a few regions, the global screening tour of "Saving Private Ryan" is coming to an end. Including the North American box office, the global revenue came to 537 million US dollars.
This also broke the global box office record of "Terminator 2" for an R-rated movie, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated movie.
It is expected that the film will not be able to collect much box office in the remaining markets around the world, and it should not exceed US$550 million in the end.
However, this achievement is enough to make major investors smile.
The film can make a profit just by relying on the box office, not to mention the subsequent revenue from copyright-related peripherals.
Robert Egger has also contacted several best-selling authors and historians, planning to publish a few books while the popularity of the movie has not dissipated. This will also build momentum for next year's Oscars.
"Saving Private Ryan" is a movie that is quite in line with the American theme. If such a movie cannot be recognized at the Oscars, then the public can reasonably doubt the fairness of the Oscars.
A few weeks after the film was released in North America, books such as "The Truth About D-Day" and "Why Saving Private Ryan" were published one after another.
The sales volume is pretty good, which can be considered as continuing to generate income for the film peripherals.
It has to be said that Hollywood's business development capabilities are really strong. As long as there is an opportunity to make money, film companies will not let it go.
Robert Egger's business acumen created a lot of peripheral profits for "Saving Private Ryan". Including negotiating with TV stations and video tape distributors, he was responsible for it.
One might ask, wasn’t Michael Ovitz responsible for this project?
Indeed, it was before, but he was forcibly kicked out by Michael Eisner while little Gilbert was on vacation in New Zealand.
Michael Ovitz has no serious faults. With the success of "Saving Private Ryan", he can at least secure his position as CEO.
But he overestimated himself and underestimated his childhood friend Michael Eisner.
Mr. Eisner has been in charge of Disney for many years and has always been as stable as a rock. It is impossible without some skills. After paying a certain price, he united with the Disney board of directors and drove Michael Ovitz out of Disney.
Of course, as compensation, Michael Ovitz received a $120 million severance package.
Michael Ovitz was not idle either. He took his severance package and started a new business with his old buddy Martin Bob and returned to the Hollywood agency world.
That's right, because of the Mel Gibson incident and the treatment of Little Gilbert, Martin Bob lost too many points, and was given a vote of no confidence by CAA shareholders, and eventually resigned sadly.
The current person in charge of CAA is Eno Martin, but Pat Kingsley will not be idle either. A new round of infighting at CAA has begun.
Martin Bob and Michael Ovitz reunited and brought over emerging star director Michael Bay from CAA.
Michael Ovitz persuaded Martin Scorsese to join his new company.
However, the old Martin's movies have never done well at the box office, and the new company has to rely on Michael Bay as a director.
Michael Ovitz quickly persuaded DreamWorks to start a project called "The End of the World" with Michael Bay as the director.
But because Michael Bay's favorite actor, Bruce Willis, was pulled into "The Sixth Sense" by Gilbert Jr., Michael Bay had to find a new actor.
DreamWorks was also willing to cooperate with Sony Columbia and invested US$140 million.
This is actually related to the current environment. At the end of the century and before the millennium, various doomsday theories emerge one after another, and many people believe it.
Based on this, many film companies have begun to plan some doomsday movies. This year's "Independence Day" was born under this background.
The movie "Independence Day" is simply a collection of all the vulgar elements of the summer season. In terms of quality, "Saving Private Ryan" is more than five levels higher than "Independence Day."
But the audience just loves to watch it. Since its release, "Independence Day" has not only grossed US$250 million at the box office in North America, successfully surpassing "Saving Private Ryan", but also grossed nearly US$800 million at the global box office.
The most important thing is that the film continues to be a hit, and eventually the North American box office exceeded 300 million U.S. dollars, and the global box office exceeded 900 million U.S. dollars. It does not seem to be a problem.
Under such circumstances, other film companies are more determined to follow suit.
It’s not that there are no good creators and film projects, but that there are already proven paths that are too easy to follow, and no one is willing to use their brains to think of new ideas and projects.
Under this trend, creators and directors like Gilbert Jr. are very rare in the eyes of the outside world.
Roger Ebert, a die-hard supporter of Gilbert Jr. who recently started cheering for him during the awards season, said this on his TV show.
“Hollywood is increasingly lacking the ability to innovate and will only follow the trend in creating and relying on sequel movies.
After seeing the success of "Saving Private Ryan", I started to follow the trend and make World War II movies without thinking about why this movie was so popular.
After seeing the success of "Independence Day", I started to follow suit and create movies with similar themes.
In fact, they never thought that doing so would deeply hurt the film industry and the audience. "
"But," another guest retorted: "'Independence Day' is indeed loved by the audience!"
"That's just the appearance." Roger Ebert hated "Independence Day" and thought it would ruin Hollywood: "If there are more movies like this, Hollywood will be ruined.
Fortunately, today we still have a group of directors led by Gilbert Jr. who insist on creating, otherwise Hollywood would have been doomed long ago. "
Okay! Little Gilbert himself never thought that he could be so great, and was labeled as a Hollywood savior by Roger Ebert.
When there was a lot of noise outside because of the huge sales of "Independence Day", "The Sixth Sense" held its final audition.
Only Scarlett and Haley participated in this audition. Before the audition, Little Gilbert asked Anne to talk to Scarlett to prepare her for losing the role.
"Scarlett, Haley performed too well during the audition. You might not get the role." Anne said.
I originally thought that Sijia would lose her temper, but Sijia nodded like an adult and said: "I know, I have been mentally prepared for a long time."
"you……"
Before Annie could say anything, Scarlett continued: "I saw Hailey's performance in the first audition. At that time, I knew that little Gilbert would not choose me. His performance was so outstanding." Unexpectedly, Sijia was so reasonable.
As a result, Anne didn't know how to comfort Scarlett.
Then simply ignore it and leave the director's troubles to be solved by the director.
On the other side, Haley's agent and mother accompanied him to the audition.
The agent kept cheering Hailey: "Don't worry, Hailey, you performed very well in the audition, and you will definitely be recognized by Director Gilbert."
"But," Haley's mother worried: "I heard that the other Scarlett Johansson who auditioned was the sister recognized by Director Gilbert Jr.
Our Haley has nothing to do with little Gilbert, can we get this role? "
The agent is very confident: "The more this happens, the less likely Gilbert will be through the back door. Successful directors all have one characteristic, that is, everything serves the script and the movie.
If the audition performance is similar, I dare say we will lose.
But Haley performed very well in the preliminary audition, much better than Scarlett Johansson. As long as there are no problems in the final audition, she will definitely get the role. "
Hearing what the agent said, Hailey's mother felt relieved, but there was still a look of worry on her face.
At this time, Hailey comforted his mother. He squeezed her hand like a little adult and said, "Don't worry, Mom, I read the script Mr. Gunn gave me five times and I have a sufficient understanding of the characters.
I will definitely get this role and I won’t let you down. "
"Hailey, the audition has started..." Assistant Anna shouted.
"Okay, Miss Singer." After Hailey responded, he gave his agent and mother a confident smile: "Congratulate me on my success!"
With his mother's worried eyes and his agent's expectant eyes, Hailey confidently walked into the audition.
In the audition hall, Hailey met another competitor, Scarlett Johansson, and the little girl greeted him friendly.
According to her age, Haili should call Scarlett her sister, but now that the two are rivals, Haili simply nodded as a response.
"Haley Joel Osment." Little Gilbert looked at his resume and asked, "You also participated in "Forrest Gump", right?"
"Yes, I play Forrest Gump's son in the movie." Haley nodded.
Gilbert Jr. and James Gunn, Anne said: "It seems that Tom has recommended a pretty good actor for us.
Okay, I’ll give you five minutes to prepare, and the audition will start at any time. "
After five minutes, Haley said he was ready.
As little Gilbert started, Haley began his performance. There is a star difference between watching the video and experiencing it live. Little Gilbert felt that Hailey performed better than in the first trial.
When Hailey finished his performance and bowed to thank him, little Gilbert took the lead in applauding: "Okay, okay, Hailey, your performance is quite good."
"Thank you," Hailey was not embarrassed or proud after being praised. He was very calm and natural, as if it was taken for granted.
James Gunn said at this time: "Director, you don't know yet, Haley got the script before, read it five times, and wrote about his understanding of the character.
I watched it and it was pretty good. "
"Really?" Little Gilbert expressed surprise and looked at Scarlett: "Scarlett, you should also prepare!"
She originally knew that she would not be able to get the role, but now after seeing Haley's performance, Sijia felt that she had no hope.
They have made so many preparations, are more talented than me, and work harder than me.
So Scarlett simply raised her hand and said: "Director, I give up the audition, but I have a request."
"any request?"
"I request a guest role, preferably opposite Hailey." Scarlett blinked her lovely eyes and looked at little Gilbert.
Little Gilbert didn't think much and agreed directly: "Okay, no problem."
In this way, both young actors got roles. Haley was cast by Gilbert Jr. on the spot, and Scarlett also got a guest role to satisfy her dream of continuing to star in Gilbert Jr.'s movies.
After Hailey came out, the agent's mother quickly came forward and asked what was the result?
"I told you a long time ago, don't worry, I have already won the role." Haley said.
Hailey's mother was relieved, while her manager cheered. This is Gilbert Jr.'s movie. Needless to say what it means to star in his movie.
The Hailey family went to celebrate, but in the audition hall, Scarlett, who had been very generous just now, was misty and started crying while holding little Gilbert's lap, asking for comfort.
Little Gilbert was helpless and asked Scarlett: "Then what do you want? I will pick all the stars in the sky for you."
Scarlett burst into tears and laughed: "I don't believe it. You can't go to space. Why don't you take me to Canada for skiing at Christmas?"
"Okay," little Gilbert pondered for a moment before agreeing. There was already a short holiday at Christmas, so going skiing was also a good choice.
"Great," behind little Gilbert's invisible side, Scarlett playfully made a V gesture toward Anne to express her victory.
Anne didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Scarlett put all her acting energy into the audition, maybe she would have a better chance.
This little girl is really a headache sometimes.
The world's best martial artist, Gu Mo awakens the martial arts simulator to explore the simulated world, acquire martial arts, mental skills, and discover the secrets. From then on, Gu Mo became a martial arts genius in the eyes of others. He had a smooth journey and eventually became a saint physically.
The second book of Sacrifice every Tuesday, if you are interested, you can read it.
(End of this chapter)