Meiyu: I don’t care about the cost when making movies

Chapter 189 Unexpected Investment
The movie that Wayne said could help Leonardo DiCaprio win awards was not "The Revenant" that originally made him win awards. After all, Leonardo DiCaprio is still not up to the level of the original version in terms of looks and age.

The movie he was talking about was released in 2010 and received a crazy 83 nominations at the 12rd Academy Awards.

"The King's Speech" won four awards: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

This movie is set against the backdrop of World War II.

It tells the story of Albert, Duke of Yorkshire, who suffered from a stutter and was unable to speak in public, which caused him to be embarrassed at large ceremonies one after another.

In order to help her husband, the virtuous wife Elizabeth visited famous doctors everywhere, but the traditional methods never worked.

By chance, she came to the office of speech therapist Lenar Rogge.

Legend has it that his ways were different.

Although the Duke was not interested in Rogge's weird tricks, the first diagnosis and treatment ended on a bad note.However, the Duke discovered that he could read Shakespeare fluently while listening to music.

This made him start to trust Rogge, cooperate with treatment, and slowly overcome the psychological barriers.

Then George V died, and Edward VIII succeeded to the throne, but abdicated in order to marry Mrs. Simpson.

Albert took over the throne and became George VI.

And next, he will face a huge challenge, that is, how to deliver an inspiring speech in front of countless people before World War II.

In fact, at this time, his treatment was already quite effective.

But facing this unprecedented world war and facing countless of his own people, he felt too much pressure.

But in the end, he overcame the difficulty with the help of speech therapist Rainer Rogge.

Although this movie is not well-known in China, it is a well-deserved classic in Hollywood and even the world's film circles.

Although the actors themselves do not have much fame or box office appeal, with only the touching plot and wonderful performances, it not only won huge gains at the Oscars, but also earned US$4.84 million in box office worldwide.

This is definitely an amazing result.

Now that the actor who was originally the bottom third tier actor in Hollywood is replaced by DiCaprio, the box office will definitely increase a lot, not to mention the awards.

After all, at this time, Leo's box office appeal is much greater than that of him and Tom Cruise.

On the other side, Harvey, Howard Stringer and others had an idea popping up in their heads, that is, they must win this movie even if it is sold out!

"Wayne writes the script and produces it, and DiCaprio is the leading actor. What's the difference between making a movie like this and picking up money?"

Several people looked at each other with tacit understanding in their eyes.

Next, Wayne did not reveal any information about the new film, and DiCaprio did not ask, but the atmosphere became more enthusiastic.

This made Tom Cruise, who was alone not far away, feel envious, and the smile on his face could hardly be kept.

"Damn! Why is that guy so popular!"

Tom Cruise's fingers holding the wine glass turned slightly white.

In fact, his aura as a Hollywood star wouldn't work well at a dinner party of this caliber, but it wouldn't be the case that almost no one cares about him like he is now.

The key reason for this scene is his identity as a Scientologist.

In particular, his divorce from Nicole Kidman not only damaged his reputation and character, but also made the already notorious Scientology Church even more infamous.

Most of the guests present were from the entertainment and political circles, and they all cherished feathers. Naturally, they did not want to have any contact with him in such a public place.

And just when Tom Cruise was full of resentment, another unexpected guest came to Wayne.

"Hi, Mr. Wayne, is this the first time we've met? Nice to meet you."

The visitor did not introduce his name because it would be superfluous.

Because his name is almost unknown to everyone in the entire California and the entire United States, let alone in Hollywood.

"Hello, Mr. Schwarzenegger, I have always admired you, and I didn't expect to see you here."

Yes, it was Arnold Schwarzenegger and his current wife Maria Shriver.

Although Maria Shriver is only a reporter for a news program owned by NBC, she also has another identity, that is, the niece of President Kennedy.

The thin, middle-aged Latino with short black hair and a smile on the other side of Schwarzenegger is not the host of this dinner, but he is undoubtedly the host of this dinner. One of the highest status people.

"Let me introduce, this is Mr. Antonio Villaraigosa, Speaker of the California House of Representatives."

"Hello, Mr. Wayne, I'm Antonio Villaraigosa, and although I'm a little older, to be honest, of all the movies you've appeared in, my favorite is "Admission." You know Well, my child forced me to go to the theater to watch it three times! You know, he had never been willing to go shopping with an old guy like me before, let alone watch a movie together."

Antonio Villaraigosa took the initiative to lower his posture and shook hands with Wayne.

The smile on his face became more and more friendly, almost like the old Wang next door before the incident happened.

It has to be said that politicians are all actors with superb acting skills.

And Antonio Villaraigosa, a Latino from an ordinary Mexican family, can become the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and his acting skills are definitely more superb than any Oscar winner.

However, while Wayne was chatting politely with him, he was keenly aware that Howard Stringer and Disney President Michael Eisner, who had not yet stepped down, were not very interested in him.

"Although the speaker of the state House of Representatives does not have as much power as a city councilor in Los Angeles, he is still a speaker. With their communication skills, they will not show such an attitude unless..."

Wayne's heart moved, and he immediately thought of James Hahn, the current mayor of Los Angeles.

Antonio Villaraigosa is now the Speaker of the California House of Representatives at the age of 48. If he wants to go further, he can only aim at the mayor of a certain city.

Before the rise of Silicon Valley, Los Angeles was undoubtedly the center of the entire California and even the west coast of the United States in terms of economics and culture. As long as he was a little ambitious, he would not target other mayors, but only the city of Los Angeles. long.

James Hahn comes from a long-established family in California, and he is also white.

Antonio Villaraigosa, a Latino who wants to run for mayor, is obviously not favored by everyone.Although it is said that at their status, as long as they don't leave any clues, even the mayor of Los Angeles can't do anything to them. Instead, he will be polite to them, but it will be a bit troublesome.

It's not surprising that everyone is alienated from him.

In fact, Antonio Villaraigosa's bid for mayor of Los Angeles this year will indeed end in failure and he will have to stay dormant for two years.

Later, after Schwarzenegger became the governor of California in 03, Antonio Villaraigosa was successfully elected to the Los Angeles City Council.

Then it took another two years to get elected mayor of Los Angeles.

However, since then, he has never been re-elected as the mayor of Los Angeles, and together with Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who is also Latino, he controls the entire Democratic Party.

Thinking of this, Wayne couldn't help but become more enthusiastic.

Although Antonio Villaraigosa will lose the election this year, it will be just right for him.

After all, how can the icing on the cake be the fragrance that comes when the time is right?
And there is no need to wait four years. As long as Schwarzenegger is elected governor of California in two years, the situation will be completely reversed.

In the first few years after he came to power, Schwarzenegger had a terrifying reputation and support in California.

It can be said that after Schwarzenegger was elected governor, as long as he did not give up Antonio Villaraigosa and Antonio Villaraigosa himself did not cause any trouble, it would be almost impossible to defeat James Hahn in the election two years later. It's a done deal.

And he's just a young man who has just risen to this level.

Even if others notice that he is more enthusiastic about Antonio Villaraigosa, they will most likely think that this is the first time he has met such a 'big man', and they will not understand the situation behind it at all. Too concerned.

Even if he openly joins Antonio Villaraigosa's campaign team and supports Antonio Villaraigosa, he will probably only be regarded as a fool who was deceived by Antonio Villaraigosa. Lost young man.

After all, Wayne has never been in contact with Zhengji.

Even if it really arouses the dissatisfaction of the current mayor James Hahn, he doesn't need to be afraid. Don't forget that he also has a backer now.

No politician wants to offend the media, let alone one of the top three news media groups in the United States like Hearst Corporation.

Therefore, befriending and investing in Antonio Villaraigosa is a guaranteed profit no matter how you look at it.

And Antonio Villaraigosa is worthy of being a person who can achieve great things. He still looked calm despite the cold and distant eyes around him. After chatting with Wayne for a full five or six minutes and exchanging personal business cards, he and Schwa The Singhs left together.

After he left, the originally strange atmosphere returned to normal.But just as Wayne expected, no one reminded him of the hurdles involved.

DiCaprio didn't know, but Howard Stringer and others obviously knew but didn't say anything.

Maybe they still want Wayne to offend the current mayor, so wouldn't they have one more way to show kindness to Wayne?

Next, the real owners of this charity dinner, the Chief of the Beverly Hills Police Department and the Chief of the Fire Department, also came with their respective wives to say hello and exchange a few words.

Almost another half hour passed before the auction finally began.

Wayne and Mia were seated at the first small round table on the left in the middle of the third row. Their tablemates were Howard Stringer and Steven Spielberg.

Obviously, Howard Stringer had to be more attentive and energetic in his battles with Harvey and Michael Eisner.

But the donations that were put up for auction were really not interesting.

Most of them were worth tens of thousands of dollars, and very few were worth over one hundred thousand dollars, and there was no fierce bidding. At most, the bidding stopped after two or three times. It was nothing like the novels he had read before. In this way, they are so competitive that they can easily shout out high prices of tens of millions of dollars.

But it's not surprising when you think about it.

It is not easy for anyone to make money these days. It is impossible for donors to donate too valuable things for free. Even if it is for tax deduction, they can donate more cheap collectibles to top up the amount.

The bidders are not fools. Even if they have to pay protection fees, they have to do what they can.

After waiting and watching for a while, Wayne originally wanted to spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy some diamond jewelry. However, he saw a painting of "Innocence" by William-Adolphe Bouguereau in his later years, so he spent 8 dollars. Bought it.

"Does Mr. Wayne like the works of William-Adolphe Bouguereau very much?" Spielberg asked upon seeing this.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau was born in La Rochelle, France in 1825. He was one of the most important figures in the French academic school in the 19th century. He had a beautiful painting style and was good at creating beautiful and idealized realms.

The themes are mostly myths, angels and fables.

However, because he is not very famous and there are many works that have been handed down to the world, even those few masterpieces are only worth one or two million at this time.

An unknown work like "Innocence" is worth tens of thousands of dollars.

However, for wealthy people like them, the value of the gift is no longer so important, what matters is whether it can be used as they like.

It's like giving Wayne a daughter, not only does it not cost a penny, but it also earns two favors in vain.

It's just that he is a little shameless, and he can't be as upright as Harvey and Howard Stringer, and he doesn't care about other people's opinions at all.

So if Wayne likes William-Adolphe Bouguereau then he can have a way to have a relationship with Wayne.

There is no way. Today's DreamWorks seems to be developing well, but it is still facing a lot of pressure.

Unless he, like Hemera Pictures, not only gives up overseas distribution business, but also gives away such important income from disc sales, the Big Seven will not let him go.

Unfortunately, Wayne was not very interested in William-Adolphe Bouguereau.

"I'm just interested in all beautiful and beautiful things. This painting is beautiful, isn't it?"

Then Wayne fell in love with another work called "Two Sisters", also a work by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. The price was cheaper than "Innocence", and he only spent [-] US dollars to shoot it.

Now Spielberg finally realized it.

Wayne's preferences have been very specific from beginning to end, and he just likes beautiful women.

Howard Stringer, who was silent and just smiling, once again confirmed Wayne's taste through these two paintings, and had a vague idea in his mind.

(End of this chapter)