Made in Hollywood

"How could this be?"

Looking at the data report in his hand, Charlie Adam, director of the distribution department of Twentieth Century Fox, was a little stunned. Although he had enough psychological preparation in advance, he couldn't help being surprised after the film's first weekend box office was released.

The big sales of the film must have brought ecstasy rather than surprise. Charlie Adam felt that his position was already unstable. There was "Chicago" which he strongly opposed and rejected, and the box office "Life and Death Speed" "2" Later, even if the real decision maker is CEO Townsend? Rothman, but I am afraid that the scapegoat...

His eyes fell on the report in his hand again.

The production cost of "Life and Death 2" was 110 million U.S. dollars, and the box office for the first three days was 16.15 million U.S. dollars, far lower than the 40 million U.S. dollars expected by Fox in the 20th century!

Why is this happening? The first film of "Life and Death" is a huge hit. In recent years, the sales and rental performance of video tapes has also been quite good. It must have accumulated a lot of supporters. According to general principles, the film’s first week of box office should be a big hit. That's right.

Could it be...

Charlie Adam sighed, is it just because he changed the director? Is there such a big difference between a Duke Rosenberg production and a non-Duke Rosenberg production?

♂, with the same idea, there is Keanu Keeves’ agent.

"Keanu, you can't go anymore." He looked at Reeves. "Since "Life and Death", none of your movies have really sold out. Now the safest "Life and Death" sequel has basically been If you mess it up, your status will decline further. If you want to stay in Hollywood, you must cheer up."

Just like taking drugs when he was young, Keanu Reeves likes to live as he pleases, but he is no longer young. The experience of the past few years has told him that if he wants to do whatever he wants, he must have money and status as capital.

It's just...just in this situation, most people probably want to step on him a few feet, who is willing to help him? Even Twentieth Century Fox directly interrupted a film project that was originally negotiating after the box office was released in the first week.

If "Life and Death 2" can't come back later. Then he is a veritable box office poison, and how big is the hope of a comeback?

After all, this is not a movie directed by Duke Rosenberg, it can still kill the opponent after being left behind so much!

With a sigh in his heart, Keanu Reeves actually understood very well that he had set this box office poison.

"Go ahead, Vicente, what should I do?"

Hearing Keanu Reeves’ question, Vicente put down his coffee cup. He also took his eyes from outside the cafe, "Back to where the dream started!"

"Where did the dream begin?" Keanu Reeves didn't understand.

"Yes, Keanu." Vicente took out an official invitation and handed it over, "Have you forgotten? Whose movie did you star in and become a first-line star?"

Keanu Reeves opened the invitation, "Duke Rosenberg?"

"He invited you to audition!" Vicente's words were full of excitement. "I got news that you are the person he personally called for the audition! Keanu. This is an opportunity! Duke Rosenberg's new work is. Summer science fiction films, as long as you can get the actor. Everyone will be crazy for you again next summer!"

If the king of summer can't save Keanu Reeves, who else can save Keanu Reeves? Although Vicente thought so, he didn't say it. He knew Keanu Reeves must understand it.

For the hacker studio, there is no need to worry about the candidates for the actor audition. Not only Hugo Weiwen and Keanu Reeves, whom Duke invited, agreed to participate in the audition. Even Will Smith, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ivan McGregor and many other well-known potential new stars' agents have taken the initiative to come to the door and perform roles for their clients.

Even Tom Cruise, who was filming "Disc on Disc", called and asked if there was a chance for the two parties to cooperate again.

"Tom, if you are willing to get the pay in "Chicago". I will definitely choose you, and you don't need to audition!"

Duke’s answer is completely sincere. If Tom Cruise could play Neo for $5 million, what Keanu Reeves would definitely not be considered. He would welcome Tom with his hands up? Cruise.

It's a pity that Liangtang can cut the salary of Oscar in "Chicago", but will not cut the salary to star in commercial movies.

The first round of auditions will be in charge of casting director Gray and associate director Zach Schneider. Duke will not be involved. If the people he invites fail to pass the first round of auditions, they are bound to be eliminated.

In addition to the audition and normal preparatory work, Duke has equally important work to do. He showed many manufacturers the scenes of various products that may appear in the film in the form of scripts and concept maps to attract them to enter the advertisements. .

Implanting advertisements is an indispensable factor in commercial films. Of course, Duke will not be so stupid to refuse. As long as the implantation methods and methods are consistent with the movie scene, it is not a big deal.

The content of placement ads mainly comes from windbreakers, sunglasses, mobile phones, computers, TVs, cars, beverages and courier companies.

Although everyone knows that in such a heavily invested commercial film, the placement of advertisements must be expensive, but it has attracted dozens of manufacturers to Los Angeles to start business negotiations with hacker studios.

Perhaps the words of the representative of Nokia are the most representative, "Nokia can join the negotiation only because this is a film directed by Duke Rosenberg!"

After Duke showed the ideas and ideas of the film to these manufacturers, the commercial development team of the hacker studio immediately started negotiations with them separately. After more than a week of wrangling, more than a dozen manufacturers signed an implantation with the crew. Advertising agreement, the crew can receive extremely scary advertising sponsorship fees in the future.

Ray-Ban glasses US$1 million, Coca-Cola US$3 million, Dell Computers US$3 million, Nokia mobile phones US$4 million, Panasonic TV US$4 million, Cadillac US$4 million, FedEx US$1 million...

The film has not started shooting, and the production cost of 80 million US dollars has been recovered 20 million US dollars!

And this is just the basic sponsorship amount. According to the supplementary terms of the sponsorship agreement signed by both parties, if the film's global box office exceeds 500 million US dollars. Advertising costs for all manufacturers will increase by another 10%.

500 million U.S. dollars, if calculated according to the North American fare, the most conservative one would have watched the movie 100 million times, and these manufacturers who often advertise in the movie know that the movie is not only shown in the theater, but will be passed afterwards. TV, video, disc and other methods. Into more families around the world.

In short, in business activities, there is no fool who only knows how to pay without asking for rewards.

The $20 million in advertising sponsorship has not been released yet, which will undoubtedly ease the pressure on Duke and the entire crew.

On the other hand, the crew’s preparations in Los Angeles are gradually coming to an end. Only after the actors’ auditions are over, they can head to Australia to join the action director team directly from Hong Kong. Then began more lengthy preparations, and Duke reminded Tina Fei that all the auditioning actors invited by Tina Fei successfully passed the first round of auditions.

The first second round of auditions is different from the standard Hollywood-style audition. There is no role script, no lines, and no actors are even required to perform their acting skills.

To pass the first round of auditions, there is definitely no problem with basic acting skills.

"Mr. Smith. Please imagine a cool scene."

Sitting behind the monitor, Duke personally said to Will Smith who was auditioning. "And act out your imagination."

Will Smith is standing in front of the camera, with a black windbreaker, black sunglasses and black skin. It's really cool. If you look at appearance alone, he is indeed a very suitable candidate for Neo.

However, this guy probably played more comedies. When the performance is cool, like most blacks, the disdainful performance coupled with extremely exaggerated body movements...

Neo does not really need acting skills, but he needs acting style. Will Smith's over-exposed acting style is obviously inappropriate. The savior needs not only to be cool, but also to look deep enough to be cool, which means to be able to pretend to be both deep and cool.

It is undeniable that there are many philosophical things expounded in "The Matrix", and the created world is also attractive enough, but whether it is lines, or costumes, or kung fu, or even the style of the whole film, they all explain the word cool. Meaning, the film can be a big success, extremely cool can be described as an extremely important reason.

Will Smith quickly left the audition room. Zach Schneider, Robin Grand and others had already studied the script and roles. Before Duke could say anything, they shook their heads.

"It doesn't match Neo's setting."

"Hip-hop style savior is not suitable for our movie."

Duke nodded to the two, and gestured to the casting director Gray. He directly notified the assistant outside the door, and soon Keanu Reeves walked into the audition room.

Black windbreaker, black sunglasses, black leather boots, plus a **** head, plus Keanu Reeves itself is not a talkative character, standing there, as deep as a sect of some sect in Los Angeles. .

This scene is simply Neo's rebirth.

Duke didn't bother to let him do anything, and asked directly, "Keanu, I heard that you have some Chinese ancestry. Don't worry, I have no other meaning, just want to ask if you know Kung Fu."

"of course."

Keanu Reeves pointed to the sunglasses, saw Duke nodding, and took it off, "Although I don't know how, I've seen people playing tricks. It's very fancy."

"If you pass the audition, you need to participate in at least three months of Kung Fu training!" Duke said while looking through his information, "and it's in Sydney, Australia, which is essential."

Frowning slightly, Keanu Reeves hesitated for a few seconds, and then said, "None of this is a problem for me."

"Good." Duke nodded to him, "If a decision is made, we will notify your agent as soon as possible."

Negotiations with Keanu Reeves will definitely drag on a little longer. The worse the follow-up box office trend of "Life and Death 2", the more capital the hacker studio has to lower his pay.

Then, it was the audition for the heroine. (To be continued...)

ps: I have to help people to do work on weekends. I don't know what the situation is. I will try my best to keep three shifts every day~~ Please also support!