Made in Hollywood

"It turned out to be "Pearl Harbor"!"

On a terrace of the Duke’s Manor facing the sea, Duke was having afternoon tea while he said to Nancy Josephson, who was holding coffee, "So you were sometimes dug into the wall."

"Although Michael Ovitz is no longer in caa, his appeal is still amazing." Nancy Josephson seemed to have a very good mentality, "Don't forget, it is an A-rated heroine, even if it is changed to I will make the same choice."

"You agreed to terminate the contract with her?"

It is normal for actors to switch jobs, but the fired agent often has a lot of small actions. The most typical Duke memory is Tom Cruise and Pat Kingsley.

"It's just a little actor."

Putting down the coffee cup, Tina Fei, who was sitting on the other side, took the initiative to fill her up. Nancy thanked her and said to Duke, "I thought she looked pretty, so I thought she had some potential. Direction to build her, but..."

She shook her head, "Her performance in "Hundred Thousand Hundreds" is too poor. I think that spending a lot of resources to praise her is completely unworthy compared with the rewards in the future."

Nancy suddenly laughed, "Although your acting skills are terrible, I "⊥, I believe you look at the actors, since you think her future is not worth investing in, I believe her future achievements are also extremely limited."

"Hey, dear." Duke flicked the white porcelain teacup lightly with a crisp sound, and then said, "Are you complimenting me or demeaning me?"

"You understand it yourself." Nancy opened the sugar bowl and added two pieces of sugar to her coffee cup. "Like caa, icm also has evaluation measures. Our evaluation of Kate Beckinsale is only c."

Think about Kate Beckinsale's future. Excluding "Pearl Harbor", starring in "Van Helsing" barely squeezed into the second-tier, most of the other time, I am afraid it is difficult to be classified as a second-tier star.

If I remember correctly, she has not played an important role in any first-line production, the most famous films. Instead, they are all small-produced B-rated films, and the North American box office is only hovering around 50 million US dollars...

The agent may be angry because of being fired by a star like Liangtang, but few care about such a small role.

For such a small actor, it's not worth it to deal with Tom Cruise like Pat Kingsley and Paramount Pictures.

Nancy Josephson is certainly not a magnanimous person. She added milk to the coffee and said while stirring, "Touchstone Pictures has reached a packaging agreement with Michael Ovitz..."

"Robert Iger wants to cooperate with him?" Duke couldn't help frowning.

Although he no longer works with Walt Disney, but with Robert Iger. But keep in touch.

"You have stayed in Australia for too long, and the news is no longer clear."

Picking up the coffee cup, Nancy said before drinking, "Because of the conflict with Michael Eisner, Robert Iger lost his position as the CEO of Touchstone Pictures. The current person in charge is Eisner’s cronies."

Duke pondered for a moment, "So Michael Eisner and Michael Ovitz are working together again?"

The two people are making trouble at Disney. It is simply incompatible. Directly lead to Michael Ovitz ushering in the biggest failure in his life.

"Ovitz no longer serves as an executive at Disney, and Eisner's conflict with him has come to an end." Nancy simply said a few words. She knew that Duke would soon be able to figure it out, "Duke, don’t forget, it was Ovitz who brought the all-in-one package service to Hollywood and continued to achieve success. Although "Godzilla" is in your "The Matrix" "Weak in front of us. But it still generates enough profit."

"Michael Ovitz's ability in this area is worthy of the trust of any film company." She added.

Duke nodded. In the face of the expected profit, some personal conflicts are just minor problems.

"Who is the director?" Duke asked.

"Michael Bay." Nancy Josephson put down the coffee cup, "I have reliable information. Ovitz has reached an agreement with Michael Bay, that little blaster will soon be transferred from William Morris to his banner. ."

It seems that everything is moving closer to memory.

Just as Duke was thinking about it, Nancy reminded him, “There is one thing you must pay attention to. The production budget of "Pearl Harbor" is as high as 140 million U.S. dollars, and it is likely to be in the Memorial Day schedule next year. Released!"

"Oh?" Duke couldn't help raising his eyebrows.

For such a film describing the attack on Pearl Harbor, the most suitable schedule must be the weekend before Memorial Day. Disney and Michael Ovitz just made the most normal choice.

But the reason why Nancy highlighted this matter is that Duke’s plan "The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings Expedition" is also on this schedule!

Summer vacation weekends are divided into three, six or nine. The best schedule is the two weekends beginning in May, Memorial Day, and Independence Day holidays.

After thinking a little bit, Duke said to Tina Fei, "Communicate with Warner Bros. on this matter."

Tina Fei nodded and asked again, "Our..."

"We try not to change the schedule as much as possible!" Duke said.

He has never been afraid of competition, not to mention that his opponent is still "Pearl Harbor". Even if the schedule is to be changed, the film that voluntarily changes should be "Pearl Harbor".

"Michael Ovitz is ambitious. He wants to create a brand new brokerage empire."

Having said that, Nancy looked at Duke and specifically mentioned a name, "Martin Bob joined CAA after he left CAA. The history of the rise of CAA proves that Martin Bob may not be a qualified decision maker. He is an excellent supporting role."

Hearing this name that was almost forgotten by him, Duke picked up his teacup and took a sip, "icm, William Morris, and caa, will see a new company join in and share the cake?"

"Of course not." Nancy Josephson said of course. "So, icm and caa joined forces and disrupted the cooperation between Ovitz and Paramount Pictures?"

Duke looked at it with questioning eyes, and Nancy said directly, “Michael Ovitz wanted to pack the latest Star Trek from Paramount Pictures, but the project was snatched by Iino Martin and I.”

Having said this, Nancy sighed, "But Ovitz’s energy really should not be underestimated. After losing "Star Trek", he moved Universal Pictures with a new racing project and will soon enter Formal preparations."

Racing? Universal Pictures? Duke tried to think about the movies related to these two words, and after a while, he finally got an impression.

"Do you know the name of the project?" he asked.

Nancy shook her head, "Universal Pictures temporarily only named the project a codename called'Speed'. By the way, James Cameron also got a kick in it."

"Didn't he dislike Michael Ovitz?" Duke asked strangely.

"Cameron will not be involved in any work related to this movie." Nancy knew that there was an ambiguity in what she said just now, and said quickly, "He just recommended an actress to the crew, who seems to be a female in a TV series he produced. protagonist."

Although Anna Prinz was in charge of New Zealand for the time being, Duke could not stay in Los Angeles for too long. In the following two days, he began frequent contacts with the senior officials of Warner Bros. and Jeff Robinau. The husband talked twice, mainly related to the sequel to "The Matrix", the announcement of the first part of "The Lord of the Rings" and the filming location of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone".

The Harry Potter series was the first to be dealt with. When Joanna Rowling voluntarily gave in, Duke was in the middle of lobbying. After a few days of hesitation, Warner Bros. finally agreed to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." It will be filmed throughout the UK.

Duke was so positive, of course, because Rowling gave up the point.

Hollywood is ultimately a business circle where interests are paramount. Although Duke admires Joanna Rowling's behavior at the expense of personal interests in order to keep the project in the motherland, he will not let this sentiment sway business decisions.

Then there are the two sequels of The Matrix. Zach Schneider will certainly not be able to get the directorship like Duke, but because of Duke, his right to speak in the project far exceeds those of the newcomers. Directors.

Finally, the release date of "The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring".

"Duke's opinion is clear."

Sitting among the several high-levels of Warner Bros., Tina Fei showed enough savvy and capable, "It is not a last resort, and the schedule of "The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" cannot be changed..."

"I also agree with Duke's view."

Doug Walter stood on Duke's side with a clear-cut stand, "We don't have to be afraid of the "Pearl Harbor" competition!"

Nancy Josephson spoke slowly, "The director of "Pearl Harbor" will definitely be Michael Bay. If Duke voluntarily backs down, it will damage his reputation."

Although the release date of "The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" has not been announced, it is not surprising that relevant information was leaked out later.

After this sentence, the top Warner Bros. executives were temporarily silent. They can ignore Nancy's opinion, but they can't ignore Duke's feelings. Duke, the director, has been tightly tied to Warner Bros.

The blasters are afraid of the little blasters. Once the news spreads, let alone Duke, even the top of Warner Bros. feels that their faces are dull.

What makes them even more concerned is that Duke is the guarantee of Warner’s earnings. Do they really need to care about the competition of an imitator?

"We are the same!" Jeff Robinoff said, "Release the release date of "The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" and see how Disney and Michael Ovitz react."

Doug Walter and others all showed knowing smiles, they shouldn't be afraid of competition! (To be continued...)