Hollywood Domination Chapter 281: Trouble in Venice

Now, there are two companies who want to buy Marvel, and the original owner Ron is short of money and eager to sell, but he has not yet reached the point of complete despair. He still has a choice. He can still choose between Paramount and Disney. Bidding between them, sticking to the original price bottom line, doing so is betting that Disney will not dare to tear up his face, lest forge grievances and provoke his sniping in the future-for Ron, who is notoriously vicious, this possibility That's definitely not a joke. Even Apple and Microsoft have to pay a lot of money to redeem themselves. Disney may not really have the courage to get this in the precious ten days before the news of Lehman Brothers' complete bankruptcy spread. Determined to create an opportunity for Ron's enemies. After all, it is completely unknown whether Ron will be crushed. If he survives, Disney will be in trouble.

However, there are two sides to the story. Ron doesn't know how much Disney knows. He may be in deep trouble and urgently needs a bridge fund. He may also have many enemies. He is very familiar with these situations, and if he really pokes them out, then Ron may die because of his greedy decision. From this perspective, it is also a good choice to sell to Disney who intends to take over at a proper price reduction. It depends on How did Ron choose——As for selling to Paramount at a small price reduction, this possibility has been ruled out. If Ron makes this decision, then Disney can also share information with Paramount. Don't buy it for the time being, wait until Ron can't stand it and start to lower the price, squeeze out the current moisture, and then compete, and even the two sides carve up and dismember Marvel's IP library. , all have their own backers behind them, and more often it is to cooperate to make money, maintain market order and the status of the six majors. It can be said that they are both enemies and friends. It is more beneficial to choose cooperation than to choose confrontation. Of course, Disney still wants to take full advantage first, and choose the path of cooperation and swallowing if it can't.

If Ron really had something to do with Lehman's bankruptcy, then Jenny and Cesare have considered these possible solutions. In addition, there are some suspicions caused by information asymmetry: Why did Disney know this news, and is there a hidden card? All these will weaken Ron's confidence and increase his doubts. She is also very curious about how Ron will choose to deal with it, whether to compromise and sell it to Disney at a low price, or simply dismiss the idea in a fit of anger and let the deal fall through—— Since she didn't know much about Ron's character and finances, it was really hard to predict, so she just looked at Ron with great interest and observed his expression: under the violent emotional turmoil, the rich Some clues could be revealed from the inner activities, at least Jenny could tell now that Ron was thinking nervously, and he glanced at her from time to time, obviously doing the same thing, which was trying to see through Jenny's cards.

However, he didn't make Jenny wait for long. Although it was a bit uncomfortable for Ron at first, but this big man who has gone through ups and downs can't be frightened in front of this small business worth billions of dollars. , After only ten seconds of thinking, Ron broke the silence.

"You know, if I just need a fund, then Marvel is not my only choice." Or pretend that the news didn't touch him at all. Ron's thinking is very fast, and his communication is extremely efficient. Power, "Even if I want to use Marvel to realize it, selling it as a whole is not my only option."

Their conversation must be very jumpy for outsiders. Jenny can understand Robert's saying that "real negotiations are completed through wordless dialogue", because for Ron, if you need him to explain, then You are not qualified to talk to him - what he said is that according to his usual style, he can still let Marvel issue a lot of junk debt, at the expense of Marvel's future, forcing Marvel to sell the debt and pay dividends, Cashing out a lot of money, of course, doing so will ruin Marvel's great situation because of "Iron Man", and it will also increase the cost of Disney's acquisition of Marvel, and the interest will plummet, but this is indeed a habit of Ron. The way he is going is also a bargaining chip for him to seize the dominance and keep Disney from lowering prices infinitely. If you, Jennifer, don't even understand Ron Perelman's usual methods, and you can't guess his possible choices, you don't know what to do. As a result, there is no need for him, Ron, to continue talking with you. It is better to call Disney directly and let a knowledgeable person who can count his words come forward. Even if Jenny replied slowly, he might be slighted by him, and if she wanted to answer quickly, she might not be so thoughtful and make mistakes.

Business conversations with such top talents are far more stressful than social conversations. Jenny feels that filming is not so tiring. If she hadn't received corresponding training courses, she might feel at a loss now. ——Now she is really grateful that she survived the boring, boring, and even painful learning process. It can be said that this kind of course trains your instinct in similar situations. How do you dismantle the other party? The information released, how to maintain one's own rhythm under the pressure of the other party, and recognize one's own advantages are all skills that can be mastered through repeated practice. At that time, the hard work of forcing myself to clear my head and calm down to study in the busy schedule at that time was also rewarded today. Really at this moment, she felt the exhaustion and pain that had been contained in the pressure bucket in her heart. It is indeed worth it. This knowledge is really helping her gain greater benefits and a better future, so that she will not experience the loss of "learning to swim at the age of 14, but saying no to the sea at the age of 18".

"So..." She smiled, with a naturally elongated tone, and at the same time nervously used the time she had earned to think about the information revealed by Ron's words, and soon, her smile was also sincere Get up, "Disney is still your first choice after all, Ron?"

Ron didn't feel frustrated when his own words were interpreted in such a way. On the contrary, he also showed a relaxed and appreciative smile, and praised without hesitation, "You are indeed quite agile, Jennifer— —It is indeed quite agile, yes, Disney is my first choice now, and I am also very happy to know that Disney has the same sincerity to buy Marvel..."

From his open and confident smile, as well as the now somewhat open facial expression, Jenny easily discovered Ron's true state of mind. He doesn't think he has lost the meal, and Ron doesn't care much about whether Disney has some of Ron's cards, because he has strong confidence in himself-even if he is temporarily in a weak position He is not afraid that Disney will choose a destructive acquisition method, because he is Ron Perelman, the famous Wolf of Wall Street, he has enough strength to complete a fair transaction, and if Disney really dares to pull out As for Tiger Beard, Ron is confident enough to get back on the field...

This is the fault tolerance rate of big people. For Ron, he can still eat the biggest piece of cake after making several mistakes. As for Jenny, if she wants to bite more, she has to be full of energy , carefully avoiding any mistakes and omissions. ——As she sighed in her heart, she also showed the same happy smile, "Yes, I think the real communication starts now, doesn't it?"

"True." Ron said with a smile, and he gestured casually to the waiter beside him, "Ask them to replace you with soup-by the way, I heard your new movie has a good response... ..."

Although the difference is very subtle, Jenny can feel that there is a little more sincerity in Ron's gentlemanly demeanor-although he has always been very polite to her and has never been rude, but this time, his respect is not because of Social courtesy, or Jenny's fame, Syed's admiration for her, but really because of her ability, because of her potential shown in the conversation...

"Yes." She also changed the subject with satisfaction, and adjusted her attitude appreciatively, showing a corresponding kindness to Ron: Confirm that both parties want to buy and sell well, and Disney didn't want to maliciously lower the price, It seems that Ron has also given up the idea of ​​competing to raise the price, so the next step is to negotiate a price acceptable to both parties. Both of them know this. Jenny can't be the master, and Ron still wants to negotiate with Disney. Then Ron's choice to hand over the power to spread the word to Jenny is undoubtedly a kind of favor, and she has no reason to push away Ron's kindness. "Recently, "Monroe" will have a film critic preview in New York, but if you are interested, I can also arrange a special screening for you-"

"Just give me a ticket for the trial screening." Ron said with a smile, he didn't bring up topics related to acquisitions and financial turmoil, "I have always loved movies, hehe, speaking of this , let me tell you a secret - when I was a young man, I was madly infatuated with Marilyn, and I did meet her once..."

#

"Marilyn Monroe." Just as Ron and Jenny were vividly describing Marilyn's peerless beauty, such a deep voice echoed in the auditorium of the Venice Film Palace in Italy, far away on the other side of the world. , "This is the moment I remember the most: her hug, she believed in me so much, this is her talent..."

As the light song "that old black magic" sounded, Jennifer Jefferson, Marilyn Monroe, who sang softly under the spotlight, disappeared into the darkness. Tom Wenders also let out a sigh of relief, and leaned back on the seat, while slowly rubbing his cheeks, while staring blankly at the picture that slowly rolled out of the subtitles. After a long time, he sighed silently. Taking a deep breath, he took out a cigarette and lit it, and handed one to his old friend. "Draw?"

Mark Muller took the cigarette, but did not light it immediately, he said slowly, "What's your opinion?"

Wim took a deep breath of the cigarette, groping the bridge of his nose with his thumb, "Not optimistic."

As a rigorous and rational German, Wim, a film master, has always cherished words like gold, but Mark understood his comments, because the two people's views actually coincided with each other—indeed, this The films participating in this year's Venice lack bright spots. Except for Hollywood's "The Wrestler" and "Rachel's Wedding", there are not many choices. In the films of Europe, Africa and other countries, it is necessary to find and compete with Hollywood. Not so easy. This made the jury face an embarrassing situation - the previous session had already allocated too much pork to Hollywood, and if this session continues like this, then they have to complain, but even if they want to support films from various countries, they can't It can only be done if the opponent has that strength, otherwise, the gold content of the Venice award will also be greatly reduced.

Choosing among these candidates is difficult enough, and that's not counting "My Week With Marilyn" when Marc invited it for its European premiere in Venice. At the time, he did not expect that things would turn out like this. At that time, this seemed like a good idea to add luster to the film festival, but now, the low quality of the candidate films and the amazingness of "Monroe" made the organizers Some are in a dilemma: From the perspective of film quality alone, "Monroe" can even be said to be better than "The Wrestler". Including those genius montages that attracted full attention. Of course, Jennifer Jefferson's glamorous style and the feeling of being reborn also directly hit the instinctive part that Mark as a man could not have--"Monroe" in This time it can be said that the film festival is thriving, it is already so good that it is not suitable to award the award to others, but if Jennifer Jefferson's film won the best actress award for two consecutive years (Mark said Once I even felt that it would be unreasonable not to give her the grand prize), this is also very inappropriate, just like the Oscars will try their best to avoid this situation, all influential film festivals will not like this, and the reasons need not be repeated.

Of course, Mark hasn't made a film himself for many years, but has been sitting in the position of chairman of the film festival. His taste for films may not be so trendy, so he invited Wim to work with him. He watched the film, hoping to find his way with the head of the jury on what to do with Monroe: the Grand Prix and Best Actress seemed unacceptable, but if not, who would?

"Maybe it can be given a grand prize," said Wim. "The film festival stipulates that the film that wins the grand prize cannot win the rest of the awards. This result is acceptable."

"The chairman of the jury last year, Zhang, won the Grand Prix and the Best Actress," Mark said helplessly—and then emphasized, "Because of this, he didn't have this concept, and even put the best actor and actress at the same time. Give a movie."

He shirked his acquiescence, and even hinted at Director Zhang's responsibility: At the time, it was a very appropriate decision to award this award to Jennifer, who had a greater influence in the United States. Earn a screening of a new film by Jennifer. Who knew that his idea was to dig a hole for himself. At that time, Jennifer, who was already so good that the actresses of her generation could hardly survive, would come back a year later with an even better "Monroe"?

Mark didn't want to entangle this matter for too long, before Wim, a German, had his national character, he changed the topic, "The important thing is now, if the grand prize is not given to "Monroe", we should To whom, to whom won't we be bashed to death by the critics, and if Best Actress isn't given to Jennifer, to whom should we give it, to whom will satisfy the critics and keep Venice from being a media laughingstock? "

"I don't know," said Wim honestly, "and now my mind is blank and I can't think of anything."

Mark smacked his lips and said tentatively, ""The Wrestler"? This is also a very good movie."

Wim snorted, but did not comment, which gave Mark a glimmer of hope: Well, this choice is not very plausible, but it doesn't seem so ridiculous, at least Wim can bear it Live without objection.

"As for Best Actress, "Rachel's Wedding" is of good quality," he said, his tone a little guilty, "Anne Hathaway is also a big hit before the festival—"

This time, before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Wim, the German film master snorted disdainfully, as if Mark had just done the worst insult to his aesthetic ability, professional ability and professional ethics , and even seemed to think that Mark just said a ridiculous joke.

"That's because people haven't seen Monroe!" /

His attitude can be said to be a bit rude. For a big name like Mark, it is not impossible to turn his face on the spot when encountering such a backlash. However, at this moment, he does not have any anger in his heart. It felt a bit like a passenger who was caught fare evasion for the first time, a little embarrassed and guilty, and a little relaxed when his mistakes were corrected - he smiled embarrassingly and lit his own cigarette.

"Okay." Taking a deep breath, Mark Mueller exhaled a round smoke ring in a sophisticated manner, "Then we are really in trouble, Wim, we are really in trouble It's..."