Hollywood Domination Chapter 92: Mounting
"Sign here, here, here." The lawyer from Fox pointed to Jenny, "Oh, and here."
When Jenny signed her name as promised, Fox Production Manager and Wendy Finnerman also took over the contract and started the signing process. Lawyers for Jenny, Fox, and Wendy are monitoring the whole process. When the documents are officially signed, the crew of "The Devil Wears Prada" will get the green light from Fox, and officially start the preparation, signing, and casting work. The crew can be formed within a month, and even without a script, some framing and filming work can be completed according to the director's request-in many cases, the script is not the core of the project, especially when the film is adapted. It is not unheard of that there is no official script.
"Indeed, this will be a problem..." Wendy did not leave immediately after signing, but went to Cesare who was waiting at the side, and chatted with him. She is a good friend who was pulled into the film crew by Cesare, so she has a very close relationship with him. Although Jenny knew what they were talking about, she didn't intend to join in
The script of "Prada" has been difficult to produce for more than a month. During this month, the members of the core group have been unable to agree on their opinions. There is also one who is full of attention to the script of the movie, and can even be said to be full of desire for control, and has been working hard Lauren who joined the creative team was messing around, this thing has become a bruise on Jenny's ass, it hurts to think about it, don't want to deal with it, you can't do anything without solving it. ——To make matters worse, the situation has gradually out of Jenny's control after Wendy read her adaptation suggestions.
It is somewhat ironic that Jenny, who proposed the adaptation idea, is now the most conservative one. After a short "artistic pursuit", as long as she thinks of the bank loan contract she signed, Jenny becomes the most conservative one. A determined silly white sweet pie, she would rather not change anything than to use a scalpel on the script structure. On the contrary, Wendy, because she joined at a later stage and came into contact with Jenny's text without forming her own ideas, she was very interested in her ideas.
However, Wendy is a senior producer after all. As a professional who adapted "Forrest Gump" from a dark and realistic modern novel to a heart-warming inspirational masterpiece, she also denied Jenny's opinion Some views on the final ending just accepted that she wanted to add some shortcomings to Andy, as well as the idea of "whitewashing" Miranda and the "Flyover" style of life. At the very least, she hopes that the tone of the movie will be more objective, instead of taking a stand with the original book and obliterating "Flyover" and Miranda.
——Jenny can accept this point, because it is the same idea as the original version. What she can't accept is that she has already settled down to make a fashion fast-food female movie with no depth like the original version. However, Wendy was inspired by her ideas and wanted to dig deeper into this subject, making it a sublimated film just like "Forrest Gump", which only takes the main body of the original work and adds themes by itself. Dee wants to do some artistic discussions, not just a commercial film that sells fancy clothes, and her idea has been approved by Fox, so Jenny's right to speak in this matter is weakening day by day, the only good news , that she probably wouldn't have to face Lauren's wrath. Wendy is very familiar with angry authors, and she has plenty of experience in dealing with them.
If it was just her idea, then even if it was changed or rushed to the street, Jenny could still adjust to it, but now that the script adaptation has slipped out of control, it is difficult for her to calm down. It seems that there is no room for maneuver. Even Cesare recognized Wendy's idea of adaptation, thinking that the success of this project may increase because of this. Wendy's idea is very interesting. They have enough good actors and a sufficient shooting budget. Many people are interested. potential sponsors, if it is done well, maybe this film will become a classic with a lot of box office, word-of-mouth and awards like "Forrest Gump".
"Yes, I think Ellie should be able to write a first draft within this week—if Jennifer has no other comments." As if noticing her lack of enthusiasm, Wendy amplified her voice, and Che Sare looked over together. Jenny felt a sharp headache, and she had a premonition that she would not be able to win this tug-of-war.
Forget it, when the matter came to an end, even Ellie was seriously affected by this idea, and Lauren had already been dealt with softly and hard by Wendy, and she called to complain about giving up last night. Even if she continues to stick to the idea of adapting the original version, she can't find anyone to write it for her, and the current idea is tantamount to building on Jenny's own ideas. Cesare, Wendy, and Fox are completely beyond her control.
Jenny sighed, and finally smiled, "I thought about the ideas you raised at the meeting yesterday after I got home, and I think it's good, Wendy, anyway, you People, Fox is the owner of the adaptation rights, It'syourcall."
In the final analysis, it is because she is not the biggest investor. In front of Wendy, who represents Fox and has a brilliant experience, Jenny's right to speak is still too young. Or, for her, this game field is still too new. Without the help of a guide, she doesn't even know how to expand her voice. Now take a step back and insist on the three elements that she believes the original version can be successful, and let it be reflected in the movie to the maximum extent, which is also a way to ensure the box office.
"Very good." Wendy's face finally brightened. "Actually, Ellie has probably already started writing. She is also very obsessed with the final F plan. She had already written several pages when she called me last night."
According to one page and one minute, a 90-minute movie only needs 90-100 pages. In the case of a clear outline of ideas, this is not a long-term task. Jenny calculated, "Then the filming should start in the middle of next month."
"Yes, but we are still willing to delay until the end of June." Wendy smiled, "I think you must have a lot of things to do in mid-June."
"Ah, indeed, I've begun to fear the film critics' meeting." Jenny glanced at Cesare, saw that he was expressionless, and continued jokingly, "In the few films I have made, "The Notebook" is the film that makes me most nervous - at present, I guess next year this record will be broken by "The Devil Wears Prada."
"Stars have release anxiety," Wendy said, "but I promise you, The Devil Wears Prada is definitely not a movie that will make you worry."
Jenny could only respond with a wry smile to this confident declaration, and Wendy didn't care about her sabotage expression. She led the crowd out and said, "However, this choice is indeed beyond my expectation. " "The Notebook" is not a popular romantic movie theme in recent years. In my opinion, "50 First Dates" with some comedy elements is more popular with young people-ah, I hope you don't mind, Cesare, but I have to say, this time Bell's choice is very wise."
It seems that she didn't know about the "Fifty Times" casting controversy, but this incident did not make it into the media. In fact, the three parties involved have remained silent.
"Of course I hope Bale can go to the next level." Cesare said politely. "No matter how you say it, she is an artist of CAA."
Wendy looked at him knowingly, gave a petting chuckle, and said thoughtfully, "However, Bell has indeed changed a lot, I thought she would implement your 'never The concept of "price reduction" is slowly going to silence. You know, her performance of "Underworld" is not too ideal. We can only see whether the follow-up DVD can achieve profitability. Two consecutive blockbusters with mediocre box office have already let the market I had doubts about her. But when "50 First Dates" came out this year, everything changed. I saw her on Rodeo Drive last month, and I followed at least 20 reporters. I heard that she has now received Many similar script invitations."
The filming time of "50 First Dates" was two months earlier than "The Notebook". In addition, it is a fashion film, and the project itself is mature, so the shooting progress is much faster than "The Notebook". Grab this year's Valentine's Day schedule, the market response is also very good, the box office in the North American market exceeded 100 million. As a romantic comedy, this achievement is already very impressive. Counting the overseas box office that is expected to pay back, it should be able to successfully pay back at the box office and realize a part of the profit. Although the male and female protagonists have no sense of presence among film critics, but Bell successfully transformed from a glamorous and mature female image to a simple and sweet character image, and was recognized by the audience. It was also considered an excellent transformation in the first half of this year, and opened a new door for her future stardom .
"Really?" Cesare's performance was flawless, and he even showed a polite business smile, "It really makes people happy for her."
"You can really destroy a person's enthusiasm for gossip." Wendy rolled her eyes and complained directly. On the other hand, David smiled gently and asked Jenny cooperatively, "Are you confident about the upcoming battle between "The Notebook" and "50 First Dates"?"
Although there are no rumors about the casting of "Fifty Times", as the two Jennifers that Cesare has brought successively, these two actresses with very similar positions are naturally competitors, and they will be on the scene in a short time. For the same movie, the box office, word-of-mouth, and audience popularity are all the objects of comparison. The competition in this aspect is definitely a hard bridge. nominations, then whoever is the winner. For this kind of competition, the most concerned is not even the gossip crowd, but the film producer. When two people can play this role, who will be invited to audition? Not to look at the preferences of a certain high-level, but to look at the actual statistics.
Although "The Notebook" is her own choice, Jenny really doesn't have the confidence that it will definitely surpass "50 First Dates". After all, "Fifty Times" is a movie that both she and Cesare are optimistic about, and "The Notebook" is more like a compensation, she said with a smile, "Our costs are different, so..."
Cesare glanced at her suddenly, and Jenny immediately re-examined, "So the profit pressure is less than "50 First Dates", will the box office be better than it? I don't know, but I know that the return on investment ratio may not necessarily lose Give it."
Whether it was Wendy or David, they all showed admiration and satisfaction. Jenny was relieved, knowing that she had made a mistake again: in fact, she has always known the social thinking gap between the East and the West. In the East, people like to be humble. But in the West, the society encourages performance and self-confidence, and if you first make excuses for your failure at the box office, it is tantamount to losing. Of course, this is not to make you brag that the box office will definitely exceed it. This kind of nonsense will definitely not work, but even if you are not optimistic that the box office will surpass "50 Times", you must say it in a tactful way.
In the previous social interaction, she still pays attention to these details, but recently it seems to have returned to the days before the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean", busy and unhappy work, dealing with multiple things at the same time, rest The lack of space made her feel a little too busy to care about him. Jenny knew that she had started the depression before "Pirates of the Caribbean" again, but this time it was not because she couldn't bear the change of lifestyle, but because she was very satisfied with the two projects she chose, especially the ones involved in the production. "The Devil Wears Prada" has a strong sense of uneasiness and frustration. Things did not go in the direction she expected at all, but gradually derailed. This made her wonder whether her ability and talent were not enough to play such a big game. She has been making mistakes since negotiating with Cesare, and now even the script adaptation is completely out of control, and the biggest problem is that when she goes back to sum up her mistakes, she has no idea where to start Improvement, this is what makes her feel the most pressure. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, it’s good if you can learn lessons and improve yourself, but if you don’t know where you are wrong, that’s bad.
"The two films you made this year are indeed not big investments, but this sharing method will be very helpful for you to negotiate prices with big productions in the future." Wendy's style of doing things is to slap first and then sugar, I just teased Jenny and Cesare with Bell, and now I’m starting to give out candy, “As long as your return on investment ratio is bright enough, this 3/10 share is likely to be inherited to major productions, and even 3/10 will be inherited. Higher, if you can get 10/10 in "Caribbean 2", you should enter the Forbes list next year or the year after, this is not comparable to Bell, as far as I know, she received "50 Times" "I didn't get a share——Jennifer, you have to cherish Cesare, there are not many brokers like him who know how to make money for their clients."
"Oh, trust me, I've always looked up to him as a father," Jenny said with a wink, and everyone laughed. Wendy handed the tip to the doorman and got into her luxury car, "Kids, keep in touch."
After her, David got into the car and left, while Jenny and Cesare stood at the door, waiting for the doorman to bring their car.
"You don't seem to be happy because of the successful signing of the contract." Cesare looked at Jenny, and suddenly commented on her mood in a rare way-this was really rare after that quarrel. "From my feeling, you still seem to be worried about the idea of the script."
The weirdness in his tone is back, like Jenny is acting crazy now. Of course, this is also true. The entire adaptation idea was discussed from her binder, and then she suddenly retreated, always hoping to focus on conservative and cautious adaptations and give priority to the market. This kind of U-turn change is just like her decision to take over these two projects and invest a large amount of money, impulsive, abrupt, and totally unreasonable.
"No." Jenny didn't want to discuss this topic with Cesare at the entrance of the hotel, and she didn't know how to explain her thoughts, so she had to find an excuse to evade it. "Judy and I are going to Valentino night tonight, and Bell will be too."
"Ah, feeling pressured because of Bell?" Cesare said, "Afraid that she will stimulate you with "Fifty Times"?"
"Yes." Jenny simply responded.
What she didn't say was that besides "50 First Dates", there was also the problem of "Van Helsing". At that time, Cesare used "Van Helsing" to molested Bell. In the end, of course, she insisted on taking "50 Times". Now, "Van Helsing", which has just been released for less than two weeks, has received bad reviews from the Parents Association because of the **** picture. And complaints, because of the old-fashioned plot and other reasons, the word-of-mouth is not good. Up to now, IMDB has only scored 6 points, which is a very average score. After opening higher in the first week, the next week dived lower. This curve has already announced the fact that "Van Helsing" hit the street and lost money. What Universal has to face now is nothing more than the problem of paying more and paying less. It can only be said that the DVD market and overseas can make money. How much counts.
——Bell will definitely use "Van Helsing" as an example. For her, she avoided the pit dug by Cesare, and she is very proud. But for Cesare and her, who knew the inside story, "Van Helsing" was a serious misjudgment by Cesare. Now that the relationship between the two is a bit awkward, if she mentions "Van Helsing", it is tantamount to poking at Cesare. Wounds—still fresh*, unhealed wounds.
"Of course, "Van Helsing" is also indispensable." Cesare proactively mentioned the name, "Then how are you going to answer her?"
Now it's Jenny's turn to feel embarrassed and want to end this topic as soon as possible. A **** producer and negotiator, but trust me, I have my field."
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"Cheeeeese—" Josh, who was taking pictures of them, yelled jokingly.
Jenny couldn't help smiling at Mr. Valentino Garavani, who was taking a photo with her, and the shutter sounded right at the right moment. The scene just now had been saved in the digital memory card. The two people who took the photo relaxed, and Josh also stepped forward and handed the camera to its owner, the photojournalist of the Valentino charity dinner.
"...Yes, this season's haute couture dresses are indeed very charming. It's a pity that I couldn't participate in this year's Oscars and Golden Globes." Jenny continued the topic just now, "But the MTV and Teen Choice Awards are for Valentino It’s too young for me, and I personally like Charlize Theron’s floor-length dress at the Oscars.”
Generally speaking, when celebrities participate in such awards ceremonies for youth awards and audience popularity awards, they will choose casual and bold dresses instead of orthodox evening dresses like Oscars.
"It's really a pity, personal opinion - I think that dress looks better on you." Mr. Garavani said in accented English, while winking half-truthfully.
"So you paid attention to my dress photos from last year?" Jenny wasn't lying, this part of her job is something she's really good at, and keeping social conversations interesting isn't hard for her. "It's really an honor for me."
"The whereabouts of every Valentino haute couture is hidden in my heart." Mr. Garavani replied, "It's just a pity that not every haute couture dress has found a suitable destination, such as You are such an outstanding beauty - and of course Miss Bell, Ciao, Jennifer - can light up my eyes."
"Ciao, Mr. Galavani, you are so charming tonight." Jennifer Bell stepped forward to kiss Mr. Galavani.
"Ah, miss, then you have stolen my words." Mr. Garavani said with a radiant face, the two looked at each other and smiled, and the photographer lost no time in taking pictures of three popular stars with this Photos of conversations between top designers.
"Hi, Jennifer." After the flash went off, Bell gave Jenny a sweet smile, "Hi, Josh—look at you lovebirds."
Jenny also greeted her with a smile, and Josh showed his loyalty to Jenny, just grunted and nodded. For a polite child like him, this was already a very cold expression up.
At the Valentino-themed charity dinner, of course the chief designer and brand founder, Galavani, was the busiest person. After exchanging a few words with the two beauties, he left to socialize with other guests. Jenny, Josh, and Bell dealt with another wave of people from the financial and IT industries who came to greet each other. For them, apart from donating money to tax-free the company, the biggest benefit of participating in this kind of charity dinner is that they can expand their network. If you can't meet celebrities, it would be great if you can take a group photo and chat for a few days.
Finally dispersed the crowd, Bell didn't intend to leave, but turned around with a smile, obviously wanting to 'reminiscing about the past', but before she could speak, Josh suddenly asked, "By the way, Jenny Fool, didn't you come over with your boyfriend tonight? I remember I met you at Mark Wahlberg's house last month. Is your boyfriend Georgia? Is he a - Universal executive? Or did I remember wrong? That's not your boyfriend?"
Georgia is the coordinator of "Van Helsing" and the general director of this project within Universal. When big projects fail miserably, it is very common for executives to change.
Being bitten hard by Josh, the 'dog that doesn't bark', even Bell showed a pained expression when he was caught off guard, but she quickly smiled as if nothing had happened, "Yes, He was scheduled to come - but we had a fight yesterday. This is the most annoying part of a real relationship, and the real always has more troubles than the fake."
Jenny kept her expression unchanged, and at the same time secretly hoped that Josh would not show her feet. She smiled and said, "I don't know what you mean, Jennifer? You mean you and your ex-boyfriends—for example Benjamin Mogil—is there no real relationship between them?"
Two times in a row, I didn't get any bargains. Now it's Bell's turn to pretend to be stupid, "Oh, Jane, aren't you being too unfriendly? I just wanted to say hello."
Of course her acting skills are good, but the aggrieved expression did not reach her eyes, "I also wanted to ask you for an invitation letter for the premiere of "The Notebook". Now it seems that I was wrong. I was the only one who thought that We are friends."
She sighed realistically, then shook her head and moved away, and went to chat with Valentino's public relations director, and the two of them looked at Jenny from time to time during the conversation. When the two looked over, Josh hugged Jenny's waist protectively, and responded coldly to Bell's gaze, "Don't pay attention to her, this woman is too boring."
He is aware of the confrontation between the two in casting, so he has a low evaluation of Bell's performance of being cheap and acting good.
"You acted so heroically tonight." Jenny didn't take Bell's performance in response to her to her heart. Bell failed to show off tonight, and she should be the most uncomfortable person. "I kind of fell in love with you all over again, honey."
The two have been 'dating' for more than half a year, and they are used to many intimate actions. Even Josh can point the tip of her nose without psychological barriers, and whispered under the cover of this movement, "Photography The teacher came over."
Jenny tiptoed and kissed Josh on the lips understandingly, and smiled affectionately at each other, the tacit understanding was evident—in any case, Bell didn't bring his boyfriend, and he didn't know the real relationship between the two of them. Relationship, in fact, the Mounting battle between men and women, to put it bluntly, is nothing more than "hating others and laughing at others". Since Bell didn't bring it, the best way to deal with her is of course to show her affection and murder some films by the way, so that her All the limelight was stolen.
"However, I really want to send her an invitation to the premiere." The dinner party was about to begin, and the celebrities all approached the round table under the stage. Jenny and Josh chatted casually while finding their seats.
"Really?" Josh raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you so confident in "Lianlian Notebook"?"
The two have known each other for two years, and they have been in frequent contact for two years. Although the relationship was strange and awkward at the beginning, after Josh overcomes the psychological barrier, a certain tacit understanding has been cultivated. When Jenny says a word, Josh knows She is confident in The Notebook.
Compared to "Prada", which was made by herself with an uncertain future, Jenny is very optimistic about "The Notebook", "You should go to our internal film review that day-I'm sure, after watching you You will understand what I mean."
"Okay." Although Josh didn't show it, but said with a smile, "Then I'm looking forward to the premiere even more", but Jenny could see that he didn't agree, and it wasn't because he liked the show. She has no confidence, but a good movie may not be recognized by the market, so it is not easy to frustrate Bell, the star of "50 Times", who has been verified by the market, at the premiere.
This is the communication barrier brought about by Goldfinger. Jenny doesn't know how to explain the reason why she is so confident. She thinks the finished film is better than the original version. She found that while this golden finger gave her great help, it was not without side effects.
"Really," although she questioned some of her solutions, she could only bite the bullet and move forward in the absence of a better solution. Jenny continued to sell her "intuition theory", "This is my intuition."
"OK." Josh responded obediently, but his expression said,'You are my good friend and my'girlfriend', so I let you'.
"Time will tell what I say," Jenny said confidently, "Believe me, I look forward to the release of "The Notebook" more than anyone else."
The time is coming soon. In less than a month, for Jenny, it is her final exam and the pre-publicity of "The Notebook", and for the "Prada" project, it is an intensive preparation process for the crew , for "Van Helsing" it was a month of continued disastrous defeat... In the blink of an eye, a month passed quietly. Ann Gosling, Josh Branch, Sandra Bullock, Johnny Depp, Catherine Zeta-Jones and her husband Michael Douglas, and Ann Benson who left Broadway to Hollywood, Although limited by the budget, this film will only premiere once in Los Angeles, but the relatives and friends of the male and female protagonists all came to support it, which raised the grade of "The Notebook" which was originally not high investment.
At the same time, there are also professional film critics invited from all over the country, many of whom are big names like Roger Ebert. Although his health has been poor in recent years, his concern and curiosity about Jennifer Jefferson still made him fly from Chicago to Los Angeles, in order to see Jennifer's performance a week in advance.
Most of the invited film critics have the same mentality: focus on Jennifer Jefferson, as for Ryan Gosling, although his "Lelan's America" also attracted the attention of some film critics, but He can only be regarded as a newcomer for the first time to star in a commercial film, and his brilliance cannot be compared with Jennifer's at all. His performance in "Lelan's America" only gave people the most basic confidence, otherwise, even There will be concerns that he screwed up the whole movie.
After the short photoshoot and the director's speech, there was no unnecessary nonsense, and the film critics were settled in the screening hall of the Kodak Theater. Notebook" officially started the first contact with this world.
The author has something to say: Note: Mounting is a concept of the Japanese drama "FirstClass". I think the conversation between the two Jennifers tonight is very Mounting, haha... ------------ ---------
Updated~ Today is still full morning.