Hollywood Domination: Tear X for the Nth time

Jenny has to admit to herself that she was indeed in a bad state a while ago. Maybe she was too uneasy about her performance in "Pirate 2", so that she had neglected this point for a long time: she is no longer just She is now a star, and the big dream she spent huge sums of money on is not only a vest for her to avoid taxes, but also a ladder to climb up the ladder of power, and it is also a tool to turn her dreams into reality. Yes, there are no literary films she wants to act in on the market, but that doesn't mean she can't make her own project.

Of course, this is not about plagiarizing someone's script. During the "prada" period, there was still a script and outline, and this time Marilyn is likely to start from scratch, and the plot may also need to be modified-maybe it will be the same as "prada", and finally a similar and A movie with a lot of changes, but overall Jenny is pretty solid with the idea.

"I did some research." She said, "Of course she is an eternal topic. Many actresses hope to play her, which has become a symbol. There are also several biopics related to her. Marilyn Monroe ", "Biography of Monroe", this woman lived a legendary life, and died with a legendary characteristic - she died in a young age, which is very topical. But this does not mean that Monroe is already a gold mine that has been dug out , you have seen the information I collected, what do you think of this entry point?"

"I have already ordered these two memoirs from Amazon," Cesare replied, "but judging from the information you attached, this is indeed a very novel entry point, without mentioning Kennedy positively— Elegant enough, safe enough, after all, people still have different opinions on that period of time. Recreating Monroe from Colin's point of view, seeing the big from the small - this will be an interesting movie, but only if there is enough Of course, there is also an excellent production team, after all, what you want to restore is London, England in the 1960s."

Yes, what Jenny wants to start is "My Week with Monroe". This is the most suitable one among the few literary films she has seen in her previous life. She has seen La Vie en Rose and The Iron Lady, but she can't do it at all. "La Vie en Rose" must be performed by a French person, and she can't speak French. As for "The Iron Lady", she is not at all old. not yet. For an actress who is around 20 years old, it is really not easy to find a movie with room for development.

"As long as I take the lead, all of this shouldn't be a problem, right?" Jenny said calmly, without overconfidence, just pointing out the facts. "I think the femininity of Monroe is also very suitable to balance the criticism brought by Elizabeth-Elizabeth, Karen in "Michael Clayton", including the Na'vi in ​​"Avatar", there are not many women. They are very powerful, and this kind of strength and coldness will even make many male film critics feel uncomfortable and repelled—this is your exact words.”

Of course, Cesare did not add Karen when he said it, but there is no doubt that Karen is also a very powerful character. In fact, this is also in line with the transformation they are looking for. According to Cesare, 'We can easily get you some flirty women's movies to balance out the stereotypes of male film critics, but young women with momentum are not so easy to pick up'. But Jenny is no longer so cold about those romance films that use her purely as a vase. Compared with mindless films like her own acting, she prefers to invest in the production by herself and let others act. "Monroe is very fragile, full of feminine charm, She is a woman among women—but this fragility, coupled with her monumental legend and strength, keeps her from being too humble, and I think film critics, after seeing Elizabeth, may feel that Monroe is a woman to them. This is a good adjustment, which will benefit us in manipulating the nomination, isn't it, Cesare?"

"It cannot be denied that Monroe is a very suitable role for you to play," Cesare obviously thought about this topic for a long time, and he said calmly, "However, I think the image of Monroe is somewhat popular among the public. Special status, first you have to realize that Monroe is not a good girl, she is more like a symbol of sin in the golden age-she is a very complicated character, which is incompatible with the image you created at the beginning of your career. After Lily, you can still be regarded as a representative of the "good girl" in Hollywood, but you are more powerful. But after Monroe, your public image may never be able to return to the past-you will come to sexy, charming, strong In these positions, the competition for actresses in this position has always been fierce. Angelina Jolie-will be your new opponent, and she is not an easy-going lamp.”

Although her first role was the sympathetic Monroe, which did not seem to prevent her from becoming a white lotus in Hollywood, but Jenny also understood what Cesare meant—after all, she was still very young at that time, The résumé is clear, and now that she's had a failed engagement, a **** affair with Christopher might be found out (she and Chris haven't talked about it yet, but it's a good idea if it's going to go down) Sooner or later), her experience began to complicate, and at this time it was difficult for the public to separate her from her character. And once you turn to the image of a **** and strong woman, if you want to come back to act in a romantic film in the future, the audience may not buy it, and even the film dealer may not come to you. Of course, the mother who is most likely to win an Olympic award, The image of a widow is almost out of touch with her.

If you play Hollywood as a star breeding game, now you have successively starred in "My Week with Monroe", "Michael Clayton", "Pirates of the Caribbean 3", "Avatar", "Alice in Sleepwalking" For several movies like Wonderland, after the release of "Alice", her charm value will explode, and the corresponding morality will be severely weakened. If you play to the end according to this attribute, you may get a "type actress" Although it may not be a bad title, all actors definitely hope that they can take on any film, and the way of acting should not be restricted.

"We can play some relatively ordinary films to make a balance." Jenny also considered what Cesare said, "This risk is worth taking, after all, now we need a convincing film." Movies to re-conquer film critics, it may be difficult for a character who is too reserved to receive such an effect.”

"This is the second risk I'm going to talk about." Cesare didn't comment on her words, "Marilyn Monroe—you invest in it yourself, it's not the same as joining a project, you See what I mean? To a lot of film critics, and even the general public, this can be a sign of narcissism, and maybe a lot of people will turn against you. Of course, if the film quality is very good, these doubts will turn into icing on the cake praise, but if the response is not good—"

"The winner gets everything," Jenny spread her hands, "the loser gets it all, right?"

"That's right." Cesare pushed the plate aside, "But any project is risky, isn't it? All you have to do is choose one of the various risks."

This seems to be the first time that Cesare agreed with her on the project selected because of her 'gut feeling', and Jenny was touched--"Alice" and "Avatar" are not counted, because "Alice" "I haven't even released a script yet, and "Avatar" is an 'intuition' project that she expressly told Cesare.

"I'm very confident in this project." She said, and it's true, she doesn't know the results of "One Week", but it is indeed a good movie-and, to be honest, Jenny feels that if a few years If Weinstein really started this project, Monroe would be the final candidate. With her blonde beauty, box office superstar and double actress, cast Monroe for someone else? This cannot happen, and Weinstein will definitely come to contact her proactively, instead of finally choosing Michelle Williams, who has excellent acting skills but undeniably mediocre looks. "It's going to be a good movie, Chesa."

"Okay." Cesare shrugged, "Then that's it. I'll ask someone to investigate the copyright situation of these two biographies, and then——I think since it's a biopic, we might as well cooperate with Weinstein , joint development."

"That's exactly what I meant." Jenny said happily. She had seen the credits of the film, and the names of the Weinstein brothers all appeared in the list of producers. There is no doubt that this is a Weinstein film. Produced by the Austrian film. She still adheres to the same idea as "prada", hoping to find the original cast as much as possible, at least in a few important points to be consistent with her historical line.

The discussion about Monroe's film came to an end, and the next step was to find the copyright, find the producer, find the investment, and set up the crew step by step. Of course, the difference from the previous ones is that a film project will be stuck for the longest time at the point of 'finding investment', because of the existence of the big dream, the preparation time of the project team will be greatly shortened. Although Dameng has to reserve a sufficient amount of cash for "Avatar", the cash will not be transferred to the project team's account at one time. This time difference can allow several movies invested by Dameng to go online, and how much blood will be recovered. Even if the film loses money, some of the previous copyright profits can easily make up for this hole. For biopics like Marilyn Monroe, where the investment is at most 20 to 30 million yuan, Dameng can still invest in a few films now, and if it doesn’t work, it can pull out investment. With Jenny’s famous brand, whether it’s Disney or Weinstein, I believe They will be happy to step in and get a share of the action.

Jenny used to be a bit disapproving of taking meeting minutes. She just said that, and the conclusion is very simple. Why should I write it down? But now she understands very well why functions such as notepads, schedules, and notes exist—after working for Cesare for a few days, she began to make work sheets for herself. After clicking a few times on the pda, and noting the progress of the "Monroe" project, she stood up and began to help Cesare clean up the dishes, "Let the housekeeping assistant do the washing—are you sure you don't need to drink anymore Got some antibiotics?"

Cesare gave her a sharp look, and Jenny laughed, "ok, ok, I promise not to make fun of these things--speaking of the topic, I read the script of "Michael Clayton", and I am very happy Like, Karen is a cool character, and the age characteristics are not so obvious, we can tone it down a little, and even I can go on camera again without makeup, this is not a problem.”

She hesitated, but still chose to say, "But must George Clooney play? Can't we kick him out?"

Cesare raised his eyebrows, and he didn't hide his surprise—it was obvious that this was a question he hadn't thought of.

"Uh," he said cautiously, "I don't know—you don't want to work with him, why? Because of your 'gut feeling'?"

Jenny doesn't know what to say. In her memory, George Clooney has never made a mistake. In 2013, he made a lot of money from "Gravity"-this movie is also a movie that Jenny If possible, she planned to grab a blockbuster film, not only because Dameng wanted to make money, but also because she hated George Clooney. Not only did she not think that he was attractive or good at acting, but she felt that he had a deep scheming mind. Oscar's g. point won Best Supporting Actor. In the end, relying on all kinds of concerns about politics, he almost supported all disputed regions to independently brush up his own political fashion value. He cooperated with his father to run for governor and turned the Clooney family into a famous political family. momentum.

These impressions are not to say that Jenny was his black fan in the previous life, but she witnessed how Clooney won the best supporting actor for a political film after time travel, and also witnessed how he plunged into this genre In the film, the favorability of Oscars is shown, and it also witnessed how he tirelessly supported the independence of South Sudan. I still remember how he wanted to use his position in Hollywood to boycott the Chinese Olympics in 2008. Coupled with the fact that she has been in the industry for a long time and gradually understands many rules, it is not surprising that she has such an understanding of the Clooney Gang.

—Of course, this is not to say that Clooney is a political clown who does not know the heights of the sky and the earth. In fact, Clooney’s approach is very shrewd, and his position is also very American. The political demands of oil interests, he can be said to be a very mature Hollywood politician, aiming at the path of Schwarzenegger and even Reagan. Even his good friends Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie seem to have learned from him and tried to walk this way, but they are not as successful as him. He has a high style, he has several blockbuster works, and there are quite a few nominations. Although the "Lohan" series is not comparable to Jenny in terms of earning money, its status in Hollywood is not low, and it is also a member of the A-list . It was a good choice to invite him to join "Michael Clayton". It was not easy to find a middle-aged actor with a higher style and better acting skills than him.

But to Jenny, his style is very annoying. She is now in the body of a white American-she has also made a lot of money from this identity-but it does not mean that she will Suddenly, she sang praises for the strategy of the American World Police. Usually, she has no intention of being Don Juan who challenges the windmill, and she doesn’t even talk about the sensitive topic of politics with others casually. It can be said that her concern for politics is very weak. It can only be said that she has this awareness dimly. If she hadn't done her homework for her own Olympic Award campaign, she would not even have noticed how typical Clooney's rise is, but this does not mean that she would want to be with this He cooperated with representatives of this style, starred in the films he invested and produced, earned him money and status, allowed him to continue donating to independent organizations, and sent wars and turmoil to other countries.

Well, to put it bluntly, Jenny is a bit self-deceiving. In Hollywood and even in the United States, there are more than tens of millions of people who support z.d and demonize China, including the great director Spielberg. It’s clear, if she starts to screen others from this point, she won’t be able to continue working in Hollywood... But she still doesn’t want to work with George Clooney. I'm also a player, maybe when I wasn't so good before, I didn't think about these things, but now I have some achievements, shouldn't I start to pay more attention to it? If you have to wrong yourself to cooperate with an annoying actor in a film that you can act in or not, then your life would be better than not being successful.

"This has nothing to do with intuition—I think his political leanings are too strong." Jenny reluctantly made an excuse for herself, because she couldn't belittle Clooney, because his hardware was there. "In addition, I don't like his acting skills. From all aspects, I don't have much interest in partnering with him in this movie."

Cesare frowned imperceptibly. Jenny picked up an apple and tossed it in the air. She looked at Cesare's expression, "Is it difficult to push him out?"

"It is indeed difficult." Cesare admitted, "This film has Soderbergh as a producer-you should know how close he and Clooney are."

Steven Soderbergh, because of the rise of "Sex, Lies, Videotape", once a golden boy director, is now a leading director in Hollywood. The "Lohan" series is him and Brad Pitt, George. The blockbuster series that Clooney worked on together has also been awarded the best director by "Drug Network". In Jenny's memory, he also directed a very eye-catching "Magic Mike", which also made a lot of money. With the support of such a big director, plus the ace producer Sidney Pollack mentioned by Cesare before, this is also a master of production, director and acting. He has won more than 40 Oscar nominations. Under the premise of two big stars, one of them is behind Clooney, it is very difficult for Jenny to play big, and she doesn't have much hope.

"Well, it's a low-budget movie, isn't it?" Jenny changed the angle, "Or it could be co-produced by Big Dream and now Warner, plus Weinstein - to be honest, now starring As for supporting roles, it would be boring if Dameng didn’t join the game, but I doubt whether Clooney’s production company can get involved after being split by the three of us.”

Since he cannot be squeezed out, and he is indeed interested in the script, the next best thing to do is to squeeze Clooney into the play, squeeze out his share of investment, and let him make money for himself—as a partner and boss Well, Clooney was a nuisance, but Jenny would tolerate him as an employee: it might be a moral victory, too.

"It seems that you don't have much sincerity to appear in this movie," Cesare said flatly. "Is it my delusion? You seem to dislike Clooney?"

Jennie shrugged, "But am I saying the wrong reason? Cesare? After Monroe, this role is almost irrelevant to us-maybe Soderbergh and Pollack Will think I'm a greedy, self-centered bitch, embarrassing Clooney with my demands, but..."

She spread her hands like Cesare, "Honestly, who in Hollywood is not like this? If there is not enough profit motive, why should I work with actors I hate? If they think I It’s not worth the price, so you can find someone else.”

Cesare paused for a while, as if he was looking for a reason to refute her. After a while, he let out a sigh of relief, "—Well, I admit, you can pay for it yourself at any time. As long as you have a good team - as long as your box office myth continues, you have the right to continue to be self-centered - in fact, this is a very correct attitude."

Jenny couldn't help showing a surprised smile, she stared at Cesare closely, trying to express the surprise of 'you are praising me' with her expression, and Cesare almost rolled his eyes at her , continued, "Now is the moment when people are most obsessed with your box office ability. We'd better take advantage of it now to get more benefits. In front of profits, gestures don't matter at all. Anyway, you also have an Oscar, even if you offend Pollack and Thord Berg, it's nothing to you..."

"It's hard to say whether Soderbergh will be nominated for an Oscar." Jenny curled her lips, "As for Pollack, I guess he won't turn against me because of this request, I just want to invest-- Isn't it the producer's job to deal with salary negotiations and investor conflicts of interest..."

Jenny was a little proud that Cesare was so easily persuaded to agree to negotiate with the crew with such a request. She almost wanted to encourage Cesare to finish smoking that cigar, but considering his Just when she had a cold, she picked up an apple and stuffed it to Cesare, and touched the apple with him, "cheers."

Cesare held up the apple and stared at it for a while, "What are we celebrating?"

Jenny grimaced, "Celebrate your recovery, okay?—wait."

She took out the buzzing mobile phone from her bag, and quickly picked it up, "James, it's me—yes, Cesare was sick a few days ago, but he should be back to work tomorrow... "

Under Cesare's raised eyebrows, she quickly finished talking on the phone, slowly closed the phone, and put it back in the bag. Cesare crossed his hands and waited for a while, finally coughed, "I think, you should be waiting for me to ask you, 'What happened just now'."

Jenny grinned, "And I forced you to talk, didn't I?"

Forcibly suppressing her excitement, she looked at Cesare carefully, "Don't you need to rest, I mean, you just have a cold—"

"Jenny Jefferson." Cesare said succinctly.

"Okay, ok." Jenny didn't hold back her excitement anymore, she said quickly, "—Fox has agreed to enter the game, with a budget of 550 million——James asked us to go over to do the final audition tomorrow, of course, we have to talk to Fox has a meeting."

Agreed to enter the game, accept the budget, the next step is of course the most important - the salary negotiation, the long-planned 100 million investment of the big dream can be put on the table, and what follows is so complicated that it can make people dizzy In the follow-up negotiations, on the big cakes of global box office share, DVD sales, global distribution, and peripheral development, how much Dameng can take a bite out of less than 20% of its investment depends on Dameng's strategy and skills in negotiation. The corners of Cesare's lips twitched, and his slack back straightened.

"I have to work overtime tonight," he said, turning around and walking to the kitchen, "I'm going to make coffee."

Jenny chased after him, "But you have a cold, Cesare——"

Cesare pressed the button of the coffee machine, squinted at her, and asked truthfully, "Can you do without me?"

The answer is obvious. No, Jenny’s gradually accumulated arrogance was extinguished by one sentence. She squinted her mouth a little bit aggrieved, picked up the bag, and walked to the study with Cesare—well, at least now, at least In such a large target (maybe those small targets...), without Cesare's check, she really can't...