Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1585 Bronfman Jr. Decides to Compromise

"Bronfman Jr. said, my, no, our terms have not been finalized ..."

Ovitz said to his deputy, Ron Meyer, in the CAA offices.

The terms he had agreed on before, such as the 5% option and Seagram paying all his taxes, etc...

But the negotiation process made Ovitz feel a little worried. It seemed that Edgar Bronfman Jr. was not really making decisions about Seagram as he appeared to be.

Every time they made some progress, Bronfman Jr. would go back to New York, and when he returned to Los Angeles, he would always come up with some fresh reasons to refute the arguments that Ovitz had used to gain benefits for himself last time.

"That's normal, Michael. This is the first time that Edgar Jr. manages such a large group. It's also the first time that he has the opportunity to hire a rare talent like you in Hollywood. As a young man, I think he has done a good job. Think about when we worked in the mail room of William Morris. Didn't we also want to be recognized at that time?"

Ron Meyer answered carefully. Ovitz has been hesitant recently, and seems to regret selling CAA. At CAA, he is the real boss who has the final say. If he goes to New Universal MCA, he will have a little Bronfman above him who needs to report to him.

"Ah, you remind me of the old days. Back then, we were on the phone in the car and in the office every day, and finally we got the TV series "The General" to keep CAA alive."

Ovitz began to reminisce about the past like an old man...

"Ron, I haven't been sleeping well these past few nights. I'm wondering if this is a reaction. I shouldn't give up CAA. It's not so easy to just pick up a briefcase and leave after 20 years of hard work. I have a feeling that CAA is not just an experience in my life, CAA is me..."

"Hey..." Ron Meyer saw that Ovitz wanted to back out again, so he lowered his head and curled his lips. What do you mean CAA is you? CAA was obviously co-founded by the five of us young people who were fired by William Morris. How did it become you?
"Michael, think about it carefully. Do you still want to live the life of an agent? For twenty years, you have to attend various parties every Christmas, make a lot of phone calls every day, and find ways to satisfy the various quirks of celebrity clients. Aren't you tired of it?" Ron Meyer thought about it and started with Ovitz's emotions. Wasn't his idea of ​​selling CAA and working in a studio triggered by Barbara Streisand's unreasonable behavior?
"Hmm..." Ovitz's expression changed slightly. Although he was reluctant to leave CAA, he had really had enough of this kind of life. CAA is a partnership enterprise, and it is also the second party. The big boss can't be idle, and he has to do a lot of business work on the front line. This is not like a listed company like a production studio. The CEO really doesn't have too much administrative work to deal with. He just needs to hire good people and make good decisions.

"Michael, for the sake of both our interests, we have to carry this negotiation through to the end." Mayer struck while the iron was hot and continued to encourage Ovitz.

"You need a bigger arena, and you've been training for this position all your life. I don't believe that you and I can do worse than the current Universal Studios, Lou Wasserman and Sidney Sheinberg."

"That's it, let's do it!" Ovitz also felt that after so many years in Hollywood, was there anyone who knew the strengths and weaknesses of stars better than him? Was there anyone who knew better than him what combination of actors and directors a successful movie needed?
Sidney Sheinberg was just lucky enough to meet Spielberg. Ovitz was not only familiar with Spielberg, but also other top commercial directors, such as Sidney Pollack and Barry Levinson, were his clients. CAA also signed big directors such as James Cameron and Ronald Lee.

It's nothing more than moving CAA's package to Universal. And I will be the client by then...

"Ron, you have to go to New York and find out what they are still hesitating about." Ovitz's mood changed again. He always felt that Bronfman's bargaining with him was a useless resistance. In the end, he had to follow his price...

……

"Hi, Joel...long time no see. Congratulations on your movie's success..."

"Ohhh, Ronald...hahaha..."

Ronald was at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood for the premiere of the new Batman movie, the third in the series, "Batman Forever."

This movie was supposed to be directed by Tim Burton, the successful director of the first two films, but the box office of the second film "Batman Returns" was not as good as expected, with only 160 million box office in China, far from the 250 million of the first film.

So, after a long analysis, Warner Bros. came to the conclusion that the overall atmosphere of the second Batman Returns was too dark. Tim Burton made Batman into a Gothic noir film, and only comic book fans and some adult male moviegoers were willing to watch the female lead Michelle Pfeiffer in the so-called sexiest Catwoman costume.

They made major changes to the script for the third Batman Forever film, abandoning those gothic noir tones and replacing them with a script that could be accepted by the whole family, young and old, and suitable for family portraits.

Naturally, Tim Burton was ruled out as a director, and Warner Bros. finally found Joel Schumacher, the director of "St. Elmo's Fire," one of the first Hollywood films.

This led to a series of chain reactions. The leading actor Michael Keaton no longer wanted to play Batman because of the director's departure. He liked the Batman with the temperament of black films, but did not like the superhero in the family portrait movie. He refused the $1500 million salary to pursue "more interesting roles".

After trying several candidates, Warner Bros. finally chose Val Kilmer, who played Iceman in "Top Gun", to take over Batman.

As a result, the original cast basically withdrew, and Warner conducted an all-star casting.

Robin is played by Chris O'Donnell, one of the villains, Harvey Dent, is played by Tommy Lee Jones, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and another villain, The Riddler, is played by the most popular comedy star Jim Carrey.

In addition, Nicole Kidman defeated Sandra Bullock, Robin Wright, and Linda Hamilton to finally get the opportunity to play Poison Ivy.

Drew Barrymore, who played the little girl who charmed all the parents in ET, got an assistant to play the good side of Two-Face.

With such a large star lineup, Joel Schumacher is under a lot of pressure, and the domestic box office must exceed 200 million to be justified.

However, Ronald and he are old acquaintances. When the movie was being filmed, Joel Schumacher was also preparing his famous Hollywood work "St. Elmo's Fire" in the office next door. The two often chatted about things, and Ronald also recommended Demi Moore to play a role in St. Elmo's Fire.

"Tell me the truth, how did you deal with Val Kilmer? I heard he was very docile during the filming of Top Gun?"

"Why, did he cause you trouble?" Ronald laughed. Val Kilmer had also caused him a lot of trouble back then.

"He was a thorn in my side. He wouldn't talk to me in the last few weeks of filming. And Tommy Lee Jones, too, felt threatened by Jim Carrey and went to him every day to yell at him.

I am tired of defending these overpaid, overprivileged actors. God willing, I will not work with them again."

"I wish you good luck, I can't guarantee that there will be no problems with my casting." Ronald also shook his head. Although I haven't seen him for many years, Joe Schumacher is still very talkative. Directors will actually share their experiences and talk about their impressions of the actors.

"I need your blessing..." Joel Schumacher is two meters tall and is one of the few people in Hollywood who can easily pat Ronald on the shoulder.

"Come on, take a picture for us. Director Schumacher and I are old friends, hahaha." Ronald posed and let the reporters take a few pictures.

Ronald didn't want to come to the premiere of the comic book movie released by Warner Bros. He didn't have a good relationship with Warner Bros. But Tom Cruise asked him to come through Paula Wagner. This was the first big-budget commercial movie that his wife Nicole Kidman participated in in Hollywood, and she played the leading role.

Ronald agreed without hesitation. To be honest, he also wanted to know what kind of reaction the audience would get from Batman, which was modified from a black film into a family portrait movie.

The Mann Village Theater in Westwood is a very old movie theater. It was built in 1931. It is an old single-hall theater that can accommodate 1300 spectators. There is also a spire on the building. After being renovated last year, it is very suitable as a venue for movie premieres.

Ronald and Schumacher were both tall, and the reporters happily took a lot of photos of them. The Spanish-style spire could be seen in the background.

After letting the reporters take enough photos, Ronald ran to say hello to his acquaintances.

There aren't many such large premieres in Hollywood, and only big productions with a budget of more than 5000 million can afford to host them. Therefore, this has become a very good opportunity for stars to make an appearance.

Ronald saw Cindy Crawford, who had not had a steady boyfriend for a long time after her divorce from Richard Gere. She recently starred in a movie and needed some media exposure, so she simply invited photographer Herbert Ritz to be her male companion. Professionals know how to find camera positions.

"Oh, it's Ronald." When Cindy Crawford saw that it was Ronald, she quickly shook off the hand of photographer Herbert Ritz, posed and was about to go forward to chat with Ronald.

"Ronald, hahahaha, I'm so happy to see you here."

Who would have thought that an innocent-looking actress wearing a sky blue sweater would rush to Ronald first and hug him excitedly to express her gratitude.

"Ha, look at you, Cameron, you're a female star now..." Ronald recognized that it was Cameron Diaz, the heroine who co-starred with Jim Carrey in The Mask. It might be because of her relationship with Jim Carrey that she came to the premiere.

It was Ronald who gave this blonde beauty the opportunity to shoot a Coca-Cola commercial and allowed her to avoid the fate of going to the San Fernando Valley. Now that she has met a great benefactor, Cameron Diaz was very excited, so she couldn't help but hug a little harder.

"Bitch, you've been monopolizing the high-quality resources for so long."

Unexpectedly, Cameron Diaz actually thanked Ronald incoherently for a long time. Cindy Crawford next to him had no choice but to squeeze in and knock Cameron Diaz away with her butt, "Ronnie, I haven't seen you for a long time. Last time at Christie's place, I was late and you had already left. I was very disappointed. Don't you want to see me?"

"Hahaha, you're exaggerating. I'm just a little busy. I always have time for you two big Hollywood stars..." Ronald felt that Crawford's words were a bit too exaggerated and quickly refuted them.

However, he still underestimated his own charm. His current power was enough to make these female stars ignore their reserve in front of the camera and take the initiative to come over and "communicate" with him.

At the scene, Cameron Diaz was still telling familiar reporters how Ronald chose her at first sight, while Cindy Crawford was desperately sticking to him, hoping to take a photo or two with him.

The female stars were attracted one by one, and Elizabeth Berkley, who had just finished filming Paul Verhoeven's movie Showgirls, also came over to hug Ronald.

Ronald was impartial, hugged them all and took photos with them. This way, tomorrow's media will only report that Ronald attended the premiere of Batman Forever and took photos with many female stars, and it is unlikely that his name and another star's name will be written separately.

"Ronald, I love your movies..."

While he was busy taking photos with the beauties, another little girl left her male companion and ran over.

Ronald almost didn't recognize her when he saw her. The round-faced girl with gothic makeup and a mini dress was Drew Barrymore, the ET girl of the year.

Ronald was disappointed to see her like this. Her male companion also had a non-mainstream dress and hairstyle. Moreover, Barrymore had a dark skin and a bad smell, and was obviously a victim of drug abuse.

"I just talked to Steven on the phone, and he mentioned you." Ronald put on an uncle-like expression and quickly dismissed her.

"Diane seems to have finished talking to Tom over there. Sorry, I have to go and keep her company." Ronald saw that these female stars were still a little bit eager to make a move, especially Drew Barrymore, so he used the excuse that Diane had called him and immediately fled.

"Tom, Diane has been waiting for you for a long time." Ronald said half-jokingly when he saw Tom Cruise. The filming of Cruise's new film was seriously delayed. Brian De Palma made many changes to the script, and the stunts required more time, so Diane's new film had to be postponed.

"Hahaha, it's my problem." Tom Cruise took off his sunglasses. He held his wife Nicole Kidman's waist with one hand. Kidman didn't take Tom's height into consideration today. Her high heels made her a head taller than Tom Cruise.

"It's a movie, everyone understands. I heard that you designed a shot yourself to escape after making the fish tank explode?"

"Yes, I proposed it myself. Isn't it interesting?"

The two chatted for a while. Ronald was about to take Diane to watch a movie when he suddenly saw Richard running towards him from a distance.

"Excuse me, I need to talk to Richard." Ronald nodded to everyone and walked aside with Richard. Richard, ignoring his messy hair, panted and said to Ronald:

"Bronfman Jr. has flown back to Los Angeles and will probably agree to Ovitz's terms today."