Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1587 Betrayal and Forgiveness

Ovitz then ended the company-wide meeting, and because Ovitz did not leave, the champagne that had been prepared was not opened.

Everyone returned to their original positions and continued to work. Ovitz returned to the office with a worried look on his face, and Ron Meyer followed him in.

"Did you see the looks on those young Turks' faces?" Ovitz suddenly asked Ron.

"Yeah, it feels a lot like what happened twenty years ago when the five of us were treated unfairly at William Morris." Meyer also thought of the situation back then.

"No, Ron. We had nothing back then. And they had star clients, a partner position in one of the largest talent agencies in Hollywood, and financial security! I gave them all that! Me!" Ovitz suddenly exploded in anger. He felt betrayed.

"Yeah, we had nothing back then, we built everything on our own..." Ron Mayer hid his dissatisfaction and said only "we" instead of "I" as Ovitz said, subtly reminding him that CAA was founded by five people.

"Shameless little bastards, I've been so nice to them." Ovitz was dissatisfied and did not hear Mayer's subtext. He just felt that he could still rely on his eloquence and the power accumulated over the years to stabilize these young partners.

Or at least buy some time for Ron Meyer and me to find new customers. By that time, those young people who are so hostile to me today, Richard Levitt, Kevin Huwen, Jay Moloney, will definitely not get the best exit conditions.

Especially Jay Moloney. I value him so much that I plan to take him to Universal Studios with me...

Thinking of this, Ovitz suddenly felt that time was running out. He continued to Ron Mayer, "I want to change direction. We will all go to Warner Bros. tomorrow. Gerald Levine (CEO of Warner Bros.) looks shaky. Our appearance there will have a miraculous effect."

"Michael..." Ron Meyer sighed in his heart. After all, Ovitz still didn't care about his interests. Otherwise, he should have taken care of his own interests first instead of going to Warner Bros.

Ovitz never thought that he, the second-in-command for 20 years, had another option, which was to abandon Ovitz and sign a contract with Bronfman Jr.

"Michael, I think I should go to New York first and make a final effort with Bronfman Jr."

"Oh, well, you can go for a while." Ovitz didn't believe that Ron Meyer could have any real effect. After all, if even Ovitz couldn't handle it, how could Meyer handle it?
Although Ovitz had no hope for this, he still agreed to Mayer's last attempt at negotiation. This is how running a company works. When the boss sees that something cannot be done, his subordinates will try their best. The best way is to keep them motivated, and at most waste some travel expenses.

……

Ang Lee is back in Los Angeles, having just finished filming a new version of Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility" at old estates in Norwich, Plymouth, Devon, and other places in Britain.

Ang Lee was very tired after directing his first commercial production and his first English-language work, so Ronald invited him to his home for some Chinese food to relax before he started editing.

After dinner, Ronald made a pot of black tea and enjoyed it with Ang Lee, while they talked about their thoughts on the filming.

"Ah, let me do it, let me do it." Ang Lee was familiar with the brewing of Kung Fu black tea, so he grabbed it and poured it for Ronald.

"I've seen some sample films, and to be honest, your filming is very interesting." Ronald started the conversation.

In fact, Ang Lee's technique in this film Sense and Sensibility is still immature, but the style of the whole film is very right. In Jane Austen's era, the relationship between men and women was very repressed. At that time, marriage and love were mostly decided by parents, and there were only very few opportunities. Young men and women could experience this kind of love process before getting married.

This is undoubtedly very similar to the traditional Chinese cultural background. The emotion of wanting to refuse but also to accept, wanting to say but not to, was handled very well by Ang Lee in this movie. Maybe the producers did not particularly value his favorable conditions, but undoubtedly the final filming result happened to achieve the best effect.

In this film, several actors are also Ronald's old acquaintances. Emma Thompson not only plays the eldest sister Eleanor, but is also the author of the script. Kate Winslet, the actress who appeared in Ronald's dream with her arms open on the bow of the Titanic, plays the second sister Marianne.

The eldest brother-in-law is played by Hugh Grant, a popular young actor who has just become popular in Hollywood, and the second brother-in-law is Alan Rickman, the villain in Die Hard.

The sample film Ronald watched was the content of the final ending. The two couples put on gorgeous clothes and took a carriage to the church to get married together. Alan Rickman played the second brother-in-law Colonel Brandon, who took out a handful of silver coins from his pocket and threw them on the heads of the children who were watching the excitement around him...

Ronald was deeply impressed by this plot. This scene is not in the book, and it must not have been thought up by a talented woman like Emma Thompson who received traditional British drama education. Perhaps it was the work of Ang Lee.

When he asked, it turned out to be just as he guessed. This part was suggested by Ang Lee. After seeing the sample film, he thought it was very good and he intended to officially confirm it as the ending.

"Very interesting, why did you think of shooting such a shot?" Ronald felt that this segment was very humorous and very much in tune with the style of the original author Jane Austen. It was also that kind of dry British humor. Those who didn't understand it would just treat it as an ordinary celebration scene, while those who understood it would smile knowingly. This was a dark portrayal of the British national character.

"Hey, this is my first time working with these British actors who perform traditional dramas. They are not like Chinese actors who will listen to the director's instructions and do whatever they are told. Every time I say something, they will argue with me for a long time, saying it should be this way or that way. Sometimes they can argue for a long time. My spoken English is not good enough, so sometimes I can only sulk, so I have to make them humorous in the end... Sure enough, they didn't see it..."

"Hahahaha..." Ronald heard it and it was exactly what he imagined. It seemed that Ang Lee was fed up with Emma Thompson, the talented woman. In the end, he made a very authentic Jane Austen-style humor.

This Sense and Sensibility, like Jane Austen's other works, explores the love and marriage issues of young men and women at that time.

As the eldest sister, Eleanor was a very rational person. Because of the British system of primogeniture, all of their father's property was inherited by their eldest half brother. Although their father had asked their eldest half brother to give them and their mother enough annual pension before his death, after the eldest sister-in-law's slander, this part of the subsidy was also reduced to the minimum.

So in the end, the eldest and second sisters, who have already grown up, must find an ideal husband and get married in order to maintain the living standard before their father's death and not fall into lower class.

The eldest sister is the person in charge of the family finances. She is always calculating carefully, so she is very rational when looking at problems. She is the spokesperson for rationality in the title "Sense and Sensibility". Her attitude towards her marriage is also very rational. Although she fell in love with Edward Ferrars at first sight, they could not get married because the other party was deprived of the right of inheritance. Without money, everything is over, and she can only keep love in her heart.

The second sister Marianne is at the other extreme. Her view on love is purely sentimental. She pays attention to the feeling of love, regardless of the actual situation. So she also rejected the love temptation of the ugly retired colonel Brandon, and fell in love with the neighbor Willoughby who hugged her back in the rain after she sprained her ankle.

Willoughby was also extremely realistic. Because he made a girl pregnant before marriage, he was deprived of his inheritance rights by his aunt and had to find a wealthy Miss Grey in London to marry.

Finally, Marianne accepted Colonel Brandon's love and they set a wedding date. Edward Ferrars's original partner also despised him for not having money and married his younger brother instead. Finally, he proposed to the eldest sister Elinor under the tree and succeeded.

The two heroines, Marianne, who was originally sentimental, chose a very rational husband and asked her elder brother-in-law to find a parish for him to be an Anglican priest, thus solving her sister's love problem. Eleanor, who was originally rational, gained an extremely sentimental love. She and her husband both chose not to have property for true love, and they are the most romantic couple in the novel.

Ang Lee's ending of throwing money in the air seems to be declaring that no matter whether you are rational or emotional, all love and marriage need money as the foundation. This deep understanding of Jane Austen's works also enables him to tease those British actors who think they understand Jane Austen's works best and debate with him every day on the set at the end of the film.

"Hahahaha..." As a senior fan of Chinese culture, Ronald understood this kind of ridicule very well, and he and Ang Lee both laughed. After the baptism of this movie, Ang Lee's confidence in controlling Hollywood commercial production has greatly increased. It seems that he will not have to worry about not having movies to shoot in the future.

"Hi, Ang, the leading actor of your new movie has been exposed in a major scandal... Oh, Ronald, you are here too, and I need your help with this matter as well." Richard hurried home.

He originally wanted to discuss something with Ang Lee, and Ronald happened to be there.

When everyone was still confused, Richard took out a newly published gossip tabloid and placed it in front of them. On it was a photo of the suspect taken by Hugh Grant, one of the leading actors of Sense and Sensibility, after he was arrested by the LAPD.

There are two plainclothes police officers on the left and right of the photo, and the unlucky guy sandwiched in the middle is Hugh Grant wearing a striped T-shirt.

"Why the hell does this look like a prison uniform?" Ronald thought it was too coincidental, so he asked Richard Grant what law he had broken and why he had to deal with the matter.

"Ahem, openly with a Strip girl on Sunset Boulevard..." Richard also took a new look at this star who gave the audience the impression of a good boy. The call girl who was exposed was a black woman, and it was hard to say that she was pretty. She was a world away from Grant's real girlfriend, Elizabeth Hurley.

"Puchi..." Ang Lee next to him spat out the black tea he had just drunk upon hearing this.

He took the newspaper, which contained a detailed description of the entire incident by the police officer on duty.

"While we were on surveillance, a white BMW stopped in front of us. At that time, I didn't know that the man sitting in the BMW was my favorite actor Hugh Grant. I saw the call girl, David, walk up to him. The two chatted for a while and reached a deal. Then, after David got in the car, the BMW drove away..."

"Hugh Grant's agent is Alex Clarke of PFD Agency in London. She had also persuaded Grant to find a local agent in Hollywood, and now she has found me."

Ronald understood what Richard meant. He wanted to take over Hugh Grant's agent contract and take control of his business in Hollywood. It would be great to have a star who was about to soar to fame.

"Of course there is no problem. However, I think you should change your mindset and think about the future of CAA from a manager's perspective (if you still decide to keep this name)." Ronald agreed to help, but also reminded Richard how to allocate his energy in the future.

"I thought Ovitz was not leaving?" Richard was a little surprised. Could it be that things at Universal had changed again?

"You'll know soon. This time he has to leave." Ronald smiled and pulled out a chair for Richard to sit down and talk.

"Okay, I will transfer Hugh's contract to another partner so that she can be on our side..." Richard made a prompt decision. A star's contract was nothing. The most important thing was to serve Ronald well. In the future at CAA, he would have the greatest power. No matter what the letterhead on the business card said, in the end, when agents competed with each other, it would still depend on who had greater influence.

"Then call Pat Kingsley and I'll talk to her." Ronald asked Richard to call Kingsley, a famous public relations crisis expert. "Hello, this is Ronald. Do you want to add one of the most charming male stars in Hollywood to your client list?"

"Hugh Grant? I've heard that..."

Things went smoothly. Kingsley found David Letterman and invited Hugh Grant to his show, where he made fun of himself and let the audience see his honesty in admitting his mistakes.

Later, his girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley "unexpectedly" told the newspaper that she would not leave Hugh Grant and would forgive him.

For a while, the tabloids found a topic for hype and gave Helian the nickname "the forgiving girl". For a while, when she was interviewed, she said "Of course I forgive him...", which also became the headline of many gossip tabloids.

On this day, Hugh Grant came to CAA with his agent Alex Clark to sign his agent contract. Clark would be responsible for all his acting career in the UK, while in Hollywood, he would be taken care of by three famous agents of CAA. This system of multiple agents serving one star was something that Richard, Hu Wen and others were prepared to retain even if Ovitz left.

Just when everyone was happily drinking champagne, there was a sound of breaking glass in Ovitz's office across the street, as if someone had thrown a glass to the ground.

"How could you do this to me, how dare you do this to me?" Ovitz was angrily talking into his telephone receiver, and on the other end was Ron Meyer in New York.

(End of this chapter)