Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1602 A Decision Worth Fifty Million Dollars

Ronald met Tom Cruise, whose hair was shaved close to fit the image of an agent of this fictional department of the IMF.

After receiving the script used for filming, Ronald quickly read it through and had only one feeling: that the script was too complicated. He doubted whether the audience would be able to understand such a complicated storyline in the end.

Jon Voight plays Jim Phelps, who often leads the secret service team in the TV version. His wife Claire is played by the British actress Emmanuelle Béart. The team also includes the male star Jean Reno, who is also from Britain, and the British actress Kristen Scott Thomas from Four Weddings and a Funeral...

The whole movie also presents a new form of Hollywood after the end of the Cold War. Various European stars play supporting roles, with a British or British heroine, and the male lead is played by a Hollywood male star, which is adapted to the needs of global distribution to the greatest extent.

The entire script revolves around a MacGuffin called the NOC spy list. The so-called NOC is a spy without an official identity cover.

There are three types of official spies. One type has an official cover identity, such as those who work as military attachés or counselors in embassies. Many of them are employees of organizations like the CIA. There are not many such spies, because there are not many positions for cover. In most cases, if they are discovered, they are protected by diplomats and will not be in any danger.

The other type is a deep sleeper spy, who uses an identity from another country and goes to a hidden country through legal immigration channels, living under a cover identity and not doing spy work until one day, when they receive an order from their superiors to activate.

Such spies were prepared for world war. Now that the Cold War is over, countries no longer employ such spies because the cost-effectiveness is too low.

The last third type is the so-called No Official Cover (NOC) spies. These people are really engaged in espionage activities, but they do not have diplomatic cover, so if they are caught, their lives are in danger.

It is such a complex background that can support why at the end of the movie, on the high-speed TGV train in China, there are so many people who want to buy the disc containing the NOC spy list at a high price.

However, such background knowledge is unlikely to be explained satisfactorily in the movie, and many viewers may wonder why this list is so important.

In addition, there are many things in this movie that make the audience's brains work quickly. For example, the use of characters in the Bible as metaphors. This is no longer the golden age of Hollywood, and the audience is not familiar with the content of the Bible. If you say an unpopular metaphor, many people will not understand it.

What's even more mind-boggling is that this spy adventure movie also involves a love triangle. Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, has a love triangle with Claire, the wife of his boss Phelps...

Ronald felt that the film could be made into a six-episode mini-TV series with all these contradictions mixed together. With so much information in a high-density, fast-paced film, it is very likely that the audience will still not understand the plot after watching it, which will damage the actual viewing effect and box office.

Ronald expressed his idea and obtained Cruise's consent. However, the exterior shots in Prague, Europe had basically been completed, and he didn't know which scenes would be better to delete for the remaining studio scenes shot in America. For example, if they finished shooting according to the script and rearranged them in the editing stage, it would be out of the control of director Brian De Palma.

Anyway, De Palma's last movie was a big flop, and now he needs a hit commercial film to stay in Hollywood and continue making movies. He does not have the final cut, nor does he have the strength to challenge people like Ronald or Cruise.

Ronald called Paramount's Shirley Lansing and got her forgiveness. Shirley Lansing was very happy that Ronald took the initiative to care about Paramount's $80 million production and said that everything would be arranged by Ronald. When it came to the preview, Ronald had to be asked to check it.

Now that this is done, the rest is the troublesome part.

The climax of the movie Mission: Impossible is when Ethan Hunt fights with Phelps, played by Jon Voight, on the hood of the TGV train on the British high-speed railway to snatch the disc containing the NOC spy list, while the villain played by Jean Reno drives a helicopter after the TGV train to pick up Phelps.

The whole scene is very similar to the masterpiece "The General" by Bux Keaton, the action film master of the silent film era. It is also very interesting that after so many years, Tom Cruise is going to play this kind of action comedy again.

On the one hand, he was inspired by Jackie Chan, and on the other hand, he is much better at body movements than lines. This is also a test work for Tom Cruise.

However, this part of the script was written by director Brian De Palma himself. The whole movie actually has only one idea, and the specific exciting scenes and plot twists are all imagined by the director and the screenwriter.

The good thing about such a script is that it conforms to the rules of commercial film creation. When to give the audience what kind of stimulation and when to present the exciting action scenes are all arranged in advance. When watching the script, the audience has no energy to think about what is unreasonable in the plot or where there are mistakes.

But the downside is that there is no rigorous verification of the story and details. If it is a minor problem, it can be remedied by some means.

For example, Tom Cruise came down from the ceiling with a rope, without triggering the floor with pressure sensors, and copied the disc containing the NOC list at the CIA headquarters.

They forgot that the upper and lower bodies of a person are often of unequal weight. Tom Cruise tried many times but was unable to stay horizontal and always fell headfirst.

Such small problems were finally solved by putting a lot of coins in Cruise's shoes to balance them, so that the director could achieve the effect he wanted.

However, there is one detail error in the final chase scene that cannot be corrected: France's TGV high-speed train is electric!

There is an overhead wire above the rails, which supplies power to the train through 25Kv high voltage electricity. In this case, it is impossible to have the scene in the script where two people fight on the roof and a helicopter follows behind.

The villain Phelps and the helicopter pilot Krieger will undoubtedly be electrocuted by the high voltage. The protagonist can win without fighting.

No one noticed the mistake in details, and when it was time to shoot, the second crew found out about it. After they gave feedback, there were two opinions. One was what director De Palma wanted, to build a set in Hollywood, and the other was what Cruise wanted, to shoot at TGV.

TGV can run diesel locomotives on some maintained tracks. When the time comes, let them produce a diesel locomotive with a TGV train running on the maintained tracks. Then you can seize the opportunity to take very realistic shots.

But this will exceed the budget.

The director is responsible for scene scheduling and shooting requirements, the camera crew is responsible for capturing the images he wants, and the star actors are responsible for performing the performances he wants.

But whether what the director wants is reasonable and worth spending money on filming is the producer's job. If this shot needs to be filmed live, then the budget must be increased, exceeding 80 million and approaching 100 million.

Paramount had no producer who could make the decision, and the project was actually Tom Cruise's own. He was not sure about it, and Shirley Lansing only knew how to make money by following Ronald and Cruise's projects.

Therefore, whether to increase the budget or not is still up to Ronald to decide.

"I still prefer to stay within the budget..." Ronald said after thinking for a long time.

"Then we'll just use the set?" Tom Cruise also sighed. The additional budget for the filming is 20 million, so the domestic box office must be at least 50 million more to make a profit. Whether this shot shot on top of the TGV locomotive is worth the 50 million ticket price, only people like Ronald can tell for sure.

"How much are you getting paid?" Ronald asked.

"Twenty million dollars. Many producers in Hollywood are hyping this theme now. Only the top male stars can get this amount of money..." Cruise thought Ronald advised him to take less. This is not just about the money, it also involves the star's status in the industry.

"Why don't you just defer the payment and take it after the movie is released, and convert it into box office dividends..."

"Is that so?" Tom Cruise couldn't figure it out at once.

"Look, you still get 20 million. The audience knows that you are worth as much as one of Hollywood's top male stars. The industry knows that you are equivalent to investing 20 million, plus your own investment in CW Films, and becoming a major shareholder.

At the final settlement, you can still withdraw the 20 million as film remuneration before everyone else..."

A series of financial operations can make everyone satisfied at once.

"Then why can't I take 20 million first?" Cruise was a little slow in calculating this.

"This is accounting standard. You will know it when you get the dividends. Forget it. Just ask Paula..." Ronald wanted to explain to him what Hollywood accounting is. He didn't take the 20 million first. He could have at least 50 million more base to distribute when calculating the dividends...

But I think it would be better to let Paula do the calculation for him, so that Ronald can get a bigger share of his investment.

Soon, Paula Wagner, who received the call, rushed over excitedly and expressed her full approval. In this way, everyone present could get more money (assuming the box office success), Shirley Lansing would reduce the cost, Brian De Palma could actually shoot and have fun, the audience could see the thrilling scenes, and if the shooting was finished early, Diane could shoot Mr. Jerry with Cruise. If Diane was happy, then Ronald would be happy too...

In short, everyone was happy except for Viacom's boss Redstone who got a lot less money.

Shirley Lansing was particularly happy. As the CEO of Paramount Pictures, she didn't really care how much money she made. As long as every big production she invested in made money, it would look good on her resume.

As for making more money, it has nothing to do with her. Paramount's profits will be taken away by Redstone to make up for the interest hole of his acquisition. To make more money, you have to take more risks. If you lose money, you will have to be scolded by Redstone. Comparing the two, it is better to let a star like Cruise invest in her shares, so that she can make money regardless of the weather.

The happiest thing is working with Ronald. Ronald has a good eye, and rarely fails to make a movie he likes. Anyway, now that New United Artists wants a seat on the MPAA board, if I help them, I can co-produce with United Artists. On my resume, there are only items about the hit movies I invested in during my tenure, and there is no mention of how much shares I gave to others, or how much I lost...

"I will follow the highest standards in the overseas distribution of GoldenEye, so you can rest assured. This is New United Artists' first masterpiece, and we all want to see it succeed."

Shirley Lansing met Ronald and immediately praised him. 007: Golden Eye was also a project led by Ronald, and it was sure to be another hit. Paramount and Universal Pictures jointly established an overseas distribution company, UIP (United International Pictures Distribution), which would be responsible for international distribution business except for China.

They had an agreement with MGM/United Artists before, and now the new United Artists has no time to change distributors, so they will definitely go to them. Shirley Lansing didn't want to miss such an opportunity to please Ronald.

"Thank you. This movie needs your help. I think audiences all over the world are waiting for a new, more handsome 007..."

Ronald was very confident about this. Firstly, he had dreamed about it, and secondly, the new trend in the 1990s was that being able to fight was not as good as being handsome.

Although Pierce Brosnan is Irish, he is so handsome that he attracts more female viewers than his predecessor Timothy Dalton. Although Timothy Dalton is a genuine Welshman, he fits the 007's actual recruitment tradition.

People of Irish descent definitely cannot be included in the list of 00 agents with licenses to kill and access to countless top-secret MI5 agents. Sean Connery is Scottish, Roger Moore is English, and Timothy Dalton is from Wales. They have always pursued unity in and out of the play.

But now it is the mid-007s, and the new is aimed at a global audience, not a British audience. It is actually not easy for them to distinguish the subtle differences between the Irish and the people of the British Isles.

Just like Hollywood audiences, it is actually very difficult to tell the subtle differences between Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese and Japanese. In fact, actors of all these ethnic groups participated in the filming of The Joy Luck Club, but everyone still thinks it is a Chinese story, right?

In addition, the two previous 007 films were not box office hits, and some old-fashioned people cannot use ethnicity as an excuse to stop Pierce Brosnan from taking the role, as he should have played the previous role.

"By the way, Ronald, I heard that you and 20th Century Fox are going to collaborate on a new film?"

Shirley Lansing began to inquire about Ronald's new movements.

"Yes, they have a science fiction movie about fighting aliens..."

"Actually, you can come to me. Paramount can also shoot it. I'm not bragging, but we will be a better joint venture partner than Fox."

"Well, you don't know this, but this movie is more right-wing. There's a plot where the President of America personally flies a fighter jet to attack aliens. I guess many people at Paramount don't like it, right?"

Ronald thought of a reason. Perhaps only Fox would be willing to make a movie praising the American president?
In the 1990s, after the new management was replaced, everyone could see that Warner Bros. was wholeheartedly leaning towards left-wing liberals, and most of the films that were approved had left-wing content.

Fox is more right-wing and conservative.

Disney is not interested in competing with the world, and only focuses on making movies for children. The rest of Paramount and Universal are more concerned with business, but Paramount is more left-leaning, and they are unlikely to approve a project that praises the President.

"Oh, then let's just shoot something else that has no political inclinations..." Shirley Lansing wanted Ronald to choose from Paramount's projects and then invest in whatever he likes.

(End of this chapter)