American Life

Chapter 236 Start shooting, each show their skills

"I plan to use US$ million in production costs to film the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. This is just the production cost and does not include publicity costs." Charlie looked at the couple.

"Warner..." Peter Jackson thought of another aspect.

"I'm afraid Warner will send someone to contact you two tonight. In fact, Christopher Nolan just had a phone call with me before you came." Charlie informed the two couples present of the big news.

"There's a good show to watch." Neil couldn't help but whisper.

For a moment, everyone's eyes were on him.

"Ahem, I need to go to the bathroom." Neil said with some embarrassment, and quickly escaped by peeing.

"Warner put forward conditions that he could not agree to, so he and his brother chose to switch to another company. We were ready to sign a long-term contract, including the following three movies, and the entire contract lasted for five years." Charlie continued.

Peter Jackson and his wife looked at each other, obviously they knew each other well.

Christopher Nolan was attracted by Charlie's proposed split.

"You two have the same conditions." Charlie looked at the two of them.

"The two of us may need to discuss this matter privately." Peter Jackson did not give a definite answer.

Of course, a District movie alone cannot make Peter agree to all of Charlie's conditions. This movie is originally a hobby of the couple, and its priority is not at the same level as the "Lord of the Rings" series. This is something Charlie himself I also know it well.As for Peter Jackson, his role in the entire series cannot be replaced by anyone.

The rest of the conversation revolved entirely around the spin-off feature film of "Living in Joburg".

""Living in Joburg" itself is only 20 minutes long and does not have any plot. If it is to be expanded into a feature film, we need to give a general context." Neil's wife is a screenwriter herself, and was discussing with Peter Jackson at this time There are plot issues.

"The fact that we transform into aliens as humans can be retained." Peter Jackson nodded.

The two sides seemed to have entered a state of discussion, and Charlie was completely left alone.

After all, he may know how to invest in movies and be good at discovering good movie projects, but when it comes to film creation itself, it still has to be done by professionals.

At this moment, I heard Charlie suddenly say: "You must have watched "Pocahontas", why can't you write a similar story."

"The 'prawn' in the film is just dirty, and the audience may not empathize with it." Neil's wife said.

"Besides, I don't want to make a clichéd story." Neil expressed his persistence.

It's really difficult for you guys to create. You don't think your final result is out of the ordinary, do you?

"And, most importantly, it is impossible for us to let a human male and a female prawn fall in love on the big screen." Peter Jackson said in a dumbfounded voice, feeling that Charlie Rossi's idea was a bit whimsical.

"Then let's take another approach. For example, the male protagonist chooses to help the prawns fight in order to return to normal society and return to his wife." Charlie directly gave the core motivation of the protagonist of the film.

"To return to my wife?"

The two men present couldn't help but look at their wives.

"I think this idea is very good, and I agree with this arrangement." Fran Welsh was the first to agree.

I was slightly amazed in my heart. There was obviously a reason why Charlie Rossi was so unique in film investment.

Neil touched his head and couldn't help but mumbled: "Why didn't I think of that?"

"You can fill in the specific details, so I'll excuse you. By the way..." Charlie suddenly thought of something before leaving and looked at Neil: "The plot must not involve other African countries, such as Nigeria, let alone include them. Shaped into a cannibal and criminal who eats hair and drinks blood."

Charlie reminded him in particular.

"That's the kind of people they are..." Neil couldn't help complaining.

Sure enough, some of the settings in the film are mixed with some of Neal's personal belongings. They are obviously a satire of the apartheid system, but mixed with crude discrimination.

You still know how to play double standards.

After leaving the agreed place, Charlie immediately called Kayla.

"Find me a guy, Saul Zaenz. He's a member of the Producers Guild. I need to speak to him as soon as possible."

That night, Peter Jackson received a call from Warner executives.

"Peter, our previous cooperation was very smooth, wasn't it? This new series will continue the glory of the past, and we are ready to give better conditions."

"It's useless. Now the rights to adapt Gaiden have fallen into the hands of Charlie Rossi. Any conditions you give will not be established. Without authorization for adaptation, this is all empty talk." Peter Jackson replied.

He also just learned the news.

After meeting with him, Charlie Rossi immediately contacted Saul Zaenz, who holds the rights to the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit series. He bought the rights to these two works 30 years ago. Without him, Authorization, the movie cannot be started at all.

It was obvious that Charlie had prepared in advance, and Warner didn't catch any of them this time.

"I have to hang up." Peter Jackson said.

The subsequent negotiations with Christopher Nolan seemed to be extremely smooth. After all, the conditions given by Charlie were the most favorable and intuitive.

Breaking the accounts based on the box office base means absolute attraction for every practitioner in Hollywood.

Friedman has also been communicating with Charlie frequently in the past two days. He said that even the scripts received by the company have doubled, and there are many filmmakers who want to cooperate with PB Pictures.

Charlie heard a few names from him that were of some interest.

In the following month and a half, many films began to enter the official shooting stage, and the rest were also in the final preparation before shooting.

·
In the stairwell of the campus, a man and a woman were sitting there.

"I like Edward, but I also hope you can stay with me, Jacob." Bella raised her head and spoke what was in her heart.

"Crack!"

Chris Weitz quickly put an end to this hellish scene.

"Kristen, you have to show your tangled feelings. Do you understand the tangled feeling? It's a difficult choice between two men."

"And Lautner, you have to show a moment of grief, but at the same time you can't be too sad, you can't show any anger towards Bella, but you should point the finger directly at the male lead."

The director gave special instructions to the two of them.

"Action!" The field worker hit the board again.

Kristen was brewing her emotions, but the appearance of another person appeared in her mind.

He seems to have never been so confused before, right?
Kristen couldn't help but laugh.

"Is the actress ready?"

"Finish your makeup now."

Natalie Portman looked at herself in the mirror, wearing FBL clothing, which was completely different from her past makeup style, and she looked even more determined at this time.

I would never have taken this kind of role before, right?

Soon she came to the set, and her co-star was Woody Harrelson, who played a smooth-talking psychic magician in the play.

The script was changed midway, and it was Mark Ruffalo who originally came to interrogate him.Now it has become myself.

Before filming even officially started, the director was shaking his head at Natalie Portman.

"You can't look like this. You look too weak. You have to show your strong side. You have to know that you are playing an experienced female detective." The director warned.

"But, I..." Natalie's expression was a little stiff.

Only then did she realize that she simply couldn't meet the director's requirements.

Her previous roles were so stereotyped that they all looked the same.

People who are used to being Tsing Yi cannot play the role of Dao Ma Dan.

The director had an idea at the scene: "How about this? You imagine that the other person is the person you hate the most, and you want him to go to hell. Do you have such a candidate in your mind?"

Natalie thought for a moment, then nodded, her expression becoming increasingly serious.

"Very good, this is the state, keep it."

"If you don't tell me the truth, don't even think about walking out of here! Never!" Natalie slammed the table with a loud voice.

Woody Harrelson, who plays the opposite role, was completely frightened, but he got into the mood.

With Natalie's near-perfect performance, the scene flew by in a flash.

"That guy in your imagination must owe you a lot of money, right?" Woody Harrelson couldn't help but joke.

Natalie was about to speak when she suddenly saw the mobile phone handed over by her assistant.

In a quiet dance studio, Eva Green is wearing ballet training clothes and stretching her body in front of the mirror. Her movements are slow and beautiful, like a blooming black and white rose.

Producer Jon Avnet, standing among the staff, couldn't help but marvel that Charlie Rossi did not recommend the wrong person. Eva Green has dancing skills and is very consistent with the director's requirements, even if she doesn't have to A stand-in can also achieve a very perfect performance effect.

At the same time, in South Africa, Neil's crew also officially started filming. Different from several high-profile crews, Neil asked the photographer to take photos hand-held to enhance the sense of presence.

While several other films are in full swing, the crew of "The Hangover" is still casting.

"S**T, everyone else has started filming, and we are the only one standing still. I don't want to be fired by Charlie Rossi!" Producer Chris Band grabbed the hair on his head randomly.

While the other crews had already started filming, I was still casting.

"Next," the casting director called toward the door.

An unknown actress came in. She was in a panic and staggered when she entered.

"Sorry, I may not be in a good state today."

"Have you grown up?" Chris Band looked surprised.

"No, I didn't. I didn't have a good rest last night and drank too much," the actress responded.

the Hangover?

Chrisband and the director looked at each other and smiled in unison. He always felt that her state was quite consistent with the crew.

"Very good, now please start your performance!"

·
When the work of several crews began to proceed in an orderly manner, Charlie became extremely leisurely and spent the entire afternoon playing tennis with the South American trio.

In the evening, a guest came to the castle, it was Natalie Portman.

"Do you like it here?" Charlie asked.

"Of course, it's great here." Natalie couldn't help but praise, her expression looked timid every time she looked at Charlie.

"How was the shooting?" Charlie held his chin.

"Not bad, sir." Natalie nodded. She would never tell Charlie that she entered the state very quickly after imagining her opponent as him.

"Actually, we are not at war with each other, just like we said at the dinner table when we last met." Charlie stared at her.

Natalie felt a little angry when she thought about being teased by Charlie during the last meal. She had never suffered such a disadvantage since she was a child, but she was unable to change the result. She had been pushed to the edge of the cliff by Charlie. If she didn't do something If anything, it will only be worse than now.

Natalie immediately agreed: "You are right, I will need your support in the future."

Then he took the initiative to sit next to Charlie and stretched out his delicate hands to press Charlie's shoulders, but Charlie dodged away.

"I have to go to the hot springs, and then I have to rest. You can go home." Charlie shook his head, as if he was not interested in Natalie's overtures, and then turned around and left.

In the warm bath, the water vapor was rising thickly. Charlie, who was sitting in the bath, heard the door open after a while, and Natalie, wrapped in a bathrobe, walked in.

She raised her slender legs and slowly walked into the bathtub. As she got closer, her bathrobe floated on the water.

Natalie came to Charlie without saying a word, resting her head on Charlie's shoulder, there was no need to say anything else.

"I'm afraid you don't know that a young girl once did this, but she didn't have what she wanted. Have you thought about it clearly?"

In fact, Natalie had already thought through the outcome when she chose to come here tonight. The difference was just a different process.

"I will not be worse than Faith Hill, I will not be worse than anyone else." Natalie opened her eyes and whispered. Charlie did not let herself leave, which meant that he agreed to her request, and what she wanted next All it does is cling.

Natalie took the initiative to kiss him.

·
The next day, when another well-known actress came to the mansion and saw Natalie dressed in the hall and getting ready to go out, she couldn't help but exclaimed: "Why are you here?"

Natalie was also surprised.

"What are you here for?"

"I'm here to ask for money." Scarlett Johansson pinched her waist. The film was released, but part of the upfront payment promised by PB Films had not yet arrived, so she had to come and ask.

"It's not just about money, right?" Natalie immediately saw through Scarlett Johansson's little thoughts.

Things that can be solved with a phone call must come in person.

He didn't answer, but asked: "Is he awake?"

"I don't know, I have to go to the set." Natalie went out.

So Scarlett could only wait in the hall. After a while, Charlie came downstairs wearing a velvet nightgown.

"Why are you here?" He also seemed a little surprised by Scarlett's arrival.

Last night, Natalie hoped to invest in a series of low-budget art films directed by her. In exchange, Natalie would continue to sign several films with PB Company. As for what happened last night, it could only be regarded as part of the deal. .

Natalie started to talk about the final payment of the film.

"Besides, I came here today and wanted to ask about the sequel."

(End of this chapter)