Birth of an actor

Universal Pictures, one of the seven major film companies, works closely with Steven Spielberg. Almost all of the latter's films are produced and distributed by Universal. Universal's important works in recent years include "Schindler's List", "Apollo 13" and "Jurassic Park" series.

And Stacy Schneider is even more famous. "Vanity Fair" once selected the three most powerful women in Hollywood. The other two have a relationship with William once or even a few times. Parcival (focusing on ChickFlick movies for 500 years), and [-]th Century Fox executive vice president Valerie Galier (on how to get the role of Carl in "Titanic"), the third person is almost mastering Universal Stacy Schneider has half of the power—Universal is mainly divided into studios and distribution. The headquarter of the studio is located in Los Angeles, and the distribution and other departments are located in New York. Stacy Schneider is in charge of the Los Angeles people.

William recognized the Jim in front of him, who was the one who ignored Steve Jobs' previous spiel - no wonder, although Jobs was a billionaire and the owner of the famous Pixar animation, Pixar It is the cake that Disney and DreamWorks are vying for. Universal has no interest in getting involved in the animation industry. Secondly, in the eyes of the producers of the seven major film companies such as Universal, if Steve Jobs does not invest in movies, Pixar will not get involved In the case of live-action movies, he is just a billionaire who plays movies across industries, a technical geek who will return to Silicon Valley to work in his own industry sooner or later.

Therefore, it is not surprising why this person lacked interest in Steve Jobs before, and now he is showing great hospitality to William, because probably in his eyes, William at this moment is far more valuable than Steve Jobs.

But after hearing the other party's self-report, William's reaction was even colder. He just shook hands with the other party politely: "Hello, Jim."

William didn't even accept the business card, because he and Universal really have a little unpleasant memory: in 1995, when the film adaptation of Mark Twain's novel "The Adventures of Tom" was being filmed, Universal invited William to audition, and William went to and performed very well, but Universal finally revealed the truth. It turned out that they had chosen Brad Renfro, who was more famous at the time, but because of the schedule, Brad Renfro might not be able to participate in the filming, so It was only then that William was allowed to audition as a candidate. Later, Brad Renfro's schedule became vacant, and William was naturally eliminated.

William still vaguely remembers that Stacy Schneider was the top executive in charge of Universal's "New Tom Adventures" project at the time. It's strange to have a good impression.

Seeing William's expression, Jim didn't show anything on his face, but he secretly screamed in his heart that it was terrible—it is not a small thing to be a producer in a big film company like Universal with fierce competition for rights, and to be a powerful person next to Stacy Schneider. Jim's EQ is naturally not low, and William's lack of interest in him can also be seen.

'We made a really bad decision two years ago. Jim thought, 'Ditching William Bradley for Brad Renfro seemed sensible then, but now?Brad Lanfro has fallen from the position of the star of tomorrow. He hasn't released an influential work in more than two years. The box office performance of "Adventure" is also mediocre, and William Brandley is not only one of the most popular and most promising new stars in Hollywood, he almost single-handedly made "Scream", which seems to be mediocre in quality, Brought to the third position in the North American box office rankings in 1996, although he has not yet been recognized by the Oscars, how many stars of tomorrow can achieve such a strong box office appeal? '

'Of William Bradley's two upcoming films, Gattaca's internal previews were almost overwhelmingly positive, and Titanic, a giant ship that was widely disliked, is in the running. In the past two previews, those harsh film critics criticized James Cameron, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, but only William Brown. Carl Hockley, played by Landry, has been well-received, and the commercial blockbuster has been hit on the street. Generally speaking, the most affected are the director and the leading actor, and the supporting roles are rarely implicated. In this way, even if the big ship Titanic really sank Well, William Bradley won't be affected much, and may even continue to rise on the wreckage of the ship, if he is really the only one who does well in the film.Apart from befriending Steven Spielberg, Universal has no A-list actors at all, which is not good for establishing the company's absolute dominance in Hollywood... what choice is there to try to win back William Bradley's heart better?If we really had to wait for him to rise to the A-list before making amends, Universal would no longer be able to win his heart. '

In just a few seconds, countless opening words flashed through his mind, and Jim finally chose to get straight to the point: "Well, Will, we are making a movie now, the main character is a god of death, he came to the mortal world He wanted to harvest the soul of a billionaire, but fell in love with the rich man's daughter—"

William showed a lack of interest, Jim saw this, and immediately added: "The candidate for the second actor has been decided, and it is Anthony Hopkins."

Anthony Hopkins is a British actor that William likes very much. At the Oscars in 1992, he won the 64th Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Doctor Hannibal in "The Silence of the Lambs".Anyone who has seen the film is full of praise for Anthony Hopkins' creepy and superb acting skills.

William's eyes immediately changed from disinterested to a little interested: "Really? What about the director?"

"The director is Martin Brest, you know, Will, the nominee for Best Director at the 65th Academy Awards."

"Of course I know him." William is really interested in this movie this time: ""Scent of a Woman", Al Pacino, Martin Brest really contributed a masterpiece. "

"Scent of a Woman", which was released before Christmas in 1992, is a classic film that can still be talked about by fans many years later, no matter in terms of the plot of the film or the stories outside the film: although the title is very evocative, but The whole movie of "Scent of a Woman" revolves around the relationship between the blind lieutenant colonel played by Al Pacino and the young boarding school students played by Chris O'Donnell. The female character with the most roles in the film only played for a few minutes. At the [-]th Academy Awards ceremony in early [-], Al Pacino even relied on the role of the blind lieutenant colonel to sweep away the decline of the "Godfather" series for many years. , took away the statuette for Best Actor.

"After "Scent of a Woman", Martin Brest didn't come across a subject he liked for five years. Until this one, it took five years to carve out this work. I believe Martin Brest We will definitely be able to contribute another masterpiece, and Universal also thinks so, and the budget prepared by the company is also very sufficient, and the shooting environment, costumes, and music are all the best."

"Amon, can you come here?" William waved to Amon Goffman, who was standing not far away talking with someone, and called him to come over, and then said to Jim: "I am very interested in the movie you are talking about. , Jim, maybe you can talk to my agent in more detail, I can't do everything without Amon. By the way, the script is already set, right? If possible, I would like to read the script first .”

"Yes, the script has been finalized." Jim said, "I understand, no, it can be delivered to you tomorrow night, just make a phone call and have my assistant deliver it."

Amon Goffman squeezed through the noisy crowd, holding a glass of tequila, and walked over with bright eyes: "What's the matter, Will?"

William recounted Jim's new movie invitation on behalf of Universal, and Amon Goffman was really interested in it—after all, it is a collaboration between Oscar-nominated director and actor Anthony Hopkins, and I believe it is rare to find it all over Hollywood. There are actors or agents who would not be interested in this movie—but for an agent, especially a Jewish agent, Amon Goffman's first question is still so pointed: "What is the budget of the film? "

Jim calculated: "Probably around $9000 million."

Not only Amon Goffman, but even William raised his eyebrows fiercely: Jim just made it clear that this movie is not a typical commercial movie with a lot of special effects scenes. It burns the most money, and if a movie has few or no special effects, about 5000 million is considered a big investment, but now Jim tells them that Universal is going to burn 9000 million dollars for this new film... Martin Brest How much is the director's fee?How Much Does Anthony Hopkins Get Paid?How much are they going to pay William?In this era when Hollywood's ten-million-dollar salary club has just joined members, the combined salary of the three of them is absolutely impossible to exceed 3000 million, so this is really a big-budget movie.

"So." Just when William thought that Amon Goffman would directly accept the invitation for him, he heard the other party ask, "Does Will need an audition? Or does he get the role without an audition?"

'Wow, this question is really important. ' thought William, 'Amon is indeed a competent agent.None of us want to be fooled by Universal again. '

"Uh..." Jim hesitated, looking at his expression as if he was struggling, before continuing: "Actually, the studio has considered Brad Pitt, and has already sent him an audition request— —”

"Ha." William raised his eyebrows slightly, sneered directly, and then turned to look at Amon Goffman, only to find that his manager was silent, standing quietly with no expression on his face.

This is a bit weird, usually, Amon Goffman should be more excited than William by now.

However, William's attention to the agent was quickly attracted by Jim's chatter: "Please listen to me, Will, in fact, I think you are more suitable for the role of Death than Pete, not to say who is more suitable." Handsome is not handsome, but temperament and the level of performance—you will understand this after you read the script." After a pause, the Universal producer emphasized again: "I can guarantee the audition There are only two of you in total, there will be no third candidate, and Universal will never make any of the mistakes it made before, please believe me once?"

Universal should be sincere this time, William thought, after all, he is no longer the little unknown actor he used to be, and he has no grievances with the president of Universal, there is no reason for the studio to play him twice or thrice, but , even though he knew that Jim's invitation was not a fake, William still hesitated whether to accept the audition. After all, although Jim's words were nice and the film configuration was considered luxurious, he hadn't read the script yet...

"We agreed."

Hearing this sentence, William looked at his agent in surprise, only to see that the other party was bargaining with the Universal producer with a serious face: "The audition should be arranged at least a week after the script is delivered, and we need to be familiar with the lines first; the audition No need to separate from Brad Pitt, preferably on the same day, as long as Universal executives are fair enough, they will see who is the better actor; how much is Brad Pitt paid now? Don't lie, I know you guys paid him at least $800 million, Will wants the same, and..."

Amazingly, Universal producer Jim said yes to almost all of Amon Goffman's demanding, demanding, and almost vexatious requests.

"Universal is really optimistic about you, Will." After Jim left, Amon Goffman speculated after a while: "I doubt whether Universal knew something in advance, some things other than industry leaders Few outsiders know the inside story, otherwise it is really impossible to explain why they are so optimistic about you, not only Universal, but the seven major film companies have their own identities, and almost all of them seldom pursue young actors..."

After sharing a lot of his thoughts with William, Amon Goffman became proud again: "The hottest and promising actor in Hollywood is my boy!"

William stared into the agent's eyes and asked with probing eyes: "Ami, why do I think you are so enthusiastic about this drama? Our relationship with Universal is not good. According to your personality, you know that I want to be with Brad." When Pitt competed for the same play, you should continue to hang on Universal's appetite until they compromise, not now, agreeing to let me and Brad Pitt audition for the same competition, and at the same time being so aggressive with Universal... ..."

Amon Goffman's chatter stopped suddenly.

"Tell me what's the inside story? I know there must be an inside story. Don't try to hide it from me."

Amon Goffman's eyes faltered for a moment.

"Amon?" William said in a threatening tone.

"Okay, let me say." Amon Goffman spread his hands towards William: "Isn't it okay to tell you everything?"

Then William's agent told a story that happened many years ago in concise language: In the 80s, a Missouri University dropout from Shawnee, Oklahoma went to Hollywood alone. Starting out as a celebrity driver and a part-time job in a fast food restaurant, he studied acting courses while earning money, and graduated from an acting school a year later. With his handsome appearance and fairly good acting skills, the young man got a chance to enter Hollywood. His first performance was in He played a rock singer in the sitcom "Growing Pains" with high ratings, and then had a four-year career as an extra. During these four years, the young man met a man who aspired to become the top agent in Hollywood The two hit it off immediately, not only became friends, but also agreed to be each other's work partners.

The manager of the WMA saw the potential of the young man's popularity, and spent a lot of effort to win an actor contract for the movie "Borderless Land" for the young man. From then on, the young man's status will rise from a TV series actor to a movie actor. The original agreement between the agent and the young man was that if the agent got a film contract for the young man, they would sign the contract. However, when the agent was smugly planning the youth's future career, the young man did not know when he had reached a private agreement with the agent's colleagues. According to the agreement in the book, the two moved to CAA together.It was only later that the agent found out that the reason why the young man betrayed their agreement so easily was because a colleague got the young man a second film contract.

Amon Goffman told the story so clearly, the identities of the three protagonists are already very clear, the agent is him, the young man is Brad Pitt, and Peter's current agent is Amon Goffman's former colleague.

"It's really a sad story." After listening to the story for a long time, William licked his lips and said, "It can be written into a script and made into a movie, and the name is "Double Betrayal."

Amon Goffman had a constipated expression on his face.

"Okay, Ami, I will avenge you." William rarely took the initiative to give his manager a comforting hug: "Don't be unhappy, okay?"

"Cleanly snatch the role from Brad Pitt, let me appreciate the angry but helpless expression of the old enemy?"

"No problem." William said confidently, "I'll kick their ass hard for you!"

Amon Goffman then smiled: "I never doubted that you could do this, Will, Brad Pitt didn't achieve what you did when he was 20 years old, and he was still in sitcoms at this age What about the annoying ex-boyfriend cameo, not even an episode, and Pete is 35 now, how many years are left in the golden age of career development? Ten years? You have at least 20 years, I am so sorry to you So confident."

After getting the guarantee, Amon Goffman went to talk to a beautiful woman in a blue sequin miniskirt with a happy face. William took a sip of orange juice, turned around, and saw Steve Jobs standing very close. Behind him, and looking at him with great interest.

"Uh, hello?" God, the Jim and Amon episode made William forget about Steve Jobs.

"Highly sought after, huh?" Steve Jobs gushed without answering the question, "I sat in on the entire conversation between you and Jim—the producer at Universal, you know—and the agent, Do you think my behavior violates your privacy?"

"No—" William shrugged, "If you don't tell Brad Pitt."

"Hahahaha!" Steve Jobs laughed loudly: "Of course I won't tell Brad Pitt, because I don't know him at all! Although I also have a lot of investment in Hollywood, but I have been paying attention to it before. Animated movie, but I know you, William Bradley, and you are more interesting than I thought."

Steve Jobs extended his right hand: "Introduce yourself, Steve Jobs."

"William Bradley." William also stretched out his right hand and shook hands with the other party before saying, "Actually, I have known you for a long time, Steve, and I came to the party today because of you."

Steve Jobs raised his eyebrows high: "Me?"

"Yes."

"Why? Don't tell me you're also interested in my Pixar hahaha." Steve Jobs joked.

"I'm very interested in some of your industries, Steve." William said with a smile: "But it's not Pixar, but the 150 million shares of Apple in your hand-if you haven't sold them if?"

Steve Jobs raised his eyebrows even higher.