Throughout July, Duke was on vacation, and for most of August, he didn’t think about work at all. Since the beginning of the new century, he had basically released one new movie every year, and except for Taken, all the others were comrcial blockbusters with production costs exceeding $100 million.
Although making movies was Duke’s greatest passion, and when passion aligns with work it doesn’t feel too dull or boring, after several years, he still felt a sense of exhaustion.
This exhaustion did not co from the body but from the ntal level.
A director is the general coordinator of a film, needing to consider too many aspects. From pre-production to post-production, one can hardly detach from the crew. The ntal pressure brought by this long-term process is imaginable.
Pressure isn’t sothing that disappears just because you want it to.
In the beginning, Duke used the common thods in the circle to release and relieve stress. Won especially beautiful and sexy won were undoubtedly excellent channels to release pressure.
But in recent years, he had already bid farewell to his forr lifestyle. Moreover, with accumulated experience, he had grown accustod to working under pressure. Even if there was so stress, he could adjust himself in ti through vacations or sailing trips.
Therefore, when Duke felt ntally fatigued, he imdiately gave himself this long vacation.
However, taking a long vacation did not an completely detaching from his work.
He successively finalized the acquisition of key projects by his film fund in Los Angeles and resolved issues with the Harry Potter crew in London.
The latter had already been dealt with before he returned to Los Angeles, and the forr was settled after he attended Steven Spielberg’s charity party.
Nowadays, the economic situation was dire. Even long-established companies like Lehman Brothers on Wall Street had to declare bankruptcy. Small funds like Relativity and Dune Capital were not in much better shape. What they needed most was undoubtedly a large amount of cash to stabilize investor sentint.
But all of Hollywood was facing a cash crunch. Almost every film company was tightening its purse strings. Companies like Paramount and DreamWorks even had to seek help from various sources. There were truly very few potential buyers for Relativity and Dune Capital.
The four projects taken over by David Ellison’s Sky Flim Studios gave the two companies a slight breath of relief, but it was far from enough to solve their problems. Over the past few years, they had thrown out too many investnts in Hollywood, and directors like Duke who could shoot films at lightning speed were practically non-existent. Few of the films they had invested in were able to reach release.
As everyone knows, the film industry is not a short-term profit venture. Generally, big productions with about $100 million in investnt take two to three years or even longer to complete...
Even films like The Shawshank Redemption only barely recovered their investnt more than ten years after release.
Of course, Duke wouldn’t even go near that kind of film.
What he wanted to acquire were the projects he could generally recall. The shares held by Relativity and Dune Capital in them would certainly bring in a large profit.
What’s more, Relativity and Dune Capital weren’t selling these shares at the original investnt price, but offering them at a discount.
Duke’s offer was only 30% of their original investnt, while Relativity and Dune Capital insisted on a bottom line of 50%, refusing to budge. The price was the biggest point of contention between both sides.
However, in early August, when the two companies received subpoenas from the court and a cooperation investigation letter from the FBI, they finally gave in.
The two sides reached an agreent during negotiations: Duke’s film fund would acquire the shares held by Relativity and Dune Capital in six projects—Avatar and X-n: First Class from 20th Century Fox, The Croods and How to Train Your Dragon from DreamWorks Animation, and Alice in Wonderland and Pirates of the Caribbean 4 from Walt Disney—at 40% of the original investnt cost.
Although all paynts had to be made in full at once, Duke had long been prepared. Within three days of Tina Fey signing the official agreent on his behalf, the paynts could be completed.
Compared to the four super projects taken by David Ellison, these were the ones Duke truly wanted to get his hands on.
As for the four projects Tron: Legacy, Robin Hood, John Carter, and Battleship, maybe miracles could happen...
"I’ve heard so news recently."
On the terrace connected to the living room, Nancy Josephson had just arrived. She picked up a glass of water and took a sip before saying, "Walt Disney is interested in inviting Andrew Stanton to direct John Carter."
Tina Fey frowned. "Is Michael Eisner planning to poach talent?"
"He may not be able to poach soone from Pixar that easily," Duke pulled his eyes back from the sea and shook his head. "Andrew Stanton isn’t stupid. He should know Disney won’t give him the creative freedom that Pixar provides."
Nancy Josephson put down her glass and reminded, "From what I’ve heard, Andrew Stanton is quite tempted and is seriously considering the feasibility of directing it."
"It doesn’t matter." Duke wasn’t too concerned.
For this kind of issue, Steve Jobs would probably be more interested than he was. And the fact that the Pixar Five wanted to branch into live-action films was no secret. Brad Bird was already confird to direct Mission: Impossible 4 with Tom Cruise and his investnt. Even if Andrew Stanton signed a directing contract with Disney, it didn’t an he wanted to leave Pixar.
Indeed, in this comrcial world, as long as one is willing to pay enough, they can poach many people. But the question is: will Michael Eisner pay an unimaginable price for soone like Andrew Stanton?
Movies have never been the product of individual heroism. Pixar’s success today owed much to the Five—John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich. But Duke had never overlooked the hundreds of technical and production staff whose presence was the real foundation of Pixar’s success.
Pixar Studios was a classic example of team success. Just poaching a few key figures wouldn’t replicate Pixar’s success, nor would it make Pixar collapse.
After saying a few words about Pixar Studios, the topic gradually shifted to Scarlett Johansson.
"Scarlett is quite satisfied with the eight million dollar paycheck."
So things are difficult for Scarlett to say directly to Duke, but Nancy had no need to hold back. "I just went to New xico a few days ago to visit Ben. Although she has a few complaints, Duke, Scarlett is still grateful for everything you’ve done for her."
Duke smiled but didn’t say much more. After all, he had only made a single phone call back then.
Eight million dollars is indeed a bit on the high side for Scarlett Johansson nowadays, but Iron Man 2 was already her third Marvel film. It’s a common practice in Hollywood for actors to demand higher salaries when appearing in sequels.
Moreover, under Duke’s intervention, Natasha Romanoff’s screen ti beca heavier and her role more significant. Marvel Studios would probably have to compromise sooner or later in terms of box office revenue and rchandise profit sharing.
Anyone familiar with the forr Marvel series could see that as the series progressed, Black Widow’s screen ti kept increasing. Scarlett Johansson even received a $20 million backend deal for Avengers: Age of Ultron.
That put her inco at the second tier among the six core Avengers mbers, right behind Robert Downey Jr.
Although Duke at the ti didn’t know the specifics of the paynt agreents between Marvel Studios and the core Avengers actors, in his view, Scarlett Johansson definitely deserved that $20 million backend deal.
There were two main reasons for saying this.
First, the Marvel universe constructed by the studio, which primarily consisted of white male superheroes, clearly lacked female characters. Black Widow was arguably the only female superhero fighting on the front lines, making her imnsely valuable and irreplaceable in the short term.
Even under such circumstances, as a mber of the Avengers, her value far exceeded that of a possible standalone female superhero film. Purely from the fans’ or dia’s perspective, replacing Black Widow would inevitably trigger a huge backlash just like Duke’s approach to the Harry Potter cast. That should only be a last resort.
On the other hand, Scarlett’s status as the second-highest-paid actor behind Robert Downey Jr. was also closely related to her performance in other films. After leaving Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. had many flops, though he did star in the relatively successful Sherlock Hols series. anwhile, Scarlett carried Lucy on her own and raked in nearly $500 million globally—that’s capital.
By contrast, take Jeremy Renner and Chris Evans. After stepping away from the Marvel series, neither managed to truly carry a film in terms of box office.
The forr had been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, but everyone knows that the Oscars and market appeal are two entirely different things. His leading role in The Bourne Legacy ended in failure, and in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, he wasn’t even the main character...
The latter fared similarly. Outside of Marvel, the only film of note was Snowpiercer, but no matter how much the dia hyped it up, its box office flop was an undeniable fact.
As for Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo, how many people can even na a film they starred in outside the Marvel series?
Market appeal is often looked down upon by critics as if bringing it up is sohow vulgar but it’s actually the truest asure of an actor’s status in Hollywood and on a film set.
Even if you win the Academy Award for Best Actor, if you haven’t proven yourself in the market, don’t expect to join the $20 million club with your next film.
Hollywood has always been very realistic.
.....
Hi For access to additional Chapters of
Director in Hollywood (40 chpaters)
Made In Hollywood (60 Chapters)
Pokemon:Bounty Hunter(30 Chapters)
Douluo Dalu: Reincarnated as Yan(40 Chapters)
Hollywood:From Razzie to Legend(40 Chapters)
The Great Ruler (30 Chapters)
Join pateron/Translaterappu
Reviews
All reviews (0)