Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 683 Do you want to invest in the last emperor?
"Hey, I wasted two days. The real audience time was only a few minutes. In the end, I was asked by Her Majesty's head of security for a long time."

On ABC TV's International Entertainment News, seeing the footage of Ronald, Minahan, and Jeremy Thomas being received by Her Majesty the Queen of Britain together, Aunt Karen was so excited that she calculated the time difference. Called Ronald's hotel room in London.

Ronald, who was eating a large portion of fish and chips, chatted with his aunt.This delicacy invented in the slums of the East End of London, to put it bluntly, is to wrap the fish in batter and fry it, then dip it in various sauces and serve with French fries.

Commoner food has such characteristics, high in calories, high in carbohydrates, deep fried, and strong in taste, which makes Ronald eat very excitedly, which reminds him of the breakfast pancake with deep fried dough sticks that he ate in Xujiahui, and it is the same way number.

"Didn't the queen talk to you about your life experience? Her king's friend is your grandma, is she a best friend? Then, if you do this, are you a relative of his grandchildren? Will she give you a title or something? ?”

"No. We are actually a very distant relationship. The Spencer family separated from the royal family eight generations ago. Even if we have a relationship, it is called eight cousin third removed after three generations. Basically It just doesn't matter.

However, the two princesses and I can be regarded as third cousins ​​within three generations.Hmm, but... But the husband doesn't seem to like me very much, so I promised Buckingham Palace that I would not make this relationship public. "

Ronald took a bite of the still hot fried fish, "Don't talk about it, I brought you and Donna two cashmere scarves. I heard that the title of Earl Spencer was originally made of wool weaving. They There are also people in the family who are engaged in old businesses, so they specially gave me a few."

"Well, take care yourself in Britain, I've heard the people there are very bad."

After talking to his aunt about his messy distant relationship with the royal family, Ronald hung up the phone.This kind of ancestor can be found for seven or eight generations. In fact, most British people can be connected with a certain historical nobleman.Before the living conditions improved substantially in modern times, it was impossible for many poor people to leave offspring.

"Ding dong..."

"coming"

Ronald finished the remaining fried fish in two bites, wiped his hands, stood up and opened the door.

"Hey Ronald. It's me."

A fat man with a thick neck, resembling an East End manual worker, sneered at the door.

"Jeremy, please come in."

It turned out to be independent producer Jeremy Thomas.Ronald was very happy to be visited, but it was also a bit strange, why did he come?

"I'm glad to see a Briton visiting. I really wish you could come and chat with me. The rest of my crew have gone back first." Ronald took out a bottle of whiskey from the liquor cabinet and gave it to Jerry Rice poured on.

"I went to watch your 'Top Gun' last night. It is indeed a highly skilled commercial film. There are many things I don't understand, so I took the liberty to find it. As a producer, I have been making films outside of Hollywood for a long time. , a bit unfamiliar with the new trends in Hollywood.

Why does your movie seem to be edited faster than others? "

"You may not watch MTV very much. The new generation of young people like to watch MVs. There must be a complete story in 3 minutes, so the pace must be fast, and a large blank space for the story must be left... "

Ronald never refuses the communication between his peers. I don’t know who you can hear one or two brilliant ideas, which will be used in later movies.

Besides, he also wants to know more about the filming of "The Last Emperor" in the Forbidden City, and he himself wants to make a movie with the theme of his homeland.

"The Last Emperor was adapted from the autobiography written by the child emperor who ascended to the throne at the age of three when he was old. They cooperated very well there and recruited his younger brother and the person who managed him in the prison at that time as consultants for the film.

After the director Bertolucci finished writing the script, he repeatedly confirmed every detail in the script, every costume and setting with them, trying to restore the last emperor of that ancient and mysterious empire. "

"I haven't filmed this kind of period drama before. It's very difficult to hear from you."

"Yeah, period dramas require a lot of investment, except that the Forbidden City was kindly opened up for filming, and casting is not easy. In the end, I persuaded Peter O'Toole to play the role of Emperor Johnston, and the male and female protagonists chose Chinese actors.

Bertolucci found that although East Asians all look similar, there are subtle but obvious differences in temperament between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.The audience can tell if it is authentic at a glance. "

"Of course," thought Ronald, even the producer, who had raised $2500 million, didn't know much about culture.Ordinary people in the three East Asian countries have very different temperaments.

"This movie is definitely expensive, but I just want to shoot this epic masterpiece of the afterglow of the 2000-year-old empire. It is really expensive to do things seriously. Thousands of extra performers have to pay salaries every day. To get them the right clothes, armor, weapons, and then hundreds of costume, make-up and hair stylists, all flown in from Europe or Hollywood."

"Huh?" Ronald thought, something didn't seem right.I have been to the Xujiahui Film Factory myself, and the policy given by the Ministry of Culture there is to fully support the export of culture to the world, and everything can be matched.Besides, the labor cost there is very cheap, how can it be as exaggerated as Jeremy said?

"So $2500 million is totally not enough. I couldn't say a word in front of my peers at the reception that day, otherwise they would completely screw things up.

I try to maintain the public image that funding is okay, that people just like to invest in successful films. "

"The Matthew Effect? ​​I understand. You still need money? Isn't 2500 million enough?" Ronald asked.

"Of course not enough. A small half of my financing came from Heimdell Productions (the producer of Terminator), and the rest was found through my hard work. And this movie has not yet found a distributor.

So in addition to the production cost, I also need to prepare a reserve fund in case there is a problem with the shooting there.You also need to be prepared to release it in America, even if it is screened state by state.

For a movie of this epic nature, Hollywood distributors are very cowardly, a bunch of eggless bastards and cowards.

I'm very confident that 'The Last Emperor' can compete with David Lean's 'Lawrence of Arabia' in terms of awards and box office. "

"How far are you?" Ronald wanted to know more about the details. He really wanted to invest in this movie. There are too few movies in Hollywood that promote the history and culture of Chinese Americans. There is nothing wrong with having such an opportunity for the audience to learn more about Chinese American history. good.

"There is still about 1000 million short, can you invest?" Jeremy Thomas was overjoyed, there are very few funders who are so easy to talk to.

"1000 million? I don't have that much money. I'm just a director. It's producers and film companies who make big money in Hollywood."

Ronald withdrew his hand that was about to reach his wallet for the checkbook.

Jeremy Thomas has no limit to his words, and he has 1000 million mouths, and he denied it in public before, and now he is talking loudly, which makes him really untrustworthy.

"No?" Jeremy Thomas was a little frustrated. "Actually, 1000 million includes a reserve of 200 million and an issuance budget of 800 million. You can get it as long as 200 million. But there must be other people around you who are willing to invest. Your eyes."

"Ronald, art is great. There is a very bad trend in Hollywood, which is to only shoot those types of movies that have been proven by the market. Some movies clearly have both artistic potential and box office potential, but those who don't understand it at all. The studio executives just wouldn't give the green light to the film, and that's why I switched to being an independent producer.

"I agree, but I really don't have any money."

In fact, Ronald quite agrees with Jeremy's statement that a movie needs to rely on the interest of the stars, so that the studio can rest assured that it will be shot.This inevitably led to an aversion to breakthrough genre films. In order to minimize risks, stars also focused on those movie scripts that fit the star's image.

"It doesn't matter, as long as you are willing to lead the investment, Ronald, many people in Hollywood will follow. I know they all believe in your vision.

I know you are interested in Chinese culture.People don't know the greatness of Chinese culture, and before we entered London a thousand years ago, Confucius wrote a great book comparable to the Bible.

This is a great history. Together with Bertolucci, I will slowly open the curtain of this ancient and mysterious country and show it to everyone in the world. "

Jeremy Thomas went on to talk about Ronald's support for Asian culture.

He knew that Ronald had criticized the film "Year of the Dragon" that insulted Chinese Americans, supported the unfair protests of Chinese Americans, and filmed the mysterious Japanese mentor, Master Miyagi.

When many people look at the magic of Dongying Enterprises, they also think that Dongying people are really powerful.There is no resistance to these people who robbed their own jobs as in the past.After all, their products are really cheap.

"You let me think about it carefully."

Ronald felt that what he said made sense. The success of a movie can sometimes evoke a change in the status of an ethnic group.It would be a pity if an epic film like "The Last Emperor" couldn't be made perfect because of the lack of money.

But some of Jeremy Thomas' behaviors... Although knowing your customers is a basic requirement for sales, he has researched himself so thoroughly that he even found out about supporting Chinese, which always makes Ronald a little uncomfortable .

"Of course, of course...but you are a benchmark, as long as you can support me, even if it is hundreds of thousands of dollars, I can raise more money in Hollywood, so that Bertolucci can fully play.

"Well, let me think about it. My financial affairs, especially film investment, have to be discussed with my agent and accountant."

Ten million is fine, hundreds of thousands are fine, why does this sound so unreliable?

"This is the phone number of my assistant in Hollywood. Contact me as soon as possible. As long as you can invest, I think there must be someone from the seven major studios who is willing to consider releasing this film in America."

(End of this chapter)