Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 543 Talking about work

"Link, are there any good movie projects recently? I hope we can work together if we have the opportunity."

Ryan Kavanaugh said, holding a champagne glass at the party.

Link thought for a while and came up with two projects. One was "The Expendables 3" being prepared by Lionsgate Pictures, and the other was the movie "Divergent" adapted from the best-selling book produced by Summit Entertainment.

Due to the relatively high remuneration of him and Scarlett Johansson, the project budget of "The Expendables 3" is as high as 125 million US dollars. The higher the budget, the greater the risk. Similarly, if the box office is a hit, the profit will be higher. This is also like gambling.

To this end, he needs to find more colleagues to cooperate. If he wins, everyone will make money together, and if he loses, they will bear the consequences together.

And "Divergent" is a newly developed film project. It is a science fiction action movie with a production budget of 70 to 80 million. If Kavanaugh is interested, he can also participate in investment.

But Kavanaugh was more interested in low-budget film projects produced by Lionsgate.

This summer, although Lionsgate Pictures ranked third in the total box office of movies released, Disney, which ranked first, suffered a box office bomb "The Lone Ranger" and lost US$200 million. Warner Pictures' "The Hangover 3" also appeared Only Lionsgate movies are losing money.

Lionsgate Pictures has also become the most profitable company in the summer "New Seven Films".

Among the several movies released by Lionsgate, except for "Now You See Me", which cost 75 million, the other movies are all below 50 million. "Rust and Bone", which has a global box office of 320 million, cost only 22 million US dollars.

This is one of the reasons why Lionsgate is amazing.

Relativity Pictures' current financial situation is very poor and it cannot afford more money. He hopes to participate in the production of low-cost movies from Lionsgate Pictures.

Upon hearing Kavanaugh's request, Link did not immediately respond, but simply told him that invitations would be sent out if there were suitable projects.

In fact, not all low-cost film projects produced by Lionsgate are guaranteed to be profitable, such as "Her", last year's "The Master", Joaquin's newly submitted "Inherent Evil", Megan Ellison's new The script "Foxcatcher", Brad Pitt's "The Big Short" and so on.

These movies are mainly used to compete for Oscars.

The more Oscars Lionsgate's films win, the better their reputation will be, and they will attract more filmmakers to collaborate. For example, Reese Witherspoon's "Into the Wild" won the award from black director Lee Daniels. Come to "The White House Butler" and so on.

He remembered that the original producer of "The Butler" was Weinstein Pictures, but now director Lee Daniels has taken the initiative to cooperate with Lionsgate. This change is naturally in line with Lionsgate's Oscar awards in recent years. Achievements are closely related.

"Hi, Link!"

Angelina Jolie and Reese Witherspoon walked side by side. They are partners in new projects at Lionsgate and are also the bosses of the film company, so they were also invited by Link and Ivaca.

"Link, "Into the Wild" has been approved. Can I invite you to play a supporting actor role?"

Ms. Witherspoon laughed.

"If there's no scheduling conflict, I think I can live with that."

Link responded politely.

"No problem, we can adjust the shooting plan according to your time."

Ms. Witherspoon laughed.

Link agreed.

"Link, "Maleficent" needs a three or four-year-old little girl. Why don't you let Cynthia try it? She is very beautiful, like a little angel, and she is very suitable for that role."

Ms. Julie smiled while holding the wine glass.

Link thought for a while and thought it was not bad. Let the little guy make a movie. He doesn't have to be an actor when he grows up. It can also give him an interesting childhood experience.

But he can't make the decision. You need to ask Taylor what he wants for this kind of thing. If Taylor doesn't agree and he makes the decision without permission, Taylor will definitely blame him if he finds out afterwards.

"Okay, I'll wait for your answer."

Angelina Jolie smiled and mentioned a new script to him. It tells the story of an American soldier who was captured by the Japanese during World War II and suffered inhuman abuse but remained unyielding. It is a movie based on a real person. It's called "Unbreakable."

Julie asked Link if he was interested in investing and playing the male lead, and she was going to be the director herself.

Link didn't reject it immediately. He wanted to read the script first.

After sending away two big stars, Link joined Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Alba, Jessica Chastain and others We chatted about new movies and projects.

Lionsgate now produces more than 20 movies every year, which is much more than the six major film studios. Lionsgate's performance in Oscar awards is better than that of the six major film studios. This has also made it difficult for actors and agents to Lionsgate Pictures, which companies valued, has become a hot potato.

However, due to the large age gap, these elder sisters did not express any seductive intentions when chatting. They just kept praising him, almost touting him as the most perfect man in the world.

After chatting with a group of elder sisters, Link chatted with Netflix Chairman and CEO Reed Hastings and Vice President Scott Stuber.

At the end of last year, Lionsgate Pictures signed multiple cooperation plans with Netflix, including TV series, movies, variety shows, etc. Netflix is ​​responsible for financing and distribution, and Lionsgate Pictures mainly provides high-quality content.

In February, the first season of "House of Cards" co-produced by the two parties premiered simultaneously on the Netflix website worldwide. It achieved very good results, with ratings rising steadily, becoming a phenomenon-level hit TV series, attracting millions of members. Watch.

At the same time, it also drove Netflix's stock price to rise, soaring from US$26 per share at the end of last year to US$197.5.

Netflix's total market value also officially recovered to over 10 billion on February 25 from 5 billion at the end of last year. The current market value is 17.93 billion US dollars, exceeding the highest level in 11 years.

Lionsgate Pictures' 11.37% stake in Netflix has a market value of more than 2 billion, and Kim Baker Investments' 8.62% stake has also reached 1.54 billion.

Link's net worth has also skyrocketed.

In the future, the two companies will cooperate to produce more film and television dramas, as well as the "100 online dramas plan" and "10,000 micro-movies plan" proposed by Link. As long as the cooperation goes smoothly, Netflix's market value will be higher.

—

After chatting around and meeting all the guests, Link relaxed. At the suggestion of lady Gaga, he sat down in front of the piano and played a new song "Victory" with the accompaniment of the band. It was a majestic song. pure music.

"Link is too perfect. He is good-looking, a musician, a boxing champion, and a billionaire. He has almost no flaws. It's a pity that there is only one perfect man like him in the world."

Jessica Chastain marveled from the crowd.

"You should praise him to his face. This guy really likes others to praise him."

Emma Stone curled her lips and said.

“I can’t praise you enough in person.”

Chastain laughed.

Emma Stone glanced at her, hesitated, took Chastain's arm, and whispered softly: "Jessica, I want to ask you something, a personal matter. I hope you won't be angry." "What?"

"That's it, you and Link"

"We definitely have never slept together or had any other relationship."

Before she could finish speaking, Chastain explained in advance, because after she won the Oscar for Best Actress, she was asked this question more than once by her friends and family, and was also looked at with strange eyes by others.

She was a little awkward at first, but then she gradually got used to it. In fact, having an affair with a big shot like Link was not a bad thing in the entertainment industry, and it was very cool.

She's not too annoying psychologically either.

It's just that nothing really happened between her and Link, and it's not easy to lie when asked.

"Really? Don't get me wrong, I don't mean anything else, I just want to know something about the situation."

Emma Stone said with a wink.

Chastain shook his head and looked at her strangely, "I have heard about the scandal between You and Link since 10 years ago. You and Link were the first two artists under Palm Bay Management. Logically speaking, you and Link The relationship is closer, why not ask him? "

"I asked him and he said no."

"It didn't happen in the first place. You were just imagining it."

Chastain said helplessly.

"Yeah?"

Emma Stone was a little confused. She had known Link since 10 years, because Link was a low-key person, and the two had always maintained a good personal relationship.

There is just one thing that has always puzzled her. In the past few years, Link has pushed Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain to the Oscar-winning actress throne. She believes that their acting skills are no worse than those of Jennifer and Chastain.

But Link still has no plans to help her publicize the Oscar winner. Every time I ask him, he says there is no need to worry and he will help her get three awards in the future.

She wasn't sure if Link was being serious or just being perfunctory.

So she wanted to ask Chastain if he had slept with Link.

If you have slept with someone before, it means that you have not done your job well. You can consider asking Link to lay down the rules. Everyone is acquaintances, and sleeping with each other is actually nothing.

If you haven't been there, make another plan.

She has worked with Chastain several times and knows that Chastain will not lie. So the reason why Link favors Chastain as a movie queen is entirely because of Chastain's good acting skills and good movies, rather than deciding whether to favor Chastain based on the degree of intimacy. .

After learning this, she was relieved, but also a little disappointed. Link could obviously use this to unspoken rules for countless actresses, but he chose not to do so. He was really not a professional scumbag.

"I think to win an Oscar, you still need to look at your work and acting skills. It's impossible to do it all through public relations. Otherwise, why didn't Link give his own public relations a Best Actor Award?"

Chastain laughed.

Emma Stone nodded and thought so. There are many women in Hollywood who are close to Link, such as Daddario and Emma Watson. They have not even received an Oscar nomination, which also shows that Link is in the public relations Oscar. At that time, I paid more attention to the works.

Bang bang bang!

After Link finished playing a song, there were bursts of warm applause and cheers.

Emma Stone clapped her hands and shouted for an encore.

Link naturally had no intention of playing another song. He played the piano at the party out of courtesy, not to hold a concert for everyone. He left the scene to the band and continued to chat with everyone and talk about work.

"Link, is this piece of music newly written by you?"

ladyGaga asked.

"Yes, it's still being written, not finished yet."

Link said.

"That's amazing. Now you stop writing songs and start playing pure music. You are such an incredible guy."

ladyGaga praised.

"There is a female voice humming in this song, do you want to try it?"

"Yes! Of course, I can't ask for it."

ladyGaga said quickly.

—

After the party, Link and Iwaka took a little vacation to themselves.

The two took the three little ones back to their garden villa in Miami for vacation. They spent a relatively leisurely time, taking the three little ones to pile sand at the beach every day, or go fishing on the sea on a yacht, and visit James's cafe as a guest. , went to the boxing gym to visit Coach West.

During this period, his old father-in-law also returned to Miami for vacation and continued to teach him how to play golf and introduced him to Florida officials and congressmen.

My old father-in-law mentioned that he was planning to run for office again. He failed last time and hoped that he could successfully move to Washington this time.

Link expressed support for this, and also helped his old father-in-law come up with a loud slogan and gave a lot of reliable suggestions.

Because of this, his old father-in-law became closer to him, which even made Ivaca feel jealous.

"Husband, what have you done to dad? Now when he opens his mouth, he calls me dear Link, smart Link, and wants me to learn from you. I feel like you are my biological father and son."

By the villa swimming pool, Ivaca was lying under the pergola in a bikini, flipping through a magazine and saying.

"We are like-minded and have a lot in common. It's normal for my father-in-law to like me."

Link poured some sunscreen onto her smooth back and spread it evenly with the palm of his hand.

"That's good."

Ivaca smiled and turned back to kiss him.

Link smiled softly, took off the restraints on her body, and gave her a full body spa.

(End of chapter)