[US Entertainment] Actor

After a long time, Lin En calmed down as if he had resigned himself to his fate. His forehead was covered with beads of sweat, and his palms were slightly raised, trying to brew what he wanted to say at the moment: "Ebert, you must understand that for a man whose career is on the rise For an actor, what it means to come out. Maybe you think you understand, but you are too young to imagine how much damage this choice will do to your future.”

"In this circle, homosexuals have always encountered varying degrees of discrimination. Even Marlon Brando dared not publicly declare his homosexuality. The United States is indeed a free transition, and Hollywood is enlightened enough, but that kind of discrimination It is deeply hidden in everyone's bones, no one will openly express their dislike for you, but everyone will stay away from you. Homosexuality, AIDS, and drug use are often treated equally, do you understand?"

Ebert nodded, patted his arm lightly, and signaled him to relax: "I don't have the habit of being promiscuous, and I won't bring different men back for the night. Although my sexuality is different from ordinary people, I promise I will Will stick to the bottom line. My life is more like an asexual now, Lynn, just relax and take it easy."

Lynn looked at Ebert with extremely complicated eyes: "Ebert, I don't mean to discriminate against you at all, but as your manager, I must remind you that once you choose this path, you Your future will be more difficult than many people. I have always believed in your calmness and reason, and your enthusiasm for career is far greater than love. I am more assured of this than anyone else. You should be a young man with a bright future , don’t let a momentary impulse ruin your life.”

Ebert understood Lynn's subtext, he was telling Ebert that he had to keep his sexuality a secret and never make it public.

Lynn's attitude on this matter seemed gentle, but the struggling and tangled expression on his face could not fool anyone. Ebert knew that he had to allow some time for Lynn to digest this explosive news.There may be various emergencies in the future, and Lynn must be prepared to advance and retreat with him.

He also understands Lynn's embarrassment. Once any clues about Ebert's sexuality are caught by the media, the damage to Ebert's career will be even more serious than drug and alcohol abuse.Ebert has already staged a story of a salted fish turning over in Hollywood, and the probability of getting up again after falling is almost zero.

Lynn left the dessert shop quickly, looking at the empty cups on the table, the words "break up without joy" gradually appeared in Ebert's mind.He rubbed his forehead, opened the door and left after paying.

The air in Milan is filled with warmth.Right now happens to be during the World Cup, and this famous fashion capital is also ignited by the atmosphere of football. The streets and alleys are full of wonderful shots and the smell of beer is everywhere.Ebert was a fan in his previous life. In the 02 World Cup, China entered the finals. Therefore, he watched every game in this World Cup several times.

At this time, Ebert will naturally make good use of the predictor's opportunity and buy a few football lottery tickets to enjoy himself.

The biggest dark horse in this World Cup is undoubtedly Senegal. Ebert is also betting on this previously unknown country. It only costs a few hundred dollars. Ebert believes that he will receive a very rich return on the day when the awards are announced .

Ebert is no longer considered a poor man, but he doesn't mind a little more surprise.Giorgio Armani's two-year endorsement provided him with an after-tax remuneration of 160 million U.S. dollars. After deducting Lynn's commission and some additional expenses, Ebert earned more than 100 million U.S. dollars, which is enough to make him a small rich man. This amount of money is naturally nothing to those first-line stars whose salaries are tens of millions, but to Ebert, it can enable him to deal with most of the difficulties and solve some troubles caused by money.

Of course, with the continuous advancement of the release time of "White Night Chaser", Ebert's fame has continued to permeate all over the United States, and he has no possibility of experiencing embarrassment and anxiety.

I returned to Los Angeles from Milan in mid-June. "White Night" has been in theaters for more than 20 days, and the cumulative box office has exceeded 1 million, reaching 1 million US dollars. Although such box office results cannot be compared with "Spiderman" and " Compared with blockbusters like Star Wars Episode 1400: Attack of the Clones, considering the limitations of the movie's own subject matter, it is already very impressive to be able to achieve such a result.

At least the producer Warner Bros. is very satisfied with this result.Among all the movies released by Warner Bros. this year, "White Night" currently ranks first at the box office. The old rival Colombia holds more than 3 million "Spider-Man" at the box office and is proud of North America. 20th Century Fox has already released "Star Wars". The cumulative box office of the two films "Legend 2" and "Ice Age" has exceeded 4 million. Warner, which is also listed among the top eight Hollywood film companies, has not performed well at the box office this year, and only one "Scooby-doo" was released in the summer. There might be some hits at the box office.

If Warner Bros. hadn't held such a money-absorbing machine as the "Harry Potter" series in its hands, its ranking among major film companies this year might not even be as good as MGM.

"Lynn, are you okay?" Shortly after returning to Los Angeles, Ebert took the initiative to call Mr. Agent.

Lynn's voice sounded a little weak: "I could have been fine, if you hadn't told me the explosive news in advance. It tormented my fragile nerves, allowing the cold drink I drank that day to invade my internal organs unscrupulously. Choo, Choo, as you can see, I have a cold."

"Okay, then you have a good rest, I wish you a speedy recovery, I will not bother you for the time being." Ebert was about to turn off the phone, but was stopped by Lynn with a hoarse voice.

"Wait, Ebert, do you remember that "The New Boy's Arrival" you acted in last year?"

"Is it released? If you don't remind me, I'm afraid I'll forget it."

"It has been released for a while, and the box office results are not bad. Now it has more than 1000 million US dollars. Before the movie was released, it hyped you and claimed that you played a role in it, but from the beginning of the promotion period to now they You were not invited to participate in any activities. A large number of audiences entered the movie theater because of your name. After they appeared, they all said that they were cheated. You only appeared in the movie for a few minutes, and you played an insignificant role. That's all!"

"and then?"

Watching Ebert's opponents suffer undoubtedly made Lynn forget about his weak body. He said hoarsely and became more and more excited: "Then your fans wrote to Columbia Pictures to remind them not to use your name to hype, They even organized an online protest to remind viewers who bought your tickets that this is a total scam. In addition to opening more than $1000 million in the box office in the first week, "The Newbie" has opened every week in the following weeks. The weekly box office is only a few hundred thousand dollars, and it is estimated that it will be drawn soon."

"You sound excited."

"Of course, if I could, I would even tell the world loudly that they only gave you $1000 as a salary. This price is very suitable for a side actor. At that time, you were willing to accept it because you had no choice. You can buy it for $1000. Less than a headline in a gossip tabloid, even the lowest one, who borrows your name for free, deserves their retribution."

"Just be sensible, they offered me $1000 to keep me off the streets anyway."

"Then don't you want to thank them for their insight?"

As if to support Lynn's words, Ebert also saw a report about "The Newcomer" in the newspaper he bought that day. According to those reporters, the quality of the movie "The Newcomer" was barely at the pass line Above, but the publicity was obviously inferior, and even had a counterproductive effect.

Ebert chose to laugh it off.When he encounters difficulties and falls to the bottom, the right to choose is naturally in the hands of the crew who can make decisions, and he has no reason to resist.When he regained his reputation, the power of choice gradually tilted to his side, and Ebert would never waste time saying a word for those who hurt him.

Therefore, when the media who smelled the inside story came to ask Ebert's opinion on this matter, Ebert did not give any explanation for the crew of "The Newcomer".

There is a price to be paid for the choice one makes.

This is a very fair approach.

In June, Ebert also attended a Warner Bros. "White Night" celebration party, and the rest of the time he needs to devote himself to preparing for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" audition. He will be very busy throughout the whole year of 2002. In the first half of the year, he will do various magazine shootings and publicity activities, and in the second half of the year, he will put all his energy on movies.

The first was the audition and filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean", and the next was the audition of "Rising Age".If it weren't for the good box office results of the movie "White Night" and the fermented word-of-mouth written by film critics, it would be impossible for the two production teams to provide Ebert with an audition opportunity so simply. For a film with box-office and award appeal, Ebert is exactly the actor they need.

Ebert's only downside is that he can't prove he has the ability to stand alone.

""Pirates of the Caribbean" is better. Jerry Bruckheimer was originally more optimistic about Orlando Bloom, but your external conditions are better than Orlando's, your acting skills are better, and your popularity in the United States is also higher than Orlando's. , It is not difficult to convince him to take the role. In the case of "The Pentium Age", Tobey Maguire's salary for "Spider-Man" was 400 million US dollars, plus the bonus was more than 1000 million US dollars. Columbia is rumored to be in the Contact Toby to prepare for the next "Spider-Man 2", do you know how much Toby's agent asks for?"

“2500万美元或者电影盈利的10%。哥伦比亚公司当然是拒绝了。财大气粗的《蜘蛛侠》系列或许有足够的信心在给出2000多万美元片酬的同时获得3亿多美元的票房，可《奔腾年代》拿得出来吗？不用我说你也知道，阿尔·帕西诺拍摄《白夜追凶》的时候只拿到了1000万出头的片酬。《奔腾年代》是一部奔着奥斯卡的电影，它不敢拿出2000万美元填满托比那个经纪人黑洞般的胃口。”

"The most important thing is that movies that strive for awards prefer actors with superior acting skills. Tobey Maguire's acting skills can only be regarded as quite satisfactory. Although he is the leading actor in "Spider-Man", he is not the one who made this film. Movies, but the role of Spider-Man made him, even if you compete with him, you won’t necessarily lose to him.”

Lynn's words can always give Ebert unlimited confidence. In fact, if he really wants to compete with Tobey Maguire, Toby will undoubtedly have the advantage before May this year, but after "Spider-Man" is released, the advantage will be Gradually shifted to Ebert.

"Oh, I seem to have become obsessed with "The Pentium Era"." Lynn smiled self-deprecatingly, "But in my opinion, this is indeed a good movie, and it may have a chance at next year's Oscars." The power of a fight, the Oscars... how tempting it is, even if you're just going for a nomination, your future will be bright."

"I'll try, Lynn."

"You must work hard. If you don't run forward now, you will only be left far behind in the future."