[American Entertainment] Bright life

Grace and Meryl are teaming up again for this film, Julie & Julia, a story of two women connected by a gourmet book - Meryl as Julia Charle De, known as the "Mother of American Diet", she adapted the French recipes into English, and then published this book, which changed the American diet at that time.

As for Julie Powell, played by Grace, she was originally a mediocre office worker who lived with her husband above a pizzeria in Queens, New York, and lived an ordinary life.After a get-together with former schoolmates who are now successful, Julie Powell decided to do something, but she had no other passions other than cooking.Encouraged by her husband, she started a one-year life of cooking according to Julia Child's gourmet book, and then wrote her feelings in the blog, and finally achieved success. became a writer.

Both of these people are real, but Julia Child died in 04.However, the director combined the two stories in one film, which crossed the timeline, and how Julia Child's part was filmed eight years after she began in 1949. and Julie Powell, played by Grace, her story began in 2002 for a period of one year, that is, she wrote the book "Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 1 dish, [-] kitchenette" time.

It is worth mentioning that Julie Powell was nearly 30 years old at the time of writing this book, which means that Grace will play a role nine years older than her original age this time.As a result, before Meryl's assistant called Sterling, there were actually some twists and turns on the director's side——

"Julie and Julia" director Nora Ephron, who has won three Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay for "The Silkwood Incident", "When Harry Met Sally" and "Sleepless in Seattle" The female director, before this movie, she was shooting love movies, and she also got the reputation of 'Love Master'. "Julie and Julia" is her transformation work. Meryl, an evergreen tree in the film industry, is invited to play Julia Child. Nora Ephron can be said to be satisfied. Meryl Streep never disappoints.

For the young role of Julie Powell, what Nora Ephron wants to find is an actress who is closer to the age of the original character and has excellent acting skills. Meryl has a direct rival scene, but Nora Ephron wants to shoot in a cross-timeline way, that is to say, there will be a contrast invisibly. If the acting skills are not good enough, it will inevitably be covered by Meryl's clips All the brilliance, causing the picture of the movie to be unbalanced, the whole movie will not be good.

To this end, Nora Ephron made a list of candidates and sent them audition invitations.Meryl didn't get involved at first, she wasn't busy promoting "Mamma Mia" at that time, and learning French with Grace - Julia Child studied and lived in France, demanding perfection Meryl especially learns American English with a French accent, and some simple French that is used in daily life.In an interview with "Empire" magazine, as soon as Grace met her and heard her say a word, she asked her if she was learning French, and then she was "laid on" by Meryl-waiting for "Mamma Mia" to fight When returning to North America for publicity, Meryl inquired about Nora Ephron's casting process, only to know that she hadn't chosen 'Julie' yet.

Meryl mentioned Tigrace like that at the time, and Nora Ephron naturally knew about Grace. Her first reaction was that it was not good. Grace's acting skills were fine, but she was too young.

It didn't take long for things to change Nora Ephron's mind, though.

It coincided with the British media reporting Grace's strong alliance with Sherlock Holmes, followed by reports from the United States, and the widely circulated photo of "Magic Street Cross-dressing" was also reposted and published.

Nora Ephron didn't see it by herself, she saw it when Meryl was reading a magazine with great enjoyment when she met her.At that time, I was moved in my heart, and it was almost like this, which is why I invited Grace to cooperate later.

Of course, they met before the official signing, and Meryl was there.

After reading the script, Grace said bluntly: "I can't cook."

Meryl immediately became enthusiastic: "I can teach you, Grace. You are so smart, you must be able to learn it in no time. Didn't you spend a few hours learning to speak Greek before? It's guaranteed that there will be no problem this time. "

Nora Ephron didn't think there was anything wrong at the moment. For example, learning a new language and learning cooking really can't be compared together, but the director himself was probably bewitched by the high IQ to learn everything faster than ordinary people. Besides, isn't Grace an ordinary high IQ?

Well, that's all right, let's sign up.

……

Sterling had just been on the phone with "Alice in Wonderland" producer Richard D. Zanuck when Miss Assistant Emily brought the contract back to the WMA.Like him, Richard D. Zanuck also encountered a little problem. Director Tim Burton chose what he thought was the ideal 'Alice'.

It was a coincidence, and it made Richard D. Zanuck a serious embarrassment, but of course that wasn't something he could tell Sterling, and Sterling wouldn't say to him, 'Oh, For the good of your crew, my client should not cooperate with you, so the atmosphere of this call is quite delicate.In any case, if you have the opportunity, you must cooperate.

After finishing this work, Sterling has to continue to worry about Grace's next work. He has already seen the contract in advance and negotiated with Columbia Pictures, which is responsible for producing the film.

"Julie and Julia," a literary and, to a certain extent, biographical film, allocated a budget of $4000 million from Columbia Pictures.They paid Grace $200 million, which is not as high as Grace’s $300 million for "Quantum of Solace". Besides, "Mamma Mia" is currently in theaters worldwide. Breaking through 200 million US dollars within a week is not a big problem. Grace's salary has risen again, so even if it is a literary film, the film salary should not be only [-] million US dollars.

In fact, Sterling won a salary + dividend contract for Grace this time.After all, for Sterling, when he started to fight for the salary of Columbia Pictures, he said 500 million US dollars based on Grace's current net worth. Columbia Pictures would definitely think that he was "a lion's mouth".

So Sterling chose such a compromise method. Besides, Columbia Pictures will also settle accounts. According to the ratio given by Sterling, only when the total box office of "Julie and Julia" exceeds 500 million US dollars , Grace's total remuneration will be the same as [-] million US dollars, and [-] million US dollars is not easy to achieve, and Grace will definitely work hard to promote it.

From this point of view, it seems to be a win-win deal.

In addition, Sterling also seems to be very optimistic about the sparks created by the screen combination of his client and Meryl Streep, and the box office it brings.

Speaking of this matter in such detail, I still want to say that the professionalism of Mr. Broker is still very high.No, after he archived the contract, he said to Emily who sent the contract: "You can go to the bookstore and buy these books related to the film adaptation later, the one by Julia Charle "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" written by De, should not be difficult to buy, this book has been reprinted many times-"

Sterling stopped automatically when he said this, and he said that something was wrong, but he hadn't thought of it before: this movie is not only a literary movie, but also a gourmet movie. Speaking of cooking, right?But his client, Grace Green, Dr. Green, she is a lifeless waste, she!But after thinking about it, Grace's 'feats' in other movies are those 'feats' of quickly mastering a skill. Maybe he can still expect Grace to become a chef after finishing this movie?

This is really worth looking forward to.

……

For the film "Julie and Julia", Nora Ephron, one of the directors and screenwriters, intends to show it in a two-line cross-narration method, but when the filming officially starts, it is not cross-shooting, but It was to shoot Grace's scene first, from beginning to end, and then focus on Meryl's part in another set area.

Originally, in Nora Ephron's script, Julie and Julia never met in the end.Now that this shooting method is adopted, there is basically no overlap between Grace and Meryl's shooting schedules.

But when the filming of Grace's scene started, Meryl just followed into the group. When the director was puzzled, she raised her hand to show that she knew the "rules"-in the filming of Hollywood movies or TV dramas, the cast and crew are strictly in accordance with the rules. Schedule into the group, unless there are special circumstances——and explained with a somewhat inscrutable expression: "I am now the consultant paid by Grace, the consultant who instructs her to cook."

After thinking about it, Meryl added: "I'm now counting on Grace's final dish for people to taste and gain another five pounds." In reality, Julia Child is 187cm tall, but Meryl herself is only 167cm, so in order to show Julia's tall and strong body, Meryl made a plan for herself to gain 15 pounds. This kind of professionalism is definitely commendable.

When she said that, Nora Ephron was puzzled. In terms of cooking skills, is it good or bad for Grace to make a fuss?