The Best Entertainment Era

When you come to Century City, among the many commercial buildings, you can see the sign of Relativity Building just erected on the top of the building at a glance. This building with only 26 floors is inconspicuous in Manhattan, New York, but in Los Angeles The place is already a taller building.

Ronan entered the Theory of Relativity Entertainment Building, and could see busy workers coming in and out, and various office equipment kept coming in.

Fortunately, the order is orderly, it seems busy but not chaotic.

The property rights transaction of the Theory of Relativity Building has already been completed, and the administrative department of the head office is cooperating with professional companies to make the final preparations for the move.

Since many professional departments are involved, many department heads also come here from time to time to make corresponding requests with the cooperative companies.

Ronan saw Mary, the chief financial officer of Relativity Entertainment, in the hall.

As one of the veterans and team members of Shahai Entertainment when it started, compared to George Clint and Robert Lee, Mary is much more low-key due to the nature of her work. Very strong.

But when it comes to the criticality of the position, Mary's importance is beyond doubt.

The Treasury Department needs a vault.

Seeing Ronan, Mary said simply: I'm communicating with Bank of America. They recommended a professional company that undertakes the construction of bank vaults, and they will build a vault for us.

Ronan pointed to the ceiling: I'll go upstairs, you go first.

Taking the elevator to the tenth floor, Ronan looked at the distribution map of the temporary office, and found Christopher Nolan's office.

The office room on this floor is spacious, with more than a dozen well-equipped large offices and some small offices, and the three crews of Shahai Entertainment are temporarily stationed.

In addition to Christopher Nolan's new film project, Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain and Mr. and Mrs. Smith have just been approved.

The latter was forwarded to George Clint after Ronan selected it from the script library of Artisan Pictures, quickly went through the internal procedures, and officially confirmed the project approval.

Ronan met the busy Christopher Nolan in a small office.

Seeing Ronan, Christopher Nolan temporarily put down his work and handed over two documents: This is the script and the preliminary plan of the project.

Ronan put the proposal aside, opened the script and took a rough look. It was not much different from the movie in his impression. It was still about the magic showdown between two young magician friends.

Christopher Nolan briefly introduced: Most of the script was completed by Jonathan. The main storyline comes from the same name of Mr. Priest. Mr. Robert Lee has already assisted Jonathan and I to buy the adaptation copyright of the original work for the crew. , this will be a grand magic show.

Ronan nodded and asked the key point directly: How much is the project budget?

Christopher Nolan obviously calculated clearly, and said: The production budget of 40 million US dollars, including the copyright fees already spent.

This did not exceed Ronan's expectations, and immediately said: Yes.

Seeing that Ronan didn't intend to read the plan, Christopher Nolan continued: I plan to officially start preparations for The Prestige after the release of Batman: Begins in July, and start filming at the end of this year or early next year. Everything will go well. If so, all productions will be completed in early 2006.

Ronan said: Then put the film's premiere in 2006, and Embassy Pictures will communicate with you later.

Christopher Nolan's filming speed is definitely not fast compared to fast shooters like Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg. Although he shoots typical commercial films, they are not popcorn types. Pay attention to slow work and meticulous work.

Under normal circumstances, a film directed by Christopher Nolan usually takes more than two years, or even longer, from preparation to shooting to release.

Although Christopher Nolan is also a producer, he knows that the real decision maker of this project is still Ronan, and said: In terms of actors, I have invited a few candidates, Christian Bale has agreed to be the leading actor, Michael Kay Eun will be the supporting actor, and I'm interested in Hugh Jackman for the other leading actor...

Ronan had no objection, and said, It's fine for you to decide on the actor.

The crew's finances are firmly in the hands of the production company, so Ronan doesn't need to worry too much, and he is confident enough about Christopher Nolan's ability.

Christopher Nolan said: Okay, about the casting, I will submit a report to you after the audition is over.

As an extremely smart director, he placed himself in a very correct position.

Ronan asked, What about The Dark Knight?

Christopher Nolan said simply: The script has been written a long time ago, and there is no idea of ​​​​changing it for the time being. I have communicated with Charles Rowan and Warner Bros. Before the box office of Beginning of War, Warner Bros. is not sure whether it will There will be a sequel.

Let's wait until Time to War is released. Ronan knows that the initiative of this series is completely in the hands of Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

Sandsea Entertainment is mainly an investor, and it is enough to share the investment income from it.

Talking with Christopher Nolan all the way to the end of get off work in the afternoon, Ronan went to Ang Lee's office on the same floor, and Ang Lee had just returned from outside.

Hi, Ronan. Li An quickly called his assistant to pour water for Ronan: Why do you have time to come over today?

Ronan took the water glass brought by his assistant, thanked him, and said to Ang Li: There is a project that has just started preparations, and some work needs to be confirmed, so I just stopped by to have a look. He asked: Is the preparation going well?

Ang Lee smiled first: With your strong support, the adaptation of the script and the recruitment of the filming team went smoothly. Although I have not been smooth recently, I have worked hard in Hollywood for many years, and I have a small team to work with all the year round. He then sighed again Tone: It's just that actors are not easy to find.

Ronan could roughly guess what Ang Lee would face when looking for an actor, and asked, Actor?

Yes, it's hard to find a leading actor. Li An was also a little worried: I found a few good actors, but when I heard that the role was gay, I rejected them all. Originally, I was most optimistic about a An actor named Jack Gyllenhaal specially visited his home for this purpose, trying to win the support of his family, but was kicked out.

The general environment is like this now, unlike in the future, no matter male or female, it is easy to find actors for gay roles.

In the future, even in many big productions, there will not be many potential gay supporting roles, and they are too embarrassed to show them to others.

Frankly speaking, Ronan has no good solution: It's normal for actors to have concerns, and the salary can be raised appropriately. Li, you can also make more promises. The goal of Brokeback Mountain is to win awards next year. You might as well explain it to the actors directly. .”

Li An nodded: That's the only way.

Most actors are not stupid, even if they don't know their own heads, and there are shrewd managers, saying anything is not as effective as letting them see future earnings.

Ronan said in advance: Don't forget, this is a movie produced by Shahai Entertainment.

Li Ang's eyes lit up, he was a fan of the authorities, not only was the film produced by Shahai Entertainment with a high success rate in the industry, Ronan Anderson's name was also listed in the producer column!

In the Hollywood circle, this is already a gold medal producer comparable to Jerry Bruckheimer.

It's stupid to have the best and most attractive sign and not know how to use it.

Annoyed, Ang Lee immediately decided to ask out the two most promising actors, Heath Ledger and Jack Jaylen Hill tomorrow, and then have a good talk.

He still doesn't believe it, the film project initiated by Ronan Anderson, these two young actors will not be tempted?

The two leading actors I am most optimistic about are Heath Ledger from Australia and Jack Gyllenshire just mentioned. Ang Lee has gone through setbacks and is also a mixed character. Say hello to Ronan: I think if they know you're the producer, that might make a difference.

Ronan is not a rigid person: Let go and do it.

Hearing these two familiar names, Ronan felt that it was good to continue using them.

As for Heath Ledger...

Forget it, don't think about it too much, it will be fine if it goes smoothly.

Just like River Phoenix and David Carradine, Hollywood stars have a million ways to die, and they can't stop them.

Ang Lee has a plan: If everything goes well, the filming will be completed this year, the post-production will be completed in the first half of next year, and then we will go to the Venice Film Festival next year.

You coordinate with Embassy Pictures and Sandsea Entertainment. Ronan made a decision: Let them assist the crew to sign up for the Venice Film Festival's competition.

It seems that Brokeback Mountain once won the highest award in one of the three major European film festivals, but Ronan doesn't remember exactly which one.

Berlin Film can be ruled out, after all, this is a film festival full of political meaning, and Brokeback Mountain does not conform to its aesthetics.

Before leaving get off work, Ronan left the Relativity Building, but Ang Lee has been working overtime. No one knows better than him how important this opportunity is. It can even be said that it is his last chance in Hollywood.

Brokeback Mountain is successful and can continue to develop in Hollywood. If it fails, it will not even have a foothold.

This is the last stand!

The night was dark, and Ang Lee finished his work and left the office. He met the British director Christopher Nolan. The two stayed on the same floor for a while, and they knew each other. They got into the elevator together while chatting.

Christopher Nolan arrived at the parking lot and suddenly received a call from his friend Pete Broderick. He said sorry to Ang Lee, walked to the rest area and said something, then took the car with a helpless face and rushed to his friend Said place, to meet people from so-called big companies.