The story goes back to the day before the banquet.
The weather was still lovely that day.
In the morning hours, within a grand mansion in Beverly Hills.
The courtyard was spacious, adorned with marble pillars intricately carved with beautiful patterns. A shaded area was created with its own boundary.
Various flowers and plants were neatly arranged around it, indicating that the owner of the house was quite wealthy.
Well, of course, who could live in such a magnificent house without money?
Several differently-shaped stones were piled into an artificial rockery, with a fountain on top and various ornamental fish swimming underneath.
Surrounding it were clusters of bamboo. Surprisingly enough, the aesthetics were quite pleasant.
Inside the pavilion, there was a central conference table that occupied more than half of the space. Five or six chairs were arranged in a circular fashion around it, and they were already occupied. Only the seat at the head of the table remained empty.
The people here were dressed in formal attire.
Polite and composed, their demeanor was stable. Some were looking at reports in their hands, while others engaged in casual conversations.
It seemed they were waiting for someone.
Precisely at nine o'clock in the morning, without missing a beat, a series of footsteps gradually grew louder. Leather soles met the cobblestone pathway, producing a distinctive "dada" sound.
After a few seconds, a man in a white shirt and black trousers approached.
"President."
"President."
Those who were seated moments ago stood up to greet him.
"Please, be seated," the man gestured, and he took the empty seat at the head of the table.
"How are things going? Have we made any progress with the recent project plans?" the speaker, addressed as the "President", was none other than Barry Meyer, the CEO of Warner Bros.
The others around the table were key members of the company's production department.
"The "Harry Potter" series is in development, but we haven't found a suitable director yet. As for the "Batman" project," the person responsible for early-stage planning hesitated for a moment before continuing, "There are numerous concerns within the company, and the project proposal was rejected."
"Hmm, a bunch of short-sighted people," Barry expressed his dissatisfaction.
He glanced at his closest associates, but none of them dared to address this topic. They all lowered their heads.
As no one spoke up, he had no choice but to change the subject, "Regarding directors, that recent success by the name of Lyman Lattes, could we possibly consider inviting him?"
As soon as this topic was brought up, the atmosphere finally became lively again.
Just as the scorching summer season attracted the attention of countless industry professionals, all of Hollywood was investing heavily in the box office market.
Alongside the impressive performances of "Miscreant" and "Finding Nemo", after winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, the name "Lyman Lattes" had truly left an imprint in the minds of those high-ranking executives in the film industry.
Unlike the artistic achievement of "3 Idiots" where, in "Fury" and this recent success "Miscreant", it was the continuous success that caught people's attention.
After all, compared to outstanding artistic directors, it was one's commercial capabilities that truly concerned the high-ranking figures of Hollywood.
Because here, prioritizing profit had always been the industry standard.
Just like when Daniel Myrick, who directed "The Blair Witch Project", became the industry's darling at that time. Unfortunately, it seemed that he had exhausted all his talent in his first film. After that, each work of his was a failure, even the sequel to "The Blair Witch Project" was a massive loss.
Yet, there were still movie studios that persisted in trusting him, resulting in lukewarm market responses. Eventually, he exited the stage in disappointment.
From this, one could see how highly Hollywood valued individuals who could bring profits. Even John Woo, who experienced consecutive failures in two or three movies, left Hollywood because he couldn't sustain himself.
And now, Lyman was another emerging director.
Before he had experienced a failure, there were naturally many who believed in him.
"Emm, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"?" One of them spoke up. "We've been in contact with that British director. It seems something isn't right." The series was always a top priority for the company, and the selection of the director was meticulously planned. Now, you personally approved this candidate in a board meeting, and yet it's being reconsidered?
"Is it not acceptable?" Barry pondered, touching his lower lip. Then he nodded and continued, "What if we entrust him with directing "Batman"? What do you all think?"
The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.
Since the monumental box office success of "Spider-Man", Warner Bros. had also contemplated restarting their superhero projects.
But the problem was that many within the company still found it risky. After all, Superman and Batman had been shelved due to significant losses. Rebooting them recklessly – what if they still ended up incurring losses?
The idea of losing some money might be trivial, but in case these two well-known franchises ended up tarnished, who would take responsibility for that?
Of course, Barry had always been proactive in restarting projects, and he didn't really care about these concerns.
"Well... What about the new project that was put on hold? He should be suitable for it," Barry suggested again.
"The script adapted from the novel "Rope Burns"? Would he agree?"
Speaking of this project, it had faced numerous setbacks.
The original novel was published in the year 2000, but the author, Robert Scott, was already 70 years old. So, the work had been rejected by publishing companies, deeming it not worth promoting.
However, he persisted and sent the manuscript to various movie studios. Eventually, it caught the eye of the director Angelica Houston.
But later, the female director lost interest in filming the project, and the project producer, Albert Rudy, turned to Warner Bros., recommending it to them.
And now, Barry was recalling all of this.
"We've invited him before, but Lyman hasn't accepted any of the offers," one person said.
Barry leaned back in his chair, pondered for a moment, and then shook his head. "Considering his current popularity, he's in demand for film projects. Moreover, his consecutive successes indicate that he surely has something exceptional. Would a simple invitation like this not come across as insincere?"
But we are Warner Bros., when haven't we invited directors in this manner?
However, no one voiced this sentiment, but it was apparent that those present were holding such thoughts.
But Barry was different; he was one of the rare high-ranking executives in the film industry who liked personally wooing directors. His close collaboration with Christopher Nolan in the future was also to his credit.
"Alright, here's the plan: tomorrow Paramount is having a party. Find someone to express Warner Bros.' interest in collaborating with him."
"Sure, I'll arrange it immediately," someone responded.
"Alright, everyone, anything else?" Seeing that time was passing, Barry opened his mouth.
"Uh, there's one more thing." One of them picked up a document and handed it over. "David Bird wants to have a word with you."
David Bird was the executive in charge of Warner Bros.' DC Comics department. He oversaw the film and television adaptations of DC Comics and had been a supportive ally for Barry in restarting Batman. However, his determination wasn't as strong as Barry's.
He took the document, scanned through it, and rubbed his brow. "They really make one anxious. What are those people thinking? They don't want to see Sony Columbia have it all, yet they're not willing to take risks. Do they think movie production is an easy task? Afraid of this, afraid of that... and still want to make a fuss. Occupying positions without getting anything done, a bunch of waste. Lately, they're getting even more disruptive. What, can't express dissatisfaction?"
After muttering a few more complaints, the meeting eventually ended.