Los Angeles.
The Bel Air community next to Beverly Hills is Saturday night.
Yesterday, after officially signing the overseas distribution contract of "Lola Run" with Warner, Simon received an invitation from Warner Bros. Pictures CEO Terry Semel to attend a party hosted by the other party tonight.
"This is a very clever romantic comedy called "When Harry Meets Sally". It tells the emotional journey of the hero and heroine Harry and Sally from meeting, getting along with each other, knowing each other, and finally falling in love during the twelve years. The story is somewhat similar to Woody Allen's "Annie Hall", but it's not as neurotic as Woody Allen. It is more warm and interesting."
At the party scene in the courtyard of the mountainside mansion, Terry Semel was holding a cocktail, smiling while listening to Simon's words, but shook his head: "Simon, for "Anne Hall", the audience just likes Woody. ·Allen's kind of little intellectual neuroticism. According to your description, "When Harry Meets Sally" is another love sketch that relies on dialogue and emotional changes to promote the plot. This type of film does not have Woody. With Allen's skill support, or lack of big-name actors to participate in, it is difficult for the audience to generate much interest."
Simon was also holding a glass of cocktail and stood opposite Terry Semel. He still smiled, not humble and said: "Terry, maybe you should read the script first. If Warner is interested in this movie, I even You can make a sample first. This is definitely a movie worth investing in."
"Simon, if you pay a little attention, you will find that Hollywood hasn't had a hot romance movie for ten years, let alone a love story with a flat plot." Terry Semel still shook his head and turned. But then he said: "Simon, you are a very talented screenwriter. So, why not try to write some police action movie scripts like "Beverly Detective" and "Lethal Weapon", this is Hollywood The fashion trends in recent years, if you have ideas in this area, you can contact me at any time."
"Detective Beverly" was the North American box office champion produced by Paramount Pictures in 1984.
"Lethal Weapon" belongs to Warner, the film was released a month ago.
When Warner bought the script for the movie at a high price of $250,000, it caused a small sensation in Hollywood. Although "Lola Run" has been firmly suppressed since its release, "Lethal Weapon" has now won nearly 40 million US dollars in the North American box office, and the total North American box office is expected to exceed 60 million US dollars.
Relative to the production cost of 15 million US dollars, Warner is also a big profit.
Now that it has reached a cooperation with Warner, Simon has also taken the opportunity to learn about this one of the seven major film companies.
The result is that Warner Bros., which should be very strong in the impression, has even worsened the business situation in recent years than Fox. For example, last year, Warner's highest-grossing film in the whole year, "Capture the Devil" starring Silverster Stallone, had a total box office of just over 49 million US dollars in North America.
Knowing this, Simon no longer wondered why Warner won the overseas distribution rights of "Lola Run" at a relatively high price.
In this era, the overseas release of movies is usually delayed by three months to more than half a year.
Warner undoubtedly has a very complete global film distribution network, but at the moment, this film company itself has no films worthy of global distribution. It is obviously a great waste of resources to maintain so many overseas branches but no films can be distributed.
So, "Lola Run" became a very good choice.
"Lola Run" is expected to exceed US$200 million at the North American box office. There is no risk of loss at all for overseas releases. As long as it works properly, this movie can earn at least $100 million at the overseas box office. Although the operating cycle of video tapes and TV broadcasts is slightly longer, they can certainly bring huge profits.
With this in mind, Simon could only nod to Terry Semel and said: "If there is a similar idea, I will definitely."
"So, that's it for the time being," Terry Semel said, then looked at Janet next to Simon, and said, "Miss Johnston, you are really impressive during the negotiations these days. You are interested in coming to Warner. Working?"
Janet shook her head with a smile, and said, "Terry, are you going to give me your position?"
"Oh, it's not for me to decide," Terry Semel smiled, toasted gently to the two of them, and said again: "You guys have fun and have fun."
Terry Semel finished speaking and turned and walked away.
Simon looked at Terry Semel's leaving figure, noticed that Janet's eyes flickered beside him, and smiled: "You're in contact with the studio these days, you should know Frank Price, president of Universal Pictures. ?"
Janet didn't know why, so she nodded.
Simon said: "Back when Spielberg wanted to shoot "ET", Frank Price was very dissatisfied with this project. He thought Spielberg's idea of shooting children's films was crazy, and in the end it was the parent company of Universal. CEO Sid Simberg personally approved the project and the project was passed."
Janet curled her mouth: "Then what?"
"Everyone knows what happened later. The production cost of "ET" was only 10.5 million, but the global box office exceeded 700 million US dollars.
During this time, Janet has also become more aware of many things in Hollywood. At this time, she couldn't help but say: "10.5 million dollars, it's really interesting."
For the projects of major Hollywood studios, the production budget is usually a relatively loose round number, $10.5 million, ranging from zero to round, which is enough to show how harsh Universal was on the "ET" project at that time.
"It is true, so after the success of "ET", Spielberg publicly announced to the entire Hollywood that he will never have any cooperation with Frank Price. Then he served as executive producer of "Back to the Future" "For several projects, Spielberg even wrote this article into the contract."
Janet smiled and took Simon's arm, and said: "In the future, we will also include those who have refused you in the contract."
"I don't do such boring things," Simon shook his head, and said, "Speaking of this, I just want to tell you that in Hollywood, anyone will be rejected, and everyone has to get used to being rejected."
Terry Semel invited Simon tonight, just to make a relationship with him, a young Hollywood filmmaker with great potential. But with the outside world bombarding "Butterfly Effect" with one-sided reviews, Terry Semel will not rashly reach any cooperation with Simon. What's more, the script for "When Harry Meets Sally" was not written by Simon.
The two stayed at Terry Semel's party until about 9:30 and left.
Back at the Palisades mansion, the message alert lamp in the living room of the villa was still flashing. Janet ran upstairs to change clothes. Simon heard the phone message from Amy Pascal and called again.
Janet did not know when she had gone downstairs again, wearing loose white sweater and jeans, ran to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, and when she came back, she lay down on the sofa like a kitten and watched Simon call.
Simon and Amy talked on the phone for half an hour before putting down the microphones.
Came over to pick up Janet's coffee and leaned back on the sofa.
Janet had already heard a general idea just now, leaning over at this moment, and said: "New World Pictures also refused?"
Simon nodded.
New World Pictures acquired the film company of Marvel Entertainment last year. It was originally founded by Roger Coman, the king of Hollywood B-rated films. It has also been expanding rapidly in recent years. Although there are no such popular films as Orion, it is because This company inherited from Roger Koman's prudent business philosophy, and the operating conditions of New World Pictures are much stronger than similar second-tier film companies such as Orion and Canon.
These days, Simon and Amy are separately looking for investors for "When Harry Meets Sally", and New World Pictures is also one of the potential collaborators.
Now, it clearly failed again.
Upon hearing Simon's confirmation, Janet frowned again, and said, "Then what should I do next?"
"This is not a good time to find a partner for "When Harry Meets Sally", I have asked Amy to stop temporarily," Simon said without the trouble in Janet's tone, "Let's see next week. The box office of "Butterfly Effect" fell in the first week and the second week. If the situation improves, Amy and I will contact those independent film investment funds. As long as the investment is invested, it is easy to find a distributor. Finally, If it doesn't work, we'll invest ourselves, but if that's the case, we will definitely have to postpone it until the end of the year to start the auction, and subsequent releases are not easy.
Janet twisted the fabric on the shoulders of Simon's shirt, and listened to him speaking so clearly, and said softly: "Goldberg seems to be going to be cooked in these two days, as well as David and Brian. They are also very anxious. Simon, do you really not care about the bad reviews? I dare not read it. It's too much."
Simon felt the same tone of Janet, took a small hand of the woman and shook it, and said, "Do you want to see me pretending to be worried?"
Janet's eyes flashed, and she shook her head and said, "I don't want to."
Simon put the coffee cup back on the coffee table in front of him, and with a slight pressure, Janet lay down with his head resting on the man's lap.
Looking at the woman with bright eyes in her arms, Simon helped her pull the blond hair covering her neck, looked down at the woman and said seriously: "Including the doubts some time ago, and the current bad reviews in the media. Seriously, I I don't feel much at all in my heart. Because I clearly know what kind of person I have, what abilities I have, and what I can do in the future. The small movements of those people may delay my steps and may make me feel a little troubled. , But no matter what, they can't stop me from continuing. To use a slightly arrogant metaphor, how could a lion care about the bite of an ant."
"Simon..." Janet raised her hand, touched the man's face carefully, and whispered, "You will truly conquer the world."
"Yes," Simon leaned his head and kissed the woman's palm, and smiled: "So, at that time, you will be merciful and don't destroy my world, okay."
"Ok."
Janet nodded seriously, still raising her eyes to look at the man above her, her eyes suddenly filled with dismay, and she whispered: "Simon, where about us, where is our future?"
"We," Simon said softly across Janet's delicate face with his fingertips: "It's still early. In a few years, we will get married. Then, have a few children, you come to be a policeman, I will Be bad police, and we will bring them up together."
Janet had longing eyes in her eyes. After listening to Simon's words, she shook her head in a blink of an eye. She grabbed Simon with one hand in her arms and said, "It's not like this, it shouldn't be like this. Simon, you are a lion, grassland. The king of Shang is destined to conquer the world. How can he be caught by a kitten and become a mediocre man guarding his small home. It shouldn't be like this."
Simon felt that Janet's emotions were getting a little more and more wrong. He picked up the woman and placed it on his lap. Looking at the woman's dim eyes unconsciously, a pity suddenly appeared in his heart, and he said seriously: "Jenny, did I just What made you misunderstood? If so, I apologize."
"No," Janet shook her head, leaned over and kissed Simon's lips, then leaned over to the man's chest, hugged him hard, and murmured: "Simon, last time on your birthday, I said , I will not be your bondage."
Simon also hugged the woman in his arms tightly, and said firmly: "No, of course not, how can you be a cat that can trap a lion."
"But that's the truth," Janet said dreamily, "You know, Simon, I love you so much, it's definitely not the kind of love at first sight, because from a very young age, I know that in my life, Either you will always be free to be alone, or you will only love one forever. I always felt that the chance of the first choice would be higher. But when I was 27, I suddenly fell in love with a little man. He is smart, powerful, lonely, mysterious, crazy, and determined, but at the same time he will accommodate me when I am fooling around, indulge me when I am headstrong, guard me when I am drunk, and trust me when I work. I. Although I know that it's because the lion doesn't care about the cat's mischief, but I still fall in love. I'm not as timid as Kate, so since I'm in love, I must hurry up and hold this man tightly. ."
Detective Simon squeezed Janet's crystal earlobe, and said softly, "It's not good to say Catherine behind the back."
Janet's earlobes were very sensitive. When Simon was pinched, her cheeks instantly became rosy, but she did not break free, she still stuck to the man's chest, and continued: "Then, Simon, after getting along, I soon discovered your shortcomings. ."
"This," Simon said with a worried look on his face, "Just keep it in my heart, don't talk nonsense everywhere."
Janet smiled lightly, and immediately revealed the mystery, saying: "Simon, I found that you are a guy who likes to indulge people around you, especially for those who love you. It is always difficult to refuse them. I always treat them twice as good, and even feel that what I have done is not good enough."
Simon retorted weakly: "This shouldn't be considered a shortcoming, right?"
"Of course it's a shortcoming," Janet rubbed her cheek on Simon's chest, and said: "Just like me, I have always known that you are not ready to accept a relationship at all, but after Christmas Eve last year , You still recognized my identity," At this point, Janet suddenly raised her eyes to Simon and said: "Last time in Arizona, Simon, have you slept with Kate?"
Simon shook his head: "No."
"Look, that's it," Janet posted her face back again: "You obviously like Kate better, and Kate actually has a good impression of you. I think you don't even need to say any rhetoric. You just put Kate in Arizona. Carry it to her room and press it on the bed, she won't resist that much. But you didn't do it. This is the bondage, my **** to you."
"This is what I should do," Simon patted Janet on the back and said, "If any other man dared to carry you into the house, I would definitely kill him."
"You don't have this kind of opportunity, I will kill people too," Janet said, patted Simon and said, "Don't interrupt."
"Ok."
Janet continued: "In this period of time, your adjustment to the income of "Lola Run" is the supplementary contract. Simon, I can feel your guilt. You want to accumulate more capital quickly. But you think it's unfair to me. You don't think you have given me enough. You think you are a little selfish. But how is it possible, Simon, I only paid 400,000 US dollars at the beginning, but now I am Can get back 67 million U.S. dollars. A return of 168 times. How greedy people will think this is not enough? So, Simon, this is your shortcoming, a fatal shortcoming. I can feel your love to the world Isolation and indifference, it is difficult for you to take the initiative to love someone, but you are too soft-hearted and indulgent towards those who love you."
Simon smiled reluctantly and said, "Jenny, you won't be disappointed in me now, will you?"
"Of course not," Janet immediately shook her head and looked up, still earnestly said: "I love you, Simon. I like your strength, your mystery, and your indifference. But if you are really concerned about this world Anyone is cruel and ruthless, I may love you, but I never want to be with you. Your shortcomings make me love you more. But at the same time, your shortcomings make me yours Bound."
Simon couldn't help but interrupted: "Jenny, it's not like this."
Janet raised her hand to Simon's lips and continued: "Last month, in the Malibu villa, I asked if you want to marry me quickly so that you can own half of my property. I can feel You were in a panic at the time, but you still joked with me nonchalantly. Just now, you were able to calmly tell me that in a few years, you will marry me and have a few children. I will be a good policeman. You are a bad policeman. Obviously, you must have considered this matter more than once during this period. You know that I am looking forward to this kind of thing, because I am 27 years old and a 27-year-old woman must be looking forward to marriage. Love, I really look forward to these. And, I have no doubt whether you will fulfill your promise, because you will. But, this makes me even more aware that until now, you are just 19 years old. 19 years old The boy should fly freely. And my king, the lion king on the grassland, needs to conquer the world without worry, instead of hurriedly thinking about having children and returning because of a kitten. family."
At this point, Janet did not wait for Simon to talk again, she reached out and hugged her boyfriend tightly, and quickly said: "So, Simon, let's start again. From the state where we met for the first time in Burbank that evening. At the beginning. That day, standing on the side of the road, you said, you are from Watsonville Mental Hospital. It's cool."
Simon felt the woman in her arms trembled slightly after saying these words, stretched out his hand and patted her waist gently, and said, "Jenny, I think we should take a bath together now and get a good night's sleep."
Janet did not let go, and whispered: "Simon, I am not going to break up with you. I only love one person in my life. How can I break up. But I don't want to be your bondage. So, we are like Harry and Like Sally, start with a friend. I won't disturb your life or your work. If you need it, I can help you take care of the company. But, we're not lovers for the time being, okay?"
Simon shook his head and said, "Not good."
Janet didn't seem to hear Simon's answer, and said to herself: "I will move back to Malibu tomorrow. Before meeting you, I actually wanted to open a gallery, but I was too lazy, a small studio. It's still messy. Now, huh, I'm motivated. After "Lola Run" was released, people have been contacting me because of the painting in the movie."
Simon didn't know what to say for a moment, but was silent.
Janet finished speaking to herself, and was silent for a while before saying again: "Simon, I'm a little scared."
"Ok?"
"The lion will conquer the entire grassland in the future and become the real king. Will he care about the kitten?"
"Of course," Simon said firmly, "That is a very selfish lion. What belongs to him will always belong to him."
"Then why don't you keep your kitten now?"
"is that useful?"
"No."
"Then don't want to stay," Simon patted the woman and said, "But you still live here, I will move out."
"why?"
"Those paparazzi will probably go crazy when they hear this kind of news. I don't want them to disturb you. It's more private here than in Malibu."
Janet curled up some corners of her mouth, her eyes sparkling, and said, "Then you can live in Malibu. I will lend it to you in the name of a friend."
"Not going."
"You can pay rent."
"Actually, I prefer a modern villa."
Janet thought of her European-style villa in Malibu and the Mediterranean-style mansion at the moment, and her arms around Simon's waist tightened tightly: "You have been accommodating me."
"Yeah, there is no need to accommodate now."
"Well, little bastard," Janet seemed a little dissatisfied, reached out her hand and pinched it, but did not use any force, softly said: "You, live in Malibu, they don't know us, we are separated temporarily."
Simon thought for a while, nodded, and said, "Okay."
Janet paused and felt some of her own sway, and quickly shook her head, saying: "Or, no more, you can live wherever you like, even if I immediately go to rent with Kate, I don't care. We , We..." Janet murmured, and suddenly broke free from Simon's embrace, stood up and took two steps back, and said firmly: "Simon Westeros, I officially inform you that we have broken up."