American fame and fortune

With director Danny Boyle in place, the project officially entered the preparatory stage. After Warner Bros. passed the routine procedures, it also gave the green light to continue to participate in the investment and act as the distributor of the film.

The Never Ending studio was quickly established, with major investment from Sofia and Vincent's Beast's House Entertainment, Gray Pictures, Pacific Pictures, and Davis Studios.

The disclosed cost is $36 million.

On the third weekend of November that followed, "Wanted" lost the North American box office champion, and the new Harry Potter took the top spot.

Martin also attended the film's premiere and posed for photos with JK Rowling, who has not yet been expelled from Kazakhstan.

As for the famous three white-eyed wolves, they are still little kids.

This weekend, Wanted received another US$14.55 million in North America, and the cumulative box office in North America reached US$141 million.

It has also appeared in more countries and regions overseas, and the global box office has exceeded 250 million US dollars.

Carrying this powerful business power, Thomas conducted several rounds of negotiations with the Never-ending crew on behalf of Martin, and finalized Martin's salary.

Martin's remuneration is divided into two parts, and the crew's upfront remuneration is 5 million US dollars.

Celebrities maintain a high quality of life with relatively high expenses.

And Martin also needs a certain amount of funds to continue to buy Apple's individual shares in the market.

In this regard, he intends to hold shares for a long time.

The remaining 3 million US dollars plus Martin's early investment in "Never Ending" is counted as Davis Studio's total investment of 6 million US dollars, which is included in the production cost of "Never Ending" and enjoys the actual investment income rights.

In the office of Davis Studio, Martin looked carefully at the proposed contract, even including insurance clauses and additional clauses.

The latter mainly refers to the various services provided by the crew to Martin during the filming period. For example, Bruce must serve as a prop master for the crew, go to places outside California to shoot, need five-star luxury suites and business class tickets, the type and level of the car, etc. .

This time, a clause was added, and the crew needed to bear the cost of the two bodyguards.

Martin flipped through the contract and asked Thomas, "I thought I'd be paid $10 million."

Thomas knew that Martin would have such doubts, so he was prepared, and explained: "If the arrest warrant is like a movie where the male lead is alone, I can help you get a $10 million salary this time. But it's not."

Martin asked, "Because Julie and I made this film?"

Thomas nodded: "Yes, the Wanted Warrant is your and Julie's movie, and the heroine's appeal is also the key. The two of you support this movie and share the dividends of the movie, unlike "The Mountain Has Eyes" , belongs entirely to you alone."

He simply said: "When Will Smith filmed "Independence Day", he was paid $5 million for the film. Although the film was a great success, he later starred in "Men in Black" and his film salary was still $5 million, because the biggest selling point of Independence Day In terms of special effects, or a group play, the scenes are divided seriously."

Martin nodded, this is normal.

Thomas added: "'Men in Black' was also a big success, but Smith's salary for the next film contract was only raised by $2 million, because Tommy Lee Jones was also a key actor in the Man in Black."

Martin knew Will Smith a little bit, and asked, "So, Public Enemy is the key to making Smith's salary skyrocket?"

"The previous films are also very important, allowing Will Smith to complete the initial accumulation." Thomas said: ""Public Enemy" really made Will Smith's salary exceed tens of millions. The box office of this film is far lower than that of Independence Day and Black The Man in Clothes, but it was a film that Smith carried alone, and the other Johnny Walter, Gene Hackman, etc., were completely under Smith's hands."

Martin understands that monoclonal antibodies and dual protagonists have completely different meanings.

No one can ignore Jolie's important role in the success of "Wanted".

Thomas added: "If the North American box office of "Never Ending" exceeds 100 million again, I can ask you for a minimum salary of 12 million U.S. dollars or even higher when the next commercial film is released, even involving post-production share."

This involves more complex calculation methods, such as the agreement between the leading actor and the film studio, the sharing of the film's net profit, and the sharing after the balance of payments.

The latter is a contractual agreement between the two parties. For example, after a film’s North American box office reaches 200 million US dollars, the leading actor enjoys the right to share the subsequent box office or profits.

There are too many tricks to play.

Fortunately, according to Martin's development model, he will definitely participate in the film projects starring him as one of the producers in the future.

The script of "Never Ending" is still being adapted, and the main roles are basically determined. Eddie played by Martin is naturally the absolute protagonist, and the second role is the heroine.

In addition, an old actor will play the role of a Wall Street boss.

Martin called Nicholson. Compared with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, who are known as the four major actors at the same time, the old bastard is more rigorous in choosing films. U.S. dollars, ruin the reputation of actors who have been operating for decades.

Ordinary character actors just post an announcement to recruit, and the most important thing in Los Angeles is actors.

As for the leading actresses, including Louise and Boyle, they all tend to choose famous female stars.

The biggest advantage is that female stars are easy to hype topics and promote marketing.

This newcomer can't compare.

The actor played by Martin is older than his actual age.

For the heroine, the most suitable age is in her thirties.

The role setting is basically confirmed, and the recruitment announcement related to the crew has been sent to the internal platforms of the actor union and WMA.

…………

Century City, the recently completed Death Star Building.

Aniston's agent, Steve, was busy in the independent office when he suddenly received a call from a friend of WMA who wanted to switch to CAA.

"Man, didn't you let me pay attention to the situation of Martin Davis and his new project?" The person over there said quickly: "The company's internal platform just issued an announcement that the new project "Never Ending" starring Martin The recruitment of actors, including the heroine, requires that they must be famous actresses."

Steve kept it in his mind and said, "Thank you for your call. I'll treat you to coffee when I have time."

After hanging up the phone, he thought about it for a while, dialed Aniston's number, and explained the relevant situation carefully.

In a small villa in the Coty community, Aniston said to the phone: "I see, wait for me to think about it."

After hooking up the phone, Aniston cast her eyes on the coffee table in front of her, on which was a newspaper - "American Rumor", a typical gossip newspaper.

Under normal circumstances, Aniston would not care about the above reports.

But today is different.

On the headline of the front page, she stood opposite the image of Jolie, and directly used the two as the title.

"Angelina Jolie beats Jennifer Aniston again!"

Earlier in the article, a comparison was made between the two movies "Wanted" and "Deviant Pursuit" in which the two acted as the heroines.

The comparison of figures is shocking: 141 million US dollars and 21.81 million US dollars.

The former belongs to Julie, the latter to her.

Comparisons outside of the box office are even more egregious.

"In May, Aniston lost to Jolie in the marriage battle. Now, Aniston still loses in the box office battle of the two starring movies!"

"Can we draw a conclusion from this: Aniston is far inferior to Jolie in terms of personal charm, acting skills and charisma?"

Aniston has a solid capital and doesn't care much about temporary gains and losses, but she is very annoyed when she is frequently drawn out to compare with Julie.

It's okay for Julie to steal the limelight, but she also shows off after stealing her husband, Aniston can't bear it more and more.

What kind of means should be used to fight back?

Aniston had thought about it before, so it was not difficult to make a decision. She just sat silent for a few minutes and called her agent back: "Steve, you submit my information to "Never Ending" The crew, tell them I'm interested in playing the lead actress."

Steve reminded in advance: "The salary may not be high, after all, your latest movie did not do well at the box office."

Of course, Aniston would not do such stupid things as working for nothing: "No less than 5 million US dollars is enough."

Steve said, "I'm going to Warner Studios right now, and I'm going to see Louise Mayer at Pacific Pictures."

Aniston said directly: "Get this role as soon as possible."

Steve hung up the phone, immediately got out of CAA, rushed to Burbank, submitted Aniston's information to the Never End crew, and met producer Louise Meyer.

…………

The Weinstein Films Los Angeles branch.

Brad Pitt, a new member of the Foot Gang, was specially invited by Harvey Weinstein to meet.

"I'm going to promote a project." Harvey actually takes good care of the actors who lean towards him, so he also has a large number of supporters in the circle: "The film is a biographical plot type, and the male lead is very suitable for you."

As soon as Brad Pitt heard it, he thought of Oscar. In the past ten years, he has been the biggest promoter of Oscar.

He has not yet given up on Oscar, and asked: "Whose biography?"

Harvey took a large book of fairy tales and handed it to Pete: "Have you read it? About it."

Pete found that the book in his hand was called "Peter Rabbit" and asked, "About Miss Potter's biopic? She's a woman."

When Harvey got this project, he had some ideas, especially after combining the publicity and hype of Martin and Julie before the screening of Wanted Warrant, he came up with a bold idea.

"As I said, you are the leading actor," Harvey said.

Pete immediately asked, "Who are you going to find, heroine?"

Harvey said an unexpected name: "What about Jennifer Aniston? She's Miss Potter, you're the lead actor, and you both star in the same movie."

In this case, public opinion will definitely explode!

Pete thought for a while: "I have no objection, can you invite Jane?"

Harvey thinks this plan is very clever: "Always try." He looked at Pete: "You can also help persuade."

After being kicked by Julie, Pete realized that Aniston was good, nodded and said, "Let me try."