Exploiting Hollywood 1980

20th Century Fox executives were very dissatisfied. Bruce Willis proposed all kinds of outrageous shooting conditions, which is a classic symptom of a movie project in which the leading man star actor loses control.

Joel Silver wasn't too pleased either. The star cost of the project is out of control, and the budget is still so large. The reasonable and unreasonable profits he can obtain will be greatly reduced.

It was obvious that Bruce Willis must have been dissatisfied when he invited Ronald over for an interview at his home.

20th Century Fox paid for the production and distribution of the project. Joel Silver needs to solve various problems and contradictions according to the group from beginning to end. Bruce Willis contributes his unique screen presence and desperate (seemingly) action performances.

So, Ronald only participated in the filming of the first part and had part of the production rights. In the sequel, he is neither with the team, nor the cast, nor the director, nor has he contributed to the special effects. How can he cut his own lucrative piece from this sequel cake that is very likely to be a hit?

Ronald's unique value is his ability to calm these people down, allowing them to settle into their positions and accept the share they can get for their efforts. If there is no such person to share the cake, then everyone will fight together and want to eat and occupy more. The final result of the quarrel was that the project collapsed, the filming could not be completed, and no one could eat the cake.

…

"Diane, Ronald, welcome..."

Bruce Willis and Demi Moore let Ronald and Diane into their home.

The first thing Diane did was to check on Demi and Bruce's almost one-year-old daughter Rumer, who was sleeping in a small bed. "Ah, the baby is so cute. Will it be noisy at night?" Dane looked at her sleeping soundly. little Rumer asked.

"Oh, I always have to wake up at night to breastfeed. It's very troublesome..." Demi Moore began to complain. Bruce Willis was always very chauvinistic. Sometimes when his daughter woke him up at night, he would throw out a few 100s. Big dollar bills, leave it to Demi.

The two women gathered around Demi's eldest daughter and naturally chatted about parenting.

"Ah, brother. Marriage is really a troublesome thing for us men. Demi often does some things that are very difficult to understand. Women become another kind of animal after marriage."

Bruce Willis took Ronald to visit his new room of honor and opened a bottle of fine whiskey in an attempt to get closer to Ronald.

The two drank wine and ate salami, and naturally talked about their married life.

"For example?" Ronald raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect that a new woman like Demi Moore, who was full of independent spirit, would actually become arrogant after marriage.

"For example, we could obviously hire a nanny to stay at home and take care of Rumer. But Demi thinks this will affect our family life. When the baby starts crying in the middle of the night, she kicks my ass and asks me to give it to her. Changing the baby's diaper...I think she just wants to instruct me to do this or that..."

"Um..." Ronald touched his forehead. It seemed that Demi Moore, like Diane, had some personal identity crises. She always wanted to do something to attract her husband's attention, so that she could show her independence. Personality.

In contrast, Diane just tried different new dishes to satisfy herself, which may be considered her luck...

The two of them drank and watched TV. Today happened to be the MLB All-Star Game, and Bo Jackson hit a leadoff home run at the beginning. This can be regarded as a rare exciting scene in the baseball All-Star Game in recent years.

"Is there anything you want to tell me, Bruce?"

The two high-fived and drank the rest of the wine in their glasses. Ronald signaled to the other party that it was time to get down to business.

"Ronald, you know I'm not a greedy person, but my salary in the sequel is still significantly less..."

"Tell me how you feel. Why do you think this salary figure is low? I don't know much about the current salary levels of male stars..." Ronald smiled, and all kinds of excessive demands turned out to be because There is a problem with the salary figures. Those were Bruce Willis's deliberate attitudes towards 20th Century Fox and the producers.

"Actually, this has nothing to do with money, but everything to do with respect..." Bruce Willis curled his lips and explained his truth.

Recently, People magazine did an inventory of Bruce Willis and male stars with similar characteristics to him, and gave it a very alarmist title, "Battle of the Biceps..."

"They were panting, sweating, their faces twisted, showing pain. They lifted barbells and dodged bullets. Beautiful girls clung to their overdeveloped chests. They galloped and roared into the cinema. The real battle was in unfolding at the box office. They are the hotties of the summer and their ranks have never been bigger…”

While listening to Bruce Willis, Ronald picked up the People magazine that Willis had prepared and placed on the table, and started reading the article he opened.

First up is Australian star Mel Gibson. Among these male action stars, he is a lightweight (the size of his biceps is the smallest).

His Lethal Weapon series has become a special branch of the action field, "with some crazy action stars"... and his salary has reached more than 7 million US dollars.

In comparison, the one with the largest biceps is of course Arnold Schwarzenegger. The highest salary he received was US$10 million, plus profit sharing in the later period.

Bruce Willis's muscular dimension is in the middle of the two, but his blue-collar temperament and the storyline of ordinary people being forced into adventures make his Die Hard unique and remembered by the audience.

It is reported that 20th Century Fox gave him a salary of US$7.5 million for filming the sequel to Die Hard.

The last member of the biceps club is Eddie Murphy, a famous black comedy action star. His new film Coming to America did very well at the box office in the summer, and Paramount gave him a salary of US$9 million.

As for "Another 48 Hours," the sequel to his famous 1982 film "48 Hours" that he is about to shoot, he will receive a salary of US$12 million, plus appropriate profit sharing for the later period.

Without this report, Bruce Willis might still be able to tolerate his $7.5 million salary. Now, the media has listed the income of him and three other male action stars. This involves male stars of the same type squeezing each other's spots.

It seems that what Bruce Willis said is not (completely) about money, but about dignity, and it is not 100% bragging and nonsense.

In terms of box office explosion and audience madness, he is at least better than Schwarzenegger. Mel Gibson is an Australian, and the average American audience does not like him as much as Willis for such a foreign star who occasionally reveals some Irish accents.

The person Bruce Willis is most dissatisfied with is probably Eddie Murphy. In fact, strictly speaking, he is not exactly a muscular action star, but he incorporates a lot of comedy elements into the movie.

For such an actor, he was able to receive nearly double Willis's salary and have a lot of control over the project, which made Bruce Willis very dissatisfied.

"But this salary does not completely represent the studio's recognition of you. It also has many historical and contractual reasons, which we also have to consider..."

Ronald scratched his head. How could he explain these reasons to Bruce Willis more reasonably and get his approval?

First of all, Schwarzenegger's salary of more than 10 million US dollars is the result of Minahan Golan's lavish behavior after receiving huge financing during the Cannon period.

At that time, Schwarzenegger and Stallone were twin action stars. Minahan took the lead in raising Stallone's salary to more than $12 million, which raised Schwarzenegger's salary.

He only received such a high salary for a short period of time. Later, because pure muscle action movies fell out of favor in the market, they soon could not get such a high salary.

Mel Gibson's basic skills are very good, and his performance has gone beyond the category of those action stars who only have muscular muscles. He gets this slightly lower salary now entirely because he is not American.

As for Bruce Willis himself, his number of blockbuster movies has not yet caught up with the previous two. The success of his Die Hard was met with some misgivings. The reason for this box office success. Is it because of the leading actor or because of director McTiernan?

Fortunately, in the sequel, Ronald and Joel Silver changed directors, and it soon became clear who was more important in the Die Hard series.

"Bruce, let me put it this way, do you know how much Tom Cruise was getting paid when I was doing Top Gun?"

"How much is it?" Bruce Willis really didn't know, "3 million or 4 million?" He guessed a number at random. At that time, Tom Cruise had already filmed the famous film "It's Crazy" and had made several movies with big-name directors.

"It's only a little over 1 million. You can ask your agent for confirmation. This is not a secret in the industry."

Ronald thought for a while and decided to come up with the method of comparison.

Let Bruce Willis take a good look in the mirror and compare his salary level for his debut movie with other popular male stars.

Generally speaking, when a male star tries out the big screen for the first time, he will get a relatively cheap salary. Based on Tom Cruise's popularity back then, $1 million was a more appropriate price.

In the first episode of Die Hard, Bruce Willis received the standard of a top male star, a salary of US$5 million. This has a lot to do with the fact that Barry Diller, the junior boss of 20th Century Fox, wanted to deliberately give him a hand to prove that his film and television integration strategy was successful.

In other words, if we look at normal prices, Bruce Willis actually made more than 3 million more in the first film. If the first and second episodes of Die Hard are taken as a whole, then the other stars who are comparable to him actually get about the same amount of money as he did in the sequels.

In other words, if we look at normal prices, Bruce Willis actually made more than 3 million more in the first film. If the first and second episodes of Die Hard are taken as a whole, then the other stars who are comparable to him actually get about the same amount of money as he did in the sequels.

"I believe what you said, Ronald. You are one of the few people in Hollywood who tells the truth, and I completely believe in your explanation." Bruce Willis heard this and expressed his approval of Ronald's statement. explanation, but he changed the topic...

"But that was several years ago. The current movie market is completely different from previous years. Paramount also offered Eddie Murphy's sequel a condition of US$12 million, plus Profit sharing in the later period...

I don’t understand, is there such a big gap between me and Eddie Murphy? "

Whether it is worth money or not is actually a matter of comparison. Ronald could only shake his head and smile bitterly, "Murphy is different..."

"What's the difference?" Bruce Willis looked dissatisfied. Why can black stars get higher pay than white stars of the same status? He feels that he is not racist, but that the natural movie-going population can represent some box office potential.

"Uh..." Ronald actually had many explanations in mind. For example, although Eddie Murphy is a black man, white people also like to watch black people playing tricks on the screen and get a kind of overlooking pleasure.

For another example, Eddie Murphy is not a pure action star. His comedy skills are very profound, and his face makes you laugh just by looking at it.

For another example, the fusion of action and comedy was originally the direction of a very successful commercial film in the 1980s. Eddie Murphy's real hit movie "Beverly Hills Cop" was taken over after Stallone gave up and made this genre shine.

In the end, Ronald did not mention any of these reasons, but chose one that was more acceptable to Bruce Willis:

"You have to understand that he signed a contract to sell himself, and you enjoy much better creative freedom than he does..."

"Creative freedom?" Sure enough, Bruce Willis became interested.

"Ah, yes, Eddie Murphy signed an exclusive five-movie contract with Paramount. So no matter what bad movies Paramount gives him, he has to make them (of course, Paramount usually doesn't do this) Do it, but Ronald didn’t say...).

If there were other studios with suitable movies that wanted to look for him, he wouldn't be able to make them. (In fact, it can still be negotiated, and the scripts produced by other studios may not be as suitable for Eddie Murphy as Paramount's).

"It's not like before... before..." Bruce Willis had a word he couldn't remember how to say. He heard his agent say it.

"Just like the old big studio system, actors are exclusive to the studio..." Ronald continued.

"That's right...the big studio system is very bad for actors."

"But be nice to the director, you can shoot with whoever you want..." Ronald thought to himself, has he hit the right button for Bruce Willis?

"So that's the case. Then it's hard for me to imagine that if I had signed an Eddie Murphy-like contract with 20th Century Fox for the movie I just made, I would still be able to make it..."

Bruce Willis is talking about his new film "In Country", which he collaborated with Canadian director Norman Jewison. In this film, he plays a Vietnam War veteran who is deeply disturbed by veteran syndrome PTSD. , only his niece, a 17-year-old girl, was kind to him.

It is no longer time for Hollywood to get together to make Vietnam War blockbusters. Such a film with a strong director's personal touch and a Vietnam War background is not expected to do well at the box office. Bruce Willis also went there for reviews and awards. The film will be released soon by Warner Bros. in the fall.

To be honest, if he signed an exclusive contract like Eddie Murphy, he would most likely not have the chance to make this kind of movie.

"Okay, I can accept a salary of $7.5 million, but can I also add a profit-sharing clause?" Bruce Willis told Ronald what he really thought.

In fact, if Willis said something directly to 20th Century Fox or producer Joel Silver, both parties would doubt each other's sincerity in cooperation.

But if the message is passed through an intermediary like Ronald who is trusted by both parties, everyone knows that what is said must be close to their own bottom line, and there will be no such thing as a false shot or a deliberately high price to mislead each other.

"Now, now, Bruce. I really doubt anyone will give you a share contract like a poor pauper like me after what happened with Jack Nicholson..."

Ronald mentioned two things. The first thing is that Jack Nicholson received a huge share of income for playing the Joker in "Batman".

There is certainly an element of luck in this matter, because no one thought that a movie based on a comic book like "Batman" could achieve such a big commercial success as "Superman" ten years ago.

Moreover, Jack Nicholson signed a global box office sharing contract, not a share linked to profits for easy accounting. This makes the publisher Warner Bros. very likely to lose tens of millions.

After this incident, most major studios were very cautious about giving out such inconvenient box office share when operating such commercial films. They would rather increase the stars' salaries to a ridiculous level than let them get the right to share the profits.

After all, given a fixed number of remuneration, as those senior managers, it can be said from a financial perspective that it is because of the market price.

But given such an unimaginable share figure, when the annual report is disclosed, Wall Street analysts will be besieged, saying that their box office estimates are completely wrong, and they are simply not suitable for working in such a large studio.

The second thing was "Look Who's Talking", which Ronald asked Bruce Willis to dub. The film directed by Amy Heckerling is in post-production and will be released this fall.

Because it was a small production invested by Ronald, he had no money to pay Bruce Willis a salary commensurate with his status, so he had to give him a share contract.

Bruce Willis didn't take it seriously and completed the dubbing of the little baby in a weekend with only half a helping hand.

"Hahahaha, that's not the same thing at all..." Bruce Willis laughed. How could such a movie be on par with 20th Century Fox's 50 million-invested large-scale production in terms of box office revenue?

Finally, Ronald agreed to convey his request for an increase in salary to the producer, and Bruce Willis was relieved, knowing that Hollywood would not treat his celebrity just because his salary was much lower than that of Eddie Murphy. Bit of doubt.

It happened that Demi Moore and Diane were almost finished chatting there, so Ronald asked to leave.

In the end, it was Demi Moore who held Diane's hand and sent the couple one extra mile to the driveway at the gate.

Dane was already in the car. Suddenly, Demi Moore took Ronald's arm, leaned close to his ear, and said something in a small voice.

"Ronnie, let me star in your movie about ghosts. Is it time for you to direct me?"

"Huh?" Ronald's ears were very itchy from Demi's blowing...

"I have obtained Diane's consent." Demi Moore hit Ronald's arm hard, then leaned down and waved desperately to Diane, who was already in the car.

"Accidentally", the low-cut dress exposed a piece of white.

"What did you promise him?" After Ronald got into the car, he waved goodbye to Demi Moore, and then turned back to ask Diane.

"I promised him that if you have the opportunity to direct his movie, I will let you go to work." Dane also put his chest close to Ronald's arm, hugging him tightly and refusing to let go.

"I've been very busy every year since I entered Hollywood. Now that I'm married to you and our child is about to be born, I want to have a good rest. Don't you think it's a long time to do nothing like this, go home on time every day, and wait for the birth of your child? Are you happy?"

"But then every other actress in Hollywood would scold me," Diane chuckled. Hollywood actresses know that Ronald is good at filming women-centered scenes.

However, it was difficult to find a suitable big star to be the leading actor in a movie about ghosts. If it is a small production, Diane is not worried.

"But I feel that my current life is very happy, and I don't want to give up the days of coming home on time to see you every day." Ronald actually still yearns for this ordinary nine-to-five family life.

"You always have to go out to make movies..." Diane actually also likes this kind of family life. The two people, who had shortcomings in their families when they were young, cherish this time very much.

"Unless someone is willing to invest money and let me shoot the entire movie in Hollywood, Los Angeles, this way, I can go home to see you on time at six o'clock every day..."

Ronald also laughed. How could there be such an easy target nowadays who would be willing to invest in a movie like this that was all shot in Los Angeles?

Everyone either went to Canada or Australia, or went to some poorer and backward states in the Midwest or the south, doing everything possible to reduce production costs.

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :