Made in Hollywood

"In view of the film's subject matter and publicity needs, four time periods are more appropriate."

Seeing Duke nod, Charles Rowan said one by one, "The German Surrender Day in early May next year, Memorial Day in late May, D-Day in early June, and Independence Day in July."

It’s already October. Even though he is commanding a relatively mature and tacit understanding team, Duke feels a little nervous about the release in early May next year. Memorial Day at the end of May is actually the most suitable time for the North American release, but the filming The production is extremely cumbersome, and if there is an accident, it may be postponed.

After thinking about it for a while, Duke said, "Charles, don't announce the specific release date for the time being in the preliminary publicity. The time is a little tight. We have to watch the actual work progress of the crew."

"It's okay for the time being." Charles Rowan nodded and added, "But it can't be delayed for too long."

"Before next year's Super Bowl, I'll be sure to give you a firm completion date for the film."

In the past two movies, the promotion of Super Bowl Day has played an important role, and the promotion plan formulated by the studio naturally inevitably includes the Super Bowl halftime advertisement.

The North American release date of the film was temporarily put on hold, and the topic gradually turned to the actors.

"This is a group play, and I need a lot of actors with relatively good acting skills."

Duke told the casting assistant director and an executive producer, "Zach and Sophia have written the script, and you're going to have a big audition as soon as possible."

The rest of the cast, Duke, didn't care, but the rescue team and James Ryan's selection had to nod his way through.

Compared with the pure popcorn film "Independence Day", "Saving Private Ryan" has higher requirements for actors' acting skills. In addition to the main actors participating in the show, military training is required in the preliminary preparations, which must be determined as soon as possible. candidate.

"I have two candidates to audition, and I'll send them out as soon as possible." Duke proposed two key roles in the film, "Invite Tom Hanks to audition for John Miller, invite Leonardo Dee Caprio auditioned for James Ryan."

Needless to say, for the former, "Forrest Gump" is still being shown in North America. It is so popular that it is turning purple, and it is even regarded by many film critics as a favorite for next year's Oscar for best actor; the latter is not an unknown actor, not only Born as a child star, he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1993 for "A Different Sky".

There was no objection to Duke's proposal, but Robin Grande cautioned.

"Duke, Tom Hanks may have a problem." These people who often work with him are somewhat aware of Duke's affairs. "He is an actor under CAA."

Hearing the name of this familiar agency, Duke couldn't help frowning slightly, but it's not surprising that CAA can occupy half of Hollywood's actor market, and Tom Hanks is under their banner.

"Send the audition invitation." Duke thought for a while, then said, "Send Hanks a full version of the script at the same time, if he refuses."

This is Hollywood, and no one is indispensable. Even if the former Captain Miller left him extremely impressed, Duke would not be stupid enough to choose Tom Hanks.

It would be best if Tom Hanks would accept the invitation; if he refused, there are plenty of other actors in Hollywood.

Behind every successful director, there is a strong team that cooperates tacitly. Duke is no exception. After long-term cooperation, his team cooperates tacitly. Although there are conflicts among the members, there is no huge conflict of interest, and he can understand some of his Intention, these will make the preparatory work much smoother.

The crew will then move to Ireland, where only the most basic preparatory work is done in Los Angeles, and everything is going on in an orderly manner.

During the preparation of "Saving Private Ryan", Duke also received several good news, and the part that belonged to him was received.

Perhaps it was because they thought that the distribution of the "Independence Day" filming had an incentive effect, or maybe it was because Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox wanted to continue to win over such successful commercial directors. In mid-October, a large sum of money was transferred to the Duke's work. on the room's account.

Warner Bros. brought in the final overseas share of "Brave Island", a total of a little more than 7.1 million US dollars, so Duke Studio's investment of 10 million US dollars in "Brave Island" in exchange for more than 27.1 million US dollars The paper income in US dollars, the gross profit on investment is more than 17 million US dollars, this investment income ratio, even if you look at the whole Hollywood, can be regarded as the first-class.

The mother's $10 million loan has already been paid, but the $2.71 million in interest has to be settled, and Nancy and the attorney and accountant have to pay 10% of the final $710,000. The paper income of nearly $12 million, plus the director's salary that Duke has received, is enough to cover the $8 million transfer fee for the epic.

A few days later than Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox paid the first North American box office share of Independence Day. $60 million, but it's still some time away from the contract payment deadline, and Fox paid only half of that -- $30 million.

This is a huge revenue share, and if 20th Century Fox had not planned for a long-term cooperation, this half would have been delayed to the end of the contract payment period.

In addition, the North American box office share and the overseas box office share, and others, according to Duke's estimates, even this time next year, the box office share of "Independence Day" cannot be fully paid.

In addition, a portion of Saving Private Ryan's base pay -- $3.5 million -- has also arrived.

Duke has truly stepped into the ranks of multi-millionaires, but also prepared to spend a lot of money.

One of them was the Malibu seaside estate, which Nancy's assistant slashed to $8.75 million. Duke decided to buy the property after consulting lawyers, accountants, and other professionals.

As long as the funds are in place, assignment contracts and other chores are not a problem, as for the redecoration, Duke temporarily tossed it to Nancy Josephson, who just reviewed the final renderings.

On the other hand, in addition to keeping enough daily expenses and maintaining the operation of Duke's studio, Duke once again defied the stockbroker's idiot's gaze, invested most of the remaining funds in Apple's stock, and also acquired a small amount of Microsoft's stock, these will be real estate for a long time to come.

The preliminary work of "Saving Private Ryan" is also progressing in an orderly manner. After a brief preparatory work, Duke led the crew to move to Ireland, an open-air studio near Dublin, which will become the base camp of the crew, and the follow-up preparations will also be Expand there.

Just when Duke was flying to Europe, many actors in Hollywood received invitations to audition. Some actors who did not receive the invitation and inquired about the role information also asked their public relations and agents to actively seek audition opportunities for them. .

"This role has a little bit of drama."

In a house in Los Angeles, Leonardo DiCaprio closed the script and looked at his agent, "It's set to not appear until the end of the film."

The agent did not agree with his statement. This was an invitation from Duke Rosenberg. How many young actors in Hollywood wanted to receive his audition invitation!

"This role is very important!" The agent persuaded patiently, "Leo, I have seen the full version of the script in the agency. This is the most important and critical role other than the male lead. This film is called "Saving the Privates". Ryan", your role is Ryan!"

"The male protagonist..." Young people always have a lot of fantasies.

"The male protagonist is a middle-aged officer!" The agent broke his fantasy. "There is a gossip, it is said that Tom Hanks will be invited to play this role, and there are not many opportunities to play against Hanks!"

Seeing that Leonardo DiCaprio was a little moved, the agent continued to persuade him, "You have to understand, Leo, the director of the film is Duke Rosenberg, how many actors has he won fame? His work is world-class! Let’s just say, young actors who want to audition for Saving Private Ryan can go from Beverly Hills to Hollywood!”

How many people who enter this circle do not want to be famous? The agent understands this very well. In his opinion, even if the casting director asks them to bend over and stick their butt up, I am afraid that the number of people participating in the audition will not decrease!

"Leo, you entered this circle very early, you should understand," the agent didn't mean to stop, "If you want to become a popular movie star, you must enter the mainstream movie circle. Those idiots and retarded characters brought you Oscars. Nominations do little to help you in your situation, what you need right now is a mainstream movie with a huge impact and a big box office hit!"

The young Leonardo DiCaprio fell into his thoughts. Although he was only twenty years old, he was born as a child star and had a profound understanding of this circle.

"Duke Rosenberg's work is now guaranteed to sell, and you are one of the two people he personally named and invited to audition."

"Get a plane ticket to Dublin asap!"

Hearing this, the agent laughed, and Leonardo asked curiously, "Who is the second person Duke Rosenberg invited?"

"Tom Hanks, he has no competition with you."

Leonardo DiCaprio, who is only 20 years old, is preparing for a trip to Ireland, but Tom Hanks, who is almost 40 years old, is hesitant. He likes this script and this character very much, although it is a group show However, Captain Miller has enough room for acting, and most importantly, he sees deep humanistic care from the script and characters, which is one of the favorite movie themes of Oscar's old men.

At present, the film company and his agency are doing public relations. Judging from the feedback, it should be no problem to get a Best Actor Oscar nomination with Forrest Gump. If you want to get it, it seems a little difficult. After all, you want to have two consecutive nominations It's too hard to get the best actor statuette.

And the role of Captain Miller is so in line with the academy's appetite, as long as it plays well, it is very likely to be nominated again, and the role of Forrest Gump, who may fail this year, has every chance to win the second best actor Xiao Jin people.

Thinking of this, Tom Hanks looked at the opposite side, that was his agent, Eno Martin from CAA!