Made in Hollywood

"You can't deny that most of the things that have been passed down and are still recognized as classics are tragedies."

In the western restaurant of the hotel, Kate Beckinsale put down her knife and fork early and drank a glass of water, "For example, Shakespeare's four tragedies, and the "Anne Frank Diary" you mentioned."

"Tragedies do resonate more easily."

How to communicate with a beautiful woman who once majored in literature at Oxford University, and find a common topic? It's not difficult for someone like Duke who has sufficient director and artistic accomplishment. He asked rightly, "Why can tragedy become a classic?"

"Tragedy has a long tradition and deep systematic inheritance." Kate Beckinsale put down the cup and said with great interest, "Tragedy is the focus of aesthetic research, and tragedy is profound, Aristotle He believes that tragedy is art in art, and Schopenhauer also believes that tragedy is the highest peak of art. Tragedy has always been a difficult point in aesthetic research. Tragedy has been produced since ancient Greek mythology, and it has been brought into philosophy. Oedipus King Si killed his father and married his mother because he wanted to get rid of the tragedy of fate that he could not get rid of."

"Let's put it in Hollywood," she added. "If 'Titanic' didn't have the tragedy of Jack and Ruth, it wouldn't have been such a brilliant classic."

"I admit it."

Putting down the knife and fork, Duke picked up the napkin and wiped his mouth, and said, "The ending with regrets is more impressive than the happy ending. What you don't get and lose is a regret, but it's unforgettable."

"Yes, it is like that."

It seems that I haven't met such a speculative chat partner for a long time. Kate Beckinsale said enthusiastically, "Incompleteness is a special kind of beauty, which makes people think and recall."

She suddenly smiled. Ask Duke, "What do you think of tragedy and comedy as a great director?"

Duke frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "Tragedy is to destroy the valuable things in life for people to see, and comedy is to destroy the worthless things in life for people to see."

"Very targeted opinion..." Kate Beckinsale asked curiously, "This is your own opinion."

"Of course not." Duke shook his head.

Kate Beckinsale seems to be intrigued. "Who made this opinion? How come I've never seen it?"

"A writer in the East." Duke said a country and a name, and seeing Kate Beckinsale's blank face, he said, "You probably haven't heard of it."

"If I have time, I will look for his writings."

Hearing Kate Beckinsale say that, Duke asked, "Do you read a lot?"

She nodded. "It's my biggest hobby."

"Reading can make people smarter." Duke pointed to his forehead. "It's a pity that I have been so busy with work all these years that I have very little time for reading."

"Actually, there have been no particularly outstanding literary works in recent years."

Draining the water from the glass, Kate Beckinsale pointed to a Harry Potter poster on the wall of the dining room. "Business literature is booming these days. The living space for real literature is shrinking."

Without waiting for Duke to say anything, she looked at her watch and said, "Thank you for the dinner. It was a pleasure chatting with you, it's getting late. It's time for me to say goodbye."

"So early?" Duke invited, "Why don't we go to the bar next door for a drink."

"Another day." Kate Beckinsale declined politely, "I have to go back to study the script and characters..."

She twitched her lips at Duke and made a joke. "I don't want you to regret choosing me for this role when you start filming."

"You won't let me down, will you?"

While talking, Duke stood up and walked around behind her, helping her pick up the coat hanging on the hanger in the booth, "I'll take you back to your room."

Not long after Duke returned to his room after sending Kate Beckinsale back, he received a call from North America. The caller was Tina Fey, who had returned to North America some time ago to handle some investment issues on behalf of Duke. affairs.

Some time ago, when Duke's investment agent David attended Yahoo's shareholders meeting in his place, he heard that two Stanford University students were investing in Yahoo, which seemed to be related to Internet searches. Let Tina Fey go back to North America, with the lawyer and David, to find the two students.

He is not sure whether the search engine in the hands of the two students is the Google in his memory. He only knows that the founder of this company seems to be called Page or Sergey. It is not very clear, so he just let his own first. Get in touch with someone.

"One is called Larry Page, the other is called Sergey Brin..." Tina Fey introduced the information of the two people in detail on the phone, and then said, "They are looking for investment and plan to set up a company Private joint-stock company to design and manage an Internet search engine."

"Tina, you stay in North America and negotiate with them with David."

The first fund didn’t cost much. Although Duke was not sure, he still decided to take a risk and “find an investment plan that is acceptable to all three parties.”

Apple, Microsoft, and Google are the three companies Duke remembers most clearly. After all, there are not many people who used to only need to go online, but there are not many people who don’t know about these three companies. The memories of these popular goods are actually his few investment opportunities.

Microsoft does not need to elaborate, he just holds some scattered shares, and the biggest role is to preserve the value of assets.

Apple is now the largest investment target. In the past few years, Apple was in a deep quagmire, and many people wanted to get out. A considerable part of Duke's previous films' remuneration and dividends were invested in Apple. Steve Jobs Returning to Apple, he once raised funds from the outside world. He first accepted the investment of Bill Gates, and also took $25 million in funds from Duke.

Steve Jobs is an absolute man, and he obviously doesn't want anyone to be big at Apple except himself.

The situation of Yahoo is similar to that of Microsoft. Duke entered the market too late. At that time, Yahoo had already been listed, and the stock was clearly showing an upward trend. Except for the scattered shares bought by the market, he only got the remainder of the big investment institutions. a little soup.

As for Google, it is sure to find a compromise on several fronts. Otherwise, what's the use even if he knows it's Google?

In fact, as far as Duke knows, there are a lot of people investing in the IT industry in Hollywood, and not all Hollywood stars are financial idiots like Nicolas Cage. The net worth of many Hollywood stars and even directors is far greater than the annual income announced by the media. Rich leaderboards.

Now this era is a little far away. Some of Duke's less profound memories have been forgotten, but in the later Internet age, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ashton Kutcher were big winners in investing in the IT industry, and even the latter invested in websites to make money. The net worth is ten times that of the actor's income.

After so many years in North America, Duke can see no matter how unskilled he is in business. Traditional industries, especially General Electric, various oil, insurance, media and financial industries, have long been divided up. If you want to invest in these industries, you have a chance to chat.

With more experience, can the rules of a society be changed? Do you really think the whole world is one person?

By comparison. There are still some opportunities for emerging products that have not been paid enough attention, especially the network industry, which is an industry with far more freedom than any circle.

Although Duke is not very proficient and knowledgeable about the Internet, he also knows that it is an industry that can change the world in the future. Even the most conservative traditional groups have to actively or passively make changes to adapt to the industry. Not even changing means dying.

He doesn't have the unrealistic idea of ​​controlling an Internet group. He just wants to use his relatively rich net worth in exchange for a little bit of cake in this upsurge. You can add value to your assets.

From the day he set his goals, Duke knew what he was good at, and the film industry was both his greatest hobby and his future.

With the end of September 1998, "Titanic", which has created a double box office record in North America and the world, bid farewell to the North American theaters and officially dropped. The North American box office of this epic at sea finally stopped at 675.22 million US dollars. It is because of Duke's appearance that the film's publicity is more powerful. The North American box office is higher than before, but it has not exceeded the number of 3D version re-releases later.

However, in the future, the film can also be converted into 3D and continue to be released to cheat money. As long as the film can generate revenue, Duke Studio can enjoy a quarter of the share.

A little earlier than "Titanic", another Duke-invested film was also down in North America. "Mission Impossible" starring Tom Cruise earned $181.59 million from the North American market, second only to With Duke's "The Matrix" at $327.58 million and Michael Bay's "Peerless Cataclysm" at $189.22 million, it's temporarily ranked third in the North American annual box office chart.

Since the production cost of the film alone is as high as 80 million US dollars, the North American box office is not enough for the investors to recover the cost, but the overseas box office of the film has also been rising all the way. And the follow-up copyright of the film will also bring a large amount of credit.

What's more, Duke has a firm hold on some of the rights, and "Mission Impossible," one of the most successful franchises, has become a long-term meal ticket for him.

And Tom Cruise wants to make a sequel, he has to nod his approval.

Just entering October, Tom Cruise called. The success of "Mission Impossible" made him eager to make a sequel. Even after a phone call, in order to win Duke's full support, he And Nicole? Kidman deliberately chose to come to New Zealand for vacation.

After the collision of "Brave to the Dead Island", the smearing of "Interview with the Vampire", the light and dark competition of "Independence Day", the embarrassment of getting rid of Mel Gibson, the relationship between "Chicago" eased, the "Mission Impossible" After working closely together, Tom Cruise, even if he was arrogant and confused, realized the great value that Duke could bring, and obviously wanted to push the relationship between the two to a new stage. (To be continued ~^~)

PS:  Ask for a monthly ticket~~Ask for a recommendation ticket~~The weather is hot, please motivate and work hard~~