Chapter 374 Richard Gere apologizes, public opinion reverses, Link is not a thief

"Boss, the first week data of Hachiko is out."

During a break in the filming of the Alcatraz crew, Lewinsky came over with documents.

“How’s the box office?”

"Weekly box office champion."

Lewinsky smiled slightly.

Link took the document and looked at it.

In the first two months of the year, Guess What Pictures released four films.

The first film, "Grey's Anatomy," was released in North America for eight weeks and grossed a total of $257,000.

The second is Paul Thomas Anderson’s debut film, “Casino,” which was released in North America for six weeks and accumulated a box office of 212,000 US dollars.

The film cost $350,000 to produce and is expected to lose more than $100,000.

It is highly unusual that the first two films released by Guess What Pictures this year were box office failures.

The media under the seven major media groups saw the opportunity and began to hype that Guess the Picture Company had made a directional mistake in film production. It only blindly increased the number of films without paying attention to the quality, resulting in many bad films. This was a precursor to decline.

The media also hyped that after becoming famous, Link was picking up girls every day, using the company's resources to seduce female stars, and had no time to manage the company, which led to chaos in the internal management of Guess What and the doom of Guess What Pictures.

Finally, the media predicts that Guess Pictures' box office share will drop significantly this year, and the entire film industry will have more development opportunities.

In response to this argument, Guess What Pictures did not make any explanation, but just quietly made and released new movies.

The third movie is Trainspotting.

The film was released in early February and performed better at the box office.

It was screened in eight theaters in North America in its first week, earning $262,000 at the box office.

In its second weekend, it grossed $1.22 million in 38 theaters.

After four consecutive weeks of release, the cumulative box office has reached 6.53 million US dollars, and the North American box office is expected to be no less than 18 million US dollars.

The North American copyright fee for this film is 3 million US dollars. Judging from the current box office situation, it is a blockbuster movie.

After the box office success of "Trainspotting", the executives of Guess the Movie studio breathed a sigh of relief. If the film continued to lose money, the situation of "Guess the Movie" this year would probably start to go downhill as the media said.

Now that "Trainspotting" has started to make a profit, it also shows that there is no problem with the company's publicity and promotion work. The problem lies in the first two films and the level of their directors.

Daniel DeVito and James Schamus advised Link that director Steven had lost money on two consecutive films and should invest cautiously in the next one.

Link did not agree, saying that these two films were just practice works for director Steven. They were low-cost and the low box office was understandable. With director Steven's ability, the next film would definitely be better.

The fourth movie this year is "Hachiko: A Dog's Story", which was released in early March.

The film was directed by Jodie Foster, written and edited by Link, and starred Robin Williams, Joan Allen, Cameron Diaz and others.

The production cost was $22 million.

In its first week, the film earned $14.91 million in 2,377 theaters in North America, ranking first at the weekly box office.

The movie also received very good reviews, with positive reviews dominating.

Edward Porter, a critic for the Los Angeles Times, commented, "The plot is simple but tender, the theme is simple but profound, and the filming technique is simple but beautiful and touching. It is a very interesting animal-themed movie suitable for the whole family to watch."

In his review, New York Times critic Derek Adams praised Jodie Foster's directing skills for the obvious improvement in this film, with sincere emotions, delicate style, tenderness, and a more mature narrative method. She is a female director worth looking forward to.

"Complete Movies" magazine commented that "Director Jodie Foster's technique is delicate, and she uses a lot of daily life descriptions to arouse the audience's emotional resonance, providing more room for thinking, thus avoiding excessive sensationalism. This story can deeply touch the hearts of dog lovers."

However, there were also negative reviews saying that the style of this movie has many similarities with several of Link's movies, and also mentioned Link's affair with Jodie Foster, suggesting that this movie might have been shot by him.

Link smiled when he saw this, and told Lewinsky to notify the public relations department to refute the rumor in time. He was filming "Batman Forever" at the time and there was no way he had time to film "Hachiko: A Dog's Story". Besides, he was the screenwriter and editor of this movie, so it was normal for him to have some style.

“Okay boss!”

Lewinsky made a note in her notebook and tucked her hair with her fingers. "Boss, Ms. Crawford and Ms. Brooke Shields are here. Are you leaving get off work early today?"

"No, they are not unfamiliar with this place, so they can arrange their schedules freely. I will accompany them after I am done with my work."

Link said without looking up.

"Okay, boss, take care of yourself and don't overwork yourself."

Lewinsky blinked her big eyes and smiled.

Link glared at her, returned the information to her, picked up the phone and called Jodie Foster, congratulating her on her movie winning the box office championship and asking her to keep up the good work and continue to make good films.

Judy was also very happy when she received the call. She said she would come to San Francisco the day after tomorrow to promote her new movie and she would come to visit the set then.

Link asked her to come over quickly as he had been too busy recently and they hadn't slept together for a week and he missed her body very much.

Jodie Foster called him a lecherous fellow.

Link jokingly asks her if she doesn't want to, then he won't do it when she comes.

Judy finally said shyly that she wanted to.

Link smiled. Even though he couldn't see her, he could imagine the look on the face of a decent woman saying such words. Her cheeks would be flushed, she would bite her lower lip, and her eyes would be filled with shyness and annoyance, like Liu Xiaoli two years ago, with a different kind of charm.

After hanging up the phone, Link received another call from Jon Gordon.

Jon Gordon is investigating the hacking of himself during this period.

After investigation, it was found that the mastermind behind the media hype of his scandals in February might be the Harvey Weinstein brothers.

There is evidence that media outlets such as World Entertainment News received funds from Miramax Films' accounts before hyping the event.

Before Richard Gere was interviewed by ABC, he also received a transfer of $200,000 from Miramax.

These evidences were investigated by Jon Gordon's team through banking channels and are highly credible.

Judging from the existing evidence, Harvey Weinstein and his brothers are highly suspected, but it cannot be ruled out that they have accomplices or backers.

In addition, when investigating Richard Gere, they obtained a lot of negative information about Richard Gere from a private detective, such as cheating before marriage, looking for prostitutes after being discharged from the hospital, taking drugs in a wheelchair, and making racist remarks.

This information is enough to bankrupt Richard Gere's reputation.

Jon Gordon asked on the phone how he would handle it?

Link thought about it and decided not to move on Brother Harvey's side for the time being.

The Harvey brothers have deep connections in Hollywood. Punishing them with this kind of thing will not be effective. It would be better to squeeze Miramax Films' living space in the film industry and force the Harvey brothers to go bankrupt sooner.

Richard Gere can be more direct and use the negative information to force him to admit his mistake and apologize publicly. If he apologizes, let him go. If he doesn't apologize, make the information public.

Jon Gordon said he understood and would do it immediately.

After hanging up the phone, Link continued filming.

——

Richard Gere publicly apologized to Link in an interview with CBS on Thursday.

He claimed that the reason for his divorce from Cindy Crawford was that he cheated on her during their marriage, and that their relationship had broken down long before the incident. It was not Cindy Crawford's fault, and it had nothing to do with Link.

On the contrary, after he had the accident, Cindy Crawford helped him contact the best hospitals and doctors, and took the trouble to take care of him in the hospital for a year, only filing for divorce again after he recovered and was discharged from the hospital.

Cindy Crawford was a good woman and a good wife, and missing her was the biggest loss in his life.

Richard Gere apologized to the camera to Link and Cindy Crawford.

A CBS reporter asked him why he had publicly accused Link of interfering in his marriage?

Richard Gere said that he was jealous of Link. When he saw the rumor about Link and Cindy Crawford vacationing in France, he was so jealous that he lost his mind and made those irrational remarks. He apologized to Link again.

"Wow, so that's how it is. I said Link wasn't that kind of guy. Otherwise, why wouldn't he seduce such a beautiful wife of mine?"

Tim Robbins smiled, his arm around Ms. Susan Sarandon’s shoulders.

Susan Sarandon rolled her eyes at him and punched him, knocking him off the sofa.

"Shit! How can this loser say that?"

Harvey Weinstein saw Richard Gere apologize sincerely on TV and couldn't help but burst into curse words.

Last time he spent $200,000 to persuade Richard Gere to come out and tearfully accuse Link of stealing his wife.

The interview was very successful and brought Link a lot of criticism, so that Link was unable to do anything even if he wanted to spend money to clarify the matter.

As long as Richard Gere refuses to give in, Link will always be labeled as a seducer of married women.

But now Richard Gere suddenly changed his mind and admitted his mistake, saying that Link was innocent and Cindy Crawford was a good woman.

This also made all his previous efforts go to waste.

Harvey glared at the people on TV with hatred, his face full of ferocity.

“This is not normal.”

Bob said, "Richard Gere's injury and disability were related to Link. He hated Link very much and wanted to kill him. Why did he apologize to Link this time? Is he controlled by Link?"

Harvey narrowed his eyes. "After he became paralyzed, no one wanted him to act in movies, and his income shrank drastically. Now, as long as you pay him, he will do anything. That bastard Link is not short of money, so it is very likely that he bribed him."

Ding-a-ling!

The phone on the desk rang.

Harvey picked up the phone and it was a call from Richard Gere's agent Paul.

Last time he persuaded Richard Gere to come forward and accuse Link through Paul, who acted as the middleman in this matter.

Paul told him on the phone that Link had some dirty information on Richard Gere, which was enough to ruin Richard Gere's reputation, so Richard Gere had to change his words.

Harvey was just about to make a sarcastic remark, asking why a disabled person needed a good reputation, when he heard Paul say that Link's people had checked Richard Gere's account and might have discovered their transactions.

Paul advises Harvey to be careful because Link might find out about him.

Harvey cursed "shit" and put down the phone with a gloomy face.

"What's wrong?"

Bob asked.

Harvey explained the situation simply.

"Ah? What should we do? Will Link retaliate against us? Ovitz said that Link is very petty and will never let go of anything. What should we do if he retaliates against us?"

"Calm down!"

Harvey glared at him. "We use middlemen to do things. Link may not be able to find out about us. Even if he does, we can blame it on Ovitz, Langmeyer, and Barry Diller, saying that they instructed us to do so. Let Link know the strength of our Jewish gang. Even if he knows this, he won't be able to do anything to us."

When Bob heard this, his eyes lit up and he looked at Harvey with some admiration.

"Is this the countermeasure you thought of in advance?"

"Of course! I'm strategic in what I do and I never fight a battle I'm not prepared for."

Harvey snorted, picked up the unsmoked cigar from the ashtray and put it in his mouth, staring coldly at the TV screen.

After CBS TV broadcast the news that "Richard Gere apologized to Link", it instantly attracted the attention of the North American public.

The next day, many mainstream media followed up with reports about the feud between Link and Richard Gere, as well as the "black material storm" that Link had encountered in the past few weeks.

Since this news involved several big stars and the story had a twist, it made the front pages of many media outlets in less than a day.

Many movie fans have condemned Richard Gere's behavior, accusing him of wrongly accusing a good person and making Link bear the infamy and suffer undeserved injustice.

The Hollywood Reporter believes that not only Richard Gere needs to apologize, but the media that reported negative news about Link some time ago should also apologize, restore Link's reputation as soon as possible, and compensate Link for his economic losses.

ABC News Channel was the first to apologize, admitting that it failed to maintain the principle of objectivity and neutrality in its reporting, which had a negative impact on the person involved, Link. It apologized to Link and promised to punish the staff involved.

Many tabloids also issued written apologies.

Thanks to the efforts of the public relations department of Guess the Movies, many mainstream media reprinted and reported the apology news, expanding the influence of the related news.

The reputations of Link, Cindy Crawford, Nicole Kidman and other parties involved are also recovering rapidly.

To thank him, Cindy Crawford stayed on the set for three days and let him do whatever he wanted. She now gave him everything she had refused to let Richard Gere enjoy in the past.

Nicole Kidman also wanted to visit the crew and become his real woman, but the Academy Awards were about to be held and Link had to go back to attend the awards ceremony, so he postponed their date until after the Oscars.

"Link, I want to apologize to you, too."

Nicolas Cage said while eating a sandwich while the crew was having lunch.

"What are you apologizing for?"

Link asked, flipping through the newspaper.

Nicolas Cage laughed and said, "When the media first broke the negative news, I thought it was true. I even joked about it at the poker table and talked about your scandal with Cindy and Nicole. Now I think I was wrong. I shouldn't have doubted your character."

"Okay, I accept your apology."

Link shook his head.

Because he has so many scandals, when the media broke the news about his good wife in February, not only Cage misunderstood it, but also Quentin, Sam, Ben Affleck and others all misunderstood it.

During that period, the media was full of negative news about him, calling him a playboy, playing with women's feelings, destroying other people's families, etc. There were many voices against him, and they were very powerful.

Even the joint public relations efforts of Guess Pictures and WMA Agency were ineffective.

In the end, Link could only turn a deaf ear and allow others to criticize him.

Now that Richard Gere has apologized, he has finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel and his innocence has been vindicated.

"What a pity. Now that the second round of Oscar voting has ended, if he had apologized earlier, you would still have a chance to win some votes from the judges." Cage sighed.

"It doesn't matter. I'm still young and in the stage of striving. I'm not in a hurry to win an Oscar so early."

Link said nonchalantly.

He himself has five nominations for this year's Oscars, including Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay for "The Sixth Sense", and Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay for "The Butterfly Effect".

Since he is still young, the probability of the 'old white male' judges at the Oscars giving him the Best Director award is extremely small.

In addition, at last year's Oscars, he won the "Best Editing" award for "Se7en", so the chances of him winning it again this time are not high.

Finally, only the 'Best Original Screenplay' award was left. If there hadn't been the previous negative news, he would have had a greater chance of winning this award.

The chances are slim now.

After dinner, Link continued filming on the Alcatraz set.

This was the first time I shot a popcorn movie with such a grand scale. There were many things I needed to learn and summarize, so the filming process was relatively slow.

After a month of shooting, the progress is less than 40%, and it is expected to be completed by the end of April.

During the filming, Monica Bellucci, Jodie Foster, Sandra Bullock, Gong Li, Maggie Cheung, Vivian Chow, Michelle Reis and others took turns visiting the set. With Yu Feihong by his side, his time on the crew was busy and hard, but also very fulfilling.

By late March, the Academy Awards were approaching, and Link and Nicolas Cage took a break from work and returned to Los Angeles to attend the ceremony.

(End of this chapter)