Chapter 430 Two Kates, the new movie heroine candidate (5K)
"They are going too far. How could they target you because of this?"
In the palatial villa on Kensington Palace Gardens, Catherine Zeta-Jones angrily threw down the newspaper and stepped on it a few times with her bare feet. Her plump chest kept heaving, and she seemed even more angry than Link.
"It doesn't matter. If you don't get it this time, you can get it next time."
Link patted her back comfortingly.
In many countries, the entertainment industry and politics are twins. The existence of the entertainment industry serves politics, using entertainment products to kill people's time and divert their attention. Sometimes they can also be used to resolve the negative emotions of people from all walks of life.
This is part of politics.
At the same time, advanced political systems, stable security environment and prosperous economic situation will also promote the vigorous development of the entertainment industry.
The two complement each other.
He has offended many British people because of Diana. If the British Film Academy does not make a statement at this time and give all the awards to him, the British people will definitely be dissatisfied.
Between the two options of Link's dissatisfaction and public dissatisfaction, the film academy judges naturally paid more attention to the latter.
Link understood the reason, so he didn't get angry.
"Are you really not angry? I saw you frowned."
Catherine Zeta-Jones pointed to the center of his eyebrows, ready to smooth them out with her fingers.
"No, I'm thinking about something else."
Link held the girl in his arms and told her not to move, and continued reading the newspaper in his hand.
After returning from the East last week, Vice President of Public Relations Remi Scola reported a situation:
After the Academy Awards nominations were announced, public relations departments of Miramax, Universal Pictures, Fox Film Corporation and other studios suddenly stepped up their efforts to win awards, frequently inviting Oscar Academy judges to participate in events and canvassing votes for their films.
In addition, in terms of publicity, after February, the exposure of several films nominated for the Academy Awards in the same period increased, and the number of positive reviews also increased exponentially, including "Fargo", "Secrets and Lies", "Shining", "The Sex Book", etc.
Originally, the media believed that "The English Patient" would sweep all major awards at the Academy Awards in March and win at least ten golden statues, but now the public opinion has changed, and the momentum of movies such as "Fargo" and "The Book of Sex" is comparable to that of "The English Patient".
Even in British newspapers, there were many positive reviews for these films.
Remi Scola suspected that Miramax, Universal Pictures and others were planning a sneak attack, and initially showed a resigned attitude, saying that he would not compete with "The English Patient" for the award.
In the second half of the second round of selection, several companies suddenly stepped up their public relations efforts, catching Guess What Pictures off guard.
Guess what, after learning about the situation, the public relations department can only add funds for public relations.
It’s just that the second round of voting ended yesterday, and the public relations department was a little slow to act, which also led to major changes in the Oscars in March.
"Are you feeling good, dear?"
When he was reading the newspaper, the girl in his arms was not well behaved. At first, she only moved her hands on his chest to massage him.
Later, the range of activities became larger and larger, the girl's cheeks became redder, and her eyes became more charming.
Link smiled softly and lifted her chin with the newspaper, "Are you sure you want to do this? You won't be able to ask for mercy if you get into trouble later."
Catherine paused in her movements, and her long calves subconsciously straightened like a frightened bird.
The girl noticed the teasing in his eyes and patted his chest in annoyance. "You always bully me. Every time Kate and I are together, you bully me more severely. Is it because I am easy to bully?"
"Yes, because you have longer legs, a fuller figure, and a more attractive face."
Link pinched her cheek.
"That's more like it."
Catherine leaned into his arms, a satisfied smile on her lips.
After dating Link for more than two years, she has indeed changed a lot. Her originally skinny figure and measurements have gradually become plump and round under Link's inspiration. Her skin color has become fair and translucent, and her facial features have become more beautiful.
Combined with her original British ladylike temperament, she looks even more beautiful.
Now many media call her the 'English Rose'.
However, some media called Kate Beckinsale the 'English Rose', saying that Kate has intelligence and elegance that she does not possess.
This also led to frequent secret competition between her and Kate.
The battlefield where they compete is Link.
From now on, she is clearly superior.
Ding Dong~Ding Dong~
The doorbell rang twice, and the servant came to open the door. Kate Beckinsale walked in wearing a white dress. She had fair and delicate cheeks, long curly chestnut hair, and was holding a classic LV perfume bag in her hand. She looked bright and charming.
She was so beautiful. With her arrival, the living room seemed brighter and the air was filled with a faint floral scent.
Following behind her was an acquaintance, Kate Winslet, who was also wearing a dress and red mid-heel shoes, but her figure was plump and fleshy, forming a clear contrast in temperament with the slim Kate Beckinsale.
"Hey, Link, are you surprised to see me?"
Kate Winslet greeted with a big smile.
"What a surprise! Kate, welcome!"
Link smiled softly and gave a polite hug.
Kate Winslet began to complain about him, saying that he had promised to visit "Titanic" last year, but he did not show up until the film was completed. Kate expressed her disappointment.
Link explained that he was too busy with work last year and had no time to visit the set.
Kate Winslet didn't ask him to explain, and she brought up the matter just to tease him.
"Kate, welcome, would you like to see our rooms and gardens?"
Catherine Zeta-Jones played hostess and extended an invitation to Kate Winslet.
"Yes, I'd love to."
Winslet put down her bag and said she would go to visit the room first and talk to him about the movie later.
"Why is she so excited?"
Kate Beckinsale said, pointing at Katherine's back.
"It's rare for people to come to our house as visitors, but Kate came and she was very happy."
"Really? I thought she won the lottery."
Kate Beckinsale shrugged and pointed at his lower body, "The zipper is unzipped."
Link lowered his head and saw that it was indeed Catherine's doing.
Kate chuckled and walked over to help him pull it up.
Link took the opportunity to put his arm around the girl's waist and kissed her.
At noon, before Kate Winslet left, Diana's two children came to visit with the housekeeper. He also came to give gifts to the children on behalf of Diana. The two children came over to express their gratitude politely.
Link accompanied Daena and the two children to meet him once, and impressed them with his great strength and superb equestrian skills at the club.
In addition to the gifts he brought many times, the two children had a good impression of him.
After the children arrived, Link chatted with them and asked about their studies and life.
The eldest had a serious expression and answered meticulously; the second was a little jumpy. After sitting for a while, he ran to the garden to play and asked Link to teach him how to swim.
Due to their special status, Link cannot take them out for a stroll. They can only stay indoors and play board games.
After lunch in the afternoon, the two children followed the housekeeper away. The younger one was a little reluctant to leave. Link told them that he would take them to Hawaii for vacation during the summer vacation, and the two children were obviously happy.
"Link, you will definitely be a good father in the future."
Kate Winslet walked up behind Link as he dropped off the two children.
"Yeah, I hope I am."
Link doesn't have much confidence in being a good father.
First, he was too busy with work. He made two or three movies every year and also had to manage the company, so he didn't have much time to spend with his children at home.
Second, after Liu Xiaoli and her children gave birth, there were too many children in the family, and even if he had fatherly love, it would not be enough.
"You will certainly be."
Winslet looked up at him with sparkling eyes. "You are very gentle and patient with children. You can also give them the sense of security they need most. They will definitely like you."
Link smiled softly and turned to the living room, "Have you been busy with work lately?"
"Not busy! Filming Titanic was very tiring. I haven't felt any better after taking a break for half a year. I plan to take a break for a few more months."
Winslet stretched, revealing her curvy figure in front of him.
"It's good. I have nothing to do and I will take some time to rest after I finish working on the new movie I'm working on."
"The rest you're talking about is a two-day weekend break, right?"
Winslet smiled and blinked, "I've read reports about you, and I've talked about you with Leonardo, Kate and the others. You make three movies every year, manage several companies, and are busy from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. You hardly have time to rest in the 365 days of the year. If Forbes magazine selects the most hardworking billionaire, you will definitely be number one."
"It's fake. If it were true, I wouldn't have the time to stand here and chat with you." Link smiled while drinking his coffee.
Winslet smiled slightly and blinked her long eyelashes. "You really don't look as busy as the newspapers say. You're in very good spirits too. You don't look like someone who's overworked at all. How do you do it? You make three movies a year, manage several big companies, and have dozens of girlfriends. If you leave these things to others, they'll probably be too busy. How do you stay like this? Do you have a secret?"
"Don't stay up late, keep a normal schedule, and exercise more when you have time."
"Just that?"
Winslet snorted lightly, with an expression of disbelief on her face, "You don't have to tell me, I can go find Kate. After Kate became your girlfriend, her skin became much better, and even her breasts and buttocks became bigger. You also taught her the method, right?"
"Yes, it would be easier to let Kate tell you."
Link laughed.
Winslet curled her lips, looked up at the upstairs, leaned over and asked in a low voice, "How long have you been dating Kate?"
"Almost a year."
"So long? How did you get Kate? I've known her for four or five years. She used to be very proud. She wouldn't even look at boys who confessed their love to her. Boys privately called her the arrogant white swan. And you, I didn't hear any news and Kate became your girlfriend, or one of your girlfriends. This is incredible. How did you do it?"
Winslet blinked curiously.
"Of course it's because I'm so charming."
Link smiled and heard footsteps on the spiral staircase as he spoke. Kate Beckinsale came down in a casual long dress, holding a crystal vase in her arms. There were three white tulips in the vase, which matched her fair and delicate cheeks. The flowers made her even more beautiful.
Winslet whispered to him, "Tell me later," and then sat on the sofa opposite him, brushing her skirt and behaving like a lady.
"Link, put the vase downstairs. We're going back to Los Angeles tomorrow. It would be a shame if it were left in the bedroom and it would slowly wither."
Kate Beckinsale said, holding a vase.
"Won't it wither if you leave it downstairs? You are such a busybody."
Catherine Zeta-Jones also came down from upstairs.
"There are servants looking after the downstairs, so it won't wither away so quickly."
"The servants will take care of it if you put it in the bedroom, but it will mess up the layout of the living room if you put it in the living room."
"alright!"
Hearing the two people arguing, Link stood up, hugged them, and told them to sit down and stop fighting over a vase.
The two women snorted and sat down on either side of Link without even glancing at each other.
Winslet covered her mouth and laughed with glee.
——
After attending the awards ceremony, Link returned to Los Angeles with his girlfriends and began working on his new movie.
He currently has five film projects in hand, including "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "American Beauty" from Guess Films, "007" from MGM, "Armageddon" from Disney, and "The Truman Show" from Paramount.
Because MGM was in a hurry, they wanted him to shoot "007" earlier, preferably before June, and release it at the end of the year.
In the past two years, MGM Studios' performance has been very poor, with its fiscal deficit surging to $3.5 billion, and MGM's healthy assets are less than $3 billion. It is lingering on the brink of bankruptcy. They hope that "007" directed by Link can save MGM.
Link agreed and began to make a storyboard based on the script provided by MGM.
Originally, MGM planned to use the background of Hong Kong's return to China to write the script.
Link immediately refused to direct and did not recommend them to do so. The topic of Hong Kong's return was a very sensitive one, and using this special event to make a fuss would only backfire.
MGM accepted his suggestion and arranged for the screenwriter to rewrite the "007" script based on the outline he gave.
It took more than a month to finalize the script.
The tentative name of this film is "Tomorrow Never Dies". It tells the story of a British warship that was sunk in the Pacific Ocean due to an unknown torpedo attack. The British military was ready to use force to fight back, but was stopped by Mrs. M, the head of secret intelligence.
Mrs. M sends Agent 007 James Bond to Asia to find out the truth and prevent war from breaking out.
During the investigation, James Bond discovered that all this was a conspiracy by media tycoon Carver, who wanted to gain a monopoly on the global media by triggering a war.
Later, James Bond teamed up with female agent Lin Hui to destroy Carver's conspiracy and successfully eliminate the shadow of war.
The new script portrays a certain Asian country in a relatively positive light, which is one of the reasons why Link was willing to direct it.
The budget of this movie was 110 million US dollars. MGM offered him a base salary of 10 million and 15% of the global box office, which is considered to be one of the more generous among the seven major film studios.
"Boss, do you have any suitable candidate to recommend for the heroine Lin Hui?"
Daniel DeVito knew that Link also had many actress friends in China, so when casting, he needed to ask Link's opinion.
Lin Ke thought for a while with the pen in hand. The heroine Lin Hui was set to be a highly skilled female agent who would have many action scenes in the film. In addition, she had to be over 30 years old to match the 44-year-old male lead Pierce Brosnan.
According to these two requirements, the women around him are not suitable. Gong Li and Maggie Cheung are not good at action scenes, so it is not appropriate to let them fight in the film. The others are either too young or not good at action scenes, so they are not suitable either.
Link thought about it and decided to ask Gong Li and other girlfriends if anyone wanted to take on the challenge. If no one was around, he would look for anyone else.
"Choose other characters first, and leave Lin Hui's role to me."
"good!"
Daniel nodded and reported to him about the movie releases in January and February.
In January and February, Guess Pictures released three films, including "Smoke" directed by Wang Ying, the French film "Little Lone Star", and "Boogie Nights" directed by Thomas Anderson, all of which are niche films with a strong literary and artistic style.
"Smoke" has been released for eight weeks and its current North American box office has accumulated 5.175 million US dollars. The film's attendance performance is average and it has not been discussed much in the media, but its reputation is good. It is a qualified art film.
"Little Lone Star" has grossed $1.26 million in six weeks and has now earned back its costs.
However, the little heroine of "Little Lone Star" Victor El Kivisol received rave reviews after the movie was released. Because of her young age, cute looks, and spiritual acting skills, she and the little hero of "The Sixth Sense" Haley Joel Osment are known as the "twin stars" in the entertainment industry.
The third installment, Boogie Nights, was released in early February.
This movie is an R-rated movie that tells the story of Dick Big Bird being discovered and trained by an adult film director to become an adult film star actor in the 1970s.
But after entering the 1980s, the situation of adult films became chaotic, and industry practitioners changed their careers one after another. Big Bird also encountered many difficulties and became addicted to drugs. Later, he and the director switched to shooting videotapes and regained the opportunity for development.
The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Don Cheadle and others.
In January, it won the Special Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival and the Audience Award in the Drama Category at the Sundance Independent Film Festival.
Good reputation.
After three weeks of release, the film has grossed $18.35 million so far. The film cost $15 million to produce and based on current box office data, the company can make millions of dollars.
As a niche art film that can help the company recoup its costs, it shows that the film is pretty good.
In addition, several movies released at the end of last year are still continuing to make a name for themselves.
"The English Patient" has been released in North America for nine weeks, with a cumulative box office of 182 million US dollars. The North American box office is expected to be around 220 million. If the film wins the Oscars, the box office is expected to be higher.
In its 15th week of release, "Toy Story" grossed $191 million in North America. The box office growth has slowed down, and the box office is expected to be over $200 million.
"Net" has been released for more than half a year, and its current North American box office is 184 million U.S. dollars. The growth rate of the North American box office has dropped to tens of thousands of dollars, and the box office is expected to be around 200 million.
The remaining films such as "Dangerous Game", "Hachiko: A Dog's Story" and "A Man Walking" were affected by the awards season and also had significant box office growth.
Guess What Pictures had a good start this year, with no obvious loss-making movies like last year.
This situation makes the staff very happy, as they can get double bonus at the end of the year.
The top executives of the seven major film studios are full of worries.
Guess What: Last year, although it had a bad start, several movies released in the second half of the year exploded at the box office, and it came from behind to take first place in the annual total box office.
Guess what, will the film industry have a smooth start this year, and will the second half of the year be even smoother, or will it suffer a box office failure and suffer losses one after another?
Many people expect the latter, and those who know about the "poison pill plan", such as Ovitz and Harvey, are more convinced that it is the latter.
(End of this chapter)
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