With director Danny Boyle in place, the project has officially entered the preparatory stage. After passing the routine procedures, Warner Bros. also gave the green light to continue to participate in investment and serve as the film's distributor.
The Neverending studio was quickly established, with investment primarily coming from Sofia and Vincent's Beast House Entertainment, Gray Films, Pacific Pictures and Davis Film and Television Studios.
Disclosure cost $36 million.
Then on the third weekend of November, "Wanted" lost the top spot on the North American box office chart, and the new Harry Potter film took the top spot.
Martin also attended the premiere of the film and took a photo with JK Rowling, who has not yet been expelled from Kazakhstan.
As for the famous three white-eyed wolves, they are still little kids today.
This weekend, Wanted collected another US$14.55 million in North America, bringing the total North American box office to US$141 million.
It has also appeared in more countries and regions overseas, and the global box office has exceeded US$250 million.
Armed with this strong commercial power, Thomas conducted multiple rounds of negotiations with the Neverending crew on Martin's behalf to finalize Martin's salary.
Martin's salary was divided into two parts, and the crew paid an upfront salary of US$5 million.
Celebrities maintain a high quality of life and their expenses are quite high.
And Martin also needs a certain amount of funds to continue buying Apple's individual shares in the market.
In this regard, he plans to hold shares for the long term.
The remaining $3 million plus Martin's early investment in "Never End" is counted as a total investment of $6 million by Davis Studio, which is included in the production cost of "Never End" and enjoys the actual investment income rights.
In the office of Davis Studio, Martin carefully looked through the proposed contract, even including the insurance clauses and additional clauses.
The latter mainly refers to the various services provided to Martin by the crew during the filming. For example, Bruce has to serve as the crew's prop master, shoot in places other than California, and requires five-star luxury suites and business class air tickets, the types and levels of matching cars, etc. .
This time, a clause was added that the crew needs to bear the cost of two bodyguards.
Martin looked through the contract and asked Thomas: "I thought my salary would be $10 million."
Thomas knew that Martin would have such questions and was prepared for it. He explained: "If Wanted is like a movie where the male protagonist is responsible alone, I can help you get a salary of 10 million US dollars this time. But it's not."
Martin asked: "Because Julie and I supported this film?"
Thomas nodded: "Yes, Wanted is a movie for you and Julie. The appeal of the heroine is also key. The two of you supported this movie and shared the movie's dividends, unlike "The Mountain Has Eyes" , completely belongs to you alone.”
He simply gave an example: "When Will Smith was filming "Independence Day," he was paid $5 million. Even though the film was a huge success, when he later starred in "Men in Black," his salary was still $5 million because Independence Day was the biggest selling point. In terms of special effects, it’s still an ensemble cast, and the roles are heavily shared.”
Martin nodded, this is normal.
Thomas added: "'Men in Black' was also a huge success, but Smith's salary for his next film contract only increased by $2 million because Tommy Lee Jones was also a key actor in Men in Black."
Martin knew Will Smith to some extent and asked: "So, 'Public Enemy' was the key to Smith's soaring salary?"
"The previous films were also very important, allowing Will Smith to complete the initial accumulation." Thomas said: ""Public Enemy" really made Will Smith's salary exceed 10 million, and the box office of this film was far lower than that of Independence Day and Black Lives Matter. "The Man in the Clothes" was the film that Smith carried alone, while others like Johnny Voight, Gene Hackman, etc. were completely under Smith's wing."
Martin understands that single resistance and dual protagonists have completely different meanings.
No one can ignore Jolie's important role in the success of "Wanted."
Thomas added: "If the North American box office of "No Ending" once again exceeds 100 million, I can ask you for a minimum salary of 12 million U.S. dollars or even higher for your next commercial movie, and even involve post-production sharing."
This involves more complex calculations, such as the star actor's agreement with the film studio, the net profit share of the film, and the share after breaking even.
The latter is a contractual agreement between the two parties. For example, after a film's North American box office reaches US$200 million, the leading actor will enjoy a share of the subsequent box office or profits.
There are so many tricks to play with.
Fortunately, according to Martin's development model, he will definitely participate in movie projects starring him as one of the producers in the future.
The script of "Never Ending" is still being adapted, and the main roles have been basically determined. Eddie, played by Martin, is naturally the absolute protagonist, and the second-largest role is the heroine.
In addition, a veteran actor will play the role of a Wall Street boss.
Martin called Nicholson. Compared with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, who were known as the four major actors of his generation, the old bastard was more rigorous in selecting films. When he was not short of money, he didn't want to pay for millions. U.S. dollars, ruining the reputation of an actor who has been in business for decades.
Ordinary character actors can just post an announcement to recruit them. The most important thing in Los Angeles is actors.
As for the heroines, including Louise and Boyle, they all tend to choose famous female stars.
The biggest advantage is that female celebrities can easily hype up topics and promote marketing.
Newcomers can't compare to this.
The male protagonist played by Martin is older than his actual age.
As for the heroine, the most suitable one is in her thirties.
The character settings were basically confirmed, and recruitment announcements related to the crew were posted to the internal platforms of the Screen Actors Guild and WMA.
…………
Century City, the recently completed Death Star building.
Aniston's agent Steve was busy in the independent office when he suddenly received a call from a friend of WMA who wanted to switch to CAA.
"Man, didn't you ask me to pay attention to Martin Davis and his new project?" The person over there said quickly: "The company's internal platform just issued an announcement about the new project "Never Ending" starring Martin. Recruiting actors, including female leads, must be famous actresses.”
Steve remembered it and said, "Thank you for your call. I'll buy you coffee when you have time."
After hanging up the phone, he thought for a moment, dialed Aniston's number and explained the relevant situation in detail.
In a small villa in the Coty community, Aniston said into the phone: "I know, let me think about it."
After turning off the phone, Aniston turned her eyes to the coffee table in front of her. On it was a newspaper - "American Hearings", a typical gossip newspaper.
Normally, Aniston wouldn't care about the reports above.
But today is different.
Right on the front page, she and Jolie's image stood opposite each other, and the two of them were directly used as the title.
"Angelina Jolie beats Jennifer Aniston again!"
Earlier in the article, I compared the two movies "Wanted" and "Deviation" in which they were the heroines.
The numerical comparison is shocking: US$141 million and US$21.81 million.
The former belongs to Julie and the latter belongs to her.
The comparison outside the box office is even more egregious.
"In May, Aniston lost to Jolie in the marriage war. Now, Aniston is still losing miserably in the box-office war of their movies!"
"Can we draw the conclusion from this that Aniston is far inferior to Jolie in terms of personal charm, acting skills and appeal?"
Aniston has abundant capital and doesn't care much about short-term gains and losses, but she is extremely annoyed when people frequently compare her to Jolie.
It’s okay for Jolie to steal the limelight, but to show off her husband, Aniston can’t bear it more and more.
What means should be used to fight back?
Aniston had ideas before, so it was not difficult to make a decision. She just sat in silence for a few minutes before calling her agent back: "Steve, please submit my information to "Never Ending." The crew, tell them I intend to play the female lead."
Steve warned in advance: "The salary may not be high, after all, your latest movie did not do well at the box office."
Of course, Aniston would not do something stupid like working for free: "It will be no less than $5 million."
Steve said: "I'm going to Warner Studios now, to Pacific Pictures to meet Louise Meyer."
Aniston said directly: "Get this role as soon as possible."
Steve hung up the phone, immediately left CAA, rushed to Burbank, submitted Aniston's information to the Neverending crew, and met with producer Louise Meyer.
…………
Weinstein Pictures Los Angeles.
Brad Pitt, a new member of the Foot Gang, was specially invited to meet with Harvey Weinstein.
"I'm going to promote a project." Harvey actually takes good care of the actors who lean towards him, so he also has a large number of supporters in the circle: "The film is a biographical drama, and the male protagonist is very suitable for you."
When Brad Pitt heard this, he thought of Oscar. In the past ten years, he has been called the biggest promoter of Oscar.
He has not given up on Oscar yet and asked: "Whose biography is it specifically?"
Harvey took a large fairy tale book and handed it to Peter: "Have you read it? About it."
Peter discovered that the book in his hand was called "Peter Rabbit" and asked: "A biopic about Miss Potter? She is a woman."
When Harvey got this project, he had some ideas, especially combined with the publicity and hype of Martin and Jolie before the release of Wanted, which resulted in a bold idea.
"I said, you will be the leading actor." Harvey said.
Peter immediately asked: "Who are you going to find as the heroine?"
Harvey came up with an unexpected name: "What about Jennifer Aniston? She plays Miss Potter, you play the male lead, and you both star in the same movie."
In this case, public opinion will definitely explode!
Peter thought for a while: "I have no objection. Can you invite Jane?"
Harvey thought this plan was very promising: "We have to try it." He looked at Peter: "You can also help persuade me."
After being kicked by Jolie, Pitt realized how good Aniston was and nodded and said, "I'll give it a try."
(End of chapter)
