At the Four Seasons Hotel, Louise followed Martin into the suite. The floor was full of balled-up waste paper, and the walls were covered with scary and weird pictures, which made people feel uneasy.
The protagonists in some portraits are obviously not human, and they even have things like tentacles.
One of them seems to be Martin's self-portrait.
Martin's painting skills were very limited.
I cut out a poster of the leader of the Coca-Cola Cult, used the poster's avatar as the character's avatar, and drew a picture like a graffiti.
The body of the portrait is filled with smoke and chaos, making people dizzy and confused after looking at it.
"I don't have time to clean it up." Martin has devoted himself to studying the character for more than a month, and is used to speaking in a weird tone: "It's a little messy, but it looks very pleasing to my eyes."
Hearing this voice and looking at the surrounding images, Louise shuddered unconsciously, always feeling eerie.
He quickly came to the floor-to-ceiling window and opened the curtains.
The bright sunshine shone in, but it could not dispel the gloomy feeling in Louise's heart.
She turned to look at Martin and understood where this feeling came from. As long as this man was here, he was using his gloomy and crazy temperament to continuously affect the people around him.
Louise adjusted her black-rimmed glasses and reminded, "Be careful, don't get stuck too deep to get out."
Martin chuckled: "No, the disguise can be found at any time."
Louise didn't sound right: "What do you mean?"
Martin put it another way: "False pretenses can be discarded at any time."
Louise saw a thick notebook on the coffee table, with "Clown's Experience" written on the cover, and asked, "Can I read it?"
Martin didn't care: "Whatever."
Louise opened it and flipped through it, and found that it was full of Martin's recorded thoughts and experiences about the characters, as well as many crazy ideas, such as forming an army of beauties, going to Washington to attack the White House, and forcing the general to grow mushrooms on American soil. Let the flower of fire bloom across the North American continent.
She couldn't help laughing: "Your idea is really strange."
Martin patted the place next to him on the sofa and said: "I don't like reading comics, and I don't understand the clown in the comics. I try to figure out the characters more based on the scripts of the Nolan brothers, combined with my own characteristics, and many of my ideas come unconsciously. As soon as it came out, I wrote it down, maybe I can use it someday.”
After Louise sat down, she leaned on Martin and joked: "If you want to grow mushrooms for fun, you should become the commander first."
"I will definitely be able to make fun of this country!" Martin laughed: "There will definitely be many people coming to assassinate me."
Louise browsed the notebook and said, "I thought you were hiding in the hotel to play, but I didn't expect you were really making preparations."
Martin pinched Louise's chin: "What? You don't believe that I am a dedicated actor?" Before Louise could answer, he said: "How dare you not believe me, I must punish you!"
In the early days, Louise had a natural psychological advantage against Martin, but now, there are not many of these left.
"Wait a minute, I'll call someone over." Louise was not afraid of Martin, but felt that there was madness hidden in Martin's gloom today, and was worried that he would not be able to bear it alone: "Kelly is going to take the crew to Atlanta for filming, so come too. Los Angeles.”
Martin smiled evilly and said: "Call Kelly over quickly! Also, put your phone on speakerphone so she can listen on the road."
Louise turned on her phone, dialed Kelly's number, took off her black-rimmed glasses and replaced them with gold-rimmed glasses, and said, "You can think of me as Harley Quinn."
Just when the Joker was fighting Harley Quinn and Atlanta Catwoman, Thomas began difficult negotiations with the crew of "The Dark Knight."
Including insurance, food, clothing, housing, transportation and other aspects, the Hollywood crew has mature mechanisms, so it is not difficult to negotiate.
Martin's additional terms didn't require much. Bruce joined the crew as a firearms prop master, and the crew provided the full salary of the two bodyguards.
The main disagreement between the two parties is still over the salary.
The crew did not want to further increase the production budget and increase risks, so they proposed a model of basic remuneration plus net profit sharing.
Martin is not opposed to similar payment methods, but later splits require more guaranteed payments.
The next morning, after hearing what Martin said, Louise said: "Just like you can't trust the integrity of Hollywood stars, you shouldn't trust the integrity of Hollywood studios."
Kelly said: "North American box office net profit share?"
Martin Lengsensen said: "The North American box office is first divided with the theaters, and the remaining part is deducted by the distribution company at no less than 25% of the distribution fee, publicity expenses and management expenses, and then goes to the producers, who then After deducting various expenses, the net profit is the net profit. How much will be left by then?”
Kelly responded: "North American box office losses."
Martin asked Louise: "What do you think?"
At other times, Louise, as one of the investors, would definitely not sit on Martin's side.
But at this moment, Louise's butt was under the control of Martin, and he said naturally: "Nolan said that the role of the Joker must be yours."
She gasped for a while and then reminded: "Don't go too far. When it comes to DC superheroes, Warner executives sometimes have cramps in their heads."
Martin agreed, asking: "What are Warner's box office expectations?"
Louise was a traitor at this time: "Warner Brothers' most optimistic estimate is that the North American box office is US$300 million and the global box office is US$750 million. After all, the global box office of the first film was only US$370 million."
During the break, Martin called Thomas: "My bottom line is either a salary of 14 million U.S. dollars, or 5 million U.S. dollars plus a box office share above the benchmark point."
Now that Nolan has identified him, the negotiation will not collapse easily.
Martin already has four movies with over 100 million box office in North America as capital, and he is qualified to ask for such an asking price.
In addition to the salary, Thomas also needs to negotiate with the crew about the distribution of related film products after licensing his personal portrait, which also involves the copyright of Lily's statue.
A typical example of this is Johnny Depp. With the role of Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp has received tens of millions of dollars from just the portraits of figures and toys.
Of course, Martin has no need to think about Depp's 45% image rights share clause in the sequel to the Pirates series. It is simply impossible at this stage.
Martin had a vague impression. According to reports he had read in his previous life, Johnny Depp made a net profit of US$300 million through the Pirates series, a large part of which came from the royalties from portrait licensing.
This part of the negotiation is also difficult.
Lily's agent has also joined in. In addition to the normal salary, it is also a victory to get 1 percentage point more for Lily, a newcomer.
The casting negotiations have not yet been completed, and Nolan can't wait to meet with Martin privately to discuss the role.
When Martin walked into the coffee shop, he found Nolan sizing him up.
Nolan felt that every move Martin made was like the clown he set.
Then, he rejected the idea because the person opposite was the clown!
"Other than the paint on your face, you're the same as you were when you auditioned," Nolan said.
Martin had a weird smile and a strange tone: "There is still a difference, at least I don't have crazy ideas now."
Nolan knows that once some outstanding actors enter the state, they will maintain it all the time and talk about business immediately: "With this character, I not only want him to become a nightmare in Gotham, but also want him to bring nightmares to everyone."
Martin slapped the table and laughed: "I like it! I like it best and am also the best at doing whatever I want..."
"Whatever you want?" Nolan nodded: "Yes!"
Martin continued what he said: "Bad people always have reasons and motivations for doing bad things, but I don't have any. I have no purpose or motivation. I don't do it for money or power. I just like chaos and want to turn the world into a place of joy."
Nolan thought for a while and asked: "You have a unique insight into the character, which is great! How do you plan to perform the duel between the two heroes with Batman?"
Martin said: "Batman, who prides himself on justice, always uses violent methods on people. I am different. I will not be as vulgar and boring as Batman. I will reason with people, reason well, and give people the right to choose... …”
This is completely consistent with Nolan's thinking: "Batman maintains order through violent means, and the Joker promotes chaos through reasonable means!"
"Director, you are a genius." Martin invited: "One day, let's go to Buckingham Palace to set off fireworks together?"
Seeing the truly evil smile on Martin's face, Nolan's eyelids suddenly jumped up and he said: "When the film becomes a big hit, we can show it together in the square in front of Buckingham Palace."
Martin asked: "Can you invite an old lady to play with me? By the way, is there a 50-year-old crown prince in the world?"
Nolan ended the meeting decisively and said: "Go back and continue to prepare and make sure you are in good condition. The crew will leave for Atlanta to shoot soon."
Martin stood up unsteadily: "Goodbye, director."
Nolan was a little worried. Is Martin Davis too involved in the drama?
He then thought about it, this was a good thing, he looked like a real-life clown!
As for the actor's mental problems, they are not as important as his works.
Martin's entry into the cast is a sure thing.
Soon, Thomas negotiated Martin's salary with the crew.
When you have enough star status and the previous works performed well enough, you will naturally have the confidence to negotiate with the new crew.
This salary is composed of a base salary of US$5 million, plus a stepped share of the North American box office.
The base share line is US$250 million.
In the future, as long as the North American box office of the film reaches US$250 million, Martin will receive a basic share of 2%.
Starting from US$250 million, if the box office increases by US$50 million, Martin will automatically receive 1% of the increase. For an increase of US$100 million, the proportion increases to 2%, and for US$150 million, 3%...
By analogy, the maximum cap shall not exceed 6%.
The risk is shared with the crew, and the better the film's commercial performance, the higher the starring actor's income.
In addition, Thomas also negotiated a share of offline DVD, which is the same as Christian Bale's, 2% of North American DVD profits.
Hollywood film remuneration and box office sharing are too complicated. They also involve project establishment bonuses, distribution bonuses, net profit sharing, gross profit sharing, etc. The simplest one I wrote has this meaning.
(End of chapter)
