Hollywood Director 1992

"Richard, calm down, this is too risky."

His wife, Cindy Crawford, advised.

"Don't worry about it, we have a 100% chance of winning this bet."

Richard Gere waved his hand, completely ignoring his wife's advice.

Dustin Hoffman nodded, "The odds of winning are very high. I'll bet 3 million dollars. We can also find some other people to bet. With more people, not to mention 10 million, we can come up with 100 million dollars. When there are more people betting, I'm afraid Link won't admit defeat."

"We can get the betting company involved and give them a certain percentage. They will definitely be happy to be the arbitrator."

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Richard Gere said with a smile.

"I'm in too, I'll bet 2 million."

Robert Downey Jr. said, clenching his fist.

Kiefer Sutherland thought for a while and also agreed to bet 2 million.

Counting Tom Cruise, David Duchovny and others' bets.

The total bet amount was as high as 21 million US dollars.

Far exceeding the expected 10 million.

As he was about to contact Link to make the bet, CAA Vice President Ron Meyer called Richard Gere. Some senior executives of the company were also interested in this bet and were prepared to bet 30 million US dollars against Link, asking Robert Downey Jr. to come forward and discuss the bet with Link.

Robert Downey Jr. and others became very excited when they heard that senior executives at CAA were also going to bet.

In CAA, only a few people like Michael Ovitz and Ron Meyer can come up with tens of millions of dollars to bet.

If even these big shots think that 'The Firm' can surpass Link's new movie at the box office, it means that the odds of winning this bet are extremely high.

Robert Downey Jr. gritted his teeth and used his real estate as collateral, and then borrowed another 3 million from the bank, for a total of 5 million US dollars to participate in this bet.

Robert Downey Sr. heard that he was borrowing money to bet and called to persuade him not to take risks. 'The Firm' does not have that much box office potential. As the screenwriter of the film, he knows the true level of the film better than anyone.

Robert Downey Jr. ignored him and continued to pull people in to bet. When the three-day deadline was approaching, he called Link in front of Richard Gere and others.

"Bet 55 million US dollars?"

In the office, Link was surprised to receive a call from Robert Downey Jr. He had expected Robert Downey Jr. to participate in the bet, but he didn't expect him to bet so much.

Based on Robert Downey Jr.'s salary estimate, his total net worth should not exceed 10 million. This time he dared to bet more than 50 million, which means that many people are also participating in the bet behind him.

"55 million US dollars, Robert, are you sure?"

"Stop talking nonsense, just tell me if you dare to bet, admit defeat early if you don't dare."

Robert Downey Jr. sneered disdainfully.

Link was thinking.

Robert Downey Jr. and others proposed using Tom Cruise's new movie 'The Firm' to bet.

He didn't know how much the box office of this movie would be, but compared to Tom Cruise's other movies such as 'Top Gun', 'Rain Man', 'Interview with the Vampire', 'Jerry Maguire', 'Mission: Impossible series', etc., the film had much less influence and was not even one of Tom Cruise's representative works.

This shows that the quality of 'The Firm' is average, and the box office results will not be too high.

If there are no unexpected circumstances, the odds of winning this gamble are very high.

Link did not immediately answer Robert Downey Jr.'s words, saying that he needed to consider it before replying.

He called Sean Dunn, the head of the legal department, to ask whether this form of gambling was legal, how to ensure the safety of funds, how to ensure that the opponent would not renege if he won, and how to minimize taxes.

Sean Dunn suggested finding a bank or a betting company to act as a third party. Before the bet, both parties would inject funds into a bank public account and sign a betting agreement. The winning party would own all the funds in the account.

This type of gambling is very common in the financial world, and banks have also arbitrated many such agreements, with relatively guaranteed credibility.

It is also possible to hand it over to a betting company, but the betting company's commission is relatively high.

In terms of reducing taxes, the account can be set up in a state with a lower tax rate, or an overseas tax haven island, so that you can earn more if you win the bet.

After seeking Sean Dunn's opinion, Link did not immediately call Robert Downey Jr. back to say that he would accept the bet.

The reason is that he is not very interested in gambling and does not need to make money in this way, so he is not very motivated.

But less than half an hour later, Robert Downey Jr. called again, asking if he dared not to bet, and if he didn't dare to bet, he would publicly admit defeat, and also told him that the betting amount had been increased to 65 million US dollars.

"65 million is nothing to me, I will naturally accompany you if you want to bet, but are you sure you can come up with 65 million US dollars?"

Link said.

"Stop talking nonsense. As long as you dare to bet, 65 million US dollars will arrive within three days."

"Okay, I accept."

No mistakes, one first, one release, one content, one in, one look!

Link hung up the phone.

In the next few days, he continued to work on his new movie.

The new movie is 'Seven', a collaboration with New Line Cinema. After 'Final Destination', New Line President Robert Shaye approached him and suggested starting to prepare for this film project and strive to shoot it by the end of the year.

Considering that he had nothing to do for the next period of time, Link also agreed to start preparing for 'Seven'.

The movie 'Seven' tells the story of a series of murders in New York City. While investigating, veteran police officer Somerset and rookie police officer David Mills accidentally discover that several victims had committed the seven deadly sins of Catholic doctrine—'gluttony', 'greed', 'sloth', 'envy', 'pride', 'lust', and 'wrath'—before their deaths.

The murderer's methods are bloody and brutal, without a bottom line, and he likes to be mysterious.

Making the whole case more complicated, and finally even the novice police officer David Mills is caught in the case and becomes a member of the 'seven deadly sins'.

This movie is of a relatively high level and was nominated for the Academy Awards that year. The shooting is also relatively difficult, but after accumulating a lot of directing experience, Link is also confident in making this movie well.

While he was preparing for the new movie, Sean Dunn led a work team to negotiate with the legal team sent by CAA to discuss the specific content of the bet.

Since the overseas release cycle of movies is too long, some movies are still being released overseas more than ten years after their release.

CAA proposed to only use the North American box office results for the first 15 weeks to bet. The project 'The Firm' and 'Final Destination', the one with the higher North American box office results after 15 weeks of release wins.

Sean Dunn did not agree. The main creative team of 'The Firm' has more appeal in North America, but the box office appeal in foreign countries is very average, while Link's movies have appeal in the global film market.

Only comparing the North American box office is very disadvantageous to 'Final Destination'.

At the same time, Sean Dunn also put forward an opinion to put the betting account in Hong Kong Island, where the tax rate is lower.

CAA did not agree and requested that it be placed in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, which is a tax haven.

The two sides failed to reach an agreement on these two terms.

And 'The Firm' is about to be released.

For this reason, both parties took a step back. Guess Film agreed to only compare the North American box office results for the first 15 weeks, and CAA also agreed to put the betting account in Citibank of America in Hong Kong Island.

On the eve of the release of 'The Firm', representatives of both parties signed a betting agreement at the Citibank Building in Hong Kong Island.

Both parties used the North American box office of 'The Firm' and 'Final Destination' for the first 15 weeks as a bet, with each party contributing 72 million US dollars in betting funds.