Birth of an actor

Oprah: "In the footage that just came out, you smashed a computer in the glass window. That's an Apple Macintosh, right?"

William: "Yeah, Finch's idea. We actually smashed a Volkswagen Beetle, and he hated that car."

Oprah: "Everyone knows that you are a shareholder of Apple, Will, and you seem to have quite a lot of personal shares. Didn't you think about saying 'no' when filming this scene? Don't worry about repercussions for Apple. What ill effects?"

William: "I didn't think so much during the shooting, and then the film was edited. After I watched the whole film, I called Steve Jobs, but he told me not to worry very easily. I remember Steve's original words were It's like, 'Apple is used to playing the villain in movies that bring down capitalism, and that's not a bad thing, at least it means we're rich, and it's better than the other way around.'"

Oprah laughed: "So did the movie affect Apple's stock price after it was released?"

"It didn't fall, but it went up a bit." Facing Oprah and William's eyes, Pete continued, "I also made some investments in the stock market. After all, the prospect of technology stocks is very good now."

Oprah: "According to the information we have so far, "Fight Club" is really a well-made and well-made movie, but the box office of the movie does not seem to be as expected—"

Pete: "The first day box office was not bad, but after the opening weekend... it can only be said to be disappointing."

William: "I remember getting a call from Finch on the fourth day, when he was on vacation in Bali, asking me if I knew the box office figures—"

Pete: "He called you too? Did he ask a question?"

William: "Yes, that's right."

Oprah: "What question did David Fincher ask you?"

William looks at Pete: "He asked me 'Do you regret doing 'Fight Club'?'"

Pete looked at William and nodded: "I said, this is what I took—"

William: "—best movie ever."

The two looked at each other and smiled, raised their right hands and clapped their hands. The eyes that seemed to be overflowing with lightning, and the arc of the corners of the mouth caused screams from the audience. Oprah showed a "here it is again" expression, The kind that resisted not rolling his eyes.

Oprah looked at William: "And this movie got you the Best Actor in Venice."

The studio hall was once again filled with screams and applause, but this time there were more applause than screams,

When Brad Pitt's call came in, William was hiding from the media at his mother's house in Santa Monica, while watching reruns of the "Oprah" show he and Pitt were on.Originally, he was the focus of the Hollywood reporters. Recently, the cooperation with George Lucas on "Star Wars Episode 2" collapsed. There are more than ten or twenty paparazzi lurking near William Beverly's villa. They all want to dig out as much insider information as possible from him, even if they can't find out, take a few haggard photos and go back and write a script with ups and downs. William is well aware of the pissing nature of Hollywood paparazzi , simply don't show up near Beverly Hills.

"Star Wars Prequel 2" obviously couldn't reach an agreement because of the script, but maybe because the topic of "Fight Club" is too high recently, many media insisted on pulling the two things together, calling it "Fight Club" "There are so many controversial and violent scenes that George Lucas gave up William Bradley... Lucas gave up William?In fact, if Lucas hadn't insisted on not modifying the script at all, what the media is now reporting is probably that William Bradley will become the new Anakin Skywalker.

Every generation has its own childhood memories. For young Americans of William's age, "Star Wars" is one of the most important influences in their growth, because the original trilogy series has become a sci-fi fan I don’t know how many people even change their future work direction. When news of the preparations for “Star Wars Prequel” first came out, the hearts of almost every Hollywood actor trembled. Everyone wanted to be the next Luke · Skywalker, the next Princess Leia and the next Han Solo.

However, the times have been developing, and so has Hollywood. Although "Star Wars Prequel" has taken a billion dollars in box office worldwide since its release in May this year, it has become the second highest box office in film history, second only to "Titanic", but In terms of word-of-mouth, it has not surpassed the main story trilogy, and is even far inferior. Professional film critics and Star Wars fans generally reflect that the film has excellent special effects and a grand layout, but the script is not as refined as the main story, and the lines are classic. I can't afford to scrutinize, those meaningless walking conversations are too much.

But because the protagonist of the prequel series is the most popular Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker) in the main story trilogy, and the protagonist of the first part of the prequel is the underage Anakin, so although the first part The poor reputation has greatly lowered fans' expectations for the second part, but if the second part can be played by an actor who plays the adult Anakin as classic as Harrison Ford's Han Solo, George Lucas is still There is a great chance of a comeback.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the script of the second part of the Star Wars prequel is better than the first one.

But this is the only point that Lucasfilm, which owns all the copyrights of the Star Wars series, can't do it, because George Lucas, the director and screenwriter, is determined not to change the script. Take full control.

William was looking forward to it when he first received the invitation from Lucas. At the same time, Natalie Portman also called and said that he hoped to cooperate with William again—Natalie is the heroine of the prequel series. Her Queen Amirada is the most acclaimed character in the prequels, and will fall in love with Anakin Skywalker in the future, giving birth to him Luke and Leia, the protagonists of the main trilogy We—maybe George Lucas invited William because of the fact that William and Natalie have become the most suitable and popular big-screen couple among young Hollywood actors in the hearts of Americans. Before reading the script, William was still full of longing and excitement. Yes, to be honest, which young people of his generation have not been affected by Star Wars?There were very few people who didn't like it, and there were a lot of fans who didn't like it. However, after reading the script, William's enthusiasm faded away.

Because to be honest, George Lucas may have paid too much attention to continuing to build the grand universe of Star Wars in the prequels, while ignoring the shaping of "people". Most of the important plot transitions and lines are very blunt. In the movie, William did not see the talented and ambitious young Darth Vader he imagined, but only saw a very talented but very second-year adolescent boy, and his love words were naive and naive, as if from a third-rate emotional drama After learning, William originally thought that most of the love lines in Melissa Rosenberg's "Blood Together" were sour enough, until he saw "Star Wars: Clones" Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala in War.

It's not so much that William can't stand such a line, it's better to say that this is not the image of Anakin Skywalker he expected at all. When Lucas asked William what he thought of the script, William told the truth, and Lucas told himself He was very proud of the script and couldn't listen to William's suggestion at all. Amon Goffman and Lucasfilm negotiated back and forth about the script countless times, but they still failed to reach a consensus.

Are you sorry?Of course, William originally expected to invite Lance and other Star Wars-loving friends to visit the set during filming.regret?This is not true, no matter how much William is a fan of Star Wars, he will not accept a script that he does not like at all and cannot ignite passion just because he is a fan.

When the phone rang, William froze for a moment. Of course he recognized Brad Pitt's number. After finishing the show in Chicago, the two exchanged each other's personal contact information, but he didn't know why Brad Pitt to find him.

It turned out that he just asked if he had read today's newspapers and news. "Not yet, what's the matter?"

"Nothing, uh, I just wanted to tell you that the response was good...maybe a little too much." Brad Pitt's voice sounded slightly embarrassed, and the last sentence was even muttered.

William turned on the laptop while holding the phone, and browsed the news webpage: "That's not very good—cough, cough cough." The relevant news headlines on different websites directly choked him.

The ratings of the latest episode of "Oprah's Talk Show" were very good. William and Brad Pitt were only one of the three groups of guests on the show, but their appearance instantly increased the ratings by one-third, not only It was the ratings champion of all the programs at the same time, and it also raised the average ratings of the entire talk show to a proud level. "Very personal friendship" and "deep friendship" have also aroused extensive discussions among movie fans.

Moreover, the associations of the media are really rich (it is not ruled out that William and Pete’s agents have public relations). The two originally intended to promote "Fight Club" and clarify the rumors by the way. Now I don’t know why. Even the Hollywood Reporter "Many media, including Brad Pitt, firmly believe that William and Brad Pitt have become very good friends. Their words and sentences are very exaggerated: "William Bradley and Brad Pitt smashed the According to recent rumors of discord, they have a tacit understanding when recording the program, and when they talk about some interesting topics, there is a sense of intimacy that outsiders cannot penetrate. Obviously, friendship is growing between them."

"Did our agent and Fox work too hard on public relations? When did we become close friends?" William felt puzzled and a little funny at the same time.

"It's not all their fault." Pete said, "You've gone too far, Will, I've watched it too many times." And he is sensitive to eyes, and he can't help but look back. The camera and the hundreds of viewers look at each other at every turn, of course it will give people the illusion of good feelings.

William Bradley likes to focus on looking at each other's eyes when talking. Brad Pitt discovered it when he was filming "Fight Club". In all honesty, this is a good habit that can greatly benefit Winning the favor of the person being watched can also bring you a sense of being in the drama. Eyes are the window to the soul.However, if those eyes have an extremely rare color and an extremely charming shape, when these eyes look at a person intently, it is easy for people to misunderstand the meaning inside.

It's like someone has a smiling lip, and it looks like they are smiling even when they are not smiling. William Bradley's dark green eyes are too deep, making it extremely difficult for people to understand the expression in them. No wonder he always He can play some roles beyond his own age, so it's no wonder that he was misunderstood as a discharge all over the place just by looking at it casually.

"...I see you because the makeup artist has exaggerated your eyebrows, one side is high and the other is low. Don't you feel it yourself?"

Pete: "..." He really didn't feel it.Moreover, he absolutely does not admit what the hell it is to be self-indulgent.

Let’s just treat it as a beautiful misunderstanding. Anyway, the media’s self-righteousness is not harmful to them. William thought so. By the way, he regretted not being able to appreciate Brad Pitt’s expression at this moment through the phone line. It must be very exciting.

"Hey, I heard you said you invested in some technology stocks in Chicago." William chatted about other topics: "Would you mind telling me which stocks you have?"

Asking about other people's specific financial plans is actually similar to directly asking about their income. They are all questions related to privacy. If you ask any other friends with a good relationship to ask similar questions, Pete will not answer them in detail, but William Brand Li is different. In the eyes of Hollywood stars, he has become a "financial genius" and "investment master". Otherwise, who do you think started the wave of investment in Wall Street and Silicon Valley that is now popular in Hollywood?It seems that just overnight, the number of investors with Hollywood background in high-tech companies in Silicon Valley has increased tenfold.

Everyone wants to know how William Bradley made his billions. If possible, it would be better to know which Wall Street stockbroker he used. After all, being an actor is not a stable career. Hollywood stars spend a lot of money every year. They have driver assistants, houses and cars. Actors are better off. Actresses also have a large amount of extra equipment expenses. After all, not every event is sponsored by a brand. A popular star must also prepare for his life in the next decade or decades.

So Brad Pitt was just stunned for a moment, and quickly put up a smile and replied: "Of course I don't mind. I have always held Microsoft and Cisco. I bought Apple and Microsoft last year and IBM this year. , In fact, I am still watching EBAY, WorldCom, Etoys and other emerging companies that have just been listed on Nasdaq, and I have a sum of money ready at any time. I thought about investing in several high-tech companies like you or others Technology companies, if the company goes public in the future, it will bring dozens of times the income, but business is not my strong point, and I don’t know much about Silicon Valley. Rather than blindly entering the industry, I might as well go into real estate or open a restaurant."

Investing in real estate or operating restaurants has been the most common business choice for Hollywood stars with spare money in the past few decades, because these industries are relatively easy to do and easy to succeed. Steven Spielberg is a restaurant that looks like an underwater world The partner of Arnold Schwarzenegger owns a chain of gymnasiums, and also opened a few chain snack bars called "Universal Hollywood" in partnership with Stallone and Bruce Willis. Others have invested in the tourism industry and opened Companies that sell their own branded products are basically tangible industries. Hollywood stars who make money from finance or high technology were very rare in the past, but in the past two years, the number of people seems to have exploded. The "San Francisco Chronicle" also made a special report on Hollywood celebrities investing in the technology industry earlier this year, and several Hollywood A-listers were on the list.

"Do you hold many stocks on Wall Street, or only these few technology stocks?" William asked, and after learning that Pete's situation was the latter, he reminded not very veiledly: "Just as no company can Just like keeping profit and never losing money, no stock will go up forever, the bubble has already formed, and it will be too late to retreat when the bubble bursts.”

Brad Pitt knows what the bubble that William is talking about is that the Internet is a new type of economy that is developing at a high speed. In the eyes of Westerners, the new economy is always invincible. The speculative boom of "Internet concept stocks" is natural Since 95, it has spread rapidly in the United States, Europe and Asian countries, and many newly established technology companies in Silicon Valley have benefited from it. Yahoo's total revenue in 98 was only 2.03 million US dollars, and its profit was 2500 million US dollars.But now the market value has reached 380 billion, surpassing Boeing, and Amazon’s annual financial report is losing money, but its stock price has soared 2300% since its listing. It has been compared with Microsoft by countless people. It has never earned a penny since its establishment The company stands directly opposite the giant Microsoft. Isn't this a bubble?

"The vast majority of investment is in technology stocks." Pete also knows that his approach is very risky, but the current technology stock market is so hot, which investor would look helplessly at others making a lot of dollars while doing nothing himself Woolen cloth?

"You can't put all your eggs in one basket." William said a common proverb: "Sell it in batches as soon as possible, if you don't want to encounter financial crisis in the near future." The volatility will be very large. If you want to hold it for a long time as a financial investment, it is better to choose pharmaceuticals, energy and daily consumption stocks, at least with lower risks. Especially pharmaceuticals, once a new drug is developed and put into production, it will be more expensive. Other industries are more prone to companies with explosive growth."

William mentioned the names of several stocks he was optimistic about, including Merck, Abbott and even Wal-Mart. Pete recorded them one by one, and he was going to do it later. No, he was going to do his own research on these companies first. Finally, find a few Wall Street stockbrokers to invest in batches. Some people may laugh at him for exaggerating and making a fuss, but from William's determined tone just now, Brad Pitt heard the value of this information. Benz also cherishes the rare friendship with William Bradley, so he will use this information very carefully.

"How can I repay your selfless help?" Brad Pitt said half-jokingly.

"How about a cameo in my new movie?" William's idea was to see if he could find a suitable role for Pete in the second film "Eternal Life" in the "Blood Together" movie series that was under preparation-because Unsurprisingly, the film was a great success. "Blood Together" officially launched the film series plan. In the film novel of the same name written by screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, the first part of the series that has already been released has been prepared. The film was officially renamed "Blood Together: The Long Night Will Come". The novel has not yet been officially published, but the scheduled results are already very impressive. After the official publication, it will probably even be on the "New York Times" bestseller list.

But at the same time, the success of the first film also brought a lot of pressure on the second film. Christopher Nolan filmed "Blood Together" for Willot and accumulated qualifications and fame. The money sponsored by the company was used to make his own favorite movie. The second director must be changed. I don’t know if it will have any major impact on the film. What William can do is to ensure that the funds are sufficient, the original crew does not move, and the script In addition to improving the quality, I also want to invite a few more big-name actors to make guest appearances, so as to increase the visibility of the next few movies of "Blood Together".

However, Brad Pitt has not wanted to play any vampire roles since "Interview with the Vampire": "Don't mention vampires, Will, I don't want to put a pair of fangs on myself. If you have other suitable roles If so, I can try it, I heard that you will cooperate with Robert De Niro in a comedy movie, and you will fall in love with his daughter in the movie?"

"Yes, the title is "Meet Your Father-in-Law", De Niro plays the father-in-law, and guess who is the mother-in-law?" Before Brad Pitt could speak, William asked himself and answered, "It's Blythe Danner. Yes, Gwyneth Paltrow's mom, do you know how many Gwyneth stares and Ben sneers at me for this?"

"Sounds interesting."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said this to you, after all, Ms. Danner almost became your mother-in-law-" Although the media has been hyping Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's relationship for a long time, William didn't know Whether the ex-girlfriend is still a scar in Pete's heart.

But Pete said very openly: "No, Will, the matter with Gwen is over, and Aniston is my present. In fact, maybe I should also say sorry. I regret that because of her and You fight."

"Come on Brad, you know it's not just because of Gwyneth that we fight."

"In any case, I'm sorry, for my ignorance and narrowness in the past, you are indeed right in many things." Brad Pitt couldn't help coughing, and changed the subject to resolve his poor apology: "Okay , I'm sorry, let's talk about movies next? I'm really interested."

"There's one male character that hasn't been cast yet, but—"

"But what?"

"It's the protagonist's rival in love."

"What about the character?"

"Handsome and versatile, perfect and not like a normal person, probably belongs to all-round crushing—"

"Great!" Brad Pitt's voice was full of excitement (gloating?): "Crush you in all directions? This is the role I want to play!"

"...I was joking just now. It's not that this role is unavailable, and an actor has already been found."

"It's late! Even if you don't like it now, I will let the agent contact the director directly. I don't think the director will refuse?"

"..."

"Will? Where's the person?"

"Shut up. I'm holding back my big move."

Brad Pitt was hung up on the phone, but he didn't feel too depressed. He knew that William Bradley's new movie was set for him. Although his fortune has been sluggish in the past two years, his popularity and popularity are there. It is impossible for a studio to reject his offer of a cameo, but they don't know what the other party's big move is.For some reason, thinking of this, Brad Pitt suddenly felt a chill down his back, and he always had a bad premonition.

……

In a little long thick hazel grove, near the same road that Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit, and the Dwarves had walked many years ago, four Hobbits, Frodo, Sam , Merry, Pippin, and a dark-haired ranger who looked like he hadn't washed his hair for a long time, just stopped here, and they lit torches. The spirits catch up.

"Look! Frodo, isn't that the Troll turned into stone that Mr. Bilbo mentioned?" said Sam, looking off.

But Frodo lay on the ground, trembling all over, his hair wet with sweat, his face pale with pain, his light blue eyes out of focus, and almost unconscious.

Because of the Supreme Lord of the Rings, Frodo was hunted down by the ring spirits all the way after leaving his hometown of Shire. Before that, on the top of the storm, the hobbits were attacked by the ring spirits again, and Frodo was also used by the Witch King of Angmar. The ancient sword stabbed the shoulder, and the ancient sword was full of curses, which made Frodo's left arm not only unable to heal, but also tortured by the poison and evil spirit in the wound, which was extremely painful.

"Frodo?" Seeing Frodo's strangeness, Sam turned his head and shouted at the others in fear and fear: "He's dying!"

"Will he die?" Merry asked worriedly.

"He is falling into the world of shadows, and will soon become a Nazgul like them," said the black-haired ranger, holding a torch.

At this time, a voice suddenly appeared, which brought fear to everyone's hearts. There was the sound of horseshoes behind them. They were worried that the Ringwraiths were chasing them again. Everyone looked back, but the dense bushes and the seven bends The turnings of the road obscured their vision, and the black-haired ranger told Sam to seek herbs that would relieve the poison of Frodo's wound, while the rest hid in the dimly-lit gray undergrowth, Peeping out at the road.

The sound of horseshoes is getting closer and closer, it seems to be running very fast, and in the brisk sound of hoofbeats, there seems to be vague bells, blown away by the breeze, "tick tick tick tick tick" like some small bells jingling Boom.

The sound was so beautiful, it didn't sound like it was coming from a ring spirit mount.

The black-haired ranger knelt on one knee, bent over, put one hand around his ear and put it on the ground, a joyful expression gradually appeared on his face.

The sky was getting darker and darker, the wind was blowing the bushes rustling, and the sound of "tick-tock-tock" horseshoes was approaching. Frodo, who was trembling in pain on the ground, couldn't help being attracted by the sound, his sweaty face twisted. To the right, the eyes bluer than the Shire sky opened wider and wider, and suddenly, a white light illuminated his whole body.

In the hazy white light, a white steed carrying an elegant and beautiful knight, pushed aside the bushes on both sides like an elegant swan, and broke into Frodo's sight, the horse's bridle shone like gems Glowing, the knight's cloak fluttered behind him, he was not wearing a hood, and his long golden hair shining like the sun was also fluttering in the wind.

The knight dismounted, his blond hair falling, and his graceful figure gradually approaching. He looked up at the bushes where the hobbit and the black-haired ranger were hiding, and the black-haired knight had jumped out of the bushes from hiding. , appeared in front of the blond knight.

"AinaveduiDunadan! Maegovannen! (Finally found you, Dunadan people, glad to see you!)" The knight's language and melodious voice already explained his identity as an elf.

The black-haired ranger happily introduced the visitor to the hobbits: "This is Glorfindel, living in Rivendell."

Glorfindel nodded and smiled slightly at the crowd, then bent down, gently hugged Frodo in his arms, and looked at the hobbit with slightly worried gentle eyes: "Don't worry, Frodo, I will Help you."

In Frodo's sight, the knight was shining brightly, and the white light seemed to emanate from his body and clothing, and was covered with a veil again.