Birth of an actor

"Good morning, Mr. Roderick." Amon Goffman & Barbara Wilson.

"Um, Mr. Roderick, I have a question, which may be related to the financial report you are looking at, can I ask?" Barbara said.

"Excuse me."

Barbara Wilson: "I know that you are one of Amazon's largest personal shareholders after the founder Jeff Bezos, so there must be something in the financial report that Amazon gave you that ordinary people can't know...Okay , Let me start from the beginning. I bought a lot of bonds issued by Amazon in 99, because the wave of Internet technology was too hot in those years. I thought it would be a good financial management project. I didn’t expect the Internet bubble to burst in 00. So quickly, Amazon’s market value has also shrunk to one-seventh in just one year. I have read some Silicon Valley news. Last year, too many high-tech companies went bankrupt or were sold at a low price. So, I would like to ask—— "

Lance: "In the past six years since its listing, Amazon has been losing money every year, but its market value has been increasing every year. There are investors, and more than one of them see the future prospects of this company, and are willing to sacrifice immediate interests for risky investment. .”

Barbara Wilson: "Can you be more explicit?"

Lance: "During the Cambrian period, the earth experienced a great explosion of life. This period was also the period of the fastest evolution and extinction of species. The biosphere suddenly changed from thin and pale to rich and colorful. I think the environment we are in now Similar to the Cambrian period, whoever stops the growth and evolution of the Internet industry and traditional businesses will be disintegrated. As an emerging product, the Internet is definitely the one with more evolutionary advantages. As long as the law of survival of the fittest is mastered, excellent high-tech The company hardly—”

Barbara Wilson: "…" Straightforward

"Speak English, Lance," William said.

"Amazon will not go bankrupt, if this is the problem with Miss Wilson." Lance said: "Even if there is a debt crisis, I and other shareholders will take care of it."

Barbara Wilson on the other end of the conference call could be heard letting out a sigh of relief: "Thank God, I bought a lot of money after all."

Amon Goffman, who had been listening silently as the wallpaper for a long time, made the others almost think that he was offline, and suddenly interjected: "I have also bought a lot of Amazon stocks, and Will reminded me of the risk of overheating in the Internet stock market, so I sold the stock before the bubble burst and made a fortune."

"So this is the fundamental reason why you can drop everything and go on vacation, but I have to stay in Los Angeles and be as busy as the president." Barbara Wilson said angrily.

Amon Goffman: "But I'm wondering now, if I buy some shares of Amazon or other high-tech companies now, will it become a forward-looking investment in a few years?"

"You can wait until the market is less turbulent for two years before making a choice." William said ambiguously, and then shifted the topic to other directions.

Probably since after 911/[-], Lance believed that the phone lines were no longer secure, so unless there was an encrypted secure line, he would never discuss the details of a transaction with someone on the phone, or anything very important. Influenced by friends, William no longer talks about important things on the phone.

So William did not continue to tell his publicist and agent on the phone that as early as last year, he sold all his shares in Amazon to Lance in exchange for shares in some real estate companies and a large amount of money invested in Willow Terry — the company’s new TV business and other acquisitions are like a shark eating tons of dollars — Lance is not one of Amazon’s individual major shareholders, and he has become Amazon’s No. Two major individual shareholders.

……

Amon Goffman: "When it comes to awards season, Hollywood has been a bit unusual these days. In this special period, I always feel a little weird-Barbara, have you heard any news?"

Barbara Wilson: "Of course, I know all the dirty little secrets under the Hollywood sun. Will Smith's agent threw a $500 million bait into the pool and attracted a pack of hungry sharks."

William: "500 million?"

"Five million dollars can do a lot, Will, at least part of its power has been revealed now." Barbara Wilson said: "Will Smith is on the cover of this issue of "People", but the point Not the cover, you also have an issue of Variety and VOGUE, what's unusual is the title and the content, the focus shifts away from the mediocre film itself of "King Ali" and it's all about putting Will Smith in order How hard it is to play a good boxing champion, find professional coaches to practice boxing for several months, and almost go to professional competitions and other inspirational content-and, he will be on "The Tonight Show" this weekend to talk about his filming experience , after all, there are always some viewers who don’t like to read newspapers.”

William: "...It sounds inexplicably familiar."

Amon Goffman: "I feel familiar too. Wait, isn't that what we've done?"

Originally, Universal did not invest much in the publicity and distribution of "A Beautiful Mind". In addition to the fact that Universal invested too much in other film projects and felt a little financially difficult, there were also those who could judge that it was a good movie, but they could not The reason for knowing the future box office and performance of the film clearly before the screening is that the tastes of the North American and European film markets are very different, and very few films that can win awards at European film festivals can also be successful in North America.

However, the outstanding premiere performance of "A Beautiful Mind" interrupted the hesitation of Universal's executives in time. Which film company would not want to make an Oscar for the best film? ——So Universal not only immediately added a publicity and marketing budget of up to tens of millions of dollars, but also worked out a series of post-screening publicity plans at a speed that only the seven major film companies could have.

The first is the expansion. Landmark Cinemas and American Artists Cinemas have decided to expand the number of theaters to more than 3000, achieving the same treatment as general commercial blockbusters.

Then director Ron Howard and leading actors William, Jennifer Connelly and others also either traveled non-stop to several major cities in North America to participate in media and fan meetings, or accepted exclusive interviews from magazines, or appeared on talk shows to contribute to the movie. Do publicity, talk about fun things from filming.

Among them, Ron Howard exposed many behind-the-scenes secrets of the film when he accepted an exclusive interview with "The New Yorker". This means that the shooting cost, time, and energy will increase exponentially, but it will also help the actors understand the emotions of the characters more deeply and perform more devotedly.

Then Ron Howard praised William emphatically, saying that he had suffered a lot in order to play John Nash well. He was injured several times just because of filming, suffered fractures, and was almost disfigured. I gained over 20 pounds.

So the news that William was accidentally injured during the filming of "A Beautiful Mind" was found out by the media again, and his bloody photos were spread everywhere on the Internet again, and he was sought after by online movie fans, thinking that he was a movie actor. A proof of the spirit, it will serve as a positive role model for those idol stars in Hollywood who have no popularity, no acting skills, and are still unwilling to work hard.

When William was on David Letterman's "Late Late Show", he also talked about the reason why he was able to play John Nash successfully, because he had frequent contact with Nash himself before filming, observing each other, understanding each other and imitating him , and then he said that he was indeed injured several times during the filming, but none of them were too serious, nor was his face disfigured. The photo that was photographed by the media and circulated wildly was just that the wound looked scary.

This is not only promoting "A Beautiful Mind", but also building momentum for the upcoming awards season.

At least now, in the Hollywood industry and on the Internet, there are already all kinds of topics related to "A Beautiful Mind" everywhere, and all kinds of grand occasions are simply not like what an art movie should have——

"Besides John Nash, are there any other examples of schizophrenia being cured in reality?"

"Loneliness and fear, take you into the real life of the mentally ill."

"If you want to know what a great woman is, look at John Nash's wife."

"After watching "A Beautiful Mind", I realized that although William Bradley's commercial value is very high, and his box office may be worth several others, he is a real actor."

"The best actor in Cannes is well deserved, but I don't know if this year's Oscar William will play?"

"As early as three years ago, I said that Oscar owed him a statuette."

On the Internet, there are countless discussions on such topics.

In fact, this kind of publicity and marketing has already developed a mature operating system in Hollywood. The seven majors are especially good at playing——movies with a wide audience base and media reputation, and if they maintain a certain degree of topicality, then whether it is for the film's box office or In other respects, it will be of great benefit.

The most intuitive aspect is that for a long time after the release of "A Beautiful Mind", because the film has a solid audience reputation and has always maintained a hot topic, the box office trend is very stable, and it has maintained a steady downward trend. Weekly box office declines have been maintained within a small number, which is a miracle in the New Year period when new films are released every day.

Barbara Wilson: "Will Smith's ambition is not small. His agent once accidentally said that he wanted to be the second Robert De Niro."

"Raging Bull" is a film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro released in 1980. Based on the personal biography of a generation of boxing champion Jack LaMotta, the film has achieved great success after its release. , known as the most classic boxing-themed movie in Hollywood history, and Robert De Niro was also crowned the 53rd Oscar winner with this film.

Amon Goffman: ""King Ali" and "Raging Bull" are not movies of the same level at all, there is no comparison."

Barbara Wilson: "So now the promotion of "King Ali" is focused on Will Smith, not the movie itself. Remember that Dr. Nash was interviewed and praised Will's acting skills? Muhammad Ali also gave an exclusive interview yesterday And kudos to Will Smith."

Amon Goffman: ""King Ali" is too dull and long, even if Ali praises it to the sky, there is no way to save this movie. The same is true for Will Smith. Not to mention the superb acting skills in the past, but it is still far from the level of perfection."

Barbara Wilson: "But Smith has an advantage that Will does not have. Black actors or behind-the-scenes workers in Hollywood will stand on his side unconditionally-Oscar has never had a black actress, and from Sidney After Podiere, no black actor has won the best actor for almost 40 years. Even the last time a black actor won the best supporting actor and actress was ten years ago. As far as I know, black organizations in Hollywood have already I am dissatisfied, the criticism against this phenomenon will sound every day, and the academy, in order not to let itself fall into the vortex of racial discrimination, will have to make changes sooner or later. This time is likely to be this year, because the past year Several films with black protagonists have done well at the box office."

"That's right, how could we forget about Denzel Washington? His threat index is much higher than Will Smith's!" Having said that, everyone else could hear the Jewish manager's emotions Suddenly he relaxed a lot, and even his tone became brisk: "However, black organizations in Hollywood suddenly have multiple options. They have to choose whether to stand behind Denzel Washington or Will Smith. By the way , I'll give Denzel Washington ten dollars."

Barbara Wilson: "You mean...Denzel Washington and Will Smith seem like double insurance for black actors to compete for the Oscars, but if they are nominated at the same time, it just creates internal competition, Diversion of support from black organizations in Hollywood?"

"If the academy wants to play a politically correct drama this year, if Will Smith's $500 million has played its due role, this is bound to happen." Amon Goffman said: "However, we And keep the hype going, don't turn the heat down, Will, Dick Ebersol just called me recently and he wanted you to be on Saturday Night Live."

Amon Goffman waited for a while, but got no answer.

"Will? Are you still online?"

"Ami, Xiaoba..."

Barbara Wilson said immediately, "Will, are you all right? Why does your voice sound a little trembling?"

"I'm a little excited." After a while, William's voice regained his composure, but what he said next made the two people on the other end of the phone unable to calm down: "You probably can't believe it, Lan What did Si find out when he read the financial report just now..."

……

It's a huge office underground, presumably on a base converted from an underground bomb shelter from World War II.

Unless ordinary people see it with their own eyes, it should be hard to imagine that there are so many computers and so many people working together at the same time.

The office area with an astonishing size is divided into hundreds of grids by simple partitions, which are densely packed. The central air conditioner above the head is responsible for ventilation and constant temperature. Every table is full of computer monitors, and countless computers are running Get up and make a "buzzing" sound that is not disturbing but also has a sense of presence.

There is one person sitting on each chair, basically no female face, from morning to night, or from night to morning, everyone is wearing headphones, operating one or several computers, busy like a hive worker bees.

In fact, apart from their working status, they also look similar to worker bees—almost all of them are wearing short-sleeved polo shirts in solid colors or plaid patterns that are hated by the fashion industry.The same skin color and similar dress, and almost the same frame glasses on most people's noses, as if wholesaled from a handicraft assembly line, maybe even their colleagues want to call out everyone's name successfully, They are distinguished by the work badge worn on the left chest.

It was a work pass made with the most advanced laser anti-counterfeiting technology in the world, with the logo of NSA (National Security Agency) on it. Those who did not wear this work pass had already entered the underground base and passed through the security gate. At that moment, he was knocked to the ground by soldiers with live ammunition.

After sitting motionless for more than two hours, the facial expression of a "worker bee" suddenly came alive. He grabbed off the earphones he was wearing, took out a magazine from a messy drawer, and frantically took pictures of his neighbor After the other party also took off the earphones and looked back impatiently, he pointed to the cover of the magazine and said excitedly: "Can you believe this? His personal box office has accumulated to 60 billion US dollars!"

"Who?" The neighbor's eyes shifted from the face of the "worker bee" to the cover of the magazine: "Oh, I saw this movie yesterday, it was shot very well, and he portrayed the pain of the mentally ill very realistically. I have one Know people like that. But who told you $60 billion?"

"He said it himself. It seems that the guy named Lance was reading the company's financial report with him, and inadvertently calculated from Willot's total box office last year to his own total box office. Can you imagine, the movie he starred in The box office of all movies has accumulated to 60 billion US dollars! Not including the movies that are currently being released, if you count the three movies that are currently being released, that number is even more terrifying... But no one seems to have noticed this!"

"Why? Is the entire American media blind?"

"Probably never thought of this, more than 60 billion US dollars, oh my god, who would have thought of so much money? "Star Wars" has been released for more than 20 years, and Harrison Ford can't reach this figure."

"Um, how do I remember reading the news last year that Harrison Ford's cumulative box office has exceeded 50 billion dollars?" The neighbor seated quickly typed a few times on the keyboard, and then turned on the screen for the "worker bee": "Look, It's written here, $53.38 billion, the world's highest-grossing record holder for 20 consecutive years."

"What's the matter, look at this record!" "Worker Bee" quickly said: "60 billion dollars...plus...plus...look!"

"Hiss... Jesus Christ." The neighbor was shocked for a while." "Is there any other news? "

"His publicist, a woman named Barbara, thought that this news should be spread more, and then his agent said no, which probably means that if this news is found out by the media, they will absolutely go crazy, and then everyone They will be staring at his commercial value, and it will hinder the Oscars."

"... I mean, is there any news related to our work?"

"Um, probably, no?"

"Holy shit, man, if the supervisor knew you were just listening to Hollywood calls at work every day, he would definitely transfer you to the Siberian team, and then your life would be to watch the Russians mine."

"Worker bee" protested: "I didn't just focus on Hollywood! Hey, he is also an important figure in Silicon Valley and Wall Street, okay, and he has participated in the White House dinner and has indirect connections with the Pentagon. There are many of his friends in our on the list—"

"It's alright buddy, you just need to be careful not to be caught by the supervisor who is lazy. For the rest, anyway, our work is long and boring, so there's nothing wrong with having some fun for yourself." The neighbor shrugged, then winked and snickered: "Have you received the document I sent you?"

"I've seen those pictures of kittens playing with balls of string a long time ago."

"Then I'll find a good one and send it to you." The neighbor turned around, put on the earphones and continued working. He was listening to a call from an Arab-American businessman and a state congressman. This call is far more important than any Hollywood news. I found out that maybe this month's bonus will be doubled.

The "worker bee" changed to a phone on the list and continued to monitor. After a while, he felt bored, looked up and looked around, and saw that the supervisor was sitting in his cubicle drinking coffee, while everyone around him was working Or lazy, no one pays attention to themselves, "worker bees" use another idle computer to connect to the Internet, log in to a website called Hollywood News Online, and start posting secretly.

"Exclusive news! William Bradley is crowned the box office king of world film history!"