hollywood melon man

Chapter 550 No Superstar
During the film production, Jon Favreau and Gilbert Jr. maintained good communication, and the film was basically shot according to Gilbert Jr.'s ideas.

In private, he admitted that Gilbert Jr. was actually working as a behind-the-scenes director, providing Jon Favreau with a lot of guidance.

Thanks to Gilbert Jr.'s comprehensive supervision, the preparation and filming of "Iron Man" were so smooth.

The other project did not go so smoothly.

Although "Escape from the Island" failed, Michael Bay still did not lose David Ellison's trust, and the "Transformers" project was still handed over to Michael Bay.

In the previous life, this project was in the hands of DreamWorks, so Spielberg served as the producer and also inserted his godson Shia LaBeouf into the crew as the leading male role.

Megan Fox was chosen through audition, but was later replaced because she offended Spielberg.

But now this project is no longer in the hands of DreamWorks, but in the hands of David Ellison's Sky Studios, so it is naturally impossible for the original crew to be the same.

At Sky Studios, David Ellison is meeting with Michael Bay, Michael Ovitz, Martin Bob and others to discuss the preparations for "Transformers".

"The news we have received so far is that preparations for The Last of Us are going smoothly. Tom Cruise is staying in Los Angeles for training and will be heading to Australia next month to prepare for the start of filming."

Martin Bob talked about the information he had heard, all of which was public information.

"Well," David Ellison nodded and asked, "Did you hear anything about the script?"

"No, we just know it's a zombie movie." Martin Bob said, "The script was written by Gilbert Jr. He has won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, so his writing ability is trustworthy.

I think that with him writing the script and Tom Cruise starring in The Last of Us, it will definitely be great.”

As a director known for his talent in Hollywood, the most amazing thing about Gilbert Jr. is his ability to combine writing and directing into one, and to be the best in both aspects.

Many directors are excellent directors, but what they lack is a good script and a good story. Gilbert Jr. doesn't have this worry. If he doesn't have a good story, he will write his own script.

Moreover, the content of the script must be profound and exciting to meet the needs of different audiences.

The films he wrote and directed, such as The Matrix, The Invincibles, and The Sixth Sense, are all examples of original screenplays that have not only won praise from critics but have also been commercially successful.

Michael Bay was upset when he heard this. He was mentioned in the same breath with Gilbert Jr. for a while. But after several films failed to meet expectations, no one discussed his name together with Gilbert Jr. anymore.

Scarlett said it well: "Compared with little Gilbert? You are not worthy..."

However, Michael Bay was still unwilling to give up, as he felt that Transformers had great potential and he wanted to seize this opportunity to wipe out the shadow of Escape from the Island.

So Michael Bay suggested: "David, Mr. Ovitz, should we hire a top-tier celebrity for Transformers?"

"Who to invite?" David Ellison immediately understood Michael Bay's plan.

Seeing that Tom Cruise starred in "The Last of Us", Michael Bay was not to be outdone and found a big-name star to star in "Transformers".

However, David Ellison knew that the most important protagonist of "Transformers" was the machine life form. Which big-name star would be willing to play a supporting role for a robot?
Even if they agree, what price will the crew have to pay?

Michael Ovitz continued: “The only superstar who can compare with Tom Cruise is probably another Tom.

But Tom Hanks is old, and he is not known for his face, so I am afraid it is not suitable."

David Ellison agreed that Michael Ovitz was right. It was indeed a bit difficult for Tom Hanks to play a cool college student in "Transformers".

Tom Hanks has already reached a cooperation with Ron Howard, and he will star in The Da Vinci Code, which is produced and distributed by Sony Columbia Pictures and directed by Ron Howard.

This project is adapted from the currently popular novel "The Da Vinci Code". The project has attracted much attention. Tom Hanks plays a professor at Harvard University in it.

It is very inappropriate to let a person who plays a professor play a college student based on his personality.

"Then Keanu Reeves." Michael Bay once again proposed a candidate: "Or Will Smith is also fine."

All of these were rejected by Martin Bob: "No, Keanu Reeves hasn't produced any good films since The Matrix series, and there's a downward trend.

Will Smith is a black actor, so for this project, it’s safer to use a white person.”

After several proposals were rejected, Michael Bay gave up struggling and said, "Who should we choose then?"

David Ellison said at this time: "Let's select through auditions. It must be a handsome, young actor with low pay."

"That's right," Michael Ovitz added, "We can't spend too much money on actors' salaries, the most important thing about this movie is the special effects production.

If we don’t spend enough money on this, we won’t be able to meet the requirements.”

As we all know, special effects cost a lot of money. Even "Iron Man", which does not have any big-name stars, invested 1.3 million yuan in special effects production.

If the visual effects of the film are to shock the audience, "Transformers" must invest huge amounts of production costs.

The special effects producer of "Transformers" has already been decided: Industrial Light & Magic, a veteran Hollywood special effects studio.

In recent years, as Gilbert Jr.'s own Orange Studio has become more and more famous, the original industry leader Industrial Light & Magic seems to have been overshadowed.

But don’t forget that it is because of the birth of Industrial Light & Magic that the term special effects industry exists in Hollywood.

At present, Industrial Light & Magic is still in the leading position in the industry in terms of technology, and even the up-and-coming Orange Studio cannot compare with it in some areas.

So there is a reason why things are expensive, you get what you pay for.

If the resulting special effects were just cheap ones, the kind of crappy special effects movies made by third- or fourth-tier Hollywood production companies, then the "Transformers" project would have failed.

Apart from anything else, David Ellison gradually understood the rules of Hollywood after hitting the wall several times.

He led the "Transformers" project, and with the assistance of Michael Ovitz, Martin Bob, Michael Bay and others, he was able to achieve some real results.

After all, this project was originally fought over by Gilbert Jr. and DreamWorks, but later David Ellison took advantage of it.

However, not everything goes as planned for David Ellison, for example, he recently failed in his bid for "I Am Legend" with Cantaloupe Studios.

They obviously trusted Gilbert Jr. more, so they sold the copyright to Cantaloupe Studios.

After obtaining the copyright, Cantaloupe Studios did not start production immediately, as adapting a novel into a movie takes a process.

It was also because of David Ellison's failure in this project that made him believe more in the possibility of success of projects such as "John Carter", "Tron: Legacy", and "Battleship".

David Ellison is currently actively contacting Wall Street film funds, intending to cooperate with them to develop these projects.

(End of this chapter)