Dominating Hollywood: Starting with Scarlett

Chapter 220 Leonardo
Robert Downey Jr. read the script very carefully.

And then to Carl: "I'm free to pick these two characters, right?"

There are five people in the protagonist group of Inception.

They are the protagonist Dom Cobb, the genius Alire Deni, and the collaborators Arthur, Eames and Yusef.

The script that Carl handed him involved Eames in the protagonist team and Fisher, the heir to the large conglomerate who appears throughout the film.

Of course, there is no clear role identification in the script, so Downey will not know the plot of Fisher's character and the space he occupies. It is just a short summary of the character.

In fact, if you look at the outline, Eames is the one who has more scenes.

But Downey's eyes only stayed on the Eames outline for a minute, and on Fisher's outline for five minutes.

When Karl got a little impatient with the waiting, he let go: "Okay, when will the audition be?"

Carl handed him a business card with the address of Norton Eye on it.

"In two weeks, you need to come to New York for an audition, at this location."

"No problem." Downey nodded. He could tell that this was a script with a complex concept. There were many words in it that he didn't quite understand and could only guess based on their meanings.

But it doesn't matter. The more complicated it is, the better it shows the director's care. No matter what movie it is, just look at the name Donde Norton.

He felt that he must win this role.

This might be his chance to turn around.

Downey held the script tightly to his chest and got out of the car. When he was about to close the door, Karl suddenly said: "I wish you good luck."

"Thank you." Donnie nodded, and then watched Karl drive away.

He turned and walked towards the basketball court, but his steps were heavier than before.

Meanwhile, Donde is being entertained by Leonardo at his country estate.

"Long time no see, man!" Leonardo was wearing overalls, a white shirt, a felt hat, and a pipe in his mouth. He looked like an American landowner.

Tang De hugged him and then raised his eyebrows: "It seems like we just met last month."

"Haha, that's right, Oscar." Leonardo patted Tang De on the shoulder: "This is just polite, you know."

"I thought we could be less polite." Tang De smiled: "After all, we already know each other very well."

He pointed at Leonardo's clothes, which immediately reminded the big star of the photos he had taken before.

"Oh, that is indeed a kind of understanding." Leonardo led him into the door, and Gisele Bundchen was not seen at home.

Although the two have been separated many times, this time they really broke up and there was no room for recovery.

After all, Giselle couldn't stand Leonardo's philandering and busyness.

Leonardo was already pursuing a new target, Israeli model Bar Refaeli.

This guy seems to have a special liking for female models. Several women have basically been working as female models. It can only be said that their tastes are quite consistent and have never changed.

However, although there is no mistress in the manor, there is a group of competent servants, gardeners and housekeepers.

Along the way, you can see them busy with various matters and taking care of every aspect of this large manor.

“It’s so luxurious.”

Tang De sighed, and Leonardo shrugged: "If you want, you can. Do you want me to introduce you to real estate?"

"Forget it, I think the limited money should be used in more valuable ways."

Tang De shook his head. "Fifty Shades of Grey" has been officially released around the world and topped the box office charts in many countries.

The box office is estimated to be around 5 million, and including the North American box office, the total box office will be 6.7 million.

After deducting the shares from theaters, MGM, Lionsgate, etc., Tang De's Norton Eyes will receive a share of 2 million.

This is undoubtedly a huge amount of money, and it is also the biggest profit Tang De has ever obtained in his life.

For the company Norton Eyes, if they don’t invest frequently in movies and have stable income and expenditure every year, this money is enough to keep them busy for a lifetime.

But Tang De did not intend to rest on the pile of money for retirement, but started investing heavily.

First of all, the first payment was US$100 million from United Artists.

The second is acquisitions in the digital field.

This Los Angeles-based special effects production company is second only to Industrial Light and Magic and Weta Digital in Hollywood.

It was founded by Scott Ross, a former manager of Industrial Light and Magic. In 1993, the great director James Cameron became a shareholder, and then he introduced his good friend Stan Weston.

This friend is a famous film special effects master. He created the special effects for "Jurassic Park", "Alien" and "Terminator".

So the digital field developed very rapidly at the beginning.

But James Cameron's strong temper made it extremely difficult for Scott Ross to do his job, and the two had many conflicts in the management of the company. In addition, James Cameron gradually became interested in documentaries and had no intention of making commercial films, so he simply quit the company.

Naturally, his good friend Stan Weston also left the company.

After that, their operating conditions became increasingly worse, far inferior to those of the other two companies. Coupled with wrong decisions, the company was saddled with a heavy debt.

However, in Tang De's view, the reason why the digital field is lonely is because what they are good at is not in line with the development of the future era.

The digital field focuses more on particle special effects, while Hollywood's movie special effects focus on scenes, props, and expression capture.

This resulted in their orders being far inferior to those of Industrial Light & Magic and Weta Digital.

It's just that these two families have their own financial backers, so it would be too difficult for Tang De to become the owner.

So he took a fancy to this company that was already in decline, and planned to carry out a drastic round of company reform to get it back on the right path of Hollywood special effects development for his own use.

To this end, he prepared a budget of US$70 million and planned to acquire 30% of the company's shares and become its majority shareholder.

And Scott Ross is the key figure.

In addition to these two sums of money, Tang De is also preparing to find a new building as the future office location of Norton Group.

After all, whether it is Angel Declaration, Norton Eyes, Supreme Creative or Bernay Public Relations, the number of employees has exceeded the original size of the company.

At this point, squeezing into that small place is no longer the best option. And it's not private enough.

So Tang De commissioned Fernando to find a suitable office building in New York.

Of course, he is not ready to buy an entire building directly now, that would be too extravagant.

It’s not too late to wait until after the 08 economic crisis before buying.

Now he just wants to rent a few floors as a temporary residence for the company.

As for the previous $50 million loan for Supreme Creative?

The one who owed money was God, and Tang De did not intend to pay off the loan in one go.

You can make more money by keeping money in your own hands now.

But Leonardo didn't understand what Tang De meant by being valuable. He frowned: "Isn't letting yourself live happily the most valuable thing?"

"You are right." Tang De spread his hands: "But my happiness is not these."

"Then what is your happiness?" Leonardo asked curiously.

"My happiness?" Tang De looked at the spire of the manor building: "Look there, standing on it, getting everyone's praise is my happiness."

Leonardo basked in the bright sun with him, squinting at the sky.

"So part of my happiness comes from this."

"Hahaha." The two smiled at each other and walked into the villa.

Sitting on the brown soft leather sofa, stepping on the furry leather carpet with his bare feet, and looking at the various hunting products hanging on the wall, Tang De immediately felt Leonardo's luxurious life.

"You're doing really well, no wonder you have to stay in the city."

"Of course." Leonardo shrugged: "It's very quiet here. When I want to study the script and don't want to be disturbed, I will come here. Of course, when I want to be lively, I will come back. Go have a party at your villa in Los Angeles.”

"Sounds good, so have you received any new movie offers now?"

"No, I came here because I wanted to make a documentary myself." Leonardo explained: "The name is "The 11th Hour." You know, I have established an environmental organization for 8 years, and I have been persisting in it. Promote the importance of environmental protection to the public.”

He picked up a glass of wine and handed it to Tang De: "We have been destroying this ecosystem. I feel that the world is accelerating towards its demise, so we must pay attention to environmental protection."

Tang De looked at the carpet under his feet and the hangings on the wall: "Does your environmental protection include animals?"

"Of course." Leonardo stood up and came to the wall and smiled: "What you see are all fake, not real. And the carpet under your feet is also fake and artificial. But they can They are not ordinary animals, they are endangered, and the reason why they are placed here is to draw everyone’s attention.”

"So you want to recruit me into your environmental organization? Or do you want me to help you shoot a documentary?"

"Anything is fine, Tang De. I think your appeal will become stronger and stronger in the future." Leonardo sat back on the sofa and said seriously: "You are the director. If you agree with the concept of environmental protection, then what you can do, Probably far more than me."

"Yeah... To be honest, I agree with environmental protection." Tang De nodded: "I think human factors are behind the current global warming..."

"You are right. Those countries are logging wildly and hunting animals wildly. The ecological chain and climate have been destroyed."

"Maybe more..." Tang De shook his chin slightly: "I don't think logging alone will cause such serious harm, and carbon emissions are also included. The United States has the largest carbon emissions in the world, whether it is cars or factories. Release pollution uncontrollably, or transfer this pollution to other developing countries.”

"Then he openly announced that he wants the whole world to contribute to environmental protection. Don't you think this is funny?"

Leonardo was silent for a moment: "I didn't expect you to be a critic of the government."

"Come on, Leonardo, I'm a native American, but I have to say this country is pretty fucked up."

Tang De laughed: "Fortunately, it is democratic enough, isn't it free?"

Leonardo didn't hear the irony in Tang De's words and picked up the wine glass: "Then let's drink a toast to democracy and freedom."

"cheers."

"Ding." Tang De finished his drink: "But I am really interested in the documentary you mentioned. So, count me in. You are the producer, and you will arrange my position. But similarly, "Theft" Dream Space》You can’t refuse anymore.”

"Hahaha, I brought you here to show that I don't want to refuse." Leonardo nodded and agreed: "But what is this movie about? Why do I feel a little confused after watching it?"

"It's very simple." Tang De stood up and came to the back of Leonardo's head, put two fingers on his temples and said in a low tone: "Quietly close your eyes."

Leonardo was a little confused, but he still followed Tang De's words and closed his eyes.

Then he heard Tang De's hypnotic language: "You are about to enter the world of dreams, where you will meet the person you want to see most, and the two of you will walk together on the beach, hug each other, and kiss. Until the sunset appears on the horizon and the sunset disappears little by little with the sea level, you sit with her on the beach and share your deepest secrets with her. "

"And after you share each other's secrets, you find that the dream disappears."

Donde snapped his fingers in Leonardo's ear.

"Bang!" Leonardo opened his eyes instantly.

The next second, he saw Tang De sitting opposite him on the coffee table. He was directly illuminated by the light above his head, and his entire face looked dim and unclear.

In the shadows, Tang De said: "Now, I already know your secret."

Leonardo's eyes widened, and just as he was about to stand up and question, Tang De suddenly laughed: "That's how it feels."

"...FXXK!" Leonardo cursed.

"You really didn't hypnotize me?"

After thinking about it, he asked again.

Tang De laughed loudly: "Of course, Leonardo, do you really think I can hypnotize you? Don't you know whether you are asleep or not?"

"That's possible!" Leonardo said noncommittally: "You are a symbol of good luck in Hollywood. Many people say you have the blessing of God."

"But that doesn't mean I can use this blessing to do evil."

After saying a few words, Leonardo suddenly became excited: "So this is my identity in the movie? Hypnotist?"

"That's right, you will become a dream hypnotist. After hypnotizing a person, you can sneak into his dream and use disguise, words, and actions to pry into his heart and find his deepest secrets."

"sounds good."

"Don't worry, Leonardo. This will be a wonderful film. I can't guarantee whether it will win an award, but the reputation and reputation will definitely be very good."

"Okay, I believe you." Leonardo touched Tang De with his fist, and then drank the wine in the glass.

(End of this chapter)