Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 234 Not Tonight
“Is this a new project for the second half of the year?”

"Yes, after review by the production department, there are six projects in total."

Link took a few documents and looked at them. After intensive filming in the first half of the year, five films were completed, including "The Mask", "The Butterfly Effect", "Rumble in the Bronx", "Good Will Hunting" and "The Man from Earth".

There are three more films currently being filmed: Before Sunrise directed by Richard Linklater, Sense and Sensibility directed by Ang Lee, and The Shawshank Redemption directed by Frank Darabont.

Six new projects were added in the second half of the year.

Link's new movie "The Sixth Sense", "Paranormal Activity 2", "Ace Ventura 2" and "Hachiko: A Dog's Story" co-produced with Columbia Pictures, the crime comedy "At Any Cost" poached from Castle Rock Pictures, and "Groom Runs Backwards" co-produced with MGM Pictures.

The budgets of several projects here are relatively high. The budget of "The Sixth Sense" is 4000 million US dollars, of which Link's salary for directing the film is 1200 million US dollars. Before the film is financed, he can get less salary. After financing, the salary must be increased, and the director must also get a share.

"Hachiko: A Dog's Story" is planning to invite a top male star to play the professor, with a budget of 4000 million US dollars.

"Ace Ventura 2" will continue to invite Jim Carrey to play the leading actor. At his suggestion, Jim Carrey's personal salary has reached 2000 million US dollars, making him the highest-paid male star in the circle and also the signature of UTA.

Jennifer Aniston was invited to play the leading female role. Currently, "Friends Season 1" has not been released yet, and Jennifer's current salary is not high.

The film had a budget of $3800 million.

"Paranormal Activity 2" will be written and produced by Link, and directed by Curtis Hansen, the director of "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle". The plot continues the story of the first part, and the protagonists become Katie's sister, her husband, and her children. The main plot is that Katie gave her sister Christie a necklace before she disappeared. After moving into her new home, Christie found that the necklace mysteriously disappeared. In order to find out the reason, she and her husband installed cameras at home, and as a result, they captured horror videos again.

Except for Monica's cameo appearance, the rest of the actors are newcomers and the budget is not high, only $220 million.

"At Any Cost" is a film project that producer Liz Groser pulled from Castle Rock Pictures. It is going to star the beauty Nicole Kidman. The budget of the film is 2200 million US dollars, which is relatively high.

Link read the script of "At All Costs" and felt it was rather average. Among movies of the same type, it was not as good as "Gone Girl".

But for the sake of Liz Groser and Nicole Kidman, you can try investing. If you lose money, just consider it as balancing your luck.

"The Groom Runs Backwards" has a budget of 2500 million US dollars, and plans to invite director Gus Van Sant, who is good at this type of film, to try his hand.

The total budget for the six film projects reached $1.67 million.

Not long ago, Guess What Pictures signed a cooperation agreement with Columbia Pictures. Columbia Pictures invested US$5 million to co-produce 10 films in the next three years. The films will be produced by Guess What Pictures and Columbia Pictures will be responsible for publicity and distribution. If the box office exceeds a certain number, Guess What Pictures can get more share.

Link plans to include the next four films in the cooperation agreement to share the company's pressure on production funds.

After reading it, Link signed the document.

"Daniel, you can contact Sofia first when choosing a director for At All Costs. Never mind, I'll call her later to ask if she's interested. If not, I'll look for someone else."

"Okay. When are you going to shoot The Sixth Sense? Do you have any plans? If you are going to shoot it in the near future, our production department must prepare in advance to avoid conflicts with other projects."

Daniel DeVito asked.

"No rush. I am the producer and editor of The Shawshank Redemption. After finishing my current tasks, I have to go to work on the crew. The Sixth Sense will be filmed at the end of the year, and the background of the story in the script is also in autumn and winter."

"Okay then. Let's prepare for other projects first."

Daniel DeVito put away his folder, pushed his big fat ass out of the chair and left.

Link shook his head, picked up the phone and called Sophia, asking her where she was and what she was doing.

Sofia said that she was in the recording studio, watching the actors doing post-recording. She wanted to finish the post-production of "The Man From Earth" as soon as possible so that the movie could be released earlier.

Link asked her if she was interested in directing a new film, a film about women.

Sophia said she wanted to take a look at the script and asked him to bring it back when he got off work, and she would also go to the villa halfway up the mountain in the evening.

After hanging up the phone, Link went to the film production center to watch the post-production of "The Butterfly Effect".

This movie has a lot of special effects, and post-production is expected to be completed in August.

Jingle Bell!Jingle Bell!
While watching the animation special effects, the cell phone rang a few times. Link didn't want to disturb others from working, so he went outside to answer the call.

The caller was Winona Ryder.

After a night of communication and understanding, Winona turned into a soft girl, and her voice became delicate and weak.

"Link, where are you?"

"At the company, what happened?"

"Can you come to my house tonight? I can go to your place too."

Winona Ryder had rested for a day and didn’t seem to have recovered, her voice was sweet and hoarse.

"tonight?"

Link's heart warmed when he thought of Winona's delicate figure and melodious voice. Suddenly, he remembered that Sofia was coming tonight, and Milla Jovovich would probably come with her.

No time to go out tonight.

"Not tonight. I have other things to do tonight."

"Hmph, then when are you free? I want to see you and talk to you more, okay?"

Winona Ryder asked.

"Tomorrow, I'll be free between three and four in the afternoon. I'll come to your place."

"Okay, tomorrow afternoon. It's a deal. See you there."

Winona Ryder immediately brightened up.

I could feel her joy even through the phone.

Link felt that something was wrong. It was just a casual affair. Would Winona be emotional? He called Michelle Pfeiffer to find out the situation.

Michelle Pfeiffer couldn't stop laughing after hearing this, and said that it might be true, and that Winona was a girl who was prone to argue, and if she was not interested in him, she would not pretend to be drunk and follow him home in the club.

Link shook his head and asked Michelle Pfeiffer to speak ill of him in front of Winona, advising her not to fall in love with the Playboy and not to invest too much emotion in him.

Michelle said it was useless because he was so great that other men became unattractive after meeting him and no woman would want to leave him.

Link asked her to try her best to persuade him, and to talk again if it didn't work.

After hanging up the phone, Link returned to the production center to check on the production work.

In the evening, Link returned to the villa halfway up the mountain with the script. Sofia, Milla Jovovich, Monica, and the newly moved in Liu Xiaoli and Liu Xixi were all there.

After the whole family had finished their meal, Monica and Liu Xiaoli cleaned up in the restaurant, Milla Jovovich accompanied Liu Xixi in walking the dog on the lawn of the villa, and Link and Sofia went to the study to read the script.

After reading the script, Sofia gave it an average review.

"At All Costs" tells the story of a female host who, after becoming famous, finds that her husband has become an obstacle to her career. In order to get rid of her husband, she uses her beauty to seduce three rebellious young men and asks them to help kill her husband.

Sofia said she didn’t like the heroine’s story, couldn’t resonate with it, and had no interest in directing it.

Link didn't force her.

A director is also an artistic creator. The most important thing when creating a work is to like the story of the script and to have the desire and passion to film the story and show it to the audience. This is the internal driving force.

Creation without passion is painful, and the resulting films won’t be very good.

Link is the director and understands this.

"It's up to you. Now there are many good scripts in the Guess the Movies script library. If you have time, you can go and have a look and choose a few scripts to practice with."

Link said.

Sophia put down the script, turned around and sat on his lap. "If 'The Man From Earth' performs well at the box office, I plan to continue directing low-budget films, just like you, starting with low-budget films, and then directing big productions after I have enough experience."

"Not bad, too. How is the post-production of This Man From Earth going? When can we see the finished film?"

Link asked, holding the girl's slender waist.

"It will probably take another half a month. How long will the post-production of The Butterfly Effect take?"

"It will take more than a month."

"It won't be long. I feel like my movie might be a big hit. How about we compete to see whose movie has the highest box office? If I lose, how about we go ride a roller coaster?"

Sophia smiled against him.

“Wouldn’t that be too childish?”

Link frowned and pretended to be embarrassed.

"Of course not, that's settled."

Sofia kissed him happily, not letting him say no.

After discussing the script, Link and Sofia came to the gazebo outside the villa, ate fruit and chatted with Monica and Liu Xiaoli. Looking at the brightly lit city of Los Angeles that never sleeps below the mountain, they felt a leisurely feeling of watching the hustle and bustle of the world.

The only distraction was that Milla Jovovich was teaching Liu Xixi to speak Russian, all gibberish.

At night, when it was time to rest, Liu Xiaoli took Liu Xixi to live in the side villa instead of here. Although their relationship was basically open, Liu Xiaoli still couldn't let go in front of outsiders, and Link didn't force her.

It was another lively night. The next day, Link got up early to exercise. Because he had increased his physical strength many times, not only did his physical fitness improve, but his rest also became more efficient. He could feel energetic after sleeping for four or five hours a day. Unlike Quentin and Ben Affleck, who would feel lethargic for half a day after watching a striptease.

In the morning, Link and Milla Jovovich, who loves sports, ran five kilometers on the mountain trail, and then returned to the villa gym to exercise for more than an hour.

After working out and sweating profusely, I took a shower and felt refreshed and clean all over. I looked in the mirror and felt that I had become more handsome. Even my facial features had become more prominent and angular. Compared with three years ago, the similarity was less than 40%.

When Sophia got up yawning, she saw how energetic he was and said excitedly that he had sucked away their spirits, so he was in such good shape, while she had no strength in her body.

Link advised her to exercise more.

Among the people in the family, Milla Jovovich originally liked exercising. Later, at his suggestion, Milla began to practice martial arts. She would take time out every week to exercise, and her physical condition was also good.

Monica and Liu Xiaoli run, do yoga and aerobics every day, take care of their skin regularly, and are in good shape.

Only Sophia is lazy and has no interest in exercise.

After breakfast, Link and Liu Xiaoli came to the company to work, and the others were free to arrange their own arrangements.

After finishing some work, I went to Winona Ryder's house in the afternoon with gifts and talked to her about work, new scripts, and some happy things.

Winona is actually quite introverted and sensitive. In addition, the competition in Hollywood is fierce, and people with her personality are more prone to depression and autism.

Link didn't want to cause her any irritation because of his own reasons, so he became more patient with her.

After finishing his official and personal affairs, Link flew to Ohio on Thursday to join the crew of "The Shawshank Redemption" which is currently being filmed, serving as the crew's producer and editor, and sometimes also serving as art director and photographer.

To increase participation, he even played a Chinese prisoner.

Tim Robbins was very moved after seeing it, and said that he was a great director and was willing to work as a laborer in the crew in order to support the film. He was such a friend. So when filming the scene where several criminals were drinking beer on the roof, he also had a cool bottle of beer.

It was the first time for Link to drink in prison while wearing prison clothes.

(End of this chapter)