Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 244 Carlock's Situation

Because Aaron also had his eye on the script of Scream, Twilight Pictures under Dawn and Dimension Films under Miramax started competing;
Many horror film directors think that "Scream" is a comedy rather than a serious horror film, so they are not optimistic about it.

However, in the end, Twilight Films spent $75 to purchase the script from rookie screenwriter Kevin Williamson!
"Without the Scream series, Miramax will be missing a hit in the future!"

Aaron was quite happy when he received the news, after all, this was a deal that snatched the company away from Miramax.

In the office of Dawn Pictures, Aaron, who was leaning back in his chair, had just put down the phone when Esther Beckett came in!

"Boss, this is a document sent by Ms. Paula Wagner, and it contains some bad news;"

"Director Renny Harlin is going to direct Carlock's pirate film, Cutthroat Island, so he can't direct Con Air!"

Aaron flipped through the file and saw several potential action film directors, including Jan de Bont, John McTiernan and others;

Jan de Bont is the director of the movie "Speed" released this year, and it is his debut film.

"Let them talk. 'Con Air' wasn't difficult to direct; it was mainly about the action scenes."

Since Renny Harlin is not available, let's just change the director!

"That one, Carlock's Cutthroat Island, was distributed by MGM, right?"

Esther Beckett nodded. "It was MGM. After Carlock's distribution agreement with Columbia TriStar ended, he immediately signed a distribution agreement with MGM."

"It should be run by CAA. The budget for Cutthroat Island is $6000 million, and the male and female leads are currently Michael Douglas and Geena Davis."

Aaron smiled. The movie "Cutthroat Island" was so famous because it was listed in the Guinness Book of Losses Record.

Director Renny Harlin, the male and female protagonists are currently Michael Douglas and Geena Davis?
And Geena Davis is Renny Harlin’s wife, and they just got married this year!

Aaron shook his head slightly. He remembered clearly that the final leading actor of Cutthroat Island was not Michael Douglas, but an unknown actor.
Because director Renny Harlin directly changed the script of "Cutthroat Island" into a completely female-led work, Michael Douglas was unwilling to make wedding dresses for the couple and withdrew.

Moreover, due to the bold actions of the couple who filmed "Cutthroat Island", director Renny Harlin and actress Geena Davis, the budget of "Cutthroat Island" has been rising rapidly, and the final production cost is close to 1 million US dollars!

"Carlock, quite intriguing," Aaron's interest in Carlock was mainly due to Carlock's lavish spending on filming;
Carlock invests a lot in his works. He likes to make action movies and science fiction movies, and offers sky-high salaries to big stars.

The Terminator 2: Judgment Day, released two years ago, was produced by Carlock. It was the first film with an investment of over 600 million US dollars. James Cameron and Schwarzenegger received high salaries of 1500 million US dollars and million US dollars respectively.
Michael Douglas also received a salary of 1200 million US dollars for "Basic Instinct", and Sylvester Stallone received a salary of 1600 million US dollars for "Clarks and Roses"!
Because Carlock had no distribution channels, he only invested in filming movies and signed a cooperative distribution agreement with Columbia TriStar.

"Terminator 2: Judgment Day" was filmed with funds borrowed from Europe by Carlock. Although it achieved impressive results of US$2 million in North America and US$5 million worldwide, Carlock was not happy with the high publicity and promotion costs, as well as the loan interest. The result of Carlock's inability to quickly recover funds was a high debt, and he soon carried out asset restructuring.

The result of the asset restructuring was the sale of future film rights. Coincidentally, Carlock's next few films were also box office hits, but it missed the boat perfectly.

Including "Basic Instinct" released last year, another science fiction action film "Ultimate Soldier" directed by Roland Emmerich and co-starred by Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren;
Plus there’s also “Clarks” starring Sylvester Stallone this year!
"Carlock should be preparing to make a blockbuster movie to recover his losses," Esther Beckett suddenly explained.

"They discussed with James Cameron about filming Terminator 3, but he had already signed a director's contract with th Century Fox and was preparing other projects.

“Another project is ‘The Crusades’ directed by director Paul Verhoeven, with Schwarzenegger as the male lead;”

"I finally chose Cutthroat Island, probably because I thought it would require the least investment!"

Needless to say, James Cameron knows how to burn money when making movies. Paul Verhoeven has directed "Total Recall" and "Basic Instinct". If he works with Schwarzenegger, the budget must be high.

Aaron touched his chin and said, "Carlock must have spent millions of dollars preparing for the film "The Crusades";"

"Is this just going to be shelved? It seems Mario Casal really has high hopes for Renny Harlin!"

Mario Casal is the current president of Carlock Pictures, who likes to hire big stars and directors to shoot action and science fiction blockbusters;

It's not surprising that people are optimistic about Renny Harlin. Not to mention that this Finnish director has directed "Die Hard 2", but this year's "Clarks" directed by him made a comeback for Sylvester Stallone. The global box office of 2.5 million US dollars is not fake, and the film's reputation is also not low!

"Pirate movies, like Spielberg's previous TriStar film 'Hook', also made a lot of money;"

"It's no surprise that Carlock is optimistic about pirate themes."

Listening to Esther Beckett's words, Aaron just sighed in his heart. What would she feel if she knew that after "Cutthroat Island" was released, it would become the most unprofitable movie in the Guinness Book of Records?
At that time, pirate-themed works would become a forbidden zone in Hollywood, making all film companies and producers shudder at the mention of pirates.

In the future, it will be Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” series that will bring pirate themes back to Hollywood!
"By the way, how is the preparation for Jonathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs: Red Dragon going?"

Aaron is still more concerned about the previous project of this sequel.

"The lead actors have been confirmed. Nicolas Cage, Anthony Hopkins, and Ralph Fiennes have all been cast, and we are currently casting supporting actors."

"The director is selecting the filming location, and once the crew is assembled, we can officially start filming!"

(End of this chapter)