Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 31 Harvey Scissorhands

As October arrived, Miramax's "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" had already grossed over $10 million;
The $120 million Harvey Weinstein spent at the beginning of the year was definitely a huge profit!

In New York, a commotion erupted from the Miramax offices.

Giuseppe Tornatore, the director of "Cinema Paradiso," and Harvey Weinstein argued in their office over the length of the film.

On the sofa outside the office, Bob Weinstein adjusted his glasses and clinked his champagne with Aaron Anderson. "This kind of thing is very common. You'll get used to it!"

Bob Weinstein was referring to a dispute between the director and the distributor over the editing of the film.

The director's cut of Cinema Paradiso is 173 minutes, which is of course not acceptable. When it was released in Italy last year, it was cut to 155 minutes;

Unfortunately, this time he ran into "Scissorhands" Xavi and played until the 123rd minute.

Aaron shrugged. Actually, the director's cut of most movies is not good. The theater version depends on the film company's approach.

Because the length of a movie is directly linked to the number of screenings, if the movie is too long, it is not conducive to the interests of the theater;
The director's cut will mainly be included in future DVD discs!
"Cinema Paradiso, are you planning to promote it as the Best Foreign Language Film?"

Aaron inquired.

Bob Weinstein nodded and said, "It will be screened in Los Angeles theaters on a limited basis before the New Year. It will be eligible for Oscar nominations and will be officially released after the New Year!"

"By the way, does Steven Soderbergh have any new ideas?"

Bob Weinstein, with a lewd expression on his face, asked Aaron about Steven Soderbergh's new project.

"No, he still hopes to continue developing independent works that suit his ideas. He has no idea yet!"

Steven Soderbergh is now a little proud of himself.

According to the box office performance of "Sex, Lies and Videotape", this movie can bring Miramax tens of millions of dollars in profits;

This is the most successful work Miramax has ever encountered since its establishment, so it's no wonder that Bob Weinstein is eager to know Steven Soderbergh's new project.

"That's a shame," Bob Weinstein certainly hopes that another work like "Sex, Lies and Videotape" will appear that will bring both fame and fortune.

After a while, director Giuseppe Tornatore came out of the office first, but with a helpless expression on his face;

Apparently, he couldn't stop Miramax from editing his work.

After leaving with Giuseppe Tornatore, he heard the other party complaining in Italian. Although Aaron didn't understand Italian, he definitely guessed that he was scolding Xavi!
"Okay, let's go get something to eat," Aaron pulled the other person directly into an Italian restaurant;

When it comes to food, France and Italy are the top choices.

Giuseppe Tornatore looked frustrated. "This movie is like my own child, and it was cut by almost an hour."

"Film companies have to consider commercial factors. Theaters don't like to show films that are too long." Aaron smiled and comforted the other party. Giuseppe Tornatore is not qualified to have the final editing rights yet;

Of course it’s fine if you want to be like Quentin Tarantino in the future, his works have enough box office!
Hasn’t the 155-minute Italian version been proven to be a failure?

For a 2-hour movie, the theater can show it 4 times a day. If it is 3 hours, it can only show it 3 times at most!

"By the way, I came to the United States this time because I have a new script that I want to show you, and I hope to find an American distributor to work with."

Giuseppe Tornatore originally wanted to work with Miramax, but because of the incident with Cinema Paradiso, he had some resistance;
Therefore, I specifically sought the assistance of Aaron Anderson, who was able to discover works such as "Cinema Paradiso" and "Sex, Lies, and Videotape", and has a good attitude and vision towards independent films.

Giuseppe Tornatore handed Aaron a script as he spoke. "It's about a retired man in Sicily who has lost his wife for many years and travels to several major cities in Italy to visit his five children, each of whom has his own career.

"It's mainly about expressing the indifferent family ethics in today's industrial society. I have already talked to the veteran Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni, and he is very willing to play the role of the retired old man!"

As Giuseppe Tornatore explained, Aaron was also looking through the script in his hand, titled "Family Journey";
An old man goes to a big city to visit his five children. It is a heartwarming family ethics film.

It's a typical art film, basically for awards, and it definitely has no market in the United States. Touching and heartwarming plots have no commercial appeal in the United States.

Unless it is an inspirational work, you can still try it in the United States. However, this kind of movie is likely to be praised by film critics!
Aaron quickly offered a suggestion, "We could try to market this type of work to Disney; they love family-friendly titles!"

Moreover, Giuseppe Tornatore is the winner of the Jury Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which is the second most prestigious award after the Palme d'Or.

"Thank you. I don't know anyone else in the United States. Although "Family Trip" has investment from an Italian film company, it's not enough."

"I hope to raise enough money for the filming from France and the United States!"

Aaron nodded and said, "I'll send the script to Disney as soon as possible."

The director of "Family Trip" is Giuseppe Tornatore, who is somewhat famous. However, Aaron had contact with Jeffrey Katzenberg before, after all, "Pretty Woman" had just been completed;

Moreover, Aaron had just worked on a work that brought both fame and fortune, "Sex, Lies, and Videotape", so he could definitely give it a try.

Disney was originally an animation company that played with children's works. After Michael Eisner took over Disney, he established Touchstone Pictures and began to produce works for human beings.

However, Disney is not looked down upon by mainstream Hollywood. It is a film company that only produces children's films and comedies?

Whether it is Jeffrey Katzenberg or Michael Eisner, they certainly want to restore Disney's reputation in the field of art;
I, Disney, can also produce works of cinematic artistic quality.

Think about it, in a few years, Disney will directly acquire the art film label Miramax. Isn’t it all for the sake of film art?
Comedy films have never been looked down upon by Hollywood film critics!

Awards, the Oscars are the foundation of a film company. There were five big and three small Hollywood studios in those days, but they were all blessed by the Oscars;
Disney has been very popular in recent years and has become one of the six major Hollywood studios. MGM and United Artists merged to become almost a hotel company, and RKO has disappeared.

Disney took over and became one of the new six major film studios in Hollywood, and it also had to prove its pursuit of film art!

(End of this chapter)