Five Hundred and Sixty-Nine - Recommendation From the Head of News Corporation.

"Hollywood director Wayne Greenberg, who has earned $500 million, is proud of his success, but he still cannot change his playboy nature. After the celebration specially organized for him by Warner Bros. is over, Wayne Greenberg, Halle Berry and An Australian actress left the hotel together, the three of them behaved intimately, got into the iconic extended Rolls-Royce Phantom business car, and returned to the Greenberg Manor at the end of Mulholland Drive for the night."

"The director of "The Dark Knight", Wayne Greenberg, seems to be extremely partial to Australian female stars. He used to include Naomi Watts, and now he spends a good night with Cate Blanchett again. According to the latest report from our reporter The news came back that as of noon today, Australian actresses Cate Blanchett and Halle Berry still have not left Greenberg Manor..."

"Playboy Wayne Greenberg's taste is still the same. She has a slender and hot figure like a model, blond hair, and a pleasant face. Cate Blanchett obviously has all of these. This beauty who came to Hollywood from Australia Actresses have obviously found a shortcut to success..."

Early the next morning, the news about Wayne taking two beauties, black and white, home for the night, immediately flooded all the entertainment media. Various gossip tabloids, which are popular in North America, even openly published candid photos.

The backgrounds in the photos are almost the same. They are all the back entrance of the Four Seasons Hotel. Wayne has a hint of drunkenness on his face. He puts his arms around a woman's waist and walks towards his car. Perhaps because of the tricky shooting angle, he Cate Blanchett, who is holding Cate Blanchett with her right hand, basically has her entire face captured very clearly. What is even more clear is the man's palm that is grabbing the Australian beauty's protruding part.

Now is the weekend rest day. The emergence of this news immediately aroused the discussion of countless movie fans. Coupled with the blessing of "Batman: The Dark Knight" which is still being screened in theaters, Wayne Green was immediately The two names of Berg and Cate Blanchett have become the focus of public discussion in the past two days.

As for Halle Berry, she is the one who is least surprised by ordinary movie fans, because as early as a few years ago, there was news of a relationship between them, and then they broke up. Since then, Wayne He has never publicly acknowledged his official girlfriend again.

Countless paparazzi monitored the Greenberg Manor 24 hours a day for two full days. During this period, they gained almost nothing. Including Wayne and the two women, they did not take a step out of the manor in these two days.

When it comes to women, especially women who make him happy, Wayne is at least considerate on this point. When Cate Blanchett realized that she didn't mention leaving, he was not in a hurry to let the two women leave early. , during these two days of rare vacation, he fully felt the relaxation that a man should have.

Because the two women never left, Greenberg Manor has been the focus of the gossip media for the past two days. Starting from the second night, all information about Cate Blanchett was picked up by the media. At the same time, there were all kinds of tantalizing gossip stories, and even some tabloids reported various details of the three people having sex again and again.

But after two days passed, as Wayne's car drove out of the manor early in the morning, the gossip reports subsided slightly. To put it bluntly, the public has seen too much news about his playboy style. The popularity cannot always be maintained. The mainstream public opinion is still the battle for the summer box office. After the freshness wears off, the public's reaction to this gossip is far less intense than imagined.

Only these third- and fourth-tier tabloids are still pursuing it. Regarding Wayne's private life, most mainstream media have long since stopped treating it as news. Ever since Hollywood entered its golden age, countless shocking gossips and scandals have been revealed. The so-called revelations about the private lives of celebrities and celebrities are no more than that once the statute of limitations has expired.

As early as his first year in Hollywood, Wayne knew very well that the entertainment industry here was completely different from the entertainment industry on the other side of the Pacific. Los Angeles was the most open and chaotic circle in North America. Ordinary people had little tolerance for the chaotic life of film and television workers. The degree is quite high. As long as he doesn't make those principled mistakes, the fans who should support him will still support him, and the fans who don't like his movie style will not hate him even more because of his personal life.

As for the gossip tabloids that the public talks about, the remarks above will never have any impact on mainstream public opinion. Besides, the timeliness of gossip news is the lowest in the media industry. If it were not for "Batman: The Dark Knight" is so popular that in less than three days, the front pages of tabloids will be replaced by so-called revelations about other Hollywood stars.

This is Hollywood. Basically, every day there will be newer, more eye-catching, and more surprising news about celebrities. It's just a simple mess in their private lives. In this circle, they can be considered clean.

In Century City, Beverly Hills, in a large conference room on the fourth floor of the 20th Century Fox Building, several staff members were setting up cameras lightly. Even their actions in setting up the table were extremely careful at this time. When the staff was busy, they would secretly take a look at the man sitting in the corner from time to time.

"I found out that there is such a project. The production company is HBO cable TV network. It is now in the preparation stage."

Nina ignored the staff in the conference room and bent down to report to Wayne who was sitting on the chair. During the interval of speaking, she took a special look at the open record book in her hand to confirm the information found.

"Ha, what a coincidence."

Smiling softly, Wayne threw aside the "X-Men" information in his hand and tilted his head to look at his assistant.

"Yes, what a coincidence."

Nodding, Nina sighed softly. "According to the information found, the director of this project is an Indian named Shekhar Kepure. This can be regarded as his first official work in Hollywood. It matches the basic conditions you mentioned. The production cost is not high, and the main story revolves around the life of Queen Yoon Elizabeth I, from her childhood to becoming the legendary Iron-Fisted Queen. If nothing else, it’s true.”

The HBO TV network invests in the production, which provides Wayne with considerable convenience. This top-notch theater, known as the Yellow Storm Theater in the hearts of TV fans around the world, has always been one of the most important assets of Time Warner.

The business strategy of this TV station is very unique. From the day it was born, it has never sold advertisements. However, relying on its unique business strategy, it has firmly occupied more than 90% of the paid channels in North America. This represents , more than 90 out of every 100 North American residents who have TV viewing habits subscribe to watch HBO.

When I think of this TV station, the first thing that comes to Wayne's mind is "The Sopranos", "Sex and the City", "Game of Thrones", "Westworld", and countless restricted midnight American dramas, pornographic TV The influence is irreplaceable, at least in the hearts of male viewers.

"so......"

Taking out a cigarette and lighting one, Wayne thought for a while and then told the assistant: "Call Kevin Tsuhara for me and tell me that I want to give this information about Queen Elizabeth Yin. For the project, recommend a heroine and tell him that I owe him a favor.”

"no problem."

Nina saw that the staff had already set up the conference room, so she stood up and took out her mobile phone, dialing the number and walking towards the conference room.

In fact, this project came full circle in early 1998, and the heroine was still Cate Blanchett. It can be said that it was the foundation of this woman's film industry, and it also allowed her, the legendary Australian actress, to completely start her own career. Dock career.

Whether it was pushing the boat along, or deliberately showing Cate Blanchett a man's ability to be hypocritical, Wayne was doomed when he heard that the main investor and producer of the movie was HBO. This matter was very simple for him. In the current era There is no reason why Warner CEO Kevin Tesuhara would not want to sell him such a favor. Besides, this is not a big investment from Warner Brothers, it is just a project of its TV station.

"How do you like it?"

Not long after, the door of the conference room was pushed open from the outside. Kevin Feige was holding a document bag in his hand, followed by a young white man wearing black-rimmed glasses. "Let me introduce, Wayne, this is Bryan Singer."

"Hello, Director Greenberg, it's a great honor to work with you." The young man following Kevin Feige immediately took two steps forward and extended his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Brian." Wayne stood up, shook hands with the other person, and nodded secretly. This is a typical Jewish man. He looks to be several years older than himself. Judging from his appearance, he is energetic. .

"Okay, there should be a lot of topics to talk about between you two." After Kevin Feige asked everyone to sit down, he put the document bag on the table, shrugged and said, "Bryan's first step in directing in 1993 The film "Media" was also presented to the Saint-Denis Film Festival by him. Isn't this kind of career start very similar to yours? However, Wayne, he is luckier than you. Your "Happy Death Day" no one He couldn't even find a distributor, but his film "Media" won the Grand Jury Prize at the Saint-Denis Film Festival."

After saying that, he even blinked at Wayne and spread his hands. There is another point that he did not say directly, that is, Bryan Singer is a Jew, which means he is one of his own. Judging from the character of Jewish people in Hollywood who stick together, this will make it difficult for him to work as a director. Encountered much less trouble.

"Hey, Kevin, my movies can't be compared with those directed by Greenberg." Although Bryan Singer was also laughing, he immediately expressed his respect for Wayne. He is more respectful than anyone else. You must understand that if you, as a director, want to succeed in your next work, you will inevitably need the nod of support from the first producer of "X-Men".

"I believe in Brian's ability."

Faced with Kevin Feige's teasing, Wayne spread his hands, then straightened his face and said: "Okay, there will be many opportunities for contact in the future. Let's talk about business. Kevin, you should know that I am I have three projects to be responsible for, not only Fox's "X-Men", but also my own studio's "Charlie's Angels" and Warner Bros.'s head production "The Flash" next year. Therefore, we will discuss the specific work of the crew. After that, it still depends on the two of you to cooperate, and I can only provide a general direction."

Bryan Singer and Kevin Feige looked at each other and nodded silently. Of course they knew that the other party would not put a lot of energy into the "X-Men" project, and they still had to do their daily work. It’s up to them to do it.

Even though this project is taken extremely seriously by 20th Century Fox, and even the parent company News Corporation is watching, in the eyes of the man opposite, it is definitely not as important as Warner Bros.' "The Flash", and it may not be even more important. "Charlie's Angels" was independently invested by the other party.

"Let me talk about the specific situation first." Kevin Feige didn't waste any time. He reached for the document bag on the table, bypassed the card, took out a few prepared documents, and handed them to the two people around him. man. "The total budget of "X-Men" is 75 million U.S. dollars. Now the first fund of 30 million has been transferred by Fox to the account of a third-party guarantee company. The behind-the-scenes filming team has chosen all the experts in the industry. As long as the audition work After finishing, you can start shooting immediately..."

Wayne silently listened to the other party's description of everything related to the project, compared it with the information in his hand, and nodded from time to time. If nothing else happened, the risk of this project was far lower than what the outside world imagined, at least in his mind. , the risks of this film are not high, as long as everything goes according to plan and nothing goes wrong in the middle.

"Wolverine, the actor who plays this role, was personally recommended by Mr. Rupert Murdoch. Wayne, my personal suggestion is to give priority to this candidate."

When talking about the specific audition candidates, Kevin Feige's voice dropped. Of course, he knows better than anyone else that human relationships have always existed in Hollywood crews, but the man opposite him is the one in the titular "x The first producer of "Men", even if Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corporation, personally recommended it, if it caused this man's displeasure and made the other party misunderstand that this was a challenge to his authority within the crew, he would still act. It becomes a huge headache.

So when talking about the specific candidate for Wolverine, he slowed down a lot, and while speaking, he observed the changes in the other person's face.

Brann Singer is obviously not a rookie in Hollywood. Of course he understands the same thing. So when the topic came up about casting, he immediately shut his mouth tightly, as if he was an outsider. Same, he stared down at the information on the table without saying a word.

"Go on."

Tilting his head, Wayne's voice showed no emotion, gesturing for Kevin Feige to continue. "X-Men" was produced three years in advance. He actually has no obsession with the original actors. If the reasons are good and the acting skills are up to standard, he doesn't mind giving face to the head of News Corporation.

"Uh..." Kevin Feige paused and pouted towards the decorated conference room. "We can meet the actor today, and he is waiting in the makeshift dressing room."

Wayne nodded. "Ok, I'm fine. Just notify the actors to come."

Secretly breathing a sigh of relief, Kevin Feige immediately stood up and walked to the door of the conference room, waving to several staff members. After a few instructions, the two assistant directors in charge of camera equipment also walked in from the outside and met with Wei Wei. After En and the others nodded politely and said hello, they sat behind the camera.

Not long after, the door of the conference room was lightly knocked, and a tall and lean young man walked in. According to Wayne's visual inspection, the actor's height was not less than 1.85 meters. After seeing The moment he met the other party, a smile appeared on his face.

"I'm Hugh Jackman, from Australia..."

While introducing himself, the actor looked directly past the assistant director in front and looked covertly at the three people sitting side by side behind him, especially the producer in the middle. He knows better than anyone else that whether he can star in Wolverine and officially embark on his dream journey in Hollywood depends almost entirely on the thought of the producer sitting in the middle. He has experienced Hollywood and understands that even if it is reckless, Mr. Burt Murdoch's recommendation is not necessarily safe. The producer's power is always reserved for the crew.

"Clang, clang, clang."

Unexpectedly, Hugh Jackman had just finished introducing himself, and before the assistant director in charge of the audition could speak, Wayne reached out and lightly knocked on the table, attracting the attention of everyone in the conference room.

"Mr. Jackman, please take off your shirt. I want to see your figure. Do you mind?"

When he heard Wayne's voice, Hugh Jackman subconsciously wanted to pump his fist in celebration. He endured the ecstasy in his heart and immediately nodded in agreement. "Of course, I mean of course I don't mind."

The tall and lanky man unbuttoned his suit neatly, then tucked the shirt into his pants. After taking off his shirt, he exposed his lean muscles. Different from the mainstream muscular men in North America, this man is actually not thin, maybe because of his height. After taking off his clothes, his powerful upper body exudes strong hormones all the time.

Except for taking off his shirt at the beginning, Wayne said nothing during the subsequent audition process. The assistant director of the audition directed Hugh Jackman to carry out the process step by step. During the process, the various actions performed by the three Waynes were The monitor in front of him clearly captured it.

"what do you think?"

When the audition was about to end, Kevin Feige tilted his head and asked in a low voice: "This guy's camera sense is good, and his whole face is the highlight. Well, his muscles are also his advantage. As for his acting skills. ....."

"I saw the information."

Wayne nodded slightly. Apart from his slightly youthful appearance, if he added a big beard, he would be almost the same as Uncle Wolf in his mind.

The most troublesome thing is his acting skills, which are the least to worry about. According to the data, this actor has been performing in stage plays in Australia. Not to mention how good his acting skills are, but at least they are enough for this role. Besides, Well, a character with facial paralysis in a superhero commercial film is definitely the best kind for an actor to deal with.

"Okay, let's stop here."

The assistant director turned around, and after getting a signal from Kevin Feige, he announced the end of the short audition. While the other person was getting dressed, he said: "Mr. Jackman, the results of the audition will be notified to you within three days after the end." Agent, thank you very much for coming to this audition.”

"OK."

After putting on his shirt, Hugh Jackman bowed slightly to the three people sitting behind him again, turned around and left the conference room.

"what's the result?"

Just after walking out of the conference room corridor corner, a middle-aged white man, obviously dressed as an agent, came up to him and asked with a look of expectation on his face.

"I think I performed pretty well." Hugh Jackman followed his agent to the dressing room, glanced at the surrounding environment in the corridor, and replied in a low voice: "It seems like Wayne Greenberg doesn't hate him. As for my image, I don’t know the rest.”

"Go to the dressing room and talk."

The agent nodded and did not continue to ask about the audition process. The two of them walked towards the dressing room in silence. They politely refused the makeup artist's makeup removal service. They closed the door and only the two of them were left before continuing to talk about this topic. .

"Mr. Murdoch admires you very much and personally recommended you to 20th Century Fox. This is your biggest advantage. Even Wayne Greenberg should give Mr. Murdoch some face. The rest , it depends on whether your image is in line with the character setting in the script."

The room was quiet, and Hugh Jackman kept recalling the entire audition process. Although the person who could decide whether to retain someone only said one sentence at the beginning, he was sure that the other person's eyes never left the monitor during the entire process. , obviously not perfunctory.

What concerned him even more was that during the whole process, the other party had a faint smile on his face, which was an obvious sign that he didn't hate his own image.

"This is?"

When he lowered his head, Hugh Jackman saw a magazine that had been opened to several pages. On the left page of the magazine, there was a close-up photo of Wayne holding two women in black and white, and on the right was a serious box office bulletin.

The agent glanced at the magazine. "Today is Monday, yes, the latest box office report."

Picking up the opened magazine on the table, Hugh Jackman first glanced at the cover, which had "Premiere" clearly written on it, and muttered. "When did such authoritative entertainment media start chasing gossip news..."

"No way." The agent shrugged. "All information related to Wayne Greenberg is now the focus of media reports, including which female celebrity has climbed into his bed again in the past two days."

"This past weekend was the most incredible weekend of the summer." Hugh Jackman heard his agent's teasing, smiled and shook his head without saying anything, and continued to look at the "Premiere" in his hand. . “The North American market continues to remain at a high level, and after three days this weekend, the results are quite unexpected.

In the face of a large number of new films being released, "The Dark Knight" directed by Wayne Greenberg does not seem to be affected. Although the scale of screenings this weekend has shrunk to a certain extent, it still beats many newly released films and won the first prize. It is worth mentioning that this is the fourth consecutive weekend box office champion for "The Dark Knight".

After taking in US$22.03 million in four working days last week, "The Dark Knight" rebounded on Friday, with a box office of US$7.57 million, successfully winning the day's box office championship. At the end of Friday, the film's North American box office officially exceeded US$500 million, reaching an unprecedented US$561.9 million. Wayne Greenberg continues to create his own box office miracle!

After three days of the weekend, according to the latest box office statistics, "The Dark Knight" even reduced its screening scale last weekend, still took in US$7.57 million, US$10.52 million, and US$8.03 million respectively. With a slight advantage, they won the single-day box office championship, and the weekend total box office was 26.12 million US dollars, making it the fourth consecutive weekend box office champion.

So far, the North American box office of "The Dark Knight" has reached US$524.74 million. Although the trend of box office harvesting has slowed down significantly, it is still pushing the record to unreachable heights.

Ranking second on this weekend's box office list is the new film "My Best Friend's Wedding" produced and distributed by Sony Columbia Pictures. This romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts received good reviews upon its release. It has received a great reputation, with a box office of US$21 million in the first three days of its first weekend, and it has been announced that it has broken the premiere record for a romantic film.

It is worth mentioning that the other main actor of the film, Cameron Diaz, has a certain relationship with the great director Wayne Greenberg. Just some time ago, many media reported that, The sizzling hottie is spending the night at Greenberg Manor.

"Extreme Spiritual Chaos Jue"

In third place is Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park 2". The box office of this film is very strong, and it has earned nearly 200 million U.S. dollars so far... .”

"You see." The agent saw Hugh Jackman put down the magazine in his hand, reached out and patted his shoulder, with emotion in his tone. "This is why you must work hard to join the "X-Men" project. As long as you participate in a project led by Wayne Greenberg, success will become a matter of course!"

"I understand." Hugh Jackman only has the figure of $524.74 million left in his head now. Such a terrifying box office means that the participants will be firmly engraved in film history, "X-Men" Let alone half of this number, even one-third of this number is enough to make yourself completely famous.

What they didn't know was that good news was about to come. At the entrance of the 20th Century Fox Building, Wayne was having his final exchanges with Kevin Feige and Bryan Singer.

"The choice for Wolverine is Hugh Jackman. I will only participate in the last round of auditions for other major roles. You need to do all the previous work. Kevin, the role of Storm..." said He paused deliberately at this point.

Kevin Feige immediately nodded tacitly. "I understand that as long as Jimmy's clients meet the basic requirements..."

"Okay, that's it, you go on, call me anytime if you need anything." Wayne shook hands with the two of them again, lowered his head and got into the car door that Sergey opened. "I still have to rush to Warner Studios, where there's a lot of troublesome work waiting for me, you know."

It wasn't until the Rolls-Royce Phantom disappeared around the corner that Kevin Feige and Bryan Singer looked at each other and let out a sigh of relief. Although Wayne was quite approachable during the entire half-day, both of them were No fool, the other person's age will only bring more pressure to them.

"You go notify Hugh Jackman's agent." The two turned and walked towards the elevator of the building. Kevin Feige whispered: "I'll report to Townsend."

"ok!"