Chapter 521： shortlist

Since Lyman was unwilling to direct the "Mrs. & Mrs. Smith", Paramount naturally needed to find another.

Moreover, Lehmann also made a request, saying that this director should have experience in shooting action subjects; secondly, it is best not to stick to old-fashioned traditions, to dare to innovate, to take a humorous and comedy line, and the action is just an appearance.

As a result, Shirley Lansing asked, "So do you have a suitable candidate?" - You wrote the script yourself and didn't shoot it, so you must have an idea.

Lehman shook his head and asked, "Hasn't Paramount paid attention to directors who shoot such subjects?"

The director of the production department next to him thought for a while and gave a suggestion, "Tony Gilroy or Brett Ratner, how about them?"

Lyman was silent for a moment.

These two people, he has been in the circle for so long, and of course he knows each other—the acquaintance of nodding.

The former, the most famous is the director who took over the fourth part of the "Bourne Bourne" series, and is one of the screenwriters of the first three films. He has rich experience in the industry and has the right subject area, but this guy has also made a movie before. , but I was on the street, so I had to be a screenwriter for so many years;

As for the latter, it is the director of the hit action movie "Rush Hour" series - the work that allowed Jackie Chan to really step into Hollywood's first-tier movie stars. There is no need to question the results, but after this guy leaves Jackie Chan, he won't be able to get any big box office hits. The movies that are sold are also very suspenseful...

At this point, Lehman also mentioned: "In addition to Doug Liman, try to invite these three candidates."

The original "Mrs. & Mrs. Smith" was filmed by Doug Liman, but this one asked for a high price because he had a falling out with Universal behind the interests - well, this is the director of the first three "Bourne Bourne" films After that, after the distribution of benefits was not negotiated, Universal had to shelve the "Bourne Bourne" series. After the last restart, this project was scrapped - after the third part, Matt Damon also said that he would not After participating in the show, after the protagonist Bourne was forced to change people, almost the whole team changed from top to bottom, and it was inevitable that the later results were worse than the other...

Naturally, Lehman did not mention this candidate at the beginning, because he was worried that Doug Lehman was in the rising period of his career. The candidates Meng gave were unreliable, so they could only get in touch with each other.

"Doug Liman, will he come?" the production director wondered - now, this guy has not officially turned against Universal, the so-called "Bourne Bourne", according to the plan disclosed by Universal, is also In planning, we may not be able to win it--a sequel to a hit movie and a new project whose market is unknown, the risk of taking over is obvious at a glance. This is also the reason why Paramount made mistakes when thinking about candidates- It's not that I don't know, but I think there is a high probability that people won't come here, otherwise why mention the screenwriter of the series but not the chief director?

Of course, Paramount didn't know that Universal had a huge disagreement with this person, and would not be cooperating at all for a while - Universal didn't say it, and few knew about it, except for the parties involved.

Lehman knows well, Universal said that it was going to prepare for the filming of "The Bourne 3", but it took 2 years to negotiate. The movie fans are looking forward to the project "Heavy Shadows", and they can't say that the negotiation in the middle has not reached a unity.

After the director candidate came to an end, Lehman took out the original audit documents and budget statement to discuss the investment share with the three of Paramount.

As previously calculated with Shirley Lansing, the two parties invested 50/50, and 60% of the copyright belonged to Firefly Pictures—in other words, the project leadership was in the hands of Lehman, and Paramount could not start the project without consent. Well, a similar situation can be compared to the copyright of "Mission Impossible" in the hands of Tom Cruise.

In terms of publicity and distribution, Blue Butterfly Pictures is responsible for the offline peripheral promotion, and Paramount is responsible for the cinema. Among them, according to the rules, 10% of the film revenue from North America and 30% from overseas will be used for distribution. Ramon's distribution expenses and publicity expenses are shared equally by the two - why do you say that the Big Six doesn't care about the rise of independent studios, as long as you ask for the release of the Big Six, no matter what the risk is, the Big Six can invest a little money, and then Get the most profit.

Taking "Mrs. & Mrs. Smith" as an example, Paramount's investment is equal to that of Firefly Pictures, but it naturally reaps more than half of the film's revenue - this is still trying to make good friends with Lehman, and the project is provided by Firefly Pictures, if it is its own Provide or a small director, at least 60% or even 70% of the food, most of the risk lies with outsiders, so why not be afraid of the rise of independent studios - this is like cutting leeks. If the leeks grow up first, you won't gain much. , after all, as long as these leeks don't even think about turning over to be vegetable farmers.

Shirley Lansing nodded as she listened, and occasionally frowned at Blue Butterfly Pictures' assistance to Paramount's distribution, so she had to endure it.

Then, I heard Lehman continue: "The shooting cost of "Mrs. & Mrs. Smith" is about 80 million to 85 million, and there are many big scenes that use firearms, accounting for a large proportion, so I won't invite any first-line movie stars, the risk is It's too big. And I can be the producer of the project and take the helm of the overall situation It was only then that Shirley Lansing breathed a sigh of relief. If Lehman only provided the script and did not participate in the shooting, she would still be worried. I'm really not happy to throw 30 to 40 million funds into it - what kind of comedy action movie, or an original script, does it have a little spread?

If you are not sure about the quality of the film, and the pressure to publicize it is unknown, then you might as well find an adaptation of a popular novel, at least with traffic and influence.

And now that Lehman can participate in the production, there must be a certain guarantee.

Speaking of which, there is no need to say more about the rest. After all, the director and actors of the crew still need to find suitable candidates. Today is just to determine the feasibility of the project.

According to Lehman's goal of 100 million in North America and 300 million in the world, compared with the shooting investment of more than 80 million, it must be profitable.

Of course, Paramount would not refuse, and immediately signed two co-production project agreements.

One is the ownership of copyright; the other is the distribution of benefits.

After there was no objection in these two aspects, Shirley Lansing asked Lyman what advice he had for the new cast.

Is this, the original film starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and there was a huge scandal during the filming - Brad Pitt's derailment was during the filming of this film. After seeing the signs, Angelina is a famous mistress and a marriage destroyer. As a result, Pete, who is already married, can't stand the temptation...

Of course, Lehman didn't like either of them. Although he didn't suppress them deliberately, he certainly didn't want to cooperate. He said casually, "Notify the agency for audition screening."

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