King of Hollywood
Chapter 286 - Chapter 286 Chapter 13 Long-Term Planning

Chapter 286: Chapter 13 Long-Term Planning Chapter 286: Chapter 13 Long-Term Planning “The ‘Vietnam Battlefield’ footage is relatively easy to deal with,” at least Lieutenant Dan’s legs don’t require any special effects, so there’s no need to worry about continuity errors during shooting. However, Adrian is somewhat concerned about the military consultant they hired, who doesn’t seem to be a professional at all.

With eyes bulging like a goldfish and seemingly never blinking, a slightly balding head, and a bit of a belly, he always looks listless. If it weren’t for his assistant’s repeated assurances that this guy named Ward Burnson really did serve in Vietnam as a commissioned officer and even consulted on ‘Born on July 4th,’ Adrian would have thought he was a fraud.

Burnson does have some substance in his belly; at least the other assistants recognize that he has a standard grasp of tactics, and there are basically no mistakes in his arrangements. So, even though the guy often grumbled about things like “When I was fighting for this country in Vietnam, most of you here were still wet behind the ears,” Adrian didn’t take it seriously.

The shoot went relatively smoothly and had its interesting moments. Hank teased Adrian with the phrase “fire in the hole.” It’s a term frequently used by the US Army to avoid explosions enacted by their own side. When this phrase was called out, Lieutenant Dan was having people throw grenades into a cave, which matched the literal meaning perfectly.

The hardest scene to shoot was probably Forrest Gump running to save someone. The previous shots were fine, but the one where he carries Babu wasn’t so easy. In that scene, Forrest has to carry Babu out before the incendiary bombs fall, so they couldn’t just use a ‘lift and switch to put down’ montage like before. Hank had to carry Williamson, who weighed nearly 200 pounds, for at least a hundred feet–a tough task indeed.

After much consideration, Adrian first had the stuntman try running, then rigged a wire on Williamson to support his weight, and finally let Hank run. Only after that did they shoot the explosion scene. The jet and incendiary bombs would need CG added in post-production, just like the helicopters when they first arrived at the camp.

“Here are the papers you need to sign today.” During a break, Charli handed some documents over to Adrian. She seemed colder than before, but Adrian, who knew her well, didn’t take it to heart.

“Is everything settled? How come I wasn’t aware?” Adrian asked in surprise, looking at the documents in his hand.

“Claude called the day before yesterday. At that time, you were busy with the rain scene, and told me not to disturb you, so of course, I wouldn’t go against your wishes,” Charli said indifferently.

“Oh, yes, the effects in those shots weren’t very good, so I was a bit impatient,” Adrian recalled, and then had a flash of realization. He patted Charli’s shoulder, “Sorry, Charli.”

“Sorry?” Charli raised an eyebrow at him.

“I wasn’t very nice at the time,” Adrian said with a smile, and casually signed his name on the documents.

“I’m used to it,” Charli shrugged, took back the documents, and turned to leave, “Claude will be here in 30 minutes.”

“Claude? What’s he coming for?” Adrian asked curiously, to which Claude himself provided the answer: “Of course, I’m coming to… how do you say it? Visit the set, right? I’ve never seen you work before, and besides, this is my father’s golf course. It would only be right for me to come by, wouldn’t it?”

And the first thing he said when he got here was, “God, if my dad knew you were ruining his golf course like this, he’d definitely kill you.”

“Unfortunately for you, Claude, he’d kill you first,” Adrian replied.

“How does it feel, is it different from what you imagined a director’s work would be?” After showing Claude around the entire set and answering some detailed questions, Adrian asked.

“Yes,” Claude nodded, “I always thought directors either sat in chairs yelling ‘start’ and ‘end’ or fiddled with props for special effects, or held the camera to shoot.”

Here he stopped to think and sized up Adrian: “It seems what I said doesn’t differ much from what I just saw.”

“Come off it, Crow, don’t show off in front of me,” Adrian said with a laugh as he punched him lightly, “Every director has their own strengths, and James Cameron is the kind of director who’s passionate about technology. But the main job of a director isn’t doing special effects, it isn’t about wrestling with the camera, it’s about coordination.”

“Coordination?”

“Yes, a director, even if he knows nothing about lighting, make-up, or special effects, can still make a grand movie. All he needs to do is to tell the heads of each department what kind of result he wants and to supervise the outcome to ensure it meets his requirements. The key is that the director must have a complete concept and be able to control the whole process of the movie,” explained Adrian.

“It sounds,” Claude stroked his chin, “like it’s not too different from my job.”

“Most things in the world aren’t fundamentally different,” Adrian said, clapping him on the shoulder, “Anyway, let’s talk about the present. I thought it would cost 200 million, but in the end, it only took 120 million.”

“You should know that Disney originally offered Miramax only 60 million. It was after we got involved that it rose to 80 million. But Michael Eisner obviously didn’t think they were worth more than that, so he let go after we bid 120 million,” Claude explained briefly, “Of course, this 120 million wasn’t wasted. Although Miramax retained its operational independence, it was wholly acquired by us, and we gave them an 18% dividend.”

“So, you’ve met the Weinstein brothers? How do they seem?” Adrian asked immediately.

“I’ve only met them a couple of times, so I can’t be sure, but from what I’ve gathered from other sources, these guys are pretty much what you described. At the same time, they’re very strong characters, with a pioneering spirit to match ours, and you wouldn’t guess they were in their fifties. Moreover, they have deep affection for the Miramax brand,” Claude recalled.

“Of course, it’s their parents’ names the company is named after,” Adrian shrugged, “They’ll find out sooner or later that being acquired by us is much more pleasant than being acquired by family-oriented Disney.”

“By the way, Ed, are you interested in meeting them?” Claude suddenly asked.

“Meeting them?” Adrian raised an eyebrow.

“Of course, you are the chairman after all,” Claude chuckled, obviously up to something.

“Well, okay, no problem,” Adrian agreed, then added, “If I have time, that is.”

Time was definitely not an issue. The golf course where the Forrest Gump crew was staying wasn’t far from Claude’s private club, so Adrian met the Weinstein brothers there the next day.

Among the two brothers, Bob Weinstein was more familiar, while Harvey Weinstein was very talkative.

“If I had known you would achieve what you have now, Ed, I definitely would have gone to get the distribution rights myself,” Harvey said with a laugh, talking about events from a few years ago.

When Adrian had taken Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to the Venice Film Festival, Miramax was the first to come knocking–proving their vision was indeed remarkable. Mentioning it now almost made it seem like destiny, bridging the relationship among them, except for Adrian. If not for his sudden emergence, Miramax under the Weinsteins would have surely been the focus of the early ’90s.

Well, no matter. They were now his to command.

“Just like I said to Crow before, we are a better fit for you guys than Disney. Think about it. Disney’s brand has always been family-friendly, while Miramax is free-spirited. Moreover, Eisner has always liked to make unilateral decisions, which may not be a problem in the short term, but over time, will inevitably lead to an unbridgeable gap,” Adrian said.

And that was not alarmist; it was something that had happened in his memory. Of course, the problem wasn’t entirely Disney’s; it’s natural for a parent company to want its subsidiary to develop in the direction it plans. In the end, it’s all about control.

Miramax had been acquired by AC Media, and such a situation was unlikely to happen again. For one, as he had said, they were a better match than Disney; secondly, since he knew of certain situations, he would definitely avoid them. Moreover, under Adrian’s planning, AC Media was different from Disney.

Following his remarks, the Weinstein brothers realized this point and both appeared to be in deep thought, becoming more enthusiastic afterward.

“Well done, Ed. I knew it was a good decision to have you come over,” Claude praised after the Weinstein brothers left.

“I only stated the facts,” Adrian replied with a smile as he flexed his fingers, “and besides, the Weinstein brothers won’t become loyal to us because of what I said, nor will we give up on having Miramax operate according to our plans.”

“You’re right,” Claude lifted his coffee cup and then changed the subject, “If you want DreamWorks to act as a shield for us, why invest a hundred million? If you’re looking to share in the profits, isn’t a hundred million a bit too little? I heard Spielberg and his team are trying to raise funds–or did you simply want to support him?”

“Of course not, my purpose is for after the year 2000,” Adrian said with a slight smile.

“After 2000?” Claude looked surprised, “You plan very far ahead, Ed.”

“You could say it’s to support Spielberg, but it’s more for Katzenberg,” Adrian added.

“Jeffrey Katzenberg?” Claude was even more puzzled, “Didn’t he just have a falling out with Disney?”

Adrian answered with a smile and no reply. The establishment of DreamWorks occurred much earlier than he remembered, which was naturally related to his persuasion, but it led to a series of changes. For instance, Spielberg had still found David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, hoping they would join and support him. Geffen agreed, but Katzenberg declined; he was doing well in the Disney’s high echelons and saw no need to start over with Spielberg.

For DreamWorks itself, the absence of Katzenberg didn’t matter much; Spielberg might even find an even more outstanding CEO. However, for Adrian, it was an infuriating matter because the reason he prompted Spielberg to establish DreamWorks early was not only to provide a shield for his own company but also to achieve another goal, which would be hard to achieve without Katzenberg.

But this butterfly effect was his own doing, and he couldn’t even remember why Katzenberg had originally accepted Spielberg’s invitation. Faced with this situation and powerless to change it, Adrian could only console himself that not everything would go as he wished.

However, a few weeks later, the situation took a sudden turn; Michael Eisner’s right-hand man, Frank Wilson, died in a helicopter accident. Katzenberg, who had been working hard for so long and was delighted at the prospect of succeeding Wilson, was enraged when Eisner appointed someone else and excluded him, leading to an immediate fallout with Disney.

“Mike left Paramount over such things, and now he’s done the same to someone else,” Laverne said after reading the news. He had worked with Eisner before.

Actually, it was quite normal; once people have power, they tend to change in certain ways. Adrian asked Laverne if he would do the same if necessary in that position, and after some contemplation, Laverne confirmed that he would–he was honest. Power is the best aphrodisiac, and this saying is not without basis; Adrian’s actions were the best literal interpretation of these words.

In any case, while Katzenberg was claiming his deserving benefits from Disney, he turned to Spielberg who had seized the opportunity and offered an olive branch. Thus, the three giants of DreamWorks finally came together, and Adrian breathed a sigh of relief.

Of course, he would not divulge this to Claude. After finishing his coffee, Adrian promptly stood up to take his leave.

“I have work to do,” he said, “if there’s anything, call me or Charli.”

“Got it.” Claude did not ask further questions and saw him out of the club.

“Tell Richard I’m on my way back and to get ready,” Adrian instructed his female secretary assistant as the car merged onto the highway.

Charlize quickly fulfilled his request, “They’ve already started making adjustments.”

Despite Adrian coming over for the meeting, the shooting on the other end didn’t cease, just like in Alabama, where the assistant director took charge of shooting some simple scenes.

“Thanks,” Adrian nodded, then, side-turning his body and propping his cheek with one hand, looked at Charlize, “Hey, Charli, the weekend is coming up; maybe we could go out?”

“Go out?” Charlize glanced at him.

“Yeah, I suddenly realized we haven’t spent a holiday together yet,” said Adrian, gesturing.

“We’ve spent enough holidays together, and let me remind you, Ed,” Charlize said, glancing at Glover, who was driving in front, “we agreed that only I get to sleep with you, not you with me.”

Although Glover was well aware of the relationship between Adrian and Charlize, he couldn’t help but cough awkwardly, looking somewhat peculiar in the rearview mirror, as if suppressing something. Adrian, also aware of this, felt embarrassed because of Charlize’s disregard for discretion and, touching his nose, wasn’t sure what to say.

“And also,” Charlize continued, “take care of your troubles first.”

Then, she turned her head to look out the window, ignoring Adrian. Adrian shrugged it off for the time being, and Charlize was right; he should deal with the current troubles first.

These weren’t exactly troubles, as after inviting Blanchett on a sea outing and winning her over, they’d spent much of the following week wrapped up together, naturally neglecting others. It was a normal situation for someone juggling relationships with four or five women at once. If life’s regular pattern got disrupted unexpectedly, it was sure to create problems.

But Adrian didn’t feel bad about it; he rather enjoyed this aspect, wasn’t this exactly what he wanted? Besides, under his tutelage, Monica was practically his already, and wouldn’t mind even if she knew; Kate was currently conflicted and wouldn’t notice; Sarah was busy shooting “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” at the studio. He’d been there previously filming “Forrest Gump,” and popping in to check in wouldn’t be an issue; he even enticed Sarah to try some storage room passion by offering her mouth. So the only problem was with Julia.

“I called you ten times, Ed! Ten times! And every time, it’s that darn assistant of yours who answers! Can’t you pick up once? Okay, you’re busy, you have work, it’s inconvenient to answer, but why! Why don’t you call me back? Not even one call! Do you care about me at all, Ed?” Julia yelled furiously on the phone.

Despite her anger, Adrian still heard the hints of unease hidden within it.

“I just want to say I’m sorry, my dear, I’m really sorry.” He suppressed the laugh inside him and spoke with a sincere tone.

“You don’t think it’s a little late for apologies now, do you, Ed?”

“Yes, it is a bit late, but not too late. How about this, tomorrow’s the weekend, let’s go relax in Orange County, it’ll cheer you up.”

“I won’t agree to it!”

“Then it’s settled, I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”

“Hey, Ed, I haven’t agreed yet!”

“See you tomorrow, I love you.” (To be continued, for more please visit www.NovelFire.net. More chapters are available and support the author by supporting genuine reading!)

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.