American Fame and Fortune Chapter 747

Chapter 747: Hollywood blocks Depp

 Disney Studios, "La La Land" studio.

Damien Chazelle was sitting at the long conference table, like a criminal about to go to court, nervously waiting for the verdict of his fate.

The conference room door opened and four people walked in.

 Damien Chazelle knew the first two, one was the producer Louise Meyer whom he met last time, and the other was Hollywood superstar Martin Davis.

 The two women at the back have never been seen before.

Louise introduced Martin, Mia and Mandy Moore and Damien Chazelle.

  Martin said directly: "Director Chazelle, I saw the short film about drummers that you made. It's a very thoughtful film."

Damien had been looking for investment and asked directly: "Mr. Davis, are you willing to invest in this project? My original idea was to make a feature film, but I couldn't find the funds, so I had to make a short film and mail it to everyone. Big companies and film festival committees…”

He glanced at Martin and knew that this was a rare opportunity: "With only $3 million, I can complete this film!"

 Mia and Mandy Moore looked at Damien Chazelle curiously. They came here to interview the director of "La La Land". Why did it change to another film project?

 Damien added: "I am willing to transfer the copyright of this project for $1..."

 He doesn't want to be a screenwriter with no status.

Damien opened the bag and handed the script he had brought with him to Martin: "The script has been completed a long time ago."

 Damien looked at Martin expectantly: "Mr. Davis, can we cooperate on this project?"

After Louise and the three of them had finished interviewing Damien Charese and agreed on the filming of the footage, Martin returned the script to him.

 Davis Studio is diagonally opposite the Disney Studios, and it didn't take long for Jessica to rush over.

 Martin took over the script and said to the three Louises: "You talk to him about the rest of the matter, don't worry about me, let's get started."

Martin's energy was completely focused on the script. "Whiplash" written on the cover of the script literally means whipping.

 Martin, Louise and others left the conference room and discussed briefly.

 Martin glanced at his watch: "Wait here for a while, and someone will come over to talk to you about the copyright transfer of this project."

 He read the first third of the play and then turned to the end to see the ending. The script was very complete and the conflict in the story was mainly between the drummer student and the teacher.

 Louise talked about letting Damien shoot a sequence based on La La Land.

After waiting for a while, Damien's agent also arrived.

 Martin nodded: "This is your story, of course you are the director."

Mia said to Martin: "I have a very strange feeling that this young director's ideas are in perfect harmony with mine. His shooting concepts, opinions on the script and song and dance design are exactly what I want. "

Including screenwriter Mia, after the three people interviewed Damien Chazelle, they all believed that he was very suitable to be the director of "La La Land".

 The two parties have officially started negotiations on the copyright of the "Exploding Drummer" project.

 Damien was relieved.

"Okay, I'll wait." Damien still didn't forget the most crucial thing: "There is a prerequisite for the copyright transfer, and I want to be the director."

Having read the script, Martin is absolutely sure that this is the "Crackling Drummer" film.

 Martin raised his hand to interrupt him and asked: "Did you bring the script?"

 Martin nodded slightly: "We will make a decision after he finishes shooting the footage."

Before noon, Jessica negotiated the transfer of the project with Damien's agent and bought the script rights for "Breaking Drummer" for US$50,000.

Although Damien Chazelle said it was only a nominal fee of $1, his agent naturally included a post-production share in the negotiation.

 Jessica of course disagreed, and the script was eventually traded with a one-time buyout of the rights.

 At lunch, Martin and Harris met quietly.

 Depp was in urgent need of money, so he completed the deal with Harris on a seaside villa in Malibu as quickly as possible. The two parties are currently negotiating for a penthouse in the Columbia Building.

“The main thing is the price. They are too dark-hearted and the asking price is too high.” Harris said while eating: “The house with a market price of 18 million US dollars and a listing price of 16 million US dollars is not selling for 12 million US dollars less. It is too much.”

Martin asked: “What's the minimum you think they can accept?”

Harris said: "According to the latest news, Depp has defaulted on the salaries of his staff and the legal fees of the contracted law firms. He is about to face Amber Heard's divorce and domestic violence lawsuit, which requires a large amount of compensation. With this amount of money, I can stabilize the people around me and answer the lawsuit, and I am confident that the transaction price can be reduced to less than 10 million US dollars.”

 This is the person who originally turned Martin's idea of ​​selling stars into reality. He earned full college tuition by selling stars in the sky. Martin believed in Harris's ability: "You decide the details yourself."

Harris smiled and said: "We have already obtained the two-masted antique yacht. Are we going to sell it for cash now?"

"Sell slowly, don't be in a hurry." Martin recalled the news he had seen before and said: "Send someone to London, England, to contact JK Rowling. Before she wrote her new work behind closed doors last year, she was said to have expressed disapproval of Depp's two-mast project. There was a strong interest in antique yachts, but Depp had no idea of ​​selling the yacht at that time, and finally dropped the idea.”

Harris said: "I will send someone to the UK later."

Martin said: "This thing mainly depends on the taste. In the eyes of people who like it, the price is not a problem." It is said that with the super high income brought by the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling ranks among the richest women in the UK. Enter the top five.

 Martin received a call from Saoirse Ronan as he left the restaurant.

“Teacher, do you have time tonight?” She knew that Elizabeth Olsen was not in Los Angeles and said directly: “You didn't come to my eighteenth birthday party, so I can only invite you alone.”

 Martin said: “If you have time, where should you go?”

“I'll send you the location later.” Saoirse hung up the phone.

Not long after the meeting, Martin received a screenshot of an electronic map and found that it was not a restaurant, but a small villa area outside of Beverly Hills.

 He texted back: "I'll arrive around 6:30."

Bruce, who was driving, saw Martin hang up the phone and said, "While you were eating just now, I got the news that several companies that were originally interested in cooperating with Depp on film projects have given up the idea."

Martin said: "This is normal. If it was just domestic violence and divorce, Depp would still have a crew that would use it, but he screwed up two films in succession, and the box office was still ridiculously low. Except for the film company with its head in the hole, Who would want to use Depp?”

Bruce said: "Depp cannot rely on salary income to escape the current economic crisis."

 Martin said with a smile: “That's good news too.”

The more assets Depp sells, the more money he loses.

Santa Monica, Lionsgate headquarters.

McCormick, the company's business president, glanced at his deputy Andrew and said to director David Cape: "You previously strongly recommended Johnny Depp to play the leading role. Judging from the current situation, this is not a good choice."

 Lionsgate Pictures has launched a comedy project called "The Bitch", and David Cape will serve as the director of the project.

Nowadays, for any Hollywood production crew that is a little bit ambitious, who would still be willing to use Johnny Depp as the protagonist?

Not only was David Cape not unhappy at all, but he felt that he was lucky enough that Depp revealed these bad things before the crew actually came into contact with him.

He said: "If I insist on using Depp as the male protagonist, won't I let the film take the initiative to hit a minefield?"

McCormick said: "Depp will not be used in any future Lionsgate film projects."

 Andrew answered: "Boss, you made a wise decision!"

　　"Transcendence" has been withdrawn from North American theaters this week, with a total North American box office of 21.54 million US dollars.

"The Lone Ranger" had a bad start, and its box office performance was even worse. The box office of $30 million seemed to be close at hand, and the gap of several million dollars seemed to be within reach, but in fact it was far away, and it would not be able to cross this threshold even in the lower reaches of North America. .

 Burbank, Warner Pictures.

Faced with the project "Black Mass" submitted by the famous producer Brian Oliver, Jon Berg, who is always full of creative genius, finally became an ordinary person for once.

　That genius' brain did not let itself go when faced with Depp's name.

Jon Berg looked at the names of the four candidates behind the leading actor, including Guy Pearce, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian Bale and Johnny Depp, and typed directly on Depp. Liaocha told everyone in the conference room: "From now on, all Warner Pictures projects are not allowed to cooperate with Johnny Depp, even in supporting roles."

 Assistant MacDonald immediately wrote it down.

Brian Oliver asked tentatively: "Should Christian Bale be used as the leading actor?"

 "Bell?" Jon Berg also had a bad impression of Bell, the guy who messed up "Pharaohs and Gods."

However, under Brian Oliver's persuasion, Jon Berg still agreed to let Bale audition for the male lead in "Black Mass."

In the afternoon of the same day, various subsidiaries within Warner Bros., including Warner Pictures, Legendary Pictures, New Line Cinema, etc., reached an agreement that they would no longer cooperate with Johnny Depp.

Companies such as 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Sony Columbia have also reached the same tacit understanding.

 An actor is riddled with scandals, is not popular with the public and the media, and his commercial appeal is no longer. The results waiting for him can be imagined.

These news are like having wings, flying out of various Hollywood studios, flying into the ears of media reporters, and flying into Johnny Depp's home.

Hollywood has not banned this statement, but it is tantamount to banning Depp in disguise.

 Many acoustic guitars collected by Johnny Depp were smashed into broken pieces of wood this night.

It is said that that night, Johnny Depp, who overdosed on alcohol and drugs, was rushed to the hospital by his bodyguards.

But there are very few sympathizers, and the loser Depp is not a fighter who fights against alcohol addiction and drugs in the eyes of the media and the public.

 But drunkards and poisonous insects.

 (End of this chapter)

Chapter end