Chapter 371

Simon looked at Barbara Brockley with interest. She looked at herself with her chin slightly up. She didn't respond to what she had just said. She suddenly said with a smile, "Barbara, has anyone ever said you look like someone else?"

Barbara Brockley was in a daze.

It has been 30 years since the Brockley family took control of 007. In recent years, his father, Albert Brockley, has been getting worse and worse. He is handing over the dominance of the ace spy series to his brother and sister, and often tells them to firmly hold 007 in their hands and not allow anyone to touch it.

Simon constantly intervenes in the next 007 project during this period, and insists on replacing the current actor Timothy Dalton, which makes Barbara Brockley, who also inherits her father's strong character, instinctively feel the threat, and then there will be just a provocative question.

Unexpectedly, the young man who made her face the enemy in her bones turned the topic lightly.

Simon didn't wait for the stunned Barbara Brockley to speak again, and said: "you must have seen the alien et. I have to say that you look like the little girl in the movie, um, Drew Barrymore. It seems that she should be a big girl now

Barbara Brockley has naturally seen Steven Spielberg's et, and certainly remembers the little girl in the film.

It's just that.

What does that mean?

"Simon, et, well, it's a really good movie. However, it seems that we are not talking about this now. "

"I understand," Simon nodded, and saw MGM CEO Shirley Lansing come in a hurry. When she came near, she said to Lansing, "Barbara said I shouldn't interfere in the 007 series. In that case, I won't interfere. You can do it your own way."

Shirley Lansing's face was a little ugly.

Simon has asked 007 series several times during this period, and she always said that the project is progressing smoothly. Unexpectedly, the broccoli brothers and sisters will suddenly pick up the casting differences that have not been settled between the two sides.

Now, Simon let go lightly, but Shirley Lansing didn't think it would end there.

At the beginning, Meg Ryan, who was just on fire with "when Harry meets Sally", wanted to terminate her contract with danielis entertainment, and westero also agreed to it easily.

The result!

When Simon finished speaking, she turned to meet Qiang Peters, President of Columbia Pictures. Shirley Lansing quickly followed him and tried to explain that she didn't care how westero would arrange 007 series afterwards. Even if she shelved it directly, she didn't want to affect herself.

Seeing that Simon had begun to chat with Peters, Lansing could only stand by patiently.

During the chat, Lansing obviously noticed that Simon was very interested in Peters' young girlfriend.

John Peters is in his forties this year, but his little girlfriend is very green and looks like she is in her early twenties. It's probably Latino. The girl's skin is not so white. Although she has a charming face that attracts men, it doesn't seem to be the type that westrow is interested in.

However, Shirley Lansing still remembered the girl's name.

Catherine Zeta Jones.

Simon didn't expect to meet Hollywood's famous "old man killer" at the party tonight.

In my memory, Catherine Zeta Jones has a brilliant career in Hollywood. It's not just Jon Peters, the Hollywood gold medalist, but Catherine Zeta Jones once got along with Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery and other celebrities, and finally married Michael Douglas, 25 years older than her.

It's never easy to be in Hollywood. Even if you have body, face, acting skills and are willing to sleep with others, it doesn't have many advantages. Too many people have to come back to reality after wasting a scene.

As a result, Catherine Zeta Jones, who also has no background, is a little "legend".

While talking, Bruce Willis and Demi Moore joined in.

Before he knew it, John Peters turned to the film project in which he was going to invite the Willis to take part.

"This is a suspense thriller about murder caused by domestic violence. It's called fatal thought. The plot is similar to sleeping with the enemy, with murder elements added. It tells the story of a woman who helps her best friend kill her idle husband. We hope Bruce and Demi will join us and start shooting early next year. However, Demi said that the schedule may conflict with MGM's "few good people."

Said Jon Peters, looking at Shirley Lansing and then turning to Simon.

Simon looked back at Lansing.

The project preparation of "few good people" is much smoother than that of "007's golden eye". Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro and Demi Moore have all decided to join in. The original script has also been revised and is expected to start shooting in November. The initial deadline is early August next year.At the end of the summer season, a few good people can avoid the impact of blockbusters such as Terminator 2 and Batman: the dark knight.

Demi Moore is more likely to be a man than Meg Ryan in the option contract with danilisi entertainment. She directly accepted danilisi Entertainment's offer of $2 million, and Simon was happy to give the other party some convenience.

Shirley Lansing noticed that Simon looked over and nodded, "if we need to, we can try to put Demi in front of the year."

Demi Moore suddenly said, "Simon, why don't you take time to read the play of fatal thought? If you can, I don't think Peter and Qiang would mind making it into a partnership between Denise entertainment and Columbia Pictures. "

After so many years, Demi Moore cherishes the popularity of ghost, but understands that it's good for her to keep in touch with westero.

Jon Peters heard that from Demi Moore and looked forward to it.

From the box office of sleeping with the enemy and shaking the cradle's hand, which have been released in this summer camp, if fatal thought can be included in the 10 film projects of danielis entertainment, even if half of the revenue is to be shared, the result will definitely be much better than that of Columbia Pictures.

Simon was not interested in participating in a film he had never heard of, but just refused.

After another chat, John Peters left and walked away.

However, Katherine Zeta Jones, who had just introduced herself, did not intervene. When she finally left, she obviously gave Simon a look.

Simon noticed the girl's little action, just laughed and looked at Shirley Lansing who was still with him.

Knowing what Shirley Lansing was worried about, Simon said: "Shirley, I'm really too busy to care about 007 recently. Since the brockles want to keep control, let them do another one. Anyway, 007 series has not lost money. MGM has been tormented by cochrian for so many years. Your next task is to restore MGM's normal operation as a big studio. Wait patiently for a year. I will make other arrangements. "

Shirley Lansing put her heart down, nodded seriously and said, "Simon, I understand."

During this period of time, the news that danilisi entertainment is about to take part in the acquisition of MCA makes Shirley Lansing realize the reason why Simon didn't want to take part in MGM when he had a chance.

Only in recent years, the rapid rise of danilisi entertainment has reached the level of traditional big studios. Danilisi entertainment has now become a member of the American Film Association. Once the westrow system controls MGM ahead of time and wants to acquire MCA, it is equivalent to intending to control the three major Hollywood studios, and it is bound to encounter antitrust obstacles.

On the contrary, after merging MCA, meddling in MGM, which is much weaker, will make it easier for all parties to accept and things will be much simpler.

Send Shirley Lansing away. Before Simon moves, someone comes up again.

……

"Terry, it's a celebration party tonight. Let's not talk about the acquisition In any case, the partnership between Denise and Warner Brothers will not change. "

……

"Good evening, Bob. Is the later part of Havana finished Of course, no problem. I happen to have time next week. You can arrange to call me

……

"You look beautiful tonight, Julia Yes, I know about captain hawk. Steven called me specially. There's no suitable project for you at danielis entertainment. There's no problem for you to play Ting Cobell. "

……

"Pierce, I didn't expect you to meet Joanna Aurora Borealis? Maybe I should take some time to have a look. "

……

"Don't worry too much, Joe. Terminator 2 is much better than abyss, and I'm watching it myself. I'm sure Cameron will finish the project within $70 million Well, you can tell Barry, in fact, I thought 50 million was unlikely from the beginning. "

……

"I'm sorry, sir. You can send the script to the writing Department of Denise entertainment. It's not my working time."

……

"It seems that you have met, Jane, and holly I think the heroine of farewell to the piano is completely tailored for you All right, Ella, you'll arrange a formal meeting next week, and then call on Harvey, let's have a good talk I will go there if I have time. "

……

"I saw the film" ten days of danger "for the first time last week. I have to say that you two performed better than I expected By the way, may, how's Dakota doing? "

……

"Maggie, isn't Warren here tonight Oh, happy breakup Ha ha, stop. I don't want to have an affair with you Speaking of all, the last tour received $70 million at the box office. Don't you think I should have a share Well, let's change the subject. "……

"Unfortunately, Kurt, the heroine of" flash "has been basically confirmed, and the schedule of" scream 3 "and" flash "is relatively close, so you are not suitable for this film If there is a suitable project, I will definitely take the lead in considering you "Fight smart", curt, if you want to play, I can promise now. However, you are about to be finalized as a horror film. Do you want to be labeled as a comedy Spend two or three years trying out all kinds of roles. Don't care if it's the heroine or not, and don't pay too much attention to the pay. The most important thing is to hone the acting skills and broaden the stage. In two or three years, you will probably be able to complete the transformation. "

……

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Mikaela Yes, "Beverly's wife" has not been cancelled. It's just that the season has been suspended. I think Edgar should have talked to you Well, you've got westero's confirmation now Dinner, tomorrow night, I'm not in Los Angeles tomorrow The night after tomorrow, I'm sorry, I can't either That way, you can talk to my assistant later. She arranges all my schedules. "

……

After shuttling through the crowd in the hall, Simon spent more than an hour entertaining around him with constant compliments, seductions, flatteries, temptations, lobbying and introductions before finally meeting with Amy Pascal and other company executives.

Robert egger is also in Los Angeles these two days. When everyone talks and laughs, a thing that egger inadvertently mentioned quickly aroused Simon's interest.

It's related to ESPN TV station of metro / ABC Group, which is the parent company of ABC TV network. Although egger left ABC, his connections were not broken.

ESPN, the largest sports television station in North America, was founded in 1979. It was originally invested by the well-known Getty family in the United States. It was the Getty family whose younger generation was kidnapped and cut an ear but still refused to pay ransom.

The Getty family is no longer in the spotlight because of the continuous succession battle. The shares of ESPN were also sold in the process of family infighting in the 1980s. 80% of the shares were acquired by ABC, and the other 20% of the shares fell into the hands of nabesk. With the continuous improvement of ESPN's prospects, this shareholding ratio has been maintained since 1984.

In this process, ABC TV network was acquired by metropolis media and integrated into metropolis / ABC Group. Nabesk was acquired by Reynolds tobacco company with a huge sum of US $25 billion, making it the largest leveraged buyout case in American business history. The shares of ESPN have also changed their parent company unconsciously.

Now, after the disastrous merger a year ago, Reynolds nabesk has to pay off its huge debts by selling a lot of assets. As a tobacco and food company, the ESPN shares held by Reynolds nabesk naturally become the "non core assets" that need to be sold for debt repayment.

Although knowing that Simon has always wanted to develop into the television industry, Robert egger did not expect that he would be interested in this equity. He explained: "Simon, this is only 20% of the shares of ESPN. We can't get any control right when we buy it. The price is very high. It costs about US $200 million, and we have to get the approval of metropolitan / ABC Group."

ESPN was valued at $50 billion at its peak. In the original space-time, there were even media comments that Michael Eisner helped Disney to acquire metro / ABC with $19 billion. The biggest gain was ESPN. In my memory, ESPN was exactly in the 1990s that it completely established itself as the largest sports television network in the United States.

Now with $200 million invested, Simon believes that in ten years' time, only the annual dividend of these holdings will be more than that.

Although Simon has more demands for ESPN and the whole metro / ABC Group, it is a very cost-effective investment to take the 20% shares first.

Ask egger to help him collect a more detailed information as soon as possible. Simon looks at the time. It's past nine o'clock in the evening, and he leaves early with his female assistant. It only takes more than an hour to fly from Los Angeles to Seattle, but it should be early in the morning to settle down.