Kapoor looked over and said: "Well, it's probably because of the 1985 incident.
Al Pacino starred in a 30 million $ production from the Warner, they invested so much but the movie only made about the same sum at the box office, so Al chose to temporarily withdraw from the screen because of the pressure back then.
I recently heard he was trying to make a comeback though, so I added him to the list."
Thinking of Scent of a Woman and the wild, manly charm that Al had exuded then as a blind retired army officer, Eric couldn't help but ask: "Kapoor, is there anyway we can sign him ?"
Kapoor hesitated: "We can give it a try. But Al Pacino is one of the rising stars from the seventies, although that 1985 movie was a bust, there's nothing wrong with Al's performance. The guy was nominated four times for best actor at the Oscars so far.
Since he has been hinting at a comeback, I believe that many agencies will be competing to win him over, and we have yet anything to show for us in terms of achievements."
Eric knew that what Kapoor said was true, but he still said: "Anyways, we need give it a try. Contact him as soon as possible and tell him about Pretty Woman, I'd really like him to play Edward if possible."
"Okay." Kapoor nodded, then pointed at the pile of files that Eric had singled out and said: "Should I also extend invitations to these people ?"
"Not for the time being, no. You first try to get in touch with Al Pacino, and if he refuses the offer, we'll contact these ones."
For the next few days, Eric held constant auditions for the supporting roles, had to scout for filming locations, contact those locations, and still wrote the script every night.
Meanwhile, he also took the time to contact a girls' only boarding school in L.A, readily becoming their sponsor. While there was less than ten days to Christmas, he had to convince the goblin at home to move out earlier.
Living with her was seriously a headache, he had to be on guard against sudden nocturnal attacks all the time, he certainly didn't want something like the previous incident to happen again.
...
"Eric, I've got a good news and a bad news, which one do you want to hear first ?" It was a new day at the office, and Eric was sitting at his desk looking through a financial report when Jeffrey came barging in without even bothering to knock.
Seeing the middle-aged man undisguised expression of glee, Eric laughed: "The good one first."
Jeffrey pulled out a contract from his briefcase and handed it over to Eric. He said: "Lamborghini has agreed to our sponsorship offer, they'll provide us with their upcoming Lamborghini Diablo sports car. After I repeated to them everything you told me the other day, they scrambled to sign down.
See here, that's the contract, a full 1 million $ ! Hahaha, once this news gets out, other movie companies will be green with envy, some can't even make one million at the box office."
Eric took the contract and went through it. It was true, Lamborghini had indeed promised to pay a 1 million $ advertising fee, provided of course that Pretty Woman's North American box office reached the 100 million $ mark.
If its grossing was less than that, Firefly Studios would have to compensate them accordingly, while if it was higher, Lamborghini would be the one to make adjustments.
What was taking place outside wasn't really affecting Eric, he was still conscientiously preparing for Pretty Woman.
Of course, besides the problem of the male lead, the preparations were almost over. All that was left were trivial details that did not require Eric's presence and were left for Jeffrey to take care of.
"Eric, if you insist on having Al Pacino, you might need to go on trip to New York." Kapoor's expression was somewhat haggard as he sat opposite Eric and said.
Eric personally got up and handed him a cup of coffee for him, before asking: "You mind telling me why ?"
"Al Pacino has some questions about your script, and keeps stalling because he wanted to have a talk with you face to face, however he can't come to Los Angeles since he is performing Richard III in Broadway right now."
Eric had planned on going to New York by Christmas to see Aniston. If he didn't go and claim her back, then the la.s.s was sure to throw herself into someone else's arms, and he would suffer a big loss.
"No problem, I was just about to head up there anyways. How about you come with me Kapoor, maybe we can try to convince him to join UTA ?"
Kapoor nodded: "I was thinking the same, right now Al only has a manager but no agent. No matter what, we'll have to at least try."
"That's settled then, find us plane tickets as soon as possible, tonight or tomorrow would do. If we can't convince him, we'll have to fly back and proceed with auditioning other actors."
The discussion over, Eric drove away towards an all-girls' school* located near the Rose Bowl stadium in Los Angeles, it was where Drew had been sent a few days ago.
He had just met the girl that she started complaining endlessly to him: "Eric, I beg you, send me to another school, are you afraid I'll convert to the Scientology or Satanism ? Ugh, Catholic schools are sooo boring, they're all girls, and their teachings are moronic to the core."
Eric smiled as he flicked the girl's forehead. He himself was originally from the east, and also didn't believe in their teachings, the reason why he had sent Drew here was mainly because of Jeffrey's recommendation.
It was a very strict Catholic boarding school that would be able to keep Drew from skipping cla.s.s or escaping.
"Alright Drew, there's no way you can transfer out, I had to pay a lot of sponsorship money to get you in, you know ? I came to tell you that I'll be in New York for the next few days, and if everything goes well, I'll come back after Christmas.
You have a key to my house, so if you don't want to go back to your mother's place, you can go to mine. If you need anything, just call Jeffrey, he'll take care of it."
Drew asked, dispirited: "You're going to see Aniston ?"
Eric nodded.
They chatted a bit before he drove away in a hurry, leaving behind a girl full of grievances.
_ _ _ _
* It doesn't say, but I'm pretty sure it's referring to Westridge School in Pasadena, it's the only all-girls' school near the Rose Bowl Stadium.