Entering July, half of the summer file of 1987 has passed unconsciously.

Outside of "Beverly Police Detective 2", there are no other local box office hits that are expected to exceed 100 million yuan this summer.

"The Witch of East Town" led by Jack Nicholson, "Predator" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and "Heaven and Earth" starring Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd, and several movies that are expected to reach a total box office of 50 or 60 million US dollars in North America are probably only small profits, basically not meeting the expectations of major film companies.

Among them, Matthew Broderick, who had a conflict with Simon, starred in the new film "Project X" was arranged by Fox Films to be released on June 5, with a scale of 1022 screens, a box office of $4.57 million in the first week, and a cumulative box office of only more than $12 million in the entire month of June. Compared with the production cost of $15 million, although Fox Film will not lose money through post-production, this film is completely unworthy of the high-quality schedule and publicity resources it has obtained.

Simon paid attention to the film before the release of "Project X", but he didn't feel much in his heart.

The original matter has long been over, as long as Matthew Broderick no longer provokes himself, Simon will not have any intersection with the other party in the future.

On the other hand, on July 2, the S&P 500 index broke through the 290-point mark, and after a month and a half of silence, Simon once again began to place trading orders to Noah Scott, gradually liquidating the 4,500 contracts originally held in Westeros' account, and at the same time starting to open positions again.

In this era when stock index futures trading has not yet had a 'daily debt-free settlement system', there are naturally many benefits for futures speculators, but the disadvantage is that Simon cannot directly use the book profit of the original 4,500 contracts to increase the position, and if you want to increase your position, you must complete a liquidation and change of hands.

Simon had expected to be able to switch hands between 290 and 295 in the S&P 500, but the S&P 500's rally accelerated significantly after the volatile June equity index futures delivery month.

Westeros' account opened a position on the S&P 500 at an average of 272 points in mid-May, but ended up clearing positions at an average of around 295 points.

With an average increase of 23 points, the book profit of each contract reached about $11,500.

After settlement, the 4,500 long contracts in Westeros' account, excluding various transaction fees, made a cumulative profit of $50.65 million in one month, and Simon's principal increased to $125 million.

After the change of hands, the number of long positions in Westeros increased to 6,800 shares, and the proportion of positions still reached a very dangerous 80%.

Fortunately, from July 2 to July 10, the second layout ended, and the S&P 500 index had risen to 298 points at the close of trading on July 10, but in just a few days, the long contract in Westeros' account once again generated a very considerable paper profit.

Simon found that he would probably not need to use the Wells Fargo loan at all. In fact, he really didn't want to use that loan unless he had to.

The breach of the loan contract is secondary, and the most important thing is that once the misappropriation of the loan is discovered, Simon's operations in the futures market are likely to be exposed.

Compared to the more than 80,000 stock index futures traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange every day, Westeros' thousands of contracts would not have had much of an impact on the market. But if someone finds out that a young man who has just done a box office miracle in Hollywood has joined the game and has made a lot of money before he knows it. Then, according to Soros's famous reflexive theory of 'market participants and the market interacting with each other', the impact of Simon's operation on the stock index futures market will also be magnified, and the original market trend in his memory is likely to be changed as a result.

At the same time, in the last week of filming, the crew of "Death Is Coming" returned to Los Angeles from New York and completed the opening plane crash scene in the studio of Fox Studios, and the film was successfully completed on July 9.

Simon spent a few days discussing and confirming the detailed post-production plan for "Here Comes the Grim Reaper" with Wes Craven, and on July 13, "Vulgar", which had been in the works for months, officially began filming.

Inside a bar in Venice Beach.

On the third day of filming, the crew was filming the plot of mob boss Marsha Wallace lobbying Butch Coolidge to fake boxing.

There is a soundtrack to this episode in the main film, but at this time, the atmosphere in the bar is very quiet.

The crew's departments were organized around the two actors who played Marsha Wallace and Butch Coolidge, and the only sound on the scene was the narration of Vin Rhames, a black actor who played Marscha Wallace.

"When it's all over, you'll find that you're the one who has the last laugh. Butch, although you are still strong now, unfortunately, you will not be strong for long......"

Because it was a fixed camera shooting, Simon did not need to check the composition of the lens in real time through the monitor, but stood outside the photographer, gaffer and other staff, holding his arms to watch Robert De Niro's performance without a few lines at all, and couldn't help but compare it with the original Bruce Willis.

In a large group of tough guy actors such as Stallone and Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis's acting skills can be said to be the best.

However, in this scene of the original "Vulgar", watching Lao Bu sitting in front of the camera and listening to the training of the gang boss, most people will still subconsciously have a thought, this is Bruce Willis, this is Bruce Willis, this is Bruce Willis......

At this time.

Simon looked at Robert De Niro, who was holding his shoulders and pursing his lips slightly, suppressing anger and unwillingness, but he didn't dare to attack at all in front of the gang boss, and there was only one feeling in his heart, this is Butch Coolidge, a down-and-out boxer whose career is nearing the end and still has some strength but has not been able to get ahead after all.

In "Vulgar", Butch Coolidge's room for play is actually not much smaller than that of Vincent, Jules and other characters. But in the original film, due to lack of acting skills or no effort at all, this character was basically played as a live-action mess with Bruce Willis.

This is probably why the media and audiences talk about characters such as Vincent, Mia, and Jules, but few people talk about a boxer with a lot of scenes.

In contrast, Robert De Niro, who has always had a reputation for dedication, has been preparing for the role in recent months, even Simon can't help but be impressed.

Although he is a boxer, Butch Coolidge does not appear in the ring in the film. But even so, in order to look like a professional boxer, De Niro continued to train for two months and gain weight.

For the current scene, Robert De Niro not only discussed with Simon many details such as the character's psychological changes and performance methods, but also asked Vin Rheemes to record this dialogue for his own consideration.

Now, just the first scene that Robert De Niro participated in after the start of filming, Simon is sure that this time Butch Coolidge will definitely leave the audience no less impressive than Vincent, Jules and other characters.

Three minutes later, when Robert De Niro and Vin Rhimes' first performance was over, Simon motioned for the others to rest and led the two to the monitor.

In the 80s, the image assistance system was just emerging, and the monitor screen was only 6 inches in size, but the rental of the entire equipment was very expensive, almost the same as the rental price of the camera, and Simon did not use the equipment at all in order to save his budget in the previous "Lola Run".

This time, of course, there is no need to be so frugal.

The three of them watched the replay in front of a monitor screen that was only comparable to a later large-screen mobile phone, and after a while, Simon pressed pause, fixed the picture on a small detail of Robert De Niro's mouth, and turned his head to ask Robert De Niro, who was standing next to him, "Bob, what do you think?"

Robert De Niro looked at it for a moment, shook his head and smiled, "Overexertion." ”

Simon nodded and analyzed: "As a small person, Butch is actually very jealous of Marsha, and his long silence has already shown his inner resistance, but it is impossible for him to dare to show too obvious dissatisfaction. So, next, you need to converge a little bit. ”

Robert De Niro didn't say much, and said, "Simon, I need to think about it." ”

Simon waited for Robert De Niro to return to his seat before turning to Martha Wallace's actor Vin Remes.

Like Samuel L. Jackson, who played Jules, Vin Rhames is also the original actor.

And Wen Remes is similar to Samuel L. Jackson in other ways, the black actor also has a standard academic background, having studied theater performance at the State University of New York and the Juilliard School of New York, known as the 'Harvard of Music', with a bachelor's degree in fine arts, and before that he also had a Broadway performance experience and has been playing some small roles in Hollywood.

Speaking of which, from Samuel L. Jackson and Vin Rhames, it cannot be seen that Hollywood still has deep-rooted racial discrimination after all. In Hollywood, many black movie stars have a high level of education. Comparatively speaking, the 'threshold' for white people to realize the American dream is much lower.

Because of his professional background, although Vin Rhames did not show his face at all in the three-minute performance, he also amazed Simon with his deep line skills.

Simon chatted with Wen Rhames for a few words, and had a very good impression of this actor who played the gangster but had a rather gentle personality in reality, and finally stretched out his hand to the other party and said: "Wen, your line skills are very good, I think we will definitely have the opportunity to work together in the future." ”

Wen Rhames shook Simon's hand hard and said with a smile: "Of course, I'm also looking forward to it." ”

With that, Robert De Niro said that filming could start again, and Simon instructed everyone to prepare again.

Today's main filming is a few scenes of Butch, Marsha, Vinson and Jules in the bar, and a set of shots of Marsha lobbying Butch to fake boxing was filmed repeatedly for an hour before Simon said it passed.

John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson had already finished their make-up and quickly moved on to other shots.

was so busy until five o'clock in the afternoon, the crew officially called it a day.

The others dispersed, and Simon and several assistant directors confirmed the shooting plan for tomorrow and sent today's filming film to the Fox Studios Printing Factory, which was already 6:20 a.m.

Inside Fox Studios.

Leaving the post-production center, Simon looked at Jennifer Raybould, who had become accustomed to following him these days, and the girl had left George Norman's law firm to work for him soon after his last invitation.

Slowing down the asphalt road in the studio, Simon asked the girl next to him, "Jenny, how are you feeling these days?"

Jennifer Raybould was carrying a briefcase and a folder in her hand, and when she heard Simon's question, she couldn't help but think about the experience of these days. At the end of last month, she suddenly made the decision to give up her career as a lawyer, and all her relatives around her said that they could not accept it, and her parents even flew over from New York in their busy schedules.

It's just that Jennifer, who has always been a good girl since she was a child, doesn't plan to obey her parents' wishes this time.

After several encounters, she finally got what she wanted.

However, Jennifer also made some compromises and had to complete the California Bar exam at the end of July to officially obtain her practicing certificate. In this way, she will be able to return to the legal profession at any time in the future.

Then, starting on July 1, the girl officially became Simon's personal assistant.

The professional categories of secretaries and assistants overlap, but they are also basically two different jobs. To put it simply, in a company, the authority of an assistant is usually higher than that of a secretary.

In the past half a month, Jennifer is basically still in the stage of familiarizing herself with her work.

Simon's career in Hollywood is just getting started, and there aren't many jobs that can be given to her.

However, as long as the operation of the stock index futures market is successfully completed and a large amount of money is owned, Simon's industry will definitely expand rapidly, and when the time comes, the girl will also be busy.

At this time, hearing Simon's question, Jennifer said: "I don't think I can help you do much, perhaps, I should take some film major courses at USC." ”

When Simon heard this, he shook his head with a smile and said, "No need, Jenny." You know, in Hollywood, experience is more important than academic qualifications. And I'm not going to train you to be a filmmaker. ”

Jennifer wondered, "So, Simon, what are you going to let me do?"

"It's just my assistant," Simon smiled, paused, and said, "Actually, I've been working on something else lately, but it's not convenient to tell you right now." Wait a while, and you'll find yourself probably busy enough to fly. ”