When you come to Century City, among the many business buildings, you can see the "Relativity Building" sign that has just been erected on the top of the building, this building is only 26 floors, which is inconspicuous in Manhattan, New York, but in Los Angeles, it is already a tall building.

Ronan enters the Relativity Entertainment Building, and can see busy workers coming in and out, and all kinds of office equipment are constantly being brought in.

Fortunately, it is orderly and seems busy but not chaotic.

The property transaction for the Relativity Building has long been completed, and the administration of the head office is working with a professional company to make final preparations for moving in.

Since many professional departments are involved, many department heads will also come over from time to time to put forward corresponding requirements with the cooperative company.

Ronan saw Mary, the CFO of Relativity Entertainment, right in the hall.

As one of the veterans and team members of Shahai Entertainment at the beginning, compared with George Clint and Robert Lee, Mary is much more low-key because of the nature of her work, and only stays in the company's finance department most of the time, and her sense of presence is not particularly strong.

But when it comes to the criticality of the position, Mary's importance is undeniable.

"The finance department needs a vault. ”

Seeing Ronan, Mary said simply: "I am communicating with Bank of America, and they have recommended a professional company that will build a bank vault for us." ”

Ronan pointed to the ceiling: "I'll go upstairs, you get busy first." ”

Taking the elevator to the tenth floor and looking at the temporary office map, Ronan found Christopher Nolan's office.

The office room on this floor is spacious, with more than a dozen large offices and some small offices that are fully equipped, and three crews of Shahai Entertainment are temporarily stationed.

In addition to Christopher Nolan's new film project, there is also Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" and the just-confirmed "Mr. and Mrs. Smith".

The latter was forwarded to George Clint after Ronan picked it out from Artisan Pictures' script library, and quickly went through the internal procedures to formalize the project.

Ronan is in a small office and meets Christopher Nolan in a busy place.

Seeing Ronan, Christopher Nolan temporarily put down what he was doing and handed over the two documents: "This is the script and the preliminary plan of the project. ”

Ronan put the plan aside, opened the script and looked at it roughly, it was not much different from the movie in his impression, it was still the story of two young magicians and friends in a magic showdown.

Christopher Nolan briefly introduced: "Most of the script was written by Jonathan, and the main storyline comes from Mr. Pirester's name, and Mr. Robert Lee has assisted me and Jonathan in buying the rights to the adaptation of the original book for the crew, and it will be a grand magic show." ”

Ronan nodded and asked directly: "How much does the project budget need?"

Christopher Nolan clearly calculated, saying: "The $40 million production budget, including the rights fees that have already been spent. ”

This did not exceed Ronan's expectations, and he immediately said, "Yes." ”

Seeing that Ronan didn't mean to read the plan, Christopher Nolan continued: "I plan to start preparing for "Deadly Magic" after the release of "Batman: Time to War" in July, and start filming at the end of this year or early next year, and if everything goes well, all production will be completed in early 2006. ”

Ronan said: "Then put the premiere of the film in 2006, and the embassy pictures will communicate with you later." ”

Christopher Nolan's filming speed is definitely not fast compared to fast gunners like Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg, although he also shoots typical commercial films, but not the popcorn genre, and pays more attention to slow work.

Under normal circumstances, a film directed by Christopher Nolan generally takes more than two years, or even longer, from preparation to filming to release.

Although Christopher Nolan is also a producer, he knows that the real decision-maker of this project is still Ronan, and said: "In terms of actors, I invited several candidates, Christian Bale has agreed to play the leading role, Michael Kane will play the supporting role, and the other actor I am interested in Hugh Jackman......"

Ronan had no opinion and said, "It's good for you to make the decision on the choice of actors." ”

The finances of the crew are firmly in the hands of the production company, and Ronan does not need to worry too much, and he is also confident enough about Christopher Nolan's ability.

Christopher Nolan said: "Okay, about the actors, I'll submit a report to you when the auditions are over. ”

As an extremely intelligent director, he puts himself in a very correct position.

Ronan asked, "What about The Dark Knight?"

Christopher Nolan said simply: "The script has been written a long time ago, and there is no idea of changing it for the time being, I have communicated with Charles Rowan and Warner Bros., and Warner Bros. is not sure if there will be a sequel before the box office of "Time to War" comes out. ”

"Let's wait for the release of 'Time to Go to War'. "Ronan knew that the initiative for the series was entirely in the hands of Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

Shahai Entertainment is mainly an investor, and it is enough to share the investment income from it.

Talking to Christopher Nolan about getting off work in the afternoon, Ronan went to Ang Lee's office on the same floor, who had just returned from outside.

"Hi Ronan. Li An hurriedly beckoned his assistant to pour water for Ronan: "Why do you have time to come over today?"

Ronan took the water cup from the assistant, thanked him, and said to Ang Lee: "There is a project that has just started to be prepared, and some work needs to be determined, so I just stopped by to take a look." He asked, "Are the preparations going well?"

Ang Lee smiled first: "With your strong support, the script adaptation and recruitment of the shooting team are very smooth, although I have not been smooth recently, but I have worked hard in Hollywood for many years, and I also have a small team that cooperates all year round." He then sighed again: "It's just that actors are not easy to find." ”

Ronan could roughly guess what Ang Lee would face when looking for an actor, and asked, "Actor?"

"Yes, it's hard to find a leading actor candidate. Ang Lee was also a little worried: "I found a few good actors, but when I heard that it was a gay role, I rejected them all." Originally, I was most optimistic about an actor named Jack Gyllenhill, and I went to visit his home to earn support from his family, but I was kicked out. ”

Nowadays, the general environment is like this, unlike in the future, whether male or female, it is easy to find actors for gay roles.

In the future, even in many big productions, there are few potential gay supporting roles, and they are embarrassed to show people.

Frankly speaking, Ronan also has no good way: "It's normal for actors to have concerns, and the salary can be appropriately increased." Li, you can also give more promises, the goal of "Brokeback Mountain" is to win the award next year, you might as well explain it directly to the actors. ”

Li An nodded: "It can only be like this." ”

Most actors are not stupid, even if they don't know their own heads, and they have shrewd agents, and nothing they say is as effective as letting them see future gains.

Ronan said in advance: "Don't forget, this is a movie produced by Shahai Entertainment. ”

Ang Lee's eyes lit up, he is a fan of the authorities, the film is not only a Shahai Entertainment production with a high success rate in the circle, but also has Ronan Anderson's name in the producer column!

In Hollywood circles, this is already a gold medal producer comparable to Jerry Bruckheimer.

It's stupid to have the best and most attractive signboard, but you don't know how to use it.

Ang Lee was annoyed and immediately decided to ask out the two most promising actors, Heath Ledger and Jack Jaylen Hill, tomorrow, and have a good talk.

He still doesn't believe that the film project initiated by Ronan Anderson, these two young actors will not be moved?

"My two favourites for the leading actor are Heath Ledger from Australia and Jack Gyllenhill from Australia. Ang Lee has experienced setbacks and is also a mixed character, and he must say hello to Ronan before doing it: "I think if they know that the producer is you, maybe something will change." ”

Ronan is not a rigid person: "Just let it go. ”

Hearing these two familiar names, Ronan felt that it would be good to continue using them.

As for Heath Ledger......

Forget it, don't think about it, it's good to go smoothly and naturally.

Just like Raven Phoenix and David Carradine, Hollywood stars who die have a million ways to die, and they can't stop them if they want to.

Ang Lee has a plan: "If everything goes well, we can finish filming this year, finish post-production in the first half of next year, and then go to next year's Venice Film Festival." ”

"You coordinate with Embassy Pictures and Shahai Entertainment. Ronan decided: "Let them assist the crew in the competition section of the Venice Film Festival." ”

It seems that "Brokeback Mountain" once won the top award at one of the three major European film festivals, but Ronan doesn't remember exactly which one.

Berlin cinema can be ruled out, after all, this is a political film festival, and "Brokeback Mountain" does not live up to its aesthetic.

Before leaving work, Ronan left the Relativity Building, but Ang Lee had been working overtime, and no one knew better than him how important this opportunity was, and it could even be said that it was his last chance in Hollywood.

"Brokeback Mountain" is successful and can continue to develop in Hollywood, if it fails, it will not even have a foothold.

It's a last stand!

The night was dark, Ang Lee finished the work at hand, went out of the office, and met the British director Christopher Nolan, the two stayed on the same floor for a while, and they knew each other, chatting and entering the elevator together.

When Christopher Nolan arrived at the parking lot, he suddenly received a call from his friend Pete Broderick, said sorry to Ang Lee, walked to the rest area and said a word, and then took the car with a helpless look and rushed to the place his friend said to meet the people of the so-called big company.