Chapter 697: Chance Encounter
Tribeca on Manhattan Island is one of New York's most charming neighborhoods, home to cobblestone streets, world-famous restaurants, and historic warehouse buildings converted into multi-billion-dollar lofts. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
It's also a notable place for independent filmmakers, not just Miramax, who founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002 when producers Jane Rosente and Robert De Niro founded it, and in just a few years it has become one of the most important film festivals in the United States.
Zhang Ran and Wu Ruide appeared here, which has nothing to do with independent films, and they made an appointment to meet with Echo Permatt at the NOBU restaurant in Tribeca.
Opened by Robert De Niro and Toei Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, this restaurant is one of the most famous restaurants in New York, coveted by many food lovers and Hollywood stars.
As soon as they walked to the door of the NOBU restaurant, Zhang Ran and they ran into an acquaintance, Zhang Ziyi and a foreigner.
Zhang Ziyi saw Zhang Ran and Wu Ruide, said a word to the foreigner beside her, and then took a few steps forward, smiling as bright as a peach blossom in March: "Director, Mr. Wu, what a coincidence, you also come here to eat?"
Wu Ruide smiled and nodded: "Come and meet a friend." ”
Zhang Ran said with a straight face: "Producer Zhang, aren't you going to shoot "Very Perfect", why did you come to the United States? You are a producer, if the movie is smashed, I will try to ask you!"
Zhang Ziyi is a particularly ambitious woman, in the past two years, she has been unwilling to be an actress only, and plans to be like many Hollywood superstars, the actor producer will catch her, and at this time, a woman named Jin Yimeng found her with the script "Sophie's Revenge", which is an urban fashion drama, which is a relatively novel theme in China, and the two hit it off.
After that, Zhang Ziyi took the script and found the peak of the century, and after reviewing the script, the peak of the century found that the entire script was written in the standard format of Hollywood chick movies, and the peak of the century thought that chick movies were very attractive to urban female white-collar workers, and this movie would make a big difference, so he invested 30 million.
Zhang Ziyi knew that Zhang Ran was joking with herself, stuck out her tongue, and said in a coquettish tone: "Director, people are timid, don't scare people!"
Zhang Ran glanced at the foreigner next to Zhang Ziyi, in his forties, wearing a black suit by Dior, with long trouser legs, a bunch of pleats on his leather shoes, and his hair seemed to have been uncombed and messy. Since Zhang Ziyi's new relationship broke out at the beginning of the year, many Chinese viewers have thought of this foreigner with the nickname Weiwei.
Zhang Ran was a little unimpressed by this person's dress, and said in his heart that this guy is still an angel investor, and this body is too unparticular, even more sloppy than me, who is a director! He smiled at Zhang Ziyi and said, "Ziyi, don't you want to introduce me?"
"Director, Mr. Wu, this is my boyfriend Ivy Nivo, mainly engaged in the media and catering industry, the largest individual shareholder of Time Warner Group, and the chairman of NM Investment Company!" Zhang Ziyi remembered that there was another person by her side, and quickly introduced, "Weiwei, this is Mr. Zhang Ran, a famous director, and the founder of YouTube and Fly. This is Mr. Wu Ruide, the CEO of the pinnacle of the century!"
Wu Ruide politely greeted Ivey Nivo, after all, the name of the largest individual shareholder of Time Warner Group still sounds a little scary, but Zhang Ran's attitude is more casual, he heard Deng Wendi mention this, and his words were quite disdainful. Even Deng Wendi disdains people, he naturally doesn't care too much: "Mr. Nivo, it's a pleasure to see you." ”
Ivy Nivo was very enthusiastic about Zhang Ran: "Mr. Zhang Ran, I am very happy to see you! I don't know when you will have time, if you have time, I want you to talk to you, I have a few good projects now, maybe we can cooperate." ”
Zhang Ran thought that this was too anxious, and said lightly: "This time I came to the United States, the itinerary is very full, next time!"
Although Zhang Ran refused, Ivey Niwo did not have the slightest dissatisfaction, and very enthusiastically offered to exchange business cards with Zhang Ran, but Zhang Ran did not refuse.
After exchanging business cards, Zhang Ran said goodbye, and walked towards the NOBU restaurant with Wu Ruide.
After Zhang Ran and the others walked into the restaurant, Zhang Ziyi whispered to her boyfriend, "Let's go too, shall we?"
Ivy Nivo said "um" and asked as she walked towards the restaurant, "Ziyi, are you familiar with Zhang Ran?"
Zhang Ziyi glanced at Ivy Nivo, and thought to herself, Do you think I have a leg with him? If I have a leg with him, can I still look at you?
Recently, Zhang Ziyi and Ivey Nivo have a little conflict, she hopes that Ivey Nivo will give her half of the property rights of the house in Park Hyatt Mansion in Beiping and the Marabu house in California, but Ivy Nivo does not agree, and the relationship between the two is a little cold. She said lightly: "It's very familiar, what's wrong?"
Ivy Nivo said happily: "That's great, I'll go to China with you every few days, and then you can ask him out?"
Zhang Ziyi frowned and said: "I just filmed a drama with him, and I don't have any deep friendship, and now his status is not within my reach, I asked him to meet, but I am afraid that he may not give me this face." ”
Ivy Nivo's eyes flashed when he heard this, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "If you can successfully cooperate with Zhang Ran, the house in Park Hyatt Mansion will be given to you, and the house in Marabu, California will also be given to you!"
Zhang Ziyi almost vomited blood, the old lady slept with you for so long, let you give me two houses, you pushed back and forth. Now I want to do business with Zhang Ran, let me help, and give it to me only when the cooperation is successful. I knew this earlier, the old lady didn't want to fight her face at the beginning, and she also slept with Zhang Ran, at least he wouldn't worry about the two houses with me!
The restaurant was relatively empty, with only three or four tables of customers, and it was still early, and there was still more than an hour before dinner time. Zhang Ran and Wu Ruide sat down near the kitchen, which was the worst position in the entire restaurant. Eco Permat is relatively low-key, and likes to choose a more remote corner for dining, so as to avoid being noticed.
In fact, it is not only Eco Permatt who has this habit, but many celebrities also have this habit, such as Ingrid Bergman every time she goes to Mr Chow in Beverly Hills, she will book a place close to the kitchen, so that she can avoid the eyes of other guests.
After Zhang Ran and Wu Ruide sat down, the waiter stepped forward to ask, and after knowing that Zhang Ran and the person they had asked had not yet arrived, he silently retreated.
When there were still five minutes left before the appointed time, Wu Ruide suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Echo Permat, here!"
Zhang Ran raised his head and looked in the direction of the entrance of the restaurant, only to see a man in his fifties, dark skin, and a thin appearance walking towards him. When the man came over, Zhang Ran noticed that he was wearing a very ordinary Ralph Lauren suit.
is dressed like this, if he didn't know that he was Echo Permatt, Zhang Ran would never believe that he was a rich man with hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, he was quite emotional in his heart, and said that Jobs was low-key, compared with Echo Permatt, it was simply too high-profile.
Zhang Ran heard Wu Ruide say that the biggest shareholder of Marvel is most proud of the fact that in his career of more than 40 years, he has never been interviewed by the media, and he always tries to avoid people's attention and even avoid being photographed. Unlike most other studio executives, Eco Permatt despises the Hollywood lifestyle and tries to avoid flaunting his wealth.
Avi Arrad, a longtime partner of Permatt and founder of Marvel, said: "He flew on a regular plane, not a private jet. He drove the same car for 25 years, and he didn't care about that. If there are some used pieces of paper or sticky notes around him, he will cut them into 8 pieces so that he has a new notepad. ”
Zhang Ran was originally skeptical about this, but when he saw Echo Permatt's dress, he knew that it was true, and at the same time, he also knew that this kind of person who likes to do things in a down-to-earth manner is the most difficult to deal with.
Echo Permatt walked over with an indifferent expression, first shook hands with Wu Ruide, and then stretched out his hand to Zhang Ran, and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhang, I have admired your name for a long time, and I have wanted to meet you for a long time!"
"I also admire Mr. Permatt's name for a long time, Cal Icahn is known as the wolf of Wall Street, and you can defeat Cal Icahn and regain ownership of Marvel, it is a classic battle that can be written in textbooks!" Zhang Ran shook Pomat's hand and said polite words. However, this is not entirely polite words, Zhang Ran said it was the truth.
Echo Permatt was Jewish, and when he first arrived in New York with only $250, he quickly demonstrated his merit for a Jew, making the most of his Hebrew status outside the Jewish cemetery in Brooklyn to provide paid lead services for grieving mourners.
After accumulating a certain amount of money, Eco Permatt began selling toys and beauty products on the streets of New York, but he soon discovered that he could make high profits by selling overstocked merchandise and tail goods. Eco Permatt never went to college, but taught himself how to read balance sheets and became a master at finding opportunities in struggling companies, which quickly made him a rich man.
In the early 90s, Permatt ran Toybiz with Avi Aradd, a toy company whose products originated from characters created by Marvel and required Marvel authorization, and in the 90s, the company was acquired by Marvel and renamed Marvel Toys, and Purmatt entered the board of directors of Marvel Entertainment.
At the end of the 80s, Marvel was taken control of the company by corporate hunter Ron Perelman, and under Perelman's operation, Marvel went public in '91. After going public, Marvel began to expand aggressively, in addition to desperately launching comics, it also frantically acquired other companies, including toy companies, comic distribution companies, etc., and the acquisition of Toybiz was at this time.
However, Marvel's good times did not last long, and in the mid-90s, the comic book bubble burst, a large number of comic book stores closed, Marvel's sales were severely damaged, and Perelman's expansion strategy left the company with huge debts, and the company was in trouble.
Concerned about the company's future, Eco Permatt tried to convince the company to venture into film, but didn't heed his advice, even though the strategy was right.
Soon after, Marvel was targeted by another corporate hunter, Carl Icahn, and under the operation of Carl Icahn, Perelman was out, and Marvel failed to get out of trouble and was liquidated.
At the critical moment, Eco Permatt and Avi Arad miraculously won the support of federal judges, seized control of the company, and the new Marvel Company was formed, with Eco Permatt as CEO and Chairman of the Board, Avi Arad as COO, and Carl Icahn sold his own stock and completely exited Marvel.
Since then, Marvel has begun a long recovery under the control of Eco Permatt!
Zhang Ziyi and Ivy Nivo were sitting not far from Zhang Ran, Zhang Ziyi had been paying attention to Zhang Ran's movements, and saw Zhang Ran and Wu Ruide talking happily with a salesman-like person, and asked in a low voice, "Who is that person?"
Ivy Nivo felt that the dark, thin man was somewhat familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere, and he muttered for several seconds, and let out an exclamation: "God, it's Echo Permatt, doesn't he dislike to entertain guests?"