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The time has just entered August, "Pirates of the Caribbean" is still in hot screening, and news has begun to circulate in the media that the negotiations between Disney Pictures and the three leading actors of "Pirates of the Caribbean" are not going well, especially Matthew Horner, who is ready to star in the remake of "Dawn of the Living Dead" in the preparation of Universal Pictures.

Two or three days later, the news appeared in many media outlets.

"Matthew Horner is teaming up with Universal Pictures to remake the zombie film classic Dawn of the Living Dead!"

"Renowned producer Sean Daniel has confirmed that a contract has been negotiated with Matthew Horner, and the mighty blacksmith Will Turner will go on a killing spree in the world of zombies!"

"George A. Romero angrily slammed Universal Pictures for changing his creative ideas and not favoring Matthew Horner as the leading actor......"

There are many similar reports, and Sean Daniel is an experienced first-line producer, obviously taking advantage of the popularity of "Pirates of the Caribbean" to start a wave of pre-promotion.

On the morning of August 4, the crew held a signing press conference at Universal Studios, at which the actor contract was officially signed with Matthew.

Representing the crew and signing Matthew was Sean Daniel.

The crew also invited George A. Romero before, but George A. Romero was quite dissatisfied with the crew's rejection of his idea of using women as the absolute protagonists, and directly refused the invitation.

But George A. Romero is not George Lucas, "Dawn of the Living Dead" is not "Star Wars", like most directors, George A. Romero does not have the copyright of the film he has ever filmed, the copyright is all owned by the film company, and in the case of Universal Pictures buying the remake rights, he has no other way but to vent his complaints.

"I've worked with Matthew twice and he's a very good actor!"

In the face of many media reporters, Sean Daniel naturally praised Matthew, "I am very happy to work with him again, Matthew's addition is the most important good news for the crew." ”

He then talked about the scale of investment in the film, the approximate shooting time, and the release time in North America, etc., as Matthew learned before, the production cost of the film is 28 million US dollars, and it will be shot from the end of August to mid-October, and it will be released in mid-April next year.

Then, the reporters threw the question at Matthew, and many people were quite puzzled by his appearance in such a non-mainstream film.

"When Zach and Sean approached me, I was struck by their new ideas. "I've been fascinated by zombies since I was a kid, and all my thoughts stem from curiosity about the afterlife, what would the world be like if death wasn't eternal, if I was only half-dead and my body was still alive? ”

At the signing press conference, Matthew didn't say much, now in the hot season of "Pirates of the Caribbean", the scandal with Keira Knightley and the hype of the Harvard-Westlake Middle School incident are still fermenting, and his signing here is enough news that there is no need to talk too much nonsense.

When the celebrity's coffee position reaches a certain level, it has a news effect in itself, not only scandals and scandals, but also clothing, food, housing and transportation can become the focus of the media and the audience.

At the end of the press conference, Matthew signed the contract with Sean Daniel.

Of course, as with all signing press conferences, this is just a ceremony, and the official contract has been signed before.

After several rounds of intense negotiations between Helen Herman and Sean Daniel, they agreed on the most disagreeable salary, and in order to reduce the upfront costs, Universal Pictures also agreed to his participation in the post-box office share, but the share was very small.

The base salary was finally determined to be $5 million, and the two sides used the film's production cost line of $28 million as the trigger point for the sharing clause, if "Dawn of the Living Dead" reached $28 million at the North American box office, Matthew, the absolute actor, could get one percent of the North American box office as a reward, and when it reached $50 million, the ratio increased to two percent, $70 million was three percent, $90 million was four percent, and $100 million was five percent.

Five percent is also the percentage of the cap.

This is Hollywood's usual way of paying for reducing pre-production costs, motivating the main creative staff and sharing risks, and it is not uncommon among second-tier stars.

After the press conference, Sean Daniel went out of his way to find Matthew and tell him a few things.

"Filming will take place in Toronto...... he said to Matthew briefly, "and the crew has found a shopping mall over there that is about to be demolished, and you should prepare in advance." ”

Matthew nodded, "There's no problem on my side." ”

Sean Daniel added, "Helen said that your personal blog has a lot of followers?"

"There are a few. Matthew thought for a moment and roughly said, "There are tens of thousands of active followers. ”

With "Pirates of the Caribbean" becoming a hit, his blog has seen a surge in followers, with more than 100,000 followers, but there are relatively few active users.

"This ......," continued Sean Daniel, "I got the news that in September, Three Rivers Press will be publishing a book called 'The Zombie Survival Handbook', which is very good for the promotion of the film, and you should recommend it on your blog then." ”

Matthew thought about it for a moment and said, "Yes, you can greet me in advance then." ”

It seems that he once saw the name "Zombie Survival Manual" on his smartphone, and remembers reading an article about the "Resident Evil" movie at the time, and remembers that the editor who wrote the article at the time also mentioned that the author of Brad Pitt's "World War Z" is the same person as "Zombie Survival Manual".

After talking to Sean Daniel, Matthew quickly left Universal Studios in Helen Herman's car, where he also said Sean Daniel's proposal.

"Matthew, your personal blog is becoming a very good platform for self-presentation and promotion. Helen Herman did not object, but said solemnly, "You have to run it properly, and if possible, it is better to find someone to take care of it." ”

"I know. Matthew doesn't want to leave everything to an agency to run it, which is very bad for him, "I can handle it now, and I'll talk about it later when I can't get busy." ”

As before, he has been writing about three blog posts a week lately, and even if he doesn't have time to write, he will post a few photos of the latest ones, and his blog has become a gathering place for his die-hard fans.

For more than a month, his blog posts focused on "Pirates of the Caribbean", showing affection with Keira Knightley, a photo with Harvard's Westlake Middle School, and "Dawn of the Living Dead".

Although not a professional, Matthew is not stupid and knows that bloggers need to take advantage of the current situation.

After a brief conversation on the topic of blogging, Matthew turned to Helen Herman's negotiations with Disney Pictures and asked, "How's the sequel negotiations for Pirates of the Caribbean?"

"It wasn't very smooth. Helen Herman said directly, "Disney Studios offered $14 million to package your salary for two sequels. ”

The two sequels to Pirates of the Caribbean are setups, but no one would be foolish enough to calculate the salary of just one film.

Matthew frowned, "They weren't sincere enough. ”

With his current coffee position, the salary of $7 million for a single film is definitely not low, and it is still a relatively high level among all second-tier stars, the problem is that "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" was a great success, and the salary of the latter two films cannot be calculated in this way.

Sequels to blockbuster movies are generally much less risky, and if the second "Pirates of the Caribbean" is a box office hit again, the $7 million salary in the third part will not be high, but very low.

Helen Herman understands this, and Matthew can see it too.

"Even if it is separated, the salary of $7 million for the second part seems to be a lot, but it is actually not much at all. Helen Herman snorted coldly, "Disney Studios deliberately ignored in the negotiations that this is the salary of the star actor of the big-budget sequel movie!"

Matthew wasn't in a hurry at all, "Let's talk to them slowly, we have time." ”

With the success of the movie, the three leading actors, even the most inconspicuous Keira Knightley, have reversed the negotiations with the crew and Disney Studios, and now it is completely the actors who take the initiative, and no crew and film company dare to rashly change the leading actors, otherwise it will definitely bring huge risks.

What's more, Will Turner is not the little blacksmith he once was, but a sought-after powerful blacksmith.

Helen Herman also said, "According to the practice in the circle, it is normal for the salary of the protagonist sequel movie to rise by 20 to 30% on the basis of the value, and Disney Pictures does not offer $20 million in compensation for two sequel movies......

She didn't go on, but Matthew knew it was Helen Herman's bottom line.

As the car entered Burbank, Helen Herman thought of one more thing, telling Matthew, "Don't sign more than one film contract with any studio at any time." ”

Matthew nodded, "I know, I'm not stupid. ”

He is not a desperate or well-known third-tier star, and he will definitely be cautious in this regard.

Coming to the door of the Angel Agency, Matthew didn't go in after getting out of the car, ready to change his car and leave to pick up Keira Knightley, who was training at Disney Studios.

Seeing that there were no reporters around, Helen Herman asked, "How did you communicate about the breakup?"

"Communication is good. Matthew pulled the car door, "You contact Yelena and ask her to wait for my notice next Monday." ”