Respectfully saying goodbye to the microphone and hanging up, Harvey Weinstein took a deep breath and turned to walk towards the ballroom, his expression full of smugness.

The call was made by Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp., who was far away in New York, and although it was only a simple congratulatory message, it was already more than 12 o'clock in the morning in New York at this time, which shows the importance that News Corp. attaches to Miramax.

Tonight's Oscars is definitely the most beautiful moment in the 16-year history of Miramax.

After being acquired last year, relying on the strong financial support of the parent company News Corporation, Miramax finally got rid of the previous embarrassment of being able to make a small fuss due to financial constraints, and with the production and distribution of films such as "Braveheart", "Bullet on Broadway", "Red", "Angel of Sin" and other films, Miramax won a total of 27 Oscar nominations in history, all the heavyweight awards of the Oscars, and successfully won 9 statuettes.

Behind these glories was Miramax's annual net profit of more than $200 million in 1994, which was close to the profitability of Twentieth Century Fox.

In the midst of pride and excitement, Harvey Weinstein couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. If he hadn't sold the company last year, or had left more shares, he would have received more dividends from Miramax's annual earnings. But he quickly shook off the idea, there are many things in this world that have no ifs, and Eric, who had just emerged a few years ago, also sent an offer to buy Miramax, if he had agreed to that deal, even if there was only ten percent or less of Firefly shares left. It's going to be a lot of money.

He shook his head in embarrassment. Harvey Weinstein has just returned to the party hall. A figure with unkempt hair and a black suit approached.

"Hey, Harvey," the man said in a hurried tone, knowing that Weinstein was too busy to beat around the bush, "I heard that the fireflies' celebration party was upstairs, remember what I said I talked to you about?"

Harvey Weinstein is careful to build relationships with good filmmakers, even though the New Zealand director has nothing to offer tonight. But Harvey Weinstein didn't show the slightest perfunctory, paused, thought back a little, and said, "Peter, you mean The Lord of the Rings?"

Peter Jackson nodded hurriedly and said, "Yes, Harvey, isn't the film copyright of the Lord of the Rings series in the hands of Flower Pictures, I was wondering, can you help me introduce it?"

Out of some subtle ostrich mentality. Harvey Weinstein didn't want to see another guy who shined more brightly in Hollywood right now, so he hesitated a little. "Peter, look here, there are so many guests to be entertained, I can't leave now." ”

Undeterred, Peter Jackson said, "Harvey, it's okay if you don't have time, I'm thinking you can get someone to bring us into that party, I just went up and got shut out." ”

"Oh, haha......"

Harvey Weinstein was stunned for a moment, laughed and patted Peter Jackson on the shoulder: "Of course that's fine, Peter." ”

With Weinstein's help, Peter Jackson was not left behind and easily entered the firefly's party hall.

Although Firefly only has one blockbuster Oscar, there are significantly more guests at the party than Fox, and there are two hundred people in the hustle and bustle.

Weinstein's assistant, Brad Gray, sent Peter Jackson into the party hall and left, with no intention of introducing him further.

Peter Jackson didn't expect this, and walked around the crowd with a glass of champagne for a while before he noticed the figure of Eric Williams, but the men and women around Eric Williams were surrounded by seven or eight people, as if they were discussing something enthusiastically, and Peter Jackson knew that now was not a good time to contact each other, so he had to wait patiently for Eric to be free.

Eric is surrounded by Katzenberg, Alan Fiessman, a former assistant he sent to the TV production department, Nizi hanging on him, and the Victoria's Secret Angel Quartet.

The crowd didn't talk about anything too formal, just casual chatter on the surface, but the Victoria's Secret Five seemed to realize something, and they were very clever in bringing the topic to reality TV, and from time to time they tried to ask Eric a few words.

Inadvertently, the very incongruous figure with unkempt hair and a black suit fell into Eric's eyes, watching the other party wander around for more than ten minutes, Eric curled the corners of his mouth without a trace, and reached out to push Xiao Nizi: "Drew, can you help me get a glass of champagne?"

The girl blinked her big sparkling eyes, how could she not understand that Eric was trying to break her up, although it was very unpleasant to look at the five long-legged stunners in front of her, but she took the initiative to let go of Eric's arm with great dignity and walked towards the long table where the drinks were placed not far away.

Peter Jackson waited patiently for more than ten minutes, and found that the people around Eric had no intention of walking away, and was considering whether to continue to wait or force himself over to talk, when he saw Drew Barrymore walk out of the group.

He immediately realized that this was a good opportunity, although the copyright of the "Lord of the Rings" series was in the hands of Flower Pictures, Peter Jackson knew very well that the real decision behind Flower Pictures was Eric Williams, and Drew Barrymore was just a spokesperson in the eyes of outsiders. But at this point, there was no chance to talk to Eric Williams, and the chances of success by forcing it over were even slimmer, so it was worth trying by approaching Drew Barrymore.

Although I didn't know why Eric would break up with herself, the girl didn't bother about this, and noticed a tall figure in a light gray dress who was also surrounded not far away, her eyes rolled, and she was about to go up to refine this shy temperament, when she heard someone call her name: "Miss Barrymore." ”

Turning around, looking at the white man with unkempt hair and scumbag in front of her, the girl was curious whether the other party's poor suit was borrowed or stolen, but a sweet smile appeared on the baby's face: "This gentleman, you call me?"

"Yes. Peter Jackson nodded hurriedly. Stretched out his hand to the girl: "Hello." Miss Barrymore, my name is Peter Jackson, and I'm a director. ”

"Oh," the girl reached out to shake the other man's hand, nodded, and waited for the other person to continue.

Peter Jackson thought about many ways to stir up a topic, and when it came to the end, his mind became distracted. After a long hesitation, he said: "That's right, Miss Barrymore, I have been a fan of Tolkien's books since I was a child, and I even embarked on the road of directing in the hope that one day, I can bring "The Lord of the Rings" to the big screen with my own hands. I heard that Flower Pictures owns the rights to the Lord of the Rings series, so I wanted to get a directing opportunity. ”

Xiao Nizi asked, "Then have you ever directed a similar film?"

Peter Jackson shook his head and said, "Not yet, but." I've been doing relevant preparatory work for all these years, about the adaptation of the script. The framing of the film, the styling of the characters, and so on. As long as I can give me a chance to show it, I'm sure I'll be able to convince you. ”

Xiao Nizi blinked her eyes and said, "Then you can tell me about your shooting ideas first, and I'll listen." ”

Peter Jackson glanced at Eric not far away, a little hesitant, not knowing whether it was useful to talk to the blonde beauty in front of him about this, the girl also noticed the change in his eyes, smiled slyly, and said, "You said that you have been preparing for this film for many years, but you don't even have the patience to tell me what you think?"

Peter Jackson realized his mistake, and if he couldn't seize this opportunity in front of him, what else could he talk about, so he quickly cheered up and said: "That's right, Miss Barrymore, first of all, I think that 'The Lord of the Rings' should not be made into just a film, it is better to be made into a trilogy mode, otherwise it will be too wasteful to make this epic masterpiece, and it will not be able to fully show the grand world constructed by Tolkien." ”

The girl nodded, with some more recognition in her heart, and said, "Eric said the same thing, you continue." ”

When Peter Jackson heard the girl's words, he was also refreshed and said: "In the script I conceived, the story can start from the 111th birthday of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, thousands of years ago, the Lord of the One Rings created by the Demon King Sauron fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, Bilbo Baggins showed off the magic of the One Ring at his birthday party, and was discovered by Gandalf who came to visit. Baggins left the One Ring to his nephew Frodo Baggins, and at the same time, after thousands of years of sleep, Sauron returned and sent nine Ringwraiths to search for the Ring......"

Peter Jackson realized that the girl was very interested in the story, so with his familiarity with the original book of "The Lord of the Rings", the story was full of twists and turns, and he also answered the occasional questions that came up with the girl, and after briefly describing the script concept of the trilogy, he began to talk about his shooting ideas, and before he knew it, more than half an hour had passed.

Although the girl bought the film rights to all of Tolkien's books according to Eric's request, she did not have the patience to read these things again, but at this time she listened with relish, and when Peter Jackson finished speaking, the girl turned her head to look not far away, and the five long-legged goblins beside Eric had disappeared, so she said to Peter Jackson, "Come with me, take you to the person you want to meet." ”

Peter Jackson was a little embarrassed when he heard this, it turned out that his mind had already been guessed by others, but he did not hesitate at all, and followed closely.

"Eric, this is Peter Jackson, he wants to make 'The Lord of the Rings', and he just told me some ideas, and it's not bad. The girl introduced it succinctly and clearly.

Eric smiled and shook hands with Peter Jackson, "Hello, Mr. Jackson. ”

"Hello, Mr. Williams. ”

"I just saw you talking for a long time, are you discussing this?"

Peter Jackson nodded, "Yes, Mr. Williams, Miss Barrymore is a very patient listener. ”

Eric turned his head to look at the girl beside him, "And what do you think?"

"He's prepared very carefully, and I think he can try it. ”

Now that everyone else had come to the door, Eric didn't want to waste his energy by pretending, and he said to Peter Jackson, "In that case, you can go to the headquarters of Flower Pictures tomorrow and talk to Ms. Amy Pascal." However, there is another point, even if the negotiation is completed, the project will not be able to start for the time being, so you had better be mentally prepared in advance. ”

When Peter Jackson heard Eric's words, he got up and down again, a little happy to finally see some light, but he didn't understand how long the 'years' were in Eric's words.

Fortunately, the girl asked for him: "Eric, when will it start, I am not short of money here?"

"About a year or two," Eric smiled and said, "When you have the strength to release this film on your own, it will probably be time." ”

Eric said this, and the girl probably understood that Eric's meaning should be after Flower Pictures won MGM.

With the current situation, it seems that this will not take long.

MGM has been tossing for so many years, and the production department has reached a negligible point, leaving only the distribution department to be quite perfect, and what Flower Pictures needs is MGM's film distribution network.

After exchanging contact information and sending Peter Jackson away, Eric turned his attention to Katzenberg and Allen beside him, but asked another question: "Which of them do you think is more suitable?"

Eric was referring to the candidate for the host of "America's Top Model Contest", who had just chatted with the Victoria's Secret Angel Five, and actually had the intention of being sophisticated and testing.

Alan looked at Katzenberg, who was not polite, and said, "Eric, Miss Kruger is definitely not suitable, her current age and that delicate temperament can't support such a show." ”

Eric shrugged his shoulders when he heard Katzenberg so eagerly deny Diane Kruger, "Jeffrey, do you think I'm the kind of person who is stubborn and cronyistic?"

Katzenberg grinned, and said to himself, who knows what you think, he still thinks that Eric used the Wachowski brothers to shoot "The Matrix" a little hastyly, if Eric asked Diane Kruger to be the host of "American Top Model" this time, Katzenberg will definitely not be too surprised, but will only feel too messy.

In addition, Miss Durrington's high street fashion temperament is too heavy, and her eloquence does not seem to be very good, which is also not suitable for this kind of reality TV that requires intimate interaction. The rest were Cindy Crawford, Linda Ivan Golinstad, and Tyra Banks, well, Tyra Banks was a little younger, less senior, and didn't have a pleasant complexion, but her outgoing energy was a big advantage over the other two. (To be continued.) )