Qualcomm is headquartered in San Diego, in southern California, less than two hours from Los Angeles. After Eric expressed his intention to Owen Jacob to take a stake in Qualcomm, the two sides began close negotiations.

In Eric's office at Firefly Studios, Kelly, who had just returned from San Diego, handed a memorandum to Eric and said: "Chris will also have consultations with several important shareholders of Qualcomm in the afternoon, and he asked me to come back first, this is the result of our negotiations in the morning, and the Qualcomm board of directors is only willing to accept half of the amount of capital injection we proposed, but their attitude is not so resolute, and it should only be a matter of time before the deal is finally reached." ”

Eric flipped through the memo handed over by Kelly and said, "Since we have started formal contact, this matter will definitely not be hidden for too long, and something will inevitably happen if it drags on for a long time." All I care about is time, a week, and I hope the deal will be finalized within the next week. ”

Kelly said: "Eric, if we were to compress the negotiations into a week, we would definitely be passive. ”

Eric shook his head and said, "This matter can't be resolved quickly, and if it attracts too many people's attention, we will really fall into passivity." You go to San Diego tomorrow and explain the stakes to Qualcomm, AT-T just got the spectrum license and announced GSM as its technical standard, and the other operators who got the spectrum license will not hesitate for too long, and if they miss the best time to lobby for the CDMA because they are hesitant, we will not hesitate to abandon the deal, so, only for a week. ”

Once the news of Firefly's attempt to take a stake in Qualcomm spreads. Not only will it cause the stock price to skyrocket. It may also cause people to follow up. After all. Firefly's investments in Cisco, AOL, Yahoo and Nokia in recent years have now yielded very good returns, and the capital market has long been paying close attention to the trends of Firefly investments. If the negotiations drag on for too long, and another company that is interested in Qualcomm suddenly pops up in the process, that's the biggest trouble.

Kelly thought about it for a moment, but nodded: "Okay, I'll prepare." ”

Eric finished reading the memo and discussing some precautions with Kelly before picking up a thick package on his desk. He got up and said, "The Wachowski brothers will be here soon, so you can come with you." ”

Kelly followed, surprised, "Eric, are you really going to let them direct 'The Matrix'?" ”

Eric said, "It's not settled yet, let's see you first." ”

"I've always felt that this is a bit too ...... Outrageous, they are just two little-known screenwriters. ”

Eric laughed, "I used to be just a little-known screenwriter. ”

Kelly said: "But you didn't direct a movie with such a huge budget at the beginning, "Home Alone" had a budget of only one million at the beginning, and then there were "Pretty Woman", "Home Alone 2", "Dark War" and "Ghost Love", you didn't until the sixth "Tornado". I just started trying to make big-budget films. ”

Eric explained: "At that time, I was relatively timid, in case I directly made a big project with an investment of more than 100 million yuan. The box office failed miserably, and there must be no me now. ”

Kelly is still a little confused, judging from Eric's directing route from small to large, he has always been a very rational person, but this time his behavior is a little irrational.

Because of the success of "Jurassic Park", Firefly has great expectations for Eric's film adaptation of "The Matrix", and the production budget has directly reached $100 million. Katzenberg and others actually want Eric to continue directing himself, but Eric is interested in two fledgling Hollywood rookies who don't even have a directing work, which is really puzzling.

It was still the small restaurant near the administration building where Eric used to eat lunch, and as soon as he entered the door, the two brothers who were already waiting in the restaurant stood up, accompanied by an employee of the cinema.

Eric sent the employee in charge of escorting him away, and sat down opposite the Wachowski brothers with Kelly, looking at the Wachowski brothers, who were still men at this time, Eric inexplicably had a strange feeling, perhaps because of cultural differences, Eric had a hard time understanding the idea of transgender people.

Larry Wachowski, who felt Eric's gaze, looked thin and glasses but was actually his brother, looked at the package that Eric casually put on the table, and said, "Mr. Williams, what do you think of our vision for The Matrix?" ”

Eric put away his inexplicable thoughts, took out the storyboard sketch in the package, and said: "You can call me Eric, I think the idea of bullet timing and 360-degree rotation in your sketch is very cool, however, I feel that you are not completely adapted from my novel, but these sketches do not give a detailed script, can you tell us about your specific thoughts on the plot first?" ”

In order to avoid a collision of thoughts, the novel version of "The Matrix" written by Eric did not follow the route of the movie version in his memory, nor did he have esoteric philosophical reflections, except for the name and main line concept, but mainly the story of the male protagonist Neo who accidentally found himself living in an illusion and returned to reality with his partners against the mother.

Hearing Eric's question, Larry Wachowski said: "Eric, actually, Andy and I have had similar ideas before, but it has always been some scattered fragments, and it was not until we saw your novel that we decided to script our story, so the storyboard you see is a combination of your novel and some of our own ideas that Andy and I have drawn together." We feel that compared to the fiction version, such a story should be able to dig and explore at a deeper level, about reality and fantasy, about the roots of life, etc., rather than just a science fiction novel. ”

Eric nodded and said, "So, leave that story of mine completely aside, and tell us about your ideas?" ”

"Of course," said Larry Wachowski, "our idea is this, in a fantasy created by the Matrix. Neo is supposed to be a programmer who is well-versed in hacking techniques. Someday. A mysterious person contacted him out of the blue......"

The Wachowski brothers excitedly began to tell their story, and Eric interjected a few words from time to time, and before he knew it, even Kelly was gradually drawn into the discussion.

It wasn't until about two o'clock in the afternoon that a few people remembered to have lunch to fill their stomachs, and Eric began to ask the Wachowski brothers about their shooting ideas, and so on until the evening. The Wachowski brothers just left Firefly Studios.

Eric asked the waiter to remove the coffee from the table, ordered dinner by the way, and then asked Kelly next to him, "What do you think of them?" ”

Kelly thought for a moment and said, "Two people with a lot of ideas, but if it is shot according to their ideas, this film is likely to be a little ...... Obscure, if made into a low-budget cult film, may become a classic. But as a big production with an investment of hundreds of millions, it is difficult to guarantee the box office. ”

Eric nodded. The female assistant's eyes are still very keen.

In the original time and space, in order to pull the investment in "The Matrix". The Wachowski brothers are still very restrained in terms of script, just the right combination of philosophical thinking and commercial elements that they want to express, so the audience sees a sci-fi blockbuster that is full of cool but not lacking in connotation. The first part of "The Matrix" came out and immediately caused a sensation, not only did it have a good reputation at the box office, but also made the Wachowski brothers, who were originally unknown, become Hollywood first-line directors. Hollywood has a very simple and brutal rule, as long as you can make a box office hit for a studio, you can get everything you want. So, after the success of the first part, the two brothers became Hollywood first-line directors, and they gained full control over the production of the sequel, and the producer Warner did not allow the two brothers' requirements, so the brothers began to stuff their own ideas into the film without restraint, and the sequel became dark and obscure while unscrupulously swaying special effects, and the catastrophic consequence of this extreme incongruity was that fans waited anxiously for four years, but finally saw two dog-tailed sequels, After the second "Reloaded" basically exhausted the reputation of the series, fans directly squandered their disappointment on the third part, making the finale, which should have been the pinnacle of the series, the most dismal one in the entire series box office and word of mouth.

Recalling these things, Eric said to the female assistant: "I will personally check the script, and I will definitely not let them mess around as they want." ”

"Eric, but they don't have any directing experience after all, according to the approximate film production schedule, if everything goes well, "The Matrix" will take about three months of filming and the same four months of post-production, and the pre-production will take about three months, which is probably less than a year. From now to next summer, we still have a year and a half to go, and in the future, the publicity and distribution can be carried out at the same time as the later stage, and the time card is tighter, maybe they can use this half a year to direct a low-budget film to exercise first. ”

Eric nodded: "That's a good idea, well, a year and a half...... Amount, one and a half years, eighteen months, six months, 1995, 1997......"

Kelly saw Eric talking and talking, her face suddenly changed continuously, she muttered strangely, and stood up worriedly: "Eric, what's wrong with you?" ”

Eric calmed down, smiled reluctantly, reached out and patted Kelly's small hand on his shoulder, and said, "I'm fine, but something suddenly came to mind." ”

"Why doesn't it matter?" Still a little worried, Kelly put the back of her hand on Eric's forehead, but she didn't feel anything out of the ordinary except for some fine sweat.

Eric smiled and grabbed the female assistant's small hand and kissed it on the lips, saying, "It's really fine, but it suddenly occurred to me that I might have overlooked something." ”

Kelly was kissed by Eric on the back of her hand, and felt the surprised gaze of the waiter not far away, withdrew her little hand with a slightly red face, and sat down again, but forgot to ask Eric why he lost his temper just now.

Eric's expression quickly returned to normal, but he didn't let go of the thought he had just had.

Because of Kelly's inadvertent reminder, Eric suddenly thought of the production cycle of "Titanic", in the original time and space, after "Titanic" created a box office miracle, many production details were picked up by the media. Eric clearly remembers that "Titanic" in the original time and space began to be prepared in the second half of 1995 and officially filmed in 1996. Fox was originally going to be released in the summer of 1997. As a result, Cameron put off the production cycle again and again. In the end, it was delayed until the end of 1997 before it was released, and the entire production cycle took nearly two years.

Although a production budget of $150 million was approved for "Titanic" at the beginning, Eric was already mentally prepared that Cameron would definitely overspend, as long as he could bring the same classic as the original plane, Eric would not mind Cameron raising the budget to $200 million again. But he inadvertently overlooked that Cameron would not only overspend on the budget, but also on production.

Because of the auction of Disney's hand-drawn animation department last year, Firefly will have a break in the animated film once a year in the summer next year. If "Titanic" could not be released as scheduled, the 1996 Firefly summer file might only be the film "The Matrix".

In the past few years, the profits generated by several main films of the Firefly summer file have accounted for about half of the annual profit of the film business, which shows the importance of the summer file to the Firefly film business department. If the scale of next year's summer films suddenly shrinks to one-third of the past, the film business of Firefly Group will inevitably be greatly affected.

This kind of thing, staring at Cameron will definitely have no effect, and in the end it will only make him roar a little higher in decibel on set.

Eric quickly made up his mind that it was better to prepare in advance.

And, fortunately, it's just the beginning of 1995. If you realize this matter again in the second half of the year, you want to prepare a film that can carry the summer of 1996. Time will definitely be too late.

……

The director of "The Matrix" was personally decided by Eric, and the Wachowski brothers were quickly determined.

Eric also used Kelly's suggestion to let the Wachowski brothers make a low-budget film in advance to hone their directing skills in the pre-production stage of "The Matrix".

The Wachowski brothers were originally screenwriters, and they happened to have a script called "Amazing Flowers" written by themselves, but the script had been sold to a solo production company affiliated with Warner, and under the condition that Eric personally coordinated and Firefly promised to co-invest, Warner readily agreed to hand over the directing power to the Wachowski brothers.

Negotiations with Qualcomm continued, and news inevitably leaked out in the following days, with several major telecom operators expressing close attention, and even AT-T executives calling through Warren Buffett to inquire about Eric's intentions.

Although Qualcomm's stock price also skyrocketed, Qualcomm's shareholders and board of directors began to compromise step by step under the hardline attitude of Firefly.

In Hollywood, the Golden Globe Awards are just around the corner. Eric paid little attention to this matter, in order to avoid the delay of Cameron's "Titanic" and the lack of films to be released next summer, Eric began to be busy with the selection of scripts.

"Mr. Williams, the story goes that a Marine Corps officer, dissatisfied with the attitude of the U.S. government toward fallen soldiers, led his subordinates to seize a batch of poison gas bombs, and took a group of tourists hostage on a prison island that had been converted into a tourist attraction, in order to threaten the U.S. government to pay a ransom of $100 million to compensate the fallen soldiers. The abandoned prison was once known as 'Alcatraz' and was known to be heavily guarded. In the process of rescuing the hostages, the FBI discovered that a former British agent was the only criminal who had successfully escaped from Alcatraz Island, so the FBI executives deceived the agent that he would be **** by the US government, provided that he led special forces into Alcatraz Island to rescue the hostages......"

Firefly Studios, in Eric's office, a thin middle-aged man narrated his script ideas to Eric, and gestured from time to time, Eric listened quietly, but Jerry Bruckheimer, who was sitting on the other side, kept nodding his head, waiting for the middle-aged man to finish speaking, and said: "Eric, how about David's idea, great, right?" ”

Eric smiled noncommittally and said to the thin middle-aged man: "Mr. Weisberg, you go back first, if there is a result, someone will notify you." ”

The thin middle-aged man looked at Jerry Bruckheimer, and said to Eric a little unwillingly: "Mr. Williams, you can imagine that the role of the old British agent is played by Sean Connery, and the first 007 plays the British agent, which is full of gimmicks, and the chemistry expert can be handed over to Nicolas Cage, and the director chooses John Wu, and his directing style is very suitable for this script." Shot with this kind of cast. The movie will definitely be a big hit. And ......"

Eric still didn't say anything, but Jerry Bruckheimer frowned impatiently and said, "David, listen to Eric, you go back first, I'll call you in the afternoon." ”

David Weisberg felt Jerry Bruckheimer's displeasure and didn't dare to dwell on it anymore, so he got up and left the office honestly.

Wait for the office door to close. Jerry Bruckheimer said to Eric, "Eric, now can you tell me what you think?" ”

"Jerry," Eric said, smiling, "You know my rules, I don't want the incident from the original Cut Throat script to happen again." ”

Knowing that Eric was looking for a script, Firefly received a large number of scripts from the script agent in just a few days. However, learning from the lessons of the past, in order to get the script to Eric, everyone in the script needs to sign a strict contract of intent with Firefly. Once it was determined that Eric had chosen the script, the screenwriter would not sell the script to other studios for profit.

Today. Jerry Bruckheimer suddenly came to the door with a screenwriter and said that he had a good idea to recommend to him, and so the situation just happened.

Jerry Bruckheimer said: "Of course I know, and I also think that the original incident was originally the hole you dug for Michael Eisner, am I right?" ”

Eric shrugged, he wouldn't admit it even if everyone guessed.

Jerry Bruckheimer smiled knowingly, then explained, "I've already bought this script, so put it down, as long as Firefly agrees to invest, the rest will be fine." ”

"Jerry, you all seem to have overlooked a problem, until now, I don't even know the name of this script."

"Well, I ignored this, but the name of the movie is often undecided at the script stage, of course, David has already given this story a name, called "Brave Island"."

"Okay, "Death Island," Eric read along, laughing, "Well, David Weisberg just said, Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, John Wu, oh, and you're a gold producer, in that case, have you calculated the budget for the film?" ”

Eric didn't know how much Sean Connery was paid in "Death Island" in the original time and space, but he happened to know that Sean Connery got his first 20 million salary in the subsequent "Sky Trap", and now even if it is lower, it will not be too low. Cage's current salary is also around $15 million, John Wu has experienced three blockbuster films, and the director's salary is also not less than $10 million, and Jerry Bruckheimer, a gold medal producer, will definitely not be able to do without 10 million. Then, this film is just the main creator's salary, and it will not be less than 50 million.

Jerry Bruckheimer pondered for a moment and said: "Eric, the starring expenses of this film are a little higher, but the film does not have too many special effects and big scenes, so the budget should be able to control within 80 million." ”

Eric didn't know how much box office "Brave Island" had won in his previous life, but this film was the first batch of imported films in China at that time, and it would definitely not be too bad at the box office in North America and around the world. Knocking on the armrest of the seat and thinking for a moment, Eric nodded: "Okay, Jerry, it's only 80 million, and you know, Firefly doesn't have the habit of signing a salary plus sharing agreement, so this 80 million is all the production expenses." ”

Jerry Bruckheimer actually raised the budget when he quoted it, and according to his estimates, the film would probably be completed for $75 million. Eric didn't deliberately cut out a creator or compress a budget of 10 or 20 million to make a problem for the producer like the studio executives he had worked with, which also made him feel very comfortable, so he nodded and said: "No problem, Eric, I'm quite familiar with Sean Connery, I can help convince him to join this project, Cage and John Wu, you'd better come forward and say hello in person." ”

The two discussed the project in detail, and as Jerry Bruckheimer was leaving, Eric joked, "Jerry, in the last few days, everyone who has entered this office has left one or two script ideas, and you don't just plan to leave, do you?" ”

Jerry Bruckheimer smiled, remembering that he didn't have anything urgent to leave, Eric said this, then sat down again, crossed his legs and said casually: "I really have a script here, but it's a bit old-fashioned, it's a crime action movie that imitates the two police male protagonists of "Lethal Weapon", I originally planned to sell it to Colombia for a little money, the budget is not high, only 19 million, are you interested in listening to it?" ”

Eric narrowed his eyes slightly, his smile unchanged, and said, "Oh, what's the name of the script?" ”

"Jedi Men." (To be continued.) )