Shirley gave Hugo a big hug, and then led Hugo towards the party, "I received a message that you have read the last draft of the script?" "There was no greeting, it was a matter of work as soon as it came up, and the professional attitude obviously made Hugo feel very cordial.

Hugo smiled and nodded, "Are you sure it's the last draft?" This made Shirley laugh too, the script has been revised at least six times before and after, many of which are Hugo's opinions, Hugo also had several meetings with the screenwriter Andrew, "If Joe's news is correct, then I did read the last draft." ”

Shirley nodded reassuringly, in fact, she had already gotten the news, saying that Hugo nodded his head and expressed satisfaction with the final draft, but she still professionally confirmed with Hugo again, "By the way, did Peter tell you about the filming location?" ”

Hugo thought for a moment, "Yes, Joe and I mentioned it, in Florida, right?" I didn't know much about the specifics, I heard that it was a small town. ”

Shirley saw the focused look on Hugo's face, and affirmed her choice of topic in her heart, but she didn't stop, "Originally, Peter was going to build it in the studio, but there were too many obstacles to implementation, Peter and the crew investigated the coasts of California and Florida for nearly a month, and finally found this shooting location to ensure that the film could achieve the best results." ”

Hugo raised an eyebrow with interest, "Wow, I'm starting to be curious now, maybe I should go over and visit the site two days in advance to feel the charm of that town." ”

"Florida in November is warmer than California, and you're going to love it." Shirley nodded, saw Kevin Pence oncoming him, smiled and nodded to Kevin, and then said politely, "Then you guys talk slowly, I'll go over and say hello to David Geffen." ”

Seeing the back of Hugo and Kevin leaving side by side, Shirley also turned around and left with calm and elegant steps, but she breathed a sigh of relief in her heart. The short conversation just now concealed countless mysteries, but it reminded Shirley of the days when she had just taken over Paramount, and at the same time, her heart was full of ambition, but she was trembling and cautious as if she was dancing on the tip of a knife.

There was "Titanic" before, and now "Truman's World", and Paramount in the middle has also launched several works that have performed very well, including "Changing Face", "The Groom's Wrong Turn", "Lip Robbery", etc., Paramount is recovering strongly step by step.

In the preparatory stage, "Truman's World" is not obvious, after all, the investment of 60 million dollars is nothing for the North American market, and it is still a comedy movie. But the curve of development later greatly surprised everyone, and Hugo's arrival brought the strategic significance of the work to the forefront at once, and the otherwise unremarkable investment of 60 million became an advantage - because it meant that Paramount could spend more energy on publicity and maximize profits.

Shirley successfully hyped the topic to the top in a limited space, compared to the production rights and 20% box office dividends, the 6% bonus plus 20 million salaries is definitely a good deal for Shirley. Not to mention how much Hugo can get paid in the end, the "production rights" alone are enough for Paramount to sweep away all the weaknesses of the past three years - today's boot party is the most direct proof of this, and even the East Coast is feeling the craze.

However, the rise of "L.A. Confidential" was something that Shirley did not expect - an unexpected box office of 200 million to be exact, and when the boot party was held today, "L.A. Confidential" had not really broken through the 200 million threshold, but everyone knew that this moment would come at any time - for Shirley, she had already smelled signs as early as the third week of the release of "L.A. Confidential".

This gave Shirley quite a headache, because in order to remove Hugo from the producer list, Shirley and Rick played a conspiracy battle, which not only made Rick deflated for a while, but also teased Hugo. Of course, this is the industry rule in the circle, and everyone will play with it, but who can clearly explain the truth of such a thing as human feelings?

The production rights are destined to be impossible to hand over to Hugo, otherwise Shirley's deal will be a complete loss. Therefore, Shirley must try her best to make up for each other's concern, this is the mystery of human affection, coming and going, smiling and welcoming people, combining interests, gaps can be filled, loopholes can be filled, everything is possible.

Kate Winslet's joining was offered by Kate's agent, and then through Leonardo's matchmaking, the contract was successfully signed, but in fact, Paramount's original intended actor was someone else, but Kate was also an excellent choice, even better than Paramount's original planned candidate, so they pushed the boat.

The same is true of Nicole Kidman's joining, with the blessing of Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise, which allowed her to defeat Julia Roberts, who is Shirley's personal friend, and also defeated Cate Blanchett, recommended by Scott Rudin, the official producer of "Truman's World", and successfully won this important heroine position.

Although Hugo is not a producer, in fact, his personal influence can be felt in all aspects of the entire "Truman's World" crew - not to mention the repeated revision of the script, of course, the script revision is the result of the deliberations of the three main creators, Hugo, Andrew and Peter, strictly speaking, not Hugo's opinion alone.

Today, Shirley specifically mentioned the filming location again, which sounds like just casual chat, but in fact it is still an olive branch handed out by Shirley.

In many cases, the so-called overtures do not necessarily need to be placed on the table, and the subtle effect between immobility and color is better. The most important thing is that Shirley buffers the relationship between Paramount and Hugo without saying anything - and at the same time, there is no need to pay any direct benefit, not to mention, the final cast is also very outstanding, which makes Shirley enough to have more confidence in the movie, and Paramount has absolutely nothing to lose.

Confrontations between masters are often invisible.

Although Hugo didn't know about the high-level transactions between these companies, he always knew that there was bound to be a deep meaning between these old foxes' gestures, and he could feel that Shirley was releasing friendly news, because he was not a producer of "Truman's World", but many details can be seen, and the crew has been asking for his opinion. Although it is not known why Shirley did this, Hugo naturally did not refuse.

After a brief conversation with Kevin, Hugo saw Mark Canton, David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino and others again, and the whole audience seemed to be lively, Hugo just entered the arena, which was intermittently carried out for more than an hour, and he was never able to really get to the middle of the banquet hall. Although Hugo was not the host tonight, he was far more popular than Shirley Lansing and Scott Rudin, who were the hosts.

Hugo just finished talking with Scott, he officially introduced Cate Blanchett to Hugo, Kate has not yet launched any works in Hollywood, Kate is completely a newcomer from Australia, but even so, you can still see the queen posture that will be popular all over the world in the future behind that young and immature face.

Turning around, Hugo saw a middle-aged man coming in front of him, Hugo was completely unfamiliar with the face in front of him, the black mixed gray hair, the proper Chinese character face with the amiable uncle appearance, it is always easy to win the trust, it seems that the public face seen there has a shallow smile, full of affinity.

Hugo, of course, knew that there were less than 700 invitations tonight, and that the people who could appear here were definitely the same person, including the news media. So when he saw the other party politely stretch out his right hand, he also smiled and shook the other party's right hand, and the man used a little force to make Hugo feel his vigorous and vigorous vitality, but not too aggressive, "Good evening, Mr. Lancaster, I don't think you should have any impression of me, please forgive me for being abrupt, for this is indeed our first meeting, please allow me to introduce myself first, my name is Robert." Iger）。 ”

"Mr. Egger, you managed to save me, and it's always rude to not be able to call the other party's name." Hugo also admitted his amnesia calmly, and such a straightforward answer was more sincere and playful, which made Robert smile gently.

Robert let go of Hugo's right hand and politely put it behind his back, but there was some old academic pedant, "Actually, I met you once in New York, but no one introduced us that time. Hugo raised an eyebrow to give him a puzzled look, and Robert did not pause before he continued, "That time you were with Mr. Spielberg, and he introduced you to the president of the National Jewish Association. ”

Although Hugo is not good at remembering faces and names, it doesn't mean that he has a bad memory, he quickly remembered that occasion, which was three years ago, when "Schindler's List" caused a national sensation, and the National Jewish Association also had some misunderstandings with the crew, and after the misunderstanding was solved, the film was also a huge success. Later, Steven took Hugo, Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, and others to New York to visit the National Jewish Association, which was a lunch occasion where everyone talked happily and the main leaders of the association were full of praise for Hugo.

After that lunch, Jewish-controlled newspapers such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post completely changed their opinion of Hugo, and on the premise of maintaining a neutral and objective position as much as possible, they absolutely did not hesitate to praise Hugo, which also became one of the important forces in Hugo's rapid rise.

It's just that Hugo didn't expect Robert to appear on that occasion, but as Robert said, no one introduced them that day, and naturally there was no acquaintance, but he still raised his voice slightly, "Oh? So...... Are you a Jew too? ”