To be honest, Hugo really has no talent for tasting food, his taste buds are still not developed enough, Hugo tastes Kobe beef is indeed a terrible thing, Hugo can feel the melt-in-your-mouth taste, the rich aroma of beef is indeed charming, but it is difficult for him to feel the feeling that his soul is cheering - this kind of moving Hugo can feel almost every time he stands on the stage.

Looking at Steven with a satisfied face in front of him, Hugo couldn't help laughing, Steven saw Hugo's expression, and gently put the knife and fork down, "You know, you're wasting food." ”

Hugo nodded, "I'll admit that if my friend knew that I treated Kobe beef like this, he wouldn't hesitate to give me a back throw." Naturally, it was Samora, and this light-hearted remark made Steven laugh out loud.

"Still, you can taste the flavor of this beef, right?" Steven raised an eyebrow and asked earnestly.

"Of course, I just can't say why." Hugo pursed his lips, "Also, this sauce tastes really good......" Hugo didn't finish speaking, and saw Steven's deflated expression, which made Hugo stunned, and then reacted and laughed loudly.

In fact, the original taste of top-quality beef like Kobe beef is the best, and although the sauce is important, it is only an auxiliary after all, and it is actually a waste to use the sauce to cover the original taste of the beef. Steven barely touched the sauce during his meal.

Faced with Hugo's sluggish reaction, Steven let out a long breath, "For the sake of me being able to come in today under your name, I won't pursue you, I think we can put an end to this topic and avoid affecting my appetite." Then, Steven solemnly picked up the knife and fork again and savored the rest of the beef.

Although Hugo was not a foodie, it is undeniable that beef and red wine tasted so good that Hugo couldn't help but drink an extra glass of red wine - which is not very common in normal times.

When the main course was finished, Randy came over to clean up the plate and recommended their dessert, chocolate lava cake, leaving room for Hugo and Steven again.

"So, you must be curious about what I'm looking for you today." After wiping the corners of his mouth, Steven took the initiative to bring up the topic.

Hugo held the red wine and shook it gently, "I thought it was James Cameron." ”

This teaser made Steven chuckle, "I don't know much about James's project, but I can be sure that he is very unhappy with you right now." I just don't know how Kevin will respond. Hugo didn't speak, just shrugged his shoulders slightly.

In fact, for James, actors have never been the most important link, first, he shoots commercial movies, and the requirements for acting skills are not high, and he himself is not good at adjusting. teach the types of actors; Second, he himself has a strong box office appeal, and he doesn't need actors to add icing on the cake.

So, in fact, in James's eyes, Hugo's value is not high.

Steven also knew that Hugo didn't care, if Hugo wanted to star in commercial films, there were countless opportunities in the past two years, and more than one-third of the scripts for commercial films in the circle passed through Rick's hands, so Steven didn't continue, but changed the topic, "We had a conversation before, you mentioned one thing, you think DreamWorks must have its own distribution department, can you elaborate on why?" ”

Steven's straight ball did not have any cover, and it talked about the topic at once, which made Hugo stunned, he didn't expect it to be this at all, after all, he and Steven rarely talked about things at the company level, although DreamWorks and Endeavour Elite Brokerage Company cooperated very closely, but it was all Steven and Rick and Ali, and it didn't have much direct relationship with Hugo.

"Why are you talking to me about this?" Hugo did not answer, but honestly raised his doubts directly. "You should know that I'm definitely not the right person to discuss this, and I know very little about the company."

Steven stared at Hugo without speaking, as if he wanted to find something in Hugo's eyes, and after a long while, he chuckled, "Hugo, if I say, I trust your instincts and judgments, do you believe it?" ”

In fact, Steven himself couldn't say exactly what that feeling was.

Since the Golden Raspberry Award, Hugo's rise trajectory is so legendary that even Hollywood's most daring scripts dare not write like this, although many people think that Rick plays a very important role in this process, and Steven will not deny this, but Steven also knows that in terms of choosing scripts, Rick has always believed in Hugo, and this is the most amazing part.

In other words, Rick as an agent and Joseph as a manager certainly play an important role, they are Hugo's most important back-up support, but the real core is that Hugo relied on his unmistakable vision to get to where he is today.

Someone once joked that Hugo had witchcraft methods to avoid evil, such as the "future water world" that could impress Hugo.

Steven also believed in Hugo's vision, which was unquestionable, so DreamWorks invested in "Before Sunrise" and "Death Row Walk", and both paid off, which was of great significance to DreamWorks in its infancy. Although he felt a little ridiculous, Steven felt that Hugo's accurate vision was unique.

Everyone in Hollywood knows how important it is, but Steven hasn't paid enough attention to it, not because he doesn't know, but because he believes that the core of DreamWorks should be to ensure their independence and purity, and they need to focus all their energy on film, animation, music, and show their professionalism, and as long as their work is good enough, the market can't refuse it - just like Hugo's work.

If DreamWorks spends too much time in the distribution department, it will inevitably be a distraction. Because the production department is a creative art, but the distribution department is a business, these are two very different things, although they are closely linked.

However, as far as Steven remembers, Hugo mentioned the distribution department twice, and later Steven actually learned from Rick that Hugo also asked Rick why DreamWorks didn't set up a distribution department. This caught Steven's attention.

In fact, Steven was also very curious, why did Hugo care so much about the affairs of the distribution department? Judging from his understanding of Hugo, Hugo is really not good at companies, business, and numbers.

Hugo couldn't tell if Steven was joking, if he knew Steven's thoughts, he would probably break out in a cold sweat, sure enough, there are smart people everywhere in this world, fortunately, it is really difficult to guess such an incredible thing as crossing it, at least Steven didn't think about it in this direction at all.

However, Hugo also knows that Steven asked himself out specifically for this matter today, which means that the distribution department has entered the sight of DreamWorks, and since he has mentioned it before, he might as well talk about it in detail now, maybe he can make Steven change his mind?

"Steven, may I ask you a question before answering your question?" Hugo asked, and after getting Steven's permission, he said, "Why did you think of setting up your own production company?" As far as I know, whether it's you, David or Jeffrey, as long as you want, any film company welcomes you to join, and will give you enough permission and freedom. ”

"Just like you?" Steven chuckled, "Tell me what you think." Steven didn't answer, he knew that since Hugo had raised the question, he must have had his own thoughts in his heart, so he was more willing to listen.

Hugo was not surprised, and went on to say, "I once talked to David about Jeffrey's unpleasant experience at Disney...... "It's no secret in the circle, Jeffrey left Disney in a shocking way, he and Michael Eisner were completely at odds with each other, and until 2014, this once close friendship still could not be repaired."

"I also mentioned your unpleasantness in the process of making 'Schindler's List'......" What is said here is that Universal Pictures thought that this work was doomed to failure, and even asked Steven not to shoot this work, but Steven was angry and only took 20 million costs, not a penny of pay, and filmed this work.

David said, although you have stood at the top of the pyramid, but you are still a member of the industry, you must be restrained and constrained, especially those behind-the-scenes consortia, those consortia do not understand movies, they only understand the numbers on the ledger, and all movies have become commercial interests. Therefore, you want to make a film according to your own ideas, without accepting any help from the consortium, and naturally staying away from the control of the consortium, so that you can turn all kinds of fantastic ideas into works. ”

Although Steven is also an excellent businessman, his "Jaws" has brought commercial films into an unprecedented new model, until "Schindler's List", people called him "commercial director", Steven has never denied this, and he is still keen to produce commercial films; But in Steven's mind, even commercial films have their artistic part, and if they only use movies as a money-making tool like the big production companies controlled by the consortium, then it is the destruction of the soul of the film.

DreamWorks is such a place with dreams of film, music, and animation, which is also the core meaning of DreamWorks that has never changed.

"That's where DreamWorks comes in." Hugo smiled and finished speaking, Steven did not affirm or deny, just shrugged his shoulders and motioned for Hugo to continue, Hugo did not refuse, "So do you realize that even if you make a movie according to your own ideas, but without a distribution department, the big consortium can still contain your lifeline." ”