From a considerable distance, Duke saw the lights in the sky, passed through a canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains, parked the black Bentley in the parking lot in front of the luxury clubhouse, Duke got out of the car and walked towards the clubhouse, and when he appeared at the door of the clubhouse, someone immediately walked over and led him towards the open-air garden where the party was held.

It was an anniversary celebration organized by the Directors Guild, and as one of Hollywood's top commercial directors, Duke was naturally invited, and it was part of the directing agreement he was to fulfill.

Held at the end of October, which is infinitely closer to the awards season, the festival was attended by directors, well-known actors and veterans, some of whom are core members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, especially the Academy's current rotating president, Levy? Lawsman, who is already a veteran of the Directors Guild, those actors, directors and production companies who want to make a difference in the awards season, almost every year turn the directors' guild's anniversary duì into a PR duì.

And the Directors Guild will arrange the dispatch duì in this time period, which does not mean that one is willing to fight and one is willing to suffer.

"Look who this is."

Just walked to the periphery of Pai duì, waiting for him here, Townsend? Rothman vs. Robert? Iger said, "Our two billion directors are here!" ”

≡↑ "Two billion directors? Duke looked at the two of them quizzically.

"Have you counted your cumulative box office?" Robert? Iger roughly calculated for Duke, """Life and Death is more than $340 million, "Death Island" is close to $410 million, "Independence Day" is more than $900 million, "Saving Private Ryan" has passed $600 million, and your box office accumulation has exceeded $2 billion!" ”

"It won't be long before you can overtake me!"

A voice rang out from the side, "Duke." Leah should be proud of you. ”

Duke quickly turned around and took the initiative to extend his hand, "You're too much of an award, Mr. Spielberg." ”

While the mother with Anne? Spielberg had conflicts at a young age, but with Steven? Spielberg didn't conflict, because George? Lucas's sake. There was still a bit of friendship between her mother and Spielberg.

"Just call me Steven." Spielberg didn't shake Duke's hand, but slapped him on the arm hard, "I know how hard you work, otherwise I wouldn't have agreed to let you into the crew of "Captain Hook", originally I thought you would be like our group of people, a few more years of training, but I didn't expect to rise so fast, it's amazing." ”

Although Spielberg is unusually affectionate, Duke would be a fool if he took it seriously. He said with a little modesty, "Speaking of which, you can be regarded as my teacher, I have always been very amazed by your shooting speed, but I can't learn anything." ”

"You're all famous fast gunners in Hollywood, aren't you?" Tom? Rothman said at the right time.

One movie a year is definitely the top directing speed in Hollywood, and there may be many directors who are faster than Spielberg, but none of them can complete it with quality and quantity like him. It can also achieve very good box office results.

"It's more appropriate to say that I'm a Hollywood assembly line machine." Duke said rather self-deprecatingly, "A lot of media ridicule me for not creating zào art. It's just producing movies in an assembly line mode. ”

"Don't care about the voices." Spielberg was also deeply touched by this, he lifted his glasses and said, "There are always people who are jealous of people who are constantly successful, and even if you try to cater to them, they will still laugh at you!" ”

said. He glanced at him slightly, then quickly retracted it.

The others didn't pay attention, but Duke caught it, and he looked over there, it was a group of people who had also mocked Spielberg's model of making zuò. One of the most striking is a fat man with glasses, as long as you pay a little attention to the film industry, you basically know him, the famous Roger? Albert.

In this way, there is too much content related to the Academy Awards, how can there be less professional film critics.

Retracting his gaze, Duke stopped looking, he knew that the other party didn't want to see him, so why bother with them.

"Duke, what's your plan for Chicago?"

Just in Townsend? Rothman and Robert? While Iger was socializing with others, Spielberg lowered his voice and said, "I've heard that you have a sci-fi script on file, are you interested in working with DreamWorks?" DreamWorks can invest in your film while acting as a distributor for Duke Studios. ”

Spielberg, who put down the camera, is a standard businessman, "DreamWorks can compress the distribution fee to seven percent." ”

Compared with 10% of Warner Bros., this is indeed a very tempting condition, but Duke has no interest in Spielberg's Tiyì, and stands with DreamWorks, which means that he is faintly standing on the opposite side of the Big Six, and the distribution and peripheral sales of films in the future will be suppressed by the Big Six and even the group companies behind them.

DreamWorks releases his films, and then the Big Six companies watch the big hits and do nothing? This is Hollywood!

Even with the same subject matter and investment, a film distributed by DreamWorks will inevitably have hundreds fewer theaters than the six major distributions, and some of the methods he used in the past to unite Warner and Fox will inevitably fall on him and his films.

He didn't believe that Warner, Fox and Disney would treat him as a special case based on their so-called partnership in the past.

There is no special case for capital in the face of profits.

With polite words like 'there will be opportunities to cooperate in the future', he politely rejected Spielberg, Duke in Townsend? Rothman and Robert? Under Egger's introduction, he constantly greeted and greeted the people who participated in the party, and when he met an important person such as Spielberg, he would stand together and chat.

Of course, they deliberately bypassed that group of professional film critics, and there was no need to clash with each other on such an occasion, did it?

Although he has little interest in Oscar public relations, Duke enjoys a share of the film's revenues, and naturally has to fulfill some obligations under the director's contract, and he is not the kind of rebellious youth who only knows how to act recklessly, and he also knows the importance of networking, so he simply treats this as a job like making a movie.

Pull relationships, set friendships, tout each other a few words, remind those who have the right to vote to watch their own movies, this is the limit of what Duke can do, and the rest of the work will be done by professional public relations personnel.

Fox is PR for his film, and Paramount Pictures is no exception.

After walking around the small garden where the pie was held for most of the time, Duke inevitably ran into some people who didn't deal with him much.

"Hi Martin."

As if meeting an old friend, Duke smiled and walked towards Martin? Bob and Mel? Gibson took the initiative to reach out his hand, "I haven't seen you for a long time." ”

"yes, it's been a long time, Duke."

Even if you want to tear each other apart, Martin? Bob still showed the most enthusiastic smile on this occasion, "Congratulations, another movie is a big hit!" ”

"It's a pity that high box office tends to lose the Oscars."

Mel next to him? Gibson doesn't have such a good self-cultivation, and the facial features on his unruly face are almost squeezed together, "You're going to lose the awards season!" ”

"Not necessarily." Duke put away his smile and shot back unceremoniously, "Think of last year's "Forrest Gump" and "The Shawshank Redemption". Mel, if I'm not mistaken, "Braveheart" is also a commercial film, but its low box office is easy to give people the illusion of a literary film. ”

Mel? Gibson stared at this side for a long time before squeezing out a sentence, "You can't win the best director!" ”

"Indeed, you have an advantage over my age." Duke leaned forward slightly and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "But don't forget, I'm a Jew!" I don't have to give a lot, something is just mine. ”

Taking a step back, Duke waited for the reaction from the other side, Mel? Gibson's face was ugly, but he didn't say anything more, refusing to jump into the trap laid.

"Let's go."

Mel? Gibson was the first to leave.

Seeing that things didn't develop according to the script he set, Duke could only sigh in his heart, and then figured it out, Mel? Gibson didn't seem to drink, lacking the thrill of alcohol......

After spending more than an hour socializing, Duke was finally able to rest for a while, he took a cup of soda, walked towards the periphery of the pie, found a seat next to the palm tree, sat down and looked around quietly, this kind of pie duì is a rare opportunity to socialize, most people are together, there are not many people in the rest area.

After taking a big sip of soda, Duke's gaze suddenly stopped, and Duke looked with interest at a table more than fifty feet away, where there were people he was interested in, and more importantly, Mel? Gibson and Tom? Cruise's side face towards this side was extremely ugly, and it was not difficult to conclude from the expressions and body movements of the two that they had a serious disagreement or were arguing.

The two obviously remembered what the occasion was now, and the quarrel was controlled within a very small range, Duke couldn't hear what they said, and could only see that both of them were a little excited, if it was another occasion, the two superstars who were used to playing tough guy heroes on the screen might fight.

Vulgar savages against medieval vampires? It should be a good live fight.

Of course things won't go the way Duke boredly imagined, don't know Mel? What did Gibson say again, Tom? Cruise's face became even more ugly, and he coldly threw down a few words, stood up and left the table, and walked diagonally.

When Tom? As Cruise walked over ten feet away, Duke beckoned to him, "Tom, this way!" ”

Cruise turned his head and saw that it was Duke, hesitated slightly, and turned to this side.

"You may be seated, Tom."

Motioned to the chair opposite, waiting for Tom? Cruise sat down, and Duke pointed behind him to Mel? Gibson's position deliberately asked curiously, "Did that wild man do vulgar and rude things again?" ”

Did he put himself in Tom? Cruise side, "I was just provoked by him. (To be continued......)

ps: Three more send ~~~ a qiē that you can ask for~~~ Tomorrow's three more, the old time.