After Sergio left, Hugo did not rush to respond, but called Rick first. Rick learned of the situation and drove straight to Malibu.

Hugo sat on the recliner, basking in the sun, holding the original book of "A Clockwork Orange" in his hand, reading comfortably, and hearing the footsteps coming from the wooden staircase, Hugo tilted his head slightly, "It's good to say on the phone, you still made a special trip here, is there anything special?" ”

Rick struggled to lift a box in his hand, "I just happened to have something to come to you, I originally asked Samora to come to the company to pick it up, and I wanted to come and talk to you briefly, so I brought it myself." ”

Rick's height is not tall, his body is very thin, and his dark skin makes his colleagues often laugh at him as a refugee, and at this time, Rick carries the huge box, and his entire back is bent, and it looks like Rick will be submerged in the back of the box at any moment.

Hugo hurriedly stood up, greeted him, and took the box through the Black Rock Wine Cabinet, "What's in here?" After Rick handed over the box, the whole person breathed a sigh of relief, and muttered, "In the future, this matter will be kept busy by Samora, and a few scripts will be repeated." ”

Hugo flipped through it slightly, it was a script, and then he listened to Rick explain, "It's all scripts...... Rick went directly to the first floor of the room, opened the refrigerator in the kitchen and found the juice, poured it into the cup, and then walked out, "Recently, I said that you were choosing a script, and everyone made a mess, we picked within the company, and we took the ones that we thought were passable." ”

"How much do you take, when do I want to see it?" Hugo's eyes widened in surprise, there were at least thirty or forty scripts in this box. In the past, although Rick would bring a lot of scripts, they were all selected, and a dozen or so were about the same, but today this big box looks like there is no selection at all.

After Rick grunted and poured all the juice into it, he breathed a sigh of relief and found a rattan chair to sit down, "Your vision for choosing the script is very strange, we have four or five internal meetings without results, and everyone can't figure out your preferences, and you can always see different highlights in the script, I thought, just let you pick it casually." Anyway, you've been on vacation recently, and you don't have anything to do when you're idle at home. ”

Hugo casually put the box on the ground aside, sat back on the chaise longue, and relaxed casually, "Aren't you afraid that I will pick another strange work?" ”

"I've preliminarily selected this, and no matter how strange it is, I know it in my heart." Rick showed a sly smile that made Hugo laugh dumbly, "Actually, I personally think that if you choose a commercial film next, it's a good thing, but ...... The choice is yours. ”

After surviving the storm of pressure after "before sunrise", after a whole year of precipitation and brewing, especially the accident during the filming of "Death Row Walk", the pressure on Hugo's head is gradually dissipating. After careful consideration, Rick decided that now is a good time to take on commercial films, after all, before that, Hugo had not invested more than $35 million in his works, which is not in line with Hugo's current status as a top superstar.

Hugo stared at Rick for a moment, then laughed, "You're thinking about investing more than $100 million, right?" ”

Rick laughed too, "No, I'm thinking about fifteen million dollars. Rick didn't beat around the bush this time, and said directly, "I think you need to get a super high salary, which is in line with your status, and this is what you deserve." As for the future, whether you want to appear in a movie at a low price in friendship, it's entirely up to you. ”

What Rick is talking about is a question of status. Although Hugo's final salary in the three works of "Vulgar", "Speed of Life and Death", and "Seven Deadly Sins" all exceeded 20 million US dollars, which is definitely the highest salary in Hollywood today, but this is not a basic salary, mainly because of the super high income of box office dividends, and the meaning is still different. Hugo's current base salary should be fifteen million dollars, which is undoubted, and no one will hesitate, but in the end, it still needs a work to implement.

Hugo pursed his lips slightly, but did not speak. Rick also knew that Hugo had his own ideas, so he was not in a hurry, and then changed the topic, "So, you said that Sergio came to you today, and you didn't say it in detail on the phone just now, and then what?" ”

Hugo put A Clockwork Orange aside and briefly described the process, but did not mention the "Independence Day" project, after all, Sergio did not know anything about "Independence Day" at the moment.

In fact, Hugo mentioned these contents roughly to Rick on the phone, so he used his connections to inquire when he came to Malibu, "Roland Emmerich......" Rick muttered in a low voice, in fact, Roland's reputation in Hollywood was not good at this time, and last year's "Cosmic Raiders" was his first official work to leave Europe and land in Hollywood, purely in terms of seniority and qualifications, his weight was definitely not enough. Kevin Pence's abacus, Rick needs to think about it.

"If it's Emmerich, I've actually heard of this project, the investment cost is not high, the original plan was 70 million, and it was called 'End of the World. of。 days)', which tells the story of an alien invasion of Earth. Rick looked at Hugo and said what he had gotten, "But I didn't expect Kevin to invite you with this project." ”

"The end of the world"? What kind of work is this? The only work known to Hugo of this name is translated in Chinese as "end." of。 days)", which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, is about a demonic invasion of the world, which is completely mediocre and cannot be compared to "Independence Day" at all.

But Rick said that "The End of the World" tells the story of the alien invasion of Earth on "Independence Day", which left Hugo a little confused.

Rick didn't notice Hugo's momentary confusion, but he continued, "This project doesn't carry enough weight in terms of investment, director, and screenwriter lineup...... Compared to the scripts handed over by other companies, the competitiveness is too weak......" Rick paused and said suspiciously, "Is it because the script is so good?" Is there a level of 'Terminator 2' or 'Speed of Death'? ”

Hugo choked, in his opinion, purely from the perspective of the script, "Speed of Life and Death" is better than "Terminator 2", but the comprehensive quality of the two works is indeed about the same. "Rick, your focus is wrong, no matter how brilliant the scripts of commercial films are, they are still the same framework, and there are not many works as innovative as 'Life and Death'."

Objectively speaking, the script of "Independence Day" is not much better, which in itself is not the highlight of this work. A truly good commercial blockbuster script should be led by "Batman Prequel: The Dark Knight", which is an insurmountable benchmark.

Rick pursed his lips and was noncommittal, his definition of a good script was far from Hugo's standard, and there was no value in discussing, "By the way, Twentieth Century Fox said that this work was invested in a hundred million dollars - if the work they leaked was this 'end of the world'......" Rick groaned for a moment, his eyes suddenly lit up, "Hugo, you say, will they come for two million dollars?" ”

After the uproar at the end of last year, the 20 million salary has not been mentioned for a long time, where did Rick's idea come from?

Rick entered the rhythm of his thinking, "You see, Kevin has been laying out since April, and he obviously wants to take the company to the next level, and he first tested you with 'stay away from the casino'...... Cameron was given another job...... The cooperation with Endeavor Elite Economic Company is also increasing......" Rick muttered for a while, then suddenly raised his head and looked at Hugo with bright eyes, "I know, Kevin must want to make a fuss about the 20 million salary, but why is he so sure that you will take this film?" ”

It was Rick who was there all the time asking and answering himself, and Hugo was idle next to him. After a short while, Rick frowned and muttered, "Could it be that Kevin has too many choices, and he himself is not absolutely confident that this script will be able to convince you?" But if Kevin has been planning since April, how could he not be prepared? That's not right! Is it just because of the 20 million salary? Or is it that neither Roland nor Dean are big shots, and their scripts can be changed exactly as you want, so that Kevin is invincible...... But that's not right, most screenwriters in Hollywood now will reject your ......"

Rick crackled a lot, still not clearing a single idea, and he couldn't help but bang on the table and think, "I must have missed something...... But why does he believe that this work will be a box office success? Alien invasion of Earth? This sounds so unreliable, but is there really something brilliant about the stumbling script? ”

If you say so, "Independence Day" is also in line, although the storyline makes people complain about powerlessness, but the plot in the nineties is also acceptable, it is above the level, and the biggest highlight of the whole script is to change people's mysterious impression of aliens, which is undoubtedly a carnival for alien lovers and UFO lovers. Therefore, the "Independence Day" script is indeed brilliant.

Rick looked up at Hugo with excitement on his face, "I think this may be an opportunity for our company as well." Hugo felt that he couldn't keep up with Rick's thinking speed, mainly because his thinking angle and the amount of information were different from Rick's, but Hugo still cast an inquiring glance at Rick, and Rick said word by word, "We can take you as the center and package the whole crew to Twentieth Century Fox, just like an innovative artist agency!" ”