The negotiations with Nicolas Cage did not last a few days, and the two sides quickly reached an agreement that everything was according to the rules of Hollywood.

However, Nicolas Cage, it will take more than half a month for him to officially join the crew.

However, Monica Bellucci's footage, which has finished filming and joined the crew of "Independence Day", will need to be busy for a while, and it is estimated that it will take at least half a year.

This is an inevitable factor in the separation and integration of time between Hollywood stars, once they are busy, there is only a handful of time to meet.

I have to say that the filming progress of "Leaving Las Vegas" has not been very fast, and it has been 5 months before and after, and the crew still has not finished filming.

As for why Ryan chose Nicolas Cage over Kevin Bakken, the reason is very simple.

The most important point is that the image of Nicolas Cage is more in line with the role in the script, and "Leaving Las Vegas" will also be released this year and hit the Oscars, which can cause a lot of heat.

For the release of "Truman's World" in the future, it will be somewhat helpful.

Of course, the relationship between Sofia Coppola and the Coppola family is not ruled out.

At the same time, Ryan officially left for Canada and handed over the actor audition to a deputy director.

Like the previous film, in addition to a few main supporting roles, the other extras, backdrops, etc., are all from Star Agency.

So the actor audition is relatively simple.

Ryan got off the plane, didn't take a break, and went straight to the filming location under construction.

"For financial reasons, we didn't choose the whole town, but only a part of it. ”

Sofia Coppola pointed to the half-built filming site in front of her and said, "It was built in the fifties and sixties, and it is a little dilapidated, so it needs to be repaired. ”

The town in front of you, very tidy? The streets are lined with single-family houses.

But? As Sophia said, it looks a little old? Need a little renovation? to be able to use it for shooting.

Of course, the so-called repair is not a redecoration? Rather, to make it look more like a sound stage? Stay close to the filming requirements in the script.

Ryan casually strolled around for a while? I thought it was pretty good, and said, "It seems that the touchstone was not in vain. ”

The town in front of you wasn't chosen by Sophia? Rather, it is chosen by the litmus test.

To this? Sofia Coppola shrugged her shoulders and said, "At that time, Touchstone was very interested in this project. ”

"I think that when the film is released, it will definitely make some people regret it. ”

"But be careful, Disney's little moves. ”

"Don't worry. Ryan replied casually? Push open the door and enter the protagonist's home.

With Paramount's investment? You can avoid a lot of trouble, at least for the time being.

"By the way? Where the protagonist works, he needs to find another filming location. "Ryan looked at it for a moment? What do you think is the town in front of you in general? Not bad? But it is not suitable for filming where the protagonist works.

"You can go to Toronto and pick a location. Sofia Coppola gave advice right away.

"Very nice proposal. Ryan nodded in agreement.

Over the next few days, Ryan personally toured the filming location and made some modifications as he requested.

The company where the protagonist usually works chooses a seven-story office building in Toronto, and then gets up and returns to Los Angeles.

He is not only a director and producer, but also an investor in films, and he has a lot of work to focus on, and it is impossible to stay in Canada forever.

For example, in the film "Truman's World", from the birth of the male protagonist, it is a reality show, and the program team relies on various product placement advertisements to make money, that is, a large number of advertisements can be blatantly implanted in the film.

Back in Los Angeles, Ryan spent half a day writing a list full of advertisements, from coffee, drinks, water dispensers, toilet paper, beer, etc., to clothing, shoes, ties, watches, cars, etc., more than 20 kinds.

In the conference room of the studio, everyone looked at the advertising list that Ryan took out, and almost had an illusion, and read it several times.

In a film, there are twenty implants in advertisements at the same time?

Is this making a movie, or is it preparing to shoot a commercial announcement!

"Ahem. "Gary Luchesi, an executive producer from Paramount, almost choked on coffee.

"Isn't there a lot of product placement?"

To put it very tactfully, if it weren't for the fact that Ryan was not an ordinary director, he really wanted to smash the list of product placement in his hand in the other party's face.

Even though Paramount is one of the seven major Hollywood studios and has the support of Viacom, a media conglomerate, it is still a very difficult task to negotiate 20 planting commercials together.

Rick McCallan, a producer from Lucasfilm, was also shocked and a little incredulous looking at Ryan, twenty planted into an advertisement?

Are you kidding!

"This is a selection of several product placements based on the plot of the script, and they are one of the plots in their own right. Ryan explained slightly.

Product placement itself is one of the plots in the script!

Gary Luchesi nodded reluctantly and said, "Okay, I'll contact Paramount, I hope they won't be intimidated by you." ”

Although he was a little speechless about Ryan's twenty-planting commercial, it was sure to be liked by the studio.

Product placement is not an investment, but a real profit, and film companies are eager to have more product placement.

"I believe Paramount will not refuse. "Ryan knows the virtues of Hollywood studios very well.

However, when the Paramount staff saw this list of advertisements, they also had a different face, which was too much.

However, Paramount is worthy of being a veteran Hollywood film company, and in just a few days, it has received nearly $3 million in advertising fees from famous clothing companies, insurance companies, jewelry brands, etc., as well as some lifestyle goods giants.

Of course, it doesn't mean that you can easily get $3 million, but you need the box office of "Truman's World" to reach a certain number.

In other words, if "Truman's World" hits the box office, it will only get a very small part of the $3 million in the end.

As for the specific conditions, Ryan didn't ask, and they were all negotiated by Paramount personnel.

Overall, not bad.

"Truman's World", which has not yet started filming, has already received $3 million in advertising revenue, which is somewhat surprising.

The touchstone that has just terminated the cooperation is a little shocking, and the advertising revenue of $3 million may not be so unusual for Hollywood, but it still feels a little unusual.

This is a good side and a bad side at the same time.

With the termination of the cooperation with Touchstone, the crew's preparations were somewhat hurried.

Even with the support of Paramount and Lucasfilm, Ryan still felt a little overwhelmed.

It's far less than the crew of "Invasion of Evil Spirits", which is so easy to leave everything to Ray Sancheni and Twentieth Century Fox.

For Paramount, with a few million dollars of investment, it doesn't pay much attention.

Lucasfilm hasn't made a film for several years since 1988, and its help is also limited.

The most critical point is that Ryan doesn't want to give up the control of the crew, and there will be another touchstone-like incident.

Fortunately, the crew's preparations went smoothly and there were no major problems.

He only needs to pay attention to some important matters and modify the storyboards, and the rest of the things can be left to the rest of the crew.

It is expected that the crew will officially start shooting in mid-May.

In addition, some post-production work on "Invasion of Evil Spirits" also needs to be personally inquired into, and there are some things that Ray Sancheni can't decide.

"The competition in the summer schedule is very fierce, and "Invasion of Evil Spirits" does not have any advantages, so Twentieth Century Fox has made a preliminary decision to set the premiere time for September 1. ”

Leigh Sancheni continued: "In terms of schedule, it's not much like last year's 'Chainsaw'. ”

In fact, Twentieth Century Fox has held several screenings, and in general, the response is not too good, and many horror movie audiences are a little disappointed, but some female audiences have given good reviews.

Ryan flipped through the premiere materials set by Twentieth Century Fox and asked, "How many screens have you identified?"

Rei Sancheni showed a hint of helplessness and said: "As for the theater company, I feel that there are some problems with the plot of the film, which is not bloody and terrifying enough. ”

Speaking of which, she glanced at Ryan, "There may not be too many screens, and it is initially expected to be about 500 screens." ”

In this regard, Ryan had long expected that the main audience of "Invasion of Evil Spirits" in his previous life was mainly female audiences.

But at present, there are obviously not as many female audiences in the North American market as in his previous life, and he is not sure how much box office he can achieve in the end.

"How's the publicity!" Ryan thought for a moment and asked again, "Twentieth Century Fox, did you take my advice!"

His advice was very simple: focus on women in their thirties and forties, rather than on a large scale.

Ray Sancheni shook her head and said, "Twentieth Century Fox will not finally decide on the promotional plan until a month before the release of the film. ”

"Still, I think they'll agree with you. ”

Ryan closed the information in his hand and said, "I hope so." ”

"By the way, Kevin's thing, I'm very sorry. ”

Regarding Kevin Bakken, he was somewhat gaffe, and did not send him an audition invitation, or even an audition for the leading actor.

"It doesn't matter. Re-Sancheni looked very calm and said: "No one expected that the touchstone would suddenly stop the cooperation. ”

The abrupt suspension of the cooperation by Touchstone disrupted the preparation of the entire crew, otherwise no matter who the final hero and heroine are, a public audition will be held.

The two didn't talk about much, after all, Ryan only had the right to make suggestions on many things, and the final decision-maker was Twentieth Century Fox.