I’m in Hollywood

Shaking his head, Eric explained: "Tom, the film is named 《Running Out of Time》, Because the two protagonists are running against time. And at its core the rivalry between the two protagonists is what makes the film good if the time given to the two characters become unbalanced, the splendor of the film will be greatly reduced. And, I think in this movie your character has the biggest play s.p.a.ce, and Hanks also need to share his scenes with Joe Pesci, plus your role is a one-man show, so there"s no need to added to it."

Although Cruise knows that what Eric said is very reasonable, his face still showed a touch of displeasure.

Originally, Eric didn"t have much opinion about Tom Cruise"s personal qualities, he didn"t even pay attention to the rumors about him in the tabloids. After all, most of the rumors and gossip about the celebrities in Hollywood are false, and the things he heard and read about him from reputable sources, all said that he is a very dedicated and hardworking man, that"s why Eric decided to cooperate with him.

But now, he began to regret that decision, because the two of them like to control things around them, Eric was sure that in the process of filming 《Running Out of Time》 the disputes between them will be unavoidable.

Thinking carefully about it, Eric thought that Tom Cruise was feeling superior because in the film industry Eric qualifications were too shallow.

"Well, Eric, about the bus girl, Brooke Shields, isn"t she ...... too tall?" Cruise height has always been his biggest weakness. So, after getting rejected, Cruise impulsively brought up this topic, but he regretted it as soon as he said it.

Brooke Shields was six feet tall (183 Centimetres), and if she wore high heels, it is estimated that she can be as tall as Geena Davis when she hugged him at the awards ceremony.

Trying hard not to laugh in his face Eric advised: "Tom, you don"t have to worry about her, you"ll both be sitting in the two scenes you share with her. There are no shots of the two of you walking side by side? In both the bus encounter and the restaurant date."

"All right." Cruise nodded sheepishly and drank a mouthful of wine to hide his embarra.s.sment, then he walked away in a hurry.

Eric had just turned, wanting to return to mingling with the crowd, when Virginia popped out of nowhere and hugged his arm as if afraid he will slip away.

"Hey, that"s too tight, I promise I won"t run away," Eric said while laughing, he could clearly see that she was afraid he will start talking to another woman.

Trying to hide her embarra.s.sment, Virginia gave him an aggrieved look and released his arm as she said: "Humph, run to another woman if you want, I don"t care."

Eric looked down at his watch as he said: "Forget it, let"s go back so you can stop always being afraid, of me being taken away from you because tonight I"m all yours."

"Really." Virginia once again grabbed arm in joy: "Can we go to your house tonight?"

"Sure but will have to sneak away, because I"m sure the paparazzi must be keeping an eye on us."

Virginia thought for a few moment"s then said: "If we take the lift directly to the parking lot, then leave using Mr. Sid"s car, I"m sure there won"t be any trouble."

"That"s my smart girl," Eric said in a whisper, if they weren"t in public, Eric would"ve definitely reached out to pinch her beautiful cheek.

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When they were about to leave, a commotion happened at the entrance to the banquet hall, when Eric tried to pay attention to what"s going on at the entrance, he heard someone call the name "Spielberg" loudly. And sure enough, a few moments later a middle-aged man with circular gla.s.ses walked through the crowd.

"It"s Steven Spielberg. What"s he doing here?" Virginia said curiously.

"Who knows," Eric shook his head and said: "let"s go and say h.e.l.lo."

"Ok," Virginia said while trying to hide her eagerness.

But as soon as they decided to go meet him, Spielberg started walking toward them.

To everyone"s surprise, Steven Spielberg took the initiative to reach his hand to Eric: "Eric, I thought you would go to the Hilton Hotel, but when I went there some friends told me that you came here."

"Really! ...... I don"t know what to say, Mr. Spielberg, If you contacted my agent, I would"ve personally come to meet you," Eric humbly said as they shook hands.

"I heard you were busy these days, and today is a special day so I can spare some time," Spielbergexplained: "Eric, I booked a room downstairs, let"s go talk there. Oh, and this ...... beautiful lady can also come along if she wants."

"No problem," Eric nodded and followed after Spielberg while taking Virginia along with him, leaving everyone in the banquet hall to wondering what"s going on.

After Eric left, everyone started speculating why Spielberg personally came to find Eric. Although they lost the chance to talk with Spielberg, but they know they don"t have the qualifications. Only Tom Cruise felt a deep sense of loss in his heart as he watched Spielberg and Eric and disappear at the door. Steven Spielberg who come all the way to 《Rain Man》 crew party, directly went to talk to Eric, he didn"t even look his way, even though he was standing very close to him, it was as if he didn"t exist.

He didn"t have much hope in cooperating with Spielberg, he just wanted to be friends with Spielberg. As a representative of the Jews in Hollywood, having a good relationship with Spielberg is equal to having a friendship with all the Jews in Hollywood.

Jews run Hollywood, this is not a false statement, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, and many other movie company executives are Jews. And Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford and the other big famous directors and stars are also Jews. After Cruise left CAA, if he wants to get rid of his status as an actor, and enters the producer"s rank, it is essential to make connections with the Jewish circle in Hollywood.

---- ----

In a room on the seventh floor, the two sides sat down, after a hotel staff member served them coffee they ordered, he took the initiative to withdraw from the room, leaving only Spielberg and his a.s.sistant, and Eric, and Virginia.

"Eric, is Drew OK? it has been a long time since visited me." Spielberg didn"t rush to get down to business. Instead, he casually started chatting.

Eric also wasn"t urgent, but when he took a glimpse at Virginia who was sitting beside him, he found that she was looking at Spielberg with googly eyes. Seeing her like that he felt very ashamed, after all, they were both directors. So he decided when they go back home tonight, he will do some evil things to her, things he always wanted to do.

"What a heartless girl," Eric said with a smile: "when I go back home, I will give her a lesson, It"s really rude of her not to visit family members for such a long time."

"I heard people that Drew"s relationship with you was strange, like father and daughter. I didn"t believe it at first, but now that I listened to the tone of your voice, I think it may be true, maybe it"s a good choice for her to follow you. Her parents ...... let"s just say, they aren"t good parents, Eric, I hope you treat her well."

"I will," Eric nodded, he didn"t know where Spielberg heard the news after all the other side connections in Hollywood is beyond his reach.

Spielberg slowly took a sip from his coffee and said: "In fact, I came to talk to you today, about 《Jura.s.sic Park》, I"ve had people contact you a couple of times before, but they were all turned down, So today I came personally, Eric, how about selling me 《Jura.s.sic Park》 film copyright?"

Eric didn"t answer right away, In fact, he was very distressed, selling 《Jura.s.sic Park》 movie copyrights to Spielberg, is out of the question. He doesn"t even want to let Spielberg be the director of the film, like in his past life, because he just remembered some data when Spielberg started talking about the copyrights.

In his past life, 《Jura.s.sic Park》 won more than $900 million at the box office, $350 million in North America, and $600 million overseas. According to the local average of 55%, and 20% overseas box office dividends, the film was eventually able to get $310 million in box office split. Universal Pictures invested about 70 million US dollars in the film. When you subtract the cost, you find that the film made a huge profit of $240 million. This looks like a big number because, in the past nine years, even the six large studios weren"t able to make this much profit in a year.

However, this is why Spielberg is worthy of being called the most astute film businessman. As 《Jura.s.sic Park》 director, Spielberg by virtue of personal strength, connections and a series of negotiations, was able to sign a contract that was very unfavorable to Universal, that gave him a small share of the box office and most of the DVD sales profits. The end result is Spielberg was able to get 250 million US dollars for directing 《Jura.s.sic Park》."

Yes, $10 million more than the 《Jura.s.sic Park》 box office profit.

In 1993, the era of the digital video discs (DVDs) still hasn"t come yet, so the (VHS) video market in best cases accounted for only thirty-five percent of the movie"s earnings, other peripheral broadcasting rights income is relatively less. In other words, most of the profits of 《Jura.s.sic Park》 video tapes were actually taken by Spielberg himself, this was how he was able to establish "DreamWorks Animation".

If it was not for 《Jura.s.sic Park》 peripheral products and theme parks bringing huge profits for Universal, Eric was sure that Universal CEO would have lost his job.

As for the rumors, that Spielberg was discontent with 《Jura.s.sic Park》 and 《Schindler"s List》 investment getting bundled together, which led to him getting dissatisfied with Universal, and prompting him to establish "DreamWorks" with his friends Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen. this argument has no credibility at all, in reality, Spielberg established "DreamWorks Animation" because he finally was able to get his hands on a lot of money, that is the simple truth.

Not a penny was invested, and he took away $250 million, what can he be dissatisfied about!

What Eric was worried about now is how to politely refuse Steven Spielberg and without affecting their relationship, after all, he doesn"t want to offend the Jewish director who has great connections in Hollywood, that will be like suicide.

"Mr. Spielberg, actually ...... when I wrote this book. I originally intended to direct the film myself, so ......." Eric stammered trying to organize his words: "So ...... I didn"t intend to sell the film and television rights of 《Jura.s.sic Park》."

Spielberg smiled like an elder, and said like he was doing him a favor: "Eric, I"ve seen some of your movies, I think you are good at low-cost comedy films and also drama, but when it comes to 《Jura.s.sic Park》, a science fiction novel, I"m afraid for a long time you won"t be able to shoot it. I don"t mean to belittle what you said, but you"re still too young after all and lack experience. I too faced the same situation in the past, I made my first short film in 1959, but only until sixteen years later, was I able to produce science fiction movies like 《Jaws》. Your qualifications are much better than mine, but it will take you at least ten years or so to acc.u.mulate enough experience, to make a film like 《Jura.s.sic Park》. Perhaps at that time, many people would have forgotten the novel 《Jura.s.sic Park》, making it difficult to recover the cost of the film."