I’m in Hollywood

The Exchange

After s short rest, all cheered up, waiting for the second film . In contrast with the star-studded cast of Steel Magnolias (4 of the 6 heroines had already won an Oscar), the players of The Others were not worth mentioning . However, enough attention was attracted when Eric’s name was shown in the column of scriptwriters . Before Home Alone became a box office hit, the film’s cast had drawn little attention .

After the opening, Grace was telling a story with the backdrop of caricatures . Slowly, the voice was disappearing and appearing in scratchy drawings were horrifying scenes like a frightened girl with her eyes wide open, a black shadow approaching the child and a marionette whose neck was broken .

In the bedroom, Grace suddenly opened her eyes full of tears and then breathed desperately like a fish out of water, her body trembling violently with fear .

All knew that the heroine was having a nightmare . Some viewers would come to realize that the caricatures at the beginning were exactly what the heroine dreamt of .

In this version, Virginia did not shout herself hoa.r.s.e like Nicole Kidman who played in the original version . The fear showed by the big eyes full of tears was as visible, though . The fear and desperation showed by silence could, together with the mottled setting in a dark room, more easily make the spectators’ hair stand on end .    

This was the first change Eric made to the script . In the previous life, he felt nothing except being startled by the cry of Nicole Kidman .

The scene was shot with great difficulty . Virginia was truly frightened and the fear in her eyes was by no means pretended . By the camera were a cl.u.s.ter of horrifying creatures like c.o.c.kroaches . The “props” were of great help and Virginia’s performance was a lot more expressive than Nicole’s in Eric’s eyes . In Hollywood, no one was irreplaceable and opportunities were what most players lacked .

Somehow, all in the video hall were focusing their attention on the strange behaviors of Grace, 2 children and 3 servants . Except Eric and some other insiders, all were trying to guess what happened in this house and why there were haunting shadows and strange sound .

If this had been a ghost story, the ghosts would have appeared far earlier . Why did Grace’s husband come back and then leave all of a sudden?

Although the mystery remained unsolved, no one lost patience and the suspenseful plot attracted even the representatives from the 7 major film companies . Even Michael Eisner could not restrict himself from asking Eric about the plot development . However, Eric just smiled and refused to disclose any spoiler alert .

More than 80 minutes later, Grace’s son and daughter found the graves . Not until then were the 3 servants revealed to be “ghosts” .

However, no one became clear about what happened and all began to doubt why the 3 “ghost servants” appeared . What was their purpose? Their words had shown that they meant no harm to Grace and her children .

Then the whole film reached its climax . When Grace opened the door of the living room upstairs to reveal a family and a psychic old lady, the puzzle was finally solved for the audience .

“The film keeps everyone in suspense and all the plots are intricately woven together . Fantastic!” Michael Eisner could not help but exclaim . He rarely thought so highly of a film . The president of Paramount Nade Tarn secretly clenched his fist, determined to acquire the distribution right of the film . Other senior managers felt sorry since they didn’t plan to or were not able to secure the right . The calmest representatives from Warner Bros were not as calm as before at this moment .

The symbolic fog cleared as the truth was revealed .

The room brightened . The applause lasted for minutes long and it was louder than what was heard after Steel Magnolias was shown .

Jonathan Demme was sitting in the back row . He saw this and his lips twitched with excitement . Eventually, he could not help laughing, showing the white teeth . Jonathan knew that he had made it .

Michael Madsen patted on her sister’s hand to show his congratulations .

The applause ended and then all followed the server into the banquet hall downstairs . Eric was walking in front and by his side were Michael Eisner and Nade Tarn . The representatives of Warner Bros were not so reserved as before and they approached and greeted Eric cordially .

Following behind were representatives of Fox, MGM and other film companies that were destined to lose the distribution right .

Elizabeth Murdoch moved closer to Carta and whispered：“Why don’t you compete for the distribution right?”

Carta shook his head and explained gently to Elizabeth：“That will not work . The two films of Eric belong to Fix already . They will not give us the distribution right . ”

Elizabeth thought for a moment before saying：“Why not? What we prioritize is Eric’s sequel to Home Alone at the end of this year . We can then exchange the distribution right of another film for that of The Others . I feel that this horror film is unique and has the potential to become a box office hit like Home Alone . ”

Carta Hunter could not help but glance at the girl by his side several times . He was quite surprised by her words . He had thought that Elizabeth was only an arrogant and self-willed girl born into a rich family . After all, it was she that insisted on partic.i.p.ating in the show today together with him . It was a willful decision .   

Elizabeth Murdoch was the second daughter of Rubert Murdoch and Carta Hunter had no choice but to agree to her request after thinking for long . Fortunately, Eric did not close the door upon the girl since he was familiar with Carta and knew who Elizabeth was .

Unexpectedly, very soon after the show, Elizabeth could think of quite a feasible plan .

Elizabeth came to Fox in the name of interning on vacation, but she rarely fulfilled her duty as an intern . So she could know nothing about the cooperation between Fox and the Firefly Film Company . In this case, she could surprisingly think of a pretty feasible plan in such a short time . This caused Carta to treat Elizabeth with great respect . He himself had the idea of securing the distribution right when The Otherswas played in the video hall but he just could not think of any good solutions .

“Fine, Ms . Murdoch, I will, in the form of written paper, present the plan to Barry Diller . However, I must say that Fox has not seen the script of Eric’s another film at the end of this year yet and I doubt whether it can make a decision before other companies secure The Others . After all, Fox’s own people will object to your proposal . The films directed by Eric himself have earned a good reputation and huge box-office takings many times . This play was written by Eric himself and is as outstanding as his other films, but I don’t think many will dare to take a risk in trying to secure the distribution right . ”

“How inefficient! If I controlled Fox, I would secure the film directly,” Elizabeth curled her lips and began to show her self-will as a spoiled girl .

This time, Carta did not treat the girl with disdain . Instead, he explained the whole thing patiently：“Ms . Murdoch, this has a lot to do with the interests of all parties and the success of the exchange is not determined by us only . Even if we would like to make the change, will Eric Williams agree? Will other film companies agree? You can see that Michael Eisner and Nade Tarn are here today . This shows that they pay great attention to Eric Williams . So we don’t have a great advantage in compet.i.tion . ”