Venice was known as the City of Water because it was located on the water. The city was filled with large and small water alleys, the Venetian pointed boats known as Gondolas, and more than 400 bridges, forming a unique landscape that attracted tourists from all over the world.
The specific location of the film festival was the slender Lido Island, which ran southeast of Venice. It was a holiday destination that was as famous as Liera in France, Miami in the United States, and Hawaii. There were private beaches and public baths here. There were also casinos, restaurants, nightclubs, theaters, and other entertainment facilities. It was the most suitable place to hold the film festival.
The opening ceremony was on August 27th. Adriaan and his team arrived in Venice a day in advance. Although it was a team, in reality, it only consisted of himself, Katherine, Denis, and two assistants. As for other matters such as the application for the competition, Laffern personally flew over from the United States a week ago to take on this responsibility.
Adriaan was a little worried at first. Due to the tight deadline, the first version of the film did not achieve the best effect he had in mind. However, under Laffern's management, it passed smoothly. It had to be said that he was very capable. Thinking about it, it made sense. Seven years ago, the CEO of Paramount was the current CEO of Disney, Michael Eisner. As one of the assistants of a powerful person who could develop Disney to its current stage, Laffern was definitely not to be underestimated. This was also why Adriaan ultimately chose to buy Bosworth Films when there were better and cheaper options.
After arriving at the hotel where they were staying, Adriaan rested for a while before looking for Laffern to discuss. Although he had been paying attention to his film company, Los Angeles and London were separated by the Atlantic Ocean and the American continent. Nowadays, bulky mobile phones did not support global communication. If he wanted to contact them, he had to use landlines to make international calls or use satellite phones. It was too troublesome. Moreover, after filming, most of his energy was spent on post-production, and a small part of it was spent on Katherine. Therefore, it was very necessary to take this opportunity to talk face-to-face and ask about the specific situation.
"Edie Black from the planning department and Clarice Sandow from the editing and review department." After exchanging a few pleasantries, Adriaan got to the point. "Although I promised them that I wouldn't fire any employee for half a year, I also said that I would inspect them during this time. Frankly speaking, I'm not satisfied with their performance. "
"I think there must be some misunderstanding." Laffern said after flipping through some of the information that Adriaan had brought over. "Although Eddie and Clarice aren't the best employees, they are quite responsible."
"But it's always the truth that goes wrong, isn't it?" Adrian smiled and held up his hand before Laffan could speak. "Alright, Laffan, I'm just giving my opinion. Besides, Laffan, I'm just giving my opinion. Since you are in charge of the company during this period of time, I will definitely trust you and respect your opinion. "
"Thank you, Mr. Kewell," Laffern said after a few seconds of silence.
"Just call me Eide. Now, let's talk about the film festival." Adriaan changed the topic.
"Okay, Eide, the organizing committee has accepted 'Two Smokers' as an independent film," Laffern said as he handed the documents to Adriaan.
"Very good, this way we can save some money." Adriaan flipped through the documents and nodded.
The reason why they gave up the name of a film company and participated in the film festival as an independent film was that the United States had a law that stipulated that film companies could not produce and distribute the same film at the same time. In other words, if a film company produced a film and wanted to distribute it, it had to hand it over to another film company. This was an extension of the anti-monopoly law.
For those groups in Hollywood that owned several film companies, this law was nothing more than a piece of paper. Changing the distribution of the film company was just like passing the law from the left hand to the right hand. Even though the anti-monopoly law clearly stated that film companies could not own cinema chains, these large groups still found ways to exploit loopholes in the law to indirectly control the cinema chains. Small and medium-sized film companies had to abide by this law.
In fact, this was not a big deal. Hollywood had a perfect distribution channel, and there was no need to worry about someone interfering in the process. However, Adriaan did not want to waste the distribution fee. Since he had just started his career, all the money should be used wisely. So why couldn't he participate in the film festival as an independent film and then hand it over to his own film company for distribution? Anyway, from the investment to the production, he had completed it all by himself. Well, he had the help of the company, but this was not a problem, was it?
"Have you seen the sample film? What do you think? " Adriaan asked at this time. Seeing that Laffern was a little hesitant, he added, "It doesn't matter, I just want to hear your opinion."
"Well … I should say that it's very interesting, but I'm not sure how many people will like this kind of British-style cult film. Basically, it can't be rated below R, which will have a great impact on the number of people watching the film," Laffern said carefully.
Originally, Adriaan wanted to say a few words, but after thinking about it, he gave up the idea. Laffern was only analyzing from the perspective of the American market, so it could not be considered wrong.
"What's the schedule for the screening?" Adriaan asked again.
"31st, Flyte Theater," Laffern answered briefly.
"Then we'll talk about it after the screening." Adriaan smiled and changed the topic again. "What about the adaptation rights of those novels? I heard you say that there's some trouble? "
"Mr. Stephen King has already agreed to sell the adaptation rights of the novel to us, and he might have signed the contract already. Mr. Michael Clayton's novel is still in negotiations, but judging from the current situation, the chances of getting it are still very high. The main problem lies with Mr. Winston Glum, he insists on participating in the adaptation of the script," Laffern explained.
Adriaan's brows suddenly furrowed. After thinking for a long time, he said, "It's best to get the adaptation rights of Clayton's novel as soon as possible. If necessary, we can make some concessions, and even let him participate in the adaptation. Not Glum … Does he have no intention of letting up at all?"
"Yes, Mr. Glum said this is a necessary condition." Laffern sighed.
Adriaan was silent for a few seconds. "I can understand what he's thinking. A work is equivalent to one's own child. No one would be willing to let someone else dress up their own child. But the problem is … this work of his is a political satire, and I want to adapt it into an inspirational movie. If he participates in the adaptation, it's inevitable that we'll have a conflict. This is also why I emphasized that this book must be fully adapted. "
What a troublesome fellow. Paramount probably had no choice but to do such a thing. He pinched his fingers and thought for a while before saying, "How about this, Laffer. We can agree to this condition, but at the same time, prepare a special contract. We have to guarantee that if there's a conflict during the adaptation and it can't be resolved, we can kick him out of the production without any obstacles."
Laffern raised his eyebrows in surprise, but then he nodded and did not say anything. The conversation between the two ended, and Adriaan went back to his room to have a good rest.
The next day, the film festival officially opened in front of the cameras of countless reporters. The opening film was an Italian film. After walking on a red carpet that wasn't really a red carpet, attending the opening ceremony and listening to the host's speech, Adriaan took Catherine on a stroll through the streets of Venice.
He wasn't interested in communicating with European directors. His goal wasn't here. Besides, he was just a rookie director. Of course, there were still a few heavyweights from the United States. Martin Scorsese deliberately brought his new film, "Goodfellas" to attend the film festival. He was originally an Italian-American, so it was only natural that he had a special liking for the Venice Film Festival. Even the themes of his films were often about Italian-American identity, sin and redemption in the Catholic sense, violence in American society, and so on — this was probably one of the reasons why the Oscars didn't give him a second look for more than a decade.
Since Scorsese was here, Robert De Niro, who had worked closely with him since the 1980s and was also one of the protagonists of "Goodfellas," naturally wouldn't be left behind. Adriaan didn't have any feelings for Scorsese, but he really liked De Niro's performance. However, as mentioned before, he was just a rookie director. Even if he met De Niro, he would at most have a casual conversation with him. So, why should he join in the fun?
In addition, Laffern had been in charge of the film, and the holiday was also a part of the film festival. Therefore, he had no qualms about visiting Venice with Catherine.
The governor's palace, the Bridge of Sighs, Palazzo Rezonico, St. Mark's Square, and St. Mark's Church were all places that they had to visit. Riding on a Gondola through the cobwebs of water alleys was also one of the things that they had to do. The two even specially went to the library where "Raiders of the Lost Ark 3" was filmed. In three days, they toured most of Venice.
"Venice is so beautiful, I love this place!" After coming out of the water alleys, Catherine couldn't help but praise as she watched the seagulls in the distance from the Gondola.
"If you like it, we can make time to travel here once a year in the future," Adriaan said with a smile as he put his arm around her waist.
Catherine didn't say anything. With a faint smile, she looked at Adriaan with her bright eyes. After a while, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his mouth. Adriaan took advantage of the situation and pulled Catherine into his arms. They kissed each other passionately, completely ignoring the scenery around them. They were no different from a couple in love.
Seeing this, the boatman who was paddling the oars at the back suddenly started singing. Although he was singing in Italian, the affectionate tone was exceptionally vivid. Perhaps because of the love song, the two became even more passionate as they kissed.
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