Chapter 475

Without any suspense, Kyla agreed. However, her personality hadn't changed much in two years. She was still as arrogant and self-abased as before. Moreover, they had an agreement. How could she give up and admit defeat?

This was exactly what Adriaan wanted to see, so even though he felt a little regretful, he didn't care too much. Originally, after passing the test, she would be given the role of the stand-in maid in "Star Wars Prequel." Unexpectedly, because of a moment of carelessness, he forgot that Lucas had started filming in 1996. As a result, it became a test.

But it didn't matter. There would always be a role. Besides, she had a smart mother. Shawn was indeed very perceptive. This could be seen from the fact that she chose "Shakespeare's Love History" instead of "Elizabeth." "Elizabeth" was a story based on history. Once there was a disagreement on an important point, it was very likely that she would have to start all over again. On the other hand, "Shakespeare's Love History" had a basic script. She only needed to modify it according to Adriaan's wishes.

That's right. The script of "Shakespeare's Love History" had been basically completed by Mark Norman in the mid-1980s. In 1991, he had planned to invite Julia to play the female lead. However, the director, Edward Zwick, was not satisfied with the original script and planned to invite Tom Stoppard to modify it. Thus, he had a conflict with Mark Norman. In addition, there were some problems with the investors, so the script was aborted.

Then, the script fell into the hands of Miramax, but because the prospects were not optimistic, it was shelved. Later, AC Media acquired Miramax. Just like Bosworth, Adriaan regularly checked the script in their hands. The New Line did the same, so the script finally fell into his hands.

After so many twists and turns, it still came to him. It was absolutely impossible to say that it wasn't God's will. Therefore, Adriaan accepted the gift with a smile and took out "Elizabeth" in front of Gwyneth and Blanchett. As a boss, it was very easy to get the copyright of a shelved script. The Weinstein brothers did it very quickly. They were very skilled at getting the complete copyright and then kicking the original owner aside.

It only took a few days. Then, Adriaan was ready to go back to Los Angeles. Of course, Emma was very unhappy about this. After being coaxed by Adriaan for a long time, he promised her that she could come to America during the summer vacation. The little girl finally smiled.

"You promised. Don't go back on your word." Before leaving, Emma poked Adriaan with her little finger and pouted.

"Don't worry. I swear to God." Adrian had no choice but to coax him again and again. Then, he sighed in his heart. With this troublemaker around, this summer vacation would not be easy.

Although the filming of "The Matrix" was nearing its end, after Adrian returned, the completion date was delayed by a few days. Compared to his usual speed, this movie was considered relatively slow. Yuan Heping didn't let him down. He directed the fight scene in the subway well. The problem was that Yuan Heping had directed too many Hong Kong films, and it was his first time working on a Hollywood film. Some parts were too Hong Kong.

"It's not that I don't like it. Yuan, you have to know that this is an American film." Adriaan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Fortunately, this wasn't a serious problem. After watching the videotape, Adriaan and his assistants had a good discussion. They shot about ten more scenes and paid more attention to the editing and post-production effects. It just so happened that the set hadn't been torn down yet, so it didn't take too long. Once the gunfight scene where Neo and Trinity rescued Murphy was completed, 'The Matrix' could be closed for the night.

As one of the coolest parts of the movie, the gunfight scene, which combined kungfu and gunfight, was extremely exciting. Although there were many people who mocked "the pillars of the building are probably made of sponge" and "Neo and Trinity's accuracy is too embarrassing", it didn't diminish the impact of these scenes.

However, although it was fun to watch in the movie, it wasn't easy to shoot. Just the scene of Neo jumping up and killing the last SWAT officer and landing in such a cool posture took around fifteen to sixteen shots. Reeves' landing posture was either not accurate enough, or his windbreaker was turned inside out, or his sunglasses almost fell off.

"Even shooting bullet time isn't this tiring," Reeves couldn't help but complain after another NG.

"Is that so? Then maybe we can reconsider adding bullet time here, "Adriaan said immediately.

"No! I think that's great! This small problem won't stump me at all! " Reeves immediately cried out and even used his hands to support his waist. Immediately, roars of laughter rang out from all around.

With Adriaan's foresight and Yuan Heping's dedication, bullet time was even more perfect and exquisite than the original, even if it was still the first film. However, this made things difficult for Reeves. He often had to bend his knees almost 90 degrees and blow for dozens of minutes in front of the blower. Although there were steel wires hanging from his knees, the most strenuous part was his waist. During that time, he would often grimace and rub his waist after Adriaan told him to stop. Those who knew would know that this was caused by filming, but those who didn't would think that he was too happy in bed.

"Are you okay, Monica?" After teasing Reeves, Adriaan walked up to the female lead.

"Not bad, just a small injury." Monica smiled while drinking. "I didn't say it was easier than shooting bullet time."

"Don't worry, even if you said it, I won't have any dissatisfaction. You are him, and he is him." Adriaan raised his hands and then asked, "Really, I'm fine."

In the previous filming, there was a scene where Monica stepped on the wall and flipped over. After two or three takes, she accidentally slipped. Even with steel wires hanging from her knees, her ankle was still slightly sprained.

"Really." Monica looked at him, amused. She straightened her chest and said, "I couldn't be better."

That pair of softness immediately swayed lightly. It was really turbulent waves. With Monica's figure, this set of tights was the most suitable for her.

"Okay, okay, let's not talk about this." Adriaan changed the topic. "Claude asked me out tonight. Would you like to accompany me?"

"Of course." Monica looked at him strangely. "You know, I won't refuse your request."

"Yes, I know, but …" Adriaan shrugged. "You may not like this party."

"Really? What is it? "

"Boxing."

In the middle of the noisy arena, a screen hung in the middle of the arena was showing the scene of the arena from different angles. In the arena below, a big man was launching continuous attacks. Straight punches, uppercuts, and he kept landing on another person. Every time he landed a heavy blow, the surrounding supporters would cheer loudly, using their cries to vent their enthusiasm.

The one who was being beaten seemed to have no strength to fight back, but people familiar with him could see that his arms over his head would make slight adjustments from time to time. Although there were many punches landing on his body, the damage caused was not as much as expected. And when he saw an opportunity, he would rush forward to hug his opponent, and then wait for the referee to separate them, using this trick to consume his opponent's strength.

Finally, when the passive one was about to be forced into a corner, he suddenly turned around and jumped out. Although his opponent predicted this move and immediately punched him, he immediately turned around and hit his opponent in the face with a heavy uppercut, immediately knocking him to the ground. Even louder cheers rang out, and the hot-blooded people cheered for the uppercut.

Unfortunately, the match was not over. Just as the referee counted down to eight, the boxer who fell to the ground finally stood up. Although he looked a little dizzy from the beating, he knew that defense was the key now, so under the opponent's storm of attacks, he barely managed to hold on until the end of the round.

"What a pity. If Philip worked harder, he would have won for sure," Claude, who was sitting in the front row, said with a sigh after the voices behind him quieted down.

"You have praised him many times tonight. Krau, be honest, how much did you bet on him?" Adriaan asked with a smile.

"Not much, only 50,000 dollars. Daniela helped me." Claude smiled and patted his girlfriend next to him, or more appropriately, his bed partner.

With the two supermodels, Cindy Krau and Krau Diya Schiffer, Victoria's Secret's development was also rising, and its exclusive model team was basically established. The Czech model next to Claude, named Daniela Pástova, had already become one of the contracted models. He was having a lot of fun with her.

"Well, then I will also pray for you that he will win." Adriaan said with a smile, then looked at Monica next to him. "If I had known, I would have listened to you and placed my bet."

"It's too late to regret now, Eide," Monica replied with a smile, but she didn't look very good.

Adriaan shrugged. It wasn't that he didn't know how to gamble. In fact, he gambled on a lot of things, but he was used to gambling after collecting enough information, instead of pinning his hopes on luck. This was why he rarely went to Las Vegas.

"What's wrong?" He noticed her abnormality.

"It's a little noisy," Monica replied in a low voice. "But it doesn't matter. As long as I'm by your side, it's enough."

"It will be over soon, don't worry." Adriaan held her hand and comforted her. For the time being, this was the only thing he could do.

This kind of place would definitely have a private room, but how could one feel the fiery atmosphere of the scene from a private room? How could one better appreciate the contest of speed and strength between boxers? Although boxing in the United States was not as popular as other major ball sports, it was also a popular sport with many fans. This could be seen from the sensation caused by Stallone's "Rocky." So, in order to experience the atmosphere, Claude booked a seat in the front row.

Adrian neither hated nor disliked boxing. If he had to say, he was more appreciative of technical sports. This probably had something to do with the fact that he often pondered over problems. But now, he only hoped that it would end quickly so that Monica, who was beside him, could feel better.

Perhaps God heard his thoughts. The next round was finally decided in the last few seconds. The boxer that Claude bet on was finally knocked to the ground. In the entire match, he only had the upper hand in the first two rounds. After that, most of the time, he was defending and counterattacking. Although he did well in the last round, he was one step too late. He didn't completely finish off his opponent, giving him a chance to breathe. His opponent's coach took the opportunity to set up a strategy to deal with him. If he didn't make the next round, he might have had a chance to win. Unfortunately …

"What a pity. You lost 50,000 dollars." Adriaan smiled and clinked his glass with Claude.

This was a bar near the arena. It was very luxurious and catered to those with status who came to watch all kinds of games. After the end, they would naturally come here to have a drink.

"It's only 50,000 dollars." Claude didn't take it to heart. He looked at him meaningfully, then looked at Monica and Daniela, who were chatting not far away. "Anyway, we will soon earn back tens of thousands of times or even hundreds of thousands of times."

"Looks like you are ready?" Adriaan raised his eyebrows. This was the most important topic tonight.

"Of course, I have been watching him closely. I have to admit that this guy is a genius. When most people don't see him clearly, he is already like a cheetah, hiding himself well and ready to go," Claude said admiringly. "I bet that it will be early next month at the latest."

"Then I will wait for your good news." Adriaan drank the whiskey in his hand. "However, you have to prepare for the company."

"I know. Laffern is very good. With him in charge, there is no need to worry. Besides, I only need to watch him closely at the beginning." Claude laughed. "As for you, I can understand the former of the two acquisitions, but what about the latter?"

"I don't believe that you can't see the benefits of instant messaging." Adriaan shrugged.

"Of course I understand, but the problem is how to do it." Claude spread out his hands.

"That is a matter for the future. Right now, there is only one thing, and that is to occupy a large enough market." Adrian explained, "That's why I asked them to get rid of the fancy stuff and make it as simple and fast as possible. It's fine as long as it can attract users at the first sign of trouble. I know they are unhappy, but I don't care. It doesn't matter even if they are fired. The software program is not complicated. What we want is the user base. "

"But there has to be a limit, right?"

"Yes, but this doesn't depend on you and me. It depends on Microsoft."

"Microsoft?"

"Yes. Think about it. If one day Microsoft wants to buy this software, should we sell it or not? If we sell it, with their style, will they let us take the initiative to control it? Especially when it comes to software? If we don't sell it, what if they develop the same software and sell it in bundles like Office? "

"… I understand." Claude nodded after thinking for a long time. Then, he drank the liquid in the glass. "I have to admit that other than movie production, you also have a good eye on the Internet."

The two of them were talking. This instant messaging software was naturally ICQ. With the advantage of foresight, this software was found by Adriaan's venture capital company after it was developed by the three Israelis. Then, after a series of tricks, this software was bought by AC Media after the number of users exceeded three million.

To be honest, this software could not bring much direct benefits, but it had a lot of potential in indirect benefits, such as the huge user base. Although ICQ was so simple, because of its own reasons, if it had not made the interface extremely complicated and unfriendly, it would have lost most of its users. Even if other companies developed the same software, even if Microsoft sold MSN in bundles, it would not cause ICQ to lose too much. Even so, this software still occupied a part of the market because it was the first instant messaging software.

Think about it. After a few years, when the technology became more and more mature, when all the plans were in place, what kind of subtle influence could it have on these users and what kind of publicity could it have!

Of course, out of bad taste, he registered the penguin image at the first opportunity, and he did not let it go anywhere. So if Fried Dough Teng still wanted to copy it, then it had to change its image and name. Anyway, this was a very simple thing. Without QQ, there could still be girls. Moreover, China would not allow instant messaging software from other countries to occupy the market. It was necessary to support local companies.

As for the other acquisition, it was not a big deal. Blue Sky Studio, which would produce the "Ice Age" series in the future, had officially become a member of AC Media. With the success of Pixar, no one would think that computer animation had no future.

It was precisely because of Pixar that they still spent a lot of effort in the competition for Blue Sky Studio; but it was also because of the example of Pixar that Blue Sky Studio finally fell into their arms. Very good, in this regard, the second step had been achieved. Now there was only one last step left.

"Thank you for the compliment." Adriaan poured himself and him half a glass again.

"Frankly speaking, if it wasn't for you, the company's development would've taken a lot of detours. Our partnership is truly flawless." Claude sighed.

"That's right, we are the best partners." Adriaan laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "As long as we are close, no matter what happens, we will be invincible."

With a clink, the two cups clinked against each other, and after they drained their cups in one gulp, the two of them laughed out loud again.

"Speaking of which, do you want to give it a try …" Claude suddenly said, pointing at Daniela with a playful smile.

"If there is a suitable one, I don't mind," Adriaan shrugged knowingly. "But don't say this in front of Monica."

"I know, I know. She is your collection." Claude laughed. "Don't worry, I will choose the best one for you."

"You …" Adriaan laughed and scolded. "By the way, you will come to the premiere in a few days. It is a good opportunity to witness."