To be honest, which director or producer could do what Adriaan did? The first film won the Best Newcomer Award at the Venice Film Festival, and the second film won the Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival. Although luck played a role in this, it did not negate the excellence of these two films. Listen to the people in the industry call him: Ghost Director! These two low-budget, high-grossing films pushed Adriaan to the top of the B-list directors and producers. Laffern was almost certain that after the Shawshank Redemption was released, it would not be a problem for him to become an A-list director and producer.
In addition, his ability as a screenwriter was obvious to all. The scripts for all three films were written by him, and the first four scripts that he sold to various companies made money after they were made into movies. In particular, The Bodyguard, which he sold to Warner, made the most money out of the four scripts. Although Warner adjusted its schedule to the middle of July to avoid the spotlight of Terminator 2, it was no longer wishful thinking for the North American box office to exceed a hundred million.
As for the other aspects, there was no need to mention. Most importantly, he only spent a little more than a year to do all of this! Two Smoking Pipes only took about two months to shoot, and Memory Fragments took three months. If he had not been in London, the Shawshank Redemption would probably have taken about four months at most. Therefore, even if Laffern did not agree with this kind of rapid development, he had to admit that Adriaan's vision and ability were unparalleled. Since that was the case, he would follow along.
"So, which film are you going to choose for your new film?" Laffern asked.
"Of course it's going to be a remake of that Italian film. We only need to make some changes to the original plot." Adriaan replied with a smile, "In fact, when I was in London, I took the time to write part of the script, and the rest was handed over to Julie in the editing department. I'll try to finish it within a week. She's currently the best among all the screenwriters."
"Okay, what else?" Laffern noted it down.
"Set up the framework as soon as possible. I hope it won't take longer than mid-September. Other than the male lead, the other roles and filming locations will be taken care of by the various departments." Adriaan paused and pondered for a few minutes before saying, "I'm afraid you have to help me find a way to invite the male lead, Laffer."
"Oh?" Laffern raised his eyebrows.
"I plan to." Adriaan gave him a meaningful look. "Invite Al Pacino to play the blind Lieutenant Colonel."
This was the new movie Adriaan had prepared.
Question: If I want to get first place and I know the answer, how can I guarantee that I will get it?
Answer: Move all the key calculation steps over without changing anything.
Al Pacino won Best Actor at the 65th Academy Awards for his role as the blind Lieutenant Colonel Frank. Therefore, all Adriaan needed to do was to completely replicate this movie and invite Al to play the male lead. The rest was up to Laffern's publicity and public relations methods. It was very opportunistic and opportunistic, but Adriaan didn't care. As long as he could achieve his goal, and as long as the methods were within the scope of the rules, he would do anything.
Although Laffern didn't know any of this, he very much agreed with Adriaan's approach. It was very simple. Al, who became famous in the 1970s, had missed out on the Best Actor Oscar several times. In terms of acting skills, whether it was The Godfather 2, Hot Afternoon, or Justice Out, they were all enough for him to win an Oscar. Unfortunately, Al's luck wasn't very good.
But now, his bad luck had become his capital. Almost everyone knew that the Film School owed Al an Oscar. As mentioned earlier, if one couldn't leave his competitors far behind in terms of quality, then the deciding factor would lie in other aspects, and this kind of seniority was one of the factors. Therefore, as long as Adriaan could really guarantee the quality, Laffern was completely confident that he could push Al to the throne of Best Actor.
If that was the case, then let's do it! Although the various people in charge of the company were surprised that Adriaan wanted to start making a new movie without stopping, they didn't have much of an opinion. His performance over the past year was obvious to all.
In fact, if possible, Adriaan wanted to first produce one of the three prepared movies, Howard Manor, which won Emma Thompson the Best Actress Award.
Howard Manor is a novel written by the late English writer Edward Morgan Foster. It is a typical English literature. It tells the story of the helpless, awkward, and unexpected events that happened between two families around Howard Manor. In a sense, the novel is more like a long fable.
The reason why Adriaan wanted to choose this movie to shoot first was that he was confident that he could convince Emma Thompson to star in it. As one of the most famous actresses in the United Kingdom, Thompson was also a talented woman, and she also had her own views on film screenwriting and production. In addition, this movie was adapted from a famous British novel. As long as she believed that he could make this movie well, it would be absolutely no problem for her to agree to it. Moreover, the other protagonist of the movie, Anthony Hopkins, had also verbally agreed to cooperate with him during the Berlin Film Festival.
Unfortunately, although the idea was good, there was an unavoidable and embarrassing problem. That was, "Howard Manor" was an out-and-out money-losing movie. This was a typical British Victorian-style movie, which alone could make many audiences lose interest in watching it. In addition, the story itself was neither suspenseful nor thrilling. It was about the relationship between people, so it would lose some of the audience. Simply put, this was a very niche literary film, so one could imagine how much box office it could get.
Of course, since Adriaan had decided to invest in this movie, he definitely did not care whether or not he would lose money, but now was definitely not the time. Although "The Smoking Pipe" and "Memory Fragments" had made a lot of money for the film company, they had also incurred a lot of expenses. Not to mention the expansion of the company, they had invested in several movies. It was not a wise move to lose money at this time. Therefore, he had to turn his attention to "Know a Woman by Scent," but this movie also had its own problems that needed to be solved.
As mentioned before, Adriaan chose "Howard Manor" as his first choice because he was confident that he could convince Emma Thompson. However, if it was Al Pacino, it would not be easy.
Unlike Freeman or Robbins, Pacino had been famous for a long time and had experienced too many things. He was second to none in Hollywood, and it would not be easy to convince him to take on the role.
At the end of the day, it was because Adriaan was too inexperienced. If he could maintain his current momentum, these big stars would definitely not refuse to work with him in three or five years. However, it was hard to say now.
As it turned out, his worries were right. Pacino's agent was a difficult guy to deal with. Not only was he tactful, but he also did things in a watertight manner. Adriaan could not even talk to Pacino alone.
However, Laffern was not out of ideas. After several negotiations, he invited Pacino to the final screening of "The Shawshank Redemption". Finally, he passed the agent's test. Then, it was time for Al himself.
"Let's put it this way, Al. I created this role based on your image from the beginning, especially the speech at the end. I've watched many of your movies. Your long monologues, dramatic performances, and iconic actions are something that no one else can do. I really hope that you can take on this role. " That was what Adriaan said when they arranged to talk. At the same time, he made slightly exaggerated gestures, as if he was very excited.
"I have to say, Eide, your body language seems to be much richer than mine." Pacino laughed. In private, he was a very easy person to get along with. "To be honest, I also like the role of Frank and the speech. After reading your script, I purposely found that Italian movie to watch. Although the main plot didn't change much, I think this Lieutenant Colonel is more attractive than that Captain, so I don't think I can say no. "
"I'm glad that you agreed, Al. I promise you won't regret it." Adriaan then reached out his hand.
"I believe that a genius director like you won't let me down." Pacino laughed and shook hands with him.
It was much easier to talk to Pacino directly. Including this time, they had only talked to each other twice. Obviously, there was something in the script that attracted Pacino. Otherwise, how could he have taken on the role? Of course, it had something to do with Adriaan. When they left, Pacino's agent said to Laffern meaningfully, "You have a good boss."
In any case, Pacino finally agreed. Next, they could sign the contract after discussing the salary. That meant that they had to negotiate with Pacino's agent, Edad, but Adriaan just left it to Laffern.
Although they had settled the main goal, it would still take time to start shooting. Because "The Shawshank Redemption" needed to be promoted, the preparation of the new movie was relatively slow. Also, the location of the movie was more troublesome — schools, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, etc. Plus, casting also needed manpower. So, the basic framework was set up in mid-September, but it would take more time to go further.
It didn't matter. After all, as a representative of the method, Pacino still needed to go to the Blind Institute to observe and learn. Admittedly, he was a dedicated actor. The day after he signed the contract, he contacted the Blind Institute. Therefore, it wasn't a big deal to delay the shooting a little. This time, unlike in "The Shawshank Redemption", there were many big scenes to arrange. As long as the actors were in good condition, Adriaan was confident that he could finish shooting in six weeks.
Interestingly, while he was dealing with other people's agents for the role, other people's agents were also dealing with him for the role.
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