"Five million yuan? Are you crazy? Or did you have too much fun last night? "
Leonardo's agent thought that Leonardo must be crazy.
Back in 2000, Leonardo's net worth had almost touched the threshold of the twenty million US dollar club. In addition, the recent rise in the box office of Cat and Mouse, which surpassed the box office of Lord of the Rings 2 in a single day, and even caused a large number of female fans to crazily chase after Leonardo. All of these phenomena helped Leonardo continue to increase his net worth.
If Cat and Mouse was given another month to grow, and if its global box office could reach five or six hundred million US dollars, Leonardo's net worth would definitely continue to increase.
A salary of more than twenty million US dollars sounded like a lot. In fact, one movie was enough to make several so-called "big productions" in China. However, for Hollywood, it was completely acceptable. As long as the actor's abilities were worth this price, he would definitely be able to get such a high salary in return.
Hollywood movies had always been big spenders. The movie budget was high, the actors' salaries were high, and the production costs were high. However, behind these big spenders, there were also big profits, such as high box office and high copyright income.
Some movies had a production cost of 100 million USD and a global box office of 300 to 500 million USD. The DVDs could earn another tens of millions of USD. Novels, animations, and merchandise could also be sold for tens of millions of USD or even more. Therefore, in this very mature business system, Leonardo's salary of 20 million USD could be said to be almost non-existent.
For a twenty million US dollar salary, if the actor met a famous director or liked the script, it was normal for the actor to lower his salary. However, there was a limit to the reduction. For example, under normal circumstances, if Leonardo continued to act in Spielberg's movies, it would be normal for him to lower his salary to fifteen million US dollars. Five million US dollars was already a great favor.
However, Leonardo seemed to have been kicked in the head by a donkey. The moment he opened his mouth, he wanted to lower his salary to five million US dollars? Leonardo has never been worth that much in history, okay? You took on 'Titanic' for 2.5 million US dollars, and then 'Titanic' became a global hit. Your net worth shot up to more than 10 million US dollars, and now you're telling me that you want to lower your salary to 5 million US dollars? Was this a joke?
Leonardo explained, "Jason, you have to know that this movie isn't just directed by Spielberg. Li Mu invested 100 million US dollars in this movie, and the story is set during World War II. An old American man named Chennault led a group of American civilian pilots and volunteered to go to Hua Xia to fight alongside Hua Xia's air force against the Japanese invasion."
"Li Mu?!" Upon hearing this name, the manager's voice instantly rose an octave.
"You mean the internet mogul from Hua Xia, Li Mu? The Li Mu who pushed Cat and Mouse to first place in the box office with just one push? "
"Nonsense, who else could it be other than him?" Leonardo said seriously, "The fact that Li Mu is willing to invest so much money in this movie is enough to show how much importance he places on this movie. Those who know Li Mu know that he is a very nationalistic person. Therefore, he will definitely do his best to maximize the influence of this movie, which depicts Hua Xia and Merika fighting side by side against the Japanese."
Speaking up to this point, Leonardo added, "You know, his resources are too strong. There are so many media moguls in Hollywood, but their ability to spread information around the world is much worse than Li Mu's. Li Mu's fantasies may not be as authoritative as Time Magazine or the Los Angeles Times, but they have the most influence on ordinary people."
"God …" The manager sighed on the other end of the phone and said, "Forgive me, Leo. If I knew that this was a movie invested by Li Mu, I definitely wouldn't have said such rude words to you!"
After saying that, the manager exclaimed, "Oh my god! This opportunity is too rare. If we can establish a good working relationship with Li Mu, it will definitely be a huge boost to your future development. At this time, we really need to show enough sincerity. A salary of five million US dollars should be very sincere. Although the loss is a little big, I believe that the future returns will be higher! "
Leonardo saw that the manager had completely agreed with his decision, and immediately said, "Okay, then immediately help me communicate with Spielberg and give him a formal offer. Then, prepare to go through the formal contract process. Also, ask for the approximate shooting schedule of this movie. From now on, as long as there is a conflict with the schedule, I will not accept it!"
“OK！ I will do it now! "
Leonardo said, "Go, just tell me the results when the time comes. I have to quickly go to Google and find out who this Chen Nault is …"
"If you didn't mention it, I would have forgotten. I heard you mention this name just now, so I wanted to quickly Google it, but …"
…
Tom Hanks, who was also in Los Angeles, also received a call from Spielberg. At this moment, he was sitting in front of his computer, carefully using Google to search for information related to Chen Nault, reading carefully line by line.
He had already finished reading the script that Spielberg had sent to him. He was immediately deeply attracted by the story and characters in the script. After reading the script, he had already decided to accept Spielberg's invitation to participate in "Flying Tigers" and play the role of the first male lead, Chen Nault. Then, he hurriedly began to search for relevant information on Chen Nault through Google.
Tom Hanks was very different from the young Leonardo. Although Leonardo was also an outstanding actor, he was still young and inexperienced, so he was more like an idol. Tom Hanks, on the other hand, was one of the best actors in the entire American film industry. He was the best at portraying characters, so he was responsible for every movie that he acted in.
Chen Nault was indeed not very famous in the United States, but if his story was dug up, it was really a very great deed. Moreover, this kind of deed of volunteering to help another country resist the invaders, whether it was level, realm, or depth, was very good.
In Tom Hanks' view, the reason why "Saving Private Ryan" could become a classic was that on one hand, the depth of the script was enough, on the other hand, the actors' performance was very good, and most importantly, the visual presentation of the film was very clever. At least half of the success of the entire film was due to Spielberg.
This "Flying Tigers" itself was also directed by Spielberg, and it was even written by Spielberg himself. Therefore, Tom Hanks believed that even though this film was only in the preparation period, it already had a 50% chance of success. And if he were to play the male lead, he would definitely be able to successfully portray this character. As for Leonardo, although he was young, he had just worked with him once. He could see that he was very capable, and his progress was very fast. If the two continued to work together, they could at least increase the success rate of the film by another 20%.
As for the story itself, Tom Hanks believed that "Flying Tigers" could be said to be on par with "Saving Private Ryan." Both were based on real history, and both were able to show the cruelty of war, the brilliance of human nature, and the reflection on war. In this way, it seemed that it could at least increase the success rate of the film by 20%.
Based on this calculation, the success rate of this film was basically 90%.
Apart from that, Tom Hanks was also seriously measuring Li Mu's resources and influence.
The box office reversal of "Game of Cat and Mouse" made the entire Hollywood see the extraordinary potential of YY, a world-class internet product, in terms of promotion. "Game of Cat and Mouse" only received one push from YY, and it was able to achieve such a breakthrough. If "Flying Tigers" were to be released, how many times would Li Mu give it?
Coupled with the investment of 100 million US dollars, such a huge scale of funding was another strong guarantee for this film. Based on this calculation, it was almost impossible for this film to fail.
Moreover, Tom Hanks also attached great importance to his first collaboration with Li Mu.
In his view, this young man, Li Mu, was not only a powerful financial backer, but also the invisible "God" of the hundreds of millions of internet users in the online world.
He had the absolute ability to subtly influence these hundreds of millions of Internet users in the next few years. Not only would he be able to guide what they did on the Internet, but he would also be able to guide what they ate, did, played, learned, bought, and watched after they left the Internet!
The potential of this energy was too great. Tom Hanks believed that it would not take long before Li Mu became one of the most powerful people in the world in terms of business. Therefore, if he could build a good relationship with him in advance, it would definitely be of great help to him in the future.
Spielberg soon received confirmation from Leonardo and Tom Hanks, as well as an official offer from their agent. What he could not believe was that the official offer from Leonardo's agent was only a mere five million US dollars. There were no additional requirements, no dividends, no guarantees. It was a one-off deal of five million US dollars.
Tom Hanks' offer also stunned him. This was because Tom Hanks had already reached the level of 20 million US dollars in the last century. He would even ask for a certain percentage of the box office for each movie he participated in. However, this time, the price he quoted to Spielberg was only a mere three million US dollars! It was two million US dollars lower than Leonardo's, and the most important thing was that he did not want a share of the box office!
Spielberg had been in Hollywood for so many years. He was not only a super first-rate director, but also a first-rate movie businessman. He knew that the offers given by these two people were absolutely ridiculous in Hollywood. In Hollywood, no one would be able to make these two people voluntarily lower their pay to such an exaggerated extent. Even Spielberg did not have the ability to do so.
However, these two people's offers were right there in front of him.
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