Birth of an actor

Chapter 175 The Belonging of Spider-Man

"Palmat...Isaac Parmat..." Amon Goffman stood in a synagogue in West Hollywood, looking at hundreds of people in black coats and black felt hats. , the Jews who were praying devoutly suddenly felt dizzy: "Oh damn, there are so many people here, how do I find Isaac Parmatt!"

Today is the Jewish Sabbath. On this day, Jews will not work, shop, perform, cook, or do business. The main job of Jews on the Sabbath is to worship God. Devout believers even take the commandments of the Sabbath Seeing is more important than their lives. On Saturday morning, the whole family of Jews will go to the church to worship. The men will wear dark clothing and Talits, and all stand up and recite the chapters of "Torah". Take the children to listen and read carefully. In the afternoon, parents will teach their children to read the Bible in church or at home until the first star that symbolizes the end of the Sabbath rises into the sky.

This church is not the one that Amon Goffman often goes to. The church Goffman goes to is closer to Hollywood, where more Hollywood Jewish stars, agents, and producers gather, such as Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Steven Spielberg, etc., and this church is even less high-profile. It was built near a wealthy but low-key Jewish community in Los Angeles. Most of the church members are community residents, and there are not so many public figures. .

It is precisely because he is not familiar with this church, and the men who are reading the scriptures are all dressed up, Amon Goffman has a headache when looking for someone-who is he looking for?Naturally, it is Marvel Entertainment's largest shareholder, chief executive officer and chairman of the board Isaac Parmatt.

Isaac Parmat was originally an Israeli. After retiring from the military in the late 60s, he immigrated to the United States. He started his business in Brooklyn, New York, and gradually became a promising businessman. The Toy-Biz toy company he founded mostly produced super toys. The theme of heroes or movie characters, in the early 90s, Toy-Biz toy company and Marvel conducted a merger and acquisition, under the introduction of Ronald Perelman, then chairman of the board of directors of Marvel, Isaac Parmat Entered the Marvel Board of Directors.

At that time, the president of Marvel, Ronald Perelman, was completely a speculative businessman. During the downturn, he bought Marvel for $500 million, of which more than $7000 was borrowed from the bank.The original intention of Perelman to buy Marvel was to make Marvel go public through integration, and then make profits from the stock market. He actually knew nothing about comics.

During the several years from [-] to [-], Ronald Perelman raised the stock price by manipulating the listing of Marvel, borrowing from banks, expanding mergers and acquisitions, and using high-priced stocks to collect cash. Isaac Parmatt’s toy company merged with Marvel during this period, but due to the slump in the American comics market and the heavy debts caused by continuous borrowing from the bank consortium, Marvel, which had not actually produced any profits during the expansion period, began to be a bit overwhelmed. Later, the departure of a large number of senior authors, including Stan Lee, brought a fatal blow to the company.

Carl Icahn, the corporate sniper who has the nickname of "Wolf of Wall Street" and is best at hostile takeovers and sells the company after cleaning up the management, is targeting Marvel at this time. He uses Ronald Pere Erman's speculative moves on Wall Street acquired a lot of Marvel's bonds, and after Ronald Perelman filed for bankruptcy, he applied to the court to become Marvel's bonds in [-] through the bonds he held. The chairman, Ronald Perelman, has since completely withdrawn from the historical stage of Marvel.

Compared with Ronald Perelman, who knows nothing about comics, Carl Icahn only has money in his eyes. Under the crisis from the "Wolf of Wall Street", the big and small shareholders of Marvel's board of directors had to join hands. Relieving the crisis of Marvel being integrated, split and sold from Carl Icahn, Isaac Parmatt began negotiations and litigation with Carl Icahn on behalf of Marvel Entertainment.

At the end of last year, after more than half a year of lawsuits, the original Marvel board of directors finally established a new Marvel Entertainment Company with the support of a federal judge. Although Carl Icahn still retained shares in the company, he was dismissed by the federal judge. control of Marvel's board of directors.Isaac Parlmutter became CEO and chairman, and is now Marvel's largest shareholder and most powerful figure.

But different from other social celebrities and entrepreneurs, Isaac Parmat himself is very low-key, not the kind of pretending to be mysterious, but really avoids appearing in the public eye, except for company employees and cooperation Partner, almost no one knows what he looks like, never attends entertaining reception parties, and has never been interviewed by the media-even during the Marvel bankruptcy lawsuit dubbed by the media as "comic wars", no matter what Whether it was FOX or CNN, neither media could successfully get an exclusive interview with Parmat.

Amon Goffman is looking for Isaac Palmer for the sake of William - he has to find a way to find Isaac Palmer and convince the other party to first negotiate with Marvel and Sony on the copyright of the Spider-Man movie. Put the negotiations aside and meet William.

William needs Amon to help him delay time with Marvel, because he is currently busy with an acquisition related to Marvel's equity-yes, it is to buy Marvel's shares from "Wolf of Wall Street" Carl Icahn. It has been ruled by the court that they have lost the right to control Marvel, and the shares have become tasteless, and they don’t want to sell them to Parmatt and others, so William, a third party, stepped forward—and the transaction has reached the last juncture, if it goes well In a few days, he will become the second largest shareholder in Marvel's board of directors besides Isaac Parmatt, but if William attends the shareholder meeting, he will see a man who has sold Spider-Man, If the Hulk waits for Marvel Entertainment, which is the superhero, he will cry without tears.

Marvel, the film adaptation rights of the X-Men series, was sold to Fox in 1994. At that time, William was not able to prevent this from happening, but now, after hearing that Sony is already negotiating with Marvel on Spider-Man When it comes to copyright fees, no matter what he says, he can't wait any longer.

But Isaac Parmat is hard to find. Although Parmat is also a Jew, Jews and Jews also have mutual circles. Most Jews in Hollywood continue their family traditions and enter this circle. Most of their ancestors came from one Those who immigrated to the United States during World War II and World War II, like Amon Goffman, his grandparents were businessmen who immigrated from Europe to North America before World War II, and Isaac Parmat grew up in Israel and immigrated to the United States in the late 60s , and started from scratch in the toy industry, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he has nothing to do with Hollywood.

Because Isaac Parmatt was too low-key, none of Amon Goffman's friends knew him. When he called the Marvel president's office, the secretary was always polite but indifferent: "Mr. Palmer is not here. May I help you with something?" Two days ago, Amon Goffman finally found out about the community where Isaac Palmer lived, and He has the habit of going to church on the Sabbath regardless of wind and rain, and he doesn’t want to reveal too much to the president’s assistant on the phone so as not to leak the news. He thinks that a direct interview may be more sincere and easier to succeed. Came to church.

Of course Amon Goffman knew what Isaac Parmatt looked like. At least he had seen the photos, and he also knew the license plate number of the car he had driven for more than 20 years. The car is now parked on the street outside. It was just parked on the ground, but because he had never seen a real person before, and there were so many men of similar height in the church now, it was difficult for him to find each other's traces for a while.

Amon Goffman kept walking back and forth by the rows of seats, bending over and looking at the faces of devout believers. His surreptitious whereabouts caused a lot of stares, if he was not wearing a black suit and If you look at Talit and have the typical features of the Jewish nation, such as slightly curly brown hair and a high nose bridge, you may have been kicked out a long time ago.

"Mr. Goffman?" When the Jewish agent failed to return from a certain row of seats again, a voice from behind stopped him: "Amon Goffman, hey!"

"You are—" Amon Goffman turned around and saw that he was stopped by a handsome young man less than six feet tall, with dark hair and brown eyes. He had a little impression of this young man, if he hadn't If I remember correctly, the other party is a client of IAA, but it is not well-known and the company founder is not worried about it: "James Franco?"

"It's me!" The young James Franco waved livelyly at Amon Goffman, and got a rolly look from an older woman beside him.

"Do you know where Isaac Parmat is?" Amon Goffman just asked casually.

But James Franco quickly gave the Jewish agent a surprise: "Mr. Parmat? Of course, he is my aunt's neighbor."

"Where is he now?"

"Just at—" James Franco stretched out his right hand, about to show Amon Goffman the way.

"What are you looking for, Mr. Parmat?" The older woman beside James Franco asked warily, looking at the Jewish broker.

"She's my Aunt Jane," murmured James Franco, "Aunt Jane, this is Mr. Amon Goffman, the boss of my agent, you know William Bradley, Mr. Goffman is His agent."

"Wow!" The hostility in Aunt Jane's gaze towards the Jewish agent immediately disappeared. If she had to say something, there might be something called longing shining in it: "Can I have a copy of William's Signed? The one with a photo?"

"Hush—" The old man who was chanting in the front row turned his head and looked at the three people who dared to chat in the Sabbath church with eyes like vermin.

Aunt Jane's face turned red immediately, she quickly stood up straight, bowed her head in shame and prayed silently, asking God to forgive her negligence.

Amon Goffman quickly dragged James Franco to the door of the church, and the young Franco followed him half-pushed.

"Isaac Palmer is just your aunt's neighbor? You really know him, don't you?" Amon Goffman asked impatiently as soon as he walked to the door.

"I have known each other since I came to Los Angeles from Palo Alto..." The young James Franco briefly described his own experience, including how he was admitted to UCLA from his hometown of Palo Alto, and how he was in After going to college for a year, he chose to drop out of school to start studying acting, and he often stayed at his aunt's house, so he met the neighbors Parmat's family.

"About your past life experience and your dreams for the future, we can wait—" Amon Goffman raised his hand and looked at his watch: "After 49 hours, that is, at ten o'clock in the morning on Monday, come to my office to talk , now." He looked at the young James Franco, took in all the joy and excitement of the other party, smiled with satisfaction, and said in a bewitching voice: "Jimmy, tell me what you love about Isaac How much does Parmat know?"

……

When William knew that Marvel had actually temporarily shelved the negotiations with Sony on the sale of the copyright of the Spider-Man film adaptation, and made an appointment to talk to William about his plan to make Marvel and Willot reach a cooperation, And when he got a win-win situation, he was very surprised.

William had originally agreed with Amon Goffman, only to let the other party hold back Isaac Parmatt's attempt to sell the copyright of Spider-Man, and wait a few days for him to get his shares and be able to vote veto in the board meeting Tickets are enough. Unexpectedly, Amon Goffman has done far more than William imagined. Not only has the negotiation between Marvel and Sony been put on hold for more than a few days, but he has also won a deal with Isaac Parker for William. The opportunity to get in touch with Isaac Palmer in advance-this is of course a good thing. It is far better to establish a relationship with Isaac Palmer in advance than to appear directly at the Marvel board meeting, because the latter way of appearance is easy to give people An unfriendly signal, William is here to seek cooperation, or even seek a peaceful acquisition of Marvel, not to arouse the fear of other shareholders of Marvel, and even Chairman Parmat himself .

William William didn't know how Armon Goffman did it. He even wondered if his agent went to Hogwarts to study magic courses, and asked Marvel President Isaac Parmatt Cast an enchantment.

In this regard, the Jewish agent's answer was: "I was just too lovable, so Isaac Parmat hit it off at first sight."

Amon Goffman had a smug smile on his face.

William believed in his agent's words.

Weird.

Later, under his pressure, Amon Goffman revealed the truth: "There is a young client of IAA named James Franco, who just lives next door to Isaac Palmer. , he told me a lot about Parmater, including what Torah passages Parmater likes to read the most, likes and dislikes, and so on—can you imagine, Isaac is now the most It’s actually Harvey Weinstein that I hate? It seems that the two have worshiped in the same church before, but Weinstein often goes out halfway to answer the phone to discuss business, which is against the rules, and Parmat is a pious The Jewish people are most displeased with unruly people in the church, and Palamat seems to think that Harvey Weinstein is too cunning and is already ruining the reputation of Jews in Hollywood, so no matter who , as long as you can show reverence to God in front of Parmatt, and talk bad things about Weinstein with him, you will immediately get his favor. Ha, God bless, I happen to be the best at doing this! "

"Ami?"

"Ok?"

"How do I remember that you don't always go to church on time, and you like to call on Saturdays to discuss business?"

The Jewish agent immediately looked at William with a hurt expression: "I lied before God, for whom!"

"Sorry, my fault." William apologized dryly, and felt that a name he had just heard sounded familiar: "James Franco?"

"You also have an impression of him?" Amon Goffman guessed: "Could it be that you saw him in the IAA office building? Speaking of which, he is also a Jew, and his mother is Russian, although this young man always says he is Forced to go to church."

The inheritance of the Jews is different from most other countries. The Jewish nation is inherited from the matrilineal line. Israel's "Return Law" stipulates that only those inherited from the matrilineal system are the real Jews. That is to say, if the mother is Jewish, the child can belong to the Jewish nation. But if the mother is not Jewish, even the father is not Jewish.

"Probably." William said vaguely.He remembered James Franco, the little green goblin in the three "Spiderman" starring Toby. Speaking of Toby, he had to call the other party to confirm the schedule in a few days. At that time, the preparations for the movie began, but Peter Parker was nowhere to be found.

"This young man has helped us a lot. In return, I recommended him to audition for several film crews on Monday. It's a pity that it's not summer, otherwise I should be able to win him a leading actor in a public TV autumn mini-series, or One or two months earlier, I can also get him the leading actor in the spring TV series."

William nodded: "Mini-series are fine, public TV regular dramas are fine, James Franco is suitable for the big screen."

Amon Goffman raised his eyebrows: "Do you even know that James Franco is more suitable for the big screen? Dear Will, I doubt there is anything you don't know."

"At least I didn't know that you really got Isaac Parmatt." William shrugged: "Dear Ami, do you want to have lunch together? You can tell me carefully how you Use your personal charm to 'conquer' the President of Marvel."

……

It is precisely because Marvel has temporarily put the negotiations on hold, and William's acquisition of Marvel's equity on Wall Street has been going smoothly. William's attitude was so tough when he received a questioning call from Amy Pascal.

Speaking of which, Amy Pascal deserves to be a woman who can serve as an executive in Columbia. After Sony acquired Columbia, she can climb all the way to the position of vice chairman of the film industry. Her vision is very long-term. If it weren’t for her, Sony would not be right Marvel offered to buy the film rights to Spider-Man.

Sony was not very interested in changing comics to movies. After all, Marvel, the two major comic companies in the United States, has never contributed any outstanding movies. DC has Superman and Batman, the two oldest and most famous superheroes. It is also a subsidiary of Warner, and Warner is the giant with the most financial resources among the seven major studios, but the reputation of the Superman tetralogy is getting worse as it goes later. The first two Batman films directed by Tim Burton are okay. 1997's "Batman & Robin" was a disaster -- with so many lessons learned, it's surprising that Sony's interest in the superhero genre is still high.

It took Amy Pascal a lot of hard work to get the company to agree to make an offer to Marvel. She first took "Blade", which was filmed by New Line last year and had a good reputation at the box office, as an example, proving that today's comic movie market has grown. It's getting hotter and hotter, and it won't be like before. Making superhero movies means losing even the underwear, and then pointing out that Warner already owns DC, and [-]th Century Fox also bought the X-Men series early, Sony can't lag behind its opponents too much. In the end, Amy Pascal also encouraged the top management, saying that Spider-Man is the most famous heroine of Marvel, and is the only superhero among Marvel superheroes who can compete with DC's Superman and Batman. Sony doesn’t buy high and low superheroes, and sooner or later someone else will buy them. If someone else buys Spider-Man, Sony will regret it sooner or later.

Finally, the company agreed, and Marvel also accepted the move. When the two parties were negotiating the copyright fee and the box office share after the movie was released, news suddenly came from Marvel that the negotiation would be put on hold.

In the first two days, Amy Pascal was disdainful. She thought that Marvel was spreading doubts, and the real purpose was to increase the offer—to be honest, $700 million bought Marvel’s most popular superhero. One Spider-Man is worth the sales of all the remaining superhero comics, Pascal also thinks it is a bit small, but she works for Sony, so she has to fight for the best interests of the company, doesn't she?Doing business is not doing charity, and there is no room for soft-hearted negotiations.

And after the well-known "comic war" in the United States last year, who doesn't know that in order to avoid the fate of filing for bankruptcy or being split up again, Marvel is at the end of its rope?Whether it is the chairman Isaac Parmat or other shareholders, the bank accounts are estimated to be empty, otherwise they would not fully cooperate with Fox to shoot "X-Men", and they showed their hearts when Sony proposed a $700 million offer According to the signs, Marvel is very short of money now, and is trying to find US dollars to make ends meet.

But after waiting for another two days, Amy Pascal was a little panicked after there was no sign of bowing her head from Marvel. She thought that it was absolutely impossible for Marvel today to change its mind and not sell the copyright of Spider-Man for no reason. , there must be a third party interfering with it, and the whole of Hollywood will be interested in the manga movie, and has the ability to put forward the conditions that make Marvel's heart beat... Universal?Or Paramount?In Amy Pascal's view, only these two companies in Hollywood have the strength to confront Sony head-on, and they are interested in comics.

Amy Pascal pokes around, Hollywood is a world without secrets, and soon she's getting wind of something - she'd think she'd been lied to if she didn't quite approve of her sources, Willow Want to join the deal between Marvel and Sony?How can it be!

Willot already has "Harry Potter", the chicken that lays golden eggs, and has broken many records in film history by shooting casually. How could William Bradley be so dissatisfied with the series of Soaked in Blood, and even try to compete with Sony for business?

Can Willot beat Sony?impossible!

Amy Pascal wants to know with her knees. Although Willot has William Bradley and Lance Roderick as the backing, and is also very rich and powerful, it is impossible in terms of film production ability and distribution ability. Compared with Sony Pictures, which acquired Columbia, the small and medium-sized production companies tried to go head-to-head with the Seven, and the ending could only be an egg hitting a rock.

But because they had some friendship with William Bradley before, the two collaborated on "Sense and Sensibility". In a sense, it was Amy Pascal who gave William Bradley a soaring Opportunity, so she planned to call and warn the other party first. It would be best to let Willot stop at this point. If not, Amy Pascal would have to compare the strength of the old studio with the other party.

Willot is also an independent production company with great prospects in the industry, not to mention that it has support from Wall Street, Silicon Valley and even Washington, and Amy Pascal does not want to provoke such an opponent rashly unless it is a last resort. Although the seven major film companies don't want to see any independent production company become big, but even if they want to suppress the seven majors, they have to go together. There is no need for Sony to be a pioneer. Sit back and reap the benefits of the fisherman, right?

however.

If it was surprising to know Willot's intentions for Spider-Man, Amy Pascal's feelings after talking with William Bradley on the phone were shocking.

Willot's target is not Spider-Man, but the entire Marvel - is this a joke?Today isn't April Fool's Day, is it?

Amy Pascal was shocked, unbelievable and amused, but after considering William Bradley's existing assets and Willot's financial situation-although the "Lord of the Rings" series in New Zealand The filming is very expensive, but the box office returns of dozens of times the cost of "Blood Together" are already enough to make one or two more "Lord of the Rings" trilogy-she has to admit that if William Brand If Leigh wanted to buy Marvel, he might actually be able to.

After all, Marvel is not what it used to be. When it borrowed money from banks in 35 and [-] to expand, Marvel’s stock price was around [-] US dollars a share. However, after experiencing the collapse of the comics market, frequent financial crises, and bankruptcy lawsuits After that, the stock price was less than ten dollars.It's not the lowest period of Marvel's stock price yet. At the lowest point, Marvel's stock once fell from $[-] to $[-].

Amy Pascal took William Bradley at her word as she figured out what to do next for Sony.

William Bradley also casually asked her: "Is Sony only interested in Spider-Man? If you are also interested in acquiring Marvel Entertainment, you know, Amy, Willot is only interested in Sony Such a behemoth is shunned."

William Bradley's compliment made Amy Pascal feel very comfortable, but the other party's question made her frown: "Impossible, buy a Spider-Man movie adaptation rights, Sony only needs to pay the copyright fee and Subsequent box office share, but Marvel Entertainment, even if it is in decline now, is a merger of hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. It is impossible for Sony to come up with such an idea. Let me tell you the truth, Will, Sony I am the only management that is interested in Spider-Man internally, if I stop, the company will not be able to continue negotiating with Marvel, let alone acquire the entire company.”

"Amy, you mean, whether it's an acquisition or a merger, as long as Willot and Marvel reach a cooperation and don't sell any comic characters, Sony will give up its interest in Spider-Man?"

"Of course, Will, if you really do what you say, Sony will definitely withdraw."

That's what William wanted.

……

Betty Bryce walked into the elevator with the documents in her arms, and was about to return to the floor where the president's office was located.She is the secretary assistant of Marvel President Isaac Palmer, and she is highly trusted. If all calls to the Marvel President's Office pass her review, it is absolutely impossible for President Palmer to receive it.

Betty's complexion was not very good-looking, gray and dark, and even a little worried.

This is related to some news she just heard in the administrative office downstairs - the company and Sony are almost done with the cooperation, and I heard that Sony is ready to send money, but the cooperation was suddenly terminated.God, there isn't much liquid cash available on the company's books anymore.What's more, Carl Icahn, the hateful "Wolf of Wall Street", sold his Marvel shares. No matter who he sold to, that person will become the second largest shareholder of Marvel Entertainment.

God bless, don’t be the second Carl Icahn, and don’t be the second Ronald Perelman. Marvel has been tossed by these two speculators several times and is on the verge of bankruptcy. Let’s have another ambition Enthusiastic Wall Streeters, it is impossible to say that this old comic book company that once occupied 70% of the sales of the American comic book market and suppressed its arch-rival DC to the point of suffocation is about to close down completely.

However, those who can buy Marvel shares from Carl Icahn, no matter what you think, are all connected to Wall Street...

Sighing heavily, Betty Bryce walked to her desk, just put down the materials in her hand, and was about to turn around and go to the seat when she noticed a person standing in front of the window—— They are all within the scope of Marvel's president's office. Isaac Parmat's office is closed all the year round. The elevator door is directly facing Betty Bryce's office area. She herself has a large A large desk, a large meeting space and two comfortable sofas are used to entertain guests waiting for Parmat.

And this man who appeared suddenly was standing next to the sofa in Betty Bryce's reception area, his back was facing the elevator, and he was looking at a painting on the wall with one hand in his pocket with great interest.

If it was usual, Betty Bryce would have questioned such a strange man suddenly barging in on the president's floor, but today, she didn't, because the back of the visitor was so tall and charming, especially the The side face with a part of skin and lines slightly exposed made her look a little stunned.

The visitor not only has a model figure of about six feet one inch, but also wears a classic dark blue suit that must be extremely expensive, and the simple Chelsea boots on his feet seem to be handmade. No matter how you look at it, They should all be people with status, not criminals with malicious intent.

"Who are you? How did you get to this floor?" Betty Bryce asked courageously after straightening the folds on her suit skirt.

The man turned his head when he heard the voice, his iconic dark green eyes almost made Betty Bryce scream.

"You, you—" Betty Bryce covered her mouth and took a deep breath, put her hand down and asked as calmly as possible: "William Bradley?" Rao spent the most concentration, her voice heard Still shaking a bit.

"Hello." William smiled at the other party and stretched out his right hand: "I'm here to see Mr. Parmat, isn't he here?"

According to the regulations, Betty Bryce should not reveal a little bit of the president's whereabouts. She only needs to deal with all the guests in a social manner, but now, before her reason returns, the words have blurted out: "Palma Mr. Te is in a meeting with other shareholders, there has been a very large equity transaction in the last few days, Carl Icahn sold all of his Marvel shares, but we have no idea who bought those shares You know, the board of directors is struggling with this right now—"

Realizing that she had said too much, Betty Bryce changed her words abruptly: "Bo, Mr. Bradley is here to find Mr. Parmatt? Right, I remember that Mr. Parmatt was here before the meeting I told you that someone would come to the office to look for him, could it be that you are the one who has an appointment with him?" After realizing that she hadn't responded to William's handshake, she hastily stretched out her right hand and shook it in that warm and slender hand. grip.She couldn't help but blushed at the touch.

"It's me." William resumed his left hand in his pocket: "And, the new shareholder that Mr. Parmatt and other board members are discussing is also me."

Betty Bryce was completely sluggish this time.