Birth of an actor

Chapter 223 Leonardo's Thoughts

"Captain America? Me? When did I look like a comic book hero?"

"Who said Toby is like Spider-Man before? Isn't he very good now, a new box office miracle, and the favorite superhero of all American teenagers."

"So that's what you're looking for, Will, to put me, Toby, and yourself in the same superhero movie, and form an Avengers thing."

"...you actually know about the Avengers?! I thought you had no interest in comics..."

“It was hard not to know about the Avengers when a friend of mine bought a comic book company called Marvel and another friend was doing Spider-Man, and now there’s a script outline and a rough shoot. I had the plan, and it happened to mention this superhero group."

"So, Marvel really decided to invite you to play Captain America."

"YEP."

"What a coincidence, they also want me to play Iron Man."

"Come on, Will, isn't it all your idea?"

"Come on, Leo, how could this be my idea. Marvel is a subsidiary of Willot, with independent decision-making, it is impossible for me to approve everything. And, to be honest, I just That’s when I found out that Marvel wanted you to play Captain America.”

"I haven't agreed to—"

"—and you're not going to say yes. Are you?"

"..."

"I get it, Leo. So it's even less likely that it was my idea. I know you, and I know you're not making any superhero movies right now."

This is the content of the conversation between Leonardo DiCaprio and William when he called William after receiving an invitation from Marvel.

At that time, William had just held a remote conference call with the president of Marvel, and listened to the grand idea of ​​the Marvel movie universe described by the other party, and also received a movie invitation——to play in the personal movie of "Iron Man" The roles of Tony Stark and Howard Stark are basically split [-]-[-].

"Tony Stark is the soul of the Avengers. Without him in the Avengers, it's like DC's Justice League lacks Superman or Batman. His status is very important. But in the hearts of North American comic fans, steel Man is just a second-tier hero, and his popularity and popularity are completely incomparable to Spider-Man's. I'm not worried about the failure of Spider-Man's movie, but Iron Man's personal movie... the company is under a lot of pressure right now, and I'm worried about Iron Man's success. The failure of a personal movie will affect the entire movie universe." The president of Marvel said: "So Will, are you interested in becoming a superhero? If you play the role, even a third-tier comic book hero will immediately explode in popularity."

Then, Leonardo also contacted William, so William knew that Marvel not only wanted to find himself to play Iron Man, but also aimed at Leonardo for the role of Captain America.

Marvel wants to play a big game of chess.

The reason for focusing on the two of them is very simple. Both Iron Man and Captain America are the most important soul figures in the Avengers. William and Leonardo are the most money-absorbing actors in Hollywood. If they join, even if the Avengers Just a prototype will be popular first.

As for why you want William to play Iron Man and choose Leonardo to play Captain America, probably because one of them has black hair and the other has blond hair?This way you don't have to dye your hair for filming...

However, William didn't think he was suitable for Iron Man, and Leonardo had no interest in playing Captain America.

It's like what the two just said on the phone, but they haven't finished it completely-superhero movies can bring super high fame and influence to actors, and there are a lot of dollars, but they are rejected by the Oscars. It is considered to be the commercial type film with the least connotation and depth.Leonardo DiCaprio now has no shortage of fame, influence, or dollars. What he lacks is the recognition of the academy, so it is impossible for him to make any superhero movies before he is officially recognized by the academy.

Leonardo DiCaprio originally thought that Marvel sent him the invitation under William's behest, and he was still a little tangled and vacillating. Now that he knew that it was actually Marvel's own idea, he immediately dismissed the invitation. Putting the matter behind me, he complained to William: "Actually, it's funny to think of this invitation. I don't have any similarities with Captain America at all. Iron Man's character is more interesting."

Leonardo DiCaprio has read some comics. Although only a little bit, it is enough to figure out the characteristics of several important superheroes under Marvel.After a pause, he said, "I'm more interested in the prototype of Iron Man than Iron Man."

William subconsciously said, "Howard Hughes?"

"You know him too?"

"I heard Stan Lee chatting before. When he designed Tony Stark's personality, he was inspired by Howard Hughes. Stan Lee said that people in their era almost all looked at the gossip and anecdotes of Hughes. Growing up, the popularity of several American presidents cannot match him."

"After all, he was a man who slept with almost all the first-line actresses in Hollywood at that time." Leonardo said with longing: "Actually, the relationship between the sexes in Hollywood in that era was more casual and open than it is now. It can no longer be replicated in this day and age.”

"..." William: "It sounds like you are envious."

"Come on, Will, Howard Hughes is the most famous playboy, billionaire, aviator, engineer, and director of the twentieth century. What man wouldn't want to be him?"

Thinking of Howard Hughes' vigorous first half of his life and the lonely and sad second half of his life, in all honesty, William was amazed and envious, but he really didn't have the urge to become him. That kind of crazy and short-lived glory has never been what he wanted. pursued.However, Leonardo is obviously a little emotional now, and William is ready to express his thoughts immediately.

Leonardo seemed to have a sudden flash of inspiration: "Will, how about adapting Howard Hughes' life into a movie?"

"It's a great idea, but it's difficult." William thought for a while, and said honestly: "Howard Hughes lived too ostentatiously when he was young, and was too mysterious in his later years. He had no children, no close friends and relatives, and No autobiography has been published, and most of the biographies written by others have been proven to be fictional, but several first-line actresses in the golden age have mentioned him in their autobiography. It is not easy to make such a legendary figure into a movie things."

Howard Hughes was a legend during his lifetime and after his death. None of his two marriages came to an end. Besides his two formal marriages, there were dozens of forged marriages he forged in order to chase actresses when he was young. An illegal marriage, so after his death, dozens of widows and more than 30 wills appeared all at once, but these wills were later proved to be false. There is no legal will and heirs, and finally, under the auspices of the US federal government, it is allocated to scientific research institutions named after Hughes, as well as other educational undertakings and public welfare.

This is why William said that it would be very difficult to make a film about Howard Hughes. For such a legendary figure, there are different opinions about his life and death, but it is impossible to make a conclusion. The requirement of a biographical film is to be loyal to history and reality. One carelessness, and the film would be self-defeating—in fact, if it were easy to make, Howard Hughes would have been dead for decades, and Hollywood would have had a movie about him long ago.

"If you can't finish Howard Hughes' life, how about focusing on his most glorious decades?" Leonardo seemed to have made up his mind, and continued without waiting for William's answer: "I want to Go talk to Martin, Gangs of New York is already in post-production, and he hasn't decided what to do next - Will, do you want to join in?"

"Which way to join? Investment or—"

"It's all right! In fact, the only thing that touched me a little bit about Marvel's invitation before is that I can cooperate with you and Toby to make a movie. The process must be very interesting."

"Are you sure it's interesting, and not the crew being upset by you?"

"Just say yes or no."

"Investment is okay." Howard Hughes, biographical films, recreating the Hollywood scene of the 40s and [-]s, and Martin Scorsese, this is the kind of film that the academy will definitely be interested in.William understands why Leonardo is so excited, and doesn't mind offering some help: "As for the movie, just find me a cameo in any role, because I really can't think of any important male friends or rivals for Howard Hughes. , all I can think of are actresses like Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Olivia Haverland, Ingrid Bergman."

"Where's Cary Grant? I heard he has a good personal relationship with Howard Hughes."

"Oh no, he likes to match Hughes and other actresses too much. Why don't you talk to Martin about your ideas first, and I'll find some people to sort out Howard Hughes' biographical information."

"Then it's settled! I'll call Martin now."

"waiting for your good news."

"Hey, Will, don't hang up, I almost forgot the Halloween party! You gotta come, remember? Better yet, bring someone else, and this year I'm having a huge—party!"

Oh, I forgot to mention that the original intention of Leonardo calling William was just to let William remember that he could not attend other people's parties on Halloween, but only his.

……

Willot's third-quarter earnings report had a terrific uptick.

The kind that shocked even Lance.

"It turns out that the biggest income of the movie really doesn't come from the box office." Lance held Willot's third-quarter financial report that was just released yesterday, with obvious surprise on his expression.

The focus of Lance's career has never been in Los Angeles. Hollywood star news only pays attention to William's, but he has seen a lot of industry trends. In fact, he has long wanted to transfer Willot's shares to William, but was rejected, so now it is just Symbolically held and never involved in decision-making, Lance has always been ignorant of the various rules and regulations in the film industry, and now he is so surprised when he sees the numbers in the financial report.

The freshly released Willot's third-quarter financial report shows that total revenue has increased by 110% over the same period last year, and net profit has increased by 225% over the same period last year.

The reason for such explosive growth is that several of Willot's hit movies were selected to be released on DVD in the third quarter of this year, and the sales were astonishing, accounting for far more than the box office revenue when the movie was released. .

"The reason why studios keep making sequels to films that lose money at the box office is because the film's advertising placement, DVD and peripheral derivative products are so profitable that some box office revenues even only account for 30% of a film's total revenue. %." William said, "The most exaggerated thing is the "Star Wars" series. Before the prequel movie was released, the toy accessories sold hundreds of millions of dollars. sell like hot cakes."

The so-called peripherals do not only refer to traditional film and television peripherals such as TV copyrights, video games, toys, books, audio-visual products, and theme parks. Various fields of life such as creative literature and entertainment have developed. Perhaps sooner or later, film and television peripherals can cover the entire life of fans, such as superhero-themed digital products and even cars.

Of course, the peripheral sales record set by the Star Wars series in North America cannot be surpassed by other movies in a short period of time, not only because the brand has been carefully managed by George Lucas for decades, but also because the Star Wars series Fans cover all age groups in the United States, and superhero comics are considered by most people to be loved only by otaku and children in the secular prejudice.

But in terms of DVD sales, Willot's film set a record that even the Star Wars series failed to create-"The Lord of the Rings: The Lord of the Rings" is the first movie to sell more than 1000 million DVD sets in a natural year!

2002 was really a memorable year for the global DVD market. In this year, the sales volume of DVDs surpassed that of VHS (home video tapes) for the first time, and a movie that sold 1000 million sets of DVDs in a natural year was born—the previous natural year The movie with the most DVD sales is "Shrek", which sold more than 2001 million sets in the whole year of 800-three movies in one breath, "The Lord of the Rings: The Lord of the Rings", "Monsters Inc", "Spider Heroes", only Willot's film accounted for two!

In particular, "Spider-Man", which was only released in May of this year and opened for DVD and VHS pre-sale after it was released from theaters, sold even more fiercely. In the first month after its official release, it sold more than 700 million sets, with a revenue of more than 1 million. Dollar!DVD sales reached [-] million sets in the second month!

"The operation of the TV station is also good." Lance browsed the section of WL TV station in the financial report. Compared with Willlott's other industries, the TV station is obviously at a loss, but fortunately, the ratings, advertising revenue and other aspects is on the rise, and the financial situation should also improve in the future.

"The ratings of "Prison Break" have squeezed into the fifth place in the weekly ratings of the autumn file, and the rankings of "Smallville" and the derivative drama that borrowed the world view of "Blood Together" are also in the middle and upper reaches of the drama series in the same time period , wait until next year there will be two new sitcoms and a crime drama, and WL will have targeted dramas for all age groups." William pulled out the financial report from Lance's hand and put it aside, pressing his hands The other party's shoulders shook, until Lance looked at him unbearably, and said: "Don't read the report yet, help me think of a good idea, what shall we wear at this year's Halloween party? It is Leonardo's party, He obviously wants to make Halloween night a carnival this year."

"us?"

"us."

"Without us, only you." Lance said coldly.

William cupped his face instead: "Please, Lance, if you don't come with me, I will definitely be entangled by a group of banshees, witches, and vampires, and Rio Toby and the others will definitely only laugh and gloat by the side, He won’t help me.” Lance was the only one who could restrain those Hollywood bad boys, prevent himself from being pranked, and automatically release the air conditioner to keep strangers from entering.

"……it is good."

"Great. So what are we going to do, priests and vampires are too cheesy...how about Batman and Robin?"

"Are you Robin?"

"No, I don't wear green scale shorts." William replied quickly subconsciously, and then he saw Lance's expression, "Uh, don't look at me like that, Lance, I didn't tell you to wear them... Clinton and Sheila How is it? I can sacrifice a little more to play Hillary." Then he quickly backtracked: "Forget it, we're not here to be funny."

Lance thought of the document he just read, and made a suggestion: "Where are Spider-Man and Green Goblin?"

"Leo's going to be Spider-Man, and he borrowed Toby's original Spider suit."

"There are so many superheroes in Marvel, just find two uniforms that are not so ugly."

"Let's find something other than a superhero, the tights are too uncomfortable to wear, and the popularity of comic book movies is so high recently, there may be at least a dozen Superman, Green Lantern, Spiderman, Ironman, and Flash at the party. "

Think about how embarrassing it would be to have a few or a dozen people dressed exactly like you at a party.Moreover, unless the superhero costumes are original uniforms used in film and television shooting, exquisite workmanship, or custom-made costing tens of thousands of dollars, no matter how high the price is, there will always be fabric problems or poor fit. And appear inferior.

When there are still a few months before Halloween this year, the superhero COS uniforms in North America have entered the hot sale period. Speaking of it, it’s all because Willot’s "Spider-Man" not only opened a good time for Marvel movies. By the way, it also heated up the entire superhero movie market. Now not only Willot, but also Warner, Universal, and Fox are starting to prepare their own superhero movies.

With "Spiderman" as the foundation, Marvel began to plan the Avengers step by step, while Warner, which owns DC, seemed eager because it was a little behind. Catwoman, the first female superhero movie, and even Justice League are in the works.

In addition to releasing rumors of multiple comic-changing movies in one go, Warner also pulled out a long list of superstars. For the movie "Catwoman" alone, the casting scandal has swept away all the A-list actresses. When it comes to Oscar queens, it seems that everyone is likely to be cast, and there will be headlines almost every few days. Now, the attention of the media and comic fans can no longer be taken away.

The fan base of DC comics is already slightly better than that of Marvel. On the list of the most popular superheroes in North America over the years, Batman has always been the first, and Superman and Spiderman have taken turns to be second and third. This is true for fan votes, comic-con popularity, and box-office appeal.If you switch to the list of the greatest superheroes, then Superman and Batman take turns first and second, Spiderman and Wolverine take turns third and fourth.This shows the popularity of DC's superheroes, especially now that the film and television adaptation rights of the X-Men have been sold by Marvel-Warner has frequently released new public opinion tricks. The box office champion "Spider-Man", Marvel is a bit lower than DC in terms of momentum.

This made Marvel feel threatened. They were worried that Warner, who would enter the arena later, would take the biggest piece of the cake. That's why they came up with the idea of ​​inviting William and Leonardo to join the Avengers, in order to fight Warner——A Warner Bros. is not the only one who can make super star + super IP comics, we can too!

After learning about Marvel's ideas, William specially asked a market analysis company to make a survey report, and then held a long and twists and turns meeting with Marvel executives-although there is a competitive relationship, Marvel and Warner really have no relationship. Need to go the same way.Hollywood's superstar resources are still scarce. There are only a few people on the A-list, and even fewer have enough box office appeal. Do you have the energy to make a good movie?

Moreover, it is a shortcut to find an A-list superstar to act in a superhero movie. Although it can gain fame in a short period of time, it may also reap higher profits, but the production cost of the movie will inevitably increase, and the risk will also skyrocket. Uncertain factors such as salary, schedule, etc., the coordination relationship between superstars, etc. In short, this model may not be suitable for Marvel.

It's better to choose the path that suits you best. Warner started late, so it needs to use the superstar strategy to create topics to seize the market, and Marvel has already taken the lead, so there is no need to be so eager. Concentrate on polishing the script to find the most suitable actors and develop steadily. It is the best policy.In the long run, regardless of the box office gain or loss of a certain summer file, the two companies have their own characteristics. In the end, they may be able to make the comic film market bigger and form a win-win situation.

Fortunately, not only William thinks so, there are many similar voices within Marvel. After a few meetings, the company's top executives have reached a consensus, and they are planning their own movie universe with peace of mind. However, although William has declined to play the role of Iron Man Hero’s proposal, but this news will not be made public in the short term. At the same time, Marvel will also have some ambiguous rumors with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Nicolas Cage and other superstars, such as inviting Cruise or Cage auditioned for Iron Man, Pete played Thor, and so on. Although everyone may not cooperate in the end, it is good to have some scandals on the front page of the newspaper a few times to increase popularity.

He was distracted, and suddenly, William felt the top of his head sink. He reached out and took the thing off his head, and found that it was a brown cowboy hat. He looked at the instigator Lance with questioning eyes: "It's not time to wear a hat yet. season, and it's supposed to be that cowboy hat I'm hanging on the wall?"

There is a stuffed elk head on the wall of the living room. This hat is hung on the antlers. It is not a luxury brand. It is William who visited the farm in Kansas and was asked by his grandfather Arthur Bradley to clean the barn. When you are in trouble, buy a hat that shades the sun and gray.Speaking of which, Lance also has a top of the same style and a different color, because he was on vacation with William at the time, and he was the other unlucky guy who was caught as a young man.

"How about being two happy cowboys?" Lance said. "It's not the best idea, but it certainly won't be voted the worst Halloween costume, and if it gets photographed, it won't become a black history later. .”

"Good idea," William said.