Chapter 24: New Film (II)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Dan will play the male lead,” Adrian turned to say to Laverne.
“Will Dennis be too young?” Laverne looked at Dennis, then at his boss.
“In terms of age, Dan is indeed too young, but he can be made to look older by a great makeup artist. I value Dan’s acting skills more and I believe that he’ll play the role well because of his experiences,” Adrian answered, then looked at Dennis. “Dan, you’ve seen the script, tell me what you feel.”
“Uhm…” Dennis pondered. “Leonard probably has a few moods such as depression, anxiety, remorse, anger, and… He was at a loss. He killed his wife, has short-term memory loss, is constantly used by others, and doesn’t have an aim to move forward in life. Among the various moods that he has, he probably shows two of them at any point in time. As for how they should be specifically performed, it’ll depend on the shooting content, and the director’s request.”
1
“Very well.” Adrian clapped his hands. “There shouldn’t be a problem, right? Lave?”
“You’re the boss.” Laverne shrugged. He said that to express his attitude toward this.
Adrian smiled as he did not think that it was wrong for him to respond that way. “I believe that Joe Pantoliano will be the most suitable person to play the male supporting role.”
“I’ll contact him as soon as possible.” Laverne nodded.
“It’ll be best if it can be confirmed today.” Adrian rubbed his chin as though he was worried that Joe Pantoliano would be tied up to another film.
“I’m sure that he won’t reject an offer from Hollywood’s new prominent director.” Laverne grinned.
Adrian was startled for a few seconds before he laughed out loud. Basically, ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ achieved what he aimed for. He gained high box office sales and became known as a new prominent director, which was proven when the four film companies and people who dealt with him called him after the movie screened to build close relationships with him.
Nonetheless, it was far from enough for him. Hence, he declined all invitations once he returned home, and was occupied with writing novels, new film scripts, and some script outlines.
“I’m not one yet.” Adrian waved his hand, then focused on the topic. “I already have someone in mind for the female supporting role, and I’ll call her myself, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
1
“Alright.” Laverne nodded without asking further.
“We must have all the departments we need, it’s not a must to have the best but they must be full-manned. I don’t want the London experience to repeat again.” Adrian sighed. “Most of them dressed casually, we didn’t have professional makeup artists, and so many considerations were needed to use a filter plate.”
Laverne lowered his head and chuckled, whereas Dennis shrugged.
“Alright, let’s not talk about this. I made a rough estimation, and our budget is probably around 4 million dollars. Please get someone else to estimate it again, Lave,” Adrian mentioned.
“I will,” Laverne nodded, then teased by sounding upset, “I can’t believe that our previous profit is leaving us so soon.”
“If the company’s unwilling to spend the money, I can continue to invest in it myself,” Adrian expressed calmly.
“Of course not. If that’s the case, the enthusiasm that was finally lit up will be distinguished again.” Lavern laughed.
1
Bosworth Film Company showed no improvement for years due to various reasons, thus there were actually more hands than needed. Ever since Adrian bought it over, good news came one after another. Firstly, the low-cost film that they produced was awarded the Best First Work during the Venice Film Festival, then it gained box office sales that were more than a hundred times its cost. Hence, the employees were surprised, and their morale rose. Furthermore, Adrian made an asset injection of 5 million dollars, which was not much, but it caused them to take more initiative to be more cohesive. As such, Laverne also took the opportunity to rectify the company’s internal departments.
After a long discussion, Adrian left the company, then stored the three scripts that he had been working on at the Writing Guild before he returned home. Once he was back at his villa, and before he could take a breather, Mrs. Galen informed him that Claude called.
“Hey, Claw, why did you call? Don’t tell me that my funds are finished,” Adrian joked as he walked toward the window with a cordless phone.
“You…” Claude laughed bitterly. “Regarding this, regrettably, Eddy, the final result is a bit far from your expectation.”
“Is that so? Someone guaranteed that there won’t be a problem,” Adrian responded calmly.
“Firstly, I didn’t guarantee that there won’t be a problem; Secondly, don’t forget that you withdrew part of the funds halfway through; Lastly, do you know how much effort I put into this?!” Claude listed.
Adrian could not help but chuckle. “Alright, alright. Then should I just tell you to try your best?”
“It hasn’t ended, so I can still give it a try. I’ll try to fulfill your request as much as possible.” Claude scoffed.
“Thank you, Claw,” Adrian laughed then said thankfully.
After his personal accountant explained it to him, he realized that it was extremely difficult to get a share at this moment, yet Claude agreed to help him, and was doing very well. Adrian believed that he used a few connections and had possibly sought help from his dad.
“I promised you.” Claude sighed, then mentioned after a few seconds, “Congratulations.”
Though it was only a word, Adrian knew what it contained. He could totally imagine how Claude used to think of him 2 years ago.
“Why? Did you see my work? How is it?” Adrian asked in a relaxed tone.
“It’s very interesting, I can’t believe that you actually produced a film. I was initially waiting to laugh at you since you never revealed this talent of yours,” Claude praised.
Adrian was slightly shocked, he then explained, “I was also taking my chances. Being a director is actually simple because one can understand through reading theories from books, but the key is knowing how to control and adjust, so that your assistants know what exactly you want. Fortunately, I did pretty well.”
“You were more than pretty well. I heard that the film’s cost was less than a million dollars, but the box office sales were 30 million dollars…”
“I made a conservative estimation that I’ll gain 40 million dollars after it stops screening.”
“It’s remarkable. Honestly, if the return on investment is this high every time, film production will simply be a lucrative industry.”
“Stop dreaming, the return takes up only a very small portion in film production. Besides, we have to share the profit with cinema chains, and the distribution fee and taxes have to be deducted. In the end, the real amount that we gain isn’t much.”
“Alright, alright. Whatever it is, your debut film is magnificent, and I still can’t believe that you’re the one who did it.”
“Thank you. If you wake up from a muddled life like I did, you’ll do it at all costs too, Claw.”
Both of them fell silent. Claude finally spoke a few minutes later, “Alright, let’s put this aside. Eddy, shouldn’t you visit my dad soon?”
Adrian slapped his head. “Oh, I should… Oh no, I won’t have the time for a few months!”
“Why?”
“Jesus, I’m producing a new film very soon.” Adrian felt helpless. “Preparations are being made, and everything has been scheduled.”
“A new film? Your first film hasn’t even stopped screening yet.” Claude was surprised.
“Yes, I know, but I have a full plan, so… Oh Jesus, it would’ve been better if you called earlier.” Adrian was frustrated.
“You’re blaming me again. Couldn’t you have called once you returned?”
“Alright, alright. Claw, can we not talk about this? I’m afraid that I can only pay Godfather a visit during Christmas.” Adrian changed the topic.
“Christmas? That’s almost 2 months away, can’t you spare some time?” Claude sounded dissatisfied.
“Listen to me, Claw. Since I’m meeting Godfather, it has to be serious, and it must be on a good day. I’m very grateful that he looked after me for 2 years, and I hope that it can be a more formal meeting,” Adrian explained. “On the other hand, arrangements for the new film have been done, and I aim to finish it in 2 to 3 months like the first one so that I can participate in the Berlin Film Festival in February next year. I’m on a tight schedule.”
“Alright, Eddy, don’t overwork yourself,” Claude replied.
“I know, please apologize to Godfather for me… Forget it, I’ll call him myself,” Adrian responded.
“Oh right, what’s your new film about?” Claude suddenly asked.
“Uhm… An insurance investigator suffered a heavy blow to his head due to two burglars, causing him to have anterograde amnesia. His memories will only last for 5 minutes, whereby he forgets them after that period of time. He killed his wife because of that, but he sadly doesn’t remember it. He subconsciously thinks that it was the burglars who killed her, so he began searching for them everywhere to take revenge. Some people helped him, some people used him, and he was constantly at a loss. Even when he finally finds out the truth, he can’t break away from his destiny,” Adrian described the plot briefly. “The film’s called ‘Memento’—why do you ask?”
2
“It sounds great,” Claude remarked.
“The plot is only decent, so I plan to do some work on the storytelling part. I hope that you won’t get a headache when you watch it,” Adrian said jokingly.
“If that’s the case, I must watch it then—oh right, do you need more investment?” Claude finally revealed his real intention.
Adrian laughed out loud. “No thanks, dear Claw, I plan to leave it as a low-cost film. Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of investment opportunities in the future.”
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