Chapter 55: Chapter 55: An Olive Branch from MGM
Walking through the campus of Moss Middle School, Ecks explained his intentions to Kate Beckinsale.
"Felix asked you to be my agent?"
"It's mostly up to you." It wasn't like the idea of setting up an agency hadn't occurred to Ecks, and after Lin Ming Yang had mentioned it to him, Ecks had decided to give it a try even after repeated consideration.
"But you're Felix's agent, and... "Kate Beckinsale looked like she was about to say something.
"And I'm a guy." Ecks saw right through what was going on in the other's mind, "All I mean is that you sign to my agency name, and then I'll find a suitable female agent just for you."
"But why would Felix do that?" The doubts in Kate Beckinsale's mind were not completely lifted.
"I haven't figured out the exact reason." Ecks shook his head quite frankly, "Probably he didn't think he'd be an actor for the rest of his life, so he recommended you."
Kate Beckinsale bit her lip and hesitated, "I still need to talk to my mom."
"Sure." Eckles knew he wasn't far off, "I look forward to meeting your mother."
----
After the Halloween ball came to an end, the filming of the movie Cinderella's Glass Phone also entered the sweeping stage, and during the make-up shooting of the remaining few scenes, Lin Ming Yang always felt that Kate Beckinsale was strange. The two of them work together more and more quietly during the performance, but outside of the theater, Kate Beckinsale always avoided getting along with Lin Mingyang alone, and was always the first to leave after the shooting was over.
"Have I made her angry during this time?" Lin Ming Yang finally realized this, and it just so happened that at this time, Ecks was also by his side.
"How would I know about the two of you?" Ecks struck a pose like it was none of his business, "Women are all incomprehensible!"
"Well, how's your talk with her going?" Lin Ming Yang brushed aside this topic and asked another question he was concerned about.
"I think she should agree herself, but in the end it still depends on her mother's attitude." After waiting for a week, the other party hadn't replied, and Ecks' heart was a bit bottomless.
"Originally, I could still talk to her." Lin Mingyang shook his head without regret, "It seems a bit difficult now."
----
The film Cinderella's Glass Phone took more than 2 months from the start to the end of shooting. After accounting for the cost, Lin Mingyang realized that he had padded in a whole 3 million dollars. The final effect of the movie made producer Brooksheimer feel that he had still underestimated Lin Ming Yang's strength, but after hearing about those filming techniques of Lin Ming Yang, he couldn't help but shake his head.
Brooksheimer finally concluded that Lin Mingyang was "an immature genius", but of course, since the movie had already been made, the process was no longer important. He took the movie to all the major studios, trying to find a suitable buyer. Disney, which he originally had high hopes for, ended up offering only 3 million dollars for the rights to the movie. The reason was that Lin Mingyang was too young to be a director and the lead actress was not famous, so they were not optimistic about the movie's box office prospects.
Both Lin Mingyang and Brooksheimer could not accept this result, but then several studios offered similar prices to Disney, and the reasons for refusal were also different. In the end, Brooksheimer brought the movie to MGM's headquarters with the mindset of giving it a try.
Although MGM has not had a good time in Hollywood in the past few years, and even some of the feeling of eating the old money, but it can not deny that it was once the most powerful film company in the United States. MGM made one of the best films in the history of cinema - Gone with the Wind; created the everlasting screen classic - James Bond; shaped the immortal cartoon image of Cat and Mouse; initiated the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and introduced the Academy Awards (i.e., the Oscars). Any one of these accomplishments would have immortalized the company, let alone several myths rolled into one. Because of this, the MGM studios logo of Leo the Lion was once taken as a symbol of America.
In 2001, MGM got more than $400 million in box office revenue from the performance of Hannibal and Legally Blonde, but all other films released by the company were unprofitable. And just this year, MGM invested heavily in the war blockbuster "Windtalkers" suffered a box office Waterloo, the company's top executives were forced to resign, MGM once again into the ranks of the auction.
For the company barely survive, Brooksheimer originally did not hold much hope, but the new takeover of the company's president Lupin watched the film with the company's top executives, but Lin Mingyang and Kate Beckinsale's performances praised, and Lin Mingyang's directing and screenwriting ability, and finally MGM offered 5 million U.S. dollars, but Lupin mentioned an additional condition.
----
"What condition?" The price given by MGM exceeded Lin Ming Yang's expectations, and at the same time, he was curious as to what kind of condition the other party had raised.
"MGM's side is probably looking at your recent fame, so they want you to star in a movie they're preparing." Combining the information he had in his hands, Ecks came to this conclusion.
"What movie, it's not going to be James Bond, is it?" Lin Mingyang asked in boredom.
"Making a James Bond would make the current MGM go bankrupt immediately!" Axe was very clear about MGM's current financial situation, so he admired the audacity of MGM's president, willing to pay such a high price to buy Lin Ming Yang's "immature" movie. "Besides, with your current reputation and age, if you want to make 007, will MGM come to you? You know that no Bond in history has been younger than 30 years old."
"Then they wouldn't be looking for me to dub for Cat and Mouse, would they?" Lin Mingyang looked at him in disbelief.
"I reckon only Disney in the whole of Hollywood would have such a boring idea!" Ecks had recently hit a wall at Disney, so he was full of complaints about his old boss. "Although it's not James Bond, it's actually similar to that."
"A secret agent type of title?"
"Teenage agents to be exact." Eckles added to his statement, "I have to say that MGM is really at the end of their rope right now, and the secret agent genre is the only movie they've got right now that can have box office appeal."
Ecks' explanation made Lin Ming Yang suddenly think of a movie called Teenage Special Agent Cody that MGM had made from memory. The film itself was lackluster, and it was able to occupy a place in Lin Mingyang's memory thanks to the film's leading lady, Hilary Duff, and it could be said that a lot of people went into the movie theater to watch the film because of the American "civilian diva". Unfortunately, the whole movie is a miniature version of James Bond, so Hilary Duff did not escape the fate of the vase in this movie.
Teenage Special Agent Cody" is MGM's movie launched in 2003, according to the time speculation, its shooting time should be in the near future, and then combined with the information provided by Eckles, Lin Mingyang basically can be sure that MGM wants to find him to shoot is this movie.
"Did they say who the female lead is?" In order to verify his judgment, Lin Ming Yang purposely added a question.
"You're concerned about such a question now?" Ecks looked at Lin Ming Yang with some suspicion, "I'll tell you very clearly, right now you're not qualified to negotiate with the investors on this issue."
"Don't I even have the right to know who I'll be partnered with?"
"You're not doing this for Kate, are you?" Ecks, however, had misinterpreted Lin Ming Yang's meaning, "She hasn't given me a clear answer up until now, I don't see much hope of success in this matter."
"Where did you think of?" Lin Ming Yang glared at him without any good humor, "I merely want to know who the female lead is?"
"And then?"
"That's all!"
"Alright!" Ecks finally made sure Lin Ming Yang didn't mean anything else, "It's said to be unconfirmed, but I've heard a rumor that MGM seems to be interested in casting Hilary Duff in the female lead."
"It really is her!" Lin Ming Yang muttered to himself.
"You're hoping it's her?" Ecks heard the words.
"No!" Lin Mingyang denied it.
"But you weren't surprised by the news at all, which makes me suspicious." Ecks wasn't good at fooling around.
"Because I think that since MGM wanted me to star in that movie, it's not at all surprising that Hilary Duff was chosen as the female lead."
"And the reason?"
"As you said, MGM's audience targeting for that movie would be teenagers, and what they're actually looking at is my popularity in Hollywood during this period of time. Since that's the case, they'll definitely go looking for a girl who's about the same fame and age as me to co-star with me, a handsome man paired with a pretty girl, that's the usual Hollywood technique."
"I feel relieved that you can see that!" Ecks nodded with satisfaction, "But I have to correct one point, in terms of pure movie popularity, Hilary Duff is that much higher than you, of course this is only limited to the field of film and television, in terms of comprehensive influence, the gap between her and you is still very obvious, and it can be said that she's not on the same level at all. "
"This is from your mouth, the most gratifying comment for me!" Lin Mingyang laughed heartily.
"A competent professional manager doesn't tell you how to succeed, but guides you to avoid failure. From this perspective, I think too much is praise is superfluous between us." Ecks said in a serious manner.
"Kate will feel sorry for her if she doesn't end up choosing you as her manager!"
"If she does decide that way, I think it's you who should feel most sorry for her!" Ecks smiled wistfully at Lin Ming Yang, "Now that it's clear what happened, what's your decision?"
"I'm going to read the script first."
"What if the script doesn't satisfy you?" Others were not sure, but Eckles knew Lin Ming Yang's character, he would never force himself to accept something he didn't like, so he had to take a "precaution" first.
"I'm still very interested in the secret agent theme of the movie, so the script is not good, I can put forward the script of the revised program, really can not I re-write a better one to them." Knowing the plot, Lin Ming Yang had no intention of taking the original script seriously, from the beginning he had the idea of rewriting it, and it would be a very different story.
"What other excessive demands do you have, why don't you just put them all together!" Ecks looked at him with some tears.
"Are my demands excessive?" Lin Ming Yang deliberately put on an aggrieved look, "Actually, I'd rather say, can we change the female lead?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone