Bab 143: Chapter 143: Choice
Bright sunlight poured over the garden. Sitting at the small table under a palm tree, Tom Hanks closed the script in his hands and looked across at Enno Martin. Although, according to CAA's rules, Enno was just one of his co-managers, to Hanks, only Enno Martin truly counted as his agent.
"Enno, what do you think about this audition invitation?"
There was friction and conflict between Duke Rosenberg and CAA, something that wasn't a secret in Hollywood.
"Are you worried I'll have an issue with it?" Enno Martin laughed. "Tom, I've never met Duke Rosenberg, nor had indirect contact with him. I don't have any conflicts of interest with him. The feud with Duke Rosenberg isn't with all of CAA but rather with the group led by Martin Bob."
Tom Hanks understood. Like all big companies, CAA was far from being a unified entity. The competition triggered by Michael Ovitz's departure had only intensified internal conflicts. Enno Martin was Martin Bob's biggest rival, but for now, he had no choice but to watch as Martin Bob took control of CAA's power.
"Tom, successful directors need great actors, and great actors need successful directors." Enno Martin didn't seem opposed to the idea. "You've already secured an Academy Award for acting, and shifting a bit toward the commercial side wouldn't hurt. Duke Rosenberg has proven himself as one of Hollywood's top commercial directors, and collaborating with him might lead to success."
"Martin Bob won't give you any trouble?"
After all their years of working together, Hanks was still a little concerned. "He's hinted before that it would be better to avoid working with Duke Rosenberg."
"Tom, that won't be a problem for you or me." Enno Martin shook his head slightly. "You're an Oscar-winning actor, and your latest film grossed over $300 million in North America. For you, CAA is just a service provider. Don't forget, while Martin Bob has many supporters, I also have plenty of backing within CAA."
Tom Hanks thought carefully for a moment. "Accept the audition invitation. Enno, I want you to negotiate a major contract for me—either a 1+2 or a 2+1 deal!"
As a professional, Enno Martin understood immediately, nodded, and stood to leave.
Whether it was $10 million in base salary plus 20% of the profits, or $20 million in base salary plus 10% of the profits, it would be a super deal by Hollywood standards.
The news of Tom Hanks accepting the audition reached Ireland immediately. Though Duke was a bit surprised at how easily Hanks agreed, after considering his standing in Hollywood, he understood. For a star like Hanks, there was no way CAA could control him as easily as some of the information Duke had once come across online.
It could be said that the materials Duke had read online about CAA were unreliable. According to those descriptions, CAA was supposedly the shadow controller of Hollywood, able to easily manipulate the futures and fates of stars like Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, and Steven Spielberg. They made it seem like CAA could casually throw out a project that would instantly crush the big six studios.
In reality?
Anyone with a clear head would know that's impossible. Otherwise, Michael Ovitz, who was hailed as the king of CAA, wouldn't have abandoned the company he painstakingly built to try and worm his way into Walt Disney.
Along with the news about Tom Hanks' audition, Duke also heard about the actor's agent mentioning the intention to secure a 2+1 super deal.
Typically, since Duke wasn't investing in the project, the high salary Hanks was asking for wouldn't affect his own interests. It would be the producer's problem. However, the film's production budget was only $80 million. Hanks' $20 million salary, combined with Duke's own $10 million base pay, would have to be included in the production cost, along with the expenses for the rest of the cast and crew. What would be left for Duke as the director?
It's important to note that exceeding the production budget is a very troublesome issue. Would Duke have to cut his own salary or use his own money if the production ran out of funds?
There's a famous saying about directors in Hollywood: Never use your own money to make a film. While this doesn't exactly apply to someone with Duke's unique background, it certainly fits the current situation.
Regardless of how the co-producers reacted, Duke definitely couldn't agree to the contract that Tom Hanks' agent was proposing.
Inviting Hanks to audition was one thing, but dealing with a conflict of interests was something entirely different.
Thankfully, it was only an initial proposal. There was still room for negotiation, and real discussions would only begin after Hanks' audition. If he wasn't willing to compromise by then, Duke would just have to decline the offer.
"You suggested inviting Tom Hanks to audition."
Standing in an open area of the set, Sofia Coppola spoke in her usual flat nasal tone, laced with sarcasm. "But now you're worried that his high salary will eat into your filming budget. Duke, have you been spending too much time with Scarlett? Is your IQ declining?"
"I thought his agent would propose a lower base salary with higher backend points," Duke shook his head, accustomed to Sofia's tone. "That way, it would be Warner Brothers, Disney, and Fox who would have to worry about it, not us."
"You keep worrying then," Sofia turned to leave. "I have work to do."
The detailed preparatory work was handled by professionals like Sofia Coppola. Duke's role was more about overseeing the overall production. The crew had been in Dublin for a few days, choosing a large studio on the outskirts as the primary filming location.
The so-called "studio" was actually more of an expanse of desolate land, with only a few run-down sound stages. After all, Ireland wasn't a typical location for Hollywood shoots, and few production crews came here.
However, the once-empty lot was now bustling with activity. In addition to the *Saving Private Ryan* crew, another Hollywood production had chosen this site as their primary filming location.
On his first day at the studio, Duke learned the makeup of the other crew. Whether by luck or misfortune, it turned out to be a CAA-packaged project for Paramount Pictures—Mel Gibson was directing *Braveheart*!
Apparently, Sean Connery, an old acquaintance of Duke's, was part of the crew…
Thinking it over, Duke wasn't all that surprised. He vaguely remembered some details about the famous film. It seemed like a large portion of *Braveheart* was shot in Ireland. The Irish military even helped Gibson by providing troops for the battle scenes. Considering the timing, *Braveheart* was likely already deep into its pre-production phase.
Duke realized he and his crew had arrived just as *Braveheart*'s team had already established themselves.
Of course, Duke had no intention of relocating the shoot. Changing locations would incur significant expenses, and there was no reason to avoid a CAA-packaged project. He had won their past two competitions, after all.
If anyone should be avoiding someone, it should be the other way around!
That was merely Duke's opinion, though. *Braveheart* wasn't going to move. Not when they had already built many medieval sets not far from here.
The two productions had enough space between them that conflict was unlikely unless someone deliberately caused trouble.
Besides, Duke's filming schedule was incredibly tight, leaving him little time or interest in interacting with the CAA team.
He stood watching for a while. Nearby, production designer Hannah Selena and her team were surveying the site, preparing to use a drainage ditch that ran through the studio to set up a war-ravaged town. It was a huge undertaking, and they were prioritized in the pre-production schedule.
According to Selena's plan, the set for the film's climactic battle at the end wouldn't even be completed by the time shooting started, so that scene would be filmed later.
In addition to this site, the art department had many other tasks. After Duke and the team had scouted several beaches on Ireland's west coast, they had to transform one of them to resemble Omaha Beach for the opening landing sequence.
In the following days, actors gradually arrived at the set from the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere to participate in the first round of auditions. Duke didn't attend these; smaller roles were handled by the casting director. The major roles would have a second audition, and Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio, whom Duke had personally invited, wouldn't arrive for a few more days.
Besides overseeing the preparation, Duke also contacted Lt. Colonel Renho at the Pentagon, hoping to secure support from the Marine Corps. Since they had collaborated successfully twice before and the production would pay the necessary fees, the Pentagon quickly agreed. They would not only send active-duty officers to train the actors but also deploy amphibious warfare experts to assist with the landing scenes.
This wasn't a sci-fi or typical military action film, but a gritty, realistic war movie. Military involvement was crucial.
That was one of the main reasons Duke chose to shoot in Ireland—the Irish government had promised to send about 800 soldiers to participate in the filming.
The tax incentives and other policies offered by the Irish government were far less appealing than that. While the main actors could develop a military demeanor through training, it was impossible for that many extras to do the same. Aside from the costs, the large-scale explosive scenes could easily cause extras to lose their nerve and create issues.
Having professional soldiers serve as extras was the best choice.
The person tasked with finding Tiger tanks had arrived in Ireland but hadn't found a suitable one. The few remaining ones were all treasures of military museums, and it was very difficult to borrow them.
According to Duke, the executive producer went directly to Russia and bought three old Soviet T34 tanks at an extremely low price from the bureaucrats who wanted to sell the entire country.
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