章 912: Chapter 914: Ruining Childhood Early
[Chapter 914: Ruining Childhood Early]
Faint morning light filtered into the master bedroom of Liberty City. Eric woke up first, gently caressing the smooth skin of the girl beside him, yet his thoughts were elsewhere -- on Iron Man.
In the script, after a night with Vanity Fair reporter Christine, Tony Stark not only avoided her the next morning but also felt awkward upon their next encounter. Such a reaction was certainly not characteristic of a playboy who had bedded every cover girl of fashion magazines throughout the year.
Well, that needed to change.
After a moment of quietly pondering the details of the script revision while staring at the ceiling, Eric couldn't help but silently laugh.
"All right, I'll just take care of it myself."
With a rhythm of a film every two years, scheduling was indeed quite manageable for him.
Not dwelling on this any longer, Eric felt the girl leaning against him shift her breathing from calm to rapid. He looked down to find her eyes still tightly shut, seemingly unwilling to wake up.
With a chuckle, he let his hand slide down further.
Jennifer Love Hewitt, who initially intended to keep pretending to be asleep, suddenly trembled, squeezed her legs together, and turned her flushed face up to him. "Eric, you are such a bad boy."
He pulled Jennifer closer, reveling in the warmth of her body against his. "When a girl says that, she usually wants a man to be a little worse."
Weakly, Jennifer pressed Eric's mischief-making hand away and pouted, "Why don't you go bother Sarah? She's probably pretending to be asleep too!"
Eric glanced at the other girl, who was still blissfully unaware if she was also faking sleep. He grinned and rolled over, pinning Jennifer beneath him. "No rush, it's still early. Neither of you is getting away."
...
After breakfast and seeing both girls off, Eric dialed Joss Whedon, instructing him to cancel auditions for the lead role in Iron Man.
At ten o'clock, Eric arrived at Firefly Studios, confirming that Bridget Fonda, the actress cast as Pepper Potts, had been notified and was on her way. When she heard Eric planned to play Tony Stark himself, her jaw almost dropped in surprise.
It was hardly a good look for a beauty to have her jaw drop in shock, so Eric reached out and lifted her chin. "Close your mouth, let's go for the audition first. Whether it works out is still up in the air."
Bridget was not pleased with Eric's earlier gesture, but her astonishment could not easily calm down. She obediently followed the others into an audition room.
They spent a busy morning performing most of the scenes between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts in Iron Man.
By the end, even Jeffrey Katzenberg and Frank Wells, who had popped in just for the excitement, unanimously agreed that Tony Stark was practically tailor-made for Eric. During the audition, Bridget sometimes struggled to keep up with Eric's performance rhythm.
After lunch, they reconvened in the conference room. Eric looked around the table and said, "If that's the case, let's discuss what we should do next."
Frank Wells and others had already returned to work, but Katzenberg lingered behind. "Eric, I think to ensure Iron Man's success, you should minimize your public exposure as much as possible to avoid your established persona affecting your on-screen image."
"That's fine with me," Eric nodded. He never liked being in the spotlight anyway; playing the behind-the-scenes 'puppet master' suited him much better. "So let's announce my role as Tony Stark closer to the filming start next year."
Everyone agreed.
...
It was now August 23rd, and the North American summer box office was wrapping up. At the same time, the real blockbuster release of the season, Casino Royale, was already in its ninth week.
Although this week's expected box office for Casino Royale dwindled below $4 million, the film had grossed over $363 million in North America after an impressive eight-week run, closely matching the predictions of around $370 million.
Simultaneously, Casino Royale's overseas box office surpassed $470 million, raking in a global total of $830 million. With the second phase of overseas releases approaching in September, crossing the $1 billion mark was just a matter of time, effectively securing Casino Royale's spot as the box office champion of 1997.
...
Influenced by the success of Casino Royale, even though Eric preferred to stay out of the limelight, his presence had noticeably intensified among the public lately. Under these circumstances, it was not suitable to announce his casting in Iron Man just yet.
There was a good reason why most Hollywood stars opted for a low-key lifestyle.
If the media exposure was too frequent, viewers could struggle to maintain their immersion in their characters when they appeared on the silver screen.
They discussed how to manage media operations for Eric's participation in Iron Man, naturally leading to a conversation about salaries.
While Pierce Brosnan made a fuss about his salary for the 007 sequel, in the entire project team for Casino Royale, Eric himself ended up at the top of the pay scale.
He had a contract signed for an $8 million salary plus a 10% cut of global box office receipts. Although this cut was not based on the complete global numbers but rather the share MGM received from those amounts, in light of Casino Royale's trajectory towards $1 billion, Eric would likely walk away with no less than $50 million from this project.
Of course, no one in Hollywood would contend Eric's earnings were excessive. Strictly speaking, Eric had actively lowered his asking price. After all, other directors in Hollywood would likely walk away with $100 million or more when producing a film that grossed $1 billion.
Now, transitioning into the role of Tony Stark did complicate the matter of salary.
Neither MGM nor Firefly fully belonged to Eric, even though he maintained control, so even when filming his company's movie, there needed to be a clear distinction between personal and company profits. Otherwise, he could find himself embroiled in unnecessary complications down the line.
Eric, of course, wouldn't waste much time on this. He simply signed a rookie contract as outlined by Marvel Studios, symbolically earning $500,000. He set his maximum salary ceiling at $20 million, the established limit for Marvel actors, understanding its implications for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe's long-term planning, Eric would never aim to break that barrier.
...
At the end of the day's meetings, while having dinner with Katzenberg, Eric handed him another slip he had drafted earlier that day.
Katzenberg looked at the list and asked, "Garfield, Scooby-Doo, Ted, hmm, and some Japanese horror films? Eric, what's this about?"
"Licenses," Eric took a sip of his wine. "I compiled these over the past few days. Have the licensing department purchase the rights to these three animated toy characters: Garfield, Scooby-Doo, and Ted. I plan to create a live-action/animated hybrid film, similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit. However, this time we would be using 3D animation. As for the Japanese horror films, I thought about it while watching The Exorcist last night. Although teen horror films have become popular in recent years, films that genuinely evoke fear will always have a strong market, and, frankly, Japanese horror does it exceptionally well. So, send someone to Japan to collect some scripts for Japanese horror films. Let's see if there is anything interesting."
In fact, Eric had thought about this list while spending time with Sarah and Jennifer the night before.
These two girls not only had many similarities in height, looks, and temperament, but they also shared remarkably parallel journeys in their pasts.
Aside from Buffy the Vampire Slayer bringing Sarah Michelle Gellar more fame, both girls starred in a series of teen horror films during the late '90s. Entering the new millennium, one starred in Scooby-Doo, while the other took the lead in Garfield, before both girls participated in several Japanese horror films. Each effort had yielded solid box office returns.
Scooby-Doo and Garfield had already attained classic status as animated series, while Ted was merely an impromptu idea of Eric's meant to spark some nostalgic irreverence.
Regarding Japanese horror films, Eric recalled several classic works like Ring and Ju-on (The Grudge), which had yet to premiere in this timeline. He suggested Katzenberg cast a wide net and gather scripts from Japan, as some classics would undoubtedly be easy to find.
After listening to Eric's explanation, Katzenberg thought back to the time when Drew was relentless in scouring for rights, causing quite a stir among Hollywood studios. The scripts she collected back then had become some of the biggest box office hits.
Carefully storing the list, Katzenberg pondered further, "Eric, these don't seem like mainstream film genres, do they? Uh, do you have another list like the one Drew had back then?"
Eric rolled his eyes and chuckled, "Jeffrey, my energy isn't limitless, and I can't spend every waking moment on matters like this. Besides, consider how many licensing projects we have on hand; they could sustain Marvel-related releases for decades let alone Transformers, Lord of the Rings, and the upcoming Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I'd wager that any one of those could sustain a film studio for ten, if not twenty, years."
Katzenberg grinned. "Certainly, though more good projects are always better. So, about those three hybrid films you mentioned -- which one do you intend to produce first? I was personally involved with Who Framed Roger Rabbit back in the day. A film of this nature often requires extensive preparation."
Eric had a general impression of Scooby-Doo and Garfield but had genuinely seen Ted; however, he had acquired some knowledge -- such films often received less box office success in their sequels because audiences tended to lose interest once they left the freshness of the first installment.
"Let's go with Ted," Eric decided after a moment, smiling at Katzenberg. "Get the rights, and I'll prepare an outline for you down the road."
...
After leaving Liberty City, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Love Hewitt found themselves pondering the next few days; perhaps that night with Eric was just a dream.
At the very least, the thrill of it all felt wonderful, especially since Eric Williams even made them breakfast.
Naturally, they longed to glean something from Eric, yet typically, such matters could not be stated so plainly. They had also heard countless tales of Hollywood girls who found no success after engaging with directors or producers in a more personal way. They tried to convince themselves to take it easy, treating the whole experience as just a dream.
However, on the third day, they received good news; their agent informed them that both of them had landed the lead roles in I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Recalling Eric's comment that the two of them were not suited to appear in the same film, they both believed this outcome was likely Eric's doing. Still, an inexplicable sense of disappointment washed over them. Perhaps landing these roles meant they would have no further connection with Eric.
It was ultimately a transaction.
Yet this time, the girls were mistaken.
...
In the days following, Eric entirely immersed himself in the auditioning process for supporting roles in Iron Man, unconsciously forgetting about their concerns. While he had considered giving the lead roles of Garfield and Scooby-Doo to Jennifer and Sarah, this too was purely from an angle that held their suitability in mind.
Despite Hollywood's long history of lead creatives trading roles for favors, Eric had never entertained such thoughts. After all, the success of a film required a certain level of self-restraint; miscasting could translate to losses in the hundreds of million dollars, a principle understood by anyone of rational thinking in Hollywood. After all, no woman was worth that kind of money.
*****
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