King of Hollywood - Chapter 46
Chapter 46: Deviation
Although Spielberg looked calm, his heart was already fluttering. It was the end of last year when he came across Michael Crichton’s novel that was one of the best-sellers as stated in the ‘New York Times’. By just briefly browsing through, he had the thought of making it into a film.
He later sent someone to get in touch with Crichton, but it turned out that the film adaptation rights were already sold. Feeling disappointed, he gave up on the thought. However, he did not expect a young director whom he only met once to be asking him to produce the novel into a film!
“Why do you think that I’m a suitable person to produce this film?” Spielberg was feeling unusually confused at that moment, but he asked calmly after taking a look at the book, “Aren’t you a good director too?”
“If this was done 7 or 8 years later, I won’t deny that I would be able to produce the film perfectly, but I can’t do it now. I can control the plot very well, but I’m helpless in handling big scenes.” Adrian shook his head. “I’m sure I don’t need to elaborate on why you’re the best fit. Your imagination is out of the world, you’re able to handle films very well, and you strike a good balance between art and business. I can’t think of anyone else who’s suitable to do it.”
“Many other directors can do it.” Spielberg grinned. “I must say that your persuasion was very moving, but unfortunately, I might have to disappoint you, Eddy.”
“Can you tell me your concerns?” Adrian raised his eyebrows but did not express his disappointment at all.
‘You’re good at keeping your composure,’ Spielberg said to himself.
“I have many. For instance, how do you plan on operating? What’s the budget? On top of that, making lifelike dinosaur models is a difficult problem.” He gave a few examples.
Nonetheless, Adrian was clearly well-prepared. “We’ve done a detailed estimation in advance. The investment will be around 50 to 60 million dollars, my company will contribute around 20 million dollars, I can get 20 million dollars from my friend, Universal will give 20 million dollars if they’re willing to join in, or I’ll personally fork out 20 million dollars if they’re not willing to. For operations, we’ll let you have all the power, and my company will only supervise the financial operations. The script will be written by Michael and me, of course, you can use someone from your side too, but Michael must be involved.
“That’s a lot of money involved.” Even Spielberg was rather shocked about the plan. Although the trend of a huge investment became more obvious since the end of the ’70s, there were still not many films with an investment of 50 or 60 million dollars.
Adrian smiled, then added, “For the dinosaur models, I believe that Mr. George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic will be more than happy to do the job. Besides, don’t you think that lifelike dinosaur models made using a computer will attract more attention?”
“Computer production?” Spielberg squinted his eyes and rubbed his chin.
“Yes, computer production.” Adrian nodded. “My company is planning to invest in a film at the moment, so I visited their studio yesterday, where they produced a liquid metal cyborg on the computer. It’s not perfect, but it’s shocking enough. I believe that with enough funds, and Industrial Light & Magic’s techniques, it’s possible to produce dinosaurs that seem extremely real on screen!”
“A liquid metal cyborg? Did you mean ‘Terminator 2’ that’s being produced by James Cameron?” Spielberg took a deep breath and was forcing himself to remain calm. Honestly, for a few seconds, he really wanted to accept Adrian’s offer.
“Yes,” Adrian answered firmly. “We looked up a lot of information and interviewed many professionals. Theoretically, CGs (TN: Computer Graphics) that are close to being real is doable, so most of the 60 million dollars invested are going to be spent on that. If you’re willing to, I can ask someone to bring related schedule reports for you to take a look at before you decide.”
Spielberg fell silent. He put one of his hands on the other and rubbed his thumbs against each other. It could be seen behind Spielberg’s oval glasses that he was looking down, and Adrian could not figure out his thoughts.
A few minutes later, Spielberg finally looked up and exhaled. “I’m very sorry, Eddy, my answer won’t change.”
Adrian frowned. “May I ask why?”
“I’ve been bothered by some things lately, and I still have a film’s post-production to work on, so I don’t have time…”
“We can wait.”
“That’s not it… I’m sorry,” Spielberg said, but his rejection was very vague. In actual fact, the reason he rejected the offer was simple. He simply did not like being controlled or being calculated.
It was a subtle feeling and could be considered from another perspective as a form of trust in him, as though everything was prepared for him to lead. The main point was that Spielberg had a contradicting impression of Adrian.
On one hand, Adrian’s upbringing, quality, and his interesting thoughts for his previous film gave him a good impression; on the other hand, he felt that the young man considered benefits too much and was impatient. In addition, Spielberg was bothered by many other things such as his failed marriage, thus he did not want to accept the offer even though he was moved.
At last, he decided to reject the offer due to his contradicting thoughts. It was serendipitous as if he threw a paper ball to decide on an answer for a multiple-choice question, but many things in the world were fortuitous anyway.
The office was dead silent for a few minutes before Adrian spoke again, “Actually, there’s one more term.”
Spielberg was surprised. ‘I’ve already rejected him to his face, how else can he convince me?’ He gestured to Adrian to speak.
“Before I say it, I sincerely hope that you don’t think that I’m threatening you or forcing you in any way.” Adrian looked at Spielberg earnestly. “I wanted to bring this up last after you agree to be the director, and I don’t have other intentions.”
A short pause later, he mentioned, “If you agree to be the director and the producer, half of the net profit of this film will be invested in the film that you’ve been wanting to produce.”
“Invest in the film that I’ve been wanting to produce?” Spielberg repeated, then trembled a little.
“Yes.” Adrian nodded. “‘Schindler’s List’!”
…
After leaving Spielberg’s office, Adrian sighed a long breath of relief. He finally managed to convince Spielberg, which was terribly difficult. Moreover, he could tell two things from their meeting even though he could not figure out Spielberg’s thoughts.
‘One, he likes ‘Jurassic Park’ very much, and is extremely interested in adapting it into a film; two, he seems to have some opinions about me, not many, but enough to affect his decision. Needless to say, it’s the aftereffect of my hasty move that night.’ Nevertheless, there was nothing he could do because he did not have enough time for his plan.
Fortunately, Adrian’s trump card was effective, though he left out a point—Spielberg did not know the box office sales of ‘Jurassic Park’, thus he was naturally unaware of how much half of the net profit would be. Despite that, he agreed after looking at Adrian seriously for a long time.
“Are you sure?” He asked.
“I’m sure!” Adrian replied solemnly.
Following that was silence for a few more minutes before Spielberg finally nodded. “Alright, I clearly don’t have any reason to reject this anymore… But this will only take place in a few months.”
Although Adrian left out a point, Spielberg completed it for him by thinking to himself. ‘The more the film profits, the more the investment I get!’
Once Spielberg agreed, Adrian realized that there was naturally no need for him to add that point, because it would be beneficial for him. It was worth noting that ‘Schindler’s List’ had a unique spot in the big director’s heart, but it meant that Spielberg’s impression of Adrian was going to deviate toward a bad one. No matter how sincere Adrian sounded before he brought it up, he was somewhat forcing Spielberg to accept the offer.
‘It doesn’t matter. When preparations for ‘Jurassic Park’ officially commences, I’ll tell him that even if the film doesn’t gross much, I’ll guarantee him an investment of 20 million dollars for the shooting of ‘Schindler’s List’,’ Adrian thought to himself on his way home. He had only used half of his trump card, and he had plenty of opportunities in the future to use the other half, thus it would not be too late to rope Spielberg in later.
Adrian spared no effort to build a good relationship with the old Jewish man because he wanted to secure a broader network, as he knew that he had connections with Lucas and a few others, and was influential in Hollywood. Especially the Jew network, while there were many anti-Semitic extremists in America, it was undeniable that the Jews were relatively powerful, whereby the upper class in the country was somewhat wary of them. If Adrian knew how to utilize his identity, he could easily achieve success one way or the other.
With that, he settled Spielberg, ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘Schindler’s List’, and even invested in ‘Terminator 2’. Hence, he rested for a few days at home and watched the 63rd Academy Awards on March 25th.
It was not much different from what he remembered. ‘Dances with Wolves’ was the big winner by winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Cinematography, and a few other awards. Unfortunately, Kevin Costner had the same miserable fate as Clint Eastwood, because they would never win Best Actor in their lives.
Adrian was not very interested in the awards ceremony, because he knew that he would be attending it next year. After his break, he would begin preparing for his new film—’The Shawshank Redemption’!
