Heads Up Hollywood

On January 23, 2000, it was the awards dinner of the 57th Golden Globe Awards.

As a young man, Twain must attend awards ceremonies similar to the Golden Globe Awards and Oscars unless there are special circumstances. In addition, the judges should not be left with a rebellious impression, but should be humble and polite, so that everyone has a sense of appropriateness.

On January 20th, Tang En flew back to California. The first news he heard was not the buzz about the Golden Globe Awards, but a sensational personnel change in the circle.

At the second shareholder meeting of 20th Century Fox this year, the chairman of the board and CEO Bill McNick was officially removed!

Tom Rothman took control of Fox as he wished.

Hearing this news, Tang En was silent for a long time, and told the secretary that he was going to entertain Bill McNick.

Bill McNick refused the banquet, knowing that Tang En had something to say, he came directly to Tang En Pictures.

Seeing Isla Fisher busy, Bill McNick raised his brows, "Changed secretary?"

"No, Reese is busy making movies, and Ella is actually an actress."

"quite pretty."

Tang En couldn't help laughing, "Bill, you still have the mood to pay attention to these things. It seems that your mood is not as bad as you imagined."

Bill McNick sighed and waved his hand, "I expected it at the beginning of the year, and I was mentally prepared for it."

Tang En frowned and asked pretending not to know: "Bill, why is this? Even if "Fight Club" lost money, how much profit have you created for Fox over the past few years?"

"Yeah, since I left Disney in 1994 and came to 20th Century Fox, I have indeed achieved great success." Bill McNick looked a little sad and shook his head, "Isn't that what managers do? They make money, If the shareholders are happy, they will continue to work; if they lose money, the shareholders will be angry and leave.”

"It's just a Fight Club, is it that serious?"

"It's just part of the reason. The main reason is that the performance of Fox Pictures last year was too bad. The film produced by Fox, the best-grossing "The Trap", ranked only 24th in the year, and..."

Bill McNick hesitated, shaking his head.

Of course Tang En understood the reason, so he could only pretend to be stupid, "Why? Isn't it me? "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" has a global box office of 1.1 billion US dollars! "Wedding Crashers" has a North American box office of 210 million US dollars. No. 4 at the North American box office of the year! This performance is not bad."

Bill McNick stared deeply at Twain, and noticed that he was bewildered. He paused, "News Corporation is the controlling shareholder of Twentieth Century Fox, and I was in charge of the original project when the power was assigned to me and Tom Rothman. , he was in charge of the series. So "Die Hard", "Star Wars", "X-Men" and other series, he was in charge. And "Wedding Crashers"... I didn't get the distribution rights. "

"Ah? So that's how it is!"

Tang En was taken aback, his complexion suddenly changed, and he said angrily: "Then why didn't you say it back then? Bill, with our friendship, if you said something back then, I would definitely hand over the distribution rights of "Wedding Crashers" to you." You!"

Bill McNick smiled wryly to himself.

At the beginning, he was also too ambitious, and his focus was on big A-level productions. I never thought that a comedy film with an investment of 18 million US dollars could affect the future pattern of Fox executives!

Bill McNick would certainly not have let go of the distribution rights to The Wedding Crashers, had it been foreseen.

This is the original vision, too high and too proud.

"It's all over, so there's no need to talk about it." Bill McNick sighed and waved his hand, "And Tom Rothman gave you a lot of help. In exchange for benefits, it is also in the interests of Dunn Pictures."

Tang En looked serious, "Bill, you are wrong. Compared with profit, I value loyalty more! If you hadn't accepted me as the director of "Titanic", I would never have achieved what I am today."

Bill McNick's face was rosy, showing a little pride.

There is no doubt that this is enough to be the greatest achievement in his life!

No matter how much success Tang En will achieve in the future, there will always be the shadow of Bole behind him.

"Forget it, let's not mention those things." Bill McNick changed the subject, "We only had a verbal agreement on the distribution rights of "Spider-Man". , you have to hurry up and negotiate, the conditions should not be too bad."

"And Tom Rothman?" Dunn raised his eyebrows.

Bill McNick said: "You have some old grievances in the past, but it doesn't matter. Tom can't be arrogant about this kind of thing. No film company will reject your movie, and he is the same!"

"No, no, Bill, you misunderstood." Dunn shook his head repeatedly, "Bill, Tom Rothman pushed you away, he took your place, don't you want revenge?"

"revenge?"

Bill McNick gave a wry smile.

Now that he has no power, he is just an ordinary producer. How can he compare with the big butler of 20th Century Fox?

Powerless!

"Bill, I can help you!" Tang En looked at him firmly with his eyes burning.

"You help me? How?"

Bill McNick didn't question Tang En's ability, but with the current strength of Tang En Pictures, it simply couldn't compete with Fox.

Tang En crossed his legs, drank a sip of coffee, and said meaningfully: "Bill, you said... If 20th Century Fox lost the partner of Dun En Pictures just after you left, Tom Rothman's life would still be okay?"

"What?"

Bill McNick didn't expect Tang En to propose such an outrageous suggestion, and he was dumbfounded in surprise.

"Bill, I'm a man of death. If someone treats me well, I'll treat him twice as well; if anyone plays tricks on me behind my back, then I will definitely not let him go! It's not too late for a gentleman to take revenge!"

Tang En suddenly sat up straight and said in a stern voice, "Since I was filming "Titanic", Tom Rothman has been playing tricks on me behind my back. Even with the release of "Wedding Crashers", we have We had a pleasant cooperation, but it was a purely interest exchange! My revenge has never been reported!"

"Twain..."

Tang En interrupted him with a half-smile, "Bill, it seems that we have a common enemy."

Bill McNick pondered for a long time, his slack old face showed a rare expression of emotion, and he sighed, "Twain, there's no need for you to be like this."

Tang En shook his head firmly, "Bill, it's actually very simple, you are my friend."

"Twentieth Century Fox...you can't afford it." Bill McNick shook his head and said in a low voice.

Tang En said with a smile: "To be honest, I have provoked Disney now, and I will soon provoke conflicts with Warner Bros. One more Fox, it's no big deal."

Bill McNick looked at Tang En in astonishment, as if looking at a monster.

With a relaxed expression, Tang En slowly told Bill about the conflicts with Warner and Disney.

"In 1994, I left Disney with Jeffrey Katzenberg, who founded DreamWorks Animation, and I joined Fox. Since then, Disney's film production has been in a slump, and you don't have to worry too much about it. " Bill McNick paused for a moment, pondering for a long time, "Now Disney's main business is TV operations and TV channels, but Warner Brothers... I advise you to choose cooperation."

Tang En laughed loudly and pointed to his chest, "Bill, I have great ambitions!"

"Then you can't make enemies everywhere!"

"So I need a capable, prestigious, well-connected and influential elder to help me."

Tang En looked at him with a smile.

Bill McNick didn't react for a moment.

Tang En asked with a smile: "Bill, where do you plan to go after leaving Fox? You are not yet old enough to retire, right?"

Bill McNick said easily: "As a producer when I was young, I couldn't keep up with the preparation of the film. I might go to college and do some theoretical work on film."

Dunn understood.

It seems that he will follow the trend of history, enter the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and then rise all the way to become the chairman of the Oscar jury.

But Tang En wanted to make a change, "Haven't you thought about changing to another company?"

Bill McNick finally came to his senses, and looked at Twain with wide eyes, "You...you want me to join Twain Pictures?"

Tang En laughed loudly, "Bill, you finally figured it out, haha!"

Bill McNick looked at Tang En jokingly, "Your ambition is really not small, do you think it's possible?"

"Why is it impossible?" Tang En had a righteous face and awe-inspiring momentum, "Twain Pictures is indeed no match for 20th Century Fox, but we can fight. Bill, you appointed me as the director of "Titanic", but Now? What about your confidence in me?"

Bill McNick was silent for a long time, speechless for a long time.

He himself couldn't understand this matter. When filming "Titanic", he had amazing trust in Tang En, but after that... this trust became less and less.

Until he lost the distribution rights of "Wedding Crashers" and lost the position of Fox chairman and CEO.

This is of course the influence behind Tang En's sunglasses system, but Bill didn't know it.

All he knew was that it was Twain's appearance back then that saved his precarious position with the huge success of "Titanic".

Later, because he ignored Tang En, he was fired.

"Trust Dunn, you can get everything!"

"If you don't trust Tang En, you will lose everything!"

In Bill McNick's mind, there suddenly appeared such an illusion that surprised him.