Chapter 681: Avatar

In the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, Leonardo and Gisele Bundchen have moved here from time to time since they lived together.

Tonight, Leonardo specially put the dinner here.

Because this mansion was bought by Leonardo with Jack Dawson's money, and the guests who came here were James Cameron and Suzy Amis.

Feasting the director of the year in such a house where James Cameron knows the origin is full of nostalgic atmosphere.

So, after the dinner was over, after Gisele Bundchen invited Suzy Amis to take a walk in the courtyard, Leonardo and James Cameron, who stayed in the living room, naturally chatted about the filming of "Titans". The things that happened during the Nickelodeon.

"I still remember that the first choice for the leading actor in the film was Matthew McConaughey." Leonardo handed James Cameron a cup of coffee and said, "Twentieth Century Fox strongly requested the use of Matthew McConaughey." McConaughey is in the leading role, and I wouldn't be in this movie if you hadn't insisted on me."

James Cameron adjusted his sitting posture: "Those demands of Twentieth Century Fox turned out to be all wrong."

Leonardo said nonchalantly: "Looking back now, how many tricks and mistakes did 20th Century Fox make. Fortunately, you withstood the pressure. Otherwise, this movie would have been over."

"Haha..." James Cameron laughed: "I was almost replaced."

Leonardo agreed: "Yeah, at the time I thought you were leaving the crew." He half-jokingly said: "What did the CEO of Fox say at the time? We were forced by James Cameron to sell our asses. gone."

For James Cameron, filming "Titanic" is a beautiful memory that will never be forgotten, but there are also many unbearable past events mixed with the good times.

After chatting with Leonardo for a while, James Cameron discovered again that those unpleasant memories were basically related to 20th Century Fox.

James Cameron said: "In any case, without the financial support of 20th Century Fox, "Titanic" could not be completed."

Leonardo said: "You and Jon Landau went to 20th Century Fox again and again to ask for the funds. How did we get through when the crew was most nervous?"

James Cameron smiled: "It was hard, but I got through it.

"

Leonardo said: "It was not easy at that time. Because of lack of funds and inadequate protection measures, Kate almost drowned and got pneumonia. Originally, you wanted Enya to sing the theme song, but because of insufficient funds, you had to choose a seat." Lynn Dion, what did Kate say, when I hear Celine Dion's theme song, I can't help but roll my eyes, I remember you said after the release, that song just haunts you. Yes, the crew defaulted on the salaries of the assistant team, and the assistant poisoned the crew's food and drink angrily. Fortunately, I didn't eat that day. I remember that all of your director team went to the hospital, and Brian Beckman, who was in the most dangerous situation, even had his stomach lavaged. … "

"That situation was really dangerous." James Cameron picked up his coffee cup and took a sip: "Kate... hey, so Kate swears that she will never cooperate with me again."

Leonardo laughed: "I don't want to work with you anymore either."

James Cameron shrugged: "In fact, you know better than Kate. At that time, many situations and many troubles were caused by the shortage of funds."

Leonardo shook his head: "That time, Twentieth Century Fox left a bad impression on me, so until now, I don't want to cooperate with Twentieth Century Fox."

Those unpleasant things seemed just yesterday, and James Cameron said again: "If it wasn't for Jon Landau, that fat guy who kept making connections, I wouldn't want to be in touch with Twentieth Century Fox after "Titanic."

"All the memories of that shooting are very good." Leonardo said: "Except for the part related to 20th Century Fox."

James Cameron laughed: "I agree with that."

Leonardo said again: "That's Kate's idea too."

"In fact, Suzie also think so." James - Cameron said.

The two chatted for more than half an hour, and the topic always revolved around the accidents and interesting things that happened during the filming of "Titanic". Because of those things that actually happened and experienced together, 20th Century Fox naturally became Leonardo The villain in the topic with James Cameron, and the object of the joint crusade against Tucao.

In fact, once there is a problem with the crew's budget, all kinds of troubles will inevitably follow, which is very annoying.

After media reports about the financial problems "Titanic" encountered, most people who pay attention to this film all over the world have heard of it.

Just after nine o'clock in the evening, James Cameron and Suzie Amis said goodbye and left.

A few days later, because of the need to discuss the release of "Alien from the Deep", James Cameron appeared at the Embassy Films. Ronan chatted with him for a while, during which time he also touched on James Cameron's new work.

"The technical preparations for the new project are almost ready?" Ronan asked.

James Cameron replied: "During this period of time, I have been staying in the studio and laboratory. The combination of 3D and IMAX technology has basically solved several shortcomings in the shooting of "Alien in the Deep Sea."

Ronan looked very interested: "So, the project is about to start."

"Not so fast." James Cameron has dealt with Ronan many times and has a good impression of him: "I have already written the script, but the technical preparations have just completed the first stage."

Ronan knew the content of the script, so he said, "Can I read the script?"

Cooperation is a two-way choice, and it requires a lot of money. James Cameron just thought about it a little, and said: "Yes, I will send someone to your office later, but keep it secret."

"Don't worry." Ronan assured: "No one else will see it except me."

He said directly: "James, how are you thinking? Let's cooperate with your new project? I have all the funds ready."

The last time Ronan focused on the cooperation, James Cameron is also considering that Hollywood can spend such a large investment in companies, in addition to the traditional Big Six, it is Relativity Entertainment.

Although we talked about investment and budget once, James Cameron still said: "The production budget is more than 200 million US dollars." Probably because of the experience of "Titanic", the director somewhat controlled: "The highest No more than $250 million."

Ronan said: "It's within the tolerance of Relativity Entertainment."

James Cameron's words did not end: "In the past two years, in addition to film technology, I have also been studying the film market. The importance of publicity and distribution has far surpassed the film itself. Ronan, my request is that production and distribution must The same company will do it to avoid a lot of unnecessary troubles. Therefore, in addition to the production, there is also publicity, and the publicity fee cannot be lower than the production budget."

Ronan thought for a while and said, "That's fine."

The former movie claimed to cost more than 500 million US dollars, but half of it was publicity and distribution expenses.

James Cameron's willingness to talk to him in this way shows that he already has a cooperation intention, at least he is inclined to cooperate with Relativity Entertainment.

"This is a sci-fi film." James Cameron has actually been letting people observe and evaluate Relativity Entertainment. Regardless of investment or distribution promotion, Relativity Entertainment's ability in the film business is at the forefront of Hollywood, so He's not against collaborating with Relativity Entertainment. But in order to avoid some troubles in the later stage, he must tell Ronan about some things in front: "From now on, the production cycle may be about four years."

Ronan nodded lightly: "Theory of Entertainment can bear this financial pressure."

Movie investment has never been to invest all the investment in it at one time, but to invest in planned installments one after another.

This does not occupy the cash flow of Relativity Entertainment, and the investment in new projects can be solved gradually with the financing of the Pacific Investment Fund.

Since accepting investment from Israel, the Pacific Investment Foundation has made gains in personal investment one after another. Counting the investment from Israelis, the actual personal investment received in the last month exceeded 110 million US dollars.

The reputation of the Pacific Investment Fund has become more and more famous. Although it is far from the returns of those venture capital investments, it is better than stability.

Not everyone and companies will shell out huge sums of money to gamble on high-risk investment projects crazily.

In this world, there are also many people who invest conservatively.

As long as there is no financial pressure, with Relativity Entertainment's current production and publicity capabilities, it will not be a problem to operate such a large production.

It's not the first time that Relativity Entertainment has worked on a big-budget project.

Ronan discussed investment issues with James Cameron for a while, and James Cameron decided to cooperate with Relativity Entertainment due to various factors.

"We won't talk about how to cooperate and what terms are needed." Ronan said directly: "We have determined the general direction, and let the people below discuss the specific matters."

James Cameron thought for a moment and said, "I will greet Jon Landau today, and you will formally negotiate with Jon Landau on project cooperation starting next Monday."

Ronan nodded and said, "I'll let George Clint of Sandsea Entertainment negotiate with Jon Landau in person."

James Cameron took the initiative to shake hands with Ronan: "I hope we can reach a cooperation."

Ronan smiled and shook hands with him vigorously: "It's a happy cooperation."

During this meeting, Ronan and James Cameron basically reached an agreement on the general direction of cooperation. In the afternoon, James Cameron’s people sent the script to Ronan, and James Cameron According to Long's description, the project name is "Avatar".