Six Hundred and Ninety-Seven-You Are Not the only Smart Person!

"A great masterpiece, 'X-Men' is sure to be a box office hit."

"Thanks."

"Mr. Greenberg, can you have a few words alone..."

"Sorry, I can't leave now..."

The premiere of "X-Men" is over. After warm applause from the audience and a premiere press conference attended by hundreds of media, Wayne led the core creators of "X-Men" to a specially booked hotel by 20th Century Fox. hotel and attend the essential post-screening reception.

From the moment he left the elevator, Wayne undoubtedly became the center of the crowd. A familiar or unfamiliar face in the industry lined up to greet him politely. Instead, the "X-Men" Several creative staff were left behind for a while.

"That bi**h wants to get mad at Wayne Greenberg in front of everyone."

Not far from the center of the banquet crowd, Rebecca Romijn, who plays Mystique in "X-Men", looked at Halle Berry with disdain in her eyes. Especially when she saw Black Pearl wearing a poor Chanel dress with too little fabric, never leaving Wayne's side and accepting everyone's compliments with a smile, it inevitably made her feel uncomfortable.

The thing is obvious. Today’s guests are quite star-studded. However, whether they are big stars in the industry, directors, or film company executives, they are all surrounding the two Waynes and Twentieth Century Fox CEO Townsend- Rothman, on the contrary, made the rest of the cast and crew no one care about.

If it were just that, forget it, but Halle Berry has been sticking to Wayne's side since she walked on the red carpet of the premiere. Whether it is the attention of the media or the attention of the big names on the platform, she has gained far more. Much more than these few.

"Listen, Rebecca."

Film director Bryan Singer's eyes were sharp, he turned his head and glared at Rebecca Romijn fiercely, and warned in a low voice: "I don't care how you get along in the group, or what your private relationship is like. But in public, don’t cause trouble to the crew!”

After listening to the director's warning, Rebecca Romijn lightly shrugged to indicate that she was clear.

"Starting from the first stop of promotion tomorrow, what I need to see you show to the public is the perfect working partnership in the crew, okay?"

The crew of "X-Men" is no different from 90% of the crews in Hollywood. Various personnel frictions during the filming process never stopped. Of course director Bryan Singer saw it all, but according to Hollywood's usual practice, as long as they did not affect the progress of the work, he did not intervene.

Some situations do exist, that is, Halle Berry has been enjoying treatment in the crew that far exceeds his worth due to his relationship with Wayne Greenberg. Whether it's the huge space in the makeup van and nanny's trailer, or the producer's invisible impatience, it has become a reason for other actors to isolate and target Halle-Berry.

You know, those living and working conditions that are similar to those of A-list actresses will make other actors jealous. Even director Bryan Singer still feels uncomfortable sometimes.

"She really thinks of herself as an A-list actress, doesn't she?"

It was only after director Bryan Singer left with the producers to greet the guests that the actors in the group spoke again. Famina Janssen, who plays Phoenix, had a sharp voice and pointed at Halle Berry covertly.

Wayne's rejection of Paul's invitation to be alone just now was not quiet, and almost all the onlookers who were paying attention to them heard it. At the same time as Wayne's rejection, Halle Berry also raised his head slightly. This expression, to the eyes of several actors who felt uncomfortable, was a perfect arrogance.

"Hmm, who made her mouth easy to use, didn't it?"

Rebecca Romijn shrugged exaggeratedly, raised a hand in front of her and moved it back and forth. At the same time, she opened her mouth slightly and kept pushing her left cheek up and down with her tongue.

"Hahaha..."

"..."

Her exaggerated and funny actions caused a burst of obscene laughter among several actors. Everyone was an adult and everyone knew exactly what she was implying.

"Rebecca..."

Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine, shook his head helplessly and whispered: "Don't go too far, okay? We all know that being able to climb into Wayne Greenberg's bed means that Halle Berry is Be capable.”

The people around him all silently put away their smiles, and obviously everyone agreed with this statement in their hearts. Don't be stupid, this is Hollywood, there is never a shortage of beautiful girls, and there is never a shortage of beautiful girls who succeed by flattering the bosses in the industry.

In a way, being able to successfully curry favor with an industry boss like Wayne, and still maintain the relationship between the two parties without being thrown away after being played, at least illustrates Halle Berry's ability. .

Among these actors, the former model Farmina Janssen from the Netherlands is still a bit confused. Speaking of which, she was lucky enough. Because of her outstanding face and figure, she was selected to star in "007: GoldenEye" as a Bond girl and entered Hollywood. She then participated in "X-Men", so she was attracted by many low-level actors. Hardship is not understood.

"Xiu, I've heard before that many Hollywood female stars will do everything possible to please producers and directors in order to become famous and get the heroine in a project."

Looking at the polite guests in the banquet hall, who were changing glasses with smiles, Farmina Janssen deliberately leaned close to Hugh Jackman, staring with big eyes, with a look of inquiring luck. Asked: "Is this kind of thing very common?"

"I just heard about it."

Hugh Jackman raised his head and took a sip of champagne, shook his head slightly, scanned the former Dutch supermodel's undulating body with his eyes, and whispered: "I have been working in Canada before, and like you, it's good to come here In fact, I don’t know much about Wu’s affairs.”

He paused for a moment, recalled the messages he had heard, and then continued: "As far as I know, this kind of thing is not very common, but a very common behavior. You are lucky, Farmina , Suppose that when you auditioned for Phoenix Girl, the producer asked you, 'Why should I choose you to play the role?', think about how you would think of ways to impress the producer?"

Farmina Janssen nodded thoughtfully, silently drinking the champagne in her hand while squinting at the lively crowd in the banquet hall.

Judging from her appearance, Hugh Jackman did not continue to discuss this topic. Among the common sense in the industry that his agent told him, he once mentioned precautions in this regard.

In fact, what is the capital for beautiful boys and girls without a good background and good background to come to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams of becoming stars? There is no doubt that they (they) have nothing, and all they can give is their own bodies.

Perhaps in the entertainment industry in other countries and regions, similar things have to be kept under wraps and carried out in private. But basically this is nothing in Hollywood. There are never unspoken rules here because everything is on the surface.

Hugh Jackman glanced at Halle Berry in the crowd, especially the black beauty's hands tightly hugging the man next to her. Not to mention those young actors who have not yet made any achievements, even some moderately famous actors will still encounter obstacles in the industry without the care of their elders.

The only way for a beautiful actress to end this "state" is to work hard to climb up. When her celebrity status reaches the top and completely becomes a scarce resource in the industry, she will initially have the right to "say no". Such as today's Julia Roberts.

That's right, once the celebrity status reaches their level, it means that no one in this circle can easily force them. The premise is that you can climb to that position and become an irreplaceable scarce resource in the eyes of capital.

Hollywood has never been short of similar "inspirational" success stories. In the 1990s, there was Julia Roberts. Almost everyone in the industry knew that for the role of "Pretty Woman", she not only had sex with the producer, but also had sex with the producer. From the assistant casting director to the bosses behind the scenes, everyone was impressed by her sincerity.

The fact is that if an actress with no education, no problem, and only a beautiful body, wants to be successful in the eyes of the public, she must give the only thing she can give, and she must be good enough to herself.

Even more than ten or twenty years later, there is still a saying in and outside the Hollywood circle that Big Mouth Zhu said to his agent: As long as you can get this role, tell me, who will you sleep with? !

The stories about Julia Roberts are at least an inspiration to many Hollywood actress groups. After all, she did rely on this fierceness to not only become the representative actress of Hollywood in the 1990s, but also a few years later. He has become a well-known producer in the industry and has successfully made himself a benchmark in the eyes of countless actresses.

Even after the turn of the century, the trend for women's equal rights became more and more common in society, but similar things still happened one after another in the Hollywood circle.

Ironically, many female celebrities shout about women's rights when facing the media, then turn around and strip themselves naked, trying their best to climb into the bed of powerful people in the industry.

There was Julia Roberts in front of her, and there were others like Rachel McAdams in the back. If you look through the Oscar acceptance speeches of actresses who were made famous by Harvey Weinstein, you will find that no matter how the times change, they still have a lower background. The path to fame for the worse actresses has not changed at all.

On the surface, Hollywood is glamorous, and the female stars wearing various luxury brands are dignified and elegant. To put it bluntly, no industry in the world can compare to the chaos and filth of the North American film industry.

It seems that as soon as people step into Los Angeles, their desires are infinitely magnified. In the name of "freedom", they indulge themselves and risk their lives to pursue fame and fortune. Everyone knows that behind the glamorous Hollywood is like a big cesspit, but there is always a shortage of "smart people" who try their best to jump into the cesspit.

"It's getting late, should you go to my place or go back to the manor?"

After the drinking party that lasted for half the night was over, Halle-Berry helped Wayne, who was a little drunk, into the elevator. She didn't care about Nina beside her at all, and looked into the man's eyes and asked.

The two have known each other for more than a year or two. They are both adults. Of course, both parties understand what this kind of question means.

"Go back to the manor. Let's get up early tomorrow morning and go to the airport together."

After shaking his slightly groggy head vigorously, Wayne responded with a loud tongue. Then, regardless of whether there was anyone else around him, he stretched out his right arm to hug the black beauty, and put half of his body weight on the other person.

"Want to help? Harry."

When the elevator reached the first floor of the hotel, I knew that my boss had indeed drank too much tonight. Nina completely ignored the man's hand moving under Halle Berry's waist. She just frowned and glanced at the media reporters at the hotel door, and asked in a low voice: "Can you support the boss?"

"No problem, let's go."

Halle Berry shook his head, helped the man out of the elevator, and walked towards the Rolls-Royce parked at the entrance of the hotel.

In fact, Wayne did drink a little too much, but his mind was still clear. He just didn't expect that sipping champagne all night would have such great stamina. Even though the car was driving quite steadily along the way, he almost couldn't help but vomit a few times.

No way, there are too many curious people tonight, and these people are all well-known figures in the industry. He and Townsend-Rosman were surrounded by colleagues who kept toasting.

But when I returned to the manor and took a cold shower, the groggy feeling finally disappeared. Wayne was wearing a bath towel, with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, lying lazily on the deck chair on the balcony. The entire manor had fallen into darkness and silence. Except for the occasional flicker of the lights in the hands of the security personnel, almost nothing could be seen.

"Honey, you almost tore me into pieces!"

Halle Berry was wearing a white bathrobe, wiping her hair with a towel while tilting her head, and walked to the balcony complaining. "Damn, I couldn't wear a low-cut evening dress for the week before the promotion."

After Black Beauty sat down, Wayne glanced at her from the corner of his eye and waved his hand lazily. Just at this moment, the phone that had been silent on the table rang.

"Say it, I'm listening."

Picking up the phone casually, his eyes slowly narrowed. It didn't take long. It only took less than half a minute. The phone in the man's hand was hung up and was thrown back on the coffee table again.

"How's it going? Has it reached five million US dollars?"

Halle Berry looked nervous. After the man hung up the phone, he immediately stared at him and asked.

The reason why they had not rested until now was because they were waiting for the early box office results of "X-Men". She believed that not only the two of them were waiting tonight, but other crew members and even executives from Twentieth Century Fox were also waiting. Waiting for specific box office figures.

"About 7.53 million US dollars."

A smile appeared on Wayne's face, he stretched out his hand, gently brushed the woman's scarred upper body, and whistled softly. "Sleep peacefully, Harry, Storm will make you famous all over the world."

Halle-Berry frowned slightly, obviously feeling a little uncomfortable. However, compared to the sting caused by the bruises, she was in a very good mood at this time, especially when she heard the early ticket numbers. , the corners of his mouth began to slowly turn up involuntarily.

"Honey, you succeeded again, no."

Black Pearl didn't bother to wipe her half-dried hair. She stood up and squeezed into the man's recliner. She stuck out her tongue and licked her lips gently. She looked directly into the man's eyes and said, "No, you have never failed. In the movie industry, Among them, you are the incarnation of God..."

"It's still early, and the subsequent box office trend of "X-Men" still depends on the announcement."

Wayne's mind was very clear, and he was not distracted by the woman's words. Instead, he curled his lips slightly, raised his hand and slapped the woman's thigh hard. "Let's talk about this after the movie is finished. Rest, we can sleep for less than five hours before we have to get up to catch the plane..."

The lights on the third floor of the main building of Greenberg Manor went out, and the entire manor fell into complete silence, but there were always people who didn't rest until the early morning.

In Beverly World City, not far from Greenberg Manor, smoke filled an office on the seventh floor of the Fox Building. Several Fox executives held wine glasses and drank from them all with smiles.

"Our advance ticket sales estimate for 'X-Men' is $5 million."

Throwing the cup of "Victory Champagne" on the table, Townsend-Rosman took a big mouthful of cigar and said with satisfaction: "The preliminary statistics exceeded 7.5 million US dollars, and the results were far better than we expected. Fox Finally, I will have my own superhero series..."

“I have to say, Wayne Greenberg is Wayne Greenberg!”

Another middle-aged executive sitting on the sofa shook his head in admiration. "Superheroes with and without him mean success or failure, just..."

"Sam, just what?" Townsend-Rosman tilted his head and looked at the executive of Fox's film and television department.

"It's just that the higher the box office, the greater the price we have to pay..."

An executive named Sam Reis carefully observed the CEO's face and couldn't help but said: "Townsend, if the box office of "X-Men" on the first weekend reaches expectations, I suggest that we immediately prepare for "X-Men" "The second part of ". We can completely produce it ourselves. As long as we continue Wayne Greenberg's plan, the probability of success will not be less."

The tradition of Hollywood studios is that once a movie is successful, it immediately produces a sequel. This is understandable. What caused several people in the office to frown was precisely the producer's salary that Sam mentioned.

In fact, everyone sitting here knows that no matter how much box office "X-Men" can create, it is all inseparable from the master of Hollywood's dark movies. But people's views on one thing are constantly changing with development.

Just thinking about the terrifying basic salary and box office share, no executive looks good, including Townsend Rothman, who worked hard to promote the partnership between the two parties. There is no doubt that no matter how successful the first "X-Men" is, most of the profits will be taken away by that young man.

20th Century Fox needs to give out a large amount of benefits, but they have to express gratitude to Wayne. No one will be too happy to think about this.

"Terry, after the first weekend box office comes out, ask the writing department to write the script for the second part immediately."

Townsend-Rossman nodded and whispered an order.

"Okay, boss."

Twentieth Century Fox has paid such a heavy price and must earn it back as soon as possible. This is the sentiment of several executives.

When several people in the office left, Townsend-Rossman picked up his wine glass again, slowly moved to the window, and looked out at the streets still flashing lights. No one knew what he was thinking.

"Boss."

As a die-hard Fox CEO, Terry has been sitting at the top of the film and television production department for many years. Looking at the back of his boss, he instinctively felt that things had changed. Now that the film has not been successful, the executives can't wait to start worrying about the box office share. This is obviously something wrong with the eagerness for quick success.

Townsend-Rosman turned around, glanced and waved. "Go back and rest early, Terry, don't worry about me."

"Boss, there are a few things I want to talk to you about."

"What?"

Terry's expression was very serious, with no intention of leaving at all. He said to his old boss standing in front of the window: "Time flies very fast, but until now, I can still think of it from time to time, when I personally received Wayne Green. Berg scene.”

He didn't lie. Even now, he still occasionally thinks of the scene from that year. At that time, the King of Darkness in Hollywood was still a young director who had just graduated, and he was just a small figure in front of him. And it was me who personally negotiated "Happy Death Day" and watched helplessly as that little person became the leading boss in the industry at an incredible speed.

"What do you want to say, Terry." Townsend-Rosman turned around unexpectedly and asked with interest.

Terry fought without any hesitation and said directly: "I just want to remind you what Fox missed back then."

The moment his words came out, Townsend-Rosman's eyes immediately narrowed and his face became very ugly.

For so many years, basically no one within Twentieth Century Fox would mention this matter, because everyone knows that if it were not for the misjudgment of Townsend Rothman, who was still the distribution director at that time, the Hollywood film industry giant that is now the number one , not sure who it is yet.

For many years, the media has been ridiculing Twentieth Century Fox, but no one will discuss this matter internally. No one wants Chi Luoluo to slap the current CEO in the face, right?

However, only ten seconds later, Townsend-Rosman slowly smiled, stared at Terry, and asked: "What do you mean..."

"Boss, Fox missed one opportunity, so don't let the second opportunity pass easily."

Gritting his teeth hard, Terry saw a smile on his old boss's face, and then he boldly said: "If it were me, I would never get rid of Wayne Greenberg easily! Not only would I not get rid of him, but I would also want to There is a way to maintain the cooperation! Now Fox has this opportunity, an opportunity that no other film company can get!"

"Very good, Terry."

Townsend Rothman looked into his eyes with unabashed appreciation, but suddenly sighed and whispered: "You must understand that you are not the only smart person. Go back to sleep."

When there was only one person left in the office, Townsend-Rossman continued to hold the wine glass and stood in front of the window looking at the early morning night scene of Burbank.

As he said, are the executives and shareholders of Twentieth Century Fox all fools? Is Terry the only smart person? Obviously not.

It's just that when huge enough benefits appear, people often don't choose the safest option, and are more willing to choose gambling that can get more benefits! Twentieth Century Fox is a media giant and a listed company. Even as the CEO, he still has no control over many things.

Neither the company's senior management nor the board of directors will agree to continue to cooperate with Wayne. Even he himself is faintly willing to bet big. After all, with a successful beginning, the chance of winning in subsequent bets is already high. rise.