Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 410 Dangerous Ideas

After returning, Cao Yang spent a long time talking with Anne Hathaway and Eva Green. Both actresses said they learned a lot about acting and singing techniques.

Because yesterday's Oscars ceremony was already very tiring, and he also had to tutor two actresses after returning home, Cao Yang slept quite soundly and woke up a little late.

When he woke up, it was already 11 a.m.

However, Anne Hathaway and Eva Green are not much better off; neither of them has woken up yet.

Logically speaking, the two of them should have had more energy than Cao Yang, but there are always exceptions.

In order to look more radiant on the red carpet of the Oscars, female celebrities often diet for many days in advance, and in the days leading up to the event, they may even not eat anything or eat only a very small amount.

This resulted in them having neither physical strength nor energy.

Therefore, the two of them, who were embracing each other, slept even more soundly than Cao Yang.

Cao Yang sat up and patted their bottoms, but neither of them reacted in any particular way.

Shaking his head, Cao Yang picked up his phone and looked at it. There were two missed calls on his phone, one from Warner Bros. CEO Barry Mayer and the other from Jeff Robinoff, president of Jeyne Films.

Cao Yang couldn't help but shake his head and sigh. He couldn't tutor too late in the future... No, he couldn't tutor multiple people's acting skills at once. Look, two phone calls came in on his phone, and he didn't even hear them.

He first called Barry Mayer, and when the call connected, he laughed and said:

"I'm sorry, Barry. I put my phone on silent mode during yesterday's Oscars ceremony. After that, I was busy with interviews and dinners, so I forgot to put it back on. I only realized you were calling when I picked up my phone."

"Haha, I understand, I understand. In those situations, you definitely have to turn it to mute."

Barry-Mayer spoke naturally, without a hint of displeasure—given his status, very few people would not answer his calls, and he rarely encountered such a situation.

But this time, when he encountered it, he still smiled and expressed his understanding.

"I haven't congratulated you yet, my dearest director. Congratulations on your film 'The Fault in Our Stars' winning Best Picture. If I remember correctly, this is your third one, right?"
This is a truly remarkable achievement, extremely rare in the entire history of Hollywood. Congratulations on becoming the first in history.

"Head-to-head, head-to-head, Mr. Saul Zahnz is a Hollywood legend, a great producer."

Cao Yang replied with a smile.

Well, Saul Zahnz is a legendary producer, so praising him is definitely the right thing to do. The more amazing he is... well, I've already won three Oscars for Best Picture, just like him.

Of course, there's no need to exaggerate Sol Zanz's status.

In the film production industry, even the most active and top-tier producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, cannot compare to Saul Zahnz in terms of status and influence.

It's just that Saul Zanz is very low-key, or rather, the award-winning films he made were made a few years ago. By the time the internet became widespread, he had basically retired, so people rarely pay attention to figures from that era.

Actually, there's another well-known film that was also produced and promoted by Saul Zahnz, but he was just behind the scenes.

This movie is from the Lord of the Rings series.

On the surface, everyone sees that Peter Jackson rose to the ranks of Hollywood's top directors with this series, but few people probably know the hidden story behind it.

As early as 1976, Saul Zanz bought the film, game, merchandise and other adaptation rights to "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit".

However, due to the limitations of the technology at the time, he did not make it into a live-action film, but only an animated film, "The Lord of the Rings".

Later, he sold the film adaptation rights to the novel to Miramax, an agency led by the Weinstein brothers.

That's what made Peter Jackson who he is today.

However, he only sold the film adaptation rights to Miramax; the rights to the television series, games, merchandise, and other related content remain with him.

Later, Miramax, not optimistic about The Lord of the Rings movies, sold the rights to New Line Cinema.

The Lord of the Rings film series was a huge success, making New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson a fortune, but Saul Zahnz also made a good living.

A specialized company conducted an assessment and concluded that the success of the "Lord of the Rings" film series has valued the copyright revenue related to the novel at over $20 billion.

Although Saul Zanz sold the game adaptation rights to New Line Cinema, he retained some other copyrights.

Tolkien probably never imagined that his novel would create such great value until his death.

He died in 1973, and his successor sold all the rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to Saul Zahnz in 1976.

I wonder if Tolkien's descendants will regret their decision after seeing how much wealth the Lord of the Rings series has created.

Yes, they must be kicking themselves.

Warner Bros. CEO Barry Mayer called Cao Yang, but the congratulations were just words of politeness. It was just an Oscar for Best Picture, after all. Compared to that, what he valued more was Cao Yang's ability to revive the "dead" Pirates of the Caribbean.

Most importantly, it has the ability to make "Pirates of the Caribbean" a global box office of over $10 billion.

That's right, it's over $10 billion.

Despite the fact that "Pirates of the Caribbean" is currently just a little short of $10 billion at the box office, it will definitely reach $10 billion after winning several technical awards at the Oscars.

The Oscars have a tremendous inherent promotional power.

Many art films that win Oscars can gross one or two hundred million dollars or even more worldwide.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many Hollywood movies willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars just to get an Oscar nomination and award.

Barry Mayer also wants to make a billion-dollar movie.

Of the two Hollywood films that have grossed over $1 billion, Titanic was a joint production of 20th Century Fox and Paramount.

While "The Lord of the Rings: The King of Kings" nominally belongs to Warner Bros., because Warner Bros. acquired New Line Cinema, the film's production company, back in 93.

Unfortunately, although New Line was acquired by Warner, its former president, Shea, still held a major stake in New Line at the time of the acquisition and enjoyed the company's autonomy in management.

Therefore, although New Line Cinema belongs to the same Time Warner Group, its film operations are not related to other film companies within the group.

This is very embarrassing.

A subsidiary in name only produced a movie worth over a billion dollars, while Warner Bros., despite its constant stream of blockbuster movies, also had cash cows like "Harry Potter".

But they haven't produced a single movie that grossed over a billion dollars.

Barry Mayer is eager to team up with Cao Yang to produce another film that grosses over a billion dollars.

He pinned his hopes on the upcoming post-production of "The Dark Knight."

Batman is the superhero with the most fans, so it naturally has a good box office foundation. In addition, with Cao Yang's collaboration with Nolan, there is still hope.

Barry Mayer's purpose was simple: to "urge" Cao Yang to come to the company now that the Oscars are over and to follow up on the film's post-production.

Barry Mayer was still uneasy about letting Nolan handle post-production, even though Cao Yang had given him free rein.

Who is Nolan?

He's just a somewhat reliable Hollywood director.

His films have never won any major awards or been box office hits. In fact, he almost ruined the first reboot of the Batman movie, a nationally popular comic book adaptation!

Don't think that not losing money at the box office means making a huge profit.

That applies to new films with no prior experience.

Is "The Batman" a new movie? Does it lack any prior release information?
This movie has the largest fan base in North America, okay?!

Look at Cao Yang's reboot film "Pirates of the Caribbean," which grossed over $10 billion worldwide. Can it compare to Nolan's first film, "The Batman," which grossed over $3 million worldwide?

Whoever it is, will they choose to believe Cao Yang or Nolan?

The answer is obvious.

After hanging up with Barry Mayer, Cao Yang was about to call Warner Bros. president Jeff Robinoff when, unexpectedly, Robinoff called back.

Compared to Warner Bros. CEO Barry Mayer, Jeff Robinoff is not only concerned about the sequel to "Batman," but also about "Joker."

According to Jeff Robinoff, with Cao Yang involved and working with Nolan, the chances of a successful Batman sequel are very high.

But Joker is different. It's an extension of the Batman series, and there's no precedent for creating a separate villain from the Batman franchise. It's very uncertain.

Movies featuring villains as standalone characters are not suitable for commercial blockbusters because their popularity can never match that of the main characters.

If it can't be made into a commercial blockbuster, then it can only take the art-house route, delving into the characters' inner world and relationship patterns, and amplifying human nature for the audience. Jeff Robinoff believes that Cao Yang is absolutely capable of making a standalone film that delves into the characters' inner world and amplifies human nature, and has a very high chance of winning an award—this is precisely Cao Yang's forte.

However, using characters from comics to achieve this effect naturally creates "prejudice" because comic book adaptations are almost never art films; they are all aimed at commercial success.

But in order to cooperate with Cao Yang, Jeff Robinov had no choice but to trust Cao Yang—what else could he do? That's why Cao Yang chose to cooperate with him.

Jeff Robinoff called Cao Yang not to urge him to follow up on the post-production of the Batman sequel, but to ask him when to start casting for Joker, since other preparations for the film were almost complete.

This is not urgent.

It's almost March 2008, and the financial crisis is brewing. In about six months, it will erupt globally, marked by the formal bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest investment bank in the United States.

In fact, as early as April last year, New Century Financial Corporation, the second largest subprime mortgage company in the United States, had already gone bankrupt, and the subprime risk had already begun to emerge at that time.

This global financial crisis will certainly not disappear because of Cao Yang's "outburst".

These macro-level issues are the result of historical development and cannot be changed by personal reasons, nor does anyone have the ability to change them.

What did the global financial crisis bring?
Bankruptcy, unemployment, and chaos.

And these are precisely the themes that the movie "Joker" aims to convey.

A natural fit.

Perhaps after "Joker" is released, some people will speculate that director Cao Yang may have felt the subprime crisis as early as 07, which inspired him to make the movie "Joker".

Cao Yang told Jeff Robinoff that he would be going to Warner that afternoon, and they could talk then.

Furthermore, the already registered official script for "Joker" was sent to Jeff Robinoff via email.

In the afternoon, Cao Yang first went to Warner Bros. Studios, located in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The studios are vast and have numerous facilities, including 30 sound stages and 8.1 hectares of outdoor shooting locations.

This is the birthplace of classic films such as Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Musical Genius, and The Matrix.

Currently, "The Dark Knight" is being produced here, and "300" was recently completed here.

Warner Bros. Studios' post-production area is located on the north side of the site and has multiple mixing studios and audio/video editing rooms, enabling it to provide high-quality audio and video production for films and television series.

Cao Yang's arrival caused Nolan and his group, who were busy at work, to temporarily put down their tasks.

Cao Yang is the producer and screenwriter of this film. Although some Warner Bros. executives also hold the title of producer, those producers are only responsible for finance and review matters.

Cao Yang had the final say on all other matters concerning the production team, such as hiring staff, selecting actors, scouting locations, and scheduling filming.

However, Cao Yang sent Ning Hao to serve as the executive producer and delegated some power to Nolan.

Cao Yang told everyone else to continue working, and he had a brief talk with Nolan.

Nolan felt that Cao Yang's ideas about the film's production were exactly the same as his own.

In addition, he regarded Cao Yang's "Inception" as a groundbreaking work in which he had some ideas but not so many.

Nolan admired Cao Yang immensely, and in Chinese parlance, he considered him a true friend.

"I believe you can understand some of my ideas and concepts for making Batman, and I think our communication went very smoothly without any obstacles. We almost thought of the same thing."

Cao Yang said to Nolan with a smile.

"No, no, no, it was after listening to some of your ideas that I came up with a plan... but I don't think there's any deviation in the production concept of this film."

Nolan continued.

"Yes, so after I told you some of my thoughts about the movie, I felt at ease with you, which is why I haven't asked about post-production for so long."

"thanks, thanks……"

Nolan nodded vigorously, feeling a warm current flowing through his heart, deeply moved.

"Go ahead and do it with confidence, I will support you."

Before leaving, Cao Yang said to Nolan.

Then he added, "I trust you to do things."

At this moment, Nolan's thoughts can be well described by a Chinese saying: "To have one true friend in life is enough!"
After that, Cao Yang went to see Jeff Robinoff.

"Cao, you..."

As soon as Jeff Robinov saw Cao Yang, he stood up as if to ask him something.

However, he didn't say it out loud. Instead, he opened his office door and instructed his secretary outside, "Don't let anyone disturb me. Call me if you need anything."

The door was closed, but the office curtains were drawn back, allowing people to see some things inside the office, but not to hear anything.

Well, it was mainly Cao Yang who made him pull them apart.

Cao Yang was afraid that others would misunderstand.

In Hollywood, it's not just men and women who have affairs.

Jeff Robinoff gave Cao Yang a complicated look before saying, "Cao, tell me, is your movie alluding to something?"

"Jeff, what are you saying? I don't understand."

Cao Yang laughed and said, "I'm just a director, how would I know what you're talking about?"

"Cao, I'm not joking."

Jeff Robinoff said earnestly, "As far as I know, the Federal Reserve has already begun to intervene gradually, intending to inject liquidity into the financial system..."

“Jeff, I’ve said it before, I’m just a director.”

Cao Yang interrupted Jeff Robinoff.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to say a few more words.

“Last April, New Century Financial Corporation, the second-largest subprime mortgage company in the United States, went bankrupt. I saw the impact of this large financial company's bankruptcy, so I had some thoughts.”

These ideas were one of the sources of the Joker script.

Jeff Robinoff remained silent for a moment.

In addition to his knowledge of film, Jeff Robinoff also has some understanding of the financial industry to become the president of Warner Bros.

After all, many executives at major Hollywood companies come from finance or management backgrounds and have a keen understanding of the financial industry.

"Cao, want to team up with me and pull off something big?"

Jeff Robinov sat up straight and asked Cao Yang in a serious tone.

Make a big one?

Cao Yang only needed to think for a moment to understand what Jeff Robinov meant.

Is he trying to take advantage of the situation to make a quick buck in the financial industry?

It's just wishful thinking.

But I'm afraid he might be shot eight times in the back and die by suicide.

It's true that you can make a fortune through shady means in the US, but if you don't have connections and power, you might earn the money but not live to spend it.

Cao Yang has connections. As long as he can extricate himself in time and return to China, I believe no one can do anything to him.

But it's only 08! Did he just quit Hollywood like that and never go abroad again?
This is definitely impossible.

Cao Yang estimates that even Jeff Robinoff wouldn't necessarily be able to make a big profit and get away unscathed in the US.

Americans are also very good at post-event liquidation, especially those Jewish capitalists who wield considerable influence in the financial industry.

This idea is too dangerous.

“Jeff, although I don’t understand what you’re saying, you still need to think this through. The financial industry isn’t Hollywood, but it’s a much more complicated place.”

(End of this chapter)