Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 657 Who Cares About Ordinary People
"Aaron, do you really think George W. Bush can beat Albert Gore?"

In the alley outside the bar, Jack Wells and Aaron smoked and talked about this year's election.

Aaron smiled, exhaled a puff of smoke, and asked casually, "What, you don't have confidence in him?"

“Ha, not much confidence,” Jack Wells said with an amusing expression. “How should I put it, George W. Bush is a typical Texas rich kid and slacker.”

"Not only is he stupid as a pig, but his oratory skills are also astonishing. I don't know how someone like him can gain the support of the people!"

Aaron shrugged. "It doesn't matter. At least the Bush family has abundant resources, and besides, many of our businesses are more likely to get Republican support."

"Actually, who is president now doesn't affect us much; we have far too many members of Congress and civil groups that are relevant to us."

"Don't forget, I own CBS now!"

Jack Wells nodded. "That's true. After all, Clinton's sex scandal really made the Democratic Party a laughingstock."

"With George W. Bush in office, at least some of the messy LGBT voices and news about Black people and other minorities will be blocked."

Aaron glanced at the other person. Had Jack Wells been spending too much time in Texas and was becoming more and more like a redneck?

He patted the other person on the shoulder and said, "Remember this: religion, feminism, racism, and so on are just tools used by the upper class."

"What the public needs is guidance. We should let them see the news, and that should be the truth. Everything that requires effort and money to promote is ultimately for profit."

"Just like Hollywood movies, only films depicting war can be called anti-war films, and films that aspire to win an Oscar must promote and uphold American values ​​and spirit."

"Foreign films that want to win Oscars can only showcase suffering, poverty, pain, and inherent flaws; their themes must be all the dregs of foreign culture."

"Beauty and ugliness, good and bad, nobility and baseness are defined by us. They can only conform and accept them. The 'bread and circuses theory' put forward at the human elite conference held at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco a few years ago is to make 80% of the world's population sacrifice themselves for the other 20%!"

Jack Wells chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm a perfectly competent capitalist now, and I don't care about the opinions of ordinary people..."

Nighttime, in the bedroom of Belair Estate.

Jennifer Connelly held Aaron, who was lying on top of her, tighter, panting, "Um, wait a minute!"

Aaron released the woman's 34D breasts. "Darling, there's no need to rush these things. Keep a calm mindset."

“That’s true,” Jennifer Connelly smiled. “I don’t have much going on this year. I recently talked to director Ron Howard, and he’s planning to adapt John Nash’s biographical novel of the same name into a film, and he wants me to play John Nash’s wife!”

"Oh, Ron Howard is going to direct 'A Beautiful Mind'?" Aaron certainly knew about the novel "A Beautiful Mind." Back in 1998, author Sylvia Nassar published a biographical novel about mathematician John Nash called "A Beautiful Mind."
John Nash, 72, has suffered from schizophrenia for a long time. He is an American mathematician, economist, and the founder of game theory. In 1994, he shared the Nobel Prize in Economics with Hungarian-American economist Johann C. Harsanyi and German mathematician Reinhard Selten.

Even before the novel was published, it had already been sent to many Hollywood companies and producers, but any adaptation required John Nash's consent;
Ultimately, Brian Glazer, a producer at Imagination Entertainment, acquired the adaptation rights, with renowned Hollywood screenwriter Akiva Goldsman responsible for adapting the script.

Imagination Entertainment was co-founded by director Ron Howard and producer Brian Glazer, and has a long-standing and positive working relationship with Universal.
Tom Cruise's "Far Away" and Tom Hanks' "Apollo 13" are examples of films co-developed by Imagination Entertainment and Universal Pictures!

Last year, Ron Howard was about to direct the fantasy film "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" for Universal and didn't have time to prepare for "A Beautiful Mind." Now that "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" is over, did he take over the "A Beautiful Mind" project directly?

"Yes, director Ron Howard agreed, but there is still a lot of preparation work to be done, and the movie won't start filming so soon."

Jennifer Connelly also read the first draft of the script. Although she played the wife of the male lead John Nash in "A Beautiful Mind," making her a female lead, her role wasn't that big.

Aaron rolled off the bed. "For this kind of biographical work, the main goal is to win awards; it would be fine if it could be released by the end of next year."

"Who does the director want to cast as the male lead?"

Jennifer Connelly smiled and said, "The director wants to invite Tom Cruise to play the male lead!"

“Tom Cruise?” Aaron shook his head. “The Cruise/Wagner Productions, which Tom Cruise co-founded, is adapting Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar’s romantic thriller, *Open Your Eyes*.”

"Tom Cruise is both the producer and the lead actor, how could he possibly have the time?"

After all, Dawn's Crescent Pictures is developing director Alejandro Amenábar's project, The Others.

"Then let's find another male lead. Director Ron Howard has plenty of time to choose!"

Jennifer Connelly said, kissing Aaron, "However, the script romanticizes Mr. John Nash far too much."

"After all, John Nash has a history of all sorts of unsavory deeds from his youth to the present. The script removed all the bad stuff and completely deviated from the original work!"

The novel "A Beautiful Mind" already embellished John Nash's life once, and the rest couldn't be embellished any further.
However, the script has now embellished the novel, completely omitting John Nash's disgraceful deeds in order to portray the contrast between John Nash's genius and madness, as well as the deep affection between the Nash couple.

On the contrary, John Nash's private life was quite colorful. He was arrogant and conceited, his interpersonal relationships were a mess, and his marital relationship was also a mess!

Aaron chuckled dismissively. "Film is a business, but also an art. Beautification can create more compelling and dramatic plots."

"A story with the right values ​​is more likely to win awards. A story full of warmth and inspiration is more touching than a real-life experience full of contradictions and setbacks!"

(End of this chapter)