Chapter 126: Spielberg
Chapter 126: Spielberg
Eric shook his head slightly and explained, “Tom, the reason Running Out of Time is called Running Out of Time is because its core is the rivalry between the two protagonists. If the screen time becomes too unbalanced, the film’s brilliance will be greatly reduced. Besides, I think your role has the greatest room for performance. Hanks still has to share scenes with Joe Pesci and the others, while your role is practically a one-man show. There’s no need to add more.”
Hearing Eric’s refusal, Cruise clearly knew Eric’s words made sense, but a faint displeasure still appeared on his face.
Originally, Eric had not had many opinions about Cruise’s personal character. He was not even interested in those rumors. Others had their own ways of living, and Hollywood was filled with plenty of filthy behavior beneath the surface. At the very least, Cruise was extremely dedicated and hardworking, and that had been Eric’s original reason for wanting to cooperate with him.
But now, Eric was beginning to regret it somewhat, because Cruise’s desire for control was far too strong. Eric himself was also someone with a strong desire for control. During the filming of Running Out of Time, arguments would probably be unavoidable. Thinking carefully, Eric felt the main reason was still that his own seniority was too shallow. Deep down, Cruise had developed a sense of superiority toward him.
“Then, Eric, about the bus girl… isn’t Brooke Shields… too tall?” A height of a little over one meter seventy had always been Cruise’s weak point. So after blurting out that sentence in a fit of nitpicking after being rejected, Cruise immediately regretted it. Wasn’t this slapping himself in the face?
Thinking of Brooke Shields’ six-foot height that he had seen on the file, the corners of Eric’s mouth could not help twitching. If she wore high heels too, that would be something else. She would probably be at the same altitude as Geena Davis, who had hugged him at the awards ceremony today.
Eric barely restrained himself from laughing in front of Cruise and advised, “Tom, you really don’t need to worry about that. All the scenes between the two of you, whether on the bus or in the restaurant, are seated scenes. There won’t be any shots of you walking side by side.”
“Alright.” Cruise nodded awkwardly and took a sip of red wine to hide his embarrassment before quickly walking away.
Eric had just turned around, preparing to return to the crowd, when Virginia somehow emerged from somewhere and came forward to hold his arm again.
“Heh, watching me that closely?” Eric teased with a smile. How could he fail to see Virginia’s little thoughts?
The young woman immediately revealed an aggrieved look and withdrew her arm. “If you’ve taken a liking to some beauty, then go ahead.”
“Forget it. Let’s go back.” Eric looked at his watch. “That way you won’t have to keep worrying, as if I’m going to fly away.”
“Mhm.” Virginia happily hugged Eric’s arm again. “Can I go to your house tonight?”
“Sure. But you stole the spotlight tonight, so there are definitely paparazzi waiting outside.”
Virginia had long since thought of a plan. “We’ll take the elevator straight to the parking lot and leave in Mr. Sid’s car. If we’re careful, nothing will happen.”
If they were not in public, Eric really would have reached out to pinch the young woman’s cheek and praise her.
The two were just about to leave when a commotion appeared at the entrance of the banquet hall. Eric seemed to hear people calling “Mr. Spielberg” and looked over. Sure enough, a large group of people surrounded a middle-aged man wearing round glasses as he entered the banquet hall.
“It really is Steven Spielberg. What is he doing here?” Virginia said curiously.
“Who knows?” Eric shook his head, then said, “Let’s go say hello before leaving. Otherwise, it would be somewhat rude.”
“Mm.” Virginia also clearly looked eager to try.
The two were just about to move forward when Spielberg instead walked toward Eric’s side.
Under everyone’s surprised gazes, Spielberg took the initiative to extend his hand toward Eric. “Eric, I originally thought you would go to the Hilton Hotel. I only found out after arriving there that you’d come here instead. You made me search quite a bit.”
“This is really… I don’t know what to say, Mr. Spielberg. If you wanted to meet me, you could’ve contacted my agent and arranged a meeting.” Eric shook his hand in complete confusion.
“Everyone is busy, and today is a special occasion, so this was the only time I could spare,” Spielberg explained. “Eric, I had someone find a room downstairs. Let’s go there. Oh, this… lady may come along as well.”
“No problem.” Eric nodded. Under the speculative gazes of everyone in the banquet hall, he took Virginia with him and followed Spielberg out.
After Eric left, everyone whispered for a while before returning to their own business. Although they had lost a chance to get close to Spielberg, most of them had not thought they were particularly qualified to begin with.
Cruise, however, kept watching until Spielberg, Eric, and the others disappeared through the doorway, and his heart grew even more disappointed. He had originally thought Spielberg had come for the Rain Man crew, or even for him personally, but he had never expected the result to be like this.
Cruise was not especially desperate to work with Spielberg. He only hoped to build a relationship with him. As one of the representative figures among Hollywood Jews, forming a good relationship with Spielberg was equivalent to building a good relationship with Hollywood’s Jewish circle.
The saying that Hollywood belonged to the Jews was not empty talk. Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, and many other film company executives were Jewish, while Spielberg, Harrison Ford, and a large group of famous directors and stars were also Jewish. Cruise had left CAA and wanted to move beyond being a mere actor into the ranks of producers. Building ties with Hollywood’s Jewish circle was indispensable.
In a room downstairs from the banquet hall, both sides sat down. After the waiter served coffee to everyone, he took the initiative to leave. Only Spielberg and his assistant, as well as Eric and Virginia, remained in the room.
“Eric, is Drew doing well? I haven’t seen her visit me in a long time,” Spielberg did not rush into business and casually began chatting.
Eric was not in a hurry either. However, when he glimpsed Virginia sitting beside him with a completely proper and formal posture, he felt embarrassed. He was a great director too, alright? This little woman was really making him lose face. He had to properly deal with her when they got back.
“Drew is just that kind of heartless girl,” Eric said with a smile. “She happens to be at home today. When I go back, I’ll lecture her. Not visiting you for so long really is somewhat impolite.”
“I previously heard someone say Drew’s relationship with you is very strange, like father and daughter. I didn’t quite believe it at first, but after hearing the tone you just used, I feel it might be true. Still, it’s also a good choice for the girl to stay with you. Her parents… never mind. Eric, treat her well.”
“I will.” Eric nodded and did not dig into where Spielberg had heard the news. The other man’s connections in Hollywood were completely beyond what Eric could compare with.
Spielberg slowly took a sip of coffee before saying, “Actually, I came to find you today because of the rights to your book Jurassic Park. I had people contact you several times before, but they were all rejected, so today I had no choice but to personally step in. Eric, how about selling me the film rights to Jurassic Park?”
Eric did not answer immediately. He picked up his coffee cup and lowered his head, pretending to think. In reality, he was deeply troubled.
Selling the film rights to Jurassic Park to Spielberg was impossible. Even letting Spielberg direct the film the way he had in Eric’s previous life was something Eric would not agree to, because he happened to remember some numbers clearly.
In his previous life, Jurassic Park took more than nine hundred million dollars at the global box office, with 350 million in North America and 600 million overseas. Based on an average distribution share of 55% domestically and 20% overseas, the film ultimately received 310 million dollars in box office revenue. Universal’s investment in the film was around seventy million dollars. In other words, after subtracting costs, the film earned a massive 240 million dollars in profit. That looked like an ecstatic number, because even in 1993 in his previous life, any of the major film giants’ annual box office profits were at most around that figure.
Everything had a divine twist called “but.”
But Spielberg was worthy of being called the shrewdest film businessman. As the director of Jurassic Park, relying on his personal strength and a series of negotiations, Spielberg signed a high-percentage profit-sharing contract with Universal. The final result was that Spielberg personally took away 250 million dollars from the Jurassic Park project from beginning to end.
That was right. It was ten million dollars more than Jurassic Park’s box office profit.
In 1993, the DVD era had not yet arrived. The video rental market accounted for only thirty to forty percent of a film’s revenue, while other peripheral broadcasting rights brought in relatively less. In other words, most of Jurassic Park’s profits were actually taken by Spielberg personally. Only then did DreamWorks’ glorious founding in 1994 become possible.
If not for the enormous revenue brought in by Jurassic Park’s peripheral products and theme park attractions, Universal’s top executives probably would have had no choice but to cover their faces and cry.
As for rumors claiming that Spielberg became dissatisfied because Universal bundled investment in Jurassic Park with Schindler’s List, prompting him to go independent and establish DreamWorks, Eric found that explanation completely unconvincing.
Without investing a single cent, he had taken 250 million dollars from beginning to end. If he was still dissatisfied after that, was there any justice left in the world?
What troubled Eric now was how to politely refuse Spielberg without damaging the relationship. He did not want to offend this Jewish director with enormous connections in Hollywood.
“Mr. Spielberg, actually… when I wrote this book, I originally planned to direct it myself, so…” Eric stumbled slightly as he organized his words. “So… I never intended to sell the film and television rights to Jurassic Park.”
Spielberg smiled like an elder as he analyzed the situation for Eric. “Eric, I’ve watched several of your films. I feel what you’re better at are low-budget comedies or dramas. A science-fiction novel like Jurassic Park is probably something you won’t be able to film for a very long time.”
“I don’t mean to look down on you, but you’re still too young and lack accumulated experience. I was actually the same. I made my first short film in 1959, but only sixteen years later did I become capable of making a science-fiction film like Jaws. Although your talent is much stronger than mine, you still need around ten years of accumulation. Perhaps by then, many people will have already forgotten the novel Jurassic Park. Filming it then would carry great risk, and one careless move could make it impossible to recover costs.”