Chapter 120 Interview with Richard Gere

"The setting of the male protagonist is very bizarre. He has a doctorate and is good at a very mysterious oriental tai chi, but he is willing to do the job of watching the horse in the bar. Then, the director made it awkwardly. He became a paranoid avenger, but he was not a qualified avenger. He could kill those little scumbags without hesitation, but he would be soft on the bully who hated him the most, and in the end he was almost killed by the other party. All in all, it's a very awkward and tangled film." --Chicago Tribune

"The film is full of anarchist law enforcement, lawless destruction and unbridled violence. It's a farce." - Film Guide magazine

"I only saw hooligan fights, broken beer bottles, a group of big-breasted girls and splattered blood, the plot was pale and unconvincing, and the muscles that Richard Gere had specially developed for the movie were unforgettable. Half interested, his action in the film is not even as crisp as the villain's supporting role." - "Montreal Film Magazine"

"A ludicrous and raucous allegory of the fist." --Reel Movie Review

"This is a movie where you can get rid of the male lead, and then things will continue to follow the plot of the movie. The crap bar is reorganized, causing bullies to covet, a series of violence, arson, murder, and then the townspeople who can't bear it rise up. , kill the bully, Richard Gere gave up Eric Williams' Pretty Woman for such a movie, I wonder if he will lose sleep because of regret." - "Hollywood Information"

"Apart from the rock soundtrack interspersed with it, the movie is nothing short of good." --Rolling Stone Magazine

Due to the vigorous promotion of the film by Lianmei in the early stage, the attendance rate of "Dragon Killing Array" on the first day of more than 1,900 theaters reached more than 70%, but with the one-sided bad reviews of the film after the release, the attendance rate plummeted.

Three days later, the opening weekend of the Easter schedule was released. "Pretty Woman", which was released in the sixth week of its release, experienced a reverse drop in the box office without any surprise. It received more than 2.4 million more than last weekend, and won the top three-day box office list with a score of 11.27 million US dollars. The cumulative box office for six weeks was 9,769. Wan, I believe that after this full week, Eric is about to usher in his third film with a box office exceeding 100 million yuan. It is still several months before Eric will celebrate his nineteenth birthday, and this achievement will surely usher in a wave of media hype again.

Although "Dragon Killing Array" has nearly 2,000 opening screens, with the sharp drop in attendance on Saturday and Sunday, it only received $5.25 million at the first weekend box office, less than half of "Fengyue". Runner-up.

In third place was Universal's crime comedy "Fletcher's Life," which earned $5.04 million in more than 1,400 theaters.

Because of Colombia's increased support and the Easter schedule, "Home Alone", which was released in its eighteenth week, unknowingly won another 4 million at the box office, steadily approaching 300 million US dollars. This film has been at the top of the box office chart for 12 consecutive weeks, and it is still in the top five box office dark horses for more than four months after its release. Everyone has been numb.

Maybe one day, the box office of "Home Alone" suddenly accumulated to 300 million US dollars, and the public will open their eyes again and let out a "wow" after seeing the number.

In the new week, Eric finished the casting audition for "Dark War", handed over the auditions for "Small Island" and "Scent of a Woman" to the two directors, and began to run around the Greater Los Angeles area for the film. Make a scene selection.

Although there are not many scenes needed in "Dark War",

But there are a lot of shots that need to be closed to shoot, but it is not easy to find a suitable location.

At the same time, Eric also discovered the inadequacy of his strength. As the base of Hollywood, Los Angeles has strong policy support for movies, but it does not mean that the film crew can do whatever they want. The shooting of many scenes requires the approval of various municipal departments. Although it is very flexible, the process is very difficult. cumbersome.

In addition, related personal connections are also essential. Although Eric is very famous now, he is completely incomparable with those big directors and gold-medal producers who have been famous for many years. Maybe sometimes others can do things with just a phone call. But had to personally come forward to communicate repeatedly.

Fortunately, Columbia values ​​this film very much. In order to ensure that the film can start shooting as soon as possible, an experienced producer was specially sent to assist Eric in the preparations, which greatly shortened the preparation time in the early stage.

When Eric was scouting for "Dark War", another thing happened unknowingly.

This turmoil started with Richard Gere, a former superstar in his late 40s. After the first weekend box office release of "Fengyue", he began to feel more and more brooding about the loss of the hero of "Fengyue". He knew that he had missed a very precious opportunity to return to the A-level superstar, especially the recent box office failure of "Dragon Killer", which made him even more annoyed and regretful.

After "Dragon Killing Array", Richard Gere's mentality was eager to get another movie contract, and he also felt that CAA had a responsibility and obligation to help him, because it was what the other party owed him, if not for Michael. Ovitz's personal grievance, he can't give up the hero of "Fengyue".

To this end, Richard Gere wanted to interview Michael Ovitz many times. Unfortunately, after Michael Ovitz successfully matched the Sony consortium and Coca-Cola, he was busy coordinating the acquisition of Sony and Columbia. I took care of the trivial matter of Richard Gere, but handed it over to Richard Gere's agent, Horner Wiley, the one with serious cleanliness who was instigated by Eric to join forces with Stuart Runker. Disgusting guy.

According to Richard Gere's status quo, Horner Wiley recommended him the leading role of a low-budget horror movie. Of course Richard Gere was not satisfied. It's not too much of a requirement for a medium production film. But Horner Wiley would not agree to get Richard Gere that role. He directly rejected Richard Gere on the grounds that Universal couldn't use an actor who had already fallen to the bottom of the second-tier and had just smashed a big production.

Horner Wiley was one of CAA's very early agents, and is now CAA's gold medal agent. Even many A-level actors are polite to him, which has slowly encouraged the agent's reputation. temper. And Richard Gere completely blamed CAA for the mistake of losing the opportunity of "Fengyue". The grievances in his heart have been accumulating for a long time. After Horner Wiley refused to fight for him for that role, there was another wave of resentment. The anger of being deceived, and then completely broke out.

The two had a big fight in Horner Wiley's office, and if it hadn't been found that other people who were not doing well broke in in time to stop it, the two would probably have started a fight.

After this incident, Richard Gere left CAA that day, and on the third day of the incident, relying on a friend's introduction, he joined another brokerage giant, William Morris (WMA).

This incident would have been a very normal actor job-hopping. There are countless such job-hopping incidents that occur every year among several major Hollywood brokerage companies. Even CAA, which claims to have set up a perfect betrayal cost system, cannot avoid it. But it will be relatively less. CAA's so-called "betrayal cost" system is more to prevent its own brokers from establishing their own portals, because the five founders of CAA all jumped from another brokerage giant that year. The big stars themselves are not very binding. It is very easy for top stars to leave. Second- and third-tier stars, as long as they are willing to pay liquidated damages, they can leave easily, but the current film and television industry chain owned by CAA The resources are very huge, so most stars are not tempted enough to leave this big tree easily.

Moreover, CAA also issued a stern gag order in time for the quarrel between Horner Wiley and Richard Gere, which was originally thought to pass unknowingly. But forget that Richard Gere is also one of the parties.

Richard Gere's job-hopping quickly aroused the idea of ​​some media. When interviewed by the "Hollywood Information" reporter, Richard Gere, who was hated in his heart, as a 'victim', would CAA smeared hard. The next day, an article titled "Interview with Richard Gere: A Detailed Inside Story of Losing the Lead of 'Fengyue'" appeared in The Hollywood Information.

"Recently, Richard Gere, the famous actor who was expected to star in Eric Williams' box-office hit "Pretty Moon", suddenly left the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) with which he had worked for a long time. Chuck Gere finally confided to us the specific process of having to reject the film contract of the male lead of "Fate and Moon".

The following is Mr. Richard Gere's original words: When I saw the script of "Fengyue", I thought that this would be a very wonderful story, which would suit my image very well, and I even did it Some character prep. Eric Williams is a young man, but I learned from watching his first two works that he is a very talented young man. But when I was about to agree to that deal, my former agent, Horner Wiley, hinted that I would say no.

I was puzzled at the time, and then Horner Wiley said to me, because Eric Williams had just recruited Kapoor Sheed, and Mr. Michael Ovitz had a great relationship with Kapoor Sheed. deep contradiction. So I don't like any cooperation between its artists and Eric Williams. To be clear, Michael Ovitz wants to block Eric Williams.

But, not wanting to pass up that opportunity, I consulted with Horner Wiley. But what I got was a veiled threat that if I worked with Eric Williams, I would be refrigerated by the CAA in the future, when I was already at a low point in my career, because of the fear of the CAA threat, I could not Do not refuse the film contract of "Fengyue".

Then, in the name of appeasement, CAA gave me the male protagonist of an action movie "Dragon Killing Array" by Lianmei. When I saw the script, I said to Horner Willie: No, this character The image is not suitable for me, although I have acted in action movies, but this role is too violent, maybe it is more suitable to find a muscular man to play.

Horner Wiley said that I had no choice, and then I had to take over "Dragon Killing Array" with a very low salary. In order to be more in line with the image of the male protagonist in the film, I deliberately carried out a period of time. High-intensity fitness. But the film failed in the end.

The reason why these are exposed today is because I think CAA has forgotten their identity. After they monopolized too many resources, they have become unscrupulous to do whatever they want, and some people have a little personal grudge and show their personal power. , you can make jokes about the future of the actors, and you can use the movies invested by other companies with tens of millions of dollars as bargaining chips. This is a very bad thing. The agency is supposed to serve the actors, and the interests of the employer should be the first criterion, so as to survive for a long time, but now CAA has begun to treat actors as pawns in their hands, and they will kill themselves sooner or later. "