Chapter 888: The Iron Triangle
Hi, George,
As soon as he walked into the door of the coffee shop, Duke saw George Lucas, hurried over to greet him, and said apologetically, Sorry for being late.
George Lucas shook his head not minding, We came early.
As he spoke, he turned to his side and introduced the two people next to Duke, You should remember them, you danced lightsabers with them on the set when you were young.
He was talking about something in the 1970s. Because of the friendship between the two families, Duke went to the Star Wars set several times when he was a child. Although it has been a long time, he still vaguely remembers it. How could the director of the famous Star Wars movie not know the two members of the Skywalker family in the iron triangle of the Star Wars trilogy?
Hi, Mark. Hi, Kelly.
Duke shook hands with two middle-aged actors, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, who played Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in the Star Wars trilogy respectively.
After the two parties greeted each other, they came to a quiet deck. Duke was always direct when he was working. He looked at George Lucas who was sitting beside him, and said without any disguise, I'm going to start making a new Star Wars movie. Trilogy, I really hope you guys come back to this series.
Such words are not beyond the expectations of Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. Hollywood has long been rumored that Duke has acquired Lucasfilm and is preparing to restart the journey of Star Wars.
However, they did not answer for the time being, but were silent, and Kelly Fisher even glanced at George Lucas.
George Lucas said long ago that the Star Wars prequel trilogy is the end of his Star Wars series, but Duke is the one who kicked off this series, and he is not breaking his promise to the media and movie fans. And as early as the mid-nineties, he invited Duke to be the director of the prequels of Star Wars, but he was rejected by the other party.
In his opinion, if Star Wars is restarted, there is absolutely no one who is more suitable than Duke as the director.
As the founder of the Star Wars series, he handed over the series to Duke. George Lucas couldn't be more relieved.
So George Lucas gave Carrie Fisher a slight nod.
Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are still silent, but Duke is not in a hurry. These two people can be said to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Star Wars, and they are also the most imprisoned. After the song is over, there is not even any work that can be produced.
Both were once stars. With most of the spending habits of Hollywood stars, the remuneration in the 1970s and 1980s is far from that of actors in Hollywood in the 1990s. The economic situation of these two people is actually not very good, and they can’t find suitable ones at all. films and characters, and this state continues. It is bound to become a figure like Marlon Brando who has an empty name but lives in poverty in his later years.
According to Duke's investigation, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are no longer real actors, unlike Harrison Ford in the Star Wars Triangle who has always been popular. They don't even have official agents.
Taking a step back, even if Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher refused. Duke also won't be particularly concerned about it, and it won't be difficult to get some props or scenes and other shots to touch the feelings of Star Wars fans.
Mark Hamill took a sip of coffee and said slowly. I'm also happy to see the reboot of the Star Wars series, it's a great series.
Hearing this, Duke smiled slightly, and then looked at Kelly Fisher.
Like Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher couldn't make a promise because she didn't have an agent, but she expressed her attitude, I want to participate in Star Wars again even in my dreams.
As soon as these words were said, the atmosphere on the set immediately became harmonious, especially recalling some scenes when Duke went to the set, he continued to burst into chuckles.
It's just that Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher knew very well that the children at that time had already grown into beings they needed to look up to.
Duke is busy with affairs, and it is impossible to stay here for too long. After drinking a cup of coffee, this meeting will be considered as the end.
Before leaving, Duke reminded Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, who were already seriously fattened, I hope that from now on, the two of you can formulate some comprehensive fitness plans.
Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher naturally understood what Duke meant, and nodded in haste.
Afterwards, Duke greeted George Lucas, who had been on the sidelines, and left the cafe to return to Warner Studios in Burbank.
Inviting Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher to return to the Star Wars series, to put it bluntly, is to move people with feelings, and they are only part of the many returning actors. Katherine Kennedy, Charles Rowan and Robin Grande is reaching out to living actors who starred in the original Star Wars trilogy.
For example, Pete Mayhew, who played Chewbacca, has agreed to continue playing this role.
In comparison, Chewbacca's old partner Han Solo is the most difficult of the old actors in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Charles Rowan approached Harrison Ford and his agent in person, and the other party directly asked for a remuneration of 20 million US dollars plus income sharing.
If Harrison Ford was in his heyday, such a salary would not be too much, but today's Harrison Ford is no longer the Harrison Ford of the past. Duke and Lucasfilm will not Agree to such an actor contract.
Currently Charles Rowan is still negotiating with Harrison Ford's agent, but the negotiation is quite difficult, and the two sides are fighting for every inch of land. Duke has also made preparations that Han Solo will not appear in the film.
For Star Wars, even the Iron Triangle back then was not essential.
The plan to remake the Star Wars series has reached the implementation stage, and any obstacle is not enough reason to cancel this plan.
While Duke is busy with his own work, he is also paying attention to the situation of several competitors.
David Ellison naturally needless to say, after quitting Hollywood, although there was less pressure from Duke, he was still somewhat confused by the investigation of the death of Vin Diesel by the Los Angeles County Police Department and the FBI. However, the series of North Korean hacking incidents triggered by The Interview also distracted the attention of the media and officials from him. From these aspects, it is not without benefits to give up some benefits to Duke and quit Hollywood.
To put it simply, just like Larry Ellison and Bill Gates, characters at this level can dislike each other, and even use cleaner spy means that cannot be put on the table, but anyone Neither of them will easily start a life-and-death battle, which is not good for each other, and even the winner will be scarred, leaving the opportunity for others to step on it.
From the beginning to the end, Duke is very clear that he has powerful partners such as Time Warner and Google in Hollywood and the United States, but he has never lacked competitors or even enemies. Even within these two groups, there are people like Robert? Solomon-like goofy ones.
This is a highly competitive society, he would not be so foolish as to think that if he yelled, all the enemies would kneel down and surrender, willing to be his little brother.
Let alone an enemy, even those movie stars who have worked with Duke, it is hard to say what kind of opinion they have on him.
The Duke and Ellison families have always been on both sides of a line. Even with Larry Ellison's arrogance, he would not easily cross that line.
The two interest groups also ended their nearly ten-year entanglement with a deal.
The Ellison family's tentacles extending to the film industry were cut off, and Duke neither understood nor had any interest in Oracle's business. Without the competition for interests, there would be no large-scale conflicts and conflicts between the two parties.
There is also Walt Disney, which is among the six traditional Hollywood labels, the one most influenced by Duke.
The former Mickey Mouse, since the acquisition of ABC TV, has turned from a traditional production and distribution company to a media group, and is the only company among the six major labels that has truly successfully transformed. Later, it acquired Pixar Studios and swallowed Marvel Comics , merged with Lucasfilm, and once aspired to the throne of the media company with the highest market value in the world.
The current Walt Disney only bought ABC TV station. Not only was Duke robbed Pixar Studios, Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm, but it was also deeply involved in the two major groups of Robert Iger and Michael Eisner. The vortex of internal strife cannot extricate itself, which has seriously affected the company's development.
In particular, the loss of Pixar Studios has had an unpredictable negative impact on Walt Disney. Under the leadership of Ed Kammel and John Lasseter, among the Five Tigers of Pixar Studios, Walt Disney’s animation business has been re-established. Rising, and even commercially defying works like Frozen.
However, without the help of Pixar Studios, Walt Disney also released a relatively unfamiliar Frozen by Duke in this Christmas file, but the results were very unsatisfactory, especially the prince rescued the princess with a kiss of love. The clichéd plot was heavily criticized, and it grossed just over $20 million in its opening week.
Without Lily saving the world, without the brainwashing divine comedy, this Frozen can only become the most ordinary of Disney's many animated films.
Duke remembers this film, but he couldn't find a suitable producer. Frozen, which dances, sings and is sweet, is not suitable for Pixar Studios at all. If it is imposed on Pixar, it may not It will become a different look or a business that is destined to lose money.
As for writing a script and selling it to individual animation studios? Don't be kidding, the production cycle of an animation film is very long, and the script can be said to be a very insignificant part of it, which is far less important than the production technology.
Then there's Twentieth Century Fox. (to be continued ^)
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