Hollywood Road

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"Do you think "Superman Returns" will fail?"

Bruce Berman's tone is a bit bad. This is a project he promoted. The investment is not a big one. He has encountered a series of difficulties. Now he has finally gotten on the right track. It is bound to fail to be criticized in person, and his mood is definitely not much better. go with.

"Did I say that?" Murphy shook his head. "I don't know anything about the "Superman Returns" project. Even if I want to comment, would you believe it?"

This sentence instantly eased the atmosphere in the conference room, and Murphy added, "I'm talking about Christopher Reeve's "Superman 4."

"Yeah..." Bruce Berman nodded and ignored this topic and turned to "Batman". "I understand, your philosophy is to shape us and DC Comics for decades to create Batman. Shattered his tall image and made him fall to the bottom?"

"It can be said," Murphy does not have to deny the need. If the concepts cannot be coordinated, there will only be more problems behind. "Besides the disguise of Batman, Bruce Wayne is first of all a person, a flesh and blood with the defects of ordinary people. Body."

Bruce Berman doesn’t want to listen anymore. This is completely contrary to Warner Bros’s positioning of Batman. It is also completely different from the first four films. The risks that follow are bound to be extremely high, whether it is Warner Bros., It's still the "Batman" series, which can't afford it at all.

There has never been a superhero movie like Murphy Stanton said to be successful, and no superhero movie has such a style. Unless he is crazy, he will adopt the extremely ridiculous approach of the other party.

He looked at Diego Harris, who happened to also look at him, and the two shook their heads in unison.

What else does Murphy want to say, after all, if he can win the "Batman" series, his future path will definitely be smoother.

But Bruce Berman no longer gave the opportunity and said directly, "Director Stanton, we have a general understanding of your philosophy. Let's stop here today. Warner Bros. and DC Comics will give you an answer after discussing it with DC Comics. "

At this point, Murphy couldn't say anything more, nodded, picked up the briefcase, and prepared to leave with Bill Rossis.

Unexpectedly, Bruce Berman asked the staff member to collect the previously distributed materials and directly push them to Murphy, "Take these away together."

This has been very clear and very resolute in telling Murphy that Warner Bros. and DC Comics have no intention of cooperating with him at all.

The two parties couldn't agree on the most basic production concept, and there was no other way to talk about it.

"Well, Mr. Berman." Putting the documents away and stuffing it into the briefcase, Murphy stood up and reached out to Bruce Berman. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye." Bruce Berman shook his hand, his squinted eyes suddenly opened again, adding, "I wish you a better career in the future."

Murphy had been rejected by him, and immediately tasted something different from this sentence.

"Thank you." He smiled calmly, and added, "I wish you great sales of "Superman Returns"."

After speaking, Murphy bowed his head to Billy Rossis, and the two walked straight out of the reception room.

He has already seen that there is more than just a disagreement between the two sides. Bruce Berman obviously doesn't wait to see him very much. It is basically impossible to cooperate with Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

After Murphy and Bill Rosses left, the conference room was quiet for a while, and then a person sitting at the edge of the long table said, "Really don't think about it? I just looked at the plan. The book still looks good."

"Is it necessary to think about it?" Bruce Berman looked over there and said, "Not to mention that his setting for Bruce Wayne is simply unacceptable. It's just his own directing style!"

He seems to be saying to everyone, "Have you seen the four films he directed? With a strong personal style! Does a superhero movie need a personal style? The production cost of such a large investment and large production film is impossible. It’s less than 100 million dollars. It’s not the 90s anymore. In this era of special effects, too strong personal style will only narrow the audience."

"Bruce makes a lot of sense," DC Comics CEO Diego Harris fully agreed. "This is the "Batman" series, not "Sin City". Such a movie must be a popular movie, not a niche. Cult film!"

"Murphy Stanton is indeed a very characteristic director," Bruce Berman further said, "but the style is too niche, he will only bring disaster to "Batman", if it fails, we have to How many years can the audience forget the failure after sealing this series? Ten years or twenty years?"

Others nodded, and what Bruce Berman and Diego Harris said was not unreasonable.

"Also, don't forget our capital chain." Bruce Berman easily found a lot of very reasonable reasons and easily concealed his prejudice against one person, "Catwoman, Superman Returns, " "Troy" has consumed a large amount of our working capital, and we don't have more funds to invest in a giant system."

After listening to this, the previous person nodded and said, "This is indeed not the best time to restart the "Batman" series."

However, his gaze under the brown glasses kept flickering. Obviously he didn't agree with Bruce Berman's words very much. It was just that the opponent's position was high and he was not able to fight against it at all.

"Our focus is still on "Superman Returns"!" Bruce Berman said with full confidence, "As long as this series can be resurrected, our superhero movies are enough to overwhelm the surprise. Don’t forget, this is the country’s and even the world’s influence The premier superhero Superman!"

Murphy Stanton is faintly disapproving of the project he is leading. This is a joke. Does a Cult film director know how to shoot and produce mainstream commercial films? Warner Bros. couldn't help but invest more than 200 million US dollars in production costs. He also specially hired Brian Singh, who is good at superhero movie production...

Even if we restart the "Batman" series in the future, we need to look for directors like Brian Singer who has experience in successful superhero movies, not for niche Cult film directors like Murphy Stanton.

"Well, this is the end of this matter." Bruce Berman stood up first. "If CAA and Brian Lauder call and ask, tell them that Murphy Stanton and Warner Bros. have different ideas and different styles. Suitable for the "Batman" series."

He also left the meeting room.

Outside the Warner Building, Murphy and Bill Rossis got in the same car.

"Unexpectedly, things would not go so smoothly," Bill Rossis started the car and drove slowly into the avenue. "Warner Bros. didn't even leave us any room for follow-up contact."

Murphy threw the briefcase onto the back seat and fastened the seat belt. "Actually, I had a bad feeling when I saw Bruce Berman in the conference room."

Hearing this, Bill Rossis also remembered, and asked, "You have met Bruce Berman before, and I feel he is a little bit against you."

"When I was just out of prison, I applied for the "The Matrix" crew," Murphy did not hide it, and said directly, "Bruce Berman seems to be very powerful and rejected me."

He roughly told Bill Rossis what he had remembered.

"It turned out to be like this," Bill Rossis nodded after listening to Murphy's description, "It's not surprising, you have made achievements now. If this matter is publicized, some people will look down on him. Human vision is sometimes very important for a CEO who controls the major decision-making power of a film company."

"Of course," he said with a smile, "Bruce Berman might just look at you. However, I think it's because you accidentally talked about Superman, which may have caused disgust in his heart."

The industry knows that Bruce Berman is ambitious and wants to reproduce the brilliance of DC comics. He especially selected the breakthrough point in the superhero Superman, which can be called the world's number one superhero.

Murphy felt very innocent, "I really didn't mean to insinuate "Superman Returns."

He is not stupid, how could he inexplicably allude to this masterpiece in preparation, in fact, he is talking about "Superman 4" that caused the interruption of the Superman series.

"Warner Bros. and DC Comics refused more firmly than Marvel Comics," Bill Rossis drove up the road to Beverly Hills. "Do you have any backup plans?"

"Of course!" Murphy didn't even think about it. "Let's go back to Marvel Comics."

"Turn back to Marvel?" Bill Rossis shook his head, "They won't talk to us, and they won't transfer those famous superheroes."

"I know, so we won't talk to Marvel Comics." After loosening the seat belt, Murphy looked ahead and said, "Bill, you seem to forget. Marvel and many superhero copyrights have been sold. , Until now we want to buy back but can’t get it back. The copyright of our new goal is in the hands of 20th Century Fox."

This is just a backup plan. If possible, Murphy would want "Batman" more. The problem is copyright, which is not something he can decide.

"Let's go to the Fox Tower," Murphy said. "Go to Carla Faith."

When the car arrived in Century City, he first hung up a phone call to Cara Faith, and then went directly to Cara Faith's office.

"Rejected?" Carla Faith asked the secretary to bring coffee to the two. "It seems that your plan is going to change again."

Murphy leaned back on the sofa, and on the coffee table in front of him there were some materials that Carla Faith had just been reading, which seemed to be related to the Crusades and the like.

"Do you mind?" Murphy asked, pointing.

"Whatever," Carla Faith walked over and sat across from him. "This is a masterpiece that Fox is preparing for in the 20th century."