Chapter 956 1:5/0
Playa Vista.
Inside a studio in Firefly Studios, which has been transformed into Tony Stark's studio. Eric returned from Boston to Los Angeles, where all the main creators of "Iron Man" chose to meet for the first time before filming.
Although Eric said that he would be the producer himself, in fact, the preparatory work for the film was basically completed by Marvel Entertainment CEO Avi Arad and director Joss Whedon. As a result, Ke was reduced to an executive producer similar to that of Stan Lee.
However, although Eric had no time to participate in the preparatory work of the film's sets, props, etc., the main characters of the film were decided by Eric himself.
Except for Eric himself and Brigitte Fonda who played Pepper, Eric basically used the "original crew" for several other big supporting roles.
The villain, Obediah Stan, is played by Jeff Bridges.
The mediocre Terrence Howard in the first Iron Man was not on Eric's radar, and the role of Colonel Roddy fell directly to Don Cheadle. He has a very important role in the first phase of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, and will also provoke the planned "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." agent Coulson, Eric still chose Clark Gregg.
In the original time and space, the two actors, Don Cheadle and Clark Gregg, did not become famous for the Marvel Cinematic Universe series until more than ten years later, but they actually debuted in the 1980s and have very rich performance experience. There is no problem with the age of the two. Don Cheadle was born in 1964 and is 34 years old this year. Clark Gregg is two years older than Don Cheadle.
Speaking of which, when they participated in the original "Iron Man" and "Avengers" series, the two were already too old. The reason why they were able to get the role, in Eric's opinion, was because Marvel at the time wanted to save money and make good use of actors.
The only thing Eric struggles with is the role of Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the setting of the movie universe, Nick Fury is still a black man, but the original Samuel L. Jackson is now participating in the "Star Wars" series.
The first "Star Wars" movie will be released at the end of this year, and Samuel L. Jackson's role in "Star Wars" is very similar to Nick Fury in the role of Mace Windu. The release rhythm of the Star Wars prequel trilogy also has a great overlap with the first phase of the Marvel Universe. It is impossible to stagger it, and Samuel L. Jackson is no longer suitable for playing a similar role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Role.
"In the end, I just told him, Denzel, you've made so many movies that no one has seen, don't you want to be involved in a real blockbuster?" In the studio, Avi Arad told himself a bit self-deprecatingly. Attempt to ask Denzel Washington to play Nick Fury: "And then, I got kicked out."
Around, Eric, Bridget Fonda, and Joss Whedon all laughed.
Eric's favorite candidate, Nick Fury, could not participate, and Avi Allard, who has a superstar complex, first thought of Denzel Washington.
Although Nick Fury runs through the entire first phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he is still only a supporting role in general, and even a cameo in some films. Denzel Washington is the only black superstar in Hollywood who basically only plays the leading role. His salary is almost the same as that of first-line white men. Eric has no idea about being able to invite Denzel Washington to play Nick Fury. Hope, let go and let Avi Arad invite.
The ending is predictable.
"If Morgan Freeman can be twenty years younger, even ten years old, maybe he can try this role." Shaking his head, Eric said to the people around him, "Do you have any other suggestions?"
"Eric, in fact, I think there is another person who is very suitable," Joss Whedon's tone was a little hesitant, but he finally said: "That is, the player of Captain Morpheus in "The Matrix", Lawrence Fey Shberg."
After Joss Whedon finished speaking, several people around him quieted down and looked at Eric together, wondering how he would react.
Two years ago, Firefly sold the copyrights of the two sequels of "The Matrix" to Anberlin Pictures. The apparent reason was that the Firefly Group was under pressure from fans. Even a few people around them didn't know the details, and no one would think that Ai Rick voluntarily sold the copyright of "The Matrix".
Eric excitedly took a photo on the table next to him. Lawrence Fishberg, how could he forget? Avi Arad and the others did not recommend each other's name in the list before.
However, after noticing the expressions of the people around him, Eric understood. The reason why Joss Whedon has only said it now is to take into account Eric's views on "The Matrix". Maybe they feel that they are sure Not a single cast member from The Matrix series.
Since he took the initiative to let go of the copyright of "The Matrix", Eric would naturally have no prejudice against the actors of the "Matrix" series.
The schedule of "The Matrix 2" has been set for this summer, although Amberlin Pictures has not announced the schedule of the third finale of the back-to-back filming, but it will only be next year at the latest. Invite Lawrence Fishberg to play Nick Fury, just to carry on the popularity he accumulated in "The Matrix".
"Just him," nodded, Eric said to Avi Arad: "You immediately send someone to contact Lawrence and get the film contract as soon as possible."
Avi Arad did not expect that Eric would agree so simply, "Eric, are you sure?"
"Of course, if you had brought it up earlier, I wouldn't have struggled for so long," Eric nodded with a smile, and said, "Are you disappointed, I didn't get cold and get angry."
Everyone laughed again, and the atmosphere returned to normal.
After chatting and laughing, Avi Allard asked again: "Eric, when will you announce your own role as the actor of "Iron Man"?"
Eric thought for a while and said, "The news must have been heard outside now, so let's not announce it at all, just start shooting and let the media discover this matter slowly, which can also increase the topic of the film."
After today's meeting, the news will surely no longer be able to be concealed.
However, as long as the Firefly Group has not officially announced it to the outside world, there must be no shortage of media questioning the authenticity of the news. Eric Williams is playing Tony Stark himself, which at first blush sounds like too much of a fake news.
When the media digs out the accurate news, the topic of "Iron Man" will also be hot, which can save a lot of marketing expenses.
After a day's get off work, Caroline came over specially and handed over two documents to Eric.
One is Nokia's 1997 annual financial report, and the other is from Forbes magazine.
Drew called at noon and asked Eric to go to her home in Crosdale Manor tonight to help with the demos of the Beverly Girls reality show, e! Entertainment has confirmed that the long-awaited reality show will officially air on February 17.
After Eric got in the car, he instructed the driver to go to Trousdale Manor, and then sat in the back seat and opened Nokia's financial report.
Nokia's financial report is quite encouraging. Throughout 1997, Nokia sold 31.2 million mobile phones worldwide, accounting for 32% of the global mobile phone market share.
At the same time, Nokia's market value increased to 163.4 billion Finnish marks, equivalent to 30.5 billion US dollars. The company's full-year business was $13.8 billion, with a net profit after tax of $1.135 billion.
As a direct holding institution of 51% of Nokia's shares, the Hawaii Fund will also draw about $580 million in profit dividends from Nokia for the first time.
Although Cisco, ltd and other companies under Firefly Investments that have already begun to generate profits have not yet compiled detailed financial reports, the combined profit and dividends of these companies will also be enough to support Firefly Investments' expansion this year.
In addition to the $1 billion investment in Yahoo and continued support for the development of Firefly Electronics, on the other hand, Steve Case is more and more inclined to get rid of the 'Cisco-aol-Yahoo' information industry alliance that Eric originally formulated Plans, this year Firefly Investments and Steve Keyes-led management disputes over control of AOL are almost inevitable.
In order to seize control of AOL, Firefly Investment must increase its holdings in AOL. At present, AOL's market value has exceeded 23 billion US dollars, and AOL's outstanding shares in the market have also been absorbed by major investment institutions. Few.
If you want to increase your holdings of AOL, you can only take over from the investment institutions that hold AOL shares at a premium. In order to secure control, Firefly Investments needs to keep the shareholding ratio of AOL as close as possible to 40%. These The amount of capital required is enormous.
Thinking about AOL's affairs in two minds, after roughly finishing the more than 80 pages of Nokia's financial report, the car has arrived at Drew's mansion in Trousdale Manor.
Taking the folder from Eric and stuffing it to Natasha behind her, the girl took Eric's arm and walked into the villa, asking, "Eric, do you want to take a shower first?"
"Let's wash it at night," Eric shook his head and asked, "I haven't paid much attention to "The Fast and the Furious" recently. Is the filming progress of the film going smoothly?"
The girl and Eric sat down on the sofa in the living room together, nodded and said, "Of course, Amy and I just went to the set this morning. The shooting of "Mission Impossible 3" was also very smooth, and both films can be made in time for this year. It will be released at the end of the year. "Desperate Housewives" has also started filming, and we have set the broadcast schedule for February 26, Thursday night."
Eric took the coffee from Eve, took a sip, nodded and said, "That's good. It's earlier than most of the TV dramas in the spring, so you can get more attention. You and Amy should have watched" Demo of Beverly Girls, how do you feel?"
"It's very interesting, but I still want you to see if there is anything that needs to be modified." The girl nodded, seeing Eric looking at the two documents Natasha had placed on the coffee table, and took the initiative to take them over : "Eric, what is this?"
"Nokia's financial report, and one more, was sent by Forbes magazine. I haven't read it yet. It should be this year's list."
Eric said, secretly that Forbes finally learned a little bit smarter this year. In last year's rich list topic, "Forbes" magazine did not communicate with Eric at all, and directly used a sensitive topic of 'oligarch'. This directly halved the company's advertising budget for Forbes Group's media.
Hearing the information on this year's rich list, the girl immediately became interested, put aside Nokia's financial report, hurriedly opened the information sent by "Forbes", looked at the title, and immediately became a little puzzled.
"Eric, they use 1.5% as the title. What does that mean? It's strange."
Eric didn't think of anything for a while, and looked at the contents of the document with the girl, and then he was a little helpless. Forbes was still not reconciled, and always wanted to make some big news to attract the public's attention.
When John Rockefeller, the head of the Rockefeller family, died in 1937, his personal wealth was estimated by the media at $1.4 billion, when the U.S. GDP was $92 billion.
In other words, Rockefeller's wealth alone reached 1.5% of the US gross domestic product.
After reading the introduction in the front of the text, Eric roughly guessed what it was.
Then, the very eye-catching below the article is the asset data table of Firefly Investment Company as of December 31 last year.
Cisco: Market value of $635, Firefly Investment holds 26%.
sprint: The market value is $302, and Firefly Investment holds 10% of the shares.
Nokia: The market value is $305, and Firefly Investment holds 51% of the shares.
AOL: The market value is $233, and Firefly Investment holds 30% of the shares.
ltd: The market value is 117 US dollars, and Firefly Investment holds 35% of the shares.
Qualcomm: The market value is $57.6, and Firefly Investment holds 41% of the shares.
Amazon: Market value of $56, Firefly Investment holds 27%.
Apple: Market value of $33, Firefly Investment holds 12%.
Yahoo Networks: (valuation) $15 billion, 85% owned by Firefly Investments.
Firefly Electronics: (valuation) $3 billion, Firefly Investment holds 100% of the shares.
Taken together, the total assets of all companies under Firefly Investments reach $192 billion.
At the same time, according to the shareholding ratio of each company and Eric's own 97% investment in Firefly, his personal assets have reached 63 billion US dollars. Chris's 3% stake in Firefly also brings his personal fortune to $2 billion.
Due to the unlisted nature of Firefly Group, another important asset under Eric's name, Forbes did not give detailed statistics on the value of each branch of Firefly Group, but only made an overall valuation for Firefly Group and most institutions on Wall Street. Like, $100 billion.
Eric's 73.7% stake in Firefly Group has added another $73.7 billion to his personal fortune.
Comprehensive calculation, Eric's current total net worth reached 136.7 billion US dollars, while the public GDP figure of the United States in 1997 was 8,608.5 billion US dollars. Eric's net worth accounted for 15.8% of the US GDP, just catching up with the Rockefeller family. peak of wealth.