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Chapter 155: Dancer
🕑 Added 2024-12-28 17:36:17 +0000 UTCOnce you have money, you have to live extravagantly, you have to spend money.
Of course, Gilbert is not like those rich second-generation kids who are interested in luxury cars, mansions, antiques, and the like.
This time when he returned to North America, after some investigation, he decided to acquire a special effects production company.
Relying on Industrial Light & Magic all the time, while their business capability is indeed very strong, they are also very busy and may not be able to take care of all of his projects.
Moreover, the blockbuster that Gilbert is going to produce next requires a lot of special effects.
So, owning his own special effects studio would be quite helpful for his future film business.
After some investigations, two special effects studios caught his attention.
One studio specializes in digital effects, and the other in physical effects.
It just so happens that these two could merge into one special effects studio, covering all aspects, which is quite perfect.
With the favorable wind of Hollywood film development, both of these special effects studios have developed well, and the owners were not eager to sell. But, as Gilbert offered too high a price, the owners eventually couldn't resist and sold the studios to him.
With a foundation for the studio, talented management personnel are essential. Gilbert also poached a few people from the cooperative Industrial Light & Magic to manage the newly merged special effects studio.
For this, George Lucas even specially called Gilbert to complain about him silently poaching several of his talents.
Gilbert had to apologize, but he still had to poach people if necessary.
Sheena Boone asked Gilbert, "What's the name of the new studio?"
There are bananas, and there are melons. Gilbert said, "How about calling it Orange Studio?"
Sheena Boone was speechless. Gilbert always named things after fruits. Another orange? Is he opening a fruit party?
Gilbert was the boss, so he had the final say, and thus, Orange Special Effects Studio was officially established at the end of 1995.
At the beginning of the studio's establishment, it received a lot of attention because its boss was Gilbert.
Soon, the studio received its first business order, which was to do some outsourced special effects work for a big ship.
The main special effects work for the ship was handled by James Cameron's own special effects company, Digital Domain. However, Digital Domain couldn't finish all the work, so some of it was outsourced.
After finishing these miscellaneous tasks, Gilbert returned to the set to continue leading the crew in tough shooting.
The most difficult days of shooting were already over, and the shooting process after that went quite smoothly.
It was early February 1996 when Saving Private Ryan wrapped up shooting at an abandoned airbase near London. After the shooting, the crew members and actors, who had been tortured for a while, could finally relax.
After wrapping up, the crew held a wrap-up party in London to reward the hardworking crew members.
At the banquet, Tom Hanks specially found Gilbert: "I heard some critics are not optimistic about this movie, especially Kenneth Turan, who thinks that with such a good topic, you will ruin the film."
Gilbert didn't care: "What does it matter? Even Roger Ebert, who is more famous than him, listed this film as a must-see for the summer.
Critics have two mouths, and just because they say something doesn't mean they are the authority."
Saying this, Gilbert patted Tom Hanks on the shoulder and said, "Watch, Tom. In the summer, this film will definitely achieve both critical acclaim and box office success."
This young director had done so many incredible things that Tom Hanks also expressed trust: "I believe in you, Gilbert."
After the wrap-up, Gilbert didn't immediately return to North America for post-production but stayed in London for two more days. He went to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and experience the British style.
At that time, the British professional football league was in full swing, and Gilbert also went to watch a London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea.
Honestly, Gilbert didn't know much about football.
In his past life, he only thought about football when the Chinese national football team was mentioned.
Of course, he knew about Ronaldo and Messi, but it seemed that Ronaldo was the king of comebacks. He didn't know much else, except that in China, Ronaldo had overturned Messi.
The only regret might be that Ronaldo didn't win a World Cup!
On the last day, Gilbert went to a local theater to watch a musical 42nd Street.
This musical was very famous in both the West End in the UK and Broadway in North America. It had been popular for decades, setting a record with 3,486 consecutive performances and winning two Tony Awards, the highest honor in American theater.
42nd Street tells a life philosophy: "As long as people have talent and work hard, they can turn their dreams into reality."
As a musical that depicts the stage life of the 1930s in America, it shows the daily lives, rehearsals, and formal performances of the actors. It can be said that the play within the play.
Whether it was the storyline, character costumes, or street settings, 42nd Street perfectly presented the authentic style of 1930s America and restored people's understanding of that period in American history.
This musical was inspired by the 1930s film 42nd Street, which was well known in both the UK and the US.
When watching the performance, Gilbert noticed two actors in the audience who looked familiar. After thinking for a while, he recognized one of them—Catherine Zeta-Jones.
She had briefly ventured into Hollywood, but it seemed she had failed and returned to the UK.
He didn't expect that she was still performing in musicals at this time.
The other actor, Gilbert couldn't recall but thought her eyes were very beautiful.
British actors all have a dream of making it in Hollywood. Anyone who looked familiar to Gilbert must have been to Hollywood.
Making friends with well-known actors was one of Gilbert's hobbies, especially discovering those who were not yet famous stars. There was a unique joy in it.
After the performance, Gilbert specifically went backstage but was stopped by the staff.
He had no choice but to say, "Could you pass on a message for me? I would like to invite Ms. Catherine Zeta-Jones to dinner."
The staff responded coldly: "Sorry, sir, I'm afraid I can't help you with that."
Hey! The staff really was rigid.
Gilbert had to take out his business card and give it to the staff: "Well, you can at least give her a business card. If you refuse this, I'll complain to your theater's manager."
Perhaps the threat of a complaint worked. The staff took a good look at Gilbert and thought he was a fan of Ms. Jones.
His attire also looked impressive, so they probably thought he was some aristocrat's son.
These aristocratic sons have deep networks, and it's possible that one of their connections could affect their work, so the staff didn't want to offend Gilbert.
Although the backstage actors were tired of the persistent admirers, a business card should be no problem, so the staff agreed.
If the staff had looked at the business card, they would have realized that this handsome guy wasn't just some aristocrat's son, but a famous Hollywood director.
But in the UK, Gilbert's fame wasn't small. After all, the film The Rock, which he directed, had achieved great success in the UK market, winning the 1995 UK box office champion.
The staff entered backstage, and the actors who had just finished performing were removing their makeup.
The staff called out, "Ms. Jones, Ms. Jones, there's a handsome guy outside who wants to meet you. Here's his business card."
"Stop shouting," a brown-haired woman walked over and said, "Ms. Jones has already left. She had a date tonight."
The staff was used to this. Catherine Zeta-Jones was very famous in the theater world. The musicals 42nd Street and Street Scene she performed in were very popular.
Many elderly aristocrats and wealthy businessmen wanted to dine with her and would offer tens of thousands of pounds for the opportunity.
Backstage actors had heard rumors that Catherine Zeta-Jones had once dated a 60-something-year-old old aristocrat and had just been seen getting into that old aristocrat's car.
As for young suitors, Catherine Zeta-Jones wasn't interested.
According to Catherine Zeta-Jones, most of these young suitors were useless rich second-generation kids with no real skills, living off their ancestors' fame.
If that was the case, why not bypass these rich second-generation kids and go directly to their fathers, taking a shortcut?
It made sense, but a young beauty going out with an old man near his grave didn't quite look right.
Of course, this was normal. Taking a shortcut could save a lot of detours.
If she could convince the old man to write a will and leave the inheritance to her, Catherine Zeta-Jones would win big.
But for an actress, going to Hollywood was the ultimate dream. If she had that chance, Catherine Zeta-Jones would have no hesitation in ditching the old man.
The brown-haired woman said, "Give me the business card, I'll pass it on to Ms. Jones."
The staff, without suspicion, gave the business card to the brown-haired woman: "Okay, Ms. Rachel, thank you."
After the staff left, Ms. Rachel blew a playful whistle and waved the business card she held, saying, "Look, Ms. Jones really is popular!"
From her tone, it was clear that Ms. Rachel
From her tone, it could be heard that Miss Weisz was full of jealousy. Clearly, she was also the lead actress in this musical, but the attention she received was not as much as Catherine Zeta-Jones, which she thought was unfair.
Not to mention Miss Weisz, the other actors backstage seemed indifferent. One of the actresses spoke, "Rachel, look at whose business card this is?
"Alright, let me see." Miss Weisz opened the business card and looked, "It's an American, looks like he's not from a noble family."
"What's the name?"
"Let me see, the name is Gilbert Landry... Ni?" Miss Weisz's voice became softer as she read further.
The actors backstage were curious, "Rachel, you're reading too quietly, we didn't hear. Who is it?"
"It's nothing," Rachel Weisz subtly put the business card away and casually replied, "Just some rich second-generation."
Everyone didn't care. As long as someone was good-looking and had played the lead in a few musicals and stage plays, they were not lacking such suitors around.
Not to mention, Rachel Weisz herself was keeping several noble sons hanging, enjoying their pursuit without letting them succeed.
However, the backstage actors never imagined that the business card Rachel Weisz tucked away was from the famous Hollywood director, Gilbert Landrini.
