[Chapter 473: Ovitz's New Script]
"Link, I heard there was an accident last night. That's really unfortunate." Under the director's tent, Ovitz's face was serious, his tone heavy, but he didn't dare to show any sign of satisfaction.
"It was a minor accident, thankfully it didn't have much impact," Link replied calmly, his expression unreadable -- whether he truly was unaffected or just pretending was hard to say.
Ovitz thought it was the latter. Frowning, he said, "Be more careful next time you shoot a scene at sea. Spend money where it matters; don't be stingy."
Link smiled and said, "The Caribbean is pretty far, how did you find the time to come?"
"I came to see you guys. It's really hot today, and since you're filming outdoors often, it must be pretty tough." Ovitz wiped the sweat off his forehead with feeling.
The Caribbean Sea is located in the tropics, with a hot and humid climate year-round and plenty of sunshine. From June to August, tropical storms and continuous heavy rains frequently occur.
The weather conditions were very challenging.
Filming here was more like a punishment compared to working in a comfortably air-conditioned office.
Link was a billionaire worth tens of billions, ranked fourth on the Forbes list. With his status and wealth, he could have easily stayed in a luxurious villa living a life of indulgence, but he chose not to.
For the sake of making a movie, he was willing to give up comfort and endure hardship.
Ovitz sighed inwardly. Although Link was an irritating man, sometimes one had to admire his professionalism. He was more diligent and hardworking than many of his peers in the entertainment industry.
It was no wonder such a man had succeeded.
"Though it's hot here, the scenery nearby is quite nice. You should check it out when you have time."
"I will. It's beautiful here -- would be perfect for a vacation."
Ovitz looked out at the blue sky, the sea, the golden beach, and the white sailboats drifting past the studio, feeling refreshed.
Link smiled but was busy filming and couldn't entertain Ovitz himself. He handed over the reception duties to producer Mike Statham and kept shooting on the island.
...
To prevent further accidents, Link and his crew were extra cautious and revised the shooting schedule. Over a dozen ocean scenes were moved to the giant water tank in Rosarito, Baja California.
The Rosarito aquatic facility was one of Titanic's filming locations.
Director Cameron built a huge pool there for scenes where the Titanic hit the iceberg and sank. The pool was 0.9 meters deep and could hold about 1.3 million liters of seawater. On camera, this huge water tank looked just like the ocean surface.
Earlier that year, he had also filmed two scenes there for The Truman Show.
The sea scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean were similarly planned to be shot in a giant water tank.
...
After a full day of filming, Link returned to the hotel to rest and invited Ovitz to dinner to discuss business.
Also present were Catherine Zeta-Jones, assistant Aishwarya, and a few girlfriends who came to visit the set, including Jennifer Lopez, Cate Blanchett, Naomi Watts, Izumi Sakai, Shizuka Kudo, and others.
When Ovitz arrived at the restaurant, he saw a table filled with Caribbean seafood delicacies and more than a dozen beauties gathered around, and his admiration for Link waned slightly.
He had seen Link, the billionaire, sweating it out under the blazing sun on set, which made him respect him greatly. It seemed natural that he became a top director with films selling worldwide.
But seeing all these beauties, he had to reconsider.
It might appear that this bastard Link endured hardships filming outside, but every day he enjoyed beautiful views, delicious food, and surrounded himself with stunning women. If that's the kind of hardship, anyone could bear it with some grit.
"Mike, come try these giant lobsters and wild yellow croaker -- only found fresh in the Caribbean," Link said, pointing to three over-two-foot-long shrimps in the middle.
"Link, life here is pretty enviable," Ovitz said meaningfully.
"If you like the food and scenery, you should stay a while."
"Forget it. There's too much work back at the company. Even if I wanted to rest, I couldn't."
Ovitz snapped.
"Disney's performance these past two years has been poor. The stock price dropped over 30% from last year, and dividend payouts declined. If you and Eisner can't turn things around, shareholders might start selling off next year."
Link felt comfortable saying this because Glimmer Capital, which he represented, was a Disney shareholder, owning 2.6% of the shares worth over $500 million. When it acquired the stake four years ago, profits were under $100 million -- far below expectations. Other investments looked better.
Ovitz's face turned red and black at these words. Originally hoping for friendship with Link, Link was unsportsmanlike and spoke to him like a shareholder, making the relationship unequal and stressing him.
Why had Disney's performance declined recently? Didn't Link know?
Link knew full well.
The industry's explosive growth and the tremendous box office success of other films had squeezed Disney's market share. That's why Disney's numbers dropped, MGM was sold, and shareholders and executives at the remaining studios grew anxious, some to the point of breakdown.
Link knew this yet blamed them for mismanagement causing Disney's decline.
That was too much.
Ovitz took a big bite of lobster, feeling the resentment in his heart heavier than a bad rash. If not for Link being a shareholder and treating him to dinner, he might have thrown the lobster and scolded him.
"Heh!" Ovitz laughed dryly, looking part embarrassed and part resigned. "Eisner and I have busted our butts over the past two years to improve Disney's performance, losing a lot of sleep and hair.
But the film industry is so strong -- great movies keep coming, with several crossing $100 million at the box office every year, mostly eating into the profits, making life hard for Disney and other studios to survive.
Still, we haven't given up. Thanks to our efforts, Disney's box office in the last two years, although not as good as Guess, is still better than the other six major film companies."
He joked, "Link, if you let Guess Films take a year off, Disney's numbers would surely jump."
Link smiled faintly. "Guess Pictures plays fair in the market; success depends on ability. If Disney can only thrive when Guess Pictures steps aside, that's an insult to Disney.
Disney is the world's largest animation film studio, with millions of IPs ripe for adaptation and tremendous potential. As long as you unlock that potential in animation, you could surpass Guess at the box office."
Ovitz sneered inwardly. Anyone could say that, but the challenge was doing it.
They had made animation a development focus to avoid direct competition with Guess Pictures for live-action films.
But producing animated films was troublesome, with long cycles and high costs. The audience is fixed, and although big losses are rare after release, profits aren't huge either.
Plus, computer animation companies like Pixar were rapidly growing, competing with Disney's hand-drawn animation and eating away market share.
Now Link advised them to focus even more on animation -- it sounded tough.
If Link wasn't a shareholder and hadn't treated him to dinner, Ovitz might have scolded him badly.
"Enough about work. Let's keep eating," Link said.
...
After dinner, Ovitz pulled out a script for Link to read, which was why he came.
The new script was called Pearl Harbor. It told the story of two close friends, Rafe and Danny, who learned to fly together as kids and worked as crop dusters back home. After World War II began, they joined the army and met nurse Evelyn.
Rafe and Evelyn fell in love. Later, as the U.S. sent elite troops to Europe to fight Nazi Germany, Rafe volunteered for the war, entrusting Evelyn to Danny's care.
On the European front, Rafe's plane was shot down, and his fate was unknown.
Evelyn and Danny were devastated and comforted each other, eventually sharing a one-night stand.
Just as their relationship developed, Rafe returned from Europe, creating a complicated love triangle.
Before they figured out what to do, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, triggering the Pacific War. Rafe and Danny bombed the Japanese mainland.
After a successful mission, they landed safely but faced tragedy.
Danny was killed by Japanese soldiers trying to save Rafe. Before dying, Rafe told Danny that Evelyn was pregnant.
Rafe brought Danny's body back home and comforted Evelyn, mourning their friend.
Years later, Rafe, Evelyn, and Danny's son lived happily together.
Link had seen the film before but still felt the story was a bit melodramatic reading the script.
The script capitalized on the appeal of Titanic and Saving Private Ryan by weaving everyday people's stories into big historical events, showing how the grand historical backdrop affected personal destinies and highlighting human courage.
The theme was serious and the scope grand.
But the screenwriter wasn't great, and the love story didn't touch the heart much.
That lowered the overall quality compared to Big Ships and Big Soldiers.
*****
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