At Charles's beach villa in Santa Monica Palisades, the English rose Kate Beckinsale was showing off her skills in the swimming pool.
Charles sat by the pool, and when the Lady came up, he handed her a towel.
"underworld: evolution is about to start production. What are your thoughts on it now?" Charles asked.
Kate Beckinsale kissed Charles twice on the cheek, then sat down and laughed, "You can decide all these things. I don't seem to have much going on this year."
Charles smiled. Kate Beckinsale seemed a bit down on her luck right now. "How much has van helsing grossed at the box office so far?"
Kate Beckinsale said helplessly, "It's still less than 100 million in North America, and the overseas market is almost 100 million now!"
"No wonder. van helsing's production cost alone was 160 million, plus promotional expenses. But the final global box office for van helsing is projected to be around 300 million, which makes it very difficult to break even!" Although Charles had known the outcome for a long time, Kate Beckinsale would eventually be completely shut out of A-list productions.
Even resources for medium-budget films would be hard for her to get in the future.
Charles stood up, walked over to Kate Beckinsale, leaned down and kissed the Lady for a while, then said, "Then this year, you should film underworld: evolution first. After all, this is your own film series, and it can maintain a certain level of popularity!"
"After that, I'll figure out a way to arrange suitable roles for you."
Kate Beckinsale nodded. Although the reviews for underworld were somewhat polarized, it still had a loyal fanbase.
Moreover, with the development of the underworld sequel, it would soon completely become Kate Beckinsale's most representative work.
In the bedroom, Charles held Kate Beckinsale on the bed, thinking about suitable roles for her.
Originally, Charles had thought of having her play Reese Witherspoon's role in walk the line, but the producer, director, and the person involved all wanted Reese Witherspoon to star, so Charles didn't interfere.
Reese Witherspoon has acting skills and is also a representative of the American blonde bombshell. Her popularity in the United States has reached a new height due to the two legally blonde films.
This kind of gentle role is indeed more suitable for her than for Kate Beckinsale. Kate's face is somewhat sharp, and because of the poor critical and box office performance of pearl harbor and Serendipity, romance films are not suitable for her.
Compared to her figure and looks, Reese Witherspoon, who is under 1.6 meters tall, with a round face and short legs, can hardly be called a beauty.
"Oh, by the way, I saw the trailer for the aviator. Your portrayal of Ava Gardner is truly beautiful," Charles said with a smile, looking at the Lady in his arms.
"I'm just a supporting character, with very few scenes. You know that, and not many people will notice!"
the aviator primarily features Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes and Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, while Kate Beckinsale has very few appearances.
"Some newspapers say you had breast augmentation?"
Kate Beckinsale puffed out her chest, saying somewhat mischievously, "Haven't you felt it many times yourself? Don't you know if I've had breast augmentation?"
Charles chuckled, then felt her a few more times with his hand, and laughed, "Of course I know it's because of the curves of your figure!"
In the days following the end of the European Championship, Charles not only found time to meet and chat with prison break's creator, Paul Scheuring, but also began preparations for underworld: evolution.
At the same time, Mubao Pictures also offered a budget of 48 million for underworld: evolution, more than double the previous film's budget of 23 million.
On this day, at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal, the Greece National Team and Portugal competed for the final championship.
In the 59th minute, Greece scored a goal, and Marion Cotillard, watching the live broadcast of the match at home in Paris, shrieked and jumped up.
She kept waving her hands, having not held much hope, but the Greece National Team kept creating miracles.
Finally, after 90 minutes, the Greece National Team defeated Portugal with a score of 1:0, winning this European Championship trophy.
Marion Cotillard's heart trembled. Did she just win over 8 million euro?
In contrast, in a hotel suite owned by Partouche, Antoine Arnault looked somewhat displeased. The Greece National Team won the championship?
That American upstart kid's 5.1 million euro would cost him 100 million euro in compensation. He lost too much this time.
"Hahaha, good!" In Beverly Hills, Charles stood in the hall, put down his phone, and then laughed a few times.
Evelyn Capet, sitting beside him, also looked excited. How could she not be excited?
Seeing her son so happy, she walked over, hugged his cheeks, and kissed him fiercely, then said, "You actually won!"
Charles couldn't hide his happiness, pointed to the phone, and said with a smile, "The BNP Paribas Representative just called me, inviting me to Corsica for a vacation to discuss the prize money."
"Have you contacted a lawyer? Do you have a professional lawyer for this?"
Charles nodded, "I had someone register a Charles Capet Charity Foundation, affiliated with Dawn Investment Company."
"My mother and I are the trustees. This time, I can only transfer a maximum of 60% of the income into it, and the taxes to be paid are still considerable."
Evelyn nodded. Charles's idea was very purposeful. A private charity foundation only needs to donate 5% of its assets annually, and the rest can be fully used for investment, with only a 1% tax rate on the proceeds.
The 5% donation includes various expenses. Isn't it normal to buy a few cars, take a few vacations, buy a house, or use a plane?
"That's good. France doesn't tax lottery winnings. If it were in the United States, first the federal tax would take 25% upfront, and the individual income tax could be as high as 38%. No matter what methods you try later, you can only avoid that 13% of individual income tax;"
"And, fortunately, California is one of the ten places that don't collect state tax on lottery winnings. If you had bought it in New York, you would have to pay an additional state tax and a local tax, which would be at least another 10% of the funds surrendered."
Evelyn explained with a smile that Charles's lottery win this time was over 400 million euro. 60% would go into his personal charity foundation, and the remaining 40% would still be subject to a 38% individual income tax.
America's global taxation is indeed ruthless.
"Hmm, I'll go to France again as soon as possible. I wonder how long it will take to raise these funds?" Charles pouted. BNP Paribas and Partouche have plenty of cash, so there's no need to worry. Arnault will have to come up with at least over 100 million euro, right? Does he have it? Will his father pay?
Evelyn nodded, "It's good for you to stay there for a few days, to avoid the reporters bothering you!"