"So comfortable!" Charles lay in the bathtub, a look of pure enjoyment on his face.
Scarlett Johansson poured two glasses of champagne, sat by the tub, handed one to Charles, and reached out to lightly touch him. "Nice muscles!"
"Hmm, want to join me?" Charles took a sip and suggested with a smile.
Scarlett Johansson shook her head. "How much longer are you planning to soak? brokeback mountain is about to be released, aren't you worried?"
"North America release is next month, still more than half a month away. Focus Features is handling the distribution, what do I need to worry about?" Charles said, shrugging.
"The movie is very good, I've seen it. It's a very healing film, with beautiful visuals and sincere, yet tear-jerking, emotions!" Scarlett Johansson gave her review.
Charles took another sip of champagne before explaining, "Director Ang Lee was at a low point in his career after the dual failure of critical reception and box office for hulk. He was physically and mentally exhausted. The moving script and sincere emotions of brokeback mountain provided him with relief and healing, and the film's outcome perfectly matched his state of mind!"
"How did you ever think of making a film with such a theme back then?" Scarlett Johansson not only asked her own question but also the question on many people's minds.
Given Charles Capet's age and experience, he had no personal experience in this area, so why would he purchase a script with a homosexual theme?
"God, don't you know I have friends in that area? Designer Tom Ford, and then it just suddenly came to mind, it's very normal," Charles had explained this before, and he did indeed know Tom Ford.
"Can't you just treat this as an ordinary movie? I produced it, and then found Focus Features to distribute it!"
Scarlett Johansson smiled. Seeing Charles get out of the tub, she grabbed a towel and began to dry him, saying, "How can brokeback mountain be treated as an ordinary movie? the passion of the christ originally received support from many conservatives, and you were also involved in investing in it."
"Now you've produced brokeback mountain, a homosexual-themed film that conservatives oppose. Many people are now predicting that brokeback mountain will fail at the box office due to this opposition!"
Charles curled his lip, disdainfully saying, "How many times have their predictions been accurate?"
After speaking, he put his arm around the Lady's shoulder and the two returned to the bedroom. After a passionate interlude, the room was filled with blush-inducing sounds, intermittently continuing until late into the night.
Thanksgiving in the United States is from the fourth Thursday to Sunday in November. Ironically, Thanksgiving is a day full of sin.
The Mayflower sailed across the ocean to North America. The indigenous Indians welcomed them and helped them establish a foothold. The first Thanksgiving was when these guys celebrated the harvest and invited the Indians to thank God for the abundant food.
Soon, these executioners raised their butcher knives against the indigenous Indians. Isn't Thanksgiving ironic enough?
The 300 comic was published by Dark Horse Comics in 1998, a war history comic created by Frank Miller, based on the Battle of Thermopylae between Greece and Persia in 480 BC.
Capet Pictures, Charles had people contact Frank Miller to seek the film adaptation rights for this comic, because unlike DC and Marvel, the comic rights belong to the author himself.
In those years, Frank Miller also worked at both DC and Marvel Comics, creating stories for batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and other collections.
As the two giants of the American comic industry, DC and Marvel had various restrictions on comic creators, and the copyright belonged to the comic companies. Many cartoonists, including Frank Miller, switched to the more lenient Dark Horse Comics.
At Capet Pictures, Charles specifically brought in Zack Snyder and Frank Miller to discuss the film adaptation of this comic.
"The film's style needs to be cinematic, so it will definitely require a lot of digital background technology. For the actors, we also need to find male actors with overflowing hormones." Digital background technology means shooting everything in front of a green screen; live-action shooting is out of the question, it's too expensive.
Frank Miller nodded, "Another comic adaptation film, sin city, which was just completed, was also basically shot in front of a green screen. In post-production, we can adjust it to the dark style we want!"
"The film needs to be grand and magnificent, and the actors' physical fitness must also give a refreshing feeling; we need real warriors," Zack Snyder reminded.
"Real warriors?" Charles was puzzled.
"It means actors need to undergo extensive pre-training to show good physical shape," Zack Snyder explained.
Charles clicked his tongue. Do you want those actors to actually have those blocky muscles? It would be better to use some special effects to render them in post-production, but it certainly requires a lot of tough, muscular men.
By December, Capet Pictures had provided the production budget for this comic adaptation film: $65 million.
The budget was only that much, but the film involved a lot of special effects production, so it was clear they couldn't afford any famous actors.
Zack Snyder first needed to collaborate with Frank Miller on the script adaptation, casting, and a series of other pre-production preparations.
"Charles, we've already advanced $2 million for Director Zack Snyder to begin pre-production. According to expectations, the film won't officially start shooting until at least the second half of next year."
"Plus, there's a lot of special effects, and post-production will also take more than half a year. The earliest the film can be completely finished is the second half of the year after next."
Henry Winster reminded Charles that 300 might not be officially released until 2007!
Charles nodded and smiled, "We'll provide stronger support, speed up pre-production as much as possible, then move into shooting. After that, the time will mainly be focused on post-production."
"It should be able to be released by the end of 2006. As long as funds are sufficient by then, Capet Pictures distributing seven to ten films a year won't be a big pressure!"
After all, by the year after next, Charles believed that Capet Pictures' North American distribution channels would be even more Complete.
"Oh, and Atlantis Pictures in Canada has been handed over, right!" Capet Pictures spent $9.6 million to acquire this small Canadian independent distributor.
Henry Winster nodded and smiled, "Philip has already started the merger plan, integrating it into Capet Pictures' North American distribution network."
"They seem to have a video department, which also complements our home entertainment division," Charles was still a little happy.
As for the future, the Atlantis Pictures brand in Canada will, of course, be directly abandoned.