In the living room of the Wave Manor villa, the Stanton faithful gathered, all eyes fixed on Murphy.
"Seth, Jonah, James..." Murphy looked at the three on his left, "How far along is your film?"
Seth Rogen, the director and producer of a political satire comedy, answered first, "We finished shooting in August and are now in post-production at the Fox building. We'll be done with everything by the end of November at the latest."
"End of November." Murphy nodded and asked, "Can you start new work once you're done?"
They all knew Murphy's plan, and Seth Rogen replied without hesitation, "Absolutely no problem!"
Jonah Hill and James Franco nodded as well. "Our schedules are good too."
Murphy turned to the other side, and Robert Downey Jr. raised his hand and said, "I can have Marvel adjust my schedule. I must be in your movie!"
Sitting on a single sofa next to him, Margot Robbie added, "I remember the Spotlight team had a female reporter. You wouldn't want to give that role to anyone else, would you?"
"And me," Gal Gadot stood up as well, "I'll handle the production affairs of the crew."
Murphy nodded, "I'll send you all the complete script soon. Read it over, then we'll finalize the roles."
This film would be a collective action of the Stanton faithful. Unlike past projects, this was an ensemble piece where every character was significant.
It was a film without a main character; the story itself was the true protagonist.
After a brief discussion, the core creative team was established: Murphy as director and producer, Gal Gadot as the producer, and Robert Downey Jr., Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, James Franco, and Margot Robbie in the key roles of Robbie Robinson, Mike Rezendes, Marty Baron, Sacha Pfeiffer, and lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, respectively.
As for the specific roles, there was still time. Murphy wasn't in a hurry. They would discuss it further after reading the script.
Having settled these matters, Murphy asked Seth Rogen, "Has 'The Interview' release date been set?"
"20th Century Fox wants it in February," Seth Rogen adjusted his glasses. "I spoke with Kara Faith, and we've pushed it back to October or November next year."
Recalling the controversy that film stirred, Murphy advised, "Think of some marketing strategies."
Part of the investment in the film came from Stanton Studios, so Murphy didn't want it to be a losing venture.
However, whether the past controversy was genuinely caused by North Korean hackers or an extreme self-promotion by some Americans, no one could say for sure. Murphy wouldn't discuss this with Seth Rogen.
He pondered for a moment and said, "You could spread the word that this is the last comedy collaboration of the Stanton faithful."
"Uh..." Seth Rogen scratched his head, "That's... not quite right. Jonah and I are already planning another comedy."
In some ways, Seth Rogen was relatively straightforward among the Stanton faithful. Jonah Hill, on the other hand, understood Murphy's intention and interjected, "Seth, you big dummy! It's just a publicity stunt, not a real promise to stop making comedies."
"Oh," Seth Rogen laughed, "That's a good idea."
Murphy's seemingly lousy idea was quickly accepted by Seth Rogen. After all, this was a common tactic in Hollywood and the global film industry.
There were countless examples of this.
For instance, fans once ridiculed: Luc Besson: "I will only make ten films in my life." Quentin Tarantino: "I will also make only ten films." James Cameron: "Avatar 2 is about to start filming!" Ridley Scott: "If there's another alien in my film, I'll slit my wrists!" Michael Bay: "This is my last Transformers movie!" Jackie Chan: "This is my last action film." Hayao Miyazaki: "I'm retiring!" Daniel Craig: "I'd rather die than play James Bond again..."
These attention-grabbing slogans were shouted loudly, but none of them were actually fulfilled.
In marketing, such things were par for the course.
People even summarized the three big lies of the world cinema industry: James Cameron: "I'm about to start filming." Michael Bay: "I won't make another Transformers sequel." Hayao Miyazaki: "I'm retiring for good."
Some things, even when said by super directors, couldn't be taken seriously.
As Murphy actively planned his new project, "Dark City" was still playing in North American theaters. Despite the daily box office revenue being low, adding less than a million dollars a week, 20th Century Fox didn't pull the film from North American theaters as they usually would when a film's market potential was nearly exhausted.
"Dark City" continued to screen in major cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles, with the showings scheduled to last at least until the end of January next year.
20th Century Fox had signed agreements with some theaters stipulating that from September to the end of January, all box office revenue from "Dark City" would not be shared with the studio.
Maintaining a film's long-term presence in theaters required a price.
20th Century Fox's actions weren't to push "Dark City" past "Avatar" in the North American box office. It was clear to all that, due to the setback from the Chinese Theatre shooting incident, "Dark City" could no longer contend for the North American box office crown.
All these efforts were for the awards season.
With the traditional North American awards season approaching, all films and companies aiming for Oscars were gearing up.
Murphy and 20th Century Fox were no exceptions. The announcement of a new project right before the awards season, and unlike previous films, revealing the subject and content outright, was also to help "Dark City" make an impact during the awards season.
It's no exaggeration to say that, influenced by a series of unexpected events, Hollywood was already clashing with the Catholic Church.
This situation, although beyond Murphy's initial expectations and plans, was undoubtedly beneficial to him. Especially after the new project's press conference, there was widespread acclaim from Hollywood insiders and mainstream media.
As the Oscars evolved, it became clear that external factors greatly influenced the outcome of significant awards.
Aside from these efforts, CAA and Murphy's public relations team were also active. When "Dark City" had a blockbuster opening weekend, the Los Angeles City Hall had contacted Murphy. Since Murphy was a native Angeleno, the City Hall wanted to build a Murphy Stanton film museum to honor his contributions to the city and create a notable tourist attraction.
Following Murphy's instructions, CAA negotiated with the City Hall. Such negotiations weren't quick and had been delayed until a consensus was finally reached.
If all went well, they would sign the formal agreement and announce it in December, coinciding with the start of the awards season. This would add significant weight to Murphy's Oscar campaign!
Stanton Studios, CAA, and 20th Century Fox were fully engaged in the Oscar campaign, ready for the awards season to begin.
On November 1st, Murphy stayed home, sitting at his computer, logging onto Netflix. At 9 a.m., the latest show was released— "House of Cards"!
Unlike traditional American TV series that air weekly, "House of Cards," co-produced by Netflix and Stanton Studios, was released in its entirety, with all 13 episodes of the first season available online at once.
Thanks to extensive pre-release publicity by Netflix, "House of Cards" quickly became an internet sensation, hailed by many as a masterpiece!
Even some politicians became fans of the show.
President Obama tweeted: "Tomorrow: House of Cards. No spoilers, please."
He also tagged the official "House of Cards" Twitter account, which simply retweeted his post without comment. This excited the show's lead actress, Kate Mara, who quickly retweeted and said: "This just happened! The President is watching our show!"
The success of "House of Cards" meant that Stanton Studios, sharing in half the profits, had found another golden goose in television after "Game of Thrones."
But the impact of Murphy's show went beyond being a hit series; it challenged the traditional TV industry's production model.
"House of Cards" wasn't just an artistic creation by a production company but was based on Murphy Stanton's star power and Netflix's data on the viewing habits of its 30 million users, analyzed from their "search" and "favorites" behaviors.
The show's release broke the traditional model of episodic television, with Netflix releasing an entire season in one day to cater to the viewing habits of the internet era audience. The audience could also participate in various aspects of the production and promotion of TV shows through the internet.
Profitable projects like this were certainly worth continuing.
Meanwhile, Murphy prepared to start his new film project while keeping a close eye on the awards season.
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