Simon naturally did not have the luxury of being as idle as Terry Semel that afternoon. Since Semel did not leave after lunch, Simon simply brought him along to Culver City, east of Santa Monica.
One of Highgate Films' key projects this year, Crossroads of Life, had already begun shooting in Culver City.
These days since Simon returned to Los Angeles, he had been so busy his feet barely touched the ground. Even though they stayed in contact every day, Terry Semel had never managed to find a chance to sit down and talk with Simon properly. Today, he clearly wanted to pin certain things down.
The two of them rode to Culver City together in Simon's car. Simon did not hold anything back, laying out many of his ideas about the DC cinematic universe again, including Warner's The Flash and Cyborg.
"If we want to preserve the integrity of the DC cinematic universe, and make every film in the series interlock so that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts, then we have to make sure there isn't a second voice during execution. Terry, since Warner isn't willing to open up investment in The Flash and Cyborg to Daenerys Entertainment, then let's do this. I'll be the producer on both films. I'll hold creative control. Daenerys Entertainment won't share in the profits. I'll only take my personal producer fee. Have your people discuss the details with Amy and the others. What do you think?"
Inside the car, Terry Semel could not help the delight spreading across his face.
This was exactly the arrangement Warner had hoped for during internal discussions.
Only, because they had rejected Simon's proposal for shared investment, Terry Semel had been worried Simon would wash his hands of The Flash and Cyborg.
Now, Terry Semel was completely certain that Simon truly cared about the DC cinematic universe plan.
Otherwise, even if Warner offered an enormous fee, with Simon's current wealth and status, there was no reason for him to spend time grinding away on projects that did not belong to his company.
"I'll go back and talk with Amy right away," Terry Semel agreed. After thinking a moment, he asked, "But Simon, for these two projects, are you still planning to use all newcomers?"
Simon did not answer directly. Instead, he asked, "Back then, in Superman, how much did Marlon Brando end up taking?"
In the 1978 Christopher Reeve version of Superman, Marlon Brando played Clark Kent's father. He had less than ten minutes of screen time, yet because of a profit participation clause signed in advance, he walked away with an absurd payout.
And if Simon had not existed, years later and right around now, Warner would have made the same mistake again with Jack Nicholson on the first Batman.
Terry Semel paused, thinking. "About twenty million, I guess."
"Do you think it was worth it?" Simon asked.
"It wasn't," Terry Semel said, then immediately added, "But as long as we don't casually sign profit participation clauses this time, we'll be fine."
"Terry, you still don't get it," Simon said. "Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, these superheroes are bigger stars than Hollywood celebrities. They don't need real-life stars to bring them popularity. What we need to do is make the films as good as we possibly can."
Terry Semel nodded, as if something clicked.
Simon continued, "On top of that, starting next year, the first phase is ten films. Take The Flash for example. He'll appear in The Flash, The Flash 2, and Justice League. If we sign an A-list star, they won't accept a long-term contract. By the time we get to Justice League, their fee will be astronomical, and then the whole thing likely collapses right there. But if we sign a newcomer, like the Batman series, Daenerys Entertainment has a five-picture deal. That's enough to complete the first phase."
Based on recent discussions, Daenerys Entertainment and Warner Bros. would release ten DC cinematic universe films over the next few years: Batman: The Dark Knight, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, Suicide Squad: Secret Mission, Batman vs. Superman, The Flash 2, Cyborg, and Justice League.
Terry Semel suddenly thought of something. "Simon, Adam Baldwin only has a five-picture deal. What happens after the first phase?"
"Everything ends eventually," Simon said. "When Phase One is done, we pause Batman for a few years, then we recast."
"That's such a shame," Terry Semel said. "If everything goes well, after Justice League, Batman's popularity will jump again, and the other heroes too. At that point, making a Justice League 2 would absolutely have a market."
"We'll see," Simon shrugged. "If Adam Baldwin is still willing to do it then, and his price is reasonable. One thing's for sure, Daenerys Entertainment isn't going to work for stars. I'll pay them what I think is fair, and that's it."
Terry Semel remembered the earlier incident where the Batman team had tried to renegotiate their contracts. At the time, at Amy's request, he had even made a statement to the media.
Adam Baldwin was bound by contract now. He could only fulfill the agreement.
But once the agreement ended, getting him back without paying a steep price would be impossible.
If it were Warner, Terry Semel felt he would definitely compromise.
Just like the Lethal Weapon 3 currently in development. Because of the success of Lethal Weapon 2, Mel Gibson not only had a base salary as high as ten million for the third film, he also demanded twenty percent of the profits across all distribution channels.
And that was only Mel Gibson's pay.
The director and producer Richard Donner, and Gibson's co-stars Danny Glover and Joe Pesci, also signed their own profit participation clauses, more or less, before agreeing to join the third film.
With everyone taking a cut, the projected production budget for Lethal Weapon 3 was not much higher than the second film, only thirty-five million. But even if the third film outperformed the second at the box office, most of the profits would go straight into the pockets of that group of key creatives. In the end, Warner would only earn a thin, hard-won slice.
That really was working for stars.
Yet Warner had little choice. The Lethal Weapon series at least came with some guarantee of profit. Invest in other films, and Warner might lose everything.
Daenerys Entertainment was a sharp contrast.
At the end of last year, the Thanksgiving release Flying Over Innocence had already reached 156.26 million by the end of last week.
At its current pace of two to three million per week, it would probably add another ten million or so before leaving theaters. The film had taken a hit from Batman, shrinking its box office by around ten million compared to expectations. Even so, with a projected domestic total above 160 million, it still outperformed the summer release Lethal Weapon 2 by a wide margin.
Under the original contract, once Flying Over Innocence passed one hundred million, the sequel rights would revert to Daenerys Entertainment.
And yet, Daenerys Entertainment only tested the waters with Mel Gibson and the other key creatives, then never brought it up again.
After all, Lethal Weapon 2 had only just barely cleared two hundred million worldwide so far. With overseas release still ahead, Flying Over Innocence would have no trouble surpassing three hundred million worldwide.
A franchise with a global box office above three hundred million, and Daenerys Entertainment could abandon it without blinking. Simon's stubbornness and confidence in the film business was almost breathtaking. He clearly believed that the new projects Daenerys Entertainment launched would outperform a Flying Over Innocence sequel.
On this point, Warner had no such confidence at all.
Maybe that was why this young man had been able to rise so quickly.
They talked the entire way. Twenty minutes later, they arrived in the Carlson Park area in southern Culver City, where Crossroads of Life was filming.
At the set, Terry Semel greeted Ira Deutchman, Highgate Films' president, who was also visiting that afternoon, then got back in his car and hurried off again. His car had been following behind Simon's the whole time. Now that everything had been settled, there was no reason for him to stay.
A scene was already being shot, so Simon and Deutchman did not interrupt. They watched quietly from the perimeter as Robert Altman directed.
This segment was about the Finnegan couple, one of the film's eight storylines.
Howard Finnegan was a TV host. Ann Finnegan was a housewife. They had a son, Casey. Their life had been happy, until Casey suddenly got into a car accident.
At the same time, under the film's setup, the Finnegans' neighbors happened to be a mother and daughter: Tess Trainer, an aging singer whose looks had faded, performing nightly in a jazz bar, and her daughter Zoe Trainer, a cellist.
In Simon's memory, aside from the actress playing Tess Trainer, he knew the actors for the other three roles: Bruce Davison, Andie MacDowell, and Lori Singer, all familiar Hollywood faces. One amusing detail was that Lori Singer had a cousin named Bryan Singer.
Combined with the other casting information from the original version, Simon realized that Crossroads of Life had likely been packaged by ICM, one of Hollywood's three major talent agencies. Tim Robbins, Robert Downey Jr., Andie MacDowell, Julianne Moore, and others in that version were all ICM clients.
Now, this project was essentially packaged under WMA.
Aside from "Aunt Moore," whom Simon had personally shoved into the cast for reasons he was not about to explain to anyone, most of the other roles were no longer the original actors.
In the scene being shot right now, both neighboring sets of characters had been recast.
The role that had originally belonged to Lori Singer had been handed by Simon to his preselected Wonder Woman, Famke Janssen. Since the character was a cellist, Famke had even studied cello for several months beforehand. Post-production dubbing would still be unavoidable, of course, but on camera it would not show too many cracks.
After Simon returned to Los Angeles, Amy had mentioned that Jonathan had approached them, hoping Daenerys Entertainment could renegotiate the agreements with Adam Baldwin and the others. It did not cause a major stir, but both sides probably understood that because their positions were different, Simon and Jonathan could never be as close as they once were.
Still, Simon did not deliberately distance himself from Jonathan.
The relationship between studios and talent agencies had always been like this, interdependent, and yet fundamentally opposed. Disney CEO Michael Eisner and CAA president Michael Ovitz were famously close friends in Hollywood, and their companies were even neighbors.
Likewise, Jonathan had helped Simon a great deal early on. As long as there was no sharp, irreconcilable conflict, the two sides could continue getting along just fine.
Deep down, Simon was not someone who liked conflict. Yet as the businesses under his name continued to expand, all kinds of clashes of interest were only going to multiply.
Today's shoot involved only the Finnegan couple. There were no scenes with the Trainer mother and daughter.
While Simon and Deutchman discussed recent matters, filming inside wrapped quickly.
Robert Altman, hair a mess and body thickened with age, finally had time to come over and greet Simon. After a brief burst of glory in the 1970s, Altman had nearly fallen into total obscurity in the early 1980s after several consecutive failures, to the point where he had almost no films left to make. For him, the success or failure of Crossroads of Life was crucial.
He chatted with Simon and Deutchman for a while, then ran off to prepare the next shot.
The actors playing the Finnegans also came over to speak with Simon.
Simon was very familiar with both WMA actors in front of him.
Howard Finnegan was played by Sam Neill, another casting choice Simon had pushed through.
Ann Finnegan was played by Sela Ward, a woman with a striking, elegant presence. In the original timeline, she had appeared in films like The Fugitive and Independence Day, as well as the famous television series CSI.
People who survived in Hollywood usually had sharp instincts.
Noticing Simon's interest in Sela Ward, Ira Deutchman and Sam Neill drifted off to the side without a word, as if they suddenly had something very important to discuss.
Ira Deutchman understood his boss's tastes far too well.
Sela Ward stood beside her makeup trailer on set, talking with the legendary young man. Only when the next shot began, and no one came to call her, did she finally realize something was off.
She subconsciously brushed her bangs aside. Her hands clasped awkwardly in front of her as she took a small step back. "Simon, I think I should get back to work."
Simon nodded. "I should probably be leaving soon too."
Sela Ward froze. She had not expected him to say that, and for a moment she did not know what to do with herself.
Before she could react, the young man spoke again. "Are you free tonight? Dinner with me?"
Now that's more like it.
For some reason, Sela Ward felt herself exhale in relief. She tried to relax, looking at him. "Just dinner?"
Simon nodded solemnly. "Of course."
Sela Ward could not help rolling her eyes slightly. Then she remembered something. "You seem… well, that. Are you allowed to have dinner with other women?"
Simon spread his hands. "So, to keep us from becoming tomorrow's gossip headline, we can only have dinner quietly at my place."
Sela Ward shot him a sharp look from those keen eyes of hers. "Mr. Westeros, may I refuse?"
"You can."
"Then I won't have to come back to set tomorrow, right?"
"Of course. Tomorrow's Saturday."
"I mean next week."
"Next week is next week," Simon said, lifting his wrist to glance at his watch. Then he looked at her again. "So it's settled, happily and pleasantly. I'll have someone pick you up after you wrap."