Hollywood Hunter

At the end of the Geneva trip, Simon flew to Florence where Gucci is headquartered the next day.

Sophia hopes that Simon can appear in the Gucci documentary. All day on the 24th, Simon wandered around the corner of Florence with the new Gucci creative director Tom Ford under the camera. Ford's September 1990 Gucci Spring/Summer Fashion Collection will draw inspiration from this world's oldest cultural and artistic center.

As the host, the Gucci family specially prepared a banquet for Simon in the manor on the outskirts of the Gucci family.

To be precise, it was Aldo Gucci, the second-generation eldest son of Gucci, who invited Simon.

Of the three sons of Gucci’s founder, Guccio Gucci, two have passed away. Only the eldest Aldo is still alive, the one who was reported to prison by his nephew for tax evasion a few years ago.

In the last equity transaction, some members of the Gucci family emigrated overseas due to tax avoidance considerations. Only Aldo Gucci’s second and third sons remained in Italy, and his Aldo’s eldest son was also at odds with his father. , Lives in New York all year round.

The various toss of the past few years have caused the Gucci family to lose its beauty in Italy, but after all, there is still some heritage. Especially this time the guest is Simon Westeros, a new world-class wealthy upstart and Hollywood tycoon. Therefore, For the first time in so many years, the Gucci family was full of guests and friends. Many celebrities from government and enterprises in Italy attended the event, and also attracted a large number of showbiz people who came to Simon.

Even though he insisted on his unwillingness to sell the family company, he still firmly controlled Aldo Gucci, who held 20% of the shares of Gucci, because this dinner that brought the Gucci family back to glory changed his attitude towards Simon a lot.

Because there was no language barrier, Simon was able to socialize among the banquet crowd until 10 o'clock in the evening, and then left.

The 83-year-old Aldo Gucci still did not rest, and personally took two two sons and a large group of celebrities to send Simon and Sofia out of the Gucci family manor.

In the car, seeing the gloriously lit manor of the Gucci family disappear from sight, Sophia said: "Now, it will be even more difficult for us to acquire the remaining shares of the Gucci family."

Simon naturally understood what Sophia meant.

In the past few months, Gucci's recovery is obvious to all.

If Gucci continues to maintain its previous state of decline and survives for a few years, the Gucci family will definitely get rid of all their shares. But now, even the incompetent children of the Gucci family know that holding the shares in the handshake is the long-term solution to the big tree of Simon Westeros.

"We can't take up all our interests. It is enough to control Gucci's absolute controlling rights. After Gucci's business is stable, we can transfer resources and energy to other luxury brands," Simon said with a smile: "Moreover, the Gucci family Maybe I borrowed some of my name this time, but again, if we achieve 100% ownership of Gucci, the Gucci family will definitely not do this. We can only be like an outsider with black eyes when we go to Italy. Sit on the bench. This kind of borrowing is mutual."

Sophia nodded in approval.

Simon was just purely entertaining at the party just now, but she really knew a lot of local snakes that might help Gucci in the future.

Thinking of this, Sophia was about to talk about the Cannes incident again when the car suddenly slowed down and finally stopped.

Simon looked forward in confusion and asked, "Neil, what's the matter?"

Before Neil Bennett had time to speak, the car window was knocked a few times.

Simon looked out warily, but saw a woman's face faintly appearing outside the window, recognizing the woman's identity, he rolled down the car window and said, "Miss Friuli, why are you here?"

The woman's name is Sabina Friuli, and she is an actor.

Before the party at the Gucci family, Sabina Friuli eagerly took the initiative to talk to Simon several times, and also left her business card, and Simon barely remembered the other's name.

The window rolled down, and Sabina Friuli appeared in front of Simon with a pitiful, pretty face, and said, "Mr. Westeros, my car has broken down, can you give me a free ride?"

Sabina Frielli said, pointing to a black car whose hood was smoking on the side of the road.

Simon glanced at the car in the car lights, a little dumbfounded.

I didn't expect to encounter such a clichéd trick, and, seeing the smoke of the car, the woman really got the hand, the car is definitely really broken, and may even be scrapped.

This is the southern suburb of Florence where various luxury manors gather. Simon's manor in this city is also not far away, less than five kilometers by car.

It was impossible to leave a young woman in the suburbs, Simon had to push the car door and let Sabina Friuli squeeze in and squeeze in the back row with him and Sofia.

In the front row are two bodyguards.

The rampant kidnapping cases in Italy are well known. When Simon was still in Los Angeles, he heard that he was going to Italy, and many people around him advised him to bring more entourage. So this trip to Europe deliberately brought four bodyguards. Jennifer did not come with him tonight, Simon left two bodyguards in his manor.

With an outsider, Simon and Sophia stopped the conversation just now.

Sabina Friuli appeared to be very talkative, and her thin and hot body unabashedly attached to Simon's body. Barabara asked various things about Hollywood, and expressly expressed her interest in Valerie Galino's ability to play " The envy of Catwoman in Batman, and boldly asked Simon if she could take her to Hollywood.

Because they were not far together, Simon's car quickly drove into another manor.

Compared to other residences in Europe, the manor on the outskirts of Florence satisfies Simon the most. It has a stone wall that is more than two meters high. The entire five-acre manor is enclosed by a wall of more than 600 meters. When Simon saw the information about this manor, although the Italian-style villa in the manor did not fit Simon's aesthetics too much, he did not hesitate to buy it.

Everyone got out of the car, and Simon, who had been rubbed with perfume by the hot stunner Sabina Friuli, asked: "Ms. Friuli, where do you live, I will ask the driver to take you back."

Sabina Friuli unabashedly wrapped her up again, holding Simon's arm: "Simon, can I stay here for the night? I stayed in a hotel for the past two days, and I always feel that someone is following me."

Sophia saw Simon being entangled, blinked at him, and walked towards the villa with a smile.

Simon felt that the woman was forcibly sent away. She was likely to have another moth, or she might faint directly in his arms. She waved at the two bodyguards and told them to go to the annex to rest by themselves. Binna Friuli walked to the main villa.

Inside the villa living room.

Jennifer hadn’t taken a rest yet. Seeing Simon coming in with a tall girl with a hot body, a little bit of resentment appeared on her face. Her tone became a little cold, and she changed her title: "Boss, the movie in Cannes. The results of the festival awards have been released."

With that said, the female assistant handed a folder to Simon, turned and walked upstairs.

Simon took the folder, and reluctantly reached out to hold the female assistant who was about to leave, and said: "Miss Friuli's car broke down. She is just staying here for one night."

Simon grabbed his hand, and listening to him explain to himself, Jennifer's sourness dissipated a little, and Simon was allowed to sit down on the sofa in the living room with him.

Sabina Freili is obviously a smart person. Seeing Simon and Jennifer’s affectionate attitude, this young tycoon obviously also values ​​each other more, and wittily didn’t get to Simon’s side, and sat down on the sofa next to him. Seeing Sophia came to the living room with a pot of coffee, she graciously got up and walked over to take the tray and poured coffee for everyone.

The living room of the villa unknowingly once again presented a situation of yin and decay of one man and three women.

Janet said early on that Simon's personality is like a lion, unconsciously, his personality seems to be more obvious, and even the senior executives within the company are gradually showing a trend of prosperity and decline.

Simon also discovered that although sometimes women around him are definitely not less minded than men, he is still more adapted to this situation.

There is about an hour time difference between Florence and Cannes. Tonight happens to be the time for the closing ceremony of Cannes. Simon had also received an official invitation from Cannes to attend the closing ceremony, but he just refused.

Pulling the female assistant to sit down in the living room, Simon opened the file of the Cannes award results.

Although many films in my memory appeared as scheduled, the results of the 42nd Cannes Film Festival's awards this time exceeded Simon's expectations.

The biggest variable is undoubtedly Golden Palm.

The winner of the Palme d’Or award in memory is Steven Soderberg’s "Sex, Lies, and Videotape", because the chairman of the jury of this year’s film festival is Wim Wenders. Simon also felt that this German film directors, who always have a sense of emptiness and alienation in the film, should prefer Soderbergh's film about the confused lives of young people in the United States at the end of the Beat generation.

however.

The reality is that the winner of the Palme d’Or has become Giuseppe Tonadore’s "Paradise Cinema".

Think about it carefully, "Paradise Cinema" is also eligible for Palme d'Or, and it is also biased towards Wim Wenders' preferences. Moreover, going a little deeper, Simon realized that the difference in the results of this award should be due to the difference between the publisher of "Sex, Lies and Videotape" and the original time and space.

The original version of "Sex, Lies and Videotape" was issued by Miramax, and the Weinstein brothers are well known for their skillful public relations skills.

Now, the distributor of the film has become Columbia Pictures.

Although Columbia Pictures does not know how many ranks it exceeds than the current Miramax, the Columbia team is obviously inferior in terms of connections and experience in terms of connections and experience in this kind of awards and public relations that requires much attention. The Weinstein brothers in Europe.

Of course, "Sex, Lies and Videotape" did not come home empty-handed, but won the second-ranked Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

As for "My Left Foot", there is only one award for best actor.

Daniel Day Lewis’s performance is indeed well-deserved for this award.

From the beginning, Simon had no intention of letting "My Left Foot" hit Palme d'Or. For the current results, he also likes to hear and hear, especially the "Paradise Cinema" got Palme d'Or.

It’s not because it’s very relieved to see "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" failing the election. The main thing is that Palme d’Or was "Pulp Fiction" last year. This is a Hollywood movie. If the Palme d’Or is still a Hollywood movie, then In the next few years, out of balance and other considerations, the possibility of Hollywood wanting to get Palme d’Or is very low.

Although it is difficult for the Cannes Film Festival officials to interfere with the award results, the judges participating in the award selection must also understand that continuing to award Palme d’Or to Hollywood is definitely not knowing themselves. After all, most of the jury members are usually European filmmakers. If they are too partial, it will be a great harm to their own interests.

In addition, Simon's "Sweet Sister" by Jane Campion has found nothing.

Jennifer recovered from the jealousy just now, and took a script from the coffee table and explained to Simon: "This is from Deutschman in the evening. Tonadore's new film script is called " Journey to Family, tells the story of an old man who rushed to visit his children scattered around after retirement. Deutschman said that he had talked with Tonadore twice, but the other party should be waiting for the results of the Cannes award , Therefore did not immediately agree to our invitation to cooperate."

Sabina Friuli, who was always sitting quietly next to her, just heard that the director of her country had obtained Palme d'Or, her eyes lit up. At this moment, she saw the script in Jennifer's hand and her expression became more moved. Like Valerie Galino, she can step into Hollywood with the best actress in Venice one step into Hollywood. If she can play a role in the Italian film invested by Daenerys Entertainment, it would be a springboard.

It's a pity that she doesn't know much English, and she didn't understand the words in Jennifer's words that Daenerys had not negotiated with Tonadore, and she thought that Simon would invest in this movie.

Everyone was waiting for the price, and Simon was not surprised.

He had already watched Jane Campion's "Sweet Sister" when he was in Geneva. Although the New Zealand film crew was very enthusiastic, they also did not immediately agree to Daenerys Entertainment's invitation to buy the film. Obviously, he was waiting for the award.

It is expected that Giuseppe Tonadore would choose this way.

Even, because of the changes in the award results, Simon found that Daenerys Entertainment wanted to get "Paradise Cinema" at a reasonable price. Obviously, with the Palme d’Or aura, even if the original Italian version of this film seems very protracted, but with Daenerys Entertainment’s already bidding, Hollywood filmmakers certainly don’t mind vying for it.

In my memory, the North American box office of this film was only about 10 million U.S. dollars. This is the result of the Weinstein brothers carefully operating a best foreign language film. The North American theater version of the film has also been cut. Once the bidding war started, even if Daenerys forcibly obtained the movie, there was not much room for profit.

Now, the Weinstein brothers obviously can't reach out to this side of the movie, they don't have such strength. But the film fell into the hands of other filmmakers, and the result was unpredictable.

Just like Luc Besson’s Cannes opening film "Blue Sea and Blue Sky" last year, the film achieved a record box office in France, but it fell into the hands of Hollywood studios. After a mess of changes and disorderly release, the film was directly released. Pounce on the street.