As September entered its final week, MCA and Matsushita held another round of talks on Tuesday, September 25. The result was still an unpleasant breakup. Daenerys Entertainment, under intense media scrutiny, made no move at all. The acquisition that had been the talk of the town seemed to have fallen into a deadlock.
After the early month frenzy over the Forbes 400 passed, this week the Westeros team quietly restarted preliminary preparations for acquiring Bell Atlantic. James Rebould also began discreetly accumulating Bell Atlantic shares, planning to secure a 4.9% stake before the takeover plan became public.
Although Forbes would release the global rich list next month, Simon's ranking on that list was already a foregone conclusion, so it was unlikely to stir up much of a wave.
Over at Daenerys Television, the sitcom Simon had personally selected at the start of the year, Seinfeld, also premiered on ABC this Tuesday. ABC gave it the 9:00 p.m. slot and used Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as a lead in.
After the premiere aired, Seinfeld posted 15.6 million viewers, prompting ABC to immediately announce a two season renewal.
On the film side, David Lynch's Cannes Palme d'Or winner Wild at Heart opened last Friday on 532 screens. This movie, divisive and polarizing from Cannes all the way to North America, pulled in $5.73 million over its first seven days from September 21 to September 27. With a per screen average above $10,000, it hit blockbuster territory, surprising a lot of people.
After seeing the opening weekend numbers, Highgate Pictures began urgently reallocating screens. The second week screen count was expected to rise to around 800, and the film might even push toward the $20 million North American mark. Even with a revenue sharing distribution deal, once domestic box office crossed $20 million, and with follow up videotape and TV rights, Daenerys Entertainment would still make a nice profit.
Compared to Wild at Heart, the Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore's new film Cinema Paradiso had opened earlier on September 7. Despite several limited previews, it failed to generate any audience response, and ultimately limped to just $170,000 in North America.
Highgate Pictures had invested $1 million to secure Cinema Paradiso's full North American rights. Judging from theatrical returns, a loss was inevitable.
Together with Cinema Paradiso, which Universal had once bought at a high price only to ruin with a botched release strategy, Tornatore's two films failed to make any splash in North America. This Italian director was destined to struggle for Hollywood's favor in the future.
Of course, Simon was the exception.
If Tornatore's future films The Legend of 1900 and Malena still appeared, Simon would definitely step in again.
Los Angeles.
After a short one day rest in Seattle with his assistant, Simon returned to Hollywood to begin another week of work.
When Warner Bros. CEO Terry Semel learned Simon wanted to slow the DC film universe schedule, he objected immediately, and Steve Ross soon called Simon's office as well.
The continuation plan for Phase One of the DC film universe had been a sustained promotional highlight for Time Warner these past six months, a period when post merger troubles seemed endless.
And although most investors recognized the win win structure between Daenerys Entertainment and Time Warner over the DC film universe, there were also shareholders criticizing Time Warner's management for giving Daenerys too much benefit and too much initiative.
It was easy to imagine that if the planned Phase One cycle of ten films in five years was suddenly stretched to seven to ten years, those shareholders who'd been accusing management of giving away too much would become even more dissatisfied. Some investors who'd originally stood with management might even switch sides.
Worse still, it would definitely impact Time Warner's stock price.
Since he'd already made up his mind, Simon wasn't going to change it easily.
After several rounds of argument, Time Warner had to compromise. The entire DC film universe's control was, in reality, completely in Simon's hands. If things truly blew up, Daenerys wouldn't be afraid of shelving the plan entirely, but Time Warner couldn't afford the fallout.
Still, Simon offered an appropriate compensation.
The final two remaining slots in Daenerys Entertainment's ten film plan were both handed to Warner Bros., further tying their interests together. Simon also agreed not to publicly announce the pacing adjustment. Instead, during execution, they would use excuses like production delays and pre production setbacks, quietly stretching the schedule without drawing attention.
They barely reached agreement, but Simon understood that a crack had formed in the partnership between Daenerys Entertainment and Time Warner.
Still, that kind of thing was inevitable.
As Daenerys Entertainment, and the whole Westeros system, continued expanding, it was bound to harm more and more people's interests.
Friday, September 28.
Inside the second floor office lofts at Daenerys Studios, the dedicated DC film universe team occupied a special office area in Loft Two beside Daenerys Special Effects. Most of the DC film universe planning happened here.
And basing the team here also made it easy to coordinate with the effects department on whether certain scenes were feasible.
In a multipurpose room over seventy square meters inside the DC film universe area, Simon, Amy, and Semel were all present today. This room had been used for auditions recently. Now the walls were packed with actor headshots, mainly for the three flagship series: Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash.
The core roles for Batman were long settled, so there was nothing to discuss there.
For Wonder Woman, the key creatives had been finalized over this period, including Famke Janssen as Diana Prince, Joanna Cassidy as Queen Hippolyta, and Linda Hamilton as Hippolyta's sister Antiope. Over this week, the supporting roles, Steve Trevor, Ares, and others, were also locked in.
Today's topic was the final casting for The Flash. Of course, they called it a discussion, but the final decision still rested with Simon.
"Since nobody objects, Barry Allen goes to Jason Gedrick."
After carefully watching several clips and reviewing the actors' backgrounds, and after some discussion, Simon made the call.
Jason Gedrick was twenty five, had debuted in 1983, and had appeared in films like Tom Cruise's Risky Business, Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July, and Michael Hoffman's Field of Dreams. His acting and experience were solid, and Simon liked his performance in Field of Dreams.
And on Wednesday night, when Simon went to see Robert Redford's new film Havana at Redford's invitation, Redford had specifically recommended Jason Gedrick, who'd already made the final shortlist. The differences among the last few candidates weren't huge anyway. Gedrick met all the criteria, so Simon used the opportunity to do Redford a favor.
After everyone nodded, a staff member pinned Jason Gedrick's photo onto the wall in the male lead spot under The Flash.
With that settled, Simon set down the next folder. "Now for the female lead. Tracy Pollan, Robin Wright, Amanda Wyss. Let's rewatch a few pieces of their audition tapes first."
The moment Simon finished, the staff drew the curtains and turned on the projector without needing to be told.
A moment later, the screen lit up with Tracy Pollan's audition.
Tracy Pollan was thirty, had debuted earlier than Jason Gedrick, and had plenty of experience. Also, she was the wife of popular young star Michael J. Fox, and that was the biggest reason she'd made it to the final round.
Robin Wright was twenty four. Not only was she the "Jenny" in Simon's memory of Forrest Gump and the future "First Lady" in House of Cards, she was also the female lead of the hit soap opera Santa Barbara, originally produced by New World Pictures and later taken over by Daenerys Entertainment.
Santa Barbara began airing in 1984 and ended officially last year. During that run, Robin Wright also appeared in Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride.
Amanda Wyss was thirty one, also a TV actress by background. Because she was the oldest, her acting experience was richer than the other two. And she was probably the most beautiful of the three candidates.
After the audition tapes finished, Simon looked around at the others.
Terry Semel spoke first. "I think Tracy Pollan is good. As Michael J. Fox's wife, that's a great promotional angle."
Even though Michael J. Fox's Back to the Future series had ended, his A list popularity could still hold for a few years. As Fox's wife, like Demi Moore, Pollan did have a built in advantage.
But the moment Semel finished, Amy said, "I don't think 'Michael J. Fox's wife' is that strong of an advantage. Amanda Wyss is better. Her performance experience is richer than the other two. And her image and temperament fit Iris West as a news reporter better."
At that point, The Flash director George P. Cosmatos, recommended by Warner, said, "But Amy, Amanda Wyss is already thirty one."
Cosmatos had directed big productions like Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra. He didn't match Simon's usual standard for DC universe directors, but Warner wasn't as bold as Simon. They wanted someone with more experience for The Flash series.
Warner was funding The Flash, and Cosmatos wouldn't have a hand in crossover films like Justice League. After multiple discussions, and confirming his approach didn't clash too sharply with Simon's, Simon agreed.
Amy picked up a photo and showed it to Cosmatos. "George, if I told you Amanda was twenty, people might believe it."
Amanda Wyss had a soft, leaning face. Even at thirty one, she was well kept, and she really could pass for twenty.
Since it was down to the final three, Simon would have been satisfied with any of them as Iris West. Any of them could do the job. The reason they argued at all was because they knew Simon wasn't opposed to any of them, so the discussion still mattered. Otherwise, they could've just waited for Simon's decision.
"But Amy," Cosmatos insisted, "Amanda Wyss is very beautiful now. But if The Flash runs for ten years, can you picture her keeping this face at forty one?"
Simon hadn't focused on this issue before, but Cosmatos's remark suddenly snapped him awake.
He imagined the ten year run of Friends from his memory. At the start, the actresses still looked great. By the end, even Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox, the best looking of them, gave off a brutal sense that time was a butcher's knife.
And even without using Friends as a comparison, in the Iron Man series, Pepper Potts, who used to look fine, became hard to watch after ten years of franchise continuity as well.
Amy said, "By your logic, George, then Amanda Wyss and Tracy Pollan can both be eliminated right away."
Simon ignored their argument and looked back at the dossiers.
Any of the three could play Iris West. Still, Simon had his own leanings. He had originally favored Amanda Wyss. She had the intelligence of a reporter, but also a capable, sharp edge.
And in The Flash's story, Iris West wouldn't be some decorative flower. Because of her job as a journalist, she would drive a lot of plot, including in DC universe crossover storylines.
In the original timeline, Amanda Wyss never became very famous. Simon couldn't remember what she looked like ten years later. More importantly, he could tell she'd likely had work done. He hadn't cared much about that, but it was obvious that women who'd undergone cosmetic surgery tended to be hit harder by time.
After considering it, Simon drew an X across Amanda Wyss's file page. Then he looked up, cut off Amy and George's dispute, and said, "Amy, George just reminded me. Age really is important. I remember thinking about this before. If he hadn't brought it up, I almost would've forgotten. Amanda Wyss isn't suitable. Pass."
Amy paused, then nodded. "Then what about Tracy Pollan?"
Simon barely hesitated. "Cut her too."
Two out of three were gone. The female lead for The Flash was practically decided.
And everyone in the room realized it at the same time. That twenty four year old woman had, without anyone noticing, just won because of her age.