Chapter 42: Gary Stu
"Speed's global box office is approaching 300 million dollars."
Inside a CAA office, Martin Bob seemed to be talking to himself as much as to Lovett sitting across from him. "The film's rising box office will only make Warner Brothers value Duke Rosenberg more, reducing our leverage."
He tapped lightly on the desk, weighing the situation. "Duke Rosenberg left Fox only to latch onto Warner Brothers. They won't just sit back and watch their investment fail. We can't afford to use too many underhanded methods, otherwise we'll draw the attention of Time Warner..."
CAA had done plenty of shady things. Because they created value, no major Hollywood studio cared. But to actually go up against one of the country's top three media conglomerates... they would be stripped bare from the inside out, and the other major talent agencies would definitely kick them while they were down.
"So we do nothing?" Lovett asked, unwilling to concede. His feelings toward Duke were incredibly complex.
"We still need to use our private methods. Wait until The Rock is nearing the end of post-production, then leak the news about Sean."
By then, the cost of changing the plot or the cast would be massive, and it would prime audiences to make comparisons. Martin Bob had clearly calculated it all out. "Also, we need to find a blockbuster to release at the exact same time as The Rock to crush it completely!"
"How did things go with James Cameron? I asked you to contact him," he said to Lovett.
"Well..." Lovett carefully organized his words, seemingly filtering the profanity from the original statement. "Cameron said that as long as he's on the True Lies set, CAA shouldn't even think about touching his project. He would rather True Lies be canceled than be CAA's puppet!"