Not to mention that the studio could cut back on its advertising and promotion. I suspect they intended to
spend huge sums before the general release.”
Joe sipped his beer before he spoke. “You sure know
a hell of a lot about Hollywood for a psychologist.”
Bill shrugged. “Cinema is both a reflection of and
an influence on contemporary life. Besides, I just like
movies.”
Judith, however, was looking for a more personal
angle. “What about reactions? Did you catch any remarks or attitudes that might indicate animosity
toward Bruno?”
“Plenty,” Joe replied, “but nothing I’d call suspicious. Dade complained about what Bruno had done to
the script. He also griped that Chips Madigan hadn’t
directed the movie the way the script indicated. Chips
accused Dade of screwing up the original work.” Joe
glanced at Judith. “That must have been the book you
saw upstairs,
“Did you find it?” Judith asked, having forgotten
that she’d told Joe to look for it in Room Three.
“Yes,” Joe answered. “I put it in a drawer by your
computer. Anyway,” he continued, “Dade reminded
Chips that a movie is not a book. They started to get
into it, but Vito cut them off.”
“That,” Bill put in, “was when Ben Carmody declared that the whole thing was a mistake from the
start. He insisted that the movie would never have been
made if Bruno hadn’t been able to con a huge investment out of Heathcliffe MacDermott in order to boost
his daughter Ellie’s career.”
“I’m sorry,” Judith broke in, “but I don’t understand
how the financing works. If Bruno is an independent
producer, how does the studio get involved?”
As was his fashion, Bill waited to organize his
thoughts. Renie, who was long accustomed to her husband’s methodical and precise mental processes,
climbed up on the kitchen counter, popped the top on
another Pepsi, and settled in for the long haul.
“Usually,” Bill finally said, “it works this way: A
producer like Bruno never invests his own money.
Let’s say he’s already nailed down at least one big
bankable star. Dirk Farrar, in this case. Maybe the estimated budget is seventy million dollars. He—
Bruno—then goes to Paradox Studios and says he’s
got a project and he’s got a star. Dirk’s name is worth,
say, twenty million at the box office. Paradox says
okay, we’ll get our investors to come up with another
thirty million, then you—Bruno—raise the rest of it.
Bruno goes to private investors, in this case because of
the connection with Ellie Linn, he asks Heathcliffe
MacDermott for ten million. The other ten million he
gets from other sources—German businessmen,
