As July began, the 1987 summer box office season had already passed its halfway mark without anyone realizing it.
Besides 'Beverly Hills Cop II', there hadn't been any other domestic blockbusters this summer with the potential to gross over $100 million.
Films like 'The Witches of Eastwick', starring Jack Nicholson, 'Predator', starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and 'Dragnet', starring Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd, were expected to reach a total North American box office of $50-60 million. However, these films were only considered modest successes and generally fell short of the major film studios' expectations.
Among them, Matthew Broderick's new film 'Project X', which had previously caused conflict with Simon, was released by Fox Pictures on June 5th. Opening on 1022 screens, its first-week box office was $4.57 million, and its cumulative box office for the entire month of June was just over $12 million. Compared to its production cost of $15 million, Fox Pictures would not incur a loss through post-release operations, but the film certainly did not live up to the prime release slot and promotional resources it received.
Simon had paid attention to 'Project X' before its release, but he no longer felt much about it.
The past conflict had long been resolved, and as long as Matthew Broderick didn't provoke him again, Simon would have no further dealings with him.
On the other hand, on July 2nd, the S&P 500 index broke the 290-point mark. After a month and a half of quiet, Simon once again began issuing trading instructions to Noah Scott, gradually liquidating the 4500 contracts originally held in Westeros Company's account, and simultaneously began building new positions.
In an era when stock index futures trading did not yet have a 'daily mark-to-market settlement system', there were many advantages for futures traders, but the disadvantage was that Simon could not directly use the book profits from the original 4500 contracts for buying operations. To increase his position, he had to complete a liquidation and re-entry.
Simon had originally hoped to complete the re-entry within the range of 290 to 295 points for the S&P 500 index. However, after the relatively volatile June stock index futures delivery month, the S&P 500 index's upward momentum clearly accelerated.
Westeros Company's account had established long positions in mid-May at an average S&P 500 index of 272 points, but ultimately completed the liquidation and re-entry at an average of around 295 points.
With an average increase of 23 points, the book profit for each contract reached approximately $11,500.
After settlement, the 4500 long contracts in Westeros Company's account, after deducting various transaction fees, accumulated a profit of $50.65 million in one month, and Simon's principal thus increased to $125 million.
After the re-entry operation, Westeros Company's long position increased to 6800 contracts, with the position ratio still reaching a very dangerous 80%.
Fortunately, from July 2nd to July 10th, the second round of positioning concluded, and the S&P 500 index had already risen to 298 points by the close of trading on July 10th. In just these few days, the long contracts in Westeros Company's account once again generated a very substantial book profit.
Simon realized that he might not need to use the Wells Fargo loan at all. In fact, he really didn't want to use that loan unless absolutely necessary.
Breaching the loan agreement was secondary; more importantly, if the misappropriation of that loan were discovered, Simon's operations in the futures market could also be exposed.
Compared to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's daily stock index futures trading volume of over 80,000 contracts, the several thousand contracts held by Westeros Company would not normally have a significant impact on the market.
However, if someone discovered that a young man who had just created a box office miracle in Hollywood had also joined this game and had unknowingly made a huge sum of money, then, according to Soros' famous 'reflexivity theory' of the mutual influence between market participants and the market, Simon's operations would be amplified in their interference with the stock index futures market, and the original market trends in his memory could very likely change as a result.
At the same time, in the final week of its shooting schedule, the 'Final Destination' crew returned to Los Angeles from New York and completed the film's opening plane crash scene in a soundstage at Fox Studios. The film officially wrapped on July 9th.
Simon spent several days discussing and confirming the detailed post-production plan for 'Final Destination' with Wes Craven. On July 13th, 'Pulp Fiction', which had been in preparation for several months, officially began filming.
Inside a bar on Venice Beach.
On the third day of filming, the crew was shooting the scene where mob boss Marsellus Wallace persuades Butch Coolidge to throw a boxing match.
In the main film, this scene has background music, but at this moment, the atmosphere in the bar was very quiet.
Various departments of the crew were orderly gathered around the two actors playing Marsellus Wallace and Butch Coolidge, and the only sound was the voiceover of Ving Rhames, the black actor playing Marsellus Wallace.
"When this is all over, you'll find that you're the one who laughs last. Butch, even though you're strong now, unfortunately, you won't be strong for long..."
Since it was a fixed camera shot, Simon didn't need to constantly check the framing effect through a monitor. Instead, he stood on the periphery of the cameraman, lighting technician, and other staff, watching Robert De Niro's performance, which had only a few lines, with his arms crossed, comparing it in his mind to the original Bruce Willis.
Among a large group of tough-guy actors like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis's acting skills could be said to be the best.
However, in this scene from the original 'Pulp Fiction', watching old Bruce sit in front of the camera listening to the mob boss's instructions, most people would subconsciously have the thought: This is Bruce Willis, this is Bruce Willis, this is Bruce Willis... At this moment.
Simon looked at Robert De Niro in the scene, shoulders slumped, lips slightly pursed, an expression of suppressed anger and unwillingness, yet completely daring not to act out in front of the mob boss. His inner feeling was: This is Butch Coolidge, a down-and-out boxer whose career is nearing its end, still possessing some skill but ultimately failing to make a name for himself.
In 'Pulp Fiction', Butch Coolidge's room for development was actually not much smaller than that of characters like Vincent or Jules. But in the original film, due to insufficient acting skill or a lack of effort, this character was essentially portrayed as a live-action cameo by Bruce Willis.
This is probably why the media and audience raved about characters like Vincent, Mia, and Jules, but few discussed the boxer with a significant role.
In comparison, Robert De Niro, who has always been known for his dedication, had spent the past few months preparing for this role in a way that even Simon couldn't help but admire.
Although he was a boxer, Butch Coolidge would not appear in the boxing ring in the film. But even so, to make himself look like a professional boxer, Robert De Niro still underwent two months of physical training and gained weight.
For the current scene, Robert De Niro not only discussed the character's psychological changes and performance methods with Simon multiple times but also had Ving Rhames record the dialogue for him to repeatedly ponder.
Now, after just Robert De Niro's first scene since filming began, Simon was convinced that this portrayal of Butch Coolidge would leave an impression on the audience no less profound than that of Vincent, Jules, and other characters.
Three minutes later, after Robert De Niro and Ving Rhames' first performance concluded, Simon signalled for others to rest and brought the two actors to the monitor.
The video assist system in the 1980s had only recently emerged. The monitor screen was only 6 inches in size, but the rental cost of the entire setup was very expensive, almost comparable to the rental price of a camera.
For the previous 'Run Lola Run', to save budget, Simon simply didn't use this equipment.
This time, there was no need to be so frugal.
The three of them gathered around the monitor screen, which was comparable to later large-screen mobile phones, to watch the playback. After a moment, Simon pressed pause, freezing the image on a small detail of Robert De Niro's mouth twitching, and turned to ask Robert De Niro, who was standing beside him: "Bob, what do you think?"
Robert De Niro looked at it for a moment, then shook his head and smiled, saying, "Overdone".
Simon nodded and said, "As a small-time figure, Butch is actually very wary of Marsellus. His long silence already shows his inner resistance, but he can't dare to show too obvious dissatisfaction. So, next, you need to rein it in a bit".
Robert De Niro didn't say much, just: "Simon, I'll prepare myself."
Simon waited for Robert De Niro to return to his previous seat before turning to Ving Rhames, who played Marsellus Wallace.
Like Samuel L. Jackson, who played Jules, Ving Rhames was also an original cast member.
Furthermore, Ving Rhames was similar to Samuel L. Jackson in other aspects as well.
This black actor also had a standard academic background, having studied drama performance at both the State University of New York and the Juilliard School in New York, known as the 'Harvard of Music.' He held a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, and before this, he also had Broadway performing experience and had been playing inconspicuous small roles in Hollywood.
From Samuel L. Jackson and Ving Rhames, it's not hard to see that Hollywood still had deep-rooted racial discrimination. In Hollywood, many black movie stars, ironically, had higher levels of education. Relatively speaking, the 'threshold' for white people to achieve the American dream was much lower.
Due to his academic background, Ving Rhames' profound acting skills, though he didn't show his face at all during the three-minute performance, still earned Simon's admiration.
Simon chatted with Ving Rhames for a few moments and had a very good impression of the actor, who, despite playing a mob boss, had a rather gentle personality in real life. Finally, he extended his hand to the other party and said, "Ving, your acting skills are excellent. I think we'll definitely have opportunities to work together in the future".
Ving Rhames shook Simon's hand firmly and said with a smile, "Of course, I'm very much looking forward to it too".
As they spoke, Robert De Niro indicated he was ready to shoot again, so Simon instructed everyone to prepare once more.
Today's main filming involved several scenes with Butch, Marsellus, Vincent, and Jules in the bar. The set of shots where Marsellus persuades Butch to throw the fight was repeatedly filmed for an hour before Simon approved it.
John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson had already finished their makeup, and then other shots quickly began.
Working busily until five in the afternoon, the crew officially wrapped up for the day.
After everyone else dispersed, Simon and a few assistant directors confirmed tomorrow's shooting schedule and sent today's film to the Fox Studios processing lab. It was already 6:20 PM.
Inside Fox Studios.
Leaving the post-production centre, Simon looked at Jennifer Raybould, who had grown accustomed to following him these past few days. After his last invitation, the girl quickly resigned from George Norman's law firm and came to work for him.
Slowing his pace as they walked along the asphalt path within the studio, Simon asked the girl beside him "Jenny, how have you been feeling these past few days?"
Jennifer Raybould, carrying a briefcase and a folder in her hand, heard Simon's question and couldn't help but recall her experiences over the past few days. At the end of last month, she suddenly decided to give up her legal career, and all her relatives expressed their inability to accept it. Her parents even flew in from New York.
However, Jennifer, who had always been a good girl since childhood, did not intend to obey her parents' wishes this time.
After several confrontations, she finally got her wish.
However, Jennifer also made some compromises. Her parents demanded that she must pass the California Bar Examination at the end of July and officially obtain her license. This way, she would always be able to switch back to the legal profession in the future.
Then, starting July 1st, the girl officially became Simon's personal assistant.
The professional scope of a secretary and an assistant overlaps, but they are also fundamentally two different jobs. Simply put, within a company, an assistant's authority is usually much higher than a secretary's.
For the past half-month, Jennifer was still in the stage of familiarizing herself with her work.
In fact, Simon's career in Hollywood was just beginning, and there wasn't much work he could give her.
However, as long as the operations in the stock index futures market were successfully completed and he had a large sum of capital, Simon's ventures would certainly expand rapidly. At that time, the girl's workload would significantly increase.
At this moment, hearing Simon's question, Jennifer said, "I... I feel like I can't do much for you. Perhaps I should take some film production courses at USC".
Simon, hearing this, smiled and shook his head, saying, "No need, Jenny. You need to know that in Hollywood, experience is more important than education. Besides, I'm not planning to train you to be a film producer".
Jennifer asked, puzzled, "Simon, what do you intend for me to do?"
"Just be my assistant" Simon said with a smile, then paused, adding, "Actually, I've been working on some other things recently, but it's not convenient to tell you yet. After a while, you'll find yourself so busy you might be flying".