As the summer box office, which showed significant weakness in 1987, drew to a close, two films related to Simon also wrapped up.
On August 6, after a 17-week run, 'The Butterfly Effect' officially ended its theatrical run in North America, with its final box office tally reaching $116.95 million.
Immediately after, Orion Pictures, in order to free up more screen resources for its new film 'Life Of Brian' also pulled 'Run Lola Run' from all theatres on August 13. From February 13 to August 13, "Run Lola Run" had been screened in North American cinemas for exactly half a year, accumulating a final box office of $223.77 million.
As of August, only three films in North America had grossed over $100 million domestically this year, and two of them came from a young man who had only been in the industry for a year. This was nothing short of a miracle. Just as the two films successively broke the hundred-million-dollar mark in June, the media coverage of Simon once again reached a small peak when the two films successively ended their runs.
However, Simon was completely unable to pay attention to these discussions about himself.
While filming 'Pulp Fiction', Simon also had to juggle the post-production of 'Final Destination' and the preparations for 'When Harry Met Sally'. At the same time, the operations of the stock index futures market also occupied too much of his attention.
The intense month of August passed by unknowingly amidst this busyness.
Robert De Niro's scenes wrapped up in early August, and the appearances of Robert Redford, Nicole Kidman, and others also concluded one after another. Just when he thought everything would go smoothly, in the last week of August, Simon finally encountered the toughest nut to crack since filming began: Madonna.
On August 7, at the beginning of the month, Madonna's second film, 'Who's That Girl', had just premiered in North America.
If Madonna was still trying to act seriously in last year's 'Shanghai Surprise', then Queen Madonna in 'Who's That Girl' had completely given up on trying, with her various affected and exaggerated performances almost guaranteeing her the Golden Raspberry Award for Best Actress next year.
When it came to 'Pulp Fiction', the Queen's exaggerated flair had clearly not completely subsided, and so, a shoot originally scheduled for only three days was dragged out for five days.
Previously, Janette, Nicole, and several other female characters' performances had all satisfied Simon, and he certainly didn't want to lower his standards for the 'Honey Bunny' character, who would appear at the beginning of the film. Therefore, Simon had been completely at odds with the Queen for the past few days.
If I can't train you, Simon Westeros might as well quit.
Today is Friday, August 28th.
Inside a fast-food restaurant in the southern part of Santa Monica.
During these five days, some crew members who had been involved in Simon's film productions since 'Run Lola Run' finally witnessed the director's 'manic' side. However, this mania had nothing to do with the filming not going smoothly; rather, it was the director personally demonstrating, shot by shot, how Madonna should act as 'Honey Bunny'.
It's easy to imagine how hilarious the scene would be, with the tall and handsome director, who was the dream lover of all the female crew members, cross-dressing as a female character, and a manic female robber at that.
Next to the counter in the fast-food restaurant.
At this moment, everyone in the crew was gathered around, patiently waiting for Simon to personally coach Madonna. Even Sean Penn stood by with great interest, noticing the small detail of Simon diligently handing a bottle of spring water to his wife, and he wasn't even jealous. Having carefully read the script, he understood Simon's intention in doing so; he was just a little emotional about how far the guy would go to shoot this last scene well.
A moment later.
The scene that everyone had been talking about for the past few days happened again.
After Simon finished explaining to Madonna with gestures, he took the prop revolver from her hand, jumped onto the counter in a few swift movements, and, without any reservations, shouted shrilly at the empty space where no actors were positioned: "You let him go, you let him go, let him leave, or I'll kill you, let him go…"
After performing like that, Simon remained standing on the counter in the same pose, and said to Madonna below: "Maggie, do you see? It's like this, you need to squat down a bit. The robbery failed, you're very scared, even a little broken. So, it's best if your legs tremble a bit more, like this".
After a serious demonstration, Simon jumped off the counter.
Madonna was initially somewhat dissatisfied with this character, who was like a madwoman. However, seeing Simon personally demonstrate for her without any regard for his image, she couldn't help but secretly develop a bit of admiration for this young director who had already created box office miracles before he was 20. In the past few days, she had completely let go.
After all, it was just a role.
What's more, it's not like no one has called her a madwoman, so she might as well go crazy for a bit.
When Simon came down from the counter, Madonna took the prop revolver he handed her, briefly gathered her emotions, and also jumped onto the counter: "You let him go, you let him go, let him leave, or I'll kill you, let him go!"
"Your legs, tremble… it's too obvious again, pull back a bit… okay, come down first," Simon said, and when Madonna got off the counter, he took the revolver from her hand again and demonstrated once more.
After several such attempts, Simon, seeing that the effect was almost there, subtly handed Madonna another bottle of spring water: "Come on, Maggie, have some more water, and then we'll start shooting".
Madonna took the water bottle, glanced sideways at Simon, her eyes playful: "Little guy, is this how you flirt with women? I have to say, it's really clumsy".
Although she said that, Madonna still tilted her head back readily and drank almost half a bottle of spring water in one go.
Simon then, as if by magic, pulled out another bottle of water, but didn't immediately give it to Madonna. Instead, he instructed Sean Penn, Samuel L. Jackson, and the numerous extras on set to get into position.
If they could successfully complete this scene today, the Queen's shots would also be successfully finished.
With this expectation, everyone on the crew perked up.
Several consecutive attempts naturally still failed to meet Simon's requirements, during which Madonna was again given a bottle of water by Simon.
More than half an hour later, jumping off the counter again, Madonna was about to head straight to the restroom, but Simon stopped her.
"Hey, little guy, I need to go to the restroom, are you planning to come with me?" she joked. Madonna suddenly understood, staring at Simon and saying, "You did that on purpose?"
Simon neither admitted nor denied it, saying, "Maggie, stick with it and finish this scene, and tonight I'll treat you and Sean to dinner, how about it?"
Madonna, however, covered her lower abdomen, her eyes beginning to dart around: "It's urgent, little guy, do you want to see me make a fool of myself?"
"Alright," Simon surrendered directly: "You name your price".
Madonna directly held up two fingers: "Add two more songs".
"I'm just a film director, Maggie," Simon said with a pained expression, "Besides, songs also require inspiration, how can I just come up with a few whenever I want?"
"You can play 'Flight of the Bumblebee' so brilliantly, and the soundtrack for 'Run Lola Run' was so amazing, I have a lot of confidence in you," Madonna said. Seeing Simon not agree, she directly rushed forward: "Then I'm going to the restroom".
Simon quickly stopped her: "Two songs in total, no more".
"Deal," Madonna nodded readily, then added, "But you have to be quick, I can only hold out for half an hour at most".
Simon shook the spring water in his hand and said, "You can go if you can't stand it, but I need you to maintain this state all afternoon, and perhaps even work overtime".
Madonna immediately became unwilling: "Three songs".
Simon insisted: "Only two songs, but I guarantee you'll be satisfied."
Madonna's eyes darted around, and she said, "Next time at my concert, you can be my guitarist".
"How is that possible?"
"Just one show is fine, it's also a cameo. We can rehearse a bit then. And, little guy, I'll pay you a salary," Madonna grew more excited as she spoke. Seeing that Simon still wouldn't budge, she squeezed forward again: "Then I'm going to the restroom".
Simon had no choice but to nod: "Alright, just one show".
Madonna's eyes darted around again, and she continued, "Well, holding it in is really uncomfortable…"
Simon immediately stepped aside: "You should go to the restroom".
Madonna, however, didn't go, and said with great reluctance, "Forget it, forget it, what a stingy man".
People are often very vulnerable when they are trying to hold back from going to the restroom. So, in the subsequent performance, although only a few people noticed that Madonna had been drinking water, most people felt that in the last few shots, Madonna perfectly portrayed the emotions of a female robber who was outwardly fierce but inwardly timid after a failed robbery.
Although an hour of overtime was inevitably added, the restaurant scenes featuring Madonna and Sean Penn's parts were finally completed after a week.
After wrapping up, Madonna and Sean Penn left together, with Madonna once again reminding Simon to complete the promised songs as soon as possible.
Tomorrow is the weekend.
Simon returned to his Palisades mansion, and it was already seven o'clock in the evening.
Janette thoughtfully prepared dinner, and during the meal, the woman told him that Noah Scott had called three times since five o'clock that afternoon.
Simon only remembered that the S&P 500 index had exceeded 330 points before the great crash, but he didn't have a very deep impression of the exact number.
Therefore, on August 19th of last week, when the S&P 500 index reached 325 points, Simon once again began to liquidate the 10,000 long contracts in Westeros Company's account. On August 25th, which was this Tuesday, the S&P 500 index broke through 330 points, and Simon also asked Noah Scott to accelerate the liquidation speed.
According to the agreed-upon selling schedule, the 10,000 long contracts in Westeros Company's account should have been fully liquidated today.
However.
This time, Simon was not in a hurry to have Noah Scott establish short positions.
After dinner, Simon went to the study, and Janette followed him in. After more than three months of operations, although she basically had an idea, the woman was still very curious about how much money her man had specifically earned.
When Simon called him, he felt that Noah Scott seemed unusually enthusiastic today.
After a few words on the phone, the other side faxed over a series of transaction reports and financial data after the liquidation of the 10,000 long contracts was completed.
At market close today, the S&P 500 index had already reached 337 points.
Due to the accelerated rise of the S&P 500 index in July and August, Simon found it difficult to establish positions in the lower index range. The average entry point for this batch of 10,000 contracts was 316 points, and the average selling point was around 332 points.
Overall, the average increase per contract was only 16 points, which did not reach the average profit level of the previous two times. But even so, the total profit after the liquidation of 10,000 contracts reached 80 million US dollars.
Ultimately, after deducting various handling fees, Westeros
The company's account now held $278.56 million.
Although it didn't reach Simon's anticipated figure of $300 million. However, in three and a half months, from $75 million to $278.56 million, a profit of nearly 300%, even the top elites on Wall Street could not easily achieve such exorbitant profits.
When Simon and Noah Scott were on the phone, it was already past ten o'clock in the evening in Chicago, in the central United States.
However, in a villa in the wealthy Naperville suburb of Chicago, Noah Scott had deliberately sent his live-in girlfriend out tonight. At this moment, only Noah Scott himself and two other middle-aged men in their fifties were in the villa.
The two middle-aged men were Nelson Scott, Noah Scott's father who served as vice president at American Express, and the other red-faced middle-aged man was James Robinson, the current CEO of American Express.
Nelson Scott listened quietly as Noah Scott finished his call with Los Angeles. After his son hung up the phone, Nelson Scott asked, "How was it?"
Noah Scott shook his head and said, "He still told me to wait for instructions".
"What a cautious young man," James Robinson still held a thick document in his hand, which was Simon's detailed transaction records from recent months. He said while flipping through it, "However, since he was able to earn two hundred million dollars in just over three months, such caution is indeed correct. Noah, what do you think he will do next?"
Noah Scott thought for a moment and said, "It's almost the delivery month again, and the index fluctuations will definitely be very intense. Moreover, Westeros didn't ask me to continue building positions while selling this time, so he will either stop directly. Or, he should choose to go short. After all, most people now think that the market has reached its peak".
James Robinson, however, shook his head and said, "Since June, many people have thought that the market has peaked, and everyone has been building short positions, but the result is that a young man who is not yet twenty years old earned $200 million in the blink of an eye. Tsk, $200 million. And his performance in Hollywood, those two movies, I specifically went to see them a few days ago, they were indeed very good, and the box office surprised everyone. I really don't know where that little guy came from".
"I heard he lived in a mental hospital in San Francisco for half a year, and then he became like this," Noah Scott joked, and seeing both elders smile, he continued, "So, Mr. Robinson, what should we do next?"