Chapter Summaries

Aaron discussed the high-budget Days of Thunder and Carolco Pictures with Paula Wagner, then helped Nicole Kidman secure a role in David Lynch’s independent film Wild at Heart. The chapter ended with Nicole pleased about the script while Aaron suggested she might still pursue Days of Thunder’s female lead.

• Aaron and Paula Wagner discussed Days of Thunder’s $60 million budget and Carolco Pictures’ plans for Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
• Aaron considered Nicole Kidman for the female lead in Days of Thunder, while Paula Wagner warned that the competition was fierce and Nicole was tall.
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade opened with $29.5 million over its first three days.
• Aaron helped Adam Sandler return to Saturday Night Live and helped Nicole Kidman land a script for David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, starring newcomer Nicolas Cage.
• Nicole Kidman asked Aaron why he had chosen an independent film over a commercial project, and Aaron explained that the Days of Thunder role might be difficult to obtain.

Aaron discussed making a low-budget film with Quentin Tarantino before pursuing a distributor for the North American rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Orion Pictures offered too little, so Aaron planned to resume negotiations after Golden Harvest finished a rough cut.

• Aaron urged Quentin Tarantino to develop a low-budget screenplay they could make and test at the Sundance Film Festival.
• Quentin Tarantino left the nightclub with a woman, while Aaron focused on finding a distributor for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Aaron visited several distributors and found TriStar Pictures unlikely to be an option amid its corporate changes.
• At Orion Pictures, Peter Holman offered $2.4 million for the North American rights, which Aaron rejected as too low.
• Aaron left Orion encouraged by interest from New Line Cinema and Samuel Goldwyn Films, which wanted to see the finished film before negotiating further.

Aaron defended Al Pacino’s choice to join The Godfather Part III instead of Dick Tracy and clashed with Warren Beatty at CAA. Aaron publicly wagered that Pretty Woman would earn more than half of Dick Tracy’s box office, while Michael Ovitz let the confrontation unfold.

• Aaron reassured Nicole Kidman that Wild at Heart’s European backers, including Canal+ and PolyGram, would be open to working with him.
• Warren Beatty questioned Michael Ovitz about Al Pacino turning down Dick Tracy, and Michael said Al had chosen to prepare for The Godfather Part III.
• Warren confronted Aaron in the CAA lobby and warned that he could prevent Aaron from signing stars.
• Aaron defended Al Pacino’s choice and challenged Warren’s authority, mocking his long-delayed flop Ishtar.
• Aaron declared that he would leave CAA if Dick Tracy earned at least half of Pretty Woman’s box office, and Michael Ovitz watched without intervening.

After news of Aaron Anderson’s betting dispute with Warren Beatty boosted publicity for Pretty Woman and Dick Tracy, Aaron insisted he believed Pretty Woman would outperform the rival film. Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman dismissed the romantic comedy’s chances, while Aaron planned Nicole Kidman’s next role.

• Jeffrey Katzenberg praised Aaron for generating publicity, but Aaron said his confidence in Pretty Woman was genuine and criticized Warren Beatty and Dick Tracy.
• Aaron met Nicole Kidman and producer Steven Reuther at a bar, where they treated the dispute as a publicity stunt and Aaron predicted success for Sex, Lies, and Videotape.
• Nicole asked Aaron whether to accept a role in an Australian youth romance film, and he told her to go to New York with him to pursue the female lead in Wild at Heart.
• At Warren Beatty’s villa, Dustin Hoffman discussed the dispute with Warren, and both men expected Dick Tracy to outperform Pretty Woman.
• Warren said he had wanted Al Pacino and Dustin to play the eccentric mob boss in Dick Tracy, but he now had to find someone else.

Aaron Anderson arranged Nicole Kidman’s audition for Wild at Heart and discussed independent film production with PolyGram executive Michael Kuhn. He later negotiated with Samuel Goldwyn Jr. over North American distribution rights for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but they had not agreed on a price.

• Aaron arranged for Nicole Kidman to audition alongside Nicolas Cage for David Lynch’s Wild at Heart.
• Aaron and Michael Kuhn discussed PolyGram’s move into film production, independent films, and taking Wild at Heart to festivals.
• Nicole told Aaron that the audition opposite Nicolas Cage had gone well, and Aaron advised her to keep honing her acting in artistic films.
• Aaron began pitching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Samuel Goldwyn Jr. using a rough cut supplied by producer Thomas Ruger.
• Samuel Goldwyn Jr. offered $3 million for North American distribution rights, but Aaron demanded at least $7 million.

Aaron Anderson secured New Line Cinema’s distribution deal for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, negotiating a $3.5 million payment and backend box-office shares for Golden Harvest. As Aaron searched for his next project, Jennifer Connelly called him for advice about a controversial role in Boiling Point.

• After Samuel Goldwyn Films failed to meet his expectations, Aaron negotiated with New Line chairman Robert Shaye over distribution rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Aaron and Robert agreed on a $3.5 million purchase price, with Golden Harvest receiving additional shares if the North American box office passed $50 million and $100 million.
• Golden Harvest and New Line signed a cooperation agreement in late July, and Raymond Chow praised Aaron’s negotiation and discussed Hong Kong cinema with him.
• Aaron noted the approaching releases and productions of several films as he began looking for his next target.
• Jennifer Connelly weighed whether to accept a role in Boiling Point that required her to bare her body on screen, then called Aaron to ask for his opinion.

Aaron Anderson advised Jennifer Connelly against taking the exploitative B-movie Boiling Point and urged her to focus on improving her acting. Jennifer agreed to sign with him while continuing her studies, and Aaron invited her to attend the Los Angeles premiere of Sex, Lies, and Videotape.

• Nicole Kidman congratulated Aaron on his recent deals, and Jennifer Connelly called to ask him about a script.
• Jennifer met Aaron at the St. Regis Hotel and showed him the Boiling Point script; he called it trash and warned that its sexualized roles would bring controversy without helping her career.
• Aaron told Jennifer that her acting needed work and advised her to study rather than leave Stanford for the film.
• Jennifer agreed to sign with Aaron and let him review future scripts while she continued studying.
• Aaron told Jennifer she could attend the Los Angeles premiere of Sex, Lies, and Videotape when she returned from school.

Aaron celebrated the growing success of When Harry Met Sally... and Sex, Lies, and Videotape while building his career as an agent and taking Jennifer Connelly to Stanford University. He left her to focus on her studies and planned to keep finding her suitable acting roles.

• Aaron attended the premiere of Sex, Lies, and Videotape with Jennifer Connelly and introduced her to Steven Soderbergh.
• Harvey Weinstein invited Aaron to become a Miramax film buyer, but Aaron argued that his achievements at CAA could earn him a million dollars that year.
• Sex, Lies, and Videotape expanded its theatrical run and grossed $3.8 million in three weeks after Miramax bought its screening rights for $1.2 million.
• Aaron accompanied Jennifer Connelly to Stanford University, where they discussed its history and whether Aaron should continue his education.
• Aaron told Jennifer Connelly to focus on acting studies and avoid controversial screenplays like Boiling Point, then agreed to go with her to a nearby bar.

CAA celebrated its role in Sony’s acquisition of Columbia TriStar Pictures as Michael Ovitz prepared to help Panasonic pursue a Hollywood studio. Aaron Anderson reunited with Nicole Kidman and worked through plans for his Ghost script before attending CAA’s banquet with her.

• Time Inc. acquired Warner Communications to form Time Warner, Gulf+Western sued, and Sony acquired Columbia TriStar Pictures to create Sony Pictures Entertainment.
• CAA chairman Michael Ovitz received a $10 million commission for helping Sony with the acquisition and planned to meet Panasonic president Akio Tanii about a possible studio purchase.
• Aaron read about Sony’s acquisition, picked Nicole Kidman up from the Wild at Heart set, and discussed the Venice Film Festival and his Ghost script with her.
• Aaron and Nicole spent the afternoon together at his apartment before going to CAA’s banquet at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
• At the banquet, Aaron took Nicole to greet Paula Wagner.

At a Hollywood banquet, Aaron dismissed Richard Lovett’s warning that Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman were targeting Julia Roberts and her projects. He secured Jennifer Connelly a chance to audition for The Godfather Part III and left confident that Pretty Woman’s release would vindicate him.

• Paula Wagner discussed Aaron’s client roster and suggested he consider the Toronto Film Festival for new film representation opportunities.
• Richard Lovett warned Aaron that Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman were affecting Julia Roberts’s projects, but Aaron angrily rejected his concern and defended his work on Pretty Woman.
• Al Pacino offered to recommend one of Aaron’s actresses for an audition to play his daughter in The Godfather Part III, and Aaron chose Jennifer Connelly.
• Steven Reuther warned Aaron that Dustin Hoffman had met with Mr. Ovitz about the dispute with Warren Beatty, but Aaron said Pretty Woman’s results would speak for themselves.

After Miramax cut Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso, Aaron Anderson comforted the director and reviewed his new script, Everybody’s Fine. Aaron offered to send it to Disney to seek support, while Tornatore hoped to raise the remaining production funds in France and the United States.

• Sex, Lies, and Videotape had grossed more than $18 million, while Harvey Weinstein argued with Giuseppe Tornatore over cutting Cinema Paradiso to 123 minutes.
• Bob Weinstein discussed Oscar plans for Cinema Paradiso and asked Aaron Anderson about Steven Soderbergh’s next project.
• Aaron took a dejected Tornatore to an Italian restaurant and explained Miramax’s commercial reasons for shortening the film.
• Tornatore gave Aaron the script for Everybody’s Fine and described its story and planned lead actor, Marcello Mastroianni.
• Aaron suggested pitching Everybody’s Fine to Disney and promised to send the script to the studio.

Aaron took Jennifer Connelly to audition for The Godfather Part III and encouraged her to consider a role in Giuseppe Tornatore's Everybody's Fine. At the audition, they met Winona Ryder and her agent, and a staff member called them in as auditions began.

• Aaron learned that Richard Lovett had left CAA for ICM and taken Julia Roberts with him.
• Aaron accompanied Jennifer Connelly to New York for her audition for The Godfather Part III and brought the Everybody's Fine script to show Al Pacino.
• Aaron discussed the audition and possible work on Everybody's Fine with Jennifer while they waited at the set.
• Winona Ryder and her agent Jessica arrived, and Aaron and Jessica talked about their clients and careers.
• A staff member called Aaron, Jennifer, Winona, and Jessica as the auditions were about to begin.

Aaron Anderson asked Al Pacino to recommend Giuseppe Tornatore’s Everybody’s Fine to Francis Ford Coppola, who praised the screenplay but suggested seeking an independent distributor. Aaron learned Winona Ryder was favored for The Godfather Part III and planned to pursue support from Heritage Entertainment.

• Aaron Anderson asked Al Pacino to recommend Everybody’s Fine to Francis Ford Coppola, and Pacino agreed.
• Aaron found Jennifer Connelly discouraged after her audition and reassured her when Winona Ryder’s longer audition suggested she was favored for the role.
• Coppola praised Everybody’s Fine but said he could not produce it while directing The Godfather Part III, and Pacino offered to introduce Aaron to Heritage Entertainment.
• Al Pacino told Aaron that Coppola favored Winona Ryder, and Aaron decided to visit Heritage Entertainment about the screenplay.
• Aaron kissed Jennifer Connelly at the hotel, and she said she would go home briefly before returning to see him.

Aaron secured $1.5 million from Legacy Entertainment for Everybody's Fine and learned that Jennifer Connelly would film her role in Italy. After witnessing a robbery in Times Square, he came up with the idea for Phone Booth and began outlining the script.

• Aaron received a call from Jeffrey Katzenberg's assistant saying Disney wanted a more commercial project than Everybody's Fine.
• Aaron negotiated with Guy Martin, who agreed to invest $1.5 million in Everybody's Fine in exchange for North American distribution rights.
• Aaron saw a young man snatch an elderly woman's handbag in Times Square and noticed a passerby calling the police from a phone booth.
• Aaron called Giuseppe Tornatore, who said filming would begin in Sicily next month and Jennifer Connelly's scenes in Milan would take about two weeks.
• Aaron began outlining Phone Booth, planning to hire a screenwriter to develop the concept into a script.

Aaron returned to Los Angeles and planned the low-budget adaptation of "Phone Booth," eventually deciding Nicolas Cage might suit the lead better than James Spader. He visited Nicole Kidman on the "Wild at Heart" set in Barstow and left with ideas for casting the remaining roles.

• Aaron arranged for Jennifer Connelly to return to Stanford and film "Everybody's Fine" in Milan after the New Year.
• Aaron discussed adapting "Phone Booth" with Quentin Tarantino, who declined to direct because the project did not suit his style.
• Aaron considered James Spader for the lead in "Phone Booth" but worried that his fee would be too high.
• Aaron visited Nicole Kidman on the "Wild at Heart" set and admired Nicolas Cage's performance.
• Aaron decided Nicolas Cage could play the lead in "Phone Booth," with Nicole Kidman as the lead's wife and Adam Sandler as a possible police officer or killer.

Aaron discussed casting Phone Booth with Nicolas Cage and reassured Nicole Kidman that he was saving Ghost for her. Back in Los Angeles, he collected earnings that made him a millionaire, heard that Joe Eszterhas was leaving CAA, and went to collect Nicole’s remaining pay as Germany’s reunification neared.

• Aaron pitched Phone Booth to Nicolas Cage and planned to discuss the script after Cage finished filming Wild at Heart.
• Aaron told Nicole Kidman that he believed Phone Booth could succeed because it could be made cheaply and that he wanted to reserve Ghost for her.
• Aaron returned to Los Angeles and collected bonuses and profit shares, bringing his savings to nearly one million dollars.
• Jack Wells told Aaron that Joe Eszterhas was leaving CAA after a dispute with Michael Ovitz.
• Aaron went to Propaganda Films to collect Nicole Kidman’s remaining pay for Wild at Heart.
• Aaron read a newspaper report that thousands were crossing the Berlin Wall as German reunification approached.

Aaron met with David Fincher and hired him to direct Phone Booth, then registered his own production company, Dawn Pictures. He resigned from CAA to pursue film production independently and left with Nicole Kidman.

• Aaron discovered David Fincher filming a music video at Propaganda Films and later met with him to discuss directing Phone Booth.
• Aaron gave David Fincher the Phone Booth script, and Fincher agreed to direct the film after they discussed its budget, revisions, and length.
• Aaron registered his production company, Dawn Pictures, in Delaware.
• Aaron told Michael Ovitz he had decided to leave CAA and focus on film production, despite Ovitz’s efforts to keep him.
• Aaron left CAA, bought the car he had been driving, and headed back with Nicole Kidman.

Aaron scouted locations for Phone Booth with David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino while trying to secure the film’s remaining funding. As the year ended, Aaron reassured Nicole Kidman that his new company and future film commissions would support them, while CAA’s leaders dismissed his decision to strike out on his own.

• Aaron, David Fincher, and Quentin Tarantino scouted a downtown Los Angeles phone booth location, and Quentin suggested capturing extras’ genuine reactions and trying out for the sniper role.
• Aaron told David Fincher to assemble the crew for Phone Booth and said he would raise the remaining funds and seek a distributor, including PolyGram.
• At the premiere of Born on the Fourth of July, Paula Wagner told Michael Ovitz that Aaron had invested his CAA earnings in a film with a rookie director, and Ovitz criticized his decision.
• After CAA reassigned Nicole Kidman to a female agent, Aaron reassured her that he still had connections and expected future commissions from Pretty Woman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Aaron and Nicole Kidman discussed his confidence in Quentin Tarantino and David Fincher before spending the night together.

Aaron Anderson secured European financing for Phone Booth, began filming in Los Angeles, and negotiated with Miramax over North American distribution. He rejected Harvey Weinstein’s buyout offer and left a commission-based deal for discussion after the film was finished.

• Aaron negotiated with Michael Kuhn, who agreed to pay $1.6 million for Phone Booth’s European distribution rights.
• Aurora received PolyGram’s check, and Phone Booth began filming in Los Angeles with Nicolas Cage and David Fincher.
• Quentin Tarantino explained that the production had kept the script from temporary extras so their reactions to a staged gunshot would be genuine.
• Aaron received interest from several distributors seeking Phone Booth’s North American rights, including Miramax and New Line.
• Harvey Weinstein offered $1.5 million for the North American rights plus a possible box-office bonus and invited Aaron to join Miramax.
• Aaron proposed commission-based distribution instead, challenged Miramax’s 20% fee, and agreed to revisit negotiations after filming.

Aaron completed most of the filming for “Phone Booth” and discussed its distribution plans while socializing with actors in Los Angeles. At a nightclub, he met Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder and predicted their upcoming “Edward Scissorhands” performances would impress audiences.

• Aaron said “Phone Booth” had nearly finished filming and that he would screen it before choosing between interested distributors Miramax and New Line.
• Aaron took the cast and crew to a nightclub, where Nicole Kidman asked about David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart” and its chances at Cannes.
• Nicolas Cage introduced Aaron and Nicole Kidman to Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder.
• Aaron learned that Winona Ryder had not been cast in “The Godfather Part III,” because Sofia Coppola played the role instead.
• Aaron praised Depp and Ryder’s upcoming performances in “Edward Scissorhands,” and Winona expressed interest in working with him someday.