Roberto Benini has some food and food these days.

He believed in God since childhood, was once an altar boy in the parish, and studied in Catholic schools, and if it weren't for a flood that year, he might have become a pastor, not a laughing maker.

Originally, he always thought that he was an upright and honest person. Even if he was called by the Lord one day, he would tell God without any cowardice at the gate of heaven that he was the Lord's loyal slave, and brought happiness to the other people of the Lord, so that their days would be more joyful, so that they could be grateful for the Lord's mercy.

But the choice he is about to face may determine whether he can stand up straight before God.

At first he just wanted to express the story he had accumulated in his heart for many years. His father, Luigi Bernini, was a farmer, carpenter and bricklayer. He was detained in the Bergen-Belson concentration camp from 1943 to 1945.

Roberto wanted to use his father's experience as a prototype to create a movie, so "Beautiful Life" began.

During the creation, Robert consulted Pezeti, a history consultant at the Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation in Milan.

The scholar has visited Auschwitz more than 250 times and interviewed hundreds of Holocaust survivors. The scenes and costumes of the death camp in "Beautiful Life" and some details and events are almost all guided by Pezeti.

"Beautiful Life" is produced by Melanbo Film and Television, a production company jointly established by Roberto Benini and his wife Nicoleta Brasky after marriage.

The owner of the Florence team, the famous Italian film distribution company, also has a small investment in the project and is responsible for the local Italian distribution of the film.

The production cost of "Beautiful Life" was about 6.5 million US dollars. It premiered in Italy on December 20, 1997, and received unanimous praise. Because the ship landed in Italy late, "Beautiful Life" won a box office record of $35 million in Italy within two months.

This was an unexpected good result for Roberto, and another good news followed one after another.

Miramax, the US company wants to acquire the US and global distribution rights of "Beautiful Life" for $5 million, including subsequent videotapes and other benefits. In addition, Mr. Harvey Weinstein, president of Miramax, promised to assist "Beautiful Life" to compete for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

For Roberto, this was like a gospel from heaven. He felt that his years of piety finally moved God.

So much money has naturally reached the bottom line in his heart. What impressed him even more was the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. He has participated in several American films and is quite familiar with the American film industry. Being able to get recognition from the Oscar is also a recognition of his career that has been struggling for many years.

Therefore, Roberto almost immediately wanted to agree to such a generous deal.

But Vittorio Cecchi Gauri, the head of the Cecchi Gauri Group, prevented Roberto from "impulsive behavior" and reminded him not to sell his labor fruits cheaply.

After several weeks of negotiations, Miramax's bid has reached $7 million, completely bearing the original production cost. In other words, the Italian box office revenue of "Beautiful Life" is all the net profits of Melanbo Film and Television and Cecchi Gorry Group.

But Vittorio was still not satisfied and proposed to let Xavi show off his "prize-winning master" skills to help "Beautiful Life" win the Palme d'Or for the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.

The two sides reached an oral agreement.

Judging from the live feedback from the film festival these days and the "good news" from some friends, "Beautiful Life" won the jury award.

However, variables arise at this moment.

An American company called Wademark Image suddenly emerged, waving the banknotes, finding Roberto and Vittorio, saying that they would buy the North American distribution rights of "Beautiful Life".

At the same time, several film manufacturers from the UK, France and Japan also offered invitations to purchase local distribution rights.

Although Melanpo Film and Television and Cecchi Gorry Group did not sign a contract with Miramax, the two parties had already made an oral agreement, and Miramax's promised goal of competing for the Palme d'Or is about to be achieved.

Therefore, according to Roberto's moral code, he should no longer be flirting with other film manufacturers. Unless Miramax's promise fails to fulfill, he will be qualified to find another company.

This is the self-restraint of a devout believer.

Therefore, he first rejected them because of the lack of global issuance capabilities of Wademark Image. He did not want to negotiate slowly in one region at a time, and it would be better to sell it in packages.

Facing film producers from other countries, Roberto also responded in this way, and every film merchant who came to the door happily left dejectedly.

But the Wademark image is an exception.

Its business manager, an Italian-American named Christopher Moriarty, came to him again.

The small young man brought new conditions and new offers. Maybe they found out where Miramax's bid, his new offer was $7.5 million, internationally issued, and outside North America was led by blockbuster Warner Bros.

Warner Bros.'s international distribution network is even larger than the scale of the Disney's newly reorganized Bowei Pictures.

The young man who loves to laugh also promised that they would also help "Beautiful Life" to win the Oscar for the best foreign language film.

He also told Roberto that the just-received Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay Award at the 70th Academy Awards, "The Walker of the Side" was mainly produced and released by Wademark, and Christopher Moriarty was the president of the company.

Roberto only knows that "The Walker" is the work of Martin Scorsese, chairman of the Cannes jury. It is not that Roberto, who has been in the American film industry for a long time, has not paid attention to who was produced and released the film, and has never studied the image of Wademark that suddenly became famous.

Five hundred thousand dollars.

Under the same conditions, the quote from Wademark Image is $500,000!

But $500,000 cannot make Roberto betray his promise, and he will be condemned by his conscience in the future.

So he rejected this tempting offer.

After spending a night in regret, Roberto Benini received a call from his old friend, American director Jim Jamsh.

Roberto Benini had two collaborations with Jim Jamsh when he was in the United States in the 1980s. Although Roberto played supporting roles in Jamsh's movies, the cooperation between the two sides was very harmonious and formed a good friendship. Roberto's wife Nicoleta Brasky also participated in that collaboration.

Jim Jarmusch was asked by a friend to ask Roberto what circumstances he was willing to sell the distribution rights of "Beautiful Life" to Wademark Image.

This friend is Johnny Depp, and it is time for him to have a favor with Quinn.

Roberto did not know the twists and turns afterwards. Although he was a flexible and quick person on the screen, in life, Roberto was just a big boy who loves to laugh, talkatively and emotionally. He told his old friend very straightforwardly that he and Miramax had an agreement that he could only wait for the result of the Palme d'Or that he could decide the ownership of the global distribution rights of "Beautiful Life".

But obviously, his move caused a misjudgment from Wademark's image, thinking that he was waiting for a price and that no one regarded a promise more than half a million dollars.

So Wademark Image gave a new offer: 10 million US dollars!

Roberto Benini hesitated, partner Vittorio Cecchi Gauri was moved, and Miramax couldn't sit still.

The first person to lobby was Pezetti, a history consultant who gave Roberto a lot of help during the production process.

The old Jewish man was a lobbyist for his Jewish compatriot, Harvey brothers, and asked Roberto to wait until the Palme d'Or before making a decision. Miramax is already working hard to win the award for "Beautiful Life" and not let down his former partners who charge forward.

The second person who came to lobby, Roberto unexpectedly turned out to be Vittorio Cecchi Gauri, who had heard the offer of 10 million and immediately wanted to agree to the image of Wademark.

Roberto did not expect that in just one day, Vittorio's attitude changed by 180 degrees.

The third one came to Harvey Weinstein, who had not seen him for a long time, was the beautiful actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

Harvey added a new one in the original conditions, and he will assist Roberto Benini himself in the competition for the next Academy Award for Best Actor.

This is a chance for Roberto Benini to be once in his life. Non-English actors have been nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor, and only a handful of awards have won the awards. They have only been twice in seventy years, and they are both in the early years of the Oscars.

The difference of 2.5 million yuan and the best actor in the Oscar, even if it is just a nomination.

The balances in Roberto's heart were up and down, making him at a loss.

Roberto Bernini is a loyal supporter of Schopenhauer and a devout believer. If someone else's interests and promises conflict, he will only consider whether the interests are enough to violate the promises, but Roberto thinks more and more deeply.

Following one's heart is naturally to resist temptation and keep promises, but the competition between Wademark and Miramax seems to be telling him that where he cannot see, there are some situations that he cannot know for the time being. If he makes a rash decision, he may regret it even more in the future.

So Roberto became even more confused and could not make a decision.

It was only two days before the Palme d'Or award ceremony. Roberto put down the pen in his hand and asked Harvey to give him another day to think about it.

Despite failing to achieve the final blow, Harvey is still full of confidence. The price he offered was something that Bai Quinn could not follow.

It seems that this competition will soon be a result.

Harvey hugged Gwyneth Paltrow's slender waist, kissed the actress's face forcibly, and laughed loudly: "In terms of financial resources, I am indeed not as good as that boy, but I understand people's hearts better than him!"

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Chapter completed!