![AI STAR Is Born](https://cdn.magzter.com/1450523597/1709628783/articles/m6V4xm4mF1709632065734/AI-STAR-IS-BORN.jpg)
A SCREENWRITER FRIEND once told me about a young assistant who was handed a script by his boss and told to drive it across town, to Bel Air, to the stately home of one of the world’s most celebrated directors. He walked up the long driveway, past the manicured gardens, before handing off the script. As the director inspected it, the assistant said nervously, “I have to say, your house is just incredible.” Without skipping a beat, the director shot back, “Yeah, well, no one who lives in it is happy” and slammed the door. When I asked why the director was so miserable, my friend replied: “Probably because he works in Hollywood.”One reason the industry is so much more taxing than other creative fields is because it’s so expensive to make anything. According to producers and studios I’ve spoken to, TV show budgets now range between $6 million and $25 million an episode, not including marketing costs. Most mainstream movies now cost between $100 million and $250 million to make. Years ago, you could make a blockbuster for a fraction of that. The first Top Gun (1986) cost $15 million to make. The 2022 sequel cost $170 million.
Esta historia es de la edición Hollywood 2024 de Vanity Fair US.
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Esta historia es de la edición Hollywood 2024 de Vanity Fair US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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THE HIT MAN
Between Anyone but You and the upcoming Twisters, GLEN POWELL has seen all kinds of action on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's hottest young stars
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FUNNY GIRL
AYO EDEBIRI IS explaining the shock of her fame to me over a spread of duck pot pie (hers) and Caesar salad topped with rib eye (mine) at Chicago's Armitage Alehouse. (Our food belongs in this celebrity interview because, well, The Bear.)
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TAKE NO PRISONERS
The State Department's hostage point man, Roger Carstens, works to free US citizens from captivity, whether they're being held by Vladimir Putin or Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. ADAM CIRALSKY embeds with America's top negotiators through 15 months of rescue efforts with the highest of stakes: liberty or death
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Magical Thinking
GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ's One Hundred Years of Solitude has never been faithfully adapted for the screen partly because he wouldn't allow it in his lifetime. With a Netflix series now in the works, VF tracks the long journey of a masterpiece
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Shots in the Dark
The Ozempic weight-loss miracle has a dark side: As desperate patients contend with shortages and skyhigh prices, a world of criminals and con artists are filling the void with lifethreatening counterfeits. KATHERINE EBAN investigates our alarmingly active pharmaceutical underground
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The Writing on THE WALL
The promise of poststrike opportunities kept TV writers from losing hope last year. Now a new season of bleak financial realities is testing their resolve all over again.
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JUSTICE Without Borders
Inside the effort to prosecute Russians for Ukraine war crimes in Argentina
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Beyond a BOUNDARY
With sped-up matches and a bevy of big-money backers, cricket is pitching an American resurgence
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VANITIES
NICHOLAS GALITZINE kicks into high gear