2026年9月20日 / 美国东部时间上午10:15 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
这间办公室宽敞明亮,景致绝佳。再配上一张跑步机办公桌,这里就成了好莱坞超级经纪人的理想办公场所。HBO剧集《明星伙伴》中的电视角色阿里·高德就是以他为原型创作的。
伊曼纽尔的登顶之路始于最底层的收发室——除此之外还能是哪儿?“你早上得去捡拾食物,还要复印所有经纪人的剧本,”他说道。每天他还要开车往返洛杉矶全城,把剧本送到制片人、导演和演员手中。“你回来之后,还要赶早间和晚间的送件行程,”他说。
他坦言这份工作糟透了。但那些四处送货的经历最终得到了回报。如今他是WME集团的掌门人,这家顶级艺人经纪公司的客户包括丹泽尔·华盛顿、阿黛尔、马特·达蒙、本·阿弗莱克、布鲁诺·马尔斯和亚当·桑德勒。伊曼纽尔同时还是TKO的董事长,该公司旗下拥有终极格斗冠军赛(UFC)和世界摔角娱乐(WWE)。
“我工作非常努力,”他说。“我打造了一种企业文化,也吸引了追随我的人。所以我或许还是个笨蛋,但有些人觉得我挺称职的。这就够了!”
特纳经典电影频道主持人本·曼凯维奇与好莱坞超级经纪人阿里·伊曼纽尔合影,伊曼纽尔现任TKO集团控股公司首席执行官兼执行董事长,同时担任WME集团执行董事长。哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
现年65岁的伊曼纽尔正在通过回忆录《点名》讲述自己的人生故事,该书将于本周二由克诺夫出版社出版。伊曼纽尔表示:“有人在我写完这本书后问我,‘你幸福吗?’大多数时候我会说,我还算满意,也还算快乐。但我不喜欢用这类表述,我更爱竞争。说白了,我就是个好胜的人。”
这说得太保守了。在芝加哥以北几英里处长大的伊曼纽尔热爱竞争,更热爱胜利。“我们成长的家庭环境,还有我的父母,始终教导我们要活得有意义、不断自我提升,”他说。“他们从不惧怕对抗,我也从来不怕和人起冲突。我觉得我的两个兄弟也不畏惧矛盾。而面对威胁我的人,我就没法忍。”
伊曼纽尔家的期望值始终很高。他的母亲是民权活动家,父亲是一名医生。他还有两个哥哥:拉姆·伊曼纽尔,曾担任奥巴马总统的幕僚长,后来出任芝加哥市长;还有齐克?他是世界知名的生物伦理学家和肿瘤学家。“所以齐克是最聪明的那个,拉姆是搞艺术的,我是家里的老小,”阿里说道。“我们回家之后,成绩都会贴在板子上。”
没错,伊曼纽尔家男孩们的分数都会被写在公告板上。要是你只拿到了C-?“哦,你就得禁足!你还想狡辩什么?”阿里说道。“C-?你就得被禁足。这可把我气坏了。”
克诺夫出版社
伊曼纽尔的职业生涯中始终伴随着一种情绪:愤怒。在他的回忆录第一章中,他写道有位客户直接称他为“混蛋经纪人”。这一切都要追溯到他的童年:他因读写困难遭到霸凌,直到他改变了应对方式:“当时我和特殊教育班的同学在一起,橄榄球队的队员们就在楼下。其中一个橄榄球队员正在取笑和我同班级的特殊教育学生,我让他别闹了,但根本没用。我记得我拿起午餐托盘,直接扣在了他脸上。
“你必须保护自己,保护你在乎的人。为他人和自己辩护,做我认为正确的事,我毫无压力,”他说。
他对电视和电影的热爱催生了成为经纪人的野心,这份工作的分量比你想象的更重。“经纪人承接梦想,帮助人们实现梦想,”他说。“在这个过程中,你确实要谈判酬劳、促成剧本拍摄、筹集资金、确保宣传到位,当制片方或制片厂从中作梗时挺身而出,或是帮他们摆脱困境。”
他享受对抗坏人的过程吗?“嗯,遇到坏人的时候,我很乐意与之周旋,”他说。“我在这种对抗中感到自在。”
这种乐于投入战斗的特质是他的标志,也是一种荣誉勋章。就像35年前,伊曼纽尔离开创新艺人经纪公司(CAA)时,他的老板、传奇经纪人迈克·奥维茨放话:“如果你辞职,你就再也别想在这个行业立足。”
“他大概是说‘这对你不会有好处’之类的话,”伊曼纽尔回忆道。“而我当时完全不理解他的意思。”
他把这番话当成了威胁,认为自己如果离开就会付出代价。于是他站起身,抓起一把椅子举起来,问道:“迈克,你是在威胁我吗?”
“那是个极端的时刻,”伊曼纽尔坦言。“早年生活中确实有过‘先开枪再瞄准’的时候,但现在不会了。”
但那种狠劲还在吗?“哦,绝对还在!”他笑着说。“红色按钮随时可能按下!”
尽管伊曼纽尔总在谈论愤怒、竞争和胜利,但他其实是个相当乐观向上的人。即使在时局不定的当下,他对娱乐行业的未来也持乐观态度。
“讲故事是人类的天性,”他说。“它一直都存在,永远不会消失。人工智能和其他技术会让它变得更好吗?我认为会。
“我们必须适应变化。我认为未来实际上会有更多电影和电视节目。不过这是不是说,电视剧编剧室的人数会从12人缩减到8人?也许吧。人们会争论这到底是好是坏。没关系,我们可以展开辩论。”
阿里·伊曼纽尔总是乐于展开辩论。他最不想听到的就是记者提出陈词滥调的问题(不过他确实给出了精彩的回答)。当被问及是否会思考自己的遗产时,伊曼纽尔答道:“这真是个狗屁不通的说法。全是自我折磨。‘我的遗产会是什么’这种概念,完全是废话。全是谎言。
“我宁愿拥有有意义的人生,还是享乐的人生?当然是有意义的,”他说。“我过着有意义的人生。我做了所有想做的事。现在还在做自己想做的事。不管是经纪业务,还是新业务,我始终享受着构建属于我自己的‘拼图’的创作过程。我会担心自己那该死的遗产吗?不会。绝对不会。”
阅读节选:阿里·伊曼纽尔《点名》
更多信息:
《点名:回忆录》,阿里·伊曼纽尔 著(兰登书屋),精装本、大型平装本、电子书及有声书版本均已上架,9月22日可在亚马逊、巴诺书店和Bookshop.org购买
本故事由加布里埃尔·福尔克制作。编辑:史蒂文·泰勒
Superagent Ari Emanuel: Born to fight
September 20, 2026 / 10:15 AM EDT / CBS News
The office is spacious, the view spectacular. Add a treadmill desk, and you’ve got the ideal setting for a Hollywood superagent, Ari Emanuel. The TV character Ari Gold from HBO’s “Entourage” was based on him.
Emanuel’s rise to the top began at the bottom in – where else? – the mailroom. “You’d be picking food up in the morning, copying scripts from all the different agents,” he said. And twice a day, he’d drive all over Los Angeles, dropping off scripts to producers, directors and actors. “You come back, you’d have a morning run and a night run,” he said.
He affirmed that the job sucked. But all those deliveries? They paid off. He’s now the head of WME Group, the mega talent agency whose clients include Denzel Washington, Adele, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, Bruno Mars, and Adam Sandler. Emanuel is also chairman of TKO, which owns UFC and WWE.
“I’m a really hard worker,” he said. “I’ve created a culture, and people that follow me. So, I still might be a moron. But certain people think I’m actually good at my job. And so, that’s good!“
Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz with Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel, CEO and executive chairman of TKO Group Holdings Inc., and executive chairman of WME Group. CBS News
At 65, Emanuel is telling his story in a memoir, “Roll the Calls” (to be published Tuesday by Knopf). Emanuel said, “Somebody asked me in this process, having read the book, ‘Are you happy?’ Most of the time I say, I’m satisfied-ish, and I’m happy-ish. But I don’t like to use phrases like, I am more competitive. I mean, I’m a competitive guy.”
That’s an understatement. Emanuel, raised a few miles north of Chicago, loves to compete, loves to win even more. “The way we grew up, in my family, and my parents, it was always a life of meaning and self-improvement,” he said. “They were never afraid of confrontation. I’m not afraid of confrontation, ever. I think my two brothers are not afraid of conflict. And I don’t do well with people that threaten me.”
Expectations in the Emanuel house were always high. His mother was a civil rights activist, his father a doctor. Plus, two older brothers: Rahm, who served as President Obama’s chief of staff, then as mayor of Chicago; and Zeke? He’s just a world-renowned bio-ethicist and oncologist. “So, Zeke was the smart one, Rahm was the artist, and I was the baby,” said Ari. “And so, in our family, we’d come in, and your grades would be up.”
Yes, the Emanuel boys’ grades would be posted on the board. If you got a C-? “Oh, you’re grounded! What are you talking?” said Ari. “C-? You’re grounded. Pissed me off.”
Knopf
There’s a hint of the emotion that has followed Emanuel throughout his career: rage. In chapter one of his book, he says one client simply calls him a “ragent.” It all goes back to his childhood, bullied for being dyslexic, until he changed his dynamic: “So, you know, I’m with special ed, and the football team’s downstairs. One of these football players is making fun of this kid in special ed with me, and I just asked him, you know, cut it out. It didn’t happen. And I remember taking that lunch tray, and smashing it in his face.
“You’ve got to be protecting yourself, protecting other people that you care about. I’m okay defending people and defending myself, and doing what I think is right,” he said.
His love of television and movies fueled his ambition to become an agent, which is a bigger job than you might think. “An agent takes dreams, and makes people realize them,” he said. “And in that process is, yes, you’re negotiating fees, you’re getting a script made, raising money, helping making sure that the marketing is there, fighting the fight when a studio, a producer is trying to get in the way, or get them out of tough situations.”
Does he like it when there is a bad guy? “Well, when there’s a bad guy, I’m okay in that fight,” he said. “I’m comfortable in that fight.”
That comfort with going to battle is a trademark, a badge of honor. Like 35 years ago, when Emanuel left CAA, and his boss, legendary agent Mike Ovitz, gave Emanuel the “If you quit, you’ll never work in this town again” speech.
“And he just said, ‘You know, this is not gonna be good for you,’ in whatever the phrase was,” Emanuel said. “And I just, like, didn’t understand it.”
He took it as a threat that he would pay a price if he left. And so he stood up, grabbed a chair, raised it and said, “Mike, are you threatening me?”
“It was an extreme moment,” Emanuel admitted. “There were moments in life early on where it was ‘Shoot, aim.’ That’s not the case anymore.”
But it’s still in his arsenal? “Oh, it’s definitely there!” he laughed. “The red button can get hit!”
As much as Emanuel talks about anger, competing, and winning, he’s a pretty upbeat guy. Optimistic, too, even about the future of show business in uncertain times.
“Telling stories is human nature,” he said. “It’s always been around. It’s not going anywhere. Is AI and other things going to make it better? I think so.
“We have to adapt to change. I think there’s going to be actually more movies and more television. Now, does that mean that TV shows, the writers’ rooms are going to be 12 people? Maybe it’s eight. And people will argue that’s good and bad. Okay, let’s have that argument.”
Ari Emanuel always wants to have the argument. What he doesn’t want is a clichéd question from a reporter (though he does give a really good answer). Asked if he thinks about legacy, Emanual replied, “That’s such a bulls**t phrase. That’s all flagellation. This whole concept, ‘What will my legacy be?’ Complete crap. It’s all a lie.
“Would I rather have a meaningful life, or a pleasurable life? Definitely meaningful,” he said. “I have a meaningful life. I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to do. I continue to do things that I want to do. On the representation side, on new businesses, I keep enjoying the creative process of creating the puzzle that in my own little world. Am I worried what my f***ing legacy’s gonna be? No. Definitely not.”
READ AN EXCERPT:”Roll the Calls” by Ari Emanuel
For more info:
“Roll the Calls: A Memoir”by Ari Emanuel (Random House), in Hardcover, Large Print Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available Sept. 22 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Story produced by Gabriel Falcon. Editor: Steven Tyler.
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