《I am in Hollywood (18+ version)》


 Chapter 1: Hollywood 1988

    "Hey, Eric, steak for table nine."


    "Oh, okay," Eric replied, and clumsily delivered two steaks to the couple sitting next to the window.


    Then, he returned to his previous position, leaning against the counter, and fell back into a daze.


    July 13th, 1988, the third day since his rebirth, at an Italian restaurant in North Hollywood, Los Angeles.


    Eric turned and stared at the ss window not far from him and saw the reflection of a young man about six foot tall, with an angr face, an aquiline nose, and short golden blonde hair. That handsome appearance now belonged to him.


    ---


    A few days ago, Eric was still living across the Pacific Ocean in China in the year 2014. He was a 44-year-old advertising director who had graduated from a famous film school with a major in directing.


    As a young man, he had wished to be recognized internationally, and struggled for ten years before he finally understood the cruel reality. Even though he had solid professional knowledge and skills, that alone was not enough to make it in the film circle.


    He got married at the age of 35, had a son the following year, and finally settled down.


    A few yearster, at a ss reunion, he drank too much while reminiscing about the past with his friends whom he had not seen in a long time.


    Simr to the clich openings of many thriller novels, after waking up, he found himself 25 years in the past and inside the body of an 18-year-old young man named Eric Williams, a fresh high school graduate...


    "Eric, are you okay?" A chubby hand patted his shoulder. Eric turned around to see the restaurant''s owner, Jeff Jones.


    "I''m sorry, Jeff, I got distracted."


    "It''s fine," Jeff rubbed his hands, seemingly trying to find the words before he continued, "About Ralph, I''m sorry, but life goes on, you know? You have to get over it, Eric."


    Ralph Williams, Eric''s father, was a skilled cook. He''d been working at this restaurant for many years, however, Ralph had a nasty addiction - alcohol. ording to the memories of his body''s original owner, Ralph''s hobby was intricately rted to the mother he had never met.


    In fact, a month ago, Ralph died due to excessive drinking that led to acute alcoholism.


    "Thank you for your help, Jeff. I really don''t know how to repay you," Eric replied.


    Following Ralph''s death, Eric''s life was thrown into chaos. Originally, he had nned to apply to UCLA, but with his father''s passing, his hopes for university ended. Even as a public institution, the tuition fee was still about $20,000 a year, not including other expenses.


    As Ralph''s boss and friend, Jeff talked it out with Eric who then began to work as a waiter in his restaurant. As Jeff said, life went on.


    "Ralph worked here for so many years, so it''s a given I''d help. But I can only do so much. You''ll have to rely on your own efforts for the rest," Jeff stated.


    Eric nodded in gratitude.


    Seeing this, Jeff turned to leave, and the young man returned to his thoughts. Since an unscrupulous god had sent him back to Hollywood twenty-five years in the past, if he continued to remain just a waiter, that god would certainly feel annoyed and frustrated.


    After spending three days understanding his situation, Eric had toned down his initial excitement, and finally resigned himself to reality. During his previous life, despite being an outstanding film director, he did not attain sess.


    Right now, he had neither qualifications nor connections, and even if he applied for an entry-level job at a filmpany, he might not seed.


    ***


    After a busy day at the restaurant, Eric drove back in the cheap Ford sedan that his father had owned. After Ralph''s death, Eric had wanted to sell the car to pay for his school fees, but after receiving the job as a waiter, he decided to keep it.


    After all, the United States was known as thend on wheels, and without a car, it wasn''t exactly convenient to get around.


    Driving past a cinema theater, Eric saw a poster of Rambo III stered close to the entrance. Under the snow-capped mountains, with a helicopter in the background, a young Sylvester Stallone and his muscles were enough to make any female fan squeal.


    Without much thought, Eric parked his car in the parking lot nearby and inquired about the film. When he learned that a screening would start soon, he bought himself a ticket and went inside.


    As it was still early, there were only about 30-40 people in the theater that seated around 200 people. Eric quickly found his seat and sat down.


    Soon, the lights went off. After the screen titles, the film officially began:


    Colonel Sam Trautman asked Rambo, who lived in seclusion in Thand, to go to Afghanistan to carry out a joint operation with him, but Rambo rejected him. After the Colonel was captured, Rambo once again took up arms to save his old friend


    In the past, Eric had watched every single Stallone film, some more than once. The reason why he bought a ticket was because Eric connected Stallone''s experiences to his own former selves.


    During the ten years that he struggled, whenever he wanted to give up, he would use inspirational stories to motivate himself, which included the legendary Stallone''s, as well.


    The film was still ongoing, so Eric''s swirling thoughts faded, and he focused on enjoying the show. Gradually, he rxed his body and leaned back straight as he realized one thing.


    As he had seen the film before, whenever the plot advanced, Eric would subconsciously think about what would happen next, and then, something hit him.


    As he kept thinking about it, the next scene would clearly show every part as he remembered them, that is to say, the whole film, every shot, every line, even every melody, was as if it had been engraved in his mind.


    Eric suppressed his excitement, closed his eyes, recalled James Cameron''s ssic - Titanic - and realized the result was still the same: he could recall every minute of it. After trying the same with several other films, he found it to still be the case.


    Excited, Eric tried to recall films whose name he had heard but hadn''t seen; unfortunately, he was unable to recall anything regarding such films. It seemed like he could only remember the films that he had seen, but that alone was enough.


    When he had just been reborn, Eric also thought that he could use his past knowledge to produce some blockbuster films, but as someone who used to be a professional director, he also knew how difficult that would be.


    At best, he could only write something simr to the original, but now, his memory from his past life was clearer than ever, and Eric knew what that meant. As long as the conditions were met, he would be able to replicate those ssic films down to thest details.


    Eric was so excited that his cheeks flushed red and his fingers went numb. He finally couldn''t hold it in anymore and heavily pped his chair''s armrest and blurted out, "DAMN!"


    The paining from his palm brought Eric back to reality. Looking around the audience, several people were ring at him in discontent, and Eric could only smile in embarrassment.


    The one hundred minutes of film was soon over, Rambo rescued his friend by a hair''s breadth again, faithful to the franchise''s habits.


    When he was sitting in the dark, Eric hadn''t noticed at first because he was too excited, but he didn''t have such a good memory in his past life. Like ordinary people, he had to read an article many times to be able to recite it, and also listen to a song many times to be able to sing it from memory.


    This newly acquired ability was obviously the work of an unscrupulous ehm,passionate god.


    Holding onto this new found hope to make it to the pinnacle, Eric drove home in a rush. With such a cheat-like ability, if he still failed miserably like in his previous life, he might as well choke himself to death with a ss of water.

 Chapter 2: Inspired by a Quarrel

    Eric slowly ced a clunky typewriter on his desk and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He missed the thin and light notebookptop he had used in the past.


    It had been a day since he had found out about his extraordinary memory, and after thinking long and hard, Eric had managed toplete a preliminary n for his future.


    For this, he had taken the day off from the restaurant and bought a secondhand typewriter which was an essential tool for him to realize his ns.


    After paying for his father''s funeral, Eric had just a few hundred dors left. Due to the highly developed welfare system in the west, most people didn''t have substantial savings for emergencies.


    Fortunately, the house belonged to him, or else, it would have been seized due to him being unable to pay the mortgage and he would have had to sleep on the streets.


    In fact, Eric had to ask Jeff for a month''s pay in advance just to be able to buy the typewriter.


    In order to turn his dreams into reality, he would have to first enter the very exclusive Hollywood.


    After much deliberation, Eric decided upon being a screenwriter since it had the lowest threshold of entry. Although screenwriters held a low standing in Hollywood, it was not too tough for a sessful screenwriter to switch to being a director or producer.


    cing a nk sheet of paper into the typewriter, Eric began typing the following words: Jurassic Park.


    That''s right, the most profitable novel-turned-film franchise of the ''90s.


    During Eric''s past life, whether it had been directly in the theaters or through a pirated CD, almost everyone had experienced the film where lifelike dinosaurs appeared on the screen. Only one emotion came to mind while watching the film: shock.


    ording to his memories, the Jurassic Park novel was published in 1990 and contained about 150,000 words. Currently, in 1988, the author, Michael Crichton, would not have even begun writing it.


    As a result, Eric would be able to shamelessly write the novel without worrying about a giarismwsuit in the future.


    Eric smirked as he recalled the movie''s plot while pounding on the typewriter. What he was writing was the actual Jurassic Park novel, not the script from the film adaptation.


    In the past, after watching the movie, he had bought the novel out of curiosity and had carefully read it. Thanks to his now-superb memory, copying the novel from his memory was child''s y.


    He had decided against directly writing the script and selling it to a film studio since there was a high likelihood that it would be treated as trash and thrown away.


    The number of scripts that Hollywood studios received each day could sometimes number in the hundreds.


    Not to mention, Eric wished for the franchise''s film and television adaptation rights to remain firmly within his control.


    If he sold it simply as a script and a film studio made it into a movie, they would hit a jackpot of hundreds of millions of dors while Eric would maybe get a $100,000 buyout and a simr amount as a bonus, if he was lucky.


    He had absolutely no interest in such business that benefited everyone but himself.


    On the other hand, if he published the novel, the film and television adaptation rights would remain with him. At that point, Eric would only need to wait until a high enough price was offered before raking in the profits.


    ***


    As he was immersed in his work, time flew by and night had arrived. Eric had, unwittingly, been typing for over five hours when his stomach began growling.


    He stood up and nced at the thick stack of paper on the desk while he stretched his back. If he maintained this typing speed, the manuscript would bepleted within a week. Still, he had to do his waiting job at Jeff''s restaurant, or he''d starve.


    Walking into the kitchen, Eric looked through his fridge that contained some bread and peanut butter which he could use to make a PB&J sandwich but he refrained from it since his Asian habits were deeply ingrained.


    Instead, he made himself a simple dinner consisting of rice and scrambled eggs with tomatoes: a typical Chinese dish.


    After eating, Eric went to the second floor balcony and leaned against the railing as he gazed at the night sky of Los Angeles. His apartment was a little less than 200 square meters, a two-story house with some flowers nted in the yard.


    Eric''s father wasn''t rich and his personality was sloppy, to say the least, so the duo''s life had been quite rough.


    ording to his memory, they had moved back and forth between Ennd and Los Angeles many times. Eric couldn''t understand why as he had been too young, and even his current self couldn''t make any sense of it. Honestly, it was better to just forget about it.


    After moving to Los Angeles, Ralph dragged young Eric with him through the streets. In just two days, with the help of a real estate broker, they bought the small house that was aplete visual mess. Eric smiled, recalling his new body''s past.


    He remained in the balcony for a while when he suddenly heard a loud sound that seemingly came from ssware shattering on the floor.


    Eric looked towards a few houses to the west side of the neighborhood: the Runkles'' house. The Runkles were a middle-aged couple with three children: the eldest son was in college, the daughter, who was the middle child, was at a boarding school and the youngest was a seven-year-old boy.


    The Runkles seemed to be experiencing a midlife crisis as they had been quarreling a lot in recent days.


    Although Eric was friendly with them, he did not intend to mediate between them as they were people with restraint who wouldn''t fight violently. If he hastily ran to them and tried to pacify them, it would only make things awkward.


    After some yelling and the loud noise of a few appliances breaking sounded, the main door opened with a bang.


    Charles Runkle, the man of the house, waltzed out, clutching his messy hair. He turned to the woman at the door and shouted, "Enough, I''ve had enough! Damn bitch! If I hadn''t moved to Los Angeles to marry you, I would have been an executive at GM by now!"


    "Go to hell!" Mrs. Runkle usually spoke in a soft voice, but this time she sounded particrly loud and sharp, "In the past, so many men were pursuing me! One of them is now a California congressman, another is running an oil business in the Middle East.


    The profit of a single shipment is more than what you would earn in 100 years! I''m the one filled with regret. Go and sleep at your General Motors, mister ''GM executive''!"


    When Mrs. Runkle finished speaking, she threw a ck jacket at her husband and mmed the door.


    Charles Runkle picked up the jacket and patted it to remove the dust. He stood up only to find Eric standing on the balcony nearby.


    "Sorry to disturb you, Eric," he sheepishly smiled and said.


    "It''s okay, Charlie Do you want toe in?" Eric asked.


    Charles Runkle shook his head, " No, thank you. I  I''m going to go to the bar for a bit. I''ll be back in a while when Mary has calmed down."


    Charlie then nodded to Eric, got in his car and drove off.


    Eric returned to his room. Recalling the Runkles'' quarrel, an idea shed in his mind. As he sat at his desk and loaded a nk sheet of paper into the typewriter, that idea gradually became clearer.


    Over the past two days, Eric had been pondering about what his first film script should be, and now he had found the answer. That film was a perfect fit for him, but, as expected, some details needed to be altered as the time difference had to be taken into ount.


    However, this was not a big problem as the minor details wouldn''t hinder the script in the slightest.

 Chapter 3: Thankfully It’s Not Michael Crichton

    Jeff, the owner of the Italian restaurant, had discovered that, over the past few days, Eric had changed.


    He was no longer distracted or in a daze and had be quite spirited. When he entertained the guests, he was no longer awkward like before and he would sometimes even joke with them. Once, Jeff saw him skillfully tease a thirty-year-olddy on her hippie ent which even got him a huge tip.


    "Eric, did something happen recently? You seem very different?"


    During the break, Jeff finally could not resist the urge and asked since he cared very much about his deceased friend''s child.


    "Is it that obvious?" Eric asked, somewhat taken aback.


    Jeffughed, "It''s written all over your face."


    "It might be because I found a goal. You know, once people have something they wish to achieve, they be more driven."


    "Oh, what is your goal? Do you mind telling me?"


    "Of course not," Eric replied, "I have decided to be a film director. I have been writing my first film script over thest few days. It will be finished in two days."


    "A film... director?" Jeff was somewhat surprised. He subconsciously opened his mouth, wanting to remind him to not aim too high right off the bat, but then he recalled that the child was still mourning his father''s loss and swallowed his words.


    Despite his looks, Eric had a middle-aged man''s mind, so witnessing Jeff''s reaction, he just smiled indifferently. After all, this was Hollywood.


    Each year, thousands of people came here from all over the world to pursue their dreams, but few seeded, so Jeff''s reaction was to be expected.


    "Then Once you have finished writing the script, show it to me. In the past, I had also once wanted to be an actor, back when my appearance was not what it is today," Jeff patted hisrge belly and continued, "During my youth, I was quite handsome.


    I have even yed a small role in The Godfather, you know. *sigh* Time flies."


    Eric was somewhat surprised. He would have never thought that Jeff had such a past, but he quicklyposed himself. After all, this was Hollywood, the world''srgest film industry where nothing was impossible.


    In fact, during his early years, Sylvester Stallone had even starred in a porno called The Italian Stallion!


    "No problem! When it is done, you can help me give me some feedback on it," Eric replied so that Jeff would feel more at ease about this whole ordeal. Not to mention, he could also use some feedback.


    Although Eric had already revised the script to match the pop culture of the ''80s as much as possible, he couldn''t guarantee that there were no ws. As someone from this time, Jeff could better help him find the loopholes and inconsistencies.


    The two of them chatted for a while. As several guests entered the restaurant, Eric hastily went forward to greet them.


    ***


    After a day''s hard work, Eric quickly returned home, had his supper in a hurry, and busied himself with writing the novel for Jurassic Park and the film script.


    The Jurassic Park novel was basicallyplete, and only required some final proofreading. Eric nned to send copies to several publishing houses tomorrow.


    For the script, however, he had only written the outline as there were still several points that needed to be worked on. Eric had it all nned out in his mind so he only needed two days to sort things out.


    He left home the next morning at around 7 o''clock to make several copies of the novel and mail them. He had noted down the addresses of some famous North American publishing houses ahead of time. Even if theserge-scale publishing houses rejected Eric''s draft, he would not be disappointed.


    The United States had tens of thousands ofrge and small publishing houses alike, so somebody would eventually take a liking to his novel. Although Jurassic Park had once topped the New York Times bestseller list, sales was not Eric''s main goal.


    What he wanted was to own the rights for the film and television adaptations once the novel was published.


    "Hello, what can I do for you?" Just as he stepped into the printing shop, a somewhat thin Latina female employee warmly weed him.


    Eric pulled out the manuscript from his bag, "I would like to make a few copies of this."


    As the female employee looked at the thick stack of paper, she asked, "Sir, may I take a look?"


    "No problem," Eric handed over the manuscript.


    She did not pay attention to the content, but counted the number of pages, "There''s more than 300 pages, but I''ll count it as 300. A full copy of the manuscript would be $30, how many copies would you like, sir?"


    ''$30!'' Eric''s mouth twitched slightly. He sighed at how expensive a printout was. He only had a few hundred dors left and that was after asking for this month''s pay in advance.


    After some bargaining, they finally settled on the price of $100 for four copies. Once the money was paid, the female employee politely poured Eric a cup of coffee, then took the manuscript and began copying.


    Eric slowly drank his coffee as he watched the female employee operating the copy machine. It would probably be done in half an hour and wouldn''t get in the way of his waiting job.


    Although it only got busy at the restaurant after ten o''clock and even if he knew that Jeff would not deduct his wages even if he waste, friendship was friendship while work was work. Eric was aware that if he wanted to maintain his current rtionship with Jeff, he couldn''t ck off.


    Ten minutester, the printing shop''s door opened. Eric looked up and saw a brown-haired, middle-aged Caucasian man stepping into the shop while holding a workbag.


    The man was about 40 years old and 5''8" in height. In spite of this, he appeared very sturdy, sported a brown stubble, and wore a pair of gold-rimmed sses on his aquiline nose. His head was slightly balding and he exuded a gentle temperament.


    "Wee sir, could you please wait a minute?"


    The middle-aged man gently nodded and politely greeted Eric as he sat down next to him. The female employee temporarily stopped her work and quickly poured a cup of coffee to the newly arrived guest, "Sir, I will be done with the other customer in about ten minutes.


    Please, have some coffee while you wait."


    The man thanked her as he received the coffee. His eyes followed the female employee as she fiddled with what seemed to be manuscript and his eyes moved slightly. There were only three people in the shop and he couldn''t help but look at Eric.


    "If I might be so bold as to ask, is that manuscript yours?"


    Eric nodded, "Yes, it''s a novel I just finished. I''m making several copies."


    "You look like a high-school student. It''s really impressive for someone your age."


    "Thank you, this is actually my first novel, so I''m not too confident in it."


    "You must believe in yourself Would you mind if I read it?" As he said that, the middle-aged man pulled out a business card and gave it to Eric, "I run a small publishing house, you see."


    Eric received the business card and took a look:


    Michael us, The Night Elves Publishing House Manager.


    [TL Note: Weird name, but okay]


    Eric''s eyebrows jumped and he thought, ''thankfully, it''s not Michael Crichton.'' Eric couldn''t help but scold the Westerners for theirck of creativity in naming. He remembered that in high school, there were two guys named Jake and two girls named Jessica just in his grade alone.


    Throughout the whole school, there would surely be many students with the same name. Some didn''t even bother giving their children a proper name, Robert Downey had onlyzily added a "Jr." after his son''s name.


    Anyway, letting the man look wouldn''t do any harm so Eric gave him a freshly photocopied version. He received it and looked at the novel''s title, "Jurassic Park... interesting title."


    Eric faintly smiled but did not say anything. Michael us also didn''tment any further and began reading. The more he read, however, the more his casual look turned serious.


    Although he had praised Eric, but, taking his age into ount, he didn''t think that such a youngster could write anything truly praiseworthy. During his past business dealings, almost all best-selling authors he had met had been older, experienced men with knowledge as vast as the sea.


    After quickly and carefully reading the manuscript in his hand, Michael us looked at Eric. His eyes were full of surprise, excitement, and determination.


    "Young man, can you tell me your name?"


    "Eric Williams," Eric truthfully answered.


    With his previous life''s experience, there was no way he would be unable to understand the change in Michael us''s expression.


    Although he didn''t n to handover Jurassic Park to a small publishing house, getting acquainted with Michael us wouldn''t do any harm. If he got rejected by the more well-known publishing houses, he would at least have a backup n.

 Chapter 4: Temptation

    "Eric, would you allow my publishing house to take care of your novel?" Michael us didn''t try to hide his intentions as he directly asked.


    Eric looked at the already printed and bounded manuscript that the female employee provided him as he replied, "I''m sorry, Michael, though I appreciate your recognition, but you know, I want to try my luck with some of therger publishing houses.


    All parents hope for their children to make it to the Ivy League, right?"


    Michael us did not disy any hint of displeasure at being rejected as he smiled and said, "Eric, you don''t seem to have a very great understanding of thoserge publishingpanies. Maybe we could find a ce to talk? I know a cafe not far from here; my treat, how about it?"


    Eric put the manuscript into his bag as he straightforwardly said, "I''m sorry, Michael, I''mte for work. If my manuscript gets rejected by thoserge publishers, I will contact you."


    Eric picked up his backpack and walked out of the printing shop. Then, he started his car and drove towards the restaurant.


    Michael us hesitated a little, before immediately rushing out of the shop, getting into his car and following Eric. He had a feeling that if he missed this opportunity, he would regret it forever.


    This feeling he got was slightly because of the Jurassic Park novel but mainly because of the young man named Eric.


    Although he had only read a part of the novel''s first half, Michael was surprised by the young man''s knowledge. It had to be known that most teenagers his age would have never heard of gic engineering, chaos theory, or nanotechnology used in the novel.


    Not only did Eric''s writing disy his vast knowledge, he wrote in a way that didn''t make the reader lose interest, and instead added to the fascinating twists of the plot.


    He had read various sci-fi novels, but most of them used scientific terms in a very in and boring fashion such that most readers lost interest quickly and the novel''s sales plummeted.


    ***


    Eric arrived at the restaurant and parked his car only to find a ck car stopping nearby. Michael us got out of his car and approached Eric.


    "Hey, Eric-" Michael us waved his hand and was about to speak when Eric pointed at his watch and said, "Umm... Michael, you see, it''s nine o''clock and I work at this restaurant as a waiter.


    If you don''t mind ordering breakfast, the bar and restaurant are basically deserted before 10 o''clock." Michael us nodded and followed Eric into the restaurant.


    After changing his clothes, Eric returned to the restaurant and walked towards Michael us who had been sitting at a window seat with an empty breakfast te in front of him.


    "I exined the situation to Mr. Jeff, but you have to hurry," Eric sat across him as he smiled and said, "I might be young, but I''m not that easily persuaded."


    Michael us smiled, "I believe after you hear what I have to say you will certainly give your novel to me to publish," He paused before continuing, "As I just said, you probably don''t know too much about those big publishers, but I have worked at Simon & Schuster for more than a decade.


    I did everything from running errands to editing manuscripts. After I failed to receive the promotion to department head, I left and founded my own Night Elves publishing house."


    "What does that have to do with me?" Because of his past life as a loser, Eric didn''t care to hear about other people''s struggles, so couldn''t help but interrupt.


    "Rx, young man, I just want to make you understand that I''m not messing around and that my words are the truth. You know, during my tenure, I had reviewed hundreds of novels. Every day, I reviewed tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of words from drafts.


    Although there were a lot of poor manuscripts, there were also a lot of works that got published. Simon & Schuster, and other big publishing houses, publish at least 2000 different kinds of books each year.


    Even if they did publish your novel, how much promotional marketing resources do you think they would use on a rookie writer such as yourself?"


    Michael us said his piece and drank a sip of water, leaving Eric some time to process his words. Eric already had an idea what Michael us was referring to but did not say anything, and instead kept staring at him, indicating for him to continue.


    "My publishing house might be small, but thanks to my years of experience and knowledge regarding publishing and marketing, it has been doing well.


    Although we only publish about a dozen novels each year centered around the genres of science fiction, adventure, and horror, we still have a name in the industry.


    If you give Jurassic Park to me, I promise to put in all our resources towards promoting your novel in the shortest time possible and helping Jurassic Park gain some fame and recognition. With my help, your novel will have a much higher chance to make it into the bestseller list."


    Michael usid all his cards on the table and quietly waited for Eric''s decision.


    After hearing Michael us''s words, Eric was still unconvinced. Even if a small publishing house put in all their resources, how much would that even be worth?


    He still had the mind of a middle-aged man who had experienced a lot and seen all kinds of people. Naturally, he wouldn''t be so impulsive as to change his mind after hearing just a few words.


    However, there was one thing that Michael us mentioned which struck a chord with him: helping Jurassic Park build some fame and recognition in the shortest time possible.


    No matter the era, fame had always been an intangible but incredibly valuable asset. From Eric''s point of view, the only obstacle to thepletion of his ns was his young age that would prevent him from receiving the full trust and support of others.


    But with enough fame, that shoring would disappear. If an eighteen-year-old young man, fresh out of high school, attempted to be a serious film director, people would simplyugh in contempt.


    But if an eighteen-year-old bestseller writer attempted to be one, the reaction would certainly be different. Naturally, there would still be some obstacles, but he would also gain a lot of support.


    After ruminating over Michael us'' words, Eric said, "I have to admit, Michael, your words moved me. However, you have only made ims; I still know nothing about your publishing house."


    "It''s very easy to change that," Michael us calmly replied, "One of the novels my publishing house was in-charge of made it into the recent The New York Times Best Seller list.


    Although it just barely made it into thest ce, that didn''t stop 20th Century Fox from purchasing the novel''s film adaptation rights. It will probably be made into a film in a few years."


    Eric didn''t think that Michael us was lying since he could easily confirm the authenticity of his words.


    "So, when do we start talking about the specific details?"


    Michael was stunned for a second before stammering, "Y-you, you agree?"


    "Yes," Eric nodded and smiled, "To be honest, I just can''t wait to see my novel hit the shelves."


    "Alright, so how about tonight? I think you may need to work now." Michael pointed at the restaurant''s entrance where customers were gradually appearing.


    After the two agreed on the meeting spot, Michael us left the restaurant, satisfied.


    "Eric, what did you talk about with that man? You seem quite happy," Jeff asked.


    Eric had just told him that he had to discuss something important with a friend, so he was a bit curious.


    Eric handed the menu over to the customers and took their orders to cooks in the kitchen, before replying, "Oh yeah, awesome news, Jeff! That man is the owner of a publishing house. My novel will soon be published."


    Jeff was a little confused, and asked as he looked at Eric strangely, "You''re publishing a novel? Didn''t you tell me yesterday that you wanted to be a film director and that you had even written a film script? Are you going to give up on your dream so quickly to be a writer instead?"


    Eric replied, "Of course not, my goal has not changed. Writing won''t prevent me from bing a director, will it? The manuscript is in my backpack in the locker room. Jeff, do you mind taking a look and giving me some feedback?"


    Jeff made his way to the locker room only to feel shocked. He had thought that Eric''s novel would probably be just a short story, about a thousand words long, so when he saw the thick manuscript, Jeff''s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The novel definitely had more than 150,000 words!


    Throughout his entire life, he had probably never written so many words!


    He spent the busiest hours during lunch time in leisure. The staff at the restaurant were taken aback when they realized that their boss seemed to have disappeared for several hours. For the old man who watched them like a hawk to suddenly go AWOL was definitely unusual.


    Just as they were discussing whether they should go look for him, Jeff walked out of the locker room, patted Eric''s shoulder and said, "Brilliant novel! *sigh* You''ll probably resign soon," After stating these words, Jeff left.


    Once their boss was out of sight, all the employees surrounded Eric to inquire as to what had happened.


    As a result, during the entire afternoon, from time to time, waiters and kitchen staff would take turns to go into the locker room to read Eric''s novel. A beautiful waitress even coyly asked him if she could take the novel home.


    Although Eric wasn''t indifferent to the beautiful girl''s suggestive gestures, he could only decline her request. He had a few copies of the novel, so lending her one wouldn''t be a problem, but before the novel was published, he didn''t wish for any untoward idents to happen.

 Chapter 5: Conditions

    In a cafe located in North Hollywood, Eric and Michael us were negotiating the profit distribution of Jurassic Park.


    Eric had already agreed upon receiving 7% for the novel''s royalties. However, the negotiations entered a stalemate when it came to the novel''s film and television adaptation rights.


    Michael us was an experienced publisher, so there was no way he would be unable to gauge the potential within the novel''s film and television adaptations.


    Eric didn''t raise any objection to receiving a smaller share in the royalties distribution which made Michael us fall under the misconception that he was young and inexperienced.


    Therefore, he proposed that his publishingpany receive the rights to the adaptation while they would both share the profits from the adaptation.


    Hearing Michael''s proposal, Eric bluntly refused, "That''s impossible, Michael."


    Michael us was somewhat taken aback by Eric''s decisive refusal, but he quicklyposed himself and said, "Eric, hear me out. When 20th Century Fox had wanted to buy the film and television adaptation rights for the novel I previously told you about, I was the one who negotiated with them.


    As a result, the author and I each made over $1 million. If the author had personally negotiated, he might not even have made $500,000. Such is the difference between an individual and a publishing house."


    The two continued discussing for more than ten minutes. Michael us continued to entice Eric, even taking the initiative to lower his own share of the novel''s royalties.


    In the end, to his disappointment, Michael us discovered that Eric was not the inexperienced youth he had believed him to be. Instead, he was more like a shark who had swam through troubled waters for years.


    Despite not being very familiar with the publishing industry, he had been able to make keen and urate guesses as to the industry''s ins and outs.


    What left Michael us even more surprised was that Eric was not impulsive despite his youth. Despite discovering his intentions, Eric did not bluntly point out his discovery, but rather subtly implied it.


    Michael us was forced to swallow the bitter pill and finally gave up on Jurassic Park''s film and television adaptation rights.


    Afterwards, the negotiations went smoothly, and the two of them quickly signed a contract.


    "Nice doing business with you, Eric. You will definitely not regret letting me take care of Jurassic Park." After signing the contract, Michael us went back to his gentle demeanor as if his shrewd and cunning demeanor earlier had been nothing but an illusion.


    "Nice doing business with you too, Michael. I hope you''re right."


    The two shook hands, sat back down and continued chatting when Eric casually said, "Michael, among your personal connections, is there anyone that works at a film studio?"


    Michael us''s eyebrows jumped and he quickly said, "Of course! That''s how I managed to sell that other novel to 20th Century Fox? I have a few connections in other film studios, as well. During my tenure at Simon & Schuster, I had once been responsible for keeping in contact with film studios.


    That''s why, Eric, if you let my publishing house handle Jurassic Park''s film and television adaptation rights, I can directly rmend it to producers from The Big Six."


    Eric shook his head and said, "Let''s not talk about that anymore, Michael. I would like to keep all of Jurassic Park''s copyrights in my own hands. Actually, I''m currently working on a script, and if possible, I had hoped that you could help me rmend it to some film studios."


    Having his hopes extinguished once more, Michael us was no longer that interested in Eric''s script, but he still asked out of politeness, "Could you tell me a bit about your script?"


    "It goes like this," Eric paused, organized his train of thought and continued, "18 years ago, 17-year-old Mike O''Donnell was set to participate in the most important basketball game of his life. If he did well, he would be able get a full schrship to any Ivy League school of his choice.


    However, before the start of the game, his girlfriend Scarlett informed him that she was pregnant. On the way to the stadium, Mike threw away the basketball in his hands, and decided to shoulder his responsibilities as he resolutely left behind his budding sports career.


    18 yearster, time has passed and his glory has faded, Mike has be a middle-aged man full of regrets, and his marriage with Scarlet is on the verge of copse"


    Eric didn''t go into the details but briefly narrated the story. After witnessing Mr. and Mrs. Runkle''s quarrel a few days ago, he had suddenly recalled the film 17 Again starring Matthew Perry and Zac Efron.


    ''A middle-aged man''s soul inside the body of a 17 year-old boy? Isn''t this simply perfect for me?'' Eric had thought.


    Michael us'' eyes became increasingly brighter as he looked at Eric with admiration. He had just finished an outstanding novel, yet he was already writing another unique and interesting script.


    ***


    In fact, time travel films were a rtively new concept that had just been introduced a few years ago but their poprity was quickly increasing, yet, the supply was pitifully scarce. Therefore, as long as the film was even half-decent, it would be a hit at the box office.


    Not to mention, the 1985 box office champion, Back To The Future, this year alone, two films rted to time travel had been very well received.


    18 Again!, after just two weeks of screening, had already made twice its budget, recouping all investment, and was now beginning to make profit.


    Big would be even more sessful, earning over $100 million at the box office. The film would turn Tom Hanks into a star and also make Penny Marshall the first female director with a film that earned more than $100 million at the North American box office.


    "It''s a good story, Eric. But, did you know that time travel scripts are a dime a dozen nowadays? Not to mention, you''re a bonafide neer."


    In order to gain the upper hand during the negotiations, Michael us put his cunning fox mask back on. He had been wallowing in frustration due to being unable to obtain Jurassic Park''s film and television adaptation rights, so this was his chance to make a profit.


    Eric smiled faintly. How could he not see through Michael us'' thoughts? He stretched out five fingers and directly said, "50%mission!"


    "What?!" Michael us eximed.


    Eric continued, "Michael, you heard correct. If you are able to sell my script, I will give you 50% of what I get for it asmission. However, I have a condition."


    Sure enough, there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world, Michael us heard Eric''s words and sighed at how this young man had him wrapped around his little finger.


    "What is it?"


    "I want to y the role of young Mike O''Donnell."


    "That''s impossible!" Michael us immediately denied him, "Even the film''s director might not necessarily have the power to make such decisions regarding casting, not to mention you, a fledgling writer."


    "You know there is a saying: man proposes, God disposes," Eric said, "Without trying, how would you know it''s impossible? Also, with Big''s release, the chances for it happening have gone up a notch."


    Michael us was taken aback and he could not help but ask, "What does this have to do with Big?"


    Eric casually stirred his cup of coffee with a spoon and replied, "I think that film is likely to earn more than $100 million at the box office, and if I''m right, someone might consider taking a look at a script with a simr genre and a plot that does not lose out in the slightest."


    Michael us had yet to see Big, but he didn''t doubt Eric''s words and said, "Alright, Eric. I will try, so about themission"


    "Michael, you greedy old man, are you trying to make more out of this than I, the author!"


    Michael us scratched his nose in embarrassment and said, "Hey, don''t say that. Even if you were to be cast as a neer actor, your pay wouldn''t be any less than $500,000. As for the script, it would already be considered great if we even get $200,000."


    Despite saying that, Michael us didn''t mention themission again. When they were about to part ways after leaving the coffee shop, he suddenly said, "Actually, Eric, I can''t help but think that you truly would be perfect for the role of young Mike O''Donnell.


    While we were discussing the contract, I truly felt like I was negotiating with an older, experienced businessman, not an 18-year-old fresh out of high-school."


    Eric smiled, "Don''t mind the details, Michael. I''ll give you the script in two days. I hope you''ll be able to bring me some good news."

 Chapter 6: Good News

    After finishing the Jurassic Park novel, Eric spent all his spare time on writing and modifying the script for 17 Again.


    The film''s plot mainly focused around the topics of family, love, friendship, and life choices, so there wasn''t really anything conflicting when it came to that, but he had to change everything that had to do with the pop cultural references and the scenes where cellphones andptops were used as it shed with the current era.


    Eric turned Ned Gold into a sessful entrepreneur and hardcore movie fan who liked to collect film props. Obviously, the many references to the The Lord of the Rings had to be discarded.


    After putting the script together, in ordance with their previous agreement, Eric went to look for Jeff. Ever since he had read the Jurassic Park novel, Jeff no longer belittled Eric.


    He earnestly read the script a few times and truly found a few inconsistencies such as when Mike O''Donnell went to school wearing a Kevin Federline t-shirt who Jeff didn''t know.


    Eric carefully searched through his memory only to realize that Britney Spears'' second ex-husband was just a ten-year-old boy right now.


    After modifying a few other inconsistencies that Jeff had pointed out, Eric handed the script over to Michael us.


    Havingpleted a novel and a film script, Eric was in no hurry to begin working on anything else and instead began practicing basketball. There were a lot of cool and shy basketball moves in the film, but Eric barely knew the basics of basketball, so he had to start from scratch.


    Although Zac Efron''s acting performance in the film hadn''t been particrly praiseworthy, his basketball stunts and tricks were quite cool, especially in the cafeteria scene where he taunted and yed around with the viin Stan.


    ***


    A weekter, after two hours of training in themunity basketball court, Eric returned home where he continued working on his fancy moves when he was interrupted by the loud ringing of the phone.


    Over the past few days, Eric had received countless calls from Michael us, who kept him up to date in regards to the publication of Jurassic Park as well as the 17 Again script.


    Regarding Jurassic Park, everything went very smoothly, and it was only a matter of time before Eric could see the book, however, when it came to 17 Again, things weren''t looking so bright.


    Although several studios had shown interest after reading the script, when they heard of the scriptwriter''s condition of starring as the film''s male lead, most of them just straight out rejected the whole ordeal.


    Honestly, it wasn''t too surprising to Eric since no studio executive would be willing to take the risk of casting a neer with no box office appeal in a film with an investment of more than $10 million.


    Eric had informed Michael us that he didn''t have to set his sights solely on The Big Six, and that he could also approach medium-sized studios such as New Line Cinema and Orion Pictures.


    "Hey, you''ve reached the Williams residence," Eric spoke after adjusting his slightly panting breath.


    "Hey, Eric, it''s Michael."


    Eric calmly said, "Michael, it''s almost ten. For you to call me thiste at night, I take it you have some good news?"


    Michael us couldn''t help butin on the phone as he said, "Don''t even mention it, do you know how many times I called you? You never answered!"


    "Sorry about that, I was practicing at themunity basketball court."


    "Practicing basketball? Wow, Eric, now that''s what I call determined. Right, I do remember that the script had a lot of basketball scenes."


    "Well yeah, I don''t just train at the court, I also practice every morning for an hour in front of the mirror."


    "I have to say, Eric, I deeply admire you, not many people would be able to persevere like you. Anyways, take tomorrow off, we have an appointment."


    Eric''s hands trembled slightly as the basketball that was spinning on his index finger fell to the ground. After it made some muffled bouncing sound, he finally asked, "This is good news ?"


    "Of course, you lucky guy, I received a phone call today from 20th Century Fox''s James L. Brooks. They are very interested in your script and didn''t directly reject your condition, but you have to give an audition."


    "That''s Thank you, Michael."


    "You''re wee," Michael usughed and continued, "Of course you understand that since they have agreed to letting you audition it''s as good as a done deal. Well, unless your performancepletely sucks, and in that case, even I would be unable to do anything for you."


    "Absolutely not, don''t worry, I''ve been practicing a lot."


    Eric was ecstatic the whole night, and drove his car to meet Michael us at the agreed ce the next morning.


    "This is Fox''s lot?" Eric eyed the huge warehouses with longing.


    Michael us walked out from his car and stood next to Eric as he also looked up and said, "Yes, it''s very impressive Ah, but the Warner Bros. lot is definitely more spectacr than this, you know? You should visit them sometime."


    Eric recalled some films produced by Warner Bros. and nodded, "I will."


    Soon, they were both guided by a staff member to an office door. After their guide knocked and spoke a few words, the two of them were ushered inside.


    When they saw the two men walk in, the two middle-aged individuals in the room - a man and a woman - who were discussing something, stood up to greet them.


    Michael us shook hands with them, then did the introductions, "James, Penny, this is Eric Williams. Eric, Mr. James Brooks is a producer and Mrs. Penny Marshall is a director."


    After introducing her, Michael us smiled at Penny Marshall and said, "You know Penny, a week ago, Eric told me that you would soon be the first female director in history to direct a film that earned more than $100 million at the North American box office."


    Eric first extended his hand to James Brooks, who only lightly shook it before quickly taking it back.


    Eric realized that this well-known producer didn''t seem to like him much, possibly due to Eric iming the lead role as his own.


    Eric didn''t mind as he turned to Penny Marshall, a forty-year-old blonde woman. While she was also an actress, she was a little chubby, so she probably had it hard when it came to being cast which may have been why she moved behind the scenes to film direction.


    "Hello, Mrs. Penny, I loved your film Big."


    "Thank you, Eric," Penny Marshall''s expression didn''t change much when Eric mentioned Big.


    The film''s screening was still ongoing and almost everyone felt that it was almost certain that the box office would exceed $100 million as in recent weeks the number of entries hadn''t decreased but increased, instead.


    However, the film was already in its fourth week of screening, and a lot of new films were being released recently, so the unnatural box office growth would probably soon die down.


    After the introductions, James Brooks, Penny Marshall and Eric began sizing up each other. They would soon have to cooperate together in order to assure the sess of 17 Again.


    Eric smiled confidently as he sat down next to Michael us on the couch.


    A beautiful female assistant served them coffee before withdrawing from the office.


    James Brooks didn''t touch his cup, but instead crossed his hands on the table as he stated, "Mr. Eric your script is indeed very good, but I have to say, the condition you have brought up is a little You''re just a high-school graduate with absolutely no acting experience.


    So, at first, we had wanted to refuse, but Mr. Barry Diller happened to see your script and liked it so much that he personally agreed to your request. Of course, you still have to give an audition and even if you pass, you will also have to take some basic acting sses for a short period of time."


    Eric nodded to express his approval. Still, he was quite surprised that Barry Diller had personally approved his script. Who didn''t know Barry Diller?


    Even the current CEO and Production Head of Disney, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, respectively, had once worked as assistants to Barry Diller during thetter''s time at Paramount.


    Barry Diller had been in Hollywood for more than thirty years. From his rise at Paramount to his prosperous days at Fox, from the movie industry to the nationwide televisionworks, he had left his mark behind everywhere.


    While he was lost in thought, Michael us gently nudged him and Eric realized that he was still in James Brooks'' office with thetter looking at him with dissatisfaction.


    Since the beginning, James Brooks didn''t have a favorable impression of Eric. When it came to filmmaking in Hollywood, everything was decided by the producer, from the casting to the editing during post-production. Eric''s condition to be cast as the male lead had been a direct threat to his authority.


    "I''m sorry, I got distracted," Eric quickly apologized.


    "Never mind, boy," When it came to speaking to this youngster, James Brooks'' tone turned firm as he said, "Before we begin discussing anything else, let''s first start with the audition."

 Chapter 7: Audition

    Eric followed James Brooks and the others to a small temporary studio. Looking around the film set, Eric''s heart began to thump faster. Silently eyeing the various gears and props, he vowed to himself, ''The day wille when I will be someone that everyone will look up to.


    When people mention Eric Williams, they will think: He is Hollywood.''


    * * *


    Since Eric was the writer of the script and hadplete understanding of the characters, they decided to skip the pointers.


    Penny Marshall chose a few scenes for him to perform. He had practiced for the past few days and had a perfectly clear image of the original film in his head, so he performed the scenes with ease.


    James Brooks and Penny Marshall were slightly surprised. Eric''s performance was nothing like that of an inexperienced novice. With his acting skills, he didn''t need any training at all. In fact, they could start filming right away!


    "Next, Eric, try out this scene," Penny Marshall smiled and handed the script to Eric. He noticed that her face wasn''t showing any disappointment and breathed a sigh of relief since he was worried that there might have been something wrong with his performance.


    The new scene that he had to perform took ce on the school''s bleachers where Mikeforted his daughter who had just broken up with her boyfriend. It was one of his favorite scenes since some of the lines went on to be ssics.


    "Miss Penny, I''ll need the help of an actress for this one."


    "Of course," Penny Marshall turned towards the girl next to her and said, "Teresa, you go help Eric rehearse."


    The scene was only two minutes long, so Eric and Teresa, a production assistant, managed to memorize their lines quickly. Teresa only needed to speak her lines since she was just there to help him get in the mood.


    Eric was the one who had to seriously feel and experience a variety of emotions such as feeling concern when he saw his daughter crying, feeling enraged when he realized that she might have slept with Stan,forting her during her sadness, and feeling helpless as she tried to throw herself at him.


    Once Eric and Teresa were ready, a staff member shouted, "Action!", and the scene began.


    Maggie sat on a box of props, pretending to cry.


    Mike stepped forward, his face full of concern.


    "Hey, Maggie, what''s wrong?"


    "Go away," Maggie shrank her hands back into her sleeves and attempted to shoo away Mike as she continued to cry.


    "Hey, seriously what happened?" Mike asked as sat down next to her.


    "What do you want? Knock on my head and say ''I told you so''?" she asked, aggrieved.


    "No, no, no, I won''t do that," Mike shook his head and hurriedly replied, "I just want to know what happened."


    "Stan dumped me."


    "Stan dumped you?!" Mike''s eyebrows jumped as the surprise on his face was reced with anger and disbelief.


    As a father, finding out that his daughter broke up with a scumbag, of course he was happy. But that reaction didn''tst long as he quickly realized something, ''That bastard actually dumped her?! F**k, she''s the one that should dump trash like him!''


    Watching Eric''s performance, both James Brooks and Penny Marshall were left stunned. If his previous performance were to be evaluated as 6/10, then his use of facial expressions was definitely a 9/10.


    The more he watched his performance, the more James Brooks became fond of Eric, and he conveniently decided to forget about his previous evaluation of Eric.


    Eric''s performance continued.


    Hearing that his daughter might have slept with Stan, Mike almost went mad for a moment before quickly realizing that nothing had actually happened between them. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he clumsily attempted to find the words tofort her.


    "When you''re young, everything feels like the end of the world. But it''s not; it''s just the beginning. Sure, you might have to meet a few more jerks, but one day you''re gonna meet a boy who treats you the way you deserve to be treated as if the sun rises and sets with you."


    "Really?" Maggie asked slowly.


    "Of course," Mike quickly stated.


    "You''re so sweet," Maggie threw herself at Mike who hurriedly backed away. He bounced up, grabbed his school bag and invited her to his party while continuing to resist her attempts to throw herself at him.


    p  p  p


    After the two had finished, James Brooks and Penny Marshall couldn''t help but apud. From a professional point of view, Eric''s performance was simply outstanding.


    After the other crew members noticed the reaction of the producer and director, they quickly joined in.


    Michael us grinned as he also pped his hands. While he wasn''t a professional filmmaker, he could also tell that Eric''s performance was very good. From James Brooks and Penny Marshall''s reaction, it was obvious that Eric had passed the audition.


    This also meant that the 17 Again script would definitely sell for a high price and he would make over a hundred thousand dors inmission. Although his small publishing house was doing well and had a valuation of a million dors, most of the assets weren''t liquid.


    To him, one hundred thousand dors was still a huge amount of money.


    After passing the critical audition, the remaining matters were easily settled.


    Eric received $250,000 and $500,000 for the screeny and actor contract, respectively. The additional $50,000 for the script was thanks to Michael us'' efforts. He had bargained hard since he knew that half of it would go to him.


    Although Eric''s performance was very good, he was still a neer, so he wouldn''t receive anything more than $500,000.


    In an instant, his worth had been raised by $750,000. Of course, he would have to wait until the filming was finished before he received his acting pay.


    Eric began having wild thoughts of using the money to direct his own film. He still remembered how he and his peers had struggled during his previous life; those who could truly make it as a director were very few.


    After signing the two contracts, Eric left the 20th Century Fox''s studio. What remained was only preparatory work for the film, and as much as he wished to help and gain some experience, he didn''t want to repay the producer and director''s goodwill by being meddlesome.


    His acting sses had been canceled since Penny Marshall stated that Eric''s performance had been perfect. As a result, there was no need for him to waste time on acting sses that only taught the basics; minor ws could just be corrected during the shoot.


    After leaving the studio, Eric went to the bank with Michael us, cashed in the cheque he received for his script, and handed over $125,000 over to thetter. Without Michael us'' rmendation, the script wouldn''t have been sold so quickly.


    In fact, if he had to rely on himself, as a newbie without any personal connections, who knew how many years it would have taken him to sell the script? Not to mention, his condition to star as the male lead.


    Next, just like Jeff had expected, Eric resigned. He invited his colleagues to party at his house while Jeff and several older colleagues, who minded their age, tactfully declined.


    The night had been festive and Eric and his now ex-coworkers had gotten dead drunk before they fell asleep.

 Chapter 8: Basketball

    The moment he woke up, Eric''s head felt as heavy as a mountain. He shook it a few times to get rid of the feeling, and once he had taken note of his surroundings, he smiled as he sat up. It was already quarter past nine in the morning.


    In the Williams residence''s second floor bedroom, the zing summer sun rays were streaming unhindered through the south balcony''s French doors. It was already August and one could feel Los Angeles'' warmth way before noon.


    It had been half a month since his rebirth, and Eric had been busy with all sorts of things. He hadn''t even had the time to act as a tourist before bing a part of the exclusive Hollywood circle.


    Heid back down and looked around him.


    The bedroom wasrge, more than thirty square meters. Even including his bed, wardrobe, desk and other appliances, it still felt empty.


    Ralph, his father, had wanted to divide it into two separate rooms but refrained since only he and his son lived there. Even until his death, he had never made an attempt to remarry either.


    Eric wondered if all drinking addicts were the same, burdened by simr heartrending pasts.


    When he got down from the second floor, it took him half an hour to tidy up the mess in the living room left behind by yesterday''s party, and after having his breakfast, he drove out.


    He spent several hours visiting music shops and finally settled on a Strauss piano. He left behind his address to get it delivered, and purchased a thick stack of books on music arrangement from the bookstore nearby.


    The purchase of an expensive Strauss piano wasn''t done on a whim or because Eric suddenly wanted to be a singer, it was to prepare for the soundtracks in his future movies. He had so many ssic movies in mind, and if he wanted to replicate them to perfection, he couldn''t neglect the soundtrack.


    He had to at least understand arrangements to some degree or he''d be turned into aughing stock by those music professionals.


    Hollywood was different from China. In China, directors would often just find a musician, listen to his works, and if they liked something, they''d shake hands and be done with it.


    But in Hollywood, original soundtracks were an integral part of movies. Not to mention background music, just the theme songs were enough to be ssics.


    Songs such as Unchained Melody from Ghost, New Divide from Transformers, My Heart Will Go On from Titanic, Young and Beautiful from The Great Gatsby, and Let it Go from Frozen, had forever be ssics.


    Soon after he arrived home with his new books, several delivery men came and the piano was set up in the study on the west side of the living room. Although it was called a study, there wasn''t a single bookshelf there, just arge desk and other misceneous stuff.


    It previously belonged to Ralph, but he never had a habit of reading, so Eric ced all his books on music in his room upstairs.


    After the piano was put in ce, he had to tune it. As Eric sat on the bench and ced his fingers on the keys, the delivery men didn''t even attempt to hide the ridicule in their eyes. He ignored them and started ying Happy Birthday.


    After ying for a while, he nced at the amazed delivery men and their necks stiffened. Even in his past life, Eric''s piano skills could be considered good.


    As a revenge for their previous contempt, he cut their tips by half. The several delivery men didn''t notice that as the tall white one muttered to himself once they were in the car: "Strauss, ah, Strauss! That''s worth at least 20,000 US dors We could''ve gotten so much more in tips..."


    The tone of his voice was as heartbreaking as a woman learning about her grandfather''s death on the eve of her marriage. If Eric had heard it, he would''ve probably felt ashamed at his earlier gesture. Luckily though, he hadn''t.


    ***


    "Audition? What audition?" Eric asked in puzzlement, "Penny, hasn''t my role already been decided?"


    For the past few days, Eric studied music and practiced basketball everyday. Three days after he had gotten used to this routine, he received a phone call from Penny Marshall.


    "Of course, Eric. What I meant was for you to be present during the auditions of other roles. After all, you''re the writer, you could offer some advice, right?"


    Eric knew he would only be able to give his opinion and that the final decision wouldn''t be his, but he still readily agreed to Penny''s offer as this was a good way for him to earn some experience.


    After arriving at Fox''s lot, he saw Penny Marshall and James Brooks inside one of the studios. Casting was one of the most important parts of film production, so naturally the director and producer had to be present. There were also several other staff members, but Eric was the youngest.


    There were still a good ten minutes before the auditions began, so Penny Marshall took the initiative to chat with Eric about some matters regarding 17 Again.


    "Following BIG''s sess, Fox has high hopes for this film so they''ve given us a budget of $20 million. They''d like to release it by Thanksgiving, so we have two weeks to make all our necessary preparations and finish the filming before the end of summer break when schools reopen."


    Eric thanked the staff member who gave him the list of auditioning actors, then replied to Penny Marshall, "If everything goes smoothly, three months should be enough to wrap up production, the film doesn''t require any special effects, so it shouldn''t take too long."


    Penny Marshall nodded, "Indeed, but we also need to set aside some time to promote the film."


    "Right, Penny, for which roles are they auditioning today ?" Eric asked.


    "We''ve invited Dan Aykroyd and Susan Sarandon for the adults Mike & Scarlett O''Donnell. Also, James rmended a friend of his for the role of Ned. Today, the auditions are mainly for Mike''s children, as well as the other teenagers, so I thought we should let you take a look."


    Although Eric already knew the final decision wouldn''t be his, when he heard that most of the actors had already been decided, he was somewhat depressed. Fortunately, Penny Marshall informed him that they had kept Eric''s description of the characters in mind when they chose them.


    As for Ned''s role, James Brooks wouldn''t joke around with a $20 million project, so the actor he settled on shouldn''t be too shabby.


    Eric still felt a bit stifled and unwilling as he secretly vowed that he wouldn''t let that happen again in the future. Being marginalized left him with a bad taste in his mouth.


    He wasn''t in the mood to keep chatting with Penny Marshall, but she didn''t seem to notice his gloomy expression as she went towards James to discuss something in a low voice.


    Soon, the auditions began, and after almost a dozen people, Eric finally saw someone he was familiar with: Brad Pitt, who was auditioning for the role of Alex O''Donnell.


    In the original film, Alex''s appearance was that of a weak and feeble guy, and Eric recalled thinking how it was hard to believe that someone like him could suddenly shine on the court, draining three-point shots and easily dunking despite his meager stature.


    He reckoned that the only reason they chose a skinny boy instead of a tall and handsome guy was to ensure that Zac Efron, with his 5''8" stature which was somewhat short for a Caucasian male, would not be outshined.


    Brad Pitt was 25 years old right now but he could easily pass as a high-school student with some makeup. Eric pictured his tall and strong stature getting bullied, then owning everyone on the basketball court; it was at least less far-fetched than the original.


    Besides, Eric was convinced that his performance would not be outshined by Brad Pitt.


    When thetter would be famous, people would still talk about how he yed Eric Williams'' son, how awesome was that ?


    While his lips curled into a smile, he studied the remaining list and tried to spot celebrities from his previous life.


    He looked through the list which contained more than a dozen actresses'' personal information as he stopped at the first name on the list, and his chin almost fell off: Angelina Jolie. Well, it looks like the whole family is in attendance today!


    He remembered that Angelina Jolie should have just graduated from a performing arts school, and would begin her unsessful modeling career next year, so he had no idea what she was doing on the audition list for Maggie O''Donnell.


    Caucasian girls mature quicker than boys, soJolie''s headshot was that of a thirteen-year-old slim, blonde-haired girl with iconic lips, who exuded a slightly wild aura. Eric didn''t really expect much from her performance as she was simply too young.


    In fact, she probably only got to audition thanks to her father, Jon Voight.


    While he kept looking through the list, Eric found a very interesting girl.


    "Hey, Penny," Eric turned around and asked, "Howe Drew Barrymore is on the list? You know, with how she''s been behaving for the past couple of years I don''t think she''s really suitable for a campus romanticedy...?"


    Penny Marshall smiled helplessly, "Steven rmended her. That woman shamelessly begged him so many times that he simply grew tired of it and rmended her. He also implied that we don''t have to take his rmendation into ount when she auditions."


    "Steven Spielberg?"


    Penny Marshall nodded, "Yeah, he is Drew''s godfather."


    Eric sighed, the woman Penny mentioned with an undisguised tone of disgust should be Drew Barrymore''s greedy mother.


    In just a few short seconds of conversation, Eric was able to get a better understanding of Hollywood. It wasn''t anything like how the media or people had described it in his past life: fair and transparent. In reality, it was all about connections.


    Penny Marshall patted Eric''s shoulder and said, "Alright, Eric, let''s start."


    Eric had the list of the candidates in hand as he waited for the auditions to begin.


    He initially thought he would just sit down and provide additionalments, eventually even ask some symbolical questions, he didn''t expect that when the first actor came in, Penny would face him with a smile and say, "Eric, you go and perform this scene with Mr. Wolfson."


    Eric shrugged, nced at the script, and stepped forward.


    Once the fifth actor was out of the audition room, Eric sat back in his seat and jokinglyined, "Penny, when you called me to be a referee, I didn''t think it would be on the basketball court."


    "Ha, nice analogy! Alright, don''t be mad Eric, it was James'' idea. He kept whining about how I canceled your acting sses, and so he thought of this method to make you practice your acting skills."


    Eric pretended to be angry as he stared at James Brooks and said, "Why didn''t you tell me about it?"


    "Don''t you know now?" Penny Marshall asked with a smile.


    " Whatever," Eric shook his head, speechless.

 Chapter 9: In the Flesh

    "This Brad Pitt is taller than Eric and he also looks somewhat old?"


    After Brad Pitt went out of the door, the auditions were temporarily put on hold so James Brooks started to discuss with the other judges.


    Penny Marshall said, "Yeah, I think number seven, ke Quinn, was quite good."


    Several other judges also expressed their opinions.


    Eric looked up number seven''s information: a 17-year-old thin, white youth with blond hair and a height of 5''7". His appearance was truly consistent with Alex''s past image, but this was not what Eric wanted.


    He couldn''t bear staying silent anymore and blurted out, "Penny, I think ke Quinn appears to be too weak.


    Although he fits the image of a bullied high-school student, in the second part of the movie, when Alex starts dominating the basketball court, his appearance will be a problem as the audience will find itughable.


    I just graduated from high-school and I can tell you, there''s no way someone with ke Quinn''s physique would ever make it on the team."


    James Brooks thought it made sense so he nodded and asked, "You''re right, so Eric, who would you consider?"


    "How about Brad Pitt?"


    Penny Marshall said, "But, Brad Pitt is a little taller than you."


    Eric shrugged, "Height is not an issue, some children are taller than their parents, it''s nothing out of the ordinary, and his build will make Alex''s changes more believable."


    James asked, "How so?"


    "Brad Pitt''s performing skills are up to par, and although he has never yed as a lead, he has done many soap operas, and after what he showed in the audition, I believe he will definitely be able to portray the weak and dispirited boy in the movie''s first part.


    Afterwards, after receiving Mike''s encouragement and training, he would gain the courage to stand up for himself and pursue the girl he likes. Given his build, the audience wouldn''t find it weird, they''d instead think along the lines of: You go, Alex!"


    The several surrounding people nodded in assent, Eric could feel that James Brooks was also somewhat moved, but he didn''t make an immediate decision and said, "Okay, we will discuss this issue againter. Let''s start the actresses'' auditions."


    The first one toe in was naturally Angelina Jolie. Her performance was okay but it was not outstanding. Her style was very dramatic which caused Eric a headache.


    If he had been in charge of the casting, then perhaps he would''ve given her one of the other small roles as that would''ve been interesting, but unfortunately, he didn''t have that power.


    Several other girls followed before it was finally Drew Barrymore''s turn.


    She had a childish face, she donned a knee-length white pleated skirt and small ck leather boots, as well as a white vest which contrasted with the ck straps of her bra that would show from time to time when she walked.


    Just looking at her appearance, no one would be able to link such a precocious teenager to a drug addict.


    As she sat on the chair in the middle of the room and stroked her hair, Drew quickly discovered Eric sitting in the middle of the group of middle-aged men and women. The distinct edges of his face and the sharpness of his eyes made him appear exceptionally handsome.


    Drew''s lips curved into a mischievous smile, which caught Eric by surprise.


    James and others, as if by prior agreement, all turned to look at Eric strangely. Eric looked back at them innocently as if saying, ''Hello? Why are you staring at me, I''m innocent, you know? I''m the victim here, okay?''


    James was the first to break the silence, "Alright, Drew, let''s do this seriously."


    "No problem, Mr. Brooks," Drew sweetly smiled as she instantly turned into a well-behaved girl-next-door.


    Eric wanted to shout, ''You damn naughty fox!''


    ***


    "Maggie, stop, I am not the one for you."


    The scene took ce in one of the bedrooms in Ned''s vi where Mike kept avoiding his daughter''s pursuit.


    "Yes, you are."


    "No I''m not, Maggie. I''m not the person that you think I am."


    "You''re right. You''re not. You''re nice. You''re not like the others."


    "Not like the others. I''m very, very different. So different in fact that you and I could never, ever, ever, ever be together. Just stop it, Maggie," Mike helplessly said.


    As if suddenly understanding something, the lioness in heat sat back down on the bed, looking distressed as she said, "Oh my god, what are you saying? Are you confused?"


    "I''m very confused. Yes, I''m extremely confused."


    "Oh my god, I I I get it now. Your hair is always perfectly coiffed and you have highlights."


    "What are you talking about ?" Mike asked, puzzled.


    "I mean dude, your jeans are really tight."


    Mike looked at his legs before helplessly saying, "I''m not gay. I''m in love, Maggie. I''m in love. I''ve been in love with the same girl since I was 17, Maggie."


    Feeling relieved, Maggie stood up, and quickly asked, "Does she go to our school, do I know her, tell me her name, I just want to know her name?"


    "No, Maggie, no."


    "Okay, well," Maggie drew closer to Mike and pinched his cheeks as she said, "You tell your girlfriend to keep a close eye on you."


    Everyone in the room was enthralled watching the two youngsters perform. If they hadn''t known better, they''d have thought two weren''t acting at all.


    Some of the judges couldn''t help but sigh at God''s unfairness. They had filmmakers for many years and had seen all kinds of actors who always performed diligently, but the two in front of them were on another level, as if they had acting in their bones.


    What they didn''t know was that only Drew''s talent was genuine, the other guy only reyed the scenes in his memories and shamelessly mirrored them.


    When their performance was over, Drew looked curiously at Eric and said, "Eric, you''re really good, I heard that you were also the one who wrote the script, that''s seriously awesome."


    Eric replied, "Thank you, but you''re more outstanding than I, Miss Drew."


    "Thank you for the praise," Drew casually extended her hand towards him.


    Eric also extended his hand to shake hers. When he felt two of her fingers caressing his palm, he faintly smiled. Eric was no fool, he understood that this young girl was trying to gain his favor. Perhaps, she thought that he had a say regarding the casting.


    After Drew Barrymore left, the judges fell silent. They knew about hering to the audition, and had originally thought they would just eliminate her. But as of now, she was the best amongst all the candidates so far.


    During the following auditions, everyone was somewhat absent-minded, Eric included.


    Nearly one hourter, towards noon, Eric saw thest name on the audition list: Jennifer Aniston.


    In that instant, Eric couldn''t help but exim in his heart: America''s sweetheart, in the flesh!


    James Brooks opened his mouth and said, "Miss Aniston, would you please introduce yourself first?"


    Jennifer Aniston keenly felt the only young man in the room looking at her with a slightly feverish gaze, which made her proud but also added to her nervousness. She introduced herself and the director had her act out a few scenes with the young man before the end of the audition.


    She could tell from their behavior that they already had a candidate in mind for the role. Jennifer was slightly disappointed, her parents were also in this circle, so she knew how things worked. However, she still gave it her best.


    Once Jennifer Aniston left the audition room, Eric reluctantly looked back. Just like in the pictures he had seen in his past, she was somewhat plump right now, but with her 5''5" height, she looked really graceful in her high-heel shoes.


    Although she wasn''t fat, she would definitely appear to be so in front of the cameras as they tend to magnify everything.


    "What''s wrong, Eric? You like this girl? I have to say, she does have a nice smile."


    When Penny Marshall teased him, the others also took note of Eric''s embarrassment and smiled. Eric scratched the back of his head as he awkwardly replied, "Penny, don''t make fun of me, I just, I was only"


    James Brooks reorganized the materials in his hands as he said with a smile, "How is this making fun of you, Eric, if you like this girl, just go take her out to lunch, the auditions are already over. Well, you can apany us old timers to lunch if you wish."


    "Nevermind Forget it."


    Eric felt really out of it; he didn''t even know her, what if she took him for a creep?


    "Come on, Eric, don''t be a wimp," James Brooks encouraged him, "The world is so big. If you miss out on a girl, you might never get another chance. She was a little plump but her beautiful smile could more than make up for it.


    Go after her, I''ll give her a small role as one of Maggie''s three friends if you do, that way you''ll have the opportunity to keep in touch with her."


    "Really? I Thank you, James, thank you. Then, I''ll get going," Eric had wanted to request James Brooks to give Jennifer an opportunity, but he hadn''t even had the chance to ask before the former had taken matters into his own hands.


    Eric grabbed his backpack and rushed out of the door amongst everyone''s encouragingughters.

 Chapter 10: Starting Point

    Jennifer Aniston was absentmindedly waiting for the bus. She wasn''t really disappointed. She had just graduated from her performing arts schoolst year and had only performed in a few small stage dramas.


    She had heard about the audition by chance and had sent her resume without really expecting anything.


    She was about to hail a cab when she heard someone calling her from behind. She turned around and saw the young man who had looked at her strangely during the audition.


    "Hello, you are?" Jennifer subconsciously asked and realized that she didn''t know his name.


    Eric held out his hand and said, "Hello, Miss Aniston, my name is Eric, Eric Williams."


    Jennifer Aniston politely shook his hand and smiled, "Hello, Mr. Williams."


    Eric stared at her smile in a daze and forgot to let go of her hand.


    "Mr. Williams, you" Aniston could feel his warm hand wrapped around hers as she abashedly rebuked him with her gaze.


    "Ah, sorry. Just call me Eric, Miss Aniston, do you mind if I call you Annie?"


    Eric took his hand back, and awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he cursed in his heart. Granted, he had not been a yboy in his past life, but he was definitely not wet behind the ears. It was definitely his new body''s hormones acting out, definitely!


    Jennifer looked at him with a touch of alertness, "Well, Eric, we don''t seem to know each other?"


    Ericposed himself, smiled and said, "Don''t we now? All friends start as strangers. Annie, it''s already noon, can I take you out to lunch?"


    "It''s too sudden, Eric, we''ve barely spoken a few words," Jennifer refused.


    "Then, let me drop you home," Eric smoothly followed.


    "That should be okay," Jennifer was taken aback. She had always been good at rejecting people, but she still agreed to his request without really knowing why. Actually, that was Eric''s n all along: asking her something she would reject first, then strike it home.


    After boarding his car, Eric asked her for her address and started to drive.


    Unable to hold back her curiosity, Jennifer inquired, "Eric, you''re a member of the 17 Again staff ?"


    "Yeah, I''m the screenwriter. Well, I guess I''m also an actor now," Eric said casually while manipting the steering wheel.


    "Oh, wow, that''s amazing! You should be around my age, but I have only yed some small roles in a few stage dramas."


    Eric smiled, "I was just lucky. Right, you said that you performed in stage dramas?"


    "Oh, yeah," Jennifer began talking endlessly as Eric shifted the conversation to a topic that she liked. She would even giggle when he made some jokes.


    How could a 19-year-old girl be Eric''s opponent, whose soul was that of an experienced uncle. Jennifer gradually opened up and began telling him about her life in Los Angeles.


    "Although it''s tiring to work at a convenience store eight hours a day, it''s fulfilling. Besides, I perform in stage dramas or give auditions from time to time. I don''t believe that I need to rely on my irresponsible father to be sessful."


    Eric knew that in his past life, it was Jennife Aniston''s father who had introduced her to the film industry. It was in 1990, to be precise, which should''ve been two yearster if history hadn''t been altered.


    As far as he recalled, Jennifer Aniston resented her father for abandoning her mother and she. In the end, John Aniston was the first one to break the ice and tried everything to mend his rtionship with his daughter, adamant on helping his stubborn little girl.


    By the time he got her the role of Rachel Green in Friends, Jennifer was already 25 years old. It had to be known that, in Hollywood, if a woman still hadn''t made it by the time she reached 30, her odds of sess were impossibly low. Jennifer had been very lucky.


    Eric tried to cheer her up as he said, "Your audition was very good, you weren''t unnecessarily dramatic unlike those who usually do drama ys. You know, there was a girl at the beginning of the audition, she brought drama to a whole new level."


    Mentioning the audition, Jennifer suddenly went quiet. After a while, she asked softly, "Eric, Maggie''s role had already been decided before I auditioned, right?"


    "I have to say, Annie, you''re really sharp."


    "It''s just that you all seemed distracted back then, like you were all simply going with the flow."


    Eric bluntly said, "If nothing surprising happens, the role will most likely go to Drew Barrymore. Her performance as Maggie was exceptional."


    "Drew Barrymore, the cute girl from E.T? She should only be twelve or thirteen years old currently, isn''t Maggie a senior in high school?"


    Eric asked, surprised, "Annie, did you not see Drew in the waiting room? Although she''s only thirteen years old, she looks really mature."


    Jennifer bitterly smiled, "No, to make it on time for the audition I swapped shifts with one of my co-workers and worked until twelve, so I arrived a littlete."


    "I see. Right, there''s something else, well it''s nothing really, but I don''t know if I should say it"


    Jennifer looked at him curiously, "What is it ?"


    "Just after you left the others noticed that I had taken a liking to you."


    Aniston''s lips suddenly drew a curve as she asked, "So what then?"


    "James, the producer, said to me that the world was big, and that if one missed out on a girl, they might never get another chance, so he encouraged me to go after you. He also said that if I did, he would give you a small role so as to provide us with more opportunities to interact with each other."


    Eric thought quietly in his heart, I''m sorry for selling you out James bro, winning the heart of a girl is not an easy thing.


    "Ah, that, I I I-" Jennifer was flustered by Eric''s sudden confession, but she also felt a little sweet.


    Seeing her panic, Eric hurriedly added, "Hey, you don''t have to feel burdened. Annie, we''ve be friends, and friends help each other, it''s normal. The role I mentioned is just a small role really, it''s one of Maggie''s three friends, there are only a few scenes.


    But if you ept it, you''ll have greater chances at scoring other auditions since I believe that my movie will be a hit at the box office."


    "Thank you, Eric, I really don''t know what to say."


    They drove for another ten minutes when Jennifer pointed to an intersection and said, "Eric, parking there will be enough."


    The car stopped in a narrow alley as the two of them went silent. Jennifer didn''t want to get off, and Eric was certainly not stupid enough to let her slip away. They sat quietly for a while until the atmosphere got slightly ambiguous.


    Finally, after gathering her courage, Jennifer said, "I''ll invite you to lunch instead Eric, there''s a small restaurant in front, I often eat there."


    Eric breathed a sigh of relief and replied, "What are you saying, how could I let you treat me ? Of course I''m paying, let''s go, show me the way."


    ***


    In the end, Jennifer epted the role, and during the period of preparations for the film, the two of them talked almost every day through the phone.


    She''d tell him about someone who was caught stealing in the convenience store she worked at, about what she wore, it was to the point she''d even tell him how many times she sneezed a day.


    Eric didn''t say a word about his own life problems, and keptforting the young woman who was alone and away from home. In spite of Jennifer having quite a few friends, she didn''t have anyone to confide in, so Eric had unknowingly be the spiritual pir she relied on.


    Eric knew that if he asked her out, she would definitely agree.


    But he didn''t rush it, he didn''t want his rtionship with her to make things awkward on the set.


    During this period of time, another project was also beingpleted: The Jurassic Park novel. Half a month after signing the contract with Michael us, he finally put his hand on a freshly printed book. The cover was adorned with a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex pushing cars off the road.


    He got the idea from the Jurassic Park movie, and Michael us thought it was great, he liked how the prehistoric era was shing with the modern one.


    Eric specifically asked for another copy and gave it to Jennifer. His caring and gentlemanly behavior was quite lethal to a girl like her who had alwayscked a father figure.


    After reading Jurassic Park, Jennifer was awed speechless by Eric''s talent. He could write and he could act. In her heart, Eric had received thebel of genius and her eyes seemed to contain an additional glow of worship when she looked at him.


    While preparations for 17 Again were still underway, Eric helped select a few other cast members. In the end, the role of Mike''s son didn''t go to Brad Pitt, but they didn''t choose ke Quinn, either. The one whonded the part was a slightly stronger looking eighteen-year-old boy.


    Now that he had met Jennifer, Eric didn''t mind at all. After all, Brad Pitt and she were married once during his previous life.


    Eric pettily thought about how when he became a director, he wouldn''t let him star alongside Angelina Jolie, either.


    August 16th 1988, after Eric''s rebirth, the filming of his first movie officially began.

 Chapter 11: Roasted

    "Cut! Alright, Eric, you take a break, and get ready for the next scene."


    Penny Marshall spoke in the megaphone as the staff members busied themselves. The uing scene was the one where Mike, donning arge and wet suit, walked around the school hallways searching for the mysterious janitor.


    It was afternoon of the first day of shooting, the set was located at a private high school in Beverly Hills.


    When the school board had learnt about the script''s content, they readily allowed the crew to film for free, on the premise that the name of the school in the script had to be changed to theirs.


    This was a win-win situation as the crew received a free location for shooting which greatly saved the production budget, and the school would gain the best kind of publicity. The crew had deliberated shortly before quickly agreeing.


    They had taken a lot of simple location shots in the morning, so they decided to shoot the scene of Mike looking for the old janitor in the afternoon.


    Eric, the way you''re dressed right now is seriously shabby! You look like one of those dirty hobos from downtown!" Drew Barrymore mocked as she sat crossed legged on a chair.


    Eric certainly wouldn''t care about the words of a thirteen-year-old girl, so he indifferently replied, "Hey, Maggie, that''s no way to speak to your father."


    Drew sneered, "My father? As an eighteen-year-old virgin? You''re overreaching."


    Jennifer Aniston came holding a towel at this time, and hearing Drew making fun of her sweetheart, she immediately retorted, "He''s still better than a certain someone by a hundred times."


    Drew didn''t take Jennifer seriously as she condescendingly eyed her from head to toe. Finally, she revealed a derisive smile as she stood up from her chair and deliberately wriggled her own slender waist.


    Eric had to say that such an act from Drew was really a low move.


    Jennifer''s plump figure was the achilles heel that nurtured her low self-esteem. To make such a mocking gesture at her in front of the boy she liked was like stepping on a cat''s tail.


    Jennifer threw away the towel she was holding and rushed towards Drew. One should not be fooled by her sweet and innocent smile, Jennifer was a girl who worked and lived in Los Angeles alone; how could someone like her not know how to fend for herself?


    Catching a nce of an impending war, Eric quickly stopped Jennifer; he held her hands and sat beside her as he affectionately bit her earlobe and whispered sweet words to her.


    Feeling Eric''s breath on her slender neck, Jennifer couldn''t help but giggle. She coquettishly made a fist and gently hammered on his shoulder, "Eric, you''re so bad, how can you say that."


    Drew had perked her ears up but couldn''t catch what Eric had said, so she wrinkled her nose and grunted as she turned around and pretended not to care.


    "Eric, get ready for the next scene."


    "I''ll be right there, Penny." Eric patted Jennifer''s soft hands, stood up and walked towards the set.


    As for why Drew kept nitpicking at Eric, it had started this morning. Although he and Jennifer hadn''t really put a name to their rtionship, anyone could see that they were very close. Some made fun of them, some were envious, and others, like Drew, were just annoyed.


    She didn''t know why but when she saw the two of them together, acting so intimate, Drew felt a sense of difort, especially when she saw Jennifer reveal a pure womanly smile full of bliss. As a result, she jeered at Eric at every asion she found, except when they were both on set.


    The entire crew knew that Eric and Drew were like fire and water, however, once the two of them faced the cameras, their performance was nothing short of professional, they rarely had any NGs at all. Since Drew''s antics didn''t affect the shooting, Eric and Penny didn''t really mind.


    They had already discovered half a month ago that she was more mature than her peers.


    "Hey, supersized girl, what did that guy say to you?" Drew couldn''t take it in the end and pretended to be indifferent as she nonchntly asked.


    "You know, you''re seriously pathetic." After Eric''s dissuasive words, Jennifer had calmed down, but her words became bolder since he wasn''t around.


    "Pathetic? Me?" Drew was startled as she stared at Jennifer with wide eyes.


    "Ha, what a joke! I''m the movie''s lead actress while you''re just an extra with a few minutes of screen time, and you still have the nerve to call me pathetic?"


    Aniston replied with derision, "So what if you''re the lead actress? You''re just your mother''s personal wallet. I''m different; I might just have a small role, but I at least have my freedom.


    I also have a talented and amazing boyfriend who wrote a movie script at just eighteen years old, and is also the movie''s lead actor. His novel has even hit the shelves across the nation. But what about you?


    Your father pretends that you don''t exist and in your mother''s eyes, you''re only a tool to make money. You couldn''t take it so you started to indulge in alcohol, drugs and sex, in an attempt to escape from reality.


    I noticed how Eric''sck of attention towards you brought about your feelings of jealousy. You''re just a broken, hurt, and fettered pathetic little girl."


    BOOM


    As if a bomb had gone off in her mind, Drew felt like she was standing naked in the coldest of winters.


    Even if she was mature for her age, she was still only thirteen years old. Most girls her age would be high school freshmen full of curiosity and anticipation towards their uing first love. Jennifer''s words had revealed all the wounds that Drew had desperately tried to keep buried.


    Seeing Drew speechless, Jennifer disyed a satisfied smile. Had Eric been here, however, he would have done everything to prevent her from saying such harsh words to a child.


    After sessfullypleting several shots, Eric returned to the rest area, a little surprised to see Drew curled up in the corner with her tiny head buried in her arms. Curious, he asked, "Annie, howe the two of you are so quiet?"


    Jennifer proudly replied, "I beat her with my words. She was unable to refute, so she''s sitting there quietly."


    "Huh that''s amazing. Drew''s words can be quite vicious and she''s not easy to deal with. Well, let''s go. Remember to do your best during your scene to leave the director with a good impression."


    "I will."


    As the two people walked intimately on the set, the earlier storm seemed to have quickly passed, but was that really the case...?


    During the remainder of the shoot, Drew stopped teasing Eric and became unusually quiet. Eric and Jennifer were engrossed in the filming and didn''t pay attention to her abnormal behavior.


    ***


    "Nice, great job guys!"


    At the end of the day, after thepletion of thest scene on the shooting schedule, Penny Marshall held a pen as she said to Eric, "We originally hoped toplete filming within ten days, but judging by the pace we''re going at, it will probably take a week at most.


    I know we''ve already discussed this during your audition, but I have to say Eric, your performance is really exceptional, do you really have no acting experience?"


    Ericughed, "Actually Penny, I lied. I yed in a lot of movies in my past life, and I seem to have retained the experience."


    "Past life? Oh you''re talking about Buddhism''s theory of reincarnation." Penny Marshall took the truth as a joke, and replied, "Well, it seems like your little girlfriend is getting anxious. Go on, and remember not to bete tomorrow."


    "See you tomorrow, Penny."


    "See you tomorrow."


    Eric started the car, and left together with Jennifer.


    No one noticed the lonely figure of Drew Barrymore standing in a corner, staring at the departing car with resentment in her eyes as she muttered, "Just wait and see, Jennifer Aniston, you little bitch, I''ll get you good... I''ll make you regret every single one of the words you said to me today..."

 Chapter 12: “You’re so shameless”

    "Eric, do you think I should. lose weight?"


    Sitting next to Eric, a blushing Jennifer casually asked as she faced the window and pretended to look at the traffic on the road.


    Eric organized his thoughts as he stated, "Annie, in my eyes, no matter how you look like, you''ll always be the most beautiful, but I think that if you want to really make it in Hollywood, then you should probably lose about a 100 lbs."


    "Humph! You dog, you''re finally saying it! So you think I''m fat!" Jennifer snorted, but her tone was seemingly full of coquetry.


    Eric didn''t couldn''t figure out if she was joking or being serious.


    "I''m sorry, let me take you to eat Italian as an apology?"


    Jennifer hesitated before she whispered, "Or we could go to my house. I know a few dishes, I''d like you to taste them."


    Eric straightforwardly replied, "I would be honored."


    ***


    Soon, the car arrived at Jennifer''s apartment.


    It was the first time he had been to her cozy abode. Her room was painted in warm colors, and decorated with a variety of animal soft toys. The air was filled with a girl''s unique fragrance.


    Eric had initially wanted to help, but Jennifer had pushed him out of the kitchen, so he could only obediently sit in the living room and go through some fashion magazines.


    An hourter, Jennifer finally put the finished dishes on the table, pped her hands and asked, "How is it?"


    Eric sniffed and praised, "It smells great! I can''t wait to dig in."


    They didn''t bother being polite to each other as they sat down and enjoyed themselves. Eric had to admit, Jennifer''s cooking was delicious.


    After eating, she suddenly stood up and said, "Right, Eric, when I went to the store to buy some condiments earlier, I saw something about you, nevermind, I''ll just show you."


    Aniston excitedly took out a newspaper from her handbag and spread it out on the table in front of them.


    Eric looked at her curiously as she proceeded to read with undisguised pride, "Eric Williams'' creative genius delivers in Jurassic Park, a splendid science-based theory on embryo engineering that could lead to the resurrection of dinosaurs. This theory is put to the test by Dr.


    Hammond, who transforms Nur Ind into a shocking jurassic dinosaur park. However, all this is just the beginning. Chaos theorist Malcolm''s appearance will bring about another possibility among the..."


    Aniston read until there then skipped to the end of therge book review, "Even more surprising is that the author of the novel, Mr. Eric Williams, is only eighteen years old this year and ording to our sources, this genius boy has lived a rtively rough life..."


    Eric had a strong urge to facepalm, ah, there it was. Of course he knew what was next, it was something written to appeal to the reader''s sympathy by emphasizing his miserable past. He quickly took back the newspaper from Jennifer''s hands as he said, "Alright Annie, you don''t need to read that."


    Aniston unhappily waved her hands as she tried to snatch the newspaper back, "Hey, let me see! They were getting to the good part, they were praising you. Huh, what''s wrong, why is your expression so weird?"


    "About that," Eric crumpled the newspaper and threw it directly into the trash can next to the dining table, then said, "If you want to know what it says, I can tell you."


    "Ah!" Jennifer''s mouth slightly opened as she nced at the trash can, "So, you''ve seen it, you hateful guy! Why didn''t you let me read it then?"


    "I know what''s in it because I''m the one who wrote that article."


    Jennifer was shocked, "What?!"


    Eric replied with embarrassment, "It''s just something publishing houses do in order to promote their novels. They usually hire someone to write a review which is then published in the newspaper.


    I went to find Michael a few days ago and told him that no one understood the book better than me, so he let me write a few reviews. The one that you just read is one of them."


    " Wow."


    Eric shrugged, and cheekily said, "Honestly, that''s nothing out of the ordinary. This method of publicity is fairlymon."


    "Eric."


    "Yeah ?"


    ".. You''re so shameless."


    After saying that, Jennifer couldn''t hold herself back anymore as sheid on the table andughed until her tears started to fall out.


    Eric''s shameless actions had obviously started to rub off on her as she hastily sent him back home after dinner. But he was adamant to stay and kept pestering her. Finally, she gave him a kiss on the lips before quickly closing her door.


    Three dayster, Jennifer had finished filming all her school scenes, and the rest would have to wait, so she temporarily went back to work at the convenience store.


    Eric had recently found that she looked paler than before and when he inquired about it, she told him that she had started dieting. He advised her not to be so anxious about it as it could damage her body, but to no avail.


    In addition, during the past few days, Drew looked like a hungry kittenying in wait for its prey which made Eric secretly shiver.


    When Jennifer wasn''t paying attention, Drew would scramble towards him and throw him snide remarks about his performance. Eric just smiled and let it pass, even when she kept berating him, he still didn''t care.


    But seeing her like that, he really wondered: what on earth had he done to make this goddess of cmity so unhappy?


    The day after Jennifer left the crew.


    "Eric, want some water? I''ll get you a bottle." During a break, Drew sweetly asked.


    Eric subconsciously refused, "No, thank you Drew, I''m not thirsty."


    Drew didn''t insist, but soon came back carrying two bottles of water and threw one to him, "Take it."


    Eric helplessly epted it, but soon froze as Drew grabbed a chair, sat next to him, and leaned her body against his.


    "Hey Drew... what are you doing, I have a girlfriend, you know."


    Those words were merely an excuse; the truth was that Eric didn''t want anything to do with Drew and her chaotic life.


    "I like you." Drew''s expression didn''t change as she bluntly stated.


    Pfffft


    Eric sprayed out a mouthful of water as he thought this girl is really... way too blunt.


    "I, uhh I" This confession came from a beautiful girl, and Eric would be lying if he said he wasn''t moved, so he found himself at a loss for words.


    Since she had made things clear, Drew didn''t n on holding anything back. Jennifer had already left the crew anyway, so there was no one to stand in her way.


    She leaned a little bit more on him as her developing breasts started to rub up and down on his arms, and softly said, "Eric I''ll be your girlfriend, okay? In fact, I had a boyfriend before but he was just really. unbearable."


    "Drew don''t do this."


    Eric started sweating, he was trying to find the words when the blissful voice of Penny Marshall sounded, "Hey, you two, stop fooling around and get ready to shoot the next one!"


    Eric quickly broke away from Drew''s embrace and hurriedly walked towards the set.


    Watching his disappearing back, Drew''s flirtatious face was reced with one filled with resentment as she said to herself, "Jennifer Aniston, you just wait, I''ll make you watch as I take your most precious thing away from you. I wonder, who will be the pathetic one then?"

 Chapter 13: Meeting a Troublemaker

    A weekter, the school scenes werepletely wrapped up, and the crew began shooting elsewhere.


    "Wow... WOW!" Susan Sarandon came up to Eric, outstretched her hands and squeezed his face as she eximed, "You look exactly like my husband!"


    "Ha, ha."


    "That''s so strange."


    "Yeah, really strange," Eric agreed.


    "What exactly is going on?" Susan asked.


    At this time, looking at the monitor, Penny Marshall shouted, "Cut! Eric, youughed again, this is the fifth time already, the fifth time! Can''t you restrain yourself?!"


    People oftenbeled directors as being bad tempered, but it was to be expected. Every time actors screwed up, they wasted time and money, no matter how good-tempered one was, one would definitely be angry.


    In this case, Eric could only apologize again and again, "I''m sorry Penny, I promise it won''t happen again."


    Penny Marshall rolled her eyes superciliously; it wasn''t the first time Eric had guaranteed that.


    "Everyone in ce, get ready to try again."


    Susan Sarandon who was next to Eric said, "Eric, the next time I squeeze your face, try to not focus on me."


    "Yes, Ms. Sarandon, I''ll try."


    This passage wasn''t even that funny, but Eric didn''t know why he would just startughing every time.


    When they started shooting again, he tried Susan Sarandon''s suggestion, and although he came close to bursting out loud many times, he restrained himself and they finally wrapped it at the sixth shot.


    During the break, Eric walked towards the elegant woman and said, "Ms. Sarandon, thank you for before."


    "It was nothing, Eric. Just Susan is fine. You''re really talented you know, I''ve never seen a newbie act as well as you."


    "Oh, thank you very much. Uhm, Susan, can I ask you a question?"


    "Yes?"


    Eric said, "The thing is, Susan, your body is in an amazing shape, how do you maintain it?"


    "Oh wow, Eric, are you hitting on me?" Susan Sarandon raised her eyebrows and smiled as she asked.


    Eric noted her meaningful expression and was reminded that sometimes, in Hollywood, older female celebrities looked for younger boyfriends. It wasn''t rare for even sixty-year-old women to try to get their hands on 20 year-old youths.


    "No, Susan, actually my girlfriend has been trying to lose weight recently, so I was thinking of getting some advice from you."


    "Oh, I see. Losing weight is indeed not an easy thing. I happen to know a good fitness consultant in Beverly Hills; she opened a women''s fitness club, and used to be an excellent nutritionist. You can bring your girlfriend there to get some advice.


    She will give your girlfriend a reasonable weight-loss program that she could follow."


    "Well, could you give me her address?"


    "Sure, no problem."


    Susan Sarandon asked her assistant to bring a pen and a piece of paper. She then quickly wrote a memo and handed it to Eric, who received it, thanked her, and turned around to leave.


    Just as he went back to the resting area and was about to sit down, Drew hastily pulled his chair away mischievously as she asked, "Hey, Eric, what did Susan just write you? Is it her address for a hot date?"


    Eric noticed that Drew had be cheekier and cheekier recently, so he replied simrly, "You''re correct, it looks like you''re really perceptive for a thirteen-year-old girl."


    "Ha!" Drew chuckled loudly, she was initially joking around, but Eric''s sarcasticment got on her nerves, so she said, "I heard you grew up without a mother, did you develop an Oedipusplex?"


    Obviously, Eric had some understanding of Drew''s family situation.


    "Hey, Drew, let''s not mention that topic."


    Drew thought that he had gotten angry because she mentioned his mother, so she stuck her tongue out.


    "Eric, I''ll call it a day, but you have to invite me to dinner, ok?"


    Eric shook his head, "I''ll have to ask Annie first."


    "That supersized girl again! Are you nning on adopting that T-Rex or what?!"


    "Tyrannosaurus Rex? Drew, don''t you think speaking about her like that in front of me is inappropriate? If you were a man, I would''ve beaten you up."


    "Don''t think I don''t know that the only reason she got her role was because James was giving you face since you had taken a liking to her. But with that fatty''s pride, she won''t be your official girlfriend until the end of the filming. Ha! What a hypocritical woman."


    "Drew," Eric''s expression became solemn, "If you say anything like that again, I will never speak to you again."


    "Alright, alright," Drew raised her hands in surrender, "After we eat, we could go to a ce and talk about that book you wrote, Jurassic Park. It''s really great, it turned me into Mr. Eric Williams'' fan."


    Eric said, "Stop it, Drew, will your mother even agree to that?"


    "That woman?" Drew snorted with disgust, "As long as she gets her cheque, she couldn''t care less about me."


    It seemed like Drew''s hatred towards her mother had prated deep into her bones. It was no wonder she had cut all ties with her family once she had turned sixteen during the original timeline.


    Today, Eric had shot many scenes, and even with his young and vigorous body, he was exhausted.


    After they called it a day, he tiredly walked towards the parking lot, but soon found out that Drew was on his heels.


    "Hey, Eric, you promised you''d buy me dinner! You''re not going to slip away."


    Eric looked back at her and said, "Drew, don''t be unreasonable, when did I promise you? Go back quickly."


    "No!" Drew hurriedly grabbed Eric''s arm as her arrogant expression turned into a pitiful one, "I have already sent away my assistant, are you gonna let a little girl like me go home alone, what if some bad people corner me and I get raped or killed?"


    Eric had be immune to Drew''s lightning fast expression change. Unmoved, he said, "No, you go home alone. And hurry, it''s been a tough day, I want to go back to rest."


    Drew realized that her n had failed so she raised her hands and messed up her hair, ripped off her small vest and gently scratched her skin as red marks started to appear.


    She then looked at Eric with her eyes blinking with tears as she yelled, "If you don''t agree, I''ll sit on the floor and shout for help! Let''s see how the L.A.P.D deals with you then!"


    Eric touched his forehead as his temples were threatening to burst.


    God, why did you make meet this little troublemaker?


    Bang


    Eric gloomily shut his car door and started his car as he asked Drew who had already called shotgun, "Alright, you win Drew, so where to?"


    "Mastro''s, I want to eat steak."


    "Alright, where''s that?"


    Drew first gave Eric a look of contempt before excitedly saying, "Then, I''ll drive?"


    "Not a chance, I don''t want any trouble, hurry and spit the address out or I''ll just randomly pick one."


    Drew pursed her lips as she unwillingly told him the address, and Eric began to drive.

 Chapter 14: Drew’s Change

    "Hurry up and eat, then I''ll take you home. You''ve been yawning for a while, I know you''re tired."


    Drew took a sip of juice, and gave Eric a charming nce, "You want to take me home? Sure, I really don''t mind."


    "Cough" Eric choked and quickly covered his mouth with a napkin as he stared fiercely at the vulgar young girl.


    A few minutes passed and Eric gradually found out that Drew was eating slower and slower, before finally, her hands started to tremble slightly as she held her knife and fork.


    He was about to ask her if she felt ufortable when he suddenly realized that Drew was likely going through withdrawal from her long-term drug addiction.


    ''Such bad timing,'' Eric thought and smiled bitterly as he looked at Drew who was doing her best to endure the seizure.


    He quickly shouted, "Waiter, the bill!"


    He wanted to leave as soon as possible. Although Drew''s drug addiction was not a secret anymore as it had been discussed by many and ryed by even the newspapers, there wasn''t any tangible proof to show for it. In many people''s hearts, Drew was still the cute girl who kissed the alien in E.T.


    If it was found that she was having a seizure in public, or worse, be photographed, it would be a severe blow to her image.


    After settling the bill, Eric looked at the slightly absent-minded girl and said, "Drew, let''s go, I''ll take you home."


    They went out of the restaurant holding each other''s arms. When Eric felt her petite body trembling against his, he couldn''t help but feel pity.


    In the car, Drew huddled next to him, shivering, and as soon as Eric started the car, she said, "Eric, can you help me buy buy"


    "No." Eric categorically refused.


    "Drew, bear with it for a while, alright? I''ll take you home so tell me your address."


    "No!" Drew hastily shook her head as she began shouting hysterically, "I don''t want to go home, if that woman sees me like this, she''ll definitely send me to rehab. I won''t go back, I won''t go back!"


    Eric quickly reassured her, "Alright, we won''t go there."


    He then started the car and drove towards his home.


    Parking in the garage, Eric brought the light-headed Drew into his bedroom.


    "Eric, Eric, I beg you I beg you please buy me some of ..." Drew was shrinking in his arms as she grabbed his cor and pleaded in tears.


    "No, Drew, I can''t do that, it will only make things worse."


    Bleeeegh


    Even a beautiful girl wouldn''t look good when she vomited. The steak that had just been eaten was regurgitated all over the bed and some of it even sshed on Eric as the room was quickly filled with an unpleasant smell.


    Eric frowned slightly, but looking at the half-unconscious girl struggling in her own mess, his expression softened.


    He pulled off the dirty sheets, then found a towel as he picked Drew up and carefully wiped the vomit off of her.


    Feeling the damp towel on her forehead, Drew slightly came to. She caught Eric again and muttered while shivering, "You If you don''t help me buy.. I, you."


    Eric hugged her and said, "Drew, you need to endure it, taking those things will just have the opposite effect. You don''t need any, you''re strong, you''re the lucky girl who kissed an alien, remember?"


    "I. am not.a. lucky girl"


    Eric didn''t know how to help addicts. Although he had encountered several drug addicts during his past life, he had never found himself in a simr situation.


    At this time, he thought his body''s temperature might be of some help to her, so he hugged Drew in his arms and kept stroking her back in an attempt to make her feel better.


    Drew begged, threatened and cursed Eric for more than an hour, but he simply continued to hold her tightly as he patiently tried to soothe her.Finally, he realized that she had fallen asleep in his arms.


    He also realized that his body had be stiff from the waist up due to sitting in one position for a long time.


    He tried toy Drew down on the bed, but just as he let go of her arms, she began struggling like a fish out of water, waving her arms around as if subconsciously looking for something.


    Eric sighed. He found a morefortable position and took the girl in his arms again.


    As Drew''s head touched his chest, her rough and uneven breathing turned gentle and stable again.


    While holding her, Eric suddenly remembered his wife and son from his past life. His son was five years old and his wife used to be a clerk but quit to be a full-time housewife after their marriage since Eric''s ie was enough to support them.


    He wondered how they were doing after his sudden departure, he hoped they were okay.


    Drew dreamed that she was a certain movie''s heroine. She fell and found herself in a dark forest, confused and alone. Then the prince emerged and saved her from her stepmother''s poisoned apple, and Drew, together with him and the dwarfs, fought against the evil queen''s oppression.


    Finally, the two held a grand wedding in a pce decorated with candies and cakes, then the prince held her in his embrace as he took her to the bridal room.


    Heid her next to him on the bed that had dozens of cotton-wadded quilts on top of it, and Drew clung to his body as she smiled like the happiest of flowers.


    Then she woke up.


    She found herself leaning in a man''s warm embrace with her arms tightly holding his waist. After a brief moment of confusion, Drew began to recallst night''s events, albeit just some intermittent fragments.


    She looked at Eric''s handsome face in a slightly infatuated manner as the sight of his blond scattered hair and the feeling of his gentle breath against her skin made her heart thump faster.


    Everybody thought of Drew as God''s favorite child; she was young, famous, and had unlimited prospects.


    But she had never felt happy, her father''s indifference and disregard, and her mother''s mean and greedy ways had made her feel suffocated, like a bird trapped in a cage who desired nothing but freedom.


    So, she began indulging in reckless and self-destructive behavior as her way of expressing her dissatisfaction towards life.


    After realizing her daughter had started using, Drew''s mother wasn''t concerned about her health, but rather worried that she might not be able to make money anymore. It was that cold indifference that had led to Drew''s addiction.


    Which young girl didn''t dream of their prince charming?


    He had to be gentle, tall, handsome, talented, he couldn''t be rude, he had to be patient, give in to her, fan her when she was hot, hug her when she was cold, take care of her when she was sick,fort her when she was down, and if she were to perish, he would journey even to the depths of hell to get her back


    And now, such a prince had truly appeared. Although there were some deviations from what she had imagined and the one he loved wasn''t even herself, those were just minor details in her opinion.


    Drew''s original n was to snatch away Eric from Jennifer Aniston as retaliation to thetter''s hurtful words, but now that things had developed to this point, she realized that she had instead fallen for him, hard.


    Perhaps because he felt some movement, Eric opened his eyes to see Drew staring at him. He gently smiled and said, "Drew you woke up, you must be hungry. I''ll make breakfast, so you go and shower in the meantime, this smell is really unbearable."


    "Eric, why are you so good to me?"


    "Um?" Eric was startled, he reached out his hand and rubbed Drew''s little head, "Well, we''re friends."


    He had just sat up when Drew swiftly kissed his face.


    "Ah Drew, your mouth stinks!" Eric said with a smile.


    She loosened her grasp on his neck, "Eric, I love you."


    "Well I don''t," He put Drew down and opened up the curtains to let the sun in.


    Drew looked at his back and pouted as she said, "You just need to know that I do."


    "I know," Eric squeezed Drew''s lovely face.


    "Hey Eric, I just realized one thing."


    "What?"


    "You held me the entire night without even doing anything, I think there might be something wrong with your thing. Want me to help you check? I''ll do it for free!"


    "That''s really generous of you Dr. Barrymore, but I''d rather you hurried to take that shower or we''ll bete."


    "Will you join me?"


    "No, I''ll take one downstairs."


    "Hey, that''s not right. Eric, we should use water frugally, we can''t be wasteful towards nature''s resources. Think about those people in Africa whock water so much that some of them even die of thirst."


    "You''re right, I''ll start saving water tomorrow, let today be thest I spend in luxury."


    "You"


    Summer of 1988, a girl shrouded in darkness came across a bright and warm light, and like a child drowning in water, she firmly held onto it, with all the strength she could muster.

 Chapter 15: Runaway

    "Eric, this is really cool," Drew, who was sitting next to him in the car, said as she curiously fiddled with the T-shirt that Eric had converted into a dress.


    Afterst night''s puking episode, Drew''s clothes had be disgusting and the two of them had to report to the crew early in the morning, so Eric thought back to how his wife had once used one of hisrger T-shirts to make a dress. Fortunately, the process was not tooplicated.


    Currently, Drew was wearing arge sky-blue T-shirt with Eric''s wide, brown, leather belt attached to her waist. Such a dress, during the ''80s, was very avant-garde, so when they arrived on set, many people couldn''t help but stare at her.


    Some of their nces turned even more meaningful when they noticed that she hade together with Eric.


    "Hey Eric, what''s going on here? When I saw you being so gentle and considerate to Jennifer a few days ago, I thought you were a good guy."


    While organizing the day''s shooting schedule, Penny Marshall said to Eric. Even though her words seemed to be pointing towards Eric''s infidelity, the tone of her voice was casual since infidelity was verymon in Hollywood.


    "Penny, I still like Annie. As for Drew, it just kind of happened."


    Penny quipped, "And her clothes also ''kind of happened''? Look Eric, I honestly have no interest in what you youngsters do, but you should still have a sense of propriety. Drew is only thirteen years old, you know? Well, you get what I''m saying."


    "Thanks for the reminder, Penny." Eric realized that Penny''s opinion had already been made and so he didn''t try to prove his innocence as it was better to end the topic.


    ***


    Soon, a month passed and nothing really special urred. The shooting for 17 Again was going smoothly, and Drew still continued to try to entice Eric at every asion she found. Jennifer came to the set from time to time and very quickly noticed her intentions.


    As a result, whenever the girls appeared at the same time, infighting surrounded Eric; the crew became nervous during the filming process, while all his male peers envied him.


    The young man who yed the bad boy Stan had even begged him for the secret behind his "chick-ma technique" to which Eric replied some nonsense that the guy actually believed.


    And soon, something happened that left Ericpletely dumbfounded; the nonsense he had told the young man spread within the crew and even reached Drew, who confronted him during a break, her voice filled with equal parts mock and true resentment, "Ah!


    So I was yed from the start, you bastard, ying with a girl''s feelings and not taking responsibility, you thief! Give me my heart back!"


    Jennifer was still undergoing her harsh, self-created diet, but it wasn''t very effective as she suffered a lot due to not eating, and still had only managed to lose 5 pounds in a month.


    Eric was really worried about her, but he decided to wait until the filming was over to talk to her about it again.


    However, sometimes life doesn''t follow one''s pre-defined ns, and finally, one day, in the middle of shooting, Jennifer fainted due to her dangerously low blood sugar levels.


    Eric dropped everything to stay with her. He didn''t have any scenes to shoot the next day, so he took her to the dietician that Susan Sarandon had told him about.


    It was a very high-ss fitness club whose clientele was mainly Hollywood actresses. At the club, they saw Sigourney Weaver, the heroic lead actress of the world-famous and acimed Alien franchise, on her way out.


    Jennifer seemed to think that Eric was about to grovel at the woman''s feet and ask for an autograph.


    The dietician was a vic woman whose age could be anywhere from early 20s tote 40s. Her name was very long and tough to pronounce so she simply went with Natasha.


    Eric gave her a single nce when he noticed Jennifer eyeing her devilish figure with deep envy, so he gently took her hands and slowly whispered in her ears tofort her, "Don''t worry baby, one day your body will be better than hers."


    Natasha talked to Jennifer for a while and patiently exined to the stubborn young woman that her crazy diet would only harm her body. She then took her to do some tests and spent the whole morninging up with a weight-loss n that was a few dozen pages long.


    When the two left, they began deeply contemting the second word that should have been added alongside "high-ss" when it came to describing the club: expensive!


    Jennifer was adamant on paying herself, and the result was that her credit card bnce went into the negative. Fortunately, she would soon receive her paycheck for 17 Again, which, while small, would at least resolve her sudden financial crisis.


    By the end of October, the shooting for 17 Again was drawing to a close as the post-production and final promotion began. Eric asionally saw an article or two about the film in the newspapers.


    After Drew had finished all her scenes, to everyone''s surprise, she voluntarily decided to go to rehab. The girl who had lost her footing attempting to turn over a new leaf on her own initiative, such an inspirational story, how could one not make use of it?


    As a result, under the Fox''s publicity department''s nning, Drew''s change waspletely attributed to the influence of 17 Again.


    The editor at a small newspaper had a field day as he recounted how the disoriented teenager who had lost herself to substance abuse had finally gotten her head straight during the shooting of a movie that tackled subjects such as love and the true meaning of life, which featured a warm and inspirational story that helped her find the courage to change.


    The article was written so realistically as if the guy had witnessed everything himself. If Eric didn''t know better, he would have taken it at face value.


    Another publicity stunt that was put in ce was about how Eric, himself, was only eighteen years old, and already a screenwriter and actor.


    The newspapers wrote about how from the initial script to the final draft of the script used by Fox for the filming, everything single twists and turns had been written by Eric.


    Producer James Brooks and director Penny Marshall also emphasized numerous times on how outstanding his performance was, and on how talented he was.


    With so many people praising him, controversies were also bound to pop up. Some newspapers began questioning Eric''s screenwriting skills since he was simply too young and stated that Fox had made a huge blunder by rushing into making 17 Again just to follow on the coattails of BIG''s sess.


    Most critics stated that the $ 20 million film would likely end up in the gutter.


    Such a prediction was not unfounded; after Universal Pictures produced the 1985 sci-fiedy Back to The Future which grossed over $200 million in North America and almost $400 million worldwide, the aspirations of many filmmakers began to run wild as they attempted to follow in its sess.


    However, all, without exception, failed miserably as no film based around time-travel was among the next year''s top-ten hits.


    Fox didn''t do much to curb the negative reviews so long as they didn''t go too far since these reviews could help bnce the positive reviews and maximize the audience''s feeling of anticipation.


    Meanwhile, Eric''s novel Jurassic Park became an surprise beneficiary of Fox''s publicity for 17 Again.


    Originally, thanks to Michael us''s efforts, the novel had sold more than twenty thousand copies in its first week alone, which was very good for a neer. After a few weeks of follow-up publicity and a good reputation among the readers, the novel''s sales started to slowly rise.


    Even though the rise was not to the extent of being startling, it was in line with Eric''s expectations.


    However, thanks to 17 Again''s publicity stunt, Jurassic Park benefited immensely. Michael us was ecstatic the whole time; having so many newspapers and magazines mention the novel was more than what he and his small publishing house could have aplished.


    17 Again had aroused the public''s interest towards Eric, the mysterious and miraculous youth who penned it.


    Unfortunately, the movie wasn''t out yet and although they could guess bits and pieces about its contents thanks to the title and some gossip from inside the crew, those were just rumors. And so, as the public''s curiosity grew, they naturally turned their sights towards Jurassic Park.


    In the first week of October, the sales directly broke 100,000, sessfully granting the novel the eighth ce on the New York Times Bestseller List.


    Although it wasn''t ranked very high, every other novel on the list was written by older, well-known authors. Jurassic Park was the only novel in the list that had been written by a teenaged neer.


    Due to some scenes that were shot in the evening, Eric didn''t return home until past ten.


    As his car drove past the Runkle''s family house, their courtyard door was pushed open, and a tiny figure walked out. The door was promptly closed as the tiny, imp-like shadow ran away under the dimly lit street, then slowed down and began walking in a circle, apparently bored.


    "Hey, Stu, leaving home alone isn''t something a good boy should do." Eric was curious as to what this young neighbor of his, Stuart Runkle, was doing out sote at night, so he stopped and asked.


    "Then, Eric, how do you think good parents should act in front of a seven-year-old child?" Stuart replied as he nced at his house''s courtyard.


    Eric was a little surprised that the little guy could make such a logical argument. He didn''t recall anything about the kid being particrly smart.


    Perking his ears up, he could hear the muffled sounds of what seemed to be the Runkles fighting.


    "So, what are you doing?" Eric looked back at the boy as he asked.


    Stuart leaned against the side of a streetmp as he pretended to be an adult and said, "I pretended to run away from home."


    "You pretended ?"


    "Yeah, that way when they realize I''m gone, they''ll stop fighting."


    Eric also thought that the couple arguing in front of the child was a little too much, so he said, "Alright little fellow, it''s dangerous to stay here at night, soe to my house."


    "Thanks Eric."


    Eric parked his car, opened the door to his house and let the little guy in.

 Chapter 16: Plans

    "What do you want to eat? I have some. uhm, choctes and apples?" Eric asked as he opened his somewhat empty refrigerator.


    Stuart Runkle who was sitting on the couch, shook his head and said, "No, eatingte at night is not a good habit, but if you have milk, you can give me a ss since drinking milk leads to better sleep at night."


    Eric''s eyebrows raised as he poured a ss of milk for Stuart and asked, "Where did you learn these things?"


    "From books; Eric don''t think that just because I''m young I don''t understand anything, I''m already seven years old, you know."


    Ericughed and nodded, "Alright, big guy, what were your parents quarrelling about today?"


    "Dad resigned to start his ownpany, and when he told mom, they started to fight. *Sigh* women are really troublesome. When dad was still working there, she would nag him everyday about how the size of thepany was too small and that it had no future.


    Now that dad finally mustered up the courage to resign, mom said he was irresponsible for giving up our only stable ie."


    Eric sat on the sofa and nonchntly listened to Stuart''s rant as he didn''t really care about the Runkles'' issues. He chewed on an apple and said with a smile, "I think that you, little fellow, are very smart for someone your age."


    Stuart grinned and his eyes sparkled as he heard thepliment. He jumped off the couch, sat down beside Eric and asked, "Eric, are you still filming?"


    Eric nodded, "Yeah, it''ll be finished soon though, so don''t forget to ask your mom to take you to watch it."


    "Eric, do you think I can be in a movie?"


    "A movie? Stu, how did you suddenlye up with this idea?"


    Stuart''s eyes glowed with hope as he replied, "I heard that movie stars are paid a lot, so if I became one, I would be able to make a lot of money and mom and dad wouldn''t have to fight anymore."


    If the Runkles had heard their child''s words, they would have certainly felt ashamed.


    Eric thought for a bit before he said, "But you''re too young now. You may not know, but children are the most difficult to control during filming, and people usually try to minimize their screen time.


    There was once a director whose child actor started bawling on set, and the entire crew was paralyzed. There''s also the California Child Actor''s Bill, I think it''s better if you wait until you''re old enough, maybe when you''re eighteen like me."


    "C''mon Eric, do you think I''m like those kids? I''ll behave, you know. I heard that you''re a scriptwriter, you could also write a role for me, please Eric, I would be so grateful to you." Stuart looked at Eric with sparkling eyes.


    Although this child was more clever than children his age, he was still a child after all. He was naive enough to think that so long as Eric wrote a role for him, he could be in a movie.


    Eric''s heart jumped slightly, he sat up and carefully sized up the boy. He had suddenly thought of another child: Macay Culkin, the global child superstar from Home Alone.


    At this instant, an extremely bold idea involuntarily began to form in Eric''s mind.


    It was still notplete, but he knew that if his n became a sess, he would instantly cross the most difficult stage for filmmakers that involved experience umtion, age and investment troubles, as well as other factors that stood in the way of his dreams.


    Although it would not be easy, it would be the cause of regrets if he didn''t even attempt it.


    He looked at the kid who had unknowingly sat down on hisp and was acting cute; at least with Stuart''s precociousness, the movie''s biggest uncertainty could be removed.


    "Stu, to be honest, I do have a role for you, and it''s even the protagonist."


    Hearing his words, Stuart raised his tiny head as he asked, "Eric, what''s a protagonist?"


    "The protagonist is. the one who takes the biggest paycheck."


    "I''ll do it! I''ll do it!"


    "I''ll have to get the consent of your parents first, so let''s get you home, so I can ask them."


    Eric had just walked out of the door while holding Stuart''s hand when he heard the sound of the Runkles next door.


    "I am warning you, Charlie Runkle, if anything happens to Stu, I''m going to divorce you!"


    Charlie Runkle who had been on the losing side during the quarrel, suddenly roared, "Oh shut up bitch! If you hadn''t stirred up this quarrel, would Stu have ran away?! Let''s go and check the basement, he might be hiding inside."


    Mary Runkle was frightened by her husband''s sudden shout, as indeed, it was her fault. She started following behind her husband when Eric''s voice sounded not far.


    "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Runkle, don''t worry, Stu is here," Eric said as held Stuart up.


    The Runkles were relieved once they saw their child in Eric''s arms.


    Stuart returned to his parents'' side, and once the Runkles heard Eric''s words, they promised not to quarrel in front of their children again.


    "Actually, Mr. and Mrs. Runkle, there''s something I''d like to talk to you about. Stu just told me that he wanted to be in a movie, and I just happened to have a script that is perfectly suited for him.


    With how clever this little guy is, he would be able to y the role without a problem."


    The couple was taken aback. If they didn''t know about Eric, they would have probably treated his words as a joke. However, the youth had now even appeared in the newspapers, so although it was sudden, they had some expectations.


    The couple had been disappointed with their life, that much could be observed by how often they argued. If their son became a movie star What followed was obvious.


    "Eric, would you tell us a little bit about the movie?"


    Eric said, "Of course, it''s aedy about a little boy who finds himself at home alone as his parents have carelessly forgotten him"


    It took him around five minutes to sum up the film''s basic plot before he added, "I just had a chat with Stu, and found out that his IQ is probably even higher than what I was hoping for, so if you''re not against it, by all means, let him try."


    The couple nced at their son who was sitting nearby, pretending to be well-behaved.


    "Daddy, Mommy, I think I can do it, and the story is really great."


    "I think you''re too young" Charlie hadn''t even finished speaking when he was pinched by his wife.


    "Eric, can you let us think about it?"


    "No problem," Eric nodded, but added, "But, you have to get back to me as soon as possible. The movie is due for Christmas time, and if it does well, it''s likely to be a series. So if you agree to it, Stu will be the main lead."


    A series Even as ordinary people, they knew what it meant: the paycheck would just get higher and higher.


    Meanwhile, Eric hadn''t found an easy way to tell the Runkles that he would personally direct the movie.


    The n hadn''t even taken shape and he couldn''t be sure it would seed, but he didn''t want to give Home Alone to Fox or any other filmpany; he was intent on making it fully independently by himself.


    For someone with only half a foot in the industry''s circle, the difficulty of such a challenge could well be imagined.


    Back home, Eric''s excitement kept him awake as he sat in front of his typewriter and began writing the script for Home Alone while he furiously thought about the specifics of his n.


    The first was money, then actors. Apart from Stuart, the two robbers were the top priority, but Eric didn''t n to invite his past life''s Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern.


    The two of them were already famous actors and Pesci had even been nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Raging Bull in 1981. With Eric''s limited finances, he definitely couldn''t afford them.


    Eric would have to find TVedians instead. During the ''80s, the status of television and movie actors were like heaven and earth, some movie actors were even ashamed to tell people that they had worked in TV shows.


    For the location, Canada would do. It was currently fall in Los Angeles, but northern Canada was sure to have many ces with snow.


    The other things to watch for would be ...


    ***


    The lights in the room were on the whole night, and as the sunlight began to stream through the windows, Erich stood up and stretched his body.


    After a few hours of nning, he put many things down. Home Alone during his past life had had a public budget of $18 million which, from Eric''s perspective, went mainly into the actors, director and producer''s pay and promotional publicity stunts.


    The filming alone would only cost a few millions dors.


    As for the publicity, he had his own ns. But no matter how frugal he was, he needed at least $1 million for the shooting.


    One million His paycheck from 17 Again would soone in, so that was $500,000. Including the remaining royalties from the screeny, he had around $600,000 in total.


    Jurassic Park was also selling like hot cakes, and if he discussed it with Michael us, he would be able to get $200,000 in advance, which left him in need of another $200,000 to fill the remaining gap.


    Eric decided to cross the bridge when he got there, and started his preparations instead.

 Chapter 17: Temporary Crew

    Back on the set of 17 Again, Eric''s mind remained on making ns for Home Alone which led to him making a lot of mistakes during the shooting. However, since the end was near, Penny Marshall''s temper was surprisingly good, and she patiently continued giving him pointers.


    Eric had initially thought of seeking help from her but quickly dismissed the idea. Penny Marshall was close to the executives of  Fox.


    If they got wind of Home Alone, they would easily be able to see its potential as a Christmasedy and try to be a part of it which was something Eric didn''t wish to see happening.


    After considering the matter for a while, he finally recalled a certain young girl. Even after going through hard times, she was still able to make aeback. Whether it was as a producer, a director or a child star, she had the single most important quality: connections.


    Despite being just a thirteen-year-old girl, with her personality, Drew''s socialwork couldn''t be underestimated. At the very least she would be able to help him put a small team together.


    October 9th, the filming of 17 Again finally ended, and Eric got his $500,000 paycheck. Immediately, he began working non-stop on his ns for Home Alone.


    ***


    "Eric, where are we going?" Jennifer, who was sitting next to him in the car, asked curiously.


    Eric pulled out the script for Home Alone from his bag and said, "Take a look at this first."


    Jennifer looked at the title and became surprised, "Oh wow, Home Alone? Is this your new script?"


    "Yep," Eric nodded, then started the car and said, "I intend to direct the film myself."


    "What? Eric, you''re not kidding right? Do you even know where the camera''s power button is?"


    "I do. By the way, I''m going to be the director, not the cameraman."


    During his previous life, he had been a director for many years, when it came to directing, he knew just about everything.


    In fact, he was more skilled than any famous Hollywood director of the ''80s or ''90s since he had studied their work even after he had be an advertising director since his goal had always been to be a film director.


    "Alright, but you still haven''t told me where we''re going though?"


    Eric hesitated for a bit before he answered, "We''re going to see Drew."


    "Humph!"


    "Annie, I brought you so that you wouldn''t have any misunderstandings."


    "I need Drew''s help to find some professionals; she might be young but she knows a lot of people."


    Eric sighed, parked on the roadside, unfastened his seat belt as he said, "It seems that first I''ll have to cate a jealous little girl."


    "You understand, right? You have no reason to feel like this. Let''s go now."


    Eric put his seat belt back on and started the car again after he convinced her.


    "Hey Eric, you can find James or Penny, there''s so many other people, why does it have to be that bi-. girl." In order to maintain herdylike image in front of Eric, Jennifer quickly swallowed back her words.


    Eric exined it to her once again; Jennifer clenched her fists, but no longer spoke.


    The rehabilitation center was well-known in Los Angeles. In order to prevent visitors from bringing drugs to the inhabitants, the two of them were thoroughly searched before being allowed entry. Finally, a staff personnel led them to Drew.


    From afar, they were able to see thess lying on a sun chair on the side of an open-air bath, a hardcover version of Jurassic Park in her hands.


    "Hey, Drew." Eric said with a smile.


    Eric''s words had just left his mouth when the girl bounced off her chair and threw herself in his arms.


    "Eric, if you didn''te to see me, I was going to escape and find you!"


    "You!" Jennifer''s face darkened as she waspletely ignored by Drew.


    Although she had a very strong impulse to pull her away from Eric, there were a lot of people around, and she wasn''t bold like Drew.


    After frolicking for a while, Drew finally noticed Jennifer, "Hey, supersized girl, I heard you were so desperate to lose weight that you fainted on set, that''s really pathetic. You don''t look any thinner though, how much did you lose?"


    Jennifer was about to lose her temper when Eric swiftly knocked on Drew''s head and said, "Drew, I don''t think you''re in any position to make fun of Annie."


    Drew grunted in pain, and tearfully said, "Eric, you''re so mean."


    Eric ignored her pitiful appearance and said, "There are too many people here, let''s go to your ce."


    Drew''s living quarters wereparable to a suite; it even had a kitchen. The three went to the living room and Drew poured them sses of juice as she sat down on the couch holding one too.


    "So, Eric, what can I do for you?"


    "Can I note and see you without any purpose?" Eric was a bit embarrassed.


    Drew curled her lips as she mocked, "With that annoying fatty? You know I don''t like her."


    Jennifer, who had managed to endure for a long time, finally exploded, "I''ve had enough, you bitch! I''m the one who doesn''t like you!"


    Drew was gloating as she tutted twice, "She finally revealed her true nature. Hey Eric, you see, that fatty''s nothing like ady at all, you need to be careful in the future, or you might suffer at her hands."


    "You."


    Eric rubbed his temples in distress, secretly vowing that he wouldn''t let these two meet again in the future, "Guys, give me a break, I''m seriously going to get mad."


    "Eric..." Jennifer looked at Eric, aggrieved.


    "Annie, why don''t you go and wait for me in the car, I''ll be there soon."


    When Drew heard his words, her eyes shed, but she quickly calmed down and began looking down, pretending to drink her juice. However, a woman''s sixth sense was really something as Jennifer had instantly caught on to the minute change in her expression.


    "I won''t, I''m staying." Jennifer refused as she crossed her arms and turned her head to the side.


    Eric helplessly looked at her before he took out the script and handed it to Drew, "Drew, this is a new script, I want you to help introduce me to some professionals to set up a temporary crew."


    Drew took the script and read a bit before chuckling, "Haha, that''s really funny, this is a good script. Ah! Eric, you''re saying."


    "Yes," Eric nodded as he said, "I want to make this film alone. It''s a low-cost project so I only need around a million dors which shouldn''t be a problem, but I''ll need help from professionals who are both reliable and cheap."


    In fact, filmmakers were a dime a dozen in Los Angeles, so even without relying on Drew, Eric would be able to scrape up a crew, but it would be an unnecessary waste of time, and if he identally hired an ipetent team, he wouldn''t even have the time to shed tears.


    While Eric wasn''t paying attention, Drew nced proudly at Jennifer, then lovingly said, "No problem, I know a lot of people. What do you need?"


    When Jennifer saw Drew''s nce filled with pride, she felt her anger rising, but in the end only turned to re at Eric.


    "Cameraman, gaffer, sound recording artist ... in short," Eric pretended not to see Jennifer''s unhappy look as he spread his hands and shrugged, "I have nothing right now."


    Drew thought for a bit and said, "I happen to know about the recent closure of a small filmpany which has a filming crew. Their boss took a mortgage on the studio in order to get a loan, but he lost all the money. Their crew is really skilled, I yed a small role in one of their movies once.


    If they have yet to disband, you might be able to hire them. Compared to unemployment, they''d probably be willing to work for you."


    Eric excitedly said, "That''s awesome!"


    Drew stood up, smiled and said, "I''ll give them a call for you. I hope they haven''t left yet."


    She went to the phone next to the window and began dialing.


    Jennifer sat on the couch, filled with resentment, her hands clutching the hem of Eric''s shirt. She felt utterly useless, even Drew Barrymore was of some help to him, but not only was she useless, she was constantly the one receiving his help.


    Coupled with Drew''s undisguised attempts at wooing Eric, Jennifer was bing increasingly anxious.


    Soon, the phone call ended and Drew brought back good news: the filmpany was done for, but the filming crew was still in L.A, and the original owner was willing to introduce them to Eric.


    He noted the time and ce of the meeting, and quickly got up to leave as he did not wish to waste a moment of time.


    Drew forced a kiss on Eric''s cheeks during their farewell, very reluctant to let him leave.


    On the way back, Jennifer was depressed and Eric kept trying tofort her.


    "Annie, I''m sorry, I don''t know as many people as Drew, so I really needed her help. I''ll take care of the actors myself."


    Jennifer looked anxiously at Eric and said, "I understand, Eric. Hey, you will you will always love me, right?"


    Eric unhesitatingly replied, "Of course."


    "I love you, Eric."


    "Hey, Annie?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Be my girlfriend?"


    Jennifer''s face suddenly flushed as she stammered, "Eric, I. I"


    "Why are you thinking so much about it, you only need to answer ''yes'' or ''no''."


    "Yes."

 Chapter 18: Drastic Move

    Eric dropped Jennifer back at her home as he nned to go see the owner of the bankrupt filmpany alone.


    Getting out of the car, Jennifer suddenly said, "Eric, can you leave your Home Alone script with me? Maybe I could look at it and help a little?"


    Eric nodded and said, "Sure, no problem, I made several copies."


    Jennifer took the script, waved her little hand as Eric drove away, and went back into her apartment, a trace of resolve and determination now visible in her eyes.


    ***


    At a cafe in Burbank, Eric met Jeffrey Hanson, the owner of the small filmpany called Fireflies. Hanson was a Caucasian man of about fifty years of age with a somewhat haggard face. It seemed like the bankruptcy of hispany had been a great blow to him as he appeared downright dispirited.


    Eric knew from his past experiences that the man probably needed to vent a little, so he didn''t rush to business right away, and patiently listened to him.


    "My wife, Solina, was the valedictorian of USC''s Film School, you know? She was ssmates with Francis Copp, but she was just a girl from Marnd; her family heritage didn''t run deep like him, else her achievements in the industry may have been even higher than his.


    She even received a lot of awards when she was still in school."


    "Back then, I studied finance and I was what you''d call a nerd. God knows why a talented and beautiful woman like her would agree to date me. She said she wanted to be a director, so I told her to stay in L.A so that we could both advance our careers together.


    I remember everything, from the way we struggled in the beginning to the first time we managed to obtain investment for a film; her smile on that day was even brighter than the day of our wedding, when I put a ring on her finger. Afterwards, we opened a filmpany and we named it Fireflies.


    She was the director and I was her producer. I would help her take care of everything; we shot several films together and even won a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Unfortunately, a year ago, when Solina drove to Marnd to visit her parents, there was an ident..."


    Jeffrey Hanson''s voice started to crack, anyone could see he had loved his wife deeply. Eric handed him a tissue and quietly waited for the man to finish his story.


    "After my wife left, I thought I should inherit her dreams. She wanted to make Fireflies grow and be a director with an Oscar as a recognition. I thought I could do it; I''ve been a producer for so many years, so directing shouldn''t be that difficult.


    So, I mortgaged thepany to raise funds in order to shoot a movie, but the reality was much harsher than my expectations."


    "Don''t mind it, Jeffrey; it''s just one failure. Which Hollywood director has never experienced failure?"


    Jeffrey rubbed his wet eyes as he said, "Thank you Eric for listening to me b for so long, I feel much better now. When the filmpany went bankrupt, my son almost broke ties with me because he med me for destroying his mother''s years of painstaking hard work.


    I don''t resent him; I''m just sorry. Anyways, Drew said that you needed some people to make a movie?"


    Eric nodded, "Yes, but it''s only a $1 million project."


    Jeffrey shook his head and said, "1 million is plenty enough. The first movie my wife and I made only cost about $700,000. By the way, may I know how old you are?"


    "Of course, I''m eighteen years old. Jeffrey, you don''t think I''m too young or too impatient, do you?"


    "No, I just want to make sure that you know what you''re doing; a million dor is not a small sum."


    "Oh?"


    Jeffrey said, "I don''t have any prejudices against youngsters. Many directors shot great movies when they were younger and turned mediocre in theirter years. Youngsters are always full of creativity. I believe my team can help you with that.


    They were all personally brought up by my wife; they''re very professional and diligent, but because of me, they''re unemployed. So your presence is a stroke of good fortune. Right, can I see your script?"


    "Sure," Eric took out a stack of paper from his bag and handed it to Jeffrey, then quietly waited.


    Ten minutester, Jeffrey closed the manuscript, returned it to Eric, and said, "It''s a goodedy. The shooting shouldn''t be tooplicated. It''s really a wise choice for a first timer."


    Eric put the script back in his backpack, looked at Jeffrey and asked, "So, Jeffrey, will you be the producer for this movie?"


    Jeffrey Hanson asked doubtfully, "Eric, are you sure? Mypany went bankrupt because of me"


    Eric said, "Jeffrey, you might not cut it as a director, but from what I''ve heard, you''re a very good producer. If the film is sessful, I will set up my ownpany. You can work with me and I can take in the team your wife left behind so that they won''t have to lose their jobs."


    Jeffrey was ecstatic. He had been frustrated after his failure and was nning to return home and farm for his remaining years. Eric''s suggestion wasn''t just benefiting him, but also his crew.


    Those people had worked with him for many years; they weren''t just his employees, but rather like his friends. His mistakes had left them unemployed, and he felt truly guilty about that.


    Jeffrey didn''t consider it for long as he nodded and said, "Very well Eric, I agree."


    "To pleasant cooperation," Eric smiled and tapped his cup of coffee against Jeffrey''s to celebrate their partnership.


    Afterwards, the two began to discuss Home Alone.


    During their talk, Jeffrey learned about Eric''s n, and he couldn''t help but be amazed.


    "I want toplete the filming in about a month, and then take advantage of the hype from Jurassic Park and 17 Again to release the film just in time for the Christmas season.


    Fox has exaggerated greatly about me to promote 17 Again, so, as long as we can make a decent film, it will certainly be a hit at the box office."


    Eric remembered that during his previous life Home Alone had been recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for its ster box office.


    This thought filled him with longing; even if his Home Alone only earned half of what it earned during his previous life, it would be more than enough to make him a very wealthy man.


    The two continued chatting for a while and they each left their respective contact information before they went their own separate ways.


    Eric had just arrived at home when he received some good news: the Runkles had agreed to let Stuart y Kevin. They discussed the details before they finally agreed to Eric''s offer of $50,000 upfront and one percent of the film''s box office''s profits.


    Although it was only one-tenth of what Eric had earned in 17 Again, if the film had the same sess as it did during his previous life, that one percent alone would be enough to make the Runkles grin from ear to ear.


    Eric didn''t mind them taking such a huge sum; after all, he needed Stuart to be the lead.


    The next day, Eric had Jeffrey Hanson and the Runkles sign an official contract. The couple also heard about Eric being the film''s director and had expressed some reservations, but once they received the $50,000 cheque that Eric had prepared in advance, they immediately signed the contract.


    Afterwards, Eric began considering the matter of the funds. He had originally had about $600,000, and after some negotiations with Michael us, he readily agreed to pay him $200,000 of royalties within ten days.


    Eric also returned his newly bought Strauss piano, which the owner reluctantly agreed to take back, but not without lowering two thousand dors from the original price.


    For thest remaining $200,000 dors, Eric gritted his teeth and finally took out a mortgage on his house with a  10% monthly interest. Moreover, if the money wasn''t paid back within six months, his home would no longer be his.


    Such conditions were nothing short of usury, but he had no other options.


    Looking at the cheque in his hands, Eric sighed. This n of his was a drastic move, and in case he failed, he wasn''t even sure if Jennifer would agree to shelter him.


    When he thought about that, he couldn''t help but recalled Drew. His middle-aged self was clearly able to see how much the youngss liked him. If possible, he didn''t wish to remain in contact with her, especially now that the production of 17 Again was over.


    He cared about her, but perhaps more like a father would care for his daughter than a boy would care for a girl.


    It would probably take some time for the youngss to get over her misguided feelings for him, but in the meantime, he needed her help in order toplete Home Alone, which meant that the two of them were not quite done being in contact with each other yet.


    Once they had all the funds, they were ready to shoot, so Eric and Jeffrey began non-stop casting the actors.


    Eric had nned to pick the two robbers Harry and Marvin from among some TVedians, but after sending out several invitations, they were either not avable or found the paycheck to be too low.


    Being unable to sign anyone in the roles of Harry and Marvin for a couple of days, Eric suddenly received a phone call from Jennifer.


    "What? You''re saying your father is inviting me to dinner?"


    Jennifer''s voice over the phone was tinged with excitement, "Yeah, you were frustrated because you couldn''t find actors for Home Alone, right? I told my dad about it, and he promised to help you find someedians!"


    Jennifer''s tone was very casual, but Eric knew that things couldn''t have been so simple, so he felt really moved. Her rtionship with her biological father, John Aniston, was very strained as he had abandoned her and her mother to focus on his career, which left Jennifer with a grudge against him.


    During his previous life, John Aniston had struggled to mend his rtionship with his stubborn daughter, so it could only be imagined how hard it must''ve been for her to seek his help.


    Eric replied, "Thank you, Annie, I''ll be there on time."

 Chapter 19: Director Williams

    "I don''t like you, Mr. Williams," While his daughter went to the bathroom, John Aniston who was sitting opposite Eric suddenly said.


    Although Eric was startled, he simply shrugged and asked, "May I know why, John?"


    John Aniston said, "For so many years, Jenny has hated me, and I always felt guilty about what I had done to her and her mother. I kept wishing she''d forgive me, andst night she called me. She actually took the initiative to call me, you know?


    I was so happy I couldn''t sit still, but it turns out, the reason she called was to help her boyfriend, a guy that was going to take my baby away from me."


    Such a reason wasn''t too unbelievable. After all, daughters were usually the apple of their father''s eyes, so naturally the fathers usually didn''t have a very good impression of their daughter''s boyfriend.


    Once again, Eric simply shrugged as the two men were suddenly stuck in an awkward silence.


    Jennifer soon came back from the bathroom and smiled as she sat beside Eric. Such intimacy only added to John''s anxiousness, but his daughter had taken the initiative to speak to him after so long, so he wouldn''t be stupid enough to ruin his one and only chance.


    After their reconciliation, lunch went fairly smoothly, at least on the surface. When John took the air of an elder and reprimanded Eric for being too ambitious, Jennifer angrily red at him before he finally agreed to help him get in contact with some actors.


    With John Aniston''s widework of contacts in the television industry, Eric was able to soon deal with the majority of the roles, and thanks to his mediation, their pay wasn''t too high which was another source of relief for him.


    However, Eric was still hesitant between the several candidates when it came to the duo of robbers, Harry and Marv, until Jennifer introduced him to one of her ssmates.


    Looking at that naturally declining face that had even been retouched in front of the mirror, Eric settled on it right away because that guy was called Matthew Perry: one of the past six leads from Friends.


    Afterwards, Eric and Jeffrey flew to Canada a few times, and ultimately settled on a home located in a small town as the filming location. They busied themselves day and night, so much so that Eric even lost a few pounds within just one week, which left Jennifer both distressed and envious.


    ***


    October 17th, Eric''s first film as a director since his rebirth in Los Angeles was finally starting. The crew sent a few people to the town they had decided on in Canada for the scenes that took ce inside the home while the rest stayed in L.A.


    to shoot the airport and police station scenes as those didn''t require any snow. With Hollywood being the world''srgest movie base, shooting here was a lot more convenient.


    No one in the crew from the gaffer to the actors agreed to be a part of the project because of the money. Instead, they were basically giving face to John Aniston and Jeffrey Hanson. Although they had their misgivings towards Eric, they also had their own motives in mind.


    They had learned about the contents of the Home Alone script, and were very d that this young director wasn''t like those other debuting snobs who would never film something so "cheap" as they didn''t consider it art.


    The likelihood of the film''s sess was quite high and its production budget was only $1 million. Relying on Eric''s fame from 17 Again and Jurassic Park, perhaps they might even earn a little extra as Eric had promised them a bonus if the film was a hit.


    In order to repay Eric who had provided histe wife''s team with employment, Jeffrey Hanson arrived on the set everyday on time, wanting to guide the "novice" with his years of experience. But after a few days, Jeffrey began seriously questioning life, or more precisely, God''s fairness.


    Eric didn''t have the impatience of a rookie: he was more like a director with many years of shooting experience; he very orderly and methodically reorganized the set design and the props; he used professional terms to discuss shots with the cameraman; he directed the lighting division to get the desired effects; he was even patient with the overly dramatic actress who yed Kevin''s mother and was ten years his senior...


    Of course, when consecutive errors urred, he also showed a director''s unique skill: the director''s roar!


    "Ms. Leslie, I want a puzzled expression, a confused expression, not a CURIOUS one! ording to my observations, you have obsessivepulsive disorder, so it should be easy for you!


    Just imagine yourself lying in bed at night when you suddenly hear dripping soundsing from the kitchen faucet but you can''t seem to be able to find where the leak is. Picture that emotional conflict when you act. Damn it, we''re only leasing this aircraft for three hours, THREE HOURS!


    Now everyone get back in your positions, and Nikkel, how do you think we''ll be able to see the sky if you keep aiming your camera at the titanium alloy ceiling of the ne! Pay attention to what you''re doing! FUCK!"


    Due to Eric''s excellent performance, all of the crew had recognized his position as the director. So when Ms.


    Leslie who yed Kevin''s mother kept making mistakes on the ne scenes, Eric who was getting anxious because of the shooting schedule couldn''t help but yell, and everyone present unconsciously forgot about his age as they turnedpletely silent.


    Nikkel Frank, a 30 year-old cameraman, didn''t even think about the fact that he had just been scolded by a brat. Instead, he subconsciously apologized, "I''m sorry, Director Williams, I will pay attention."


    ---


    Many yearster, when Nikkel Frank would win the Oscar for best cinematography, today''s scene would be the first thing he would remember as he stood on the podium of the Kodak Theatre, "At that moment, my subconsciouspletely gave in to Eric''s authority as the director.


    Rather than seeing an eighteen-year-old boy, I saw a man born tomand."


    After another NG, they finally wrapped the scene up, and Eric breathed a sigh of relief as he took the initiative to apologize to Ms. Leslie, "I''m sorry for being so harsh with you just now, Ms. Leslie."


    "It''s okay, director Williams, I was the one in the wrong. Besides, you look quite charming when you''re angry."


    "Uh." Eric wanted to remind her that her reaction was a precursor to Stockholm syndrome, but he decided to let it go.


    Over the next few days, Eric realized that every single member of the crew had changed their form of address to "Director Williams", even Jeffrey Hanson was no exception. Eric knew that these people had acknowledged him from the bottom of their hearts.


    Therefore, he continued directing with renewed enthusiasm such that in just four days, they had wrapped up all the L.A. scenes. Thus, the whole team left for the small town in Canada.


    Previously, several staff members had been sent to take care of setting up Kevin''s home. Although he had dealt with everything through the phone, Eric was very satisfied after seeing how everything had been arranged and also became determined to do all he could to keep Jeffrey''s crew around.


    The town located in northern Canada had never experienced the shooting of a movie, so the residents were very enthusiastic and curious. Before Eric had even arrived, there were already people asking for small roles.


    Moreover, since they were shooting with a Christmas setting, all the residents took the initiative to decorate their homes such that the entire town was clouded in a festive atmosphere.


    Eric generously agreed to their request and invited several children to appear in cameos.


    The only thing they had to film in the Canadian house was Kevin pranking the two robbers. In fact, the movie didn''t really have any Christmas connotation; it was just pureedy. Coupled with Stuart''s performance that was even better than Macay Culkin''s, the filming process was very fast.


    Eric determined that they would be able to wrap up filming within a week.


    At the same time, in Los Angeles, the 17 Again crew was starting to panic.


    Penny Marshall needed Eric to dub some shots, but suddenly discovered that he had gone AWOL; his phone wasn''t connecting and his doors stayed firmly closed which rmed the woman as she thought that he might have found trouble for himself, so she could only contact Jennifer to learn about his whereabouts.


    Getting his contact number, Penny informed him that he had to return to L.A. within a week, and that, in addition to the dubbing, he also had to be present for the movie''s promotion.


    Naturally, Eric''s filming of Home Alone was exposed. In this regard, Penny Marshall acted like a benevolent elder as she criticized him a bit for being too impatient, having only just finished filming for 17 Again, but she also didn''t think much of it.


    She believed that Eric had probably put together a shabby crew and was shooting a nonsensical movie like every young aspiring director.


    Eric was caught between work and reality, and although his rtionship with the crew was good, he still needed to fulfill his contractual obligations.


    Matthew Perry would chat with him from time to time in between sets, and Eric was also very interested in him, but, unfortunately, his focus was solely on how to quickly wrap up Home Alone, so they didn''t have that many opportunities to talk much.


    A weekter, the crew sessfully finished all the filming in the town, and thanks to Jeffrey and Eric''s meticulous nning, they had only spent 600,000$, leaving them with about 300,000$ which was more than enough toplete the post-production.


    Eric was in a generous mood as he threw an open party for the whole town.


    The next day, while many people were still in a hangover state, he was already on his way to catch a flight back to Los Angeles.


    It took half a day toplete the dubbing for 17 Again before Eric had to frantically busy himself with the film''s post-production.


    Over the next few days, he worked more than sixteen hours a day, and to everyone''s surprise, was done with the film''s post-production in just five days. He had thepleted film in his mind, so his speed was understandably fast.


    He had spent less than a day inpleting the editing process, which made his editor look at him with eyes full of worship.


    The next day, early in the morning, a dozen people were squeezed together in a shabby theater with only five or six decent seats. Most of them were members of the Home Alone crew, along with Jennifer who had alsoe to watch Eric''s work.


    After a slight hum of the projector, a hazy silhouette of a blue house under the dim moonlight appeared, and the movie began.

 Chapter 20: Internal Screening

    While everyone in the theater, including Jennifer who hadn''t been a part of the shooting, was aware of the contents of Home Alone, with the progress of the film, especially when Kevin pranked the two robbers, they couldn''t help but burst out inughter, even Jeffrey who was in his mid-fifties was roaring.


    The 100 minute long film unwittingly ended, and once thest line of the ending titles disappeared, everyone stood up and apuded together.


    "I really have to admit, this movie is amazing. Eric, I think I should congratte you in advance," Jeffrey Hanson said as he patted Eric on the shoulder.


    "Thank you, Jeffrey, I wouldn''t have been able to do it without your help. At least, I wouldn''t be able toplete Home Alone so quickly."


    The people present spoke for a while before they gradually dispersed. They had intended to throw a small party to celebrate, but seeing Eric''s unkempt and tired face, they very consciously gave up on the idea. Their director had overexerted himself for half a month, so he needed to rest.


    The next step was to n the film''s release. Since he''d have to go to the 17 Again''s internal screening tomorrow, Eric thought it would be a good opportunity to meet with Fox''s head of Distribution to talk about his film.


    He believed that as long as the executives watched his movie, they would agree to get it out on schedule. Although he''d have to share some of the profits, he didn''t really have a choice as he had no foundation at all.


    Perhaps waiting after 17 Again''s release would make things easier for Home Alone, but by that time, even the New Year would have passed.


    As a Christmasedy, it naturally had to be released around Christmas, and Eric didn''t want to wait another year to release it as he had already put a lot of effort into it.


    Jennifer had gotten her provisional license, so she drove Eric back to his home in his car. After reaching home, Eric quickly put the copy of the movie away, and dove into his bed, unwilling to keep his eyes open any longer.


    Jennifer had wanted Eric to take shower before going to sleep, but seeing him plunge head first in his sheets and noticing his exhausted face, she simply uttered a sigh before taking his clothes and shoes off, covering him up with a nket and leaving the room.


    Eric hadn''t been home for over two weeks, and since there was no one to clean up, the ce was already full of dust.


    Jennifer rolled up her sleeves and looked for some cleaning utensils. Unlike her Friends character Rachel, a spoiled girl who didn''t even know how a washing machine worked, the real Jennifer had long since been self-reliant.


    On the desk in the study, Aniston found a variety of books on basic music theory. She picked some up and used a rag to wipe the dust when a document slipped out of one of the books. She curiously picked it up and found that it was a mortgage agreement.


    ***


    Eric didn''t know how long had passed, but it was probably noon when Jennifer had asked him if he wanted something to eat. He had groggily refused and fell asleep once more. When he woke up again, it was already dark.


    Eric turned on the lights and looked at his watch: it was way past nine.


    He thought that Jennifer had left, but as he dressed up and walked out of the bedroom, he could faintly hear the sounds of the TVing from the living room.


    Downstairs, he saw her curled up on the couch, her arms hugging a pillow as she watched TV.


    "Hey, Annie, evening," Eric walked over and kissed her cheek.


    "Eric, you woke up. Go take shower, I''ll fix you something to eat."


    Eric didn''t notice the strange look she was giving him. He turned towards the bathroom, showered for half an hour, shaved, and when he got out and went to the living room again, Jennifer was back on the couch with dinner ready.


    "Wow Annie, this is really great. You even made such delicious Chinese fried rice," Eric praised as he tasted her cooking.


    "You said that you liked it so I learnt it."


    Jennifer had a smile on her face as she looked at her boyfriend wolfing down her cooking. She waited patiently until he was finished before asking, "Eric, did you did you take out a mortgage on your house?"


    Eric was about to go to the kitchen to do the dishes when he heard Jennifer''s words and couldn''t help but look at her, puzzled. He hadn''t told anyone about it, so how did she know?


    "When I was cleaning the study, this fell out from a book." Seeing Eric''s inquiring look, Jennifer took out a document from the coffee table.


    Eric put down the cutlery, took the file and looked at it before nodding, "I was short of $200,000 for the filming of Home Alone, so I had to take out a mortgage on the house."


    "Then, the piano in the study was also" Jennifer hade to Eric''s home a few times, so she had seen the Strauss before.


    Eric nodded again.


    Jennifer frowned in distress as she said, "Eric, I think you were too impulsive, although everyone thought that today''s screening of Home Alone was very good, you never know if it might end up in failure and lead you to bankruptcy."


    "Don''t worry, Annie. You see, a few months ago, I was just a broke high school student, and now only a few months have passed and I have sessfully published a novel, written a screeny as well as starred as the main lead, and now even directed a movie. How many people my age can do this?


    So, even if I failed this time, I believe that I''ll easily be able to stand up again. We are still so young, we ought to enjoy life and strive whole-hardheartedly for sess. In fact, failure isn''t a bad thing, it''ll help us grow, happy times do note without some tear shedding.


    I don''t want to be an old man who looks back at his life, dully and cidly gazing at the sun in the sky, full of regrets regarding his younger days. That would be too miserable."


    "Oh, Eric, when you say it like this, it sounds so amazing. You think I don''t know you''re trying to trick me?! You damn rascal!"


    The morning sun hit her face as her eyshes subconsciously fluttered and Jennifer who turned to avoid the light soon woke up. Eric came into the bedroom holding a tray and smiled as he said to his already awake girlfriend, "Good morning, baby."


    She pouted and replied, "Not such a good one thanks to you, you bastard."


    "Come on, I even spent an hour making this delicious ribs soup as an apology."


    "Don''t want it, I''m dieting."


    "Make an exception for today, you won''t gain weight just because of this,e one, taste it, how''s the vor?"


    "Wait, I haven''t even brushed my teeth yet."


    " I''ll take you to the bathroom."


    After a warm breakfast, due to her distance from the convenience store where she worked, Jennifer decided to ask for a leave from her manager. The manager was really ustomed to it as there were many people who dreamed of stardom in L.A.


    and needed time to go to auditions or be on set earlier, and he knew that Jennifer was one of them. When she had taken on the job, the two of them had reached a mutual understanding.


    The two loverszed around for a while before Eric drove his car away as the internal screening of 17 Again was set to take ce that afternoon. He wanted to take care of the issue of Home Alone''s release at the same time.


    Ten o''clock in the morning, in one of 20th Century Fox''s luxury theaters, executives from the Publicity and Distribution departments, filmmakers and a dozen of other representatives, as well as the 17 Again crew, were all present.


    Before the start of the screening, Eric went to James Brooks and Penny Marshall''s side as he wanted the two of them to introduce him to executives from the Fox''s Distribution department.


    "Eric, you''re saying that you want to release your movie in time for Christmas?" James Brooks asked, startled. He also knew about Eric making a movie as soon as he had wrapped up 17 Again, but he didn''t expect for it to have beenpleted so soon.


    "Yes, James, it''s a Christmasedy, so it would be best if it was avable in theaters during Christmas."


    James Brooks held some disdain in his heart. While he recognized Eric''s talent as a screenwriter and actor, he didn''t believe that he could have directed a worthwhile movie.


    Directing a movie required years of experience after all, however, he had to at least give him face, so he promised he would help introduce him to some people.

 Chapter 21: An Opportunity

    The internal screening for 17 Again went very smoothly as both Fox executives and theater reps were unanimously optimistic about the high-schooledy.


    Originally, before Eric appeared, Fox was nning on releasing just the officeedy Working Girl, starring Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver and Mnie Griffith, on the 23rd of December for the Thanksgiving/Christmas schedule.


    Now, with 17 Again, their once empty Thanksgiving schedule was filled up. After discussion, they agreed upon releasing it on November 18th which Eric found very satisfactory.


    As far as he recalled, there were no interesting movies that had been released in November of 1988, so it would be smooth-sailing for 17 Again. If it had been released in December, however, it would have to go against top grossing movies such as Rain Man, Twins and The Naked Gun.


    ***


    Around noon, James Brooks introduced Eric to a middle-aged man with rimmed sses who was Fox''s Head of the Distribution, director Carter Hunt. James introduced the two of them a bit before quickly leaving.


    Although he had a good rtionship with Eric, he wouldn''t go so far as to ask for favors on his behalf.


    "Hello, Mr. Hunt," Eric shook hands with the man who politely praised Eric''s performance in 17 Again.


    However, once Eric exined his intentions to Carter Hunt, thetter immediately refused, "I''m sorry, Eric, this year''s release schedule is already full. We can''t afford to squeeze in a low-budgetedy, I''m really sorry."


    The reason was definitely bullshit, if the movie had been directed by Spielberg instead, he was sure that Carter Hunt would be so happy he''d start jumping.


    Although he had been rejected, Eric didn''t give up, "Mr. Hunt, please take a look at it at least. I have brought a copy; it will only take a little more than an hour, but I guarantee that this is a great movie."


    Carter Hunt shook his head once more.


    A lot of small filmpanies tried to sell him such films on a daily basis, especially now that it was the holiday period. Since small production studioscked a distribution channel, they would constantly seek him out.


    Carter knew that such films had little to nomercial value, let alone a low-budgetedy directed by an eighteen-year-old; it would simply be a waste of time.


    "Eric, you know, I''m very busy with work right now, and I have to go back to the headquarters this afternoon to handle the distribution of 17 Again. I''m sorry."


    Eric was really unwilling and cheekily continued to insist before Carter Hunt finally lost his patience and found an excuse to leave.


    "Eric, how did it go?" Penny Marshall asked once he returned.


    Eric shook his head as he wryly smiled and Penny patted his shoulder beforeforting him, "Don''t be discouraged, Eric.


    You know, the cost of distributing a film is sometimes even higher than the cost of producing it, and if the film doesn''t earn a good box office, the one to shoulder the responsibility would be the Head of Distribution, so you see, Carter has his own difficulties.


    I understand that you made that movie with your own money, so after the release of 17 Again, while the hype is still ongoing, I can help you get back some of your money by having your movie released direct-to-VHS.


    But after that, I think you should focus more on acting and writing; you shouldn''t let your talent go to waste."


    "Thank you, Penny," Eric replied gratefully, but his heart was slightly bitter. Everyone seemed to regard Home Alone as the experimental film of a rookie, while he just wished he could tie all the people present to their seats and forcefully make them watch it.


    Unfortunately, such a thing was impossible.


    He dejectedly went home and decided that since Fox had no interest in his film, he could only try other studios.


    Jennifer was curled up like a cat on the living room sofa, watching a BBC soap opera. When Eric opened the door, she propped her small head up and asked, "Eric, how was it ?"


    Eric came to her side and hugged her. Rubbing her back, he said, "Fox rejected it, but it''s okay, I''ll try somewhere else."


    Jennifer realized that Eric''s tone was slightly disheartened, so she clung to his waist and lifted her head as she softly said, "You know what Eric? Home Alone is so good. After it is released, they will definitely regret their decision today."


    "Baby, you always know the right words," Eric said as he lovingly squeezed her face.


    Soon, they began kissing, but were interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Eric who had been about to push Jennifer down reluctantly let go of her as he answered the phone.


    "Hey, you''ve reached the Williams'' residence."


    "..."


    "Oh hey Jeffrey, what''s up?"


    Eric listened to the voice on the phone when suddenly his eyebrows perked up. Jennifer knew that this always happened when her boyfriend was happy, so she curiously looked at him but she couldn''t hear anything.


    Eric nodded a few times, hung up the phone, then took Jennifer in his arms as he swirled around with her.


    "Ugh, Eric, I''m getting dizzy, put me down and quickly tell me, what''s the good news?"


    Eric put Jennifer back on the sofa before saying, "Jeffrey ran into a friend from Columbia Pictures this morning. He talked to her about Home Alone, and apparently his friend was so interested that she said that if I didn''t reach an agreement with Fox, I coulde to her."


    "Columbia Pictures? Is that..." Jennifer asked as she made a Statue of Liberty pose.


    "Yep, that one." Eric nodded.


    "Amy was a good friend of myte wife. She''s only in her early thirties and already an executive at Columbia; she helped my wife distribute two of her films in the past.


    I met her yesterday, and when I mentioned you, she seemed to already know who you were, so I told her about Home Alone." In a cafe, Jeffrey Hanson exined everything to Eric.


    Sitting opposite him, Eric curiously asked, "You said Amy? The friend you talked about is a woman?"


    "Yes."


    Eric felt that this was too much of a coincidence, and she even worked at Columbia Pictures, so he couldn''t help but ask, "That Amy, what''s her full name?"


    "Amy Pascal."


    Sure enough, it was her. Historically, the female film executive who shined throughout the ''90s was the CEO of Paramount Pictures, Sherry Lansing. Her presence as "Hollywood''s Matriarch" was nothing tough at, but if one looked at achievements, Amy Pascal was no less than her.


    In fact, she had ran Columbia Pictures for an even longer period of time.


    Eric and Jeffrey were still chatting when Amy Pascal entered the cafe in a hurry, slightly tardy. About 5''8" in height, donning a dark suit with brown hair and delicate features, she gave a good vibe overall.


    After a brief introduction, the three of them sat down together.

 Chapter 22: Buyout

    Amy Pascal showed a very direct interest in Eric: "Eric, you''re younger than I thought. I had just entered college when I was your age."


    "You look very young, Ms. Pascal." Ericplimented.


    Amy Pascalughed: "Thank you, Eric. Calling me Amy is fine, I read Jurassic Park, and I really like your writing, so I wanted to ask, are the movie rights still in your hands ?"


    Eric jolted slightly: "Of course."


    This time, with the Jurassic Park fame growing, numerous filmpanies contacted him for the movie rights, but all of them were turned down by Eric. Before he had enough power to fight fairly for his interests, he didn''t n on selling them.


    "Well, I wonder if you''d be willing to sell those rights to Columbia ? We won''t be stingy when ites to the price."


    Eric said: "Amy, we didn''te here to discuss about this today. Also, technology hasn''t matured enough when ites to special effects, so I don''t n on selling Jura.s.sic Park''s rights any time soon."


    "Ah, that''s a shame. Well, let''s talk about Home Alone then, it''s my understanding that Jeffrey has watched and appreciated the movie. Right, I heard that you originally intended to release it through the 20th Century Fox, how did it go ?"


    Eric shrugged and told her the truth: "The head of the 20th Century Fox Distribution Department, Mr. Carter Hunt, didn''t even watch the movie, and just bluntly refused."


    "Carter Hunt, huh, I know him, one really arrogant man." Amy Pascal smiled and said: "Well then, I think I''ll take a look at that movie first."


    Eric nodded, then the three of them went directly to an auditorium at Columbia Pictures'' headquarters, gave a copy to the projectionist, and sat on the leather seats.


    "Eric, you don''t seem to be really looking forward to it ?" Before the film started screening, Amy Pascal caught a nce of Eric''s face, and quipped.


    Eric helplessly smiled: "Amy, you know, I made the movie from start to finish, my mind is filled with every shot, and I''ve also seen it a lot of times, however, I believe you will definitely not be disappointed."


    The theater lights dimmed, Amy Pascal nodded, and looked back.


    She had mixed emotions about all this, Columbia Pictures wascking a good movie project, that was true, but thinking about how they were even reduced to turning their sights towards a high school student''s movie, she couldn''t help but sigh in the dark.


    As one of the top management, Amy Pascal was familiar with Columbia Pictures like the back of her hand. This years profits weren''t good, if it weren''t for the .u.mted earnings of their past few years, thepany would have certainly faced huge losses.


    Compared to the thriving Disney and 20th Century Fox, as well as Paramount when Barry Diller was still there, Columbia was like a very old, almost lethargic man.


    After Ghostbusters got the second ce in the box office in 1984, Columbia hadn''t been able to squeeze a movie in the top ten in three consecutive years, and this one was no exception. This old giant of the movie world, had be a disgrace.


    Columbia''s parentpany, CocaC, had suffered heavy lossesst year, and if Columbia still couldn''t make any profits for them, it would likely be sold. In fact, the Sony consortium had already made an offer.


    Amy Pascal had some understanding of Eric, this boy had just graduated from high school, and in only a few months, had published the science fiction novel Jurassic Park, wrote the 17 Again script and startled the entire 20th Century Fox with his acting.


    If not for him giving people so many surprises, perhaps Amy Pascal would have also dismissed him like Carter Hunt had.


    Columbia Pictures had also received the 17 Again script, and several producers in thepany had been interested, when they saw Eric''s condition to star as a lead, they had ultimately given up on it, they just couldn''t afford to take the risk.


    She had heard that Barry Diller had personally approved of 17 Again,paring him to the mediocre CEO of Columbia Mr. Blount Cohen*, Amy couldn''t help but sigh. If thepany was in its current situation, it was because of the higher upsck of boldness and vision.


    (TL: Name that the author made up, I did some research and couldn''t find anything about him.)


    With the start of the movie, the interesting plot and Stuart Runkle''s pranks, Amy Pascal''s thoughts scattered as she focused on the screen.


    Once the movie was finished, Amy Pascal was stunned silly, she couldn''t believe that such a greatedy was the work of an eighteen-year-old boy.


    She excitedly stood up as she faced Eric with a grin and said: "Eric, can you wait here while I make a phone call ?"


    Seeing Amy''s expression, Eric was sure of one thing; it was in the bag.


    After half an hour, the president of Columbia, Mr. Blount Cohen, and seventy-eight other Columbia Pictures executives gathered together in the theater, and Home Alone was screened once again.


    They watched the movie in a cheerful atmosphere, and althoughmuting time was near, no one was eager to leave. After 45 minutes of screening, the higher ups had already started whispering together.


    Columbia Pictures, in the president''s office, Eric and Jeffrey were sitting opposite Blount Cohen, as thetter sipped leisurely a few times on a cup of coffee his a.s.sistant had brought him, before saying: "Eric, to be honest, we are very optimistic about Home Alone, so we are willing to offer 10 million dors to buy all the rights, what do you think ?"


    Hearing the price, Jeffrey Hanson who was sitting next to Eric, became incredibly joyful. A one million dor project and they were willing to offer ten times that, if the decision was his, he would have immediately nodded.


    Blount Cohen noted Jeffrey''s expression and revealed a smile of satisfaction, thepany estimated the movie''s box office at 50 million $ and they could easily shoot a sequel, so after some deliberation, they had decided to directly give a high price and buy the copyrights.


    Buy Home Alone for ten million dors ? Your uncle, I would rather go bankrupt ! Eric couldn''t help but swear in his mind.


    "Mr. Cohen, you must have made your preliminary estimates on Home Alone''s box office, right ? Do you mind telling me what the results were ?"


    Seeing Eric not immediately agreeing, Blount Cohen was a little disappointed, but he still said: "Of course, we feel that, if done properly, then Home Alone''s North American box office should do around 30 million $.


    In ordance with established practice, you, as producers*, can get twenty percent of the benefits, a 10 million $ buyout price is very reasonable. The cost of making the film shouldn''t have been that high, so Eric, what are you hesitating for ?


    Just sign the agreement, and you''ll be one of the youngest multimillionaire in Hollywood."


    _ _ _ _


    * As in, those who made the movie, not the name of the job, in case you''re confused.

 Chapter 23: Genius, madman

    Sitting next to Jeffrey Hanson, Eric felt that there was no room for bargaining, he still said: "I''m sorry, Mr.


    Cohen, I don''t intend to sell Home Alone, but we can still talk about a sharing agreement, right ?"Blount Cohen frowned as he unhappily said: "Eric, if we''re going to share, I can only give you 18%."


    "Mr. Cohen, didn''t you just say you''d give us 20% ?" Jeffrey retorted.


    Blount Cohen lightly said: "That was just under average circ.u.mstances, if we are to release Home Alone, then the cost of the release will certainly be much higher than the cost of production, so 18% is very reasonable."


    Jeffrey was about to argue, but Eric stopped him from acting on impulse and said: "Well, Mr. Cohen, I have another idea, how about signing a contract based on a bet ?"


    Although gambling agreements were widespread in the industry, Blount Cohenugh loudly in his heart, what made this brat think that he was qualified to gamble with Columbia ? However, he feigned interest and gestured to Eric to keep going, he''d like to hear what this kid had on his mind.


    Eric acted as if he hadn''t seen Blount''s face full of ridicule, he smiled and said: "Columbia will use 5 million dors, at the least, to promote the movie. If Home Alone makes less than 50 million $ at the box office, I will give up the entirety of the rights to you for free."


    After these words, if Blount Cohen said he wasn''t moved, he would be lying.


    Thepany had already estimated that Home Alone would make about 50 million at the box office, so if he signed an agreement on gambling, as long as the time was right, even controlling the box office so that it didn''t grow over 50 million was a very simple matter.


    Blount Cohen felt Eric was stupid, but he also admired the young man for his courage.


    Jeffrey Hanson abruptly got up, and shouted in disbelief: "Eric are you crazy ?!"


    Eric patted Jeffrey on the shoulder and motioned him to sit down, before saying: "If the box office is between 50 million to 100 million $, I want twenty percent of the share.


    If the box office is over 100 million dors, then for every additional 10 million dors, I want my share ratio to be increased by 1%."


    Eric finished, and calmly started to drink his coffee, no longer saying anything. Jeffrey Hanson was fidgeting, he kept sweeping his gaze between the two people, he was a bit worried Blount Cohen would agree to Eric''s ridiculous agreement, if he did, they would lose the 10 million $ buyout fee.


    10 million dors, ah, how many people had ever seen so much money ?


    Unfortunately, Blount Cohen''s courage was reallycking, he hesitated for a full five minutes, before finally saying: "Eric, this is something I need to discuss in a meeting, can I give you my answer tomorrow ?"


    Eric nodded, directly got up and left.


    In the parking lot, Jeffrey didn''t get in his car, but sat in Eric''s pa.s.senger''s seat instead.


    "Eric, you''re too impulsive. That was 10 million $ you know ? Looking at all these years, althoughedy can generally get good box office, there are always exceptions. Tomorrow let''s just directly take their buyout offer, you may be able to fight again for the price, what do you say ?


    Listen to me, you''ll probably get this kind of lifetime opportunity only once or twice, if you miss on it, it will never happen again, with 10 million $, you can continue to shoot movies, you can do a lot of things."


    Eric was immersed in the deal he had proposed to Columbia Pictures, and his blood was slightly boiling.


    The past Home Alone''s box office had entered the Guinness Book of Records, and with his copy of it, he didn''t believe that with the help of the giant that was Columbia, the movie would fare much worse, so he had been worried about fighting for his own interests.


    ording to the way things should have normally progressed, his low-budget film could only get 20% of the profits at best.


    When Blount heard that Eric wanted to share the profits, he had lowered the share to 18% because he knew that the box office would be higher than what he had mentioned, and at that moment, Eric''s thoughts shed as he remembered another agreement method: gambling.


    In the film industry, betting on the box office wasmon, because under normal circ.u.mstances, this was a win-win situation; both sides could fight for their best interests while avoiding risks at the same time.


    If you looked at the Home Alone from his past, the final North American box office count was 280 million $, so after signing the gambling agreement, Eric would eventually get a 38% share, which was 3% higher than what those powerful producers earned.


    Moreover, after seeing Blount Cohen''s reaction to his proposal, he felt that Columbia Pictures was likely to agree.


    "Hey, Eric, I''ve been speaking so much, but in the end you weren''t even listening, were you ?" Jeffrey Hanson found himself nagging so much he became thirsty, but Eric hadn''t said a word and only reacted after he had nudged him on the shoulder twice.


    "Look, Jeffrey, I know you are good to me, but however you think about it, a few months ago, I would have nothing if not for my guts.


    I''ll let you in on something, I believe that Home Alone is likely to break the 200 million $ mark at the box office, so with the agreement I proposed, how much do you think I can get ?"


    Jeffrey looked at Eric as if he was looking at a mental patient.


    Eric didn''t mind andughed: "Jeffrey, have a little bit of faith in me alright, if I''m right, then you as the executive producer will receive a generous dividend that will help you redeem your Fireflies studios. Right now I need your help, so how about doing me a favor ?"


    Although Jeffrey dreamed of getting back the filmpany co-founded with his wife, he didn''t take Eric''s words seriously, but seeing that he wouldn''t be able to change the guy''s mind, he asked: "Well, Eric, what do you need me to do ?"


    "Help me contact aw and ounting firm, not surprisingly, Columbia will certainly agree to the agreement I proposed, and I''ll need someone to help me supervise and audit the implementation of the agreement, and if there''s a dispute I''ll also need someone to defend my case."


    Jeffrey said: "These are no problem, but Eric, do you still have money ? Those guys cost a lot you know."


    "Of course," Eric opened his glovepartment, took out a copy of Jura.s.sic Park, and said: "I still have the Jura.s.sic Park movie copyrights that are at least worth a million dors as coteral, if the gambling fails, then just take the novel to those firms, I don''t believe they''ll reject it."


    "Eric, you''re seriously... insane !"


    "The man of genius is he and he alone who finds such joy in his art, that he will work at ite h.e.l.l or high water."


    Jeffrey threw his hands up: " I see, not only are you crazy, you''re arrogance could even put Aristotle to shame."


    "Aristotle was busy, I stole this one from Stendhal."


    "..."


    Jeffrey finally agreed to help contact the firm as soon as possible, at the same time, in one of Columbia Pictures conference rooms, several executives were in the middle of a discussion.


    "Alright, you know everything, so let''s hear your opinions." Blount Cohen described Eric''s conditions of the bet again while he looked at the several executives, waiting for them to express their views.


    After hearing Blount Cohen''s statement a second time, the executives found it unbelievable; was that boy just foolishly stupid ?


    Finally, an executive called Lester Reed took the lead and said: "Mr. Cohen, this is a good opportunity, ording to our estimates, the highest potential box-office of the film is also 50 million $.


    Following the signing of the agreement, and with a little bit of tweaking, we could easily control the box office so that it wouldn''t go over the 50 million mark, and we wouldn''t even have to use 10 million dors to buy him out."


    When Lester Reed finished, the others also echoed up.

 Chapter 24: The bet is on

    Amy Pascal was also sitting at the conference table, but she felt that things weren''t as simple as they seemed. Although she had only been in contact with Eric for a few short hours, she knew that he was unlike any of his peers.


    He had a gentle and calm temperament, and certainly wasn''t rash or hot-blooded enough toe up with this kind of crazy agreement.


    The only likely reason she coulde up with was that this bet wasn''t made on a whim, but after Eric Williams'' careful consideration.Amy Pascal didn''t bother with the people supporting the gambling agreement, after thinking for awhile, she said: "Mr.


    Cohen, I feel it''s still better to be cautious, there is no free lunch in this world, maybe we should slightly raise our initial offer, and share profits with Eric Williams. With the film''s box office potential, we certainly won''t make a loss."


    "Amy, I think you''re too conservative, even children are bolder." Lester Reed retorted: "You know the potential of this film depends entirely on our likelihood to get the copyrights, right ?


    In addition to the box office, there''s the videotape copyrights, as well as the television ones, that''s millions in profits for us. If we choose to share, the copyright still stay in the hands of the boy, and the next time we want to make a sequel, he''ll try to wrench us dry again."


    Amy Pascal said: "We could also work on the buyout price, right, how about increasing it to 15 million dors ? I think Eric would agree."


    "Based on the potential of such a small budgetedy in the past, under normal circ.u.mstances, 50 million $ at the box office is considered a dark horse, while most can only make about 2 million $.


    So, there''s more than 80% chance that we''ll get all copyrights for free, why do we have to pay 15 million $ when the brat has less than 20 % chance of winning ? He has even the guts to make such a crazy gamble when the odds are against him, so what are you afraid of ?"


    "But ..." Amy Pascal looked at the eyes of her colleagues and could only see endless greed. But her woman''s unique sixth sense made her feel that something was wrong, the bet definitely wasn''t that simple.


    "Amy," Blount Cohen interrupted her: "Jeffrey Hanson and Eric Williams might be your friends, but you''re a Columbia Pictures employee, you work for the sake and interests of thepany."


    Blount Cohen''s words stunned Amy Pascal, she really was friends with Jeffrey Hanson, but her career as a manager had always been professional and ethical.


    And now, just because she had expressed her reservations towards the agreement, they even suspected her to be fighting for the interests of outsiders ? Amy felt a strong sense of humiliation as she clenched her hand and her pen trembled slightly. She suddenly stood up, and coldly stated: "Mr.


    Cohen, now that you have made up your mind, I think I''m no longer need, so I will take my leave. Good bye."


    Then, Amy Pascal hastily put the papers in front of her back in order, silently turned around and left the office.


    The entire office sunk into a brief silence.


    "Ah, women !" (TL: Your uncle !)


    It was unknown who exactly had uttered this sigh. Someone like Amy Pascal with a high position in a patriarchal society, would certainly be subject to discrimination.


    Blount Cohen was slightly regretting, Amy Pascal''s ability to work and her professional conduct were obvious, otherwise it would be impossible for her to be sitting in this office.


    But although Blount Cohencked courage, he was very prideful, he felt that even if he had spoken somewhat abruptly, Amy Pascal just getting up and leaving was an attack towards his dignity, so he conveniently decided that the fault lied with her.


    After ten seconds of silence, Blount Cohen finally said: "Well, since we all agree on this gambling agreement, then Lester, from tomorrow onward, you are solely responsible of the Home Alone project."


    In the midst of everyone''s envious gazes, Lester Reed excitedly agreed. If they won the bet, this credit would certainly be considered when he''d vie for a future promotion, and the raise of his pay would then be a natural thing.


    "No problem, Mr. Cohen, I will take care of this."


    The next day, Eric received a notification stating that Columbia Pictures had epted his gambling agreement.


    At the same time, Jeffrey had introduced him to the firms, and after they had a.s.sessed the value of Jura.s.sic Park, they agreed to send a team to a.s.sist Eric in supervising the implementation of the bet.


    October 31st, although very interested, Eric wasn''t able to partic.i.p.ate in the first Halloween parade of his rebirth, but had to sit with a lot of boring middle-aged men and women in one of the meeting rooms of the Columbia headquarters, deciding the specifics of the agreement.


    In the conditions put forward by Eric, the contents of the agreement were gradually tuned.


    In order to ensure that Columbia Pictures did their utmost for the promotion of Home Alone, he made sure they would publish the details of the bet in a well-known newspaper, as well as check the number of daily theater attendances in order to increase or reduce the number of screenings, take into ount the daily film schedule as well as the screening time, etc.


    And once Columbia vited the terms of the agreement, different penalties would be imposed for breach of contract.


    Looking at the dozens of pages that had been drawn, Eric was stunned. He couldn''t help but give his thumbs up to Jeffrey Hanson for recruiting a team of such professionalwyers and ountants.


    On Columbia''s side, Lester Reed who was responsible for the Home Alone project, felt that the bet was already in the bag, he didn''t take that stupid dozen pages-long contract seriously, and couldn''t help but hold Eric''s demands in ridicule as he had probably wasted at least several hundred thousand dors onmission alone.


    Ah, what a waste !


    Lester Reed thought that no matter how detailed the contract was, they had already estimated Home Alone''s box office potential, and even their most daring estimations didn''t exceed the currently ranked first this year, Who framed Roger Rabbit, a perfectbination of animation and live-action movie who had made 150 million dors in the North American box office alone.


    Columbia had originally proposed a December release for Home Alone, but Eric firmly opposed it. What a joke, he already knew about the movies that were about to be released at that period, those blockbusters would just strangle his project.


    In his past, Home Alone had been released in November and had been screened for two months, its box office was remarkable.


    Eventually, Columbiapromised, and decided on November 18th as the release date, the same day as 17 Again, which was something Eric had suggested as he was a focal point of the two movies, this could help promote them and target arger public as well since everyone didn''t have the same tastes; if they weren''t into the first they could go see the second.


    For this reason, even Columbia who had originally nned the November 18th release for the film Mysia postponed it to December, freeing up about a 1000 screens for Home Alone.


    Just looking at the figures, you could see that under normal circ.u.mstances, only the movies they had confidence in would start with more than one thousand screens, which showed that Columbia was very optimistic about Home Alone.


    But at the same time they didn''t want its box office to be over 50 million $ since they also wanted to win the copyrights, therefore the number of screens didn''t exceed one thousand.


    Eric didn''t have any qualms towards this, for the Columbia executives to think like this was a normal thing, but they had signed up to a dozen pages of contract, in which it was clearly stated that if the box office reached a certain number, they had to correspondingly increase the number of screens.


    If Columbia refused to do it, then they could just wait to be sued, but Eric believed that the gains of one movie wasn''t enough to make giants like Columbia throw away their reputation.


    After the signing, and because the contracting parties didn''t intend to conceal the agreements and instead hoped that the bet would spread, the entire Hollywood soon knew about it.


    Thanks to Columbia Pictures Publicity Department, the next day, The Los Angeles Times made it its headline.


    "Genius boy gambles with Columbia Pictures: demented or foolish ?"

 Chapter 25: Promotion in full swing

    "Yesterday, a shocking gambling agreement was signed at the headquarters of Columbia Pictures, between the recently famous author of Jurassic Park and 17 Again, eighteen-year-old prodigy Eric Williams, and Columbia Pictures of the CocC Group."


    "It was reported that, after Eric Williamspleted filming 17 Again, he relied on the paycheck he received as a starring actor, as well as his royalty fee from Jurassic Park, to, in only fifteen days of time, write and direct a low-budgetedy of one hundred and forty minutes titled Home Alone.


    Leaving aside what the quality of the film will be like, for eighteen-year-old Eric Williams to aplish this feat makes him worthy of the word ''genius''."


    "After seeing Home Alone and deliberating, the Columbia executives became unanimously optimistic. ording to insiders, Mr.


    Blount Cohen, president of Columbia had originally wanted to buy the entirety of the Home Alone copyrights for 10 million $, however, Eric Williams straightforwardly refused this offer, which would have been enough to make him one of the youngest multimillionaires in Hollywood, and instead proposed apletely insane gambling agreement."


    The article was detailing the two sides of the bet, and analyzing the possibility of Eric winning it. The author was obviously an insider, he had included a series of data of simr past box officeedies, and estimated that with Home Alone, Eric''s chance of losing was more than 80%.


    Because Home Alone didn''t star a celebrity, and hadn''t had any investors, for this type of good but low-budgetedy, only a few could make 2 to 3 millions at the box office, most would just make a million. Therefore, the possibility of Home Alone breaking the 50 million mark was very low.


    The author even concluded by saying that Columbia would most likely never ''allow'' Home Alone to pass that mark.


    Most people liked to talk about all kinds of things, but their favorite topics would be; geniuses -the ones that were so out of their reach that they couldn''t even feel envy-, tragic heroes, and conspiracy theories.


    The Los Angeles Times article, had explicitly or implicitly, more or less broached about these three subjects, stirring the public sentiment.


    Even before the 20th Century Fox''s 17 Again publicity stunt, people had already begun to develop an eagerness towards Eric, this could be seen by the sudden increase in Jurassic Park''s sales.


    Now, the appearance of Home Alone was like a bomb, the public''s interest in Eric had exploded, which meant that sales and the ratings would too, and soon, in a few days of time, he had already received a dozen requests for interviews.


    Jeff, who hadn''t contacted him in a while, suddenly called him to tell him that some people hade to inquire about him at the restaurant. Eric realized that the paparazzi had started to pay attention to him.


    Meanwhile, after the publication of The Los Angeles Times article, the 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures seemed to form a tacit understanding as both the promotion of 17 Again and Home Alone started in full swing.


    Although Carter Hunt, the head of the Distribution Department on the Fox''s side had some regrets about refusing to watch Eric''s Home Alone, as a professional, he quickly got over his mood, and after some negotiations with Columbia,unched a simultaneous publicity stunt.


    With those two giants joining forces, the results could well be imagined.


    ...


    "Annie, how''s the situation, can I go home ?" When he saw his girlfriend open the door, Eric quickly asked. He had been hiding at Annie''s and hadn''t gone home in a week.


    Aniston shook her head, she put the groceries bags she had in her hands on the coffee table and said: "I drove past your home, there was at least seventy-eight paparazzi keeping watch on your neighborhood.


    Fortunately they didn''t know that the car I drove was yours, otherwise they would have certainlye after me, that would have been terrible."


    Eric sighed. Thanks to the two giants united publicity campaign, Eric had be one of the most popr figure in North America, and even across the Antic, British newspapers had started to pick the subject up.


    Eric was knowledgeable about how things worked in this industry, so after receiving Jeff''s phone callst week, he immediately hid at Annie''s ce.


    The two studios promoting the movie was enough, the rest would be to just rely on the quality of the film itself, so he didn''t bother going out and get interviewed by the paparazzi, not to mention that he wasn''t certain they would write things as he stated them.


    Although Eric promptly went into hiding and the paps hadn''t been able to interview him, they had still dug around and his whole life wasid out for the public to feast on: his immigration from Ennd, his school''s grades, and even his time passed at Jeff''s Italian restaurant.


    Aniston was relishing in it all, teasing him from time to time.


    Then, a tabloid published about his alleged love triangle between Drew Barrymore and an ''unknown actress''.


    They apparently got this from some members of the 17 Again crew, and the story was vividly written, even stating that Drew''s turning a new leaf and joining a rehab center was all for Eric''s sake.


    Once that article came out, a certain ''unknown actress'' had made Eric sleep on the sofa for two full days in a fit of jealousy.


    Michael us was so excited recently he could barely sit still. Because the two giants had involved Eric in their propaganda stunt, Jurassic Park''s sales that had already gone over 100,000, started to soar once again in the second week of November, and finally passed the 250,000 mark.


    ording to estimates, breaking the one million mark this year wouldn''t be a problem.


    After calling him a few times to no avail, Michael us learned of Eric''s whereabouts from Penny Marshall, and directly went to Aniston''s ce.


    "Hey, Michael, how did you know I was here ?" Eric asked curiously as he let Michael in the house.


    "You, seriously, I even thought of calling the police since I couldn''t find you anywhere, and turns out you''re hiding here ..." Michael us was about to say something, but when he saw Anistoning out of the bedroom in pajamas, he was surprised and shut his mouth.


    "Michael, this is my girlfriend, Jennifer Aniston. Annie, this is Mr. Michael us, the manager of my book."


    Michael and Aniston greeted each other, before Annie left for the bathroom.


    "Hey, Eric, this is the actress that was mentioned ? I still like Drew though, she was really cute in E.T." Once Aniston''s figure disappeared, Michael started gossiping.


    Eric gave Michael a cup of coffee and whispered: "Michael, if you want Annie to throw you out, then keep talking about this topic, even I don''t dare to mention Drew''s name now."


    Michael us realized Eric wasn''t kidding and very decisively changed the subject: "Look, Eric, Jurassic Park is now selling so well, don''t you think you should start writing a sequel ?"


    Eric shook his head without hesitation, the Jurasic Park copyrights were already in his hands, although he had used it as coteral in the bet, he wasn''t worried about that. He didn''t have any time to waste on writing a sequel.


    "The fiction is already aplete story, and I think there is nothing else to write about, Michael."


    Michael us wasn''t discouraged and quickly followed: "Well, do you have any other work ?"


    Eric shook his head again. Some time ago he had been incredibly busy, and once he had finallypleted Home Alone and signed a gambling agreement with Columbia, he had directly given himself a break.


    But because there was only a few days before the release of the movies, he had to follow the crew around during the promotion. Fortunately though, the twopanies had reached apromise and decided on a uniform promotional tour schedule, so Eric wouldn''t have to cut himself in half.

 Chapter 26: Potential crisis

    Michael us decided to y it like a rascal when he saw that Eric kept shaking his head: "Eric, just give me something, alright ?


    I''ve been so busy while helping you with Jurassic Park that my wife startedining, I even gave you 200,000$ of royalties in advance so that you could make your movie, aren''t you a little bit moved ?"


    Seeing the stocky middle-aged man in front of him ying the emotional card, Eric couldn''t help but have the chills. He thought for a moment, and said: "Well, I do have a science-fiction one in mind, but it''s just an idea, no specific outline yet.


    It''s based on George Romero''s living dead series, a biotechnologypany is studying a virus when it is suddenly leaked, infecting humanity at the same time."


    Eric''s story was of course, Resident Evil. Although he had seen the series in his past life, he hadn''t really liked it, but thanks to his memory, he remembered it in its entirety.


    The past Resident Evil was probably the most profitable game adapted to the screen, the cost of production wasn''t high, and the series'' total box office had even crossed the 1 billion $ mark. Since Michael wanted him to write something, this would keep him upied.


    Plus, he would get to steal from the japanese, which kind of left him with a sense of aplishment.


    Michael us was somewhat dissatisfied: "Don''t you have anything else ? A lot of people do like zombie stories, but the audience is just too small"


    Eric shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands, as if saying ''do what you like'', so Michael had no choice but to say: "Alright, then start writing as soon as possible, with your current fame, we shouldn''t worry about the sales volumes.


    By the way, you could add some adults elements, anyway you''re of age now, no one will say anything about it"


    bbing about his own proposal, Michael suddenly noticed that Eric''s face looked unnatural, he subconsciously turned around and found that Aniston was standing behind him, her mouth slightly opened, she was looking at the middle-aged man in a way that screamed: ah, so that''s what you''re like !


    "Cough, Eric, I suddenly remember I have some things to do, so I''ll be going now." After instigating her boyfriend to write about that kind of things, Michael was embarra.s.sed as he awkwardly made his way towards the door and left this sentence before running away: "Be sure to start writing as soon as possible !"


    After he left, Aniston asked: "Eric, you''re not really going to write ording to that fellow''s suggestion right ?"


    "Of course not, I am now being promoted by Columbia and the Fox as a model for young people in the United States, how could I damage that glorious image for some petty profits."


    "Bah ! What model for the youth, you''re just a big bad wolf Ah No Don''t"


    After a brief struggle, Annie was pushed down on the sofa.


    ...


    After the Home Alone and 17 Againrge-scale publicity stunt, it was finally time for another key moment: the reviews.


    November 11th, the two films held simultaneous screenings for the press. In this era where Inte didn''t exist yet, the viewers relied mostly on newspapers when it came to pick a film, therefore, the movie''s reviews were something that one could not avoid.


    Of course, after the critics who partic.i.p.ated in the preview watched the movie, as long as it wasn''tpletely repulsive, they would generally not make too incisive remarks. After all, the critics'' needed movies to survive, but movies didn''t actually need them that much.


    The day after the screenings, the major newspapers and magazines had finally released the long awaited reviews on Home Alone and 17 Again.


    "Home Alone delivers a new narrative mode of pureedy, full of innocence, warmth, and jokes that will grow on you, like funny conflicts between the protagonist and the two young and old robbers.


    I have to say, Stuart Runkle''s performance as a seven-year-old can be described as nothing short of amazing. There was also rookie Matthew Perry who yed a remarkable Marvin, full of hrious gimmicks, and people just can''t help butugh."  Los Angeles Times.


    "A genius director and talented young actors, have dedicated themselves to make you happy this Christmas. To those who will go watch the movie, I advise you not to eat popcorn, or you''ll likely spray it all over your seated neighbors when youugh out loud."  Chicago Tribune.


    "In 17 Again, Drew Barrymore experiences aplete transformation.


    Gone her previous image of the small and cute girl from E.T, here, she portrays a rebellious daughter about to graduate from high school whose several outbursts throughout the movie helped the young actress exhibit her amazing acting skills.


    Both Dan Aykroyd and Susan Sarandon''s, those two giants of the cinema, performances were absolutely splendid. Eric Williams, who wrote and starred in the movie, was absolutely nothing like an inexperienced young blood.


    If we''re talking about acting skills, he didn''t lose to Drew Barrymore in the slightest.


    With his movie Home Alone being released at the same time, I have to concur that this man might be a genius blessed by G.o.d, that would be the only way to exin Eric Williams'' outstandingness ..."  Empire Magazine.


    "Many people are alwaysining about the reality of their life, go and watch 17 Again, and you will realize that you might not be so unhappy, you might also feel a variety of negative emotions that will probably suffocate and iste you, and you might even start getting jealous of the protagonist for being able to get out of his body and look at himself from another''s perspective."  Washington Post.


    A lot of newspapers paid tribute to the two movies, so critics were also inevitable, after all, no matter how powerful the two giants were, they couldn''t control all the media, not to mention that the four other big yers weren''t about to let Columbia and the Fox gloat too long.


    One of them, The Chicago Sun-Times, directly criticized Home Alone as apletely unrealistic and nonsensical work, saying that the plotcked rationality, that two robbers being teased by a kid had never happened in reality, and that it was likely to result in misleading children and teenagers alike.


    Another, the Los Angeles Daily News, made a more incisive point as it denounced the use of a toy gun by Kevin in Home Alone, and was calling for a re-examination of the movie itself.


    This news had even gotten the attention of a Los Angeles television station which made Eric really concerned; despite the proliferation of firearms in the United States, they controlled their uses in movies and television works very strictly.


    He anxiously phoned Lester Reed and inquired about the matter, the former casually rea.s.sured him, and let him in on an inside story.


    The Los Angeles Daily News'' owner was a shareholder of Universal Pictures, and the studio was nning on releasing their animated work Land Before Time on November 18th, which would be the same time as Home Alone, their only child-orientedpet.i.tor.


    These kinds of things were normal, and Columbia would naturally counterattack ordingly.


    Hanging the phone up, Eric sighed, troubles were knocking at his door way too soon. At the same time, this little episode gave him a sense of crisis.


    Compared to those big moviepanies, he was just a small shrimp right now, he wasn''t of any threat to those giants, but once Home Alone became a sess, they would surely start to be vignt of him, especially Columbia.


    If at that time he didn''t have enough strength to stand up for himself, then he could only wait while those giants suppressed him.


    His past''s Tom Cruise was splendid example, since the movies he starred in sell so well, his authority and share of the profits got higher and higher, until finally, the paycheck he received even exceeded the Paramount Pictures'' CEO by many times.


    The owner, Sumner Redstone, had therefore openly and directly lost all decorum with Tom Cruise in 2006, while Vi''s media had kept discrediting him for several years, making his career hit rock bottom.


    "Hey baby, what''s up ?" Noticing Eric had gotten off the phone but was still in a daze, Aniston gently tugged his shirt.


    "Oh, nothing."


    While Eric always maintained his confident behavior, Aniston still felt his concern about the two movies. After all, the only thing that remained in Eric''s possession was the car that his father had left behind.


    Besides that, he had mortgaged out everything that could be mortgaged, and if Home Alone flopped, the bet would be lost and Eric would be bankrupt.


    She grabbed her boyfriend''s waist from behind, and leaned her head against his back, as she whispered: "Baby, if there''s something on your mind, I might not be able to help much, but I should still be qualified enough to listen."


    "I just suddenly felt that..." Eric turned around and took Annie in his arms as he said: "The future might be more difficult to tread on than I thought, Annie, will you still go down the road with me ?"


    "Of course I will." Aniston didn''t understand the underlying meaning of Eric''s words, but still decisively acquiesced.


    "Thank you, Annie. Are you really noting to New York with me ? I can arrange for James to get an extra ticket."


    As the Home Alone and 17 Again release date was drawing near, the two crews decided to leave for the East Coast in order to promote in New York, however, as she only had a small role in 17 Again, Aniston wasn''t one of the actors involved in the promotion.


    Annie didn''t want to bother her boyfriend for something this small, she shook her head and said: "No, I lived in New York for many years, there''s really no point in going again."


    The two lovers hugged for a while before Annie gently pushed him away and turned to tidy up his travel luggage.

 Chapter 27: Shocking everyone

    November 18th, Eric flew to New York the next day, while Home Alone and 17 Again had officially premiered. Home Alone was projected on 1000 screens, while 17 Again had 1279 of them.


    It was being screened in 279 more screens than Home Alone since the Fox hadn''t signed any gambling agreement and could just put all its efforts in making it a sess.


    They were released simultaneously along with Universal Pictures'' Land Before Time and its 1395 screens, and Disney''s Buena Vista International Release animated Oliver u0026 Company with its 952 screens.


    Three children-oriented movies were released at the same time, and this made the media feel that Eric''s chances to win the bet were getting thin, but the concerned party wasn''t worried at all.


    These two might overshadow Home Alone a little at the beginning, but they wouldn''t be able topete on the long-time run. His past life''s Home Alone had screened for ten consecutive weeks.


    After attending the two premieres, when Eric and the crew came back to the hotel, it was already past eleven pm. This era''s technology wasn''t really advanced, so they could only wait until next week before getting the Home Alone and 17 Again box office data.


    Back in his room, Eric took a bath and was nning to go to sleep, when the phone suddenly rang. Calling him sote, it could only be Annie.


    "Hey, Eric, were you sleeping ?" Thess asked with a tinge of excitement.


    Eric sat on the bed drying his wet hair with a towel, he said: "No, I just showered, Annie did something good happen ?"


    "Guess ?"


    Eric quipped: "Oh, I know, you must be pregnant, don''t worry, I''ll take responsibility."


    "Bah, you big bad wolf, talking about those dirty things !" Aniston followed: "I just went to see Home Alone, and encountered a very interesting thing, hehe."


    Eric smiled: "Tell me ?"


    "Well, I came out from the cinema earlier, and there was a five-year-old boy shouting that he wanted to see Kevin again, the parents refused, saying that they had just went to see him, and the result was that the kid lied on the ground and started to cry.


    Some people mistakenly thought that his parents were child-traffickers, the poor parents were beaten up, and several police cars came, it was really funny, haha."


    Aniston was just viewing it as a funny anecdote, but Eric could see the bigger picture. They chatted for a while before hanging up, and Eric lied on his bed, slightly excited.


    Things were going in ordance to the past. Home Alone had been able to achieve such an amazing box office thanks to a big wave of naughty children who begged to watch it over and over, they imitated Kevin''s every move, and ultimately, helped promote the movie like never before.


    Indeed, things were as Eric had guessed, the first day of release of Home Alone, nothing major really happened.


    But with its reputation spreading at an rming rate between children, Home Alone''s entries doubled on the next day, and on the third, the growth was such that some popr theaters were having a queuing situation.


    The children had seenedies before, but nothing like Kevin''s weird encounters. Home Alone, from a child''s perspective, portrayed what the majority of them couldn''t or didn''t dare to do in reality.


    Groups of children in North America stirred up a wave of imitation of Kevin, a San Francisco newspaper even reported on a real Home Alone event; a nine-year-old boy who had seen the movie, secretly locked himself in a room when the family got ready to go on a Hawaii vacation.


    When the parents of six children realized they couldn''t find him, the whole family had already flown to Hawaii.


    The boy''s parents had to give up on their vacation to go back to San Francisco, only to find out that the boy had made a mess of the house as he was prepared to battle the ''robbers'' but was met with his anxious parents instead.


    A weekter, the box office''s numbers were finally out, and although the various spikes in poprity had prepared some people psychologically, when they saw that Home Alone had reached a staggering 27,550,000 $ in its first week of running, everyone was shocked.


    Perhaps more than 20 million $ at the box office in its first week was nothingpared to those blockbusters from Eric''s past era, but in this day and age, this result hadpletely overshadowed all the movies in recent years, even Spielberg''s E.T hadn''t had such a stunning start !


    Only George Lucas'' Star Wars couldpare to Home Alone, but its production cost was a hundred times more than thetter !


    Meanwhile, 17 Again had also achieved good results with 13,120,000 $,nding second ce.


    Land Before Time and Oliver u0026 Company, had however respectively only made 7.12 million and 3.98 million $, far below the two filmpanies initial estimates, which was no doubt caused by Home Alone miserably pressuring them.


    Universal and Disney executives deeply regretted releasing their movies at the same time as Home Alone while also feeling envious of Columbia''s good fortune.


    Columbia Pictures'' luck was indeed really good, but when he received the first week''s data from the box office, president Blount Cohen''s mood hit rock bottom, and his cup would also often fall out from his hands.


    Columbia reassessed Home Alone again ording to the first week of box office data, the result was that the North American box office alone would certainly reach 200 million $ and was even likely to exceed the three hundreds.


    Blount Cohen was bitterly regretting, if he had kept trying to buy Home Alone''s copyrights rather than signing that dog s.h.i.t gambling agreement, then Columbia''s profits this year would have been in the hundreds of millions.


    But now, ording to the bet, if Home Alone made a box office of 300 million $, Columbia would have to pay Eric 120 million $, while they would only receive 45 million $ if you took the cost of distribution into ount, what Columbia would earn might only be a fraction of Eric''s share.


    (TL: No freaking idea how this was calcted, don''t ask me, me the author.)


    Blount Cohen had wanted to tear the agreement apart many times, however, the whole nation now knew about the bet, if he hastily tore up the contract, not only would Columbia have a difficultwsuit on its hands, they would also be theughing stock of the country.


    As the president, he himself would definitely be the scapegoat.


    "No, we must find a way to recoup our losses, we must ..." While Blount Cohen kept muttering, an assistant knocked on his door and said: "Mr. Cohen, everyone is in attendance, the meeting can start."


    Blount Cohen rubbed his temples, rose and left for the conference room.


    After sitting down at his ce, Blount Cohen directly asked the one responsible for the Home Alone project: "Lester, how was the data analysis ?"


    Lester Reed had been about to return home alongside the Home Alone crew, but when he received a call from headquarters urging him toe back, he immediately took a flight back to L.A ahead of everyone else.


    Once he heard about the numbers for the movie''s first week of running, Lester had instantly felt bad.


    He sweated as he looked at Blount Cohen, although the final decision to ept the agreement was his boss'', but he had been the first to voice his consent at the original meeting. ording to Blount Cohen''s headstrong character, nine times out of ten he would vent his anger on Lester.


    "Mr. Cohen, ording to the data department''s analysis, and in ordance to the gambling agreement, we can only get about 50 million $ out of the estimated 225 million $ of the North American box office."


    Blount Cohen took the analysis file, and looking at the red curve going down that represented Columbia''s profits, as well as the green one who was going all the way up representing Eric''s, his temples started to jump.


    Bang


    Another one of Blount Cohen''s cup fell on the mahogany floor with a dull thud, everyone else in the room was slightly startled, they subconsciously looked down and became silent.


    Under normal circumstances, making 50 million $ at the box office was enough to let those old foxesugh out loud even in their dreams, after all, even for the six giants, the best yearly box office profit was about 200 million $.


    However, whenpared to the over 100 million $ that Eric might receive, Blount Cohen couldn''t bring himself to be excited in the slightest.


    "Well, you were in charge of signing the gambling agreement, so what now ?" Blount Cohen coldly nced around the room, and his eyes finally fell upon Lester Reed.

 Chapter 28: Countermeasures

    Sure enough, the boss was taking out his anger on him. Lester Reed couldn''t help butment in his heart, but he didn''t try to refute, or he would certainly be driven out."Mr. Cohen, perhaps we could try ... try to negotiate with Eric Williams again, and get him to re-sign a sharing agreement instead."


    "This is your n ?" Blount Cohenughed loudly: "If you were Eric Williams, would you agree to re-sign the agreement ?"


    Lester Reed gritted his teeth and said: "Eric Williams should know that the current situation is nothing short of unfair to Columbia who has invested so much, so"


    Before Lester Reed finished, Blount Cohen directly mmed the table as he roared: "Enough ! Unfair ? Since when has the world ever been fair, what I need are concrete ideas, not wishful thinking !"


    Lester Reed bowed his head in silence, not daring to peep. Blount Cohen looked at the others when his sights finally fell at the end of the conference table where Amy Pascal was sitting.


    During their previous meeting, Amy was the only one to have been against Eric Williams'' gambling agreement, which left him with a glimmer of hope.


    Blount Cohen slightly controlled his tone as he said to her: "Amy, do you have any good ideas ?"


    Although Blount Cohen had been blowing up his fuse, Amy Pascal was somewhat absent-minded. She had been disappointed by Blount''s conservative style, cowardliness, paranoia andck ofposure, she didn''t know how CocC had selected this mediocre president.


    She even thought that he should probably change jobs.


    However, after she heard Blount Cohen''s question, she sorted out her thoughts, and stated: "Mr. Cohen, I don''t have the slightest idea on what to do about that agreement. Even if we forced out a sequel, without the Home Alone copyrights, we would face awsuit of several hundreds of millions."


    Talking up to here, Amy Pascal paused, giving everyone room to think, and started speaking again before Blount Cohen had a chance to: "So, what we should do now, is to try to win over Eric Williams and seriously honor our part of the agreement to show our sincerity.


    Home Alone''s box office will go past the 50 million $ mark without a doubt, and overseas copyrights are still in Eric Williams'' hands.


    Moreover, Home Alone will certainly have a sequel, so if we maintain a good rtionship with him, once he produces one, I believe Eric Williams will be smart enough to continue cooperating with us. I think that this is the only way to gain more benefits for Columbia."


    When Amy Pascal finished, several seniors in the conference couldn''t help but nod. While Blount Cohen somewhat agreed with Amy Pascal''s point of view, he still thought that Amy, Jeffrey Hanson and Eric Williams were friends, and his paranoid personality made him feel that Amy''s suggestion was biased.


    So Blount Cohen could not help but open his mouth again: "Amy, you are Columbia''s employee, you should work for the sake of thepany instead of always trying to help outsiders. If you can get rid of the gambling agreement, I''ll immediately give you a promotion."


    As if the scene from a few weeks ago was repeating itself, her hard work and dedication to thepany were again questioned. She had first been kicked out of the Home Alone project for voicing her opinion, but in the end felt the need to avoid arousing suspicions and didn''tin.


    Now she had been asked to speak up as she had been the only one to have been against the agreement in the first ce, but was once again questioned once she did.


    This made Amy Pascal feel cold, she felt so aggrieved her nose turned slightly sour and she had a hard time suppressing her tears. Women are made of water*, and in the end, she was one as well.


    She suddenly stood up, and the chair behind her was knocked to the ground by her sudden action, issuing a loud bang.


    "Mr. Cohen, I quit !"


    As her cold womanly voice sounded in the conference room, Amy Pascal didn''t bother reorganizing her files likest time, she directly turned her heels and left the office.


    "Too far, that''s going too far, who does she think she is ?" Because the Home Alone matter was already at its critical point, Blount Cohen didn''t reflect on his own mistakes, he pounded on the table again as he turned towards the assistant behind him and roared: "Notify the security immediately, I want that bitch out of here, don''t let me see her in Columbia''s headquarters again !"


    "Yes, Mr. Cohen." The assistant softly assented, before carefully getting up and leaving the conference room.


    Taking a sip of coffee to stabilize his mood, Blount Cohen coldly said: "Well, let''s keep going, if any of you has another nonsensical idea, I don''t mind signing a few dismissal documents today."


    Although the majority of the executives felt that Amy Pascal''s rmendation was the most benefiting, Blount Cohen had beenpletely caught in some kind of hysteria, so at this time, no one would risk being dismissed by supporting her.


    Thus, the executives could only bite the bullet and try toe up with something. Several hours ofter, the crowd finally settled on a countermeasure.


    The meeting over, Blount Cohen could not wait as he told his a.s.sistant: "Help me to contact Mr. Eisner from Disney, invite him for dinner tonight, say it''s something important that has to do with Home Alone."


    "Yes, Mr. Cohen." Cohen''s assistant felt like his hostility had disappeared after the meeting, and was relieved.


    ...


    The next morning, Home Alone first week''s box office of 27.55 million $ was disclosed in the newspapers, so Eric once again became the focus of public opinion.


    Before the movies were released, the news was controlled by the two giants, but now they had talked about Eric on their own initiative.


    In this case, the day after his return to Los Angeles, Eric woke up to find that the paparazzi who were wandering in front his house had already disappeared, reced by a heap of reporters; yes, the number could only be described by ''heap'', he had even trouble seeing anything besides their clustered heads.


    And almost all of them were holding the heavy artillery: long range lenses.


    Because of Columbia intentionally or unintentionally hiding it, Eric didn''t get the box office''s data about Home Alone. But seeing the mass of reporters, he knew that the movie had hit it big.


    Although he was very grateful towards these reporters who hade to ''inform'' him about the good news, Eric didn''t want to deal with them, so after having breakfast, he directly went into the garage.


    He was going to drive past the surrounding reporters and look at the situation at the Columbia Pictures'' headquarters.


    But obviously, the past Eric had never encountered such a spike in fame, and hence made an error in judgment.


    The car had just left the house that it was directly surrounded by a pack of reporters, some had even climbed on the hood of the car, while loudly asking questions and brazenly taking photos of Eric in his driver''s seat.


    Reporters in the other direction were also frantically beating on the doors, shouting a bunch of things.


    "Mr. Williams, what do you think about Home Alone''s staggering first week at the box office ?"


    "Mr. Williams, do you think Home Alone will do better than E.T ?"


    "Eric, in ordance with the gambling agreement, you will soon be one of Hollywood''s youngest millionaires, after you get the money, what will you do with it ?"


    "Mr. Williams, I''m a reporter from The Los Angeles Times, would you give me an interview ?"


    "Eric ..."


    "..."


    As if millions of ducks were moring, Eric''s ears started ringing. Although he had felt somewhat excited after hearing that the movie had made 27,550,000 $ in its first week, he felt even more tensed and anxious looking at the sea of reporters.


    He didn''t dare to bite the bullet and step on the elerator as the way in front was blocked by the car of a white, fat and obviously eager reporter, who seemed to be wanting nothing more than that.


    _ _ _ _


    * Google says it might be a quote from a HK drama. EDIT: Stone says it''s probably from Dream of the Red Chamber.

 Chapter 29: Strange compensation agreement

    Eric looked around through the dense crowd, and his sights stopped towards the west, where the empty Runkle''s house was.


    Home Alone had been released for less than three days that the couple had hurriedly take Stuart and left the promotion tour, as someone had apparently offered them a high price for an advertisement.


    When Eric was still in New York, he had seen in the newspapers that thanks to Home Alone''s poprity, Stuart had made several sessfulmercials and earned a few millions in endorsement, which lead to the Runkle family moving into a mansion in Beverly Hills.


    Although Eric had initially hoped that Stuart''s parents wouldn''t only be concerned about profit like Macay Culkin''s in his past, that was obviously just his wishful thinking.


    He could only pray that Stuart wouldn''t go down the same path as Macay instead, as Home Alone''s sequel still needed the smart little guy. In the past, the third Home Alone''s box office directly plummeted from the second''s 170 million $ to 18 million $, because Culkin hadn''t been a part of it.


    While he was still in his thoughts, ten minutes had passed and the surrounding reporters were getting more and more agitated. Some people had discovered Eric''s difficult position and decided to call the police, and Eric was then led away by them once they arrived.


    Ah, God bless the people !


    Eric drove to the headquarters of Columbia, and once he arrived, the two receptionists- eyes lit up when they saw him.


    They didn''t know anything about the Columbia executives''plex emotions towards Home Alone''s box office, what they knew was that this young man in front of them would soon be the youngest millionaire in Hollywood.


    So after notifying the president''s office of his arrival, the two girls started flirting with him; if this stud fancied them, that would be equivalent to reaching heaven in one step.


    Eric was also joyfully teasing those two flowers, he made some casual jokes to which the girls giggled endlessly, and two perfumed contact cards had unwittingly made their ways to his hand.


    "Hey, Eric." While he was still in midst of chatting at the reception, Blount Cohen''s voice suddenly sounded nearby. Turning around, he found the CEO with his arms opened wide, so Eric stepped forward and warmly hugged him.


    "Mr. Cohen, why did you personallye down, you could''ve just sent someone."


    Blount Cohenughed: "Why, is this old man bothering you young people in your flirting ?"


    "Of course not." Eric quickly denied.


    Blount Cohen said: "Home Alone made a pretty good box office, so I personally picked you up, let''s get down to business first, you young people can flirtter."


    Eric nodded, pocketed the two girls'' cards, and followed Blount Cohen in the elevator.


    Looking at the two people boarding the VIP elevator, the petite receptionist girl asked the one next to her: "Emilia, do you think Eric will contact me ?"


    The tall and blonde Emilia leaned towards her ear and whispered: "Who knows, he might even contact the two of us at the same time, how would you like that ?"


    "Ah ? That... Um" Imagining that possible scene, the petite girl''s face flushed slightly.


    Emilia suddenlyughed, and said: "Lisa, stop your wishful thinking. Judging by our conversation with Eric Williams just now, he didn''t seem interested at all. He was probably just humoring us."


    "How can he only be eighteen ?" Although she had just met him, Lisa had a very good impression of Eric. If another guy had flirted with them, he would have been beaten up t by Columbia''s security.


    But Eric was a stud and he was about to be filthy rich, so him flirting with them ttered the girls instead.


    "Let me correct you; he''s a millionaire eighteen-year-old. To be able to achieve sess at such a young age, he is in another league. Also, when Mr. Cohen left just now, he red at us, so just be realistic Lisa, alright ?


    Let''s go to a club tonight, I''ll introduce you to some handsome guys."


    Lisa nodded in disappointment, she couldn''t help but nce at the VIP elevator not far.


    ...


    Columbia Pictures'' president office, Blount Cohen enthusiastically let Eric sit down on the sofa, before taking out a bottle of wine from his personal stash, and saying: "Eric, let''s celebrate a little bit, when Home Alone is done screening I''ll throw a grand celebration for you.


    This white wine is from the Burgundy region in France, it''s myst bottle of it."


    Eric held his wine ss, gently swirled it, and took a sniff as a fresh breath of pineapple overflowed from the amber-colored liquid.


    Blount Cohen knew about Eric''s upbringing and understood that the young man had probably never had ess to that kind of top-ss wine, he thought Eric was going to bumble so he asked with interest: "How is it ?"


    Eric nodded and eximed: "Great Burgundy wine, to get a pineapple fragrance after the brewing process is not an easy thing."


    Blount Cohen was surprised: "Eric, I didn''t think you had some understanding of wine."


    "Heard about it by chance." Eric told the truth.


    Blount Cohen didn''t take it to heart as he held his ss up and said: "Cheers, to Home Alone."


    "Cheers."


    After drinking, Blount Cohen let his assistant pack up the wine, he returned to his seat and said: "Eric, let''s get down to business, this is Home Alone''s data for its first week at the box office, take a look."


    Eric opened the file, there wasn''t only the Home Alone box office data, there was the data for all the movies and Home Alone''s 27,550,000 $ was hanging at the top.


    17 Again was in second ce with its 13.12 million $, and although it was quite good, the results for Home Alone had left it in the dust.


    "It''s as you''ve seen, Eric." Blount Cohen straightened up, his face a little ashamed, he said: "There''s something we need to bring to your understanding, it''s about Home Alone for this week."


    Looking at Cohen''s expression, Eric had a foreboding feeling, he nodded, indicating the man to continue.


    Blount Cohen said: "ording to our gambling agreement, Columbia should increase the screens to 2000 this week, but unfortunately, because Home Alone''s sess was out of our expectations, we didn''t make adequate preparations, and were only able to liberate 500 screens."


    Although the reason that Blount Cohen had brought up was reasonable, Eric felt something was off.


    "So, Mr. Cohen, what does Columbia intend to do about this ?" Eric calmly asked.


    "Eric, although Columbia will do everything to uphold its part of the agreement, this matter took everyone of us by surprise, we''re just unable to get more screens at the moment, so in the meantime, Columbia has prepared apensation agreement instead."


    Eric warily asked: "Apensation agreement ?"


    "Yes, Eric, don''t worry, there will be no change in the original gambling agreement. Because ourck of preparation has caused you a loss, starting from next week, we will add an additional 100 screens to the original number decided in the bet, and this until the movie stops screening.


    I think this is enough to show Columbia''s sincerity." Blount Cohen smiled.


    Eric subconsciously nodded, but even if thispensation agreement was eptable, he still felt something was strange.


    Seeing Eric nod, Blount Cohen took out the contract and pushed it in front of Eric as he said: "This is thepensation agreement, Eric. You can look at it, and if there''s no problem, then just directly sign it."


    Eric picked it up and began to read, the agreement was very short, only a handful of word and the terms of address were also very straightforward, it didn''t look like there was any trap on the surface. But Eric was still cautious and stated: "Mr.


    Cohen, I''ll take this to mywyer to have a look, and if there''s no problem, I will send you back the signed contract."


    "Sure, no problem." Blount Cohen generously nodded, then said: "Well then, let''s talk about the Home Alone overseas'' distribution rights. Eric, since the movie''s poprity is at its'' peak, the sooner we release it overseas, the higher the box office we''ll obtain.


    If we miss that window, we might only get half of what we originally could. We want to give you 16 million $ or 8% of Home Alone overseas'' box office, what do you think ?"


    "Mr. Cohen, 8% ? That''s too low."


    Blount Cohen shook his head and said: "Eric, releasing a movie in overseas'' theaters brings about a lot of taxes, in the end we''ll only get about 20%, but you don''t need to do anything and still get 8% of the profits, that''s very reasonable."


    Eric coldly snorted in his hear. What ? Reasonable price ?


    If there was no Home Alone, perhaps in an entire year, each of Columbia''s movies could only make about 50 million $ at the North American box office, and those films probably didn''t exceed ten.


    Relying solely on Home Alone, Columbia, who had been thest amongst the ''Big Six''* in performance, would directly rise to the top three. So the truth was that Columbia really hit it big this time.


    "I''m sorry, Mr. Cohen, I need to think about it." He shook his head and rejected Cohen''s proposal. Eric wouldn''t just give up what he deserved just because he had made a lot with the gambling agreement. Sure they had help him put the movie out, but that was it, what was his was still his.


    Eric''s answer seemed to have been foreseen by Blount Cohen as he nodded and said: "Alright, Eric, you go back and think about it, but please give me a reply as soon as possible."


    The young man was just out of the office, that he met the responsible of the Home Alone project, Lester Reed.


    "Hey, Lester, good morning."


    Lester didn''t expect to coincidentally b.u.mp into Eric, he somewhat unnaturally said: "h.e.l.lo Eric, congrattions on Home Alone''s sess."


    "You too Lester, with you being responsible of Home Alone, your year-end bonus will probably be huge, right ?"


    Although Lester started cursing and swearing in his heart, he only disyed an awkward smile on his face.


    "Right, Lester, can you tell me where Ms. Pascal''s office is ? If she hadn''t helped me rmend Home Alone, I wouldn''t be here today, so I want to thank her in person."


    _ _ _ _


    * ''Big Six'' was a term used in the past, it refers to 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Warner, Disney, Columbia and Universal. The order is random.

 Chapter 30: Michael Eisners invite

    "Huh ?!" Lester didn''t expect Eric to suddenly talk about Amy: "Ms. Pascal... resigned."


    Eric was puzzled, he asked: "She resigned ? Why ?"


    Lester furiously thought for a while, and after a few seconds, he said: "She had some dissatisfaction with the project, so she resigned. I''m not sure, it might have to do with the fact that she didn''t get to be a part of Home Alone."


    Eric had seen Lester''s eyes sh for a second, and he knew he was lying. He didn''t expose him but instead put on a disappointed face: "This is really regrettable, then in that case, I''ll take my leave."


    Once Eric got into the elevator, Lester knocked on the door of Cohen''s office.


    Blount Cohen had lost the smiling appearance he had when confronting Eric, he was now frowning as he held a document, but his eyes were clearly not focused.


    "Mr. Cohen, this is what you asked for." Putting a folder in front of Blount Cohen, Lester hesitated, before ultimately saying: "I just met Eric Williams on my way in, he asked about Amy Pascal."


    Blount Cohen suddenly raised his head and sharply eyed Lester: "What did you tell him ?"


    When Lester saw his boss'' eyes he subconsciously wanted to take a step back, before eventually steadying himself: "I told him that Amy resigned because thepany didn''t let her handle the Home Alone project."


    Blount Cohen silently stared at him, and Lester added: "I think, Eric Williams and Amy Pascal are not familiar with each other, otherwise he wouldn''t have asked me where her office was. So I think he won''t go to her and confirm what I said."


    "You think ?" Blount Cohen''s expression did not let up.


    Lester''s scalp went numb, he silently cursed at how bad his luck was. He said: "Mr. Cohen, even if my lie was exposed, it would only serve to increase Eric''s dissatisfaction with us, which is a good thing for us since he''ll be more inclined to ept Disney''s offer that way."


    Blount Cohen thought so too. Relieved, he waved his hand and said: "Well, you can go now."


    ...


    Driving down Hollywood Boulevard, Eric thought back to his visit at Columbia today, too many things didn''t add up. He knew for sure that there was no way Columbia was okay with how things were as his gambling agreement had definitely made them suffer a loss.


    He also knew that they had already started nning something; one of the clues was thepensation agreement he had in hands, the second was Amy Pascal.


    He stopped his car in a parking lot a little further away from his home, traced back, then slipped through his back door. Taking a look from the second floor, there were still a lot of reporters in front of the house.


    One of them noticed Eric suddenly appearing at a window, he directly raised his camera to take a shot.


    It seemed that he needed to move as quickly as possible, while he thought this, Eric smiled self-deprecatingly, even the Runkle''s had moved to Beverly Hills, but he realized that he, right now, only had a few hundred dors in hands. He was as poor as could be.


    While he was still in a daze, the phone behind him suddenly rang.


    Eric picked it up: "Williams'' residence, who am I speaking to ?"


    "Mr. Eric Williams ? I''m Mr. Michael Eisner''s assistant.


    Mr. Eisner would like to invite you to lunch, I wonder if Mr. Williams is avable ?"


    Disney''s CEO Michael Eisner, Eric wasn''t surprised that the other party knew his contact details, but he was curious about his invite.


    "May I know what this is about ?"


    The assistant replied: "It is about your movie, Mr. Williams. Disney is interested in Home Alone''s overseas copyrights."


    Since Columbia''s offer was disappointing, Eric wouldn''t mind cooperating with otherpanies: "Well, where do we meet ?"


    "We will send someone to pick you up soon."


    Eric hung up. Looking down in thought for a moment, he once again pick up the phone and called Jeffrey Hanson: "Jeffrey, it''s Eric."


    Jeffrey Hanson''s tone was full of excitement: "Hey, Eric, Home Alone''s first week at the box office was so amazing, I tried to call you to congratte you but there was no answer."


    "Ah, sorry, I was quite busy."


    "It''s okay Eric, so what do you need me for ?"


    Eric said: "I went to Columbia today and discussed with Blount Cohen about Home Alone''s future release ns, and I found that a lot of things didn''t add up. I feel like Columbia is up to something. And when I talked to Lester, he said that Amy suddenly resigned.


    Why don''t you see if you can contact her and.."


    At the other side of the line, Jeffrey Hanson hesitated a moment before saying: "Eric, about that, I think there''s no use in contacting Amy. Even if she resigned, with her character, she still wouldn''t disclose Columbia''s trade secrets. Can you tell me about what you found unusual ?


    You know, I''ve mingled in Hollywood for 20 years, I might be able to help."


    Seeing that he wouldn''t have much luck with Amy Pascal, Eric carefully recounted what had happened earlier.


    Jeffrey listened and pondered for a minute or two: "Thewyers will look at the share of thepensation agreement, I think it''s possible that the problem is here, and if not, I don''t see anything else. Eric, can you think of a few other details ?"


    "Other details ?" Eric muttered to himself. He thought for a second and said: "Right, just before I called you, I suddenly received an invitation to lunch from Disney''s Michael Eisner, he''s apparently interested in Home Alone''s overseas copyrights."


    "Michael Eisner ..." Jeffrey said this name and suddenly his tone of voice changed: "Eric, Michael Eisner and Blount Cohen are friends, you need to be very careful, don''t promise him anything.


    Columbia giving you such a shabby offer and then Disney contacting you out of the blue, if there''s nothing going on, then I''m a woman."


    Listening to Jeffrey speak, Eric saw out of the corner of his eyes, a silver car parking in front of his home. He said: "Jeffrey, Michael Eisner sent someone to pick me up."


    "Then go, but remember Eric, no matter what he says to you, you don''t have to promise him anything."


    Eric nodded, hung up the phone and went downstairs. After they had confirmed his ident.i.ty, the driver and another man made way for Eric as he boarded the car.


    Half an hourter, Eric met with Michael Eisner at the Hilton Hotel.


    The man was now 40 years old and at the prime of his life, as the head of one of the Big Six, he was naturally high-spirited. He hadn''t yet evolved into the future Disney tyrant, and his interpersonal skills were good.


    "I really envy you, Eric.


    When I was 18 years old, I wascent by just getting admitted to Denison University, but you have aplished what a lot of people can only dream about in their entire lifetime." At the Hilton Hotel''s restaurant, Eric and Michael Eisner didn''t immediately go down to business but took the time to chat.


    "Actually, I was prepared to enroll in the University of California, Mr. Eisner, but due to some unforeseen circ.u.mstances, I had to embark on the road of self-reliance, and was fortunately lucky."


    Michael Eisner shook his head and said: "No, this has nothing to do with luck. Eric, although we''ve just met, I have learned a lot about you, and without talent, even with the help of the G.o.ddess of luck, you wouldn''t have so many achievements.


    You''re one of the most outstanding youths I''ve ever seen."


    "Thank you for thepliment, Mr. Eisner. You''re also one of the people I admire the most, few could''ve done what you did."


    Michael Eisner apparently enjoyed Eric''spliment, he smiled: "Since I''m only one of them, who''s the one you admire the most ?"


    Eric thought, and said: "Probably Howard Hughes."


    "Oh," Michael Eisner nodded and said: "That really is a legendary figure, speaking of which, I feel that you share some simrities with him Eric, although you''re obviously better since part of the reason why he was able to achieve sess was thanks to his father''s huge estate, while you only relied on yourself and to so quickly rise to fame."


    Hearing Michael Eisner''s praise, Eric smiled, but was feeling quite embarra.s.sed. If he hadn''t been born again, he might still be in his oldpany''s shabby studio, shooting TVmercials about some health care products.


    If you omitted Michael Eisner''s arbitrariness, he was indeed a man of great charisma. The two people ate lunch while they talked, the atmosphere was quite pleasant. If not for Jeffrey''s advance warning that made him wary of Eisner, then perhaps Eric would''ve viewed him as a friend.


    Once the waiter that came to clean up the table left, Michael Eisner said: "Well, Eric, let''s get down to business.

 Chapter 31: Statement

    Eric straightened up slightly and said: "Mr. Eisner, please speak."


    When Michael Eisner was about to say something, his mouth froze in a slight gap as he hesitated. They had chatted for awhile, and Michael had a really good impression of Eric. He didn''t feel like he was talking to a kid, but more to a peer.


    Thinking about how the young man was able to achieve so many amazing things in such a short period of time, Michael Eisner started doubting the agreement he had reached with Columbia.


    This young talent who was only eighteen, would definitely thrive, if Eric and him became enemies because of this, the probability of a future cooperation would be slim.


    As a CEO, Michael Eisner was undoubtedly a decisive person. Thinking about Blount Cohen''s conditions again, he firmed his resolve.


    Home Alone was a matter of its own, this young man could probably no longer achieve such dazzling sess. And even if he did, as long as there were enough interests, the two sides were still likely to cooperate, those who were once enemies could always make peace again.


    Besides, in the end, wouldn''t Columbia be the one to be Eric''s main opponent ?


    "Eric, Disney is really interested in Home Alone''s overseas distribution rights, our studio''s very brand is child and teen oriented, so we would be best suited to take care of your movie. If you let Disney handle Home Alone, I believe we can achieve better overseas than in North America."


    Eric calmly asked: "Mr. Eisner, can I know Disney''s offer ?"


    "12% of the overseas'' box office profits, what do you think ?"


    Eric looked slightly moved as he asked: "Doesn''t Disney wish to purchase the copyrights ?"


    Michael Eisner shook his head, smiled and said: "Eric, you even signed a gambling agreement with Columbia because you wouldn''t ept the buyout, so I won''t waste time in this regard."


    Eric nodded his head: "If that''s the case, the price is very reasonable, Columbia only offered me 8% of the overseas share"


    "Disney is very sincere, we also hope we can cooperate in the future." Michael Eisner smiled and then said: "So, Eric, if you agree, I want to sign a licensing agreement as soon as possible.


    Releasing the movie overseas might not be so easy, after signing the agreement, it would at least take a week for the movie to appear in the theater of a foreign country. With Home Alone''s level of poprity, releasing just a dayter could make us lose out on millions of dors."


    Opposite Michael Eisner, Eric listened quietly while his mind was rapidly putting the pieces together. Suddenly, his mouth stretched into a meaningful smile as he began to understand Columbia''s trick.


    Although it wasn''t really clever, it was very effective, and with a little carelessness he might have fallen into the trap.


    Once he had seen through their trick, Eric''s heart finally rxed, he pick up the cup of coffee in front of him, and gently rubbed the fine ceramic before looking up to Michael Eisner and asking: "Mr. Eisner, if I were to agree, when would we sign it ?"


    Michael Eisner, had noted Eric''s somewhat strange expression, but when he heard the youth''s words, his joy took over as he said: "Of course, the sooner the better, I''ll have someone draft the agreement quickly and we can sign this afternoon."


    Putting down his cup of coffee, Eric stared at Michael Eisner and said: "I''m afraid that''s not gonna happen, Mr. Eisner."


    "Huh ?" Michael Eisner was puzzled.


    Eric said: "Columbia couldn''t ept my gambling agreement, so they fished you out. Perhaps they gave you conditions that you couldn''t refuse or perhaps it was just because you and Mr. Cohen are friends, either way, you agreed.


    Because they didn''t know when you could persuade me, to be safe, Columbia only added 500 more screens instead of the agreed 1000, and also didn''t hesitate to write apensation agreement stating that they would add 100 screens more than the initial number from the third week on."


    When Michael Eisner heard Eric, he was first stunned, before bitterly smiling. He had underestimated this young man.


    Noting Michael Eisner''s reaction, Eric was very satisfied, he continued: "The reason why they were willing to do this, was because Columbia is trying to dy Home Alone from reaching 50 million $ at the box office, while also giving you more time to sway me.


    My agreement with Columbia states that, if the final box office is less than 50 million $, all the Home Alone copyrights will belong to them, however, now that amount hasn''t been reached yet.


    If I hastily signed a licensing agreement with Disney while the copyrights are still a part of the bet, that would be me breaching the contract, and Columbia would then have the perfect opportunity to tear up our gambling agreement. Tell me, Mr. Eisner, did I get it right ?"


    If the whole thing had nothing to do with him, given Michael Eisner''s character, after hearing Eric''s wonderful analysis, he would have definitely apuded. Now however, he could only reveal a slightly embarrassed smile.


    Eric stood up: "I think we''re done here, Mr. Eisner."


    Michael Eisner also got up and said: "I know you might not believe me, Eric, but I still have to say it, I was very happy to talk to you before, and I hope I''ll have the opportunity to cooperate with you in the future."


    "Maybe." Eric nodded, since one of the six giants was humbling himself, Eric wouldn''t not give him face.


    "Mr. Eisner, do you mind telling me what conditions Columbia offered you ?"


    Michael Eisner shook his head: "I''m sorry Eric, this is a trade secret."


    Eric casually said: "Well, Mr. Eisner, will you allow your driver to take me back ?"


    "Sure, no problem." Michael Eisner beckoned his assistant not far, and told him a few things.


    Eric was just out of the Hilton, that more than a dozen reporters outside quickly gathered around. They had learned through various channels that Eric had just met Disney''s CEO Michael Eisner, so they were looking forward to the two''s meeting content.


    Seeing the reporters rush over, the Hilton''s security hurriedly surrounded Eric. Michael Eisner''s driver was about to led the youth to the parking lot, when thetter stopped in his steps.


    The reporters who were separated by the security were disappointed, they thought that Eric would leave quietly again, they didn''t expect that he would suddenly stop, so they quickly raised their cameras and recorders.


    "Eric, what did you and Michael Eisner talk about ?"


    "Was it about Home Alone ?"


    "Mr. Williams, your two current movies are targeted to young viewers, which is what Disney''s business is all about, are you going to join them ?"


    "Eric.."


    "..."


    Eric didn''t answer the reporters'' questions, he raised his hand, motioning the crowd to settle down, before saying: "I''d like to say a few words, would please listen to me ?"


    Since Eric had taken the initiative to speak, the crowd was quick to quiet down.


    "Mr. Eisner just invited me to dinner, we did talk about a few things, but the specifics are not things I can reveal. We talked very enthusiastically, and will perhaps even cooperate in the future."


    After hearing his words, the reporters realized they didn''t get what they wanted and once again got restless. Eric quickly added: "Alright, alright, don''t rush this, I would like you to help me make a statement."


    Some reporters were still suspicious, but a few clever ones keenly felt that Eric was about to give them something big, and so they hastened to lift their recorders a little more forward.


    "First of all, I am grateful to Columbia Pictures for helping me release Home Alone. However.."


    Eric''s expression turned sharp: "I''d like to first say, that because we signed a gambling agreement, my share of the profits will be much higher than Columbia''s, but this is something I earned for myself, and my conscience is clear.


    Also, if the agreement is upheld conscientiously, Columbia will still get nearly 50 million $ out of the North American box office, which ounts for almost half of Columbia''s yearly profits, and is enough money to make a lot of people envy them.


    So, I''d like to solemnly warn certain persons: Please put away your greed, don''t try to find ways to null our bet, and continue to screen Home Alone in ordance with the terms stated in the contract. Columbia, if you vite those arrangements, I do not mind taking you to court.


    Although I might be nothing in your eyes, in the face of thew, we are equals. If you feel Home Alone and 17 Again''s sess is not enough to prove anything, then I suggest you take a clear and good look at my next movie."


    Eric had just finished, that the reporters went into a frenzy.


    "Mr. Williams, could you tell us the specifics ?"


    "Eric, you mentioned a next movie, can you tell us what it will be about ?"


    "Eric, did your meeting with Michael Eisner have anything to do with Columbia''s attempt to break the agreement like you stated ?"


    "Mr. Williams ..."


    Eric turned around amidst the uproar of the crowd. He was silently escorted by the security to the parking lot, and got into the car.

 Chapter 32: Waves

    Back home, Eric''s door was still besieged by a sea of reporters. He didn''t go out again but decided to call hiswyers in so that they could help him look at thepensation agreement instead. Although he had seen through Columbia''s trap, he didn''t dare let his guard down.


    Once done, Eric finally remembered the call Aniston, and dialed her number several times in a row to no avail. At this time, Annie should still be at home, so Eric started to feel concerned and was about to dial again when the phone suddenly rang.


    "Williams'' residence ?" Eric picked up.


    "Eric, it''s me." Jennifer Aniston''s voice sounded on the other line.


    Eric happily said: "Annie, are you okay ? I''ve been calling your apartment, but no one answered."


    "I moved in with my dad, Eric. Don''t you know ? The paparazzi have found out about our rtionship and started tracking me everywhere, even pretending to be couriers and knocking on my apartment door, I was terrified." Annie''s voice held a tinge of fear.


    Eric concernedly asked: "Annie, are you alright ? Wait, then when I called you yesterday before taking the ne, were things also like that ?"


    "I''m fine, Eric.


    It started this morning, I don''t know how the paparazzi found out, anyway in the morning newspaper they said...." Aniston''s voices felt down, Eric realized it was certainly not anything good, he could onlyfort: "Okay Annie, it''s good that you''re alright, you should stay at your father''s for some time, and don''t go to the convenience store anymore."


    Aniston unhappilyined: "Eric, it won''t always be like this, right ? How am I supposed to live then ?"


    Eric said: "Of course not, it will die down over time, right now my house is alsopletely surrounded. Give me your dad''s address, I''lle visit you when I have some free time."


    Aniston dictated while Eric noted down, then heforted her briefly before hanging up.


    ...


    In a vi in Beverly Hills, Aniston unhappily hung up the phone. She nced at the pile of newspapers scattered on the ground, picked up a pillow and started hammering the sofa mercilessly.


    In those articles, Eric and her rtionship had turned into a modern version of Prince Charming and Cindere, emphasizing on Eric''s good points while disparaging her.


    Almost all the newspapers were giving the couple''s future a death sentence, while some evenpared her to Drew, stating that she would be more suitable to be Eric''s girlfriend.


    Seeing this, Aniston couldn''t help but be anxious as her self-esteem hit rock bottom. Compared to her outstanding boyfriend, she was just in ordinary.


    Now, he was about to be one of Hollywood''s youngest millionaires, while the newspapers referred to her as the ''convenience store clerk''; the gap between them was gettingrger.


    Eric didn''t know anything about Annie''s insecurities, thewyer he had called for half an hour earlier had already arrived in a rush.


    "hello, Mr. Edward, thank you foring in person." Eric said as he let the attorney in charge of the gambling agreement, Edward Lewis, and his aide, into the house.


    Edward Lewis hastily shook hands with Eric, and said with a slightly respectful tone: "Eric, congrattions on Home Alone''s sess, this is my assistant, Carter."


    The three people sat on the sofa, Eric took out thepensation agreement that Columbia had given him, and told them about everything that had transpired.


    Edward Lewis quietly listened to Eric, once thetter was done, he picked up thepensation agreement and carefully looked at it for a few minutes before stating: "Eric, this contract is without any problems, you can rest assured when ites to signing it."


    "That''s good." Eric nodded, he took out his pen and directly signed the document.


    Edward Lewis looked at the young man in front of him, he hesitated for a moment, before saying: "Eric, I think that you may be in need of a dedicated team ofwyers that would be in charge of your routine legal matters."


    "Oh ?" When Eric heard Edward Lewis'' statement, he raised his head with a smile.


    Edward Lewis looked at Eric''s smile, and no longer beat around the bush: "I think that my firm has enough strength to handle this. Eric, from what you have just told us, if it hadn''t been for your vignce, you might have been duped.


    So if you let myw firm represent you in the future, we will be take over the next negotiations with Columbia, and if they dare breach the contract, we will fight for your interests in court."


    From the time they had helped him draft the gambling agreement, Eric knew about Edward and his team''s professionalism. He was also aware that he needed someone to represent him full-time, so after a few words, the two quickly reached an understanding.


    Edward took out a prepared power of attorney form, and Eric readily signed it.


    "Then I''ll let you handle everything else Edward, I really don''t want to deal with Columbia in person anymore."


    "No problem Eric. If there''s nothing else, then we''ll take our leave."


    Bidding farewell to Edward and his assistant, Eric breathed a sigh of relief, he could finally focus on his career.


    He was veryfortable leaving those matters to Edward, after all, as his personal team of attorneys, they would have to fight for Eric''s interests.


    He wasn''t the slightest bit worried, because even if they conspired with Columbia against him, once discovered, they would receive the scorn of the entire nation, and their entire careers would be destroyed. Besides, Columbia wouldn''t be able to afford making that kind of mistake now.


    His deduction was spot on; Columbia was caught in the public''s opinion whirlpool.


    After Eric''s statement, many reporters had rethought their headlinespletely, this news was just too hot. That evening, the young man''s speech condemning Columbia appeared in all the newspapers.


    A variety of spections started to pop up everywhere, some had even started fanning the mes in order to further expand their sales.


    Eric''s words had been transcribed verbatim, and after brainstorming for a time, reporters had quickly made up their assumptions.


    Some newspapers weren''t sure how Michael Eisner''s was linked to his statement. Before speaking, Eric had dered that he and Eisner got along well and that he would be very happy to work with him in the future.


    This allowed some others to specte that Disney''s CEO might have yed a hand in exposing Columbia''s ''poor means''.


    Michael Eisner had been hesitant about telling his old friend how Eric had foiled their ns, but when he saw the newspaper, he quickly called Blount Cohen to exin what had happened, to no avail as thetter clearly didn''t believe him.


    Eisner could only bitterly smile, he was also aware of Blount Cohen''s suspicious character, it seemed like their friendship was done for. However, he didn''t feel resentful towards Eric, what he felt was closer to appreciation.


    A bunch of reporters had also found out that Home Alone''s screens had only reached 1500 this week, which was even less than 17 Again who was number two at the box office and whose number of screens had already reached 1600.


    This discovery made them all rave about Columbia, tantly questioning thepany''s integrity.


    The other studios who had close rtions with the media, and had already been jealous of Columbia for pocketing Home Alone, had a field day. They condemned them with full force, some tabloids had even called on fans to boycott them, inciting them to stop watching movies produced by the giant.


    As soon as those articles appeared in the newspapers, Columbia''s public hotline directly exploded.


    The people''s sense of justice wouldn''t let them off the hook, some of the female staff responsible for answering the phone were in tears after having been insulted for hours, and two of them submitted their resignation letters the next day.


    After Blount Cohen had smashed everything he could in his office, he immediately set up a meeting with the public rtions department to discuss coping strategies.


    In the evening, the television station under Columbia''s control issued a statement.


    They said that the number of screens for Home Alone had already been dealt with as they had signed apensation agreement instead, at the same time suggesting that Eric''s im about Columbia plotting against him were ridiculous, that he was just dissatisfied by the number of screens they had added and so this was his way to retaliate.


    However, since Eric hadn''t responded, the media and the general public didn''t believe any of it.

 Chapter 33: Initiative

    The next day, the matter continued to grow, the majority of the newspapers overwhelmingly denounced Columbia at the same time, and maybe because they started to run out of ces to vent, they even begun to use the owner of Columbia, the CocC group, to have yed a part in that lowly business strategy.


    Columbia Pictures'' results had hit rock bottom long ago, so CocC Group had originally not cared much about this ''trivial''pany. Surprisingly, the day after the market opened, CocC who had always been very stable, had its share price directly fall by 1.7%.


    This figure might seem insignificant, but if you linked it to the tens of billions of dors in market value, the higher ups weren''t so calm.


    CocC''s CEO, Roberto Goizueta, directly called Blount Cohen and madly cursed at him, ordering him to quickly resolve this matter or he would have him step down from his position of Columbia''s CEO.


    Under the pressure from the CocC headquarters, at ten o''clock, Blount Cohen personally held a press conference in Columbia. He politely apologized to Eric, and promised that they would seriously uphold their part of the gambling agreement.


    Eric got the news, and didn''t intend to let things run amok any longer, he immediately let his personalwyer, Edward Lewis, publish a statement in The Los Angeles Times about epting their apology. Thus, the emerging storm started to rapidly subside.


    Because of the controversy, they expected that Home Alone''s tickets sales would experience a decline, but after receiving the week''s data, not only did it not fall, the sales had risen instead. The movie had made 28,760,000$, breaking the 50 million $ mark in its second week of running.


    17 Again made 14,730,000 $, maintaining its second ce at the box office. Eric''s two movies together had made more than 50% of the total North American box office this week, which again left people in wonder.


    Although the results were amazing, the media''s attention slowly died down. And after several days of not being able to get any useful news, the reporters that had been camping around Eric''s neighborhood finally began to leave.


    This week, Eric basically stayed at home and concentrated on writing Resident Evil that he had promised to Michael us. His past world had two version of the series, one was the Ca game story line, the other was the film version with Alice as the main lead.


    Unfortunately, Eric had only yed the fourth and sixth chapters of the game series, so he didn''t understand a lot about it.


    As for the movie version, there was obviously not much that could be written, since it was based on game content, it only featured Mi Jovovich''s badass moments.


    Therefore, writing the Resident Evil novel wasn''t as easy as writing Jurassic Park, Eric spent three days before he conceived the outline for Leon alone. From him joining the police at the beginning, until all of them working together to escape Roon City''s outbreak.


    The protagonists from his past, Chris, Jill, Wesker and more were cleverly integrated into the novel. Of course, the most popr amongst Chinese fans'', sister Wong, was certainly indispensable. Eric very wickedly portrayed Ada Wong and Leon''s rtionship as a Queen and her toyboy.


    This was not something Eric hade up with, in the inte of his past, many fans of the game had expressed their desire for the two''s rtionship to be this way.


    In the games, the sultry and elegant Ada Wong often appeared when Leon was in trouble, calmly helping him before drifting away.


    ...


    While Eric was manipting a water kettle into the kitchen, James Brooks was sitting on the couch in the living room, reading Resident Evil''s manuscript.


    "James, what do you think ?" He pushed a cup of coffee he had just brewed in front of James as he sat opposite him and asked.


    "It give the sense of a screen, people have a feeling of being there, like watching a movie, it''s very exciting."


    Eric nodded, James'' assessment was on point. In his past career, Eric had spent a lot of time writing and had be proficient in giving a sense of vividness to his texts.


    "If it were to be made into a movie ?" Eric asked again.


    James put down the manuscript, and seriously said: "I think at this stage, it''s not suitable for the novel to be adapted to the screen. Although people enjoy the zombie theme, the audience is still quite sparse, so you wouldn''t be able to invest a lot in it for fear of making a loss.


    If you want to adapt it into a movie, you''ll need a lot of special effects, and too little investment will ruin this. So I think it would be better to wait for the technology to develop further, maybe a few yearster the cost of production would be cheaper too."


    Indeed a great producer, with a few words he had outlined Resident Evil''s adaptation prospects and limitations. In Eric''s past, a lot of Resident Evil fans hadined about the moviepany investing too little in the series: What kind of special effects are those ? Mira again, seriously ??


    They hadn''t really shot the movie in ordance to the fans wishes, which resulted in them suffering a loss.


    After chatting about Resident Evil a little, James told Eric why he hade.


    "The Fox is inviting me to a reception ?" He thought James hade to discuss Home Alone overseas'' copyrights, he didn''t think it would be about another matter.


    These days, Eric had already received several phone calls about the movie, even Michael Eisner who had initially joined hands with Columbia was no exception. But he had already his own ns in mind, so he directly refused them all.


    Seeing Eric''s taken aback expression, James smiled and said: "I heard you''ve been getting a lot of offers about Home Alely, I also heard that you turned them all down. I thought that maybe you were waiting for the 20th Century Fox to take the initiative, am I right ?"


    Eric''s eyes shed briefly with surprise, he had indeed been waiting for the Fox''s offer so as to have the upper hand. Now that the other party had guessed it, if Eric denied it in front of James Brooks, he would look petty.


    He shrugged and smiled: "That was indeed my intention James, after all, our mutual rtionship is quite a happy one."


    James sincerely said: "That''s why I personally came today. In fact, Mr. Barry Diller would also like to meet you to talk about Home Alone, Jurassic Park, and your uing movie."


    "Oh my, is the Fox getting greedy ?"


    James smiled and said: "This has nothing to do with greed, Eric, this is business. If the Fox does not do it, others will be interested instead. Besides, we are certainly not as short-sighted as Columbia, we hope that our two sides can cooperate in mutual benefit."


    Of course, Eric was not stupid enough to really believe those words. That was only Fox''s excuse, the real reason was most certainly because they had missed out on the prior Home Alone''s distribution rights.


    The Giants were all the same, they battled for profits on every single front, it was just that some were smarter than others.


    But right now, Eric had to rely on the backing of one of those giants, so as to reduce the others'' covetous intents, he had to first better protect himself to secretly increase his strength. After aparative assessment, Eric selected the Fox.


    For the next few years, thepany''s main goal under Barry Diller''s leadership would be tounch the Fox''s televisionwork, so rtively speaking, their attention in movie would certainly decrease, which would be Eric''s opportunity to spread his wings.

 Chapter 34: Beggar

    "Hey, baby, do you have an evening dress ? We''re going to a fancy party ... huh ?"


    Eric frowned slightly: "See what TV producers ? Annie, I forgot to tell you, I have a script specially for you... I know you want to rely on your own strength, but tonight James specifically told me to bring a femalepanion, if you don''te then how could ... No I was the one who ...


    I see, okay, bye."


    Eric sighed as he hung up the phone, ever since Home Alone''s sess, his rtionship with Annie had underwent a subtle change. Although she was still as unruly as a baby, it felt like she was stepping on needles every time she was with him.


    He knew that it was because she had seen somements about them in the tabloids, which had brought about her feelings of low self-esteem. Although Eric had been as gentle as possible to get her to not mind it, the anxiousness of the girl hadn''t decreased.


    In order to get out of this turmoil, through her father''s advice, she decided to take a few hours every week to continuously participate in TV, movies and ys'' auditions.


    Annie''s goal was very simple, she wanted to be famous fast, and shut those newspapers up.


    ...


    In John Aniston''s Beverly Hills home, Annie hung up the phone, and also let out a sigh. She wanted to join Eric at the party, and longed to star in one of his movies.


    But she knew that if he did so now, the public would scorn her for relying on her boyfriend, and she would have to forever live with abel. Maybe some women wouldn''t care and be ecstatic instead, but to the strong and independent Aniston, this was absolutely uneptable.


    Reading the newspaper, John Aniston saw his daughter in a daze and couldn''t resist saying: "Jenny, I''m meeting up with Koster today, how about youe with me, he would definitely not mind."


    Aniston shook her head and said: "No, Dad, although uncle Koster wouldn''t mind, I would. It''s just too unbing for him to give me that role."


    "Jenny, Eric is a good boy, he''s more mature than the average young men, I think he wouldn''t mind all those things."


    "But I do mind, Dad." Aniston said: "Look at what the newspapers are saying, my God ! I never thought people would view me that way."


    "Annie, if you''re concerned about this, you''ll never happy," John persuasively said: "Eric has achieved such dazzling results at such a young age, so not surprisingly his life would be under scrutiny, and you as his girlfriend would certainly not escape from this, unless ..."


    John Aniston spoke to there and quickly shut his mouth, he didn''t want to nt any seed in his daughter''s heart with his statement, as she might resent him for that in the future.


    Although his impression of Eric had changed, but because of his daughter''s strong-hardheadedness, he wasn''t optimistic about the two''s future.


    After Aniston had refused to apany him, Eric started tock interest in the uing reception. Late afternoon came, he put on a suit that his father had left behind, and drove towards the Hilton Hotel, where the reception was hosted.


    He had just appeared in the hall, that the sharp-eyed James Brooks came up to him, but once he noticed the youth''s attire, he frowned slightly.


    He grabbed Eric''s shoulders in a friendly way, and whispered: "Eric, your identity is different now, you should pay attention to the way you dress, you should have at least put on a suit that fits you, right ?"


    Eric looked at his somewhatrge and cheap suit which was the only one his father had possessed. He shrugged helplessly and pulled out his wallet in front of the man as he shook it with a smile: "James, in addition to my car, this is all I have left, a total of ...


    Well, five hundred twenty-one dors and seventy-five cents. I had to mortgage the house to make Home Alone, and I still haven''t gotten the ownership certificate back, I have no money to buy new clothes."


    Seeing the guy that had created so much hubbub as Hollywood''s youngest millionaire acting like a beggar, James mouth couldn''t help but twitch: "Okay Eric, Mr. Diller has been waiting for you, let''s go."


    The reception had already started, the hall was bathed in lights, the band yed mellow music, and the waiters were shuttling drinks back and forth. Many huge names from his past that he had only seen on the screen were chatting together in groups of twos or threes.


    Seeing James Brooks leading a youth through the crowd, everyone started to get curious as to the stranger''s identity. Although newspapers had published photos of Eric, many people still did not recognize him.


    Someone finally uttered out his name, and countless eyes turned to stare at him, which made the youth feel slightly ufortable.


    When he had almost reached the end of the hall, Eric finally saw an acquaintance; at the corner of a long table, Penny Marshall was wearing a ck dress and chatting with Tom Hanks who was next to her. She looked up and there eyes met.


    Both of them smiled and nodded. Eric couldn''t help but nce at Tom Hanks who was at her side. Although he was already 32 years old, his figure was tall and his facial features handsome, the slightly chubby look of hister years was nowhere to be found.


    Once they arrived in front of a room, James said: "Eric, go inside, Mr. Diller is waiting for you. I''ll excuse myself for now."


    Eric knocked on the door and opened it when he got a response. A man and a woman were sitting on a sofa, when she saw Erice in, the 30-year-old beauty whispered something to the middle-aged man, got up, picked up her handbag and left the room.


    The fifty-ish year-old male was obviously Barry Diller, Eric remembered seeing pictures of the tycoon in his past, his big nose made him quite recognizable.


    "hello, Eric." He stood up and reached out his hand towards Eric.


    "hello, Mr. Diller, nice to meet you."


    The two men shook hands and sat down on the couch.


    "You know, Eric, I reckon a lot of people must now feel frustrated every time they see you."


    Eric raised an eyebrow, and asked: "Oh ? Then how about you, Mr. Diller ?"


    Barry Diller didn''t mind Eric''s brusqueness, heughed: "Of course not, I don''t believe in luck, I don''t believe in shortcuts, I believe in my own strength that allowed me to climb from the William Morris Agency''s* bottom to where I am.


    Maybe I''ll admire your achievements, but I am still proud of my career."


    "Mr. Diller, do you feel Home Alone''s sess to be entirely coincidental ?"


    Barry Diller nodded and said: "I did make a special analysis, but I didn''t see that oneing. So I''m curious, really curious, Eric, as to why you dared to make such a gamble with Columbia when you had 80% chance of failing."


    Eric said: "Ie from nothing, if I fail, I just have to start again."


    Barry Diller felt that there was something else but he didn''t get to the bottom of it and opened: "Well, Eric, on behalf of the Fox, I''d like to invite you to join us, what do you think ?"


    Eric didn''t intend to tie himself to a tree, if he agreed to this invitation, he''ll probably have to sign a contract for several years.


    So he shook his head and said: "Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Diller, but I don''t like to be shackled, so I n to start my own independent moviepany and keep making low-cost movies in the meantime to train myself."


    Diller was directly refused and did not insist. Since Eric had appeared, a few specialized agencies had made a thorough analysis on the fellow''s life experience, personality, etc.


    Barry Diller had also read about it, so he knew that the youth was unlike his peers, and that once he made a decision, it was almost impossible to change his mind.


    As for Eric opening his own filmpany, Barry Diller didn''t care. Many famous directors had done the same in order to obtain more benefits and the right to stand up for themselves, they''d rather do that than to rely on the Big Six.


    These people often failed miserably though, and realized they couldn''t tread this path alone once they hit a wall. In Eric''s past, even the best amongst Giants, DreamWorks, had ended up failing, so the difficulty of the road ahead was hard to fathom.


    Investing in a movie was like gambling; before it was released, no one knew if it would do well. DreamWorks'' main mistake was investing in a lot of shitty projects, resulting in their huge losses that brought about their doom.


    However, that type of gambling risk didn''t apply to Eric, because he already knew the results. This was a cheat-like ability that would help him rule this world.


    Maybe the giants would gang up against him in order to prevent their monopoly from being taken away, but Eric wasn''t afraid in the slightest. As long as his movies always seeded, fame and fortune would follow, and no one would make life difficult for him then.


    It had happened with Tom Cruise in his previous life, although he and Sumner Redstone had fought openly through the press, a few yearster the two were sitting at the same table,ughing like old friends.


    After a casual talk, the topic soon turned to Home Alone. From what Eric now had in his hands, only this chip could catch the Giants'' attention, even Jura.s.sic Park had yet to be seriously considered.


    "Alright Eric, let''s get down to it. We''d like to buy all the Home Alone''s remaining copyrights, and we would also like you to sell us your sequel, we''ll give you a very reasonable price, how about it ?"


    * Talent agency created in 1898, also known as WMA.

 Chapter 35: Ill show you another day

    Eric was about to speak when Barry Diller continued: "Eric, before you refuse, perhaps you aren''t aware that Home Alone''s protagonist, Stuart Runkle, has signed with the CAA*. With the agency''s rapid expansion in recent years, their appetite has also been growing.


    Michael Ovitz recently directly broke into the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayerpany''s headquarters because he was dissatisfied with their arrangements. He had a huge fight with their CEO, and in the end, MGM had to makepromises.


    If you release Home Alone''s sequel independently in the future, the CAA will probably stuff its nose in it too."


    Although what Barry Diller said made sense, Eric still bluntly refused. It was true that Home Alone needed Stuart Runkle, but Stuart Runkle also needed Home Alone to stabilize his fame.


    His past''s Macay Culkin had only this series to show for it, every single other movies he had yed in were mediocre.


    Eric didn''t believe that the changes so far would make any difference, if the CAA wanted to meddle in this, then fine, let''s see whose patience was longer, he had other movies to make in the meantime.


    "Mr.


    Diller, I can sell Home Alone''s overseas copyrights to the 20th Century Fox for 25 million $, however, I will shoot three movies in the uing year including Home Alone''s sequel, and if I''m going to sign a distribution agreement with the Fox, I want 35% of the North American box office, and 10% of the overseas one."


    The reason why Eric no longer dwindled on the overseas copyright is because he suddenly found himself in urgent need of money, and 25 million $ would help alleviate his current problems.


    Barry Diller patiently listened to Eric, then frowned: "Eric, the Fox will dly pay you the 25 million $ for the overseas'' copyrights, but for the others, ording to what you said before, you are just making low-budget productions, so your demand is a bit.


    Only big productions get that kind of share, you know. Well once you make Home Alone''s sequel, Fox might also consider the other two ..."


    Seeing Barry Diller shook his head, Eric confidently smiled and said: "I believe my movies are worth the price, if you''re still having misgivings, how about signing a gambling agreement with me Mr. Diller ?"


    "That''s ..."


    Barry Diller almost choked, because of the previous gamble, Columbia''s Blount Cohen status was on the verge of copse, he may have to pack up and leave at anytime. Barry wasn''t stupid enough to follow in his footsteps.


    "Maybe I should bring those conditions somewhere else, I believe that several other moviepanies would be very interested. Michael Eisner has been calling me a lottely."


    Barry Dillerughed: "Eric, you can''t fool me on this one, I know Michael personally."


    Eric shook his head and said: "I''m not lying to you Mr. Diller, after that incident, Mr. Eisner has indeed contacted me."


    As his former assistant, Barry Diller knew Michael Eisner better than anyone. The guy was a very conceited person, so for him to still keep in contact with Eric after all that, Diller was really surprised.


    He did not know that the reason for this was because Eric had left a deep impression on Disney''s CEO during their meeting.


    Barry Diller didn''t think the young man was lying, he could verify this with a phone call. He started carefully reassessing Eric, his former assistant''s vision wasn''t to be trifled with. Barry Diller wasn''t anything like the indecisive Blount Cohen.


    After thinking for a moment, he quickly calcted the pros and the cons, then stated: "Eric, you have my word."


    "Well, nice to meet to meet you, partner." Eric raised his hand.


    Barry Diller smiled raised his hand, and the two of them high fived. They had basically reached an agreement, the only thing left was to sign the contract.


    ...


    "Hey, Eric, I missed you." When Eric returned to the reception hall, a pale green figure floated directly over, andnded in his arms.


    Hearing the girl''s voice full of excitement, a lot of people''s eyes in the hall were attracted over.


    Eric quickly stopped her from doing anything else: "Drew, how did youe out, is your treatment over ?"


    "I should have been discharged tomorrow, but I heard that you would attend the reception this evening, so I came out earlier."


    "Drew, you just came out from rehab, it''s best not to drink."


    "How could waiters here give me alcohol ? I''m only thirteen, dude." Drew looked at him strangely.


    Eric suddenly remembered that there was indeed such a thing, this was the United States, and ording to thew, you needed to be eighteen to drink. And the party was taking ce in such a renowned hotel like the Hilton, they would definitely pay more attention to those details.


    In Eric''s past country, adults would even encourage seven or eight year-old children to drink some wine, and if they could drink a few sses, it was certainly a kind of good omen.


    But prejudices died hard, although there were legal restrictions, in Eric''s opinion, the people in the West drank far more than those in the East.


    "Hey, Eric, we haven''t seen you in one week, and news about you have started to die down, are you retiring early ?" Penny Marshall chuckled as she came over towards Drew and Eric.


    Eric took a ss of wine from a waiter''s tray, smiled and said: "How is that possible, I''m 18 years old, not 80. How could I retire when I''ve just finished my new novel''s manuscript."


    "A new novel ? I want to see, I want to see !" Penny Marshall had not answered that Drew started to pull his arm and say.


    Penny Marshall quipped: "Hey Drew, if you behave like that, Eric won''t like you, he seems to be fond of the well-behaved type."


    "No way," Drew retorted, "Aniston is nody. Eh ? By the way, howe the supersized girl didn''te ? Hehe, Eric, did you guys break up ?"


    Eric knocked on her head: "Something happened tonight and Annie couldn''te. How could we possibly break up ? I''ll show you my affection for her another day."


    "Eric, your words are so hurtful." Drew rubbed her little head as she pouted.


    "This way." Penny Marshall brought Eric and Drew near a long table, and introduced: "This is Ms. Elizabeth Perkins, BIG''s actress who you must know, and Mr. Tom Hanks."


    "hello, I''m Eric Williams." Eric told the two people, "Mr. Hanks, I loved your impersonation of a child in BIG, how did you do it ?"


    Tom Hanks said with a humble smile: "Please call me Tom, Eric, as for how I did it, you might wanna ask Penny"


    When this issue was brought up, Penny was obviously a little proud as she exined: "Well, when we were shooting, I let the teenager who yed young Josh, David Moscow, perform in ordance with the script, and then I had Tom mimic him, while David also picked up things from Tom.


    Honestly, if David was ten years younger, he could''ve yed Kevin in Home Alone without a problem. Speaking of which, Eric, do you have ns for the sequel ?"


    * Founded in 1975, also known as Creative Artists Agency.

 Chapter 36: *SPOILER*

    Everyone was relishing in Penny Marshall''s exnation, and when they heard thest question, they involuntarily turned towards Eric. Now Eric''s reputation was even higher than some of the most well-known directors.


    A lot of people thought that as long as the youth was filming a movie, even if it was bad, he could just rely on his current fame to earn investors'' money. In fact, this was also why Barry Diller had agreed to Eric''s conditions.


    "I''ve written several good scripts, but I haven''t decided which to start with." Eric told the truth, he had wanted to shoot a movie that would push Aniston to fame, but the girl had refused, so now he was considering shooting something else first.


    Several good scripts.


    Some people heard that and their mouths started to twitch. Scripts weren''t rare, there were a lot of scriptwriters after all, but finding good scripts was like searching for a needle in a haystack.


    Many directors had to wait several years in order to get their hands on a good script, and once they did they would go in a frenzy.


    But you said you have several of them ? How were people supposed to feel ?!


    "Oh wow, Eric, several scripts, huh ? How about you give us a sample ?" Penny Marshall said, her tone held a fourth of ridicule and three fourth of envy.


    When Eric saw everyone''s faces, he realized he had a slip of the tongue, he didn''t mean to sound c.o.c.ky at all, he had just said it casually, "Penny, with 17 Again being your second movie about to break the 200 million mark, you''re saying you''re inck of good scripts ?"


    Eric was telling the truth, this year, the number of movies who could break 100 million throughout the year at the box office were no more than ten, for Penny Marshall to continuously make two of them, many moviepanies were sure to try and snatch her away.


    Although Penny was subtly rejected, she didn''t mind, she really didn''tck any, and the topic was soon changed to other topics.


    They chatted for a bit, and when the band started to y a new piece, Pennyughed: "Well, Eric, we won''t keep you any longer, there''s so many girls waiting to invite you to dance."


    Eric looked up and nced around; sure enough, several beauties were eyeing him eagerly. Drew''s arms unconsciously tightened around his.


    "So be it. Ah right, Tom, would you give me your contact information ? Perhaps we might have the opportunity to co-operate in the future."


    Tom Hanks was about to leave, when he heard Eric, he pulled out a business card and smiled: "Sure, no problem, there''s a lot of ways to contact me on the card. Eric, could I first know a bit about the plot ?"


    The people near them heard Tom Hanks and started to slow down their pace, they wanted to hear what Eric would say next.


    Eric calmly collected the card, watched the crowd full of anticipation, shrugged and said: "I apologize Tom, I can only tell you that you would y an officer of some sorts, but I''m not sure if this movie will be weed easily, so it won''t be my second movie as a director, it will probably be the third."


    "You''re appetite is really big, Eric." Pennyined with a tone of disappointment, but Tom Hanks didn''t mind, he nodded, turned and left.


    "Mr. Williams, will you grant me this dance ?" Everyone had just spread, that a blonde girl in her twenties generously invited. The contours of her face seemed soft and delicate, she was petite, a little more than a meter sixty centimeters.


    His mind filled with past movies'', he immediately recognized the beautiful woman in front of him. She didn''t appear often on therge screen, and he didn''t know why, but every time he saw her he was reminded of her amoral and predatory maniptor-self in Hot Spot.


    Eric was slightly distracted and didn''t speak, but Drew couldn''t resist: "Virginia Madsen, do you take me as air ?"


    Virginia Madsen assessed Drew''s small appearance, and said in a yful tone: "My, Drew, that''s not right. The more you cling to them, the more men are likely to run away, you know."


    "That''s my problem, don''t b.u.t.t in." Although she said that, the arms that were clutching Eric subconsciously loosened, and Virginia who happened to notice this detail couldn''t help but giggle, while Eric alsoughed.


    "Alright, Drew, don''t be so rude, you go and hang around, I''ll dance with Ms. Madsen." Eric said, and gently pulled himself apart from Drew.


    "Eric, I''ll dance with you !" Drew weakly protested but was stopped by Eric''s gaze, she could only bitterly stamp her foot and reluctantly turn away.


    "Drew is still young, Ms. Madsen, I hope you don''t mind." After leaving Drew, Eric waited beside the steering blonde.


    "Of course not. Eric, calling me Virginia is enough." She held out her hand, Eric grabbed it and led the woman to the dance floor.


    Feeling Eric''s keen look on her, Virginia Madsen had the impression of being watched by an experienced middle-aged man, she looked up and once their eyes met, she didn''t insist and moved her sight away.


    Virginia had debuted in the early eighties, and although she looked more mature and gorgeous now, she was only twenty-seven. She had appeared in nearly ten movies, so she had some fame, but was only a minor celebrity.


    All in all, those movies she had starred in, even if youbined them together, brought in less profits than Home Alone''s first two weeks at the box office.


    If only that was it, but critics alsopletely ignored the efforts she had put in, and she was ssified as a vase*. She would soon pass the 30-year-old mark, and if her career didn''t experience any fundamental changes, then she would probably only y second-rated roles for the rest of her life.


    When she heard from her friends about Eric''s identity during the reception, Virginia Madsen felt that this was perhaps a good opportunity.


    Now the two hadn''t even talked, but merely exchanging gazes was enough to let her feel that her n wouldn''t be so smooth.


    "Eric, don''t you think that staring at ady is a very rude thing ?"


    Eric denied and said: "The none appreciation of beauty is the most regrettable thing on earth for a gentleman, and I would never allow myself to have such regrets."


    Virginia felt slightly proud of beingplimented by Eric: "I think maybe you''d like me to appear as the heroine in one of your movies ?"


    "You know, Virginia, when I see you, I can not help but think of two words: Pretty woman."


    Virginia was a little lost as to where the youth was going, but she still said: "Thank you for thepliment."


    "No," Eric shook his head, "That''s not apliment, that''s the name of my next movie."


    "Your second movie ?" Virginia Madsen''s big and beautiful eyes shed.


    Eric nodded: "Yes, you see I was still hesitant as to what to shoot next, but not anymore. My next movie will be called Pretty Woman."


    _ _ _ _


    * A shallow woman, a woman who has nothing but her appearance to show for herself.

 Chapter 37: Feast

    Virginia was excited, ording to the name, this was a story featuring a woman as the protagonist. With Eric''s current fame, if she could nail the role, whether the movie was ultimately good or bad, she would receive a great deal of attention.


    "Eric, you''re saying. I.. I."


    Looking at girl''s expectant eyes, Eric felt somewhat guilty: "I''m sorry, Virginia, but your temperament is just not what I have in mind, it doesn''t match my vision of the heroine who should give the feeling of being both pure and sexy."


    Virginia Madsen didn''t seem to hear Eric''s words, she said: "Eric, perhaps we could find room to discuss about the script, I believe I might surprise you."


    For a second, Eric almost agreed to her offer on impulse, but his self-control as a mature man restrained him.


    He knew that if really ''discussed'' this in a room with her, he''d have to give in to her, and although this was somethingmon in that circle, it just didn''t sit right with him. Now he was stuck between a wall and a hard ce, turning her down would be a hassle.


    Eric took a deep breath, gently pushed the woman away, and said: "Virginia, I''m really sorry, although Home Alone and 17 Again have seeded, many people are still questioning my ability to hold the wheel, I cannot afford to fail.


    If there is a role for you in the future, I will certainly let you know."


    Thest promise aside, seeing that Eric had remained unmoved at her biggest bargaining chip, she couldn''t help but admire the boy''s self-control, and no longer insisted. After one dance, Virginia Madsen left her contact card to Eric, and the two of them went separate ways.


    "Why, reluctant to part with her ?" It was unknown when Drew hade out, she held onto Eric''s arm as she teased.


    "Of course, I''m a healthy man after all." Ericughed.


    "Then you can go after her, I believe Virginia Madsen won''t refuse you."


    Eric shrugged: "I''m too poor, with my worth of 521$ and seventy-five cents, even if there were some suites avable, I wouldn''t be able to afford it."


    Drew licked her lips and took the opportunity to say: "You know Eric, there''s no need to pay anything when you can get a free home delivery."


    Eric couldn''t help but knock on her head again: "My God, you damn goblin really won''t give it a rest, huh ? Go back !"


    Drew rubbed her head indignantly: "Eric, I strongly protest, you always knock on my head ! The next time, I''ll bite you, I''m serious !"


    While the two were frolicking, James Brooks came holding a ss of red wine.


    "Hey, Eric, how did your talk with Mr. Diller go ?"


    "Not bad, we''ve reached a preliminary agreement. Next year, I will make movies and the Fox will distribute them."


    James toasted: "Well, congrattions to you Eric, I believe I told you that our cooperation would be a happy one."


    Eric fetched a ss of wine, and toasted back as he said: "I hope so."


    After sipping, James said: "Come with me, I''ll introduce you to some insiders, they''re also very eager to meet you."


    "I would be honored." Eric was pleased to follow James as he walked into the crowd.


    Next to them, Drew suddenly thought of something, she smirked and quickly followed.


    ...


    "This is Mr. Richard Zanuck, who once produced Jaws alongside Spielberg."


    Eric greeted: "hello, Mr. Zanuck."


    Richard Zanuck was a tall and skinny fifty-year-old man with a fierce face, but he unexpectedly revealed a gentle smile as he said: "hello, Eric, nice to meet you. Oh, there''s also small Drew, sigh you''re already a big girl now, you shouldn''t just mess around, you''d better learn more from Eric."


    Drew adopted a good girl posture as she said: "I will, Mr. Zanuck. Could I toast you with a .s.s of wine ?"


    "Of course." The other replied.


    Drew raised her ss, but there was juice inside, the girl seemed to realize her mistake as she said embarrassed: "Ah, I forgot I can''t drink Eric, can you rece me ?"


    Eric smiled and nodded, he raised his own and ss, he and Richard Zanuck nged, and their respective cups were emptied.


    They chatted before James led Eric to others.


    These were all people Eric would like to build friendly rtionships with, so he conversed with them with great enthusiasm, and therefore didn''t notice that Drew always came along and found a variety of ways to let him drink a little more.


    After half an hour, the young man finally found himself drunk, he rushed to the bathroom to throw everything up, but it was already toote, his footsteps became heavy, he felt dizzy and he almost copsed.


    Seeing this, James gave up on introducing further people to him as he said: "Eric, you''re drunk, you''ve already used today''s opportunity to meet plenty of people, so I''ll send you back for now."


    "Mr. Brooks, I''ll see Eric home." Drew quickly said.


    Seeing how she had stuck to Eric all night, subconsciously thought of Drew as Eric''s girlfriend, he didn''t realize there was anything wrong and nodded: "Alright Drew, remember to go back and let him drink some water."


    Drew called a waiter to help her get Eric to the car.


    "Ms. Barrymore, do you need me to drive you home ?" The waiter politely inquired.


    Drew nodded, gave the car keys to the waiter and opened the door to the backseat where Eric had now fallen asleep.


    She got in, moved the youth''s head to her thigh, and told his home address to the waiter who nodded and started to drive.


    After paying a tip, Drew dismissed the man, and uttered a joyful sound as she rushed back to the bedroom.


    Getting rid of her high heels, she directly climbed on the king sized bed andid next to Eric. Looking up sideways and at his sleeping expression, she reached out her hand and caressed his face as she muttered with infatuation: "Now you''re mine, I won''t let you get away."


    She swept the surroundings with her gaze, this room held her most precious and warm memory. When Drew thought about how the man next to her had taken care of her when her addiction had acted up, she felt that she should do something for him too.


    She struggled to take off his clothes, and when only his underwear remained, Drew was already out of breath; drunk people were seriously heavy !


    After tucking him in, she went to the bathroom and dipped a towel in warm water before clumsily wringing it, she then went back to the bedroom and carefully wiped his face.


    After she was done, she quietly knelt on the bed and thought of how nice this was. She wanted to stay by his side forever. She had stopped taking drugs because of him, and so long as he opened his mouth, she would do anything he asked.


    But the precocious Drew realized that Eric didn''t look at her like a man would look at a woman, he seemed to treat her more like a daughter.


    That made her feel warm but she resented him sometimes, she didn''t want him to see her as his ''daughter'', she didn''t want him to always knock her on her head. Well actually if he liked doing that, she''d still let him. But she wanted to be his woman, she loved him.


    Thinking up to here, Drew got flustered, she quickly put away the towel she had in her hands, and stripped herself naked. Looking with satisfaction at her exquisite petite body, she got under the covers and into Eric''s embrace.


    Ambiguous noises were heard for a while before the girl popped her head out of the bed sheets, panting and her face slightly flushed. She red unwillingly at Eric, as if wanting to take a bite off of him.


    Didn''t they say that alcohol unveiled a man''s beastly nature ? So what was with that ?


    The.s.s was prepared to forcibly help herself to a feast, that way she would put Eric in front of the fait apli and he wouldn''t be able to treat her like a kid anymore. However, even though she had the ''cutlery'' ready, it didn''t seem like her food would be warm anytime soon.


    Next time she would definitely prepare some medicine. A little tired and depressed, Drew decided to use her n B to fish the man up, she wrapped his arm around her waist and leaned against his chest.


    A whileter, she fell asleep

 Chapter 38: Unending curse

    Early in the morning, Aniston, who didn''t know anything, was humming, happily busying herself in the kitchen. Last night she had met a producer and friend of her father''s who was thoroughly determined to have her y in one of NBC''s TV series.


    Although it was not the main role, it was already quite good for a neer, and the drama could bring her a certain amount of reputation, which was something that she was urgently in need of.


    "Jenny, good morning." Her stepbrother, Alex Aniston, greeted drowsily as he scratched his head and came towards the kitchen.


    Aniston turned around and said: "Hey, Alex, breakfast is ready so go and wake dad up, I''m leaving first."


    Then, before Alex could react, Aniston rushed out the door.


    After turning down Eric''s invitation yesterday, Annie had some apprehension. Although what the tabloids said made her feel very depressed, Eric''s love was genuine, he had let her feel it more than once.


    Last night while they were on the phone, she could hear that he was depressed, so she woke up early in the morning to prepare breakfast in order to go and soothe her boyfriend''s dissatisfaction.


    Ten minutester, Aniston arrived in front of Eric''s doorstep in a taxi, she took out the key he had specially gave her and went in.


    She didn''t realize that, ten meters away, in a gray sedan, two white men were sleepily leaning against their seats.


    When one of them slightly sobered up, his face showed an expression of ecstasy as he quickly grabbed the camera at his side and started to press the shutter while mercilessly kicking hispanion awake.


    "Hey, David wake up, there''s going to be a good show."


    His face covered with a hat, the fast asleep snoring fat man suddenly woke up, he reflexively took off his hat and straighten his body in shock, as he stared outside with bloodshot eyes: "Wayne, I don''t see Eric Williams and Drew Barrymore anywhere ?"


    "It''s more exciting than that, just now that clerk, Eric''s girlfriend went in ! Ha ha, this is going to be wonderful !"


    The fat man named David looked again, he didn''t see Aniston''s figure, but reached out to take the camera off of Wayne, who quickly stopped him and said: "What are you doing ? Be careful we don''t get caught after staking here all night. Don''t worry, I''ve already taken the shots."


    "That''s good, the more the better." David rubbed his chubby hands, and grinned: "I originally thought we''d be able to make a small fortune when I saw Drew and Eric Williams going home together, I didn''t expect we''d get something even better. Wayne, how much do you think they''ll offer for this ?"


    "At least three thousand dors, and if this old guy Santos lowers the price, we''ll change newspapers. Anyway, we don''t have to worry about not being able to sell this."


    ...


    When Eric woke up, he felt himself holding something soft, and his hand unconsciously squeezed harder. He opened his eyes and felt a warm body in his embrace.


    He was still hungover, thinking that it was Annie, he unceremoniously grabbed the girl''s mounds and started to y with them as he said: "Good morning, baby."


    The girl moaned slightly before leaning her small head and softly kissing his lips: "Good morning, Eric."


    "Huh.. AH!" A both familiar and unexpected baby face suddenly appeared in front of an astounded Eric who hastily pulled away.


    His head felt heavy and his range of emotion was a mess, he rubbed his temples and asked bewildered: "Drew You.. Why are you."


    Drew saw that Eric seemed to have been scared and said: "Eric, you brought me backst night, and then.. We.. Don''t worry, I don''t mind, I.. I am very happy."


    Your uncle, I mind !


    Eric let out a distressed sigh, he reached for his clothes and inadvertently caught a glimpse of a fleeting sly expression from Drew''s eyes.


    With a fast movement, Eric took a look at the sheets; everything was clean, there was no weird smell either. Relieved, he stared sharply at Drew: "Lass, nothing happenedst night, right ?"


    "We did !" Drew protested, "Eric how can you be like this, are you seriously not gonna take responsibility ?"


    "Then can you exin why the bed is so clean ?" Put a shirt on as he casually asked.


    Drew felt her head spinning, she put on an aggrieved face and said with teary eyes: "You. You force people to put things in their mouth and. And lick that, such a disgusting thing and y-you won''t even admit to it, you''re such a bastard !"


    Eric almost choked.


    Your sister, you even learned to do that with your mouth ?! How old are you, are you nning to shoot adult videos or something ?!


    "Alright Drew, don''t be silly, get dressed."


    Seeing that Eric didn''t believe her, Drew drilled out of the bed naked and flew towards him: "If you don''t believe me, then do you dare let me kiss you ? There''s still the lingering taste of it in my mouth."


    Drew made a kissing gesture, and Eric revealed a horrified expression, if it was true, that would be. Disgusting.


    "Don''t Alright, I believe you Drew, I believe you. So get away !"


    "Ah, Eric don''t hide, you''re too despicable."


    The people started struggling on the bed, when the door was suddenly pushed open.


    Aniston was standing there, holding a convenience store bag.


    Silence.


    As if God had suddenly pressed the pause button.


    After a full ten seconds, the sound of a car horn sounded outside, and the three people reacted.


    Wronged, sad, angry, sad, disappointed ... a series of emotions mixed together, Aniston''s heart felt an inexplicable gush of relief that things seem to be like this . or did she ?


    "Eric, I.. I.. I brought you breakfast." Annie''s voice was light, as if a gust of wind could blow it away.


    She bend as she put the bag on the floor before she turned away, at a faster and faster pace, her heels mercilessly marched with a ''da da da'' sound that echoed in the empty house.


    Tears fell the moment Annie was out of Eric''s house.


    She couldn''t let that bastard see her cry, or he would certainly feel more proud.


    The sound of high heels ttering thoroughly awakened Eric from his daze.


    "Annie, wait please listen to me ..." Eric quickly pushed Drew away as he scrambled to put his trousers on and rushed out.


    Because he was too fast, he almost lost his footing down the stairs, but fortunately promptly seized the handrail, and awkwardly came out of the yard only to see a big yellow taxi drive away. He could make out Aniston''s figure in the back seat.


    He hurriedly returned to his house to take his car keys, he wanted to cry, but no tears came out, he felt so wronged.


    Why. Why had things turned out like this ?


    In Friends Rachel had also lived something simr, and the past Annie was then cheated on by Pitt with Jolie. Now, it had happened once again.


    What kind of unending curse was this ? What had she possibly done to deserve this ?!


    Driving his car out, he couldn''t see the figure of the taxi, and directly drove to John Aniston''s house in Beverly Hills.


    After several minutes, Eric straightened his clothes and rang the doorbell.


    "Hey Tarzan, how are you and Jane doing ?" Annie''s step-brother opened the door and recognized Eric.


    Eric anxiously asked: "Alex, where''s your sister ?"


    Alex was puzzled: "She went out early, didn''t shee to you ?"


    Eric could tell that he wasn''t lying, he bid good bye and left in a hurry. Since Annie hadn''te here, she most likely went to her apartment.


    He arrived in front of her nest, knocked on the door, but got no response. He looked around to see if anyone was watching, pulled out a spare key from one of the pots next to the door, and went inside.


    Walking in, Eric keenly felt that Annie hade back here as her scent was still lingering vividly in the air.


    He looked and looked, and in the end, the only thing he found was a note left on the living room coffee table: Eric, we''re over.


    He sighed and rushed back to John Aniston''s home again, the door was again opened by Alex.


    "Alex, you."


    Before Eric had even finished, Alex curtly said: "Don''t bother Eric, Jenny is leaving for New York, I''m not telling you more."


    "That''s."


    It was one of those moments he wished he was dumb.


    "Is it Eric ? Pleasee in." Eric was just wondering how to answer that the sound of John Aniston came from inside.


    Alex heard the words of his father, and moved sideways to let Eric in with dissatisfaction.


    "Come with me." John Aniston nkly looked at Eric, turned and walked further inside.


    Eric nodded his head at John''s current wife who was in the living room, and followed the man to his study.


    "Sit, Eric, what do you drink ?"


    "Nothing, John, I wish you could just tell me which airport Annie has gone to, I have some things to exin."


    John Aniston nced at Eric''s messy clothes, and asked: "Eric, did you attend the receptionst night ?"


    "I did, yes."


    "And after the reception, you went home with another woman.."


    "John, this is a misunderstanding, I."


    John Aniston waved his hand: "You don''t have to exin to me, I just think it still might be better for you guys to separate. You don''t know, but these days, Annie''s been under a lot of pressure, she always seemed to be anxious and restless."


    "Why ?"


    John Aniston said: "You haven''t known her for long, so you don''t know how strong a character Annie has. You made such a dazzling debut, while she is still unknown, along with the newspapers'' hurtful words, it would be weird if she didn''t feel like that."

 Chapter 39: Teach you a lesson

    Eric spent more than an hour at John Aniston''s before leaving. Somehow unwilling, he circled around Los Angeles International Airport to try and spot Annie, but to no avail.


    He estimated she had probably already boarded a flight to New York.Through his conversation with John, Eric learned of Annie''s difficulties, and realized he had also underestimated how strong she was.


    Thinking about it again, it was indeed true. The past Aniston had been the one to take the initiative to divorce after finding out about Pitt''s unfaithful ways, andpared to those women who would do anything to even get one more penny out of it, she hadn''t even requested for an alimony.


    Eric decided to let her breathe and put this matter aside for a while.


    He drove home with this mindset, but started to get a headache when he thought about how he would have to exin the situation with Drew in the future.


    He didn''t intend to give up on Annie, this was his first woman since his rebirth, he was quite possessive, he''d definitely get that stubborn girl back.


    He returned home to find an already dressed up and ill at ease Drew, sitting on the living room sofa. Eric scratched his head: now then, how exactly was he supposed to deal with this little goblin ?


    He certainly couldn''t just let this pa.s.s, otherwise the.s.s would probably never learn the lesson.


    He calmly sat down on the other sofa, and picked up a newspaper to read.


    Drew saw Erice back sullen, and in silence, it was as if she didn''t exist and like nothing had happened. This only added to her anxiousness.


    Although she had always wanted to s.n.a.t.c.h Eric from Aniston, she had never intended it to be because of this kind of misunderstanding. She was a smart girl, she obviously knew that this method would not only, not get her Eric, it would also make him hate her.


    And now, with the events from this morning, even if it was unintentional, she was still the primary culprit. Seeing Eric''s expression, she knew they must''ve broken up.


    In order to melt the ice, Drew got up and ran to the kitchen. Bringing back Aniston''s breakfast over, she put it in front of Eric in a small te and intently stared at him.


    "Eric, just now Mr. Hunt from the Fox called to discuss about a contract."


    "Uh uh." He hummed two sybles as acknowledgment.


    "Eric.." Drew lightly cried, as she moved a small step towards him.


    Teaaaar


    Eric forcefully turned the newspaper page, frightening Drew who had intended to sit down besides him as she quickly moved away.


    After a while, seeing he hadn''t had another reaction, Drew slowly moved over. She threw herself in front of him, and her face brushed past his knee as she started sobbing. She was really scared that he would loathe or ignore her, if he really did, what was the meaning of living anymore ?


    "Eric, I''m sorry. Sob, I''m so sorry,. I didn''t mean to.. I''ll help you exin to Aniston.."


    Feeling the petite body trembling near his feet, Eric sighed. He had intended to give the girl a lesson, but seeing her like this, his heart softened.


    He was about to speak, when he saw Drew turn around and bend over the coffee table, her back facing him: "Eric just. Just hit me okay ? Just please don''t hate me."


    Eric put aside his newspaper. In this position, the water green dress was tightly wrapping her, and it emphasized her well-developed body, her natural slender waist, and her beautiful heart-shaped perky b.u.t.t. Her pair of jade colored little feet exuded a certain allure.


    Eric''s breath got a little rougher, and Drew who was anticipating her punishment turned around. Once she noticed that the man''s eyes were glued to her b.u.t.t, she subconsciously shifted to a more enticing position.


    aaaap


    Eric could finally not hold back and mercilessly pped down.


    You damn goblin, this young master has been meaning to teach you a lesson for a while !


    ...


    The punishment over, he looked funnily at thess who was rubbing her buttocks before sending her away while he himself left for the Fox''s headquarters.


    Although Barry Diller and him had a preliminary arrangement, it still took several hours to get down all the details, and it wasn''t until three in the afternoon that the two sides signed an agreement. Eric left the Fox with the contract and a 25 million dors check in hands.


    "Jeffrey, help me contact Nicole Frank tonight, I want to throw a party at home to celebrate... Of course, everyone who participated in the Home Alone project is invited.... Alright, I''ll leave it to you then."


    Hanging up the phone, Eric went to a grocer to buy some necessary things, and after some thought, he drove to Jeff''s as he nned to hire him as a caterer.


    He had just pushed open the door of the lively Italian restaurant, that the sharp-sighted huge figure of his old friend came hugging him in high spirits: "Hey, Eric, long time no see ! Haha, you really stole the show this time eh ? I''ve seen your two movies, they''re really good."


    Eric smiled and the two of them made their way to an empty table.


    "Julia, two cups of coffee." Jeff shouted to a waitress once he was seated.


    "Right away, sir." A female voice uttered from behind the counter.


    Julia ? Eric was curious, he had worked in this restaurant for a few months, but he didn''t know any staff member by that name, he reckoned that she was probably hired to fill the gap he had left.


    He turned around to take a look, and a tall girl with a head full of brown hair had her back facing them, apparently busy with the coffee machine.


    Jeff noticed Eric''s gaze, he smiled and said: "Julia is new, she came after you left. She''s also an actress, I heard one of the movies she yed in came out in October."


    Eric turned back, and asked: "An actress'' revenue shouldn''t be too shabby, does she still need to waiter ?"


    Jeff replied: "There''s hundreds of thousands of men and women dreaming of stardom in L.A, do you think anyone can be as lucky as you who made it so big in your first attempt ?


    I heard she shot the movie I told you about awhile ago, she hasn''t been cast in almost a year, so she''s temporarily working here in order to make ends meet."


    Eric shrugged indifferently, there were countless of movies being produced each year in Hollywood, for a release to only drag for a year could be considered lucky.


    Many movies never made the cut, some weren''t even able to be released on tape and would forever be piled in a shady ce somewhere, umting dust.


    This was something simr to his past''s TV series in China, the maind produced thousands of drama each year, but the audience was only familiar with a dozen of them. Some dramas didn''t even make it past the pilot episode.


    In his past life, if Eric had met one of those tycoons who produced those sure-hit TV shows, he would probably have even tried shameless methods to befriend him, like outright grabbing his thighs and shouting ''Brother !''.


    "Here you go sir. and this gentleman, your coffee."


    Eric was casually chatting with Jeff when the waitress named Julia came over with their cups.


    "Thank you." When Eric was about to take his cup, he casually looked at the girl, and this glimpse shook him so much that the newly brewed hot coffee spilled all over the table, while some even sprinkled on him.


    Inhaling a deep breath, Eric hurriedly drew a few napkins to wipe the back of his hand that had now turned red.


    "I''m sorry. I''m really sorry !" Seeing Eric''s skin change colors, the girl was fl.u.s.tered and kept apologizing.


    Jeff harshly red at her, before turning to his guest: "Eric, let''s hurry and put cold water on it."


    Eric nodded, got up and walked towards the kitchen, and when the staff noticed him, they enthusiastically scrambled to help, while as the waitress responsible for the incident, Julia stood helplessly behind the crowd.


    The rtionship between the boy and the owner Jeff looked good, she was really worried about what would happen to her now.


    "Okay everyone, I''m alright, you better get back to work or Jeff will take it up on me."


    Jeff pretended to be angry and said: "What am I, a monster ?!"


    The crowdughed before quickly dispersing.


    Eric returned to the table outside along with Jeff, only to find a girl standing near them, her face full of anguish.


    "I''m sorry, Mr. Williams, I really didn''t mean it." The girl had heard her colleagues talk and knew of Eric''s name.


    "It''s okay, I really don''t mind. You''re.." At this time, he could only feign ignorance.


    "My name is Julia, Julia Roberts."

 Chapter 40: Ideal lead actress

    Eric nodded, and turned around: "Jeff, I''m hosting a party at my ce tonight, I''ll need a chef and a waiter, and so.. I thought of you."


    Catering for a party was a very profitable business, Jeff dly listened and said: "No problem, I''ll get you Vanessa and Cindy."


    "For the chef, Vanessa is not a problem, but as for the waiting, how about you let Miss Julia go instead ?"


    Julia Roberts looked at Jeff and hesitated slightly before nodding her head.


    This settled, Eric casually started chatting with his ex-boss, writing down what he wanted to be on the menu for tonight. He had been a waiter in the restaurant before, so he was familiar with all the dishes.


    Once it was done, Jeff took the paper, looked at the girl who was still standing next to them and said: "Julia, youe help me. Eric wait a bit, I''ll be right back."


    Eric nodded.


    When they came to the kitchen, Julia noticed that Jeff had handed the paper to a chef, she was startled and asked: "Sir, what do I need to do ?"


    Jeff looked her up and down, besides her slightly plumper lips, the girl wasn''t particrly attractive, he seriously couldn''t understand.


    "Julia, do you know who Eric is ?"


    Julia was somewhat confused: "Sir, I''m not sure, I only came to L.A a few months ago."


    Jeff didn''t bother beating around the bush with her as he straightforwardly said: " You ought to know about Home Alone, right ? Don''t you know who directed it ?"


    Julia''s eyes instantly widened, she remembered recently seeing the young director''s picture in the papers, and he really did look like him: "You''re saying that.. that.."


    At this time, anyone in the whole of North America who hadn''t heard about Home Alone and its miraculous teenage director was probably from Mars.


    "Yes, that''s him. When we were talking, I mentioned that you were an actress. Originally, Eric was probably only going to ask for a chef, but heter added a waiter and also specifically asked for you."


    Once Julia who hadn''t been cast in almost a year heard Jeff''s words, she flushed with excitement. She had partic.i.p.ated in a lot of auditions this year, but all ended in failure, so no one other than her could better understand how important an opportunity this was.


    "So," Jeff patted the girl''s shoulder: "Eric will soon shoot his new movie, you y your cards right, and you might justnd yourself a role."


    "Thank you for the heads up, sir."


    Jeff smiled and waved his hand, he actually had some selfish motives in mind. After Eric rose to fame, thanks to the boy''s past experience in the restaurant, the paparazzi hade many times leading to the establishment gaining quite a bit of reputation in the area.


    If another well-known celebrity popped up from here again, business would definitely soar to renewed heights.


    ...


    "Mr. Williams, do you mind if I board with you ?"


    Eric had just pulled out his keys to start the car, he didn''t expect that Julia Roberts who was supposed to be sitting in the chef''s van to suddenly appear in front of him.


    "Not at all, Miss Julia. Please get in."


    Casually ncing at the girl in the pa.s.senger''s seat, he noticed she had gotten out of her waitress'' uniform. She had applied some light make-up and was wearing a dark red jacket with light-colored jeans, whose fabric perfectly showcased her taught and slender legs.


    Right now Julia was only 21 years old, and although her appearance wasn''t quite up-to-par, her body was exuding a youthful aura of invincibility.


    "Do you know who I am ?" Eric nonchntly asked while holding the steering wheel.


    Julia who was thinking of how to strike up a conversation, subconsciously nodded: "Ah, yes, sir Jeff told me."


    "No wonder." Eric chuckled.


    Julia was startled and asked: "Yes ?"


    "Miss Julia, I hired you for 10$ an hour, however you''re not dressed like a waitress but like someone who''s about to attend a party instead."


    "Ah" Julia looked at her clothes, when she heard her boss'' words she subconsciously wanted to leave a good impression on Eric and hastily changed her clothes: "Yes... I''m sorry, Mr. Williams, I... I will go and change back."


    Eric smiled and shook his head: "It''s okay, this is fine. I heard that a movie you''ve acted in was released in October ?"


    Feeling ill at ease, Julia Roberts quickly replied: "Yes, it''s called Mystic Pizza, it tells the love story of three waitresses and their boyfriends, it has reached the ten million dors mark at the box office already."


    When Julia mentioned Mystic Pizza''s box office, her tone held a tinge of pride, but thinking about the young man''s achievements, it immediately vanished.


    Although Mystic Pizza was a low-budget movie and the more than 10 million $ box office could be considered quite good, ifpared to Home Alone, it wasn''t even worth mentioning.


    "Oh, 10 million $, not bad." Eric hadn''t seen the film, nor was he interested in it, he just knew that it had marked Matt Damon''s debut. He said: "Jeff told me you haven''t received a role in almost a year, but after that movie someone will probably notice you."


    Mentioning this matter, Julia held some resentment.


    Once Mystic Pizza had gotten a good box office, her usually indifferent agent quickly scrambled to suggest her some movie auditions, however, she had directly fired this man who hadn''t fought for her interests at all during this past year like he was supposed to.


    "Mr. Eric, I heard that you''re about to... shoot your next movie ?"


    "It''s just an idea, I still have neither actors nor script." Eric chuckled.


    He couldn''t help but sigh in his heart, he had just decided to shoot Pretty Woman that the past lead actress appeared in front of him.


    To cast her or not to cast her, that was the question.


    Actually, Eric''s favorite actress was Sophie Marceau, and the woman suffused of both a .s.sic and alluring charm. To him she was the perfectbination, the ideal lead actress.


    However this french rose hadn''t yet broken out of the European movie circle, so she might think of attempting America as a stretch and refuse his invitation, he wouldn''t really know unless he tried.


    As for why Eric had hired Julia as an additional help, he was actually thinking about how to win her over. After all, in his past, she had been a force to be reckoned with, a bona fide Hollywood icon whose paycheck was in the tens of millions.


    Thinking up to here, Eric asked: "Julia, do you belong to an agency* ?"


    When Julia heard Eric''s question, she was delighted and quickly replied: "No, I just recently fired my agent, so I''ll temporarily be handling my matters personally."


    "Then Julia," Eric said: "How about joining mine ?"


    After learning from Barry Diller that Stuart Runkle had signed with the CAA, Eric had the idea to found his own agency. He didn''t want to see the people he had painstakingly made into stars turn their backs on him again.


    Eric was thinking on having her audition, and once she pa.s.sed, they''d certainly have to sign a contract, hence his proposition.


    But Julia hadn''t expected this kind of offer at all, which made her a little more cautious, she didn''t want to join an agency to then be abandoned for a year or even longer.


    "I apologize Mr. Williams, this isn''t something I''m nning to do. I was at an agency before, and didn''t receive a single job for almost a year which is why I''m currently working at the restaurant."


    Eric said: "You don''t have to worry about this, I can guarantee you that you''ll be featured in at least two movies a year, I can also arrange for this use to be written in the contract."


    It was in 1989 that Julia got her first Oscar nomination, Eric knew that it would be for Steel Magnolias, a Columbia Pictures production. Although his and Blount Cohen''s rtionship was rocky, rmending an actress wasn''t a problem, this was business after all.


    Julia Roberts hesitated for a moment before saying: "Can I think about it, Mr. Williams ?"


    "Of course, no problem." Eric casually said, and thought for a moment before adding: "Actually, I want to invite the French actress Sophie Marceau to act as the lead, and if she refuses, you''ll still have a chance."


    Julia''s hands shook as she pursed her lips tightly, she was really at a loss. Her parents and brother were in the entertainment circle, so she certainly knew a lot about what kind of concept it was to star in Eric Williams'' second movie whose fame had reached new heights thanks to Home Alone.


    However, it was precisely because her parents were in this circle that she also knew about its deceptive side. Eric''s promise could just be a calcted bait.


    If she hot-headedly agreed to join his agency and thetter went back on his word, she wouldn''t even have the time to shed tears.


    _ _ _ _


    * A brokerage firm, I felt agency was a better way to word it.

 Chapter 41: Please dont spill

    After 6:00 pm, the Home Alone crew started arriving at Eric''s home.


    It had turned dark once Eric came back to the living room from the kitchen after discussing with the chef Vanessa, and he was surprised to find out that, in addition to the Home Alone crew, there was more than a dozen pretty girls all dolled and dressed up.


    "Jeffrey, where did these girlse from ?" Eric found Jeffrey Hanson and curiously inquired.


    Jeffrey smiled and said: "After Home Alone was done, Nicole Frank was hired for a campusedy, and when the girls from the set heard that he was going to a party organized by the Home Alone director, they followed him here. As for the reason why, you probably don''t need me to exin."


    Eric smiled, these girls were obviously here for him, but he didn''t mind. Home Alone''s crew consisted mostly of men, which would make the party really boring.


    Coming at the center of the room, he pped his hands in order to get the guests'' attention: "Everyone, please hear me out, I''d like to say a few words."


    The living room soon quieted down and everyone turned towards Eric.


    "First of all, I hope you''re having a good night.


    Today''s party is to celebrate Home Alone''s sess, which is something that happened not because of me, but thanks to all of you here today, without whom I would not have been able toplete the movie in such a short time, so once again, I''d like to thank everyone."


    He finished and slightly bowed to the crowd, who responded with a round of apuse.


    Eric slightly motioned them to quiet down with his hands, then said: "Of course, a simple verbal thank you wouldn''t be enough.


    Home Alone made such an amazing box office, and it''s all due to each one of your efforts, so I took the liberty to prepare bonuses for everyone, I hope we''ll have the opportunity to work together again in the future."


    Eric finished, and along with Hanson, started distributing the already prepared envelopes to the crowd. Eric had written the names on them in advance so there would be no fear of mixing them up.


    The checks varied between 200,000 $ and 500,000 $ depending on one''s position or contributions. Although it seemed trivial whenpared to Home Alone''s box office, this was the equivalent to several years of wages for the crew members who had only mingled in the lowest circle of the industry.


    Their annual ies were at most in the tens of thousands dors.


    Of course, Eric hadn''t forgotten about the main actors, however their share would be more generous and it would have to wait until he received his dividend from Columbia.


    Some people may think that the filming was done, and the others had already received what they were supposed to receive, so why did Eric have to give away those huge sums of money ?


    Well, although it wasn''t written out in a contract or anything, there were such things as rules in this business, and giving away generous dividends to the crew after the movie had hit it big was one of them.


    In his past, because of over quite a bit on the t.i.tanic, James Cameron''s dividend had initially dropped. However, once the movie unexpectedly hit it big leading to the Fox making quite the profits, he was rewarded generously as well.


    After distributing the checks, Eric announced the official start of the party, and took Jeffrey Hanson away.


    "Jeffrey, this is for you, it should be enough to redeem Firefly." Once the two men reached the second floor balcony, Eric took out an envelope and handed it over to Jeffrey. The check amounted to 3 million $.


    It was what the middle-aged man deserved, as without him, the shooting of Home Alone would not have gone so smoothly.


    Jeffrey Hanson took the envelope and stroked it a few times before unhesitatingly giving it back to Eric.


    "Huh ?" Eric was puzzled by that move.


    "Eric, I''ve thought about it these days, and even if I were to get Firefly back, it would still be impossible for me to grow it the way Solina would''ve wanted, so. So I have a request."


    Ericughed: "Jeffrey, what are you still hesitating for ? Please just say it."


    "You said that you were going to start a filmpany, let me join you, I might not be a good director, but I can be of use as a producer."


    Eric raised his eyebrows in surprise, he had actually thought about this too, he also wanted topletely take over the crew that Jeffrey''s wife had left behind.


    However, he felt that the man would probably not let go of histe wife''spany, and with Home Alone''s sess, Eric wouldn''t have any problem finding out other people, so he had put away his initial thoughts.


    But now Jeffrey had actually brought up the matter up on his own initiative.


    "Jeffrey, to be honest, I wanted to ask you to join my studio and help me, but I thought you wouldn''t want to part with the Firefly studios, so I didn''t follow up on it."


    Jeffrey listened to Eric''s as his face tensed and his said with some apprehension: "Eric, actually, this wasn''t my main request, what I hope is that... that your new filmpany will also be named Firefly. I know that it''s probably a bit too much, but... I''ll help you as a producer...


    I won''t take any share of it, just a sry would be enough, I wish you''d think about it."


    Eric realized that the man still hadn''t let go of his attachment towards his beloved''s studio, he was just trying to move on somehow.


    This moved him slightly, and Eric quickly made a decision; it was just the studio''s name anyway, nothing to fret about. Originally, he was thinking of doing things along the lines of Disney, Warner, and Fox, and name thepany Williams'', but oh well.


    At least this one had a story behind it.


    "That''s not a problem Jeffrey, I''ll just name thepany Firefly then. I also quite like this appetion to be honest."


    Jeffrey raised his right hand slightly, he was still thinking about how to convince Eric when he heard hetter''s words. He asked, dumbfounded: "Eric, what did you... just say ?"


    "I agreed, of course."


    "That... Thank you very much, Eric, I will work hard for you, I.." Jeffrey didn''t know how to express his gratitude, he opened his arms and held the youth in a bear hug.


    Once they separated, Eric gave him the envelope back: "It''s just a name, Jeffrey, I wouldn''t have refused you no matter what. Now take this, this is your due."


    Jeffrey kept declining so in the end Eric directly put the money into the middle-aged man''s breast pocket: "Jeffrey, although there''s a rtivelyrge age gap between us, we are still friends. And like I said, isn''t it just apany''s name ?


    Take the check, this is the fruit of yourbor, so stop saying so many silly things in the future, I''m still gonna need your help to create more miracles."


    After a round of persuasion, Jeffrey eventually epted the envelope. The two of them discussed a few things about the studio, then returned to the party downstairs. Eric announced the establishment of the new moviepany Firefly, and when the people heard it, many of them were overjoyed.


    They had already nced at Eric''s generous bonus and thought highly of him, but the crew that was left behind by Jeffrey''s wife was aware of her husband''s desire to redeem Firefly, so most of them had decided to keep following the man, while some others felt morepelled by Eric.


    Now however, the two concerned parties had made the best decision they could have hoped for, so the party''s atmosphere warmed up as all of them felt relieved.


    ...


    While he wasughing with the cameraman Nicole Frank, Eric turned around holding a goblet, when he noticed a girl wearing a red dress approaching him who appeared to be about to trip, and judging by the direction, she would hit him head first.


    "Stop -" Eric quickly shouted with wry smile, lifting his left hand in front of his body, putting a stop to the girl''s behavior.


    The pretty girl subconsciously halted her steps, and stood a little awkwardly one meter in front of Eric. Some wine had inadvertently spilled from her ss as her movements had been abruptly stopped, and her face held the embarrassment of being seen through.


    "This youngdy, if you want to strike up a conversation, you can just directly say hello. Please don''t spill wine on me, this is actually myst suit, if you ruin it, I''ll have no choice but to strip in front of everyone, which would surely be embarrassing."


    The girl who initially felt ill-at-ease, startedughing after Eric''s words: "Mr. Williams, you''re really fun to talk to."


    "Of course, I specifically practiced in order to attract the attention of pretty girls." Eric joked: "So, you are.."


    "You can call me Lucie, Mr. Williams."


    "Lucie, that''s a nice name, let''s go over there to talk." Eric pointed to an open space not far away. In order to get rid of the other passionate and motive-harboring girls'' harassment, Eric wisely chose a temporarypanion.


    He couldn''t help but sigh. If Annie, this stubborn girl, had been here, he wouldn''t have these problems. He wondered what she was doing, ording to the east and west coast time difference, it should be morning in New York right now.

 Chapter 42: Heavens or mundane world

    After 11 o''clock, people gradually started leaving the party, and Eric send off Hanson, who was thest guest, before going back to the kitchen only to find Julia Roberts looking curiously through the stack of photos that the group of girls from the party had left behind.


    All in all, these girls were truly prepared, detailed information was written on the back of the pictures, some were even really personal.


    Eric had struggled a lot in this industry during his past life, and was able to understand the desire these girls had to seed, so when they had apprehensively given him their pictures, Eric hadn''t refused and instead very politely said that he would contact them if need be.


    "I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to look at these." Julia saw Eric appear and hastily put the photos back in ce.


    Eric waved his hand, motioning that he didn''t mind, he went to sit down on the couch, picked up a picture from the pile and enjoyed himself.


    "Did you know, Julia ?


    Each year those whoe to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams of stardom number in the thousands, and amongst them, those who get a job in a crew or temporary roles don''t even add up to 1%, while those able to be world-renowned movie or television stars, are one in a million."


    Eric stopped and gave Julia a profound look before continuing: "Most people abandon after a few years as they get a clear understanding of reality, and pack up to return home to try something else, this is what usually happens.


    Those unwilling to give up on the glittery Hollywood life will scatter throughout L.A, often just roaming around, struggling at the bottom, while some others will just lose heartpletely, and sink into despair."


    Julia wasn''t stupid, she listened and gradually understood that Eric was indirectly pinpointing the importance of opportunities.


    The young man seemed determined to win her over, and she was very curious as to why.


    She didn''t believe in like or dislike for no reason, she didn''t feel that Eric was after her body either; of all those beautiful girls that had attended the party earlier and were so much better than her, none of them had stayed.


    Eventually, Julia couldn''t help but ask: "Eric, why me ?"


    Eric put down the photograph, stood up, and grabbed the girl''s waist with one hand as he used his other to trace the contours of her face with his thumb before stopping on her sexy lips.


    At Eric''s sudden gesture, Julia wanted to subconsciously protect her chest, but her mind went nk and she forgot to resist.


    She looked up and was met with Eric''s pair of assessing eyes as he rubbed her lower lip, making her tremble.


    "Because I want to !"


    His confident and overbearing voice sounded in her ears.


    "Please. don''t do this." Julia whispered as an attempt to resist, but as she was thrown into confusion by Eric''s finger, it wasn''t very effective.


    A yful expression shed past Eric''s eyes as he held her face with both hands and forcibly took her lips.


    "Um" Julia''s smothered protest were heard a few times, before finally giving in to Eric''s skillful ways. Her body became soft and she eventually feebly leaned against him.


    "Ahem.."


    Suddenly hearing another person''s voice, the two people were shocked, and quickly separated.


    Eric noticed the pudgy figure not far and said with dissatisfaction: "Vanessa ? Howe you''re still here ?"


    Standing at the kitchen''s doorway and holding a box of utensils, the chef said in a teasing tone: "Sorry, Eric, I didn''t mean to bother you, I just wanted to ask if Julia needed a ride home as it''s getting quitete."


    "I do." Julia had barely said anything that Eric interrupted: "It''s fine, you go first, I will send her back."


    Vanessa looked at Julia and pretended not to see Eric''s dissatisfied expression as she meaningfully winked at the girl, twisted herrge b.u.t.t around, and left.


    "There shouldn''t be anymore interruption now, let''s pick up where we left off." Eric looked at Julia and smiled.


    With Vanessa''s abrupt appearance, Juliapletely regained her spirits, she was stunned at her behavior, she had only just met the guy, and she was already french kissing him ? Worst of all, from beginning to end the other party had held a firm grasp on the entire situation.


    Julia was 17 years old and still quite the innocent girl, so she couldn''t help but be attracted to Eric''s affectionate ways and momentarily forgot to resist, but she didn''t want to be toyed with.


    She took a few seconds to stop the heaving of her chest before mustering the coldest voice she could, and say: "Mr. Williams, don''t you think you ought to apologize for your inappropriate behavior ? You"


    "If you want me to apologize Miss Julia, I''ll apologize. Now then, shall we continue ?"


    Listening to his insincere words, Julia was slightly irritated, she pped back his outstretched paw and said: "Don''t even think about it. It''s a littlete now, I want to go back, would you please.. please send me home."


    "Alright then, but before I do so, I have a proposal." Eric put away his smile and sternly said: "I thought about it, and I''m going to open an agency as soon as possible. I will then prepare generous terms for your contract and personally take charge of your future.


    I will make it so that there won''t be any actress in Hollywood who doesn''t look up to you, what do you think ?"


    Wasn''t this the same bulls.h.i.t that all the scouts who were trying to lure in young fledglings used ?Julia listened to Eric''s self-righteous words, she crossed her hands in front of her chest and snorted: "And if I refuse ?"


    Eric didn''t mind Julia''s cold tone, he picked up a picture of a girl from the earlier pile, slowly turned it around in his hands and said in a low voice, as if muttering: "If you refuse then that''s just regrettable.


    I will randomly select a girl from this stack of photographs, give her the stage name ''Julia Roberts'', then arrange for her to star in a bunch of blockbusters, and turn her into a star with my own hands.


    She''ll eventually receive paychecks of 20 million $, get to stand on the Oscar''s podium, and be a Hollywood legend on the same level as Audrey Hepburn and Vivien Leigh. As for you, the real Julia Roberts, perhaps you''ll get a few good roles after Mystic Pizza, yourst spark before nothingness.


    If you''re lucky, before death catches up to you, you''ll marry a third-rate Hollywood director, and might be able to asionally receive unknown roles in small budget productions."


    Julia hadn''t been reborn like Eric, it was impossible for her to know about her past life''s brilliant achievements. Plus she had nearly wasted a year and had lost her initial confidence, she involuntarily started to picture Eric''s narration of her second fate.


    Although her beliefs had been shaken, Julia still stubbornly quipped: "Hearing you it''s like you could easily make anyone into a superstar at the same level as Audrey Hepburn. Do you think you''re Steven Spielberg or George Lucas ?"


    "Of course not, I''m not anyone else, I am me, Eric Williams." Eric said, pulled out another random picture from the pile, and looked at data on its back as he said: "Look, I feel that this ''Julia Roberts'' is pretty good, don''t you ?"


    Julia involuntarily took the picture in her hands, the girl had simr features to her own, but was more beautiful, taller, had blond hair, blue eyes and sultry lips.


    Julia was somewhat unwilling and looked at the information on the back; the girl was 19 years old, had graduated from the Lee Strasberg Theater u0026 Film Inst.i.tute in Los Angeles, and had appeared in three movies as a supporting character.


    No matter how Julia looked at it, the girl seemed better in every way. A feeling of inferiority suddenly hit her like a wave.


    Eric didn''t give her any more room to think, he asked: "Now Julia, the heavens or the mundane world, which will you choose ?"


    Looking at Eric''s hateful expression, Julia wanted nothing more than p the picture on his face and walk out.


    She soon got rid of the idea though. Even if she took Eric''s fancy words as a full of air, when she thought of how the boy who yed in Home Alone had turned into a global superstar, she hesitated.


    Of all the men and women who tried to break into the Hollywood circle, which one of them wasn''t after either fame or money ? Which one did not wish to be envied by thousands and hailed by millions ?


    "Making me a star. can you guarantee it ?" Julia tightly held the photograph in her hands. She was silent for a moment before looking up at Eric, and when she met his eyes, she hastily looked away.


    A faint victorious smile hung at the corner of his lips as Eric took the girl in his embrace and said: "I can."


    Taking the opportunity, he stole another kiss out of her s.e.xy lips again.


    Having made her decision, Juliapletely gave up resisting, letting the man willfully enjoy her tongue.


    A minuteter, Eric was no longer satisfied with simple kissing, he pulled the part of his shirt that was tucked in his jean, then he pulled his face away from her and slightly pressed down on her shoulder.


    Julia understood what the man wanted and her face flushed, she looked at him with pleading eyes but the hateful guy just smiled and kept pressing his hand on her shoulder, until she finally obediently knelt down.

 Chapter 43: Julia Roberts (18+)

    Julia understood what the man wanted and her face flushed, she looked at him with pleading eyes but the hateful guy just smiled and kept pressing his hand on her shoulder, until she finally obediently knelt down.


    " Take out my dick" Said Eric with a smile as he couldn''t wait to have her sexy lips wrapped around his length.


    Julia nced up at him unwillingly , took a breath and no longer hesitated, reaching up she pulled his jeans and boxers down, revealing his manhood.


    Then she took his length in her hand and began to jerk him off, while with the other hand she started to caress his balls.


    "AHH... Be a little gentle..." After enjoying the handjob for a few seconds, Eric suddenly reached down and ripped her t-shirt off, revealing her 32B breasts d in a sexy,cy ck bra and made her scream.


    Then he roughly shoved her down on the floor, got on top and started kissing her sexy lips, pushing his tongue in and exploring her mouth, interrupting what she had to say, at the same time one of his hands groped her left breast, making her moan.


    "UHH..."


    "AH..." After a few seconds of exploring her mouth, he started cing kisses down her neck, after reaching her breasts, he ripped her bra off revealing her bare tits and pink nipples.


    As Eric looked down at famous Julia Robertsying under him, looking up at him with slight resentment , with her breasts exposed , he got more excited, so he sat up, took his dick and put it to her lips.


    Julia reluctantly opened her mouth and Eric slowly pushed his length in until he was half buried in her mouth, and stayed there.


    "UHHH...."


    Eric sighed with pleasure as he felt Julia''s warm and wet mouth wrapping around his member. He then grabbed her head with both hands , slowly pulled his dick out and pushed it back in, starting to thrust in her mouth, making her eyes widen.


    "UHHH... Damn..." As he enjoyed her mouth for a minute, he finally pushed his dick all the way in , making him groan.


    "WUU... WUU" At the same Julia started gagging as tears welled up in her eyes.


    "Cough... Cough..." After staying in her mouth for a little while, he pulled his dick out as Julia started coughing.


    He then put his well lubricated dick between her perky breasts, pushed them together , and started thrusting.


    "UHH... Lick the tip..." Said Eric as he enjoyed the way her soft breasts felt wrapped around his dick.


    Julia, getting strangely aroused from his rough treatment, stretched out her little pink tongue and licked the head of his penis.


    After enjoying her breasts and tongue for a couple minutes, Eric stood up, walked towards the couch and sat down.


    "Come here " said Eric after he sat down.


    Hearing this , she started to stand up, but he stopped her saying.


    "No , crawl"


    So, she got on her hands and knees and started to crawl towards him.


    Eric seeing her like this got more and more excited , so as soon as she got in front of him , he grabbed the back of her head and shoved her open mouth down on his penis forcefully.


    After keeping her head down for a few seconds, he let her go and said to her.


    "Suck it, use your tongue."


    She stuck out her tongue and licked his penis from the bottom to the top, she then wrapped her slender fingers around the bottom and licked the tip, then she took him in her mouth and started bobbing her head up and down, at the same time jerking him off with her hand.


    "UHH... good girl " Sighed Eric as he put his hand on her head, guiding her.


    Eric enjoyed the feeling of her service for a while before taking her head in both hands and started to move it up and down, slowly at first , but picking up speed until he wan rapidly fucking her mouth.


    "UHH... I''m cumming, swallow it "Said Eric, as he held her head down and started cumming down her throat, making her eyes widen, as she tried to swallow his ratherrge load.


    "Cough... cough... " Coughed Julia after swallowing all she could.


    Eric looked at his softening cock and, after she stopped coughing, said to Julia.


    "Make me hard".


    She took a deep breath and wrapped her mouth around his dick again, as he took her hair in his hand, guiding her with it.


    After a couple minutes, he was hard again.


    "Good girl, now stand up." Said Eric as he caressed her hair.


    She looked up at him with unwillingness, but stood up.


    "Turn around" Eric told her as he enjoyed the feeling of a future celebrity following his every order.


    Julia turned around, showing her tight and perky ass wrapped in jeans.


    He reached out and groped her butt, felling it''s softness even with her jeans on.


    "Bend over and take the jeans off" Eric gave her butt a little p and said to her.


    Julia unbuttoned her jeans , started pushing them down and bending over, showing her ass only in a sexy ck thong.


    "UHH...."


    She moaned , as Eric started groping and ying with both her asscheeks.


    "You are wet" Said Eric surprised as he ran a finger over her thong covered vagina.


    "AHH..."Julia hearing him blushed with shame but then let out a scream as he ripped her thong off.


    "Get on your hands and knees" Said Eric after ripping her thong off and throwing her on the couch.


    She turned over and put her hands on the back of the couch as she spread her legs a little and pushed her perky ass in the air.


    Eric, seeing her in this position got more excited, so he stepped up behind her and pped her perky ass , making her squeak.


    "AHH..."


    He then put his penis at the entrance of her vagina and moved the tip around, teasing her and making her moan.


    Eric, hearing her moan couldn''t wait any longer so with one hand he grabbed her slim waist and slowly pushed his dick in her.


    Julia moaned softly at the feeling of his cock stretching out her young pussy.


    Eric also let out a grunt as he bottomed out in her, staying there to enjoy the feeling of her hot and wet walls wrapping around his dick.


    After a few seconds, he grabbed her waist with both hands, before pulling his member out to the tip and mming it back in with force, making her moan and her ass jiggle.


    He then started to thrust slowly as Julia''s breathing started to be heavier and heavier, and she started moaning involuntarily.


    Hearing her moans, Eric got more excited, so he pulled her hair and started to speed up his thrusts, making her moans louder.


    After a few seconds he pulled her up by hair, turned her head and kissed her sexy lips while still thrusting into her.


    Then he let her hair go and started fondling both her breasts, tweaking her nipples , causing her to moan.


    Fucking her in this position for a minute,  he got bored, so he stepped back ,yed her down on the floor , spread her legs and buried his dick in her with one forceful thrust, as she let out a loud moan.


    Hearing her moan he looked at her sexy lips and kissed them, at the same time he started to quickly thrust into her and grope her breasts, causing her to moan in his mouth.


    "UHHH..."


    While he was fucking her, he suddenly felt her walls mp down on his dick, and she moaned in his mouth as she came hard.


    Eric feeling this sped up his thrusts and while kissing her and fondling her breasts he buried his dickpletely and painted her insides white.


    After he came inside her, he let her lips go, pulled his softening cock out of her vagina, got up from the floor and sat down on the couch.


    As he sat down, he looked at Julia Roberts lying on the floor, face flushed red, naked breasts going up and down with heavy breaths, legs spread in an M shaped with his semen and her love juices dripping from her vagina, he suddenly  felt an unprecedented sense of aplishment and conquest.


    After calming down her breathing Julia sat up on the floor and started to reach for her jeans, only to stop as she heard him speak.


    "What are you doing?" Said Eric.


    "I am getting dressed?" Julia turned her head and said to him in puzzled way.


    "You don''t think this is over, do you?" Asked Eric with a slight smile.


    "I...." Started Julia but was interrupted again.


    "This isn''t over until I say so, now crawl" Said Eric in a forceful tone and beckoned to her with his hand.


    Hearing this she stared at him with resentment and almost left, but thinking of what already happened and his promise of making her a star she took a breath and did what she was told.


    Getting on her hands and knees, with her breasts hanging down she started to slowly crawl towards him.


    And Eric, seeing herplying with his order, and crawling on all fours with her breast swinging, made his blood rush straight to his softening penis, getting it slightly hard.


    As she got in front of him and kneeled between his legs he reached out his hand and cuddled her cheek.


    "Your lips are very sexy" Said Eric as his thumb was running along her lips.


    "Suck them" He said, as he  pushed his index and middle fingers in and out of her mouth.


    Hearing him, Julia cooperated and, as he pushed his fingers in and out, started to lick them.


    "UHHH...." Felling the stimtion Eric sighed softly, and after a few second pulled his fingers out of her mouth.


    "Make me hard again" Said Eric, after pulling his fingers out of her mouth.


    Hearing him, Julia sighed with resignation, but still, she tucked her hair in her ears and wrapped her slender and smooth fingers around his cock, licked the tip and sides until he got slightly hard, the she took the head in her mouth and started to bob her head up and down.


    "Try to swallow it" Said Eric after a minute.


    Julia nced up at him a little and started to push her head down, taking 3/4th of his penis in her mouth.


    As she started to push her head up, Eric suddenly pushed her head down until all of his length was in her mouth.


    "UHHH...." Grunted Eric as he relished the feeling of his dick buried in her throat.


    "WUUU..."


    He kept her head until she started gagging and tears welled up in her eyes.


    "Cough... Cough..."


    Julia started coughing as soon as Eric let him go.


    And as she was coughing, Eric got up, grabbed her hand, dragged her to the kitchen wall and pushed her against it face first.


    He then grabbed her waist, and pulled, making her perky ass stick out.


    And, as Julia braced herself against the wall with both hands, he bottomed out inside her with one forceful thrust, causing him to grunt and Julia to let out a loud moan filled with pleasure.


    Eric didn''t waist any time, as he set pace for himself, half pulling out and thrusting back in with as much force as he could muster in this position and doing it again and again.


    His hands weren''t idle either, reaching around he groped her swinging breasts, twirling and pinching her hard nipples.


    "UHHH... UHHH..."


    All this stimtion caused Julia to forget her shame and resentment, she let out moans filled with pleasure as she felt her orgasm build up.


    Hearing her moans, Eric let go of one of her breasts and while still thrusting into her as fast as he could, started to stimte her clit with his fingers.


    "Cumminggggg..." Stimting her clit pushed Julia over the edge and with her vagina mping down on his dick, she came with a huge moan.


    "HUHH.... HUHH...."


    After the orgasm, Julia felt a little weak in the knees as she slumped against the wall.


    Seeing Julia weakly slumped against the wall with no power to keep standing, Eric pulled out with a ''pop'' andyed her down face first on the floor.


    "p... p..."


    "AHH...."


    Afterying her down, he mounted her, groped and spread her perky ass, and gave it a few ps, causing her to squeak.


    "p..."


    Then, wasting no time, he put his dick to her glistening slit and buried himself in it with one thrust, then, quickly setting a pace he started to hammer forward with animalistic desire, filling the kitchen with the sounds of their bodies smacking against each other.


    "UHHHHHH...."


    And, finally after thrusting for a few minutes, he buried his dick in her and with a grunt from him and a moan from Julia he pumped her cunt full of cum.


    After riding out his orgasm he got up and walked towards his fridge, opened it and took out two bottles of water, opening one he took a sip and turned around, ready to offer her some.


    And when he turned around, he saw her reaching for her jeans again.


    "I told you this isn''t over until I say it is" Said Eric getting little angry and annoyed, and without waiting for her response he quickly walked in front of her, threw her over his shoulder and started walking towards his bedroom, bottles of waterpletely forgotten .


    "Don''t expect to get any sleep tonight" Throwing her on his bed, Eric said with a predatory smile.


    In the darkness of the night, an innocent littlemb thoroughly experienced the pleasures of the flesh for the first time.

 Chapter 44: Its a mantra

    Because the curtains were obstructing the light, the bedroom appeared somewhat dark. Julia whose schedule had been stable for quite a while felt out of it, she rolled over and took a look at her watch. After seeing the time, she subconsciously sat up, thinking she waste for work.


    It took her a minute to recall where she was and what had happenedst night, after which she sighed, rxed, andid back down.


    Looking around, the man who had exhausted her body to the point of frustration wasn''t around. If not for the fact that she woke up in his bedroom, she''d think that the whole situation was a dream.


    Rather, more like a nightmare really, in which a demon-like man had slowly but surely lured her into his abyss.


    Her thoughts a mess, Julia got out of bed, her body bare. Looking at her clothes scattered all over the ground, she gritted her teeth in resentment; whether it be her shirt, bra, panties or even her sturdy jean, they were all torn to some degree.


    One could imagine how intense the previous night''s battle must have been.


    Reluctantly putting her slightly torn jean on, she went towards the man''s closet, and took out one of his white shirt. Opening the balcony''s curtains, L.A''s morning sun was as bright as ever; so bright it annoyed her.


    Deeply inhaling a few mouthfuls of the cool morning air, Julia turned around and walked down the stairs.


    Hearing the sound of utensils nking in the kitchen, Julia stopped by to take a look. She saw the man dressed in casual clothes, skillfully busying himself as the faint fragrance of porridge drifted in the air.


    Noticing the girl''s figure, Eric said: "Good morning, Julia."


    "Good morning" Although somewhat reluctantly, she still greeted him. She couldn''t help but hold a bit of grievance in her heart though, the man had yed her so thoroughlyst night, but now he wasn''t even trying to coax her with deceitful words such as ''baby'' or ''sweetheart''.


    Really, such a hateful guy !


    "You''re so rich, but you also make your own breakfast ?" Leaning on the door frame with her arms folded, Julia said with a trace of ridicule.


    Eric listened to the girl, then raised an eyebrow: "Oh, it seems that you''ve already forgotten aboutst night, for you to even dare talk to me like this ?"


    "You. don''t think we''ve reached some kind of agreement. don''t think you can do however you please with me."


    Eric pretended to not notice the girl who seemed like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. He looked at his craft, lifted the lit of the pot and switched off the gas before saying: "Oh ? Hm I think you''d be the one to suffer a loss in that case though ?"


    Julia was somewhat speechless for a time, she could only re at Eric, wishing she could kill this bastard with her eyes.


    "Alright stop staring, I heard the sound of the newspapers being thrown against the door, help me get them."


    Julia stamped her foot like a little girl, turned around and walked towards the door.


    From the kitchen Eric nced at her sexy back, and the corner of his mouth curled up in a smile. He didn''t mean to bully Juliast night, he just wanted to nt a seed of obedience in the girl''s subconscious.


    Now look, even though she was still a bit unruly, it seemed like his ''teachings'' had gotten through. At this rate, even when she hit it big in the future, she would neverpletely escape from his palm.


    Despite being a woman, he knew that her past self was even more strong-minded than the majority of men. Once she''d rose to fame, Eric didn''t want her topletely change trajectory and mess up his ns, and if he didn''t take care of her now, knowing her, that''s probably what would happen.


    Taking a stack of paper back to the living room, Julia didn''t give Eric another chance to bully her as she sat in the living room and started looking through the newspapers.


    She yawned and tossed aside several of them as they were just not interesting, but when she noticed the headline of the Los Angeles Daily, she momentarily froze before revealing a gloating smile.


    Home Alone''s director and Drew Barrymore''s one-night stand, a convenience store clerk left in tears.


    Below the long title was a detailed article as well as a clear picture.


    "Hey hey, you''re already not that attractive but with your mouth so agape, aren''t you afraid it''ll stretch ?" Eric carried his breakfast to the living room, and put it on the coffee table.


    Julia nced at him, this sleazy guy didn''t even know what troubles he was in. She handed the newspaper over to him, got up and went straight towards the kitchen: "You should worry about yourself first. Unbelievable, you''re such a jerk, you''d even hurt such a pretty girlfriend."


    Eric nced at the newspaper and couldn''t help but sigh; these paparazzi were seriously everywhere, they had probably staked his house the whole night.


    Reading the article carefully, more than 70% of it was bulls.h.i.t. It counted how he had brought Drew home for the night and how, the next day, his girlfriend had caught them in bed together. The process was described vividly, as if the paps themselves had witnessed everything.


    After a quick read, Eric threw the newspaper on the coffee table, and thought about the mess that would follow while eating breakfast.


    Holding a bowl of porridge, Julia returned to the living room. Noticing that Eric''s expression was the same, she curiously inquired: "Aren''t you worried ?"


    Eric said without looking up: "Merely some gossip tabloid, if I had to worry over it every time, I would lead a miserable life. Since I stepped into this circle, I obviously must be prepared to take on everything it throws at me."


    "I know. I''m talking about that, didn''t you notice ? The article intentionally or unintentionally keeps mentioning Drew Barrymore''s age, don''t you get it ?


    She''s only thirteen years old, and in ordance with the Californiaw" Julia gleefully raised three fingers: "You''re looking at three years, even if she was willing."


    Eric had obviously seen through the author''s intention, those tabloid would resort to any means in order to boost their sales and stir up trouble, but he wasn''t worried about this. Rather, something else weighed on his mind.


    With such a bomb being dropped, those other filmpanies who had been miserably suppressed by Home Alone and 17 Again, would definitely not let go of such a great opportunity.


    Seeing that Eric didn''t respond, Julia thought that he had a guilty conscience and felt a bit smug.


    "Alright don''t look at me like that, yeah I''m talking about your ''you''re misfortune is totally my happiness'' kind of look.


    Wash your bowl after you eat, I''m leaving first." Eric finished eating in a hurry, took his coat and told Julia: "Ah right, If I were you I''d go to the restaurant and hand my resignation over, then stay at home for the next few days, honestly."


    Julia protested: "Why ? You can''t restrain my personal freedom !"


    Eric pointed to the newspaper on the coffee table: "Because tomorrow, you''ll also make the headlines."


    "Ugh !" Julia suddenly felt helpless.


    ...


    "Eric, good morning."


    At an agreed ce in Burbank, in front of a real estate agency, Eric got off his car and was greeted by the sight of Jeffrey Hanson waiting for him.


    "Good morning Jeffrey, let''s go in."


    Jeffrey stopped him and said: "Wait, there''s something we need to talk about first."


    "Okay ?"


    Jeffrey pulled him aside, and took out a copy of the Los Angeles Daily from his bag: "Eric, seriously, what''s with all the nonsense ? Although I''ve only seen her a few times, Aniston is a good girl, you shouldn''t have hurt her. More importantly, even if you were looking for another woman, why Drew ?


    She''s only a thirteen-year-old girl, ah that won''t do, you''re ruined. Look at Roman Pnski, that matter of his happened 11 years ago already, and he still hasn''t been able to get his foothold back in the U.S."


    Eric knew that his old friend was just really concerned about him, so he patiently listened to his nagging, and once he was finished, Eric patted the man''s shoulder and said: "Rest a.s.sured, Jeffrey, this whole thing is just a misunderstanding.


    Although Drew spent the night at my house, nothing happened."


    "Anyways," Jeffrey was still not assured: "You should be careful, Eric. You rose too fast, your performance was too eye-catching and so you piqued many people''s interest, and it''s difficult to assess whether they will try and use unconventional means to deal with you.


    I remember once seeing a Chinese idiom, something about a tree being really tall in the forest."


    Eric listened to Jeffrey''s jumbled description, he felt it was really funny and couldn''t help but mutter in fluent chinese: "M xi y ln, fng b cu zh; du ch y n, li b tun zh; hng go y zhng, rn b fi zh." (The wind will destroy the tallest tree in the forest, the water will tear down the sharpest stone on the cliff, the crowd will nder the one with the noblest virtue.)


    "Eh ? I couldn''t hear you just now, what did you say ?" Jeffrey asked weirdly.


    Eric looked at the bright sun in the horizon, speaking in his originalnguage made him feel nostalgic. He was toozy to exin so he casually bullshitted: "It''s a mantra I saw in a book once, it helps calm the mind and refresh one''s spirit."


    Jeffrey felt Eric was really long-winded today, he no longer pursued the matter and said: "Alright let''s go in, we have an appointment to attend."

 Chapter 45: Rip off

    "Gentlemen, these offices were picked based on your previously mentioned criteria. There''s one in the Burbank area, as well as one in the Santa Monica area, oh and this one is in a Hollywood neighborhood, so the price is rtively expensive."


    In the real estate agency''s hall, a skillful realtor named Raymond Stee handed over some informative documents to Eric and Jeffrey. Since they had decided to set up the new filmpany, Firefly, they should first rent an office, hence the current situation.


    They listened to Raymond''s presentation while they discussed things over with each other.


    He didn''t know why, but Eric felt that the Raymond guy was eyeing strangely, he almost felt eager. Finally, finding a gap in their conversation, Raymond Stee could not help but ask: "Excuse me, but, are you that Mr. Williams ? The director of Home Alone ?"


    Eric raised his eyebrows and assessed the man in front of him again; the middle-age guy couldn''t be one of his fans, right ? He nodded his head: "That would be me, Mr. Stee. Why are you asking ?"


    Raymond steeled himself and said: "Well, Mr. Williams, I wonder if you''d be interested in a Beverly Hills mansion, as we just happen to have one avable. The residence epasses an area of 6000 square feet, it is close to Sunset Boulevard, but most importantly. It can shield one''s privacy."


    When he said thest few words, Raymond Stee looked somewhat unnatural. It was obvious that he had read the Los Angeles Daily''s gossip about the youth and got the idea of selling the mansion.


    Eric had to admit, that was really a smooth move. Besides, he had been pestered by those annoying paps for a while now, he definitely needed to move out soon.


    Jeffrey also said: "Eric, I also think you need a change of residence. With your current worth, it''s not very safe to live alone in North Hollywood."


    Eric nodded and asked: "Mr. Stee, I am indeed interested, when can we go visit the house ?"


    Raymond Stee was delighted, he immediately nodded and said: "We can go now, the homeowners have left all matters to us, so the keys are in my possession."


    Eric didn''t feel like staying for the selection of the office, he left a nk check for Jeffrey to decide, and drove to Beverly Hills with Raymond Stee.


    After following the realtor''s directions, half an hourter, they parked in front of a mansion at the top of a hill: "We''re here, Mr. Williams."


    Getting out of the car, the first thing Eric saw was the nearly two-meter-high wall covered in green vegetation.


    Raymond Stee eagerly presented: "Mr. Williams, as you can see, the way the vi is build emphasize privacy. The tall wall coupled with the dense vegetation inside, the risk of being photographed by the paparazzi is nil.


    Also, there are no streets around the mansion, and only two doors avable; one in front and one behind. It is a very suitable living environment for a public figure."


    Eric nodded in satisfaction: "Then Mr. Stee, can we take a look inside ?"


    "But of course." Raymond Stee quickly pulled out the keys to open the door of the mansion, and invited Eric in.


    "Here, Mr. Williams. This is a modern-style vi designed by Edward Niles Architects. It showcases four bedrooms, seven bathrooms, two kitchens, and the garage can dock up to 10 cars.


    Out there we have an open-air bath, a mini basketball court, oh and through the balcony on the second floor, you can overlooking the whole of Los Angeles, I have to say, the night view is simply breathtaking."


    Eric listened to the realtor skillfully fill him in on the mansion, and waited patiently until they had seen about all there was before turning around.


    "Mr. Stee, how much does the mansion cost ?"


    Raymond Stee was somewhat taken aback, before his expression turned to ecstasy. Eric didn''t ask endless questions or mess around asking to see this part or this part once more, he directly asked about the price. It was practically a done deal.


    After building the mansion, the owner suffered a loss inst year''s stock market crash and had to put his beloved house up for sale. However, the concerned party had asked for a rtively high price, so the house had stayed in Raymond''s care for nearly half a year.


    Suppressing his joy, Stee mustered a calm voice and said: "2 million dors, Mr. Williams."


    ''So cheap ?!'' This was Eric''s first thought. But he soon remembered that this was 1988, the real estate prices hadn''t reached the ridiculous values of the 21st century ones. Apparently, Michael Jackson had purchased an area of 11 square kilometers for his Nevend at 19.5 million $.


    Obviously, this mansion''s 2 million $ price was somewhat expensive.


    Although he wasn''t short on money, Eric hated being taken advantage of. He stared at the real estate agent and said: "Mr. Stee, you should understand that I''m seriously considering buying, so give me a real price, 2 million dors won''t do."


    Raymond Stee revealed an anxious expression and said: "Well, 1.95 million $, I cannot lower it more."


    "1 million." Eric voiced his own price.


    Raymond Stee almost jumped as he shouted in surprise: "That''s impossible !"


    Right now, Chinese people weren''t thatmon in North America, so it was the first time Raymond Stee had encountered such a novel manner of bargaining Alright who are we kidding, Eric was clearly trying to rip him off.


    As if he had been greatly insulted, Raymond Stee''s expression contorted and he indignantly said: "Mr. Williams, unless you''re going to be sincere about it, let''s not do this anymore."


    Seeing that the other party was really angry, Eric quickly chuckled: "Ha ha, I was simply joking Mr. Stee, but I feel that you''re the onecking in sincerity though, only lowering the price by 50,000$."


    Raymond Stee was still a little upset, but the youth in front of him was after all a very important client, and if he sold the mansion, he would earn a lot inmissions, so he quickly restored his calm: "Mr.


    Williams, the mansion is sold already furnished, and the homeowners spent 500,000 $ for the decoration alone, so they were originally adamant to sell it at 2 million $.


    After some persuasion, I was able to get them to lower the price a bit, and so they agreed on a minimum of 1.9 million $, which is the lowest I can do."


    After saying this, Raymond Stee stayed silent, waiting for Eric''s decision. It was apparent from his demeanor that there was no room for further negotiation.


    Eric thought for a moment, he really liked the house. He ultimately nodded: "Mr. Stee, if I decide to buy it, how long will it take for me to move in ?"


    Raymond Stee said: "If you can pay in one go, we can fully handle the transfer formalities straight away, and you''ll be able to settle in within three days. If you need a bank loan, however, it will certainly take more time."


    Sure enough, money made the world go round. Eric remembered that a friend from his past life had bought a house in Los Angeles, and had to go back and forth for a month before he was able to move in.


    He chose to pay straight away, and the two men went back to Raymond''spany. Eric called Edward Lewis, and asked him to send awyer familiar with real estate business, all he had to do was fill up a check, the rest was basically left for his legal team to handle.


    Jeffrey Hanson also picked out an office building located in Burbank for the Fireflypany''s office, and Eric expressed his satisfaction at the middle-aged man''s choice.


    After a busy day, the youth went back home in the evening, and caught sight of a few additional paparazzi roaming around the house. These guys were obviously here after seeing this morning''s article, trying to fish out something valuable.


    Eric just pretended to not notice them.


    After eating dinner, he showered, and once he was done, he came to his bedroom, and dressed in a loose bathrobe as he thought that it was about time he started writing the script for Pretty Woman.


    Michael us had been nagging him several times about Resident Evil already, so Eric had chosen to drag write his script, but now it came first, and even if Michael gave him an earful again, he was already used to it.


    For the next few days, Eric helped Jeffrey set up thepany during the day, and wrote the script during the night, he also hoped that by doing that, the media''s interest in the whole Aniston/Drew episode would die down.


    After all, they couldn''t just stay on his case as there was probably other interesting stories to cover out there, celebrity scandals were more and more trendy, and those paps shouldn''t becking any. right ?

 Chapter 46: Farce

    A few dayster, as Eric predicted, the Los Angeles Daily exposed pictures of Julia leaving his house, and talked in detail about the ''rave'' he had held at home. It fleetingly mentioned the Home Alone crew being there, but emphasized more on the ''wave of young and beautiful women'' that attended.


    Some newspapers also followed suit, but as they didn''t have anything concrete to report on, they started criticizing Eric''s personal conduct, turning him from an inspirational youth into an extravagant yboy that had abandoned his girlfriend for an underaged girl.


    "... Eric Williams is indeed a talented youth, but after too easily obtaining wealth, the young man has obviously started to go down the slope..."


    "... After just having left his clerk girlfriend and slept with Drew Barrymore, Eric Williams was immediately seen with someone else. ording to our sources, the woman in the picture is one of the lead actresses of Mystic Pizza..."


    "... It''s really hard to imagine that even Eric Williams would start a rtionship with thirteen-year-old Drew Barrymore, however, it is undeniable that the young man''s actions have vited the Californiaw.


    I cannot help but be reminded of Roman Pnski, also a talented director, whomitted the same unforgivable crime. In order to not repeat the past and have Eric Williams escape to Sri Lanka like his peer, I feel the L.A.P.D had better take measures against the man as soon as possible.."


    And even some shady entertainment tabloids who couldn''t find anything started to make baseless usations. The favorable public image that Eric had established started crumbling.


    The 20th Century Fox reacted as soon as the storm hit. 17 Again was still in theaters and they had just bought the Home Alone''s overseas copyrights, so if they let Eric''s image be trampled on, they would surely suffer huge economic losses.


    As for Columbia, besides fulfilling their part of the gambling agreement, they just sat idly on the sidelines. Some employees from the Publicity Department had suggested their boss made a statement in order to appease the public, however, their idea waspletely rejected.


    Blount Cohen had been bitterly done in by Eric, and the Publicity Department even suspected that their boss might have had a hand in all the mess, so they weren''t willing to go plead on the youth''s behalf.


    The Fox''s media outlets had made it their specialty to deal with those who discredited public figures in order to inte their sales.


    Soon, under thepany''s leadership, a counterattack was quicklyunched, and through various means, they started to release spections about a few controversial actors and directors. For a time, the North American newspapers were in a messy state, and the focus on Eric slightly shifted away.


    People gradually started feeling that something was amiss. Although the media were good at manipting the masses, not every citizen was stupid.


    Soon, a not so famous paper called Hollywood News published an article on its front page, which would''ve normally beenpletely ignored, but as the subject it dealt with was currently the trend, it immediately attracted attention.


    "Christmas'' farce: me the box office."


    "The annual golden period that is Christmas is approaching. In previous years, filmpanies had done their best to promote their movies during that period, but this time, they are instead using a series of despicable means to discredit theirpetition.


    And all of this is thanks to wonder boy, Eric Williams."


    "After one week of release, his two movies had already topped the box office."


    "It should be known, that the number of screenings avable during the Christmas period are limited, which leads to the studiospeting with each other every year.


    Therefore, this time, in order for them to get a share of the pie, they shamelessly dragged Eric Williams in a variety of scandals and criticism."


    "Regardless of the young director''s misconduct  which has yet to be proven, I would like to say to those major moviepanies; please go back to your usualpetitive ways, stop using petty means to suppress your opponents and fight fair and square."


    To the major newspapers, Hollywood News'' article was perceived more as a warning: stop what you''re doing, we have his back  that''s what it said. They quickly realized that the youth was no longer fighting alone and that he seemed to be in a sort of partnership with the Fox.


    While some of the tabloids were reluctant to drop the topic, the more influential papers, who had a better understanding of the situation, immediately stopped in their tracks.


    The storm seemed to have passed just like that.


    A few dayster, Eric who had been until now besieged by the crazy paparazzi, finally moved into his newly acquired Beverly Hills mansion and firmly shut his door.


    He didn''t have to take a peak from his balcony anymore, just a nce from a window could let him see the line of conspicuous cars stationed in front of his new house. Ah, those relentless paps !


    Jeffrey Hansen looked at the mansion behind the high walls with some envy, and pressed the doorbell. After a few minutes, Eric opened the door to wee his old friend inside.


    ncing at the cars parked outside, Jeffrey Hanson asked: "Eric, you''ve had to stay at home for several days now, how did you manage ?"


    Once this matter was brought up, Eric felt depressed. The procedures for the Firefly moviepany didn''t require much of his help, and adding to that the upsetting flow of shes that followed wherever he went, he had basically stayed home these days.


    Compared to his past where even a neet could lead a blissful life, this era had neither inte nor smartphones yet, so he had been bored to death.


    "Writing a novel, writing a script, watching TV.. boring stuff. With the current state of things I don''t even dare go out anymore. Thest time, I went to a convenience store to buy a drink, and the next day a tabloid made up an article about how I had tried to seduce the clerk."


    Jeffrey couldn''t help butugh in glee listening to him.


    Eric led his friend to his study, which was on the second floor of the mansion. They had just entered, that Jeffrey saw arge cork board hung on one of the walls, densely packed with newspapers clippings and hand-written annotations.


    "What is this for ?" Jeffrey walked up to it and curiously asked.


    "Nothing," Eric stepped forward and chuckled as he ripped off one of the clippings: "I was bored, so I tried to gather some information from analyzing various tabloids and newspapers, hoping to figure out who was behind it all, so that in the future I could. settle the score."


    Jeffrey teased: "With Sherlock Holmes on the case, those guys had better be prepared."


    Eric shrugged. In fact, he had been quite lucky to have been backed by the Fox this time, as it allowed him to get out of the mess rather unscathed. He hadn''t yet reached the level of fame where fans would mourn sorrowfully at his death, like his past''s Michael Jackson, so he couldn''t be careless.


    After a brief contemtion, Eric asked: "Right, Jeffrey, how are things going ?"


    When the middle-aged man heard him, he pulled out a stack of papers from his briefcase andined: "You, how can a boss be soid-back, I''ve had to do everything alone. It''ll take about half a month to finish renovating thepany''s office.


    And here, this is the information you asked about various brokerage firms. Eric, do you really intend to buy one and set up an agency ?"


    Eric took the data and said: "Of course, you''ve seen how the CAA has gotten Stuart Runkle into its clutches, if I don''t take proper measures, all the stars I mold are going to be snatched away."


    "But a filmpany cannot possess its own brokerage firm."


    Eric who was reading the files in his hands, said without looking up: "I know that, I wasn''t nning on merging the two together, they will both be independent of each other, so there shouldn''t be any legal problems."


    "Alright, I''ll let you handle that then. Right, you said your screeny waspleted ?"


    Eric took out a manuscript from his desk and handed it over to Jeffrey: "It''s done, wanna take a look ?"

 Chapter 47: *SPOILER*

    Reading Pretty Woman''s script carefully, Jeffrey had some misgivings and said: "Eric, I really feel that this story is great, just like a modern version of a Cindere story, but do you think the audience will be okay with a prostitute ?


    You said that you wanted to portray a fairy tale, but it seems more simr to Boule de Suif and The Lady of the Camellias  minus the tragedy  I''d say."


    Eric sighed in his heart, it was a perfect fairy tale indeed.


    Pretty Woman''s original script was actually a darker one called 3000, and narrated the story of a s.e.xual-only based rtionship between a man and a woman following a 3000 dors transaction. It was a script that urately pictured the living conditions of prostitutes in L.A.


    But during the filming process, because the budget was insufficient, the director and producer repeatedly kept revising the plot, and it finally turned into a romanticedy.


    The most surprising thing was that the movie that had been tweaked beyond recognition, had actually made a North American box office of 170 million $, which led the enumerable actors and actresses who had refused to be a part of the cast because of its initial setting, to drown in frustration.


    It was also Julia''s rise to fame.


    "Jeffrey, that aside, what do you think about Vivian''s character ?"


    Since it was only a plot and he didn''t have anything to refer it to, Jeffrey thought for a bit before saying: "Outspoken personality, cheerful but somewhat vulgar, and even though she''s a prostitute, she''s no pushover."


    Eric patiently listened to his old friend''s opinion before saying: "Jeffrey, you probably didn''t notice, but when you spoke about Vivian, your mouth curved into a smile. Meaning that not only do you not have any ill feelings towards her, you''ve even started to like the girl."


    Jeffrey had just spoken subconsciously and didn''t notice anything, he said: "Did Did I, really ?"


    Eric nodded: "You did. And since even you feel this way, once the film is done and released, I''m convinced people will certainly like her too."


    Jeffrey nodded, but soon frowned as he seriously asked: "What do you mean by ''even you''. Are my standards really that high ?"


    Eric quickly denied: "Not really, you''re just kinda long-winded."


    "..."


    Eric smiled and patted Jeffrey''s shoulder: "Don''t be too down, older people are usually like that, don''t mind it."


    A depressed Jeffrey red at Eric: "Well, you''re the boss, and you''ve proven that your vision is also better than mine, so since you''ve made up your mind, when do we start preparations ?"


    "Of course the sooner the better, we shouldplete the preparations and the casting before Christmas, then immediately start to shoot after the New Year and release it near Valentine''s Day."


    Jeffrey started counting the days: "The Valentine season is indeed the ideal time to release it, but we won''t have enough time to make it, it should take more time to shoot than Home Alone, right ?"


    Eric shook his head: "Jeffrey, you''ve witnessed Home Alone''s making process, I won''t need more than a month for Pretty Woman. We''ll also have to consult the Fox during the post-production about the publicity."


    "Alright, so when do we start casting, do you have anyone in mind yet ?"


    Eric said: "I settled on Richard Gere and Sophie Marceau as my initial choice. So Jeffrey, I''ll require your help to get Marceau''s contact information and send her an invitation, and if she doesn''t consent, then I''ll go with Julia Roberts.


    As for the other supporting roles, well we''ll have to hold a casting for them."


    "Sophie Marceau . ? Ah, are you talking about the french actress ?"


    "Right, you know about The Party, right ? The image I got from her then is the same one I''m picturing for Vivian, I just don''t know if she''ll agree to it."


    "Well, I''ll send her an invite as soon as possible, and if she refuses. Eric, I think Meg Ryan would be a better fit than, ehm, what was her name, that girl who stayed at your ce. Eh, Julia Roberts ?"


    Eric remembered Meg Ryan as another ''America''s sweetheart'', some of her movies, like Sleepless in Seattle, had left a deep impression on him, but now that he had met Julia and knowing how things had transpired in his past, he wouldn''t give that opportunity to anybody else.


    "Jeffrey, there''s a reason why I chose Julia Roberts, just trust me on this one. By the way, I want you to contact that agency''s owner, Kapoor Sid, as soon as possible."


    Jeffrey took the data Eric was handing him, and said: "Eric, I know that Kapoor Sid is very capable, I heard that he handled several level projects two years ago, but he and Michael Ovitz had a fallout and he was driven out of the CAA.


    They hold considerable power in the entertainment industry, so it would be unwise to intentionally offend Michael Ovitz."


    Eric snorted coldly in his heart, they had snatched away Stuart Runkle so quickly, it left him with a bad aftertaste.


    While Michael Ovitz was now hailed by some media as Hollywood''s most powerful man, Eric knew that the CAA could only act this way for about five to six more years, until the second part of the 1990s. Although they''d still have considerable weight after that, it wouldn''t be as grand as before.


    Right now he wasn''t much better than an insect in the eyes of the CAA, so they would probably not pay him too much mind anyways. True, they had contracted many superstars, but Eric could create more.


    "Just do it Jeffrey, we''re nothing to them, the CAA will probably be toozy to care."


    Jeffrey shrugged helplessly: "As you wish."


    ...


    Detaining Jeffrey for lunch, Eric was nning to go back to his study to keep writing Resident Evil when the living room''s phone suddenly rang.


    "hello, you''ve reached the Williams'' residence ?" Eric picked it up, but made sure to put the microphone slightly farther away from his ear. Over the past few days, he had received several harassing phone calls, and a guy had almost made his eardrum bleed with his shouting.


    It was to the point that he was considering changing his number.


    The other side kept silent, and Eric was about to hang up thinking it was a prank, when he heard: "hello, Eric."


    The familiar voice made him jump on the sofa in excitement: "Annie, hi, I-I''ve been meaning to call you, what you saw that morning, it was just just a misunderstanding, I asked Drew and the girl told me that I was only really drunk and went straight to sleep, she was just messing around."


    "That.. it doesn''t matter to me, we''ve.. we''ve broken, up, haven''t we ?"


    Manhattan, in an apartment building in New York, while Aniston listened to Eric''s hurried exnation and his somewhat stuttering voice, she found herself slightly resenting his slow-mindedness.


    On her third day in New York, she didn''t know how, but Drew had found her contact information to exin everything that had happened.


    That hateful guy, so many days had pa.s.sed, but not only did he note to find her, he hadn''t even called once. If she hadn''t had something important to tell him, Aniston would''ve never taken the initiative to call the b.a.s.t.a.r.d.


    If Eric knew what was on the girl''s mind, he would probably scream injustice. So much had happened since that day, he didn''t even dare go out anymore, what was he supposed to do ?


    _ _ _ _

 Chapter 48: Ive also worn that shirt

    Eric firmed his tone, "Annie, I''m not breaking up with you, can''t you just tell me your address so that I cane see you in New York for Christmas ?"


    "Don''t even think about it." Aniston replied. She couldn''t help but think: Even Drew Barrymore was able to find out where I am, but you can''t ? "Besides, don''t you don''t you have a new girlfriend ? The one that was photographeding out of your house."


    "You mean Julia ? She has good potential, I''m going to open an agency and I want to sign her."


    Annie shot a disapproving nce at the tabloid still spread on the table not far: "Do agencies have their talents sleep with their boss right away nowadays ? That shirt I''ve also worn that shirt, you bastard !"


    Eric hesitated for a few seconds, before whispering: "I''m sorry, Annie, will you forgive me ? It won''t happen again."


    Hearing his feeble tone, Annie''s voice softened some: "Eric, I think the distance between us has just grown too big for us to get along. Every time I''ll see you, I''ll be hit by a sense of insecurity."


    "Annie, I just bought a vi in Beverly hills.."


    "I''m not talking about physical distance, Eric. Maybe it''s just my imagination but I feel like you''re as ethereal as a dimension traveler, and it makes me restless. Sometimes I can''t help but worry that you''ll just up and disappear."


    The two of them stayed silent for a while.


    "Eric, the reason I''m calling you today is to tell you that, this morning, I received an anonymous letter, the author said that he wanted to tell me things about you. The address of the meeting was in Central Park, it was a public ce so I felt there was no danger and went.


    The stranger asked about our rtionship, then he asked me. asked me about what had happened that morning. I stayed quiet, but I don''t know if it was to test me or if that fellow really saw something, he said that he was willing to appear in court and testify against you and Drew on my behalf.


    He said that you would have to give me a lot of money if I seeded. I refused."


    Eric listened quietly to Aniston''s story. Once she finished, Eric nodded and asked in understanding: "Annie, thank you for telling me this, now I''m pretty sure; you still love me, don''t you ?"


    "You.." Annie''s heart skipped a beat for a second, and then she started talking louder: "Do you even understand what kind of situation you''re in right now ?! Someone is trying to send you to jail, Eric !


    I made some research and something simr happened to Roman Pnski, they found conclusive evidence of his rtionship with the girl and he was sentenced to imprisonment. He had to flee the United States, Eric !"


    "I know Annie, don''t worry, I will deal with this matter."


    Hanging up the phone, Eric sat on the sofa and quietly pondered for a while. Although Home Alone had pressured a lot of movies at the box office, it wouldn''t warrant this type of behavior.


    Granted, many people couldn''t stand him, but the most they would do would be to discredit him for a few days through the media.


    Moreover, the Fox had made a fierce counter-attack, and after the discovery of other possibilities in the affair, things had quickly died down.


    Someone who hated him so much so as to wish him imprisonment, Eric could only think of one person: Blount Cohen.


    Because of the gambling agreement''s mess, Blount Cohen, who saw himself as lofty and above all, was forced to publicly apologize to a kid who could be his grandson. To him, it was certainly shameful, and if you coupled it with his small-minded personality, then he was the most likely suspect.


    However, G.o.d knows how fickle humans were, it was also possible that someone else had somehow developed a dislike towards him and had thought of this n to harm him; he couldn''t rule out the possibility.


    Although he didn''t think too much of it, Eric still gave Edward Lewis a phone call, and half an hourter, thewyer was at his house.


    Eric recounted what Aniston had told him. The two discussed for a long time, and Edward Lewis, who was doing the recording, unavoidably had to inquire about the affair in detail.


    After a while, thewyer closed his notepad and solemnly asked: "Eric, I want to check with you onest time, are you sure you didn''t have that kind of rtionship with Ms. Barrymore that day ? I need to know everything, because if you don''t tell me the truth.


    the opponents are likely to sweep us by surprise."


    Eric carefully thought back for a moment to the situation at that time, and said with certainty: "I''m absolutely sure, although we woke up in bed together, the sheets were clean, there was absolutely no trace at all, and even Drew admitted that nothing happened when I confronted her about it."


    "Then there''s no problem. Eric, rest a.s.sured, I''ll go back immediately to deal with this, you have nothing to worry about.


    Although the fact that the public opinion is still slightly against you remains, without evidence, even if someone were to falsely use you, their likelihood of sess would be near nil."


    Eric eventually calmed down and bid farewell to Edward Lewis when he suddenly remembered that, since the incident a few days ago, although Drew hadn''t visited him, she had called a few times. However, for these past two days, he hadn''t heard a single peep out of her.


    After giving several continuous call to her home to no avail, Eric started feeling anxious. He wasn''t worried about Drew teaming up with people to frame him, but it was hard to say the same about her greedy mother.


    Los Angeles, on the second floor of an apartment in Culver City, Drew was locked in her bedroom, watching the television and listening to the incessant ringing of the phone in the living room.


    Although he had never taken the initiative to contact her before, she was somehow sure that the one calling was Eric.


    These days, Ildiko Jaid, who usually couldn''t care less about her, had suddenly be a good and responsible mother. Using the excuse of the mediatic storm to ground Drew, even phone calls weren''t allowed.


    The teenager had obviously argued against it, so the two of them quarrel and came to blows. In the end, Drew with her small arms and legs couldn''t hold a candle to Ildiko Jaid and was locked in her room.


    Moreover, Drew knew that her mother was plotting something with someone as she had overheard her whispering on the phone for a long timest night. No matter when, even when she was sweet talking her lovers, Ildiko Jaid had never bothered to lower her voice before.


    "That woman is definitely up to no good."


    Drew turned off the TV and paced back-and-forth in her room as she muttered to herself. She looked at the time and realized her mother would be home soon; she felt she couldn''t wait anymore.


    She went to her closet and tied a few bed sheets together until it reached a length of 34m, before tying one end to the legs of her bed. Then, she opened her window and carefully climbed down the rope.


    When she was about tond, one of the knots got loose and Drew fell when she was a meter above ground. She groaned a bit at the abrupt pain but didn''t have time to care about her bruised knee.


    She hobbled out of the yard, hailed a cab and made her way towards Eric''s.

 Chapter 49: Kidnapped

    The taxi stopped in front of Eric''s mansion, and Drew paid the bill. The ck driver who looked a little like Michael Jordan noticed her injured knee and couldn''t help but ask: "Miss Barrymore, do you need help ?"


    Drew shook her head: "No, thanks."


    Having limped towards the door, she rang the doorbell.


    The ck driver couldn''t help but look at the high walls. Thanks to the recent tabloids mania and noticing the paparazzi in their parked cars, he soon realized that this was Eric Williams'' newly acquired mansion.


    It didn''t really matter to him though as he was only a cab driver, he only shrugged, started his car, and left.


    "Yes ?"


    Hearing the familiar voiceing out of the inte, the absurd pain in her knee hit her and Drew felt like crying. It was only in front of Eric that she would show this side of her, because she knew he was the only one who cared.


    "Eric, It''s me." Drew said.


    "Drew, wait, I''ll be right there."


    After a while, the door opened and Eric saw a distressed Drew hastilye in. He shut the door and a.s.sessed her before asking in concern: "Drew, how did you hurt your leg ?"


    The girl said in aggrieved tone: "That crazy woman locked me in my room, I didn''t have a choice but to escape from the second floor, so I tied some bed sheets together, and when I was climbing down, one of the knots got loose."


    Eric felt he really couldn''t understand Drew''s mother, what a silly woman. He squatted to check the girl''s knee and found out that it was a little bruised and sc.r.a.ped on the surface of the skin: "Let''s go in, I''ll handle it."


    Drew held onto his sleeve and they walked two steps before Eric turned his head to look at the girl limping next to him. He sighed, bent his back, hugged her and walked towards the house.


    On the living room sofa, Eric got a first aid kit and started to clean Drew''s wound as he spoke: "Don''t do this next time, it was really dangerous, it''s fortunate that you only got yourself a minor injury.


    And about your mother." Eric suddenly halted his words, he really didn''t know how to evaluate the woman, so he said: "It won''t always be that way."


    Drew outstretched her white leg and allowed Eric to take care of her knee. After a while, she suddenly asked: "Eric, did something happen ?"


    Eric who was about to bandage her, froze and said: "Do you know something ?"


    Drew nodded her head: "I feel something is off these days, that woman is secretly getting phone calls and she also locked me in. When I made the headlines for my drug and alcohol addiction, she didn''t even bat an eyelid."


    Eric knotted the bandage on Drew''s knee and put the rest of the gauze and the alcohol back into the first aid kit. He said: "About that, I don''t know whether I should tell you or not."


    Drew didn''t speak but looked uneasily at Eric, quietly waiting for him to go on. She understood that the matter was somehow rted to her.


    "At noon, Annie called me from New York and said that someone wanted her to testify. To testify that you and I had a s.e.xual intercourse."


    Drew was really smart, and with only that single sentence, she quickly figured out the whole matter.


    She stood up, her face contorted in sorrow and anger as her voice shook: "Yeah it''s definitely her, she''s been so sneaky these days, locked me up and told me it was for my own good. She sounded like she was better than me, I''m so done with this, I want to sever my rtionship with this b.i.t.c.h."


    "Drew, don''t." Eric''s Asian roots couldn''t take it and he quickly stopped the girl from spouting out more vicious words, "La.s.s, no matter what, she''s your mother, you can''t say that. She might not be exemry, but she''s still your mother."


    Noticing Eric''s admonishing stance, Drew knew that if she kept going, he would certainly be angry. Although it had be a normal thing to her as she quarreled a lot with Ildiko Jaid at home, since Eric said it was wrong, then it was definitely wrong.


    "I''m sorry, Eric." The girl weakly apologized.


    "Alright, Drew." Eric gently took the girl in his embrace and hugged her: "There has got to be people behind her pulling the strings, otherwise your mother probably wouldn''t do this. After all, she wouldn''t benefit much from me being sent to jail."


    "I''m sorry, Eric, she.. she probably did it for the money, she has already squandered the paycheck I got from 17 Again. How can I help you ?"


    "You don''t have to apologize, Drew, it has nothing to do with you and I''ve already asked Edward to handle the matter. You''re still young, you don''t need to worry about these things."


    The two of them talked for awhile, and when Eric took a peek outside, the sun was about to set. "You rx, I''ll go make dinner. Is there something you''d like to eat ?"


    "Pizza, steak, pasta.." Drew enumerated a bunch of dishes.


    She was still listing them when Eric flicked her forehead: "Do you think I can make all these ? Let''s order takeout then. But you, always eating junk food, aren''t you afraid of bing a little chubby girl ?"


    "Nope, why, won''t you like me then ?" Drew pouted.


    Eric had just picked up the phone, that the doorbell rang. He handed it over to Drew and said: "You order, I''ll go."


    Drew took over the phone, opened the directory on the table and looked for a decent restaurant.


    Eric walked in front of the door and inquired about the person''s ident.i.ty in the inte: "Mr. Williams, I''m from the Los Angeles Police Department."


    He opened the door and was faced with a fat man in a police uniform and a thirty-year-old woman. Just looking at thetter''s appearance, Eric instantly knew who she was; after all, she really looked like Drew.


    The police officer was really reluctant to face the young man in front of him. Although thed''s current reputation wasn''t that good, his ident.i.ty was nothing to be trifled with, and the police officer really didn''t want to get on his bad side.


    However, he had no choice but to do this, otherwise the woman next to him would definitely make a fuss.


    "h.e.l.lo, Mr. Williams, I''m Matt Bryson." The fat police officer shook hands with Eric, then said, a little embarra.s.sed: "Ms. Barrymore ims that you kidnapped her daughter."


    Eric frowned, and sharply eyed Jaid. When the woman saw the youth look at her, she slightly raised her chin and tried to appear more dignified. However, faced with Eric''s oppressive bearing, her eyes wavered, it was obvious at a nce that even she wasn''t sure if her daughter was here.


    "Drew is indeed here with me, however I did not abduct her, she came over by herself. Ms. Barrymore, I think we need to have talk."


    Once Eric admitted to her daughter being there, Jaid''s momentum immediately surged: "There is nothing to talk about, have my daughtere out, I''m bringing her back, you hateful rapist !"


    Eric scowled as he coldly said: "Please watch your words ! Right now there is a police officer standing as witness, I can rightfully sue you for defamation."


    "You." Ildiko Jaid drew back a little, she turned her anxious sights towards the police officer.


    Before she could say anything, Eric took the lead: "Mr. Bryson, sorry to have troubled you, things are not as serious as thisdy has been iming. Drew and I are friends, and she came to my house this afternoon to hang out, it''s a verymon thing, is it not ? Ms.


    Barrymore''s reaction was simply over the top, and nothing else. You can take your leave, we will privately settle this."


    Matt Bryson also didn''t like having the woman around, so when he heard Eric, he took the opportunity to back down without losing face: "Then so be it. Mr. Williams, ma''am, farewell."


    "Mr. Bryson, you can''t just go like this, he." Idilko Jaid apparently didn''t want to face Eric alone, she stepped forward and clung to Matt Bryson.


    The police officer thwarted the woman''s hands and said: "Ma''am, things have already been made clear, your daughter came to Mr. Williams'' house to y, and if you keep behaving like this, I will sue you for obstructing official business !"


    Looking at Matt Bryson driving his police car away, Ildiko Jaid, who had been deprived of her only backer, suddenly lost her confidence. While Eric was still young, whether it was social status, wealth or backing he didn''tck any.


    Although Jaid''s daughter was a child star, she herself could barely be considered a middle-.s.s woman, and even if you included her experience as a small-time actress, facing the prodigy in front of her, she found herself severelycking.

 Chapter 50: Theres such a thing as fate

    "Come with me." Eric inly said to Ildiko Jaid as he shut the door and walked straight inside the mansion.


    Jaid hastily followed behind Eric, her eyes darting all over the ce. When she saw the high-end modern-styled mansion, she couldn''t help but gasp in envy.


    Although Drew was quite popr, she was still young and didn''t have that many roles offer.


    After starring in E.T, she had only yed in four or five movies and the pay she got wasn''t high, it honestly wasn''t enough for Ildiko Jaid to splurge contentedly, let alone for her to buy such a luxurious estate.


    To top it all, Drew''s self-awareness had grown a lot this year, and their mutual rtionship was also getting worse.


    Jaid knew that at this rate, it would be difficult for her to scrounge off of her daughter in the future, so when she was tempted into prosecuting Eric, she had only considered it for a moment before agreeing.


    Someone promised her that just by signing the prosecution file as Drew''s guardian she could get a lot of money, and she didn''t even need to appear in person as everything would be handled by the attorneys.


    To someone as greedy as Jaid, this was equivalent to a pie falling from the sky, how could she possibly refuse ?


    In the living room, Drew was sitting on the sofa, and when she heard the sound of someoneing in, she turned around. The moment she saw her mother, the blossoming smile on her face melted like snow under the sun.


    The girl''s expression underwent various changes, and she finally couldn''t suppress her rage as she stood up, grabbed a pillow and readily threw it at Jaid while screaming: "What are you doing here ?"


    Noticing the pillow flying over, Eric deftly intercepted it. He stared at the girl and said: "Drew, behave."


    Although Ildiko Jaid didn''t dare be arrogant in front of Eric, she didn''t have any scruples when it came to her daughter. She shouted: "You little wench, you even dare to throw things at me now ! What do you mean what am I doing here, I''m your mother, of course I came to take you home."


    "Well that''s ironic." Drew snickered, she pointed at Jaid, "I had so many nights out, one time I was so drunk I was picked up by the cops on the roadside and sent home, where were you then ? Now you''re actually iming to be my mother ? Ha, what a joke."


    Ildiko Jaid retorted: "That''s because you never listen, if you obediently stayed home, would these kind of things happen ?! Also, what''s up with all those bed sheets you ruined, do you think money grows on trees ?! That won''t do,e with me, we''re going home, we''ll talk then."


    Ildiko Jaid stepped forward, she was going to fetch Drew back.


    When Eric heard her, his forehead couldn''t help but crease. Drew''s knee was bandaged, it was obvious that she was injured, yet this woman was actually more preupied about a few sheets. He couldn''t help but feel disgusted.


    Drew who was still near the sofa, dodged her mother''s reaching hand and shouted: "Don''t even think about it, I''m not going back with you, I already know what you''re up to and I''ve told everything to Eric !


    For money you would actually go so far as to falsely use him, I''ll never forgive you, I want to sever our rtionship."


    "You.. What nonsense !" At the girl''s sudden outburst, Ildiko Jaid froze. She guiltily looked at Eric, at a loss of what to do for a moment.


    Seeing her mother so shocked, Drew sneered: "What''s wrong, bull''s eye, huh ? Leaving aside the fact that Eric and I have never had this kind of rtionship, even if we did, as long as I don''t acknowledge it, so what ?


    I dare you to try and falsely use Eric, then I''ll dly testify against you and see you off to jail."


    Noticing the girl wasn''t pulling her punches and had even apparently more to spare, Eric hastily stopped her in a timely manner. "Alright, enough. Drew you go upstairs, I need to talk with your mother alone."


    Drew stared at Ildiko Jaid, then she coldly snorted and left.


    "Sit down, let''s talk." Eric put back the pillow on the sofa and sat down.


    Ildiko Jaid''s was slightly down as she sat opposite Eric. The words her daughter had said kept reying in her head and she suddenly realized that the money wouldn''t be so easy to get.


    She had originally thought that the rtionship between Drew and Eric was the same as the one her daughter had with those previous scoundrels. She thought that, as long as she could persuade Drew and entice her with money, the girl would agree to testify against Eric.


    But after Drew''s intense re up just now, Ildiko Jaid realized that her daughter had fallen helplessly in love with the man in front of her. The mother and daughter had quarreled a lot in the past, but Drew had never brought out something as radical as wanting the severing of their rtionship.


    More importantly, even if she had prosecuted Eric and eventually lost thewsuit, Ildiko Jaid felt she wouldn''t be suffering any losses. But now, Drew had actually stated that she would testify against her, and with the youth''s wealth and status, would he let her go so easily ?


    Think of this, Jaid couldn''t help but shudder.


    Eyeying the woman who seemed to be struggling internally, Eric''s lips curved into a sneer. He asked: "Well, you heard Drew, so what are you gonna do ?"


    Jaid stayed silent.


    "Perhaps the other party has given you money to do this, but I am no pushover. As Drew said, what you are nning on doing is nothing short of false usation, and I can sue you for it. Once you''re in jail, those who instigated you to do this, I guarantee they won''t lift a single finger for you.


    The next thing that happens is Drew growing up and, out of hatred, severing your mother-daughter rtionship. Do you know whates after that ?"


    Opposite him, Jaid subconsciously nodded, then she hastily shook her head.


    Eric continued: "Whates after that is you losing your most important source of ie. You''re then likely to spend the rest of your life in poverty, you might even end up in the slums of L.A."


    Thinking of that horrible possibility, Jaid was emboldened enough to retort: "No, impossible, she wouldn''t do that to me, I raised her !"


    "So what, you''ve lived off of her for so many years, Drew doesn''t owe you anything. Even if you tried to appeal to the media with your story, no one would sympathize with you."


    Having said this, Eric let the woman ponder on his words for a moment before asking: "Did those people pay you yet ?"


    Ildiko Jaid feebly shook her head: "They said that they would give the money to me once I signed the papers."


    Eric nodded with satisfaction: "That''s good, it means it''s still not toote now, so I''ll give you another option. Go back and reject those people, I will give you money instead, but you have to promise not to interfere with Drew''s life anymore.


    I will a.s.sign her a manager who will take care of her daily life, and once Drew has reached adulthood, I will convince her to pay you a yearly alimony, enough for you to live a decent middle-.s.s life."


    Eric finished, took out his checkbook, filled a check in and pushed it in front of the woman.


    Ildiko Jaid nced at the sum inscribed on it, and her eyes shed. She slightly stretched her hand, but quickly drew back, as she greedily stated: "Mr. Williams, one million dors, is it not too little ?"


    Eric snorted coldly: "You''re right, maybe I should change it to half a million."


    Ildiko Jaid hastily grabbed the check and hugged it as if her life depended on it.


    "Well, since you''ve made your choice, then I have a few things to say. First of all, you can''t make money using Drew''s name anymore, that includes disclosing her private life to reporters, appearing on TV stations or writing a book about her.


    I''ll have mywyer draw up a private contract and enforce it, once you break our agreement, then everything I have mentioned today no longer stands, and you''ll have to spit out as much money as you got."


    Jaid weighed the pros and cons, and realizing Eric''s deal would bring her more benefits, she quickly nodded.


    "Very well, Ms. Barrymore, you can take your leave, I''ll have thewyers prepare the contract as soon as possible."


    Ildiko Jaid chatted with Eric for a bit, then left, no longer caring about Drew as she hurried away.


    Once the woman was out, Drew went back downstairs. Her face was flushed with excitement as she rushed towards Eric and rubbed her pet.i.te body against his: "One million, Eric you''re so generous, this one is yours now."


    Eric rubbed Drew''s head and smiled: "What do you mean ''you''re mine'', girl you''re not a doll. By the way, you owe me one million dors, you''ll have to pay me back in the future."


    Drew shamelessly said: "No way, I''ll take responsibility, I''ll repay you with my body Ouch !"


    Eric flicked her forehead: "Stop talking nonsense, did you order the food yet ?"


    "Yup, I did." Drew said. "Eric, why did you tell her that I''ll give her money every year in the future. I don''t want to support her, I''d rather she became dead poor."


    Eric sighed as he rubbed the little girl''s head. Drew was still only a child after all, it was inevitable for her thoughts to grow extreme, she still had a lot to learn.


    His past''s Drew had even given alimony to the father that had abandoned her, so he reckoned things would probably not be that much different this time around.


    "You''ll understand in the future Drew.. There''s such a thing as fate, and people are just unable to extricate themselves from it."


    Drew seemed to understand as she nodded, but soon changed the subject: "So Eric, can I live in your house ?"


    Eric shook his head: "You should go back to studying, I''m going to send you to a good boarding school, how long has it been since you''ve attended a .s.s ?"


    "Ah, Eric, don''t ! I get a headache every time I see a book, can''t I just keep making movies ?"


    "No." Eric categorically refused and said: "Like it or not, you at least have to finish high school, this can also be counted as gaining experience. Besides, you''re still young, there''s not that many movies for you to star in."


    "Alright, I''ll listen to you." Drew obediently agreed to Eric''s arrangements, while already calcting ways to do what she loved most: skip ss.

 Chapter 51: Feel like killing you

    The takeout arrived quickly, and once the two people finished eating, night hadpletely fallen. After watching TV on the couch for a while, Eric led Drew upstairs to prepare her bedroom.


    "Eric, I want to sleep with you." Drew pouted as she took the quilt that Eric had just fetched from inside a closet.


    The man took out a pillow and dusted it off as he casually said: "Stop that, Drew. Do you want me to get in trouble ?"


    "But this is your home, seriously, who will know ?"


    "You''re quick to forget, huh. If it weren''t for this warped logic of yours, that incident a few days ago wouldn''t have happened. Alright,e with me."


    Drew reluctantly followed behind Eric to a spare bedroom.


    "The bathroom is right here Ah right, I forgot, you can''t wash because of your knee, well whatever, go to bed early then."


    Being the long-winded elder that he was, he spent some time nagging her before getting out of her bedroom and going to his study.


    After writing a few pages of Resident Evil, Eric stretched, opened a drawer and pulled out a pack of cigarettes before going the balcony and gazing over the brightly-lit Los Angeles.


    He sat down on a recliner, and lit a cigarette as he leaned back and somehow recalled his conversation with Annie on the phone; did he really give off the feeling of being ethereal ?


    He heard a subtle sound behind him and turned around to look. Because he didn''t have any pajamas to give her, Drew was wearing a loose T-shirt, and right now the.s.s was tiptoeing quietly, walking over like a cat. Realizing she had been found out, she cutely stuck her tongue out.


    "I can''t sleep." The recliner was quite s.p.a.cious, so Drew gently pushed Eric to one side andid next to him with her head on his arm.


    s.n.a.t.c.hing the cigarette from Eric''s hand, she skillfully took a puff before slightly knitting her eyebrows and handing it back to him.


    "Too strong for you, huh ?" Eric knocked the ash off the cigarette and smiled as he asked.


    "Yeah." Drew replied.


    "In the future, don''t touch those things." Eric said as he patted her head.


    "Um."


    Nights in L.A were very cold in this season, Eric himself was fine, however Drew was only wearing a T-shirt and her legs werepletely bare. He took two more puffs before stubbing out the cigarette and throwing it in the trash.


    Then he picked up a nket he had put aside before, and covered both of their bodies up.


    "Eric, what are you thinking about ?" Drew tilted her head and curiously asked.


    Eric carefullyid the nket on the girl before whispering: "I was thinking about Annie, I wonder where she is in New York now ?"


    "Actually." Drew hesitated a moment, and said: "I know."


    "Huh ?"


    "I promised you, remember ? That I would rify things with Aniston, so I inquired about her whereabouts to some people I know and got her contact information. She lives in Manhattan, I don''t remember the specific address, but I''ll write it on paper for you and give it to you tomorrow."


    Eric smiled: "You''re willing to do that ?"


    "I want you to be happy."


    "What a good girl."


    Drew decided to strike while the iron was hot: "That warrants a reward, right ? How about a kiss ??"


    Eric softly kissed her on the cheek, and Drew squinted her eyes in satisfaction before licking his cheek in a giggle.


    "Eric, sing me a song, yeah ?"


    The youth didn''t refuse, and patting the girl''s head, he opened: "Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur." [1]


    "Hey not a kid''s song" Drew smiled as she looked at Eric and suddenly remembered something. She drilled out of the nket and walked inside the house. After awhile, she came back holding an acoustic guitar.


    "This was hanging on my bedroom wall. Eric, do you y the guitar ?"


    Eric took the instrument, and fiddled with it for a bit before casually saying: "No, this is something the former owner left behind."


    "Try it, I want to hear you y." Drew said as she squeezed back under the nket.


    Eric sat up with the guitar on his thigh, he tweaked it a few times and gazed at the illuminated city in front of him before gently opening:


    " I saw your weeping eyes reflected in the window of a Boeing 727


    You looked down at the city


    Saw it slowly growing tiny


    As the sunset turned h.e.l.l''s kitchen into heaven


    You turned your face to me and I tucked your hair behind your ears


    Said nothing can go wrong


    So long as we are together


    So long as we are


    So long. " [2]


    He had already forgotten his guitar skills from his University days, Eric was just strumming along with the flow as his slightly hoa.r.s.e voice traveled through the night breeze, packed with emotions.


    Drew quietly reveled in the sound of his voice for a while, then said: "Eric, we''ll always be together, right ?"


    Putting the guitar aside, Ericid back down again. He recalled what Annie had told him earlier today and how he hadnded in this era after a drunken night. "Who knows, one day you might wake up to find me dead."


    Drew pulled Eric''s arm as a pillow and gently rubbed her head on it: "If you die, I''ll die with you."


    Ericughed: "Well that''s romantic. ording to Western conventions, we might just be immortalized in a poignant love story t.i.tled "Eric and Drew", then be adapted to a y and performed in theaters years after years.


    In the Orient, our love might be pictured as a brave and unyielding one between a man and a woman, who ended up as a pair of b.u.t.terfly, flying together for eternity.


    Housewives will shed tears at our mention, and old-fashion parents will chide their rebellious children borrowing our momentum: If you keep being naughty, careful you don''t turn into a b.u.t.terfly !"


    "Ha ha." Drew chuckled and said: "Eric, now that you''ve said that, I can''t help but feel like killing you andmit suicide like in those tragedies, then we''ll be together forever."


    Eric flicked her forehead and said: "What the, that''s not romantic at all, that''s the kind of story that will end up as a bizarre murder case on some random detective''s desk."


    Drew pouted as she rubbed her forehead and protested as usual. The two people stayed silent for awhile, before the girl went on again.


    "Eric, what''s your dream ?"


    "Why are you asking ?"


    "Just because, I''m curious."


    Eric sat up and said: "I don''t like using ''dream'', I feel there''s no end to dreams, so I prefer to use ''ideals'', it sounds better."


    "And so, what''s your ideal ?"


    "My ideal, huh" Eric thought for a moment, before roguishly saying: "To drown in female celebrities, create a group of child stars and be a legend of the movie circle ?"


    Drew knocked Eric''s arm with the back of her head, smiled and said: "This guy !"


    "Alright, it''ste, go to sleep."


    "Ah, can''t I sleep here ?"


    "You''ll catch a cold."


    "Then you bring me back." Drew circled her arms around Eric''s neck like a spoiled kid.


    Eric reluctantly stood up, reached out and held Drew. He had just straightened up that he instantly sank down and groaned: "Ah, so heavy, I can''t do this."


    "Hateful guy." Drew was first taken aback but then smiled tenderly at the man, firmly grabbing his neck and refusing to let go. Eric had no choice but to carry the girl back to her bedroom.


    _ _ _ _


    [1] Originally a children''s song called "Warm Kitty", poprized by The Big Bang Theoryter on.


    [2] So Long (As We Are Together) , by Tim Minchin.

 Chapter 52: Preventing the sale?

    "What, the woman rejected us ? Didn''t you tell me before that this was settled ?" In a vi in Malibu, Blount Cohen had just gotten up that his a.s.sistant hade in a hurry, bringing bad news.


    "Mr. Cohen, it had been settled in the beginning, butst night when we contacted her, the woman suddenly changed her mind."


    His day had barely begun that his mood was already down the dumps, Blount Cohen frowned: "If she thinks the money isn''t enough, can''t you just add more ?"


    His a.s.sistant shook his head and said: "No, I thought so too and tried to incite her, but she bluntly refused. I think she might havee to a private agreement with Eric Williams."


    The man handed a newspaper to Blount Cohen, and when thetter looked at it, he saw a picture of Drew Barrymore and her mother appearing at the door of Eric''s mansion.


    Blount Cohen didn''t read the content, it was probably just some paparazzi nonsense anyway. He threw the newspaper on the table, thought for a moment, and said: "Is there anyway for the woman to know that we were behind this ?"


    If Drew''s mother and Eric had reallye to an agreement, then the woman was likely to disclose all the information she had about the person who instigated her.


    Although Blount Cohen was petty and narrow-minded, he had learned the hard way that Eric Williams was not someone to belittle, who knew when thed would create another storm. Cohen would not make the same mistake and treat Eric as an ordinary young man.


    His a.s.sistant quickly shook his head: "Of course not, Mr. Cohen, I''ve never had any direct contact with her, n.o.body will know it was our doing."


    "That''s good." Blount Cohen was somewhat unwilling, he hesitated a moment before saying: "Let''s temporarily leave it at that."


    The a.s.sistant fawningly suggested: "Actually, Mr. Cohen, we could use another method, we don''t necessarily have to go through Drew Barrymore''s mother."


    Blount Cohen waved his hand: "I said we''ll temporarily leave it at that."


    Noticing his boss'' unhappy look, the a.s.sistant readily shut his mouth.


    If it was in the past, Blount Cohen would certainly not let the matter go, Eric had humiliated him big time, and if he didn''t take revenge, then he''d probably blow up from the pent-up anger.


    But now he had more important problems at hands.


    After j.a.pan''s Sony consortium had acquired CBS Records, they started frequently contacting the CocC board in an attempt to s.n.a.t.c.h away Columbia Pictures from the Samsung Group.


    As a result of the mediatic storm from before, Blount Cohen had used all he could to barely stabilize his position.


    So long as Columbia stayed in the hands of The CocC group, he just had to make use of his many years of connections and might just be able to keep his current position for a few more years, or better even, until his retirement.


    But if Columbia was acquired by the j.a.panese, he, whom they didn''t know from Adam, was certain to get sacked.


    So Blount Cohen had his hands currently full gathering opposing forces into a united front and thinking up varieties of ways to prevent the CocC''s board from selling.


    He even had to put Home Alone, this taboo card, on the table. After all, although Columbia had lost a lot thanks to the gambling agreement, Home Alone was nheless the only movie from the past few years that Columbia had to show in means of outstanding performance.


    Blount Cohen rubbed his temples, looked up and said: "Right, I''m having lunch with Mr. Trevor from the CocC''s board of directors, I recall he likes Latin beauties, so arrange for several Latin actresses to apany us, remember, they must be beautiful."


    This type of thing had already be amon urrence to the a.s.sistant, he quickly nodded: "Don''t worry Mr. Cohen, I''ll make sure of it."


    ...


    "Eric, howe you''re sote ? Kapoor Sid has been waiting for half an hour." Once the youth arrived, Jeffrey Hanson startedining.


    Eric apologized: "I''m sorry, Jeffrey, I encountered a traffic jam on my way."


    "Whatever, let''s hurry and go in."


    Because Firefly''s office was still undergoing renovations, Eric had instead chosen to meet Kapoor Sid in a coffee shop in order to discuss the buyout of thetter''s agency.


    Kapoor Sid was a forty-year-old bald white man who sported a beard, and he was as tall as Caucasians, around one meter ny.


    Eric came forward and held out his hand to the man, "I apologize for beingte, Mr. Sid."


    Kapoor Sid didn''t show any displeasure, even if he wasn''t thrilled at the youth''s tardiness, he still smiled and said: "h.e.l.lo, do you mind if I call you Eric ?"


    "Of course not Kapoor, please sit." Eric also conveniently changed his way of address.


    "Eric, I''m already aware of your many aplishments, from the publication of Jura.s.sic Park, selling your 17 Again script, and directing Home Alone to your gambling agreement with Columbia.


    Each one of your move was done meticulously, which I reckon makes you a smart and sensible individual, so I can''t help but wonder, why exactly did you im that you would only buy my firm if I were to stay ?


    I was going to sell and continue to develop in Europe when Jeffrey told me about your condition, but you should already know about my situation, after getting into a headlock with Michael Ovitz, my position in this industry is downright shaky."


    Eric bluntly said: "Because I''m not afraid of the CAA. Perhaps other moviepanies will bow their heads to them, but I won''t. They''ve contracted stars ? I can create them.


    All I need is a capable person to handle the rest, someone like you."


    Kapoor listened to the young man, then shook his head and smiled: "Eric, you''re really confident."


    "If I wasn''t, I wouldn''t be where I am today."


    Remembering the masterstroke that was the gambling agreement, Kapoor reluctantly nodded. He added: "Eric, turning someone into a superstar isn''t easy, I worked at the CAA for many years, and I can tell you that there''s a professional team working in the shadows of every single Hollywood star."


    Eric interrupted Kapoor''s speech and asked: "Would you say Stuart Runkle now counts as one ?"


    Kapoor apparently knew about Home Alone''s protagonist, he said: "Of course, he could be said to be Hollywood''s current top child star."


    "So," Eric continued, "If Iter shoot movies as popr as Home Alone with the actors I''ll have attributed to you, you''re confident you''ll be able to manage them ?"


    "Without a problem, but Eric, this a.s.sumption of yours is meaningless, Home Alone''s sess ispletely attributed to luck, it''s not something one can just replicate."


    "If you don''t try, how will you know ?" Eric said as he put his hands on the table and crossed his fingers. He asked, a little puzzled: "Kapoor, why is it that you, as a seller who should be doing anything to convince me to buy, seems to be trying to... prevent the sale ?"


    Kapoor shrugged: "Eric, I''m an agent, not a profiteer. I''m just being honest with you, all I want is to sell my agency and convince the buyer to let the current employees keep their jobs; I never intended to stay."


    "When you work as an agent, do you also negotiate with moviepanies so honestly ?"


    Kapoor quickly shook his head: "Of course not, I would have given my all for the greater good of my employer, but these are two different things, Eric."


    "Then there''s no problem. Kapoor, I''ll only buy your agency on the condition that you stay. If you don''t, buying bes meaningless to me."


    "It seems I have no choice ?"


    Eric firmly nodded.


    Kapoor sipped on his coffee and thought for a moment, and in the end, he agreed. What changed his mind was expectation; the hope that the prodigy in front of him would keep on creating more miracles.


    _ _ _ _


    I used the terms ''brokerage firm'' and ''broker'' a lot before, but I''ll be changing them to ''agency'' and ''agent'' from now on.

 Chapter 53: Be the bad guy

    Kapoor Sid gave his consent, and the two men began discussing the agency''s future. In Eric''s opinion, the only valuable person in the Sid Agency was Kapoor Sid himself.


    Although Kapoor wasn''t one of the CAA''s founding team of five, his ability certainly didn''t fall short. In the firm, about seven to eight agents remained, as well as twenty mediocre actors with basically no value. Well, at least that was the case until Eric acquired the ce.


    Sid Agency had never handled any first-.s.s celebrity, but because of Michael Ovitz''s influence, even the several well-known actors who had been here for awhile, had no choice but to leave.


    Those who had stayed did so for two reasons; first, they had no alternative, and second, Kapoor was a very capable person.


    "Eric, a million dors, I find it hard to ept." Kapoor expressed his dissatisfaction at Eric''s offer. When he was still in the CAA, he''s annual ie alone was more than that.


    Eric calmly said: "Kapoor, your agency has only around twenty contracted actors, not to mention that mediocre talents like them are a dime a dozen, I could find as many as I''d like by just walking down the streets if I wanted to."


    Kapoor retorted: "Eric, they are all very good actors, I''ve been an agent for many years, and my eyes have never deceived me, they simplyck an opportunity."


    "All Hollywood aspiring actors are struggling because theyck opportunities, Kapoor. Just count that million dor as my gift to you, my real offer is a 10% share of the agency, I believe that in a few years you''ll find yourself having struck the greatest deal of your life.


    As for those actors, I can bestow upon them the opportunities they dream of."


    Kapoor knew that what Eric said made sense, he sighed and nodded slightly.


    Since the matter had been settled, the ownership contract was transferred to Eric and put under his name. As they had also decided to modify its appetion, Eric unscrupulously changed it to "United Talent Agency".


    In his past, alongside the CAA and WMA, the UTA had been one of Hollywood''s top 5 agencies, and was founded in 1991.


    They busied themselves until noon, had lunch, and Eric then followed Kapoor Sid to the agency located in Burbank. The ce looked very shabby.


    The office was unexpectedly full of people, apparently they also knew that today was a special day.


    Eric saw all these agents and actors, and suddenly thought of something. He nodded at the crowd, then took Jeffrey and Kapoor into a separate office and asked: "Kapoor, how much of amission are we getting for each artists ?"


    "Six %."


    "So little ?" Eric was taken aback: "Shouldn''t it at least be 10% ?"


    Jeffrey interrupted: "Eric, that was in the past."


    Kapoor followed with an exnation: "In order to be able to stay afloat in front of the CAA, most of the agencies out there didn''t have a choice put to lower their demands, especially the small ones like us, asking for 10% would be ridiculous.


    The only ones who would ask for that kind or percentage are only the CAA and the WMA."


    Eric thought for a moment, and said: "Change it to 10% from now on."


    "Eric, isn''t it asking for too much ?" Kapoor stayed silent, and Jeffrey couldn''t help but opine.


    Eric exined: "If we don''t modify it now, once the agency gets momentum, it''ll be harder to do it. So. who''s gonna break it to them ?"


    Jeffrey and Kapoor looked at each other, then simultaneously turned towards Eric.


    "Sigh, alright, I''ll be the bad guy."


    ...


    "I won''t introduce myself as I''m sure you all know who I am. I have the pleasure to announce to you that I''m now officially this agency''s  whose name has been changed to United Talent Agency  new owner.


    I will start filming my next movie after the New Year, and as long as you seed during an audition, you will be given priority to the role. You''re all aware that, thanks to Home Alone, the originally nameless Stuart Runkle and Matthew Perry, have now be hot celebrities.


    Matthew used to only y in supporting roles on TV, but thanks to Home Alone, he was sessfully able to make his way to the big screen."


    Noticing the faces of the crowd glowing with undisguised joy, Eric thought he had eased them into it enough and changed the subject: "However, I am a capitalist, not a phnthropist. I''ll give you the opportunity that you''ve longed for, but you also need to know to give back.


    The artists'' contracts will be modified, and we will be asking for a 10%mission instead of the previous 6. If anyone finds that difficult to ept, you can choose to leave and terminate your contract."


    Eric finished and went back to the office. He believed that even if these people''s IQ wasn''t in the 99.9th percentile, they would still be able to make a rational decision.


    When he entered the room, Jeffrey and Kapoor were discussing the preparations for Pretty Woman.


    "Eric, Jeffrey said that you wanted to invite the actress Sophie Marceau, is it still the case ?" Kapoor asked.


    Eric nodded: "Yeah. Why, is there a problem ?"


    Kapoor said: "If you want to start filming by the New Year, I advise you to go to Europe. Since Jeffrey told me about the fact that you wanted to cast her, I started checking news about her, and she''s apparently scheduled to appear in Andrzej uawski''s new movie.


    Even if you were to change your schedule by aligning with hers, I doubt that director will let her do it since it''ll probably tire the woman out."


    Eric recalled that, indeed, ording to his memories, Sophie must''ve just been about to shoot My Night Are More Beautiful Than Your Days.


    "Then we will go with Julia Roberts. Right, Kapoor, I hope you can personally be her agent."


    Jeffrey advised again: "Eric, you know you can''t afford to screw this movie up, many people are waiting for you to make a joke out of yourself, they still."


    "Jeffrey, I know what you''re getting at." Eric smiled and said: "You''ve seen the newspapers, right ? Right now my first two movies are still a hot topic, so even if the new one I shot was p.o.o.p, we would still be able to earn money.


    As long as the quality is good, it would be difficult to fail even if we wanted to, so why not make use of this to endorse one of our own actresses ?"


    "What if that Julia Roberts'' acting is really bad ?"


    Eric''s lips curved into a smile that was not quite a smile, "Rest a.s.sured, I will personally teach her."


    Just like Eric antic.i.p.ated, none of the actors chose to leave, instead all readily epting the new contract terms.


    Once he was done with everything, Eric was nning to drive home when Jeffrey got into the pa.s.senger''s seat: "I sent my car to maintenance, you mind giving me a ride ?"


    "No at all."


    On the road, Jeffrey asked with concern: "Eric, you and Drew.. in the end, what happened ? I think I saw in the newspaper today that she came to see you yesterday, and that her mother also swung by."


    Eric didn''t have anything to hide, and earnestly told Jeffrey about everything that had happened yesterday.


    "Alright, I admit Drew is a talented actress, but do you have to let her stay at your house ?


    You don''t have any blood rtionship with her, coupled with the media and public''s spections, even if Drew''s mother doesn''te to find trouble, those a.s.sociations protecting children''s rights will definitely not let you off. Drew''s only thirteen after all."


    "Don''t worry, I know all that, I was nning on sending the.s.s to a boarding school."


    "That''s good then." Jeffrey nodded, "Eric, you. you really don''t have any feelings towards that lolita*, right ?"


    Eric unconsciously stepped on the brake pedal, and almost hit the Chevrolet behind him, warranting him the cursing and swearing of the fat guy who was driving it.


    Startled, Eric looked at his friend: "Jeffrey, you think Drew resembles a lolita ?"


    That girl was obviously a goblin ! Ah, and one with at least five hundred years of practice at that.


    "Anyways, you should pay attention to propriety." Jeffrey seemed to have thoroughlybeled Eric as a lolicon.


    _ _ _ _


    * lolita: a s.e.xually precocious young girl.

 Chapter 54: Wise enough to not refuse

    Since the news that Drew had stayed overnight at Eric''s home broke, newspapers and tabloids'' sales directly shot up. Eric reckoned the number of paparazzi would probably also proportionally increase.


    The next day after he acquired the agency, articles had already started to pop up.


    One of the reporters from The Los Angeles Daily:


    "It is difficult to understand why Eric Williams has chosen to buyout Sid Agency. Kapoor Sid indeed possesses outstanding ability as an agent, however, thanks to his fallout with Michael Ovitz, he was evicted from the CAA and has been struggling in the industry ever since.


    Rumor has it that Kapoor Sid had initially intended to sell the agency and develop in Europe, however Eric Williams'' insisted on his staying.


    It seems that the young director''s sess has gotten to his head, and he probably still does not realize that going against the CAA was probably not the wisest choice to make."


    The Hollywood Reporter focused on the matter of Eric increasing themission:


    "Renamed as the "United Talent Agency", it has been reported to us that the first thing Eric Williams did once he took over, was to increase the iingmissions to 10%. It was also said that Eric Williams would give priority to his own agency''s actors and actresses whenever he''d shoot a movie.


    As long as his standard remains simr to 17 Again or Home Alone, let alone 10, even if he was to demand 20%, it would still be enough to make a lot of people join him in drove. However, this is only wishful thinking as making movies is like gambling, and one just cannot keep on winning.


    We believe Eric Williams might have some difficulty getting through this year unscathed."


    It was the same with other newspapers, they were all criticizing Eric''s move. Some had even tried to squeeze out everything of this hot topic, and issued an invitation to interview Michael Ovitz.


    What was even more surprising was that the CAA''s boss hadn''t declined, and although he hadn''t came forward himself, he had let his a.s.sistant disclose that he was very optimistic about Eric Williams'' potential, and hoped that their two sides would be able to cooperate.


    There was seemingly nothing wrong with this statement, however some of the media saw things differently; to them, it was simply a veiled warning to the young director: as long as Kapoor Sid stands on your side, the chance of us cooperating is slim.


    But of course, those were only conjectures.


    Then, it was announced that Eric''s next movie would be called Pretty Woman, and it didn''t take long for the resourceful paparazzi to find out that the director had extended an invitation to Richard Gere.


    This made the paps excited again as Richard Gere was a signed artist of the CAA.


    Under normal circ.u.mstances, the actor would probably ept Eric''s invitation without a second thought, however things were different now, and if the negotiations fell out, it was enough to confirm the paps'' previous spections.


    ...


    In the newly renovated Firefly Studios'' conference room, Horner Willie sat leisurely with a cup of coffee. He was one of the best CAA''s agents, and was also the one in charge of Richard Gere, which was the reason for his presence here.


    The conference room''s door was pushed open, and Eric came in dressed in a suit. He went over to the man and smiled as he extended his hand: "I''m sorry to have kept you waiting, Mr. Willie."


    "Never mind." Horner Willie disdainfully stood up, shook hands with Eric, and proceeded to sit back down.


    Eric slightly frowned as he sat opposite Horner Willie, before he swept the conference room with his gaze in puzzlement. "Mr. w.i.l.l.y, I remember asking Mr. Gere toe, as the concerned party, why isn''t he here ?"


    Horner Willie shook his head and said: "Richard is busy with other things, he has given me carte nche to handle this matter."


    Although he already had an inkling as to where this was going, Eric still politely asked: "I sent a general outline of the script for Mr. Gere to read, I wonder what he thought of it ?"


    Horner Willie said: "Richard read your screeny and was very satisfied, Mr. Williams, it''s just that, the 500,000 $ paycheck that you are offering is hardly satisfying.


    You should know that, Richard starred in An Officer and a Gentleman, a movie that made a North American box office of more than 100 million $."


    Eric sneered in his heart, that self-righteous guy was taking him for a greenhorn. "Mr. Willie, I was still small when An Officer and a Gentleman came out Right, in which year was it released again ? I''d like to have a look at itter."


    "1982." Horner Willie blurted out, and noticing the unconcealed ridicule in Eric''s eyes, the man realized he had been yed.


    A Hollywood actor''s paycheck was mostly based on how much one of their movies made at the box office; the higher it was, the more they would get. However, it was calcted based on the box office and other factors of recent years.


    An Officer and a Gentleman had already been released seven years ago, so it basically had no worth as a reference now.


    Before issuing an invite to Richard Gere, Eric had made his research and was fully aware of the man''s current circ.u.mstances. Inst three years, the movies he starred in hadn''t made a single good box office, the only decent one was No Mercy, with a final grossing of only 12 million $.


    One of the movies he had recently done a cameo for had only made a final box office of 180,000 $. No, you didn''t read wrong, it was indeed a miserly 180,000 $.


    So Eric was being generous with his 500,000 $ offer.


    "Well, Mr. Willie, since you estimate that my offer is not enough, let''s hear what you have in mind."


    Horner Willie quicklyposed himself, he said: "Actually, Mr. Williams, your 500,000 $ offer isn''t something we can''t ept. My boss is a generous man, and as long as Kapoor Sid leaves the United States, he will not make it hard for him.


    It was originally meant to be this way, but with you interfering, it has put Mr.Ovitz in a difficult position, so."


    Eric sneered: "So the premise for our cooperation is ckmailing me to dismiss Kapoor, is it ? How ridiculous, he is forcing a man to leave the country and you still have the nerve to call him generous."


    "Mr. Williams." Horner Willie''s face turned cold: "Although you have made some achievements, in front of the immensity of the CAA, you''re simply akin to an ant. It would be wise of you to ept our offer and."


    "And if I don''t ?"


    "Then I''d like to remind you, Mr. Williams, that Stuart Runkle is one of our signed artists, and if you go against us, I''m afraid that you won''t be able to sessfully shoot Home Alone''s sequel."


    "It seems that the CAA has expanded so much that they''ve forgotten their purpose." Eric didn''t try to hide the sneer on his face, "Let me remind you that you''re a talent agency whose aim is to put the interest of its clients above everything. It''s the only way you can survive."


    Horner Willie snorted: "We do not need your reminder, Mr. Williams. We''ve always been doing so, and even though we couldn''t reach an agreement, we''ll get Richard to star in another movie aspensation. The CAA does notck high-quality film projects, you see."


    "I hope that after Pretty Woman is released, Mr. Richard Gere will still feel yourpensation was enough." Eric said in a meaningful tone, before standing up and saying: "Mr. Willie, there''s no need for further discussion. Go back and tell Mr.


    Ovitz, that although Hollywood does notck actors, as long as a CAA signed artist enters my sight, I will keep extending invitations, but will never ept any of your binding conditions. I hope at that time you will be wise enough to not refuse me."


    Horner Willie looked coldly at Eric and said: "I hope you won''t regret today''s decision."


    Then, without saying anything more, he picked up his doc.u.ments and left straight away.

 Chapter 55: Product placement

    The conference room''s door was pushed open, and Jeffrey Hanson and Kapoor came in. Once they saw Eric''s gloomy face, they knew things had gone haywire.


    Kapoor was certain this was rted to him, otherwise there was no way Richard Gere would reject Eric''s offer.


    "Eric, it''s better if I quit after all. I can just go to Europe. Although, their movie industry is in recession, it won''t be hard for me to find a job with my abilities."


    Eric rubbed his somewhat stiff cheek, and said: "No, I will not make anypromises, just do what you''re supposed to do without minding the rest, Kapoor. Right, I wanted you to manage Julia, so what do you think of her ?"


    "I specifically went to see Ms. Roberts'' Mystic Pizza, and also met with her to talk for a short while, but to be honest with you Eric, I''m not optimistic about her potential.


    The girl has only had short-term performance training, and whether it be her acting or her appearance, they are both average."


    Kapoor''s tone was low and slow as he looked at Eric''s face from time to time. He knew that Julia was rmended by him, and judging by the tabloids'' gossips, the rtionship between the two couldn''t be ordinary. He was afraid that, if he was too blunt, the youth would be angered.


    However, once Kapoor finished, Eric nodded in agreement: "Right, I think so too."


    "Then why are you letting her star as a lead ?" Jeffrey asked, he had always wanted Eric to change her to a more famous actress.


    "Hm, should I say intuition ? That in the future Julia''s fame will blow up, that she''ll pile up awards and be famous throughout the world." Eric hadn''t even finished that Jeffrey and Kapoor looked ready to call the loony squad on him.


    Eric smiled: "Alright, just joking. For Pretty Woman, although the female lead needs to be beautiful, it can''t be at the level of destroying nations, and so Julia seems like the perfect fit to me.


    If the female lead is too much of a beauty, the audience will easily focus on her face and ignore the majority of the plot. In the future, when people watch the movie, they''ll only think about the ''pretty face'' that starred in it, and it will be counted as a failure."


    Jeffrey and Kapoor had already read the Pretty Woman''s script, and listening to Eric''s a.n.a.lysis, they couldn''t help but agree that the youth had a point.


    "Now, the most important thing is to cast a male lead." Eric looked at the two men before saying: "Although I really wanted Richard Gere, since the other party refused, we''ll have to choose someone else. Do you have any suggestions ?"


    "How about Michael Dous ?" Jeffrey took the lead and suggested: "He yed a stock market''s tyc.o.o.n inst year''s Wall Street, the image he gave off then seems quite simr to the one Edward''s gives off in Pretty Woman."


    Eric was in the middle of reminiscing about Wall Street when he heard Kapoor softly caution: "Eric, Michael Dous is a signed artist of the CAA."


    The three of them stayed silent, before Eric said: "Kapoor, you are the professional here, so you do it. Sort a list of actors that would suit Edward''s image and set up auditions as soon as possible, our time is tight."


    Kapoor acquiesced: "No problem, if there''s nothing else, then I''ll get to it right away." At Eric''s nod, the man hurriedly left the conference room.


    ncing at the disappearing figure of Kapoor, Jeffrey softly sighed: "Eric, do you think this is worth it ?"


    "You mean about Kapoor and the CAA''s stuff ?"


    Jeffrey simply nodded.


    "It''s not about it being worth it or not, Jeffrey, I''m different from other people, you''ll understand in the future. Perhaps other moviepanies will fear giants like the CAA, but I won''t, I don''t need to."


    "I don''t understand where you get that self-confidence from." Jeffrey shook his head: "Right, Eric, you mentioned you wanted a sports car sponsorship for the movie, so I contacted the headquarters of Ferrari based in Los Angeles like you asked, and they were okay with providing us a free sports car until they learned that the film dealt with prost.i.tution.


    Now they''re still hesitating but I suppose we should look for another brand, what do you think ?"


    "Let''s do that." While he liked Ferrari, if the other party didn''t want to grab on this promotional opportunity, he wouldn''t insist. Think back to Jeffrey''s words, Eric suddenly asked: "Jeffrey, you said that the other party had promised to provide us with a free sports car for the shooting ?"


    Jeffrey was confused for a moment, he carefully recalled what he had said for a moment and nodded his head.


    "What about the money ?"


    Jeffrey said: "Eric, with your fame, looking for a sports car brand who will provide a car for free is an easy thing to do, there''s no need to mention money."


    "I mean." Eric waved his right hand in a slightly annoyed manner: "You didn''t ask them for a fee ?"


    Jeffrey was startled and said: "How is that possible ?"


    Eric thought that this wasmon sense, but looking at Jeffrey''s reaction, it was clear that this type of advertising concept hadn''t been imnted yet. In his past, the industry of product cement had crossed the 20 billion $ a year scale.


    "Jeffrey, you think about it for a minute. ording to the script, the sports car appears a lot in the first twenty minutes, and even the female lead keeps describing its performance, which is equivalent to a two minutes car ad.


    If the movie gets a box office of 100 million $ in North America, it''s equivalent to 10 million people having seen the advertis.e.m.e.nt, then adding the number of people who will see it in theaters around the world, and when it''ll be released on tape, this number will keep on growing.


    Ten years or even twenty yearster, every time people will watch the movie, they''ll get to see the ''ad'' again. It''s even more efficient than straightforward advertising, you know ?"


    Jeffrey thoughtfully nodded.


    "Then get your head straight, and when you go seek sponsors again, keep in mind that the sponsorship fee can''t be under 1 million $."


    "Eric, one million is not a little sum, what if the movie''s box office turns out to be bad."


    Eric said: "That''s easy to solve, both parties agree to a box office figure, and if we can''t live up to it, we''ll return part of the fee."


    Jeffrey added: "What if the box office exceeds the agreed figure ?"


    Eric felt this old man was really too long-winded, he exasperatedly said: "Jeffrey, can''t you just deal with this as the producer ? I''m seriously busy, so can you please not add to my worries ?"


    At this time, an employee knocked on the office''s door: "Mr. Williams, the costume that was customized ording to your drawings has been sent over, would you like to take look at it yourself ?"


    "Yes, I''ll be right there, you get Julia to put it on first." Eric chatted some more with Jeffrey, then said: "Let''s go, let''s see how it will look on Julia."


    Getting out of the soundproofed conference room, they could hear the faint knocking sounds of the people who were still working on the renovations.


    They came inside a thirty square meters audition room, and Julia was already wearing the .s.sic Pretty Woman''s attire: white vest, blue skirt, ck boots and red coat. Eric looked at her then frowned: "Where''s the wig ? I remember specifically asking for it before."


    "It''s in the locker room, do I have to put it on now ?" Julia asked.


    Eric waved his hand: "Yeah, hurry up and change, we''ll take some pictures."


    Julia dutifully walked into the locker room, followed by an a.s.sistant named Alison that the agency was sensible enough to provide for her.


    Soon, Julia walked out again wearing, not only a blonde wig, but also a ck cap.


    She had just appeared in the audition room that everyone''s eyes opened wide.


    Under the effects of the wig, Julia''s transformation was startling; if it was said that she was usually a 6, right now, she was at least an 8.


    Eric still felt that something was missing, but he still told the photographer to start taking pictures.


    After it was done, he said: "You guys leave us for a bit, I need to talk to Julia."


    Several staff members as well as Jeffrey got up and left.


    Once everyone was out, Julia somewhat anxiously clutched the hem of her vest as she asked: "Eric, is there something you''d like to say ? You''ve been frowning for a while."


    Julia Roberts felt like what was happening to her these days was surreal. When she had slept with Eric and been coaxed by him, she had really been hopeful.


    Then, one week past without any further contact from him, and just when she couldn''t help butment at her stupidity and realize that Eric was no different from those other self-righteous guys, her phone suddenly rang.


    She had then hurried to the agency to sign a contract, and once she was done, Eric had thrown a script in front of her and dered: "The female lead role is yours, don''t let me down."

 Chapter 56: How could I stop you?(18+)

    Eric didn''t answer, he just sat on the couch that was used as props, and stared at Julia for a while.


    "Julia, cross your arms over your chest with indifference." A few minutester, he finally spoke.


    Julia breathed a sigh of relief, Eric''s frown was too pressuring. ording to his demands, she posed with her arms crossed and fixed the ground with an indifferent expression.


    "Pace back and forth a little." Eric pointed to an open s.p.a.ce with his finger, and Julia dutifully obeyed.


    "Alright, stop it." Eric morosely said. "Julia, did you earnestly study the script ?"


    Julia nodded: "Of course, I almost remember all the lines."


    "Right now you''re Vivian, and I want you to think of me as Edward. Remember, you''re a prostitute. Let''s give it another try, show me what you can do."


    Seeing Ericzily sitting there, coupled with the fact that he had driven everybody out, Julia suddenly recalled the ''sofa auditions'' rumors. She almost blurted out that she didn''t want to, but eventually ushered a quiet internal sigh, thinking this wasn''t the solution..


    Taking off her red coat and putting it aside, Julia knelt down in front of Eric, then took a deep breath and unbuckled his belt.


    Eric raised an eyebrow and looked at her strangely. Clearly, the girl had misunderstood his intentions.


    But seeing her pull down her white vest revealing her perky breasts, and felling her soft and smooth hand jerking him off, he didn''t stop her.


    "UHHH..." Sighed Eric as she took his penis fully in her mouth.


    Then she began to bob her head up and down, wrapping her tongue around his penis, at the same time jerking him off with her right hand.


    And Eric, while enjoying her mouth, also enjoyed the thrill of being in the rumored ''casting couch'' situation.


    After a minute of watching her head bob, he grabbed it and started to move it up and down himself, face-fucking her.


    After he thoroughly enjoyed her mouth, he pushed her head off his penis and grabbed it, as he said to her.


    "Use your boobs now"


    Julia nced up at him, moved forward, wrapped her perky breasts around his penis, and began to move up and down.


    Felling the softness of her tits moving up and down, Eric let out a grunt and said to her.


    "Lick the tip, likest time."


    Hearing him, Julia leaned her head down, and everytime she moved her breasts down exposing the head of his penis, stretched out her pink tongue and licked it.


    "Suck it" After a few minutes of her boobjob, Eric freed his penis from her boobs and said to her.


    Julia leaned forward and put his penis between her sexy lips , licked the tip, and started bobbing her head.


    After a minute.


    "Cumminggg..." Eric suddenly pulled his penis out of her mouth and shot his load first at her face and then her breasts.


    Julia''s eyes reddened as she felt sticky liquid covering her face and breasts.


    As Eric leaned back and rxed in the couch, Julia made a run for the nearby bathroom.


    Eric took out some tissues to clean the mess up and buckled his belt. After a while, Julia came out from the bathroom, wiping her hands with a towel. She lifted her chin with reddened eyes and asked: "Are you happy now, Mr. Williams ?"


    "I sure am." Eric smiled yfully at the girl''s pitiful appearance, he said: "But, Julia, you obviously got something wrong, all I meant what for you to start acting, not to."


    When Julia heard him, her entire body froze. From beet red to pale white, her face experienced various shades of color, then she suddenly threw the towel she had in hands to Eric: "Why didn''t you stop me ?!"


    Ericughed as he dodged the projectile and said: "Hey I''m a healthy man, how could I stop you ?"


    "You b.a.s.t.a.r.d." said Julia in utter embarra.s.sment, before powerlessly sitting down on the ground and burying her head in her arms to cry.


    Eric put away his smile and sighed, he walked towards the girl and squatted beside her. Patting her head, he said: "Julia, don''t cry, I was wrong."


    "You think I''m cheap, don''t you ?" Julia didn''t stop crying and started to choke on her sobs as she asked.


    "Of course not." Eric sat beside the girl and took her in his arms as heforted, "You justck confidence. You know that Jeffrey, Kapoor and the others aren''t optimistic about you, and it makes you anxious. Julia, you can be sure that I''ve thoroughly thought it out before giving you this role.


    There''s a lot of people out there waiting for my next movie to flunk, y''know."


    "Thank you, Eric."


    "Help me make a good movie, that''s the greatest thanks you can give me. Now let''s talk about your issue."


    The two of them stood up, and Julia fixed her make up a bit before sitting down opposite Eric.


    "Julia, I''ll tell you straight forwardly what your problem is; you are supposed to act a prost.i.tute, but you can''t do it. Before she gets her makeover from Edward, Vivian''s every words, smiles, gestures are supposed to scream ''I''m a hooker!''.


    But, although that dress does make you more attractive, I can''t feel Vivian''s vibeing out of you. Honestly, the way I see it, you''re no different than when you were working as a waitress."


    Julia was grateful to Eric for pointing out her shorings, she waited until he was finished before saying: "How about I try again ?"


    Eric shook his head: "No, that won''t be necessary. Julia, right now I''m going to give you a task. Every night, I want you to go and roam those streets filled with prost.i.tutes, I want you to observe them and try to mimic their behavior.


    I''m going on a trip to New York for Christmas, and when Ie back, I''ll give you a test: I''ll have you stand in the middle of a crowded street, and if within an hour the number of men whoe up to you is less than ten, I''ll consider it a failure."


    Julia hesitated before saying: "That Eric, isn''t ten too much ?"


    "It isn''t." Eric didn''t give the girl the opportunity to bargain, "If you can''t act it out by then, I don''t mind swapping you out."


    Julia only nodded, and Eric was thoughtful for a moment before adding: "When you go there, don''t go near the back streets, and remember to bring an a.s.sistant with you, it''s safer with two persons."


    Julia felt her heart warm up at his words, "Thank you, Eric."


    ...


    The news that Richard Gere had refused to star in Eric''s uing movie was soon spread, and spections about the CAA cklisting the young director were running rampant.


    With the paparazzi relentless pursuits, the CAA and Eric disclosed that they hadn''t been able to reach an agreement because they couldn''t agree on either the cooperation fee or the schedule.


    Regardless of the truth, the public noticed that the two sides hadn''t started an all-out-war through the media, which meant that things weren''t to the degree where they had lost all decorum.


    MGM''s United Artists''[1] took this opportunity to announce that Richard Gere would be starring in their uing production, an action movie based on a true story, Road House[2].


    Prior to that, United Artists'' had originally intended for their movie to be released in May, and therefore had no immediate ns to start shooting.


    But when the CAA rmended Richard Gere to them, both the MGM and United Artists'' executives keenly felt this was a chance to offset Eric''s momentum, so they decided to start shooting earlier and release the movie around Easter, clearly intent topete with the young director.


    As soon as he saw the fuss in the newspapers, Barry Diller personally called Eric to anxiously inquire about the actual state of things. Although the Fox had been looking forward to the youth''s uing movie, they were more concerned about Home Alone''s sequel.


    If the CAA had indeed cklisted Eric, then the shooting of the movie would be greatly hampered.


    ".. Don''t worry, Mr. Diller, if that really happens, I''ll consider letting the Fox produce the Home Alone''s sequel in my stead. I''m sorry, I''m very busytely, I''m afraid it''s not a good time.


    Alright, goodbye."


    Hanging up the phone, Eric turned his sights to the thick folder containing several actors'' personal files. He looked up and was met with Kapoor Sid''s bloodshot eyes.


    "You seriously didn''t have to do it so quickly, Kapoor. Please take care not to overexert yourself."


    Kapoor had only used a day''s time to collect detailed information in line with Eric''s request, and this deeply moved the young director as he a.s.serted that he hadn''t put his faith in the wrong person.


    "Thank you for your concern, Eric, I''m okay, really. I worked on a movie project once and went two days and nights without sleep."


    Eric nodded, opened the folder, and went through each of the files attentively.


    Most of these actors were from the WMA or other international artists managementpanies, others were from small agencies, while some had even their rtives act as their agents.


    Eric kept looking, and whenever he found someone he liked, he would pull out the file and put it aside, intent on giving those people a call.


    He suddenly froze on a particr page: "Kapoor, why is the s.p.a.ce next to ''agency'' nk on Al Pacino''s file ?"


    _ _ _ _


    [1] Sub-studio of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.


    [2] It was originally Patrick Swayze who starred in it, guess Richard Gere was picked instead due to Eric''s influence.

 Chapter 57: Moronic to the core

    Kapoor looked over and said: "Well, it''s probably because of the 1985 incident.


    Al Pacino starred in a 30 million $ production from the Warner, they invested so much but the movie only made about the same sum at the box office, so Al chose to temporarily withdraw from the screen because of the pressure back then.


    I recently heard he was trying to make aeback though, so I added him to the list."


    Thinking of Scent of a Woman and the wild, manly charm that Al had exuded then as a blind retired army officer, Eric couldn''t help but ask: "Kapoor, is there anyway we can sign him ?"


    Kapoor hesitated: "We can give it a try. But Al Pacino is one of the rising stars from the seventies, although that 1985 movie was a bust, there''s nothing wrong with Al''s performance. The guy was nominated four times for best actor at the Oscars so far.


    Since he has been hinting at aeback, I believe that many agencies will bepeting to win him over, and we have yet anything to show for us in terms of achievements."


    Eric knew that what Kapoor said was true, but he still said: "Anyways, we need give it a try. Contact him as soon as possible and tell him about Pretty Woman, I''d really like him to y Edward if possible."


    "Okay." Kapoor nodded, then pointed at the pile of files that Eric had singled out and said: "Should I also extend invitations to these people ?"


    "Not for the time being, no. You first try to get in touch with Al Pacino, and if he refuses the offer, we''ll contact these ones."


    For the next few days, Eric held constant auditions for the supporting roles, had to scout for filming locations, contact those locations, and still wrote the script every night.


    Meanwhile, he also took the time to contact a girls'' only boarding school in L.A, readily bing their sponsor. While there was less than ten days to Christmas, he had to convince the goblin at home to move out earlier.


    Living with her was seriously a headache, he had to be on guard against sudden nocturnal attacks all the time, he certainly didn''t want something like the previous incident to happen again.


    ...


    "Eric, I''ve got a good news and a bad news, which one do you want to hear first ?" It was a new day at the office, and Eric was sitting at his desk looking through a financial report when Jeffrey came barging in without even bothering to knock.


    Seeing the middle-aged man undisguised expression of glee, Ericughed: "The good one first."


    Jeffrey pulled out a contract from his briefcase and handed it over to Eric. He said: "Lamborghini has agreed to our sponsorship offer, they''ll provide us with their uing Lamborghini Diablo sports car. After I repeated to them everything you told me the other day, they scrambled to sign down.


    See here, that''s the contract, a full 1 million $ ! Hahaha, once this news gets out, other moviepanies will be green with envy, some can''t even make one million at the box office."


    Eric took the contract and went through it. It was true, Lamborghini had indeed promised to pay a 1 million $ advertising fee, provided of course that Pretty Woman''s North American box office reached the 100 million $ mark.


    If its grossing was less than that, Firefly Studios would have topensate them ordingly, while if it was higher, Lamborghini would be the one to make adjustments.


    This was somethingmon from where he came from, so Eric wasn''t particrly excited, he chuckled at his friend: "Jeffrey, you''re too excited, what if we can''t reach the expected box office and need to return the fee ?"


    Jeffrey calmed down when he thought of the possibility, and he anxiously said: "It won''t happen. right ? Didn''t you say you had confidence the movie would do great ?"


    Eric waved his hand: "I''m just teasing you. So, what about the bad news ?"


    "The bad news is that I''ve contacted several famous jewelrypanies, and they all turned me down. There''s just one jeweler who reluctantly agreed to provide us with a set of jewels for the filming."


    Eric looked at the old man in amazement, he said: "Jeffrey, although I''m d you''re doing your best out there, don''t forget that Vivian is a hooker, for anyone to be willing to let us put their jewelry on her is nothing short of a wonder, really."


    ". Right, I didn''t think of this." Jeffrey mused, and tentatively asked: "Eric, why don''t you change Vivian''s character to a white-cor worker, I think.."


    "Don''t even, Jeffrey. Modifying a script to suit the need of a sponsor is idiotic. You stick to your job as a producer, okay ? I don''t think I''ll ever listen to any advice you have to give when ites to the movie contents."


    "Cough, cough, well I do have past antecedents." Jeffrey smiled in embarra.s.sment, and added: "Right, did Al Pacino respond to you ? I heard you wanted to invite him to star in the movie."


    "Kapoor contacted him, he called mest night saying that Al Pacino was now in New York for a Broadway y or something like that."


    "Then you have to convince him as soon as possible,"Jeffrey persuaded, "We''re nearing the Christmas holidays, if we don''t have a lead by that time, we won''t be able to shoot immediately afterwards."


    Eric nodded confidently: "Don''t worry, I''m keeping track of the time."


    The value of the dor at this time was quite high, so a sponsorship fee of 1 million $ was simply tremendous. Eric''s mansion that he had bought for about 2 million, would see its value multiplied by ten roughly two decades from now.


    Lamborghini''s uing Diablo car was priced at only 240,000 $, yet they had actually been willing to cough up so much for publicity''s sake; it wasn''t long before the news was out.


    For a time, all kinds of articles filled with jealousy, envy and hate flooded the newspapers.


    The Los Angeles Times quipped: "For a film production cost rumored to only be of 7 million $, Eric Williams has somewhat managed to get himself sponsored by Lamborghini, hereby recovering a seventh of his investment. It seems that the youth is not only a directing genius, but also a business genius."


    Hollywood News questioned him: "1 million $ in sponsorship fees, does Eric Williams intend to dedicate his entire movie to advertising a car ?


    Just looking at its t.i.tle, Pretty Woman  as revealed by the Firefly Studios, I am having troubles linking the movie up with Lamborghini''s brand, and am seriously beginning to doubt the standards of Eric Williams uing project."


    Worse than those few articles, thetest issue of Film Review vehemently criticized him: "Eric Williams is acting like a spoiled kid who has just discovered Hollywood. Asking something as outrageous as a 1 million $ in advertising sponsorship fee is simply spheming art.


    If Eric Williams is sessful in getting his way, one can only imagine how thrilled those profit-seeking producers will be to put the concept in ce. We therefore call upon all lovers of the seventh art to boycott Eric Williams'' uing movie."


    Unfortunately, Film Review was a much too high-end source, and although Americans liked movies, they weren''t too interested in those over serious movie magazines. So while those remarks from the old-fashioned and conservative filmmakers circle set off some waves, it didn''t have much impact.


    What was taking ce outside wasn''t really affecting Eric, he was still conscientiously preparing for Pretty Woman.


    Of course, besides the problem of the male lead, the preparations were almost over. All that was left were trivial details that did not require Eric''s presence and were left for Jeffrey to take care of.


    "Eric, if you insist on having Al Pacino, you might need to go on trip to New York." Kapoor''s expression was somewhat haggard as he sat opposite Eric and said.


    Eric personally got up and handed him a cup of coffee for him, before asking: "You mind telling me why ?"


    "Al Pacino has some questions about your script, and keeps stalling because he wanted to have a talk with you face to face, however he can''te to Los Angeles since he is performing Richard III in Broadway right now."


    Eric had nned on going to New York by Christmas to see Aniston. If he didn''t go and im her back, then the.s.s was sure to throw herself into someone else''s arms, and he would suffer a big loss.


    "No problem, I was just about to head up there anyways. How about youe with me Kapoor, maybe we can try to convince him to join UTA ?"


    Kapoor nodded: "I was thinking the same, right now Al only has a manager but no agent. No matter what, we''ll have to at least try."


    "That''s settled then, find us ne tickets as soon as possible, tonight or tomorrow would do. If we can''t convince him, we''ll have to fly back and proceed with auditioning other actors."


    The discussion over, Eric drove away towards an all-girls'' school* located near the Rose Bowl stadium in Los Angeles, it was where Drew had been sent a few days ago.


    He had just met the girl that she startedining endlessly to him: "Eric, I beg you, send me to another school, are you afraid I''ll convert to the Scientology or Satanism ? Ugh, Catholic schools are sooo boring, they''re all girls, and their teachings are moronic to the core."


    Eric smiled as he flicked the girl''s forehead. He himself was originally from the east, and also didn''t believe in their teachings, the reason why he had sent Drew here was mainly because of Jeffrey''s rmendation.


    It was a very strict Catholic boarding school that would be able to keep Drew from skipping .s.s or escaping.


    "Alright Drew, there''s no way you can transfer out, I had to pay a lot of sponsorship money to get you in, you know ? I came to tell you that I''ll be in New York for the next few days, and if everything goes well, I''lle back after Christmas.


    You have a key to my house, so if you don''t want to go back to your mother''s ce, you can go to mine. If you need anything, just call Jeffrey, he''ll take care of it."


    Drew asked, dispirited: "You''re going to see Aniston ?"


    Eric nodded.


    They chatted a bit before he drove away in a hurry, leaving behind a girl full of grievances.


    _ _ _ _


    * It doesn''t say, but I''m pretty sure it''s referring to Westridge School in Pasadena, it''s the only all-girls'' school near the Rose Bowl Stadium.

 Chapter 58: Out of control

    Workaholics usually didn''t take into ount the changes in temperature when they traveled. Eric and Kapoor were as such, and the end result could be well imagined.


    After buying two tickets for New York, the two men each packed a simple suitcase, boarded the flight in a hurry andnded at 7:00 pm.


    They had just stepped out of the ne that hey shivered in their thin coats as they were greeted by the freezing and blowing cold air, the warmth of L.A nowhere to be found.


    "It seems we need personal a.s.sistants." Eric stated as he came out from clothes store after buying a suitable windproof jacket.


    Kapoor quipped with envy: "Speak for yourself, UTA is still small-scale, I can''t afford to hire one yet."


    "Don''t worry, things will turn around soon."


    Kapoor simply smiled, he asked: "Are you going to the hotel with me, or will you go look for that girlfriend"


    "I haven''t seen Jenny* in so many days, so I''m going to see her first. The phone number I''ve given you on the ne is the one to her ce if you need me. Contact Al Pacino and set up a meeting as soon as possible."


    "Alright." Kapoor shrugged: "I just hope you won''t be driven out, judging by what you told me about her, you probably will."


    "Ha ha, you don''t need to worry about that."


    ..


    Eric was sitting in a cab in Manhattan, on his way to the address that Drew gave him. He went around in circles for a long time before finally finding the apartment Jenny lived in. Coming to the door holding a bouquet of roses, he tidied his clothes before ringing the doorbell.


    He waited to no avail, and knocked several time before a.s.serting that the girl wasn''t back yet.


    Looking around a bit, he found a big pot next to the door and smiled; it seemed like Jenny''s habit hadn''t changed, the girl always like to stash a spare key outside her door.


    Eric had once told her that it was dangerous and not safe, but the.s.s had just refused to acknowledge this and kept arguing his point of view.


    Opening the door with the new found key, Eric went inside carrying his luggage. He turned on the lights and was faced with a cozy and warm design arrangement, the familiar scent of the girl still lingering in the air.


    Taking a deep breath, Eric wished she was in front of him already, he couldn''t wait to take her in his arms and fondle her as he pleased.


    Having gone five to six hours without eating, Eric''s belly was empty as he opened the refrigerator and decided he would cook dinner for Aniston and himself. Putting on an ap.r.o.n, he took out some ingredients and busied himself.


    Twenty minutester, the clinking of a key was heard when Eric was putting the finishing touches on his dish. The youth hurriedly went past the living room, picked up the bouquet of flowers and hid behind the door.


    The door opened, Eric had put on a smile and was about to speak, when the three people froze.


    Yes, three people. Eric, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt as well.


    "Eric, how are you. here ?" After a few seconds of awkward silence, Aniston was the first to stammer. She couldn''t help but loudly wail internally: Great ! Eric was sure to misunderstand.


    Eric gave the bouquet to Jenny, and turned to face Brad Pitt with a slight smile, his eyespletely devoid of emotions.


    "h.e.l.lo, Mr. Pitt, we meet again."


    "h.e.l.lo, Mr. Williams." Brad Pitt held out his hand, only to find out that Eric had no intention to shake it, and took it back, embarra.s.sed.


    Although they had only met during the 17 Again auditions, with Eric''s sudden rise to fame, it would be hard for Brad Pitt to have forgotten about him.


    His greeting done, Eric didn''t step out of the door or bother asking why the man was here, he said: "Mr. Pitt, thank you for bringing my girlfriend back, if there''s nothing else, you can leave now."


    Pitt felt extremely embarra.s.sed at Eric''s rude att.i.tude, he turned to look at Aniston. He knew Aniston and Eric had dated for several months, and could see that the man was on the verge of having a fit of anger.


    However, the.s.s seemedpletely oblivious, sheposed herself and retorted: "Eric, you can''t do this, Brad is my guest."


    Once the word ''Brad'' came out of her mouth, Ericpletely snapped, he red at Aniston as he suddenly raised his voice and pointed to the apartment: "Shut up and get in !"


    It was the first time Jenny had seen him so out of control, and she subconsciously shrunk back. Once Eric had seen her in thepany of a man in front of her home, she had immediately felt somewhat guilty, so when he started yelling her remaining courage vanishedpletely.


    She muttered ''You don''t have to scream like that'', but still obediently went inside.


    BANG


    Without caring about Brad Pitt who was still standing there, Eric reared the door shut.


    "So, what''s going on ?" Eric asked as he sat on the sofa and irritably pulled out and lit a cigarette before taking long puff.


    If the man was anyone else, Eric would probably not have reacted that way, but it was Brad Pitt, and knowing about their past together, he couldn''t bring himself to calm down.


    If Eric had tried to smoke in her house before, Jenny would''ve gonemando on him, but right now she was just trying to find the right words to say.


    "He will appear in the next few episode of the TV show I''m doing, he joined the crew a day before yesterday, we''ve only known each other for two days, there''s nothing between us." Aniston weakly said.


    "You''ve only known him for two days and you brought him home ?" Eric coldly snorted.


    "Earlier, after the team decided to call it a day, he said it was unsafe for me to walk back home alone, so he offered to send me back, I... I... Why do I have to exin myself to you ?" Aniston was talking when she suddenly came to. She stared at Eric and said: "I''ve broken up with you !


    You womanizing b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I don''t need a boyfriend like you.. Umph !"


    Eric grounded his cigarette directly on the coffee table and pulled the girl into his arms. Preventing her from struggling hended a scorching kiss on her lips.


    "Mm.. you can''t do this, you idiot.. Mm. I..


    I''ll sue you for s.e.xual a.s.sault. don''t, not here."


    She struggled for a moment, before slowly quieting down as her legs became soft and sheid on the couch with her arms around Eric''s neck, her eyes slightly narrowed as she enjoyed the man''s kisses and caresses.


    p


    Eric suddenly let the girl go, and unceremoniously pped her b.u.t.t before saying: "Alright, go take a shower, I made dinner. I''ll deal with you after we eat !"


    "It hurts." Aniston rubbed her perky b.u.t.t and looked at Eric cheerfully before obediently going to the bathroom.


    Testing the water temperature, Aniston stood naked under the shower head as she sighed. She had initially decided to break up with the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but hadpletely lost herself once she met him again.


    Although she had wrote that break up note right after seeing Drew and Eric naked in bed that day, she just couldn''t forget about the man after she came to New York.


    She kept reminiscing their time together, and his name would be constantly on her mind, just like a broken music box, going on and on and on.


    She also started to unconsciously look for information about him on the newspapers or on TV.


    When people scolded him, she was angry, when people praised him, she was ecstatic, when people plotted against him, shepletely went past the angry stage and took the initiative to call the media in question to curse at them.


    When his affair with another woman was discussed, she was jealous and destroyed a few of her appliances in the process.


    "Well, I''ll forgive him this time." Wiping her snow white body, Aniston finally came to this conclusion, and after doing so, she felt like a burden had been lifted off her chest.


    She twisted her slim waist in front the mirror; her transformation was startling, you would definitely not be able to a.s.sociate the word ''fat'' to her.


    Putting on a bathrobe and getting out of the bathroom, she found Eric on the phone.


    "... Thank you, James, I''ll buy you a meal when Ie back to L.A.. Of course, of course, I know a meal is definitely not enough. Ha ha, alright, good bye."


    "Eric, who was it ?"


    Eric hung up the phone and said: "James, I asked him to do me a favor. Alright, let''s hurry up and eat, the food has already turned cold."


    _ _ _ _


    * Author suddenly changed her nickname to Jenny (I think it was about time honestly) instead of Annie, so I''ll be using it from now on.

 Chapter 59: Jennifer Aniston(18+)

    And as they were eating, Eric started to recall hottest roles he saw Jennifer y in his previous life.


    Herpletely naked scene from ''Friends''.


    Her getting turned on in ''Bruce the almighty''.


    Her in a maid costume from ''Friends with money''.


    Completely nude scene in ''The break-up''.


    Making out with Courtney Cox in ''Dirt''.


    Licking ice cream and a hot-dog in ''Horrible bosses''.


    Striptease in ''We are the Millers''.


    By the time he finished eating he was horny and rock hard, so without warning, he got up, walked in front of her, took her head in his hands and kissed her, pushing his tongue in her mouth.


    After a second of being surprised , she closed her eyes, put her hands around his waist and started to kiss back, entangling her tongue with his.


    And as they were making out, he untied her robe and pushed it down her shoulders, revealing her perky breasts and hard pink nipples.


    After a few seconds he let go of her lips, started fondling both her breasts and kissing down her neck, making her moan.


    "UHHH...."


    Still fondling her her left breast, he kissed the right one, swirling his tongue around her hardened nipple and then took it in his mouth and started to suck on it.


    "UHHH...." Moaned Jennifer from the stimtion to her breasts.


    Meanwhile, he let go of her left breast and moved his hand down, separated her legs and ran his fingers up and down her slit.


    "UHHHH...." She let out a loud moan as he suddenly bit her nipple and pushed his middle finger in her slit.


    He lot go of her breast and started kissing her again, at the same time pushing his finger in and out of her snatch, making her moan in his mouth.


    After he felt his finger getting wet with her juices, he let go of her lips and pulled his finger out of her slip.


    He took her hand and pulled her up, then he swept his arm over the table, making everything fall down on the floor.


    After clearing the table he pulled Jennifer and bent her over it, as she braced herself on the table with both hands, making her perky and smooth butt stick out.


    "p..."


    After lightly smacking her butt a couple times he unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down, freeing his rock hard and throbbing manhood.


    He put his penis to her slit and moved the head around teasing her and making her moan softly.


    He then slowly started to push forward in her tight pussy, causing her to moan from the feeling of his penis stretching her tight cunt.


    As he buried his penispletely in her, he stopped to let her get used to his size and enjoy the feeling of her wet, tight and hot walls wrapping around him.


    After a few seconds he started to pull out and push back in, slowly setting his pace.


    And as he was thrusting in her, he also reached around to grope both her breasts, loving the feeling of her tight pussy wrapping around his penis and her soft breast in his hands.


    "Creak..."


    "UHHH..."


    He slowly sped up his thrusts, causing table to creak and Jennifer to moan even louder.


    Hearing her moans, Eric let go of her breasts, pulled her up by shoulders, turned her head and kissed her sexy lips, pushing his tongue in her mouth.


    At the same time he started to thrust as fast and as hard as he could, making her moan in his mouth, until suddenly he felt her walls mp down on his penis and with a long moan in his mouth she came, drenching his penis in her juices.


    "HUH.... HUH..."


    As her orgasm ended, Eric let go of her mouth, and sounds of her heavy breathing filled the room, at the same time he pulled out of her pussy.


    Eric then turned her around, picked her up and sat her down one the table, spread her legs and started to push his penis back into her tight pussy.


    Jennifer moaned as put her hands around his neck and felt her pussy getting invaded again.


    Eric started to thrust slowly, as he took her sexy lips and pushed his tongue in, exploring her mouth again.


    As he started to speed up his thrusts, he let go of her lips andyed her down, making her breasts jiggle everytime his balls smacked against her ass.


    As he increased his speed, he leaned his head down and took her left breast in his mouth, at the same time folding the right one.


    After a minute he let go of her breasts and increased his speed again, until with one final thrust he buried his dick balls deep in her cunt and filled it with his seed.


    "HUH.... HUH...."


    Eric pulled his softening dick out of her pussy and as sounds of their heavy breathing filled the room, he enjoyed the sight of Jennifer Anistonying on her kitchen table breast going up and down with her heavy breathing, her legs spread with dirty fluid dripping from her vagina.


    After calming their breathing, Jennifer started to reach for her robe, but Eric grabbed her hand and swept her up in a princess carry, walking towards her bedroom.


    While walking he noted in his mind that he liked sex in the kitchen.

 Chapter 60: The prince(18+)

    "Eric, Drew.. lives in your house ?" Aniston asked after a sweaty session of lovemaking as sheid on the man''s chest, her hand gently caressing his torso.


    Eric nodded and told her exactly what had happened.


    Jenny''s tone slight soured: "But. you said you don''t have that kind of rtionship, so why are you doing so much for her ? Going so far as spending one million dors. He, you''ve never spent that kind of money on me.


    Ahem, you''re definitely up to something."


    Eric''s hand darted under the covers and groped her perky, smooth ass: "I just see Drew as I would a little sister, you''re my girlfriend. If you want, let alone a million, I''ll give you a hundred for you to spend."


    Jenny could tell from Eric''s tone that he was sincere, she felt warm inside but still pouted: "Don''t think this will be resolved with money." Although the girl said so, her hand reached under the cover as she started to jerk him off, and soon, little Eric stood proud again.


    "You''re the one who asked for it, girl." Ericughed, as he threw the nket away, exposing his hard  penis .


    "Ah.. no, I''m sore.." Replied Jennifer with a whine.


    Eric evilly smiled to her and said: "sore?, then you can use your mouth ."


    "My mouth?" Jennifer said.


    "Yes, your mouth and these too" Said Eric while fondling her breasts.


    She sat up on her knees, crawled between his legs and started kissing down his neck and torso until finally getting to his hard penis.


    She leaned her head down and slowly licked it from the balls to the tip, swirling her tongue around the head.


    She then opened her lips, allowing the head of his penis to slip in her mouth, at the same time licking the tip, making him grunt in pleasure.


    Hearing the sound he made got her excited, so she pushed her head down until she had half of his dick in her mouth, then back up, starting to move her lips up and down his shaft.


    She slowly increased her speed and took more of his dick in her mouth each time she went down, until she had all of it in her mouth, causing her go gaggle slightly.


    And as she started pulling her head up, Eric suddenly grabbed it and pushed it back down, pushing his dick in her throat.


    "WUU.... WUU...."


    Eric stayed there for a few seconds, pulling out only after she started gagging and tears welled up in her eyes.


    "Cough... Cough..."


    Jennifer started to cough and breath heavily after he pulled out.


    And while she was coughing, he flipped her over, mounted her chest and put his dick, wet with her saliva, between her perky breasts.


    Pushing her breasts together he started to rapidly thrust his penis, making her moan softly.


    "Cumming..."Said Eric after a minute, as he shot ropes of cum first on her face then her breasts, coating them white.


    As he felt his orgasm calm down , he rolled over and took a deep breath.


    Jennifer on the other hand quickly ran to the bathroom.


    Eric watched her run, with her breast swinging and her ass jiggling getting him excited again, so after recovering for a few minutes he got up and joined her, filling the bathroom with lewd noises.


    ...


    "Oh, Al Pacino from The G.o.dfather ? He''s really cool and manly, it''s a pity he didn''t make a movie in recent years."


    Last night had been really heated, and Jenny''s face was especially radiant as she carefully tied her boyfriend''s tie.


    Noticing Eric''s expression turn sour at her praising another man, she quickly stepped in andnded a peck on his cheek: "Alright, alright, my Eric is the most handsome, Al Pacino is already an old man anyways."


    "I was gonna take you and have a look at Al''s y that''s currently on Broadway, but I''ve changed my mind now."


    Anistonughed and said: "Even if you had asked me, I really don''t have time do not have time, since Christmas ising soon the director has us working overtime. Eric, are you staying in New York for the holidays ?"


    Eric shook his head: "I''m not sure, if Al Pacino is game, then I''ll be able to stay. Otherwise, I''ll have to fly back to L.A and start looking for someone else."


    "Oh." Aniston said in a slightly dejected tone.


    "Jenny, why don''t you go back to L.A with me ? Your rtives are back there anyways."


    Aniston shook her head, "No, I don''t want to go back there. they have their own families, I feel out of ce there."


    "What are you talking about, they love you, you know ?"


    "You don''t understand, Eric." Aniston bitterly sighed. She adjusted her boyfriend''s cor before saying: "Alright, go."


    "h.e.l.lo, Mr. Pacino." Although he hadn''t seen seen many Al Pacino movies'', Eric was still slightly excited to meet the man in person.


    "h.e.l.lo, Eric. Please, call me Al."


    After Kapoor''s introduction, the two of them shook hands, and they all sat down together.


    A few pleasantriester, Al Pacino opened: "Eric, I''ve read the outline of Pretty Woman''s script. You may already know that, because of the 1985 incident, I haven''t acted in a movie for 4 years now.


    Although I''m really thankful to you for extending an invitation, some parts of the script just don''t fit with me."


    Eric asked: "Can you tell me which parts ?"


    Al Pacino said: "The script focuses on the female lead, and when I asked Kapoor before, he said that it was a neer named Julia Roberts who would y Vivian. I deliberately went to see Mystic Pizza to have an idea of how her acting was like, and to be honest, it was just average.


    If the script doesn''t get modified a bit, when I y Edward, won''t Ipletely suppress her performance ? I don''t intend to lower my standards just to be on equal standing with her, and in the end, the movie will be aplete bust."


    Here, Al Pacino paused and stared at Eric with eyes full of confidence, he said: "Eric, this is not me being arrogant, I''ve had five Oscar nominations, and although I have yet to win any because I used to be prejudiced against as a neer, you can''t deny my abilities."


    Eric pondered for a moment, and soon his mouth broke into a smile. He had understood Al Pacino''s intentions, the guy actually really wanted to act in the movie, however he had read that the focus would be more on Vivian''s character than his, which had left him dissatisfied.


    That''s probably the reason why he had insisted to meet Eric and person, he wanted to convince him to modify the script.


    Eric acted intrigued and asked: "Al, if you were to star as Edward, what changes do you think we should make ?"


    Al Pacino''s face lit up as he collected his thoughts and put forward his own ideas: "First, increase Edward''s scenes, I think the character''s personality should be explored a little more too. Ah and I think he''s not nearly as outstanding as he should be."


    For about ten minutes, Al Pacino had given his opinion about a full set of changes, and he was obviously very sure of himself when talking, so much so that, if Eric hadn''t already seen the future and knew that Pretty Woman was sure to seed, he would probably have agreed.


    However, this would definitely not happen now. "Al, you actually really want to star in this movie, right ?"


    Al Pacino was startled, and when he caught Eric''s meaningful nce, he cheerfully shrugged, smiled, and said: "Yes,I really want to do this movie.


    I''m acting again after four years of break, and even though I received your script after the other studios, they are still discussing their respective projects. I don''t know how long those discussions will take, so I wanted to seize this opportunity."


    "Al, your suggestions were pertinent, even I have to agree with that, however, I definitely can''t make any changes to this script. Pretty Woman is a clichd modern Cindere fairy tale.


    What you are suggesting will emphasize more on the character of the ''prince'' in order to make the story more realistic, which will mess up the entire concept. The essence of a fairy tale lies in its unrealistic side."


    Al Pacino nodded disappointingly. He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but Eric beat him to it: "Al, do you know about Home Alone ?"


    "Of course. Although I haven''t acted in a movie in recent years, I still keep myself updated in regards to Hollywood."


    "Well then you should know that thanks to my gambling agreement with Columbia, I''ve made a lot of money, right ? I''ll make you a deal, you act in Pretty Woman, and I''ll prepare another movie just for you to star in. I guarantee you will be satisfied with the role."


    Al Pacino hesitated, "Can you disclose a bit about that movie ?"


    "Sure," Eric nodded, "I''ve read this Italian book before called Il buio e il miele, I''ll have to buy the adaptation rights before I can proceed though.


    In the script I envision, you''ll y a blind retired army ranger, a lieutenant colonel who has lost interest in life because of his impairment and decides to lose himself in debauchery and thenmit suicide.


    So he hires a college student as a guide, and goes on a trip where he indulges in alcohol, women, and race cars. In the end, the colonel learns to appreciate life again thanks to the college student''s help. His character is rude, conceited and in the middle of a depression.


    It''s a veryplex role, but I''m sure you''ll be able to manage."


    As Al Pacino listened to Eric''s resume, he became more and more excited, and he couldn''t help but start imagining how he would go about portraying that lieutenant colonel. Once Eric finished, Al was still indulging in Scent of a Woman''s plotline, unable to extricate himself out of it.


    It was a full five minutester that he looked up at Eric and hastily said: "Eric, that script, I''ll do it even without you paying me."


    "You''ll have to do Pretty Woman first for me to consider you though."


    "No problem, I''ll listen to whatever arrangements you make, I''ll. I''ll try to act so that I don''t overshadow Miss Julia too."


    Eric keenly felt it was a good time to broach the subject, he tentatively said: "Al, I heard you''ve yet to join an agency, what do you think about UTA ? Kapoor is an excellent agent."


    Al Pacino hesitated a little, "Is this a binding condition ?"


    Eric hastily shook his head: "Of course not, this is a sincere invitation, even if you don''t agree, I''ll still have you act in the two movies I''ve promised you."


    Al Pacino thought for a moment and said: "Okay, but I know that you''ve had some friction with the CAA, so I want to be free to leave at anytime should something happen."


    Right now, Eric only wanted to win him over, he was confident that the man wouldn''t leave in the future anyways. After a few great movies, Al Pacino was sure to be tied to the UTA. "Of course, no problem, I''ll prepare an easy-going contract for you, you can choose to leave at anytime."


    "Alright then, I agree." Al Pacino quickly nodded.

 Chapter 61: Apologize

    A thirty-year-old, pet.i.te and brown-haired white woman came out from the studio, the sound of her heels ttering on the cemented pavement only adding to her foul mood.The tall and handsome Brad Pitt was dejectedly following behind her.


    Once they got in the car, the woman mmed her door shut before turning to the man next to her: "Alright, Brad, tell me what the h.e.l.l happened. Do you know how much effort it took to get you this role ? Two days, only two freaking days, and you''ve been kicked out of the cast.


    I asked Henry, and he hinted that the fault lied with you and that the producer had personally made the decision."


    Brad Pitt shook his head: "Lisa, I swear I''ve done nothing wrong, the director even praised my performance yesterday, I don''t get it. But anyways, haven''t we signed a contract with them ? This is clearly a vition, we could."


    "Shut up ! Do you think you''re Tom Cruise ?! If you were a top star, maybe we could argue with them, but you''re just a small-time actor."


    Brad Pitt clenched his fists tightly as he lowered his head. He and Tom Cruise were the same age and were born in simr environments, Brad even felt that, whether in terms of acting or appearance, they weren''t that different.


    But reality was cruel, and while Tom Cruise was now a hot celebrity, he himself was still a n.o.body.


    "Brad, if you did anything to anger the director or the producer, don''t try to hide it from me. I''m your agent, if you conceal things from me, I''ll have to consider dropping you."


    Brad Pitt anxiously raised his head. He had struggled for several years in Hollywood, and knew the importance of a good agent. He had signed with Lisa Cody for less than a year and had already yed in several roles, so when he heard herst sentence, he couldn''t ignore it.


    He tried to think about what had happened in the past two days, then thought of something. He doubtfully muttered: "It couldn''t be. could it ?"


    "What ? Hurry and speak up, stop dawdling."


    Brad Pitt said: "Hm, you know Jennifer Aniston, right ? Well we finished quitete yesterday evening, so I. I offered to take her home, and her boyfriend was at her ce. He seemed very upset to see us together."


    Lisa Cody was as an excellent and very well informed agent, "You mean, the young director of Home Alone ? Eric Williams ?"


    Brad Pitt nodded.


    Lisa rubbed her forehead in anguish: "Brad, what the h.e.l.l am I gonna do with you ? A few months ago Mike Tyson found you in bed with his wife, if he hadn''t held back, you would be lying in the hospital still.


    I didn''t expect that not only you wouldn''t learn the lesson, you''d even make a move on Eric Williams'' woman."


    "Didn''t the newspapers say that they had broken up ? Besides, although Home Alone did well at the box office, he is just a neer in Hollywood, how could he have the means to pull something like that ?"


    Lisa couldn''t help butment internally, the guy was a hunk, but why was he so stupid ? She exined in frustration: "Hollywood''s circle isn''t small, and there are countless connections between movie studios and television ones.


    Eric Williams is young and a genius, there are many people who want to be in his good graces. If he wants to deal with a small unknown actor, he only needs a phone call, I''m sure many would be d to do him this favor."


    Brad Pitt fell silent. He weakly said: "Then. what do we do now ?"


    Lisa thought for a moment and said: "Didn''t you say that Eric Williams'' is now at his girlfriend''s ce ? You better go there and sincerely apologize."


    "I didn''t do anything, why should I apologize ?" Brad Pitt was somewhat unwilling.


    "Who cares about that ?! What matters is that Eric Williams thinks you did."


    "Will I be able to get back the role if I apologize ?"


    Lisa shook her head: "Of course not, the crew has already found an excuse to kick you out, do you think they''d lower themselves to taking you back ? You just need to apologize to Eric Williams so that he doesn''t fixate himself on you in the future.


    Unless you want to remain unknown for the rest of your life, I suggest you take a step back here, otherwise your future will be disastrous, you might even have to change careers."


    Brad Pitt lowered his head and said: "Alright, I''ll go and apologize."


    ...


    "Hey Jenny, you got a minute ?" After waiting outside the studio until well after seven, Brad Pitt and Lisa Cody finally saw Anistoning out.


    "h.e.l.lo, Mr. Pitt, Ms. Cody." Once Jenny saw Brad, she subconsciously took a step back.


    Although they had only known each other for two days, Aniston had a good impression of the guy. He was very good at sweet-talking women and since he wasn''t as famous as Eric, she never felt inferior in front of him. So when he had offered to send her home yesterday, she had agreed.


    But now, with Eric''s reappearance, any good impression that she had of Brad hadpletely vanished. Having witnessed her boyfriend lose control of his emotions for the first time, she felt it would be wiser to keep her distance from Pitt.


    "I''m sorry you were thrown out of the cast, but I really need to go home, Eric is waiting for me."


    When Brad Pitt saw the girl retreat step back after step back, he couldn''t help but curse in his heart. However, he didn''t show any of it on the surface, he charmingly smiled and said: "Jenny, I feel that Mr.


    Williams has had some kind of misunderstanding, so I would like to invite you both to dinner and apologize."


    Jenny rolled her eyes. She had overheard Eric on the phone yesterday whening out of her shower, so she could very well put two and two together and link it to Brad Pitt getting suddenly kicked out of the crew.


    She was about to reply, when a taxi stopped in the street and Eric came out of it wearing a ck windbreaker.


    He made his way to the trio, and noticing Brad Pitt, he immediately wrinkled his eyebrow. James had called him at noon to tell him that things had been taken care of, so what was the guy still doing here ?


    He arrive next to his girlfriend and asked with concern: "Jenny, what''s going on ?"


    Aniston dazedly looked at her boyfriend, she had yet to say anything that Lisa smiled and held her hand out: "h.e.l.lo, Mr. Williams, I''m Brad''s agent, my name is Lisa Cody."


    "h.e.l.lo." Eric shook her hand and said: "Ms. Cody, is there anything you need from my girlfriend ?"


    "Actually, it''s you I wanted to speak with, Mr. Williams." Lisa didn''t mind Eric''s cold tone, she faintly smile and said: "I understand that Brad has acted out of bounds yesterday, we were wondering if you''d agree to let us take you to dinner so that he can express his apologies."


    Eric swept his gaze between Lisa Cody and Brad Pitt. Although thetter had forced himself to smile, it was apparent that he was unwilling. Inparison, the woman''s expression waspletely foolproof.


    Eric couldn''t care less about how Brad Pitt felt. In his past, the guy had been a notorious man s.l.u.t during his early days, and had drawn the hatred, envy and jealousy of many. Even the two actresses who yed Rachel''s friends in Friends hadn''t escaped his clutches.


    Jenny''s emotional state had been quite weak after the incident with Drew, if it wasn''t because Eric hade back in a timely manner, maybe the.s.s would''ve fallen for Pitt too. Moreover, with the girl''s stubborn personality, Eric would''ve had a hard time getting her back.


    In order to prevent the two of them from interacting with each other, Eric had taken decisive measures, going so far as to owe James Brooks a favor in order to have Pitt kicked out of the cast.


    "There''s no need for dinner, I ept Mr. Pitt''s apology. Just make sure he stays away from my girlfriend." Eric said, hugged Jenny close to him and couldn''t help but add as he left: "You seem like an excellent agent Ms. Cody, for Brad Pitt to have you is his blessing.


    If you ever feel likeing to Los Angeles, I want you to know that my United Talent Agency will dly wee you."


    Hearing that he had epted Brad''s apology, Lisa sighed with relief, and when she heard Eric''s next words, she quickly revealed a ttered expression: "Thank you for the invitation Mr. Williams, I will consider it."

 Chapter 62: Photo

    After leaving Lisa Cody and Brad Pitt, the two lovers were in no hurry to go back. Jenny held onto Eric''s arm as they took a stroll on the bustling streets of New York at night.


    After a while of being silent, Jenny couldn''t help but say: "Eric, I think you''ve overdone it."


    "Huh ?"


    "It wasn''t easy for Brad Pitt to get that role."


    Eric reached out and squeezed the girl''s lovely face: "For even you to stand up for him, seems like the guy is really smooth, huh ? Guess I did the right thing then."


    "I just feel like he isn''t all that bad." Jenny red at Eric as she rubbed her cheeks.


    "You know Mike Tyson, right ?"


    Jenny nodded at Eric''s abrupt change of subject, she said: "I do, I heard about his messy divorce with Robin Givens."


    "What you don''t know is that Brad Pitt dated Robin Givens before Tyson, but still kept in touch. Then one day the boxer finds them both in bed together, he was so mad he nearly killed the guy. That''s part of the reason why Tyson divorced his wife."


    Jenny''s eyes instantly widened, "No way ! You''re kidding me, right ?!"


    "Why would I do that ?" Eric said as he spread his arms and shrugged.


    Jenny asked, puzzled: "How do you know all that ?"


    Eric said: "Rumors spread fast in this circle, but since Pitt''s fame can''t bepared to Tyson''s, even gossip magazines can''t be bothered to look him up, so they''re just aware that it was the fault of an ''unknown actor'' instead."


    As Eric recalled, this would actually not be discussed until yearster when Mike Tyson had revealed the truth of the affair during an interview.


    He suddenly thought of something interesting, it really seemed like Brad Pitt had some of the worst timings ever.


    He was caught by Tyson sleeping with thetter''s wife, then he was caught by Jenny sleeping with with Angelina Jolie, and even caught by Angelina Jolie with his personal a.s.sistant, resulting in Brangelina''s wedding getting dyed at the time.


    "So you see," Eric patted Jenny''s head and earnestly said: "Clothes don''t make the man, it''s better for you to stay away from him."


    Jenny nodded, then resentfully looked up and red at Eric: "Ha, that''s grand, clothes don''t make the man indeed !


    Who knows how many other women you''re hiding besides that group of actresses that went to your home and was featured in the tabloids, and that girl who came out of your house wearing your shirt. And you still have the galls to bulls.h.i.t me with your sophistry !"


    "Alright Jenny." Eric quickly pulled the girl in his embrace, "I plead guilty."


    "You''re such a jerk !" Jenny hammered his chest a few times.


    Eric nodded: "Yes, yes, I am."


    Jenny quieted down after a while, and stuck her ear to her boyfriend''s chest, listening to his heartbeat. The two of them just motionlessly hugged while people around them busied themselves, it was particrly heartwarming.


    A pa.s.sing photographer found the scene really moving, and couldn''t help but press the shutter and immortalize this moment. Eric and Jenny werepletely clueless about this event.


    Near Christmas, the same photographer developed the photo. The girl was wearing a white jacket, her arms holding her boyfriend''s waist, and the guy wearing a ck windbreaker, tightly hugging the girl back, his chinpliantly nuzzled between the girl''s nape and her beautiful blonde hair.


    One white and one ck, both warm and cold in the midst of the blur of pedestrians weaving past them, like two lovers on an abandoned ind. Coupled with the brightly-lit city in the background, it was romantic to a tee.


    Feeling very satisfied with his own work, the photographer send it to a New York magazine. Someone with sharp eyesight received it and directly submitted it to the editor in chief.


    The next day, the photo of young prodigy Eric Williams embracing his girlfriend in the streets of New York appeared on the magazine''s front page.


    It was apanied by an article that filled half a page, and eloquently narrated how the young director had temporarily dropped everything and made the trip to New York in order to reunite with his true love, and how the two of them had miraculously met on the streets of the city and fallen into one another''s embrace.


    Those who weren''t stupid knew that the article wasplete bull, however, it had been written with such ir that the majority couldn''t help but relish in the story, leading to the magazine''s sales shooting through the roof.


    Meanwhile, Eric, who had mysteriously disappeared from L.A to suddenly appear in New York, attracted the paparazzi''s attention. They wouldn''t believe that the reason he came was for ''true love'', even if you beat them. And so Eric became the focus of their relentless chase, once again.


    He had already finalized the deal with Al Pacino, so he stayed at Jenny''s apartment in order to keep the paps at bay. Like a bunch of hyenas, they were staying in front of his girlfriend''s ce, waiting for their prey to emerge.


    Jenny had also be a target, so in order to avoid unnecessary troubles and at Eric''s insistence, the girl bought a used car instead of going back and forth to the studio by either bus or cab. And of course, the stubborn.s.s wouldn''t let Eric pitch a single penny in.


    After a tense few days of shoot, Jenny and her crew were finally ushered in their long awaited two week vacation.


    ..


    At Jenny''s ce, it was unknown how many times the girl had picked up the magazine and read the article.


    With a feigned expression of anger, sheined to her boyfriend who was sitting by the window, using a typewriting machine: "Thanks to you I can''t even take a stroll in New York without a legion of paparazzi following behind."


    Eric finished writing his line before turning around and smiling, "Why are youining when you''re obviously enjoying it ? That photo alone makes for a great love story."


    "Eric, have you contacted the magazine yet ?"


    Eric nodded: "Yeah, the photo was taken by an amateur photographer who happened into us by chance. He wanted his work to be featured in their photography segment and send it to them.


    The photo was then noticed by a sharp-eyed reviewer who recognized us." Eric took out an envelope and handed it over to Jenny: "This is the negative, it cost me 1,000 $, but it was worth it. The photo is honestly beautiful."


    Jenny took the envelope, carefully pulled out the negative, and after warmly looking at it, gently put it away.


    "One more thing Jen, although that article was nonsense, it made me think of a good script. Here, I''ve modified it to suit our story. I figured you could be the lead, wanna take a look ?"


    Jenny walked next to him and began to read the ma.n.u.script that Eric handed over to her. Once she was finished, she gave it back to him and wrinkled her nose: "Besides their coincidental meeting at the end, I don''t see how this resembles our rtionship."


    Eric shrugged: "Art needs to be processed. So, how about it ?"


    Jenny hesitated a moment, before shaking her head: "The heroine is older than me, and I''m not ready to star in one of your movies yet."


    Eric didn''t insist, the girl would one day naturallye around.


    Although Christmas wasing soon, Eric didn''t feel too deeply about it. In his past life, even during his youth, he wasn''t interested in foreign festivities. Now, as a middle-aged man, he still felt the same way.


    Kapoor had returned to Los Angeles and Al Pacino was busy with his own life. Eric hadn''t seen the actor since they had struck a deal, but the two of them discussed about Pretty Woman''s script over the phone every day.


    Jenny was very satisfied with having Eric all to herself for Christmas. The two lovers bought a tree and decorations, as well as a turkey that they cooked together. They didn''t go out on Christmas Eve, choosing to cuddle on the couch and watch a movie instead.


    After Christmas, Eric had to return to Los Angeles. The shooting of Pretty Woman wouldn''t start until after the holidays, but he was the director and had a lot to prepare for.


    Although reluctantly, Jenny drove her boyfriend to the airport, and gazed at the ne until it disappeared in the horizon, before finally heading back home.

 Chapter 63: Get-Together

    "The Runkle didn''te ?" At a corner of the party, Jeffrey seemingly casually asked while holding a .s.s of red wine.


    The next day after his return to L.A, Eric had decided to hold a get-together at his Beverly Hills mansion in order to thank everyone he had gotten to know in the past six months.


    He had invited James Brooks, Penny Marshall, Jeffrey Hanson, Michael us, Edward Lewis, as well as the 17 Again and Home Alone crew, and several other acquaintances.


    Since each guest was ent.i.tled to a plus one, there was around fifty people in total. It was fortunate that he had moved away, his old house probably wouldn''t have been able to amodate so many guests without feeling crowded.


    Hearing Jeffrey''s words, Eric indifferently shook his head: "I personally called to invite them, Charlie rejected me."


    Jeffrey couldn''t act as nonchntly as Eric, he said: "I heard that Stuart Runkle has signed with the CAA, and that they''ve already arranged for him to act in three different movies by the end of next year. What are you gonna do about it ?"


    Eric rea.s.sured him: "Rx Jeffrey, the CAA wanting to keep Stuart away from Home Alone is simply wishful thinking. You''ll understand once those movies he stars in are released."


    In his past life, Macay Culkin had also taken up quite a lot of movies after his rise to stardom, but the results were absolutely mediocre. Some producers, who had granted him a huge paycheck thanks to his fame, had even tons of money.


    "You''re implying that other movies that Stuart Runkle stars in won''t do as well ?" Jeffrey asked.


    Eric nodded: "Everyone thinks that Home Alone was a miracle, and I won''t deny this point. But Stuart Runkle is, all in all, a neer, he can''tpare to those veterans in the industry.


    Wait ''til next year, he needs us to stabilize his fame, by then, whether it be the CAA or his parents, they won''t have a choice but to turn to us. The Runkle couple."


    Eric slurred his speech, unable to hide his disappointment. When he had called to invite the Runkle family, Charlie''s att.i.tude had been chilling cold, even somewhat disdainful.


    Eric could definitely guess what was on the man''s mind, he probably thought that Home Alone sess was due to his son. Some people were like that, they felt like the world revolved around them.


    "What if one of the movies he does ends up bing a blockbuster ?" Jeffrey asked.


    "Not mentioning the fact that it''s highly unlikely, if it did happen, then good for him. Jeffrey, once Pretty Woman is released, you''ll understand that I couldn''t care less whether Home Alone gets a sequel or not."


    At this moment, Eric caught a glimpse of Drew in her red dress, nonchntly taking a .s.s of wine from one of the waiters'' tray. He red sharply at the girl, and she froze, before hastily putting the .s.s back and fleeing towards a group of young people.


    Jeffrey chuckled when he saw this: "You''re so good to her, it feels like I''m looking at a parent and his child. You''ll probably be a good father one day."


    "Hey that''s too far in the future, I''m only eighteen, you know ? I''m in no rush to get married and have kids."


    Right then, James Brooks along with some other guests came over to greet them.


    "James, thank you for doing me that favor." Eric said as he raised his .s.s towards the man.


    Jamesughed: "Hahaha, that was nothing. Right, that photo of yours was also featured in the Los Angeles Times, you guys looked really good together."


    Jeffrey alsoughed and added: "Eric, are you sure you didn''t specifically ask for it ? I can hardly believe that a pa.s.sing amateur photographer was able to capture something like this."


    "Whether you believe it or not, it''s a fact, I even had to spend 1,000 $ for the negative. But well, it did inspire me a new script."


    James suddenly became interested: "Oh ? Do you mind disclosing a bit about its content ?"


    "Sure, no problem." Eric said: "It''s a story about a single father and an already engaged female reporter."


    Eric took a few minutes to narrate the synopsis of Sleepless in Seattle to him.


    "It seems to me that you''ve also taken inspiration from An Affair To Remember." James said.


    Eric didn''t deny it: "The script will be written so that the heroine will have seen that precise movie, and the theme song will pay it tribute."


    James thought that if the script was really good, then the Fox could buy it over, or they could produce it jointly with the Firefly Studios. Since Eric owed him a favor, as long a he asked, he was sure to get his way. But after listening to the synopsis, he decided it wasn''t worth it.


    Eric hadn''t gone too much into the details of the plot, so James saw it as an ordinary love story.


    It''s not that Hollywood had never done romanticedies, it''s just that it usually didn''t do that well at the box office. At this point in time anyways, people preferred action or science fiction movies, even thrillers did better than roms.


    Noticing that the man seemed tock interest after hearing about the script''s content, Eric breathed a sigh of relief. If James had asked for it, he really wouldn''t have been able to refuse him.


    Sleepless in Seattle would do wonders at the box office, so giving it up to the man just because of a small favor made him really reluctant.


    The topic of the conversation soon changed and Sleepless in Seattle was also temporarily put aside. It goes without saying, that when the movie was released and made over 200 million $ at the box office worldwide, James wept until no tears were left.


    "Eric, I heard that you n on releasing Pretty Woman on Valentine''s Day, which would mean that you n on wrapping everything up in five short weeks. If you include the post-production and the reviewing, I think you''re taking a huge risk time-wise."


    Eric confidently said: "Don''t worry, I''ve already started the preparations two weeks ago, so we''ll start shooting next week. There''s really not that much to film either, we''ll be able to submit the movie in time."


    In his previous life, it had taken twelve weeks to shoot Pretty Woman, but the movie had then be subjected to lots of changes, even the script had been tweaked beyond recognition.


    Normal directors usually used up dozens hours of film rolls, some even went past the hundred hours, thereby wasting both budget money and valuable time.


    However, Eric was different, he had seen the edited version of the movie and remembered each second of it. To him, shooting was simply a formality.


    Granted, there was still the fact that some of the actors were different, but he was also confident that as long as they did their jobs correctly, he could at least reduce the used up film roll to about ten hours, therefore leaving enough time for the post-production.

 Chapter 64: Roxette

    "Hey, Penny, how''s it going ?" After chatting with Jeffrey and James for a while, Eric started mingling with the other guests.


    Penny Marshall meaningfully winked at the people she was with, who were tactfully enough to leave. "Still the same, I''ve been getting a lot of script offers, but none that could satisfy me, so I''m taking a break. Not everyone can be like you, shooting a second movie so soon after the first one."


    Ericughed: "It''s not like I have a choice, so many people are eager to see me fail, I figured I''d give them something to shut them up. 17 Again has made 70 million $ at the box office so far, right ? Looks like it''s only a matter of time before it pa.s.ses the 100 million mark.


    I don''t think another female director will be breaking your record any time soon."


    Penny was used to thepliment, but still said: "Ha, speak for yourself ! Home Alone is still running and made 24 million $st week alone."


    "Alright, if you guys keepplimenting each other like this, I''ll get nauseous." James Brooks suddenly interrupted: "Eric, I need to speak with Penny for a bit."


    "Sure, no problem." Eric nodded and headed somewhere else.


    The get-together came to an end and Eric stopped Kapoor who was about to leave: "Kapoor,e with me for a bit please, there''s something I need to discuss with you."


    Kapoor nodded his head and followed Eric to his study on the second floor. The room was messy, and the newspapers clippings on the cork board were reced by the handwritten storyboard of Pretty Woman.


    Kapoor was somewhat startled by the messiness of the room. The entire mansion was neat and clean, which strangely contrasted with the scene he was now faced with.


    Eric put away several files into a folder then back on a shelf before exining: "This is where I work, the help isn''t allowed here, thus the chaos."


    "Doesn''t Drew live here ? She could help."


    Eric gave a chair to Kapoor and chuckled: "You''re kidding, right ? Besides, I clean up some times."


    "Sigh, you''re too good to her."


    Eric shrugged without answering, he put a tape into the tape recorder and pressed the y b.u.t.ton: "Kapoor, listen to this."


    It started with a fast-beat, and soon the singing started:


    * It must have been love


    * But it''s over now


    * Lay a whisper on my pillow,


    * Leave the winter on the ground


    * I wake up lonely, there''s air of silence


    * In the bedroom and all around


    * ... [1]


    After a few minutes, the song finished ying and Eric asked: "What do you think ?"


    Kapoor said: "I honestly don''t know much about music, but I liked it, it has a lot of appeal. Why did we listening to this ?"


    "I intend to use it as one of the songs in Pretty Woman, but that''s not all there is to it. Kapoor, have you thought about UTA''s future ?"


    Kapoor nodded: "Of course I have. Since we''ve signed Al Pacino and if Pretty Woman seeds, both he and Julia Roberts will be our backbone, thereby granting the agency with a stable foothold in the industry."


    Eric asked: "Have you ever thought about signing other types of artists ?"


    "You mean." Kapoor looked at the tape recorder: "Singers ?"


    Eric nodded: "All the movie and television actors have basically already been s.n.a.t.c.hed by other agencies. If we want to expand, we can only do it by being patient or by poaching.


    But the music industry is different, even the CAA has paid little attention to it, which I feel is a great opportunity for us."


    The 90'' were the music industry''s golden age, and Eric had been researching songs for the OST, only to found out that Roxette had yet to go international.


    In the past, the Swedish group had been active for a full ten years after their debut in North America, and "It Must Have Been Love" had been listed by Billboard as the most sessful single of 1990, behind Wilson Philips'' "Hold On".


    "Kapoor, the song you just heard is from a Swedish pop-duo, and although they have a lot of potential, not many people know them yet. Do you understand where I''m going ?"


    Kapoor said: "Seems to me that a trip to Sweden is necessary."


    "Right, and the sooner the better. If I could find the song, recordpanies will soon notice it too, and their vision of things is probably better than mine since I''m no professional in this particr domain, so we should make our move fast."


    "Are you nning on getting into the music business ?"


    Eric shook his head: "It''s too early to establish a recordpany, right now I''ll be focusing on movies. After we sign Roxette, you''ll need to handle those matters."


    Kapoor nodded in understanding and the two of them chattered for a while before the middle-aged man got up and left.


    Once he was out, Michael us hurriedly scrambled in: "It''s been so long, Eric, don''t tell me you haven''t finished writing Resident Evil by now ? I pegged you as a fast one !"


    Hisst words were unintentionally heard by a pa.s.sing waitress who subconsciously nced at Eric. She held back herughter and hastily walked towards the kitchen.[2]


    Eric morosely said: "Michael, I''d appreciate you paying attention when you speak, G.o.d knows what those tabloids will say about me if that girl decides to bber."


    Michael grinned, not the least bit sorry as he kept pestering him about the book.


    "Alright, alright, take it, jeez." Eric handed the ma.n.u.script over to him, "The contract needs to be the same as the prior one, just bring it to me and I''ll sign it."


    Drew suddenly came barging in at this moment, and seeing Michael leafing through the book''s pages, she rushed over shouting: "Hey Eric ! I haven''t read it yet !"


    Michael lifted his arm over his head and fended off the.s.s'' outstretched paws before hastily putting the ma.n.u.script away in his bag. Ignoring Drew, he said: "I''ll go first, Eric. See ya."


    Done, Michael quickly left, leaving behind a fl.u.s.tered little goblin.


    "Alright, knock it off." Eric said as he flicked the girl''s forehead, "Care to tell me about you skipping .s.ses ? And the princ.i.p.al''s phone messages getting erased ?"


    The girl instantly lost her momentum, and turned into a well-behaved youngdy as she grabbed the youth''s hand and batted her eyshes: "I''m sorry, Eric, it won''t happen again."


    Eric sharply looked at her, "Drew, are you using again ?"


    Drew hurriedly shook her head: "No, definitely not, I just took a few students to watch a game at the Rose Bowl stadium. I''ve sworn to you before, Eric, I will absolutely never touch those things again."


    Breathing a sigh of relief, Eric took the girl in his embrace. Thinking back to her words, he couldn''t help but smile and p her little b.u.t.t: "No wonder the princ.i.p.al sounded so angry, not only did you ditch .s.ses, you''ve even managed to drag your obedient .s.smates with you."


    Drew moaned a little before looking up at him and whispering: "Do you want me to introduce you to them ? They''re all virgins you know, I checked."


    "You"


    Eric''s imagination actually drifted for a bit, but he quickly shook his head and said: "Stop talking nonsense and go to sleep. And you''re not allowed to go out until school starts."


    "Wow, so overbearing, I''ll tell the girls on you."


    _ _ _ _


    [1] From Pretty Woman''s Original Soundtrack, "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette.


    [2] For those who didn''t get it, what Michael said has s.e.xual innuendos.

 Chapter 65: Test

    In the 80'', Hollywood had yet to be a worldwidendmark, so the Walk of Fame wasn''t that famous yet.


    When night fell, the street was no different from the others; packed with shops, crowded by pedestrians, and homeground to the asional scantily d girls.


    In the pa.s.senger''s seat of an inconspicuous car parked in the street, Eric watched with interest as men sometimes stopped to ost Julia Roberts.


    Right now, the girl was wearing heavy makeup, and even those familiar with her wouldn''t be able to recognize her. She was somewhatzilyying against amppost, nonchntly gazing at the ongoing traffic. She looked exactly like Eric remembered Vivian did in the movie.


    Within half an hour, the men who struck up a conversation with Julia had exceeded the number of 10. Just when he was thinking of putting an end to the test, Eric noticed three to four youth dressed quite pompously encircling her.


    He turned towards the robust man sitting in the driver''s seat and said: "Drive, Tony. You handle them."


    "Yes boss." Tony started the car and pulled next to Julia. The girl could barely maintain her smile in front of the youths, so when she noticed the car, she quickly said: "See guys, my client came to pick me up, I told you I was waiting for someone. And he''s big money."


    The several youths turned around and eyed the car with contempt as they struggled to contain theirughter: "Honey you''re kidding, right ? How can someone with such a broken down car be from money ? Look, we''ll give you 200 $ for the night, how about it ?


    All the other girls on the street only charge 70 $."


    Tony opened the door and got out. He was nearly two meters tall and built like a bull. He red fiercely at the youths, who suddenly felt weak in their knees. They all smiled apologetically and scrambled with their tails between their legs.


    "Miss Julia, please." said Tony, as the fierce expression on his face vanished and he considerately opened the rear door for Julia.


    Julia thanked him and got in, while her a.s.sistant, Alison Green, hurriedly put a jacket on the actress. Los Angeles'' nights were cold at this time of the year.


    "So Eric, what did you think of my performance ?" Julia hastily asked the man who was sitting in the pa.s.senger''s seat.


    Eric praised: "I''m very satisfied with it, if it weren''t for Tony, we might have run into some trouble."


    "I''m just doing my job, boss." The giant honestly smiled and started the car.


    Tony was part of the security team hired by the Firefly Studios, and although he was a ck and brawny guy, he was fairly mild temper and disliked to fight if he didn''t have to.


    Hooker was a very dangerous upation, some of the girls would sometimes be abducted, and their bodies would be found a few dayster in some garbage somewhere. These kinds of things happened, so in order to prevent that, Eric had brought Tony along.


    "Tony, you live around here, right ? Pull over at the intersection, you can go home, I''ll send Julia back."


    Tony nodded, stopped the car at the indicated ce and took his leave.


    Alison Green looked at Julia, then Eric. She opened her car door and said: "I''ll get off too, I''ll just take the bus home, sir. Good night."


    Soon, only the two youths'' were left. Eric got in the driver''s seat and started the car, while Julia anxiously curled up in the back seat. The two of them kept silent.


    Half an hourter, the car pulled in front of Julia''s apartment. The girl got down and waited a moment before turning around and realizing Eric hadn''t followed her. He stuck his head out the window and said: "Julia, you need to move out as soon as possible, preferably in Beverly Hills.


    If you still live here once the movie is out, you''ll be hara.s.sed by the paps. I''ll tell Jeffrey to give you a down payment of your sry."


    "Okay. Eric. aren''t youing in ?" Julia softly asked, a little anxious.


    Eric yfully winked at her: "Not today, although I''ve taken some measures, I can''t bepletely certain that none of those d.a.m.n paps are hiding somewhere."


    Julia didn''t know whether to be happy or disappointed, she hesitated twice, before waving to him and walking towards her apartment.


    Eric waited until she had gotten in, before rolling his window up and driving away.


    ...


    On New Year''s Day, Al Pacino flew from New York to Los Angeles, and settled down in his own vi in Beverly Hills, before quickly joining the Pretty Woman''s crew.


    The movie therefore held its first meeting with both main actors present, and everyone talked for an entire morning. Eric also took this opportunity to give out new pointers about the script to the cast.


    After all, Al had reced Richard Gere, and their acting style werepletely different, so Eric couldn''t only rely on his past knowledge to shoot this time.


    He also let Al and Julia act a few scenes together. The actor tried his best to lower his acting level to hers, but in the midst of performing, he still somewhat pressured her.


    Al Pacino was only a meter and seventy centimeters tall, while Julia was nearly one meter eighty with high heels on. If it had been before, Eric might have allowed Julia to wear t shoes and Al elevator shoes in order to get rid of the height difference.


    But after seeing them interact together, Eric gave up on the idea. Julia''s only advantage at this point was her height, if he got rid of it, she would be crushed by Al Pacino.


    Since they had agreed to spend a million of sponsorship fees for Pretty Woman, Lamborghini and its parentpany, Chrysler, attached considerable importance to the project.


    Two small truck parked on the training ground of a Los Angeles driving school, and under themand of the staff, two Lamborghini Diablo were carefully unloaded.


    Eric and Drew were standing around, and when the.s.s saw the two vehicles, one silver, and one purple, her eyes sparkled. "Wow, those sports cars are so cool !"


    She was about to get closer when Eric stopped her, so she turned around and said: "Eric, I want the purple one, it''s so beautiful !"


    Eric pinched the.s.s'' small nose andughed: "It''s not a toy, you can''t just have it."


    Next to them, Ian Brewster, who was part of the Lamborghini staff, smiled proudly at the girl''s reaction and introduced: "Miss Drew has the eye, the purple color represents n.o.bility, luxury, wealth, power, independence, pride and mystery, which tends to appeal to women a lot.


    The car was specially made to meet Mr. Williams'' demand, it is not yet on sale."


    They chatted with several other people, then a staff leader directed Julia and Al to the two cars and began to carefully exin how it was to be operated. While they had their driver''s licenses, they had never drove a Lamborghini, especially Julia, she hadn''t even seen one before.


    In Pretty Woman, the car appeared in the first twenty minutes of the movie, and the two actors had to drive for a long time as they introduced some of the its aspects andtest innovations.


    In order to ensure there would no ident during the shooting, Eric decided to have Julia and Al go through a three-days training session. Lamborghini was also very eager to cooperate, and deliberately sent a Ian Brewster to supervise.

 Chapter 66: Dont get caught

    Most men like sports cars and Eric was no exception, however he could only be at the training grounds the first day. He was so busy that he didn''t have time to drop by again.


    Beverly Hills, in a temporarily rented vi, Eric and Jeffrey were directing the staff in arranging the props for an uing scene.


    Al Pacino''s acting was book-standard, while Julia  ording to Eric''s knowledge of his past life  tended to y more based on feel. This time, Eric had her follow Al''s method, which means she would first have to get into Vivian''s characterpletely before shooting.


    Filming scenes in disorder could affect performance results, so in order to prevent that and let the actors immerse themselves into their roles, Eric decided to shoot in chronological order.


    In the original movie, Edward was first seen at hiswyer''s party, Philip Stuckey, and through thetter and a few other guests'' small-talk, the viewers learned a bit about the main character''s ident.i.ty and personality.


    Eric and Jeffrey discussed for a bit, and finally decided that, to shoot this scene, they would throw a real party to celebrate the start of Pretty Woman. They didn''t even hire extras, instead inviting the majority of the crew''s family to appear.


    The scene wasn''t a major one, so Eric didn''t worry about it going wrong.


    "I went to the Fox''s headquarters yesterday to tell them that we wanted to release the movie on Valentine''s Day, it took more than an hour to convince Carter Hunt that we would deliver in time before he finally agreed that he wouldunch a promotion campaign two weeks before d-day.


    Honestly Eric, two weeks is a really short amount of time. Road House, the movie Richard Gere will star in, won''t be out until march."


    Eric was writing down something on a notepad when he heard Jeffrey''s words, he said: "Don''t worry, Jeffrey, right now the entire country''s media circle is promoting my movie, albeit they do it with criticism and jeer.


    I don''t think there''s a lot of people in the states right now who don''t know about Pretty Woman. Besides, our biggest publicity stunt has yet toe."


    Jeffrey curiously asked: "What publicity stunt ?"


    Eric''s lips curved into a confident smile: "Do me a favor, count for me, how many weeks has Home Alone been trending at the box office for, and how much will its final grossing be ?"


    Jeffrey did a quick mental calction, he reckoned that the movie had been screening for about 12 weeks, and that the box office was likely to soon reach the 200 million $ mark.


    Seeing his friend rx a little, Eric said: "Do you understand ?"


    Jeffrey nodded his head: "Home Alone is likely to pa.s.s the 200 million mark at the box office, which, ording to an article I saw in Variety magazine, is a feat that no one in the country has been able to achieve for three consecutive years.


    Once Home Alone reaches that milestone, the media will have a field day again."


    "Exactly, so as long as I can make a decent movie quality-wise, there''s no need to worry about it failing because of ack of publicity. And for United Artists'' to release Road House a month after Pretty Woman means that they won''t even be able to ride on our coattails."


    Since he had no recollection of the movie Road House, Eric wasn''t worried at all.


    It will be difficult for Richard Gere to rise back again after missing the Pretty Woman''s opportunity though, after all, as Eric remembered, the actor''s acting wasn''t even good enough to warrant him an Oscar nomination in the past.


    "Right, Eric, when I went to the Fox yesterday, Carter Hunt raised the issue of a movie adaptation for Jura.s.sic Park. And they''re also interested in the book Resident Evil that you just published, I just avoided the topic."


    Thanks to Michael''s efforts, Resident Evil had been released the other day, and had soon started some controversy.


    Most newspapers article were criticizing the novel, while some reviewers and people even wondered if Eric had only been riding on his fame''s momentum, and written the book to rack in the profits as the genre waspletely different from Jura.s.sic Park.


    Faced with those kinds of reactions, Eric didn''t even bother to reply.


    Written for profit ?


    With his current fame and fortune, did he really need that little bit of royalties that would ensue ?


    As soon as Resident Evil hit the shelves, Michael us called and told him that the book was actually selling well, and that people were very interested in this new type of zombie-rted science-fiction.


    There were even some readers who had wrote to both Michael and Eric, hoping for a movie adaptation.


    "Jeffrey, if someone ever contacts you for the movie rights, tell them I definitely won''t let go of either novel unless they cane up with a satisfactory cooperation n."


    Jeffrey nodded, before suddenly remembering something, and smiling: "For Home Alone to actually get nominated at the Golden Globes for Best Comedy really gives us pride."


    Eric followed with augh: "Whether the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards, they will always bow to the box office. Just wait and see, there will probably also be some Oscar nominations as well."


    Jeffrey tentatively said: "Your shooting schedule is sopact, I''m afraid that when the timees we won''t be able to attend the Golden Globes'' ceremony."


    "No worries," Eric put away the notepad and tucked the pen behind his ear, he said: "Since the Golden Globes'' have done us the honor, we''ll attend even if it means putting the shooting on hold for a day.


    They know that we''re in L.A, if we refuse to attend just because of the filming, we might attract some ill will."


    Thinking back to how even DiCaprio had never gotten an Oscar, Eric felt he needn''t to tread with them carefully.


    Although some imed that Leonardo couldn''t get one because he wasn''t a good enough actor, others spected that it was because he hadn''t attended the 70th Academy Awards ceremony, since he was sulking at the fact that he hadn''t been nominated for Best Actor in t.i.tanic.


    The two men chatted about shooting arrangements, then went to eat lunch in the vicinity at noon. After a while, Eric looked at his watch and said: "Jeffrey, you take care of things this afternoon, I have something to do."


    Jeffrey looked at him inquiringly, what could possibly be more important than the shooting right now ?


    Eric helplessly said: "I''m driving Drew to school, she got into some troublest time and her princ.i.p.al wants to see me."


    Jeffrey was stunned for a second before he smiled and shook his head: "Are you seriously thinking that the girl is your daughter ?"


    Eric threw his hands up: "When I signed that contract with her mother, it was simr to getting Drew''s custody, so I should at least take responsibility."


    "Right, I read a ttering newspaper article about how you saving Drew from her mother''s greedy hands and sending her to boarding school was a great act of heart-warming kindness."


    Eric wore his jacket and casually said: "I paid a guy to write that, I was tired of people bothering me about Drew''s issue. I''m a pretty okay guy, and I felt people should know that."


    Jeffrey who was in the midst of taking a sip of coffee, sprayed it out: "You''re really."


    ..


    Drew''s princ.i.p.al was a woman seemingly in her fifties with a gentle overall feel.


    Eric sat alone across the woman as he listened to her: "Mr. Williams, we usually never give up on our students, however Ms. Barrymore seems to be quite the unusual case.


    All of ourdies are from respectable and influential families, if their parents were to learn that their daughters had skipped .s.s, I''m afraid that the school would be the one at the receiving end of their ire. We cannot possibly take coercive measures against Ms.


    Barrymore, so if this kind of thing were to happen again, I''m afraid we will be left with no other choice than to have her transferred to another school."


    "Ms. Gillian, you can rest a.s.sured, I have severely reprimanded Drew."


    "Good, good." Ms. Gillian nodded her head, and proceeded to ramble some more before letting Eric go.


    Outside of the office, Eric looked at Drew who was dressed in her school uniform and said: "I got an earful thanks to you, do you n on making me go through this a second time ?"


    The girl smiled and grabbed Eric''s arms as she said: "Don''t worry, I definitely won''t."


    "I don''t hear any sincerity in that statement." Eric smiled helplessly, not only did the girl not seem sorry in the slightest, she looked like she was enjoying herself.


    At the entrance''s door, Eric sighed. Sweeping his surroundings with his gaze to make sure no one was around, he whispered: "Don''t get in trouble, I''ll be busy from now on, and if you intend to skip .s.s again. at least don''t get caught."


    "Oh, Eric. you know me so well." Drew tiptoed and kissed him on the cheek.


    Eric smiled and patted the girl''s head. He went to his car, started it, waved good bye through his window, and drove away.

 Chapter 67: Turning points

    On January 7th, in a vi in Beverly Hills, the shooting of Pretty Woman officially started.


    Like they said it so well in the east, don''t let one''s own fertile water flow into others'' field (fi shu b li wi rn tin). Many of the supporting roles were given to UTA''s signed actors since, as Kapoor had pointed it, these people were talented, all theycked was an opportunity.


    Even if all they got was a few lines in the Home Alone''s director new movie, these young artists were amply satisfied.


    Eric hadn''t bother rectifying their views, once Pretty Woman was released, those actors and actresses would find out exactly how lucky they were. In his past, the movie had been so popr that even the small roles had received some kind of recognition.


    Since no one in UTA coulde close to Edward''swyer (Philip Stuckey) image, Eric decided to contact the original actor, Jason Alexander.


    At this moment in time, Jason Alexander was an ordinary Broadwayedian. Although his acting was excellent, his external appearance didn''t y in his favor, and so far, he had only yed minor roles in movies and TV shows.


    Hearing he could get a supporting role in Eric''s new movie, the actor didn''t hesitate to jump ship, dropping his now former agency to join UTA.


    As long as Jason Alexander was sessful in the future, no one would berate him for ''betraying'' his agency. Rather, they would more likely envy his good fortune.


    At the vi, all the actors were in ce. Eric sat behind the monitor and made an OK sign at the 2nd a.s.sistant camera [1] to signal the start of the shooting.


    "Pretty Woman, scene one, take one. Action !"


    After the p of the te[2], those in front of the camera began moving.


    The camera focuses on a magician saying his lines while skillfully handling a coin.


    "No matter what they say, it''s all about money."


    The magician pulls out a coin from Edward''s former girlfriend''s ear as Philip Stuckey appears in the frame, smiling. He inquires about Edward''s whereabouts while he watches the magician perform.


    This was a nearly one minute long take which required more concentration and therefore put an actor''s ability to y to the test. It had been rehea.r.s.ed a lot though.


    Jason Alexander didn''t let Eric down, in front of the camera, the man was leisurely smiling, each of his lines were freely flowing out, and his bodynguage fitted his character to a tee as he mingled amongst his guests.


    Jason kissed the cheek of a female guest, and Eric shouted with satisfaction: "Cut !"


    Jason Alexander put down the .s.s of champagne in his hands and smiled to Eric: "Director Williams, how was it ? Do you need me to do it again ?"


    Eric gave him a thumbs up, and praise: "No need, that was perfect. We''re getting off on the right foot."


    Several members of the crew couldn''t help but gather behind the monitor as Eric reyed the scene. It was obvious for all who saw, that Jason Alexander''s performance was indeed wless.


    Once the rey was over, Eric confirmed that there was no need to re-shoot anything. He pped his hands and said: "Alright everybody, prepare for the second take."


    Everyone dispersed, including Jason Alexander who went to find Al Pacino to prepare for the next take.


    On the vi''s second floor, in a room that was converted into a meeting ce, Al Pacino had been going through pages of doc.u.ments. He couldn''t remember how many times he had read the data.


    In order to help Al immerse himselfpletely into his role, Eric had specially asked some people to prepare dozens of informative pages on both Edward Lewis Industries and Morse Industries.


    Although the twopanies were fictional, the content of those pages were written by professionals to make it as realistic as could be.


    The second take was a meeting to discuss the acquisition of Morse Industries. Although the room had been modified already, it still took half an hour to arrange the seating.


    After the shooting began, most of Eric''s attention was directed towards Al Pacino. He didn''t have a lot of lines, but all needed to be apanied by urate facial expressions and bodynguage, which was actually something that Al excelled in.


    Al''s version of Edward was different than Gere''s. Of course, he was still handsome, but his gentle and easy-going temperament had been stripped away.


    He appeared wiser and indifferent, which was in fact, more in line with the script, as Edward was supposed to be a profit-seeking businessman, so Eric quickly got used his version.


    After a few shots, Eric suddenly frowned and stood up. He shouted: "Cut !"


    "Eric, is there a problem ?" Al Pacino asked, puzzled. The first few takes had went well, he didn''t understand what he had done wrong.


    Eric shook his head: "It''s not you, Al." With that, he walked towards a blonde sitting at the conference table. The girl, whose name was Dolly, hastily stood up.


    Eric nkly picked up the notepad the woman had been scribbling on, and said: "Dolly, do you realize, that because of your sloppiness, we need to re-shoot those takes again ?!"


    Dolly anxiously apologized: "I''m sorry, director I. I don''t understand where the problem is."


    "You''re supposed to be the minute taker[3], but you''ve been zoning out for a while now. If this was a real meeting, you would have been fired. And look at what you''ve written here; ''Shall Ipare thee to a summer day ? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.'', a poem, really ?"


    The girl''s face reddened slightly, she softly exined: "It''s. it''s from one of Shakespeare''s sos."


    "Alright, sit down." Eric personally corrected Dolly''s sitting posture, and slid the notepad squarely in front of her before saying: "No more poetry, you need to write down Al''s lines, got it ?"


    Dolly nodded: "I understand director Williams."


    Eric returned to his seat and directed the re-shooting. The reason why he had let the girl off so easily was because he was partially to me in this matter.


    He had been so focused on Al''s performance that he had neglected Dolly''s mistakes. It wasn''t until she appeared in the monitor''s frame that he had reacted. Had he corrected her right away, all those takes wouldn''t have been wasted.


    He, however, needed to maintain his prestige as a director in front of the crew, and could definitely not admit to his mistake on such a trivial matter.


    Although the party''s scene only amounted to a few minutes in the movie, it still took a good half day to shoot. It wasn''t until four in the afternoon that they finally wrapped thest take; the one in which Edward has a conversation with his former girlfriend.


    After abruptly breaking up over the phone with his girlfriend Jessica, Edward made his way down the stairs, intent on leaving the party, when he ran into his ex-girlfriend, and briefly struck up a conversation:


    Edward stares at the woman, and says: "Mmm. Susan, tell me something."


    "What ?"


    Edward considers for a moment, before saying: "When you and I were dating, did you speak to my secretary more than you spoke to me ?"


    Susan smiles and says: "She was one of my bridesmaids."


    Edward freezes, he smiles to Susan in embarra.s.sment, says goodbye and leaves.


    This seemingly ordinary conversation was, in fact, a turning point in Edward''s life.


    Pretty Woman being able to achieve a sessful box office and joining the ranks of the best romanticedies of all time, was not without reason.


    Many people would just jump to ''well here''s another Cindere fairy tale that will never happen in real life'', and although that was notpletely wrong, the plot had at least the merit of having been written without plot holes.


    If you said that there was no logic in it, then Notting Hill would probably be the most brainless movie of its genre; the man and the woman had barely met that they were already kissing in the former''s apartment.


    In Pretty Woman, however, the two protagonistse together at the end quite logically, after Vivian and Edward''s characters each went through three different turning points.


    Vivian''s first one was near the beginning of the movie, when she was confronted with the violent vision of a dead prost.i.tute thrown in a dumpster. The camera had done a close-up on the look of terror that had transpired on her face at that moment.


    When she had met up with her friend, Kit De Luca a bitter, she had asked her: "Don''t you want to get out of here ?"


    Her second one, was when she, who was supposed to apany Edward to dinner, went to buy clothes, but was driven out of the store thanks to her attire. As she walked down the street wrapped in her coat, Vivian bore the brunt of the humiliation, adamant to escape from her current circ.u.mstances.


    Her third andst one, was when Edward gave up on the acquisition of Morse Industries, which caused Philip Stuckey to fly into a rage, and me Vivian for it. Back in the hotel room, when she tells him that Edward will be ''home'' soon, Stuckey confronted her about it: "Home ?


    This is not ''home'', this a hotel room, and you''re a hooker, not his little wife."


    This sentence was something that had stayed etched in Vivian''s consciousness, as she remembered her childhood fantasies. When Edward saw her all packed up and ready to leave, he had asked her to stay.


    She confided in him about her dreams, and told him to either give her a shot at a fairy tale, or to let her go.


    She eventually chooses to leave, although the story doesn''t end here.


    Edward''s first turning point was back at Philip''s party, when he ran into his ex-girlfriend Susan who told him that his secretary had been one of her bridesmaids. One can only imagine, how withdrawn he had to have been for his own secretary to be closer to the woman he dated than he himself.


    Although this detail didn''t cause major changes in Edward''s, it was enough to let him reflect on his past behavior.


    The second one was when Edward had lunch with Morse. He went back to the hotel and sat alone on the balcony, overlooking Los Angeles'' night.


    The conversation he had had at lunch had reminded him of the pa.s.sing of his father; he had studied and worked hard in order to retaliate against the man who had abandoned his mother, and finally set up apany of his own. The first thing he did then, was to acquire his father''spany.


    However, once his father died, his fourteen years of rivalry and resentment vanished, and fatigue washed over him. He was a tired man, and his willpower was at its weakest, in this kind of circ.u.mstance, a woman suddenly appeared in front of him.


    She enlightened him,forted him, and unknowingly broke thest barrier protecting his heart.


    His final turning point was on the evening of their opera outing. They had just gotten home and were ying chess, when Edward, hand supporting his chin, had said: "Why don''t we finish this tomorrow ? It''s reallyte, and I have to work."


    Vivian had said: "Why do you not go to work tomorrow ? Take the day off."


    Edward had asked back: "Me, not work ?"


    Vivian: "Yeah."


    Edward, who seemed toe to a realization: "I do own thepany."


    So Edward went on a date with her, they ate a hot dog,id on the gra.s.s, read, chatted, did things people did on a date. That''s when he realized, that he couldn''t let her go.


    On a sad rainy day, with "It Must Have Been Love" ying in the background, Edward finally made up his mind to grant Vivian her fairy tale.


    He transformed into a knight, holding a sword (umbre) in his right hand, and flowers in his left, he climbed to the castle''s window (using the hangingdder), and got his princess back.


    _ _ _ _


    [1] Formerly known as pper loader.


    [2] Also known as pperboard.


    [3] Someone who takes down minutes.

 Chapter 68: Fragrant flower

    After Al Pacino pretended to clumsily drive the Lamborghini Diablo away from the party, the shooting for the day was over. The crew had been working for close to eight hours.


    As long as it went on like this, Eric believed that they could wrap everything up in four weeks time, so although he still had plenty of energy to spare, he didn''t ask them to work overtime.


    In Europe, overtime hours are frowned upon. It''s basically impossible to have Europeans work overtime, and in some countries, they even put restrictions on thepany at this effect, while some even impose high taxes on them.


    To have Americans work overtime, you better be ready to cough up money and make vacation promises, or you might get thebor union on your tail.


    In ordance to what had initially been decided, once the shoot was done, the party to celebrate the start of the filming finally started.


    Melodious and soothing music resounded over the room, and Eric politely turned down the invitations to dance of several beautiful women, instead opting to sit on a sofa in the corner of the room.


    He began discussing the uing shooting schedule with Jeffrey, and as he nced at the dance floor out of the corner of his eye, his sights soon stopped on Julia and Al dancing together.


    Julia had quit her job as a waitress, and after receiving a down payment of her paycheck, had followed Eric''s earlier advice and moved into an apartment in Beverly Hills.


    Although she didn''t have any scenes today, the girl was still actively doing her best, offering her services to the crew if they needed it, and even seeking out Al to rehea.r.s.e some of their mutual lines.


    Eric was very pleased with Julia''s att.i.tude, considering that, besides the a.s.sistant who was a.s.signed to her, the agency hadn''t given her any preferential treatment.


    Actually, even Al Pacino hadn''t received any, he came to work in his own car and left likewise. In order to save up budget, the crew had only rented a trailer for the actors to put makeup on and dress up.


    Obviously, this was only a one-time thing, when the two actors would shoot their next movie, they would definitely not receive this kind of ''cheap'' treatment.


    Jeffrey, who was chatting with Eric, found the man was out of sorts. He followed the youth''s line of sight and quickly grasped the object of his focus.


    "You''re not jealous, are you Eric ?"Jeffrey yfully said, he was all too clear about what had happened between his friend and the young woman.


    Eric shook his head. Since he did have an intimate rtionship with Julia, it was impossible for him not to feel anything when seeing her dancing with Al like a pair of even-matched lovers.


    However, he didn''t intend to im the girl, she was simply not his type. Eric, you see, was a senior member of the ''Appearances DO matter'' club, and to him, Julia had simply not reached his required standards of beauty, yet.


    "I''m happy to know they get along with each other." Eric casually said, "Look, only one week has pa.s.sed since they''ve been introduced to each other, and they''re already getting along. Don''t you think they''ve got great chemistry ?"


    At Eric''s words, Jeffrey looked back at the dance floor. Julia and Al Pacino were whispering and gazing into each other''s eyes, appearing every bit like a loving couple.


    "It does indeed look like it. Eric, do you think that Julia will fall for Al once the shooting is over ?"


    As he thought of Julia''s past pa.s.sionate and sensitive personality, he said: "It''s possible, but Al will definitely not humor her, his girlfriend is pregnant after all."


    Al Pacino was a definite yboy, but he was also a skilled and wise one. In Eric''s past, only two women had given birth to his children.


    If it had been before, Al might have started a rtionship with Julia. However, now it was unlikely to happen. The man was at a critical moment of hiseback, and his girlfriend was pregnant  something everybody was aware of.


    If rumors started appearing at this time, the possibility of things blowing up was quiterge.


    If it had only been Eric watching, perhaps Julia wouldn''t have realized, but now Jeffrey had also joined him and the two of them were talking and gazing at the couple dancing. Julia noticed them, and it was the same for Al, who very graciously smiled to the two men.


    Julia felt inexplicable apprehension at being in the man''s arms, she leaned over and whispered something to him, before getting away and making her way towards Eric.


    Al Pacino didn''t mind, he shrugged and soon found anotherpanion.


    "What''s up Julia ?" Eric curiously asked.


    "Just a little tired." Julia took a .s.s of champagne and sat down on the sofa. Casually leaning towards Eric, she asked: "What were you two talking about ?"


    Jeffrey took the initiative to reply with a smile: "Eric was just telling me that he thought there was a chance you''d fall in love with Al by the end of the shoot."


    "Ha ?"


    Eric quickly interrupted Jeffrey: "Don''t listen to his nonsense, Julia, he''s just bored. We were just saying that the shooting would probably proceed smoothly, since the two of you have obviously already grasped your characters."


    "Oh." Julia absentmindedly nodded. She sipped on her champagne, and asked: "Are you going to dance, Eric ?."


    Eric looked at his watch and said: "Nope, I have to leave soon."


    Jeffrey said: "What, why ? You should enjoy a little more, we''ll be so busy for a while."


    Eric stood up, smiled and said: "The first episode of Jenny''s TV show is aired today, she called me earlier to tell me not to miss it. It''ll be on soon."


    Jeffrey was first startled, he thenughed and escorted the man out. Some other sharp-sighted people saw Eric leave and apanied him as well.


    At the vi''s entrance, Eric said: "Alright, you guys go back. Don''t let them y toote Jeffrey, we don''t want tomorrow''s schedule to be dyed."


    "Don''t worry, I''ve got this."


    Eric waved goodbye and made his way to the parking lot. Julia, who was in the middle of the crowd, hesitated a moment, before following him out.


    Eric had just opened his car door when he spotted her: "Julia, is something wrong ?"


    "I haven''t had the time to buy a car yet, can you give me a ride ?"


    Eric smiled and said: "No problem."


    Once the were on the road, Eric casually opened: "So, what do you think about Al ?"


    Julia nced at Eric, and carefully worded: "Al Pacino is very gentlemanly and easy to talk to, but I don''t really feel anything else about him. He is, after all, 20 years older than I am."


    Ericughed and said: "If Al heard you, he would probably be sad. You might not like older guys, but I''m pretty sure he likes beautiful young girls."


    "You think I''m beautiful ?"


    Eric nodded: "From a Westerner''s point of view, you certainly are."


    Although Julia felt his phrasing was kind of weird, her face lit up in joy.


    After a brief pause, Julia mustered up the courage to ask: "Eric, is your current girlfriend Jennifer Aniston ?"


    "Yup, we were together in 17 Again." Eric said. Thinking of something, he smiled and said: "Jenny also knows you."


    "It''s impossible, I know her thanks to the newspaper." Julia started, then remembering the night she had spent with Eric, flushed in embarra.s.sment.


    Eric didn''t mind, he said: "Yeah, that''s also how she knows you." An image of a pouting Jenny popped in his head and he smiled: "That shirt you were wearing when you were photographed, it''s also something Jenny has worn. Right, do you mind giving it back to me if you still have it ?"


    "No problem." Julia subconsciously nodded.


    The car pulled in front of Julia''s newly rented apartment, and she got out. Looking left and right and making sure no one was there, she said: "There''s no paparazzi this time Eric, do you wannae in for a cup of coffee ?"


    Eric popped his head out the window and said: "Nah, I really have to get back, I''ll just wait here."


    "Alright." Julia took out her keys and opened her door. She looked back and Eric didn''t seem to have any intention of following her, so she went inside alone.


    In her bedroom, Julia opened her closet and took out the man''s now clean and washed white shirt. She inhaled its fabric, before silently folding it.


    She was about to go out and give the shirt back to Eric, but when she thought of what he had said, a wave of jealousy washed over her and she reflexively put the shirt back in her closet. She took a deep breath and went back out.


    "I''m sorry, Eric, I forgot where I''ve put the shirt. I''ll give it to you when I found it, okay ?"


    Eric stared at the girl for a bit, and sighed: "Okay, it''s fine if you can''t find it too."


    When he was about to roll his window up, Eric stopped, he stuck his head out and said: "Julia, I can a.s.sure you, that after Pretty Woman is released, you will be one of the most sought after Hollywood stars.


    At that time, you will be the dream girl of countless men, and countless others will pursue you, so." Eric hesitated a moment, before saying: "Don''t let me down, act at your best."


    Julia bit her bottom lip, and revealed a forced smile as she said: "Rest a.s.sured, director Williams, I will do my best."


    "Then see you tomorrow."


    "See you tomorrow." The girl waved, and watched him drive and vanish out of sight.


    As he looked at the unmoving figure of Julia in his rear-view mirror, Eric sighed. He gently tapped his index finger on his steering wheel to the rhythm of an old Chinese song: "Xng d zhng xi b p, y rn fng d pin pin ch ch li xing.


    Yu gung shn zhng yu yu ling, wn fng chu chu r hi lng." (When walking the righteous path, one is not afraid of nefarious designs, and that person has left its fragrance everywhere.


    The moonlight amidst the mountains glows quietly, and the night wind blows as sorrow washes over like ocean waves.)[1]


    As he sang thest words, Eric froze. He shook his head and smiled wryly: "Nah, no way."


    _ _ _ _


    [1] "The Flower Is Too grant", sung by Ren Xianqi.

 Chapter 69: Trailer at the Super Bowl

    After that day, Julia seemed to have put her feelings for Eric behind, and began topletely devote herself to the filming. Whether in front of people, or privately, she would only address him as ''Director Williams''.


    Of course, Eric had no time to worry about this since as the shooting went on, he took it upon himself to simultaneously do the post-editing. He and the editor were busy untilte at night every day, sometimes they wouldn''t even have time to go home and directly slept in the office.


    Jeffrey was really worried about Eric doing things that way. Usually, you would finish filming before starting the editing, that''s why it was called ''post-editing'' in the first ce!


    Although Home Alone''s shooting had been short, Eric had still followed procedure then, but now he had messed the order uppletely.


    However, after seeing the end result for himself, Jeffrey calmed down, although he made sure to tell Eric to pay attention to his health and sleeping time. He had also asked the youth many times why he would work so hard with his current achievements.


    After all, with the capital Home Alone had provided him, he could live prodigally for the next ten years at least.


    Eric smiled without exining, and simply kept working hard. How could Jeffrey possibly understand the kind of ambition he had ? His journey to the top had started the day he had auditioned for the Fox  that was when a seed had been nted.


    Only hard work and perseverance would let that same seed grow into a strong and healthy towering tree, and Eric wanted to see, exactly how tall and majestic that tree would be.


    After three days of shooting, the Pretty Woman crew started elerating things up. They moved to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where they began shooting some of the most important scenes.


    "Cut !" Eric stuck his head out from behind the monitor, the scene was the one when Edward and Vivian are having breakfast after their first night together.


    "The one who''s in charge of Julia''s lipstick. the color needs to be changed to a slightly lighter one."


    It was a small matter, so Julia didn''t need to leave the set. The makeup artist stepped forward and changed it. After a while, she turned towards Eric and asked: "Is this okay, director ?"


    Eric looked at Julia, and shook his head: "The color is fine, but make it a little thicker."


    The makeup artist modified it again, and Eric nodded, satisfied. He turned around towards n Fishman, the 2nd camera a.s.sistant, and said: "n, write this down for me, will you ?


    Vivian''s lipstick color changes overtime, from bright red to faded red, from faded red to pink, and after Philip Stuckey nearly rapes her, she starts barely wearing any."


    Although n Fishman was puzzled, he still hastily wrote down Eric''s words on a notepad.


    Eric didn''t bother exining to the crowd, this was a personal change he had decided to make. He wanted to use this method to highlight Vivian''s slow but decisive transformation. It would contrast with her friend, Kit De Luca, who sported a kitsch red lipstick from beginning to end.


    ..


    At noon, Jeffrey came to see him in a hurry.


    "Eric, I talked with Carter Hunt this morning, the Fox wouldn''t agree to broadcast Pretty Woman''s trailer during the Super Bowl."


    Eric put down his lunch, wiped his hands with a paper towel, and asked: "Did they say why ?"


    "To broadcast a 60 second trailer at the Super Bowl would cost 1.2 million $, and the Fox thinks of that as a waste, they believe that, in your case, advertising two weeks before the movie is enough." Jeffrey replied, "They still don''t have any confidence your new movie will do well, we both know the only reason they agreed to sign three distribution contracts with you was so they could get Home Alone''s sequel."


    Eric crumpled his napkin and thought for a moment, before saying: "Keep trying to convince the Fox, we at the very least need to get them to air the trailer on NBC. If they don''t relent about the Super Bowl, I''ll pay from my own pockets."


    "Eric, we have a 7 million $ budget, if you really want to have the trailer aired at the Super Bowl, I think a 30 second one is enough."


    Eric patiently exined: "Jeffrey, if this was a Star Wars movie with lots of special effects, then yeah, 30 seconds would be enough.


    But not for Pretty Woman, we need to give the people a taste of it, and I also intend to have the studio''s logo inserted in, so 30 seconds will definitely not be enough."


    "Well, if you say so" Jeffrey didn''t dawdle too much, it seemed like Eric had made up his mind and nothing would change it. However, the youth had also proven that he was in the right more often than not, so Jeffrey chose to trust him on this, yet again.


    Currently, the marketing of Hollywood movies was still rtively conservative, and airing a trailer at the Super Bowl was something that would only be introduced years from now, not to mention it was reserved to the ''Big Six''.


    The Super Bowl was THE American show, and it had been since its beginning, with a viewership of over 100 million people. Each year one of the major TV station aired it, and this year was NBC''s turn.


    A few days ago, Eric had watched Jenny''s TV show''s first episode, and happened onto a Super Bowlmercial on NBC. That''s when he decided to have Pretty Woman''s trailer aired there.


    The concept of airing a trailer at the Super Bowl was something that had started only a few years before his rebirth, so in this time and day, Eric''s idea could be considered avant-garde.


    Under normal circ.u.mstances, even if movies were deemed sure blockbusters, they only aired a trailer on TV one month before the release.


    In the first ce, Easter was one month after the end of the Super Bowl, however many moviepanies chose to release their movies during either summer, or the Christmas period, so not many had even thought of using that method of advertis.e.m.e.nt.


    Another thing was the cost; Super Bowl''s ads were very expensive. Eric had checked, and this year the prices had reached a time high of 670,000 $ for a 30 seconds segment.


    And although that was a lot, it should be noted that the ad would be yed for two continuous weeks, at the stadium, and on prime-time television.


    So Eric adamantly decided on a 60 seconds trailer for Pretty Woman, this was the second film he directed, and the box office was crucial to him.


    While he was confident the movie would do great, he was still concerned deep down about the b.u.t.terfly effect his presence might generate, so he would definitely not pa.s.s on that kind of promotional opportunity.


    ording to his information, and if things went well, Pretty Woman would be the first ever movie to have its trailer aired at the Super Bowl.


    With more than 100 million people bearing witness, this would be a hot topic of conversation, and paying 1.2 million $ for that kind of publicity was nothing.


    Eric also reckoned that it would be enough to keep the media satisfied until the release date.


    "Jeffrey, how''s the creation of our logo going ?" After having established Firefly Studios, Eric had discussed with Jeffrey about it, and the two of them had settled on an animated one.


    Once they had started shooting Pretty Woman, Eric had asked Jeffrey to elerate things up.


    "I urged Pixar several times about it, they said they''ll have it this week and that it won''t dy the making of your trailer, so don''t worry about it."


    Eric nodded, before suddenly asking: "Did you say. Pixar ?"


    Jeffrey was puzzled at his friend''s reaction, he asked: "Yeah, why, is there a problem ?"


    "You asked Steve Jobs of Pixar to make it ?"


    Jeffrey nodded: "Yeah, that guy precisely."


    Jeffrey''s mouth revealed a hint of a smile as he added: "To be honest, Steve Jobs has been really unlucky in recent years.


    First he was kicked out of Apple, then he rashly bought Pixar and intended to specialize inputer graphic with their "Image Computer" project, however that didn''t work well, and they''re now reduced to picking up animated ads requests to keep thepany afloat.


    It''s a shame though, their technology is quite good, I''ve watched Luxo Jr.[1], and that''s how I decided to contact them for our logo."


    _ _ _ _


    [1] 1986puter animated short-film.

 Chapter 70: Pixar; The ugly duckling

    Eric checked his memories of Pixar: a world-renowned leader of 3D animation, and producer of the Toy Story franchise.


    But before 1995, Disney 2D animation movies were still dominating the animated film market, and no one was optimistic about the future of 3D animation. It was to the point that Jobs himself started tock confidence in it.


    Before Toy Story was released, he had tried to sell this unfortunate ugly duckling at all cost, and had even contacted his good ol'' rival Microsoft to this purpose.


    During the meeting with the Microsoft executives and in order to curry favor with their CTO at the time, Nathan Myhrvold, Jobs had even went so far as to deliberately ce on his desk, aptop running Windows.


    Unfortunately, Microsoft''s offer was not to Jobs'' liking, and without anyway to extricate himself from the muddy swamp he had gotten himself into, he was left with no other choice but to bite the bullet and bid his time.


    That was rewarding, since once Toy Story was released, its North American box office grossed 192 million $, and its global box office reached an astounding 373 million $, while the general production cost had only amounted to 30 million $.


    After that, Pixar''s market value shot through the roof, reaching 7.4 billion $ when it was acquired by Disney in 2006.


    Time-wise, Steve Jobs should be in the middle of his ''sinking ship'' project[1]. Eric immediately thought about buying Pixar, but soon shook his head.


    Although right now Jobs only demanded 50 million $ for it, even if the price was halved, Eric had no way to pay.


    He didn''t have enough money yet, Home Alone had been screening for so long, but he still hadn''t received his final dividend.


    He reckoned that he would have to wait until Home Alone''s final grossing was out to get his share. In his past life, it wasn''t umon for directors or actors to go straight to court to get theirs.


    It''s millions of dors we''re talking about, with the annual interest percentage, even if it sat still in the bank, it would grow impressively. So even if they had a clear agreement, Columbia would certainly find a way to drag it all out.


    Eric shuddered at the thought of what they could do. Once Home Alone was at the end of its screening period, they could choose to add a few more screens all over the country, making sure the movie kept running for a little longer, and Eric would only be able to helplessly look on.


    Thanks to their fallout over the gambling agreement, the possibilities of cooperation with Columbia in the short future where near nil. Scratch that, it was probably 100% nil.


    With Columbia using petty and devious tricks to try to get ahead, he didn''t even want to bother with them, especially with Blount Cohen still at the helm.


    After much deliberation, Eric felt he should prioritize Pretty Woman right now. If history didn''t change too much, then Toy Story''s release wouldn''t happen until six years from now anyways, and he''d surely have enough to buy Pixar by then.


    ..


    Before Pretty Woman''s shooting had started, the preparatory work had been conducted perfectly, so Jeffrey didn''t need to be here all the time, they could just use other producers in his stead.


    Eric and the man had talked it out for about an hour, and Jeffrey had hurriedly flown to New York to discuss advertising issues with NBC.


    Advertising segments'' sales for the Super Bowl had started six months ago, and NBC had already sold 80% of them. Jeffrey had to fight for the remaining 20%, and a lot of time had pa.s.sed since, which meant the prices had risen.


    Three dayster, Eric had just gotten up when he received Jeffrey''s phone call. The man had scored them their 60 seconds of time.


    "What, 1.5 million $ ? Didn''t you say it was 1.2 million before ?" In the bathroom, a cordless phone nuzzled between his neck and his shoulder, Eric was in the midst of brushing his teeth when he asked.


    Jeffrey helplessly said: "If no one else had wanted it yeah, but a New York fashionpany suddenly got interested in the ad and made an offer for it. Since you told me I had to get it at all cost, I offered 300,000 $ more.


    I''m pretty sure that fashionpany is owned by NBC by the way, but I don''t have any proof."


    It was only 300,000 $, Eric didn''t want to dawdle on it, he finished brushing his teeth, rinsed his mouth and went back to the living room.


    "Well alright, 1.5 million $ it is." Eric sat on the sofa and poured himself a .s.s of water: "Sign the contract as soon as possible. Ah right, tomorrow''s the Golden Globes, will you make it ?"


    "The way things are now, probably not." Jeffrey regretfully said, "The one they want to see is the prodigious director anyways, doesn''t matter whether I go or not."


    "Ha ha, don''t sweat it, even if you miss it this time, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."


    "Too true." Jeffreyughed along, "Well if there''s nothing else I''ll hang up now. It should only be seven in the morning in L.A but I just had to let you know about the extra 300,000 $ as soon as possible."


    "It''s alright, I didn''t stay up yesterday, I went to bed right aftering back."


    They said goodbye and Eric hung up the phone.


    Leaning against the sofa and gently tapping his finger on his knee, Eric did a mental inventory of his ie and expenses: he had received a 25 million $ check from the Fox, had bought the Beverly Hills mansion for 1.9 million $, paid Drew''s mother 1 million $, acquired UTA for another million, acquired the Firefly Studios, the dubbing room, the editing room as well as all the professional equipment for 3 million $, Pretty Woman''s production cost was 7 million $ and the Super Bowl segment was 1.5 million $.


    In total, he had spent 15.4 million $.


    Although he had never been a prodigal person, he had been spending a lottely, and since his rebirth in the United States, Eric would be soon faced with one of the two things a U.S citizen couldn''t flee from: taxes. With what he had earned, no doubt he''d be taxed the highest possible amount: 35 %.


    Meaning he would owe nearly 10 million $.


    While he profusely cursed the d.a.m.ned capitalist system, he regretfully realized that he would probably not have enough by the 15th April, which was the tax deadline.


    "Right, I don''t have to pay it myself, I can take a loan instead[2]." Eric, who was ma.s.saging his temples, soon smiled. After all, he wasn''t originally American, he felt no patriotism at all, and was therefore very reluctant at the idea of paying taxes.


    He filed the matter at the back of his mind, and had breakfast before driving to the set.


    Perhaps it was because Eric had promised them the day off tomorrow, the crew was in high spirits, and at the end of the day, they had wrapped about 6 additional takes.


    After ten days of shooting, 60% of the movie was alreadypleted, and if things went well after the Golden Globes ceremony, they should be done in about a week.


    The reason they were able to go so fast was mainly thanks to Julia. Since the beginning, Eric hadn''t worried about Al Pacino; for the man to have obtained so many Oscar nominations spoke for itself.


    However, as a neer, Julia was another matter. At the start there wasn''t much to say, she did well, although she NGed several times. The real problem started when she had to y opposite to Al, and the number of her NG''s multiplied.


    Inparison to Al''s, Julia''s acting could be considered to be in its childhood stage.


    However, after a few days of shooting and Eric''s roars, Julia gradually narrowed their gaps in performance. In some shots, she even appeared to be the one pressuring Al (but well, it was a ro, and not exactly Al''s specialty in first ce, so it wasn''t that difficult to achieve).


    "Okay, that''s it for today." After onest take, Eric called it a day, and the crew members loudly cheered before packing up and leaving their separate ways.


    Eric stopped by the trailer where Al was removing his makeup and asked: "Al, how''s your practicing of the piano going ?"


    In the original movie, Edward''s solo piano performance at the restaurant was personally created and yed by Richard Gere. Eric used his memory as well as hispany''s music-oriented employees to recreate the 40 seconds tune, before handing it over to Al Pacino.


    Al''s piano skills were average, but since he insisted on personally ying it, Eric had to postpone that scene.


    "Eric, give me one. no, two days, I still need to practice a little more."


    "No problem." Eric admired the man''s dedication, but he still added: "However Al, we can''t drag it out too long, the shooting will only go faster from now on, and if we don''t shoot that scene soon, you''ll get lost in the development of the plot and lose the mood."


    Al Pacino was pensive for a bit and reckoned Eric had made a point.


    Realizing that whether he did it or not, it wouldn''t impact the movie''s quality, he reluctantly nodded inpromise: "Alright Eric, let''s shoot that scene the day after tomorrow, if it doesn''t work out, you''ll just have to post-dub it."


    _ _ _ _


    [1] He''s referring to Pixar Image Computer.


    [2] Okay so I am no American, and although I have some knowledge of their lifestyle, their taxation system ispletely beyond me. I skimmed through Wikipedia but I''m not really sure what he is talking about. Is he referring to the "credits" section ? If anyone knows, please do leave ament!

 Chapter 71: Cant you just let me?

    While everyone else had left, as usual, Eric went back to the Firefly Studios headquarters to work with the editor. Because Eric had to attend the Golden Globes tomorrow, they didn''t do any post-editing this time, they only focused onbeling and presorting the shots.


    It didn''t require much effort, but it was very time consuming as the two of them had to go through all the material they had umted so far.


    In the dimly lit room, Eric looked at his watch and said: "Patrick, that''s enough for today."


    "Alright, director." Editor Patrick McKinley knew Eric would attend the Golden Globes tomorrow, so he said, his eyes tinged with envy: "I wish you good luck for tomorrow Mr. Williams."


    The Golden Globes weren''t into technicality, there wasn''t any Best Editing, Best Cinematography awards and the like. So although Patrick had worked on Home Alone as an editor, he hadn''t been invited to the ceremony.


    When Eric drove back to his home in Beverly Hills, the lights were on. In addition to himself, the only ones with a key were Jenny and Drew, but Jenny was still in New York, filming her TV Show "Mary in Action"[1], and obviously couldn''t leave the crew. Without a doubt, the goblin was back.


    He parked his car and went in. Drew, who was curled up on the couch, raised her head at the sound.


    "Hey, Eric." She sleepily said. When Eric sat down next to her, the.s.s sluggishlyid on hisp.


    Eric smiled and squeezed the girl''s baby face: "Alright, so why are you here ? Tomorrow isn''t the weekend if my memory serves me right."


    "But the Golden Globes are tomorrow!" Drew sobered up a bit, and turned her head to face Eric before straightforwardly saying: "It''s not skipping this time, I also received an invitation to the ceremony, so I''ll be your date tomorrow."


    Eric didn''t particrly care for the Golden Globes, their awards were too subjective, so their overall value wasn''t that high.


    However, a month ago, the Golden Globes nominations came out, and Eric couldn''t ignore them anymore.


    His past life''s 17 Again had received neither Oscar nor Golden Globe awards, however this time, thanks to the Fox''s public rtions, Eric''s version was now running for two Golden Globes: Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Score.


    Although the Home Alone crew didn''t have any public rtions, the Golden Globesmittee could hardly turn a blind eye to the movie''s box office, and so it was nominated for Best Musical or Comedy, and for Best Performance in a Musical or Comedy.


    "If I remember correctly, 17 Again''s Best Supporting Actress nomination went to Susan Sarandon, not you, right ?" Eric asked, puzzled.


    "Who says you can''t attend without a nomination ?" Drew innocently blinked her eyes a few times, but confronted with Eric''s stare, she quickly spilled the beans: "I asked Kapoor to help me, you know I''m his biggest signed female artist right now, and it was only one invitation, so he contacted the Fox and it was quickly arranged."


    Eric snorted: "What I understand is that you''d do about anything to miss out on school."


    "Hey!" Drew knocked Eric''s thigh with the back of her head and giggled, pleased. She added: "Are you hungry ? There''s pizza left in the kitchen."


    "I ate at the studio." Eric stood up, "Stop watching TV and go to bed early, we need to go shopping tomorrow morning, we can''t attend the ceremony wearing just anything."


    Drew also got up and followed behind Eric: "About that, Kapoor has already arranged it. He contacted Versace and they''ve agreed to sponsor us, I''ve chosen a few sets of clothes, they''lle in tomorrow morning, we can try them on then."


    Eric remembered that he had indeed had that conversation with the man on the phone. Kapoor had relinquished his hold on every signed artists he had, and was now only responsible for Al Pacino, Julia Roberts, Drew, and Eric himself.


    Recently, under Eric suggestion, Kapoor dutifully went to Sweden, intent on signing the Roxette duo. However the artists were already under the EMI Records. Despite Kapoor''s eloquent persuasion, the Roxette duo just wasn''t willing to switch from one of the industry''s giants to the unknown UTA.


    However, they dly agreed to sign a song licensing agreement for "It Must Have Been Love".


    He originally thought that, with Drew being in school, and Al, Julia and himself busy on set, that Kapoor would be idle for a while, however it didn''t seem to be the case at all, he realized.


    Eric patted himself on the back, going against the CAA and getting Kapoor to stay was one of the best decisions he had ever made.


    "Good night." The youth tucked Drew in and kissed her forehead before closing her bedroom door and going to the bathroom.


    After showering, Eric went to bed. He read a bit waiting for his hair to dry a little, and turn off the bedsidemp lights to sleep.


    After an unknown amount of time, the bedroom''s door opened with a light ''click'' sound, and a slender figure tiptoed its way towards the bed, before drilling under the sheets and snuggling in Eric''s embrace.


    Shuffle


    Eric turned the lights back on, and face-palmed in distress. He had forgotten to lock his door.


    Feeling the warmth of the naked body next to him, Eric who hadn''t had any intimate contact with a woman for weeks felt his loins burning. For a second there, he almost lost it.


    "Wow, doesn''t look like I need to work on it this time ?" At Eric''s reaction, the girl stuck her small head out and said.


    Eric wrapped the goblin up in the sheets and dragged her towards her bedroom.


    "Eric, can''t you just let me ? You''ve been so good to me, and I haven''t been able to do anything in return, it''s so frustrating!" The girl was wrapped up like a tacos and couldn''t move, so she started talking instead, well at least until Eric''s hand pressed against her mouth.


    He put the girl back in bed, and, with a no-bulls.h.i.t att.i.tude, said: "Don''t ever do that again."


    "It''s not fair, you''ve been with Jennifer, and even with that Julia Roberts, but why not me ? It''s unfair!" Drew finally freed herself from the cobweb-like sheets and grabbed Eric''s arm.


    "Because they''re adults, and you''re not." Eric exined, "Do you want me to rot in jail for years ?"


    "But." Drew retorted, "As long as we don''t tell anyone, who will know ?"


    Eric covered the girl back with the sheet and solemnly said: "You need to understand that everyone has a bottom line, youngdy, and this is mine. You''re cute, that''s for sure, and I''m really fond of you, but I won''t be doing the things you expect me to do.


    At least not until you''ve reached legal age."


    "I heard it''s legal in some European countries though ?"


    "This is Cali, not Europe."


    Drew''s small hands clutched the sheets, and her eyes sparkled as she asked: "Then Eric, once you finish shooting the movie, let''s go to Europe ?"


    Eric had barely been able to contain himself earlier, and hearing Drew''s words, he subconsciously swallowed.


    "No, you''ll have to wait until you''re eighteen."


    "18 years old ? You know, I''ve read somewhere that a long, long time ago, people''s life expectancy didn''t exceed 20 years. Life is short, how about we narrow it down to 14 years old ?"


    Eric''s forehead creased in ck lines, that d.a.m.n goblin, what kind of bargaining was that ? He just wanted to go back and ignore the girl''s insane pleas, but she held tightly onto his arm.


    The girl''s lower body was hidden under the sheets, however the pair of pink cherries on the upper part of her body wereid in in sight. The.s.s pleaded like a spoiled child: "Fifteen, fifteen years old, okay ? Mmm ?"


    Eric glimpsed at the goblin''s milky white skin, and unconsciously blurted out: "No, at least sixteen years old."


    "Deal!" The girl hastily let go of his arm and slipped back into the sheets. She looked at him innocently and said: "You can''t take it back."


    Ah He had fallen into her trap. However, somewhere deep down, he was looking forward to it.


    ...


    The next morning at 9am, the Versace staff came to Eric''s ce with outfits for both he and Drew.


    The Golden Globes wasn''t exactly a low profile event, and so Kapoor hade as well in order to fill Eric in about its on goings a bit. He would apany Eric and Drew to the Golden Globes today, however since he didn''t qualify for an entry, he would have to wait in the hotel''s hall.


    You may think of it as weird, but it was amon situation, the presence of the agent was always required so that, in case an emergency urred, he would be able the first to step in.


    Drew was trying on different dresses when Eric asked Kapoor about the Versace sponsorship. Kapoor told him that the clothes were being loaned and that both Eric and Drew would have to give them back afterwards.


    Of course, they could also buy them if they wanted to, and in that case Versace would certainly give them a discount.


    Eric felt he might need one, he was a guy anyway and could probably wear the same suit again and again, so he inquired about the price, as he didn''t know anything about those things.


    A designer suit was 100,000 $, something which Eric was actually able to afford, although it really felt surreal. In his past life, the most expensive suit he had owned was something his wife had insisted on, it had only cost him 5000 yuan, but had still managed to make his heart bleed.


    They finished choosing their outfits in the morning, and Kapoor called the makeup artist to work on them the afternoon. They were ready by 4pm, and made their way towards the Golden Globes venue; the Hilton.

 Chapter 72: How far can your spit fly?

    Kapoor had timed everything urately, and they arrived at the Beverly Hilton at 4:20pm. The ceremony wouldn''t start until 5pm.


    The waiting area was packed with small groups chatting. With a casual nce, Eric spotted Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, and Sigourney Weaver. These giants from his past had seemed so out of reach back then.


    After hisst six months in Hollywood, there were very few people who didn''t know Eric, so whether they had met before or not, once they spotted him, they would nod in a friendly way.


    He walked through the huddle of guests and arrived at the Home Alone''s crew area. Maybe it was arranged by the organizers, the 17 Again crew was right next to them.


    Eric first went towards them and greeted Penny Marshall, Susan Sarandon and the rest. Drew took the initiative to release Eric''s arm and stay with the 17 Again crew.


    Compared to the other areas, Home Alone''s seemed deserted. Jeffrey was still in New York, while the two actors who yed the robbers were busy shooting another movie.


    Matthew Perry had been the first the be signed, s.n.a.t.c.hed away by the WMA. However, unlike some others, he was courteous enough to show up at the get-together Eric had organized during the Christmas season, and had expressed his willingness to work with the young director again.


    Inparison, the Runkle couple''s att.i.tude had been a disappointment.


    "Charlie, Mary, good afternoon." Turning towards the Home Alone crew, Eric smiled and shook hands with the two of them. The couple''s faces were glowing, the media had always focused on their son, it was the first time they had attended this kind of event.


    "h.e.l.lo, Eric." The couple smiled and returned the handshake, but anyone could see they were straining themselves. They had changed.


    Eric didn''t mind, he squatted next to them and was about to cheerfully greet Stuart when a voice abruptly interrupted: "Mr. Williams, we meet again."


    Eric hadn''t noticed that there was someone else standing next to the couple. Thest time he had seen the middle-aged man was when thetter was storming out of a conference room: CAA agent, Horner Willie.


    The CAA operated in a certain way, and if that man was here, it was obviously because he had been one of the agents a.s.signed to Stu. However. Eric knitted his brows, he still remembered how the guy had acted during theirst meeting.


    There could be only one reason why he had chosen toe instead of someone else: intimidation.


    Eric coldly nced at the man''s outstretched hand, and nkly said: "h.e.l.lo Mr. Willie, it''s nice to see you."


    Although he said so, his tone waspletely detached. Horner, however, seemed pleased with himself. He smiled, and took his hand back, not appearing strained at all.


    As a first .s.s agent, he didn''t need to attend today''s events, but he had personally chosen to.


    Eric''s previous refusal had been akin to a p to the man''s face, and the reason he hade here was to make the youth realize that, since Stuart was now a CAA signed artist, he would need to bow to the CAA if he wanted to shoot Home Alone''s sequel.


    However, Horner Willie actually mistook Eric''s disdainful demeanor for fear, so when he saw him bend over to pick Stu up, he stepped forward and said: "Mr. Williams, Stuart is now my client, if there''s anything you need, you''ll have to address me, there''s now use fawning over the child I''m afraid."


    Eric swept Horner Willie up and down, and noticing the man''s meticulously coiffed hair and unblemished clothes, the corner of his lips rose. He leaned towards Stuart and whispered: "Stu, I know you hate the guy, wanna show him how far your spit can fly ?"


    Stuart''s eyes instantly lit up, he looked right and left, before turning to face Horner Willie.


    Ptooh


    "Ah!"


    Horner Willie shrieked, before he malevolently red at both Eric and Stuart. He took out a handkerchief from his suit pocket, but froze in horror at the sight of the loogie on his chest.


    Charlie Runkle hastily scrambled to wipe it off the man: "I''m sorry, I''m so sorry Mr. Willie."


    Mary looked unhappily at Eric but didn''t dare get angry at him, she turned to her son and said: "Stuart, hurry and apologize to Uncle Willie."


    Stuart, who probably foundfort in now being held by Eric, tantly ignored his mother by turning his head aside.


    "Let''s go Stu, I''ll introduce you to a huge star, I''m sure you''ll like Tom Hanks."


    Eric, without caring about anyone else, made his way towards the BIG crew while holding the little guy.


    Stuart said with a tinge of pride: "I am a huge star now, Eric."


    Eric smiled and asked: "And what is it like ?"


    The little guy''s expression changed, he shook his head and said: "Not good. I thought that if I earned a lot of money then my parents would be happy, but they fought even more after that, and dad found himself another woman."


    Eric froze and looked down at the precocious 7-year-old boy in his arms: "How do you know all this Stu ? And do your parents know that you do ?"


    Stewart shook his head: "If they did, they would have already divorced. The only reason they''re still together is because they''re not confident they can win my custody."


    Eric tentatively asked: "Stu, do you know what the words you''ve used mean ?"


    "I had to hear them a few times before I did.


    Right, Eric, my dad took me to pa.s.s a test a while ago," Stu then leaned towards Eric''s ear and continued, whispering: "I have an IQ of 177, dad was really excited and wanted to tell the reporters about it, but that Horner Willie said it had to remain confidential and couldn''t be disclosed, so dad kept his mouth shut."


    Eric sighed, but couldn''t stop the sneer that took form at the corner of his mouth once he thought of Horner Willie''s cheap trick. The reason the guy hadn''t wanted to disclose Stu''s IQ was obviously because he was afraid it would boost Home Alone''s entries.


    Foolish thinking, the movie was already on itsst rope, that kind of information wouldn''t do much anyways.


    At the BIG crew area, Eric put Stuart down and gave a greeting hug to Tom Hanks.


    Tom nced with schadenfreude at Horner Willie who was hurrying to leave the ce: "That was a seriously ruthless move, Eric. Horner Willie has OCD, he''ll probably be having nightmares for the rest of the week."


    Eric grinned, he had deduced as much when he had taken notice of the man''s appearance, that''s why he had had Stuart do that. Although it was somewhat vulgar, it felt d.a.m.n good.


    Horner Willie would probably be ufortable for days toe, and it was also possible he would be scarred by today''s events.


    "Tom, you know him ?"


    Tom Hanks nodded: "''Course I do, I''m also CAA contracted after all. Many people dislike him. He used to be okay before, but ever since the agency became huge he just." Tom didn''t continue, he simply shook his head.


    Eric suddenly said: "I almost forgot about this. Tom, my rtionship with the CAA isn''t good to say the least, so if I were to invite you for a movie, would you refuse ?"


    Tom Hanks smiled and said: "Of course not, as long as the script is good enough, I''m down."


    Eric reckoned that there was nothing much the agency could do with a celebrity at Tom''s level.


    After the two men had chatted for a bit, Stuart pulled Eric by the hand towards some other guests, and took out a small notebook from his pocket, before proceeding to collect autographs.


    Although many people had witnessed the little guy spitting on Horner, none of the minded, or if they did, didn''t let it show. Stuart might be the youngest here today, but he was also more popr at the moment than 80% of the attendees, so everyone he asked would smile and sign his notebook.


    Several actresses had their motherly instinct kick in, and took turns to pick the boy up and shower him with kisses, leaving behind a trail of bright red lipstick.


    This continued for a while, until a staff member came up and reminded everyone that they would open soon. Eric brought Stuart back to his parents, went to find Drew, and waited for the venue''s doors to open.

 Chapter 73: The Golden Globe Award Ceremony

    The annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony was broadcast on ABC television, the crew of "home alone" admission time was arranged right after the most nominated movie "Rain Man" crew, after being reminded by a staff member, Eric took Drew to the red carpet .


    Mocked by some media as the most business-minded Awards ceremony, the Golden Globe red carpet are small, only a dozen meters,pared to the Oscar more than 200 meters of red carpet .


    After theye into the reporter''s area, Originally Eric was just gently holding Drew but she suddenly changed her posture and leaned against him, just as the reporters started taking pictures . With her wearing a beautiful dress made by Versace making the two of them look like a couple .


    The media reporters started showing their excitement, The frequency of the camera sh speed-up a lot . If this was not the Golden Globe Awards site, these reporters would have already started asking him about the rtionship between the two of them .


    For Drew charade, Eric was numb, the girl was always trying to seize every opportunity to suggest that they are a couple, in ways that does not touch his bottom line .


    After taking the pictures, the two of them were supposed to go directly to the venue, but was stopped by a reporter from ABC, made a quick and pointless interview, got Asked some irrelevant questions, such as what is his mood like to partic.i.p.ate in the Golden Globe Award ceremony for the first time .


    Of course, ABC''s reporters are unlikely to ask any sensitive questions in this kind of event . As long as this young miracle Director show his face, they will get more ratings .


    After the interview, when entering the venue, Eric inadvertently nced behind him, the Runkle couple were still standing in the media reporter''s area, because they were staying there for too long, they had to be reminded to leave by the staff .


    Eric heart once again felt a hint of disapproval, The Runkle couple is eventually going to pose a real problem .


    Advertis.e.m.e.nt


    Eric made up his mind to find time to talk to Stu . Stewart''s is more mature and then his past life Macay Culkin, He may listen to his advice, and not be at his parents mercy, so he doesn''t go astray like the original Macay .


    The Golden Globe Awards ceremony takes the form of a formal banquet, "Home Alone" crew were arranged in the second row of tables near the podium .


    "Stu,e and sit by my side . " Eric sat down and beckoned to Stewart .


    The boy nced at his mother, stood up and turned to Eric''s side . Runkle and his wife faces showed a touch of displeasure, there son left their side, they certainly will not show-up in TV .


    At five o''clock sharp, the Awards ceremony officially began . The host Morgan Fairchild took to the podium .


    "Good evening everyone . . . .


    . . looks like there are a misbehaving 7 year-old child among us tonight . "


    The first sentence is "Home Alone" ridicule, with a burst ofughter, the live camera quickly switched to Eric table, Eric smiled and waved to the camera, and Stewart showed his innocent big eyes looking curiously at the camera .


    Morgan suddenly looked irritated: "Hey, Stewart, look at my shabby dress, I prepared three sets of long dress, the first dress got b.u.t.ter poured on it, the second dress was Dyed ck, and thest set was covered with feathers, what do you have to say for yourself . "


    The scene once again sounded a burst ofughter, some people faces showed the expression of empathy, Many of the stars are "Home Alone" victims . Every region the movie were released in, children imitating Kevin''s mischief has be a trend .


    This time, Morgan did not wait for Stewart''s response, and soon turned the subject to other topic: "OK, just joking, let us look at the stars thate tonight . . . .


    . . "


    The next five minutes, Morgan then one by one ridicule the finalists of every movie, but rarely mentioned any TV shows .


    Although the Golden Globe Award from 1956 began to give TV awards, But in this era TV drama actors are not like twenty yearster, were they could shout out ''we-are-better!'' at the Golden Globe and no one will blink an eye .


    Now even there seats are in the corner where it''s hard for the camera to reach them .


    Like many other awards ceremony''s, the Golden Globe started by issuing the less important awards, Eric like most people pay little attention to what''s happening at the stage, only smiling at the camera when it sweeps in his direction . the rest of the time he was having a conversation with Stewart .


    Stewart is a talent he Dug out, the fate of the boy has been impossible to separate from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood .


    Eric very much hope that this clever boy can embark on a healthy career path, unlike the previous Drew and his past life Macay Culkin .


    So Eric patiently exin to Stuart the in and out of the Entertainment industry, although the boy from time to time revealed a confused expression, But has been listening very carefully, with Stuart IQ, Although a lot of things in a short time he can not understand, but as long as he keeps the information''s firmly in mind then there won''t be a problem .


    Over time, Eric finally heard a nomination about his film, and stopped talking and turned his attention to the stage .


    Susan Sarandon with "17 Again" to obtain the best supporting actress nomination, several other nominees are Sigourney Weaver for her role in "Working Girl", Lena Olin for her role in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", Barbara Hershey for her role in "The Last Temptation of Christ", and Diane Venora in "Bird"


    Eric remembered in his past life the one to get this award is Sigourney Weaver, he was able to remember, because in the original time and s.p.a.ce, the 46 Golden Globes history is the most special session .


    Sigourney Weaver has be the first woman in history of the Golden Globe Awards to win two awards, and this was also the first time that an award was won by 3 people at the same time .


    The presenter introduced several nominated actress, Opened the envelope in front of the watchful eye of everyone''s, He leaned to the microphone and said: "The winner is Sigourney Weaver for her role in "Working Girl""


    Loud apuse sounded, Sigourney Weaver excitedly stood up, hugged her crew members one by one, then got up on the stage . Susan Sarandon, sitting near Eric, showed disappointment on her face, but smiled in response to everyone''sforting her .


    Eric has long been expecting this result . Although "17 Again" and "Working Girl" both belong to fox studios, but "17 Again" has been released for nearly two months .


    And "Working Girl" was released for just three weeks, in order to get good box office result, Fox will certainly take the lead in choosing "Working Girl" in there public rtions .


    As for Sigourney Weaver''s acting, who cares?


    When Eric went to New York during the release of "working girl", He and Aniston specifically went to see it, This is a standard chick-flick movie, it is very simr to his past life "The Devil Wears Prada", The plot is a neer girlnds a job as an a.s.sistant to a harsh female boss, she change herself Step by step, thorough a dramatic changes in appearance, Completing her Transformation she emerges like a b.u.t.terfly from a coc.o.o.n .


    In "The Devil Wears Prada" Miranda Priestly the icy editor-in-chief of a Runway fashion magazine, the indifferent arrogance and perfectionism interpretation by actress Meryl Streep is perfect, Compared to Sigourney Weaver in the "Working Girl", who ys the female boss he really can not see any bright spots .


    It is estimated that when people see her performance, The only idea that can be produced are ''Alien Queen'' .


    These things figured out, Eric had no more hope for "home alone" two nominations . It is clear, the Golden Globe results rely heavily on public rtions,


    "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "Bird" These two masterpieces supporting actress can''t even win against a mediocremercial film, It sounds ironic .


    Moreover, Eric did not do any public rtions activities for the "home alone", On the one hand, he doesn''t have the connections, Columbia and CAA are less likely to take the initiative to do the work .


    On the other hand, even if he spends a lot of effort to get the awards, The impact on the box office of "home alone" is negligible, Seven or eight year old children don''t care about how many awards the movie wins, The ones influenced by the awards are basically adults.

 Chapter 74: The real winner

    The award''s ceremony continued, This year''s Golden Globes awards has not been affected by Eric ''b.u.t.terfly'' effect, In addition to his two films few nominations, There is no change in the list of winners .


    As with the original time and s.p.a.ce, the best actress of the .s.s still appeared three winners, Michael Dous, who is responsible for announcing the winner looks at the list in the envelope, hesitated for more than ten seconds without reading the name, he thought the organizers made a mistake .


    Until Michael received a hint from the organizers, Then safely read out the list: "The one won the best actress in a drama is: Jodie Foster for her role in "The used""


    The audience just burst into sporadic apuse, Michael quickly elerate the rate of his speech: "and Sigourney Weaver for her role in "Goris in the Mist" . And Shirley MacLaine for her role in "Madame Sousatzka""


    Eric already expected this result, but other people were in shock, after a few seconds of stagnation, the thunderous apuse resounded through the Hilton Hotel banquet hall .


    After Continuous apuse, the three heroines Hesitantly took to the stage, Confirmed the list in Michael Dous''s hands together, Only to calm down .


    After getting there trophy''s, Jodie Foster and Sigourney Weaver deliberate handed over the microphone to the oldest one of them Shirley MacLaine .


    Shirley MacLaine is a Hollywood legend, She is 55 years old, her first debut was in the fifties, her career was flourishing in 60s and 70s, she has already won the Oscar, Golden globes, Venice Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival, she won the best Actress award in all of the four major movie event .


    But did not get the Cannes Film Festival Best Actress award to achieve the grand m dunk .


    It can be considered a sad thing that Shirley MacLaine, at other film awards ceremony''s to get a series of nominations and awards, but did not even get nominated in the Cannes film festival in all these years .


    With a smile, holding her trophy she went in front of the microphone, Shirley McLean started her award-winning speech: "This is really a surprising result . . . "


    After the best actress award, Best Actor and Best Picture like every one expected, "Rain Man" indisputably won the two awards, with the movie getting the golden glob awards and using autism as a topic, the movie is sure to bounce back in the box office .


    Unlike previous life, Now "Rain Man" released for five weeks, it''s easy for the movie to harvest more money from Christmas and New Year stalls, probably get 40 million dors more in box office revenue .


    In parallel time and s.p.a.ce, "Rain Man" although hasn''t been amazing at the box office, with up to 25 weeks of long-term screening process, with the highest week achieving a $17 million dor, with the rest of the weeks staying at the top 10 Rank .


    For up to six months at the box office, "Rain Man" not only did not encounterrge collision with other movies, Also did not encounter any box office dark horse, with Tom Cruise''s box-office appeal and winning some small awards, Ended up eventually creating a $170 million at the box office Domestically .


    And now, That situation certainly will not happen again, "Rain Man" start was still strong, but with "home alone" and "17 again"bined extrusion, the Box office will decline, In this case to get six months of long-term screening period is unlikely, Not to mention there is Eric new movie "Pretty Woman" .


    In fact "Rain Man", During this holiday season, should be located in the top ten box office of the year, but with "Twins" and "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!", And tonight to getedy .s.s best film award "Working Girl", all are going to shrink the movie box office a lotpared to his past life .


    After all, 1988 Holiday stall for thest two months, achieved A total of about 600 million dors, "home alone" and "17 again" directly sc.r.a.ped more 200 million dollers Over 1/3 of the total, Other movies box office situation can be imagined .


    "Rain Man" director Barry Levinson came to the stage to receive the best film award, after that the Golden Globes broadcast of 3 hours officially ended . All the stars present are relieved, they let there stiff body''s rx a little, they stood up to leave the venue .


    Of course, they are not going home directly . Next, they are going to attend the parties organized by major filmpanies .


    Eric pulled Drew to leave, Penny Marshall stopped him: "Hey, Eric, Fox has a party on the third floor, you shoulde"


    "Thank you for the invitation, penny, but I''m afraid I can''t . " Eric shook his head and refused .


    Penny Marshall looked at Eric expression: "Eric, you should not feel frustrated because you didn''t get any award? You''re only eighteen years old, There will be many opportunities for you in the future . Look at me, Tonight I''m going home empty-handed . "


    Eric certainly will not feel frustrated, The ultimate goal of PR awards is economic benefits, Just look at the two best movies at the box office right now, In the final a.n.a.lysis, "home alone" is the biggest winner the year .


    "Of course not, Penny, Actually, I have to get up early tomorrow, "Pretty Woman" schedule is very tight, I have no time to lose . "


    Penny reluctantly said: "Then I''ll see youter, You are so young, Why work so hard, I heard that you are busy at work untilte at night every day . "


    Eric and penny had a hug again: "You know what they say, when you are young try your best, don''t wait until you are too old to start work . "


    "Wow, hearing you say those words in that tone, you sound just like a middle-aged man, I don''t know why i get this mixed feelings . "


    Eric smiled and did not answer, said goodbye to Tom Hanks and the others one by one, and took a reluctant Drew and left the Hilton Hotel .


    Starting the car, Eric looked at the unhappy Drew, Smiled and said: "Well, girl, no need to pout, You did not bring any spare clothes, If you join the party and identally dirty your dress, Then we can onlypensation for the dress original price . "


    Drew wrinkled her little nose, used a tone just like Penny Marshall''s teasing him: "Oh wow, hearing you saying these words, you sound Just like a middle-aged man, I really don''t know why do you make so much money . "


    "You say, I remember that . " Eric frowned slightly, and looked Drew up and down: "The day before yesterday, I received the bill of the credit card that I gave you, I think you spend too much money . Tomorrow, I''ll have Kapoor take you to do a drug test, If you let me down, then . .


    . . . .


    "


    Drew showed no sign of concern, her small body leaned over, With eager eyes: "Eric, what are you going to do?, Shut me up in the bas.e.m.e.nt, With no clothes, Not allowed to eat, There are whips, dripping hot wax, Trojans . . . .


    . . Wow, I never thought you were so evil, I''m still underage . "


    " . . . .


    . . "


    "All right, all right . " I''ll just be honest . Before Christmas, When you were not at home, I invited some .s.smates to party, And identally spent a little bit more money . "


    Eric''s expression rxed a little, asked: "How much money does it cost for a party?"


    "It''s all your fault," The girl instantly became righteous: "you and Aniston got a nice Street shot to annoy me, on impulse, i called a store to send a box of 53 years old Ptrus wine . "


    Ptrus wine, 53 years, And also a box!


    And the way she say it''s his fault she gone crazy spending money, this little b.i.t.c.h is crazy .


    Eric unconsciously licked his dry lips: "all . . . .


    . . finished?"


    Drew rolled her glittery green beautiful eyes, And gently nodded her head: "no . "


    Eric took a deep breath, Finally felt relieved "Good thing, good thing . "


    . . . .


    . .


    wilshire hotel restaurant .


    Edward ying the piano in the restaurant, this scene took cete at night, after consulting with the hotel crew, They temporarily reced the curtains withpletely opaque thick curtains, The lighting engineers were very busy creating the night scene .


    "Actors in ce, . . . action .


    "


    Panoramic lens, a few attendants were sitting in the dining room, the waiters doing their Boring work, Smoking, talking in a low voice .


    Edward did not care whether these people were really listen to his ying, with a deeply hunched waist, slightly pursed lips, The man exudes a deep sense of fatigue and boredom .


    The hurried sound of the piano indicated the depression in Edward''s heart .


    Eric watched carefully the performance of Al Pacino in the monitor, Eric music literacy is not high, he did not know if Al Pacino ying level is good or bad, he just felt that Al''s piano ying is fluid, The emotions he shows in front of the camera is also quite in ce .


    He Looked at the music teacher Howard Norton, The other party was specially called to guide the shot . If Al''s ying isn''t up to par, Later Howard will personally be responsible for the soundtrack . However, from the look of Howard nodding frequently, he is very satisfied by Al piano ying .


    As time goes on, Vivian Wearing a nightgown and a robe quietly walked up behind Edward, Edward''s piano y also reached the end . Vivian had a smile on her face, with her arms crossed quietly listening to Edward''s y .


    "Cut, very good!" Eric shouted, At the same time he can not help but apud .

 Chapter 75: An accident

    Although he heard Eric''s praise, Al Pacino just nodded his head slightly, He was still immersed in the previous emotions, and did not intend toe out from the role .


    This is just right, Eric no longer spoke with him, and quickly ordered the staff to prepare for the next shot .


    Ending his piano solo, Edward thanked the audience, Vivian went up to him, As a girl who never finished high school, she didn''t recognize theplex emotions contained in Edward''s y . Leaning over the piano, Vivian give him apliment: "I didn''t know you could y the piano?"


    Edward smiled and gazed at Vivian: "I only y for strangers . "


    Vivian paused for a moment, without questioning why, moved to Edward side: "I''m a little lonely upstairs . "


    Edward quickly turned to the waiters still doing there jobs and asked them to leave, he didn''t forget to say tank you to them, he was always so polite, Even whenmanding others .


    Vivian could not help but ridicule Edward''s behavior:"Aren''t People always willing to listen to your orders?"


    Edward did not answer, pulled her to him, and rested his weary head on Vivian body . For the first time, she felt the man''s weakness, and for a moment she was at a loss what to do . Only to follow her instinct by gently stroking Edward''s hair .


    Edward silently untied her robe, put her on the top of the piano . Vivian meekly let the man kiss and caress her, At this moment, she turned into a pool of spring water, Silently invading Edward''s dry emotional world .


    The camera slowly drew away, Until it waspletely obstructed by the prepared obstacles .


    But Al Pacino and Julie did not stop the show, the two of theme were still wrapped together . photographer Nicole Frank looked at Eric, After getting the hint, wisely turned off the camera . All the cast members at the scene silently looked at Eric, asking what to do next?


    Eric knew he couldn''t let things keep going, he pped his hands lightly, Raised his voice and shouted: "Ok, cut!"


    Julia heard the sound on the top of the piano, got out from her confused state, with a look of shyness and panic looked at Eric, pushed Al away, Tidy up her messy dress, and ced the robe back on her body . Al also recovered, when he saw the crew strange looks, he smiled awkwardly .


    In order to resolve the awkward atmosphere, Eric quickly dispatched the others to prepare for the next scene .


    "I''m sorry, Eric, I just forgot . "


    Eric came in front of Al, Smiled and said: "No, Al, your performance was very good, this is the perfect state of an actor, Oh, Julia''s performance was also very good . " Eric didn''t forget to praise the girl .


    Julia did not feel the joy of being praised, her eyes dodged Eric''s eyes: "I . . . I''m going to fix my makeup .


    "


    Then the girl left in a hurry, Al had some doubts: "What''s wrong with her?"


    Eric said: "She may be shy, I also find it somewhat strange, we have taken several exciting shots before She has not been like this, a woman''s thought process is impossible to grasp . Who knows?"


    The next shot, Julia made a lot of mistakes that should not have been made . However, one of the most important scenes of the day made Eric satisfied, And saved him quite a lot of time . So Eric wasn''t impatient with her .


    At five o''clock in the afternoon, the crew called it a day and started packing, Al smiled when he found Julia next to him in the makeup trailer: "Miss Roberts, are you free this evening, a new French restaurant has just opened at La Cienega Boulevard, I would like to invite you to dinner . "


    Julia paused, the makeup artist and a.s.sistant were about to temporarily leave them alone, Julia stopped them and sail to Al: "Mr . Pacino, can you wait a minute?"


    "Sure, I''ll wait for you outside . " Al said, and walked off the trailer .


    A few minutester, Julia came out after removing her makeup, and waved to him, but first lead the way to Eric and his a.s.sistant n Fisman who were having a discussion .


    . . . .


    . .


    "This scene, prepare a group of 50 people to y, find a professional polo team . Anyway, Our budget is still very adequate . . .


    . . . " Eric was saying, n caught sight of Julia walking toward them, Nodded slightly to the girl, And with a pencil signed The folder his hand.


    "Eric, Al wants to invite me to dinner?" Julia''s said in a low voice .


    n raised his eyebrows slightly, He clearly sensed the uncertainty in the girl''s voice . Eric had been absorbed in telling n something, Hearing what Julia said, Without thinking he blurted out: "Go ahead, don''t dy the shooting tomorrow . "


    The girl stood in ce for a few seconds, she stared at Eric, see the man still do not have much reaction, Julia suddenly became very angry, This anger made her throw caution to the wind, stepped forward two steps, and in front the astonished eyes of n, kicked fiercely at Eric''s leg .


    Eric let out a scream, and crashed down .


    n, who had seen everything, had forgotten to support the falling Eric, Mouth trembling slightly, his calf muscle instantly be tight, That was high-heeled shoes, ah, how painful! .


    This woman is not crazy, right!


    Hearing Eric''s miserable call, everyone who was still at the filming site quickly gathered, after the kick Julia immediately regretted it, But since she has done this kind of thing she med her Break down on him, Julia closed her lips and turned away to leave .


    Julia''s a.s.sistant Alison Green, looked anxiously at Eric, who had been lifted up, and followed behind Julia .


    Alison drove the silent Julia back to her apartment .


    After Julia entered the room, she sat down on the living room sofa, Alison carefully poured a .s.s of water for Julia and ced it in front of the girl, and asked anxiously: "Julia, we will not be fired, right?"


    Think of that man overbearing arrogant character, Julia was not sure what the result would be, Holding the .s.s of water, she whispered, "I''m sorry, Alison . you may get Implicated . "


    "That''s all right, no big deal I can get another job . " Alison is free and easy, Changing the job is no problem, she''s only an a.s.sistant, She will not suffer too much trouble: "But why did you kick Mr . Williams?"


    Julia panicked and drink some water, but did not answer .


    Alison said hesitantly: "did he stop you from dating Mr . Al Pacino, that''s why you kicked him, right?"


    Julia still said nothing, Alison took Julia''s silence as a what actually happened, Angrily said: "That''s too much, You only had one or two rtionships, You only had s.e.x one or two times, You are not his property, how can he limit your freedom to love?"


    Julia scratched her hair: "Alison, stop it, can . . . .


    . . can you leave me in peace, please?"


    "Oh, if there''s nothing else, I''ll leave first, call me if you need anything . Julia, cheer up, You are not aplete unknown actress, even if you leave that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, You can still get a movie role . "


    "Alison . . . .


    . . "


    "Alright alright, I won''t say anything, I''ll go first . "


    The crew still remains at the site, Eric was sitting on a deck chair, surrounded by people . Leg lifted with his pants off, with a private doctor pressing from time to time on the bruise .


    "Mr . Williams, there''s no damage to the bone, apply some topical medicine to invigorate the cirction of blood and remove Blood stasis . However Do not move too much these days . "


    Eric said: "Thank you foring, Dr . Galien . "


    "You''re wee, call me when you have something, I will leave first . " Dr . Galien left a bottle of lotion, carrying his Kit he turned to leave .


    "Well, everybody go back . I''ll take a break . "


    The crew members around him gradually dispersed, and finally only n Fiseman and Al Pacino, Al feels that the matter is certainly rted to him, so he decided to stay and exin .


    He thought Eric and Julia had no intimate rtionships, Coupled with today''s y with Julia, The old yboy got the idea of trying to seduce her, he did not expect this oue .


    "n, I didn''t say anything wrong, right?"


    Allen saw the bruise on his boss calf, quickly shook his head .


    "So what''s the matter?"


    Allen was the only one of the crew close to him and Julia when things happened, he has no knowledge of the things between Eric and Julia .


    "Director, I''m not sure, but miss Roberts asked you a question . You gave her a casual answer, and then she . . .


    . . . "


    Eric rubbed his temples in agony: "What did she ask, I was looking at the film shooting table, and did not listen too clearly?"


    Allen nced at Al Pacino, he wondered if he should speak in front of him .


    Eric followed n''s gaze, and remembered that Julia''s words seemed to mention Al .


    "Eric, I''m sorry, but I was just going to invite Miss Roberts for dinner, did not expect to cause conflict between the two of you . " Al calmly exined what had happened: "I thought you two didn''t have an intimate rtionship, so . . .


    . . . I was abrupt .


    "


    "Oh, I remember now . " Eric suddenly said: "Julia has just asked me this question, Allen, how did I answer?"


    n nced at al and Eric and said truthfully, "you just said to Miss Roberts, go ahead, do not dy tomorrow ''s shooting . "


    "Nothing else?"


    n nodded with certainty: "No . "


    The three men at the same time looked strangely at Eric''s calf .


    Eric gave a bitter smile: "an ident."

 Chapter 76: LOGO

    The next day, Eric still came to work early after a night of rest, he didn''t limp when walking . All the crew members have a tacit understanding and did not mention the scene that happened yesterday, but most of them didn''t conceal there curiosity and spection .


    "Nicole, is Julia here?" Eric pretended to debug the camera while talking to Nicole Frank in a low voice .


    Nicole pointed at the makeup trailer and showed a warm smile on his face: "Miss Roberts came early, she''s in the trailer . "


    Eric patted Nicole shoulder, and walked toward the trailer, behind him the crew members who were pretending they are busy all looked at Eric back .


    "The director will not be angry, right?" A stage manager asked a colleague quietly .


    "Who knows, but rest a.s.sured, The movie is almost done, he certainly will not rece the heroine . Hey, why do you think Miss Roberts kicked the director yesterday? . .


    . . . .


    High heels ah, he must''ve Been in so much pain . "


    "You ask me, I''m the one who is supposed to ask . But the rtionship between the director and the actress must be deep, I kind of like miss Julia Roberts, she is such a fierce girl . "


    "You camete, you haven''t seen miss Julia when shee this morning, she looked distraught . I guess she did regret what she didst night . "


    Leaving the waves of whispers behind, Eric stepped into the trailer, Julia was sitting in front a mirror, absentmindedly leaving Alison to put the makeup foundation on her, when she saw Eric in the mirror, Julia''s body suddenly slumped in the chair .


    "Alison, you go out first . " Eric pointed to the door as he spoke to Alison .


    Alison put down her make-up tools, looked anxiously at Julia, and turned to leave the trailer, Eric locked the trailer door, went to Julia side, pushed aside the cosmetic bottles, leaned back on the table, and looked down at Julia .


    The girl looked haggard, she lowered her head slightly, with teary eyes, afraid to look straight into Eric eyes, her hands on her knees unconsciously rubbing and pinching her clothes .


    Looking at the girl trembling with fear, Eric sighed, and took the lead to say: "You have anything to say, such as an apology or something . "


    Julia''s head hangs even lower, pinching the clothes in her hands in her small fists, still stubbornly biting her lips without saying anything .


    Eric reached out his hand to lift her chin, forced Julia to look at his eyes, with impatience in his voice: "Look at me and say something . "


    There eyes meet, Julia''s body was visibly trembling, looking at Eric''s aggressive eyes, She thought of that night again, That night this hateful guy treated her just like this .


    She didn''t know why, that stubborn resistance in her heart instantly vanished, Instead, it produced a strange sense of expectation .


    Eric withdrew his fingers, but Julia still kept her head up mechanically, her cheeks slightly red, and eyes filled with emotional fog .


    Looking at each other for a few seconds, in Eric''s mind once again emerged that blurred night scenes, unable to restrain his feelings he once again stretched out his index finger, gently stroked the girl''s cheek and red lips .


    Julia silently groaned: Yes . . . that''s it .


    This time she did not remain pa.s.sive, but gently opened her red lips and warped them around his finger, her small tongue flexibly wriggling around it, then like a child she started sucking Eric''s index finger .


    After a while, Eric could not help but probe the girl''s mouth with his thumb, catching the flexible little tongue and pinching it, Eric suddenly recovered, embarra.s.sed at his own blunder, pulled out a paper towel to wipe clean his wet fingers, with a guilty conscience, he looked at the girl with an uncertain look: "Well, I seem to .


    . . understand where the problem lies . "


    Julia leaned forward, her head leaning on Eric''s lower abdomen, with her little hands sliding up to Eric''s belt, about to move things to the next level, Eric reached out and prevented Julia''s move : "Julia, not right here, there are dozens of people waiting for us outside . "


    "I . . . .


    . . I don''t care . " Julia gasped softly, her hand movements still continuing .


    Eric raised his hand to give the girl a little p to wake her up, but he suddenly remembered that this not only will not wake up the girl, but will instead increase her emotions .


    Thinking about what to do, Eric went to the trailer door and pulled it open, the bright light and the voices of the surrounding crew members seeped inside .


    Eric turned around and looked at Julia, her eyes had stated to restore some rity, fortunately, her instinctive sense of shame can resist her emotions, that''s a good thing, she wasn''tpletely gone .


    "Well, Julia, about what happened yesterday? Let''s wait until the film is over . For this i . .


    . . . .


    I''m sorry, but you might need some psychotherapy . "


    Although Julia is 22 years old, but she did not fully understand what Eric''sst word meant, she only finished high school, and did not .u.mte a few decades of knowledge like Eric .


    However, she was still in her submissive mood so she obediently nodded her head . At the same time, hearing the word psychotherapy, and then think of what she just did, Julia understood that she have problems for sure .


    "Can you tell me what''s going on?" Julia tidied up her messy clothes and asked .


    Eric returned to Julia side, see a strand of hair hanging down her forehead, he wanted to lift it up but stopped his hand "I''m sorry, Julia, you may be suffering from a mild Stockholm Syndrome . "


    Julia looked confused, she only knew that Stockholm was the capital of Sweden . But when she saw Eric guilty and awkward appearance, Julia did not pursue the subject any further .


    Some crew members see Eric so quicklye out from the trailer, they all showed a look of disappointment, The trailer rented by the crew is notrge, If a man and a woman do some repeated movements, the trailer will surely start shaking .


    Unfortunately, this kind of thing did not happen, the people who look forward to gossip were disappointed .


    "What are you guys doing?, get ready to work . " Eric feelings guilt, and seeing these guys unscrupulous stares made him angry: "Alison, where are you hiding, quickly go fix Julia makeup . Nicole, Why hasn''t the camera dolly track been paved?, Don''t you want to do it? .


    n, where''s my director chair . . . .


    . . "


    With Eric''s roar, all the crew members moved quickly, and a busy day of filming began .


    . . . .


    . .


    That afternoon Jeffrey came back from New York . At the same time to inform Eric, Pixar''s production of fireflypany t.i.tle LOGO have beenpleted . After a day of shooting, Eric met with Pixar''s employee at the firefly headquarters .


    "Eric, this is Mr . John La.s.seter Pixar''s chief creative officer, John, this is Eric . " With Jeffrey introduction, the two men shook hands .


    "Mr . La.s.seter, I''m sorry for keeping you waiting until now . " Eric apologized . John La.s.seter arrived at the firefly headquarters at 4 p .


    m . and waited until 7 p . m . to see Eric .


    But at this time John did not dare toin, because every single business that Pixar can get now is extremely important to the survival of the studio .


    "It doesn''t matter, Mr . Williams, I think we should take a look at yourpany''s t.i.tle LOGO that youmissioned . "


    "Of course" Eric nodded, and the three of them went to the firefly''s show room, where John La.s.seter put the video tape in the projector himself .


    On the screen, a little girl wearing a red hoodie holding a .s.s bottle, standing in the dark wilderness under the night sky .


    The girl opened the lid of the .s.s bottle, A firefly in the bottle shook its wings several times, and quickly got out of the .s.s bottle, flow in the air and draw a "Firefly Film" in light, before flying further and further away, and finally turned into the brightest star in the starry sky .


    The full length of the t.i.tle logo is about 30 seconds, and it was repeated several times, Eric frowned and said: : "Mr . La.s.seter, isn''t the movement of the little girl too rigid? . "

 Chapter 77: A message to Steve Jobs

    John La.s.seter exined: "Mr . Williams, the girl movements do appear slightly stiff, before the production, I have reminded Mr . Hansen of this problem, Mr . Hansen insisted that we do it and see the effect .


    "


    Eric looked at Jeffrey, and Jeffrey nodded .


    "Can''t you make it a little smoother  Mr . La.s.seter?, Money isn''t a problem, This logo will be used for many years, we have to strive for excellence."


    John La.s.seter shook his head: "Mr .


    Williams, I promise, this is currently the highest level of 3D animation, Pixar sincest year started trying human motion modeling, andpared with the baby in our previous short film "Tin Toy", the little girl movement is a lot smoother, Other studios can not achieve this level . "


    When Eric heard the name "Tin Toy", a thought shed in his mind, but he didn''t catch it, his main focus was still on the Firefly''s intro .


    Since it is impossible to further improve the LOGO, Eric and Jeffrey started discussing in a low voice .


    In the 30 seconds, in addition to the girls opening the cap of the .s.s jar to release the firefly being slightly wed, Everything else is perfect . And after some editing the intro logo is going to be about 15 seconds, or shorter,


    Intro Logos are generally about 15 seconds in length, or shorter, such as in the Super Bowl trailer they are going to make, they would perhaps use just five seconds . Therefore, 30 seconds of video materials is enough to cut out a more perfect logo .


    In this case, Eric did not ask Pixar to start reworking, the next thing is a lot simpler, he signed some doc.u.ments, and give the payment to John La.s.seter . After everything was done, John refused Eric''s invitation to dinner, and was about to leave, but was stopped by Eric .


    "Mr . La.s.seter, I remember you mentioned a short film "Tin Toy"? . "


    John La.s.seter nodded: "Yes, Mr . Williams, this short film is what we started working on in Februaryst year, it''s about five minutes long, it has been dered this year''s Oscar''s best short film . "


    Eric waspletely convinced when he mentioned the Oscar .


    "John, don''t mind me addressing you like this, you can call me Eric . If you don''t have anything urgent, can you stay and chat for a while? I''m very interested in 3D animation . "


    John La.s.seter looked carefully at Eric''s face, and he suddenly remembered that Eric would be Hollywood''s youngest multimillionaire by virtue of "Home Alone" box office . Pixar is now at the end of its road and might copse at any time . Maybe the young man could save pixar .


    With all this in mind, John be eager, "Sure, no problem Eric . "


    In Firefly''s conference room, John exined: "The idea of "Tin Toy"e from my little nephew,st Christmas, i saw him crawling into a pile of tidy toys, is just a shot time he upturned that pile of toys making a mess he even broke some of them .


    After that the animation was produced, Eric if you''re interested, i can call my a.s.sistant and bring the video . "


    Originally, Eric thought there is still five or six years for him to buy Pixar, but if Pixar once again signed a contract with Disney like in his past life, it will be very difficult and very costly .


    In order for John La.s.seter to know that he was truly interested in 3D animation, Eric agreed with John''s proposal: "If it is convenient, then please ask your a.s.sistant to run a trip . "


    John made a phone call, and half an hourter the three of them returned to the screening room .


    . . . .


    . .


    The new toy soldier looked curiously at everything in the room, a small baby crawled into the room . The toy soldier is looking forward to his new owner .


    But the baby''s brutal treatment to the other toys make the toy soldier try to flee the baby''s clutches, but it have musical instruments attached to it body, so whenever the toy soldier moved he made noise that attracted the attention of the baby . so a desperate chase begun . . .


    . . .


    John sat on the right side of Eric, and as the animation yed, John exined in in words to Eric the technical difficulties of this seemingly simple pictures .


    Eric listened carefully, nodding his head from time to time to show his understanding . Although he wanted to ridicule the baby animation style, but on the surface Eric Eric still praised the animation .


    Whether it is animation, or video game, Westerners always tray to achieve a realistic look, but for an easterner guy like Eric all these animation and games look ugly . By contrast, the animations and games produced by the Orientals, regardless of their intrinsic quality, have beautiful characters .


    This is more prominent in the 3D games, as long as the characters aren''t good looking, you can determine the origins of the game .


    After the animation finished ying, The three of them didn''t leave the screening room, but continued to talk about 3D animation,pared to John La.s.seter who has little confidence in 3D technology, Eric is very familiar with the future development prospects of 3D animation, Eric could not help but reveal a little bit of "Toy Story" concept to John La.s.seter .


    "Eric, you have seen the idea of "Tin Toy" . I actually had the same idea of making 3D animated movie too, but you know, with Pixar financial situation, it''s absolutely impossible to achieve this n."


    Finally they started talking about this subject, Eric said: "John, Steve Jobs is having financial problems, right?"


    This thing in the business world is not confidential, as long as you are determined, you can easily find this information . Nor did John La.s.seter hide it: "Steve Jobs has just sold the hardware department of Pixar, and now there''s only the software animation department . If there is no miracle .


    " As John spoke, he looked at Eric with expectancy, and continued: "The studio either will be dissolved or sold, but not many people are willing to take over . "


    "Why is no one willing to take over, Pixar''s technology should be the most advanced in the industry?"


    Looking at Eric this possible source of money he hesitated for a few seconds, But in the end, he was just a technician, he wasn''t ustomed to dealing with businessmen . Finally he decided to tell the truth: "Because 3D animation technology cost too much money, and do not have much output .


    Unless you are one of the big Giants such as Microsoft, or a special effectspany like Industrial Light u0026 Magic, looking for a small studio toplement your other departments . . . .


    . . Otherwise no one willing to take over this money burning studio . "


    Eric was very satisfied with John La.s.seter''s honesty, pretending to think for a minute, then he said: "John, I am very interested in 3D animation, after "Home Alone", i have a lot of money to invest . So if possible, i am willing to buy Pixar, and investing in making a long 3D movie, Ah . . .


    The toy idea we talked about just now is good . "


    John La.s.seter originally thought that Eric after hearing his exnation, will lose interest, but did not expect to hear such words, for a time he did not know what to say .


    John had such a good time talking to Eric, he had a good opinion of the young man .


    So instinctively, he didn''t want Eric to fall into the ''quagmire'' called Pixar like his boss did, Steve Jobs have gone from a multi-millionaire to the edge of bankruptcy, that''s because Pixar keeps drawing funds from him, But it did not create the corresponding economic benefits .


    But on the other hand, he really loves 3D animation, otherwise he wouldn''t have repeatedly turned down Disney''s olive branch and stayed in apany where everyone isn''t optimistic about it staying afloat .


    Thinking about it, John decided to put forward apromising approach: "Eric, I don''t think it''s necessary for you to buy Pixar . If you are interested in 3d animation, you can invest in Pixar Animation Studios, so it won''t cost you too much, but if . . .


    . . . .


    . If Pixar fail, you Can easily withdraw . "


    But if he really did follow John''s advice, he will be throwing millions of dors to the wind, because in his past life After the sess of "Toy Story" Pixar stocks skyrocketed, Steve Jobs went from the edge of bankruptcy straight into the ranks of billionaires .


    Eric put on a willful look on his face and said in a tone that match it: "No, John, you give a message to Mr . jobs for me, tell him I''m willing to buy Pixar for $20 millions, and if the deal is done . I''ll invest $30 millions to produce an animated film . "


    "Eric, I think 20 million dors isn''t enough, Steve Jobs will not agree, over the past few years he invested no less than 20 millions into Pixar . "


    Eric said: "John, if you make a business, sometime you lose . if you invest a lot of money, it is not necessary you''ll be able to recover back more, That''s not how business work . You give my message to Mr jobs, 20 million, and not a penny more .


    I am very busy, i don''t have the time to haggle over the price, if Mr . Steve Jobs was dissatisfied with the price, then it is unnecessary to contact me, I believe he will make a wise choice . "


    "In that case, all right, I will tell Steve what you said . "


    After sending John La.s.seter away, Eric said to Jeffrey who had been holding on for a long time, "Jeffrey, how did you resist not advising me this time?"


    Jeffrey said: "I know it''s useless, so why waste my time . But now that you ask, I''m going to say that buying Pixar is certainly not a wise choice . "


    Ericughed and joked with him: "Originally i wanted to y a bet with you, but you do not have anything I am interested in, so i let it go."

 Chapter 78: Super Bowl night

    After asking John La.s.seter to bring the message to Steve Jobs, Eric put Pixar things on the side . In the present situation of Steve Jobs, Eric believe the chances of the other Party epting the proposal are over 90% percent .


    Even if the other side refuse to sell Pixar, Silicon Valley doesn''tke 3D Animators .


    In January 21st, the shooting of "Pretty Woman" officially finished, they originally nned to take three weeks to shoot the film, but it only took them two weeks toplete, for the crew members and the cast Eric reputation as a "fast shooter" was deeply ingrained in there minds .


    In addition, Eric stayed upte at night working on editing a 59 second trailer for the Super Bowl, and in the morning he was shooting the movie .


    Even with his vigorous young body, Eric after experiencing more than two weeks of high-intensity work, was feeling deeply exhausted . Afterpleting the work, there was no party, and no touching parting scene . Everyone packed their things, and went their separate ways .


    . . . .


    . .


    Tomorrow is the once a year Super Bowl opening night, even Eric a guy who has no sense of the Super Bowl, can feel the crowd''s expectations for the day .


    Photographer Nicole Frank and several other crew members, regardless of how tired they were, after Eric shouted the end, went straight to the airport to fly to Miami .


    If you are not an American, It''s hard to understand the Americans mania for the super bowl .


    In fact, in 1966 the NFL and AFL agreed to merge with a championship game between the two leagues to be yed after that season .


    Lamar Hunt, founder of the American Football League saw his children ying with a Super Ball toy, so he decided to name the championship the Super Bowl as a joke instead of on the real name "AFL-NFL Championship Game" but the media immediately picked up on Hunt''s "Super Bowl" name, which would be the official nameter .


    After decades of development, the Super Bowl has be a big carnival for all Americans . the Super Bowl TV broadcast be the highest-rated program of all time . This is the reasons why Eric insisted on putting the the trailer of "Pretty Woman" on the super bowl .


    Eric did not know how long he have been sleeping, when he woke up it was afternoon the next day, he stretched hearing the soft sound of his whole body bones crackling, he wore new cloths and walked downstairs .


    In the living room a pet.i.te figure was busy, the coffee table in front of the sofa was full of food, the TV have also been reced with new one . Seeing Eric appear, Drew took a red T-shirt and went straight to Eric .


    "Hey, what are you doing, in broad daylight . " Eric smiled and dodged drew hara.s.sment .


    "Dirty minded smelly man!" Drew pursed her little mouth, took Eric t-shirt off, and forced him to wear a red football jersey .


    "What does this mean?" Eric tugged at the small ufortable t-shirt .


    "This Super Bowl night, i announce that you are now a fan of the San Francisco 49ers . "


    Eric asked softly: "can I refuse?"


    "No!" Drew said, she turned around no longer paying attention to him .


    Eric shrugged his shoulders, picked a bucket of fried chicken wings and a bottle of fruit juice, and turned upstairs to the study room, and let drew keep messing about in the living room .


    Eric didn''t back to the living room for a long time . instead he waited until the game was about to start .


    The finals were between the Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers . If Eric soul was of a 20 years young man, he may be interested in this game, but unfortunately he have the soul of an uncle, an Asian uncle no less, so there is not much interest .


    He was just sitting in the living room patiently waiting for his movie Trailer to start ying .


    Finally, at the end of the second quarter of the game, after a Chevrolet car ad, the picture shed, and for five seconds a carefully edited "logo" appeared on the TV screen .


    The whole of North America at this time there are more than 100 million viewers sitting in front of the TV, when they saw the Firefly-film logo, most people''s first reaction is that this intro was beautiful, but also produced a question, Firefly-film, What is this ad about?


    Before this Super Bowl broadcast, there has never been a movie trailer, so ny-nine percent of the viewers did not think about it .


    After five seconds the t.i.tle finished, a close-up of beautiful red lips said: "are you ready?" no one answered, a loud roar of the Lamborghini engine sounded, and a shot of the sharp lines of the silver ''Lamborghini Countach'' appeared on the screen .


    "Cool!" In front of the TV many people thought this is a sports car ads .


    However, they soon found they are wrong, the reason Eric add the engine sound is to attract the attention of the viewers . Next, the "Pretty Woman" song sounded, and trailer Eric made began showing on the screen .


    Although only a short 50 seconds trailer, however, Eric spent a lot of thought when making it, he divided the shots into four 10 seconds sections, Edward and Vivian meeting, getting along, Knowing each other, breaking up .


    Although for more then 40 seconds there was no lines, but most TV viewers were able to understand, that this is a Cindere love story, Of course, Eric will not be stupid to say everything clearly, a lot of the shots gives a contradicting feeling, as if to say: "If you want to know, go to the cinema .


    " .


    The 59 seconds of the trailer finally came to an end, in thest shot, Julia said with determination and hope in her voice: "I want a fairy tale!"


    The trailer ended, the screen turned ck, Julia''sst remark left a huge suspense to all the viewers: "will she get a fairy tale?"


    Finally, a line of text appeared on TV: "Home Alone" director Eric Williams new work "Pretty Woman" . Release date in February 10th in North America, stay tuned!


    In thousands of households in North America, People briefly lost interest in the ads and the game, they were discussing the trailer .


    "A movie trailer ad in the Super Bowl, the guy who thought of this idea is really a genius, But isn''t the Super Bowl ads expensive? . "


    "It must be very expensive . The adsted for nearly a minute, no doubt they have to spend at least 1 million dors to take the spot . "


    "That''s too extravagant . that''s enough money to make a new movie . But I think the trailer were interesting, maybe we can go see itter."


    "That Actress is so beautiful "


    "I like Al Pacino better . This is his new movie? . I liked him in the "The G.o.dfather" movie series, I''ve gone to see it five or six times .


    "


    "Eric Williams, he made another movie?"


    "Yes, that''s too fast . I hope he didn''t ruin this movie . "


    "Mom, I know those words . "Home Alone" Let''s go and see Kevin again tomorrow, OK?"


    "No, honey, you must have read it wrong . "


    "Mom you are lying, you taught me the two words . "


    "I have listened to this song, "Roy Orbison - Oh, Pretty Woman", a long time ago . "


    "Really, do you still have the alb.u.m?"


    "I can''t find it . The alb.u.m was bought by my grandfather . Who knows where he put it?"


    "That''s too bad, but after the movie is released, there must be a soundtrack . Buy it then . "


    "Cole, love let''s go to see the film on "Valentine''s Day" . "


    "That . . . .


    . . Margaret, aren''t we going to see Tom Hanks new movie "The ''Burbs""


    "I think this movie is more interesting . . . .


    . . "


    "All right, I''ll listen to you . "


    "Hey, that girl said she wanted a fairy tale, you say she can seed?"


    "Honey, this is love movie schedule on Valentine''s Day, the oue is certainly going to be good . "


    "But I think, many of the shots hinted that the male and female will be separated, and many directors prefer to draw the audience tears with a tragic ending . "


    "Well, no need to think about it . Let''s go see it on Valentine''s Day."

 Chapter 79: Coming to the door

    After the Super Bowl night, the most talked about topic is not who won the Super Bowl championship, but the first movie trailer to appear in the Super Bowl TV broadcast .


    This session of the Super Bowl the highest ratings went up to 150 million people, ounting for 50% of the total poption of North America, and with the word of mouth, after just one day, all Americans know about "Home Alone" director Eric William a new movie news .


    The major film giants also keenly felt the amazing influence of the Super Bowl trailer Ad, they mobilized a lot of resources, to carry a detailed investigation and a.n.a.lyse the data released after the broadcast of "Pretty Woman" trailer, as for the results of this investigation, it is estimated that only in the next Super Bowl ad bidingpet.i.tion can be seen .


    In past life, the first Super Bowl movie trailer happened in 1996 for the movie "Independence Day", Fox took a huge sum of money to bid for the Super Bowl ad spot, and ultimately this disaster science fiction film won a huge $300 million box office domestically, and $500 million dor world wide .


    From then on, there have always been rivalry between the giants of Hollywood for the spots at the Super Bowl .


    Eric believes that the trailer of "Pretty Woman" will not be less effective than the "Independence Day" trailer .


    Next year, wanting to win a Super Bowl ad slot is not just a question of having money, you''ll also need to have a good rtionship with the Super Bowl broadcasting media .


    Although there are more than 60 ads in the super bowl, but in order to achieve good advertising results, the number of each type of ad has a strict limit, not all the ads can be used to show movie trailers .


    That''s why, in the future the Super Bowl ad slots for movies will all be monopolized by the big movie giants, because of the increasing cost of making movies, and because the Super Bowl ads will cost a lot, so small moviepanies can''t take out that much money .


    Over the next few days, some nosy mediamentators also began to report and a.n.a.lyze the matter .


    The New York Times even wrote that "Pretty Woman" trailer is the biggest winner of this session of the Super Bowl .


    And as a direct result of Eric''s being the director of the new movie, the box office of "Home Alone" once again rebounded, this was the movie ninth week in cinemas, originally some statistical agencies estimated that "Home Alone" well harvest about $12 millions at the box office this week, But a weekter, "Home Alone" got more than $18 million, the total box office reached $198 million .


    Even ording to Eric''s current shares, this extra $6 million in the box office would have earned back the $1 . 5 million spent on the Super Bowl ad .


    "That''s Fortunate" said Eric after seeing the week box office report .


    Jeffrey Sitting on the opposite sideughed and said: "Yes, Fortunately, it''s 198 million, if this week broke 200 million, it would have been a waste of a good hype topic . "


    The reason why he said so, because after this week Super Bowl trailer, the attention on "Pretty Woman" has reached its peak, but if "Home Alone" broke the 200 million mark, the topic can only y the role of icing on the cake .


    Not like if it dyed until next week, after the Super Bowl trailer heat slightly weakened .


    Next week "Home Alone" well be the first movie in 3 years to break the $200 million mark at the box office . Add the normal publicity, and "Pretty Woman" is guaranteed to get good results at the box office .


    "Eric, you really are not going to personally partic.i.p.ate in the "Pretty Woman" propaganda?"


    Eric shook his head and said: "Al and Julia the two of them plus Fox is enough, I may have other things to do . Of course, I''ll still attend the premiere . "


    The other thing Eric said was about Pixar . The day after the Super Bowl, Eric received a phone call from Steve Jobs after the introduction, Steve in a warm tone said he wanted to have a meeting .


    Eric asked whether it was about Pixar''s price, and after getting a positive answer, Eric hung up the phone .


    Determining the intentions of Steve Jobs, Eric had no hesitation, he applied to the bank for a $50 million loan using "Home Alone" as a mortgage .


    Although deeply conflicted with the lending practices, but now Eric have to do so . Even if there is no Pixar thing Eric had to apply for a loan because his remaining money was not enough to pay this year taxes .


    Eric did not even think about borrowing from other people, ording to the memory''s of the original owner of the body, and his knowledge from the past six months, Eric knew that in the United States, even between friends and family, the topic of borrowing money, is a very embarra.s.sing thing .


    Compared to Asians borrowing money between friends and rtives is amon thing, Americans are more used to borrowing money from banks, and you know what they say, When in Rome, do as the Romans do .


    Now that he is going to borrow, he applied for a huge loan of $50 million dors, to buy Pixar and investment for the next movie .


    50 million dors in this era is indeed a huge sum of money, If Steve Jobs want to borrow this mush money from the bank he will probably be kicked out the door, As for Eric, borrowing $50 million from the bank is easy they even tempted him to borrow more .


    All told, It has now been over a week, Steve Jobs is expected to call again, Although Steve Jobs personality quite irritable and conceited, But he''s also a resilient man .


    ording to the information collected by Eric these days, Pixar studios and NeXT aputer softwarepany are on the edge of copse .


    Eric''s $20 million offer, although much less than Jobs''s investment in Pixar studios, but could solve NeXT crisis . And Steve Jobs ambition these days is mainly on personalputers .


    Eric was not worried that Jobs would give up a good chance of getting rid of Pixar . Of course, he may also do like in previous life, he may test whether Microsoft intends to buy Pixar, but Eric is sure, Microsoft will probably give a lower price than him .


    After more than a week of intense post-production "Pretty Woman" officially was finished .


    Until well into February, the loaned money has finally entered his bank ount, Eric still didn''t receive a phone call from Steve Jobs again, he was starting to admire Jobs''s patience, But Eric still maintain a cool appearance on the matter, dealing with a genius like Steve Jobs, as long as you show a w, the other side can easily catch and take advantage of it .


    Before the release of "Pretty Woman" by a week, Fox held a Movie premiere for film critics in Los Angeles .


    After that, the reviews of the long-awaited movie began to appear in the newspapers .


    Maybe because they felt guilty that they let Eric pay for the Super Bowl trailer from his own pocket, Or maybe because Fox itself have more confidence in "Pretty Woman", Eric felt that Fox''s advertising campaign efforts have reached the level ofrge productions .


    ordingly, the film critics public rtions work in ce, the reviews that started appearing in the newspapers were almost all one-sided praise . Of course, this is also rted to the film quality itself .


    If "Pretty Woman" is a flop, even if the red envelopes are more generous, the critics who rely on there reputation to eat, will not openly praise a bad film .


    February 9, at Los Angeles Grauman''s Chinese Theatre, "Pretty Woman" officially held the premiere .


    With 20th Century Fox operation, in addition to "Pretty Woman" cast members, more than a dozenrge and small starse to give there support, the short section of the red carpet was shining with stars .


    After a brief speech, the movie quickly started ying .


    Eric returned to his seat, quietly enjoy his own movie, siting on his left side is a Fox executive Carter Hunt, he didn''t know when he was reced by another 30 year old man, because the lights were dim, Eric did not care .


    But after a while, the other party took the initiative to talk to him .


    "h.e.l.lo, Mr . Williams . I''m Steve Jobs . "


    Eric turned and looked with surprise, Jobs was 33 years old this year, he was still a young man, not bald, he looked handsome . But Eric knows this handsome appearance, is hiding a really arrogant and short-tempered man .


    Now that the other party hade to the door, Eric smiled and held out his hand: "h.e.l.lo, Mr jobs . "


    After saying h.e.l.lo to each other, the two of them once again turned their attention to the screen, no one has the idea of taking the initiative to start the real talk .


    It was not until more than an hourter when the film ended, that Steve Jobs once again said: "Mr . Williams, can we talk?"

 Chapter 80: First day at the box office

    Eric nodded, said goodbye to Jeffrey and the others, and walked with Steve Jobs to a nearby coffee shop .


    "It was a country full of devotion, I saw millions of pilgrims, so I was drawn to shave my head, without any difort or resistance . Instead, I followed the flow of people, walking all the way to the sh.o.r.e of the Ganges River .


    But at the same time I saw the backwardness and ignorance of that country . "


    "Later I thought, Perhaps Thomas Edison''s contribution to mankind far exceed those philosophers and artists . When i returned to California, I no longer pursued the illusory philosophy of life, instead, I chose the electronics industry as my lifelong goal .


    A yearter, in an abandoned garage, I and several friends set up Apple . . . .


    . . "


    In a coffee shop, Eric gently stirring his coffee, patiently listening to Steve Jobs talk, this opportunity is not easy to meet, although Eric does not like Steve Jobs character, but he admires his talent .


    After more than 10 minutes, Eric finally could not help but say: "Steve, have you ever reflected on yourself?"


    The sudden interruption left a trail of displeasure on Jobs face, who asked: "reflect, why should I reflect?"


    "For example, why were you driven out of apple?"


    Steve Jobs with a solemn face corrected:


    "No, Eric, I wasn''t driven out of apple, I gave up apple voluntarily . "


    Eric shrugged and said: "Look, this is a w in your personality, you''re not willing topromise, which also led to a bottleneck in the development of both you and Apple .


    If you had made an appropriatepromise with Apple board of directors a few years ago, perhaps you can continue to stay in apple . With your strength, getting the leadership of Apple back again is a piece of cake."


    Steve Jobs retorted: "If I made the firstpromise, Those guys will force me to do it a second time, then a third time or even morepromises . "


    Eric chuckled and shook his head, He understood that it is absolutely impossible to convince this paranoid young man . And now that he''s taking Pixar, he didn''t know if Steve Jobs will ever return to Apple in the future .


    In the past, Steve Jobs was able to achieve such dazzling achievements, in addition to his talent and perseverance, Luck also ounted for arge part .


    If he had sold Pixar before, there will be no dazzling sesses story after the release of "Toy Story", and he himself is more likely to be the target of ridicule . In that case, perhaps the desperate Apple would rather file for bankruptcy, then invited Steve Jobs back .


    Eric didn''t want to persuade Steve Jobs either, shifting the subject to the topic the too of them meet for today: "Let''s talk about Pixar, Steve, since you''ve found me, that mean you''re taking my offer, right?"


    Steve Jobs hesitated for a moment, The reason why he arranged this meeting, is he wanted to meet Eric face to face, so he can persuade him to rise the price, he was quite confident in his eloquence .


    Unfortunately, he just said so much, the young man didn''t interrupt him, but he showed an unmoved appearance . Eventually, he knew that if he said a word about increasing the price, The other party will act likest time on the phone, he will directly walk out on him .


    "Eric, I agree with the $20 million offer, but all the money must be paid in one go . "


    "No problem," Eric put down his cup of coffee, and happily snapped his fingers .


    Steve Jobs was looking calm until Eric suddenly showed his excited expression, for that moment, he felt that perhaps he unknowingly made a huge mistake .


    But since the decision has been made, he will not go back on his word, He is a man who seldom regret his decisions . then Steve Jobs asked again: "Eric, are you interested in personalputers?"


    Eric quickly understood the meaning of Steve Jobs: "Do you want me to invest in your NeXTputerpany?"


    "Yes, PC''s are a very promising electronic products, look at the past few years, IBM personalputers business development data is known, justst year . . . .


    . . "


    "Stop, Steve, I''m not interested in those professional figures . All I ask is, if I buy NeXT, would you ept my advice on thepany''s business?"


    "This . . . .


    . . Eric, you only need to invest five . .


    . . . .


    no, thirty million, plus Pixar twenty million, I would have enough money to implement a good idea I had before . I''m sure that will bring you enough profit . "


    "That is to say, I am only responsible for investment and dividends, and has no power to intervene in the management of thepany?"


    Steve Jobs nodded, after experiencing the Apple incident, he will not give up the absolute leadership of hispany again: "Eric, you are an excellent director, but I think, in the field of electronic technology, I known much more than you . "


    Originally, Eric still had some hope . However, after Steve Jobs answer, Eric could only shake his head: "Well, I refuse!"


    "Well, Eric, I have a project proposal here, maybe you can have a look at it first, in fact . . . .


    . . "


    "No" Eric waved, interrupting Steve Jobs words: "Steve, I know you''re a man of great ideas, I also believe in your talent . But I will not put my money into a project that I can not control .


    Like you stubbornly believe in your own ideas, I am also a stubborn person, when our ideas are inconsistent, like a few years ago, a conflict like what happened at Apple could erupt again . "


    Jobs stopped taking out the papers from his briefcase . He thought that, by virtue of his eloquence, convincing a 18 years young boy, should be a breeze . Unfortunately, Eric didn''t listen to him at all, this made Steve Jobs feel a trace of anger .


    "Well, that''s a pity . " Jobs managed to calm his anger: "Eric, do you need to go to Pixar for a visit? I hope our deal can be done as soon as possible . "


    Eric thought for a moment, said: "Tomorrow is not empty, "Pretty Woman" will be officially released tomorrow, the day after tomorrow I will fly to New York, for my girlfriend''s birthday . . . .


    . . "


    In Steve Jobs mind, the release of the film can be considered a major event, but a girlfriend birthday, how can such a thing dy the deal with Pixar: "Eric, perhaps, you can directly send a gift to your girlfriend, it seems like you have more than one girlfriend Anyway . "


    Eric looked at Steve Jobs silently for a moment then said: "Maybe, I will be busy the day after tomorrow too . "


    Steve Jobs immediately patted the table, interrupting Eric''s words: "Well, the day after tomorrow then, a girlfriend birthday is still very important!"


    When Eric said that the next day was not empty, in fact, Eric has nothing to do personally, he was Just anxious like every other director when they release a new work, he was temporarily in no mood to shift his attention to Pixar .


    Fox has arranged everything, because the size of the critics film premiere was much bigger than expected . The second day the film critics in newspapers "Pretty Woman" begun to show some multi-pr development .


    In addition to the newspapers he was subscribed to, Eric bought more than 10 newspapers early in the morning, read all the film reviews about "Pretty Woman", a total of seventeen newspapers, there are nine praising the movie, five both praise and criticizing, and the remaining three were all blunt criticism .


    Eric calcted in his head, the ratings should be at 7 . 5 points . In previous life film review sites grades, The score should be rtively high .


    Eric let go of his worry''s, now all they need to do is maintain good word of mouth . After breakfast, Eric drove to Fox''s headquarters in Century City .


    Because now is not the busiest movie schedule time, Fox easily raised more than 1900 screens for "Pretty Woman", this number of screens has reached the level of the big movies of this era .


    In his previous two films, Eric got the box office data only a weekter . But now, he has reached the level where he can get the box office data of the first day directly from within Fox .


    Early in the morning, Eric, Jeffrey, and several executives from Fox waited nervously in the conference room, Even Barry Diller, the president of Fox havee down . Even if the meeting room isrge, and the windows were open, the room was drifting thick with cigar smoke .


    Meanwhile, outside the conference room, seven or eight staff members were quickly calling and recording the box office data .


    A little whileter, the box office data was finally out, a statistician handed the data to the hands of several executives, where everyone gathered together to see .


    Carter Hunt was the first to see the data: "Wow, $4 . 36 million, It''s another "Home Alone" . "


    Eric saw the 4 . 36 millions data on the report, and finally breathed a sigh of relief calming his heart down .


    Jeffrey after some contemting said: "In that case, the box office will be a little higher tomorrow, it may reach the $5 millions mark, and maybe at the end of this three days weekend the film will get $15 million at box office .


    Adding next Tuesday is Valentine''s day, there will probably be an explosion at the box office, plus in the Working days the film is most likely to get us another $10 million . "


    Carter Hunt retorted smilingly: "Jeffrey, you''re a bit conservative in your calctions, Valentine''s day will definitely exceed the weekend''s box office, I think the first week at the box office exceeding "Home Alone" is not a problem . "


    Eric sees those overly excited people set their goal on "Home Alone", but he knows, this is obviously impossible, maybe because of the great publicity before, the box office will be high for the first week, but it won''tst for another week .


    Thinking of these things, Eric could not help but say: "The key is that next week''s box office decline is sure to be big, now after all is not a holiday schedule . So don''tpare it with "Pretty Woman", "Home Alone" has grossed more than $20 million for six consecutive weeks . "


    The people present were all professionals, They certainly know that what Eric is telling is the truth .


    Barry Diller said: "Eric, you concentrate on preparing the next movie, if you need any help, Fox will fully support you . "


    Eric pretended not to understand that Fox wants to intervene in his next movie, He smiled and said: "If so, the celebration party will be given to Fox to arrange . "


    Barry Diller did not mind that Eric was pretending to be stupid, he smiled and said: "Haha, Fox will be very happy to pay for the party . Next week, maybe at The Beverly Hilton Hotel ."

 Chapter 81: Her

    This was her 20th birthday today, After this day her girlhood was over, she was walking around the streets feeling like a stray cat .


    She has been wandering on Broadway in Midtown Manhattan all morning, pa.s.sing by a small theater, She looked at the ad at the door, Students from a drama college in New York was doing a rehearsal of "The Lady of the Camellias" in a non-professional theater .


    So she went in and watched the y, the performance was good, she was secretly touched and shed a few tears secretly .


    It was noon when she came out, she bought a piece of chocte cream cheese cake, and sat at a bench in central park eating it slowly .


    Since her weight-loss sess, she has stopped herself from eating these high calorie foods in order to stay in shape . But today was her birthday so she indulged herself .


    After carefully eating the cake, she throw the box into the trash can, and carefully checked that she didn''t touch her Chanel coat with any food residue, heaving a sigh of relief . She took out a paper towel and wiped her hands, picked her bag, and continued wandering .


    Pa.s.sing through the h.e.l.l''s Kitchen, then into the tiron District, she took a long look at The Empire State Building, and turned back to go to Fifth Avenue .


    She visited a few luxury shops, just looking around, although she didn''t buy anything, when they saw her Chanel coat, the clerks was still very warm to her, and wee her toe again .


    She didn''t n an going back, every thing there was so expensive!


    The one who give her the white Chanel coat was Eric, after that beautiful street shot they got together, she learned how expensive this coat is, the real price reach several times her paycheck . If she did know the price in advance, she will not have epted it .


    After walking around in a circle, she ended up buying a bottle of Dior perfume after a silver-tongued clerk persuade her, she spent more than 2000 dors on it, she recalled that he like the smell .


    Well, in the end she could not help but think of that . . . .


    . . b.a.s.t.a.r.d .


    After all, it''s her 20 birthday, her parents and few good friends all called . And also sent her birthday gifts, Matthew Perry that guy even sent her an expensive diamond bracelet . And called her on the phone purely to wish her a happy birthday .


    At the same time her lover has not called her for four and a half days .


    In her previous birthdays, even if there is no parents to apany her, she will go with her close friends to get a meal and open her gifts .


    Unfortunately, she did not find any new friends in the cast . "Mary in Action" is a woman''s career loveedy, there''s a total of four female protagonists, ording to her number of scenes, she is female number two .


    When she just entered the group, the other three female characters were very warm to her, they watched a few movies and eat dinner together, they got along for a few days, and then they started tempting her to introduced her boyfriend to them .


    Finally she understood the cause of the matter, she was an outsider, how could she be popr from the beginning? .


    At that time she had unterally broke up with Eric, and that fellow didn''te to New York to get her back, so she told the truth, and then they stopped trying to get close to her .


    Several girls on the cast thought they will get instant fame by virtue of NBC''s new show, so they started trying to get more time on the screen, by Bribing the screenwriters, having s.e.x with the producers . . . .


    . . , anyway she heard some of the girls had done some dirty things .


    She was the prettiest girl in the cast, even more than the first female lead . She got hara.s.sed by a diversity director he tant hinted to her that she can get more screen time as long as she apany him at night to eat a meal . She decisively refused .


    Until one day, the new handsome actor Brad Pitt was driven out of the cast . In this circle, a lot of things pa.s.s quickly . After that no one dared to hara.s.s her, even the producers of the TV series were very kind to her .


    After that she was even more isted in the crew, several other actresses privately called her a scheming b.i.t.c.h, and that she lied about braking up, and deliberately hide it . She did not bother defending herself to that group of Jealous b.i.t.c.hes .


    Maybe because the audience lost there appet.i.te for the show . the high expectations of "Mary in Action" ratings were very low, the average number of viewers per episode is less than 6 million, this season was going to be cut off soon .


    Her fame gained from this show, have not reached the fame she got from being that guy''s girlfriend .


    In the tabloids always appeared scattered news about her once every two or three days, her name was always Eric Williams''s girlfriend, ex-girlfriend, rumored girlfriend and the likes, she didn''t dare to look at these newspapers .


    They never called her "Mary in Action" heroine, and that hateful guy never done anything about it .


    Unknowingly night fell, and she still didn''t want to go back home, and go back to her old habits of making dinner for one person, then watching TV alone, doingundry, then going to sleep alone . . . .


    . .


    Across the street, at a cinema gate, there was a long line of people, she curiously walked closer, the "Pretty Woman" poster was hanging high in the door, the two stars stood smiling back to back . The tall girl looks so s.e.xy, d.a.m.n her . she probably got the role by sleeping with that jerk .


    - Click


    She heard That familiar shutter sounds, and turned to look, A paparazzi calmly turned around as if nothing had happened . She obviously had showed a pouting expression while looking at the poster when she was photographed, she wondered if she should leave right away?


    What would the other party say? "ex-girlfriend of Eric Williams scoff at his new work"?


    Unconsciously, she got in line to buy a ticket, d.a.m.n, I''m even going to see your movie you b.a.s.t.a.r.d, see how much I miss you .


    A few minutester, holding a ticket, she walked into the screening hall .


    After a full two two hours, she couldn''t help but put herself into the heroine position, if she was the one ying the role, what will happen? .


    The story went on . Oh dear, there''s even a s.e.x scene . In the darkness, she subconsciously covered her bulging chest .


    If she yed the role herself, with that guy''s hateful personality, That scene will definitely be deleted . Well, that''s good . It seems that he didn''t particrly care about the woman called Julia Roberts .


    With that in mind,, She had the same feeling she gets when she sessfully won a role, Or when she win a game of chess? . Or like when she was a child, and won the first ce in apet.i.tion . Anyway, these feelings .


    When she saw the heroine get her fairy tale . She wondered, what about my fairy tales?


    With an empty heart, she left out of the cinema .


    It was more than nine in the evening, she could no longer go shopping . She reminded herself more than once, not to wander wander alone at night, like her parents always told her, she has been very obedient girl .


    after a day of walking and two hours at the cinema sitting, her calf began to ache, and she didn''t want to walk anymore, so she decided to call a taxi .


    . . . .


    . .


    Struggling to walk-up the stairs, she finally walked in front of her apartment door .


    Her heart was inexplicably flooded with expectations when she saw a lighting out of the cat eye .


    Trembling she took out her keys to open the door, and finally she saw that guy busy figure in the living room .


    All her strength at that moment escaped from her body, she felt very tired .


    leaning against the wall of the entrance, she gazed at his figure .


    When the busy man looked up and saw her, a smile appeared on his Handsome face .


    "I''m so sorry, Jane, I arrived in the afternoon this day . Last night in order to wait for the box office data, I stayed up until two o''clock in the morning . I forget to buy the airne ticket, so I borrowed Mr . Diller''s private ne .


    It was already over three in the afternoon when i got here, and You were not at home . So I had to decorate it myself, because I''m not familiar with New York, I almost lost my way when I was buying things, So maybe I didn''t get enough . "


    Her heart warmed as she listened to his chatter .


    The man said with care, as he lighted the match, and lit the candles on the cake one by one: "Happy birthday!"


    Getting rid of her bag, while still leaning against the wall, she raised her hands, and made a gesture for him to hug her, and said in a voice full with grievances: "Eric, my legs hurts . . . "

 Chapter 82: Two gifts(18+)

    They eat the birthday dinner slowly, Jennifer waszily leaning on Eric body, and he sometimes whispered words of affection to her .They sung the birthday song together .


    After singing they cut the birthday cake, and started eating there piece of cake, and quickly consumed a bottle of red wine .


    "Did you finish eating?" Eric looked at the girl flushed face, and asked her with concern .


    "Yes" Jennifer nodded her head, she hugged Eric and said: "I''m so tired, take me to the bathroom, I don''t want to move . "


    "No problem, my little princess, but first" Eric got up and took two beautifully wrapped gift boxes from his luggage and said: "Well, one is a birthday gift, and one is a Valentine''s day gift . "


    Aniston saw the two gift boxes, and suddenly be unhappy, she took the two gift boxes and put them on the table, then drilled into his arms .


    "Don''t you want to open the boxes first . "


    "I''m Not happy, I don''t want to see . "


    Eric touched Aniston blond hair as he said, "I''m sorry, Anne . I made an appointment with someone before, So I have to leave early tomorrow morning ."


    "Hmm! . . .


    . . . "


    "Anne, please go back to Los Angeles, I want you to stay with me . "


    "Tired, I wanna take a bath . . . "


    "All right, all right," Eric picked her up and walked into the bathroom . Letting the water warm up, he started to slowly undress her. Soon she was standing only in her bra and panties, her beautiful body exposed in front of him.


    After a long time not seeing him, Aniston looked a little shy, with downcast eyes, she gently pulled at Eric''s jacket: "let''s bath together?"


    Eric nodded and after taking off his shirt, removed her bra, exposing her perky and beautiful breasts, Eric wrapped his hands around them, kneaded them and caressed the nipples with his thumbs, feeling them getting hard he leaned down and swirled his tongue around her right nipple, before taking it in his mouth and sucking on it.


    "That tickles" Aniston escaped Eric''s ws, She smiled tenderly and helped him take off his pants, then fled into the bathtub, after squeezing in . she looked at Eric face expectantly .


    Eric took off hisst piece of clothes his underwear, Aniston made a kind of high-spirited call out a cry, and suck out her tongue and said: "So ugly . "


    "The girl who say bad things often get punished . " Eric smiled and stepped into the bathtub behind her, he stretched out his hands to hold her waist and pulled her to his arms .


    Feeling how light she was, Eric said: "Jenny, you should eat more, i like you the way you were . "


    "Well, I don''t want to please you . " Aniston felt his erection pressing against her ass, she wanted to scoot forward, but she couldn''t move because Eric was hugging her tightly .


    "Eric, let''s start bathing, the bathtub will be flooded soon . "


    Eric big hands once again covered her soft breast and started to fondle them, at the same time kissing her ear as he whispered to her: "but I think this is more interesting?"


    With him teasing her sensitive earlobes, Aniston whole body melted down .


    Eric stopped talking, kissed down her neck and slid one hand down between her legs, ying with her clit, while massaging her soft breast with the other, making her sigh in pleasure.


    "UHHH..."


    Jennifer cried out, as Eric suddenly pushed two fingers in her slit and pinched her nipple, while giving her slender neck a soft bite.


    "UHHH... UHHH...."


    She kept moaning as he continued pushing his fingers in her slit and moving them around, trying to find her G-spot.


    "UHHHHHHH...."


    Which he did as he felt something like a knot in her pussy and pulled on it, making her scream with pleasure.


    He continued fingering her pussy, softly pulling her G-stop, and massaging her breast, pinching her nipple, causing her to let our cries of pleasure.


    "UHHHHHHH....."


    Jennifer cried out, as he pulled on her G-spot strongly, pinched her nipple and licked her earlobe, pushing her over the edge, her pussy mping down on his fingers, wetting them with her juices as her body slumped back into his, her eyes closed.


    Eric pulled his finger out of her cave and held her, still massaging her breast, as he raised his fingers, drenched in her juices, and put them to her lips.


    Jennifer opened her eyes with a start as he pushed his fingers in her mouth, making her taste herself.


    Eric kissed her neck as he massaged her breast and kept pushing his fingers in and out of her mouth, ying with her tongue, his dick getting painfully hard.


    Feeling his cock throbbing, he pulled his finger out of her mouth  and pushed her shoulders forward, making her brace herself on the wall, causing her butt to stick out.


    Seeing her smooth and perky ass sticking out, he grabbed both her cheeks roughly and squeezed them with force, making her let out a throaty moan.


    "p..."


    Her moans excited him more, so he pped her ass lightly, before putting dick to her slightly swollen lips and, with one strong thrust, pushing all of his dick in her, making his balls p against her ass and making her let out a loud moan.


    "UHHHHHH...."


    Since he was pretty excited, Eric didn''t waist any time, grabbing her slim waist, he started to pound her, going deep in her pussy and pulling back, doing it over and over, filling the room with the sound of their bodies colliding and her loud moans.


    "UHHHHHH.... Godddddd...."


    Jennifer let out loud cries and moans of pleasure as Eric invaded her wet pussy again and again, stretching her tight walls.


    "p..."


    He reached forward, twirled her hair around his fist, and pulled, arching her back, making her ass p against him harder, as he felt his orgasm build.


    He pulled further, her back touching his torso, as he kissed up her neck and licked her sensitive ear, making her scream as her pussy suddenly gripped tightly, drenching his dick in juices.


    "OHHH...."


    Eric grunted as he thrust deep in her pussy and started shooting ropes of cum, her contracting walls pushing him over the edge.


    They just stood there for a minute, letting the water run down their bodies, breathing heavily, enjoying the afterglow.


    Minuteter Eric pulled his slightly soft dick out of her pussy and turned her around.


    He leaned forward and kissed her sexy lips, his hands wrapping around her waist as her arms snaked around his neck.


    As they made out Eric pushed his tongue, probing her lips, until she opened her mouth and he pushed it inside.


    Exploring her mouth with his tongue, he slid one hand down to her ass and squeezed, while slowly caressing her back with the other.


    They made out, as he moved the other hand down squeezing her ass with both hands, groping her ass cheeks, massaging them and pulling them apart, making her moan in his mouth.


    Letting go of her lips, he raised his hand and pushed down on her shoulder.


    Jennifer, still groggy from the wine and two orgasms, got on her knees.


    Looking down at her hazy face Eric took his dick and, raising her chin, pushed it slowly in her mouth.


    Sighed Eric as he felt her warm and wet mouth wrapping around her mouth.


    With both hands he grabbed her head and started to thrust, slowly at first, picking up speed until he was rapidly fucking her face.


    Giving no thought whether she enjoyed it or not, he kept pounding her face, pushing deep and pulling out, plunging back in, stopping only after hitting her throat, he held himself there, pulling out after she started gagging, allowing her to breath as she coughed, saliva running down her lips.


    He quickly plunged his dick back in her mouth, it was slick and wet with her saliva, coating his dick as he thrust in her mouth.


    Grabbing her head again, he started to pound her face, eagerly going in and out of her mouth.


    As he he felt his orgasm starting build up, Eric let go of her head, pulled out of her mouth and picked her up.


    Stepping out of the bathtub, he walked over to the sink and putting her down, bent her over it.


    Spreading her legs slightly, he took his penis and as she grabbed the sides of the sink, thrust it in.


    Grabbing her waist, again giving no thought whether she enjoyed it or not, he started to pound away, hard and fast, using her pussy, making her cry out.


    He grabbed her hair and pulled it, arching her back, as he saw her face in the mirror over the sink, eyes closed, lips open, moaning from his rough pounding.


    He kept pounding her, his dick going deep in her pussy, over and over, as he watched her face  twist in ecstasy, sound of her loud moans and their bodies colliding filling the small bathroom.


    As he felt his orgasm get closer and closer, he let go of her hair and grabbed her waist, speeding up his thrusts, until with one final thrust he pushed his dick all the way to her womb.


    "OHHHHHH...."


    Roared Eric as pleasure rippled through his being and he filled her tight cunt with his hot cum.


    "UHHHH...."


    Moaned Jennifer as feeling of his hot seed filling her pussy pushed her over the edge and her walls mped down on his dick, drenching it in her juices.


    Eric moved back and enjoyed his handy work, Jennifer Aniston bent over a bathroom sink, breathing heavily, her ass sticking out as lewd fluids ran down her legs.


    After enjoying the sight for a few seconds Eric scooped her small frame in his arm and moved towards the bathtub to finally get cleaned up.


    After the shower he carried her to the bedroom and continued to fuck her, filling the house with the sounds of loud moans and bodies smacking against each other the whole night.


    . . . .


    . .


    The next day he woke up veryte, Jennifer exhausted by the tossing she gotst night was still sleeping, probably having sweet dreams, the corner of her mouth was curved . he kissed her lips and started dressing cautiously without making any noise.


    After making a simple breakfast, Aniston still didn''t wake up, Eric looked at his watch, he put away her share, and started eating his share .


    "Jane, I have to go . " After breakfast, Eric went into the bedroom, gently kissed and teased her hair .


    "Hmm! . . .


    . . . Don''t make any noise .


    I want to sleep . " she loudly protested, and impatiently pulled the quilt over her head .


    "Well, I''ll call you when I get back to Los Angeles . " Eric said again, watching thezy girl still did not response,


    Thinking about it, he got a pen and paper, and wrote a note, and put it in a noticeable ce, then reluctantly picked up his luggage and left the apartment .


    Taking a taxi, Eric looked up at Aniston apartment window, but due to the backlight effect, all he saw was darkness .


    She was behind the window, wrapped in a nket, her hands clutching the note, watched the taxi gradually disappearing, she sighed, and moved back to the bed and tossed about in distress, then grabbed the pillow next to her and beat it a few times .


    Go on you b.a.s.t.a.r.d, even while pretending to sleep, you couldn''t stay a little longer, d.a.m.n it!


    Shortly after getting off the ne, Eric contacted his privatewyer, and again left Los Angeles to go to California, to meet Steve Jobs, at San Francis...o...b..y, due to the increasingly dwindling funds, Steve Jobs had to move Pixar headquarters into a small corner in California .


    At the same time "Pretty Woman" plundered the box office across all North America .


    After a hot three days weekend, the movie entered the working days, but the number of the viewers did not decline, especially in valentine''s day, in many cinemas that screened "Pretty Woman" have appeared a full house phenomenon .


    In the envy, jealousy and hatred of other moviepanies, one weekter, the box office data of "Pretty Woman" was officially announced .


    16 . 05 million dors in the three days weekend, and at the first week a total of 29 . 07 million, although regrettably it did not reach 30 million US dors, but it surpa.s.sed "Home Alone" first week box office .


    The release of the second week, the box office of "Pretty Woman" fell to $17 million, down by 43%, a lot of people felt relieved after seeing the data, fortunately it was not another "Home Alone", otherwise some people will go insane .


    But in the third week "Pretty Woman" Box Office did not appear a sharp fall like the second week .


    and a monthter the "Pretty Woman" north america box office .u.mted more than 75 million dors, there''s no suspense that the movie will break the 100 million mark, ording to some statistic agencies estimates, as long as there''s no box office dark horse appearing, the film is likely to once again exceed $200 million at the box office .


    Under the operation of the Fox, "Pretty Woman" has also been released in the overseas market, although most areas missed valentine''s day, but under the influence of the North American market reputation the film''s overseas box office is stronger than North American, within four weeks it broke through the $100 million mark .


    In less than a year to shoot two movies that created a miracle at the box office, Eric once again became the focus of attention,


    The "Los Angeles Times" wrote an article t.i.tled "The wonder kid who broke into Hollywood" that gave a detailed ount of Eric''s story in less than a year


    Many well-known magazines tried to contact Eric but failed, they even contacted Jeffrey and Kapoor hoping to get an interview with Eric, but all were rejected .


    Although Eric has not yet reached the heights of Barry Diller and Michael Eisner, he believes that day will not be too far away . Eric ultimate goal is these big heavyweights, who are controlling the media while hiding behind the scenes .


    losing hope of getting an interview with Eric, the media had to wait for the next time, and turned there attention to other people .

 Chapter 83: Sincerity

    There is no doubt that the one benefited the most is Julia Roberts, with the continuous release of "Pretty Woman" Julia felt like she have entered into an unknown world, in this new world everyone is humble and respectful to her, as if she were a princess .


    When she recorded a talk show at ABC, the entire production team was trying to please her, at every detail of the recording process, the program directors were seriously asking for her opinion .


    At the same time, she got a lot of advertising offers, endors.e.m.e.nts and invitations to be a spokeswoman for some big brands, her paycheck after the first weekend box office released, directly jumped to $5 million, this figure many stars can only dream of attaining .


    Al Pacino alsopletelye out of the shadow of the failure of four years ago, he be high-spirited again, and many old friends that he lost contact with for a while started popping up again, so he started attending one party after another .


    Of course, some people be frustrated after the sess of "Pretty Woman", With United artists beginning to publicize his new movie "Road House" Richard Gere is undoubtedly the one who lost the most .


    His CAA agent who boasted before that Eric''s new film will be nothing in front "Road House" didn''t show his face this days .


    Although Richard Gere know the reasons for his agent''s doing so, but he also felt that by rejecting Eric invitation, he will be doing a favor to Michael Ovitz, So he chose "Road House" .


    If "Pretty Woman" didn''t achieve such great sess, even if only a small explosion at the box office, Richard Gere will not feel bad, but "Pretty Woman" was sessful, and it was a big sess, only the first week of ie is worth the total box office of many of his films .


    Seeing these, Richard Gere could no longer stay calm .


    His anger made him forget that he made the choice to abandon "Pretty Woman" on his own, if the artists themselves insist on doing a movie, although CAA will try to put pressure on them, but they also can not force them to stop acting, But Richard Gere put all the me on CAA, he felt like he was the victim of Michael Ovitz personal power y .


    At CocC''s headquarters in Anta, a crucial meeting about Columbia Pictures , was being held .


    In the hands of CocC President Roberto Goizueta, was the information of "Home Alone" and "Pretty Woman", next to him was sitting Colombian president Blount Cohen .


    "The gambling agreement, that was your first mistake, of course with "Home Alone" ie Columbia share prices from the previous $12 rose to $14 now, this can be weighed against your mistakes . "


    Roberto Goizueta said, after looking at another doc.u.ment: "But then, your bad behavior led directly to Eric Williams going to FOX, ording to the agency expectations "Pretty Woman" North America box office could reach up to $200 million, and the overseas box office may be more than 50% of North America, "Pretty Woman" can bring at least $80 million of pure profits for FOX, which should have been Colombia .


    "


    Blount Cohen didn''t dare reply, he was waiting quietly for the final decision of CocC board of directors . In fact, he already known the result . being a filmpany executives look great on the outside, but few people can understand the enormous pressure behind them .


    With tens of millions of dors of investment at every turn, every time a film is released, the results wan bring great changes, some people because of the huge losses, directly packed up and left, never to recover .


    and some people because of the sess of a project, suddenly was promoted to high ces, enjoyed more power and interests, of course, they also continued to live in fear of the next project .


    Blount Cohen also know that Eric Williams was only one of the causes for the situation he now faces . The most importantly thing is that he himself opposes CocC decision to sell Columbia to the j.a.panese .


    ording to some channels that revealed the news, CocC board of directors has formally decided to open negotiations with j.a.pan''s SONY . Him staying or leaving as the president doesn''t matter anyway, Columbia pictures will soon be sold to SONY .


    But in order for him to secure his position he contacted many people to boycott the deal .


    This kind of thing he can''t hide from CocC executives, When he was sessful no one said anything . But after his failure, he must face the bitter consequences .


    " . . . .


    . . Therefore, I now formally announce the resolution of the board of directors to remove Blunt Cohen from the position of Columbia pictures president , effective immediately . "


    Goizueta read the resolutions of the board of directors, and discussed some other topics before ending the meeting, Blount Cohen as the former president, still retained some decency, no security guards escorted him back to Columbia headquarters in Los Angeles to pack up his luggage .


    After Blount Cohen left with a bleak face, Goizueta did not leave, but arrived at another reception room .


    "h.e.l.lo, Mr . Goizueta . " Pushing the door open, the woman who was sitting on the sofa stood up and warmly reached out her hand to greet him .


    Goizueta shook her hand and smiled: "Sorry for making you wait, Amy . "


    "That''s OK . I have just arrived . "


    Not long ago this woman Amy Pascal, angrily left Columbia .


    "My a.s.sistant has told you what I want right, Amy, what do you think?"


    Amy Pascal asked: "Mr . Goizueta I think, now I do not need to return to Columbia, although I resigned, but I still did hear the news that Columbia will be sold to SONY . In this case, what am I going to do when I getid off again a few monthster?"


    "Of course not Amy, you''re a talented professional manager, even if the j.a.panese take over Columbia, they won''t dare make too much changes to the high-level employees .


    I''ve learned about the cause of your departure from Columbia, if Blunt Cohen had listened to you before, there wouldn''t have been a bet agreement that have cost Columbia tens of millions of dors in profits . And there will be no chance for Eric Williams to switch to FOX . "


    Amy Pascal said: "Mr . Goizueta it doesn''t make any sense to say that now . I want to know the real reason you want me toe back to Columbia . "


    Goizueta looked at Amy and said: "Amy, you know Eric Williams, don''t you?"


    Sure enough!


    Amy Pascal confirmed the spection in her mind and said . "Yes, but only on the surface . Maybe Eric won''t remember me now . "


    "Oh, how could it be? If it hadn''t been for your help, there won''t be a "Home Alone" box office miracles?"


    "Mr . Goizueta, if you want me to convince Eric Williams to switch to Columbia, then it''s almost impossible, as everyone knows, Eric has signed a three films contract with FOX this year . And by the end of next year Columbia will already be in the hands of SONY . "


    Goizueta shook his head, and said: "Of course not . I also understand the contract . In fact the contract is not too tight, because FOX just wanted to get "Home Alone" sequel rights, so there is nothing on the contract stopping Eric Williams from cooperating with other filmpanies .


    After opening negotiations with SONY, Columbia needs some good news to boost its share price, for example . . . .


    . . A big movie . "


    "But . . . .


    . . . .


    "


    "Rest a.s.sured, Amy, I know some of your concerns, and in order to sessfully cooperate with Eric Williams, the board of directors has removed Blount Cohen from Columbia . "


    "Really?" said Amy Pascal in surprise .


    Roberto Goizueta nodded: "of course, otherwise, with Blount Cohen connections, because he was in the position of the president for a long time, the board of directors is not willing to go to war with him .


    When youe into contact with Eric Williams, you can reveal this matter to show our sincerity . "


    Amy Pascal also thought of another question: "I think Eric Williams is very fast at shooting movies, but three should be regarded as the limit in one year, right? Any more than that, We won''t be able to guarantee the quality?"


    "We will put his new film on the summer stalls, with his current fame, as long as the film is not too bad, for the film to get $100 million at the box office is not a big problem . Moreover . . .


    . . . " Goizueta lowered his voice slightly and said: "We''ll give him a sufficient budget to make FOX second film, and we can even get someone to shoot the film for him .


    and he only need to concentrate on making our movie . "


    Amy Pascal hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "I''ll try my best . "

 Chapter 84: Pixar new master

    California, Richmond, Eric has been here for three days, and in the past few days, he hired a professional team in Silicon Valley to make a detailed investigation of Pixar a.s.sets.


    Steve Jobs was eager toplete the transaction, he expressed dissatisfaction with Eric unnecessary move. But he was helpless, Eric didn''t care about his feelings.


    Although Steve Jobs talent is undeniable, but his character can''t be praised, he is a man who in order to not pay his illegitimate daughter alimony, publicly dered that he is impotent. As a result, Eric had to do a detailed appraisal of Pixar beforepleting the transaction.


    Three dayster, Pixar was located in single-storey office building, Eric was reading a thick a.s.sessment doc.u.ment on the conference table, his fingers gently tapping the desktop, with Steve Jobs sitting opposite him "Steve, I was very sincere about buying Pixar, but unfortunately, I didn''t see your sincerity."


    Steve Jobs was not affected by the tone of Eric, he put a helplessness look on his face and said: "Eric, if you have any concerns you can say them, I will seriously answer you. But for you to say that Ick sincerity, that''s an usation I can''t ept."


    Eric sighed in admiration of Steve Jobs psychological quality, regardless of how he feel on the inside the surface didn''t reveal anything. This calmness even for him who lived two lives is hard to achieve.


    He was in no mood to y a psychological battle with him, he went straight to the point: "All right Steve, I will say it directly. The reason why I wanted to buy Pixar, is that I value Pixar 3D animation technology. So you have sold the hardware department, which I don''t mind."


    Eric said, while looking at the data in his hands: "However, the data we collected shows that the 3Dputer graphics software developed by Pixar, some time ago three of the core software''s copyrights were transferred to yourputerpany NeXT.


    As for the most important animation software, although the core software didn''t get tampered with, the coloring software copyrights also was transferred. Pixar was able to receive Disney 2D animation outsourcing project, by virtue of that this software can substantially reduce the coloring time.


    You need to give me an exnation for your actions?"


    Steve Jobs really isn''t an honest person, the reason for doing so, is he wanted to swindle Eric thisyman. If Pixar new project seed, the software''s he transferred can sell for millions of dors.


    Perhaps some people will wonder how much money a few software''s can be worth, think of how much Microsoft is making from software sales.


    But Steve Jobs did not expect is that Eric is thisyman, know how things work and handed things to the insiders to do, he specifically invited a professional a.s.sessment team from Silicon Valley.


    When this team of technology madman get together in the same ce, they will turn the ce upside down trying to find any schemes, and soon those people found Steve Jobs''s little tricks.


    In fact, after Eric made this move, Jobs did not have much hope in mind. With his thick-skin, even if he was p.r.i.c.ked in the face, he certainly will notpromise so easily.


    "Eric, Pixar took over four years to build, I put at least 50 million dors in Pixar, the hardware department sold only for 16 million. And your offer is only 20 million, what am i gonna do about what''s left at pixar."


    Eric gave him a mocking smile, folded the folder, put his hands on the table and said to him. "Steve, you don''t seem to want to easily admit your own failure. Well, I can make it easy for you to understand, you bought Pixar from Lucasfilm''s and you failed.


    The loser will have to bear the consciousness of failure, and losing is an inevitable thing in life. In order to save yourputerpany NeXT, you''ll have to sell me the entire Pixar software department at a low price. So, if we get those software''s back, then we can talk about the rest."


    Steve Jobs face was transforming between several shades of green, as an extremely conceited person, he was always the one pointing at others failures andughing at them, but now a kid younger than him by more than 10 years personally denounced him as a loser.


    Even with his extraordinary psychological quality, it was difficult for him to control himself.


    Outside the conference room, John La.s.seter and the others who were supposed to be working actually was putting there ears to the door listening to the talk between the two, after hearing Eric merciless words their hearts couldn''t help but cool down.


    Steve Jobs has never been a very amiable boss, every time the main creative employees at Pixar try to do some creative work the result of their hardbor is criticism and being told that there work is useless, then he takes back part of the stocks that they got as a condition for working at Pixar,


    Using these means a few yearster, Pixar haspletely be Jobs''s personal property, all the shares in the hands of the management staff were taken by him.


    Now they finally heard Steve Jobs being scolded. This alone, made the awkwardness of having to work under a teenager vanish into thin air.


    In the conference room, Steve Jobs said: "Mr. Williams, you''re buying Pixar should be to make animated movies, right?.


    And now after several movies of yours have achieved great sess, I believe that many people are paying attention to your every act and move, if I let out the news that you are trying to buy Pixar, maybe there will be a lot of people interested in buying Pixar at a higher prices, what do you think?"


    Eric right hand ring finger slightly trembled a bit, but fortunately this detail has not been noticed by Steve Jobs.


    After forcing himself to not show the worry in his heart, Eric did not hesitate to sneer, and say: "Mr. Jobs, those words are gonna cost you 1 million dors. I don''t like others threatening me, so I decided to lower the offer to $19 million.


    Pixar is actually like a camera, under mymand, it can shoot movies like "Home Alone" and "Pretty Woman", but in the hands of other directors, shooting a good movie is hard to say. So, $19 million, for theplete Pixar software department. If you agree, call me before I leave Richmond."


    After Eric finished, he picked up his personal belongings and came out of Pixar office. His privatewyer Edward quickly followed him.


    After a long time, Steve Jobs finally came out of the conference room, trying to look cool, he nced at the employees pretending to work, and unusually did not lose his temper, he silently left Pixar headquarters.


    ... ...


    Early on the next day, Eric and Steve Jobs again sat in the conference room.


    A lot of business negotiations are like this. There are always several rounds of confrontations. Even if they quarreled, or almost got into a fight in the first round, once the second round start, they will put there feelings aside and again start the negotiations.


    Today, Steve Jobs clearly had slightly dark circles under his eyes, he started by saying: "Eric, I did not do anything wrong before, everyone will do their best for their own interests, I agree to return the software, but the price will remain unchanged at $20 million. We...


    are all rational adults, not because of a few words you end up removing 1 million dors. That''s what children do."


    Eric Didn''t want to put too much pressure on Steve Jobs, if the negotiation break up, he would have to spend too much money on forming a new animation studio, and he will also have to start from scratch in developing a new animation software, and .u.mting enough technology, these things not only need a lot of money but also need several years of time.


    Although Eric is not short of money, but he does not have enough time to .u.mte technology.


    In his past life everyone knows that 3d animated movies can bring huge profits, but Hollywood has always had so few well-known animation studios, that''s because these studios have always been way ahead of other counterparts in technology, and upying a big share of the market.


    It''s hard for other people to try to catch up, and if you wanted to you''ll need few years to catch up, and when you finally reach there level you''ll find that they have widened the technology gape again, In this situation, theters will never be able to keep up with the pace of their predecessors.


    In the conference room, the two of theme were arguing back and forth with each other for nearly half an hour, Eric didn''t want to swallow back his words, finally both sides gave a little ground, resulting in a price of $19.5 million.


    Getting back the software ownership, Eric once again made sure that there was no mistakes, and after the confirmation they signed the contract.


    Steve Jobs took his check and looked at the employees who worked for him for the past several years, he felt that there was nothing to say, he nodded at them and turned and left Pixar headquarters.

 Chapter 85: What can i do?

    "I am not a man talented at giving speeches, neither am I good at saying those inspiring words, but I can promise you all one thing, within three years, as long as there are no problems in your work, will not have anyyoffs."


    After left, Eric gathered all the employees and a.s.sured theme. This was their greatest concern. Over the past few years, Pixar had to fire a number of employees, because of funding constraints.


    Sure enough, after Eric made the promise, many people heaved a sigh of relief. they all know Eric''s ident.i.ty, in front of them is a young man who control a lot of money, since he made such a promise, he will not go back on his words.


    "Well, everyone continues doing your work, and all the management staffe with me to the meeting room."


    After a briefmotion, led the other executives and walked to the Conference room.


    "Well you all know me, and I also have a certain understanding of who you are from the information''s I read before, so we can temporarily skip the introductions."


    Eric kept going: " was in a bad situation, but it won''t be like that again. I''m sure that you are all curious about why I bought Pixar, I have told John before the reason why.


    I told him I''m interested in making 3D animation movies, let''s be honest here I don''t know a lot about how 3D Animation work, but I know how to make a good movie, when I watched the short film "", Ie up with a very good long story for a 3D movie ... ..."


    "Sheriff Woody, a good-hearted cowboy doll who belongs to a young boy named Andy, sees his position as Andy''s favorite toy jeopardized when his parents buy him a Buzz Lightyear action figure. Even worse, the arrogant Buzz thinks he''s a real s.p.a.ceman on a mission to return to his home.


    When Andy''s family moves to a new house, Woody and Buzz must escape the clutches of mdjusted neighbor and reunite with their boy ... ..."


    Taking a few minutes, Eric roughly told them the story of "".


    "When I met Johnst time, I told him i will invest $30 million in this project, of course, the budget can be expanded if needed, I just want you to do your best when making it. For me, it''s okay to fail once, but I think Pixar can''t afford to fail this time."


    executives faces showed a relieved expression, with Pixar previous earning records, if they wanted to keep going on the road of 3D animation, they will need some financial a.s.sistance from the outside.


    Eric was very pleased with there reaction, although he knew that 3D animation would be the mainstream of animated movies in the near future, if he told them now, these people will not believe. So, he Might as well change his tone and give them some pressure.


    "I know that 3D movies have a long production cycle. I''m going to give you three years to make this movie. In three years, Pixar will not make any changes, and you don''t need to keep making ads to keep Pixar running. You can focus all your efforts on "".


    Well, my talk is over. Now let''s talk about what you think."


    The pressure left by in the minds of Pixar high-level executives, still give theme some lingering fears, after carefully asking a few questions, they determined that Eric and Steve Jobs are twopletely different people, and finally let go of their fears, began to speak freely.


    Because they were invested too much in the discussion, everyone there missed lunch time until sunset, when the light in the meeting room started to dim down, they finally reacted, the day was already dark.


    In order to ensure that "" won''t have too many deviations from his past life, Eric stayed in Richmond for three days, during which he personally wrote aplete script for "", he even hand-painted, Sheriff Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the other toys, and give them to Pixar staff.


    Because Eric disappeared for nearly a week, Fox President personally called to remind him of "" celebration party, so he had to leave Richmond.


    At first Eric did think about moving Pixar to Los Angeles, but when he privately spoke to John, he found that this matter is difficult to implement.


    Most of Pixar technical staff have permanent residence in the San Francis...o...b..y area, they have been ustomed to everything here, although the environment in Los Angeles is not suitable for such an animated studio, but Richmond is very close to Silicon Valley where high-tech enterprises have gathered, it is much more suitable for Pixar''s development.


    When Eric heard John''s exnation, he gave up his original n. In any case, San Francisco is only five hundred or six hundred kilometers away from Los Angeles, He can arrive in an hour by ne. It was easy to go back and forth, so Eric stopped thinking about it.


    ... ...


    After staying for a week, he finally returned home and had afortable bath. It was still several hours before the evening party, and Eric was toozy to start making any preparations.


    He wore some loose-fitting casual clothes, andzily leaned against the living room sofa, and took the remote control to turn on the TV.


    Just as he started to feel sleepy, he heard the sound of the doorbell.


    When he opened the door, he found a sneaky girl wearing a wig and sun.s.ses, and very ordinary clothes, anxiously waiting at the door, looking around from time to time.


    "Why are you so slow to open the door? It will be bad if I was found by the paparazzi."


    Eric looked at ''s Clothing, and moved sideways to let her get in: "Why are you dressed like this? ... ... you look like your a.s.sistant Alison?"


    "I made Alison dress up like me, to get rid of the paparazzi." Julia spoke with a little pride in her voice.


    "What would you like to drink?" Eric asked her, as he went to the refrigerator.


    "Coffee, without sugar, and not too hot."


    "oh! I see" said Eric, and decided to give Julia a .s.s of juice.


    She gave him a nk look, but still picked up the .s.s of juice. "You''re always so awful."


    Eric sat on the couch again, looked at Julia with great interest and said: "You changed a lot ah, look at this posture, listen to the tone, just like a top Hollywood actress. If I was a fan, I wouldn''t be able to stop myself from asking you for a signature."


    "No problem. Where should I sign?" Julia magically took a pen from her bosom.


    Eric looked at the ceiling for a while, as if thinking about something. Then suddenly pulled the waistband of his cks and looked inside, shaking his head he said: "No, if you don''t get it hard, you won''t be able to sign it."


    Pfff.


    Spiting a mouthful of juice at Eric, her face turned pink, panicking she lifted the cup of juice to hide her embarra.s.sment.


    After a while, Julia put down the cup and said: "I heard you bought an animation studio?"


    "Well, it''s tiring to shoot live movies. I''m going to change direction and guide animated movies."


    She crossly red at Eric: "Are you serious?"


    "Yes I''m serious." sitting up straight, he asked: "Well, what can I do for you?"

 Chapter 86: Lost in Los Angeles

    "I want to know why you asked Kapoor to turned down all those films offers. if not some people directly handed those scripts to me, I wouldn''t know I received these offers."


    Julia grew more and more agitated, and finally pointed at Eric nose and condemned: " Disney even offered a $6 million fee for a movie called "Lost in Los Angeles", you didn''t ask my opinion and Directly turned down the $6 million, ah, how can you so overbearing, I''m not your puppet, so would you please show me some respect ...


    ... "


    Eric leaned back against the sofa, and allowed her to vent her anger as if she was a wild little cat. At the same time he started thinking of "Lost in Los Angeles", and couldn''t help butugh. Because the script writer name is , he was the original screenwriter of "" in his past life.


    When he was is Richmond, many filmpanies ignored ban on UTA and directly sent scripts to and and several other actors who stared in "". If UTA only have inferior small actors, Then Hollywood studios may fear the influence of ,


    But now, with "" on fire, UTA with Julia and Al Pacino as the two pirs, and in the supporting role is also a minor celebrity. In the direct drive of there interests, many filmpanies have ignored the scruples between and UTA, especially the big six filmpany''s who hate CAA.


    Eric even spected, that the big six studios in an attempt to show that they don''t fear , issued a series of invitations to the UTA actors.


    was waiting patiently for Eric promised "", so he directly declined all the offers he got.


    But Julia can not be so reckless, after receiving the scripts, Kapoor screened all of them, excluding the high price the movie scripts offered to her were all bad scripts, and the few that looked good he sent them to Eric to review.


    Eric have seen the script of "Lost in Los Angeles", when he heard the name of the screenwriter, Eric influenced by his curiosity, specifically asked Kapoor to send him a copy of the script.


    obviously revised the original "3000" script again, into a love story with a male Protagonist as the main character.


    As mentioned before, in his past life, "" was at first a script called "3000", a ck drama about a prost.i.tute in Los Angeles living in bad conditions, but in the filming process was modified into a romanticedy.


    But in this "Lost in Los Angeles" the story was about a sessful businessman who travel to Los Angeles, who not only did he get lost, but also all his luggage was stolen, the quite sessful businessman, Homeless by ident, was saved by a kind-hearted prost.i.tute who give him a temporary shelter, after some twists and turns, like a Cindere and a prince they fall in love and lived happily ever after.


    Anyway, the story with "" story are almost the same, but you cannot say that there''s any giarism, because the story was modified in a very clever way, otherwise Disney such a giant filmpany will not let Eric catch them giarizing him.


    In Eric''s view, "Lost in Los Angeles" and "Pretty Woman" have a very simr story, if they use as the main heroine again, certainly the film will not lose any money, after all, the film budget is not high.


    But if they want to achieve "" high box office again, then that''s basically impossible, just like when a person eat a bowl of Steamed Rice, and get full, if you put an apple and a .s.s of juice in front of him, he might eat them, but if you put anther bowl of Steamed Rice then ... ...


    "Hey, are you listening to me? Why are youughing?"


    Hearing her questioning sound in his ear, Erice out of his absent-minded thoughts, see Julia standing close and looking smugly down at him, a faint trace of anger started showing on his face.


    "Did you finish?" Eric asked, looking carefully at the Julia eyes.


    "Well," Julia nodded, looking at his eyes, she suddenly realized her blunder, and hurriedly sat back in her ce.


    These days she became ustomed to people trying to curry favor with her by using ttering words of praise, it was inevitable that her ego will grow big, But when she saw Eric serious expression, she suddenly remembered ... ...


    This guy doesn''t need to curry favor with her, but she is the one who need to please him ... ...


    Thinking of These Things, involuntarily bowed her head, and with a guilty conscience nced at him.


    "I''ve been talking to Kapoor on the phone every day when I was at Richmond, the movie for has been set, so the discussions were all about your next movie. As for "Lost in Los Angeles" I also asked Kapoor to send a copy of the script by fax, and read it carefully."


    Hearing that Eric paid private attention to herself, Julia felt a touch of guilt for her previous behavior.


    "I''m sorry." she said is a small voice.


    Eric waved his hand and said: "I am not trying to take credit for your sess, I just want to tell you, I have not forgotten that night promise, I said that I would put a girl named Julia Roberts into the same league of Hollywood legendary actresses, like Vivien Leigh and Audrey Hepburn."


    "I''m sorry." The girl voice rang again.


    "But now I''m a little disappointed with you now, this first time sess has made you so impatient. What do you want to do?"


    Eric scolded her in calm voice, she couldn''t help but want to refute: "I ... ..."


    Eric interrupted what she wanted to say: "Now, with the fame you have, like you said, has given you a $6 million paycheck offer, few actresses in Hollywood can reach that height... ... If you are short of money, go to the bank and get a loan, the banks are generous to Hollywood stars... ...


    All you have to do now is try to carefully consolidate your position in Hollywood, and for you to go a little further, you''ll have to be careful."


    "I understand."


    "No, you don''t understand yet. I know you still feel like you''ve been wronged, 6 million dors for "Lost in Los Angeles" is indeed a very high price. Last year, stared in a movie called "" he was paid only $2 million.


    But if you take this movie, you will be consuming the box office appeal you got from "", this is not problem of one plus one equals two, but a subtraction. Have you ever seen a star in a short period of time, filmed twopletely simr movies and had great sess?


    Hollywood big movie studios know that, that''s why when they make a movie sequel or trilogies, they separate them by a few years, waiting until the audience expectations rise to the highest, before shooting a sequel."

 Chapter 87: Crying

    Pausing, Eric felt a little thirsty, he got up and went to the refrigerator and took a can of beer and drank a few mouthfuls, then returned to the sofa, he was about to continue his scolding, but when he took a look at the girl across him, he immediately shut his mouth .


    She was crying . . . .


    . .


    He helplessly reached under the tea table, to pull out a box of tissue paper, and pushed it in front of her .


    "Please don''t cry, I won''t say anything anymore . "


    This sentence had the opposite effect, Julia took a few sheets of tissue paper and covered her little face, and Let her tears out with more enthusiasm, she even let out a small sob .


    In ordance with the normal plot in times like this, a woman need a shoulder to cry on, and then he will say a few affectionate words, And then he will find a dark room with a firece on, to start a session of lovemaking .


    However, it looks like he was the one who made Julia cry, so he felt he shouldn''t try to execute the plot .


    So he didn''t know what to do .


    He sat there looking helplessly, Watching her tears fall from her beautiful eyes .


    As a woman, she felt stupid, ashamed, and angry . All those emotions made her lose control of her tears, and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d was just sitting there awkwardly, he didn''t even try tofort her .


    How can you feel so embarra.s.sed now?


    A few minutester, she had to take the initiative to stop crying, wiped her face, and crumbled the paper towels and throw them at him, and said: "you''re such a jerk!"


    She then stood up, and hurried to go to the bathroom . To fix the makeup she ruined with her crying .


    She stayed in the Restroom for a while trying to Patch up her makeup, and onlye out after there was no traces of her crying left . And sat back in her original position .


    "I will pay attention to your script as soon as possible, you don''t have to hurry . If you feel bored, you can go attend some simple college courses, this will help shape your image, the public still prefer ambitious actress . Of course, it''s OK to take part in variety shows .


    And if you want to do something else you can ask Kapoor to arrange things for you, he is a very good broker .


    "Ok" said Julia with a nod .


    "By the way, have you ever been to a psychiatrist?"


    Julia shook her head, bitterly stared at Eric, and med the b.a.s.t.a.r.d .


    She had some free time after the film was released . So she took some time to look up information on what exactly the so-called Stockholm syndrome is . The examples in the book seemed absurd in her view, but she has to admit that they can be linked to her abnormal behavior .


    At the same time, with the release of "Pretty Woman" she quickly went from a small actor to a big star, So she was afraid to find a psychiatrist, if a psychiatrist identally revealed her illness, she may ruin her fledgling acting career .


    How can the public ept an actress who can be a s.e.x ve at any moment? So Julie was afraid to tell even the closest people to her, at present this kind of thing, only Eric and she knows .


    Eric also quickly understood Julia''s concerns, this thing was really tricky . Once outsiders know a big scandal is unavoidable .


    "I think this kind of thing have something to do with confidence, when you have just arrived at my house, your condition were good, your body was giving a domineering appearance, you should continue doing that, you may recover from this illness without any medical help . "


    "You . . . .


    . . nonsense, I checked the information, I me you for this thing, If you hadn''t treated me like that, that night, I wouldn''t have this problem . "


    Eric raised his hand in surrender: "Okay, it''s may be my fault . "


    "It was your fault . "


    Seeing Eric look embarra.s.sed, Julia was quite pleased with herself: "Yes, that . . . .


    . . Why isn''t Drew Barrymore here? Is it not the weekend?"


    "She lives in a boarding school . And sometimes shee home on the weekends . She May not know that Ie back today . The girl likes ying, and when I''m not at home, she rarely stays at home alone .


    "


    Julia said in a sour tone: "you''re so kind to her . "


    Ericughed: "You are not the first to say that . The girl is now my creditor and owes me one million dors . These days, you have to take care of your creditors to get your money back . "


    "Oh! . . .


    . . . "


    "Are you going to FOX celebration party at the Hilton Hotel in the evening?"


    "Of course," Julia nodded and looked at her watch: "It''s gettingte now . I have to go back . "


    Eric helped her put back her disguise, and sent Julia out, and returned to the vi .


    He watched TV until sunset, Then went upstairs to change his clothes, and then drove to the Hilton Hotel .


    The celebration party of "Pretty Woman" this big box office movie, is certainly the focus of attention of the paparazzi . Eric didn''t like dealing with the paparazzi, so he nned to take the parking lot elevator directly to the banquet hall .


    But he found that he forget to ask on which floor the party was on .


    He looked around the parking lot, and found no one around to ask, Eric reluctantly to waited in the parking lot, in hope of meeting a guest who came to the party .


    But unfortunately, his luck wasn''t so good, after waiting for a few minutes, no one appeared, if he waited for so long, it is estimated that the ones watching the overhead cameras, will think that he was as malicious car thieves .


    After a while he Reluctantly decided to get out of the parking lot, and be surrounded by a swarm of paparazzi .


    The Hilton''s security guards were doing their best, they quickly came over to help Eric block the crowd . While frantically pressing the shutter, the paparazzi was shouting their throat raw, asking their messy questions .


    "Director Williams, you disappeared for a week . Are you preparing for the next movie?"


    "Eric, did miss Julia Roberts sleep with you to get the heroine role of "Pretty Woman"?"


    "Lamborghini announced that theirtest Countach car within a week the number of pre-orders reached 153%, Eric, are you going to continue to put ads in your next movies?"


    "Eric, why didn''t miss Drew Barrymoree with you? Aren''t she living with you?"


    " . . . .


    . . "


    Good, malicious, full of traps, all kinds of out-of-order questions drifted into his ears, it is very difficult for Eric to give the appropriate answer, so he chose not to answer at all, under the protection of the security guards he finally was able to walk into the Hilton Hall, leaving the crazy paparazzi behind .


    After entering a Hilton''s manager greeted him with a smile


    "Mr . Williams, wee . The celebration of "Pretty Woman" is on the fourth floor . Shall I take you there?"


    Eric hurriedly shook his head: "No, I''ll do it myself . "


    He Entered the elevator and pressed the b.u.t.ton to go up, only to see the manager still standing there smiling at him . What''s going on?


    In fact, this matter is very simple, Eric in "Pretty Woman" portrayed a very cool hotel manager named Bernie Thompson, because of that he had a very good impression of Eric .

 Chapter 88: The first conversation

    After the champagne, the party officially begins . As a film project that could bring Fox hundreds of millions of dors in profits, including revenue from peripheral video tapes, even Fox current president Barry Diller had to personally attend "Pretty Woman" celebration .


    And in addition to "Pretty Woman" crew members, Fox also invited dozens of big and small stars toe, the party scene can be described as night sky filled with stars .


    There were a lot of big shots on the scene, hundreds of people in the ballroom danced together, some guests gather together in small groups, trying to forge new ties to make their positions in Hollywood stronger .


    "Eric, the Super Bowl Trailer thing, Fox promotion department is indeed too conservative, I guarantee you that in the next movie release, Fox will fully cooperate with you . And also, we will included this in the expenses, we will make sure that you get reimbursedter . "


    Eric with a smile on his face: "Mr . Diller, don''t mention it . The $1 . 5 million in the Super Bowl ad is really a big expense, it''s understandable that FOX was cautious .


    "


    Barry Diller smiled, and didn''t mention it any more .


    The topic was once again moved to Eric''s next film, though not yet seen, Fox have already decided to publish the film in the summer .


    This summer many big movies will be released, Warner Bros will release "Batman", Paramount "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", Colombia "Ghostbusters II", these three movies are destined to be big at the Box Office .


    And because FOX put too much attention on developing their televisionwork, leading to this year number of film productions totaling only 10 movies, rankedst in the big six movie studios list .


    In order not to be in the bottom, Fox was bound to give full support to Eric''s film, especially after the sess of "Pretty Woman" .


    With the big blockbuster movies released this summer, wanting to get a cut of the box office is not easy . Eric can not put "Home Alone" sequel topete with those big blockbusters for the summer box office, he thought for a long time before deciding on a movie from his past life .


    "I already have a preliminary outline of the plot for the next film, I intend to invite Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise as the stars, It will be a y between two men . "


    Barry Diller eyes narrowed slightly, if sessful, just the name appeal of Tom Cruise and Eric are enough to boost the box office to over 100 million dors .


    And with "Home Alone" sequel this year Eric will have three big hits, so FOX was no longer afraid of his film performance, they can now safely focus on the development of their TVwork .


    "Eric, if you want to invite the two Toms, Then their pay will be no less then $10 million each, what is your budget?"


    Eric thought for a moment: "The budget should not exceed 30 million, this is a drama, and doesn''t need any big scenes, or any special effects, the movie run entirely on the two actor''s personal y, so $30 million is a very Loose budget, and we probably won''t be able to finish it . "


    "I heard that you have just spent a lot of money to buy Steve Jobs studio?"


    Although Barry Diller was talking in an indifferent tone, Eric immediately understood his meaning . Fox still wants to y a part in the new film investment .


    "Yes, I had Pixar make the logo for my filmpany, after seeing it i was very satisfied with their work . When I heard that Steve Jobs wanted to sell the studio, I bought it .


    However, the animation cycle is very long, and 3D animation is still in the exploratory stage, so I don''t know when the first animated movie will be made . "


    Eric ignored the frustrated look on Barry Diller face, anyway, if he was going to beat around the Bush, Eric also was going to y the idiot card .


    Listening to the small fox in front of him ying dumb, Barry Diller had to pick the topic: "Eric, I mean, if you don''t have enough funds to produce the film, Fox can be responsible for part of the investment, which can also reduce your risk .


    Do not worry, Fox will not link the cost of investment with the sharing agreement we signed before . "


    Barry Diller said the matter bluntly, and Eric didn''t directly reject the offer, of course, he will not hand over his own rights submissively . If he can sessfully invited Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, with the box office appeal of the three of them, the film can not fail .


    Finally, Eric could only say: "No problem, Mr . Diller, If we need outside investment, Fox is definitely my first choice . "


    When Barry Diller heard Eric halfhearted answer, he understand that the possibility of Fox investing in the movie is almost close to zero .


    But he will not make the same mistake like Columbia did before, now the cooperation between them is still in the honeymoon period, although in ordance with their previous agreement, Eric will earn a little more than Fox, but Fox also will make huge profits that make others which they were in their ce .


    After Talking about some other topics, The two separated to go entertain other people . When Barry Diller walked away, Eric instantly felt a lot of eyes focus on him .


    . . . .


    . .


    Okay, girls, the first one to throw herself at me will get a role in the next movie . a ridiculous idea emerged in Eric head, giving him a remarkable feeling . After all, he was ayman in his past life, if he can''t enjoy his position now, then what the h.e.l.l is he going to do? .


    And soon the first person to start a conversatione to him.


    Bald head, six feet long, with a st.u.r.dy frame, and a crooked smile on his face, Ah . . . .


    . . it''s a man .


    "Eric, you finally came back, I want to know what you''re thinking, Julia got a lot of movie offers, and I think quite a few of them are good . But why did you rejected them all?"


    It was difficult for Eric to finally decided to indulge himself, but he was helplessly pulled out from his fantasy''s by Kapoor .


    "Kapoor, I don''t think you have a sense time and ce . "


    "huh?"


    "Will you look around?""


    Kapoor with a puzzled look on his face, nced around suspiciously, he found several beautiful girls looking at him, not concealing the hostility in their eyes .


    Although Kapoor is a workaholic, but he was still very proficient in the traditional code of conduct, or he wouldn''t work as a broker, shrugging he said: "I''m sorry, Eric, I don''t mean to dy your hunting . But if you don''t tell me about it, I won''t be at ease . "


    Eric also wanted to tell him that Julia in his past life sessful movies, were mostly romanticedies, therefore she temporarily can''t take any of those movies .


    He felt that the most suitable movie for Julia right now is "Steel Magnolias", the movie that let her win the Golden Globe nomination, and made close to $100 million at the box office .


    Unfortunately, when he did inquire about the film he found that until now TriStar Pictures haven''t started the project, either because of the b.u.t.terfly effect caused by him, or they just didn''t start working on it yet .


    He can not write the script again . In The previous three movies, he was 100% sure that the original script has not yet appeared, or appeared but didn''t have a close resemnce to his film, like in the case of "Pretty Woman", so he could make them with a peace of mind .


    But now he can''t guarantee that there won''t be any problem .


    "Kapoor, wait a few more days . I''m going to go to the writers'' union to see if any good scripts have been registered, and I will pick one for Julia . "


    "Eric," Kapoor said: "do you know how many registered scripts the Writers union has? Thousands of them . It''s like going to San Francisco to pan for gold, a lot of work with almost no results . "


    It''s easy to know where the gold is buried . All Eric have to do is find the screenwriter of "Steel Magnolias" .


    "Trust me Kapoor, be patient . I''ll give you an answer soon . "


    Eric also made up his mind, if he can''t find "Steel Magnolias" script, he will pick another high-grossing movies for Julia from his memories, anyway, with Julia fame now, as long as the character is appropriate for her, and she have the intention to partic.i.p.ate in the movie, no director will reject her, and many productionpanies in order to get her in their movies, will pay generously.

 Chapter 89: But Im not an angel

    After he sent away Kapoor, Jeffreye to him, After that several executives from Fox came to say h.e.l.lo, when he finally finished socializing with them . James L . Brooks ran over and said that a few producers want to meet with him .


    No problem, continue!


    He spent more than an hour smiling to the point that his face have gone stiff, when things finally quieted down . Exhausted, he took a .s.s of wine and went directly to a couch in the corner and sat down .


    "Mr . Williams can I have the honor of dancing with you?"


    Eric subconsciously showed a stiff smile, the girl on the opposite side had no time to be happy only to see Eric shaking his head .


    "Sorry, miss . I''m too tired . "


    "Oh, I''m sorry . " The other side turned and left .


    After rejecting the first two bold girls, no other girle to disturb him, until a blonde with beautiful eyes and a gentle tonee to him .


    "Mr . Williams, my name is . . .


    . . . "


    Eric fought back his instinct to take a defensive stance .


    I don''t want to know what your name is . I just want to be alone for a few minutes . Is that so difficult?


    "Excuse me, can I stay alone by myself for a while?"


    "Oh, sorry . . . .


    . . "


    My mood can''t be so bad, Eric clutched his forehead .


    After enjoying the quiet for a few seconds, a voice sounded again .


    "Eric, would you like some fruit juice, for your hangover?"


    Eric looked up, only to see a girl with a lovely face, carrying two .s.ses of orange juice .


    "Of course, thank you, Miss Madsen," Eric took the juice from her .


    Virginia Madsen sat down beside Eric, and slowly leaned towards him, and started softly rubbing his arm, and said in a tone filled with resentment: "I''m d you still remember me, Call me Virginia, okay?"


    "Okay, Virginia, eh . . . Vicky?"


    "Whatever," She said with a smile: "I see you have been rejecting a lot off girl, are you gay . . . "


    Eric subconsciously raised his voice and denied: "absolutely not . "


    "Oh, what a big reaction! Don''t worry? I don''t discriminate against homosexuals . I have seen a lot of directors who are like this, I think gay men are more delicate .


    "


    "Vicki, would you mind changing the subject?"


    Virginia carefully looked at Eric expression and nodded: "So you really are not ah, then what''s going on with you?"


    "Didn''t you see it?"


    She shook her head: "I went to the Restroom, when I came out all I saw is you rejecting the poor girls . "


    Eric exined; "I was so tired that I had to turned down the invitation to dance with them . Maybe this move made them misunderstand something . "


    "Oh, fortunately I didn''t invite you to dance, or else you may have driven me away . "


    Eric didn''t want to talk about it. It was a bit rude of him to refuse their invitations .


    "By the way, what movie have you been working on recently?"


    When Virginia heard his question a feeling of strong loss grow in her heart, she often thinks of her first encounter with Eric, and of the words Eric said, she really thought that Eric based the movie "Pretty Woman" on her as an inspiration .


    Unfortunately, she didn''t get the heroine role, more than once Virginia saw the crowds treating Julia Roberts like a princess, she couldn''t help but feel a little envy in her heart .


    Julia had not been famous before, but now the lucky girl has be a world-famous Hollywood actress . If she had taken the initiative that evening, perhaps she well be the one enjoying the fame . Thinking of this, Virginia was determined to seize Eric this night .


    "I just finished shooting a film, ying a rich businessman''s wife, I ended up driving myself to the river to die . "


    "Really! hhhh . . .


    . . . sorry .


    "


    Eric was embarrassed and didn''t know how to answer, she didn''t seem to be ming him . She wasn''t really dead, then why does it sound like he was the killer?


    Think about it, Eric assured her: "You will be fine . "


    "It''s hard to see hope . I''m almost out of options . I can''t act as a pure girl, and in another two years, maybe I could only y the role of a housewife . "


    Hearing the pure girl two words, Ericughed, it seems that Virginia have kept the words he said a few months ago firmly in mind . At that party, he just casually said, that her temperament and beauty doesn''t work for pure and young characters .


    He didn''t care about Virginia thought, Hollywood has always been a patriarchal world, a woman who have neither power nor backers and want to seed, will have to y by the rules and always try to please the ones on top .


    Thinking about his past life, even after ten years of work, he wasn''t even able to jump over the wall, and only staying in the periphery of the industry circle .


    "Vicky, do you want a chance?"


    Virginia eyes lit up: "of course . "


    Erik looked up and down at the ripe flesh of the woman dressed in a ck dress: "But I''m not an angel . What can you give back?"


    "Everything!"


    The party has been going on for several hours, and many men and women were leaving in pairs, perhaps they have feelings for each other, or it was just a simpler one-night stand, and perhaps they have reached a deal .


    Anyway, in a Hollywood party, it''s hard to produce a love at first sight like in fairy tales, and there have always been news of people getting cheated by crooks from time to time .


    The two of them took the elevator together to the underground parking lot, with the night temperature this season reaching about 10 degrees in Los Angeles, wearing a thin dress, with the cool breeze blowingte at night, Virginia sobered up a little, she regretted recklessly epting Eric deal .


    She felt that she should at least try to string the young director along to wet his appetite, so she can reliably get the benefits, but now she only got a promise, if the young man afterwards didn''t keep his promise, she would be yed by him like a fiddle with nothing to show for it .


    Suddenly Eric gently covered Virginia body with coat to keep her warm .


    Well, it is a one-night stand, at least, the little man was very thoughtful .


    They quietly negotiated for a while and decided to go to Virginia home in Malibu . If Eric came out from the hotel door he will be surrounded by the paparazzi, they wanted to know if Eric will bring a woman home tonight, he was sure that the paparazzi will be camping outside of his Beverly mansion .


    Now if he goes outside with her it''s like him taking the initiative to provide Virginia to the paparazzi on a silver tter .


    It took him almost an hour to drive from the Hilton Hotel to Malibu with no traffic jams on the way . Fortunately, the two of them were talkative people, so awkward silence didn''t appear along the way .


    He Followed her directions to a small vi north of the coastal highway, far away from the beach, it is estimated that even in her second floor balcony it will be difficult to see the sea, Eric casually asked her: "why do you live here?"


    Virginia put Eric coat on the hanger and said frankly, "It''s nice to have such a small vi in Malibu . You don''t think that after I filmed a few movies I will be able to afford a vi in Beverly hills like you?"


    Eric shrugged, realizing that he had asked her with sarcastic tone .


    Thinking back to his past life, after the first debut of Virginia in a movie made by director David Lynch called "Dune" in 1984, she didn''t star in any remarkable film since then, even after the nies she didn''t have any good work, sheter shifted her focus to TV dramas .


    As an actress, although she was famous to some degree, but she had no box office appeal, therefore all the films offers she received were low-cost movies, where the paycheck only reach tens of thousands of dors .


    After tonight, another woman''s fate will be changed by him .


    After all, after his appearance, Hollywood history was bound to be mess, so why not change history to his own enjoyment .

 Chapter 90: Malibu 10880 (18+)

    Eric went to the living room and sat down on a sofa, after Virginia finished hanging the clothes shee and sat with him, their eyes met, and the atmosphere started to warm up, Eric could not help but grab her waist and pull her to him .


    "Take off your high heels . "


    Virginia obediently like a littlemb kicked off her high heels, feeling her waist and shoulders being caressed by his strong hands, she said in a low voice: "Eric, can I take a bath first?"


    He did not answer her question . After Virginia took off her short high-heeled shoes, Eric was still not satisfied, he pushed her slightly with his hands, her eyes shed a few times, and obediently knelt on the carpet .


    Feeling the satisfied look of the man looking at her, Virginia put her little hands on Eric thighs, with her upturned charming face, and almond misty eyes, she said in dissatisfied small voice: "Does all males like the females to surrender under their feet?"


    Eric stroked her face softly, and said in agreement: "yes, but most of them do not have the power to make women surrenderpletely . . . .


    . . What''s wrong with your hair? I remember thest time it wasn''t like this .


    "


    Virginia with a puzzled look touched her blond hair, which was deliberately imitating Marilyn Monroe''s hairstyle: "What''s the problem?"


    "This color doesn''t look good on you . Let''s change it tomorrow . "


    His tone made her somewhat resistant: "But my hair stylist said that this color matches my eye color."


    "I like golden brown. "


    Virginia looked at Eric with grievance, and said: "All right . "


    Eric slipped her dress shoulder strap off, removed her bra, and started to wantonly grope and y with her big, soft breasts, as he said: "are you signed with any brokerage firm now?"


    Virginia gasped and shook her head: "I only have a broker, he . . . .


    . . "


    Eric interrupted her words: "you have worked for so many years without any improvement, that person is not qualified, fire him, and then go to UTA to find Kapoor, I will let him take care of you personally . "


    "Kapoor Sid?" Virginia raised her head excitedly, she certainly knew who Kapoor was . In Kapoor Sid hands now there''s only three artists .


    The girl who have an ambiguous rtionship with Eric Drew Barrymore, the actor who made aeback with "Pretty Woman" Al Pacino, and one who the media recently started calling "Hollywood Cindere" Julia Roberts .


    Virginia never dreamed that she would be the fourth, until now, she has been worried that after Eric yed with her tonight, he will not keep his promise, or will give her a small role to send her away .


    "Eric, thank you . "


    Ericughed and pull her to him and said: "now, your task is show me where is the bedroom?"


    Under the guidance of Virginia, Eric started walking towards her bedroom,


    As they walked, he reached out and hiked up her dress, revealing her big, firm ass, d only in a red thong.


    He started to grope and y with her ass, until they got to the door of her bedroom.


    Pushing the door open, Eric picked her up, and ignoring everything, threw her down on the bed,


    He then dropped his pants and underwear, got up on the bed and sat down on her t stomach.


    Looking down at her face, he took his hard dick and put the tip to her sexy lips.


    Looking up at him, her eyes shed but she obediently opened her lips, only to gasp as Eric suddenly pushed his dick all way to her throat.


    Eric was extremely excited by her obedience, so he held her head and started to thrust in her mouth , face fucking her.


    He pounded her face, her plump lips wrapped around his dick as it went in and out of her mouth, making obscene slurping sounds.


    After fucking her mouth for a minute, he pushed his dick all the way down her throat and enjoyed the way it was wrapping his dick, pulling out only after she started to gasp for breath, making her cough.


    Then he moved down and put his dick, wet from her saliva ,between her big and soft breasts, before pushing them together and starting to thrust quickly.


    After a minute, he suddenly flipped her over and raised her waist, making her big and firm ass stick out.


    He softly caressed and groped her ass cheeks, spreading them apart, pushing her red thong aside, running his finger over her slit, felling her wetness and stimting her clit, making her moan.


    Hearing her moans, his excitement peaked, and positioning his dick, he slid inside her, groaning together as he bottomed out in her.


    Pushing her head down into a pillow with one hand and holding her slender waist with the other, he started to pound her, hard and fast, mming his cock in her from behind, filling the room with with the sound of his balls pping against her ass and her muffled moans


    Eric felt her pushing back, meeting his thrusts, making him more excited, as he sped up his thrusts.


    "UHHHH.... GODDDD"


    After a minute, Eric let go of her head and grabbed both of her arms, pulling her towards himself, arching her back and thrusting with full force, bottoming out in her, making her let out a loud moan.


    Eric held her arms and started to pound her again, making her ass p against him even harder, as he felt his orgasm build.


    "YESS.... YES... GODDDD..."


    Moaned Virginia, as she enjoyed the hard fuck he was giving her, as she also felt her orgasm build up.


    Eric kept pounding her for a minute, until suddenly letting go of her arms, and with one hand groping her breast , while the other move to her vagina and yed with her clit, making her moans get louder.


    "O'' GODDD  Cumming...." Cried out Virginia as her walls suddenly mped down on his dick.


    "Me too, take it all" Felling her slick walls gripping his dick tightly pushed Eric over the edge, so with a roar he buried himself in her and exploded deep inside, felling her pussy with his seed, as he felt her juices running down his dick.


    Eric copsed on top of her, both of them breathing heavily.


    As his breath calmed down, he pulled out his softening cock and rolled over on his back.


    Before he had time to say anything, Virginia got on her knees and crawled between his legs.


    Leaning down, she grabbed his dick with one hand, licked her full lips to wet them, and slipped the head of his penis in her mouth.


    Slowly, she went up and down, never taking in more than the tip, as she bobbed her head, tasting her juices and his cum still on his dick.


    Then she released him and swirled her tongue around the tip, before going down and starting to lick his balls, making Eric groan.


    Hearing him groan, she stretched out her tongue and gave his dick a slow lick, from balls to the tip.


    And as Eric felt her lick his penis, he nced down, only to be meet with her green eyes looking up at him, before she wrapped her full lips around his dick and pushed down quickly, swallowing it whole.


    "You are good, wonder how many roles you got with that mouth of yours?" Said Eric as he enjoyed  her throat wrapping around his dick.


    Virginia nced up at him, before cing her hands on his hips and working his penis with only her mouth. She went up and down, her tongue sliding along the back of his shaft.


    Eric enjoyed her service, clearly she had more experience than Julia and Jennifer, but that didn''t surprise him, this was Hollywood after all.


    As he watched her full lips stretched around his penis, going up and down, he grabbed her head and pushed it down, again enjoying her throat.


    After a few seconds, he let go of her head and pulled his dick out her mouth, flipping her over, he grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head.


    Virginia let out a moan, as he quickly entered her warm tunnel, stretching her pussy and filling it to the brim.


    Still holding her hands above her head Eric started to, slowly and sensually, push in and out of her tight pussy, stretching her cunt, before reaching her womb and pulling out, only letting the tip remain inside, before pushing in again.


    "UHHH...."


    Virginia let out soft moans of pleasure, felling his slow thrusting stretching her pussy over and over again, as he yed with her breasts, pinching the nipples.


    As he felt his orgasm building, from her earlier blowjob and her tight pussy, Eric let go of her hands and grabbed her waist, speeding up his thrusts, starting to pound her pussy, causing her soft moans to transform into uncontroble moans of lust.


    Reaching down, Virginia started to stimte her clit, making her moans louder, and building her orgasm.


    "Cumming...."


    Until suddenly, she moaned, and her vagina constricted around his shaft, pushing Eric over the edge, as he mmed his dick deep in her and started shooting ropes of cum, as her juices drenched his dick.


    Riding out his orgasm Eric feel on her, breathing heavily.


    Slowly their breathing calmed down, Eric got up and swept her up in his hands.


    "Where is the bathroom?" Asked Eric.


    "Down the hall" Answered Virginia, her face flush and sweating.


    Eric carried her to the bathroom where fucked her a couple of times, before returning to the bedroom and making her suck him off, this time cumming down her throat, and falling asleep.


    . . . .


    . .


    Eric was awakened by the sound of the waves of the sea, and the light of dawn shining though window curtains .


    He Looked at the girl curled up in his arms, although the natural reaction between his legs that happen to him in the morning, was hopping to thrive, but he did not want to disturb the sleeping Virginia .


    Last night, they yed too much, and Virginia was exhausted by him . He basically tried a lot of things he saw in porn in his past life . Ripe peaches are indeed much tastier then the smaller ones, and have much more endurance .


    Plus the girl wasn''t afraid to express herself, which made Eric feel good about himself .


    After putting on some clothes he went to the balcony, only to find that the scenery here wasn''t as bad as he thought the night before, he can view the distant sea from this ce, with the sun just over the horizon, the distant sea was stained with ayer of orange .


    A hint of sharp corner suddenly appeared in his southwest field of vision, he narrowed his eyes and looked carefully, Eric suddenly remembered what that ce was .


    His mind started moving fast, Eric returned to the bedroom, and started searching for papers .


    he found a stack of A4 papers in the cab bedside Virginia, it was a script for a movie, Eric was tozy to look at them, anyway a script that can be sent to Virginia is certainly not a script of a good movie, next he found a pen .


    Eric carried a chair to the balcony, and put the stack of A4 paper on his knees and started working .


    Looking carefully at the topography of the sharp corner not far away, andparing it to the memory in his mind, Eric bowed his head and started sketching on a nk paper .


    The rustling sound as he draws on the paper rang for more than half an hour, when the sleeping girl woke up and found the bed empty, Virginia panicked for a brief moment, but she calmed down when she found his figure sitting on the balcony carefully sketching .


    She put on a Sheer gauze robe to cover her delicate body, and went to the balcony,


    Virginia leaned over and hugged his shoulders affectionately and said: "Good morning, Eric . "


    "Morning, Vicky, are you going to use this script?"


    Virginia shook her head: "it''s no use, I prepared for a long time for the role, but I didn''t pa.s.s the audition . "


    Eric nodded and continued sketching .


    "Eric, what are you drawing?"


    Eric tore off a page with bird''s eye view drawing from the script and showed it to her, pointing out to the sharp corner in the southwest .


    Virginia looked at the paper in wonder: "This is . . . .


    . . Home design drawing?"


    "Well, it''s a n for a luxurious mansion, I''m going to buy thatnd and build myself a house just like this . "


    Virginia smiled and give back the paper back to Eric and said: "But there''s a park there"


    Eric took the drawings: "It''s not the Central Park, I will think of a way to buy it, I''m going to buy close to a hectare ofnd, I''m sure the Los Angeles county government will be happy to add extra money to their budget . "


    One hectare, Virginia did not notice that Eric was not using imperial units of measurement, she awkwardly attempted to convert the metric system units in her head, a hectare is about 100,000 square feet, and her small vi was only a little more than 1000 square feet .


    Oh, my G.o.d, one hundred times the size of her vi, clearly exceeding the limits of Virginia imagination . If this man belongs to her . . .


    . . . No, even if she was only his lover, it will be wonderful to live in such a luxurious mansion .


    "Eric, the geological situation there doesn''t seem to be good for the construction of a mansion . Otherwise, rich people must have tried to buy it . I think it''s better if you pick and with a private beach . Why do you want that ce anyway?"


    Eric once again looked at the picture spread on the white paper, and said with a mysterious smile on his lips: "because there is Malibu 10880 . " he paused, then added: "My Malibu 10880!"

 Chapter 91: Luck attribute points(18+)

    Virginia didn''t understand what Eric was saying, quizzically she said: "10880 Malibu?"


    Eric nodded, and didn''t exin in detail, nor could he exin to her what 10880 Malibu means .


    In his past life "Iron Man 3", Tony Stark''s Malibu super sea view mansion impressed Eric a lot .


    Afterword, he and many fans, tried to inquire online on the mansion information, but they found that the filmpany chose the location of the mansion to be in Malibu, but they produced the mansion using CGI .


    Later it was said that the mansion really exists, but the address was in California, Santiago, and that the owner will list thend for sale . However, the crowd of inte users soon found that it was just a publicity stunt, the house in Santiago indeed have a good Ocean View Vi .


    Butpared with the house in the movie, is likeparing a wild duck with a swan .


    As for the more fancy Stark Building in New York is unlikely to be built, New York now is like a hedgehog back there''s no opennd to build in . but iron man''s Malibu mansion is within the scope of Eric''s ability .


    It''s only a question of how much money he have to spend, and for Eric now, money is not a problem . It is expected that "Pretty Woman" will bring him almost a hundred million dors in revenue, all that money is enough for him to build 100 vis in Malibu .


    He turned and looked at the beautiful girl behind him, Eric smiled and reached out to touch her breasts, feeling the soft creamy skin in his palm: "Vicky, go and help me make breakfast, because I worked all night, I''m so hungry now . "


    "Go ahead, Prepare toast with fried eggs, and then hold an apple andy on the table, so I can eat you too . "


    "As you wish, your royal highness . " said Virginia, smiling she kissed his cheek, and when she wanted to kiss Eric in the mouth . Eric suddenly thought of something, and tilted his head to the side: "Do not . "


    With a loud thud, the chair he was sitting on fell to the ground, the papers and pen that were on his knees were scattered all over the floor .


    Virginia quickly lifted up Eric pped the dust on his clothes: "What''s the matter with you?"


    Eric pointed to Virginia Small mouth at night: "you eat thatst night, and you haven''t brushed your teeth yet?"


    Virginia immediately understood what Eric meant, and Angrily red at him: "You are so hateful, making me eat such disgusting thing, that was disgusting . "


    "It''s not like you eat poison, it won''t hurt you . " Eric smiled and started helping Virginia pick up the papers from the ground, and used a paper clip to bind them . When Virginia rushed to prepare breakfast, Eric sat down to work once again.


    More than ten pages of the manuscript were out of order, Eric fiddled with the papers trying to rearrange them . When he identally nced at the top of the page, he saw a striking two words "Steel Magnolias" .


    "Steel Magnolias" ah!


    Eric quickly arranged the order the manuscript again, and began reading them from the first page .


    Although it was only an audition manuscript, it wasn''t aplete script, and there wasn''t any screenwriter or director information writing on it . Eric determined after reading the small lens clips that this is indeed the "Steel Magnolias" he was trying to find .


    The little fragments he read in the manuscript was obviously the parts for the timid Beautician Annelle yed by Daryl Hannah .


    "Fortunately, my luck attribute points are really high, perhaps I should go to Las Vegas to try my luck!" Eric smiled as he mumbled, "since the script appeared in Virginia''s bedroom, then the auditions should be a Recent thing, I hope the roles haven''t been settled yet . "


    With the script in hand he went downstairs, Virginia changed her outfit, wearing an apron, with onlycy ck bra and panties underneath, busy at work in the kitchen .


    Noticing that Eric appeared behind her, Virginia turned and smiled at him: "breakfast will be ready soon . "


    Eric raised the script and asked: "Vicky, when did you participate in this movie audition?"


    Virginia turned over the eggs in the frying pan with a spat, and said to him: "are you talking about "Steel Magnolias"? ah, on Friday, the day before yesterday . "


    "Can you tell me what you know about this movie?


    Virginia scooped off the omelette and turned off the fire, and said: "Okay, Eric, let''s go to the dining room to talk about it . "


    Eric nodded and helped her take the breakfast to the dining room .


    Virginia poured Eric a ss of milk and said: "This is movie my agent rmended to me, the director is Herbert Ross . . . .


    . . I have heard that TriStar Pictures was ning to invest, but because TriStar is owned by Columbia, and Columbia started the negotiation with SONY, they worried that if they produced and distributed the film and the film flopped at the box office, will cause their stock prices to fall .


    And because Columbia wasn''t optimistic about many other film projects, many of them have been suspended, Herbert Ross had to pull the investment alone . and because the budget was small, I got a chance to audition . "


    Because of Eric promisest night, she was no longer sad about failing to get the role, in a very t tone she said: "Unfortunately, I think Herbert Ross . . . .


    . . thought that I was too old for the role, so I failed the audition . "


    When she Mentioned her age, Virginia showed a worried on her face, and looked up at Eric, she was thirty years old, and can no longer afford to keep wasting her years .


    Eric just smiled at her, picked up a fork and a knife, and said to her.


    "You should eat too"


    "Yeah" Said Virginia as she started to stand up.


    "Where are you going?" Asked Eric with a smile.


    "To prepare...." She started to say, but was interrupted.


    "Your breakfast is right here" Said Eric as he spread his legs and pointed down to his penis.


    Vicky rolled her eyes and, without a word, untied her apron, letting it fall to the floor. She then reached behind her and unsped hercy bra, throwing it away, revealing her big, soft breasts, withrge pink ares and hard nipples, making his cock jump in his pants.


    Getting on her knees, she crawled under the table and between his legs. Unbuttoning his pants , she pulled them down, along with his underwear, freeing his slightly hard manhood.


    Grabbing his penis with one hand, she kissed the tip, making a shiver run through him. She leaned down, and stretching out her little tongue, licked slowly, from the balls to the tip.


    She then wrapped her soft, full lips around the swollen head and started to slowly bob her head up and down, her tongue swirling around the tip.


    As her full lips were going up and down on his shaft, she reached down into her panties and started to finger her pussy and stimte her clit, moaning around his dick.


    And as Eric enjoyed her skilled blowjob,  his mind was quickly calcting, since TriStar gave up the film, he may be able to take over the project . If Firefly want to grow and develop, it will have to stop producing only the movies made by Eric .


    Investing in more projects is a must, and "Steel Magnolias" may be a good choice .


    "OHH..." Grunted Eric, as she suddenly took his dick deep in her throat, interrupting his thoughts.


    "Slow down a little" He said looking down at her.


    Vicky just nced up at him, before she continued bobbing her head, her full lips stretched around his rod, going up and down, as she added a second finger in her pussy.


    While feeling extreme pleasure her mouth brought him, Eric tried to get back to his thoughts.


    Of course, next Firefly will have to gradually establish their own distribution channels, in his past life because DreamWorks had no distribution channels, they had give their films to the six giants to issue, resulting in most of the benefits going to big six, which led to DreamWorks not making enough profits, and finally had to be sold to Vi .


    In fact, DreamWorks Animation also had it''s own distribution channels, but the films made by Spielberg take arge budgets to produce, and with their ability to issue, if they tried to force distribute their films, then they will have to get $200 million at the box office globally just to be able to recover $100 million .


    That''s why Eric hasn''t thought about releasing his own film for the time being .


    The Weinstein brothers too start on the road of small cost movies, they too had the ups and downs of DreamWorks but because they only invested in small budget films they made a lot of money, but in the end they ended up losing Miramax, their ce in Hollywood was weaker then before even after that they established The Weinstein Company, and that''s because they didn''t have good distribution channels .


    Eric jolted suddenly, feeling something soft wrapping his dick, looking down, he saw her holding her big breasts on the either side of his penis.


    Without looking up at him, Vicky squeezed her boobs around his dick and moved them up and down, swirling her tongue around the tip.


    Looking at this stimting scene and felling the pleasure her breasts brought him Eric tried to finish his thoughts.


    He would willingly give close to half of the profits to Fox, because only with Fox giant distributing ability, will he be able to get the film to achieve it full potential at the box office .


    Even if he had released the movie himself, and achieved the same number of screens as Fox, it is impossible for him to achieve the same high box office . Because there are too many things involved in getting a good box office .


    Gradually, Eric rified how firefly should develop in the future, he will not keep giving his own movies to the bigpany''s, for now he will keep investing in movies with small budgets, he will use those "cannon fodder" films to slowly umte resources and experience .


    until he develop to a certain extent, then he will start releasing his own movies .


    And as soon as he finished his thoughts, Eric swept his arm over the table, knocking everything to the floor.


    Then he grabbed Vicky , pulled her up, turned her around and bent her over the table.


    "I have to go, so, let''s make this quick" Said Eric, as he gave her big ass a p, before pulling her panties down and positioning his dick at the entrance of her wet slit.


    Eric slid in slowly, bottoming out in her, making him sigh in pleasure as he felt the heat and tightness of her pussy.


    Wasting no time, Eric grabbed her slender waist and started to pound her, hard and fast, making the table creak and filling the room with the loud ps of their bodies colliding.


    "UHHHHH....."


    Vicky let out loud moans as she enjoyed his pounding and snuck a hand between her legs, rubbing her clit.


    Eric continued to pound her, as he reached forward and wrapped her hair around his hand, pulling her back, making her ass p against him harder and making her moans louder.


    Since they were pretty worked up, him from the blowjob and boobjob, and her from fingering her pussy, they both felt their orgasms build quickly.


    "OHHH...."


    Until finally, Eric, still pulling her hair, mmed balls deep in her cunt and, with a roar, started shooting ropes of cum in her pussy.


    "UHHHH...."


    At the same time, Vicky let out a loud moan as her pussy clenched around his shaft and he felt her juices running down his dick as she came.


    Eric, breathing heavily, pulled out of her and sat down, once again enjoying the view of a celebrity, naked on their kitchen table his cum dripping from her pussy, at the same time once again noting that he liked sex in the kitchen.


    As Vicky''s breathing calmed down, she got up from the table and started to reach for her clothes.


    "I want to cum in your mouth again, and remember, make it fast" Said Eric.


    Turning towards him, Vicky once again rolled her eyes, but still obeyed, getting on her knees and crawling between his legs.


    Since he wanted to cum quickly, she directly wrapped her sexy, full lips around the head and  started to quickly go up and down, her tongue running on the underside of his shaft.


    Enjoying her service for a minute, Eric stood up and grabbed her head starting to thrust rapidly, furiously fucking her mouth.


    Few minutester, Eric threw his head back, mmed his cock in her throat and with a roar exploded, pumping cum in her mouth.


    " Swallow " Said Eric as he pulled out.


    Hearing him Vicky made a face, but with a gulp swallowed his hot cum, opening her mouth to show him.


    "Good, go get dressed, I have a call to make" Said Eric, turning towards herndline, missing his cellphone.

 Chapter 92: No regrets

    Putting down the phone, Eric turned to Virginia and said: "OK, go to UTA and find Kapoor . He will know what to do . "


    At this time Virginia has changed her clothes to a rose colored suit with a skirt, and a small hand bag, making her look professional business woman: "Aren''t you going to go back with me to the city?"


    "No, I''ll wait here for mywyer toe over . And it won''t be good if the paparazzi spot us together . "


    She took out a spare key and handed it to Eric: "this is a spare key to the vi, if you want to . . . .


    . . you cane here at any time . "


    Eric smiled and took the key from her and put it in his pocket: "Trust me, I wille here often . " he could not help but reach out and stroke her chin: "you look really s.e.xy in this skirt, next time wear it to bed . "


    Virginia gave him a wink and said: "It ''s only eight o''clock now, maybe we can go outter . "


    Eric wrapped his hand around her waist and give her a little p on the a.s.s,ughing he said: "Don''t tempt me, or I will not let you out of the door for the next three days, now go . "


    "Oh, you crumpled my skirt . " she swatted his hand away, and straightened her skirt: "Then I will go first . "


    Virginia left soon after that, and a few minutester a ck Mercedes parked at the gate of the vi . Eric''s privatewyer took careful note of the address, with a puzzled look rang the bell .


    "Eric, did you buy another house here?" Edward Lewis asked, when he saw him open the door .


    "No, this is a friend''s house . " Eric exined .


    Edward followed him into the living room, even without looking at the feminine home decorations, just with the faint scent in the air, he was sure it was a woman''s house .


    Eric led Edward to the balcony on the second floor, pointed to the sharp corner and asked: "Edward, what do I need to do if I want to buy thatnd there?"


    Edward put on his .s.ses and squinted his eyes looking at the ce Eric pointed at, shaking his head he said: "Eric, it''s too far away . Let''s go and have a look . "


    "No problem," Eric picked up the script with the design draft, and followed Edward out the door .


    The two of them stood at the edge of a cliff, they were surrounded by the exposed brown rocks and weeds, and In front of them there was the beautiful blue sea .


    Edward was holding the design draft in his hand, although it was sketched with a pen, but by virtue of Eric solid sketch skills, the building on the paper looked so vivid .


    Giving some words of praise in his heart to the how luxurious the building looked, if it is built, it will certainly be the most iconic building in Malibu: "Eric, are you sure you want to build such a luxurious mansion?"


    "Why not?"


    Edward nodded: "There is two private vis on both sides .


    Although I don''t have a lot of knowledge about building engineering, but with a little guess, you can know the reason why this ce was converted into a park, thisnd isn''t suitable for building, otherwise no one will let acres ofnd stay vacant . "


    "As long as you can get this piece ofnd, I will take care of the rest . " Eric said: "no matter how much money it takes, I have to build it .


    If thend isn''t suitable for building then we will use cement reinforcement, if we need soil, we will ship it from the outside, if thend is hard to dig then we will use explosives . "


    Edward smiled and shook his head .


    Eric also felt that he was acting like a nouveau-riche wannabe,ughing he said: "Edward, You won''t be calling me a ''fool" in your heart, will you?"


    "Of course not, I just don''t think it''s necessary, you look at those houses . " referring to the two vis for the second tome: "living in that kind of vi is veryfortable, but here there''s nothing but rocks and weeds . "


    Edward finished saying, and looked at Eric, with a look of curiosity, he wondered why he suddenly wanted to build such a luxurious mansion here .


    "This is one of my dreams .


    " Eric understood that his privatewyer wanted to know if this was a real or a fake excuse: "When I was a child me and my father moved from the United Kingdom to Los Angeles, he took me once to this park to y, at that time I thought that having a house here will be wonderful .


    Then I gradually forgot about it, until this morning, when I saw this ce again, I started thinking of the past . And now that I have enough economic power, why not realize that dream . "


    With that, Eric pulled de of gra.s.s from the ground and put it in his mouth . "From childhood to adulthood, I had countless ideas, but most of them were lost, so why not achieve a few now, so I won''t regret it in the future . . .


    . . . Edward, do you have any unusual dreams or ideas you wanted to achieve?"


    Eric words seems to have effected Edward by bringing back past memories: "In high school I wanted to be a rock star, I used to skip .s.ses to learn, but I was caught by my father and got a month of confinement, after I was released I obediently applied for Yale Law School . "


    Ericughed and looked at the man with the refined temperament: "now you look nothing like a rock star . "


    Edward sighed: "of course, it has been almost thirty years . at that time the Beatles had just been established, and Elvis Presley also was very influential, now all those legend are gone . "


    Elvis and the Beatles were too far away in Eric''s mind, but he still enjoyed hearing Edward talking about his memories and nostalgia, he Reached into his pockets searching for something .


    Edward took a look at his actions, and took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket: "Are you looking for this?"


    Eric took a cigarette and lit it . "I thought you didn''t smoke . "


    Edward instinctively looked around, then lit his cigarette: "I smoke asionally, when I was in high school I used to smoke heavily, my father found out and beat me with a rattan cane . . . .


    . . that was very painful, which gradually formed a psychological shadow in my mind . Even after I left home and was no longer under the control of my father, I still sneak around when I want to smoke .


    . . . .


    . a lot of people think I don''t have this habit . "


    The two of them with a mental age of more than 40 years chatted while smoking, facing the sea breeze for more than half an hour, Edward finally stomped thest cigarette b.u.t.t off, and put the empty cigarette pack in his pocket and said: "For a long time I haven''t rxed like this . "


    "Then you cane here often to rx . "


    "Too busy," Edward shook his head, then said: "Eric, get the check ready . I''ll do my best to help you get this piece ofnd . "


    "Thanks a lot . "


    "You don''t have to thank me . I''m going to getmission . " Edward joked, "but, you''ll need to find a financial manager, Today, this kind of thing, is strictly speaking beyond the scope of my services . "

 Chapter 93: Amys invitation

    Eric also had ns to find a financial manager, but this is not an easy thing . Although he hasn''t received any dividends from his movies yet, but no one can deny that he is now worth more than 100 million US dors.


    But only he knows, that in his hands, he has the "Jura.s.sic Park" copyrights, and if Pixar seed like it did in his past life he will be sitting on a gold mine, these things will make his a.s.sets easily exceeded the billion dors mark in the future .


    Under such circ.u.mstances, he could not hand over his a.s.sets to an outsider . If the manager didn''t have good professional ethics, he won''t be able to have peace of mind .


    Hollywood stars getting deceived by their financial managers are not umon, for example Nichs Cage bankruptcy in his past life, Although Cage personally liked to squander his money on things he can''t afford, but it''s hard to say that his financial manager didn''t contribute to the problem by letting him do what he wanted without trying to stop him, otherwise This kind of thing is not easy to happen .


    The moreplex and confusing the financial situation of the employer, the easier it is for the manager to fish in troubled waters . And if the ounts are well organized, then your financial managers can only get his sry and rewards .


    Taking a ride back to Los Angeles with Edward, Eric went back to the Hilton Hotel parking lot to retrieve his car and drove straight to the Firefly headquarters .


    In the time he left Los Angeles, Jeffrey have already got the right to adapt "Scent of a Woman", before Eric could write the script . Jeffrey also raised another issue, that is, Firefly''s financial situation .


    When filming "Pretty Woman" Eric invested all the money thepany had in the movie, And to get the money back, as usual, he will have to wait until the movie stop screening a few monthster, Although he has a good rtionship with Fox, but he was sure, if he opened the topic of money with Barry Diller, the other side is sure to want a piece of the pie .


    To get a $50 million loan Eric put the contract of "Home Alone" as a coteral, to buy Pixar he spent $20 million, and he left $10 million as funds for "Toy Story", and now he only has $20 million left .


    The money isn''t enough for him to invest in the next movie, not to mention he also has several other movies nned .


    Eric signed a $20 million check to the finance manager of thepany, and then told Jeffrey: "The first thing you should do is prepare for "Scent of a Woman", I''ll write the scripts these days . "


    "What about your movie?"


    Eric shrugged: "We can only continue getting loans . "


    Anyway, this kind of thing, even if you resist at the beginning, but by borrowing once, you get used to it and it bes a habit . Anyway, he won''t let other filmpanies intervene in his film projects .


    "By the way Jeffrey, this is . . . .


    . . a good script I found by luck, the director is Herbert Ross, he is still in the casting stage, I''ve heard they have a problem with the budget .


    You should get in touch with him and see if we can win this project, Fireflies are willing to invest with him, and also you''ll have to convince Julia Roberts to join the film . "


    Jeffrey looked at the script that Eric handed him, and read a few paragraphs, he didn''t see anything special . But he chose not to raise any objections, long ago he decided to no longer question Eric''s taste in films . And as Eric said, he was more suitable for the role of a producer .


    "No problem . I''ll contact Herbert Ross as soon as possible . "


    . . . .


    . .


    After a day of work, Eric was nning to go home, when he heard a knock on the door . Jeffrey walked into his office and said: "Eric, do you remember Amy Pascal?"


    "Of course, if it wasn''t for her, "Home Alone" wouldn''t be released so smoothly . I haven''t been able to see Amy to thank her . "


    "She called," Jeffrey said, "I didn''t hang up, she wants to talk to you . "


    Eric quickly followed Jeffrey to his office .


    "Amy . . . .


    . . Long time no see, I always wanted to say thank you all this time . But unfortunately, you suddenly quit your job .


    . . . .


    . Sure, no problem . . .


    . . . then, see youter .


    "


    After hanging up the phone, Eric and Jeffrey looked at each other .


    Jeffrey took the lead to say what he knows: "Amy returned to Columbia, as a Vice President for the time being, and Blount Cohen have already left, I heard that he choose early retirement, it is said that he went to France . "


    "Did she just tell you these things?"


    Jeffrey nodded: "I talked to her before . What did she want?"


    "She wanted to invite me to have a meal . "


    The two of them shared a few more words, trying to find what''s going on, until Eric looked at his watch and said: "Then I will go to the appointment, Jeffrey I will leave "Scent of a Woman" and "Steel Magnolias" things to you, In the next few days I won''te to thepany, I will stay at home, if there''s anything call me .


    "


    When hee to the designated restaurant, Eric found Amy Pascal had been waiting for him . She wore a professional ck suit, her shoulder-length blonde hair was curly . It was said that a woman''s hair can tell you about her mood, but he did not know what her hairstyle represented .


    The Two of them gently hugged, and Eric said: "Sorry, Amy, The traffic was so bad that I let you wait for me . "


    "It doesn''t matter" Amy smiled and said: "You''re notte . In fact, I came too early . "


    They sat down at the table, she handed him the menu: "What would you like to eat?"


    Eric took the menu and said: "This feels strange . The order of things ispletely reversed, I feel like I should be the one saying that . "


    "Well, big boy, this time it''s my treat, so don''t be a macho man . "


    Eric shrugged and did not refute her, he didn''t have much contact with Amy Pascal before, so she didn''t know how mature his character is, so she habitually treated him like a young man .


    After casually choosing what to eat, Eric handed the menu back to her, as for her she didn''t look at the menu, and expertly made her request, and handed the menu to the waiter .


    "Do you oftene here to eat?"


    "Yes, the food here is delicious . "


    Amy did not rush to exin her intention to him, and Eric didn''t worry, until they finished their lunch, all they did was casually chatted about tings like the weather, and current events . Only after ordering the coffee, did Amy start talking about her purpose .

 Chapter 94: Fat sheep

    After listening to Amy Pascal reporting CocC CEO Roberto Goizueta conditions, Eric felt that there was a big pit waiting for him, Otherwise, how could such a good thing happen to him?.


    Providing enough budget funds, not meddling in the film production, and even providing him with a team to help him make another movie to cope with Fox contract, and after that, he will still be able to get 30 percent of the domestic box office, and 10 percent of overseas Box office .


    This condition are simply insane, even Spielberg can''t get such favorable treatment .


    "Amy, Columbia giving this condition kinda seems unreasonable . You know that thest time I worked with Columbia wasn''t a pleasant experience, so it''s hard for me to believe that there is no . . .


    . . . trickery?"


    Amy said sternly: "Eric, believe me, in order to promote this cooperation and prevent anyone from obstructing it, the board of directors deliberately removed Mr . Blunt Cohen from the position of president, which is enough to show Columbia''s sincerity . "


    Eric was still not convinced, although he was happy about Blunt Cohen leaving, but that wasn''t enough to convince him that Columbia had done so because of him: "I need the real reason why?"


    Amy hesitated for a moment, then said in detail: "Because we are negotiating with j.a.pan''s Sony the acquisition if Columbia, we need best selling movies to stimte the stock prices, and you are by far the most secure movie director, the three films you partic.i.p.ated in all achieved amazing results at the box office, and with your continuous .u.mtion of box office appeal, the audience has formed a certain viewing inertia, when your next film is released, many people by habit will go to the cinemas to have a look .


    As long as your next movie is up to standard, then once again getting a $100 million at the box office is reasonable thing . "


    Seeing Eric''s gradually showing an enlightened look on his face, Amy continued: "So, don''t think Columbia will do business at a loss, this is a win-win cooperation . Eric, before "Home Alone" pushed Columbia''s stock price from $12 to $14 . And the market value from $2 . 2 billion to $2 .


    56 billion . "


    Eric calcted in his head, because "Home Alone" box office was good, Columbia market value increased by $360 million .


    Under normal circ.u.mstances, although this growth is encouraging, but the shareholders will not sell their shares because the stock price increased by two dors, after all what they look at is the long-term interests, their main ie is the annual dividend .


    because once a film they invested in failed, the stock price will fall again .


    But after Sony decided to acquire Columbia, the situation would be different, each increase in the stock price would trante into real money .


    Remembering his past life, when SONY acquired Columbia they spent nearly $5 billion, SONY was definitely royally screwed . Because Columbia''s real a.s.sets didn''t even amount to $2 billion .


    The acquisition only took a year, and after that Columbia''s stock prices again fell to normal levels, with the market value falling by more then $2 . 7 billion, $2 . 7 billion directly evaporating, he was sure that Sony''s Board of directors shed a few tears that year .


    Regardless of what happened in his past life, he did not have a good impression of the j.a.panese, and seeing the fat sheep going to the ughter house, how can he not partic.i.p.ate .


    Of course, on the surface he still yed hard to get, because his own interests alwayse first .


    "Amy, if that''s the case, I''d love to work with Columbia again, but I''ve signed a partnership agreement with Fox for three movies .


    As for what you said, about Columbia providing me with a team to make a movie to deal with Fox, I certainly will not agree, this is my personal reputation on the line, there have been many people questioning my age and my ability to make the first few movies . "


    Hearing what he said, Amy asked: "Eric, do you already have ns in mind?"


    Eric smiled and said: "It is estimated that you have already seen the specific content of the contract, so if I want to get out of it I will have to pay a price, although domestically I get 5% less than Fox, butpared to the price paid by Columbia, their price is still very reasonable .


    " Amy cheeks got slightly hot, Eric and Fox''s contract, although the content isn''t strictly confidential, But it has not been disclosed, and to get to see the contract they''ll need to do somemercial espionage and spying .


    Eric has no interest in such gossip, he continued: "Since the content of the contract has already been known by Columbia, then you should be clear that Fox mainly want to acquire "Home Alone" sequel distribution rights, many of the details in the contract have been specially formted just for that .


    as for the the other two movies they didn''t care too much, so . . . .


    . . "


    Amy Pascal said excitedly: "So, it doesn''t matter if your next movie isn''t handed over to Fox, As long as you give Fox three movies by the end of the year, right?"


    Eric nodded, then shook his head again: "Although this does not vite the agreement, but Fox is not so amodating .


    Fox has scheduled my next film to be issued in the summer, and because Fox doesn''t have many films to distribute this year, once I quit, then Fox will directly have to withdraw from the summer box officepet.i.tion, which will cost Fox tens of millions of dors, and as much as a hundred million dor in profits"


    Amy Pascal showed a distressed frown, although between the big six there is bothpet.i.tion and cooperation, but Columbia can note up with enough chips to let Fox give up so much profits .


    ncing at the boy sitting across her, Eric shrugged helplessly . He could not think of anything to say for the time being, this year summer stalls has been saturated, especially big production movies .


    Although Eric can fight for a ce with them, by directing a film for Fox, others may not have this opportunity, only someone with a golden touch like him can get it .


    However, in this case, if this extra film was issued in may, the film will run against "Batman", and if he chose June he will face "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" . And as for July, he will bepeting with his own film, which is bound result in a lose-lose situation .


    But at the same time, he is not willing to give up the generous conditions giving by Columbia . Now even if his film only get $200 million at box office, he will be getting $10 million less then Fox, while Columbia is willing to pay $30 million as a production cost .


    What''s more, he is not so confident about his new film, although if he can invite Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, plus his box office appeal, braking the $100 million mark is certainly no problem .


    But specifically how much the movie can get he doesn''t know, because there''s no previous box office reference in his past life, because his next film isn''t from his past life Hollywood movies .


    "Amy, give me a couple of days . I need to talk to Barry Diller first . It will be for the best if I can get Fox to understand and reach a settlement . Anyway, If it is impossible to reach a settlement, I won''t breach the agreement .


    "


    "Do you need Columbia to do something?" Asked Amy Pascal .


    Eric didn''t say yes or no: "What can Columbia do? Can you go to Barry Diller''s office and say to him: Hey, we''re going to start negotiating with the j.a.panese, and we need some chips, so how about giving us the next movie made by Eric Williams?"


    "This . . . .


    . . " Amy smiled and shook her head: "Well, I''ll be waiting for your good news, you can contact me directly if you need any help . "


    Before they parted ways, they exchanged their contact info, Eric went home directly after that and called Barry Diller office phone, but he was told by his a.s.sistant that Barry Diller was in Europe on a business trip, and wille back four dayster .


    Although the a.s.sistant give him barry Diller contact info in Europe, but Eric chose not to call him directly, and made an appointment for four dayster .


    After all, this matter is difficult to tell on the phone, with the two of them separated by more then ten thousand miles, in case the phone call didn''t go smoothly and ended up breaking, that may cause more harm than good .

 Chapter 95: Ill leave it to you

    "You wrote the entire script, in just four days?" Jeffrey picked "Scent of a Woman" script, and asked Eric .


    "This is only the first draft, when shooting the film a lot of changes will be made ording to the specific circ.u.mstances .


    " Eric replied, and took a few steps back to sitfortably on the sofa, and asked: "did you send the script outline, to Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise, and did they responded to the invitation?"


    Jeffrey flipped though the script, and said: "All of them responded, we sent Sean''s character offer to Tom Hanks, But Hanks wants to y the part of Andy, He felt that the role is kinda paradoxical, and doesn''t give more acting s.p.a.ce .


    And Tom Cruise also expressed a strong interest in being a part of this movie, but he hopes to be able to modify Andy''s dressing as woman scenes, he doesn''t want to damage his image in the eyes of his fans . "


    The next film Eric is going to make is a movie called "Running Out of Time", made by a Chinesepany called Milkyway Image .


    When writing the script, he chose to keep the names of the two male leads as they were in his past life .


    If he was going to rece Andy Lau and Sean Lau by Hollywood actors, then is there any two actors more suitable than Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks? Those two strong actors are kinda simr to the original actors .


    Of course, now Hanks is still somewhat handsome, But only so-so, and he will change a lot as he ages . But if Hanks reced Andy Lau? By virtue of his present image, Can he make a girl fall in love with him at first sight? .


    . . . .


    . Doesn''t he have some self-awareness .


    "Jeffrey, they should not know about each other getting an invitation . You should tell them this news, and see if you can make an appointment with the both of them to talk . "


    "Okey, I would contact themter . " Jeffrey replied: "Also, Herbert Ross epted firefly investment in "Steel Magnolias", but Kapoor insisted that Julia sry be $5 million, if so, the film production cost will reach at least $13 million .


    Before Herbert Ross put $4 million in investment, and fireflies need to add $9 million, I think you should talk to Kapoor, to lower Julia paycheck, after all this is a group drama, and Julia won''t have too much screen time .


    Anything more than $3 million, is too high, and will cause more harm than good . "


    "I''ll call Kapoor," Eric nodded: "Make a copy of "Scent of a Woman" script and give it to Al Pacino, to let him start preparing . In addition, send this script outline to Wes Craven, William Friedkin and Jonathan Demme . And see if anyone of them have the intention to director of this film . "


    After Jeffrey took notes, he finally out thest script and read the name: ""The Others"?"


    Eric nodded, this film had another name in china "Ind Cry" But Eric felt that the original English name "The Others" was more appropriate .


    As for the three directors he named, Wes Craven is the director of the famous "A Nightmare on Elm Street" andter he Directed the "Scream" series .


    William Friedkin is the director of "The Exorcist" in 1973, a horror film that was once known as the best Hollywood horror film, of course, that t.i.ttle was lost after the rise of j.a.panese horror films .


    Finally, Jonathan Demme now is still a small director, but in parallel time and s.p.a.ce, in two years he will direct "The Silence of the Lambs" .


    The reason he chose the two already famous masters and the still unknown Jonathan Demme, was for Virginia''s sake .


    Eric did not doubt that "The Others", this big horror film with a twisted ending, will not be recognized by the first two horror films masters who have been famous for years, but he was not sure if the two famous ones will ept Virginia as the heroine .


    At this point, Eric does not intend topromise . As for Jonathan Demme, he has no room to bargain with Eric .


    "Should we give them the same conditions, or they all have the same?" Jeffrey asked again .


    "Send them at the same conditions, and remember to say that the heroine has been set, there is no room for negotiation . "


    Jeffrey gave an ambiguous smile, and said: "Eric, which girl are you eyeing?"


    "Virginia Madsen"


    Jeffrey remembered the big chested actress, that left with Eric at "Pretty Woman" celebration party .


    "Eric, I have to remind you," Jeffrey advised him: "When investing in movies you need to be very cautious and prudent . You can''t because of a one-night stand, give the role of the heroine, it''s not worth it . Even if you have to give her a huge check, you can''t give her a promise like that easily .


    Because once the film fails because of the heroine, you''ll have to pay millions or even tens of millions of dors in losses . With that kind of money, you can get thousands of call girls . "


    Eric will never be angry or ignore those who persuade him with goodwill, he patiently listened to Jeffrey''s advice, and exined: "Rest a.s.sured, Jeffrey, I was very careful in this regard .


    Before I have asked Kapoor to sign Virginia, and if she did not have such potential, I wouldn''t waste my time, weren''t you and Kapoor not optimistic about Julia, how about now?"


    "Then it''s fine, if you know what you''re doing . "


    "Well, I''ll be leaving things here to you . " Eric stood up and said: "I told you about why Amy called to me before, I have an appointment with Mr . Barry Diller today . "


    "You seem to have got used to the phrase ''I''ll be leaving things to you'', I''m considering whether or not to apply for a raise?" Jeffrey jokingly said, in fact, he was enjoying his busy and fulfilling life now .


    Compared to his first time meeting Eric, Jeffrey now looks a lot younger and full of vitality .


    Eric knew he was joking, the other side current position now is the president of fireflies, plus he gets a lot of dividends from the movies firefly produce, although he has not yet obtained firefly shares, but his ie in Hollywood can definitely be considered to be on the top of the pyramid: "If you must, add a dor"


    Laughing at Eric Joke, and sent him out: "Don''t have a fall out with Fox, and try to be tactful . "


    Eric shrugged and said: "This thing involve tens of millions of dors in profits, being tactful is useless, who let Fox not attach more specific details to the contract . . . .


    . . Anyway, I wouldn''t miss this chance given by Colombia, I would like to put Barry Diller in my seat, I''m sure his choice be the same as mine . "

 Chapter 96: The original

    Along the way, Eric was racking his brains trying to find a way to exin to Barry Diller this matter . In the celebration party of "Pretty Woman" both of them have talked about the production of his next film, by default, the next film was going to be issued by Fox in the summer .


    Now with him suddenly changing his mind at thest minute, what will Fox reaction be like is difficult to predict . If possible, Eric didn''t want to go against any one of the film giants, he isn''t strong enough now, it is difficult to say that he will not face some pressure .


    Moreover, Fox also hold the right to distribute three films, which involves hundreds of millions of dors in profits . Because he was thinking too much, he identally ran a red light, but fortunately, nothing happened .


    Finally, he arrived at Fox headquarters, reported his ident.i.ty, and was guided by an employee all the way to outside Barry Diller office .


    "Mr . Williams, please wait a few minutes . Mr . Diller is having a guest .


    " the secretary led Eric to a lounge area, and served him a cup of coffee .


    He nced curiously at Barry Diller''s office door, and tried listening to any sounds but unfortunately the sound instion was very good . When the young beautiful secretary noticed Eric''s curiosity, she hesitated for a moment, then whispered to him, "Fox TV Station Manager"


    Eric raised an eyebrow, and pretended that nothing had happened, he give her a grateful look . This girl is a real gem, she said just a simple sentence, and reveled nothing else, this can be regarded as a small favor to Eric .


    And when the girl bent over, he didn''t know whether it is intentional or unintentional, The badge on her chest appeared in front of Eric, she probably wanted him to remember her name, or maybe she just wanted him to see her big beautiful chest .


    After Patiently waiting for seven or eight minutes, a middle-aged man with .s.ses opened the door and gloomily walked out of the office . Glimpsing the young man sitting on the sofa, he quickly put away his depressed look, and politely give Eric a nod and left in a hurry .


    "Mr . Williams, you may go in now . "


    Walking to the office, a faint smell of smoke wafted into the air, from an ashtray full of cigarette b.u.t.ts that was in front of Barry Diller .


    "Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long . " After Eric entered, Barry Diller put away his emotions and smiled, but Eric could still see the residual anger on his face .


    "No problem, I only waited for a few minutes . " said Eric, and sat on the opposite side of Barry Diller on a sofa .


    Barry Diller didn''t exin anything to him, but just by linking the ident.i.ty of that middle-aged man, he could guess the cause of his anger is that Fox TV performance was worse than expected .


    ABC, NBC and CBS, those three big television stations, have dominated North American wireless TV markets for so many years, that it is almost impossible for ater to easily threaten their position .


    From his point of view, Barry Diller was indeed a media wizard, in his previous life, even with the pressure of the three major television stations, Fox televisionwork, was able to be the fourthrgest TV station in North America .


    After exchanging a few words, Barry Diller asked him why did hee .


    Eric did note up with any way to soften the blow on the way here, so he could only directly say: "Mr . Diller, I''m afraid my next film will not be released by Fox . "


    Barry Diller was sure he didn''t hear wrong, his eyebrows immediately wrinkled, Both his eyes narrowed . He has just heard some bad news from the manager of Fox TV . and Unexpectedly, when he haven''t recovered from the blow yet, bad newses again .


    "Eric, do you want to break the contract? Have you ever thought about the consequences of doing so?"


    Since the matter was on the table, Eric was no longer indecisive, looking straight at Barry Diller''s eyes, he said: "Mr .


    Diller, I do not intend to breach of contract, the contract does not prohibit me from working with other filmpanies, and also there''s no specific schedule for the three movies, so I just need to deliver them by the end of the year . "


    Barry was slightly stunned for a moment, a touch of remorse showed on his face .


    He signed the contract himself . It was Fawkes''s negligence by not prohibiting him from working with other filmpanies that led to this . Because when they were drafting the contract, most of their attention was on getting "Home Alone" sequel .


    And Eric''s only signed the three movies contract, in Hollywood very few directors can guide three films a year, and most directors can only maintain the speed of one movie a year, and some of them take two years . Who would have thought that the young had so much energy? .


    But there was no rule in the contract that specify the film schedule, this was done intentionally by Fox .


    When drafting the contract, at that time Fox wasn''t too optimistic about Eric two films, so, although Eric specifically mentioned the scheduling problem, he wanted to issue all three movies on the popr holiday schedule, which led to him having a little argument with Barry Diller at that time .


    But Fox finally refused to specify the schedule for a variety of reasons .


    Fox also had their own ideas, once they weren''t optimistic about Eric first two movies, Fox could easily put the two films in the spring or fall season, so the films won''t upy too much of Fox resources, and also sessfully fulfill the contract .


    Who would have that Eric''s next film "Pretty Woman" would once again create a such great sess story, leading everyone to stop doubting the young man ability to make great films . Now many fans are starting to look forward to his next movie .


    Now, the atmosphere in the office be somewhat stagnant, when Eric had just said his words, Barry Diller found that, in the past he was proud he rejected Eric schedule requirements, but now his decision has be a big coc.o.o.n, wrapped around him .


    "Eric, are you not satisfied with your 35 percent share ? "Pretty Woman" cost you only $7 million, if you subtract the $1 million from Lamborghini advertising sponsorship, the actual cost of the film drop down to $6 million .


    So far the cost paid by Fox in publicity has been more than 15 million US dors, that''s 2 . 5 times of the cost of your film, 2 . 5 times! And we only get to take 20 percent of the profits .


    With this kind of profit division . Is there anything you''re not satisfied with?"


    At the end of the speech, Barry Diller spoke almost with a roar, his whole body exudes a threatening feeling .


    He had juste back from Europest night, after few days of travelling he was very tired, and haven''t had good night sleep in a long time, aftering back this morning to Fox headquarters he heard that the TV department was being strangled by the joint effort of the three big TV stations, their ratings were miserable .


    The manager of Fox TV station had just been scolded and kicked out of the office, but after getting told this bad news again, all the suppressed anger erupted again .


    Eric was not scared or by Barry Diller anger, he retorted coolly: "Mr .


    Diller, although Fox paid $15 million in advertising, but in exchange Fox got $80 millions in profits, so I don''t owe you anything, to tell you the truth, when I came, I was very anxious, I didn''t want to have a fight with you, I just wanted to talk . "


    Seeing the young boy opposite him wasn''t scared by his roar, and immediately started contradicting his words, Barry Diller quickly calmed down, and found that his ability to control his emotions wasn''t as good as the young man in front of him .


    Reflecting on himself, Barry Diller sat back in his big office chair, and took a few deep breaths . With eyes still staring at Eric, he said: "Okay, Eric, you . . .


    . . . What are the new conditions?


    Let''s talk about that first?"


    Eric realized that Barry Diller didn''t fully understand what he meant, so he started exining: "Mr . Diller, I did not want to revise the contract . . .


    . . . Like I said, I do not want to put on airs to get more benefits from Fox .


    Someone give me some conditions I can''t refuse, to get distribution rights of my next movie?"


    Barry Diller has been in Hollywood for many years, and now after he calmed down, he quickly was able to think of a possibility, after a moment of silence, he asked: "Is it Columbia?"


    Eric nodded .


    Barry Diller bowed his head and silently pulled out a cigarette, lit it and took a deep breath . Since Colombia have been able to convince Eric, then that means that their conditions are really good .


    All Columbia trying to do now is raise their stock price even at a loose, to get more benefits from the j.a.panese .


    At this time, he was sure that Columbia in order to get Eric''s next film, was giving him some crazy conditions .

 Chapter 97: TV series

    After taking a few mouthfuls of smoke, Barry Diller extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray, and said: "It looks like you won''t change your mind . "


    "Mr . Diller, I could have just made a random low cost film toplete the contract, instead ofing here tomunicate with you . If I didn''t care about quality, then, ten days is enough to make a movie . "


    Barry Diller know that this teenager have an iron heart, and will not change his decision . Although his mind also produced the idea of making things hard for the little guy . However, Barry Diller quickly rejected the idea .


    Once he did that, then the same thing that happened with Columbia will happen again, leading their cooperation to end .


    The other day when he heard that Columbia President Blunt Cohen was suddenly removed from his position, he was sure that CocC board off directors was responsible for him leaving, but since he knows they were trying to sell Columbia, he thought that was an unnecessary move .


    Now he understood that they did that to remove an obstacle that can stop them from re-establishing cooperation with this young boy .


    If he did something right now, to mess with the young man, then after this teenagerplete the contract, the rtionship between them will be destroyed, making Fox lose this gold mine .


    Determining that things are irreversible, Barry Diller quickly thought of trying to get some extra benefit topensate for the loss: "Eric, You should understand that by doing that, you''re putting Fox out of the summer box officepet.i.tion .


    Although your approach did not vite the contract, but that still hurt us . To cate Fox shareholders, perhaps the original contract should be modified?"


    After hearing what Barry Diller said, Eric immediately refused: "Mr . Diller, the contract will definitely not be modified, I will not make anypromises when ites to dividing the profits . I just said I don''t owe Fox anything .


    The reason why I''m sitting here and discussing these things with you is that I don''t want the rtionship between the two sides to be deadlocked . We can only discuss a win-winpensation strategy, rather than harm the interests of either party . That way our cooperation canst longer . "


    "Well, I''m sure you already have ns?"


    Eric nodded: "Yes, my Fireflypany has just developed ns for three other films, Fox can choose one of them to be released . "


    Barry Diller almost wanted tough, is this apensation? if Fox wanted to release a film, as long as they announce it, stand alone studios woulde running to their door steps .


    Barry Diller suddenly thought of Fox TV manager that have been driven out by him a few minutes ago, a new ideae to him: "Eric, are you interested in making a TV series?"


    When Eric heard the words TV series, in his mind directly emerged the image of a stubborn little girl figure who is in New York right now .


    In his past life, for the ten years that "Friends" was on air, Warner was able to earn more than 4 billion dors in profits, Eric wasn''t going to let this TV show get out of his hands, although he didn''t watch all the ten seasons, but he has seen the first two seasons, and by virtue of the cheat he got after his rebirth, every thing was clearly engraved in his mind .


    And as long as the first season seed, he can find writers to continue writing the following seasons?


    "Mr . Diller, I actually had some ideas for a TV series already .


    But maybe I didn''t say it before, those three films made by fireflies, although I''m not the one directing them, But two of them I personally wrote their script, and also I will serve as producer, and have the rights to the final cut of the film, which is equal me shooting the films myself .


    And I intend to let Julia star in one of them as the heroine, and with Julia box office appeal, there''s no doubt that the film will seed . "


    After Barry Diller listened to Eric words, without hesitation he said: "No problem, Eric, the three films Fox can take them as a package, as for the TV series as long as you write the script we can produce it . "


    Although Barry Diller a.s.sumed a seemingly generous appearance, Eric could still hear the excitement in his tone, Obviously Barry Diller also judged the value of the three films .


    . . . .


    . .


    Eric had no intention of releasing the three films himself, he wanted to get the full potentials of those films, rather than using them to as cannon fodder to expand his distribution channels .


    But simrly, he didn''t n to give all his three films to the same filmpany to release, not even to Fox . He knew that if he gives them too much, gradually, the other side will take it for granted . And once you stop giving them things anymore, they will start to hate you .


    In fact, Barry Diller had already started showing signs of this . Eric''s actions did not vite the contract, nut Barry Diller felt that Fox suffered a major loss .


    Shaking his head, Eric raised a finger: "Mr . Diller, a TV series, or a movie, you can only get one as apensation . I''m very confident about the box office potential of those three movies, No less than the movies I directed myself .


    So, if Fox took too much, I''m afraid your publishing capacity will not be able to keep up . "


    Barry Diller quickly figure out another solution: "Eric, how about a TV series plus a movie . "


    "A TV series, or a movie . "


    "Eric . . . .


    . . "


    " . . . .


    . . "


    The two men argued in the office for a long time, and finally, because of his ambition to grow the TVworks, Barry Diller chose the TV series, if it wasn''t for the development of a TVwork, Barry Diller will not leave paramount, so Eric was not surprised by his choice .


    But the other side didn''t easily let go of Eric, he forced him to promise to personally guide the first two episodes of the TV series .


    Eric didn''t think that Barry Diller was able toe up with such a forward-looking idea .


    More than 10 yearster, Inviting famous Hollywood directors to guide the first few episodes, has be a popr trend in America, after the strong rise of TV dramas in the 21st century, Hollywood directors have also put down their airs, and started directing TV Pilots .


    In fact, Barry Diller isn''t so far-sighted as Eric thought, Asking a famous Hollywood director to shoot a TV drama, Barry Diller himself would think it was a ridiculous idea . In this era, It''s a bad thing for a movie director to shoot a TV drama .


    TV directors has always been switching to directing films, but rarely has the reverse happened .


    The reason why he asked him to guide the first two episodes, waspletely because he didn''t get the right to release the film, out of a vindictive mentality, he wanted to put Eric in an embarra.s.sing position .


    But unexpectedly, the other side nodded in agreement after thinking about it for just a moment, in ordance with the current mentality of Hollywood directors, The news that Eric is directing a TV series, will cause the criticism of the media and the die-hard directors .


    Barry Diller had no idea that his rude demand, willter cause such a great sensation, even making it a trend that big Hollywood directors will start guiding TV pilots to prove themselves .


    After reaching an agreement with Fox, Ericpletely put aside his concerns, and reached a cooperation agreement with Columbia soon after that .


    And since the other side was so generous, Eric directly raised the production budget to $40 million, and even if in the future they add $20 million in advertising, ording to Colombia''s 25 percent split, if the North American box office reach $240 million, Columbia will be able to recover the cost, of course, if you count the overseas box office earnings, Maybe this figure will fall to $200 million .


    Eric estimated that Columbia simply didn''t intend to recover the cost, as long as the box office sales, give the investors a false vision of the future, the stock price will go up, if the stock price rises by one dor, Columbia''s market value will increase by 180 million directly .


    And all that money will be paid by SONY .


    In this case, Eric didn''t n on giving up "Running Out of Time" copyrights, he ned to share the copyrights between firefly and Columbia in half . After all, they paid so much money, It would be cruel not give back after taking so much .


    And although the film ends with the hero dying, but as long as the film seed, then like in his past life, they can rece the hero with another actor for a sequel .

 Chapter 98: Two Superstars

    An obscure ck business car parked in Firefly''s office building parking lot, a tall man with sun.s.ses on and curly ck hair and his agent got off the car, and hastily walked inside the office building .


    Across the street, Johnny, the owner of a convenience store, nced idly through the .s.s window and immediately recognized the man ident.i.ty, Tom Hanks .


    Johnny is also a movie fan, almost every week he go to the cinema to watch a movie or two, although he was almost forty years old, past the age of chasing celebrity''s, he was still familiar with the big and small stars in Hollywood, such as Tom Hanks, although he was only wearing sun.s.ses, he had no intention to disguise himself, that''s way Johnny could recognize him with just a nce .


    In the big and small movie studios in Burbank, it''s normal to run into one or two big stars, Johnny didn''t feel anything weird was going on .


    He knew that the owner of the filmpany opposite his shop is thetest Hollywood upstart Eric Williams, he thought perhaps Tom Hanks and the little miracle kid will be working together on a new film .


    After five or six minutester, when Johnny was entertaining a few customers, he saw another business car parked across the street .


    Curious, Johnny fixed his eyes on the door, and soon another two people came out from the car . A man wearing sun.s.ses and a woman, Although this man was slightly shorter than Tom Hanks, his reputation in Hollywood was much higher than Hanks .


    it is one of the most popr star in Hollywood, Tom Cruise .


    "Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise" Johnny touched his chin and thought, perhaps the paparazzi might be interested in this .


    If a single persones here, then it''s hardly news, although the the paparazzi pay attention to every move of Hollywood stars, but they aren''t particrly interested in their normal daily activities .


    Who have time to focus on where a star by his clothes or what restaurant he go to or who he meets, unless you are a stalker . All the paparazzi care about now is what they are working on, s.e.x scandals, divorce, drug abuse, arrest . . .


    . . . Any star that have this problems will be besieged by the paparazzi .


    When "Home Alone" was originally released, Eric was chased all over by the paparazzi, because at that time, the public was interested in this small young director, if a newspaper carry Eric news, curious people will rush to buy it .


    But now, the two hottest stars in Hollywood appeared in firefly studios, and coincidentally, the two of them were named Tom, because of their simr age, Hanks hasn''t suffered much yet, but the two of them are in apet.i.tive position in the acting circle, he was sure the news of them and the young director getting together is certainly a worthy topic in the entertainment news .


    After Johnny thought these thing, he excitedly found a tabloid newspaper, to get the number of the newspaper hotline . In order for the newspapers to collect news materials, many newspapers pay a certain amount of money to those who provide clues .


    Johnny certainly didn''t call the Los Angeles times or any well-knownrge newspaper, Because they aren''t short of news, and their price wouldn''t satisfy him .


    "h.e.l.lo, is this the Hollywood Reporter? . . .


    . . . Yes, I have a big story .


    . . . .


    . "


    A few minutester, Johnny excitedly put down the phone, "Hollywood Reporter" was keen to judge the great value of the news, so they generously paid Johnny $500 .


    But the condition was that Johnny could not sell this news to other newspapers, after Haggling over the price, he finally got 700 dors, for Johnny who work at a small convenience store, this was a windfall .


    In less than twenty minutes, the paparazzi sent by the newspaper rushed over, after learning from Johnny that Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks has not left yet, they readily paid him . Then patiently waited outside firefly office building .


    After reaching an agreement with Columbia, Eric started contacting the two leading men .


    After the sess of three consecutive films, Hollywood is no longer discriminating against Eric''s age, and no star will directly reject Eric''s invitation to cooperate, even superstars like Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks are no exception .


    More so, after reading the script outline, the two stars were keenly aware of how wonderful this story is, In this case, there is no reason to refuse .


    Before, both of them were not aware that the other party had also received an invitation . But after Hanks offered to y the robber, and Cruise made a list of his own modifications to the script . so Eric revealed the new to the two of them, and was hoping to talk to them face to face .


    The two Toms also know, if they can sessfully cooperate, with the fame of the three of them, the box office appeal will be immeasurable . Not to mention "Running Out of Time" wonderful story, perhaps this film can be just like Eric first two movies, and once again create a box office miracle .


    Everyone wants to be a protagonist of a box office blockbuster, hence today''s meeting .


    . . . .


    . .


    Eric, Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise sat alone in a Conference room, Jeffrey and the two Tom''s agents were waiting outside, Although Cruise and Hanks are now CAA''s artists, but after arriving at their present level, the CAA almost have no constraints on them .


    So the two agents can only obediently do their job, and dare not ce obstacles in his way .


    Of course, once theypletely determine to cooperate and the fee negotiations timee, the two brokers who are eagerly waiting for that moment toe, will show their true colors .


    Eric put theplete script in front of Cruise and Hanks, until now the two stars only read the outline of the script . It took them half an hour to read the full script, after finishing Hanks touched his face smiled and said: "Eric, I now know that I''m not suited for ying Andy .


    If I wanted to change my appearance to a woman, the difficulty is indeed a little big . "


    Ericughed, but Tom Cruise did not seem to hear Hanks joke, he still had a slight frown on his face: "Eric, I still find it more appropriate to change the plot, in the scenario setting, Andy is a make up artist, then having him disguise himself as another man will also be a good choice, right?"


    Sitting opposite Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks felt that Cruise''s behavior is too conservative, dressing as a woman is not a serious thing, as an actor, even if the director makes you dress like a dog, as long as the request is perfectly logical and reasonable, he will do it .


    He has just done some a.n.a.lysis of the script, this plot is not done deliberately, Andy dressing as a woman was done to let the viin rx his vignce, Andy dressed as a woman ande to the transaction ce with a second man to pick up the ransom from the viin .


    if he was a dressed like a man, he felt that the viin is more likely take the gun and kill them . Two men appearing at the scene of the transaction, isn''t that weird?

 Chapter 99: Temptation

    However, Tom Hanks also know why Cruise was so careful, the other side has been taking the idol route, if he suddenly appeared on the screen dressed as a woman, it''s likely to cause some fans to be unhappy.


    Eric did not immediately answer Tom Cruise''s request, but instead asked: "Tom, if I remember correctly, you should be 27 years old, right?"


    Tom Cruise nodded and said in a proud voice: "I started making movies at the age of sixteen, when I was younger than you . By now, it''s been almost ten years . "


    As a kid who grow up in a single parent family, and be a Hollywood superstar in only ten years, by virtue of his own diligence and hard work, and without any background help, Tom Cruise was very proud of himself .


    "Well, Cruise, Every actor needs to undergo a transformation . Especially an actor who''s taking the idol route . Hollywood actors have a longer shelf life than actresses, they don''t need to expand their range when they go over the thirty-year-old mark .


    But someday the situation wille, so I think, this is an opportunity for you, to show that you are attempting to change . "


    Cruise retorted: "Eric, there are many kinds of things to try, not necessarily ying a woman . Actually, the question you said just now, I''ve been thinking about it, and my agent also rmended some types of films to me . "


    Eric shook his head slowly and said: "It''s the same as never changing, In all the movies you starred in before, many are biased towards literature and art, but till now you didn''t get an Oscar nomination, the reason is that although those movies were excellent, but your screen image hasn''t changed much .


    Think about it from this angle, it''s been ten years since you debuted, and you haven''t got any Oscar nomination, don''t you want to get the recognition of the academy?


    I think, if you y this role well, coupled with this small sacrifice, the Academy will at least give you the nomination for the best actor . "


    In his past life, Andy Lau by virtue of "Running Out of Time", he won the Hong Kong film award for the first time, fulfilling the wish he had for many years . This was a result of Andy Lau''s good acting, and his boldness in ying this important role .


    The Oscar is a ridge every member of Hollywood can''t go around, and as long as someone is a member of Hollywood, It''s impossible for him to be indifferent to the Oscar .


    Especially the actors, In order to get the Oscar''s recognition, acting girly is the lightest thing you can do, self-destruction of your image is moremonce, whether it''s acting like a psychotic or a killer, as long as you can win the prize, then anything is possible .


    In his past life, the beautiful Charlize Theron in order to win the Oscar, she got fatter, shaved her eyebrows, and resorted to every conceivable means, and she ended up getting the Oscar for her role in "Monster" .


    Poor Leonardo DiCaprio worked so hard to get his Oscar, the movies he stared in were all different from each other, to the point that the perfect image he had after "t.i.tanic" waspletely chattered in the hearts of his fans .


    Sure enough, after Eric finished, Tom Cruise no longer directly rejected, but got into a short silence . How could he not know where his problem was?, but he was reluctant to admit it, and didn''t dare to change .


    He crawled up from the bottom, and was more afraid of failure than those born in a good background, no one wants to go back to their old days of life . The fear of falling again almost made Cruise forget, with his present status in Hollywood, he has qualified for a failure .


    But the Oscar temptation was huge, Cruise has been working in Hollywood for ten years, if he didn''t understand the meaning of the Oscar, then it will be impossible for him to reach today sess .


    Eric was keen to seize the shaken Cruise, he lost no time to add fuel to the fire: "Cruise, the role of Andy, in my opinion, is a more of a tragic figure than the count of Monte Cristo, he was left with only a few weeks left to live, and in order to get revenge for his father, he yed a desperate chasing game with Sean, if he slightly neglected anything in his ns he may suffer a big lose .


    In this case, the audience will pay more attention to Andy''s final fate than what he is wearing . "


    "I arranged for him to dress as a woman in order to promote the development of the story, not to make a vulgaredy that deliberately destroy the image of the actor, just to amuse the audience, this is a very serious performance, I think, as long as it is your fans, they will understand"


    After a full two minutes of silence, perhaps because of Eric''s words yed a role, or perhaps the Oscar temptation ovee the worries in his heart . Finally, Tom Cruise nodded slightly .


    This matter settled, the atmosphere in the conference room lightened a lot .


    Cruise and Hanks began expressing their views on some of the details in the script, Tom Hanks thought that Sean''s character in the script was slightly blurred, he asked why didn''t Sean like the female executive from the Interpol who was interested in him? . . .


    . . . No girls, no nightclubs, even workaholics need to marry and settle down?


    And why will a powerful elite police officer, be delegated to a small police station .


    Because the time was tight, Eric spent only one day to write the script, all is ording to the memory of the movie in his mind, and didn''t do too much modification . Some of the bugs found by Cruise and Hanks, Eric has thought about them too, but he just didn''t have the time to change them yet .


    Although Cruise always seemed to act superior and talk in an arrogant tone to Eric because he was younger than him, and Hanks likes to ask about the details of the love life of the character almost rendering Eric speechless .


    Eric was still very patient with the two actors, after all, the two of them have partic.i.p.ated in many Hollywood movies, with them partic.i.p.ating in the script revision, Eric will not only save a lot of energy, but he can also ensure that the script will adapt more to the rhythm of Hollywood films .


    . . . .


    . .


    "Hey, Johnny, you wouldn''t be wrong, It''s been almost four hours . Why haven''t Tom Cruise and Tom Hankse out yet?"


    Outside the firefly office building the paparazzi were squatting for nearly four hours, ''Hollywood Reporter'' paparazzi Kent finally couldn''t help but go back to the convenience store to ask Johnny .


    Although the paparazzi for the news, can stay overnight in front of the doors of Hollywood superstars, but that''s in the case they had a clear target .


    Now, he did not see the shadow of the two stars, he couldn''t figure it out, why would Cruise and Hanks spend the whole morning in firefly office . Therefore, suspicion is unavoidable .


    "No, no, Mr . reporter, I promise I didn''t make a mistake . You see the two cars over there, the one on the left is Tom Cruise, and the one on the right is Tom Hanks car . It''s almost noon now, they will definitelye out for lunch .


    "


    "All right" Kent yed with the camera on his chest, and said: "I hope you are not mistaken, That will make everyone unhappy . Otherwise, the 700 dors will be returned . "


    Johnny subconsciously covered his pocket, and swore .


    "Then I''ll wait a little longer, do you have soda? Give me a bottle, please . "


    "Yes," Johnny nodded quickly, he was about to go and fetch the soda for Kent, when he suddenly saw the other three paparazzi stood up and pounced toward the door of the firefly office building .


    "Mr . reporter, they are out . "


    Kent turned around and found his colleagues outside the door rushing across the street, cursing, he quickly rushed out the door . Although they belong to the same tabloid, the editor will pick just one picture, and the one who take the best picture, will get themission .

 Chapter 100: Too much

    "Eric Williams secret meeting with Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, to negotiate the new film deal .


    " This was the headlines on the front page of the "Hollywood Reporter" the second day after their meeting, apanied by a picture of Eric, Cruise and Hanks side by side walking out of Firefly office building .


    In the picture, Eric was wearing a gray sports suit, he looked just like a high school student, Tom Cruise was wearing a ck casual jacket not b.u.t.toned up, revealing the white T-shirt below . Only Tom Hanks was properly dressed in a ck suit and tie, looking like an office worker .


    Because they talked about the script all morning, the two superstars rxed their vignce when they left, they didn''t wear their sun.s.ses, so the faces of the three of them were quite clear, they were talking to each other and walking towards the door, the shot was captured by a lucky paparazzi .


    . . . .


    . .


    "Around eight a . m . yesterday morning, it was found that Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks the two superstars have visited director Eric Williams''s firefly filmpany office .


    Our reporter received the news and quickly arrived at the location, after four hours of waiting, Eric Williams and Cruise and Hanks finally walked out from the building, from the photo the facial expressions of the three, we can deduce that the meeting was quite enjoyable .


    Although the three did not ept the reporter interview, instead, they left in a hurry . But ording to some clues from an insider, the meeting is rted to a new film Eric Williams is preparing .


    Since the actor and screenwriter debuted in the film "17 Again"st year, Eric Williams suddenly broke into the Hollywood director''s circle, by directing the first low-costedy Film "Home Alone" to reach the 100 million box office club .


    When a lot of people attributed the teenager''s sess to luck, only four monthster, Eric Williams second romanticedy film "Pretty Woman" was released again, the first week box office was close to $30 million,pletely Proving the young director''s strength .


    In the first movie "Home Alone", Eric Williams took a group of TV actors and the little boy that lived next door to him, and created a stunning box office miracle, as for the second film that starred, Al Pacino who won a few Oscar nominations, but he has been in the shadow for four years, and had close to zero box office appeal .


    And Julia Roberts who only yed a small role in low budgetedy, but Eric took the two people and sent them to the top ranks of Hollywood .


    And this time, the young director chose two Hollywood level actors, we have no doubt that the lower film will once again create a box office miracle .


    However, Although the three people appear very happy in the photo, and give a positive appearance to this cooperation, but we have to mention that Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks now belong to CAA the brokerage firm .


    And it is well-known that, Eric Williams early acquisition of a well-known brokeragepany, has angered the high levels at CAA, during "Pretty woman" casting, CAA has also blocked its artist Richard Gere from cooperating with Eric Williams, and did not hesitate topensate Richard Gere by giving him a MGM - United States big production film .


    In this case, we can imagine, Eric Williams''s cooperation with the two Tom will be full with twists and turns . Of course, Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks has enough strength to ignore CAA''s Ban on Firefly-film .


    After all, the two are now Hollywood level superstars, even if they lost the support of CAA, their careers will not suffer too much .


    Moreover, from the influence of Eric Williams''s first two works, his new work is likely to bring the career of the two stars to a new high .


    I believe that in Hollywood, no actor can resist such temptation, but I do not know if CAA''s seniors have not enough courage, to once again, strongly resist this cooperation .


    Thest incident led Mr . Richard Gere to lose the chance to break into ranks of level actors, and ording to the recent critics preview of the film "Road House", the prospect of the film isn''t very promising, there is little chance of a box office miracle .


    This film is clearly not enough of apensation for Mr . Richard Gere loss of "Pretty woman" . So what would Cruise and Hanks choose?, and how would CAA handle Williams''s invitation? Let''s wait and see .


    "


    Eric smiled and threw the newspaper on the table, he really wanted to blow up the editor who wrote this ma.n.u.script .


    Before, Michael Ovitz only increased the two superstars paycheck to express his dissatisfaction, but now it won''t be the same asst time, he was sure he will try to obstruct the cooperation between the two sides .


    After all, now the rise of UTA has been unstoppable, and with what Michael Ovitz did before, not only the loss outweighed the gain, their feud spread out to the public .


    Michael Ovitz can be considered a narrow-minded person, and the more narrow-minded people are, the more fearful and hateful they will be against others .


    If in the future they sessfully signed the contracts, even if their was infighting in private, but in the public mind, the two sides shook hands, even if they still have a strong animosity, this will be good for the public image of both Eric and the CAA .


    But now after such a provocative tabloid article, if this cooperation was sessful, the t.i.tle of ''Hollywood''s most powerful figure'' Michael Ovitz got will turn into a joke .


    Sure enough, the next day after ''The Hollywood Reporter'' published the article, Eric received the bad news .


    "That''s really too much, The price of US $6 million fee is pa.s.sable, but they also want twenty percent of North America bow office profits after the movie is released .


    Everyone who worked in Hollywood for a few years, have never heard of any actor who will put forward such presumptuous conditions . Eric, do you have to use Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks? They should know that other brokerage firms also have top of the line actors .


    Or you can y a role in the film, and self-direct . " Jeffrey after talking to Cruise and Hanks''s agent,e back to Eric office, and startedining .


    Although Eric has expected such thing to happen, but he was shocked by the conditions put forward by the two agents . Hollywood stars asking for a share of the profits, The bad habit started with Tom Cruise .


    Later, the fee plus profit sharing model has gradually be a popr mode of charging in his past life, in proportion usually between 10% and 20% .


    The so-called profit sharing, of the box office is divided into two concepts, Specifically, the producer gets his share of the box office, That''s part of the profit minus the production cost, minus the proportions required by the actors, that''s what the actors can get .


    What''s more, the profit sharing is divided into two categories, the global box office and the North American box office .


    Although Cruise and Hanks''s agents haven''t lost their heads and proposed the global profit sharing, but even after many years, it was not so easy for an actor to get such conditions . And to get such a high percentage the actor will have to give up something in exchange .


    For example, in his past life Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean",pletely abandon his paycheck, in exchange for getting a higher proportion of the profits .


    But now this model of charging has only just begun, When Tom Cruise shot hisst movie "Rain Man", he put forward this whimsical payment model, and because of Tom Cruise strong box office appeal, and the cost of production of "Rain Man" isn''t high, the producer thought that as long Cruise joins them, the film can easily make profit .


    So he agreed to Cruise''s demand, but Cruise also had to lower his fee . What''s more, the profit sharing ratio was only 10 percent .

 Chapter 101: Ill build a piece of art for you

    Looking at the angry man in front of him, Eric had to get up, and pour him a .s.s of water, after waiting for Jeffrey to finish drinking, he said: " All right, Jeffrey, can''t you see it, this is just a ploy so CAA don''t lose face .


    If they keep insisting on twenty percent of the profits, then there''s no need to keep talking about cooperation . But if you calm down and think about it, you''ll find that CAA just want to drag on for a period of time?"


    "Why do they want to dy the time?" Jeffrey obviously did not calm down, he poured himself another .s.s of water and asked .


    "Because they want to save face, some time ago, the ''Premiere Magazine'' produced a list of Hollywood power rankings, Michael Ovitz came first, Even Barry Diller and Michael Eisner at the helm of these film giants can only be ranked behind him .


    If you have just won this t.i.tle, and the two stars under your hand, started cooperating with the man you previously put a ban on, wouldn''t you loose face as the most powerful man in Hollywood . "


    Jeffrey sighed in relief: "That''s fine, I thought the other side really wanted to split the profits, this is too messy . "


    Eric said solemnly: "Jeffrey, Maybe you should start epting the stars paychecks slowly raising, in addition to them getting a big part of the profits . Because after Tom Cruise tried this model in the movie "Rain Man" and seeded, other Hollywood stars are likely to follow suit . "


    "Two people, getting 40% of the gross profit . Do they want to make more money than we do? We will only have 60% remaining, and we have to pay other expenses . "


    In fact, Eric also thought of this problem, he felt that perhaps this may be an opportunity, to help his own interests, he was destined to join the Hollywood film producers Union in the future, so he must stand on the opposite side of the actors .


    Tom Cruise "Rain Man" is just an attempt to give the actors a new fee charging mode, "Running Out of Time" negotiations is likely to be the reference for many top Hollywood stars in the future . So, the lower their percentage of profits, the better .


    If he can control this ratio between 5% and 10%, then once it bes a standard, the .u.mted expenses that will be saved in the future, would be an astronomical figure . Although Eric did not know whether this would seed or not, he would have to give it a try .


    "Jeffrey, don''t worry about this matter, just talk to them slowly, don''t let them think they can get 20%, and try to reduce the $6 million paycheck, and tell them if they want a cut of the profits they will have to reduce their fee, they can''t eat their cake and have it, too . "


    Jeffrey was still not willing to reconcile: "Eric, why not bypa.s.s the brokers, and talk to Cruise and Hanks''s alone, didn''t you have a good time with them that day?"


    Eric smiled and pulled out "Hollywood Reporter" newspaper, and shook it in front of Jeffrey, and said: "They are CAA''s artists, I don''t have a particrly good friendship with them now, they can promise to star in "Running Out of Time", but they won''t make Michael Ovitz loose face .


    Besides, they won''t object to CAA''s efforts to get them more benefits, right?"


    Instead of refuting, Jeffrey asked: "Eric, tell me exactly what you think I should do . It''s the first time I''ve ever encountered this kind of thing, I can''t drag things indefinitely, but as the boss, you''re the one who will have to make the final decision .


    So you''d better give me a baseline data reference, so when I start negotiating with them, I will have a sense of propriety . "


    Eric thought for a moment and said: "I heard that in "Rain Man" Tom Cruise in order to get the contract, he had to take the initiative to reduce his fee .


    As for the bottom line, as long as Cruise and Hanks fee doesn''t exceed $5 million, and their cut of the profits is between 5% and 10%, then I''ll ept . Remember absolutely no more than 10% . "


    "All right . I''ll keep that in mind . " Jeffrey noted down what Eric said .


    Noticing that Jeffrey was still depressed, Eric patted him on the shoulder and said: "Well, Jeffrey, don''t worry about it anymore .


    Although, because of this new fee model, we lose part of our profit, but we can get it back from somewhere else, And that part of the profit doesn''t have to be split up with the actors, We can even charge more under the banner of the actor .


    "You mean? . . .


    . . . Imnted ads?"


    "Bingo!" Eric snapped his fingers: ""Running Out of Time" This kind of film is very suitable for imnting ads . I saw it in the newspaper, Lamborghini because of the Ad imnted in "Pretty Woman", this year''s sports car sales has increased three times more than in previous years,


    The new Lamborghini Countach sports car is not even on the market yet, and already hundreds of orders have been received . "


    "This is really a good idea" Jeffrey finally showed a smile, and subconsciously looked at the script, wanting to find in which ce they can imnt the Ads, Eric pulled out a piece of paper and gave it to Geoffrey: "Stop searching . I already found the ces . "


    After Jeffrey took the paper and looked at the long list, his mouth slightly opened .


    Mobile phone, walkie talkie, sport car, boxed cookies, sun.s.ses, camera, nes,ic magazine . . .


    "Eric, isn''t this, a bit exaggerated?"


    Eric felt that he still has integritypared to the directors from his previous life, at least he isn''t spending $200 million on a three-hour Ad, he just used the plot cleverly to put in the Ads, Instead of changing the story for advertising .


    "Jeffrey, in fact, I just wrote them down when I thought of them .


    There will be a lot of walkie-talkies and mobile phones in the movie, So mobile phones and walkie-talkie ads can be packaged to amunication''s equipmentpany, Motor, for example, I heard that Motor is about to introduce a new small mobile phone, Only palm sized .


    I believe with the previous example of Lamborghini, plus Cruise and Hanks the two superstars, Motor will easily pay millions of dors as advertising fees . If their price is too low, then find their old rival, Ericsson .


    As for the sports car, keep in touch with Lamborghini, presumably the other side will not refuse . "


    Jeffrey pointed to the list and asked: "What about the boxed cookies?"


    Eric exined: "Didn''t you read the script? In the movie, Andy nted several bombs, they were all fake, these bombs were made in boxes, not only will there be close-ups of the box in the film, there will also be rted lines, so it''s also a very important cement Ad .


    As for the sun.s.ses and cameras, they are all used in the movie, so you can also pull some small sponsorship fees . "


    Eric, aren''t you worried that inserting too much advertising will cause resentment from the audience?"


    "No," Eric said confidently! "None of these ads are deliberate, so the audience won''t feel any difort .


    Of course, because there are a lot of imnted Ads this time, goodmunication with the sponsors is required, not like thest time with Lamborghini, before the film is released, we don''t want the sponsors to reveal themselves . "


    Jeffrey noticed something wrong, puzzled he asked: "The cement of the Ad is not prominent, and they shouldn''t publicize it, if I''m a sponsor, I''m sure I won''t pay for it . "


    "It''s not that they shouldn''t announce it .


    " Said Eric patiently: "I meant, before the movie release, they can''t promote it, otherwise, even if I did not deliberately imnt the Ads, the audience will regard it as deliberate, this preconceived idea will subconsciously cause the audience to be disgusted with the film .


    But as soon as the film is released, after word of mouth is out, we can then hype up the ads, wish will not only y the effect of free publicity, but also attract the audience who are curious about the imnted advertising scenes in the movie and went back into the cinema again, thus increasing the movie box office .


    "


    Jeffrey revealed a meaningful smile, and said: "Eric, I feel like I''m sitting in front of a merchant of Venice . "


    "Is that sarcasm?"


    "Yes, but I added a lot of praise and admiration emotions in the inside . " Jeffreyughed .


    "Oh, Lord Jeffrey, how very generous of you . " Eric answered with an English ent andughed .


    After the joke, Eric looked at his watch and said: "I have another appointment, so . . . .


    . . "


    Jeffrey did not wait for Eric to speak out and quickly replied: "You are telling me to go, right?"


    "Smart, never thought that you would figure it out yourself . "


    Jeffrey thought of something for a moment, and asked: "is it a date with a woman?"


    "A man, a very famous architectural designer, his name is Frank Gehry, I saw that he designed a mansion in Malibu for Oracle chairman Larry Allison, so I''m going to ask him to help me . "


    "Are you talking about that piece of rockynd by the beach you spent $5 million to buy?"


    "Why, do you think I spent too much money?" Eric retorted: "Wait until I have sessfully built my Malibu 10880 . people will try to buy it even if I ask for 50 million dors . "


    "To tell you the truth, your willful practice kinda makes me feel relieved, because you''re finally starting to act like boys you age should, otherwise, I will subconsciously start seeing you like one of my peers . Eric, why do you always call that ce Malibu 10880?"


    Eric blinked, and said: "it''s a secret"


    "Tell me, I promise not to tell other people . " Jeffrey curiously looked at Eric .


    "Since it''s a secret, you can''t tell anyone other than myself, you''re also ''other people'' . " Eric of course could not exin to Jeffrey, so he quickly left the office .


    . . . .


    . .


    Michael Jackson''s famed Nevend Ranch had an area of 11 square kilometers, with various buildings, It only cost him $19 . 5 million . Byparison, his piece ofnd is only about 0 .


    06 square kilometers, which is equivalent to 60000 square meters, and he had to spend $5 million to get it, that''s a very big difference in price .


    That''s because of lobbying and his privatewyer additional "public rtions fee", because thend was a public small park and was not avable for sale .


    "Mr . Williams, the drawings of the building you sketched, although very imaginative, but there are too many irrational ces, and the construction is rather difficult, especially to build on the edge of the cliff . " Frank Gehry give his professional eye evaluation of Eric''s drawings .


    The two of them were standing together in the Malibu sharp corner, apanied by Frank Gehry''s a.s.sistant, Eric too wasn''t alone, Virginia happened to be at home, so he called her to act as a guest secretary .


    This ce had already be a private territory belonging to Eric, and he has also obtained a building permit . he can do whatever he wants in thisnd, as long as he doesn''t disturb or anger his neighbors, no one wille to manage him .


    "Mr . Gehry, you mean that the construction is too difficult, that doesn''t mean you can''t build it?"


    Frank Gehry nodded: "But it will cost a lot of money, I don''t think it''s necessary .


    If you must build the mansion here, then I will suggest moving the mansion north by at least ten meters, This will not only greatly reduce the difficulty of the construction, It can also save more than thirty percent of the construction cost .


    In addition, various pipeline lines will be more easily erected . "


    Eric eye shifted to the ce Frank Gehry pointed at, if they built the mansion their a very unpleasant rocky area will block his sea view .


    Shaking his head, Eric refused Frank''s advice: "Mr . Gehry, if I insist, how much will it cost?"


    "I can''t give you a specific figure for the moment, because I don''t have the survey data yet, If you insist on building ording to your own design, we will need lot of geological surveys to be done to test the ground, To determine if the weight of the building can be sustained on the edge of the cliff, If not, we will need to reinforce the ground, that would make things moreplicated and more expensive .


    But I think five million is certainly unavoidable . "


    "Only $5 million?" Eric was skeptical, to buy this piece ofnd he spent $5 million .


    "Mr . Williams, as far as I know, you can by the most expensive house in Malibu at that price . "


    "Sorry, Mr . Gehry, I don''t know much about these things . I would like to take the liberty to ask, If I use $10 million, or even $20 million, What kind of building can be built?"


    In this era, even Microsoft''s president Bill Gates, can''te out with $20 million in cash, after all, most of Bill Gates money is in stocks .


    But the movie industry is different, as long as the box office is good, you can get tens of millions of dors or even hundreds of millions of dors of funds in a rtively short period of time .


    Frank Gehry looked at the boy in front of him with surprised eyes, he thought for a while then said: "In that case, I''ll build a piece of art for you . . . .


    . . Mr Williams, are you sure?"


    "I''m sure, Mr . Gehry, what I want is a piece of art . " Eric replied without hesitation .

 Chapter 102: Two life goals

    After the field visit, Frank Gehry proposed to find a ce to discuss more details, Eric led them directly to the Virginia small vi not far away . Virginia did not show any dissatisfaction with Eric''s action, but quietly invited Frank and his intern a.s.sistant inside her house .


    Frank know in his heart that Virginia is Eric lover, but his expression didn''t show any difference, he felt jealous of the young miracle director enjoyable life .


    Regardless of appearance or body shape, Virginia is a high .s.s woman, and the rarer thing is, she was also extremely well behaved and sensible, such a woman is destined not to cause her man trouble .


    As a renowned architect, he oftenes into contact with the rich and famous celebrities who invite him to design their homes, he asionally saw all sorts of strange things in that secret society, so he got used to it .


    He even saw a rich tyc.o.o.n who kept ves in his estate, not a maids who he have s.e.xual rtionships with, but the real literal female ves, because those girls have been taught to live that way since they were small, to be as obedient as a pet .


    It was Frank new the intern a.s.sistant, who was curiously ncing From time to time between Eric and Virginia . Only after several stern eye warnings from Frank, did he settled down, and started doing his job taking notes .


    Eric bought about six hectares ofnd, after conversion that''s 60000 square meters, the sketch he painted from his memory of iron man Malibu mansion, plus the helipad and other facilities, will only cover a few thousand square meters .


    Therefore, apart from the main building, the rest of the design will be handed over to Frank''s designpany, and will eventually form a small estate of about 14 acres .


    Frank Gehry is a master of deconstruction architecture, many of his designs are very unconstrained, therefore, he has received considerable criticism, but his designs has also been sought after by more and more people .


    After getting Eric''s promise not to limit the budget, Frank was even more daring to y, he proposed to use granite, Special .s.s and High-strength low-alloy steel as the main materials to constructing the mansion, that alone pushed costs directly into more then ten millions dors .


    From Frank''s exnation, Eric learned that those expensive materials are usually used only in some of the city''sndmarks and public buildings . Eric also intended for the mansion to bendmark building for Malibu .


    As for the question of money, for Eric that''s not a problem, the reason he worked so hard to earn so much money was just so he can do whatever he want''s .


    . . . .


    . .


    They kept talking until the evening, Frank Gehry promised toplete the design as soon as possible and send it to Eric


    After he refused an invitation to dinner, he took his a.s.sistant and left .


    After getting on the car, Frank who was on the driver seat sincerely said to his young a.s.sistant: "Scott, In future jobs, you''ll have deal with all kinds of rich and famous celebrities .


    It''s unavoidable that you''ll see and hear some things, but you have to remember, if you don''t want to get into trouble, you''d better control your mouth . "


    Not only was Scott familiar with Eric, he also know that Virginia is a less famous actress, he never thought that the 18 years old young Director was having secret a rtionships with Virginia who was ten years older than him . If this thinge out, he was sure this is going to be a scandal .


    Scott really was going to brag to some friends about this at a party tonight, however, when he heard his boss and mentor stern warning, Scotte bock to his senses, and directly dismissed the idea .


    Even if he sold the news to the paparazzi, the amount of money he will get will be small, and will led to him loosing this new promising job .


    "Mr . Frank, I will remember . "


    Frank patted Scott''s shoulder and didn''t say anything more .


    After sending the two men away, Virginia started cleaning up the empty coffee cups, and casually asked the young man setting on the sofa reading a magazine: "Eric, you brought the two of them to my house, aren''t you afraid they will leak the news?"


    Eric continued looking at the magazine, and answered: "Rest a.s.sured, they won''t"


    "That might not be the case" Virginia retorted from the kitchen while washing the cups: "I think Frank''s a.s.sistant recognized me, I saw his eyes more than once, shifting between the two of us . "


    Eric turned and asked her: "Are you worried about our rtionship getting exposed?"


    Virginia showed Eric a charming smile, and said: "of course not, I can not wait for a scandal to happen, so this unknown little actress can hit the headlines . "


    "Then you should pray that the a.s.sistant sell the news to the paparazzi . " Eric smiled and turned his attention back to the magazine in front of him .


    After Virginia finished washing the cups, she dried her hands and went back to the living room, sitting beside Eric she said: "I''m thinking about you, don''t you have an official girlfriend?, and you are also keeping a Lolita at home, if the news about mee out, aren''t you afraid of the media will start calling you a yboy?"


    "I well be happy to be called a yboy, that''s one of my two life goals . "


    Virginia s.n.a.t.c.hed the magazine from Eric''s hand and threw it aside: "Eric, you seem very sure that they won''t leak the news?"


    Eric picked up the magazine again, and turned the pages back to where he was before, He was interested in an article on women''s dresses and their personality, her little outstretched hand once again blocked his view: "Come on . . . .


    . . all I can tell you is, that Mr . Frank is a very stable man and won''t leak the news .


    as for his a.s.sistant, have you noticed that his suit doesn''t fit, it''s obviously bigger then him?"


    "Uh huh?" Virginia held Eric''s arm, her eyes wide open with curiosity . this expressioning from a mature woman looked very s.e.xy, and also . . .


    . . . very cute .


    Eric could not help but look at the girl''s face for a few seconds, then he continued: "The suit doesn''t fit, it''s unlikely that he borrowed it, because no one wears a borrowed suit for a long time, the suit is more likely to be his father''s .


    That also indicate that his economic situation is not very good, he will definitely cherish his job . . . .


    . . Frank also noticed his eyes on us, he will certainly warn his a.s.sistant not to talk nonsense . .


    . . . .


    Him getting a job as an architect''s a.s.sistant, also indicate that he has a high IQ, and as long as Frank give him a little warning, I''m sure he will keep his mouth shut . "

 Chapter 103: I would never do that (18+)

    "Eric, How can you be so smart, although I found that the assistant suit doesn''t fit him, but I didn''t think of these things . "


    "This is nothing, It''s good to develop the habit of observing and thinking . And I also like reading Sherlock Holmes novels . "


    "Well then" Virginia raised her chin: "Mr. Holmes . Did you find any changes in me?"


    Eric touched her dyed golden brown hair, and said: "I discovered the change long ago, your hair looks very nice, I love it . "


    "Then why are you saying it only after I asked, you know it took me hours to dye my hair . "


    Eric kissed her on the cheek, and said: "well, let''s not talk about this problem anymore . By the way how is your preparation for "The Others" going?"


    "These days I have been carefully reading the script, however, Mr.


    Kapoor isn''t too optimistic about me, he felt that giving me the script is a waste, if you change to an Oscar-level actress like Meryl Streep, or Jodie Foster, perhaps their interpretation of the story can be more exciting, I myself am a little concerned about whether I can y this role well . . . .


    . . Eric, aren''t you preparing a new movie, how about giving me a role in your next film?" she said, looking at Eric with hope in her eyes .


    "Well, then, don''t y this role . " a trace of the smile appeared on his lips: "My new film have a female Interpol role that is just right for you . "


    Virginia was just testing him and didn''t hold too much hope, but unexpectedly, Eric agreed so easily, in disbelief she asked: "Really?"


    Eric nodded: "yes, but I have to tell you first that my next movie is a man show, there is only two female characters and they only have a few scenes . "


    "Ah! . . .


    . . . " Virginia small mouth slightly opened, showing a speechless expression .


    Maybe for those actresses who are still struggling in the bottom of Hollywood, even if it''s just a small role in Eric''s new film, they will do whatever is required to win the role, to get the chance to coborate with Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, even Virginia would have been ecstatic if he gives her this opportunity half a month ago .


    But now it is different, she has a much better choice, she can y a leading role in a wonderful movie .


    Just the thought of giving up this film in exchange for a role as a vase with only a few scenes made her almost shed tears .


    What now? Tell Eric she regrets her decision, and want to y the horror movie again? With the young man shrewd and domineering character, he will likely try to do something perverted to her as punishment .


    Smack . . . .


    . .


    A burning paines from her buttocks, looking up, she found a joking smile on Eric face . Virginia instantly understood, her charade has not escaped Eric''s eyes .


    Well, the good news is . . , he wasn''t angry .


    "You regret it, right?" he asked .


    "Eric, I''m sorry, I was wrong, I don''t want to change the role . " Virginia said in a soft voice, her whole body quickly slipped from the couch, and knelt on the carpet between his legs, she raised her charming little face and looked at him .


    She knew the pervert liked when women are in this submissive posture, so she didn''t hesitate to do it .


    Eric stretched out his hand and pinched her cheek, and said: "Your small brain is not smart enough, a little contentment is best . If you are insatiable, you will end up miserable in the end . Also . .


    . . . .


    don''t really think of me as an 18 years old boy, sure you are ten years older than me, but mentally I''m ten years older than you, Even Jeffrey and Kapoor always feel that I''m their peer . "


    "All right" she nodded .


    "Now with that said, make sure you don''t end up doing something stupid . " Eric continued: "And about the two of us? There can be no future, if you are willing to be my woman, I will always help you in your career .


    And if one day you get tired of me, and want to look for another to get married, tell me in advance, I''ll let you go . But before that, if you are having an affair behind my back with other men, that will be a serious betrayal and a shame to me, so don''t do it . "


    Although Eric didn''t mention what are the consequences of betrayal, but just from the look in his eyes she got a chill, after a few moments of silence, she could only clumsily say: "Eric, I would never do that . "


    "In short, just have a good sense, I won''t force you to do anything you don''t want to do .


    " Eric pulled up the petite girl from between his legs and put it on hisp, kissed her fair neck, and whispered in her ear: "If you do a good job in "The Others", and your acting is good, then getting you several nominations is not impossible . "


    "Uh huh . . . .


    . . " The girl hummed an alluring syble.


    Since Eric called her to act as his secretary, she dressed in a short ck pencil skirt and tight, white shirt, stretching over her big breasts.


    And as he kissed her neck and slid one hand in her skirt, caressing her thigh, he unbuttoned her shirt, revealing her breasts encased in acy red bra.


    He started kissing down her neck, toward her boobs, as he ran his fingers over her panty d pussy.


    He kissed one of her breasts and groped the other one with his hand, as his other hand started to y with her clit, making her moan.


    "UHH..."


    He then let go of her breast, and, sliding his hand in her shirt, unsped her bra, before throwing it away.


    Looking at her big breasts withrge ares and pink cherries on top, he leaned down and ran his tongue over her right nipple, swirling it around, before opening his mouth and taking her breast in his mouth, sucked on it, even as he continued ying with her clit, making breathe in sharply.


    As he felt her thong dampen slightly, he pulled his hand out of her skirt and let go of her breast, before pushing down slightly on her shoulder.


    Virginia, getting the message, stood up, her breasts dangling in her shirt, before kneeling down and crawling between his legs.


    Unbuttoning his pants, she pulled them down and off his legs, revealing his dick.


    Sensually licking her lips, she wrapped her smooth and slender fingers around his shaft, jerking him off and swirling her tongue around the tip.


    Eric leaned back as she took him in her mouth and started to bob her head, her sexy lips stretched around his rod, going up and down, one hand pumping his shaft, other fondling his his balls.


    She then put her hands on his thighs and started to pump his dick with her mouth only, her lips moving along his cock, taking more and more of him in her mouth.


    Eric grunted and put a hand on the back of her head, pushing it down, making her take his dick deep in her mouth.


    Slobbering all over his dick, her head pumping up and down, she reached one hand in her thong and started to finger her pussy, moaning.


    "OHH...."


    Eric grunted again, as he felt her throat vibrate around his cock from her moans.


    After enjoying her mouth for a few more minutes, with a pop, he pulled out.


    "Stand up and turn around" Said Eric as pulled his dick from her mouth.


    She obediently stood up and turned around, showing her big ass d in a tight ck pencil skirt.


    Reaching up, he grabbed both her cheeks and squeezed, felling their softness even through the fabric of her skirt.


    Hiking her skirt up, he revealed her perfectly formed, ample ass cheeks, with red fabric disappearing between them.


    He ran his hands over the pale flesh, before grabbing them and squeezing with force, making her moan softly.


    He ripped her thong off, turned her around and pulled her forward, making her fall on him.


    Vicky reached a hand between her legs and grabbed his penis, aligning his shaft with her wet slit.


    "Sigh...."


    Eric sighed in pleasure, as he felt her hot , wet pussy descending on his penis, her silky walls griping him tightly.


    Leaning back, Eric watched as she put her hands on the back of the couch and ,slowly and sensually started to grind her hips.


    Biting her full lips, she picked up speed, brining herself up and down, bouncing on his dick, doing it again and again, setting her pace and making her breasts jiggle with every bounce.


    Seeing her big breasts bouncing, he reached up and started to grope them, feeling soft flesh in his hands, pinching her nipples as he started to match her thrusts, making her moan.


    They continued pushing into each other, matching their thrusts, as Eric leaned forward , and still groping her breasts, started kissing her neck, making her moan, as she wrapped her hands around his neck.


    Eric, feeling his orgasm build, suddenly pulled out and flipped them over.


    Grabbing her legs, he pushed them towards her and, leaning in, mmed his dick back in her tight pussy, making her cry out in pleasure.


    Wrapping his arms around her thighs, he started to pound her, hard and fast, sounds of their bodies pping together echoing in the room as he pushed deep inside and pulled out, ramming in again, over and over.


    As he listened to her cries and moans, he reached one hand down and started to y with her clit.


    "UHHH.... Cumming...." Vicky cried out, her walls contracting around his cock, drenching it in her juices as the stimtion to her clit tipped her over the edge.


    Eric grunted as he felt her silky walls squeezing his dick.


    Thrusting a few times he felt his cock swell and, pulling out, he sprayed his cum all over her pretty face and big breasts, coating them white.


    Eric stepped back and felt an extremelyfortable feeling surging in his heart as he looked down at Virginia Madsen, leaning powerlessly on her couch, breathing heavily, legs spread apart and juices flowing out her vagina, her face and breasts coated in his cum.


    After enjoying this erotic scene for a moment, he stood up, grabbed her hand and pulled her up.


    "Let''s go to the bathroom"


    They didn''t eat dinner that night, he has been tossing her around untilte at night, until he got tired before her and fell asleepte at night .


    Under the dim light of themp beside the bed, Virginia was gazing at the young man lying beside her, Stretching her index finger, she was to touch his nose, but after hesitating for a moment, she retracted her hand . If she woke him up again, he will end up tossing her around for a few hours more .


    "What kind of person are you in the end . " after a long time, Virginia let out a sigh, And then suddenly thought of something, and smiled proudly: "and he says he is not a little boy, hum . "

 Chapter 104: Presenter

    Time goes into March, the 61 Oscar awards ceremony was drawing near, and with Hollywood movies bing more and more influential all over the world, The Academy Awards was also receiving more attention .


    Although the Oscar award this year is destined to have nothing to do with Eric, but no one can ignore the meteoric rise of the eighteen-year-old boy in thest six months .


    With several movies rted to him, since in November 18th ofst year "Home Alone" has entered the fifteenth week of release, and although "17 Again" doesn''t have the strong momentum of "Home Alone", but after four months of screenings, The box office has also reached $107 million, bing the sixth movie to break the $100 million mark at the box office in this year 1988 .


    If you don''tpare it to "Home Alone", the figures can be considered very bright .


    But up to now, the box office potential of "17 Again" has beenpletely exhausted, only harvesting two or three hundred thousand dors at the box office a week, with less than 300 screens, and may be pulled from theaters any time now .


    "17 Again" and "Home Alone" box office has reached close to $240 million, moreover "Home Alone" is still ying in more than 1200 screens in North America, and is still harvesting about $5 million a week .


    At this age, Hollywood films reaching $200 million at the box office domestically are rare, Only George Lucas''s "Star Wars" series can easily reach it, even Steven Spielberg "Indiana Jones" series can''t do it at this time .


    As for $300 million at the box office domestically, only legendary movies can do it . Thest and only time this legend was achieved, was by Spielberg''s "E . T . the ExtrTerrestrial" in 1982, after apse of six years, only "Home Alone" has the potential to touch this legendary threshold .


    In this case, with SONY beginning the acquisition, Columbia was no longer thinking about "Home Alone" gambling contract problem . Instead, they were wondering how to get "Home Alone" North America box office to reach the $300 million mark .


    Everyone knows that once "Home Alone" box office exceeds $300 million, Columbia stock price will skyrocket .


    . . . .


    . .


    "What? You want me to be the presenter for the best supporting actress award in The Oscars?" Eric looked at Amy Pascal in surprise: "Can this be decided by Columbia?"


    "We''ve been working with An Carr, the producer of this session of the Oscar, plus with your current influence, you''re fully qualified . . . Eric, as long as you ept, you will be able to receive the invitation .


    "


    Eric hesitated a little, his exposure rate is already high, and his private life was talked about in the tabloids every two or three days .


    But he also understood what Columbia was trying to do, whether it''s for "Home Alone" or "Running Out of Time" that will be released in the summer, letting him gain exposure in front of more than 45 million viewers in the Oscar awards ceremony, will definitely be very good for the box office .


    Although since Blunt Cohen left, and SONY starting the negotiation, Columbia has taken a one hundred and eighty degree turn in their att.i.tude when ites to Eric, and actively started working on "Home Alone" publicity and propaganda .


    But by then, "Home Alone" had already missed the most easy to get Golden Globe Award, and although the Oscar nominations have been announced, "Home Alone" only got a tasteless nomination for the best soundtrack . . .


    Everybody knows that, this is just a constion nomination given by the academy to attract public attention and also because of "Home Alone" dazzling box office results .


    If at the beginning Columbia was active in doing some public rtions, then perhaps "Home Alone" could get a few more nominations, and perhaps even a an Oscar at the end .


    But now it''s toote, not to mention the fact that Oscar judges have less than two weeks to vote, It doesn''t make much sense to start doing public rtions now, just for a kid''s movie soundtrack .


    If "Home Alone" can beat "Rain Man", "Goris in the Mist" and "Dangerous Liaisons" these excellent films and get the Oscar, then they would be testing the intelligence of the audience .


    After all, "Home Alone" is just aedy for kids, without any artistic content .


    After thinking about it for a few moments, Eric nodded .


    Although Columbia is doing this for their own consideration, but Eric will also get a lot of benefits from it .


    As long as he coordinates with Columbia as much as possible, then there will be a some hope for "Home Alone" box office to break the $300 million mark, and once this goal is reached, Eric''s share will jump up to $120 million .


    Amy also conveyed to Eric the promises made by Columbia executives, that within a month, Columbia will give Eric his full share of "Home Alone" box office, This will ease Eric''s financial situation . . . .


    . . Because, Eric recently borrowed $50 million from the bank to make "Scent of a Woman" and "The Others", he now has a full $100 million dor debt . In Hollywood, he is undoubtedly the most indebted person .


    "Since you agree, I will inform An Carr to send you an invitation as soon as possible . " Amy took a sip from her cup of coffee, and asked: "Eric, I heard the negotiations between you and the two Toms had stalled, do you need Columbia to step in?"


    Eric shook his head and refuse, this stalemate is what he expected, And he was sure that this standoff wouldst no longer than a month .


    Because during Easter, the actor Richard Gere who gave up "Pretty Woman" and stared in a new action drama movie called "Road House" made by United Artists Studio, will be released soon . There is no memory of the film in his mind, so he could only ask some people about it . . .


    The result is, even the most optimistic expectations about the film box office inside United Artists, is only about $30 million .


    If there''s an example of Richard Gere in front of them, then even if Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks are Hollywood''s list stars, It''s impossible for them to make the same stupid mistake, by refusing to appear in Eric''s new film .


    The top stars in Hollywood are very cautious when selection new films, because if they identally stepped on a bad movie, the damage to their reputation is difficult to measure .


    Four years ago, Warner invested $30 million in a film starring Al Pacino that flopped at the box office, Al Pacino under the huge pressure of the public opinion had to stay in the shadow for four years because of that mistake .


    Before then, Al Pacino was the recipient of five Oscar nominations, he was a Hollywood superstar without doubt .


    And the three films Eric partic.i.p.ated in all be great sesses, in Hollywood if your movie can get a good box office then your reputation is guaranteed . What''s more, after reading the script, Cruise and Hanks also recognized "Running Out of Time" box office potentials .


    The reason why the two Toms are allowing CAA''s agents and Eric stalemate to continue, is to allow Hollywood''s most influential figure Michael Ovitz to save face, and more impotently to get a higher paycheck and divided .


    Eric believes, that once the CAA intentionally caused the negotiations to break down, the two superstars will certainlye forward to stop that from happening . . . From that day discussion of the script, Eric knew that the two had already made up their minds to be in the film .


    Otherwise, they wouldn''t stay and talk to him about the script for four hours .


    "There is no need for that, Amy, in less than a month, CAA will relent," Eric didn''t want to owe a debt of grat.i.tude to Columbia: "I will take advantage of this time, andplete the preparations for the film .


    Compared to the first two movies, when I didn''t have a lot of production time, there is plenty of time to work on "Running Out of Time", from now to the release date in July there are more than four months still remaining . "

 Chapter 105: Coming to the door

    Amy Pascal also knows what''s going to happen, so she didn''t insist, standing up she said: "Since that is the case, then I will take my leave . I''ll keep you updated . "


    "I''ll see you off . " Eric followed up: "Amy, I didn''t see you driving your car today?"


    "My car was sent for maintenance today . "


    Eric enthusiastically said: "Then why don''t I give you a ride?, getting a taxi in my neighborhood won''t be easy"


    Amy Pascal knew that Eric was telling the truth, plus the ce she''s going to isn''t too far away, so she agreed .


    They walked out of the vi together, Eric opened the garage door and walked in, he went straight to the old Ford sedan .


    Standing in the garage door, Amy Pascal listened to the m.u.f.fled sound of the old Ford engine, and looked curiously inside the garage, she found a huge garage that can house more than ten cars, but except for the old Ford sedan, only another car was parked in the corner, a purple sports car .


    "Eric, with your present worth, you can change to a better car . " Amy smiled and pointed her finger at the Ford, then nced at the purple sports car in the corner with a curious look in her eyes .


    "Do you mean that Lamborghini?" Eric asked Amy as he carefully drove the car past the garage door .


    Eric said: "It''s a gift the Lamborghinipany sent me a few days ago, but I don''t like driving it on the streets of Los Angeles, i feel like I will have an ident, but I like driving it and racing on the freeway . "


    "Lamborghini is really generous, this car is estimated to cost at least two hundred thousand dors . "


    Eric smiled and did not answer, this car isn''t the ordinary sports car Lamborghini is about to release .


    It''s a hand-built four-wheel drive concept car, an ordinary Countach sports car price is about 240 thousand dors, while although there is no pricing on the car gifted to him, it''s value is estimated to be no less than 300 thousand dors .


    Lamborghini was generous, because they want to keep working with him . Their sales are at least three times as high this year as they were in previous years,pared to the profits earned by Lamborghini, a $300,000 concept car is nothing .


    Because the news that his new film will be a cooperation between Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks was "exposed" a few days ago, Lamborghini took the initiative toe to his door, they presented him with this concept car, but they also wanted to sign a long-term cooperation agreement with him .


    Eric, of course, will not do so, with the rapid development of the imntable advertising model in movies, profits from embedded ads will certainly grow higher in the future, signing a contract now is certainly not a good choice .


    . . . .


    . .


    Driving out of his vi, Eric was about to get off the car to close the vi door, but he saw a middle-aged man more than 40 year old quickly rushing up to him, and gently tapped on his car window .


    "Mr . Williams, Mr . Williams?"


    In this unexpected situation, Eric quickly stopped his action, and carefully lowered the .s.s window down leaving a little gap .


    The middle-aged man quickly took out his business card and inserted it through the gap: "Mr . Williams, please don''t misunderstand me, I have no malice toward you . My name is Jonathan Demme, you know me?"


    Eric took the business card, looked at it, then looked out the window at the middle-aged man . . . only after determining that the image of the man matched the image in his memory, did he calm down .


    The man is one of the three directors he invited to direct "The Others" . These days, Eric was mainly busy "Scent of a Woman" things . . .


    . . . as for "Steel Magnolias" director Herbert Ross, he had already received Firefly investment and 3 million dors for Julia to join the film, and rushed to Louisiana to start filming .


    As for "Scent of a Woman", Al Pacino personally rmended a Director, Coincidentally, the man Al rmended was the original director of the film Martin Brest .


    Since it''s the original director, Eric didn''t worry too much, and after talking with each other, he was confident that Martin will do a good job . . . .


    . . Currently, Martin was hard at work preparing from the film .


    This kind of dy, led to Eric having no time to determine "The Others" director, also because Eric wasn''t in a hurry to release "Scent of a Woman", "The Others" or Herbert Ross''s "Steel Magnolias", he was nning to release them by the end of the year, so he still had plenty of time .


    Unexpectedly, today, Jonathan Demme one of the three horror movies directors he selected, suddenly came to find him .


    Eric thought it wasn''t good to keep staying in the car, and ignore the middle-aged man, getting out of the car, he shook his hand and said: "Mr . Demme, what can I do for you?"


    "Yes . . . ah" Jonathan Demme said: "Mr .


    Williams, I want to talk to you about the "The Others" script . . . .


    . . I know you also sent invitations to two other directors, but I think, I have enough strength to make this film better, I have done a lot of preparations, if you can give me some of your time, I can exin my ideas to you?"


    Eric said in an embarra.s.sed tone: "Sorry, Mr . Demme, unfortunately, I have to take my friend back to her ce, so . . .


    . . . "


    "No problem, Mr . Williams . I can wait here until youe back . "


    Eric was touched by his dedication, he thought for a moment and said: "Mr . Demme, why don''t youe with us, after I send her back, let''s find a ce to talk . "


    "Is that all right?" Jonathan Demme nced hesitantly at Amy Pascal in the car . He didn''t know what her rtionship with Eric was, so he worried that by doing so will make them feel uneasy .


    Amy Pascal inside the car was able to listen to their conversations, thinking about it she said: "Mr . Demme, get in the car, my destination isn''t far from here, it will only take about 10 minutes"


    "Then . . . .


    . . Sorry for bothering you . " After Jonathan Demme confirmed with Eric again, he carefully opened the back door of the Ford and sat while holding his backpack in hisp .


    Eric locked the vi gate, before driving away . Because of Jonathan Demme, they didn''t talk too much along the way . But fortunately, Amy Pascal''s destination wasn''t too far, so the atmosphere didn''t be awkward .

 Chapter 106: Director candidates

    After Bringing Amy Pascal home, Eric took Jonathan Demme to a coffee shop nearby . After they ordered two cups of coffee and some snacks, Eric took the lead and began speaking: "Jonathan, first let''s talk about your understanding of the script of "The Others""


    Jonathan Demme, like a student who''s taking a school test, straightening his thoughts, and said: "Compared to the films that rely on violence, blood and weird sounds or grotesque makeup to achieve the effects of scaring the audience, "The Others" will undoubtedly create a new type of psychological thrillers/horror films .


    The script is full of Hitchc.o.c.k suspense settings, and although the plot isn''tplicated, it can firmly grab the audience curiosity . And finally, at the end, when the truth about the ghosts is revealed, that great plot reversal at the end of the movie, is even more surprising . . .


    . . . Eric, many people feel that your present sess is due to the blessing of G.o.d .


    But if they see the script you created, I believe that no one will think so, your talent is simply amazing . "


    At the end Jonathan couldn''t help but give him apliment, Eric saw that thepliment were reallying from the heart, and not to please him, smiling he said: "thanks for thepliment Jonathan, Your understanding of the script is in ce .


    However, this is not enough for me to give you the film .


    Although I haven''t had time to pay attention to the reply of the other two candidates, but I believe the other two will be very interested in this movie, what do you think your advantage is, whenpared to the two Wes Craven and William Friedkin those two masters of horror films, so what are your strengths?"


    "sticity," Jonathan replied without hesitation . "Eric, I''m more malleable than they are . "


    Eric looked at the middle-aged man in front of him, who was already more than 40 years old, and wondered, "sticity?"


    Jonathan Demme calmly exined: "Yes, Eric, my biggest advantage is that I have never filmed a horror film, I have been in this business for almost twenty years, I believe my professional level as a director is OK, I can shoot the filmpletely in ordance with your concept of the psychological thriller you wrote in the script .


    But if you handed this film to the other two famous directors, the two of them will certainly bring their own shooting styles into the film, this may not be their intention, but habit is a very powerful force .


    As a result, they are likely to turn "The Others" to other traditional horror films like "The Exorcist" or to "A Nightmare on Elm Street", the film will have very scary effects, but that will inevitably weaken the sensation caused by the plot reversal at the end of the film . "


    After Jonathan finished, he saw that Eric expression was loosening, Quickly he took out a thick stack of paper he prepared from his backpack, but he didn''t hand the file to Eric, he knew that if he did that, the other party may not be patient enough to read all that information .


    Instead, he selected just the most important pages and handed them to Eric .


    "Eric, you see, This is some of my thoughts about shooting "The Others", and those are also some script shots I envisioned . I think the film should focus on creating suspense, and arousing the curiosity of the audience .


    This can also cover the weak points in the plot, and not make the audience feel dull . I think we should focus on building the atmosphere, by that I mean we should put more emphasis on psychological pressure, not sensory stimtion . "


    Eric looked down at Jonathan''s list of shooting ideas, and carefully looked at several sub lens design drafts, his fingers unconsciously started drumming several times on the table .


    Jonathan Demme knew that the most critical moment wasing, his right hand under the table tightly clenched into a fist .


    . . . .


    . .


    Compared to Eric, a director who was blessed by G.o.d to have a smooth journey, Jonathan''s journey in Hollywood has been rough, he has shown a strong interest in films since he was a child .


    So although when he was in college he majored in veterinary, but he did not embark on that road, instead of entering the then-flourishing work force as a veterinarian, he boldly choose to start at the bottom of thedder as a handyman in Hollywood .


    It was until the age of thirty that he had the opportunity to partic.i.p.ate in the production of some low-cost B movie, in 1977, Jonathan finally won the opportunity to direct a film, Although his first film won the attention and apud of the critics, but the box office performance was a mess .


    To be exact, there was no box office at all, Jonathan in order to let more people enjoy his work, he had to pay from his own pocket to let his film be screened in a New York theater for free, but still only a handful of viewers showed up .


    The shock silenced Jonathan for three years, and in 1980, another work of Jonathan won two awards, that kinda improved his career again .


    But until now, all his works didn''t have amercial value, their box office is generally only a few millions dors, and the highest one only got ten million dor .


    In Hollywood, to be recognized as a director, without a good box office movie that''s impossible .


    Before when he was studying Eric personal experience, Jonathan found that, all the three films rted to Eric have been able to sell at the box office, and that the biggestmon ground between them, is that Eric personally wrote the scripts .


    Although he wasn''t clear why Eric Williams will send him an invitation to be the director of "The Others", but that didn''t prevent Jonathan from seizing the opportunity .


    After receiving the invitation, Jonathan stayed up all night, reading the script many times over and over again, more than once he was stunned by the plot ending, the next day in the morning, He sent back a reply to Jeffrey Hansen, expressing his willingness to direct the film .


    Originally he thought that the other party will soon contact him, to discuss signing a contract and so on, but after waiting patiently for a few days, no one called .


    Jonathan hurried to the firefly headquarters himself, to find Jeffrey, after knowing the whole story, Jonathan found out that,pared to the other two directors who have been famous for a long time, he has no experience shooting horror movies, he found that he was the leastpet.i.tive one .


    But Jonathan didn''t give up, Although the performance of the films he directed isn''t good, But his vision isn''t very bad, He keenly sensed that if "The Others" was shot by him, getting both a good box office results and the awards won''t be a problem, so he was more desperate to get this opportunity .


    He took a few days, racking his brains toe up with a set of arguments to convince Eric . At the same time, he also made a more profound a.n.a.lysis of the script, and did a lot of careful preparation . . .


    To save time, and prevent the script director from being decided ahead of time, Jonathan has been sleeping for no more than three hours a day for more than a week .


    The reason why he can energetically sit in front of Eric and eloquently talk, is because he drank a lot of coffee in the morning, he knows that he will soon crash and burn .


    Eric didn''t notice Jonathan uneasiness, after drumming on the table for a few moments, he looked up and said: "Jonathan, can you wait for a moment, I''m gonna make a phone call . "


    "Sure, no problem . " Jonathan did not understand what he was doing, be he still nodded his head .


    Eric got up and headed to the coffee shop counter, after talking to the waiter, he picked the phone on the counter and dialed Jeffrey office number .


    "Jeffrey, it''s me . . . .


    . . there is something I forgot to ask about, it''s about the "The Others" directors . .


    . . . .


    Yes, did Wes Craven and William Friedkin respond? . . .


    . . . Yeah .


    . . . .


    . Yeah . . .


    . . . Okey, I see .


    . . . .


    . Jonathan Demme actually came to see me personally, I think he has good ideas, and he showed great enthusiasm for the film, I think we can give him a chance . . .


    . . . Yeah .


    . . . .


    . , turn him down . . .


    . . . , I''m going to hang up .


    . . . .


    . I know, don''t worry I have a sense of proportion about what really matters . "


    Hanging up the phone Eric went back to his seat .


    Jonathan knew that the moment wasing, so he couldn''t help but sit upright, and look at Eric with great antic.i.p.ation .


    "Jonathan, when we sent you the invitation, we said that the film heroine has been set, do you have a problem with that?"


    Jonathan Demme couldn''t hide the smile from appearing on his face, he knew that Eric asking, is equivalent to giving him the film: "No, I have no opinion, the actor'' s choice is the right of the producer . " Hesitating for a moment, Jonathan couldn''t refrain from asking: "Eric, the heroine . . .


    . . . is it your girlfriend Jennifer Aniston?"


    Eric shook his head and said: "No . "


    Jonathan Demme was worried that Eric will choose his girlfriend, he was going to resolutely ept it, even if it is Jennifer Aniston . . .


    But after Eric denied, he felt some relief, Jonathan was originally worried that Eric deliberately mentioned this condition, just to make a star out of his girlfriend .


    But the girl is too young to y the role of a single mother, even if she wore make-up it will be hard to make the audience believe that she is a mother of two kids .


    As for the rtionship between the heroine and Eric, he felt that he shouldn''t pay attention to this matter .


    "So, Eric, did I get the job? . . .


    . . . "


    Eric nodded: "Yes, Jonathan, you''ve got the chance to direct the film . Mr . William Friedkin is directing another film, and naturally turned down the invitation . Mr .


    Wes Craven also showed a strong interest in the script . But he had some concerns about the default heroine . . .


    . . . plus your words and the ideas you showed me does have some truth in them, so I told Jeffrey to turn him down .


    "

 Chapter 107: Circles

    Jonathan almost started dancing in joy, of course, this was only his inner impulse, on the surface he will certainly not show it .


    "Eric, thank you, thank you for giving me this opportunity, I promise I''ll make a movie that will satisfy you . "


    Looking at the middle-aged man in front of him trying to conceal his happiness, Eric also revealed a smile: "Jonathan, for the specific director contract, you can go to the Firefly headquarters tomorrow to talk to Jeffrey about it . . . and I think, you''d better go back home to sleep"


    "What?" Jonathan felt that some of Eric''s words were out of hand, he slept very little for an entire week, but now that he managed to get this opportunity every cell in Jonathan body was in state of excitement, without any sense of exhaustion: "Eric, I''m not tired, maybe we can talk more about the movie, I still have a lot of ideas .


    "


    Jonathan said, patting the thick stack of papers in front of him .


    Eric shook his head and firmly refused: "Jonathan, I understand that in order to get this opportunity you put in a lot of effort, maybe you didn''t carefully look at the mirror these days, right?"


    Jonathan touched the stubble on his face and said: "I''m sorry, Eric . I just washed my face this morning, and didn''t have time to shave"


    "No," said Eric: "It''s not the Facial hair, It''s your eyes . Your eyes are bloodshot, probably caused byck of sleep . So, listen to me this time, go back and take a good night of sleep, your healthes first"


    At Eric''s insistence, Jonathan had to get up and go home .


    . . . .


    . .


    The next day, Jonathan signed the contract with the Firefly, there was no profit split agreement for Jonathan, he only got $500 thousand as a fee, he signed it without thinking .


    Because this opportunity for him is the most important, once "The Others" be sessful, he will be able topletely get rid of the previous B-film circle and step into a new world .


    On the surface, Hollywood is the ce where the American dream happens most frequently, some obscure little actor, or some small director, because a film he worked on sold well, suddenly entered the ranks of top actors, and top directors, sought after by filmpanies and praised by the general public .


    But in fact, in Hollywood, there are more invisible barriers then you can imagine, There are circles for all types of movies, B-.s.s movies have a B-.s.s circle, low-cost films have a low-cost circle, big productions have a big production circle, even the p.o.r.n industry has its own circle .


    Each of these circles, although they have mutual intersection, but if you originally belonged to one of those circles and want to jump to another circle, you''ll find out in this process, that there will be a barrier or an obstacle in front of you, slowly, many people give up the struggle, and stayed in their own circle .


    Fortunately, asionally some people are lucky enough to jump from a lower circle to a higher circle, and suddenly shine, then they became the representatives of the American dream .


    After Jonathan Demme signed the contract, all the directors of Eric''s films were confirmed . "Steel Magnolias" has already started shooting, followed by "Running Out of Time", "Scent of a Woman" and "The Others" those three films will enter the casting stage soon .


    Although the three films have identified some of the leading roles, the remaining roles are still vacant . In Eric''s first two movies, even if just a supporting role, many people''s careers have risen directly to a new level .


    So, after the Firefly released the audition news, Hollywood second and third line actors circle was almost boiling up . And many first line actors showed their interest .


    For reasons known to all, the three films casting tend to favor UTA actors, therefore, in just a few days, thousands of cooperation applications were handed over to Kapoor, many of them were of broker bringing their artists and wanting to collectively join the UTA .


    After Kapoor and Eric talked about it, the two agreed that it wasn''t the best time for the UTA to expand .


    Blind expansion of the scale that doesn''t provide enough opportunities for the artists, will only affect UTA''s reputation .


    So almost all requests for cooperation have been rejected, and because Kapoor was still receiving the application, he had to publish a statement, saying that the casting was temporarily halted .


    The film that was most popr when casting the supporting actors wasn''t the film Eric was directing "Running Out of Time", nor was it "Scent of a Woman" the film that has Al Pacino . Instead, it was the most obscure film "The Others" .


    Because "The Others" have two roles for two ten year young actors, a girl, and a boy .


    Although the film director and actress are not famous, except for the name of the film ''The Others'', they didn''t disclose any information about the Theme and content of the script, the only thing they announce is that Eric wrote the script himself .


    A lot of people naturally thought of Stuart Runkle, who relied on "Home Alone" to be the most famous child star, before "Home Alone", the little boy was just Eric neighbor . Who would have thought that this child will be famous all over the world now? .


    As a result, while the roles of the other two films received only a few hundred auditions, the list of young actors has expanded to over 5000 and continues to grow .


    With the dissemination of the audition news, Firefly also received applications from Canada, Europe and Australia and some other ces .


    "I''m sorry, Charles, I don''t want to use Stuart in this film, this movie does not require an actor on the level of Stuart . . . .


    . . this isn''t the issue of the pay . .


    . . . .


    . , I know, I know, the little boy doesn''t have many scenes in the film . . .


    . . . No problem .


    You are wee in my home if you have time . . . .


    . . Well, goodbye . "


    Hanging up the phone, Eric rubbed his aching temples, since Firefly released the auditions list, every day either at home or in thepany, he received numerous calls from people he knows rmending actors .


    The man he was talking to just a few moments ago is Stuart father Charles Runkle, it has been a long time since he contacted him, but today he personally called, wanting his son to win the little boy''s role in "The Others" a horror movie .


    Stuart Runkle career in the eyes of outsiders seem to have an infinite possibility of expansion, but only insiders know that Stuart fee is ridiculously high, and not many people have the courage to invite him, most of his ie nowes from advertising and endors.e.m.e.nts .


    Maybe Charles Runkle understood that maintain Stuart fame is the most important, so he called Eric personally, and even quoted a $3 million low price, usually, when CAA start negotiating Stuart fee they always start with $8 million .


    Unconsciously, Eric found himself involved a lot ofmunication activity''s, although not many, his interpersonal circle has be surprisinglyrge .


    Even if he only met to them once, they will call him and chat with him in a familiar tone, they will spend a few minutes talking about topics like the weather, then inadvertently rmend a certain actor .


    First, he smelled a sweet perfume fragrance, then two milky white arms wrapped around his neck from behind him, Acting like a spoiled brat Drew started rubbing her face on Eric''s cheeks .


    "Hey,e on, don''t make trouble . " Eric escaped the clutches of Drew beautiful milky white arms, he secretly sighed in his heart, this girl was really blessed by G.o.d, even after years of alcohol and drug abuse her skin didn''t suffer any damage .


    Drew wasughing as she jumped over the sofa, and threw herself into his arms .


    "You are this old, and still so naughty " Eric could not help but give Drew a p on the a.s.s .


    "Aw . . . .


    . . that Hurts . .


    . . . .


    " After getting a second p, she immediately became tearful, but looked at Eric with glittering eyes as if to say: ''do it again, do it again''


    For Drew anytime and anywhere is good chance to tease him, he has be ustomed to it: "Well, speak, why did you suddenly ran back, what''s the matter?"


    "Really, can''t I juste here whenever I want . "


    "That''s right . . . .


    . . now say, youe back to do what?"


    "In fact, I missed you, ah . . . .


    . . , Eric, I saw the Lamborghini in the garage . Unexpectedly, I just said that I liked the car that one time, and you remembered to get it for me .


    I''m so touched . "


    "You misunderstood, I was actually going to give it to Jenny . "

 Chapter 108: Favor

    "Deceitful ugly man" Drew like a cat scratched Eric chest a few of times, and said in a hurt voice: "I will forgive you, but just for this time . "


    Eric by habit flipped her on the forehead, and said: "I would also like to thank you for your generosity?


    Reaching into her jeans back pocket, she dug out a crumpled paper, and said: "Well, here it is . "


    He took the paper handed to him, and nced at the string of names auditioning for roles, smiling he said: "Looks like you have been very busy these days . "


    "Ah . . . .


    . . " she involuntarily uttered a sigh of regret: "If I could refuse then I would have rejected them all, you don''t need to directly give them a role, just giving them a chance to audition is enough . "


    "All right, I''ll arrange it . " Eric didn''t say anything more since she suddenly came back today, he knew that it must have something to do with the recent auditions .


    His future ns for Drew were almost the same as her previous life, even the name of her future filmpany name is good, he liked Flower Films . With her clever and capable character, she will be a big help in the future, It''s not bad to help her .u.mte more connections now .


    And as she said, all he needs to do is give them a chance to audition, whether or not they get the roles, he has the final say, plus he can also help her earn some favors, so why not? .


    . . . .


    . .


    After carefully reading the list, he found that many of the people on the list will be well-known Hollywood stars in the future .


    There is also a G.o.ddaughter of Spielberg, Gwh Paltrow, she should be seventeen or eighteen this year, she wanted to audition for the role of the girl Andy meet on the bus after a robbery .


    Recalling Gwh appearance, Eric directly draws an X on her name in his mind . She ispletely ipatible with his aesthetic view . Perhaps in the eyes of Europeans and Americans, Gwh Paltrow is a standard of beauty, but Eric doesn''t like her high cheekbones, Bridge nose, deep eye sockets .


    He prefers beautiful women with softer facial lines, Aniston, Drew, and Virginia all belong to this type .


    Thinking of this, he couldn''t help but pull the TV remote control from her hand, and hold the girl''s little face in his hands to carefully look at, thinking that the girl may have long residual damage done to her skin in the future because of the drugs, he couldn''t help but sigh .


    Drew was waiting nervously, she was expecting him to kiss her, but the result was a sigh, suddenly she got angry, bearing her teeth at him and threatened: "Eric if you dare sigh in my face again, I will scratch you . "


    "Did you expect a kiss, why are you in a hurry" he stroked her smooth hair and said: "Just four years ago in "Cat''s Eye" you were a small sweet little girl holding that cat, how did you suddenly get so big?"


    Hearing the evilness in his voice, she pushed him down on the sofa, and got on top of him, giving him a condescending look, she said: "You d.a.m.ned Lolicon, I want to report you to the Los Angeles Police Department, maybe you''ll get chemically castrated, then see if that woman with the big b.r.e.a.s.t.s, will still wee you in her home!"


    Eric was surprised a little, he felt that his thing with Virginia, shouldn''t be known to too many people .


    "Ah . . . .


    . . does everyone in Los Angeles know about this thing?"


    "Yeah, yeah, everyone in North America knows, a third-rate actress got Eric Williams to personally create a script for her, do you think everyone is a fool?


    You have to be careful, don''t be photographed by paparazzi, Otherwise, someone will say you have an Oedipusplex after all that woman is ten years older than you . "


    "I absolutely don''t have thatplex," he raised his voice and snapped back .


    "Of course, I can prove that" because she was on top of him, she could feel the thing rising in his pants, she looked at him arrogantly and said: "because you are Lolicon!"


    "All right, maybe I''m a Lolicon," said Eric in surrender . "Can you of me now?"


    she quickly wrapped her legs around his waist and started rubbing down on him, seeing her intention, he quickly forced himself to reach out and hold her waist, and move her to the side: e on, don''t make trouble, in broad daylight . "


    "Then I''lle to your room at night?"


    "I decided to go to her at night, anyway, all North America knows . "


    Hearing his threat Drew immediately warped her arms around him and said: "No, Eric, you can''t give up . You should learn from me . "


    Braking free from her arms, he quickly got up and started walking upstairs, and said: "are you going to teach me how to stay away from school? . I met Al Pacino at a partyst night, he said that he saw a naughty little girl at a party on Wednesday . "


    Eric had no hope that she would stay in school, and he didn''t expect her to go to college . he only wanted her to stay in school until she reaches 16 years old, then she can go back to Hollywood . But as things stand now, that''s not very feasible .


    she didn''t like going to school, And the only thing that worries him now is that he doesn''t know what method she used to stop the school princ.i.p.al from calling him toin about her bad behavior .


    Hearing Eric''s words, Drew jumped up and angrily raised his little fist and waved in the air: "Al Pacino! That b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I''m going to break up my friendship with him, I specifically told him not to tell you . "


    "Then he must have misunderstood what you meant," he said without turning back . "But I am very pleased, Al said you didn''t drink, By the way, when did your friendship with Al start?"


    "After the release of "Pretty Woman", I met him by ident once . "


    Eric was quick to understand the hidden meaning in her words: "It seems that you have done a lot of ''bad things'' using my name, maybe I should torture you to get a confession . "


    Acting afraid she said: "No, Eric, I don''t like pain, if you give me a kiss I''ll tell you everything . "


    Drew followed him into the study, and watched as he packed up a few files, and put them in his satchel bag, "Eric, do you have to go out, today is the weekend?"


    Eric picked up his satchel bag and went downstairs: "Because of you I have to go out, we will officially start the auditions next week, the staff will have to issue the audition notice to all the actors in two days . I have to add the names of the people you give me, to the list . "


    "But I also want you to take me to Malibu to see our new home address . " she said in an unhappy tone .


    "What''s good about it?, It''s still a wastnd . It will take at least a year to build . Just watch TV or something, and if you find it in your heart, make me a dinner or something . "


    She blinked her green eyes, and said: "My heart tells me to order a takeout . "


    "Then I''ll go to that third-rate actress home to eat her homemade dinner . "


    "Don''t do that, Eric, let''s make a deal, I''ll order takeout and heat it personally . "

 Chapter 109: Witti girl

    "I just said it offhandedly; you don''t have to follow me all the time . " Eric drove the car and helplessly nced at Drew, who was sitting in the copilot seat .


    Drew was mercilessly chewing gum, and ying video games with her Game Boy, the annoying beeping sound of the video game console was driving him crazy .


    "At the end of the month, Jennifer will return to Los Angeles, and will probably move to live with me . "


    "Uh huh," Although she said it in a loud voice, she didn''t mind .


    Drew from the beginning wasn''t optimistic about Eric and Aniston''s rtionship . He is the kind of man who has a dominant character, and although he was usually friendly and pleasant, and it seems that you can discuss anything with him .


    But sometimes he can be arrogant and rude, and won''t allow others to go against his will .


    As for Jennifer Aniston, she is a stubborn girl with a strong inferiorityplex, and great dignity, getting along together in the short term is OK, even if friction between them happen they will bothpromise .


    But for the long term, their state of mutual tolerance cannot be maintained for long . What''s more, Eric is a yboy; it''s impossible for someone as prideful as Aniston to endure .


    Drew often fantasize, that she is probably the most suitable girl for Eric, She can tolerate or even indulge in his perverted personality .


    For her to better get along with him, she deliberately started reading a lot of Psychology books to the point that she sometimes get dizzy, all of that just to better understand him .


    Although she loves him and can give him all the things he wants, she knew he would not belong to her alone, thinking about it always make her sad .


    The reason she was clinging to him today, wasn''t because she''s jealous, well, maybe a little bit .


    The real reason is, she just wanted to be a little bit closer to him .


    Today was the first time Drew visited thepany, she grew up in front of the camera, but she doesn''t know a lot about howpanies work .


    She was curious about everything in the office building, so she spent this weekend exploring every nook and cranny in the building, lead by a dedicated female staff member, she visited the dubbing room, editing room . . . .


    . . , she also got to manipte some of the equipment, but because Firefly wasn''t a big moviepany, after just 10 minutes in the tour she found herself going in a circle, after that she obediently stayed in the small screening room watching some videotapes, and didn''t go to hara.s.s Eric .


    After adding the names of the people Drew had given him to the audition list, Eric looked at the roster of actors who pa.s.sed the first screening round .


    After reading a few pages, he found that all the actresses on the list have pa.s.sed the basic conditions he established before . He was sure that some of them probably don''t fulfill all his conditions, but he acted like he didn''t see anything .


    They probably were added by other people in thepany, even he himself has added the actresses on Drew paper to the list, so he didn''t want to make things hard for them .


    He was sure that by using some tricks in the auditions some good actors were eliminated from the list, but as long as the employees don''t make a Blunder, he won''t say anything . It is unfair to the actors who have no connections? But, this world has never been fair .


    He knows that with the rapid growth of thepany size, it''s impossible for him to put all the power in his hands alone, so picking minor characters will slowly be given to other people .


    The employees responsible for the casting will not joke about their career, once the selected actor does not meet the requirements and impact the filming, the person in charge will probably lose his job .


    So, if an actress had the delusion of going to bed with the casting director to get a role, and her acting isn''t up to the mark, the two of them will end up empty-handed .


    After reviewing the auditions list, Eric was in no hurry to leave, now that he''s here, he was going to look at the detailed budget of the three films .


    Because Columbia is responsible for "Running Out of Time" investment, Eric set the budget to $40 million, for a movie that doesn''t have any Special effects, this an extra high-cost production . But Eric isn''t going to save money for Columbia .


    If he doesn''t spend all the money, Columbia won''t put the rest of the money in his card .


    So Eric shifted his spending target to the actors . The role of the female Interpol supervisor, he directly sent invitations to Sigourney Weaver . The other side also epted the role, of course, her fee wasn''t small .


    Anyway, if you don''t spend, you can''t earn, plus he isn''t even spending his own money .


    As for the Chief Inspector of the Crime Unit, Eric took fancy to Joe Pesci, as in the original thief named Harry in "Home Alone" . When Eric was preparing to make ''home alone'' he wanted to invite him, But unfortunately, the budget wasn''t big enough, so he could only make do with TV actors .


    As a result, the role was taken away by Matthew Perry, his version of the performance wasn''t as good as Joe eye-catching performance .


    Joe Pesci had also received another big movie invitation from Warner Bros .


    , a blockbuster movie series called "Lethal Weapon", in his past life this film series had four movies and a TV series, he was hesitant between the two films, but after receiving fireflies paycheck offer, he epted without hesitation .


    Of course, Eric also specially designed an audition for him, which he pa.s.sed easily, he just doesn''t know if his acting can keep up with Tom Hanks? .


    As for the other candidates who weren''t selected yet, Eric set the standard for second or third line actors . If they didn''t have the experience of acting in two or three films and have no connections, then they should be directly swept to the side, and not even qualify them to the auditions .


    As for the films he invested in, he set "Scent of a Woman" budget at $10 million; the film goal is to win some Oscar awards, Al Pacino only took a $3 million paycheck . "The Others" only had $5 million as a budget .


    Jonathan Demme fee is $500 thousand, and Virginia got paid only 300 thousand dors, just like Julia in "Pretty Woman" . And because they were going to shoot the whole movie in an old English house, the remaining funds were more than enough toplete the shooting .


    . . . .


    . .


    After reading the three films budget files, Eric stretched out and looked at his watch; it was already six in the afternoon . After asking a staff member about Drew whereabouts, he learned that she had already left in advance .


    That girl knows how to manipte him; she knows Eric was going to feel guilty if he didn''t go back home tonight . So he called Virginia and apologized to her, as he drove back to his Beverly Hills mansion .


    Drew was d to see him back, but he still had to eat pizza this night . Because Eric was busy all afternoon, he was toozy to cook, as for Drew she has no gift for cooking, if he insists that she cook him something, she may poison him by mistake .


    "Eric, maybe we should employ a chef?" Drew was apparently getting tired of eating reheated pizza .


    Eric took a Bite out of his slice of pizza and nodded: "It''s better to have a few more maids, I prefer j.a.panese maid costumes, what about you?"


    "I like . . . .


    . . " she said at the beginning, but then she closed her mouth and gave Eric a curious look: "Hey, I think you have a possessive personality disorder, you can''t even let another male enter your territory . "


    "Oh my G.o.d" Eric looked in shock at the girl sitting opposite him: "I thought I would never be able to hear such big wordse out of your mouth . "


    Drew bowed her head and said, "Jerk" and continued eating her dinner, no longer paying attention to him .

 Chapter 110: Do you believe in love at first sight

    "Motor promised to pay $3 million in sponsorship fees, but their condition is that the male lead must be revealed earlier, is it Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks . "


    "Lamborghini sponsorship offer is a one-time payment of $800,000, The other side learned fast, they no longer ept the same rules used in "Pretty Woman", They felt cheated by having the sponsorship fee be decided by the size of the box office . "


    "As for the others, Ray-Ban sun.s.ses offer is $500 thousand, their condition is to have the Ray-Ban .s.ses trademark appear in a close-up shot for more than 5 seconds . The Hershey Companyalso made a bid of $500,000, to buy the Ad cement in the box bombs . . .


    . . . "


    In the meeting room, Jeffrey was reading the sponsorship offers one by one in an excited voice .


    In fact, Eric also had the same doc.u.ment; however, Jeffrey couldn''t help but read it out loud, he was so happy . If the final offers were all finalized, then that means that before the movie has even started shooting, Firefly earned about $6 million in profit .


    In this era, Hollywood produces more than 500 films every year, but even if you count the box office, videotape sales, broadcast rights and other peripheral earnings, no more than fifty, reach $6 million in profits .


    Eric looked at thements and conditions made by thepany''s that offered to buy the imnted ads, then closed the folder and handed it to Jeffrey: "Well, Jeffrey, did just $6 million in sponsorship fees make you this happy?"


    "Only $6 million," repeating Eric''s words, Jeffrey raised his voice in disapproval, and retorted: "Eric, if you have the ability then try finding another movie that can get $6 million in sponsorship fees?"


    "Not now, but that doesn''t mean there won''t be others in the future," Eric said: "Perhaps in a decade or two, movies will be able to recover most of the cost by imnting ads . "


    "You don''t have to wait for a decade or two," Jeffrey said with some emotion: "When we were making "Pretty Woman", if we tried to find more sponsors, maybe we will have recovered the cost . "


    "Maybe you''re right" Suddenly remembering another important thing, Eric asked: "by the way, did you tell these sponsors to keep this matter secret until we release the film?"


    "Of course I didn''t forget," Jeffrey said: "I exined to them why we are doing it, and they agreed . Before the movie is released, the sponsors won''t disclose anything to the media . "


    Feeling relieved, Eric stood up and said: "That''s good, the second round of auditions are about to start, do you want toe?"


    "No, I''m Exhausted, I won''t go . " Jeffrey quickly refused . Initially, he enjoyed the sense of power he felt during the auditions .


    but after sitting behind the audition table for a few days, asking the same questions repeatedly, and watching the same performance over and over again, slowly, the sense of superiority he feltpletely disappeared, leaving him only feeling dull and tired .


    These days the auditions have also made Eric feel exhausted, especially "Running Out of Time" auditions, every character, had hundreds of actors who qualified for the audition, even after extensive screening?


    Some eliminated actors also asionally through a variety of ways get a second chance to audition, in short, this was giving him a headache .


    So he decided to also include Jonathan Demme and Martin Brest in "The Others" and "Scent of a Woman" audition, he''s going to let two directors select less than ten actors for every character, then he''ll have a third round of auditions again, that will make things a lot easier for him .


    The only thing better than spending a couple of days slugging though auditioning the viin roles is . . . that today''s audition was for the role of the girl Andy encounter on the bus .


    Eric had set the standard for the role from age 18 to 30 years old, and they had to be beautiful and have the temperament of an officedy . So, today''s audition process must be very pleasing to the eyes .


    . . . .


    . . .


    A girl walks out of the audition room, and gently closed the door behind her .


    After turning around, the happy expression on her face quickly disappeared, ignore the curious eyes focusing on her, she went to her broker who was waiting for her not far away, and whispered a few words in his ears, then walked outside .


    A staff member walked out from the audition room, read another name, and another girl was called in . The next one was going to be Gwh Paltrow, she quickly took out the mirror from her bag, and once again checked her makeup .


    Born in 1972, she''s only 17 years old this year . ording to Eric''s criteria, she should have failed to even get the chance to audition, because she isn''t over 18 .


    But that didn''t bother her because she knew that Eric Williams has a very close rtionship with Drew, and she and her share the same G.o.dfather Steven Spielberg .


    Gwh''s father is a producer, her mother is a well-known film and television actor, and her family conditions are one hundred times stronger than Drew, but she grew up despising how cute Drew looked every time she saw her baby face .


    Even at Spielberg party''s, she rarely talked to Drew, She prefers to get along with other people whose family conditions are simr to her family so she can help her future development .


    However, when she learned that there is a chance to cooperate with Eric Williams, Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, she was ready to do anything to win this opportunity to enter Hollywood .


    If she can get this role, her career in Hollywood will be even higher than those little actors who struggled for many years . So, without hesitation, she immediately contacted Drew, hoping that she would help her get a chance to audition .


    Although she had no rtionship with Drew before, fortunately, she didn''t have any enmity with her . After asking the little b.i.t.c.h to help her get the chance to audition, she immediately epted . What a fool, Gwh thought contemptuously .


    . . . .


    . .


    After less than five minutes, the girl who had just entered the audition room, walked out looking lost .


    All the actresses waiting in the corridor eyes lit up, thinking one lesspet.i.tor .


    "Next, Miss Gwh Paltrow . "


    She quickly stood up, took a deep breath, adjusted her clothes, then walked into the audition room with a faint smile on her face and sat down on the chair . Looking at the blond man seated in the middle of the table with his head bowed written something, she thought, he''s really handsome .


    Gwh heart rate speed up a little, she couldn''t help but fantasize about him inviting her to dinner, perhaps, she should say no to him at first, to show some modesty, it is said that if men easily get something, they never cherish it .


    After more than 10 seconds, the young man sitting on the opposite side raised his head, and said with a smile on his face: "h.e.l.lo, Miss Paltrow, first introduce yourself . "


    After a brief eye contact with him, she was sure that Eric Williams knows who she was, this made her feel a bit excited, it seems that the little b.i.t.c.h did her job well, at least now the other party won''t treat her like a stranger .


    "h.e.l.lo, my name is Gwh Paltrow . I am 17 years old . I graduated from . .


    . . . .


    "


    After a brief self-introduction, Eric asked, "Ms . Paltrow, the information shows that you haven''t had any previous experience starring in a film . Why do you think you can get this role?"


    Gwh who had made some preparations for those kinds of questions, calmly replied: "Because I was born in a family of entertainers, my mother is an actress, so when I was very young, I started helping my mom with her lines .


    Because of that, I''ve always had a strong interest in acting, starting from middle school, I have been the backbone of the school drama club, I partic.i.p.ated in many stage shows, and has .u.mted a wealth of experience in the performing arts . "


    When she finished speaking, she saw several judges at the same time nodding their heads .


    "Miss Paltrow, do you believe in love at first sight? . " Out of nowhere, Eric threw this personal question at her .


    She froze for a moment, she didn''t know what his intentions were by asking this kind of question, Gwh believes in love at first sight, but, she thought, if she gives that answer, she will appear very rash? .


    After thinking for half a minute, she said: "no, I don''t believe in love at first sight, in contrast, I am more willing to ept the sincere feelings that have been cultivated over an extended period of time . "

 Chapter 111: Welfare

    Eric listened to her and didn''t say anything else, bowing his head he started taking notes, this reaction made Gwh somewhat perturbed, she felt that her answer should be very appropriate . But he didn''t give her enough time to think, after a few more questions, he asked her to start performing .


    A staff member moved a two seat bench on wheels to the middle of the room and exined: "Miss Paltrow, the scene you want to perform is like this . On a bus, a strange man suddenly sat down next to you . He''s very handsome, just by looking at him you feel your heart start beating faster .


    But suddenly you feel a pistol pressing on your side, the man held you hostage, and want you to pretend that the two of you are a couple as a police officer investigate the bus, you dare not resist, and have no choice but to do as he said .


    Miss Paltrow, you have no lines, you can only rely on facial expressions and bodynguage to express your emotions, you have one minute to prepare . "


    Not a single line, this was too difficult, that was the first thing that came to her mind . However, she knew she had no choice, but to adjust her mentality and prepare for the performances quickly .


    A minuteter, Gwh sat on the bench and said she was ready, the a.s.sistant reminded her ''when the music stops, then the show is over, using a pboard he announced the start of the performances .


    At the same time, another staff member pressed the start b.u.t.ton on the music yer; a refreshing pianoposition rang in the room .


    This was the soundtrack that appeared in the original bus scene, the name of the song is "Silent Love" . The soundtrack was allegedly copied from a 1995 musical made by a Greekposer called Vangelis and failed to make it to the film soundtrack alb.u.m .


    This time Eric chose to copy all the music from "Running Out of Time", now he certainly will not be involved in any copyright issues, and in the future if he wanted he can also publish Vangelis original soundtrack .


    Gwh sat there quietly, after a few moments, a staff member sat down beside her .


    She gently frowned and turned to look at the man next to her, feeling something on her side she looked down only to find a stic gun pressed against her, her face immediately showed a look of fear, her body expressed a backward movement like she was trying to hide .


    Sitting behind the Audition table Eric frowned slightly, Gwh expressions were too exaggerated, but he didn''t make any noise to interrupt her .


    The performance of the two people was still going on, the staff member put his arm around Gwh''s shoulder, and said: "Don''t make any noise . "


    Gwh''s body stiffened for a moment and pretended to stare straight ahead . From the perspective of Eric, he could see her hands on her knees gently trembling . The staff member took off his sun.s.ses and put them on her . She didn''t have any reaction, like a puppet she didn''t make a move .


    Here the actor should have started talking on a cell phone, but because this was the actress audition, this part was omitted .


    "Lean over," the staff told her in a whisper again, obediently Gwh leaned against his shoulder .


    A few momentster, Eric made a gesture, and immediately someone stopped the music .


    Hearing the music stop, Gwh knows that the show is over, she quickly straightened up, and removed the sun.s.ses and handed them back to the man beside her .


    Eric quickly said: "Miss Paltrow, thank you for your audition, you can leave now, we will inform you of the results as soon as possible . "


    "Ah, that''s it . . . .


    . . it''s over?" Gwh asked without restraint .


    Eric nodded and made a gesture as if to say "please leave," Gwh had to pick up her bag and get out of the room, after closing the audition room''s door, she immediately wiped out the smile on her face, and coldly walked through the crowd of girls waiting to audition .


    In the audition room, a few people were discussing her performance .


    n Fisemann, who was sitting beside Eric, asked: "Eric, what do you think?"


    Before meeting her Eric had already drawn an X on Gwh name in his mind, he wasn''t impressed by her beauty . Moreover, the other side''s acting was terrible, so he casually exined: "No, she isn''t fit for the role, her expressions are all over the ce, and look very artificial .


    Kurt, get ready to call the next one?"


    Sitting next to him, Nickel Frank quickly stopped the staff from calling the next one, and said: "Eric, would you mind changing the actor?"


    "Hey, this was only third one, we agreed to rotate after every ten girls . " The man who was ying as a temporary actor retorted .


    Nicole gave him a look filled with hatred and resentment and said: "Royce, I don''t think you should be allowed to partic.i.p.ate in the auditions . You are so ugly, thest three girls have been affected by you sitting next to them, so they didn''t perform well .


    You are literally killing the poor girl''s careers . "


    "If Audrey Hepburn auditioned, even if she had a gori sitting next to her, she could still act perfectly . "


    "Royce, you finally admitted that you aren''t even as good-looking as a gori . "


    He looked rough, but he wasn''t ugly, in an anger Royce said: "Nicole if you keep mocking me, I''ll tell everyone what happened that night at Brady''s Bar . "


    "You dare!"


    Eric quickly patted the table, to stop the quarrel of the two, Nicole is Eric photographer, and Royce now holds the post of deputy director, the two formerly belonged to Jeffrey wife team, they are very close friends .


    This kind of thing happens every two or three days, so Eric was not worried that the two would really sh, but he was getting tired of their noise .


    The cause of the quarrel is today auditions, all the woman thate today were beautiful, Eric was going to find a temporary actor, but all the men present wanted to y the role of the robber Andy . So he considered it a small reward for the crew who had been working so hard for so many days .


    Unexpectedly, he underestimated how restless this was going to make their Testosterone filled bodies .


    At the start of the auditions everything was going great, but when this particrly s.e.xy Latin girl with a curvy body entered the room, Nicole directly took the role of the temporary actor, even though it was Eric''s a.s.sistant n Fiseman turn .


    But because of the presence of an outsider in the room, all n could do was to sit and watch .


    "Guys stop quarreling, you''re starting to give me a headache . Royce continue doing your job, and if no one respect the rules, I will find a temporary actor, and n.o.body will get to y . "


    Maybe because Eric still has a lot of prestige, or maybe the threat yed a role, the two men immediately shut their mouths, and give each other the middle finger . After Kurt had received the signal from Eric, he went out and called the next name on the list .


    . . . .


    . .


    It wasn''t until she came out of the office building that Gwh suddenly reacted .


    "Ah, I should have thought of that!" Gwh bitterly kicked the trash in the parking lot .


    When she started thinking about what the performance was about, she finally knows why Eric asked her about love at first sight . Apparently, what she was supposed to perform, was the scene of love at first sight .


    She felt stupid about her answer, moreover, when she was acting, she only showed fear, and there was no love at first sight .


    Even the staff member seems to remind her that the man is handsome, that just by looking at him you will feel your heart start beating faster .


    She put the me on the temporary actor he obviously was ugly, but they allowed him to y the role of a handsome man . If Eric Williams or Tom Cruise sat by her side, she was sure her heart would start beating faster .


    But she didn''t me her stupidity and negligence on herself instead she transferred all her anger to Drew, she began ming the little b.i.t.c.h . She lived in Eric''s house, so Drew must have seen the whole script, but when she asked Drew about the script .


    But she only revealed a little bit of the content, if it weren''t for that, she wouldn''t be so unprepared .


    Pa.s.sing a telephone booth, she wondered if she should contact Drew Barrymore again, to see if she can help her get a second chance to try again . Next time she was sure she''d be well-prepared, and will not make the same mistakes .


    Gwh didn''t take into ount, that at the current time, Drew should be in .s.s, after finding her address book, she put a coin in the coin-operated telephone, and dialed Drew bedroom number .


    After a few beeps, the phone call connected .


    "h.e.l.lo! . . .


    . . . " There was a dazed girl''s voice on the other side as if she hadn''t woken up yet .


    She put on a warm tone and said: "Hey Drew, it''s me, Gwh . . . .


    . . Oh, now it''s ten o''clock, are you still asleep, I envy you . .


    . . . .


    Well, Today I partic.i.p.ated in that audition, but I don''t think I did a good job . Can you help me talk to Mr . Williams to give me a second chance to audition? .


    . . . .


    . . Good . .


    . . . .


    , Ok . . . .


    . . , I''ll be waiting for your good news . Let''s eat together this weekend; I know this great Italian restaurant in Sunset Strip .


    . . . .


    . That''s good . . .


    . . . OK, that''s it .


    Bye bye . "


    Putting down the phone in its ce, Gwh said in a voice full of envy: "For her to be sleeping during the day, the b.i.t.c.h definitely was out fooling aroundst night . "

 Chapter 112: Shes mine!

    After the morning auditions, only a few actresses impressed Eric, but none of them made his eyes light up .


    Therefore, the selected actresses can only be used as alternatives, If they couldn''t find a more suitable actress at the end, these candidates will have to go through the third round of auditions .


    Because "Running Out of Time" isn''t a Hollywood film, he couldn''t use the original actors as a reference, so he can only choose in ordance to what he visualized the character to be like .


    In addition to the roles of Cruise and Hanks as well as Joe Pesci, what Eric cares about most is the role of "the girl Andy encounter on the bus . " Therefore, this role will be selected only after most of the leading roles have been identified so he could choose her slowly .


    This role is also the role that received the biggest number of applications . Although this role has only a few scenes, it is still the female lead .


    Therefore, this role even attracted the interest of a few level actresses, and because there are only a few scenes, a few of them even expressed intention of partic.i.p.ating for no money, they only wanted to increase their presence in Hollywood using this highly antic.i.p.ated film .


    Unfortunately, after Eric saw their information he had to refuse because they weren''t right for the role .


    The current cast of "Running Out of Time" is solid, so there is no need to amodate an level actress who does not conform to the character image, just for the sake of adding another star to the list of level stars in the film, that might hurt the film instead of helping .


    He believes that the girl must be able to make people eyes light up, he wanted her to make a deep impression on the audience, in this brief appearance .


    In his past life, the actress Yoyo Mung wasn''t able to do it, all audience could remember is that there is a warm encounter on the bus, but the actress herself was not remembered .


    Although in the years after "Running Out of Time", the actress acted in a lot of films, but he still can''t remember her clearly .


    The afternoon auditions were still nd, but the list of alternative actresses got a few more names on it .


    After a busy day, Eric returned to his mansion in Beverly Hills, he found the house empty, so he switched On the TV in the living room and let it idly y the news, and started preparing dinner, after finishing hee back to the living room to slowly enjoy .


    Eric did not like solitude in his past life, he was a very lively person . But unfortunately, when he came to this world, he strangely found himself attracted to this kind of atmosphere . The solitude help calms his mind and body, and help him think calmly .


    So when Drew suggested he hire a servant he immediately rejected her proposal . Of course, it is possible that this change in behavior is caused by the original owner of this body, or maybe he just has some kind of primitive and instinctive sense of territory hidden deep inside him .


    When he was cleaning the dished, he heard the phone ringing in the living room . Picking up the phone, he didn''t immediately hear the sound of the caller, all he heard was the sound of a bunch of girls squealing . He vaguely heard Drew''s voice mixed in, smiling he patiently waited .


    . . . .


    . .


    In a girls'' dormitory, at this time everyone should be getting ready to sleep, but because Drew the night owl wasn''t nning to sneak out at night to y today, she was still wearing her pajamas . Instead, she was having a party in her dorm room with a bunch of girls .


    After learning that Drew was going to call Eric, all the girls surrounded her with curiosity in their eyes, they have always been curious about the rtionship between her and Eric .


    Seeing the gossip girls surrounding her like a bunch of piranhas, she quickly decided to kick them out of her room, after locking her door, Drew returned to pick up the phone: "Eric, it ''s me, I would like to ask how Gwh Paltrow audition went today?"


    Eric said the truth: "Her performance was awful, Drew, did Gwh ask you?"


    "Yes," when she heard his evaluation, she wasn''t surprised at all: "No wonder she called me in a hurry after her audition today, she wanted me to ask you for a second chance to audition . "


    "I think her performance will be the same even if she tries again, plus her image is too far from how the character should look like . Otherwise, she can try again, the character doesn''t need much acting anyway . Drew, if you really have a good rtionship with her?


    I can help her get a few roles in the future inter movies, and if you want, I can give her a secondary role in "Running Out of Time" . "


    "No, no, no, of course not," Drew quickly refused: "My rtionship with her isn''t that good . "


    Puzzled Eric said: "Aren''t both of you the G.o.ddaughters of Spielberg?"


    "This is the only thing we have inmon," Drew said in a somewhat sad tone: "Gwh father is a film producer, her mother Blythe Danner is an actress, and she has been carefree since childhood . I''ve met her several times before, at Spielberg house, she always acted as proud as a princess .


    As for me, I have always been taken by my mother to go work shooting Ads and movies to earn money to support the family . In fact, she always looked down on me, If not this time she needed my help, she would never have taken the initiative to contact me . "


    Drew words made him feel sad for her, leaning back against the sofa Eric sighed and advised her: "Drew, it''s different now . You don''t have to amodate any person as long as I''m still alive, you''re my little princess now .


    Next time you meet a nuisance, don''t give them face, you don''t have to worry, I''ll always have your back if anything happens . "


    On the other side of the phone, he heard Drew giggling a few times, then he started hearing the sound of the bed squeaking, she was probably jumping and rolling on the bed .


    When the phone line almost got cut off, shees to a stop and said: "Eric, this is the most beautiful love talk I''ve ever heard, I love you too . "


    " . . . .


    . . "


    "Well, well, I know you do love me, so you don''t have to say it" Drew''s voice again be energetic: "So did you select the actress for the role?"


    "I''m not sure yet . It''ll take another day and a half to go through all the auditions, and if I''m still not sure, then we will have a third round of auditions . "


    "Oh, well, if there''s a third round, give Gwh another chance . "


    Eric frowned: "didn''t you just say that she . . . .


    . . "


    Drew quickly interrupted him, and said with a smirk: "I just want Gwh to owe me a favor, in spite of her narcissistic and self-righteous character . "


    Ericughed: "well if there is a third round of auditions, I''ll tell her . "


    "Miss Lopez, thank you for your audition, we''ll let you know as soon as possible . " Once again, after the woman went out, Eric drew an X behind the girl''s name .


    Coming over, Nicole saw Eric''s drawing a big red X on the name of the girl: "Eric, I think this girl isn''t bad ah, especially . . . .


    . . especially . .


    . . . .


    "


    Eric nced at Nicole and said: "Don''t tell me you have a fetish for big b.u.t.ts, do you? When you saw that woman, your eyes started to shine . "


    Everyone in the audition room suddenly burst intoughter, staring awkwardly at his colleaguesughing, Nicole retorted: "I''m a photographer, It''s my job to appreciate beauty, and record it . "


    The Deputy Director Royce could finally seize the opportunity to ridicule Nicole like he did to him the day before: "Guys have I ever told you about the time Nicole almost got to appreciate a big b.u.t.t, we were in a bar, he . . . .


    . . "


    "Royce, shut up, I''ll kill you . " He hurriedly rushed to cover Royce''s mouth, the two were entangled together for a few moments until the crowd broke them apart .


    Eric smiled and tapped the table . "All right, hurry up and let the next girle in . if we can finish today auditions early, we can get ready for the next job . "


    After Eric finished giving his orders, he opened the next actress file, and before he could read her name, the girl entered the room, before he could look up at her, he clearly felt that all the men around him took a deep breath .


    Looking up, the first things he could think of is .


    Stunning!


    And his second thought was .


    She''s mine!

 Chapter 113: Fuse

    The girl''s face was delicate and wless, as if carved by an artist, raven ck hair, fair face, high nose, she was wearing an office girl''s professional suit, and holding a white handbag, when she sat in the chair opposite him, she exudes a quiet and beautiful atmosphere .


    From his past life memories, he remembered that she starred in a film called "Once Upon a Time in America" in 1984, when she was just a thirteen-year-old girl .


    Many yearster, she also starred in another movie called "A Beautiful Mind" in 2001, that had big sess making more than $313 million at the box office .


    Instead of looking at the information in his hand, Eric blurted out: "Miss Connelly, please introduce yourself first . "


    "h.e.l.lo, my name is Jennifer Connelly . I am neen years old . I am currently studying at Yale University in Ennd . .


    . . . .


    "


    Her voice was slightly hoa.r.s.e, adding to her charm, in the following Q u0026 A session, Jennifer Connellyremained calm, it was until the performance that a problem appeared, she has appeared in many films, but she had no professional training .


    So, her acting was still very p.r.o.ne to exaggeration, she even had some facial paralysis when performing .


    But it didn''t matter to him, who can run just after being born, she can be trained . The key is, Eric was sure that Jennifer Connelly can definitely make the audience eyes light up .


    Moreover, she can make the audience feelpa.s.sion and sympathy for her when the robber takes her hostage, and in the scene where she leans on Andy, the weak expression she disyed in this scene was lethal, he almost wanted to give her a hug .


    After her performance was finished, Eric made a note beside Jennifer Connelly''s name, then looked up and said: "Miss Connolly, can I invite you to dinner tonight?"


    Hearing his words all the staff in the audition room were stunned, he was too direct, it''s an unspoken rule in Hollywood to avoid this kind of thing in auditions .


    Jennifer Connelly who was about to leave the room also was stunned, the expression on her face changed a few times before turning back to normal, she specifically came back from Italy, just for this audition, but in doing so, she made the director of a small film called "toile"unhappy .


    But if she can get this role, she canpletely not care about "toile", going to Europe to shoot art films, this was a bottleneck many actresses in Hollywood face, but she had to choose this path . European films in this era haven''tpletely declined yet .


    So, many actors are expected to shoot European movies, and once they get the award, they rush back to their hometown, to start developing their career in Hollywood .


    If he invited her in private, Jennifer Connelly might not have too much hesitation, but under the watchful eyes of so many people, the proud girl had a difficult time putting aside her modesty . So she was in a dilemma .


    "I''m sorry, I was abrupt, Miss Connally, thank you for your audition, we will inform you as soon as possible, you can leave now . "


    Eric really regret that he invited her is front of everyone, he intended to rescue the girl and let her save face, but Jennifer Connelly thought he took her hesitation as a refusal, If so, then she won''t be able to get the role .


    Standing still for a few moments, she didn''t push the door to leave, hesitating for a few seconds Jennifer said in a faint voice: "Mr . Williams, I . . .


    . . . I''d love to .


    "


    "What?" Eric, who had already bowed his head and started written on a paper, raised his head again because the girl''s voice was so small he didn''t hear her clearly .


    Her face turned red with embarra.s.sment, she really didn''t want to repeat her words again in front of so many people .


    Nicole couldn''t help but warn him: "Hey, Eric, don''t go too far, the girl agreed . "


    Eric quickly reacted, and hurriedly nodded his head: "That''s really good, Miss Connery . " he quickly wrote a series of numbers on a piece of paper and handed it to the girl, and said: "I hope you can contact me, at seven o''clock this evening, I''lle pick you up .


    After all, the audition must go on, many girls are still waiting . "


    Jennifer quickly folded the paper and put it in her handbag, lowered her head and hastily left the room .


    "Hey, Eric, is she the one?" Nicole couldn''t help but ask .


    Eric nodded and said: "If there are no surprises, then she is the one . "


    "Then do we have to continue auditioning?"


    "Of course," Eric started looking at the next actress information: "There are so many people still waiting, perhaps, we can find someone who is even better than her, so go ahead and call the next one . "


    Everyone in the audition room knew that in Eric mind he has already chosen her, so in the next auditions, most of them didn''t even bother to pay attention .


    At five o''clock in the afternoon, Thest girl left the room, as the door closed behind her, everyone started packing their thing to leave as if the ce was on fire .


    . . . .


    . .


    Eric went back to his office, tidied up, and was about to leave when Jeffrey knocked at his door and walked in .


    After handing him a doc.u.ment, Jeffrey said: "Eric, this is thetest results of our negotiations, CAAhas made some concessions, the conditions for Cruise and Hanks are the same, they want $5 million plus 12% of the profits each . "


    Eric took a look at the information in the doc.u.ment, and said: "Will, Jeffrey, Don''t talk to them for the next few days, let''s wait for another week, in Friday "Road House" will be released, I''m sure that next week will be very lively . "


    "I also wanted to tell you this," Jeffreyughed: "most of the critics who watched the preview of "Road House" all said the film isn''t good .


    As a result, in the papers half of the voices are praising it and the other half are criticizing it, although recently United Artists tried to hype the film by saying that Richard Gere abandoned "Pretty Woman" because he found that "Road House" is better, But the effect isn''t good, it is estimated that many people are waiting to see the joke .


    "


    Smirking Eric said: "who cares, anyway, as long as "Road House" flop, CAA will no longer have the energy to continue fighting with us . Otherwise, both Cruise and Hanks will not agree . "


    "Why don''t we try to contact actors from the other brokeragepany''s, and make it look like we are looking for other protagonists?"


    Eric shook his head and said, "Not yet, at least not for the time being, let''s see what happens next . "


    They didn''t talk about this CAA things too much, after that, they both left the office, no one has thought that "Road House" was like a sting fuse, The noise caused by it was much more than Eric had expected .

 Chapter 114: Kiss

    Eric purple Lamborghinie to a stop in front of the hotel Jennifer Connelly was staying in, as he got out of the car, he saw Jennifer who was wearing a pale blue dress standing outside the hotel with another middle-aged man waiting for him .


    As Eric got off the car, the two quickly found him, and brisklye over to greet him . Jennifer smiled reluctantly at Eric, while the middle-aged man enthusiastically stretched his hand out and introduced herself: "h.e.l.lo, Mr . Williams, I''m Miss Connelly''s agent, Jim Lester . "


    "h.e.l.lo, Mr . Lester," Eric politely shook his hand, then turned his attention to Jennifer and said: "Miss Connelly, are you ready to go, I''ve booked the restaurant . "


    Jennifer felt that Eric''s eyes and tone were too aggressive as if he regards her as one of his personal belongings, not knowing what to do, she looked at her agent for help .


    She began her debut at the age of thirteen, because of her perfect appearance, more than once she met some men who yearned to have her, but no one acted full of arrogant like Eric did .


    She felt that if she allowed herself to be alone with him, all the methods she used to deal with men would be of no avail .


    Eric followed her gaze at Jim Lester, who was standing beside her: "Mr . Lester, would you like toe along?"


    Lester did not dare to look at Jennifer cry for help, Smiling he shook his head and said: "Of course not, Mr . Williams . How could I possibly disturb the date between the two of you?" . Speaking up to here, the middle-aged man hesitantly asked: "Mr .


    Williams, Can you tell me what the effect of J''s audition today?"


    It felt somewhat strange hearing him call her her J, the nickname doesn''t suit her .


    Putting aside those thoughts he went straight to the point and said: "If there is no ident! This role will be hers . "


    Even Jennifer Connelly who was skeptical about him, couldn''t help but look at him with surprise, let alone the ecstatic Lester .


    As a man, and also as her broker, he was aware that Eric was trying to woo Jennifer, so he was confident Eric would keep his words in the future .


    He knows that usually when Eric Williams discover a good actor, he will try to bring them into his brokerage firm . And as a third line artists broker, Lester knew that if he didn''t take this chance, he would never see such an opportunity again .


    "Well, Mr . Williams, I think UTA is a promising brokerage firm, so I would like to move over with my artists . What do you say?"


    Jennifer Connelly looked with surprise at her broker, Lester didn''t mention the matter before, which made her somewhat dissatisfied with his decision . But she chose not to confront him about it in front of Eric .


    At the same time, she worriedly looked at the young man in front of her, She knew, that UTA was Eric''spany . So, once Eric agrees, she certainly would not have the leeway to refuse, unless she didn''t want the role in "Running Out of Time" .


    But deep down, she resisted joining the UTA, not because she isn''t optimistic about the UTA, but because Jennifer felt that, she will be just like a sheep entering the lion''s den .


    Eric also noted Jennifer surprised and worried expression, with keen interest he looked at the stout middle-aged man in front of him .


    After thinking about it for a moment, he said: "Mr . Lester, you are a wise man, you know how to seize the opportunity, and you''ve made the right choice by joining the UTA . "


    He did intend to dig Jennifer Connelly into the UTA, but he was going to let Kapoor take care of her .


    However, since the girl''s agent took the initiative to mention transferring, Eric was also happy to ept . And since Lester wanted to continue managing the girls, he will let him try it .


    After all, Eric can''t put all the people he is optimistic about into Kapoor''s hands, plus even now Kapoor was barely keeping up with the ones in his hands now, and if Lester can''t prove his strength in the future, he will fire him .


    "By the way, how many artists do you have now?" Eric asked, remembering what Lester had said .


    "Four, including J . " Lester immediately said, he was going to start introducing the other three, but was interrupted by Eric: "give up the other three people, at this point in time UTA can only look after Miss Connery . "


    Lester struggled for a bit in his decision . He has a good rtionship with the three actors, one of them is a brother of a friend, who especially asked him to take care of, but, thinking of his future, Lester quickly made his decision: "no problem, Mr . Williams . "


    After handling this matter, Lester eagerly took the initiative to leave, leaving Jennifer alone with Eric .


    . . . .


    . .


    Starting the car, Eric looked at the girl sitting nkly in the Co-pilot seat and suddenly leaned over .


    Jennifer noticed Eric''s movements and immediately raised her hands in front of her body and asked in horror: "you! . . .


    . . . What are you doing?"


    "Why are you scared," Eric said as his hand crossed over her body and pulled the co-pilot seat belt: "I can''t drive this car safely, so it''s safer to fasten your seat belt . "


    "I''ll do it myself," she said, and reached for the seat belt, but in a fl.u.s.ter instead of grabbing the seat belt, she caught Eric hand, in shock she immediately shrank back in her seat as if she touched fire .


    After fastening her seat belt, Eric sat back in his seat, but he didn''t immediately start the car . Instead, he twisted his head and looked at the restless girl sitting beside him for a few moments .


    "Are you afraid of me?" After a while, Eric finally asked .


    Unconsciously Jennifer nodded her head, but after realizing what she did, she quickly shook her head no: "Mr . Williams, I . . .


    . . . I didn''t mean that .


    "


    "You can call me Eric . "


    In a fl.u.s.ter, she looked out of the window and gently nodded her head .


    "Come on, look at me . " Eric''s tone turned a little softer, so she involuntarily turned her head and looked at him with eyes filled with doubt .


    Eric suddenly stretched out his hand behind her head and leaned forward and kissed her delicate red lips .


    Eric''s move instantly petrified Jennifer, she subconsciously put her hands on his chest, but she forgets to push him away . Feeling the young man sucking on her lips, and his tongue trying to get into her mouth . After Eric released her when the kiss ended, her eyes brimmed with tears .


    "How could you do that?" her first reaction was to give Eric a p, and then get off to leave, but she found herself tied up in her seat not able to move .


    Scrambling to undo the seat belt, Eric stepped on the throttle and drove the Lamborghini onto the road . But she still said: "Mr . Williams, would you please pull over I want to get off . "


    "Come on, be a good girl and fasten your seat belt . "


    "No! . . .


    . . . I want to get off!" She stubbornly raised her voice .


    Eric was about to say something to calm her when suddenly a convertible Mercedes-Benz sports car crossed over the middle line and drove closer to them .


    Swearing in anger Eric started Honking the Horn at them, they almost hit his car, maybe because the punks in the car saw the beautiful girl in the co-pilot seat . Their car stayed close to them, and started whistling at her, in anger he stepped on the throttle and drove faster .


    After the Mercedes-Benz car had disappeared from his Rear-view mirror, Eric found that his body has be covered in cold sweat, looking at the frightened girl beside him, Eric said in a serious tone: "Fasten your seat belt . "


    Jennifer Connelly didn''t dare resist this time, she wasn''t going to treat her life as a joke, so she obediently put on the seat belt, but she still stubbornly turned her head and refused to look at him .


    Ten minutester the purple Lamborghinie to a stop in front of a famous Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills when the doorman saw the expensive car he eagerly got up and walked over to open the Lamborghini door .


    Getting out of the car Eric handed the keys and a tip to the doorman, and Then he went to open Jennifer car door . Maybe she calmed down because she spent all the time on the road ignoring him, she obediently held his outstretched arm and followed him to the restaurant .


    "Why do woman always order a sd, Why don''t you order something else?" Eric couldn''t help but say after hearing her order .


    Jennifer nced at the waiter standing next to her and said softly, "I''m on a diet . "


    Giving up on pursuing her, he instead he ordered his dinner, and a bottle of wine, and give back the menu to the waiter,


    After the waiter left Eric said: "All right, girl, smile a little, You make me feel guilty for what I did . "


    "I don''t believe you . " she bluntly gave Eric a stern look, and said: "and stop talking like you are older than me, You . . .


    . . . You''re only a few months older than me .


    "


    "It''s an honor, knowing that you know when my birthday is, I''m sure we will get along well in the future . I also remember your birthday, the 12th of December, isn''t that right? . "


    Eric''s words made her a little uneasy: "How do you know my birthday?"


    "From your file," Smiling he started telling her some lies to make her rx, "I know a lot about you, your first film "Once Upon a Time in America" was released in 1984 . When I saw you in that movie, I instantly had a crush on you, then today the girl I dreamed about appeared in front of me . "


    No woman does not lovepliments, let alonepliments from a famous young director, embarra.s.sed she bowed her head and didn''t dare look him in the eyes . She quickly forgave him for the kiss he stole in the car .

 Chapter 115: Paparazzi

    Eric continued trying to wow her, "Then there was Sarah in "Labyrinth", to see more of you, I bought the video tape, but unfortunately I lost it . Oh, and yourtest work "Some Girls", I like it, too . "


    Hearing Eric mention herst movie, Jennifer was a little ashamed, "Some Girls" was her first attempt at arger scale performance, so she was subject to a lot of conservative criticism by the critics .


    The reason why she starred in the film was that, after "Labyrinth" box office failure, for a long time she couldn''t find a job .


    She even tried going to j.a.pan to seek for new opportunities, she shot severalmercials there, and even recorded two pop songs for the j.a.panese market: "Monologue of Love" and "Message of Love" she sang in phic j.a.panese as she didn''t know how to speak thenguage .


    But that still didn''t help her career .


    After returning to the United States, to continue staying in Hollywood, she had to shoot "Some Girls" or else she would have to go back home .


    She was just a teenager girl, so after hearing Eric ttering words, she gradually put down her guard and opened her heart to him .


    After she had calmed down, she was just like a chatterbox, she became very open about her personal life, and as dinner went on, their talk started to be more and more intimate .


    After dinner, she put her arm around Eric''s arm and walked with him to the parking lot, once she sat in the Lamborghini, once again she was nervous he won''t bring her back to her hotel, what would she do then? Should she turn him down? Or should she ept his invitation?


    But perhaps . . .


    Feeling nervous her hand unconsciously started scratching at her handbag, when she tried to nce at Eric secretly, she ended up making eye contact with him . In embarra.s.sment, she quickly averted her eyes .


    Smiling at how cute she was acting Eric still wanted to spend some time with her, so he said: "Before I take you back, let''s go see a movie first . "


    like someone on the death penalty list suddenly received a notice saying that his execution was dyed, Jennifer nodded her head in excitement, realizing that her reaction was quite excessive she smiled in embarra.s.sment .


    Seeing that beautiful smile, Eric said: "You should smile more . I like seeing you smile . "


    . . . .


    . .


    Starting the car, Eric drove a fewps in the streets of Beverly Hills trying to find a luxurious cinema, when he finally found one he stopped his Lamborghini outside and looked at the row of movie posters, the first film he saw was the newly released "Road House" .


    Parking his car in the parking lot, he first walked her to the cinema lobby, then he went to the ticket booth and bought two tickets .


    "What movie is it?" Seeing Ericing back to her side, Jennifer asked, but after seeing the movie ticket in his hand, she blurted out: ""Road House" isn''t that Richard Gere new film, in the newspaper they said . . . .


    . . "


    Speaking up to here, she quickly shut her mouth .


    Eric took her by the hand, as they walked into the cinema, and said in amus.e.m.e.nt: "What did they say in the newspapers?"


    "They . . . .


    . . They stated that "Road House" would certainly be able to exceed your movie "Pretty Woman" . "


    "It seems that United Artists to create some hype for their movie, they will even use these cheap tactics," said Eric,ughing: "So, what do you think of what the tabloids are saying . "


    "I believe that the a.n.a.lysis of the newspaper is very reasonable," Jennifer disproved weakly .


    "Oh, wait a minute . Tell me more about this press report . I''m very interested . "


    As the two were having this conversation and buying c.o.ke and popcorn, they werepletely oblivious to the man not far behind them .


    The thin, short white man with a camera was frantically taking pictures of them, and he became even more, excited when he saw the two entering "Road House" screening hall, the speed his index finger that was pressing the shutter seems to have be extremely fast .


    When Eric and Jennifer walked into the movie theater, Victor the short white man was reluctant to put down his camera . He was a Los Angeles fashion magazine reporter, responsible for the fashion pages, many times he hade in contact with many stars .


    So, when Victor encounters valuable scandals, he doesn''t mind acting like a paparazzi to earn more money .


    Meeting Eric and Jennifer Connelly today waspletely an ident, because of working overtime, Victor was driving home when he saw Eric cool purple Lamborghini, so he tailed the car trying to take pictures .


    As a fashion magazine editor, after watching the movie "Pretty Woman" he could at a nce recognize this type of car, he knew that this car model would be listed on the market only after a few months .


    So he thought if he could take some pictures, and write an article about the limited edition car, he could make a quick buck .


    Because of the movie "Pretty Woman", These days, Lamborghini has almost be the world''s hottest sports car brand in the market, leaving even Ferrari and other carspany''s behind .


    After a few minutes of carefully chasing the purple Lamborghini, the car finally stopped at the entrance of a cinema . Victor was going to wait until the owner of the car leaves then start taking pictures, but he found that the man who got out of the car is the famous young director Eric Williams .


    This discovery didn''t excite Victor too much; everyone knows that Eric and Lamborghini had cooperated in advertising the car, in this case, getting the limited edition car before it hit the market isn''t a strange thing .


    If Eric was the only one to get out of the car, Victor decided not to mention Eric''s name in the article, and keep the owner of the car unknown to added some mystery to the story and make it more appealing to the eye of the reader .


    But next, a gorgeous girles out from the co-driver side, giving Victor a mental shock . The girl wasn''t Drew Barrymore or Julia Roberts, nor was it Eric''s girlfriend Jennifer Aniston, it was another beautiful girl .


    Although Jennifer Connelly wasn''t very famous, Victor was still aware of who she was .


    Eric Williams''s private life has always been the object of interest of the paparazzi . But unfortunately, after he became famous, he neither went to nightclubs or bars, and he didn''t have any hidden bad habits .


    Although there was a disturbance when it was known that he had a girlfriend named Jennifer Aniston, the news quickly subsided, after that, there was that famous photo with them hugging in the streets of New York .


    In this case, although the paparazzi were curious about his personal life . But because the boy always keeps himself away from trouble the paparazzi gradually stopped chasing him, Hollywood has so many newsworthy stars; no one will spend months chasing Eric just to get a scoop .


    So today this scandal was all his, no paparazzi will take this scoop from him, swapping the used roll of photographic film in the camera with a new one, he patiently waited outside the cinema .


    While waiting his heart was tangled, should the scandal focus on Eric and his new girlfriend Jennifer Connelly, or should he focus on Eric watching "Road House", or should he split it into two different topics?

 Chapter 116: False protagonist

    After sitting in the theater seat, Eric and Jennifer chatted about what the tabloid is saying about "Road House" until the lights in the theater dimmed down and the movie started ying .


    Richard Gere yed the character of Dalton a professional "cooler" with a mysterious past who is enticed from his current job at a club in New York City by a bar owner to help him rectify his increasingly chaotic club/bar, in Jasper, Missouri .


    The first twenty minutes of the film didn''t make any sense, woman flirting with men, bar fights everywhere, and Richard Gere always showing a cold face in every scene, acting as if he is tougher than everyone else .


    As an action movie, at least the film should start with an intense fight to attract the audience attention, right?


    But the screenwriter apparently didn''t bother to do so, instead, in the first fight a wannabe gangster only scratched Richard''s arm, and then the romance plot starts when he goes to the hospital for st.i.tches, and end up striking up a friendship with Dr .


    Elizabeth, which develops into a romantic rtionship .


    But this scene did not cause the audience to resonate with the character because Richard Gereperformance was so rxed as if the doctor is sewing clothes, rather than st.i.tching his wound, he didn''t even make a sound, or show in his expression that he is in pain, nothing at all .


    So although the scene is so b.l.o.o.d.y, Eric could still hear someone behind him chewing popcorn .


    Then, after arriving at the chaotic club/bar outside the city, the protagonist still didn''t do a thing he just watched, after understanding the cause of the chaos .


    The lead actor summons all the staff to a meeting, fired several unruly and corrupt employees, then opened the bar back again, and everything started going smoothly just like that .


    Then, the club/bar business started Growing, causing the small town bully Wesley to try to take over the bar, Wesley sought to recruit the protagonist to be one of his henchmen . And of course, he was rejected by the leading character .


    Then, more than 80 minutester, the film finally ushered in some fights, or maybe the director finally remembered that this is an action movie .


    After the protagonist rejected the bad guy Wesley, hees back with a crowd of thugs to destroy the club/bar, causing a sh .


    Although the director tried to add some Chinese martial arts ch.o.r.eography to the fights, in general, most of the fights were just punches and kicks, this was also Richard Gere first time shooting this kind of film, so as expected his fighting moves were bad, you can even say he looked ridiculous .


    The end of the movie was like this, the town bully Brad Wesley, began to do some evil things in the small town, to show his status as the ruler of the small town, forcing the protagonist toe out to stop him .


    First, he burned the auto parts store because he refuses to give ground to Wesley''s persistent extortion demands, then the next day, car dealership owner bes Wesley''s next victim when he also refuses to pay .


    As a result, Wesley has one of his thugs, demolish the dealership and crush four station wagons in the showroom with his monster truck as the protagonist and his friends look on with contempt .


    In thest ten minutes, he finally decides to settle the score with Wesley, he single-handedly dispatched all Wesley men one by one, and finally decide to kill Wesley at the end .


    When hees face-to-face with Wesley, the protagonist gains the upper hand in their fight and prepares to finish Wesley in the same brutal manner as he did to his henchmen, but decides against it .


    Everyone thought the protagonist will resolutely get rid of Wesley and then end the film, but he let him go, he smashed his ce, killed his closest friend, but the protagonist bes soft-hearted and lets him go . . . what nonsense is this .


    Just after the false protagonist Richard Gere releases him and walks away, Wesley seizes the opportunity to reach for a gun . But he was promptly shot to death by the real protagonists of the film, a group oppressed town residents, whoe to save the false protagonist .


    At this point, the two-hour action movie finally ended .


    The lighting of the auditorium had not yet lit up, and Eric could already hear the voices of the audience around him .


    . . . .


    . .


    "That monster truck was really too domineering, Avril, what do you say we buy a car like that? "


    "This is Los Angeles . The police won''t allow you to drive that kind of car on the roads unless you want us to go back to the farm in Texas . "


    "Well, forget it . I don''t want to go back to Texas . When the old guy hangs up, I''ll sell the farm, then we can buy a beautiful house in Santa Monica . "


    "If your father heard what you said, he will kill you . "


    "Hey, Victor, how many songs do you recognize?"


    " "Don''t Throw Stones", "I Sold My Soul to Rock and Roll", "On the Road Again", and when the little blonde girl was dancing, "Hoochie Coochie Man" by Jeff Healey . we don''t have to remember these songs, soon the original soundtrack will be released . "


    "I just can''t wait . The soundtrack is great . I intend to buy all alb.u.ms when I go back . "


    With the lights on, the auditorium be noisier, so Eric could only hear the audience brokenments .


    "It was s.h.i.t, I can''t believe I was fooled by the propaganda in the newspaper when we go back let''s unsubscribe from the "Los Angeles Daily News" I would rather watch "Pretty Woman" again than watch this film . "


    "Richard Gere will even give up "Pretty Woman" to y this garbage movie . He must be out of his mind . "


    "They call this fighting, and they even tried to imitate Bruce Lee, Lee can jump and kick a three meter high light bulb on the ceiling, Richard Gere can''t even do good high kick, he isn''t even as good as the supporting actors who y as the viins . "


    "Although Richard Gere performance has no bright spots, I don''t think the movie was that bad . At least the girls are beautiful, and the music also was great . "


    "Hey, Mr . wil . . .


    . . . Eric, let''s go .


    " Jennifer Connelly who was sitting next to Eric noticed that he had been listening to what the audience is saying about the move, so she chose not to disturb him, only when most of the people in the auditorium were gone, did she gently pull on Eric''s cuff, breaking his concentration .


    "Ah," Eric recovered, stood up and walked out with her, and asked: "so what do you think of the film?"


    Jennifer shook her head in disappointment, and unconsciously held Eric''s arm, and gave a one-wordment: "Noisy . "


    They talked in a low voice, as they walked out of the screening hall .


    Victor who was waiting outside didn''t know the length of the "Road House" .


    So he spent more than ny minutes outside the screening hall staring at the exit door, fearing that he will miss Eric and Jennifer Connelly if he left the ce for too long, he had to go to the toilet once, but he quickly came back .


    Finally, after nearly two hours, the audience starteding out of the screening hall, Victor held the camera to take the pictures, but after waiting for more than two minutes, Eric didn''te out .


    "They couldn''t have gone out when I went to the restroom," Victor muttered in confusion, just when he started losing hoop, he saw a handsome man and a beautiful womaning out hand in hand .


    To get the best results, Victor quickly turned on the camera sh .


    Click click click


    The bright light of the camera shed several times in cinema hall, When Eric realized the situation was bad and attempted to raise his hand in front of him, it was toote .


    Originally the Movie theater security guards won''t stop reporters from doing interviews inside the cinema hall, this can bring some publicity to the cinema .


    But using the sh is not the same, this can cause the customers some trouble, so after Victor took a few pictures, two security guards quickly rushed over to stop him, and escorted Victor out .


    Eric patted Jennifer''s hand and gave her a rea.s.suring look, looked around, then went toward the theater''s front desk .


    "h.e.l.lo, sir . May I have your name, please? . .


    . you are that . . .


    Eric, wow, Mr . Williams, I didn''t expect you''de to our cinema to watch movies . My name is Linda, Linda ude . " The front desk girl Linda excitedly stretched out her small hand and shook Eric''s hand who didn''t know how to deal with the super energetic girl .


    Eric withdrew his hand from her firm grip and said, "Well, Linda, you must have noticed the trouble we are in, so could you take us out from the other exit?"


    "No problem, Mr . Williams, pleasee with me . " Linda quickly nodded her head like a chicken, and led Eric and Jennifer to the back door, while her little mouth kept chattering and asking a variety of questions .


    "Mr . Williams, is thisdy your new girlfriend? How beautiful!"


    Jennifer Connelly heard the question and looked up at Eric with antic.i.p.ation and anxiety .


    Eric knew that in this case there is only one right answer, or else he will risk embarra.s.sing the girl, so he did not hesitate to nod and say, "Yes . "


    "Mr . Williams, when are you going to start shooting "Running Out of Time", I"m a big fan of yours, I always watch your movies as soon as theye out . "


    "I''m not sure yet, but probably in the summer . "


    "Mr . Williams, which movie did youe to watch tonight?"


    " . . . .


    . . "


    If he weren''t sure about her upation, Eric would have suspected that she was an undercover paparazzi, on their walk to the back door Linda asked more than ten questions, Eric could only answer the barrage of questions using short words .


    "Here it is," said Linda, referring to the security door in front of her, as she opened the door, she summoned her courage and said: "Mr . Williams, ah, can you give me a signature . "


    "Of course," Eric nodded . "But I don''t have a pen or paper . "


    "I do," Linda took out a pen from her the chest pocket, but she still didn''t have paper, after a few moment of searching all her pockets, she raised her arm and said, "Mr . Williams, please sign my sleeve . "


    "Okay . " Eric quickly signed his name on the shirt fabric . and left through the back door and walked out of the cinema .

 Chapter 117: Numbers

    The back door theye out of led them to a quiet and secluded alley, that leads to a street 10 meters on the left side, as they walked out of the ally, a small figure quickly darted over to them .


    After Victor was escorted out of the cinema by the security guards, he waited for a while, but he found that Eric did note out .


    Making a crucial decision Victor quickly ran back to the back alley, Eric really underestimated this paparazzi rookie, just as he thought of the back door strategy to deal with that paparazzi, the shrewd paparazzi already started moving .


    Victor didn''t take pictures this time, he already had enough pictures of two people in his camera . Instead, he walked over to them and put a tape recorder in front of Eric''s face, and asked: "Eric, is Miss Jennifer Connelly your new girlfriend?"


    Eric didn''t answer . Instead, he pulled on Jennifer''s hand and quickly walked to the parking lot . But because she was wearing high heels, they were doomed not to walk fast .


    Victor closely followed Eric and kept asking questions: "Eric, why did youe to watch "Road House", are you worried about it threatening your film "Pretty Woman" at the box office . "


    "When are you going to start shooting "Running Out of Time"? Did Tom Cruise and Tom Hanksencounter the same strong opposition from CAA like Richard Gere did?"


    Although Eric is a rookie at dealing with the paparazzi .


    But he firmly remembered the most useful tactic to use when dealing with them, and that is, in the face of the sudden emergence of paparazzi, no matter what the other side asked, and no matter how he provokes you, it is best not to say a word .


    Because no matter what you say, the paparazzi will distort your words and interpret them ording to their wishes .


    Seeing that nothing wille out of Eric''s mouth, Victor shifted his targets to Jennifer: "Jennifer, when did you start dating Eric, don''t you mind that Eric also has another girlfriend named Jennifer?"


    "Jennifer, will you be the heroine in "Running Out of Time"?"


    "Jennifer, are you going to move into Eric''s Beverly Hills mansion?"


    " . . . .


    . . "


    In the face of Victor barrage of questions, Jennifer''s face slowly started showing an impatient look, she was about to say something, but unfortunately, they reached the Lamborghini, opening the pa.s.senger side door, Jennifer quickly hopped in .


    "Hey, Eric, why are you so rude to Miss Jennifer? Does that mean she isn''t your girlfriend? What''s your rtionship? Is it some kind of deal?


    Eric, Eric . . . .


    . . "


    Seeing the Lamborghini scissor doors closing behind Eric, Victor patted the sports car .s.s window and raised his voice to ask questions, but unfortunately, he was doomed to receive no answers . Soon after that the sports car slowly drove out of the parking lot and disappeared into the traffic .


    Along the way, Jennifer remained silent with her head bowed, Eric is neither a gentleman nor a patient person . Originally he did all those things tonight, the sports car, the movie, and the dinner were all just him trying to woo the girl so she will let down her guard so he can take her to bed .


    Unfortunately, the one thing he didn''t want to happen tonight happened, a lot of the questions asked by the paparazzi were implying that he as the director and her the actress had a transaction, which hurt her feelings, so Eric can only temporarily give up on taking her to bed .


    He didn''t want to spend money on Victor to shut him up . After all, the other side is a paparazzi, not to mention he had a tape recorder On, so he didn''t risk opening his mouth .


    If he tried to buy the paparazzi silence and failed in the negotiation, the original trip to watch a movie will turn to something bigger .


    . . . .


    . .


    After the Lamborghini stopped at the gate of the hotel where Jennifer was staying . She sat there quietly, not rushing to get off as if wondering what she should do .


    Eric didn''t hurry her, he just sat there drumming a piano-like beat with his fingers on the steering wheel, he thought she had just been frightened by the paparazzi and needed to sit back and rx .


    After a while, Jennifer Connelly finally raised his head, looked Eric in the eyes with all the courage she could muster and said: "Mr . Williams, you''re not breaking up with that girl named Aniston, right?"


    Eric''s finger on the steering wheel suddenly stopped the drumming, after hesitating for a moment, he nodded his head and said: "Yes . "


    Although she didn''t have too much hope, a sad look still appeared on her face: "Well, Mr . Williams, I think, I''m not suitable for the role, you should consider other people . "


    "Jennifer, If this because of what that paparazzi said, then I won''t pester you anymore," Eric made up his mind to try to stabilize her mind first .


    Not surprisingly, a look of struggle emerged on her face, but after a few moments her pride finally prevail over her thirst for fame: "I''m sorry, Eric, even if nothing happens between us in the future, the tabloid will say that I slept with you just to get the role . I don''t want to be seen as . . .


    . . . A woman like that .


    "


    Eric stared at her for a few moment, and said: "well, as you wish . "


    Although he was overbearing, he wasn''t a bully . Since she was so determined, Eric will not try to stop her .


    Hearing Eric''s words, Jennifer did not have a happy look, she knows what it means to give up this opportunity, perhaps for a long time, her career will be at a low ebb .


    She was about to push the door to leave, when Eric suddenly called out to her, "Jennifer, wait a minute . "


    Jennifer sat back and looked at him, as he searched his pockets for something, he was searching for a business card or something to write with .


    Giving up Eric reached for her handbag and took out a lipstick, forcibly pulled her hand and quickly wrote a string of numbers, and said: "this is my home phone number, you can call me anytime if you need any help in the future . "


    Jennifer looked at the string of numbers on her hand, and nodded her head as if to say thanks, then opened the door to leave .


    When she got back to her hotel room, Jennifer felt faint and weary, putting aside her handbag on the coffee table, she quickly took off her dress and underwear and walked into the bathroom naked . Turning on the tap, she looked nkly at the phone number for a long time .


    Eventually, she decided not to wash it off .


    Sighing, she returned to the living room to find her address book to record the number, then returned to the bathroom to take a bath .


    More than 20 minutester, she returned to the living room wearing a bathrobe and a towel covering her wet hair . Before she could reach for the hair dryer, she heard a knock at the door .


    As soon as she opened the door, her broker asked, "Jane, I just heard a waiter say you came back, how did things go?" when he heard that she returned, he immediately had an uneasy feeling in his heart .


    "I''m sorry, Jim . I turned down the role . "


    "You! . . .


    . . . " The thing he feared the most has be a reality, his lips opened and closed a few times, but no soundes out, but after calming his heart he said: "Jane, you are too impulsive .


    Do you know how many girls submitted their resume to the Firefly, more than 2800, but only 200 got the chance to audition . I heard that Eric Williams also rejected a few Hollywood actress . Listen to these figures, do you have any idea how lucky you are . "

 Chapter 118: Unbalanced state of mind (18+)

    Jennifer became speechless after listening to Lester''s words, she was aware of her rash decision, but she still didn''t regret it .


    "Jane, Eric Williams only asked you to eat a meal, even if heter made some excessive demands, if you don''t want to, you can just be tactful and refuse . Although he is young, he is still a big shot in Hollywood, so even if he act outrageous, you don''t have to turn down the role?"


    "He didn''t do anything to me, but . . . .


    . . when I was with him we were photographed by the paparazzi," Jennifer exined in annoyance: "I don''t want to be seen as the kind of woman who will sell her body for fame . "


    Lester who followed Jennifer into the room sat on the sofa and exined in a Sincere voice: "Jane, Hollywood will only remember the winner, as long as you be a big star, no one is going to care about what you''ve done .


    You don''t even have to open your mouth; there are lots of people who will help you cover up everything, this is the real reality .


    Moreover, many women in Hollywood are willing to apany ugly old men to get a chance like this, By contrast, Eric Williams is both young and handsome, what happened with him should be an eptable thing?"


    "But he has a formal girlfriend . " Jennifer Connelly squeaked .


    "Then steal him from her," Lester said in frustration: "Do you have no confidence in your appearance . Jane, I also know that he has a formal girlfriend, but so what, they are not engaged, not to mention they have been separated for a long time, this is the best time for you to snatch him . "


    "Ah, ah!" Jennifer grew more and more tangled, suddenly she couldn''t help but threw herself on the sofa, pulled a pillow over her head, and said in a muffled voice: "Jim, don''t force me to do it . "


    "All right," Lester said when he saw that she wouldn''t bend . he has been her broker for so many years, so he was clear about Jennifer temperament, in helplessness he said: "Well, you''re going to have to call Peter Del Monte the director of "toile" tomorrow morning to apologize .


    because you wanted to catch this audition, the filming of "toile" was done in a rush, if he needs to take more shots, we''ll have to go back to Rome . "


    "I know . " her voice came from under the pillow .


    "Don''t answer so offhandedly, Jane," Lester said solemnly: "since you give up this opportunity, we don''t know when you''ll be able to get a role in Hollywood, so it''s better to maintain a good rtionship with the Europeans . "


    "Ok," again she said in a loud voice .


    Lester wanted to say more to her, but looking at the girl acting like an ostrich with her head under the pillow . Giving up, he got up and patted Jennifer on the shoulder, and said: "Sleep early, I''m going back to my room . "


    Shutting the girl door, Lester couldn''t help but shake his head, what a great opportunity, if they can stick to Eric Williams this rising star, it is equal to riding on a rocket to the moon .


    Eighteen-year-old, in the end, she was still just a child, Adhering to her pride, and not knowing what he had lost .


    Lester had spent most of his energy on Jennifer, the year after the box office failure of "Labyrinth", the fifteen-year-old Jennifer Connally for a long time wasn''t able to receive a job .


    So he personally went to japan to try to help her develop her career, then he went Europe to find other opportunities for her .


    To make this beautiful girl rid of the image of a vase, he arranged for her to study at Yale University in the UK, he even arranged for her to learn how to sing properly .


    But now, he suddenly felt that perhaps he should spend more energy cultivating the other actors he has, ah, the boy named Sean is a good actor, plus he is handsome, and the most important thing he was very clever, he was very mature for his age .


    And as for Jennifer Connelly, he will just let her go .


    . . . .


    . . .


    Sitting in his Lamborghini Eric watched as Jennifer walked into the hotel, it was frustrating to be rejected by the little girl . After his rebirth, although he encountered many twists and turns .


    But in general everything was going smoothly, this somewhat inted his ego, and made him almost forgot the taste of defeat .


    Irritated he looked at the road signs to know where he is, finding that Jeffrey house was close, Eric drove straight to the old man''s house .


    Knocking on the old man''s door, Jeffrey opened wearing a pajama, with a ridiculous pointed hood . When he saw Eric depressed face, Jeffrey quickly let Eric through the door, and asked in a surprised voice: "Eric, what happened thiste at night?"


    Eric shook his head and said, "Nothing, the date I was on, was canceled halfway through . And I found myself close to your house, so I came to talk to you . "


    Jeffrey who was about to pour water in a cup for Eric stopped his action, and said: "that''s it?"


    "Uh huh . . . .


    . . "


    Jeffrey put the water pitcher back in its ce, and said: "You son of a bitch, quickly go away, don''t you see it''s nearly eleven o''clock already? I spent the entire day working so hard taking care of yourpany, and you came to harass me even in the night . "


    Eric scratched his head and protested: "Hey, don''t be so angry, now I''m mentally weak, and in need offort . "


    Jeffrey walked to Eric who was sitting on the couch grabbed him by the cor pulled him up and said: "Get out!"


    "Oh, Jeffrey, don''t pull, this suit cost more than $2000!"


    Eric got rid of the old man and threw the Lamborghini key on the coffee table and said: "I will have to leave my car here, loan me yours . "


    Jeffrey looked at the car keys on the coffeebel and said: "Are those the keys to the car sent to you by Lamborghini, you are giving such a good car to me?"


    Depressed Eric said: "In your dreams, the paparazzi took pictures of the car, so for the next two days the car will be all over the newspapers, so I won''t dare driving it if I were you?"


    "Okay,e with me," Jeffrey took Eric to his garage and handed him new car keys: "you can take my Buick!"


    Seeing another car parked next to the Buick it looked almost like a brand-new Benz, Eric pointed at it and said: "lets trade, I will give you my Lamborghini for the Benz . "


    "Don''t even think about it," Jeffrey red angrily at Eric as he stepped forward and stroked the hood of the Benz gently . his voice instantly turned soft and gentle . "This is Solina''s . "


    (TN note: Solina is Jeffrey dead wife . )


    Hearing Jeffrey exnation Eric immediately shut his mouth and took the Buick key from Jeffrey''s hand .


    The old man treated everything his wife left like a treasure, he didn''t use the money he earned being Eric producer to by anything luxurious nor did he invest the money .


    Instead, he used the money to buy the copyrights of his wife movies; It is said that he was taken advantage of when he was buying the rights to his wife movies Eric heard that he paid several times what the films rights were worth .


    Leaving the love-struck old man with the car, Eric drove the Buick to Virginia''s small vi in Malibu, knocked on the door, and as soon as she opened the door for him, he swept her off her feet''s and carried her petite body into the bedroom.


    Throwing her on the bed, he got rid of his clothes and pounced on her.


    "Rippp...."


    He ripped her nightgown, revealing her big, pale breasts withrge pink ares.


    Reaching down with one hand he roughly groped and massaged her breasts as the other slid up her slender and smooth thigh, running his fingers over her panty d pussy.


    Feeling her nipples starting to harden he leaned down and took one in his mouth, pinching the other one as he slid his hand in her panties, stimting her clit.


    "UHHHH...."


    Vicky moaned feeling the stimtion.


    Hearing her moans Eric let go of her nipple and kissed her sexy lips, pushing his tongue in her mouth, still stimting her clit and massaging her breasts.


    As their tongues battled each other he suddenly pushed his middle finger in her pussy and pinched her nipple, making her moan in his mouth.


    Letting go of her lips he started kissing down her neck and pushing his finger in and out of her pussy as she cried out softly in pleasure.


    Feeling her vagina getting damp he pulled out his finger and grabbed the edges of her nightgown, pulling it over her head as she sat up, then, grabbing her panties he pulled the down and off her legs.


    "UHHH...."


    Spreading her legs, he put his dick to her glistening slit and plunged deep in her with one thrust, making her let out a throaty moan.


    He didn''t waist any time, hooking his arms around her knees he started to pound her tight snatch, plunging deep in her pussy, pulling out and pushing back in, making her cry out in pleasure.


    As he pounded her cunt, he looked down at her face twisted in pleasure, moans escaping her mouth and her big breasts swinging with every thrust, making the anger in his heart dissipate slightly, but it wasn''t enough.


    So stopped thrusting and , with a dirty pop, pulled out of her slick vagina.


    Standing up he pulled her to the edge of the bed and put her legs on his shoulders.


    Leaning in until her knees were almost at her chest, he took his dick and with one thrust buried his dick deep in her slick cunt, making her moan.


    Grabbing her thighs he started to pound her again, plunging in and out of her pussy with deep strokes, this position allowing him to reach deeper in her tight snatch, every thrust hitting the entrance of her womb, making her moans transform into uncontroble screams of pleasure.


    "Pak..."


    He kept pounding her pussy, loving the feeling of his dick stretching her tight snatch, as the sound of her moans and the collision of their bodies filled the room.


    Eric, feeling his orgasm build, pulled out of her tight snatch and flipped her over.


    Getting up on the bed he pulled up her waist and pushed her head down into the bed, making her slim, tight ass stick up in the air.


    "Smack...."


    pping her ass once, he grabbed her slim waist and plunged back into her tight cunt, making her moan.


    Holding her waist he started to pound away, invading her tight pussy over and over again, filling it to the brim, making her let out captivating moans of pleasure.


    Eric sped up his thrusts, his dick mming deep in her pussy , his balls pping her ass as she arched her back and cried out in pleasure.


    He pushed her head down into the bed and continued to pound her tight pussy, her moans turning muffled.


    Eric felt an extremelyfortable feeling surging in his heart as he wantonly vited the beauty below, making the anger in his heart dissipate even more.


    "UHHH.... GODDD....."


    Moaned Vicky as she felt her orgasming, sliding her hand between her legs and ying with her clit.


    Eric kept pounding her until.


    "UHHH.... GODDD..... Cumming...."


    Virginia cried out, as he buried his dick deep in her, her walls contracting around his dick, as she squirted a massive amount of love juice, her mind getting foggy from the pleasure.


    "HAA..... me too"


    Grunted Eric, her contracting walls pushing him over the edge as he pushed his dick deep in her and filled her pussy with his cum.


    Waking up from her sexual fog, Virginia finally was able to put her thoughts together .


    With her hands up on Eric''s chest, Virginia asked softly, "Hey, Eric, what''s wrong? You look dejected . "


    "Hmm! . . .


    . . . " Eric just hummed and didn''t answer .


    "Oh, Let me guess, when you came I smelled the fragrance of another woman on you . It was a mixture of gardenia, jasmine, and violets . Generally, only girls in their Teens will wear this type of Perfume, hmm . .


    . , you were on a date with a young beauty didn''t you . "


    Seeing the shocked look on Eric''s face, shepleted her spection: "and then . . . .


    . . you were rejected?"


    Eric directly pulled Virginia soft body to him and buried his face in her big breasts .


    Seeing Eric acting embarrassed, Virginiaughed and patted him on the back: "You''re a real jerk, another woman rejected you, and the first thing you do is,e to my bed . Oh, don''t rub there, you bastard, that itches .


    " pushing Eric away from her, shey back on the bed and curiously asked: e on tell who is this mysterious girl who dares reject Eric Williams, I really wanna know?"


    "Vicky, let''s not talk about this topic, please . "


    "Well, if you aren''t going to tell me, then don''t try to vent your frustration on me tonight . " in a huff she turned her back on him .


    "Oh really" hearing her words, Eric decided to toss her around for a second time . as for Virginia she didn''t mean what she said when ites to sex with Eric, she can''t refuse him, she won''t refuse because he was that good .


    . . . .


    . .


    After the second round of sex, Eric gradually calmed down and found that his state of mind is too unbnced .


    Rubbing his face, Eric reflected on his actions for a while; he thought that this young body was affecting his behavior, if he were 100% himself, Eric wouldn''t get flustered by a girl rejection, only a teenager will act as he did .


    He inherited the memory of the original owner of the body, and although his soul has dominated everything, more or less he wasn''t affected by the young man''s personality and habits, or maybe he just wasn''t affected at first .


    Because the original owner of the body didn''t experience the same things as he did in his past life, because in his past life he experienced so many ups and downs, Eric didn''t know whether this was a bad or good thing for him .


    "Hey, Eric, are you all right?" Virginia saw Eric rubbing her face and frowning, so she leaned over and asked anxiously .


    "It''s okay, Vicky, I''m all right . " Eric put his arms around her . He naturally moved his hand to her soft bosom, and started exining: "Actually, this is what happened . .


    . . . .


    "

 Chapter 119: I want to become the king of Hollywood(18+)

    "Jennifer Connelly, Ah, what a lucky girl . She was able to get a role in Sergio Leone''s "Once Upon a Time in America" at the age of thirteen, it is natural for her to have some naivety and pride .


    By the time she reaches thirty, and if she still didn''t aplish anything in Hollywood, she will regret losing this chance . " After listening to Eric story Virginia leaned against him and sighed, she probably thought of her own experience .


    Eric could only hug Virginia tofort her, thinking of something at the same time, Jennifer Connelly''s pride did persist to the age of thirty .


    At the age of twenty in 1991 she had a breakthrough in her career, she got the heroine role in a Disney movie called the "The Rocketeer", but unfortunately, the film flopped .


    So far, since she debuted all the big productions she participated in including "Once Upon a Time in America", "Labyrinth" and "The Rocketeer" failed at the box office . Although these failures didn''t have anything to do with her .


    But Hollywood producers are very superstitious, so, after five years Jennifer Connelly disappeared from the public eye .


    Virginia looked up at the absent minded Eric and suggested, "Eric, it''s not too hard for you to get her . "


    "Huh?" Eric came back to himself .


    "You now have your own filmpany, there will be new film projects in the future, all you have to do is, from time to time throw a piece of bait at her . for a girl who''s longing for fame if you tempt her a few times, she will be obediently hooked . "


    "Wow, I can''t believe you are this wicked" Eric give her a hug and a p on the ass: "It seems I''ll have to punish you . "


    "Ah, looks like you aren''t frustrated anymore," Virginia warped her legs around his waist and started rubbing down on him .


    "Of course not," Eric turned over and again put Virginia under his body and positioned his tool at her entrance as he said: "I''m the man who will be the king of Hollywood, what is frustration?


    In the future, I want to be a yboy like Howard Hughes, as long as I fancy a woman, someone will pick them up and bring them to my bed ."


    "UHHHH...."


    With that he mmed his dick deep in her pussy, stretching her tight walls as she cried out loudly in pleasure.


    cing his hands on the sides of her torso, he leaned forward and started thrusting in her tight pussy, sliding his dick in and out of her hot snatch as she let out unrestrained moans of pleasure.


    "Smack...."


    He began to pound her faster and faster, his balls pping her ass as Virginia wrapped her legs around his waist, driving him deeper into her pussy, making her moans increase in volume.


    "HAA..."


    Grunted Eric, as he felt her clenching and unclenching her pussy around his rigid cock, trying to milk him.


    Feeling the strong impact, Virginia cried out, but her mouth refused to admit defeat. Instead, she retorted: "That''s ridiculous, now is not the same era, no one can fully control Hollywood . "


    "Actually, controlling Hollywood is easy," Eric again turned her over and put her in his favorite posture, on her hands and knees as he said: "All you have to do is turn all the big studios in Hollywood into one big giant studio."


    "p..."


    He gave her full and round ass a strong p, making her gasp, before slightly spreading her slim legs and, positioning his throbbing dick at her entrance, burying it in her tight pussy.


    "UHHHHHHH...."


    Arching her back, Vicky let out a loud and long moan, his dick hitting her womb and stretching her tight pussy.


    Grabbing her slim waist he started to pound the busty beauty, his dick gliding in and out of her slick, wet hole, his balls thumping against her full ass.


    She cried out as his hand reached down and grabbed her big, soft breast, massaging it and pinching her pink, puffy nipple.


    He continued hammer her tight pussy as his hand moved up from her breast and into her hair. Wrapping her golden locks around his fist he pulled her hair, arching her back as he mmed deep in her pussy, making her scream in pleasure.


    "That''s impossible, ah!" Virginia said sarcastically: "When you do it, don''t forget to send a message up to me in heaven because I will be long dead by then."


    Eric grunted as he took his tool out of her, and still holding her hair, started putting it in the other hole, saying with a smirk on his face, "you want heaven, then I''ll bring you to heaven . "


    "Ah, ha, no that hurt, you jerk, don''t push it in, uh . . . .


    . . this isn''t heaven, ah, this is hell."


    Virginia cried out in pain as he spread her buttcheeks and pushed the head of his hick in her tight, pink asshole.


    "UH...."


    She kept grunting in pain as he slowly pushed his dick all the way in, stopping to let her adjust to his dick in her asshole.


    After waiting for a few seconds he slowly pulled back and pushed forward, stretching the tight walls of her asshole.


    "UHHHHH..."


    After adjusting for a second, Virginia slowly felt her pain turning to unimaginable pleasure, starting to moan as Eric began thrusting in her back door.


    Hearing her moans he started to speed up, his dick sliding in and out of her tight ass, loving the way it squeezed around his cock, as her moans got louder and louder.


    Holding her hair he started to jackhammer into her, his balls pping her ass, her breasts swinging wildly, her eyes turning hazy, her head turning foggy, her moans turning into slight whimpers as her body became numb from pleasure.


    Feeling his orgasm build, he let go of her hair, making her head fall powerlessly on the bed, her arms spread out.


    Looking at her powerlessly slumped on the bed, her ass in the air, as if submitting to his manhood, his excitement soared as he grabbed her willowy waist with both hands and pounded her asshole with all his might.


    Getting closer and closer to his release, he reached down with one hand and started ying with her clit.


    He kept pounding her, his prick plowing in and out of her asshole, her fat ass pping against his pelvis, his hand ying with her clit, until he suddenly pushed two fingers in her pink pussy and mmed his dick deep in her ass.


    "O'' MY GODDDDD...."


    Howled Virginia, her pussy mped down on his finger, wildly spraying love juices, her asshole contracting around his dick, as she experienced strongest orgasm of her life.


    "Ohhh... Damn..."


    Grunted Eric, her contracting asshole pushing him over the edge as he buried his dick deep in her ass and pumped her full of his hot cum.


    "HA HA HA...."


    His dick still in her ass, he fell on her breathing heavily.


    As his breathing slowly calmed down, he pulled out of her asshole with a pop and enjoyed the sight of her ass pushed in the air, both of her holes leaking dirty fluids.


    After enjoying his work for a second he turned her over, only to find that she passed out.


    "Should I go easy next time?" Eric muttered to himself as he put a nket over their bodies.


    "Nah, I''ll just add another girl to keep me satisfied" Eric smirked as he buried his head in her abundant breasts and went off to sweetnd of dreams.


    . . . .


    . .


    Although he sleptte at night, Eric still woke up early, if a person wants to make a difference, good habits are necessary .


    Bending over, he kissed the sleeping girl cheek, put on his clothes and walked downstairs . He went to the backyard and did some simple stretches to wake up his body, then after that, he went to the kitchen to make breakfast .


    Upstairs Virginia still didn''t wake up, so Eric let her keep sleeping, he then went to the mailbox to get today''s newspaper to read while eating breakfast .


    Virginia didn''t subscribe to many newspapers, but Eric still found the news about himself, it appeared on the popr Los Angeles times Entertainment edition . Although he didn''t get the headline, his news was still in a very prominent position .


    . . . .


    . . . .


    . . . .


    . .


    Eric Williams bring his new girlfriend to watch "Road House", is he worried that the box office of "Pretty Woman" will be affected .


    Last night our reporter met the young director Eric Williams in Beverly Hills Avenue, he was driving a purple Lamborghini . The reporter said that he saw Mr . Williams with Miss Jennifer Connellybehaving intimately .


    At the age of thirteen, Jennnifer Connelly was lucky enough to be in the .s.sic film "Once Upon a Time in America" . Later, she partic.i.p.ated in a series of works such as "Labyrinth", But the girl, who looks as delicate as a doll, had no new works of art in recent years .


    In this case, appearing together with Eric Williams mean only one thing another "Hollywood Cindere" is about to be born?


    Coincidentally, Williams''s new film "Running Out of Time" is carrying the selection of the heroine role this week, and ording to reliable sources, Jennifer Connelly also partic.i.p.ated in the audition .


    It''s hard not to think that the heroine role has been given to Miss Connelly, it seems that hundreds of hopeful girls who attended the audition full of expectations will be disappointed .


    Our reporter said that he didn''t see the two go shopping or do any other activities, Instead, they went straight to a cinema, to watch Richard Gere new film "Road House" .


    When they walk out of the screening hall, Eric Williams looked somber, and after he had noticed the reporter, he pulled Miss Connelly by the hand and hurriedly left the cinema using the back door in silence .


    It seems that "Road House" have put some pressure on Eric Williams, it was said that when Richard Gere saw the film script, he greatly praised it, and decided to give up on Williams''s "Pretty Woman" .


    "Road House" is a cutting-edge action film directed by Rowdy Herrington and Richard Gere as the protagonist, this action film cost 20 million US dors to create, the film integrates fighting, car chases, gun fights, explosions, and other elements .


    After the preview, the film was praised by the critics and audiences alike, we believe in this Easter period "Road House" can bring you an exciting visual feast .


    It seems that United Artists executives spent a lot of effort to promote their film, they even used his name in this propaganda filled article to hype up their trash film . He had to admit this wasn''t an easy thing to do .


    Even if the investment in the film isn''t twenty million dors, recovering the cost is going to be hard .


    Eric didn''t mind the second part of the article, he knows the movie quality is bad, and yesterday after seeing the film, he heard the audiencements, most of them criticized the film, so even if they used him in this article, they were destined to fail .


    But after seeing the first half describing the rtionship between him and Jennifer, Eric couldn''t help but frown .


    Although their words didn''t point it out, everyone can see they are hinting that the selection of the actress was unfair and that behind closed doors some kind of trade happened between Eric and Jennifer .


    In Hollywood, it''smon for actresses to climb up the bed of producers, directors, or investors, everyone knows and tacitly epts this kind of consensual transaction .


    But this sort of thing can only be carried on in private . Once exposed by the media, the relevant people will certainly be questioned and condemned by the public, and their public image will also be affected .


    To reverse this situation, the easiest way is to release a public statement saying that the two people are in love, a lot of Hollywood directors use this trick, even if they use this method many times, all they will be used of is them being yboys, and wouldn''t affect their public image .


    Thinking about it for a few moments, Eric decided to let it go, if he refutes this kind of thing in the media, things will only get worse . Anyway, Jennifer has rejected the role of the heroine, once he announces the list of actors in the future the rumor will copse in on itself .


    He''s not an actor, who relies on fame and public image to eat, many of the prominent directors in Hollywood these days have a bad public image, but their movies still earn awards and perform well at the box office .

 Chapter 120: Tango girl

    Eric also knows that behind this article must be the hands United Artists, for their own interests they will do anything to suppress and discredit theirpet.i.tors .


    This kind of trick has been routinely used in all walks of life, but this simple and crude method can achieve good results almost every time .


    After eating breakfast, he put Virginia''s share in the fridge and said goodbye to the girl who was still lying on her bed . Eric drove the Jeffrey Buick to Firefly''s office because some actresses still need to audition today .


    As soon as he arrived at the office, he was taken into Jeffrey office, he didn''t have to ask . Just by looking at the dirty looks his employees was giving him, he could predict what''s going on .


    The Los Angeles times is the most famous newspaper in Los Angeles, in this era, there was no inte, so to get information people mainly depend on the paper media and television .


    In the great Los Angeles area newspaper subscription rate for residents is still quite high, So, Eric was sure, everyone in thepany has seen or heard of the news .


    In the face of Jeffrey''s worried eyes, Eric hastened to exin: "Jeffrey, I know that this is indeed my fault . But Jennifer Connelly has rejected the role, So, when the list of the cast is published in the future, this rumor will copse on itself . "


    Jeffrey sighed, "Well, Eric, I hope you know what you''re doing . Do you need me to contact Kapoor to do some PR?""


    Eric shook his head and said: "There''s no need . If we try to exin this kind of thing they will consider it a cover-up, the best way to deal with this problem is to ignore it . "


    Jeffrey nodded and handed Eric a copy of a doc.u.ment: "Those are the final offers the sponsors give . Except for Motor, everything else has been decided, the total is 3 million 400 thousand dors . If you have no opinion, I''ll sign these contracts today . "


    Eric took the doc.u.ment and started reading it, Motor''s offered $3 million, but they are waiting until the negotiation with Cruise and Hanks are finished to sign the contract . Everything else has been set, the next highest offer was by Lamborghini they offered $800 thousand .


    And the lowest offer was by Marvel Comics only $100 thousand, for a scene in the movie where Andy was reading Comic books before he robbed a financepany, because the scene was short Eric wasn''t sure the Ad would sell .


    Seeing the name of Marvel Comics, Eric unconsciously touched his chin, this is a big gold mine, in the future in order to alleviate their financial pressure Marvel started ma.s.s selling the rights to their superhero characters .


    As the two men were talking, n Fisemann knocked on the office door: "Eric, Mr . Hansen, Audition time is up . "


    "I''lle right away, you go ahead," Eric answered .


    "Jeffrey, sign the contracts . and have a good rest this weekend, because starting next week, we will start working on "Running Out of Time" . "


    "I know," Jeffrey nodded, then said with resentment: "As long as you don''te to hara.s.s mete at night again, I"ll take a good care of myself . "


    "I won''t," Eric waved his hand as he walked out of the office .


    . . . .


    . .


    Perhaps because they heard or read the news in the newspapers, many actresses were absent-minded during the auditions .


    Eric was toozy to remind them to focus, if they don''t have the drive to chase this opportunity, they can only me themselves .


    "Next, Miss Gabrielle Anwar . "


    A pet.i.te woman, about eighteen years old, came in, although she was wearing ck high heels, the girl height was still less than one meter seven .


    "h.e.l.lo, everyone . My name is Gabrielle Anwar . "


    Eric looked carefully at the girl, she was the same age as him with a pointed nose, thick lips, and tanned skin . Taking a look at the information in front of him, Eric didn''t follow the procedures . Instead, he asked: "Miss Anwar . You came from the United Kingdom to attend this audition?"


    She nodded and said with a charming smile: "I was born in Laleham, Surrey . But I grew up in London . "


    Eric smiled, he also grew up in London, but he moved to Los Angeles at the age of eight . Moreover, Eric himself still has British citizenship, Williams is one of Britain''s five most used surnames . Whether he wants to or not, he was destined to be included in the Hollywood English circle .


    "Well, Miss Anwar, the information on your resume shows that you attended a dance school . Can you dance the tango?"


    Gabrielle hesitated for a moment, but she quickly shook her head: "No, but I''ve studied ballet for ten years . If necessary, I can learn the tango in the shortest time possible . "


    Eric showed a look of appreciation on his face and said: "Miss Anwar, I like your honesty . But I think you are not suitable for this role, so there''s no need to audition . "


    Gabrielle was delighted when she heard Eric prize her in the first half of the sentence, but when she heard the second half, she just sat there stunned and speechless .


    When she first saw Firefly release the news about Eric Williams''s new film audition, she quickly mailed her resume without putting any hope on getting a reply .


    But unexpectedly, she received an invitation to audition, ecstatic she managed to persuade her old father to allow her toe to Los Angeles alone . But unexpectedly, the other side didn''t even give her the opportunity to perform, so she almost started crying because of the unexpected shock .


    "Oh, no," said Eric, and hurriedly waved hand to stop her tears from falling, "Miss Anwar, don''t do that . I have not finished yet . "


    Hearing what Eric said, the tears she was trying to stop started flowing . Eric gave a nce to the a.s.sistant next to him, who immediately stood up and handed her a box of paper towels .


    Carefully wiping her eyes, Gabrielle took out a mirror from her handbag, and made sure she didn''t have smudges on her face, then said: "I''m sorry, Mr . Williams, I panicked a little . "


    "It is my fault," Eric was very afraid of making women cry: "I just didn''t make it clear, I know, you are only eighteen years old, and you came all the way from Britain for this audition, this isn''t an easy thing . "


    "Thank you for your understanding, Mr . Williams . "


    "This is the case, Miss Anwar . I just asked you if you can dance the tango because you are very suitable for a role in another movie we are making . The protagonist is Al Pacino, do you know who is Al Pacino?"


    Gabrielle nodded: "Of course, in the UK many times I read that you are going to make another movie called "Scent of a Woman", Mr . Pacino yed the role of Edward in "Pretty Woman" he was very charming . "


    "That''s good, Al''s next moviecks a tango dancer girl, it is also the role of the heroine, . when I first saw you, I know you are perfect for the role, and if you can y this role well, I believe this will help your career a lot . "


    Gabrielle has only appeared in several TV shows in the UK and had no expectations when ites to winning the audition, but when she heard Eric words the disappointment and shock, she felt a few moments ago quickly dissipated .


    After suddenly hearing the good news, Gabrielle unconsciously started daydreaming . After "Pretty Woman", Al Pacino once again be a world-.s.s superstar . She would jump for joy even if she can act as a minor supporting character in a film he is starring in .


    What''s more, in this movie she will be the first actress .


    "Mr . Williams, I really don''t know how to thank you . " Gabrielle held her hands in front of her chest and said excitedly .


    Eric quickly wrote something on a paper, and let his a.s.sistant hand it to her, and said: "Miss Anwar, don''t get too excited, although I do have the right to decide the movie roles .


    But I still have to take into consideration the opinion of Al and the director Martin Brest, you have a week time to prepare, if your performance is too bad, then I can only say sorry . "


    "I''ll do my best," said Gabrielle, taking the note, she looked at the string of numbers and the message he wrote on the paper and asked: "Mr . Williams, this is?"


    "UTA, oh, It''s the phone number of Mr . Kapoor Sid, the CEO of the brokeragepany I own, you need to call him, and let him arrange a temporary agent for you, to help you find a tango dance teacher .


    If after a week your performance gets the approval of Al and Martin, then you''ll need to join the UTA . Miss Anwar, are you willing to join the UTA?"


    Being able to stay in Hollywood was a dream for many foreign actors, including Anwar who nodded without hesitation: "Of course, I''d love to . "


    Meeting Gabrielle Anwar is purely an ident, Eric didn''t attempt to find the original actress from "Scent of a Woman" . Because the original film was released in 1992, he didn''t have much hope finding the original tango girl .


    But since fate brought her before him this day, he decided to yield . Plus she was perfect for the role .


    After Gabrielle was sent away, Eric looked at the next partic.i.p.ant name: Brooke Shields


    Oh, another legendary Hollywood beauty .


    Compared to the purity of Jennnifer Connelly, the beauty that walked into the audition room, was a bit more fierce .


    However, from the shining eyes of several staff members, Eric understood that Brooke Shields appearance who was said to be a descendant of aristocrats was clearly more in line with western aesthetics .

 Chapter 121: Determined woman

    Although Brooke Shields is twenty-four-year-old this year, she started her acting career at the age of 12, her first movie was a horror/sher film called "Alice, Sweet Alice", two yearster in the year 1978 at the age of 14 she starred in two films "Pretty Baby" and "King of the Gypsies".


    But after that, her career be a disaster.


    Brooke Shields was the first actress to get the Golden Raspberry Award for worst actress in 1981, and again in 1982 she was nominated for the ''worst actress award'', then in 1985 she was nominated for ''worst actress'' and won the ''worst supporting actress award''.


    Then again in 1990, she was nominated for the ''worst actress of the decade'', but unfortunately, she lost it to actress Bo Derek for her roles in "Bolero" and "Tarzan, the Ape Man", instead, she won the ''worst supporting actress award''.


    Then in 2000, she was nominated for the ''worst actress of the century''. Unfortunately, Madonnawon that one for her roles in "Body of Evidence", "Shanghai Surprise", "Who''s That Girl", etc.


    Brooke Shields acting was so bad that if you try looking for a worse actress than her in Hollywood you can only find Madonna, which can tell you how bad she was at acting.


    If it weren''t that this role didn''t require good acting skills, Eric, wouldn''t have allowed her to attend this audition, even though she is beautiful he wouldn''t joke about the quality of his film.


    Because the role of the audition is set for a working girl, most of the contestants deliberately wore office girls suits, Brooke Shields was no exception. As a result, Eric wasn''t able to appreciate her figure especially her two beautiful long legs.


    After introducing herself, Eric asked: "Miss Shields, what we need is a girl with a soft temperament, but you look too sharp, If you get the part, are you willing to let the makeup artist makes some necessary changes to your face?"


    Worried about what he said she asked: "Mr. Williams, can you be more specific?"


    Eric looked carefully at her and said: "For example, your eyebrows are too thick, we will have to trim them a little, which will make you look gentler and softer. Of course, this is only my personal opinion, for the specific makeup design, we will need to ask a professional makeup artist."


    When Brooke heard Eric exin, she nodded her head without hesitation: "No problem. If I can get the role, I am willing to listen to the makeup artist advice and make any changes if necessary."


    "Oh," Eric responded feeling mncholy and whispered to himself ''what a determined woman''.


    Although Eric bowed his head and started writing something in a doc.u.ment, Brooke was keen to capture the subtle changes in Eric''s expression, she didn''t know where she went wrong, but it was evident that the young director didn''t like her answer.


    After a few moments, Eric looked up and said: "Well then, Miss Shields, how about we start the audition?"


    "Ok," Brooke quickly stood up, only to find that no staff member will hand her the script, ignoring the helpless look on her face, Eric slowly exined: "Miss Shields, Pay attention, you are now a ... ...


    ah, " Eric slightly pondered, as he made a background for the role: "You are a small clerk working at a designpany in Los Angelos."


    Speaking up to her, Eric suddenly stopped and said to n who was sitting beside him: "n, write what I say." waiting until n was ready he started from the beginning.


    "You are a clerk working at a designpany in Los Angelos, you start work at nine and end at five every day, you live a boring life. But by chance, you fell in love with a mysterious man you encountered on the bus, but after meeting him a few times, he disappears.


    But your love didn''t subside you keep taking the same bus, again and again, hoping to meet that mysterious man again."


    Having said up to her, he stopped and looked at Brooke who was standing there nkly: "Miss Shields, do you understand what I just said."


    Brooke Shields nodded quickly.


    "Then let''s start the performance," Eric pointed to a door next to the one she came through that leads to a changing room, and said.


    "Miss Shields, The scene I want you to perform is like this, the heroine has been busy all day, so she took the same bus like she does every day, but she still didn''t find the mysterious man. Pretend that door is the bus door, and show us how the girl should act when she gets off of the bus."


    Brooke Shields hesitated for a moment not knowing what to do, in desperation, she asked: "Mr. Williams, can you ... can you exin a little more clearly?" while giving him a pleading look that was hard to resist.


    Even Eric who was bing numb to the charm of woman couldn''t stop his heart from skipping a beat, after calming his heart Eric exined again: "Well, you have to show us the fatigue the heroine feels after a day of hard work.


    And the sense of loss she feels after not meeting the man she loves once again, and the loneliness of walking alone on the streets at night."


    Still confused Brooke walked into the small empty room and shut the door, after calming her racing thoughts.


    She again opened the door and came out from the room with her head lowered, her pace was very slow, she walked stiffly as if walking on a tightrope, giving them a feeling that she was ufortable.


    From the dressing room door to the wall on the opposite side, there is a distance of eight meters. So when Brook finished her walk, she knows that her performance was awful, so she took the initiative and said: "Mr. Williams, can I try again?"


    "Of course," Eric nodded and made a casual gesture as if to say go ahead.


    Brook hurried back to the room, but this time she took her time. Only after calming down did she open the door and walk out. Although this time her performance was better, she still wasn''t satisfied.


    Looking at Eric again with a pleading look, asking for another chance.


    Smiling Eric said: "Try one more time."


    ....


    "Never mind, rx, and try again."


    "Last time was better, try again."


    "your expression needs to be a little bit more rxed, try again."


    "Swing your arm a little bit more. try again."


    At first, he was just asking her to repeat, but after a few times, Eric seems to have forgotten that this was just an audition and started acting like a director, ordering her again and again, to repeat, while trying to fix her mistakes.


    Brooke waspletely shocked by Eric''s momentum and almost forgot that she had the power to refuse. After ten times, she was almost in tears, but she still did what he requested from her.


    After nearly twenty times, Eric saw what he wanted to see, she walked out with her head hanging low, a lock of hair dropping over her face, with a sad look on her face.


    And as she walked she exuded a lonely feeling if Brooke previous appearance could arouse the desires of men, now she would cause the majority of people to feel pity for her.


    "Cut! that''s great, prepare for the next shot!" Eric blurted out what he always said on set instinctively.


    Brooke was stunned, everyone in the audition room was stunned, even Eric who finallye back to himself was shocked!


    After a short silence, someone couldn''t help but utter the first chuckle, then everyone startedughing even Brooke Shields who was on the verge of tears couldn''t help it and startedughing.


    Eric feeling embarra.s.sed by his behavior sat back in his, he didn''t know what happened to him. Maybe because her acting was bad, she aroused his instincts as a director.


    "Okay, we will stop here, Miss Shields."


    "You can call me Brooke, Mr. Williams," she said as she sat back in her chair.


    "Well, Brooke, like you saw a few moments ago, you still have great potential, perhaps you didn''t perform well in your other movies in the past because those directors weren''t willing to push you to do better."


    "Well, Mr. Williams, is there any hope I can get the part?" she said and give him a charming smile: "I also hope that you can ''push'' me more."


    All the staff around him involuntarily turned their attention to Eric. They didn''t know what happenedst night, but they still thought that Eric has settled on Jennifer Connery. So they were curious how Eric would respond to Brooke provocative words.


    Eric picked up his pen and started writing something on a doc.u.ment, as he said: "You can go back now, Miss Brooke, soon someone will tell you the good news.


    But you have to think about it before you make this decision, although this role doesn''t require too much acting skills, I''m still going to be very strict. I hope when the timees, you won''t start crying like you almost did just now, if your crazy fans know I made you cry, they''ll kill me."


    "Of course, I won''t," Brooke said, as she almost jumped out of her chair in happiness. She thanked him one more time then stood up and walked out of the room.


    "Hey, Eric, what about the little girl from yesterday?" Nicole asked just after Brooke Shields left.


    Eric shrugged and didn''t say anything else: "OK, let''s continue, call the next one."


    After Brooke no girl impressed Eric, so he finally decided to give the role to Brooke Shields.

 Chapter 122: Richard Gere interview

    March 17, this was the first weekend of the Easter season, many new films were released on this day, this includes the highly antic.i.p.ated film "Road House" .


    For this movie, United Artists used 1927 screens in the opening weekend, more than the number of screens used in "Pretty Woman" by a few dozens .


    United Artists has been using a lot of money to grease the pockets of the critics, to get them to praise their film, but the next day after the premiere, the film was criticized by everyone.


    "The hero character setting is very strange, he has a P . H . D . , and he is also a master of mysterious oriental martial arts, but he is willing to work as a bodyguard in a bar, plus he dresses like a cowboy .


    And then, the director awkwardly built him into a paranoid avenger, but not a qualified Avenger, he can kill the henchman without any care, but he''ll show mercy to the big viin who he hates the most . To make a long story short, It''s a funny movie with a very ridiculous plot . " The Chicago Tribune


    "The film is full of anarchy,wlessness, destruction and unbridled violence . It''s a farce . " Movie Guide magazine


    "I only saw a stream of brawls, broken beer bottles, and groups of big breasted girls and sshes of fake blood . The story was pale andme, Richard Gere acting was dull, he wasn''t even on the same level as the viin . " Montreal film magazine


    "A ridiculous and noisy film" The Reel Movie Review


    "You can remove the lead actor from this movie, and the plot wouldn''t change, The viin wants to control the Town, so hemit some violent actions like starting fights, murder, arson, and then the intolerable town residents revolt, kill the viin and his henchman .


    I can''t believe Richard Geregive up Eric Williams film "Pretty Woman" for such a movie, I don''t know how he can sleep at night . " The Hollywood Journal


    "The film was nothing but a rock and roll soundtrack . " Rolling Stone Magazine


    ----------


    Because of the strong publicity, on the first day the attendance in the 1927 screening rooms United Artists got for "Road House" reached more than 70%, but with the one-sided criticisms after the movie release, the attendance quickly plummeted .


    Three dayster, the film box office started dwindling as the first weekend the Easter season ended . This was also the sixth week since "Pretty Woman" was released, and with no surprise "Pretty Woman" box office was up by $2 . 4 million more thanst week, reaching 11 .


    27 million US dors, winning the first ce at the box office . In just six weeks the film .u.mted $97 . 69 million at the box office, Eric believes that before the next week ends, his third film will break the $100 million mark at the box office .


    A month before he celebrated his neen birthday, the results will once again usher a wave of spection and uproar in the media .


    Although "Road House" has nearly two thousand screens to work with, after the first day the attendance fell sharply, the film only got $5 . 25 million in the first weekend ranking second at the box office, less than half of what "Pretty Woman" got .


    Universal Pictures crimeedy film "Fletch Lives" won the third ce, earning $5 . 04 million at the box office with 1400 screens .


    Because Columbia increased its support, "Home Alone" the film that was Released eighteenth weeks ago still was able to win $4 million at the box office, Steadily approaching the $300 million mark .


    For twelve weeks in a row, "Home Alone" box office topped the list, for more than four months this dark horse has been shocking everyone again and again .


    Perhaps someday soon "Home Alone" box office will cross the $300 million mark, he was sure this will create another media storm .


    . . . .


    . . .


    The next week, Eric finished the casting auditions of "Running Out of Time", as for "The Others" and "Scent of a Woman" auditions, he was going to leave it to the two directors . He was going to start running around the Greater Los Angeles Area to select the ces he was going to shoot in .


    Although "Running Out of Time" doesn''t have many scenes outside, there are a lot of scenes that need him to seal roads toplete the shooting, but finding a suitable ce is not an easy thing .


    At the same time, Eric also discovered that hecks connections .


    As the base of Hollywood, Los Angeles policy support for the film industry is very strong, but that doesn''t mean a film crew can do whatever they want, many scenes require the approval of various munic.i.p.al departments, although their flexibility is great, the process is veryplex .


    Moreover, having connections is essential, Eric is famous now, Butpared to the big directors who have been famous for years, he is still small .


    If it was another director of the same caliber as him, with just a phone call, he could probably get everything done, but Eric had to personally call repeatedly .


    Fortunately, this movie is very important to Columbia, so to ensure that Eric can start shooting as soon as possible, they specially sent an experienced producer to a.s.sist Eric in preparing, which significantly shortened the preparation time .


    --- ---


    When Eric was running around trying to find the right ces to shoot his film, another big thing also urred .


    The storm began when Richard Gere, who was nearly forty years old, saw "Road House" first weekend box office result . He started to feel bitter about giving up the role in "Pretty Woman", he knew he had missed a rare chance to be an .s.s superstar .


    So he became more and more upset, especially after the recent box office failure of "Road House" .


    After a series failures, Richard Gere was desperate to get a chance to turn thing around, he felt that CAA had the responsibility and obligation to help him, if it weren''t for Michael Ovitz personal grudge, he wouldn''t have given up the chance to star in "Pretty Woman" .


    After he finished filming "Road House" his broker Horner Willie, rmended for him a small cost horror film, even though he took fancy to a medium cost production film made by CAA for universal pictures, Richard thought he wasn''t asking for too much .


    But Horner Willie didn''t agree to win the role for him, he knows why he refused after he saw "Road House" reviews, CAA wouldn''t risk giving a big budget film to an actor who''s reputation has fallen so much .


    Horner Willie is one of CAA early group of brokers, he can be considered a gold broker, even level actors are polite to him, which slowly contributed to him having a big ego .


    When Richard Gere made the mistake of refusing to star in "Pretty Woman", he put all the me on CAA body, and with the .u.mtion of grievances in his heart, coupled with Horner Willie refusing to fight for that role, all that .u.mted anger broke loose .


    The two had a big fight in Horner Willie''s office, if not others peoplee in time to break them apart, the two are likely to start fist fighting .


    After this incident, Richard Gerepletely cut ties with CAA . On the third day after the incident, relying on a friend''s introduction, Richard joined another big brokerage firm called "William Morris Agency" also known as (WMA) .


    Countless job-hopping events happen every year in Hollywood . Even the CAA who ims to have a perfect system to stop actors from leaving, can''t stop this from happening to them .


    CAA so-called system is there to prevent the brokers working for the firm from leaving, the five founders of CAA Mike Rosenfeld, Michael Ovitz, Ronald Meyer, William Haber, and Rond Perkins originally worked at William Morris Agency, know the danger of letting the talents they nurtured for many years leave .


    So they put the system in ce from the start, to prevent that from happening . As for top stars, they don''t have too many constraints, they can leave whenever they want . As for second and third line actors, as long as they are willing to pay liquidated damages, they can easily leave .


    But now CAowned film and television industry chain resources are veryrge, so most of the stars can''t be lured away by otherpanies .


    Moreover, because CAA promptly stopped the rumors about Horner Willie and Richard Gere quarrel from getting leaked, they thought that this matter was over, but they forget that Richard Gere is one of the parties involved in this fight .


    In order to get back at CAA, in an interview with "The Hollywood Reporter," reporter Richard painted himself as a victim and mercilessly discredited CAA .


    The next day after the interview, an article t.i.tled "Richard Gere: why I lost the protagonist role in "Pretty Woman" . " appeared in "The Hollywood Reporter" front page .


    ---------------


    "Recently, the famous actor Richard Gere who was expected to star in Eric Williams blockbuster masterpiece "Pretty Woman" suddenly left CAA the brokage firm he worked with for many years, in an interview with our reporter, Richard Gere finally told us why he refused to star in "Pretty Woman" .


    The following is Mr . Richard Gere original words: when I first saw "Pretty Woman" script, I thought that this was going to be an excellent film and that the character was in sync with my image, I even did some preparation for the role .


    And although Eric Williams is very young, but after watching his first two works, I found that he was a very talented young man . But when I made an appointment with him, Horner Willie my agent, suggested that I refuse the offer .


    I was puzzled at first, then Horner Willie told me that because Eric Williams brought Kapoor Sid Agency and started working with him . Mr .


    Michael Ovitz who have a deep dispute with Kapoor Sid, won''t allow any artist to cooperate with Eric Williams, he made it clear to me that Michael Ovitzwant''s to ban Eric Williams .


    Then, to appease me, CAA give "Road House" protagonist role to me, when I first saw the script, I said to Horner Willie: No, this character isn''t suitable for me .


    Although I yed in action films before, this role was too violent for me, and that perhaps finding a man with more muscles than me will be more appropriate .


    Horner Willie said I have no choice, and that I would have to take a meager pay in the film . To be more in line with the character image, I had to do a high strength workout for many months, but the film still failed in the end .


    The reason why I''m exposing all these things now is that I think CAA has forgotten who they are . Because they monopolize too many resources, they be unscrupulous, doing whatever they like .


    Because of a little personal grudge, and to show how powerful they are, they will treat their artist''s career as a joke . CAA even started treating otherpanies tens of millions of dors investment as chips to y with as they want, this is a terrible thing .


    Brokeragepanies should serve their artists, and should always keep their employer''s interests first, this is the only way a brokage firm can survive for a long time, but now that CAA started treating their artists as p.a.w.ns, sooner orter they will self-destruct . "

 Chapter 123: Cruise runs away

    If "Road House" is a fuse, then Richard Gere interview that was published in "The Hollywood Reporter" is the spark that ignited it.


    The same day the interview was published, CAA spokesman refuted Richard Gere remarks and dered that if the other party publish any more irresponsible remarks, CAA will resort to legal means to seek justice .


    Although many people can see that, Richard Gere spoke to the reporter when he was agitated, and that he put himself in the victim position, and that there are many loopholes in his remarks that can be easily seen through by the industry experts .


    But that does not prevent the media from digging deeper into some of the facts in his speech .


    Gossip is a powerful force, the next day after the interview was published, articles about Kapoor Sid and Michael Ovitz conflict started popping up everywhere, inside stories about why Kapoor Sid left CAA, and him almost getting forced out of Hollywood and go into Europe have been exposed again .


    Although CAA has grown into a towering tree, their history was riddled with ck spots, Plus CAA forced bundling strategy, had lead to many film failures, these failures were naturally dug out by the media .


    "From friends to enemies, exposing the dark side of CAA" "10panies that were the victims of CAA forced bundling strategy" "9 superstars who gradually declined after joining CAA" "The ck hands behind the rise of the cost of producing Movies in thest ten years" "The saboteurs of the film industry rules"


    As more and more articles were written about CAA, some newspapers unwittingly began demonizing CAA and what they stand for .


    The rapid growth and development of CAA, not only squeezed the living s.p.a.ce of other Hollywood brokeragepanies, the set of rules invented by Michael Ovitz and the forced bundling strategy, also made many filmpanies in Hollywood miserable .


    CAA not only let the actor''s paychecks increase significantly but because of the film bundling strategy, filmpany also had to increase their film budgets .


    The Six major Hollywood movie giant didn''t suffer too much, they usually don''t have problems with CAA, but arge number of Hollywood second and third line filmpanies, as well indie film studios, can''t resist CAA bundling strategy .


    They aren''t like Eric who manege to achieve phenomenal sess in every film, they can only obediently ept CAA binding conditions .


    Arge number of brokerage firms, and arge group of filmpanies, plus countless independent filmmakers, and finally some TV channels who saw that CAA has started to bundle some TV projects the same way they did to movies . These forces started using their power to discredit CAA .


    What''s more, almost all these forces have nomunication at all, they Instinctively started doing it .


    Of course, no one is saying anything in support of CAA, when some of CAA''s actors were interviewed, they more or less said just a few good words . After all, CAA to improve their profits they raised the filmpany''s production costs, and the biggest beneficiaries are those actors .


    But their words didn''t change anything, Mainly because of the maniption of those forces, they Deliberately diluted the voices of those actors who support CAA .


    Although CAA also has a strong media presence but facing all those powers, their strength basically weren''t able to change anything, they werepletely pa.s.sive .


    Then, because of "Road House" failure at the box office, the CEO of United Artists whose position in thepany was in jeopardy because of the "Road House" failure suddenly jumped out .


    He used what Richard Gere said in the interview, to me the film failure of on CAA shoulders, he even threatened to im damages from CAA .


    Of course, this kind of thing is impossible, but that high-level person needed a scapegoat for making thepany lose tens of millions of dors in investment, and this scandal came just in time to save him . This quickly escted into a battle of words between him and CAA representatives .


    And at the same time, in this wave of unrest, several other Hollywood brokerage firms had a tacit agreement to take some talents from CAA, and within a week .


    CAA lost more than twenty second and third line actors, this didn''t cause any big harm to CAA, but another big thing happened that caused a wave internal unrest within CAA .


    Tom Cruise suddenly announced he was going to leave CAA!


    Tom Cruise can be considered Hollywood''s most popr idol star, Since his debut, none of the films he shot failed, Most of the films he starred in have made huge profits for filmpanies, and most of his movies are small cost films .


    in 86 his film "Top Gun" cost only $15 million to produce, but the film ended up making more than $350 million at the box office world wide .


    And recently his new film "Rain Man" although the film still hasn''t brook the 100 million mark, that is only a matter of time, and he also received a number of Oscar nominations . "premiere magazine" recently named him as one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood .


    Tom Cruise as an actor, was ced close to the top, way ahead of some filmpany executives, big directors, and golden producer .


    Him leaving CAA Without ident caused a wave of unrest in the industry . And Tom Cruise''s leaving, also caused another storm to start .


    Because all those forces were demonizing CAA, the media transferred their attention to the negotiations between Eric and the two leading men . After some digging, they were able to expose the conditions proposed by CAA .


    "6 million US dors plus 20% of the profits, this kind of offer only CAA this emboldenedpany can unashamedly propose, it is obvious that CAA want to make Eric Williams give up . It seems, that even after experiencing "Pretty Woman" sess Mr .


    Michael Ovitz is still obsessed with the ridiculous idea of banning Mr . Eric Williams . Through this unrealistic conditions, we can conclude that what Mr . Richard Gere said is true, CAA has already begun treating the actors in their hands as p.a.w.ns to y with as they wish .


    " Los Angeles Times


    In fact, before Richard Gere interview, CAA had already started backing down when negotiating Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks paycheck . Before the release of "Road House" CAA has already dropped their conditions to 12%, but after Richard interview, CAA again dropped their offer to 10% .


    Although after the exposure, CAA immediately made a rification, saying that their current offer is not so high, the media still sized this matter and repeatedly made a fuss .


    Some a.n.a.lysts also published their views in the newspaper, they said that if CAA keep using this mode, the cost of production of films will increase exponentially . At the same time, the profit margins will significantly decrease, and that achieve profitability will be even more difficult .


    In this case, Hollywood studios enthusiasm for making movies will diminish, causing a fatal blow to the rapidly recovering film industry in America .


    Some media outlets have even begun to call on the federal government to investigate the behavior of CAA that disrupts the film market .


    Under the influence of some forces, a member of the California State Legiture, who was interviewed by the media, said that CAA may be under investigation for alleged monopolistic behavior . Although he soon denied his statement, but that still put a lot of pressure on CAA .


    The thing American industry giants are most afraid of is not the tax bureau, but the anti-monopoly investigation . Let alone other industry cases, just Hollywood, Because of the Paramount Act that happened in 1948, has caused the film industry for many years to stay silent .


    Michael Ovitz who was responsible for the negotiations between SONY and Columbia returned CAA to try to stabilize the situation, he personally conducted a personal interview with Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, hoping that the two can give up the previous Profit sharing program, and take a pure paycheck to help CAA through this crisis .


    Tom Hanks was easy to convince, because he has never took profits from any of his movies, even his highest paycheck still hasn''t reached five million, histest film "Big" that was able to get more than $100 million at the box office he only took a $2 million paycheck, and he also value this cooperation with Eric, so he agreed .


    Tom Cruise said he wanted to think about it, but the second day after that he Dered that he was gonna leave CAA with his agent Ms. Pa Wagner and that he will personally negotiate with Firefly his paycheck .


    Cruise has always been a very ambitious person, coupled with this public opinion storm, he really felt that CAA was treating him as a pawn . This feeling was a very hard for a powerful and capable superstar like him to ept .


    Plus, the sess of "Rain Man", has let him see another road . Coborating with filmpanies in profit sharing, can bring him more benefits, and can also help him gain more control over the film production .


    He wants to get all those benefits and not be subject to the constraints of a brokerage firm, getting out of CAA is the first step . But him ditching CAA this at this time, is like him thrusting a knife into Michael Ovitz back .

 Chapter 124: CAA revelation

    Because Michael Ovitz insists on CAA staying a privatepany, even after thepany has now developed into an industry giant, but it is still not listed .


    So, although this was a menacing storm, as long as the proper response is made, this storm won''t cause too much real harm to CAA, but thepany business will still be affected for the next few months .


    Even the second and third line artists that were poached by other brokerage firms won''t have any impact on CAA, The number of artists CAA has reached more than six thousand people, taking a few dozen artists from them won''t even make them itch .


    But superstars leaving is another thing, especially a star on the level of Tom Cruise, he has a lot of influence among other Hollywood actors, Tom Cruise departure, will definitely give the other superstars a false signal .


    Michael Ovitz''s reaction was very fast, the day Cruise left, all of CAA''s partners, brokers and signing artists received a letter written by Michael Ovitz himself, rifying why Cruise left, and also earnestly added some words to enumerate the brilliant achievements of CAA over the years, and the tremendous changes CAA brought to the actors, hoping that everyone will not be affected by public opinion and that CAA future will be even brighter .


    But this letter didn''t prevent the deterioration of the situation, three days after Tom Cruise left, several other superstars, left CAA for a variety of reasons .


    These stars joined CAA because of Michael Ovitz''s series of bundling strategy, which led to a substantial increase in their ie, but with the general increase in ie of Hollywood stars bing the norm, even if they left to other brokerage firms, they can still get a very high paycheck .


    Plus when Cruise suddenly left he caused a panic in CAA, so this was the best time to move, with the news of other stars leaving CAA, be known, more and more stars began to falter .


    Michael Ovitz who was badly scorched by the mes of this storm, cursing Tom Cruise, he lowered his head and Personally started trying to pursue the big actors who want to leave, he hasn''t done this kind of thing for a long time .


    --- ---


    And in the other corner of the city, Eric, who benefited the most wasughing his a.s.s off, he wasn''t the instigator of this storm, but he certainly wasn''t going to let this chance go, this is a good opportunity, to stop CAA from dominating Hollywood for the next ten years, like they did in his past life .


    "Eric, why are you suddenly looking for me, I dere in advance that my hands are full, four is the limit of my ability, I don''t want you to send any more people my way . "


    Kapoor was in full swing when he appeared in Eric office when CAA encountered this misfortune, he will be a hypocrite if he said he wasn''t happy, he was so happy even his bald head got a bit shinier .


    Eric leaned back in his chair and said: "What if it was Tom Hanks?"


    "Who?" Kapoor p.r.i.c.ked up his ears and leaned slightly forward .


    "Tom Hanks," Eric repeated .


    Kapoor showed a big smile, and said: "Eric, are you sure, if he epts, then I''ll bite the bullet and take him . "


    "bite the bullet? if I didn''t see the huge smile on your face, I would have pitied you" Eric ridiculed .


    Kapoor did not care about Eric''s ridicule, and asked, "Eric, are you sure you can dig Tom Hanks?"


    Eric shook his head, "No, but I''m going to try . I''ve made an appointment with Hanks for dinner tonight, and he agreed . "


    Kapoor is confidence that Eric can seed, the young man has brought him too many surprises: "Eric, maybe you can also try head hunting Tom Cruise to UTA, he has no brokeragepany now . "


    "Don''t even think about it, Mr . Cruise is a very ambitious person, I heard he want to be a producer . It is expected that he will soon start his own film productionpany . "


    Eric didn''t expect that because of his appearance in this timeline, will cause Tom Cruise to go solo seven years ahead than in his past life, in that time line Cruise choose to go independent only after he made huge profits from several of his films that sold well .


    After leaving CAA, Cruise immediately made his agent Pa Wagner contact Fireflies, to began negotiating his paycheck .


    Cruise conditions weren''t as outrageous as CAA, he asked for a $5 million fee plus 10% of the profits, way more reasonable than the CAA crazy conditions .


    However, the profit-sharing model, after all, has just appeared, the terms proposed by CAA werepletely out of mischief, as for the condition Cruise proposed there is still a lot of room for discussion, after thinking about it Eric decided to only give Cruise 5% of the profits .


    And he felt that the sess rate of this matter is very high, because thetest news he got, is that Tom Hanks promised to give up on the profit sharing model and that he will only take a paycheck like he always did .


    At this time Tom Cruise can be considered more famous than Hanks, but the difference isn''t big, but once the news about Hanks paycheck conditions is exposed, he was sure that Tom Cruise would back down .


    Although Cruise has tasted the profit sharing sweetness in histest film "Rain Man", in this era generally no one takes profits from the movies they act in, "Rain Man" was more like a special case .


    As mentioned before, Cruise was able to get the profit sharing option in "Rain Man" because the film budget was insufficient, so Cruise had to drop his paycheck for the film toplete shooting .


    And because "Rain Man" was good at the box office, he was able to make more money than if he took just a paycheck .


    When Eric heard that Hanks was going to give up the profit sharing n, he felt that this was the best time to dig up Tom Hanks . CAA has vowed to get him a piece of the film''s profits, but suddenly he was told to give up, Eric was sure that Hanks was dissatisfied with CAA .


    Others may not understand, But Eric knew Hanks''s potential, the next ten years will be the beginning of the outbreak of Tom Hanks''s acting career, not only will his movies gross billions of dors at the box office, he will also win two Best Actor awards in the Oscars .


    Although he told Kapoor, he wasn''t sure he can dig Hanks, but in fact, Eric felt he has a 90% chance to win Hanks,pared to CAA, he has more attractive chips in his hands .


    "Well, don''t mention Tom Cruise, in fact, I called you because of something else . " Eric said, he spent several nights awake writing this ma.n.u.script, handing the folder to Kapoor he said: "help me summarize this?"


    Kapoor took the file and read the t.i.tle, "CAA Revtion: How the broker giant formed" .


    Opening the ma.n.u.script, Kapoor slowly started reading, page after page he flipped through them, the more he read, the more serious his facial expression got . When Kapoor finished, he slowly raised his head and looked at Eric as if he was staring at a monster .


    The ma.n.u.script is very long, more than ten full pages, giving a detailed description of what the five founders of CAA did after job hopping from William Morris Agency, how they developed and sold Tv shows like "Rhyme and Reason", "the Rich Little Show", and "The Jackson 5ive" .


    And how they gradually developed a bundling sales system, and how in just the short span of fifteen years, they formed a new and unique business philosophy .


    The reason why Kapoor was shocked, was because the ma.n.u.scripts mentioned things, even he a former CAA gold broker, didn''t know was happening, but after reading it on paper, he knows that he experienced most of these practices .


    However, he didn''t have the ability to systematically form a rtivelyplete management theory of the brokerage firm .


    And he was also curious, How did Eric know all those things? .


    The reason CAA isn''t a listedpany is because Michael Ovitz didn''t want his personal business philosophy, to get leaked .


    Once thepany is listed, a lot of information CAA will have to be giving to their investor, once CAA do that their opponents can easily learn their advanced business philosophy .


    You can''t apply for a patent for apany business strategy, so once the other brokerage firms study their mode of operation, the advantages CAA had for thest decade will no longer exist .


    Unable to restrain his emotions, Kapoor carefully raised the ma.n.u.script in his shaking hands, and asked: "Eric, are you the one who wrote this?"


    "Well, I want you to help me see if theirs anything wrong with it . And by the way, you won''t object to me publishing this article?"


    Kapoor quickly shook his head andughed bitterly, "If I had the ability to sum up these things, I would have personally published them .


    Eric, I don''t understand you anymore, all of the theories you mentioned in this article are true, even me who worked for CAA for many years didn''t know these things were happening, if you had me write them myself, I wouldn''t even know from where to start . "


    Eric just smiled and didn''t exin, in the eyes of otherpanies CAA set of business strategies are full of mystery, even when they stole some brokers from CAA, all they obtained was iplete information about their business strategy .


    But for someone like Eric who lived in the age of the inte, CAA business strategy is not a mysterious thing, remembering his past life, Eric found that in 1996, CAA who has grown into an unshakeable Colossus has attracted the attention of a reporter .


    The reporter spent more than a year collecting a lot of information about CAA, and finally, he was able to unravel the mystery of CAA, after that the public finally realized why CAA CEO Michael Ovitz would be named Hollywood''s most powerful figure .


    But at that time, CAA has already grown into a huge monster, even if otherpanies wanted the copy this behemoth strategy, they only end up frustrated .


    CAA brokers are just oneponent of the machine called CAA, they help CAA keep going forward, but if you take just a piece of this machine, you won''t be able to know how this huge machine works .


    The only one who can fully exin how CAA works is Michael Ovitz, and of course, Eric whoe from the future and can remember every thing.

 Chapter 125: Five movies

    In thest four years, the number of movies bundled by CAA has reached more than one hundred and fifty films, as for the TV market, the CAA has upied more than 1/3 of the shows sold .


    In Eric view, CAA secret weapon is its own unique business model, even if Michael Ovitz left thepany, CAA could still keep developing indefinitely . So although many people are trying to unveil the secret to CAA sess, most of their analysis missed the mark, ending up with specious reasoning .


    So Eric felt that this was a good chance to stop CAA from expanding like in his past life .


    If it wasn''t for CAA, then he will have had the original cast of "Pretty Woman", although Eric was confident in Al Pacino acting skills, he was still worried, he was afraid that changing the original Richard Gere with Al will affect the film box office, but fortunately, it turned out well .


    And then, when he invited the two Tom''s, CAA still tried to inconvenience him, now the supporting roles for "Running Out of Time" had been identified, and all the Preparations areplete, only the two main protagonists haven''t been settled yet .


    "Since you don''t have any objection, I''ll ask n to contact the newspaper for publication . "


    "Ok," Kapoor nodded, but suddenly said: "Don''t worry, just give me a copy first, I want to study it, maybe I can optimize UTA work strategy . "


    "As you wish . " Eric nodded, got up and opened the office copier, and started making a copy for him: "In fact, Kapoor, in the next few years, I don''t intend to expand the scale of UTA, because now my strength isn''t enough .


    You know, A few days ago, when I was trying the find ces to shoot some scenes for the film, I found how weak I am .


    I just wanted to shoot a few scenes in the rooftop of the National Bank building, but when I contacted the building management department they directly turned me down, they said they were afraid that I will affect their business order, they didn''t even give me the chance to try to convince them .


    But when I told the producer that Columbia sent to help me what happened, he just made a few calls and got us the permission . Initially, I was pleased with the achievements I made in my previous films, but now that I think about it, I can see that I''m still just a little rat . "


    Kapoor advised: "Eric, don''t put too much pressure on your self, you have done a good job until now . Plus, think about your age, you aren''t even neen years old yet, am I right? How many people your age do you think can earn hundreds of millions of dors by their own hands in such a short time?''


    "Oh, those are the same words Jeffrey told me," smiling, Eric handed Kapoor his copy of the ma.n.u.script: "Here, by the way, I''ll have to go to the Oscar Awards in a few days, can you help me prepare for it, I''m swamped these days .


    Plus, I''ll have to partic.i.p.ate in a dress rehearsal, I shouldn''t have agreed to act as a guest presenter . "


    "I really don''t know what to say, many little stars I know will do any thing to show their face in the Oscars, even sell their body, but you don''t want to act as a guest presenter . " Kapoorughed: "By the way, who are you going to take as apanion?"


    "I originally wanted to bring my girlfriend Jennifer, she was going toe back from Los Angeles at the end of the month, butst night she called and said that she can''t and that she will only be able toe back at the beginning of April .


    Anyway, I''m not sure, I will probably take Drew with me like I did at the Golden Globe Awardsst time . "


    Acting as if he remembered something, Kapoor said: "By the way, I got another movie that is suitable for Drew, I think it''s a good book, are you still going to stop me from inviting her?"


    "Don''t send any thing her way, I don''t intend to let Drew pick any movie for the next two years . "


    Kapoor nodded and said after a few moments: "If that''s the case, then I suggest you don''t take Drew to the Oscar .


    This is a good chance to promote our other actors, I suggest taking Miss Madsen or the girl you pickedst week the little British beauty, she has gained the recognition of Al Pacino and Martin Brest .


    Oh, and there is also Brooke Shields, for the sake of promoting your movies, I suggest you take one of the three . "


    "So . . . .


    . . . .


    "


    Eric thought for a moment, the one who needs help the most should be Virginia, She is going to have to hold up "The Others" alone, she will gain great benefits by exposing her face on the Oscars red carpet .


    "Scent of a Woman" have Al Pacino, plus "Running Out of Time" have Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, so even if Brooke Shields show up on the Oscar red carpet, it wouldn''t matter .


    "Then Virginia, you tell her to prepare . "


    "No problem, I''ll help her prepare, but Eric, in front of outsiders, you''d better not act intimate with Miss Madsen . "


    Although Kapoor said it in a businesslike tone, he could see that he just joking, embarra.s.sed Eric coughed and said: "Well, I will pay attention . "


    --- ---


    After Kapoor had left, Eric handed the CAA file to n and told him to see if he can find a newspaper to publish it . After that, he continued working hard for the rest of the day, then drove his care to meet Tom Hanks .


    Their meeting was in a fancy restaurant in Beverly hills, after shaking hands, Eric didn''t rush to poach hanks from CAA, instead, they talked about "Running Out of Time" . Although Hanks had a premonition about why Eric wanted to meet him, he didn''t think that job-hopping to UTA is a good choice .


    But he was very interested in talking to Eric about the film .


    Because CAA wasn''t able to get him a share of the profits, Hanks and Fireflies contract was gonna be signed in a few days, so he was already on board to partic.i.p.ate in "Running Out of Time" .


    "In fact, I had intended to set Sean character as a someone who had to quit the special weapons and tactics (SWAT) because of the injury, who ended up being a civilian police officer but was unwilling to remain in the limelight .


    But I think that if this setting is pointed out in the movie, the audience won''t ept it easily, so I decided to keep this setting obscure, and give the audience some room to imagine things on there on . "


    Tom Hanks put down the tableware and wiped his mouth, and wondered, "Didn''t we discuss this problem in ourst discussion, and we made a whole new setting for Sean''s background, you didn''t tell me this detailst time . "


    "Because this setting is somewhat . . . .


    . . evil, didn''t you read the script? the reason why Sean doesn''t go to clubs and isn''t married is because of his injury, he doesn''t want to dy other women .


    "


    Hanks paused, and quicklye to understand, smiling he said: "This setting is indeed true . . . .


    . . but it kinda hard to ept, but I also prefer keeping Sean''s background blurred . "


    The two of them spent more than half an hour talking about the film, until they finished their dinner, then ordered coffee . Taking a sip from his cup, Eric said: "Tom, in fact, invite you to dinner this evening, because . . .


    . . . "


    After listening to his exnation, Hanks interrupted Eric and said in a lukewarm tone: "Eric, I think CAA development is good, So I don''t intend to change brokerage firms for the time being . "


    "Don''t you want to hear my condition first?" Eric said smiling .


    "Eric if I change to otherpanies the amount of money I get will drop, after all, CAA doesn''t take a big cut from my pay, plus if I suddenly change to another brokerage firm, I don''t know how long it will take before I can adapt to the new environment .


    And, to be honest, although I know Kapoor Sid is apetent agent, the size of UTA is too small, Al Pacino and Julia Roberts those two big stars had upied most of the resources, I don''t think UTA has enough energy to take care of me . "


    Eric was very surprised by Hanks clear a.n.a.lysis, but when he thought about it, he understood why . Although Hanks look kinda silly, he was still able to achieve great sess in Hollywood thend of the sharks, so that tell him that Hanks is actually a very smart man .


    "Listen to my condition first, UTA won''t reduce your fee . " Eric smiled and said: "As long as you join UTA, in the next decade, I can arrange for you at least five movies that can make more than $100 million at the box office . "


    Tom Hanks couldn''t help but stare at him with wide open eyes, within ten years five films that can make more than $100 million at the box office, what concept is that?


    Tom Cruise from the year 1981 to now only one of his movies "Top Gun" was able to achieve more than $100 million at the box office, "Rain Man" the film that originally broke through the $100 million mark, wasn''t able to do do it this time .


    Because of the sudden emergence of "Home Alone", the film earned less than $80 million at the box office, but the movie was guaranteed to win some Oscar awards this year, so getting past the 100 million mark is just a matter of time .


    "Are you talking about the local box office?" Hanks asked subconsciously .


    "Of course, within ten years, at least five movies that can earn more than $100 million in North America . " after a pause, he added: "and you''ll be the leading actor in all of them . "


    "But . . . .


    . . . .


    " Hanks wasn''t carried away by Eric''s promise of sess: "How can I believe what you said is true? Although several of your previous movies brook the 100 million mark, that doesn''t mean you''ll still keep seeding . "


    "We can sign a secret contract, If within ten years I can''t arrange at least five movies that break the 100 million mark in North America, then I will pay you a lot of money .


    " Eric did not hesitate to add: "Of course, you''ll have to star in a certain number of movies, after all, if you signed the contract and decided to just y around and wait for the money, then I won''tpensation you . "


    Tom Hanks was amused by Ericst sentence,ughing he said: "Of course I won''t, I love making movies .


    If I can''t continue being an actor, then I really don''t know how to live, you have to understand, a man who is used to regrly doing something he loves, if he suddenly stops, he will be bored to death . "


    "Well, do you agree?"


    Tom Hanks shook his head: "Eric, although what you said made me very excited, but I can''t agree so easily . If I quit, you won''t achieve your promise, how muchpensation can I get in ten years? Ten million, or twenty million, is not an amount worth losing my career over .


    Well, if nothing else, I''ll take my leave, this dinner was delicious, Eric, if you have time, let''s do it again, this time I will treat you . "


    "One hundred million dors!" Eric said, staring at Hanks shocked expression: "$100 million, Tom, if I can''t fulfill my promise, then I will pay you $100 million, we can sign a contract now if you want, we''ll have to find a Notary public to do the notarization .


    I can even set up a fund and put $100 million into it in advance . Even if your future pay rise to $10 million a film, you''ll need to shoot at least one movie a year to earn 100 million, is this enough to show my sincerity?"


    Hanks who started wearing his coat, slowed down his movement, and said: "Eric, are you serious?"


    "Of course, and you know, I''m sure I can afford it now . "


    "Well, I need to think about it . " Hanks still didn''t ept .


    "Well, I''ll be waiting for your good news . " Although Eric was disappointed, he made a sure to keep smiling .


    Tom Hanks put on his coat, looked strangely at Eric, then walked outside the restaurant .


    Disappointed Eric sat motionless in his seat, and finished his cup of coffee .


    When he was about to settle the bill, Hanks suddenly appeared in front of him again .


    "Eric, since you are going to bet $100 million, I don''t understand why I have to hesitate . " Hanks sat down opposite Eric, and said: "I ept this bet!"

 Chapter 126: The Oscar

    The next day, "The Hollywood Reporter" used a full four pages, to published the full article Eric wrote, keeping the same title "CAA revtion: how the broker giant was formed" .


    Eric also chose not to take the $1800 royalties they offered, what''s more, because he was unable to exin the sources of the details in the article, he chose to anonymously publish it in the newspaper .


    The publication of this article, immediately caused huge waves in the Hollywood circle, almost overshadowing the uing 61st Academy Awards that were gonna happen in a few days .


    Most of the forces who were still immersed in smearing CAA reputation, suddenly calm down and focused them attention on the Article .


    The next few days, the entire US media was boiling, this highly professional article was even reprinted a second time, and arge number of newspapers even followed the trend by publishing studies of the article .


    After reading the article, the senior executives of other brokerage firms, finally found out why they couldn''t stop the rise of CAA .


    The majority of filmpanies also fully understand why their production costs kept rising, and why they couldn''t stop it .


    Michael Ovitz also saw the article a few hours after it was published in the newspaper, it took him half an hour to finish reading it, he was frowning the entire time he was reading the article .


    Even he couldn''t help but be overwhelmed with admiration for the author of this masterpiece, the article discussed many things that coincide with his recent ideas, and some things even he didn''t notice he was doing .


    It was precisely because of this idea that he tried to take part in SONY acquisition of Columbia .


    But after thinking about what this article will do to hispany, Ovitz was so angry he even started thinking about killing the author of the article .


    Because this article directly ced CAA business strategy in front of all hispetitors, before CAA''s rivals could only try imitating CAA Bundling Strategy, which involved manyplex operation processes .


    But with this article as a reference, as long as thosepetitors are a little bit ambitious, they will certainly make a series of reforms to their business strategy, even if they didn''tpletely imitate CAA model, they will not be defenseless in front of CAA expansion .


    Unfortunately, "The Hollywood Reporter" even made a special statement on the front page of the article, looking for the author of the article, but they didn''t receive any response .


    Two days after the article was published, William Morris Agency CEO publicly said that if the author of the article is willing, WMA will pay him five percent of thepany shares in exchange for him joining WMA as a vice president .


    Although the scale of WMA now is below what it was in the past, but it is still a century-old brokerage firm, the difference between CAA and WMA is not much, five percent of the shares means getting tens of millions of dors .


    The same day after the announcement, many people with fake "CAA Revtion" ma.n.u.script, went to WMA headquarters trying to swindle them .


    --- ---


    A few dayster, Once again, another big star chose to leave CAA like Tom Cruise and several other big stars did, this star is Tom Hanks, except this time this superstar didn''t transfer to arge brokerage firm like IMG and WMA, but instead he transferred to United Talent Agency (also known as UTA), Eric Wims personal brokerage firm .


    Moreover, Tom Hanks didn''t transfer alone, Eric didn''t know what method he used, but Hanks was even able to convince his agent a CAA gold medal agent to jumppanies with him .


    This news caused a variety of spection in the industry, stealing a gold broker from CAA isn''t an easy thing, most of them start from the most basic job as a mail clerk .


    Then they climb the jobdder step by step, after more than ten years of work, when they prove their strength, they be brokers . Then several yearster if they have enough qualifications they be gold brokers, with annual sries of more than one million dors .


    Hanks''s agent leaving, means giving up all the qualifications he .u.mtion, even if in the future he wanted to return to the CAA, he will have to start from the bottom .


    Kapoor and hanks agent Simon Wilson were the witnesses to the secret contract between Eric and Hanks, the only other witness is a well-known notary public in Los Angeles . After signing the contract, Hanks was kind enough not to let Eric set the $100 million fund they talked about in the restaurant .


    The only thing that CAA can do is make Tom Hanks pay a small amount of money as liquidated damages, as well as a cut of Hanks "Running Out of Time" paycheck .


    After Hanks signed the contract with the Firefly, Tom Cruise learned about Hanks''s paycheck conditions, and as Eric expected, Cruise lowered his demands .


    Finally, the day before the Oscar ceremony, that The two sides quickly signed the contracts, Cruise took a $5 million fee and 5% of "Running Out of Time" North American profits, those conditions were fully consistent with Eric''s expectations .


    And Eric finally decided to start shooting "Running Out of Time" on the 5th of April .


    In March 29th, after more than a month of preparations, the 61st Oscar awards ceremony was officially held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles .


    Eric will serve as the presenter of the best-supporting actress award, it is said that the organizers originally intended to invite the newlyweds, Mnie Griffith and her husband, Don Johnson .


    Although Don Johnson isn''t very famous, his wife Mnie Griffith has directly jumped to the frontline star position by virtue of her new film "Working Girl" .


    But unfortunately, Mnie Griffith couldn''tpete with Eric, who had the support of Columbia who had a lot of contacts with the Oscar organizers, who chose the more famous Eric, over Mnie Griffith and her husband,


    "Eric, is my dress okay, there is no problem, right?" in a Lincoln car that was slowly moving toward the Oscar red carpet, Virginia nervously asked Eric, she has never dreamed that she would walk on the Oscar red carpet .


    Eric patted her hand and said: "Vicky, rx, you look beautiful . "


    Still unsure of herself, Virginia gently touched her hair trying to find any loose hairs . Remembering another thing, she asked: "ah . . .


    . . . Eric, if "Tin Toy" won the prize, Are you really going to let me go up to receive the prize?"


    "Of course," Eric nodded . "I don''t want the first time I get on stage in the Oscar, to be for the best animated short film?"


    John Lasseter, who should have been present at the awards ceremony, has be aplete workaholic after Eric put Pixar management in his hands, right now John wishes he could live in his office .


    If the Oscar organizers didn''t send the invitation, John would certainly forget about the short film award .


    But after receiving the invitation, John Lasseter directly called Eric, saying he was too busy and can''t leave, and that if "Tin Toy" won the award, Eric should receive it .


    Eric didn''t need to be persuaded either, he was sure if Pixar walks on the same road Pixar did like in his past life, then winning the Academy Awards in the future will be easy, so he didn''t feel bad about it .


    Originally John Lasseter and Steve Jobs wanted to win this award, mainly because they were hoping that by winning the award, they can bring more business to thepany, but now that he has ess to Eric money the Oscar is just a waste of time .


    At the same time, Eric didn''t want to board the Oscar podium for the best animated short film award, so he was gonna take this opportunity to let Virginia show her face to the public .


    Just then, the Lincoln stopped at the entrance of Oscar''s red carpet, the screams, and calls fans could still be heard even though he was in the car and they were far away .


    Eric got off the car first, then went to Virginia side, and very gentlemanly opened the car door for her and offered her his arm, then they slowly walked toward the red carpet .


    Maybe all actresses are born to walk the red carpet, Virginia who was very nervous in the car, once her feet hit the red carpet, she rxed as if all her fears just evaporated into the air, she gently took Eric''s arm, and walked along with him on the red carpet, gently waving to the crowd from time to time, with a charming smile on her beautiful face .


    ---- ----


    When they were about seven or eight meters away from the fans'' area, some girls saw Eric''s figure and started screaming his name, with some of them screaming "I love you" and so on .


    Most of the actors who attended the Oscar were over the age of thirty,pared to them the young and handsome Eric has a huge advantage .


    In addition to his young age, he also starred in "17 Again" not long ago, which enabled him to have arge number of fans in the youth group . If it were not for staff, who maintained order, he was sure someone would have rushed directly to the red carpet . Fortunately, this didn''t happen .


    Slowing down his pace, Eric put a proper smile on his face, and give them a nod, which created another burst of female screams .


    Without even realizing it, he had fans, Eric felt slightly emotional, giving Virginia''s arm a little squeeze he moved on .


    Because no one was calling her name, Virginia felt slightly lost, She even noticed that some girls in the audience were giving her hostile looks, those emotions subsided only when they reached the media area .


    "Eric, look here!"


    "Here, here . "


    "Eric, Virginia, get closer?"


    Compared to the fans who were only concerned about their favorite stars, the reporters easily recognized her . They have long heard that Virginia Madsen, is about to participate in a film made by the Firefly and that Eric himself wrote the script .


    From the start of Hollywood development to this day, everyone in this circle knows the rule, that if an unknown beautiful actress or a handsome actor suddenly get a major role in a movie, people will subconsciously ask: who did She or He sleep with to get the role?


    Those pretty stars couldn''t possibly get the chance without reason, they possibly had to pay a price, and in addition to their body, they can''t pay with anything else .


    Most of the people in the circle don''t look down on these men and women, they will only envy them, and regret missing the opportunity .


    The reporter''s eyes shone the moment they saw the two, this is the type of gossip theye her for . While urging Eric and Virginia to get as close as possible and to show some intimacy, they pressed the camera shutter like crazy .


    When they finally walked out of the reporter''s area, they found the ABC channel reporter was interviewing Mich.e.l.le Pfeiffer, taking this chance Eric took Virginia and directly slipped to stars resting area .


    "h.e.l.lo, Mr . Williams, I''m Robert Downey Jr . "


    "h.e.l.lo, Mr . Downey," Eric smiled and shook his hand, just as he wanted to give a few words of praise for his works, Eric found that he didn''t remember any of the famous young star early works, trying to save himself Eric pointed to the girl beside him and said: "This is Virginia Madsen . "


    Robert Downey Jr .


    politely shook Virginia''s hand, he was just trying to mingle with the other stars, in the hope that he can get the opportunity to cooperate with them in the future, so he didn''t spend too much talking to Eric, after just a few word, he left, Eric also took the initiative to start greeting other stars .


    Like, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Mnie Griffith, Patrick Swayze, Geena Davis, Bruce Willis and his wife Demi Moore, Cher, Jane Fonda, Jodie Foster, Sigourney Weaver . . .


    Like a ball, he bounced from one star to another, until a staff member told them to enter the auditorium where the Oscar ceremony was gonna be hosted .


    He didn''t know what the Oscar organizers were thinking, but no one came to get him .


    After entering the hall and finding the location of the "Home Alone" crew, Eric walked straight to the backstage . Because he was the presenter of the best-supporting actress award he was ced first, there is no strict order to how the Oscar awards are presented .


    Many times, to attract the attention of the audience, the organizers will first present the more important awards, like the best-supporting actor, or the best-supporting actress .


    "h.e.l.lo, Eric, I''m Tom Selleck . " Backstage, a tall and strong man stretched out his hand and said: "I''ll show you around . "


    Eric shook his hand and said: "Thank you . Mr . Selleck, I loved your film "Three Men and a Baby", I heard there will be a sequel?"


    "Three Men and a Baby" is 1987 box office champion, this warmedy film was able to get the first ce at the box office, only by luck, because in the year 1987 no famous film was released all year round .


    As for Tom Selleck, the only thing Eric remember about him is that he starred in "Three Men and a Baby" and him ying Monica''s boyfriend in "Friends" the TV show .


    After hepletes filming "Running Out of Time", Eric intends to keep his promise to Barry Dillerand start working on "Friends" .


    Although Tom Selleck performance as Monica''s boyfriend was memorable, Eric knows he has to choose another actor because his career is flourishing now, Eric was sure he will reject the invitation if he asked him to y in a TV show, Tom might even see it as Eric looking down on him .


    Tom Selleckughed when he heard Eric mention his best work, and said: "Of course, but the film will only be released next year, but to tell you the truth, I don''t want my film to be released the same time your film does . "


    Ten minutes or so after the opening song and dance, a staff member handed Eric a few envelope that contains his lines and the name of the winner . Then under the guidance of Tom Selleck, Eric walked to the stage .


    All the things the audience see the guest presenters say and do on stage are written by screenwriters, in fact, no one is allowed to show their own skills .


    "Wow," walking to the center of the stage, Eric adjusted the microphone and said: "hello everyone, after I received the invitation . I asked An Carr the producer, why don''t I have a female partner like all the other guest presenters, isn''t it unfair!


    An stared at me for a long time then said: Because you''re too young!"


    Speaking up to here, Eric gave the audience an innocent look .


    The audience was silent for a moment, then there was a burst ofughter, followed by apuse .


    In thest six months, although Eric has made a series of spectacr achievements, but there are always people in Hollywood who say that 18-year-old boy was just lucky and isn''t a genius and that he won''t be able to achieve such a big achievement again .


    After saying another few words, the audience Laughed again, then Eric got back on track: "In any movie, when the main actors and actresses show their acting skills, There is always other supporting actors in the background, a good supporting actor or actress, can make a movie even more colorful, we can even say that the supporting actors are the secret ingredient that can either make or break a film .


    Then let us see who was nominated to get the best-supporting actress award . "


    Speaking up to here, Eric made a gesture, and footage of those who were nominated for the award appeared on the big screen .


    The first two were Sigourney Weaver, and Joan Cusack for their role in "Working Girl", third was Michelle Pfeiffer for her role in "Dangerous Liaisons", forth is Geena Davis for her role in "The idental Tourist" and thest is Frances McDormand in "Mississippi Burning" .


    Personally, Eric wasn''t optimistic about Sigourney Weaver, before she was able to win The Golden Globe Award, but now he was sure that the winner should be either Michelle Pfeiffer or Geena Davis .


    After the nominated actresses were introduced, Eric slowly opened the envelope and looked at the name . Sure enough, just like he expected it was one of the two .


    "This year best Supporting Actress is Geena Davis, for her role in "The idental Tourist" . "


    After he announced the name, loud apuse sounded in the auditorium . A red haired girl about 180 cm in height (6 feet tall) stood up excitedly, hugged the people around her, then hurriedly walked on stage . She didn''t rush to take the small gold statue, instead, she hugged Eric excitedly .


    Eric could only smile and pat her on the back, Geena Davis is already more than 180 cm in height, but with her wearing high heels, she looked much taller than Eric, when the two hugged, most of the audience couldn''t help but chuckle .


    A few momentster, when he saw that she wasn''t gonna let go of him, Eric softly whispered in her ear: "Hey, Ms . Davis, Can you let me go? And why do I feel you''re doing this just to tease me . "


    "Impatient little fellow!" Geena Davis whispered softly to him, then quickly let go of him . Taking the trophy, she began giving her speech.

 Chapter 127: After party

    Patiently waiting for Geena Davis to finish her speech, Eric went down the stage with her, and after giving her another hug, he returned to his seat .


    In this three hours Eric like most of the audience had tough over and over again at the unfunny jokes the guest presenters told on stage .


    "Home Alone" was only nominated for the best soundtrack award which can be ignored .


    As a young man who broke into Hollywood for more than six months, he made great achievements, and more than once he suffered from all sorts of jokes aimed at him by the guest presenters . So the camera lens often sweeps over him or took close ups of him .


    In this situation, Eric didn''t have the chance to rx . But Eric did not feel bored . Instead, he relished the contrast between this version of the Oscar ceremony and the Oscar ceremonies ten yearster .


    An hour and a half into the show, Eric found that the biggest difference between the Oscar now and the Oscar in the future, is that most of the award-winning works such as "Rain Man", "Working Girl", "Beetlejuice" and so on aremercial films .


    Unlike 10 yearster, when most of the winners are politically correct films or extreme art films .


    So after more than two hours, most of the major awards have been awarded, it was the technical awards turn . After the best cinematography award was presented, the best animated short film awarde-up .


    The ones who cared the most about those type of awards are the directors, producers, and the film crews, and there was a lot of them in this auditorium .


    The guest presenter for the best animated short film award is Carrie Fisher who starred in "Star Wars", feeling the audience expectations, Carrie Fisher quickly give a brief introduction of the nominees, opened the envelope and read: "The winner of the best animated short film is "Tin Toy", by John Lasseter .


    "


    Hearing the apuse, Virginia once again nced at Eric . After receiving a look of encouragement, she got up and walked to the stage .


    The name Carrie Fisher announced was obviously a male name, but the one walking to the stage is a beautiful woman wearing a blue strapless dress, most of the audience in front of their TV''s were questioning who is this Goddess .


    "Who is this?"


    "What a beautiful girl!"


    "It''s strange to have a girl be named John!"


    The organizer obviously know who she was, so after Virginia walked on stage, the camera directly zoomed to Eric''s face, giving him a big close up . Eric secretly had the urge to flee, but could only sit tightly in his seat, with a nk look on his face .


    As if he didn''t know that the camera was focusing on him .


    Trying to pretend he didn''t know anything didn''t have much effect on the audience in the auditorium, especially when Eric''s face showed on the huge screen, some of the crowd surrounding Eric quickly give him some yful smiles .


    Many people in front of the TV was also able to make the connection, especially those who pay attention to gossip news, they quickly remembered the ident.i.ty of Virginia, they also remembered that Eric Williams himself personally wrote a movie script just for her .


    --- ---


    In an apartment in Manhattan, New York, Jennifer Aniston was sitting on a sofa, while holding a teddy bear Eric brought her . She spent the whole night sitting there motionless, staring at the TV .


    Hoping to see her boyfriend just one more time, she even looked forward to the times those presenters ridiculed him . But every time she saw Eric, her eyes couldn''t help but involuntarily look at the girl sitting beside him .


    Seeing Virginia getting on stage to ept the award, she couldn''t help but bitterly mumbled ''b.i.t.c.h'' and tore a few hairs from the fluffy bear in her arm .


    Looking at Virginia smiling at the camera, Aniston quickly made up her mind, "I''m going back tomorrow . " she then went into her bedroom and began packing her luggage .


    As she was doing that, she remembered the words her father told her: ''If you really care about that boy, then you better stay by his side . Because keeping a long distance rtionship alive is a very hard thing to do . If you feel you can''t stand it anymore .


    Then you should give up early, to avoid hurting each other . ''


    "I won''t give him up, especially to that b.i.t.c.h!" she kept grumbling, as she neatly packed her clothes . Finally, she picked up the keys to Eric luxurious mansion, and stuffed them in her bag, then called a travel agency to book a flight ticket .


    Jennifer Connelly was also watching the Oscar through cable TV in Rome, Italy .


    The night after she rejected Eric offer, she returned to Europe, and took the initiative to ask "toile" director Peter Del Monte to reshoot some scenes, and just as her broker said? Because she give up such an important opportunity, she can''t afford to break her connections in Europe .


    The first film she starred in is "Once Upon a Time in America" a film made by the Italian director Sergio Leone, since then she won the recognition of the Italian film circle, so she can''t afford to break this valuable life line .


    Connelly also noticed that her broker Lester had started acting cold toward her, he spent more time on his other artists and paid less attention to her . Even in this trip to Rome, he didn''te along with her .


    For the past few days, every time she thought about the missed opportunity, her regrets umted . And as the close-up of Eric face appeared on TV, her hand couldn''t help but reach for the phone book that was in her hand bag, trying to find his phone number .


    "Will he still give me the role if I called him now?" Jennifer Connelly mumbled to herself, as she stared at the phone number in her hand .


    Although she was far away in Rome, she could still read the scattered news about the major things happening in Hollywood, even news saying that "Running Out of Time" actors have been identified . Although only the two lead actors were announced, the casting list has yet to be exposed .


    She knew that the role of the lead girl had been identified, so if she called him now, Eric wouldn''t dismiss the new actress and give her back the role .


    He will probably give her another role, but she also know that he has a limited number of film projects in his hand, after all, he isn''t the boss of one of the six giant film Studios . So, in the end, she decided not to call .


    After boarding the Oscar podium, Virginia didn''t make any unexpected move, she was content with just doing what Eric told her to do . Taking a deep breath, she unfolded a paper and started reading the eptance speech Eric give her . Then she elegantly walked backstage with Carrie Fisher .


    After that, the best actor award was as expected taken by Dustin Hoffman for his wonderful performance in "Rain Man" .


    When the best director award was about to start, Virginia came back carrying the gold statue, cheeks flushed, hips swaying, her whole body was exuded a mature charm, making all the men close to them envious of Eric, even some women couldn''t take their eyes off of her .


    Although this wasn''t a good time to talk, Virginia still secretly stroked his leg under the table, trying to convey how grateful she was .


    Unsurprisingly "Rain Man" won the best picture, the three-hour long ceremony was finally over .


    But that didn''t mean that after the Oscar ends, the stars will go back home, countless celebration parties happen every year after the Oscar ceremony, so most of the guests are able to find a party to go to .


    Because "Home Alone" didn''t win any award, Firefly didn''t host any celebration party, so although the Runkle couple''s who came as part of "Home Alone" crew wanted to go to some of those party''s .


    They couldn''t, because the little guy was tired and drowsy, after sitting motionless in his seat for more than three hours, the couple had to swallow their disappointment and take the little guy back home to rest .


    "So Eric, where are we going to go next?" Virginia asked .


    Eric looked at Virginia who was still carefully holding the golden statues and said: "You chose, I received invitations to a few parties, the big ones are the party held by "Rain Man" crew, "Working Girl" crew, As well as Warner, and Disney .


    Oh, and Amy Pascal also said that Columbiawould hold a party, so which one you wanna go to . "


    "Uh, "Rain Man"?" Virginia said in a voice filled with uncertainty .


    "Smart choice, "Rain Man" celebration party is held at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Beverly Hills, close to home . "


    After making the decision, the two quickly found Kapoor Sid and drove to the Sunset Tower Hotel .


    As the biggest winners this year, "Rain Man" crew celebration party is undoubtedly the grandest, at his arrival Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman and the director Barry Levinson personallye to wee him .


    As he was Greeting and chatting with some people in the crowd, Cruise came to his side and said to Virginia: "Miss Madsen, can I talk to Eric alone . "


    After spending the entire night by his side, Virginia was tired, but she still stayed by his side because she didn''t want another woman to take him from her . But now that Cruise personally asked, Virginia happily nodded .


    "Eric, about "Running Out of Time", I have a new idea, you see, in the part where . . . .


    . . maybe we can modify it to . .


    . . . .


    Do you think we can do that?" As soon as Virginia walked a little far away, Cruise Began telling Eric about his new ideas .


    After listening to him for a few minutes, Eric could Sum up all of Tom Cruise ideas into one short sentence: add more drama!

 Chapter 128: Spielberg

    Shaking his head, Eric exined: "Tom, the film is named "Running Out of Time", Because the two protagonists are running against time .


    And at its core the rivalry between the two protagonists is what makes the film good if the time given to the two characters be unbnced, the splendor of the film will be greatly reduced .


    And, I think in this movie your character has the biggest y space, and Hanks also need to share his scenes with Joe Pesci, plus your role is a one-man show, so there''s no need to added to it . "


    Although Cruise knows that what Eric said is very reasonable, his face still showed a touch of displeasure .


    Originally, Eric didn''t have much opinion about Tom Cruise''s personal qualities, he didn''t even pay attention to the rumors about him in the tabloids .


    After all, most of the rumors and gossip about the celebrities in Hollywood are false, and the things he heard and read about him from reputable sources, all said that he is a very dedicated and hardworking man, that''s why Eric decided to cooperate with him .


    But now, he began to regret that decision, because the two of them like to control things around them, Eric was sure that in the process of filming "Running Out of Time" the disputes between them will be unavoidable .


    Thinking carefully about it, Eric thought that Tom Cruise was feeling superior because in the film industry Eric qualifications were too shallow .


    "Well, Eric, about the bus girl, Brooke Shields, isn''t she . . . .


    . . too tall?" Cruise height has always been his biggest weakness . So, after getting rejected, Cruise impulsively brought up this topic, but he regretted it as soon as he said it .


    Brooke Shields was six feet tall (183 Centimetres), and if she wore high heels, it is estimated that she can be as tall as Geena Davis when she hugged him at the awards ceremony .


    Trying hard not tough in his face Eric advised: "Tom, you don''t have to worry about her, you''ll both be sitting in the two scenes you share with her . There are no shots of the two of you walking side by side? In both the bus encounter and the restaurant date . "


    "All right . " Cruise nodded sheepishly and drank a mouthful of wine to hide his embarra.s.sment, then he walked away in a hurry .


    Eric had just turned, wanting to return to mingling with the crowd, when Virginia popped out of nowhere and hugged his arm as if afraid he will slip away .


    "Hey, that''s too tight, I promise I won''t run away," Eric said whileughing, he could clearly see that she was afraid he will start talking to another woman .


    Trying to hide her embarra.s.sment, Virginia gave him an aggrieved look and released his arm as she said: "Humph, run to another woman if you want, I don''t care . "


    Eric looked down at his watch as he said: "Forget it, let''s go back so you can stop always being afraid, of me being taken away from you because tonight I''m all yours . "


    "Really . " Virginia once again grabbed arm in joy: "Can we go to your house tonight?"


    "Sure but will have to sneak away, because I''m sure the paparazzi must be keeping an eye on us . "


    Virginia thought for a few moment''s then said: "If we take the lift directly to the parking lot, then leave using Mr . Sid''s car, I''m sure there won''t be any trouble . "


    "That''s my smart girl," Eric said in a whisper, if they weren''t in public, Eric would''ve definitely reached out to pinch her beautiful cheek .


    ---- ----


    When they were about to leave, amotion happened at the entrance to the banquet hall, when Eric tried to pay attention to what''s going on at the entrance, he heard someone call the name ''Spielberg'' loudly .


    And sure enough, a few momentster a middle-aged man with circr .s.ses walked through the crowd .


    "It''s Steven Spielberg . What''s he doing here?" Virginia said curiously .


    "Who knows," Eric shook his head and said: "let''s go and say h.e.l.lo . "


    "Ok," Virginia said while trying to hide her eagerness .


    But as soon as they decided to go meet him, Spielberg started walking toward them .


    To everyone''s surprise, Steven Spielberg took the initiative to reach his hand to Eric: "Eric, I thought you would go to the Hilton Hotel, but when I went there some friends told me that you came here . "


    "Really! . . .


    . . . I don''t know what to say, Mr .


    Spielberg, If you contacted my agent, I would''ve personallye to meet you," Eric humbly said as they shook hands .


    "I heard you were busy these days, and today is a special day so I can spare some time," Spielbergexined: "Eric, I booked a room downstairs, let''s go talk there . Oh, and this . . .


    . . . beautifuldy can alsoe along if she wants .


    "


    "No problem," Eric nodded and followed after Spielberg while taking Virginia along with him, leaving everyone in the banquet hall to wondering what''s going on .


    After Eric left, everyone started specting why Spielberg personally came to find Eric . Although they lost the chance to talk with Spielberg, but they know they don''t have the qualifications .


    Only Tom Cruise felt a deep sense of loss in his heart as he watched Spielberg and Eric and disappear at the door .


    Steven Spielberg whoe all the way to "Rain Man" crew party, directly went to talk to Eric, he didn''t even look his way, even though he was standing very close to him, it was as if he didn''t exist .


    He didn''t have much hope in cooperating with Spielberg, he just wanted to be friends with Spielberg . As a representative of the Jews in Hollywood, having a good rtionship with Spielberg is equal to having a friendship with all the Jews in Hollywood .


    Jews run Hollywood, this is not a false statement, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, and many other moviepany executives are Jews . And Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford and the other big famous directors and stars are also Jews .


    After Cruise left CAA, if he wants to get rid of his status as an actor, and enters the producer''s rank, it is essential to make connections with the Jewish circle in Hollywood .


    In a room on the seventh floor, the two sides sat down, after a hotel staff member served them coffee they ordered, he took the initiative to withdraw from the room, leaving only Spielberg and his assistant, and Eric, and Virginia .


    "Eric, is Drew OK? it has been a long time since visited me . " Spielberg didn''t rush to get down to business . Instead, he casually started chatting .


    Eric also wasn''t urgent, but when he took a glimpse at Virginia who was sitting beside him, he found that she was looking at Spielberg with googly eyes . Seeing her like that he felt very ashamed, after all, they were both directors .


    So he decided when they go back home tonight, he will do some evil things to her, things he always wanted to do .


    "What a heartless girl," Eric said with a smile: "when I go back home, I will give her a lesson, It''s really rude of her not to visit family members for such a long time . "


    "I heard people that Drew''s rtionship with you was strange, like father and daughter . I didn''t believe it at first, but now that I listened to the tone of your voice, I think it may be true, maybe it''s a good choice for her to follow you . Her parents . .


    . . . .


    let''s just say, they aren''t good parents, Eric, I hope you treat her well . "


    "I will," Eric nodded, he didn''t know where Spielberg heard the news after all the other side connections in Hollywood is beyond his reach .


    Spielberg slowly took a sip from his coffee and said: "In fact, I came to talk to you today, about "Jura.s.sic Park", I''ve had people contact you a couple of times before, but they were all turned down, So today I came personally, Eric, how about selling me "Jura.s.sic Park" film copyright?"


    Eric didn''t answer right away, In fact, he was very distressed, selling "Jura.s.sic Park" movie copyrights to Spielberg, is out of the question .


    He doesn''t even want to let Spielberg be the director of the film, like in his past life, because he just remembered some data when Spielberg started talking about the copyrights .


    In his past life, "Jurassic Park" won more than $900 million at the box office, $350 million in North America, and $600 million overseas . ording to the local average of 55%, and 20% overseas box office dividends, the film was eventually able to get $310 million in box office split .


    Universal Pictures invested about 70 million US dors in the film . When you subtract the cost, you find that the film made a huge profit of $240 million . This looks like a big number because, in the past nine years, even the sixrge studios weren''t able to make this much profit in a year .


    However, this is why Spielberg is worthy of being called the most astute film businessman .


    As "Jurassic Park" director, Spielberg by virtue of personal strength, connections and a series of negotiations, was able to sign a contract that was very unfavorable to Universal, that gave him a small share of the box office and most of the DVD sales profits .


    The end result is Spielberg was able to get 250 million US dors for directing "Jurassic Park" . "


    Yes, $10 million more than the "Jurassic Park" box office profit .


    In 1993, the era of the digital video discs (DVDs) still hasn''te yet, so the (VHS) video market in best cases ounted for only thirty-five percent of the movie''s earnings, other peripheral broadcasting rights ie is rtively less .


    In other words, most of the profits of "Jurassic Park" video tapes were actually taken by Spielberg himself, this was how he was able to establish ''DreamWorks Animation'' .


    If it was not for "Jurassic Park" peripheral products and theme parks bringing huge profits for Universal, Eric was sure that Universal CEO would have lost his job .


    As for the rumors, that Spielberg was discontent with "Jurassic Park" and "Schindler''s List" investment getting bundled together, which led to him getting dissatisfied with Universal, and prompting him to establish ''DreamWorks'' with his friends Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen .


    this argument has no credibility at all, in reality, Spielberg established ''DreamWorks Animation'' because he finally was able to get his hands on a lot of money, that is the simple truth .


    Not a penny was invested, and he took away $250 million, what can he be dissatisfied about!


    What Eric was worried about now is how to politely refuse Steven Spielberg and without affecting their rtionship, after all, he doesn''t want to offend the Jewish director who has great connections in Hollywood, that will be like suicide .


    "Mr. Spielberg, actually . . .


    . . . when I wrote this book .


    I originally intended to direct the film myself, so . . . .


    . . . " Eric stammered trying to organize his words: "So .


    . . . .


    . I didn''t intend to sell the film and television rights of "Jurassic Park" . "


    Spielberg smiled like an elder, and said like he was doing him a favor: "Eric, I''ve seen some of your movies, I think you are good at low-costedy films and also drama, but when ites to "Jurassic Park", a science fiction novel, I''m afraid for a long time you won''t be able to shoot it .


    I don''t mean to belittle what you said, but you''re still too young after all andck experience . I too faced the same situation in the past, I made my first short film in 1959, but only until sixteen yearster, was I able to produce science fiction movies like "Jaws" .


    Your qualifications are much better than mine, but it will take you at least ten years or so to umte enough experience, to make a film like "Jurassic Park" . Perhaps at that time, many people would have forgotten the novel "Jurassic Park", making it difficult to recover the cost of the film . "

 Chapter 129: Unfavorable situation

    "So, you still refused?" in a car in the parking lot, Kapoor who was sitting in the driver''s seat, helplessly looked at Eric who was sitting beside him .


    Thinking about what just happened, Eric sighed and nodded his head .


    Although Spielberg didn''t show any displeasure when he left, he still regretted saying he will contact him if he changed his mind .


    And from the looks Spielberg a.s.sistant was giving Eric know that he had offended the famous Jewish director, it was as if he was looking at someone who can''t appreciate favors .


    If Spielberg had previously expressed his intention to buy the copyrights through other people, and Eric refused then no one will say anything .


    But him refusing this time is much worse, after all, Spielberg personally came forward, this can be considered a sincere gesture, It''s like Spielberg has asked him for a favor .


    If they reach a deal, Eric will not only gain lots of money, but he will also get Spielberg''s favor, this connection may be of great help to him in the future .


    But he can not transfer an essential piece of his future careeryout to Spielberg just for a favor .


    After all, selling "Jura.s.sic Park" copyrights, mean losing a huge industry chain worth tens of billions of dors . Although Eric has never thought of swallowing this big cake alone, at least he wants to get the most delicious part .


    Once he sells the copyrights, then he willpletely lose the initiative to lead this project, and at maximum, he will only be able to get some residual leftovers after everyone takes their shares .


    "Eric, would you like to hear my advice?"" Kapoor asked .


    "I know what you''re going to say . Contact Spielberg right away and sell the movie rights to him, right? Kapoor, there is no room for discussion, I will not sell . "


    Kapoor scratched his bald head in agony and said: "Eric, have you ever thought about your situation? You are an independent yer, those big filmpany executives act familiar towards you now, only for their interests .


    They act nice to you now because all of your previous films have achieved great sess, bringing great benefits to them . But no one will seed forever, and once you fail, they will turn against you . "


    "I think for a long period of time, I won''t experience failure, I have confidence in my film . "


    "There are many factors that can result in failure, and some of them are man-made . " Kapoor went on: "Eric, think it over . Only two of your works have been released, and even if the now they only see you as a lucky little guy .


    But if your films seed all the time, those giants will try to suppress you at all costs, they will even try to destroy you . Like lions on the prairie, they will allow hyenas to nibble at the food they eat, but they will never allow a small hyena to take the lion share . "


    Eric opened his mouth, but he couldn''t think of any thing to refute him, He knew that what Kapoor said is the truth, In fact, he still hopes he can find some strong allies, so that in the future when those giants start suppressing him, he won''t bepletely isted .


    This was a good opportunity to befriend him, Once Eric sells the copyright, Spielberg wouldn''t be able to easily get rid of Eric because he is the film screenwriter, Spielberg also promised that Firefly Studios can partic.i.p.ate in the investment .


    All these conditions can allow Firefly to establish a good rtionship with Spielberg, but Eric still wouldn''t willingly let go of the copyrights,


    Seeing the struggle and hesitation on Eric''s face, Kapoor continued: "Eric, do you know that Firefly closely resembles another movie studio in Hollywood?"


    Eric looked up curiously, as Kapoor continued his preaching: "The studio Firefly resemble the most is United Artists, in the beginning, Charlie Chaplin joined several other famous directors like Dous Fairbanks, D . W . Griffith, and actress Mary Pickford, and founded United Artists .


    Thepany was a pure productionpany specializing in providing excellent film to the other giant film studios because like Firefly they didn''t have a distribution channel .


    As a result, the Film giants who had distribution channels at the time, all survived, except for RKO Pictures who was one of the big five studios at the time, thatpany was dismantled after a series of expensive film failures made by Howard Hughes .


    Which lead to him selling RKO Pictures to anotherpany called ''General Tire'' who was interested mainly in exploiting the value of RKO''s film library for television programming . But now thepany that waspared to the other giants had be a subsidiary of MGM .


    The reason United Artists has fallen this low is that they put too much emphasis on producing films, and ignore the expansion of their own distribution channels . "


    As he was listening to Kapoor exnation, Eric''s mind directly thought of DreamWorks, the history of United Artists and DreamWorks is surprisingly simr .


    In his past life, he often saw the words "Distribution Channels First" in some economic magazines, In the memories of his past life, second line filmpanies, such as Lionsgate, Miramax, and Spielberg''s DreamWorks, always start strong .


    But they all die or get sold topanies like Paramount Pictures, Disney, Warner Bros, and the other giants .


    "Compared to the original United Artists, Firefly is in a much worse shape, after all, Firefly has no way to issue its films, other than through other studios .


    And most of the distribution channels in North America and the world have been monopolized by those giants, if those film giant want to deal with you, all they need to do is not publish your films .


    So what you need most right now is allies, then once a bad situation urs, you can ask for their help . After all, hyenas can''t make friends with lions, but they live in the same ecosystem . It was unwise of you, to refuse Spielberg whoe to your door . "


    If he wasn''t someone that came from the future, Eric was sure he would have caved and obediently handed "Jura.s.sic Park" to Spielberg, but unfortunately, he wasn''t a from this era .


    "All right, Kapoor, I understand . " Eric nodded .


    Delighted Kapoor handed Eric his cell phone, "Then quickly call Spielberg, don''t be afraid that the other person will think you''re fickle . Eric, you''re a young man . I''m sure Spielberg wouldn''t mind . "


    Eric took the Motor DynaTAC (also known as the brick phone) in his hand and said: "Kapoor, I''m just saying I understand the importance of distribution channels to the Firefly, I didn''t say I would sell "Jura.s.sic Park" to Spielberg . "


    sn.i.g.g.e.r


    Virginia who was sitting in the back seat quietly listening to their conversation couldn''t help butugh, aware of her mistake, she quickly covered her mouth .


    Choked, Kapoor starred Speechlessly at Eric for a few moment . Eventually, he came back to himself, and said as he took back his brick phone: "Jeffrey is right, you''re a stubborn young man . "


    "Do not worry, Kapoor, I have my own ns . Think about it, I''m British American, I still have my British nationality . So even if be friends with Spielberg, it''s impossible for me to enter the Jewish circle . "


    Eric wasn''t worried about those things, this year Firefly will produce several movies, his next three films have already been taken care of, One will be taken by Columbia, and the other two will go to FOX ording to their previous contract .


    Although he hadn''t yet identified the issuers for the other three films, but the other major studios already contacted him, as long as he is willing, they will sign the contracts anytime he wants .


    If all these movies achieve simr sess at the box office, then he will be able to .u.mte arge amount of money . Even if one or two flop at the box office because of the b.u.t.terfly effect, he will earn less money, but he wouldn''t get hurt .


    After all, only "Running Out of Time" have a budget of $40 million, his other films all have budgets less than $10 million . So even if one film isn''t able to achieve the same sess as his past life, he will still be able to recover his investment and earn a little more .


    And as Kapoor said, after this year, the big studios will certainly realize that he took too much, and will try every means to suppress him, they will even try to squeeze the profits he deserves, but at that time he will have .u.mted enough money so that he won''t end-up defenseless .


    Not to mention the six won''t all try suppressing him, even if they all agree to suppress him, then he can slowly recharge his batteries .


    Moreover, he didn''t believe that all of them will be able to turn down someone who can bring them such great benefits, all he needs is for one of the six to cave in .


    ---- ----


    "Kapoor, can you lend me your car tonight, you can take my car . "


    Kapoor nced at the girl sitting in the back seat and shook his head: "No, Eric, you can''t borrow my car, not to mention you are still a little bit drunk, let me take you home . , "


    "Kapoor, don''t be so serious, and don''t think you are a light bulb just because you shaved your head . " quipped Eric while Virginia who was sitting in the back seat lowered her head in shame .


    Kapoorughed: "You misunderstood, I don''t want to be a light bulb . I meant to say that I''ll send you back, I only drank a few mouthfuls of champagne .


    More importantly, I am very experienced, in detecting and running away from the paparazzi, it is by virtue of this skill that I was able to get my first employer, I don''t want to wake up tomorrow tocy news about the two of you . . . .


    . . Eric, Beverly Hills or Malibu?"


    "My house, Malibu is too far away . "


    "Well, then you sit in the back seat, the front seat can be photographed . "


    As he drove away from the hotel, Kapoor looked at the mirror and said: "A total of three paparazzi cars were waiting outside . Fortunately, there were many targets at the party, otherwise, they will have started tailing us."

 Chapter 130: The second time(18+)

    Curious, Eric turned and looked behind for a while: "I only see two cars, the silver Honda, and the ck Chrysler . "


    "Oh, so . if I just let you drive my car and leave, you''ll have ended up on the newspaper tomorrow, take a closer look . "


    "You mean? . . .


    . . . " Eric watched for a while, and finally found a hidden ck car: "the ck Mercedes Benz, how can a paparazzi afford such expensive car .


    "


    "That''s the one," Kapoor replied with a smile, and asked curiously: "Is that Mercedes Benz expensive? I think that car cost only about thirty thousand dors . "


    "Well, I will remember that . " Eric felt embarrassed because when he saw the Mercedes Benz, he subconsciously thought of the more luxurious Mercedes car that cost more than a hundred thousand dors, in his past life he couldn''t even afford to buy the tiers of those cars .


    Kapoor didn''t talk again . Instead, he focused on driving in the busy streets of Los Angeles, even though it waste at night people were still out and about .


    As they got close Kapoor asked: "All done, now lets hope there is no paparazzi camping in front of your door . "


    "Kapoor, my house has a back door . "


    Looking through the rearview mirror, Kapoor unabashedly gave Eric a disdainful look, which made Virginia chuckle, feeling defeated Eric raised his hand and said: "All right, I''ll stop talking . "


    When the car stopped at Eric''s house door, Eric and Virginia didn''t get out . Instead, Kapoor himself got out to open the door, then he drove the car directly into the yard .


    "There is a paparazzi parked 10 meters from the door, on the right side, be careful not to be photographed tomorrow when you leave . "


    "Rest a.s.sured, I won''t let that happen . " Eric grabbed Virginia''s little hand and said as he started walking toward the vi: "Kapoor, Would you like toe in?"


    Kapoor shrugged: "Although I don''t want to be a light bulb, but I have to stay here for at least ten minutes before I leave, or I shouldn''t have driven in . "


    "Well,e in and have a cup of coffee . " as they walked into the vi, they found that the light in the living room is still on, seeing the confusion on their faces Eric exined: "Drew will be staying here for the next two days . "


    Drew came back from school because she originally thought that Eric will take her to the Oscar, but unfortunately, he reced her with Virginia, so for thest two days she was short-tempered and wouldsh out from time to time .


    Opened the door of the living room, he saw the little girl curled on the sofa with the TV still on . Stepping forward Eric gently tried to wake her up: "Drew, wake up and go to sleep upstairs . "


    After shaking her a few times, Drew finally had a reaction, mumbling she said: "Hmm! . . .


    . . . Eric, I don''t wanna do it now, so sleepy!"


    Uh . . . .


    . .


    Eric looked at the two petrified people standing behind him and said with a guilty conscience: "This, I swear, I have never done anything with her!"


    This exnation sounded very pale and weak, Kapoor and Virginia obviously didn''t believe him .


    "bastard . . . .


    . . " Virginia muttered .


    "Don''t forget using protection . . . .


    . " Kapoor is indeed a professional agent who only think about his employers .


    Seeing that the two wouldn''t believe his excuses, Eric gave up and said: "Well, I won''t exin, Vicky, the coffee is in the kitchen, you entertain Kapoor . , while I take Drew to her room . "


    After he said that, Eric carefully picked Drew and walked upstairs to her bedroom, then he carefully put her in bed and covered her with a quilt, then closed the door behind him as he left the room .


    The moment he closed the door, Drew her sparkling eyes, and looked at the closed door,ughing she threw the cover off of her and said: "ha ha, serve you right for not taking me to the Oscar!"


    bam


    The bedroom door suddenly was pushed open by Eric, who stood there ring at her: "I know you did it deliberately from the start, aren''t you afraid I will be sent to prison, do you want me to send you to sleep in the streets?"


    The mischievous girl who was caught red handed immediately pulled the quilt over her face, and said in a muffled voice as if she was asleep: "I really was asleep . "


    "Drew, Virginia will stay here tonight, don''t make trouble . "


    Pulling the thin quilts down, Drew revealed just her sparkling eyes, and said: "Can I watch?"


    "Adolescents girls under the age of 18 are forbidden from watching those kinds of things . "


    "Can I at least secretly watch . "


    Eric raised his voice and said in a serious tone: "Drew, I''m serious . "


    "All right . . . .


    . don''t get angry, I promise I won''t try to sneak around," said Drew, then she covered her head with the quilt, and turned her back to Eric, like a little wife whos angry with her husband .


    Eric looked silently at the girl as if he was judging if she told the truth, then after a while, he closed the bedroom door again .


    ---- ----


    Kapoor quickly drank his cup of coffee and left, leaving the two lovers alone . Eric who started kissing Virginia as soon as Kapoor left, picked her up and went to his bedroom .


    Putting Virginia on the bed, Eric carefully examined every corner of the bedroom, when he was sure that Drew isn''t spying on them, Eric locked the bedroom door, got rid of his clothes and rushed back to the puzzled Virginia .


    The flustered Virginia asked as he started taking off her clothes: "Shall I uh . . . .


    . . first . .


    . . . .


    take a bath?"


    Eric who was breathing heavily, quickly stopped his movement and said: "It''s toote now if you want, you can take a bath when we finish."


    With that he threw her underwear away and ran his eyes down the body of the beauty below him, hair spread messily, plump, red lips opened slightly, bountiful breasts heaving up and down, t stomach, slim waist and wide hips, making his dick throb.


    Leaning down he kissed her full lips and massaged her breasts, pushing his tongue in, exploring her mouth and running his thumbs around her nipples, making them hard.


    Letting go of her sexy lips, he started kissing down her neck and ran his hand up her sides, making her sigh softly.


    Getting to her big breasts, he held the left one and licked the puffy nipple, before taking it in his mouth, swirling his tongue around it and sucking on it, causing her to moan.


    As he was sucking her breast, his other hand rose to her mouth and he pushed his index and middle fingers in her hot mouth, silencing her moans.


    "Pop..."


    He let go of her breast and started kissing down her t stomach while pushing his fingers in and out of her mouth, ying with her tongue.


    Kissing just below the bellybutton he stopped and pushing out his tongue, licked her t stomach all the way up to her breasts, making her let out a muffled moan due to his finger her mouth.


    Pulling his fingers out of her mouth, he kissed her sexy lips again and slid his hand down between her legs, stimting her clit as he pushed his tongue in her mouth.


    ying with her tongue, she suddenly moaned in his mouth as he pushed his fingers, wet from her mouth, in her tight slit.


    Pushing his fingers in and out, he started finger-fucking her as their tongues battled each other and his hand groped her soft breast, massaging it.


    As he felt her cave getting damp, he pinched her nipple and pushed his fingers all the way in, making her moan in his mouth.


    Letting go of her lips and pulling his fingers out of her tunnel, he sat up on his knees and, grabbing her thin waist with one hand, positioned his dick at her entrance with the other.


    "UHHHH....."


    He buried his dick deep in her pussy with one thrust, making her let out a deep moan as he enjoyed her tight, wet walls wrapping his dick.


    Grabbing her waist with both hands, her legs spread in an M shape around his knees as he started to pound her.


    He started thrusting his hips hard and fast, driving his dick deep in her slick pussy with every thrust, making her breasts bounce wildly as her mouth let out seductive moans.


    He kept pounding her, invading her love tunnel over and over again, her tight walls bringing him immense pleasure, his balls pping her pelvis as her moans increased in volume.


    Looking down at her bouncing breasts and red lips letting out moans of pleasure, he let go of her waist and, moving back slightly, leaned down, kissing her sexy lips as he continued thrusting in her cunt.


    Pushing his tongue in her mouth, he moved his entire body, pounding her tight pussy, feeling her hard nipples gliding across his chest as she moaned in his mouth.


    Letting go of her sexy lips, he started kissing and nibbling her neck, increasing his thrusting speed, shaking the bed and making her let out deep, throaty moans.


    Feeling his orgasm build up, Eric suddenly pulled out and sat up on his knees.


    "Use your mouth" Said Eric, holding his hard dick.


    Hearing him, Virginia sat up and got on her hands and knees, her breasts hanging down as she slowly crawled to him.


    "AHHHH...."


    Grunted Eric as her warm, wet mouth enveloped his dick. Her pouty lips stretched around his rod as she moved her head up and down, making slurping noises.


    She  moved and twisted her head , rubbing his dick in different ways before hollowing her cheeks, creating suction and bobbing her head up and down, making sloppy, sucking noises.


    She sucked harder and harder, caressing his balls with one hand and ying with her clit with the other, moaning around his dick, her throat vibrating, bringing him even more pleasure.


    Eric let out a grunt as she swallowed his dick all the way to the base, her throat wrapping and vibrating the head, as she fingered herself.


    "POP..."


    With a dirty pop she pulled his dick out of her mouth, moving her head down and licking his balls as she wrapped her hand around his dick and started to jerk him off, furiously fingering herself with the other.


    She licked, nibbled and sucked his balls while jerking him of and ying with her clit at the same time.


    She returned to caressing his balls with her hands as she ran her tongue on the back of his shaft and licked the sides like lollipop, before wrapping her sexy lips around the head and moving up and down quickly.


    Getting closer and closer to his release, Eric grabbed her head and started thrusting his hips, fucking her mouth.


    Thrusting faster and faster, he started pounding her pretty face as she continued to y with her clit and finger her pussy, building up her orgasm.


    He kept pounding her face, making dirty slurping noises until.


    "HHHHHH....."


    With a muffled moan Vicky came, her pussy leaking dirty liquids, her throat vibrating around his dick, pushing him over the edge.


    Eric pulled out of her mouth and pushed her down on her back.


    "HAAAAAA...."


    With a grunt he jerked his cock a couple time and sprayed his hot seed all over her face and breast, coating them white.


    As always he moved back and enjoyed the sight of a busty, blonde beauty with her legs spread apart, big breasts moving up and down with heavy breaths, her pussy leaking juices as his cum covered her pretty face and beautiful breasts.


    Calming down he took her to the bathroom and fucked her a couple times, before returning to bed and falling asleep with his head buried in her soft chest.


    A few minutes after they started, Drew gently opened her bedroom door, and walked bare foot through the dark corridor, making sure she didn''t make any noise . When she reached Eric bedroom, Drew carefully stuck her ear to the door .


    After eavesdropping for about five minutes, Drew who got bored, straightened up and pouted angrily, as she walked back to her room she muttered in dissatisfaction: "lucky bitch . "


    Going back to her room, the bored Drew couldn''t sleep, she was originally a night owl, The deeper the night, the more energetic she got, not to mention the present situation was driving her crazy .


    The sound she heard when she was eavesdropping again emerged in her mind, Imperceptibly, the thin pink Nightgown was thrown out, and after that her small white panties flow out of the bed, then a very irregr and clumsy up and down motions started under the quilt .


    Squinting his eyes from the bright lighting in from the window, Eric slowly woke up.


    Feeling soft blobs of flesh on his left arm, he looked down and saw the blonde beauty sleeping peacefully on his shoulder.


    Putting his hand on her breasts he started massaging them, feeling the soft flesh rubbing against his fingertips as his other hand slid down her t stomach and massaged her clit, making her moan and waking her up from her slumber.


    "Good morning" Said Virginia with a smile as her hand slid down and her slender fingers wrapped around his cock, jerking him off.


    "It''s gonna be good for sure" Said Eric as he rolled her over on top of him and pushed her shoulders.


    Getting the message, she leaned down and started kissing down his neck, chest and stomach, her big breasts rubbing his skin as she hid in the nket, her hand rubbing his rigid shaft.


    "HHHH..."


    Grunted Eric as she rubbed her tongue all over his dick, licking the sides and the back, coating his cock in her saliva.


    Her warm mouth covered the head of his dick and she swirled her tongue around the tip, her hand softly caressing his balls.


    She started bobbing her head up and down, her tongue tongue running on the underside of his shaft, making slurping sounds as her hands gently squeezed his balls, sending pleasure to his whole body.


    He threw the nket away and looked down as her plump lips wrapped around his shaft, going up and down, pumping his hard cock in her wet mouth.


    Eric grunted as she hollowed her cheeks and swallowed his dick all the way to the base, her throat wrapping around the head of his dick, squeezing it tightly, making a shiver run up his spine from pleasure.


    "Pop...."


    Pulling her mouth off his dick she grabbed it with her hand and jerked him off, her mouth moved down and licked his balls.


    She licked his sack and took it in her mouth, sucking on it as her hand continued to rub his dick.


    Feeling his release getting closer, he sat up.


    "Turn around" Said Eric as he freed his dick from her soft hands.


    ncing up at him, Virginia silently turned around, facing the door as she braced herself on her elbows and spread her legs, her waist curving down, her fleshy ass sticking up in the air and her big breasts hanging down.


    Seeing her in this position Eric felt his blood rush to his head in excitement so without wasting any time, he stepped up behind her and positioned his throbbing dick at her slit.


    "UHHHHHH...."


    Grabbing her waist, he rammed his tool deep in her cave, making her throw her head back and let out a deep moan.


    One hand on her waist and other on her shoulder, he started mming into her from behind, ramming his dick in and out of her tight pussy, stretching it over and over again, her breasts swinging wildly, her mouth letting out seductive moans of pleasure.


    He kept pounding her, bottoming out with every thrust, hitting her womb, her loud moans music to his ears as she slid a hand between her legs and started ying with her clit as the other hand started squeezing her breasts.


    Getting closer and closer to his release he sped up his thrusts, her fleshy ass jiggling with every collision as she started pushing her hips back, meeting his thrusts as she yed with her clit and massaged her breasts, building up her orgasm.


    "UHHHHHH.... Goddddd...."


    Grabbing her shoulders with both hands he pounded her even faster, pushing her shoulders back, making her ass p against him even harder as her moans got louder and louder, her fingers frantically massaging her clit and pinching her nipple, her orgasm getting closer.


    He kept pounding her fleshy ass, his dick rapidly plunging in and out of her love tunnel, her tight walls squeezing his dick , until.


    "O'' my god Cumming...." Virginia screamed, her head raised in the air, her back curving as pleasure pulsed through her body, her pussy clenching around his dick, drenching it in juices as her head dropped down on the bed, breathing heavily.


    "HAAAAA...."


    Eric grunted, her constricting walls pushing him over the edge as he mmed his dick deep in her pussy and, with a roar, pumped it full of his hot cum.


    "HUH... HUH..."


    Eric slumped over her back, breathing heavily and softly caressing her big, soft breasts.


    Before he had a chance to pull out, the door mmed open.


    "Eric Williams, I''ll never forgive you, you bastard, you son of a bitch!" Jennifer shouted as she mmed the door open and saw their state.


    ---------


    A few minutes earlier...


    She didn''t know why she woke up so early today, Well, it wasn''t that early, it was past nine o''clock . However, rtive to her regr sleep schedule, this time is indeed very early .


    Dressed, she brushed her teeth and looked in the mirror .


    The first thing she noticed is the dark circles under her eyes, mumbling angerly, she finished her morning routine and walked out of the bathroom, Only to find the vi quiet . Apparently, the other two still didn''t wake up, perhaps they two stayed upte, she thought .


    she thought about banging the bedroom door to wake them up, but she quickly decided not to do it, he rarely sleepste, so why not let him rest this day .


    Putting on some fluffy slippers, she went downstairs and made her self a bowl of milk and cereal, and sat on the table in the dining room .


    As she stuffed the first spoonful of cereal and milk in her mouth, she heard a sound of the living room door getting opened .


    Curious, Drew put down her spoon and went to see who came this early in the morning .


    Walking through the door, Aniston dragged her old dusty red suitcase and looked at whoe to see her .


    Seeing Drew emerge from the dining room, the interested expression on her face quickly faded .


    "Where is Eric?" Aniston asked like she was talking to a maidservant, if it were another time Drew would''ve answered back sarcastically, But now . . . .


    . .


    Drew looked at Aniston with sparkling eyes, pointed upstairs, and said: "Upstairs, Second room on the left . "


    Feeling that something wasn''t right, Aniston suspiciously ncing at Drew, put down her luggage and walked upstairs .


    Only when Aniston''s figure disappeared upstairs, did Drew allow a wicked smile to appear on her face?


    "Eric, you can''t me me for this!"

 Chapter 131: Injury

    Drew hurried back to the dining room grab her bowl of cereal, then walked close to stairs ready to watch what was going to happen while having breakfast like a boss .


    But after thinking about for a moment, she chose to watch from the entrance of the dining room, that ce was safer .


    And like she expected less than a minuteter, the sound of a couple quarrel came from upstairs .


    "Eric Williams, I''ll never forgive you, you bastard, you son of a bitch!"


    Aniston said, and quickly run down stairs, giving a ferocious stare at the lively Drew, she pulled her suitcase to leave .


    "Jenny, wait, don''t be impulsive . "


    Eric''s voice rang from upstairs, and then Eric showed up wearing only a pair of trousers, seeing that Aniston was pulling her luggage to leave, the impatient Eric didn''t pay attention to the stairs, and ended up losing his footing .


    With the sound of a crash, Eric tumbled down the stairs .


    "Wow!" said Drew''s with her mouth full of cereal, she wasn''t too worried, when she saw Eric roll down the stairs . Instead, she was gloating, because the stairs were less than two meters high .


    When Aniston saw this scene, she too angrily scolded him, saying that he deserves it .


    Unfortunately, something unexpected happened, Eric who rolled all the way down the stairs, directly copsed on the ground . Then, blood began to gush from his forehead, as he Lay There Motionless .


    The atmosphere stagnated a bit, then the bowl filled with cereal and milk smashed on the ground, as Drew rushed forward with a frightened face .


    "Eric, are you all right? Hey, talk to me, you . . .


    . . . don''t scare me!" Drew rushed to Eric''s side while shouting his name, but he has lost consciousness, she tried to wipe the blood on his forehead, but she soon found that the blood won''t stop, checking carefully she found a wound about one centimeter long on his forehead .


    The moment she saw the scene, Aniston who angrily wanted to leave, quickly put down her suitcase and run up to his side, maneuvering around Drew''s body, Aniston also panicked when she saw the wound that was overflowing with blood .


    "What . . . the .


    . . How did that happen?"


    Drew who started trying to stop the blood by putting pressure on the wound, but in the process she got the blood all over the cuffs of her pajamas, looking up with red angry eyes at Aniston, Drew shouted: "b.i.t.c.h, call an ambnce . If anything happens to him, I swear I''ll kill you!"


    Scared by Drew violent threats, Aniston rushed to the telephone and frantically dialed 911 . And at this time, the hastily dressed Virginia also went downstairs and also hurriedly rushed to Eric''s side .


    "Drew, leave it to me, I can do it . "


    "Go away, you f.u.c.king s.l.u.t, I me you both, if it weren''t for the two of you, Eric wouldn''t get hurt . . . .


    . . "


    Although she was insulted by Drew, Virginia didn''t take it to heart, after all, she is a mature woman, and know not to care about what this brat say about her: "Drew, you won''t be able to stop the blood with just your hands, so tell me where is the first-aid kit?"


    "I only know about the one in the closet in Eric''s bedroom," Drew said without hesitation, and watched as Virginia quickly ran upstairs .


    "They said we need to put him t on the floor . . . .


    . . " said Aniston when she saw Drew kneeling on the floor with Eric in her arms .


    Coldly ncing at Aniston, Drew did as she said and carefullyy Eric t on the floor, while still keeping the pressure on the wound on his forehead .


    Looking at Drew''s appearance, Aniston felt a pang in her heart, she is Eric''s genuine girlfriend, so why does the scene look like this now, It''s like she is a third party .


    Looking at Drew acting like a mother bear, Aniston instinctively became timid, she felt that if she got closer to Eric, Drew wouldsh out like a wild beast .


    Virginia soon returned with the first aid kit and said: "Drew, let me do it . I know how to do first aid . "


    Drew quietly backed off a bit, and watched as Virginia skillfully stopped the bleeding and dressed the wound, calming a little, Drew nced at Aniston who was standing at the side: "Didn''t you say you were leaving, well, you can leave now, and don''te to see him . "


    "I . . . " Aniston who finally came back to herself said angerly: "I am Eric''s girlfriend, who do you think you are tomand me?


    You''re just a pet he''s raising!"


    Sneering at her, Drew shot back: "At least I''m not a stubborn fool like you, and why the h.e.l.l are you always acting like a self-righteous b.i.t.c.h . "


    "You are the fool," said Aniston angrily, then she pointed to Virginia and said: "I''m his girlfriend, shouldn''t I be angry about him sleeping with her . "


    "He''s such an excellent man, what''s wrong with him ying with several women?"


    "You! . . .


    . . . " Aniston was rendered speechless by Drew illogical reasoning .


    Virginia who finally finished bandaging the wound on Eric''s forehead, then she touched his chest trying to feel his heart beat, only then did she allow herself to calm down . Listening to the two girls quarrel, Virginia was about to stop them when the doorbell rang .


    "The ambnce came," Aniston whispered, and Drew immediately forgot about the quarrel and rushed out to open the door .


    When the ambnce drove up to the vi door, Virginia got up and hide upstairs, she doesn''t want outsiders to know she was here, After all, her rtionship with Eric isn''t public .


    When Aniston saw Virginia move upstairs, she Subconsciously wanted to hide too, but when she caught sight of the figure of Drew waving her hands, eagerly exining what happened to the paramedics, she know it was toote to hide .


    The paramedics did a simple treatment for Eric, be he still didn''t wake up, so they carried the still unconscious Eric and loaded him into the ambnce


    Aniston who didn''t know what to do next, saw Drew get on the ambnce, so she quickly followed after her, then the ambnce drove out of Eric''s mansion and speed all the way to the nearest hospital .


    One of the paparazzi keeping guard outside Eric''s vi, keenly felt that something big was going, so he quickly got back in his car and chased after the ambnce .


    Less than an hourter, the news of Eric''s being in aa, spread like a fire throughout the news media in Los Angeles .


    "Breaking News, this morning, the young director Eric Williams identally fell down the stairs in his vi in Beverly Hills, and still remain unconscious . Let''s see what our reporter in front of the Beverly Hills Surgical Hospital can add .


    " The TV screen switched from the studio to a scene in front of a hospital, where forty or fifty journalists were almost blocking the entrance of the hospital, surrounding Al Pacino who had just got off his luxurious car .


    A young blonde female reporter stood in front of the camera holding a microphone said: "Eric Williams has continued being in aa for more than three hours, ording to the current revealed news, Eric''s back, elbows, and knees have varying degrees of injury .


    But the most serious injury is the one on his forehead that was caused by the violent impact when he hit the floor, causing arge amount of blood loss . It is not clear whether the injury will lead to more serious consequences, after all, the consequences of brain injuries are hard to predict . . .


    . . . "


    ---- ----


    Inside the hospital, Jeffrey and Kapoor whoe first, as well as Al Pacino, Tom Hanks and the two directors of "The Others" and "Scent of a Woman" were catching up as they waited for the news from the doctors .


    After a series of tests, Eric was finally taken to his own room, and the people who were waiting for this moment, all gathered in an office to listen to the doctor a.n.a.lysis .


    "The results of the MRI exam showed that Mr . Williams doesn''t have a skull fracture, and he also doesn''t have the symptoms of internal bleeding in his head, so there is no need to worry . "


    "Doctor Duncan, when will he wake up?" Drew who stood in front of the crowd eagerly asked .


    Dr . Duncan hesitated and said: "He should wake up in about eight hours . "


    Drew who saw him hesitate asked: "Doctor, aren''t you sure?"


    Hesitating again, Dr . Duncan nodded


    "How could that be? You''re a doctor . How can you not be sure? Aren''t you the best doctor here?" Drew screamed back at him .


    Trying to get things under control, Jeffrey said: "Drew, don''t be rude . "


    Dr . Duncan calmly looked at the hysterical girl, who was still wearing her blood-stained pajamas and exined: "Miss Barrymore, ording to my past experience, people who have the same degree of injury as Mr . Williams, all woke by this time . But unfortunately, Mr .


    Williams didn''t wake up ording tomon sense . So, I can''t give you an urate answer, all we can do now is patiently wait . "


    "No, I want to transfer him, I''m going to the best hospital in Los Angeles, I . . . .


    . . " the furious Drewdemanded .


    Jeffrey who was trying to keep her calm; held her by the shoulders and said: "Drew, stop it, this is the best hospital in Los Angeles . "


    The doctor who also tried to defuse the situation said: "Perhaps, you can try speaking to the patient, he may wake up . "


    When Drew heard the suggestion, she immediately turned around and ran to Eric''s room . When her figure disappeared, Jeffrey asked, "Doctor, does this method really work?"


    Dr . Duncan smiled wryly and said: "I just wanted to calm Miss Barrymore, her emotions are unstable, she might copse if she doesn''t calm down . "


    When they left the doctor office, and came back to Eric''s room they found that Drew was lying beside him whispering in his hear, no one know what she was saying, but they didn''t have the courage to get closer, they could only watch from outside the room .


    Al Pacino and Tom Hanks who were eager toe forward, but when they saw this scene, they also quickly retreated .


    Jeffrey who was the oldest finally said: "Everyone should go back, It''s no use staying here, Me and Kapoor will call you if any thing happen . "


    Taking his advise, everyone left, except for Aniston who stubbornly refused to leave, she also wanted to get closer to Eric, but she was scared by the crazy looks Drew was giving her .


    Eight hourster, Eric still didn''t show any signs of waking up, Drew who was going crazy, transferred all her pent up anger and fury to Aniston body .


    and at eleven in the evening, drew got in a fight with Aniston and ended giving her two scratches one on the neck and one on the arm, but she was quickly restraind by Jeffrey and Kapoor .


    At night, Fox CEO Barry Diller, and Amy Pascal from Columbia who couldn''t wait, showed up at the hospital, they were stopped by the excited crowd of reporters, but they were quickly rescued by the security .


    They first went to the ward to see Eric, and then, they went with Jeffrey to ask the tired physician to once again ask about Eric''s condition .


    "Doctor, is there a possibility that he is in ae?" After listening to Duncan''s exnation, Barry Diller finally asked the question most people wanted to ask but didn''t dare to .


    After hesitating for a few seconds, Dr . Duncan said: "There is a very small chance of that happening, but . . .


    . . . it is not impossible .


    "


    Fortunately, Drew was still bedside Eric, if she heard this sentence, he wondered what that girl will do to him .


    Hearing what the doctor said, Jeffrey and others looked at each other, and didn''t know what to say .


    The ones who worried the most were Barry Diller and Amy Pascal, they weren''t worried about Eric, but they were concerned about the movies Eric was going to make for Fox and Columbia . If Eric''s next film project get aborted . . .


    they will be in trouble .


    Finding that it was useless to worry about it now, Barry Diller and Amy Pascal quickly left .


    The next day, at four in the morning, Eric who was in aa for nearly neen hours finally woke up . After the doctor finished examining him, Eric affectionally caressed the sleeping girl hair sleeping beside him .


    Drew who didn''t leave his side the entire day, fell asleep as soon as he woke up .


    "Eric, you rest, I will take Drew to the next room to sleep?" Jeffrey said after the doctor left the room, Jeffrey and Kapoor spent all night awake sitting beside his bed .


    "No, leave her," said Eric, as he pulled the sleeping girl beside him, then he turned to Aniston who was standing beside the door and said: "Jenny,e here . "


    Aniston who obediently came to him said: "Eric, since . . . since you woke up, I''ll go first .


    "


    Eric afraid that she will run away quickly grasped her hand and said: "Jane, please don''t go . "


    Kapoor who understood what happened quickly said to Jeffrey: "Let''s go call the others, they must be worried by now . "


    Only after the ward door closed, did Aniston rx and sit down on a chair beside Eric''s bed .


    Eric curiously touched the red mark on Aniston''s neck: "This is . . . .


    . . "


    Aniston nced at Drew, who was lying next to Eric and said: "When you were in aa . . . .


    . . Drew attacked me, she told me she was gonna kill me if you didn''t wake up . "


    "Oh, she will not . " Eric stretched his hand and touched Aniston''s face .


    "No, she will," said Aniston, pulling away from Eric''s hand: "I think . . . .


    . . We should break up, maybe . .


    . . . .


    Maybe Drew is better for you . "


    "I only think of drew as my little sister . "


    Aniston didn''t care about their rtionship . Instead, she said: "I . . .


    . . . I really can''t stand seeing you helping them, Eric, while I was in New York, I read what they stated in the newspaper .


    Tofort myself, I could pretend that it was all fabricated gossips made by the tabloids, but what I saw yesterday morning, let me no longer be able to lie to myself, it was all true . I just can''t stand it, so . . .


    . . . Will you please let me go?"


    Eric held Aniston''s hand tight and said: "Forget it, Jane, let''s not talk about it now . I''m nning to make a TV show, and I want you to y the heroine? I promise this TV show will let you be more famous than those movie stars . "


    She tried pulling her little hand away, but she couldn''t: "I don''t want to . . . .


    . . "


    "I really can''t think of someone who is more suitable than you, Jenny, You don''t want me to have another audition? there will be a lot of girls around me, and you know that I have a weak will . "


    "You! . . .


    . . . "


    "Well, that''s settled then . "


    "I . . . .


    . . "


    Aniston is stubborn, but under Eric''s strong offensive and unreasonable demands, Aniston quickly caved in and agreed . She didn''t know how but she suddenly found herself lying on the other side of Eric, like Drew, she stayed up all night, so she too quickly fell asleep beside him .


    Although Eric already woke up from thea . But because he woke upte at night, the newspapers were already printed out .


    So in the morning, the breaking news that Eric is in a deepa still appeared in the newspapers .


    "Mr. Williams idental injury, may lead to his new film "Running Out of Time" getting shut down, which may lead to Columbia losing one of their heavyweight bargaining chip . "


    "ording to internal sources, Williams who has been unconscious for a long time may enter a vegetative state, once this happens . The film contracts signed with 20th Century Fox and Columbia will be aborted, and the development of Firefly Studios will also face an uncertain future . "


    This kind of news was clearly aimed at the twopanies, so Fox television quickly released the news that Eric isn''t unconscious anymore, so those articles were quickly reduced to mere scrap papers .


    Although Columbia and Fox shares both briefly declined after the stock market opened in the morning, and as the news cleared up, things quickly stabilized .


    At the same time, some newspapers focused on another thing, their approach has also attracted arge number of readers .


    For example, an article in the Los Angeles Times wrote this: "As everyone knows, Eric Williams currently doesn''t have any rtives, although the child star Drew Barrymore has a close rtionship with him .


    But the two don''t have a blood rtionship, so she legally doesn''t have any rights to his assets, and it is said that Eric Williams didn''t make a will .


    So once an ident happens to him, his huge a.s.sets worth hundreds of millions of dors will not be inherited, and my face the possibility of being taken over by the federal government . "


    In the hospital, although Eric felt that he had fully recovered, the doctor advised him to stay in the hospital for a few days .


    Looking at the article in the Los Angeles Times, Eric smiled and said to Drew who was sitting next to him: "Maybe I should make a will, Drew, how much do you want?"


    "Did you forget what we talked about when we were shooting "17 Again"? Of course, I want everything," said Drew as she idly looked at a magazine .


    "Huh . . . .


    . . I thought you''d say you don''t want any money, as long as you could stay with me, but you actually want all my property? WoW, this really hurt .


    "


    "Humph!"


    While Eric was suffering from boredom in the hospital, far away in Britain, the British paparazzi found another thing, Eric''s father is dead, but his mother''s ident.i.ty is a mystery, this discovery made many paparazzi ecstatic, If they can find Eric Williams''s mother''s whereabouts,


    then They will have an explosive story in their hand .


    As the birthce of the paparazzi, the British paparazzi were really good at digging secrets, so they soon found out, where he lived in London when he was young, and when they visited his old neighborhood, they were able to find some clues .


    "That woman was very mysterious . . . .


    . . "


    "Every time I saw her outside, she was wearing a thin veil, I''ve never seen her face . . . .


    . . "


    "I think she was a richdy, but after the birth of the child she disappeared . . . .


    . . "


    After spending a tremendous effort, the British tabloids were only able to find this much . In other words, no one remembers Eric Williams''s mother at all, so they hypothesized that this may be a love story between a girl from a noble family and amoner .


    This fabricated news quickly spread to the United States, so when Eric saw those articles, he felt relieved .


    It was for the best that she stays mysterious forever, because if the mother of the original owner of the body suddenly appeared in front of him, he wouldn''t know how to deal with her .


    After April Fool''s day, Eric went through another careful examination, which he sessfully passed, and was cleared to leave the hospital .


    With this storm finally over, the preparations for "Running Out of Time" once again got on track .

 Chapter 132: Little favors

    Johnnie To is one of the few Hongkong film directors who Eric likes the most, because of the big sess of "A Better Tomorrow" a film made by John Woo in the year 1986 .


    Most people only think of John Woo when they see Chinese action films with that kind of violent aesthetics, but Eric prefers Johnnie To distinctive personal style, his movies have their own blend of cold, violent, tragedy, philosophy and other elements that evoke pity or sadness .


    "Running Out of Time" is one of the few films made by Johnnie To that impressed Eric the most, if you Judged the film from the perspective of the ordinary audience, then the word that will appear the most is definitely the word: Cool! That''s the main reason why Eric chose this movie .


    This was a bold attempt by Eric, he wanted to see if a movie that didn''t exist in Hollywood history can seed .


    From his memories, he found that the copyrights for most of the films that were able to seed in the next ten years were already sold to other studios, taking those films from the hands of those big giants is almost impossible .


    Especially if they know that Eric himself is looking for those movies, and the film that hasn''t been sold yet are hard to find, if he keeps shooting films at his current pace, in a year or two he wouldn''t find any thing to shoot .


    Of course, this is a fairly safe attempt, first of all, "Running Out of Time" have a very exciting story, and the film also received Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks recognition, which shows that there is no difference in the taste of the eastern and the Western tastes audience .


    Second, The name recognition of the two Toms and Eric, can guaranty that the film will do good at the box office, at least at the start there won''t be any problems .


    ording to the Columbia data Department, with Tom Cruise poprity once again reaching a higher peak after experiencing the sess of "Rain Man", and Tom Hanks just getting nominated for the best actor at the Oscar for his role in "Big" .


    Plus the box office appeal of Eric''s name, it was very easy for the film to get more than $100 million dors at the box office .


    On April 5, in arge studio owned by Columbia, Eric officially started shooting "Running Out of Time", the first things he was going to shoot is a series of indoor scenes, but this time Eric wasn''t going to shoot the scenes in a chronological order like he did in "Pretty Woman" .


    In "Running Out of Time" the image of the two protagonists is very clear, so he decided not to add any changes . As long as the actors can sessfully do their role, no matter from which scene he began shooting he wouldn''t have any problems .


    So Eric decided to start from the simplest to the mostplex .


    ---- ----


    In an examination room, Cruise who ys Andy learned that his condition has gotten worse, so as he slowly wore his clothes he asked the doctor .


    "How long?"


    "Four weeks, if you start bleeding, you will die at any time . " The fat doctor who was sitting behind a desk replied with a hoa.r.s.e voice .


    Andy didn''t stop dressing when he heard the bad news, and after he fastened his belt, he handed a dozen banknotes to the doctor and said: "It does not matter, just give me four weeks of painkillers . "


    Taking the bottle of painkillers, Andy put on his coat and decided to leave, as he opened the door the doctor who seemed sad said: "I don''t think we''ll meet again . "


    "Maybe in the next life," Andy calmly replied .


    "Pause!"


    This scene waspletely finished, when Eric shouted pause, he didn''t say ''good'' which means that something wasn''t right, sitting behind the monitor, a slight frown appeared on his face as he was thinking about something .


    Although he has been discharged from the hospital, Eric still had bandages wrapped around him, and he will asionally get a headache, but after getting inspected several times, the doctor found no problems, so he wasn''t nervous about it .


    Cruise acting was perfect, so Eric can easilybine the footage from this scene to the footage of Andy''s on the rooftop, and with some montage to slow some shots, he was sure this part of the film can achieve the desired result .


    The staff who worked with him several times in other movies, have a tactical understanding not to disturb Eric once he gets caught in thinking, so they all started cautiously sorting the instruments without making any noise, waiting patiently for Eric to recover .


    But after waiting for a minute Cruise got impatient, he felt that there was nothing wrong with his performance, and he really didn''t mind repeating this scene several times, but this silence was driving him crazy .


    "Hey, Eric, how was that shot, do you need me to do it again?" Cruise finally could not help but walk to Eric side, and gently say to him


    Eric who quicklye back to himself, raised and said to Cruise: "Sorry, Tom, I was thinking about something, so I got distracted . "


    "It doesn''t matter," Cruise showed a generous smile: "How was to shot, do you need me to start over?"


    "I''m afraid we''ll have to do it again," Eric answered, "Can you wait for a moment?"


    Shrugging Cruise retreated, and watched as Eric called the light engineer and ordered him to do something, then a few momentster all the lights in the studio began to dim, Eric who was staring at the monitor, and only told the light-engineer to stop when he was satisfied with the tuning .


    "OK, everyone ready, let''s do it again," Eric shouted .


    A momentter, with everyone in his ce, they started shooting again .


    Eric carefully stared at the monitor, this picture of Andy and the doctors was perfect, much better than the one at the start .


    This scene is used to ill.u.s.trate the status of Andy and why he was in a hurry, Eric was gonnabine this shot with the shot on the roof to demonstrate to the audience that this was a memory, and create a misunderstanding in the mind of the audience that Andy was gonnamit suicide by jumping from the roof top, and in the montage he was gonna make it look like this was a shback .


    Since this scene was gonna be used as a shback, Eric felt the original lighting in the original film was too bright, the light was exactly the same as the light in the sunny rooftop, so this scene wasn''t able to give the audience a sense of difference, so the effect was much worse .


    Eric wasn''t going to just remake the film while making the same mistakes, he was going to add his own touch . Johnnie To used the same light tricks John Woo used in his films, but unfortunately, he wasn''t a master in using light and color like John Woo,


    Solving the light problem, Eric began focusing on Cruise performance, although this small scene doesn''t require too much acting, he wouldn''t let things slide .


    If Cruise performance can bring unexpected surprises, then he will be happy, and if not, then he wouldn''t hesitate to make him do it again until he meets his personal standards .


    Eric didn''t care if Tom Cruise gets any award nominations for his performance, and he also didn''t care if this film gets any awards, all Eric cares about at this point in time is the film box office .


    As for the Oscar he promised Cruise, he really doesn''t know if he can win it, he only told him he can win the Oscar, so he agrees to dress as a woman, and he really didn''t feel guilty about tricking him . All directors, producers, actors, want to win the award but most of them don''t .


    So that''s why he is more concerned about the movie box office, after all, he is still young, he can still win it in the future, and for now, he will focus on making more money .


    The theme of "Running Out of Time" is certainly novel, Only G.o.d knows if this film can get the attention of the Oscar judges? .


    In his past life, Andy Lau was able to win the Hong Kong Film Award for the Best Actor for his role in "Running Out of Time", but if you think about it, public rtions probably helped a lot .


    Plus, in 1999 the Hong Kong Film Awards has been in full decline, so not many excellent films werepeting for the awards .


    After repeating the shot for three times, Eric finally gave his approval, and the crew began moving to another room in the studio, this process took more than half an hour .


    When making a movie the time spent by actors in front of the camera is really short, most of the time is used to set theyout of the scenes .


    Most of the scenes filmed in the first two days are Cruise''s one-man show, hepleted the scenes where he talks to ''Sean'' the character yed by Tom Hanks on the phone, as well as the scene where he dresses as a woman, as well as other scenes .


    Although he had the entire original film in his mind, Eric still chose to design some new scenes himself, So that when the time for post-productiones he will have enough material, After all, this is a brand new Hollywood movie, he will have to add some changes .


    ording to the shooting schedule, this process willst three days, in the Fourth days Hanks and the othere to the studio . Eric was looking forward to the moment Tom Cruise and Tom Hanksinteract and show their acting skills on the screen .


    Because, in his past life, the two superstars have never worked together on the same project .


    Unlike in his past works, Eric has plenty of time to shoot the film, so on the fourth day Eric told the whole crew to pack up and leave after only eight hours of work, and told the deputy director to take the good film rolls to the editing room, and hurriedly left .


    In addition to shooting "Running Out of Time", he has other things to do .


    The initial casting work for "The Others" and "Scent of a Woman" has beenpleted, but he still needs to attend the final selection process . Moreover, he also needs to keep an eye on the shooting progress of "Steel Magnolias" far away in Louisiana .


    Herbert Ross has been filming "Steel Magnolias" for a month now, but he was very slow . In this month he onlypleted less than half of the film, and he will probably spend another month to finish filming, and at least another month for Post production .


    Moreover, the film may even face the risk of overspending, Eric was hoping this will happen, because Firefly isn''t the only investor in "Steel Magnolias", Herbert Ross also invested three million dors .


    So Eric didn''t mind spending another two million in the film, which will allow him to expand the shares of the Firefly, he was just waiting for Herbert Ross to ask .


    "Hi, Eric, is your head all right?"


    Back to the Firefly''s office, Eric found that Jonathan Demme was already in his office waiting for him, he could see the fatigue on Jonathan''s face, but his voice was still full of energy .


    thanks for your concern, I''m much better now, did you bring the information with you?"


    "Here, I did what you said, and screened out the actors to a small list, that was exhausting . " Jonathan smiled and said .


    He''s really had the hardest job these days, even though "The Others" only need two child actors, but because Eric was the one who wrote the script, Firefly received more than five thousand resumes .


    Many of the resumes sent to the Fireflies showed that the children didn''t have any acting experience . Because the parents who sent their children''s resumes had the illusion? That their child can be the next Stuart Runkle .


    Some unscrupulous parents even deliberately fabricated their child resume, saying that their child was a guest actor in a certain movie or TV series, so the staff had to spend a lot of time confirming the authenticity of these resumes .


    So identifying the small actors who had potentials, was harder than they imagined .


    Eric didn''t want to rely on his past life memories to directly find the children who had potentials .


    Although he can remember everything from his past life, he still can''t remember a thing he didn''t know, like the names of all the actors he saw in his past life, he can still remember their faces but other than the names of the big stars he didn''t pay attention to the others .


    He thought about telling the staff the names of the famous Hollywood star of the future, but he soon gave up on this idea .


    The files Jonathan handed him, include not only the resumes of the child actors that pa.s.sed the audition, but also the list of the actors who will y the roles of the three servants and the husband .


    Although for those minor supporting roles, Eric gave Jonathan the authority to decided, Jonathan still wanted Eric to see if they were right .


    The first file he opened was the file which has the child actors information, ncing at the list of the little boys, Eric was surprised to see the name of Macay Culkin, as for the other boys he didn''t know any one of them .


    Reading Macay Culkin information, he found that although "Home Alone" isn''t on his resume, the boy still has acting experience in two films "Rocket Gibraltar" and "Uncle Buck", which exins why he appeared on the list .


    Seeing Eric go directly to Culkin''s resume, Jonathan asked curiously: "Eric, do you fancy the boy?"


    Shaking his head, Eric said: "No, he should be eliminated . "


    "Well, I think, the boy called Macay Culkin is one of the best child actors I have ever seen . . . .


    . . "


    Eric couldn''t tell Jonathan, that he doesn''t want Macay to be as famous as his past life, although "The Others" can''t bring him as much fame as "Home Alone", he will certainly get a lot of attention .


    Keeping that little boy out of the spotlight is for the best, at least until he became an adult, then he can choose his own way .


    He didn''t want history to repeat itself because if the little boy became famous, he was sure the boy parents will certainly destroy the poor little boy like they did in his past life .


    "Jonathan, you forgot that in "The Others" the boy character is very somber, now look at the picture of this little boy, don''t you feel he is very clever . "


    Looking at the picture, Jonathan quickly admitted his mistake: "uhh, I really overlooked that . "


    Eric smiled and continued looking at the remaining child actors, but suddenly he looked up and stared at Jonathan Demme who was sitting opposite him: "Jonathan, do you know any of these kids?"


    Jonathan Demme face became slightly flushed, after stammering a little, he finally nodded and drew out a boy''s information: "This . . . .


    . . This is Brian Beck the son of a friend I worked with, I''m sorry, I shouldn''t have done this, but I swear, I carefully interviewed the boy, and I can guaranty that he has the qualification to be on the list . "


    Jonathan was going to throw the resume in the trash bin, but Eric quickly stopped him, and took back the resume, after carefully reading all the information, Eric said: "Jonathan, give him the role . "


    "I''m really sorry, I didn''t . . . .


    . . huh, what did you say?" Jonathan who was going to apologize looked at Eric in wonder .


    Eric smiled and said: "I mean, if he is good, then it''s okay . You know I don''t have the time to interview all of them, plus, I believe you won''t treat this film as a joke, right?"


    "Of course, " Jonathan nodded in affirmation, he know this was hisst chance . If this movie seeds, then he will have a bright future in Hollywood . But if the film fails, then he will have to find another job .


    "So, is there anyone else?" Eric asked again .


    This time Jonathan firmly shook his head: "Absolutely not, Eric, all the remaining actors have nothing to do with me . "


    Eric decided to do Jonathan this little favor on the spur of the moment, only because he thought that Jonathan Demme has potentials because in his past life the guy didn''t only direct "The Silence of the Lambs" he also directed "Phdelphia" the film that got Tom Hanks his first Oscar .


    Now that the child actor was identified, Eric found that there was no need to look at the rest, so he quickly switched to the little girl''s list .


    The first two names he saw were Kirsten Dunst and Sarah Michelle Ger .

 Chapter 133: Oriental aesthetics

    Flipping to Kirsten Dunst resume, Eric saw the photo of a doll-like seven years old exquisite girl, with golden hair, round face, wearing a white dress, with a lovely white sun hat, and a wisp of beautiful golden bangs on her forehead .


    It''s a pity that Eric knows her beauty will be getting worse and worse in the future, After reaching adulthood, she looked very different from how she looked in her teens .


    (TN Note: I don''t know what he is talking about, Kirsten Dunst still looks beautiful . )


    Perhaps in the eyes of Westerners, she is not too shabby, but with his Oriental aesthetics, he can''t see the beauty .


    So he chose to pa.s.s on Kirsten Dunst, he didn''t make this choice based just on beauty, but because she didn''t have much potential as an actress, if it wasn''t for her role in "Spider-Man", probably no one will remember her .


    In his past life, after the end of the "Spider-Man" trilogy, Kirsten Dunst careerpletely plummeted, and she almost disappeared from the public eye .


    The other girl he remembered is Sarah Mich.e.l.le Ger, Compared to the Sarah from his memories, this Sarah had a round face .


    Although she was almost twelve years old, she looked very pet.i.te, so her ying a ten-year-old girl isn''t a problem, he estimated that this is the reason why Sarah was selected .


    Compared to Kirsten''s who only yed in one film, Sarah''s resume has a series of movie names, although they aren''t famous films, they can still count as having experience .


    "Jonathan, what''s your impression of the girl?" Eric asked as he handed Sarah Mich.e.l.le Gerresume to Jonathan Demme .


    Jonathan took a look, and quickly recalled the scene of Sarah''s interview: "This child began acting in films when she was just four years old, I can guaranty that all the information on this resume is true .


    When we were doing the interview, I could see that she really know how to act around adults, she was graceful and didn''t have stage fright .


    When I talked to her, she was brilliant and sensible, although the girl looks very thin, she is already twelve years old, and she also has the intelligent of a fourteen years old girl . Compared to kids who are ten years old, working with her will be easier . "


    Hearing Jonathan''s opinion, Eric decided: "Then give her the role, and as usual, she must sign with the UTA (United Talent Agency) . "


    Although Eric told Kapoor, he didn''t want to expand the UTA in the next few years, but he wouldn''t let the actors who star in his film projects go that easily to the other brokerage firms .


    Because of the article, he wrote a few weeks ago, many brokeragepanies are beginning to reform their original systems, although it''s impossible for them topletely imitate the CAA .


    After the detailed business model of the CAA waspletely exposed, the CAA wouldn''t be able to maintain their superiority, so in the future, there will be a lot ofpet.i.tion among the brokerage firms .


    As a result, United Talent Agency can make steady progress with ease, there''s no need to worry about CAA''s dominance .


    Watching as Eric continued to flip through the actor''s resumes in a fast speed, Jonathan thought that Eric was just haphazardly deciding on who to give the roles to .


    Because it seemed to him that Eric was just ncing at them and not reading anything, unable to keep quiet, Jonathan Demmeasked: "Eric, don''t you need to arrange another audition?"


    "Do you think I''m too hasty?" Eric asked with a smile on his face .


    Scratching his head, Jonathan said: "Shouldn''t you at least look at their auditions tapes, right?"


    Putting a circle on the name of an actor with a pen, Eric said: "No, Jonathan, I believe that you personally handpicked these people from thousands of candidates, so you won''t added someone who isn''t up to par .


    So I don''t need to do anything unnecessary, plus we don''t have much time, you have to start shooting as soon as possible, we need to finish the film before the Cannes and Berlin film festival, but I also hope we can catch the Venice Film Festival in September .


    "Well, I will inform these people as soon as possible," Jonathan said as he bowed his head .


    It''s a pity for the actors who have been selected for the final list, perhaps they are all excitedly preparing for the third round of auditions, but they were bound to be disappointed .


    This seems a little unfair, but in Hollywood, such thing happens all the time, you can even say that Hollywood is the most unfair ce in the entire .


    Helping Jonathan gather and sort out the resumes on the desk, Eric asked again: "Is the shooting site avable yet?


    Nodding Jonathan Demme exined: "Imissioned a friend of mine from Ennd to help find a few mansions on a small ind, but I think it''s necessary for me to personally go on a field trip to investigate the ce, we also need to personallymunicate with the owners of those mansions .


    You know, most of the old historical houses belong to the British aristocracy, they are a dying breed, but they still kept their arrogance, so I have to personally visit each of them, maybe if they feel respected, they will be easier to handle . "


    Then he added: "Actually, Eric, if you can personallye forward, things will go even smoother . You are British, and many British media now treat you as their hero .


    If youe forward, I''m sure those aristocrats will treat you as a guest, and perhaps, we can even get the right to use their Mansions without spending money . "


    Smiling Eric shook his head: "Forget it, It has been a long time since I left Ennd, I even forget my British ent, plus I can''t leave the crew now, and I will probably be busy shooting my film for the next few months . "


    ---- ----


    In the next few days, the shooting process was still very smooth, after all, they didn''t have to leave the studio, so they weren''t restricted by the location .


    Tom Cruise also showed his first-.s.s acting skills, if it weren''t for him always trying challenge Eric''s leadership, then Eric would be willing to further cooperate with him in the future .


    However, it is unlikely that the two will work together again, With Cruise''s character, perhaps only a director on Spielberg level can work with him without losing leadership of the film crew .


    In the past, in many of his films, even if he wasn''t the director, he still firmly grasps control of the crew, and even when the film giants cooperated with him, they weren''t allowed to intervene .


    "Brooke, don''t frown when you see Andy vomiting blood, you have to show signs of panic and dismay, not disgust . " Eric said as he raised his arm and knocked on his wrist watch: "If you fail once again twice, then we will have to stop, we can''t keep wasting time . "


    Brooke Shields who stood in front of Eric, with downcast eyes, like a little girl who did something wrong .


    When ever she found her self in a situation like this, she will make this move, which always weakened the anger of the directors, but after doing it for about four or five times, Eric stopped caring and started scolding her .


    "Sorry, Eric, I . . . .


    . . I think I can do it . "


    Sighing Eric said: "Then try again, everyone! Get ready, we will start in a minute . "


    Nodding Brooke Shields sat back in her position, this was the scene where Andy and her character Yoyo meet for the second time in a small restaurant .


    Eric still chose to film this scene in the studio, not to save money, after all, Columbia gave him a $40 million budget, so saving money isn''t necessary .


    But because filming indoor scenes in real ces are kinda hard, just setting the lights are a nightmare, and he just wanted to finish the indoor scenes as soon as possible .


    What''s more, Columbia''s huge studios offer all the things he needs, if he wanted a to shoot in a restaurant, then the crew will build him one, and although it was noon outside, inside the studio, it was very easy to create a night scene .


    "There is no need to hurry, Miss Shields, take your time . I don''t think this is your problem, Eric is still too young . "


    As the crew was preparing, Cruise eagerly started talking Brooke Shields .


    If Brooke Shields did so poorly in a film produced by Cruise, he would have been furious, But now, he was hoping she performs badly just so he can see Eric deted appearance, while at the same time keeping the appearance of a modest gentleman .


    "Thank you for thoseforting words, Mr . Cruise," Brooke Shields said with a smile .


    "So, are you free this evening, Miss Shields, I will be honored to have dinner with you?"


    Brooke Shields who had her eyebrows slightly trimmed, subconsciously nced at Eric who was standing not far from them, She was hoping to get this kind of invitation from Eric Williams, not from the married Tom Cruise .


    But the young director who was almost six years younger than her was elusive, her intuition as a woman, told her Eric was interested in her, she was sure this wasn''t just her imagination ying tricks on her . But unfortunately, the young director still make any move .


    "Mr . Cruise, can I give you the answer in the afternoon? I''m not sure if there will be anything else at night . " Brooke turned down the offer, but she didn''tpletely refuse .

 Chapter 134: Visit

    Between Eric and Cruise, Brooke Shields was more inclined to the former, if after work today, Eric didn''t say anything, then Brooke wouldn''t mind eating dinner with Tom Cruise, at least she will be deepening her connections .


    Although she began acting in movies at the age of twelve, she hasn''t fully entered the Hollywood circle, but what is more important is that she couldn''t grow her circle of connections because most of the films she starred in failed .


    In the year 1981 Brooke Shields who was 15 years old at the time meet Michael Jackson the king of pop, at the Academy Awards, from there, they became close friends, and she even started dreaming about marrying him .


    After reaching adulthood, she even admitted that to the media, so for a long time, Brooke who thought that there is a big chance of marrying Michael Jackson,pletely lost interest in her career as an actress .


    But after so many years, she discovered that from the beginning Jackson always treated her just like a good friend and that at heart Jackson was still childish, and not enthusiastic about marriage, and even Jackson''s family was against Jackson marrying her .


    (TN Note: I just want to point that most of what the author of this novel mentioned above is false, Brooke Shields and Michael Jackson really did meet at the Oscar in 1981, and they did be close friends .


    But it wasn''t her who wanted to marry Jackson, it was Michael Jackson who spoke about the two marrying and raising adoptive children together .


    His suggestions were met with disapproval from Shields, she even said this in an interview in 2009, "There were times when he would ask me to marry him, and I would say, ''You have me for the rest of your life, you don''t need to marry me . I''m going to go on . . .


    have my own marriage and my own kids, and you''ll always have me . '' I think it made him rx . He didn''t want to lose things that meant something to him . " any way the author is clearly binding facts to make Brooke Shields look bad .


    Plus, this is a warning to the readers, the MC is aplete sc.u.mbag, he will even start acting like a pedophile in the future, he doesn''t go over the line, but he wille close to it .


    Another thing I want to point out, this is a Chinese web-novel, so expect a lot of which fulfillment and plot armor . )


    So after getting her dreampletely shattered, Brooke Shields had to start nning her own future,pared to Jackson''s childish temperament, Brooke Shields has matured a lot over the years, and she knows what her biggest a.s.set is .


    Hearing her reply, Tom Cruise still gracefully said: "No problem, hope to hear the good news . "


    After exchanging a few more words, they were told to get ready .


    ---- ----


    Sitting in front of the monitor, Eric watched as Brooke who was ying the character Yoyo, smiled and said: "What is your name?"


    Getting no answer Yoyo didn''t get angry and took the initiative to introduce herself: "My name is Yoyo . "


    "Pause!" Eric frustrated voice sounded again, standing up, he pointed at Brooke and said: "Curious, curious, I''ve said it several times, you are curious about Andy, so keep your beautiful eyes wide open, Try again!"


    Everyone in the studio felt that Eric was on the verge of exploding, trembling the camera man restarted the camera while looking at Brooke Shields with concern, hoping that the beautiful vase won''t make a mistake again .


    "What''s your name? . . .


    . . . My name is Yoyo .


    "


    "Knowing who I am won''t be good for you . "


    "I read the newspaper that day and know what you did . "


    "Thank you . "


    "You''re wee . "


    "Unfortunately, I do not have time," Andy said sadly, as he tried to take a sip from his cup, he started coughing violently .


    "We can meet another time if you don''t have time now," as she asked, his coughing got worse, and blood starteding out of his mouth directly dyeing the cup red, Brooke''s eyes opened wide, and her lips parted as if she in shock . and fortunately, this time she managed not to frown .


    "Pause, this was almost perfect, but unfortunately, your frightened expression isn''t natural enough . There is still some time . So let''s do it again . " Eric said as his expression rxed slightly .


    After doing it once again, Eric still wasn''t satisfied, because at thest moment Brooke reflexively frowned, it was clear to him that it was difficult for Brooke to ovee her natural reaction, giving up Eric told the crew to take a break, so they can try a few more times after lunch .


    Just as he got up to leave for lunch, n came over and said: "Eric, Miss Julia has been waiting for you for a while outside, because she has no pa.s.s she couldn''t get in . "


    "Julia?" puzzled Eric asked, "Julia Roberts?"


    "Yes," replied n .


    "Isn''t she in Louisiana?"


    In a teasing tone, n replied: "Maybe she came back because you were injured . "


    Shrugging Eric ignored his a.s.sistant''s teasing and walked out of the studio .


    Out of the studio door, Eric saw amercial car parked across the street .


    And as Eric got closer, the car door opened, and Julia who was wearing a simple and stylish dress and sun.s.ses came out, followed by her a.s.sistant, and the two men who looked like bodyguards also followed down .


    Almost at the same time, the seven paparazzi who were waiting for a long time outside the studio, began shooting at Julia, asking her questions .


    "Hi, big star!" Eric yelled when he came near, causing the surrounding crowd tough .


    "Hi, big director!" Julia shot back .


    Then they gave each other a gentle hug, causing a sudden burst of camera clicks as the paparazzi took pictures, then they swarmed them while trusting their recorders in Eric and Julia''s face, asking questions like why did she return to Los Angeles, and whats the progress of her new film and so on .


    Of course, they didn''t forget to ask Eric about "Running Out of Time" .


    Looking at her bodyguards and a.s.sistant for help, Julia who chose not to answer any of their questions, quickly got back in her car and left with Eric . The crowd of paparazzi also quickly got into their cars and motorcycles and followed them .


    At the studio door, Brooke Shields who juste out to eat lunch in a restaurant on the opposite street saw this scene . As she watched them leave, she felt a deep feeling of envy, Brooke has been famous for so long, yet she still hasn''t enjoyed the scene of the paparazzi chasing her .


    But Julia Roberts, the actress who only be known for a few months, has easily gained such attention .


    Feeling lost Brooke looked around, originally there was always a few paparazzi waiting outside to interview the cast of "Running Out of Time", but now with Julia Roberts and Eric leaving, there was no one left .


    The only one still standing around was the fat security guard who was staring at her long legs and giving her lecherous stars, making her feel irritable and disgusted . But after thinking about Julia Roberts''s fame, she once again got eager .


    "Maybe I should have more patience," Brooke muttered in a low voice and made up her mind to refuse Cruise dinner invitation . Although Tom Cruise fame is big, but after all, he is just an actor . Compared to Eric the young director, he can''t provide her with the same opportunities .


    Plus if the rumors about her and Cruise start gaining fame is impossible, because Cruise is a married man, those rumors will only hurt her . If Eric is still indifferent to her by the time she finishes filming "Running Out of Time", Brooke Shields made up her mind to also give up on him .


    "These two are Hunter and Chris . " sitting in the backseat of the car, Julia took the initiative to introduce Eric to her driver and bodyguard, with a proud tone, Alison Green who worked as Julia a.s.sistant couldn''t help but chuckle at how childish Julia was acting .


    Feeling embarra.s.sed Julia give her a.s.sistant a knock on the forehead and said: "Alison, I swear I will deduct your sry . "


    Laughing Eric reached out and pressed the b.u.t.ton to make the noise barrier between the driver and backseat rise, only then did he start talking: "Well, I already know you are a famous big star, but where are we going?"


    "Not far, I booked a restaurant, there are five or six minutes till we get there, so you can rest assured that you won''t miss your work in the afternoon . "


    Then she pointed at the gauze still warped around his forehead and asked: "When I heard the news, I was shocked . So what did happen?"


    Looking seriously at the two, Eric said: "before I say anything, Alison, I want you to promise not to disclose what I''m about to say in front of outsiders . If you do, the consequences will be severe . "


    Nodding seriously Alison said: "Of course I won''t, you can trust me . " She was clear about what happened between Eric and Julia, and in her heart, she also hoped that Eric and Julia end up together .


    So when she saw the news of Eric injury, she couldn''t help but urge Julia toe see him, hoping the rtionship between the two be closer .

 Chapter 135: Lunch

    In an upscale restaurant, Eric quickly orders his meal and smiled as he watched Julia cheerfully talking with the waiter, while skillfully ying with the tableware in front of her .


    "Why are you smiling?" Julia who quickly felt Eric eyes on her, curiously asked .


    Shaking his head, Eric answered: "It''s nothing, I just suddenly remembered the first time I met you Jeff''s restaurant, I think you changed a lot . "


    Julia obviously didn''t want Eric to remind her of that period of time, so she tantly stared him in the eyes, and said: "Are you trying to take credit for my sess?"


    "Of course not," Ericughed: "I just think . . . .


    . . That this is very interesting, you are just like Cindere, in the blink of an eye you have be a princess . "


    "Please don''t mention the ''Hollywood Cindere'' thing in front of me, I hate that t.i.tle . " Julia rolled her eyes, although the t.i.tle this t.i.tle was given to her by the media to express their admiration, but most of the time it was mixed with a lot of ridicule .


    "Well, why did youe back suddenly?"


    "I picked up an endors.e.m.e.nt and came back to shootmercials, and . . . .


    . . and since I came back I decided toe and see how you were doing . " she said with a little stutter .


    In fact, she mainly came back to visit Eric, themercial was just an excuse, if she wanted, shooting themercial in Louisiana isn''t a problem . Anyway, the equipment and personnel are easy to transport, especially if she demanded it .


    Eric had been unconscious for more than ten hours before, and although, he was alright in the end, but this thing has caused a big uproar in Hollywood, if she didn''te see him then she will receive a lot of criticism .


    After all, it was thanks to Eric that she has transformed from an unknown little actor to a big Hollywood star, if she didn''te see him after he was discharged from the hospital, then the media will inevitably paint her as an ungrateful girl .


    The reason why she was waiting for Eric outside the studio today, rather than visiting him in private, is because she wanted to gain exposure .


    Although "Pretty Woman" was released only two months ago, because in thest month she was filming "Steel Magnolias" in a remote town in Louisiana, shepletely despaired from the media .


    Because the director Herbert Ross worried that the journalists will disturb the filming process, he chose to keep the location where the movie was being filmed a secret, and even if one or two paparazzi found the ce, they wouldn''t be able to get any valuable news .


    At the same time, Julia was afraid of visiting him in private, she often recalls the way Eric reprimanded her, which makes her hate him, but at the same time want to see him more .


    "Thank you for your concern, Julia," Eric replied earnestly, and curiously asked: "by the way, What kind ofmercials did you take?"


    "Lancme perfume endors.e.m.e.nt," Julia proudly put up a few fingers and waved them in front of his face: "One year, for this much . "


    "Wow, that''s . . . .


    . . a lot of money," Eric was toozy to ridicule the Little proud girl, he didn''t mind, but if she wanted to show off, then she should have found another person, not someone as reach as him .


    "Well, I know you aren''t impressed, so don''t give me that expression," Julia replied with disapproval, "I can''tpare with you, I''m a little hurt, everyone in America knows who you are, even at the Oscar you were able to grab the limelight . "


    "It should be said that the organizers have used me as a shield, If it were not for me, then this year Oscar session will have got more criticism . " shrugging he added: "Actually, they should send me a thank you letter . "


    "I''m not sure about that, but when I was in Louisiana, I saw in the news that Oscar''s director, An Carr, announced that he would never ept the invitation to direct the Oscar again, But things shouldn''t be as bad as you say?"


    "It''s worse than you think, but I can''t tell you too much because I and many other guests and performers have signed a confidential contract, to ensure that within twenty years we can''t mention that happened on the inside .


    What you don''t know is that Disney has threatened to sue the Oscar awards for the use and portrayal of snow white without permission .


    Anyhow, If it weren''t for me getting injured, then this thing would have attracted the attention of the majority of the media, then the Academy would at least had to make a public apology to quell the anger of the media and the public . "


    Julia opened her eyes wide while listening to Eric''s exnation, she has never attended the Oscar, so hearing Eric exining what happened, was a very interesting topic to her .


    And because she was filming "Steel Magnolias" that night, she wasn''t able to watch this season of the Oscar, so after finding that Eric wouldn''t too much about what happened, she shifted the topic to Eric''s condition, and what happened that day .


    "Well, I didn''t want to talk about what happened in the car, but now that we are alone let''s talk about it, I can''t believe that it was as simple as falling down the stair, so there must be a hidden secret?"


    "But that''s what happened . " Eric helplessly replied .


    "Certainly not," Julia said with a sly smile: "I read in the newspaper a few days ago, that after you were injured, Drew and your girlfriend Jennifer Aniston sent you to the hospital . "


    "and then?"


    Julia leaned slightly forward lowered her voice and said: "I think your girlfriend Aniston suddenlye to your house that morning, found you and Drew in a bed, and under impulse pick up a vase and smashed your head with it?"


    Eric was surprised by her spection, although Julia was still far from the truth, but one thing was true, Jennifer Aniston did find him sleeping with someone .


    Fortunately, Virginia was smart enough, to hide when the paramedicse to the vi, and only showing up after the whole event was over, and his state waspletely stable .


    Julia keenly grasped the brief change in Eric expression, revealing a surprised expression, she said: "No way, did I guess right?"


    "Absolutely not, I swear . . . .


    . . " Ericughed: "I just identally fell, my pathology report has been published in some newspapers, surely you saw it, I have bruises all over my body, do you think Aniston has the ability to cause me such a wide range of injuries?"


    "That''s not necessarily true," she looked Eric up and down as if trying to imagine where she will start if she wanted to cause Eric those kinds of injuries .


    "Well, let''s not talk about such an unpleasant topic, let''s talk about "Steel Magnolias", I only spoke to Mr . Herbert Ross a few times on the phone, so I don''t know how thing are going there . "


    Julia honestly shook her head, she wasn''t sure why Eric wanted her to star in such a film, she thought that Eric was trying to suppress her paycheck, because, in Julia''s view, "Steel Magnolias" isplete absence of any central story, the film was just depicting the ordinary day to day life story of a group of housewives .


    "I still think that this story is too ordinary . . . .


    . . there is no bright spot?"


    Eric was about to reply, but he stopped when saw the waitering to serve them their dishes, and patiently waited for the waiter to finish filling their .s.ses with red wine, only after the waiter left did he ask: "What kind of bright spot do you think a film like this should have?"


    Taking a sip from her .s.s of red wine, Julia who didn''t know how to exin said: "At least . . . .


    . . at least something exciting?"


    "At least there should be an unforgettable love story, or big scenes, car chases, explosions, mes . "


    Julia quickly nodded her head: "Yes, there should be at least these things?"


    "I won''t criticize you in public," If you want to know why I chose this film for you thene to my house this night, I''ll give you a detailed a.n.a.lysis of the movie," Eric said while giving her a creepy smile .


    "Ah . . . .


    . . no thanks . " Julia flinched and subconsciously leaned back in her chair when she saw the look Eric was giving her, and quickly refused, she knew if she did go with him, she would quickly lose control of herself .


    Eric was just teasing the little girl, quickly put away his cynical expression, and put back his poker face, and said: "Actually, the sess or failure of this kind of film, depends on the director''s ability to arouse the audience sympathy?


    I have carefully studied "Steel Magnolias" script, It is a good story that can bring the audience to tears . "


    Julia who was still giving him an uncertain look, asked the thing she was most concerned about: "How much money do you think this movie can get at the box office?"


    "What do you think?" Eric asked back .


    Julia hesitated for a moment, then stretched out two fingers, soon she thought the number was too underrated, so she added Two more, hesitating, she took back one .


    She thought it will be good if the film can get $30 million at the box office, with the size of the movie budget, fireflies can still make a small fortune .


    In fact, Julia thought, If she starred in a loveedy film, then she can use the poprity she gained from "Pretty Woman", to help the film to get a good box office result, But for a movie like "Steel Magnolias", Julia wasn''t confident that she can add anything to the film .


    "Do you have no faith in me?"


    "I just . . . .


    . . I just have no confidence in this movie . " Julia told him the truth .


    Wiping his mouth with a napkin Ericughed and said: "How about this, let''s bet on it . I bet the film can get more than $50 million at the box office . "


    "What''s the bet?" Asked Julia curiously .


    Showing another creepy smile, Eric said: "If you lose, you will have to work as a maid in my house for a week, and if I lose, I''ll work as your driver for a week . "


    If Eric didn''t reveal a creepy smile when he said the word maid, then Julia would have epted . She felt that she have a 70% chance of winning, plus working as maid profession was still a serious profession in this era .


    But when she noticed Eric''s expression, Julia keenly felt she was wrong, and decisively refused: "No, I don''t want to gamble with you . "


    "How about, sixty million?"


    Julia wasn''t swayed . Instead, she refused more firmly: "No way . "


    Because Eric still had to go back to work, they kept theunch time short .


    After lunch, Julia sent Eric back to the studio .


    "When will you return to Louisiana?" Eric asked, at the entrance of the studio .


    "I will take a ne back at four o''clock in the afternoon . " Julia who didn''t get off her car replied: "By the way, Eric, the production budget doesn''t seem to be enough, maybe you will need to add at least another $2 million . "


    "did Mr . Ross tell you to mention this thing?"


    Julia nodded, Herbert Ross didn''t know that Eric had noticed his budget was tight and was even prepared to start making some cuts . But before he does that he was going to use Julia, to see how Eric was going to react .


    After all, this was a small budget film, if you add another two million to the budget, then the cost will reach 10 million US dors, so to recover the cost the film has to earn at least $30 million at the box office .


    Although Julia joined, Herbert Ross himself wasn''t sure the movie can make more than $30 million at the box office .


    "There''s no problem with that," Eric nodded and said: "Tell Mr . Ross to ask Jeffrey for money . "


    "Then I''ll thank you on behalf of Mr . Ross," Julia smiled and said goodbye to Eric, as her car started driving away .


    ---- ----


    In the afternoon, Eric again returned to shooting the same scene of Andy and Yoyo in the small restaurant, he didn''t know why, but after lunch, Brooke Shields returned to making the same mistakes she did in the morning .


    Although she repeatedly apologized and showed him that delicate and touching expression, Eric still couldn''t help but get angry, and vow to never work with her in another project .


    Working with this beautiful vase was really frustrating, no wonder she got so many Razzies .


    At the same time, Eric also gave up on the idea of starting a close friendship with Brooke Shields, after all, Hollywood is a big ce, there are too many beautiful girls he can select from .


    After spending another half hour, the scene in the restaurant was finally over .


    "Eric, I''m so sorry . I was a pain," Brooke Shields apologized to him afterpleting the scene, she was already dressed to leave, after all this the only scene she has indoors .


    She was wearing tight deep blue jeans, and a shirt tucked into her pants, showing the crowd her beautiful curves and her long slender legs .


    Most of the men in the crew have unconsciously cast their eyes on her body, at the same time, they thought about Brooke Shields famous jeanmercial, they wondered about if there is anything between her and the jeans she is wearing .


    Although Eric dismissed the thoughts of having a close rtionship with her, but he didn''t mind eating her up .


    Admiring Brooke elegant appearance, and perfect body, his expression eased slightly: "Never mind, Brooke, I hope you study your scenes when you go back, we will have to do those scenes outside the studio .


    If we waste too much time, we will end up affecting the shooting schedule, and unnecessarily consume the budget . "


    "I promise, I will work hard," Brooke Shields nodded, and put a slightly provocative gesture, but she found that Eric didn''t pay attention to her .


    Seeing that he wasn''t going to invite her to dinner, she lowered her head and said: "Well, goodbye, Eric . "


    "Goodbye, I will have someone inform you when toe shoot the next scene," then he turned and started talking to his a.s.sistant .


    Brooke Shields paused for a few seconds, then left, she just gave him an obvious hint, but Eric still remained unmoved, which made Brooke somewhat frustrated .


    "How long will it take before Tom Hanks arrive?" Eric didn''t care about Brooke Shields departure, although he also noticed her hint, but since he made the decision, he wouldn''t easily change it . In Hollywood, if you can''t resist temptation, then you will probably face an unfortunate ending .


    "Ten minutes," n said .


    "Well, hurry up and tell the crew to clean up the ce, and move to the next scene . "


    Tom Cruise solo scenes were finallypleted, so the next one he was gonna start filming is the scene where Hanks meet Cruise in a pub, today will be the first battle between the two main characters .


    Recalling his past life, the two big superstars have always had a parallel acting career, so he was very much looking forward to seeing what kind of spark can be produced by mixing the two stars .

 Chapter 136: Rival show

    "Hi, Tom," Eric warmly weed Hanks when he appeared in the studio,pared to Cruise who was always acting polite attitude when interacting with the crew, Eric preferred the mild tempered Hanks.


    "Hi, Eric, I''m notte, am I?" Hanks asked as he gave Eric a hug.


    "Of course not," Eric said as he gave a nod to Hanks''s assistant, and turned back to hanks and said: "It will probably take us fifteen minutes to set up the scene. giving us enough time for you to do your makeup."


    The two men talked as they walked up to the dressing room, but they stopped from time to time for hanks to greet the crew members.


    Looking around, Hanks curiously whispered to Eric: "Where is Cruise?"


    "Maybe he went to put on his make up," replied back in a hushed voice.


    In their previous meetings, Tom Hanks also didn''t have a good impression of Cruise, he found him too arrogant, Cruise was polite, but at the same time, he was giving him the feeling that he was just doing it to be nice.


    Hanks didn''t take too long to finish his makeup, he was able toe out before the crew finished setting the new scene.


    After the sceneyout of the pub was arranged, the photographer Nicole went to Eric who was talking to Hanks and Cruise and told him: "Eric, you''d bettere and take a look."


    Eric apologized to the two star and followed Nicole to the corner of the pub, where the camera was ced.


    "Eric, you see here, I''ll have to do a quick sweep with the camera, but I can only stand in this position to operate the camera," Nicole awkwardly demonstrated what he meant to Eric: "You see, it is difficult to operate the camera in this position."


    Although Eric wasn''t as professional as Nicole, he still have some shooting skills, so he stepped forward and tried operating the camera himself, finding that it was very awkward to control, Eric reached the conclusion that the best ce to put the camera for the optimal operation was in the ce upied by the wall.


    "Nicole, what do you mean?" Eric asked as he let go of the camera.


    "I can only try a few times, this is the best shooting angle I could find if it doesn''t work," Nicole pointed to the wall behind: "Then we will have to take down this wall."


    "Let''s try it a few times first," Eric said, he wouldn''t mind demolishing the wall. After all, this is a studio, not a real location, and Columbia will certainly cooperate, but they will have to waste at least another hour.


    "Okay," Nickel nodded. "let''s get started."


    This scene in the restaurant has three acts, the first act is where they eat breakfast separately like strangers, of course, ording to the story, this is the time Andy has begun paying attention to Sean, who waspletely unaware of him.


    The second act is where the two pa.s.s each other, where Andy will write the number 13 on a paper and leave it to Sean.


    The third act is the longest scene, where he takes more than a minute trying to persuade Sean, to let the police cooperate with him to arrest the viin, instead of him taking revenge for the death of his father.


    "Running Out of Time, Act 12, Action!"


    Sean stared at the newspaper while eating a cake, hearing someone open the restaurant door, Sean looked up naturally, and quickly turned his eyes back to the newspaper.


    "Good!" Eric give Hanks a thumbs up, next is the part where Cruise eat something while staring at the TV with a slightly dazed look, this shot too wasn''t difficult for Cruise, so Eric fairly gave him a thumbs up too.


    In the original scene, the TV was showing a few shots from a cartoon show, which was a show he loved when he was a kid, but because he only had four weeks to live, every time he saw the familiar pictures, he will get sad and have a dreary feeling.


    In this shot, Eric didn''t intend to find a random cartoon show to show on the Tv, instead, he intends to use a few shots from "Friends".


    Although "Friends" didn''t exist yet, but Eric is nning to start shooting "Friends" after "The Others" and "Scent of a Woman" are on track, probably in April, so long as he can identify "Friends" six leading characters, he has plenty of time to shoot some footage for the movie.


    In the publicity of the new film, Fireflies will release the news to the media that shots from Eric Williams new TV show will appear in "Running Out of Time", this will be a good publicity gimmick that will help promote the film and the TV show, which will create a win-win situation.


    After thepletion of the two shots, the most difficult shot began.


    Laying his pperboard to the side, Eric stared at the monitor, Nicole who was operating the camera first took a slow shot of Hanks'' face, then rapidly swung the camera to Cruise side, Eric who was concentrating on the monitor clearly felt the dull and uneven lens conversion.


    Although Nicole was able to urately make the camera concentrate on Cruise face, but Eric who wasn''t satisfied quickly shout out cut.


    After that, Nicole made another six consecutive attempts, but the results still ended up in failure. Eric know the reason the reason why he failed, so he patiently let Nicole try again and again.


    But after the eleventh attempt failed, Cruise finally got impatient, he has eaten a lot of cream cakes continuously, he felt that the shot was simple, so he didn''t understand why he failed so many times,


    while the staff was transferring the camera back to its ce, Cruise stood up, scornfully nced at Nicole who was sweating profusely and said to Eric: "Eric, maybe I can introduce a better photographer to you."


    Cruise didn''t lower his voice, he said it out loud in front of everyone as if trying to directly embarra.s.s Nicole.


    Because of awkward posture, and the Continuous operation of the camera for more than 10 times, Nicole began to have some pain in his waist, he didn''t expect that after all his effort he will get such evaluation.


    He wanted to re at Cruise, but he was afraid by doing so he will make things hard for Eric, so he could only helplessly stand there.


    A lot of people in the crew were dissatisfied with Cruise''s rude remark, They have cooperated with Nicole for many years, and they know how good he is at his work.


    Although he just experienced a dozen consecutive failures, more or less they understood how hard it was to operate the camera in that posture, so they patiently waited as Nicole tried again and again.


    In the face of everyone''s gaze, Eric knew that he has to handle this situation with caution and care.


    Otherwise, this situation will cause a rift between the crew and the actors, it was necessary to appease and soothe Cruise''s feelings, while at the same time not let the staff members get dissatisfied with him.


    After thinking about it for a moment, Eric got up and walked to the camera as he patiently exined to Cruise why this shot was so hard.


    As Cruise listened to Eric''s exnation, he also realized he has wronged Nicole, shrugging he showed the photographer a faint smile and said: "I''m sorry, let''s continue." Then he sat back in his seat.


    Patting his shoulder, Eric whispered to Nicole: "Try for another two or three times, if you aren''t able to do it by then, then let''s tear down the wall."


    Nicole knew that Eric could have exined the reasons to Cruise in private, and not in front of everyone, after all, Cruise is a big superstar, so seeing Eric being protective of himself, he felt grateful to Eric, he didn''t even mind Cruise insincere apology.


    Nodding his head, Nicole replied: "I''ll do my best."


    Although this little incident was quickly resolved, it was destined to leave some traces in the hearts of many people. At first, the crew members were looking forward to working with Tom Cruise, but after this incident, most of them were no longer enthusiastic about working with him.


    Perhaps because of luck or some other reason, in the next second attempt, Nicole was finally able to seed, when Eric shouted ''Good,'' a lot of people couldn''t help but apud.


    Feeling relieved Nicole started massaging his sore left arm.


    ------ ------


    Next, the second scene was quickly passed, and finally, the first interaction between the two protagonists was going to start for the first time.


    "You''re early, inspector." a young waitress warmly greeted Sean when she saw him enter through the restaurant door.


    "Yes, I''ve got a date." answered Sean, as he came up to the bar.


    Andy who was stuffing his mouth with pastry, proudly smiled when he heard what Sean words, because these days the former all-powerful police elite officer was running all over the city chasing his shadow.


    Andy took a sip from a ss of water and said: "Sit down."


    Sean slowly sat down in the chair opposite Andy and took a photo from the pocket of his suit put it on the table and said: "You''re made some urate predictions, Mr. Lo."


    "Have you checked that out?" Andy asked.


    "You''ve stolen the diamond and, you''ve avenged your dad. So, why do you want to see me?"


    "l told you before, this gamests for three days. Did you forget?"


    Sean patted the badge in his pocket and said: "Not today, you''re not in charge anymore, Remember, I''m the police."


    ... ...


    After a long dialog between the two protagonists, Eric shouted stop.


    "Well, Cruise, your smile should be more sarcastic," Eric first went to Cruise, and gave him his opinions, and demonstrated to him what he wanted to see from Cruise?


    Then he turned to Tom Hanks: "Hanks, when you hear Andy''s ridiculing you, you should show that you are embarrassed. But you also have your own pride, so you need to add some bodynguage, Such as nodding, to cover up your embarrassment."


    "Ok, Eric, I''ll make sure to pay attention," Hanks nodded.

 Chapter 137: The D prefix

    Eric returned to his seat, and give the order to start shooting again .


    This scene was about three minutes long, so, of course, it''s impossible to finish it in one breath, Eric divided the three minutes into seven shots with an average of less than thirty seconds .


    And for every shot, Eric tried to make things look perfect, so he took far more time in this scene than the other shots taken in the past few days .


    Cruise and Hanks also gradually seemed to realize how stringent and demanding their own performance requirements for this role was, Eric also felt the shift in Cruise and Hanks att.i.tude when they sometimes took the initiative in picking the ws in their acting and asking to re-shoot the scene .


    Eric was quite happy to see this situation happen, he didn''t know when will the two superstars have the opportunity to cooperate again . Therefore, Eric also made up his mind to make sure that the scenes where the two superstars interact look perfect in every way .


    "Cut . . . .


    . . "


    Looking at his watch Eric found that more than an hour pa.s.sed and they still hadn''t finished filming this scene, they only shot five of the seven shots of the three minutes scene, thest two were the most important and the longest .


    But unfortunately, the time to leave work has arrived, looking at the motivated two leading men, and at Joe Pesci who spent more than an hour waiting nearby for his turn to y the role of chief inspector Commissioner, Eric said: "Well guys, it''s time to get off work . "


    As an Asian guy, he has no aversion to working overtime, he even thought that spending another hour toplete the Scene was something that should be taken for granted .


    But he found that he had severely underestimated how much the European and American people care about the eight-hour work system .


    As soon as they heard what he said, Cruise and Hanksquickly stood up smiled at each other and shook hands, then they separately packed up there things said goodbye to Eric and left, it clear to him that from the beginning to end they had no intention to work overtime .


    Feeling frustrated, Eric helplessly shrug his shoulders and told the crew to pack their things and leave .


    After that, Eric went to Joe Pesci and apologized to him: "Sorry, Joe, I let you wait for an hour . "


    Joe Pesci didn''t mind, so he shook his head and said: "It''s alright, Eric, I just watched a full hour of excellent performances, I am now worried that my performance will not be satisfactory . "


    "You don''t have to worry about this, and I think it''s Hanks who should be worried about you overshadowing him . Because your character lines and actions are designed to be hrious . "


    "That''s true, but I haven''t acted in aedy before, you know, I have been in the "Raging Bull", "Easy Money" and"Once Upon a Time in America", and recently "Man on Fire", and none of them have anyedy . "


    "Joe, I think you are more suitable for yingedic roles, perhaps in this film, you will find youredic talent To tell you the truth, when I wanted to film "Home Alone", the first one I thought of when casting the role of Harry the thief was you . "


    Hearing what Eric said Joe Pesci was slightly shocked, he felt that Eric didn''t lie to him, nor does he need the deceive him .


    Thinking about the opportunity he missed, he felt somewhat sad, the box office of "Home Alone" was close to breaking the $300 million mark, he couldn''t even Imagine what a movie like that could do to his career .


    "Then why . . . .


    . . ?"


    Eric understood what the other side wanted to say, so he exined: "Because I couldn''t afford you, The budget for "Home Alone" was too small . "


    "Perhaps I would have epted if you invited me . "


    "I don''t think you would have epted the offer, imagine if a little kid who has never made a moviee to you and offered you twenty thousand dors to y in his movie, would you ept . "


    Joe Pesci understood that what he said is the truth, although he wasn''t a very famous actor, he was still an actor who won a best-supporting actor nomination . Unless he can see the future, he wouldn''t have epted a $20,000 paycheck, shaking his head Pesci said: "What a pity . "


    "Well, don''t say that even though we weren''t able to work together then, now we have another chance . "


    "That''s true . . . ah, I don''t think I can sleep this night, I missed such a good opportunity .


    "


    "In life, we will all miss thousands of opportunities, so this is nothing," Eric said trying tofort him .


    "Forget it . I will go back first . "


    Seeing Joe Pesci leave with a dejected look on his face, Eric began to regret telling him about "Home Alone"; he just wanted to use this topic to get closer to him so he can add him to his list of connections .


    Hopefully, Joe Pesci wouldn''t dwell on it .


    ---- ----


    After arranging everything else, Eric intended to leave, but he found the director of "Scent of a Woman" Martin Brest waiting for him at the door of the studio, with his a.s.sistant behind him holding a thick stack of papers .


    Eric took a look at the stack of papers and immediately know what was in it, after greeting him, Eric asked: "Martin, didn''t you say you will bring the list of the alternate cast the day after tomorrow, why so soon?"


    "Sorry, Eric, originally I nned to bring them the day after tomorrow, but for a variety of reasons, I finished the screening two days ahead of time, Al Pacino also wanted to start as soon as possible, so I can only wait here for you . "


    "Why didn''t Ale?" Eric asked curiously .


    "Al has begun trying to figure out the role, these days he is trying to adapt to living as a blind man, I was explicitly told not to disturb him . "


    Eric nodded to show his understanding and pointed to the Pa.s.sat parked not far away and asked: "Is that your car?"


    Martin nodded .


    "Well, let''s talk about it in the car, just now I was going to go to Malibu . I hope you can take me there if it is convenient for you?"


    "Sure, no problem . "


    After they got into the car, Eric said the address to Martin''s assistant who was sitting was in the driver seat .


    In the backseat, Eric first opened the list of candidates for one of the most important protagonists, Charlie Simms .


    "Eric, These are the guys who passed through the second rounds of auditions, excellent young men, because the film has so many student characters, we picked thirty guys . After you select the actor who will y Charlie Simms, we can choose the rest of the student roles directly from the list . "


    "Ok," Eric said, as he opened the folder and casually asked: "by the way, what about Miss Gabrielle Anwar?"


    Martin felt that perhaps the petite girl have a close rtionship with Eric, so he exined in great detail: "After she passed the audition, she went back to Ennd, but Miss Anwar came back a few days ago, she is staying at a hotel on Wilshire Boulevard .


    By the way, when you were in aa, she also visited you . Eric, do you need her hotel address?"


    "No," Eric casually answered .


    Reading the candidate list, he found that the names of the actors were arranged starting with their surnames and in alphabetical order, as he looked at the names he found two Hollywood superstar names from his past life on the D prefix.

 Chapter 138: What qualifications do they have to refuse?(18+)

    Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio .


    After reading their names, a list of movie names immediately popped into his mind, but he quickly dismissed them . With those images and names put in the corner, he got back to reading the names .


    In addition to the two previous superstars, he no longer saw any familiar names, even Chris O''Donnell who was in the original version of "Scent of a Woman" couldn''t be seen due to him making the film 3 years before the original version was made .


    Although Chris O''Donnell was 18 years this year, the same age as him, he will only show up in a movie called "Men Don''t Leave" two years from now .


    Of course, even if his name were on the list, Eric wouldn''t give the role to him, because he didn''t show a strong performance in the original version .


    Although there is Al Pacino performance to mask his weak presence, his performance was toockluster and dull, so why bother wasting such important role on him .


    After quickly going over the information of the thirty candidates, Eric took a pen from Martin Brest and put a mark behind Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio''s names .


    But after hesitating for a moment, Eric decided to choose Matt Damon for the role of Charlie Simms, he decides to give him the role, because he was handsome, and he had just turned eighteen this year, you could even say he was perfect for the role .


    As for Leonardo DiCaprio, he was 14 years old this year, plus he looked scrawny .


    After drawing a circle on Matt Damon''s name, Eric told Martin Brest who was closely watching his movements: "Martin, give the role of Charlie Simms to Matt Damon, as for Leonardo Dicaprio, give him the role of Charlie''s .s.smate George Willis .


    Also, I don''t care if they are part of a brokerage firm or have their own broker if they want the role, they have to join the UTA . "


    "Eric, if the two don''t agree to join the UTA?"


    Eric gave Martin a strange look and said: "What qualifications do they have to refuse?"


    At first, Martin Brest was surprised by what Eric said, but when he recalled the information of Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio, heughed and said: "Indeed, the two rookies have no grounds to refuse . "


    Seeing Eric choose the two actors, in such a short time Martin Brest felt that Eric just wanted to show his dominance over the movie, just like Jonathan Demme felt when he saw Eric choose the young actors for "The Others" .


    Although Martin thought that Eric was hasty and childish, he didn''t refute him . After all, he was already forty years old, in his eyes, Eric was really just a child, so he couldn''t me him for doing such a thing .


    All he and Al Pacino can do is to screen out the right actors, so no matter which one Eric chooses, they will end up with good actors .


    Eric didn''t have any justification to why he choose the actors without reading all their resumes, and the reason he did so was exactly as Martin and others thought .


    They spent forty minutes going from Columbia studio to Malibu, on the way Eric choose the actors for the other roles from the list, he mostly followed Martin advice, on who to select .


    At the intersection of the Malibu coastal highway, Martin''s car stopped, and Eric, wearing sun.s.ses and baseball caps, got off and said: "Thank you for bringing me here, Martin, Goodbye . "


    "Goodbye," Martin waved toward Eric and told the assistant to drive away .


    After the Passat drove away, Eric walked to the vi not far away, took out the key Virginia give him, opened the gate, and walked in .


    It waste in the afternoon, so the vi lights were already lit . As he walked through the door, he found Virginia standing there, she was wearing casual clothes, and carrying two big garbage bags .


    "Ah!" Virginia was startled, by Eric who suddenly appeared in front of her, which made the hand garbage bags slip from her hands and fall to the ground .


    "Eric, you! . . .


    Howe you''re here?" she asked as she walked up to him to give him a hug .


    Eric smiled and embraced her fragrant body, and give her a kiss on the cheek: "Why are you so nervous, you wouldn''t be hiding a man at home?"


    "I just didn''t expect you toe to my home these days . " Virginia rolled her eyes and said: "Even if I hide a man, what can you do to me?"


    Eric pinched her cheek and said with a poker-face: "Well, there''s a lot of methods to punish you, In some Eastern countries, women who cheat, will be sentenced to stoning .


    And in ancient times, in the east of China, they got drowned, they stripped the women, put her in a cage, then they throw the cage into a pond until she drowns . "


    "How could there be such a barbaric thing?" Virginia shivered .


    "ah, I actually appreciate the way they used to punish women for cheating in India . it was very humane . "


    "Oh," Virginia showed a curious look .


    Eric grinned and said: "In some parts of India when a woman was found cheating, the vige head would summon the finest men in the vige, and have the woman serve them one by one to ensure that the woman wouldn''t want a man for the rest of her life . "


    "Wow, disgusting, you are only eighteen years old . Where did you learn such messy things . "


    "I learned them when I was born," Eric told the truth .


    "Well, Mr . knowledgeable, is there any way to punish a man who cheats on his girlfriend? please tell me the cruelest one . "


    Eric coughed twice and said: "ah . . . .


    . . have sex with him . "


    Virginia rolled her eyes and said: "don''t talk nonsense, you go ahead, and I''ll throw out the trash . "


    "Come on let me do it, it looks very heavy," Eric said as he grabbed the stic bag .


    "Just throw it into the garbage bin at the door," Virginia said as she pointed a bin by the vi gate .


    When he came back, he found Virginia in the kitchen, making a cup of coffee with sugar and milk for him, so he said as he hugged her from behind: "Actually, I don''t like coffee very much, I prefer drinking boiled water, boiled water is said to be a secret to longevity . "


    Virginia smiled and said as she added powdered coffee to a cup of hot water: "Why are you thinking of longevity at your young age, are you afraid of death?"


    "Of course not, I''m not scared of death, I''m just afraid of regrets . "


    "Sorry, what regrets?"


    Yes, what regret?


    Eric put his chin on her shoulder and thought, about his regrets, he regretted not being able to see his kids grow up, and he also regretted not being able to shoot a movie on his own in his past life .


    Even though when he recriminated the film industry in China was dwindling, and he was past his forty''s, he still didn''t give up on making his own movie .


    He and several of his friends, spent a few years writing a script for a film but in the end, they didn''t have enough money to make the film by them self, so they started searching for investors, but he found that they didn''t have the connections to get the investment .


    Unfortunately, the n wasn''t implemented, and he inexplicably incriminated in America in the year 1988 . Now less than a yearter, he was finally able to achieve his dream .


    "Why did you suddenly stop talking?" turned and asked him .


    "Nothing, I''m just wondering if I suddenly die, what regrets would I have?"


    Virginia put down the kettle of hot water, turned and looked at Eric''s face with concern: "Eric, if you have the problem of always think about the issue of death, then I suggest you find a psychologist as soon as possible, maybe you are under too much pressure?"


    "Of course not," Eric hastened to deny when he saw the worry in her eyes, he wanted to exin, but he didn''t know where to start .


    "Let''s go to the living room to talk about it," Virginia said as she handed Eric his cup of coffee, and went to the living room with her own cup of coffee in her hand .


    After sitting on the couch, Virginia asked: "Howe you''re here today? Aren''t you living with Aniston?"


    Eric gave her a bitter smile and said: "After what happenedst time, Jane refused toe live with me, she went to the Burbank to rent her own house . "


    If he didn''t happen to fall downstairs that day, Eric was sure getting Aniston back was gonna be close to impossible .


    When he woke up from thee that morning, he took advantage of Aniston''s exhausted mind, and her soft heart, to stop her from leaving him . And he even managed to get her agree to be a cast member of "Friends" .


    But then he made another big mistake, he let her and Drew sleep on both sides of him on the hospital bed .


    As a result, when he returned to his ward, after eating dinner with Jeffrey and Kapoor in the hospital restaurant .


    He found a scene of chaos, the pillow, and the quilt was thrown on the ground, and the girls fighting like two wild cats that have gone mad, they were twisted together on the hospital bed, screaming and tearing each other clothes, and trying to push each other off the bed, as if the bed was Eric himself and thest one on the bed is the one who will stay with them .


    After a lot of coaxing Eric was able to break them apart, then Aniston wiped away her tears and used Eric of always taking Drew side, and Drew also opened her smart mouth and advised Aniston to break up with him, so she doesn''t suffer pain in the future when Eric leaves her .


    But Drew words had the opposite effect, instead of her breaking up with him, those words sessfully aroused Aniston rebellious psychology, she publicly vowed that she will never leave Eric to her .


    Hearing Aniston pledge not to leave him to Drew, Eric was secretly happy, but he quickly realized that she still didn''t forgive him when Aniston chose to rent an apartment and not to live with him in the vi .


    Although she didn''t say anything about breaking up she didn''t let him have sex with her, instead, she started ying a cold war with him .


    And because he began working on "Running Out of Time", he didn''t have the time to coax her, so instead he started calling her several times a day, to try and gain her forgiveness .


    Hearing Eric''s exnation, Virginia blushed and said: "You should spend more time with her, all girls like getting attention from their boyfriends . "


    "Well, let''s not talk about it, I came to see you because I heard you are going to Ennd the day after tomorrow? I spoke to Jonathan, and he said he will finish "The Others" before September, before the Venice Film Festival, so you are expected to stay in the UK for a long time . "


    Virginia took a sip from her cup of coffee, and asked: "Aren''t you going to visit the crew in Ennd?"


    Eric shook his head: "I''m not sure, "Running Out of Time" is scheduled to be released in July, if I can smoothly finish filming by the middle of May, then I will go to Ennd, if the shooting is not smooth, then I probably won''t go . "


    "Oh," Virginia nodded and changed the topic .


    After chatting for a few minutes, Eric patted his stomach and said: "Ah, Vicky, I''m hungry . "


    Virginia hurriedly got up and said: "I''m gonna go to the supermarket, so what do you want to eat?"


    Eric stopped her and said: "don''t bother, just casually make something light . "


    "Well, I have spaghetti," Virginia said as she walked into the kitchen .


    After Virginia walked into the kitchen, Eric got up and walked upstairs to the second floor .


    He went to the balcony in Virginia''s bedroom, it was getting dark outside, but he could still see the sharp corner of Malibu from this balcony, he could even see a dim silhouette of the construction, it was expected that the building will bepleted by the end of the year .


    In addition to the iron man mansion, several vis and buildings will be built on the estate, to be used to entertain guests or for parties r for the staff .


    Eric has seen the design of the entire estate, the vis and buildings were located on a t terrain, away from the cliff, they were built there to save on the cost and to put more emphasis on the luxurious iron man mansion .


    In the design draft provided by Frank Gehry, the buildings were naturally fused together, with tunnels underground, and were separated with Facilities like gardens, stadiums, roads and so on, giving a totally natural feeling .


    Of course, the entire project cost more than $20 million, he even had to hire a special ounting firm to monitor the financial situation of the project, since he made up his mind to build an ideal luxurious mansion .


    As long as the Frank Gehry didn''t use any tricks to swallow the project funds, Eric didn''t mind spending more than $20 million to build the mansion from his dreams .


    After dinner, Eric was very tired, but he still patiently watched a boring soap opera with her .


    "Eric, I heard that you intend to shoot a TV series?"


    "Yes ah," Eric said as he put his hand on Virginia big chest: "it''s a si, A lot of big stars will be needed in cameos in the future, would you like to have a part?"


    Virginia gently gasped, and said after she gave him a kiss: "if you want me to, then I will do it . "


    "Before you agree you should know that Jenny is one of the leading characters . "


    Virginiaughed, and said: "Oh, then I have to go, but you will have to tell your girlfriend not to bully me in public, anyway, you are the one responsible for coordinating this show, so I''d like to see how you will handle your girlfriend when she starts bullying me in public . "


    "I wouldn''t care," Ericughed and said: "ording to some ancient traditions in the East . If the house girl gets bullied by the first wife, the husband isn''t allowed to intervene . Well, I will be happy to see how you will deal with her . "


    Although Virginia did not understand what a house girl meant, it didn''t prevent her from understanding the meaning of the words . Acting hurt, Virginia bit him on the arm and said: "You''re such a jerk . "


    Eric massaged his arm, and drew Virginia into his arms and sad: "All right, how about we go upstairs so I can show you how sorry I''m . "


    "Mmmm . . . .


    . . ah, let me first turn off the TV . "


    Eric grabbed the remote control, turned off the TV, picked Virginia up, and walked upstairs .


    Entering the bedroom, he put her down and walked towards the bed, unbuttoning his pants he sat down on the bed and pulled them off along with his underwear free his dick as he looked up at her still standing at the door.


    Smiling slightly, she started walking towards him slowly, swaying her hips, her hands grasped the edges of her shirt and she slowly pulled it over her head, revealing her bountiful breasts d in a ck bra.


    Biting her seductive lips, she reached behind and unsped her bra, grabbing it she slowly pulled it down, revealing her left nipple as she move her hand up and slowly pushed her slender finger in her mouth, moistening it, before slowly moving it around her puffy nipple, making it hard.


    Slowly letting her bra drop to the floor, she leaned forward and pushed her breasts together as she licked her sexy lips. Straightening her back, she ran her hands down her sides slowly and, swaying her hips, slowly turned around.


    Turning around she leaned forward, showing off her fleshy ass d in tight jeans. Sliding her hands down, she unbuttoned her jeans and, bending over, slowly pulled them down, revealing her shapely, tight ass, material of her ck thong disappearing between her perfectly formed butt cheeks.


    Turning around, she slowly got down on her hands and knees, slowly crawling towards him, her breasts swaying.


    Looking at her, Eric slowly stroked his, now hard, dick as he ran his eyes over her, crawling towards him on all fours, breasts hanging down and swaying, her shapely rear in the air, making more blood rush to his groin.


    "HHHH..."


    Crawling between his legs, she nced up at him with her green eyes, before wrapping her hand around the base of his cock and, leaning forward, kissed the tip with her plump lips, causing a shiver to run through his body, making him groan.


    Reaching out her pink tongue, she licked the tip and swirled it around the head, before sliding it up and down the underside of his shaft, before she put her full lips on his dick and ran it up and down one side the the other, coating his hard cock in her saliva.


    "AHHHH..."


    Giving the underside of his shaft a long, slow lick, she wrapped her cherry lips around the head and pushed her head down, taking half of his dick in her mouth, making him groan.


    Putting her hands on his thighs, she started bobbing her head up and down, her tongue sliding on the back of his shaft, bringing him pleasure.


    Wrapping one hand around the base of his dick, she moved her lips up and down his rigid shaft as she pumped what wasn''t in her mouth with her soft hand, her other hand sliding down in her thong, massaging her clit.


    She kept bobbing her head, pumping his dick in and out of her hot mouth as her tongue danced all over the sides of his shaft, one hand jerking him off as she pushed two fingers in her slit, moaning around his dick, her throat vibrating, making him close his eyes and sigh in pleasure.


    "AHHH...."


    Eric grunted and opened his eyes as she suddenly pushed her head down, taking his dock in her mouth all the way to the base, her throat wrapping the head of his penis.


    As his eyes opened, he saw the view of Malibu through the door leading to her balcony and got an interesting idea.


    "Pop..."


    Grabbing her head, he pulled it off his dick with a pop and stood up. Grasping her hand, he pulled her up and dragged the confused woman towards the balcony.


    "Eric, what are you doing?" Asked Virginia.


    He didn''t answer, walking forward, he flicked a switch, turning the lights of the balcony off and pulled her through the door.


    Walking to the railing of the small balcony, he bent her over, her hands grabbing the metal, her back curving, her perky, smooth ass pointing at him, visible in moonlight.


    "Eric, no....."


    Eric interrupted what she had to say by moving one hand over her mouth while other caressed her creamy, round buttcheeks.


    "Smack...."


    He smacked her sexy ass as he pushed two fingers in her mouth and ripped her thong off.


    Pushing his fingers in and out of her mouth, he started massaging her clit as his fingers yed with her little tongue.


    "UHHH..."


    She let out a moan as he took his fingers out of her mouth and moved his hand down, ying with big, soft breasts, groping and massaging them as pushed two of his fingers in her tight slit.


    Pushing his fingers in and out of her cunt, he squeezed her breasts, pinched her nipples and kissed her neck, making her moan softly.


    Feeling her cave getting damp, he let go of her breasts and pulled his fingers out of her slit.


    "UHHHHHH..."


    Spreading her legs slightly, he aligned his shaft with her entrance and, grabbing her waist, mmed it in deep, making her let out a loud moan.


    Holding her slim waist he started pounding her, his rigid shaft gliding in and out of her tight snatch, her slick walls wrapping around his dick, his pelvis smacking against her delicious ass, making it jiggle with every thrust as she let out seductive moans of pleasure.


    Tightly grasping her waist, he kept ramming his hard dick in her hot, wer pussy, sliding in and out, faster and faster, going deep in with every thrust and pulling back, only to plunge back in, hitting her womb, making her moans louder and louder.


    "Smack..."


    Still pounding the busty actress, he pped her left asscheek, leaving a red handprint and slid his hand up her back, wrapped her blonde hair around his fist and pulled, making her back arch and her ass to m into him harder, her moans echoing in the air.


    Pulling her hair with one hand and holding her waist with the other, her continued pounding her snatch, fucking her from behind, sounds of her fleshy ass colliding with his pelvis and her loud moans filling the air as he raised his head and looked into distance.


    He saw the ocean, glittering white from the moonlight and stars twinkling in the sky.


    Looking at the beautiful scenery and feeling the pleasureing from his lower body as he fucked a celebrity bent over on her balcony, his dick mming deep in her tight pussy, her ass pping against him, he couldn''t help but get even more excited, pulling her harder and increasing his speed as he blissfully pounded her tight cunt, making her moans even louder.


    Felling his release getting close, he let go of her hair and slid his hand down between her legs, stimting her clit as his dick kept gliding in and out of her tight hole, plowing her pussy with reckless abandonment, her moans echoing into the night.


    "UHHH... Goddd....."


    Massaging her clit and pounding her pussy, he got closer and closer to his release, until.


    "HAAAAA...."


    With a roar he threw his head back and looked up at the bright moon as he mmed his dick deep in her pussy, hitting her womb and shooting ropes of hot cum, painting her insides white.


    "UHHHHHH...."


    Feeling his dick hitting her womb and his hot cum filling her pussy pushed Virginia over the edge as she threw her head back and, with a loud moan, her snatch clenched around his dick, drenching it with her juices.


    Wrapping his arms around her waist he leaned against her back as both of them breathed heavily.


    His breath calming down, he picked her up and brought her back to the bed, where he fucked her again, filling her pussy and mouth with his seed, before taking a shower and falling asleep with his head buried in her bountiful chest.


    The next day, seven o''clock, Eric was sitting at the dining room table, eating his breakfast while Virginia was between his legs under the table, topless, her beautiful breasts on disy, her full lips stretching around his shaft as she moved her head up and down, her nimble tongue and hot mouth bringing him pleasure.


    "ck..."


    Finishing his breakfast, he put down his fork and stood up. Pulling her out from under the table, he grabbed her head and started thrusting his hips, sliding in and out of her hot, slick mouth, his dick coated in her saliva.


    Felling his orgasming, he sped up his thrusts, rapidly fucking her mouth as she reached up and caressed his balls with her soft hand.


    "HAAAA..."


    Finally, he pulled out of her mouth and, jerking his cock a couple times, sprayed her pretty face and big boobs with his seed.


    Looking down at his cum sliding down her nose, cherry lips and big tits, he once again felt iparable satisfaction.


    They hastily took a shower and Virginia drive him to the studio .


    Although they left before finishing the scene, Cruise and Hanks quickly got back into shape andpleted the scene without any mistakes .


    And surprisingly Joe Pesci, who was sad after hearing the bad news about missing the chance to star in "Home Alone" the day before, was very energetic this morning and ended giving a ster performance .


    When he was performing his lines, some people in the crew couldn''t help butugh, because of Joe Pesci joyful voice . Even Tom Hanks showed concern that he may be suppressed by Joe Pesci performance .


    For the next period of time, "Running Out of Time" shooting went ording to n, although the filming was advancing slowly, he still has a lot of time .


    A few dayster, the crew of "The Others" departed to the United Kingdom, in addition to the actors, the crew staff was selected by Jonathan Demme, Eric didn''t intervene, after all, Jonathan has spent most of his adult life in Hollywood, not only does he have more experience than Eric, he even has more connections and contacts .


    Eric didn''t take the time to send them off, instead, Jeffrey who acted as one of the producers went with them, but after a few days with the cast in Ennd, he came back .


    By the middle of April, Martin Brest officially started shooting "Scent of a Woman", and at the same time, after more than 10 days of filming inside the studio, Eric finallypleted all the indoor scenes, and began shooting the most difficult scenes, although he had all the scenes in his mind, when he started shooting them, he found that thing isn''t as easy as he imagined .

 Chapter 139: Producer

    In a high-rise building in Downtown Los Angeles, near Santa Monica Expressway, a 500 meters long street was blocked not allowing any external vehicles to enter .


    Starting from eight o''clock in the morning, only the vehicles that transported the shooting equipment''s, and the and the men responsible for unloading the equipment''s were allowed to enter .


    The nearby residents quickly got ustomed to the presence of the crew, because in Los Angeles there was countless movie crew on the roads .


    And because this wasn''t a busy road, every few months a new movie crew wille to their street, most of the times they didn''t even feel their presence because by the time theye back from work they find them gone .


    But this time because the film contained two famous superstars Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, And because of Eric, the young director, who made great achievements before he has even reached the age of neen, many peoplee, in hopes of getting to meet their favorite superstars .


    The onlookers crowded around the streets with cameras just like the paparazzi, expecting to shoot some valuable photos, although the crew was doing everything in their power to prevent them from taking the pictures, but some of them still slipped by them and were able to take some shots .


    "Three actors are in ce, right?" standing next to three identical taxis, Eric asked his a.s.sistant as he watched the photographers install the cameras on the vehicles .


    "Fifty people are in ce, and Royce asked me to ask you, when will you like to start?"


    "Let''s do it ording to n, have them familiarize themselves with the path they need to walk, as we take a few street scenes . "


    "Ok," n replied and said: "By the way, themunity agency stated that we will have to open the road for an hour at noon . And the reason they give was that at that time, the traffic will be rtivelyrge, and some people will need to pa.s.s from this street . "


    Noon wasn''t the time peoplemute from work to home, so he was sure the traffic wouldn''t increase too much, and the crew also need to eat at noon .


    "Tell them, there is no problem, from twelve ''clock to one o''clock, we will stop filming, and we evacuate the street . "


    After n left, Eric turned his attention to the three identical taxis, they also had exactly the same license te number . This was done so that after filming no loopholes will appear in the details of this scene .


    Once the shoot isplete, the crew will change the taxis license tes to the original ones .


    The inside of the taxis was also identical, one car didn''t require any processing, because the photographer will shoot from the copilot seat, and the other two cars were fitted with cameras, one was installed on the hood of the car, and one had the camera installed in the backseat .


    Today they will shoot the scene where Sean will drive Andy to the police station, this scene shouldst less than two minutes . But if things go smoothly, Eric was expecting this scene to take them the entire day, and he will probably end up with close to one hour of lens material to work with .


    After all the cameras were installed on the taxi, Eric picked up his walkie-talkie and began giving orders to all the crew .


    As Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks got off the trailers they were staying in, the paparazzi who were nearby waiting for them started frantically pressing the camera shutter .


    The two weren''t dressed in anything special, Cruise wore ck casual clothes, while Hanks was dressed like delivery courier, a cap on his head, and a in white work suit .


    After Eric briefed them on what to do, the two men got into the taxi that had no modifications .


    ----------


    After the short briefing, Eric went to look at the wireless monitor, to determine if the lighting and angle of the lens are correct, after determining that everything is alright he asked his a.s.sistance using the walkie-talkie: "n, is the shooting area clear of outsiders?"


    "Clear, the only ones left are our actors . " n''s voice sounded from the walkie-talkie, mixed with the sound of static .


    Eric had to confirm again because if after the production is finished, someone who isn''t one of the actors he hired appeared on the screen, he will have a huge problem in his hands .


    Most of the crowds you see in movies these days are actors, and they are very expensive to hire .


    It was a known thing in the industry that you can''t have any scenes in your movie with real people in the background, even if you tell the crowds about it, and they agreed to cooperate, you shouldn''t do it .


    Because once they find themselves appearing in a movie, the first thing they will do is contact theirwyers, to sue you for reasons such as infringement on their rights .


    Usually, those kinds ofwsuits result in filmpanies paying at least eighty thousand dors as reimburs.e.m.e.nt, and in worst cases, your movie may be removed from the cinemas, until you edit the film, which can result in millions of dors in losses .


    So even though he confirmed that no one is in the background, he was going to do a detailed screening of all the people who appeared in the shoot, to make sure that there are no "outsiders" mixing with the actors .


    So, when you see a scene in a Hollywood movie where the protagonist is walking or driving in a crowded street, know that every one of them is a paid actor .


    After Hanks who was acting as the taxi driver familiarized himself with the road he had to take, Eric gave the order to start the tedious filming process that was gonnast the entire day.


    Staring at the monitor, Eric watched the performance of two men inside the car and listened to their dialogue using headphones, although the sound wasn''t clear, and the noise of the car engine was creating some disturbance, he could still hear what they were saying.


    Later he will have to re-dubb this scene, and he will use this soundtrack as reference material, to synchronize their speech and their lips movements.


    By the end of the day, Eric couldn''t remember how many times he had to reshoot this scene, and by the afternoon, he was so tired of sitting he had to ask the staff to deliberately elevated the monitor so he can watch the monitor while standing.


    Although Eric was feeling a bit tired, he had to keep going.


    Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks had plenty of time to rest because every hour they spent filming, the two had a break, to ensure they stayed in good shape, so they didn''t end up looking tired.


    But when they rest, he had to work on arranging other shots, because he promised themunity agency to take only one day today on this street. Because of that, he had to make sure everything went smoothly so he can .u.mte enough materials, just in case a problemes up in the future.


    On the small monitor, Andy slowly zipped down his coat, pulled out his pistol, and casually asked: "Where do you want to go?"


    "To the nearest police station." Sean calmly nced at the rear-view mirror and looked at Andy who was slowly s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g the silencer to the pistol.


    Andy looked out the window and smiled: "You alone?"


    Sean shrugged and said indifferently: "Yep!"


    "You''re not armed. Aren''t you afraid that I might kill you?"


    "If you shoot." Sean turned his head and said calmly: "The care will crash over."


    "Yes, it''s dangerous." Andy''s slowly rolled down the window and said: "You will win if you take me to the police station."


    Poking his silenced pistol out of the window Andy said: "l don''t always aim urately," and pulled the trigger without hesitation.


    When the scene progressed up to here, Eric shouted: "Cut!"


    Hearing Eric''s voice, the taxi stopped and Cruise and Hanks got out of the car at the same time, with Nicole who was in the co-pilot seat getting outst while carrying the camera in his hand.


    After the three people left the taxi, a staff member quickly approached the taxi and drove it back to its original location.


    Many props and vehicles on the road also had to be transferred back to the starting point in an Orderly manner, to Wait for the start of another shot.


    Eric told the three people about the ws he noticed in the shot. When everything was transferred back to the starting point, Cruise and Hanks go back in the taxi, followed by Nicole who was carrying the camera.


    Soon after that, the shooting started again.


    -----------


    "Running Out of Time" isn''t a movie with too much depth, it''s a movie about a seventy-two hours contest between a policeman and a robber. When he makes the movie trailer, he will certainly use the plot ups and downs to market the film to the general audience.


    Action movies don''t need to have deep plots to seed, sometimes people just want to watch a film full of action scenes, and he was gonna give them just that, a cool film filled withmercials.


    A film like this doesn''t even need the actors to have hight acting skills, as long as the actors have decent acting skills, the film can seed.


    That''s why having Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks the two superstars on board is such a good thing because as long as he makes a decent movie, the film was guaranteed to seed.


    From mid-April to mid-May, The cast spent most of their time on the streets of downtown Los Angeles, sometimes they stayed on a street for two or three days, and sometimes it took them just half a day toplete the shots. To make a long story short, the process can only be described as boring.


    After a few days with the crew of "The others" in Ennd, Jeffrey went back to Los Angeles, then a few days after that, he flew to New York to meet the crew of "Scent of a Woman" .


    As for the rest of the Firefly staff, most of them basically followed Eric, only the security men and the employees responsible for processing the daily affairs of the building and the clerks responsible for sending and receiving Mail stayed in thepany headquarters .


    If you ignore the scary earnings from the movies, you will find that thepany is no different than the other small independent filmpanies in Los Angeles .


    Although filming "Running Out of Time" was a very tedious andplicated process, he didn''t encounter too many problems when filming, but it was hard keeping up with the filming schedule .


    It was expected that he will be able to officially finish filming around May 15th, so Columbia decided to start a small-scale publicity early, to create some hype for the film and to spread the message .


    Since the start of the negotiations with the wealthy Sony consortium, Columbia''s market value has jumped up to $3 . 5 billion .


    seeing Columbia stock price rise day by day, the j.a.panese were going crazy, they weren''t expecting this huge acquisition was going to cost them this much money .


    The final contract between Sony and Columbia was gonna be signed in September, and even if they seed in signing the purchase contract, it will take them at least one year toplete handover thepany .


    As a result, this summer box office results is thest chance time Columbia can push up the stock price .


    ----------------


    Warner had two big productions to be released, namely "Batman" and "Lethal Weapon 2", but because "Running Out of Time" was scheduled to be released on the 7th of July .


    Warner who initially also prepared to release "Lethal Weapon 2" at the start of July, choose to postpone the film release until the end of the year .


    In 1987 the first "Lethal Weapon" film made more than $60 million at the box office, and because the first film sold well, the cost of the second film has doubled, so to recover the cost, the film had to earn at least $100 million at the box office .


    Under this pressure, Warner executives didn''t want topete against Eric, Tom Cruise, and Tom Hanks the three superstars, so they took the initiative to dyed "Lethal Weapon 2" until the end of the year .


    So Columbia became the only film gaint to have two blockbuster films released in this summer file, the second film is "Ghostbusters 2", a film that has a huge fan base that was looking forward to seeing the long-awaited sequel .


    "Ghostbusters" was first released in the year 1984, five years in the past, the reason why Columbia suddenly decided to release the film is that they wanted to boost their stock price .


    Inte April, Jeffrey finished his tour, ande back to Los Angles, this was the first time they meet each other in close to a month . The first thing they did after greeting each other and some small talk, is going to the conference room to update each other on what happened on their end .


    "Eric, do you need to hire a few more people?"


    When Jeffrey asked the question, Eric was reading the files brought by Jeffrey, that exins the production progress of "Scent of a Woman" and "The Others", so without lifting his head, Eric answered: "No, after thepletion of "Scent of a Woman" and "The Others" .


    I''ll ask Jonathanand Martin to rmend some of the crew members working with them now to join the fireflies . "


    "Well, then, what about the TV series, The one you named . . . .


    . . "Friends" was it, the time is getting tight, and Fox executives have been contacting nonstop for thest week . They want to know when you will provide the script, they are even willing to help with the preliminary preparations .


    "


    Ericughed, He had already made it clear to Barry Diller before, that "friends" will only be produced by the Fireflies, but FOX still didn''t give up on the chance to get a piece of the pie .


    That''s understandable, After all, this is a si, the production cost is very small, and if you can co-own the copyright with the Fireflies, and the Tv show be sessful, then FOX can have a bargaining chip against Eric, and even if the Tv show fails .


    Then they will only lose a few million dors .


    "Reject their offer, you see, theye looking for you instead of me, because they know I will refuse . "


    Jeffrey hesitated for a moment, then said: "Eric, you . . . you really should think about it .


    "


    Eric finally raised his head, and said: "Hmm?"


    "You! . . .


    . . . you are independent in everything you do, you won''t allow others to partner with you in your films, and you also don''t want to allow others to partner with you in this TV series, this won''t work in Hollywood .


    Nowadays, even a lot of small budget movies will have a lot of investors sharing the risk and profits, this is one of the orthodox rules of Hollywood, even the big six movie studios do it .


    Although thepet.i.tion between them is fierce, they always cross-share projects between them, so why are you so against it . "

 Chapter 140: I swear by the light(18+)

    After mming the door in Eric''s face, Aniston triumphantly leaned against the door, waiting for him to knock at the door again.


    At the same time, she wondered how she should deal with him, she should at least make him beg her to let him in, as for letting him stay for the night, will ... that depends on his performance.


    Aniston wildly thought of how she would deal with him, but after a couple of minutes passed, there was no movement outside the door.


    "Humph, he''s definitely trying to trick me, don''t think I''ll fall for it."


    Although she quietly murmured that she wouldn''t break down and let him in, Aniston couldn''t help but peak from the cat''s eye in the door, but Aniston found that she could only see darkness outside because the sound controlled lights on the corridor have gone out.


    "damn that guy, he must be hiding in the dark waiting for me to take the initiative to open the door." Aniston thought, her heart bing restless, finally, after waiting for close to five minutes, Aniston couldn''t help but open the door a little bit to take a look.


    But because the door was blocked by the anti-theft chain, Aniston could only see a narrow field of vision, and all she saw was a quiet, empty corridor.


    So Aniston decided to unplug the pin out of the anti-theft chain lock, open the door and walk outside.


    Right as Aniston stepped outside, a pair of big hands caught her by the waist and picked her up.


    "Ah!" Although she was aware of who caught her, Aniston still screamed and punched him on the shoulder.


    "You bastard, scumbag, help ah!"


    Laughing Eric gave her a p on the ass then walked into the apartment and shut the door behind him.


    The pain from her buttocks caused Aniston to feel shame and anger, so she started struggling in his arms trying to escape his clutches: "That hurt, you asshole, let me down."


    Getting annoyed by her screams, Eric gave her another p on the ass. This time not as hard as the first one, except this time he left his hand on her buttocks and kneaded it a few times while saying in a soft voice: "Honey, stop screaming if you don''t stop the neighbors will call the police on us."


    Aniston hit him a few times on the back and said: "Who let youe in? This is ... ... This is a private housing."


    "Wow, that is a big usation, you''re not gonna shoot me, right?" Eric said as he put Aniston on the sofa in the living room.


    As soon as she got free from his clutches, Aniston picked a pillow from the sofa and throw it at him, then she sat back on the couch,


    and red at Eric.


    Ignoring the angry girl, Eric walked into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, took out a can of cold beer, and went and sat beside the agitated Aniston: "I didn''t buy the beer for you ... I bought it for myself."


    Acting shameless Eric took a sip from the can of beer, smacked his lips and said: "Well, you have great taste in beer."


    "Humph, Well finish the beer, and go home, I''m going to sleep." just as she finished talking, a knock came from the door, followed by a man''s voice: "Miss Aniston, are you ok?"


    After a brief moment of surprise, Eric asked: "Who is he."


    "Probably a noisy neighbor."


    "Well you are the one who started yelling." Eric retorted.


    "That''s your fault," Aniston stood up and walked toward the door, followed by Eric. When they opened the door, they found a middle-aged couple carefully standing at the door, the man was holding a Baseball Bat, while the woman was holding a Baking Roller.


    When they saw that Aniston who opened the door was safe and sound, they rxed a little bit.


    "Miss Aniston, we heard you call for help ... ..." The man looked at the tall figure of Eric behind Aniston with a vignt look in his eyes.


    Seeing the man focus on Eric, Aniston opened the door wide, Hugged Eric''s arm and made an intimate gesture, and exined: "Sorry for disturbing you, Mr. Bertman ... ... My boyfriend surprised me, which made me scream."


    "hello, Mr. Bertman, my name is Eric, sorry to disturb you." Eric took the initiative to reach out and shake their hand.


    "It does not matter," Mr. Bertman said as he shook hands with Eric.


    After exchanging small talk, Mr. Bertman politely refused Aniston and Eric invitation to enter and have a cup of coffee, and left with his wife.


    .... ....


    After closing the door, Aniston immediately released Eric''s arm and went back to sitting on the couch, Eric soon followed and sat beside her then hugged her, at first Aniston symbolically resisted, but she soon gave up and leaned on his shoulders.


    "Jenny, have you been in touch with your fathertely?"


    Aniston raised her head slightly and said: "Yes ah, why do you ask?"


    "What is John doing recently?" Eric did not answer her immediately, instead, he asked.


    "I''m not sure about what he is doing," Aniston said, fiddling while fiddling with her fingers: "But I know he has been working on a show called "Days of Our Lives" for the past four years."


    "So ... Can you help me ask your dad? If he''s interested in being a producer of a TV series."


    Aniston asked with some doubt: "a TV series?"


    "I''m talking about the TV series I spook to you about before, the one you agreed to take a role in," said Eric, exining in detail to Aniston.


    "You mean, you are gonna let my dad be the producer of "Friends"?"


    Eric nodded: "Jeffrey isn''t good at producing TV shows, and for a while, we couldn''t find a trusted person to be the producer. I could ask Fox to help, but I don''t want them to intervene in this series, so I thought of your dad."


    As she thought about what he said, something dawned on her; this guy didn''te to see her because he missed her, he specifically came here because he originally wanted her to connect him to her father. Feeling disgusted, she shook off his arm and asked: "You came here tonight ...


    Just for this matter?"


    Seeing that things aren''t right, Eric hurriedly hugged Aniston, then kissed her red lips and said: "Of course not, I came over because I missed you."


    "No, don''t kiss me ... hmph."


    She tried to push him away but found that not only did his tongue invade her mouth, and his big hands has also opened the hem of her pajamas, and started fondling her.


    Feeling his skilled hands cover her tender soft breasts, Aniston body slightly trembled and froze for a moment. Getting back to herself Aniston tried again to escape his clutches, but in doing so, she ended up scratching him a little on the arm.


    Felling the pain, and seeing that she wasn''t going to surrender, Eric pushed her back on the sofa and said: "Oh, what a tough girl. Let''s how long you can keep resisting." (TN Note: that kinda sound he''s trying to **** her.)


    "Wait, let''s go to the bedroom first."


    "No, I''m so horny right now that I want to do it here on the couch."


    "I''m angry at you, you bastard, you did not apologize to me for that day. And... And you give that big breasted woman a movie, but you only give me a role in a TV series."


    Ericughed and did not answer because Aniston knew perfectly well that if she asked Eric for a film role, he would surely give her one, so at this time she was just acting spoiled. Ignore the grumbling little girl, Eric stood up and began to take off his clothes.


    Throwing away his underwear, he spread her legs and pulled her panties down, before kneeling on the sofa and, crossing her ankles, put her legs on his left shoulder.


    "UHHHH..."


    "HAAAA...."


    Holding the base of her thighs, he leaned forward and slowly prated her pussy, stretching out her tight walls, both of them sighing pleasure as he bottomed out in her.


    cing his hands on the sides of her ass, he leaned forward and started thrusting his hips, sliding his dick in and out of her pussy, her silky walls wrapping around his shaft, sounds of her seductive moans echoing in the room.


    He continued thrusting, slowly at first but gradually picking up pace, until he was pounding her hard and fast, her moans getting higher in pitch as he invaded her pussy over and over again.


    He moans turned muffled as he slid his right hand up and pushed two fingers in her mouth while pounding her tight pussy, his dick gliding in and out of her snatch as his balls smacked against her ass, her tongue licking his fingers.


    Taking his fingers out of her mouth, he moved her shirt up, exposing her round breasts, with big, pink ares and small nipples. Squeezing her right breast, he kept pounding her, his dick invading her pussy as he pinched her nipple, sweet moansing out of her cherry lips.


    Feeling his orgasm building, he grabbed her right leg and moved it over his right shoulder, before he leaned forward and, grabbing her waist, raised it, further tightening her pussy around his cock.


    Holding her raised waist, he plunged his dick deep in her cunt, pulled back till only tip remained inside and pushed back in, hitting her womb, doing it over and over, picking up speed till he was pounding her hard and deep, sound of her moans and collision of their bodies filling the room.


    Getting closer and closer to his release, he moved one hand between her legs and massaged her clit as he increased his speed, his pelvis smacking harder and harder against her ass, her moans getting louder.


    He kept fucking her, until.


    "HAAAAA....."


    With a roar he shoved his dick deep in her and started shooting his load, filling her pussy with his hot seed.


    "UHHHHHHHH..."


    Jennifer cried out, feeling of his hot cum deep in her snatch pushing her over the edge, her pussy mping down on his dick, drenching it in her juices.


    After a minute.


    The Exalted Aniston raised her head slightly and told Eric with a re: "Are you satisfied now you bastard."


    "No."


    A few momentster a gust of wind poured into the living room through the balcony, making Eric feel a little chilly, looking at the goosebumps on the pale skin of the sweaty girl.


    Eric picked her up and took her to the bathroom, filled the bathtub with warm water, and sat with her in his embrace enjoying the warm water.


    Feeling content, Aniston leaned back on Eric''s chest, closed her eyes in satisfaction, feeling that everything would have been perfect if it wasn''t for the thing getting again hard behind her.


    Eric put some shower gel in his hand, and startedthering her creamy skin, and said: "Ha, did you think we finished, this is just the start."


    "Well ... I don''t care, you solve it yourself," said Aniston who wasfortably soaking in the warm water.


    With his hands still roaming all over her body, Ericughed and said: "Didn''t they teach you in school to always finish what you started.


    "No, I only remember that the story of Washington and the cherry tree that was meant to teach us, to be honest, is false and that textbooks are deceptive Washington had no cherry tree in his backyard."


    "Ok," Ericughed: "But that still a good story."


    "It''s too ironic to teach people to be honest by cheating them, and then I was never interested in reading stories like those anymore.


    Because when I grow up, I didn''t want to find that all the things I was thought were fake, there was no cherry tree, Edison didn''t help save his mother''s life during an appendectomy by using mirrors to reflect light from candles, thereby giving doctors enough light to operate.


    And the apple didn''t fall on Newton''s head ... "


    "I see," Eric nodded.


    Aniston looked back at him and asked: "what do you understand?"


    Eric gently fondled her small breasts and said with a smile: "I understand that you are trying to divert the topic, Don''t worry, you can''t run away from me tonight."


    "I''m sour," Aniston suddenly wanted to get up, but Eric pulled her back into his embrace: "No, you can''t run."


    "I''m not running, I just need a break" Aniston shouted and tried to get out of Eric''s arms.


    But her struggling only served to ignite his passion as her rump rubbed against him under water, "let''s do it here, the water is warm. Plus, I always wanted to do it in a bathtub."


    "Well, eh?" as Aniston wanted to keep struggling, she suddenly felt him enter her, and all she could do is protest: "Don''t... ... don''t push there, that the wrong ce."


    "Certainly not," Eric said with a grin, and held her waist tightly, then pushed.


    "Ah! Eric Williams, I''m going to kill you! "


    ----


    "Jenny?"


    "Go away!"


    "Baby..."


    "Don''t touch me."


    "I... got some medicine. "


    "Oh, why don''t you kill me directly, you bastard."


    "I didn''t know it was going to be like this, I thought you were just bluffing."


    "fuck off Eric, and go y with your big breasted woman''s butt, you asshole I''m going to break up with you."


    "Okay, Okay, now stop moving and, let me apply the medicine."


    In the bedroom, as Aniston lied on the bed, her body lying underneath the quilt, with nothing on. Eric, with a first aid kit, whispered to persuade her.


    The little girl no longer spoke finally, and moved her body slightly.


    Eric, knowing that her making this posture was a form of tacitly consenting, twisted off the cap of medicinal ointment from the kit hastily, and lifted the bed sheet off of Aniston''s back, as she buried her head deeper in the sheets.


    After he awkwardly finished applying medicine, Eric thoughtfully drew the thin quilt over the little girl, and moved to the bath room to wash his hands. Aftering out, he looked at the rm clock on the girl''s headstand, and he saw it was around one o''clock.


    Eric silently arrived at beside the sleeping Aniston, turned off themp, andid down beside her before gently pulling over the quilt to cover himself.


    In the darkness, after a long silence, he hears the low voice of Aniston: Eric, no more."


    No promises"


    After the brief dialog, is another time of silence, and a momentter, there''s the sound of a light rustling, and the girl''s body had leaned over.


    Jenny, you... Tonight it''s best to lie and rest."


    ..." little girl did notply with this and kept moving, and like a fish she continued to slip towards Eric, who she quickly found. Once on his chest she naughtily bit down and said : I must lie on you to rest."


    "No problem," Eric smiled and held the girl''s smooth waist and felt her fragrant body, covering himself whilst feeling soft and warm.


    After a while, the girl''s hot breath appeared on his chest: "Eric?"


    "Hmm?"


    There was a hint of embarrassment in Aniston''s voice, but with a strong curiosity: "You are so... was thatfortable? " (TN: The back door)


    "This," Eric said, he didn''t know what to say. He really didn''t want to talk about this. He hesitated for a while and said: "Oh... it''s a very different feeling."


    Aniston, not satisfied and unwilling to give up continued: "They... can they get it?"


    Eric is stroking gently girl''s smooth back, said seriously: Absolutely not, not one!."


    Aniston gently hit him: "Believing you would be strange."


    In the darkness, Eric waved his arm: I swear to the light!"


    "Well the light is extinguished now."


    "Well, let''s go to sleep, I have to get up early tomorrow, the crew starts shooting at eight o''clock."


    "What do I do, are you going to leave me here?" Aniston bit into Eric''s chest and asked.


    Tomorrow should be good, it''s not a big injury."


    Then the chest was bitten again, this time is quite painfully, and he does not know if he has bleeding.


    Eric rubbed the teeth marks on his chest and said, "If you''d like, I can look for someone to look after you?"


    Aniston, who was on his body, shook her head quickly: "I will die from shame if they find out I broke up with you."


    Eric concedes this idea and thinks again before saying: Good, I as far as possible I will personally prepare to give you three meals a day to eat, and catch up with you at noon as much as possible, but Jenny, to dy the crew for even a day will cost more than 10,000 dors, so it''s impossible to stop.


    Ok," the little girl hasplied once finally satisfied, moved her body again, and after finding a morefortable body posture on Eric, slowly rested and slept.

 Chapter 141: The matter is obvious

    After receiving an invitation from Eric, John Aniston quickly agreed with almost no consideration.


    Between being a soap opera actor or a TV producer, few people would be willing to choose the former, as whether it was a screenwriter or an actor from Hollywood, they were nothingpared to the top-level directors.


    As one''s career progressed, to a certain extent, it will always develop in the direction of a producer.


    To this end, John Aniston resigned some of his positions at NBC, while at the same time greatly reducing his role in "Days of Our Lives". Although he is already in his fifties this year, and his age is equal to Jeffrey''s, but his career is not much weaker than when he was young.


    Whilst the box office dividends of Home Alone and "Pretty Woman" are not recovered at all, fireflies are not short of money, because of Eric''s two huge loans. The budget for the production of each episode of this TV series is about 200,000 USD.


    The total investment is only 5 million US dors, equivalent to the investment of The Others.


    The Friends project quickly started in early May with the addition of John Aniston. The crew rented two giant studios from the 20th Century Fox to shoot all the scenes in Friends. In his past life "Friends" was basically all shot in Warner Studios in Los Angeles.


    Although Eric didn''t want Fox to partic.i.p.ate in the TV series, it would be too deliberate to go to Warner or Columbia if renting a studio. At a meeting, Eric suggested that they build a studio dedicated to Friends, but he was opposed by both Jeffrey and John.


    The two agreed that it was too costly and not worth the losses. Eric therefore had to give up temporarily.


    As for the actors, Eric fantasised that if he could gather the six people from his past life, then that would be perfect.


    "Friends" was appearing five years earlier than in his previous life, so ording to the current date, several of the starring actors were only 20 to 24 years old, and even the oldest Lisa Kudrow was only 26 years old.


    If they started to act now, then after ten years, the actors will not have obvious age marks in the camera.


    The main reason why the past "Friends" ended in the tenth season, although the actor sry is part of the reason, but the most important thing was that the age of the actors was no longer suitable for this .s.sic to continue; As in the tenth season, ying Phoebe is a forty-one year old Lisa Kudrow, who had already yed the role of a mother on the big screen.


    It would have been very out of sorts for her to continue to appear as a young woman.


    Naturally, gathering the same set of six from the past was doomed from the start if one thought about it. Matthew Perry, who yed one of the young thieves in Home Alone, is now a premier movie actor, and anyone who tries to make a Hollywood star work on a si is simply an idiot.


    As for the others, Eric did have some of their movies in his memory. But before this year, Eric only had an impression of Courtney c.o.x ying a small role in "Coc.o.o.n: The Return". The others didn''t even have a shadow now.


    It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, so Eric could only patiently start picking recements for the other five friends from among the applicants.


    On May 10th, Sunday, the filming of "Running Out of Time" has reached thest act. In next week of working days, so long there is not too big of an ident, the filming will have finished smoothly.


    Therefore today, as Eric could find the time, he carried out the final "Friends" audition, this was thest audition, as because of the Eric''s request beforehand, the crew carried out the first auditions, therefore they have only used ten days of time.


    The sets that were being built in the two Fox studios were in the initial building period, as auditions of actors entered thest round.


    In Eric''s n, during thete period of Mid-May to Mid-June, the .s.sic shots of "Friends"were to be shot so they could be inserted into "Running Out of Time", and the official shooting of the TV series was only after the release of "Running Out of Time"in July.


    ording to the n given by Fox, the release of the TV series will be in early September, just after the end of the summer movie runs, as the fall of American dramas begins.


    Moreover, Eric was expected to spend only two weeks to personally film the first two episodes of the TV series.


    Afterpleting this matter, he will need to continue the preparation for the two films in the second half of the year, and moreover also he also needs to work for the release of the other three. Basically, it is impossible to have the leisure time in the second half of the year.


    At 8 o''clock in the morning, Eric walked into thepany and saw many men and women waiting in the hallway. These people obviously knew Eric. After Eric''s appearance, they all greeted Eric. Several young girls openly looked at Eric with profound gazes.


    Eric then faced everyone, nodded and walked into the audition room.


    He hadn''t seen the final round of actors until now, and all the actors also had no clue Eric would be conducting interviews. It was not like The Others and "Scent of a Woman"where everyone was drawn from his circle.


    "Jeffrey, John, good morning." Into the audition room, Eric saw that Jeffrey and John Aniston had been waiting here, and the two were whispering to each other. When they sensed Eric''s arrival they stood up to greet Eric.


    "Good morning, Eric."


    "Eric, morning."


    Eric walked behind them to a long table and sat down. A blonde female a.s.sistant took the initiative to go up to Eric and put a stack of information in front of him. She also bent over and spoke: "Mr. Williams, this is the full list of interview actors today, and the order has been marked above."


    When the girl spoke, Eric did not know whether it was intentional or not, but her chest was positioned just right. In front of Eric''s face, the top b.u.t.ton on the white shirt was not fastened, and Eric easily saw the beautiful scenery of the girl''s b.r.e.a.s.t.s.


    D**, yes, it looks like you can''t hold it. Eric thought so thoughtfully, and nced at the side, noticing how John Aniston couldn''t see the scene, and thinking that his face would certainly not be too good if he saw.


    The crew of "Friends" was built of his ownwork in the TV circle. The blonde is also a more experienced staff member he has found. Now that Eric is his daughter''s boyfriend, in order to make sure John Aniston is happy, Eric was left guessing how long this girl can stay part of the crew.


    However, perhaps the girl did not understand the rtionship between John Aniston and Eric very well, or she understood and didn''t care, so she continued to make moves on Eric in front of John''s face.


    With Eric being a young man at his current age, Hollywood has several ambitious women who are willing to try and attract his attention. This is not the first time Eric has encountered such bait.


    Once the girl had finished spoken, and Eric had eaten enough of the proverbial tofu that was before him, he nodded: "Well, I understand."


    "So, my name is Linda Grant but Mr. Williams, you can call me Linda." The girl straightened up and consciously or unconsciously showed her wonderful body wrapped in a professional suit.


    "Thank you, Miss Linda," Eric smiled as he looked at the girl and thanked her.


    The voice of John Aniston finally rang out: "Linda, let the young people waiting for the interview prepare, then let''s start right away."


    "Okay, Mr. Aniston." The girl nodded and turned around. The beautiful b.u.t.tocks wrapped in a tight skirts went out of the audition room.


    "Cough, Eric, Linda... is married, her husband is the sound engineer of the crew." John Aniston didn''t know what to think. When the girl went out, she whispered to Eric. Such a seductress.


    Eric shrugged innocently: "John, I can''t do anything."


    "Eric, although it''s inevitable that things are going on in Hollywood, you''d better be careful not to hurt Jenny, she''s actually still a very simple little girl."


    Eric''s guiltily nodded: "Rest a.s.sured, John, I will pay attention."


    John Aniston shook his head: "Actually, I hope that you can break up with Jenny on own initiative."


    Eric immediately refused: "Unless Jenny takes the initiative to leave me, I will not break up with her."


    As Eric finished, he secretly added in his heart, even if she wants to leave me, I will try to get the little girl back. Of course, these kind of words can not be said, otherwise it''s difficult to ensure John will not make trouble.


    John Aniston certainly couldn''t guess Eric''s psychological activity, and he patted on his shoulder before starting the audition.


    Eric now had the opportunity to look down at the list of actors.


    Sure enough, at first nce, none are to be famous move stars in the future. Eric has not seen many American TV dramas in the past, so he didn''t know the people from these American drama circles.


    These are young people in their twenties after all, and there are very few who will be able to catch a break. When the American drama bes more sophisticated and can even challenge the status of the film more than ten yearster, these people are already thirty or forty years old.


    Even in the American dramas then, they are all insignificant supporting roles.


    The long list of auditions turned over and did not find a familiar name. Bored to death as he turned to thest page, it was a page of actresses who asked for the role of Phoebe Buffay.


    Eric finally found a familiar name and was very familiar with it: Nicole Kidman, This made Eric a little surprised, how could Nicole Kidmane to apply for a TV series?


    Eric carefully checked the spelling and decided that the name waspletely correct. So he waved to Linda, who wasing in again. The blonde immediately joined him and seriously asked: "Mr. Williams, is there something?


    "


    "Where is the detailed actor information, I want to look at the information of the audition actors in the afternoon."


    "Please wait."


    Linda responded, went out, and took a few folders and after a while came back in: "Mr. Williams, they are all here."


    "Thank you, call me Eric," Eric said thanks, regardless of the curiosity of Jeffrey and John Aniston. He started to rummage and quickly found Nicole Kidman''s profile.


    Just a look, Eric recognised the woman in the photo on the information, brown wavy hair, round face, blue .s.ses, s.e.xy nose, thin lips.


    After a quick look, the girl''s resume showed that she stayed on an Australian TV series called "Bangkok Hilton", and she also partic.i.p.ated in several TV series and movies.


    That is to say, the "Dead Calm" that allowed Nicole Kidman to enter Hollywood is gone. Is this also the b.u.t.terfly effect brought by himself?


    Eric thought as he folded the corners of the paper, and finally had to admit that the facts were certain. Since he published Jura.s.sic Parkst year, and began to enter Hollywood through 17 Again, Everything in this world has changed.


    This reminds Eric of the dominoes that he saw in previous lives. As soon as the first domino is pushed, it will cause thousands of dominoes to fall. This is the most vivid interpretation of the b.u.t.terfly effect.


    ording to the time in memory, Nicole Kidman should have partic.i.p.ated in ""Dead Calm"before she came to Hollywood, and then quickly hooked up Tom Cruise through "Days of Thunder" to stir up the originally single Cruise. She joined his family and became Mrs.


    Cruise, and she has since be a top vase in Hollywood and a silent vase actor. After more than a decade, she also won the Oscar for Best Actress.


    Thinking pasg these trivial materials, Eric can onlye to a conclusion, this is a very powerful woman.


    Among the women around Cruise, she was one of the best in her development. Even after divorcing Cruise, not only was she not negatively affected, but she went up to the next level and quickly entered 20 million sry club, and sessfully won the Oscar for best actress.


    Others, such as Cruise''s first wife, did not leave any impression at all. Thest wife, Katie Holmes, did not get any benefit from Cruise. After the divorce, because of her predecessor, the previously madame Cruise''s status, no one was willing to employ her.


    Throughout the morning interview, Eric wanted to be more interested in this woman. When she took a break at noon, Eric gave a look to the female a.s.sistant who had been trying to seduce him and came to the stairs at the end of the corridor.


    "Eric, is there something?" Linda was curious and nervously looking at Eric. She felt that she had no preparations yet. This little director would not have to do anything here.


    "It''s like this, Linda," Eric took out a page: "This Miss Nicole Kidman, after she finishes the interview in the afternoon, you take her to my office and let her wait there. I, I want to talk to her alone."


    Linda took the information and looked at Nicole Kidman''s photo and found that this woman was much more beautiful than herself. She was somewhat lost, but she nodded: "Okay, Eric, I will tell her, you... anything else?"


    Eric shook his head honestly: "No."


    "Oh," Linda lowered her head and rubbed her toes on the concrete floor. After a few moments, just as she had the courage to look up and say something, she found that there was no one in front of her.


    "This iprehensible little guy is really... too irritating." The girl mmed her feet and turned and walked back in disappointment.


    After an afternoon audition, the remaining five characters have been initially determined. Eric also encountered Nicole Kidman, who partic.i.p.ated in the audition at about 4 pm.


    The girl''s performance waspletely free of any problems, but inparison to the Lisa Kudrow of his memory, this Nicole Kidman is too beautiful inparison.


    Monica Geller''s role has identified a brte beauty, simr to Courteney c.o.x. If Phoebe Buffay was chosen as a big beauty, then this si will definitely have somerge alterations.


    So Eric and John and others basically did not consider Nicole Kidman, but chose another girl who looks more ordinary.


    At five o''clock, the audition was over. Eric and John Aniston and others in the conference room had been negotiating the filming n for Friends until 7:00 pm, and all the talents had left.


    Eric''s thoughts turned around in a mess, almost forgot about the female a.s.sistant''s previous promise. When he walked out of thepany''s office building, he thought about it and quickly turned back.


    Now that the sky is dark, Eric is not sure if Nicole Kidman will leave early, but this possibility is not great. With this woman''s intelligence, it is impossible to leave early, it was estimated by Eric that even if it he doesn''t appear this evening, this woman will patiently stay in his office.


    Pushing open the door of the office, he saw a woman sitting on the sofa. With only a deskmp to light the office, it was quite dark. Eric recognised the other party at a nce and she saw Eric open the door. Uponing in, the girl also stood up.


    Eric closed the door and turned on the office lights. "h.e.l.lo, Miss Kidman."


    "h.e.l.lo, Mr. Williams."


    The girl''s face was not impatient, with a faint smile. In the first two steps, she took the initiative to reach out her hand and grasp onto Eric. Eric nced inadvertently and found that the girl was barefoot, the high-heeled shoes ced to the side unexpectedly.


    She''s a careful woman, and she can notice the details like height. Eric is only one meter eighty tall in the first ce. Nicole Kidman is probably also around this height.


    Perhaps the girl thought that if wears the high-heeled shoes, and is therefore taller whenpared with Eric, he might be unhappy.


    Eric sighed and returned to his position to sit down: "Sorry, Miss Kidman, I have been keeping you waiting, as I have been in a meeting."


    "It doesn''t matter, Mr. Williams, you can call me Nicole."


    "Good, Nicole, simrly, just calling me Eric will be OK." Eric said, his body lying against the leather seats, no longer speaking, as he really looked at the woman in front of him.


    Nicole Kidman didn''t bother to ask Eric his intention for having him wait here. Maybe she didn''t even have to ask, this kind of thing is obvious, isn''t it?

 Chapter 142: I need a maid

    In the bright office, Eric appreciated the beautiful of her little baby fat face for a while, his eyes gradually lost focus, and he couldn''t help but think of the divorce case of the previous life. It should be next year.


    Even though Eric at that time doesn''t care much about entertainment gossip, but Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are really too famous. Now that he is in that circle, it is impossible to to avoid hearing people talking about this kind of news.


    But until the two officially divorced, the specific reasons behind their divorce was not exposed, and all kinds of spections were flying everywhere.


    The most interesting of the few guesses Eric heard was that the two got divorced because of Kubrick''s "Eyes Wide Shut", as Kubrick had Nicole y around with a male model, Gary Cuba, in the movie. The rtionship between the two was said to have produced irreconcble cracks.


    With Kubrick''s personality, Eric though tis matter was quite likely, but Kubrick was a jerk and not a madman. Though the truth of the matter is unlikely to be disclosed because of Cruise, and even this news came out after the divorce only.


    Two years before the couple divorced, a maid of the Cruise family identally revealed to the media that the two people were not getting along when they were at home, and there was no conversation between them. The maid had s.u.mbed to awsuit because of this news.


    After winning thewsuit, the Cruises also publicly showed a few intimate moments to maintain their image, but after two years the couple divorced inexplicably.


    The media at the time spectes several reasons for the divorce. Firstly, some thought that Nicole had given Cruise a green hat and cheated on him, and as such her child that she bore for three months was not Toms.


    Eric thought this was the most likely, as Nicole left him with only the clothes on her back on her back, and the disposition of a western women would have meant that she should have taken half of Toms property, as Californianw states that after ten years of marriage the woman is ent.i.tles to half and Nicole signed the divorce days before their tenth anniversary.


    When George Lucas divorced his wife he lost a huge amount of property and had to sell Pixar. Vi''s chairman Sumner Redstone was also overwhelmed by his wife''s divorce.


    Lacking a prenuptial agreement, Nicole would have been ent.i.tled to half of Tom Cruise''s vast 360 million USD fortune, but it is said that she left with just one piece of art after the divorce.


    In that moment in the office, Nicole Kidman noticed Eric''s sorrowful expression with a little dissatisfaction. Am I not attractive? The man who is three years her younger was distracted.


    After a few more minutes of silence, Nicole finally couldn''t take it and spoke first: "Eric?"


    "Oh, sorry, Nicole, I was remembering something." Eric finally recovered. He apologetically smiled towards Nicole and asked: "Nicole, your file shows that you were developing well in Australia, why did you suddenly make the move to Hollywood?"


    "All actors globally yearn to prove themselves in Hollywood, and I am no exception, so I hope I can develop myself in Hollywood for the better."


    "It''s not easy, you haven''t even shot a Hollywood movie before, and if you wanted to prove yourself in Hollywood, you shouldn''t be auditioning for a role in a TV drama."


    "I just... didn''t find the right role," Nicole fumbled for a reason within her guilty conscience: "I think this TV show should be good, so I came to try."


    Nicole might have wanted a role in a movie, but she had no luck in her life. She came to Hollywood at the beginning of the year. Like all the budding new actors, she came to the centre of global cinema with all kinds of unrealistic fantasies.


    Several monthster, she had partic.i.p.ated in several auditions, but only got a role in one film. It was a small supporting role in which she couldn''t even be counted as a vase. In the end, she had to turn her attention to TV series.


    From the small screen to the big screen, was the road to fame of many Hollywood stars.


    Eric suddenly though of one thing and curiously asked: "Nicole, did youe to Hollywood alone?"


    "Yeah" Nicole answered, felling a bit puzzled.


    Eric nodded.


    After a few seconds of silence in the office, Nicole couldn''t help but ask the question on her mind: "So, Mr. Director, I... Did I get the role of Phoebe Buffay?"


    "Sorry, no, the role is already set as another person." Eric shook his head and replied honestly.


    Nicole was stunned, this is...


    what''s going on, if the other person had said something like ''I''m still considering'' or ''this depends on your performance now,'' she could still understand what she should do, but she did not expect that the other party would directly tell her that the role was given to someone else.


    "Can you tell me why?" Nicole''s thoughts were a little chaotic.


    Eric shifted to a morefortable position and exined: "I decided this with the other producers, because you, um, you are too beautiful."


    "Ah?" Nicole was struck dumb. She had no words.


    "This is the case" Eric sat up straight and exined: "In the setting of the story, Phoebe is a very frustrated girl. She was abandoned by her biological parents since she was a child.


    Later her stepmothermitted suicide, and at only 14 years old, the girl made her way alone to New York, and struggled at the bottom before finally bing a ma.s.seur."


    "Does this have anything to do with appearance?"


    "There is a big rtionship," Eric continued. "Do you think that if a beautiful 14-year-old girl was on the streets of New York, she would grow up to the age of twenty living an ordinary life. Would she still have arge group of good friends?"


    Of course it was impossible. As Nicole Kidman was born into a good middle .s.s family, she did not see the dark side of society. If Phoebe was very beautiful, with a little luck, she could find a good man to marry and be a housewife. After all, beauty is not a scarce resource anywhere.


    But if luck is bad, then one''s end will be rather miserable.


    "Eric, if this is the case, then why are you still waiting for me here?"


    "Because... curious, I am very curious about you, so I wanted to talk to you."


    "Just this?" The girl was looking at Eric distrustingly, as the reason is too far-fetched.


    Eric shrugged and stood up and said: "Just this, I just want to talk to you, but it''ste, Nicole, as a sorry for having you wait so long, I''ll invite you to dinner."


    "Okay, Nicole Kidman stood up in disappointment, put on her high heels, walked out of the office with Eric, and went down together under the watch of the security guard.


    When they were dining in a nearby restaurant, the tall girl looked quite serious. It seemed she was struggling with something in her heart. Eric was eating with relish, and chatted with her as if nothing had happened.


    After going out of the restaurant after dinner, Eric got into his car. Nicole looked at Eric with the intention to say goodbye, but finally couldn''t help but open Eric''s door and sit in the co-pilot''s seat.


    She understood very well that if she misses this opportunity, she would likely return to Australia in vain.


    In her months in Hollywood, Nicole had seen a lot of Hollywood''s brutalpet.i.tion. The person with the highest status she had worked with was just a director with no fame in Hollywood. Her performances had won her several small awards in Australia, but these had nothing to do with Hollywood.


    "Nicole..." Eric looked curiously at the girl who got into his car, with her own car stopped adjacent to his.


    "Well, Mr. Williams, what do I have to do to get the character, please tell me directly?" As she said this sentence, her breathing became a little short, and her pair of blue eyes stared at Eric earnestly. Her eyes held in them grandeur, but also the willingness to sacrifice.


    "But the role has already been chosen." Eric replied with simr gusto.


    "Then why did you have to do these extra things, giving me hope, only to burn it out so quickly, don''t you think this... is this too much?"


    "Okay, I apologise, I really just because... because I was curious."


    "You let a woman wait in the office for a few hours, only to talk about six or seven irrelevant matters. It''s ridiculous. Do you think anyone would believe it?"


    "What?" Eric was getting a little impatient.


    She hesitated for a moment, before pulling over Eric''s arm and cing on herp: "Mr Williams, I know very well who you are. You are the most promising young director in Hollywood. I have heard about it... Julia Robert''s thing, so, give me a chance?"


    Eric nced at the hand pressed by the girl onto herp. Eric felt an inexplicable temperature though her trousers. A warm aura.


    "After "Running Out of Time", there is indeed a movie you can try. Like "Pretty Woman"it is also a romanticedy." Eric finally said.


    The girl held Eric''s hand tightly and her face showed an excited look.


    "You know, I have been busy recently. The movie will start at least seven or eight months, maybe eventer."


    "No problem, I can wait," Nicole did not hesitate.


    Eric shook his head: "That''s not what i mean, I mean, as I have been busy recently, I need a servant at home."


    "Ah," Nicole opened her mouth slightly.


    Eric''s mouth evolved into a smug smile: "I''m too busy, I need someone to help me prepare three meals, oh, but I''m not normally home at noon, so two meals a day is good. Moreover, my family needs someone for a part time job to help them clean their rooms.


    If you want, you cane and be my maid from May to September."


    "Ah!" Nicole was still for a moment before she turned her head and asked, "Eric I... am I the heroine?"


    Eric showed a sly smile: "Of course, if you do well, it will be like Julia, a movie. Even among the ranks of the level actresses, such a good opportunity, many will not be able to meet throughout their careers.


    "I need to think about it." Nicole looked up.


    "Of course, you go think about it, but contact me as soon as possible. If you agree, you will stay in my mansion for the next few months."


    "Why?" Nicole was a little scared. There was something embarra.s.sing about the words in her mind.


    "I have a formal girlfriend, so I don''t want a young and beautiful woman toe in and out of my vi. And, if you want to be famous in the future, you wouldn''t want to let others know how you got this role would you?"


    "I understand" Nicole nodded.


    The two talked for a little longer before parking ways. As Eric was returning home, he felt excited after thinking some wicked thoughts. He was sure that Nicole wouldn''t reject his proposal.


    He even thought that he could use the same proposal in the future, such that he wouldn''t have to have random hourly wageworkers cleaning his house, and he wouldn''t have to worry about his three meals a day either. What''s more, what could be better than having the stars of his past life?


    Shining stars were the most satisfying thing as maids.


    As the beginning of the next week, "Running Out of Time", started its final shooting, and with therger scenespleted, the rest was asional outdoor scenes. Five dayster, on a street in downtown LA, the crew of "Running Out of Time"began filming the final scene.


    Although the crew had been working hard for a month and a half, they all had rxed expressions.


    ---------------------------------------


    On the bus, Sean, hiding under a newspaper and holding a bucket of popcorn, glimpsed a sapphire ne on the chest behind him after sitting down. After hesitating, Sean couldn''t help but look back again, and look at the sapphire ne under the girl''s watch for for a few seconds.


    When the girl showed a vignt expression he said, "Sorry, I had the wrong person."


    "It doesn''t matter." Yoyo replied lightly, as she turned her gaze towards the window.


    "That ne is very beautiful, where did you buy it?" Sean couldn''t help but ask.


    "A friend sent it, but it''s fake, very cheap." Yoyo turned her head to the other side and lifted the ne, with little gusto.


    Sean smiled and said, "Boyfriend?"


    Yoyo shook her head. "I haven''t seen him for a long time."


    "Keep it well," Sean said, turning around, his eyes moved: "Maybe he might suddenly appear some day and scare you."


    Yoyo''s following expression was a smile, as if she was looking forward to it. Maybe she felt that her little bit of hope was embarra.s.sing, but she still stubbornly took the bus every day, hoping she could see Andy one again.


    The bus gradually came to a halt, and as he pped the pperboard* he shouted with satisfaction: "This scene is over, only thest scene is left, everyone should get ready. Yoyo, oh no, it''s Brooke,e with me to the audition room.


    The scene has you performing, and although there are still several hours, I hope you can finish as soon as possible, as there is a celebration party at the end of the night."


    "I will try my best, Eric." Brooke Shields answered with a smile.


    Thest scene began: As the days pa.s.sed, Yoyo still couldn''t meet Andy and disappointedly got off the bus. Several cameras shot images of Brookeing down from the bus from across the street.


    Although it was practiced many times in the audition room, Brooke only managed toplete the shot after four or five NGs.


    After Eric shouted "Good!" And everyone broke into a round of apuse.


    Eric screamed into the megaphone: "I announce that "Running Out of Time"has officially finished filming. Quickly clean up the set, and this evening at the Hilton, everyone muste, no one can be missing!"


    "Yahoo!!"


    Cheers rang as many members of the crew couldn''t help but take off their hats and throw them into the air.


    Eric smiled after this, and then went to the armoured escort car near by.


    Four bodyguards with padded waists and suits stood near the armoured vehicles. A middle-aged man in his forties was loading the sapphire ne used by Brooke Shields into the safe.


    "Mr. Derek, thank you for your sponsorship." When Derek finished putting the sapphire into a safe within the car, Eric warmly greeted him and they shook hands.


    "You''re wee, Eric, this is a win-win thing." The middle-aged man named Derek politely shook hands with Eric: "So, Eric, I have to leave as soon as possible, the gems are still outside." A minutete, and I will feel unreliable."


    "It''s okay, understand," Eric replied with a smile. In addition to a series of sponsored brands, there is also a very important prop in the"Running Out of Time". The sapphire that he grabbed.


    No one had ever tried to use such a prop within a shoot, as they would just look for a piece of blue crystal worth hundreds of dors. However, after Eric thought, he decided to shoot with the real kind, but he did not have the right connections.


    After contacting Colombia, Amy Pascal had pa.s.sed on the message to several others, one of whom found a blue diamond worth 10 million US dors.


    The gem was said to be from a collector in the United Kingdom, and he was intending to auction the diamond through Christie''s Auction House in the fall, but the top bra.s.s of Colombia and the collector had a good personal rtionship , and so after somemunication, the other party reluctantly agreed to lend them the gem.


    But the process was not easy. Every time the gem was involved in the shooting, there were four bodyguards with live ammunition with their eyes on the gem. They were always within five meters of the sapphire, even when the crew was working. Because of these people everyone was nervous.


    Fortunately, there were no problems during the entire shooting process.

 Chapter 143: A high quality movie

    After one and a half months of high-intensity production, with an especially gruelling month of shooting on location, whilst the actors were a little better off, the dozens of crew and staff members were exhausted.


    Therefore, the celebration party following the final shooting had everyone suddenly rxed after a long period of pressure, and so everyone became extraordinarily unrestrained, the party room was noisy, and from time to time there were high-pitched screams.


    Eric could onlyugh at the situation. After all, everyone had been suppressing it for a month, and so some of the rudeness on disy now was excusable. Most of the actors in "Running Out of Time" had received invitations to the party, and even several of the starring actors had shown up.


    However, after seeing the chaos present, the self-sustaining Cruise only stayed for twenty minutes before leaving. Although he was born at the bottom, Cruise now thought himself as a person at the top of the pyramid.


    Of course, it was impossible for everyone working on the project to enjoy the party, so some of the older crew members and actors also left. With Eric''s psychological age, he couldn''t really enjoy the rave party, but he had to stay as the director of "Running Out of Time".


    Out of everyone present, Eric is the youngest, although Eric''s face may seem very oppressive when he''s scolding others, but otherwise he still looks like a harmless young man.


    In addition, the members of the crew are familiar with Eric''s character, so knowing he was a joke-loving person, it was logical that he would be teased by everyone.


    After being filled with quite a few bottles of beer for various reasons, Eric got out of the crowd in the name of a urinary emergency and walked out of the banquet hall to the bathroom at the end of the corridor.


    When he came out, not knowing if it was a coincidence, he saw Brooke Shieldsing out of the bathroom opposite, drying her hands with a paper towel.


    "Hey Brooke" Eric said with a smile: "Having fun ying?"


    Brooke replied with a sweet smile: "Alright, though it''s a bit noisy." As the most beautiful woman at the party, Brooke was naturally the target of all eyes. She felt that Eric also enjoyed this sought-after feeling, but Eric''s att.i.tude towards her had not been salty.


    After receiving Eric''s greeting, she turned to walk, and after quickly stuffing her paper towel into the trash can, she took two or three steps, and motioned to Eric.


    "Brooky, what''s the matter?" Eric asked in turn.


    Brooke whispered hesitantly: "I am just... I just wanted to say thanks to you Eric, thank you for giving me the role of Yoyo.


    This thank you did not simply carry the meaning of smalltalk.


    After it was revealed that Brooke would be the "Running Out of Time" Heroine, although many media outlets said it was because she had been nominated for several Golden Globe awards, more felt that it was impossible for to get the role through her virtue alone, and that their must be some inside scoop.


    Despite this the poprity of Brooke was also indisputable, and the media''s attention for her had increased rapidly. When she went out, she was once again pestered by the paparazzi. This situation had not happened for many years. Thest time was when she was close to Michael Jackson a few years ago.


    More importantly, this kind of attention could bring her actual economic benefits. During this time, she had received several advertising endors.e.m.e.nt invitations.


    "It''s nothing, Brooke, your performance in "Running Out of Time" is very good, and I believe that after the film is released, your character will definitely leave a deep impression on the audience."


    "So," Brooke heard Eric''s praise and looked at him with antic.i.p.ation. She asked, "Eric, will we have a chance to cooperate again in the future?"


    "This..." Eric hesitated, he did not think that she would ask so straightforwardly. To tell you the truth,I did not want to cooperate with you anymore.


    However, to avoid hurting this kind of person, Eric could definitely not say: "Brooky, you have to understand that we need to have an appropriate opportunity."


    Brooke Shield''s expression quickly dimmed, her broken look was one that would break the spirit of any man who saw it.


    Eric looked at her expression and even felt a faint sense of guilt. After thinking about it, he tried to persuade her: "Brooky, I think you should focus on a few movies alone. First select a few excellent scripts to hone your acting skills."


    Brooke had been acting in movies for 12 years before getting the role in "Running Out of Time", and after spending more than a decade moving around in the movie industry circles, she understood that if she wants wants to emerge as a star on her own, the most important is to have excellent performing skills, and rely on these skills to attain a move award, and from their move into the mainstream movies.


    But this road was not going to work for her, because she is too beautiful, and even if she could act a little, it would be covered up by her face and her devilish figure, so not to mention that she does not have the kind of acting ability, even if she returns to her own industry circles, she can only y the role of a vase, with little chance of ever raising her status.


    Of course, Brooke understands that even if she has to y the role of a vase, it should be a vase in a big production movie. Even a supporting vase in arge production is more influential than the protagonist in the small production.


    It is a pity that although Brooke Shield has some fame, she is just a pretty star. It is not enough to attract the interest of Hollywood mainstream movie circles. There are many beautiful and acting actresses in this circle.


    A big production movie dared to invite her to be a vase was nominated by the Razzies several times. Eric could be the first director to dare to ''eat crabs'' in recent years. TN: It''s a pun


    "Eric, I know my strength. If I go back to the movie circle alone, I will never be able to break through. You... If you have time tomorrow, can I invite you to a meal, to thank you."


    "No need, Brooke," Eric said, refusing, noting the girl''s sly look, and quickly added: "To tell the truth, after the release of "Running Out of Time", I believe that with the influence of your role, you will definitely recieve a lot of movie invitations, as long as you can carefully select the script, even if it is a vase role in several movies, as long as the movie is solid, you will definitely be among the ranks of level actresses, so you don''t have to pin your hopes on mepletely."


    Brooke was very disappointed with Eric''s refusal, but after hearing thest few words of Eric, she began to understand. Although she is not very smart, she can still understand that if"Running Out of Time"makes her a hot topic, she really will not have to go back to shooting low budget movies.


    "So, Eric, I still want to thank you," Brooke thought about it, and finally showed a satisfactory look, as if that previous expression of loss had never appeared on her face.


    When she was ready, her attractive eyes blinked twice, and she suddenly stepped forward to hold Eric''s shoulder, and began kissing him gently into the corners of his mouth, and as she saw Eric''s stunned expression following her sudden sneak attack, she showed a brilliant smile, before turning around and walking back to the banquet hall.


    Eric touched his lips and shook his head and smiled and walked back to the banquet hall.


    "Eric, you were gone for so long, are you sure others won''t envy you?" Seeing Eric had appeared, Tom Hanks walked up to him and handed him a .s.s of champagne, as he took a sly look at Brooke who was chatting with others nearby.


    Eric took a sip of champagne and revealed a knowing smile.


    Hanks also showed a smirk, and the two exchanged a perverted gaze. Then Hanks relieved his expression, so that his next words would not be misunderstood: "Eric, my own movies, I am waiting."


    Hanks also stretched out five fingers in front of Eric''s eyes, seemingly reminding him not to forget the promise of the five box office of over 100 million movies, as in the agreement, Eric could not count the"Running Out of Time" in five movies.


    "The script has been around for a long time," Eric said. "Afterpleting thest dubbing of"Running Out of Time", you can prepare."


    Hanks is also a workaholic, especially in recent years. He managed to film two or three movies a year, which made him one of the most diligent in the acting circles. When he heard Eric''s words, Hanks''s spirit improved: "Tell me some of the plot first?"


    "Let''s go over there," Eric pointed to a sofa in the corner, just then a coupe had left to join the dance floor. Hanks nodded, and the two of them moved over.


    "It is also a romanticedy, called Sleepless in Seattle, it''s a script that I identally thought of when I went to New York."


    "A romantic loveedy?" Hanks hesitated and touched his face, in the past Hanks was a little handsome, and he had been in a few romanticedies. But after he reached 30 years of age, Hanks was basically not able to fit the role of the more handsome characters.


    "Eric, do you think my image is suitable for this kind of movie?"


    "Don''t worry, this is not a romantic romanticedy between an ordinary young man and women," Eric exined. "You will be in the movie, acting as a single father."


    "Single father!?"


    "Wait, don''t get angry yet, Tom, listen to me to finish the story first ok?"


    "OK!" Hanks lowered his raised hand.


    Eric continues: "The story is like this. After the wife identally died, the infatuated Sam was always unable to forget his wife for a long time, so he decides to leave Chicago sadly, with his eight-year-old son Jonah and they move to Seattle.


    A yearter, on Christmas Day, his son Jonah dialed onto a emotional radio hotline in the United States to find a new wife for the father who still did not leave the shadow of his previous wife.


    By coincidence, this The emotional phone hotline connected Sam''s family with a woman named Anne who lived far away in New York. Although Anne was engaged, she was moved by Sam''s infatuation and couldn''t help but write a letter to Sam.


    With the letter falling into the hands of Sam''s son Jonah, and Jonah feeling that Anne would be very good with his father, he decided to reply to the letter for his father. He wrote saying the two will meet on the top floor of the Empire State Building in New York.


    An Affair to Remember?" Part way through the narration of Eric, Hanks blurts out.


    Eric nodded: "There will be lots in the movie that pays homage to An Affair to Remember"


    "Eric, ording to what you said, won''t this movie be simple?"


    Eric smiled and spread his hand: "Tom, I just told you the story. It''s a standard high-quality movie idea. The story is simple and clear. Some clichs can be main features of high-quality movies.


    For a movie, if you want it to gross well, you must first have a simple and clear story line. The rest, well that depends on the strengths of the director and the actors."

 Chapter 144: Delivered herself

    "Well, I understand, then, when will the film start shooting?"


    "I don''t know," Eric took a sip of champagne and exined: "Look, first I need to go through thete phase of "Running Out of Time". After the film is released in July, I still need to make a TV show for Fox.


    Barry Diller asked me to personally direct the first two episodes, so I am not sure when the film will start shooting. Tom, you have not shot two this year. Is it a movie? Just give yourself a vacation break for a while, be an actor so tiring, and you can''t enjoy life much longer.


    It''s fun to enjoy your high pay whilst you can."


    "Oh, is this ording to you, you who has shot four movies this year, and I heard that you are also the producer of three other films. Isn''t a madman who makes seven movies a year also not living life?"


    "No, this is not the same," Eric is at He shook his head and repeated: "I am different from you."


    Hanks could not help but roll his eyes and quip: "Are you an alien?"


    "Yes ah, my journey is through the stars !"


    Theyughed together again, and the party continued until midnight in the end. Eric, although at the beginning he drank a few beers, did not drink much in total. So he refused to let anyone drive on his behalf, and he drove home slowly.


    In order to avoid paparazzi, there were no street lights in front of many Hollywood celebrities'' homes in Beverly Hills. Eric''s house is also in such a situation. Therefore, when Eric got off the car and opened the door, the woman''s voice next to him really made Eric startled.


    The woman shouted his name and then appeared in the light of his car lights. Eric recognised the tall figure. It was for just a few days that there was no news of Nicole Kidman, for Eric.


    After proposing conditions that were full of bad taste, he temporarily put this matter behind him, and he did not expect that the other party would suddenly appear here.


    "Nicole, why are you here?" Eric asked subconsciously, and couldn''t help but look up and down the other''s dress. At this time Nicole wore a ck slim long trench coat with ck shoes on her feet. With the high-heeled shoes, the girl''s body seemed to be getting taller and taller.


    If you ignore the awkward hair that appeared in Eric''s view, it is quite a bit of the chilly queen from his memory of his past life.


    The girl couldn''t help but step back under Eric''s gaze, she then stuttered and said: "I... I understand, I... I am willing."


    "To do what, marry me?" Eric I couldn''t help but ridiculed that although the light was weak, Eric saw that the girl''s white face was quickly blushed, so he stopped teasing and then took out the key to open the door: "Well, let me go in first."


    Nicole returned to where he had just stood, pulled out a small suitcase and lowered her head into Eric''s car.


    Having parked the car, Eric took her to the vi and pointed to the sofa: "Nicole, you sit first."


    Nicole put the suitcase on the sofa, took off her windbreaker and then hung it on the hanger. Then she sat down on the sofa in a restrained way. She saw Eric turned and walked into the kitchen.


    The girl''s tight body rxed and looked around, although the vi was designed in a modern minimalist style, there was exquisiteness everywhere, and although Nicole was born into a good middle-.s.s family, she was still full of envy for the Beverly Hills mansion.


    She thought that, perhaps, if the man promises turn out to be true, she only needs a few years, and then she can buy a vi like this in Beverly Hills. When she though of this, the girl''s heart is a little less disturbed, and she felt a little more expectation.


    Eric quickly walked out of the kitchen with coffee, and Nicole quickly got up and wanted to take it from him.


    "Sit down, now you are still a guest." Eric pushed a cup of coffee to the girl, saying so.


    Nicole sat back down, picked up the coffee, felt the hot temperature, and put it back on the coffee table. Her slender fingers rubbed on her knees before she looked up at Eric: "Mr. Williams..."


    "Call me Eric."


    "Well, Eric, can you first... that''s ok... I don''t want to..."


    The girl''s fingers were twisting around on her knees, and her voice was full of embarrassment, fearing that her performance would be too eager and provoke the opposite person to be unhappy. But she hopes that she can get some specific promises from Eric.


    She doesn''t want to stay here, and be a maid or a ything for a few months, before identally angering the other party and being driven out, making her toil useless. Before Eric said that she would only be his servant, but Nicole didn''t believe this at all.


    This is why she hesitated for several days, but the desire for fame and fortune finally made her unable to resist the lure. It enticed her to take the initiative and in the end she delivered herself to him.


    Eric, after having relished and appreciated the awkward appearance of the girl for a while, sets out saying: "Wait a bit." Saying so, he starting walking towards the staircase.


    Nicole stared at Eric''s figure and disappeared at the corner of the stairs before regaining his gaze. She nced at the trench coat hanging on the hanger not far away. As Eric quickly appeared again, she hurried to take a sip of her coffee as to not worry him.


    Eric came to the sofa and put a few printed documents in front of Nicole Kidman: "The above is the script. The following are two actors'' contracts. After you have checked them and signed words, you will keep one. Give the other to me."


    Nicole didn''t think that things would be so simple. She was excited as she picked up the top script and look at the name, Sleepless in Seattle.


    Whilst she was flipping through, Eric exined as he sipped from his coffee: "The main actor for the movie has been chosen, it will be starring Tom Hanks, as long as you pay a little attention to entertainment news, you should know who Hanks is.


    The heroine role could have been handed over to Julia Roberts, but she also has a movie to be released at the end of the year. Moreover the influence of "Pretty Woman" was too great, and she is not suitable for a romantic romanticedy for a short time.


    I haven''t had time to invite other actresses, and you have appeared in front of me. I have to say, Nicole, you are very lucky."


    Nicole listened carefully to Eric''s exnation, but her eyes also didn''t leave the script, she flipped through it quickly. She put the script back. She felt her head dizzy: "Eric, this, is it really for me?"


    "Of course, but your qualifications in Australia are not useful in Hollywood, so you can only be regarded as a neer. The pay will be the same as when Julia was filming "Pretty Woman"", 300,000 US dors, no dividends."


    Nicole listened to Eric''s narrative and reached out again to get the two contracts. Eric stopped the other party: "It''s toote today, we should rest, anyway, there are still months, you can look slowly, just give me a copy after leaving your signature."


    She heard Eric''s words and bowed her head slightly: "That... that''s okay."


    "Follow me," Eric said, standing up. Nicole held several documents in her arms, took the windbreaker and the suitcase, and followed Eric as he walked upstairs.


    Eric led her to the second floor, and opened a vacant bedroom: "This is your bedroom, the bedding is in the closet, it is new, and if after the first night, you are not satisfied, then you can change tomorrow."


    "ah Thank you." She whispered, Eric briefly introduced a few of the facilities in the room, and said: "You should rest early, I will go back to my bedroom."


    Eric turned and left, and closed the bedroom door. Nicole stood by the edge of the bed and just as she was about to move, the door was pushed open again, and the girl subconsciously hugged her chest, but quickly put her arms down again. She bit her lips and hung her arms as if waiting for something.


    Certain matters.


    Eric looked at the girl''s appearance as if amb to the ughter, smiled and reached out a figure into the air, before exining: "Nicole, I just forgot one of the most important things, I want to remind you, from tomorrow, you have to start fulfilling your duties.


    I usually get up at seven o''clock, so I don''t want you to beter than me. You have to prepare breakfast before 8 o''clock. I am not picky in this regard. You can use from the kitchen the ingredients that are the best for you, and the dinner is the same.


    The cleaning of the vi and the surrounding areas are also your job. You can decide how to clean it yourself, as long as it is neat and tidy."


    The girl nodded nervously: "Eric, I understand."


    "Well, good night, go to bed early." Eric said, pulling the bedroom door closed again.


    Nicole heard the clicking of a door locking, sat on the big bed before sprawling out, hurriedly breathing a few times, staring at the door, waiting for a few minutes, making sure that the other party would not open the door again.


    She then pulled the ck windbreaker on the big bed, took out a recorder from the inner pocket, and pressed the stop b.u.t.ton.


    Then her gaze turned to several doc.u.ments on the bedside table, and then the corner of her mouth moved, seemingly wanting to move into a smile, but she failed andughed.


    After thinking about it, the girl reversed the tape, adjusted the sound, pressed the y b.u.t.ton, and the sound came out of the recorder. Although it was not too loud, it was enough to clearly distinguish the conversation.


    Rattling -


    The door was pushed open again and she was very surprised to see Eric who was holding a pillow appear at the door: "Sorry, I think you need this ..."


    Snap, the tape recorder fell on the floor and bounced a few times, but still ying the sound stubbornly.


    "...starring Tom Hanks, as long as you pay a little attention to entertainment news, you should know who Hanks is. The heroine role could have been handed over to Julia Roberts..."


    Eric heard the small but clear voice echo in the still bedroom at midnight. Eric stared at the little object and was a little worried. Nicole didn''t know what to do. She sat on the bed coldly holding her feet with her hands, her body twitching and her eyes held a look of despair.


    Despair and fear.

 Chapter 145: Maid attire

    Seeing that Nicole looked frightened almost to the point of fainting, Eric walked in and threw the pillow in his hand onto the big bed, picked up the tape from the ground and shouted: "Stupid woman, do you not know how to lock the door?"


    "I forgot, next time... next time..." The girl was incoherent.


    Ericughed out loudly: "You want to have another time?"


    Trantion StOlEn from /


    The girl slowed down and shook her head: "I''m sorry... I don''t dare anymore."


    Eric walked over and picked up the girl. He rubbed her pretty face carefully, which showed a little shyness, and it was like touching delicate porcin: "In fact, it is useless to do so, even if I don''t fulfil my promise, and you hand over the recording to the media, it wouldn''t affect me too much.


    Instead, your acting career will bepletely finished. No movie will dare to use such a silly woman."


    "I didn''t want to, I just want to protect myself," Nicole weakly justified herself with one sentence.


    "I understand, but I am still very upset. What do you have to say?" Eric asked.


    The girl trembled a little and reached out to the b.u.t.ton on her shirt on her own. Eric stopped the girl: "Forget it, seeing you look like this can''t really make me feel good. Go to bed early, but don''t forget the words I said before."


    Eric said, then he threw the tape onto the bed before he turned away and left the bedroom.


    Nicole sat for a long time before she got up and locked the bedroom door. She then removed the sheets from the cupboard and mechanicallyid them out on bed. But she couldn''t sleep once in bed, and her mind was in a mess.


    Life in Australia, stepping into the experiences of the entertainment industry, the dissuasion of her loved ones and friends towards moving to Hollywood, the bleak encounters in Hollywood for a few months, the situations with Eric several times, and her expectations of the future...


    In thispletely unfocused thinking, she didn''t realise that the window had already started to light up. She looked at her watch. It was half past six, and although she had already started to feel tired, she still used her strong spirit to get out of bed.


    Her simple clothes were then hung in the closet, she went to the bathroom, brushed and washed, put on a beautiful white shirt and jeans, and picked a pair of ck t shoes before she opened the door and went out.


    She didn''t know where Eric''s bedroom was, and even if she did, she didn''t dare to call him to get up. She walked downstairs and opened the door. The vis had high walls and green trees and it was very quiet as she stood outside.


    She saw the vacant swimming pool to the side and took a few deep breaths of fresh air in the morning, and the tiredness of the sleepless night dissipated a lot. After a walk around to gain familiarity with the environment, she walked into the vi again and went to the kitchen.


    Eric got up at 7:00 on time. After going downstairs, he greeted the tall figure from the kitchen door. He turned to the gym and started the day with exercise. After half an hour, Eric took a shower and changed clothes.


    Coming out, he took the newspaper today and sat in the living room and saw it was past eight o''clock, only to realise that the girl seemed to be still busy, so he curiously walked into the kitchen.


    There are already a few foods, sandwiches, sweet soups, steaks, and sds on the kitchen table. The girl seems to be still be cooking omelettes.


    "Nicole, enough, these are more than enough." Eric took a sandwich and took a bite.


    She turned off the gas, the omelette abandoned, and exined: "I do not know what you like to eat, so I did some of everything."


    "I said, anything is fine, I''m not picky in this regard." Trantion StOlEn from /


    The two then put the breakfast into the dining room together, the girl was hesitantly standing next to Eric. It seems that she is taking the ident.i.ty of the maid very seriously.


    Eric couldn''t help but smile: "Sit down and we can eat together, I have no ns to give you a sry, so you don''t have to be so dedicated."


    "Well, thank you," Nicole heard Eric''s words and sat down across the table.


    So, this somewhat weird life officially started after this breakfast.


    After breakfast, Nicole watched Eric drove away before returning to her bedroom and she began to read the doc.u.ments fromst night, especially the actor contract of Sleepless in Seattle and after repeatedly reading it over and over again, she found nothing improper inside.


    Although Eric told her not to leave the mansion, in order to prevent the paparazzi from taking pictures, she still left in the morning and went to aw firm and spent a few hundred dors. The consulting fee allowed the professionalwyer to help review whether the contract had legal effect.


    Only when thewyer confirmed that there was no problem, she was relieved topletely let go of her stress.


    When Eric returned home in the afternoon, he found that Nicole seemed to have changed a personpletely. The original uneasiness in her expression hadpletely disappeared. Her smile seemed to show she was pleased, and the vi seemed to be cleaned up.


    Nicole took Eric''s few hand bags and asked: "Eric, should this go to your bedroom?"


    Eric shook his head. "No, this is yours. Go upstairs and pick one, then put it on so I can look at it."


    "For me?" The girl opened a garment bag and nced inside. She found a set of ck and white clothing withce silk, curiously asked: "Is this a pyjama?"


    "No, you will know when you go to your room and change into it."


    "Oh," the girl nodded obediently, then carried the few bags and went upstairs.


    Eric sat down on the sofa and picked up the remote control to turn on the TV. After waiting for half an hour, he heard the sound of the leather boots stepping on the stairs, and there seemed to be hesitation in the footsteps.


    Having turned to look, first a slender leg wearing white suspended stockings appeared with the ck leather boots in his field of vision, followed by the signature maid skirt, then he moved his line of sight from the slim waist and the girl''s chest, to above where her delicate vicle was bound by a circle of white silk neck ornaments.


    Eric actually wanted to pick a cor, but after considering it, his taste was a bit extreme, and thece neckline is actually very beautiful.


    When Nicole''s figure appearedpletely, Eric''s lower limb reached for the heavens, making a clown of himself, and he hoped she would forget this quickly.


    Nicole was still somewhat dissatisfied, but it took half an hour to get rid of it.


    If it is a normal maid costume, she would not produce too much resistance, since she has seen a maid costume, but this set of clothes is very different from what she has seen, the style is extra s.e.xy with low chest straps revealing lots of skin on her chest, and there are a lot ofces and ribbons on the clothes.


    It looked very beautiful. There was no such style of attire for maids in her memory. More importantly, she don''t know whether it is intentional or unintentional. This set of clothes was obviously smaller.


    When she saw Eric turning his gaze away, the unpleasantness of the girl''s heart became inexplicable. She bent her neck down and looked at herself. She didn''t find anything wrong with how she was wearing the attire. She couldn''t help but ask: "Eric, there is ...


    Is there any problem?"


    Eric still waved his hand and shook his head: "Go up and change first, wait for me to leave and then you can help clean up."

 Chapter 146: Falling...

    More than two hourster, in a hairdressing salon in Beverly Hills, Nicole looked at her new image in the mirror and realised the reason why Eric disliked her look previously. At this time, the woman in the mirror was totally differentpared with the previous one.


    If they were two different people, then the original image was a little girl, it is now a morous modern girl.


    Her hair in the mirror has been dyed a beautiful golden brown. The original fluffy little curls have also been straightened, with a bunch ofrge bangs in front of the forehead. This hairstyle made her look a bit more mature and intellectual.


    "Miss,pared to the hairstyle you had before, this hairstyle now makes you look more proper, your boyfriend really has vision." The haircut sister stood behind Nicole and did the final clean around for the girl, as she praised with her mouth.


    "He''s not..." Nicole whispered softly and wanted to defend. She nced at the rest area and looked at the person with a magazine and sun.s.ses, and stopped her words. If he really was my boyfriend, that would be fine.


    But now she felt more like a Barbie doll, letting the hateful guy dress her up with his own preferences, so she looks a lot more beautiful, but Nicole was not too excited in her heart.


    "Sir, can you see?" After everything was done, the haircut sister got up and walked to Eric, and the little girl behind her was Nicole, both were looking at the man who seemed familiar with sun.s.ses.


    Eric turned and looked up at Nicole. The she smirked and nodded. Her''s hairstyle was made by Eric in ordance with the hairstyle in the The Interpreter in his memory.


    Among the many movies of Kidman, Eric''s favourite look of hers is from The Interpreter , which he finds both intellectual and morous and, strong and sensitive.


    In a scene in The Interpreter , after a fierce bombing, Nicole ys a Sylvia with scars on her cheeks, who is wearing a professional suit and carrying a backpack as she walks down the stairs.


    Eric knew that If it weren''t for the temperament that Nicole showed in this scene, and how simr it was to Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle, when she stood on the opposite side of the road in front of Tom Hanks, Eric wouldn''t have given her the role of heroine in Sleepless in Seattle.


    Thinking of Silvia in The Interpreter, Eric couldn''t help but raise his hand and gently stroked Nicole''s left cheek, although there were no scars there. Many .s.sic characters can always be deeply imprinted into the hearts of the viewers.


    The haircut girl pa.s.sed off Eric''s action as normal for this couple and snickered as she walked away.


    "Eric, are you touching me?" The woman''s sensitive instincts made Nicole ask unexpectedly.


    Eric retracted his hand and smiled: "Of course, what do you think?"


    "But I think..." She raised her hand and did not know how to describe it.


    "You feel right," Eric looked up and down and said, "You may be Nicole Kidman, or Silvia Bloom, or Grace Stewart, Gilly. Ann Owen, Alice Have, Ada Monroe, Virginia Wolf."


    "I don''t understand," the girl shook her head in confusion.


    "Well, let''s go," Eric did not exin. He greeted the cashier and handed over his credit card before leaving after checking out. Nicole, although she wanted to pay the bill herself, she was blocked by Eric.


    After looking for a restaurant and having dinner, Eric took the girl back.


    On the way back in the car, Nicole was silent, and once they walked into the living room of the vi, she whispered: "Eric, want me to... wear it and show it to you?"


    Eric looked to the sofa. He sat down and asked: "No, there is time in the future. The contract, you must have seen it today, did you make a decision?"


    Nicole nodded guiltily and ran to the upstairs and signed the two contracts for their agreement. One she was down again, Eric just looked at the girl''s signature, and then found the pen and signed it, then handing one of them to the girl he said: "Now I have to prepare scripts."


    After Eric finished, he didn''t talk to the girl too much and went upstairs to go to his study. He had to write out the script of "Friends".


    Jeffrey and John Aniston had proposed to form a screenwriter team dedicated to writing the script for "Friends", and make Eric only responsible for providing a synopsis of the story.


    However, Eric did not ept this suggestion. Although this is amon practice in all TV series, Eric decided to write all the scripts of the first season in person to ensure the authenticity of the TV series.


    After all, even if you are a good writer, you can''t fully understand Eric''s intentions, and only Eric, who has all the scenes in his mind, has this ability topletely copy them out.


    Moreover, Eric also intends to make appropriate modifications to the first season based on some .s.sic clips in the memory, which will make this season even better. In his memory,"Friends"has the best ratings in the second season, except for when they have star celebrities from time to time.


    In addition, the most important thing is that in the second season the script is very good, and as Eric has just seen the first two seasons, he made up his mind topletely integrate the two seasons, to create a new but fully blended version of "Friends",and, in ordance with the rules of the US drama, as long as the first season is sessful, the ratings will be guaranteed in the future, as long as you spend time working out a good script.


    This TV series is also an important project for Eric and Firefly Studios. If they can make a name for themselves with Friends, then in the future, Fireflies will not be unable to sell other American dramas in the future.


    The market size of American TV dramas is actually not much smaller than the movie market, but because this market is very closed, it appears quiet. If they can sessfully enter this circle, Eric will be able to transform the .s.sics in his mind that he remembers into real wealth.


    The typewriter in his study has been reced by thetest IBM personalputer. Although the text editing software is still very backwardpared with the previous life, and the operation is quiteplicated, it is still much more convenient than the typewriter.


    Eric also found this simr to his past life in front of theptop. The feeling of the office.


    Every time he wrote a paragraph, Eric would stop and ponder for a while. It''s not an easy task tobine the two seasons. In many cases, Eric will feel an impulse to directly copy the original version of the first season.


    Nicole knocked on the door of the study room with a tray. After getting permission, she walked in, put a coffee pot and coffee cup gently on the table, and saw Eric staring at the monitor with a focused look. Then she sized up the s.p.a.cious study room.


    During the day, she also wanted to see inside the study, there were no thoughts other than pure curiosity, but unfortunately the study was not opened like other rooms, even if it was Drew''s bedroom. Nicole also saw in that room a photo of Drew and Eric ced on the bedside table.


    But the study was an exception. She guessed that the key to the study was with Eric alone.


    The most eye-catching things in the study was therge writing board and the ck piano that was out of tune.


    The writing board was densely covered in A4 papers, some were painted with rough sub-shots, some were paragraphs of text, some were scattered lines that werepletely iprehensible, and some were written with square characters.


    Nicole has seen these in Chinatown, they should be Chinese characters which are said to be a kind of text that is difficult to learn in the world.


    As if inexplicably attracted, she looked up and carefully looked at the ma.n.u.script papers, and took a picture of the A4 with Chinese characters before carefully pondering for a while, of course, she could not understand, but she also saw that Chinese characters were Handwritten, and although she didn''t understand what it meant, she thought it looked beautiful and had a flowing aesthetic.


    After she carefully put the A4 papers back on the writing board, Nicole couldn''t help but look back at Eric, who was still tapping on the keyboard quickly. This is a mysterious man. It is said that he is less than 19 years old and was known as the director who could do many things.


    He was also an actor, screenwriter, and publisher of two best-selling novels.


    In this study, Nicole found that the other party must also know how to paint andpose music. He can also write with such beautiful and mysterious hieroglyphics. It is too much to describe as talent. More importantly, he is also so rich.


    It is said that there were already hundreds of millions of dors in his worth.


    Women always admire the strong, this is an instinct that was engraved in the depths of the genes after the evolutionary process of hundreds of millions of years. Nicole, who was thinking all these things in her mind, was caught by some kind of emotion without knowing it.


    In the distance, Eric''s every move seemed more and more pleasing.


    If Eric turned to see the girl''s expression, then with his past experience, he would definitely ridicule: "Girl, are you not a love struck fool?"


    Unfortunately, he did not notice this at all, but was immersed in the conception of the script of "Friends", he didn''t even take a sip of the coffee that Nicole brought him to drink.


    Nicole looked at his back as he worked silently for a while. After returning to herself, she also noticed her strangeness. Unconsciously, a faint blush appeared on her cheeks and she moved to the piano in the corner.


    Her slender, white fingers crossed the ck keys and she looked at a handwritten score on the piano cover.


    "Isn''t this also written by him?" She stared at the string of small notes above. Although she couldn''t read them, it produced a very strong impression. Her fingers unknowingly touched the ck and white keys, and she yed some keyspletely unconsciously.


    Uh...


    Disturbed by a series of crisp sounds in the quiet study, Eric awakened from his ideas for the script.

 Chapter 147: Show some respect

    "Why are you still here?" Eric turned his head and identally looked at the girl who was leaning on the piano.


    "I''m sorry, I will go out," Nicole carefully put the score back in it''s ce and walked to the door, but was stopped by Eric: "Nici."


    "What," the girl stayed at the door. One hand was on the doork.n.o.b as she turned around, with enquiry in her eyes.


    Eric turned around in the office chair and reached out to indicate the whole study: "This is not within your cleaning requirements. Although it is a little messy, I am used to the cement of the doc.u.ments, you understand?"


    "Yes, I know, without your permission, I will note in." The girl nodded, her figure still figure stopped at the door, it seems she held other expectations:"Eric, are there other things you need help with?"


    Eric shook his head: "It''s okay, you should rest early, good night."


    "Good night," Nicole replied, as she watched Eric turn again and focus on the monitor, slightly lost. She then went out of the study and gently closed the door.


    In the next few days, the girl''s life seemed calm. She got up every morning, made breakfast for Eric, sent him out of the door, and then spent a few hours cleaning the house. If it wasn''t for her clothes always reminding her of her ident.i.ty, she might have had the illusion of being a housewife.


    This life was actually pretty good, at least not like what she had originally imagined, doing a few months of being a s.e.x doll in Eric''s vi, suffering from all kinds of unbearable abuse and teasing, although she had been psychologically prepared for this kind of stuff, but it did not happen.


    Eric dressed her as a beautiful look from his imagination, and then rarely paid attention to her, leading her to begin to doubt her female charm. One day she secretly stuffed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s with twoyers of pads, and walked in front of him.


    He just smiled with great relish, and then ignored it, which made her feel very embarra.s.sed, and she didn''tter dare to do this kind of thing again. She acted in her role as a maid seriously.


    Every day, in addition to her work, there was a lot of leisure time. When she was bored, she read newspapers, watched TV, and repeatedly read the script of Sleepless in Seattle. She also bothered Eric to make him buy her a lot of magazines. She was very obedient and didn''t sneak out.


    Since the reality is much better than she thought, she is willing to be a well-behaved canary.


    She knows that Eric is busy with a movie called "Running Out of Time"tely, and that he is not at home every day. Sometimes he spends the night at his girlfriend''s house. She is a lucky girl. She has seen Aniston''s picture, and she is very envious of that girl''s luck.


    Inte May, Eric also went to the United Kingdom and left her alone in the vi. It was said to be a search for talent, but after two days, he hurried back.


    At the end of May, the girl saw in the newspaper that the Home Alone North American box office broke through the 300 million US dors mark. This news was in most newspaper''s throughout the next week. Variousments were praising Eric.


    The Colombia Picturespany''s stock had therefore risen a lot.


    The focus of the girl''s attention is Eric''s uing dividend of up to $120 million. STOLEN FROM FIZZHAZ TRANSLATIONS


    120 million US dors felt like an astronomical figure to Nicole. The reason why she came to Hollywood was because of her desire for money and fame and fortune.


    She wants to be the top Hollywood actress like Julia Roberts, but ording to Eric, who mentioned Julia Roberts''s sry of $6 million per movie, she would have to make 20 movies to earn that much money, which means that as a star she would have to always maintain a high poprity, be shooting two movies a year, and alsost ten years, which everyone knows is impossible.


    Most of the star''s peak status can onlyst for about ten years. In these ten years, their pay will also rise and fall ording to the performance of their films.


    Thinking of this, her already calm mind has be more and more eager to work. As long as she can remain the hostess of this mansion, she can directly get what she wants.


    She even figured out some ns that she thought were feasible, but unfortunately, these risky thoughts have not yet been implemented and as such they are temporarily dead.


    Because the summer vacation is now, the evil fairy is back.


    The time is more than four in the afternoon. Nicole had just trimmed thewn in the yard as she heard the sound of the door being opened. She knew that Eric would not normallye back this time, so she went forward to investigate and saw the Drew''s bags.


    The luggage was moved into the yard and the gate was closed.


    Nicole greeted her warmly and wanted to help with her luggage. It was a very important part of her n to have a good rtionship with Drew.


    But what was unexpected was that after the girl saw her appearance, her eyes were wide, an incredible expression, and her eyes was unconcealed hostility, then she walked around her several times before she asked a question that made Nicole copse: "Did-he-f.u.c.k-you?"


    Seeing the girl who was in a messy state after being put on the spot, Drew showed a satisfied and somewhat rxed expression: "No, right? But that can be guessed as your chest is so small. "She said before suddenly reaching out and grabbing a hand onto Nicole''s chest.


    She snorted: "These are pitiful, not even in size."


    "You..." After being attacked by Drew, Nicole finally reacted. Protecting against the small ws that Drew stretched out again in front of her, she couldn''t help but swear: "You are not big either."


    "I am only 14 years old, I can still develop for many years, madam, are you not thirty this year?"


    "I''m toozy to care about you," Nicole noticed Drew''s hostility, so she cut off the idea of developing a good rtionship with the little girl in the meantime, and just returned to thewn mower to continue pruning thewn.


    Drew used to listen to Eric and he said that he liked the j.a.panese maid costume. She thought that the other party was joking. She didn''t expect that a tall beauty wearing a s.e.xy maid costume would appear in the vi today, which made her instinctively resistant and hostile.


    She didn''t want Eric to have another woman, Aniston, that little fat girl hadn''t been pushed away yet, and now there was one more, so how busy will it be if moree one by one.


    "Hey, you, help me carry my luggage in?" Although she knew of Eric''s ''bad heart'', Drew didn''t think about it anymore. She really thought of Nicole as a maid hired by Eric.


    "Sorry, Miss Barrymore, I am not your servant, so I am not obliged to do this." Nicole continued to push thewn mower in the cold, and she did not turn her head.


    The little girl was suddenly furious: "I ... I will tell Eric, today you will be fired!" STOLEN FROM FIZZHAZ TRANSLATIONS


    Nicole could see Drew though of her as a true servant, so she didn''t mind her at all and replied: "As you wish."


    Drew angrily mmed her feet and moved items from her pile of luggage to the vi one by one. After her several suitcases were moved, Nicole had also finished thewn, so returning to the vi, she began to prepare dinner.


    Drew looked at Nicole''s figure and became more and more angry. She thought about it for a bit before picking up the phone and dialing Eric''s number.


    Dudu - Dudu


    Then someone picked up.


    The little girl plunged onto the sofa in the living room, held a pillow, and her voice became soft and greasy: "Eric, I love you."


    In Fox''s studio, several of the main scenes of "Friends" had been arranged, just today. Shooting need to be done to insert several shots into "Running Out of Time". Eric took Motor''s microTAC that was for advertising and walked to a quiet corner.


    He found it confusing to hear Drew''s words: "Drew, isn''t it a holiday today? , have you gone home?"


    "Eric, I love you." The girl''s soft voice came from the phone.


    "Okay, don''t make trouble, if there is something to say, I am busy, I will go hometer." Eric said as he held the mobile phone at his neck, and lifted his hand and opened the sleeve and looked at his watch: "But not yet. It is five o''clock, I will go back at about six o''clock."


    "Eric, I love you." The sounds of the spoiled brat resounded once more..


    Eric was silent for a moment before he opened his mouth: "What do you want, say it straight!"


    "Calm down, Eric, you are really hateful," Drew turned over in the vi sofa and put the pillow behind his head. After she said discontentedly: "I have said that I love you so many times, but you haven''t given me a response."


    "I will hang up without saying anything?" Eric threatened.


    "Okay, okay, Eric, we must fire the maid," Drew said, raising her voice. The girl with the tomatoes in the kitchen heard the words and rolled her eyes.


    "You mean Nicole, she is not hired, just helping out."


    "But I don''t like her."


    "Nici''s food tastes good, you will like it at night, now be obedient, I''m going to hang up." Eric said that he hanged up the phone immediately.


    In the vi, Drew gasped and waved her little hand. She wanted to throw the phone out of her hand but stopped herself and looked up. She saw Nicole smugly leaning against the kitchen door, holding a .s.s bowl in her hands and stirring the eggs inside. With a slight smile: "How was it, little girl?"


    "You are not allowed to call me a little girl, you small breasted woman."


    Although Nicole had some inferiority in her heart, but in the face of Drew''s provocation, she still shrugged indifferently. "It may be someone likes this type."


    "He doesn''t like it," Drew couldn''t help but rebuke.


    "The taste of people will change," Nicole left just these few words, then she turned back to the kitchen, leaving the discouraged Drew.


    "Hey, I absolutely will never let you seed." Drew waved a small fist and said.


    On May 24th, with the release of Spielberg''s blockbuster "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", the arrival of thee of this year''s summer films was announced.


    Although Eric was busy with thete phase of the "Running Out of Time", he was still very concerned about this film, the film received a $46 million box office on more than 2,300 screens in the first week, and then in the second and third weeks the box office take had declines between 20% and 30%.


    In mid-June, the box office of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" broke through 100 million USD after three weeks.


    Thete work of "Running Out of Time" was alsopleted in mid-June. Although Eric was willing to spend money in many ces, he only used $34 million for the production budget. After all, the crew''s finances were from Colombia.


    The film doesn''t have many of a big picture''s needs for spending money, and it doesn''t have any special effects. However, after seeing the current "Running Out of Time" the Colombia executives readily agreed to put the remaining $6 million in budget into the promotion of the film.


    At the same time, the first summer-time blockbuster "Ghostbusters II", which was highly anticipated by Colombia, was also released on 2,400 screens.

 Chapter 148: The dilemma

    Compared to the "Indiana Jones" series, which has a strong box office appeal around the world, the series Ghostbusters had no advantages, because the movie type wasedy, andedy movies are not easy to remember as, after everyoneughed andughed, there was nothing left.


    And the shooting time between the two parts of the series is five years apart. For aedy, the loss of poprity over time is even greater. If it weren''t for Colombia not having a continuation for any other series of movies to put out this summer, they would not have started this project.


    However, Colombia''s efforts to spare no expense in this film have made up for most of the disadvantages.


    Although it is still worse than the frenzied propaganda of"Running Out of Time",pared to the summer advertising of other filmpanies, the propaganda in Colombia waspletely as if they didn''t want to make money, but simple make their box office goals, their true goals were indeed this.


    Negotiations with Sony for acquisition have entered the final stage. The j.a.panese are determined to eat a fat sheep this time. As a result the ultimate goal of all business operations in Colombia is to raise the stock price.


    For listed studios, box office data is one of the most influential factors in stock prices.


    "Ghostbusters II" was released on June 16th. After the first week at the box office, the $45 million data made the Colombia executives ecstatic, knowing that the first week of the "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was only 46 million.


    This also means that "Ghostbusters II" is likely to be like the "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", and ording to the evaluation agency''s expectations, get nearly 200 million US dors in the North American box office.


    But this excitement onlysted for a week. In the second week, the box office of "Ghostbusters II" dipped directly, with a drop of 55%, and only got just more than 19 million in the second week at the box office.


    The box office appraisal agency quickly lowered the box office estimate of "Ghostbusters II", and the box office valuation of 200 million US dors was reduced to 110 million US dors.


    The Colombia share price that had been rising rapidly did not fall due to this news, but the rising momentum slowed down. After all, as one of the six giants, the summer film is the main film, and it is really nothing special to get a box office of about 100 million.


    The reason for this drop is that, except for the film''s reputation after the film was released, the film was not as good as the first one. The most important thing was that the film had a bad luck and ran up against Batman.


    Batman started from the first serialisation in 1939, and now it has run for half a century. For this first superhero in the history of North Americanics, Warner was not very optimistic the chances of this movie. Thisck of optimism was reflected in the budget.


    Compared to therge-scale productions budget of nearly $50 million, Warner had only provided $35 million in production costs for Batman, which is inferior whenpared to the size of blockbuster budgets, even that of Ghostbusters and "Running Out of Time".


    Although "Running Out of Time"only cost 34 million, Colombia provided a budget of 40 million US dors at first, whilst "Ghostbusters II" had a budget of 40 million US dors.


    Because Warner was not optimistic about Batman, Colombia did not put it in their eye, so they put "Ghostbusters II" in the week before Batman was released.


    But everyone had far underestimated the influence of this half-century superhero in the eyes of Americans. On June 24th, Batman was released.


    A weekter, thisic book hero had swept away the rivals with a $68 million box office, upying 45% of the total box office in a week, and smashing the box office of many other movies.


    The biggest impact was on Columbia''s"Ghostbusters II", and after a 55% decline in the box office, the dream of the 200 million box office for "Ghostbusters II" waspletely broken. After all, after the box office crash, there was very little chance for a bounce back.


    Therefore, Colombia can only ce its hopes on Eric''s "Running Out of Time". After all, this film has been internally audited, and the film critics have screened it and been consistently optimistic.


    However, after the box office of Batman was released in the second week, it brought down the people at the top''s expectations of"Running Out of Time", because Batman dropped only 23% at the box office in the second week.


    It got a box office of $52 million, which is much higher than the box office of manyrge-scale screenings in the first week.


    Although the weekly box office total will be about 150 million US dors in the summer, this $150 million is spread between more than a dozen movies from the summer catalog, so each will not appear too much. either the movie will go big and gross well, or it will be cannon fodder.


    Even if it is a good movie that is highly antic.i.p.ated, the proportion of thetter is stillrger. In this case, the movie Batman upies one-third of the market, and if there is norge-scale box office decline next week, the box office pressure on"Running Out of Time"can be imagined.


    In a conference room at the Colombia headquarters, a group of high-level executives were nervously discussing the response n. CocC also sent a vice president to attend the meeting. Eric sat next to Amy Pascal and patiently listened to everyone''sments.


    Although he is the director of this film, Eric doesn''t have much of voice in the film''s distribution. He appears here only because he is the director of"Running Out of Time". The film production process ispletelypleted by Colombia.


    Autonomy of direction was given to him, but he was almost not involved in the distribution. Eric had previously submitted a paper of his own ideas about film advertising, but he did not receive a response from Colombia.


    "I feel that the"Running Out of Time"should be postponed for release, at least one weekter. The momentum of Batman is too fierce. It is very unwise to act stubbornly with the schedule of July 7.


    We have lost a lot to"Ghostbusters II", and if the box office of"Running Out of Time"cannot meet expectations because of Batman, then we havepletely squandered the n to push up the stock price with two blockbusters." The executives of the department expressed their opinions.


    When the other party just finished, another executive asked: "Bob, ording to your n, what should we do with the agreements with the theaters?"


    "Coordinate with the other parties, properlypensate the losses of the theaters, this way they can push our film to the top. In short, we have to be sure that the box office of "Running Out of Time" is the first."


    The management of the data a.n.a.lysis department interjected: Batman''s box office has already broken 100 million, this momentum is unlikely to continue, and the critics'' evaluation of the film is not too high. I think the box office in the third week should have a normal decline of more than 40%."


    "ording to your previous statement, the film should have had a normal decline in the second week, but the fact is that this did not happen. In the second week, it only fell slightly by 23%," some people retorted.


    "The media has begun to ridicule our schedule for the two films. If we do not follow the current schedule, it will definitely give a signal that we have no confidence in the quality of the "Running Out of Time".


    This is very dangerous because once the fans have such misunderstandings, they will think that the "Running Out of Time" is a bad film. This blow to the movie would be the most deadly. As a result, it would be the safest way to release the movie ording to the original n.


    It is not that we do not want to dy the release, but in ordance to the current situation, we must not postpone it."


    "I also agree with Rhett that we want to postpone, but we can''t postpone it. Once it is postponed, it is equivalent to telling everyone that we are not confident about "Running Out of Time".


    They will say we are afraid "Running Out of Time" is actually not as good as our advertising makes it out to be."


    "But even after Batman has another drop of about 20% in the third week, it will still get around 40 million at the box office. Can you imagine how much box office pressure "Running Out of Time" will have in this case?"


    The crowd noisily discussing for another hour, and the vice president of CocC who was watching the whole scene during this process, listening, sat up straight when there was a lul in the conversation, but this change was ignored by everyone, and then he turned his gaze to Eric, who listened as silently as himself: "Mr.


    Williams, I see you haven''t spoken yet, why not talk about your opinion?"

 Chapter 149: Trying another method

    Eric had kept looking down at the documents in front of him. In fact, he was slightly distracted. He also thought about Batman. Although the first Batman was a great sess, in his memory Warner started down the endless hole that was the Batman series.


    In the next ten years, Warner will produce several Batman sequels in session, with an average investment of more than 100 million US dors, but these only made just more than a 100 million box office in North America.


    It is estimated that with the global box office and the other earnings, Warner can only just manage to recoup costs.


    For a big productions that require investments of hundreds of millions of dors, to approximately recoup costs, even if it is a small profit, is actually a loss, because if it was deposited in a bank, the money will be able to reap arge amount of interest in a few years.


    It may even make double if invested in other projects.


    It wasn''t until Amy poked his arm with a pen, that Eric found that he had be the focus of everyone in the conference room, and that many people were looking at him with obvious dissatisfaction.


    Although the "Running Out of Time" project was s.n.a.t.c.hed by Columbia from Fox at a price, it does not mean that Eric will be loved and weed by Colombian executives. In fact, there were few that liked him in the entire management.


    Even Amy Pascal, who has always had a good rtionship with Eric, had a somewhatplex opinion of Eric.


    This is mainly because of Home Alone, as after the end of May, the box office of Home Alone will finally finish, and that Eric will receive a share of about 120 million US dors is a well-known thing in the conference room, whilst Colombia can only take 40 million of the profits, and overseas distribution rights were also s.n.a.t.c.hed by Fox for various reasons.


    Therefore, Eric took most of the profits, which means that all the executives will receive smaller bonuses at the end of the year.


    Coupled with the"Running Out of Time"profit split agreement, regardless of the oue of the box office of this movie, Eric is actually the biggest profit-maker, and this project does not have a penny of Eric''s investment, but the other party will get a high proportion of the box office when it is divided.


    As such it''s clear that the executives would be upset. Although many shareholders will also benefit from"Running Out of Time"pushing up the stock price of Colombia, most of the executives in the conference room do not have Colombia stock in their hands.


    With such aplicated mood, it is not difficult to understand that the people would intentionally or unintentionally ignore the existence of Eric at the meeting.


    Eric''s previous marketing paper that he submitted did not receive a response. He had already predicted this situation today. Although he had prepared some rhetoric beforeing, because of the cold reception at the meeting, Eric was toozy to take the initiative to jump out and be reputed.


    Anyway, ording to the original signed agreement, after the film is released, regardless of the oue, he is the biggest beneficiary, and this just determines the difference between earning more and earning less. There is no possibility of loss for Firefly that has not invested a penny.


    Originally Eric did have some concerns about the box office prospects of the film. After all, this was a new type of work that waspletely unheard of and did not exist in Hollywood.


    However, after the series of internal screenings the film critics had given good reviews, so Eric has let go of his worries.


    The internal preview can basically determine themercial value of a movie, although sometimes mistakes can ur, but in most cases, the professional filmmakers who have been immersed in Hollywood for decades will not be wrong, and the results of the reviewer''s preview also indicate the reputation of a movie after the release of the movie.


    Before the Inte era, the establishment of a movie''s reputation was mainly word-of-mouth and through various kinds of film reviews in the media. Many fans read the newspapers and after the reading the film reviews, they will decide whether to watch a movie or not.


    Now that both have a basic guarantee, Eric is no longer worried that this movie will be his Kryptonite. As for the unfortunate timing with Batman, it can only be said that his luck is not good, but it is not the end of the world.


    Amy Pascal saw that Eric had stunned eyes after looking up and came over to whisper a few words in his ear.


    "Sorry, everyone, I just got a little distracted." After Amy spoke, Eric sighed and said, "I actually sent a doc.u.ment with my marketing advice directly to Columbia.


    The distribution department, maybe because I am an amateur in this regard, did not reflect content of that doc.u.ment in the"Running Out of Time"marketing strategy as far as I have seen."


    In the conference room, there was a loud discussion. Most people didn''t even know that Eric had submitted such a doc.u.ment, and the director of the marketing department had a bit of a guilty conscience.


    He was originally raised by Blunt Cohen, although Blunt Cohen left the job, he has always maintained a good rtionship with his old boss.


    As a result, because of Blount Cohen, he didn''t have much affection for Eric. After the secretary gave him Eric''s doc.u.ment, heughed and tossed the doc.u.ment aside without even looking at it.


    He didn''t want Eric to intervene in the marketing of "Running Out of Time", nor did he think that Eric could have any new ideas.


    In the face of everyone''s gaze, the supervisor could only stammer and argue: "I... I don''t think Mr. Williams'' n is... there is nothing surprising, so I didn''t care too much, just...


    Just..."


    "Forget it, don''t say anymore," the current president of Colombia, who sat on the front, waved and interrupted the other''s defence. So many people can seen that you is lying, so arguing will only make peopleugh. "Eric, everyone is here, so simply exin your... well, n."


    "Good, so I will," Eric stood up and came to the meeting room under the other''s instructions. With the writing board in front of him, he picked up a ck pen and wrote a word on the whiteboard: "I call my idea "topic marketing".


    Of course, this is just an appropriate name that I temporarily came up with as there is no such concept in the theory of orthodox marketing, so please don''t mind." In his memory the concept of topic marketing gradually matured after the emergence of online blogs.


    Before that, there were some hype scandals. It was simr to marketing behaviours, but when this concept appeared, Eric does not know.


    "The advertising before"Running Out of Time"has already reached the maximum, so we can''t do anything else with the orthodox marketing techniques, so if you want to make a breakthrough, you can only choose a topic that seems to have little to do with the movie.


    In fact, I think many movies have attracted attention of fans without advertising but with s.e.x scandals between the male and female leads, and this can be .s.sified as topic marketing.


    After Eric finished, he waiting to take in everyone''s reactions before continuing: "The focus of everyone''s debate before was whether the"Running Out of Time"should be dyed for a week. I think that my n can just the best of both worlds.


    Without the dy, and if done properly, the second week''s box office will have unexpected results, and you can maximize thepensation for the loss in the first week''s box office that Batman brings.


    As everyone in the meeting room watched with curious eyes, Eric wrote the words ''imnted ad'' and ''television'' on the whiteboard.


    "Everyone knows that there are a lot of imnt ads in"Running Out of Time", so there have been some small disputes between us." Eric pointed at the ''imnted ad'' with smile, the executives in the conference room alsoughed in kind, because Eric had previously received a $6 million advertising fee with by using arge number of imnted advertis.e.m.e.nts in "Running Out of Time".


    After learning about this, Colombia wanted to take a share of it. After all, $6 million is not a small amount money and could be used to make the movie.


    However, Eric converted the advertising fee into his personal ie through a specific contract, rather than the ie of the movie"Running Out of Time". As a result, Colombia did not get a penny.


    When everyone''sughter fell away, Eric went on to say: "My n is centered on the topic of imnting advertis.e.m.e.nts and the TV series I am about to make.


    I am confident that the imntation of these advertis.e.m.e.nts is still very clever, so even the film critics who partic.i.p.ated in the screening didn''t find anything wrong, and they didn''t notice the TV series that appeared three during the movie.


    As even these film critics didn''t notice, I believe the audience noticing is even less likely. I am betting that they will only be immersed in the story of the movie.


    The topic marketing that I am talking about is that after the film is released, we artificially create a topic that guides the audience to notice this. If it seeds, arge number of fans will, in the second week of the movie''s showing, return or even watch repeatedly."


    Here, a senior executive Interjection: "Eric, you can try the topic of your TV series, but I remember that you specifically exined us before, when advertising to not mention any topic of product cement, in order to prevent the fans from being repulsed."


    Eric exined: "Of course, so, I just said that we reveal it after the film is released. After the film''s first three days after first weekend, the reviews of"Running Out of Time"will have been confirmed. I believe everyone knows this to be right. The film''s word of mouth will be full of confidence.


    Since the fans have already determined that this is a good movie, then when we will reveal the imnted adds, the fans will not be disgusted, but will treat it as an interesting thing, just like we are always tolerant of the shorings of those who are outstanding.


    No one will criticize Napoleon''s height, Einstein''s indifference, or Mrs. Curie''s cough. Of course, this is a must condition. The media is guided by public opinion.


    We must ensure that most of the media''s att.i.tude towards this matter is based on ridicule rather than criticism.


    The specific n, I have already written in the doc.u.ment I submitted, but of course, the professionals must revise this, after all, I am just ayman in this regard, and their may be many things I have not considered."


    Eric finished, and once more sat in his seat. The president of Colombia turned his attention to the executive who was responsible for promotion: "Ryan, is Eric''s doc.u.ment still there?"


    Ryan''s hand under the conference table hit his knee and he responded with uncertainty: "Maybe ... Still, I will ask my a.s.sistant to find out."


    "Go in person, make a few more copies and send them to us as soon as possible."


    "Okay, I will go." He stood up and left the meeting in a hurry. The meeting room was now in a tentative state, everyone talked about what Eric had just said, and Eric was no longer left out, as he was surrounded by people discussing with him.

 Chapter 150: The premier

    Colombia eventually decided to give the go ahead for"Running Out of Time"to be shown as scheduled, because most of the executives believed that dying the film would be more risky than the collision with Batman. Of course, the propaganda path offered by Eric also yed a big role.


    In the Beverly Hills vi, Eric stood in front of the mirror with his head raised.


    Nicole, who had already changed him into his suit, was carefully tying his tie, and on top of the big bed next to them Drew was lying, wearing a white vest and denim skirt, and part of her well-developed body was revealed by her small vest to show a slender waist, her white calfs were swaying, with toes polished ck.


    The girl held her chin and looked at Nicole do Eric''s tie. Although she wanted to do it personally, unfortunately... she cannot.


    "Eric, wait for me to walk with you on the red carpet" When the tie was tied, and Eric was wearing apleted suit, Drew asked, with a spoiled tone.


    "No, that has already been arranged. You can enter directly with Nicole."


    "Oh, why do I have to enter with her?" Drew did not hide her likes and dislikes in the face of Nicole.


    From the beginning of summer vacation, Drew kept up her temper, and no longer went crazy whilst ying outside but, very unusually, stayed at home every day, and after many days, Eric understood that Drew was against Nicole.


    Right now, for example, because it was time to partic.i.p.ate in the premiere, and Eric wants to change clothes, Nicole hades over to help, so the girl had appeared at the side of the two like clockwork.


    When she heard Drew''s words, Nicole couldn''t help but pluck up her eyebrows, but Drew urately grasped Nicole''s change in expression and responded instantly: "Eric, Eric, you see, she raised her eyebrows, and is scheming in her heart. Look, let us drive her away."


    Nicole finally couldn''t bear it: "Drew, don''t you say that in front of me, can I not even express my dissatisfaction?"


    "Don''t call me Drew, as a maid, you should call me Miss Barrymore." STOLEN FROM FIZZHAZ TRANSLATIONS


    "Well, Miss Barrymore." Nicole seemed helpless, knowing that if Eric was not here, Drew wouldn''t bother either.


    Drew did ruin her little n, and for more than a month, she had not made any substantial progress in her rtionship with Eric, although she always kept everything in the vi in order, taking care of Eric''s life meticulously, but after Drew''s summer vacation started, the two of them had had almost no time alone together, which meant she didn''t even have a chance to take the initiative.


    "Though I''m reluctant, I''ll be your maid, so Eric, let''s send her away."


    Eric wore a suit and smiled as he tapped on Drew''s head: "Don''t make trouble and make me send you away, and go change your clothes."


    The girl squealed exaggeratedly, and walked out covering her forehead.


    When Eric got off the bus, the s.p.a.ce in front of the Chinese Grand Theater on Hollywood Boulevard was already crowded with people. There were reporters on both sides of the red carpet, and there were a lot of fans.


    Eric saw that many pretty girls held high a"Running Out of Time"poster, and it was not surprising that the name of Cruise was shown in a big font.


    In the main credits of "Running Out of Time", Eric is listed as the director. Although he appeared in 17 Again, and gained a lot of fame then, he afterpletely put down his actor''s career and the gained fame slowly dissipated.


    In addition, his various films did not have a unified style, and he also deliberately kept a low-key profile so, it was unlikely for him to .u.mte fans.


    Hanks had no advantage in appearance. Although he is very famous, he can only be .s.sified as a powerful actor, and his acting career was still on the rise, so he had not gained the influence that he had during Eric''s previous life.


    Cruise was different. From his debut to the present ten yearster, Cruise had been taking the idol-type route. His image in the public''s hearts and minds is still very high. Before his divorce with Kidman, Cruise''s public image remained perfect.


    Eric didn''t mind the reaction of the fans. His personal goals were very clear. He never thought about being a public idol, but wanted to be a big hand behind Hollywood. The red carpet premier had begun to have some small starsing up from time to time.


    ording to the usual red carpet rules, more important people will generally arrive in the middle, so Eric does not go directly to the red carpet, but to the waiting area. There were ben a lot of people gathered there.


    "Eric, congrattions."


    After Hanks saw him, he smiled inexplicably and saw that Eric was confused. Hanks exined: "I heard that you took half the Home Alone profits, and"Pretty Woman"officially ended screening in the past few days.


    The North American box office of 210 million, and the global box office of 530 million US dors really scared a lot of people, when totaled with Home Alone''s global box office, your personal total box office has reached 1 billion US dors.


    In Hollywood, the number of people who have more than 1 billion US dors at the global box office can be counted on one hand. Shouldn''t you celebrate?"


    "It''s not too strange," Eric smiled and pointed to Cruise next to him: "The global box office of Cruise''s movies has already exceeded $1 billion."


    Cruise heard Eric''s words, but did not actually show self-satisfied look as he would have previously.


    Heughed modestly, and said: "Eric, how can Ipare with you." He starred in movies with a global box office of more than one billion, butpared to the huge box offices, Cruise himself received poor benefits from them.


    By now, Cruz''s personal a.s.sets are only tens of millions of dors, and Eric''s two films, Home Alone and"Pretty Woman", are expected to score more than 200 million for the director.


    Cruise during this time, every time he saw news about Eric in the newspaper, couldn''t help but embarra.s.sed by Eric''s luck. At the same time, he was more determined to develop towards the role of a producer.


    During the period, the productionpany established by Cruise was already starting to pick up scripts.


    As a femalepanion arranged for Eric by the organizers today, after the appearance of Eric, Brooke Shields naturally came to him and heard the contents of the men''s conversation. She lots heart as she was reminded of the vague rejection Eric gave her once more.


    Her gaze towards Eric became fiery, as her extreme experiences between childhood and maturity had lead her to had lead her to worship and have an unusual love of money.


    If she had enough money, she could have lived the life of a n.o.bledy without the need for the blood of n.o.bles, Instead of selling nude photos for a few hundred dors at the age of ten, and partic.i.p.ating in"Pretty Baby"at twelve. Not to mention the sloppy jeans ads.


    STOLEN FROM FIZZHAZ TRANSLATIONS


    When the staff suggested that the several hosts could board the red carpet, Brooke Shields took the initiative to lean on Eric, holding his arm intimately, and she somewhat regretted wearing high heels today, making her taller than Eric. As she was taller, the two of them did not match very well.


    Eric didn''t care about this. His arm felt the softness of the girl''s chest. Although it was veryfortable, he still had to remind her: "Brooky, you are holding on too tight, can you loosen your grip?"


    "Oh, sorry, Eric, I am a little nervous." The girl retorted, as she slightly loosened her grip.


    Eric smiled and thought that this girl''s mind was a little different. She grew up in front of the camera from an early age. How could she be nervous? However, he was toozy to take this into consideration and took her onto the red carpet.

 Chapter 151: Toys

    With fan''s cheering in the background, Eric walked through the crowd, smiling past the rope on either side of the red carpet, and signing his name on a few posters of 17 Again, Home Alone" or "Pretty Woman" with haste, before they would greet Brooke, who would also sign for the fans.


    The two went together into the media interview area in front.


    "Eric, do you have confidence in the box office of "Running Out of Time"?"


    "Brooke, you are so close to Mr. Williams, are you two dating?"


    "Eric, look here, look here "


    Mr. Williams, what do you think of the box office trends of "Batman"?"


    "..."


    In the crazy shing lights, Eric smiled as he held Brooke''s waist, letting the photographers picture what they will, but he did not intend to answer any questions.


    Once he spoke, these reporters would definitely ask about the sensitive issues of"Running Out of Time"and Batman, and whether they have learned from "Ghostbusters II"''s mistake. It was not suitable for Eric to answer any of these questions.


    If he is too confident, and in the future, the box office is not up to expectations, he will definitely be ridiculed. If he cringes at the questions, it will be more lively. A director has no confidence in his work. What more could the media want?


    Even if you answer the questions unbiasedly and clearly, this is also likely to be scorned by the people, so the best strategy is to not respond.


    Hearing the red carpet noises behind him, the cheers being louder than when he just pa.s.sed through, Eric knew that Cruise and Hanks had walked on the red carpet. This was arranged in advance, and he nced behind and saw the two smile and slowly pa.s.s through the fascinated group.


    Eric knew that he should go in before the two superstars. He gestured to Brooke, and she took his arm again. The two walked into the theatre together.


    Outside the theatre where fans were shouting "long live the emperor", Nicole and Drew had just got out of their car and looked at the situation in front of them.


    Drew, with her pink framed heart-shaped sun.s.ses, chewing gum, and her hands in her small jacket pockets, indifferently looked at both the crazy fans near the red carpet and Cruise and Hanks on it.


    https(COLON SLASH SLASH)fizzhaztrantes(DOT)weebly(DOT(SLASH)iaihc149(DOT)html


    She learned this look from what Su Ryan had worn in Kubrick''s "Lolita". She was convinced that Eric was secretly hiding a Lolitaplex deep down, so she ''identally'' dressed up in the look. Appearing in front of Eric, Eric was really swayed by Drew''s yful look.


    Su Ryan''s .s.sic Lolita styling matched Drew''s baby face, so Eric not being excited was impossible. After that, Drew liked dressing up like this because she knew that Eric liked it.


    She squinted and nced at Nicole standing next to her, although she did not like this woman, she still drove to the scene at Eric''s instructions.


    Seeing Nicole looking with envy at that Cruise and Hanks who were sought after by fans, she snorted and snorted: "Hey, do you want to be like them that much?"


    Nicole snorted and understood Drew was talking to herself. By some ident she still replied: "Of course, if you don''te to Hollywood for this, what do youe for?"


    "What can I hope for, you only have to wait for "Seattle Sleepless" to be released. After that, you can definitely get this kind of revelry."


    "Oh," Nicole was even more surprised. She looked down at the girl next to her: "This is not like what normallyes out of your toxic mouth, I didn''t think that you could praise me if you tried."


    "Hah," Drew squinted at her: "In which ear did you hear me praising you, I just have confidence in Eric''s script, that''s all.


    If you picked a beautiful woman from Hollywood randomly for the role of heroine in Eric script, she can be a big star, like Julia Roberts, she was picked by Eric from a small diner, you are just him. Just another lucky woman he picked."


    "Oh, How about you? "Nicole''s tone somewhat changed.


    Drew shamelessly raised chin, and replied with a little pride in her tone: "I am Eric''s."


    "Wow," the girl didn''t know what to say, so she could only make a meaningless syble.


    "I am Eric''s," Drew once again stressed: "Eric also knows that I am his. So, it is different for me and for you, even Aniston, she will not hinder me. I have a position in his heart."


    "But how could I be more like you..." Nicole nced at Drew, and she stopped talking, although Drew always broke her little n during this time, she didn''t want topletely offended Drew, after all, the rtionship between Drew and Eric was very close.


    Drew did not care to help: "But I''m a pet right, haha, it''s ridiculous, I didn''t think you would have the same thoughts as Aniston that stupid girl. And even if I am a pet, do you know what you women are?"


    Nicole knew that Drew wouldn''t say anything good, but she still couldn''t help but reveal a curious look.


    "Toys," Drew said quickly. "Do you want to know why I asked that question when we met for the first time?


    Because if the answer was yes, then Eric may feel a little bit about you, you may be his lover, but if the answer is no, this shows that Eric doesn''t look at you at all, he just treats you as a ything, a beautifully dressed doll, and he keeps you dressed up like that in the vi, as a kind of amus.e.m.e.nt."


    Nicole''s face became a bit ugly, and her lips trembled as she retorted: "That is impossible, certainly not. He... He gave me the role heroine of a movie."


    "Oh, it''s just the heroine role of a movie. You are being too sentimental. Don''t think that I don''t know what you''ve been thinking. You have been trying to seduce him during this time.


    You want to be Mrs. Williams, right? That''s so ridiculous, he didn''t even have enough interest to bed you, but you thought he could marry you?"


    Nicole suddenly looked up and stared at Drew: "I understand, you want to use these words to force me away, little girl, but it''s not what you think, if you are telling the truth, why are you stopping me from trying in the meantime?"


    Drew shrugged: "I just don''t want Eric to be embarrassed. Some of his ideas are different from others. If you really climbed into his bed, being a women with such ns at heart, he will find it difficult to get rid of you in the future.


    So, before you leave my house, I will hold you back, Nicole Kidman, so you better have a change of heart early."


    "We will wait and see, miss Barrymore," Nicole said with a sarcasm, as she walked to the door of the theatre.


    Drew held her sunsses and followed Nicole. After Cruise and Hanks left the red carpet, when another star guest went up.


    Drew couldn''t help but talk to Nicole: "Look at that actresses who caused the fans to scream madly, in fact, as long as Eric actually wanted, most of them would be happy to take off their clothes and climb up to his bed, lifting their a.s.ses of their own initiative.


    So it doesn''t matter that these actresses'' screams are more than Eric who has just pa.s.sed, as in fact, talents such as Eric are the real controllers of Hollywood."


    Nicole was annoyed but pretended not to care. Concerning Drew''s words, at the bottom of her heart she had to admit that they were really true, as just for a role, she willingly ran to Eric''s house and put on a sexy maid outfit to please him.


    With Eric''s sess in several films in a row, there are very few women who want to be stars that will reject Eric''s requests in Hollywood.

 Chapter 152: The beginning

    As the two entered the theatre, and Drew immediately abandoned Nicole, running where her former crew members were. Nicole only saw Drew whispering to Tom Hanks from the side, who was sitting next to Eric. Hanks then smiled and got up and gave her his position.


    Although very envious, Nicole knows that she is not even qualified to sit in the front row, let alone have anyone in the front row give her a position, although she was not willing, she still scouted out a seat in the middle of the theatre. Then she sat down.


    There were more and more people in the theatre, and by coincidence, a 30-year-old man with sses and gentle personality sat down beside Nicole. The man seemed to coincidentally meet Nicole''s gaze, revealing an astonished look.


    As if he just found the most morous girl around him, he took the initiative to greet: "Hey, hello."


    Although the man''s tone was very casual, Nicole, who often encountered simr situations, realized that this was other person''s intention from when he sat next to her. Although there was some resentment in her heart, the other party talked politely, so Nicole couldn''t ignore it.


    Her tone was in and t: "hello."


    The man did not care about Nicole''s indifference, as he was a veteran flower hunter, and if one retreated because a girl was cold at the beginning, then they should never think about picking up women: "Forgive my abruptness, miss, but you are so beautiful, especially your hair style, with your facial contours, they let your whole person look like a kind of cool and .s.sical beauty.


    You know, many girls are used to ironing their hair into fluffy little wavy hair, but I see that kind of hair like a nest, like, it''s really bad to the extreme, and there are few girl with good taste like you." TN: Nicole''s hair was like that before Eric changed it for her. i.e. this -u003e this


    Nicole heard the man''splimentary words, but did not look pleased to be praised, and she shed a look of embarra.s.sment as she replied somewhat helplessly: "Thank you for your appreciation, sir."


    "You''re wee," the man said with a smile: "My name is George Northern, a film critic of the"Premiere"magazine."


    "You can call me Nicole."


    "N-I-C-O-L-E? Isn''t that like Nike. Wow, I suddenly thought this name is appropriate for you. In Greek, ''Nike'' is used to describe a beautiful and delicate appearance, of a strong and independent young woman."


    George Northern was about to say something more, but the lights in the auditorium went dark, she don''t know why, but she recalled Eric''s coldness to her at this time, and as such, she was somewhat disgusted by the diligent attacker and whispered: "The film is beginning, Mr. Northern."


    "Of course, I understand." George realized that he was being too eager, and quickly sat down and looked at his body, then he transferred his gaze to the screen.


    After the picture of the Statue of Liberty from Colombia, a little girl in the red hoodie flown by fireflies, and a string of beautifully drawn characters that rushed to the sky, turning into the brightest of the stars, the picture was short-lived.


    In the darkness, screaming and footsteps rang, as if they were happening in the audience''s mind, but the film still did not appear immediately, and the list of the crew began to appear on the screen.


    Fulfilling the curious expectations of everyone, the picture finally lit up. In a dimly lit corridor, Tom Cruise with sun.s.ses climbed some stairsyer byyer, while singing with mysterious and sad but male voice.


    Nicole was staring at the screen, but behind her two girls whispered, they should be fans of Cruise.


    "Oh, G.o.d, I suddenly found out that my little Tommy is so handsome when he walks. Mickey, I can''t stand it anymore."


    "Me too, me too, Erica, wait, we must go up again." I want Tommy to sign a few signatures for us.


    In fact, Nicole also has the same feeling in her heart, although she does not know why.


    Fortunately, the professional film critic next to her, George Northern also heard the emotions of two female fans and approached them and whispered to exin: "This is the result of the atmosphere rendering, the echo of the footsteps, the mysterious singing, the cool lens, and the silent protagonist, const.i.tutes a very imposing picture, so it is not surprising that they produce that feeling.


    Erik Williams is worthy to be called a genius, just for a few simple shots, the highlights in his first two films havepletely different styles.


    If you adjust the picture to normal, or remove the soundtrack and echo, even if you switch to other soundtracks, then these shots will not achieve the same effect, this kind of thing seems simple, but the ability tobine several elements together to form an irresistible appeal requires a high artistic attainment."


    It is obviously not a wise act to talk about other men in front of women when picking up girls. But George Northern had regarded Nicole as an ordinary movie fan.


    He doesn''t think that the girl sitting here would be in contact with Eric, not to mention being able to meet with Eric, so he is generous with his praise for Eric, but he simultaneously he is showing off his ability to appreciate movies professionally.


    Aftering to the rooftop, with the ring of the lens, the soundtrack style gradually became heavy.


    After the male protagonist crossed to the edge of the roof, the picture began to switch between his memories and reality, and the doctor confessed in his dialogue with Andy who was yed by Cruise that only he had only 4 weeks to live, in front of the audience within Cruise''s memory.


    "Hey, Tommy won''t jump off the building?" A girl''s worried voice behind her sounded again, which was actually themon voice of many fans in the theatre.


    Another girl immediately hugged herpanion andforted: "No, Erica, you see Tommy carrying a backpack. He must have another idea. If a person wanted to jump off a building, would he still carry a bag?"


    "Miki, do you think Tommy will die?"


    "He certainly won''t, I''ve heard reports of many end-stage cancer patients living. Moreover, this is the movie, in movies any miracle can ur, Tommy has not died in movie until now, so he will never die."


    "I hope so." Erica put her hands on her chest and made a praying look, while looking forward to the next move of Cruise who was standing on the bleeding edge.


    However, the film did not immediately reveal the answer to the audience. After the t.i.tle of "Running Out of Time", the picture was transferred to a restaurant. Shane was borrowing a newspaper from Hanks whilst eating breakfast, the camera quickly moved from the restaurant.


    In a bar, the same calm Andy is also eating breakfast, while looking up at a si on TV, with a touch of reluctance and nostalgia.


    The two protagonists appeared at the same time. The audience thought that the two would have a confrontation in this restaurant. After all, the name of the movie was called"Running Out of Time", but the picture was quickly cut to other scenes again.


    "I dare say that these scene of Cruise will definitely appear again and again. This is a suggestion set by the director. Nicole, did you notice the look of Cruise? He only has four weeks of life, so, whether it''s eating, drinking, or watching TV, his look is full of concentration and nostalgia.


    He seems to want to use the remaining four weeks to engrave all the beauty of the world into the soul. I dare say Cruise will definitely die in the ending." George Northern next to her couldn''t help but show off.


    Nicole just nodded a little to show that she had heard the other person''s words, her eyes still staring at the screen without squinting, and she began to slowly enter the story.


    Inside the blockade, Shane got out of the car and hurried to a police car, and walked up to a a inspector-uniform wearing Joe Pesci, then he asked Ian the police chief who also had a bulletproof vest on as he stood outside: "Has the robber contacted you?"


    Ian blinked. "West spoke 20 minutes ago."


    Shane immediately raised his eyebrows and turned his head in surprise and looked at Ian: "You talked? You mustn''t have said that you are the head of Los Angeles'' Central District Police Department Ian Spey, and that he should surrender andy down arms within three minutes?"


    Ian shook his head and realized that Shane is now his own subordinate, and is no longer the famous police elite he was, {{{{{{{{so I stalked my neck and turned my eyes to the side, a look you can take me.


    This performance of Joe Pesci was very expressive both innguage and in action, and the audience has begun to smile.


    Although Shane had some helplessness, he still yed the negotiation recording.


    When his hand pressed the y b.u.t.ton, the special voice of Joe Pesci was suddenly heard.


    "Hey, I am Ian Spey, the head of the Los Angeles'' Central District Police Department. You have been surrounded by me and have to surrender within three minutes."


    Shane shook his head and revealed a look of irritation. Ian was once again guilty. He turned his eyes to the window.


    During the recording, the robbers proposed a series of conditions. Ian had heard the other side wanting a bulletproof car and couldn''t help but retort: "Why don''t you want a helicopter?"


    Shane shook his head when he heard this and stamped his feet. With an expression of helplessness thates from expecting too much he replied: "Hey, don''t you talk nonsense!"


    The atmosphere that Hanks and Joe Pesci had created for the audience also broke at this moment. With Shane''s madness, after hearing this line, the first of theughter from the audience was heard in the theatre.


    Sure enough, the robbers changed their conditions from the bulletproof car to a helicopter. Shane could only sigh again and again, and asked for a walkie-talkie before entering the bank alone.


    After a series of verbal and psychological confrontations, Shane went and smoothly solved the hostage crisis and forced the robber tomit suicide.


    Although in this section of Eric did not make any changes to the plot, he consulted with real negotiating experts when writing the lines, so it seems more reasonable and sharp, even if it were a professional, he could not freestyle such a good paragraph of speech during a confrontation.


    Of course, the plot time has been dragged down for a few minutes, but this is not a problem, the original movie was only 90 minutes, and in Hollywood, most of this big production are about two hours, plus the lines are very cleverly designed, and the audience will not feel the drag of the plot, but will be able to interpret the excellence of Shane''s actor more carefully.


    Leaving the bank, Shane walked to a snack bar, bought a c.o.ke and a hamburger to eat. In the crowd, a thin-haired old man with a strange smile was holding the camera towards Shane during this series of actions and captured it.


    The old man''s expression was a bit stiff, but with the iconic mysterious musical scores that appeared almost simultaneously, although most fans may still have some doubts, the professional film critics present will have guessed that the old man is likely to be Andy in disguise.


    Sure enough, the picture cut to a room filled with high-tech crime props such asputers, camouge equipment, etc. Andy spread out the photos of Shane''s bank robbery scene onto the wall.


    At the same time, there were other old photos on the wall, such as Shane''s SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team, which was swept through by a camera facing the wall covered with photos and newspaper clippings. The audience finally understood Shane''s identity.

 Chapter 153: Change of images

    Andy walked into a financepany with a backpack, and from behind a Marvelic he pulled a pistol with which he shot the branch manager. The ''Running out of Time'' for the two men had officially began.


    "You are here, I have been waiting for you for a long time." Andy protected himself with the body of the financial branch manager and warmly greeted Shane on the roof.


    "Sorry, traffic jam," Shane replied with a smile. There is no sense of unfamiliarity in the tone. This is the most basic quality of negotiating experts required to get close to criminals.


    No matter how much they hate the criminal, even if they want to throw them into jail or send them to an electric chair. However, on the surface, it is necessary to maintain a mindset of old friends with the criminals.


    Only when they are close to the criminals, is possible to find out the weaknesses of the other party.


    "You can call me Shane, can I help you? Many people have their own purposes, some people want money, cars, nes, others want to see a wife, do you have a girlfriend?" After Andy allowed, Shane slowly walked up and started to get close.


    Andy didn''t answer, but he came out from the cover of thepany manager. When sniper in the opposite building wanted to aim at Andy''s body, it was stopped by Shane.


    "Is that very smart?" Looking at the helpless Shane, Andyughed.


    "Yeah, what would you call it?"


    "Who are you?"


    "What do you want?"


    "It''s very simple, I want to y a 72-hour game with you."


    "You want to y with me, no problem, the hostage is innocent, you let him go, and I will rece him."


    Bang


    The sad guns sounded, and there was a burst of exmation in the theatre. No one would have thought that Cruise, who always had always had a positive movie image, would open fire on an innocent person. More than half of the fans who were invited in the screening were fans of Cruise.


    The two girls behind Nicole also eximed.


    "Ah, how could this be, Miki, how can Tommy do this, he wouldn''t really be a bad guy?"


    "Definitely not, Erica, look at the officer''s wretched look, I think he is sure there is something d.a.m.ning about him." The girl named Mickey said this, but her tone was full of uncertainty.


    "It seems that this is a big breakthrough role for Cruise," George Northern said. Although his voice was not loud, it was enough to be heard by Nicole, but he nced at the girl and found her indifferent.


    With her not interested in this topic, he had to stop the series of expert a.n.a.lysis he was about to rattle off.


    Because of the discretion and embarra.s.sment of the police chief Ian, yed by Joe Pesci, Andy escaped using the vents into the building. In the mess, the branch manager covered in red ketchup got up from the ground: "Help, I am not dead."


    "Ha..." The reaction sounded with relief from the fans who were originally worried.


    Then, Ian''s stupidity and Shane were exhibited in a funny and maddening situation. When Shane put a chocte box disguised as a bomb in front of Ian, the theatre rang again with joy.


    "Good chocte," someone in the dark who studied Shawn''s face repeated the line he mouthed with great interest. If the confectionerypany''s executives heard this here, they would be very happy with the $500,000 advertis.e.m.e.nt. Good value for money.


    Andy, who escaped from the building, was rxedly seated in a taxi driven by Shane, and the two started their first positive contest.


    "Take me to the police station, even if you win." Andy said, putting the pistol out of the window and firing without hesitation.


    The sound of dampened gunfire resounded, sparks light up themppost, the balloons in the hands of the children suddenly burst, and the cardboard boxes in the hands of the porters burst into pieces...


    With one hand on Shane''s shoulder, Andy spoke indifferently: "I will open fire on three."


    "One...two..."


    Shane turned to look at the direction pointed at by Andy''s muzzle, wanting to gamble that the other side will not shoot, but seeing the pregnant woman in front of the road, and with the pregnant woman holding her child, and a student carrying their bag, Shane stepped on the gas pedal at thest moment.


    He didn''t dare to gamble.


    But it was toote.


    "...three!"


    "Hey!" Shane shouted in horror, nervously looking at the pedestrians ahead.


    Everyone was safe and sound, but when they turned their heads, the rear door opened, and Andy had disappeared.


    "Hey, hey, Mickey, you see, in fact, thest shot of Tommy was just ying," her''s voice that seemed a little excited rang again.


    "Yeah, this character is actually a good person." The girl named Mickey also followed the bandwagon.


    "He is righteous and evil, I began to fall in love with this role. Eric Williams is really amazing. I have never seen this role in other movies."


    Mickey smiled: "The key is still So young, I heard that he is less than 19 years old, younger than the both of us."


    "Ha... a little boy , but, I still like Tommy a little more."


    "Oh," When she heard herpanion. Some girl''s voiced, another girlughed.


    Nicole, who was sitting in front of their quiet voices, couldn''t help but reveal a smile.


    After more than a month of getting along, the savvy girl already had a deep understanding of Eric, and she secretly knew, if he looked at the two girls, it is more likely that he will get rid of them than be stunned, let alone Tom Cruise.


    But the girl soon remembered her own experiences and became a bit stunned. He really... As Drew said, can''t he look at herself?


    As if to set off the feelings of the loss Nicole felt in the darkness, the ethereal and sad music of Speechless Sentiment came out into the theartre.


    Entering a bus, Andy passed the police''s card check and walked up it before he sat down to the right of a girl.


    The appearance of Brooke Shields was still amazing, but at the suggestion of Eric, through the borate carving of the makeup artist, the girl''s original thick eyebrows are slightly modified, and no lip gloss was applied to the lips. Her face only


    had a lightyer of makeup.


    This change has transformed the temperament of the girl. When many people saw this Brooke Shields in the magazine, they would naturally produce words like ''G.o.ddess''.


    But at this time, her appearance made her whole person''s temperament a lot more feminine, faded the G.o.ddess temperament making her less eye catching, turning her into a woman who was easy for people to feel close to and care for on impulse.


    In the front row of the theatre, Brooke Shields, who was sitting in her seat, saw her appear, and her mood suddenly became awkward. She was still worried about her image change.


    She turned back and looked and because of the brightness of the screen, she could clearly see her facial expressions of the audience in thest few rows, their gazes were visible, and many men are staring at the big screen, many people have an obsessive look on their faces, their mouths are slightly open.


    Obviously, she was attracted by her appearance. Seeing these, Brooke Shields put a few of her worries down and turned her head back.


    As long as the audience''s reaction is good, as for the film critics, after several nominations for the Razzies, she has no hope of being recognized for her acting , so it was fine as long as she can get popr with the audience.


    Anyway, Hollywood has a lot of popr big stars with a high performances but a bad acting.


    In the movie, Yoyo, yed by Brooke Shields, curiously nced at the strange man who suddenly appeared beside her. She identally found the gun handle in his open cor, but her face was faint and she did not dare to attack out of fear.


    "You don''t have to talk, it''s okay," Andy whispered softly, taking his sunsses off and putting them on the girl, blocking the other person''s gaze of fear, taking off one of her headphones and putting it his ear, and finally moving his arm around her and pulling her such that she was resting on his shoulder.

 Chapter 154: Half a caterpillar

    As the music continued, Yoyo, leaning against Andy''s shoulder, unknowingly turned calm. Perhaps because her day to day life was so boring, meeting such stimtion made her think ''In fact, it is not bad,'' and gradually, the corners of her mouth moved until she hung up a faint happy smile.


    Because of the girl''s ''tacit understanding'', Andy sessfully passed the inspection, and returned the girl''s ear to the headrest before he got off the bus. In response Yoyo quickly shouted the driver to wait and followed.


    He put his hand in his pocket and walkedzily on the sidewalk. She lowered her head and carefully followed him, looking up from time to time, and nced at his back with a cozy look.


    Andy finally couldn''t help but turn around which scared the girl.


    "What are you doing here?"


    "I... I live here." She exined in a panic like a little girl who was caught doing a bad thing.


    Andy watched the girl pull out the key to open a security door, then turned and prepared to leave, but she reacted, shouted and chased after him, and put the pair of sun.s.ses back into Andy''s hands.


    Nicole didn''t know that this scene was copied by Eric from his own mind, so when she saw this scene she involuntarily turned her thoughts to herself and Eric. He seemed to take such an att.i.tude for himself, but he was overbearing and it also made her alienated.


    After the high intensity of the first scenes, the plot of the movie once again entered a gentle period.


    In the police station, Shane chattered with his colleagues about his doubts. Ian carefully looked at Shane''s enthusiasm and thought about his mediocrity.


    He felt that his position might be threatened, so he had previosuly decided in favour of the use of an elementary school students'' deadly magic weapon -ints.


    However, it was blocked by the superior who had a good rtionship with Shane, so he could only go forward and look for trouble for Shane.


    He was looking to put him down, but it made Shane realise the key to the matter.


    At the unintentional prompt of Ian, Shane hammered the table: "Stupid, I am so stupid, I forgot the most important clue, the financepany, hey, we should check it out..."


    Ian as such was more depressed, and could do nothing but words to run his mouth against Shane to the logistics director: "Ah how can such good people can quickly change in a sh."


    Shane''s investigation was weak as he went alone did not get the cooperation of anyone. The manager of the financialpany felt guilt in his heart, but such viins who were alert to the police and others were unwilling to cooperate.


    Shane could only return to the office again, and then received a report of a trail that Andy had left.


    At night, after deceiving the old man at the front desk, Shane sessfully entered the building where the financepany was located, and used the baby powder to discover the keybination to open the lock and enter the financepany. The second confrontation with Andy started.


    The rapid footsteps on the stairs, the rms of the security door, the roar of the car engine, the fierce friction between the tires and the ground, and the fierce gun battles eachsted for a few minutes,bined with an intense percussion, the actionsted for more than 20 minutes.


    Without an extra scenes, this entire process gripped the audience''s eyes.


    Finally, after getting rid of the viinous third parties, their car was driving in a quiet street in the Los Angeles night.


    "Hah, this situation seems to have turned around. This time the gun is in my hand. Do you know where the police station is?" Shane raised his eyebrows and with a pistol patted Andy''s shoulder. His expression was smug.


    Andy smiled and sighed with ungratefulness, and said: "Old rules, at the police station, you win."


    The car suddenly elerated.


    At the same time, the hearts of the audience that had just rxed once again hastened, and everyone was curious about how Andy would escape again.


    With the screams of many girls in the auditorium, Andy stepped on the gas pedal and did not hesitate to hit a concrete fence at the roadside.


    Bang -


    Broken windshield, the airbags stuck, Shane was shaken and sprawled across back seat, and in the corner of the scene, since the car windshield cracked, a small pill bottle of Andy''s next to the window popped out and bounced on the concrete road a few times.


    The scene slowly faded with the crisp sound of the pill bottle and the concrete, and then fell into darkness.


    -


    Here, Eric made a big change to the original version, and removed the act in which the two men tangled and grabbed for gem box. Eric thought that this scene waspletely superfluous, and it didn''t make much sense. It also affected the movie''s rhythm.


    If the original 20-minute fierce confrontation gives people the feeling of eating a bowl of spicy hot noodle soup with a sweaty sweat, the act where they grab the box is more like after ast mix from the chopsticks, picking out half a caterpir from the noodle soup.


    Eric thought about it, and only thought that the purpose of this shot was to let Andy lose the small bottle containing the terminal cancer painkiller to cause Ian''s misunderstanding. So Eric only used a small bottle popping out of the windshield, cleanly and cleverly hiding this clue.


    He don''t know how long he struggled in the darkness. Shane suddenly opened his eyes and found that he was in the hospital ward. After the doctor''s introduction, Shane knew that he had no serious problems, threw on his suit and hung his tie loosely at his neck before going out of the ward.


    Ian''s face was heavily vexed after seeing Shane''s appearance, and the two started a farfetchededic conversation.


    "Hey, don''t lie to me any more."


    Sane argued: "It''s like this. I met a friend dinner, and on the way..."


    Ian interrupted Shane''s drivelling nonsense: "We found your car covered with bullet holes."


    "Someone are looking for revenge, I can''t help it. Our police always have a lot of enemies."


    "You''re still lying to me," Ian excitedly turned Shane, pulled him aside and raised the small pill bottle in his hand: "What is this, it was found in the ce where you lost the car, I asked the doctor, and he said that the painkiller is for the terminal cancer patients."


    Shane was inspired, he seemed to understand something and looked at the wall pensively .


    Ian ced his hands on Shane''s shoulders: "Oh, what a pity, you''re so young."


    Shane raised his eyebrows and they looked at each other, but Ian continued. "I was wrong, I have always been biased against you." But you are also wrong, why do you always contradict me, I am the director, and older than you."


    Shane quickly understood that Ian had misunderstood the incident, but he decided to stretch the truth and not retort. This seemed to be a good thing to misunderstand for his somewhat narrow minded boss.


    As for the future, it may be cleared up... the future will be kept for the future.


    Thinking of this, Shane mmed the table and lifted the small medicine bottle: "It''s Western medicine, the effect is fierce."


    Ian once again grabbed Shane''s shoulder and said sorry for his previously narrow minded behaviour. Shane was a little embarra.s.sed.


    Luckily, Sigourney Weaver''s, cameoing as an Interpol executive, appeared, and Shane got out of his embarra.s.sing situation. Through Andy''s information, Shane understood the meaning the number 13 which a stranger had left him with on a coaster previously.


    On May 13th, in a small restaurant.


    After some verbal confrontation, Shane agreed to cooperate with Andy''s n to arrest the viinous parties'' leader.


    In a bowling alley, when Cruise appeared in a pretty women''s dress, not only was Shane scared in the scene, but the theatre also broke out into sounds of surprise from the audience.


    When a bowling ball was shattered and the financialpany''s stolen diamonds were scattered all over the ce, the big viins who had always been untouchable were finally arrested.


    ording to the clues that Eric had previously buried, as long as the big viin could be brought into the police station, then Interpol will cooperate to provide a series of evidence, and the other party would not get to go out of the door again in this life.


    In the chaos, Shane found that Andy disappeared into the crowd, so he quickly chased him out.


    In the parking lot, a helpless Andy took the initiative to get in his own car, because this time, not only was the gun in the hands of Shane, but also the steering wheel in the hands of the other party.


    The Lamborghini with a custom hood rushed through the streets, followed by arge string of police cars.


    "Has it begun?" After several police blockades, Shane asked.


    Andy leaned his head against the back of the chair: "I have done everything"


    "But I haven''t it. If I can''t send you to the police station, I will be a little sorry in my life."


    "If you have regrets, you will remember me." Andy tone was full of teasing for Shane.


    Shane was silent for a moment: "Rest a.s.sured, I will not forget you."


    Andy shook his head with a smile, coughed a few times, blood poured out of his mouth, and sprayed onto the windshield.


    Shane''s hand that was holding the steering wheel tightened, and Andy said sorry, opened a ck cloth covering a bomb and took out the remote control.


    Shane nced at him: "Is this a trick again?"


    "If don''t believe why don''t you try it."


    Shane raised his hand and pressed the remote. A light blinked and the bomb started counting down from a minute.


    "That timer isn''t real?"


    Andy smiled. "As you said, when you die, it doesn''t matter where you die. The key is not to die in the hands of the police."


    Shane pa.s.sed the information of the bomb to the pursuers through a walkie-talkie, then stepped on the gas pedal, and quickly pa.s.sed through thest police blockade, and left the sports car in thest ten seconds of countdown.


    Although the two only met each other a few days prior, Shane had fully understood Andy''s style of acting, and he did not believe that the bomb was real. Therefore, making such a deliberate release of a criminal is a great pressure on his professional ethics.


    So when he got out of the car, Shane''s face was a bit heavy, but gradually, he seemed to figure out what he was doing, and his mouth gradually smiled and walked easily toward his colleagues.


    After doing things, he was always very hungry, so it was time to find something to eat.


    He didn''t know if the small restaurants were closed. After he thought so, he waved his hand to Ian who wasining at him and left.


    To no one''s surprise, once the countdown was over, the Lamborghini''s engine was automatically turned on, and Andy escaped smoothly again.


    A few weekster, in a small restaurant, Shane widened his eyes when he saw a message in the corner of a newspaper. Someone donated arge sum of money to the Children''s Cancer Foundation in his own name. So he swallowed food and the corners of his lips turned upwards.


    He smiled and seemed to want tough, but he couldn''tugh.


    Holding a bucket of popcorn and grasping a newspaper as he walked through the bustling crowd, Shane unexpectedly happened upon a bus.


    After sitting down, he glimpsed a familiar object in his vision.


    "Miss, your ne is very beautiful, where did you buy it?" Shane couldn''t help but ask.


    Yoyo held it and looked at it and with a faint smile on her face said: "A friend sent it, it''s very cheap."


    "Boyfriend?"


    Yoyo hesitated, and didn''t answer the question, but just said faintly: "I haven''t seen him for a long time. After he gave it to me, he''s never appeared again."


    Shane turned back sullenly: "Keep it well, although it''s fake, it''s a very good fake. Maybe he will appear in front of you again someday and scare you."


    Yoyo smiled, but didn''t answer again, her eyes turned to the window.


    Soon, the girl got out of the bus. During the transitioning scene, the expressions of Shaun and Yoyo appeared through the camera.


    Putting a popcorn into his mouth, Shane remembered Andy again.


    Dude, all this is your scam. It''s a fake pistol, a fake bomb, your illness is fake, just to defraud my sympathy and make me let you go.


    I don''t mind if you hide in the corner andugh at my stupidity, really!


    As he finally thought so, his face was nk.


    As if some kind of inheritance. Originally the soundtrack that only yed as Andy entered a scene, appeared again when Yoyo walked down the street with the jewel.


    Like some kind of reincarnation.


    Faintly recognisable, mysterious, but distant...

 Chapter 155: Venting anger

    Thest line of subtitles rose and the lights in the auditorium light up. Appeasing the apprehension of the crew, a warm apuse rang out, until, with Eric leading, Cruise, Hanks and so on, smiled and waved to the fans. Then the apuse slowly stopped.


    Eric expressed his gratitude to the fans and made a few short interactions. The emotions of the fans in the auditorium continued towards excitement, but Eric and others still walked backstage at an opportune time.


    Although the fans were unwilling, they still left the auditorium in a very orderly manner.


    "The repetitive use of various techniques was really wonderful. You know, Nicole, many directors have their own unique styles, not to mention the intensely artistic directors, even those who focus on the box office have them.


    By studying their films, they can find that they use the same methods in many movies, but this feature surprisingly not present with Eric Williams. His films arepletely different in style.


    This can only be described as weird, because a person''s natural instincts are very potent, and many habits will develop unconsciously."


    Walking out of the theatre side by side with Nicole was "Premiere" magazine''s film critic George Northern who was exining to the girl in a dance.


    He found that when she heard about Eric, she always showed some interest, not the disinterest she showed other topics, so he decisively no longermented about Cruise and Hanks, or the performances of Brooke Shields and others but rather found she was always very pleased to have the topic led towards Eric.


    When they arrived at the parking lot, George Northern probed as she spoke: "Nicole, there is a nice coffee shop not far away. Maybe we can go sit for a while, now it is still very early, there is nothing much else to do, right?"


    She refused coldly: "Sorry, Mr. Northern, I am going back soon."


    Nicole said this, but she stopped at her car and turned to look at the theatre behind her.


    Although George Northern found himself rejected, seeing that the girl did not immediately get into the car to leave, it started him thinking, a morous beauty of Nicole''s level, he had not partaken in before, so he was unwilling to give up easily, this coupled with her att.i.tude of being neither cold nor hot, had aroused George''s desire to conquer.


    "Nicole, do you like Eric Williams?" George quickly thought of another topic.


    The girl nced at him and told the truth: "I don''t like him very much."


    George Northern showed a clear expression: "Oh, don''t deny it, I''ve found that you always like to hear about Eric. Nicole, do you not want to see him in person?"


    Nicole raised an eyebrow and faced with the man''s stalker-ish att.i.tude, her expression became more and more rotten, but due to the dim light in the parking lot, George Northern did not find a slight change in the expression of the girl, and continued self-righteously: "You know, I am a film critic of"Premiere", and in order to promote "Running Out of Time", Eric Williams will have to ept a lot of interviews.


    With the current influence of"Premiere", if we send him an invitation, he will definitely not refuse it."


    "What does this have to do with me?" She replied coldly.


    "My rtionship with the editor is good.


    If the other party agrees, I can cover this task, and then..." Northern''s expression was somewhat proud as he show off: "If you want, you can pretend to be my a.s.sistant so you''ll have a chance to meet Eric Williams face to face, maybe we''ll have a chance to have a meal together after."


    FiZzHaZ tranted this and it''s hosted on his personal website essible every update via novelupdates.


    "Oh," she spat out a meaningless syble, and her mouth moved to sneer, but just want to explicitly reject this self-righteous guy, a young man in a neat suit came to the parking lot and ran straight to the slim Nicole.


    George Northern saw the young man who came over and showed a look of alert. Nicole saw this and so was also alert herself. She also didn''t know the new party. She didn''t want to find out that she had another stalker.


    "Excuse me, are you Miss Nicole Kidman?" The young man came up to her and looked at Nicole''s dress again before asking.


    Nicole nodded, and when George found that the two did not know each other, he breathed a sigh of relief.


    The young man identified himself with enthusiasm: "h.e.l.lo, Miss Kidman, I am n, n Fishman." Seeing the girl''s confused expression, n quickly exined: "I am Mr. Williams'' a.s.sistant."


    "Oh, h.e.l.lo, n, call me Nicole," she smiled and reached out, shook hands with the young man, and then nced at George Northern, to see if he had realized anything before she introduced: "This is a film critic of "Premiere" magazine, Mr. George Northern."


    "h.e.l.lo, Mr. Northern," n said h.e.l.lo to George. Filmmakers usually don''t like film critics very much. This period''s film critics holds sway over the reputation of most movies, but there are very few film critics who can maintain a fair att.i.tude.


    The filmpanies have to spend every time before a movie is released. A lot of public rtions fees are spent on this group of people, otherwise it would be difficult to get a fair evaluation from the other side.


    He greeted George, and waited for the other party to respond. n turned to Nicole again: "This is the case, Nicole, Miss Barrymore wants me to tell you, she wants to join Mr. Williams in the after party, and you don''t have to wait for her."


    "Thank you, n, I know," she nodded and understood.


    n did not say anything more. He nodded to the two and turned to walk inside the theatre again.


    "Sorry, Mr. Northern, pardon me?" After n left, Nicole was ready to open her car door and go home first, only to find that George Northern was in front of her car.


    "Oh, sorry," George moved his body in a panic, and watching the girl open the door, his mouth twitched, and he wanted tough freely, but the muscles of his face seemed to be stiff and refused to cooperate.


    If n just mentioned ''Mr. Williams'', George could have still deceive himself, and pretend not to understand, after all, the number of people named Williams is too much, but then the next sentence with ''Miss Barrymore''pletely gave George no room for stupidity.


    Some strange rtionship between Eric and Drew has always been a topic that everyone in the circle had talked about. It was certainly impossible for George Northern to not know. Therefore, Nicole''s identity was not difficult to guess.


    Waiting for Drew, George though she definitely had very close rtionship with Eric and Drew.


    Thinking of the words he had previously said, George Northern felt a strong embarrassment in his heart. Nicole and Eric knew each other clearly. He had also used the topic of an interview to seduce her. He estimated that in her heart she had alreadyughed a hundred times.


    Looking at Nicole''s calmly drive, George, who was too frustrated to go to his car, felt more and more like a clown who was jumping up and down. When a person encounters such a situation and refused to admit their own faults, the usual response is to be angry.


    Therefore, George directly ignored the rudeness of his own impoliteness, but felt that he was yed by Nicole.


    Having found an excuses for his feelings, George mmed his foot into his car tires and screamed: "bitch, let''s wait and see!"

 Chapter 156: Fearing a change in opinions

    "The ups and downs of the plot, the shocking soundtrack, the fierce and varied editing, and the outstanding performances of several actors, after the yfulness of Home Alone and the warmth of "Pretty Woman" , Eric Williams has brought us a dark horse with a different style."


    "From the mysterious opening song to the tragic symphony at the end of the film, the gorgeous soundtrack of "Running Out of Time" runs through the whole movie, but there wasn''t a dull moment,


    with thepact plot full of intensity, and the movie was without redundant scenes, leading to a two-hour visual feast that provides a kind of inner peace."


    "sex and blood have always been the two elements in a film that can stimte the audience''s adrenaline, but in many movies it''s for sensationalism and there is sex for the sake of it, or blood for the sake of it, but the use of blood in "Running Out of Time" feels more natural.


    Whilst watching the move, every time there was a shot of Tom Cruise coughing blood, I could hear the apprehension of the female fans around me, but the exmations were mixed with lots of excitement.


    A handsome, gentle but sinister and mysterious man that has most women falling in love at first sight, Eric Williams is still not satisfied, and there is a h.o.r.n.y vomiting attribute attached to the main character.


    I am sure that the archetype of Andy, which is shaped by Cruise, will have filmmakers eager to imitate in the future."


    "The wonderful performances of the two protagonists did not hide the brilliance of the several supporting roles. Joe Pesci raised eyebrows and shakes of the head give off a pleasant happy feeling.


    Reappearing after a few years of silence, Brooke Shields is even more eye-catching, perhaps because of the girl''s study at Princeton for several years, her performance is no longer superficial, and it''s a bit more profound and influential.


    She only had a few minutes of screen time, but she left a deep impact, and I believe this time, even if Brooke Shields cannot get a performance award, the Razzi judges will certainly not consider her again, and I am looking forward to Brooke Shields'' performances in the future in other movies."


    The next morning, apanied by a slight tter of paper shuffling, Eric sat on a chair in dining room and was intently reading the fresh criticism of the movie in today''s newspaper. Then Nicole bustled around for a while, asionally putting good breakfast on the table.


    Soon, Drew, who was still sleepy, wore slippers and staggered into the dining room. She drew out a chair and sat down at the table, holding her chin in one hand as she squinted towards Eric to read the newspaper.


    "Why don''t you sleep more?" Eric asked without lifting his head.


    "Hungry," Drew said, pulling the small basket from the centre of the table and reaching for a bagel, but she was. .h.i.t by Eric''s newspaper: "Brushed you teeth?"


    "After eating? " She squinted and looked pitiful.


    "Eating a.f.t.e.r. brushing," Eric stared at the girl, without any doubt, whilst waving the newspaper in his hand, ready to hit it again.


    "Okay, okay, really, you old-fashioned old man," Drew stood up softly and floated out. She had gone somewhat crazy at the partyst night, so that with not eating much, meant she looked ver lethargic at this time.


    Nicole stood in front of the kitchen counter and listened to the conversation between the two people. Her heart was slightly envious. Although the two did not have any intimate words or actions, this kind of in conversation made people feel the warmth of loved ones.


    Inparison, although Eric has been very polite to her, he has never treated her as his own. She had made an effort in this area, but it did not work much.


    Putting the cooked oatmeal onto the dining table, she began to distribute the breakfast for the two people, but after cing a bowl of porridge gently in front of Eric, she inadvertently looked up, and saw Eric slightly frowning at a newspaper.


    "What''s wrong?" She sat down and asked softly.


    Eric gently shook his head: "Nothing, it''s just a critic."


    Nicole looked at the newspaper in the hands of Eric that newspaper, opened her mouth and said: "Did some people criticise"Running Out of Time"?"


    "Well," Eric nodded and said: "It a little bewildering. This person seems to be specifically aiming for me me. I don''t even remember provoking this person." Eric said, his eyes moving down, hoping to find some authors'' information.


    If drafts are submitted by more famous film critics, they often attach the film critics'' information to the end of the article to make the reader feel that this person is very authoritative.


    "It turned out to be a full-time film critic of"Premiere"magazine, who graduated from Columbia University''s journalism department," Eric whispered next to Nicole, who heard the name of"Premiere"and her heart dropped: "Eric, can I have a look?"


    Eric handed the newspaper over, and she smashed at the author''s name. She felt a little guilty, as it was written by George Northern.


    "...can not understand the portrayal of the storyline, the mysterious soundtrack and the repeated meaningless shots, which patchwork of a two-hour movie. I feel that this movie is a waste of viewers time and money..."


    She just hurriedly sped through one of the sections, and quickly returned the newspaper, her eyes shing slightly, she understood that this article must have been produced because of herself, because George Northern wasn''t originally against Eric.


    The change in att.i.tude may be due to the idental coincidences ofst night, which made the other party feel embarra.s.sed.


    If she had said something to smooth things over, rather than directly reject him, it may not happened.


    Nicole thought so, and felt somewhat more guilty, so she cautiously asked: "Eric, this film review will not affect the box office?"


    "No," Eric said: "Most film reviews aren''t like this. As film keeps getting praise, even if asionally one or two criticisms jump out of the articles, it is nothing, as long as the general direction of the word of mouth is not a problem."


    "Oh," Nicole took a sigh of relief.


    Eric carefully looked at the girl''s expression: "Nic, what concerns do you have?"


    "No, none," Nicole shook her head and denied it.


    Eric did not ask further, and hurriedly turned towards the remaining newspapers and began to eat breakfast.


    However, George Northern did not seem to be willing to publish just one critical film review. On the second day, on the third day, and in several other newspapers he appeared again in the reviews, and his words were more intense each time.


    In the end, he even began to question whether the film was shot by Eric.


    George Northern first listed some of the usiblemonalities of Eric''s previous films. After all, the styles of 17 Again, Home Alone and"Pretty Woman"are very warm, and then had happy endings.


    In particr, his several films such as Home Alone weren''tparable with the ck and cold style of"Running Out of Time". Finally, the reader was given a feeling that"Running Out of Time"had nothing to do with the previous films.


    Next, George Northern began toment on simr things that existed in movies made by other directors.


    From beginning to end, he instilled a point of view in the readers, that is, if several movies were made by one person, even if their style changed, directors can also find a lot inmon between their works.


    But"Running Out of Time"did not, so George Northern boldly hinted that the film was not actually made by Eric, but by a ringer that Colombia brought in. It was a money move made under the pretence of the director of Eric Williams''s genius, and the fans were fooled.


    Seeing this article, Eric shook his head helplessly, and realized that the ideas were not terrible, and he was afraid of the swaying of opinion. Because the a.n.a.lysis of this article is too detailed, the high level of professionalism was something Eric was unable to hold a candle to.


    It is worthy of a student from an Ivy League school. Even Eric himself had to admit that the a.n.a.lysis of the other party was very reasonable.


    Because the influence of the newspapers that published George Northern were not bad, the ''ringer'' view of"Running Out of Time"had had a significant impact on the public.


    The box office ughter in the summer catalogue was very fierce. Once there is an opportunity to crack down onpet.i.tors, the other filmpanies will definitely be willing to push for it.


    So, in just a few days, the media''s doubts have gradually increased, and Colombia was paying attention to this and contacted Eric to discuss emergency measures.


    "Perhaps, we can sue the film critic named George Northern," said one executive in the conference room.


    The management head of the legal department shook his head and retorted: "This method has been considered, it would be difficult to seed, and the federal court will not even ept our request for prosecution. George Northern is too savvy, his article is more like a professional essay.


    It''s not clearly stated from beginning to end that"Running Out of Time"was not shot by Eric. He is always hinting at it, and his suggestions are very convincing. To be honest, if I didn''t see a movie before, during the filming process, I wouldn''t be able to help but believe his view."


    "Now, the most important thing is to make a rification. We can''t let this view continue to ferment."


    "This is obvious, but It''s not easy to do it. You ask, how do we rify it was Eric? Is it possible to have Eric shoot live on a TV station?


    We also looked for some news photos from during the original shooting process, but unfortunately, we have photographs of Cruise, Hanks and even Brooke Shields but we only have a few pictures of Eric looking pitiful, which would not be very convincing."


    After everybody was worried for some time, because of some dys Eric finally entered the conference roomte, and in his arms he was holding a cardboard box.


    "Sorry, everyone, because I have to prepare these things, I had to dy." Eric sighed to the crowd and found a position to sit down.


    The people involuntarily turned their attention to the small box that Eric ced on the conference table.


    Eric noticed the doubtful eyes of the people and actively exined: "Oh, these are some videotapes. They''re Drews, who ran around the studio several times and often yed with a camera."

 Chapter 157: Talking nonsense seriously

    On July 10th, the first week of "Running Out of Time"''s box office was officially released. Although the question posed by George Northern caused a storm in the public, the reputation of the "Running Out of Time" movie itself had not been affected much.


    More than 70% of the film reviews had praised the film. The first week of "Running Out of Time" was still under the pressure of Batman, meaning it just won more than 27 million US dors during the three day box office weekend. For this data, Colombia''s view was mixed.


    They were happy because this meant that they would likely upy 40-50% of this summer catalogue week at the box office.


    The box office of the first seven days of "Running Out of Time" still had the opportunity to hit the $40 million mark, although because of Batman, they were sure it couldn''t catch up with the first week of "Ghostbusters II"''s 45 million, but this number was already enough to allow for a good night''s sleep for the senior officials of the Colombia who had been worried about the "Running Out of Time" box office.


    If first week reached 40 million, then the total box office had a good chance to break through 200 million US dors.


    Because of the precedent set "Ghostbusters II", Colombia was very worried that this film would follow in the footsteps of"Ghostbusters II", which dropped more than 50% of it''s box office in it''s second week, and did not rebound again afterwards like Batman which became a blockbuster.


    After the box office curve of"Ghostbusters II", it was inevitable that Colombia had such concerns. Movies are like gambling, no one knows what will happen next.


    Therefore, when the turmoil caused by George Northern''s questioning article had just surfaced, Colombia would of course soon convene all the executives to discuss countermeasures.


    The consequences of such a thing are hard to predict, perhaps after people read it, they would forget after chatting a few words. But Colombia also found that many people do not want this argument to be easily overlooked by others. In just a few days, many media have begun to help fuel the mes.


    They would never allow the"Running Out of Time", which originally had good momentum, to be affected by this question. What''s more, Colombia has already understood Eric''s idea of ''topic marketing'', with the cement of ads in the movie and fragments of Eric''s TV series.


    They wanted to use these to increase hype for the movie in the second week of the box office, but for this n to be implement smoothly, they must first rify this wave of doubts, otherwise it will be difficult to predict the effect of topic marketing, as it is likely that because of the previous questioning fans might superimpose their negative ideas creating a worse situation.


    When a group of executives had some troubles about how to rify that"Running Out of Time"was not a ringer''s work, the small box of video that Eric bought into the conference room made everyone shine, after ying a few videotapes. The people quickly discussed the possible countermeasures.


    CBS was located in a branch office building in Los Angeles. Eric was preparing for an appointment with a female host named Sophia Temple, and they would record a program called Sophia Talk show.


    If you want to remove doubts as soon as possible, what better way than to y a videotape on the spot for more than than a million spectators on a talk show?


    When an executive made this suggestion, Eric first thought of the famous Oprah Talk show, after all, this program is really famous, but unfortunately his thoughts were quickly dispelled.


    Because the airing period of the Oprah Talk show was from September of each year to May of the following year, it was currently in the break period of this talk show. Moreover, even if the Oprah talk show was not on break now, it would be impossible to arrange their schedules in just a few days.


    As such, Colombia quickly arranged another program called Sophia Talk show through their connections at the CBS TV station. This talk show is obviously imitating the Oprah Talk show, but unfortunately Eric had not heard of it in his past life.


    Sophia Temple was a very temperamental caucasian woman, dressed in a sleek burgundy professional suit, dark blue hair, with the fringe of her nose curling upwards, Eric felt she looked quite like the Courteney c.o.x from his previous life''s"Friends", but whilst their appearance was a bit simr, it seemed she had a little more schrly refinement than Courtney c.o.x.


    After their exchange, Eric also understood why this type of talk show was unknown in his past life. He estimated that this type of show would notst long.


    Because Sophia Temple''s character was very literary, and she spoke with a fair air, Eric guessed that the other party must have been born into a wealthy family and has received aplete elite education. Although this woman is very talented, her personality was somewhat conservative.


    Therefore, Eric felt that she was more suitable for a more serious high-end talk show, interviewing entrepreneurs, scientists or senior government officials, and was not suitable for this talk show that needed her to interact with the guests and mobilize the audience atmosphere.


    In contrast, Oprah, who was born at the bottom, is different. Her influence on the audience can make them distraught following a retelling of her experience being intimately hara.s.sed in childhood.


    Or she can make a lot of funny jokes on the spot, and make the audience burst intoughter on the spot. Eric could be sure that the conservative Sofia Temple couldn''t do this.


    "Ms. Temple, Mr. Williams, the scene is ready, we can start recording." A staff member opened the door to the rest room and told Eric and Sophia, who weremunicating details.


    Eric and Sophia left the lounge side by side and walked to the studio.


    "Speaking of a director, the first impression that many people have in mind is definitely an old man with a big beard, messy hair, and an entric character. But sincest year, there has been an alternative in the Hollywood director circle.


    He is not only young and handsome, he''s also more talented. What''s even more amazing is that this young boy has gotten a jaw-dropping box office score for several consecutive movies. Oh, I think everyone already knows who he is, then, please wee our guest today: Mr. Eric Williams!"


    After a skilled opening remark, following Sofia''s instructions, Eric walked in with his small box. The program crew had suggested that the box with the video tapes be ced in the scene beforehand, but Eric refused.


    The main reason for this program was to rify the ringer rumours, and so of course, the deeper the impression on the audience, the better.


    Whilst the girls under the stage screamed, Eric smiled and waved at the camera before he sat down with Sophia.


    "Eric, is this a gift you have prepared for everyone, do you want me to help you?" Sophia smiled and pointed to the box that Eric was holding.


    Not waiting for Eric to answer, the girls in the audience shouted excitedly again, and several girls couldn''t help but stand up and look at the things in the box.


    Eric pressed his hands together slightly and then gestured to everyone to be quiet. He exined: "Sorry, everyone, I was too rushed to get presents today. As for these, they are just some videotapes. As for the content, I will be keep it for the time being.


    Wait a minute and I''ll give everyone a surprise."


    Although many people below the stage gave a disappointing sigh, they all went quiet.


    Sophia and Eric started going through the standard motions for talk shows, and they tried to get a little intimate. They recalled his childhood, and looked back on his past, got a taste of his present, and looked forward towards his future.


    Most of the questions were discussed in advance. Sophia did indeed work with Eric, so her evaluations were as conservative as before, and even the few minor surprises did not make Eric feel the slightest difficulty.


    After chatting about Eric''s past for more than ten minutes, the two began to turn the topic to the focus of the interview.


    "Eric, many people say thatpared to your first few movies, the style of"Running Out of Time"has changed too much. What do you think of these people''s hypotheses?"


    Eric was staring at Sophia''s beautiful face, as he began to talk nonsense: "Actually, to be honest, there were many circ.u.mstantial factors in the making of my first few movies.


    At that time my father had just died suddenly, I had dropped out of school and began working in a small restaurant, but that was not the life I wanted. I was very interested in movies since I was a child. So I wrote the script 17 Again and 17 Again was what prepared me for work in Hollywood.


    Home Alone was inspired one time when I had chatted with Stuart. The little guy came to my house one night, when I was filming 17 Again, and Stuart asked me if he could also get to make a movie, and I said yes, so Home Alone appeared. And the script of"Pretty Woman"also has circ.u.mstances.


    So, "Running Out of Time"was a movie that I had truly wanted to shoot for a while. I had the idea of making the movie a long time ago. For this reason, I even went to Mr. Hanks before the filming of"Pretty Woman"and gave him an invitation"


    "Oh, so then you felt licensed to treat your first few movies lightly.


    If you told that to many Hollywood directors, they would be heartbroken!" Sophia asked as the her voice intonated somewhat mischievously and the audience once again rang out withughter, if Eric really casually made a few box-office movies, it could be estimated that many Hollywood directors who have struggled for many years to make movies would hit a wall.


    Eric quickly smiled and denied: "Of course not. For every movie I have done before, I tried hard to do it. I think that for people needing to get achievements, it''s very important that even if you are not very interested, you still try to do well."


    Sophia nodded thoughtfully: "Eric, we know you are still young, but with your achievements, you will definitely not stop making movies. As you wont have too many constraints or restrictions, does that mean that your future movies will be in the style as "Running Out of Time"?"


    "No, I prefer to try new things, so in my future movies there will definitely be many kinds of things, and I don''t want to bebeled as only a film director at such a young age."


    "But I have heard a viewpoint in the past few days, that is, even with those excellent directors, their movies always have certain simr factors, but some newspapers have analyzed that "Running Out of Time" has nothing inmon with your first few movies, it''s just like...


    it''s like two different shoots from the same person." Sophia stared at Eric, and raised this rtively divisive topic.


    The audience at the scene immediately became breathless. In fact, many people had already guessed the reason why Eric came to participate in this talk show, so they were very curious at how Eric would defend himself.

 Chapter 158: Video tapes

    "Actually, I am very helpless against this kind of questioning, because my age is arge weak point. There are very few directors under the age of 30 in Hollywood, let alone me who is under twenty years old." Eric said: "Though I don''t need to respond to this kind of questioning.


    After all, reality will be the best counter-attack weapon, but with the growth of this viewpoint, I feel that even if I ignore the irresponsible usations of the media, I should at least give an ount to the fans who have always supported my films.


    Just because of some coincidental factors, some videos of the filming process of "Running Out of Time" have been preserved. Here, these are the videotapes."


    Eric said as he took out more than ten cassettes from the small box and stacked them between himself and Sofia.


    "Wow, is this... shooting footage?" Sophia asked.


    Eric shook his head: "No, in brief, I won''t appear in the camera. These are some trivialities that were recorded with an extra camera within the"Running Out of Time"studio."


    "You mean a doc.u.mentary of the"Running Out of Time"production process, taken from a third-party perspective, was allowed during the filmmaking process?"


    Ericughed. "In general, this is not allowed because the movie content needs to be absolutely confidential, but the person who photographed these videos is quite special. I believe she will not disclose the content whatever other people say to her.


    It is because of this original tolerance that I now have the opportunity to prove my innocence."


    Eric said that as audience under the stage stretched their necks and widened their eyes. Several fans also whispered to urge Eric and Sophia to y the video''s content.


    "Well, as everyone can''t wait, let''s take a look." Sophia did not tease the audience too much, then seemingly randomly picking out a videotape and stuffing it into the already prepared projector.


    Later, two people began to appear with some swaying of the picture on the big screen. It seemed that the person who operated the camera was still very unskilled.


    After a while, the picture slowly stabilised, and a girl''s slightly sloppy voice resounded from the picture: "Allen, give me a camera with good sound, or I will recon with you when I get there."


    The person responded with a touch of helplessness: "Okay, your Royal Highness."


    The audience smiled andughed. Many people thought that the girl''s voice should be Drew Barrymore''s, who is closely rted to Eric.


    Thinking of what Eric had just said, it was true that only this girl could be so unscrupulous in the studio, if other people dared to y in the movie studio, they would definitely be chased out .


    On the big screen, the picture began to move. Many people recognized that this should be arge studio. Looking at the full-scale street and house model in the picture, the audience gave a faint exim.


    Now, there''s still more than ten years until the development ofworks, where many things can be found as pictures or videos on the Inte. Although Americans often watch movies, they don''t know much about the specific process of film production.


    Arge-scale studio with this kind of full-scale model has never seen it before, so it is not surprising.


    Apanied by some noise, the person who was holding the camera quickly entered a room. Eric, wearing a military green director''s vest, appeared in front of the camera. In the picture, Eric waved a hand to Hanks to exin errors in the just recorded cut.


    After that, Eric stopped his conversation with Hanks, smiled and reached over to the camera, seemingly knocked on someone''s head, while a girl screamed in pain theughter of some people around him rang out.


    "Hey, Drew, that Sony professional camera is worth $128,000. If you identally broke it, I can only sell you to Colombia to pay off the debt withbour." Eric knocked on Drew''s head and said.


    The camera swayed for a short time, and Drew''s madness sounded: "Wow, your annoying, how many times have I said, don''t knock my head."


    Eric waved towards the camera as if it were a cat or a puppy. Saying: "Go on, run along now, we must start shooting."


    As the camera receded, Eric directed the crew to start shooting, and many of the staff behind the camera began to move. Hanks and some other actors began to leave their seats, and one of the stagehands went forward and was about to sound the pperboard.


    At this point, Sophia pressed the stop b.u.t.ton in a timely manner and exined to the audience: "Sorry, the next scene will involve the content of the movie, so we have to stop."


    Although it was only a minute or two, the audience had been watching with great interest and when Sofia stopped ying, and many people sighed with regret.


    "Eric, I''ve started to be more curious about a different issue.


    I believe that the audience with us in the studio is also very curious about this problem." Sophia did not immediately start ying other videotapes, but insteadplied with public opinion and asked about many people''s doubts: "Although it just a few minutes of screen time, we all saw your love for Miss Barrymore.


    The camera was worth more than 100,000 US dors and you let her y with it like a toy. What is your rtionship with Drew?"


    Eric hesitated for a moment, sorted out his thoughts, and said: "How do I say it... I met Drew when I was filming 17 Again, and soon I fell in love with that little girl..."


    When he saw that some people were preparing to create a disturbance, Eric beckoned with the hand to prevent it and said hastily:


    "Don''t misunderstand, it''s definitely not the kind of thing you imagine. I just think of Drew as my sister. Drew was infected with some bad ...


    habits, although she had been to a few treatment clinics, but their effects were not very good, her mother was useless, I couldn''t bear the fact that a girl with the potential of Drew was gradually sinking down, so I talked to her mother under on impulse, and asked her to let Drew move to live with me, so I could supervise her to help her get rid of these bad habits, Ms.


    Barrymore agreed after considering, so there is now this situation everyone can see. Maybe I hit it off well with Drew. In short, she listened to me. Therefore, she haspletely changed her bad habits.


    She is currently attending a girls'' school. I hope she I can sessfully graduate from high school, and when she is an adult, she can freely choose her own path."


    Eric felt no psychological pressure from this nonsense. As an insider, he has long understood that these so-called interviews are a kind of show, and they too had to achieve their goals.


    After the stars in his previous life had been interviewed, some had even divorced after realising all kinds of broken things. It''s good to take a serious att.i.tude to such programs, some stars talk about their inspirational stories or a silly love experience or a blood boiling story fully of tears.


    Of course, although he doesn''t think so in his heart, Eric is still creating lots of drama. He was embarra.s.sed as he said these worse sincerely, as if he was the angel sent by G.o.d to save the lost girl.


    Sophia also showed a moved look, as for whether it was real or not Eric did not know.


    "So, let''s hope that Miss Barrymore will once again be on the big screen and bring us excellent works. Now, let''s see what else is shown on some of the other videotapes." Sophia said, and chose a predetermined one. A video tape was ced in the yer.


    The camera was still a little shaky. This scene was no longer the studio, but a blocked off street. There were many police cars parked around it. There were also many cameras and boom mics, as well as staff in groups of three or four chatting in the picture.


    Some had raised their heads and were drinking water, and others were leaning on the door of the car and letting the wind run through their hands. It could be guessed that the crew was temporarily resting.


    The voice-over sounded again: "h.e.l.lo everyone, I am a reporter for ABC television, Drew Barrymore, and I heard that there was a bank robbery here, let us interview themander-in-chief, Mr. Eric Williams."


    The camera slowly closed in on Eric, who wore sun.s.ses and a baseball cap, the girl seemed to say something, and then a furry extrge radio microphone slowly appeared in front of the camera and moved towards Eric. It identally poked Eric''s nose. It looked funny.


    A wronged female voice rang: "Director, I was forced, don''t me me."


    Eric and Sophia saw this picture andughed. The audience in the studio was even more caught up in it.


    In the picture, Eric took off his sun.s.ses and looked helplessly at the camera, with a look of helplessness.


    "Mr. Williams, I heard that there was a bank robbery here. How is the situation now, can you exin it to everyone?" Drew asked seriously.


    "Well," Eric pushed the radio microphone away from his face, and saidzily: "We have already controlled the situation. Miss reporter, you see, there were two robbers there and a special team, and they yed poker.


    The atmosphere was peaceful and harmonious, but the negotiator Hanks was not really just chatting with the inclothes policeman. He was actually testing the other side. We have already learned that the inclothes are like ghosts and are ready and waiting.


    In preparation to carry out the arrests such that they work, the police chief, Mr. Joe Pesci, left the emergency in an emergency and will note back in an hour. I am sure that the hostages will still be alive..."


    Eric''s funny words once again got a sneer from the audience.


    After the yback of this dialogue, Sophia smiled and selected a few boxes of video tapes to y quickly, between which there was a conversation between two and interaction with the audience, unknowingly, because some scenes required multiple recordings, only 40-minutes of talk show took more than two hours to be recorded.

 Chapter 159: The storm dissipates

    On Wednesday, the quickly produced new issue of the Sophia Talk show was officially aired on CBS. The original guest of this issue was a famous rugby yer. Many rugby fans sat in front of the TV and waited for the idol to appear.


    When it was discovered that the guest was reced by the young director Eric Williams, some hardcore fans called the TV station and questioned them.


    But most TV viewers are not so picky, and they were pleasantly surprised. After all, Eric''s current influence was notparable to a rugby yer.


    "Wow, I can''t help but think of the gun battle. It was so cool."


    ...


    "Eric Williams''s jokes are really funny. The robbers are ying poker with SWAT members, haha..."


    ... STOLEN FROM FIZZHAZ


    "Drew Barrymore has never been seen, since the 17 Again, the media has not even had her news recently."


    "Eric is really scary when he is angry, he doesn''t look like the same person at all."


    "It''s not surprising as he''s so young, and he wants his older employees to be obedient , he''s not guilty."


    Such talk appeared in front of the TV sets in tens of thousands of households, the proportion of teenagers in front of the TV had increased greatly due to it being summer holiday, and Eric''s influence among teenagers is estimated to be higher than that of ordinary idol stars.


    After all, as peers, if they were within 100 metres, it might cause all kinds of envy and hatred, but as their distance exceeded 10,000 meters, what he mostly received was worship.


    Therefore, many young people saw Eric''s rare presence on the TV set, and they couldn''t help but share their starstruck emotions by calling their .s.smates to remind them to watch the show.


    The influence of Sophia Talk show was far from beingparable to the Oprah Talk show, which has only been around for a few years, but already had an average of more than 11 million viewers per episode, and had an upwards trend.


    The Sophia Talk show had an average rating of only about 4 million.


    At the beginning of the program, the viewing data was at only 4.2 million, but as the program was broadcast, the viewing curve soared. After the 40-minute program was broadcast, the number of viewers stopped at 7.5 million , almost double.


    After the program waspleted, the phone hotline of CBS TV was sted.


    "If you promoted it one week in advance, the program''s ratings would have definitely exceeded 10 million." After seeing the ratings statistics, a senior executive of CBS said with some regrets.


    More than 70% of the audience''s hotline calls were expecting the show to be reyed as soon as possible, while other chaotic reasons ounted for the 30%.


    Some hope that the"Running Out of Time"crew could go on the show together, and some people hope to see Drew and Eric appear on screen together, and arge number of people asked if the video tapes in Eric''s hands would be released to the market.


    CBS organized the feedback from the audience into a doc.u.ment and transferred it to Colombia and Firefly Studios. At the same time, it also responded to the public opinion by sending an invitation to Eric, Drew and"Running Out of Time".


    Colombia Corporation was very moved, after all, this could be good propaganda for the film, but this was rejected by Eric and others.


    If it weren''t for rifying the rumors, Eric would never have appeared on the talk show, Eric refused, and Drew would definitely not go.


    The agents of Cruise and Hanks also felt that the influence of this program was a little small and did not match the ident.i.ty level of the two superstars.


    However, Brooke Shields was somewhat moved, as"Running Out of Time"brought her very good turning point in her career, but CBS, which was rejected by Eric and the two Toms, was not interested. The other big stars were not on, and whilst Brook was invited she had little hype.


    After all, Brooke Shields only yed in the"Running Out of Time"for a few minutes, so although the influence of the Sophia Talk show was far less than the Oprah Show, CBS was still a national TV station, and they were not yet at the point of needing to take whatever they were given.


    Although the invitation was rejected, CBS quickly came up with a way to maximize the benefits. When Eric partic.i.p.ated in the recording of the program they .u.mted more than two hours of material, whilst the talk show was only forty minutes long.


    As a result, CBS re-edited the two hours of material into a first and second episode, which were yed during the next two days, because of the short-term publicity advertising that night, the next day the audience ratings of the re-edited episode reached 9 million, and when thest episode was yed on Friday, the ratings directly rose by tens of thousands of people, and even reached 12 million at the peak.


    A daytime program that has a rating of 10 million, can be treated by the ace program. The Oprah Talk Show was the result of more than 20 years of glorious build up. READ FOR FREE AT FIZZHAZ TRANSLATES - WHO ACTUALLY TRANSLATES THIS (ALBIET BADLY!)


    In order to capitalise on the the results, CBS directly gave up on several programs that had already been produced, and spent a lot of money to invite other more famous guests to try to create a talk show that rivals Oprah Show. But in the end, they can only be disappointed.


    As Eric first judged, the biggest problem with this program was the host Sophia Temple. It was not that the she was not good enough, but that character of Sophia Temple was not suitable for hosting talk shows. TN: ???


    Therefore, after the second week, the ratings of this talk show experienced a magically high peak. Although as audience was changed, the ratings slowly fell. In the end, CBS could only give up the effort.


    The episodes of the show Eric partic.i.p.ated in became an insurmountable peak of the talk show until the show was axed by CBS. Sophia Temple moved from one show to the next but the ratings never reached that level.


    Naturally, these were all things that would be talked aboutter. The storm caused by the ''ringer'' question for"Running Out of Time"disappeared quickly after the CBS talk show.


    After all, after the talk show was aired, especially the two re-edited episodes, in which show had more than 20 minutes of video, from where Eric was at the scene, with the actors, that detailed the shooting process.


    All affairs big and smaller were ce in front of the audience, and the big scenes such as blockades that appeared from time to time also shoed everyone that there was no possibility of forgery on the videotape, so the question was now purely a test of the IQ of the audience.


    As for George Northern, after the Sophia Talk show was broadcast, he had note out again because Columbia Pictures had directly pressured "Premiere" magazine and forced them to fire him, after all, George Northern''s article almost caused an incalcble loss for Colombia.


    If Colombia did nothing, they would appear too easy to bully.


    Although other major filmpanies secretly apuded George Northern''s article attacking Colombia, they did not want it to be their turn in the future, so George Northern was cklisted as a film critic by the six major film studios.

 Chapter 160: Rebound

    In this era, a film critics'' ie mainlyes from two aspects: the public rtions fee of the filmpany and the publication fee of the film magazine. Of course, the top film critics will have other types of ie, such as publishing books or hosting TV programs.


    George Northern was obviously not a top-notch critic, or"Premiere"magazine would not have easily dismissed George Northern after being pressured by Colombia.


    Because of the cklist, when a filmpany was about to release new movies, George Northern would not receive a penny of public rtions fees, and wouldn''t even receive an invitation to a movie screening or the premiere .


    If you can''t partic.i.p.ate in an early screening or the premiere, you won''t be able to get the first-hand viewing information ahead of the average audience.


    The newspapers and magazines are not as enthusiastic about the film reviews for movies that have already been released, so the revenue of the film review fee will be greatly reduced. For both reasons, the lost ie exceeds 80% of the original ie.


    Therefore, being cklisted by the six major filmpanies means that George Northern can no longer stay in the circle of film critics, and the fame that he had spent years building in the circle had also vanished.


    In fact, as a old-timer, George Northern also knows the rules of the game in the circle. Many lines cannot be crossed. Therefore, he has never done anything extraordinary before. After years of hard work, he had a lot of fame in the industry, and his annual ie had reached an enviable six-figures.


    Perhaps it was because of these many years of glory that George Northern was somewhat self-righteous and forgot his role, so he published several articles mming"Running Out of Time"in session. It was originally just because he felt that he was teased by Nicole.


    He wanted to blow off some steam and vent his anger. He didn''t think that he had underestimated the ''influence'' of these professional article. He waited too long to curb his scalding and directly ruined his own career.


    After the end of the first week, perhaps because of the turmoil, or maybe because Eric went on the Sophia Talk show to promote the movie, in the first working week,"Running Out of Time"earned more than 16 million at the box office, so the total box office in the first week reached more than 43 million, which was at least three million more than the estimation of Colombia for the first weekend of the box office.


    This data gave Colombia confidence.


    At the same time, with the rification of the"Running Out of Time"ringer question, the pre-determined ''topic marketing'' advertising also started, the event opened in several entertainment newspapers and fiercely attacked the embedded advertis.e.m.e.nts in"Running Out of Time".


    "More than 30 imnted ads, are we really watching a movie?"


    "These advertis.e.m.e.nts are entering hot water, we are not looking at ''dark wars'', it is ''advertising wars''" TN: "Dark war" =="Running Out of Time"so it''s a pun.


    "Eric Williams is starting down a road of no return with advertising!"


    A series of very eye-catching headlines which directly pushed the topic of"Running Out of Time"to the cusp with the turmoil. The public opinion of the media was once again stunned after a storm of questions. Colombia also began to vigorously fight before otherpet.i.tors could react.


    They manipted the direction of public opinion, turning most of the media''sments on this matter into teases rather than attacks.


    Soon, the"Los Angeles Times"published an audience survey report, which was prepared in advance by Colombia. The sample included those who had juste out from the"Running Out of Time"theatres. The content was about the audience''s opinion of the advertis.e.m.e.nt in"Running Out of Time".


    Among the survey of 1,000 random people, 76% of the audience did not feel the existence of advertis.e.m.e.nts in the movie, 15% felt the existence of advertis.e.m.e.nts, but did not care much, 7% of the audience expressed some concern about the advertis.e.m.e.nts, but only 2% felt that the choice of advertis.e.m.e.nts was annoying.


    In order to ensure their credibility, the"Los Angeles Times"also published photos of a peer-check for the surveyyout.


    This report set the tone for the"Running Out of Time"imnted advertising topic.


    Whenever this matter was mentioned, many people felt that most others didn''t even feel the existence of advertis.e.m.e.nts. In addition, Columbia published some articles ridiculing others for their previous ringer articles, and the public''s train of thought begun to be manipted.


    Immediately, Colombia also began to stand up and rify that there were indeed some advertis.e.m.e.nts in the film, but that it was not as exaggerated as told by the ''irresponsible'' media.


    Colombia also mentioned the ''ringer'' question storm that had just happened, and dais that these were malicious attacks on"Running Out of Time"bypet.i.tors.


    As the guidance of public opinion continued, more and more people began to be curious about what ads were in"Running Out of Time"because as the survey showed, when arge number of people first watched the movie, they didn''t even realize the existence of advertising in "Running Out of Time".


    When Colombia''spet.i.tors reacted and began to manipte their own media to reverse the public opinion and lead the public to dislike the advertisements in "Running Out of Time", Colombia directly dropped another bomb.


    On the second weekend of the movie, early Saturday morning, several newspapers, including the"Los Angeles Times","The New York Times", and The Washington Post, published a statement from the Columbiapany.


    "Although ording to the survey, the advertisements in the"Running Out of Time"did not affect the movie-going experience of the majority of fans, but in order to thank the fans for their support, after the film production and distribution finishes, we have decided that the $2 million in advertising fees received will be returned to the fans.


    From the date of this announcement, the audience can send in letters with their guesses as to what the advertisements are to the following address. 200 lucky viewers will be selected, each winning $10,000 in cash."


    Subsequently, the statement had the address, the deadline and that the would be only one letter per SSN, and that repeated entries would be invalid.


    For a moment, the entire American media was once again stunned. Even a lot of spectators couldn''t help but react. This was tant hype mongering.


    But even if one knew this, you can''t stop the enthusiasm of many of the viewers. After all, it was currently thete 1980s. For many American families, $10,000 is a huge sum. Anyway, during the holiday period, everyone had the habit of watching movies.


    If you watched the movie, and you took a few dozen cents to get an envelope and mail your guesses, you might get a $10,000 prize. Why not? Moreover, the number of winners, 200 people, seems to be quite high.


    On the second day after the announcement, many movie theatres that screened "Running Out of Time" were packed to the brim.


    On the day of the announcement, "Running Out of Time" received a $13 million box office that same day, and then box office on Sunday also reached 11 million, so including Friday''s 8 million US dors, the box office of "Running Out of Time" reached 32 million for the second three day weekend, miraculously achieving nearly 20% of the box office in thepetitive summer catalogue.


    It is also the only movie in this summer catalogue that has a box office rebound.


    After thest day of the second week,"Running Out of Time"once again reached more than 49 million at the box office, so the total box office had reached 92 million.


    Inparison the five-week old show "Ghostbusters II", whose the box office had begun to weaken, only had a box office of 90 million US dors total, and Batman was affected by the "Running Out of Time" trend, as it''s fourth week''s box office fell 44% again, only reaching 16 million US dors, so although the cumtive box office had reached 168 million, if the box office once again showed a drop of about 40%, the box office of Batman can only be expected to rise by about another 10 million.


    That with "Running Out of Time"''s current box office trend of tens of millions in box office revenue per week that may stillst three to four weeks, means that the final champion of the summer catalog''s box office is really hard to say.


    This result has made many filmpanies a little scared. Even many of Columbia''s executives felt a sense of giddy happiness sorge that it was hard to adapt. Columbia''s stock was rising again, with the total market value breaking through $4.5 billion after a few weeks.


    After, Sony, which had already reached an initial agreement, be anxious. It was originally nned toplete the acquisition at the end of September, but the head of Sony had made several requests, hoping to sign a final agreement in August.


    At that time, if "Running Out of Time" has overtaken Batman to win the summer box office, the rise in the stock price will definitely not stop.


    When the third week of "Running Out of Time" box office fell 26%, still earning more than 38 million at the box office, the puzzled media can only attribute this to the masses'' desire for hope.


    Although many filmpanies also want to learn from the lottery method used by Colombia for publicity, it was a pity that the releases of the summer movies had ended. The "Running Out of Time" can be said to be thest of the wave of big production movies, which was released earlier.


    There is not much meaning in such advertising for a smaller film.


    The films released after "Running Out of Time" were not too optimistic about the moneying into the market at the end of the summer, so other filmpanies simply did not dare to put out 2 million, even if it were 1 million, there were very fewpanies are willing to spend it.


    After all, this risk was too great. Even if a movie gets a 100 million box office, after the theatre''s cut is removed, the remaining half will need to be divided between investors, producers, and issuers. Finally, after paying taxes, profits are usually only in the millions.


    Having a share of hundreds of millions Like Eric from Home Alone is unique in the circle. Even if it is series currently recognized as the most profitable, "Star Wars", Lucas can''t get such a high profit from only the box office.


    This time, Colombia used the method of spection over insert advertisements to achieve a major reversal at the box office, and it was also destined to be a ssic marketing case studied by major filmpanies.


    Eric was not worried about this way being learned, because this operation is a new type of attack, and to put it bluntly, the audience will only feel that imnt advertisements are new and interesting once or twice.


    Once it is used a few times, the audience will definitely produce an ''I am watching the movie for entertainment, not the advertising'' viewpoint, so doing morepetitions would trigger reverse psychology and only be counterproductive.

 Chapter 161: Let me think

    "Eric, you see, I can guess to, right?" In the study, Drew, who was writing and drawing on arge executive chair, took a notebook full of advertiser''s names and ran to Eric.


    Eric looked away from the monitor, turned his head and looked at her. He shook his head directly: "Why are you asking this? Do you want to participate in the lucky draw?"


    "Can''t I? That''s $10,000," Drew took back her notebook. Her pen bounced off her chin for a while, then lowered she lowered her head and stopped: "What''s wrong this time?"


    "Oh, that''s not it," Eric looked again at the helplessly growing pile of documents in front of him on the desk. He gave a few sheets of paper to the girl: "Take these, don''t bother me any more."


    "I don''t want them, I have to guess them all by my own strength," Drew nced at them, immediately refused, and her two legs dug into the floor, pushing the swivel chair to move a little further, as if the papers that were close to her would tarnish her character.


    Eric shrugged and turned his eyes to the text on the disy again. He tapped the keyboard and said: "Then you can''t ask this knowledgeable person, that wouldn''t be your own strength."


    "Of course, you are also a kind of my personal strength." Drew said this, and changed her guesses a few times, Eric couldn''t help but directly pointed out her biggest mistake: "Hey, the TV series imnt is not counted as an advertis.e.m.e.nt, change it to Canon camera on this line."


    "Wow, how can you do this, I wanted to guess a few more times!" Drew opened her mouth and bit Eric, but she would not have found this otherwise. The mistake was changed. She always thought that the scenes of"Friends"should also be regarded as an imnt advertis.e.m.e.nt.


    In fact, many people had the same idea.


    Because"Friends"was also part of the hype, so like many fans, Drew naturally ced the"Friends"scene as an imnted advertis.e.m.e.nt, and Colombia did not explicitly make a statement, letting the public specte.


    After a while, a soft little body fell onto Eric, the two soft ma.s.ses on his back and the faint smell of the girl made Eric feel a little worried.


    "Drew, don''t make trouble, let me leave and sit on the office chair. It''s quite ufortable sitting on this stool." Eric shook his shoulder and wanted to get rid of the girl.


    Drew was holding the Eric''s neck like a precious candy: "Eric, I thought of a good idea to make money."


    "Howe you suddenly became interested in making money?" Eric threw off Drew''s arms to remove her.


    "I am envious," Drew followed Eric''s big hands and moved off Eric''s back, but she turned to Eric''s thigh and sat down without saying anything.


    What can there be for you to envy?," Eric gently hugged the girl''s waist andforted her. He understood that Drew was stimted by his split of the two films, Home Alone and"Pretty Woman".


    But in fact Eric did not have the 200 million USD cash like the media boasted, although his share of Home Alone had already entered Eric''s ount in early July, he had to repay two bank loans of $50 million so Eric has only 20 million US dors left.


    This money must then be divided between the actors of Home Alone. ording to the contract signed at the beginning, only Stewart Runkle got as much as $3 million. But for other actors he could not be too harsh, so final estimates show that Eric had not much left.


    And because of "Pretty Woman"''s proportion of 35% in North America and 10% in overseas, Eric will also get a share of up to 105 million from this.


    However, Colombia had settled his share for Home Alone about a month early, in order to obtain a promise for the"Running Out of Time"movie project from Eric. But Eric and Fox don''t have this kind of agreement, so everything has to be in ordance with the rules.


    With Eric''s current strengths, Fox has a good rtionship with Eric, so although they will not act maliciously, it could be considered good if he saw the money in three months. Although"Pretty Woman"had been out of cinemas for a month now, Eric had not yet even got a cent.


    Right now, looking at the girl who seemed to be a little depressed in his arms, Eric didn''t expect that the little girl who had always been mindless would also have this kind of little emotion, and it felt ... very fresh.


    Drew fiddled with the pen in her hand and murmured: "That is more than 200 million. I don''t know if I can earn 200 million in my life."


    "Forget that, don''t say that, did you not just say you had a great idea for making money, let me help you with your staff."


    Drew immediately felt a little spirit, and said whilst gesturing with a finger, "This is the case, Eric, after the "Sophia talk show", many viewers called with hope that those video tapes will be avable for sale. I think this is a good opportunity.


    I heard that many video tapes can sell tens of millions of boxes now. We can sell one million boxes at a price of 30 dors. That is 30 million. Even after the costs, you can make a lot of money."


    Eric didn''t rush to break the little girl''s dream of making a fortune, but asked: "Okay, then, I want to ask you, who earns the money?"


    "Of course it is mine, the video was taken with my hard efforts," said Drew of herself, with a little embarra.s.sment. She spit out her tongue: "At worst I have to give Colombia some and that''s the end, you will certainly not want some too right?"


    "It''s not going to work," Eric said, he felt a bit ufortable, so he let go of the girl, kicked the stool aside, pulled thefortable leather swivel chair over and sit down, he then readily embrace the girl again and exin: "You have forgotten the most important point, the content of the videotape."


    "Hmm?" The girl blinked in confusion.


    Eric carefully exined: "I want to talk about the contents of the videotape. You also shot the big stars like Cruise and Hanks. There are also a lot of extras or crew members. The people in it aren''t given a penny to appear.


    If you just record it, or y it for publicity like a talk show, then that''s ok. However if you want to make a profit, you have to get everyone in the video to agree, otherwise, you will be waiting for prosecution in the future, even if you can earn 100 million, it is not enough.


    If you wanted to get the authorization of so many people, it is moreplicated than shooting a big movie."


    "Wow, Soplicated, then forget it," Drew lost her spirit and put her head on Eric''s chest.


    Eric patted the girl on the back: "It''s okay, don''t be depressed. It''s mainly a matter for us men to make money. You just have to dress up yourself beautifully. It''s not too early, either.


    Go back to sleep, let me quietly write a script for a while." TN: Author not me okay...


    "But I want to make money, summer vacation is still so long, and very boring, Eric, how about you let me make a movie? It can be anything so long at it''s not stupid." Drew was getting tired whilst on Eric, and her little ws scratched Eric''s chest.


    "Okay, let me think hard about this for a bit..." Eric rubbed his temples and seeing the script of Sleepless in Seattle on the table, suddenly remembered something.

 Chapter 162: An affair to remember

    It should have been during a chat with a friend in his past life. At that time, the movie "Finding Mr. Right" just started screening. The two chatted about the movie at random, and finally began to trace back what they had said.


    And they realised that many movies such as "Grey Gardens", Sleepless in Seattle, "Love Story" and so on were all inspired by Cary Grant and Deborah Kerrs famous An Affair to Remember.


    Of course, this was not the point. Eric remembered that the friend had identally mentioned one sentence. It seemed that because of the poprity of Sleepless in Seattle, the video tapes of An Affair to Remember became hot and sold out in a short time.


    It had sold 2 million boxes, which was an unexpected windfall for the film studio with the copyrighted.


    An Affair to Remember is already a 40 year old movie. Although the two leads were Hollywood stars at the time, their time had passed long ago, and this movie was not as infinite as movies like 007.


    There was nomercial value in shooting a sequel, so maybe one or two million can buy out all the copyright of this movie. Moreover, Eric knew that when he filmed Sleepless in Seattle he would definitely need authorization from the copyright property holder of Sleepless in Seattle.


    After the other party knew about this, it is difficult to guarantee that he would be able to get a good starting price, but it is better now, so he should buy all the copyrights.


    Seeing Eric thinking of something with a slightly excited expression, Drew who couldn''t endure her temper, scratched Eric''s chest and hurriedly asked: "Eric, is there any good movie for me, let''s talk about it."


    "There is no movie, but if you want to make a fortune, there is a good chance," Eric picked up a pen and wrote the movie t.i.tle of An Affair to Remember on paper: "Do you know this movie?"


    Drew nced with her eyes and shook her head very earnestly: "I don''t know."


    Eric could only patiently exin; "Do you remember what I told you about my next movie?"


    Drew looked outside the stud to the location of Nicole''s room with puckered lips: "Of course."


    "In the setting of the movie, the heroine Annie is very fond of watching An Affair to Remember.


    I think that after Sleepless in Seattle is released, the sales volume of An Affair to Remember will definitely increase, so you if want to make money, you can take advantage of your vacation time, trying to buy this film''s copyright, as it is a forty years old movie, and for old movies, as long as the price is right, the film studio will be very willing to sell.


    "


    Drew had blind trust in Eric. If Eric said this to other people, one could guess that the other party will doubt it, but Drew has no doubts in this regard, but she asked: "But, after I have bought it. How do I sell the videotapes?"


    "Fireflies have recently begun to build their own distribution channels, including video tape channels," Eric said, remembering Home Alone and the three movie contracts signed with Fox with a hint of helplessness and regret.


    At the beginning, he was so isted and hadn''t made his debut, so he hadn''t considered and understood everything. Therefore, when signing the agreement, the film and videotape rights of the movie and the TV broadcast rights were handed over to the Fox agent. Fireflies could only get their dividends.


    It looked good, after all, many of the films produced by the independent film studios had no rights for their movie at all. They are usually bought at a price, but he could still enjoy a split.


    Butpared to distributing it themselves, giving Fox power of attorney and losing a big ie was still a loss. After all, after the release process, the film''s fame and reputation have been determined.


    If you can have your own video distribution channel, then even if it is not asprehensive as a bigpany, you can still get a profit by taking the biggest slice of the cake.


    Moreover, through this period of time, he learned that smallpanies with publishing capabilities, even if they hand over the distribution rights of their films to those movie giants, usually do not transfer the surrounding copyrights such as videotapes and other peripheral copyrights.


    The proportion that these made of the total movie revenue was getting bigger and bigger. The ie of these peripheral copyrights is likely to be an important source of funds for the second- and third-tier movie studios.


    If those second- and third-tier movie studios have obtained good industry connections, every year the peripheral benefits can support the day-to-day operations of the filmpany, without the need to repeatedly draw money from box office receipts or investors, so as long as there is no huge investment losses, these filmpanies can survive.


    Therefore, Eric was also eager to establish its own distribution channel as soon as possible. For his next the three films The Others,"Scent of a Woman"and"Steel Magnolias"as well as "Friends", he would definitely not let the copyright go again.


    "But, Eric, I have no money." Drew''s eyes red at Eric.


    Eric couldn''t help but pinch the white and tender face of the girl: "You might not have a card but you should still have some for..." Eric spoke up to here, but then remembering that Westerners have no dowry, his argument can only be changed: "some pocket money I owe you."


    "Then I will do it," Drew wed at his face and licked it. She was going to smash into Eric''s lips, but whist she found a big hand waiting for her, she still didn''t mind sticking out her small tongue and licking Eric''s palm.


    "You must have been a cat in your past life, licking with such little control." Eric took the girl off hisp: "Okay, now that something has to be done, and you have money to do it, you can go to sleep."


    "Eric, you haven''t slept with me for a long time," said Drew with a look of resentment.


    "I am aw-abiding citizen," Eric said with a look of ''disgust'' and nodded his head toward the door. "And there are outsiders here."


    Drew heard the word ''outsider'' and seemed to be very happy, so she was willing to leave after kissing Eric''s face forcibly.


    Eric looked at the closed study door and smiled and shook his head. He turned his attention to the disy and began finishing off the"Friends"script.


    Barry Diller had called Eric to urge him to attend to the"Friends" filming process personally, although US dramas are broadcast while shooting and"Friends"is no exception, it was now almost August, and the TV series starts in September, so Eric only had one month left.


    "Eric, this is today''s newspaper," the next morning, Eric routinely took a shower and returned to the living room. Nicole thoughtfully ced the newspaper on the coffee table in front of Eric.


    "Thank you, Nicole." Eric relished with interest the girl''s new pink maid costume, and then took the newspaper and looked down. Nicole returned to the kitchen again.


    A momentter, Eric saw the name of a movie in the newspaper. The film was also released by Colombia. He didn''t expect the result to be good.


    Moreover, it was called"When Harry Met Sally" the starring role was taken by Oscar winner Billy Chris and Meg Ryan, the original female lead of Sleepless in Seattle.


    Eric still liked this actress who was very sweet, but it seemed that her route to stardom was very tough. When ite down to it, it could be considered that this sweetheart''s selections were very bad, doing very poorlypared to her two sessful films.


    The films were both in cooperation with Tom Hanks, one was Sleepless in Seattle and the other was"You''ve Got Mail"a few yearster. Nothing else was outstanding.


    The reason why it was said that her eyes were not very good was because she had pa.s.sed by a couple big movies, it seems very magical, since the 1990s, she had refused "Pretty Woman", Ghost, and Basic Instinct one by one.


    She even let Sharon Stone, a nameless n.o.body, kickstart her career, but going into the new century, in order to transform her image, but also wanting to imitate the sess of Basic Instinct, she partic.i.p.ated in a simr movie "In the Cut", but unfortunately this movie did not have luck as good as Basic Instinct that year, and the movie was written off.


    Looking at the box office data of"When Harry Met Sally"in the newspaper, it could be estimated that this sweetheart would be a little bit hot. Because of Eric''s actions, the history of Hollywood had already experienced a great deviation.


    He hoped that this sweetheart would not be as unlucky in this time and s.p.a.ce.


    "Nicole, can youe over?" Eric looked at"When Harry Met Sally"on the newspaper and he remembered an image of the person from Sleepless in Seattle and shouted to the busy girl in the kitchen.


    "Is there anything I can do?" Nicole walked out quickly, holding a small shovel in her hand.


    "That... forget it, you are busy right now, we''ll have breakfast and talk."


    "Oh," the girl turned around confused and walked back.


    At the dining table, Drew snorted and ate the breakfast quickly, took a paper towel and wiped her mouth, then hurriedly got up and wanted to go outside.


    "Come back, sit down and, drink the milk," Eric pointed at the milk that she had left most of in the cup and nced at the girl: "You aren''t rushing rushing back to Mars, so there''s no hurry." TN: Idiom probably


    She reluctantly sat back in the chair and exined: "I am going to find someone to buy the copyright of the movie."


    "Wait and finish your breakfast," Eric ignored Drew''s exnation and repeated.


    "Snort," Drew took her fingers and pinched her nose, took the milk, and then poured it down her throat. "


    "Was it that good!? You drank it quickly."


    "Hateful," Drew took a paper towel. She wiped her mouth and went out of the dining room door. She suddenly turned around and nced at Nicole. Then she turned her eyes to Eric.


    "When I am not at home, you two are not allowed to mess around."

 Chapter 163: Flower Films

    "Eric, what do you want to say to me?" Nicole washed the tableware back to the living room and found that Eric did not go to thepany as usual, but still sat in the living room reading the newspaper, the girl was cleverly aware that he was waiting for herself.


    Eric hinted that she should sit down opposite, and said: "Sleepless in Seattle is expected to begin filming in early September, and I recently began to have a little spare time, so I think we should talk about things in the movie."


    She just nodded and looked at Eric waiting for him to continue.


    "It has been two months, so I think you should have alreadymitted the script of Sleepless in Seattle to memory. Let''s talk about your understanding of the heroine." Eric put the newspaper back on the coffee table and rxed.


    He looked up at Nicole, and asked a question that would normally be asked during an audition.


    During that two months, Nicole had indeed remembered her lines from Sleepless in Seattle and hearing Eric''s problems, she just thought a little and answered: "I think, Annie''s most prominent trait is that she is a very emotional woman. This is also the most important factor in this story.


    Just after she hears the protagonist''s story on the radio broadcast she flies from Seattle alone, just to see Sam. Such that it can be a good fantasy movie, she resolutely breaks up with her already engaged boyfriend and runs to the top floor of the Empire State Building."


    "It Sounds, you don''t like this heroine?" Eric smiled asked.


    Nicole licked her thin lips. As a very savvy woman, Nicole would only sneer if she actually met a woman like Annie Reid, but she was smart enough not to answer Eric''s question directly, but rather euphemistically she said: "That doesn''t prevent me from ying the role."


    Eric shrugged and pushed the newspaper he read about "When Harry Met Sally": "Look at this, I see a female star who is more suitable for the heroine role than you," the"When Harry Met Sally"actress, named Meg Ryan."


    Nicole''s hand, which was originally ced on the maid''s little ap.r.o.n, shook a little, and she looked up to examine Eric''s expression carefully. No useful information was exposed. She could only take the newspaper and quickly read the soft advertis.e.m.e.nts for"When Harry Met Sally".


    Eric then exined: "The film''s results were good, as such the originally not-so-famous Meg Ryan''s box office appeal is definitely increasing. If I can invite her to partic.i.p.ate as the heroine in, Sleepless in Seattle.


    "It will just happen to cross over with"When Harry Met Sally"in the New Year, and it will be very good for the box office."


    FIZZHAZ TRANSLATES FOR FREE ON HIS OWN WEBSITE - FIND ON NOVELUPDATES


    "I... I have signed a contract." Nicole held firm and defended but her confidence weakened.


    "Of course, I didn''t say that I want to change you. I just told you a possibility." Eric said: "If your performance can''t satisfy me, it is also clearly stated on the contract that I have the power rece the heroine midway, but I believe that you have the potential, so I will give you a chance."


    In his memory Nicole yed a stupid blonde sweetheart character in 2005''s Bewitched. The sweetheart witch Isabel, who was yed by Nicole in the movie, was very sessful and thispletely subverted her image as a s.e.xy and morous woman on screen.


    However, the film''s plot was too thick and there were few good moments, which eventually led to the film''s failure. Moreover, the main actor Will Farrell was very suppressed by Nicole in acting.


    It was guessed that he was not nning to take that role from the outset, but that his agent stole the role from Tom Cruise.


    Though many people think that the controversy was made up by a producer who deliberately sought to provoke such a topic, because Tom Cruise also yed a manager role in Sweetheart Mister, although it was as a sports manager.


    "...thank you," as she heard Eric''sst words, she breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Well, let''s talk about another thing. You have been in my house for more than two months. It''s about time to leave."


    "Ah, that...


    shouldn''t it be another month before you boot me out?" She looked up, and although she didn''t it give away in her expression, she was a little uneasy because she knew that whilst she was able to get this role, and she was paid a little to work as a little maid for Eric for a while, there is still more than a month left, so if other party let her leave, she couldn''t help but think of buying something in a convenience store, but not having enough money to pay the boss and having to return the goods.


    Eric did not quite understand why she felt uneasy, but he patiently exined: "Beginning next month, Sleepless in Seattle will begin formal preparations, and some information will slowly be disclosed to the public, such as the starring men and women.


    When the timees, the media will be very curious about who you are. In order stoke the heat of the hype, you must definitely show up from time to time. It would definitely not be appropriate to live with me."


    Se nodded. "I understand, then I ... move out today?"


    "Don''t worry too much, I will let people find a house for you first. There is one more important thing. After you move out, take the time to read"When Harry Met Sally"a few times. I hope that you can try to figure out the performance style of Meg Ryan.


    My ideal Annie has an image simr to her in this movie."


    "You want me to imitate it?" Her body slightly leaned forward, as she asked a question carefully.


    Eric reached out and said, "No, it''s not for you to imitate, and you can''t imitate it. Your temperaments are too different. Meg Ryan is a standard sweetheart, and her acting choices will as such be restricted for a long time.


    If you imitate it too much, you will definitely bebeled as a sweetheart in the future, which will be detrimental to your development. I want you to try to figure out Meg Ryan slight gracefulness to see that type, that type of... good, spoken lines with petty little detailed actions."


    If she can sessfully enter Hollywood, Nicole doesn''t mind being tagged. In Hollywood, being a sweetheart is always better than a vase. It''s still much stronger. However, she also understood that Eric was thinking about her future, so she nodded obediently.


    After a little more conversation, Eric stood up and picked up his coat and put it on: "So, take some time to pack your luggage. When you find a good house, you can move out immediately. I''m going to thepany."


    Nicole quickly stood up and smiled at Eric, wanting to take him to the door.


    Eric saw her little smile and couldn''t help but stop: "Nicole, show me that smile again."


    She was somewhat confused, but obediently revealed a smile, just it was shallower this time and the smile was exaggerated, revealing two small buck teeth.


    Eric shook his head in disappointment: "Forget it, you still can''t smile like that. It felt like you were nning to do something bad. A smile like that, would be good, so practice more."


    "I will" She sent Eric out of the door before returning to the vi and habitually doing a routine cleaning. Two hourster, she who had finished everything sat on the sofa in the living room, staring nkly at everything around her.


    "Eric, this is the information you requested for the film studios New Line Cinema and Miramax." In Firefly''s office, Eric''s a.s.sistant, Allen, ced two dispatch bags in front of Eric.


    "First is this: Contact Robert Shaye of New Line Cinema and the Weinstein brothers of Miramax. Ask them when they are free and say I want to have a meal with them. I don''t need to hide my purpose, so you give it away a little." Eric dictated whilst he was writing something down.


    Allen wrote Eric''s words in a memo before he looked up: "Eric, is there anything else?"


    "Well, wait a minute," Eric continued to write down, and after a while he signed the paper. Handed to Allen: "There are two more things. The first one is to rent an apartment in Beverly Hills. It can''t be too expensive.


    The monthly rent should be no more than $5,000. The second is based on the name on the sticky note. It''ll be useful to register a sh.e.l.l movie studio in my name."


    Allen looked at the sticky note and read it twice: "Flower Films?"


    "Uhuh," Eric nodded and exined nothing: " Go and do it, the apartment should be first, and it would be best to rent it within two days."


    "I will pay attention, but should I charge the apartment rent to apany ount?"


    "No, I will pay personally, you can just find a good house and let the real estate agent prepare a contract."


    Allen attached the note on to the back of his memo, and confirmed a few things with Eric before leaving Eric''s office.


    When the office door was closed, Eric opened the information dispatches from the twopanies. Although Firefly''s distribution channels will be created in the near future, Eric did not have the idea of starting from scratch.


    The most important thing is that his time is very tight, so the acquisition of a film studio with existing distribution channels is the more convenient and fast.


    From memory, two of the most promising filmpanies that Eric can think of are New Line Cinema and Miramax. As for the next century, Lionsgate, which almost bes synonymous with movie giant, has not yet appeared.


    Filmpanies such as Orion, Lianmei, and Samsung have already been in close contact with the six majorpanies. There is no possibility of them being acquired by him.


    Even if he wanted to buy them with a high price, once they realize that he wants to go it alone, the six big yers will not let him go. Although there are many second- and third-tier movie studios that are in the same range as New Line Cinema and Miramax, Eric has never heard of them before.


    It could be guessed that thesepanies willpletely lose their independence when they merge. Even their brand has not survived, be it because of poor management or investment failure.

 Chapter 164: Missed one thing

    After carefully reading the information of the twopanies, Eric discovered that, perhaps because it was established more than ten years ago, the strength of New Line Cinema is far stronger than that of Miramax.


    The simplest evidence is In terms of distribution capabilities, New Line Cinema of the second-tier film studios had been able to roll out to nearly 1,500 screens for a movie, but Miramax was still in the midst of small fights, and can only raise up to four or five hundred screens for their movies.


    Moreover New Line Cinema, whilst Miramax were still developing, had already started the production of the independent movies. They already had the very profitable copyright of the"A Nightmare on Elm Street"series, but Miramax was still in the process of buying pictures for release.


    Seeing this, Eric couldn''t help but wrap the table as he suddenly remembered that he missed one thing, that is, about Steven Soderbergh''s "s.e.x, Lies and Videotapes", with this film, Soderbergh became the youngest Palme d''Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival a few months ago.


    At the time, Eric had reminded himself to buy the North American copyright of the film, but because he was busy during shooting of the"Running Out of Time"at the time, he forgot it.


    If there isn''t a shift in history, the film''s rights will be won by the Weinstein brothers. In his past, Miramax relied on "sex, Lies and Videotapes" to make aeback. After a small profit, they had enough capital to enter the field of independent production, and slowly explored their own ideas.


    The road of which was survival began to flourish.


    Now it waste July, Eric only knew that "sex, Lies, and Videotapes" had won the Palme d''Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May, but he was yet to see the film in North American newspapers or magazines.


    If the distribution rights of the film were already picked up by Miramax, then if one wanted to acquire Miramax, it would be best to reach an agreement before the film was released.


    Otherwise, once "sex, Lies and Videotapes" had its good box office results, even if the Weinstein brothers still agree to be acquired, Eric would definitely have to pay more.


    The rule in the circle is like this, a good movie can make apany''s market value increase, just like his previous life''s Pixar, which was originally a 50 million US dor animated film studio, but because of the sess of Toy Story, the market value increased by 20 times in a short period.


    As far as Eric''s vision was concerned, it would be best to take bothpanies together so that bothmercial and artistic films could be developed in tandem as the ssic Oscar-winning films in Eric''s mind, and as such even if Miramax once again goes down the road of art film distribution, it will certainly not earn less than a studio that focuses onmercial films.


    The estimated market value of New Line Cinema in the data was about 150 million US dors, because the other party was a veteranpany that had been in business for 20 years, and not only had a small film library, but also the very valuable copyright of the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series, as following 1984, the series has filmed once per year.


    As a low-cost horror film, it was built to make money. Although the box office will not be too high each year, it willst forever.


    Although Miramax is still in a third-tier position, the market value of thepany is estimated to be around 20 million US dors. Because these years, the Weinstein brothers have been drawing in quality films from across the globe, and have umted a lot of movie and resources.


    Eric also understood that Miramax''s value was not thepany''sbel, nor the movies in the film library, but the Weinstein brothers. His previous live''s Weinstein brothers gave up thepany in 2005.


    Afterwards Miramax was no longer a big name, and after a few years, Disney bought it at a discount price.


    But now that "Pretty Woman" had made more than $100 million, Eric can borrow again, but wanting to take the twopanies at the same time is not a simple matter, and it definitely involves the management of stockholder rights.


    He knew that with the savvy of Robert Shaye and the Weinstein brothers, even if he managed to raise enough funds by means of loans, as long as he intended to wholly acquire the otherpanies, those people would not agree to a sale.


    Though there was still an advantage to be had in exchanging for the equity of a filmpany with great development potential.


    As he was thinking about these things with a slight brow, Jeffrey knocked on the door and walked in.


    "The news hade from Venice. The Others sessfully entered the mainpet.i.tion. Also, Jonathan Demme made some revisions to the film ording to your advice. Eric, would you like to see it again?"


    "Sure, In my screening room," Eric nodded, and temporarily letting go of the idea of acquiring the twopanies, he got up and followed Jeffrey out of the office.


    "Just what are you thinking about to be so troubled?" Jeffrey and Eric walked side by side, asking casually.


    "I just saw New Line Cinema and Mmax''s information, you know." Eric replied: "I want to eat bothpanies at the same time, but I don''t want to pay too much equity."


    Jeffrey was somewhat at a loss, as once thepany expanded its scale, Jeffrey understood that his talents would not be enough to support the entirepany''s operations.


    After all, now he only needs to be responsible for the several films produced and invested in by Eric, and he doesn''t even worry about the release.


    After the acquisition of the newpanies, Fireflies will start to get involved in the releases, and Jeffrey, who doesn''t have and ability or experience in this area, will certainly have to give up the position of the CEO.


    However, after just a brief entanglement, Jeffrey decided he would be relieved as long as Fireflies was still Fireflies. He once thought they shouldn''t turn Fireflies into arge filmpany.


    Now that it had that trajectory he had wanted to give up his position of CEO as he had been unable to do anything since the bankruptcy of the original Fireflies, after his wives untimely demise, because of his own personal filming.


    As a result Jeffrey had be very self-aware and now he just asionally grumbled to Eric about film production. He would make smallments, but never intervene in the production of the film because he knew he had no strength in this area.


    After thinking about this, Jeffrey patted Eric''s shoulder: "It''s no good to rush. I have also read the information of these twopanies. To be honest, I prefer New Line Cinema, even if you have to sacrifice some shares, it''s worth it.


    The size of Miramax is too small, and I don''t see what you''re seeing in it."


    Eric smiled: "You will understand in the future."


    The two talked and walked into Firefly''s screening room together, and the Jonathan Demme they saw had clearly stayed upte, such that his eyes had faint dark circles, but his devotion to the film was also evident.

 Chapter 165: Unpleasant factors

    In a foggy mansion on the British Isles, the governess Grace once again woke up from her nightmare, wiped her eyes, and began another busy day. Her husband was not at home, she must be strong.


    She didn''t know why, but the servants at her home suddenly disappeared some time ago, so she posted an advertisement for recruiting maids. Today, three people came to apply.


    A white-haired gardener, a spirited old woman, and a confused dumb woman, thebination of the three looked very weird, but because the advertisement had been posted for so long, and no one hade to apply for it, Grace still epted them and introduced them to the customs and rules for the house.


    She didn''t know whether is was because of the arrival of the three, but there were all kinds of strange things in the big house. Her daughter Annie imed that she saw a little boy.


    Grace also heard some strange voices from time to time, and she also found three the new servant were always sly and seemed to be nning something. Because of this, Grace was getting more and more uneasy. Until one day, her husband who went out to fight suddenly came back.


    The excited Grace thought that now the family had it''s backbone again life would get back on track, but her husband did not find his reunion with Grace joyous, instead, seeing his wife and children, he became sad. After spending a few days at the home, he suddenly left again.


    The strange things in the old house were still going on, and with the husband''s departure, Grace''s spirit was getting more and more tense.


    Finally, one day she found that all the curtains in the old house were torn down, and as Grace had repeatedly emphasized that her two children get sick in strong sun, she became so angry that she immediately med the three servants and drove them out.


    The two yful children ran out into the backyard garden one night, and the little girl Annie found three tombstones. Looking closely, she was horrified to find the three new servants who had appeared in the house some time ago.


    At the same time, the three servants also came out of the darkness again. Annie shouted at her younger brother and they ran to the gate, and the governess who also stumbled upon the ''truth'' also rushed out with a rifle to protect them.


    The children returned to the old house and blocked out the three ghosts.


    Whilst Grace repeatedly prayed for three ghosts to let go of their family, the two children went back upstairs screamed, and as Grace prayed she climbed the stairs and watched a door open because of the Ghosts telekinesis, before Grace finally saw another family in reality.


    Everything made Grace face up to reality. It turned out that she and her two children were dead.


    Helplessly holding her two children, the heartbroken governess had to remember her sad past.


    With the sobbing shrieks of Grace and the two children as if in a nightmare, the film officially ended, and as ending credits were not made yet, the lights in the auditorium lit up directly.


    "Eric, how about this time?"


    Jonathan Demme asked without confidence, as although he made a big change in ordance with the advice given by Eric, Jonathan still wasn''t sure whether it would make Eric satisfied.


    The Others finished filming mid-June, and then part of the post-production was carried out in the UK, because some shots were retaken from time to time. The entire crew had been in the UK until July and then returned to the United States.


    Eric had visited the British film studio after the end of"Running Out of Time", personally watching the shooting of some scenes, and after checking some of Jonathan''s shots, Eric was very satisfied with Jonathan''s shooting results.


    Perhaps because Eric''s previous affirmations, when Jonathan confidently submitted his edited version, the so-called director''s cut, to Eric, he was confident that as he had spent a lot of effort editing it, the version will be recognized by Eric.


    However, reality had poured cold water on Jonathan. Eric had frowned after watching his edited version, and then Eric had signaled the staff to y it again from the beginning. They watched whilst it rewound quickly, and then the film was shown again.


    Eric wrote more than 20 amendments in a notebook, involving scening, the soundtrack, editing and other aspects, almost equal in work to Jonathan''s cut version.


    Although Jonathan was not convinced, he did not have the final editing rights. He could only make the substantial changes in ordance with the opinions given by Eric.


    Afterpleting the production again ording to Eric''s opinion, Jonathan looked at the film again. He also felt that this version is much better than the version he had edited before.


    Not only is the plot morepact, but the suspenseful setting was more eptably confusing and more focused on the creation of psychological suspense that made Jonathan admire this young man who is twenty years younger than himself even more.


    Whilst Jonathan did a great deal of preparation in order to get the position of the film director, and some of the ideas he put forward were in line with Eric''s ideas, many of his techniques still couldn''t escape the embarra.s.sments that were old-fashioned horror films.


    This was not Jonathan''s desire, but few bad habits can be changed, and innovation, in any circle, is easier said than done.


    When he heard Jonathan''s question, Eric did not rush to answer Jonathan''s question. Instead, he carefullypared the original film in his mind using it''s difference andmonalities to the movie that he had just watched.


    Among the three films invested in by Firefly, The Others,"Steel Magnolias"and"Scent of a Woman", Eric felt the box office prospects for The Others was the most promising, so he also paid it the most attention.


    For other two films, "Steel Magnolias" and "Scent of a Woman", Eric was giving over power much greater than for The Others.


    Herbert Rose waspletely responsible for"Steel Magnolias", Eric did not even participate in the editing, and whilst the final editing rights of"Scent of a Woman"were the hands of Eric, in the future, he would respect the views of Al Pacino.


    Inparison, for the production of The Others he seemed to be somewhat ''willful''. He also knew thatpletely overthrowing Jonathan''s director''s cut version is very hurtful, but he has to do it in order for it to be sessful at the box office.


    When he originally saw Jonathan''s edited version, the reason he could list so many revisions in one breath was certainly not because of the talent of Eric himself, but with reference to the original film in his mind.


    Even if he had a little talent in his previous life, it had been eroded by so many years in shackles. His only remaining professional skills were those imprinted in instinct, like an old man who has been in the kitchen for decades.


    The master, who without thinking, can draw up a table full of vourful dishes ording to habit.


    A movie, even if based off the same material and the same script, can haverge differences between films edited by different people. Eric had heard of someone re-editing just the scenes, and editing a ssic serious historical film into a vulgar film, but the lines, materials, music, etc.


    had not changed, but rather just rearranged. Scening. Therefore, Eric was not demanding a perfect copy the The Others exactly as in his memory. Besides, his past life''s version was not without ws.


    For example, the scene where Grace''s husband returns was light hearted in the original. In a horror film maintaining the tension and suspenseful atmosphere are very important, so Eric had made some modifications to the original plot in this version.


    It took about ten minutes for himpare them in detail, and then Eric nodded lightly. "Yes, basically, we will just do one or two small changes to the details.


    As for the release, Jeffrey, inform the heads of the major filmpanies besides Fox and Columbia to see if they are interested in participating in an internal viewing session."


    Jonathan heard Eric''s affirmative words and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Jeffrey was hesitant: "Eric, it''s not good to not inform Fox and Columbia. After all, isn''t our cooperation with these twopanies the closest?"


    Eric''s exined: "In the current situation, After Colombia''s acquisition by the japanese, there will be no small number of personnel changes. It''s hard to say how the japanese will manage Colombia after they get it.


    Currently I''m worried about even receiving the dividends for "Running Out of Time" on time, so I don''t want to work with them in the short term. As for Fox, they already have the rights to distribute my next two movies, and they will only be the movies we make ourselves with out resources. "


    Jeffrey suggested: "So that we look good, why don''t we invite the people of Colombia and Fox, and as for working together, isn''t it fine if we choose not to. If we don''t invite them that would be somewhat disrespectful."


    Eric looked down and thought about it, then nodded: "Well, just do as you said, also put together a preview for "Steel Magnolias". Lets put "Scent of a Woman" to rest for now.


    Let Al put it together slowly, so long as it can be ready for the down time at the end of the year, anyway, as that movie is to be used to attack the Oscars."


    As the two men discussed the film distribution, Jonathan Demme took a chance to interject. "Eric, will you go at the Venice Film Festival in September?"


    "Yes, I will at least go to the opening ceremony or the awards ceremony," Eric replied.


    Among the three major European film festivals, the Venice Film Festival was the closest one to the Chinese film circle. Eric had been interested in the Venice Film Festival in his previous life. This time now that he has the opportunity, naturally he must go.


    In the past year since his rebirth, Eric has been constantly busy, and there''s been no time to rx. Maybe the Venice trip can be used as a vacation. As for the awards, Eric''s expectations are not too big.


    Although the story of The Others is very novel, this movie is not only amercial film, but also a horror film. Any one of these two categories is very much discriminated against by the film festival.


    As the film contains these two most unpleasant factors, the ability to qualify for the mainpetition at all has been a very good result.

 Chapter 166: A true loss

    "I have an apartment that I found in Beverly Hills, with a monthly rent of $4,000. You can call this phone number tomorrow, mention the name of n Fisman, and the real estate agent will sign a contract with you. "Eric returned home in the evening.


    After dinner, he took out a business card and handed it to Nicole. When she hadn''t even had time to react, a small hand quickly robbed the business card.


    "Wow, wow," Drew waved the business card and nced at Nicole revealing a triumphant smile: "So, you finally have to move?"


    Nicole shrugged helplessly, and sat very elegantly back on the sofa, there was no meaning in fighting, so she did not answer Drew''s question.


    During this time, she had also surmised the way to deal with Drew, when facing her many provocations. Although deep inside, she couldn''t wait to rush into the kitchen and find a sharp knife to shave the unsightly baby face.


    It took her a much effort, but Nicole managed to stay magnanimous, and not lower herself to Drew''s level from the beginning to the end.


    She even guessed the reason why Drew was looking for trouble. This seemingly careless girl was only fourteen years old, but she was as smart as a goblin. Nicole thought that she wasn''t full of childish things. She does not really get a sense of happiness from bulling ordinary children.


    She just wants to make her mad, even wants to endure conflicts with her, even being bullied. She wants her to make some counterattacks.


    The two of them definitely went together like fire and water, one of them definitely had to leave the mansion, and Nicole also knew that even if she was on good terms with Drew, she would still have to leave the vi.


    Nicole didn''t mind falling out with Drew, but she was afraid of losing her chance to y the heroine in Sleepless in Seattle.


    After this period of contact and understanding, she is more and more deeply aware of the value of being Eric''s movie heroine, so she is more and more respectful of Eric. Compared to this opportunity, being a maid for a month or two in this vi is nothing at all.


    If she could ensure the result, she would not even mind if she had to wear a s.e.xy little uniform and be a maid for a year. Many women in Hollywood have not encountered such a good opportunity even in eight or ten years. Compare to that, one or two months, or even one year, is nothing.


    In the various media reports, not to mention the gorgeous Julia Roberts, even the only one who acted in"Running Out of Time"for a few minutes, Brooke Shields, recently received a big role in Warner''s new production as the film''s heroine''s film, the newspaper guessed that the pay was nearly three million dors, which is almost a top-tier actress rate.


    Before the"Running Out of Time", although Brooke Shields was beautiful and morous, she could only be regarded as a third-tier star, and her acting had been criticized by the media. Her box office appeal was even more difficult to talk about.


    Although Eric had made a series of promises before, and although there were contracts, she had always been cautious.


    "Drew, you better return the business card to Nicole. If you don''t want her to leave, I don''t mind letting her stay for a while longer." Eric nced at Drew, who was waving his business card.


    She knew that Eric was joking, and so she stuck out her tongue, smirked and rolled her eyes and twiddled the business card in her hand, and ced it on the girl in front of, directly under the seam of Nicole''s maid skirt.


    After the end of her gloating she added: "It would be really pitiful, if as your clothes have no clips, they fell off."


    Nicole nced at Eric, and although he did not respond, he still showed some guilt. Usually in order to have the dancers undress, the guests of a strip club would have to ce money in the chest or the underwear. If they do this to ordinary women, they will provoke a fierce temper and a p.


    Seeing that Eric was still watching Drew''s yful expression, Nicole could only reach out to the business card on her abdomen as she got up and walked to the bathroom, preparing to take it out.


    When Nicole got into the bathroom, Drew directly rushed into Eric''s arms: "What''s the matter, my dear beloved?"


    "Nicole hasn''t had it easy, she has been bullied by you for more than a month without saying anything, if it were me I couldn''t help but pour sulfuric acid on your face." Eric smiled as he gently twisted her sweet and tender cheek, saying so.


    "She won''t," Drew snorted, moving like a snake with a delicate body, finding afortable posture on Eric''s thigh, before reaching out and touching the stubble on Eric''s chin: "Only Aniston that brainless little girl can do that, and this woman, if it makes no advantage for her, will never do anything."


    "Oh, next time we see Jenny I will definitely tell her your evaluation."


    Drew smiled and waved her hand, and it didn''t matter: "Let''s just let little her face reality as soon as possible. The earth is so dangerous. It''s just right to bury her."


    Eric couldn''t help but smile. Perhaps because of a .s.sic movie that he saw in the past, when Eric spoke asionally he would use words like ''Earth'' and ''Mars''. This vocabry, unwittingly, was learned by the little girl in her arms: "I think if Jenny gets buried, she will have buried you first."


    "Oh, she didn''t have the ability," Drewughed. Then her face became serious, and in a slightly lowered voice: "Eric , how you y with stupid women in the bedroom isn''t for me to manage, but that woman should never be provoked. Oh, entangling with her may be troublesome."


    "Yes ah yes ah, since I have been wrapped up by a goblin, I will no longer I dare provoke woman of the same type."


    "I mean this for real," Drew grabbed Eric''s chin with dissatisfaction: "In fact, I me you, who ys with women. You may have fun, but you can''t help but entangle with each other emotionally after ying."


    Eric knew that Drew was referring to Virginia, and he had no choice but to avoid the harassment of her small ws: "Okay, I know. "


    The sound of shoes came, and the two stopped the topic at the same time. The girl returned to the sofa and sat down without any strange expressions. She looked at Eric with a usual look, but she thought about things.


    From the words of Drew that she just heard inadvertently, she recalled that the little girl had been strictly guarding against her during this time, and suddenly realized that she seemed to have missed a good chance.


    Originally when Nicole got this role for herself, she didn''t have to pay the price of her body, so she was quite pleased with herself. Now she found out that because she didn''t pay for it, she had suffered a real loss.

 Chapter 167: Lending money

    Later at night, in her bedroom on the second floor, as Nicole was looking at her packed suitcase, she suddenly felt that the experience of these past two months were like a dream.


    Seven years ago, she first got a chance to y a role in a movie. It was also that experience that made her realize that her life could be more dazzling, and a pretty woman is always ambitious. So she quickly dropped out of her high school, and looked for opportunities while studying at drama school.


    In a few years, she yed a number of supporting roles in many movies and TV series, and also won the award for best actress at the Australian Film Academy. But these were far from satisfying her. Her eyes had never stopped at the small pool that was the Australian entertainment circle.


    She was looking forward to Hollywood.


    At the beginning of the year, she partic.i.p.ated in an audition for a Hollywood movie in Australia. She was confident despite not getting the role, and As she she was 22 years old and couldn''t wait any longer, she packed her bags and came to Los Angeles alone.


    She quickly realized the cruelty of reality. Her performance qualifications from Australia and the performance awards she received did not help her career. She was basically a neer, with rolls in some unknown movies or small characters from TV series.


    Then two months ago, her career finally ushered in a big turn. She was fascinated by the young director Eric Williams, who suddenly rose to prominence in Hollywood. He asked her toe work for him for a few months as a maid, and then she would get to be the heroine of his new film.


    How could there be such a good thing!


    Outside of the office, she always began to think of these words. For the next few days, she had spent her time in a fierce mood. She was very eager to get this opportunity, but she felt that if she agreed, there was definitely a h.e.l.lish life to greet her. It might have made her life a nightmare.


    She was not a little girl who knew nothing about the industry. She had heard many examples of women being tricked.


    A few dayster, she finally did not have the will to resist the temptation and took the initiative to goto his door. But her imaginary horror situation did not appear. She was not stuffed into the bas.e.m.e.nt with ripped clothes, and she was not abused at all.


    He really only dressed her beautifully, and then she cooked and did theundry for him every day and make his bed. His life was also healthy, without bad habits, and he didn''t expose any delusions of fame.


    He was only 18 years old and he acted calmly like a middle-aged man who had gone through the world.


    Young and talented, charming and handsome, most of the women whoid eyes on him were caught in his. Even if she was sensible and knew that it was unlikely, she still wasn''t safe, and she couldn''t help herself. For this man who is smaller than herself, she had a faint affection.


    At the beginning, she has tried to seduce him, but unfortunately she had not seeded, but she had made some jokes. He even regarded her little tricks as a kind of performance and looked on with gusto.


    If you didn''t know that he had a girlfriend and a lover, or he kept a little goblin in his family, and asionally spent the night outside, then you would definitely think that he was a homosexual, as the proportion of homosexuality in Hollywood is too high.


    Without thinking about it, Nicole put on her pajamas, put the sexy maid uniforms in the closet, closed the closet, turned and climbed onto the bed, turned off themp, and her slender figure kept rolling in the dark for a while.


    Maybe I''ll try again.


    She remembered a few conversations between Eric and Drew after dinner. She couldn''t help but think of this idea. Although she couldn''t be the man''s girlfriend or wife, as she would have to fight for ten years, at least she could leave a deep impression on him.


    From her a.n.a.lysis of the conversations she heard between the two people, this would definitely help her career.


    After a while, she finally thought of a good excuse. It was not an excuse. She originally intended to tell him at night, but Drew that little goblin was always there. She didn''t want to beughed at by the wicked little nizi.


    As such she nned to say it before tomorrow.


    After turning on the bedsidemp, she sat up and thought about opening her packed suitcase and finding a bottle of perfume to spray on her body. She used this perfume very little during this time because after one time, he had said that the smell was too strong and he disliked it.


    In order to please him, she never used it again.


    But this time it may be useful. The perfume was a musky rose. It is said that the musk had a sensational effect. After looking at her watch, she sat on the bed and waited for a while.


    When the watch pointer pointed at twelve, she gently pushed the door open and carefully walked through the hallway towards Eric''s door.


    After gently knocking a few times, she took a deep breath and waited patiently. She knew that he could hear it. He usually was in the study room until around eleven o''clock. At this point he must not have fallen asleep yet.


    After a while, the door opened, and Eric, wearing pajamas, looked at Nicole in confusion, his eyes shed a few times: "Nicole, it''s sote, is something the matter?"


    "Eric, this matter is one that is very difficult to talk about, but I don''t know many people in Los Angeles, so I can''t help myself." Nicole''s calm look had be awkward.


    "Well?" Eric still had no ns to let here in.


    "I mean... can you lend me some money? You are saying that the apartment rent is going to be... It costs 4,000 dors a month, but I don''t have much money now." Nicole''s voice started to stammer a little.


    This is not acting. She did have stuttering problems when she was a child. Although it was already good once she had grown up, she would still speak awkwardly when she was nervous.


    Eric nodded in the door frame: "I can, wait a moment, I will get the checkbook." Eric said, and before he could add more, she had already followed him into the bedroom.


    Eric could only go with the flow, but fortunately Drew was forcibly stuffed into the closet, or otherwise there was bound to be trouble.


    "Is 100,000 enough?" Eric found the checkbook and looked up at the girl.


    Nicole nodded quickly: "Enough, I... I will get it back to you immediately."


    "Don''t worry, when you have money, you can return it to me. Oh, I believe that you will have the money after the first movie is released. At the beginning of the year Julia lived in a rented house.


    Now she has not only bought a Beverly Hills mansion, but also hired several assistants, bodyguards, and the like, which are more than mine. Eric casually said Julia''s interesting things, as he lowered his head and filled in the checkbook."

 Chapter 168: Go hide yourself in the wardrobe(18+)

    After filling out the check, Eric tore it off and handed over to Nicole. But when she took it, she showed no intention of leaving. Moreover, just as he headed down to write, the girl had already moved to his side without being noticed.


    Well, this is...


    No words had been uttered yet. The girl had thrown herself into his arms, and her red lips kissed him gently with warm air from the mouth. The softness of the breast rubbed gently against Eric''s chest through twoyers of nightie. Eric even felt the two bits were turning hard to wee him.


    "Eric, don''t refuse me, will you?" The girl said that dreamily, squinting her eyes, she put her arms around Eric''s shoulders, licked Eric''s ears like a cat.


    Sniffing the smell of perfume that was not the same as usual in the girl''s body, Eric somehow felt a little emotional, and could not help circling the girl''s waist. Suddenly the wardrobe behind Nicole was opened gently, and Drew popped out her head and made a face warningly, then quickly drew back.


    Eric could only slightly push away the girl wrapped around him. "Sorry, Nicole, you''d better go back."


    The girl wouldn''t take no for an answer, she came up and rubbed his manhood through his pants, making it hard: "Eric, obviously you want it too."


    "It''s one thing I want to, it''s another thing I have to, it''s..." Before Eric finished his words, she got on her knees. Eric felt his waiting erection was pulled out by a small hand.


    Then two moist soft lips came up and wrapped around the head, before she pushed her head forward, shoving his all the way down her throat.


    "HAAA..."


    Eric grunted, felling her hot, slick mouth enveloping his penis, her throat constricting around the head.


    Pulling back, she wrapped one hand around his dick and started rapidly moving her sexy lips up and down his shaft, taking half of his dick in her mouth and jerking the other half with her soft hand as her other hand started caressing his balls.


    Eric sighed as he looked down at tall beauty on her knees sucking his dick and enjoyed her skilled service.


    Taking her hand off his dick, she pulled her head back until only the tip remained in her mouth and started rotating her head as she pumped his shaft in and out of her mouth, head of his dick hitting her throat.


    Eric grunted as she deep-thorated his dick with every move, her head rotating and her tongue licking all over his rigid shaft as she softly caressed his balls, bringing him immense pleasure.


    "Pop..."


    With a dirty pop she pulled her lips off his dick and, wrapping both her hands around his slick shaft, started pumping his dick as she nced up at him.


    Seeing his face filled with pleasure she smiled smugly, before holding the base of his cock with one hand and leaning her head down, wrapping her soft lips around the head.


    Taking a deep breath, she hollowed her cheeks and started rapidly pumping half of his dick in her mouth, her soft hand stroking the other half as she yed with his balls with her other hand.


    Pulling her mouth off his dick, she stroked his shaft with both hands as she took deep breaths, before hollowing her cheeks again and pumping his dick in and out off her mouth.


    She did it over and over again, taking her lips off his dick and pumping it with her hands, before hollowing her cheeks and swallowing his dick, over and over, until finally burying her head in his crotch, taking his dick all the way in her throat.


    "Wow..." Eric could not help moaning from the unprecedentedfort. He could not resist it any more. He held the girl''s head with his big hands and started thrusting his hips, pumping his dick in and out of her slick mouth.


    The wardrobe door opposite opened again, and the little girl jumped out barefoot. Eric quickly held on Nicole''s head with both hands to prevent the busydy from suddenly looking back.


    "Eric, we''ve made an agreement," Drew looked at Nicole kneeling in front of Eric, with a strong displeasure on her face, gesturing silently at Eric with her little hand.


    "Be good, go hide yourself in the wardrobe and don''t let anyone see you," Eric said silently


    Drew scratched her hair crazily and really wanted to go straight forward to grab Nicole''s hair and pulled her out of the door. But she knew that if she did this, her dirty linen would be found by Nicole as well.


    Although she did nothing with Eric, they just cuddled and went to sleep on the same bed, but no one would believe it.


    She didn''t want Nicole, the annoying woman, to get something that might affect Eric''s reputation, so she only waved her hands reluctantly, pointed to the door and returned to the cab.


    Eric nodded in silence. After Drew returned to the wardrobe, Eric stopped his hips and, holding thedy''s little head, started moving it violently, shoving his dick deep in her throat.


    "Uh... Cough... "Nicole got so awkward by the sudden aggressive change that she could only look up at Eric and pray for his gentleness, but she didn''t know that this pleading look could stimte more brutish nature of a male.


    As a result, It took seven or eight minutes for Eric to satisfy himself before he took a quick step back and gave the girl an order: "Use your hands!"


    She panted, with hair tangled. Her mind was absentpletely but she still obediently stretched out the hands and started stroking his rigid, slick cock with both hands.


    Soon Eric fixed her head again, and she watched in horror as his dick swelled slightly, before shooting ropes of hot cum, leaving her face and hair stained with the white liquid.


    Eric took a deep breath after the release, then he stuffed it into the girl''s mouth again and cleaned it up before putting on his shorts. After that, he copsed into the big bed behind him and lied down, while Nicole turned around and rushed to the bathroom without any instructions.


    As the door of the bathroom was closed, there came the sound of her retching, Drew finally jumped out of the wardrobe, breathing fast with the face blushed. She popped the head to confirm the bathroom door closed. Grinning, she quickly jumped on the big bed and mounted directly on Eric''s waist.


    Scratching at the man''s chest, she said "You bastard, although I was relieved to see the way you treat her, I feel disgusted to know you''re so perverted."


    "Don''t make a fuss, go out quickly, it''s not good to be discovered," Eric whispered, blocking the attack of her two little paws. Obviously he showed no intention of repentance at all. For him, that was the first time he ever did it that way, of course it was really refreshing.


    Moreover, the person who did it with him was an Oscar movie queen in previous life, the dream woman of millions of people. Thinking of this, Eric''s desire ignited again.


    Drew also knew that she couldn''t be too willful, after venting out her discontent slightly, she jumped out of bed and walked towards the door. Lying in bed, Eric didn''t notice the girl walking in an odd way. Not to mention to find that pantie under her nightie was wet.


    Drew was not a well-behaved girl, or the word "behave" had nothing to do with the girl, so she had watched simr scenes in that kind of movies. However in this era, the blurred video images on the screen, in any case, wasn''t as mind-blowing as the live show.


    Watching this through the chink of the wardrobe, she almost copsed inside.


    The woman stopped retching soon in the bathroom. Then there came the sound of showering. Ten minutester, the sound stopped. Eric looked up at the door of the bathroom.


    The girl still did note out.


    Was she likely to do anything stupid?


    Stricken with the idea, he got up and went to the bathroom. Although it was impossible as he knew Nicole.


    Under the bright light, Eric saw the bathtub full of water, and her thin, naked body immersed in it. Approaching the bathtub and squatting down, he looked into the water. Nicole quickly noticed him. She poked her head out of the bathtub and habitually covered her chest.


    Then she released discreetly. Smiling reluctantly at Eric, she said, "Eric, can you let me ... have a rest? Later we can..."


    "Of course," Eric nodded. "Do you mind if I join you?"


    The girl hesitated and shook her head slightly.


    Eric took off his shorts and stepped into the bathtub. He took the girl into his arms and stroked Nicole''s sensitive points.


    Caressing her small breasts with one hand, he slid the other hand down between her legs and started to slowly massage her clit as she leaned her back against his chest and sighed from his ministrations.


    "UHHH..."


    He squeezed her breast as he started cing kisses on the back of her neck and pushed two fingers in her tight pussy, making her moan.


    Kneading her breasts, he started pushing his fingers in and out of her pussy, as she turned her head and their lips met.


    Pushing his tongue in her mouth, he kept kneading her breasts and moving his fingers around her pussy as his dick started getting hard.


    Feeling his erection pressing against her ass, Nicole let go of his lips and, putting her hands on the sides of the bathtub, slowly sat up, her small but perky ass pointing at his face.


    Leaning forward, she reached one hand down and, grabbing his dick, positioned it at her entrance.


    "HAAA...."


    Eric sighed, leaning back against the bathtub and closing his eyes as her wet, warm pussy slowly enveloped his length, her silky walls wrapping tightly around his shaft as she pushed her ass down.


    Leaning forward slightly and putting her hand on the sides of the bathtub, she started raising and lowering herself on his shaft, her gorgeous ass bouncing on his hard dick, causing her mouth to let out seductive moans.


    "UHHHH...."


    Eric just leaned back and watched as his dick disappeared between her creamy cheeks, sliding in and out, her pussy tightly gripping his shaft, her ass jiggling as the sound of her moans filled his ears.


    Letting her slide up and down his dick for a minute, he leaned forward and grabbed her asscheeks, feeling the smooth, stic skin as he squeezed her ass and started to thrust his hips, matching her pace, making her moans louder.


    He held her waist and sped up his thrust, making water ssh around as she threw her head back and let out loud moans of pleasure, at the same time sliding her hand down and massaging her clit.


    "p..."


    After thrusting intensely for a minute, he let go of her waist and leaned back again, watching as she started bouncing on his dick, her bulging ass going up and down his dick, her soaking cunt tight around his rigid shaft as he pped her soft ass, making her moan.


    She slowed down, taking his dick deep in her pussy with every bounce, grinding and rotating her hips, rubbing his dick in different ways, bringing him pleasure and making her let out throaty moans.


    Letting her bounce on his dick and listening to her moans for a minute , he felt his orgasm build, so he sat up and pushed her forward, bending her over as she grabbed the back of the sink, sight of her waist curving down and her fleshy ass sticking up enough to drive any man crazy, making blood rush to his head, increasing his arousal as he grabbed her slim waist and started to rapidly thrust his hips, fucking her from behind, her ass pping against his crotch, her seductive moans music to his ears.


    Holding her waist, Eric kept pounding the leggy actress, her moans getting louder and louder as she slid one hand between her legs and started stimting her clit, her release getting close as her seductive cries filled the room.


    "UHHHH.... GODDDDDDD.... CUMMINGGGGG...."


    He kept pounding her, her ass pping loudly against him until she cried out loudly, her pussy clenching around his dick as she threw her head back and arched her back, drenching his dick with her juices.


    "HAAAA...."


    Eric grunted, feeling of her pussy trying to milk him pushing him over the top as he mmed his dick deep in her and started shooting ropes of cum, painting her insides white.


    "Eric, do you need me to stay here for a few more days?" It waste at night after they enjoyed themselves again, Nick asked, snuggling up to him.


    "No," Eric shook his head, the hand touched the smooth back of the girl, slowly slid onto her round buttocks and gently kneaded it. The girl was thin and her breast was not that perky. Only here can give a plump feel.


    Nicole rubbed up to make it easier for men to knead with his big hands. She nodded and said, "I will do as you will. If you want me, you cane to me."


    Eric didn''t reply. A momentter, he said, "You don''t have a car, right? You can pick one up in my garage when you leave tomorrow. It''s inconvenient not to have a car in Los Angeles.


    You can return it when you can afford yours."


    Because his Lamborghini was discovered by the paparazzi, Eric bought several new cars of different models and put them in the garage, so that he didn''t have to worry that driving the same car all the time would be easily recognized.


    The treatment was really different---The idea popped up into her mind. She could feel that Eric was caring about her, the car was not for a deal or something.


    However the favorable impression was hard-won, the girl won''t spend it on such trifles as using his cars: "No, I''m going to New York to shoot a movie in a month. I''ll just go out and take a taxi."


    "You do what you want, but remember to call me whenever something happens."


    "Well," said Nicole, with a triumphant smile on her lips, and then she felt her hip patted, Eric said, "Once more, this time you ride me."


    She reached down and touched there, then sat obediently on the man, and her slim waist wobbled quickly.


    "Eric, do you want to listen to my moan?" The girl put her hands on Eric''s chest and asked with seductive eyes. On the two previous times, she had been passive and carefully satisfied the man''s desire. She didn''t intend to take the initiative at all.


    After feeling Eric''s subtle emotional change, the girl became bold and provoking.


    Anyway, Drew already knew what they did. So Eric had no worries. He stroked the girl''s slender waist and said, "Don''t be too loud. It''s not good to attract the wild cat nearby."


    "Ah... I won''t." The girl answered with a smile, and then began to moan seductively with her cherry lips.


    Her moans filled the room as she put her hands on his chest and started moving her hips up and down, impaling her hot, tight pussy on his dick over and over, as she slowly picked up speed and started to bounce on his hard dick.


    "UHHHHHHHH...."


    mming down, she took his dick deep inside and started to grind her hips back and forth, letting out deep, loud moan, as his thick cock stimted every part of her vagina.


    She continueding down on him as he reached up, squeezing her small breasts and starting to thrust his hips, matching her pace, her moans loud and seductive.


    He let go of her breasts and grabbed her waist, stopping her movements as he started to rapidly thrust up his hips, his dick gliding in and out, stretching her tight pussy, making her moans turn short and intense.


    Thrusting rapidly for minute, Eric felt his orgasm gradually build up and he wanted to try a position he saw in porn once, so he stopped thrusting and flipped her over on her back.


    He grabbed her legs and put them on his shoulders as he pushed her head off the side of the bed, before raising her waist in the air to increase the pressure on his dick and started moving his hips back and forth, fucking her tight pussy.


    Nicole moaned louder and louder as he gradually sped up his thrusts, pounding her pussy, her head hanging down the side of the bed, making blood rush to her brain, overloading her nervous system, making her feel pleasure like never before as her orgasm started to build up fast.


    He kept pounding away, sound of her seductive moans and collision of their bodies feeling his ears as he hit the entrance of her womb with with every thrust, until.


    "UHHHH.... GODDDDDDD...."


    Nicole cried out loudly, as pleasure pulsed through her entire body, her tight pussy squeezing his shaft and drenching it in juices as a mind blowing orgasm washed over her.


    "HMMMM....."


    Eric grunted as her tight pussy clenched around his dick, his balls boiling with cum as he let go of her legs and pulled his dick out of her tight cave, before jerking it a couple time and spraying his seed all over her face and t stomach.


    As always Eric looked down and enjoyed his work, another celebrity with her legs spread, lewd liquid spilling out of her cave, her eyes hazy from pleasure , her face flushed red and painted white with his cum, her sweaty breasts heaving up and down as she enjoyed her explosive orgasm.


    Next morning....


    At breakfast, Drew, with dark circles under her eyes, stared at Nicole wickedly, and the bread in her hand was crumbed unconsciously.


    Nicole''s face was glowing fromst night. She didn''t care the girl''s sharp eyesight. She wasn''t the kind of woman who liked to show off. She considered it was very unwise.


    So she didn''t want to unt her sess in front of the girl even though she had won the game.


    Because she was leaving this day, the girl changed to normal clothes again. The snow-white shirt and cream-white casual trousers made her look intelligent. With a pair of .s.ses, she even could go to the school to be a teacher.


    "I''m full," said the little girl, looking at them flirting with each other from time to time, at least she thought it was flirting, throwing down her spoon, pouring oatmeal into her mouth, wiping the oil from her lips and walking out. Her boots stamped the floor, making a loud noise.

 Chapter 169: Hi

    Although they had carnal rtionship, Nicole did not stay in Eric''s mansion for one more day and obediently moved into the apartment Eric had someone found for her.


    In August, for a movie in its fourth week of release, Secret War''s box office figuring more than $260 million were still strong, with a total number of more than $150 million globally already.


    Although it depended on luck whether this movie could surpass Batman in the following show time, there was no doubt that its box office in North America would exceed $200 million.


    In addition, "Secret War" in overseas markets was more popr than in North America. Although most overseas countries released itter, some didn''t even show it, in those regions where it had been released, "Secret War" had won 12 first-week box office Championships altogether.


    In this case, it was certain that its overseas performance would be much better than domestic.


    Colombia invested in the film with no intention of making profits but only to boost its stock price, however the fact was that they could not only recoup investment, but also earned a lot just by ticket sales. Colombia was bound to take a big share in the next video revenue.


    Although Payback Period was long, this part of the revenue would bring Colombia Pictures hundreds of millions of dors in the next few years.


    For Eric, the project of "Secret War" was also a thing of the past. He only needed to wait to gain his share of profit.


    Based on the poprity "Secret War", it was sure to shoot sequels over and over again ording to Hollywood conventions. But for investment safety, Eric was not going to participate in the production of the sequel since the original ssic was hard to surpass.


    For instance, the sequel of the previous "Secret War" hadn''t shown any edge.


    If the scripts of the sequels were well-written, Eric only intended to involve Fireflies in part of its investment. In case the japanese could give a good price, Eric could even sell them half of the copyright of "Secret War" that belonged to fireflies.


    After all, without Cruise, Eric, Hanks alone could hardly recreate the brilliance of the original in the sequel of Secret War. With the investment conventions of such films, the cost of the sequels would certainly increase sharply in the future, so it would not be easy to make profit again.


    After this project, Eric began his intense work in the second half of the year. First, the first two episodes of Friends needed his partic.i.p.ation. And Fox had already advertised it. Because of the fragment insertion of Friends in Secret War, the public was also looking forward to the y.


    The second was "Sleepless in Seattle", the penultimate movie of this year, and was actually thest one Eric would make with concentrated attention. Although Fox attached great importance to "Home Alone", Eric couldn''t spend much energy on this movie anyway.


    Besides, he intended to follow the script of its second y, making it easier to shoot.


    "Sleepless in Seattle" was only in the early stages of preparation, but the propaganda had begun, the news of the leading role was soon revealed. When the names of the hero and heroine had been decided, many Hollywood actors who wanted to cooperate with Eric were disappointed.


    Tom Hanks as the leading actor had not been much questioned, but the unexpected Nicole had be the target of the media. With the release of the starring information, Nicole''s profile was exposed by powerful paparazzi in just a few days.


    An Australian actress, who had won some performance awards, made her debut at the age of sixteen and had no acting experience in Hollywood


    As the information was revealed, the girl quickly became the focus of controversy. Hollywood despised foreign actors, so as the media did. So, except Uta''s propaganda papers for the girl, Nicole had received no eptance, she was showered with one-sided criticism.


    Most media thought that Nicole didn''t deserve the heroine of Eric''s new film. From the title of "Sleepless in Seattle", the media spected that Eric might go back to a Ro like "Pretty Woman".


    Then the Hollywood media ignored Nicole''s current look, and took great pleasure in picking up Nicole''s dowdy image in her Australian movies and TV dramas, criticizing her to nothing good.


    Of course, this criticism would also be countered. The most intense one was from the Australian media. Although Eric had only a few works and had not been popr for a long time, he .u.mted a great reputation in Australia, no less than those big name directors famous for many years.


    Therefore, the Australian media are proud that the actresses in their country can act in Eric''s new films. So they fought back to Nicole''s criticism.


    Nicole, who was in the center of the storm, did not feel any pressure at all. She knew that the more the media made fun of her, the more fame she gained.


    On August 2nd, Friends quietly started shooting in a huge studio of Fox''s.


    Among the six main actors, only Aniston had a little fame while the other young people were previously unknown and nameless actors. Eric chose them not only because they had acting skills, but also they were very simr to the images of the main actors in Friends.


    In addition, as neers, these actors were also paid very little, only $5,000 per episode. At first Eric wanted to secretly give Anniston a higher pay. Since the sry was confidential, as long as he didn''t tell others, nobody would know that.


    Even if it was known by the other five actors, they would certainly not say anything because Aniston was not only more famous, but also the daughter of the producer and the girlfriend of the director. It would be self-defeating if they reallypared themselves to Aniston.


    But Eric''s kind offer was rejected by the young girl, who only took $5,000 for a film episode like other neers. Eric couldn''t get over the stubborn girl, so he had deliberately disclosed the news, and it was no surprise that he had a good effect.


    Like her predecessors, the little girl soon became a real good friend of five other actors. This was very helpful for the shooting of Friends. After all, when they became real friends in reality, they would surely have some tacit understanding in the shooting.


    "Everybody, get ready for Scene 5 Act 1, action!"


    With the voice of the supervisor, several actors began to chat in the Central Perk Cafe.


    The scene was about Ross divorced his wife, carrying an umbre and showing up in the cafe with a degraded face. In the original version, Ross Geller, yed by David Schummond, amazed many audiences when he first appeared.


    His simple word "hi" made the audience instantly remember the tall and thin figure in a big coat.

 Chapter 170: Freddies little house

    While Chandler and others were chatting, Rose suddenly emerged behind the sofa of the cafe like a ghost, holding an umbre in his hand, ying with his fingers awkwardly like a child, and greeting weakly, "Hey...".


    The cheerful atmosphere dissipated quickly, and Chandler''s expressions copsed.


    "My God, I have an impulse tomit suicide as soon as he opens his mouth." Chandler, sitting in a chair next to the sofa, had hardly finished these words when "cut" was heard


    "No, Ross, you just made a good move, but the emotions contained in the lines are still not expressed in ce. You need to be more withered and brew up your sentiment. As I told you before, this scene is crucial to you.


    I hope the audience willugh when they hear your first sentence and keep you in mind. Eric patiently spoke to the actor who yed Ross in the scene. Even the addressing was directly reced by the role name. And no one feels anything wrong, quietly watching his speaking.


    Even Aniston, who was waiting to go on the stage in her wedding dress, looked at the face of her serious boyfriend with admiration.


    Eric was young, but as a big director who has umted more than a billion box office around the world,ing to direct TV drama was enough for everyone on the scene to show their respect.


    Because it was the first work day, they did not shoot many scenes, mainly to develop the actors'' tacit understanding, and because it was si, although there was no cannedughter on the scene, the atmosphere on the set was generally very pleasant.


    At first, because of Eric''s personally directing, most of the staff on the set appeared to be trembling. But as time went by, with the increase understanding of Eric, they no longer worried and could even make harmless jokes with him.


    After a few days of running-in, the shooting of Friends had gradually elerated. Eric had only prepared a two-week-time slot for the first two episodes directed by himself personally, which was enough.


    After all, with the shooting while broadcasting, the group basically had to produce two episodes a week.


    "Well, everyone get ready, one more take," Eric waved to the crowd and sat back in the director''s seat.


    Because Rose''s appearance was a very demanding scene, it was shot more than ten times. In the end, the actor who yed Ross even revealed nervousness, but the scene finally pa.s.sed.


    "Jenny, that''s your cue," several shotster, Eric said to Aniston, who had been waiting aside for a long time. Thedy quickly lifted her wedding dress and walked outside the door of Central Perk Cafe.


    "Eric, shall we go to have dinner tonight?" At the end of the day, Aniston, who had changed her costume, put her arms around Eric and said. Anyway, everyone around them knew their rtionship, and there was nothing to hide.


    "I''ve just made an appointment. If you don''t mind, you can join us." Eric wrote and drew on a doc.u.ment and answered casually.


    Aniston frowned slightly, but could not help asking, "Man or woman?"


    "Er... Of course it''s a man."


    "I knew it," the little girl still pouted her lips discontentedly. "If it''s a woman, you would certainly not take me with you.


    "It seems that I haven''t asked any women for dinner except you," Eric put his pen cap in the folder and pinched her face.


    Aniston discontentedly opened Eric''s hand. "I won''t believe you, who knows what you''ve done behind my back? What''s the matter with Nicole Kidman?"


    "What matter?" Eric pretended to look baffled.


    "You..." Aniston really wanted to ask Eric if he had slept with her, but then she swallowed the words since she could do nothing either way. Even if they didn''t have an affair now, he might get her into bed someday in the future. If they already had, could she bear to break up with him?


    Eric hurriedly scanned another doc.u.ment and signed his name, then gave it to his a.s.sistant Ellen. Then he reached an arm around the girl''s waist and said, "Okay, let''s go back and get ready first. The appointment is at seven. So we have two hours left.


    How about hanging out at my ce? Drew misses you."


    "Hum, I miss her too," she said, grinding her little white teeth immediately after hearing Drew''s name. Since thest time two girls shed in front of Eric''s sickbed, she had never seen her again. Aniston had never been to Eric''s house in recent months.


    Usually Eric asked to spend the night at Aniston''s. That''s why the Aniston never knew about Nicole''s business. She did not know there was such a woman Nicole until the newspaper published the news of the heroine of Eric''s new film.


    After saying goodbye to the crew, Eric drove Aniston back to Beverly Hills mansion. Although he said those words, Eric was relieved to see that the little girl was not at home. After having s.e.x with Nicole, the little girl had a cold war with Eric for a whole day.


    After Nicole left, she ran to Eric''s bed in the evening and slept beautifully with her big human-shaped pillow in her arms.


    Although it was the second visit to Eric''s mansion, Aniston''s first experience was a bit of nightmare. She basically had no impression of his house.


    When she found that Drew was not home, thedy, like the hostess, wandered around the mansion, inside and outside, and ran to bounce on Eric''s big bed several times.


    "Hey, what are youughing at?" Aniston asked distastefully, holding a pillow and raising her head, happened to see Eric staring at her with a meaningful look.


    Eric shook his head. "Nothing. I''m curious about what are you doing, dering your sovereignty?"


    "Hmm," the little girl seemed to be seen through and turned her back to Eric indifferently.


    Eric shrugged and went straight in, opened the wardrobe and picked up the clothes. Aniston was wearing a long skirt today. It looked like a gown. With her natural beauty, there''s no need to get changed for dinner.


    "Well, let''s go," Eric changed his clothes and talked to the girl who was still in bed.


    "Well," Aniston answered, but did not get up immediately. Instead, she picked up a long strand of hair from the sheet and waved at Eric. Her look showed "you should exin it to me".


    Eric shrugged. "It must been just dropped from yourself."


    "..." Thedy choked, threw the hair on Eric, turned the bed upside down and buried her head in the pillow.


    Eric went over and pped on her upturned b.u.t.tock. "Okay, stop being petty, let''s go."


    "Uh huh..." She shook her body and did not move. Eric gave a cunning smile at the corner of his mouth and suddenly said, "Jenny, there may be Drew''s saliva on that pillow."


    "Woo... Wow, bah, bah, that''s disgusting." Aniston heard Eric''s words and jumped up like a spring, the pillow hit Eric and she rushed quickly into the bathroom.


    "Well, don''t be angry," Eric said to thedy holding his arm after getting out of the car after handing the key to the doorman. "I said, that''s my pillow, even if there is any saliva, it''s mine."


    "Huh, your saliva is more disgusting," said Aniston, touching her lips and rolling her eyes up.


    They went into the dining room together, and under the guidance of the waiter, they came to a table where a middle-aged man was waiting. Seeing Eric, the middle-aged manughed and stood up, and stepped forward to reach out to Eric.


    "hello, Mr. Shea," Eric shook hands with him and introduced, "This is my girlfriend, Jennifer Aniston."


    Thedy shook hands with him very gently and sat down quietly beside Eric.


    "Eric, just call me Robert," the middle-aged man said as he sat down.


    Eric didn''t see too much information from his expressions and didn''t care about that. Anyway, things could not be settled over this meal. Eric knew that it was just a probe between the two of them and it was difficult to reach any consensus.


    After ordering the dishes, Eric and Robert Shea chatted casually.


    "A Nightmare on Elm Street is indeed a ssic one among horror movies. The setting of dream killing is very novel. As a master of horror movies, Wes Craven also has a unique insight into the creation of horror atmosphere. To tell you the truth, Firefly also has a horror film just finished.


    When choosing the director, I once considered Mr. Craven. Unfortunately, for various reasons, we couldn''t cooperate." They naturally talked about the Newline''s original film series "A Nightmare on Elm Street ".


    Although Newline has been independently produced films since 1979, it was not until the sess of the first film of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series in 1984 that the strength of it rose to a new level.


    Therefore, because of the importance of "A Nightmare on Elm Street ", Newline even gained a nickname "Freddie''s little house". Freddie was the film''s leading role.


    Robert Shea''s face turned somewhat proud on hearing Eric''s tteringments: "Nevertheless, it can''t bepared with your Home Alone. I heard that the cost of it is only one million, but it has got 500 million dors at the box office globally, more than 500 times the cost.


    Such a return on investment may never be reached in the future. There will never be a movie like that again. "


    "Certainly there will be some," Ericughed, recalling the film The ir Witch Project in his previous life. Although the sess of that film was strongly contingent, it couldn''t be denied what a miracle it had created.

 Chapter 171: A roundabout talk

    Aniston, who had been sitting quietly beside Eric, was a little confused. Before she came, Eric did not hide the purpose of this invitation to Robert Shea. But now that dinner was past over half, neither of them had mentioned the acquisition of the filmpany at all.


    Instead, they were talking irrelevantly about kinds of industry insiders, such as the huge loss of MGM''s Heaven''s Door, the box office miracle of Gone with the Wind in 1939 when Robert Shea was born, why Disney rose so fast, or the truth of RKO''s bankruptcy.


    Anyway, there was nothing about the acquisition, at least the not-so-intelligent youngdy didn''t find anything rted.


    At first, Aniston listened with relish, then gradually losing interest, but she didn''t want to be rude so that her boyfriend would lose face, thedy can only sit up and listen carefully, although her mind had flown to the horizon.


    Until the waiter removed the dishes and served coffee for them, Eric''s chat with Robert Shea was not over.


    "... Thetest issue of Variety published a data article. Statistics show that, from next year, the revenue from video tape and television rights of movies will surpa.s.s the box office. Moreover, the development of various copyrights of merchandising products from movies is more and more diversified.


    So the role of distribution channels will be increasingly important in the film industry chain. Pure content providers will find it difficult to survive."


    "That''s one-sided. If there are no excellent films, then the expansion of distribution channels will be impossible to talk about. Hollywood is developing its territory in the overseas market just by virtue of high-quality films one after another.


    If our films are as unproductive as European movies and few good ones were made, they will surely be like European movies, can only bepet.i.tive in a small circle. Building highway is important, but without automobiles, highway has no value for existence.


    Moreover, the sry of Hollywood movie stars has increased more than ten timespared with ten years ago, and they have even begun to take cuts from the profits of movies, which is the most intuitive manifestation of the importance of content in the film market." Eric finished, took a slow sip of coffee and nced at Robert Shea.


    Shortly after the dinner began, they exchanged a few words of greetings and ttery, and insensibly started a secret confrontation.


    Although no one mentioned any issues aboutpany acquisition, they had been arguing about which part was of greater consequence, the content of the film or the distributor.


    The topic was initiated by Robert Shea, who had lost the upper hand since that moment. Now that Robert started the topic, Eric knew that he was very excited about the Firefly''s proposal to buy Newline. If he was unwilling to sell, he would not mention the topic at all.


    Robert Shea, was also slightly distressed. He found himself far underestimating the vision and insights of the youngd sitting opposite.


    As an experienced man who has been making a living in Hollywood for more than twenty years, how could he not understand that once the topic was started, he was likely to uncover his intention?


    But Robert Shea thought Eric was only neen years old. Even though he had some talent in film making, he certainly knew very little about other aspects. And He was thirty years older than him, .u.mting much more experience.


    Moreover, Robert thought his eloquence was not bad, so at first he was confident that he could hold Eric down. Once a seed was nted in Erick''s heart that the distribution channel is the key, Robert would be able to take the initiative in future negotiations.


    Eric''s sessive films had worked wonders at the box office. So when Eric had someone invite him and leaked some info, Robert Shea felt tempted. Fireflies'' buying Newline was for sure, Robert Shea didn''t consider the possibility of the reverse at all.


    Robert Shea was already fifty years old, but still very ambitious. He didn''t value the huge amount of money from fireflies'' purchasing. Instead, he hoped to achieve the merger of the twopanies and get as much equity as possible.


    Newline had now hit a bottleneck. Among the second-tier studios, Newline was already one of the best. It had a well-earned film series, and had built a good distribution channel in the United States while also cooperated with fixed distribution partners overseas.


    What''s more, Newline had not been attached to any film giant andpletely maintained its independent operation. Butpared with the six major filmpanies, Newline still got a very long way to go. The main reason was it had few box-office hits, or none at all.


    Up to now, Newline''s most profitable series, a Nightmare on Elm Street, its highest box office was only over 40 million. However, the film''s box office in North America couldn''t be considered qualified until reaching about 100 million U.S. dors.


    Without box office hits, Newline was doomed to be difficult to rank among the giants


    The pareto principle of the Hollywood market are particrly evident, namely, twenty percent of movies each year gained more than eighty percent of box office revenue.


    The top ten movies in the box office list are always monopolized by the six majorpanies, which meant that more than 80% of the box office revenue was pocketed into the six giants.


    In fact, the revenue proportion of the sixpanies had been reduced in recent years, because the vigorous development of various channels, providing independent filmpanies much s.p.a.ce to grow. Therefore, the six giants upied only about 85%, leaving a 15% share to other Hollywood studios.


    This seemed to be a small percentage, butpared with that more than a decade ago, this proportion was veryrge. At that time, the sixpanies basically shared all the box office every year, leaving only a poor 1% to small studios.


    If Newline was aimed to make its way to rank among the giants to share the profits of that 80 percent, before meeting Eric, Robert had only two ways to choose, one was concentrating all its strength and risk making big investment, which might achieve big sales, but the risk was enormous.


    Once it failed, the Newline only had to go bankrupt. The other way for Newline was taking conservative approach, wishing maybe one day, a small-budget film invested by thepany surprisingly got box office sales, quickly helping Newline .u.mte huge financial strength.


    If coupled with the good vision ofpany leaders, its following investment movies could also sell, that would achieve a virtuous circle. In this way, Newline would build up its strength and might join thergepanies one day. Lionsgate Film had risen by luck like this.


    Lionsgate, founded in 1997, was far less qualified and powerful than the old second-tierpanies like Newline and Miramax. However, its low-cost doc.u.mentary Fahrenheit 911, which was released under great pressure of the government in 2004, luckily won 2.4 billion U.S.


    dors in worldwide box office, and quickly .u.mted sufficient capital, and then with this capital, it developed a series of super-selling "Twilight" and "Hunger Games" series, once dominating giants like Universal and MGM.


    Following Warner, Disney, Colombia and Fox, Lionsgate ranked fifth in the box office.


    After Eric''s offer, Robert Shea saw another way to go for prosperity, which allowed Newline to move smoothly into the ranks of film giants without taking risks or waiting for good luck pa.s.sively. Eric''s previous big sales had proved that he had the strength to do so.


    Since there was abined giant like MGM-United Artists in the Sixpanies, there would surely be another case like Newline-Firefly, well, Firefly-Newline.


    With a cup or two of coffee, Robert Shea had no patience to carry on with Eric. The young man''s patience was amazing. Although he was unwilling to admit it, Robert Shea had to face up to the fact that he had failed in the battle.


    If he didn''t get to the point directly, maybe Eric would really take the meeting as a chat and got up to say goodbye. Maybe they could only meet again at the negotiating table next time.


    "Eric, I heard that Fireflies are ready to expand its distribution channels?" Stirring the refilled coffee with a spoon, Robert Shea asked casually.


    The corner of Eric''s mouth curled up. Finally he couldn''t cover the intention. The meal had been eaten for nearly two hours. Eric almost had no patience to spend time with Robert Shea.


    Thedy had thrown several charming winks suggesting that he should leave. Eric nned to finish his coffee. If Robert didn''t ask for it, he would go back home and get busy with Aniston. Now what''s left was that fireflies officially and publicly issued the invitation to buy Newline.


    Eric wanted to probe Robert Shea''s intention and see if he was interested in selling Newline. Since in Eric''s memory, Robert Shea''s control desire was very strong.


    In his previous life, although Warner purchased Newline, it was Robert Shea that firmly controlled Newline, it seemed that almost 20 yearster, until Golden Compa.s.s underwent a great deficit, Robert Sheikh was forced to step down with great pressure.


    Robert Shea''s initial topic and long argument with Eric had shown his attitude, so it''s not necessary to talk about it at the dinner table. Anyway, even if a preliminary intention was reached, the specific terms still needed to be negotiated for a long time.


    Sony''s acquisition of Colombia had now taken more than half a year, with the time for previous nning, at least one year had passed. Firefly''s acquisition of the Newline would not be so troublesome, but it certainly couldn''t bepleted in a month or two.

 Chapter 172: Bottom line

    "Yes, Robert, that''s why I invite you here today, isn''t it?", since Robert began first, Eric also came straight to the point.


    Robert Shea gave a hollowugh, trying to hide his embarra.s.sment. It was weird. He had decided to give up in this invisible confrontation, but now, hearing what Eric had said, he regained a sense of frustration.


    After a sip of bitter coffee, Robert calmed down and said, "Well, Eric, I''m really interested in our cooperation, so let''s hear your conditions first, shall we?"


    "You know, Robert, I only value the distribution channels of New Line, so I''m going to buy out it with the initial price of $500 million. This price is negotiable of course. But the most important thing is, after the acquisition, I can make you the CEO of the brand-new Firefly.


    Come on, Robert, you are only 50 now, you want to retire? Course not."


    "For 20 years'' boss, Eric, and now you want me to be your employee? The position of CEO is not attractive enough", Robert Shea raised his outstretched hands and continued, "Sure, we can cooperate, only in the way like MGM-United Artists. New Line will have its channels and Firefly, excellent films.


    If we merge, a new film mogul called Firefly-New Line can rise in Hollywood in the next few years, what do you say?"


    "Then, after the merger, how do we allocate the equity?" Robert''s suggestion made Ericugh in his heart. Firefly-New Line? Interesting indeed, but Firefly alone was enough, any tail behind it was redundant. The brand, New Line would certainly be retained, but only as a subsidiary of Firefly.


    Hearing this question, Robert Shea shed a glimpse at Eric and again took his cup, lost in thought. Actually, he had begun to think about this question even before Eric''s invitation. Firefly was only more than half year old, with barely any distribution capability.


    The total value of its films was also negligible and worthless. However, the truth was, the profitability of Firefly was overwhelming.


    Excluding Home Alone, which literally was not a work of Firefly, even Pretty Woman alone had brought over $100 million to Firefly. Then, if Running out of Time achieved a box office of $200 million both at home and abroad, Firefly could gain at least another $80 million box office cut.


    Moreover, Robert Shea had learnt that Eric would cooperate with Fox on another two films, with additional three films already underway, among which, Home Alone 2 would definitely bring much profit.


    In addition, Tom Hunks had joined Sleepless in Seattle, which was directed by Eric himself, so no way would Firefly lose any money on it. As for the other 3 films, they were said to be low-cost investments of less than $10 million each. With Eric''s fame, they would certainly make a small profit.


    All the above suggested that this year, Firefly''s box-office profits alone would be equivalent to those of two film giantsbined, reaching an astonishing $400 million or so.


    The value of apany was about ten times its annual profit. Take the six film giants in Hollywood for example. The annual profit in good times for each of them was around $200 million, and thus the value tranted into $2 billion.


    Yes, Columbia''s value was surging now, but it was just a result of hype. Before Sony''s acquisition got leaked, Columbia''s value was also $2 billion.


    However, for New Line, only one of the six movies produced and releasedst year, a Nightmare on Elm Street 4, made a profit of more than 10 million dors, while othersbined only made a profit of several million dors.


    Taking video tapes and other film-rted products into ount,st year, the profit of New Line was only $30 million, which meant its value was no more than $300 million.


    Of course, the way it was calcted was only to provideymen with a general picture of thesepanies.


    In real business, by no means could apany''s value be calcted in such a rough way. True, New Line achieved a profit of $30 millionst year, yet the credit should be given to the good year.


    A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 fortunately became a hit, while its former two works both only took some $20 million at the box office. Putting aside the cost, the profit share of those two films were insignificant.


    Therefore, Eric''s file showed that New Line''s value estimated by the professional financial auditpany was only $ 500 million, which included its new film library, film series copyright, distribution channels and other a.s.sets. Its unstable annual profit was just a minor consideration.


    But it would a pain on the neck to calcte Firefly''s value. Eric altogether spent less than $10 million on renting office and purchasing equipment.


    With the copyrights of the films like Home Alone, Pretty Woman and half the rights of Running out of Time, you could value Firefly at $100 million or even at $1 billion.


    So, when asked about the share of equity, Robert still failed to give a decisive answer despite days of deliberation.


    After a 5-minute-thinking, Robert raised the cup of coffee to his mouth with left hand, meanwhile, quite una.s.sertively he stretched out 3 fingers with right hand, indicating the number 3.


    "Three percent?" Eric leaned forward and asked curiously.


    Hearing that, a mouthful of coffee spurted out from Robert''s mouth. Thanks to a prompt turn, he did not spray the coffee on the whole table and Eric, but some drops did ssh on the chest part of Aniston''s long skirt.


    This absent-mindeddy was totally shocked, even having no time to dodge. She felt a little wet in her chest and screamed, grabbing a napkin to wipe the water stain. Meanwhile, she stared at Eric unpleasantly, not knowing what happened.


    She only heard Eric say something like ''three percent'', and then her skirt was ruined.


    The service in this restaurant was indeed considerate. Noticing this incident, a waiter rushed to the table and delivered napkins. Having cleaned up the table and the floor, he stepped back quietly.


    "I''m so sorry," said Robert Shea, wiping his mouth and clothes with a napkin. He first apologized to Aniston and then turned to Eric, with a strong grievance on his face, "Eric, after twenty years'' hard working, mypany is only worth three percent of your share?


    If that''s the case, I think there''s no need for us to waste time."


    "All right, I get it, so you mean...thirty percent?" Eric confirmed again.


    Robert Shea nodded: "New Line has .u.mted some a.s.sets over these years, so I don''t prefer cash acquisition. I really expect our merger, but only on the condition that I take 30% stake. That''s my bottom line."

 Chapter 173: Not much time left

    "30% is out of the question," Eric shook his head slightly, with eyes gazing at Robert Shea. Before any rebuttal, Eric leaned forward and continued: "30 percent of stake to merge a mere distributionpany is a losing proposition anyway, so I would rather give it up.


    As Firefly is going gangbuster now, all the seven Hollywood giants are willing to cooperate with me. I can even exchange Firefly''s 30 percent of stake for 10 percent of stake of MGM, the underdog among the Hollywood giants."


    When Eric finished, Robert Shea rebutted instantly: "Actually, Eric, you will not do that. If Firefly bes a subsidiary of seven giants, it meanwhile loses the chance to run neck to neck with them.


    I have been hustling in Hollywood for some 20 years, and I have been tired of seeing cases in which a film giant prevents the development of second-and third-tierpanies by acquisitions, so they will never threat its status. It''s their same old trick, Eric."


    "Of course, I will not do that. I just ount for a possibility. If I have to pay out 30 percent of stake to acquire New Line, I would rather exchange my stake for that of the giants.


    So, Robert, I have my bottom line, 10 percent at most, and if not enough, some cashes can be offered aspensation." Eric also bid his offer, 10 percent, a result of his long-time deliberation. He believed that it was enough to acquire New Line, and would attract other coborators.


    "That''s far from enough," Robert said: "I have run New Line for over 20 years, a child of mine it is to me. If your Firefly desires to merge it, 30 percent is not enough, and any offer less than that is uneptable."


    Eric almost burst outughing: "Radio Keith Orpheum has longer history, where it is now? United Artists is an old brand but also became the subsidiary of MGM. So time, Robert, doesn''t hold water.


    In 1981, United Artists was merged by MGM because of the huge losses of Heaven''s Gate, then only six giants, Warner, Universal, Paramount, MGM and Fox survived in Hollywood. But how about now?


    In just five years since Michael Eisner took the chair of Disney in 1984, the six giants had expanded into seven.


    Robert Shea was going red in the face---it seemed that Eric wasparing Robert with Michael Eisner. True indeed, he could hardly equal Michael Eisner, but it was ashamed to be pointed out by a young man 30 years his junior.


    In embarra.s.sment, Robert blurted it out, "Whatever, Eric, it must be 30 percent."


    Eric cated him as soon as he noticed Robert''s anger: "Well, Robert, we both have the intention to cooperate, so why don''t we go deeper into the details."


    "Oh no, it''s useless," Robert Shea rejected: "If 30 percent cannot be guaranteed, there will be no need for details."


    Eric''s was slightly agitated, with fingers tapping habitually on the table for a few times, because it did not make the usual light noise due to the tablecloth.


    "Robert, you have to understand that there is not much time left for us."


    Robert Shea was slightly curious about Eric''s baffling words, but he didn''t ask any questions after all to keep his momentum.


    Eric also went straight to the point: "Over a decade ago, films could only make profits in cinemas, yet with the vigorous development of video tapes, cable television and other film-distributed channels, this small profiting circle had beenrgely expanded, which had also made films more and more important in the media industry.


    I believe that in the next decade, most of the Hollywood giants will be merged by media groups and be a part of the huge media industrial chain. Once this trend prevails, the Hollywood giants will gain the media and financial resources supported by media groups.


    That means film giants can spare the risks of bankruptcy caused by bad investment and will ultimately enhance their position with numerous media resources. By then, without G.o.d''s grace, second-and third-tierpanies can never weaken the impregnable position film giants backed by media groups.


    They will either be merged by film giants, and as you said, lose the chance to join them or carve up the sc.r.a.pes of profits left over by the giants."


    Robert Shea restrained his surprise and kept it from his expression, resorting: "There is something in your words, but this trend still has a long way to go. I have faith in New Line. It has chance as long as"


    "No, it doesn''t," Eric interrupted Robert Shea firmly: "Actually, this trend had begun a few years ago when News Corporation bought Fox. This year, with Columbia purchased by Sony, seven giants lessened to five.


    Moreover, I read in the newspaper that Warner intends to cooperate with Turner Network Television, establishing media group, then another giant gone. So, four film giants remain, and how long can they survive?"


    Robert Shea went silent.


    Eric didn''t stop his persuasion: "Robert, as the second-and third-tierpanies, this is ourst opportunity to rise up. The time left for us is no more than 10 years, or even only 5 years. Yes, you can afford to miss the chance and be resigned to seeing the whole industry carved up.


    Then, as you imagined, you turn New Line into a first-.s.s filmpany through the .u.mtion of luck and time, making more profits than any former giants. But the point is, by then except New Line, there will be no more pure filmpany anymore.


    All the former giants have already integrated into media group and you can neverpete with them, which means you are doomed to be a second-tierpany.


    Whening to this topic, Eric recalled the previous Lions Gate Films. With the poprity of The Hunger Games series and Twilight series, Lions Gate made more profits than two renowned filmpanies. However, at that time, except Lions Gate, all the other 6 giants had integrated into media groups.


    Although making more profits, Lions Gate had little chance to outdo them inprehensive strength.


    "What you said... is all hypothetical, isn''t it? Robert Shea could not help giving a short reb.u.t.tal.


    Eric could see that Robert Shea almost gave in and slowed down his tone: "Robert, although it is hypothetical, with your experience in Hollywood for more than 20 years, you can certainly tell the possibility of this hypothesis, right?"


    Robert Shea looked down at the cup with few coffees in it: "But 10 percent is too puny"


    "Michael Eisner holds less than 10 percent of Disney''s share, owning no more property than you. However, he ranks in the top three on the Hollywood power list, admired by 90 percent of people in Hollywood. Robert, you have mentioned that money is not attractive for us anymore.


    Think about it, after the acquisition, you will be the CEO of Firefly and you also trust the profitability of my films. It will only take few years for us to join the film giants party and we can win a seat in the industry after the integration with media groups.


    By then, your 10 percent of stake may be worth over $ 1 billion. But if you continue to run New Line independently, when will its value reach that number?"


    "OK, then 20 percent, Eric, 20 percent, this is the bottom line," Robert Shea was totally drawn by the prospect described by Eric, and offered a huge concession.


    Eric wore a slight and almost invisible triumph smile since Robert Shea had given up his original bottom line, then the negotiation could go on. Eric snapped his fingers to the waiter and handed the credit card to pay the bill.


    Then he said: "Robert, currently it is hard for us to reach any results, and it''s a little bitte, so we should choose a more formal asion for further talks on details."


    No sooner had Robert Shea offered 20 percent than he regretted. He found that he should have been muddleheaded by a young man''s tricky words. He would like to p on his own face---it was fine to decide to make a concession, but it was foolish to say it out.


    It seemed that Robert had made several mistakes tonight, which taught him not to underestimate Eric. Meanwhile, before the formal negotiation, any direct confrontation with Eric should also be avoided. Maybe it was good choice to entrusted this task with a professional negotiator.


    Noticing that Eric didn''t continue to beat him down, Robert took the opportunity and said: "All right, it''s quitete now, I should go back."


    After the three of them parted at the restaurant entrance, Aniston, who was quiet before, suddenly flung her arms around Eric''s neck, tiptoed andughed, "Wow, Eric, you were so impressive just now. Robert was baffled by your momentum, huh."


    Eric fussed with a wisp of hair that had fallen from her forehead,ughing: "So, do you admire me so much that you have the impulse to kneel down and kiss me shoes?"

 Chapter 174: This is just unfair

    At first, Aniston felt cozy when Eric wasbing her hair but these words immediately rendered her pout, "Bah! By no means! I think you were just talking nonsense though I did not quite get your point. Resources, Mu0026A, territory, h, h, h."


    Eric pretended sadness and covered his chest with his hands, "How badly you are hurting my pride! I shall teach you a good lessonter."


    "Um..." Aniston lowered her head and blushed slightly and then suddenly looked up, "Don''t do that again! Otherwise, I will never let you go."


    "Um? Do what?" Eric was left in doubt for the moment.


    "You...You are deliberately annoying me," the.s.s stamped her feet on the ground. She thought that Eric was ying dumb, thus letting go of his arm angrily and moving forward several steps.


    Seeing the.s.s forward raising her bottom, Eric suddenly realized what had happened and strode along to catch up with a snicker. He patted on the s.e.xy b.u.t.tocks and said, "Okay. Please forgive me for my slow reaction."


    "Ah..." The.s.s was taken by surprise and dodged like a frightened little rabbit. She covered her bottom and nced around quickly. Not until she found there was no pedestrian walking by did she take a deep breath. Then she red at Eric, saying, "You...How indecent the action is!"


    Eric smiled and stepped forward. Then he cuddled the.s.s close and pinched her waist, kissing her hard on the face and whispering by her ear, "You will see much more indecencyter on."


    "Humph!" The girl wanted to escape but stopped resisting after being continuously teased by Eric. She had no choice but to enjoy the cuddle.


    Very soon, the doorman drove Eric''s car here. After tipping, Eric and Aniston got into the car.


    "Shall we get to my ce?" The.s.s asked in a low voice after Eric started the engine.


    "Of course," Eric turned the wheel and drove onto the road. Thinking of what happened several months ago, he could not helpughing, "Drew must have alreadye back. Do you want to go to my ce and have another fight with the little girl?"


    "Humph!" The.s.s turned around angrily. After a while, she thought of something and turned back, "Eric, how is the house you had others build in Malibu? "


    "Considering the time of decoration, it will take altogether two or months. With good luck, we can move in by end of this year. Maybe we can have a fabulous party with great sea view for Christmas." Eric stared at the road forward and answered.


    The t in Malibu was modeled upon the super seaside vi of Iron Man in Eric''s memory. More than half a year had already pa.s.sed since the building work started.


    The inefficiency of American workers was really annoying, showing a stark contrast with the efficiency Eric had witnessed in his previous life. At that time, it only took 10-plus days to construct a building of tens storeys high.


    However, if Eric''s t was just built in 10-plus days, he would be too worried to live in. At the very beginning, Eric would often ask Frank Gary about what was going on with the construction. After two or three months, though, he lost the interest in asking.


    Instead, he just looked through the project reports made by Frank Gary''s firm regrly andforted himself by trying to believe that soft fire makes sweet malt.


    Hearing Eric''s answer, the.s.s asked in a low voice, "Then...By then, will Drew also move in?"


    Eric used his thumb to rub against the wheel and replied, "You know that Drew is just 14 years old. She is still a kid. Legally or personally, I shall by no means leave her alone. At least, we need to wait until she is 16.


    At that time, I may ask her to move out."


    Aniston wrinkled up her little nose and snorted in distaste, "She is not like a little girl at all!"


    "Hha, that''s true. However, many things just go like this. To a certain extent, Drew is a public figure. These so-called child protection organizations will always pay more attention to her.


    If I ask her to move out now, it will surely cause dissatisfaction."


    "Humph! Why was not the girl born in the slums? In that case, no one will bother to care about her."


    "Yes," Eric gave a sigh:"The world is just unfair. Generally speaking, America is still dominated by the elite and its education only serves them. This county can only ensure that the top earners will remain prominent as always. Who will care about the children of the lower .s.s?


    They might drop out of school at 11 or 12, or give birth when 13 or 14. No one will bother to care about them. Drew is different and has already climbed to the higher part of the pyramid. This has brought her the benefits that will only be enjoyed by the elite.


    Those benefits include being cared for by child protection organizations. "


    Leaning one hand against the window, pouting at Eric, "Okay, you have once again sessfully changed the topic of our conversation. You always have one million ways to do this. Humph! I can sense your intentions but I just don''t want to get to the bottom of it all.


    "


    "This time, it is you that have diverged from the original topic," Eric smiled.


    "It is you!"


    "Okay, it''s me." Eric did not want to argue relentlessly and said, "The t in Malibu is quite big! Jenny, you can also move in by then."


    "By no means will I live together with her. Me or her, it is up to you!"


    Eric patted on the wheel and said, "Okay, just forget about what I have said."


    "Um...You are such a jerk! You are always showing more affection for her!" Her eyes wide open, the.s.s stared at Eric. She looked here and there, seeming to give a bite on Eric somewhere.


    Eric nced at the.s.s and warned her immediately, "Stop messing around, please. I am driving now."


    Suddenly, Eric felt his Motor phone ringing. Then he instantly pulled over and answered the call. The call was from Drew who was talking excitedly. Eric nced at the.s.s by his side and immediately got off.


    Not until he ran under a streetmp did he begin to speak up.


    Aniston sensed Eric''s carefulness, feeling angry but somewhat..."Fine. After all, he cares a lot about my feelings," the.s.s thought to herself.


    After a moment, Eric got back in the car, closed the door and started the engine.


    "What happened?" Aniston still could not help asking after a while.


    Eric shook head and replied:"I do not know. The little girl kept on talking and tried to persuade me intoing back. She said that she had good news to tell me. Fine, just forget about it and wait until tomorrow.


    Let''s go to your ce first."


    "Um..." Aniston pinched the skirts and started to speak after a long while, "Well...Maybe you should go back and see what has happened. There might be something important."

 Chapter 175: A trivial matter

    Eric pushed the door open and walked into the living room. Hearing the sound, Drew immediately jumped up from the sofa and embraced Eric full of excitement. She was smiling sweetly but then snuffled and turned unhappy after sensing that Eric was trying to dodge.


    Drew pretended to dislike Eric''s reaction and drew a breath near his left cheek. Then she used her sleeves to rub against his face before kissing it.


    Eric found the little girl''s act both funny and annoying. Stepping forward, he got rid of the cuddle and put Drew onto the sofa. Then he sat down by her side and asked: "Okay. Why did you hurry to see me?" Eric noticed the striking ck file on the tea table and opened it.


    It turned out to be a copyright transfer contract.


    "Haha, you have quickly secured the copyright on An Affair to Remember. I thought that I would have to wait until the summer vacation ended."


    Drew smilingly leaned against Eric and put her jaw on his shoulders:"This is Hollywood. As long as you have money, things will be much easier."


    "How much did you spend?" Eric took the metal clipper away from the file and asked casually.


    "3.5 million," the little girl said the price unconfidently and promptly exined:"But it is all-inclusive and permanent copyright. We own the copyright on even the original soundtracks in the movie. "


    Eric nodded. If what Drew said was true, the price would be eptable. He would just take this as a chance to erge the Firefly Film Stock. Maybe he could also wait until Sleepless in Seattle became a blockbuster and invest in the reshooting of An Affair to Remember.


    Eric had intended Drew to acquire only the 5-year copyright on the film, but the result was a bit different. After all, the original copyright owner would surely grasp the chance to rip off the potential buyer who was interested in the old film dating back 30 years. Five years? No deal!


    If you wanted to buy it, you had to ept the high price.


    Seeing Eric nodding his head, Drew felt at ease and began to exin further, "This film was originally produced by Jerry Wald, an investor who started his own filmpany. The guy shot a number of fantastic films but then had the misfortune to die from a heart attack.


    His wife sold the copyright on several films to another filmpany. Later, that business went bankrupt. The twist and turn sent the copyright to Fox finally."


    "Wow," while listening to the girl, Eric saw in the file the name of 20th Century Fox. Then he nearly sprang up.


    Drew was exining carefully when she was shocked by Eric''s exmation. She opened her eyes wide and asked:"What...What happened? Is there anything wrong?"


    "You just said that...This film was bought from 20th Century Fox?" Eric tried his luck and asked once again.


    The girl fluttered her eyshes innocently and moved her chin up and down, "Yes?"


    Eric forced a smile, "Gosh, I will court the hatred of Fox."


    On that evening, Eric was so fed up with the little girl''s disturbance that he suddenly decided to find her a part-time job during the summer vacation. Not for a moment did he think about the copyright on An Affair to Remember.


    If the copyright owner was Warners, Universal Picture or Paramount Pictures, Eric would let it go since he had no rtions with them. Making films was also a business and you could in no case keep making a profit.


    However, never could Eric imagine the copyright owner to be 20th Century Fox. Now he was still in a good working rtionship with Fox and he did not want to ruin the rtions.


    For this reason, Eric exined in person to Barry Diller and madepensation by giving the copyright on a TV series when Columbia Pictures wanted the copyright on Running out of Time. Life was ying tricks on him now and G.o.d was deliberately spoiling his rtions with Fox this time.


    After Sleepless in Seattle was put on show, if the videotapes of An Affair to Remember sold 2 million copies like his friend said in his previous life, the sales value would reach 60 million dors and the film would be like a box-office sess.


    Although filmpanies announced to the public that the videotape profits ounted for less than 20% and that the cost more than 80%, insiders would easily see through their lies. The percentage of videotape profits would easily exceed 50% and it was even higher than that of box-office profits.


    In this case, the videotapes of An Affair to Remember would bring Eric at least 30 million dors.


    Eric could almost imagine how some people would fly into a rage.


    Seeing Eric''s constantly changing expressions, Drew asked curiously, "How can it be like this? We have spent 3.5 million dors and Fox has made money. Why will they hate us?"


    "Yes, it is true that we have spent more than 3 million dors. The point is that we are likely to make 30 million dors from this film in less than 1 year. How will Fox feel then?"


    The little girl covered her small mouth with her hands surprisedly. Eric asked her to secure the copyright on the film and said the business could bring money. Drew had thought that the maximum profits would be 1 or 2 million dors.


    So she was a little nervous when confiding the film had been bought at the price of 3.5 million dors. If they could really make 30 million dors...


    "But...It seems that...Eric, Fox does not know that we are the purchaser. For fear of making them link the business with you, I did not meet Fox''s people in person. Instead, I found an agent who transferred the copyright to me after getting it.


    All through the process, Fox did not know that it was us that wanted the copyright." As she went on saying, Drew''s voice was getting lower.


    She immediately realized that Fox people, as long as they were sane, would surely link the business with Eric if Sleepless in Seattle gained poprity and then a big fortune was made from An Affair to Remember.


    Thinking of this, the girl stuck out her tongue, "Then, Eric, what shall we do now?"


    Eric rubbed against his temples and thought for a moment. If Sleepless in Seattle was put on show by the end of this year, then the videotapes of An Affair to Remember would not be a sales miracle until next year. By then, he had already fulfilled his contract with Fox for this year.


    So he would not worry about Fox making trouble for the film distribution. At most, Fox would y some tricks to dy the process of shared revenue. In that case, there was no need to worry since the contract signedst year had clearly stipted the rights and obligations of both parties.


    If Fox breached the contract, thepany would be unlikely to win thewsuit. The filmmakers in Eric''s previous life were so careless that they did not find problems with profit-sharing contracts until the films became blockbusters.


    At that time, it was toote to rid themselves of disputes that couldst for years. Eric was totally different from them.


    "Well, let''s just forget about it. The meat has been readily offered to us and we just cannot give it back. After all, it is Fox that has offered to sell the copyright and we have paid thepany arge sum."


    "Hha," the girl felt relieved, cuddled Eric and kept rubbing against his body coquettishly, "Eric, but there is also a trivial matter..."

 Chapter 176: An unexpected gain

    "Atrivial matter?" Eric dragged her towards him and putted her on hisp, pinching her pretty face: "Have you stirred up trouble?"


    "That''s impossible, I''m not a trouble maker!" Drew denied: "Here is the thing, I approached an agent for purchasing the copyright of this movie."


    Eric immediately understood: "Oh, you''ve promised them benefits, but you can''t honor your promise. And it must be rted to me, am I right?"


    "Eric, you are so smart!" Snuggling in Eric''s body, the little girl raised her head and looked up to him.


    "Alright, tell me the truth!" Eric couldn''t help but gently flipped her on the forehead.


    "In fact, there is no big deal." The little girl a.s.sured him before saying: "When I was trying to approach the agent, there happened to be a man called Lawrence Banding closer to me with his friend in the party. He gives me a script and hopes that I can transfer it to you for your investment."


    "It''s understandable that they find you because they can''t reach me. But why do they want my investment when there are so many filmpanies. They probably have chosen the top seven filmpanies, even if they don''t, shouldn''t they choose tier-2 or tier 3 filmpanies?"


    Drew threw her arms around Eric''s neck, smiling: "Because you have money."


    Eric shrugged: "You should know that there is not much left in the revenue-sharing from Home Alone. Even if I can get the revenue sharing from Temptress Moon, I will spend all that money soon if I am to acquire a filmpany to establish our channels of film distribution.


    The revenue from Running Out of Time can''t be spent anymore and it should be saved for paying taxes next year, which is 35% of the total revenue. I don''t have much cash left after doing all those things.Ah! I just find that I don''t save even a penny after a year of arduous efforts."


    The little girl patted him on the shoulder: "Mr. Millionaire, don''t worry. I will support you if you don''t have money."


    "If only a woman could say that in my previous life." Eric smiled: "Let''s return to your topic. What''s the name of that man?"


    "His name is Lawrence Band. Those filmpanies think they are too young to produce a movie by themselves even if their script is good. After all, a formal movie needs an investment of at least one million US dors. I think that''s why they want your investment."


    "So you agree to let him to be your agentis he capable of being your agent?" Eric asked another question.


    "He is so smart that he opens a sh.e.l.l filmpany with his friend. There are many suchpanies in Hollywood. Two years ago, they made a low-cost movie written and produced by him and directed by his friend.


    But after the movie is finished, the negatives are burned down to ashes in a fire ident, causing a great loss to them."


    "It''s a pity. Lawrence Band, rightwait, Lawrence Band?" Eric suddenly raised his tone.


    "Ah?" Drew nodded, not knowing what happened.


    Eric lowered her down from his legs, pointing to the table: "Can you spell his name?"


    Through a bit confused, Drew still walked toward the tea table, dipping her fingers in the teacup and thinking for a moment before tentatively writing down two words: "It''s supposed to spell like this, isn''t it?


    After writing down the man''s name, the little girl turned backed and asked Eric uncertainly.


    Seeing what she wrote, Eric changed it from Laorence to Lawrence and gently knocked on her head: "I really want to know what you are doing in school. You can''t even spell such a simple name. I spend a lot of money sending you to the boarding school, but I''ve never seen your transcripts.


    Bring them to me next time."


    "Aha, you don''t need it, do you?" The little girl grinned with her hands holding on the tea table, preparing to take flight at any time.


    However, Eric forgot the whole thing. Looking at the name on the tea table, he thought it waspletely the same as what he remembered.


    The reason why he didn''t realize it when Drew mentioned that name was that he usually read the tranted Chinese version of it in his previous life and Drew''s English ent waspletely different from that he learned in his previous life.


    "Drew, what''s the name of Lawrence Band''s friend? Eric continued asking.


    The little girl scratched her head and thought for a moment: "It seemsmaybeto be Quentin Tarantino." Drew saw Eric''s expression changed abruptly after she said that, so she asked him: "Eric, you know them, right?"


    Eric calmed down and soon found an excuse, nodding: "I seem to have heard of the name when you mention it. I used to hear other people talking about these two poor guys shooting a movie together, only to find the negatives burned down to ashes in a fire ident when the movie ispleted."


    Not mentioning whom he was talking with, Eric said it unambiguously so he didn''t care if Drew wanted to verify it or not. But obviously Drew didn''t suspect anything and believed everything that he said.


    "Do you mean they expect me to invest in their movie? Do they give you a script? Eric asked.


    Drew shook her head: "No, I haven''t asked for that. I want to discuss it with you first and if you don''t agree with it, I will stave off them."


    "It''s not good. You can''t ke them since you''ve already promised them, though they are just n.o.body.


    It will have certain negative impact on our expanding of the business in movie making if news spreads out that you patronize them." Eric seated on the sofa and said: "You can bring them to the studio of Friends tomorrow noon. I will have a look at their script during the lunch break."


    "Eric, why do you need to see them? It''s time-consuming. Quentin Tarantino is only a scenarist in his twenties. Howe he writes a good script?


    I can get the script for you if you want, but is it necessary to see them?"


    Eric smiled: "Don''t you know that you are even less than twenty years old?"


    "Ah, I think you are at least forty years old." The little girl said.


    Her instinctwas so urate!


    Patting her head, Eric felt relived soon because it was not surprising that such a smart girl could guess his real age after years'' of living together with her. In fact, many others had known his real age.


    "Alright, it''s a deal. Bring them to the film studio tomorrow on time."


    "Hum." Drew replied. Then she acted like a spoiled child: "Eric, will I get a reward if I get it done?"


    Patting on her back, Eric said: "Sure. I''ve opened a filmpany for you and it will be yours when you turn eighteen. The copyright of An Affair to Remember we''ve purchased will be put under thispany."


    "Wow, what''s the name of it?" The little girl asked excitingly.


    "Flower Films."


    The girl was caught off guard, curling up her lips, and said: "Flower Studios...Such a rustic name. Why not we change it to another one?"


    Was it Rustic?


    Staring at the baby face of the little girl, Eric said:" It is the one that you name in your previous life. How could it be rustic? Can you think of another name?"


    Leaning against Eric''s chest, Drew thought about it for a while before raising her head sadly. Obviously, she was not gifted with a talent for naming things, so she had to say: "thenjust name it Flower Studios"


    Eric smiled, touching her head and then said: "It''s toote. Time for bed."


    While the girl grabbed his hand and stopped him from standing up, saying: "No, no, no hurry, Eric. School doesn''t start for another month. Why not give me some other works, like purchasing the copyright of a movie?"


    "Humlet me see. I will give you a list tomorrow. Now it''s bed time." Eric said.


    "Don''t brush me off. I need to get it tomorrow!" Not letting him go, the girl continued to say.


    "I will certainly give it to you tomorrow." Eric said and then turned to the staircase. Instead of going directly to the bedroom, he went to the study room only to see the girl following him. Then he said: "Don''t disturb me. Just go to sleep.


    If you always stay up toote, you may be very ugly before 30 years old."


    "Hum!" The girl turned back and went to the bedroom reluctantly with her brow frowned.


    Sitting at the desk, Eric idly picked up a pen while unfolding a notebook before him. He wore a smile when thinking that Quentin Tarantino, known as the wizard director in his previous life, should visit him voluntarily.


    Although Lawrence Bender was not as well-known as Quentin Tarantino, they were actually old partners with the former being the producer of all of thetter''s movies.


    Due to Eric''s butterfly effect, he had attracted them toe and visit him two years prior to their rising to fame. It was unknown that whether Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, both of which were popr movies in their previous lives, would be presented to him.


    After all, the butterfly effect he created had so much impact that Quentin might give up those two movies with one thought in passing. In the meantime, Eric was intrigued to see what kind of script Quentin would present tomorrow.

 Chapter 177: Why was it black?

    The tall ck security guard, standing at the gate of Fox Studio, was staring from time to time at two men standing under the shelter not fat away from the gate. Having the same height of over 6 feet, those two men dressed formally.


    However, the younger one who was furrowing his eyebrows with arge forehead and a strong chin didn''t seem to be a good person. While the elder one carried a backpack without a camera, far from what a paparazzo would do.


    Therefore, the ck security guard paid more attention to them and informed it to other fellows in case they slipped in unnoticed. Although such thing rarely happened, it did before.


    There were celebrities shooting films in the studio frequently, once they were harassed by anyone slipping in, the security guards will be dismissed whether it incurred a loss or not.


    Yet both of them were well-behaved without any improper action, the security guard, as a result, had no excuse to drive them away. Having been waiting there since 10:00 AM, they didn''t even leave when it was almost 12:00 AM.


    It seemed that they were waiting for someone since they would look at the gate of the studio and the roadside from time to time.


    At around 11:50 AM, a yellow taxi stopped near the gate of the studio. As the door opened, a little girl of fair skin stepped out of the car. With a small yellow T-shirt and a heart shaped sun.s.ses on, the little girl carried a canvas bag, holding a parasol in her hand.


    Upon seeing the girl, those two men quickly approached her and during their conversation, the elder man even took the girl''s parasol with full hospitality. Then they were walking towards the gate.


    The ck security guard seemed to have recognized the girl of fair skin wearing sun.s.ses. As they approached and arrived at the entrance of the gate, he stopped them and said: "Sorry, please show your pa.s.ses."


    When the other two looked at the girl, she wore off the sun.s.ses and said: "Sir, Ie here to look for Eric Williams. Can we go inside without the pa.s.s?"


    "Youyou are Miss Drew Barrymore." The security guard recognized her as she wore off her sun.s.ses. Letting down his guard, he smiled at Drew with sharpest white teeth: "Sure, no problem. But ording to the rule, one can''t be allowed to enter without a pa.s.s.


    So Miss Barrymore, can you wait for a minute? I will call for the studio of Mr. Williams to let him send personnel to pick you up."


    "Thanks, thisMr. Crick." Drew nced at his name tag and said.


    At noon in August of the Los Angeles, the sun was zing with a temperature over 30 degrees. It was hot that the ck security guard guided them to the lounge near the gate before making a call.


    Entering the lounge, the girl sat on a chair naturally, taking out a gum from her backpack and put it in her mouth. As she finished adjusting her hair against the cosmetics mirror, she smiled and said to those two men standing next to her: "Lawrence, have you been waiting for a long time?"


    "Certainly not, Drew. We arrive here only half an hour prior to you." Lawrence Bender replied, smiling. After hearing him saying like that, the security guard only shot a nce at him with no intention of giving the game away.


    Seeing their shirts soaked with sweat, the girl shrugged, asking no more questions. She had already told them to arrive after 11:00 AM. But they seemed toe here much earlier, probably for fear of being dyed by traffic congestion. Anyway, the girl didn''t care much about that.


    Quentin Tarantino, who stood next to Lawrence Bender, didn''t utter a word at all, not because he was shy or fear of strangers. Actually, he was more talkative than Lawrence Bender. It was just he felt somewhat ufortable when he flicked over toward the toes peeing out of her sandals.


    Her fair and delicate toes were as exquisite as a pair of artworks. But why were they painted ck nail polish, why ck! His heart being scratched by something, he even had an impulse to throw himself toward her and remove her nail polish. But he certainly wouldn''t do it.


    Drew had a few words with Lawrence Bender. As she turned to Quentin, she happened to find that he was ncing at her feet. Instead of being angry, she smiled at him as if saying "I have caught you."


    Feeling awkward, Quentin quickly turned his eyes to the other side and covered his mouth with his hand before coughing twice to relieve the awkward situation.


    While the girl didn''t want to let him go, she raised her feet and directly asked him: "Is there anything wrong with my feet, Quentin?"


    "UmNo, certainly not, Miss Barrymore, your feet arebeautiful." Quentin answered incoherently. But soon he felt his waist was. .h.i.t by Lawrence''s elbow, he suddenly came to his senses and said: No, no, I mean"


    The girl giggled boisterously as she saw Quentin''s nervousness.


    Feeling speechless, Lawrence Bender glimpsed at his best friend and thought to himself: "If Miss Barrymore were petty, our hard-won opportunity would be ruined."


    Luckily, with the personnel picking them up appearing, Quentin''s embarrassment was resolved. And they all went to the studio of Friends by an electric vehicle.


    Entering the studio, Drew went directly to Eric. As Lawrence Bender and Quentin Tarantino quickened their pace to follow her up, they found that Drew threw herself into Eric, a young man with a blue T-shirt.


    Eric hugged the girl and had no choice but let her rub against his face before letting her go and walking toward Lawrence Bender and Quentin Tarantino.


    "hello, Mr. Tarantino and Mr. Bender." Eric shook hands with them. Quentin thought Eric would greet Lawence first since he was the one taking the lead.


    However, Eric indeed greeted him first, which created a sudden illusion in his mind of being ttered. Although Quentin was narcissistic in his friends'' eyes, he would naturally feel dwarfed in the presence of Lawrence Bender who had already secured over $1 billion at worldwide box office.

 Chapter 178: Seven colored robbers

    "Hi, Mr. Williams, I like your movie Running Out of Time very much. It''s well plotted with an excellent sound track, especially the song Silent Love started when the hero and heroine encountered.


    I hear that youpose the song yourself, which is really amazing." Quentin quickly opened his mouth due to Eric''s friendliness and directly talked about that movie still in the cinemas.


    Although Quentin admired Eric''s achievement in movies, he was indifferent to his other movies except thetest one with distinctive characteristics.


    Eric presents a modest smile: "I only offered some inspirations and actually it was the filmposer that contributes a lot to the song."


    While Lawrence Bender seemed to be anxious. Since the meeting time was limited within one hour, he knew that Eric would start working anytime with these personnel around him. Even if Quentin''s conversation with Eric about music could bring them closer, he shouldn''t waste much time on it.


    Afraid of interrupting their conversation, Lawrence had to wink at Quentin gently.


    Eric had noticed Lawrence''s anxiousness and without furthering his conversation with Quentin, he said: "Why don''t we go to the lounge and have a working lunch together. I guess you haven''t had lunch yet."


    "Sure, thanks, Mr. Williams."


    "Just call me Eric." Eric said. While seeing what happened not far away, he told them to wait for a minute and then walked immediately toward Drew and Aniston.


    He thought to himself that it would be troublesome if these two sweethearts fought with each other here, "Hey, Drew and Jenny, what are you talking about?" Eric asked as he went closer, seeing that they were ring at and ready to fight against each other.


    The little girl immediately gave up her confrontation with Aniston as she saw Eric approaching. She ran toward Eric, held in his arms andined: "Eric, she started the trouble first. I just say h.e.l.lo to her and then she bes angry. She is so mean."


    "It''s you"Aniston said with an expression of grievance and anger. Exactly. She was staring at Eric instead of Drew, which confused Eric. And he had to ask: "Drew, how do you say hi to Jane?"


    Drew seemed to be unaware of Aniston''s annoyance, she shrugged and said: "I just go and pat her hit as shees out of the room, saying ''Hey, plump girl, your b.u.t.t be rounder,'' and then she bes angry."


    Eric figured out why Aniston got irritated without seeing the mes of anger in her eyes. Saying thosepletely unintentionally, Drew possibly only wanted to make fun of Aniston''s weight gain, thest thing that Aniston wanted to mention.


    She might think that Eric told that awkward thing to Drew who made fun of her this time.


    At the thought of that, Eric let go of Drew and hugged Aniston, whispering to her: "Jenny, Drew said that unintentionally. Just forgive her."


    "Do you promise?" Aniston blinked her eyes.


    "I swear. Thatthat is impossible, am I right?" Eric patted her on the back.


    Having realized that it waspletely a coincidence, Aniston pushed him away and said: "Humyou need to deal with the two guests waiting there and I am going for lunch."


    "I am also going for lunch. I don''t know how the lunch is here." Drew left while her eyes were still rolling.


    "You are in the studio. Don''t make a mess. Be good." Eric told them worriedly.


    "Humph!"


    "Of course!"


    Drew and Aniston left away without turning back.


    Seeing they were going toward different directions, Eric felt relieved and went to the lounge along with Lawrence Bender and Quentin Tarantino. In the meantime, he told the a.s.sistant to bring three bento for him.


    "Drew has already told me the story. Can I have a look at the script?" Eric said after seating by the table of an austere style.


    "Of course." Lawrence Bender took a thick script from the backpack and pushed it toward Eric.


    Eric found that the script was neither named Reservoir Dogs nor Pulp Fiction, it was Seven Colored Robbers instead. He couldn''t help but felt choosy about the script and then opened itposedly.


    Judging by the name of the script, Eric knew that it had much inmon with Reservoir Dogs. Seven Colored Robbers seemed to be echoed with the six robbers of jewelry stores represented in six colors in Reservoir Dogs created in Quentin''s previous life.


    For many scriptwriters, they already had some thoughts in their mind for years before they wrote scripts. But there must be much difference in a script written at different times.


    An ordinary person couldn''t see such difference. While Eric was lucky enough to encounter such an interesting thing as a time traveler.


    The a.s.sistant soon brought three set meals to them along with several bottled waters.


    "Quentin and Lawrence, you can have it first. Never mind me." Raising his head, Eric nced at Quentin and Lawrence who were gazing at him with expectations.


    "Sure, thanks." Quentin and Lawrence s.n.a.t.c.hed the tableware, opened the bento and grabbed a bite. Actually, they had no appet.i.te under such circ.u.mstance. Instead they seemed to be students awaiting the result of the examination. They ate slower after Eric finished reading the script.


    Noticing that they had slowed down having lunch, Eric flipped one more page of the script without telling them again to eat.


    The plot of Seven Colored Robbers roughly resembled that of Reservoir Dogs, in which the gang leader gathered together several people who didn''t know each other to rob a jewelry store, ending up being ambushed by the police officers.


    Judging by the name of the script, the number of robbers was increased from six to seven.


    At the very beginning of the plot, Quentin''s talkaholic style waspletely disyed. Then came the failure of robbery and two robbers had to drive away toward the meeting ce.


    In this script, Quentin imitated several settings in City on Fire, just as what he had done in his previous life.


    It urred to Eric that Quentin even went to Hong Kong to exin to the director of City on Fire for that movie, which, in the eyes of Eric, was a report made by the tabloids for putting feathers in their caps.


    It only took Eric about 20 minutes to finish reading the whole script of almost 100 pages, because he couldpare it with the original version in his mind.


    Putting down the script, Eric looked at Quentin and Lawrence who felt uneasy and said: "It''s nice. Let''s have lunch."


    Hearing what Eric said, they felt relieved. There would be much possibility that Eric invested in this film. To make the film more likely to be invested, Lawrence specifically listed the budget at the end of the script, which was about 1 million US dors.


    They were all convinced this film with a distinctive style would arouse Eric''s interest. And the budget of this film was only 1 million US dors. Eric, with his amount of wealth, would definitely invest in this film.


    Actually, if it were not they wanted to have the full power of directing the film, they wouldn''t have to choose Eric.


    Thinking through all of these, Quentin and Lawrence continued to have lunch with an easy mind. They were pretty hungry after waiting for 2 hours outside Fox Studio.


    After the lunch, Eric took the script again: "I hear Drew says you two want to direct the film yourselves?"


    "Yes, Eric. Iwe already have an experience of producing a film. So we think we can handle the script ourselves."


    Nodding his head, Eric didn''t say Yes or No and flipped several pages before saying: "You have your own filmpany, don''t you?"


    Looking at each other, they didn''t understand why Eric would ask such a question. And then Lawrence nodded: "Yes, it''s band-apart named by Quentin who got inspiration from Band of Outsiders directed by the film master Godard in his early works.


    Eric knew that Godard filmed the popr film King Lear but he didn''t know Band of Outsiders. Since he didn''t know the hidden meaning of the name of their filmpany, he wanted to figure it out.


    "So Quentin and Lawrence, do you have any interest in joining Firefly Films?" Eric asked.


    "Hum?"


    "Ah?" They both said a word indicative of their confusion simultaneously.


    Eric exined: "I mean, your filmpany is nothing but a sh.e.l.lpany. Do you have interest in joining my Firefly Films? As you know, mypany is thriving."


    Quentin and Lawrence looked at each other. They had some understanding of Firefly Films. Although it was established by Eric and most of the films it produced were directed by Eric, it had a strength that couldn''t be underestimated. It would be good for them if they could join in thepany.


    However, they were just n.o.body. They couldn''t figure out why Eric would invite them to join it. That didn''t make sense.

 Chapter 179: Changing the name

    Eric did not bother to think about their considerations. Quentin and Lawrence did not agree immediately and then he stopped talking about this topic. After all, if the cooperation this time went on smoothly, the Firefly Film Company would be the top choice for the two persons.


    Looking at his watch, Eric continued, "Just forget about it. Time is running out and let''s first talk about the script. I can invest in shooting this film and you need not limit the budget to 1 million dors. You two can shoot withoutpromising."


    Quentin and Lawrence had felt doubtful about Eric''s invitation to the Firefly Film Company. After seeing him disregard this matter so easily, however, they started to feel disappointed, regretting not having agreed at once.


    This mood fluctuation had such a big effect on the two that they reacted slowly to what Eric said then. Not until Eric finished speaking and looked up at them did Lawrence finally start to respond. He tried for confirmation by asking joyfully, "Eric, is it true?"


    Then Quentin also realized what had happened and looked at Eric full of joy.


    Eric nodded once again: "Of course. But I have several conditions."


    The two suddenly understood what was going on. In the meantime, they felt at ease since it was quite unreasonable for Eric to both make an invitation and promise investment without mentioning any conditions. The two just hoped that Eric would not interfere too much in the film production.


    "Above all, the cast of the film must be selected from the entertainmentpany called uta. Do you know about it?" Eric asked uncertainly at the end of his statement. In these days, he had paid little attention to the operation of uta and had only called Kapoor Cid several times.


    So he knew almost nothing about thepany except that the business was thriving. Since he was bing much more famous now, Eric had, in order to avoid suspicion, hardly got involved in the management of uta.


    Surely, there were some media agencies that had tried to find fault with the monopoly of uta. In the end, however, their efforts did not pay off. In fact, the ant.i.trustws in North America were not as strict as they were imagined to be.


    Several decades ago, the Paramount Act stipted that filmpanies could not vertically manage cinemas. The decree had already lost much of its binding force on major filmpanies.


    One could not say it existed in name only, but the truth was that the cinema screens owned by major filmpanies ounted for more than 1/10 of the total. The geographical advantages of theaters chosen by big filmpanies were undoubted and the 1/10 of all cinemas were the best among them.


    Secretly, major film businesses controlled an evenrger scale of cinemas. It all resulted from the federal government turning a blind eye. The then Paramount act had ended the monopoly of major film studios but dealt a serious blow to the Hollywood film industry.


    Now the business was booming with a bigger profit, exerting an influence on even the whole globe. Everything was going so smoothly that those big filmpanies were gradually expanding their business.


    In this case, the government would not be so silly as to ruin all of this without the interference of strong forces.


    Hearing Eric''s question, Lawrence Bender hurried to nod his head:"Of course, we definitely know about it." Then Lawrence and his best friend looked at each other before he started to reply:"We can meet this condition."


    "Moreover, some changes should be made to the script... " Eric continued to speak. Quentin heard this and found the requirement displeasing. However, he dared not show his annoyance.


    Eric smiled slightly and said:"You can rest a.s.sured that I am quite satisfied with the content. I just find the name of The Seven-colored Robbers strange. We can use another great name. "


    Quentin then felt at ease and so did Lawrence. If Eric made big changes to the script, Lawrence would be quite worried about his friend raising a direct objection and spoiling the cooperation. Luckily, Eric just proposed to change the film name and this was eptable.


    Eric lowered his head, grabbed a pen, directly wrote down two words on the script and pa.s.sed it to the two.


    Quentin and Lawrence moved close and read the words out in unison, "Reservoir Dogs?"


    "Yes, that''s it," Eric smiled yfully, "I feel that this name matches the plot exactly. All the characters in the story are like reservoir dogs, aren''t they?"


    This time, Lawrence Bender looked at Quentin. Thetter used his index finger to rub against his big forehead and hesitated for a while before nodding, "Okay. Let''s call it Reservoir Dogs." In fact, Quentin also felt that the name was much better than the original.


    As a scriptwriter, though, he felt a little unhappy when the name was changed by a young man sitting opposite him.


    "Moreover, I feel that there should not be 7 robbers. Six is Okay. I have looked through the script. 3 of them died directly but several paragraphs are about them.


    So the relevant dialogues seem a little redundant. Of course, what I said is just a suggestion and it''s you who have the final say." Eric added. This idea came up suddenly and was only intended to make this .s.sic B-movie as yful as the edition in the previous life.


    If Quentin did not want to make the changes, that was Okay since the script was simply characterized by its nonlinear narrative structure.


    If all got condensed, the story would be quite a boring one: the head of a gang called together several robbers with colors as the code names and asked them to rob a jewelry store of its diamonds. However, the group was betrayed and then besieged by the police.


    Some died in the gunfire and the remaining robbers fled into a warehouse. A series of fights happened and it was the internal conflict that killed all in the very end.


    That was all.


    The advantage of films was that they could, in various narrative methods, present in an interesting way apany that was too mediocre to be noticed.


    "I will consider it," Quentin nodded after sensing that Eric was just making a suggestion. Quentin''s first reaction was refusal but he did not refuse directly. What he should do then would not be decided until he discussed with his best friend.


    "Well, the rest is fine with me." Eric leanedfortably against the chair and looked at the two, "Do you have anything else to discuss?"


    Quentin pulled the script over and ced it under his hand before asking, "Eric, what about...what about the film director?"


    Eric smilingly shrugged his shoulders, "I have promised investment and that surely means I have agreed to your previous conditions. I will say nothing about the content of the film and you can arrange it as you like.


    Moreover, you are in charge for the final editing." He had no expectations of the box office receipts. In his memory, this film was quite famous but failed to achieve a box office sess. Some outstanding actors and actresses were put in the spotlight, though. That was the biggest attraction for Eric.


    As long as Reservoir Dogs was cast by only actors from uta, all was worthwhile for Eric even if only a little fame was won and the costs were not recovered.

 Chapter 180: Alienation

    Thinking about actors, Eric suddenly realized that Michael Madsen who yed the role of Mr. Blonde was the brother of Virginia. Although Virginia had been his friend for more than half a year, Eric had never seen Michael Madsen.


    He only knew through his conversation with the girl that Virginia had quite a good rtionship with her brother. In Eric''s memory, Michael was characterized by roughness and seemed like a born viin.


    However, Virginia''s narration showed that Michael was a talented man who loved conjuring, photographing and writing poems. Acting was, for him, more like an avocation chosen for a living.


    Eric had not seen Michael yet, but the man could be treated as a friend since Virginia was Eric''s lover. Eric was always keeping the goodies within the family.


    Eric asked Quentin for the script and confirmed the colors before saying directly, "Well, Quentin, I have a nice actor to rmend for the role of Mr. Blonde. I am sure that you will be satisfied."


    Eric was smiling as if this were nothing serious, but Quentin Tarantino knew that he had no choice but to show satisfaction.


    After all, Quentin was already overjoyed that Eric promised not to interfere with the content production. Then the rmendation of an actor was eptable. ording to the rules, Eric was the investor and had the final say about the whole cast of the film.


    "Okay, Eric, I believe that your rmendation will be satisfying," Quentin smilingly replied. The three were about to go on discussing when someone knocked on the door of the lounge. A staff member looked in and said, "Mr. Williams, time is up."


    Eric looked at his watch and stood up, "Okay. Let''s do it that way."


    Quentin and Lawrence immediately stood up and shook hands with Eric once again. After that, they felt at a loss. What should they do next?


    Eric was hurrying to leave when he noticed the look of the two. He smilingly patted on his head and said:"Sorry. I have such a tight schedule that I am always forgetting about things. Follow me, please."


    Eric called his a.s.sistant n and told him something before speaking to the two, "This is n, my a.s.sistant. He will take you to see Jeffrey Hansen. You can go through the specific matters with Jeffrey."


    Then Eric saw the two off. He was about to start working when the little girl suddenly appeared from nowhere.


    Eric was taken by surprise and asked:"Howe you are still here?"


    Drew seemed unhappy already and these words only irritated her even more. Arms akimbo, she retorted:"Why do I have to go? I will just stay here!"


    Eric shrugged and remembered that Drew behaved herself quite well when she visited the set while he was shooting Running out of Time. "Okay. You can do as you like as long as you do not make trouble."


    "Well, Eric, I don''t feel that they like me," the girl held Eric''s arm, followed him into the working area of the studio and whispered by his ear. She had been treated like a princess by the cast of Running out of Time and all the staff members except Eric were on call 24/7.


    However, the staff here were not familiar or that close. They were polite to Drew but kept her at arm''s length.


    Eric asked the crew to get rolling. Then he rubbed against the girl''s head and exined smilingly, "Why don''t you understand the reason? Jenny''s father is the very producer of the TV series and he has selected all the staff members. Jenny is the princess right here.


    Since she does not like you, all the others here will follow suit."


    "Um, how sn.o.bby they are!" Drew curled her lips.


    "It is natural and they are just trying to avoid trouble. This can not even be called office politics. If they are that close to you, they may be found fault with somehow." Eric smiled and sat on the director''s chair.


    Watching the staff walking to and fro in preparation for the shooting, he took the shooting journal from his a.s.sistant.


    Actually, the reason why Drew was alienated here was that Aniston was quite popr with the crew. Aniston had her likes and dislikes but she was good at making friends. She had a good rtionship with the main characters and was liked by most of the staff members.


    Furthermore, her father was the producer. Thus, it was reasonable for the crew of Friends to keep at arm''s length with Drew, a potential rival in love for Aniston.


    Drew also did well in maintaining interpersonal rtions, but her characteristics could be unreasonable sometimes. Before Eric appeared, the girl had good self-knowledge and dared not show her unreasonableness. However, now Drew had Eric standing behind her back thus she went wild.


    When she was with the crew of Running out of Time, the girl acted just like a spoiled princess. As Eric was busy shooting Running out of Time, Drew could go so far as to y with the camera worth several million dors everywhere she went. Only she would get away with it.


    Eric did not worry that his love would make the girl run wild, though. He knew that Drew understood exactly what she was doing. She simply had a seriousck of due love in her childhood.


    Once she got something from Eric, she would be greedy, desiring more to make up her losses when she could still act as a willful child.


    "Well, I may as well go back," Drew stood up leaning against Eric. Since she was not wee here, the girl did not bother to change the situation, "Eric, have you fulfilled your promise madest night?"


    "What promise?" Aniston was approaching with the script in hand. Hearing Drew''s words, she frowned slightly and asked Eric in a dissatisfied tone.


    "All is on the table of the study. I have written a lot on the spur of the moment. You can choose what you like." Eric answered and gave Aniston a hint that he would exinter.


    Drew smiled sweetly and then, right in front of Aniston, bent and kissed Eric on the face, leaving a striking lipstick mark. Then the girl turned around and left with her bottom shaking.


    "She is scantily d and seems like a street girl at night," Aniston said with envy, watching Drew leaving. The girl was already 160 cm tall. She boasted of both a slim figure and fair skin that could be the envy of a great many women.


    Aniston was among them since her skin condition was less perfect to some extent.


    As if sensing something, Drew turned around suddenly before reaching the gate. She opened the small sunshade in hand, put on the heart-shaped sun.s.ses and whirled around on tiptoe coquettishly. Then she moved back and made a face at Aniston with her small tongue stuck out.


    This had not only irritated Aniston but also stunned most of the crew members. Everyone here was engaged in the entertainment business and many of them had watched Kubrick''s Lolita, especially the scene where Drew was dressed in a T-shirt and hot pants, exposing the fair skin of her arms and legs.


    The ck nail polish on her toes had rendered the girl even more attractive. Her every move highlighted the coquetry of women and the naughtiness of girls, tantalizing every man right here.


    "How flirty she is!" Aniston looked annoyed and said to Eric, "Are you sure that you have sent her to a Catholic school?"


    Eric smiled and held Aniston''s hand:"Okay, Jenny, there is no need to get angry with Drew. She is always like this and you have seen this before. Well, why have youe here?"


    Pointing at Eric''s cheeks, Aniston said:"You''d better remove the lipstick mark on your face first."


    Eric felt a little embarra.s.sed and took out a tissue to wipe his face. Aniston made sure there was nothing left and then started to discuss the script with Eric unwillingly. She believed that she could offer great insights.


    In the next few days, the shooting of Friends went ording to n. Eric had a meal with Miramax''s Bob and Harvey Weinstein, talking about the acquisition.


    The brothers had just put on show Steven Soderbergh''s s.e.x, Lies and Videotape, a film that had won the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival. This had brought them a good fortune, so they asked for a price that was much higher than what Eric had expected.


    Robert Schey had hinted that the New Line Cinema could be acquired. Some of Eric''s conditions could not be met, though. Thinking of this, Eric stopped the negotiation with the brothers.


    The brothers made their first sum of money from s.e.x, Lies and Videotape but their business did not thrive until Pulp Fiction was put on show. In the previous life, the film was released in 1994, 4 years to go from now. Moreover, Quentin had already promised cooperation.


    Hence, Eric could, for the moment, stop the effort to acquire Miramax and focus his attention on purchasing the New Line Cinema.

 Chapter 181: The impossible truth

    "Virginia, do you mean the Sunset Tower Hotel diagonally across Andaz." A white man in his thirties, with a rugged look, asked her as he stared at the road ahead.


    "Sure. Are there two Sunset Tower Hotels on the Sunset Street? Virginia sitting in the front seat answered as she took a small mirror out of the clutch for checking her makeup.


    When she pulled out a lipstick and carefully put it on her lips, the man next to her felt a bit discontented with her: "Virginia, I can''t figure out why are you together with that kid who are 10 years younger than you."


    "It''s none of your business." Virginia blurted out before realizing that she shouldn''t talk with her brother this way, so she softened her tone: "Mike, I''m happy to be with him. Although he is young, he is considerate to me."


    Michael Madsen still frowned: "He won''t give you any promise, will he? He won''t marry you."


    Hearing what he said, Virgin replied softly with a dim look in her eyes: "I never expect that he will marry me."


    "But you are twenty eight years old now. I hope you can find a reliable man to marry, instead of being a lover of a young kid." Michael said a little hysterically and he even couldn''t help but p the steering wheel before turning around to look at her: "I hope you are happy, Virginia."


    "Will one be happy after getting married? Our parents are not happy at all. And you''ve also divorced once." Virginia said as she took the lipstick and small mirror back to her clutch.


    Michael Madsen continued trying to persuade her: "That''s why I want to marry a good man. There must be a good man in the world, even ifyou fail to find a right person one time, you can try several times. Look, although I''ve divorced, I am happy to be with Chenoa.


    You will possibly have a nephew or a niece after half a year."


    "All right, good to know. Why not drop off this topic today?" Avoiding eye contact with Eric, Virginia started to divert the topic just as all otherdies on the shelf who were under the pressure of marriage.


    Since her parents divorced in her childhood, she had almost been brought up by her brother four years older than her due to her mother''s preupation with her own business. Even if she could ignore what her parents said, she valued the rtionship with her brother.


    "Ok. If you don''t like it, I won''t say it anymore." Michael Madsen looked the road ahead resignedly.


    Virginia felt relived after her brother stopped talking about that topic. They remained silent for a while. As Virgin looked out of the window, she felt that they were almost reaching the Sunset Tower Hotel before saying: "Michael, I know you don''t like him. But can you please show him some respect?


    I hope you can get the role he rmends."


    Michael Madsen replied: "I won''t be impolite. This time Ie here only to watch your new movie though. Don''t expect me to tter him for a character in a movie."


    Virginia knew her brother too well. To put it mildly, he was indifferent to fame and wealth. To put it bluntly, he rested on hisurels. His original intention to be an actor was to make a living rather than rising to fame, which was unchanged until now.


    They soon arrived at the Sunset Tower Hotel. As there are many paparazzi gathering outside the hotel, Virginia immediately wore sun.s.ses. Even though, they were acutely aware of her appearance, flocking to and taking photos for her.


    At the sight of those people desperately seeking the news, Michael had no choice but to slow down, which made them even more excited. They patted the window and shouted at Virginia in the car.


    Even if they shouted at the top of their lungs, Michael and Virginia didn''t respond to them and drove the car directly to the underground garage before entering the hotel through a lift inside.


    "Hah, one more. Julia Roberts just showed up too. What is Firefly up to?" Stopped by the security guards, a group of paparazzi had to wait resignedly outside the hotel in the hope of getting a little detailed information from the next guest.


    "Jake, you just arrive here less than 10 minutes. Some big celebrities from Hollywood have already entered there 30 minutes before."


    "Oh, Kane, who else hase?" Jake asked.


    Kane whispered to Jake: "Among the top seven filmpanies, four of them have sent representatives to attend the event, including Michael Eisner, the CEO of Walt Disney Pictures, a vice president responsible for film distribution in Warner Bros, Nard Tarn, the president of Paramount Pictures and Amy Pascal, the vice president of Colombia Pictures.


    I think the rest three will surely send representatives here."


    The imagination of Jane''s description of the scene had sent a chill down Jake''s spine: "Is that because something important is happening in Hollywood?"


    Kane shook his head: "It''s not clear, but it must be rted to Firefly. I hear an insider from the hotel that there will be a party tonight."


    Jake looked at his watch: "Tonight? It is just 13:35 now. Maybe you get the wrong message. If there is a party tonight, howe these big celebrities arrive here at such an early time?"


    "It can''t be wrong. My insider is working in the kitchen. They''ve been tasked with food preparing for the party tonight."


    Jake asked: "Kane, what do you think will happen?"


    "MaybeAll right. It''s abnormal. I can''t figure it out. But rumors have it that Firefly intend to acquire New Line Cinema.


    If it is true, there will be one more film giant in Hollywood within a few years with thebination of Eric William''s films of huge box office and the capability in film distribution of New Line Cinema."


    Jake guessed: "You''ve said that Firefly is taking the lead this time, haven''t you? Is it because Firefly wants to select distributors for its new films that the senior executives of seven filmspanies havee here?"


    Hearing what he said, Kane and other paparazzi froze for a moment before bursting intoughter. One paparazzo said with a whiff of sarcasm: "How could it be possible? Firefly can''t be that influential.


    If it were a movie directed by Eric Williams, the senior executives from seven filmpanies possibly wouldpete for the distribution of his film since his capability has been fully proved. As we all know, the right of distribution for his next two films has already secured by Fox Studio."


    Finding what he said quite absurd, Jake scratched his head and retorted, "Well, it''s been said Eric Williams is the actual screenwriter of The Others and Scent of a Woman."


    But what he said didn''t attract the attention from other paparazzi who continued discussing the purposes of these celebrities gathering here while waiting eagerly for other guests to arrive.


    The seemingly ridiculous guessing was mostly true.


    This event was the internal test screening for The Others and Steel Magnolias held by Firefly.


    When Eric sent out invitations to the top six moviepanies, he thought that they would only send one or two junior executives to attend the event. But he received a response from Disney soon after that.


    Michael Eisner informed his a.s.sistant to contact Firefly, saying that he would appear in person, which in turn made Eric change the location for test screening to a luxurious projection hall in the Sunset Tower Hotel from the small projection room in the headquarter of Firefly originally nned.


    With Michael Eisner''s established status, it would be disrespectful for him if Eric still used the small projection room of Firefly.


    Possibly hearing the news that Michael Eisner would attend the event, otherpanies also said that they would send out senior executives there.


    But only Disney Studios sent its CEO to the event, Paramount Pictures sent a president, for Columbia, it was Amy Pascal who had a good rtionship with Eric, and for the rest of the four filmpanies, they have a vice president or a senior executivee here.


    With that being said, such a plethora of list celebrities gathering for the right of distribution for one or two films had almost never happened in the past ten years.


    Virginia and her brother took the elevator to the floor where the test screening was held and as they walked out of the elevator, they saw n Feisman, the a.s.sistant of Eric.


    Virginia asked him: "Hi, n, where is Eric?"


    "Mr. Williams is busy right now and can''t meet you. Ms Madsen, could you please follow me to the lounge." n said politely.


    Virginia nodded, feeling disappointed. While her brother, not knowing the situation, thought Eric was treating her sister coldly, which made his hear filled with anger. Noting expressing their dissatisfaction, they followed n to arrive at a lounge.


    It was only after entering the lounge that Virginia saw there were already many people, including two film crews, namely Steel Magnolias and The Others.


    There were many people in the film crew of Steel Magnolias, including the director Robert Rose and heroines of Julia Roberts, Sally Field , Shirley MacLaine, etc. By contrast, there was only Jonathan Demi in the film crew of The Others.


    It was understandable that two main actors of The Others were too young to attend the test screening and other actors were unqualified to attend the event because they were neither well known nor main actors. But it was different in the film crew of Steel Magnolias.


    Not to mention the popr director Robert Rose, Sally Field and Shirley MacLain, who had won a series of Oscar awards, had a fame and experience surpa.s.sing that of Julia Roberts who had risen to fame recently. The other three main actresses had also been famous for a long time.


    At the sight of Virginia, Jonathan Demi finally presented an expression as if they wererades before and stood up first to say hi to her, followed by other members of his film crew.

 Chapter 182: The second daughter of Rupert Murdoch

    In another room by the lounges of the two crews, Eric was talking with leading figures from otherpanies who had already arrived.


    These senior managers served differentpanies but most of them were quite familiar with each other since the turnover was frequent among the seven major filmpanies.


    Barry Diller was absent. He had been controlling Paramount until 1984 but now worked as CEO of Fox. When he was in Paramount, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg served as his a.s.sistants. Now, however, the two turned into CEO and President of Disney respectively.


    If history remained the same, Jeffrey Katzenberg would be CEO of DreamWorks several yearster. Now, Amy Pascal worked for Columbia Pictures. Before her appointment, though, she was a senior manager of Fox.


    Suchplex interpersonal rtions had ensuredpet.i.tion and cooperation among the major filmpanies.


    "How much will your two films take at the box office this time? Clue us in for some reference for future bidding." Michael Eisner asked in front of others. Although he put on a look of casualness, he could not conceal the expectation hidden in his tone.


    Eric put down the coffee cup and replied smilingly:"Mr. Eisner, seriously, I can only ensure that the two films are of high quality. The box office will be determined by the reaction of the audience and the market."


    "This will not work. You are still at a young age but have already be so sophisticated. A youth shall speak and act daringly," said Nade Tarn, president of Paramount. The speaker was nearly 60 years old.


    He was an amiable old man with all gray hair and all smiles. His words sounded like encouragement given by the older generation to the younger generation, drawing the speaker and the listener much closer in a natural way.


    Eric smiled as if he were listening carefully. In fact, he was thinking to himself that those old fellows were birds of a feather, craft and craftier. If he had followed their advice, he would have been trapped without knowing about it.


    Since Barry Diller and Michael Eisner quit together with arge group of senior managers, Paramount had witnessed a bad time. Now its films were poorly received except Indiana Jones, a movie put on show this year.


    However, the producer and the director were George Lucas and Steven Spielberg respectively. The two were shrewd businessmen and would take most of the profits, leaving Paramount only some payment for distribution.


    In the previous a.n.a.lysis, Eric believed that Paramount would make the biggest offer. This time, everyone would partic.i.p.ate in secret bidding. After watching the film, every partic.i.p.ator would offer their own profit-sharing conditions.


    Then, the Firefly Film Company would, based on the conditions, choose its partner. However, the appearance of Michael Eisner had rendered the result much moreplex. Michael''s att.i.tude was likely to spur thepet.i.tion from other big filmpanies.


    After all, it had taken him only 5 years to send Disney''s business booming. Now the status of Hollywood was even more prominent than at the time when his former superior Barry Diller took charge.


    n Fisman opened the door gently and approached Eric softly, trying his best not to arouse any attention. He bent and whispered by Eric''s ear:"Mr. Williams, Fox''s people have arrived."


    Eric nodded and said smilingly to Michael Eisner and others:"I am sorry. Wait a moment, please. I have another guest here."


    Leaving the room, Eric walked in the direction of the lift together with n. Fox''s people were likely to go up soon. n then said:"The receptionist downstairs Mike said that two people from Fox areing here. One is Carta Hunter and the other is a woman."


    Eric was lost in thought for a moment before asking:"Has he recognized who the woman is?"


    n shook his head and replied:"He does not know. He said that the girl is just about 20 years old. But Carta Hunter shows great respect for her."


    Carta Hunter was in charge of Fox''s film distribution and could be regarded as vice-president of thepany. He would show respect for only Barry Diller and several other big figures. Such personalities would by no means include a girl in her 20s.


    Eric could not figure out the reason and then just stopped thinking. When he walked by the lift, the exclusive lift stopped with a ding and a man and a woman stepped out.


    "Nice to meet you, Carta," Eric smilingly moved forward and hugged Carta Hunter, giving a nce to the blonde girl who was standing by and looking at him with great interest. The girl was about 20 years old. She was 170cm tall and her rtively short blonde hair just covered her ears.


    This was a beauty with a heart-shaped face and long eyebrows and eyes. She was dressed in a id ck-white shirt, long light yellow pants and t ck shoes.


    Eric thought to himself that she must be a high-flying career woman since she was quite simr to Amy Pascal, the woman sitting in the room.


    Carta Hunter received the greeting and was about to introduce the girl when she reached out her hand and said:"Nice to meet you, Mr. Williams. My name is Elizabeth Murdoch."


    Eric raised his eyebrows slightly and thought:"The girles from the Murdoch family. Carta Hunter''s respectful att.i.tude shows that she must be a direct rtive of Rubert Murdoch."


    "Nice to meet you, Ms. Murdoch. You can call me Eric."


    The girl let go of Eric''s hand and asked seriously: "Why don''t you call me Elizabeth?"


    "What a difficult woman!" Eric thought to himself. Then he unhurriedly exined:"Since we have just met each other, I would not call a girl by her name without her permission."


    Elizabeth Murdoch raised her chin slightly and looked into Eric''s eyes:"Okay, Eric, you now have my permission to call me Elizabeth."


    "Um..."


    Carta Hunter saw Eric''s embarra.s.sment and hurried to mediate between the two:"Eric, Elizabeth is the second daughter of Rubert Murdoch. She has been interning in Fox these days and she is quite interested in you...your films. That is why she hase here. I hope you won''t mind it."


    "Of course not," Eric smilingly replied. "Let''s go to the room. We will have to wait a moment since the test screening starts at 2 o''clock."


    Then the four went to the room at the end of the hall. Elizabeth Murdoch deliberately moved closer to Eric. n saw this and quickly stepped backwards, following the three behind.

 Chapter 183: He is a real jerk

    "Hey, Eric, I have watched all your films. They are allmon except Running out of Time."


    "Thanks for your appreciation, Elizabeth."


    "I am not praising you," the girl said angrily. "I am just curious about why quite a few of your films have be a huge box office sess. It is an interesting topic and I am going to use it in my thesis."


    "Do you major inmunication?" Eric asked, making a guess based on the girl''s family background.


    "Of course. I am studying in Va.s.sar College, New York and will graduate next year."


    Eric just nodded without making anyments. Although he possessed the body now and could remember most of the things, he could not recall the 8 universities in the Ivy League, let alone Va.s.sar College.


    The girl was dissatisfied with Eric''s reaction and asked:"Haven''t you heard of Va.s.sar College?"


    Eric replied:"Elizabeth, in fact, I am just a senior high school graduate and cannot even remember the names of the Ivy League, so..."


    "Fine," the girl shrugged her shoulders and became even more interested in Eric. A young man that had not gone to college could make such an achievement in such a short time. How strange it was!


    The senior managers of Universal Picture and MGM arrived at almost 2 o''clock. After everyone was there, the staff ushered them into a luxury video hall in the Sunset Hotel.


    Eric just nodded at Virginia and others and then sat in the first row. By his side were Michael Eisner and Paramount''s President Nade Tarn. There were altogether 8 seats in the first row and the remaining ones were upied by senior managers of 5 other major filmpanies.


    Elizabeth Murdoch was an uninvited guest. She did not want to cause trouble for the staff and just sat in the back row among the crews of The Others and Steel Magnolias. She even moved closer to Julia.


    Julia took a look at this strange girl that had suddenly appeared by her side and felt a little strange. She did not know who the girl was. Eric was quite a yboy so it was easy for Julia to link Elizabeth with Virginia. Then she became somewhat hostile towards the girl.


    Julia had made up her mind to break up with Eric, but he had surely left a deep imprint on her. Such an imprint had even stimted Julia topare other men with Eric. Then her romantic rtionship with them was unlikely tost for long.


    Dn McDermott yed the role of Julia''s husband in Steel Magnolias. He had been courting Julia during the shooting. He was a tall and handsome man who had graduated from the School of Drama in Fordham University, a private college in New York.


    Moreover, the man was talented, mild and considerate, showing a stark contrast with Eric who was always overbearing. So Julia had tried to get on with Dn. After the shooting, however, the imprint left by Eric ruined the romantic rtionship between them. All ended up in vain.


    These days Julia had been bearing a resentment towards Eric, since she thought that Eric had influenced her private life. In order to weaken the influence, she had never seen Eric after the shooting of Steel Magnolias, even though they were in the same city of Los Angeles.


    While the staff were preparing for the show, Elizabeth Murdoch greeted Julia. After being acknowledged, Elizabeth asked softly as if they were friends:"Julia, what do you think of Eric Williams?"


    "He is a real jerk!" Julia directly blurted it out without even thinking. Elizabeth''s approach had somehow put her in a bad mood.


    "..." Elizabeth looked at Julia, confused and wordless.


    Julia spoke in a low voice and others were chatting softly, so her words were heard by only several persons around. Sitting by Julia was Sally Field who could not helpughing. Sally had simr experiences and heard about the affairs between Julia and Eric.


    Thus, she could surely sense a woman''s jealousy hidden in Julia''s words.


    Julia realized what she had just said and blushed scarlet, trying to find a ce where she could hide herself. Fortunately, the video hall became darkened. Not until then did Julia draw a deep breath.


    Elizabeth Murdoch sat straight and could not help but nce at Julia several times before focusing her attention on the screen.


    Since Eric prioritized The Others among the 3 films he had invested in, it was naturally arranged in thetter half of the show as the highlight. The first movie to put on show was Herbert Ross''s Steel Magnolias.


    Steel Magnolias was featured by plots characterized of trivia. The whole film was centered around the daily life of 6 women and the highlights included the Eatentons'' wedding, Easter, Christmas, the New Year and funerals.


    Although Herbert Ross had added someic elements, it was a drama film on the whole.


    The movie started with the wedding of Shelby Eatenton, a role yed by Julia. Minutes of narrationbined with trivia presented to the audience the images of 6 women with distinct characteristics.


    Shelby''s wedding was followed by the New Year. The hairdresser named Annelle was no longer shy or self-abased like she used to. She got to know a waiter at the wedding and the two fell in love and started living together soon. Annelle felt that all was a G.o.d-given gift and treasured her life a lot.


    For this, she began to embrace Christianity hectically and kept on praying all the time. Shelby suffered from hyperinsulinemia, a disease that was in stark contrast with diabetes. The illness could cause hypoglycemia and the patient would faint in an attack.


    So the doctor advised Shelby never to give birth.


    After marriage, Shelby''s medical certificate showed that she could not adopt children. Then she tried to get pregnant without telling her parents.


    Life went on slowly and Shelby gave birth to her child smoothly. However, another nightmare befell the family.


    Due to her delivery, Shelby suffered from serious kidney failure. In this case, her strict mother tried to save her by giving one kidney.


    The operation was sessful and Shelby seemed to go back to her normal life. Her son was growing up gradually and she continued to devote herself to her beloved work. However, life was not all roses. One day, Shelby fainted on the floor while taking care of her son at home.


    After she was sent to hospital, the poor woman could only stay alive with the help of life support apparatus. Shelby''s mother was staying by her side all day and all night, only to find her incurable. Eventually, Shelby''s father signed his name on some papers and the apparatus was removed.

 Chapter 184: Various motives

    Life had to continue after the funeral. Jackson, Shelby''s son, had been growing up day by day with the affection from people around him.


    While Annil, who had been pregnant, expressed to Maureen, Shelby''s mother, about her hopes of naming her baby as Shelby after it was born in memory of the dead woman. Maureen epted it with tears in her eyes.


    It was Easter again. In the vivid spring time, there were many people having a pic delightedly in the outskirts. Suddenly, Annil felt a sharp pain in her stomach and all others hurriedly helped her get in a sports car which was driven through crowds, streets and bridges.


    And the scene stopped on a stream in the shades of green trees in the melodious sound of harmonica.


    Subt.i.tles rose up slowly.


    "Tomorrow-is-another-day" Elisabeth Murdoch who was sitting behind Julia involuntarily uttered the concluding remarks of Gone with the Wind.


    Although the life experience of heroines in Steel Magnolias is not as much sorrowful as that of Scarlett who had been through decades of trials, and those in Steel Magnolias didn''t even have any emotional outbreaks, their strongest emotions were hidden in tears running down their faces in silence.


    They led an ordinary life, which contained an emotion no weak than that of Scarlet who had been through the vicissitudes of life in troubled times. The Jeep gradually driving far away symbolized the hopes in the future.


    All the people in the projection hall apuded involuntarily after the light was turned on.


    "Julia, this movie was really amazing. I think Shelby is more lively and vivid than Vivian in Pretty Woman." Elizabeth apuded while whispering to Julia in sincerity.


    "ThanksMiss." Julia pped her hands gently, sizing up the beauty next to her.


    It urred to Elizabeth that she hadn''t introduce herself yet, so she extended her hand: "Hi Julia, My name is Elizabeth. You can call me Liz."


    "Hi Liz." Julia shook hands with her politely without any change in her expression, which showed she didn''t know the meaning of the surname of Murdoch.


    But Elizabeth didn''t mind it and continued whispering to her: "Julia, why do you say that Eric Williams is an a.s.shole just now?"


    "Ah, I...what I''ve said is nothing personal Mr. Williams is a good person. Without him, I was just an actor in obscurity." Julia tried her best to act collectedly, but her flickering eyes had betrayed her.


    Elizabeth, who smiled a meaningful smile, didn''t continue the topic that made her awkward: "Julia, can you tell me something about Eric Williams, I intend to use the sess of his films as my graduation thesis."


    "Liz, you can ask him, I don''t know much about him." Julia didn''t know the background of Liz from her surname, but she realized that the bright girl was not familiar with Eric, so she opened her heart gradually to Liz.


    "It''s fine. Just tell me what you know" Sensing the subtle change of Julia''s att.i.tude towards her, she started asking questions that interested her.


    In the meantime, the senior executives from top seven filmpanies harbored different motives after watching the movie.


    After watching the movie, Michael Eisner was the first to express his feelings about the movie that deserved appreciation, which was no more than formality, though he actually thought it the other way.


    Steel Magnolias was a movie too insipid and not well-plotted, which was not fitting his taste, although it indeed had some highlights.


    As the right-hand a.s.sistant of Barry Diller who had advanced the theory of high concept film, Michael Eisner witnessed the rise of Paramount Pictures under the guidance of this theory, which made him a hard-core supporter for it.


    The fast development of Disney Studios under the leadership of Michael Eisner was highly rted to his sticking to such a theory.


    However, this movie had no rtion with high concept film. Steel Magnolias was like a meaningful prose, while high concept film was more simr to an interesting novel. Herbert Rose was no doubt a great essayist with more than twenty years'' of experience in directing movies.


    Even though, such type of movie would not be that popr among the audience.


    Although Michael Eisner did not embrace the film, he was determined to get the distribution right for it. Otherwise, he would note here personally.


    Since Eric thought highly of the film and he had achieved a remarkable sess in his past films, he thought those would be solid reasons for hising here.


    Nard Tarn, the president of Paramount Pictures, who was sitting next to Eric, had the simr opinion of the film as that of Michael Eisner.


    But he kept tricking Eric into telling him the information about the movie in the hope that Eric would tell him the box office expectation so that Paramount Pictures could provide an urate quotation for dividends of the movie.


    This year, Paramount Pictures witnessed a steep decline in its performance after Barry Diller resigned five years ago.


    Although Raiders of the Lost Ark had a stunning performance pocketing 400 million US Dors globally, including 20 million US Dors in North America, the dividend it got from this movie was even less than that Columbia Pictures got from Home Alone in a VAM agreement, due to the strong presence of Lucasfilm and Steven Spielberg in the film.


    Therefore, Paramount Pictures paid more attention to these two films, if it were not Frank Mancuso, the CEO of Paramount Pictures, could spare time to attend the event, he would surely attend this event instead of sending Nard Tarn.


    Although he didn''t think Steel Magnolias would perform well, Eric thought it would have a good performance. None of the films that Eric had partic.i.p.ated in its making got a box office less than 100 million US Dors.


    After watching the film, Nard Tarn quickly estimated that its box office would be between 30 million to 50 million US Dors in consideration of the schedule and the bankable stars such as Julia, Sally Field and Shirley MacLaine, etc.


    Though Julia had be popr worldwide with Pretty Woman, Nard Tarn didn''t expect much overseas box office from this movie. It would be a miracle for its box office to reach 30 million US dors since it was deeply imprinted with the culture of indigenous Americans.


    If it were the same as her estimate, the maximum revenue of the movie would be 10 million US Dors after deducting the cost of making and distributing, which was nothingpared with that from Eric''s other films.


    Nard Tarn believed that Eric wouldn''t input many resources in promoting the movie just for a profit of 10 million US dors.


    No matter how did he beat about the bush and tricked Eric into telling him the estimated box office of the movie, Eric would only give him a usible answer, letting him judge by himself.


    For the sake of prudence, Eric didn''t reveal his estimate of the box office. Although he was optimistic about the film, he was not fully certain of the box office, which he reckoned would be around 10 million US dors since that movie hit more than 80 million US dors in his previous life.


    With Julia being the heroine of the film, it would pocket an additional 20 million US dors.


    But he wouldn''t reveal his estimate of the box office. Once said, if the box office failed to reach his expectation, his reputation would be damaged.


    Even if this movie was as sessful as its predecessor, it had nothing to do with Eric since Firefly was only an investor and Eric did nothing but made Julia a heroine of the film.


    Amy Pascal, sitting one seat away from Eric, liked the movie the most among seven senior executives. As a typical feminist, she preferred movies focusing on women and had supported a series of feminist movies in her previous life, the most well-known of which were Charlie''s Angels.


    She was such a sentimental woman that she waspletely attracted by joys and sorrows of the women in the movie, feeling an impulse to take a vacation immediately and headed to southern town to live a trivial and peaceful life there.


    But she also knew that she and Calta Hunter, the representative of Fox Studios, came here only for formality, since Fox Studios had owned distribution right for Eric''s two films at the end of the year.


    Therefore, Firefly, in consideration of the marketing resources, wouldn''t grant the distribution right of this film to it.


    As to Colombia Pictures, it would soon conclude a contract with j.a.panese whose strategy of business operation was hard to be antic.i.p.ated, to avoid the risk, Firefly wouldn''t let it distribute the film.


    The representative from Warner Bros. was the calmest among those from top seven filmpanies since hispany had a good performance this year. Though it wanted to make more profits, it would only make a suitable quotation for the revenue sharing of the film.


    If it could get the distribution right of the film, it was lucky, if not, there would not be much regret for it.


    Universal Studios was experiencing a turmoil because its two leaders werepeting for the power of controlling thepany and they were not in a mood to get the distribution right of the film.


    While MGM was totally ruined by Kirk Kerkorian, a Casino Tyc.o.o.n, who would only pay attention to its performance when he wanted to cash out and sell it for a good price. Even if the senior executives wanted to further develop thepany, they could do nothing.


    The representative of MGM sitting in the front seat were having a good conversation with the vice president of Warner Bros., seemingly to consider a job-hopping.

 Chapter 185: The exchange

    After s short rest, all cheered up, waiting for the second film. In contrast with the star-studded cast of Steel Magnolias (4 of the 6 heroines had already won an Oscar), the yers of The Others were not worth mentioning.


    However, enough attention was attracted when Eric''s name was shown in the column of scriptwriters. Before Home Alone became a box office hit, the film''s cast had drawn little attention.


    After the opening, Grace was telling a story with the backdrop of caricatures. Slowly, the voice was disappearing and appearing in scratchy drawings were horrifying scenes like a frightened girl with her eyes wide open, a ck shadow approaching the child and a marite whose neck was broken.


    In the bedroom, Grace suddenly opened her eyes full of tears and then breathed desperately like a fish out of water, her body trembling violently with fear.


    All knew that the heroine was having a nightmare. Some viewers woulde to realize that the caricatures at the beginning were exactly what the heroine dreamt of.


    In this version, Virginia did not shout herself hoa.r.s.e like Nicole Kidman who yed in the original version. The fear showed by the big eyes full of tears was as visible, though.


    The fear and desperation showed by silence could, together with the mottled setting in a dark room, more easily make the spectators'' hair stand on end.


    This was the first change Eric made to the script. In the previous life, he felt nothing except being startled by the cry of Nicole Kidman.


    The scene was shot with great difficulty. Virginia was truly frightened and the fear in her eyes was by no means pretended. By the camera were a cl.u.s.ter of horrifying creatures like c.o.c.kroaches.


    The "props" were of great help and Virginia''s performance was a lot more expressive than Nicole''s in Eric''s eyes. In Hollywood, no one was irreceable and opportunities were what most yerscked.


    Somehow, all in the video hall were focusing their attention on the strange behaviors of Grace, 2 children and 3 servants. Except Eric and some other insiders, all were trying to guess what happened in this house and why there were haunting shadows and strange sound.


    If this had been a ghost story, the ghosts would have appeared far earlier. Why did Grace''s husbande back and then leave all of a sudden?


    Although the mystery remained unsolved, no one lost patience and the suspenseful plot attracted even the representatives from the 7 major filmpanies. Even Michael Eisner could not restrict himself from asking Eric about the plot development.


    However, Eric just smiled and refused to disclose any spoiler alert.


    More than 80 minutester, Grace''s son and daughter found the graves. Not until then were the 3 servants revealed to be "ghosts".


    However, no one became clear about what happened and all began to doubt why the 3 "ghost servants" appeared. What was their purpose? Their words had shown that they meant no harm to Grace and her children.


    Then the whole film reached its climax. When Grace opened the door of the living room upstairs to reveal a family and a psychic olddy, the puzzle was finally solved for the audience.


    "The film keeps everyone in suspense and all the plots are intricately woven together. Fantastic!" Michael Eisner could not help but exim. He rarely thought so highly of a film. The president of Paramount Nade Tarn secretly clenched his fist, determined to acquire the distribution right of the film.


    Other senior managers felt sorry since they didn''t n to or were not able to secure the right. The calmest representatives from Warner Bros were not as calm as before at this moment.


    The symbolic fog cleared as the truth was revealed.


    The room brightened. The apusested for minutes long and it was louder than what was heard after Steel Magnolias was shown.


    Jonathan Demme was sitting in the back row. He saw this and his lips twitched with excitement. Eventually, he could not helpughing, showing the white teeth. Jonathan knew that he had made it.


    Michael Madsen patted on her sister''s hand to show his congrattions.


    The apuse ended and then all followed the server into the banquet hall downstairs. Eric was walking in front and by his side were Michael Eisner and Nade Tarn. The representatives of Warner Bros were not so reserved as before and they approached and greeted Eric cordially.


    Following behind were representatives of Fox, MGM and other filmpanies that were destined to lose the distribution right.


    Elizabeth Murdoch moved closer to Carta and whispered:"Why don''t youpete for the distribution right?"


    Carta shook his head and exined gently to Elizabeth:"That will not work. The two films of Eric belong to Fix already. They will not give us the distribution right."


    Elizabeth thought for a moment before saying:"Why not? What we prioritize is Eric''s sequel to Home Alone at the end of this year. We can then exchange the distribution right of another film for that of The Others.


    I feel that this horror film is unique and has the potential to be a box office hit like Home Alone."


    Carta Hunter could not help but nce at the girl by his side several times. He was quite surprised by her words. He had thought that Elizabeth was only an arrogant and self-willed girl born into a rich family.


    After all, it was she that insisted on partic.i.p.ating in the show today together with him. It was a willful decision.


    Elizabeth Murdoch was the second daughter of Rubert Murdoch and Carta Hunter had no choice but to agree to her request after thinking for long. Fortunately, Eric did not close the door upon the girl since he was familiar with Carta and knew who Elizabeth was.


    Unexpectedly, very soon after the show, Elizabeth could think of quite a feasible n.


    Elizabeth came to Fox in the name of interning on vacation, but she rarely fulfilled her duty as an intern. So she could know nothing about the cooperation between Fox and the Firefly Film Company. In this case, she could surprisingly think of a pretty feasible n in such a short time.


    This caused Carta to treat Elizabeth with great respect. He himself had the idea of securing the distribution right when The Others was yed in the video hall but he just could not think of any good solutions.


    "Fine, Ms. Murdoch, I will, in the form of written paper, present the n to Barry Diller. However, I must say that Fox has not seen the script of Eric''s another film at the end of this year yet and I doubt whether it can make a decision before otherpanies secure The Others.


    After all, Fox''s own people will object to your proposal. The films directed by Eric himself have earned a good reputation and huge box-office takings many times.


    This y was written by Eric himself and is as outstanding as his other films, but I don''t think many will dare to take a risk in trying to secure the distribution right."


    "How inefficient! If I controlled Fox, I would secure the film directly," Elizabeth curled her lips and began to show her self-will as a spoiled girl.


    This time, Carta did not treat the girl with disdain. Instead, he exined the whole thing patiently:"Ms. Murdoch, this has a lot to do with the interests of all parties and the sess of the exchange is not determined by us only. Even if we would like to make the change, will Eric Williams agree?


    Will other filmpanies agree? You can see that Michael Eisner and Nade Tarn are here today. This shows that they pay great attention to Eric Williams. So we don''t have a great advantage inpet.i.tion."

 Chapter 186: The anti-war theme

    As more people were gathering at the party, Michael Eisner who had just stayed for about 10 minutes took his leave with the excuse of having other things to deal with. In this case, Eric needed to see him off.


    "Eric, I hear that The Others has entered the mainpetition of the Venice Film Festival. Is that true?" Michael Eisner asked suddenly while waiting for the lift.


    Eric nodded and replied: "Yes. But this is, after all, a horror movie and there is little hope of winning a prize. It was sent to Venice just for the purpose of making it better known and this is helpful for its distribution in Europe. "


    "However, I think that it is quite likely to win a prize, as long as the promotion gets right," said Michael Eisner. Then the lift opened and the two walked in.


    "Right promotion?" Eric asked in confusion when pressing the lift b.u.t.ton.


    "Yes," answered Michael Eisner. "The Others is a horror film, but I believe it can present deeper meaning, such as the mankind''s longing for life and fear of death, and a mother''s deep love for her two children. Most importantly, the movie was set in a time after the Second World War ended.


    Then you can promote the film in the name of fighting against war. The aim is to show that war has done great harm to the mankind. It is because war has cast asting shadow on the heroine Grace that she has gone so far as to suffocate her two children madly.


    Now Europe is in turmoil and a slight move can lead to another conflict. In this case, if The Others presents the anti-war theme in promotion, and exerts a good influence as expected, then it will surely win a prize since the jury of the Venice Film Festival needs to show its stance.


    After all, films and politics are always linked with each other."


    "Experience truly counts," Eric thought to himself. He had been troubled by the fact that horror films were not favored by the judges of the film festival and had not tried to break a new path. "Thanks for your great advice, Mr. Eisner.


    I will soon ask others to deal with the promotion."


    If The Others just entered thepet.i.tion without winning a prize, the impression on the movie fans would be less deep. Likewise, all paid great attention to Oscar-winning films while little attention was attracted to those Oscar-nominated movies that might be as outstanding as the winners.


    The lift sent the two to the underground parking lot and they walked towards Michael Eisner''s car. Waiting there were his a.s.sistant and driver.


    Michael got into the car but did not leave immediately. Instead, he beckoned Eric to get in as well.


    After Eric sat by his side, Michael Eisner asked:"Eric, how about cooperating with Disney next year?"


    Eric was distracted for a moment. He had thought that Michael Eisner was going to talk about the two films shown today. Unexpectedly, Michael started to talk about the schedule of next year.


    "Mr. Eisner, I am sorry that I cannot give you an immediate reply. Now I have been working smoothly with Fox." Eric shook his head slightly and answered.


    Michael Eisner could see that Eric did not tell the truth. Interests were always prioritized in their cooperation. If personal feelings were involved in the work, interests would be influenced and the rtionship would break up eventually.


    Michael knew through his contact with Eric that Eric was by no means an emotional person.


    "You don''t need to reply immediately, Eric. You can take your time in thinking about my proposal.


    As for the two films shown today, Disney''s profit division and offer will fully show our sincerity for cooperation." Michael said and then stopped for a moment before continuing:"I hear that Firefly will acquire the New Line Cinema to establish its own distribution channel.


    But I need to point out that Robert Shea will not do a good job in managing yourpany. I have met him several times and I feel that he is a control freak with no matching abilities. Moreover, he is not rational enough and his management seems too subjective."


    Watching the Bentley leaving slowly, Eric thought about Michael Eisner''s words. Recalling something about the New Line Cinema, he felt that Michael Eisner''sments were based on the facts.


    In the previous life, Robert Shea was so carried away at the sess of The Lord of the Rings that he went his own way by putting on show The Golden Compa.s.s willfully, only to find himself making a big loss.


    Worse still, the New Line Cinema lost its independence and was merged into the parentpany of Warner Brothers. Eric was not worried about that, though. If the acquisition of the New Line Cinema was sessful, he would let Robert Shea take responsibility for film distribution only.


    He himself would manage film production and Robert Shea had no right to interfere.


    Eric saw off the representatives of other big filmpanies and one-to-one exchanges were unavoidable. No matter how the senior managers tried to persuade Eric, he did not make many promises to them. Amy Pascal was thest to leave and then at the party were all Eric''s own people.


    They included the other yers of The Others and Steel Magnolias who did not attend the show, and some people having a close rtionship with Firefly. The little girl Drew was sure to appear on such asions. She was a party animal by nature and used to frequent nightclubs.


    After staying with Eric, she managed to get out of the bad habit but could not restrain herself from going to all kinds of parties.


    Eric caught Drew in the crowd and the girl was dressed in a carmine dinner jacket. He knocked on her brain and warned her against drinking alcohol before walking towards Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender.


    "Eric, good evening," the two greeted Eric as he was approaching.


    Eric smiled at them and asked:"How are you preparing for Reservoir Dogs?"


    Quentin replied in an excited tone:"All goes on well. Mr. Hansen has greatly facilitated our work and we have selected half of the cast. In this case, we can start shooting in September.


    "


    "Okay, thene with me and meet ''Mr. Blonde''," Eric pointed in a certain direction and led the way.


    "Eric," Virginia could not help moving forward when seeing Eric approaching. But she immediately stopped. Even though everyone knew her close rtionship with Eric, a polite distance was needed in public.


    Eric sensed Virginia''s carefulness but directly came forward, gave a hug and kissed her on the cheeks. Not until the girl refused shyly did Eric let go of her and turn to the tall man beside her.


    "Nice to meet you, Michael," Eric reached out to Michael Madsen.


    "Nice to meet you, Eric," Michael Madsen sounded a little cold since he did not like Eric very much. His reaction left Virginia in a worry. If Eric was not standing by, she would surely give her brother a hard pinch.


    Luckily, Eric did not mind Michael''s coldness and still introduced him to Quentin and Lawrence enthusiastically.


    "This is Michael Madsen. I believe he will y the role of Mr. Blonde quite well in Reservoir Dogs. Michael, the two are Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender.


    For specific matters, you can talk with each other in private. "


    Quentin and Lawrence knew that they could not refuse the person rmended by Eric. Thus, they greeted Michael warmly. Now they needed to establish a good rtionship with him so that conflicts would be avoided inter shooting.


    After the three started talking, Eric left with Virginia.


    "Virginia, I hear that you have been asked to y in several films?" Eric took a .s.s of wine from the server and then sat on the sofa at the corner.


    Then Virginia sat down by Eric and answered:"Yes, Kapoor made the rmendation. I feel that some scripts are favorable but have not made up my mind yet. I had intended to ask about your opinions first. "


    Eric shook his hand in disapproval and said:"Reject them all and at least wait until The Others is put on show. Even if you agree to y in another film, it will not be shown until the end of this year.


    If it is not well received, then the remuneration will not be high and your reputation established by The Others will be negatively influenced."


    "Okay, I will follow your advice," the girl nodded submissively. "Eric, Michael''s att.i.tude is not that good. I hope that you will not take it to heart. "


    "Of course not," Eric smiled. "If someone steals away my sister, I will not treat him nicely, either."


    "Haha..." The girl smiled and tried to exin for the man by her side:"You did not steal me away."


    "Virginia, it is true and I have exactly stolen you away. You belong to me already. "


    "Fine," the girl blushed slightly and lowered her head gently. "Eric, will you go to my ce tonight? You have not been there for a long time."


    "No problem," Eric smiled mischievously. "How about leaving now?"


    The girl shook her head immediately and said:"Eric, you''d better go and meet other people. Don''t stay by my side all the time."


    "There is no need to hurry. I have just seen off a group of people. Now I feel tired and want to take a rest."


    On the other side, Elizabeth was holding a ss of red wine and chatting with Julia. She found that Julia was a little absent-minded and kept on looking in a certain direction secretly. Elizabeth looked there and found the idle figure leaning against the sofa.


    By his side was a woman wearing a ck evening dress. It was no other than the heroine of The Others.


    "Julia, do you like him?" Elizabeth asked gently by Julia''s ear.


    "Oh, it...It is not him," Julia hurried to deny the im when she realized that Elizabeth was referring to Eric. After a short panic, however, she began to admit in a low voice: "Actually, I myself don''t even understand my feelings towards him.


    He is aplicated person." Maybe Julia had been trying to restrain her feelings for a long time and Elizabeth had won her favor in a short time. In this case, Julia somehow regarded Elizabeth as a reliable friend and eventually told the truth.


    "Follow me. Let''s have a good talk with Mr. Williams," Elizabeth directly grabbed Julia''s arm and walked towards Eric despite her resistance when seeing she was that distressed.

 Chapter 187: A hint

    "Hi, Eric," said Elizabeth when she pulled the embarrassed girl Julia towards Eric. Virginia stood up and left when seeing the two. Then, Elizabeth pressed Julia''s body on the sofa and sat down as well.


    "Elizabeth, why haven''t you left yet?" Eric asked in confusion.


    Elizabeth felt dissatisfied and stared at Eric: "Why should I leave? Am I not wee here?"


    "Of course not," denied Eric. "But this kind of small parties will never attract the second daughter of Rupert Murdoch, right?"


    The second daughter of Rupert Murdoch?


    Julia heard Eric''s words and curiously looked at the girl by her side. Eric noticed Julia''s puzzlement and introduced Elizabeth to her:"Julia, has not Elizabeth told you about her identity?


    She is the second daughter of Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the News Corporation which controls the 20th Century Fox."


    "Hey, Eric, are you trying to ruin my rtions with Julia? Julia was totally right in saying that you are a jerk!" Elizabeth angrily thumped Eric''s shoulders.


    Julia was just a little unhappy about Elizabeth concealing her ident.i.ty at the beginning and then turned deeply embarra.s.sed when hearing thest sentence Elizabeth just said.


    My goodness! How could she speak that out?


    Eric was distracted for a moment and then burst outughing:"Julia eventually told the truth."


    "No, Eric, I did not..." Julia blushed scarlet and shook her hand in disapproval but could not say anything.


    After saying something inappropriate, Elizabeth sensed her slip of the tongue and showed an apologetic look to Julia. Then she changed the topic as if nothing had happened:"Eric, is that woman your lover?"


    "Yes," Eric nodded and did not try to conceal the fact at all.


    "Um... You think you are totally right," Eric''s quick admission had stunned Elizabeth for a moment. "What about Julia?"


    Julia was trying to stop this outspoken girl from saying more but quit after sensing that nothing could be done. Instead, she looked at Eric nervously, waiting for his answer.


    "Does this have anything to do with Julia?" Eric was left in confusion.


    "I...I don''t want to hear your nonsense." With these words, Julia immediately fled like a small rabbit hunted by a hound. Eric''s answer gave her a sense of relief but she was also deeply depressed.


    Watching Julia flee in a hurry, Elizabeth showed Eric an angry look:"You reallyck a sense of romance, Mr. Williams."


    Eric shrugged and did not notice Elizabeth had addressed him differently:"Elizabeth, you do not know about the story, so don''t rush to reach a conclusion."


    "Oh, I am bing more curious about you now. Eric, how about treating me to a meal when you have time? I hope to talk more with you. "


    "I am afraid I cannot," Eric drank up the wine and stood up, ready to meet others.


    "Hey, hey, how can you do this?" Elizabeth lost the good manners of ady and grabbed Eric''s clothes:"If that does not work, then I will treat you to dinner, okay?"


    Eric did not hear Elizabeth''s conversation with Carta and his memory recorded nothing about the girl, so he directlybeled Elizabeth as a typical self-centered girl after a short talk with her.


    Although the girl was of n.o.ble birth, Eric had no need to cater to such a spoiled girl since he himself was now powerful enough.


    Eric tried many times and eventually pulled the edge of his clothes back. He saw the wrinkles and managed to remove them from his shirt. Noticing the girl''s angry look, he suddenly bent with a grin and moved closer to Elizabeth:"Elizabeth, I need to remind you of something..."


    Elizabeth felt the aggressiveness shown by Eric''s eyes and could not help but move backwards. "W-w-what?" She stammered, her hands covering her chest.


    As the girl was moving backwards step by step, Eric kept on moving forward. He smelt the alluring perfumeing from the girl''s body and swayed his index finger before her:"I need to remind you not to show a great interest in a man. Otherwise, you will easily fall in love with him."


    "Ah..." Elizabeth was about to say something when Eric left with these words. Not until then did the girl realize what had happened. She stomped on the ground and said angrily:"Bah! No one will fall in love with you.


    What a jerk! How conceited you are..." Such a stream of derogatory words fully vented out the anger of the spoiled girl. Then she immediately looked around. Not until she found that no one heard her words did she feel at ease.


    Elizabeth then stood up and neatened her clothes. Raising her chin slightly, she walked into the crowd with a .s.s of red wine in hand. She was still that proud n.o.ble girl.


    The great author Lu Xun once said:"No roads have existed before. Theye into being after more and more walkers appear." The meaning of his words could be extended. Some things could not have happened.


    If someone mischievous gave a hint unintentionally, however, they would happen sometime in the future.


    "Mr. Williams, may I propose a toast to you?" A little girl followed her mother and approached Eric with a .s.s of juice when Eric was chatting with others. The girl looked up at Eric full of expectations, her pretty big eyes shining brightly.


    "Of course, Sarah," Eric smiled and bent. He clinked .s.ses and then drank up the remaining red wine.


    The little girl took a gulp of juice and watched Eric drinking up his wine:"Mr. Williams, thank you for casting me as Anne Stewart."


    "Never mind. You have yed the role quite well." Eric looked at the girl before him. She was 12 years old and her growth could by no means match Drew''s. Eric heard that the mother and her daughter led a reasonably good life.


    Maybe it was due to the family background. Sarah was just 1.2 meters tall and shorter than her peers. In Eric''s memory, she eventually reached just 1.6 meters in height. Her round face was characterized by the baby fat.


    "Then, Mr. Williams, could I y in the film directed by you?" The little girl asked suddenly in a girl-like tone, her big eyes full of hope.


    Eric looked at Sarah and her mother and could not figure out if the girl was taught to speak such words or just said what she liked.


    In fact, if Sleepless in Seattle was not shown at the same time with The Others, Sarah could y the role of Jessica, Jonah''s little girlfriend in Sleepless in Seattle. However, Sarah had already yed in The Others and the role of Jessica could only be yed by others.


    Otherwise, the audience would feel strange when seeing the same girl in two films with different styles at the same time.


    "When the right timees, of course," Eric found it hard to refuse such a little girl full of anticipation and had no choice but to give an ambiguous answer.

 Chapter 188: Drunkenness

    "You can hardly figure out what he is like. Tender, overbearing, meticulous, flirtatious, self-abandoned, unfaithful, arbitrary, cynical, talented and mischievous...All in all, he has a great many sides. As time goes by, you will find that he can hardly make you feel confident no matter what you do.


    When Pretty Woman was put on show, I felt that I had made it and be a Hollywood star. I had really made it, had not I? Elizabeth ..." Julia squinted her eyes and showed ack of confidence.


    She kept muttering to Elizabeth by her side, her eyes showing a bit of confusion and adoration that were hard to conceal. Theplex feelings she was harboring could even be told by Elizabeth, a girl who was not so familiar with Julia.


    "Of course, Julia, you did make it," Elizabeth answered. Sensing Julia''s drunkenness, Elizabeth knew that the girl must be stopped from drinking more. Then she quickly grabbed the .s.s from Julia and beckoned the server to bring a .s.s of juice instead.


    Eric had just revealed Elizabeth''s ident.i.ty and this could negatively influence her rtions with Julia. Fortunately, her sincere apologyforted Julia and the influence soon disappeared. However, Eric''s words left Julia quite unhappy. The girl kept on drinking wine and got drunk in the end.


    Maybe it was due to her drunkenness that she was gradually opening up to Elizabeth and began to share the stories between her and Eric.


    Julia dizzily took the .s.s from Elizabeth and gulped down the juice, having no idea that the wine had already been reced. Then she continued to mutter in a half-drunk state:"I...I thought I had made it.


    Then I was invited to y in arge number of films and all of them promised the remuneration of millions of dors. I had never thought about this before. But...That hateful jerk turned them down without even consulting me first.


    I was in a rage and came to reason with him, only to find myself scolded harshly. He did not stop until I burst out crying. Hum, I was always trying to show more confidence in front of him, but a single word or a simple look of him would totally belittle my achievements.


    Now he has even made it hard for me to get a boyfriend. When I am trying to develop a romantic rtionship with a boy, Eric''s image will appear before me and the good impression of the boy will be ruined. "


    Julia took another gulp of juice, her eyes half open. Suddenly she mocked herself byughing aloud:"But...But he has just said this has nothing to do with Julia. Nothing! Nothing!


    What a jerk, haha..."


    Julia kept on muttering, showing a tendency to act out of control.


    "Let''s forget about it, Julia. You are drunk now and I had better drive you home." Elizabeth sensed the tendency and tried to persuade her tenderly. If someone was drunk, the best way to help them was to humor and coax their will.


    "Yes, go home. I want to go home. I don''t want to see that jerk anymore," Julia stood up suddenly, only to find herself falling down the sofa with dizziness. Elizabeth rushed to hold her.


    Not until Julia regained her consciousness did Elizabeth help her stand up slowly.


    n found Eric who was talking with Herbert Ross and whispered by Eric''s ear. Eric looked at the gate of the banquet hall and excused himself before going in that direction. Soon he saw Julia and Elizabeth there.


    "What''s the matter, Julia? Why have you drunk so much?" Eric felt dissatisfied. He looked at the girl supported by Elizabeth and then looked around, as if looking for somebody. After a while, he asked Julia in disappointment:"Where is Alison?"


    Alison was no other than the pet.i.te a.s.sistant of Julia. The girl had a freckled face and always kept Juliapany.


    "Leave...Leave me alone! I can drink as I please." Julia saw Eric appearing before her and shook her arm violently. Her voice was getting much higher:"You are trying to lesson me again! Who gives you the right?"


    "Quite! Do you want to appear in tomorrow''s news saying that you hit the bottle?" Eric red at Julia and looked around. A lot of guests noticed what was happening here. Eric hurriedly beckoned Elizabeth to help Julia out of the hall.


    Not until they reached the empty hallway did Eric feel at ease.


    "Where is Alison? Will she send you home?" Eric asked once again.


    Julia lowered her head and curled her lips unhappily. Maybe it was due to Eric''s shout and re that she had regained some of her consciousness. She answered: "Alison is on leave. She stayed with me in a southern town for several months and was a little...a little unustomed to the climate there.


    So she fell ill."


    Eric gave a sigh and said to his a.s.sistant behind:"n, could you please drive Julia home?"


    n was about to answer when Elizabeth interrupted:"Let me do this. n is after all a man and it is not convenient. Julia has drunk too much and she surely needs someone to take care of her."


    "You..." Eric looked at Elizabeth in confusion and then nced at Julia.


    "I want...I want Elizabeth to take me home. Not him...You hateful men, hateful men!" Julia seemed to lose her consciousness once again. She held Elizabeth''s arm tightly and leaned on the girl.


    Eric shrugged in embarra.s.sment. Looking at Julia, he had no choice but to agree:"I am sorry to trouble you. Elizabeth, do you know where Julia''s apartment is?"


    "I know, I know! It is at No. 11070, Wilsey Avenue, Beverly Hills," Julia raised her hand subconsciously, like a pupil who was trying to answer the teacher''s question. Her tone seemed like that of a little and ignorant child.


    Eric shrugged his shoulders and smiled at Elizabeth:"Fine, you get the address now. Let me send you upstairs."


    As the lift was getting down slowly, Eric kept on ncing the two girls by his side and felt strange. Although he was not familiar with Elizabeth yet, he could tell that she was like a tomboy. Maybe she was a lesbian? If it was true, then what would happen to Julia tonight?


    The pictures were getting dirtier and Eric even unconsciously gave a yful smile.


    Luckily, Elizabeth was carefully helping Julia all the time and did not notice Eric''s strange expression. If she knew what Eric was thinking about, she might kick him on the leg.


    "My car is over there. Hey, could you help me please? You are not like a gentleman at all," Elizabeth said angrily to Eric and pointed at a red sports car at the corner of the parking lot after they walked out of the lift. She could feel that Julia was about to fall.


    "Well, I am sorry. I think you can do it by yourself," Eric moved forward with a smile and grabbed the other arm of Julia. The two helped Julia by the car. Then Elizabeth left Julia leaning on Eric''s body and took out the key to open the door.


    After opening the back door of the car, Elizabeth turned around and beckoned Eric to help Julia in, only to find the girl grabbing the man''s arm tightly. She kept on muttering:"Eric, um...I dreamed of you again. Will you scold me once again? Eric, you are so hateful!


    Could not you be tender to me? Kiss me, please..."


    Sensing the dullness in Elizabeth''s eyes, Eric was also quite helpless and tried to exin to her:"This...You see...She is drunk."


    Elizabeth soon realized what was going on and silently took Julia away from Eric before putting her on the back seat and closing the door with a bang. Then Elizabeth also got in the car and was about to start the engine.


    Finally, she could not help but lean out of the window and say to Eric who was bidding farewell:"Mr. Williams, Julia is totally right. You are such a jerk!"


    After the car left, Eric saw the middle finger stuck out of the window and shook his head with a wry smile.


    Julia opened her eyes dizzily and felt that a big stone had been stuffed in her brain. She raised her hand and knocked gently on her temples and looked around.


    Fortunately, she was in her own bedroom.


    Deep inside, she felt both lucky and depressed. Last night, she drank too much and dreamed of that guy once again, saying something inappropriate. Luckily, it was in a dream. Or else, how embarra.s.sed she would be!


    Julia heard someone opening the door and immediately covered her body with a nket, looking at the door with her eyes wide open.


    Elizabeth was only dressed in a loose men''s shirt and appeared by the door. She saw that Julia had already woken up and then smiled:"Hi, Julia. You have finally woken up. Otherwise, I will have to disturb your good sleep."


    "You..." Julia gradually remembered what happenedst night. Thinking of the girl''s ident.i.ty, she forced a smile and said:"Elizabeth, good morning. Did you send me back?"


    "Yes. You drank too muchst night and threw up several times, dirtying your and my clothes. So I had no choice but to change my clothes with a shirt in your wardrobe. Will that offend you?


    " Elizabeth pulled the shirt on her body and asked.


    "Of course not. I should thank you instead," Julia soon realized that the shirt on Elizabeth was the one she hid long long ago. It belonged to Eric but Julia did not give it back. Elizabeth did not realize that the shirt was for men and Julia would by no means tell her about it.

 Chapter 189: I got it

    "Get up, then, I''ve made you something to eat, and I hope you''ll like it." said Elizabeth, leaving a faint smile, and turning away.


    Julia craned her neck through the crack of the door and saw she had already left. Then she wrapped herself in the nket and shilly-shallied her way to the bathroom.


    She was not that careless like Elizabeth, and was not ustomed to exposing herself to anyone, even of the same s.e.x, whom she had known only a day.


    Twenty minutester, Julia appeared in the dining room in a long, baggy, pale green dress. Elizabeth had already picked her own breakfast.


    When she saw Juliae in, she just nodded to Julia, still sitting at one side of the table with a roll of newspaper in her hand, reading news and eating her own breakfast, not like a guest at all.


    Julia didn''t mind it. She sat down on the other side, picked up a piece of toast, spread some peanut b.u.t.ter on it, and ate a few bites.


    "Did you sleep wellst night?" Elizabeth said across the dining table.


    "Ah, well... Of course, "Julia said quickly. Somehow she felt guilty, but she couldn''t remember anythingst night. Her memory after drunk had been blurred.


    "If possible, I would advise you not to do it again." Elizabeth said in a meaningful tone.


    "Again... Do what again?" Julia blinked at the girl opposite.


    "Get drunk. Don''t get drunk again."


    Julia seemed to realize something. "I... Did I do something badst night?"


    Elizabeth did not hesitate to nod. "Yes."


    "Oh my G.o.d!" Julia pped her forehead, "This is awful. Should it get out... "


    "Don''t worry, it won''t." Elizabeth shook her head gently without lifting her head, and turned the page of the newspaper before her.


    "Why?"


    "I don''t think that a.s.shole will get the word out." Elizabeth said in an understatement.


    Julia stared at her. "The a.s.shole... You mean Eric."


    "Bingo!"


    Julia was so nervous that her voice even faltered. "So... Well, Liz, I... What the h.e.l.l did I I do on earth?


    What thing out of line I have done?"


    "Not too much. You''re just clinging on that jerk, crying and begging him to kiss you."


    "Oh. Jesus!" Julia groaned bitterly, with her head on the table and banged her head against the solid wooden one.


    Seeing her reaction, Elizabeth could not help but smile, "Stop it. n.o.body would throw a pity on you even if you smash the wood."


    After a long time, Julia lifted her head, reached for the .s.s jug in the middle of the table and poured herself a cool .s.s. She took a few deep breaths to muster up the nerve and said, "Well, Liz, can you tell me more aboutst night?"


    "Are you sure you want to hear it?" Elizabeth Replied.


    Resisting the thought of retreating, Julia nodded.


    At first Elizabeth''s mind was clear. And she wasn''t drunkst night, but everything turned when she startedining about Eric. Sheined a lot about him, and even added many details in a vivid way.


    "I... I even told you about the dream?" Julia looked imploringly at Elizabeth hoping she would deny it.


    "Yes!" Elizabeth nodded in a vague att.i.tude when hearing Julia''s question, raising her bowl and finishing her food.


    Julia banged her head on the table again. "I am done. That was too embarra.s.sing. How could I face him again?"


    Elizabeth finished her food, wiped her mouth and gave a quizzical look as she asked, "Julia, does Eric Williams really have such an abnormal hobby, like hitting women?"


    "No," replied Julia at the table in a m.u.f.fled voice.


    Elizabeth seemed relieved. "So," she said, "Those are your s.e.xual fantasies. I almost believed he was an aberration. If he were really like that, that''s too disgusting!


    I had some crush on him before."


    ''Liz, will you stop it? I want to kill myself now."


    "It doesn''t matter at all. Who made the rule that a woman can''t have a little s.e.xual fantasy? However yours were really very special, because you wanted him to beat you."


    "It was just a dream," Julia said weakly, clutching her head.


    "Dreams are a convenient and fast form of virtual realization of human desires. They are essentially the same as the fantasies when you are awake, except that fantasies are controble and dreams are unconstrained, but you wouldn''t dream like that if you don''t have the idea at all in your mind."


    "Uh-huh... "Julia let out a few cries. It seemed that if Liz said continuously she would cry harder.


    So Elizabeth stopped the topic and changed for another, "Julia, are you in love with him?"


    Julia flipped up and clearly became more sensitive to this topic. "No, of course not, I hate him."


    "OK." said Elizabeth, with an uncritical tone, and sensibly not to inquire further, for she might have been driven out by the maddened woman, while muttering to herself that what a worst reflection of hate.


    Julia red at Elizabeth, her fingers pressed slightly down on the edge of the table, prepare to do something. After waiting for a while, she found that Elizabeth had no further words. Her highly tensed nerve soon relieved and she began to speak inwardly: "I just... actually...


    "


    "Forget it, Julia, hurry up and eat your breakfast. I think your life was too boring to have such wild imagination. I can borrow a private jet and we can fly straight to Manhattan. The Fifth Avenue is a shopping heaven.


    In the evening, I can take you to some parties and introduce you to some young guys, whose family must be richer than Eric Williams'' while they might not be as excellent as him.


    "I met some guys in that type at some parties. They were neither too old for me nor too self-righteous, who led a life of luxury and debauchery with the money earned by their family. I doubt they will not be able to pay the legacy tax for their property inheritance.


    In the United States, you can only inherit the property when you pay the tax. I heard that many rich young guys can only give away a lot of legacy because of failing to pay huge inheritance tax."


    "Well, you''re talking about the very few," Elizabeth said with a smile. "With a little thought, billionaires have a million ways to pa.s.s on enough money to their next generation."


    The topic imperceptibly turned fromst night''s embarra.s.sment, they began to find more and more topics, chattering up.


    "Liz, how does this blouse look on you? Don''t you think that the one on you is a bit big for you?" After breakfast, the two girls went into Julia''s closet to pick out clothes. They were about the same size and height, so there was no problem about size.


    "However, I prefer looser clothes, and this one on me looks nice." said Elizabeth, who did not wish to change her clothes, still wearing nothing below but her bare thighs, and was standing nearby, plucking at another wardrobe, picking out her trousers.


    Julia pressed her lips and tried hard to figure out how to take off her shirt without noticed by her.


    "Well, that''s a good pair, I will wear it." said Elizabeth, taking a pair of khaki cks from the wardrobe, cing them at her waist, and putting them on.


    "Yes, it looks good," Julia said, her eyes rolling.


    "But I think khaki pant looks better with a light blue top, and pink is fine, but white isn''t," she said while quickly took down two smaller size blouses than the shirt on Liz''s from the wardrobe in front of her, and matched them before Elizabeth, "Try it!"


    Elizabeth blinked, looked at the two blouses, and looked at the shirt on her top, suddenly lifted it and directly stripped down, naked with only small white underwear below, shouting: "Jesus!


    This was too disgusting, I got it, and it must be the jerk Eric Williams'' shirt, too disgusting, bah, my G.o.d!"

 Chapter 190: Being alarmed

    "Does it have to be like this, Liz? Maybe... I can give it back to him." She asked while her eyes shing as she looked at the tin bucket used to burn debris in Julia''s yard.


    Elizabeth forcefully pulled Julia''s shirt out of her clutched hand, slipped it into the bucket, struck a match and threw it in. The me briefly raised, the cotton fabric quickly reduced to ashes, finally only a few stic buttons are still flickering in small me.


    pping her hands, Elizabeth patted Julia''s shoulder as she stared at the fire in the bucket. "Done. Julia, if you want to get that guy out of your life for good, this is a process you have to go through. Go pack.


    I''ve already arranged the private jet. We''re going to New York, and if you haven''t had enough fun, we can then fly to London and Paris."


    "I thought I''d talk to my agent first, and I remember i still have the announcementsing up these days... "


    "Hey, you''re one of the top actresses in Hollywood right now. Julia, you are not one of those underprivileged little actors who are in the hands of agents and don''t have a lot of freedom."


    "But... "


    Elizabeth interrupted Julia. "No buts! Where is your pa.s.sport? If you don''t want to pack, bring your pa.s.sport and your credit card is enough.


    Let''s take an instant get away."


    More than an hourter, a private Boeing ne took off from Los Angeles international airport.


    At the same time the movie director of the Others Jonathan Demme also took off. After Michael Eisner''s tip and themunication with Eric, Jonathan Demme flied to Venice, Italy, the second day early in the morning for preparing for the anti-war publicity in the movie the Others.


    Although there were more than two weeks before the Venice film festival started, Jonathan Demme had no connections in Italy, so all depended on him to work hard. It''s never too early to make preparation.


    A few dayster, when Eric identally heard Kapoor''sint, he knew Julia was taken away by the Murdoch tomboy. In addition to the imagination that the two might be lesbians, he never rted it to his me at all.


    In turn, he thought it was reasonable for Julia to go out for fun, who left a deep impression on him after she was drunk.


    By mid-August, Eric hadpleted the first two episodes of Friends.


    After his hands-on experience, the six "Friends" stars were fully in character mode, doing Kevin Bright a big favor, who took over as the show''s director.


    Almost one week after the test screening, Disney Company, Paramount Pictures Inc. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. had given their offer.


    Michael Eisner certainly was determined to win it. The day after the test screening, Disney Company directly submitted their offer, for the movie the Others and Steel Magnolias, they would offer 35% profits of the north American box office and 10% of the overseas box office.


    Seeing the figure, Eric had a familiar feeling in an instant.


    Jeffrey directly pointed out that Disney Company gave him the same share he enjoyed in directing the film at Fox Film Corporation, and the offer was based on the North American box office which was above 100 million, otherwise, Disney would hardly get any profit.


    If carefully to calcte, in fact, this offer was much higher than that Fox Film Corporation offered, because at the beginning Fox Film Corporation possessed several Eric''s movie videos and rights of management on the movie sideline range products, from where they can also be a.s.signed to the substantial profits, but this time the Firefly Company had made it clear that they would not sell the copyrights of the videos, including the Others and the rights of management on the movie products, except for the distribution rights in North America and overseas.


    After Disney Company, Paramount Pictures Inc., the aspiring distributor, came in second, followed by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and others, while Colombia Pictures Inc. did not even make an offer.


    Eric was surprised by Fox Film Corporation. On the second day after the test screening, Fox Film Corporation sent someone to take back the outline of the movie Sleepless in Seattle.


    A few dayster, Carl Hunter from Fox Film Corporation personally found Eric himself and wished to change the movie Sleepless in Seattle to the Others as Fox Film Corporation suggested, no mentioning Steel Magnolias at all.


    Apparently, Elizabeth''s improvised-n caught the attention of Barry Diller, who was canny, and after reviewing Sleepless in Seattle, Fox Film Corporation was clearly more interested in the Others, which was why it happened.


    Eric didn''t know what else was going on, but he refused Fox Film Corporation''s suggestion. Changing the contract would certainly require a series of negotiations, and it was hard to know what would happen during that time.


    Now that Disney Company has offered the same price, Eric wouldn''t be looking for trouble.


    Making sure that there was nopet.i.tion, Firefly Company quickly signed a distribution deal for two movies with Disney Company.


    "Eric, I heard you bought Pixar Animation Studios?" Michael Eisner asked at a reception party after signing the contract.


    Eric calmly shook his .s.s of wine, "Yeah, I''m interested in cartoons, so I bought them for fun."


    "You are indeed...a young man," Michael Eisner shook his head while rting it to something. "So it''s you who cut off the previous graphic animation corporation between Pixar Animation Studios and Disney Company?"


    "Since Disney Company is such a giant, how could it care about such a smallpany like Pixar Animation Studios? Once Disney Company showed cooperation willingness to the other animationpanies, they would kill to work with you."


    Michael Eisner smiled with helplessness. Although Disney Company started its business by making animation, after Michael Eisner took over, he did not pay due attention to the animation like his several former chiefs, which also ignited the opposition from some board members.


    However, with Disney Company''s business thriving day by day, the opposition died away.


    However, theck of emphasis on animated films was onlypared with live-action films which gained more attention from Michael Eisner than previous ones, which does not mean that Michael Eisner did not pay attention to the status of Disney animated films in Hollywood.


    So as Eric slowly rose, his purchase of Pixar Animation Studios six months ago caught Michael Eisner''s attention. More importantly, he was rmed to learn that Pixar Animation Studios was producing a new form of 3D animation.

 Chapter 191: Was also knocked out

    Eric''s sudden rise, in the history of more than half a century of Hollywood, is undoubtedly a unique rarity.


    It''s not about how good Eric''s movies are, but in fact, several of Eric''s movies, including "Home Alone," "Pretty Woman" and "Running Out of Time," aren''t very bright artistically, and There is not much refreshing innovation.


    But after Eric''s consecutive films have achieved amazing box office results, in addition to the media that have enjoyed and a.n.a.lyzed how Eric''s films have achieved greatmercial sess, attracting customer attention to increase sales or ratings .


    Several major filmpanies have brought together professionals to perform a detailed a.n.a.lysis of Eric''s films. Many of the results of the a.n.a.lysis will be gradually reflected in the Hollywood film market over the next two years.


    As movies with children in real life will increase, Cinderellstyle love movies will also increase, gangster and police fighting movies will also cause a tide of new movies.


    Disney will certainly not be an exception when ites to studying Eric''s movies.


    But after Michael Eisner had seen several a.n.a.lyzes of Eric''s films, he quickly learned that Eric''s films were not a box office miracle, as the newspaper a.n.a.lysis did, only to meet the needs of the children''s market, capturing the hearts of young women for Cinderellstyle love and so on, and most importantly, Eric.


    The reason for this conclusion is that all the films in which Eric currently partic.i.p.ates have nothing inmon in terms of theme. There is now at all.


    "17 Again" is a youth school movie, "Home Alone" is a fun movie for children, "Pretty Woman" is a romantic movie and "Running Out of Time" has be a police movie. Movies that are unrted to each other have been sessful.


    If you want to find the greatestmon denominator, Eric is undoubtedly the most obvious.


    All these cinematographic projects are handled by him. Of course, "17 Again" is the FOX movie, but it does arise now. No one would think that the sess of "17 Again" is due to both James Brooks and Penny Marshall.


    Eric Williams is the key figure in the movie that made the box office over 100 million dors.


    Then after reaching that conclusion, Michael Eisner paid more attention to every movement of Eric and Firefly, ready to take Eric, and it would be better to put him to work for him.


    He is a very ambitious man. As Disney grows and develops, so does its ambition. However, Michael Eisner has not yet be the "Disney Tyrant" that was destroyed by his own hands in the future. With its achievements in recent years, its current prestige within the Disney Group is absolutely unmatched.


    As everyone knows, Disney started as an animationpany. Although Michael Eisner took a long time after taking office, he focused on the development of live action movies, but he knows it.


    Animation movies are the biggest advantage of Disney, and it is necessary to maintain the dominant position of animated Disney movies in Hollywood, where real action movies have been developing in recent years.


    Michael Eisner has also carried out a series of works to expand the negotiation of Disney animated films, organized arge number of releases on video tapes of Disney .s.sics, as well as the authorized extension of image copyright, video , etc. Finally I achieve remarkable results.


    Therefore, when Eric became more and more dazzling, and acquired a 3D animation film studio in private. Michael Eisner became increasingly cautious with the study.


    3D movies are a conceptpletely unknown to many people. Michael Eisner also knew a long time ago about 3D movies. However, due to the centuries-old history of cinema, there are sound films instead of silent, color films instead of ck and white. Michael Eisner had to pay more attention to this.


    I had a feeling that 3D movies bring another important new trend that shakes Hollywood.


    To this end, he found this year the Oscar-winning Pixar animated short film, "Tin Toy", which was seen and a.n.a.lyzed by the management of the Disney animation department, although the image of the "Tin Toy" baby was very rough, so that the main animators of Disney made fun of.


    However, after deliberately studying "Tin Toy," of Silicon Valley''s invitedputer graphic design experts, Disney discovered a number of technical points and difficulties for several Disney executives, and it was imed that with Pixar technology, always and when they have enough financial support, it is possible to make a 3D feature film of more than 90 minutes, and the quality will not lose with 2D hand-drawn animation.


    In his mind, the words of the Silicon Valley experts appeared. Michael Eisner looked at young Eric in front of him. He knew that trying to get Disney involved in Pixar was certainly impossible, and that building his own 3D animation division would not be aplished overnight.


    "Eric, what do you think of this, Pixar is making a movie right now? How about Disney taking care of future distribution?"


    As he could not intervene in Pixar, Michael Eisner proposed that the first 3D animation film be distributed by Disney. The idea of distribution rights, at least in this way, can keep matters under Disney''s control.


    Ericughed: "Mr. Eisner Why bother now? Pixar''s first animation will bepleted in at least two years, and if we now sign the contract, we will both run a rtivelyrge risk. "


    Michael Eisner took Eric to a sofa and sat down to continue the talk: "Eric, your time in Hollywood is not much, and many things are not very clear, in fact, most big-budget movies must have been Contact the dealer before they started rolling, to ensure that the film is being made in the shortest possible time.


    The investment for an animated film is around 30 million dors, for a 3D movie it must be more, such arge investment, if not ready in advance, in the future more risk could be a.s.sumed. "


    There are also several things that Michael Eisner did not mention, for example, if the animated film bes a failure, n.o.body is willing to distribute it, tens of millions of investment would be wasted.


    And signing a good agreement with the distributionpany beforehand can prevent this from happening, and even if it is a failure, part of the cost can be recovered. But don''t believe under Eric''s supervision, Pixar makes a bad movie.


    Eric shook his .s.s and pretended to contemte it for a moment before looking up: "Mr. Eisner, I can only say that if animation is released in the future, Disney is definitely my first choice. "


    His words were equivalent to nothing. The first option is only one possible option, more often in Hollywood, the first option is rarely the final option.


    At the same time that Michael Eisner was disappointed, there was also anger, as Disney''s helmsman, it was rare for someone to reject him so bluntly.


    Although he did not lose hisposure, Michael Eisner''s tone became much colder: "Eric, you must know, for" The Others "and" Steel Magnolias, "the investment division, still gives me a lot of pressure within Disney, so You have to give me something.


    Your film cooperationpany for next year has not yet been finalized, right? "


    Eric felt a coldness and unhappiness in Eisner''s tone. I had no ns to find a partner. Negotiations with New Lines havee to an end. He will definitely focus on the development of hispany next year.


    However, thinking about next year, if Firefly wants to grow, it will definitely be under pressure from all sides. It''s good to eliminate even an enemy now. After thinking it,


    Eric reluctantly extended a finger: "A movie, Mr. Eisner, should know the address of Firefly, so I can only give Disney the rights to distribute a single movie, but it doesn''t include videotapes or television."


    "Will you direct her personally?" Eisner showed a touch of joy, but still confirmed it carefully.


    "Of course," Eric nodded.


    Michael finally smiled and raised the .s.s with red wine: "Then, happy cooperation."


    "Happy cooperation." Eric also smiled and touched the cup with the other. I knew the cooperation was over. In Hollywood a lot of people talked like dumb.


    If you believe, wait until you find yourself with nothing, but sometimes, if you have made a promise, if youter regret it, it will be a hatred with Disney.


    As he got what he wanted, Eisner didn''t talk to Eric and after a while, he left to entertain other guests.


    Eric looked at Michael''s figure and sighed softly, sipped the wine in his .s.s which he didn''t know what wine it was.


    "Eric you are here, let me sit down and talk," a little hurried, Jeffrey sat down and holding a handkerchief in his hand dried the sweat on his forehead.


    Eric stepped aside and left room for Jeffrey and asked, "You won''t think about talking about the acquisition with Robert Shea, right?"


    "Okay, there''s nothing to talk about it" shaking his head, Jeffrey saw Eric''s lost look: "what happened to you? Isn''t it a good thing to be with Disney? "

 Chapter 192: How bad is this vision?

    "How could it be happy to be entangled in a movie by Michael Eisner," Eric said helplessly.


    Although Eric did not say it, Jeffrey quickly understood what he said: "Which... what conditions does Disney give?"


    "I haven''t talked yet," Eric shook his head. "I just promised Michael Eisner verbally."


    Jeffrey sighed with relief: "That''s good, just a movie. Anyway, you make a movie and hensy eggs. However, I just heard a message two days ago, Disney wants to suspend Warner''s overseas release of the film. The cooperation has given all the business to its Bowei International operation."


    "What does this have to do with me?" Eric didn''t care about Jeffrey''s teasing. He was toozy to think about it and asked him directly.


    "Of course, there is a rtionship. After breaking down with Warner, Disney will definitely be in a mess for overseas distribution. It is estimated that it will take at least half a year for Bo Wei International to integrate this business. If you promise Disney''s movie will be arranged next year.


    In the first half of the year, it is likely that Bowei will use it as a cannon fodder to open up overseas markets. If it is ced in the second half of the year, it will be much better."


    Eric wondered: "Disney is unlikely to use my movie as a cannon fodder. Don''t they want to make money?"


    Jeffrey put the handkerchief in his pocket and greeted the waiter not far away to send a ss of red wine. He then said: "The big behemoth like Disney is not the box office interest of two movies. They are more fancy. The expansion of the channel.


    The influence of your previous films on the world is the best tool to expand the channel. Disney takes the name of your movie and gives some benefits to contacts with overseas publishers. Let a lot of things go smoothly. Maybe a movie is released.


    Disney can set up new distribution channels in several countries. Compared with these channels that can create profits for a long time, some movies have a lot of interest. What is it?"


    Eric clearly pointed out that Disney used his own film as a road opener, so in the process, it will definitely lose a lot of overseas box office because of the unsound channels and so on. If so, Disney has expanded its channels. But he and the fireflies can get no benefit.


    Although the proportion of overseas box office is not high, it is based on the overseas box office size of his previous films.


    That is also the benefit of the tens of millions of dors, he did not sacrifice his good intentions to be full of Disney, unless Disney canpensate his losses in advance.


    To understand this, Eric also made up his mind. At the same time, he asked: "Jeffrey, I just remember, you said that there is nothing to talk to Robert Shea. What does it mean?"


    "There is nothing to talk about. Robert Shea has bitten 15% of the shares and added $60 million in cash prices. I will not retreat in one step. Therefore, I rushed to find you.


    Long personally make decisions."


    Eric thought about it. Also asked: "Are you sure this is his ultimate bottom line?"


    Jeffrey nodded: "Yes, Robert Shea has made it clear that this is the bottom line. It won''t be retired in one step, and..." Geoffrey showed a strange smile here: Robert Shea also told me specifically that unless you are willing to agree to this price, he will not ept any invitation to meet you."


    "Amount... this." Eric couldn''t figure it out for a moment.


    Jeffrey didn''t make him doubt for too long, heughed and exined: "When you first ate with him. The words were estimated to be too deep for him. He was afraid to talk to you again. I couldn''t help but retreat.


    Well, I think it''s definitely like this. Although I didn''t participate in that meeting, it seems that in the end, Robert Shea''s **** enthusiasm was a big step forward. What?"


    "How can it be provocative? I am talking about the facts," Eric smiled and retorted.


    "In any case, this is the case. In fact, I think this price is quite reasonable. The new line is, after all, a 20-year oldpany. I will put more thoughts on the preparations for "Night in Seattle".


    The new line will be handed over to you, and the relevant documents will be sorted out. I will send the secretary to your office tomorrow."


    "Well, I know," Eric nodded and looked at Jeffrey with some anxiety: "Jeffrey, you know, if the acquisition is sessful, you might..."


    Jeffrey patted Eric''s shoulder and gave him a square look: "I have long wanted to understand this. I gave the position of ceo to Robert Shea. I just have to be responsible for the production. The president is fine, even if it is a vice president."


    "Thank you, Jeffrey," Eric gratefully nced at this fat old man who had been trying to support himself from now on.


    "Do you still use these between us?" Jeffrey raised the red wine, touched Eric, who hade over, and remembered one more thing.


    "Yes, Jonathan Demi is alone in Venice." Can you do it, do you want me to follow it, in fact, if you can, let Kapoor go better, he has more rtions in Europe, but he is a broker and does not intend to change career."


    "Before you came, Michael Eisner talked to me. He would use some Disney resources to help with this operation and try to get an award at the Venice Film Festival. In this nine-member jury. John Landis happens to be a Hollywood director."


    Jeffrey stared and thought about it: "John Landis, the director of the American Journey that was soldst year?"


    "Well, in fact, John Landis is more good at horror movies, so you understand that the theme of "The Sound of the Isles" plus thebel of Hollywood movies will definitely add a lot of impressions to his heart. Disney will also send people and him. Get in touch."


    "When are you going to Venice?"


    "A few days after the opening ceremony, the award ceremony will wait until mid-September. I certainly can''t stay there for so long. I don''t n to go any more during the awards ceremony. I suddenly found that my next time this year is really too tight.


    In September and October, up to the first half of November, you must make "Seattle Sleepless" and "Little Ghosts 2" all the time, and you have to be busy with the new line, Al''s "Smell.


    In thete stage, I must pay attention to it, so I have no leisure time in my day." Eric quickly calcted andined.


    "Whoever let you do so many things at once, most directors can direct two movies a year, it''s not bad, you immediately exhausted four ns, and also produced two." Jeffrey smiled: "You will be sure next year." Not so busy?"


    "I won''t kill me. I have to rest well next year. I have lived so big, I haven''t enjoyed life yet!"


    "Yeah, I have lived for 19 years," Jeffrey said with a bit of envy in his voice. He looked around and patted Eric''s shoulder. "If you are tired, go back early. I see a few.


    An acquaintance, in the past, greeted him."


    "Well," Eric responded. He didn''t n to get up. Jeffrey didn''t mind. He picked up the red wine and got up and left.


    Eric slowly sipped the remaining red wine in the ss. He nned to leave and go home to rest after drinking, but soon a tall girl wearing a silver fish-printed tube top evening gown appeared in front of him.


    "Eric, always wanted toe and say hello to you, but there are always people around you," Brooke. Xiaosi generously sat down next to Eric.


    "You dress up tonight is beautiful, Brooke," Eric smiled and smiled at Brooke. The silk lifted the red wine in his hand.


    "Thank you, but some people can''t always look at it," the girl showed a resentful look, and seemed to still care about Eric''s repeated rejection of her several times.


    Eric chuckled and didn''t answer this question. The girl has always been very good at this kind of teasing man''s expression, but perhaps before the "Dark War", Brooke.


    Xiaosi still wants to lean on him, now girl With the stunning role of the "Dark War", there is no need to rely on the carcass to get the character.


    Looking up and down the girl''s beauty, in fact, he really wants the girl to stand up and circle in front of him to facilitate his appreciation: "I heard that you recently received a big production film from Warner, what is it, it will not be Batman''s sequel?" The sequel to "Batman" is definitely a big hit, but this time it can participate in the blockbuster cost of the blockbuster, which itself can gain a greater reputation.


    Brooke. Xiaosi shook his head and smiled at the corner of his mouth. "No, I talked to Warner. I chose to work with Disney, so I am here today."


    "Oh, that''s really...not a pity. What kind of film is Disney, is it easy to disclose?" Eric asked curiously.


    Brooke. Xiaosi nodded: "I can''t say more about the specifics, but the name is temporarily set as "Rocket Expert", and it is likely to be renamedter, so I can tell you."


    "Rocket...expert," Eric squirted a red wine. The movie should be released in 1991, so at least wait until next year. Eric knows that because of his appearance, many Hollywood movies have not disappeared, but the shooting and release progress has be messy. However, these are not the key points.


    The point is that Eric just remembers this movie. This is the past five years of Jennifer Connor''s interest in the big hit!


    Eric looked up and down at Brooke, the girl still maintains the softer image of "Dark War". Obviously, she also realized that this image is more suitable for her development in Hollywood than the morous appearance of the previous imposing manner.


    However, Eric''s heart screamed twice, how bad the girl''s eyes were to step on such a big pit.

 Chapter 193: Plop(18+)

    He vaguely remembered that in the past, Jennifer Connelly, when he was in adulthood, because he was hitting the wall everywhere, he stunned his heart and made a bold performance in a thriller. He once again caught the attention of Hollywood. At such a price, he was lucky to be pure.


    The girl turned to the **** girl and won the heroine of Disney''s "Rocket Specialist", but then the film flutters, Jennifer Connelly has not received any film in the next five years. When it appears on the lens again, it has already given people a feeling that it is a human being.


    "Eric?" Brooke. Xiaosi saw Eric distracted, and some dissatisfiedly patted the man, and could be distracted in front of his own beautiful woman. This man is really enough... abominable.


    "Oh, sorry," Eric replied with a mess of thoughts, and asked indefinitely: "You just said "Rocket Specialist", is it a sci-fi film in Los Angeles in the 1930s? "


    Brooke. Xiaosi surprisedly opened her red lips and looked at it. Eric waspletely sure.


    "Eric, how do you know, this...this should be confidential?"


    "Because if you didn''t make a mistake, the film was adapted from the graphic novel of the same name, Dave Stevens. I just watched it," Eric shrugged. He saw the movie, but Stevens''s novels have never been seen at a nce, but they certainly cannot be told in front of the girl.


    "That... Eric, how do you think this story was filmed?" Brooke. Xiaosi is still a little smart. I quickly asked a more important question.


    "I don''t know this, the story of the novel is still very exciting. The key is to see how Disney is adapted." Eric didn''t want to shake his head.


    He also did not remind the girl not to pick up the meaning of this movie. Perhaps the girl appeared here, the film has been signed with Disney, and he said it is not very useful.


    What''s more, the film is one year ahead of schedule, then the storyline will certainly not be the same as the previous one, sometimes even a wrong day. The writer''s mind will change, not to mention the time of year. Perhaps the "rocket expert" of this time and space will be inexplicably ignited.


    If he rushes to remind the girl not to pick up the film, the new version of the "Rocket Expert" will be sold in the future, then he will wait for the future, and this loss will definitely have to give up the role. So why bother to talk, how good a spectator.


    Shaking the red wine in the cup, Eric was thinking absent-mindedly, thinking of "Rocket Specialist", naturally remembered Jennifer Connelly, I don''t know where Jennifer Connelly is now, the taste of girls'' red lips. He has forgotten it, and he doesn''t know when he can taste it again.


    "It seems, I still don''t bother you any more. Eric, you are always distracted." Brooke. Xiaosi stood up dissatisfied and lost a grievous look at Eric. Yingying turned and left.


    Staring at the curve of the girl wrapped in a silver fish-pattern dress, Eric suddenly felt that the body of Brooke. Silk was very suitable for dressing up as a mermaid, stripping off the clothes, putting on the mermaid''s tail and throwing it into the swimming pool. Plopping through...


    It''s evil again.


    Eric shook his head and threw his thoughts in his head. I made the decision to wait for Aniston to toss a little girl.


    ...


    Plop through.


    "UHHHH...."


    In the bedroom with blurred lights, Jennifer was on her hands and knees, naked, clutching bedsheets as Eric held slim her waist and pounded her from behind, bed rocking lightly as her moans echoed in the room.


    Pushing her head down, he continued to pound her, sliding in and out of her slick pussy, her tight ass pping against his crotch, her moans turning muffled.


    Grabbing her arms, he pulled her back, arching her waist, speeding up his thrusts, his cock stretching out her tight pussy as groans of pleasure escaped his mouth, only to be covered by Jennifer''s loud moans.


    Feeling his release getting closer, he let go of her arms and grabbed her slim waist as he sped up his thrusts even more, invading her pussy over and over again, her moans turning short and high pitched.


    "UHHHH....GODDDDDD..."


    Moaning and screaming, she arched her back as her pussy clenched around his shaft, drenching it in her juices as a strong orgasm pulsed through her body, before her head fell on the bed, powerless.


    "HAAA..."


    Eric grunted as he felt her snatch tighten around his shaft, thrusting a few times before shoving his dick deep in her and, with a roar, spraying her insides with his seed.


    "Hate, get in, you bastard, don''t know for me, if you are pregnant, I will kill you." After Aniston cleaned, softly floated out of the bathroom and threw himself on Eric. Beaten on the shoulders of men.


    "If you are pregnant, you will be born, what''s the big deal," Eric stopped the girl''s waist, and then put the bathrobe on the little girl, then lifted the whole delicate body and put it on her body, feeling the two The feeling of being close to people.


    Aniston leaned on the man''s chest: "But I am only twenty years old, I don''t want to be dragged by the child so early that I can''t do anything."


    "I am not afraid when I am 19 years old, what are you afraid of at the age of twenty," Ericughed and ps on the little girl''s ass.


    "In any case, I just don''t want to have children so early, at least I have to wait for 30 years old, and..." Speaking of this, Xiao Yan''s voice was very strong, and she raised her head and stared at Eric''s eyes: "And, if I am pregnant, will you marry me immediately?"


    Eric''s heart beat a few times. After a moment of hesitation, he just had to bite his teeth to answer. Xiao Yan Niu had already screwed his waist lightly: "Looking scared you, the heart will jump out. I know..."


    Eric slid over the smooth back of the girl and whispered: "Jane, I will always be good to you."


    "But I don''t want more than that," the girl rubbed her cheeks on his chest and whispered, "I think you are only good to me alone."


    "..."


    "I know, this is impossible, but I want to leave you, you don''t let it," Xiao Yan''s tone quickly became hateful: "How can there be people in the world who are so jerk?"


    Eric smiled and held the soft glutous meat of the two babies. The girl lifted the girl up, and the probe kissed the two delicate lips and sucked it. Only then, the old girl said: "Little girl, you have to remember Ah, all the men in the world are bastards, so don''t worry about who you are.


    "Oh, it makes sense." Aniston turned a big white eye: "You are instilling in me some of your strange outlook on life, just like an evil pagan."


    "The pagans can live freely. They often believe in the gods they dream of. In fact, they are more of a deep desire to look forward to the incarnation..."


    "Yeah, don''t listen, you started to brainwash me again..." Xiao Yanyan shook her head and reached for Eric''s mouth, not letting the man say it.


    Ericughed and grabbed the white little hand to y, andpared it to his own big hand. Because of the busy schedule of the year, his hand has already touched a faint p: "Okay, I Don''t say it."


    Although Xiaoyan didn''t look up, her fingers scratched his mouth in his palm: "Eric, are you going to Venice in September?"


    "Yeah, this year''s film festival opens on September 4th, I will probably stay there for a few days, and the mid-term award ceremony will not go again."


    "September 4th," Aniston suddenly raised her head. She just wanted toin that Eric had to be in ink with Veniglia in Venice, but the date that Eric said was yed. Get up and ride on Eric''s waist: "Friends" started on September 3, so you can''t see the premiere of this TV series?"


    "I don''t see the same thing. Anyway, I shot it. I don''t know what the plot is?" Eric wondered.


    Aniston has a little excitement: "Of course it is different. This is our first TV series. I originally wanted you to apany me to watch the premiere."


    "Would you like to see you in the second season?"


    Xiao Yan Niu''s disappointment hammered Eric, don''t worry: "Who knows if you broke the TV series, is there a second season, hehe!"


    "Okay, okay, I will call the Venice side tomorrow, let them postpone the opening ceremony for two days. I will apany my girlfriend to watch the TV series and let everyone wait."


    Aniston snorted and immediately screamed and said: "You bastard, when you are God," but afterughing, Xiao Yan Niu also figured out, this thing really can''t have the best of both worlds, Eric wants Things to do are more important: "Okay, let go of you, but remember toe back and bring me gifts."


    "No problem, how about a hand-built gond?"


    "Oh, poor mouth, you buy us where to go, I want a mask."


    Eric remembered that the past life had indeed seen the mask that his friend brought back from Venice. I don''t know what the material was made. It depicts a variety of patterns, and there are feathers on it. It looks gorgeous and strange, at least he thinks so.


    .


    "What kind of thing," Eric recalls the details of the Vian mask in his mind.


    "You challenge yourself to see if you can guess my preferences," Xiao Yanyan smiled mischievously.


    "Ok," Eric nodded and reached for the girl''s thigh: "Baby, look behind you."


    Xiao Yan Niu was so unclear that she blinked back and immediately took a sip: "Hey, howe up again."


    "There is a wet and warm little petal that is worn on my waist. Can''t I get it?" Eric smirked.


    "Ah," Xiao Yan Niu screamed and immediately jumped from Eric. The two looked at Eric''s waist together. No one paid attention to the few abdominal muscles. Instead, they were slightly wet on the top.


    The mark attracts attention.


    "That... I, I just took a shower, it was water, yes, it was definitely water!" Xiao Yanyan argued uneasily.


    Eric nodded solemnly and saw his boyfriend''s pretentious manner. Aniston sullenly angered him, and opened a small white tooth and bit it on Eric''s shoulder.


    When the pain came, Eric immediately screamed in disapproval, and his tone was very wrong: "Oh, don''t bite, water, water, it''s water! God, when did I say that it wasn''t water!"


    "Sigh....."


    Eric sighed as he grabbed her head and pushed it down to his crotch, stuffing his now hard dick in her mouth, pushing her head down until his dick was in her throat,


    He kept her head down, enjoying her hot mouth wrapping his dick, before wrapping her hair around his fist and starting to move her head up and down.


    He continued moving her head, her sexy lips wrapped around his shaft as it slid in and out of her slick mouth, coating it in her saliva, the tip hitting her throat.


    After moving her head up and down for a minute, he stopped and held her head in ce as he started thrusting his hips up, fucking her mouth, pushing his dick in her throat with every thrust.


    Eric groaned as he kept fucking her mouth, sliding in and out of her hot mouth, her saliva running down the sides of his dick as he felt a familiar ache in his balls.


    "UHHHHHHH...."


    Jennifer cried out as Eric flipped her t on her stomach and, mounting her from behind, prated her pussy with one strong thrust, burying his dick deep in her snatch.


    Giving no thought to her pleasure, he started pounding her recklessly, using her tight, hot pussy to gratify his sexual desire, making her cry out.


    Pushing her head into the bed, he continued shoving his dick in and out of her slick pussy, sound of her tight ass loudly pping against his crotch mixed with her muffled moans as he felt his orgasme.


    "HAAAAAAAAA....."


    With a loud roar, he pushed her head into the bed and mmed his dick deep in her tight pussy, before he painted her insides white with his hot seed.


    "How are you here?" Early in the morning, Eric quietly left Xiaoyan''s apartment to thepany. When he walked into the office, he saw Drew sitting in his seat and boring theputer in front of him.

 Chapter 194: I have a big plan

    When I heard Eric said, the girl''s eyes immediately revealed a resentful look: "The night is not home, the mobile phone is still turned off, who knows if it''s lost, people worry about you."


    Eric pretended not to see Drew''s face-changing skills. He walked over and took Xiao Nizi to the side and took it to the executive chair: "Okay, let''s talk!"


    Drew, who was thrown aside, didn''t mind. Shiran went to the desk and pulled a chair to sit down. Eric noticed that Xiao Nizi had changed into a more conservativevender long-sleeved shirt.


    It seems that the white casual pants are just worn, and there are also a pair of small leather shoes on the feet, instead of the small sandals that are usually habitually exposed with ck toenails. This pair of Zhengjia Jingjiao looks very unusual.


    Is it... is it good?


    I was thinking about the weird appearance of Xiao Nizi embroidering, and suddenly sat in Drew: "Eric, I have a big n..."


    Xiao Nizi''s rare seriousness made Eric somewhat ufortable, and couldn''t help but make a joke: "You found a wild man, want to work with him to seize my property?"


    "You are really hateful, I am telling you something serious."


    Shantou suddenly made a fuss, and picked up what documents he picked up.


    Eric grabbed the folder in a hurry and put it aside, saying: "Okay, let''s talk about your big n."


    Drew nced at Eric and determined that he wouldn''t be funny anymore, before pulling the small backpack that was originally ced on the corner of Eric''s desk and picking up two printed things from it.


    One was handed to Eric, and one was ced in front of himself: "Have you not written a list of copyright acquisitions a few days ago, Eric. I n to form a team and take all these things one by one. This is a n written on it. What do you think?"


    Copyright acquisition list?


    Eric sumbed to the reaction. After Drew won the copyright of "Jin Yumeng" that day, he made another thing for him to do, so he was bored.


    Shun handwritten the famous Hollywood movie original novels or TV series in previous life memories, including "Forrest Gump", "Shawshank Redemption", "Jiao Jiaowa", "Bourne", "Mission Impossible" Wait for the original copyright of many or ssic or big movies.


    I even wrote a series of original works of "The Lord of the Rings" that had the technical ability to start shooting ten yearster. There are probably more than 20 forests. He originally thought that Xiao Nizi would still pick one from the inside and did not expect the head. So big.


    I want to swallow it all.


    Eric picked up his eyebrows and looked down at Xiao Nizi''s thin so-called "n".


    "Drew, the word ''redemption'' is misspelled, missing an ''e'',e, I teach you..."


    "Eric, you have to be sad like this."


    Xiao Nizi showed a face to cry, and Eric quickly stopped joking and closed the document: "That. What did you think?"


    "I... I just want to do something, and I am also very interested in this matter." Shantou finished, revealing a praying look: "Eric, do you promise me?"


    Eric Moss took the paper and calcted it: "With an average price of two million dors per copyright, all of them will be taken down, at least $50 million..."


    Drew thought that Eric would refuse, and he said anxiously: "You can''t get the money. I have calcted that you can get a few hundred million this year. And I don''t want to be 50 million at a time. ""


    "Don''t interrupt me," Eric made a gesture of awkwardness to the girl: "Of course, I can get it for $50 million. However, if you think about it, you will buy it from time to time." Right, it will definitely rm other moviepanies in Hollywood. When others see you, they will definitely think of me.


    I know every movie that I am making now. So I will see things, they will definitely run for Grab a bit, even if no one is arguing, knowing that I want to buy, the seller will definitely take the opportunity to raise the price.


    So, the final price will certainly be fired, and we will not know how much it will cost."


    Shantou heard Eric''s analysis, and dropped his head and lowered his head.


    Eric saw the disappointment of the girl, and soon thought of a morepromised approach: "Well, Drew, don''t be upset, this way, it is definitely not possible to find a team to operate on arge scale, but you can Hire two or three people, the position will hang on the flower film industry, and then you will slowly make private acquisitions, one by one, so the movement is very small, will not be a surprise, and this thing is enough for you to slowly get busy to sixteen After you have grown up, you can do more things you want to do."


    Drew heard Eric''s suggestion and ignited some hope: "But, is three people enough?"


    Eric reached out and said to the girl: "An assistant, to help you with your daily affairs, awyer who is familiar with thew, a negotiator who is in charge of contacting the copyright party, three people are just right, and there is no need for it."


    "It''s just like this," Drew said awkwardly.


    Eric continued: "Attorney I let Edward rmend it, the assistant is also very good, the key is responsible for copyright negotiations, this person is difficult to find."


    "This person I am looking for myself," Drew immediately raised his head.


    Eric looked at the girl and remembered the Lawrence Bender she foundst time. There was no objection: "Well, this person is doing it yourself, and you are not allowed to make promises in my name."


    Drew grumbled dissatisfiedly: "Is that stupid person?"


    "It''s even more terrible for smart people to do stupid things," Eric said with a smile.


    Shantou snorted with disappointment, stood up, and packed his bags: "Would I go first?"


    Eric just got to the point and thought of something: "Yes, there is still something. Since the copyright on the list you want to take all, I will make somements on the right to change." You need to talk to people ording to the above requirements."


    "Whatment?" Drew sat down again.


    "That is, some novels need to be adapted for at least 20 years, some need to be permanent, and some TV dramas need to be bought with the right to y, and some only need a single adaptation." Eric slightly Exin it, open the n that Xiao Nizi just gave me, and thest page is just the list of his own: "I will give it to you at the end of the night."


    "Will you go home tonight?" Shantou immediately snorted, but it was just a habit ofining, and soon stood up and said: "This is all right, then I will go back first."


    "Be careful on the road," Eric said to the back of the girl.


    "Know it, I know, old man!"

 Chapter 195: Chip

    "I hope we can have a happy cooperation in the future, Eric." After signing the thick contract, Robert Shea smiled and stood up.


    Eric also stood up and took Robert Xie''s hand: "That''s for sure, Robert."


    On thest day of August, after nearly a month of negotiations between the two sides, Erik''s Firefly Film Company eventually acquired a new line of Hollywood veteran filmpanies with 15% of the shares and $60 million in cash.


    The scale of the twopanies is far less than the Hollywood giant Columbia Film Company, which Sony wants to acquire. It does not involve too many interests and games like Colombia, and both parties have a strong willingness to cooperate.


    Therefore, at the price After the discussion, everything became logical.


    As a rising-edge and veteran second-line moviepany in Hollywood, the merger of fireflies and new lines has attracted a lot of media attention. After the signing ceremony, the two sides also responded to the requirements of the media and conducted a brief press conference.


    It is of course a celebration party.


    Although Eric does not want to participate in simr entertainment, he prefers to stay in the study quietly. However, since living in such a country, partying can never be avoided.


    If it is not arge number of invitations, In his current capacity, it can almost be said that every day, he can receive invitations from various cocktail parties.


    "Eric, I heard that you were very popr when you were responsible for the screeny of "The Ind"."


    "Yeah. But you must know, I have signed a distribution contract with Disney, "The Sound of the Isles" and "Steel Magnolia". Disney has given a high share price, making it difficult to refuse. Eric nodded and said the situation briefly to Robert.


    He thought that Robert Sheayi remembered the distribution rights of "The Ind" and patiently exined to the other side. Now that he has signed the contract, Robert Shea is now his own, and he will be the ceo of the new Firefly Film Company, along with Jeffrey, who became the president.


    In the next few months, the business of the twopanies will be fully integrated.


    "No, I think you misunderstood what I meant." Robert Shea shook his head. "I don''t want the distribution rights of "The Sound of the Isles". In fact, this is the case. Since "The Sound of the Isles" is very popr, Well, I think you are definitely better at writing scripts for horror movies.


    So, I think you can personally manipte the next script of "Ghost Street". What do you think?"


    Upon hearing Robert''s request, Eric remembered the new line of "Ghost Street" that he had seen before. As a new series of very important horror films, during the negotiation process, the fireflies collected more detailed data than before. The mixed memories of Eric''s mind are much more urate.


    The first part of "Ghost Street" has only 25 million box office. However, because the cost was very low, the new line also made a big profit at the time, and the cost of production and distribution increased gradually in the next three parts. In the end, it is also making money.


    However, the recent situation of "Ghost Street 5" is not optimistic. This new work was released on August 11th. Up to now, three weeks ago, only got more than 16 million US dors at the box office, and the final box office is also 22 million US dors.


    Left and right, after getting the share from the theater. Excluding about 10 million production and distribution costs, the new line is equal to not making any money.


    I remembered it carefully. Eric said: "Robert, the horror style of "Ghost Street" has been fixed, and I certainly can''t write any new bridges. In my opinion, ording to thetest box office data of "Ghost Street" I think this series can be temporarily stopped.


    Since the audience has already tired of the plot of murder in Freddy''s dream, then we will force the sequel to make a sequel, which will not be worth the loss. If it is refrigerated for a few years, wait for a new generation of young viewers to grow up.


    After the old generation of viewers have nostalgic emotions, it is the most appropriate choice to start this series."


    When Robert Shea heard Eric''s words, the look changed a little. "Ghost Street" is a new series of housekeeping horror films.


    Although it is reasonable to understand that Eric has just said that it is very reasonable, but he is still very ufortable, just signed a contract with Fireflies, Eric The intention is to sh the sequel to "Ghost Street", which reminds him of the fact that in ancient times, the king of another country was annexed to clean up the forces on the new territory and erase the original mark.


    After all, Eric was a man of two generations, so when he noticed the change of Robert Shea, Eric quickly understood the other''s mind. He didn''t want to bury the rift between the two sides because of this low-cost horror film. So, he quickly replied: "But, Robert, this is just my personal opinion.


    You know that I am still a neer in Hollywood. Many things are definitely not considered so clearly. So if you feel it is necessary, "Ghost Street" The sequel can continue to be produced. As far as I know, the third and fourth parts have received more than 40 million box office.


    Perhaps this is just an idental mistake."


    Robert Shea''s expression eased a little, and he realized that Eric waspromising himself. Since the other party made a concession, of course he would not squat and not look back: "So, Eric, just press what you said, but I don''t think it will be good at the end.


    Next year we will make a final piece... ... um, it is called "The Ultimate Nightmare of Ghost Street", and I will finish this series for the time being. I believe that the end of the gimmick is here, and I can definitely get a good box office."


    "This is really a good idea," Eric also admire Robert Wye''s wit, and then made a small promise: "Maybe, thest script can help me out."


    "Really?" Robert Shea couldn''t help but figure it out. He thought that Eric had just said that it was a clear rejection. The value of the script written by Eric was recognized in Hollywood.


    "of course!"


    Eric decisively nodded, and at the same time added a sentence of course, does not participate in the signature, he does not care about the fame and interests of the writer in "Ghost Street". However, in case of signature, thest one is not good, and it is affirmative.


    In arge group of masters, even if it is only a screenwriter, he is definitely the most conspicuous one, and will definitely be the focus of fans.


    Although it is often said that there are non-wet shoes at the riverside station, Eric can''t want to get close to the river for a year or two. It is rted to the bad film. The box office of making movies is not the worst. He is the sharpest chip in his hands.


    One or two bad films that have little to do with themselves make this important chip weight less, which is definitely not worth the candle.


    At the same time, this is why Eric is only copying the ssic films in his mind for the time being, but not shooting his own movies ording to his own wishes. Maybe after a few years, everything is settled, and his position in Hollywood ispletely untouchable.


    Then, he will certainly make a few films that he did not have in his previous life and are very interested in himself.

 Chapter 196: Hey

    "Eric, fireflies, isn''t there a movie that didn''t find the issuer this year?" After talking a few other things, Robert Shea unconsciously moved the topic to the Firefly movie.


    Eric looked around and saw that "Scented Woman" finally closed the mirror this month and has entered the post-production stage. He just saw Al Pacino because he was chatting with Robert Shea. Al just nodded to him from far away.


    However, at first nce, although many people met his eyes and greeted him, but did not see Al and others for a while, they had to quickly turn their eyes back to Robert: "Yes, but "Scent "Make Women" is a movie of Olympiad.


    If you can win the prize, the box office of the movie will definitely be good. If you can''t take it, things will be hard to say. Although I have seen the donkey, Al''s performance is amazing.


    However, there are still a lot of games in Oscar after all, and it is not the film that is good enough to win the award."


    Robert Shea knows that Eric is not trusting his public rtionswork: "Eric, I admit that in terms of contacts, I am definitely not as good as the six major filmpanies, but it does not mean that the other party will be awarded, six With the advantage of this aspect, I have to brush a few nominations on the Oscar to improve the sales performance of the box office and the follow-up videotape.


    Just likest year, you should have seen the "Working Girl", which won a series of nominations. But in the end, nothing is achieved. This is the result of Fox''s public rtions. The real award must still be based on strength.


    Although public rtions is indispensable, it does not mean that public rtions represents everything. Eric, you think about it.


    If you will "Smell the woman" is handed over to the bigpany, they must have other films to operate, so they will not concentrate all their energy on this movie, but I can put all the resources into this movie. Come above."


    Eric fell into a short hesitation.


    Robert Shea knows that Eric has loosened and quickly said: "Eric, haven''t you found out? This year is a typical Oscar."


    "Well?" Eric showed a confused expression, and he vaguely remembered that there was such a saying. But it is just a kind of understanding.


    Robert Schein patiently exined: "You think about it,st year had Dustin Hoffman''s "Rain Man". There are Judy Foster''s "The Defendant" and "The Unexpected Traveler", " Mississippi is burning, "Dangerous Rtionships" is a series of Oscar hot movies.


    Thest Golden Globe Awards actress has produced a ''three yellow eggs'', and three people have won the best women at the same time. The status of the protagonist. That is the standard Oscar year. But this year is different.


    Now two-thirds of the year has passed. I don''t even see the shadow of an Oscar hot movie. You might want to say those movies. I will definitely put it at the end of the year, but I still pay some attention to this aspect.


    In my memory, there are no new directors or famous actors who will be released at the end of the year. So I am sure that this year is definitely an Oscar. You said, Mr. Al Pacino in "Scent of Women" is very amazing.


    So, with the fact that he has already won several Oscar nominations for the best actor, the final result will be very Easy to imagine."


    Eric is lost in thought. He did not care that Robert Shea directly ignored the possible actions of "The Beauty of the Wind" and "The Dark War" on the Oscar.


    He knows that at a time when he is less than 20 years old, the film school, which is still very conservative in style, will certainly not award any awards to himself. It is a good result to be able to brush a few nominations.


    What he was thinking about was the story of Robert Shea''s Oscar, and with Robert Shea''s remarks, Eric also remembered more of the previous Oscar-old years. In the memory, "Smelling a Woman" seems to have only won a best actor award, and the best film nomination was lost to Eric.


    But this year, if it is really an Oscar. "Smell the woman" will definitely have the possibility of impacting the best film in Oscar.


    "Eric?" Robert Shea waited for a while, but Eric reacted and couldn''t help but remind him.


    Eric heard his name and suddenly retracted his thoughts. He identally shook his wrist and almost sshed the red wine: "Oh, sorry, Robert, I am a little distracted."


    Robert Shea asked: "What do you think?"


    "Well?" Eric was not responded to by Robert after a few long arguments.


    "About the release of "Scent of Women"?" Robert Shea seems patiently reminded.


    Eric has some tangles in his heart. If this year is the Oscar, it is a safer way to hand over the "Scent of Women" to the seven operations.


    Before the Weinstein brothers had yet to practice the Oscar gold medal, the big filmpany still had an absolute advantage in this award public rtions, but at the same time, he also knew that, as Robert Shea said, none of the seven majors I will do my best to operate "Smell the Woman", unless he gives up most of the benefits, can the award be for the benefit?


    Eric was about to agree, but Al Pacino finally did not know where to drill out and came to his side. Eric remembered the original promise to Al, this movie is for Al. Pacino created the best actor.


    Well, if you follow Robert Shea''s suggestion, due to the release of the new line after the firefly merger, then there must be some risk in the award public rtions, although the possibility is very small, but in case of the butterfly effect, Al again with Oscar What should I do if the best actor passes by?


    At that time, Alfon will not be separated from the fireflies because of this incident. Eric personally values the cooperation with Al Pacino. In the 1990s, it was also a peak period of Al performing arts, and maintained good cooperation with each other.


    Rtionships, whether at the box office or the awards on fireflies, can be more beneficial.


    If this is the case, then the decision will be pushed to Al, although the possibility of the final disappointment by Robert Fudge is very high, but in the unlikely event that there is a very small probability event, Al is unlikely to be angry. Sprinkle on the fireflies.


    "Robert, I personally agree with this matter," Eric said, not waiting for Robert''s happy look, Eric said again: "However, "Smell the woman" is my invitation to invite Als The decision made by "Fengyue", although Al has gained more because of "Fengyue", I can''t ignore the original promise, so you want to leave the distribution right of "Scent of Women" Next, you need to be able to convince Al, oh you see, he ising."


    Eric put the goblet in a tray of a waiter and walked to Al Pacino: "Al, long time no see."


    Al Pacino warmly embraced Eric: "I haven''t seen you for a long time, Eric, you look mature and handsome, and even more fascinated the little girls, don''t forget to give us these old angry people. The man is a little alive."


    "Haha, can''t you find a beautiful woman by your means," Eric said with a fewughs from Al, "Al, this is Robert Shea, Robert, this is Al."


    "In fact, you don''t need to introduce, we still know," Al said, still shaking his hand with Robert Shea: "Hello, Robert, I believe that working with Eric is a very correct choice."


    Robert Shea smiled slightly: "I hope so too."


    "So, we just talked about the "Scent of Women", you talk, I go to the bathroom first." Eric pointed to the corridor not far away, Al Pacino wants to follow Ereli Kedo talked a few words, but looked at the direction of the other side, but nodded.


    Eric casually greeted the guests, walked slowly to the banquet hall door, passed through the crowd, just stepped into the corridor, a red petite body mmed into him, poked backwards, Ai Rick quickly stretched out and held the girl, hugged in his arms.


    "It''s you, you call... amount, Gabu..." Eric recognized the face at a nce, but thought about it, but didn''t think of the other person''s name for the first time. Although the memories of past lives have been copied magically, the body has not had the ability to remember.


    "Gabriel Anwar."


    The girl replied softly. I found out that I was holding Eric, and I still had some joy in my heart. But I saw that the other person didn''t recognize myself, and lost it. The little hand was on Eric''s chest and forgot to let the other party let go.


    Yourself.


    Eric remembered this. This was the girl who came to Los Angeles from the UK to participate in the audition when she was the hero of the Dark War. It was also the stunning tango dance in the memory of "Sweet Woman". Heroine.


    A middle-aged man turned his head down from the ballroom into the hallway and looked strangely at the pair of men and women who were holding together. Eric heard the movement and turned his head. The man recognized Eric''s identity at a nce,ughed and mmed back.


    Eric recognizes that it is a firefly''s staff. Although the reaction of the other party seems to be too radical, it is conceivable to find that the boss and the woman are ''intimate'', and the woman is obviously not the boss''s true girlfriend.


    In this case, In order to prevent being worn, it is definitely necessary to avoid it.


    "I was really sorry, I bumped into you, Miss Anwar," Eric was so stunned, and quickly let the petite girl out of his arms, and subconsciously married the girl''s hair falling in front of her forehead.


    "No, it doesn''t matter," the girl shook her head, and with Eric''s finger in front of her forehead, her cheeks were still a little red.


    However, Gabriel soon found out angrily that the iprehensible man said apologetically, and turned himself away.


    Gently rubbing his feet, the girl had to take the initiative to call: "Hey!"

 Chapter 197: Cameo

    Eric stopped and turned around as he asked, "Did you need something else, Miss Anwar?"


    Right as the words left her mouth, the young woman began regretting it. She felt that she was being a little too forward, but since she had already spoken, she gathered her courage and said, "Mr. Williams, can I invite you to a danceter?"


    Eric looked at the young woman''s petite figure wrapped in a red dress with a deep v neck and the short-heeled shoes under her slender legs. He naturally thought of her amazing tango dance scene in Scent of a Woman with Al Pacino as he smiled and asked, "Is it Tango?"


    Gabrielle nodded, her lips curled up into a smile with a hint of naughtiness, "If you want."


    "Alright, wait a moment," Eric pointed to the end of the corridor.


    The girl nodded understandingly and watched Eric walk away and turn the corner. Right as he walked inside the door, she quickly raised her hand and patted her chest a few times. At the same time, she quickly began considering the words she should use to attract more attention from the young man.


    After being lucky enough to get the role of the tango girl in Scent of a Woman, Gabrielle has been in the United States for several months. As she continues to learn more about Hollywood, she has be more determined to stay.


    Although the tango dance segment in Scent of a Woman is only a few minutes long, because of Al Pacino''s strict requirements, it was filmed in a New York hotel for more than a week, during which time she stayed in the crew.


    There, she was shocked to find that everyone from the director to the film''s entire cast were kind to her. Due to being a neer, she often made mistakes during the week-long filming, some mistakes were even foolishly annoying.


    However, neither Director Martin Brest nor lead actor Al Pacino ever became angry with her, at most they only frowned to express their dissatisfaction, but then patiently exined her mistakes.


    At the beginning, Gabrielle simply thought that the two of them were well-natured, but her thoughts changed on the third day of filming. Due to the mistake of an extra, aplicated shot that took a lot of time to set had to be repeated several times.


    As a result, Al Pacino lost his temper and threw a ss at the floor in rage and angrily berated the extra who took the initiative to leave the crew due to being embarrassed. Moreover, sheter discovered that director Martin Brest was also not a mild-tempered person.


    As a result, she began to wonder why she received special treatment.


    An event a few dayster, however, allowed her to solve that mystery. The cause of the incident was the young man named Matt Damon whom she had be acquainted with during the filming.


    She had a good impression of him, so she didn''t mind whenever he tried to talk to her, however, one day, Al Pacino saw them together. She saw Al Pacino call the young man in his room to talk. Afterwards, Matt Damon never took the initiative to speak to her again.


    After that incident, she finally became sure that the reason behind the special treatment she received was because she was rmended by Eric Williams. In fact, the crew may regard her as Eric''s lover, so they treat her with courtesy.


    Thanks to that, despite being a neer actress, she never encountered any form of harassment which could be considered a miracle.


    Even when she was in the UK, although both her father and mother were part of the TV circle and could shield her from many things that neers went through, she still encountered harassment when she was in a TV show.


    Due to the misunderstanding, she obtained a lot of benefits, so she no longer wished to rify the misunderstanding. Even when chatting with others, she asionally mentioned Eric''s name casually to give them some hints.


    Most people who know her well, including her agent, Kapoor Sid, the President of UTA, thought of her as Eric''s lover. However, they didn''t look down on her because of this since Eric Williams is currently single. Maybe when she will be lucky enough to be his official girlfriend, or even his wife.


    However she knew that there was nothing between the two of them. In fact, she had only ever spoken a few words to him and had only met him once before.


    However, recently, she had begun to worry about other people realizing the truth behind her rtionship with Eric, orck of it. Once this fact is discovered, how would those people who realized that they had been deceived, especially Kapoor Sid, react?


    "Hey, what are you thinking?" A voice suddenly sounded in her ear, interrupting Gabrielle''s thoughts.


    She turned around and saw Eric in front of her. She quickly shook her head and said, "Nothing."


    "Let''s go in," Eric said casually without much paying attention to her unusual reaction.


    "Sure," she said and took a bold step forward, stretching her arm around Eric''s.


    Eric felt the girl''s sudden act of intimacy and looked at her with interest. Gabrielle lowered her head with embarrassment. She didn''t dare look at Eric''s piercing gaze, but continued to maintain a tight grip around Eric''s arm.


    Eric chuckled lightly, but didn''t reveal that he knew what was going through her mind. In fact, he was slightly disappointed by theck of soft and squishy feeling on his arm.


    Even Nicole had two bumps on her chest that could barely be grasped when she was lying on her back, but the girl currently holding his arm was fully t-chested.


    Just as the two walked into the hall, the sharp-eyed Al Pacino immediately noticed Eric and walked over with a smile. He saw Gabrielle leaning against him and unscrupulously winked at Eric before he said, "Eric, I have decided. Scent of a Woman should be released by Firefly itself.


    I think what Bob said makes sense."


    Eric had actually anticipated this result. Bob Shaye had a way with words. What''s more, the more eager Al Pacino was to win an Oscar, the easier it was for Bob Shaye to influence him.


    "I believe this will be a good choice," Eric nodded and smiled before he asked, "By the way, Al, do you have ns for your next movie?"


    Al Pacino shook his head, "I n to take a break; Kapoor also suggested that. It is more than enough for me to shoot two movies this year.


    Kapoor said that I''d better wait until the Oscars before considering my next film." After speaking, Al Pacino paused, looked at Eric''s expression, and immediately said, "However, Eric, if it''s your movie, I can do it anytime."


    "No, Al, I don''t have any movies suitable for you currently," Eric exined, "It''s actually like this. You should have heard that I made a TV show..."


    Al immediatelyughed, " Of course, I heard that. I also know that you went to direct two episodes by yourself. Eric, you''re really...different. Among all the directors I know, unless they really have to, no one wants to direct an episode of a TV series.


    By the way, you were saying..."


    Eric said, "It''s actually like this. I''m making a si and I wanted to invite you for a cameo in an episode."


    "This..." Al Pacino suddenly hesitated.


    It wasn''t a big deal to do a cameo on a TV series, but he was worried about the reputation of the TV series produced by Eric. If the ratings of that TV series ended up being bad and he did a cameo, it wouldn''t be much different from acting in a bad movie.


    He still has a lingering fear towards the bad movies that caused him to lose his box office appeal, so he dared not agree to Eric''s offer immediately.


    Eric also knew that this matter could not be forced, and said, "Al, this TV series will be broadcast while filming. It just so happens that the first episode will air on September 3 on Fox TV. I know what you are apprehensive about its reception.


    Let''s do this: if the show''s average viewership is less than 15 million then forget what I just said, but if it is higher than that, I hope you can at least consider it."


    "Alright, that''s fair," Al Pacino heard Eric''s suggestion and immediately agreed. He has a decent understanding of TV shows. A show with more than 15 million views is, without a doubt, a hit. If he does a cameo on that show, it will also help enhance his own poprity.


    "You should watch the show when you have time."


    Al Pacinoughed and said, "The first two episodes were directed by the great Director Williams himself. I will definitely watch it when it airs. By the way, have you thought about what kind of cameo I will y?"


    "Of course, I intend to let you y yourself."


    "Myself?"


    "Yes," Eric said, "The plot is roughly like this: one of the six fixed protagonists on the show works as an extra in movies. One day, he received a job to y your nude substitute..."


    In the original episode, although Joey yed Al Pacino''s nude substitute, and it was quite funny, Al Pacino never showed up. Now, it''s different. Since Eric has a good rtionship with Al Pacino, he doesn''t mind making use of it to have him really appear during that scene.


    "Wow," After hearing Eric''s narration, Al Pacinoughed, "Actually, I don''t mind being naked if you need me to."


    Eric shrugged, "The plot requires Joey to be nude."


    "Of course, I think this scene will be very interesting. Oh, Miss Anwar must be getting impatient, sorry I took up so much of Eric''s time. You two should go dance, Eric, Miss Anwar''s tango is very good."


    "Thank you for yourpliment, Mr. Pacino," Gabrielle didn''t show any impatience. How could she? She was, instead, grateful for his words.


    "Alright, enjoy the party, I''ll go and talk to others for a while, goodbye."


    "See youter," Eric nodded and walked to the dance floor with Gabrielle.

 Chapter 198: “Do you have any hobbies?” (18+)

    "What have you been doing since the filming for Scent of a Woman ended?" On the dance floor, Eric swayed gently with his arms around her waist. Although he said he was going to dance tango, since tango music didn''t suit the atmosphere, they decided to just sway.


    Gabrielle had her arms on Eric''s shoulders as she looked up at him and said, "Kapoor rmended that I y the supporting actress in a romanticedy. I passed the audition and will begin filming my scenes soon. The film is likely to be released on Valentine''s Day next year."


    "Oh, not bad," Eric replied with a smile. Through her words, he became even more certain that Gabrielle had obtained the role using his name. As a result, hisrge hands that were originally on her waist slid gently along her smooth dress before finally resting on her full, round buttocks.


    He gently squeezed and said, "So, what''s my reward?"


    "Huh, I...I don''t know what you are talking about," she stiffened a little and replied softly while quickly blinking her eyes.


    But how could she not know what he was talking about.


    If it wasn''t for his name, how could she, a British girl who came to Hollywood alone, with no connections or background, and meager acting skills, manage to get two important roles in just six months?


    In fact, UTA must have taken special care of her because they misunderstood her identity, and got her the role of the supporting actress in the romanticedy.


    Feeling Eric''s unscrupulous hands on her body, she began to look around worriedly. There were still many people on the dance floor. Although the lights were dim, it did not affect visibility much. With a little attention, anyone could see Eric''s hands.


    ''He... how can he do this? Even if he wants to, he shouldn''t do this here?'' Gabrielle anxiously thought, but she could only bury her head on Eric''s chest as if she were an ostrich.


    Fortunately, Eric didn''t go too far. After briefly fondling her butt, he quickly moved his hands back up to her waist.


    However, Gabrielle secretly looked around and was able to see the meaningful and ambiguous gazes of the surrounding people.


    There were quite a few actresses who were aware of Eric''s identity. Seeing the intimacy between Eric and the nameless girl, they felt unconceble envy towards Gabrielle. If they had the chance, they certainly wouldn''t mind being the woman in Eric''s arms.


    ''That damn little bitch!'' a nameless actress on the dance floor saw Gabrielle slightly panting while in Eric''s arms and cursed bitterly in her heart.


    After the party had started, she had tried to talk to Eric, but unfortunately Eric didn''t care to speak more than a few more words to her.


    Eric did not mind the ambiguous nces since his reputation as a yboy was already cemented. He retracted one of his hands from Gabrielle''s waist and gently lifted her sharp chin as he said, "Look at me, I like the expression on your face."


    Gabrielle didn''t dare resist, raised her head obediently and stared at Eric with her slender, watery eyes with her pouty little mouth opened slightly as she continued panting gently.


    Eric nodded in satisfaction upon seeing her appearance. He gently squeezed her tiny chin as he continued to dance sensually with her lithe body.


    "Actually, this is not bad," Eric said again after a while.


    "Huh?" Gabrielle looked puzzled in response.


    Eric said casually, "It''s not easy for a young girl such as you toe to Hollywood alone, so if someone asks if there''s something between us, I won''t deny it. It can serve as a kind of protection for you. After all, if it wasn''t for me, you wouldn''t have stayed in Hollywood till now."


    "Mr. Williams, thank you," Gabrielle replied with a grateful expression as her delicate hands held him tighter.


    "Call me Eric," Eric said casually before his tone changed and he solemnly said, "But, it''s limited to this. Remember to act responsibly. I best not hear that you are doing things that you shouldn''t do in my name."


    Gabrielle quickly replied, "No, I definitely won''t."


    "That''s good," Eric smiled and said, "Also, don''t be so nervous."


    "Hmm..." Leaning on Eric, Gabrielle gently agreed.


    "By the way, do you have any hobbies?" Eric asked nonchntly.


    Gabrielle didn''t know why Eric would ask about her hobbies, so he hesitated for a few seconds before truthfully replying, "Reading, dancing, and maybe...sleeping."


    "That''s not good. You should nt some flowers so I can visit you often and help out."


    Gabrielle blinked her eyes for a few seconds before sheughed and said in a slightly teasing tone, "I have a cactus in my house, is that enough?"


    Eric alsoughed. In fact, he wanted to go to her house, so he wanted to find an excuse. Still, Eric replied seriously, "Raising cactus balls also requires skill. How about we go and see now?"


    "No problem," Gabrielle nodded as she naughtily winked at him.


    ***


    "...I know, I know, you just need to put it in my study...ha!"


    Eric, who was leaning on therge bed, couldn''t help moaning, and quickly reached out and held the woman''s head down and patted her as a warning before he suddenly felt rxed and replied, "It''s nothing, I identally hit my foot on the coffee table... Okay, I know, I will get back tomorrow.


    You go to bed early... *smooch*, go to bed early!"


    After speaking, he hung up Drew''s call in a hurry.


    An apartment in West Hollywood. Gabrielle could only afford to rent this ce. However, despite being small, the one-bedroom apartment was decorated very exquisitely with a hint of feminine touch behind every decoration.


    At this moment, Gabrielle was lying in a heap of messy clothes between Eric''s legs with her tiny mouth around his member as her flexible tongue brought him wave after wave of pleasure.


    "HAAA..."


    Eric groaned as he ced his hands on the bed and leaned back, enjoying her hot mouth as she bobbed her head up and down, her pouty lips stretched around his thick cock, her tongue licking the underside of his shaft.


    "Pop..."


    Pulling her mouth off his dick with a dirty pop, she wrapped her slender fingers around his shaft and started to stroke it as she leaned her head down and licked his balls.


    Eric grunted as she licked and nibbled his balls, before taking one in her mouth and sucking on it as she jerked his dick with her soft fingers.


    Pulling her mouth off his balls, she stuck her pink tongue out and licked the underside of his shaft, slowly, from the base to the head, before swirling her tongue around the tip and wrapping her full lips around the head.


    Putting her hands aside, she started bobbing her head, taking more and more of his shaft in her mouth, slowly picking up speed, until she was rapidly pumping his cock with her mouth, deepthroating every time she pushed her head down.


    She kept bobbing her head up and down, taking his dick deep in her mouth, her tongue licking all over his shaft, until finally she buried her head in his crotch and took full length of his tool in her mouth, her throat constricting around the swollen head and her nose buried in his pubic hair.


    "Cough....."


    Pulling her mouth off his dick she coughed a few times before wrapping her seductive lips around the shaft again and continued to bob her head, sucking his cock.


    After enjoying the sight of a beauty actress on her knees and the pleasure her skilled fetio brought him for a few minutes, Eric patted the bed beside him, "Come on, lie down here."


    Gabrielle raised her head, unconsciously stretched out her tongue, licked the corner of her mouth, and obediently crawled towards Eric, at the same time reaching behind to take off her now-wrinkled dress.


    "No need to take it off," Eric patted the girl''s butt to stop her, pulled her to himself, lifted the hem of her little dress and pulled down her tiny panties that covered her genitals as admired it briefly.


    Hisrge hand subconsciously stretched out to her breast, but after fondling it for a few seconds, he retracted it, filled with disappointment.


    Gabrielle seemed to feel Eric''s disappointment as she pulled Eric''s retreating hand, opened her tiny mouth, put his fingers inside and began licking them gently.


    "Oooh," the sudden stimtion made Eric moan as he used his free hand to turn her on her stomach and mounted her from behind. He began thrusting quickly while his fingers remained in her mouth, allowing her to y with them, and from time to time he fiddled with her slippery little tongue.


    "UHHH..."


    Sound of her muffled moans and her fat ass pping his crotch filled the air as he rapidly thrust his hips, her fleshy ass rippling with every thrust, his dick invading her pink hole, pleasure pulsing through their bodies.


    Pulling his fingers out of her mouth, he pushed her head into the bed as he continued forcefully shoving his dick in her tight pussy, stretching her silky walls, going faster and faster, getting close to his release.


    "Smack...."


    "Gasp....."


    Letting her head go, he pulled out of her snatch and, grabbing her by the waist, pulled her ass up, before starting to p her creamy cheeks with force, making herk gasp.


    "UHHHHHH...."


    pping her ass until it reddened, he held her waist and, positioning his throbbing dick at her entrance, prated her hot, wet pussy with one thrust, forcing his entire length in her cunt, making her gasp as he buried himself in her wetness.


    Holding her waist, he started pounding her roughly, invading her wet pussy over and over, stretching her tight walls, using her body for his pleasure, listening to her loud moans as he felt familiar ache in his balls.


    Shoving her head into the bed, he hammered her pussy with full force, hitting her womb with every thrust, her big butt loudly pping his crotch, jiggling every time he invaded her pussy as he recklessly pounded her, until.


    "HAAAAAA...."


    With a loud roar, he shoved his dick all the way to her womb and pumped her pussy full of his hot cum as her pussy suddenly clenched around his dick and, with a muffled moan, came all over his shaft, drenching it in her juices.


    "Pop...."


    Pulling out of her sloppy pussy, Eric once again admired his handiwork, hot, young actress on her knees, covered with a sheen of sweat ,headying on the bed, eyes zed over with pleasure, arms spread powerlessly to the sides, big, shapely ass sticking up in the air with dirty fluid leaking from her tight pussy.


    "Gasp...."


    Giving her fleshy ass a strong p, he sat up on his knees and ordered as he heard her gasp.


    "Turn around"


    Gabrielle, still feeling searing pain from his p, turned around and sat up on her knees.


    "Clean me up" Said Eric as he held his dick, covered in her juices.


    She grabbed her dress and pulled it off, the unsping her red bra she threw it away, showing her small breasts, before slowly crawling to him on her knees, she leaned her head down and licked the tip with her pink tongue, before wrapping her sexy lips around the head and pushing her head down.


    "Sigh..."


    Eric sighed as he felt his dick slowly sliding in her hot mouth, her tongue rubbing around his shaft as she took his dick all the way to her throat.


    She rotated her head as she pumped his dick in and out of her mouth, sliding her tongue all over his shaft, taking it deep in her mouth, the tip hitting her throat.


    "HAAAA...."


    Eric grunted, feeling his dick hitting her throat, her tongue licking his shaft as she buried her head in his crotch with enthusiasm, sliding her hot mouth up and down his throbbing penis, bringing him immense pleasure.


    She nced up, seeing his face twisted in pleasure a mischievous glint shed in her watery eyes, before she wrapped her arms around his hips and, grabbing his ass, started to rapidly move her head up and down.


    He threw his head back and groaned, closing his eyes as he felt his dick quickly sliding in and out of her hot, slick mouth, her tongue licking the underside of his shaft, tip of his penis hitting her throat.


    Letting her bob her head for a minute, he grabbed it and started thrusting his hips, fucking her mouth, her sexy lips wrapping tightly around his shaft.


    Feeling his release getting closer, he opened his eyes, only to see the view of West Hollywood through her bedroom window, reminding him of how exciting it felt when he fucked Virginia on the balcony.


    So, pulling out of her mouth with a pop, he got down from the bed and grabbed her thin arm, dragging her to the window and pressing her up against it, face first as she pressed her hands on the frame, curving her waist and sticking her ass out towards him.


    "UHHHHHHH...."


    "HAAAAAAA....."


    Seeing her perfectly formed, fleshy, creamy ass sticking out sent blood rushing to his head and he couldn''t help but give it a strong p, leaving a red handprint on her buttcheek, before he spread her legs slightly and, holding her waist with both hands, shoved his throbbing dick in her cunt, stretching her tight cave, her hot, wet walls wrapping tightly around his dick, making both of them groan.


    Holding her waist, he started thrusting his hips, slowly picking up speed, gliding in and out of her tight pussy, grunting as he pounded her faster and faster, invading her tight snatch, his thick cock stretching her tight walls, his grunts covered by her loud moans.


    Leaning forward, he slowed down his thrusts, instead invading her pussy with slow, deep strokes, hitting her womb with every thrust as he wrapped his arms around her thin torso and slid one hand down, between her legs, massaging her clit, while his other hand went up to her lips and he slid two fingers in her hot mouth, turning her loud moans muffled.


    He kept invading her pussy with slow, deep thrusts as he slid his fingers and out of her hot mouth, ying with her tongue, coating his digits in her saliva as his other hand massaged and pinched her clit, her muffled moans turning louder.


    "UHHHHHHHHH..."


    Pulling his fingers out of her mouth, he straightened his waist and sped up his thrusts as he spread her butthcheeks and slowly pushed one of his fingers, coated in her saliva, in her asshole, making her let out a loud moan.


    "UHHHHHH..."


    He kept fucking her pussy as he slowly slid his finger in and out of her ass, before adding a second finger, stretching her tight asshole, getting it ready for his dick, her moans turning louder and louder from the stimtion to both of her holes.


    "HAAAAAA..."


    "UHHHHHHHHH...."


    Pulling out of her vagina, he put the tip of his dick to her asshole and very slowly pushed it in, tightness making him grunt as she let out a drawn out moan.


    Pushing his dick deeper, spreading her tight asshole, he enjoyed the sight of his shaft disappearing between her asscheeks as his cock sank deeper and deeper in her tight ass, until finally burying his dickpletely in her, groaning from pleasure.


    Pulling back a little and pushing forward, he started to slowly move his hips, stretching her ass little by little, picking up speed, until he was pounding her backdoor, hard and fast, her loud moans filling the room.


    Grabbing her waist, he picked up speed, really pounding her tight asshole, her fat asscheeks pping loudly against his crotch, making them ripple with every thrust, her moans deep and loud.


    Feeling the familiar ache in his balls, he slid on hand between her legs and pushed two fingers in her snatch, his other hand groping her breasts, making her moan like a dog.


    He kept pounding her tight ass, his fingers sliding in and out of her pussy, groping and massaging her breasts, pinching her nipples, her moans getting more intense, until.


    "UHHHHHH... CUMMINGGGG...."


    Gabrielle threw her head back and, with a loud cry, her pussy clumped down on his fingers and his asshole clenched around his dick, as her pussy squirted love juice, wetting his fingers and pushing him over the edge.


    With a loud grunt, he buried his dick in her asshole and started shooting ropes of cum, filling her backdoor with his hot seed..


    "HUHUHUHU...."


    Riding out his orgasm, he leaned forward against her back and tried to get his breathing under control.


    "HUUUUU...."


    Taking in a deep breath and exhaling, he turned her around, before pushing her down on her knees and pushing his fingers, wet from her juices in her mouth, making her taste herself, cleaning his digits.


    Pulling his fingers out, he grabbed his slightly softened dick and rubbed around her sexy lips with the tip, before pushing it in her hot mouth and face fucking her.


    His dick getting hard in her mouth, he pulled out and dragged her to the bed, putting her in his favorite position, on her hands and knees, fucking her ass again, this time cumming in her mouth, before he proceeded to fuck her in a few different positions, making thorough use of her body for his pleasure, filling all three of her holes with his hot cum, before finally falling asleep.

 Chapter 199: Loss of Power

    The sound of running water rang for a while before Eric, who was taking a shower, walked out of the bathroom.


    The sunlighting in through the gaps in the curtains already signaled a sunny morning.


    On an early September morning in Los Angeles, the temperature was just about 72 degrees which was the so-called "golden temperature" that the human body loved.


    Eric found his clothes and put them before looking at the young beauty who was still lying in bed, asleep. Her nude body was unreservedly disyed in front of Eric''s eyes because of the nkets being scattered to the side.


    Due to her Asian ancestry, Gabrielle had a small, yet exquisite physique with skin that was smoother and more delicate than Caucasian women.


    The soft curve in her back moved all the way down, forming a slender arc on her waist, and then quickly bulging at the hip, forming two tiny mountains, full of feminine temptations. The round thighs underneath were together, but it was difficult to hide the secret garden in between.


    Even after Eric put on his tie and jacket, Gabrielle showed no sign of waking up.


    Eric looked at the young woman sleeping like a baby with her right thumb in her mouth.


    Seeing her mouth, he couldn''t help rememberingst night''s events and feel a little excited as he sat beside her on the bed, reached out and pulled her fingers out of her mouth, and gently pushed his index finger inside.


    Suddenly, Eric felt the two wet lips unconsciously sucking on his finger. As he slowly pushed his finger further inside, the two rows of tiny teeth gently bit on it.


    Then, as if suddenly feeling a difference between the new finger and the previous finger, her soft tongue began to push up with dissatisfaction as if it wanted to drive out the strange intruder.


    Unfortunately, the strength behind her tiny, soft tongue was notparable to Eric''s finger, and after a bit of a tug of war, Gabrielle suddenly opened her eyes.


    "Woah!" After quickly sitting up and pulling the nket to cover her nude body, she saw Eric and breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Morning good morning, Eric," possibly embarrassed by her gaffe, Gabrielle smiled and greeted him quickly.


    "Morning," Eric smiled and shook his wet index finger in front of her as he said, "Unexpectedly, you still suck on fingers while you sleep."


    "Ah, I... did I?" Gabrielle lowered her head with shame. The moment she had opened her eyes, she saw the movements of Eric''s fingers, so she recalled some scenes fromst night.


    Eric smiled and nodded, "Of course, this is the first time I have seen a girl who likes to suck on her fingers while sleeping."


    "I didn''t even know I did that," Gabrielle still had her eyelids drooping as she nced around, seemingly looking for something.


    Eric understood what she was looking for as he passed her bra and panties from the floor to her, "It''s not a big deal. In fact, many people don''t even know that they snore while sleeping, and even after waking up still refuses to acknowledge it..."


    Just as she was about to put on her tiny panties, Gabrielle raised his head in horror and asked, "I... I didn''t snore, did I?"


    "Of course not," Eric shook his head quickly, "I''m just giving an example."


    "Oh," she sighed in relief.


    After she put on her bra and panties and walked barefoot to her closet, Eric said, "Baby, I have to go."


    Standing by the closet, thinking about what to wear today, Gabrielle stiffened for a second before she turned her head and asked, "Won''t you have breakfast?"


    Eric looked at his watch and replied, "It''s almost half past eight, and there may be traffic jams on the road. I don''t know if I can get to thepany by nine o''clock. Since I have to fly to Venice at two o''clock in the afternoon, there are some things that I need to deal with this morning.


    At ten o''clock, I have a meeting with Bob and Jeffrey to discuss the merger of Firefly and New Line. My new movie''s shooting schedule has also been determined and I need to see it myself... In short, I have to deal with a lot of things in the next five hours."


    However, seeing the disappointment on her face, his tone softened, and possibly due to feeling guilty, he said, "Hmm is there a breakfast restaurant nearby? Maybe, I can afford to spend ten minutes on breakfast together."


    "Of course, can I wash up first?" Gabrielle raised her face in surprise and asked.


    Now that he has decided to have breakfast with her Eric doesn''t mind spending some time, so he replied, "Take a shower, but do it quickly, if possible."


    "Wait just a minute!" Gabrielle said and excitedly picked out a few clothes before rushing into the bathroom. In less than fifteen minutes, she was ready in a light blue shoulder bag hip skirt, ck stockings tightened around her slender legs and her hair tied into a small bun.


    After putting on her only pair of high heels from the side shoe rack, she stood up and said to Eric, "Alright, let''s go. The restaurant is just a few minutes from here."


    ***


    "Eric, it''s almost half past nine! What''s going on with you today? Your phone was also turned off, don''t you know how tight the time is today?" When Eric appeared at thepany, Jeffrey anxiously questioned him.


    Facing the anxious and worried old man, Eric felt slightly embarrassed as he exined, "Sorry, Jeffrey, there was a traffic jam on the road."


    "Impossible. There was no traffic jam from your house to here."


    "Actually, I came from West Hollywood," Eric immediately raised his hands and said honestly.


    "Uh..." Jeffrey was stunned and soon understood what Eric was implying. At the same time, he realized that he had overstepped his bounds; after all, Eric is his boss, not the other way around. Although he knows that Eric won''t mind his stern tone, he is not Eric''s family.


    If he asionally reprimands Eric, Eric won''t say anything out of respect for him, but over time, anyone would feel dissatisfied.


    "Anyways, there are a few documents that you need to sign. I have asked n to sort them and put them on your desk. You have half an hour to process them. Bob has already brought someone over.


    I''m going to the conference room to prepare."


    "I''ll take care of it," Eric nodded to Jeffrey and walked quickly to his office. Jeffrey also went to prepare his own business.


    Although the M&A agreement has been signed, for the twopanies to be truly merged, they need to deal with arge number of issues such as business integration, management organization,pany structure adjustment and personnel integration and abolition.


    Therefore, it will take at least a month for the twopanies to be truly integrated. During that time, the business of neitherpanies can be stopped, so there will be a period of parallel operation.


    While he was quickly reviewing a few documents, n came and knocked on his door, so Eric put down the folder and walked to the conference room.


    In the conference room, besides Robert Shaye, there were six or seven executives from New Line. Among the people from Firefly, everyone except Eric and Jeffrey could be ignored. As a result, theparison made Firefly seem very weak.


    Although the profitability of New Line was far inferior to Firefly, its various businesses were very sound withplete production, copyright, publicity, and distribution departments. On the other hand, other than its terrifying profitability, Firefly was more like a tiny workshop.


    Jeffrey was responsible for the management and also served as the producer for Eric''s films. Although sometimes he ended up very busy, most of the time he was more than capable of taking care of thepany.


    In fact, not much was agreed upon during the two-hour meeting except a quick agreement that they needed to find another office space to move the twopanies together as soon as possible. The main dispute was regarding who would have power over production.


    Of course, Eric hoped that Robert Shaye wouldpletely let go of production and concentrate on film distribution. So long as the film distribution could grow stronger, coupled with his film vision, Firefly could leapfrog to the position of a movie giant in just a few years.


    Not surprisingly, his proposal was directly rejected by Robert Shaye. A member of the board of directors of a filmpany having no say over production? Could there be a funnier joke?


    Eric immediately proposed that Robert Shaye could be responsible for the production of some low-cost horror movies. After all, this could barely be considered his "strong suit".


    But surprisingly, Robert Shaye still refused. Not only did he want production power over the low-cost movies, he also hoped to be able to personally operate several of thepany''s major productions in the future.


    Back when he was in-charge of New Line, Robert Shaye did not dare dabble in big investment since a single flop could lead to the studio going bankrupt. But with Firefly''s funds backing him, his ambitions were inted.


    He knew that with the proceeds from Eric''s next few films, Firefly would be flush with cash for investment. After all, there were few dark horse movies that had a low budget but earned big at the box office, otherwise Eric''s sess would not be so amazing.


    Generally, to obtain a stable and high return, big investment and big production were a necessity.


    Of course, Eric couldn''t agree to Robert Shaye''s demand easily. Even if Firefly had money, it wasn''t filthy rich. Not to mention, he didn''t have much confidence in Robert Shaye''s film vision.


    Although during his previous life, New Line had had great sess in The Lord of the Rings series, there was also the fiasco of The Golden Compass. Altogether, Robert Shaye''s career had been dependent on his luck.


    However, in the face of his insistence, Eric had to make concessions. After all, what he most urgently needed was New Line''s distribution channel. Therefore, quickly integrating with New Line was the priority with a slight loss in power being an inevitable oue.


    In the end, Eric reluctantly agreed to give the New Linebel two major productions with a total cost of just under $50 million in the next year andplete authority to Robert Shaye regarding those two films. After the two-hour meeting, Robert Shaye and his party left with satisfaction.


    Eric was eating a simple lunch while continuing to look through the documents. He was about to set off directly to the airportter, but he had to finish reading and sign thest few documents as soon as possible.

 Chapter 200: Countermeasures

    Jeffrey was sitting on a couch in Eric''s office, eating lunch while discussing some issues with him.


    "Eric, except for Running Out of Time, the cost of none of our other films exceeds $25 million. Is it too much to promise Bob Shaye a $50 million budget for the two films?"


    Hearing this question, Eric''s face contorted. After taking a bite of his lunch, he pushed it aside, took out a tissue, wiped his mouth and said, "I don''t want to do this either, but if I want him to do his best with distribution, I have to give him some benefits first.


    At the end of the day, it''s only $50 million, and although I said I''ll give him full responsibility, if his film doesn''t have any selling points, I definitely won''t be signing off on the project n."


    Jeffrey didn''t have the slightest doubt regarding Eric''s vision of films and felt relieved when he heard his words, but he still said, "Still, giving Bob too much power would certainly not be a good thing."


    "There is nothing to worry about," Eric signed a document, quickly pulled another one, and said while perusing it, "Once we have gained control of New Line, we willpletely integrate it with Firefly. The rest will be much simpler."


    Jeffrey''s heart secretly skipped a beat as he realized that Eric was already thinking about driving Robert Shaye away. In fact, Eric does have the ability to do this. After all, Robert Shaye only owns a 15% stake in thepany while Eric holds a controlling stake.


    If he wants to remove Robert Shaye, he doesn''t even need to go through the board; just issuing a single document would be enough.


    "Do you think that I''m throwing him away after making use of him?" Eric looked up at Jeffrey and asked with a smile.


    Jeffrey smiled awkwardly, but he still answered truthfully, "It does feel like that."


    "You know, Jeffrey, I''m not such a person. I would normally never do such a thing as throwing someone away after they''ve outlived their usefulness. If Bob can perform his duty effectively without reaching beyond his post, I would have no problem keeping him around.


    Unfortunately, his ambition is toorge; you must have noticed. He brought so many people here today as if to tell us that he is very important to Firefly."


    "I''m suddenly feeling worried," Jeffrey heard Eric''s words and said, "All those people today are Bob''s direct subordinates. If you drive him away in the future, won''t they leave with him?"


    Eric shook his head and said in a rxed tone, "Do you think that those people under him will give up millions of dors in sry and dividends yearly and follow him to start a new business together?


    Or, are there so many other big filmpanies that have so many empty positions which they can jointly fill? Both of those scenarios are unlikely. If Bob leaves, I can easily find a new CEO to take over the distributionwork."


    "But..."


    Eric interrupted Jeffrey and said, "Jeffrey, you don''t have to worry so much. I said I might drive Bob away, but it''s not set in stone. Maybe after a year or two, he may realize that his strengths lie in distribution and no longer intervene in production. In that case, I won''t have to drive him away.


    After all, his talent in film distribution is beyond doubt."


    "I see," Jeffrey nodded helplessly and lowered his head to continue eating.


    After a few minutes, there were several quick knocks on the office door which was pushed open without permission. Drew, wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt and hotpants, rushed in and threw herself on Eric,ughing. She even asked Eric about what happenedst night.


    Standing at the door, n patiently waited and watched the littless bickering with Eric. Finally, Eric looked at him and he promptly said, "Eric, the luggage and the car are both ready. Considering traffic, I think it would be best for us to leave now."


    "Let''s go," Eric gently pushed away the littless who was sitting on his knees and said, "Be obedient over the next few days. You can call Jeffrey if you need something; don''t mess around."


    "Hey, I''m not a kid!" Drew scratched Eric to disy her dissatisfaction, and said cutely, "Eric, I want to go to Venice too. "


    "Forget it, you won''t be able to stand the journey," Eric rubbed her smooth hair.


    Recently, the littless had learnt to speak cutely such that Eric couldn''t easily deny any of her requests, "The flight from Los Angeles to Venice takes 17 hours for a one-way trip, not to mention, there is also a transfer in the middle."


    Drew really couldn''t stand being idle for 17 hours on the ne. Hearing Eric''s words, she didn''t mention it anymore.


    She held Eric''s arm while they walked out and said, "Eric, let''s buy a private jet. No matter how long the trip, It won''t be boring."


    "It''s not time yet," Eric shook his head, "Wait another year or two."


    "Ok," Drew nodded.


    Soon, the group came downstairs. Drew got into the car first as she said, "I''ll take you to the airport."


    "Eric, I''ll stay here. There are still a lot of things to be taken care of," Jeffrey said as he patted Eric on the shoulder, "Good luck."


    "Goodbye, Jeffrey," Eric waved to Jeffrey and got in the back with Drew while n sat in the front with the driver. After ensuring that Eric and Drew were settled, he asked the driver to drive.


    n would be going to Venice with Eric as an interpreter since the locals in Venice mainly speak Italian. Coincidentally, n''s mother was Italian, so he grew up speaking English and Italian. Since he was able to speak fluent Italian, it saved the trouble of finding a trantor.


    ***


    Fortunately, it only took a little over an hour to reach the Los Angeles International Airport from Burbank. There was still half an hour before the boarding time when they arrived, so Eric and n could check in without hurry.


    "n, what are you checking for?" While waiting to board the ne, Eric asked curiously, seeing n carefully checking his backpack.


    "A book; I brought a collection of Stephen King''s novels to read on the ne. Eric, did you bring anything?"


    Eric spread his hands and shrugged.


    During his previous life, he often took long-distance trains, but the environment on the trains was not suitable for reading, and he had never taken a long flight, so he didn''t think about it. Moreover, Drew had packed his luggage yesterday.


    With her restless temperament, it was impossible for her to remember to pack a book with the luggage.


    "There are still a few minutes, maybe I can buy one here. There is a book store outside the lobby," n offered.


    "I''ll go, Eric, you wait here, if I don''te back in time, you can just board the ne."


    Eric was just about to tell her not to trouble herself, but Drew had already ran off.


    Just as Drew ran out of the lounge, Eric and n heard the boarding announcement and they looked at each other.


    "Let''s go and line up first, maybe she will get back in time," Eric said and the two took their luggage and walked towards the boarding gate.


    Ten minutester, just Eric and n were left at the boarding gate. The other passengers had already entered. The boarding staff nearby also began to remind the two of them to enter.


    Eric took onest look behind him and saw a small figure rushing towards the two of them.


    Drew quickly handed a thick hard-covered book to Eric, bent over forwards and began panting. She waved for the two to go in.


    Eric knew that he didn''t need to be polite with the littless, so he put the book inside his handbag and said goodbye to her before pulling his luggage into the boarding gate.


    The huge Boeing airliner taxied on the ground before it roared off the ground and took flight. A few minutester, it slowly stabilized in the air.


    In the first-ss cabin, Eric unfastened his seat belt and n, sitting next to him, took out their schedule and exined their itinerary to Eric.


    "After taking the connecting flight in London, we will arrive in Venice on September 2nd at 3pm local time. Mr. Demme and Miss Madsen said they would pick us up at Marco Polo Airport. Afterwards, you have a meeting with Director John Landis in the evening.


    There are no events the next day so we can take the day off and get over the jetg. The red carpet at the opening ceremony of the festival will take ce on the 4th. In addition, the organizingmittee has invited you to the afterparty.


    Finally, we have a return ticket in the afternoon of the 5th and we''ll be back in Los Angeles at 5 am ET on the 6th. Eric, is there anything else that needs to be added?"


    Eric listened patiently and shook his head, "No, this is fine."


    If possible, he didn''t want to go to the Venice Film Festival since he was already on a tight schedule.


    However, after the Venice Film Festival''s Organizing Committee learned that he might appear, it proactively sent him an official invitation, hoping that he could participate in the opening ceremony.


    The Others originally had no ns to try for an award, so it was fine for Eric to decline the invitation, but with the promotion strategy proposed by Michael Eisner, The Others was quite hopeful to win an award. As a result, Eric was now unable to refuse.


    Because the invitation was signed by Andrei Smirnov, the chairman of the jury, and included a sincere invitation, if Eric declined the invitation, Demirnov would definitely have ill feelings towards The Others.


    Compared to the Oscar''s thousands of judges, the Venice Film Festival had only nine judges who sat down and discussed whom the awards would go to.


    Therefore, in order to avoid The Others from leaving empty-handed due to him, Eric had no other choice than to ept Demirnov''s invitation.


    After sighing helplessly, Eric stopped thinking about it and took out the book that Drew had bought for him.


    After a single nce, he couldn''t help butugh.


    Walden.


    ''What book did this girl buy? Who reads prose on the ne?'' he thought, ''Forget it, I''ll just use it to sleep.''


    Thinking so, Eric pulled apart the stic film that was wrapped around the book.

 Chapter 201: Awards Selection

    After changing flights in London and flying for another two hours, Eric and n finally arrived at Marco Polo Airport in Venice.


    Including Jonathan Demme and Virginia, a middle-aged man named Bill Gallo and his two assistants also came to receive him. After he introduced himself, Eric learnt that Bill Gallo was the head of Disney''s European branch.


    Since Disney obtained the distribution rights of The Others, he was sent to assist Jonathan Demme in the marketing and publicity of the film.


    After they exchanged greetings, Eric and his entourage boarded a yacht. Instead of going to the main Venice ind, they arrived at Lido ind and checked into a boutique hotel. The boutique hotels actually have a very interesting history.


    It is said that the Venice Film Festival was born to solve the problem of ack of patrons at the boutique hotels during fall. As a result, staying at a boutique hotel has be a status symbol during the Venice Film Festival.


    Only the film crew that enters the mainpetition unit and any specially invited crew can stay at such hotels.


    As one of the biggest guests of this film festival, Eric certainly has the right to stay at a boutique hotel. In fact, his room is a luxurious suite with a view of the sea.


    "Bed, bed!" After Jonathan, Bill and the others left, Eric sighed and jumped in the big bed in the bedroom, rolling around vigorously.


    Virginia, who was unpacking Eric''s luggage, chuckled, "Is it that tiring to fly?"


    "It''s not just slightly tiring, it''spletely exhausting. We also encountered turbulence above the Antic Ocean."


    Eric kicked off his leather shoes,fortablyid down in the big bed, and turned to look at the beautiful young woman who was putting his clothes inside the closet.


    Virginia was wearing a thin sleeveless white shirt with hercy dark bra barely visible and tight white trousers on her legs. When viewed from the side, her outfit vividly disyed her perfect curves.


    Eric jumped out of the bed and walked towards Virginia before holding her from behind. His hands wrapped around her slender waist as he stroked the soft skin exposed between her shirt and trousers.


    At the same time, he looked at her delicate earlobes adorned with ruby earrings and kissed her fair cheek.


    Virginia felt Eric''s sudden intimacy as her body trembled and the coat in her hands fell to the floor. Her delicate hand held Eric''s arm moving around her waist and she said, slightly panting, "Eric, don''t be like this. They they are waiting for us in the restaurant downstairs."


    Eric turned her face to him as he kissed her red lips and sucked on them before he whispered, "Come to my room tonight."


    "That''s no..." Virginia felt Eric fondle her hips as she gasped and refused, "It won''t be good if someone sees me. Just wait until we return to Los Angeles, and then... and then... okay?"


    "Okay," Eric had just momentarily gotten horny, but he soon realized that the hotel was full of film crews from around the world, as well as the judges of the film festival. If someone saw him and Virginia alone, it would have an unpredictable effect.


    Still, he was disappointed as he raised his hand and fondled her busty chest, "You look really sexy in this dress."


    Virginia raised her head and gave Eric a kiss on the cheek as she smiled and said, "I''ll wear it often for you in the future."


    "Actually," Eric leaned down into the girl''s ear and whispered, "You look better without clothes."


    Virginia thought Eric was going to say something important, however, hearing his words, she rolled her eyes and lightly pped his shoulder, "Pervert." Ericughed and pped her peachy butt before he picked up his coat which she had dropped on the floor and said, "I''ll help you.


    Let''s pack up together and get downstairs quickly."


    ***


    "Eric, this is John Landis''s information. Before the meeting in the evening, you should check it."


    In the hotel restaurant, Eric and the others were sitting at a table when Bill Gallo from Disney handed him a document.


    Eric had already read John Landis'' resume before, but he knew that the information given by Disney must be more detailed. He opened it and casually asked, "What''s the general situation surrounding The Others?


    Jonathan Demme and Bill Gallo looked at each other before thetter replied, "We have made sufficient preparations and have contacted several judges. Although we have not received any promises, they all have a good impression of The Others. Also, I''ve contacted some local media.


    After the film festival starts, they will heavily do public rtions."


    "Good," Eric nodded with satisfaction. In fact, for a film festival like Venice, public rtions is enough.


    After thinking some more, Eric immediately asked, "What are our chances of winning?"


    Bill Gallo said, "The Golden Lion Award is definitely hopeless. A City of Sadness is almost certain to win it. However, we have a chance topete for the Silver Lion Award and the Best Screeny Award."


    After Bill finished, Jonathan Demme and a few others looked at Eric in unison. He will definitely talk about this issue with John Landis, one of the judges this year.


    John Landis had been in contact with Disney before, and he had actually agreed to help lobby for The Others. After all, he is an American and he is not an old stubborn filmmaker who insists on voting strictly for the "best film." John Landis has always been amercial film director.


    As for his meeting with thetter, Eric wasn''t sure who brought the idea. Maybe John Landis was interested in him, or maybe it was Jonathan Demme or Bill Gallo who suggested it. However, since it was good for The Others, Eric didn''t mind and readily agreed.


    Eric''s decision meant that John Landis would definitely fight to lobby for The Others. However, even with its theme and anti-war gimmick, the jury would only give it one prize at most, so among the two nominations they could only win one.


    In fact, Eric hopes to win the award for Best Screeny for himself, but for the sake of the film''s box office interests, he must focus on the more influential Silver Lion Award.


    "Don''t worry, I know what to do," Eric said as he looked at some people who were waiting.

 Chapter 202: Chills

    Everyone present seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as they had been a little worried that Eric would stubbornly choose the best screenwriter award.


    After all, the current Eric has achieved a sess in box office that most people wouldn''t be able to match in a lifetime, so it was likely for him to have a stronger desire for personal film awards.


    If The Others won the Silver Lion Award, it would belong to the entire team, but if it won the best screeny award, it would belong to Eric, alone.


    "Eric, it''s actually not a big deal. I think the Oscars is your real stage." As if to appease Eric, Bill Gallo joked and Jonathan Demme nodded quickly.


    Eric shrugged casually, "Thank you, Bill, if only the old men of the Academy thought so as well."


    The groupughed and talked some more before they separated. Eric returned to his room alone with the information about John Landis. This time, to avoid suspicion, Virginia did not live with him, while his assistant n lived in another suite downstairs.


    There were still a few hours before night in Venice, while the east coast of the US was still in the morning, so even though he spent more than ten hours on the ne, his internal clock resulted in him not feeling too tired.


    After reading the information of John Landis, Eric stayed in his room until 7 o''clock in the evening before changing clothes and going out to meet him. The agreed upon ce was in a restaurant near the boutique hotel. Eric did not need a guide nor did he bring a date.


    Virginia is the female lead of The Others. As a result, if she was seen having dinner with one of the judges, it would definitely result in controversy. Inparison, Eric could remain anonymous. Even if he was seen having dinner with John Landis, it wouldn''t be a big deal.


    John Landis was about 40 years old, wearing a pair of ck-rimmed sses on hisrge nose. He had a beard and a standard Jewish appearance.


    ''It''s another Jew!'' Eric sighed as he thought.


    ording to the information he read, John Landis and Steven Spielberg are good friends, and both have had cameos in each other''s films.


    In fact, John Landis was a famous director at the same time as Spielberg. In 1975, Spielberg became a top Hollywood director with Jaws, and three yearster, John Landis directed Animal House which earned a box office of more than $100 million.


    Coincidentally, both of them became famous directors when they were just 28 years old.


    However, ording to the information he read, John Landis'' directorial career has been slipping since thete ''80s. Therefore, Eric had no impression of him during his previous life.


    In the restaurant, John Landis ordered food and watched Eric with interest as he spoke to the blonde waitress who was able to speak English. After she left with the menu, John Landis said, "Eric, you seem well-versed with Italian cuisine."


    Eric smiled and exined, "My father used to be an Italian chef."


    "Oh," John Landis nodded, but didn''t mention the topic anymore. Obviously, he knew that Eric''s father had passed away.


    While waiting for the dishes to be served, Eric and John Landis continued chatting. Of course, the topic was still movies.


    "The thing I find most interesting about you is not that each of your movies is from a different genre, but the fact that all of them have achieved box office sess. This is very difficult to understand.


    You know, I have also tried directing movies from different genres, but at their core, they''re all satiricaledies. Even Steven has been trying to break through for so many years, but his most movies are all science fiction movies such as Jaws, E.T. and so on."


    Eric replied, "This doesn''t mean anything, John, maybe I''m just lucky. I''ve only directed a few movies until now, once I shoot more movies, I will definitely fail, and then realize what I am best at."


    John Landis listened to Eric''s words, thought for a while, before he shook his head and said, "It''s not the same. You are very different, Eric. Can you tell me where you learned to make movies? I am very curious.


    After all, at your age, it''s not easy to make even a simple movie like Home Alone. It took me years to umte experience from the time I first became involved in film production to the time when I directed my first movie. "


    Of course, Eric can''t say that he had umted experience during his previous life, so he said, "Actually, I was just lucky. I wrote the script of Home Alone, and then luckily found a very good team. I only need to tell them what I want and they helped me make it.


    If I didn''t meet them, maybe Home Alone would never havee into existence."


    John Landis has no doubts about the truth behind Eric''s words. Eric''s sess could only be attributed to his good luck.


    "I''ve watched Home Alone several times, that... Stuart Runkle, the little guy is really good. If you have a chance... actually, never mind."


    Eric knew from the information he read why John Landis said this. Seven years ago, while he was directing Twilight Zone: The Movie, a horrendous ident that took ce which resulted in the death of three actors, two among them barely seven-years-old.


    If there had been no minors, it wouldn''t have been that big of a deal. After all, Hollywood has many such idents every year. However, because of the two children, John Landis was dragged into thewsuit for six years, and he was only acquitted from itst year.


    Although he didn''t face jail time, his career essentially ended.


    "John, actually you should move on. That ident is in the past, right? And, it really was just an unfortunate ident."


    John Landis took a sip of red wine before he solemnly said, "But, they insisted that I hadmitted manughter. I mean, I was just a producer. I was not even present when the ident happened.


    I apologized to the public, and I paid enoughpensation, but some people continued holding on to this matter. I barely got out of it after a full six years. For a while, I had fallen to the point that I wanted to escape abroad like Roman Pnski. I didn''t want to go to jail."


    Eric recalled the incident mentioned in the information, and gradually smelled something different from John Landis'' tone.


    Whether Roman Pnski was caught or not, he had indeedmitted the crime. After all, he was caught with the minor girl he assaulted.


    However, the John Landis incident was full of controversy. Perhaps someone wanted to ruin him. If he fell, hispetitors could free up arge portion of the box office.


    After all, although John Landis was not as famous as Spielberg in the early ''80s, he had made two films that had earned more than $100 million at the box office, while his remaining films had also achieved decent sess.


    Thinking of this, Eric couldn''t help but feel a chill in his heart.


    John Landis is Jewish. There is the entire Jewish circle in Hollywood who will support him. If such a person can be framed and dragged into awsuit for six years, he, who is alone in Hollywood, would be easy pickings. If someone decides to deal with him, he might end up in a much worse situation.


    Quickly shaking his head, Eric knew it was not the time for unfounded worries, and said to John Landis, "Stop thinking about these things, John, everything is over, alright? The sess of your film Coming to America fromst year is the biggest indicator."


    John Landis heard Eric mentioning his hit film and smiled as he said, "Indeed, shortly after the release of Coming to America, all the controversies ended. However, if it hadn''t been such a sess, who knows what position I would be in right now.


    After speaking about his insecurities, John Landis felt a sense of intimacy with Eric and said, "Eric, I have watched The Others several times. Whether it is the suspense setting or the final plot twist, both of them are amazing.


    In May, Cannes has just selected its youngest best director winner, I believe that the Venice Film Festival will certainly not wish to look too conservative, either."


    Hearing John Landis''s words, Eric realized that he might be inclined to help him lobby for the best screenwriter award, so he shook his head and said, "John, I''m only 19 years old now. I haven''t considered too much about honor.


    If I win awards too early, I might lose motivation to move forward in the future. What do you think?"


    John Landis was stunned, then suddenlyughed, and nodded, "I understand."


    Eric also smiled, raised his goblet of red wine and clinked it with John Landis'' goblet of red wine who said softly, "Don''t worry, I will try my best."


    Eric did not reply as he slowly drank the remaining red wine.


    Putting down his goblet, Eric was about to talk about other topics with John Landis when he suddenly heard a familiar female voice not far behind him, along with a few vague words, "Haha, that fat guy was really funny... I''m like hehe, and that I''m a director but you so funny."


    Raising his eyebrows, Eric couldn''t help but nce at the source of the sound. The back of the brown curly hair appeared in the field of his vision as he smiled. Surprisingly, Julia hade to Venice. The girl who was sitting across her must be Rupert Murdoch''s second daughter, Elisabeth Murdoch.


    "Is she an acquaintance?" John Landis followed Eric''s gaze, but he was not familiar with Julia. If he saw her face, he might know her, but he didn''t recognize her just by looking at the back.


    Eric nodded, "Two acquaintances, but they may not want me to say hello, just ignore them."


    John Landis looked at the two girls from a distance, and smiled ambiguously as he said, "You should take the initiative when chasing women. If you just sit here, you won''t have any women to take home."

 Chapter 203: Prank

    After dinner, John Landis had originally wanted to chat with Eric over coffee. However, seeing the two women sitting nearby, he took the initiative to say goodbye very "understandingly" and winked at Eric as she left. John Landis''s actions left Eric dumbfounded.


    He realized that the former had misunderstood, but there was no easy way for him to exin his rtionship with the women so he just let it be.


    After John Landis left, Eric called the waiter and paid the bill. After paying the bill, he turned to look at Julia and Elisabeth who were sitting not far away. Since they were sitting near the entrance, he would have to walk by them while leaving. There was no way they wouldn''t recognize him.


    Recalling Julia''s gibberish that night when she was drunk, Eric felt a little helpless. He found it impossible to understand Julia''s condition. Did she have real affection for him or had she simply surrendered to him, psychologically, due to Stockholm syndrome.


    Still, one thing was certain: she obviously wanted to get rid of the emotions she felt towards him. Eric does notck women. Although he would do everything possible to keep the women he likes with him, Julia was not exactly his type, so he doesn''t wish to get entangled with her.


    After the waiter brought his change and receipt, Eric paid him a tip before standing up and walking directly to Julia''s table.


    Since he couldn''t avoid them, he decided to at least say hello.


    As Eric walked towards them, Elisabeth was the first to spot him. She was momentarily stunned, but quickly held up her coffee mug to cover the surprised expression on her face.


    As a result, Julia, who didn''t notice the strange expression on Elisabeth''s face, continued to whisper quietly, but excitedly.


    Although Julia was three years older than him, she had always been a little cautious around him, and rarely spoke so much. So, Eric was curious what she was talking about.


    With a silencing gesture to Elisabeth, Eric slowly creeped behind Julia.


    "...The producer told me, ''Julia, we will shoot in the studio the whole time. If there''s an outdoor scene, you can use a stand-in. You can finish the filmingfortably, and if you''re not satisfied with the script, you can make changes right then and there.'' I was so excited when I heard that.


    They came to Louisiana where I was shooting Steel Magnolias in person to show their sincerity, and even offered me a paycheck of $5 million. I had never been treated so well by a producer, so I asked them to send me the script, but I couldn''t stand my character''s name.


    Can you imagine, Liz, they actually named my character Vivian?! My god! It was so obvious that they were trying to follow the trend of Pretty Woman.


    I suggested that the producer change the name first, but he said that the plot can be changed ording to my demands, but the character''s name couldn''t be changed. In fact, ''he'' also told me a lot of such benefits. I remember some things ''he'' once told me about following the trend..."


    Listening to Julia''s non-stop talking, Eric, who was standing behind her, smiled, slightly.


    Elisabeth, who was sitting across from Julia, heard a few of her words as her eyes narrowed and she asked, "Julia, who is the ''he'' you are talking about?"


    Julia seemed to have gotten thirsty after speaking so much so she took a sip of her juice. After a few sips, she replied, "Oh, you know, although that guy is a total bastard, but many things he said are quite reasonable."


    "Oh..." Elisabeth raised her chin and secretly nced at Eric who was standing behind Julia with his hands in his trouser pockets, "So, you arepletely over that guy?"


    "Of course," Julia waved her delicate hand without hesitation, and slightly raised her voice as she said, "I pulled that bastard''s image out of my head and crumpled it up before I stuffed it down the toilet and flushed it away."


    Pssshh-


    Elisabeth couldn''t help it anymore as burst out inughter with her shoulders moving up and down as she beganughing hysterically.


    The people sitting nearby couldn''t help but look over when they heard the hystericalughter. Of course, some people noticed Eric standing behind Julia.


    If Julia had still been unable to realize what was going on, she would certainly need mental help. Eric easily noticed that her waist was involuntarily straightened up a bit and she seemingly wanted to turn her head, but her neck was stuck as if it had gotten rusty.


    "It makes me sad to hear you say that," Eric jokingly said as he stepped forward and sat down in the chair between the two women.


    When Julia heard Eric''s voice, her face began to change colors quickly. When he sat down beside her, she fell into shock as her eyes remained stuck on his face for a few seconds.


    Suddenly, she shrank her neck and bent her waist as if he was about to curl up inside her chair to hide herself, and he exined quietly, "E... Eric, I... I didn''t... that...


    mean, I..."


    Eric realized that Julia was really embarrassed, so he smiled and was about to make a joke when she suddenly stood up and said, "I... Gone."


    After speaking, she ran out of the restaurant in panic.


    Eric watched Julia''s back disappear and began wondering if he really was so scary?


    He patted Elisabeth who still had her face on the table and said, "Hey, Liz, don''tugh so much or you will start having stomach cramps."


    Finally, Elisabeth raised her head, her face flushed, her shallow dimples still present on her cheeks, and nced around before asking, "Hey, where''s Julia?"


    Eric replied, "You yed a prank on her, so she''s angry."


    Elisabeth red at Eric and asked, unwilling, "What? You can me me. You hinted to me to keep quiet."


    "Julia probably thinks you pushed her into a trap."


    Elisabeth turned her head and looked at the door, but she couldn''t find Julia, so she had no choice but to say, "Alright, I''ll apologize to herter. But, I still me you. I only said a few words to make her not notice you, but she ran away because you suddenly showed yourself and scared her."


    ''There is no talking logic with this woman,'' Eric thought helplessly, and had to change the subject, "Aren''t you still in college? It''s September now, shouldn''t it be starting?"


    "I havepleted all my mandatory courses. The final year mainly revolves around the graduation thesis and actual practice," Elisabeth briefly exined, and then said, "I said before, my graduation thesis is based upon analyzing your films. How about it, Mr.


    Director, can you provide me with some ''confidential'' information?"


    Eric ignored her words, but asked, "You should have gotten a lot of information from Julia over the past few days, right?"


    Elisabeth stared at him and asked, "I''m really curious. What happened between you two? Julia hates you so much. If her words are true, I want to kill you, but I feel like they''re not true at all."


    "Maybe she is telling the truth," Eric replied with a smile.


    "That''s impossible," Elisabeth shook her head decisively.


    Eric was puzzled and asked, "Hey, Liz, do you want to study me or my movies?"


    "Both," Elisabeth didn''t hide her intentions and replied, "Everything about you is interesting."


    "I should warn you not to be too interested..."


    Before Eric couldplete his words, Elisabeth, who was like a cat whose tail was stepped on, interrupted him, "Shut up, you rascal!"


    "Okay, okay," Eric said helplessly, "I''ve said hello so I''ll be leaving now. Remember to take Julia back to Los Angeles soon. Kapoor has been so worried about her that his hair might turn gray."


    Elisabeth rolled her eyes at Eric, "Nonsense, don''t think I don''t know, Julia''s agent is bald"


    "I''m just making an analogy," Eric stood up and answered, "Anyways, just remember it."


    Elisabeth saw that Eric was about to leave, so she quickly grabbed his shirt and hurriedly said, "Hey, hey, what are you going in such a hurry? Since you ran into me here, just sit down and tell me about your movies."


    Eric looked at the girl clinging to his clothes tightly, so he sat down again and said, "Liz, let me give you some advice. Actually, what you have to do is reverse analysis of the known results. This method is very simple.


    Exaggerate a lot, just like what the newspapers and media do, mention a lot of advantages of the movie, so that you can get a lot of praise for your thesis."


    Hearing Eric''s casual words, Elisabeth rolled her eyes in dissatisfaction and said, "Hey, am I such a superficial person?"


    Eric raised his eyebrows and gave her a look as if to say "isn''t that obvious?"


    "I... I''m warning you, if you don''t help, I will abduct Julia and take her to an Australian ranch. You won''t be able to find her even if you want to make a movie with her."


    Eric couldn''t bear to hear her childish words and replied with a smile, "Do whatever you want, as long as Julia is fine with it."


    Eric didn''t want to be pestered by Elisabeth any longer, so he stood up and walked outside the restaurant. She waved her hand and called the waiter to pay the bill and ran after him.

 Chapter 204: Mutation?

    After she ran out of the restaurant after Eric, Elisabeth found that he had disappeared, so she could only return to her hotel, disappointed.


    "Julia, what are you doing?"


    Back at the hotel room, Elizabeth saw a suitcase lying in the middle of the bedroom with Julia packing her clothes.


    Julia folded a small t-shirt into the box, looked up and answered, "I...I''m leaving, I think I should go back to Los Angeles."


    Elisabeth stomped her feet, pulled Julia up and sat her down on a chair before she questioned, "Why are you acting like a tiny animal that has encountered a predator and is running away with its tail tucked between its legs?"


    Julia''s eyes dodged Elisabeth, flustered before she gathered her courage andined to Elisabeth, "Why are you ming me? Why didn''t you remind me when you saw him behind me? Since I said all those things about him, that asshole will definitely cause me trouble."


    Elisabeth couldn''t help butugh and ask, "Haha, how will he settle with you, spanking? Stop it, Julia, all this is just your conjecture, OK?"


    Julia shrank her neck and said, "You...you don''t understand, Liz, that guy is very bad."


    Elisabeth really didn''t understand Julia''s behavior. She couldn''t help but pat her forehead and thought for a while before she grabbed Julia''s hand and said, "Come, follow me."


    "Where to?" Julia stood up and asked.


    "Let''s go see Eric Williams. Since you are worried, I will make it clear in person, so that he doesn''t harass you again."


    When Julia heard Elisabeth''s words, she freed herself from thetter''s hand and sat back down in her chair with her small hands holding the handrail tightly, and she quickly exined, "He he never harassed me."


    "Then tell me, what''s wrong with you?"


    "I I don''t know. I''m just a little bit ufortable in front of him. And because of that time when I was drunk and today''s matter, I don''t even dare to see him. Liz, just leave him alone, okay?"


    Even though Elisabeth is her best friend, Julia never revealed her greatest secret in front of her. Her secret was only known by herself and Eric. In fact, she didn''t know whether her emotions were truly caused by Stockholm Syndrome.


    She had read some books about Stockholm Syndrome, but the symptoms seemed different.


    Is it a mutation?


    Elizabeth wandered around the bedroom before she suddenly pped her hands and said, "Julia, do you think it''s that simple?"


    Julia raised her head curiously and Elisabeth''s analysis, "Perhaps, it''s just like you told me. You have met him very few times, but in those few short meetings, he seemed very powerful which might be why he left such an impression in your heart?"


    "Maybe..." Julia nodded after carefully thinking about it. In fact, Elisabeth''s words are quite reasonable. Even while filming Pretty Woman, she had been alone with Eric just a few times. From the day she met to the present, she only slept with him once, and although the impression he left was very...


    profound, it was only once.


    Then, other impressions...


    On the night of their first encounter, he looked down at her and said that he could make her the top actress in Hollywood... While filming Pretty Woman, she mentioned Al Pacino''s invitation to her to test him, but he simply replied, ''Go, but don''t dy tomorrow''s shooting''...


    In the vanity van, he raised his palm as if to strike her and she felt excited. Then, he opened the door with a crash...


    After the sess of Pretty Woman, she went to him in an imposing manner, and he reprimanded her while saying, ''So impatient, what are you going to do''... UTA had assigned her a driver plus bodyguard which she found very cool, so she ran over to show off, but he simply mocked her with his eyes...


    It seems that from the beginning, she has been standing at bottom, looking up, while he has remained as unattainable as a god. At the same time, he blocked the sun and covered her in his shadow.


    Seeing Julia''s pensive appearance, Elisabeth couldn''t help but snapped two fingers in her ear.


    "Huh?" Julia was suddenly awakened and looked up at Elisabeth suspiciously.


    "Julia, don''t you want to change the status quo?"


    "How how can I change it?"


    Elisabeth replied, "It''s very simple. Interact with him more. I think Eric Williams is not as terrible as you believe. Currently, he is in Venice, free from the pressure of directing a movie.


    Once you get to know him better, you won''t be that timid in front of him."


    Slightly expectant, Julia raised her head and asked, "Will that work?"


    "How would you know without trying?" Elisabeth saw that Julia was no longer tense, so she quickly pulled her up and said, "Let''s go find him now."


    "Wait, I I think I''d better change my clothes," Julia said, embarrassed.


    Elisabeth looked at Julia''srge pink sleeveless t-shirt and jeans and replied while shaking her head, "Forget it, you look beautiful. Besides, it''s already past nine PM, so we might miss him if we take too long."


    After speaking, Elisabeth dragged Julia out of the room.


    ***


    After returning to his room, Eric took a quick shower, changed into simple clothes, turned on the TV and browsed through the channels.


    Although the hotel had cable signals from several major TV stations in North America, there were no good programs on, and he didn''t even care to look at local TV stations. Finally, he turned it off and picked up the Walden book that Drew had bought for him before he boarded the ne.


    Even as a middle-aged man, it was difficult for Eric to read this collection of essays. He tried to read it on the ne before finally getting so tired that he fell asleep. This time, just looking at it made him feel sleepy.


    He was about to go to bed when the room''s phone rang. Upon answering it, he learnt from the front desk that someone hade to meet him.


    "Come in, it''s sote, what are you two doing here?" Eric asked the two women casually.


    Forgetting Julia who fell behind her, Elisabeth walked around the spacious living room of the suite before she picked up Walden from the coffee table, looked it over, and asked, "Who would''ve thought you like this book, as well."


    Eric poured two sses of juice and handed it to them. Hearing Elisabeth''s question, he casually replied, "I don''t like it."

 Chapter 205: Basic Method

    Hearing Eric''s answer, Elisabeth rolled her eyes at him and said, "You... are really uncultured."


    "What does this have to do with being uncultured?" Eric opened a can of beer and sat down on the sofa before he continued, "Should I be like you? Say that I liked the book then you mention some philosophy regarding life conveyed by the book and we begin discussing the book like fanatics?"


    "Isn''t that how it''s supposed to be ?"


    Eric smiled slightly and replied, "When you were in college, you must have often encountered such things, right?"


    Elisabeth nodded honestly.


    Julia, who was drinking her fruit juice, couldn''t help butugh. She became independent after graduating from high school. Although she did not have a high IQ and education like Elisabeth, she was better at seeing through people than Elisabeth who had lived a sheltered life.


    Elisabeth was quite intelligent, but she was unable to understand the meaning behind Eric''s words.


    Faced by her puzzled gaze, Eric alsoughed and exined, "As you are the second daughter of Rupert Murdoch, the boss of News Corporation, if a man wanted to get close to you, he would certainly show off his intellect and ''high cultural level'' rather than his wealth or sessful career.


    So, most of the men who discussed philosophy with you had actually wanted to pick you up."


    Learning the truth, Elisabeth was left dumbfounded with her mouth open.


    Eric took a sip of his beer while leaning on the couch and spoke, as if reminiscing, "Speaking of which, I often used this basic method of picking up girls during my previous life."


    "Bullshit!" Although Elisabeth realized that Eric was probably telling the truth, she was unwilling to believe it and said, "You think all men are nasty like you."


    "Most men wouldn''t mind being a little nasty if they could be the son-inw of Rupert Murdoch."


    Elisabeth retorted, unconvinced, "These... these are all just conjectures."


    "I think you''re just being blind to the truth," Eric didn''t mean to quarrel with Elisabeth so he changed the topic and asked, "By the way, why did you twoe here sote?"


    Hearing his question, Julia''s waist involuntarily straightened, an instinctive reaction whenever she feels nervous.


    Elisabeth replied casually, "Since you are in Venice, we should hang out together. How about tomorrow?"


    Eric thought about his schedule and nodded, "No problem, I''m free tomorrow."


    Elisabeth originally thought Eric would need some convincing, so she was confused when he readily agreed. It waste at night in Venice and inappropriate for two women to stay in a man''s room for too long, so after speaking a bit with him she took Julia, who never spoke word, and left.


    ***


    The next day, Andrei Smirnov, the chairman of the jury who had learned of Eric''s arrival, invited him to have breakfast early in the morning.Although they needed the help of an interpreter tomunicate, the two of them still had a good time.


    After chatting in the restaurant until past nine o''clock, Andrei Smirnov had to reluctantly leave because of work.


    After taking n to the agreed upon dock, Eric discovered that Julia and Elisabeth had been waiting for a long time.


    As soon as he arrived, Elisabethined  to disy her dissatisfaction, "Hey, Eric, you are really not punctual. How can you let two women wait so long for you?"


    "I have things to do, okay. I''m not free like you two," Eric replied and then had n rent a boat since they nned to go to the main ind of Venice today.


    Finding a speedboat, Elisabeth took Julia into the cabin, but drove n off since she could also speak Italian. Arriving on the main ind by speedboat, the three took a gond ride and drifted along the Grand Canal.


    The morning sun was shining warmly. Eric, dressed in casual clothes, leaned on his chair in the gond and looked at the enclosed buildings around him with relish. From time to time, he raised his camera up to take a few photos.


    Elisabeth, who was sitting on the other side, was busy chatting loudly in Italian with the old ferryman named Loviso standing on the bow of the ship. The two of themughed heartily from time to time.


    "Hey, Julia, why are you so quiet? Are you feeling ufortable?" Eric pressed the shutter towards an arch bridge a few times, only to realize that the woman sitting next to him had been quiet the whole time.


    This gond had only one seat, so the three people were huddled together. Eric was on the right, Elisabeth upied the left, and Julia was stuffed in the middle.


    The two women were quite thin and Eric was also quite fit, so even though three people were sitting in seats meant for two people, it didn''t feel too crowded.


    Julia raised her head and faced Eric''s concerned gaze, and quickly replied, "No, I''m fine."


    "Oh," Eric thought for a while but didn''t  know what to say, so he raised his camera and continued shooting. When the photo was taken, Julia quickly, but quietly, said, "Eric, when are you returning to Los Angeles?"


    "September 5th, the day after tomorrow."


    Julia  raised her head, looked at Eric, and curiously asked, "Why are you in such a hurry? Don''t you want to spend a few more days in Venice?"


    Eric raised his camera, snapped a silhouette of a seabird flying over the water, and exined casually, "I want to rest for a while, but I have to shoot two movies in just over a month so time is very tight."


    Julia nodded, then gently lowered her head.


    "By the way, Julia, when do you n to go back?" Julia hesitated, then said, "Originally, Liz said that she would take me to Australia. Her family has many ranches there, but I don''t n to go."


    "It''s time to go back. Steel Magnolias is scheduled to release in November. You should be part of the promotion. In addition, you also need to choose the script for your movie next year."


    Julia had aplicated look on her face as she nced at Eric, and uttered a word after a while: "You..."


    Eric lowered his head and took out the used reel of film from his camera and put it away. He reced it with a new reel of film. He then looked up at Julia''s expression and quickly understood what she was thinking, so he smiled and said, " I won''t interfere with the movie.


    You can choose by yourself if you want. Of course, it''s best to listen to Kapoor''s advice."


    By the end of this year, Julia will be in two hit movies which will bring her career to its peak. Although Eric can help her career remain at this peak over the following years, with Julia''s current personality, Eric felt that it is better to let her experience some ups and downs.


    Moreover, next year, he won''t make so many movies like this year. If he keeps shooting hit movies frantically, the giant studios who have control of Hollywood will see him as a threat.


    He might even end up being jointly suppressed, so he nned on making ayout for his future in Hollywood next year.


    When Eric had interfered with her movie selection, she had wanted to escape his control, but now, hearing that Eric no longer cared to select movies for her, Julia had a sudden feeling of emptiness.


    "Hey, look! It''s the Bridge of Sighs!" Elisabeth, on the other side, suddenly shouted.


    Eric raised his head and looked towards Elisabeth''s direction. In a narrow waterne, there was a fully enclosed white stone arch bridge that looked like an attic. The boatman named Loviso smiled and waved the oars to row the gond into the waterne.


    "The Bridge of Sighs, what a beautiful name. Julia, do you know the history behind it?" Elisabeth sighed like a young literary youth before she turned and asked Julia sitting beside her.


    Julia shook her head. The early ''90s was not a time when one could learn about anything by simply clicking on a webpage and typing just a few words.


    Seeing Julia shaking her head, Elisabeth waved her little hand triumphantly and exined, "Look, this kind of arch bridge connects the two buildings. This is the Venice Governor''s Pce and that is a prison for criminals.


    After trial in the Governor''s Mansion, the prisoners who are escorted to the prison are able to experience the beauty of the open world onest time. As a result, the prisoners who cross this bridge always sigh in regret which was where the name Bridge of Sighs came from."


    Eric took a few photos, put the camera down and said with a smile, "ording to what you said, I think it would be more apt for this bridge to be renamed the Gates of Hell. If the bridge is alive, hearing so many criminals sigh over and over again, it must be full of violent emotions.


    In the context of a movie, such a being would be a typical viin who feels that the whole world is filled with hatred and decides to destroy humanity."


    Elisabeth''s excited movements stopped, and she subconsciously thought that Eric''s words made sense, but she quickly shook her head and rolled her eyes at him, "Hey, why are you always so negative?"


    "I''m just telling the truth."


    Elisabeth simply ignored him and held Julia''s arm as she continued to whisper.


    The gond drifted slowly under the Bridge of Sighs, and the boatman standing at the stern raised his voice slightly and spoke a few words in Italian to the three people.


    Eric and Julia looked towards Elisabeth who raised her chin arrogantly before tranting, "Mr. Loveso said that if a couple kisses under the Bridge of Sighs, they will forever remain in love."


    When Julia heard this, she blinked her eyes and nced at Eric secretly, but after just a glimpse, she lowered her eyes with a guilty conscience. However, Elisabeth couldn''t help standing up slightly, her eyes traversing between Eric and Julia, eagerly waiting for one of them to make a move.


    Eric saw Elisabeth''s reaction, put his hands on his chest as if scared, and said sternly, "Forget it, I will never kiss you."


    "Fuck, I won''t kiss you even if this bridge copses, asshole." Elisabeth retorted with her hands on her hips. After speaking, she turned herrge eyes, and under Eric''s astonished gaze, she hugged the unsuspecting Julia, leaned over and kissed her cherry red lips.

 Chapter 206: Impossible

    Although the boatman named Loviso was in his fifties indicated by his gray hair and beard, he had obviously never seen two women kissing.


    Seeing Elisabeth kiss Julia, he was left frozen for a long time before he burst out inughter and gave a thumbs up to the two women, while loudly saying something to Eric gleefully.


    Although Eric couldn''t understand what the old man said, he could guess that thetter was gloating. He must have thought that Eric had been trying to court Julia only for Elisabeth to snatch her from him.


    In response to the old man, Eric could only smile in embarrassment as there was no way for him to exin the situation due to thenguage barriers.


    However, the scene of the two women kissing under the Bridge of Sighs was indeed very beautiful. After being momentarily shocked, he pointed his camera at them, and clicked quite a few images of them.


    Simrly, Julia had been left wide-eyed from the sudden kiss. Feeling Elisabeth''s arms around her waist and her thin red lips sucking on her own lips, she remained unresponsive for well over a dozen seconds when she heard the shutter sound of Eric''s camera.


    Suddenly, she came to her senses and pushed the woman who was holding her away, and yelled in protest, "Liz, you... how can you do this!"


    Seeing Julia''s blushing face, Elisabeth hugged her waist again and kissed her cheek. Then, she raised her head and said to Eric, arrogantly, "Eric, Julia is mine now. You better not bully her again."


    "Liz, what nonsense are you saying!" Hearing Elisabeth''s words, Julia became anxious and pinched her waist, causing Elisabeth to scream. The two continued fighting, causing the tiny gond to sway around. Finally, the old boatman yelled at them to stop lest the gond tip over.


    ***


    The three spent the whole morning strolling along the Grand Canal and had lunch. Eric asked the local guide and took the water bus to a well-known Vian mask shop.


    "I don''t like these things."


    Walking into the storefront, Elisabeth looked at the variety of masks on the surrounding walls and said.


    "Why?" Eric took off a golden mask without a mouth hole and asked while looking at it.


    Elisabeth replied, "These masks are said to have been worn by the nobles whomitted adultery and fugitives who smuggled themselves inside. They symbolize disguise and pretense."


    "But doesn''t everyone wear invisible masks to hide their true selves?"


    Eric replied casually, put down the simple "Bota" mask, and picked up another white ghost mask painted with golden patterns which he put on Julia''s face before continuing to look around.


    Hearing Eric''s reply, Elisabeth couldn''t help but retort, "Sure... everyone has a mask on but that''s because they don''t want to appear... naked in front of everyone."


    "You are just getting entangled in the question of real and fake. In fact, it is hard to tell. Look, I''m not wearing a mask, but actually I am, but in order not to be seen through, I won''t tell others that I''m wearing a mask.


    But if someone is wearing a tangible mask, you can tell right away ''oh that guy is wearing a mask.'' Honestly, those who put on tangible masks are more honest than those who mask their true feelings behind hypocritical smiles."


    Elisabeth carefully pondered Eric''s words. Although she had to agree that his words made sense, she still continued arguing, "You... you are changing the topic."


    "Think whatever you want," Eric replied and then beckoned to the shopkeeper and asked, "Excuse me, do you speak English?"


    "Of course," the forty-year-old shopkeeper with a moustache nodded and asked in fluent English, "Sir, which one do you like?"


    Eric looked around for a bit and said, "I want to buy a full set, including hats and cloaks. But I don''t seem to see those here?"


    "Come with me," the shopkeeper led Eric to a room nearby filled with clothes and said, "Here, please feel free to pick and choose."


    After showing Eric the room, the shopkeeper left and returned to his spot behind the counter.


    Eric didn''t mind. In fact, he prefered being able to choose clothes alone. He chose hats, cloaks, and folding fans and used them to dress Julia up as a mannequin.


    "Hey, you''re so rude! Did you even ask Julia if she wants to be your muse?!" Elisabeth yelled to express her dissatisfaction.


    The masked Julia shook her head quickly and replied, "It''s okay... it doesn''t matter."


    Eric raised his chin at Elisabeth triumphantly, causing her to stomp her feet in anger.


    Soon, thanks to Eric dressing her up, Julia was covered from head to toe.


    A white wide-brimmed hat, decorated with purple feathers, sat on her head; underneath it was a purple cloak embroidered with gorgeous golden patterns; avender silk scarf was wrapped around her neck; and her hands, covered with ck long-sleeved gloves, held a purple silk folding fan.


    "How is it?" Eric asked after he pulled Julia to the dressing room''s mirror.


    "Very... very beautiful." Julia nodded as she looked at herself in the mirror through the mask.


    Elizabeth also came over. Although she was enraptured by Julia''s look, she still asked, "Why is it purple?"


    "Purple represents mystery. Don''t you think it matches the style of the mask?"


    "I still think white would look more beautiful," Elizabeth pointed to a white cloak hanging on a shelf.


    Eric smiled and said, "Then we will make up another white setter." After that, Eric instructed Julia to take off the mask and cloak, and asked the shop owner to help pack it. He spent another houring up with several other sets of different styles.


    Elisabeth took off a hat, handed it to Eric and asked, "Why are you buying so much?"


    Eric replied, "They''re gifts. Since I came to Venice I naturally have to take back some gifts."


    Elisabeth teasingly asked with a smile at the corner of her mouth, "It''s for a woman, right?"


    Eric smiled casually. Seeing his reaction, Elisabeth cursed with contempt, "What an asshole."


    Julia, who was in between the two and had been modeling for thest hour, heard Eric and Elisbeth''s words and her cheerful eyes quickly turned gloomy.


    After making five sets, Eric stepped forward to check out.


    After asking which currency Eric would pay in, the shopkeeper calcted. Then, he raised his head and said with a smile, "A total of $2200, but for you $2000 is enough."


    Eric, who had already taken out his wallet, looked at the shopkeeper suspiciously who quickly exined, "I really like what you said about masks when you had walked into the store, so would like to give you a discount."


    Eric smiled and replied, "That''s very nice of you,"


    Walking out of the store while carrying a few bags, Eric put one bag in Julia''s hands and passed another to Elisabeth.


    "I''m not your servant," Elisabeth quickly stuffed her hands inside the pockets of her jeans and raised her chin at Eric with an arrogant look in her eyes.


    "Don''t you like this white set? It''s for you. If you don''t want it, I''ll give it to Julia."


    "Hmph, I won''t do it for free," Elisabeth quickly grabbed the bag.


    Eric took the lead and walked towards the water bus stop with the remaining three bags. Meanwhile, Elisabeth, who followed closely behind, approached Julia and asked, "Julia, what is yours like?"


    Although Eric did not say anything, Julia already knew that Eric had gifted her the clothes in the bag she was holding. She opened it and took a look, then held it tightly in her arms and replied, "It''s the purple set I put on at the beginning."


    Elisabeth frowned in dissatisfaction and said, "Why are you holding it so tightly? I won''t steal it from you."


    Ignoring Elisabeth''s ridicule, Julia hastened her pace and ran towards Eric. Elisabeth also had to catch up.


    "Eric, will youe out to hang out tomorrow?" Sitting in the boat, Elisabeth asked actively.


    Julia also raised her head and looked at Eric expectantly.


    Eric shook his head and replied, "I''m afraid I won''t have time because of the opening ceremony tomorrow."


    "So when will you take the time to tell me about your movie?"


    "I''ll be so busy all day..." Eric began making excuses and suddenly Elisabeth pinched his arm.


    After she pinched him, Eric and Julia were slightly stunned and looked at Eric''s arm together. Eric was only wearing a ck sleeveless T-shirt, so a faint pinch mark was left on the arm. This was not the crux of the matter; the crux was that...


    such an action filled with a bit of intimacy and bitterness was usually only done between couples.


    But Elizabeth was obviously oblivious to this. Seeing the expressions of the two people, she furiously said, "What''s wrong?! He deserves to get pinched! All he knows is how to make money all day long.


    What a vulgar guy!" After her rant, she turned her head aside angrily, as if she didn''t n to pay any more attention to Eric.


    Even Julia, who was a little jealous in her heart, saw Eric''s slightly embarrassed expression and dropped her head with a mischievous smile on her face.


    "Oh, my legs are so sore!"


    After returning to the Lido Ind Hotel, Elisabeth put down the bag that Eric had given her, pounced on the couch, turned her head and said to Julia who came in afterwards, "Julia, please massage my legs. I''ll also manage your legs, otherwise your calves will definitely hurt tomorrow."


    "Okay," Julia sat down on the other side of the couch and lifted Elizabeth''s calves to her thighs and began massaging them gently.


    Elizabeth hummedfortably before muttering, "No, I figured out a way to let that guy spare some time for me, so I don''t want to deal with the thesis carelessly."


    Julia continued to massage Elisabeth''s legs. After thinking for a while, she said, "Liz, you have been fighting with Eric all day, but have you ever thought of a possibility?"


    "Hmm?" Elisabeth hummed in question without looking up at her.


    Juliaughed and said, "If you watch movies or TV shows, you will find that there is often a type of couple with a love-and-hate rtionship."


    Elisabeth suddenly looked up and jumped off of the couch. She got up, stepped on the couch and began waving her arms wildly, yelling, "Impossible! Impossible!"

 Chapter 207: Friends Pilot

    Julia woke up after hearing some voicesing from the living room. She rolled over while holding her pillow in an effort to go back to sleep, but soon the voices seemed to get louder.


    After a brief struggle, she reluctantly opened her eyes and noticed that the curtains shone with a subtle hint of light, indicating the sun had risen.


    She turned on the bedsidemp and looked at her watch which was adjusted to the local time in Venice; it was slightly past five o''clock in the morning.


    Lifting her nket and getting out of the bed, she put on her slippers and tied her hair in a bun as she walked to the living room to locate the source of the noise.


    The lights in the living room were not on, and the curtains leading to the balcony were also tightly drawn. The brightly shining TV was the only source of light in the room and also the source of the noise which had awoken her from her slumber.


    Elisabeth was sitting cross-legged on the couch with a bag of potato chips in her hands while staring at the TV intently. Suddenly, a small crackling noise came from her mouth.


    "Liz, why are you up so early?" Julia walked over to sit down beside Elisabeth and pulled the nket on the couch to cover her body.


    Elisabeth swallowed the snacks in her mouth, and then whispered, "I couldn''t sleep at all. I think I''m experiencing insomnia."


    Julia leaned against Elisabeth and asked, confused, "Insomnia, why?"Immediately afterwards, Julia suddenly remembered something and asked with an incredulous look on her face, "It''s not... because of what I saidst night, right? I was just joking. You didn''t think I was serious, did you?"


    Elisabeth remained quiet for a few moments before she quietly asked, "Julia, do you think that bastard has been secretly seducing me?"


    Julia blinked her eyes in quick session after hearing Elisabeth''s words and burst out intoughter.


    "Liz, you stayed up all night thinking about... Eric?" Despite the dim lighting in the room, the flush on Elisabeth''s face, caused by Julia''s remark, was quite visible. She lightly pped her friend in dissatisfaction and asked, "How can you joke around? I am asking you a very serious question."


    Julia had somehow managed to quell herughter, but seeing the embarrassed look on Elisabeth''s face, the corners of her mouth stretched again and she fell into another round of hystericalughter.


    "Hey! I... I''m getting angry!"


    Elisabeth was about to leave in anger, but Julia quickly held her back and finally replied to her earlier query, "Impossible, you don''t know that guy at all."


    Elisabeth saw that Julia had finally stoppedughing so she sat back down. However, hearing Julia''s reply, she protested, "Do you understand him?"


    "I don''t understand himpletely," Julia shook her head, but she continued, "But I know one thing."


    "What?" Elisabeth shook Julia''s arm and impatiently asked, "Quickly tell me."


    Julia realized that her friend was not in a mood for games so she quickly replied, "He has always been very arrogant and direct when interacting with women. If he wants you, he won''t bother to waste time seducing you, he is more likely to drag you into a room and press you down under him on the bed."


    Julia involuntarily recalled the night when she had been with Eric, and unknowingly felt a fire rising in her heart.


    Elisabeth''s tiny mouth had opened slightly due to her shock. She quickly said, "He won''t dare do such a thing to me, or my father will definitely ruin him."


    "Perhaps," Julia replied, nomitally.


    But inwardly, Julia was unsure about Elisabeth''s self-confidence. With Eric''s current wealth and status, if he truly did sleep with her, perhaps old Rupert Murdoch would be jovial, instead of angry.


    For News Corporation, which is still weak in the fields of film and television, Eric is the perfect partner. Nothing would be better than Eric bing a part of the Murdoch family.


    Elisabeth didn''t sense the doubt in Julia''s voice, and asked, "So, he is not interested in me, right?"


    "Of course not," Julia shook her head with a smile.


    Elisabeth breathed a long sigh of relief, as if a heavy load had been unloaded from her shoulder. However, after a few moments, she mumbled in dissatisfaction, "How can he not be interested in me? Am I not pretty enough?"


    "Hahaha..." Julia suddenly beganughing.


    Elisabeth also realized the error in her words. Seeing Julia who wasughing at her, she stretched out her little hand and pinched in anger.


    "Oh, don''t, don''t pinch," Julia quickly begged for mercy, took a few deep breaths, and said, "I suddenly remembered something that guy once told me."


    Before Elisabeth could speak, Julia quickly said, "He said that a woman is a very troublesome creature. When you approach her, she will ridicule you and sneer at you. When you stay away from her, she willin about you. This sentence is really too apt for you, hahaha."


    Seeing Elisabeth was about to attack her again, Julia quickly stopped her friend and said, "Ok, stop, Liz, while it''s still dark, let''s sleep for a while. Otherwise you will be tired throughout the day, um... I''m going to bed."


    Elisabeth immediately grabbed Julia, who was getting up, and said, "No, you can''t leave me alone."


    Julia was pulled back on the couch by Elisabeth. She helplessly asked, "Then what do you want?"


    "Let''s go for a run? Anyway, it''s already dawn outside."


    Julia immediately rejected the proposal, "It''s too early right now and there are likely not many people on the road. Italy is the birthce of the Mafia; who knows what the public order situation is like here.


    Maybe we''re out running and sackse out of nowhere and then we will be in for a terrible time. "


    Although Julia was just making things up, Elisabeth, thinking about her friend''s words, was genuinely scared and quickly replied, "Then... let''s watch TV. Anyway, I can''t sleep."


    After she finished speaking, she quickly put the remote control in Julia''s hands.


    "Okay, okay, you really look like a kid."


    Julia said and helplessly took the remote control.


    An Italian soap opera was ying on the TV, but Julia couldn''t understand it, so she changed the channel.


    After changing several channels in a row, a burst of cheerful cannedughter sounded on the track, and Julia stopped herself from changing the channel.


    After hearing a few lines of dialogue, Elisabeth immediately said, "It''s my TV station."


    Julia also recognized the Fox TV logo, so she put the remote control down.


    The scene on the TV is inside a coffee shop. A group of friends are discussing how the wife of a character named Ross has suddenly be a lesbian. After a few funny lines, Julia and Elisabeth were hooked.


    Suddenly, the character named Phoebe attempted to remove the bad aura from Ross''s head and made the two girlsugh out loud.


    "Wow, it''s so funny! Howe I''ve never seen it before?" Elisabeth asked, pping her thighs inughter.


    Julia was alsoughing, but she quickly responded, "It should be the prime time in America. This is probably the show''s pilot, otherwise, we would have surely heard of such a hrious si before."


    Elisabeth nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I''ll write down the name so we can keep watching in the future."


    While the two were talking, Ross on the TV said to his sister Monica, "I don''t want to be single. I just want to be married again."


    As soon as his voice fell, the sound of footsteps sounded. Soon, the door of the coffee shop was pushed open and a bride in a wedding dress walked in, causing everyone to look at Ross with surprise.


    Immediately, Chandler waved his hand expectantly to the door and said loudly, "And I just want a million dors!"


    This time, of course ''the wish'' was not fulfilled.


    "Hahaha, it''s it''s so funny," Elisabeth held her stomach and began to guffaw. After a few moments, she raised her head and nced at Julia next to her, only to find that her eyes were open wide in shock.


    "Hey, Julia, what''s the matter with you?" Elisabeth poked at Julia''s waist with her finger.


    Julia pointed to the TV screen and said, "Look, that... the bride in the wedding dress is Jennifer Aniston."


    Elisabeth looked back at the screen and casually nodded, "Yeah, she''s a beautiful girl, but what''s the matter?"


    "You... you don''t remember, Liz?" Julia quickly spoke, "Jennifer Aniston, she is that guy''s girlfriend. In other words, this show is the one that he directed some time ago."


    Elisabeth''s eyes slowly opened wider, recalling a few shots in Running Out of Time, there was indeed a scene that had the show running on a TV, "Friends?"


    Julia nodded slightly. She usually kept an eye out for news rted to Eric. Therefore, when Eric began to promote the show, she memorized its name.


    Elisabeth looked at Julia for a few moments before pouting her tiny mouth in dissatisfaction and said, "Why is he everywhere?!"


    Julia also smiled and said, "If I recall correctly... it seems that today is indeed the date when the pilot episode of Friends is set to air."


    ***


    Because of the new information they learnt, although  the two girls smiled from time to time, they did notugh as much as they had in the beginning, but their eyes also never left the TV screen, even when themercial break took ce they didn''t change channels.


    Near the end of the second episode, Rachel, yed by Jennifer Aniston, called her ex-bridesmaid to "wish" her that the child born to her ex-fianc would be ugly and bald like its dad.


    Elisabeth quickly said, "This woman is so cheap. I don''t like her.

 Chapter 208: Qualitative Leap

    Julia didn''t know how to reply to Elisabeth''s words. Although she seemed to be just evaluating the characters in the show, a hint of jealousy could be heard in her voice.


    In fact, Julia herself felt a bit jealous.


    Although only two episodes have aired so far, anyone can see that Friends is destined to be a superhit show which would naturally lead to the six main actors turning into overnight stars, and Jennifer, who ys Rachel, will definitely be the most popr among the six.


    In addition, she would be able to maintain her poprity for many years toe due to the natural longevity of a TV show, as opposed to a movie.


    ''Eric is so kind to her,'' she thought while gently biting her lips.


    After the two pilot episodes ended,mercials had begun and the two women noticed that the outside sky was already bright.


    Julia stood up and stretched before taking a shower. She walked out of the bathroom a few minutester and asked, "Liz, do you want to go to the restaurant downstairs for breakfast?"


    Elisabeth shook her head and replied, "I''m a little tired, so I''ll stay inside. Julia, can you bring me a fruit sd?"


    Julia nodded, got dressed and walked out of their hotel room.


    Back in the room, Elisabeth continued watching the TV screen for a while before she suddenly remembered something. She stood up, picked up the phone and dialed a series of numbers from her memory.


    A few minutester, Julia returned to the room with two take-away breakfasts. She saw Elisabeth put down the phone and asked casually, "Who were you talking to?"


    "New York," Elisabeth replied, but realized that Julia seemed uninterested. She walked back to the couch, sat down and said, "I just talked to the Fox TV station in New York. They said the ratings of Friends have been calcted."


    Julia gave one of the sds to Elisabeth and walked to the refrigerator to get two cartons of milk. Hearing Elisabeth''s words, Julia still seemed uninterested and asked, "Was that necessary? The show''s script was written by Eric himself. The ratings will definitely not be low.


    It might have even crossed 20 million by the end."


    "31.7 million..."


    Elisabeth replied hoarsely as if something was stuck in her throat. She is a media student, and unlikeymen, she is able to understand the meaning behind this number.


    "Oh..." Julia poured the milk into two sses and responded casually. Suddenly, she turned her head and asked, wide-eyed, "How much did you say?!"


    Elisabeth fiddled with her fruit sd and slowly replied, "The average ratings of the two episodes are 31.7 million. The highest number even reached 35 million. It''s... incredible."


    "Oh my God," Julia took a few sips of milk in an attempt to suppress the shock in her heart and quickly asked, "Isn''t it a mistake?"


    "How could it be wrong? The people at the TV station checked three times. They''re going crazy."


    It was crazy.


    After Foxpiled the ratings data of the first two episodes of Friends, even if it waste at night, the news seemingly had wings and spread throughout the film and television industry and countless newspapers in just an hour. Many people who had fallen asleep were awakened by the shocking news.


    During the ''90s, the main sources of audio-visual entertainment were movies and television. Therefore, ratings of more than 30 million were not umon.


    But such ratings were only obtained by an important ceremony orpetition, or a major plot twist or season finale of a hit drama that has umted several years of fame.


    However, a si obtaining such ratings was simply unprecedented. And more importantly, Fox was a TV station that had been around for less than a decade. Although it was nominally ranked fourth in North America, itgged far behind the top three TV stations i.e. ABC, CBS and NBC.


    As a result, the ratings of Friends had a special significance for Fox. Prior to it, Fox''s highest ratings record was from an interview with Michael Jackson. And even that had only 19 million viewers.


    The ratings of Friends increased Fox''s highest ratings record by more than 10 million in one fell swoop.


    And the person most critical to such sess, Eric, was woken up early in the morning by the tireless ringing of the phone in his room.


    The first call was from Barry Diller himself. Barry Diller informed him about the phenomenal ratings of Friends, expressed his congrattions, and then hoped that Eric could return to the United States as soon as possible.


    He also informed him that News Corporation''s Chairman Rupert Murdoch would arrive in Los Angeles in a few days and that he really wanted to meet him in person. The two chatted for another ten minutes.


    After Barry Diller repeatedly asked Eric to return to Los Angeles as soon as possible, he reluctantly hung up the phone.


    Eric put down the phone and before he had time to ponder over the news he received from Barry Diller, his phone rang again.


    The second one was from Jeffrey, and then, the third, fourth, fifth


    Eric spent the next two full hours answering the phone. Both of his ears were red due to the phone being held against them for so long. Finally, aorund nine o''clock in the morning, Eric couldn''t stand it anymore and unplugged the phone line.


    He figured that he had already talked to most of the more important people so it didn''t matter if he didn''t answer any more calls.


    Moreover, the purpose behind most calls was not very pure. Except for Jennifer who quickly called and congratted him, most callers were lobbying him to obtain broadcasting rights to Friends.


    Last year, out of caution, Fox only signed the contract for the first season of Friends. This was an open secret.


    Now, Friends has just begun broadcasting and has already achieved such amazing feats. Even if the ratings fluctuate in the future, with ratings of 30 million during the pilot, the future ratings will not be too bad.


    As a result, if the other three major TV stations continue to remain indifferent to Friends, those at their helm simply do not deserve to sit in their positions.


    However, these people are indeed very well connected. They sent representatives in just a few hours and expressed their intentions to Eric. NBC even sent John Aniston, James Brooks and Robert Shaye to lobby on their behalf.


    Except for John Aniston who originally worked at NBC, Eric couldn''t figure out how the other two were rted to NBC. James Brooks is a famous producer who has maintained close cooperation with Fox over the years. Wasn''t he afraid of going behind Fox''s back?


    Moreover, Robert Shaye''s actions left Eric even more confused.


    In fact, regarding the performance of Friends, Eric had his own estimates. Since Running Out of Time was still in theaters, the three episodes of Friends that were advertising cements have aroused strong public curiosity.


    Coupled with the gimmick that Eric personally wrote the script and directed the first two episodes, as well as Fox sparing no effort in publicity, Eric had predicted that the pilot ratings of Friends would definitely be in the 20 million range. Anything lower than that would be pathetic.


    But when the actual ratings of over 30 million came out, even he was greatly surprised.


    The ratings of an American TV show usually follows a set process. Going from 10 million to 20 million was an easy quantitative change. A decent TV show could reach 20 million over time depending on the ups and downs of the plot. But going from 20 million to 30 million was a very tough qualitative leap.


    Only a very small number of popr TV shows had one or two such episodes and that too after they had umted years of poprity.


    However, Friends has created such a miracle during its pilot which is enough for it to leave its name behind in the annals of TV history.


    Therefore, it is only natural that Friends has caused such a sensation in the entire North American film and television circle.

 Chapter 209: Ratings Miracle

    Next morning, headlines such as "Friends", "30 Million Viewership" and "Ratings Miracle" appeared in bold in arge number of North American newspapers along with numerous reviews  of the show.


    "The spoiled Rachel Green, the clean-freak Monica Geller, the entric Phoebe Buffay, the nervous Ross Geller, the sarcastic Chandler Bing, and the simple-minded Joey Tribbiani...


    In just two episodes, Eric Williams introduced six characters with distinctive personalities and caused the audience to fall in love with them."


    "A plot that is close to reality which the audience can easily rte with along with unlimited humor. The 31.7 million ratings score of Friends is the greatest empirical proof of this.


    When the audience watched the six characters living in an apartment in New York, they were able to see parts of the characters in themselves. This may be the most important factor behind the sess of this si, just like ABC''s Growing Pains.


    Eric Williams is worthy of being called a genius since he managed to turn everyday life and happenings of these six characters into interesting conversations, which firmly captured the audience''s hearts."


    "The interesting dialogue between the six protagonists of Friends will undoubtedly be popr amongst youngsters for a long time toe. In just two episodes, the personalities of the six protagonists have been fully shaped. I look forward to the future plot development.


    I fully believe that Eric Williams, who wrote the script personally, will definitely bring more surprises to the audience in terms of plot. There is no doubt that Friends is another of Eric Williams'' masterpieces."


    "..."


    Aside from the countless reviewsplimenting the show, of course, there were also reviews filled with criticism.


    Los Angeles based Metropolitan News-Enterprise did a simple survey through random interviews with the audience of Friends and found that less than 60% of the audience were interested in the plot.


    Over 20% of those interviewed said that Friends did not meet their expectations while the remaining 20% thought that Friends was a pretty average si.


    Therefore, Metropolitan News-Enterprise concluded that the miracle of more than 30 million viewership of Friends was entirely the result of a series of publicity and hype.


    The results of the survey indicated that the quality of Friends did not meet the psychological expectations of many viewers who had high expectations for Eric Williams, and that the ratings would surely fall.


    Simr to Metropolitan News-Enterprise, many other newspapers and media outlets were pessimistic of the future ratings of Friends, but such remarks could only fool ordinary readers.


    Anyone with the slightest understanding of the broadcasting industry would understand that although the ratings miracle of Friends was supported by hype, if the show''s quality had been poor, it would''ve been impossible for it to reach an average viewership of 31.7 million.


    With just two episodes, Friends has created a viewer base of more than 30 million. Even if there is a major decline in ratings in the future, the ratings would still continue to exceed 20 million at the least. During the ''90s, TV shows with ratings of more than 20 million were few and far between.


    ***


    In the past, the three major television stations in North America, ABC, NBC, and CBS, didn''t pay much attention to Fox TV. Even the youngest of them, ABC, had been around for almost half a century while the history of NBC and CBS was even longer.


    Over the years, more than one media group had tried to challenge the status of the three major television stations, but without exception, they all failed.


    Therefore, when News Corporation appointed Barry Diller - who was known as the top dog in the media industry - to take charge of their TVwork business and even when Fox TV became the fourthrgest TVwork in the United States, in the eyes of the three major TV stations, Fox was still just a neer in the North American broadcasting industry.


    After all, the growth of a TV station was dependent on the ratings of their shows. However, Fox had not had any hit TV shows in the past years.


    Before Friends, the highest ratings record of Fox TV did not even exceed 20 million while the highest ratings record of the three major TV stations that jointly owned the Super Bowl''s  broadcasting rights was more than 100 million.


    Even without the Super Bowl, the three major TV stations each had a few hit shows with ratings of more than 20 million.


    Therefore, although News Corp.


    made a lot of noise in North America, such as when Rupert Murdoch obtained American citizenship in order to create a televisionwork, the three major TV stations all scoffed at the "upstart" from Australia while waiting for him to return home like each of their previous challengers.


    However, Friends obtaining ratings of more than 30 million was aplete wake-up call for the top executives of the three major TV stations.


    They suddenly realized that Fox TV, a neer that had only been around for a few years, already had more than 100worked television stations, covering more than 90% of the United States.


    The first reaction of the three major TV stations was that Fox could not be allowed to continue to develop. After all, the domestic TV market in the United States was limited. If Fox gained market share, it naturally meant that the three major TV stations would lose market share.


    The top executives of the three major TV stations held a rare emergency meeting. After several hours of negotiation, the first countermeasure they decided upon was to take away the broadcasting rights of the second season of Friends from Fox at all costs.


    They even agreed to take over the broadcasting rights for the remaining episodes of the first season of Friends, even if they had to pay a high penalty for Eric Williams.


    Without Friends, Fox''s pace of expansion would certainly slow down and the three major TV stations would have plenty of time to slowly destroy Fox, the "outsider" who attempted to steal from them.


    However, since the three major TV stations could think up such ns, Fox''s CEO Barry Diller and News Corp''s Chairman Rupert Murdoch could also anticipate their actions.


    Although several of Eric''s films had brought great benefits to Fox Films, Rupert Murdoch previously did not pay too much attention to him, and only regarded him as a neer director who was working with hispany. Naturally, he never cared to meet Eric. However, this time was different.


    The newspaper business of Murdoch''s News Corp. had reached its limits in terms of growth. As a result, his main focus was now on his Fox TVwork. Eric''s Friends had brought an opportunity for the rapid expansion of his TVwork.


    Since the three major TV stations were nning to make their move, Murdoch had toe out in person to win Eric over with better terms.


    When Eric was attending the opening ceremony of the 46th Venice Film Festival on the evening of September 4, a huge private Boeing jetnded at the Marco Polo International Airport in Venice.

 Chapter 210: Back to L.A.

    "Thank you," Eric replied to the pretty blonde flight attendant who handed him a ss of cocktail at the small bar.


    He was currently on the private jet of the Murdoch family. Eric had not expected that Murdoch would be so eager as to send a private jet to Venice to pick him up. Still, it would be rude of him to decline the jet that was essentially delivered to his doorstep.


    Moreover,pared to his first-ss seat, a fully equipped private jet would certainly be much morefortable.


    After attending the opening ceremony of the Venice Film Festivalst night and attending the premiere of The Others in the morning, Eric handed over the rest to Jonathan Demme and others, and boarded the huge Boeing private jet back to Los Angeles.


    Since Friends achieved such amazing results, it would be a lie if he said that he wasn''t in a hurry to return to Los Angeles.


    In addition to his assistant, n, and a Vice President of Fox TV who came to receive him, Julia and Elisabeth were also on the ne. The two women were sitting on the couch near him, secretly whispering something. n and the Fox V.P. were sitting in the other lounge to give Eric some "privacy."


    "What are you talking about so happily, Julia?" Eric turned towards the two women and asked.


    Julia looked up and was about to reply when Elisabeth red at him and yelled, "What''s it to you!"


    Since learning about the ratings miracle of Friends Elisabeth''s attitude towards Eric had gotten even worse, possibly due to being annoyed by his sess.


    "If you''re talking about me, then it is my business," Eric replied with a smile before he stood up, walked towards the couch and sat down beside Julia.


    Julia saw Eric sitting down beside her and wanted to say something but she stopped herself, however, Elisabeth protested, "Hey, who asked you to sit here?"


    "Liz, I''m a guest. How can you be so rude?"


    "Since you''re a guest, you should be more conscious of your position," Elisabeth replied in a confrontational manner.


    "You are so inhospitable, Liz, it seems that when I return to Los Angeles, I''ll have to speak to Mr. Murdoch about you. Maybe he should enroll you in adies etiquette training ss or something," Eric replied.


    Wittingly or unwittingly, he used the tone of an elder, which made Elisabeth, who was already annoyed, very angry.


    She stared at him for a while, but couldn''t find a harshereback, so she suddenly stood up and said, "I''m going to rest. Enjoy yourself, Mr. Guest!"


    After she finished speaking, she walked to her bedroom under the tter of her high heels.


    Soon, silence prevailed as the two flight attendants had also quietly left, leaving Eric and Julia alone in the cabin.


    Julia nced at Eric, who was sitting next to herfortably and leaning back to rest. She straightened her waist, but continued to quietly sit beside Eric and began to unconsciously enjoy the calm atmosphere.


    The past few days in Venice had been the longest time she spent with Eric when she was not working. She found thatpared to his irritable and controlling self when he was at work, Eric was very casual most of the time in private.


    Even when Elisabeth deliberately confronted him, Eric never lost his temper. Through their time together, Eric''s image in her heart had greatly changed. At least, she no longer believed that he was the Devil.


    Even after some time passed, Eric didn''t speak to her. Finally, she secretly turned her face and looked at the man next to her. Due to running around over the past days, in addition to not being able to rest well because of jetg, Eric''s youthful face looked tired with a stubble growing on his chin.


    However, this made him look a lot more mature which made Julia''s heart beat uncontrobly, and she even had the urge to reach out and touch it.


    However, in the end, she couldn''t gather the courage to do so and the urge in her heart soon died down with a regretful sigh.


    Still, she reached out and took the empty wine ss from Eric''s hand and put it aside, and began to think about the miraculous ratings of Friends, including the things Elisabeth told her about the broadcasting industry.


    She had known from the start that Eric was brilliant since every film he made was a blockbuster hit. Even his first TV show easily created a ratings miracle. But she didn''t have any specific measurement of how brilliant he was.


    It was only after the slightly more well-informed Elisabeth exined it to her that Julia began to understand the height of Eric''s current position.


    Eric, who had fallen asleep next to her, seemed to find his sleeping position ufortable so he unconsciously moved down such that his head was just resting on Julia''sp. Moreover, his arm subconsciously hugged her slender waist.


    Julia, who had been in thought, was startled by Eric''s sudden action. She had thought he was awake but when she looked down, she found that he was sleepingfortably on herp.


    She softly chuckled and finally managed to gather up her courage as she stretched out her fingers and gently touched his handsome, angr face.


    The blond flight attendant who had been bartending for Eric not long ago appeared in the cabin again, seemingly to ask the guests if they needed anything. However, when she saw the intimacy between the man and woman on the couch, her eyes opened wide.


    She naturally knew Julia and Eric''s identities, and was even aware of the gossip in Hollywood, but seeing the young and famous director sleeping on thep of Julia Roberts, a top Hollywood actress, the blond flight attendant still found it a little weird.


    Seeing the surprised look on the flight attendant''s face, Julia''s face turned red, but she reached out and made a gesture at her to keep quiet. This gesture awakened the surprised flight attendant who quickly showed Julia a professional smile and nned to return.


    Julia stopped her and made a few gestures at her. The blond flight attendant nodded and quickly brought a nket and gently put it on Eric.


    After she left, Julia finally rxed and looked down at Eric''s sleeping face in a daze.


    ***


    Because Venice is nine hours ahead, when the jet arrived in Los Angeles, after more than ten hours of flight, the local time was less than eight o''clock in the evening of the same day.


    Many people had learned that Eric would arrive in Los Angeles, so arge wave of people were waiting outside the airport. Fortunately, he came back on a private jet, and the itinerary was secret.


    If he had taken a normal ne as originally nned, he would definitely be blocked by arge wave of reporters while exiting the airport.


    Just as Eric''s group exited the airport, a few groups of people surrounded them. These people didn''t know each other but they understood the others'' purpose immediately, so they quickly rushed towards Eric.


    "Mr. Williams, I am Mr. Murdoch''s assistant..."


    "Mr. Williams, Mr. Eisner asked me to wait for you here..."


    "Eric, we met when we were recording "Sofia Talk Show." I''m the head of CBS''s Los Angeles branch..."


    Eric smiled and shook hands with the groups of people who were rushing to introduce themselves. After everyone was done, he finally said, "I''m so sorry, but I just got back to Los Angeles and I''m very tired. Can we talk tomorrow?"


    Naturally, it was impossible for these people to leave simply because of Eric''s words. They continued to insist even when Eric told them to leave but they didn''t dare to annoy him.


    Eric had expected such a situation, but even he didn''t expect that there would be so many people who woulde to the airport to intercept him.


    He hurried into a car specially sent by Jeffrey. After n ensured that all the luggage was put in the car, Eric bid farewell to everyone outside the window, especially to Julia and Elisabeth standing outside the crowd.


    Seeing Eric''s car leaving in the distance, the people that had wanted to intercept him walked to their car in disappointment and nned to leave.


    Of course Elisabeth didn''t mind when the others left, but seeing that the assistant sent by her father also nned to leave, the tiny me in her heart ignited, and she yelled, "Hey, Vincent, am I invisible?!!"


    The assistant named Vincent had been focused on Eric and did not notice Elisabeth who came out afterwards. He hurried over and apologized, "Oh, sorry, Miss Murdoch, I didn''t notice you. I also failed to receive Mr. Williams.


    I don''t know how to exin this to Mr. Murdoch."


    Elisabeth took Julia towards the Bentley and said angrily, "I don''t care how you exin! First take us to Beverly Hills!"


    "But," Vincent followed and hesitantly replied, "Miss Murdoch, I have to report to Mr. Murdoch as soon as possible. He is still waiting at the Century City headquarters for me."


    "It''s sote! Would you have us girls take a taxi back home?! What if we run into a bad man?!" Elisabeth yelled and put their luggage next to Vincent before she took Julia inside the Bentley and mmed the door.


    Vincent wryly smiled and spoke to the Fox TV V.P. who was neglected by Elisabeth. The two put the two bags into the trunk before he sat next to the driver and told him to drive. At the same time, he picked up his phone and dialed a number.

 Chapter 211: Offers

    As the car drove down the road, Ericughed and said, "I really didn''t expect that besides the three major TV stations, even cable TV stations such as HBO would send someone. But, why did Michael Eisner send someone?"


    Friends has achieved an unprecedented feat in the TV industry. Thanks to the pride he gained from being chased by bigwigs of the TV industry, n was also a little excited when he heard Eric''s question. After thinking for a while, he replied, "I think Mr. Eisner sent someone on behalf of ABC."


    Hearing n''s remark, Eric instantly recalled the acquisition of ABC by Disney that took ce during his previous life. However, although Eric was not certain of the exact year of the acquisition, he did remember that it was around the end of ''90s.


    So, why did Michael Eisner send someone on behalf of ABC now in 1991?


    Noticing the puzzled expression on Eric''s face from the rearview mirror, n quickly borated, "Disney and ABC have always had a close working rtionship. Even when I was a kid, Disney cartoons aired only on ABC."


    Eric was quiet for a few minutes before he said, "n, take two days to gather all the information regarding Disney and ABC''s past cooperation." He paused before adding, "Actually, gather all the information regarding the rtionship between the other major TV stations and Hollywood''s Big Six studios."


    "No problem, but it may take around a week or so," n replied.


    "Take your time, there''s no hurry, but make sure that the information is urate."


    "Alright. By the way, Eric, where are we going now?" n asked again.


    In public, n addressed Eric as Mr. Williams, but in private, he simply called him by his name. This was actually something Eric told him to do. After all, n was in histe-twenties, almost ten years older than Eric.


    If he addressed him formally even in private, Eric himself would feel awkward.


    Eric casually replied, "Home; it''s prettyte at night. There''s no hurry so we don''t need to disturb anyone. I''ll just make a call to Jeffrey and the others."


    ***


    Back at Eric''s Beverly Hills mansion, n and the driver helped move his luggage inside.


    Drew, who had been waiting for Eric to return, jumped on the pile of luggage and started looking for gifts without waiting for the outsiders to leave. Eric lightly knocked on her forehead before sending n and the driver away.


    "Over the next few days, if Fox contacts you, find an excuse to avoid them. If other TV stations contact you, take some time and meet them."


    Standing at the door of the mansion, Eric informed n.


    n is also aware that Eric is nning to y hard to get with Fox, but he still asked, doubtfully, "Eric, what if Murdoch himselfes?"


    "He won''t," Eric confidently answered, "Previously, sending a private ne to Venice to pick me up was just Fox''s way of expressing sincerity for the subsequent negotiations. In fact, it showed that they were a little anxious to begin negotiations.


    If old Murdoch appears in person, then naturally I will ughter Fox TV like a fat sheep."


    "Eric, do you n to switch Friends to a different TV station?" n subconsciously asked, but regretted it right as he finished speaking since it was a sensitive matter.


    Naturally, Eric wouldn''t tell n about his ns. Although n has always been clear-headed and loyal, it is difficult to guarantee that he will not reveal some things in the face of temptation.


    The surest way of ensuring anyone''s loyalty is to reveal as little as possible to them so that the opponent is not able to tempt them into betrayal no matter how many chips they employ.


    If his opponents learn of his ns through n, it would be difficult for Eric to get the most benefit from them.


    However, he also noticed from n''s expression that he had unintentionally asked the question, so he replied with a smile, "Well, that depends on the offers by the different parties. We will naturally choose the one with the best offer."


    n nodded and refrained from asking any more as he quickly left.


    Back at the vi, Drew picked up the phone in the living room, so Eric had to spend a long time on the phone like the morning when the ratings of Friends were released. This time, Rupert Murdoch had personally called and invited Eric to have lunch the next afternoon.


    Eric made a few random reasons and declined his invitation.


    He nned to at least publicly get in touch with the three major TV stations, so that Fox would feel a sense of urgency. Then, he would negotiate with them so as to maximize his benefits.


    Although the other major TV stations were very eager, Eric had never had any intention of switching Friends to a different TV station.


    Compared to the "youthful" Fox, the three major TV stations are like gray-haired old men. Even if they cooperate with him, it is inevitable that they will attempt to establish their supremacy. However, Fox is different.


    Eric knows that in just another decade Fox will almost be on the same level as the three major TV stations. But apart from Eric himself, even Murdoch, the head of News Corporation, would not expect this. Hecks confidence in the prospects of Fox TV without Friends.


    As a result, ensuring that it remains on Fox is very important to him.


    The next day, the first thing Eric did was to visit the cast of Friends. Afterwards, at noon, under the introduction of Michael Eisner, he met with a Senior Vice President of ABC who came to Los Angeles. After eating together, he went to meet an NBC executive in the evening with Robert Shaye.


    He spent the entire next morning ying golf with the head of CBS''s Los Angeles branch.


    Actually, the offers presented by the three major TV stations were quite very generous. They didn''t even mention anything about buying out the episodes at a fixed price. They directly proposed to allow him to obtain a share of the show''s advertising revenue which is where the big bucks lie.


    And ording to the information Eric read previously, the proportion of the advertising revenue''s share they quoted was quite high. In addition, the three major TV stations also revealed their intention to intercept Fox and take over the remaining episodes in the first season of Friends.


    During these contacts, Eric also realized that the three major TV stations must have reached some consensus before, and may have even formed a loose alliance. But such an "alliance" could be easily blown away by a light gust of wind.


    The three major TV stations are in fiercepetition with each other. Although they asionally cooperate, each station strives to earn better ratings than the other two stations.


    Naturally, in the matter of Friends, each of them likely have their own ns since Friends is destined to be the trump card on any TV station.


    Although the three major TV stations had reached a prior consensus, when it actually came to getting the show, they were each looking to beat the other two which allowed Eric to implement his ns smoothly without too much pressure.


    After all, if the three major TV giants of North America jointly pressurized him, he would certainly have to consider the consequences of offending all three of them by ultimately leaving Friends with Fox.

 Chapter 212: Player or Pawn?

    Although Eric kept his focus on Friends, he still continued to take care of hispany. On his third day back in Los Angeles, Eric, along with Jeffrey and Robert Shaye, came to the new building chosen as the headquarters of Firefly Films.


    "Eric, what do you think about this ce?"


    After the three got out of the car, Robert Shaye asked while pointing to a seven-story building near the highway.


    There are not many high-rise buildings in Los Angeles except for the City Center. Therefore, this seven-story office building with a silver and metallic design located in Burbank was to Eric''s liking.


    However, after looking around, he pointed to the highway nearby and asked, "Bob, this ce close to the highway. Won''t it be noisy?"


    "No," Robert Shaye shook his head and said, "I have been inside the building with Jeffrey previously. The sound instion inside is very good. With the windows closed, the sound of cars outside is muffled. Another plus point about this property is that we can also get the approx.


    10,000 square feet ofnd on the north side of this building. In the future, we can build a few more office buildings there if necessary."


    Eric looked at the map and asked, "In that case, why didn''t they build an office building a little further away from the highway in the first ce?"


    "The real estatepany that owned this piece ofnd originally nned to build a small office park here. Unfortunately, after the stock market crashst year, they were left short on cash and could only build this building.


    So, Eric, if we buy this property, I think it would be a good investment for Firefly."


    Eric inwardly nodded. If they bought the property , it would be Firefly''s first major piece of real estate.


    Even before his rebirth, real estate had been a very lucrative investment. Even though the North American real estate market had experienced several crashes such as the Subprime mortgage crisis, the overall market had always been climbing.


    "How much will it cost to buy the whole thing?"


    "20 million," Robert Shaye replied. Seemingly afraid that Eric might find it too expensive, he quickly continued, "Eric, this is a very good price. You can''t find another such property in Burbank with so muchnd and a highway nearby."


    Eric smiled and asked Jeffrey standing beside him, "Jeffrey, what do you think?"


    "Bob and I are of the same mind. I also suggest that we buy all of thisnd. This ce is perfectly suitable to be the new headquarters of Firefly.


    Disney, Warner and Universal are all located within a radius of two miles," Jeffrey answered before he pointed to a hill on the map and said, "Eric, look at that hillside beyond the D sign."


    Eric looked down at the gentle slope that Jeffrey pointed at which was likely an extension of Beverly Hills, but he did not see the famous Hollywood sign.


    Jeffrey exined, "I heard that the owner of that hillside was the famous Howard Hughes, but I don''t know which real estatepany currently owns it."


    Eric looked at the hillside yearningly in a daze.


    Seeing Eric''s look of yearning, Jeffrey and Robert looked at each other before they both smiled.


    Howard Hughes; every man in Hollywood with the slightest of ambition perhaps yearns to be the second Howard Hughes.


    After a while, Eric recovered from his daze and said , seemingly having made his decision, "Okay, let''s go in and see."


    Robert Shaye followed Eric with a smile on his face. This piece ofnd was introduced to him by a friend in hopes that he could facilitate the transaction.


    Although Robert Shaye would not get any direct benefits from the transaction, he would be able to have the real estatepany owe him a favor.Of course, no such favor is worth $20 million. After all, Robert Shaye is also a shareholder of Firefly.


    In fact, there is no shortage of buyers for thend thanks to its great location. Some may even be willing to pay a higher price, however, few hold enough cash to pay all at once like Firefly.


    The real estatepany was willing to sell for $20 million since it was in urgent need of money to alleviate its financial crisis caused by the housing market crash.


    ***


    The three strolled around and sat down on a bench next to awn to rest when Jeffrey asked, "Eric, are you nning to attend the Friends celebration party tonight?"


    Robert Shaye also turned his attention to Eric.


    Eric shook his head before he nodded. Seeing the confused expressions on the faces of the two older men, he quickly exined with a smile, "I will go. If I dy, Murdoch will definitely sense something."


    Jeffrey smiled and replied, "Since you have avoided seeing them over thest few days, Fox is likely very anxious. They must have heard that the three major TV stations are nning to snatch the broadcasting rights for remaining episodes of Friends."


    Eric looked up at the blue sky of Los Angeles and said in a rxed voice, "If they remained calm, they wouldn''t have such worries. But, in the current situation, I guess even Rupert Murdoch is unable to remain calm."


    "Why is this?" Robert Shaye asked curiously. Jeffrey also looked confused.


    Eric exined, "If the three major TV stations do take over Friends, Fox will definitely not sit quietly. Then, awsuit will ensue during the course of which Friends won''t air.


    Such awsuit wouldst at least a year and a half during which time the three major TV stations can slowly suppress Fox TV and its rising momentum. But, if such awsuit does happen, we will also suffer since Friends won''t air.


    When thewsuit finally ends and the dust settles, who knows whether the three major TV stations will honor the promise they made to us in the beginning."


    After hearing this, Robert Shaye suggested, "Then leave the first season alone, but give the broadcast rights of the following seasons to the three major TV stations. I have estimated that with their scale the advertising revenue we can obtain will increase by at least 10%."


    Eric turned his head to look at Robert Shaye and said, "Robert, try having a broader view. Even if we get a higher share of the advertising revenue, we will still remain just a pawn on the chess board. Since we have such a good opportunity, why don''t we try to be the yer?"


    Robert Shaye was momentarily stunned before he wryly smiled and thought inwardly, ''Am I getting old, or is this boy simply that ambitious?''


    On the coastal road, a purple Lamborghini Diablo quickly drove through the traffic.


    Jennifer, who was wearing a white white evening gown, took out her makeup mirror and checked her makeup from time to time.


    She looked at herself from all angles and fixed her bangs before she turned to Eric and asked, "Eric, can you check if there is any problem with my makeup?"


    Eric held the steering wheel and nced at her before quickly turning his head back and replied, "Yes, it''s beautiful. But, Jenny, did you choose your dress by yourself?"


    "Yep. It''s beautiful, right?" If she wasn''t in a car, Jennifer would definitely stand up and show Eric her dress.


    Eric didn''t speak for a few minutes before he said, "Tomorrow, I will call Kapoor and let him find a stylist for you. You are a big star now, so you should learn how to dress yourself."


    "Yeah," Jennifer heard the words "big star" from Eric''s mouth and pridefully nodded. However, she wasn''t stupid so she quickly understood his meaning. She hesitantly asked, almost forebodingly, "You mean there''s a problem with my outfit?"


    Eric nodded and gently replied, "There''s no problem per se, but this dress is more suitable for attending an awards ceremony or walking on the red carpet, not parties."


    Jennifer looked down and carefully studied her dress, especially the extra long skirt, and immediately pulled Eric''s arm as she said, hysterically, "Uhh... you''re... you''re right. No!


    Eric, turn around! I have to go back and change!"


    "Hey hey, don''t make trouble, I''m driving."


    Jennifer quickly retracted her hand, but still said, "Quickly turn around, I need to go back and change. This is the first party I''m attending with you. I don''t want to beughed at."


    Eric tapped his wrist watch and said, "It''s toote to go back now."


    "Ugh..." Jennifer buried her little head in her arms before she suddenly looked up at Eric and yelled, "If you noticed that my outfit was wrong from the start, why didn''t you tell me?!"


    "I didn''t really notice your dress," he replied.


    "Hmph, then what should we do now?"


    Eric looked at a nearby sign and said, "There is a way. We''re very close to Virginia''s house. If you want, we can go see if she has any dress that suits you. I have the key to her house."


    "No thanks, I would rather be aughingstock," she replied and turned her head in annoyance.


    Eric shrugged helplessly and said, "Forget it then, but be careful not to trip over your skirt at the party."


    The celebration party for Friends did not take ce in a hotel, but in a mansion in Malibu owned by the Murdochs.


    After reaching their destination, Eric gave the key to the valet and walked inside with Jennifer.


    Upon receiving the news of Eric''s arrival, Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller, who had arrived early, appeared to receive him.


    Eric was a little surprised to see Elisabeth, whom he hadn''t seen in a few days, walk out with old Murdoch. Although she had adylike smile on her face, Eric could sense a hint of reluctance.

 Chapter 213: Nicole: Expert at digging her own grave

    Looking at Rupert Murdoch, who was currently younger than sixty, Eric''s first thought was News Corporation''s eavesdropping scandal that happened in the early teens.


    Perhaps because of the eavesdropping scandal, the media used pictures in which he looked very old and infirm, but at this time, Murdoch seemed full of energy, his remaining few hair neatlybed, wearing rimless sses with a friendly smile on his face.


    While Eric observed him, Murdoch was also carefully examining the young man less than twenty years old standing opposite him. However, this all took less than a few seconds before the two reached out their hands at the same time.


    "Hello, Mr. Murdoch, I''m Eric Williams."


    Although Murdoch must have seen his photo, out of courtesy as their first meeting, Eric still introduced himself.


    "Hello, Eric," Murdoch shook hands with Eric, then turned to Jennifer, "And this must be the beautiful Miss Jennifer Aniston. Your performance in Friends was truly wonderful."


    Since it was the first time she had beenplimented in front of her boyfriend, Jennifer was a bit embarrassed but she quickly reached out and shook hands, "Thank you, Mr. Murdoch."


    When Eric and Jennifer were greeting Barry Diller, old Murdoch nced at his daughter.


    Elisabeth couldn''t help feeling a little upset when she saw the intimate couple in front of her. After she realized this, she felt even more ufortable.


    But soon, she made up a reason to justify her emotions. She imed to herself that she was feeling upset for Julia. A few days ago, on the ne, she saw Eric sleeping on Julia''sp. After he woke up, Julia remained seated for a long time as her legs had gone numb.


    Julia was so kind to him, but since returning to Los Angeles, he never contacted her, and now he appeared together with another woman.


    ''What a bastard!'' she thought while gritting her teeth.


    "Hi, Liz, you look so beautiful today," After greeting Barry Diller, Eric turned to Elisabeth.


    "Hello, Mr. Williams," Elisabeth quickly shook hands with him before retracting it as if she wanted to keep her distance from him. Immediately, she brightly smiled and hugged Jennifer as she said, "Hello, Miss Aniston, my name is Elisabeth. Wow, your dress is so beautiful!


    Come on, let''s go inside."


    Jennifer looked at Eric inquiringly. Although Eric felt that Elisabeth was a bit unkind for bringing up Jennifer''s dress, he was certain she would not go too far on this asion, so he nodded at Jennifer who then let herself be pulled inside by Elisabeth.


    His daughter''s actions werepletely opposite of what he had instructed her which made old Murdoch a little angry, but he was helpless.


    Murdoch is busy with his business empire and pays little attention to his children. Although he is reluctant to ept that he is aging, he must also consider the sessors to his media empire.


    Compared to his eldest daughter who has no interest in the family business and his two young sons who are ipetent, Elisabeth is undoubtedly the most capable. During her school days, she had managed to sessfully establish a small local cable TV station.


    It''s just that she is both stubborn and prideful, and she tends to rebel against his decisions.


    Seeing his daughter greet Eric lightly and pulling away his girlfriend, Murdoch said to Eric, "Sorry, Eric, Liz is still a little ignorant. Let''s go inside."


    "It''s no problem, Mr. Murdoch. In fact, I like Miss Elisabeth''s frank character." Eric replied politely, and the three of them walked inside the mansion where the party was held.


    More than twenty guests had already arrived in the vi, and as time went on, more people arrived.


    In addition to the actors and creative team of Friends, Fox invited many Hollywood stars to join in.


    Although Eric has avoided Murdoch over the past few days, it is impossible for thetter to mention the topic of Friends'' broadcasting rights right away, so he chatted with Eric casually. Then, after telling him to enjoy the party, Murdoch and Barry Diller went to entertain other guests.


    After the two left, Eric looked around the crowd, and quickly found Jennifer, but he couldn''t help having goosebumps.


    Elisabeth had definitely done this on purpose. Jennifer was among a group of women who seemed to be talking andughing together. The group included Julia Roberts, Brooke Shields, Gabrielle Anwar and Nicole Kidman.


    Taking a closer look, Oh My God! Even Drew?! Isn''t that little fox supposed to be in boarding school?


    Realizing the situation, Eric immediately turned around, intending to stay far away, but Nicole, who was facing him, saw him.


    The young woman was wearing a ck pencil skirt with high heels when she appeared beside Eric who was hiding in the crowd.


    "Good evening, Eric," she approached Eric and stood around a foot away from him as she gently raised the ss of red wine in her hand.


    It is said that the distance between intimate people is usually less than 1.5 feet while the people standing more than 1.5 feet apart are usually nothing more than friends. Nicole was likely unaware of this theory. Standing so close to Eric was probably an unconscious act on her part.


    Sure enough, several people standing nearby involuntarily nced at them.


    Of course, even Eric was unaware of the 1.5 feet theory, but he instinctively felt ufortable, and took a small step back subconsciously before asking, "Nicole, why are you here?"


    Nicole noticed Eric taking a small step back and looked at him with a hint of resentment, but she didn''t move closer to him as she exined, "I am Australian."


    Eric unconsciously thought of the Australian Gang in Hollywood from his memory. It is said that the Australian Gang is the most united circle in Hollywood. However, it is currently the end of the ''80s and the Australian Gang has no presence yet.


    Main representatives of the Australian Gang such as Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Cate nchett and Nicole standing in front of him are still unknown actors. Thus, he can be sure that Nicole''s presence here has nothing to do with her being an Australian like Murdoch.


    Although she didn''t tell him the truth, Eric had a few guesses. He thought back to Gabrielle misrepresenting her rtionship with him which allowed her to livefortably in Hollywood and even get the role of an important supporting actress despite being a neer.


    Naturally, Nicole, who is going to be the heroine of his next movie, coupled with her scheming means that go far beyond Gabrielle, could easily pull a simr scheme. Although she has yet to make a movie in Hollywood, she is already livingfortably.


    After understanding this, Eric didn''t care to think about it anymore. He didn''t care what tricks Nicole used, as long as she acted sensibly in public.


    "Nicole, what were you... talking about?" Eric asked as he pointed at the ce where the girls had gathered together.


    She chuckled lightly and replied with a hint of ridicule, "Don''t worry, Eric, no one mentioned Miss Aniston''s dress. We talked a bit, um, about Friends since it''s the theme for tonight. Also, you; Miss Murdoch pays much attention to you."


    After speaking thest sentence, Nicole winked mischievously.


    Eric took a sip of red wine to cover up the embarrassment on his face before asking, "Anything else?"


    "Nope," Nicole shook his head, and then whispered in a charming voice, "However, you won''t be able to sleep in someone''s bed tonight. Do you want toe to mine?"


    "You are really unkind," Eric replied with a wry smile.


    Jennifer tends to get easily upset regarding his scandals. Since so many women with whom he has had a close rtionship appeared tonight in front of her, she must be very upset in her heart.


    If he dared to leave her to spend the night with other women tonight, then there would definitely be a storm the next day.


    "Really, do you think I''m a bad woman?" Nicole looked at Eric, dissatisfied.


    If he hadn''t caught the gleam in her eyes, Eric would''ve really thought that she had said that sentence without any ulterior intentions.


    "Do me a favor, Nicole," Eric thought for a while and said.


    Seeing her showing a look of interest, Eric continued, " Look after Jenny for me. She is pure-hearted; you could surely make her happy easily."


    "Hmph!" Nicole coquettishly snorted and protested, "I won''t."


    Eric nced at her and said solemnly, "Drew is also there. Go and make sure the two of them don''t cause trouble."


    Eric has a lingering fear of Drew and Jennifer fighting. Both girls use an ancient method of fighting. Inyman''s terms, they scratch each other with their sharp nails. If they scratch each other''s faces, he will be the one to suffer.


    Nicole had stayed in Eric''s vi for a long time and knew Drew''s entric and psychotic personality very well. If she really lost her mind and attacked Jennifer, no one would be able to stop her.


    Thinking of the two girls, Nicole had a bitter  look on her face and faintly pleaded, "This is too difficult, Eric."


    Eric took a sip of his red wine casually, but his tone was t and unquestionable as he said, "Go on. If the two of them quarrel tonight, you won''t have to worry about being in Sleepless in Seattle."


    Nicole could tell that he was not joking. She sighed regretfully and cursed herself for digging her own grave by approaching Eric. Still, she no longer dared to argue with him as she turned around and walked away quickly.

 Chapter 214: Honey Trap

    "Mr. Williams, you are so arrogant," said Elisabeth who appeared beside Eric as soon as Nicole left.


    Eric turned to look at her, shrugged, and replied, "This is just a small punishment for a woman who likes to y tricks. So, Liz, this oue teaches us that it''s better to be honest. I''m really sad that you have been speaking to me in such a distant tone.


    Have you forgotten the good time we had together in Venice?"


    Elisabeth''s face turned slightly red, but she smirked and said provocatively, "Ha, do you want to punish me as well, Mr Williams?"


    Eric held his chin as if he was contemting something before he replied, "Perhaps, I could ask for a better offer for giving Friends to Fox, and then tell Mr. Murdoch that this was due to Miss Elisabeth''s indifference towards me."


    Elisabeth suddenly frowned in anger at Eric and angrily stomped her foot on the floor. Her father had told her that if she annoyed Eric he would block her credit card again. In fact, if Eric really did as he said, her father''s anger would result in a lot more than just blocking her credit card.


    The more she thought about it, the more angry and aggrieved she felt. Elisabeth finally gritted her teeth and barked, "Eric Williams, you are such a bastard."


    Of course, Eric had only been joking, but he didn''t expect that she would react in such a manner.


    He quickly exined, "Liz, don''t be angry! I''m just joking."


    Elisabeth had wanted to turn around and leave, but her feet did not move as if they were stuck. Her angry expression didn''t ease much despite Eric''s exnation as she said, coldly, "Mr. Williams, my father asked me toe and invite you to talk. I don''t know if you are free?"


    "Of course, you... will take me there?"


    Elisabeth nodded slightly before she turned around and walked up the stairs. Eric followed swiftly.


    ***


    Elisabeth knocked on the door to a room on the second floor and pushed it open without waiting for a response before making an inviting gesture to Eric.


    Entering the room, Eric nced around.


    This is a simple reception room with a row of bookshelves, a few sets of couches, and a coffee table in the middle. Only old Murdoch was in the room. Not even Barry Diller was present.


    "Eric,e sit down."


    Seeing Eric walk in, Murdoch quickly stood up, smiled and motioned for him to sit down on the couch opposite him before he said to Elisabeth, "Liz, make a cup of coffee for Eric."


    Elisabeth nodded and walked to the side quietly.


    Eric saw Murdoch looking at his daughter, who was making coffee, with a smile, and followed his gaze on her. The red one-shoulder dress she was wearing highlighted her slender figure.


    "Eric, you are 19 years old, right?" Murdoch asked suddenly.


    Eric nodded. His new body''s birthday is May 16th in the Gregorian calendar. Speaking of it, his 19th birthday passed during the intense filming of Running Out of Time, so there was no party, just dinner with a few people close to him.


    "Liz is actually only two years older than you. I still remember how Liz was when she was a child. Unfortunately, I have been too busy and haven''t had many opportunities to spend time with my children. Liz is a grown woman, but her personality is still like a child."


    "Dad, how am I like a child?" Elisabeth turned her head and asked, dissatisfied.


    She handed the two cups of coffee to Eric and Murdoch, and then sat down beside her father. She wanted to leave, but old Murdoch had warned her severely before. Although Elisabeth sometimes liked to rebel against her father, she dared not disobey him when he was truly serious.


    Old Murdoch chuckled before he said to Eric, "Look, she''s so impulsive, just like a child."


    Eric also chuckled lightly, however, he had be clear of the old man''s thoughts. Eric had no intention of marrying Elisabeth since he had never nned to give up the forest for a single tree.


    Unexpectedly, after Murdoch spoke, he changed the topic again and asked, "Eric, Sleepless in Seattle''s production is going to start soon, right?"


    Eric quickly replied, "Yes, it will start within a week at thetest. It''s currently September, but I n to finish both Sleepless in Seattle and the sequel to Home Alone together. Since the time is very tight, the filming and post production of the two films will happen simultaneously."


    Murdoch asked with a hint of fascination, "I do have some understanding regarding film production, but I believe it''s very rare to be able to make films as fast as you, so I am very curious about how you make films."


    Eric chuckled and said readily, "If possible, Mr. Murdoch, you''re wee to visit the set."


    "That''s highly unlikely to happen," Murdoch replied while shaking his head in regret, "I''m too busy for that, but, Eric, what do you think of Liz?"


    "Hmm...huh?" Eric looked confused and thought inwardly, ''Why did he turn to her again?''


    Murdoch exined, "Liz''s college courses have beenpleted, and now she just needs toplete an internship. You must know the major Liz pursued.


    How about letting her be an assistant director for Sleepless in Seattle, so that she can experience working with an outstanding director such as yourself."


    Eric suddenly had an urge to curse out Murdoch''s mother. It turned out that the old man had been waiting to trap him verbally.


    Elisabeth, sitting next to Murdoch, had  her head lowered and gently fiddled with her fingers, like a good daughter who allowed her father to make the decisions.


    "Mr. Murdoch, the crew is going to run around New York, Seattle and Chicago... Being an assistant director is very tedious and boring. Elisabeth won''t be able bear it."


    Maybe because she had been feeling triumphant, Elisabeth immediately raised her head and retorted to Eric, dissatisfied, "Do you look down on women?"


    "Umm..."


    Old Murdoch saw Eric being left speechless by his daughter and immediately burst intoughter, "Alright it''s decided."


    Eric wanted to refute again, but Murdoch did not give him the chance as he patted his daughter on the shoulder and said, "Liz, you go out. I have to talk with Eric about something, alone."


    Elisabeth nodded and gave Eric a derisive look before turning to leave.

 Chapter 215: Negotiations (Part 1)

    After Elisabeth closed the door, Murdoch picked up the pot of coffee and refilled his cup before asking Eric if he wanted any through a gesture.


    Eric shook his head and replied, "Drinking too much coffee at night is not a good habit."


    Murdoch chuckled and said, "You youngsters have it easy. At my age, you have to drink a lot of coffee to have the energy to function."


    "Exercise is actually a healthier way of remaining energetic."


    Murdoch shrugged and changed the topic as he said, "Eric, your first film was with Fox. Wouldn''t you say the cooperation between us has always been very pleasant?"


    Eric shrugged and replied, "Of course, even I didn''t expect that 17 Again''s box office would cross $100 million."


    His reply seemed simple but he had indirectly stated that there was no use in attempting to leverage their previous rtionship to influence his decision. While it was true that he was able to enter Hollywood thanks to Fox producing 17 Again, he didn''t owe them anything.


    17 Again not only brought Fox tens of millions of dors in box office profits, the subsequent profits from the sales of video tapes and TV broadcasting rights resulted in a total profit of more than $100 million for Fox. However, he only got $1 million from the movie.


    In fact, Eric felt like Fox had robbed him. Despite the sess of 17 Again, he never received a bonus which was standard practice in case of hit projects.


    Eric believed that this was likely due to Fox missing the distribution rights to Home Alone. Although Fox had been the one to refuse the distribution rights, after Home Alone was released and became a blockbuster hit, he likely became the target of their anger.


    Murdoch had only mentioned the topic to make Eric feel closer to him. However, he ended up feeling embarrassed after Eric indirectly berated hispany''s past behavior.


    "Eric, I heard that other TV stations have contacted you?"


    Over the past few days, news of contact between the representatives of the three major TV stations and Eric had been flooding the newspapers. Even the reputed Los Angeles Times and New York Times had published a few articles on the topic with deep analysis.


    Like most newspapers, they concluded that the odds of Fox being able to retain the broadcasting rights of future seasons of Friends were slim.


    "Yes, the terms they offered are very sincere."


    Murdoch took a sip of his coffee to hide his irritation. He had realized that the young man in front of him was no fool. If he continued to talk in circles with him, he would be the one in a disadvantageous position.


    Putting down his coffee cup, Murdoch decided to cut to the chase and said, "Eric, here''s my offer: Fox will give Firefly 70% of the advertising revenue, in exchange for the broadcasting rights of the future four seasons of Friends."


    Murdoch was sure that as long as it obtained the broadcasting rights of the first five seasons of Friends, Fox TV would gain a foothold in North America by the time their contract ended.


    After five seasons, Fox would have the confidence to renegotiate the contract with Firefly to obtain a higher share of the advertising revenue.


    Eric raised his head and stared at Murdoch as he asked, "Mr. Murdoch, is this Fox showing its sincerity?"


    Murdoch asked,"Does this not reflect Fox''s sincerity?"


    Eric immediately shook his head in response.


    If this were a normal situation, such an offer would indeed be considered to be very sincere.


    The TV industry is different from the film industry because TV stations are not heavily restricted by anti-monopolyws.


    In fact, mostrge TV stations have productionpanies that are owned by amon parentpany to circumvent thews regarding TV stations being restricted from producing their own TV shows.


    Therefore, TV stations have always been very dominant against independent TV producers such that they usually directly buyout the broadcasting rights from the producers. Only giants such as Warner Bros. could obtain a share of the advertising revenue, but even their share capped at 40%.


    However, the situation with Friends was anything but normal. For Fox TV, which was currently in its infancy, the super-high ratings brought by Friends was only secondary. Their primary gain would be being able to use Friends to help Fox TV rapidly increase in poprity and gain market share.


    "Mr. Murdoch, before Friends, the average viewership of Fox TV was only a few million, which is less than one-tenth of the number of fixed TV viewers in North America.


    Thanks to its super-high ratings of over 20 million, even after this season is over, Friends can increase the average number of Fox TV viewers to at least over 10 million. Compared to this, doesn''t your offer seem grossly insincere?"


    Murdoch firmly gazed at Eric as he said, "Eric, you should know, the share I offered you is more than twice what even the best producers can get."


    Despite being under the gaze of the veteran media tycoon, Eric did not show any weakness. Instead, he smiled and said, "Mr. Murdoch, I believe you must have conducted some investigations. You must be aware that the offer made by the three major TV stations is not much lower than yours.


    I had someone make some calctions which showed that if Friends is broadcast on any one of the three major TV stations, its advertising revenue will increase by more than 10%. And thanks to this 10% increase, their offer will actually be worth more than your offer.


    If I choose to work with them, instead of Fox, I will definitely obtain more benefits."


    After Eric finished speaking, he lowered his head and took a sip of his coffee without looking at Murdoch''s expression. He was sure that the so-called 70% of the advertisement revenue was just Murdoch getting a feel of him.


    Feeling the delicate white porcin in his hand, Eric noticed that there was a pale green nt painted on the ceramic coffee cup, almost like an ink painting. Seeing this, Eric suddenly had the urge to turn the cup upside down to see if the words "Made in China" were engraved on the bottom.


    However, just as quickly, he ended up smiling at his thoughts. This sudden smile by Eric left Murdoch confused, but his face also rxed thanks to Eric''s smile.


    "Eric, let''s talk about your terms. What can Fox do to get the broadcasting rights to the following seasons of Friends?"

 Chapter 216: Negotiations (Part 2)

    In response to Murdoch''s statement, Eric gently put down the coffee cup in his hand and raised his head as he said, "Mr. Murdoch, first, you must know something about me: I am a very stubborn person.


    My terms will be very strict andck any form of concession for Fox which you, ultimately, won''t ept and the negotiations wille to a standstill. Therefore, you should be the one to make the offer. If you show some sincerity and your offer satisfies me, I will ept it.


    After all, I''m not an overtly greedy person."


    Murdoch slightly nodded and, after a few moments of consideration, he said, "Eric, Fox and Firefly have always had very pleasant cooperation, so how about this: Firefly will obtain 5% of Fox Film''s equity in exchange for giving 5% of its equity to Fox.


    Presumably, you must be aware of Fox''s market value. Through this transaction, Firefly will greatly profit. This will also allow our two filmpanies to cooperate more closely in the future.


    In addition to this, my previous offer of 70% advertising share for the broadcasting rights to the subsequent four seasons of Friends will remain unchanged. What do you think of this?"


    Hearing Murdoch''s offer, Eric was pleasantly surprised for a few seconds.


    Murdoch had stated very clearly that Firefly would be exchanging shares with Fox Films, not Fox TV Network.


    Perhaps ayman would think that these twopanies are the same, but Eric is very clear about the differences between them. Although they are both run by Barry Diller, Fox Films and Fox TV Network are two entirely separate entities.


    The market value of Fox Films is currently around $2 billion, so 5% of its shares are worth $100 million. Indeed, 5% of Firefly''s shares are not worth that much at the moment. Based on the price at the time of its merger with New Line, the market value of Firefly is only about $600 million.


    If it''s calcted like this, if Firefly agrees to exchange equity with Fox, it will make a profit of more than $70 million.


    But, this matter is not as simple as it may seem on the surface.


    After Firefly and New Line merged, everyone in Hollywood understood that if Eric''s momentum of producing hit movies was maintained, the new Firefly had the potential to stand as equals with Hollywood''s Big Six within just a few years.


    Correspondingly, its market value would also skyrocket, perhaps going even beyond Fox.


    Eric was very confident that if everything went well, this would take less than five years. Previously, he paid 15% of Firefly''s equity and arge sum of money to acquire New Line.


    He was willing to do this because this made up for the shorings in Firefly''s limited distribution capabilities and greatly hastened its development.


    5% of the equity is enough for one to have a certain say among the board of directors. After swapping equity with Fox, Eric would not only gain little to no benefit, he would instead be held back.


    Not to mention...


    The corner of Eric''s mouth twitched slightly before he leaned forward and asked, "Mr. Murdoch, how much do you think Fox Films will make this year?"


    Murdoch''s heartbeat suddenly quickened, and he wondered whether he had been seen through by the young boy sitting opposite him.


    However, Murdoch still maintained his poker face  as he shook his head and replied, "I''m not very well aware of this. I won''t know until the year-end financial report is released."


    Eric sneered and said, "Mr. Murdoch, I can do a little calction for you. Because Mr. Barry Diller has been focused on Fox TV Network, Fox Films itself has not produced many movies.


    In fact, there has not even been a single big production with a high box office potential. This year, Fox''s main features are all my movies: Pretty Woman, Sleepless in Seattle and Home Alone 2. Pretty Woman has earned 210 million in North America and 530 million worldwide.


    After removing the distribution costs, Fox can make a profit of at least $70 million. In addition, I personally think that my two remaining films, Sleepless in Seattle and Home Alone 2 will earn at least $100 million in profit for Fox.


    Not to mention, the profit from the other films distributed by Fox, sales of video tapes and other peripheral sales. Hahaha, this will likely be a good year for Fox, maybe it could have an annual profit of $300 million this year, almost twice that of any ordinary year."


    Hearing Eric''s analysis, Murdoch naturally felt happy. If Eric''s analysis was correct, Fox will definitely rank first among the Big Six. Even Warner, which made a fortune this year thanks to Batman may not have such a high annual profit.


    After the year-end financial reportes out, Fox''s market value will greatly increase.


    However, after his pleasant surprise faded, Murdoch realized that his scheme had likely been through, but he still asked in mock confusion, "Eric, isn''t this great?"


    "Of course it''s great," Eric replied before he continued, "Alright, let''s calcte Firefly''s profit this year."


    "Pretty Woman, $105 million; Running Out of Time, ording to the current box office trend, its global box office will reach about $500 million, meaning Firefly can make around $100 million.


    By this year''s end, Firefly can get at least $100 million in profit from Sleepless in Seattle and Home Alone 2, like Fox. Don''t forget, we''re releasing three other movies around the end of the year.


    I am very optimistic about all the three of them, but even if the threebined can only earn us $100 million, Firefly will still make $400 million this year.


    If both of ourpanies give dividends, ording to the 5% of equity exchanged, Fox will get $20 million, but Firefly will only get $15 million."


    After he finished speaking, Eric sat back with a frosty look on his, but his heart was burning up with anger.


    After Murdoch proposed the equity exchange, initially, Eric was a bit tempted because of the $70 million difference in stock value, but after some analysis, he realized that this "generous offer" was another pit dug up by the old bastard to swindle him.


    Equity exchange between Fox and Firefly and Fox''s acquisition of the broadcasting rights for the first five seasons of Friends were two entirely separate matters, but Murdoch cleverlybined them together and gave Eric an illusion of Fox being very sincere.


    However, if Eric really went through with the equity swap, he may not benefit at all. Instead, because of the profit gap, he will have to pay Fox a handsome dividend every year.


    In addition, the transaction would likely have a long sale restriction period. By the time the sale restriction period ends, the market value of Firefly and Fox might be almost the same. Moreover, Fox will definitely have a priority to reim its equity.


    Even if Eric does sell the equity, in the end, Fox will own Firefly''s equity and dictate the affairs of Firefly, but Firefly won''t be able to interfere with Fox at all. Another hidden danger is that after the equity swap, the interests of Firefly and Fox will be tied together.


    Even if he is unwilling, Eric will have to give preference to cooperating with Fox. This is likely the main purpose of Murdoch''s desire to swap equity with Firefly.


    If Eric had been a naive and impulsive young man, like others his age, he would have likely lost his cool when he figured out Murdoch''s scheme, and shouted in anger, "You cheat, I''ll never work with you."


    To be honest, Eric did have a slight impulse to do exactly that, possibly due to some remaining influence on him by the original owner of his body.


    However, his body was still under the control of the soul of an experienced middle-aged man who had been through years of struggle. In addition, due to having the unique experience of reincarnation, Eric has be rtively indifferent to other people, unless they n to harm his interests.


    Naturally, Eric was quite angry at Murdoch for attempting to swindle him, but he replied, indifferently, "Mr. Murdoch, maybe Fox doesn''t want to show any sincerity at all, in that case..."


    Murdoch wryly smiled and replied, "Eric, listen to me. How about we..."


    "No," Eric immediately interrupted Murdoch. He wasn''t sure if there were any deep pits hidden in the old man''s new offer, nor did he care to find out. He quickly said, "Let me make my terms clear.


    I''m not interested in Fox Films'' equity, but since our discussion today is about Friends, let''s talk about Fox TV Network. I want the equity of Fox TV Network.


    If you want the broadcasting rights for the following seasons of Friends, I want 10% equity at the price of 80% of Fox TV Network''s market value before Friends aired."


    Murdoch was taken aback by Eric''s outrageous terms. Although he was called a media tycoon, he actually owned just a little over 30% of News Corporation, and News Corporation only owned about 80% of Fox TV Network, meaning his family''s share of Fox TV Network was only around 24%.


    If he agreed to Eric''s terms, Firefly would be the secondrgest shareholder of Fox TV Network, second only to his family. In case a conflict arises between him and Eric in the future, Eric would be able to seize control of Fox TV Network so long as he obtained the support of other shareholders.


    Murdoch had painstakingly created Fox TV Network to enter the North American market. It was impossible for him to agree to Eric''s terms.


    To be honest, Eric''s original n had been to get around 5% of Fox TV Network''s equity.


    Fox TV Network''s market value is currently just under $1 billion, far less than the three major TVworks that are worth between $4-5 billion.


    But Eric knew that in just a decade, Fox TV would be an equal of the three major TVworks, reaching more than $30 billion in market value.


    Currently, he only needed to invest less than $50 million. Within a decade, his 5% equity would be worth more than $1.5 billion. In addition,pared to filmpanies, the performance and profitability of TVworks is far more stable.


    In the future, he could get tens of millions of dors as dividends from the annual profit of Fox TV Network.

 Chapter 217: One Minute

    Murdoch stared at Eric as if he had spoken nonsense before he frowned and replied in a deep voice, "Eric, you should know that 10% equity is impossible. Even if I agree, the board of directors will never agree."


    Eric didn''t seem to feel the pressure behind Murdoch''s frown as he softly replied, "Mr. Murdoch, although you don''t have a 51% controlling stake, the whole world knows that News Corp belongs to Rupert Murdoch.


    I believe you could easily decide on this matter, so don''t use the board of directors to fool me, alright?"


    "Then, I will tell you explicitly, Eric. You should change your terms since there is no room for negotiation regarding this."


    Eric still looked rxed with even his right foot on his knee, but his tone became more and more aggressive and strong, "Mr. Murdoch, I''ve said before that I am a very stubborn person; once I make a decision, I won''t change it."


    After his words ended, the reception room seemingly became cold as if due to the tension. The old man and the young man stared at each other, but after a few seconds, Eric took the initiative to look away.


    He wasn''t cowed by Murdoch nor did he feel guilty for his terms, instead, he felt that it was pointless. What was the point of ring when the victor in a negotiation was the one who had more bargaining chips.


    And currently, the one with the most important bargaining chip was Eric.


    After drinking the remaining coffee in his cup, Eric finally flipped over the ceramic cup. Unfortunately, "Made in China" was not engraved on its bottom.


    After putting the cup back on the table, Eric raised his head and looked at Murdoch.


    "Eric, let''s talk about this another day. Maybe we should both calm down."


    Eric was keenly aware why Murdoch wanted to dy the negotiation. During their talk, Eric undoubtedly gained the absolute upper hand. This was the time for him to push Murdoch rather than letting him withdraw.


    "Mr. Murdoch, my schedule is very tight. After today, I don''t know if I can spare time for the next two months.


    Moreover, the three major TVworks are still waiting for my reply," Eric replied, however, feeling like it wasn''t enough, he added, "Oh, yeah, ABC has been going through a tough time in recent years and their offer was also the highest.


    They also mentioned that they were willing to pay the liquidated damages to buy the broadcasting rights for the remaining episodes of the first season of Friends. To be honest, I am very satisfied with their offer.


    After all, during the first season of Friends, Firefly can only get 40% of the advertising  revenue due to our contract with Fox, but if Friends moves to ABC then the price offered by them is Oops, sorry, that''s a trade secret."


    This was equivalent to a naked threat. Murdoch even had a momentary urge to pour his coffee on Eric''s face.


    Of course, his urge was only momentary.


    Still, he replied angrily, "If you want to breach the contract, then I''ll see you in court. I promise, I''ll sue you for everyst penny."


    "Mr. Murdoch, do you think that News Corp. canpete with the three major TVworks and the conglomerates behind them? You should be aware that if thiswsuit truly does happen, Fox will undoubtedly lose.


    Maybe Friends will be suspended until next year, and maybe Firefly will lose a lot, but there is no doubt that Fox will lose a lot more. Without Friends, it''s impossible for Fox to grow in a short time.


    As a result, the three major TVworks will have joined forces to kick Fox TV out of North America."


    "If you really do this, Firefly won''t get off easily. Eric, don''t forget that in the major English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zend, and the United States, News Corp.


    has a strong influence on the media and the general public thanks to our numerous newspapers and TV stations. Even the British government must maintain a good rtionship with News Corp. to maintain their image in the media. I can easily destroy the reputation of every movie produced by Firefly.


    Not to mention, I can ruin your personal image all over the world. Do you know how many reports about you and numerous actresses have been suppressed from the New York Post? There were a few times when I personally intervened.


    A reporter from the New York Post had been interested in you six months ago and even followed you for two months, taking many pictures of your private life.


    The New York Post had originally intended to publish an article about all your deeds, about the actress named Virginia Madsen, about your current girlfriend, about Julia Roberts. Oh, I almost forgot Miss Drew Barrymore. She''s only 14 years old, isn''t she?"


    After Murdoch finished speaking, he took a sip of the coffee, almost triumphantly, but Eric, who had had his head lowered, slowly raised it up. Murdoch discovered that Eric''s eyes were very cold, almost frosty, but his slightly pale face had an abnormal blush as if he had gone mad.


    ''Oops!'' Murdoch yelled in his mind.


    He suddenly realized that Eric was only 19 years old and a young man with immense talent and sess. Thanks to these two qualities, Murdoch deduced that it was far easier for Eric to be enraged and outraged when faced with threatspared to other mediocre young men.


    If this little bastard went mad and really breached the contract and took Friends away, then even if he mobilized the entire power of News Corp. to destroy his image, News Corp. won''t gain the slightest benefit from it.


    Eric didn''t seem to notice the change in Murdoch''s expression. He slowly raised his wrist and looked down at his watch before he raised his head to look at Murdoch.


    "Mr. Murdoch, you have one minute to think about it. Agree to my terms, or don''t. We will both do as we please and see who loses the most in the end.


    Now, I will start the count." After speaking, Eric once again lowered his head.


    Murdoch suddenly panicked and thought, ''Has this little guy really lost his mind?!''


    "Eric, please don''t act like this. You are already an adult," Murdoch said helplessly, almost pleading.


    Eric didn''t seem to hear Murdoch''s words as he began quietly counting down to himself, "55 54 53..."


    Seeing that Eric had ignored him, Murdoch leaned back on his couch. He had decided to see if Eric really dared to follow through with his threat after the countdown ended.


    He had seen Eric''s information before and knew that this young man had a level of maturity and stability that far surpassed that of his peers. Maybe Eric was momentarily enraged because of his threats, but after a one-minute countdown the bright young man might calm down.


    "36 35 34..."


    The countdown continued slowly.

 Chapter 218: New Condition

    Normally, a minute was fleeting for Murdoch. However, this was not the case today.


    He had originally hoped that the young man sitting in front of him would calm down, but soon, as Eric slowly continued the countdown, Murdoch himself could not calm down.


    He began to quickly calcte the pros and cons of Eric''s terms. He soon realized that Eric was right. If Fox TV lost Friends, it would miss the best and possibly the only opportunity for it to develop enough to truly be able topete with the three major TVworks.


    If Friends had been an average si, even if they lost it, Fox TV could continue to remain under the radar and develop silently.


    However, after Friends'' ratings miracle, the three major TVworks have realized the threat posed by Fox TV Network, and would certainly not allow it to develop further if it loses Friends.


    Having been in the media industry for decades, Murdoch was ustomed to all kinds of cruel antipetition tactics. When he left Australia and went to the UK to grow hispany, the most difficult period was when hispetitors were unscrupulous.


    To retaliate against him, an outsider, the existing mediapanies even threatened his family''s personal safety. A group of kidnappers had once mistakenly kidnapped the wife of a manager at News Corp, believing her to be his wife.


    When they learned that they had kidnapped the wrong person, they killed the poor woman.


    Whening to the United States, Murdoch had been aware that thepetition in North America would not be much milder than that in the United Kingdom.


    ***


    In less than 30 seconds, Murdoch had already had countless thoughts in his mind.


    Eric, who was sitting opposite him, was still staring at his watch, slowly counting down.


    "9 8 7 6..."


    When his countdown reached thest few seconds, Murdoch finally sighed, waved his hand gently, and said, "Alright, Eric, I agree."


    Eric paused when he heard Murdoch''s words before he slowly raised his head.


    Naturally, Eric wouldn''t impulsively go through with the threats he had made due to a moment of anger. Although Murdoch made a lot more threats than his single threat to take away Friends, as a mature middle-aged man, he would never be swayed by his emotions while doing business.


    He had calcted that there was a 70% chance of Murdoch epting his terms because Fox TV Network needed Friends more than anything.


    Of course, he had also thought of what to do in case Murdoch really refused his terms.


    He was sure that even if the countdown really ended and he walked away, Murdoch would definitelye to find him. Due to his original n, he never  nned to sever Firefly''s cooperation with Fox TV.


    In case negotiations failed, he had nned to y hard-to-get for a few days before finally agreeing to renegotiate.


    But if this happened, Fox would definitely be aware of his bottom line and he would never have the opportunity to obtain 10% equity of Fox TV Network.


    In fact, Murdoch''s attitude after he put forward his terms had made Eric think that he would not be able to obtain 10% equity of Fox TV Network.


    But after hearing his subtle threat to transfer Friends to ABC, Murdoch used his women to threaten him which gave Eric the perfect excuse to pull off his little countdown act.


    Wouldn''t a proud and ambitious young man be easily outraged in the face of threats?


    Since the odds of Murdoch readily epting his terms were originally slim, Eric had taken that gamble.


    However, unlike Eric, Murdoch did not dare to gamble on the future of Fox TV. He was afraid that Eric wouldpletely cut off negotiations with Fox TV and transfer Friends to ABC TV. In the worst case scenario that such an event took ce, there would be no chance for Fox to get Friends back.


    Therefore, Eric won the gamble.


    Although Murdoch agreed, Eric didn''t gloat. He simply picked up the coffee pot in front of him, poured himself a cup of coffee and slowly drank it while waiting for Murdoch to continue.


    Murdoch was also not a fool. From Eric''s overtly indifferent actions, he quickly realized that he might have just been fooled.


    Regret!


    This was Murdoch''s first thought.


    However, if previously Eric had only pretended to threaten him, if Murdoch reneged on his word now, Eric would truly turn those threats into reality.


    To think that after more than 30 years of struggling in the media industry, he was actually swindled at the hands of a little boy. How could Murdoch be willing to ept this.


    Since he couldn''t immediately renege on his words, Murdoch still had to try to recover some of the loss.


    "Eric, I can give you 10% equity of Fox TV Network, but you should also know that if you had used Friends alone to put forward such terms to the three major TVworks, they would have kicked you immediately. So. Friends alone is not enough.


    You need, um..." Murdoch pondered for a moment before he said, "You need to provide Fox with two more excellent TV shows.


    Of course, I know that a show of Friends'' level is very rare, so as long as the average ratings of the two other TV shows can reach 15 million, I promise to transfer the equity to you."


    Eric almost burst intoughter when he heard this condition.


    If Murdoch had put forward some other conditions, Eric might''ve been in pickle, but since he had asked for hit TV shows, let alone two, Eric coulde up with 20 from his memory.


    During his previous life, most subtitling groups were toozy to trante American TV shows with terrible ratings, so usually only hit American TV shows with high ratings flowed into his country.


    As a result, most of the American TV shows that he had seen had been the most acimed American TV shows.


    However, Eric quickly noticed a w in Murdoch''s statement. Murdoch was stating that he would not transfer the equity to him until after he provided Fox with two hit TV shows.


    How could he possibly agree to such a vague promise? He was sure that if he really gave the three TV shows to Fox first, and waited for the ratings toe out, old Murdoch woulde up with some excuses to avoid giving him the equity.


    In that case, all three TV shows with high ratings would air on Fox, allowing it to obtain a decent fixed audience. Afterwards, what Fox would do to him was obvious.


    "Mr. Murdoch, I can provide two more shows for Fox, and the ratings will also exceed 15 million because I happen to have a few good ideas. However, I don''t like to y word games. Today is the 8th, and the next episode of Friends will air on the 10th.


    If Fox TV doesn''t transfer 10% equity to Firefly before tomorrow night, I can''t guarantee what will happen."


    After Eric finished speaking, he started to get up.


    If Eric had only said thetter few sentences, maybe Murdoch would let Eric leave. But when he heard Eric''s words about "having a few good ideas," Murdoch became excited.


    He had asked for the two TV shows with more than 15 million ratings only as a way to renege on his promise. Even among all the North American TVworksbined, there weren''t more than 10 TV shows with average ratings of more than 15 million and most of them were sequels.


    It was much more difficult for brand-new TV shows to achieve such a result. This was why the pilot Friends having more than 30 million viewers had caused such a sensation.


    Seeing Eric about to get up, Murdoch waved his hand to stop him and quickly saaid, "Wait, Eric! Why would I y a word game with you? You have to believe that since I have agreed to your terms, I won''t renege on it. So, can we sit down and talk about your...


    ideas?"


    ''Like hell you won''t renege on your words!'' Eric sneered as he cursed inwardly. He didn''t want to continue talking with an old fox like Murdoch since he might fall into another one of his traps if he didn''t pay attention. But after hearing Murdoch''s question, Eric decided to briefly exin.


    "Actually, Mr. Murdoch, I believe that if you want to increase the influence of a TV station, just a few hit TV shows are not enough. I n to create a variety show to give Fox a different type of TV show from Friends.


    I guarantee that if this variety show is operated well, reaching an average viewership of more than 20 million is not a problem."


    Murdoch''s heart jumped and quickly asked, "Eric, can you talk about the idea behind your variety show?"


    Eric smiled and shook his head, "Mr. Murdoch, like I said, I hope that I will see a preliminary equity transfer agreement by the 10th. Before that, there is no need to talk about the show."


    "But if you are not willing to disclose anything, how do I know that what you said is true?" Murdoch asked.


    Eric lightly rubbed his forehead in annoyance and replied, "Mr. Murdoch, don''t forget, you promised to give me the equity of Fox TV in exchange for Friends. As for the other two TV shows, you can only choose to trust me."


    "Alright, Eric, I can transfer the equity to you, but it must be specified that it''s only for a one-year period. If you can''t provide two TV shows with average ratings of 15 million within one year, you will return 5% of the equity. What do you think?"


    Eric sneered and replied, "Mr. Murdoch, falsifying ratings is 100 times easier than falsifying a movie''s box office. Do you think I would agree to such a dubious condition?"

 Chapter 219: Negotiations Concluded

    Murdoch smiled with "sincerity" and replied, "Eric, everyone knows that Nielsen is responsible for the ratings statistics."


    "Nielsen is amercial market researchpany. It exists to make money, doesn''t it?" Eric asked in response.


    Since Nielsen was amercialpany, it could very easily tamper with the ratings statistics, in exchange for a sufficient profit.


    Murdoch cursed in his heart. Their negotiation today might end up determining who dominates Fox TV Network in the future. How could he be willing to let it go easily?


    If it weren''t for Eric''s countdown act, Murdoch would never have agreed to his terms. However, he was aware that since he had been defeated in the negotiation and Eric had dodged his following tricks, it is very likely that he would have to pay him the 10% equity as promised.


    This was because, even until now, he was unaware of Eric''s bottom line. He was still not sure if Eric would be willing to default on their contract and transfer Friends to one of the otherworks. He also didn''t know what exact conditions the three major TVworks had offered Eric.


    However, conversely, Eric had figured out his bottle line. The moment he epted his terms, Eric knew that even if he had to introduce a new major shareholder to Fox Network, Murdoch would never allow Fox to lose Friends.


    This alone allowed Eric to upy an absolute advantage during their negotiation.


    Since it was now irreversible, Murdoch wished to obtain as many benefits as possible. After all, he was  someone who always wanted to be in control. Even if Eric''s Firefly was destined to be the secondrgest shareholder of Fox Network, he still regarded Fox as his personal property.


    Murdoch recalled that Fox had originally wanted to be involved in the production of Friends but were rejected. He realized that Firefly couldn''t be allowed to have the sole copyrights to the two new TV shows.


    In case, he and Eric have some irreconcble contradictions in the future, it was obvious which side the shareholders would stand on in order to keep Fox from losing the hit shows.


    After hesitating for a moment, Murdoch softly said, "Alright, Eric, I... agree. We will talk about the specificster. But regarding the two shows you mentioned, since Firefly is about to be a shareholder of Fox, I hope that you can submit the ideas of these two programs to Fox for production."


    Eric could tell that Murdoch had really agreed this time. He was secretly excited about how many folds this equity would appreciate in the future. Rather than being just a simple stake in Fox Network, this deal signified that his business empire had expanded to a whole new domain.


    Of course since Murdoch gave him such a positive answer, he also needed to express his sincerity.


    What Murdoch said previously was actually correct. If Firefly''s wants 10% equity of Fox Network, just Friends alone is far from enough.


    Although he was somewhat reluctant, Eric replied, "Mr. Murdoch, I can''t hand overplete control of the two shows to Fox. But, I promise that they will be jointly produced by Fox and Firefly and the investment and copyright will be divided equally."


    Murdoch didn''t expect Eric to hand over the two programs to Fox so easily. His purpose had been to gain some say regarding the production and copyright of the two shows, so that a repeat of the crisis with Friends doesn''t happen.


    Eric''s proposal was in line with his expectations, so he didn''t have any other conditions.


    In fact, during their short negotiation, Murdoch had gotten far more exhausted from dealing with Eric rather than the other way around.


    "In that case, deal."


    Although there was some wine in the cab next to him, Murdoch didn''t have the energy to fetch it, so he simply raised his coffee cup towards Eric.


    "Deal." Eric also brought his coffee cup up and lightly touched it with Murdoch''s.


    The old and the young man faintly smiled at each other, like a pair of old friends, as if the quarrel and threats had been an illusion.


    They talked about a few more things for another hour before Eric left.


    ***


    A gentle wind blew through the corridor. After taking a few deep breaths of fresh air, Eric walked down the stairs and returned to the party hall on the first floor.


    It was already past nine o''clock and the party was at its climax. Countless men and women shuttled back and forth, and there was a loud buzz in the hall, but it didn''t seem noisy at all. Near the band, a small group of men and women danced together on the dance floor.


    Eric was about to go find Jennifer when Robert Shaye and Jeffrey, who had been waiting anxiously at the top of the stairs for an hour, found him.


    "Eric, how did the negotiation go?" Robert asked quickly.


    Although there was a huge gap in his equitypared to Eric''s, he was the secondrgest shareholder of Firefly. Therefore, the issue of Friends was closely rted to his interests. Although Jeffrey was also very concerned about it, he was not as anxious as Robert.


    Eric looked a bit gloomy and replied to Robert, "Robert, I have some bad news for you."


    "Ah," Robert Shaye subconsciously opened his mouth. Eric had already revealed some of his ns to him, so when he heard Eric say this, he felt a little disappointed. Still, he couldn''t help but ask, "Did the negotiation not go well?"


    Eric shook his head and replied in a gloomy tone, "I mean, Robert, I had originally nned to pay your $60 million from the box office share of Pretty Woman, but now, that money might be used somece else."


    Robert and Jeffrey suddenly realized that Eric must have won the negotiation but had been ying a prank on them.


    Pretending to be angry while lighting pping Eric''s shoulders, Robert Shaye smiled and scolded, "Brat, don''t speak in circles. Hurry up and tell the truth."


    Eric smiled and said, "Murdoch has agreed to give us 10% equity of Fox Network at the price of 80% before the broadcast of Friends.


    The two middle-aged men stood still, wide-eyed. Robert Shaye obviously wanted Eric''s words to be true, but he instinctively felt that such a thing was impossible.


    Fox Network is ranked fourth in North America and has been on a bull since the broadcast of Friends. How could Robert Shaye believe that it would give 10% of its equity to them so easily?


    "Eric, this is not funny. How could Murdoch be willing to give us so much equity?"


    Jeffrey had known Eric for a long time, and had seen Eric do miraculous things more than once. Therefore, after a brief surprise, Jeffrey had almostpletely believed him but he still asked, "Eric, are you sure you''re not kidding?"


    Eric took a ss of champagne from a passing waiter and raised it to two people as he dered, "Of course I''m not kidding. We are about to be the secondrgest shareholder of Fox Network."


    After Eric''s deration, neither Robert nor Jeffrey doubted him any longer. Instead, they were both pleasantly surprised. Robert Shaye was even more excited as he raised his ss of red wine and quickly drank it.


    Although he personally had only 15% of the 10% equity, as the CEO of Firefly, he could exercise control over its 10% stake in Fox Network. Since his worth had crossed $100 million, Robert Shaye no longer cared too much about money. Instead, he cared more about power.


    His goal now was to be the head of a movie giant like Michael Eisner. Michael Eisner also didn''t have much equity in Disney, but he still hadplete control over Disney.


    Of course, there was something that Robert Shaye didn''t realize, or chose to deliberately ignore.


    Firefly had Eric, but Disney had no such person.


    After a brief moment of excitement, Eric exined, "Like I was saying, Robert, if you want, Firefly can stille up with $60 million to pay you, but this will cause Firefly''s capital chain to be tense. So, I was wondering if you can wait until the end of the year.


    Rest assured, beyond the contract payment deadline, I will pay you with interest at the rate used by banks while giving out loans."


    Robert Shaye smiled and patted Eric''s shoulder as he replied, "Of course it''s okay. We''re a family now. I''ve read the financial information. Firefly can''t spend too much money at the end of the year.


    After all, the rest of our movies will be released at the end of this year, and we will only get the returns on them by mid next year. So, just pay me then."


    Robert Shaye replied, and immediately added, nonchntly, "Actually, Eric, you don''t have to pay me in cash. Just pay me in Firefly''s equity."


    Eric smiled, pretending not to have heard Robert Shaye''s words, and turned around casually. After saying a few more words, Robert left, content.


    But Jeffrey, who noticed Eric''s hint, walked a step behind him and returned to Eric.

 Chapter 220: Fox’s Copyrights

    When Robert Shaye left, Eric said to Jeffrey, "Jeffrey, because of this deal, Firefly will have an extra $80 million expenditure this year, and the funds will be very tight. So, at the end of this year, how about you take equity instead of cash for your share as the producer?"


    Jeffrey was surprised for a few seconds before he smiled and replied, "I don''t have any problem with that, but Eric, are you doing this to dilute Bob''s equity?"


    "Of course not," Eric chuckled and said, "If I do that, Bob will likely kill me. I will transfer a part of my equity to you. I hope you don''t mind if it''s not a lot."


    "No, I''ll be fine with whatever you give me," Jeffrey quickly replied before he continued, "If not for me wanting to see Firefly reach the top, I would have retired already. In fact, some time ago, I bought a  2,000 acre farm in Marnd. It was where my wife grew up.


    Currently, someone else is looking after it for me. When Firefly no longer needs me, I will voluntarily retire, go to that farm to grow corn, hunt, and guard it while I enjoy my twilight years."


    Hearing his words, Eric couldn''t help but feel a little emotional. If it weren''t for the excellent film crew trained by Jeffrey and his deceased wife, it would be hard to imagine that Firefly could grow so quickly.


    When Jeffrey finished speaking, Eric pretended to be annoyed and said, "Alright already Jeffrey, you are not Juliet''s Romeo nor the mermaid''s prince, you are just an old fat guy. Stop acting all romantic, alright?"


    Jeffrey knew that Eric didn''t mean any ill will. The talented young man just wasn''t good at expressing his emotions.


    Jeffrey chuckled and said, "Of course, I am not any one of the people you mentioned. I am Solina''s Jeffrey."


    "Ugh, I''m going to throw up."


    Jeffrey chuckled and replied, bitterly, "But, Eric, if I really leave in the future, don''t forget to visit me at the farm from time to time. You know, I don''t have many... rtives."


    Eric asked, carefully, "You... and your son haven''t reconciled yet?"


    Jeffrey sorrowfully replied, "We still don''t get along very well. Not to mention, Chris is always busy and I hardly see him, so it''s not surprising that our rtionship is quite strained."


    Eric was a little curious and asked, "Speaking of it, I have never seen your son. You just said that his name is Chris. What does he do for a living?"


    "He works on Wall Street."


    ''Wall Street...'' Eric thought and couldn''t help but ask, "Whichpany on Wall Street?"


    "Morgan Stanley."


    "Oh!" Eric couldn''t help but exim. Although he didn''t know a lot about Wall Street, he knew that Morgan Stanley was one of the fourrgest investment banks alongside Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.


    "I was just thinking about letting him work at Firefly if possible. But since he works at the famous Morgan Stanley, he likely won''t care much for our small filmpany."


    Hearing Eric''s words, Jeffrey couldn''t help but feel a little proud. Even if his rtionship with his son is distant and strained, any father would be proud of his son''s excellence.


    "Eric, if you want to invest in the future, you can contact him. Although I am not sure about his specific job, Chris has always been brilliant. When he was at the University of Pennsylvania, he received a full schrship, and I never had to pay a single penny for his tuition."


    Hearing Jeffrey''s words, many ideas popped into Eric''s mind.


    However, he quickly suppressed these ideas. He had never even seen Chris Hansen''s face. Of course, he wouldn''t make any decisions based on Jeffrey''s words. Still, he decided to be on the lookout for Chris Hansen.


    While Eric and Jeffrey were chatting, Barry Diller arrived.


    Other than Robert Shaye and Jeffrey at Firefly, as the head of Fox TV Network, Barry Diller was the one who paid the most attention to Friends.


    Barry Diller had originally wanted to wait for Murdoch toe down to ask about the result of the negotiation. However, for unknown reasons, even after Eric had been down for a while, Murdoch never reappeared, so Barry Diller had no other choice than to approach Eric.


    "Hello, Mr. Hansen, Eric," Barry Diller smiled and greeted Eric and Jeffrey.


    Jeffrey knew that Barry Diller wanted to speak to Eric so after nodding at him in reply, he graciously said, "Eric, I see an old friend over there. You two talk."


    After Jeffrey left, Barry Diller didn''t immediately ask about Friends. Instead, he softly asked, "Were you the one who bought the copyright to An Affair to Remember?"


    Eric knew that it was fruitless to lie to a smart person like Barry Diller, so he simply nodded.


    "I actually didn''t care much when I saw the document regarding the sale of the copyright of An Affair to Remember, but then I read the script of Sleepless in Seattle," said Barry Diller before he looked at Eric and continued, clearly dissatisfied, "Eric, that waspletely unnecessary.


    Hasn''t the cooperation between us been very pleasant? If you had asked for it yourself, we might have sold you the copyright for just $1 million, not $3.5 million."


    Hearing Barry Diller''s words, Eric felt somewhat embarrassed just thinking about the millions of An Affair to Remember video tapes that would sell after  the release of Sleepless in Seattle...


    He couldn''t imagine what Barry Diller would look like at that time, but the section manager who sold him the copyright of An Affair to Remember would certainly look very miserable.


    Naturally, Barry Diller didn''t know what Eric was thinking. He believed that Eric was embarrassed because he felt ashamed of going behind his back. He patted Eric on the shoulder and said, "Forget it, this matter is over. Remember, if you need help next time, just ask me, okay?"


    "Of course, I will," Eric nodded sincerely, and pretended to toast with Barry Diller gratefully. At the same time, Eric made a decision in his heart to remind Drew to purchase all the adaptation rights rted to Fox in the copyright list he gave her before the end of the year.


    After the release of Sleepless in Seattle at the year''s end, Fox would likely never sell anything to him.

 Chapter 221: Garden Lights

    Afterwards, Barry Diller asked about the results of the talks between him and Murdoch. Eric did not hide anything and clearly told Barry Diller that Firefly will soon be a shareholder of Fox TV Network.


    Barry Diller''s reaction after hearing the results was simr to that of Jeffrey and Robert Shaye. After asking if what Eric said was the truth multiple times, Barry Diller slowly patted Eric on the shoulders and walked away quietly.


    Eric can understand the reason behind Barry Diller''s sour mood. The Fox TV Network was established in 1986 and has grown into the fourthrgestwork in North America in just four years. To attain this feat, Barry Diller has made great contributions.


    But even so, Barry Diller only owns less than 5% of Fox TV''s equity. Meanwhile, Eric managed to obtain 10% of Fox TV''s shares with just one TV show. It''s only natural that Barry Diller is unable to reconcile with the unfairness of the situation. However, Eric didn''t feel too bad for Barry Diller.


    The world has never been fair. Hard work doesn''t always result in an equal amount of gains.


    After walking through the crowd and speaking briefly to a few people who struck up a conversation with him, Eric finally found Jennifer who was chatting enthusiastically with Nicole.


    "Jenny, what are you talking about, so happily?" Eric nodded to Nicole and put his arms around Jennifer''s waist before he gently kissed her on the cheek.


    Eric''s public disy of affection made Jennifer feel a little embarrassed as she shrank her neck and replied, quietly, "We''re talking about girls'' topics. Why do you care?"


    "Heh, I have always been very interested in girls'' topics, so tell me quickly," Eric teased as he lightly squeezed the sensitive flesh of her waist, causing Jennifer to re at him in annoyance.


    Nicole smiled as she looked at Eric and Jennifer, feeling a hint of envy, but Eric looked up right then and casuallymanded, "Nicole, I''m a little hungry, can you bring me something to eat?"


    Maybe it was because she had worked as a maid at Eric''s house for a long time, Nicole nodded habitually. However, she suddenly realized her gaffe and hesitated for a moment before she continued to walk towards a dining table filled with food nearby.


    Jennifer saw Ericmand Nicole like a servant, so she looked at him, dissatisfied, andined, "Eric, how can you speak to her like that. Hey, Nicole, wait for me! Don''t listen to this guy, let him starve to death."


    Jennifer yelled as she chased after Nicole.


    "What an idiot. Eric, dump her as soon as possible. If you ever have children with her, even your genius IQ might be gically neutralized by her empty brain and you might have a retard for a child."


    Eric turned back to the source of the words and reached his hand out to ruffle Drew''s hair before he joked, "You must have been burning the midnight oil at school. I never thought I would hear you use a scientific word like gics."


    Drew knew that Eric was being sarcastic, so protested, dissatisfied, "I''m not skipping ss. It''s night right now."


    Eric reached out and lightly pulled the girl''s tiny ear and asked, "The distance from your school in Pasadena in northeast LA to Malibu in west LA is more than 40 miles. Given the traffic in LA, you wouldn''t be able to get here in less than two hours.


    So, tell me: If you didn''t skip school, how did you get here?"


    Drew could only tilt her head slightly because Eric was pulling her ears, but her little mouth continued to defend herself, "What kind of an idiot would drive through the city? Don''t you know that there is such a thing as a highway?


    From Pasadena to Highway 101 and then to Mulhond Drive, it takes less than an hour... Ouch!! It hurts!"


    Hearing her excuses, Eric pulled slightly harder and the girl closed her mouth immediately. Soon, her eyes became watery and she looked at Eric beggingly.


    The people nearby looked at them curiously. Some people who were unsure about Eric and Drew''s rtionship asked the people nearby before they looked at Eric and Drew, ambiguously.


    Jennifer, who was walking back with a small dinner te with Nicole, saw Eric pulling Drew''s ears, snorted, and said to Nicole, "Nicole, let''s go. Let him starve to death."


    Nicole hesitated for a second, looked at Eric helplessly and followed Jennifer.


    Eric was about to continue to teach Drew a few more lessons words when "Heroes of Justice" appeared bravely to criticize Eric for inflicting "child abuse."


    "Hey, Eric, how can you treat a girl so rudely!" Elisabeth, who came with Julia, removed Eric''s hand and pulled Drew to her side.


    Drew hid behind Elisabeth and stuck her tongue out at Eric while grinning.


    Eric didn''t know if Elizabeth was really not sure about the situation or pretending to be stupid, but since someone intervened, he couldn''t continue to teach Drew.


    "Liz, what''re you here for?"


    Elisabeth thought Eric would attempt to make excuses, but when she heard his words, she had to say, "Julia is leaving, don''t you want to see her off?"


    Julia, standing behind Elisabeth, didn''t expect those words and she quickly pulled Elisabeth''s dress.


    Eric nced at Julia, who avoided his gaze, and realized that this was Elisabeth''s idea, but he still nodded and readily replied, "Okay."


    After he spoke, he noticed Drew trying to slip away and yelled at her, "Don''t run,e with me."


    "Julia, it''s not even ten yet, why''re you going back so early?" While walking to the parking lot outside the vi, Eric asked.


    Julia opened her mouth and hesitantly said, "I uh..."


    "Julia is feeling slightly under the weather! Why are you embarrassing her?!" Seeing Julia''s embarrassed look, Elisabeth immediately rebuked Eric.


    Eric smiled bitterly and shook his head.


    When they got to the parking lot, Eric said, "Julia, can you do me a favor?"


    "Huh?" Julia looked at Eric, confused.


    Eric pulled Drew towards him and continued, "Can you let Drew stay at your ce tonight and take her to school tomorrow?"


    Drew seemed to want to object but seeing the look in Eric''s eyes, she knew that he wouldn''t listen to her excuses, so she reluctantly nodded. She knew that Eric had to take Jennifer home tonight so he wouldn''t be able to take her, as well, since the two girls would definitely end up in a fight.


    After seeing that Drew got in the car with Julia, Eric spoke a few words to thetter before seeing the two off.


    After Julia''s car left the gate of the estate, Eric did not return to the vi, but sat down on a bench in a small garden nearby.


    Elisabeth hesitated for a few seconds before she sat down next to him. Seeing Eric take out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, Elisabeth habitually wanted to rebuke him for smoking when she realized that they were outside, so she finally didn''t say anything.


    Eric lit the cigarette and took a deep breath before exhaling a light blue smoke. He then turned his head and asked, "Liz, what''s the matter?"


    "Are you troubled?" Elisabeth asked instead. Seeing Eric''s confused expression, Elisabeth asked teasingly, "Instead of mingling with your many women, you''re hiding here and smoking."


    Eric chuckled and replied, "I don''t have many women. Besides, women and films are the two major pursuits of my life. I can''t wait to enjoy them. Why would I be upset about it?"


    This was the first time that Elisabeth had heard Eric speak so straightforwardly. After being left stunned for a few seconds, she rolled her eyes and said, "Your pursuits are really... vulgar."


    Eric ignored her words and continued to enjoy the cool sea breezete at night under the dim street light while smoking a cigarette.


    He had thought that Elisabeth Murdoch would eventually leave, but even after he finished smoking the cigarette, she was still sitting next to him, which made Eric feel a little ufortable. Finally, he asked, hesitantly, "Liz, your father forced you to be my assistant director.


    If you''re unwilling, should I ask Murdoch to forget about it?"


    "Do you hate me?" Elisabeth asked suddenly.


    Eric shook his head and quickly replied, "I never hate beautiful women."


    Hearing Eric''s words, Elisabeth felt her heartbeat speed up, but her mean tongue was still in service as she replied, "You never fail to use your glib tongue, you yboy."


    Eric turned his head towards her as he leaned back on the bench, unrestrained admiring her beautiful body wrapped in a dress, before he smirked and said, "Then you don''t have to run away."


    Feeling the aggression within Eric''s eyes, Elisabeth subconsciously wanted to cover her chest, but she suppressed the impulse as she refused to bow down to him and asked, " You narcissist, why should I run away?"

 Chapter 222: Script Purchase

    Eric quickly noticed that Elisabeth seemed to be getting embarrassed as her face became rosy, but she seemed to regard their confrontation as a ''battle'' so she stared back, stubbornly.


    Finally, she asked, "Hey, what are you thinking?" Without looking at her, Eric pointed to the floor-to-ceilingmpshade on thewn nearby, "Thempshade over there is pretty. I''m thinking that I can''t wait for you to leave so that I can remove it from thewn and take it back with me."


    Elisabeth couldn''t help butugh briefly, before she frowned and sternly looked at Eric, "Don''t even think about it. I''m watching you closely."


    "That''s a shame," Eric sighed, yet he didn''t seem regretful, at all.


    "Hey, can you not be a child all the time," Elisabeth finally asked, helplessly.


    Eric threw the used cigarette into the trash can nearby and replied, "Liz, can you just tell me why you''re here?"


    "I..." Elisabeth hesitated, "I wanted to remind you not to forget to pay me a sry."


    Eric asked, confused, "Huh?"


    "As your assistant director. Although my father asked me to do it, I don''t want to do it for nothing. I want to be financially independent as soon as possible, so that the old man will stop threatening me with freezing my credit card."


    Eric smiled, "We both know what you are really going to do as my assistant director, Liz. Your father knows why he made you my assistant director, as well, so please stop making trouble, alright?


    Although you don''t have many sses left, I suggest you finish school and enjoy yourst year in college. Once you leave, you won''t be able to find that feeling again in life."


    "You don''t need to worry about my business!" Elisabeth replied, dissatisfied. She added, "I already have my own ns for my future. I n to be a film producer. So, first of all, I have to familiarize myself with the process of film production."


    He asked with a raised eyebrow, "Oh? What about News Corporation? Weren''t you studying media to inherit your father''s business?"


    Elisabeth couldn''t help feeling a little sad when she heard Eric''s words. She haltingly replied, "I know that he wants my brothers to take over."


    "Your father is kind of traditional."


    Eric truly didn''t expect Murdoch to be so patriarchal.


    "Sexist is the more apt term," Elizabeth murmured aggrievedly, and then said to Eric again, "Um, there is actually something else."


    Eric curiously gazed at her.


    "I have discussed this with Julia. Maybe next year, after I gain some experience, I n to produce my first movie, and she agreed to be the female lead in it."


    "So?"


    "So, I mean can you uh sell us a script?"


    Eric remained silent before he slowly took out a cigarette from his pocket. This time Elisabeth finally couldn''t stand it. She grabbed the cigarette from Eric''s hand and threw it directly into the trash can. She yelled, annoyed, "Hey, don''t you realize that smoking in front of ady is rude?"


    "Okay, okay, I won''t smoke," Eric raised his hands and surrendered, but then he asked, "Forget the script for now. If you want to make a movie, from where will you get the investment? Didn''t you just say that you want financial independence?


    Even with Julia as the female lead, it won''t be that easy to find investors?"


    "I''ve already thought about it; I will borrow $10 million from my old man to establish a filmpany. The money is enough to make a movie, Julia also agreed to take equity in thepany as her pay for the movie, along with a share of the movie''s profits."


    Elisabeth exined quickly. Eric thought about it for a moment and understood. This is amon method used by billionaires to avoid high inheritance taxes in order to pass on family wealth.


    They give their children a sum of money in the name of assisting them in establishing and developing their ownpany. After the children''spany develops to a certain scale, they would sell it back to their parents at a high price by means of equity swaps.


    This method can dilute profits on paper and make it possible to pass on wealth to the next generation at a small price. Of course, this method of inheritance also has higher requirements on the abilities of the children.


    Although Murdoch does not intend to let Elisabeth seed him as the next head of News Corporation, he would certainly not refuse to pass on his wealth to her as her inheritance.


    While Eric was thinking, Elisabeth interrupted him, "Eric, what are you thinking? Do you agree or not?"


    Eric looked at her and asked with a smile, "Alright, how much will you bid for my script?"


    Hearing his words, Elisabeth was left speechless.


    All of Eric''s personally-written movie scripts have a box office return of no less than $100 million, and almost each one can bring investors no less than $50 million in profits. ording to this standard, his scripts would sell for even more than what Hollywood''s top screenwriters earn.


    Eric quickly said, "Look, you haven''t thought about anything yet, so let''s forget this matter until you have given it some more thought."


    He stood up after speaking. Unless Elisabeth was stupid, she would realize that he was rejecting her.


    In fact, this was not just a question of money. Eric has many scripts in his mind. Even if he gives one to Elisabeth, it wouldn''t matter much to him, but it is a risk he is unable to currently take.


    Although he has achieved box office sess for several consecutive movies, his strength in Hollywood is still not stable.


    If he hands out a self-written script to Elisabeth, and he can''t personally ensure the quality of the movie during production and she messes up, it will destroy the aura of infallibility he has established through several consecutive hits.


    Even though Elisabeth had Julia, it was not enough to convince him that the two girls would seed.


    "Hey, Eric, wait," Elisabeth quickly stopped Eric.


    Although she was unaware of Eric''s concerns, after some thought, she decided to forego the n of buying a self-written script from him because she realized that she could simply not afford it, but she was quite clever, and quickly thought of another idea.


    Elisabeth smiled and asked, "Eric, how about this: I won''t buy a script from you. Instead, Julia and I will choose the script by ourselves. All you need to do is help us check and see if the script has any potential or not, alright?"

 Chapter 223: Sharp High Heels

    Eric quickly shook his head, "Liz, I''m afraid this is not possible. Even if two different sets of producer and director produce a film using the exact same script, the two films will bepletely different due to the differing ideas of the two sets of producers and directors during filming.


    Even if I say that a script has potential, if the skills of the director you choose are not up to par, the film could still end up being terrible which will ruin my reputation."


    Elisabeth pulled Eric''s sleeve and hurriedly said, "Then join us. You can be a producer on the film, so that you can personally check the quality of the film."


    Eric smirked and said, "If I release the news that I n to coborate with anotherpany to produce a film, not to mention smaller studios like Orion, New World and Carolco, even the Big Seven will rush over and ept all of my conditions. So, tell me, why should I work with you?"


    "You..." Elisabeth gnashed her teeth and cursed, "You''re such a bastard!!"


    Eric smiled and put one hand on the bench as he leaned down towards Elisabeth and whispered in her ear, "Hey, little girl, since your father doesn''t want you to inherit the family business then stop causing trouble.


    Instead, you should enjoy your life since you were lucky enough to be born in a rich family. You can rx and find a man to marry in the future."


    In all the time she had known Eric, he had never shown any particr interest in her. At this time, however, he had suddenly closed the distance between them. He was so close that she could even smell the faint musk emanating from his body.


    Elisabeth, who had been caught unprepared, was like a deer caught in the headlights as her heartbeat and breathing quickened and her cheeks became flushed.


    Under the soft lighting of the garden''smps, Elisabeth''s pretty face looked even more beautiful and amorous as she unknowingly began releasing pheromones and the atmosphere between the two became more sensual.


    Maybe because he had been infected by this sensual atmosphere, Eric, who had only been nning to joke with Elisabeth, couldn''t help but move his face closer to hers as he sniffed the grant scent emanating from her neck. Finally, his eyes fell on her delicate, cherry-red lips.


    Elisabeth felt something on her lips, waking her from her stupor. She had never expected that Eric would suddenly kiss her like this, so she opened her eyes wide and wanted to push him away, but she felt an electric sensation throughout her body which left her powerless, unable to even lift a finger.


    Feeling the girl''s lips quivering like a frightened animal, Eric suddenly regained his senses and became aware of his blunder, but since the damage was already done, he decided to kiss Elisabeth''s soft and sweet lips for a few more moments before he withdrew.


    Seeing her lower lip still open due to his intense kiss, Eric reached out and used his index finger to gently push it up as he said, "Sorry, Liz, I didn''t mean it."


    During the past few seconds, Elisabeth had felt like she had been floating on clouds. First, her eyes became covered by Eric''s face; then, she felt him gently sucking on her lips for more than just a few seconds; finally, she felt the touch of his slightly rough fingertip on her lip.


    It truly felt like she was in bliss until she heard his words


    ''Sorry, Liz, I didn''t mean it.''


    She thought, ''Oh, he said he didn''t mean it Didn''t mean it...??? He didn''t mean it!!!''


    Elisabeth quickly opened her eyes and blinked them a few times, wanting to confirm that she had not heard incorrectly, but of course she had not heard incorrectly.


    ''How can he say this??!! What an asshole!!!''


    Suddenly, the mes in her heart ignited as if someone had set a barrel of oil on fire. Her body which had be soft quickly hardened and her strength quickly returned.


    She bowed her head before she noticed his foot nearby and instinctively lifted her leg and mmed her sharp high heels down on his foot with all her might.


    "Oww!"


    As Eric''s scream rang in the background, Elisabeth walked away without turning back.


    Soon, two security guards rushed into the park and noticed Eric sitting on the bench alone with one of his feet ced on the bench. He was massaging foot after he had taken off his shoe and sock.


    The two guards quickly recognized Eric and rxed as they ced the baton back into the strap on their waist. One of them stepped forward and asked, "Mr. Williams, what happened?"


    Eric smiled awkwardly as he shook his head and replied, "Nothing, I just identally hit my foot on the bench."


    The other guard nced at the increasingly-clear ck-green mark on Eric''s foot as he asked with concern, "Mr. Williams, should I call a doctor?"


    "No, there''s no need for that. I will rest my foot for a little while before I return."


    The guard thought that Eric might not want others to know about his injury, but he also noticed that the injury needed to be treated, so he asked, "Mr. Williams, there''s a first aid kit in the guard quarters. Should I bring it?"


    "Oh, thank you. I''ll be in your care," Eric nodded and smiled gratefully at the man.


    Meanwhile, Elisabeth did not return to the party hall after she left the garden. Instead, she went to her bedroom and took off her evening gown before she entered her bathroom to take a shower.


    Although she had stepped on Eric''s foot, her mood had still not calmed down. She paced back and forth within her room, punched her pillow a few times, attempted to do some deep breathing, but nothing helped.


    Finally, she jumped in her bed and covered her face with a pillow to muffle her screams as she vented her annoyance. After a few screams, she finally became quiet. Then, she picked up the mobile phone ced on the bedside table and dialed a series of numbers.


    Just after entering Beverly Hills, Julia heard the ringing of her mobile phone and parked the car on the side of the road before pressing the receive button and pushing the mobile phone to her ear.


    Immediately, Julia heard the aggrieved voice of her friend, "Julia, he kissed me."


    Julia quickly understood who was the ''he.'' Even though Julia always acts submissive in front of Eric due to some psychological reasons, her character has not changed.


    Hearing her friend''s words, Julia not only did not get jealous, but, instead,ughed as she had long expected that this would happen one day. She asked, "Liz, didn''t you just go to talk to him about the script? How did you end up getting kissed? Also, did he agree?"


    Elizabeth felt frustrated as she replied, "No."


    Then, she briefly exined what had happened. Of course, she didn''t forget to omit many details.


    Julia patiently listened to her friend''s words as she sighed many times and calmed her down before she hung up. Then, she started the car and hit the road again. She looked at the curious Drew from the corner of her eyes and snorted as sheined, "Your little daddy is really abominable.


    He kissed Liz, but isn''t even willing to give us a script."

 Chapter 224: Drew’s Ambition

    Drew heard the term "little daddy" and realized that Julia was referring to Eric. In fact, she seemed to feel envious of Drew due to her being pampered by Eric. To her, it seemed like Drew had him wrapped around her finger, but Drew, herself, was the only one who truly understood Eric''s personality.


    He wasn''t someone who could be manipted by others.


    Still, she kept her thoughts to herself. She then asked, "Why do you want to buy a script from Eric?"


    Julia didn''t hide anything as she readily informed Drew about Elisabeth''s n.


    Drew''s eyes shed and she asked, "Why didn''t you look for me?"


    Julia frowned and asked, "Look for you? What does this have to do with you?"


    Drew smirked and proudly replied, "Let me tell you, Eric likes to brainstorm in his study, so there are many scripts in his study that he thinks are good."


    Julia opened her mouth in amazement and asked, "You''re not nning on stealing them, are you?"


    "How is that poss-," Drew subconsciously refuted before she stopped herself and said, "In fact, if I just take an outline, Eric will never know."


    Julia immediately shook her head and refused, "No, even if Eric doesn''t find out right away, he will definitely find out after the film is released in the future."


    "That''s true," Drew indifferently shrugged her shoulders.


    She didn''t believe that Julia wouldn''t be tempted, so she leaned back in her seat and stared outside the window, pretending to look bored while she waited for Julia to speak again.


    Sure enough, the car continued down the road for a few minutes before Julia finally couldn''t help but hesitantly ask, "Drew, you mean that Eric has a lot of spare... script outlines?"


    "Yea," Drew nonchntly lightly replied as she continued to stare out the window, a smile slowly started spreading on her face.


    Julia slowly asked, "Eric pampers you so much, so can''t you ask him to sell us one? Anyways, he... he has so many."


    During the call, Elisabeth had been so focused on the kiss that she forgot to mention the reason why Eric had refused to sell them a script. As a result, Julia thought that maybe she could ask Drew to persuade him. However, Drew directly broke Julia''s illusions.


    She said, "Since Eric has rejected Miss Murdoch, he must have a good reason. Even if I try to persuade him, he won''t change his mind."


    Julia became silent again. It wasn''t that she didn''t want Drew to steal Eric''s script, but that she really didn''t dare. Even though she wasn''t sure how Eric would react after he found out, it certainly wouldn''t be aughing matter.


    After gauging Julia''s thoughts, Drew said, "In fact, Eric is not the only person in this world who can write scripts."


    Julia stopped the car at the red light and asked, "What do you mean?"


    "I mean, we can find a script ourselves, and then I can have Eric read it and see if it has any potential." Drew quickly replied, unaware that her ideas coincided with those of Elisabeth.


    Julia was keenly listening to Drew, so she grasped a word and asked, "You just said we?"


    "Yeah," Drew didn''t conceal her purpose and said, "Julia, you see, since Elisabeth Murdoch wants to set up a filmpany, why don''t we all take some equity and work together? You''ll be the female lead, I''ll be in charge of the script and production, and Elisabeth will be in charge of distribution.


    How about it?"


    After hearing Drew''s offer, Julia looked surprised. She looked at the young girl sitting beside her who looked 17 or 18, but was actually just 14 years old in a daze. Among the few women who were close to Eric, Julia had the least contact with Drew, so she had been unaware of Drew''s precociousness.


    Hearing the horn of the car behind her, Julia snapped out of her daze and noticed that the light had turned green. She quickly stepped on the gas pedal and asked, "Will Eric even allow you to do this?"


    Drew quickly replied, "We don''t need to tell him."


    "Then... uh what about the money? Where will you get the money to buy thepany''s equity?"


    Drew immediately took out a VIP card from her purse and waved it in front of Julia as she said, "There''s more than $10 million in this card."


    Julia was not aware that Eric had given the credit card to Drew to acquire scripts, so when Drew told her about the bnce on the credit card, Julia once again fell into a daze.


    She even felt that Eric''s favor towards Drew seemed unreasonably high since he even gave a young girl like her so much money.


    Even though Julia has be one of the top actresses in Hollywood thanks to the outstanding sess of Pretty Woman, due to her career having just started, she has a worth of less than $10 million.


    Drew realized that her purpose of greatly surprising Julia had been achieved so she put the credit card back in her purse and said, "I don''t want too much equity. Just give me 30%. The two of you can discuss how to divide the remaining 60% yourself.


    Don''t think too much, you won''t find a better deal than this anywhere.


    Just the fact that I can let Eric choose the script for us is well worth 30%. After all, if the script you choose is bad, it means that you''re doomed to fail. No matter how hard you tried, you would be doomed to aplish nothing.


    Moreover, even though Elisabeth Murdoch''s family owns 20th Century Fox which will solve the issue of distribution, during filming, you will definitely encounter a lot of problems. At that time, if Eric knows that I have a stake in thepany, he won''t be able to just stand by and watch right?"


    Seeing that Julia nodded her head again and again, Drew, who was talking nonstop, realized that this venture was likely dominated by Elisabeth, and Julia likely only joined in due to their friendship.


    Realizing this, Drew no longer wasted her breath and suggested, "Julia, why don''t you call Elisabeth Murdoch toe over and discuss this matter?"


    Julia looked at her watch and asked, "Isn''t it toote now?"


    "Hey, girl, time is money," Drew said, picking up Julia''s mobile phone from the dash and asking, "Tell me her number; I will call her."


    Julia reluctantly pointed at her bag and said, "The address book is in there."


    Drew found the address book and began to look through it.


    After more than an hour, Elisabeth arrived at Julia''s apartment. One thought about going behind Eric''s back while the other thought about giving Eric a big surprise. After talking for a few minutes, Elisabeth and Drew hit it off.


    The ambitious young woman began to discuss her big ns for the filmpany with the ambitious young girl while they sat next to the small coffee table in the living room of Julia''s apartment. As for Julia, she had gone back to her struggling days as a waitress.


    **********


    Eric was oblivious to the ns of the three women. He waited for the two security guards to bring the first aid kit who helped put the bandage on his foot. After resting for a while, he carefully returned to the party.


    The pain in his leg made it tough for Eric to stand and he quickly wanted to return home. Thankfully, Friends was still in the process of intense production, so many people had already begun to leave in order not to dy the next day''s work.


    Eric began looking for Jennifer, intending to return to Beverly Hills together.


    "I am going with Nicole," said Jennifer while holding the arm of the taller girl beside her. "Also, I don''t want to bother my father, so I n to move out of his house tomorrow. Nicole was also looking for a housemate with whom she could share the rent."


    Eric was left stunned. He looked at Jennifer before he looked at Nicole, feeling confused as to how these two got along so well.


    Due to the poprity of Friends, Jennifer had once again be the object of the paparazzi''s pursuit, so she could no longer live in the small Burbank apartment.


    Due to her pride, she was not willing to move in with Eric, so she had temporarily moved to her father''s house while looking for a safer ce to rent.


    "What about me?" Eric asked, helplessly.


    Jennifer hesitated for a few moments upon hearing his words, but she soon raised her chin and said, "I can''t control what you do. I have to shoot tomorrow, so I''m going with Nicole. You can return back to Beverly Hills by yourself."


    It wasn''t until Jennifer pulled Nicole away and left that Eric began shaking his head while smiling wryly. He had only made Nicole socialize with Jennifer to prevent thetter from fighting with Drew, but he never expected that this would be the oue.


    He didn''t think that Nicole had done this intentionally since it didn''t benefit her.


    After a while, he finally understood the cause of the unexpected friendship between the two women. It can only be said that this happened because the status of Jennifer and Nicole are too far apart.


    Nicole, who wants to retain her role as the female lead in Eric''s new film, did her best to keep Jennifer happy by showering her withpliments.


    As a result, Jennifer''s strong defense against beautiful young women was easily destroyed and she quickly became very close with Nicole due to having few close friends. Eric decided that since Nicole had no ns to harm Jennifer, he would just let the two of them alone.


    After experiencing so many things in one night, Eric felt a little tired. He didn''t even have the strength to drive all the way to Beverly Hills, so he went straight to Virginia''s tiny vi nearby for the night.


    The next morning, Julia got up while feeling slightly groggy, scratched her hair and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. As she looked at the foamy brush in her mouth, she suddenly realized that there were two more people in her apartment.


    After quickly freshening up, Julia walked into the living room.


    The living room had turned into a mess. The bundle of A4 paper she had bought was scattered everywhere with a lot of messy things written and drawn on them. Elizabeth and Drew were still eagerly discussing something with great interest.


    Julia picked up an A4 paper and looked at it. She didn''t understand what was drawn on it. She casually asked, "Did you two get any sleepst night?"


    Her voice finally caused the two girls to notice her presence as Drew looked up and said in amazement, "Oh, wow, the sky is bright."


    Julia rolled her eyes and thought, ''I guess that answers my question.''


    Drew deeply yawned and said to Elisabeth, "Liz, this is enough for now. I am going to sleep."


    After that, she unceremoniously walked into Julia''s bedroom, nning to sleep in Julia''srge bed. Julia didn''t mind, but she recalled something else and asked, "Drew, Eric told me that you had to go to school."


    "&-#-#-@--%-#-@..."


    A few sounds came from within the bedroom, seemingly Drew covered her head with a pillow.


    Julia looked confused and asked Elisabeth, "What did she say?"


    Elisabeth quickly wrote something on a piece of paper before she casually replied, "She said she has already taken the day off."


    Julia looked at the direction of the bedroom before she looked back at Elisabeth and said, surprised, "Wow, that''s amazing. How did you hear her?"


    "I didn''t; I just guessed."


    "..."


    While Julia stood there speechless, Elisabeth picked up a piece of paper and asked, "Julia, look, how about this for the name of our filmpany?"


    "This is... what does it mean?" Julia looked at the two letters on the paper and asked, "T.G. Films?"


    "T.G; it means Three Girls," Elisabeth replied.


    "You... didn''t sleep all night just toe up with this name?"


    Elisabeth asked, "Of course not, we discussed a lot of things. Drew will take 30% equity, you will also take 30%, and I will take the remaining 40%. Is that fine?"


    It''s been less than a year since Julia became famous, so her mind was still on acting, not production, so she didn''t have any opposition to Elisabeth''s offer as she readily nodded before she asked, "Well, do you want breakfast?"


    "No, I''m going to sleep," Elisabeth replied as she stood up and swayed into the bedroom. Julia followed her into the bedroom and saw Elisabeth and Drew sleeping on opposite sides of the bed.


    She pulled the curtains and covered the two with nkets before she returned to the living room and began to clean up the mess.


    On this early morning, in this small apartment, the famous T.G. Films was born.

 Chapter 225: Impact of Friends

    The day after Friends'' sess party, Murdoch couldn''t wait to use News Corp''s vast media empire to release the news that Firefly will obtain a 10% equity in Fox Network, Friends will continue to broadcast on Fox Network, and that Firefly and Fox will continue to closely cooperate in the future.


    When this news came out, most of the media which had been pessimistic about Fox''s chances of retaining Friends due to the influence of the Big Three immediately changed their stance by 180 and began expressing their optimism about the future prospects of Fox Network.


    Not to mention the fact that Firefly will work closely with Fox, just the already existing Friends is more than enough for Fox to seize significant market share, create more sophisticated TV shows and cultivate a loyal audience.


    This will allow Fox to cement its position as the fourthrgestwork in America. In addition, it''s even possible for Fox to overtake one of the Big Three in the future.


    Thanks to this good news, Fox Network''s original market value of less than $1 billion rose rapidly. After hearing about the imminent deal between Firefly and Fox, the Big Three not only did not give up on Friends, instead they began to contact Eric more frequently.


    After all, the transfer of thework''s equity won''t bepleted overnight.


    Among the Big Three, ABC, which had been in a slump since its merger with Capital Cities Communications in 1985, was the most eager and even offered equity simr to Fox.


    However, Tom Murphy, the Chairman and CEO of ABC, only managed to obtain the board of directors approval to sell 3% equity to Firefly.


    Even though the value of ABC''s 3% equity is more than twice the value of Fox''s 10% equity, Eric was not interested.


    He was aware that ABC has been losing money for the past four years and will continue to do so until its acquisition by Disney which means that he will receive no dividends from ABC for the next few years.


    Therefore, investment in ABC will bear no fruit. In addition, a tiny 3% equity stake is not likely to give Eric arge voice within ABC. As long as one has a little sense, one can see whichwork has a higher potential between the booming Fox and the decrepit ABC.


    As a result, Eric''s choice is obvious.


    **********


    On the evening of September 10th, under the close attention of the Big Three andughter of the audience, Friends'' second week of broadcast came to an end . Two hourster, Nielsen released the episode''s ratings data.


    The average viewers for the third and fourth episodes of Friends reached 24.6 million while the highest ratings even reached 29 million.


    The Big Three also received this data and began to analyze the factors behind the sess of Friends. Finally, they concluded that the reason behind Friends'' high broadcast ratings was that, in addition to its humorous writing, the first two episodes had been directed by Eric.


    Of course, there have been many film directors who have been involved in the production of TV shows in the past and a few have even personally directed a number of episodes, but those film directors had done that because they didn''t receive work anywhere else.


    Unless they had no other choice, no film director would stoop so low as direct TV shows since it was considered taboo in Hollywood.


    Therefore, the publicity gimmick that Eric, a young man who has directed many hit films and has be famous enough to rival Spielberg and Lucas, would personally direct a TV show has aroused a strong curiosity within the audience.


    They wanted to see the TV show directed by Eric who has performed one box office miracle after another. Eric did not disappoint them as the quality of Friends more than lived up to their expectations.


    After they understood this, the Big Three rushed to follow suit almost simultaneously. Soon, Steven Spielberg, Francis Copp, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton and many other bigshot Hollywood directors received extremely generous invitations.


    The Big Three even stated that they would be willing to pay them millions of dors even if they just put their name in the credits. Although most directors refused mary offers due to their pride, some still capitted. The results were also quite good.


    A few TV shows with the name of a film director in the credits obtained higher ratings than expected.


    As a result, it became a trend to invite famous film directors to direct the first two episodes of a TV show.


    In fact, if a TV showcked a famous film director, it''s reputation would plummet and the audience would feel that the quality of that TV show was likelycking which would, in turn, result in a loss of ratings and this vicious cycle would continue.


    After Friends'' second weekly broadcast, some people discovered that any news regarding Friends on TV shows of otherworks, besides Fox, had vanished. Even the talk shows that like to discuss the current events in the country and the entertainment industry seem to have never heard of Friends.


    Obviously, this was deliberately done by the Big Three after Eric refused all of them. However, this "gag order" has not caused any harm to Friends. After all, Fox''s parentpany, News Corp, owns major paper media in all English-speaking countries in the world.


    It can publicize Friends in paper media or TV media in every corner of the world.


    Even though the Big Three control most of the TV media in America, they are still pure TVworks as they have not been merged into media conglomerates. Thus, they own few newspapers and magazines. During this era, the word-of-mouth of a TV show was mainly spread through newspapers and magazines.


    The Big Three, as Fox''spetitors, have not failed to publish some attacks on Friends in newspapers and magazines which they can influence such as pointing out the incessant use ofugh tracks in Friends.


    However, it didn''t have much of an impact since the more authoritative newspapers have given good reviews for Friends.


    Eric was sitting in his office reading a piece of news about Friends in the Los Angeles Times.


    "ording to Nielsen ratings, the second weekly broadcast of Friends has removed the unstable audience. They predict that the average number of viewers of this si will remain at around 22 million, which will undoubtedly make Friends the king of ratings amongst the TV shows this fall.


    ording to sources, the average advertising revenue of Friends has reached $3 million. Therefore, Friends will bring in more than $70 million in ad revenue each season.


    Although we are unaware of the exact ad revenue distribution between Firefly and Fox, with the dominant nature of Eric Williams, the ad revenue share obtained by Firefly will definitely be unprecedented in the industry.


    In addition, just the first round of reruns can bring nearly $30 million in revenue to Firefly. What is even more surprising is that the copyright of Friends is held exclusively by Firefly.


    Afterwards, the licensing ie from the syndication and the sale of videotapes will bring in at least three times the ad revenue of the original run.


    All of thises from the less than $5 million investment of Friends. Eric Williams, the young man who has been the center of attention in Hollywood for the past two years, has proven to the world that he can not only shine in the film industry, but also in the TV industry.


    While writing this article, I suddenly had a thought: Will Eric Williams extend his reach to the music industry next? After all, in all the films he has directed, the soundtracks have always been written by Eric Williams, himself.


    A Silent Voice during the bus scene between Tom Cruise and Brooke Shields in Running Out of Time had touched many fans. The media even praised Running Out of Time as the most beautiful film of the year thanks to this song.


    So, I would like to give some advice to the CEOs of the major recordbels. Look at the turmoil within the Big Threeworks and learn from their mistakes. Why not send an invitation to Eric Williams before someone else does?"


    After reading the article in the Los Angeles Times, Eric fell into deep thought.


    When he had filmed Pretty Woman and used the song It Must Have Been Love by the pop duo Roxette, he had thought about producing a few songs and entering the music industry. The ''90s was the final glory of the global recording industry.


    As long as a recordpany had several singers, the profits were no less than those of a sessful filmpany or TV station.


    In addition, even if the recording industry declines in the future due to the rise of the advent of the inte, the copyrights of songs owned by recordpanies would remain a huge asset that would bring long-term ie, especially in the West where intellectual property protection was taken very strictly.


    While thinking this, he wrote a few notes on his memo.


    Eric was about to pick up another newspaper when he received a call from his secretary, "Mr. Williams, Miss Murdoch is here."


    Soon, Elisabeth Murdoch, wearing a blue and white id shirt and dark jeans with arge dark blue purse on her arm, mmed the door and walked in before rudely sitting down opposite Eric.


    Then, she stared directly at him without any hesitation as if to say that she was unaffected by Eric''s kiss that night.


    She nced at the newspaper in Eric''s hand and mocked, "I didn''t think you were so narcissistic. Even secretly hiding in your office to read articles about others praising you."


    Eric ignored Elisabeth. If he was just a film director, he wouldn''t have to care about anything else and just focus on filming. However, he is also the chairman of a filmpany, so it is necessary for him to remain aware of the industry''s happenings.

 Chapter 226: The X-Files

    Putting the newspaper aside, Eric crossed his arms and looked at the woman sitting opposite him. During this era, whether in film and television or in reality, quite a lot of women seem to like to wear shirts.


    Of course, Eric also prefers women who wear shirts and jeans since it makes women look more mature and gives them a slightly androgynous look.


    At the very least, he feels that these women look much betterpared to women of the future who only wore odd dresses.


    Moreover, in Eric''s opinion, a woman in a shirt can also ooze sex appeal, especially when a woman wears arge mens size shirt without anything on the bottom, disying her two bare long legs...


    Elisabeth noticed Eric staring at her intently and her courage quickly dissipated. She put her arms on the desk and covered her chest before she yelled at Eric, dissatisfied, "Hey, what are you looking at, you bastard?"


    "Nothing, I was just thinking, are you going to wear this to work?" Although she looks pretty good, the shirt and jeans are obviously not fit as office attire.


    "Of course, I''m your assistant, not an office girl. Do you want me to wear a skirt and high heels while I run around with you on the set?"


    Eric realized that she wouldn''t budge, so he shook his head and acquiesced. Anyways, he never expected that she would actually prove helpful since she was essentially Murdoch''s spy. He would just focus on his work and forget about her.


    Of course, he didn''t n on letting her be privy of hispany''s private affairs.


    Eric opened the drawer in his desk and began to look through it.


    Elisabeth smiled triumphantly as if she had defeated Eric.


    Eric found a document and a pen next to it and gave it to Elisabeth before he said, "This is the contract for your position as my assistant as a crew member of Sleepless in Seattle. There''s one copy for you and one for me."


    Elisabeth picked up the documents and began to peruse through it, not rushing to sign it. Eric looked at his watch and picked up the newspaper and began to read it, once again.


    After a while, Elisabeth asked Eric, "Eric, I signed it. What should I do next?"


    Eric put one copy of the contract back in the drawer and replied, "You can go back now. When the crew leaves for Seattle a few dayster, someone will inform you."


    "Wha..." Elizabeth opened her mouth slightly and quickly realized that Eric didn''t n to keep her around. She angrily yelled, "How can you do this?! I protest! If you don''t assign work to me, I...


    I will not leave your office today!"


    Eric frowned and began to regret agreeing to Murdoch''s request. Just when he was considering how to get rid of her, a knock sounded on his office door and n walked in as he said, "Mr. Williams, the writers have arrived. They''re waiting in the conference room."


    "Alright, I''ll be there in a moment," Eric replied and waited for n to leave before he said to Elisabeth, "Liz, I really don''t have any work for you here, so you should just go back. Someone will inform you when the timees."


    "I won''t go. Since I have signed a contract, you should assign some work to me."


    Eric was starting to feel a little annoyed. Suddenly, he noticed the coffee machine nearby and said, "Since you want to work, go make me a cup of coffee."


    Elisabeth retorted, "I''m not your servant!"


    Eric chuckled and said, "This is part of the job of a director''s assistant. If you don''t want to do it, just go home and wait for the crew to inform you."


    "You..." Elisabeth frowned as she nced at Eric. Finally, she got up and brought Eric a cup of coffee.


    Eric looked at Elisabeth''s stubborn face and picked up the phone and dialed a few numbers before he said, "n, bring two copies of the confidentiality contract you had signed."


    Elisabeth''s eyes shed as she remained silent. Soon, n walked in with two copies of a confidentiality contract.


    Eric picked up the contract and said with a serious look on his face, "This is the confidentiality contract that n signed when he became my assistant. As Mr. Murdoch''s daughter, I believe you''re what its contents entail.


    If you vite this contract, you will have to pay a huge amount of liquidated damages and you might even go to prison. After you sign it, you will be able to follow me around during the filming of Sleepless in Seattle and temporarily act as my personal assistant to help share some of n''s work."


    This time, Elisabeth didn''t mess around. She took less than a minute to flip through the over ten-page contract before she quickly signed her name.


    Eric nodded and said, "Okay,e with me, and, at least while we''re in L.A, don''te to work like this. You should buy some official office attire."


    "I understand," once again, Elisabeth didn''t retort and quickly followed Eric back to the conference room.


    **********


    There were about eight people sitting in the conference room, six men and two women, all seemingly in theirte-20s or early-30s. These eight people will form the screenwriter team which Eric has created for the new TV series.


    Fox Network had signed a preliminary letter of intent for equity transfer with Firefly a few days ago, meaning the transaction will bepleted within a month.


    Therefore, Eric began to work towards fulfilling his promise to Murdoch to prepare a TV show and a variety show before he got started on thest two Firefly films of this year.


    ording to the n, the variety show will be broadcasted during the spring season of 1990, but since the variety show that Eric intends to produce is rtively simple, it won''t require too much of his time or effort. Meanwhile, the TV show will be broadcasted during the fall season of 1990.


    This TV show, however, had encountered a small bump.


    Although it is created by Eric, after learning that the average production cost of each episode might reach up to $2 million, Fox suggested that he should only shoot a pilot for now and then shoot episodes each week if the ratings are good.


    Eric, however, rejected this suggestion. First, he was very confident in this show, and second, he was worried that considering the theme of the show, week-by-week shooting would lead to a fall in the show''s quality due to the hasty production.


    Initially, neither side was willing to make concessions. Eric even said that if Fox was unwilling to take the risk, Firefly could invest in the show alone, but this would mean that Firefly would solely own the show''s copyright. This proposal was immediately rejected by Barry Diller.


    After all, who can guarantee that this new TV show might not turn out to be as popr as Friends?


    The two sides remained in a stalemate for a few days before Murdoch personally made a decision. He announced that since Eric was so confident, can''t Fox, one of the Big Six, even take such a small risk?


    After all, despite the huge profits from Friends, Fox will still umte a loss of tens of millions of dors for the year 1989 due to the many failed projects. Therefore, even if the cost is higher, Eric''s project is less likely to fail, so it''s a better choice.


    After receiving Murdoch''s approval, Eric got back to work. The TV show which Eric had nned to produce was The X-Files which, ording to his memory, was the only hit show, which was not a cartoon or si, produced by Fox during the ''90s.


    However, the ratings of this show during the first few seasons were not great.


    In fact, if it weren''t for the die-hard fans, The X-Files, which was extremely popr on streaming in the future, would''ve likely been cancelled after the first season.


    Even though the style of the first three seasons of the X-Files was very unique, the ratings only started to grow from the fourth season after the show''s unique style was changed.


    In his opinion, the biggest reason behind the ratings of the first three seasons being low was due to theck of a main storyline. Although there were strange monsters or supernatural events in each episode, theck of a main storyline led to a low audience retention rate.


    It wasn''t until the show''s screenwriter Chris Carter connected the seemingly random clues revealed throughout the first three seasons in the fourth season that The X-Files turned into aplete sci-fi story.


    Another reason for the initial unpoprity of The X-Files was due to the sci-fi elements being unpolished and dull. Eric believes that this might be due to Chris Carter not having conceived the entirety of The X-Files'' main storyline at the start.


    Nevertheless, initially, he had sent an invitation to Chris Carter to be the lead screenwriter of The X-Files. After all, he had been the show''s creator, so he might have some ideas even if he hadn''t yet conceived the entire story.


    Chris Carter, however, is not a fledgling screenwriter. He is currently working as a screenwriter for Disney. When Eric sent someone to contact him about The X-Files, Chris Carter replied that he was not interested in a science fiction TV show, so he rejected the offer.


    This event once again allowed Eric to witness the awesome and mysterious power of the butterfly effect. The father of The X-Files stated that he was not interested in creating a science fiction TV show. Needless to say, Eric''s reaction was...very wonderful.


    After walking inside the conference room, Eric pointed towards the end of therge table to let Elisabeth sit down and walked towards the front of the table. He greeted everyone and had the six men and two women introduce themselves.


    After the self-introductions, Eric stood up and walked towards therge white board at the front of the room. He picked up a ck marker and wrote a word on the white board: The X-Files.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, all of you present here are writers who specialize in writing science fiction for movies and TV shows, so you must have realized that I have called you here to write for a sci-fi TV show. The name of this TV show is The X-Files."


    Under the nine pairs of curious eyes, Eric put down the ck marker in his hand and continued, "Alright, let me first introduce the background of this sci-fi show I have conceived."


    "The story begins from the origin of life. The universe is sorge that we can''t imagine how far it extends. There are infinite possibilities in this vast universe.


    During the hundreds of millions since the supernova, across the vast universe, our was certainly not the only one that can produce intelligent life. The Brett star is the origin of this whole story.

 Chapter 227: The X-Files (Part 2)

    "Mr. Williams, what does ''Brett'' mean?" Elisabeth, sitting at the end of the table, quickly raised her hand and interrupted Eric.


    Eric nced at her and asked, "Miss Murdoch, let me first ask you, what is Coruscant in Star Wars or Cybertron in Transformers?"


    "I don''t know!" Elisabeth bluntly replied.


    "Then, shut up!" Eric coldly berated.


    He did not intend to pamper this youngdy. It''s fine if she makes a few jokes in private, but work is work. Her immature behavior had already reached his bottom line. He warned, "If you interrupt me again, I will have you thrown out."


    Elisabeth instinctively wanted to retort ''you dare?!'' but seeing Eric''s gloomy face, she remained quiet and simply lowered her head.


    Eric coughed lightly, ignoring the curious gazes of the screenwriters shifting between him and Elizabeth, and said, "Okay, let''s continue."


    "In the vast universe, a named Brett gave birth to an intelligent species known as the Brett. After hundreds of millions of years of technological umtion, the Brett mastered the technology of space travel, which made them a very powerful force in the universe.


    However, as time continued, not only did their significantly deteriorate, but the Bretts themselves have almost gone extinct due to long-term natural evolution..."


    After Eric said this, he noticed that Elisabeth had once again raised her hand, but this time she didn''t interrupt him. She just stared at Eric with a pair of curious eyes.


    Eric felt more than a little annoyed at being interrupted again. He yelled while gritting his teeth, "What?!"


    At the same time, he swore in his heart that if Elisabeth asked another stupid question, he would have her thrown out immediately.


    "Mr. Williams, ording to Darwin''s Theory of Evolution, doesn''t life continue to grow more advanced and more advanced through evolution? Why do you say that the Brett have almost gone extinct due to evolution?"


    Eric thought for a few moments and replied, "Darwin''s Theory of Evolution covers only a short period of the evolution of a species. What I am referring to is the development trend of species at the gic level. Birth, growth, stagnation, and death; this is an irreversiblew of the universe.


    It doesn''t matter whether one is a huge gxy or a tiny atom; it is impossible to circumvent thisw. If you read more books, you will find that the genes of a species are not suited to evolution. After a certain amount of time, the gic sequence will begin to decline and disintegrate.


    Currently, there is a saying within the scientificmunity that the Y-chromosome in humans has begun to degenerate, so perhaps after millions of years, there will be only women on the. Well, that''s if there are any humans still alive on earth."


    While the writers chuckled, Eric turned to Elisabeth and solemnly warned her, "Okay, Liz, that was yourst question. If you have any more doubts, either remain quiet or leave this room."


    Without waiting for her reply, Eric said, "Alright, like I was saying, due to their imminent extinction, the Brett have developed a grand alien colonization n for the continuation of species.


    Through their technology, they have created a very advanced spacecraft, and at the same time they havepressed their vitality into an autonomous ck liquid."


    Eric quickly wrote the word on the whiteboard and said, "This ck liquid carries the vitality of the Brett species. It is called ''ck oil.''Meanwhile, the spaceship carries the remnants of the Brett and the ck oil and begins its journey through the infinitelyrge universe.


    When they encounter a suitable for life, they stop. Using the gic blueprint of the Brett within ck oil, they guide the''s life to evolve until the right species appears.


    Then, the ck oil begins its invasion of this species through infection, and after a series of gic modification, the original species disappears and the new species, the revitalized Brett, appears. Through this process, the Brett have continued to spread their species throughout the universe."


    As Eric''s exnation progressed, more and more keywords appeared on the whiteboard which became the branches of a tree, and the writers in the room soon became immersed in this novel sci-fi plot conceived by Eric. Even the restless Elisabeth continued to listen with great interest.


    **********


    "...then, time reached 3.7 billion years ago, and the extraterrestrial spacecraft of the Brett species finally reached the Earth. They began to guide the evolution of the species on the earth in the same way.


    In order to establish a new colony suitable for breeding, the Brett destroyed the new species again and again. 440 million years ago, 85% of the species went extinct; 195 million years ago, 76% of the marine life disappeared; 65 million years ago, the age of the dinosaur came to an end...


    With the extinction of dinosaurs, mammals began to prosper, and after 3.7 billion years of long waiting, the Brett finally found a species suitable for the ck oil to colonize - Humans!"


    "In fact, the original humans did not have the advantage of survival in their genome. In order to ensure that humans can prosper, the Brett began to catalyze the development of human civilization.


    Therefore, humans learned to use tools, creatednguage, learned a variety of skills, and even created different  religions. Unbeknownst to them, all of this was done under the influence of the Brett. The final colonial time set by the Brett for ck oil is December 21, 2012.


    On this day, the hidden ck oil willunch an invasion, destroy mankind and rece it with the Brett - a tiny gray creature."


    Eric attached a stereotypical alien image on the whiteboard with a ma as he continued, "However, during the Second World War, because of the rise of aerial power, humans finally realized that we are not alone in this vast universe.


    In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, the US military discovered a sunken spaceship in the Pacific Ocean near Japan. During the secret salvage process, they discovered the ck oil. Next, in 1947, the infamous Roswell incident took ce.


    The US government not only recovered alien spacecraft but also the body of an alien. Through a series of studies on the data found within the alien spacecraft, they discovered the imminent alien colonization.


    In order to prevent the colonization by the Brett, the government secretly formed an organization that attempted to develop a weapon against the Brett colonization. Unfortunately, the scientists discovered that the colonization of ck oil was inevitable.


    Therefore, in order to ensure that they and their family can survive after December 21, 2012, most of the people in the secret organization rebelled against humanity and turned to the Brett.


    They used the threat of nuclear destruction to force the Brett to ensure that they would be spared after the colonization. This organization is called ''Syndicate''."


    After writing down the word ''Syndicate'' at the end of the tree, Eric turned around and said, "Alright, from here, the story of our show officially begins.


    Bill Mulder, the father of our male protagonist, Fox Mulder, was originally a member of Syndicate, but he broke away from them because he resolutely opposed the aliens. However, the aliens kidnapped Bill Mulder''s young daughter Samantha Mulder. Fox Mulder had identally witnessed the kidnapping.


    When he grew up, through deep hypnosis, he recalled the kidnapping and became sure that it was real. As a result, Fox Mulder began to have a strong curiosity about supernatural phenomena, and never gave up on finding his sister.


    After graduating from the Department of Psychology at Oxford University, Fox Mulder joined the FBI and soon joined a department which dealt with supernatural phenomena: the X-Files. He worked alone for a few years until he was partnered with Dana Scully and the two began their adventures."


    Just as Eric finished the show''s background, one of the screenwriters quickly asked, "Mr.


    Williams, you n to have the protagonists, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, look for Mulder''s sister and, in the process, discover the existence of the Syndicate and the colonization conspiracy of the Brett and then save the world, right?"


    ''These American screenwriters have already begun to have thoughts of saving mankind, huh,'' Eric thought with interest before he asked, "You''re Mr. Peter Creeks, right?"


    The Caucasian man who looked to be just about 30 nodded and replied, "Yes, Mr. Williams, I have been a scriptwriter for Star Trek: The Next Generation."


    Eric did not look too highly upon this writer for the famous Star Trek series. Even though it was also a sci-fi series, Star Trek and X-Files havepletely different styles. He chuckled and said, "Peter, if that was all that there was to the story, I could''ve finished the script myself.


    There would''ve been no need for you to sit here."


    Peter Creeks heard Eric''s words and smiled awkwardly. However, he didn''t dare retort. He was nothingpared to Eric, so he had neither the confidence nor the qualifications to argue against him.


    Eric continued, "Since the name of the show is The X-Files, the plot will be based around the two protagonists'' investigation of supernatural phenomena while working for the FBI. The style of the show is mainly based around thriller and suspense.


    So, ording to my n, the first season will have 24 episodes and 24 supernatural events."


    This time, Peter Creeks asked, "Mr. Williams, in that case, this sci-fi show is actually more like a police drama. Then, what about the Brett species?"


    Eric smiled and replied, "That''s where you alle in. Your job is to link these 24 seemingly-isted supernatural phenomena with the Brett colonization and the Syndicate''s conspiracy to form a vague yet intrinsically connected storyline like a spider''s web."


    After Eric finished, he turned around and wrote another word on the whiteboard. He then turned back and said, "ording to this clue, I''vee up with a title for the first stage of the show: the puzzle. This stage mayst for about three seasons.


    Through their adventures during the first three seasons, Mulder and Scully will collect a series of clues which will serve as pieces of a puzzle. When these seemingly-unrted clues are integrated, the background of the story that I just mentioned will be revealed, and the next stage will begin."

 Chapter 228: Precocious Boy

    Seeing that the people in the room still looked confused, Eric exined, "In fact, I already have a lot of ideas about this story. After this meeting, you can use it as reference. Also, remember this: Mulder''s ultimate goal is to find clues about his sister''s disappearance and reunite with her.


    Through deep hypnosis, he bes sure that his sister''s disappearance was rted to aliens, which is why he gravitates towards supernatural phenomena. Each time he encounters such a phenomenon, he records it.


    Using the skills he developed from his work, Mulder ssifies the potentially useful information and puts together the pieces of the puzzle, eventually forming aplete clue to the Brett colonial conspiracy. You should remember to add a scene where Mulder takes notes in each episode."


    The plot of "the puzzle" is something which Eric hase up with. In the original show, Dana Scully was the one who took notes on the supernatural phenomenon, but there was no special significance behind it. Thus, Eric feels that it is better to have Mulder do it.


    Moreover, the plot of "the puzzle" can also trigger fans'' curiosity. Such a suspenseful plot has always been popr in TV shows.


    This time, the writers did not raise any concerns. After all, they were the best sci-fi screenwriters that Fox and Firefly had found. Eric not only gave them the story''s background, but also his own ideas for reference.


    In this case, if these eight peoplebined can''t write a decent script, they themselves would feel ashamed.


    After another half-hour discussion, Eric finally concluded, "So, you have two months toe up with a script that will satisfy me. At the end of the year, Firefly and Fox will co-produce samples from the first episode. I hope that you all won''t let the audience down.


    If you have no other questions, you may leave."


    After everyone left, Eric whispered about something with n before he quickly put the documents in the folder and looked up to find Elisabeth still sitting at the end of the long table, looking at him curiously.


    "I am going to C.A.A''s head office. Are youing along?" asked Eric.


    "Huh?" Elisabeth quickly blinked her eyes and looked at her watch before she replied, "It''s already eleven o''clock; it''s almost time for lunch."


    Eric coldly replied, "I''ll eat there at noon. If you don''t want toe, you can go home."


    "I''ming along!" she replied reflexively before she thought, ''Don''t think you can get rid of me''


    Thus, Elisabeth followed behind Eric as if she were his tail. After stepping out of the building, she got in the car after Eric. She sat beside Eric and continued to nce at him from time to time, her eyes filled with curiosity.


    Eric, who had been reading the documents, noticed Elisabeth''s incessant stares and couldn''t help but ask, "Do you have something to say?"


    "I am just curious, how did youe up with those things? The Brett, Syndicate e.t.c?"


    Eric put the folder on hisp and turned to look at Elisabeth as he stared straight in her eyes. He replied in a mysterious tone, "Actually, I am a person who came back from the year 2012."


    "What?" Elisabeth blinked her eyes a few times, unable to respond.


    Eric lowered his voice and continued, "The things I said about the Brett are true. After December 21, 2012, the ck oilunched an invasion, and 99% of humans were infected. The remnants of humanity formed the Resistance. I am one of them, but the Resistance was too weak.


    When the Brett were about to destroy the Resistance, we used the Brett''s technology to invent a space shuttle, and myrades sent me to this age, hoping that I could destroy the Syndicate''s conspiracy before the Brettunched their n. However, I am alone.


    so I can only rely on The X-Files to covertly inform the people about the Brett."


    "The Brett must have sent a robot called T-800 to chase you, right?" Elisabeth red at Eric and shoved his shoulder before she said, "Don''t think I haven''t seen The Terminator."


    n and the driver sitting in the front chuckled.


    Eric shrugged and said, "I told you the truth, but you don''t believe it."


    Elisabeth rebuked, "You''re obviously talking nonsense."


    Eric shook his head and went back to reading the documents.


    After a few minutes, Elisabeth couldn''t help but ask, "Hey, why are we going to C.A.A?"


    Eric was toozy to exin, so he waved his hand and said, "You will know when we get there. Let me read this information and don''t disturb me anymore."


    Elisabeth snorted in annoyance, but she did not bother Eric again and turned her head to the other side.


    **********


    "Eric!!!"


    Just as Eric walked into therge reception hall at the C.A.A''s head office, a tiny figure rushed towards him.


    Eric picked up Stuart Runkle and waved him around in the air once. Then, he put him down and patted the little guy''s head as he smiled and said, "You''ve gotten a lot taller."


    "You are still the same," replied Stewart.


    He stood in front of Eric and raised his head as he looked Eric up and down before he said, "Eric, it seems that you will not grow any taller."


    Eric smiled and yfully patted the little guy''s head as he replied, "Don''t act too smart; an eight-year-old child should behave like an eight-year-old child."


    Stuart saw that Eric was walking towards his parents, so he shrugged and turned to look at the other people who hade with Eric. Seeing Elisabeth, he quickly walked towards her and said, "Hello!"


    Elisabeth felt like the little boy seemed familiar when she suddenly realized who he was. She squatted down and patted Stuart''s head as she asked, "You are Kevin from Home Alone, right?"


    "My name is Stuart Runkle, but you can call me Stu," the little boy introduced himself, pretending to be naive and as he innocently asked, "Miss, you are so beautiful. Can you give me a hug?"


    "Of course," Elisabeth didn''t think much of it. She just smiled and bent down to hug the little boy.


    Eric who was greeting Stuart''s parents and his new agent named Brian Kurtzman heard the little guy''s "innocent" request for a hug. He smiled and patted the little guy''s head.


    Eric chuckled and said, "Stu, don''t trick my girl. I haven''t seen you for half a year, but you''ve be a little wolf."


    The little guy struggled for a while before he finally escaped Eric''srge hand. He turned around andined, "Eric, you''re so stingy. Even if she''s your girl, it''s just a hug. She won''t lose anything."


    Eric lightly admonished him, "Wait until you are 18 years old before getting involved in these. For now, act your age."


    Stuart was about to retort when Mrs. Runkle came over and dragged the little guy away, worried that he might annoy Eric.


    Meanwhile, Elisabeth, who heard the brief conversation between Eric and Stuart, was left standing in shock as he wondered if Stuart was truly just an eight-year-old child?


    Soon, Eric walked into a nearby conference room with n, Charlie Runkle and Stuart''s new agent while Elisabeth, Mrs. Runkle and Stuart remained behind.


    Therge reception hall was quiet. The little guy didn''t seem to care that the meeting in the conference room was rted to him. He ran to a couch and found a Rubik''s cube from his small bag and began to y with it on his own.


    Feeling a little bored, Elisabeth also walked over and sat down on the couch. She picked up a magazine on the coffee table and randomly began to look through it. Only Mrs. Runkle stood at the door of the conference room with her ear glued to the door.


    She put her hand on the door handle a few times, but, in the end, she did not push the door open. Still, she continued to pace back and forth outside the conference room.


    Elisabeth was looking through the magazine when she heard a child-like voice, "What is your name?"


    She looked up and saw the little boy staring at her as he continued to fiddle with the Rubik''s cube, which was muchrger than his tiny palm, "Are you asking me? You can call me... Liz."


    "I don''t know you, so I''ll call you Elisabeth," replied the little guy. He continued to stare at her with his clear,rge eyes and casually asked, "Miss Elisabeth, are you Eric''s woman?"


    Elisabeth quickly replied, "No!" She felt like she should no longer speak to this little boy, but she had to answer his question, so she continued, "I am his assistant."


    Just as she finished, Elisabeth heard a reply filled with disdain, "Liar."


    Elisabeth stared at the little boy and asked, "Little boy, what are you saying?"


    Stuart bluntly replied, "I just think you are a liar."


    "Me... a liar?" Elisabeth pointed at herself with an incredulous expression on her face. She quickly asked, "Why do you say that I am a liar?"


    The little guy shrugged as he replied, "Eric didn''t bring you with him to the meeting, indicating that you must be amon secretary which means that your sry will definitely not be high.


    So, if you are not Eric''s woman, where would you get the money to buy something so expensive like a Chanel bag?"


    "My family has ten times more money than the bastard!" retorted Elisabeth with a shout,pletely forgetting Stuart''s age.


    "Oh," answered the little guy as he deliberately paused and said, "I understand."


    Elisabeth leaned back on the couch and picked up a magazine as she quickly began to turn the pages with the intention to ignore the little boy sitting beside her.


    However, the little guy didn''t n to let her off so easily. He said, "You like Eric, but he doesn''t like rich girls, so you ran over to be his assistant to spend time with him, right?"


    When she heard this, Elisabeth immediately changed her mind and yelled, "I don''t like that bastard!"


    The little guy sighed and muttered, "Such are the words of a guilty woman, even willing to deceive children."


    "you..."


    The little guy was about to ridicule her again when Mrs. Runkle finally reprimanded him in a sharp voice, "Stu, shut up! Leave that youngdy alone."

 Chapter 229: Negotiations

    Upon hearing his mother''s reprimand, Stuart teased Elisabeth by pointing his tongue at her before he returned his attention to the Rubik''s cube in his hand.


    After calming down, Elisabeth felt annoyed as she realized that she had been teased by an eight-year-old child. She gritted her teeth and squished the magazine in her hand before she suddenly turned her eyes to the closed meeting room.


    "It''s all that damn bastard''s fault..." she muttered, turning Eric into the target of her annoyance.


    ---------


    Sitting inside the conference room, Eric was unaware of the incident which took ce outside. He had his attention on Brian Kurtzman and Charlie Runkle who were sitting across from him.


    After a momentary silence, Eric asked, "$10 million plus 10% of the North American box office gross? Charlie, is this your will?"


    It seemed like C.A.A. had not learnt its lesson from their previous encounter with Eric, having made an even more outrageous demand. During the negotiations for Running Out of Time when C.A.A. had represented both Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise, C.A.A.


    had only tried to obtain a percentage of box office gross profits. Box office gross and box office gross profit might have just a single word difference, but the actual difference could even reach tens of millions of dors.


    Charlie Runkle avoided Eric''s gaze due to his guilty disappointment.


    Seeing this, Brian Kurtzman quickly said, "Mr. Williams, Mr. Runkle has appointed me to lead the negotiations. He is just here to listen.


    If you have any questions, you can ask me directly."


    "Oh, really?" Eric sneered and asked, "If this negotiation breaks down, Mr. Kurtzman, will you take responsibility for that?"


    Just as Eric finished his sentence, Charlie Runkle subconsciously looked at the agent with a wary expression. Apparently, he was also aware that their demands were beyond the usual pay system in Hollywood, but he couldn''t tame his greed.


    On the one hand, he wants his son to get this gold-studded contract. On the other hand, he is aware that if they insist on this contract, the possibility of a breakdown of negotiations is high.


    Eric noticed the look of wariness in Charlie Runkle''s eyes, and his lips curved up slightly. As long as Stuart''s new agent didn''t haveplete power during the negotiations, he was confident that he could dominate this round of negotiations.


    Eric didn''t know why C.A.A. had reced Horner Willie, Stuart''s former agent, but he thought it might be due to the recent upheaval in the agency. Still, he didn''t care. He was well aware of Charlie Runkle''s character.


    He was a mediocre middle-aged man, but he tried to do things beyond his ability and inevitably failed.


    Thus, Eric knew that Charlie Runkle was the weakest link in this negotiation. Regardless of Brian Kurtzman''s eloquence and skill as an agent, the oue of this negotiation was sealed.


    Meanwhile, Brian Kurtzman was also inwardly swearing at his client. Prior to Eric''s arrival, he had already discussed with Charlie Runkle that as long as he didn''t intervene, he would win a very generous contract for Stewart.


    Unfortunately, the Runkle couple remained steadfast in their refusal to give him theplete power of negotiation.


    Now, Eric had just barely mentioned it, but the ipetent middle-aged man had already exposed their situation to him. Brian Kurtzman was aware that if this continued, they would be left even more passive as the negotiations progressed.


    "Mr. Runkle, maybe you wait outside," suggested Brian Kurtzman with a smile. He wanted Charlie Runkle to leave before he sabotaged the negotiation any further.


    Eric acted as if he hadn''t heard the agent''s words. He had no ns to counter the agent''s words, either. There was no need for anymore words since he had already nted a seed of distrust in Charlie Runkle''s heart.


    Sure enough, even after Charlie Runkle heard the agent''s suggestion, he remained seated and said, "Brian, I''m fine here. You continue to talk. I promise that I won''t interfere."


    Brian Kurtzman clenched his hand which was on the table, but a smile remained on his face. He turned back to face Eric and said, "Mr.


    Williams, we are aware that you signed a three-movie distribution deal with Fox, which includes the sequel to Home Alone, so I don''t think that Fox will allow these negotiations to break down."


    "Then you should also be aware that the box office of Running Out of Time has now broken through the $200 million. It was originally meant to be distributed by Fox, but was eventually taken by Columbia.


    Simrly, I can just shoot another film for Fox," replied Eric in a rxed tone while fiddling with the pen in his hand.


    When Brian Kurtzman heard Eric''s words, he momentarily hesitated before he said, "Fox will certainly not allow you to change the film because there''s no guarantee that your new film will be just as sessful as the sequel to Home Alone."


    Noticing the skeptical tone within Brian Kurtzman''s words, Eric put down his pen and became sure that C.A.A. was unaware about the specifics of his contract with Fox.


    Eric''s three-movie distribution deal with Fox was focused on the sequel to Home Alone since no one had expected that he would direct a hit like Pretty Woman right after Home Alone.


    Thus, while Fox readily agreed to give a generous share of the two other films'' box office to Eric, it also imposed a series of harsh conditions on the sequel to Home Alone. Chief among them was that Eric had to ensure that Stuart Runkle would reprise his role in the sequel.


    Since C.A.A. knew nothing about it, Eric became even more confident. He smirked and said, "Even if Fox does not agree to change the film, I can still change the actor.


    There must be countless families out there who would be willing to let their child appear in the sequel to Home Alone at a low price of $10,000, or maybe even lower."


    After he said this, Eric looked at Charlie Runkle who would understand his meaning. Although his pay in  Home Alone was quite low, thanks to his worldwide fame from the movie, this year, Stuart signed a number of high-priced endorsements that brought him tens of millions of dors in ie.


    Eric asked, "Charlie, I think most of the endorsements signed by Stu are only valid for one year, right? If the advertisers learn that Stu will not appear in the sequel to Home Alone, do you think that he can still sign endorsements worth tens of millions of dors next year?"


    Brian Kurtzman urgently said, "Mr. Williams, you are talking about Stuart but what about yourself. Without the sequel to Home Alone, Firefly will lose hundreds of millions of dors. Compared to that, our terms are very reasonable.


    After all, Stu is irreceable in Home Alone."


    Eric shook his head and said, "If I agree to your outrageous demand, Firefly will only get 25% of the box office gross after paying Stu. In addition, the budget of the sequel may exceed $25 million. In the end, Firefly may not make much more than Stu.


    And, you are wrong, Brian; no one in Hollywood is irreceable. I can tell you, Firefly has an alternative n. If your price is too high, we will simply do a nationwide audition for the sequel to Home Alone.


    Through the nationwide audition, we can once again hype Home Alone and save on publicity costs. In addition, the sequel''s budget may be just a fraction of $25 million."


    Brian Kurtzman was just about to rebuke when Charlie Runkle, who finally couldn''t hold back, said, "Eric, you still haven''t mentioned Firefly''s offer."


    Brian Kurtzman inwardly groaned and felt a strong urge to punch the face of the man sitting next to him.


    "$8 million," Eric said and immediately added, "Charlie, you shouldn''t just focus on the pay. Many people can see that Stu has great potential in advertising endorsements. As long as he can maintain his fame with Home Alone, you can still get tens of millions of dors in endorsement fees next year.


    With this, Stu can be the highest paid star in Hollywood. Whether it is Tom Cruise or Bruce Willis or Julia Roberts, none of them can get more than $8 million in pay.


    On top of that, it''s impossible for them to get so many high-priced endorsements like Stu because they have manypetitors of the same age group, unlike Stu."


    "Mr. Williams..." Brian Kurtzman knocked on the table, wanting to interrupt.


    But Ericpletely ignored him and continued to speak to Charlie Runkle, "So, if Firefly is forced to implement the alternative that I just mentioned, there is no doubt that Stu''s poprity will plummet next year.


    Meanwhile, for Firefly, although recing Stu in the sequel might be slightly risky, the chances of sess are quite high. If the sequel is a hit like the original, isn''t it obvious whom the advertisers will choose as their brand ambassador between Stu and the new Kevin?


    Think about it, Charlie, would you risk tens of millions of dors for this unrealistic contract, oh no, maybe hundreds of millions of dors because Home Alone will have many sequels?"


    After Eric finished his words, Brian Kurtzman leaned back in his chair, aware that he hadpletely failed in the negotiations. There was ayer of sweat on Charlie Runkle''s forehead. The man had beenpletely yed by Eric, so it was now impossible for him to convince him otherwise.

 Chapter 230: When Harry Met Sally

    The door of the conference room slowly opened. Mrs. Runkle, standing nearby, looked at her husband, who came out behind Eric. She happily smiled after Charlie Runkle gave her a slight nod.


    Brian Kurtzman held out his hand to Eric and said, "Mr. Williams, I hope we can work together in the future."


    Since the matter has settled, he no longer cares about the unpleasantness during the negotiation. As an agent, maintaining a good rtionship with a famous director like Eric was very important to him.


    "I, as well," said Eric as he smiled and shook the agent''s hand.


    Brian Kurtzman''s temperament was indeed admirable. Any normal person would''ve mmed the door and stormed off if they had been in his position.


    Brian Kurtzman didn''t n to stay. After speaking with the Runkle couple for a few minutes, he found an excuse and left.


    Scrutinizing his actions, Eric had a feeling that even though Brian Kurtzman would be able to make a lot of money as Stuart''s agent, he would soon withdraw from that position.


    It is estimated that any outstanding talent agent would find it unbearable to work for a pair of ipetent and uncooperative clients.


    Eric looked at his wristwatch and noticed that it was half past noon.


    He looked at the Runkles standing nearby and asked, "Charlie, would you all like to have lunch together?"


    Charlie Runkle looked at Eric and noticed that he had a friendly expression on his face like just another boy next door, but Charlie Runkle knew that Eric had changed. He would likely not forget Eric dominating him in that tiny meeting room for a long time.


    Charlie Runkle replied apologetically, "I''m sorry, Eric, we have some things to do."


    Little Stuart heard his father''s refusal and immediately shouted, "No, I wanna go!"


    He even tried to rush to Eric, but his mother held his hand tightly and red at him in warning.


    Eric realized that the divide between him and the Runkles due to their conflicting interests had now be irreconcble. He said a few words to calm the little guy and left with Elisabeth and n.


    **********


    In a restaurant in Century City, n and the driver consciously sat at a separate table, leaving Eric and Elisabeth alone.


    After she ordered her food, Elisabeth quickly asked, "Eric, howe your talks ended so soon?"


    "How long did you think it would take?" asked Eric.


    Elisabeth recalled something and said, "I remember that Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman''s negotiations for Rain Mansted more than half a year, and even came close to breaking down. And your negotiations with C.A.A. for Running Out of Time had also been in a deadlock for a long time, right?"


    Eric smiled and replied, "The situation this time was different. If I had talked with C.A.A, it might''ve taken a long time, but I talked directly with Charlie Runkle."


    Elisabeth''s eyes shed as she understood his meaning. She then asked, "How much is the pay for that little guy this time?"


    "$8 million plus 3% North American box office gross."


    "So high! That little troublemaker is basically robbing you," Elisabeth replied with a hint of irritation.


    Eric realized that while he had been negotiating with Charlie Runkle, she had gotten teased by the little guy again. He smiled and exined, "It''s not too high. In fact, Stu is well worth this price.


    If I had talked with C.A.A, they would''ve gained the initiative and the final price would''ve been much higher.


    Fortunately for me, the Runkles are neither smart nor trusting, so, in the end, they suffered a loss."


    Elisabeth sneered and said, "You''re so ruthless. Weren''t they your neighbors?"


    Although Eric liked the clever little Stuart, he had no good feelings for the Runkles, but he didn''t want to exin this to Elisabeth. After the waiter delivered his food, he simply bowed his head and silently began to eat, ignoring Elisabeth.


    After lunch, Eric and his entourage returned to the Firefly HQ.


    "Are you this busy every day?" asked Elisabeth as she looked at the wall clock that had moved past six.


    After Eric had returned to his office, he had gotten busy with signing documents rted to the merger of New Line and Firefly.


    Currently, there were not many people left in the building, but Elisabeth didn''t leave work like everyone else. Instead, she continued to shadow him.


    "Not really. It''s just that there are a lot of things to do during this time," replied Eric without lifting his head.


    "Oh," murmured Elisabeth. She then opened the filing cab and randomly took out a document and began to look through it.


    It was after seven when Eric finally put down the documents in front of him and leaned back on his chair as he stretched his back. He soon noticed that Elisabeth was still curled up on the sofa nearby.


    "Everyone else has gotten off work, so howe you''re still here?"


    She realized that Eric seemed to be done with his work, so she stood up and put the document back in the filing cab before she casually said, "I''ve nothing to do at home."


    Eric was about to habitually tease her, but since she had obediently followed him the whole day, he swallowed back his words. However, Elisabeth noticed this.


    She red at him and asked, "You were definitely about to speak some nonsense, right?"


    "Nope," Eric shook his head before he got up and he said, "Let''s go."


    Elisabeth quickly caught up to him and said, "You were about to say that I''m just a woman who has nothing to do, right?"


    "I did think that," replied Eric as he raised his hand in surrender.


    Elisabeth berated, "I have been working all day, and I haven''t even asked you for overtime yet you''re thinking such things. You should apologize to me."


    Eric was too tired to argue with her, so he rolled his eyes and nonchntly said, "I''m sorry."


    Elisabeth smirked and quipped, "You''re so insincere. You should at least take me to dinner or something."


    Eric had just been thinking about dinner, so he casually said, "Okay."


    Elisabeth suddenly looked wary and asked, suspiciously, "You agreed so easily? You don''t have ulterior motives towards me, right?"


    Eric felt annoyed as he muttered, "Such a typical woman."


    Elisabeth asked, "What did you say?"


    Eric decided to just ignore her and soon they arrived at the parking lot. He looked around and asked, "Where''s your car?"


    She shrugged and said, "I didn''t drive today."


    Eric got in his car and said, "Get in."


    After the two had dinner, it was half past eight by the time they left the restaurant.


    Eric looked at Elisabeth who was sitting beside him and asked, "How are you going to get back? Why don''t you call your driver to pick you up?"


    She looked at Eric and asked, incredulously, "How can you ask me that? Isn''t it obvious that you should drop me home?"


    Eric scoffed and said, "Spare me, Your Royal Highness; your home is in Malibu. It takes two hours for a round trip!"


    Elisabeth snorted and said, "Alright, then I will take a taxi."


    She walked out of the car with her hands in the pockets of her jeans as she took a few steps down the sidewalk. She looked at the traffic on the road and said, "I''ve heard that there have been several taxi robberies in Los Angeles in recent days.


    I heard that the victims are usually young women, but you don''t have to worry. Even if I have an ident, my father won''t me you."


    Eric watched Elisabeth''s performance as he sighed and yelled, "Get in!"


    Elisabeth cheerfully smiled and quickly pulled the door as she sat down beside Eric. She noticed the annoyed expression on Eric''s face when sheughed and said, "Don''t worry, I lied to you; I''ve lived with Julia over the past few days."


    Eric snorted and stepped on the gas pedal. Not long after the car started, Elisabeth suddenly pointed to the side and said, "There is a movie theater nearby. Let''s go watch a movie. I haven''t seen a movie in a long time."


    Eric parked the car on the side of the road, but kept his hands sped over the steering wheel and asked, "Liz, what do you want?"


    Elisabeth noticed Eric''s annoyed expression and waved her hand as she said, "Forget I mentioned it. We don''t have to watch a movie if you don''t want to. Come on, just drop me at Julia''s."


    Eric sighed and said, "Forget it, it''s just a movie."


    "That''s more like a gentleman," said Elisabeth cheerily before she untied her seat belt and got out of the car.


    Eric parked the car into the parking lot and walked into the nearby theater with Elisabeth.


    In the ticket booth, she pulled out a small wallet from herrge handbag and said, "I''ll pay; which one?"


    Eric nced at the few posters on the wall before he pointed to one of them and said, "This one."


    "When Harry meets Sally?" mumbled Elisabeth before she narrated the words on the poster, "''Can two friends sleep together and still love each other in the morning?'' It seems interesting!"

 Chapter 231: When Harry Met Sally (2)

    After sitting down on her seat, Elisabeth looked around the nearly empty hall andined, "Why did you choose this movie? We have to wait another 15 minutes until it starts."


    Eric ate some popcorn and said, "You were the one that suddenly wanted to see a movie. Also, it''s better to wait a few minutes than going halfway through the show since this movie is quite good."


    Hearing Eric''s high evaluation, she asked, "Have you seen it?"


    Eric shrugged in response.


    Elisabeth red at him and said, "Have you seen it or not? It''s a simple question."


    Eric ignored Elisabeth; he couldn''t say that he had seen this movie in this life. Speaking of it, after it was released, Eric had also told Nicole to watch this movie and try to understand Meg Ryan''s style of acting since she had originally been the lead in Sleepless in Seattle.


    While waiting for the movie to begin, Eric suddenly realized something very interesting. The screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally was Nora Ephron. Although this female writer and director had been integral to the sess of many movies, she never really became famous.


    When ites to her movies, the fans usually only remember the male and female leads.


    Of course, this wasn''t a very interesting fact. What Eric found truly interesting was that, at least within all the movies of Nora Ephron he had seen, the female lead had amon trait - sweetness.


    Meg Ryan became known as "America''s Sweetheart" after she starred in When Harry Met Sally. The same was true for many other actresses. Besides Meg Ryan, Nicole Kidman began to be considered a sweet woman after she starred in Bewitched.


    Simrly, the in-looking Lisa Kudrow became sweet in Lucky Numbers. Even Meryl Streep became sweeter in Ephron''s early work, Heartburn.


    It was likely that, deep down, Nora Ephron herself had a sweet personality even though she usually acted quite curt towards others. Therefore, she gave simr attributes to the many different characters she wrote, but inpletely different styles.


    While Eric was thinking that, the lights in the hall turned off. After the silent subtitles, the distinct scene of this film appeared on the screen. An old white-haired couple gave an interview while reminiscing about how they came together so many years ago.


    Although the old couple on the screen are actors, the story they told was a true ount which the screenwriter Nora Ephron had obtained after she interviewed a real couple.


    As Eric kept his eyes on the screen, Elisabeth, sitting beside him, patted his shoulder and asked, "Eric, what''s going on? I thought this was a rom?"


    "Don''t worry. Keep watching."


    Soon, the scene changed and arrived outside the campus of the University of Chicago where the young college graduates, Harry Burns and Sally Albright, meet for the first time. They carpool to New York and discuss their personal outlooks on life which leads to arguments.


    Neither of them could convince the other, so after reaching New York, they both went their separate ways.


    Five yearster, they meet again, but, this time, Sally has a boyfriend. Harry is also about to get married. Perhaps, they both felt that their lives were on the right track. Both of them have matured and have a feeling that maybe they can be friends.


    Five yearster, Harry is divorced while Sally is single. By a twist of fate, the two people who came to New York together met again and thought that they could be true friends.


    As they get along, they be friends who share everything with each other. They even try to set up their respective best friends with each other, in an attempt to set up all of them. They seed. At least, halfway.


    Their best friends end up falling in love with each other, and soon decide to get married. The stubborn Harry and Sally continue to remain single, and feel that since they are friends, they should not go further, lest they destroy their friendship.


    Unfortunately, in a moment of weakness, they go further. In short, they sleep together. After they wake up in the morning, they begin to panic and begin to avoid each other. Finally, on a lonely New Year''s Eve, the two finally confess their feelings to each other, and kiss.


    The scene cuts back to the interviews with an old couple, but, this time, it''s not a white-haired old couple; it is Harry and Sally. The two still continue to challenge each other and argue on almost everything, but one thing has changed; they''re married.


    Twelve years and three months after they first met, Harry and Sally became husband and wife.


    The lights slowly turned on in the hall. The crowds of men and women who watched the movie seemed to have be newly-weds as they stuck to each other and whispered sweet words of love. In fact, many men and women were still sitting in their seats, making out.


    Elisabeth held the bucket of popcorn which was almost full. After lightly colliding with the nearby people, she finally caught up to Eric and hesitantly said, "Umm this movie was very good."


    "Yeah, the director took some great shots, especially the scene where Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan were walking through Central Park. The maple leaves in the scene were like life; right before they fade away, a new leaf blooms anew. Oh, there were also the eyes.


    I don''t know if it was intentional or not, but you could always see that the two were looking at each other clearly as if their eyes were the windows of their soul. Through these shots, you can convey a lot of emotions to the audience which simply can''t be conveyed through words.


    Maybe I can use it in my own movies in the future..."


    As they walked out of the theater, Eric continued giving his analysis of the movie. Suddenly, Elisabeth felt an inexplicable surge of anger. She threw therge bucket of popcorn into the trash can which made a loud bang, attracting the attention of the people nearby.


    Eric flinched and stopped as he watched Elisabeth stomp her feet and walked towards the car. He smiled wryly as he shook his head and followed her.


    After the two sat in the car, Eric asked, "Are you still going to Julia''s?"


    "Yeah," Elisabeth nodded before she continued, "Julia''s ce is still far. Should we go to your house first? After dropping you off, I can drive to Julia''s. You most likely have more than one car, so you can just drive to work in a different one tomorrow."


    Eric found that this was the most convenient solution, so he nodded and drove back home.


    **********


    The drive to Eric''s mansion took more than 20 minutes, but Elisabeth, who is never quiet, didn''t speak a word the whole time.


    Eric stopped the car and untied his seat belt before he turned to Elisabeth and said, "So, see you tomorrow?"


    Elisabeth quietly stared at Eric with zed eyes without saying a word.


    The car becamepletely silent for a few seconds before Eric turned the key and turned off the engine and all the lights.


    In the dark, he reached out and held Elisabeth''s chin between his fingers as he closed the distance between the two.

 Chapter 232: Night Together (18+)

    The sudden darkness evoked Elisabeth''s scream, but Eric''s next move caused her scream to be cut off halfway.


    "Hey... you can''t... mmm..." In the dark, Elisabeth briefly managed to free her lips from Eric''s, but before she could say much, her pouty little mouth was blocked again.


    In the beginning, she had been fiercely pulling his clothes, but, in less than a minute, the sound of the rustling of clothes had be very low, and it was soon covered up by the sucking sound of two pairs of tongues and lips.


    After an unknown amount of time, Eric finally released Elisabeth''s lips and sat back in his seat.


    He asked softly, "Should I turn on the lights?"


    "It''s a free country," replied a slightly panting voice.


    Elisabeth''s face had reddened and she was still breathing heavily, but she still refused to quit her quips.


    Eric smirked and moved his hand to lightly pinch her nipple, causing her to squirm and let out a tender moan.


    "You... bastard! Let go..." said Elisabeth, but Eric felt her soft hand gently press his hand as if indicating him to continue. He smiled and slowly increased the strength between his fingers.


    After a while, Eric heard some muffled moans and asked in a husky voice, "Do you want me to continue?"


    Elisabeth asked as she lightly gasped, "Why...? Are you... scared?"


    "Wow, so you''re provoking me," said Eric as he pushed back both his and Elisabeth''s seat before he pushed her down. Pressing her soft body underneath him, Eric ripped off her shirt and threw it aside.


    Although the car was dark and locked, they were still outdoors. Elisabeth, who suddenly felt her back touch the leather seat, asked, "Hey, you bastard, you''re not going to... do it here, right?"


    "Don''t forget, you asked for this," said Eric before he unhooked Elisabeth''s bra, and began to grope her breasts with his cold hands. Feeling the breasts directly was definitely much better than feeling them through ayer of clothing.


    As she felt Eric''srge, cold hands groping her breasts, Elisabeth''s breath quickened, but, soon, she noticed that one of his hands was moving towards her lower belly. She quickly grabbed his hands and said, anxiously, "No, absolutely not! We''re on the streets; anyone passing by could see us!"


    "Such a tease," quipped Eric before he quickly pulled back his seat and drove the car inside his mansion''spound.


    After he parked the car, Elisabeth quickly turned off the lights. Eric smiled as he went back to licking her breasts while he moved his hands down her lower belly.


    "Men really only want one thing,"ined Elisabeth, but, after feeling that Eric had unbuttoned her jeans, she willingly raised her hips to allow him to pull her jeans off.


    "I... I think... we should go inside," whispered Elisabeth as she twisted her body a few times after her bare butt touched the cold leather seat.


    Although doing this in the car was very exciting, Eric also felt a bit ufortable going further here, so he quickly walked out, picked up Elisabeth, who was almost naked, spare her panties, from the other side and put her on his shoulder before he rushed to his mansion.


    "Hey, I don''t want to be carried off like this,"ined Elisabeth as she hammered her fists on his back.


    Ericughed and thought that she was really worried about the wrong thing. Under normal circumstances, even though it waste at night, any woman who was naked would first ask for her clothes to cover herself up, but she was worried about how she was being held.


    He chuckled as he yfully pped her soft hips and asked, "Then, how do you want to be carried?"


    "Princess hug! I want a princess hug!" yelled Elisabeth as she shook Eric''s back.


    Eric stopped and changed the position to hold Elisabeth in his arms, lowered his head and kissed her lips before he began walking again.


    Because of his familiarity with theyout of his mansion, Eric managed to reach his bedroom with Elisabeth in his arms without needing to turn on the light before he unceremoniously threw her on therge bed.


    He started taking his clothes off as he feasted his eyes on her graceful body, sight of her face, flushed red with arousal, big, round breasts with hard, pink nipples, heaving up and down with heavy breaths, t stomach, slim waist, wide hips and round thighs making blood rush to his crotch, his dick rock hard as he threw his underwear away and pounced on her.


    Mounting her stomach, he leaned down and kissed her sexy lips as one hand move to her ample chest and started groping her breasts, other hand sliding down between her legs and moving her panties aside, before massaging her clit, making her moan.


    Sliding his tongue in her mouth, he kept massaging her breasts, pinching her nipple as he pushed two fingers in her snatch, making her moan in his mouth.


    "UHHHHH...."


    Pushing his finger in and out of her cave, he let go of her lips and started kissing down her neck as he groped her left breast with his hand, soft moans escaping from her lips.


    His lips getting to her chest, he massaged her left breasts with his hand and licked right one.


    Running his tongue over her soft breast, he licked her puffy nipple, before taking it in his mouth and sucking on her breast as he moved his fingers around her tight snatch, finding her G-Spot and rubbing it, making her let out a deep, loud moan as he squeezed and sucked her tits.


    He took her other nipple in his mouth and sucked on it as he sped up his fingers, rapidly moving them in and out of her pussy, rubbing her G-spot, sucking and groping her tits, pinching and biting her nipples, until.


    "O'' My GODDDDD....."


    With a loud cry, she arched her back, pleasure pulsing through her body, her pussy mping down on his fingers, wetting them with her juices.


    "HUH....HUH...HUH...."


    Her orgasm ending, she slumped down on the bed, her face flushed red, sheen of sweat covering her forehead, breasts heaving up and down, legs spread, her juices flowing from her vagina.


    Moving between her legs, he spread the in an M shape and leaned down, pushing his fingers, covered in her juices, in her mouth, making taste herself as he yed with her breasts.


    "Pop..."


    Pulling his fingers out of her mouth, he grabbed his dick and positioned it at her entrance.


    "Are you ready?" Asked Eric, as he rubbed her slit with the head of his penis, making her sigh softly.


    "Be gentle" Answered Elisabeth as she closed her eyes and got ready.


    Hearing her answer, he put the tip at the entrance and slowly pushed forward.


    "HAAA... So tight..." Groaned Eric as he pushed a third of his shaft in her pussy, before pulling back and pushing back in, doing it over and over, until he was bottomed out in her.


    "HAAAAA...."


    He sighed in pleasure as he felt her pussy wrapping tightly around his shaft, her wet, hot walls trying to milk him.


    He stayed bottomed out in her for a few seconds, letting her get adjusted to his size, before slowly moving hips back and forth.


    Putting his hand behind her shoulders, he leaned forward and started thrusting his hips slowly and sensually, going deep in her pussy with every stroke, stretching her tight walls, hitting her womb, making her let out seductive moans.


    His thrusts getting faster, he leaned down and once again kissed her sexy lips, pushing is tongue in and exploring her mouth as he pounded her tight snatch, invading her pussy over and over again, making her moan in his mouth.


    Letting her sexy lips go, he sat up and spread his knees, before grabbing her ankles and spreading her legs in a V shape as he kept mming his throbbing his dick in her tight pussy, filling it to the brim, her moans louder and louder.


    Holding her legs in the air, he kept on pounding her pussy, this position allowing for deeper pration, sight of herrge breasts jiggling every time her ass collided with his crotch mesmerizing his eyes as sound of her charming moans filled his ears.


    Letting her legs go, he leaned over her, her big breasts rubbing his chest, her legs wrapping around his back as he kept plowing her pussy and started kissing her neck, making her let out throaty moans.


    Still pounding her pussy, he kissed her, their tongues entangled with each other as his dick slid deep in her pussy, this position allowing him to hit her G-spot, building her orgasm, making her moan loudly in his mouth.


    Feeling his release get close, he suddenly sat up and pulled his dick out of her tight hole, before he flipped her over and put her in his favorite position, head pushed down on the bed, arms spread to the sides and her plump ass in the air.


    "UHHHHHHH...."


    Seeing her in this position sent blood rushing to his head, so without wasting any time he stepped up behind her and shoved his dick in her pussy with a strong thrust, her ass pping against his crotch as she let out a loud moan.


    Grabbing her slim waist with both hands, he started pounding her tight pussy, sliding in and out, stretching her walls, her ass pping loudly against his crotch, groans escaping from his mouth, her loud moans echoing in the room.


    His release getting closer and closer, he kept moving his hips as he leaned over and wrapped his arms around her chest, before straightening his back, pulling her up with him, turning her head and kissing her sexy lips as he started groping her breasts and caressing her t stomach, sliding his hand down between her legs and rubbing her clit, making her moan.


    Sliding his tongue in her mouth, he kept fucking her pussy, rubbing her clit and groping her breasts, before pinching her nipple, making her man in his mouth as she felt her own orgasm get closer and closer.


    Felling the familiar itch in his balls, he let go of her breasts and bent her over, before grabbing her waist and pounding her with all his might as she braced herself on her elbows, her moans intense and high pitched.


    He kept fucking her from behind with animalistic desire, groans escaping from his mouth, her fat ass pping his crotch, his throbbing shaft gliding in and out of her wet snatch, splitting it apart, stretching her tight walls, her moans turning into screams of pleasure, until.


    "HAAAAAAAAAA....."


    "O MY GODDDDDDD..."


    Moaning loudly, pleasure pulsing through both their bodies,  she arched her back, her pussy clenching tightly around his shaft as he mmed it deep in her and with a loud roar, he shot ropes of cum, filling her pussy with his hot seed as she squirted love juices all over his shaft.


    **********


    His eyes opened slightly after Eric felt some movement. Through his squinted eyes, he saw that the woman in his arms had carefully slipped out and moved to the bedside.


    He opened his eyes wider and managed to see Elisabeth''s lithe naked back as she slowly moved her hand towards the phone at the bedside.


    Eric wondered what she was doing as he continued to quietly and secretly watch her.


    After a series of beeping dials, Elisabeth put the phone on her ear.


    After a while...


    Elisabeth spoke in a low, but anxious voice, "Hey, Julia, what should I do? I slept with him!"


    When Eric heard this, he grabbed his forehead as he wryly smiled. Does this silly girl really think that he would continue to sleep even after she made so much noise?


    Elisabeth, whose back was facing Eric, still didn''t know that he had woken up, so she continued, "What, that... it felt pretty good. Hmph, do you think I don''t know? You also slept with him, so what are you asking me for?"


    "..."


    "''Where am I?''" she repeated the question before she nced back at Eric who quickly closed his eyes. Assured that he was still asleep, she lied, "Of course I escaped... I know it''s still early, but I''m not going to wait for him to wake me up. Well...


    um... hmph, I knew it was a waste to call you! I''m hanging up... no, no, no!


    Pick me up... alright, I''m hanging up."


    After she hung up the phone, Elisabeth was about to quietly walk towards the bathroom when a pair ofrge hands grabbed her from behind.


    As she screamed, Eric smirked and said, "Liz, I don''t know if I should call this cute or silly? Do you talk about this kind of thing with your girlfriend? Shouldn''t you keep my reputation in mind?"


    Elisabeth stuttered as she asked in a panic while her hands were on Eric''s hands, "Ah, you...wh-when did you wake up?"


    "Just around the time when you said that ''it felt pretty good''."


    Elisabeth turned beet red as she shyly covered her face. Eric pulled her into his arms and said, "There''s no need to be embarrassed. Lovemaking between a man and a woman is supposed to feel good. To be honest, I am quite happy that it felt good for you."


    "You, you..."


    Suddenly Elisabeth opened her mouth and bit down hard on Eric''s shoulder.


    Eric yfully gasped and patted her back to appease her as he joked, "Hey, Liz, even if you bite it, you can''t eat it."


    Elisabeth pushed Eric back and broke free from his arms before she quickly escaped into the bathroom.

 Chapter 233: “You have to marry me!”

    Eric leaned on his bed as he watched the nude Elisabeth flee into the bathroom. He was going to freshen up and do his morning exercise when Elisabeth, now wearing a bathrobe, returned from the bathroom.


    Elisabeth gripped the cor of her bathrobe as a hint of nervousness appeared between her eyes, but she stared straight at Eric before she said, "Eric, I''ve thought about it. Although I haven''t known you for a long time, I think you are a good man."


    Upon hearing her words, Eric suddenly had a premonition, but before he could say anything, Elisabeth continued, "We went to bedst night, but I am not a casual woman, so, so..."


    After hesitating for a few seconds, she finally said with all her might, "So, you have to marry me!"


    After she finished these words, she slightly panted as if she had used up all the power in her body, but her eyes still stared at Eric, waiting for his answer.


    Eric stiffened for a few seconds before he slowly said, "What the fuck!"


    **********


    In Julia''s apartment, Elisabeth sat on the couch and narrated her story.


    Julia, who was sitting beside her, listened with relish when Elisabeth suddenly stopped after she said that she had asked Eric to marry her.


    Julia quickly looked up and asked, "Well, what happened after that? Finish the story!"


    Elisabeth shook her head and said, "Then he ran away."


    Julia subconsciously asked, "What?"


    Elisabeth made a running gesture with her hands and said, "Eric put on his clothes, opened the door and ran away. By the time I realized what had happened, he was nowhere to be found. I even checked the whole mansion."


    Then, the two women looked at each other for a few seconds. Elisabeth bit her lip and didn''t seem to know what to say. Suddenly, Julia burst out inughter as she pped the couch.


    "Hahaha, Eric is such a jerk! Hahaha, he ran away! Hahaha..."


    Elisabeth picked up a pillow and threw it at Julia as she yelled, "Hey, don''tugh!"


    However, Elisabeth''s embarrassment only seemed to exacerbate Julia''sughter. Finally, Elisabeth said in a gloomy tone, "If youugh again, I won''t talk to you ever again!"


    Julia quickly stifled herughter and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Suddenly, she seemed to recall something as she red and asked, "So, you lied to me when you called me this morning and said that you had already left Eric''s ce?"


    "I... I didn''t know what to tell you, but this... why do you care about the details?!"


    Julia looked at Elizabeth, who was getting annoyed, and quickly said, "Okay, okay, I won''t ask, but what happened afterwards?"


    "What do you mean afterwards?"


    "Didn''t you think about destroying that asshole''s expensive things, such as electronics and watches?"


    Julia felt that since a rich and pampered girl like Elisabeth had been humiliated like this by Eric, she would''ve definitely given in to impulse and done something.


    "How could I be so naive?!" retorted Elisabeth, but faced with Julia''s questioning face, she finally lowered her head and admitted, "I mean, I was really angry at first. If he didn''t want to marry me, he should''ve just told me clearly on the spot. Why did he run away without saying a word?


    For a moment, I had thought of burning his mansion."


    Julia covered her mouth in surprise and asked, "Isn''t that a bit too much?"


    Elisabeth ignored Julia''s reaction and continued, "I found a barrel of gasoline in the garage, but I couldn''t find anything to ignite it. By then, I had calmed down, so I decided toe here."


    Although Elisabeth did not burn Eric''s house in the end, Julia, who heard this, looked surprised. To be honest, she felt a lot of resentment towards Eric.


    At one point, she had also had some thoughts about getting revenge on him, but even her most ruthless thoughts had never reached the point of burning down his house.


    Elisabeth failed to notice Julia''s reaction. She lowered her head and asked, "So, what should I do now?"


    Julia thought for a moment and replied, "Currently, we have a very great opportunity. If you ask him for a script, he definitely won''t refuse."


    Elisabeth red and yelled, "What kind of person do you think I am?!"


    Julia also knew that a prideful person like Elisabeth would never agree to this, so she shrugged and said, "In that case, what''s done is done."


    "But, I don''t know how to face that bastard."


    "Stop being his assistant; then, you won''t have to see him everyday. Instead, you should focus on T.G."


    The two women were about to discuss further when Drew, wearing a pink backpack, entered the apartment and saw the two of them sitting on the couch.


    She greeted, "Good morning; hey, Liz, what are you doing in a bathrobe?"


    "I just took a shower."


    "Oh," Drew just nodded. She had obviously only asked randomly. If she had looked carefully, she would have realized that the bathrobe came from Eric''s house since she was the one who had purchased the household products for Eric''s house.


    After sitting down on the couch, Drew opened the backpack and pulled out a script and handed it to Julia and Elisabeth as she asked, "What do you think about this script?"


    Julia took the script and looked at its title before she asked, "''Silence of the Lamb''; what does that mean?"


    "It seems to be a novel adaptation," remarked Elisabeth as she looked at the script in Julia''s hand. Then, the two of them began to read it together since there was only one copy.


    While they read the script, Drew poured herself a ss of juice andmented, "This script is based on Thomas Harris''s novel of the same name. The film adaptation rights were originally bought by Oscar-winner Gene Hackman who was the lead inst year''s Best Picture nominee Mississippi Burning.


    He nned to direct the film, but the poor guy had been experiencing serious manic episodes since he finished Mississippi Burning. His doctor advised him not to get involved with such an intense violent thriller, so he decided to sell the script.


    I had been purchasing scripts for Eric when I came across it. I felt that the story was very exciting and the script wasn''t too expensive, so I bought it."


    Julia looked up and said, "Drew, the lead in this script is a woman; you''re not thinking..."


    "Julia, didn''t you want to have a breakthrough in your career? The role of rice in this script would definitely allow you to significantly hone your acting skills."


    Julia quickly shook her head. She felt that the role of Shelby in Steel Magnolias was already enough to hone her acting skills.


    She rejected, "No, I only read a part of this script, but it already feels so creepy. If I y this part, I might develop some... mental illness."


    Thinking of this, Julia shuddered as she thought about the odd feelings she had for Eric.


    Elisabeth, who had briefly browsed through the script, also said, "Drew, I don''t think this script is a good idea. It''s a thriller which will definitely be rated R. After its release, it will definitely cause controversy which will have a significant impact on the image of ourpany. After all, T.G.


    Films is run by three girls."


    "On the contrary, Liz," retorted Drew, "T.G. is apany run by three girls, so I think we should try some films with exciting and unexpected themes, so that people don''te to believe that we will only make feminine films since we''re women."


    Upon hearing this, Elisabeth looked at Julia, but she, once again, shook her head and tly rejected, "I won''t y this role! In fact, my agent will never agree since my image is centered around roms."


    "I heard that the screenwriter who wrote this script expressed his hope that Jodie Foster could y the role of rice. Julia, are you saying that you''re inferior to Jodie Foster?"


    Julia sneered and said with a smug tone, "Although she has won an Oscar, but since she began her career, the box office of all her moviesbined can''t equal the box office of my Pretty Woman."


    "But, as an actor, don''t you want to win an Oscar?"


    "I don''t," replied Julia tly. She had only been famous for less than a year, so she hadn''t yet realized the influence of the Oscar.


    Although Drew was a lot younger than Julia, she had been in Hollywood for a much longer time. Upon hearing Julia''s words, she revealed a surprised expression and said, "If Eric heard what you just said, he would definitely regret letting you star in Pretty Woman. He would be so disappointed in you."


    "Why should I care if that bastard is disappointed?" murmured Julia.


    Drew sneered and asked, "Well then, can you say the words you just said in front of Eric?"


    Julia instinctively turned her head away as if she had decided to ignore any future remarks from Drew.

 Chapter 234: Of course not the same

    "Well, don''t make a noise," Elizabeth thought for a moment and said, "I think maybe we can give it a try."


    Xiao Nizi immediately said: "This is the script selected by the film actor who won the best film nominationst time. It will definitely not go bad, and if you agree, I will take Eric to help. one look."


    Julia listened to Drew and said, "I have proposed: "Drew, Eric is not letting you buy a lot of copyrights? Why don''t youe out and use them? Since those are his picks, That must be much better than this one, right?"


    "No," Xiao Nizi immediately shook his head: "The copyright is my flower film."


    "Don''t you have a copy of tg?" Julia dissatisfied.


    Drew said: "Of course not the same, the flower film industry is given to me by Eric."


    Julia squatted, and she was envious, but she didn''t know how to refute it.


    "Well, Julia, I think that''s it. Our **** is shooting this "The Silent Lamb."


    Julia took a pillow and hugged it in her arms, huddled on the sofa, and shook her head: "I don''t y the heroine anyway."


    Elizabeth and Drew looked at each other and exchanged their eyes. Elizabeth immediately said, "So, in this case, vote, agree that Julia ys the leading role."


    Xiao Nizi and Elizabeth immediately raised their right hand in a strange way.


    "You..." Julia rolled her eyes nkly.


    Elizabeth looked at Julia''s still disagreeable look, and her eyes turned and said, "Yes. If you don''t agree, then I and Drew will find another person to convince you."


    Julia immediately thought of Eric''s odious face and jumped up and threw the pillow away. Angry said: "You... how can you bully me like this."


    "So, you agree?" Elizabeth smiled slyly.


    Julia squatted her face: "I have to ask my agent first."


    Elizabeth said: "The role of rice is neither a viin nor a harlequin. I think Mr. Sid will definitely agree, and don''t think we don''t know, Hollywood stars are at your height, brokers only have the right to suggest, no longer It may control your choice of script.


    You are so arrogant, why bother to ask the agent. I think that guy''s vision is better, we can ask him."


    "Okay, okay, I agree, I agree that it will not work." Julia finallypromisedpletely.


    "In this case, then I will go back tonight to let Eric help us to see this script." Drew followed a smile and wanted to put the script away, but Elizabeth suddenly reached out and pressed the script: "I still Come on, just that I will be involved in the filming of "Night at Night in Seattle" during this time, and I can have more time for him to help him."


    "You?" Drew looked at Elizabeth with a puzzled look. I don''t know if it was an illusion. She thinks that the girl is somewhat... guilty: "I remember you said, does Eric disagree with helping you choose a script?"


    Elizabeth quickly said: "We haven''t decided yet, and Julia must have used stocks to buy shares. So I don''t think there will be too much investment in such a movie, even if it is lost. In this case, I just take it. In the past, let him help me with some advice.


    I think Eric will not reach this level. Moreover, if you show him, you have to find another reason. If you don''t pay attention, Eric will find you participating in our movie. Thepany is up."


    Drew thought for a moment and nodded. "This is also good. I will run back in the province, and Eric said that I skipped sses."


    Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. If Xiao Nizi went back and found the gas in the vi, he found a little clue about her. That would be bad. Elizabeth was not worried about Drew''s reaction after discovering this incident.


    She just didn''t want to let this anecdote be known by more people. If it wasn''t because I didn''t stay homest night, I''m sure I couldn''t hold Julia''s words, and Elizabeth wouldn''t just tell Julia about the passing of things.


    After negotiating about this, Xiao Nizi looked at the bathrobe on Elizabeth''s body and rose up. She stood up and took off her little t-shirt.


    She mmed her little chest and said: "If this is the case, then I Also take a shower, hey, if I can rent a house myself, the school bedroom is always ufortable, Julia, or how about changing a bigger vi, anyway, you Also bought it."


    "No, big, I think space, you won''te to live for a long time, that''s just fine." Julia immediately shook her head.


    Shantou shrugged and said nothing, but he went.


    When the bathroom door closed, Julia asked whispered: "Hey, Liz, are you going to Eric?"


    "Or what?" Elizabeth picked up the script and shook it: "You can''t let Drew go back and find a petrol in the vi. Besides, this thing, it should be guilty that the **** is right, he is not going to escape. I''m just going to get to the guy and let him stay calm all the time."


    Julia remembered Eric''s scene of being uneasy about Elizabeth, and couldn''t help but ''praise'': "Liz, you are vicious."


    The girl  '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' ''


    Even so, it wasn''t until the afternoon of the next day that Elizabeth came to the Firefly Office again.


    The Firefly staff knew that the girl was Eric''s new assistant and that the rtionship with Eric was not unusual, so Elizabeth All the way to the door of Eric''s office unimpeded, hesitated for a moment, the girl just raised her hand and intended to knock on the door, thought about it, or gently rotated the door lock, crept and walked straight in.


    "Jeffrey, I have seen the set photos. There is nothing wrong with the indoor scene, but Jona''s roomcks an egg-shaped space chair... You can tell the props directly to the name... Ok, I will wait for the next painting.


    A sketch is faxed in the past. There is no problem in the room, but I feel a little empty outside the wooden house. There is only one seat under the gallery, which will give people a sense of istion. Then put a fewrge flowerpots there, right, It''s best to be wooden.


    To..." Eric is talking, feeling that there seems to be someone shing through the eyes. The subconscious raises his head and looks at the appearance of theing person. The hand shakes and the microphone falls directly on the ground, making a few clicks.


    In the heart, there was some embarrassment. Elizabeth saw Erik''s stunned look with the stunned microphone. Instead, she rxed her heart and pulled a chair, sitting gracefully in front of Eric.


    Seeing Eric''s subconscious look with his eyes, the girl asked smugly: "Why, do you want to escape from the window behind you? Although this building is not too high, it can at least fall off. Aminuted fracture?"


    Eric opened his mouth and smiled. He bent over and picked up the microphone and put it in his ear: "... Jeffrey, nothing, I identally dropped the microphone on the ground... Well, it is like this, I am in a hurry.


    I have to deal with it, wait for you to y it again... then do it first."


    hang up the phone. Eric didn''t know what to say for a while. The night before, Eric thought it was just an ordinary night sensation. I didn''t expect the girl to get married in a blink of an eye.


    It was terrible to think about it.


    Although the past experience of this experience has already been experienced, but this world he is less than twenty years old, how could he circle himself into the siege of marriage so early.


    Do not look at the Westerners in the film and television dramas are a heroic and unrestrained look, but if you carefully check out, you will find that among the mainstream film and television dramas, those men and women who are unmoving together are basically unmarried. In other words.


    Although Westerners are very open before marriage, they are married. Whether it is social atmosphere or public opinion, the loyalty requirements of both husband and wife after marriage are very strict.


    If he is single. Then even if you keep a rtionship with a lot of women, what you get is at most some ridicule, no one can treat him.


    But if you dare to do this after you get married, then you will be greeted by all the public opinion. As a person who is determined to be a yboy, Eric certainly does not want to confront the whole public opinion.


    It is very stupid, so he has no idea of getting married at all, so he will slip away directly yesterday morning, although this is somewhat Too much, but for a woman who has already caught a horn on a certain idea, he has no good way to deal with it.


    "Why don''t you talk?" The girl looked at Eric''s guilty look and suddenly became more energetic.


    "What to say?" Eric smiled slyly. "I can''t thank you, didn''t I burn my vi yesterday?"


    Elizabeth hated: "Hey, I just didn''t find a lighter, it''s cheaper for you."


    "amount..."


    Although Eric was pushed to the corner, Elizabeth did not think about chasing after all. After all, she did not want to entangle the topic: "What are you doing?"


    Sensitively feeling that the girl has signs of diverting the topic, Eric quickly said: "Nothing,municating with Jeffrey the "Sleepless Night in Seattle" set, because I have too many things, I can only give these things to Jay. Fry, he is now making the final arrangement in Seattle."


    "Oh," the girl nodded.


    "That, you have to go on... and then be my assistant?" Eric asked, tempted.


    "Why not?" The Elizabethan tone immediately rose: "And, you bastard, you never want to have that again..."


    "Of course," Eric nodded quickly. For a woman who woke up and forced to marry, Eric would rather not touch it for a lifetime.


    "I have another thing to help you today," said the girl, bowing her head out of the "Silence of the Lamb" script from the bag: "Hey, give me some advice, I have decided to make this movie next year, so You don''t have to assess the box office prospects of this script, you won''t be responsible for your profits and losses.


    Just give me some guidance."


    Eric took over the script and was about to tell the girl to take the time to look at it and identally blinked the name of the cover and suddenly widened her eyes.

 Chapter 235: Benefits are incomplete

    "Why, is there any problem?" Seeing Eric''s astonished look, Elizabeth explored the cover and found no special ce, so she asked: "What?"


    "That, nothing." Eric shook his head and opened the script directly, quickly reading it.


    After more than ten minutes, Eric watched the script and looked up and asked, "Where did you get the script from somewhere?"


    Elizabeth certainly wouldn''t tell Eric that the script was Drew''s, but told Drew''s remarks about Eric. Xiao Nizi repeatedly asked her and Julia to keep secrets for herself. She wanted to secretly make some achievements and would give Eric a big surprise in the future.


    Eric heard that Elizabeth had ''identally'' got the script and could only shake his head with emotion. If he knows that this script is Xiao Nizi''s rush, he will definitely take a break from the ruined little girl, how can such a good thing be distributed to others, and so much.


    "You have finished reading, how do you feel?" Elizabeth asked slyly. Although she had decided to make the film, she could not want to get some confirmation from Eric.


    Eric Momo took the cover of the script, and for a moment he had the idea of sharing at least this investment with Elizabeth. After all, this is not only a big movie, but also a rare Oscar for the four most important awards. Excellent film.


    But when this thought just floated up, he was secretly pressed down. He felt that there was no need to take all the benefits of the world, and not letting others go, it would only lead to no way to go. not to mention. This little girl has just had a super friendship with herself.


    I figured it out, Eric said with a soft tone: "The story is not too special, but making it into a movie will definitely give you another feeling. So I think the film''s actor selection is crucial. You have it in your heart. Have the male and female protagonists been chosen?"


    "I am going to let Juliae to y rice Starling, and she agrees. There are no other candidates. Anyway, this is my debut as a producer. What will happen slowly, I am Not urgent."


    Eric immediately shook his head: "No, Julia is not suitable for ying rice. rice is a veryplicated character, and Julia''s acting can''t reach that level."


    "Who do you think is appropriate?" the girl asked.


    Eric blurted out: "Judi Foster."


    "Ah... well, I just heard that the scriptwriter who adapted this script also suggested that Judy Fostere to star in rice." Elizabeth sighed in surprise. I used the tone that I thought was very professional: "However, Eric, this is just a horror film.


    The audience wants to watch the horror film is heartbeat and excitement, so I don''t think that the actress is too good, the horror film I don''t expect to attack Oscar. I haven''t heard of a few horror films to win an Oscar."


    "I didn''t have it before, it doesn''t mean it won''t be there," Eric said. "Of course, I just suggested. I don''t listen to you."


    Since this film has nothing to do with himself, Eric does not want to forcefully intervene, and Hollywood history haspletely changed with his participation. Even if there is no such thing as the Silent Lamb, there may be other more great movies.


    "Then I will go back and think about it," I heard Eric said. The girl nodded cautiously and asked: "Is there anything else?"


    "Professor Hannibal, you can try Anthony Hopkins."


    "Anthony Hopkins?" Elizabeth repeated the name of Eric''s mouth, not to mention that the girl had not heard of the name of Anthony Hopkins, although the famous Hannibal professor from the sixties It has already debuted, but in parallel time and space.


    The other party did not seed until the sess of the Silent Lamb. At that time, Hopkins was already in his fifties, before the Silent Lamb. Hopkins didn''t even have a masterpiece.


    Eric doesn''t know how to exin to the girl why he knows this person. He has to be vague: "This is an old Hollywood trick. I have participated in many art films, so the acting is absolutely no problem.


    I also forget that it is I have seen him in which movie, and the image of the other party is verypatible with Professor Hannibal. You can definitely find it if you ask for it."


    "Well, then I will remember," the girl nodded, took out the address book in the bag and carefully wrote down the name.


    Eric looked at the girl''s seriousness when he bowed his head, and said: "Jonathan Demi, do you know? The script of "The Sound of the Ind" that I wrote before is directed by him.


    Yes, and, after the "Little Devils", he will certainly gain a lot of fame, so let him direct the "Silence of the Lamb", but Jonah is still in Venice, waiting for him toe back, I will take you to meet. "


    The girl''s hand was written for a moment, then she looked up and stared at Eric. "I don''t need you topensate me!"


    Eric nced at it and immediately understood something. He smiled and said: "You are too sensitive. I have not thought aboutpensating you. You can treat this as a business...


    Jonathan Demi has signed with uta. The contract, so his director''s sry uta is also to be drawn, and I happen to be the major shareholder of uta."


    Elizabeth licked her mouth and said, "Then I will talk to Jonathan Demi myself. You don''t need to intervene, and you don''t need any discounts. I will pay him a lot ofpensation."


    Eric shrugged: "Okay, let it be."


    After negotiating the matter, Elizabeth took the script into the bag and asked him to ask: "So, what can I do now?"


    Eric gathered at the desk and handed a few documents to the girl: "These things are taken out and crushed with a shredder, and then thrown away.


    Also, the top one is "Sleepless in Seattle." "The shooting schedule, you can familiarize yourself first, when the province starts shooting, the eyes are ck, the outside room has a desk, you can stay there, there is something I call you."


    "Well," the girl nodded. She was very satisfied with Eric''s attitude of finally letting her do something positive. Holding a few documents, she stood up and was about to leave. Suddenly she stopped and asked: "Eric, you seem to Only Allen is an assistant, there is no female secretary or something?"


    "Because I used to stay in thepany very rarely, so I don''t need it.


    However, after this year, thepany needs me to handle more things, so I will definitely find a beautiful vase to handle the sundries," said At this point, Eric squinted at the girl: "Why, do you have any choices to rmend, or do you rmend yourself?"


    "Hey, this girl can''t afford it, and I''m not a vase!" the girl said proudly, turned and walked out.

 Chapter 236: Drop off

    On September 15, the 46th Venice Film Festival ended sessfully.


    Although the Venice Film Festival has repeatedly advertised its literary character to distinguish between the increasinglymercial Cannes Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival, which has been closely watched by various media, it has been firmlybeled with the anti-warbel.


    In the current turbulent world situation, the Ind Cry won the Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival.


    After the results of the awards were released, after Disney''s sparing efforts, the reputation of "The Sound of the Isles" overshadowed the "Grieving City" that won the Golden Lion Award.


    Of course, most people admit that the film "Sorrowful City", which depicts the sorrows and sorrows of the little people in the context of the great era, is far more artistic than the "Small Ind", and the humanity is more intense. But this is, after all, a world of profit-making.


    Although Sad City has won the highest honor, as an art film, it is doomed to do nothing.


    Although "Small Ind Cry" won the Venice Silver Lion Award, but through the screening in Venice, as long as there is no problem, the publishers all over the world know that this is amercial movie, and it is still a very exciting plot. Commercial film.


    Therefore, when "Small Ind Cry" won the Venice Silver Lion Award, the world''s filmmakers who had already begun to negotiate with Disney were swarming.


    On the day the awards were released, Disney sold the rights to distribution in 12 countries around the world, and more countries and regions were in negotiations.


    Of course, Disney will certainly not forget the promotion of the United States. Although with the rise of Hollywood, the decline of European cinema.


    The influence of the three major film festivals in North America is getting lower and lower, but Hollywood movies can win awards abroad, and it must be something that Americans are proud of. After a violent bombing of the newspaper media. The reputation of "The Sound of the Ind" is quickly unknown.


    Immediately, Disney announced the schedule of the film. November 1, Halloween. Although this is not the hottest period, some people even suggested that "Small Ind" be ced in the summer program next year. However, aftermunicating with Eric, Michael Eisner made a lot of decisions.


    People are not optimistic about the schedule.


    In fact, Eric''s suggestion is also his own consideration. "Little Ind Cry" is not a Western traditional horror film that relies on blood and violence to attract viewers into the cinema. It focuses on suspense and plot, plus its pg-13 rating, which does not hinder the annual festival.


    The whole family walked into the cinema together, so there was no problem in the New Year''s schedule.


    What''s more, who said that the horror film is not suitable for the New Year''s file, Eric remembers very clearly that the famous "Scream of Scream" in the past life was released during the Christmas period and achieved 100 million at a cost of more than 10 million. More box office.


    That is the real r-level horror film that relies on violence and **** as a selling point. Even a poor person is opened for a few minutes...


    In early September, most of the crew members of "Sleepless in Seattle" had already rushed to Seattle to prepare for the preliminary work of the film.


    Until September 16, Ericpletely dealt with the recent turmoil of the fireflies, ready to go to Seattle to start filming, "Seattle Night Sleep" and "Little Ghosts 2" will be next to continuous production, therefore, shooting After Hanks''s y in Seattle, Eric will rush to New York to film Nicole''s main y, "Seattle" and then start "Little Ghost 2 Lost in New York".


    Since the previous sequel of this past life still achieved great sess, Eric did not intend to change the script.


    Although the time is very tight. But Eric, who is used to this rhythm of shooting, doesn''t have much pressure. He just feels more ufortable now. The location is in the Los Angeles airport lobby.


    In addition to some of the staff who are going to follow Eric to Seattle, there are several women who are on his side, Drew, Elizabeth and Julia on one side and Aniston on the other. And Nicole.


    Not far away, the sh illuminates from time to time. In addition to the paparazzi who have been blocked by the airport security several times but still do not care, even the onlookers raised their cameras and participated.


    After all, among the women, except for Elizabeth, the other four little girls are famous actresses. Although Eric has been reducing his exposure, he wants to work toward some kind of behind-the-scenes, but helpless.


    His fame is getting bigger and bigger, and his media has never been less, so the passengers at the airport can''t know him.


    It is conceivable that tomorrow''s newspaper will have ace title simr to "The yboy''s Drama Open, Five Beautiful Surrounded Sweet".


    Of course, sweetness is definitely not there. If the eyes have a real form, he is now dressed in various weapons and can be directly on the grill.


    Look at a few women, although they are dressed in beautiful and bright colors, but that look, the expression, Xiao Nizi''s face is narrow, Aniston is full of resentment, Nicole''s heart is already overwhelmed. Elizabeth, you don''t care if you wear it, why don''t you know that you are wearing high heels?


    And Julia, what kind of expression is that, sometimes helpless, sometimes resentment and sometimes low, just revealing a pair of indifferent expressions and then a little sadness, is it necessary to show you the best in your role? ?


    Although it was to send him off, but a few women discussed it, he was left aside, and he was divided into two chats.


    Nicole and Aniston Eric can understand that the newspaper has been specting on the rtionship between the two people during this time. They are shopping together, eating together, and Nicole''s photo of the filming of Friends was filmed. A whole lot.


    In many newspapers, Nicole got the "Starless Nights in Seattle" actress attributed to Aniston''s rmendation to her boyfriend, and Nicole cleverly did not make any rebuttal. Of course, Eric is also very fond of this.


    After all, among the movie heroines who are now rted to him, Eric and Nicole are the most ''innocent'' because of the very good cover of the maid. .


    It is estimated that this is also the case, Aniston will be a good friend with Nicole. Eric even thinks that Xiaoyan''s doing this will definitely save the thought of preventing himself from stealing.


    But the other three women, Eric, are a little confused. They seem to be very familiar. Elizabeth and Julia are clear. What is Xiaonizi?


    I endured this endurance. Finally, after half an hour of suffering, the airport broadcaster''s very loud radio rang and I was able to board the ne.

 Chapter 237: Xiya

    Away with Aniston''s few people, Eric took Nicole and Elizabeth and several other members of the staff to the boarding gate. The huge Boeing passenger ne slid over the long run and rushed to the sky. After the ne stabilized, Eric unleashed the seat belt and finally breathed a sigh of relief.


    Elizabeth, who always intentionally or unintentionally turned to Eric, snorted at this moment: "This is the end of a greedy man, hehe."


    Eric didn''t want to discuss this with Elizabeth. This little girl is obviously eating, so whatever he says is equal to the other person, silence is the best way.


    After four hours of flight, the passenger ne arrived at Seattle''s Ta International Airport. It looked out through the window, the track was wet, and the sky was gloomy. Obviously, it had just rained.


    Compared to Los Angeles, where the sun is more than three hundred days a year, the weather in Seattle is simply the other extreme. Because of the temperate maritime climate, Seattle maintains a state of humidity throughout the year, even when it is not raining. People have a moist feeling.


    It is said that the phrase "Seattle is raining every nine months in Seattle" in the original edition is theint caused by director N Avery, who often dys the shooting process during the shooting.


    At the careful reminder of the flight attendant, Eric and others added a piece of clothing for themselves before they got off the ne, but just out of the airport, they still feel cool.


    Los Angeles temperature can still reach 30 degrees in September, but Seattle is already cool in autumn. The temperature is only about 15 degrees.


    "Hey, Eric." After Jeffrey, who came to pick up the ne, saw Eric, he walked up to the front and hugged him.


    Eric greeted him. Let go of Jeffrey and ask, "How are you feeling in Seattle recently?"


    "It''s bad. I don''t like the weather here very much," Jeffrey shook his head.


    Eric smiled and said: "Take a few more days, and when I get on the right track, you can go to New York."


    "I know, let''s go, the car is outside," Jeffrey said, greeting other people. I took the crowd out of the airport and got a fewmercial vehicles.


    After a half-hour trip, the crowd arrived at the film''s location in Seattle, Alki Beach, which is located on the southwestern side of Seattle. If you go to the city center, it will take about 20 kilometers, because it is quite remote. Therefore, the living environment of the crew is also quite simple.


    Elizabeth stood in her room, looking at the simple bed and table and chairs in front of her face, and the old-fashioned TV set like the small box. Eric, who was forced to pull it by himself,ined: "Eric, is the fund of the crew already nervous to this point?"


    "Of course not," Eric thought the girl''s expression was very interesting. Jokingly said: "But I haven''t built a five-star hotel here for the crew to stay."


    "But, I..." The girl looked at everything in the room with a look of disappointment.


    "Liz, you have to understand that we areing to make movies, not to enjoy. In order to save time, we must choose the ce of residence nearby. We can''t always live better. The dozens of crews drive from the city every day.


    How many kilometerse here? This area is a residential area for a few kilometers. You should be able to think about how much congestion people will drive every day when they drive to the city. How long will it waste?"


    Elizabeth frowned. "It looks like... it''s dirty."


    "If you can''t stand it, then you go to the city to live in the hotel. The small hotel in the neighborhood is just fine. You see. There is no TV." Eric smiled and pointed A small box with a wooden case with an old-fashioned TV set, I wonder if I want to get rid of one.


    This stuff has been an antique for more than a decade. It might be a post-modernist literary fan in the house. feel.


    Elizabeth rolled her eyes and gave Eric a look like ''Are you teasing me?''


    After jokes, Eric patted the girl''s shoulder and said: "Liz, are you not nning to be a producer? If you can''t stand this, I advise you to give up early. Wait for you to shoot in the future. When you are in the movie, you will often encounter a shooting environment that is not as good as it is here.


    It is inevitable to stay in the wild. What do you do at that time?"


    "I..." The girl bit her lip and couldn''t help but ask: "Where does the crew live in such a ce?"


    "Of course," Eric said: "I am in the room opposite you diagonally, you are Nicole opposite. And, a hotel can''t live without everyone, so I just said that this is the best one, the crew The house and the props who lived there were across the street, and the conditions were even worse."


    Elizabeth sank for a moment and finally turned silently and dragged her suitcase into it.


    After lunch, Eric took an afternoon to check the scenes of Jeffrey and others. The night crew held a simple boot party. The next day, "Sleepless in Seattle" Officially booted up.


    "Hey, Victor, how about getting along with Uncle Hanks these days?" Eric squatted around the boy, seven or eight years old, wearing a red jacket and a baseball cap as the staffid the camera track. .


    The little boy named Victor Morris looked up at the mother next to him and was encouraged. He said: "Uncle Hanks is a very good person. He bought me a lot of gifts." The boy said, I also took a pocket-sized Transformers model from my pocket and shook it at Eric, which looked like Optimus Prime.


    Eric smiled and said: "Well, if you wait for your performance, I will buy you a gift, how about the full set of Transformers?"


    The little boy looked at his mother again and then shook his head: "No, Mr. Director, my mother said that you have paid me a piece of money, so even if there is no gift, I will perform well."


    Eric patted the boy''s head and chatted with the little guy before he stood up and said to Hanks: "What do you think?"


    "Victor is very obedient and very clever. Just don''t know if he can perform the cleverness you requested. To be honest, I think there is a boy who is best suited to Jonah."


    Eric knew that Hanks was referring to Stewart Langkel. But obviously this is unlikely, even if it is a supporting role. Stewart''s pay is also in the millions, and the little boy''s sry is only $100,000. Fireflies are not short of money.


    But it will not do this unnecessary waste. Jonah''s role is also very good, but after all, it is a supporting role, the male and female protagonists are always Sam and Annie.


    "Try it a few times. The reason why I chose this boy was that he was very obedient. The shooting time of "Seattle" is not loose. If you choose a disobedient little actor, it may dy the shooting time.


    That was a disaster for the crew."


    "Oh. I understand." Hanks smiled.


    The shooting track wasid out quickly, and Eric had a simplemunication with the two, and Hanks took the little boy to the beach.


    The first scene was very simple. It was mainly Sam''s shot with Jonah in the sea and ying at the beach.


    Because it was all in the distance, there was no acting requirement, so as long as Hanks and the little guy yed casually, Eric I told the photographer and the assistant director a few words, let them take as much footage as possible and walked to the nearby trailer.


    The trailer door is open. Eric went straight in, and the makeup artist was giving Nicole a makeup, waiting for the yful shots of Hanks and the little guy.


    The girl will also start her first scene, which is the scene of watching the y of the father and son far away, and the first scene of the first conversation between Anne and Sam.


    Although in the movie, the male and female protagonists did notmunicate until an hourter, Eric nned to put the scene at the beginning.


    "Mr. Williams," the two female makeup artists immediately greeted him when he saw Ericing in.


    "You go on," Ericforted Nicole, who was about to stand up, and walked behind the girl. Looking at the pretty woman in the make-up mirror.


    After a while, I used the makeup brush to clean up the face for Nicole. The makeup artist said to Eric: "Mr. Williams, do you see this?"


    Nicole also got up. In front of Eric, the station turned around in a show.


    At this time, the girl was wearing a white small suit and a tube skirt, stepping on white high heels, and wearing arge hooded gray windbreaker outside, exactly the same as Meg Ryan''s dress in memory.


    However, although the two are equally beautiful, there is absolutely no connection between the temperament, and Eric wants a silly and sweet heroine.


    "Nic, imagine you are Anne Ryder, then smile at me." Eric leaned in front of a table and said to the girl.


    Nicole brewed it for a moment, and after a moment, she squinted her head and cracked her mouth, looking silly at Eric. In an instant, a stupid, very sweet and a little sweet breath came. Eric stunned and mmed his thumb: "Good, that''s it."


    After Nicole got Eric''s approval, she quickly epted her expression and turned back to the tall and morous Nicole Kidman, looking at Eric to wait for the nextmand.


    Eric doesn''t mind the change of the girl''s expression, as long as Nicole can quickly switch state during the performance.


    "Right, Anne''s way of walking, should you try to figure it out?"


    "Of course," Nicole nodded, looked around, picked up a satchel and hung it on her shoulders. It looked like she was going to fall at any moment, and then stepped on the syedzy step that waspletely different from her. Go to the outside of the trailer.


    "That''s great," Eric once again praised, and Nicole''s performance was far beyond his expectations.

 Chapter 238: Lying in the ground

    Eric also conducted an audition on the girl after she was intent to let Nicole star in "The Sleepless Night in Seattle". At that time, although Nicole also met his request, it was far from beingpared with the current state. .


    This time, Nicole has already turned herself into another person, an Annie Reid who is exactly the same as the script.


    It seems that during this time Nicole was not addicted to the scenery after the heroine of "Night of Seattle", in private, it must be a great effort to try to figure out the role. In Hollywood, as an actor, after all, I still have to rely on acting.


    Compared to many beautiful actresses who can''t extricate themselves in the scenery of vases, Nicole obviously got through this early.


    Hearing Erik''s praise, the girl showed a happy expression, and then carefully tried to test: "Eric, can I lighten the lip tone?"


    Eric looked at the girl''s thick red lip gloss and looked at the two makeup artists. He didn''t think about it for a while.


    An older makeup artist quickly exined: "Mr. Williams, this is the shape we made for Miss Kidman ording to the original makeup photo. At the time, I also suggested that Miss Kidman''s lips should be lighter, but It seems that you personally veto this proposal."


    Eric thought about it and immediately stunned: "Oh, I remembered it, it just happened, I didn''t have to adjust it."


    "But, this looks very unnatural." The younger makeup artist said weakly.


    "What is necessary is this effect." Eric exined: "If even this cockroach is repaired, Nicole is too perfect. Don''t forget that Anne Ryder is a woman who has no heart and soul in her life.


    How can such a woman dress up herself perfectly, and there are some shorings that are more in line with her character."


    I heard Eric''s words. All three people nodded thoughtfully.


    Eric went on to say: "I know that you are all very professional makeup artists, but don''t forget that you are modeling for the actors, so your job is not to dress up the actors perfectly, but whether it is beautiful or ugly, As much as possible to shape the image of the actor as directed by the director."


    "Thank you for your advice, Mr. Williams, we know." The older makeup artist nodded quickly.


    Because of the full preparation. Nicole''s shot was barely ng, so the first encounter between Sam and Anne at Alki Beach was quicklypleted. In the next few days, after taking a few shots of the airport, Nicole can leave the crew for the time being.


    By convention, the crew did not shoot anyplicated shots on the first day. Except for the encounter between Sam and Anne, it was basically the scenes where Sam yed with his son.


    In order to be able to y the image of the father and son with the little actor Victor Morris, Hanks began to get along with the little guys a week ago, so when the time was started. There is no gap between the two people.


    It was only after the first day of running-in, the two fathers and sons had already entered the state, and the time did not allow the crew to proceed step by step. The next day, the crew began a moreplicated scene. Of course, the problem will follow.


    The background of the camera was that Jona revealed the address of the home to the radio station, so Sam quickly received a courtship letter from all over the United States.


    There was a lot of mail on the dining table in the living room. Jonah picked up a piece and opened it. He said, "Dear, Seattle, sleepless, you are the most attractive man I have ever heard, hehe..."


    The little guy snorted and pulled the letter aside. Reaching out is going to take apart another one.


    Haven''t waited for Hanks to speak, Eric once again shouted. Because the boy''s expression does not have the funny look, but it is a nervous face. I couldn''t help but look at it.


    Making a gesture to other people, Eric said: "Forget it, take a break, Victor,e over, let''s talk."


    "Mr. Director, isn''t I doing it?" The little guy jumped off the chair and came to Eric, asking awkwardly.


    Although it was only five times, but from the third time, the boy became cringe. Seeing this situation, Eric stopped the film decisively. He knew that forced shooting would definitely put more pressure on the boy, and might even make the little guys have no confidence to y again.


    When he heard Victor''s words, Eric shook his head quickly: "No, no, you have done a good job, but you have not done the best. Do you want to be the best?"


    Victor snorted nodded. "Of course, I grew up and I have to win an Oscar."


    "Well, it''s a good boy with aspirations, but the Oscars are not so good. The ones who can stand on the Oscar podium and take the little gold are the best ones."


    "What should I do then?" Victor asked with a eager look. In Eric''s temptation, the little guy temporarily rxed and sat next to Eric''s beckoning gesture.


    The crew members know that Eric is teaching the little guys in his own way. In order not to affect the two people, most of them consciously left the room. There are only a few staff members left in the room, and they are all light. The hand is light.


    Hanks also pulled another chair and smiled and sat down on the other side of the little guy. This action made Victor more reassuring. After all,pared to Eric, Hanks, who had been with him for more than a week, was more secure.


    Eric squatted on the boy''s head and smiled: "It''s very simple, that is, you can''t be discouraged if you encounter a failure. Just like the one you just shot, since this time you didn''t shoot well, then it will be a few more times.


    But because one or two shots are not taken, they be unconfident, so one can never make progress anymore."


    The boy seemed to understand and nodded. He seemed to realize something, but then whispered his fingers and said: "But, seeing so many uncles and aunts because I wasted my time, I have some concerns in my mind, I am afraid they will be angry. ""


    "No. You think wrong," Eric said. "You came to the show to get paid, and the same. They are also going to get paid.


    And they can be different from you. Their wages are ording to time. Calcted. The longer you take the time to shoot, the more money they get, so they are actually very happy." Eric said, with a faint smile on his lips, he is changing the film for the camera.


    Nickel: "Nikkor, you are very happy now, right?"


    Nickel released the strong smile and nodded and smiled: "Of course, little guy, you can try it out. The more you shoot, the more happy we are. Of course, you can''t deliberately interpret the lens because Mr. Director I will definitely see it, then we still can''t get the money."


    Eric took a look at Nickel and stopped the other person from continuing to crap. Then he said to Victor: "So, talk about your performance, Victor, have you seen "Little Ghosts"?"


    "Of course, Kevin and the two thieves, but unfortunately I only read it again. Mom will not lead me anymore. Mr. Director, my mother said that the film is your director, then we will now be like this kid.


    Is it as interesting as Home?"


    "That''s for sure. So if you y well, the children of the whole United States will worship you like Kevin in the future."


    The boy immediately showed a sly look, although he didn''t understand Eric''s words because he hadn''t learned the word ''worship'' yet, but the little guy instinctively felt that being worshipped by the whole American child was definitely a very Awesome things.


    In order to bring the boy away again, Eric said again: "Since you have seen "Little Ghosts", you must remember the way Kevin looks in the movie, and you want to y the role of Jonah. Kevin is almost the same. You just did not y right, when you read the letter.


    You should be a little more funny, fangs. Blink your eyes, yes, will you make faces?"


    "Wow--" The little guy immediately hooked his mouth and turned his eyes to make a face.


    Eric patted the boy''s shoulder: "It''s doing very well, then wait for you to do this..."


    After ten minutes, the shooting resumed.


    Still the pile of letters, the little guy took a letter and read it as usual: "Dear Seattle, Mr. Sleepless, you are the most attractive man I have ever heard, hehe..."


    "cut!" Eric shouted out subconsciously, but then realized that it was not right.


    He just built self-confidence for the little guy, originally thinking about waiting for the boy toplete the scenepletely, and then say other. But seeing the boy''s expression did not do it, Eric shouted instinctively, but it was toote to recover.


    The boy looked at him again with his sly eyes, and Eric took the opportunity to grab a baseball cap next to him and throw it away, just to the innocent photographer''s face: "Nickel You are such an idiot, such a good shot has been messed up by the shaking of your camera."


    Eric''s ''snarling'' squeezed a few eyes at Nickel. Although lying in the ground, the poor photographer did not dare pretend not to understand Eric. He had to apologize with a smile: "Sorry. Director, this is an ident.


    I must pay attention next time, forgive me?"


    "Let''s let you go this time, dare to do this next time, just...deduct your sry." Eric gnashed his teeth and said, in a blink of an eye, he changed his amiable appearance to the boy: "Victor, this time is not strange. You, Nickel has screwed up the camera.


    You see, adults will make mistakes as well, so don''t be nervous, can we continue?"


    "Well, Mr. Director," the little guy nodded hard.


    Perhaps it was the ''encourage'' that adults would make mistakes. Although it was ng several times, this shot passed smoothly.


    And since it was found that this method can stimte the self-confidence of the little guy, Eric immediately found a few ''idiots'', and even Hanks worked very stupidly for a few times. What followed was that the boy''s performance improved.

 Chapter 239: Isnt that too tired?

    "I don''t think you have a way, but there is only one thing. Because everyone has be an idiot, you are still a wise man."


    Another morning, in Eric''s room, Elizabeth sat in a chair next to the wooden table and asked Eric, who was brushing her teeth in the bathroom.


    "I am the director, the master of the whole crew, like the wolf in the wolves," Eric rubbed his mouth to wipe off the foam on his lips and continued: "If I make a mistake, it does not mean All of you are wrong."


    "Hey, you can really argue." Elizabeth grinned dissatisfiedly and saw Ericing out. The girl pointed to the breakfast in the tray in front of her: "Hey, give it to you."


    Eric was also wee, pulled the tray directly to the front and quickly ate it. He knew that Elizabeth had already eaten. ording to the girl herself, she is on a diet. During this time, she only eats one apple and one cup of milk for breakfast.


    However, in Eric''s opinion, it must be because Elizabeth could not stand the hygienic conditions here, and could not find a ce to make breakfast, so she had to do something simple, and the girl had two other meals.


    Looking at Eric, who started to gorge, the girl reluctantly picked up the documents in front of her, read Eric''s shooting schedule and other things to Eric, and reminded some of Eric''s need to take extra time to deal with things. .


    These were all Allen''s work, but since Elizabeth had to get together, Eric naturally assigned this part of her work to her, and she could raise her eyes every morning. Although she was aware of Eric''s mind, Elizabeth did not refuse.


    "Right. I think you need to look at this newspaper."


    "What," Eric put down the ss and picked up the newspaper.


    This is a Seattle Times. It is thergest cirction newspaper in Washington State.


    Of course, this is not what Eric cares. At this point he was paying attention to the front page title of the newspaper.


    "Sony $5.5 billion acquisition of Columbia Pictures."


    Although it has long been known that Sony mayplete the acquisition in September, it is also worried about the future payment of the "Dark War" after the Japanese acquired Columbia, but Eric may not always keep this matter in mind.


    After carefully reading the article, Eric breathed a sigh of relief and left the newspaper aside to continue eating breakfast.


    He saw a message from this article that the Japanese were under pressure from public opinion and publicly stated that Sony would not participate in the management of the Columbia Film Company.


    Thepany is still handed over to the US management team, and Sony only maintains the identity of an investor. Since everything will not change, there will be no twists and turns in the future division of "Dark War."


    Elizabeth stared at Eric for a moment and couldn''t help but ask: "Are you proud of it now?"


    Eric swallowed the food in his mouth and looked up and wondered: "What can I be proud of?"


    "Oh, I don''t think you are still humble." The girl snorted: "Or you just didn''t look carefully, the analysis of the fourth paragraph of the article, because "Little Ghosts" and "Dark War" two films have pushed up one after another.


    The stock price of the Colombianpany, the Japanese have paid at least 700 million US dors for this, but it is 700 million US dors. Can this not make you proud?"


    Eric shrugged: "Of course I am proud, but it didn''t reach the level that made me happy. After all, the Japanese didn''t call me this $700 million."


    "That''s "The Dark War." I heard about the contents of the contract. Fireflies didn''t invest in a penny, but they got more than half of the box office profits."


    "Why are you looking at me with a look that I have taken advantage of, even though I have taken more than half of my profits, but Colombia has also made money." Here, Eric pretended to be angry and said: "And You just said that the Japanese paid more than 700 million US dors for this.


    I still lost money when I counted it. I averaged a movie that made Colombian shareholders earn 350 million more. They didn''t give me a penny."


    The girl was shocked by Eric''s oracle logic and opened her mouth slightly. "You are really..."


    "Okay. These are not what you should worry about now," Eric will finish eating breakfast. I took out a napkin and rubbed it: "Now we take this film well and it is the most important thing."


    "When you say this, I think of something else," the girl looked up and looked at Eric, who was walking next to the cupboard and took the clothes. "I watched the script these days. I think this movie is very... strange."


    "It''s weird?" Eric turned and looked at the girl.


    Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah, don''t you think that two people who have never met each other, one who hasn''t seen each other, will start to worry about it. The other one will see each other at first sight, and it will look like a long-awaited reunion. It seems too far-fetched."


    "I don''t think," Eric wore a coat and said, "Liz, have you heard of... fate?"


    The "ship?" girl repeated the phrase that Eric had been tranting for a while, then shook his head and said, "I don''t think it is impossible. How can there be a natural rtionship in this world?"


    "Everything that has happened and can''t be changed anymore is a fate, so-called fate. Like me and you, me and Jane, me and Drew, me and Vicky..."


    Elizabeth turned a big white eye: "Listen to you, how can I have an urge to beat you up. Also, don''t you put me with other women?"


    Eric smiled and said: "Well, make a joke. In fact, in the far east, there is a very romantic view, called the past five hundred times of returning, in exchange for a pass of this life."


    "What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.


    "This is a long story," Eric looked at his watch and said: "Everyone must have already set off. Let''s go, let''s talk on the road."


    This small hotel is less than a kilometer away from the seaside huts used by the crew, so everyone in the crew walked.


    Greetings with other people, the two walked side by side on the street, Elizabeth said: "Go on then?"


    Eric nodded and said: "There is a point of view in Oriental Buddhism that life will not be annihted, and their souls will be reincarnation, so there will be past and present life. So, if you think about it, you should understand it?"


    "The past five hundred times of returning, in exchange for a pass of this life," Elizabeth muttered this sentence again, and then looked at Eric: "Isn''t that... too tired?"

 Chapter 240: Bond girl

    "What?" This time it was Eric''s turn to be confused.


    Elizabeth repeated: "If you look back five hundred times, you can change it and pass it by. Isn''t that too tired?"


    Eric is speechless. Is this little girl a romantic cell? Or is it too true? But he still follows the girl''s words: "So, if you are so tired, then you can meet this life, you should cherish it more, you are right.


    ?"


    "Oh," Elizabeth nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "But what you said, it doesn''t seem to have much to do with "Night Sleeping in Seattle"?"


    "How it doesn''t matter, "Seattle is not sleeping" is telling a story of fate. A pair of men and women separated by a thousand miles, through a radio show, finally came together romantically. Isn''t this a fate?"


    Elizabeth is not convinced: "But I think that your story is impossible in reality."


    "It''s absolutely absolute that you say this. There are billions of people in the world. Any odds of coincidence can happen.


    And if it''s too easy to happen, then I''m making a movie." Eric''s spreader: "Positive It is because there are too many impossibility in reality, there are too many disappointments, so the stories on various carriers appear, such as movies, these are just to give people some kind of spiritualpensation andfort, which is also the story.


    The beauty is there."


    "Well, you always have a lot of reasons." Elizabeth realized that she must not argue with Eric and had to give up.


    ...


    On New Year''s Eve, the father and son are still alone in the house without lights.


    After Jona fell asleep, Sam took his son into the bedroom. Then, the single shadow came to the deck and looked at the fireworks rising in the distance. The loneliness in my heart was more intense. Cangjie fled into the living room andy on the sofa.


    After drinking some beer, I finally fell asleep and slumbered.


    Unconsciously, he saw his wife Maggie appear again, the woman with short hair, a white dress, and a tall, sophisticated face.


    "Can I drink half a can of beer?" Maggie picked up Sam and drank half of the beer, walked to his feet and sat down, leaning against the back of the sofa and looking at Sam with affection. A charming smile hung from the corner of his mouth.


    Sam also stared at each other.


    Maggie said: "How did I say it before?"


    "How do you say that?" Sam finally reacted and asked a subconscious.


    "I said, respect your eyes."


    Sam shook his head: "Grace us."


    The two looked at each other for a moment, and Sam finally said with a painful look: "Baby, I think you think of heartache."


    "Card, good!" Eric shouted with satisfaction. After the people around him moved, the woman sitting on the sofa followed and came to Eric, revealing a charming smile and asked: "William Director of the game. Can I perform well?"


    "Of course, you are very good, Ms. Lowe." Eric said to this tall girl.


    The girl''s name is Kelly Lowe, which is just thetest girl in this year''s "The Killer License of 007". The role of Sam''s wife in the original "Night of Sleep in Seattle" in the original time is made by this woman. of.


    That being the case, plus the other party''s current fame is bigger than a few yearster, Eric has made an invitation.


    Kelly Lowe also responded quickly and expressed her willingness to be a guest character in Eric''s film. This is also very understandable, although she is thetest state girl, but this year''s "007 murder license" in this summer file release, only got more than 30 million box office.


    If it is another movie, the 30 million box office is definitely not bad. But this is 007, and the 30 million results are embarrassing to say hello to people. What''s more, the cost of the announcement of this movie is far more than 30 million.


    Although through the worldwide distribution, MGM has made a small profit by not only recovering the cost.


    However, the results of 30 million in North America directly led to the suspension of the 007 series for six years. Once again, all the main innovations were reced.


    Because of the poor grades, Kelly Lowe did not get the corresponding reputation.


    To be honest, the 007 series of Bonnie girls have never gained much fame. People will remember Shaun Connery, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig, who yed 007, but not many people can name a few girls.


    "Would you like me toe again, didn''t you just like this?" Hearing Eric said, Kelly Lowe asked, she had few shots, except when she appeared in Sam''s dream, there was a family when shopping. The appearance of a few seconds. All the lenses add up and will not exceed one minute in the entire movie.


    Since I can be a Bond girl, my appearance is definitely the best choice, but Kelly Lowe is simr to Virginia. She was born in 1961. She is 28 years old this year. If it is too big to break through, then her acting career will not be much more developed after she is 30 years old.


    Therefore, since she can participate in Eric''s movie, the girl has made up her mind and tried to I am fighting for more dramas.


    When she promised to be a guest, Kylie Lowe didn''t even have a penny. Her mind can be imagined. Although it is just a guest appearance, no one will despise this role except Eric himself who knows the specific situation.


    There were still many people who pushed Eric to this ce, but they were rejected by Eric. Instead, they directly named Kelly Lowe. The girl is also very cherished, we must know that in the "Dark War", Brooke. Thread is a nominal heroine, but ording to the ying time, it is simr to the guest.


    Therefore, Kelly Lowe also hopes that "Seattle Night Sleep" can bring him the effect of Brooke.


    But Eric shook his head: "No, Ms. Lowe, it''s already a bitte, so you can go back to the city, and you must know that the crew''s living conditions here are not very good."


    "It doesn''t matter, let me wait, anyway, it''s almost finished, maybe there is still somewhere that needs me."


    "Well," Eric nodded, and the girl walked to the side with interest.


    The camera began to continue, the picture was still on the sofa, and Sam woke up with his eyes open, only to find that everything was just a dream. Rubbing his eyes, I looked around for a moment, the lights were dim, and the silence was silent, as if it was against the loneliness of his time.


    "Well, Hanks, today''s lens is here," Eric said. He said to the surrounding staff: "People clean up and get back to work as soon as possible. We will go to Seattle airport tomorrow."

 Chapter 241: Save flowers

    Going back to the hotel where the crew was, Eric was lying in bed and talking to Aniston in Los Angeles, and the doorknock rang.


    Eric responded and hurried to the other side of Aniston: "Baby, someone knocked on the door, then I hanged first... How could it be that someone in the crew was looking for me to discuss things...


    Little silly girl, don''t I don''t know, you let Nicole help me to monitor me, right?...haha, now she lives next door to me, this broken hotel speaks louder and louder next door, how dare I... okay? , kiss, bye."


    Putting down the microphone, Eric puts on the slippers and goes out of bed, opens the door of the room, and Kelly Lowe, who is wearing a khaki trench coat, stands at the door. The delicate face of the girl is carefully dressed, just before the set.


    When ying Sam''s wife Maggie, it was a bit more morous. The button on the high-necked trench coat was not buckled. The faint snow white made people want to pull out the impulse. The knee-length trench coat showed a ck dress.


    The slim calf of the stockings and the ck leather boots on the feet make the girl look a little more youthful.


    The girl still had a blue folder in her hand, and I saw Eric''s short, stunning expression. Kelly Lowell''s eyes shed a smug look: "Mr. Williams, can Ie in?"


    "Oh, of course," Eric finally reacted, smiling and letting Kelly Lowe into the room and closing the door.


    "There are limited conditions, only milk and orange juice. Miss Lovi, which one do you want?" Eric went to the cab with the old-fashioned TV set and asked a small box to open it.


    Kelly Rowe sat down on the chair at the round table. ce the blue folder on the table and hear Eric''s inquiries. The expression moved slightly and said: "If you can, give me a ss of milk."


    Eric didn''t think much about it. He poured a ss of milk into the girl and sat down on the other side of the small round table.


    Kelly Lowe whispered softly, and the cup of milk seemed to be inadvertently sent to the lips, and the blue eyes stared at Eric without moving, with a bit of charm.


    After taking a sip, the girl swelled her rosy little tongue and rubbed her milky white milk stains, full of some hints of small movements.


    In this small, quiet room, watching the girl picking up the action, Eric couldn''t help but touch his nose and asked, "Miss Lovei, shouldn''t you go back to the city? There is no part of you here. It is."


    The girl looked at Eric with a hint of resentment and said, "Do you want me to go? It is already sote, even if you can''t find a hotel in the city, and I don''t dare to run around in the middle of the night."


    Kelly Lowe is obviously not talking nonsense. Eric saw with his own eyes that an assistant wasing along. However, he did not break. Seeing Kelly Lowe''s first sight, Eric could almost imagine the girl''s intention.


    "Okay. What do you have?" Eric asked straightforwardly.


    Kelly Lowe opened the blue folder in front of him and said, "In fact, Mr. Williams, I want to talk to you about my role."


    Eric took a few pages from the girl and bound a4 paper, nced at it, and understood that it was about understanding and thinking about Maggie''s role. Many actors would do simr work after picking up the character.


    Eric just didn''t expect the other person to do this role analysis for such a small role.


    Probably after reading it, Eric found that the understanding of Maggie in these analyses was even more thorough than himself. Some details he did not think of. He looked up in amazement and asked, "Miss Lovei. These are you doing it yourself?"


    Kelly Lowe moved her lips and hesitated for a moment and said honestly: "It was my agent and... I discussed it together. Eric, what do you think?"


    "Your agent is not bad," Eric said with a smile. Seeing the sly expression of the girl''s eyes shing, Eric did not entangle the problem again, and then said: "The above role for Maggie The analysis is very in ce, to be honest, some details are not even thought of myself.


    And Maggie is indeed the fuse of the whole story. Without this character, there is no basis for the development of the whole story."


    "So," Kelly Lowe heard Eric''s approval and was pleasantly surprised to explore the body: "Mr. Williams, don''t you think that Maggie''s role is too little? Since this role So important, it should be reasonable to add a few more games?"


    "Miss Lovei, you have to understand that the focus of this story is Sam and Annie. I hope that after the film is released, the audience will have a strong resonance with the heroine''s fate. Only then can this movie be possible. sess."


    When Kelly Lowe heard Eric''s words, she looked indifferent, and the opalescent blue eyes stared at Eric, and the body once again explored, whispering: "Mr. Williams, I I don''t want to rob the heroine of the heroine, and with your talent, I will definitely not let this happen, right?


    I just hope that you can add a few more ys to Maggie."


    Eric''s mouth twitched with a faint smile. The two legs under the table were separated, and the restless leg that was touched was caught, so that the other party could not be tempered, even though ayer of fabric was ced, but Eric Still clearly feel the smoothness of the calf caught by myself.


    Kelly Lowe, who felt Eric''s movements, felt a little stiff for a moment, but her expression soon became more charming. She thought that Eric did this, which was equivalent to agreeing to her own demands in disguise.


    "Mr. Williams, so to speak, have you promised?"


    Eric looked at the morous red lips that the girl kept talking, andughed and asked: "What should I promise?"


    Kelly Lowe squatted, but she didn''t dare to show an impatient look: "Add a few ys to Maggie''s character. In fact, don''t add too many shots, as long as you can let the audience remember... Remember Ma Ji is a character, you can definitely do it, right?"


    "Of course, this is easy, like Brooke Threads in "The Dark War," Eric nodded, and before the girl showed a surprise look, Eric immediately shook his head again, and he said firmly: " However, I can''t do this.


    If the feelings of Sam and Maggie are too good, not only will the audience''s attention be distracted, but it may even give the audience the idea of leaning toward Sam''s singleness, while at Sam and Anne. The disciplinary points are offensive, which is a disaster for the movie."


    Kelly Lowe looked at Eric, and when she heard the other party, she never said anything. She was disappointed to withdraw the calf caught by Eric. But after pulling hard for a few times, I felt my calf tightly hugged by the other side. Biting a bite of red lips, the girl blushes to Erik Neander: "Mr.


    Williams, since... If so, can you let me go?"


    "Why should I let go, I think it''s veryfortable," Eric asked with a smile.


    Kelly Lowe''s face was redder. I saw Eric''s aggressive eyes, the girl bowed her head, and the little hand supported the edge of the round table and used a few more strengths, but she still could not seed. She did not dare to make trouble.


    It was too much movement, and the other people were recruited, but they did not dare to lose their temper to Eric. They had to tone and plead for weakness: "Mr. Williams, don''t... don''t be so good, I should go back."


    Eric lowered his voice and followed suit: "When I go back sote, and I remind you, there are mice in this small hotel. These little things are quite bold, and they dare to climb the bed in the middle of the night."


    Kelly Lowe shrank her neck, but immediately said: "I am not afraid of rats, Mr. Williams."


    "That is afraid of me, this is really sad," Eric made a lost expression.


    "No, no," the girl shook her head quickly, and immediately thought of something like it. "Yes, I... I have contacts, so, Mr. Williams, we can''t do this."


    Eric grabbed his chest: "Wow, this is really a shame. Another beautiful girl has a famous flower. It is estimated that all the men who know you will feel sad. Can I know who the lucky guy is?


    "


    Kelly Rowe said: "His name is Griffin Dunn, also an actor. He... has proposed to me."


    Eric recalled that he found some images of Griffin Dunn in a movie in memory, a man who looks like Robin Williams but is much shorter than Robin Williams. . The other side has yed a supporting role in many movies, and has directed several films, but it has not been famous.


    Thinking for a moment, Eric asked: "Have you promised?"


    Kelly Lowe shook her head. "I''m still thinking about him...he is still very popr in Hollywood."


    Eric understands that the girl is married to Griffin Dunn and can bring more opportunities to her career.


    Looking at the morous girl who is one meter tall and seventy-five in height, thinking about the wretched guy in the early 1 meter, Eric suddenly produced an impulse to save flowers in the depths of the water, blurting out and debut: "He can''t help you." "


    Kelly Lowe said a little in a panic: "Mr. Williams, I don''t understand what you are talking about."


    "You understand," Eric said with a deep smile: "And, I can tell you that he can''t help you."


    The girl couldn''t afford it, she had to look up and ask, "Why do you say that?"


    Why, by your own memory. Eric sighed in his heart. In memory, Kelly Lowe had no more representative work except that she showed her face in the 16th 007.

 Chapter 242: How can I tell Jane?(18+)

    Of course, Eric must not tell the truth to the girl, and said that the other party would not believe it. He had to analyze it ording to the facts: "I have heard of Griffin Dunn, although others are good, but, say In the end, he doesn''t have any power to decide the actor''s choice.


    He can only help you with the rmendation and get more audition opportunities than at the brokeragepany. However, I just watched the summer 007. To be honest, Lovi Miss, your acting skills can''t help you seize those opportunities. So I said that he can''t help you."


    Kelly Lowe turned her head down and looked a little bit struggling, even forgetting that Eric was still holding her calf. After a while, the girl seemed to figure out something. She looked up at Eric and boldly asked, "So, Mr. Williams, can you help me?"


    Eric didn''t want to shake his head directly: "I can''t."


    Kelly Lowe is the same age as Virginia. However, Virginia has not only performed many movies, but also won the Golden Globe nomination. Therefore, there is no problem in acting, justck of opportunities.


    But Kylie Lowe in front of me, there is really no acting, except for the vase route as in 007, other characters are difficult to do. If the girl is ten years younger, Eric can also spend some energy to teach himself, now, even.


    "Then you still..." The girl seemed to suddenly think of her current situation and earned her calf that was caught by Eric again: "Mr. Williams, please, let me go?"


    Kelly Lowe just finished, I felt the opposite man''s originally mped legs loose, and quickly took the calf back. Suddenly gaining freedom, the girl who was eager to escape from the room became hesitant.


    Eric''s mouth evoked a sinister smile and pushed the cup of milk to the girl: "Drink this out. It helps sleep."


    "Oh," Kelly Lowe nodded subconsciously. Like the konjac, the obediently picked up the cup.


    Under the gaze of Eric, the girl flustered and finished the milk, and put down the ss: "Then I went back to the house."


    "Well," Eric didn''t mean to stop, sitting in the chair and nodding at the girl.


    Kelly Lowe stood up and walked to the door in three or two steps, but the hand that opened the door became a little hesitant, and did not open the door of the door for several seconds.


    Eric didn''t know when he was standing behind the woman. I am puzzled: "Or, stay and drink a cup of milk, I have a lot here."


    "I think... that, no... no," the girl felt as Eric spoke, and the heat had sprayed between her neck, and a pair of big hands also wrapped around her waist. Then the speech became stunned.


    Eric didn''t pay any attention to the girl''s refusal. She directly looked over her head and kissed the two long-awaited red lips. The girl gently refused two times.


    Immersed in this kind of kiss, feeling the rich milky fragrance between the girl''s lips and teeth, Eric decisively sticks out his tongue and knocks on the girl''s teeth. Invaded the past.


    After the suffocating tongue kiss, Eric picked up Kelly Lowe and walked to the round table, threw the empty cup and ced her on it.


    Kelly Lowe softly looked around on the round table, twisting her body slightly and resisting: "Here... no!" Didn''t get a response, just felt the windbreaker button untied, then the wicked man got together She whispered in her ear and said softly: "Wait for feeding you milk."


    With that he kissed her cherry lips and unbuttoned her trench coat, throwing it away as he pushed his tongue in her mouth, running one hand down and caressing her thighs d in ck stockings, while other hand went up and pushed the straps of her dress down her shoulders as she slowly stopped resisting and wrapping her arms around his neck, began to kiss back, entangling her tongue with his.


    Their tongues battling, he pushed her ck dress down, exposing her big, round breasts topped with hardened pink nipples and small are.


    Grabbing her left breast, he squeezed it, feeling the supple flesh deforming between his fingers as he hiked up her dress and ran a finger over her panty d slit, making her moan in his mouth.


    "HUH...HUH..."


    "UHHHH....."


    Letting go of her cherry lips, breathing heavily, he pushed her back,ying her down on the table as he leaned down and took her right breast in his mouth, sucking on her nipple as he groped the left breast, pinching the other nipple and slid his hand in her panties, massaging her clit, making her moan.


    Taking his mouth off her breast, he started kissing down her stomach, getting to her belly button and kissing back up, running his tongue all over her breasts, before kissing up her chest, getting to her neck, he kissed, licked and sucked the nape of her neck, before gently running his lips over the delicate skin as he slowly pushed two fingers in her tight cunt, moving them around her cave, deep moans escaping her cherry lips.


    Moving his fingers in and out on her pussy, he quickly found her G-spot and rubbed it, making her moan as he pinched her nipple and kissed the nape of her neck, bringing her pleasure and building up her orgasm as he sped up his fingers, rapidly going in and out of her slick hole with squelching noises, rubbing her G-spot, kissing her neck, groping and massaging her breasts, pinching her nipples, sexy moans escaping her lips, until.


    "UHHHHHHHHHHH...."


    Throwing her had back, a long, throaty moan escaping her lips, Carey buckled her hips and arched her waist as her pussy constricted around his fingers, drenching them with her juices as pleasure pulsed through her body.


    Her orgasm ending, Carey slumped down on the table, her big breasts heaving up and down, her charming face flushed red, her eyes closed as pleasure coursed through her body.


    Looking at the erotic sight, Eric felt blood rush to his head as his rock hard dick strained against his pants.


    Quickly taking off his shirt he threw it away, before pulling down his pants along with his underwear, also throwing them away as his throbbing cock sprang free, before he leaned down, took off her leather boots, also throwing them to the side and pulled her panties down her stocking covered legs.


    "UHHHH..."


    Stepping up between her legs, he hooked his right arm under her leg and grabbing his dick with the left, rubbing the tip against her slit, making her whimper softly.


    Driving his hard member between her legs, he buried it to the hilt with a couple quick strokes, making her cry out from the strong sensation as he thrust back and forth, before hooking his other arm under her leg and swinging his hips wildly, pumping his dick in and out of her pussy, pounding her hard and fast, making her throw her head back and let out loud moans as she felt his hard dick invading her pussy over and over again, splitting it apart and stretching her tight, sensitive walls.


    "UHHHH...Yeah..."


    "UHHHH...Yeah...More..."


    "UHHHH...Yeah...Fuck me....."


    Pushing her legs toward her, he grabbed her upper thighs and pulled her so her ass was half off the desk, before he leaned into her and continued ramming his dick in and out of her pussy, sound of their bodies colliding filling the room as he drove his dick deep in her cunt, pulled out and rammed it back in, over and over, sight of her big, jiggling breasts divine, his ears filled with the sound of her loud moans as she lost herself in pleasure, demanding more.


    "UHHHH...Harder"


    "UHHHH...Yeah suck it..."


    Looking at her jiggling breasts and listening to her moans, he licked his lips, before moving her legs down around his waist and leaning forward, taking her left breast in his mouth, sucking on the pink nipple as he grabbed the other breasts with his hand, kneading and massaging it, before pinching her nipple, making her cry out as he kept moving his hips, her pussy lips clinging to his shaft as he  slid in and out of her tight hole, his mouth moving to her right breast, devouring it as he kneaded the left one.


    For a couple minutes he marked the actress, sucking her big breasts until they were spotted with hickeys, only letting go because he started feeling his release getting close.


    Admiring his handiwork for a second he stopped his hips and pulled his dick out of her cunt, making her whimper with disappointment.


    "Smack...."


    "OHHH...."


    Sliding her off the table, he turned her around and bent her over, her big tits smashing against the table, her protruding ass sticking out enticingly, he couldn''t help but give it a strong p, making her cry out, before her pushed her legs apart and positioned his throbbing dick at the entrance.


    Driving his dick in he slick hole with one strong thrust, he grabbed her slim waist and started to pound her with all his might, filling her pussy over and over again, his balls pping against her soft ass, his dick sliding in and out with squelching noises as she slid her hand between her legs and massaged her clit, building her orgasm.


    Getting closer and closer to his release, he grabbed her arms and pulled them back, cing her hands one the small of her back as he pounded her from behind, making her arch her back, her head thrown back, sexy moans escaping her cherry lips as she also got closer to her release.


    He held her hands on the small of her back and kept pounding her from behind, swinging his hips wildly, his balls pping her ass as it collided with his crotch, her moans filling the room, until.


    "UHHHHHHHHHHHH...Yeah..."


    With a loud moan, she arched her back as far as she could and threw her head back, her pussy clenching over his shaft, wetting it with her juices, orgasm washing over her being.


    "HAAAAA....."


    Eric grunted, her pussy constricting around his shaft pushing him over the edge as he quickly let go of her arms and turned her around, before pushing her down on her knees and grabbing the back of her head, sliding his dick in her hot mouth.


    "Herees the milk, drink it all." Said Eric as he thrusted in her mouth a couple times, before pushing pushing his dick down her throat, her nose in his pubic hair as he shot ropes of hot cum in her mouth.


    "HAAAAAA...."


    "Pop..."


    Eric groaned as he filled her mouth with hot cum, staying still, riding out his orgasm, before pulling his dick out of her mouth with a pop.


    "Open your mouth." Said Eric as he looked down at the beauty on her knees.


    Carey nced up at him with her blue eyes, before obediently opening her mouth, showing his seed all over her tongue.


    "Good, swallow it." He ordered as he slowly caressed her breasts.


    "Gulp..."


    Hearing him, hesitation shed in her eyes, before she gulped down his cum with a slight grimace.


    "Good girl." Eric smiled down at her, before he picked her up and took her to the bed, where he enjoyed her body every way he could think of, filling her holes with his cum, before finally falling asleep.


    ...


    The morning sun nted through the wooden window to the corner of the room, and Eric opened his eyes and looked at the watch. Then rxed and stretched a bigzy waist. Then he quickly realized that this is not his room. Looking at the other side of the single bed, although there is a pillow.


    However, there was no Kelly Lowe figure. Eric thought that the girl had gotten up, didn''t care, put on her clothes and opened the door to go to her room.


    When she was washing, Elizabeth came in again, but the girl''s expression was gloomy. She didn''t say hello to Eric, nor did she sit down like she used to.


    When Eric came out, Elizabeth directly dropped today''s memo on the small round table: "Hey, look at yourself."


    "Amount..." Eric stayed, then realized what he was, didn''t care, and asked, "That, my breakfast?"


    "I saw a few stray cats on the street very poor, and they gave them." The girl finished, proudly raised her chin and stepped on the small leather boots.


    Eric smiled and shook his head, picked up today''s schedule and looked up, and nned to buy some breakfast in person.


    The door quickly opened again, and the tall Nicole walked in and sat down next to Eric, putting a convenient bag in front of Eric: "Hey, I think you may need this today. ""


    Eric has already smelled the faint food aroma and smiled at the girl: "It''s still the best for Nicole."


    Nicole tilted her legs and looked at Eric with her hands on her knees: "So, how can I tell Jane?"


    "What?" Eric watched the schedule and memo and took out the food in the convenience bag.


    Nicole raised her eyebrows: "What do you think?"


    Eric quickly made a look of ''Suddenly Enlightenment'': "Wow, I don''t think you have a bad habit of listening to the corner. What did you hearst night?"


    The girl''s face was red, and she said: "Nothing, I heard something like drinking milk. Right, in the middle of the night, there is a big mouse running in the hallway."


    "There''s nothing about this. You can tell the truth to Jane. Many people have the habit of drinking milk before going to bed." Eric didn''t care.


    Nicole just made a joke with Eric. She didn''t dare to use these to pick up Eric. Listening to Eric said that he could only smile.


    "Right, have you seen Miss Kelly Lowe?" Eric ate breakfast and suddenly looked up again.


    Nicole seemed to think of something interesting and smiled. "I saw it, but she may not want to stay and be ridiculed. She left in a hurry. Really.


    This time you promised someone else." Did you y so crazyst night?"


    Eric shrugged: "Nothing, this is what you want me to do. The ordinary ons."


    Nicole smiled in amazement and immediately said: "In this case, I think that the poor woman must have been stunned by you."


    Eric nced at the girl. The food in the mouth was ambiguous and said: "You are filthy, be careful, I will tell you,"


    Jonah''s little girlfriend home.


    Jessica sat silently on the stool with a bunch of rm clocks behind her.


    The little girl''s mother walked up to her in two or two steps: "Jessica, you must tell where he is, Jonah''s father is mad."


    The little girl rolled her eyes and ignored it.


    Then, the girl''s father crossed the waist and walked three or two steps forward. Putting on the majesty of being a father, Shen Sheng said: "Jessica, I am your father, tell us where he is?"


    Jessica hesitated, feeling that she had reached the time and spit out two letters in her usual style of speaking: "ny."


    "What is that?" Sam asked quickly.


    "No-way, meaning impossible!" said Jessica Dad.


    "That is nw," Sam said helplessly.


    Three adults look at the little girl together.


    "New York, he went to New York." The little girl continued.


    "what!"


    "Howe!"


    The three adults all showed a surprised look.


    "Joint 597 flight," Jessica then reported the flight schedule.


    Sam quickly asked: "When is the departure?"


    "7:30." Jessica dad blurted out. The three people looked at the pair of rm clocks behind the girl, and the sound of the time at 7:30 just rang.


    "Card, good. Alice, your performance is awesome." Eric shouted with delight, while looking at the girl who got up from the small bench.


    Everyone around is excited about the apuse, not because the little girl''s performance is too good, but because it''s thest shot of the crew in Seattle, the morning of September 24th, the eighth day of the boot, the original Set a ten-day shooting time in Seattle.


    Because Eric used a special method to guide, Victor Morris, who ys Jonah, has made rapid progress. This saves two and a half days of shooting time. Perhaps it seems that these two and a half days are not eye-catching.


    But for a crew with hundreds of thousands of dors a day, it can save millions of dors in two and a half days.


    Looking at the watch, it was less than ten o''clock, so Eric raised his megaphone and said to the people around him: "A day off, everyone can go to Seattle, but don''t dy the ne tomorrow morning. Who would have missed it? Fly the ne to New York tomorrow morning."


    "Ha ha..." In theughter, in addition to the necessary personnel to stay on site, many people packed up and left.


    Along the road, Eric gave a detailed ount of several staff members who were responsible for escorting the filmed film back to Los Angeles for initial processing and editing. After watching a few people leave the business car, they returned to the small hotel with confidence. Inside.


    Back in the room, Eric took off the director''s vest, changed a ck windbreaker, thought about the weather outside, and found an umbre to bring it out again.


    "Hey, what are you going to do?" Elizabeth saw Eric''s appearance as she was going out, curiously asking him. The girl is very temperamental and forgetting. After a day or two, she is no longer worried about Eric and Kelly Lowe. The rtionship with Eric has also recovered.


    It is just like this. .


    Eric did not answer and asked: "Do you have anything?"


    Elizabeth went up two steps: "It''s okay, so I ask where you are going, can I go together?"


    "If you like," Eric nodded.


    "Then wait for me, I change clothes." Elizabeth replied without thinking, and then turned and returned to the room.

 Chapter 243: Always have a look

    Soon, Elizabeth walked out of the room in a bright pinkpels and held a folding umbre in her hand: "Eric, let''s go."


    Eric shook his head. "This dress doesn''t work. I remember you didn''t have a dark blue woolen coat, change it."


    Elizabeth looked at Eric strangely and argued: "Today is not too cold, it is a bit thick."


    "Then don''t follow me." Eric shook his head and lifted his foot and decided to leave. Elizabeth quickly pulled Eric: "Okay, I will change it."


    Because of the unfamiliarity of the road, Eric looked at the map and drove a rented car all the way, and it took an hour and a half to reach the destination.


    Elizabeth looked at the car and took it over topare the map. For a time, she didn''t distinguish it clearly. "Eric, here is a volunteer park. Why are we here?"


    Eric shook his head: "Look again, the park is to the south."


    The girl looked carefully at the outside of the car and suddenly narrowed her eyes and narrowed her neck: "This is the graveyard, hey, I knew I wouldn''te with you."


    "Then you can wait here," Eric did not reluctantly say, faintly said, pushed the door off the car.


    Elizabeth looked at Eric''s back in a weird look, hesitating for a while, or getting off the car.


    Eric bought a bunch of flowers in the flower shop next to the cemetery, and asked the owner a few words. The owner was obviously not the first time to listen to people and directly took out a small map of the cemetery. Passionately pointed to Eric for a few words.


    From the conversation between the two people, Elizabeth also heard some words like Bruce Lee and followed Eric into the cemetery. After walking for a while, I suddenly said, "Oh. I remembered, that... that Bruce Lee."


    Eric, who walked in front, looked back at the girl: "Quiet, don''t forget where it is."


    The girl immediately covered her mouth and looked around, vomiting her tongue and speeding up her footsteps.


    A few turns from the entrance to the west, Eric quickly saw a deep red tombstone, determined to be consistent with the owner. Eric went over.


    Elizabeth followed the past and saw the photo on the tombstone, pulling La Eric: "What are we doing here?"


    "Look," Eric whispered, squatting down the ck book stone next to the first two, cing the bouquet in his hand next to the tombstone.


    Elizabeth followed her quietly and looked at Eric''s focused side. She clearly felt some inexplicable emotions from the man, neither sad nor cherished. asionally, the corner of the mouth will show a little smile, like something interesting.


    Eric did not hide his emotions, but did not exin anything to the girl. Sinceing to Seattle. Alwayse and see, he is not a Brutal Dragon fans, but his mood for Bruce Lee may be more pure than those who im to be fans.


    Not to mention the present, even in past lives, when he was born, Bruce Lee had passed away.


    When I saw the Bruce Lee movie in the past life, Eric was still a child who didn''t understand anything. It was a matter of the mid-eighties, when a small partner''s father made money by doing business.


    The family bought a video recorder, so a group of little guys went to school at the little friend''s house to watch the video every day. It was also at that time that Eric saw Bruce Lee''s "Jingwumen" for the first time.


    It was the favorite movie of a group of small partners in a few videotapes, so the number of times was the most. .


    Every time I read it, a group of little guys will scream in the streets and imitate the tricks in the movie, make simple nunchakus with wooden sticks and ropes, and often y role-ying games that children often y in that era. For who can y Chen Zhen dispute.


    Later, the age is getting bigger and bigger, and the information received is getting more and more. It is easy to watch movies. But I can never find the feeling of pure happiness in my childhood.


    Although after so many years, even the reincarnation of the sinister reincarnation, Eric can still clearly recall every detail of Jingwumen, which is the kind of emotionally evoked memories. It''s not the memory of the hard disk version of theputer that is brought in through the mind.


    After a moment in front of the tombstone, Eric stood up and stepped back two steps toward the tombstone. Seeing Elizabeth, who was still reluctant, but still following her own style, Eric finally smiled softly and said, "Okay, let''s go."


    "Well," I still looked at Eric''s Elizabeth from time to time with a puzzled look. I followed Eric to the concrete road. The girl drummed the drums and took a deep breath. Then she stepped forward and extended her arms.


    Holding Eric''s arm, in Eric''s confused eyes, the girl whispered: "You go too fast, I can''t keep up." When the girl said this, it seemed to have something different in her tone. The meaning.


    "Oh, then I will go slower." Eric''s thoughts were notpletely exhausted, so he didn''t realize the other meanings in the girl''s words. He just nodded and let the girl hang on himself.


    I didn''t have the courage to ask my doubts until I got out of the car in the cemetery. Eric certainly couldn''t take the initiative to answer the girl.


    "Hungry? Take you to eat." Eric looked at the rain outside the car and began to ask Elizabeth on the co-pilot.


    The girl finally rolled her eyes: "I have never eaten these days."


    "Then I will take you to a big meal and make up for it," Eric said with a smile. "When you have lunch, where do you want to go?"


    Elizabeth thought about it and immediately shook her head. Eric tempted and asked: "If you don''t go to Washington University, it seems to be not far from here."


    "The University of Washington is going to be spring, and you can see the cherry blossoms at that time. There is nothing to look at right now."


    Eric deliberately thought of Wu Da, and he could not think of a school on the other side of the distant ocean.


    "How about going to the Space Needle?" Eric asked again. Although Seattle often appears in many movies, Eric does not know what attractions are in Seattle, except for Bruce Lee''s resting ce. Rick only knows a space needle tower.


    "Don''t go, my family is in Manhattan, I am tired of the Empire State Building."


    Eric finally shrugged: "Well, we will go back after lunch, just right, I still have some things to deal with."

 Chapter 244: True freedom

    After a short half-day break, the crew flew to New York on the second day. This time, Jeffrey is still taking people to pick up the ne, and there is a team of fireflies, responsible for "Snow in the Night" and "Little Ghosts 2 Lost" The preparatory work for New York.


    Compared to Seattle, most of them are two of Jonah''s father and son.


    The shooting of the New York scene is a lot of trouble. From the role of the character, "Seattle Night Sleepless" in the New York scene, not only the Anne family, but also Anne''s friends, colleagues and so on.


    Eric feels that this plot design is likely to weaken the presence of Anne''s boyfriend Walter, just like the appearance of a few shots of Sam''s deceased wife Maggie.


    Although for Sam and Anne, this is indeed a very romantic love story.


    But for Walter, who has been engaged to Anne, it is a very sad reminder to be defamed for a ''inexplicable'' reason on Valentine''s Day.


    Eric remembers some of the reviews he saw in previous lives, and there arements on this matter, which are roughly criticism of Anne''s infidelity and sympathy for Walter. However, in a country with a divorce rate of 50%, it seems that people don''t care too much about it.


    To put it bluntly, in terms of politics and love, people in this country are pursuing two words: freedom.


    Eric remembers not knowing where he has seen a word, true freedom, not doing what he wants to do, but not doing what he wants.


    Although this sentence has the suspicion of ignorance, but. It''s a good fit for Annie in "Sleep in Seattle", even if I am engaged. But when she discovered that Walter was not the one she was destined for, she still refused to ept the other party.


    "How about the discussion of the Empire State Building and the Twin Towers?" I got off the ne. Sitting in amercial car with Jeffrey, Eric''s first sentence is two things he is concerned about.


    These two things are about "Snow in the Night" and "Little Ghosts 2", Jonah and Kevin will be on the two tallest buildings in New York for shooting, until "Seattle Night Sleep" started shooting These two things have not yet been determined.


    "It''s all done," Jeffrey gave Eric a reassuring look and then said: "However, the management of the two buildings did not give enough time."


    "Nothing. There aren''t many lenses anyway, mainly the Empire State Building. The lens on the top of the Twin Towers only needs a few aerial shots." Eric nodded with satisfaction.


    Jeffrey added: "There is one more thing. I have consulted the meteorological department in detail about the snow. The first snow in New York will have to wait until November, and it may be in the first week of November, but it is not. Too sure, after all, it''s only in September, you know.


    The weather forecast has never been urate. Maybe we are lucky, it''s snowing at the end of October, or it''s bad luck. It''s not snowing until New York''s New York is released. In short, you have to be mentally prepared."


    Eric nodded: "This is nothing. You directly prepare people to make artificial snow. I try to put the location of "Little Ghost 2" in the final shooting. However, it will not dy for a long time, so I think 90%.


    Artificial snow may be used."


    "I have already made estimates based on your script, although it doesn''t need to be full of scenes. However, artificial snow should reach the point where the audience believes it. The budget will increase by about $1.5 million."


    Eric heard that Jeffrey had a painful mood in his tone and patted Jeffrey''s shoulder. Although the fireflies are now getting bigger and bigger, Jeffrey is still the one that Eric first saw, and he likes to be careful.


    However, this kind of personality is also the most suitable for producers: "Jeffrey, now it is notst year. When we made the first "Little Ghosts"st year, we must be careful, in order to save the budget and even to the far north of Canada. The town went to shoot.


    But the budget for our movie is very loose, so there is absolutely no need to save money."


    "I also know that I am only subconsciously thinking that if I change the schedule of "Night at Night in Seattle" and "Little Ghost 2", perhaps this 1.5 million will be saved."


    Ericughed: "ording to what you said, we finally waited for the natural snowfall, but it was able to save the 1.5 million. However, because of the extension of "The Devil''s Home 2" to Christmas, we may lose at the box office. Tens of millions.


    You have to know that from the box office trend of the previous "Little Ghosts", this is a very suitable for long-term screening of children to the film, so we must extend the period of the festival as much as possible, 11 The end of the month is the beginning of the Christmas box office peak season."


    "Then why not put "Seattle Sleepless" inte November, even if it does not form a viciouspetition with "Little Ghost 2", I think it is okay after a week." Jeffrey asked again.


    "Because "Seattle is not sleeping" is not only for Christmas, but also for the Valentine''s Day in February, because this is a romanticedy, if one month in advance, then in February, the film''s Poprity is almost exhausted.


    But after December 2nd, after two months of screening, then after entering the Valentine''s Day schedule, you can make a rebound in the box office of this love movie. You know, my movie, Therge-scale box office harvesting cycle is more than eight weeks.


    For example,st year''s first "Little Ghosts", which won a 10-week box office championship. Later, "Fengyue Beauty" and "Dark War" are both such."


    Jeffrey smiled and said: "I really don''t know where you learned these things.


    I originally wanted to tell you about the schedule of "Small Ind", you Michael Ace Na will put "Small Ind" on November 1st, I also feel very wrong, Halloween is really suitable for the release of horror movies, but those are small horror films with no box office ambition, although "Small Ind Cry" is also small Production, but we have high hopes for its box office.


    Now it seems that you definitely have your own ideas."


    Eric nodded and did not exin to Jeffrey that Jeffrey did not ask.


    In fact, the concept of film schedules in the United States is now rtively mature, but after twenty years, it is still very rough.


    Eric, who came fromter generations, did not direct the film and did not do the work of distribution. However, in the era of information explosion, it was natural to understand thew of the distribution of some movies.

 Chapter 245: Quite toss

    Although the actress Anne worked in Baltimore, except for the location outside the Sun Tower and elsewhere in Baltimore, the other shots of Anne''s y were all taken in Manhattan, New York.


    Eric did this in order to take into ount the preparations for "Little Ghosts 2". Most of the scenes of "Little Ghost 2" are near Manhattan''s Central Park.


    In a remodeled apartment room, Eric once again shouted ng, and then said to a white woman who was white and fat in her thirties: "Ms. O''Donnell, the words about the ex-husband of the character. When you are in the line, you should look a little more mean.


    Remember, when you say that line, you have to hold a kind of resentment in your heart. Everything is the fault of your ex-husband, and has nothing to do with you."


    Rosie O''Donnell, who ys Anne''s colleague, shrugged: "You know, director, I don''t feel anything about this kind of thing, so I might try a few more times."


    The members of the surrounding crew all made a sneer, and Rosie O''Donnell said that the 36-year-old rapper and actor is not only an extreme feminist, but also a homosexual. More importantly, she has never concealed this matter like some other public figures.


    This woman not only has a fixed same-sex couple, but also two people have already lived together.


    Although aftering to New York, because the lens that needs to be shot here is much more chaotic than that in Seattle, it will inevitably have such problems, but so far, the shooting progress ispletely consistent with the previous expectations, so Eric I was not in a hurry, I heard that Rosie O''Connor said, followed the others and smiled and said: "No hurry.


    Let''s take it slowly. I believe that you will feel it a few times."


    Luo Wei. O''Connor nodded, and Eric immediately greeted the beginning of another shooting.


    This set of lenses takes a long time. Therefore, the performances of Nicole and Luo Wei are very high. They have been ng several times before. No sess.


    In the crisp sound of the scoreboard, Becky, who ys the role of Luo Wei, began to talk about the lines and guided Annie to write a letter in ordance with the dialogue when the male and female protagonists of Jin Yumeng met.


    When Annie knocked on the typewriter, she found that she was a little crazy. She was so fascinated that she would meet another man like the "Jin Yumeng" in the top of the Empire State Building. You must know that day. I have a big date with my fianc Walter.


    Scratching his hair. Anne immediately threw the written letter into a group.


    Becky picked up the small paper group that was thrown on the sofa and looked at it. Then she didn''t know what she thought. Sheined and said: "You know, because of that bad fate, I got married with Martin and bought it.


    There is a house with a dead tree, so I divorced him, and it hurt me to meet Rick."


    When Becky said this, the tone did not reflect on herself, but instead she showed a hateful look. Eric at the back of the monitor nodded slightly, but felt that Luo''s expression was slightly exaggerated at this time, but he did not immediately stop.


    Instead, the dialogue between the two people continued.


    Annie followed a bowl of popcorn and sat down beside Becky. He heard a friend''sint and asked with interest: "Wait, you haven''t mentioned it, you are divorced because of a tree."


    "Because of the gardener," Becky blurted out.


    Annie asked: "You fell in love with the gardener?"


    After Becky said the sentence, she showed a brief panic. Then she said, "I didn''t say that I fell in love with him. Have I said it?" Becky asked. Then he quickly transferred the topic and directed Anne''s attention to the "Jin Yu Meng" yed on the TV.


    With the Betsy, Anne began to talk about the ssic lines of the male and female protagonists along with the plot in the TV set. When I was touched, I cried together without regard to the image. But the expression looks very exaggerated.


    Therefore, not only does it make people feel sad or moved, but they are very happy.


    Fighting -


    Eric heard a short snicker, and the eyes that were originally staring at the monitor immediately swept out to the sound source. Like the snickering lighter, he issued a severe warning, and the other party quickly rushed toward Eric. Make an apology look.


    Originally, Eric also felt that in the paragraph of the filming, the two women who were stupid towards the TV set could be edited and used in the movie, but with thisughter, the lens was also destroyed.


    After shouting stopped, Eric mmed his forehead and said: "Well, I know that two women are crying to death in a romanticedy. It looks ridiculous in many men, but remember, you are now It''s at work. If anyone can''t help it, wait for it to go out and get caught up in it.


    Even if you don''t mean it, I won''t be light. Everyone is ready,e again!"


    Then several more shots were taken, and the shot finally passed, and the time was at noon.


    Eric announced that after the filming was suspended, he was nning to go to lunch, and Elizabeth hurried in.


    "Eric, Donald Tepn has been waiting for you for two hours, but since you have been shooting, I have not informed you, are you going to meet him?"


    Eric asked in confusion: "Who is Donald Tuprand, are you familiar with him?"


    Elizabeth exined: "Not too familiar, it is a recognition. He is a real estate tycoon in New York. He has built a building named after him all over the United States. He is a very powerful person.


    I also met him at a party before. A few times."


    Eric listened to Elizabeth''s narrative and quickly found some bits and pieces of Donald Tnd from the memory. The information is not too much. It seems that Donald Tnd relies on several popr variety shows. The identity of the Hollywood outsiders left their own star on the Avenue of Stars.


    It seems that this person can quite toss.


    At the same time, Eric quickly remembered the other beautiful daughter named Ivanka Ten. Because of the previouswork, Ivanka Teng was once rated as one of the top ten unmarried women in the world by the media of good things.


    First, sitting on more than 2 billion US dors of wealth, Eric has seen Ivanka Teng''s photos on the Inte, it is indeed a beautiful woman, looks like the ice of the past entertainment circles in the Maind.


    Although I remembered this person, two people were making movies and one was engaged in real estate. Therefore, Eric did not have much interest and asked: "I don''t know Donald Tprand, he came to What am I doing?"


    Elizabeth shrugged: "Who knows, I just want to inform you, if you don''t want to see me, I will tell him that you are busy and have no time."


    Eric looked at his watch: "Since Mr. Teng has been waiting for me for two hours, then see it, it is also lunch time anyway."


    "Thene with me," Elizabeth said, taking Eric to the studio.


    Eric soon saw a blond middle-aged man who looked like he was in his early forties and wore a gray woolen coat.


    "Hello, Mr. Williams," seeing Eric walked out of the studio, the middle-aged man who was originally sitting in a limousine quickly got out and enthusiastically held Eric''s hand.


    Eric was somewhat iprehensible by this self-satisfaction, but still smiled and said: "Hello, Mr. Teng, may you ask me what is going on?"


    Donald Tuprand seems to appreciate Eric''s directness and smiles: "I think you should almost enter the lunch time, let Miss Murdoch help to spread the words, Eric, don''t mind if I call you this. There is a nice restaurant nearby. I have already booked a seat. Can I invite you to have a lunch?"


    Eric''s symmetry call was not very mindful. He nodded and then shook his head and refused: "Mr. Teng, I only have one hour, so I''m afraid..."


    "I promise not to dy your work, the restaurant is just around the corner from the front street," Donald Tend pointed to a short distance.


    Eric faced Donald Tnd''s enthusiasm. For a time, she didn''t know how to refuse. She looked back at Elizabeth and wanted the girl to help her out. But Donald Tnd apparently made a mistake and immediately followed the opening: "Murdor Murdoch can alsoe together."


    Elizabeth, who had just wanted to find a reason for Eric, heard that she was pulled in and immediately shook her head: "No, Mr. Teng, I still have things."


    "That''s a pity," Tepran shook his head, and then enthusiastically opened the doorway of the limousine for Eric ra: "Eric, let''s go."


    I don''t seem to have promised, Eric muttered a word, but seeing the other side so stance, then refused to appear too inhuman, and had to get into the car, Donald Teng followed the car,manded The driver drove to the destination.


    The two arrived at a restaurant, and Eric and Donald were led by the waiter to a seat in a quiet corner.


    Sitting down in the chair, Donald immediately ordered the waiter to start serving, and when the waiter left, he breathed a sigh of relief and carefully looked at Eric, who was sitting opposite.


    The two were originally just people who couldn''t get along with each other. The reason why Donald Tend would personally invite Eric to meet him is still rted to his current situation.


    As a real estate businessman, he has been working hard for his career since the mid-1970s. With his talents and the help of the previous generation, Donald Tprand has spent as much as $1.7 billion in just over a decade. the property of.


    However, since the beginning of 87 years, the copse of the US stock market has also affected the real estate industry, causing the Great Depression of the real estate market.

 Chapter 246: Really idle

    Under the influence of the Great Depression, Donald Tnd''s assets quickly shrunk. In just over two years, Donald Tnd''s assets have shrunk from the peak of $1.7 billion in assets to 500 million today. Dor.


    If this is the case, there is nothing. After all, the market value of many real estatepanies has shrunk dramatically.


    But before the Great Depression began, Donald Tnd was at the peak of his career. The whole person was very upbeat, and his own real estatepany''s stalls were veryrge, so he owed hundreds of millions of dors in loans to major banks and financial institutions.


    After the Great Depression began, his real estatepany''s capital chain was on the brink of copse due to continuous losses, and it could go bankrupt at any time.


    Although he used his personal connections to persuade several banks to suspend high interest payments on those loans on a regr basis, they could no longer borrow a penny from any institution.


    Without funds, his real estatepany would not be able to operate normally, and it would still be in a state of semi-death.


    A few days ago, Donald identally saw an article about Eric in a newspaper that detailed the magical rise of Eric in amazement, and predicted that Eric had a Firefly moviepany with this year.


    Several films released, the most conservative estimate can also get a profit of 400 million US dors.


    After carefully reading the article several times, Donald Tuprand immediately moved his mind to know that even arge grouppany with a market value of tens of billions of dors is unlikely to have 200 million dors in cash, if it can be from fireflies.


    With this money, even if only half, he will be able to sessfully pass the bankruptcy crisis.


    Donald Tprand has the advantage that all savvy businessmen share, that is, they are good at grasping all the opportunities that can be seized, and he has never thought about the chances of sess. Just try it, and finally there are two possibilities for sess and failure, don''t try it.


    There is only one possibility.


    After Donald Tuprand made up his mind, he immediately found a detectivepany. A lot of information about Eric was collected in detail, and he found out that Eric''s acquisition of Jobs''s Pixar studio.


    Pixar Studios has always been a heart disease for Jobs. It has been losing money since it was bought, and this studio was acquired by Eric for $20 million at the beginning of the year. In the data he collected, Pixar''s loss this year will be 10 million US dors higher than before.


    Therefore, the information he collected has a very low evaluation of Eric''s acquisition, and even used ''stupidity''. Words like that.


    But this is exactly what Donald wants to see. He feels that this teenager is not very smart in terms of film, but the business is not too smart, or that the whole person is not too smart except for movies. If this is the case, it would be great.


    Donald Tend originally nned to go to Seattle personally, but then I learned that Eric led the crew to New York, but here is his home base.


    Because it is not possible to contact the middleman for introduction in a short time, Eric is busy shooting the film. Not participating in any social activities, Donald can onlye to the door personally, he also made an analysis of Eric''s character before.


    I feel that since I became young, Eric definitely has the pride and vanity that young people of this age should have. In order to cater to Eric''s heart, Donald Tnd''s intention is two hours early and will be the news. The person disclosed to the crew knows.


    At this point, it was only 19 years old when I looked at it. Although there was a faint scorpion on the chin, there was still no young man who hadpletely retired from the green. Donald Tnd had an envious feeling in his heart.


    Investors have estimated that the market value of fireflies after the merger with the new line has exceeded $1 billion. ording to the share calction, the boy''s worth is twice as high as he is now. The other party did it all, but it took only a year.


    But it is not the time to feel it. Donald Tend quickly sorted out a series of pre-prepared words in his mind, and was about to speak. Eric took the lead in speaking.


    "Mr. Donald, are you a fan of me?"


    Donald Tprand squatted and subconsciously wanted to nod, but then decided to tell the truth: "No, I am not, but I really like the "Dark War" you took. When I have a videotape, I will definitely Buy a box and go back to the collection."


    "Oh, thank you," Eric nodded politely, no longer talking, watching the waiters bring up the lunches of the two people, and poured red wine for them, but they were quietly calcting, Donald.


    Prang obviously will not find the door for no reason, but Eric does not want to understand why the other party is looking for himself.


    Wouldn''t you want to run a dragon in your own movie?


    Recalling the character of former Donald Tuprand who likes to enter the entertainment circle, Eric feels that this is quite possible. However, "Seattle is not sleeping" is definitely no chance. Does the other person want to guest "Little Ghost 2" ?


    Eric was about to discard this ridiculous thought, but suddenly looked up and looked at Donald Opran a few times.


    What-the-*!


    Eric snorted silently, thinking that it would not be so smart?


    Because he just came up with the thought, and when he subconsciously recalled the story of "The Little Devil 2" in his mind, he suddenly found out that Donald Teprand did a guest appearance in the movie that the child directed.


    Probably in the movie more than 20 minutes, Kevin came to New York in a wrong way. When he was staying at the za Hotel near Central Park, Donald Tuprand yed a passerby who pointed the way for the little guys. A character, there is a line and a frontal lens.


    Originally Eric also knew that there was such a referee''s role, but he was busy four feet ago. In addition to the main actors of "Little Ghosts 2", he did not care about the little characters and gave them to the casting director.


    And the little character like Donald Tprand''s guest star does not even need to determine the actor in advance, usually when shooting, casually find an extra actor, or pull out a strong guest in the crew members to make a guest appearance.


    So Eric didn''t think about the identity of that person at all. If it wasn''t for Donald Tuprand sitting in front of him, Eric would never think of it.


    After pondering for a few seconds, Eric still didn''t think that a guest with such a small character with no name and no name had any meaning. He could only say that the New York real estate tycoon was really idle.

 Chapter 247: How do you see me?

    Eric suddenly interrupted when he was about to open his mouth, and waited for the waiter to finish the meal. Donald Tuprand saw the opposite of Eric, worried that the young man would say something to make him touch.


    On the topic of the mind, Donald Tend took the lead to say: "Eric, have you been to New York before?"


    Eric nodded: "I have been there a few times."


    "How do you feel about it?" Donald pointed to the outside.


    Eric smiled and told the truth: "There is no feeling. I have been rushed a few times before, and they are all doing things right."


    Donald turned his head and said, "You should take a look at it. The bustling world-ss metropolis of New York is the paradise for us.


    Right, have you ever thought about buying it in New York?" Real estate, you should know that the recent housing prices are very cheap, perhaps in thest year or two, New York''s housing prices will rise again."


    Eric looked suspiciously at Donald Tepn. The real estate tycoon personally went to the door and wouldn''t sell the house to himself. It was too much. Eric raised his wrist and looked at the watch.


    Then he said, "Mr. Teng, you should know that I don''t have much time, so if there is anything, you can just say it."


    Donald Tprand had wanted to take a few minutes to slowly guide him. Hearing Eric''s straightforward question, the real estate tycoon, who has always been arrogant and arrogant, was decisive, put down the tableware in his hands and changed.


    When I was sitting, I said to Eric: "Eric, are you interested in the real estate industry?"


    Eric felt that he understood something, but he had some ignorance and could only continue to ask: "What do you mean?"


    Donald Teng has a full temptation to seduce: "I mean, do you want to invest in real estate? You have to know that now is a great opportunity to dip the North American real estate industry. Missed this time, maybe at least I have been waiting for twenty years."


    Eric doesn''t know if the property tycoon is intentional or unintentional, though. He really calcted in his mind, from now to the next 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. It''s not twenty years.


    Tossing this somewhat inexplicable thought, Eric asked quietly: "Why is it me, Mr. Donald, if it is as you said, now is a great opportunity, then there should be a lot of people who are at the bottom?"


    Donald Tnd replied without hesitation: "There are of course many people who want to bottom out, but they don''t have your advantage."


    Eric smiled and asked, "Do you mean my money?"


    Donald Tend solemnly nodded: "Eric. I happened to see some news about you in the newspaper, so I couldn''t help bute to visit. But it is also a great opportunity for you. Your fireflypany will generate a lot of profits this year.


    If you invest in real estate, I promise you that in a few years, the money will more than double, which is much less risky than investing in movies. It is."


    Eric asked with great interest: "Mr. Teng, if I decided to invest in real estate, do you have any good suggestions?"


    Donald Teplung squatted and couldn''t think of this boy as straightforward. But looking at the other side''s eyes, Donald Tnd''s face finally shed a glimpse.


    However, he quickly remembered his purpose this time. Throwing this emotion behind his head, said: "My real estatepany just needs financing recently, but you should have heard about the recent economic situation in our country, so it is not too easy to borrow from a bank.


    I just saw something about you in the newspaper, Eric, what do you think?"


    Eric shook his head: "Mr. Teng, I can''t really get much money in my hands. If you know a little about me, you will find that almost all the money I earned this year is spent."


    "Isn''t there still...and a few movies at the end of the year?" Donald Tnd immediately said: "Eric. At the end of the year, yourpany has five movies, and they are all very popr by publishers. At least Can it bring in a million dors in profits?"


    "Sorry, Mr. Teng, I am not interested in investing in real estate," Eric shook his head directly, although the past cognition made Eric think that real estate is very profitable, but Eric is in this industry.


    With a ck eye, it is estimated that if you invest in one or two hundred million dors, you will be squandered. In the end, whether you can get the money back is a problem.


    In contrast, Eric prefers to invest in movies. After all, he knows the big movies of these years. Even if thest amount of money is too much to spend, then it is definitely going to invest in a more familiar industry, not a real estate that he doesn''t know at all.


    After Donald Tupran was rejected by Eric, he was not discouraged, but he did not persuade him. He knew that as long as the young man had some reason, he would ruin his mouth on this meal, and the other party could not Promise yourself now.


    The most important thing now is to establish a longsting rtionship with Eric. He believes that with his ownmunication skills, even if the ages of the two sides are different, he can easily be friends with each other.


    As a result, Donald Tnd''s subsequent look became easier, and he chatted in general: "Eric, I heard that your "Little Ghost 2" crew talked to a hotel about real-life shooting, you see How about the Hyatt Hotel on 42nd Avenue, that is my industry, I can let your crew enter the film for free."


    Eric refused: "No, we have already negotiated with the za Hotel next to Central Park, and the other party agreed to use it for free."


    Donald Tend''s grades at the za Hotel were clear and unbelievably asked: "Free?"


    Eric nodded, slightly smug, allowing a five-star hotel to be used free of charge for the crew, and even the staff were willing to guest extras, which was not easy to do before.


    The reason for this is that it was also attributed to the original "Feng Yue Qiao Jia Ren", the Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles as the shooting ce of "Feng Yue Qiao Jia", after the movie fired up, this hotel also followed the fire, even into A spot in Beverly Hills, a lot of people who travel to Los Angeles will go to the Wilshire Hotel to see if they can.


    Donald Tnd''s Hyatt Regency Hotel on 42nd Avenue is not bad, but it has not yet reached the luxury of the za Hotel. Therefore, when I heard Eric said, Donald Tnd did not persuade. After thinking about it, Donald Tepn immediately said: "So, Eric, how do you see me?"


    "what?"


    "I mean, can you see if I can make a guest role in your movie?"


    Eric picked up his eyebrows and thought of a passerby in "Little Ghost 2" and asked: "Are you sure?"


    Donald Tnd looked at the door and quickly said: "Of course, I used to be a guest in several TV series. I think the movie is definitely the same, right?"


    The reason why Donald Tnd is so eager is not to value the chance of a guest. Even if he had such a hobby before, he is unlikely to be interested in thepany now. This is just to get in touch with Eric and continue to convince Eric.


    Since it was delivered to the door, Eric took a nod, of course, just smiled and said something: "If you want, of course, no problem."


    ...


    A lunch was a pleasant one, and Donald Tnd quickly sent Eric back to the studio.


    "Everyone, everyone has noticed, to work, Allen, Allen?" Eric walked into the studio and shouted with a loudspeaker.


    The people who were still resting immediately gathered together and began to get busy with their own positions.


    "Mr. Williams, are you looking for me?" Allen didn''t know where to drill out and asked.


    Eric nodded: "You don''t have to be here in the afternoon, to help me collect some information about Donald Tng."


    "Who is Donald Trump?" n asked doubtfully.


    Eric was toozy to exin to him, pointing to Elizabeth who came over: "You ask Liz and give me the information at night."


    "Oh," Allen nodded and went to Elizabeth.


    Eric immediately began to tell the crew members to prepare for the shots to be taken in the afternoon.


    In the hotel where the crew stayed, this time the environment was much better than Seattle.


    The sound of the water in the bathroom stopped for a while, and a momentter, Eric walked out with a bath towel around his waist.


    Nicole, who was originally wearing a light blue nightdress and reading a magazine on a big bed, heard the movement and climbed up. She raised a document ced on the bedside table: "n has just been here, sent this?"


    Eric picked his eyebrow in surprise: "Do you open the door?"


    The girl was innocent and looked down: "I called you, you didn''t hear, so I had to..."


    Eric stared at the girl with a helpless look and sighed: "Okay."


    I can see that Eric didn''t pursue it again, and once again sneaked a sigh of relief. The rtionship between her and Eric knew very few people. Even Aniston didn''t know that the little silly girl thought it now. Eric chose her through a proper audition.


    However, although Nicole doesn''t want outsiders to know his rtionship with Eric, it should be known, for example, Jeffrey or Eric''s assistant, or some other important people around Eric, still want to let The other party knows.

 Chapter 248: Make people feel helpless(18+)

    Because if this is the case, there are many benefits for her, like Aniston, as Eric''s girlfriend, her status in the "Friends" crew is like a princess, even now the other five starring with Aniston The reputation isparable, but in the "Friends" crew, Aniston received more special attention than the other five people, uta''s resource on Aniston''s tilt is more than the other five stars can not bepared.


    Although this has something to do with Aniston''s father, the producer of Friends, everyone knows that this is mainly because of Eric.


    Of course, Nicole also wants to enjoy this kind of ''treatment''. She doesn''t care if those who know who will know what they are going to do, just let them know that she is a woman of Eric, they must hold her carefully. All right.


    However, although Nicole is thinking this way, Eric has never meant to introduce her and his rtionship to others, so the girl can onlye by herself. During this time, some small idents are created without any trace.


    Small hints, almost everyone who knows her rtionship with Eric knows, and shouldn''t know, still don''t know.


    Eric actually knows the girl carefully, but Nicole has been careful and has not touched his bottom line. What else can he do? I can''t exin it to those who know the rtionship between them.


    Silently walked to the bed, padded two pillows against the bed, and Eric picked up the document that Allen sent and patted it. The girl immediately showed a ttering smile, and she faded her tulle nightdress. She only climbed into the bed with a delicate ck bud silk crepe.


    The smooth cat slipped into Eric''s arms and used her to be gentle. The tender body was gently smeared on Eric, and the little hand tried to tear off the bath towel at Eric''s waist.


    p a p on the restless girl''s hips. Eric said: "Don''t make trouble, wait for me to read these things."


    Nicole came over and asked, "What?"


    Eric''s big hand slid along the warm skin to the girl''s chest. I caught a soft and soft twitch under thece silk and said, "The information of the real estate tycoon who invited me to dinner at noon today."


    "Oh." The girl nodded and was not interested at all. Under Eric''s big hand, she leaned on the man''s chest and made a small gasp, and asionally rubbed her teeth on Eric''s chest.


    Eric did not pay attention to the girl''s little movements. From time to time, she took back the documents from the girl''s chest and turned the documents up. The information collected by Allen was not too much, but it was enough for Eric to fully carry out Donald Tend. Learned.


    After reading the information in the file, Eric found out. The words that Donald Tprand said at noon were half-truthful, and the other party knew that if they were interestedter, they would certainly collect relevant information, so they did not dare to make up.


    However, in some ces, the concept has been stolen, and some things are also ambiguous.


    As Donald said, the fact that his real estatepany needs financing is true. Donald''s real estatepany''s capital chain is already tight enough to break on the verge of breaking. But the bank refused to lend to hispany.


    It was not because of the overall economic situation in the United States, but because Donald Tepn had spread hispany''s stalls too much because of his ambitions.


    Therefore, the impact of the decline of the real estate industry started this year is also the biggest, as big as the bank''s dilemma, he will be the ce for the uncle, because once Donald''s real estatepany goes bankrupt, then the biggest losses are those bank groups.


    Although the banking group has done some work to avoid the bankruptcy of Donald Real Estate, it has refused to lend Donald a penny.


    The big hand that feels to be licking your chest is getting lighter and lighter. In the end, even without any action, Nicole''s eyes shed. The thighs tilted up on Eric and whispered a little, "Eric. How do you say that I am going to do a breast augmentation surgery?"


    Eric puzzled his eyes from the file and nced at the girl''s small hood: "It''s good, what chest?"


    Nicole pulled the hood directly down and made it very good toward Eric. He asked, "Can you... don''t you think it''s too small?"


    Eric said without saying: "If you want to, just think about it." After that, Eric put his eyes on the file.


    Nicole bit her lip, although Eric said casually, but the girl still keenly caught a touch of dissatisfaction in Eric''s eyes, directly dispelling the original idea.


    Eric turned to the back and found that Allen also found some articles about economic experts'' analysis of the real estate industry in North America in recent years. Then he found another problem. Donald told him at lunch time that he is now a real estate bargainingpany.


    Good opportunity, but economic experts have analyzed that this recession in the real estate industry has only just begun. ording to the past rules, this decline will continue for another two or three years.


    As for how long it will stay in the underestimation period, it depends on the subsequent economy. The situation, that is to say, investing in real estate in North America for at least five years is not a wise choice.


    And thest picture of the North American house price curve, Ericpletely dispelled the original intention of the heart, because North America from the 1950s to the 1990s, the overall trend of house prices but not lunch time, Donald.


    Teplung identally said that the upward trend of the rise, although it has been ups and downs, but remained in a rtively stable range, although the currency must have intion in 40 years, but the house prices have not changed much. This is not like the past across the ocean.


    The housing prices in North America are closely rted to the economic situation. Politics has little effect on housing prices. On the other side of the ocean, the opposite is true. Housing prices are entangled in politics.


    Therefore, some experts on the other side of the previous world have screamed that housing prices have plummeted, but they have not fallen because those experts simply analyzed economics but forgot political reasons.


    Housing prices have boosted national strength, propped up the face and propped up the world''s second. Therefore, it is impossible to fall, even if you don''t need money, you have to face it.


    Therefore, every time the house price has a falling momentum, the original austerity policy is like seeing the lumbar belt of the naked woman''s waist, and the squatting is loose, all kinds of stimulus policies. Then I wille.


    After swaying his head, these thoughts were thrown out. Eric dropped the file aside and pulled the towel off his waist. He pushed the girl''s shoulder and pushed it. "Go and lick it, wait for the lesson to teach you." ""


    "You are really hateful," Nicole gave Eric a white eye, but slowly crawled down and trailed kisses down his neck, chest and stomach., finally getting to his crotch.


    "HAAAAA...."


    Grabbing his soft cock with her delicate hand, she started jerking it as she leaned her head down and licked his balls, making his grunt as he leaned back.


    She kept jerking his dick with her soft hand, gradually increasing pressure as it got hard, at the same time licking and sucking his balls, giving them a massage with her tongue, before lightly nibbling on them, making him sigh.


    Letting his balls out of her mouth, she slowly licked the underside of his shaft, from the base to the tip, before licking the ns of his penis, swirling her tongue around and kissing it, before she stuck out her tongue and licked the underside of the tip, where ns meet the shaft, using her tongue in a gentle flicking motion, moving it up and down, making him groan.


    Hearing his groan, she nced up at him, before pursing her pouty lips and kissing the tip, making a shiver run up his spine as she slightly parted her lips and gently squeezed the tip of his penis, before suddenly pushing her head down, taking his dick all the way to the back of her throat, making him grunt.


    "WUU..."


    She started gagging as his penis rested in her throat, coating his dick in her saliva, before pulling back and wrapping both her hands around his shaft, swirling her tongue around the tip as she jerked his dick, wet with her saliva with both hands, bringing him pleasure.


    Holding his dick with one hand , she wrapped her lips tightly around the head and took half of his penis in her mouth, holding it the as she ced her tongue on the underside of his dick, before sliding her tongue along the underside of his shaft, doing it over and over again, sliding her tongue forward and backward, massaging the same section of his penis, making him grunt.


    Letting go of his penis, she ced her hands on his tights as she started moving her head up and down, her sexy lips wrapping tightly around his shaft, applying pressure as she took him deeper and deeper with every stroke, stimting more and more of his penis, making her gag a little as the tip of his penis hit her throat, making him groan.


    Letting her bob her head for a minute, he enjoyed the sight of the blonde beauty repeatedly burying her head in his crotch, his penis sliding in and out of her hot mouth, her head rotating, her tongue licking all over his shaft, her soft fingers caressing his balls, bringing him pleasure and building up his orgasm.


    "Pop..."


    Feeling his release, he grabbed her head and with a pop, pulled it off his dick.


    "Lay on your back." Said Eric as he sat up on his knees.


    Hearing him, Nicole licked her lips, sat up and slowly slid down her silk shorts and her underwear down her long, white legs, throwing them away, beforeying on her back and spreading her legs, revealing her pink slit as she slowly massaged her clit.


    Looking at the slender beauty willingly spreading her legs and ying with herself, Eric felt blood rush to his head, his already hard dick getting harder as he grabbed a small pillow resting at the head of the bed and moved between her legs, before raising her waist and putting the pillow under it, raising her hips.


    "UHHHHHHHHH..."


    Putting her legs on each of his shoulders, he grabbed her raised waist and putting his dick at the entrance, slowly prated her tight cunt, splitting it apart, this position narrowing her vagina, her tight walls hugging his dick as he bottomed out in her, hitting the wall of her womb, stimting her cervix, making let out a long, loud moan.


    "UHHHHHH...."


    Grabbing her upper thighs, he started moving his hips, prating her pussy with slow, deep strokes, hitting her womb with every stroke, building pressure throughout her whole body from the stimtion of her cervix as she threw her arms above her head, her face twisted in pleasure, her eyes closed, lips parted, emitting loud moans, her small breasts jiggling slightly every time his crotch collided with her ass as he slowly sped up his thrusts, still stimting her cervix with every stroke.


    Leaning forward slightly, he pushed her legs back a little as he sped up his thrusts, sheen of sweat covering both their bodies as he kept invading her pussy deeply, thrusting in and out, over and over again, stretching her tight cunt and hitting her cervix, building more and more pressure throughout her body, her moans louder and louder as she moved her hands down and started ying with her white breasts, kneading, squeezing and massaging them, before pinching her puffy pink nipples, moaning especially loudly from the stimtion as pleasure spread through her whole body.


    He kept thrusting his hips, fucking her pussy as she slid one hand down between her legs and started massaging her clit, her other hand still kneading her breasts and pinching her nipples, his dick still stimting her cervix with every thrust, bed creaking slightly as he felt his orgasm once again build up.


    His release getting closer, he stopped his hips and pulled out of her vagina, before removing the small pillow from under her waist and turning her over on her stomach.


    Grabbing her waist, he raised her protruding ass in the air, putting the pillow below her as shey her head on it, her slender arms spread to the sides, her soft butt sticking up in the air, creating a stimting scene as he grabbed her slim waist and pushed his dick deep in her hole, swinging his hips as he started to pound her, making her let out seductive moans.


    Holding her slim waist, he kept pounding her fast and deep, pushing his dick all the way to the back of her pussy, stimting her cervix, her plump ass pping his crotch, jiggling with every thrust, her headying on the pillow, cherry lips open, letting out seductive moans as pressure continued to build in her whole body, bringing her pleasure she never felt before as she got closer and closer to her release.


    "UHHHHHH....Yes...."


    "UHHHHHH....Yes...Fuck me...."


    "UHHHHHH....Fuck...Fuck...Fuck..."


    Getting closer to his release, Eric sped up his thrusts, sliding his dick in and out of her pussy, hitting her womb, building more and more pressure throughout her whole body as she let out louder and louder moans, begging to be fucked, turning him on even more, making him swing his hips faster and faster, beads of sweat rolling down his face, her protruding ass pping against his crotch loudly as she slid one hand between her legs and started massaging her clit, until finally.


    "UHHHHHHH....YES YES YES"


    Arching her back, she let out a deep, long and loud moan as her pussy clenched around his dick, pleasure coursing through her body as she experienced whole body orgasm, her pussy squirting dirty fluid, drenching his dick, before falling powerlessly on the bed, her headying on the pillow and her arms spread to the sides as he kept pounding her pussy.


    "HAAAAAA...."


    Eric grunted, her pussy clenching tightly around his dick as he held her waist and kept pounding her form behind for a minute, until.


    "HAAAAAAAA...."


    With a roar, he pushed her head into the pillow and shoved his dick deep in her pussy, shooting ropes of hot cum, filling her cunt with his seed.


    "HUUUUU...."


    "Pop...."


    Taking a deep breath and pulling his dick out of her slick hole, he stepped back, feeling an incredible sense of satisfaction as he gazed at the slim, blonde beautyying powerlessly on the bed, headying on the pillow, her plump ass sticking up in the air, dirty fluid leaking from her pussy.


    He enjoyed the sight for a few seconds, before rolling over on his back, after recovering for a minute he made her suck his dick again, before proceeding to fuck her, using her whole body to satisfy his sexual desire, filing her holes with hot cum, before finally falling asleep with a satisfied face.

 Chapter 249: Come and go

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    After nearly 20 days of intense shooting, "Seattle Night Sleep" finally closed the mirror, but Eric did not enjoy the leisure time, because the next "Little Ghost 2" shooting task will be more arduous. Although the second plot mode is the same as the first episode, there are quite a few innovations.


    The most important thing is that the plot of the second one is more abundant than the first part of Kevin''s home. In addition to the scenes of the two thieves, there are more story lines such as the za Hotel and Central Park.


    "Is it going so early?" Early in the morning, Eric walked out of the hotel room and saw Elizabeth carrying a simple backpack and was about to walk outside the hotel.


    Upon hearing Eric''s voice, Elizabeth stopped and turned and squinted at Eric: "Do you want me to stay?"


    "..."


    Eric didn''t know what to answer for a while. At the beginning, he had been resisting the girl''s participation in the "Night of Seattle" group.


    He thought that this little girl might be in trouble, but after getting together for a few weeks, although two People still bickering in private, but Elizabeth did her job well, although it was less than a month, but Eric and her have established some tacit understanding.


    After a moment of silence, Eric shook his head and said: "Forget it, even if I agree, your father will definitely not let you stay with me."


    There was a trace of loss in Elizabeth''s eyes, biting her lower lip and whispering a sentence: "My father can''t control me."


    Ericughed and asked, "Are you still going back to Los Angeles?"


    "You are so stupid, my family is in Manhattan, you don''t think everyone in the world should live in Los Angeles," the girl subconsciously mmed Eric, seeing Erik''s faint sly face. Zhang opened his mouth and immediately said: "I... I am going back to school, and there are.


    Thank you for the information provided to me during this time."


    "It''s nothing, in fact, I am just..." Eric said here. I stopped quickly and said that I was stuffed. What the two said was actually the graduation thesis mentioned by Elizabeth and Eric for the first time, and the case analysis of the sess of Eric''s several box office.


    Eric is also only searching for some of the post-mortem analysis articles that were asionally seen in previous life memories, and also provided some ideas and details when shooting.


    Elizabeth waited for a moment, see Eric said half did not say, and did not ask again, said: "I n to finish the paper years ago. I will start making my first movie early next year, and then release it in the summer file. Did you have a movie released at the time?"


    Eric nodded, although he will not be as hard as this year next year, but the summer file is definitely not to be missed.


    "When are we two better than the box office?" The girl was so eager to win, this sentence blurted out without going through the brain.


    Eric subconsciously wants to say that I let you a zero, then I think of it, Elizabeth is going to make the famous "The Silent Lamb". This movie has achieved such a great reputation in the past, and the box office is certainly not too bad. More than 100 million US dors is definitely no problem.


    After Elizabeth said this, she quickly realized that she was not self-sufficient and pulled the backpack strap in a panic. Road: "Forget it, I am definitely better than you. Then... Goodbye."


    Eric followed and said, "Well, goodbye, um... or will I help you with your luggage?"


    "No, the waiter has already taken the baggage for me, and the taxi is waiting underneath."


    "Then I will send you down," Eric followed the girl to the elevator.


    Looking at a yellow taxi, Eric walked back to the hotel again and walked to the restaurant. Nicole, who was wearing a slim jacket and jeans, came over.


    "Eric. Early."


    "Good morning," Eric nodded to the girl: "Did breakfast?"


    "Yeah." Nicole went up to the restaurant with Eric.


    The two called a breakfast and sat down at a table. Eric asked: "Yes, when are you leaving?"


    Nicole showed a faint resentment: "When you sent Murdoch''s seconddy, I was so reluctant, but now I have to drive me away?"


    "Don''t make trouble," Eric nced at the girl gently. "You know I don''t mean that."


    Nicole can see that Eric is not in a good mood, and she is no longer joking. She said: "I haven''t returned to Sydney for more than half a year, so I''m nning to take this time to spare, go back and spend time with my family, and when will Ie back?


    Look at the promotional schedule of "Sleepless in Seattle"."


    Eric suggested: "If you don''t, let me exin them, let youe back after Thanksgiving?"


    Nicole shook her head with a smile: "No, you forgot, Australia has no Thanksgiving, plus there is the southern hemisphere summer. Although the Christmas is lively, it alwayscks the atmosphere, so there is nothing to miss, I will Come back on time ording to the schedule of the promotion."


    Two people ate and talked, Nicole quickly finished eating the simple breakfast in front of him, wiped his mouth with a paper towel, looked around, and smacked in front of Eric: "My ticket for tomorrow, I have to leave for a while." Time, will I go to your room tonight?"


    Nicole''s voice is not big but not too small. If someone pays attention to them, they will probably still be heard. Eric nces at the bold girl and finally nods. "Be careful.


    One thing, don''t always happen to be touched."


    Nicole smiled, using "Sydney" in Annie''s sweet smile, she also almost rified Eric''s character, although this man is very strong, but not a harsh person. Therefore, she sometimes even enjoys seeing Eric clearly knowing that she is ying tricks, but she looks depressed and helpless.


    In thest few days of "Sleep in Seattle", an assistant director has followed Eric''s instructions to start shooting some simple shots of "The Little Ghost 2", such as the aerial photography of Kevin when he climbed the top of the Twin Towers.


    Or take a picture of a taxi passing through the Brooklyn Bridge.


    Therefore, after the "Seattle Night Sleep" was closed yesterday, the crew had a day off, but Eric could not rest for a moment.


    Not only did he have to remotely control the post-production of "Seattle" every day, but also to check "Little Ghosts 2" The lens material of the previous shooting determines which ones can be used and which ones need to be retaken.


    The next day, Eric personally started the filming of "Little Ghosts 2". In the order of the first easy and the difficult, the scene was just ced in the za Hotel.


    "Stu, wait, you go straight from here, when you get to that ce, stop the gentleman and ask for the road, then continue, remember, don''t go too fast, understand?"


    "Of course, Eric, you have to repeat this simple thing, when I am an idiot?" The little guy rolled his eyes, at this time, the boy was wearing a thick pair with a knitted hat on his head. Carrying a small brown backpack is standing next to Eric.


    Seeing Eric''s depressed face when he heard the little guy, Donald Tplonghaha, who was on the other side of the guest,ughed and looked at Stu: "It''s a funny little guy."


    "Well, anyway, you remember, just go to the door, we are ready to start." Eric said, walked to the monitor, and held all the groupings scattered on the corridor with the inte. .


    This long shot is not difficult for Stu. It''s not a problem with the little guy''s acting, just passing through the corridor from the doorway and going to the hall.


    The most difficult is for photographers and sound engineers.


    Because this is a long time and a half-minute frontal shot, can noty the photographic track, the photographer Nickel can only carry a heavy camera bent over the little guy''s rhythm back, so although it is just a simple walking lens, But at least five people have to work together, in addition to the sound engineer and photographer, there are several assistants, along with the action of the sound engineer and photographer, to match the cables connected to the microphone and camera.


    "Nickel, are you ready?" Eric walked to the hotel lobby, where the director''s monitor was ced, and the walkie-talkie was still confirmed to the crowd. The voice of the ok was heard from time to time.


    Eric came to the monitor, but saw a golden hair faintly shing behind the monitor. Eric quickly walked two steps and finally saw a little girl in a pink children''s trench coat, kneeling. Behind the director''s monitor and other piles of equipment, curiously touched it.


    Little Loli looks like a ten-year-old, taller than Stuart, with a beautiful pink cartoon hairpin on her blond hair, a beautiful bangs in front of her forehead, long eyshes The big eyes shed twice from time to time, and the pointed small chin has already revealed the appearance of a few beautiful human embryos.


    Seeing Eric looking at himself, Xiao Loli just nced at him, still fiercely curious about himself, and several staff members around, also looked at the little girl.


    What is going on here, isn''t his position upied by a Lolita star who is unknown?


    "Hey, little guy, who are you?" Eric stepped forward, blocking the little girl''s intention to press the button next to the button next to the monitor, and couldn''t help but reach out and squeezed the little loli with a baby fat face. .


    "Who are you?" Little Loli flexibly avoided Eric''s ws and looked at Eric with a vignt look.


    Eric smiled and pointed to the seat behind Lolly: "I am the one who should sit in that position."


    Xiao Loli nced at her head and immediately whispered her mouth. She dismissed: "Hey, let me say that you are a director, you can''t do it. Adults just like to turn around."


    "Well, my name is Eric Williams, this little Luo... Littledy, can you tell me your name?" Eric said, reaching out to Xiao Loli.


    Xiao Loli immediately stepped back and took a step back. She did not mean to shake hands with Eric. She raised her chin and said with a crisp voice: "My name is Ivanka."


    Eric picked his eyebrow: "Ivanka? Ivanka Ten?"


    "Yeah." Little Lori nodded.

 Chapter 250: I am not playing

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    Eric immediately understood why Xiao Loli appeared here, and it must have been brought by Donald Tend. However, the surrounding staff members were also derelict, even if the little guy stayed here, She should be allowed to touch the film equipment here.


    I was going to reprimand a few unscrupulous staff, and the rustling of the inte was heard: "Eric, everything is ready, can you start?"


    "Oh, of course," Eric returned, temporarily putting the matter down and rushing to wear headphones to the back of the monitor.


    At the beginning of the camera, Kevin walked into the hotel lobby, looked around and began to walk along the corridor to the lobby side. The camera followed the boy''s movements and gradually stepped back.


    "Cut, Nickel, what''s going on there, don''t you find that the lens is a little biased? Come back!" Eric immediately shouted at the inte after a few steps.


    There was a feeling of sorry for Nickel in the walkie-talkie, and it took two minutes. Everyone, including the group performance, re-buried and the filming began again.


    "Cut, Royce, the one you are responsible for, the guy wearing a blue knit jacket, let him concentrate on it. It''s hard to imagine that someone would look at the camera lens. If this happens again, let him get out. Again!"


    "cut,..."


    I don''t know how many times ng, Eric has pointed out some mistakes, and is about to continue. There is a voice from Nickel in the inte: "Eric, no, I am going to take off."


    Eric stunned and immediately realized that there was no photographic track this time, but that Nickel carried a heavy camera to follow.


    Reluctantly took off the headset on the head, Eric to a side of the field road: "Notify. All staff rest for ten minutes."


    "You can be stupid, a shot is not good enough to shoot so many times," Eric just sat down in the director''s chair. I took the water cup that the assistant handed over, and Ivanka, who had been probed behind him, said this.


    Eric just squirted a sip of water into his mouth. The sudden situation scared the little Lolita next to him and screamed.


    "Cough and cough..." Eric mmed his chest a few times, then said: "Ivanka, don''t you see it, it has nothing to do with me."


    Little Loli put her hands in her pocket and said with dissatisfaction with her chin. "This gentleman, please call me Miss Teng."


    Eric felt a ck line on his head, and he instantly remembered the famous ''Please call me Queen''s.'' Just about to say something, Nickel, Stewart and other important people in the crew also got together.


    "Dad." Ivanka saw his father appear, and Donald went over and took Donald''s hand.


    "Ivanka, what have you been talking about with Eric?" Donald had just seen Eric talking to his daughter, so he asked curiously.


    "Nothing, you said that he is very powerful and very powerful, but I have been watching it for so long, a simple walking lens can not be shot well, far worse than the directors you have taken me before. ""


    Eric hasn''t reacted yet, and Nickel''s face is no longer hangable. Because of that shot, most of the mistakes were made by his photographer, but now Eric is ridiculed by a small loli in front of so many people.


    "Eric. I am sorry," Nickel said to Eric.


    "It''s okay, everyone knows that this shot is not too easy." Eric apuded Nikol''s shoulder: "You go for a break, find someone to help you massage your arm, try again in ten minutes." Second, if not, we will take other shots first."


    Nickel nodded and turned away.


    "You are Kevin?" Eric quickly heard the voice of Little Loli.


    "Actually, my name is Stewart Langkel." Did you see a peer in the crew? Stu took the initiative to introduce himself.


    "I heard that you are also eight years old, how can you be so much shorter than me." Xiao Loli was very close to Stu, and the little hand crossed the boy''s head. Directly touched the tip of my nose.


    Because of the precociousness of Stu, the boy''s sexual consciousness has already be a little awakened. Therefore, he was ridiculed by a beautiful little Lolita like a doll. He was reluctant, and retorted: "I will definitely grow taller than you in the future. ""


    "You don''t have me high now, what do you say in the future?"


    A group of people couldn''t help butughed. Although Donald Teng wasughing, he took the daughter and said, "Ivanka, don''t be so rude. In fact, Stu is also very powerful. He shotst year.


    A movie."


    "This is a great thing, just walk around like that, I will y." Ivanka retorted without hesitation.


    "Then let''s y us and see," Stu immediately seized the opportunity. Although the little guy was only eight years old, he also knew that the performance was not so easy.


    "I..." Ivanka groaned around, and then directly locked his eyes on Eric: "Mr. Williams, can you let me try the lens just now?" No more honorific words are used.


    Eric shrugged: "I am sorry, Miss Tend, our photographer is resting."


    "Then, you are not a director, why don''t youe?"


    "I?" Eric asked in confusion.


    "Yeah, you don''t want to tell me, you can''t do anything other than the director?" Ivanka said in a standard mocking tone.


    Except for the director, nothing can be done...


    Little Loli is really too lethal.


    Although the staff who had been with Eric for a long time, he was definitely the kind of generalist, but when he heard Xiao Loli, he couldn''t help butugh.


    "Eric, show her hand to her."


    "Mr. Williams, can''t let this littledy look at you."


    "Director, if you are on, I will help you drag the cable."


    "..."


    In the groaning noise, Eric ps his hands and ps: "Quiet, give me peace, don''t forget where this is!"


    When the crowd gradually quieted down, Eric turned to Xiao Loli: "Miss Ten, do you really want to try?"


    Ivanka raised his chin: "Of course."


    "That''s all right," Eric said. "You just saw Stu''s performance from the monitor, so I don''t have to say how to perform, right?"


    "Well," Xiao Loli nodded, and repeated it again: "I came in from the gate, asked my father in the second corridor, and then walked here."


    "Good, then let''se once," Eric nodded.


    Since it was a ticket during the break, the group performance certainly didn''t have to go, but Donald Teprand was obviously satisfied with her daughter''s performance, so she volunteered to cooperate with the filming and asked Eric to keep the film. He I n to engrave it as a videotape.


    In the entrance hall, Ivanka saw a lot of people behind Eric, who was carrying a camera, watching himself. Although he tried to keep calm, his blinking eyes still betrayed the panic of the little girl.


    "Miss Teng, the first act, the first game!" The game kicked the scoreboard in a strange way and quickly shed aside.


    Xiao Loli quickly blinked a few times, looked at her camera lens and looked at her own people. Somehow I felt a slight numbness in my hands and feet, but I still lifted my footsteps and walked forward.


    While walking, the schr just looked around and looked forward to it, but these actions only made a few times, Ivanka felt that he could not stand it, and the pace also elerated.


    In this way, I walked to the second corridor and saw the father who came to the camera with encouragement and eyes. Ivanka seemed to see the big savior. At this time, perhaps only the father would give her a sense of security.


    Without hesitation, Xiao Loli Cangjie fled the camera and ran to his father in tears. There was a faint cry in his voice: "Dad, I am not ying."


    ...


    "Nikkor, if this is the case, the scenes of our first corridor and the second corridor will be shot separately, so the chances of sess are greater, and there can be less toss."


    Although Little Loli Ivanka fled halfway, Eric took a camera and took an empty shot. He also found that it was not an easy task to go down this shot again, andter If you want to edit, you might as well take a two-part shot.


    So after Nickel rested, Eric did not start shooting immediately, but re-discussed with the photographer.


    At this point two people had a simple square hotel floor n in front of them.


    Eric pointed with a pencil and said: "From here to here, as the first part of the lens, the next shot starts here, until the lobby."


    Nickel pondered ording to Eric''s words and said, "So, is the group performance buried in two parts?"


    "Well, this is not a problem. It can be arranged in ten minutes. Stu is not a problem. It is mainly you.


    How do you feel now?"


    "I don''t have a problem," Nickel yelled. "In two parts, it''s okay."


    "That''s good, just like this," Eric said, raising his head and saying to the people around him: "You have heard it, everyone is going to prepare, ten minutes."


    After everyone dispersed, Eric returned to his director''s position. At this time, Little Loli Ivanka held a box of unprocessed film, like a little phoenix that was only raining. Dejected, no longer seeing the arrogant poisonous tongue Lolly.


    Donald Tepn also sat next to her daughter and whispered something.

 Chapter 251: Purpose is not simple

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    "Eric..." Donald Tepn screamed Eric and yelled at his daughter Nunu.


    Ivanka seems to be very hard because of the failure of the performance. Although Donald Tnd is eloquent enough to engage in pyramid schemes, heforted and even reprimanded his daughter for a while in his own past, but nothing seems to be there. The effect can only be called to Eric for help.


    Although the matter was picked up by Xiao Loli, if Eric did not agree, there would be no current things. Eric was not easy to shirk and could only pull a chair to do Ivanka.


    Little Loli squinted at Eric and put it together on her father.


    "Ivanka, this is definitely your first performance, right?" Eric thought about the wording, and asked the temperature.


    Ivanka passed for a while before he nodded lightly.


    "I remember when I was in school, it was a music lesson. The teacher asked a ssmate in our ss to go to the podium to sing a song. As a result, the guy, because he was too nervous, sang a few words, and finally directly at the podium. It fainted.


    It was his first performance, so that you have just performed very well, but you havepleted more than half of the shots."


    Eric made aparison in advance, and arranged an excuse for Xiao Loli to clear the shadow of her heart. Sure enough, after listening to Eric, Ivanka seemed to rx a lot. But still whispered: "But when I was at school, I sang songs to everyone, and it didn''t appear...


    there was the situation you said."


    "Then you must always go on stage, right?"


    "Well," Ivanka nodded.


    "Look, this is the crux of the problem. Like performing and singing, the first time I will be nervous, try a few more times. It will be fine after getting used to it."


    "That..." Ivanka finally looked up and licked the beautiful nephew and asked, "Mr. Williams. Why I was just nervous, I told myself clearly. It was a very easy thing."


    "This..." Eric hesitated, which involved the problem of natural liberation. It stands to reason that performance should be a breeze for an eight-year-old child, because the so-called natural liberation is to return the psychological state of the adult actor to the child''s carefree and careless state.


    However, nothing is absolute, just like the little Lolita in front of her, she has lost this state. For Stewart, the little guy didn''t, and he was in a state of liberation, so he could easily perform ording to Eric''s request, but Ivanka would be nervous.


    "Ivanka, because this problem is moreplicated, so I can''t exin it to you for the time being, because you can''t understand it because of the exnation."


    Ivanka snorted and didn''t ask again. However, the look is no longer as frustrating as it was just now.


    "Mr. Donald, it''s time to bury it." A staff member came over.


    Donald Tend nodded and hugged her daughter: "Ini, my father will be back soon, will you stay here?"


    "Well," Xiao Loli nodded to her father and barely revealed a smile.


    The filming began again. This time, Lolly Ann sat quietly and said nothing, but still curiously watched Eric remotelymand the entire crew through the walkie-talkie. The big eyes are sparkling.


    ...


    After the lens on the corridor was split into two parts by Eric, the shooting went well. It took a few ng a few times and it took twenty minutes. This shot finally passed.


    Donald Tepn is also preparing to leave with her daughter. When the other party came, Eric did not personally greet him because he was too busy. Even the other party did not know if he brought his daughter. Now I am leaving, Eric.


    Of course, it is impossible to treat each other gently. After all, Donald Tuprand is a guest of the real estate tycoon, and he has to pay for a penny. Even if he has some other thoughts in his heart, it is very good.


    "Mr. Teng, thank you foring specially." Eric and Donald said with a hand at the entrance of the za Hotel.


    "This is also my honor," Donald smiled and immediately patted the shoulder of his daughter: "Ini, say goodbye to Eric."


    Little Loli stepped forward and reached out with a small hand: "Goodbye, Mr. Williams."


    "Goodbye, Miss Teng." Eric shook the little Lolly''s pink hand and shook it.


    Ivanka retracted his hand, and his big eyes were still staring at Eric: "Mr. Williams, are we friends?"


    Eric looked at him and then nodded with a smile: "Of course."


    "So, you can call me Ivanka, or call me Irene like Mom and Dad and my brother. I also call you Eric, okay?"


    "Of course no problem." Eric nodded again.


    "Eric, maybe, that..." Ivanka stuttered twice and immediately looked at his father: "Dad, can I invite Eric to our house to be a guest?"


    Donald Tend just wants to pick up her daughter and kiss her. It''s a sweet cotton jacket. He is tossing things like today, not just to establish a personal rtionship with Eric. Originally, he did not know how to open his mouth.


    He nned to open some parties at home in the past few days, and then tried to invite Ai Rui. He did not expect his daughter to solve the problem directly for himself.


    Of course, although I am happy, Donald Tnd is seemingly quiet on the surface, just saying to her daughter: "Of course, you are also a part of our family and have the power to invite guests."


    "So, Eric, when I have time,e to my house to be a guest." Little Loli looked forward to Eric.


    "I will," Eric took a sentence, did not put it in his heart,pletely regarded the words of Xiao Loli as a child''s words, maybe Ivanka forgot it after two days.


    Looking at the departure of the father and the daughter, he returned to the crew.


    "Mr. Williams, this is the first draft of the first five episodes of the "X-Files" screenwriter group. Also, Fox hase to urge it again. I hope that you can cut out the trailer of "Little Ghost 2" as soon as possible.


    They n to release it on TV before October 17. Also, Mr. Robert Shea said that there will be several documents sent tonight..."


    Eric turned the script of "X Files" in his hand. Listening to n, I read the memo.


    After a while, Allen closed the memo: "It''s all right, right. Just Royce, who was in Central Park, called and said that the crew was preparing for the location there. There was some trouble."


    Eric immediately raised his head, "Little Ghosts 2" is the current top priority: "What happened?"


    "This is the case. An environmental organization in New York does not allow us to use artificial snow on arge scale. It also organizes some people to run over to supervise. Royce said that these people have even had a small incident with our crew.


    conflict."


    Eric didn''t understand for a moment, how could artificial snow be rted to environmental organizations?


    "This, you know what is going on?" Eric asked. Although these should be the concern of the production talents, although Eric is the director, he is also one of the producers. Moreover, in the end, his power in the crew is the biggest, so it is rtivelyrge.


    Thest thing that needs toe out is him.


    There have been conflicts, and it seems that this matter will not be solved too easily. So Eric pays more attention to it. When asked this question, Eric has gotten up to get the coat. I n to go to the site to see for myself.


    Allen chased him up and said: "Eric, it''s hard to take a break in the morning. I think those things Mr. Hansen will definitely handle, and you still have a good rest.


    "Nothing, don''t look at it, I don''t trust." Eric shook his head.


    Allen had no choice but to get on the bus with Eric and rush to Central Park.


    On the road. Allen exined to Eric: "Things are like this. There are two kinds of artificial snow. One is to use snow machines to make real snowkes.


    But that''s too expensive and environmentally demanding. It is harsh and requires temperatures below zero. Now this climatic condition is definitely not avable. Therefore, we use another method, which is to rece it with snow-like materials.


    The chemicalposition of this artificial snow is magnesium sulfate heptahydrate. Magnesium sulphate is actually harmless and can even be used as a fertilizer for many nts.


    However, the environmental protection organization does not listen to our exnations, nor does it trust us to guarantee that we will clean up afterwards, but repeatedly use this for us. Things are restricted. I just said that a field staff couldn''t help but have a conflict with the other party.


    That''s how it happened. The scene felt that the other party was too nitpicking, and the young and energetic, so he moved."


    Eric, who was patiently listening to the back of the car, shed and immediately asked, "Isn''t it big?"


    "No, the two were just opened when they were in contact." Allen shook his head.


    Eric breathed a sigh of relief and then asked: "What about the media?"


    "what?"


    Eric repeated it: "I mean, is there any media attention to this matter?"


    Allen heard that Eric was a bit serious and quickly understood something, but he didn''t answer it for a while: "This, I am not too clear. I thought it was pure... pure environmental events, After all, many crews have encountered such entanglement."


    Eric took a deep breath and said to the driver in the front row: "Brut, drive faster."


    Coming to Central Park and passing through the blockade line, Eric saw seven or eight young men and women lying on the ground at a nce, all with masks on their faces, but they were wearing very cool, bare skin. All kinds of environmental slogans are painted on the top with green paint.


    Eric''s familiar crew members are standing on the outside, and Jeffrey is talking about what a woman who looks like she''s in her thirties and looks like a young man lying on the floor. I am excited.


    "Ms. Schneider, I have said it many times. This ce must beid with fake snow, because this is a very important shot. If there is no snow, it will definitely not work.


    We have already made a lot ofpromises. What do you want?" "


    "Absolutely not, Mr. Hansen, if the chemical materials are directly ced on these vegetation, it will cause fatal damage to them."


    "I have already promised you repeatedly. After we have finished shooting, we will clean up the cleanup here. I have bought a special vacuum cleaner for this purpose. Isn''t that enough?"


    Thedy of Schneider still shook her head: "No, it is absolutely impossible. Central Park is the lung of Manhattan. If your lungs are rotted, Mr. Hansen, what do you feel?"


    "I want to say how you can promise."


    "We will never agree. There must be no fake snow on thiswn." Ms. Schneider seemed to be excited too.


    The two are arguing fiercely that Eric hase over.


    Jeffrey just happened to be against Eric, so she didn''t know the situation, but thedy of Schneider didn''t know why, and she recognized Eric at a nce. She looked serious toward Eric: "Mr. Williams I am Shirley Schneider of the New York Green Environment Organization.


    I strongly protest theying of chemicals on yourwn by your crew. You must change this setting."


    Jeffrey also came to Eric at this time, and looked at the woman with helplessness. He said to Eric: "Sorry, Eric, maybe we have to postpone the y here in the afternoon."


    "It doesn''t matter," Eric patted Jeffrey''s shoulder and said to the woman in front of him: "Mrs. Schneider, right? I just heard some of the arguments between the two of you. So, I want to ask you first.


    Do you know the ingredients of the artificial snow we use?"


    Shirley Schneider showed a sneer: "Of course I know, magnesium sulfate heptahydrate."


    "What else?" Eric asked.


    Shirley Schneider nced: "What else?"


    Eric said: "Don''t you know that magnesium sulfate heptahydrate is not only harmless to nts, but is it still a chemical? So, wey fake snow, not only will not cause damage to these nts, but even beneficial. "


    Shirley Schneider looked at it several times and quickly said: "You said that, I don''t know about it for the time being. I will collect some information when I go back. However, even if it is a fertilizer, youy a thickyer.


    It must be excessive, but I know that using too much anything will have the opposite effect."


    "I have said that after the filming, we will definitely clean it up." Jeffrey inserted a mouth.


    "I don''t believe you, you are the capitalist of the picture. Who knows if you will say a set, so if you want to shop..." Shirley Schneider pointed at the men and women on thewn: " It''s good to be on us!"


    Eric looked at thewn and had a thought in his mind.

 Chapter 252: Two things

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    "Ms. Schneider, as long as we don''ty fake snow directly on thewn?"


    Shirley Schneider saw what Eric thought of, a look of self-confidence, a slight hesitation in his expression, but he quickly said: "Yes, you cany on the side of the road, but definitely not on thewn.


    And after the shooting of the fake snow on both sides of the road ispleted, it must be properly cleaned up."


    When Eric spoke, he kept staring at the woman in front of him and saw the sh of the other person''s eyes. The mind was more certain about certain spections. If the other party was purely environmentally friendly, then he proposed feasible. The solution, this woman will not reveal a hesitant look.


    Although I understood this in my heart, Eric said with a face in a tone of expression: "Well, then, if we put ayer of stic cloth on thewn mat and theny fake snow on it, is this all right? "


    Shirley Schneider stunned in surprise, only slightly reluctantly nodded: "I think... maybe... yes."


    "That''s it." Eric said this, no longer paying attention to this woman.


    As Jeffrey made a look, the two men went farther, and Eric said to Jeffrey: "Jeffrey, the central park''s y is suspended, and everyone is ready to prepare the next scene, my next A scene should be that Kevin escaped from the za Hotel, just in the backne by two thieves to catch the scene, let people arrange the scene there, our afternoon shooting can not stop."


    Jeffrey just saw some unusual from Shirley Schneider''s expression, and said to Eric: "Eric, News Corporation''s US headquarters is in New York, and they must have deep connections in the local area. Would you like to contact Murdoch?"


    "If you just go out and find Murdoch to help, it will let him see us. What''s more, Murdoch is not a phnthropist." Eric shook his head and said: "And. "The devil is 2 "It also involves the interests of Fox Films.


    If we can''t solve this problem in the end, Fox will definitely take the initiative, and we don''t have to take the initiative to send people."


    Jeffrey smiled and said: "It''s still a thoughtful one, then I am going to buy stic film. However, I don''t think it will take much longer. We don''t have to change the scene at all."


    Eric pointed to the men and women who were lying on thewn. "There are people here today, we don''t want to film, I am worried that they will deliberately create conflicts. Like the one that happened when I didn''te.


    Just like things, once something goes wrong, it will be even more troublesome to solve. So I still have to change the scene temporarily. Right, have reporters who have just been in the mediae?"


    Jeffrey didn''t think that Eric would ask this question. He thought about it: "There seems to be a few, but they just took some pictures far away, and after being driven away by our staff, they left. "


    "It seems that the trouble has just begun." Eric snorted and said to Jeffrey: "You arrange it first. Thene back to the hotel with me. I think you have more important things to do in the afternoon."


    "That''s okay." Jeffrey nodded and hurried to perform Eric''s ount.


    Jeffrey left. Eric asked the staff for a camera, took some pictures of the protesters lying on thewn, and then asked Allen to take it out.


    After nearly an hour, Jeffrey returned to the hotel where the crew was staying, and Eric handed him a stack of photos.


    "What is this?" Jeffrey looked up in disbelief and looked up and asked.


    "Just in case," Eric said: "Don''t you find out? The so-called environmental organization suddenly appeared in a simple purpose. We used to shoot a few scenes on some roads with vegetation. The traces of these people.


    In thest week, we filmed the scenes of Central Park. They appeared."


    When Jeffrey heard Eric''s words, he quickly understood it. This is obviously someone who wants to dy the shooting progress of "Little Ghosts 2", and it is more troublesome than the one thates in at the beginning.


    Central Park has a very important position in the minds of New Yorkers.


    Therefore, if today''s crew shoots, things that have been resisted by environmental organizations are exposed, and people who have ulterior motives make up the facts, and deliberately exaggerate the raw materials of artificial snow.


    The danger of magnesium sulphate on the vegetation in Central Park, then, under the public protest, the shooting of Central Park will certainly usher in greater resistance, and even the New York City government has to give a reasonable reason in the crew to calm the public''s concerns.


    Before the program, directly intervene to prevent the filming of the "Little Ghost 2" crew.


    The filming period of "Little Ghost 2" is calcted on a daily basis, and now it is at thest minute. If it is dyed by such a p, it will dy for a few days, then the corresponding one will move all over the body. Many things in the original n have to be put off.


    Moreover, even if it is impossible to modify the script to remove the Central Park scene, because all the previous shootings, the plot is interlocking, and even a lot of Kevin shot from the Central Park exit, if modified, Then a lot of materials taken in the past will be scrapped.


    If you want to make up the film, maybe "Little Ghost 2" can only be postponed until Christmas.


    The more Jeffrey wants to worry, the photo in his hand asks Eric: "You said, who is messing up this time?"


    Eric picked up a movie guide that he had just bought, referring to the movie schedule listed on the page: "The game of "The Devil''s Home 2" is scheduled for November 17, if we are dyed because of some trouble.


    The release period is good for movies that are released during this time, so we don''t know who is messing up."


    Jeffrey took the newspaper and looked at it. On the 17th of November alone, there were seven or eight films, including Warner''s "Deadly Weapon 2", which was postponed from the summer file to the Thanksgiving stage in order to avoid the "Dark War".


    Paramount is a Christmasedy "Harlem Nightclub" starring Eddie Murphy, followed by Universal''s "Back to the Future 2" in the next two days.


    Eric said a bit heavy: "I saw it, several major moviepanies have movies released during this period.


    During Thanksgiving, the total weekly box office is about 100 million US dors, so if "Little Ghost 2" is postponed Other films will be able to separate up at least $30 million in box office shares that belonged to "Little Ghosts 2".


    Of course, ording to the 28thw, you can see that the major films of the majorpanies are the most divided, so their The suspicion is also the biggest. But we don''t have the time and energy to entangle the matter. Even if we find out, it will not help us.


    The only thing we have to do is to do everything we can toplete the film on time."


    Jeffrey put down the newspaper and thought that this opponent might be the giants like Warner or Universal. Then the fireflies did not have much power in front of thesepanies. Hesitated for a moment and said: "So, Eric, really. Don''t you know Fox?"


    Eric thought about it, or shook his head again: "For the time being, look at the situation tomorrow, I am sure that tomorrow we will report on the damage caused by artificial snow to the Central Park environment."


    "What should I do now?" Jeffrey asked, he had not encountered such a thing before.


    "Two things," Eric apparently thought about it long ago, erecting three fingers: "First, Central Park is currently under the management of the Central Park Preservation Committee. You donate money to themittee in the name of fireflies. Um...


    It''s 500,000, so you can guarantee the greatest extent that once there is a public opinion storm, the other party will speak to us."


    After saying this, Eric handed those photos to Jeffrey and said: "Second, that''s it. You can contact as many local newspapers as possible in New York, and we will disclose the protests we encountered today.


    Go out and let them help out some reports, focusing on our efforts to maintain the environment of Central Park. Also, we need to find one or two rted professionals to exin in detail that magnesium sulfate heptahydrate does not cause vegetation. Hazard, even the fact of a chemical fertilizer."


    "Eric, will 500,000 not be too much?" Jeffrey asked weakly, and he still had some reluctance to send such money in vain.


    Eric took a look at his forehead and solemnly said: "Jeffrey, you have to understand the current situation. Once things change, "Little Ghost 2" can''t bepleted on time, it is not a loss of 500,000 US dors.


    Moreover, the production budget of "Little Ghost 2" originally nned to be 25 million US dors is expected to have some bnce, so the 500,000 is even better in the production cost."


    Jeffrey finally nodded. "Okay, I understand. Also, because the filming n is temporarily changed, the shooting in the afternoon may be dyed by one hour. After all, it is necessary tomunicate with the relevant streets."


    "I know, wait until I will arrange it in person, you will do your thing."


    Jeffrey picked up the photos taken by Eric and left in a hurry.


    Perhaps it was a dream to do a full set of thoughts. In the afternoon, the members of the environmental organization came over again.


    Although he still points to the practice ofying artificial snow on the crew, and even provokes a few words from time to time, he is no longer forced to lie on the ground to stop the filming of the crew, as in Central Park.


    Eric also issued a severe warning to the crew members at noon. No matter how provocative these people are, they must not be in conflict with each other, because doing so is equal to just falling into the trap of the other party.

 Chapter 253: Excellent(18+)

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    It''s been busy until 8 o''clock in the evening, and Jeffrey has done everything that Eric has told him. However, because there was still concern in my heart, Jeffrey then went all night and did not sleep well.


    The next morning, the sky was just bright, and Jeffrey climbed up from the bed with a touch of dark circles. After washing it, I personally went to the streets to buy a lot of newspapers. I stood next to the newsstand and eagerly began to read it.


    It was true that Eric''s expectation, in a Manhattan Morning Post, that the members of the environmental organization were lying on thewn in a prominent position, and the quality was not as good as Eric''s intention.


    The photos taken were clear, apparently taken by the reporters who were driven away by the crew yesterday. What makes Jeffrey even more headache is that this tabloid also published a photo of the crew members and members of the environmental protection organization.


    The paparazzi was very clever, although they could not see the expressions of the two people, they could clearly see At that time, an employee of the crew raised his foot and wanted to kick the opposite member of the environmental organization, and the protester seemed to be retreating in Cangjie.


    "Yesterday, the sequel to the "Little Devil''s Home" continuation filmed in Manhattan''s Central Park, encountered the obstruction of the famous environmental organization gepo..."


    Just reading the first sentence, Jeffrey couldn''t help but smash it out. He had been negotiating with the so-called environmental protection organization for so long. He didn''t know what the other party was calling.


    The first sentence of this tabloid was Out of the origins of these people, this is obviously nned.


    Although he was angry, Jeffrey continued to read it: "... It is said that because the sequel to "The Devil''s Home" still urs in Christmas, the "Little Ghost" group intends to call a name simr to snow.


    The chemicals of magnesium sulfate heptahydrate are covered in the vegetation of Central Park, and this material will cause great damage to the nts in Central Park.


    In order to prevent this improper behavior of the "Little Ghost 2" crew, members and crew of gepo The filmmakers made a long-term negotiation. Even the members of the other team''s fists and faces were confronted, but they had to lie on thewn to protest.


    The reporters we went to interview also encountered the arrogant drive of the "Little Ghosts 2" crew.


    Members of the gepo organization revealed to us. Their power is so isted that the "Little Ghosts 2" crew is because of their strong protests. The filming was temporarily stopped, but the other party apparently would not be willing to give up.


    Central Park has the reputation of ''the lungs of Manhattan'', and Manhattan residents are able to enjoy fresher air than other parts of New York every day, which is inseparable from the purification of vegetation in Central Park.


    Therefore, we appeal to the people of Manhattan to pay attention to the progress of this matter, and strongly rmend that the Manhattan District Government intervene in this matter to prevent the unscrupulous destruction of the environment by the "Little Ghost 2" crew. "


    After reading this article, Jeffrey has already be chilly.


    Because thest paragraph of this report is entirely inciting the residents of Manhattan to unite to protest the filming of the crew in Central Park, and if the Manhattan government can''t stand the pressure of public opinion, then maybe "Little Ghost 2" really has to wait.


    New Yorknded a real snow to continue shooting, and the ghost knew when it was time to wait. And if there is no snow, then the scenes of Central Park will be out of ce with the snow-capped shots that have been taken elsewhere.


    After reading this report, Jeffrey did not have the heart to read other newspapers and directly found several copies of his own public rtions yesterday.


    fortunately. Several newspapers, including The New York Daily, The New York Post, and The New York News, all reported impartially in ordance with Jeffrey''s public rtions yesterday, because the journalists had received a public rtions fee. The words are more biased towards the crew.


    At the same time, the New York Post also included an interview with a professor of chemistry at New York University. Of course, this is also arranged by Jeffrey. The professor introduced the details in detail and objectively.


    The substance of magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, which is artificial snow, means that if it is not used in arge amount, it will not only cause damage to nts, but also promote growth.


    Hastily read a few newspapers. Jeffrey hurried to the hotel.


    After a quick knock on Eric''s door, it took a while. The door was slightly opened, revealing a blonde in a nightgown.


    Jeffrey groaned. He didn''t know this woman. He said that Eric''s ridiculous guy wouldn''t leave Nicole because he couldn''t stand the call girl.


    --------


    A couple hours ago....


    "HAAAA...."


    Eric grunted, leaning back into the couch as he looked down at the tall, blonde beauty kneeling between his legs, naked, her plentiful breasts exposed, her sexy lips wrapped tightly around his shaft, moving her head up and down, her flexible tongue licking all over his member, bringing him pleasure.


    She kept bobbing her head, taking his dick deep in her mouth, the tip hitting her throat, making her gag, spasming of her throat bringing him more and more pleasure.


    "Pop..."


    Deep throating for a minute, she decided to switch things up.


    Pulling her mouth off his dick with a pop, she wrapped her soft fingers around the base and sticking her tongue out, licked the tip, running her tongue over his ns, before leaning her head down and licking his balls, sucking and nibbling on them, before opening her mouth and taking one ball in her mouth, massaging it with her tongue as her hand moved up and down his penis, giving him a handjob and licking his balls.


    Taking her mouth off his balls, she stack out her tongue and holding his penis, moved the tip all over her tongue, rubbing his ns, up and down, back and forth and in circles, making him grunt.


    ncing up at him, she wrapped her lips tightly around his shaft, before pushing her head down, taking couple inches of his penis in her hot mouth as she started sucking on it, her lips and insides of her mouth hugging his shaft softly, stimting his penis as she started moving her head up and down, pumping his dick in and out of her hot mouth, her tongue running on the underside of his shaft, making him grunt.


    Eric just leaned back and watched the model bury her head in his crotch over and over again, her lips and mouth wrapped tightly around his shaft as she pumped his dick with her hot mouth and moved one hand up to his balls, gently caressing them with her soft fingers, her other hand sliding between her legs and massaging her clit, before sliding her fingers in her tight cave, moving them in and out, moaning around his dick, vibrations bringing him more pleasure.


    "Stand up." Said Eric after letting her suck on his dick for a minute, before putting his hand on her head, stopping her motion.


    Pulling her mouth off his dick with a pop, she slowly stood up, revealing slim physique with big breasts, slim waist, wide hips, round thighs and protruding buttocks.


    "Put these on" Said Eric, grabbing ck leather gloves sitting on the side and standing up.


    "UHHHH..."


    Taking gloves from his hands, she put them on as Eric walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her slim waist, pulling her back against his chest, his rock hard dick sandwiched between her soft asscheeks, one hand sliding up and groping her breasts as he leaned forward and kissed her neck, making her moan.


    Groping and massaging her breasts, he kissed nape of her neck, moans escaping her hot mouth as his other hand slid down between her legs, his fingers circling around pussy, before starting to massage her clit as he pinched her nipple and lightly bit her neck, before sliding his hard dick between her thighs and thrusting his hips back and forth, rubbing her clit and squeezing her breast as he bit down on her neck, hard, making let out a loud cry.


    Taking his mouth off her neck, he saw the teeth marks he left, giving him an incredible rush, making him even excited, so he pulled his dick out from between her thighs and pushed her forward on the couch, making her get on her knees, her hands on the back of the couch, her back curved, her fleshy ass pointed up as he stepped up behind her and put his throbbing cock at her entrance.


    Burying his dick in her tight cunt with two quick thrusts, he grabbed her slim waist and started pounding her roughly, driving his dick deep in her cunt, pulling back and pushing back in, again and again, invading her pussy, her tight walls hugging his dick, her ass pping his crotch, rippling with every thrust, sexy moans escaping her cherry lips.


    "p...."


    Holding her waist, he kept plowing her pussy, thrusting his hips, sliding his dick in and out, pping her ass hard enough to leave handprints making her throw her head back and cry out as he kept fucking her from behind, using her body to pleasure himself, his orgasm getting closer.


    He kept fucking her from behind for a couple minutes, her moans echoing in the hotel room until he felt familiar ache in his balls.


    Quickly pulling his dick out of her slick hole, he turned her around and pushed her down on her knees, before sliding his dick in her hot mouth and holding her head with one hand, thrusting his dick in and out.


    He kept sliding his dick in and out of model''s hot mouth as she stared up at him and moved her hand up, starting to caress his balls, pushing him over the edge.


    "Open your mouth" Said Eric as he pulled his dick out of her mouth and jerked his dick.


    Hearing him, she opened her mouth just as his dick swelled slightly and he started shooting ropes of cum, first twonding in her mouth, rest spraying her face.


    "HUUUU..."


    Eric exhaled, his body rxing as pleasure washed over him, giving him incredible sense of satisfaction, especially as he looked down at the blonde model on her knees, naked, his seed in her mouth and all over her face, just like in the porn he used to watch in his previous life.


    After recovering for a couple of minutes he made her suck his dick again, getting him hard, before fucking her all over the room, on the table, in the kitchen, against the window, filling her up with his seed, leaving her pussy sore and her neck full of hickeys.


    The blonde looked at Jeffrey and quickly opened the door: "Mr. Hansen, please... pleasee in, Eric is taking a shower."


    When she heard the blonde calling her name, Jeffrey just rxed, not the call girl, at least it was easier to ept.


    The blonde also quickly realized Jeffrey''s confused eyes and quickly introduced herself: "Mr. Hansen, my name is Liz Zimmerman, ying a small role in the movie. But maybe you didn''t notice me. ""


    Jeffrey nodded and opened the mouth a few times. In the end, he just pointed at the girl''s neckline. The blonde looked down and gave a sigh, because the girl''s neck was full of red hickeys and white skin. Against the backdrop of it is extremely conspicuous.


    Lie Zimmerman clenched his neckline in a panic, didn''t know what to say, the bathroom door opened in time, and Eric, wearing a white bathrobe, wiped his hair out of the bathroom with a towel. Seeing Jeffrey sitting on the couch, Eric squatted and smiled and said hello: "Hey, Jeffrey, you... so early."


    "Yeah, indeed...something early." Jeffrey nced at the blonde standing aside, pointing out.


    Eric walked over without a smile, holding the girl''s waist and gently kissing the other''s face. He said to Jeffrey: "Do you know?"


    The two men nodded slightly, and Lie Zimmerman saw that Eric had something to discuss, and he said sensibly: "Eric, can I use the bathroom?"


    Although the girl still held the neckline, Eric still saw the red mark on the girl''s neck, and smirked and said it on the buttocks of the girl''s buttocks: "Of course, no problem, go."


    Lie Zimmerman stunned Eric, but his eyes were overflowing with a touch of style, and there was no fierce appearance of punching two thieves.


    Like the character of Donald Tnd who asked the passerby at the za Hotel, the one who met the thief twice in memory, first gave the horse a p, and then the two thieves smashed together. It was also temporarily found in New York.


    The crew contacted the famous model managementpany, although it was only a small role, but this is the series of "Little Ghosts". Even if the audience is mainly children, there are still a lot of adults with children watching.


    Therefore, this role is not only a great opportunity for those models to enhance their fame, but more importantly, maybe after participating in this movie, they will enter the big screen without any care.


    Everyone knows, no To say that Hollywood''s top superstars, even a casual first-line star, have more annual ie than most supermodels.


    Therefore, this small character caused apetition.


    The deputy director in charge of the casting looked at the list of 46 people sent by the other party, and even some models personally found the door, suddenly felt this The matter is not easy to deal with, because although he holds the right to vote in his hand, he is also very impressed by the hints of some small models, but those supermodels that have already be famous are not his potential, he does not dare to have those In the case of supermodelpetition, picking an unknown small model, it is very smart to push things to Eric.


    Eric looked at the list and didn''t find any woman she knew. So she began to look through a thick photo album sent by the apanying list with great interest. In countless pictures, she quickly picked In the Lily.


    Zimmerman, although Lie Zimmerman is not the most famous and not the most beautiful in a bunch of models, but, very coincidentally, this blonde is just the original version of the previous life. actor.


    Originally Eric chose Zhong Li. Zimmerman, just to restore the sinister taste of the original, and no other ideas.


    However, when shooting yesterday, Eric suddenly felt very good about the girl wearing ck and ck leather gloves in the camera. He felt that the girl''s gesture of punching the two thieves was handsome.


    A few words and hints, Liz Zimmerman didn''t want to post it. Last night, when Eric was intimate with the **** the big bed, he also specially found the pair of ck leather gloves for the girl to wear.


    Looking at the naked white tender body, wearing only a pair of leather gloves under the body to look like a joy, it feels really, great.


    When the bathroom door mmed closed, Jeffrey pointed out the direction of the bathroom and asked: "Eric, this is again... what happened?"


    "You haven''t seen the script yet, that is the girl who taught the thief twice."


    Jeffrey recalled a little, nodded, opened his mouth and tried to persuade Eric to converge a little. After all, he now has not only a girlfriend, but also two fixed lovers (because Nicole''s careful machine, Jeffrey also treated Nicole as Eric''s affectionate, and of course the other is Virginia.


    However, soon Jeffrey dismissed the idea. Eric is not like himself. He is just the age of bloody, as long as he does not indulge in the female business, he has nothing to worry about. After all, in his position.


    Even if Eric wants to converge, there will be a variety of womening together.


    "Forget it, let''s take a look at these, I have already seen it." Jeffrey pushed a pair of newspapers to Eric and said: "The stack above is the newspaper I contacted yesterday. Below is Those who have done it for us."


    Eric first took the following glimpse and opened it quickly.


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