Dominating Hollywood: Starting with Scarlett

Chapter 252 Intrigue
"Why is Miramax joining in on the fun?" Tang De was very curious.

This company has some connections with himself. His first film, "Chicago", was produced by this company.

However, after Weinstein left, Tang De did not show mercy to this old friend and directly poached a lot of talents.

But this is the only interaction between the two sides. It is unlikely that the new president would hold a grudge against Tang De for his previous behavior and seek revenge.

This reason is obviously untenable. From a business perspective, Tang De did not use any despicable means to deal with Miramax. It would be better to say that Miramax must hate the Weinstein brothers more.

So there must be some deeper reason behind this.

Tang De closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then opened his eyes and looked at Youfei with a serious face.

"Contact Miramax and ask them why they did this. Ask them to give an explanation. Then notify Tom and contact the private detectives we work with to thoroughly investigate Victor's situation, family situation, financial dealings, his schedule over the past few days, who he has met, etc. I want to see a detailed investigation."

"Okay." Yuffie nodded.

"Then... let the lawyers and them buy time. No matter who is behind Victor, his ultimate goal is definitely not to simply throw dirty water, so the longer it takes, the better it will be for us."

After a year of behind-the-scenes struggles, Tang De has become very alert and will not take any small matter lightly.

Because no one knows whether there are some more powerful killer weapons behind it.

After explaining this matter, You Fei immediately went to make arrangements.

Tang De began to recall that Miramax had been bought by Disney and became its film company since 1993. However, after the Wayne brothers left the company in 2006, it fell into decline, fragmented, and all the core employees left. Now it even lacks the ability to produce films.

So its sudden attack on Norton's Eye was definitely not the company's own idea. This operation was more like Disney targeting Norton's Eye.

But this is even more bizarre. Does Disney know that Tang De’s Super Saiyan Universe will threaten their Avengers Universe in the future and plan to take action in advance?

Even Tang De himself was not sure about this matter, so how could they target the Eye of Norton just because of a movie?

Tang De thought about it carefully for a long time and vaguely remembered something.

That was in 2010, when Disney seemed to have sold Miramax.

Tang De had never paid attention to who it was sold to and could not remember, but he was sure that Miramax had indeed been sold.

So could it be that the company that acquired Miramax is targeting itself?
But no matter what, now that I know about this thing, I can take precautions in advance.

No matter who wants to throw dirty water on itself, it will face its own revenge.

After letting this matter go, Tang De continued to prepare for the filming of "Lucy".

The film is currently scheduled to be shot in three locations: Seoul, New York and Hong Kong.

At the same time, in order to produce post-production special effects, an extra-large studio must be set up on the set to shoot the scenes in the laboratory.

However, because Tang De already had a lot of experience in filming "Inception", these things could be arranged smoothly.

Then there's the actors.

Scarlett Johansson, the undisputed heroine.

The supporting actor, Professor Norman, is still played by Morgan Freeman.

As for another male supporting role, policeman Donald, in the movie did not use the original Amor Wakold. He did not like the guy's appearance and it did not seem to match Scarlett at all.

So he directly sent an invitation to Chris Hemsworth, the future Thor.

This guy will become famous with "Thor" in two years, and now he is still in the stage of being of good quality and inexpensive.

As for the villain, Tang De felt that Choi Min-sik in the original version was quite suitable. He was a perfect match in portraying some cruel and perverted characters.

For example, "I Saw the Devil" and "Oldboy", Choi Min-sik's acting in these two movies is really superb, especially the serial killer in "I Saw the Devil", many people even had a lot of psychological trauma after watching it.

But because Tang De changed the plot so much, he gave the role of the extra villain to the casting director, asking him to choose a suitable mixed-race actor in Hollywood.

After all, it is a multinational organization, so it is normal for Choi Min-sik to have some foreign subordinates.

By the time Tang De finalized this series of actors, three days had passed since Victor published the report.

At this time, Tom had returned from home.

"Tang." Over the past year, his hair has grown a lot longer, and he even has some bangs, making him look a lot softer than the cold and tough guy he used to be.

"Well, how's home?"

"It's been dealt with. They have divorced." Tom seemed a little helpless when talking about this matter.

"That's fine, but your father loves gambling so much...are you planning to help him fill this bottomless pit in the future?"

Don De put down his pen and looked at Tom.

Tom shrugged. "Do you have any good ideas?"

"Not a good idea..." Tang De smiled, "but there are a lot of bad ideas. For example, instead of letting him lose the money to others, why not let him lose it to me?"

"?" Tom raised his eyebrows, looking a little confused.

"Remember the casino where we filmed Inception? They have been renovated and reopened, and their boss even gave me a VIP black card."

Tang De took out a card from his wallet and handed it to Tom: "Contact them and ask them to help. It shouldn't be difficult."

Tom was silent for a moment, then nodded: "You're right, Don. I can't let him lose all his money."

Even if he earns a million dollars a year now, he may not be able to withstand his father's heavy gambling, so it would be better to do as Tang De said and set a trap for the gambler, make him lose everything, and force him to not dare to gamble again.

"Ok, let's get back to business." Tang De knocked on the table: "Has the Weinstein incident been resolved?"

"I already have it." Tom took out a brown paper bag, untied the rope, and took out a stack of photos.

Tang De took the photos and checked them one by one. He found that the photo was of an unfamiliar woman wearing a backless dress. Accompanied by her agent, she walked into the Weinstein Company building and walked out soon after. However, her face looked very sad, as if something bad had happened during the interview.

But that's not the point. The point is that Tang De discovered that the way the rope on the back of this woman's skirt was tied was completely different from when she entered.

It was like she had taken her dress off and put it back on inside the Weinstein Company.

"What's her name?" "Guna Vargas, a female model from Cuba, 22 years old." Tom said the woman's name truthfully: "The detective found that the woman's skirt had been taken off, which is consistent with what you said."

"But this photo cannot prove that Harvey raped her against her will."

"Yes." Tom nodded.

"Hmm..." Tang De thought about it and felt that it was a bit difficult to find this guy's weakness.

After all, he and the actress were always in a private space whenever they were alone together. Unless the actress carried a recorder with her own or recorded with her mobile phone, they would not be able to obtain any solid evidence.

However, when he thought of the recorder, Tang De's heart suddenly moved, and he recalled many details in his mind.

It seems that before Harvey Weinstein was sued in 2017, someone had exposed this guy's ugly face, but it was suppressed by Harvey at the time.

Thinking of this, Tang De immediately said to Tom, "Let the detectives investigate Harvey's past scandals, especially the accusations made by the actresses. Once they find any, contact the original victim immediately."

"understood."

Weinstein and Bernay have been competing with each other for a long time. After all, they both make a living from public relations. There are only so many Oscars, and if Bernay takes it away, Harvey Weinstein will have nothing to lose.

In addition, Bernay won a huge victory at the Oscars in 2008, so Harvey hated them so much that he often made outrageous remarks and said weird things against Bernay.

As a result, Tang De was ridiculed by this big mouth many times. For example, half a year after "No Country for Old Men" won the award, at a small gathering of young directors and actors, he claimed that the film must have done a lot of public relations to win the award, and perhaps Tang De even knew the color of the Oscar judges' underwear.

This is no different from saying that Tang De is a gigolo.

However, when Tang De learned about this, some time had passed. It was other people who disliked Harvey Weinstein who heard it and secretly told him the news.

So Tang De had long wanted to get this old guy out of Hollywood, but he just never got around to it.

And even though Harvey Weinstein is a complete scumbag, his position in the industry is not something that ordinary people can shake.

This guy has formed a profiteer group, and even has his protectors in the police station, courts, and government.

This is also the reason why he was once accused of rape but remained unharmed.

"What about Victor?" Putting Harvey Weinstein's matter aside, Don asked Tom about Victor.

"This guy's entire identity and background are all here." Tom handed Tang De a document. "The detectives have been following him these days, but he is very cautious and doesn't go out often, so we haven't gained much. And we don't know Miramax's motives yet. They haven't given an explanation."

"Then they don't need to explain." Tang De flipped through Victor's information and said, "Let the hackers do it directly. Look through his emails and computers to see if there is anyone else who is instructing him."

"clear."

"Check his call records and text messages again, maybe there are clues in them." Tang De ordered again.

"Yeah." Tom didn't ask Tang De how to investigate because they had the help of professionals.

Either they get their hands on his phone through thieves, or they bribe someone in the carrier to check his communication records.

Anyway, as long as you spend money, this is not difficult to do.

Of course, Tang De had already taken precautions to prevent himself from encountering such a situation.

For example, multiple phones, and anonymous calling cards.

But I think Victor would definitely not be so cautious. He is not a billionaire and he certainly would not expect that someone would investigate him in this way.
-
Two days later, Tom came to Dond's office again with an investigation into Harvey Weinstein.

You Fei considerately closed the door for the two of them, isolating all sounds inside.

"Detectives Found Harvey Weinstein's Vulnerability."

"Tell me about it." Tang De drank tea and listened to the report from the detective on the phone.

"Harvey Weinstein was accused in 2005 of attempting to molest her by an Italian model, Ambra.

"She recorded her conversation with Weinstein with the help of plainclothes police, but the recording is no longer available. We only learned from an acquaintance in the police station that in the recording, Harvey Weinstein kept asking Ambora to go into the bathroom and swore with his children that he would not do anything to her."

"Well, then what?"

"Then the incident was exposed smoothly, but soon someone investigated her background and threw dirty water on her because she had attended a secret adult party before. Although she left halfway, the evidence of her attendance was dug up. So everyone thought that Ambola was a bitch, a bitch who was trying to scam a Hollywood tycoon."

"Haha." Tang De smiled: "So Harvey Weinstein escaped, but Miss Ambola had to leave America, right?"

"Yes."

After hearing this, Tang De also remembered something, that is, Harvey Weinstein was brought down in later years because Ambola provided a very important piece of evidence.

Although he couldn't remember what it was, there was no doubt that finding this woman would bring Harvey Weinstein to ruin.

Tang De is no longer an ordinary person without any foundation. As long as he wants, he can easily call on dozens of big-name stars to stand up and boycott Harvey. This is his confidence.

The only thing missing is solid evidence.

"So can we find this woman now?" Tang De asked on the phone.

"I've tried my best to find out, but she's not famous and doesn't have many friends in America, so it's hard for us to figure out her whereabouts right now. But I think she will definitely go home. Her home is in Italy, so I've already investigated her family."

"Okay, that's it."

"clear."

"Beep, beep, beep..." The phone was hung up.

Tang De looked at Tom. "Although we can't find any evidence for the time being, we can't stop tracking him. I believe that Harvey, the old pervert, will not be able to restrain himself and will definitely attack others. If there is a chance, we can find an actor to get close to Harvey."

"Okay, got it." Tom knew that Tang De was planning a sting operation.

Shortly after Tom left the office, Youfei came in and said to Tang De: "Boss, Victor posted a blog online."

"Oh? What did you say?"

"He's talking about Lucy, and he thinks it's going to be your Waterloo."

(End of this chapter)