Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 475 Assassination Mission
"cut!"

At the giant water tank set in Baja California, after filming a sea battle scene, the actors can rest for half an hour while the rest of the crew gets back to work.

When the crew arrived at the set to adjust the props and set up, the camera crew began to adjust the camera positions.

Preparing for the next match.

When Link returned to the director's area, he found Wallace and Kauf Black, one of the heads of Blackwater International Security, were also there.

Blackwater International Security was founded in 1996 by six retired U.S. Navy SEALs.

After receiving a huge investment from Horizon Investment in the second half of 96, the company grew rapidly.

In order to improve its operational standards, Blackwater has purchased a large number of advanced weapons and scientific instruments in the past two years, and has poached more than 20 veteran agents and managers from organizations such as the CIA, FBI, and Pentagon.

For example, Kauf Black served as the head of the counterterrorism division at the CIA before joining Blackwater, and Joseph Schmitz, the head of Blackwater's intelligence division, previously served as the inspector general at the Pentagon's Army Department.

Blackwater's workforce has grown from the initial 6 to the current 150.

The company's clients have expanded from entertainment stars to politicians and business leaders.

Blackwater's current business scope mainly includes security services, training, and logistics, while its covert operations include anti-kidnapping, counter-terrorism, intelligence analysis, and military consulting.

Link is both an investor in the company and an important client.

The crew has encountered a series of accidents, suggesting that someone is threatening Link's safety.

To find out the truth, Blackwater assigned Kauf Black to lead an investigation into the matter.

Kauf Black told him that Cuban police interrogated the two suspected paparazzi after arresting them, but didn't get the information they wanted.

The two paparazzi were subsequently released.

Unfortunately, when they left Cuba and flew to Haiti, they were mistaken for CIA agents by the local gang and imprisoned in a water dungeon.

Five days later, the two revealed the truth, claiming to be assassins from the United States who received a mission from the dark web to assassinate billionaire Link.

However, Link was surrounded by many bodyguards and was heavily guarded, so they couldn't find an opportunity to strike. Therefore, they lurked around the film crew and waited for Link to be alone before making their move.

Unexpectedly, last month the Pirates of the Caribbean crew encountered an accident when they were arrested as suspects while spying nearby.

Their assassination attempt also failed.

"This information was obtained from the Haitian mafia, so it is highly credible. The accident that happened to the film crew earlier should not be related to them."

Kauf Black said.

"Dark Web?"

Link was somewhat surprised. He had heard of such websites before, but he didn't expect them to have appeared in 98, with people posting assassination missions online.

"As far as we know, the dark web first appeared in 1996. Currently, there are not many active users, about 100,000. They mainly post erotic pictures, entertainment gossip, missing person notices, and online surfing tutorials. Some people also use these websites to post various tasks, including assassinations."

At this point, Kauf Black glanced at him and said, "Actually, the creation of this website is also related to you."

"Is it related to me?"

"Yes, the term 'dark web' isn't new, but the concept of posting bounty missions first appeared in your movie 'The Internet,' and even the design of the earliest dark web portal was exactly the same as in the movie, so many people believe that the creation of this website was inspired by 'The Internet.'"

Kauf Black said.

Link looked helpless, but not too surprised.

After the release of "The Internet," many programmers were inspired by the film's advanced internet-related settings and used the technologies mentioned in the movie to create similar websites.

For example, Google, which was founded in early 1996, Blogger, a personal website that became popular last year, and concepts such as online store orders.

When talking to him, Google founder Larry Page and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos admitted that they had watched "The Internet" more than ten times. They said they were inspired by the movie to make Google and Amazon websites more mature and complete, and the two even thanked him.

It's quite reasonable for someone to draw inspiration from movies and create the dark web.

The only illogical part is that someone is using the dark web platform to assassinate him, which is tantamount to someone using the dagger forged by Link to kill him.

unacceptable.

"Koff, is it possible to find out who posted the mission on the dark web?"

Link asked.

“We are working on this, but the dark web is designed to be very covert, making it difficult to trace user information through IP addresses. Our network engineers are using phishing to find people, but progress is slow and will take some time.”

Link nodded, telling them to continue the search and find the murderer as soon as possible.

After seeing off Cough Black and the others, Link continued filming.

In the afternoon, Chen Chong brought Chen Hong, Wang Yan, Zeng Li, Jiang Qinqin, Li Bingbing and others to visit the set. Among them, Li Bingbing was in the United States promoting "Rush Hour 2", Xu Qing was promoting the movie "The Emperor and the Assassin", and Zhang Ziyi was dubbing "Mulan".

After get off work, Link met with them at the hotel and also chatted with Chen Chong about film investment. Dongfeng Pictures has invested in 12 films this year.

Including films such as *The Bath*, *The Dark War*, *My 1919*, *Not One Less*, *Endless*, *Lotus Lantern*, and *Postmen in the Mountains*.

Six of the films are exclusively produced by Dongfeng Pictures, while the remaining six are collaborations with film companies such as Chinese Brothers, Sil-Metropole, and Golden Harvest, with a total estimated investment of 55 million yuan.

Chen Hong, Wang Yan, and others also played important roles in these films.

"Last year, the huge success of 'Zheng Chenggong' made domestic filmmakers go crazy with excitement. Many people were eager to make historical epics and send them abroad to earn foreign exchange. Major film studios also made plans to invest in and produce multiple historical epics."

From the end of last year to the beginning of this year, our company received more than 30 historical scripts, all from well-known screenwriters and directors. However, their stories were all terrible, with few selling points. They submitted their scripts to us hoping to utilize our technology and distribution channels. Therefore, apart from Director Chen's "The Emperor and the Assassin," we have not yet approved any of the other scripts.

Chen Chong leaned against him and said with a smile.

After its release last year, "Zheng Chenggong" achieved good box office results in major film markets around the world. Currently, its global box office has reached US$1.84 million, with a box office return of more than 5 times, making it the highest-grossing Chinese film in world film history.

After its release, "Zheng Chenggong" won several prestigious awards at major film festivals.

It includes the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the British Independent Film Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the São Paulo International Film Festival Award for Best Film, and the European Film Awards Award for Best Foreign Language Film, totaling 82 awards.

This movie can be described as a success both in terms of critical acclaim and box office revenue.

Seeing the huge success of "Zheng Chenggong," domestic filmmakers seemed to have found a way out for Chinese cinema and rushed to make similar films.

Lin Ke was a little worried. The success of "Zheng Chenggong" was not only due to the high quality of the film itself, the effective publicity, and the strong overseas distribution capabilities of the film company, but also closely related to the political environment and social atmosphere of last year.

In other words, the market trend.

Now that the trend has faded, other films that want to follow suit are more likely to fail.

If those people lose money and lose faith in movies, the domestic film industry will likely be significantly affected.

"Let's not worry about things back home for now. Since you're in America, stay here a bit longer, travel around, and once this movie is finished, I plan to take some time to visit the kids back home."

Link stroked her smooth shoulder as he spoke.

“Great! I’m not just bringing these girls with me this time, but also two screenwriters. I plan to acquire the rights to a batch of classic films from Hollywood, bring them back, find someone to revise the scripts, and remake them into Chinese films. These kinds of films should have a market in China.”

"That's a good idea, we can give it a try."

Link nodded.

"Sister Chong, Link, are you finished talking?"

Chen Hong peeked out from under the blanket, her rosy and delicate cheeks adorned with a languid and charming smile.

"What? You're still not satisfied? Aren't you afraid you won't be able to walk tomorrow?"

Chen Chong laughed and scolded.

No! That's not what I meant.

Chen Hong bit her lower lip and looked at Link hesitantly. "Zhuizhui is so cute. I want to have a child too, Link. Is that okay?" Zhuizhui is the nickname of the child Chen Chong had.

"Of course you can, I haven't taken away your right to be mothers."

Link held her in his arms through the blanket.

"Link, I want to have children too."

Xu Qing and Li Binbin, among others, also chimed in eagerly.

Lin Ke didn't agree immediately. Unlike Chen Chong and Chen Hong, they were both still young, under thirty, and had a lot of work. They wouldn't have time to take care of their children after having them. He, on the other hand, was busy in the United States and didn't have time to look after his children. If they didn't have time either, then it would be better to have a few years of leisure before having children.

However, he also made a suggestion: those who are willing to retire from the entertainment industry and stay at home to take care of their children can have children now.

Although she can't continue acting after having a child, she can find stable work at Dongfeng Film Studio or other companies.

They can also receive an additional 100 million yuan in living allowance from the family fund each year, with each child receiving 100 million yuan annually.

Upon hearing his suggestion, Xu Qing and the others hesitated.

In the end, only Jiang Qinqin and Zeng Li, who were not very career-driven, were willing to retire from the entertainment industry immediately to have children at home. The others wanted to work hard for a few more years and then retire from the entertainment industry around the age of 30 to settle down at home and raise children.

Link didn't force them; he fully respected their opinions. Those who wanted children were given them children immediately, and those who needed resources were provided with assistance.

After chatting for a while, Chen Hong, Jiang Qinqin, and Zeng Li had also rested.

Link stood up.

The sound of the waves outside the seaside hotel suddenly became intense and surging.

(End of this chapter)