America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 147 Hollywood's Number One Macho Man

Early Saturday morning, even more outrageous pictures appeared in American gossip newspapers, with Kardashian seemingly wanting to devour Martin like a fangirl.

Caption: "Kim Kardashian's idol."

Other gossip tabloids also ran headlines like, "Hollywood rising star Martin Davis, Kim Kardashian's crush!"

Martin has created a new type of person by creating his own trending topics and then trying to ride those trends himself.

Bruce, that rude and scoundrel, even suggested that Kardashian and Martin go to the same hotel one after the other that night.

Fortunately, Martin was a little more sensible than Old Brooks and did not agree.

In this day and age, even the best works need to be promoted in order to gain enough fame.

Even so-called arthouse artists like Daniel Day-Lewis and Meryl Streep go to great lengths to generate news when their works are released.

The production team also released information that Martin and the director subdued a giant kangaroo during filming.

For movie promotion and marketing, just hype it up as much as possible.

As soon as the report was published, the North Hollywood apartment was immediately targeted by paparazzi, and guards were stationed at the entrance.

The cost of being a paparazzi is very low. Many people in the industry don't have any professional licenses. All they need is a camera and a beat-up motorcycle to get started. Los Angeles is full of celebrities, and if they take any valuable photos, they can sell them to gossip magazines for income.

Antonio wanted to sit in the doorway and sunbathe as usual, but before he could even move the chair out, the sound of camera shutters started, and two small recorders were shoved in front of his face.

"Are you the landlord here? Who did Martin Davis spend the night with last night?"

Antonio was about to call someone a jerk named Bruce, but remembering Bruce's ever-present menacing stare, he shouted, "Get out of here! Don't get in the way! This is private property!"

The female dog, Jody, sneaked into the apartment building.

Antonio patted his coat: "Anyone who dares to trespass on my property will learn what the 'gun of friendship' means."

Upon hearing the gunshot, Jody immediately stopped.

Seeing that they couldn't get any information from their colleagues, they dispersed and waited patiently.

Jody approached Antonio and whispered, "Want to talk business?"

Antonio asked, "What kind of business?"

Jody pulled out a roll of US dollars: "Let me in, I'll take some pictures of Martin's place."

Antonio looked down and saw that the roll was complete, but it only contained $10 bills.

This is nothing to a millionaire: "Warning: I'll call the police."

Undeterred, Jody pulled out two more scrolls: "These are all yours, in exchange for helping me install surveillance cameras at Martin Davis's door."

Antonio calculated the potential loss of rent and other risks after the news broke and simply said, "$5, whatever you want."

Jody was stunned for a long time. If she had $5, why would she do such hard work?

But she wouldn't give up. She raised her hand and unbuttoned two buttons on her shirt, revealing a large expanse of skin: "I'll stay with you for the night."

Antonio had initially only looked down on the amount of money, but upon hearing her words, he immediately became alert: "What are you trying to do? Are you after my property?"

Jody discovered that this fat man's way of thinking was completely different from hers.

Antonio suddenly heard a familiar voice above him.

"Landlord, you're not going to be negotiating with the paparazzi about selling me, are you?" Martin stood on the rooftop of the apartment building, looking at the fat man and Jody, and shouted a reminder: "Your apartment is full of actors. Once your reputation is ruined, who will want to rent from you? Where are you going to collect your $5 monthly rent? You'll go bankrupt from the property taxes!"

Three other tenants peeked out, holding beer bottles.

Antonio warned Jordi, "See? If you dare go in, they'll beat you out."

Jody left the place, but kept an eye on the tenants coming and going.

Of course, some tenants would be interviewed and reveal information about Martin, but Martin has spent most of his time on the film set and some time with Louise these past few months, so he hasn't had much interaction with the other tenants.

On the rooftop of the apartment building, Bruce put away his binoculars and said to Martin, "I saw five paparazzi, and the boldest one was that woman."

Martin picked up his binoculars and glanced around: "The paparazzi and the usual gossip magazines can't afford a price that would tempt Antonio. The reason I chose this apartment was because Antonio has some assets and a good reputation."

"It's not that the paparazzi and gossip media can't afford the price, it's that you're not worth that much," Bruce revealed the cruel truth.

Martin exclaimed in exasperation, "How did I end up hiring a piece of shit like you as my manager?"

Bruce said to himself, "Antonio isn't interested in these small sums of money, but the other tenants might not be."

Martin was prepared: "The most valuable things, of course, we should sell them ourselves!"

Bruce wasn't surprised by this, because Martin had done it more than once or twice.

Martin waved to Emily and Jessica, who were drinking beer under a parasol, and they immediately ran over.

"Continue to post positive reviews on the website?" Emily asked eagerly. "Let's go back now."

Martin waved his hand: "You guys have helped me a lot these past two days."

Jessica spoke first: "You bought us beer."

Martin was a generous and open-minded man: "Here's some compensation for you."

Emily spoke up before Jessica could, "No need, really, I can help you with things..."

"Listen to me," Martin interrupted her, raising his hand. "I haven't actually lived in the apartment for very long, so what's it that's attracting the attention of paparazzi and gossip magazines?"

While Emily was still thinking, Jessica had already realized: "She often brings one or two women back, making it so noisy that the whole building can't sleep at night."

Martin waved his hand: "Go downstairs and sell this information to the paparazzi. You can keep whatever you get."

He casually asked, "Do you know how to say it?"

Jessica nodded: "I know, you're incredibly skilled, several women couldn't handle you..."

"Very good." Martin urged, "Hurry up and go, lest someone steal your business."

Jessica dragged Emily downstairs, as if they were going out shopping, which quickly attracted Jody's attention.

"Martin, he's our neighbor." Jessica was younger than Emily, but more quick-witted. "He chats with us occasionally."

Jody asked, "Could you elaborate? What did he talk about, and what outrageous things did he do?"

Jessica stared at the paparazzi: "It's not like I can't talk about it..."

Jody understood, and took out two $10 bills, handing them over: "These are for you."

Emily instinctively reached for the phone, but Jessica quietly pulled her back: "It's explosive news, it's about a woman. We're his neighbors, that's why we know."

Jody pulled out two more sheets, and seeing that the girl, whose skin was so white it seemed to reflect light, was still not satisfied, he simply gave her the remaining sheets of the roll: "This is all the information about Martin Davis is worth."

In her eyes, Martin Davis's news is worth at most $100, and that's only because "House of Wax" had a good opening and Kim Kardashian's buzz last night.

Jessica put the money away: "Martin often brings several women back. I don't know them personally, but no matter how many he brings, Martin can make them sing all night. The apartment isn't very soundproof, and it's so noisy that people can't sleep. The landlord has almost blown Martin's door open with a gun several times."

Jody's interest was immediately piqued: "Are any of those women celebrities? Like Kim Kardashian? Elizabeth Cuthbert?"

Jessica shook her head: "I'm not sure, I don't know."

After that, there was no more valuable information, and Jody gave up on Jessica and Emily.

Looking back at their backs, she suddenly had an idea. She picked up her camera and took a picture of them with their North Hollywood apartment as their backdrop.

Compared to many of his later colleagues, Jody had at least a little bit of professionalism; at least he was prepared to write articles based on pictures.

She quickly sketched out a news story in her mind: a young actor who won the Saturn Award for Best Newcomer began to indulge himself, bringing women home every night to party, sometimes even dragging two beautiful neighbors along. Because of his excessive sexual activity, the noise caused dissatisfaction among the surrounding residents, and the landlord shot him...

Jody primarily works in online entertainment news, so she understands the importance of headlines.

With the framework outlined, the title automatically appears: Shocking! Hollywood's number one hunk is actually him!

Jessica and Emily drove around for a bit and then quickly returned to their apartment building.

Emily said, "Shall we split the money in half?"

Jessica said as she went upstairs, "We'll talk about it later."

She was young but had a strong sense of purpose. She went up to the roof of the apartment building and placed 10 US dollars on the table in front of Martin.

Martin, of course, refused: "I told you, this is your payment, you can keep it."

Jessica picked it up, pointed out five bills to Emily, and said with a smile, "Thank you, Martin. What would you like to eat for lunch? It's on me."

Martin didn't refuse, pointing down below: "There are too many paparazzi, so Old Bu and I won't go out. It's still early, you can go buy some fried chicken and hamburgers around 11 o'clock."

A hit movie always generates a series of news stories and creates new stars.

On its opening day in North America, Madame Tussauds grossed $723 million, beating out American soldier and Dancing Dancer to become the top-grossing film of the day.

It remained at the top of the North American box office for the following two days, Saturday and Sunday.

After three days of opening weekend, including preview screenings, Madame Tussauds grossed $2013 million in its opening weekend, exceeding Warner Bros. and the North American theater chain's $1500 million box office expectations.

As a traditional North American slasher horror film, its reputation is naturally mediocre. It only has a 6.3 rating on IMDb, but a B rating from audiences at the Cinema Score, which best reflects market response, is still acceptable.

Cinema Score officially predicts that the film will gross around $5000 million at the North American box office.

Similar American horror films often have similar box office returns overseas compared to North America, meaning that Madame Tussauds' global box office is expected to reach $1 million.

The film's production cost was revealed to be a staggering $4000 million, with the vast majority of the funding coming from various medleys.

Martin wouldn't be foolish enough to inquire about the actual investment, but director Jaume Coleman, in a drunken stupor, mentioned a few things, estimating that the production, promotion, and distribution of Madame Tussauds would cost no more than $4000 million in total.

I know Louise, who does DIY platter stuff, and Martin is no exception. His straw hat costs 7000 yuan, which is definitely something that's been around for a while.

The scandal involving Leonardo DiCaprio in his previous life is not an isolated case in Hollywood.

(End of this chapter)