America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 257 Face Help and Foot Help

As night fell, Nicholson's extended Lincoln cruised along Sunset Boulevard, filled with men.

In addition to Martin and Leonardo, Wes Craven also joined the team.

The old man said to Martin, "You're amazing, kid. Another North American box office champion. This movie, 'Wanted,' will definitely gross over $100 million in North America. Two movies in a row have grossed over $100 million in North America. You're rising like a rocket."

When facing Craven, Martin was somewhat modest: "The summer of jeans didn't break 100 million."

Craven had a completely different view: "You weren't the lead actor in that movie, so strictly speaking, it can't be counted in your total box office revenue, and no producer cared about it."

Nicholson said, "That little bastard is good at hype."

Leonardo interjected, "I heard Jolie call you 'teacher'? Martin, you didn't teach Jolie all that hype, did you?"

The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became: "Before Jolie joined the Wanted cast, she was just a confused woman who didn't know what was going on. She wasn't capable of causing this much trouble. After she was confirmed to star in Wanted at the beginning of the year, she was like a different person. She quickly started to promote herself as the Virgin Mary."

Martin, of course, wouldn't admit: "It has nothing to do with me."

Nicholson pointed to his eyes and said disdainfully, "In my experience, you and Julie are definitely having an affair, and it's a very abnormal one at that. Don't fucking deny it. Perverts know perverts best. I, this old pervert, can tell you two are little perverts just by looking at you."

Martin retorted, "If I weren't in a good mood today, I would have thrown you out of the car, headfirst, so you could spend the night on the asphalt."

When the car arrived at his usual Nightclub, Craven made a phone call and drove directly into the backyard.

The four men entered the club and each selected their preferred dancer.

When I came out, I met up with a group of people.

Harvey spotted the four people who came out at a glance and greeted them one by one: "Good evening, Leo, Jack, Wes, and Martin."

Martin nodded with a smile, as if he knew nothing about it.

Behind Harvey were Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Brad Pitt.

The two sides met by chance and exchanged only a few pleasantries.

As they passed each other, Martin walked at the back, and Harvey suddenly said, "Congratulations, Martin, another box office champion."

Martin was naturally quite polite in public: "Compared to what you have done, my achievements are insignificant."

Harvey looked at him and smiled, a kind smile.

Pete interjected, "You did a good job."

Hearing this, Martin unconsciously thought of other things. He glanced at Damon and said, "Brad, thank you Plan B for the recommendation from the Departed crew. Without your recommendation, I wouldn't have gotten the second lead role."

Damon's eyes immediately turned to Pete, but he said nothing.

Pete calmly replied, "Plan B isn't just my idea either."

Martin nodded. "Anyway, thank you."

Pitt smiled broadly, looking very charming.

Martin followed Nicholson upstairs.

Once the four of them were upstairs, Harvey called out, "Come on, let's go pick out our favorite girls. Quentin and Robert are waiting for us."

He patted Pete and Damon on the shoulder and said, "It's nothing."

The two had worked together on the same film set and were somewhat familiar with each other. They smiled and followed Harvey to select actors.

Ten minutes later, they entered a VIP room.

There were already four people in the room, including two men: Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.

Two other young women sat on the sofa, their long legs crossed, revealing their fair feet; judging from their attire, they were club dancers.

The two renowned directors are very busy.

Quentin is using his words, Rodriguez is using his hands.

Pete could see clearly that the man serving Quentin had feet that looked like they'd been soaking in the bath for too long; the skin was all wrinkled.

In contrast, Rodriguez was much more normal.

The dancers that Pete and his group had ordered gradually arrived.

Quentin then raised his head, his unusual appearance and the drool at the corner of his mouth making his smile slightly creepy: "You've all come."

Pitt greeted the two directors.

Harvey sat down on a sofa and said, "We built a supportive team, helping each other in Hollywood, and that's how we got to where we are today."

Pitt wasn't surprised; there are many similar organizations in Hollywood, such as gangs of scoundrels.

Harvey looked at Pitt and said, "Today, we welcome a new member, Brad Pitt."

Pete nodded slightly in greeting.

Harvey said, "Welcome Pete, but there's a little ceremony before you officially join."

Pete assumed it was a ritual similar to the Cult of Cola or Scientology, and said, "Then let's start as soon as possible."

Harvey clapped his hands, and the dancers who followed them up took off their high heels in unison, sat on the sofa, and crossed their legs and feet.

Quentin, that psychopath, spread his arms wide and said, "Enjoy it all!"

At almost the same moment, in another VIP room furthest away from here, Martin, Leonardo, and three others were having their faces crushed by rolling wheels.

The wheels were white and the rubber was soft. Pressing against my face felt incredibly comfortable and refreshing.

Leonardo said, "I'm almost addicted to this feeling. Every time a car runs over me, I feel like my IQ increases by 10."

Martin shoved his nose out from between the wheels: "Because your IQ is only 10, Leo!"

The huge wheel ran over his mouth, and Leonardo couldn't speak, so he could only give Martin the middle finger.

Nicholson suddenly patted the white woman's butt in front of him: "I finally understand why I couldn't feel refreshed last time."

Craven didn't know: "Why?"

Nicholson laughed and said, "The color is wrong!"

Martin stopped him from continuing: "Guys, let me ask you something: who among you knows the British director Danny Boyle?"

Leonardo raised his hand, and after the car wheel rolled past his mouth and nose, he tilted his head and said, "I worked with him on the adventure film 'The Beach' in 2000. He's not a traditional British director; he's not that conservative or rigid."

He suddenly stopped and turned to Martin, asking, "Why are you asking him?"

Martin said, "I wanted to push a new project, but I was short of a suitable director, so he volunteered."

"Ha, the film is a success, a box office hit, that's really something!" Nicholson chimed in, "Even a greenhorn like you has established directors offering themselves up."

Martin retorted without mincing words, "Times have changed!"

Through the Departed project, Leonardo learned a lot about Martin Scorsese. He knew that Scorsese was able to secure tens of millions of dollars in investment and had Pacific Films backing him, so it wouldn't be too difficult for him to push forward a medium-sized project.

He said based on his understanding: "I don't know the type of your project. If it's an action movie like 'Wanted,' you've definitely made the wrong choice to hire Danny Boyle as the director. But if it's a more exaggerated drama, then hiring him is the right choice."

Martin's vision for the new project includes some action scenes, but with Chad as the action director and assistant director, the action scenes are sufficient. The plot, however, needs to be overseen.

Leonardo DiCaprio added, "How should I put it? Danny is quite different from the traditional British. You can see it from Trainspotting. He has a rebellious spirit that's a combination of Kubrick and Quentin Tarantino. He's very flamboyant on set and will use exaggerated physical movements to demonstrate for the actors. He never sticks to dogma."

Martin watched Trainspotting and 28 Days Later this afternoon. Danny Boyle is definitely not a traditional British director.

Craven then asked, "The adaptation project of that novel, *The Dark Realm*, that you showed me?"

"That's right, that's it." Martin not only showed Craven the novel, but also discussed some plot details. The old man had directed, written, and produced too many films in his life, so his experience was exceptionally rich.

Craven said, "Based on what you've told me, I think he'd be a good fit. I've read most of his work."

Martin decided to try contacting him privately first: "Leo, you're familiar with Danny Boyle, why don't you ask him to come out and have a chat sometime?"

Leonardo said, "Okay, I'll invite him to my party."

He then extended an invitation to Craven.

Unexpectedly, Craven declined: "I haven't been feeling well lately, and the doctor told me to take care of myself, so I won't go."

Martin advised, "Go get a full body checkup."

Craven laughed and said, "I just did it last week, it's nothing, I'm just getting old, my energy can't keep up."

Martin then asked Leonardo, "When is the party?"

"Be patient," Leonardo said. "I need to be fully prepared. I can't let your yacht party outshine mine. I'll definitely surprise you and give you a blast!"

Martin asked no more questions and continued to enjoy the face washing service.

Half an hour later, the four people left the VIP room and got into the car from the backyard.

As the extended Lincoln started, Martin looked through the car window and saw Harvey and Pete's group leaving the club and entering the backyard.

But compared to before, there are two more people now: Quentin and Rodriguez.

For some reason, Martin noticed that Pete kept wiping his mouth with tissues, which looked quite strange.

Craven saw it too and said, "Looks like Brad Pitt has joined Harvey and Quentin's side."

Martin asked in surprise, "Footplates? What's that?"

Craven had worked with the Weinstein brothers at Miramax many times and knew them quite well. He explained simply, "They were a small gang, like a thug organization, with Harvey and Quentin at the core. I named them that because Quentin has a serious foot fetish."

Leonardo asked, "Wes, they didn't invite you to join?"

Craven plugged his nose: "I'm not interested in licking other people's stinky feet, even if they're soaked in perfume."

Nicholson became interested: "They're called the Foot Cult, what about us? What should we be called? We can't exactly be called the Cola Cult, can we? That would be too easy on Martin!"

Perverts always have something in common, so Martin automatically chimed in: "Shall we call ourselves the Face Gang?"

Nicholson nodded: "That sounds good, much more sophisticated than their 'foot gang'!"

Martin laughed heartily: "Then let's call it the Face Gang."

The other three all agreed with Martin.

(End of this chapter)