America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 273 Contest

"This is Barry Mayer, CEO of Warner Bros."

In the luxurious and spacious banquet hall, Louise led Martin to the host of the evening and made a special introduction: "This is Alan Horn, the president of Warner Bros. Pictures."

Martin politely shook hands and greeted the two men, who were the heads of Warner Bros. during its heyday.

The two shook hands with Martin but didn't say much. Given Martin's status, he wasn't someone who would impress them.

However, Alan Horn's daughter, Cody Horn, chatted with Martin for a few more minutes.

She asked, "I heard you've started a new project. I'm also an actress, do you have any suitable roles for me?"

Martin immediately said, "You'll get it if you come, but your role might be small."

Cody Horn handed him a business card: "You can send the role information to my email. If it's suitable, I'll have my agent contact your production team."

Martin took the business card and carefully put it away.

Then he followed Louise to another place.

Louise cautioned, "She's acting purely for fun, don't take it too seriously."

Martin understood: "A rich girl experiencing life? Instead of treating it as her career like you do?"

Louise nodded slightly. "That's right." She suddenly stopped and gestured with her eyes towards the vicinity of the banquet hall entrance. "Julie and Aniston ran into each other. Interesting."

Martin saw that Julie and Aniston arrived one after the other. The banquet hall wasn't very big, so it was perfectly normal for them to run into each other.

Louise, that slut, was spouting nonsense again: "You get them together and help them mediate. I have a small villa, and there's a room with X-ray vision..."

Martin said, "I'm a decent man."

Near the entrance to the banquet hall, Julie and Aniston's eyes met, and neither of them backed down.

Unlike in the past, Aniston did not back down; instead, she stared intently at Julie.

Given Julie's personality, how could she possibly back down? She walked over to meet Aniston's gaze.

Approaching her, Julie said softly, "Hello, loser."

The words "bitch" were on the tip of Aniston's tongue, but she couldn't bring herself to say them in this situation, mindful of her image.

Julie added, "You lost, in every way."

Aniston swallowed her angry words and smiled with grace and confidence: "You may not be the winner until the very end."

Julie turned around, grabbed a glass of wine from the table next to her, and left alone.

Aniston also took a glass of wine, glanced around the hall briefly, and walked towards Martin.

She approached Martin, nodded slightly to Louise, and said to Martin, "There's something I'd like to talk to you about regarding the script and the character."

Louise's character was equally awful, as evidenced by her behavior towards Kelly, who immediately said goodbye: "You two chat, I saw a friend, I'm going to say hello."

Martin knew Aniston was talking nonsense, but a good man should be principled, though he also needs to know how to cooperate. He asked, "Is there a problem with your character?"

"A little bit." Aniston took a step forward, then took another step forward, realizing she wasn't close enough, before saying, "We're playing a couple, but there's a big age gap between us, so it's hard to get the right feeling. I think we should work on our chemistry beforehand."

Martin said very seriously, "That makes sense."

Aniston naturally reached out and grabbed Martin's arm: "This just doesn't feel quite right."

Martin, being such a kind person, took the initiative to cooperate, moving a step closer to her: "Would this be better?"

Not far away, Julie walked through the crowd and her gaze fell on the two of them.

Aniston linked arms with Martin, and the two looked like a couple.

Julie bit her thick lips, gripped the cup tightly, and was so excited that her legs trembled so much that she couldn't move.

Almost simultaneously, Aniston also found Julie.

Seeing her strange expression and her biting lower lip, Aniston curled her lips into a slight smile.

Julie braced herself on the table with one hand and pressed the other against her chest.

Aniston's smile widened, as if she had won a battle.

At the entrance of the banquet hall, Brad Pitt, dressed in a beige suit, had just entered when he saw Aniston arm in arm with Martin. This time, he wasn't swayed by her charm and turned around to leave the banquet hall.

He knew that conflict couldn't happen in this kind of place; causing trouble would be a disgrace to the entire Warner Bros., so he simply chose to ignore it.

Mennet, dressed in a dark suit, followed them out of the banquet hall and came to the vicinity of the elevator. Seeing Pete waiting for the elevator, he simply stood in front of the mirror and pretended to adjust his bow tie.

Pete took the elevator and went straight downstairs to leave.

Menne was a little disappointed that she couldn't find Pete's mother.

I wanted to stand up for the boss...

The other side didn't give Mr. Menez a chance.

Back in the banquet hall, Mene waited a while, and seeing that Martin was alone, she went over to him and said, "Boss."

Martin patted his arm: "You're back?"

Menez nodded: "You can rest for a few days."

Martin called to Menez: "Come on, I'll introduce you to some directors."

He joined Thomas, and together they ventured into the circle of British actors and directors.

Christopher Nolan, sporting blond hair parted in the middle, is getting a dessert for his wife, Emma Thomas.

Thomas walked ahead and introduced the two sides.

Nolan shook hands with Martin: "I've seen the wanted poster and studied the action scenes carefully. It's a very cool design."

It's all about mutual praise, and Martin doesn't mince words: "At the start of the war, we saw a Batman and Bruce Wayne who lived in the real world, not just a comic book character."

Nolan was rather modest: "It wasn't exactly a great success; at best, it just didn't fail."

Martin asked curiously, "I like this film, and the new style you've given Batman. I heard from Warner Bros. that you, Director Nolan, already have plans for a sequel?"

"I have some basic ideas, but I haven't put them into a systematic way yet." Nolan, assuming Martin was interested in the role of Bruce Wayne, added, "I've already had Bale prepare in advance."

Martin asked, "At the end of the battle, the Joker's playing cards appeared. May I ask, is the Joker the main villain in the sequel?"

This is quite obvious, and Nolan has no reason to deny it, saying, "If nothing unexpected happens, the main villain will be the Joker."

"I know Nicholson, the last actor to play the Joker, very well," Martin said. "Nicholson has a natural evil aura."

Nolan had also read the gossip about the Joker trio and said, "Nicholson's performance in '89 was outstanding, and that version of the Joker gave me a lot of inspiration."

He didn't want to talk about it further, and instead said, "This film is still a long way off; I have other projects to finish before that."

Martin didn't mince words, after all, his relationship with Warner Bros. was obvious to everyone: "The Prestige? I've read Periste's original novel, it's a duel between two heroes."

In fact, The Dark Knight continued this pattern, and Batman and the Joker were also a duel between two heroes.

The latter even has a more significant role.

Nolan, being a director, immediately guessed: "You're interested in this project?"

Martin stated directly, "I really like that novel and hope to have the opportunity to collaborate."

"You're a little too young." Nolan didn't rule it out completely, after all, when casting a role, the actor's age is only one factor to consider, not the key one: "You're welcome to audition for the role."

Martin should stop here; his main goal now is to become a familiar face to the public.

While Martin was talking to Nolan, Menez was also chatting with Emma Thomas not far away.

Perhaps it's because she's naturally attractive to middle-aged women; in just a few words, Menez had Emma Thomas laughing non-stop.

After laughing, Emma Thomas said, "You're a very interesting person. No wonder so many people say good things about you."

Menezes asked in surprise, "Many people say I'm good? Who are they?"

Emma Thomas said, "Didn't you know? We women who work behind the scenes have formed a regular group, and when we get together, a lot of people talk about you."

Within Hollywood, the number of women who truly wield significant power is actually quite small. These women naturally gravitate towards each other, forming a small clique.

In this group, there was more than one person who was swayed to ecstasy by Mr. Menez.

Menez wasn't embarrassed at all; instead, she looked surprised: "So I'm that famous!"

Emma tilted her head slightly: "Actually, many people doubt whether you're really that amazing?"

In this setting, especially with a female producer present and her husband there, Mennet was rather reserved, lightly rubbing her lips: "Perhaps it's an innate advantage, a special talent given to me by God."

Emma Thomas nodded and didn't press the matter further.

Compared to women in their forties and fifties in the industry, she is definitely a conscientious female producer.

Most of the time, she was busy taking care of her husband's worries.

After seeing Martin and Nolan exchange business cards, Menez politely said something and left with Martin.

Thomas, a step behind, asked Menez, "What did you learn?"

Menez shook his head: "She's not quite the same."

Thomas said softly, "Then let's not do anything rash, let's play it safe."

Martin spotted Will Smith, turned to Thomas, and asked, "Am I a legend now?"

Thomas subtly pointed to Alan Horn, who was talking to Will Smith: "Last month, he strongly advocated for Warner Bros. to sign a contract with Will Smith, reportedly for a salary of over $2000 million, and possibly also for post-production profit sharing."

Martin recognized the situation clearly: "Superstar? I'm still a long way off."

This is a gap in overall strength.

"Looking at Hollywood, only Leonardo DiCaprio can rival him in status; everyone else falls short," Thomas said. "In terms of commercial appeal alone, even Leonardo DiCaprio isn't as good as Will Smith."

Martin knew very well that this was an era where even if Will Smith acted in a terrible movie, countless people would still buy it.

"Keep it up, Martin." Thomas finally seized an opportunity to work with Martin: "You have a long road ahead of you."

Martin immediately countered, "Our goal is clear: I'll become a superstar, and you'll become a senior partner."

Thomas was filled with enthusiasm upon hearing this.

(End of this chapter)