America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 422 Grandpa Mei has made progress again.

On set, Bruce handed Martin a classic Nokia 1100 and said, "Don't worry about the action scenes, I put the bullets in myself, they won't fall off."

Martin put the pistol in his pocket, picked up the black bag containing the UMP45, and went into the film set.

Klose, a marketing director at Nokia, approached Bruce and handed him a tote bag: "Just a little something."

Bruce didn't answer, but asked, "Director, what does this mean?"

Klose said, "Nokia is interested in hiring Mr. Davis as Nokia's long-term global brand ambassador. Please put in a good word for him."

Bruce took the bag.

Klose smiled and stepped aside.

Once filming begins, all unrelated personnel must remain silent.

There's nothing else to it but acting; don't be a coward, just do it!

Martin carried his submachine gun on his shoulder, moving with standard tactical movements, firing occasionally. Each time a shot rang out, a gunman on the other side fell to the ground.

The sound of blank cartridges banging echoed throughout the entire open-air film set.

When Martin ran out of submachine gun ammunition, he pulled out his pistol.

After filming the nearly half-minute long take, he took a slight breath. In the next scene, he picked up the rocket launcher he had found and pulled the trigger at a fleeing car. The car roared up and a fireball shot up, making a much bigger splash than Nicholson's RPG fireworks.

Martin tossed aside the rocket launcher and pulled out his phone to make a call. The camera slid closer and gave a close-up of the Nokia phone, revealing a pistol bullet stuck in its candybar form factor and the screen shattered.

Martin ignored all of that and dialed the number with one key.

A pre-recorded message from Menez played on set: "Jonathan..."

"Stop! That's a good take!" Chad glanced at Martin and shouted, "Take a half-hour break."

The film crew also needs time to move between locations.

Martin returned to the rest area, tossed the Nokia to Bruce, plopped down in a chair, took the water bottle Old Bruce handed him, took a few sips, and said, "Old Jack really should come and see what fireworks are."

"If you put fireworks like that in Warren Beatty's house, it'll cause a fire," Bruce added, then placed the briefcase that the Nokia marketing director had given him on the small table next to Martin.

He said directly, "Nokia wants you to be their global brand ambassador, and they want me to say a few good words for you."

Martin glanced at the bag: "Keep the stuff. I heard your kind words."

The two worked together seamlessly, and Bruce, without any hesitation, took the bag: "I'll give it to Kim and Kohler later."

Menez, one hand in his pocket, strode over with an air of authority and sat down in the chair beside him, seemingly completely immersed in his role: "Jonathan, your rampage like this will displease the High Table. They'll send someone to handle this."

Bruce chimed in, "I know the High Table is preparing to send a 50-year-old female judge." He turned to Menne's side and patted him on the shoulder. "Winston, we're confident that with your silver tongue, you can definitely handle this female judge."

Menez said, "Leave it to me."

Martin patted him on the shoulder, reminding him, "You need to be able to control your emotions."

Menez smiled: "This is my most important role, I must play it well."

His topics jumped around very quickly; one minute he was talking about work, and the next he was talking about what he was best at: "Martin, the other day when you went to take photos, guess who I ran into at the hotel?"

Bruce interjected, "It can't be Paris Hilton's mother."

"It's good to have met Paris's mother, better than that woman who's always bothering me. She's too young and doesn't fit my aesthetic," Mr. Menez remarked. "I also ran into Celine Dion and got her an autographed photo."

Bruce asked, "That female singer who was raised by someone when she was twelve or thirteen?"

Martin vaguely remembered: "I think it was her current husband?"

Menne nodded and said, "I chatted with Celine for a while. She seems to be having a bit of a hard time. She came to New York early to prepare for this year's Met Gala."

Martin had read related reports in his previous life, and it seemed that Celine Dion changed male models as frequently as she changed clothes.

It's true that I made up for all the things I missed earlier as I got older.

Menez asked, "Could you get me tickets to the Met Gala?"

Martin agreed: "Leave it to me."

Although admission tickets are all paid, they are not something just anyone can buy. Martin plans to have Daniel from Warner Bros. get a few more.

Bruce asked, "You're not thinking of doing anything with Celine Dion, are you? What about Emma Thomas?"

Menezes countered, "Emma and Nolan are there too."

Martin ignored the two of them, and when he saw Marcus approaching with the dog, he called out, "Daisy!"

The dog immediately ran over, wagging its tail and circling around Martin.

Martin found the prepared jerky and fed it to Daisy.

In the next scene, Daisy enters the scene and is brutally murdered, thus beginning the saga of "you take my life, I take yours."

After lunch, Martin was about to get into the trailer to rest when Nokia's marketing director, Klose, came over.

"Mr. Davis, I heard that you used a Nokia phone for a long time during your time in Atlanta and Los Angeles." He got straight to the point: "Nokia is interested in inviting you to be their global brand ambassador. Would you be interested?"

Martin thought for a moment and said, "You need to talk to my agent, Thomas. I can't make any work-related commitments without him present."

"I'll contact WMA right away," Klose said.

Martin went into the trailer for a nap, slept for a while, and woke up on time. Not long after, Bruce came over with his phone.

He said, "It was Thomas who called about the Nokia endorsement deal."

Martin took the phone and dialed back.

Thomas said, "Nokia is very sincere in its cooperation, initially offering a four-year endorsement contract worth up to $1200 million per year."

"The salary is acceptable, but the contract term is too long, two years at most." Martin thought carefully. In his previous life, Nokia's serious decline must have happened 10 years later. He couldn't remember the exact year, but it was only two or three years later that Nokia fell from its pedestal.

He added, "If Nokia insists on a long-term contract, we will give up."

Thomas didn't ask why. The most important reason he had been able to work with Martin for the past few years was that he would carry out Martin's decisions without question. He immediately replied, "I've booked my flight. I'm going to New York today to meet with the people from Nokia."

Martin said a few more words and then hung up the phone.

Commercial endorsements are one of his important sources of income. If a brand experiences a significant decline in popularity during his endorsement period, it's impossible to say that it won't have a negative impact on him.

Even when other manufacturers negotiate business cooperation with him, they will think of the brands that went bankrupt during his endorsement period.

Martin has seen a lot of this before, such as Jack Chan and a certain pop star from Hong Kong, many of the brands they endorsed have gone out of business.

Jack Chen, in particular, has had at least ten brands he endorsed disappear, making him practically the king of GG poison.

Although some manufacturers still refuse to believe in this trend, most brands simply won't consider them when looking for commercial endorsements.

Martin's decision to sign a two-year contract was also due to Nokia's last period of glory.

Originally, he had asked Thomas to look into Apple phones, but Apple's best spokesperson in recent years has been Steve Jobs, and they wouldn't use any other celebrities.

The afternoon's filming consisted of some of the few dialogue scenes on set.

Martin enters the Continental Hotel and has several conversations with Winston, played by Menezes.

In recent years, Menez has used his mouth extensively, which may have honed the flexibility of his facial muscles and improved his acting skills considerably. He is quite convincing as the mature, steady, and reserved owner of the Continental Hotel in New York.

His vocal cords, nourished by a special substance, produced a deep, resonant voice. Especially when acting opposite Martin, his line "Jonathan" had a penetrating quality.

Alexandra Daddario also joined the filming. Although her role was actually small, she stayed on set for a long time under the guise of learning and observing.

Her father helped a lot with the location shooting, so of course she couldn't refuse.

This actress, who comes from a well-off family, entered the film and television industry in 2001, but after seven years, she has not only failed to become famous, but has also failed to gain any recognition.

Alexandra kept a close eye on Martin, but she was also very perceptive and would never bother him when he was busy or tired.

Whenever Martin has a moment of free time, she comes to him to ask for acting advice.

"I feel that the character settings in this film are relatively simple."

In the rest area, Alexandra stood tall and asked, "This female assassin seems a bit more complicated than the female lead."

Martin nodded slightly: "She knew Jonathan and had a past with him, but she still wanted to kill him for money. In the end, she died at Jonathan's hands. Actually, the performance doesn't need anything else, just highlighting greed and ruthlessness is enough."

"Yes, those are the two most distinctive features of the character." Alexandra knew how to highlight her strengths, always wearing tight-fitting, low-cut T-shirts.

Martin, being a serious person, naturally didn't pay much attention to these things. He said, "If you want to make a breakthrough in your acting, you first need to find the character's most prominent characteristic, and then bring that characteristic to its fullest potential. It's easy to leave a deep impression on people that way."

Alexandra rubbed her cheeks: "What kind of role would suit me?"

Martin thought of True Detective, Earthquake, and The Beach—all super-pretty faces—but he wouldn't say it like that: "There are many acting classes in Los Angeles, and I'm sure there are quite a few in New York too. Find a reliable one and further enhance your learning."

Alexandra nodded repeatedly. Perhaps it was a habit, but her nodding was particularly large, causing the other two heads to sway up and down, giving the impression that an earthquake was occurring.

The film crew wrapped up work in the afternoon, and Martin prepared to return to his hotel.

Alexandra approached again, inviting, "Tomorrow's the weekend, there's a cultural and arts party in Manhattan, interested in checking it out?"

Martin couldn't refuse such a kind invitation.

(End of this chapter)