America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 459 How could you tolerate this?

While Jody was immersed in acting school classes in Los Angeles, transforming into a master of covert photography, Martin and Nolan returned to Los Angeles after a short promotional trip to Latin America.

The week-long promotional campaign had a significant market-driving effect, with "The Dark Knight" grossing nearly $4 million overseas.

In North America, it has already surpassed $4.5 million, and its global box office is steadily moving toward $10 billion.

Currently, only Titanic, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King have achieved this level of success.

Martin was surrounded by several reporters as he left the psychiatric clinic.

One of them asked, "Martin, what are your thoughts on the disputes between Dark Knight fans, Godfather fans, and Shawshank Redemption fans on websites like IMDb?"

In this kind of situation, it's best for the official team and the lead actors not to speak carelessly, and personally getting involved is a major taboo. Martin naturally feigned complete confusion: "I came to see a psychologist as soon as I got off the plane from the airport. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

When a reporter tried to explain, the clinic's security personnel came out and stood in front of Martin.

Martin ducked into the Cadillac and said to Bruce, "Let's go."

Bruce, having just heard the reporter's question, started his car and drove off, saying, "I hear it's causing quite a stir."

Martin said, "Go ahead and make a scene. The bigger the scene, the more attention it will attract."

Suddenly, my Nokia phone rang.

Martin took it out and looked at it. The text message only had a few numbers and was signed JJN, which was obviously code sent by Nicholson.

He held his phone screen in front of Old Bu: "What does the code mean?"

Nicholson wrote so much code that it's impossible to remember it all.

Bruce hadn't remembered either, and reminded him, "Inside the storage compartment."

Martin pulled out a piece of paper, matched the numbers one by one, and finally understood the meaning of the code: See you at the usual place.

He said to Old Bu, "Go to Century City."

Arriving at the east gate of Century City, Martin was about to get out of the car when he remembered Nicholson's serious attitude. He found a small makeup case, carefully applied a fake beard, changed into an ordinary baggy tracksuit, slung a trendy shoulder bag over his shoulder, and then entered the gate.

After a while, a repairman came out and whispered, "What's Jack's favorite thing?"

Martin replied, "Marlon Brando."

The repairman went into the emergency exit, and after Martin followed him in, he said, "Remember this, it's Ruth. If you answer wrong again, I'll shoot you."

"Aren't you being too frivolous?" Martin immediately found a point of attack: "Shouldn't you have shot me this time?"

Nicholson stopped arguing with this idiot and got down to business: "TMZ has infiltrated the acting school, but there's been no news, and the situation is getting a bit out of my control."

"We can only keep TMZ interested; we can't control TMZ's specific progress." Martin said patiently, "When we fire a bullet, we always have to wait for it to travel a while before we know if it hits the target."

Nicholson put his hands on his hips, thrust his hips forward, and boasted, "I'm a sharpshooter, my marksmanship is the best in all of Los Angeles."

Just as Martin was about to make a sarcastic remark, Nicholson suddenly grabbed the wall next to him and said, "Ouch, my back, my back."

He was clearly not faking it: "Come help me up."

Martin quickly helped him up.

Nicholson slowly pulled his hips back and said, "I've been having a bit too much fun with Jennifer Lawrence lately, and my back can't take it anymore."

Martin cautioned, "Be careful of sudden death."

Nicholson slowly stretched his back: "It's not serious, I'll be fine after a rest."

After a full half hour, the two finally left Century City separately.

Martin added a reminder: "Your girlfriend is only 18, and you're 70. Live a few more years."

In the face of great love, a fifty-year age gap is absolutely no problem.

…………

Burbank, the acting school of James and Ben.

After a short lesson, several girls left the classroom. Hailey, the actress who had just been personally coached by Ben Affleck, suppressed her grief and indignation as she watched Ben's figure disappear through the door.

This young actress has long blonde hair, a pretty face, and a sexy, alluring figure.

Jody has been observing her closely these past few days, and among all the actresses in her class, Hailey has the strongest sense of self-esteem.

Not everyone who wants to become a star completely abandons all sense of shame.

Jody picked up her handbag, which was full of women's hugs and piled high with sanitary napkins, and went to Hailey's side, once again comforting (and irritating) her, "Just bear with it, it'll pass."

Hailey kept her head down and didn't say anything.

Jody pulled her outside: "Let's go out for a drink."

Hailey felt inexplicably sad watching the minor actors who were taken advantage of by Ben Affleck and were even talking about it with relish, so she could only get into Jody's car.

They arrived at an ice cream shop, ordered drinks, and sat by the glass window talking.

Hailey took a sip of her iced drink and asked, "Joe, how can you stand it?"

Jody said, "Because he's Ben Affleck, if I offend him I'm finished." She added fuel to the fire again: "Just bear with it, it'll pass."

"How can I stand it!" Hailey exclaimed, her face filled with grief and indignation. "He was just instructing me on how to react during love scenes, using the excuse of real-life experience to not only grab me forcefully but also put his hand inside..."

Some things aren't acceptable to everyone, she said bitterly, "That bastard, he even wanted to ask me to a hotel, to his room!"

Jody, who was much older than Hailey, said in a low voice, "I just kept refusing these kinds of offers, refusing to back down, and as a result, I couldn't become a real actress..."

"I came to Los Angeles to make money, not to be insulted!"

Aside from Jody, who has been getting close to her these past few days, Hailey, who has just arrived in Los Angeles, hasn't made any friends yet. She can only confide in Jody: "I'm a country girl from a small town. I borrowed some money to come to Los Angeles to make a lot of money, but after coming here, I found that becoming a real actress is ten times harder than I imagined."

Jody caught the key point in her words: "Are you short of money?"

Hailey glanced at the bustling Los Angeles outside: "I want to stay in a big city and live a more relaxed life, instead of being like my parents, toiling on a small farm all year, with most of their income going to bank interest, working for the bank their whole lives."

"I'm from the countryside too," Jody said, half-jokingly. "It takes a lot of hard work to make a living in Los Angeles."

Hailey said in anguish, "Why is it so hard for us ordinary people to make money?" She glanced at Jody's designer bag and asked, "How did you manage to make a living in Los Angeles in the first place?"

Jody is a journalist who values ​​professional ethics, and she reveals a little bit: "Besides being a part-time actress, I also have a regular job."

Hailey asked in surprise, "What's your profession?"

Jody lowered her voice: "I'm also an entertainment reporter..."

To her surprise, Hailey wasn't astonished. Instead, she asked, "Can you expose that disgusting Ben Affleck? Expose him, ruin him! You know what I mean, expose him! That way I might have a chance to get my tuition back. I desperately need the money."

Jody straightened up, no longer acting like a classmate, but adopting a professional attitude: "Haley, I have a plan. Do you want to earn more money?"

Hailey has her own principles: "I would never sell my body."

“We don’t need you to sell your body,” Jody said. “Ben Affleck has tens of millions of dollars in fixed assets. If we do the job, you’ll get a large sum of money in compensation.”

The two lowered their voices and talked for a long time.

Jody specifically mentioned someone: "Do you know Brad Pitt? Every single one of the nannies he assaulted and harassed received a large sum of money in compensation, even those who were subjected to physical and verbal harassment received more than $20 in damages."

She smiled and said, "I was the one who spearheaded the reporting of Pitt's nanny scandal!"

Upon hearing the hefty compensation figure and seeing Jody's work ID, Hailey, the country girl who dreamed of striking it rich in Los Angeles, felt she had found the key to wealth. She steeled herself and said, "Count me in!"

She had read the related entertainment gossip and guessed why Jody came to the performing arts school.

As for hiding it, Hailey didn't care, as long as it allowed her to earn enough money!

The following day, Hailey and Jody continued to go to class, still enduring Ben Affleck's harassment.

The former even went to Ben Affleck's office alone to "consult" on some performance-related issues.

Ben took the initiative to invite Hailey to his hotel room, but Hailey refused. He first coaxed her by offering her a role, and then threatened her that she would never be able to work as an actress again.

During this time, he also made unwanted advances towards Hailey.

Having been a member of the Foot Gang for many years, Ben Affleck didn't learn much else, but he mastered Harvey's tricks of luring actresses to hotels and using coercion and enticement.

After all, he's the man who has stepped in to clean up Harvey's messes on numerous occasions.

Although Hailey refused again, Ben Affleck believed that this pretty country girl would eventually have to give in if she wanted to make it in the entertainment industry.

Over the years, Ben Affleck had gotten used to Harvey's ways and thought that was the rule in the industry. Before he could fully grasp the situation, things changed after Pitt's nanny scandal broke out.

After work, Casillas and Ben went for drinks; the two brothers met at a small bar in Santa Monica.

Cassie's been in a mess lately, and he can only rely on Ben: "Attorney Cole managed to cut the price to $200 million, but they're holding firm..."

Ben said, "I've asked Attorney Cole to stall as long as possible; the acting school here is a quick way to make money."

"Don't let it affect your relationship with Jennifer." Casey was also nice to Ben.

"If she had signed the papers for the sale or mortgage of the joint property, would things be like this now?" Ben shook his head and said, "Don't worry, this little bit of money can solve it."

Cassie asked, "Is working at a performing arts school really that good?"

Ben laughed happily: "When I was at the peak of my career, this amount of money wasn't much, but right now, it's a job that brings in money relatively quickly and is also a lot of fun."

He lowered his voice: "Those young girls who dream of becoming stars, except for a few who can't see reality, are easy to get into hotels with."

The two brothers happily drank a glass.

That same evening, Jody, along with Hailey herself, entered TMZ's office building, carrying specially equipped recording and video equipment.

(End of this chapter)