America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 476 Cheating Competition

Inside the Los Angeles City Hall, the LAPD and FBI are holding a joint press conference regarding the Santa Monica Pier attack.

"There is conclusive evidence that this was not a simple attack, but a terrorist attack launched by foreign spies against democracy and freedom." Bradett read steadily from his prepared script: "Intended to create chaos and disrupt the US election..."

The hundreds of journalists attending the press conference were in an uproar. Was this related to an espionage case?

No wonder the LAPD and FBI knew nothing about the attack; it was all the work of that bear…

Many older journalists, when recalling more than 20 years ago, would not be an exaggeration to say that they trembled with fear back then.

Neves, representing the FBI, took over and said into the microphone: "In addition to the nine people involved in the dock attack, there were six others who were engaged in peripheral support work. The FBI, in conjunction with the LAPD, has captured them all in one fell swoop."

He emphasized, "We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Martin Davis for thwarting a serious attack on Los Angeles by international spies and terrorists, and for defending democracy and freedom in America."

Speaking of Martin, even the reporters who disliked him the most had some admiration for him at this moment. He survived such a crazy surprise attack and even managed to wipe out the attackers with the help of his manager!

Neves defined it: "Martin Davis has displayed extraordinary intelligence, extraordinary courage, and extraordinary fighting ability. Martin is a hero!"

Bradett added, "Martin is truly an honorary citizen of Los Angeles!"

After praising Martin, the LAPD and FBI went on to boast about themselves, such as how brutal the attackers had been trained, how cunning they were, and how difficult it was to capture those peripheral members, etc.

In short, the LAPD and FBI were not at fault in this matter; the fault lay with the enemy, who was too cunning.

Inside the medical center's ward, Martin watched the live television broadcast, circled the spacious suite a dozen times, and said, "The LAPD and FBI press conference has been held. We've received official confirmation. Now it's time to announce the situation."

Bruce pointed to the hospital entrance: "Every day, a large number of your supporters come to deliver flowers and light candles to pray for you at night."

Elizabeth opened the door and came in, putting down her lunch. She said, "There are more than a dozen beautiful girls at the door, wearing wedding dresses, giving you flowers."

Bruce said, "It's them again!"

Elizabeth asked curiously, "Them?"

Martin said, "A bunch of rather crazy fans were rummaging through our trash, I think they were probably looking for condoms or something..."

Elizabeth was a little stunned by Martin's words, thinking to herself that she absolutely could not let Martin's things leak out in the future, otherwise there would be trouble.

Bruce glanced at the TV and reminded him, "The press conference is over. Go lie down. It's time for the photos."

Martin's arm was mostly healed and he was able to move freely in the morning, but for the sake of the filming effect, it was put in a sling around his neck again. He was sitting on the hospital bed with the bandages on his thighs showing.

With his acting skills, portraying the state after an injury shouldn't be too easy.

Bruce took a camera to take pictures, then connected it to the computer and sent them to Thomas.

A dozen minutes later, all the major media outlets and newspapers received photos of Martin in his hospital bed.

"Breaking news from our station: Martin Davis is currently in stable condition, his injury is not life-threatening, but he will need to stay in the hospital for a period of time..."

Meanwhile, Martin's personal blog and the official website of the Cola Cult have also been updated with his latest activities.

In addition to the photos, there was also a short video of Thomas being interviewed by his agent.

"Thank you for your support and concern. Martin's condition has stabilized, and he will need to stay in the hospital to recuperate."

The official website of the Cola Cult instantly received over 10,000 comments.

"Martin's alright, that's great!"

"I was having lunch when I saw Martin's message, and suddenly I burst into tears. God bless!"

"Martin, for the sake of us supporters, you must protect yourself!"

"We'll come to the hospital to welcome you home the day you're discharged!"

In the afternoon, Warner Bros. released the first trailer for "John Wick".

The trailer, which is over forty seconds long, consists almost entirely of Martin's action-packed gunfight scenes, and in a relatively realistic style.

Under these circumstances, the reaction that such a trailer can generate is predictable.

On the day the trailer was released on YouTube, it broke the YouTube record for single-day views, with nearly 400 million views in a single day, which immediately boosted its popularity!

The film's director, Chad, also gave an interview to WarnerMedia.

"I'm not surprised at all that Martin has such formidable fighting ability against armed terrorists!" He was telling the truth: "Because Martin underwent several months of high-level gunfight and hand-to-hand combat training before filming 'John Wick'."

This immediately heightened the anticipation of movie fans.

Released alongside the trailer were individual character posters for Martin, featuring Jonathan in a suit, his face stained with blood, and holding a pistol, resembling Martin himself as he wreaked havoc at the Santa Monica pier.

The concept of "suit-wearing thugs" spread like wildfire.

In just a few days, "John Wick" surpassed films such as Transformers 2, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Ice Age 3, and jumped to the top of the list of most anticipated movies of 2009!

The Martin and the dock incident ignited the entire buzz and generated a lot of attention.

The entire internet is buzzing with discussion about this movie.

"After watching other trailers, I just thought it was a movie, but after watching the John Wick trailer, I know Martin can do these things in real life!"

"Martin already warned us once with his life at the Santa Monica pier, so what reason do you have not to buy a ticket?"

"I can skip any other movies next year, but I absolutely have to see John Wick!"

"Other movie stars can only show off their power in movies, but Martin Scorsese is powerful both on and off screen!"

In the last month of 2008, no celebrity was more popular than Martin.

Thanks to advanced information technology, the related videos spread from North America to the whole world, attracting a large number of new fans to Martin.

Martin's popularity is so high that Guan Hai (a famous Chinese businessman) actively came to join in.

During his trip to Los Angeles, Obama specifically contacted Martin through Ali's brother, Ram Emmanuel, who is also the head of Obama's think tank, to visit the fighters and heroes who fought to protect freedom and democracy in the hospital.

Martin was very cooperative, dragging his "severely injured body" to take a group photo with the Guanhai team.

He also obtained Ram-Emanuel's personal contact information through Ali's introduction.

If Obama wins the election, Lahm will inevitably become the White House Chief of Staff.

Martin spent Christmas and New Year's in the hospital. His luxurious ward was fully equipped and all expenses were covered by Cartier, so he was quite comfortable.

On December 30, the nomination ballots for this year's Oscars were mailed out.

On the first day of 2009, Coca-Cola held a press conference to officially announce that Martin would serve as Coca-Cola's lifelong spokesperson and collaborate with Martin's team to launch a Coca-Cola commemorative edition.

The leader of the Cola Cult truly lives up to his name!

A few days later, Cartier released a special edition of GG, which consisted entirely of clips from Martin's battle scenes in the dock incident, accompanied by brand new background music, making it a thrilling watch and listener.

In most of the GG footage, Martin can be seen wearing a Cartier men's watch.

So, at the end of the film, the only title card appeared: Cartier men's watch, the choice of a real man!

These two companies, which didn't invest much money in GG, had a greater impact than those that threw in tens of millions of dollars.

Coca-Cola's newly launched Martin Edition commemorative packaging has been so popular that it has sold out in supermarkets and convenience stores.

There have even been scalpers reselling this cola.

Cadillac was very dissatisfied and specifically sought out Thomas to voice their concerns.

"Why didn't Martin use a Cadillac during the dock incident?" the person in charge complained bitterly. They had also paid for the endorsement, you know: "Why didn't Martin drive a Cadillac and wreak havoc?"

What could Thomas say? Given the circumstances, it wasn't possible to call a timeout first, wait for Martin to find a Cadillac to drive up, and then call "start," right?

He said, "The situation was so urgent that Martin could have lost his life at any moment; it was all instinctive reaction."

Fortunately, Cadillac only expressed its dissatisfaction, stating that Martin must ride in a Cadillac when he is discharged from the hospital.

Thomas saw the Cadillac representatives off and immediately headed to his next business meeting.

After providing the photo of the Nokia phone, Nokia employees realized the business opportunity and their attitude changed drastically.

They not only agreed to Martin's $1200 million annual endorsement fee, but also indicated that they could sign a one-year contract.

However, the phone that jammed the bullet had to be handed over to Nokia, along with a publicity campaign.

Sure enough, once the phone was posted online, coupled with Martin's personal testimony, Nokia immediately caused a sensation.

Public relations and promotion for the Oscars are also underway, and Martha and Rita have never had such an easy time with the Oscars.

Martin brings his own buzz and attention, and the judges have a deep impression of him.

Lobbying those college members living in Los Angeles to acknowledge his contributions to the city and vote for him is a piece of cake.

"This isn't fair!"

In an office, Josh Brolin was furious: "Who the hell can compete for this Best Supporting Actor award?"

The agent advised, "Given the current situation, even if we throw out millions of dollars, we still won't be able to snatch this Best Supporting Actor award. I think securing a nomination is enough; anything else is just a waste of money."

Josh Brolin was almost in tears: "Martin Davis cheated! We honestly spent money, did publicity, lobbied the judges, and followed the Academy's rules. And what did he do? He made himself a national hero, how are we supposed to compete like that?"

He angrily exclaimed, "This is utterly shameless!"

The agent said, "There was nothing we could do; he was at the dock at the time."

Josh Brolin was silent for a long time before saying, "Luckily, I wasn't there at the time."

His agent patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, saying, "This is an advantage that others have risked their lives for; it's normal that we can't compare."

"Forget it, forget it." Josh Brolin was exhausted. Faced with this cheating competition, all he could say was, "I'll guarantee a nomination. As for the awards, we'll talk about that later."

The agent nodded: "There will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

(End of this chapter)