America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 536 A Strange Night

In the car, Martin carefully examined Léa Seydoux's face. Like many famous actresses, she had a very distinctive look.

Most of the European film actors who left a deep impression on Martin Scorsese, like Eva Green, made significant contributions to the art of film.

Léa Seydoux's face and name reminded Martin of a film character with short blue hair, supposedly from a French film with a pragmatic spirit.

It is precisely because of such artistic masterpieces that they leave such a deep impression on people.

Martin sighed inwardly. Without personally handling the situation, judging people solely by their physique and hair color was indeed prone to error.

But despite thinking this, he didn't show it on his face at all. Instead, he looked pleasantly surprised and lifted Léa's chin with his finger: "You are much prettier than Isabelle."

Martin hadn't forgotten the name in his hand: "She's prettier than I imagined."

Léa pulled Martin's hand over, opened his palm, and there was Eva Green's name written inside.

Martin spoke through action, gently pinching her chin and pulling her closer.

Without the mask in the way, the two kissed.

Upon arriving at the hotel, they went into Martin's room together.

Martin, experienced and unhurried, behaving very gentlemanly, asked, "Want a drink?"

Leia replied, "Okay."

Martin brought over two wine glasses, opened a bottle of red wine, and casually asked, "You recognized me at the party?"

"I had a guess, but I was right." Leia raised her glass and clinked it with Martin's: "Toast to me, because I'm so lucky."

Martin laughed: "Because you ran into me?"

Léa took a sip of her drink and said, "I saw you several times at the Cannes Film Festival this year. I still remember your figure, but unfortunately you didn't notice me."

Martin said, "It's my fault. If I had seen you then, perhaps we would have had a beautiful encounter."

"Actually, I wanted to say hello to you." What the woman said at this moment was similar to Martin's, mostly insincere: "It wasn't convenient at the time, and I was also worried about getting myself into trouble."

Martin was puzzled: "Am I a difficult person?"

Leia found his story amusing and teased him, saying, "I haven't tried it, so I don't know." She returned to the previous topic: "It's my people who are difficult to deal with. I'm with the Inglourious Basterds crew, and it seems like the producers and directors don't really like you."

Upon hearing the movie's title, Martin immediately thought of Quentin Tarantino and Harvey Durant, his expression unchanged, and said, "That's no secret in Hollywood."

Rhea seemed to mean nothing by it: "Because of them, I can't greet you."

Martin smiled and asked, "You were in Inglourious Basterds? I've seen that movie."

The main female characters are Diane Kruger and another French actress.

Léa shrugged playfully: "A background character, the farmer's daughter at the beginning of the film."

Martin told the truth: "Sorry, I didn't notice."

"Not many people even noticed!" Léa Seydoux said angrily. "I was initially talking about a role for Mélanie Laurent, but after meeting with Harvey, I only got a very minor role."

Martin took note: "Did something unpleasant happen?"

Leia said, "It seems you know something about Harvey."

Martin said, half-jokingly, "Even you know I don't get along with him. How can I survive in Hollywood if I don't understand him at all?"

After a moment of silence, Léa finally said, "It was a very, very unpleasant experience. I went to Los Angeles for an audition. I had never dealt with Harvey before and didn't know his style of doing things. His female assistant said that the production team had rented an entire floor of office space in a hotel and took me to his hotel room."

Martin had heard too many stories like this about Harvey, so he wasn't surprised at all.

During the Cannes Film Festival, Léa heard Harvey angrily berate Martin on more than one occasion. She wasn't worried about these words reaching Harvey's ears, but keeping them bottled up inside was unbearable. She said, "That bastard Weinstein made no attempt to hide his intentions, constantly hinting that he'd give me a role if I slept with him, but I refused."

She was willing to go hunting at Isabelle Huppert's party, which shows she wasn't exactly a chaste woman. She bluntly said, "Martin, if someone like you is handsome and has an elegant demeanor, I'll just take off my clothes, there's nothing more to say..."

At this point, Rhea made a vomiting face: "I really can't handle Weinstein, I'd throw up, especially since he discriminates against me!"

Martin could tell that she had been keeping these things to herself for a long time; she either wouldn't say anything, or once she started, she wouldn't stop. So he immediately adopted the posture of a listener.

Without Martin even asking, Léa puffed out her chest, pointed at the mountain, and said, "Can you imagine? He actually mocked me for being fat, laughed at how big my breasts were, and said I had to lose weight to have a future in Hollywood."

Martin nodded: "That fat guy is out of his mind; he always thinks he's God."

Léa recalled those unpleasant experiences with some anger: "Yes, he told me that he controlled that industry, and that if I wanted to enter Hollywood, I couldn't escape his control!"

Her smile was slightly bitter: "He was too tall, too fat, and too heavy. When he lunged at me, I couldn't push him away. Luckily, I felt extremely nauseous at the sight of him, so I threw up, which saved me."

Martin said, "You're a lucky girl."

"I was lucky in this matter, but not in the role. Weinstein was going to kick me out," Léa said. "My grandfather was the president of Pathé Films in France and had connections with an investor involved in Inglourious Basterds. Weinstein had promised him a role, and I ended up as a background character."

Martin thought for a moment and said, "We have some similar experiences. I don't know if you've heard, but Harvey initially invited me to play the lead role in 'Inglourious Basterds,' which I turned down."

Of course, a lie was mixed in with the truth: "He threatened to completely ruin my acting career."

Leia had heard rumors circulating on set: "Aren't you worried?"

Martin still has a mix of truth and falsehood: "Warner Bros. is behind me. Harvey does have a huge influence in the independent film circle, but he is still a bit behind the Big Six. I don't work in the independent circle."

Léa said, "The reason I was able to get rid of Weinstein that day wasn't just because I vomited. He still had some reservations about my family. If he dared to do that with my family background, you can imagine what would happen to ordinary actresses if they fell into his hands."

Martin's mindset changed the moment she mentioned Harvey. He temporarily put aside the masked party and matters between men and women, and Harvey became the main focus.

He specifically stated, "I've heard many rumors about Harvey, and at least 80% of them are true. Even the bastards in Hollywood have a great deal of contempt for his actions."

Leia's thoughts also turned to this: "So many victims, so many people he targeted, isn't anyone standing up?"

Martin chimed in, "Harvey is no ordinary man. Without irrefutable evidence, who can do anything about it?"

"Do you have any evidence?" Leia suddenly asked.

Martin had secretly encouraged people at the News of the World to find concrete evidence, but there had been no concrete news from them.

He looked at Leia and asked, "Do you have evidence?"

Leia nodded slowly but firmly: "I secretly recorded it, and it's stored in a safe in an apartment my mother bought."

Martin stared intently at Léa. Even someone with Nicholson's acting skills could see some clues in her, but the young Léa Seydoux couldn't possibly have Nicholson's acting skills.

"Could you tell me more about it?" he asked.

Léa said, "After that incident, Weinstein didn't give up. Whenever he saw me at work, he would always come up to me to make his presence known and say threatening things. I was also very annoyed. Being stared at by a fat pig-like person made me so nauseous that I couldn't eat for a while."

Martin encouraged him, saying, "Our experiences are so similar."

Léa forced a smile and said, "I'm not one of those naive actresses or poor girls who have never seen the world. I secretly prepared a recorder and recorded Harvey's threatening voice. This year, he called a lot of actors to Los Angeles under the pretext of needing post-production work. I felt that he might force me, so I specially asked a photographer friend to modify my handbag and install a hidden camera."

She sighed: "Sure enough, on the night I arrived in Los Angeles, he forced his way into my room and, despite my refusal, tried to force himself on me. He only stopped when I shouted that I would call the police."

Martin said, "If I were there, I would have killed that bastard just like I did with those Russian spies!"

"That's what attracts me most about you." Léa, a French woman, had come out hunting tonight and caught such excellent prey; she made no attempt to hide her admiration: "A real man."

The aura of American national hero surrounding Martin has a real impact. Leia said, "There aren't many people in the entertainment industry like you. Martin, you know what I said when I told my agent and a friend about this? They said these things happen all the time in the entertainment industry, don't take it to heart, haha..."

Leia laughed, a laugh filled with helplessness.

Martin squeezed her hand and said, "That's precisely why Harvey Weinstein can act with such impunity. Even someone like me wouldn't dare to speak out or do anything without solid evidence."

Leia stopped laughing, stared intently at Martin, and asked seriously, "Do you really want to go after Harvey?"

Martin said, "Hollywood has a Foot Gang and a Face Gang, and they've been rivals for years. My conflict with Harvey is no secret in Hollywood. If you have any friends, you can ask them about it."

Léa was very cautious. She actually took out her phone, went to the living room balcony, and dialed the numbers of several friends who were working in Hollywood, trying to find out about the relationship between Martin and Harvey.

She comes from a French performing family and has her own network of connections. Martin's repeated clashes with Harvey's gang since he snatched Wes Craven's new project have been well-known in the industry.

(End of this chapter)