America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 621 Escaping Tehran

In the office, Thomas glanced at his schedule notebook and said to Martin, "Svetlana has been taking accent lessons. Natasha recommended her to the production team of James Mangold, one of our director clients, but there's been no response yet."

Martin knew this director; Julie had introduced him to her. He was the director of "Girl, Interrupted," the film for which she won Best Supporting Actress.

Thomas added, "Marina passed the audition for a supporting role with some lines in a show called 'The Dog Game,' and is currently preparing for filming."

Martin asked, "Nothing else special?"

Only the trio of bastards knew that Marina might be a swallow; Thomas didn't know. He thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Nothing special."

Martin nodded and said, "Tell Natasha to keep an eye on her."

"Okay." Thomas couldn't help but ask curiously, "Is this Russian woman special?"

Martin vaguely replied, "It's rather special."

Thomas recalled briefly that the woman was just average-looking at first glance, but she had a very special quality.

Detective Nicholson returns to Los Angeles and keeps an eye on Marina. Martin prepares to go find Nicholson.

Thomas then said, "The company has received several new role offers. Since you're here, you can take a look. I won't send you another fax."

Martin wasn't in a hurry to go find Nicholson right now, and replied, "Okay."

Thomas pulled out the project materials he had prepared in advance, and placed his most promising projects and roles on them.

The top one, a big project with an investment of $1.5 million, is called "Gravity," directed by Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón. The female lead has been confirmed as last year's Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock, and they are looking for the male lead.

There was no script or story outline.

Martin put it aside; he had seen the film before. It was a one-woman show by Sandra Bullock, and the male lead should be called a supporting actor, as he had very little screen time.

Unless the female lead is changed to the male lead.

However, if the protagonist's gender is changed, the emotional resonance the film can evoke will be greatly reduced.

Men are naturally endowed with characteristics such as perseverance and strength, which is far less shocking than a woman rescuing herself in space.

Thomas glanced at the project and thought it was promising, but Martin rejected it without saying a word.

But he didn't say much, put the project proposal away, and waited for the company's next round of selection.

Martin gets priority in selecting projects from Hollywood production companies that are sent to WMA. Only after he has made his selection can others choose.

Martin has already seen a second, also big project, from Sony Pictures Entertainment, with a budget of $1.5 million, and Roland Emmerich has been confirmed as the director.

The name of this director, Martin, is legendary, earth-shattering.

His representative works include "Independence Day", "Godzilla", "The Day After Tomorrow" and "2012".

Martin looked at the project description: a story of an American hero single-handedly saving the White House and the president.

Martin had seen all of Roland Emmerich's films, so this project was put on hold.

If the protagonist were to lead a group of beautiful women to storm the White House, he might consider it.

Thomas was momentarily lost in thought, plunging into deep self-doubt: "Am I really that bad at judging projects? None of them are any good?"

Martin saw the third project proposal, which was looking for a male lead. The project was called "Argo," and it was a project from his old friend Graham King's GK Films.

Martin had known Graham since the casting for "The Departed," and it was Graham who later introduced him to Chuck Hogan, the author of "Prince of Thieves."

The project doesn't have much detailed information, but it is noted that it is adapted from a part of Tony Mendez's autobiography "Master of Disguise," which involves a CIA secret rescue operation that was only declassified a few years ago.

Martin asked Thomas, "Is there an original version?"

Thomas snapped out of his daze and quickly said, "There's a Wired magazine article down here with a story about Tony Mendez."

Martin saw the magazine and turned to the page with the article.

He had a guess, so he looked at it carefully.

This is a report about the CIA's rescue of American diplomats. During the Iranian Revolution in 1979, some radicals stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage. However, in the chaos, six people escaped and took refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador.

The CIA was tasked with rescuing the six men. Escape artist Tony Mendez devised a plan. He contacted several Hollywood friends and started a film project called "Argo." Under the pretext of scouting locations, they went to Tehran, disguised the six men as members of the film crew, and brought them back to the United States.

This can be considered an incredible operation, in which the enormous reputation of the Hollywood film industry played a key role.

Martin had seen this film and vaguely remembered it; the Chinese title was "Argo," and it seemed to have been the Oscar winner for Best Picture some year.

It's hard to say about other places, but in the North American market, it was a box office and critical success.

Moreover, this film is extremely politically correct in North America, which aligns with his current needs.

Martin remembered that the original male lead was Ben Affleck.

What a coincidence!

Martin took it out separately.

Thomas breathed a slight sigh of relief, thinking to himself that he did have some discernment after all. Although Martin rejected the first two projects he had chosen, Martin approved the third one.

Martin reviewed the other project proposals, returning all but one (Argo) to Thomas, asking, "Has this project been assigned a director?"

Thomas shook his head: "No."

Martin then asked, "Did Graham say anything else?"

"No," Thomas said after a moment's thought. "It seems like several other major brokerage firms also received offers."

Martin took out his phone and dialed Graham's number directly.

The call was answered quickly: "Martin? How come you, such a busy man, have time to call me?"

"The script adaptation for 'Prince of Thieves,' which you recommended to me, is finished." Martin didn't ask about "Argo" first, but instead brought up their previous friendly collaboration: "Are you available next year? I'm planning to invite you to be the producer of 'Prince of Thieves.'"

Graham said, "Even if there's no suitable time for me to make the invitation, I'll still make time for it."

Martin said, "I'm relieved to have you in charge of this project."

This producer's abilities are beyond question. He is Martin Scorsese's long-time partner and has served as the producer for films such as "Traffic," "Ali," "The Aviator," "The Departed," and "Blood Diamond."

"I saw a project from your GK Films at the agency," Martin said, getting to the point: "Argo, based on the case of the rescue of CIA senior agent Tony Mendez, are you looking for a lead actor?"

Graham immediately understood Martin's meaning: "You're interested in this role?"

Martin stated directly, "I am indeed somewhat interested."

Graham thought for a moment and said, "I'm out of town right now. Shall we meet in person when I get back to Los Angeles?"

Martin replied, "Yes."

Graham, who had worked with Martin on "The Departed," knew that Martin was a good actor with outstanding acting skills, commercial appeal, and a high level of professionalism, and said, "I'll call you when I get back."

After hanging up the phone, Thomas had already instructed his new assistant to buy Tony Mendez's spinner.

Martin carefully put away the project proposal and magazine, and said to Thomas, "I'll take this project separately."

Thomas immediately made a call to the data team to shut down the project.

As Martin's top priority among the company's male actors, any projects he approves of will be temporarily closed to others.

The new assistant soon delivered Tony Mendes' autobiography, "Master of Disguise."

Martin glanced at the time and said, "I'm going now."

Thomas saw him out.

Martin got into the car, put away his magazines and autobiography, and asked Bruce, "Old Bruce, have you ever heard of Tony Mendes?"

"I've heard about it; supposedly he did a lot of clandestine things." Bruce started the car and drove onto the road. "When I was serving in the UK, it seems like it was Laughlin who signed off on the declassification of a lot of CIA secret operations, some of which involved Tony Mendes."

He also didn't forget his usual insults to Britain: "The CIA is much better than the British's self-proclaimed MI6, and the Russians are better too."

"The Russians have swallows, huh?" Martin pulled out his phone and called Nicholson, asking Bruce to drive to the San Fernando Valley.

A small studio in San Diego has recently attracted a Hollywood film crew, and most of the scenes for "The Dog Game" will be filmed here.

There was a hotel near the studio, and Detective Nicholson booked a suite with a balcony overlooking the studio.

When Martin arrived, he and Leonardo were on the balcony observing the film crew at the studio.

"What's going on?" Martin asked.

Nicholson said, "I've been secretly observing Marina ever since I came back from New York, and I even spent a lot of money to have Marina's phone calls tapped."

Leonardo added, "She sometimes calls her uncle in Paris and talks about her daily life in Los Angeles."

Nicholson said, "It's normal to call family to let them know you're safe, but combined with our reasoning, she's even more suspicious."

Martin nodded, picked up the binoculars beside him, looked at the film crew at the studio, and asked, "What's the situation with this film crew?"

Nicholson conducted a detailed investigation: "The Dog Game, a very ordinary film crew, with an investment of about $300 million. I asked someone about the script, but the crew was keeping the specific content confidential. All I knew was that it was an art-house film."

Leonardo added, "I've seen two people on this set."

Martin asked, "Who?"

The person who answered was Nicholson: "The mother and daughter we met in New York, Katherine Oxenberg and her daughter India."

Martin sensed something was off: "Are they in this film crew too?"

Nicholson said, "Katherine Oxenberg is the producer, and India seems to be one of the many actors."

He suddenly laughed: "Isn't it interesting?"

(End of this chapter)