America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 642 The Unique Charm of the Trio's Leader

Martin's familiar face in the picture seems to have not aged at all, only gained a more mature temperament and charm.

Anne Hathaway's red lips were tightly pressed into a line when she suddenly felt a numbness in her cheeks and something stuck in her throat. She instinctively opened her mouth, just like when she was with Martin.

A strange sound almost came out of her throat, so she quickly covered her mouth.

Annie thought to herself, "Thank goodness!"

But looking at Martin in the picture brings back fond memories of the wonderful times when his mouth was always stuffed full, and he feels endless nostalgia.

Because Annie clearly saw the series of numbers listed on the leaderboard.

"No. 3, Martin Davis!"

— $8200 million!

$4000 million came from the salary and profit sharing of "Inception".

$3200 million came from the salary and profit sharing from "Gone Girl".

$1000 million came from copyright revenue from other older films.

Anne knew that this was just a rough estimate and there would definitely be errors, but the errors wouldn't be too large.

In previous years, Martin's income would have been enough to rank first!

Later on, Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nolan, and others were all inferior to Martin Scorsese.

Although her annual income is close to ten million dollars, female celebrities have too many expenses, so this amount of money is not enough to cover their costs.

Anne clearly remembers that when she was with Martin, Martin's annual income was only a few hundred thousand dollars, and he had just become somewhat famous. In just five years, he has already stepped into the threshold of becoming a superstar.

James Franco noticed Annie was lost in thought and asked, "Are you alright?"

Anne snapped out of her daze and said, "I'm fine."

She returned the magazine to Franco and slowly walked backstage alone.

I've always wanted to find a rich, handsome, and successful man. He was right in front of me, but I still messed up and missed him.

At this moment, Anne really wanted to ask Martin if they could turn back.

Upon entering the backstage area, she saw the newly elected Academy President, Tom Sherak, discussing the award presenters with the awards ceremony director.

"We've finalized three nominees for Best Picture presenter," the director told Tom Sherac: "Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Martin Davis."

Tom Sherac nodded slightly: "Three people are enough, but Martin is a bit too young... The Oscars' influence has been declining in recent years, and we must reverse this trend."

The director was under immense pressure.

Tom Sherac added, "Sandra Bullock injured her leg while filming her new movie 'Gravity' and may not be able to attend the awards ceremony. I spoke with her on the phone, and I'm planning to have Jack and Martin present the Best Actor award."

The director instantly understood what Sherac meant; this was a famous trio throughout Hollywood and even the entire United States.

According to Nicholson, the three had fought side by side at the Santa Monica docks against dozens of armed spies and had a life-or-death bond with each other.

He tentatively asked, "What if Leonardo doesn't win?"

Tom Sherac said, "Whether he wins or not, the excitement is definitely there!"

The director said, "The highest-rated Oscars in the last five years were when Spielberg, Coppola, and Lucas presented Scorsese with the Best Director award."

"The presenter for Best Actor is decided." Tom Sherac is also under a lot of pressure. The Oscars are the Academy's flagship award, and if the Oscars' influence diminishes, the Academy will also decline.

He added, "For Best Picture, let's have Spielberg and Hanks, it's a choice between the two, let's see who wants it."

Anne walked past, pretending not to hear what they were saying, but in her heart she was already planning that Martin would definitely go backstage during the awards ceremony, and she would find an opportunity to chat with him for a bit, maybe rekindling their old flame.

She always thought Martin was a loyal and sentimental person who cherished the past.

…………

In the meeting room of Burbank Davis Studio.

Inspector Geralt paid a visit.

Martin asked, "Is there a result in the case?"

"It's been confirmed." Inspector Geralt was highly efficient in his investigation. He opened the file bag he had brought, took out the documents inside, and handed them to Martin. "It's been confirmed that it was this group of Mexicans who did it."

The document contained photos of six people, two of whom Martin vaguely recognized. After thinking about it carefully, he realized they were the Mexicans who delivered the safe on the day of the move.

He checked the file again and confirmed it was true. He asked, "Detective, have they caught him?"

Geralt looked apologetic: "We spent a day tracking them down, but when we went to make the arrest, we found that they had fled to Mexico at noon. They are probably in Tijuana now. I reported this to the police department, and the police department issued a warrant through their connections in Tijuana, but the situation there is very complicated, and it is unrealistic to expect the Tijuana police to catch them."

"It's alright." Martin didn't care about these petty thieves and asked, "Is someone behind them?"

Geralt shook his head immediately: "We haven't found them yet. They all went to Mexico, so..."

Martin understood and didn't make things difficult for them. In Los Angeles, Detective Geralt's speed in finding suspects was definitely considered fast.

Geralt rose to take his leave: "Mr. Davis, we will keep you informed of any new developments in the case."

Martin saw him to the door: "Thank you."

Upon returning, he handed the documents to Bruce and asked, "Does this ring a bell?"

Bruce looked at it carefully and said, "Four of them delivered the safe."

Martin couldn't help but speculate: "Could they be acting under orders, using the delivery of the safe as an excuse to scout the place beforehand?" He remembered: "That day, I was reviewing the scripts submitted to the company, and those scripts were piled up on my desk."

"That's possible," Bruce asked the crucial question. "Who's behind them?"

Martin said, "Let's wait and see, we should know soon."

He glanced at his watch: "Let's go to Brentwood. There's a film analysis session on 'Shutter Island' today. We've watched Leo make a fool of himself for so long, we should do some PR for him too."

Bruce thought to himself, "These three bastards not only mess with each other, they also mess with each other when they're bored."

…………

After another film analysis session, Leonardo was exhausted. After all the guests said goodbye and left, he plopped down on the sofa and didn't want to get up again.

He invested more money and effort in this public relations effort than ever before.

Martin went to great lengths to promote him, even to the point of making him look foolish, and Leonardo was also pushing forward desperately, spending his days either meeting with other Academy members or on his way to meet them.

I'm so tired of eating fancy meals that the chicken and steak taste like plastic.

Martin grabbed a bottle of water, tossed it to Leonardo, and said, "Catherine Kennedy promised that you'd get priority votes for Best Actor. She was just elected Vice President of the Academy, so she can influence a lot of people's voting choices."

Nicholson came over and sat on another sofa: "This time, in the academy's leadership transition, Sid Ganis stepped down voluntarily, Warren Beatty did not run for election, 65-year-old Tom Sherac was elected president, and Kathleen Kennedy and Tom Hanks were elected vice presidents. The academy is also becoming younger."

Martin said, "Am I misunderstanding something about 'youthfulness'? 'Youthfulness at 65'...?"

Leonardo laughed: "This is a rare sign of youthfulness for the academy."

"What's wrong? We old folks haven't even retired yet, and you young people are already eager to take over?" Nicholson pushed up his sunglasses, then changed the subject: "Martin's special public relations efforts this time, coupled with the academy's leadership transition, are indeed a rare opportunity for you, Leo."

Leonardo DiCaprio declared fiercely, "I will continue to make myself look ugly to the very end."

Nicholson changed the subject: "Have you caught the suspect in your case?"

"We found the suspect, but we haven't caught him." Martin himself didn't care about the intruder; he was concerned about other things and didn't put any pressure on the LAPD at all.

His relationship with McLean wasn't worth using for this: "The LAPD dug up some information and used it to identify six suspects, but they were all Mexicans, and they weren't stupid. They left Los Angeles the day after the incident and went back to Mexico. They might be in Tijuana, and you know the situation there, it's very complicated."

Nicholson asked, "Should I, the great detective, be sent in?"

"Are you planning to deal with the Tijuana gangs?" Martin asked. "That's not America. If you get stuck there, I can't save you."

Take "The Chase" and "Taken" with a grain of salt. If dozens of Tijuana gangsters came at him, even a six-man SEAL team might be wiped out, let alone him and Bruce.

Nicholson quickly shook his head: "Tijuana is out of the question."

A border line can be a gateway between heaven and hell; it's not just a saying.

The Tijuana gangs don't give a damn about the Hollywood trio of scoundrels; in the past, they might have even been taken hostage and extorted for a huge sum of money.

Leonardo asked, "Are we just going to let this go like that? When have we ever suffered such a loss?"

"Of course not," Martin said seriously. "I'm considering hiring a mercenary group to go to Tijuana and wipe them all out!"

Nicholson, fearing there was nothing left to do, said, "This is a great idea; a few tens of thousands of dollars could get a lot of Mexicans working themselves to the bone."

He'd been in California for decades and had pretty shady connections: "Do you have information on those people?"

Martin nodded: "Yes, the LAPD has identified them and obtained a lot of personal photos."

Nicholson didn't mince words with Martin: "Give me two hundred thousand dollars as payment for causing trouble."

"Money is not an issue," Martin reminded him again. "Don't go to Mexico; it's not worth getting involved yourself."

"I'm not going to Mexico," Nicholson said, grinning. "Detective Nicholson is offline. Now I'm Andrew, the hitman!"

He stood up, waving his arms wildly: "No one can mess with us, the trio of bastards, and still enjoy themselves freely! I! The leader of the trio of bastards, will absolutely not allow it!"

Leonardo said, "No wonder I'm willing to acknowledge you as my boss."

Martin gave a thumbs-up: "That's the unique charm of the leader of the trio of bastards!"

(End of this chapter)