America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 645 Let's get started

This way of inviting award presenters is hard not to remind people of the situation when Martin Scorsese won the award a few years ago.

Leonardo's confidence soared.

Next, there will be a group photo of the nominees, and Martin and his two companions prepare to return to the banquet hall.

Jessica Chastain came out from the doorway not far away. After walking a few steps, she saw Martin and wanted to greet him with a smile.

Behind her, someone quickly caught up with Jessica Chastain.

Megan Ellison had her eye on the red-haired actress for a while, and said as she walked, "Jessica, wait!"

Jessica Chastain stopped, turned to look at her, and found a strange face she had never seen before.

"I am Megan Ellison, president of Annapurna Pictures, and I was involved in the investment and production of The Hurt Locker." After a brief self-introduction, Megan displayed a strong personality and an extremely assertive attitude.

She bluntly stated, "I have a movie, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and I want you to play the lead role. I contacted your agent, but she said you weren't available. I can't accept that answer, and I certainly can't accept being rejected!"

These words stunned Jessica Chastain. She didn't know Megan, but she had heard of her and knew who she was.

But this aggressive way of inviting people is too uncomfortable.

These words all reached the ears of Martin and his two companions who were nearby.

Nicholson said in a low voice, "The challenge is here, shall we take it or not?"

Leonard glanced at Megan Ellison's legs, face, and hair, and sighed, "Looking like this, I can't get an erection."

"They've already declared war, what else is there to say?" Martin walked over there: "Follow me and let's get started!"

Nicholson patted Leonardo on the shoulder: "Do you understand why he can run 10,000 meters while you can only run 100 meters?"

Leonardo followed Martin, surprised: "Could Megan Ellison be married or engaged? Otherwise, given her appearance, it doesn't make sense!"

Nicholson nodded: "That's possible."

Jessica Chastain was momentarily stunned, but she was also thinking about how to respond.

Suddenly, a familiar voice came from the other side: "Jesse, I was wondering why I couldn't find you, so you were here."

Jessica Chastain turned around, saw Martin, and said with a smile, "Martin, did you need something?"

Martin, seemingly ignoring Megan Ellison, said, "Just remembered something. I have a role here that you'd be perfect for."

The Martian has not yet cast other actors, but the spaceship commander will eventually need to be a more mature actress. He simply said, "Director Ridley Scott is currently working on a space-themed project. If you are interested, you can take some time to visit Disney Studios."

Megan Ellison stared intently at Martin.

Martin completely ignored it.

Jessica Chastain glanced at the arrogant Megan, then at the warm-hearted Martin, and asked, "Could I have your business card? I'll talk to my agent so I can contact you."

Martin pulled out a business card, handed it to Jessica Chastain, and reminded her, "Yours."

Jessica Chastain carefully accepted Martin's offer and quickly pulled out her own business card to hand over.

Martin didn't even look at Megan Ellison, and invited, "Let's go."

Jessica Chastain followed him back to the hall.

Nicholson and Leonardo also entered the hall.

Megan put her hands in her pockets, watched the people leave, and gave a slight smirk. It wasn't hard to guess that this was Martin Davis's way of retaliating against her.

Dreit, who was following behind her, stepped forward and said, "President, should we put pressure on them?"

"Pressure?" Megan, though strong-willed and possessing some of her father's arrogance, was still relatively clear-headed. "This is Hollywood. We're newcomers. What right do we have to pressure them?"

"David has been in Hollywood for several years and has been involved in many investments," Dreit said.

Megan shook her head: "But he's still a Hollywood joke."

Megan could say such things, but Dreit didn't know how to respond and immediately shut up.

"That trio of bastards in Hollywood is interesting." Megan lowered her voice. "Keep an eye on Martin Davis. I'll make sure he doesn't get any new projects."

She thought of something else: "Also, find out what projects he has in mind, and contact those playwrights or novelists."

Dreit understood what the domineering CEO meant: "I'll do it right away."

Back in the banquet hall, Martin and his two companions remained seated together.

Nicholson said, "She was tough and arrogant, but not as arrogant as I thought. I originally thought she would confront you directly."

Leonardo interjected, "What does she use to fight back? Martin isn't afraid of anything, whether it's from above or below!"

Martin wouldn't mistreat his own brother, so he shoved Leonardo, saying, "That's enough!"

Nicholson warned the two idiots: "The war has just begun. This will be a long battle because she is well-funded and has a powerful family background. She will be difficult to defeat in one fell swoop."

Martin said, "Take it slow."

After the nominees' luncheon, all the Oscar nominees gathered in another hall for a group photo.

This concludes the nominees' luncheon. Next, the Academy will mail out the final ballots to select the winners.

Martin, Nicholson, and Leonardo agreed that, apart from the already finalized candidates, other candidates would be chosen using golf, a sport none of the three were particularly good at, in order to be responsible to the Oscars while ensuring fairness and impartiality.

…………

Tijuana, near the red-light district.

Seven or eight Latina women emerged from the bungalow with a yard, their shorts and skirts stuffed with dollar bills, and blew kisses to the lit doors and windows.

One of the leaders, a tall man, said to the people peeking out from the door and window, "Honey, call us if you need anything."

DePaul, pulling at his trousers, came down from the doorway, a cigarette dangling from his mouth: "Next time, we'll get a different batch!"

"No problem!" The long-legged man opened the sturdy iron gate, glanced at the darkening sky, and led the girls on foot toward the red-light district.

She secretly calculated how long it would take for these big spenders to regain their composure and call to contact her.

There's no other way. At the end of the month, those working in the sex industry have to work hard to meet their sales targets. If they don't, the gangs that control them will really kill them.

At the end of each month, the gangs would conduct performance evaluations of the practitioners under their control, and select a few of the worst performers to be dragged out and beheaded, both as a warning and to refresh the personnel.

As for people? The north is the beacon of the world, attracting people from all over Latin America to flock there.

A woman wanted to smoke, but when she pulled out an empty pack, she said, "I'll go buy a pack of cigarettes."

The woman with long legs waved her hand and led the others away first.

The woman crossed the dilapidated road, heading towards the convenience store diagonally across the street.

In the darkness, a van suddenly drove up and screeched to a halt next to the woman.

The woman reacted quickly and tried to run away, but was grabbed by someone who jumped out of the car. She tried to struggle, but a sharp dagger was placed against her neck, and she immediately stopped moving and was forced to get into the car.

The car was full of people dressed in black and wearing black hoods.

Desperate to save her life, the woman began unbuttoning her clothes, saying, "I can handle two of them at once. Hurry up, or I'll be dead if we get back too late."

Marcelo, wearing a hood, asked, "How many people were in the courtyard you just came out of?"

With the knife pressed against her vitals, the woman dared not lie: "Six people."

Others picked up several photos: "Is that them?"

The woman looked over and said, "It's them."

"Watch your mouth and pretend nothing happened," Marcelo winked.

Paquetá and Jesus tied the man up with ropes, taped his mouth shut, put a black hood over his head, found a secluded spot, and threw him down.

Inside the bungalow with a yard, the six men finished exercising, ate late-night snacks and drank beer, and talked about women, all of them very excited.

The tattooed man, Diego, said, "Boss, this money came too easily. I called yesterday, and they said things have calmed down. Shall we go back and pull off another heist?"

Rodriguez remained cautious: "That's Martin Davis!"

DePaul took a big gulp of beer: "Even if he's a national hero in America, what can he do to us? We'll finish our job, hide back in Mexico, and what good will his friendship with the LAPD do!"

Making such a large sum of money so easily made people feel smug. Even the composed Romero said, "Last time we didn't think things through and made a mistake. We should have sold the clues, collected several deposits, and then come to Tijuana."

"You're a fucking genius!" the other two exclaimed.

DePaul said, "Boss, let's go back and pull off another big heist. Let's do what Romero said. You saw how valuable the script Martin Davis liked was last time. Let's pull off one big heist and then we can retire!"

Thinking about his gains, Rodriguez couldn't help but feel tempted. Once you've tasted the thrill of quick money, it's too difficult to settle down and earn money slowly again.

Romero said, "Boss, with Lautaro's lock-picking skills and Otamendi's expertise with electrical appliances, we can totally infiltrate Martin Davis's house and not only loot the script information, but also his collection and jewelry!"

Diego licked his lips. "I really like Martin Davis's girlfriend, Elizabeth Olsen. We can find an opportunity when Martin Davis is out and she's home, and then..."

The others laughed.

De Paul chimed in, "After we're done, we'll go back to Tijuana and head straight to South America or somewhere else, and have a good time."

Rodriguez did it once, and wasn't as hesitant the second time. Just as he was about to speak, he seemed to hear a voice: "Who?"

The others reacted quickly and rushed to get their guns.

With a crash, the glass window shattered, and a dark object was thrown in.

"Get down!" DePaul shouted.

With a loud bang, a flash of light and a tremendous sound exploded, leaving the six people dizzy.

The door was kicked open from the outside, and some men in black rushed in.

The leader shouted, "Don't shoot the head!"

Gunshots rang out, blood splattered, and the body fell to the side.

Each person was shot four or five times.

Paquetá turned on the lights while the others searched the room, and Marcelo had the bodies straightened and photographed one by one.