America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 848 The Collapse of the Apocalypse

Sherman Oaks, Angels Club.

At the outdoor shooting range, boss Kane stood behind Martin and Menez, holding a timer in his hand. He suddenly pressed the button and shouted, "Start!"

Martin drew his Glock pistol from his waist, gripped it tightly with both hands, and charged forward with standard tactical maneuvers, repeatedly pulling the trigger. The human-shaped targets that appeared in front of him fell one after another amidst the clanging of bullets.

On the other side, Menez also moved quickly, gripping his gun with both hands and swiftly entering another shooting range to fire at his targets.

Martin was noticeably faster and more accurate with his gun; after emptying one magazine, seventeen targets fell.

He changed the magazine and continued firing rapidly.

Two minutes later, Martin came out of the shooting range, and after waiting a while, Menez came over.

The burst of shooting in a short period of time consumed too much of Menez's physical strength and energy.

This guy's forehead was covered in sweat.

Celine Dion came from behind, took out a towel that had been prepared beforehand, stood in front of Menez, and carefully wiped the sweat off his face.

She then pulled a bottle of Gatorade from the back pocket of her jeans and unscrewed the cap in Semener's hand.

She's truly rich and gentle.

Kane couldn't help but envy himself; if he had a woman like that, why would he need to run a club?

Chad, Chen Hu, Marcus, and the others were already used to it.

In the area where the women were, Elizabeth nudged Lily, who was still gossiping with Jody. Lily immediately understood and, along with Elizabeth, one grabbed a towel and the other a water glass to go find Martin.

As it turned out, they found that Bruce had beaten them to it.

Lily went over, glared at Bruce, and whispered, "Old Bruce, you stole my job."

Bruce laughed sheepishly, "I'm used to it on set."

Lily first used a towel to wipe Martin's sweat.

Elizabeth handed the water glass to Martin again.

Everyone else at the scene was incredibly envious of this sight.

Living with two women like these, who not only get along peacefully but also don't interfere with Martin's womanizing, that's what makes a winner in life!

Chen Hu said, "Martin and Menez are both winners in life; you can't envy them."

Chad glanced at Jody, thinking of the Kardashian sisters who were closely connected with Bruce: "Bruce is a winner in life too."

Marcus patted them on the shoulder and said, "We're all winners in life!"

Chen Hu and Chad fell silent for a moment.

After a moment, Chen Hu said, "That's right, we all became winners in life by following Martin."

Menez and Martin's training session lasted for more than an hour, after which everyone returned to the recreation and rest area.

The female friends gathered together, occupying a sofa, drinking afternoon tea and chatting about topics that interested them.

Martin and the others went to the bar, drank, and talked about work, mainly movies.

John Wick 3 is currently in post-production and progressing smoothly, and it is expected to be released in time for next year's summer season.

In addition, Chen Hu and Marcus, who don't need to participate in post-production, are already designing the action scenes for the new installment of the series.

This time, it's not Jonathan, played by Martin, who is the male lead, but rather the story of Winston, played by Menez, and the Continental Hotel in New York.

The project is also temporarily named "New York Continental Hotel".

Menez is also undergoing intensive fitness and training for the film, with firearms and shooting being essential components.

Recently, Menez has been spending a lot of time at the Angels Club, receiving professional guidance and training.

For Menez's sake, Celine Dion temporarily moved from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to accompany him in these preparations.

Menez not only developed a muscular physique, but he also handled a gun with impressive skill.

Although his shooting skills weren't very accurate, his movements were quite intimidating.

It's sufficient for shooting action scenes in movies.

Martin, Chad, and Menez discussed the plot.

"While dialogue scenes aren't important, they still need to connect the action scenes," Chad said. "The main plot of this film tells the story of how Winston, a free-range lone wolf assassin, infiltrates the Continental Hotel."

Martin nodded: "You should discuss these things in detail with the screenwriter, and take your opinions as the main factor."

Chad plans to make a living off this series for the rest of his life, so he takes great care of everything related to it.

In the spin-off series, Martin also plans to focus on Chad.

On the other side, the women were discussing cosmetics and skincare.

Lily and Elizabeth were the most frequently asked questions. They had no eye bags, good skin, and looked to be around 20 years old even though they were only 24 or 25.

"I'm not too sure about that either," Elizabeth said honestly. "It's probably because I rarely wear heavy makeup?"

Lily is much more daring than Elizabeth: "It might be related to Martin. I feel younger after being with Martin."

Jody touched her skin and thought it looked good, saying, "I recently discovered a great way to eliminate and soothe eye bags and wrinkles."

Celine Dion touched under her eyes and could feel obvious bags, then asked, "What method? Is it convenient to tell me?"

Chad's girlfriend, Catherine, was also interested: "I get eye bags easily when I don't sleep well, and this problem has been bothering me for a while."

"This is a secret technique that Sandra Bullock told me when I interviewed her a while ago." Jody opened her bag and took out a tube of ointment with red, yellow and white coatings. She said, "Sandra has been using this ointment as an eye cream since 2001. She said it works very well for eliminating eye bags and preventing fine lines around the eyes. She's really something else in this regard."

Many people recalled that Sandra Bullock, at fifty years old, did not seem to have noticeable eye bags.

Chen Hu's girlfriend, who was of Chinese descent, leaned over and took a look, saying, "That's... hemorrhoid cream!"

With today's advanced information technology, everyone present knows what hemorrhoid cream is used for.

Lily exclaimed in surprise, "You can use something that's on your butt as makeup on your face?"

Jody shrugged: "I tried it, and it felt pretty good."

Celine Dion took out her phone and said, "I'll take a picture, and buy it another day to test its effectiveness."

Jody held the hemorrhoid cream in her palm so her friends could take pictures.

Even Lily and Elizabeth took out their phones to take pictures, even though they felt they wouldn't need them in the short term.

Catherine also found Sandra Bullock's Instagram account, where Sandra posted articles, one of which introduced her skincare tips, including mentioning hemorrhoid cream.

After the club activities in the afternoon, many people held a gathering at a nearby restaurant for dinner.

Elizabeth's poise and grace created a harmonious atmosphere among the women, ensuring there was never a shortage of topics to discuss.

When the event ended in the evening, she and Lily gave each woman a small gift.

When they got home, Martin rewarded them handsomely, allowing them to get a good night's sleep.

The following morning, as soon as Martin arrived at the studio, Bruce brought him a newspaper and showed him one of the pages.

"The verdict was announced in court yesterday after the hearing," he said. "Ryan Reynolds was sentenced to six years in prison. He may have been under some pressure and announced in court that he would not appeal and would accept the verdict."

Martin, not quite familiar with the specific legal provisions, asked, "Isn't the time a bit short?"

Bruce said, "The victim is Ukrainian, not American, and although various women and children's organizations in Los Angeles are watching, this outcome is already quite good."

He added, "Regardless of the length of his sentence, there is no place for Ryan Reynolds in Hollywood anymore."

Martin nodded slightly, picked up the phone and dialed Scarlett's number, but an assistant answered.

Scarlett Janssen is currently filming some interior scenes for Avengers: Age of Ultron at Disney Studios and doesn't have time right now.

Not long after, Scarlett Janssen called and invited Martin to meet her at a restaurant outside the Disney studio for lunch, saying she wanted to treat him to a big meal.

Martin arrived at the appointment on time at noon.

Scarlett had booked a table, changed into an autumn outfit that accentuated her figure, and met up with Martin at the restaurant.

In a good mood, she clinked glasses with Martin, saying, "Darling, you should congratulate me."

Martin roughly understood why: "Because of Ryan Reynolds?"

Scarlett deliberately flaunted it, as if it were truly her own doing: "I sent my ex-husband, who used to bully me, to jail, and it feels amazing!"

Martin clinked glasses with her again: "Congratulations, you've gotten your revenge."

Scarlett took a sip of her drink and asked with a smile, "Do I look like a Black Widow?"

"Black Widow doesn't look like her," Martin joked. "She looks more like a praying mantis."

Scarlett understood and leaned closer: "Would you like to be the female praying mantis's other half?"

Martin said, "If you find your other half, I'll congratulate you."

Scarlett frowned. "You've raised my expectations for men. It'll be too hard to find another one." She looked at Martin. "Men like you—rich, handsome, fit, capable, and skilled—are so rare."

Martin thought to himself, "What rubbish is this?"

He smiled at Scarlett and said, "You can come to me anytime."

After lunch, before leaving, Scarlett said, "I'm going to visit Ryan Reynolds."

Is this a case of killing someone and then destroying their spirit? Martin, having witnessed once again how terrifying his ex-wife could be, asked, "He's willing to see you?"

Scarlett smiled and said, "I have a way to get him to see me."

Martin thought of Julie and Aniston, then looked at Scarlett in front of him, and thought to himself that marriage really is a great terror, and it's best to avoid it if possible.

Ex-wives are terrifying creatures; their destructive power is roughly equivalent to a nuclear bomb.

If it were to explode suddenly, it wouldn't just affect two people; it could turn many people's lives into a complete mess.

There are countless examples like this, both inside and outside the industry.

Even today, Nicole Kidman frequently brings Tom Cruise into the spotlight to attract global attention.

Martin can imagine that after Ryan Reynolds loses his physical freedom, he will also be mentally attacked by his ex-wife Scarlett Janssen.

In the afternoon, Thomas called and Martin went to the WMA headquarters in Century City.

WMA has received another batch of scripts and project proposals, including projects from film companies and scripts completed by WMA's own screenwriting clients.

According to WMA's ranking, Martin is naturally the first among all the male actor clients.

Martin had to choose all the roles before anyone else could be selected.

In the conference room, Thomas, along with a group of people, moved the project proposals and scripts they had recently accumulated to the conference table in front of Martin, following the computer's catalog.

Martin couldn't possibly read every script in turn; there were dozens of texts from projects by external film companies, plus scripts from WMA's own writers.

If you really wanted to read them all carefully, it might take a week to finish.

As always, Martin first looked at the index and the summary of the contents.

Most projects are meaningless to Martin, who takes a boutique approach.

For example, he saw synopses of "Point Break" and "The Last Witch Hunter" in the catalog. Although he had some memory of them, these films were unlikely to be profitable.

An investment of $60 million could take about ten years to break even.

After quickly browsing through dozens of project indexes and descriptions, Martin finally gained something and pulled up one of the scripts.

Having only one is already quite rare, because most of the time there's no gain at all.

In Hollywood, many projects are decided first, and then the script is developed.

Martin said to Thomas, "It seems like this project only has the script, right?"

"San Andreas?" Thomas immediately said to his assistant, "Find that script right away."

He glanced at the index: "The screenwriter is Carlton Cuth's team; he's one of the firm's top screenwriter clients."

Martin nodded slightly, and while waiting for the script, asked, "What are his previous works?"

This screenwriter is well-known within WMA. Thomas, who knows him well, said, "He started as a screenwriter for films. He wrote 'The Adventures of Beverly Hills' in the 1980s. Later, he moved to the television industry and wrote for shows like 'The Invincible Dragon' and 'The Jimmy Show.' He became a top client of the company, mainly because he served as the lead writer for several episodes of 'Lost' in recent years."

Martin remembers the American TV series "Lost," which was once a phenomenon.

Thomas's assistant quickly found a copy of the script and handed it to Martin.

Martin took it and read it carefully. Just like the introduction, the San Andreas refers to the San Andreas Fault that runs through California. Geologists have predicted that this fault line has accumulated enormous pressure, and if it is released all at once, it will cause a major earthquake of magnitude 8 or higher in western California.

This easily evokes memories of a famous disaster film from a previous life, which is also the most successful disaster movie since "2012".

The Chinese title is "Collapse".

Martin couldn't remember the details of the plot anymore, but what impressed him most was Alexandra Daddario. He only remembered her running wildly during the earthquake, which gave the impression that she was the one who caused the massive earthquake.

Yes, and Dwayne Johnson too.

Martin took a closer look at the characters. The male lead was a member of the fire and rescue team who was divorced from his wife. His wife had married a wealthy man from San Francisco and brought their daughter with her.

After the massive earthquake struck, the protagonist traveled thousands of miles to San Francisco to rescue his wife and daughter.

Martin is absolutely certain that this is San Andreas.

If this film is made well, it has great commercial potential.

He thought for a moment and said to Thomas, "Contact Carlton Cus and his agent and tell them directly that Davis Studio is interested in this project."

Thomas quickly wrote it down and said, "There shouldn't be any major problems; the company will facilitate this deal."

(End of this chapter)