America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 96 Old Bu is here

The audition room door opened and closed again, and Adrian stood in front of the camera lens. His medium-length dark brown hair, almost black, was specially styled, with a touch of dapper nonchalance amidst its messiness.

Mary Gayle disliked this hairstyle, just as she had hated the Beatles when she was young.

But she remained calm and said, "Let's begin."

Adrian and his assistant began rehearsing their lines.

Susan Levine remembers this actress; Downey mentioned her to her a few times.

His acting is decent, above average, but the quality is relative. Compared to Martin Davis, who previously delivered the best performance, he is clearly a level below.

The audition ended quickly.

After the actor left, Susan asked again, as usual, "How was he?"

Mary disliked it, but she wouldn't say it directly: "It's alright, just average."

These words reinforced Susan's similar view, and she nodded slightly: "Let him know tomorrow, he'll be playing Dalton."

Robert Downey Jr. just got engaged, and Susan is quite considerate of him; the marginal supporting roles have little impact on the project.

Mary wrote it down.

The auditions continued, and Jason Shawn did not appear even after everyone had finished auditioning.

Susan, nominally the third-ranked producer but actually in charge of the production team, directly instructed Mary: "Cancel his audition."

The audition for the role of Nick Jones has ended, and Susan will no longer audition for any one person individually.

The audition room door closed, and the casting team held a meeting there.

After playing all the audition videos, Susan, in a slightly more gentle tone, asked, "Martin Davis, no objections, right?"

The casting team isn't stupid; even if they have objections, they won't voice them.

Susan glanced at the time and said to Mary, "We'll give you the official notification tomorrow."

The meeting was brief. Afterwards, Mary and Susan walked together, and Mary asked, "The audition this afternoon?"

Susan waved her hand: "I'm not participating. You decide on the other roles."

Mary is a veteran in the industry with decades of experience; her abilities are not an issue. Even if she had ulterior motives, the people she selected would still meet the basic requirements.

The two parted ways, and Mary returned to her office, found a contact number, and made a call: "Same place tonight. Did you find the person I asked you to find? Good."

Thinking of the young black man with dyed blonde hair, Mary felt great. In recent years, no one had put in as much effort and dedication to sweeten her life as he had.

…………

In the parking lot of Warner Bros. Studios, Martin watched as police lights flashed and an ambulance arrived.

The familiar-looking fat man was lifted into an ambulance by paramedics.

Thomas recognized: "It seems like the company's clients."

Martin had seen this more than once on the set of "Entourage": "Adrian's sidekick, is he called Bonnie or Tony?"

He sensed something was amiss: "I'll go find out what's going on."

Thomas said, "I am your agent."

Martin casually remarked about the transfer: "It might be related to the audition."

"This is the last time!" Thomas emphasized, then went to inquire about the situation and made several more phone calls.

He returned quickly and told Martin, "It really is related to the audition. Tony and Paris Hilton's boyfriend, Jason Shawn, had a minor car accident, and they got into a fight... no, to be precise, Shawn hit Tony and was taken away by the police. Tony seems to be badly injured."

Martin, being the person he was, immediately realized it wasn't an accident and shook his head: "That's fucking ridiculous!"

Thomas didn't hear him clearly: "What?"

Martin said, "The competition is fierce."

"You'll get used to it." Thomas understood what he meant: "The male acting scene is a little less exciting, but the female acting scene is truly spectacular."

Martin mentioned Jason Shawn with the intention of drawing Adrian's attention to him, but he didn't expect Adrian to value Jason Shawn so much.

The thought of Adrian's smiling face sent a chill down Martin's spine: "I have a sense of crisis."

That guy's a scumbag. He asked Thomas, "Is Adrian highly regarded at the company?"

Thomas said, "He's alright, he's one of the newcomers."

Martin considered whether to call for backup, took out his phone, and found that it hadn't been turned on since he turned it off. He quickly turned it on and soon received three missed call notifications via text message.

Just as I was about to call back, the phone rang.

Martin answered the call, and Bruce's voice was still as unpleasant as ever: "You piece of shit, when I don't need to talk to you, you make my life miserable, but when I do need to talk to you, I can't get through on the phone."

"Because I can smell your stench even in Los Angeles!" Martin retorted sharply. "The stench of your brother's shit wafts all the way from Atlanta to Los Angeles!"

Bruce said, "I'm in Los Angeles!"

Martin asked in surprise, "What? Old Brooks, you're in Los Angeles?"

Bruce said, "In less than half an hour, on North Hollywood Valley Boulevard, in the parking lot in front of the Bank of America, I'll rob the Bank of America and tell those sons of bitches that you're the mastermind."

Martin hung up the phone and told Thomas, "Drive to the Bank of America in North Hollywood, quick!"

"I'm not your driver!" Thomas muttered to himself, got into the driver's seat, and drove Martin straight to North Hollywood.

Arriving at the parking lot in front of the Bank of America, Martin spotted Bruce immediately.

Bruce got out of a Ford pickup truck: "Looks like you're doing pretty well."

"Unlike you, who needs to sell your ass." Before Bruce could become civilized, Martin changed the subject: "You drove all the way from Georgia?"

Bruce shrugged. "After 9/11, aviation regulations became too strict; it's easy to leave traces." He pointed his chin at Thomas. "Who's this? Your new henchman?"

Thomas thought to himself, "Where did this country bumpkin come from? He's swearing and stinks."

"My agent is Thomas," Martin introduced briefly. "This is Thomas, and this is Old Brooks, my brother, the professional cleaner."

He added, "If you ever kill someone and have trouble dealing with it, just call Old Bu. As long as you pay enough, he'll take care of it perfectly."

Thomas nodded to Bruce and said to Martin, "I won't bother you any longer."

Martin reminded him, "Notify me immediately if there's any news from the production team."

Thomas got in the car and drove off quickly.

Martin got into the passenger seat of the Ford pickup truck and pointed to the apartments to the north: "Go there." He added, "Keep your guns safe. This is California, where gun control is strict, not Georgia."

Bruce replied, "I was stationed in California when I was in the military. I have a gun license and concealed carry permit here. Who am I? I won't give a son of a bitch the chance to empty his magazine."

The car drove into the parking lot, Martin helped carry the luggage, and led Old Bu into the apartment building.

Bruce went up to the second floor and pouted, "I thought you were living in a big mansion in Malibu or Beverly Hills, so I came here specifically to stay with you."

Martin opened the door and said, "You can stay here for now. You can choose either of the two bedrooms." Considering that Louise might come to sing when she returns to Los Angeles, which she finds exciting, he added, "I'll rent you an apartment when one becomes available."

Bruce threw down his suitcase and sat on the sofa: "Didn't you say you wanted to be with me forever?"

Martin opened the refrigerator, grabbed a can of beer, and tossed it to him: "I could smell you thousands of kilometers away. Old Brooks, there's another crucial question: when you were using the back door, did you want me to hear you?"

Bruce opened his beer and took a big gulp: "Fine, I don't care."

Martin grabbed a can of beer and asked, "Why did you suddenly come to Los Angeles?"

Bruce simply said, "I'm on the blacklist of a drug cartel in eastern Mexico. I'm not afraid of a direct confrontation, but what if I get shot in the back? Vincent has been good to me, and I can't drag him down with me."

"I'm sorry." Martin immediately understood what was going on: "My messy affairs have dragged you into this."

Bruce didn't stand on ceremony with Martin at all: "So, I have no choice but to come and seek refuge with you."

Martin said, "From now on, you will be my full-time manager."

"Sounds high-end and sophisticated," Bruce asked. "What does it mainly do?"

Martin thought for a moment: "Drive, carry my bags, play along, and keep watch behind me."

Bruce asked in surprise, "You used the Vaseline I gave you?"

Martin rummaged through Bruce's bag, intending to pull out a gun: "Old Bruce, do you want to meet your maker sooner?"

Bruce scoffed, "God is black, he won't meet with racists."

"You've come at the right time, I've run into a jerk..." Martin recounted the events that had happened.

"Don't worry, I won't let him mess with you." Bruce sighed. "I left one quagmire and jumped into another."

Martin checked the time: "It's noon. Let's go out for lunch, and I'll show you around Los Angeles this afternoon."

"Go to the Holy Valley?" Bruce was actually very curious. "I've always wanted to see for myself how those films are made."

Martin asked, "To observe in person?"

Bruce shrugged.

The two went outside and ran into Antonio.

The large, fat man rolled slowly down the stairs like a ball. Upon seeing Bruce, he asked Martin, "Is he the producer?"

Bruce spoke first: "That's right, I'm a Hollywood producer."

Antonio patted Martin's arm: "Go to the hyenas sooner rather than later, don't wait until you can't take it anymore."

Martin glared at Old Brooks, then looked at the landlord: "He likes fat guys, so I brought him here specifically."

Antonio was terrified and turned to go upstairs, shouting, "Don't do anything rash! I have a gun!"

Martin said, "What man doesn't have a gun?" He was worried that the landlord's heart wouldn't be able to handle the physical stress. "Just kidding, he's my friend, Anthony. You have a spare room here, could you save it for him?"

Antonio turned around, his trembling chest much larger than Jessica's: "No problem, I'll let you know as soon as a house becomes available."

Martin and Bruce went downstairs, found a place to have lunch, and then went to the San Fernando Valley together.

Midway through, Martin called Jenna Jameson, whose company had been officially established after the New Year and was filming its first movie, inviting the two of them to visit.

In the studio at the Holy Valley Film Studio, Martin and Bruce put on their crew badges and arrived at the filming location.

Jenna Jameson herself directed the performance, and when the actresses were exhausted from the long takes, she personally stepped in and performed.

(End of this chapter)