King of Hollywood
Chapter 412 - 134: Upcoming Releases and Productions in Progress

Chapter 412: Chapter 134: Upcoming Releases and Productions in Progress

Most women are like that, they may have already given in mentally, but they can’t help resisting a few times verbally and physically. To put it nicely, this is called being reserved; to put it unpleasantly, it’s called not wanting to take responsibility.

Just like when you pick up a woman at a party, even if you’ve completely attracted her, even if she is very willing to sleep with you, it’s always you who has to begin by saying, "I have a lot of beautiful tropical fish at home, maybe you’d like to see them," or "If you don’t mind, maybe we could find a quiet room to talk."

It’s not that there aren’t women who are independent, but most women always try to avoid making themselves look too promiscuous or casual in daily interactions, attempting to make the whole thing look like it was the man who took the initiative and led the way, the higher their position in the pyramid, the more so. Thus, a perceptive man should know when to be the gentleman and when to be the scoundrel.

Of course, distinctions must be made. For instance, Rachel was forced in a similar situation, her obsession and entanglements were mostly because Adrian had unlocked her subconscious masochistic penchant, but Nicole was different...

Adrian couldn’t be completely sure what she was thinking, but he guessed a bit; however, he didn’t take any specific action. Sometimes, watching the prey struggle in his grasp, yet being firmly held due to various reasons, brought greater pleasure, otherwise, why would it be said that the best are always those you can’t get.

"Congratulations, kid, Eric said you’re doing well," Adrian told Silver Phoenix as he came out of the art director’s office.

"So..." Silver immediately looked at him with hope.

"Not yet, you still need to continue training, don’t think releasing an album is an easy matter," Adrian said with a laugh, "Besides, you have other careers; you must know that after ’The Sixth Sense,’ you’re already a leading child star."

Silver had wanted to say something, but after thinking it over, he shut his mouth and put on a somewhat "reluctant" smile.

"I know what you’re thinking, Silver," Adrian sighed as he walked, "but wasting your talent is unforgivable. I’ve already agreed to let you participate in the company’s training and promised that as long as you meet the requirements, you can release your album. How much more can I concede?"

Based on the feedback from River and Joaquin, combined with information from various sources, Silver’s desire to make a mark in singing was strong. Therefore, Adrian chose the second option, leaving him under Eric’s guidance. Even if Silver didn’t agree, he could still try out at other record companies, right?

"Okay, Ed, just say I’m never satisfied," Silver shrugged, appearing a bit prematurely world-weary, more so than he was in front of Adrian compared to his two older brothers.

"No no no, Silver, being ambitious is good, as long as you know how to control it," Adrian laughed again, then glanced at a corner not far away, "Keep working hard, Silver. Passion can’t represent everything. In the company, the two young singers I am most optimistic about are both extremely talented, yet they are still in training, right, Kristen?"

The last remark was directed towards the corner, then Christina awkwardly came out, greeted Adrian and Silver Phoenix, smiling somewhat reluctantly.

"You must be Christina Aguilera, Ed often mentions you and Britney Spears to me, always saying you two are the most promising girls he has ever seen. He also told me that unless I work twice as hard as you, I might not even achieve half of what you will, which is really annoying," Silver shook Christina’s hand in a carefree manner, typical of someone who makes friends easily.

His words clearly improved Christina’s mood a lot, although a hint of disgust flickered in her eyes when she heard Britney’s name, so her smile became even more gentle. "It’s not necessarily true, I have been training for almost three years now, Ed says I still have three more years of training before I could officially become a singer. I don’t think that if someone spends twelve years practicing they can’t release an album."

Although she was talking to Silver, her eyes inadvertently kept glancing at Adrian.

"Of course, I’m judging you by the standards of the most popular singers, Christina." Adrian said with a smile, then looked at his watch, "You have another audition this afternoon, right, Silver?"

"It’s okay, Joaquin should be here to pick me up, and even if he doesn’t, I can go by myself." Silver waved his hand, sensing that Adrian had other matters to attend to.

"Alright, I’ll see you in a few days then." Adrian smiled and nodded, waiting for Silver to leave before turning to Christina, "Is there something you wanted to discuss, Kristen?"

Seeing his smile, Christina seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, biting her lip before speaking again, "Can we talk in your office, Ed?"

"Hmm...I’m about to leave, so how about we find a lounge instead? That might be more relaxed. You seem to be troubled," Adrian suggested after some thought.

Christina did not refuse, and the two of them found a vacant room and sat down on the sofa. They exchanged some light conversation, much like before. Adrian inquired about her current situation, and as Christina briefly described it, Adrian directly asked, "Are you dissatisfied with your current situation, Kristen?"

"...No, not at all, I’m just..." caught off guard, Christina stuttered in her response.

"Don’t lie to me, Kristen, we’ve been together so long I know what you’re thinking," Adrian said with a smile, "You’ve always been honest with me, why not continue that honesty? I’ve always been your best listener. If you could talk to me about painful memories from your childhood, why can’t you talk about what’s on your mind now?"

"No, Ed, I... really have no complaints..." Christina hurriedly defended, "And I wouldn’t have any, after all, you’ve done so much for me... It’s just... I’m just feeling a bit jealous and insecure..."

She lowered her head as she spoke, fiddling with the hem of her clothes, her cheeks slightly puffed as if she were biting her teeth. Adrian, understanding her well, let out a light chuckle.

"Alright, I understand your feelings, Kristen," he said, sitting down beside her, "but in my opinion, you really have no reason to be jealous of Silver."

"I..." Hearing this, Christina suddenly looked up, her mouth opened but no words emerged, her expression earnest as she looked at Adrian.

"Your path is completely different from Silver’s," Adrian continued as if he hadn’t noticed, "Although I’ve said it many times before, I don’t mind repeating it. You and Britney are the most promising girls I’ve seen, especially your singing skills, which are excellent. If you weren’t so young, I wouldn’t have considered Celine Dion to sing the theme for the recent big production. Silver might have some talent in singing, but that’s nothing compared to his acting. Even if he works hard, at best he’ll just be an ordinary frontline singer. You’re different, I’ve always measured you against the most popular singers, I’ve never thought I was wrong, and I believe you won’t disappoint me, so you really don’t need to worry so much, just keep training hard as always."

With that, he placed his hand on her thigh and gently pressed, "If you’re still not reassured, then I might as well reveal that by this time next year, you should be ready to officially release your album!"

Christina didn’t speak, just stared intently at Adrian for a long while, then smiled, "I will."

"Then that’s settled," Adrian said, patting her thigh again, "Go back and keep maintaining your condition."

Christina stood up, then thought of something, turned her head, and looked at Adrian, "Ed, is that okay?"

"What?" Adrian feigned confusion, then Christina leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth, afterward flashing a mischievous smile he seldom saw before. "I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.

Well, finally some progress. After Christina had left, Adrian touched the spot where she had kissed him and smiled. He knew exactly whom Christina was truly jealous of—after Britney occasionally visited his villa for "lessons," she inevitably became more proud, and her intimacy in front of Adrian increased.

As a rival, Christina naturally felt threatened, but she didn’t know exactly what the problem was—Britney certainly wouldn’t tell her, since that was the most important secret between her and Adrian.

Moreover, Christina wasn’t like Britney; she thought about many things. Thinking too much without being able to clearly discern what’s necessary and what’s not naturally prevented her from making the right decisions—even though Adrian’s attitude toward her hadn’t changed, Christina still couldn’t help but struggle with the thought of surpassing Britney.

Because she never knew what to do, she remained conflicted up to today, until, spurred by something Adrian said and recalling various past events, she finally came to a realization. Christina wasn’t foolish, and besides, women are naturally sharp about certain things; no matter what Adrian really thought, as long as she could win over Britney, she wouldn’t care about these things, but she always thought too much, which was why she seemed a bit deliberate just now.

It’s okay, it’s just a beginning. Adrian didn’t mind. This kind of thing would become familiar after a few times; he had spent years gradually brainwashing her, like repeatedly telling her that only she could make herself successful, or making patting her thigh a habit, and having her disclose many personal secrets to him. In these circumstances, even if Christina had some insight, she would choose to ignore it.

However, compared to her, another person, although clumsy in some respects, was bolder and simpler, so thinking too much wasn’t a good thing. Of course, it was all thanks to Adrian, and he had planned from the beginning. If it had been someone else, they surely wouldn’t dare to embrace it as unreservedly as he did.

"Ed, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time..." As the door closed, a petite figure threw herself into Adrian’s arms, and admittedly, those moist and tender lips were indeed sweet.

This was why Adrian didn’t bring Christina back to the office; Britney had been waiting for him here all along.

"You seem very happy, did something good happen?" Adrian locked the door and sat down with the young girl in his arms.

Britney immediately started chattering excitedly, her expression exuberant, looking very adorable as she climbed on him.

"By the way, Britney, I regret to inform you that next Wednesday’s class has to be canceled," Adrian suddenly said.

"It’s canceled?" Britney immediately showed a disappointed face.

"Yes, I have some other matters to handle, but don’t worry, I’ll make up the class for you," Adrian said as he pinched her smooth cheek.

"Okay." Britney immediately offered a kiss willingly, with not a hint of reluctance, totally obedient to his words.

With a negative EQ plus Adrian’s methods, she had become the most successfully brainwashed, even more compliant than Sarah. However, Adrian hadn’t completely devoured her; until now, even though they’d had many special sessions in the villa, they were limited to hugs and kisses, not even going as far as Kirsten. From a utilitarian point of view, now wasn’t the right time—after all, sometimes it pays to keep things in suspense for greater rewards.

Just like how he was familiar with Kirsten’s body inside out, yet he still had not made the final move till this day.

"Do you not like me anymore?" Kirsten asked again, putting on a pitiful expression.

"How could I not, little fairy? I’ve always wanted to devour you, but the time hasn’t come yet," Adrian responded.

It wasn’t just psychological comfort. The idea of going all the way had lost its importance since he had sampled her charms multiple times already. It wasn’t that Adrian didn’t want to devour her, despite having already consumed Natalie. Even though he would find time to visit New York, their meetings weren’t just about rolling in the sheets; they played and talked and enjoyed the scenery together.

That was quite nice, especially when Natalie curled up excitedly in his arms, debating some topic or other. The feeling was particularly wonderful. Still, the unique allure of a young girl was more captivating, so how could he not want to devour Kirsten? But he also needed to seize this opportunity to let her know that he was aware of her thoughts and to remind her who was in control.

Kirsten was somewhat aware of this too. Since their relationship was already quite close, she didn’t press further. However, had she known that Natalie had already been taken to bed by Adrian, she might not have been so calm.

After Halloween, the off-season for movies passed, and the lucrative Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year period was upon them. This season, the film companies under AC Media didn’t have much that could make a mark on the box office charts, except for "Jerry Maguire" and "The Mask of Zorro." "Titanic" would have swept all before it if it could have been released, but after the news came from Cameron the day after Halloween, Adrian completely abandoned the idea.

No matter, every film company has its low periods, and this suited Adrian’s approach of keeping a low profile during his rise at DreamWorks. Besides, several promising movies had already started filming.

The first was "Armageddon," a surprise Adrian claimed he had prepared for Liv. Bruce Willis naturally didn’t hesitate to accept Adrian’s invitation, especially after Michael Ovitz became his agent and his previous agent had been quickly poached. The other roles were also nearly settled, except the male lead was given to Joaquin Phoenix, who, with his brother River not deceased and still overshadowed by him, was starting to try his hand at commercial cinema. Convincing Liv, however, took a bit of effort.

"How about having some inexperienced oil workers drill into a comet in space to save the Earth, isn’t that the most outrageous story?" That was Liv’s first reaction after reading the script.

"Of course, there’s something even more preposterous, like an air force pilot and a mathematician riding a decades-old alien spaceship that landed on Earth to go to the alien headquarters and plant a virus in their computer—this just shows how important it is to have good antivirus software," Adrian said deadpan, "and even if there’s no antivirus software, shouldn’t there at least be a decent firewall? And if not a firewall, at least a standalone server, right?"

"I find it uninteresting," Liv retorted, unable to come up with a counterargument, and pouted.

In any case, Adrian used every trick in the book, coaxing and deceiving, and eventually brought out the initial surprise to get her agreement: "I went through so much trouble to prepare a surprise for you; are you really going to let all my efforts go to waste? That would be truly heartbreaking!"

Of course, whether it was this argument that worked, or the attitude Adrian showed that said "if you don’t agree, I’ll just throw you on the bed and deal with you properly," was unknown.

The director was still Michael Bay; Adrian’s invitation, coupled with the producer being the previously well-cooperated with Brokheimer, immediately made him abandon a nearly finalized deal with Universal and join Adrian, to his uncle’s fury, who cursed him out thoroughly.

"It doesn’t matter; he’ll cool down after he’s done shouting," Michael Bay said, not bothering to care as he talked about the incident.

As for the co-financing company, Adrian handed it over to Miramax. The success of "Independent Day" made them clearly aware of the prospects of a sci-fi movie wrapped in special effects, especially one featuring Adrian as a selling point. This also ensured that New Line didn’t monopolize the glory.

As for New Line, Adrian had plans there too, with two more films besides "Armageddon"—"Con Air" and "L.A. Confidential." (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to qidian.com to vote and support the author. Your support is my greatest motivation.)