King of Hollywood
Chapter 421 - 143 Collective Loss of Voice

Chapter 421: Chapter 143 Collective Loss of Voice

When "Eyes Wide Shut" ended, the screening room was deathly silent, and only after quite a while did sparse applause break through, which was considered quite rude. After all, if a film aimed at critics didn’t receive applause at the end, it could only mean one thing: the film was a disaster, so bad that it left people unwilling to clap.

Of course, the reason there wasn’t any applause here was not because the film was terrible. In fact, a few minutes later, once people had had a chance to process what they’d seen, the applause, while not enthusiastic, had picked up quite a bit from the start. This was because the content presented in the film was just too provocative. Nicole’s nude scenes and the bodies of the several hookers that followed were within the bounds of the acceptable, but the quasi-religious party in the middle was audacious and shocking.

The shock didn’t come from the film’s depth or message but from the scale of the nudity and sex scenes, which was almost unprecedented in Hollywood’s history, apart from adult films. Critics could sound very authoritative in their reviews, but encountering these elements for the first time—especially in a formal setting—provoked an emotional rather than a rational reaction.

Adrian, however, wasn’t bothered by any of this. As soon as the film ended, he whispered something to Clarkson and then left through the back door with Charlize. As for the Cruise couple, Nicole had left early, not even bothering to say goodbye to her husband. Cruise didn’t seem to mind either and merely shrugged when Adrian suggested, "Maybe she’s a bit upset because I accidentally spilled some water on her." It seemed as though the premature ending of "Eyes Wide Shut" had accelerated certain events.

He quickly returned to his new mansion in Beverly Hills. True to his word about buying a new property, Adrian had spent weeks carefully gathering information and listening to plenty of advice before purchasing the mansion valued at around 40 million US dollars with a total area of about 1.5 acres. The main building wasn’t particularly large—just about 200 rooms—but there were additional structures like a garage, gym, recreation room, tennis court, outdoor swimming pool, and home cinema scattered around, as well as extensive lawns, bushes, and small woods that remained lush and delightful to the eye even in winter.

After buying it, Adrian had spent a few months decorating the place. He wasn’t going for excessive luxury but definitely wanted a stylish feel, dividing the space into various zones with an assortment of styles that needed to transition and blend well—just the design plan alone had cost several hundred thousand US dollars. After leaving it unused for a while, Adrian hadn’t moved in until Mrs. Galen, with the newly hired maids, became familiar with the mansion’s environment.

"Welcome back," said Nakama Yukie, who had been waiting at the door; she bowed deeply and then carefully took Adrian’s coat from his hands.

"Thank you," Adrian replied with a smile, nodding, "How are the preparations coming along? This will be your first role."

"Thanks to your concern, everything is going smoothly." Yukie had been keeping her submissive demeanor unchanged for almost a year; Charlize was used to seeing her like this, though the new maids couldn’t help but look curious.

Adrian looked around. Mrs. Galen had already gone home, so he didn’t say much but gestured for Yukie to follow him, bid Charlize goodnight, and headed upstairs.

"This is a role I had custom-written for you. Now that you’ve passed the audition, you must pull it off. Don’t disappoint me," he said once they reached the bedroom.

"I promise I’ll do my best," Yukie bowed again, this time at a 90-degree angle.

In private, she was actually quite lively and even enjoyed playing video games. She had all kinds of game consoles in her room and had beaten both "Resident Evil" and "Tomb Raider" on her computer. But in front of Adrian, she always maintained a demure demeanor. For the time being, Adrian had no desire to change this; isn’t this how the Japanese are?

Nevertheless, Yukie was very diligent in her studies. After coming to Los Angeles, she had to start everything from scratch, quickly mastering the language and making a few good friends at school. Her progress had been rapid and, after failing her last audition, she had become even more determined, something Adrian had noted. Once he’d gotten a relatively positive and objective evaluation through the school, he immediately arranged for her to have a role in the "Friends" TV series.

The original "Friends" series spanned ten seasons, with about 23 episodes each season, totaling around 220 episodes—even if Adrian could recall all of them, there wasn’t time to write them out, so he left most of it to the company’s scriptwriters. As long as the core content was maintained, capturing various aspects of American life, the genuine relationships between the characters, and paying attention to viewer feedback, keeping the ratings high wouldn’t be a problem. And Adrian occasionally contributed some classic bits from the original series. Even after four seasons, the ratings might have had their ups and downs, but it remained one of the most popular series.

So, revising the screenplay wasn’t a difficult task, and thus Joey was going to have a Japanese girlfriend in the next few episodes. The writers had put some effort into the storyline, and at least after Adrian saw it, he thought it was pretty good. However, whether it would be popular still depended on the audience’s reaction—of course, there were bound to be jokes at the expense of the Japanese.

"It’s okay, I understand this kind of... it seems anything can be used for a joke, American style," Yukie was quite open about it. You know, while Americans speak out against racial discrimination, the discrimination that goes unspoken in everyday life is everywhere. Though Yukie had made friends of different skin colors, she had experienced such discrimination too, but she rarely took it to heart and consequently, she wasn’t upset about the content of the script either.

"Great, then tell me your understanding of this character," Adrian nodded and continued.

"Your word choice is very apt," Yukie suddenly laughed, "In Japanese, the pronunciation is ’tennen boke’, it’s really quite vivid."

Adrian wasn’t an otaku in his past life. His understanding of the term was the same as most people’s, tantamount to being a bit slow to react, taking a long time to catch on to things, or having a different common sense from the average person. In ’Friends’, Joey was just like that; for example, he always thought it was normal for the tailor measuring his pants to pinch his crotch, until he was looked at by Ross and Chandler as if he were a monster, which made him anxiously and incorrectly ask, "Isn’t it supposed to be like this?"

The role prepared for Yukie was similar to Joey’s. Having two natural fools together, you could imagine what kind of comedy would result. Adrian did this to try to mitigate the potential discomfort that faces of different colors might bring to the audience.

"Then let’s leave it at that." After praising Yukie a few times, Adrian then stood up, and the misunderstood girl immediately knelt down and reached for his belt.

"No, no, no, Yukie, your services aren’t needed today," Adrian said with a laugh, gently pinching her cheek.

Yukie didn’t insist and bowed down on the spot, "Then I shall take my leave."

Watching the girl leave the room, Adrian took a shower, changed into his pajamas, and checked the time before he left the bedroom. He took a few steps to the end of the corridor, turned the doorknob without knocking, and good, it wasn’t locked.

"I really don’t understand why someone who enters other people’s bedrooms without knocking is called a gentleman," Charlize, who was reading a book on the bed, immediately frowned.

"What if I knocked, but you locked it?" Adrian innocently spread his hands.

"Don’t tell me you don’t have a spare key," Charlize hummed, realizing she had fallen into a trap and then changed the subject, "What do you want?"

"Nothing much, just wanted to come and see you," Adrian shrugged with a smile, sat down on the edge of the bed, "What are you reading? ’Management’? Nice book."

"Alright, now that you’ve seen me, can you leave? I’m very tired," Charlize put down the book and said bluntly, "If you have physical needs, by all means, find your personal little maid to take care of them."

"Personal little maid? Hmm, I quite like that title," Adrian pondered seriously.

"Ed!" Charlize couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

"Okay, Yukie has an important role coming up, I can’t bother her," Adrian spread his hands out once more.

"Then you can still make a bunch of calls. Even if they’re all unavailable now, at least you can try someone’s wife! Since you can get real with her in front of the camera while filming, since you can tease her in front of so many people in a movie box, and since you can find an excuse to have a passionate moment with her in the restroom, what’s the big deal about calling her to come out and play?" Charlize suddenly raised her voice, her pettiness and anger both amusing and meaningful.

"That’s not okay. You should know that last time in the restroom, she was hitting and cursing me as if she wanted to kill me. Of course, in the end, she let me have my way with her over the sink and gradually she became more accommodating. The thrill of it was quite intoxicating," Adrian caressed his chin as if savoring the memory.

"Yeah, you’re always so good at playing women like that, aren’t you? Maybe you should be bolder, like making Nicole climax with your fingers in the box while Cruise watches. Wouldn’t that be more thrilling?!" Charlize said sarcastically, her anger flaring up as she jumped off the bed and headed for the bathroom.

But she had barely taken two steps before Adrian pulled her into his arms.

"Let me go!" Charlize struggled angrily, but she stopped when Adrian said, "What are you really angry about, feeling jealous, and dissatisfied about, Charli?"

"...I’m not," Charlize said after several seconds, sounding a little less confident.

"Really?" Adrian gently bit her earlobe, "Don’t lie to me, Charli. I know you’re unhappy, even though you keep it to yourself, you don’t like the way I mess around, especially when the other party is a married woman. And I’m so unabashed about it, as if I’m very infatuated, which could turn out badly if there’s a problem. Besides... haha..."

Even though Adrian didn’t finish his sentence, Charlize’s cheeks still tinged slightly red—an expression that was quite rare for her.

"It’s what I hate most about you..." she whispered after a while, "as if you can... and yet I can never see through you..."

"You know, Charli, I’m really happy," Adrian continued, unconcerned, "because you’re worried about me, because you care a lot about me."

Charlize moved her lips as if she wanted to say something but ultimately remained silent.

"Nicole Kidman is not a simple woman, I’m aware of that, so you don’t need to worry so much," Adrian went on, playing with her hair, "Do you know why I didn’t explain, why I took you to the premiere? Because I wanted to show you, Charli, that you’re very special."

The girl in his arms hummed lightly but remained silent. Adrian laughed again, "Yes, I’ve said before that every woman is different, and it’s precisely these differences that attract me, making me want to possess them. However, there are only three or four who truly hold a special place in my heart."

As he spoke, he kissed her on the nape of her neck once more, "I told you, Charli, I want to build my own media empire in Hollywood, and now I’ve already completed half of it. Do you know why I agreed to hire you originally? Yes, I can’t deny that I was enamored with your beauty, but there was another reason, the most important one—I knew you would be the best witness. You would be by my side, witnessing the rise of my empire!"

Adrian’s hand slipped inside her pajamas, caressing the insides of her thighs, "So don’t think too much, now you’re not just a witness anymore, you’ve become a participant. Your talent is beginning to show, and my judgment was not wrong. Only you are suitable to stand by my side and watch this goal slowly become a reality, the feeling of fulfillment is irreplaceable."

Under his strong hand, Charlize’s expression had become somewhat hazy, but her mind was still clear.

"You always do this, talking sweetly while...using all sorts of tricks to block thoughts...making it impossible to make the right judgments..." she said in a breathy, halting voice.

"Because I don’t want, nor will I let you leave, Charli," Adrian silenced her red lips without waiting for a reply.

"How annoying..." Charlize mumbled indistinctly, but she stopped resisting, and soon, sounds capable of melting anyone’s heart began to fill the room.

Without discussing how Adrian further subdued his gorgeous secretary assistant and took her to his bed in a conquest, with the premiere of "Eyes Wide Shut," the long-standing contested topic should have been able to conclude. However, surprisingly, the normally vociferous critique community fell unexpectedly silent.

Whether it was those who initially thought that even if Adrian couldn’t produce a Kubrick-style film, he could still create an exceptional work, or those who believed Adrian was too arrogant to ever reach Kubrick’s level, none of them knew quite what to write. Only the die-hard fans of Kubrick continued to curse online.

After all, the Kubrickian style of this movie was too potent: the vibrant colors, the intricate shots, the well-known instruments used for the score, and the slow, drawn-out pace—every aspect was so unmistakably Kubrick. Especially when the main character, Tom Cruise, went to rent a tuxedo—the shop providing the service resembled the eerie store from the beginning of "A Clockwork Orange." Yet, to say Adrian had outright plagiarized seemed somewhat inappropriate, as there were noticeable differences. Thus critics began to feel perplexed.

No one knew what "Eyes Wide Shut" would have been like if Kubrick had directed it. And now that Adrian’s version, at least superficially, bore Kubrick’s style, how should it be critiqued? Professional critics who received invitations to various movie premieres had to be precise in their opinions; otherwise, their writings would only invite ridicule. This required a deep understanding of the film.

But the problem now was that the crux of the initial debate—whether Adrian could direct a movie in the style of Kubrick—had become unjudgable with the release of "Eyes Wide Shut." It was quite an odd situation indeed. Therefore, many people had no choice but to visit the cinema one more time, objectively adding a bit to the movie’s box office.

Of course, the newspapers weren’t completely silent the next day. At least the "New York Times" published a critical article. Sadly, the criticism was not directed at the film’s structure or Adrian’s directorial skill, but at the MPAA’s rating system.

"Halfway through the movie, what was originally a narrative about marital crisis suddenly switches to a thriller. This happens because of a party that is slipped into the middle of the story, a surprising party. They are so composed and yet so ludicrous, performing obscene acts with somber expressions as if part of a ritual. Well, that’s not the point. The point is that no film has ever displayed so much and such clear nudity as ’Eyes Wide Shut.’ Although the vital parts below are obscured by the camera, the actions are extremely explicit.

Adrian unreservedly showcased these on the silver screen, and perhaps we shouldn’t simply blame the director. But, by the regulations, this should at least be an NC-17 film, yet the movie’s rating is R. This means that children of any age can watch the film as long as they are accompanied by a parent. I can’t imagine answering and explaining to my child what this scene means when they ask. I know the MPAA has a fair amount of leeway when rating, but this is clearly too much. I don’t know if it’s because the distributor, Warner, exerted pressure, but I believe many people will agree that this rating is wrong!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)