King of Hollywood
Chapter 436 - 158 Ready

Chapter 436: Chapter 158 Ready

There was no suspense, Keira agreed, but her personality hadn’t changed much in two years—she was still arrogantly self-effacing. Moreover, there had been an agreement beforehand, so how could she possibly give up and admit defeat?

This was exactly what Adrian wanted to see, so even though there was a bit of regret, he didn’t take it too seriously. The role promised after passing the test was that of a body double for the handmaiden in the "Star Wars Prequel," but due to an oversight, he forgot that Lucas had started shooting in ’96, turning it into a test question.

However, no problem—there would always be roles available, and besides, she also had a clever mother. Shawen indeed had an eye for things, as could be seen by her choosing "Shakespeare in Love" instead of "Elizabeth," because "Elizabeth" was about concocting stories based on history. If there were significant divergences at key points, it was very likely the project would be scrapped and started over. On the other hand, "Shakespeare in Love" had a nearly completed script. She just needed to make revisions according to Adrian’s wishes.

Indeed, the "Shakespeare in Love" script had been essentially completed by Mark Norman in the mid-80s, and it almost went into production in ’91, intending to cast Julia in the female lead. However, Edward Zwick, the director, wasn’t satisfied with the original script and planned to invite Tom Stoppard for revisions, leading to conflicts with Mark Norman. Combined with issues from the investors, the project was unfortunately shelved.

Then, the script fell into the hands of Miramax, but it was put on ice due to a bleak outlook. Later on, AC Media acquired Miramax. Just like Bossworth, Adrian regularly checked the scripts they held, and New Line did the same, so eventually, the script ended up in his hands.

After coming full circle, it came back to him. To say this wasn’t fate was impossible, so Adrian happily accepted this gift and brought out "Elizabeth" in front of Gwyneth and Blanchett as well. As the boss, acquiring the rights to a shelved script was a simple matter. The Weinstein brothers quickly sorted it out—they were all too adept at securing full rights and then pushing out the original holders.

Sorting these things out only took a few days, and then Adrian was ready to return to Los Angeles. Emma was naturally unhappy about this, and it took Adrian a long while to appease her. He promised he would bring her to the United States as soon as she had summer vacation and wouldn’t return until the holiday ended. Only then did the little girl finally show a smile.

"This is what you promised; you can’t go back on your word." At the time of departure, Emma pointed insistently at Adrian with her little finger, pouting her lips.

"Don’t worry, I swear to God." Adrian had no choice but to keep reassuring her and then sighed inwardly—With this little troublemaker, the summer vacation was unlikely to be easy.

Although the filming of "The Matrix" was nearing its end, after Adrian returned, the completion date was delayed by a few days—relative to his usual speed, this movie was slower. Yuan Heping didn’t disappoint his expectations and directed the subway fight scene with intense tension, but the issue was that after all, he had directed too many Hong Kong films and this was his first time participating in a Hollywood movie production, so some elements were too "Hong Kongized."

"It’s not that I don’t like it, Yuan, you have to know, this is an American movie," Adrian said with a mix of laughter and tears.

Thankfully, this problem wasn’t too serious. After watching the video tapes, Adrian and his assistants discussed and reshot about a dozen shots. Then they just needed to be careful with the editing and special effects. Fortunately, the set hadn’t been dismantled yet, so it didn’t cause much delay. As long as the final scene where Neo and Trinity rescue Morpheus during the gunfight in the building was completed, "The Matrix" could wrap up.

As one of the coolest parts of the whole movie, this scene which combined kung fu and gunfighting was nothing short of explosive. Although there were many who mocked that "the pillars in the building must be made of sponge" or "Neo and Trinity’s hit rate is embarrassingly bad," it didn’t reduce the impact of these shots.

However, as thrilling as it looked in the film, shooting it was no easy feat. Just the action of Neo jumping up to take down the last special forces officer and landing in a cool pose took about fifteen or sixteen takes. Either Reeves didn’t land correctly, his coat got flipped over, or his sunglasses almost fell off.

"Even shooting the bullet time wasn’t this hard," Reeves complained after yet another NG.

"Really? Then maybe we should consider adding a bullet time action here," Adrian immediately suggested.

"No! I think it’s fine as it is! These small issues can’t get the better of me," Reeves quickly protested, supporting his waist with his hand as laughter erupted all around.

With Adrian’s foresight and Yuan Heping’s thorough commitment, the bullet time sequence was more polished and refined compared to the original, even if it was still a rough cut. However, this meant Reeves had to endure a lot. He often had to bend his knees to almost 90 degrees, stand in front of a wind machine for dozens of minutes—although suspended by wires, the most strenuous part was his waist. So, after Adrian called cut, he would often grimace and rub his waist. Those who knew understood it was because of movie shooting; those who didn’t might have thought he was just a little too "Happy" in bed.

"You okay, Monica?" After teasing Reeves, Adrian came over to the leading lady.

"I’m fine, just a minor injury." Monica chuckled, sipping her drink, "I never said it was easier than shooting bullet time."

"Don’t worry, even if you did, I wouldn’t be upset. You’re you, he’s him." Adrian raised his hands and then asked again, "Really all right?"

During a previous shoot, Monica had a scene where she had to flip backward off a wall. After a couple of takes, she slipped and, despite being supported by wires, slightly twisted her ankle.

"Really," Monica looked at him amusedly, and confidently puffed out her chest, "I couldn’t be better."

"Okay, okay, enough about that," Adrian changed the subject, "Claude invited me out tonight, you want to join me?"

"Of course," Monica looked at him somewhat puzzled, "you know, I’d never turn down your request."

"Yes, I know, but..." Adrian shrugged, "you might not like this gathering."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Boxing."

In the noisy venue, screens hanging in the middle were showing different angles of the ring while on the floor, a big guy was launching an unending assault—straight punches, hooks, raining down continuously on another. With every heavy hit he landed, the crowd around him erupted in cheers, howling out their passion.

The one getting hit didn’t seem to have any strength to fight back, but those who knew could tell that the arms he held over his head were precisely adjusting, decreasing the damage of the numerous blows. And whenever he found the opportunity, he would move in to hug his opponent, waiting for the referee to separate them, using this tactic to drain the attacker’s stamina.

Finally, when the passive fighter was almost cornered, he spun out suddenly. Although his opponent anticipated the move and threw a punch, he spun back again and followed it with a heavy hook to the face, knocking him down. An even louder cheer erupted from the exhilarated crowd, applauding the punch.

Unfortunately, the match wasn’t over. When the referee’s count reached eight, the fallen boxer got back up. Though he seemed dizzy from the hits, he knew that defense was key, and he just managed to hold off the torrent of attacks until the round ended.

"What a pity, if Philip had pushed a little harder, he’d have won," Claude from the front row sighed quietly after the noise behind him decreased.

"You’ve been singing his praises all night, Crow. Out with it, how much did you bet on him?" Adrian asked with a smile.

"Not much, just 50,000 US dollars. Daniela placed the bet for me." Claude laughed, patting his girlfriend—or more appropriately, bedmate—beside him.

With the addition of supermodels Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer, the growth of Victoria’s Secret was climbing, and the exclusive model squad was nearly established. The Czech model named Daniela Pestova, sitting next to Claude, was one of the signed models. He was thoroughly enjoying himself in this venture.

"Well, then I’ll pray for him to win too," Adrian said with a laugh, then turning to Monica beside him, "If only I had listened to you and bet as well."

"It’s too late for regrets now, Ed," Monica replied with a smile, though she looked a bit pale.

Adrian shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t unfamiliar with gambling, in fact, he gambled on many things, but he was used to betting after gathering enough intelligence rather than relying on luck, which was why he seldom visited Las Vegas.

"What’s wrong?" He noticed something was off with her.

"It’s a bit noisy," Monica replied softly, "But it’s okay as long as I’m by your side."

"It’ll be over soon, don’t worry," Adrian said, holding her hand for comfort, for the moment that was all he could do.

Places like this always had private boxes, but how could one feel the heat of the crowd from inside a box? How could one better appreciate the contest of speed and strength between the boxers? Though boxing wasn’t as popular as the major ball sports in the United States, it too had its fair share of fans. The sensation caused by Stallone’s "Rocky" back in the day was evidence of this. Therefore, to feel this vibe, Claude had booked seats in the front row.

Adrian neither disliked nor was particularly fond of boxing; if anything, he appreciated sports that were more technical, which probably had something to do with how often he contemplated various problems. However, right now he just wished it could end quickly so Monica could feel better.

Perhaps God heard his thoughts, for in the next round, which had just restarted, a winner was finally decided in the last few seconds – the boxer Claude had bet on was ultimately knocked down. During the entire match, he’d only been at an advantage in the first two rounds, spending most of his time defending and counterattacking. Although he performed well in the previous round, it was too late, he hadn’t managed to take out his opponent completely, giving the other man a chance to catch his breath. The opponent’s coach took the opportunity to devise a tactic to deal with him. If he hadn’t made a mistake in this round, perhaps there would’ve been a chance for victory, but alas...

"What a pity, you lost fifty thousand US dollars," Adrian said with a laugh, clinking his glass with Claude’s.

They were in a bar near the stadium, very extravagant, intended for the esteemed attendees who came to watch various matches; naturally, they came here for a drink after the event.

"It’s just fifty thousand dollars," Claude wasn’t bothered, giving him a meaningful glance and then looking over at Monica and Daniela chatting not far away, "After all, we will make it back a thousandfold, even tens of thousands of times, soon enough."

"It looks like you’re prepared?" Adrian raised an eyebrow; this was the most important topic of the evening.

"Of course, I’ve been watching closely, I must admit, the guy is a genius. When most people still can’t quite see clearly, he’s already like a cheetah that hides himself well and is ready to pounce," Claude said with admiration, "I bet, at most by early next month."

"Then I’ll wait for your good news," Adrian downed his whiskey, "But, you also need to be ready for the company matters."

"I know, Laverne is quite capable, with him in charge there’s no need to worry, plus I only need to focus in the beginning," Claude responded with a smile, "Speaking of which, those two acquisitions you’re dealing with, I can understand the former, but the latter?"

"I trust you see the benefits of instant messaging," Adrian shrugged.

"Of course I do, but the issue is how to go about it," Claude spread his hands.

"That’s a matter for later; right now there’s only one thing, which is to capture a large enough market," Adrian explained briefly, "That’s why I told them to discard all that fancy stuff and make the service as simple and fast as possible, just to quickly attract users. I know they’re very unhappy, but I don’t care, it’s fine even if we have to fire them. The software program isn’t anything complex; what we’re after is the user base."

"But there has to be a limit, right?"

"Yes, but it doesn’t depend on you or me, it’s all up to Microsoft."

"Microsoft?"

"Yes, think about it. If one day Microsoft wants to acquire this software, do we sell or not? If we sell, will they let us retain significant control, especially in software? And if we don’t sell, what if they develop similar software and bundle it for sale like Office?"

"... I get it," Claude thought for a while before nodding and then downed the rest of his drink, "I have to admit, aside from filmmaking, you also have quite the foresight when it comes to the internet."

The instant messaging software they were discussing was naturally ICQ. With the advantage of foresight, Adrian’s venture capital firm approached the three Israeli developers as soon as they had created it, and after a bit of back and forth, AC Media took it under its wing once the software had surpassed 3 million users.

To be honest, the software didn’t bring much in direct benefits, but it had the potential for significant indirect benefits, such as its enormous user base. Despite ICQ being so simple, unless the company itself made careless mistakes making the user interface exceedingly complex and user-unfriendly, causing a loss of most of its users, even if other companies developed similar software, even if Microsoft bundled MSN for sales, ICQ wouldn’t lose too much. Plus, being the first instant messaging software, it still retained a market share.

Just think about it, in a few more years when the technology matures and various plans fall into place, think of the subtle influences this user base could have, and the kinds of promotion that could be done!

Of course, out of sheer mischief, he registered the penguin logo immediately, making sure not to leave out any part of the world. So if Pony Ma wanted to copy it, he would have to find a different image and name. After all, that was a simple matter. Without QQ, there could still be MM, and China certainly wouldn’t allow a foreign instant messaging service to dominate its market; supporting a local service was a given.

As for the other acquisition, it was no big deal. Blue Sky Studio, which would later produce the "Ice Age" series, also became a formal part of AC Media. With Pixar’s success, no one would think that computer animation lacked prospects.

Because of Pixar, indeed, it took quite an effort to secure Blue Sky Studio; but also because of Pixar’s example, Blue Sky Studio eventually joined their ranks. Excellent, the second step in that area was complete, now only the final step remained.

"Thanks for the compliment." Adrian poured them both another half-glass.

"To be honest, without you, the company would have likely faced many detours on its path. Our partnership is seamless," Claude said sentimentally.

"Indeed, we are the best partners," Adrian laughed heartily and clapped him on the shoulder, "As long as we are closely united, we can be invincible at any time."

The clink of their glasses mingling, they both laughed again after another drink.

"Speaking of which, have you ever considered trying..." Claude suddenly said this, gesturing towards Daniela with a suggestive smile.

"If it’s appropriate, I wouldn’t mind," Adrian shrugged knowingly, "Just don’t mention this in front of Monica."

"Got it, got it, she’s your treasure," Claude laughed, "Don’t worry, I’ll choose the best one for you."

"You rascal..." Adrian joked, "By the way, you are coming to the premiere in a few days, right? It’s a great opportunity to witness history." (To be continued. If you like this work, we welcome you to vote for us on qidian.com. Your support is our greatest motivation.)