King of Hollywood
Chapter 487 - 208: The Same as Last Time?

Chapter 487: Chapter 208: The Same as Last Time?

Adrian had gone to Japan originally to unwind, but he also accomplished quite a few things, such as luring Nakama Yukie back with him and, moreover, securing the film adaptation rights to a certain novel. Yes, it was that horror movie "The Ring," which had sparked a new horror craze in Japan and, surprisingly, caught Hollywood’s attention.

After buying the film adaptation rights from Suzuki Koji, Adrian had tossed it aside and never put it on his agenda. Since it was a purchase in perpetuity, how to handle it was entirely up to him. There was a ten-year deadline, but in reality, he just wanted to tease the Japanese. So why bother too much with these details?

However, after meeting Naomi, Adrian searched his memory for her information and discovered that she seemed to have played the female lead in the American version of "The Ring." This was more than ideal. He quickly dug out the novel "The Ring" from an old pile of papers. Although he hadn’t handed it over to the screenwriters yet, the decision to shoot the film was certain.

In his memory, Naomi followed an artistic and thrilling route. She had done only one big-budget commercial movie, which was now uncertain because of Adrian’s intervention. So, he prepared a few other routes for her. But he didn’t intend to give up on the original plan either, having existing examples made it easier to grasp.

But the movie prepared for Nakama Yukie was not this one, although Yukie did indeed appear in the Japanese version of the "The Ring" series in his memory. Do you remember what Adrian said to Suzuki Koji and Sugigi Takuya, who were present when he obtained the film rights to "The Ring"? He had an idea and wanted to find a Japanese writer to complete it.

That idea was "Ju-On." Since he wanted to tease the Japanese, "The Ring" alone was not enough. "Ju-On," which also attracted Hollywood’s attention, naturally could not escape. Originally, he had Takuya Sugigi take that idea to several fairly decent scriptwriters in Japan. Like in Hollywood, after completing an outline, Adrian would pick out mistakes for them to rewrite.

Since there was no rush like with those scripts, and he had the notion to procrastinate, it took a lot of time to finalize a first draft, and then even longer to finish completely. Of course, this news also spread quickly within the Japanese entertainment industry, so there was no need to worry about similar works possibly appearing. To date, they were still collecting directorial footage for trial shoots. Had it not been for remembering "The Ring," which had been set aside, this process might have dragged on for a long time.

Even though Adrian had told Sugigi Takuya that he would consider "Ju-On" only after "The Ring" had tested the waters in Hollywood, Naomi, after completing "Mulholland Drive," had to film some drama movies before considering "The Ring." Releasing many thriller movies in a short period was not a good thing, so bringing "Ju-On" forward a bit was not a big deal.

Moreover, the director already had a suitable candidate. After starting to consider "Ju-On," Adrian had taken out the videotapes collected from the trial shoots to watch again. Many Japanese directors had participated, as it was a rare opportunity that no one wanted to miss for a collaboration with Hollywood. Among them, apart from Nakata Hideo, who was supposed to direct "The Ring," there were also many unknown newcomers, such as a fellow in his twenties with a full beard who produced impressive work. It took Adrian quite some effort to translate his name into Chinese: Takashi Shimizu.

Even without the movie "The Ring," Shimizu’s life trajectory had changed slightly. He at least wasn’t an assistant to Nakata Hideo. Still, the footage he had trial shot was the closest to what Adrian remembered. In that case, why not let him direct? As long as Adrian oversaw production, there was no need to worry about deviating from the original trajectory.

However, if Yukie were to play the female lead, the script would need some minor adjustments. In his memory, the American version of "Ju-On" was almost identical in plot to the Japanese version, but the female lead was Sarah Michelle Gellar. Now, protected and arranged by Adrian, Sarah didn’t need to waste time in horror films. This role was perfect for Yukie, who at the moment didn’t have many suitable characters.

In Hollywood, leading roles with Eastern faces were few and far between. In recent years, numerous actors from Hong Kong had made contact with Hollywood, and those likely to stay became action actors, such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li, or Michelle Young, among others. Furthermore, after Americans’ fascination with dazzling action faded, their status was bound to decline.

Therefore, Yukie, having been in Hollywood for over two years, had only played ordinary roles in many TV series. Even though she had a substantial part in the upcoming summer release, "Legally Blonde," starring Sarah, which would be her first movie role, Adrian had put in a lot of effort for her to be included. Indeed, he had a few roles suitable for Yukie, but that had to wait until after the year 2000. Some plot points and characters’ popularity depended on the social environment.

"Ju-on" was a Japanese-style horror film, so having a Japanese female protagonist was just right to appeal to Japanese tastes. As for Americans, the setting could be that the female lead was adopted by an American family at birth, had an American boyfriend, and came back to Japan to study in order to find her roots. This not only introduced a completely Western-cast sister in the sequel but also highlighted some cultural conflicts, adding a layer of depth for movie critics to ponder over—after all, isn’t that what they love to do?

"This Japanese-style horror film had been conceived a while ago and only recently did I decide to officially put it on the agenda. I think you’d be perfect for it. Are you willing?" Adrian quickly followed up with another question.

"I... Of course, I am!" The look of surprise flickered across Nakama Yukie’s face before disappearing as she bowed respectfully, "As long as Ed thinks I’m suitable, I am willing."

"Alright, alright," Adrian said with a laugh, walking over to embrace her, "Then it’s decided. The movie will mainly be filmed in Japan, so you’ll get to visit home more often."

"Thank you, Ed, thank you." Nakama Yukie gratefully said, tiptoeing to plant a firm kiss on his cheek.

After watching Nakama Yukie leave with a smile, Adrian grabbed his head and heaved a long sigh. He had achieved his goals with the two movies and a few games, but everything else was a complete mess. Remember his original plan? It was to acquire a few small manga studios in Japan, consolidate them, and be the first to release the top three worker manga.

Everything went smoothly with the acquisitions, integrations, and productions, but... they didn’t have even a third of the enthusiasm Adrian remembered! Have you ever seen Naruto yelling "I can’t escape" countless times before performing a powerful jutsu? Have you ever seen a muscle-bound man looking like someone owes him millions when releasing his Bankai? Or a Luffy that is styled more like a pretty boy? Even with Adrian’s limited understanding of these mangas from his past life, he nearly spat blood when he saw the character designs and parts of the series.

Although this was largely due to him tossing out the plan and not managing it, at least he occasionally checked in on those two movies and the "Resident Evil" game, while the manga projects were left to graze like sheep. But the authors they found were too idiotic, right? The one in charge of Naruto must have watched too much "EVA," while the one in charge of Death God must have drawn gangster manga before? And for One Piece... Oh my god, they actually got a female author to draw it...

Alright, alright, AC Media’s Japanese branch should take a lot of the blame, with its upper management all being Americans, unfamiliar with the Japanese market. Adrian had also told them before that these were just experiments and not to take them too seriously, which led to this mess. Naruto involved ninjas, Death God had an Edo Period style—these two had some audience at least. But One Piece, with its complete fantasy setting and bizarre character designs done by a female author, would be a genuine ghost encounter if it became popular.

In short, being at a loss for words was putting it kindly. The only consolation was that he got to witness the Japanese exclusionism firsthand. After all, several big companies dominated the domestic Japanese manga market, and getting their support was not easy. AC Media managed to get involved with Avex because no one realized Avex’s potential before, and there was a funding exchange with Yahoo Japan. They certainly wouldn’t let outsiders interfere easily, like Hollywood rejecting Easterners. In fact, many people were just waiting to laugh at AC Media’s disaster, and they got their wish.

Anyway, at least the objective was reached. That’s how Adrian consoled himself. He didn’t need to take these losses to heart since he started these for fun anyway. It was worth waiting to see what kind of manga the Japanese would come up with in the 21st century without the top three worker mangas.

After finishing up the day’s business, it was about time for dinner. Afterwards, of course, he headed to Nakama Yukie’s bedroom, where they started playing TV games. As usual, Nakama Yukie completely dominated in fighting games against Ayumi Hamasaki and Adrian, but they had varied successes in other games. From Adrian, however, Ayumi Hamasaki learned plenty of tricks, like in side-scrolling co-op games where you could cause another player’s death, etc.

"How can you do that, Ayu! That’s just awful!" Nakama Yukie wasn’t shy about yelling out her frustrations, while Ayumi Hamasaki just responded with giggles. If she wanted to get physical, she’d quickly duck behind Adrian.

The two clearly had a good relationship, although Ayumi Hamasaki initially approached it with a utilitarian attitude—after all, this was the United States, and besides each other, they didn’t have many other countrymen around. Adrian was happy to see them get along and sometimes even egged them on.

"You’ve indeed gone too far, Ayu," "so this time, I won’t help you anymore."

"You can’t run away now, Ayu," "just accept your fate!"

"That’s too cunning, Ed," "how could you do this! Ahh, help!"

But Adrian was Adrian, after all. Although he indulged in pleasures, he was still very rational, so the next day, he put that reluctance behind him. There were plenty of petite women to go around, one more or less Ayumi Hamasaki didn’t make a difference to him. If she wanted to go back, then let her go back—that was where she was meant to shine, anyway.

His energy was now focused on the filming of "Mulholland Drive," Because the production was small-scale, many scenes were finished quickly inside the studio. The only trouble was in shooting scenes featuring Nicole and Naomi in full body shots together, which required some effort, not because they were constantly probing and clashing in their words—they did have a professional spirit, and personal issues would not be brought into work—so, the problem was their height.

As everyone knows, Nicole was almost 6 feet tall (178 cm), and Naomi was a little shorter than Cruise, so it was quite obvious who was taller when they stood together. Adrian, when he had first decided to have the two work together in the movie, had not thought about these issues—or, perhaps, had selectively ignored them—resulting in such a problem.

But this wasn’t a big deal; Cruise managed to appear as tall as Nicole on camera during the filming of "Eyes Wide Shut." That’s the magic of movies; it’s just a bit troublesome. It didn’t have too much impact on the progress of the film, so by the time the Oscar ceremony was upon them, filming was smoothly drawing to a close, with only the most important scenes left.

"Okay, the next scene doesn’t need to be repeated, do you have any objections?" Adrian asked the two women sitting on the edge of the bed wrapped in scarves.

It was a sealed small room, with a big bed in the middle, covered with red satin, and some furniture was placed around it. The lighting was rather dim, and apart from Adrian, Nicole, and Naomi, there were no others. When the two women sitting on the bed heard this, they exchanged a strange look, then turned their heads away without a word. Their previous appearance of having no issues had vanished.

"So, that’s a no?" After waiting a while, Adrian shrugged his shoulders, then checked the camera and various equipment before standing behind the camera, "Then let’s get ready to start."

Nicole and Naomi hesitated a moment before both took a deep breath and climbed onto the bed, following Adrian’s countdown, "Alright, get ready... start!"

After a pause of about five seconds, Naomi was the first to kiss Nicole, then wrapped her arms around her waist. Nicole instinctively moved back, gathering her courage to reciprocate, when she heard Adrian shouting, "Cut!"

He scratched his head, annoyed, not knowing what to say to the two women on the bed. They lay curled up, their bare shoulders and most of their skin exposed, and though wrapped in scarves, it did not hide their graceful curves. However, at that moment, Adrian completely ignored all that.

"I’ve said that although the script writes that Betty kisses Rita first, what I asked for just now was for Rita to kiss Betty first. What are you doing, Nicole?" he asked, frowning at Nicole.

"Sorry," Nicole admitted her mistake honestly, "I just... need some time to adjust."

"Okay, let’s go again, more naturally, pretend I’m not here," Adrian sighed and said.

Waving his hand, he walked back behind the camera and announced the start again. This time Nicole took the initiative to kiss Naomi, but it wasn’t long before Adrian called a halt once more.

"Look at yourself, Nicole, how stiff. Relax a bit; it’s not that difficult!" he said with emphasis.

Nicole still didn’t say much, only nodding to show she understood. However, the subsequent filming always stopped within a few minutes, and even the best take was just as she barely touched Naomi’s softness.

"You’ve already stressed countless times to be natural, Ed! How much more natural do you want me to be?!" Finally, Nicole couldn’t help but yell.

"Calm down, Nicole. I know it’s a bit awkward, but don’t get so worked up, okay? It will get better with a few more tries, just like back in school..." Naomi tried to comfort her but was interrupted before she could finish, "Shut up, Nami! You don’t know anything!"

"I..." Naomi looked at Nicole, somewhat angry, then turned her head away, no longer speaking, leaving the trouble to Adrian.

"Calm down a little bit, Nicole. Getting upset won’t solve the problem," Adrian said, frowning and trying to be patient.

"So how do we solve the problem, then? I had just managed to forget that you were standing right there watching while I was kissing and touching Nami, and then you interrupted," Nicole said, ruffling her hair in frustration.

"I’ve said you can pretend I’m not here. Relax a bit, be more natural. It’s not like this is some particularly difficult acting," Adrian sighed.

"Ha, pretend you’re not here? Relax a bit? Be more natural?" Nicole said sarcastically, "To what degree? Like last time?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, her expression froze, Naomi turned around with a bit of shock and contemplation, and Adrian raised an eyebrow, "Is this the reason?"(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my biggest motivation.)