King of Hollywood
Chapter 508 - 229 Europe Matters Settled

Chapter 508: Chapter 229 Europe Matters Settled

With the passing of over a dozen days, the 51st Cannes Film Festival was finally about to reach its last moments. Although "Mulholland Drive", the work of the Miracle Director, was the major focus that ran through the entire festival, so much so that attendees were more or less obliged to mention it, there were many other fine films and many fine actors and directors drawing the eye.

For instance, the Italian director Roberto Benigni’s self-written, directed, and starred film "Life is Beautiful" received considerable acclaim, or that actress from China, brimming with voluptuous beauty, whose large billboard photo hung conspicuously under the palm trees at the beach. Likewise, that Chinese director who had yet to create the ’Steamed Bun Murder Case’ was displaying the last of his brilliance at Cannes.

Thus, many people were still filled with anticipation for the upcoming award ceremony. After all, the Cannes Film Festival was quite renowned worldwide, especially for the Palme d’Or – an honor many directors coveted to take home.

The award ceremony took place at the WA Ted Theatre, and though the Cannes Film Festival was over fifty years old and was beginning to toy with the idea of commercialization, the award ceremony was still without any gimmicks, focusing solely on the presentation of awards.

"The Best Actress goes to Elodie Buch and Natasha Lener in ’The Dream Life Of Angels’!" With the announcement of the presenter, the venue erupted into a wave of warm applause.

"It’s a pity; I thought the jury would be generous enough to hand this award over to you," Adrian said with regret to Naomi beside him while clapping, casting a glance at Nicole who was sitting next to Naomi, not beside him. This was not the premiere, and even though many people had secretly decided he was having an affair with Nicole, she was still not fully divorced, so it was really inappropriate to be seated directly next to her.

"It’s okay, as long as you are here," Naomi also clapped and responded with a smile, delivering the line so effortlessly that even Nicole couldn’t help but tilt her head slightly.

Adrian smiled faintly; he quite liked Naomi’s attitude, ambiguous yet fully expressing her thoughts. If this were Hollywood, his own territory, he would indeed like to fight for the Best Actress award for Naomi. The title of Cannes Queen might not be very valuable, but it was still much better than nothing.

However, the jury of the Cannes Film Festival was not as numerous as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — in fact, sometimes the more people there are, the easier it is to be influenced. As long as you can grasp the mainstream influence, bandwagon effects are unavoidable given the right conditions. Moreover, considering part of the jury hailed from various parts of the world and the event was on French soil, even with members like Martin Scorsese and Winona Ryder, it was not easy for Americans to campaign for certain awards.

"What I really want to know is whether you can win the Palme d’Or again," Naomi suddenly said.

Adrian just smiled without responding. Although "Mulholland Drive" had made a big splash at the festival and was highly praised by European film critics, winning another Palme d’Or was not an easy feat. In the fifty-plus-year history of the Cannes Film Festival, only a handful of directors had won the Palme d’Or twice, all of them being well-aged and well-known, prolific directors. Would those people agree to let him break another record?

After all, the primary purpose of making this film and attending the festival was not for awards. And he had plenty of opportunities to win another Palme d’Or in the future – why get hung up on the present? Besides, with the huge impact "Mulholland Drive" had made, it was only reasonable and fair for them to offer some consolation prize – it was only a question of whether it would be Best Director or the festival’s grand prize.

Indeed, as he anticipated, after the Best Actor was awarded to Peter Mullan for the British film "I’m Joe", Best Director was conferred upon Adrian.

"I am very grateful to the jury for awarding me Best Director; I really didn’t expect to win another Cannes Film Festival director’s trophy. This film was, after all, an experiment, and I appreciate the recognition it has received. Of course, I also thank Nicole and Naomi for their outstanding performances, as well as the hard work of the crew." Although Adrian appeared to be expressing his gratitude earnestly, his tone had a hint of mockery, causing a low ripple of laughter in the hall. Everyone knew that with the Best Director award in his hands, there was no chance for the Palme d’Or.

However, there was another undertone to the laughter. Even though he hadn’t stated it outright, his speech carried the implication that "Mulholland Drive" wasn’t just a tribute to David Lynch, but was more likely his way of proving himself. Of course, some looked at Naomi and Nicole with eyes filled with either envy or jealousy. To specifically mention them in the acceptance speech, even if there was no dating or relationship, an affair was definitely not out of the question.

Amid the applause, Adrian returned to his seat. Next, Roberto Benigni’s "Life is Beautiful" received the festival’s grand prize, while the Palme d’Or went to Greek film "Eternity and a Day" by director Dai Angelopoulos. Benigni was ecstatic upon this win, carrying presenter Isabelle Huppert around in circles and kneeling in thanks to Martin Scorsese, eliciting laughter throughout the crowd – none of which was Adrian’s concern anymore.

After the award ceremony ended, the Cannes Film Festival also came to a close, but the various anecdotes that occurred during the festival would become topics of conversation for a long time, such as the Miracle Director finally speaking out to deny paying tribute to Lynch. Of course, this was just some people’s interpretation of his acceptance speech, and different people have different interpretations, so the debate about "Mulholland Drive" continued.

Many who followed this matter, whether critics or laypeople, couldn’t help but wonder at how the works that came from the hands of the Miracle Director were always different, which also sparked curiosity about "Mulholland Drive" among many movie fans who didn’t go to Cannes but followed the event. Every other day, someone would leave a message on AC Media’s official movie website asking when the movie would be released.

Although the journalists also wanted to dig up more stories now that the Miracle Director had finally spoken, just like over the past ten days, they immediately lost track of Adrian after the festival closed. Even though they had followed Nicole or Naomi around the clock after the ceremony ended, they didn’t see the person they wanted to see before the ladies left.

The journalists were grinding their teeth in frustration but were also helpless; after all, Adrian was not only a great director and producer, but he was also a rising star in Hollywood media, and the usual methods for dealing with celebrities had little effect on him. Even someone like Michael Eisner, the CEO of Disney, who would just be a common wealthy man if he left his job, as long as he still sat in the chairman’s seat, journalists had to treat him carefully, let alone Adrian, who was only slightly less influential than Murdoch, Redstone, and others.

While these people were quite frustrated, Adrian was actually quite content. After his trip to Cannes, he immediately went to London and then leisurely drove north, slowly touring between the small towns of the United Kingdom, naturally with Sophie Marceau by his side. Although Adrian had often visited Paris to meet with her, their time together was ultimately brief. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have stood with a tight face at the film festival upon seeing his intimate behavior with Nicole and Naomi, repeatedly turning him away to the point where he had to use unconventional methods to enter her room.

So after the festival ended, Adrian immediately invited Sophie on a trip around the United Kingdom, and naturally, she wouldn’t refuse. Although she had plenty of complaints and even got angry during Cannes, even questioning herself more than once for being overly self-deprecating, every time she thought about the joy at the Eiffel Tower and the mid-night romp in that small movie theater, she would feel a bit embarrassed and uncomfortable. But as long as Adrian coaxed her a bit, she would immediately become happy.

This time was no exception, and with the interesting British pastoral scenery along the way, she soon forgot all the unpleasantness she had accumulated earlier. However, some things were not so pleasing, like...

"Look at the beautiful butterfly!" On a small hillside, Emma exclaimed with delight as she pointed to the wild flowers in a bush.

"It is indeed beautiful, it looks familiar, but I can’t remember what species it is," Adrian said as he walked up and observed the butterfly closely—it fluttered its wings and flew away just as he finished speaking.

"It’s rare to see that the man who’s renowned for his photographic memory doesn’t remember something." Sophie followed with a teasing smile.

"It’s not that I don’t remember; it’s just that there’s too much in my memory, and I need time to search through my brain. Given enough time, I can definitely recall it," shrugged Adrian.

"Great idea, even if you can’t find it given a lot of time, you can just say you’ve never seen it before, right?" Sophie was quick to retort, but Emma’s crisp voice interrupted them at that moment: "It’s a pity we didn’t bring any tools, or we could have caught it."

The little girl pouted and tugged at Adrian’s sleeve, looking very regretful. Sophie meant to say a couple of words, but in the end, she just sighed softly.

"How about this: when we get to the next town, we’ll see if we can buy some butterfly catching tools. Then, at the next hillside we come to, we can try to catch any butterflies you like," Adrian pinched Emma’s cheek.

"Yeah, yeah!" The little one immediately clapped her hands happily.

"But let’s be clear, neither Sophie nor I will catch butterflies, and you can’t laugh at us," Adrian added a warning, pulling the little one towards the blanket laid out under the big tree only after she nodded repeatedly with an "Mhm mhm mhm." As for the gloomy sky, they would worry about the rain when it came.

Although the picnic atmosphere was still harmonious, Adrian couldn’t help but feel Sophie’s resentment and could only sigh inwardly about it. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to have a one-on-one outing with Sophie; it was just that if Emma found out that he didn’t visit her immediately upon his arrival in London, she would probably make a huge fuss later. And that would be especially problematic since he had failed to fulfill several promises last year, greatly increasing the little one’s resentment.

"Let me make it clear, Mr. Adrian, you have already made it halfway onto my blacklist," Emma had once "warned" him, feigning seriousness.

Knowing that Emma would prefer to take leave from school just to come along, Adrian would surely face disaster if he didn’t compromise.

"Come on, Sophie, she is still a child, and besides, don’t you find this kind of amusing?" Adrian said to his woman, while Emma, having had lunch on the hillside, started to playfully run around, giving them a moment of peace.

"I know, but..." Sophie couldn’t help but pout like Emma, which made her look very cute.

She knew about Emma’s situation, which was why she tolerated Emma following them and overlooked her attention-seeking behavior. The little one thought she was being covert, but she was still a child after all, and her little tricks couldn’t escape Sophie’s eyes. Although Adrian wasn’t entirely indulgent towards her, Sophie still had some knots in her heart.

"Look on the bright side, see, no one has recognized us all this way," Adrian said with a chuckle, spreading his hands, which caused a blush to cross Sophie’s cheeks, as many on the road had assumed they were a family of three.

"I get it," Sophie replied lazily, but a peculiar sparkle flashed in her eyes as she looked at him.

Adrian, barely perceptibly, raised an eyebrow but didn’t continue on the subject. Instead, he brought up something else, "Honestly, Sophie, am I really the kind of man that plays with women and then discards them?"

His expression was so earnest that Sophie was stunned for a while, but she quickly came back to herself and glared at him, annoyed, "At least in your novels, you are!"

Sophie’s cute, indignant demeanor immediately made Adrian burst into laughter. His meddling had indeed changed the trajectory of Sophie’s life significantly, but the semi-autobiographical novel "Miss Ripley" still got published—at the beginning of the last year, a few months later than in her previous life—although the content had some changes.

In his previous life, Adrian hadn’t read it, but he had heard about its general contents. In this life’s book, the protagonist’s reason for going to the United States had changed to an invite from an American director who quickly captivated her. Their relationship was sweet but short, and the director soon found a new love and neglected her. Disheartened, the protagonist, despite playing several good roles, returned to France.

Even though the book depicted the director as much older, it always emphasized his mysterious allure to women. Others might not know, but could Adrian not see who the prototype was?

"Alright, Ed, you know this is fiction, not a real autobiography, so some exaggeration and dramatization are normal," Sophie’s eyes curved, seemingly very pleased with herself, "Am I the type of woman who likes to lie, as in the novels?"

"Who knows?" Adrian sighed leisurely.

"Ed!" Sophie, just moments ago smiling, immediately had her eyebrows furrowed in exasperation.

"However, I must admit, you’re quite good at making things up, dear," Adrian immediately changed his tone, "In my opinion, you could also try your hand at screenwriting while you act."

"Really?" Sophie asked with a calm and indifferent tone.

"Yes," Adrian, knowing what she was thinking, chuckled softly and then scooted closer, "In fact, I think you could even try directing some movies. It’s not that I don’t acknowledge your acting skills, Sophie. They may not see it, but that doesn’t mean I can’t. I simply want you to show off more of your capabilities, to let those people see what an incredible woman you are."

This wasn’t an empty compliment. Sophie’s writing might not have been particularly strong, but she expressed a delicate sensibility characteristic of women. In her previous life, she had even directed short films but had given them up due to lack of support. Adrian intended to encourage her to try more, and if she actually developed in directing, he would have her tied down even more firmly. Besides, he had a plan prepared, which—if things went smoothly in a few months...

"You always like to say these sweet nothings," Sophie said as she leaned into his embrace and then looked up at Adrian.

Those bright brown eyes looked so melancholic, evoking pity. Adrian sighed quietly in his heart, cradled her cheeks, and leaned down to kiss those moist lips. Under the big tree, on top of the carpet, the couple leaned on each other and kissed slowly, savoring the sweetness as though each touch had to last, while a gentle breeze rustled by, making everything seem like a beautiful still-life painting.

Unfortunately, the romantic and imaginative scene didn’t last long before it was interrupted.

"Ed! I caught a butterfly! I got it! Caught with my bare hands!" The little girl’s voice came from a distance, sounding like she was showing off as well as reminding.

Adrian couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he left Sophie’s lips, "Oh, damn! I’m starting to regret bringing her along for the first time!"

Sophie immediately burst into laughter, her eyes saying "serves you right," but her mouth offered comfort, "It’s all right, this is enough."

"Enough? How could it be?" Adrian replied unsatisfied, "If she weren’t here, I could have tasted nature again, I haven’t had a chance since that time in the villa’s garden."

"Pervert!" Sophie blurted out, her face turning red, but then she instinctively added, "I’ll make it up to you... tonight."

She stopped speaking before finishing her sentence, but unfortunately, every word had already reached Adrian’s ears.

"Then it’s settled," he laughed and got up to run toward Emma, who was still shouting excitedly.

Several days later, after seeing Sophie back to Paris, Adrian too embarked on his journey back to Los Angeles. He truly wanted to take Sophie with him, but she was never quite comfortable with Hollywood and was loath to leave Paris, so after probing a few sentences, he dismissed the idea. Of course, it was only temporary; Adrian believed he’d soon persuade her. It’s better for the incompatible women not to meet, but one must live nearby.

However, he wasn’t returning to the United States alone; the quirky little elf of a girl, Emma, was with him. She was cajoling and playing the pitiful card, and since she was just in elementary school and very smart, and it was nearly summer vacation, getting leave was quite easy. Headache-ridden Adrian had no choice but to compromise once more. (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.)