King of Hollywood

In the large study room, finely crafted handmade furniture, gorgeous curtains on the windows and European-style decorations create the classical atmosphere of the room just right. There is a row of tall bookcases against the wall, and there are many books in them, ranging from literature, philosophy and history to finance and business. The bookcase was not locked, and through the glass, many books could be seen with traces of flipping through, so these were not decorations used to decorate the facade.

At the top of the study is a large desk. Although there are many objects on it, they are neatly arranged. From this, it can be inferred that the character of the owner of the study is self-disciplined, authoritative, and unquestionable. Right in the center of the desk, there is a small bronze bust with thick hair and beard, and a sentence engraved on it: Human nature is to pursue personal interests. This is the famous quote of Adam Smith, the main founder of economics, whose "The Wealth of Nations" influenced many people later.

But this bronze statue is not his bust. According to Uncle Anderson, it is a duke from the ancestor of the Cowell family who was active in the Tudor dynasty and laid a huge foundation for the Cowell family. After eight bends, it can also be related to Henry VIII and Elizabeth I in blood.

Every time Adrian thinks of this, he feels funny. He can't understand why these upper-class guys in the United States—especially the group of people named by the name of wasp—are full of so much aristocratic complex , I always hope to link myself with the British royal family, as if as long as I link myself, I will naturally be superior to others.

It is understandable that Europeans have aristocratic complexes. After all, they have traditions, but Americans... well, they also came from the European continent at the beginning. to mock.

"Why did you come in so soon? I thought you would have a little more chat with them." Anderson's staid voice suddenly sounded.

"I suddenly thought of something, and I wanted to find a place to think quietly, so..." Adrian gestured to explain, but was interrupted by the other party before he finished speaking: "Thought something? What could be more important than the reception right now? Warren is interested in you, you should take your chance, Ed"

"Okay, I apologize, uncle." Adrian shrugged his shoulders and said in a sincere tone as much as possible. He is used to his uncle's way of scolding when he speaks. Generally speaking, he will wander for a while at this time, waiting for him Finish what you want to say. Therefore, even though Anderson was still nagging about all kinds of things related to Warren Buffett at the previous reception, Adrian didn't listen to a word.

He came to New York to see his uncle and aunt just to express his heart, and it’s not time to have in-depth exchanges with people like Buffett. Besides, it should be Claude’s business. He just needs to make a good impression with them. up.

Soon, his uncle's words brought him back to reality from the fugue: "You are too close to the Jews, Ed."

"You know, Uncle, that's Hollywood." Adrian said unhurriedly.

"I understand, but you have to pay attention to this," Anderson said with a frown. "It's not a good thing to be too close to those people. You have to understand what you are doing."

"Yes, Uncle." Adrian nodded, but even though he answered like this, he felt a burst of disdain in his heart. For pure wasp, it is almost natural to not deal with Jews, just like they like to chase noble blood.

Adrian was well aware of this, but never took it to heart. There are no eternal friends, only eternal interests, this is what the British Prime Minister Palmerston said in the 19th century - not Churchill, he just condensed it - this sentence does not apply to individual human beings, but it is very suitable for countries and large groups Between, so there is no need to worry too much. Of course, it is still necessary to remind Claude to pay attention.

"If only Victor could be like you." Anderson suddenly sighed at this moment.

"Victor will understand sooner or later, uncle." Adrian said against his will, and at the same time secretly sighed in his heart for his cousin. He bet that his uncle often said "Look at your cousin" in front of Victor. and so on.

No matter where, in which country, in which era, there are always parents who talk about "other people's children". They always think that this can better spur their children to move forward, but they don't understand that what children want most is the affirmation from their parents. It is no wonder that Victor and his father are in conflict.

Of course, this is Uncle Anderson's family business, there is no need for him to get involved, just a few words will do. Although the relationship between Adrian and Victor is very ordinary, he believes that Victor will not hate him because of this.

"Then I'll take my leave, Uncle, it's a pleasure to meet you." Adrian said and stood up.

"Leaving so soon?" Anderson frowned. "What are you busy with? Making movies again?"

"Well... yes, it's a very interesting movie that runs through the 40-year history of the United States." Adrian explained, and as soon as he finished speaking, his uncle continued to criticize: "I think you should Focus on the management of the company, not the film production, although you have won many honors, but..."

No one can bear this kind of concern, right? Adrian said so after coming to the street. But he quickly put it behind him, and his uncle had helped him a lot anyway, so let him be as he liked it.

"Go to Long Island." Sitting in the approaching car, Adrian told the driver, and when he turned around thinking of something, he realized that although Charlize came to New York with him, he was not by his side at the moment.

"It's really reached the point where I can't do without her." Adrian said half-mockingly, then noticed the briefcase left in the car, opened it and checked it, shook his head with a smile, and then looked at out the window.

He did not come to New York for the filming of "Forrest Gump". The whole film is basically close to completion, and the only thing left is the anti-war demonstrations in the reflection pool under the Washington Monument, as well as various locations in Washington, So if he is really busy with filming, he shouldn't be here.

However, since Adrian has come to New York, he naturally has things to do, such as visiting his uncle and aunt, and dealing with some personal affairs. Then he has to go to London. Apart from not seeing Emma for a long time, a very important matter has come to fruition, and it is time to take it under control.

The car stopped on the side of the street, Adrian got out of the car with his briefcase after straightening his clothes, walked through the fence of the independent two-storey villa a few steps to the door and rang the doorbell.

"Hi, Ed, I'm so glad to see you." Shelly who opened the door immediately gave him a hug, then turned her head and shouted inside: "Hey, Nada, look who's here."

"Ed?" The petite Natalie got out of the back room immediately, and looked at Adrian at the door with surprised eyes.

Adrian smiled and waved to greet her without saying a word. This was another thing he came to New York to personally invite Natalie to play a role. As for why he took the job of his subordinates, it was self-evident.

"I like this script, Ed, it's very good." After briefly flipping through the script, Evner showed a satisfied expression.

"Thank you, I'm glad you like it." Adrian smiled and nodded while holding the cup, and then looked at Natalie.

We haven't seen each other for a few months, and Natalie has grown a few inches taller again, and her hair is no longer the bob head she had when filming "This Killer Is Not So Cold". Somewhat graceful, the round face has begun to become sharper, but the eyes are still so bright.

But at this time she seemed a little unhappy, especially after reading the script. Although Natalie hid it well, when Adrian asked, she kept smiling and said she was good, but she did not escape his eyes.

"So, are you willing to agree?" Adrian looked at her with a meaningful smile.

"Hmm..." Natalie opened her mouth, she seemed to want to refuse from her expression, but she swallowed it after meeting Adrian's eyes, hesitated for a moment before saying: "I need time to think about it. "

"Can you give us a few minutes, Evner?" Adrian smiled and looked at the girl's father.

"Oh, of course." Evner nodded, got up and took his wife to sit in the distance, leaving the living room to the two of them.

"You think you can help me convince them." After they left, Adrian hadn't spoken yet, but Natalie complained first, and the resentment between her brows was no longer hidden.

"Unfortunately, Nada, I agree with your parents on this." Adrian said in a low voice after spreading his hands.

"Why?" Natalie frowned, "Do you think I can't interpret this role? Or do you think about it from other perspectives like Mom and Dad? Matilda is only 12 years old, isn't she?"

Adrian frowned, but didn't dwell on the topic: "Nada, do you like acting in movies?"

"Of course." Although she didn't understand why he would ask this question, Natalie replied in one go.

"So, what do you think of yourself acting in movies? I mean, do you plan to take the role purely out of interest, or do you plan to treat it as your own career?" Adrian continued to ask.

Natalie didn't answer directly this time, but thought about it for a while, with a smile on her face, and looked at the parents who were talking in the distance before she gave the answer: "I want to treat it as a career."

"Then the best thing to do is to refuse." Adrian said immediately, and then raised his hand to stop the girl's argument: "Listen to me, Nada, I know you like this book very much, and I believe you can play the role." good role"

You are an alluring Lolita yourself. He said something so softly in his heart, but the expression on his face was still serious: "But, she will ruin your future, Nada. This is not alarmist talk, you should know the huge sensation caused by this novel when it was published, and I I believe Sandy also told you that Adrian Lynn is facing a lot of moral charges now, and if you do play Lolita, you will face the same charges."

"But..." Natalie hesitated, arguing a little unconvinced: "You handled it so carefully in "The Killer Is Not So Cold", didn't you receive criticism in the same way? Besides, the controversial and outstanding actors also Not less."

"This is completely different from "This Killer Is Not So Cold". As you have said, I have handled these feelings very carefully. What's more, the point of view of the movie is not limited to this, so even if there are There are very few accusations." Adrian explained patiently, "As for another question, indeed, many outstanding actors are also controversial, but few people are controversial in this regard at your age, understand? This society does not Would love for a girl your age to play that kind of role, so if you do take the part of Lolita, you might be able to continue to do movies in the future, but you have completely missed A-list actors, your parents let Sandy It was right to say no to the guy with my namesake."

Although Natalie returned to New York after the release of "The Killer Is Not So Cold" and has never been to Los Angeles, Adrian has always kept in touch with her by letter and occasionally called her, playing the role of the listener very well. Therefore, she has a better understanding of her current situation, in some respects, even better than her parents.

Because of Adrian, Natalie is now more famous than he remembered at the same time, so naturally there will be countless film appointments, all kinds of them. Even though his version of "This Killer Is Not So Cold" has dealt with the plot and downplayed some ambiguous plots, accusations are still inevitable. There is no shortage of guys who call themselves defenders, and there are quite a few of them For Natalie herself.

Therefore, Natalie's parents began to choose scripts for their daughter more carefully, so that overly mature characters would be excluded, and movies like "Lolita" that are still regarded as pornographic novels in the eyes of conservatives are even more considered. No need to. However, to Adrian's surprise, Natalie herself wanted to play the role very much.

"I think I can handle this role well. I don't understand why my parents are against it. Don't I know how to protect myself? I'm already a big girl. Do you have any suggestions, Ed?"

This is a passage from Natalie's letter. It can be confirmed that she really wants to take over the role of Lolita, and she cryptically expresses the hope that Adrian can help. Reminiscent of the appearance when she accidentally blurted out that she liked the novel "Lolita" during the audition, Adrian once again lamented that the words of the media cannot be believed completely. The Natalie in her memory would reject the role, most likely because of Did this at the request of a parent.

So he took this opportunity to come to New York to Natalie's house, not to persuade Avner and Shelly—even if Shelley might agree, the conservative Avner would not allow it—but to persuade Natalie Li, just like what he said just now, if she really takes on this role, she will definitely be rejected by the mainstream society, and she will definitely miss out on top-notch actors. What other commendable works does the leading actress of Rita have?

However, this is also a good opportunity, so Adrian prepared a script early on.

"Do you think the characters in this script are not challenging, Nada?" Looking at the girl who was thinking about it, Adrian suddenly asked, "Do you think the role of the girl in this single-parent family is very simple?"

Looking at the script on the coffee table, Natalie shook her head: "Not necessarily, but... I just..."

She made a gesture, and a wry smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, with a bit of grievance, she bit her lip and looked pitiful to me.

"A great actor finally has the courage to try different roles. Matilda and Lolita are actually the same in some ways. You made her very well. I bet she will be a classic role in a few years. , so there is absolutely no need to play a similar role.” Adrian’s tone concealed a hint of persuasion, “And Amy, this lonely girl who had to live with a strange father because her mother suffered a car accident is also worthy of you.” to shape."

The movie he prepared for her is called "Flying With You", which is very warm, environmentally friendly and very funny. It tells the story of a girl named Amy who is taken away by her divorced father after losing her mother in a car accident. Back to farm life in Canada. Amy, who didn't know how to get along with her father at first, was not used to it, until one day she accidentally discovered a nest of wild goose eggs on the farm. She made the hatching equipment to give birth to these wild geese, and became a goose mother at the same time.

Amy loves the wild geese, but wildlife officials tell her it's illegal to keep wild geese unless they don't have wings. So Amy tried to get them to return south, but the question was what to do if they never flew? The father, who was a pilot, figured out a way. He sold the homemade lunar module and bought a small plane, and let the small plane act as the mother goose and fly the wild geese south.

The father and daughter have experienced many challenges, such as breaking into the air force base by mistake, encountering heavy fog, and almost crashing, etc., they finally sent the wild geese back to the southern United States. After such a magical journey, Amy's heart finally completely accepted father.

In short, this is a warm and beautiful movie about family affection, without any outrageous things, so Evner praised this as a good script before.

"Listen to me, Nada." Seeing that the girl was still conflicted, Adrian suddenly held her hands, but Natalie didn't break away even though Natalie was taken aback.

"I like you very much, Nada," Adrian said seriously, looking into her eyes, "remember what I said, you are the most talented girl I have ever met, you are very smart and outstanding, so why bother Do you limit yourself to a certain type of role? Give full play to your talent and you will definitely become one of the best actors"

After staring at Adrian for a while, Natalie shrugged: "You are really good at talking, Ed."

Then she suddenly thought of something, and her face became a little weird and embarrassed. After a blush flashed, she withdrew her hand abruptly, and said "I'll tell Mom and Dad" before getting up and running away.