King of Hollywood-Chapter 165 - I Want to Become a Big Star

Chapter 165: Chapter 165 I Want to Become a Big Star

Adrian worked tirelessly to produce three high-quality films in ’92, just to expand his fame to the maximum in the shortest amount of time. Think about it, a director who can elevate actors to win both the Oscar for Best Actor and Actress and also garner a Best Director nomination—how much pursuit and attention would he receive, both inside and outside of the industry?!

With such fame, the benefits to his career would undoubtedly be immense. Invitations and overtures from big film companies go without saying, and even with his vision and with Claude at the helm, AC Media still needed to rely on alliances and networking for a long time to grow. And the number of people at various receptions and parties who wanted to strike up a conversation with him would suddenly increase a lot. This was already evident after the Golden Globe Awards’ dinner, and would only become more so after the Oscar nominations were announced.

Producers, investors, agents, screenwriters, directors, and more, but actors especially. Just by winning a Best Actor or Actress award, be it a Golden Globe or an Oscar, one could greatly enhance their own fame, which is quite beneficial to their career. Who in Hollywood, both men and women seeking development, was not for fame and fortune? All that talk of loving performance and art was just that—talk; after all, one still needed the façade of glamour. If one truly wanted to dedicate themselves to the art of performance, perhaps Europe would be a better choice—more chaotic, of course.

In short, for them, being a star was just a job, one with low investment but high return. Naturally, a director who could produce both money-making films and award-winning ones was their prime target for courting, just as Laverne had said, even excellent public relations require high-quality movies to begin with. And in Adrian’s view, this was also an excellent opportunity to expand his network and make it more convenient for his agency to scout for suitable yet-to-be-famous actors, screenwriters, directors, and so on.

As for his first goal, those women he desired, as long as he had fame and power, would he still worry about not getting what he wanted?

“This does not conflict with campaigning for the Best Actor and Actress awards,” Laverne explained, “and I believe Al and Emma’s teams will also campaign for themselves, so we can afford to devote some energy and resources to Best Director as well. Of course, Emma Thompson is from the United Kingdom and lacks some presence in Hollywood, we will be mindful of this.”

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“We can consider it,” Adrian replied after a lengthy contemplation, “but we must ensure Al’s Best Actor and Emma’s Best Actress at all costs! As for Best Picture, you can consider that as appropriate.”

The influence of being able to bring forth an Oscar-winning actor and actress while obtaining the Best Director would undoubtedly be several times greater than just securing a nomination. Since the Film Academy was inclined to give him the Best Director award, why not try harder?

The thought that he might break another record made even the composed and self-controlled Adrian somewhat excited. Of course, this had to be predicated on ensuring the Best Actor for Pacino and Best Actress for Thompson; failing to do so while attempting to gain more would result in a loss greater than the gain.

Laverne caught his meaning and nodded immediately, “I understand, I’ll be careful.”

“Then I leave it in your hands,” Adrian said no more and then rose to leave Laverne’s office.

He roughly understood why Laverne was so keen; over the past decade—especially during the seven years at Bossworth Film Company—Laverne had indeed vied for all sorts of nominations for the company’s films, but never won any awards. Well, he couldn’t say never—there were a few regional film critics’ association awards, but he had never won any significant awards like the Golden Globes or Emmys, not to mention the Oscars.

Now with Adrian’s support and trust, Laverne was able to fully utilize his abilities, even securing a Best Director nomination last year, though he ultimately lost due to various reasons. So, facing such a favorable situation this year, he naturally wanted to use the awards to better display and prove himself through public relations.

Everyone has their own desires and goals to strive for, so Adrian tacitly approved of Laverne’s approach. He trusted Laverne to handle things appropriately, otherwise, he wouldn’t have trusted him with the film company, and even allocated him a share of stock options as a reward.

Upon leaving the office, Adrian went straight to the HR department, where he had some matters to attend to. Since he last instructed Laverne to find a secretary assistant, HR had recommended several candidates, but none were to his satisfaction, given that the job entailed handling two positions, even if these jobs alternated and were not too intense.

As a result, Adrian simply instructed HR to conduct an open recruitment, resulting in a flurry of application letters, which overwhelmed HR’s capacity and left the staff complaining.

“Our main job now is just opening and reading letters, Mr. Adrian, can we do something else?” an assistant in HR complained while browsing through the application letters from their seat.

Adrian had a good reputation within the company; when not directing or in post-production, he would crack mild jokes with the staff, maintaining the boss’s authority while also fostering camaraderie among colleagues, so the staff occasionally liked to joke with him.

“Don’t worry, it will be over soon, as long as we find the right person,” Adrian chuckled, himself flipping through the plethora of application letters; indeed, all sorts had applied.

“Can you give us a definite update?” another employee asked at this moment.

“That’s uncertain, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in half a month,” Adrian shrugged, pretending not to hear the disappointed “Oh”s and reached for another neatly stacked pile of letters.

“Those are all the disqualified application letters, Mr. Adrian,” the assistant in front of him reminded.

Adrian paused, then waved his hand, “No problem, I’m just looking.”

He picked them up and continued to skim through. Sometimes it’s just like that—had Adrian listened to the assistant then, perhaps he would have missed out on certain things. Having foreknowledge doesn’t relate to this; it’s called luck.

Staring at the job application letter in his hand, Adrian was stunned for quite some time; he almost went to rub his eyes to check if he was seeing things. It was randomly selected from among the last few, after all, they were all discarded items, and there was no need for him to go through each one. But the least he expected was to see such a name.

She was a girl not yet 18, with neat and precise handwriting. In her introduction, she mentioned having undergone training and possessing some internship experience, hoping to get this opportunity. Her words were quite sincere, and she even attached a photo, albeit only an inch big, but she looked pretty nonetheless. Okay, these weren’t the key points; the key was that her name was Charlize Theron!

“Mr. Adrian,” the voice of his assistant suddenly rang out, and Adrian, still clutching the application letter, instantly snapped out of it, looking towards his assistant: “What is it?”

“Your phone call, it’s from the reception desk.” The assistant handed over the white handset to him.

“Thank you,” Adrian said as he took the handset, “Hi, Teresa, what’s the matter… I see… Alright, please have her come to my office, I will be right there.”

After hanging up the phone and thinking for a moment, Adrian got up to leave the office, but after only two steps he stopped again, still holding the application letter in his hand. Looking at the item in his hand, he hesitated for two or three seconds, then asked his assistant, “Do we have any interviews scheduled soon?”

“Thursday morning,” the assistant replied after recalling, providing the answer.

“Alright, slot her in as well,” Adrian said without further conversation, directly handing the application letter to him.

“Wait, Mr. Adrian, this doesn’t comply with…” The assistant hurriedly glanced over it and immediately exclaimed.

“Don’t worry, I know,” Adrian, already a few steps away, turned around and made a gesture to interrupt him, “It’s just an interview, nothing will go wrong.”

Then, without waiting for the assistant to say anything more, he strode out of the HR office.

The age seemed to match, and despite the small photo, there appeared to be some resemblance, but… how could this be possible?! Adrian was utterly baffled. To call this a butterfly effect might be a bit of an exaggeration, right?

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

Before he knew it, he arrived at the entrance to his own office. The door was slightly ajar, barely open a crack, but the situation inside was quite clear. A slim figure sat properly in the chair, waiting for her. Adrian immediately gathered his thoughts; regardless of everything, he’d deal with the interview when the time came, and for now, he’d tackle the matter at hand.

“Hi, Sarah,” he greeted as he entered the office, wearing his usual smile.

“Hi, Ed,” Sarah Michelle Gellar immediately responded, but her smile seemed forced, as though strained. The gloom that had nearly vanished now reappeared on her face, and her pretty features lost some of their former luster.

It seemed to be because of that matter. Adrian made a preliminary judgment in his mind. He sat down behind his office desk, then looked at her with concerned eyes: “How have you been recently? You don’t seem to look very well?”

“Um… I haven’t been sleeping well,” Sarah said softly with her head lowered.

“Okay, is there anything I can help with?” Adrian promptly changed the subject.

After a silence of several seconds, Sarah spoke again: “Actually… my mom doesn’t know that I came here today.”

Adrian couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, which meant…

“Alright, I won’t tell your mom,” he said in a very serious tone.

Finally, Sarah raised her head, hesitating as she glanced at Adrian, her lips tightly pursed as if she was in a deep conflict. Adrian didn’t say a word, just watching her, waiting for her to speak.

Her chest began to rise and fall more noticeably, her hands balled into fists, her eyes bearing a strange expression, as if resisting and fearing something, yet also fighting against this resistance, her body slightly trembling as if struggling internally. Eventually, Sarah clenched her eyes shut, then opened them once more, straightened her back, took a deep breath, and made her decision.

“I want to be a superstar!” The young girl looked at Adrian, her complexion pale, her voice trembling as it echoed in the room. (To be continued. For further updates, please visit www.qidian.com. More chapters are available, support the author, support genuine reading!)