King of Hollywood-Chapter 617 - 25: One Place Being Big is Enough

"She was born into a privileged family, with an enviable childhood and a healthy environment to grow up in. Her parents also disciplined her strictly, and basically after 7th grade, she began to gradually learn to become independent. She could almost be a fine representative of the offspring from New York’s upper-class families, generous yet reserved, lively but never overstepping, with an almost impeccable private life. However, precisely because of this, deep inside she yearned to fully express herself, which is why amidst many industries where she could have made money, she specifically chose to pursue a career in modeling," Charlize spoke at length.

"Just that still isn’t enough to convince me," Adrian said with a smile.

Charlize shrugged, knowing what he meant, then continued, "Clearly, her parents’ divorce had a great impact on her, especially at a time when she was just starting to establish her own view on life. It caused her much confusion and uncertainty. According to the information collected, it was from then on that her perception of her father started to become conflicted. Even though she still saw him as a role model, doubts began brewing deep inside her."

"Not bad, Charli, you did learn a lot from me after all," Adrian applauded.

Rolling her eyes, Charlize couldn’t be bothered to play along, "If things had stayed the same, even with her conflicts, she would still have maintained that style, being the obedient girl with a bit of vivacity and reserve, never crossing the line—not even touching it. Even if Donald remarried, she might feel unhappy, but wouldn’t make it too obvious, and might eventually join her father’s company after graduating college, marrying a rich man’s child. However, unfortunately, she met an asshole, a really despicable asshole."

"Wait, Charli, don’t you think you’re using the word ’asshole’ a little too often?" Adrian interjected in a killjoy manner.

Charlize glared at him and then shrugged, "Fine, she met a Great Demon King, who used crude but not simple tactics to easily breach her heart, releasing her suppressed conflicting emotions but also drawing all her rage onto himself. But if you think the Great Demon King miscalculated, then you’re sorely mistaken. Whether it’s love or hate, as long as it’s a strong emotion, he’ll guide and control it with various methods. He’s a master of emotional manipulation, almost no woman can escape from the palm of his hand."

"If possible, could you not describe me as a Great Demon King, Charli?" Adrian sighed.

"You want to deny it?" Charlize immediately countered.

"I just feel like I’m being made out to be some sort of major villain. If that’s the case, I’d need to figure out how to dispose of the protagonist first. And if this world were a novel, I’d have to hurry even more since villains in novels have it worse than those in games, especially those in some Chinese novels," Adrian said seriously, then gestured to Charlize, who was tilting her head, "Alright, please continue."

"That’s it, nothing more," Charlize shrugged, "That’s what I wanted to say. Although my upbringing and Ivanka’s are polar opposites, we both share the same yearning to express ourselves, to be recognized, and neither of us lack in capability, all while harboring intense emotions deep down. The way you handled me in the beginning is how you can handle her."

Her tone was very calm, and her expression was just as impassive; such words had been said many times before, and even if she spoke a bit more harshly, he could still feel her intentions.

"Alright, I’ll admit it, there are some aspects where you see more than I do," Adrian smacked his lips before saying, "How do you do it?"

"Aside from some experiences I can personally relate to, don’t forget, I’m a woman, Ed," Charlize cracked a rare smile, "Although you know women well, there are some things only a woman can truly understand."

"Fine, but I have a question, Charli," Adrian’s face turned serious, "You said it yourself, right now Innie despises me, maybe even hates me; can I really trust her unreservedly from the start?"

"You should have your ways, Ed," Charlize’s tone carried a hint of jest, "Penelope’s case caused quite a stir among certain people."

"You see things very clearly, Charli," Adrian said with a smile, "but as you said, your background is completely different from Innie’s, so even though you understand that she wants to take revenge on me, you don’t fully grasp her thoughts, even as a woman." "Innie is actually very proud, and her pride is very different from yours; your pride stems from having faced too many setbacks in the past, especially... that incident that greatly changed your life."

As he spoke, he gently caressed Charlize’s cheek, a fond look in his eyes. The lady held his hand, staring at him without blinking, and after a long while, finally spoke softly, "So, my pride not only drives me not to be outdone by others but also serves to protect myself, while Ivanka’s pride comes from the fact that she has hardly encountered any setbacks since childhood. A little hurt in her eyes might be a very big deal, so it’s hard to accurately predict her reaction, right?"

"Absolutely right, my Charli is so perceptive," Adrian praised.

Charlize sighed and thought for a moment before saying, "Well then, let’s split that role into two, although it’s a bit of a pity."

"Are you giving up so quickly?" Adrian asked, surprised, an eyebrow raised, "That doesn’t sound like you."

"Because I know how important that position is and how many shady things you have to deal with," Charlize retorted with a glance, then sighed again, "If I’m wrong..."

Hearing these words, Adrian was genuinely surprised. It was the first time in all these years that Charlize had uttered such words. She was very independent and proud, always doing her best in everything and correcting any mistakes at the first opportunity. She never doubted herself with thoughts like "What if I’m wrong?" Thus, the significance of these words at this moment was quite telling.

"Don’t worry, whether you’re right or wrong isn’t certain," Adrian said, smiling as he pulled her into his embrace, "There’s always a risk in everything we do, just a matter of degree. If you still fail after taking all factors into consideration, then it’s just bad luck. So, it’s decided, train Innie well and if things don’t work out, I’ll be right behind you, won’t I?"

Charlize snorted but nestled her head more tightly against his shoulder, and after a long time, she lifted her head, "I think you’re just too lazy to spend more time finding someone else."

"Oh, is that so?" Adrian said, scratching his chin, then suddenly flipped Charlize over and slapped her buttocks, "Aren’t you uncomfortable if you don’t tease me like this?!"

Setting aside the matter of the secretary assistant, as time passed, the well-prepared "Erin Brockovich" finally began filming. The first scene was set in a courtroom, where Ms. Erin Brockovich, while looking for jobs, got into an accident for running a red light, resulting in a serious neck injury, which, coupled with her cursing in court, turned an uncertain situation into a complete mess, ending in her defeat.

"It was that bastard who injured my neck!" Erin shouted uncontrollably, easily provoked by the opposing lawyer, leading to a wrong move.

"Good!" Adrian clapped his hands; Julia had indeed put in the effort — most of the courtroom shots, including the close-up just now, were done in one take.

"I told you, I’ve made very thorough preparations," Julia boasted, and then Adrian turned his head and chuckled.

"Is it that funny?" Julia immediately became somewhat irritated, knowing what he was laughing at. She herself admitted that wearing that neck brace was indeed quite comical.

"Not only that, but also your extra... extraordinary smoky eyes and the... low-cut long dress with full red lips," Adrian laughed heartily, trying to bring in Albert Finney, the supporting actor who was sitting nearby, studying the script for the next shots, "Don’t you think so, Al?"

"Hmm... sorry, I was memorizing my lines." Finney, who started acting in movies in the ’60s, was an old fox too, immediately raised the script in his hands, excusing himself to one side.

Julia, though audibly dissatisfied with a humph, was somewhat helpless. Ms. Brockovich hadn’t received a higher education. The fact that she managed to bring down that large corporation was purely through self-education, painstakingly finding, organizing, and analyzing those documents, although she did have the help of the lawyer prototype played by Finney. Indeed, she was a very resilient woman. For this reason, even though she had been a beauty pageant queen, she was often a rather vulgar woman, otherwise, she wouldn’t have cursed in court — of course, it wasn’t like that now. Adrian had met the real person a few times, and she essentially retained some elegance now. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

However, the movie depicted a story from years prior, so Julia had to get very close to the original Brockovich in terms of makeup and attire, such as drawing a circle of blue eyeshadow around her eyes or wearing that ridiculous, vulgar dress covered with red lips, yet squeezed out a cleavage in the front.

"All right, all right, let’s not talk about this. Let’s continue." After teasing Julia for a bit and allowing everyone to rest sufficiently, Adrian immediately called for the crew to start again.

What followed was still an indoor scene. Brockovich had lost the lawsuit, with only 74 US Dollars left in her bank account. In her furious and desperate state, she vented all her anger onto her lawyer, and then, because of a series of misfortunes, such as having no one to care for her children or struggling to find a job, she had no choice but to come to his law office and demand that he take responsibility for her current predicament, such as hiring her as an assistant or the like.

Although the old lawyer wasn’t exactly a saint, he eventually agreed to her demand because of her persistence and out of sympathy for her, even though there were no employee benefits.

"Masley initially only wanted Erin to do some secretarial work," Adrian clarified, continuously referring to Finney’s role as Masley to avoid confusion. "He didn’t take her too seriously and, deep down, it was actually a form of charity towards Erin. That’s why, after a few days of Erin investigating the water quality issue without showing up, he made the decision to fire her."

"What do you think about this," Albert Finney pondered, "I’m leaning back in my chair, feet on the desk while on the phone. Julia walks in and asks me something several times before I realize, revealing a somewhat perplexed look, and then I nod in agreement without waiting for her to speak."

"Let me think... this proposal is good. Let’s do it this way," Adrian decided right then.

In the true events, although Brockovich wasn’t given much attention in Masley’s office, she was absolutely not shunned. Although lacking in temperament, she was definitely not a fool. Masley wasn’t either, so although he didn’t give enough attention to Brockovich’s initial findings, he supported her in investigating and gathering evidence.

However, the movie couldn’t be shot this way. As Adrian always insisted, the foremost duty of a film was to tell a story, and telling a story required conflict, confrontation, and dramatic ebbs and flows to draw the audience in, to invest their emotions and be moved by them. Thus, Adrian set up a plot here: because of her casual attire and somewhat unlikeable personality, Brockovich didn’t get along well with others in the office. Since Masley didn’t really care about her either, he perfunctorily agreed to her research and then immediately put it out of his mind.

Therefore, when Brockovich spent days at the water bureau looking for answers and brought back copies of the documents, Masley fired her, thinking she had taken off to play. Of course, as the protagonist of the story, this slight downturn would soon pass. Not long after, Masley came looking for her because he received a call from a University of Southern California professor: the hexavalent chromium levels in a certain district’s water supply were far above the standard. Brockovich had been working earnestly, and he wanted her to come back.

Obviously, things wouldn’t resolve that easily, and the audience would get to see the satisfying scenes where some condescending characters get a slap in the face. However, since Masley was not the villain, Brockovich merely teased the old lawyer and negotiated a 10% pay raise and some benefits for herself before handing all the documents over to Masley.

"Is this all there is?" Masley asked after looking over the documents.

"For now, yes, but the place is a mess, there’s definitely more data out there," Brockovich responded, holding her child.

"Right, that’s how those places are," Masley nodded, sizing her up: "What makes you think you can just stroll in there and do as you please?"

"Because..." Brockovich thought for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders, "I have big boobs."

"That’s just great." Adrian clapped his hands again, something he had done many times over the past week, as Julia and Finney were spot-on, capturing the emotions of their characters perfectly.

Take, for example, Brockovich’s crudeness and sincerity or the smart Masley repeatedly falling flat in front of his assistant; their performances were nearly perfect.

"You know, Al, when Julia said that line, your expression was just too adorable, I couldn’t help but want to give you a big kiss," Adrian said to Finney with a laugh, deliberately not even glancing at Julia.

"What’s the matter, you have a problem with my big boobs?" Julia immediately retorted with her chest thrust out, embodying more of Brockovich’s characteristics after over a week’s rehearsal had influenced her behavior.

"No, darling, I have no objections whatsoever," Adrian promptly raised his hands in defense as everyone else chuckled and stepped aside. They all knew the director and lead actress had a deep relationship and wouldn’t interrupt their playful banter.

"Only," Adrian lowered his voice, "your boobs aren’t actually that big."

Seeing Julia’s glaring eyes, he quickly added: "But that’s okay, having one big thing is enough." Saying this, his finger slid across her lips. Julia opened her mouth to bite, but Adrian swiftly withdrew his hand, leaving her lunge unsuccessful.

"Additionally, I think you look incredibly sexy in that sleeveless, deep red leather jacket with lapels," Adrian then winked, and that evening, Julia wore that leather jacket and gave him the time of his life.

Although "Erin Brockovich" was in the midst of an intense shoot, Adrian hadn’t neglected his other projects. Kate had already started performing in "The Cider House Rules," and "Invisible Man" was ready for production, just waiting for Naomi to join the cast. Nicole was also prepping for her new role and had begun practicing her dancing and singing under a professional’s guidance.

As for "Practical Magic," originally planned to star both Naomi and Nicole, it was now deemed inappropriate, so they would have to either abandon it or hand it over to another producer to find different actors. That was no big deal; Hollywood had plenty of movies that got canned for various reasons, and "Practical Magic" wasn’t a must-make project.

Of all the actresses mentioned, Nicole was the busiest, with the new film requiring shooting in the United Kingdom, but her training could not afford to slack for even a moment, so one could only imagine how grueling it must be. Yet, Nicole didn’t mind; she was very determined in this regard. Having made her choice, she was going to follow through with it, just like she had chosen to use her body to curry favor with Adrian—Nicole never believed she had any feelings for that bastard.

Fortunately, the new film was also about dance, ballet in particular, which gave Nicole plenty to work with and sneak in practice time.

"Billy Elliot," that was the movie Adrian had prepared for her this year. The script for the film was acquired by Miramax in the United Kingdom last year. They always had a keen nose for artistic scripts, which occasionally prompted Adrian to grumble that they should invest more effort in art films instead of always aiming for big productions.

Of course, these were just complaints; no film company would pass up the chance to go big, even if they had other film divisions under the same corporate umbrella. Anyway, when Adrian learned they were preparing for it, he was already familiar with the movie and thought it would be a great addition for Nicole, so he took it from them.

Harvey Weinstein wasn’t happy, arguing that, as the boss, Adrian shouldn’t blatantly steal their scripts and then recruit for them. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to vote and support at Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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