King of Hollywood-Chapter 254 - 252 Inventory Check
Chapter 254: Chapter 252: Inventory Check
Chapter 254: Chapter 252: Inventory Check
“Do you think he’s being a bit too much?” Charlize finally couldn’t help but ask after they left the conference room, then glanced back at Laverne who was still in the room, “Laverne didn’t even try to stop you.”
“Who? Tom?” Adrian laughed dismissively, “It’s okay, it’s just a script. Although it will definitely make a lot of money, I can produce many scripts like this anytime.”
His seemingly arrogant words rendered Charlize speechless, but she didn’t argue, as Adrian’s achievements fully justified such a statement.
“Alright, Charli, don’t worry about it anymore. Not everyone can see their place all the time,” Adrian said with a smile. From a career perspective, Tom Cruise still had many merits, at least he was serious about his work and fought hard for his goals, like the two wheelchair-bound speeches in ‘Born on July 4th’ which were indeed brilliant. But in personal dealings, the guy could be too impulsive occasionally. He wasn’t like this before, but as his fame grew… it was normal, people change.
It’s alright, I might as well give it to him if he wants it. Adrian shrugged imperceptibly. After all, he wasn’t lacking in movies and besides… haha. His only regret was agreeing too quickly earlier, as it might lead others to think he was easy to persuade and then swarm to him, which could be troublesome. However, it didn’t matter, there still had to be further negotiations, where he could set up barriers, such as investing, and he needed to hold onto at least half the rights, including adaptation rights.
“You might want to focus on other things, Charli, you know there’s a lot more I need to deal with,” Adrian cheerily said before Charlize could say anything, back in the office.
Charlize just rolled her eyes and clamped her mouth shut, but then there was a smack on her buttocks.
“Ed!” she exclaimed with a frown, but before she could react, Adrian had already wrapped his arm around her waist and gently squeezed her buttocks.
“The feel is still so good,” Adrian said in a sing-song voice with a smile, then planted a kiss on the back of Charlize’s neck and laughed as he returned to his desk.
Charlize glared at him, biting her lip and looking seemingly angry as she walked out, but she still went about her business as usual.
Adrian also collected himself and continued his work. The current three movies were progressing according to plan, with the ‘Schindler’s List’ premiere scheduled before Christmas. The current version of ‘Schindler’s List’, although not much different from what he remembered, had far exceeded its past fame and public curiosity due to his investment, thus the premiere needed to be remarkable.
Apart from that, ‘Bad Boys’ and ‘Interview with the Vampire’ had completed their shootings, ‘Bad Boys’ took about three months, with Brokheimer and Michael Bay overseeing the editing, almost half done. Meanwhile, ‘Interview with the Vampire’ took much longer, nearly five months, as there weren’t many studio scenes and the locations were rather scattered, plus other issues, so post-production had just begun.
An interesting point here, ‘Interview with the Vampire’ started with a reporter interviewing Louis, portrayed by River Phoenix! Although Adrian held the title of producer, he generally delegated authority, appointing only a few key roles himself while leaving the rest to the director, Jordan, who then chose River and wrapped the scenes in August.
“Interesting, does this mean I was destined to save him?” Adrian pondered, stroking his chin, recalling many things about River due to the Halloween series, including that in a previous life, the production team of ‘Interview with the Vampire’ had planned for River to play the reporter, but he had died before shooting began, so they had to find someone else. Comparing it to the current situation was really quite fascinating, wasn’t it?
“This must also be a sort of butterfly effect,” laughed Adrian, flipping through River’s information, “I just didn’t expect it to connect so soon. Should I pray to fate, praise its unpredictability?”
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Though he wasn’t a staunch atheist in his previous life, he had never put his hopes in any deity. But after his memory was restructured and he climbed out of the bathroom, the first thing he did was to overturn this view. However, Adrian didn’t believe in God, even with a Christian identity; he only maintained his own reverence for those unknown forces, firmly believing that they were on his side. Because fate, despite being unpredictable, allowed him to see a glimpse of its trajectory.
Okay, setting aside such idealistic matters, the two movies, although unfinished, were entirely entrusted to others, so there was no need to keep track of the situation constantly.
As for other matters, at the record company, thanks to Adrian, Super Boy, formed there, had gained tremendous popularity after their debut, only slightly behind Backstreet Boys launched by JIVE Records in the same period. A nomination for the Grammy’s Best New Artist seemed almost guaranteed. However, Backstreet Boys were likely to receive a nomination too, posing a strong competition; Adrian’s version of Super Boy wasn’t as cohesive, lacking the extensive collaboration time that Backstreet Boys enjoyed.
It was okay; they were only formed to kickstart things for the record company anyway. If it didn’t work out, they could be disbanded and a new group could be formed. That’s what Adrian was considering, while also thinking about the opportunity to acquire JIVE Records.
As for Britney and Christina, who were still in training, the success of Super Boy had attracted many newcomers and signed several young female singers to the label. Although they were not as hot as Super Boy, they had gained considerable fame. This made the two girls train even harder, as Adrian would always watch them when he visited the record company, reminding them that he had signed them because he saw their tremendous potential, so they must not disappoint him.
Mr. Huang had once said, “A lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.” This was the simplest and most effective way of brainwashing. But certainly, some skills were needed, such as the brainwasher being a familiar and recognized figure to the brainwashed, like Adrian. Of course, a certain degree of differentiation was always maintained, and it must not be too overwhelming. Adrian was doing it quite well so far; sometimes he really wanted to see what fruits would bear in a few years.
Alright, that was about the record company. At the publishing company, since acquiring another publisher, it had become even stronger and was now prominent among America’s top publishers.
The novel version of The Piano Lesson had hit the market. Aside from that, many other fine novels were published. The original works for the company, Resident Evil and Tomb Raider, both had their sequels released. But now, it was primarily Ben Arnt, a second-tier writer who initially co-authored with Adrian, handling the writing. Adrian only occasionally provided some ideas and suggestions. It was interesting how fate played its part; this second-tier writer, inspired by these two novels, managed to create a best-selling sci-fi short story collection during his free time.
Adrian admired him, but he was even more impressed by those Hollywood producers. Ever since The Matrix made the New York Times bestseller list, film studios had immediately approached the publishing company to buy the film adaptation rights.
Although producers had previously wanted the film rights for Resident Evil and Tomb Raider, those were very small film companies. However, this time it was different; not to mention Miramax and New Line, even Columbia had shown interest, which was really surprising given their high expectations for the novel.
Of course, whether it was Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, or The Matrix, Adrian had no intention of selling the film adaptation rights. It was a joke; he owned a decent film company, so why sell the rights? Besides, The Matrix was created to secure a spot; Resident Evil and Tomb Raider had gained popularity through video games, and without the games, their adaptations might struggle to attract a following—or perhaps they might become even more popular, but who knows?
Speaking of video games, Adrian was quite frustrated with the game studio he had purchased and renamed Blizzard. It wasn’t that something was wrong; Warcraft: Human was already in development, progressing smoothly, and Adrian had privately made many suggestions.
However, after dismantling Pixar’s game department and pulling together a group from Blizzard to serve his visions, he was slightly disappointed once they managed to produce some scenes from Resident Evil.
The graphics were too cartoonish, and the puzzle mechanisms were unsatisfactory; that was not to mention how the character design vastly differed from the original version Adrian remembered. No wonder there. Video game character designs in Europe and America rarely resembled those in Asia; it was natural for Adrian to find it odd.
However, despite the dissatisfaction, there was nothing else to do; you couldn’t correct a deeply ingrained perspective among a group of people. Since he had chosen to let an American game studio work on it, he had to accept their creation. (To be continued. For more details, please visit www.qidian.com, more chapters are available and support the author, support the genuine reading!)
