Chapter 889: Chapter 295: Win Over the King First
“This is an opportunity for you, Susan. You can prove yourself to everyone that you’re not just some ordinary, dispensable person. You’re amazing, you’re capable, you’re outstanding – all you need is a chance to show it, have you never thought about that?” The blonde girl encouraged her friend loudly from the corner by the water cooler.
“I… haven’t…” Susan, wearing glasses and dressing plainly, looked down, biting her lip as if feeling very insecure.
Her friend couldn’t help but sigh, reaching out to grasp her arm, “Listen to me, Sophie. Remember that time you stayed late? Everyone thought the work couldn’t be finished on time, but at the last minute, you completed a part and filled the gap. Even the supervisor who used to look down on you had to praise you. So, you can do it, you definitely can do it!”
Listening to her friend’s words, a look of struggle appeared on Susan’s face, yearning to showcase herself but also hesitating in fear.
Both girls stayed silent for a few seconds, maintaining this stance for several seconds, and finally came a voice: “Good.”
With this remark, the previously quiet surroundings immediately erupted with buzzing sounds. People breathed a sigh of relief. Although filming had only been going on for a week, the director’s perfectionist demands on the shots made everyone suffer, tightening their nerves more than ever. Just now, this shot had only been NGed twenty times, not even half the average NG count since filming began, but everyone was already exhausted.
“Your performance earlier was excellent, Amanda. That’s exactly the effect I wanted,” Adrian walked up to the two actors and praised.
“Thank you, I’m really happy you’re satisfied,” Amanda Seyfried seemed quite joyful.
“As for you…” Adrian turned to Natalie and then frowned, “It’s passable, but still far from enough. I hope you can maintain this.”
Then, he turned and walked away, unabashedly beckoning Amanda with a finger. Amanda shrugged “apologetically” at Natalie and then followed along.
Watching their figures disappear from the set, Natalie’s tightly clenched fist gradually loosened, and a wave of fatigue and heaviness, as if it would crush her, surged through her heart. She had been admonishing herself to stay calm, not to be deceived by the situation, but when Amanda followed, feelings of resentment still gnawed at her inside.
Damn it, I have to hold on, I must! Think of what he’s done to me over these days! I’m not that kind of cheap woman, nor will I be conquered by Stockholm syndrome! Natalie kept cheering herself on inside, but the effect was very limited.
Previously, if she tried to separate the movie from reality, Adrian’s tyrannical behavior in the office on the day of filming woke her up abruptly. This had never happened before, never. Even if he would semi-coerce her to do things before, if she explicitly stated her unwillingness, he wouldn’t continue. However… however, that day, even the false warmth was torn apart, so suddenly and unexpectedly.
Originally feeling like she was struggling and sinking in The Abyss, Natalie seemed to be pulled down again, leaving her in despair and shivering. She knew, she had known from the start, that the protagonist’s life was her life. Adrian mapped the elements of reality one by one into it. He was both the controlling mother and the supervisor who occasionally seduced her, manipulating and toying with her, while the so-called company was Hollywood’s Vanity Fair. He brought her in, shaped her, yet wanted her to act according to his wishes; as for those friends, they were his women, they pitied her but wary of him, they sympathized with her yet excluded her.
This is one of the main reasons why Natalie, clearly having grasped the emotion, just couldn’t convey it – she instinctively resisted going through it again, even if only in the 100-plus-minute film. But Adrian wouldn’t allow it and warned her with the most violent means, more than once, making her utterly resentful.
What the hell is this bastard trying to do! Natalie’s expression was tense as she stared out the car window until her assistant’s voice snapped her back, “Natalie?”
“What’s up?” She finally turned her gaze back.
“There’s an invitation to a party tonight, should we turn it down?” The assistant flipped through the schedule and asked.
“Do I look tired?” Natalie maintained her expressionless appearance.
“Yes.” Hesitant for a moment, the assistant responded.
“…Then let’s head back to the hotel.” After a few seconds of silence, she made the choice, her mood growing increasingly vile and chilly.
Everyone around her was his people, from the agent to the PR manager, without exception. Though the assistant in front might not be, it wouldn’t be hard to bribe her if he wanted to know her situation.
No escape… Natalie thought mournfully, she would never believe Adrian treated her like that just to make the movie better or merely to increase his odds. There must be a conspiracy; he must be planning something—either to better toy with her or to make her completely submit?
Unfortunately, regardless of whether these speculations were true, she hardly had any choices.
Shit! It’s all shit! Natalie tightly clenched her fists, the feeling of brutal infringement from the office flooding back, combined with everything before, made her nearly gasping for breath.
Alright… alright… so be it… so be it… at least there’s something that is mine, I become like this, it must be mine, must be!
No conspiracy, no planning, Adrian’s treatment of Natalie indeed was only for the movie. A great role, one evoking empathy, inevitably requires the actor to fully immerse themselves. In Adrian’s view, acting a feeling completely different from one’s real-life image is the lowest form of acting since the star images that people see are all crafted. If needed, they can create another for themselves, which isn’t difficult, especially with media support.
The highest level of performance is undoubtedly one that appears plain but always resonates with people within the mundane; actors know they are performing yet can understand and grasp the character’s feelings, using various details to attract the viewer’s eyes without being overly exaggerated. Unfortunately, as of now, no actor has reached this level.
The mid-level is actors fully immersing into roles, actors becoming characters, and characters becoming actors. The advantage is that actors can fully understand and show the character’s experiences and emotions to move audiences. However, first, such roles are hard to come by; for actors to fully immerse, they must have extraordinary insight into characters or have experienced these themselves; second, the downsides are apparent – too much immersion may easily lead to depression from confusing oneself with the character, and life with the story, causing serious consequences.
So Adrian wrote this semi-original script, and used such a manner to spur Natalie into facing reality. Without it, how could it reach such levels? How could people be moved? As for Natalie’s inner world, it was no longer important; she had already made choices, and… no matter what “temptation” she faced, she unwaveringly continued. Since this is the case, since she made a choice, then go face her… fate.
For Adrian, this sickness isn’t pleasant, but it’s her choice, and he must “respect” her decision, so he often needs to vent. Not on Natalie, a couple of times is enough, without pushing too hard, but if she subsequently slackened, Adrian wouldn’t mind a few more times.
This is one of the reasons for choosing Amanda for the supporting actress role. After all, the entire “Locke” revolves around the female lead, everything is meant to highlight Natalie. Therefore, the supporting actors chosen cannot be mere eye candy, nor overly brilliant, and certainly not too sexy or beautiful. They also need to have a certain level of acting skill. Among my own women, there aren’t many suitable ones, which is why the role of the mother was simply abandoned. And after careful selection, the friend role was finally narrowed down to Kirsten, Scarlett, and Amanda. After further consideration, it was handed to Amanda.
But Adrian would never admit that considerations like breast size, stamina, the way of giving blowjobs, and degree of obedience were factored in.
Of course, Amanda alone isn’t enough, but Wisteria Lane is on the hillside right across from the “Locke” set, just a few steps away, and the “Desperate Housewives” set is also nearby. Although he hasn’t managed to get all the housewives in bed together, playing with them one by one is no problem, even if they’re all aware that they’re involved with Adrian.
Moreover, Tina Fey has finally been seduced by him again, probably because she drank too much. In the end, she was yelling that this absolutely couldn’t happen while quickly undoing Adrian’s belt and pressing herself onto him. And the next day, she put on a panicked expression, said nothing, dressed up, and fled in embarrassment. It was… quite adorable.
Then, besides this, there have been developments in other areas as well.
“Of course, I will definitely participate. I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time. Don’t think about taking away my rights, James.” Adrian leaned back in the office chair on set, laughing as he spoke on the phone, “Oh? You… alright. That’s how it is. He did call me. To be precise, he called the company phone. Naturally, it was immediately rejected. I’m not interested in ruining those good games… Go ahead and laugh, laugh all you want, James. I haven’t intervened over the last period, so if I’m not satisfied at the premiere, you’re doomed!”
After saying this, he slammed down the phone to show his dissatisfaction. Whether it had any effect, he didn’t care.
The caller was James Cameron. “Transformers” is confirmed to premiere on Independence Day, July 4th. As the boss who initially insisted on making it, naturally, he wants to attend. Such matters normally don’t require a call from Cameron for inquiries or notifications, but considering the rare opportunity to mock the Miracle Director, how could he miss it?
This brings us back to the Cannes Film Festival. Adrian’s provocative words temporarily silenced the European film circle and allied the United States film circle with Hollywood on his side. Everything was perfect, except for one point—Uwe Boll somehow managed to contact Blizzard, hoping to adapt “Warcraft” into a movie, and swore that the Miracle Director endorsed him. Blizzard’s executives actually convened a meeting to discuss it!
Damn it, Uwe Boll really dared to wave the banner a lot here. Adrian merely mentioned it in the salon, and he took advantage of it like this. The guys at Blizzard really must have lost their minds to host a meeting without calling first to inquire! Well, he did indeed mention the name of the worst director in history casually, and Uwe Boll hadn’t made that many flops yet, so his reputation wasn’t as bad as a few years later.
Fortunately, this guy is German, and his few known works don’t have high ratings, so Blizzard deliberated a bit before politely declining. Otherwise, Adrian, who realized too late, wouldn’t know how to clean up the mess. Even so, directors and producers familiar with who Uwe Boll is couldn’t help but laugh. Friends like Cameron who are close to Adrian all called in to tease him.
“Damn Uwe Boll…” Adrian snorted lightly as he leaned back in his chair, then hissed and inhaled sharply, the chill from the tailbone making him open the gate.
Behind the desk, the girl who had been kneeling before him, blowing, let out a low gasp, gracefully pausing her movements, her head tilting slightly until he was done.
“You’re really irresistible now, Camilla.” Adrian exhaled deeply, looking at the girl with satisfaction.
Camilla Belle smiled sweetly, reached up to push a lock of hair back over her ear without minding the traces at the corner of her mouth, and flicked her tongue at the tip again.
Adrian was even more satisfied; who could have imagined this seemingly quiet girl was so bold, even more uninhibited than Emma Stone. On the “Desperate Housewives” set, among several young actors, Emma Stone was the most lively. He had seen her several times outside filming, either helping to move things or chattering in conversations with others, and he had also chatted face-to-face with her a few times.
This is a good sign. It’s known in the crew that as long as one pays attention, they can see Adrian doesn’t have a shallow relationship with the four housewives, not to mention Stone plays Melinda’s daughter, although because of some minor age issues, Adrian wasn’t interested in collecting, so there hasn’t been more hints given to Stone.
What was unexpected was that after winding up with Vanessa Marcel inside yesterday and leaving, he unexpectedly ran into Camilla, Vanessa’s on-screen daughter, at the entrance of the set.
This truly was unexpected. Camilla was coming in from outside with a box of ice cream. She was walking and eating without watching where she was going, and Adrian was walking hurriedly, leading to their collision at the turning corner, ice cream splattering all over his shirt.
Camilla apologized hurriedly, Adrian wasn’t entirely pleased but didn’t say much, until Camilla insisted on accompanying him to change clothes. When she said that, although she looked worried and uneasy, the way her tooth grazed her lip didn’t escape his notice.
They previously chatted as well. Being assigned as Vanessa’s daughter, Adrian talked with Camilla no less than Stone. Naturally, he agreed, taking her back to the office on the set, both undressing in the restroom to clean the garments slightly, involving intimate physical contact during the process. Adrian took the opportunity to brush against her body a few times, and although Camilla looked unruffled, she couldn’t stop her face from blushing.
At this point, there was no need to say more. After the assistant brought a new shirt for him to change into, Adrian directly invited Camilla for dinner, and she accepted without pretense. From there, dinner, concert, walk, and then back to the Malibu beach villa for the bed, leading to today’s office call for a blowjob.
Originally, Adrian simply wanted to test it. Last night, Camilla on bed exhausted every trick imaginable to satisfy him. Recalling her previous performance, he said something casually. Didn’t expect that she would agree with enthusiasm, much like she insisted on helping him clean clothes and agreed to dinner date, seems this slightly quiet girl is ambitious too, someone to cultivate and play with several times more.
“You’re excellent, Camilla, I’m serious, I really like you.” Once Camilla cleaned up and turned back to that fresh appearance, Adrian said while pinching her cheeks.
“Thank you, being liked by the Miracle Director is an honor. I think I can now say I’m a charming woman in Hollywood.” Camilla’s eyes curved, sparkling with light.
“Of course,” Adrian smiled meaningfully, “Soon enough, everyone will be enthralled by your singing and dancing, as foretold by me.”
Camilla’s eyes immediately grew brighter, and her smile became even sweeter: “I look forward to it.”
She has some Brazilian blood, carrying a Latin flair perfectly suited for that role. In fact, from the very first glance at her, Adrian had already compared in his mind. Since she’s so sensible, that role should be given to her, although specific training must start immediately.
What’s intriguing is that Camilla, with Brazilian blood, isn’t very lively but rather calm; is it because she was born into a Catholic family? Oh well, every Catholic entering the entertainment circle doesn’t count. Not mentioning Jessica, what Camilla is doing now proves this point.
She is clever, although born in a privileged family and her father owns a construction company—somewhat like Britney’s father’s contractor company—she knows here Adrian is the King. Want to stand on the summit and shine? Better please the King first! (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote for recommendations or monthly tickets on Qidian (). Your support is my greatest motivation.)