I am Hollywood

Chapter 525: Chapter 526: Warning



[Chapter 526: Warning]

It was already nightfall.

In the densely populated northwest area of Santa Monica, three tall and attractive girls emerged from a supermarket, each holding a convenience bag, attracting the attention of nearby men. Although this area was home to many Hollywood stars and there were certainly no shortages of beautiful women on the streets, it wasn't every day that you saw three stunning girls gathered together.

The girl on the far left, with pale skin and black hair, skillfully opened a pack of cigarettes from her bag, completely ignoring the puzzled looks from passersby. She lit one up and asked the Latina girl in the middle, "Penny, what did that guy in the supermarket just say to you?"

The Latina girl pulled a small business card from her pocket and showed it to the other two, saying with a laugh, "He said he was a scout from a talent agency and thought I looked like the Spanish actress Penelope Cruz. He wanted to invite me to audition for their company."

The other two girls paused for a moment, then burst into laughter.

The three girls were naturally the chosen leads for Eric's upcoming project, Charlie's Angels. However, since the film was still in its early planning stages and no information had been disclosed to the public, the scout Penelope mentioned had found himself in a bit of a mix-up. After a hearty laugh, Charlize Theron asked, "So, how did you respond to him?"

"I pretended that I didn't speak much English. After he pestered me for a while, he left me a card and walked away," Penelope Cruz said, casually tossing the card into a nearby trash can. Although she had a noticeable accent, her English was remarkably fluent.

Another round of light laughter followed, and Kate Beckinsale took a few puffs from her cigarette before suddenly complaining, "There are still two months to go. If I'd known this training was going to be so brutal, I wouldn't have signed up."

Upon hearing this, Penelope Cruz and Charlize Theron exchanged silent smiles, clearly aware that Kate often voiced this habitual complaint.

Among the girls, Kate had it the toughest when it came to the rigorous training Eric arranged. Both Penelope and Charlize had been dancers since childhood, making it easy for them to complete various physical demands; their daily training felt just like their old dance classes. Kate Beckinsale, on the other hand, had only briefly attended a ballet class as a child, and now her body was no different than that of an ordinary person. At first, she even cried from the pain during basic stretching exercises, but she ultimately persevered.

After finishing her cigarette, they had finally reached their residence -- a small separate house that Michelle Simmons had arranged for them, just half an hour away from their training location.

Kate tossed her cigarette butt into a nearby trash can, feeling somewhat unfulfilled. It seemed she wanted to smoke another one, but after glancing at the courtyard door nearby, she ultimately decided against it.

The other two girls merely glanced at her actions without saying anything. While they occasionally indulged in a cigarette or two, it was never as frequently as Kate did. However, they showed no intention of dissuading her. Though Michelle Simmons encouraged them to get along, it didn't mean they'd truly open up to one another. They were, after all, competitors at heart.

Charlize took out her keys and unlocked the door. All three entered the living room, where Kate tossed her convenience bag onto the coffee table, lazily leaned back on the couch, and grabbed the remote to turn on the TV. The other two girls, after placing their bags down, retreated to their rooms to change into more comfortable clothing.

Just as Penelope Cruz took off her coat, she heard Kate say from the living room, "Penny, Charlize, you've gotta come see this! They're live streaming the premiere of Jurassic Park!" Initially, Penelope didn't want to respond, but upon hearing Jurassic Park, she thought of another name and immediately stepped out of her room, with Charlize following suit.

At that moment, the television was showing a segment where a journalist asked a question.

"...Mr. Williams, what are your thoughts on the recent smear campaign against Mr. Stallone's film, Cliffhanger?"

Witnessing the short pause on screen, Charlize couldn't help but laugh, grabbing a nearby throw pillow and squeezing it. She gleefully remarked, "Ha, this guy is really in trouble now."

Charlize had heard some buzz about the smear campaign against Cliffhanger and, as a proud girl, she still vividly remembered the day she had been completely ignored. Watching Eric face some adversity was genuinely delightful.

The fire of ambition burned bright in Penelope Cruz's eyes as she gazed intently at the young man on the screen, seemingly oblivious to Charlize's words, while Kate gave a surprising look to Charlize's reaction.

However, Eric quickly and calmly handled the situation, smoothly resolving the crisis. Applause erupted in the venue.

Charlize suddenly felt a bit downcast.

Penelope Cruz's gaze remained glued to the TV screen, leaning in to ask, "Charlize, you've met Eric Williams before, what do you think of him?"

"A...really annoying guy," Charlize hesitated before answering, and after the female reporter asked about Jurassic Park's box office expectations, she perked up her ears, noticing that the guy on TV seemed to want to evade the question while the reporter was being relentless. "...However, I think everyone is more curious, since Mr. Williams, you were able to break the norm by arranging 3,000 screens for this movie's premiere, what are your box office expectations?"

Then the audience saw Eric Williams lift the microphone to his mouth and, after a brief hesitation, he said, "If you really want to know, my global box office expectation for Jurassic Park is one billion dollars!"

Wow--

Even sitting in front of the TV, all three girls could hear the shock rippling through the audience at the premiere. The previously quiet reporters could no longer hold back, rising to eagerly shout their questions.

Both Charlize Theron and Kate Beckinsale were equally shocked upon hearing the number. One billion dollars was unprecedented in Hollywood history, but beside them, Penelope Cruz seemed even more bewildered, exclaiming, "One million? No way it's only a million!"

Charlize blinked, momentarily caught off-guard, while Kate shot Penelope a quizzical glance: "Penny, it's a billion dollars, not one million."

The terms million and billion sound quite similar, with only the first word differing, making it easy to see how Penelope could have mixed them up, especially since she hadn't considered the possibility of a movie reaching a billion dollars.

Realizing her mistake, Penelope felt a bit embarrassed, but soon the gravity of the billion- dollar figure set in, and her delicate jaw seemed to drop. "Wow, a billion...dollars!"

Due to Eric's response, the question-and-answer segment at the premiere became untenable. The creative team behind Jurassic Park hastily answered a few more questions before exiting the stage, and the broadcast switched to the Jurassic Park trailer.

True to Eric's initial concept, the two-minute trailer for Jurassic Park didn't reveal any full shots of the giant dinosaurs. However, the expressions of the main characters and the spine- chilling roar of the beast at the end stoked strong anticipation for the film.

As the trailer concluded, Kate Beckinsale quickly declared, "Penny, Charlize, how about we go see the midnight showing tomorrow night?"

Charlize, seeming completely uninterested, replied, "That guy said not to rush into theaters just for publicity, so you should go first. If you think it's good, I might consider catching a

glimpse."

Penelope waited for Charlize to finish before saying, "Kate, then it'll just be the two of us going."

"Sounds good," Kate nodded eagerly.

Charlize added irritably, "Hey, did you both not see the trailer? It's called Jurassic Park, but not a single dinosaur shadow appeared! I bet you'll be disappointed if you go."

Kate and Penelope exchanged looks, and Kate remarked, "Charlize, why do I feel like you've harbored a persistent grudge against Mr. Williams?"

Penelope agreed, "Yeah, like... um, a jilted lover. Hey, what happened during your last

meeting?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Jilted lover?" Charlize suddenly laughed nervously, seeming to sense something off. She tossed the pillow aside, stood up, and said, "I'm ignoring you two now, I'm off to shower and

sleep."

Penelope teased her retreating figure, "Charlize, it's only seven-thirty!"

Kate chimed in, "Should we buy your ticket for tomorrow?"

"Do whatever you want. Just give the ticket to a homeless person; I'm definitely not going."

Penelope let out a few chuckles and pressed on, "Then we'll buy a ticket for the 'homeless person' and you can cover the popcorn."

From the bathroom, Charlize shouted back in frustration, "You two, shut up!"

"Haha..."

...

While the girls were frolicking, at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, the movie had already begun playing on stage. Just as Eric walked into the backstage area, he was surrounded by a group of people. Charlie West, responsible for organizing the premiere, observed Eric's dark expression and nervously explained, "Mr. Williams, I've found out that the reporter was..." Eric waved his hand dismissively, "Forget it, I'm not concerned about that."

Charlie immediately fell silent.

Jerry Bruckheimer, noticing that no one else dared to speak, finally asked, "Eric, what should

we do now?"

Eric didn't answer Jerry, quietly taking a few sips of water from a bottle handed to him by a staff member. He then asked those nearby, "Who is currently in charge of Carolco Pictures?"

When Eric said this, everyone present knew he was completely fed up.

If Carolco had just been working covertly to hitch a ride on Jurassic Park's publicity, there wouldn't have been much to worry about. But openly stirring trouble during the premiere crossed a line that was intolerable.

Watching Allen immediately pick up his phone upon hearing Eric's words, Jerry couldn't help

but softly advise, "Eric, now isn't the right time for a rash reaction; it's too easy to give them

an angle."

"I know, don't worry," Eric nodded.

Everyone settled into a lounge to wait for the movie to end and for their turn to take the stage

for a curtain

call.

After a while, Allen walked back in with a portable phone, cupping the mouthpiece and whispering to Eric, "Mr. Williams, Mario Kassar is currently in charge of Carolco. He's one of the two founders of this company and he's on the line now; do you want to...?"

Eric shook his head and replied dispassionately, "Tell him this matter ends here. I don't want to see any more of this nonsense in the media, or I'll wipe the name Carolco off the map here

in Hollywood. I'm very upset today and am not in the mood for jokes." Allen nodded and took the phone back outside.

Eric frowned and sighed. If it weren't for that journalist stirring the pot, he would never have

divulged his expectations for Jurassic Park's box office so easily. Historically, the highest- grossing films in Hollywood hadn't crossed the eight-hundred-million mark, and throwing around a billion would certainly create a stir in the media. Those discussions might not yield good results either; if Jurassic Park didn't achieve a breathtaking opening week, the tides

could shift rapidly.

However, due to that meddling reporter, Eric felt compelled to release an even more explosive piece of news to suppress the chatter stirred up by the reporter. Otherwise, there would undoubtedly be articles claiming that any clarification was merely a cover-up, and that cover-up was a fact. The smear against Cliffhanger would be hard to shake off.

Eric's directive to Allen about what to communicate to the head of Carolco wasn't entirely a hollow threat. Carolco was a film production company that entirely relied on external financing, even lacking its own distribution channels. If Eric genuinely wanted to bring this

company down, it wouldn't be too difficult; just leaking word that his company would start targeting any film produced by Carolco would be enough. Given Eric's recent box office successes, the German investors would think twice about backing Carolco any longer. With no external funding, the company's collapse would become inevitable. Unfortunately, Eric couldn't act on that, at least not for now. As Jerry Bruckheimer had just

pointed out, making an aggressive reaction now would only provide opposing parties with a chance to hit back.

Minutes passed before Allen returned to the lounge.

"Mr. Williams, Mario Kassar firmly denied Carolco's involvement in today's events. However,

from his tone, it seems he's backed down. I believe we shouldn't have to deal with this again in the future."

"Let's leave it at that," Eric nodded, setting the matter aside and inquiring about the London

premiere.

*****

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