Chapter 117: I’m a Man Destined to Become the King of Hollywood
Chapter 117: I’m a Man Destined to Become the King of Hollywood
“Jennifer Connelly, huh. She’s a very fortunate girl. At thirteen, she already got to act in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America. It’s only natural for someone like that to have a bit of innocence and pride. Once she reaches thirty and still hasn’t accomplished anything in Hollywood, all those convictions will disappear on their own.”
After listening to Eric recount everything that had happened, the young woman leaned against his chest and sighed emotionally, clearly reminded of her own experiences.
Eric could only comfortingly hug her while recalling a few things.
Jennifer Connelly’s pride had not lasted until she was thirty. At twenty, eager to make a breakthrough in her career, she had impatiently chosen the path of becoming famous through stripping onscreen. For an actress who had always followed the pure and innocent beauty image, it was an extremely risky gamble. Quite a few actresses had completely ruined themselves making similar choices.
However, that gamble really did bring some turning points to her acting career. Soon afterward, she landed the female lead role in Disney’s The Rocketeer. Unfortunately, that movie flopped as well.
At that point, all of Jennifer Connelly’s major productions since debut — Once Upon a Time in America, Labyrinth, and The Rocketeer — had all failed at the box office. Although those failures really had little to do with her personally, Hollywood producers were very superstitious. As a result, Jennifer Connelly disappeared from the public eye for the next five years.
Virginia looked up at Eric and suggested:
“Eric, honestly, if you really want to get her, it actually wouldn’t be that difficult.”
“Hm?” Eric looked down at the young woman in his arms.
Virginia said, “You own your own film company now. In the future, whenever you have a new movie project, you can just occasionally throw her a film offer as bait. For a little girl obsessed with Hollywood’s fame and fortune, tempt her a few times and she’ll obediently bite the hook.”
“Wow, I never expected I’d be holding a beautiful serpent that escaped from the Garden of Eden.”
Eric slapped the young woman’s pert backside.
“Looks like I’ll have to punish you properly.”
“Mmh ah… not depressed anymore, right?”
Virginia snuggled deeper into Eric’s arms. Beneath the blankets, one of her long legs lifted slightly, wrapping around the hardening thing between his legs and rubbing against it.
“Of course not.”
Eric rolled over and pinned Virginia beneath him once more, spreading the young woman’s legs before thrusting inside her.
“I’m a man destined to become the King of Hollywood. What does a tiny setback like this even count for? One day, I’ll reach heights even higher than Playboy tycoon Howard Hughes back in his day. All I’ll need to do is say I fancy a certain woman, and someone will wash her clean and deliver her straight into my bed.”
Virginia endured the man’s fierce thrusts, moaning softly, yet she still refused to surrender verbally.
“It’s not the studio era anymore,” the young woman argued between breaths. “No one can completely control Hollywood now. And you’re talking about becoming the King of Hollywood? That’s ridiculous.”
“It’s simple.”
Eric flipped the young woman over into his favorite position before continuing:
“I’ll just turn Hollywood back into the studio era.”
“You… you’re unbelievably arrogant.”
The young woman obediently lay there hugging a pillow, grunting mockingly.
“When the day you succeed finally comes, don’t forget to have someone send word to me in heaven.”
Eric revealed a wicked grin. Pulling out from the slick warmth, he spread apart the two soft white halves of her backside and moved upward.
“I’ll send you to heaven right now.”
“Ahh! No, don’t! It hurts, you little bastard, don’t put it in there again, mmgh… This isn’t heaven at all. It’s more like hell.”
…
Even though they had played around until very late last night, Eric still woke up early.
If someone wanted to achieve something in life, maintaining good habits was essential.
Leaning down to kiss the sleeping young woman’s cheek, Eric got dressed and walked downstairs.
After doing some simple exercise in the courtyard, he prepared breakfast for two. Yet the young woman upstairs still showed no signs of waking.
Eric therefore did not disturb her. He walked out into the yard, retrieved today’s newspapers from the mailbox, and began reading while eating breakfast.
Virginia did not subscribe to many papers, but Eric still found news about himself.
Because it appeared in the entertainment section of the famous Los Angeles Times. Although it was not the headline, it occupied a rather eye-catching position.
“Williams Seen Watching Road House With Female Companion, Suspected of Concern Over Pretty Woman Box Office Impact — Last night, young director Eric Williams was spotted on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. He was driving a purple Lamborghini Diablo sports car and appeared intimately close with former child actress Jennifer Connelly.
“Jennifer Connelly was fortunate enough to appear in the classic film Once Upon a Time in America at age thirteen, and later participated in productions such as Labyrinth. However, despite possessing doll-like exquisite beauty, the young actress’s career has not been smooth, and she has not produced any noteworthy works in recent years. Under such circumstances, her intimate appearance alongside Eric Williams raises the question: is another ‘Hollywood Cinderella’ about to emerge?
“Coincidentally, Williams’ new film Running Out of Time is currently conducting an intense search for its female lead. According to reliable sources, Jennifer Connelly also participated in the audition. This inevitably gives rise to speculation that the female lead may already have been internally decided, which will likely disappoint the hundreds of actresses waiting hopefully for the role.
“After exiting the Lamborghini together, the pair did not go shopping or engage in other activities, but headed directly into a cinema to watch Richard Gere’s new film Road House, currently holding preview screenings there. Upon leaving the theater, Eric Williams appeared grim-faced. After noticing reporters, he hurriedly left through the back entrance with Jennifer Connelly without saying a single word.
“It appears Road House has placed considerable pressure on Eric. Back when Richard Gere first read the Road House script, he praised it highly and resolutely abandoned Williams’ Pretty Woman.
“This film is an explosive action production created through the collaboration of rising Hollywood action director Rowdy Herrington and famous actor Richard Gere, with a massive twenty-million-dollar investment. Combining martial arts, car chases, gunfights, and explosions, the movie received unanimous praise from critics and audiences following test screenings. It is certain to bring audiences a heart-pounding visual feast this Easter season.”
Looks like the executives at United Artists had put in quite a lot of effort promoting this movie.
Publishing this sort of promotional soft article in the Los Angeles Times was not easy.
Even if the movie had not truly cost twenty million dollars to make, it certainly was not far off, meaning the pressure to recover costs was extremely high.
Eric did not particularly mind the latter half of the article using him to promote Road House.
After all, the quality of Road House was right there for everyone to see. After watching it yesterday, the audience comments he overheard were either wildly off-topic, fixating on some tiny detail, or straightforward criticism.
This article was destined to become a slap-in-the-face piece later.
However, the first half regarding himself and Jennifer Connelly made Eric frown slightly.
Although the wording never stated it outright, anyone could tell the article was implying that the female lead selection for his new film involved some kind of unfair transactional element.
In Hollywood, actresses sleeping with producers, directors, or investors in exchange for roles was extremely common.
Everyone knew about it and tacitly accepted this mutually beneficial arrangement.
But such things could only happen quietly in private.
Once exposed by the media, the people involved would inevitably face public suspicion and condemnation, and their social image would suffer.
The simplest way to reverse such a situation would be to publicly declare the two were dating.
After all, countless Hollywood directors conveniently “dated” their female leads every time they made a movie. People might criticize them as playboys, but it would at least prevent people from associating things with under-the-table transactions.
But Eric had no intention of doing that.
And the young woman who had rejected him just last night definitely would not cooperate with him either.
After thinking it over, Eric ultimately decided to let things take their course.
Trying to argue against this kind of thing in the media would only make matters worse.
Besides, Connelly had already rejected the female lead role. Once the cast list was officially announced later, the rumors would naturally collapse on their own.
He was not some celebrity who relied on popularity and public image to survive anyway.
Plenty of famous Hollywood directors had terrible public reputations, yet they still won awards and made box office money all the same.
Still, he would remember this account with the Los Angeles Times.
Sooner or later, he would pay it back.