Chapter 178: Estrangement
Chapter 178: Estrangement
Thinking of the actors, Eric suddenly remembered that Michael Madsen, who played Mr. Blonde in his past life, was Virginia’s brother. Although he had known Virginia for over half a year, Eric had never actually met him. He only knew from chatting with the lady that Virginia shared a very close relationship with her brother. In his memory, Michael Madsen had a rugged appearance that made him look naturally suited for playing villains. Yet from Virginia’s accounts, Eric knew that Michael Madsen was a highly multi-talented person; he had worked as a magician, liked photography, and loved writing poetry. By comparison, acting seemed more like a side job to make a living.
Although he had never met the man yet, since Virginia was his woman, Michael Madsen could be counted as one of his own. Keeping the fertile water within one's own fields was always Eric's guiding principle [1].
Taking the script from Quentin to double-check the character names, Eric spoke directly, "Tell you what, Quentin. I happen to have a great person in mind to recommend to you for the role of Mr. Blonde. I'm sure you will definitely be satisfied."
Looking at Eric’s smiling face—which made it seem as though it wouldn't matter even if he weren't satisfied—Quentin Tarantino knew in his heart that even if he weren't satisfied, he had to be.
However, the condition Eric had just offered about not interfering with the creative production of the film had already left Quentin overjoyed. Having one person directly slotted in was nothing unacceptable. According to the rules, as an investor, Eric would have absolutely no problem even if he decided on the selection of the entire cast.
"No problem, Eric. I’m sure anyone you recommend will definitely be excellent," Quentin replied with a smile. Just as the few of them were about to continue their conversation, someone knocked on the door of the lounge, and a crew member poked his head inside. "Director Williams, it's time."
Eric checked his watch and stood up. "Let's leave it at that then."
Quentin and Lawrence also hurriedly stood up and shook hands with Eric once more. Afterward, however, they were a bit at a loss. What came next?
Just as he was about to leave in a hurry, Eric saw their expressions and let out a laugh as he slapped his forehead. "Apologies, I've been too busy lately and have become a bit forgetful. Come with me."
Calling over his assistant Alan to brief him for a spell, Eric then said to the two of them, "This is Alan, my assistant. He will take you to see Mr. Jeffrey Hansen, and you can discuss the specific details with him."
After seeing the two off, Eric was just planning to head back to work when the little girl abruptly popped out of nowhere and sidled up to him.
Eric was somewhat surprised. "Why haven't you left yet?"
Drew already seemed a bit displeased to begin with, and hearing Eric say this made her even more upset. She countered with her small hands on her hips, "Why should I leave? I’m just not leaving!"
Eric shrugged. At any rate, the little lady had been quite well-behaved when she visited the set of Running Out of Time a while back. "Fine, suit yourself. Just don't cause trouble."
"Mmh, Eric, I feel like none of them really like me," the girl stepped forward to loop her arm through Eric’s as they walked to the soundstage’s working area, while leaning into his ear to whisper softly. When she was with the Running Out of Time crew, she was treated like a little princess; from Eric on down, there was no one she couldn't boss around. But not only did she not know any of the crew members here, they also acted somewhat estranged from her. Although they were perfectly polite, they maintained a subtle, intangible distance.
Eric called out an instruction to have the crew begin preparations before rubbing the girl's small head, explaining with a smile, "You don't even understand this? Janie’s father is the producer of this television series, you know. Everyone here was brought in by John. Here, Janie is the princess. Since she doesn't like you, these people naturally follow suit and estrange themselves from you."
"Hmph, talk about snobbish!" The girl curled her lips.
"It’s merely a natural human response to seek benefit and avoid harm; it doesn't even qualify as office politics. If they get too close to you, they might end up being covertly targeted and given a hard time for no apparent reason [2]," Eric joked as he sat down in the director's chair, watching the figures walking back and forth nearby making filming preparations as he accepted the shooting log handed over by his assistant.
In reality, the main reason Drew was being estranged here was that Aniston was simply too popular within the crew. Although the young lady had her personal likes and dislikes, she was highly adept at making friends. Not only did she hit it off with the other lead actors, even the vast majority of the crew liked her very much. Coupled with her father’s status as the producer, it wasn't surprising at all for the people of the Friends crew to estrange themselves from Drew, Aniston's potential "love rival."
By comparison, although Drew was also highly sociable, her personality carried a few more streaks of erratic behavior. Before Eric appeared, the very self-aware girl usually lacked the status and strength to display this side of her personality. But now with Eric backing her up, the little lady didn't seem to restrain her actions as much anymore. When she visited the Running Out of Time set, she conducted herself like a spoiled little princess. Being able to shoulder a crew's six-figure camera to roam around everywhere during his intense film shooting process was something only this girl could pull off without being blasted out.
Yet Eric wasn't worried at all that this pampering would cause the girl to spiral out of control. He knew Drew actually understood perfectly well what she was doing in her heart. The girl had simply lacked the affection she should have received too much during her childhood; once she obtained these things from Eric, she became somewhat "greedy," always wanting to acquire a bit more and make up for a bit more while she could still act spoiled and was still legally a minor.
"Forget it, I’d better head back," the girl stood up by bracing against Eric’s body. Since she wasn't welcome here, she didn't want to spend energy trying to change the situation either. "Eric, did you finish what you promised me last night?"
"What matter?" Aniston, holding her script, walked over. Hearing Drew's words, she frowned slightly and questioned Eric with a dissatisfied gaze.
"It's on the table in the study. Go look for yourself. On a sudden whim, I wrote a whole bunch; pick whichever one you like to run with," Eric said, shooting a glance at the young lady that indicated he would explain to her in a moment.
Drew gave a sweet smile. Right in front of Aniston, she suddenly bent down and planted a kiss on Eric's face, leaving a conspicuous lipstick mark before turning around and walking away while swaying her small bottom.
"Wearing so little, she looks just like a streetwalker by the roadside at night," the young lady said as she stared at Drew’s departing figure, her tone dripping with jealousy. The girl was already just over 1.6 meters tall; not only did she have a slender, graceful figure, she also possessed milk-white skin that made many women envious. In this regard, the somewhat darker-complexioned Aniston felt a bit envious.
As if sensing something, Drew—who had nearly reached the entrance of the soundstage—suddenly spun around. Opening the small sun umbrella in her hand and wearing her heart-shaped sunglasses, she gracefully pirouetted on her tiptoes with boundless charm. Then, backing away out the door, she pulled a face at Aniston and stuck out her small pink tongue.
While this display left the young lady exasperated with rage, it also caused many crew members who witnessed the scene to freeze for a moment. Everyone present was from the film and television industry, and those who had seen Kubrick’s Lolita were by no means a minority. The little lady wore a T-shirt and hot pants, exposing her tender, smooth arms and fair legs. Coupled with the touch of bewitching charm added by the black nail polish adorning her toes, every single movement of hers—blending a woman's allure with a young girl's playfulness—caused the hearts of all men with normal hormones to skip a hard beat.
"What a total tease," the young lady tightened her face gloomily and said to Eric, "Are you certain the place you sent her to attend is a Catholic school, and not somewhere else?"
Eric laughed and held Aniston’s small hand. "Alright, Janie, don't be angry anymore. Drew’s disposition is just like that; it's not like you haven't seen it before. Right, what did you need me for?"
Aniston pointed at Eric's cheek. "Wipe off the lipstick mark on your face first."
Eric wiped his face with a tissue with a hint of embarrassment. Only after having the young lady confirm it was clean did Aniston reluctantly begin to discuss the script in her hands with Eric; she felt she had some good ideas.
Over the next few days, the filming of Friends proceeded in an orderly fashion throughout. During this period, Eric shared a meal with the Weinstein brothers of Miramax to talk a bit about a potential acquisition. However, because the Weinstein brothers happened to be handling the theatrical release of Steven Soderbergh’s Cannes Palme d'Or winner Sex, Lies, and Videotape during this time—which was achieving quite excellent box office results—the price tag they opened with far exceeded Eric's expectations.
Coupled with the fact that Firefly had already initiated acquisition contacts with Robert Shaye’s New Line, Eric temporarily dropped the idea of swallowing Miramax. The reason Miramax stood out uniquely in the independent film circle and was courted by Disney in his past life was that, aside from Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape making a name for Miramax, the greatest contributors were actually Quentin's works like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Furthermore, the latter was clearly far more important. In his past life, because of the unexpected, massive success of Quentin's Pulp Fiction, independent films rapidly gained heavy attention from major film studios. As a frontrunner among them, Miramax was able to experience explosive growth.
But now, Quentin had already crossed over to Eric's side. Since the two parties were collaborating, Eric certainly wouldn't push Quentin outward again.
Thus, having lost Quentin now, Miramax's future prospects became hard to say. Although they could still claim to hold the card of Soderbergh, ever since Soderbergh shot to fame with Sex, Lies, and Videotape and claimed the Cannes Palme d'Or as the youngest filmmaker to do so, he subsequently fell completely silent for a full ten years without producing any presentable works, and his box office track record was an absolute mess, only starting to explode after the turn of the new century. Under these circumstances, it would be very difficult for Miramax to rise according to its original trajectory.
The reason Eric originally wanted to take down Miramax while acquiring New Line was that he valued these two brothers' talents in campaign public relations for various awards above all else. In his past life, the Weinstein brothers were known as the golden-ticket promoters of the Oscars, which was why Eric made up his mind to bring the two under his wing. As for their eye for picking films, which was similarly praised by others, Eric's advantage in this area was actually much greater; his head was packed with a vast repository of classic films he had watched in his past life.
Failing to secure Miramax for the time being didn't make Eric anxious. At any rate, the trajectory of history had already shifted. Perhaps with the Weinstein brothers' talents, they could still live quite comfortably within the independent film circle. But wanting to be as dazzling as in his past life would be highly improbable due to Eric's presence. Their development trajectory would at most resemble New Line's, growing stronger step by step. Thus, even if they developed for another ten years, Eric would still have the opportunity to gather them in, letting them honestly handle Oscar public relations for him.