Chapter 306: Eric Thinks So Too
Chapter 306: Eric Thinks So Too
“Hi, hello, Miss Kidman. I’m Tom Cruise. You can call me Tommy. Wow, you’re really beautiful. Even more beautiful than in the movies. Can I call you Nicole?”
While Eric was exchanging pleasantries with Paula Wagner, he heard Tom Cruise’s attentive voice behind him.
“Of course, no problem, Mr. Cruise,” Nicole’s voice also sounded. Her tone carried a faint sense of distance, but Cruise seemed not to notice and immediately began talking about other topics.
Paula Wagner gave Eric an awkward smile, silently blaming Cruise’s behavior for being too inappropriate. Nicole Kidman was Eric’s female companion, and the relationship between the two was obvious to anyone.
Eric turned his head to glance over. Seeing that Cruise had already sat down opposite Nicole, he could only say to Paula Wagner, “Then, Ms. Wagner, let’s sit as well.”
“Alright, Eric. I’m really… sorry,” Paula Wagner softly apologized.
“It’s nothing,” Eric replied.
Returning to the table and sitting down, Eric signaled for the waiter to come over, and the group began ordering food.
“Nicole, the pan-seared foie gras here is excellent. I heard all the ingredients are flown in directly from France. I think you should try a serving,” Cruise said with a smile after looking through the menu for a while.
“Sorry, Mr. Cruise, I’m dieting,” Nicole gently shook her head. After ordering a salad from the waiter, she closed the menu.
Cruise had hit a soft wall. The smile on his face faded slightly, but the interest in his eyes only deepened.
Eric and Paula Wagner also quickly finished ordering. After the waiter left, Cruise immediately said, “Sorry, Eric. I’ve already read the script for Ghost. But the film Paula and my production company is preparing is about to start filming, so I definitely can’t take that role anymore.
“To be honest, I think playing a ghost sounds pretty stupid. Also, I studied the entire script and couldn’t find anything particularly outstanding about it. I’d suggest you try another movie instead, like the sequel to Running Out of Time. Although I can’t participate anymore, with the popularity built up by the first film, box office success is basically guaranteed.”
Hearing Cruise say this, Paula Wagner covered her forehead with one hand and gently rubbed her temple. Clearly, Cruise’s old habit of being self-righteous had flared up again, and he had completely forgotten her earlier warnings.
Nicole slightly parted her lips upon hearing those words, then subtly raised the juice in front of her to her mouth, hiding the trace of mockery at the corner of her lips.
Eric rested both hands on the table, fingers interlocked and slowly rubbing together. He listened to Cruise’s words with interest. Only after the man finished did Eric look at Cruise with amusement and say, “If that’s the case, Tommy, then why did you invite me here today?”
Fearing that Tom Cruise might say something even more inappropriate, Paula Wagner hurriedly took over the conversation.
“Mr. Williams, Tommy is just that kind of person. He doesn’t like keeping things bottled up, so please don’t take offense. We actually think the Ghost script is quite good. It’s just that Tommy’s schedule has already been arranged, so we unfortunately can’t cooperate this time.”
“Oh? Then this meeting…” Eric continued.
Tom Cruise was just about to speak when he felt a kick against his shin beneath the table. Looking at Paula Wagner, he saw a faint pleading expression already appearing on her face. He could only shrug slightly and shut his mouth.
Seeing that Tom Cruise had finally stopped talking nonsense, Paula Wagner secretly sighed in relief before saying to Eric, “It’s like this, Mr. Williams. Didn’t Flower Pictures under Firefly acquire a lot of novel and film rights last year? Among them was a television series called Mission: Impossible. I wanted to ask whether you might be willing to transfer the rights to us. We would definitely offer a very reasonable price.”
Eric raised an eyebrow and curiously asked, “Ms. Wagner, why are you interested in this TV series? If adapted into a film, it should become a spy-action movie, which would be very different from Tom’s current screen image.”
Hearing Eric say that, Cruise immediately could not resist interrupting again.
“See, Paula? Eric thinks so too. That’s why I think we should stop bringing this up. I already told you, I’m not suitable for this kind of pure action film. Those are roles Schwarzenegger or Stallone should play. I’m more suited for drama films. Even if there are action elements mixed in, it should still be like Top Gun from a few years ago, or our recent movie, with the story as the focus. Eric, you think so too, right?”
Eric smiled faintly and agreed, “Of course. I also think Tommy is more suited for narrative-driven genre films. Rashly transforming his image would involve great risk.”
After the two men interrupted things like this, Paula Wagner suddenly no longer knew how to continue. A troubled expression appeared on her face as she helplessly glanced at the smug man beside her after receiving “recognition,” then looked at Eric, who wore a faint smile.
For some reason, she felt that the smile at the corner of Eric’s mouth seemed somewhat strange.
Bypassing the matter of the original Mission: Impossible television series, Eric quickly said, “Tommy, let’s talk about the film you’re currently preparing instead. I’m sure many movie fans are looking forward to it.”
“That’s definitely true,” Tom Cruise immediately became energized. His gaze, however, continued drifting toward Nicole in front of him.
“A few years ago, when I filmed The Color of Money with Paul Newman, I became interested in racing. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to make a racing movie.
“The script’s racing scenes will be extremely grand and exciting. Paramount agreed to invest sixty million dollars into the film. I believe this movie will definitely recreate the box office glory of Top Gun back in ’86.
“Oh right, Nicole, the film happens to still lack a female lead right now. Would you like to try? From the first moment I saw you, I felt you were perfectly suited for the role of Claire.”
Hearing that the film carried a sixty-million-dollar investment, Nicole immediately became tempted. She glanced at Eric. Seeing the man maintain an indifferent expression, she cautiously asked, “Mr. Cruise, could you tell me more about the role?”
“Of course. Claire is a doctor. After the male lead Cole suffers a racing accident, the two meet. Claire is quickly moved by Cole’s strength and unyielding spirit, and falls in love with him…”
Cruise enthusiastically talked for seven or eight minutes. Only when the waiter brought out the dishes did he reluctantly pause for a moment. Nicole also occasionally followed his rhythm and asked a few probing questions.
Listening to the conversation between the man and woman beside them, Paula Wagner worriedly glanced at Eric across the table. Seeing him calmly eating his food as though nothing were happening, she finally relaxed slightly.
“Ms. Wagner, are you still serving as Tom’s agent right now?” After eating a few bites, Eric suddenly raised his head and asked Paula Wagner across from him, completely ignoring the conversation happening beside him.
Paula Wagner did not understand why Eric suddenly asked this question, but she quickly answered anyway.
“No. Right now I’m managing the C/W production company, so Tommy changed to a new agent named Pat Kingsley.”
Eric sighed inwardly.
Tom Cruise really was fortunate. Even though he himself, this outsider, had inserted himself into this timeline, the two women most important to Cruise’s career development still ended up appearing beside him.
Paula Wagner could practically be considered Tom Cruise’s great benefactor. She directly elevated Cruise from an unknown nobody into Hollywood A-list stardom. Afterward, she continuously assisted him in establishing his production company and served as producer on a whole series of Cruise’s films. It could be said that half of Cruise’s success belonged to Paula Wagner.
Later, after Cruise and Paula Wagner established the Cruise/Wagner production company together, Paula Wagner became the company’s head, while Cruise switched to another agent, Pat Kingsley.
This female agent was also exceptionally capable. Taking over Paula Wagner’s position, she diligently managed Cruise’s career affairs for fourteen years. During those years, although Cruise stirred up many incidents and was a complete mess in terms of personal conduct, under Pat Kingsley’s management, Cruise’s public image remained flawlessly maintained.
In Eric’s previous life, Pat Kingsley had once served as the agent for both Cruise and Nicole. However, after Cruise and Nicole divorced, Cruise’s own career saw little improvement while Nicole soared upward. Not only did she successfully win the Oscar for Best Actress, she also entered the twenty-million-dollar salary club.
Under the extreme imbalance in Cruise’s heart, he casually found an excuse that Pat Kingsley had failed to properly campaign for the Oscars and fired the hardworking agent. Afterward, he childishly allowed his own sister, who possessed no professional experience whatsoever, to act as his agent.
Before long, Cruise tasted the consequences of that decision.
Without a powerful agent responsible for negotiations and public image management, one problem after another followed in succession: negotiations with Paramount Pictures collapsed, the infamous couch-jumping incident, his religion being attacked by the media, frequent tabloid scandals involving actresses…
In barely over a year, Cruise’s public image plummeted dramatically, and his acting career also suffered a tremendous blow.
In the years afterward, Paula Wagner eventually left Cruise’s production company in disappointment. From then on, aside from the Mission: Impossible series, nearly every Cruise film lost money one after another.
Because of this, Cruise also lost the ability to act strongly toward Paramount over the Mission: Impossible franchise, and the glory of earning a seventy-five-million-dollar salary through backend profit participation on a single film disappeared forever.