Chapter 330: Not Planning to Be Reasonable
Chapter 330: Not Planning to Be Reasonable
“My pay, of course, Eric. Twenty dollars,” Ivanka said righteously. The little Lolita’s money-grubbing appearance immediately amused everyone around them.
Eric laughed as well. Reaching into his pocket for his wallet, he asked curiously, “Ini, what do you need money for?”
“I don’t like Daddy anymore. I’ve decided I’m never spending his money again. I want to be independent,” Ivanka declared crisply.
Donald Trump, who had been standing nearby the whole time, awkwardly covered his forehead, though there was still a smile on his face.
Eric glanced at Donald Trump, then covered the wallet he had just taken out and continued asking, “But your tuition, food, and housing all come from your father’s money, don’t they?”
“I already checked. Those are obligations Daddy has to fulfill as a father. But other than that, I’m never spending Daddy’s money again. Look, I bought the rabbit plushie myself with money I earned cleaning rooms,” Ivanka said seriously again. Her earnest little expression looked extremely adorable, though her sparkling eyes remained fixed firmly on Eric’s wallet, as though afraid he might refuse to pay.
Eric lowered his head and searched through his wallet, pulling out a hundred-dollar bill and handing it over. “Here, take it. The extra part is your reward for your excellent performance just now.”
“You’re not allowed to treat me like a child. Daddy did that before too. I don’t want it. Twenty dollars means twenty dollars.”
The surrounding crowd finally burst into laughter.
“Alright, alright,” Eric said with a helpless laugh, shaking his head. He flipped through his wallet again, only to discover it contained nothing but stacks of hundred-dollar bills. “Ini, look, I don’t have any smaller bills. What do you think we should do?”
Although someone nearby definitely had a twenty-dollar bill, Eric still deliberately showed the wallet to Ivanka, wanting to tease the little girl a little longer.
Ivanka seriously leaned her little head over to inspect Eric’s wallet and immediately froze.
As Donald Trump’s daughter, the little girl had always lived a life free of worries about food or clothing. Whenever she wanted something, someone would buy it for her, so she had very little direct experience dealing with money.
It was only because her parents had suddenly divorced some time ago that Ivanka developed the idea of earning money herself. Now, faced with such a “complicated” problem she had never encountered before, she immediately had no idea how to handle it. Subconsciously, the little girl looked toward her father.
“Ini, if you want my help, I’ll have to charge a consulting fee. Twenty dollars,” Donald Trump said with a stern businesslike tone.
Ivanka angrily glared at her father before turning back toward Eric.
“Twenty dollars,” Ivanka repeated, staring unblinkingly at Eric. Clearly, the little Lolita had no intention whatsoever of being reasonable anymore.
Eric noticed the assistant director signaling that the next shot was ready. Since he no longer had time to keep joking around with Ivanka, he stuffed the hundred-dollar bill into her hand. “Here, take the hundred dollars. The remaining eighty can count as advance payment for future appearances. You just need to make four more cameo appearances in my movies.”
Ivanka unhappily prepared to return the money, but after hearing that, she tilted her little head and thought about it for a moment. She decided the idea actually sounded pretty good. Most importantly, Eric had not charged her a “consulting fee” like her awful father had.
Thus, she nodded readily. “Deal. But only four cameo appearances.”
“Of course,” Eric nodded.
Looking at Ivanka’s little appearance, he suddenly thought of a certain old man who always mysteriously appeared in superhero movies. If there were always a little girl carrying a plushie mysteriously appearing throughout his own films, wouldn’t that also be interesting?
Once filming resumed, Donald Trump tactfully took his daughter and left.
Over the following days, most of the outdoor scenes were completed, and Eric began filming the most important indoor scenes.
The apartment used as Sam and Molly’s home was located in SoHo, Manhattan, New York. SoHo originally had been an old industrial district in New York. Later, due to the decline of New York’s manufacturing industry, large numbers of factory lofts became vacant for a period of time. Because the rent was cheap, many artists of all kinds who came to New York pursuing their dreams gathered there, renting inexpensive factory spaces as studios. After decades of development, SoHo gradually became synonymous with contemporary art, and the concept of “SoHo” eventually spread throughout the world along with the times.
In Ghost, Molly was an artist, so having the two of them live there fit their identities perfectly.
After seeing a news report on television about a plane crash, Sam’s somewhat pessimistic remarks caused Molly to lose sleep. The woman got up alone to work on pottery, while Sam, waking groggily, discovered his lover had left the bed and followed her to her studio.
And thus, one of the most classic scenes in Ghost was born.
“I want this scene to feel somewhat theatrical. The most important thing is the lighting. This scene is roughly divided into two sections. The first is the pottery wheel scene. Here, look here. Even though there’s a lamp here, I don’t want it to serve any actual purpose in the shot. What I need is simply a top-lighting effect. As for the second section, I need high-contrast lighting,” Eric said while walking around the room with the crew’s lighting director.
The lighting director repeatedly nodded in agreement, indicating he understood.
After finishing his instructions, Eric walked over to Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda, who were making preparations. Originally, Cage had been casually chatting with Bridget Fonda. It was obvious the atmosphere between the two had become somewhat intimate.
This was precisely the effect Eric wanted.
For an emotional romance film, if the male and female leads lacked chemistry, then unless both actors possessed extremely high-level acting skills, the film would become a disaster.
For exactly that reason, even though Bridget Fonda was very beautiful, Eric had not made a move on her as he usually would. He needed the female lead to continuously maintain that spark with the male lead.
When it came to films and women, Eric always clearly distinguished priorities. In his mind, films were always the most important thing. They were the foundation of his place in Hollywood.
As long as he could achieve enough success in film, pursuing women would naturally come easily afterward.
When the two saw Eric approaching, they instinctively prepared to stand.
“It’s fine, stay seated,” Eric waved his hand, pulling over a chair and sitting opposite them. He casually asked, “What were you talking about just now?”
The two exchanged glances before Bridget finally spoke. “Cage said there’s a famous British theater troupe performing Hamlet on Broadway tomorrow night and asked if I wanted to go see it.”