Chapter 45: Farce
Chapter 45: Farce
Just as Eric had expected, the Los Angeles Metropolitan News once again published photos of Julia Roberts leaving Eric’s house. They also deliberately mentioned the party Eric held at home, but glossed over the fact that members of the Home Alone production crew had attended. Instead, the article focused suggestively on the group of young, beautiful women.
Soon afterward, other newspapers followed suit. Somehow they dug up various dubious “inside stories” and used them to criticize Eric’s personal character. Gradually, Eric transformed in the public eye from an inspirational young genius into a playboy who abandoned his girlfriend after becoming famous, slept with an underage girl, and indulged in extravagant party lifestyles.
“…Perhaps Eric Williams truly is a somewhat talented young man, but after obtaining enormous wealth far too easily, this youth has clearly begun degenerating at an incomprehensible speed…”
“…After abandoning the girlfriend who stayed with him during his struggling days and spending the night with Drew Barrymore, Eric Williams immediately replaced her with another woman. According to our investigation, the beautiful big-mouthed woman in the photograph is the female lead of the currently screening Mystic Pizza…”
“…It is difficult to imagine that Eric Williams would actually target thirteen-year-old Drew. Personally, I believe there must be some hidden truth behind this. No matter what, Eric Williams’ actions have already violated California law. I seem to see a second Roman Polanski. Equally talented as a director, yet guilty of the same unforgivable crime. In order to prevent Eric Williams from fleeing like Roman Polanski to evade legal responsibility, I believe the Los Angeles police should immediately take action against Eric Williams…”
Some utterly shameless entertainment tabloids, unable to find further material, even began fabricating stories out of thin air. For a time, the excellent public image Eric had painstakingly built teetered on the verge of collapse.
Once Fox Broadcasting Company realized the controversy was beginning to escalate, they reacted immediately. Their own production Back to 17 was still performing strongly in theaters, and they had just bought out the overseas distribution rights to Home Alone. If Eric’s reputation as both the male lead and director suffered damage, they would obviously be the ones suffering direct financial losses.
As for Columbia Pictures, aside from continuing to fulfill the terms of the gambling agreement contract, they practically maintained a completely indifferent stance. Some employees in Columbia’s publicity department had suggested doing public relations work for Eric, but none of the proposals were approved. After Eric had humiliated Blount Cohen last time, even senior staff in the publicity department suspected that Cohen himself might be secretly directing the controversy from behind the scenes, so none of them were willing to risk stepping forward to help Eric.
Since News Corporation had originally risen through print media, they were highly experienced in increasing newspaper sales by smearing public figures. Naturally, when facing attacks against themselves, they were equally adept at counterattacking.
Very quickly, after discussions between Fox and Eric himself, the counteroffensive began.
While using various media outlets to restore Eric’s public image, Fox skillfully selected several actors and directors from recently released films whose own backgrounds were less than clean and stirred up scandals involving them as well. For a while, newspapers across North America became filled with chaos and sensational gossip. The concentrated attention originally focused on Eric was rapidly diverted elsewhere.
The public gradually began sensing that something unusual lay beneath this flood of gossip. The media might excel at manipulating public opinion, but if they truly treated ordinary people as fools, then the only idiots in the end would be themselves.
Soon, a relatively obscure paper called the Hollywood Information Daily published a special commentary article on its front page that completely exposed the hidden undercurrents beneath the controversy.
Christmas Season Farce: All Because of the Box Office
“As the annual Christmas movie season arrives, film companies that in previous years exhausted every method possible to promote their own productions are this year instead using a series of despicable smear tactics to suppress competitors. The entire affair began with the miraculous rise of a young man named Eric Williams.”
“After the latest weekly box office results were released, the combined earnings of the two films associated with Eric Williams have already surpassed one hundred million dollars. In particular, the low-budget comedy Home Alone, after experiencing a rare increase in ticket sales during its second week, still only suffered a minor twenty percent drop in its third week while earning 23.15 million dollars. Its cumulative three-week gross is now approaching eighty million dollars, directly climbing to sixth place on the annual box office rankings. The momentum of this miracle is now unstoppable.”
“As everyone knows, the total box office revenue and number of moviegoers during the Christmas season are limited, while the major film companies are successively releasing a series of major year-end blockbusters. Therefore, in order to compete for market share, the recent flood of scandals and criticism directed toward Eric Williams naturally appears perfectly logical.”
“Leaving aside the question of Eric Williams’ actual moral character, and setting aside whether the various film and television celebrities currently under public attack truly committed unforgivable acts, we merely call upon the major film companies to remain calm and return to normal competitive practices. Using abnormal methods to suppress rivals will ultimately only result in self-destruction.”
The Hollywood Information Daily article, which approached the situation from a completely different angle, acted almost like a signal. As major newspapers reprinted it one after another, the influential figures behind the public opinion campaign aimed at dragging Eric down were forced to restrain themselves. They realized that Eric was no longer standing alone. The rapid and aggressive counterattack from News Corporation clearly demonstrated that Eric Williams had already formed a stable alliance of interests with Fox.
Although some smaller tabloids unwilling to let go of the topic continued pestering him, most of the more influential newspapers tacitly stopped attacking their competitors.
The storm seemed to pass just like that.
Several days later, after nearly being driven mad by the paparazzi’s relentless pursuit, Eric finally moved into the hilltop mansion in Beverly Hills. Once the gates closed tightly behind him, Eric no longer had to endure looking out the window and seeing a long row of paparazzi cars parked outside like he had at his North Hollywood apartment.
Jeffrey Hansen looked enviously at the tall walls surrounding the mansion before pressing the doorbell. A few minutes later, Eric opened the gates and welcomed Jeffrey inside.
After parking in front of the villa, Jeffrey asked:
“Eric, what have you been doing at home lately? You haven’t gone out for days, have you?”
At the mention of this, Eric became extremely depressed. After all the procedures for Firefly Film Company had been completed, there were not many matters that still required his personal appearance. Combined with the fact that going outside meant being chased and surrounded by paparazzi, Eric had basically stayed at home these past few days. Compared to the blissful lives of shut-in internet addicts from his previous life, this era without the internet or smartphones was unbearably dull for a transmigrator like him.
“Writing novels, writing screenplays, watching TV… basically just boring stuff. With things the way they are now, I don’t even dare leave the house. Last time I merely stopped by a convenience store to buy a drink, and the next day the tabloids reported that I’d extended my demonic claws toward the supermarket cashier.”
Jeffrey could not help bursting into schadenfreude-filled laughter.
Eric led Jeffrey Hansen into the study on the second floor of the villa. The moment he stepped inside, Jeffrey noticed a huge wooden writing board hanging on one wall of the study. Countless newspaper clippings and draft pages covered in scribbles had been pinned onto it with thumbtacks.
“What’s all this for?” Jeffrey walked closer curiously and asked.
“Nothing much.”
Eric stepped forward, casually tore down one clipping, and smiled.
“I’ve been so bored at home that I started trying to analyze these tabloid stories to figure out who’s been targeting me from behind the scenes. Then after I become more successful in the future, I can settle accounts with them afterward.”
Jeffrey teased:
“What are you, Sherlock Holmes? If you could figure things out from this stuff, then all those old foxes would’ve lived their lives for nothing.”
Eric shrugged. Truthfully, he considered himself rather lucky. It was only because of his temporary alliance of interests with Fox that he had been pulled back from the edge of this storm. Compared to the Michael Jackson from his previous life—who had touched the interests of far too many people and was tortured miserably while standing completely alone—Eric did not dare ask for much more.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Eric asked:
“By the way, Jeffrey, how are things progressing?”
Hearing this, Jeffrey somewhat resentfully pulled a thick stack of files from his briefcase.
“You’re really living an easy life as the boss. You dump everything onto me. I’ve already started renovating the company office building. It should take about half a month. Also, these are the materials you asked me to gather on some talent agencies. Eric, have you really decided to acquire a talent agency?”
Eric took the documents and replied:
“Of course. You saw what happened with Stuart Rankel. Creative Artists Agency is clutching him tightly and waiting to extort me. I can’t keep training stars for other people forever, can I?”
“But federal antitrust law prohibits film companies from simultaneously owning talent agencies.”
While flipping through the materials in his hands, Eric replied:
“Of course I know that. I never planned to merge the two companies together anyway. In my vision, the film company and the talent agency will be completely independent from one another. Legally, there won’t be any problem.”
“Forget it, do whatever you want,” Jeffrey said. “By the way, have you finished the screenplay for the new movie you mentioned?”
Eric dug out a thick stack of pages from the desk buried beneath newspapers and handed it to Jeffrey.
“It’s done. Want to take a look first?”