Chapter 55: How Could You Expect Me to Refuse Something Like That?
Chapter 55: How Could You Expect Me to Refuse Something Like That?
Eric did not answer. He remained seated on the sofa, staring closely at Julia and studying her for quite a while.
“Julia, cross your arms over your chest and make an indifferent expression.” A few minutes later, Eric finally spoke.
Julia let out a breath of relief. When Eric frowned in thought, the pressure radiating from him made it a little hard for her to breathe. After preparing herself for a moment, she struck a pose according to Eric’s request, crossing her arms over her chest, staring at the floor, and putting on a careless look.
“Walk back and forth a few times.” Eric pointed at the empty space in front of him. Julia started walking as Eric instructed.
“All right, stop.” Eric’s tone was full of displeasure. “Julia, did you seriously read the script?”
Julia quickly nodded. “Of course. I’ve almost memorized all the lines.”
“Then right now, you’re Vivian. Treat me as Edward. Remember, you’re a prostitute. Try seducing me.”
Seeing Eric sitting there with a lazy expression, and adding in his earlier action of sending everyone else out, Julia somehow thought of the rumors about the casting couch. The words of refusal nearly slipped out of her mouth, but in the end, she sighed inwardly and comforted herself. It was not as though this had never happened before…
She took off the red jacket and placed it aside. Julia walked up to Eric and knelt gracefully in front of him. After taking a deep breath, she reached out to undo the man’s belt. Eric raised his eyebrows in slight confusion, and only reacted when a warm sensation came from below. The woman had misunderstood his intention.
Only…
After letting out a comfortable groan, Eric relaxed his body and leaned back against the sofa. More than ten minutes later, Julia covered her mouth and quickly rushed toward the bathroom nearby.
Eric pulled out a few tissues to clean himself, then fastened his belt. After a while, Julia came out of the bathroom, wiping the water from her hands with a tissue. Her eyes were slightly red, but her chin was lifted high.
“Mr. Williams, are you satisfied now?”
“Of course.” Eric smiled as he looked at the woman’s forced, proud appearance. “However, Julia, you obviously misunderstood what I meant. Just now, I really wanted you to try seducing me with words and gestures, but you…”
When Julia heard Eric’s words, she froze on the spot. Her face turned red, then white, shifting several times in quick succession. Suddenly, she threw the tissue in her hand at Eric.
“Then why didn’t you stop me just now?”
Eric laughed loudly and dodged the ball of tissue flying at him. “I’m a normal man. How could you expect me to refuse something like that?”
“You… bastard.” Julia cursed, and an unbearable sense of humiliation surged up in her heart. Her body went weak, and she sat down on the floor, burying her head between her arms as she began crying softly.
Eric quickly put away his smile and sighed. He walked over to Julia, crouched beside her, and patted her shoulder.
“Julia, don’t cry. What happened just now was my fault.”
“Do you think I’m really cheap now?” Julia did not stop crying and asked between sobs.
“Of course not.” Eric sat beside Julia and pulled her into his arms, comforting her. “You’re just lacking a little confidence. Maybe you also noticed that Jeffrey and Kapoor don’t think too highly of you, and that gave you a strong sense of crisis. Julia, trust me. Since I gave you the female lead role, I must have thought it through carefully. You should know that there are a whole lot of people outside waiting to see my next film collapse at the box office.”
“Thank you, Eric.”
“Working hard to make the film well is the greatest thanks you can give me. Now let’s talk about your problem.”
The two of them stood up together. Julia hurriedly fixed her makeup, then sat down across from Eric.
“Julia, now I’ll tell you where your biggest problem lies. In the script, Vivian is a prostitute, a… very professional prostitute. So before Edward transforms her, her every movement, every smile, every word, and every action must fit the profession of a prostitute. From what I observed just now, although this outfit makes you a bit prettier, you don’t have the charm and seductive allure Vivian should have. You’re still the waitress I remember from before.”
Julia took in Eric’s words. Only after he finished did she say, “Eric, how about I try again?”
Eric shook his head. “No need, Julia. I’m giving you a task now. Starting today, go to the streets where prostitutes gather every night and observe them. Try to imitate those women’s words, actions, and behavior. I’ll be going to New York during Christmas. After I come back, I’ll give you a test. At night, wear this outfit and stand on a busy street. If fewer than ten men approach you within an hour, you fail.”
Julia opened her mouth uncertainly. “Eric, ten… isn’t that a little too many?”
“It’s decided.” Eric did not give the woman a chance to bargain. “If your performance is too poor then, I don’t mind replacing you.”
Julia could only nod. Eric thought for a moment, then instructed, “When you do this, don’t go to remote streets. Remember to bring your assistant. It’ll be safer with two people.”
Warmth rose in Julia’s heart. “Thank you, Eric.”
…
News that Richard Gere had refused to appear in Eric’s new film was soon leaked by someone with ulterior motives. For a time, the newspapers were full of reports about Eric being rejected by CAA. Both CAA and Eric’s side offered the same explanation, saying that the cooperation failed because they could not reach an agreement on salary and scheduling. No matter what the truth was behind the scenes, neither side had any intention of handing it over to the media for endless hype. After all, things had not yet reached the point of open hostility.
Meanwhile, MGM’s United Artists seized the opportunity to announce news of a new film. Richard Gere would soon star in Road House, an action drama produced by United Artists and adapted from real events.
United Artists originally planned to release this film in May, so there had not been an immediate plan to begin shooting. However, CAA had already rushed the crew into preparation. The message being sent was self-evident.
Eric did not think CAA was trying to suppress him through this film. They merely wanted to use this incident to tell Hollywood that the CAA throne remained firm and unshaken.
Barry Diller quickly called. Eric’s development momentum had been too strong recently, and he had just founded his own film company. Barry Diller also understood the relationship between Eric and Fox. He did not interfere much with Eric’s conflicts with other film companies, but he could not help worrying about this conflict with CAA. If CAA really put Eric’s film company on a blacklist, the filming of Home Alone 2 would certainly face tremendous obstruction.
“…Don’t worry, Mr. Diller. If that really happens at the end of the year, I’ll consider handing the Home Alone sequel over to Fox… I’m really sorry, I’ve been very busy recently. I’m afraid I don’t have time… All right, that’s it. Goodbye.”
Eric put down the phone and looked at the thick stack of actor profiles in front of him. Raising his eyes toward Kapoor Sid, whose eyes were clearly bloodshot, Eric advised him, “Kapoor, you really don’t have to push yourself this hard. No matter what, your health comes first.”
In just a little over a day, Kapoor had found detailed information on dozens of male actors who met Eric’s requirements. This moved Eric, and it also confirmed that he really had not misjudged the man.
“Thank you for your concern, Eric. It’s fine. In the past, for the sake of a film project, I once went two days and two nights without closing my eyes.”
Eric nodded, opened the folder, and began carefully looking through it.
Most of these actors were artists under the William Morris Agency and International Creative Management. Some came from smaller agencies, and there were even a few who temporarily had no agency and used family members as their managers.
As Eric looked through them, he pulled out the actors he liked and planned to contact them for auditions.
Suddenly, Eric saw a rather special person.
“Kapoor, Al Pacino’s profile says he currently doesn’t have an agency. What’s going on?”