I am Hollywood

Chapter 415: Chapter 416: Late Night Conversations



[Chapter 416: Late Night Conversations]

The car slowly pulled into the parking lot of the Liberty City estate. The driver turned his head and noticed Eric was resting with his eyes closed, so he quietly turned off the engine and remained seated, not wanting to disturb him. However, feeling the surrounding silence, Eric quickly opened his eyes, glanced out the window, and said, "I'm sorry, Tony, did I sleep for too long?"

The driver replied, "Not long, Mr. Williams. We just arrived home a couple of minutes ago. Still, I suggest you rest a bit more; you've been pretty tired lately."

Eric stepped out of the car and took a deep breath, the cool Malibu coastline air revitalizing him. Tony, the driver, followed him out and said, "Mr. Williams, the doorman mentioned that Ms. Kidman came by earlier this evening."

"Got it. You should go rest," Eric said as he took his trench coat and briefcase from the car and headed towards the villa.

...

In the villa's hallway, the lights on the walls created a soft glow. Eric walked to a corner of the hall and saw Nicole reclining comfortably on the sofa, nestled against a throw pillow, sound asleep. She wore a thin light pink knit top, which gently rose and fell with her breath. Eric felt a flutter in his chest watching her but decided not to disturb Nicole, as it was already past ten at night, and she had likely been waiting for him for a long time.

He picked up a nearby light blanket and draped it over her before heading to the bar in the corner to pour himself a drink. He sat down at a small coffee table and took out a stack of documents from his briefcase to go over.

With the Oscars approaching, Eric was scheduled to shoot Twister in Oklahoma, which would take three long months. If all went well, the film would wrap by the end of June. So, he needed to take advantage of his time in Los Angeles to manage several matters for Firefly Films.

If he were comfortable with the status quo, Eric could easily delegate more responsibilities. After all, with his current wealth, he could live comfortably for a lifetime without doing anything. But being just twenty, he felt full of energy and didn't want to live a lethargic life. As a 'passerby' in this timeline, Eric had taken on a player's mindset, curious to see how far he could level up before the 'curtain call' -- it was all quite an interesting endeavor.

...

Time passed slowly, with only the occasional rustle of paper breaking the silence in the lighted area. Perhaps having slept enough or sensing the night chill, Nicole stirred on the sofa, opened her eyes, and pulled the blanket closer to her. Hearing sounds nearby, she propped herself up to see what was happening.

Propped against the back of the sofa, peering at Eric, who sat cross-legged in a single chair, focused on the files, she finally asked, "Eric, what time is it?"

"Almost midnight," Eric replied, glancing over at her. Having just woken up, Nicole's cheeks were adorned with a lovely blush, a few stray locks of hair falling alluringly across her forehead. It was no wonder many literary works described the beauty of women just awoken from slumber -- Nicole looked enchanting.

Noticing Eric's gaze on her, she chuckled, brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, and sat up, slipping on her high heels to walk over to him.

Eric made space for her, and she unhesitatingly squeezed onto the same chair with him. Both were slim, so they fit comfortably together.

Nicole giggled, nudging her waist against him playfully, then leaned in closer to examine the documents in his hand, asking, "What's that?"

Eric replied, "It's the script for Pixar's second 3D animated film." He handed her another folder, saying, "These are the initial character design sketches. Take a look and tell me what you think."

As she opened the blue folder and saw many insect designs, she quickly finished looking through it and said, "They're quite cute! I'm not sure about anything else."

"Just thinking they're cute is enough for me. When I pitched this story idea to John and the team, they mentioned that real-life insects aren't all that charming," Eric explained.

Nicole gently wrapped her arm around his, chuckling, "I think any story you come up with is bound to be amazing."

"You have a lot of faith in me. One of these days, someone might end up learning a painful lesson from that blind trust," he teased.

"That would mean they didn't do a good job."

"Hmm..." Eric prolonged the sound before jokingly asking, "You've been extra sweet today. This isn't your typical style. Are you perhaps trying to get me to help you with something?"

Nicole showed no sign of guilt and smiled, saying, "Am I sweet enough for you to want a taste?"

With that, she leaned in closer.

Eric chuckled as he lightly pecked her lips, feigning judgment, "It does have a bit of sweetness

to it. If, there's something going on -- best to tell me quickly while I'm in a good mood,

right?"

"I genuinely don't have anything important. Just that someone wanted me to set up a meeting for them. I figured you wouldn't agree, so if you don't ask, I won't bring it up." Eric quickly processed the information. Nicole was currently filming Hook; if it were Spielberg, he wouldn't let her do something like that herself. Their relationship was decent; he would call personally for anything important. That left one other person -- after all, Nicole's current agent was Pat Kingsley, who also represented Tom Cruise.

"It's not about Cruise, is it?" Eric asked tentatively.

Nicole looked surprised but nodded, "It is. I haven't met him, but Paula Wagner invited me to dinner yesterday and mentioned this."

Eric understood her intention to signal that she hadn't had any private dealings with Cruise and smiled, asking, "Is it related to the rights for Running Out of Time? Or is Cruise trying to acquire the other half?"

This time, Nicole was even more astonished, "How did you know?"

"It was easy to guess. Aside from this, I couldn't think of anything else it could be," he

replied.

In fact, this was partly educated speculation; he remembered that Cruise owned half the rights to the Mission: Impossible franchise. That gave him leverage in negotiations with Paramount, leading to Cruise receiving a bigger cut for each film.

Without those rights, Paramount would've discarded someone as troublesome as him ages ago. While there was a falling out, Paramount needed to mend fences with Cruise if they wished to restart the franchise. That meant he could afford to pursue Running Out of Time, which he could grow into a successful series.

Hearing Eric's thoughts, Nicole remarked, "That's strange. If it were me, I wouldn't have guessed. You must have caught wind of some news."

Eric didn't dig into that any further, choosing instead to ask, "So, what's the plan? I'm curious about how Cruise intends to acquire half of the Running Out of Time rights. He has a net worth in the millions, but could he realistically scrape together a full hundred million in cash?" "Cruise's production company should have gotten some investments. Paula said if you were agreeable, they'd like to discuss things in person -- they're considering putting up part cash and making some trade-offs, maybe having Cruise star in a few movies for Firefly," she

explained.

If history remained unchanged, actor salaries, including stars like Cruise, wouldn't explode until after 1995 when the $20 million salary club formed, and stars began to shift toward a lower base pay plus shares model. Comparable to the current scene, Schwarzenegger and Stallone's $15 million salaries didn't seem outrageous.

Eric contemplated whether he'd be able to halt the inflation of actor salaries. In the future, the situation had already seen movies suffering due to spiraling pay. The soaring salaries left a massive dent in film industry budget, prompting numerous bad films as production costs skyrocketed, leading the industry down a downward path.

Seeing Eric suddenly go quiet, Nicole eventually broke the silence, asking, "What are you thinking? You seem lost in thought."

"Just mulling over how to exploit you talented actors; even capitalists struggle these days,"

he said.

Nicole laughed at Eric's jibe and added, "So should I just tell Paula tomorrow that you don't

agree with this?"

"Hmm, if they come up with cash on the table, I might consider it. But you should notice that

there are seldom any big-name stars in Cruise's films. Star actors don't like working with him, and he doesn't seem keen on collaborating with top names either. In this case, he's trying to do Running Out of Time solo."

"Then I'll tell him just that," Nicole said, her lashes lowered slightly as she gently traced a finger along Eric's arm before adding, "By the way, Eric, I heard you're going to the Oscars without a date this year?"

"I plan to go solo," Eric replied, reiterating what he'd told a few other women, "Sorry, Nicole, they've all asked about it too. But it seems you didn't have a nominated role last year, right?"

Nicole sighed, responding, "Pat helped me secure a spot as a presenter for Best Cinematography, so I'll be attending."

Not wishing to continue with that topic, Eric quickly shifted gears and asked, "How's the

filming for Hook going?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"It's going alright," Nicole said, though her tone was laced with disappointment. She quickly realized it might've seemed like she was sulking over the red carpet dramas. "I feel Mr. Spielberg seems very... anxious. He even called for random stoppages several times these past

few days. Maybe... maybe..."

Nicole hesitated to voice her thought that perhaps pursuing this role was a mistake, but she held back, recalling how Eric had initially discouraged her to take it. She couldn't show disdain for the opportunity -- she'd worked hard for it, and now that she'd secured the role, she'd have to swallow her discontent quietly.

With Eric possibly selling half the rights to Running Out of Time for a hundred million dollars, a sudden thought sparked in Nicole's mind, "Eric, what if I tried my hand at producing

movies?"

"What brought this on all of a sudden?" Eric asked.

A blush crept onto Nicole's cheeks; she couldn't admit it was about the money, even if it

crossed her mind. Deep down, she also envied Julia, Drew, and Elisabeth for starting their own production companies. The Silence of the Lambs had generated profit exceeding a hundred million after its various release channels, and given her salary of $5 million per film, she would need to shoot 20 movies to match that.

While it was glamorous to be a top star, the real power in Hollywood belonged to producers. Without connections, Nicole would naturally stick to acting. But with a supporter like Eric and the successes of figures like Elisabeth ahead of her, it lit a spark in her.

"I just thought I'd give it a shot. If they can do it, so can I," she declared. Eric considered it for a moment before breaking into a mischievous grin, "Not impossible. If you can bring those two people on board, I'd support the idea of starting a film company."

*****

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