Chapter 91

Scarlett Johansson stayed at the Warwick Hotel, also in Queens, New York, not far from the Hilton Hotel where Martin was staying.

When Scarlett returned to the hotel room, her mother, Melanie Lohan, was sitting on the sofa watching TV, but it seemed like her mind was elsewhere, waiting for Scarlett.

"How was your date today?"

Seeing Scarlett back safely, Melanie breathed a sigh of relief, then asked curiously.

"Very nice!" Scarlett smiled and lay down on the sofa, kicking off her shoes, revealing her white, tender feet.

"Did you tell Martin about American Rhapsody?"

"I did, but I didn't ask him for help."

"Why not? Didn't I tell you before you left, that with Martin's current connections, he could probably help you?"

"Mom, I don't want to mess up this date."

"Uh, you stupid kid. Fine, fine, do what you want. But you really need to find a way to land Ghost World. The long waiting period will have a huge impact on young actors."

"I know, Mom!"

At that moment, Scarlett's cell phone buzzed.

She picked it up, looked at it, and immediately smiled. "Mom, it's a message from Martin."

"Oh, after being apart for so long, he finally sends you a message? It seems Martin really cares about you. Open it and see what it says."

"Hehe, I know!" Scarlett clicked on the message with a smile, read it, and then froze for a moment before bursting into excited screams.

Martin had sent a message: "Scarlett, that role is yours. By tomorrow at the latest, someone will contact you to sign the contract."

"Ahhh, Mom, it's Martin! Martin helped me get the role! I'm going to play in American Rhapsody!"

"Really?!" Seeing her daughter's excitement, Melanie was also pleasantly surprised.

...

In the car, Martin put his phone down with a smile, imagining the excited expression Scarlett must have right now. He was happy to have helped her.

Of course, it was also important to let Scarlett know that he was helping her, so she wouldn't misunderstand anything.

There's no such thing as "doing good deeds anonymously" in the United States. In the eyes of Americans, if you do something good, the other party has to know, or else you're just being foolish!

(Author's note: In my opinion, doing good deeds anonymously is a personal form of self-restraint and shouldn't be promoted as a societal moral code. We should publicly celebrate good people and good deeds, and without material rewards, at least offer them reputation as a form of reward, to encourage more people to do good.)

Martin then thought about the relationship between Cruise, Paramount, and Shirley Lansing.

To be honest, Martin was also eyeing the contract between Tom Cruise's Cruise Pictures and Paramount.

Regardless of any potential personal deals between Shirley Lansing and Cruise, the biggest prerequisite for signing such an agreement is having a series that can guarantee box office hits.

If you don't have enough leverage, the major movie studios won't even bother with you!

Take Tom Cruise, for example. Even though his cooperation with Paramount had ended, he still had the Mission: Impossible series, which ensured he could easily find a new partner. United Artists and Merrill Lynch had already opened their arms to him.

Tom Cruise also opened a new door for other Hollywood stars, showing them that they could be on an equal footing with movie companies and claim what the industry calls "back-end profits."

Of course, Martin also wanted a share of that cake, so he needed to have one or several movie series that could sell well before he could confidently negotiate with those big companies.

Although Martin possessed the "charm spell" of a succubus, he wasn't the same person who had lived in the land of gods and demons for thousands of years.

With his current magical powers, it would be too difficult to change a person's personality, worldview, and habits from scratch.

So the best way was to "guide" and go with the flow.

Naturally, the higher the stakes on your side, the easier it will be to guide.

Paramount was Martin's first choice because Tom Cruise had already paved the way there. No matter what methods Cruise had used or what he exchanged, it would be easier for Paramount to trust Martin the second time around.

Martin silently thought about Shirley Lansing while in the car.

This woman was no simple character. Don't think that because she gave up so many benefits to Tom Cruise, she was a fool or a pervert who couldn't control herself around handsome men.

From 1994 to 2004, when Shirley Lansing was president of Paramount, this strong-willed woman led the company to a new period of prosperity.

Under her leadership, Paramount produced blockbusters like Braveheart, Forrest Gump, Titanic (co-financed with 20th Century Fox), Mission: Impossible, Face/Off, The Truman Show, and Saving Private Ryan.

She had an extremely strong personality, and even Redondo had a hard time interfering with her at Paramount.

She once said, "In Hollywood, if a woman wants to succeed, she has to work ten times, a hundred times harder than a man. So I must be as hard as a rock to crush those doubts."

The position of Paramount President isn't easy to secure. Countless people were eyeing the seat beneath Shirley Lansing, so she had to be tougher than the male executives to suppress the doubters, jealous competitors, and conspiracies.

But how did Tom Cruise manage to get to her?

Was it really just about "sleeping" his way to the top?

It couldn't have been that simple.

As a woman at the top of Hollywood's pyramid, Shirley Lansing had been with countless male stars, but only one—Tom Cruise—had received such special treatment.

Clearly, even if "sleeping" was part of it, there had to be more.

What else could it be?

Martin thought about it, and the only thing that stood out was Mission: Impossible.

Before Mission: Impossible, Paramount was poor at developing movie series.

The only one they had was Star Trek.

After Mission: Impossible, Tomb Raider became another hit series.

Maybe Martin could prepare two movie series as bargaining chips...

After all, Martin didn't want to "sleep" with an old woman.

Though Shirley Lansing had once been a great beauty.

Perhaps when Tom Cruise first became her partner, she was still charming in her forties, but white women age quickly.

Now, at 50, Shirley Lansing's face had deep wrinkles that couldn't even be hidden by heavy makeup. Her age was too apparent for Martin's tastes.

Hahaha, I wonder if Tom Cruise still maintains that relationship with her?

Martin quickly shook his head. Just thinking about it hurt his eyes.

Forget it. He'd better prepare more chips!

A movie series like Twilight... or perhaps another one... Death Is Coming? No, that one's already started filming.

Or... Saw?

[•———•——•———•]

𝙥𝗮𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙤𝙣(.)𝙘𝙤𝙢/𝙂𝙤𝙙𝙊𝙛𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

✨ • 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: 𝙂𝙚𝙩 𝟲𝟬+ 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚.