Chapter 373: The Pit

[Chapter 373: The Pit]

In Julia's villa in Beverly Hills, it was already nine in the evening. Three women sat cross-legged on the floor beside a long table in a side room, surrounded by several scattered stacks of scripts. Elisabeth and Drew were seriously going through their scripts, while Julia seemed somewhat uninterested, flipping through a romantic comedy script in front of her. After a while, Julia finally lost interest completely. She looked up and asked, "Hey, can we really find a good script among these? Isn't that the agents' job?"

Elisabeth and Drew exchanged exasperated glances at Julia. Drew went back to examining her script, but Elisabeth explained, "Come on, Jules, we're producers now, not just actresses. And these scripts were all recommended by several different agents. If you don't want to read them, why not just watch some TV?"

Julia felt a bit tempted to stand up and looked at the other two women, but ultimately settled back down on the mat. "Fine, I'll look at them with you. By the way, Liz, didn't you say that guy picked a comedy for that Jennifer Connelly woman a while back? Maybe we can ask the writer of that script to write us something."

Drew shot Julia a disdainful look, and Elisabeth sighed in resignation. "The writer of that script is also the director of the film. He's probably already busy shooting, so there's no way he'll have time to write anything for us. Besides, even if he did have the time, it doesn't necessarily mean it would be a hit. Not everyone can pull off transformations like... that guy."

"Alright, alright, forget I said anything."

Just then, the phone next to them suddenly rang.

"I'll get it," Julia said, standing up and walking a couple of steps to the phone. She picked up the receiver, saying, "Hello, Roberts residence... Ah..."

Hearing the voice on the other end, Julia immediately covered the mouthpiece and silently mouthed to Elisabeth and Drew, "Eric..."

Drew, who had been seriously focused on her script, jumped up with glee, rushing over to snatch the receiver from Julia. "It's definitely for me!"

Julia allowed Drew to take the phone and shrugged, returning to her spot. She shared a glance with Elisabeth and muttered quietly to Drew, "Like a little puppy hearing its master call."

Elisabeth chuckled and said, "Hopeless."

After a few moments of tender exchanges between Drew and Eric, Drew turned with a frown and called out, "Julia, it's for you."

"Ah..." Julia pointed to herself in confusion, and when she saw Drew nod, she reluctantly stood up again and walked over.

"Hey, Eric, what's up?... Yeah, Kepler said the role doesn't have much screen time, and it's an easy shoot. Plus, the salary is quite generous, and I'd be working with Steven Spielberg... Oh, I see?"

Julia hesitated for quite a while after hearing something and looked over at Elisabeth as if seeking help before continuing slowly, "But what about Kepler? He's really hoping I'll take this role... I mean... I... I... maybe I should..."

Seeing Julia become flustered as if she had heard something troublesome and recalling that guy's annoying nature, Elisabeth quickly stood up and moved closer, taking the receiver from Julia. "Hello, Eric, what exactly are you trying to force Julia into? I warned you!"

"..."

"No way! Why should Julia give up this role? You'd better think again!" Elisabeth concluded, hanging up the phone with a definitive bang.

"Liz, isn't that a bit inappropriate?" Julia nervously pointed to the hung-up receiver.

Elisabeth waved her hand confidently. "Forget that guy. Jules, you're signing that contract tomorrow. Hmph, as if we're going to let him push us around."

After Elisabeth spoke, she pulled Julia back down, and the three women continued sifting through the piles of scripts. However, the atmosphere felt somewhat off.

Drew didn't mind too much; even though she had been close to Julia during the brief conversation with Eric, she quickly pieced together the situation. She recalled that Nicole Kidman had called looking for Eric's whereabouts a few days ago. It all clicked that Julia and Nicole were both eyeing the same role, and Eric likely wanted Julia to pass it off to Nicole. While Drew felt a tinge of jealousy, she knew deep down it was none of her business.

However, the firm refusals from Julia and Elisabeth kept them both on edge as they stole glances at the phone on the side table, seemingly hoping for it to ring again.

Unfortunately, nearly an hour passed, and Eric did not call back.

"Hey, Drew, you were with Eric in New York last month, right?" Elisabeth finally broke the silence.

Drew nodded without looking up, marking a small star on the script she was reviewing and then picking up another to flip through.

Seeing Drew's indifferent attitude, Elisabeth took the bait and continued, "So you must know how much he made, right?"

Finally looking up, Drew wore a half-smirk that made Elisabeth feel uneasy. After a moment, Drew said a few words, "I don't know."

"..." Elisabeth rolled her eyes and pouted, "If you don't want to say, that's fine."

Drew chuckled, popped a piece of gum in her mouth, and went back to her script.

"This morning, I read that oil prices have shot up to $30! It was just $14 a few months ago! A lot of futures traders are probably raking it in. Eric should have several hundred million, he's definitely doubled his earnings by now," Julia threw in casually.

"You don't get it; futures can be leveraged tenfold, twentyfold. You can magnify your principal by that much," Elisabeth explained vaguely, acting as if she understood.

Quickly realizing this, both women suddenly fell silent, their eyes wide with surprise as they turned back to Drew.

"Why are you looking at me? I don't know anything," Drew reiterated.

Elisabeth pulled Drew close. "Come on, spill a little, Drew. How much did Eric really make? I promise Julie and I won't say a word."

Drew shrugged off Elisabeth's arm, repeating, "Ask a hundred times, I still don't know. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"What did you even do for a whole month being next to Eric?" Elisabeth pressed.

Drew replied flatly, "Just hang out. It's New York! It's a playground for the rich; there's plenty of fun to be had."

A few moments went by in silence.

...

Back at the mansion, Eric hung up the phone and turned to Nicole, saying, "Liz took the phone and hung up on me. I guess I'll find Julia when I have the chance. It's not urgent right now."

Nicole nodded; she knew Eric would do his best, having promised to take care of things.

The next day, instead of heading directly over to Julia's, Eric went to Firefly's headquarters to work as usual. He caught up on the company's operations and looked into the box office performance of a few films. By mid-August, Ghost and Basic Instinct were still in the top ranks.

The summer blockbuster season was drawing to a close, and aside from the strong showing of Ghost -- which was likely to break the $200 million mark -- there hadn't been any other surprise hits this summer.

Even Die Hard 2, which had begun with equal strength against Ghost, saw a drop of over 40% in its second week, scraping together just over $20 million. With a projected cost recovery of $200 million, it seemed nearly impossible to break even in North America; Fox could only hope for redemption in overseas markets.

As for Basic Instinct, this spicy R-rated flick had grossed nearly $70 million in just four weeks, making it a sure bet for hitting the $100 million milestone soon.

Simultaneously, MCA, Universal's parent company, finalized an acquisition deal with Japan's Panasonic for a whopping $6.1 billion, marking another Hollywood giant falling into Japanese hands.

However, Eric knew that Panasonic wasn't as resilient as Sony, having suffered through years of mismanagement and massive losses. It wouldn't be long before Panasonic flipped Universal again.

Having spent most of the day at the office, Eric hadn't yet seen Robert Shea. After inquiring, he learned Robert was embroiled in a new project, negotiating with the rights holder. Robert hadn't spilled any details about the script to his staff, clearly wary of Eric. This struck Eric as amusing.

...

After reporting some of Firefly's business matters, Allen handed Eric a folder filled with script outlines. "Eric, this is what you asked me to find regarding pirate-themed films. Since you wanted it to be as discreet as possible, I only found 37 scripts. This folder contains just the story outlines. If you need detailed scripts after reviewing them, I can reach out again."

"Got it. You can go back to work."

Allen nodded and left the office.

Eric opened one of the folders, his reading speed quick because he had a specific target in mind. After a quick glance at the synopsis, he discarded anything he thought didn't fit.

Soon, Eric's focus landed on a thin script outline that was attributed to Bruce A. Evans, a match to the writer of the film Cutthroat Island in his memory. He quickly scanned through the outline again, confirming that the storyline and the names of the main characters aligned perfectly. However, the current title wasn't Cutthroat Island.

"Looks like I found it," Eric thought as he began devising how to handle this script, this rotten egg meant to deceive. He wanted to ensure the pitfall had maximum impact. Ideally, he would gather the original cast from memory.

He recalled that in the film, the lead roles were played by Geena Davis and Matthew Modine, and the director, Renny Harlin, was Geena's husband at the time.

Renny had ambitious plans to elevate his wife to an action-star status, which nearly sidelined Geena's acting career. Although Eric didn't know how the story unfolded thereafter, he felt it was likely they ended up divorced, following Hollywood's usual patterns.

Eric remembered personally presenting Geena Davis with the Best Supporting Actress Oscar the prior year. She later starred alongside another actress, Susan Sarandon, in the famous feminist movie Thelma & Louise, which was also an Oscars frontrunner.

Assuming nothing changed in history, that actress would have seen her career stagnate after the dismal box office performance of Cutthroat Island, much like the unfortunate Kevin Costner.

Lost in thought about Kevin Costner, Eric began reminiscing about his notable films like The Bodyguard, Bull Durham, and Dances with Wolves. If it hadn't been for Waterworld, his position in Hollywood would have been as solid as Harrison Ford's or Schwarzenegger's.

Quickly, Eric's mind shifted back to Dances with Wolves, which was Kevin Costner's directorial debut. It won him both Best Director and Best Picture -- a remarkable feat for a first-time director.

As Eric pondered through this chaotic array of memories connected to Kevin Costner, he pushed thoughts of Cutthroat Island aside and discovered something else.

Dances with Wolves seemed slated for release this year. Due to its strong political correctness and adherence to American mainstream themes, it was likely to win Best Director and Best Picture at this year's Oscars.

This was certainly bad news for The Silence of the Lambs, which, although deemed an Oscar favorite by many critics, would now face amplified disadvantages as a horror film up against a politically correct mainstream hit.

For the past few months, critics had praised Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster's performances, creating a buzz that suggested if not for Dances with Wolves, The Silence of the Lambs might sweep the Oscars.

However, with a film like Dances with Wolves in the mix, The Silence of the Lambs' chances to win Best Director and Best Picture were nearly non-existent.

With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Eric quickly called Allen back into his office, instructing him to drop everything and scout for information on that film.

*****

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