I'm in Hollywood Chapter 179

The Impossible Truth

“Virginia, do you mean the Sunset Tower Hotel diagonally across Andaz . ” A white man in his thirties, with a rugged look, asked her as he stared at the road ahead .  

“Sure . Are there two Sunset Tower Hotels on the Sunset Street? Virginia sitting in the front seat answered as she took a small mirror out of the clutch for checking her makeup . When she pulled out a lipstick and carefully put it on her lips, the man next to her felt a bit discontented with her: “Virginia, I can’t figure out why are you together with that kid who are 10 years younger than you . ”

“It’s none of your business . ” Virginia blurted out before realizing that she shouldn’t talk with her brother this way, so she softened her tone: “Mike, I’m happy to be with him . Although he is young, he is considerate to me . ”

Michael Madsen still frowned: “He won’t give you any promise, will he? He won’t marry you . ”

Hearing what he said, Virgin replied softly with a dim look in her eyes: “I never expect that he will marry me . ”

“But you are twenty eight years old now . I hope you can find a reliable man to marry, instead of being a lover of a young kid . ” Michael said a little hysterically and he even couldn’t help but slap the steering wheel before turning around to look at her: “I hope you are happy, Virginia . ”

“Will one be happy after getting married? Our parents are not happy at all . And you’ve also divorced once . ” Virginia said as she took the lipstick and small mirror back to her clutch .

Michael Madsen continued trying to persuade her: “That’s why I want to marry a good man . There must be a good man in the world, even if…you fail to find a right person one time, you can try several times . Look, although I’ve divorced, I am happy to be with Chenoa . You will possibly have a nephew or a niece after half a year . ”

“All right, good to know . Why not drop off this topic today?” Avoiding eye contact with Eric, Virginia started to divert the topic just as all other ladies on the shelf who were under the pressure of marriage . Since her parents divorced in her childhood, she had almost been brought up by her brother four years older than her due to her mother’s preoccupation with her own business . Even if she could ignore what her parents said, she valued the relationship with her brother .

“Ok . If you don’t like it, I won’t say it anymore . ” Michael Madsen looked the road ahead resignedly .

Virginia felt relived after her brother stopped talking about that topic . They remained silent for a while . As Virgin looked out of the window, she felt that they were almost reaching the Sunset Tower Hotel before saying: “Michael, I know you don’t like him . But can you please show him some respect? I hope you can get the role he recommends . ”

Michael Madsen replied: “I won’t be impolite . This time I come here only to watch your new movie though . Don’t expect me to flatter him for a character in a movie . ”

Virginia knew her brother too well . To put it mildly, he was indifferent to fame and wealth . To put it bluntly, he rested on his laurels . His original intention to be an actor was to make a living rather than rising to fame, which was unchanged until now .  

They soon arrived at the Sunset Tower Hotel . As there are many paparazzi gathering outside the hotel, Virginia immediately wore sunglasses . Even though, they were acutely aware of her appearance, flocking to and taking photos for her . At the sight of those people desperately seeking the news, Michael had no choice but to slow down, which made them even more excited . They patted the window and shouted at Virginia in the car .

Even if they shouted at the top of their lungs, Michael and Virginia didn’t respond to them and drove the car directly to the underground garage before entering the hotel through a lift inside .

“Hah, one more . Julia Roberts just showed up too . What is Firefly up to?” Stopped by the security guards, a group of paparazzi had to wait resignedly outside the hotel in the hope of getting a little detailed information from the next guest .

“Jake, you just arrive here less than 10 minutes . Some big celebrities from Hollywood have already entered there 30 minutes before . ”

“Oh, Kane, who else has come?” Jake asked .

Kane whispered to Jake: “Among the top seven film companies, four of them have sent representatives to attend the event, including Michael Eisner, the CEO of Walt Disney Pictures, a vice president responsible for film distribution in Warner Bros, Nard Tarn, the president of Paramount Pictures and Amy Pascal, the vice president of Colombia Pictures . I think the rest three will surely send representatives here . ”

The imagination of Jane’s description of the scene had sent a chill down Jake’s spine: “Is that because something important is happening in Hollywood?”

Kane shook his head: “It’s not clear, but it must be related to Firefly . I hear an insider from the hotel that there will be a party tonight . ”

Jake looked at his watch: “Tonight? It is just 13:35 now . Maybe you get the wrong message . If there is a party tonight, how come these big celebrities arrive here at such an early time?”

“It can’t be wrong . My insider is working in the kitchen . They’ve been tasked with food preparing for the party tonight . ”

Jake asked: “Kane, what do you think will happen?”

“Maybe…All right . It’s abnormal . I can’t figure it out . But rumors have it that Firefly intend to acquire New Line Cinema . If it is true, there will be one more film giant in Hollywood within a few years with the combination of Eric William’s films of huge box office and the capability in film distribution of New Line Cinema . ”

Jake guessed: “You’ve said that Firefly is taking the lead this time, haven’t you? Is it because Firefly wants to select distributors for its new films that the senior executives of seven films companies have come here?”

Hearing what he said, Kane and other paparazzi froze for a moment before bursting into laughter . One paparazzo said with a whiff of sarcasm: “How could it be possible? Firefly can’t be that influential . If it were a movie directed by Eric Williams, the senior executives from seven film companies possibly would compete for the distribution of his film since his capability has been fully proved . As we all know, the right of distribution for his next two films has already secured by Fox Studio . ”

Finding what he said quite absurd, Jake scratched his head and retorted, “Well, it’s been said Eric Williams is the actual screenwriter of The Others and Scent of a Woman . ”

But what he said didn’t attract the attention from other paparazzi who continued discussing the purposes of these celebrities gathering here while waiting eagerly for other guests to arrive .

The seemingly ridiculous guessing was mostly true .

This event was the internal test screening for The Others and Steel Magnolias held by Firefly .

When Eric sent out invitations to the top six movie companies, he thought that they would only send one or two junior executives to attend the event . But he received a response from Disney soon after that . Michael Eisner informed his assistant to contact Firefly, saying that he would appear in person, which in turn made Eric change the location for test screening to a luxurious projection hall in the Sunset Tower Hotel from the small projection room in the headquarter of Firefly originally planned . With Michael Eisner’s established status, it would be disrespectful for him if Eric still used the small projection room of Firefly .

Possibly hearing the news that Michael Eisner would attend the event, other companies also said that they would send out senior executives there .

But only Disney Studios sent its CEO to the event, Paramount Pictures sent a president, for Columbia, it was Amy Pascal who had a good relationship with Eric, and for the rest of the four film companies, they have a vice president or a senior executive come here . With that being said, such a plethora of list celebrities gathering  for the right of distribution for one or two films had almost never happened in the past ten years .

Virginia and her brother took the elevator to the floor where the test screening was held and as they walked out of the elevator, they saw Alan Feisman, the assistant of Eric .

Virginia asked him: “Hi, Alan, where is Eric?”

“Mr . Williams is busy right now and can’t meet you . Ms Madsen, could you please follow me to the lounge . ” Alan said politely .

Virginia nodded, feeling disappointed . While her brother, not knowing the situation, thought Eric was treating her sister coldly, which made his hear filled with anger . Noting expressing their dissatisfaction, they followed Alan to arrive at a lounge .

It was only after entering the lounge that Virginia saw there were already many people, including two film crews, namely Steel Magnoliasand The Others . There were many people in the film crew of Steel Magnolias, including the director Robert Rose and heroines of Julia Roberts, Sally Field , Shirley MacLaine, etc . By contrast, there was only Jonathan Demi in the film crew of The Others . It was understandable that two main actors of The Others were too young to attend the test screening and other actors were unqualified to attend the event because they were neither well known nor main actors . But it was different in the film crew of Steel Magnolias . Not to mention the popular director Robert Rose, Sally Field and Shirley MacLain, who had won a series of Oscar awards, had a fame and experience surpassing that of Julia Roberts who had risen to fame recently . The other three main actresses had also been famous for a long time .

At the sight of Virginia, Jonathan Demi finally presented an expression as if they were comrades before and stood up first to say hi to her, followed by other members of his film crew .

Chapter end