America 1982-Chapter 370 - 36: Change a Dream_4

"When I don’t want to spend money, I also use that excuse to reject others, so what they’re saying is exactly what I want to say. Actually, I’ve been under some financial pressure lately. Stephen, let me pick up the tab. I’ll get you a young actress who wouldn’t mind bedding down for the night for a grand sum of twenty thousand, to keep you company all night long. In exchange, you give up trying to persuade me to invest in your movie, how about that?" Tommy laughed heartily.

Stephen flipped a cigar at Tommy, cursing under his breath, "Thanks for your blunt generosity, dumb*ss."

"You’re welcome," Tommy said.

"I’m seriously talking to you about my dream, Tommy. You know I’ve always dreamed of making movies. I started trying to write sequel scripts for animated films since I was eleven," Stephen said, feigning a kick at Tommy, dissatisfied.

It was true. Since he was very young, Stephen had liked to come up with sequel stories for cartoons he’d watched. He even sent his own cartoon story ideas to comic book companies, but all these years, not a soul with a discerning eye had unearthed this great screenwriter.

Tommy looked at Stephen, teasingly said, "You wrote the script yourself, invested in it, and even found a director to shoot that comedy movie ’Marrying for Ancestry.’ If I’m not mistaken, you hired the renowned young director John Hughes, pulled in Rob Lowe and Linda Kozlowski for the leads, and the whole movie cost you twelve million. How much did it make at the box office, Stephen? Say it out loud, that movie into which you poured your heart and soul—how much did it gross?"

"Art can’t be measured by money alone, understand? Vulgar pauper," Stephen retorted, discontented.

Seeing that Stephen wouldn’t say it, Tommy said it for him: "Just seventeen million, that’s the Midas touch of John Hughes, a brilliant director whose one-million-dollar movie ’The Breakfast Club’ earned fifty million at the box office. He nearly succumbed to depression and leaped off a building because of your film," said Tommy.

"That’s because the director didn’t truly grasp the emotions conveyed in the script. Everyone makes mistakes, and besides, I’ve now realized how to avoid such problems," Stephen defended.

Tommy breathed a sigh of relief. "I’m glad you’re aware of the need to avoid squandering money, Stephen, I..."

"The way to avoid it is that I’m going to direct the movie myself. I’ll shoot my own script," Stephen interrupted eagerly, presenting his solution.

Tommy looked like he’d been choked, staring at Stephen for a long while before speaking, "This is your damn solution to avoiding problems? Taking the helm to direct?"

"Exactly. I guarantee I’ll understand the emotional depth of my script and present it perfectly on the screen," Stephen declared, his eyes shimmering as he gazed at Tommy. "Isn’t that the best solution?"

A genius director who could turn a million dollars into fifty million at the box office was nearly driven to suicide because of you, and your takeaway from this is that the director is crap, not the script?" Tommy’s expression began to crumble as he spoke.

"Bro, where did you learn this kind of reflection? So, the romantic comedy you just mentioned, are you planning to be the writer, director, and the investor? Dude, which Hollywood actress would believe you’re a romantic who can make a good love story?"

Stephen shook his head, speaking very fast, "No no no, not that romantic comedy. Like I said earlier, I’ve written two scripts. The other one is called ’Operation: Missing.’ It’s about a summer camp story where the leaders of a country all disappear, and the male lead named Tommy leads his camp members to save the country. You heard right—it’s based on our past experiences, and I finally poured my heart and soul into it and crafted it into a script during stolen moments."

"Let’s just talk about the romantic comedy then, Stephen," Tommy said, looking at Stephen and blurting out frantically.

"Would it not be better to keep those selfish memories hidden in our minds rather than turning them into a cringe-worthy horror story just to get cursed at by the audience?"

Stephen ignored Tommy’s remark, excitedly pitching, "I think for this one I’ll direct myself, and the budget for the entire movie will be slightly higher, maybe eighteen to twenty million."

"I’ll give you twenty million out of my own pocket just to spare our shared memories in the CS gang from this movie. Just hearing the name tells me I’m not interested in buying a ticket to watch it," Tommy said, despairingly rubbing his face, drained. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Stephen looked seriously at Tommy, "I’ll do it with all my heart, Tommy, I’m not joking. And I’ve sent out invitations to all the CS members, including Ottelia, inviting everyone to Los Angeles to audition for their own roles, letting them decide which actor gets to play themselves. Except for Dennis, who couldn’t make it due to overseas military service, everyone else is excited, eager to try and encouraging me—except for you, dumb*ss, who’s been unremittingly throwing cold water on me."

"Fine, to avoid being seen as the biggest killjoy by you all, what do you need me to do?" Tommy conceded.

Stephen pulled out a thick stack of actor profiles from beneath his seat as if by magic: "These are the profiles of the shortlisted actors, the ones on top are for the actor playing Tommy."

"Who the hell cares about the looks of a poor schmuck like me? I’m more concerned about which actresses got shortlisted for my wife Ottelia’s role," Tommy said with a laugh, flipping through the actor profiles, skipping over his own role, and beginning to look through the female actors’ information.