America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz-Chapter 721 - 714: The Billionaire of Hollywood

"Don’t we need to clarify the things in the newspaper?"

At a window seat of the luxurious restaurant, Elizabeth Olsen was enjoying dinner with Martin, not forgetting about the most important work he was at this stage.

Martin shook his head, "No need. I’m planning to bring all my competitors down to the same level and then beat them with my wealth of experience."

Elizabeth was puzzled, "Why don’t I quite understand what you mean?"

Martin explained simply, "I’m best at playing the high-end game."

Elizabeth laughed, "Hey! Hey! Dear, what you mentioned was bringing them down."

Martin laughed, "High-end games often present themselves as the most primitive slugfests."

Seeing that he wasn’t worried, Elizabeth put the issue aside and picked up her glass, "Dear, here’s to you becoming the winner of this slugfest."

Martin clinked glasses with her, "I’ll take your good words."

After enjoying their dinner, they left the restaurant.

Possibly because someone had tipped off the news hounds, a large pack of entertainment journalists and paparazzi had gathered outside. Seeing Martin and Elizabeth emerge, they surged forward, bombarding them with questions.

"Martin, what do you think about the former NASA astronaut’s criticism of ’The Martian’ for being unrealistic?"

"Can toxic Martian soil really grow potatoes?"

"The film has so many loopholes. Are you focusing only on business and ignoring art...?"

Martin and Elizabeth didn’t engage in the conversation. Surrounded by security personnel, they got into the Escalade Bruce had driven over.

"The next month might be quite chaotic." Martin was on an Oscar push and definitely needed to maintain a certain level of exposure. He said, "Be careful when you’re going out and about every day."

Elizabeth revealed a sweet smile, "Don’t worry about me. Go all out for the award and try to bring back an Oscar Best Actor."

The reporters and paparazzi kept following the Escalade until they reached the Sunset Boulevard North District and were stopped at the community entrance before dispersing.

......

The next morning, as soon as Matt Damon’s car left his home, it was blocked by dozens of reporters. Continue your journey on novelbuddy

One of them pressed against the car window and asked loudly, "Famous critic Kenneth Turan criticized in his Los Angeles Times column today that your role in ’Moneyball’ is skin-deep, lacking flesh and soul. What’s your take on that?"

Matt Damon kept his composure and signaled the driver to keep going.

The car left the circle of journalists and headed toward the CAA in Century City.

Matt Damon called his agent and asked about the Los Angeles Times column.

The agent said, "Today, the entertainment media, and even some social media, see a lot of criticism of ’Moneyball,’ some of which are quite sharp."

Matt Damon said, "I’ve read some. Wait till I get to the office."

Half an hour later, the agent met Matt Damon in the office.

The assistant brought in a stack of newspapers.

Nearly every newspaper with some influence in Hollywood had articles attacking Matt Damon and ’Moneyball.’

"In ’Moneyball,’ Matt Damon’s expression is lifeless, with no acting to speak of!"

"As soon as there’s a bit more dialogue in a long shot, Matt Damon’s gaze seems to wander, especially prone to breaking character, and he likes to use the action of licking his lips to cover it up."

While critics are paid to write their columns, they still contain some substance. These indeed were long-standing flaws of Matt Damon.

Even the agent couldn’t come up with anything to say.

After looking through the columns of these critics, Matt Damon said, "A couple of days ago, weren’t they on our side, hitting Martin Davis and other competitors? Why have they turned on us now?"

The agent replied, "Those who make media critiques are all a bunch of scoundrels who work for money; they have no position of their own."

Hands on hips, Matt Damon said, "After attacking the east, they now strike the west; they want to make money from every side!"

Matt Damon didn’t look closely at the rest of the newspapers’ smear campaign against ’Moneyball.’ Delving into it would only upset him. He just roughly scanned all the newspapers and spotted something fishy.

"These newspapers, they were all bashing Martin Davis and ’The Martian’ a few days ago, and yesterday they were slamming all the other competitors except us. We have always been the object of praise," Matt Damon said as he slapped down the newspapers. "I thought they took our PR money and stood on our side, but today they’ve all changed their stance and only condemn us!"

He looked at his agent, "What exactly is going on here?"

The agent, experienced and knowledgeable, replied, "Clearly, someone wants to stir the pot and cause chaos to profit from it."

Matt Damon had also thought of this, and Martin’s name floated through his mind.

Of course, others could be possible suspects as well. After all, the potential competitors for this year’s Oscars didn’t seem too formidable.

’Moneyball,’ ’The Tree of Life,’ ’The Martian,’ ’Midnight in Paris,’ ’War Horse,’ to name a few, were just so-so in terms of the Oscars.

Matt Damon made the same choice as Martin: "This matter could involve any of the competitors. No matter who it is specifically, drag all the competitors down with us! Since they’re playing dirty with us, we’re going to do the same, and ruin their reputations as well!"

At the outset, it was "Moneyball" taking on "The Martian," but as other competitors took hits, "Moneyball" stood out alone. Now, everyone was attacking "Moneyball." What else could they do?

Of course, they had to fight back.

Without a word, the agent contacted the team, contacted Warner Bros., contacted the media and critics, and launched a new offensive.

Smear campaigns? They had worked with Harvey Weinstein many times and had plenty of experience!

In the days leading up to the Oscar ballots being sent out, entertainment media across America—traditional print and television as well as new media like the internet and social apps—were all thrown into chaos with promotional PR and smear campaigns intertwining.

All the Oscar contenders were attacked without exception.

As soon as one film received praise from a media outlet, three others popped up to smear it.

Even within the same media outlet, there were instances where one review column sang high praises for a film while another column in the same outlet blasted it as a trashy flop.

Hollywood’s awards season, having lost the key factor that was Harvey Weinstein, had plunged into utter chaos, seemingly without a new direction.

If you can’t find an enemy, then enemies are everywhere.

All Oscar contenders, other than themselves, were fair game for being smeared.

Amidst this turmoil, the ballots for the Oscar nominations, mailed by the Academy, gradually reached the hands of members residing in North America.

According to the Academy’s procedures, recipients could fill out their ballots immediately and mail them back or wait a few days to post them. The cut-off date set by the Academy was January 14th.

Early in the morning, Leonardo and Nicholson arrived at Martin’s office.

Both had brought their respective Oscar ballots.

Leonardo, writing Martin’s name in the first slot for Best Actor, said, "Now, we need to ramp up the sympathy play, it’s time for phase two."

With Martin’s name in the first slot on his ballot, Nicholson asked Leonardo, "Can you share the details of phase two now? Martin and I have been following your lead and going along with your sympathy strategy, but the public sentiment is about to spiral out of control."

He shook his head and sighed, "Leo, you’ll always be the twenty-second man, you never change!"

"I bloody went from 11 seconds to 24 seconds! You call that no change? I’ve gotten stronger!" Leonardo first cleared his name, then continued, "The next phase of the sympathy strategy involves Martin..."

An unexpected knock on the door interrupted Leonardo’s speech, as Jessica came in and said, "Boss, there’s a new development in the media."

While speaking, she brought over the latest editions of "Variety" and "People" magazines.

On the new "Variety" cover was a tall, ruggedly handsome man with a dashing and elegant demeanor, dressed head-to-toe in designer brands.

He stood in front of a Cadillac flagship car, wearing a handcrafted Brioni suit, a Cartier men’s watch worth millions of US dollars on his wrist, the latest Samsung flagship smartphone in his left hand, and the gem-encrusted scepter of the Cola Cult Sect Hierarch in his right hand.

The man was Martin!

Martin, who was worth billions!

The ruthlessly wealthy Martin!

Upon seeing the cover, Leonardo got a bad feeling—as if he had finally worked up to 24 seconds, but just as he passed ten seconds, someone forcefully interrupted him.

Because the cover included a People slogan—Martin Davis, the billionaire of Hollywood!

Martin flapped open the magazine to the featured article.

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It simply listed Martin’s income and most of his assets.

Endorsements: nearly 60 million US dollars a year.

Acting fees plus box office revenue: upwards of 80 million US dollars a year.

Cola Cult commemorative cola royalties: no less than 60 million US dollars each year.

Real estate in Sherman Oaks, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and Miami Resort Area, totaling five properties valued at 120 million US dollars.

Davis Studio, which Warner Bros. had offered to purchase for 200 million US dollars and was refused.

Investments: substantial purchases in Apple, Netflix, and Tesla stocks, and while it was unclear how much stock was involved, reliable sources indicated that the minimum value was 300 million US dollars.

Conservative estimates placed Martin Davis’s personal assets between 800 million and one billion US dollars.

After reading this, Martin thought the estimate wasn’t quite accurate, but it wasn’t off by that much.

Nicholson, also reading the cover feature, was struck by the numbers and suddenly conceived a new idea—to abandon Martin in the future and join forces with Leonardo to persuade Martin to marry Lorraine. Perhaps in a moment of confusion, that bastard Martin would agree?

Mainly because there would be no outsiders to mess with after a while, of course, they’d have to make their own fun.

Martin then picked up the other magazine "People." Its cover was dominated by women, all of whom had been in and out of relationships with him multiple times.

In the central position stood Elizabeth Olsen, his official girlfriend.

To her left and right were Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston, with Charlize Theron, Anne-Hathaway, Eliza Cuthbert, Blake Lively, and Alexandra Daddario among others, all referred to as former girlfriends, standing further back.

The cover’s message was clear and to the point: Martin Davis’s girlfriends!