King of Hollywood-Chapter 572 - 293: It’s Become the Norm

Julia was somewhat unwilling to let go. She had known Adrian from the early days when he was just a newcomer director in the entertainment industry, and he was already quite dominant. She would always remember how he had forcefully kissed her that night, and similarly remember the ambiguity that gradually developed between them, and then how she gradually fell into the palm of his hand. She remembered it all clearly, from the craziness in the little Santa Monica villa to the threesomes in Orange County.

Back then, Adrian only had a girlfriend, and not long after, they broke up—though she quickly returned to his side. It could be said that she was one of the women closest to him at the beginning. But among so many women around him, why was it Kate Blanchett from Australia who became the first Oscar-winning actress?!

Looking up at the towering Aels Rock, Julia couldn’t help but sigh, then turned her head to see Adrian playing with Small Emma.

"Look here, Emma, and give me a funny face. That’s right, remember to be quick, let’s see if I can capture you," Adrian shouted to the little one as he raised the camera.

"You’ll never catch me, no way!" Small Emma was hopping around gleefully, sticking out her tongue, rolling her eyes, and squeezing her cheeks amid the click of the shutter.

"Ha, I caught you, take a look, this is so funny," Adrian said as he handed the digital camera screen to Small Emma, eliciting a giggle from the little one: "Ew, so ugly."

Julia’s lips couldn’t help but curl up involuntarily. This guy not only won over women but also children. Emma often chattered about everything about him, which was not bad; at least it made up for the regret of Emma not having a father... Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but daydream, and the word ’child’ began to echo constantly in her mind.

She knew about Monica’s pregnancy, and that Monica wanted a child. Although they hadn’t hung out together in recent years, there was still some contact between them, unlike some other women who were directly ignored by Julia. Adrian said that Kate Beckinsale’s pregnancy was an accident; okay, she would take his word for it for now, but what about now? Could it be that she was...

Thinking of this, Julia suddenly started, looking at Adrian, who was still playing with Small Emma, and felt an indescribable feeling well up in her. When did it come to be that between her and him, there was only interest left?

"Do you have something on your mind, baby?" After a rather satisfying session in bed at the hotel suite, Adrian held Julia and tenderly stroked her body, asking softly next to her ear.

"...Do I look like I’m worried about something?" Julia said lazily after her breathing had evened out.

"You can’t fool me, Julia. I know your body very well," said Adrian with a light chuckle, turning over to press her beside him. "Your heartbeat, your breathing, your body temperature, everything about you! Especially in bed."

"Is that so? Then tell me what’s on my mind," Julia turned her head away.

Adrian chuckled again and leaned in close to her ear with a strange tone, "Don’t think I don’t know what you did in Notting Hill. You fell in love with that bookstore owner William Sack, didn’t you? You even dared to bring him in front of me, Anna. I think I need to properly teach you a lesson!"

"What are you talking... " Julia turned around somewhat puzzled, furrowing her brows before she could finish speaking, and then she looked at Adrian with an oddly annoyed and amused gaze.

"Or did I get it wrong?" Adrian smiled with raised eyebrows. "You’ll have to pay for deceiving me, Anna!"

The name "Anna" rang out more distinctly, confirming her suspicions. Julia immediately swung her fist to give him a playful punch, but her arms were promptly captured by the man pressuring her.

"Stop struggling. I told you, I know everything about you," Adrian continued his act.

"The movie won’t be released until the end of the year, so before that, what you’re saying does not hold," Julia huffed at him lightly.

"So what?" Adrian shrugged his shoulders and then shrugged the lower half of his body, causing Julia to catch her breath, "We both know it’s the truth, an unchangeable truth. Just like it’s the last part of your love pentalogy or the fact that you were the first woman to enter the $20 million club."

Julia glared at him hatefully and then snickered, followed by a stunned look, her gaze becoming unfocused as if reminded of something.

"Everyone knows you can demand whatever salary you want," her voice softened, "Without me, there would be other actresses entering the $20 million club."

"After the movie is released, everyone will know that you deserve the $20 million salary, and only you have the qualifications," Adrian laughed heartily, kissing her collarbone, "Don’t think it’s easy, Julia, without enough popularity, without enough commercial value, no one will offer an actress such high pay, not even I can break the rules, right? Most importantly, it’s about your charm, I’ve only given it a slight push from behind, and I’m sure that even after the Millennium, very few actresses will be able to enter this club."

Julia remained silent for a moment, then smiled with suggestive allure, and her legs under the blanket also wrapped around Adrian’s waist with a soft murmur, "After saying so much, you just want to coax me to continue. Well, let’s continue then, although you have plenty of endurance, don’t think I’ll give in easily."

"Is that so?" Adrian chuckled and lifted her leg with his hand, "But I have a better proposal. How about we play something more interesting?"

"Something more interesting?" Julia raised an eyebrow, "Surely you’re not thinking of..."

"No, no, my proposal is..." Adrian whispered a few words in her ear, and Julia’s face turned peculiar all at once.

"You’re joking!" She was somewhat amused, yet surprised.

"Let’s give it a try," coaxed Adrian.

"Alright, alright," Julia sighed, "Um...sorry, dear, I didn’t mean to deceive you..."

"Oh, Julia, that’s perfunctory. Put more heart into it."

"Put more heart? Alright, then once more, sorry..."

"It’s still not good enough. You need to be like how you usually immerse yourself in your characters."

For an actor, especially an outstanding one, it had become almost instinctual to meticulously ponder over the characters they would portray. What Adrian needed to do was to make his women treat playing a role as a genuine performance, not merely a game. Subsequently, quite naturally, they would begin to enter the step of self-suggestion he had previously spoken of. Gwyneth, Blanchett, and Liv had all exemplified this well.

Adrian had tried a few times before with Julia, though those were minor flirtations, but this time he had seized the opportunity. As one of the first women to become involved with him, he might not guess all of Julia’s thoughts, but he had a general idea of what she was thinking. That’s why, after their exertions in bed, while both were still in a state of relaxation, he mentioned "Notting Hill" and the 20 million club—an exclusive title, which could casually lead Julia to fully immerse herself.

The result, needless to say, was impressively effective. Julia knelt on the bed, propped up on her hands, swaying her hips to meet his advances, all the while sobbing and uttering apologies and pleas for forgiveness, greatly arousing Adrian.

Julia and Small Emma didn’t stay in the Southern Hemisphere too long. Vacation was one reason, and journalists knocking on their door was another. Although AC Media’s magazine hadn’t explicitly mentioned that "The Lord of the Rings" was shot in New Zealand, there were only a few places in the Southern Hemisphere to speculate upon, and it wasn’t possible for Adrian to stay in Fiji or Tonga for several months. With so many people on the crew, it was inevitable that someone would spill the beans sooner or later after some inquiries.

However, since it was in the far south of the Pacific, it wasn’t as convenient to come and go as it would be in Europe or North America, so not many journalists showed up. Even so, after Julia left, there was a temporary absence of other women arriving. Before this, they would come one after the other. While this was partly because Adrian was cautious, he also didn’t want to provoke the males in the production crew any further.

Although he completely trusted the actors and crew of the production team to keep their lips sealed—after all, Adrian wasn’t just your average producer or director—the idea of them getting carried away with gossip at bars and letting it slip to reporters was rather disconcerting.

Despite this, Adrian wasn’t too worried. Interestingly enough, it was Nakama Yukie who left the deepest impression on the men of the crew, and notably, not the well-known "big-mouthed beauty" Julia, nor the glamorous secretary, nor the three female leads of "The Lord of the Rings," nor Kate holding a child, but the quiet and gentle Nakama Yukie.

It wasn’t merely because of her Asian background, remember that Lin Zhiling arrived shortly after Yukie’s departure, yet the crew members almost immediately forgot about her. This was partly because Zhiling’s main focus was on pleasing Adrian, leaving her with little connection to the others, and also due to the two contrasting personas displayed by Yukie.

Yukie remained reserved in her common demeanor, treating everyone with great kindness and maintaining courtesy at all times, but once engaged in games, she would become loud and cheerful, a stark contrast to her calm. The American environment was completely different from Japan, so in her time off, when not waiting on Adrian, she played video games and read comics. She had played through all the games released by the major companies, sparing none of the American favorites, including various sports games, reaching quite a high skill level.

When Adrian left Los Angeles, he had her bring along her gaming console to New Zealand. Thus, in just a few short days in Queenstown, nearly no man could match Yukie in gaming—not even Adrian. Even if he lost and took his "vengeance" on her at night, it still couldn’t cause this petite lady to submit—and of course, there was a good chance she did it on purpose.

All the men of the crew, whether gamers or not, took turns challenging her but were soundly defeated, leaving Yukie with a lasting impression.

Alright, back on topic, it was clear that while they did enjoy discussing the women around Adrian, it wasn’t a matter of great concern to them. After all, anyone who reached Adrian’s status and had his abilities would naturally be surrounded by countless women.

This state of affairs didn’t last too long, as the journalists couldn’t possibly stay in New Zealand for an extended period. Once they had mostly departed, another Miracle Girl arrived in New Zealand. To this, the men of the crew had become numb—after all, he was the Miracle Director, wasn’t he? The media mogul, wasn’t he? The Playboy, wasn’t he?

Likewise, they had grown numb to Adrian’s departure from New Zealand to Los Angeles for events. Since the start of filming, it had almost become routine for him to leave every month. As long as the filming was completed on schedule, it didn’t matter. Even the most beautiful scenery could become tiresome after months.

Adrian didn’t have a better solution. He would have liked to wrap up "The Lord of the Rings" as quickly as possible, but it wasn’t the only thing he needed to oversee, and he couldn’t just neglect the group either. Besides, the Southern Hemisphere was only going to get colder over the next two months, further reducing the time available for location shooting, so leaving once a month was manageable.

This time, his return to Los Angeles was mainly to attend a movie premiere. Since "Star Wars Prequel" was releasing at the end of May, many major film studios had strategically delayed their own investments in films with a promising commercial outlook. This added a great deal of pressure on the films produced under the AC Media banner. Despite Adrian’s confidence and prior knowledge of the release date for the Star Wars Prequel, allowing him to schedule his handful of movies vying for the summer box office, it was still best, out of a desire to maximize profits, to postpone a few more days, finally settling on the end of June.

"I can’t wait to see your performance on the big screen, Sean," Adrian said, extending his hand to Sean Connery on the red carpet. The sound of camera shutters filled the air as reporters from all angles captured images of Connery and Adrian, along with the stunning woman by Adrian’s side.

"So, you didn’t watch the film during the test screening, Adrian? You claimed you’d supervise the completion carefully when you sent out the invitations," the old man half-jokingly asked.

"That’s right, I didn’t see it during the test screening. As you know, I was in New Zealand and didn’t have much time. But I watched quite a bit during the post-production, which is why I’m looking forward to the official release," Adrian replied with a smile.

"Now I’m looking forward to it too," Connery laughed heartily before turning to Zetajones, who was hanging onto his arm, "Long time no see, you’ve become even more beautiful, Kate."

"You too, Sean." Zetajones smiled as she shook his hand. Dressed in a black shoulderless, low-cut evening gown, she exuded sensuality, especially her proudly upright chest, which presented an alluring curve and was further enhanced by the deep cleavage drawing many a man’s gaze and claiming countless reels of journalists’ film.

"Are you saying I’ve gotten older or more handsome?" Connery then asked.

"Both, according to what Ed says, you get handsomer as you get older," Zetajones said with a gleaming smile, her arm suddenly tightening around Adrian’s, giving off an impression of great intimacy.

"Thank you," Connery said, following with a laugh, and then winked at Adrian, "I must say, Ed, you two look very good together."

"I think so too," Adrian shrugged and turned to give Zetajones a smile, gently patting her hand. In return, Zetajones gave him an even more enchanting smile.

The three of them chatted for a few more moments and responded to a few questions from reporters—they were still fixated on "The Lord of the Rings" shooting, even though they knew they would get no answers in such a setting. But what do you expect from entertainment journalists? As for the flirtation between Adrian and Zetajones, the plethora of photos were already enough. A picture is worth a thousand words, after all.

"You’re still so popular, Kate," Adrian said with a teasing tone to the girl next to him after they found their seats in the theater’s screening room, "Two Bonds have been singing your praises."

Of course, Sean Connery was one of those two Bonds, and the other, naturally, was the current James Bond, Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan’s presence here, at the premiere of "Entrapment," was because he had just finished shooting the latest in the 007 series, "The World Is Not Enough," in which Zetajones played the daughter of an oil tycoon.

The role was initially meant for Sophie, but as luck would have it, she became pregnant while considering it and naturally couldn’t play this character that would let her beauty shine once again. In truth, missing out wasn’t a problem. According to Adrian’s strategy, having Sophie flaunt her beauty too much in Hollywood could backfire, and he had already prepared a movie for her, which could start production once she gave birth and got back in shape. Whether or not she was in "The World Is Not Enough" didn’t really matter.

Nevertheless, "The World Is Not Enough" was quite a standout in the Bond years, and a good role should be given to one’s own woman if possible, so he recommended Zetajones. Since he wasn’t very familiar with the producers of the 007 series and had a so-so relationship with MGM, he had to arrange to meet up with them for breakfast, do some sports together, or have some afternoon tea.

Of course, that was all. Up to this day, Adrian’s status and position had risen high enough, and he had countless chips to play with. Moreover, the leading ladies in the Bond series had always been mostly ornamental; it wouldn’t matter who played the part, so it was settled. As mentioned before, Zetajones had an easy time winning people over, getting them to speak for her—Brosnan was no exception. Earlier in the lobby, he, like Connery, praised Adrian and her for being well-matched.

"Of course, as an actor, you need people to like you," Zetajones said with a laugh, "Or do you think I should be a woman everyone hates?"

"Of course not, I’m just worried if someone steals you away, it wouldn’t be too good," Adrian shrugged nonchalantly.

Zetajones’s eyes suddenly brightened. Although it wasn’t the exact answer she was hoping for, it undeniably brought her a step closer. Even if Adrian was still somewhat noncommittal, wasn’t her pleasing and yielding to him exactly for this purpose?!

(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with a recommendation ticket or a monthly ticket on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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