King of Hollywood-Chapter 578 - 299 This is Not a Request

"Has anyone introduced me to you before I came here?" Alexander’s face showed apparent surprise.

"It’s not hard to guess, Eller," Adrian smiled slightly, "You’re tall yet proportionate, and you have beautifully tanned skin, exuding both sexiness and a fiery enthusiasm. Although it was just a short walk, a few gestures, your quality as a top model is unquestionable. I can’t think of anyone but a Brazilian girl who would have these traits—of course, more importantly, I recognized your Brazilian accent."

The three listeners, spellbound, showed surprised expressions simultaneously and then burst into laughter.

"It’s like that joke from Conan Doyle, where the taxi driver only mentions he saw your name on your luggage at the end, you’re really funny, Ed," Claude shook his head.

"Thank you," Adrian spread his hands, "but what I said is all true, Crow, Eller is a top model."

"Oh?" Claude raised his eyebrow, a meaningful smile crossing his eyes, "You really think so."

"Of course," Adrian looked at Alexander, "She might still lack something now, but in three or four years, Eller will be much better. What she lacks now is just an opportunity, why not give her a try?"

Although Alexander looked surprised, the excited expression hidden within did not escape Adrian’s eyes. Victoria’s Secret was now much more famous than originally, and choosing Victoria’s Secret Angels had become stricter. Most models were only collaborators, and only a few like Heidi Klum had become exclusive spokesmodels, each having substantial fame in the modeling world.

"I didn’t know you understood so much about models?" Claude said teasingly.

"It’s not understanding, just a judgment based on impressions," Adrian shrugged, "You know, my judgment is always good, no matter what it is."

As he spoke, he looked again at Alexander, who modestly lowered her head: "Thank you, Ed, I am honored to receive your praise."

"Indeed, you know when I was dating Crow, he never complimented me like that." Heidi tried to ease the situation.

"That wasn’t necessary; you were already excellent back then, Heidi, you just needed to keep it up," Adrian laughed, appreciative of the woman’s tact.

"That’s great, now I can say thank you too, isn’t it wonderful, Crow?" she leaned into Claude’s arms and asked cheerfully.

"That’s really not fair, dear, I’ve said the same thing many times, and you have never been this pleased," Claude sighed deliberately.

"It’s different, dear, everyone has their own expertise. If you think some acquisition doesn’t make sense, even Ed can’t easily change your mind; similarly, if I think some clothing design is inappropriate, people will consult professionals," Heidi flirtatiously shrugged.

"Indeed," Claude said as he raised his glass to Adrian, "right, Ed?"

"Speaking of which, I just had an idea..." Adrian, holding his glass, looked at Heidi and suddenly spoke, "An idea... for a reality show."

This time, Heidi’s eyes lit up. Most people in the modeling industry knew how valuable the ideas of this man, dubbed the Miracle Director, were, as evidenced by ANTM and the two female judges standing right in front of them.

At that moment, Adrian gave Claude a look, a look that only the two of them could understand. Claude smiled and made a gesture of invitation, "Let’s hear it."

"Well, it’s still just a rough concept, different from ANTM, related to fashion. I need to think more about the specifics and improve it before presenting it to the planning department for discussion. But I believe it won’t be too different from ANTM." Adrian tapped his head, "I think Heidi would be perfect to host it, but even with a complete concept, it might still be a year or two before we start production. I need to find the right opportunity."

"You really plan to have me host, Ed?" Heidi looked at Adrian in surprise.

"Of course, since you inspired the idea, it’s only right that you host. Besides, you’re quite familiar with fashion design, aren’t you?" Adrian laughed, giving Alexander a casual glance. The young woman, although seated with an unchanging smile, her lips noticeably tightened for a moment.

The reality show Adrian mentioned was Project Runway, hosted by Heidi Klum. Although ANTM was produced ahead of its time, no one had yet tapped into the potential of fashion designers. Now that he thought of it because of Heidi, he wouldn’t let her slip away easily. With AC Media’s current capabilities, as long as the preparation was in place, production could be very fast. Releasing it after maximizing the benefits in a year or two was not a problem.

He brought up the idea now for two reasons: firstly, to help Claude out, knowing that he was very pleased with Heidi and believing that, due to family matters, he would need her cover for a long time, so selling him a favor to look after him for a while seemed good. Secondly, to observe Alexander Ambrosio’s reaction.

Honestly, it was not bad at all; when Alexander’s legs tightly wrapped around his waist in bed, the relentless motion pushing firmly, it gave him a good thrill.

"Though I’ve said it many times tonight, I still want to repeat, you’re very charming, Eller," Adrian said tenderly, embracing the young woman from Brazil.

"You too, Ed," Alexander responded, tracing circles on his chest with her finger in a languid voice, the satisfaction apparent in her expression despite the dim light in the room.

"Truly captivating..." Adrian sighed. The hand that had been wandering over her body returned to her chest, carefully playing with it.

Although still basking in the afterglow and the tingling sensation at her chest stirring her once more, Alexander seized the moment, "As long as you wish, Ed."

This statement alone spoke of her cleverness – no need for many words, yet enough to solidify certain matters. In the modeling industry, the competition sometimes becomes much fiercer than in other fields, with equally immense pressures, and coupled with generally low educational levels, many resorted to promiscuity or drugs to relax—among these were top models. And if paired with a bad agent, it was easy to spiral down irreversibly.

Alexander had been training since she was 12, became a professional model at the age of 15, and though fortune had largely been on her side with a somewhat capable agent, the immense pressure was palpable, especially after arriving in New York. The competition was even fiercer than in her already challenging native Brazil0, sometimes leaving her struggling to catch her breath. She had barely secured a collaboration with Victoria’s Secret in Los Angeles, yet it was just a standard spokesperson role—becoming a Victoria’s Secret Angel was tremendously difficult.

But the difficulty was easily resolved after meeting Adrian, although Claude hadn’t expressed his opinion at the time, she knew that as long as she did what needed to be done, there would be no problem at all. Oh, what’s the big deal, considering the number of girls who wanted this opportunity, yes, a famous playboy, but also the youngest media tycoon, with countless ideas in his head, just getting one from him meant fame was only a matter of time.

If there was any doubt about this last point, then Adrian’s subsequent behavior completely dispelled it. Who else could think of a reality show idea based on Heidi’s fashion design ability? Alexander wasn’t one of those naive girls, she could tell an inspired idea from a mere performance, so when the passion subsided, and a satisfied Adrian hinted, she immediately agreed without hesitation.

Was it just being his bed partner, which model hadn’t done that? And he wasn’t the kind of man who was insensitive to charm. Perhaps he was a bit distant at the beginning, but after leaving the bar, they got along very well. He even took her to the best chocolate shop in Los Angeles and tasted all the delicacies there, God, how did he know about her secret little indulgence?

In any case, from the moment they left the bar until just before he spoke, everything was so amusing, just like a real date, so why bother overthinking it?

Adrian was equally satisfied, initially, he just wanted to find an attractive girl to spend a night with, but after dredging up information on Alexander Ambrosio from his mind, his thoughts began to change. Speaking of which, he had been with plenty of Latin women, Lopez, Shakira, all fiery, but that unique Brazilian fervor he only experienced with Gisele Bundchen, hard to describe, thus very nostalgic.

Since Alexander, such a knockout was here, how could he not enjoy it properly? She was similar in age to Gisele, equally stunning, and more importantly, her features were not as tough as Gisele’s, which perfectly suited Adrian’s taste. After a few probes, her reactions were all within expectations, and in bed, she fully demonstrated her fiery passion, making such a girl an appealing bedmate.

It’s neither a collection nor a friendly match, just a bedfellow, after all, she is a model. However, if Alexander’s performance could satisfy him, Adrian wouldn’t mind adding her to his collection shelf, remembering that she was one of the top lingerie models of Victoria’s Secret.

Alright, this was a fling, no matter how much Alexander satisfied Adrian, she was just one of his many women.

"Don’t forget, Ed, no matter how big, how the hard or enduring, you’ve only got one," Charlize said to Adrian, after he handed over Alexander’s file to her.

"Perfectly said, Charli, so I need to play to my strengths and advantages, avoid one-on-one situations, and also think about a limit to a pair—whom else do you think should be added?" Adrian laughed and replied, earning an eye-roll from his female secretary.

Apart from the TV shows, there were some movie matters he needed to attend to, like the post-production of ’Malena’, as he had been running back and forth between Queenstown and Los Angeles, so the progress was quite slow, but no worries, there were still over three months, as long as it premiered by the end of the year, it would be fine.

The other projects, Kate’s ’28 Days’ had already wrapped up, and ’Miss Congeniality’ was almost finished, then Naomi and Harrison Ford’s collaboration in ’What Lies Beneath’ was also nearing its end, as for Nicole, Sarah as well as Love and Spacey, Mendes’ collaboration in ’American Beauty’ had already begun post-production.

Unsurprisingly, Kate’s image was quite different from the original; to achieve the same success as the original films, simply copying wouldn’t work, hence although production started before ’American Beauty’, filming wasn’t necessarily quicker, and the rapid completion of ’American Beauty’ had its reasons.

Wouldn’t mention that, Adrian’s main concern in movies during this visit to Los Angeles was another matter.

"Hello, Mr. Li, sorry to keep you waiting," Adrian entered the conference room and extended his hand with a smile to the middle-aged Chinese man sitting at the head of the table.

"Not too long, I just used this time to briefly review the script and various design drafts, Mr. Adrian," the other party stood up and bowed slightly, with a humble smile.

"How does it feel?" Adrian made a welcoming gesture and then sat down in his own seat.

"It’s surprising, both the script and the various designs, I didn’t expect to see such elements full of Chinese classical poetry in Hollywood." The other party spoke with full admiration, seemingly from the heart, then lifted a manuscript in front of him, on which a man and a woman were poised on bamboo leaves facing off: "Like this one, it fully demonstrates the elegance and artistic conception of ancient Chinese swordsmen, I really... can’t describe my feelings."

"I quite like movies from other cultures, I’ve seen quite a few from Hong Kong and Taiwan, so I put a lot of effort into acquiring the adaptation rights to the novel from Mr. Xu, but now I’m too busy, and no one else could surely fulfill the role, so I thought you might be willing to direct this movie?" Adrian said with a smile.

"...Of course!" The other party was stunned for a moment and then immediately answered, Despite having guessed some, hearing Adrian say it still inevitably brought a smile to his face.

He had long wanted to adapt those novels by Wang Dulu into movies, and Xu Ligong had also purchased some novel rights at his request, but for various reasons, it never went into production, and then the Bossworth Film Company from the United States began contacting Xu Ligong, and they too held some rights, after all, what Wang Dulu wrote was a series.

Under the pressure of Bossworth, and considering the high bid they made, Xu Ligong had no choice but to sell, although disappointed, he had to accept reality. Unexpectedly, Bossworth approached him again, hoping he would direct the movie, and it was Hollywood’s renowned Miracle Director himself who negotiated with him, feeling deeply moved, but also a slight sense of pride inside, this kind of movie still had to be directed by a Chinese.

"Very well," Adrian nodded, observing every reaction from Ang Lee, "Like all the directors I’ve worked with, you will have total control of the production except for the final editing rights. If you agree, we can also invite Mr. Xu to be the producer. Also, you can choose the actors as you wish, we won’t interfere – whether they are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, or mainland China, even if you need to go to the mainland for location shooting, we have contacts on the mainland side too, except for one thing—"

Adrian smiled, opened the folder in his hand, and slid several photos across to Ang Lee: "I want her to play Jen Yu."

The smiling Ang Lee was taken aback again, glanced at the girl in the photos, and showed a puzzled expression. Just now he said one could choose actors at will, so why fix on a major role so soon?

"Um... sorry, Mr. Adrian, I haven’t yet met this... Miss Lin Zhiling, maybe wait..."

Ang Lee was organizing his words in his mind but Adrian interrupted him, "This is not a request, Mr. Li."

Perfect and standard in Mandarin, this sudden switch rendered Ang Lee even more puzzled.

"But... but..." He instinctively wanted to argue.

"Let me repeat, Mr. Li, this is not a request!" Adrian stood up, hands pressed against the long conference table, looking down at him authoritatively and continued in Mandarin, "If there’s something unsuitable about her, then you need to make her suitable. As I said before, if I weren’t so busy, I’d have personally directed and produced this movie already, the script and these storyboards you see are my own work!"

Regaining his composure, Ang Lee took a deep breath. If this very script and storyboard pleasing to his tastes were indeed created by the Caucasian male before him... he didn’t want to believe it, but the fluent Mandarin kept reminding him, this person was not someone to be taken lightly. From the early 1990s until now, countless had wanted to see him fail, but invariably, the joke was on them.

Of course, he could take a gamble, thinking like an idealist that since he had been invited to direct and produce, then he should have the final say. If that wasn’t achievable, then there’s no point in collaborating. But, what if the other party was indeed capable? Remember, he was called the Miracle Director! A few breaths later, any earlier pretense and pride vanished from his heart, Ang Lee was never an idealist, especially if he could collaborate with this media mogul...

"I understand, Mr. Adrian," he swallowed before speaking.

"Excellent, Mr. Li, you can start preparations right away, I believe our collaboration will be very pleasant, right?" Adrian resumed speaking in English, a smile on his face as if the entire conversation had been a very friendly discussion. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to QiDian (qidian.com) to vote for recommended tickets, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)

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