Chapter 232: First Project
"Enough, stop fighting!" Elisabeth scolded the two. While the two girls were busy pouting, she thought for a moment and declared, "I think that we can give Drew"s script a try."
Wanting to strike the iron while it was hot, Drew quickly said, "This is the script was selected by the Oscar-winning veteran actor Gene Hackman. It definitely won"t be bad, and if you two agree, I can ask Eric to take a look at it."
Julia proposed, "Drew, hasn"t Eric been letting you buy a lot of copyrights? Why don"t you use one of them? Since those are his picks, they must be much better than this one, right?"
"No!" Drew shook her head and categorically refused, "The copyright to those scripts is held under my Flower Films."
"Aren"t you also a member of T.G?" asked a dissatisfied Julia.
Drew replied, "Of course, I am, but those are two separate things. Flower Films was a company given to me by Eric."
Julia chewed on her lips, feeling envious, but she didn"t know what to say.
Elisabeth mediated between the two and said, "Alright, Julia, that"s enough. Our T.G. will produce this Silence of the Lamb."
Julia picked up a pillow and squeezed it in her arms before she shook her head and announced, "Whatever! I still won"t play the female lead."
Elisabeth and Drew looked at each other and exchanged a glance before Elisabeth immediately said, "In that case, we will hold a vote. All those in favor of Julia playing the lead role raise their hands."
Drew and Elisabeth smirked as Julia as they slowly raised their right hands.
"You..." Julia stared at them, shocked.
Elisabeth smiled at Julia and said, "If you still don"t agree then Drew and I will find another person to convince you."
Julia immediately thought of Eric"s face and jumped up in surprise before she threw the pillow at Elisabeth and yelled, "You... How can you bully me like this?!"
"So, do you agree or not?" Elisabeth asked.
Julia glared at Elisabeth and gritted her teeth before she replied, "I have to ask my agent first."
Elisabeth explained, "The role of Clarice is not a negative, so I think Mr. Syd will definitely agree. And don"t try to fool us by hiding behind your agent. In front of stars of your stature, agents only have the right to make suggestions, not the right to decide which script to accept and which to reject. In fact, why bother to ask your agent. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s vision is better, so we can simply ask him."
"Alright, alright, I agree! I"ll play the role of Clarice," Julia finally compromised.
"In that case, I will go back tonight to let Eric take a look at this script," Drew quickly said. Then, she planned to put the script away when Elisabeth suddenly reached out and took the script from her. She quickly said, "I"ll do it! I will be with him during the filming of Sleepless in Seattle, so I can take some time to show him the script."
"You?" Drew looked at Elisabeth with a puzzled look and asked, "I remember you said that Eric said no to helping you choose a script?"
Elisabeth quickly explained, "I don"t think the investment in this movie would be too high, so I doubt that Eric would consider our low budget film to be his compet.i.tion. He shouldn"t be too stingy with a few words.
Moreover, if you ask him about this film"s prospects, Eric might start to suspect that you are doing other things besides going to school."
Drew thought for a moment and nodded as she said, "Right, if I see him right now he might figure out that I skipped cla.s.ses."
Elisabeth breathed a sigh of relief. If Drew went back and found the gasoline in Eric"s villa, she might figure something out which was not what she wanted. In fact, Elisabeth wasn"t worried about Drew"s reaction after discovering this incident, but she was worried that this incident might be learned by other people.
Then, Drew noticed the bathrobe that Elisabeth was wearing and got up. She walked towards a bedroom as she took off her shirt and said, "Now that we"ve come to a decision, I"m also going to take a shower. Man, I hate my dorm bedroom and bathroom. Julia, how about you rent a bigger villa? Actually, you could just buy it."
Julia retorted, "Nope, I"m afraid that if I live in a bigger place, you might become a permanent resident."
Drew shrugged as she walked into the bedroom. Once the bedroom door had been closed, Julia whispered to Elisabeth, "Hey, Liz, are you going back to Eric"s place?"
"What choice do I have?" Elisabeth picked up the script and shook it, "I can"t let Drew go there and find gasoline that I poured everywhere.
Besides, why should I avoid him? He"s the one that should feel guilty for running away. I"ve decided; I"m not going to escape. I"m going to go back and torture him even more."
Julia couldn’t help but "praise," "Liz, you"re so vicious."
Unaware that two girls were planning how to torture him, Eric, who was busy reading a production plan, suddenly felt a chill run down his back.
* * * * * * * * * *
The next day, Elisabeth arrived at the Firefly HQ. The staff was aware that she was Eric"s new a.s.sistant and that she had a close relationship with Eric, so reached the door of Eric"s office unimpeded. As she stood outside his door, she raised her hand with the intention of knocking on his door, but she suddenly paused. After a moment"s thought, she gently rotated the door k.n.o.b and quietly walked in.
"Jeffrey, I have seen the photos of the set. There is nothing wrong with the indoor scene, but Jonah"s room lacks an egg-shaped s.p.a.ce chair... Remember to remind the production designer... Ok, I will wait for the updated production design in my fax. There is no problem inside the house, but the outside feels a little empty. There is only a single seat on the patio, which will give people a sense of isolation. Remember to tell them to put a few large flower pots there… Right, it"s best if they"re wooden. Also-"
Eric had been speaking on the telephone when he suddenly had a feeling that someone was watching him. He subconsciously raised his head and was shocked to see Elisabeth standing in front of him. His hand shook and the telephone fell on the ground.
Until a moment ago, she had been feeling slightly embarra.s.sed, but upon seeing Eric"s stunned face, Elisabeth quickly became relaxed. She pulled a chair and gracefully sat down in front of Eric. Seeing Eric"s shifting eyes, she smugly asked, "What? Do you want to escape from the window behind you? Although this building is not too tall, you will sustain at least a few fractures."
Eric opened his mouth and smiled. He bent over and picked up the telephone and put it back on his ear, "Jeffrey, it"s nothing, I just accidentally dropped the telephone on the ground... Well, I"m in a hurry, so why don"t you take care of the things that I told you and then get back to me? Alright, bye."
Hanging up the phone, Eric didn"t know what to say. The night before, Eric had thought that his encounter with Elisabeth was going to be simple. Who would"ve expected that she would suddenly talk about getting married. Although he had experienced marriage during his past life, in this world he was less than twenty years old, so how could he be willing to let himself fall into the trap of marriage so early?
Although celebrities are known to be promiscuous, if one carefully checks it, one will find that among the mainstream celebrities, those men and women who are seen with new lovers each week are almost all unmarried. In other words, although Westerners are quite open before marriage, but after marriage, whether it is the social atmosphere or public opinion, both husband and wife are required to maintain high standards of loyalty.
If he remains single, Eric can continue to see multiple women. At worst, he would be ridiculed by most media, but after a few years, everyone would come to accept his lifestyle, but if he attempted to do this after getting married, he would be greeted with widespread condemnation from the media and the public.
As a person who is determined to become a playboy, Eric certainly does not want to confront the whole public opinion. Thus, he had never had any plan of getting married, which was why he had run away yesterday morning. Although this may not seem like the best solution, Eric doesn"t know how to dissuade a woman who has already begun to think about marriage.
"Why don"t you say anything?" Elisabeth noticed Eric"s guilty look and became more aggressive.
"What can I say?" Eric smiled and said, "I guess that I should thank you for not burning down my villa?"
Elisabeth snorted and said, "You were lucky that I wasn"t able to find a lighter."
"Umm…"
Although Eric had been backed into the corner, Elisabeth did not care to continue this topic. She sighed and asked, "What were you talking about?"
Aware that Elisabeth also wanted to change the topic, Eric quickly said, "Just talking with Jeffrey about the production design of Sleepless in Seattle. I have too much on my plate, so I can only leave these things to him; he is currently making the final arrangements on location in Seattle."
Elisabeth simply nodded.
"That… umm… do you still want to be… my a.s.sistant?" Eric slowly asked.
"Why wouldn"t I?" Elisabeth arrogantly replied before she glared at Eric and slowly said, "And… you b.a.s.t.a.r.d… don"t you ever try to do that with me again..."
"Of course not," Eric quickly nodded his head. For a woman who asks for marriage first thing in the morning, Eric would rather not touch her for a lifetime.
"By the way, I need your help with another thing today," said Elisabeth as she took the script of the Silence of the Lamb out from her handbag.
She placed it in front of Eric and said, "I have decided to make this movie next year, so give me some advice. You don"t have to a.s.sess the box office prospects of this script, and you won"t be responsible for its success or failure. I just want you to give me some guidance about how to go about making this film."
Eric picked up the script and was about to tell Elisabeth that he would take a look at it when he had the time, but his eyes popped open as soon as he read the t.i.tle on the cover.
TO BE CONTINUED