Chapter 287: is too fake
After being reminded by the waiter, Eric stood up and saw that there was more than just Murdoch there, there was Elizabeth, clinging to his own father. The girl looked at him with a faint sneer, obviously Elizabeth knew that Eric would choose this place, wanting to make his father embarra.s.sed.
After all, it was a woman who had been intimate with him before, so Elizabeth"s faint sneer made Eric a bit embarra.s.sed.
Since Eric had gone through this crisis, because of the lawsuit of "Friends", the production of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "X Files", Murdoch had more than once proposed to meet with Eric. After Eric hesitated, he agreed and refused to go to Murdoch"s family manor, and did not invite Murdoch to his own Maribor Apex Manor, but chose this restaurant on Sunset Avenue in the city center as the meeting place. Not only that, Eric specially asked someone to notify the paparazzi.
Malibou clearly wasn"t taking any shortcuts; not only did he drag his somewhat ambiguous daughter into the situation, he also put on an act of being an old man who needed help. After some media embellishments, Eric would definitely be depicted as a young, vigorous and unsympathetic man, who needed an old man to come and plead with him before he would relent.
Eric muttered to himself in annoyance, wishing he could pour a cup of coffee over Malibou"s head for his false pretense. The old man wasn"t even sixty yet. As a time traveler, Eric clearly remembered Malibou"s spirited appearance when he was over eighty in his previous life.
Malibou saw Eric"s expression, and the corner of his mouth curled into a mysterious smile. He walked up to Eric and offered his hand, saying, "Eric, h.e.l.lo, we meet again."
"h.e.l.lo, Mr. Malibou," Eric shook his hand, then looked at Elizabeth beside him. The girl gave him a blank stare, showing no intention to greet him.
“Nicole, don"t be so impolite,” Mr. Murdoch pretended to be a strict father, although he was very satisfied with Eric"s performance in front of his daughter.
Elizabeth cast an unhappy look at her father. She had objections to Eric"s choice of this restaurant for their meeting, but she also did not approve of her father"s behavior. She snorted, ignoring the two overly nosy men, and went straight to the table and sat down, picking up the menu to look through it.
Mr. Murdoch and Eric both exchanged an awkward glance.
“Mr. Murdoch, let us sit down too.” In the end, Eric was the one who spoke.
Mordock nodded and sat down. The three of them ordered their food and there was a moment of silence. Mordock took the initiative to start a conversation: "Elizabeth, how is the movie you are preparing going?"
Elizabeth, who had her head down and was folding the napkin in front of her, had no choice but to reluctantly say: "It"s all ready, we will start shooting at the end of the month."
"Oh," Mordock nodded, "I heard that the heroine is that Jennifer Foster, seems like she has some good acting skills, the movie will definitely be great when it"s made."
Elizabeth looked at Eric before saying: "Yes, someone recommended I let Jennifer Foster play the heroine, and after the audition I thought it was okay so I agreed."
Mordock saw his daughter glancing at Eric, and he knew without a doubt who the person was recommending for the female lead. He smiled and looked at Eric, “Eric, why don’t we have Firefly distribute this movie?”
Eric raised his brows, before he could say anything, Elizabeth shot her father an unhappy glance, “Dad!”
Eric followed up with a sincere comment, “Mr. Mordock, it doesn’t really have to do with Firefly distributing it, it’s just that our overseas channel is not well established yet, so it might limit this movie’s box office performance.”
Eric had finally said something genuine but Mordock took it as evidence that he didn’t like the movie. He knew that Firefly’s distribution capabilities were limited and a.s.sumed Eric didn’t want to use their limited resources on a movie he didn’t think highly of, and thus politely refused.
In fact, Murdoch himself had read the script for his daughter Jennifer as a producer for the movie "The Silence of the Lambs". After all, Elizabeth had invested nearly $20 million in the film, with Julia and Drew contributing $6 million, and the rest of the investment being "borrowed" from her father. Although Murdoch has a strong desire for control, and is still not willing to give up the power of the news group in the parallel world at the age of over 80, he has never been unfair to his children in other respects, such as economics. Elizabeth has found her life goal as a movie producer, and Murdoch is naturally happy to support it, and readily paid the investment. As for whether or not to make money, he never considered it, just as it was an exercise in her daughter"s ability.
Jennifer, Nicole, and Julia all knew that this script was for a limited-release horror movie, which usually do not get high box office ratings or awards recognition. So, that was why Murdoch proposed that Eric"s Firefly Distribution release the movie - his initial goal was to match Eric with Elizabeth. Eric had just gone through a major crisis, and with steady work, he would surely achieve a lot in the media industry. Murdoch also thought that if Eric became his daughter"s husband, it would be beneficial to the News Corporation. Additionally, recently when Eric was attacked, Nicole had a fight with her father, which made Murdoch sure that Nicole had a deep liking for Eric. With this foundation, Murdoch thought that it would be beneficial for them to be in contact - then, there would be a chance for something to happen.
Malibou, Jennifer, Nicole and Julia all looked at Eric with surprise when he mentioned Fox Studios. Eric smiled and said, "It"s only a horror movie, and New Line is specialized in distributing horror films, so I"m sure the Firefly would be able to handle it. If it needs to be released overseas, Fox Studios will definitely cooperate."
Eric could no longer refuse Malibou"s "good intention", and he looked at Elizabeth. She was pouting, folding a napkin with her hands and tearing it into pieces.
"Liz, what do you think?" Eric asked tentatively.
The girl shrugged her shoulders and said, "Do whatever you want."
"That"s settled then," said Mordock, smiling like a father, without waiting for Eric and Elizabeth to say anything else.
Seeing Mordock say this, Elizabeth did not object and Eric nodded.
At this moment, the restaurant waiter began to serve the three people and the conversation was interrupted briefly. After the waiter poured red wine for the three people, Mordock raised his high gla.s.s and took a sip, praised a few times, then said to Eric casually: "Eric, you were born in 1970, right?"
The drama was coming.
Eric thought to himself, but showed a look of recollection on the surface: "Yes, I was born in London, but I came to the United States when I was eight years old, so I don"t remember much about London anymore."
"I should have gone back earlier," Murdoch sighed. "I remember more than 30 years ago when Liz"s grandfather pa.s.sed away from a heart attack, I had to drop out of school and come back to take charge of the family business, not much older than you. At that time, Sydney"s press was dominated by three major families. Seeing the success of my Sunday Post and News papers, they had the idea to take over these two papers. After my repeated rejections of their acquisition invitations, they began to use various means. Within one year, the complaints and lawsuits received by my press company almost totaled those of many previous years, and I even received death threats. But I didn"t surrender. It took me 20 years to not only develop my press company into the largest media group in Sydney, but also to take over the company of my former enemy."
Although Murdoch saw Eric pretending to be indifferent, he knew that Eric was definitely listening to him, so he continued, "So Eric, the things you have been through recently are quite normal. Therefore, I think you should look forward and not always pay attention to these things."
Eric then smiled and raised his head: "Of course I am looking forward, Mr. Murdoch. Otherwise, we wouldn"t be sitting here so peacefully today."
"Well," Murdoch tentatively said, "Drop the lawsuit about "Friends" and don"t rush for "X-Files", but the "Who will become a millionaire" which was scheduled to be broadcasted in March, now it"s the end of February. The whole team hasn"t made any progress yet, Eric, I think you should hurry up. I think one month of publicity from now, and then launch the program after the Oscar award ceremony at the end of the month, it will be a very good opportunity."
Eric swallowed the food in his mouth, wiped the corners of his lips with a napkin, and then looked at Murdoch and said, “I feel the same way. But Mr. Murdoch, you also just said that after you became the first in the Australian media group, you turned around and acquired your former enemies... So, what about this time, the five films at the end of Firefly"s year, because of this incident, the box office losses will not be less than one hundred million US dollars, and Firefly"s losses will not be less than 30 million. But I still don"t know who my enemy is?”
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