America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 315: An Artist Who Doesn’t Fear Power
Under the blue sky of early September, Martin, wearing a Dodgers baseball cap, sat alone on a bench in front of the art gallery, waiting patiently for someone to come.

A few minutes later, Lily, who had just finished class, jumped down the steps of the art gallery.

She fell behind the bench and shouted to Martin: "Scare..."

Martin turned around and said: "How old are you? You still play this kind of game."

Lily's long hair was tied into a simple ponytail at the back of her head and she said, "It's not funny. I didn't scare you."

Martin got up: "I heard the sound of running, and I knew it was you."

Lily raised her long eyebrows in surprise: "So you care so much about me."

Martin walked towards the entrance of the academy: "I have known you since you were a little brat. You run around, speak with an accent, have disgusting hobbies, and use foul language. What do I not know about you?"

"I've changed all my curse words." Lily whispered, "Actually, there's something you don't understand."

Martin turned to look at her and asked, "What don't I know about you?"

Lily smiled: "Girls' secrets, I won't tell you."

Someone came over and greeted him, "Hi, Lily."

Lily waved over there.

From the art gallery to the parking lot near the college entrance, at least six or seven people greeted Lily.

Martin asked, "It seems like a lot of people know you?"

"I made a lot of friends, just like when I was in Marietta High School." Lily was once a bully in public high school: "There were a lot of bitches who envied my beauty and did little things to me in private. I would form a group to deal with them."

Martin warned: "Don't go too far."

Lily felt wronged: "No way, they all said I was good."

Martin understood Lily's style. She was a girl who grew up under her sister's iron fist. She applied the iron fist education to her younger brother Hall, and then continued it to school.

Lily and Martin were never polite: "Don't worry, I will call you if there is anything. And Louise, she knows a lot of people and called me several times..."

Martin came to the front of the Escalade and opened the driver's door: "Get in."

Lily got on the passenger seat.

The car drove out of the college and headed straight for Sherman Oaks. Martin turned into the Coty community. When he approached his home, he met Jenna who was walking with her cat.

Seeing Martin's car, Jenna waved.

Martin stopped the car and rolled down the window.

Jenna walked over, glanced at the co-pilot, and asked, "Girlfriend?"

Lily immediately greeted with a smile: "Hello, young lady, you are so beautiful."

Martin pushed her back: "This is my sister, Lily."

Jenna nodded and looked at him carefully: "She has a nice figure and looks, and she has great talent."

Lily had a good first impression of Jenna and rushed to answer: "Everyone I know says so. Do you think so too?"

Martin glanced at Jenna, who immediately changed her words: "I invited you to the set, but you never had time..."

"I'm too busy at work." Martin made up an excuse and said, "Let's talk about it later."

Jenna nodded, and then said to Lily, "Little beauty, come to the set with Martin when you have time."

Lily responded, "Okay."

Martin drove up to the door of the house.

Lily glanced back and said, "She's a nice person."

"It's really good." Martin has some understanding of Jenna through many contacts. Ignoring Jenna's special profession, her quality as a person is still relatively high.

He simply said, "One of your letters of introduction is from her father."

Lily asked, "Should I visit her set, express my gratitude, and get closer to her?"

She remembered what Jenna had just said: "What works has she starred in? She looks so good, I will definitely remember her after seeing her."

Martin said directly: "She is the director and the leading actress of Shenggu's film."

"Uh..." The answer was so unexpected that Lily couldn't wrap her head around it for a moment and didn't know what to say.

Martin added: "Jenna Jones's family are all engaged in artistic work. She is said to be in this line of work because of problems with her hormone secretion."

As for whether it is true or not, no one has investigated.

As the car drove into the gate, Lily's attention shifted. When Martin's car stopped at the garage door, she jumped out and said, "What a beautiful house."

Then, she smelled the barbecue and turned to look: "Hi, Old Bu, long time no see."

Bruce was grilling meat and waved over here: "Lily, you are getting more and more beautiful."

Martin drove the car into the garage.

There is a long dining table and several chairs by the swimming pool.

Martin didn't invite anyone else, just him, Lily and Bruce had dinner together.

Simple grilled meats, vegetables and fruits.

Unlike the people I met after arriving in Los Angeles, these three people are all from Atlanta and are truly our own people.

The three of them had a very happy dinner.

After eating, Lily visited Martin's house again, got into the G-Class in the garage, and then jumped out immediately.

Martin didn't care and casually said, "If you need a car, you can use it temporarily." Blake was very particular and all the expensive gifts he gave were placed here, keeping only a few souvenirs.

Lily noticed that the previous owner of the car was a girl and shook her head: "I don't need the car now. When I am familiar with the school, I will find a place to work and earn money to buy a car myself."

Before it got completely dark, Martin sent Lily back to school and told her to find Louise if she had any problems.

He had already negotiated with Louise at a cost of several hundred million.

When Lily left, Martin gave her a big bag full of gifts.

Although she had a thousand opinions in her mind, Lily still accepted it with tears in her eyes.

Awards season is about to kick off, and Martin will soon be heading to Canada to attend the Toronto Film Festival.

The promotion and award-winning campaign for "The Departed" began at the Toronto Film Festival.

The film premiered during the festival and will be released nationwide in North America in October.

"So far, the film has held an internal preview and a preview for theater managers and media personnel, and the response has been very good."

In the conference room of the Warner building, producer Graham King introduced the current basic situation to the main creative staff of the crew: "The MPAA has rated it R, and the distributor has secured about 3200 theaters for the opening. The North American box office is expected to be no less than $1 million."

Many people's eyes fell on Leonardo and Martin.

Apart from Matt Damon who was filming "Jason Bourne" in London, these two people undoubtedly have the strongest commercial appeal among the creative staff attending the meeting.

Nicholson, who was sitting next to Martin, suddenly said, "Don't look at me. I won't hold you back. You should thank me."

Leonardo couldn't help but laugh.

Scorsese said, "Jack, what new things can you come up with?"

Nicholson pointed his finger at Martin: "For bad ideas outside of regular publicity, you should go to him."

Martin spread his hands: "I just came back from London and I haven't figured out the situation yet."

In public, he is very good at praising the eldest and second in the trio: "With Leo and Jack here, commercial appeal is not a problem. Leo is popular with people of all ages, and Jack is an idol for middle-aged and elderly women."

“You three are going to every big promotional event for the film, at the Toronto Film Festival and in Los Angeles,” Graham said.

Martin and the other three said they had no problem.

Later, the focus of the discussion was on matters related to the Olympic Games.

The crew's focus is on Best Picture and Best Director, and Martin will also strive to win a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

The only surprise is that Leon Ando will not compete for the Best Actor award with this film.

After the meeting, the three bastards naturally got together.

Martin asked curiously, "Aren't you going to compete for an Oscar with the role in this film?"

"All the resources for this film are focused on Best Picture and Best Director, leaving too little for the other categories." Leonardo was very practical: "It won't be hard for me to get a nomination for the role of Billy, but I have no hope of winning."

There was no one else here, just the three of them. Nicholson did not forget to hold them back: "With your acting skills of staring, frowning, and roaring, there is no hope for you to play other roles."

Leonardo was so angry that he wanted to kill someone: "Good! Good! You are a good actor, you are amazing!"

Nicholson imitated him, widened his eyes, and deliberately showed off: "I am not that great, I only have two Best Actor awards and one Best Supporting Actor award."

Leonardo was hit so hard that he was speechless.

Nicholson delivered another fatal blow: "Let me tell you, Martin has a much better chance of winning an Oscar than you do."

Leonardo looked up at the sky in silence, he was so devastated that he was almost in tears.

"You're not depressed, are you?" Martin was more human than Nicholson: "There are so many beautiful models with blonde hair and long legs waiting for you."

Leonardo approached Martin and said, "Man, you are my brother."

Martin didn't finish his words: "They all want to see what an 11-second sprint is like."

"I'm going to kill you!" Leonardo used three consecutive moves, glaring, frowning and roaring: "You two bastards!"

Nicholson said, "See? Compared to Martin, who is a rotten guy, I am a good guy."

The three of them were laughing and joking, and got into Nicholson's stretched Lincoln.

Martin put away his nonsense and asked, "Leo, which film are you going to use to compete for the Oscars?"

"Blood Diamond." Leonardo briefly introduced, "It was a movie I shot before The Departed, with Jennifer Connelly. The leading actor's role in that movie was more important than The Departed. The important thing is that the crew's primary goal was to get the best actor."

Martin still has an impression of this film, the incident caused by a red diamond.

It seems to have caused some controversy. Dibis was worried that the film would have too much influence, causing consumers to resist diamonds, and it joined forces with some diamond companies to boycott the film.

Martin mentioned.

Leonardo said: "They have already protested to the crew. It doesn't matter. This is a good thing from an artistic perspective."

Martin understands: “An artist who is not afraid of power.”

Nicholson interrupted, "That's right, the Oscars for best actor and actress need packaging." He looked at Martin, "You don't have any packaging?"

Martin revealed a bit appropriately: "It's done, the agency has invested a lot of resources, and I plan to be a children's love ambassador."

Leonardo nodded: "This one won't break easily."

Martin said: "That's why I chose this."

Initially, he planned to pursue equal rights, but due to some unexplainable reasons, he could no longer pursue this path.

The three of them went to a bar to drink together and made an appointment to go to Canada together in a few days to participate in the promotion of the Toronto Film Festival.

(End of this chapter)