America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 343: Luxury Car Delivery

At the Los Angeles Country Club, a black Cadillac SLS drove smoothly past the white gate of the clubhouse and stopped on the roadside surrounded by flowers.

The camera moves along the slide to the driver's seat. Martin opens the door and gets out of the car. He is dressed in formal attire, and with the background of luxury cars and the club, he looks very successful.

Director Joseph spoke from behind the monitor: "Cut, this one passed."

A driver went over and drove the car to the entrance of the club.

The crew also moved to the door, where they were ready for filming.

Martin went to the trailer to change clothes and returned to continue filming.

Not only videos, but also print ads.

Although Cadillac is a luxury brand among American cars, it is not as focused on the high-end as Brioni and required the commercial to be filmed as soon as possible in order to catch up with the Super Bowl commercial in early February.

The commercial featuring Martin and the car will be shown on the American Spring Festival Gala.

This is also great publicity for Martin himself.

With an annual endorsement fee of 1000 million from Cadillac, Martin fully cooperated and posed in various poses according to the photographer's requirements.

After finishing the photoshoot here, I put on makeup again.

The Cadillac SLS stopped in front of the club.

Martin took a key and entered the clubhouse lobby.

Director Joseph reminded the man to move: "Pay attention to the lens and the key."

Martin held up the key.

The crew was ready, and at Joseph's command, filming began again.

Martin came out of the club, took out the key and pressed it on the car, and the car lights flashed.

The cameraman following the scene captured a close-up.

Joseph shouted, "This one's over, get back to your position and try again."

It is the most basic professional ethics to do your job for money, and Martin was not tired of it. He shot this scene eight times in a row.

Around 4:30 p.m., all the advertising shots and print photos were shot. Martin removed his makeup, changed his clothes, got into a Cadillac SLS, and drove straight to Burbank.

This is one of several new cars sent by Cadillac.

In addition to being used by Martin in public, it can also be given as a gift to relatives and friends.

Agent Thomas was waiting in the car.

Martin took out a car key and handed it to Thomas: "The car is in Cadillac's store, go pick it up yourself."

Thomas asked, "I got the car?"

Martin said: "You fought for the endorsement contract, and you should have a car too."

Thomas felt warmed by this gain besides the agent's commission. Compared with those stars who needed to be coaxed and deceived after becoming famous, Martin was really a rare good client.

Thomas put away the car keys.

Bruce also has one specifically for him.

In addition, Martin also left one for Mene, but Mr. Mene is filming in another place and will not return to Los Angeles for the time being.

Thomas glanced at his watch and said, "The preview is over."

Today is the preview of "Limitless" for theater managers and media. Because he has to shoot a Cadillac commercial, Martin can only attend the reception party in the evening.

The car entered Burbank and Bruce turned onto the road leading to the Burbank Hotel.

Martin opened the car's thermal box, took out a box of pizza, opened it and placed it on the middle armrest of the back seat, picked up a piece and said, "It's too late to eat dinner. Drinking is inevitable at the party. Eat a little first, don't drink on an empty stomach."

"You're so thoughtful." Thomas picked up the pizza and started eating.

Martin ate the pizza, rinsed his mouth with mineral water, sprayed breath freshener, and adjusted his clothes slightly in front of the mirror.

When dealing with those nitpicking critics, pay attention to every detail.

Many critics have narrow minds, and if they feel that others do not respect them, they will use their pens to slander them for the rest of their lives.

Martin may not care about them in the future, but now he needs these guys to charge forward with commentary articles to attract more attention.

The car stopped in front of the hotel. Martin and Thomas got out and saw Louise as soon as they entered the hotel lobby.

She was wearing a women's suit and black-rimmed glasses. When she saw Martin come in, she waved gently.

Martin went over there and asked, "How was the preview response?"

Louise would not joke about such serious matters, and said, "The response has been very good."

She took Martin's arm and said, "Let's go to the banquet hall and talk while we walk."

Martin walked slowly to the elevator.

Louise said: "The 38 journalists who attended the preview gave it an average score of 84. The commercial score from theater managers was even better, with an average score of 94."

The latter's scoring is not based solely on the quality of the film, but is more considered from a market perspective. The score is directly related to the level of support from the theaters when the distribution company negotiates with the theater chains.

In the past decade, there have been countless examples of good films performing poorly at the box office, while bad films have sold well.

Martin then asked, "What about the fans?"

This question actually put Louise in a good mood, and she said, "A+!"

"What great news." Martin also laughed.

As for the critics, he didn't ask and Louise didn't say anything.

Going upstairs and entering the hotel banquet hall, Martin immediately adjusted his mentality, mingled with media reporters and critics, and raised a toast with them from time to time.

As always, he was very respectful to the critics who participated in the preview, always listened to their opinions and discussed lofty artistic topics with them.

Before the New Year, the Oscar nomination ballots had been sent out, and Martin still needed these people to help him continue to cheer. Martin took the initiative to find Kenneth Turan, the chief film critic of the Los Angeles Times.

"I just watched the preview, and your acting is as good as always." Compared to the film, Turan was more concerned about Martin and the role he played: "You performed the transformation from poverty to success very well."

Martin said: "Thank you for your compliment. It may be because of my own experience that I can more deeply understand the mental journey of this transformation."

He is never shy about boasting about himself: "This change in mental state is a big challenge, and I think I handled it pretty well."

Turan has just seen the film and was impressed by Martin's role: "It's no worse than your role in The Departed. If this film didn't have a sci-fi feel and fewer commercial elements, it could definitely hit the next awards season."

"In such a commercial society, it is too difficult to avoid business." Martin said helplessly: "I need to consider the agency, investment company, and my collaborators, etc., and I need to balance them. I cannot decide the success of a film, but I have been working hard to use my performance to do a better job in balancing business and art."

Critics are also a group of business writers. To put it bluntly, all these industries related to movies are business. Turan did not think there was anything wrong with Martin's words. It was as if a teacher taught his students: "Don't get lost in the business, and never forget to hone your acting skills."

Martin nodded heavily and said deliberately: "When The Reader is finished, I hope you can attend the preview as soon as possible. Your comments have given me a lot of guidance. The results I have honed under your guidance also need your follow-up guidance."

Kenneth Turan felt comfortable with these words and said, "Remember to call me."

Martin knew what these people liked, and at this stage he needed them to shout 666.

He ordered a drink from the waiter and had a drink with Kenneth Turan.

On the other side, Aniston finished chatting with a deputy editor-in-chief of a newspaper, waited for a while, and seeing that there was no one around Martin, she went over.

She was in high spirits: "The response to the film was very good."

Martin is also confident: "It is not a problem to recover the cost at the box office."

Aniston moved closer and whispered, "Have you seen the news lately?"

Martin didn't understand: "What news?"

"Griffith Observatory." Aniston said: "Many couples like to go there to watch the stars at night."

Martin had been to this place when he was dating Anne Hathaway.

Aniston continued: "Last night, someone attacked the observatory near the planetarium with fireworks, and many couples were scared and ran for their lives."

She pulled out her phone: “Someone took photos of the scene.”

Martin only took one look and was sure that the fireworks were set off by Gatling: "Leo and Jack, these two bastards!"

"Luckily there are no trees at the observatory," Aniston said.

Martin knew the styles of these two bastards: "They must have been carefully selected."

After the party, Martin called Leonardo.

Sure enough, it was those two bastards who attacked Griffith Observatory at night.

They proposed to wait until Valentine's Day and then attack Venice Beach at night, which is said to be another famous battle site in Los Angeles.

For the next week, Martin devoted himself to his work. While promoting his new film, he also continued to handle public relations for the Oscars.

During the award season, the results of various guild awards and Sentinel Awards were announced one after another, and Martin was mostly nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Award.

But the award is likely to go to Alan Arkin.

During this time, he attended the Golden Globe Awards ceremony.

The entire "The Departed" crew suffered a major defeat. Not only did Martin and Leonardo DiCaprio, who were nominated for acting awards, fail to win, but even the Best Feature Film and Best Director awards were snatched away by "Babel".

But no one cares because there is basically no overlap between the Golden Globe Awards judges and the Oscars judges.

At the subsequent Directors Guild Awards, Martin Scorsese won the Best Director award.

"The Departed" tops the Producers Guild Awards!
The association awards for Hollywood practitioners are the real indicator.

Martin was nominated for both awards, but the Best Supporting Actor was won by Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine.

Robert De Niro, the supporting actor of "Limitless", has worked in Hollywood for decades and has a wide network of contacts. He leaked some information to Martin.

For last year's highly acclaimed "Little Miss Sunshine", the award that the production and distribution company Fox primarily focused on in public relations was the Best Supporting Actor, which went to Alan Arkin, who had the greatest chance of winning.

Alan Arkin is no less experienced than De Niro. Not only did he mobilize the personal connections he had accumulated over decades, he also sold two Manhattan properties he had invested in early on to use for public relations.

This old man has played important supporting roles in hundreds of film and television dramas. He is a Jew and is over 70 years old.

For the Best Supporting Actor, the advantage is too great.

Oscar is famous for his respect for the elderly and nostalgia.

Martin is open-minded about it, after all, his goal is to be nominated for an Oscar.

He has more connections than him, a 70-year-old Jewish man versus a 25-year-old non-Jew, more than years of experience in the industry versus three years of qualifications.

Most importantly, Alan Arkin spent no less than him on public relations fees.

Even the old man De Niro gave the first nomination vote to Alan Arkin.

Among the academy judges, more than half are men over 60 years old.

It’s just mid-January, and the results of the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the most important indicator of the Oscar acting awards, are announced.

Leonardo DiCaprio, who was aiming for the Best Actor Oscar, did not win the Best Actor award, losing to black actor Forest Whitaker.

Alan Arkin won the Best Supporting Actor award as expected.

However, both Martin and Leonardo were included in the five-person nomination list for their respective awards.

With his Oscar nominations virtually guaranteed, Martin turned his attention to promoting Limitless.

In the last half month before the release, he changed cities every day, repeating the pattern of planes, hotels and announcements, traveling from the West Coast to the East Coast, and even went to the UK and Germany, which were opening at the same time as North America, to promote the film.

Whether it is the Internet or other media, the publicity efforts have been maximized.

Thanks to the good reputation of the preview screenings, the distributor Warner Bros. managed to secure nearly 3300 theaters for the film to open.

(End of this chapter)