America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 376: Adding fuel to the fire

In the Northville community, a black Escalade was parked on the side of the road. As soon as Thomas got out of the car, he saw Martin coming out the door.

Mene got out of the car and looked at the house in front of him curiously.

It is not a particularly large independent villa, with a lawn in the front yard and a small garden in the back yard. The house is not made of cheap wood, but a brick-concrete structure.

Martin came to the door and invited, "Let's talk inside."

Bruce parked the car and followed behind the group.

When Thomas arrived at the door of the villa, he found a beautiful woman in her 20s coming out to greet him. She looked somewhat similar to Lily Carter.

Martin introduced them one by one: "This is Elena, Lily's sister. Behind her are Harris and Hall, their brothers."

He then introduced Mene and Thomas.

Elena greeted him gracefully and said, "Please come in."

Thomas and Mene handed the gifts they brought to Harris and followed Martin and Elena into the living room.

Mene saw Hall looking at him frequently and whispered, "Don't you remember me? We met when you visited the crew during the filming of Wanted."

Hall nodded: "I always remember you, because you are famous for liking old women."

Mene seemed to have found a common language with him: "Hey, man, have you found a girlfriend yet? Do you want me to teach you a few tricks? Whether it's your female classmate or your female teacher, I guarantee you'll applaud after you try it."

Hall didn't believe it and looked at Bruce: "Old Bruce, is he bragging?"

"No." Bruce couldn't lie and said the truth: "Menei does have this ability, especially when dealing with women over 40 years old."

Mene was smug: "A lot of people paid to see me, but Uncle Mene didn't want to bother with them."

Hall pulled him to the small hall next door: "Teach me quickly, there is a teacher..."

The two men ran aside to whisper, while Thomas chatted with Martin and Elena about some interesting Hollywood stories.

Then, he got to the point: "David Fincher has given you a specific audition date and invites you to Los Angeles to participate in the makeup audition of the crew."

Martin responded, "It doesn't conflict with our schedule, just reply to him directly."

Seeing the two of them discussing work, Elena stood up and said, “I’ll go prepare the tea.”

Thomas waited until she was far away, then asked in a low voice, "I heard that Bell caused a lot of trouble on the set?"

Martin said: "Bell is not the type of actor I am."

Thomas didn't ask any silly questions like whether it was related to Martin, and said directly: "If there is anything I can do, just tell me."

Martin smiled and said, "Just do your job in Los Angeles."

"There's one more thing." Thomas came here this time to visit Martin, but also for other work: "Cartier is looking for a global spokesperson for its men's watches, and I have made preliminary contact with them."

Although Cartier is not a professional watch company, its watches are also first-line luxury goods. Martin asked: "Have they responded?"

"They have expressed some interest," Thomas said roughly. "We will discuss the details later."

Martin nodded slightly: "You are responsible for negotiating, as long as you can win it." He then asked: "Is there any conflict with other endorsement brands?"

Thomas confirmed: “There is no conflict.”

Harris then brought over some black tea and poured a cup for Martin and Thomas respectively.

Martin turned around and didn't see Bruce, so he asked, "Where's Bruce?"

Elena came over from the back and said, "I went to the small hall in the back with Hall and Mene."

Martin simply asked Harris: "Is the Australian horn thing done?"

After Bruce told him about these things, Martin only paid attention to them at first, but then ignored them.

Harris smiled and said, “Elena, Bruce, Mene, and I jointly invested to set up an import and export company, acquired the relevant qualifications, and reached a supply agreement with the crew.”

Martin understood a little and stopped caring about it.

Currently, this business has only one client, the crew of "The Dark Knight", but the profit is not low. For Harris and his four friends, it is also a considerable income.

Bruce also specifically dragged Mene along, and some business collaborations within the crew were also handled by Mene.

Uncle Mene has always been good at verbal disputes.

Mene and Hall came out of the small hall arm in arm, looking like close brothers.

Martin asked Bruce, "What did they two do?"

Bruce said: "Menet taught Hall some of his tricks."

Martin looked at Hall, who had also grown up in the blink of an eye.

It appears that Harris, at Hall's age, had already tutored twins, taught them carefully, and put them under the table.

Elena looked at the time and took the initiative to invite: "I prepared dinner, can we talk while eating?"

The group went into the restaurant.

The next morning, Martin continued filming at Gray Film and Television Center.

Thomas rushed to Coca-Cola headquarters to discuss a new endorsement contract with Coca-Cola. The two sides will sign a new global endorsement contract, and Thomas plans to increase Martin's endorsement advertising fee to tens of millions of dollars a year.

In the studio at Gray Film and Television Center, the crew held a producer and director meeting before filming began today.

Because of his key role in the Joker, Martin was also invited to participate in the meeting.

Emma Thomas said: "We bought an abandoned candy factory in the suburbs, where we filmed the scene where Rachel was killed in the explosion, and then painted and renovated the exterior. From the outside, it now looks like a hospital building."

She sent the photo to Charles Rowan and Martin: "In a few days, this place will be completely blown up."

Martin looked at the photo carefully and saw a very large building.

Nolan said to Martin: "This is the hospital building that the Joker is going to blow up."

"Very interesting." Martin asked with a smile, "No one will come to us for compensation, right?"

Charles Rowan answered: "This place has been abandoned for many years. There are no residential areas nearby. We have also passed the relevant audits."

Emma Thomas added: "Just blow it up."

Martin nodded: "I'm fine."

Nolan gave him a few pages of a brand new script: "I have someone slightly modify the script based on the situation on the scene. You study it carefully, and the crew will shoot according to the new script."

Martin glanced quickly and still said, "No problem on my side."

The director's requirements do not exceed the terms of the contract, and the actors must complete the work with quality and quantity, which is basic professionalism.

Charles Rowan warned: "Emma, ​​please contact the Atlanta fire management department, just in case."

Emma said, "Everyone has said hello."

The crew received tremendous support, including tax refunds from the state of Georgia and full cooperation from Atlanta.

The meeting ended in less than ten minutes, and everyone went into the studio to start today's filming.

After a short break to adjust, Bell returned to the crew.

Martin went over to say hello and said loudly, "Hi, Bell, I heard you're having some troubles. If you need any help, just let me know. This is Atlanta, maybe I can think of some solutions."

Hearing these well-intentioned words, Bell stared at Martin with wide eyes, his bloodshot eyes filled with suppressed anger and cruelty.

Because Bell felt that this bastard was clearly mocking him.

There were many crew members, and many of them heard what Martin said. When they saw Bell's ferocious eyes, their sense of him decreased again.

"Go! Go away!" Bell's words seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, squeaking and harsh: "Stay away from me, don't pretend to be a good person in front of me!"

The white paint on Martin's face couldn't hide the injustice that was bubbling all over his body: "I'm pretending to be a good person? Haha..."

He shook his head and smiled, then turned and left.

Bell stared at Martin viciously like a mad wolf.

Suddenly there was discussion around.

"How could this person be like this? He did something bad himself and took his anger out on others."

"Martin meant well, but he didn't accept it, and he acted like this!"

"That's right. Compared to Martin, he has less ability, a bad temper, and acts like he's so great."

Bell turned his head towards the sound and found that it was a few extras from Atlanta who were whispering to each other, and he became furious.

But thinking that director Nolan had been very dissatisfied with him in the past few days, the swear words that were about to come out of his mouth did not break through his teeth, but were swallowed back down.

Bell took a sip of water, shook his head vigorously, and suddenly realized that there were no good people in this crew!

Even Morgan Freeman and Maggie Gyllenhaal spent a lot of time hanging out with Martin Davis.

The mocking and sarcastic remarks completely disappeared only when the filming started.

Bale's angry state did not affect the filming, because the remaining Batman scenes were mostly scenes after being angered by the Joker.

While filming one scene after another, that pale face was always smiling in front of Bale, smiling so wildly and crazily that he wanted to punch it hard.

During the break, Morgan Freeman sat with Martin again and said, "I have been filming for decades, and the crew of The Dark Knight is the most interesting one."

Martin grinned. "Really? It's more fun than the crews in the 70s and 80s? It's said that they played more wildly back then."

"It's different." Freeman thought for a while and said, "At that time, actors were actors and directors were directors."

He signaled with his eyes to the director's monitor: "Look at this crew now. The director doesn't look like a director, and the leading actor doesn't look like a leading actor."

Martin agreed: "So, Morgan, this is the crew of the new era. Filming is only a small part of the work. The rest is the key to the film's success."

Freeman shook his head slightly: "I'm old and don't understand it." He pondered and said: "Maybe in the future, directors like Nolan will become the mainstream in Hollywood."

Martin asked, "Why?"

Freeman said: "Because whether a movie can be a hit, the gimmicks, the hype and the marketing have become more important than the movie itself."

(End of this chapter)