America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 466: A Good Neighbor Is Not Last Named Wang
It was getting dark, the lights in the courtyard were turned on, and Martin and Elizabeth stood in front of the fountain, welcoming the guests as host and hostess.

Leonardo and Nicholson arrived early.

Martin's team members including Mene, Chad, Marcus and Bradt also came.

One luxury car after another drove into the northern part of Sunset Boulevard.

Soon, both sides of the road in front of Martin's house were filled with parked vehicles.

Because it is a gated community, paparazzi who come to join in the fun can only wait outside the community and can't take any pictures at all.

Martin greeted guest after guest, and the only thing that surprised him was that Wes Craven came in person.

In the past two years, the old man has not been in good health and rarely comes out to have fun.

Martin had only extended the invitation as a courtesy.

Craven looked around Martin's new home and said, "It's a very beautiful house, and an even more beautiful hostess."

Elizabeth smiled sweetly.

“And there were very lively parties,” Martin said.

Craven took a look and said, "I still miss the party where Jason and Freddy appeared together. It's a pity that I'm too old to play those games."

Elizabeth was curious, was it about Jason vs. Freddy?
Martin smiled and said, "When we have time, let's go wash our faces together."

Craven waved his hand and said, "I won't go. These activities are not suitable for me. But Martin, you have to remember one thing. The traditions of our Face Gang must not be lost!"

Martin said very seriously: "The traditions of the Face Gang must not be lost."

Craven patted Martin on the shoulder and said, "Become a superstar soon." He pointed ahead and said, "I'm going to talk to my old friends."

Martin watched him go to the lawn on the left, where Leonardo and Nicholson, who had washed their faces together, as well as Warren Beatty, Robert De Niro and others, were gathered.

Elizabeth whispered, "I can see that you respect Director Craven very much."

Martin said: "Without Craven's support, I might not have developed so smoothly."

Thomas came over quickly and said, "Ali and Jim Witt are here."

These two men are the two top bosses of WMA. Martin went forward to greet them, and then walked a little further, Ali and Jim came towards him.

Martin shook hands with them and motioned for Elizabeth to accept their gifts.

Ali immediately spotted the circle of old white men and said to Martin, "Jim and I will go talk to them about Oscar."

Martin was not polite: "There are some things I said that were inappropriate, and Thomas's weight was not enough."

WMA still doesn’t have a super-giant client, but Ali sees hope in Martin: “Leave it to me.”

Jim also said to Martin: "You were nominated for Best Supporting Actor the year before last and Best Actor last year. You are no longer a pure newcomer and have the qualifications."

The two men went hand in hand to where the old white men gathered.

In addition to veteran actors, well-known Los Angeles critics such as Kenneth Turan and Todd McCarthy also gathered in this small circle.

Nicholson has been enjoying being the commander recently, and took the initiative to change the topic to Martin and the Joker: "When talking about people with good acting skills, we can't ignore Martin, a comic book superhero character, which he played so well."

He was having a lot of fun and was happy, and he didn't mind helping his younger brother to blow his trumpet: "To be honest, the clown I played was not as good as Martin's."

Warren Beatty said: "Old man, you can be humble sometimes, which is rare."

Nicholson took a glass of wine from the waiter and said, "I'm only saying this to you in private. I won't admit it to anyone else. Jack Nicholson has three Oscars, and Martin has zero!"

The group burst into laughter.

Ali interjected at the right time: "Martin is indeed a man of great research spirit. In Hollywood today, how many young actors are willing to immerse themselves in darkness and loneliness to feel the inner world of the character?"

These old white men look down upon young actors who become famous easily and then act extremely arrogantly, and the character created by Martin just suits their taste.

Warren Beatty said: "Indeed, Martin played the role of darkness, madness and perversion to the fullest."

Kenneth Turan, chief film critic of the Los Angeles Times, feels the same satisfaction as watching a student he has personally guided grow step by step when looking at Martin today.

This is a very strange feeling, but it can affect people's emotions. He continued: "It's a selfless performance that goes deep into the bones! Martin plays such a complex role as the Joker into a role that everyone respects."

Leonardo said casually, "Martin, that bastard, really turned into a complete bastard after playing the Joker. He has been seeing a psychiatrist recently and took a long break before he really got rid of it."

Ali added: "Many people around me said that they fell in love with a movie because of a villain. Martin played a supporting role but stole the limelight from the protagonist."

He specifically mentioned the topic: "When was the last time such a classic villain appeared? I remembered, Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal!"

"The Joker is indeed comparable to Hannibal," Warren Beatty said slowly, "If this wasn't a comic book adaptation, I would even vote for Martin for Best Actor." Ali said half-jokingly, "A Best Supporting Actor would be fine, right?"

This is a natural disadvantage of non-realistic themes. If The Dark Knight was not closer to a realistic crime film, these people might not even be interested in discussing it.

The discussion here is very heated.

On the other side, Martin was welcoming Charlize Theron and a man whose name he didn't remember.

"It's our honor to have you here." Martin, the host, said only nice words tonight.

Charlize Theron looked past Martin and saw many directors, actors and producers. She knew she had come to the right place tonight and said with a smile, "Martin, we are neighbors. You don't have to be so polite."

“In my hometown of Atlanta, we have a saying that a good neighbor is better than a family member,” Martin said.

The prerequisite is that the good neighbor is not named Wang.

Charlize laughed: "That makes a lot of sense."

Stuart Townsend seemed a little impatient.

In fact, this couple, the woman is stronger than the man, and fierce conflicts have broken out many times.

It was hard to explain why, but Stuart was a little displeased with Martin. He quietly pulled Charlize and pointed to the far right: "We see a friend. Shall we go over and say hello?"

Martin smiled and said, "Please do as you please."

Elizabeth looked at Charlize's back and said with envy: "She has a great figure, a natural clothes hanger."

Martin acted very calm in front of her: "It's just a clothes rack."

Charlize Theron is tall, has long legs, broad shoulders and a big frame. She looks really good in the right clothes, but if she takes them off... well, she doesn't look bad at all?
Martin vaguely remembered that this Oscar-winning actress, in her usual fine tradition, often took off her clothes in front of the camera.

The engaged couple also talked about their new neighbors.

"This person left a very bad impression on me. I will avoid associating with him/her in the future." Contrary to their wealth and fame, Stewart was very strong in front of Charlize.

Charlize said: "He has a pretty good reputation in the industry."

Stuart looked around and saw that there was no one around. He whispered, "I don't think he is a good person. I told you to have less contact with him, so you should have less contact with him."

Charlize didn't want to argue in this place, so she took the initiative to give in: "I understand."

The last person to come over was David Fincher. He shook hands with Martin and said, "I've been busy with the post-production of Benjamin today and forgot the time."

"It's okay." Martin asked, "You haven't had dinner yet?"

David Fincher has been so busy lately that he said, "I didn't even have lunch."

Martin simply took him to the dining area.

David Fincher was not polite and asked to fill his stomach first before anything else.

After eating some barbecue and drinking a glass of wine, he said, "Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures have submitted the film for the competition unit of next year's Cannes Film Festival. Remember to reserve a date in mid-May next year, and then we can go together to experience the romance of France."

Martin deliberately asked: "David, it seems that you have experienced the romance of France?"

David Fincher said: "I would like to experience the romance of Isabelle Adjani, but I never had the chance. My former French goddess is also old."

Martin asked: "I remember her split from Daniel Day-Lewis and she remained single."

David Fincher shook his head again and again: "Even if I'm single, I won't pursue her. I can only watch the goddess from afar because I won't get married. Marriage is too terrible."

Hearing him mention that marriage is scary, Martin suddenly remembered the novel Gillian Flynn had just written and said, "By the way, I have a novel here about love and marriage. The theme and background are relatively dark. I I think it would be good to adapt it into a movie, would you like to see it?"

David Fincher became interested as soon as he heard it: "A dark marriage?"

Martin said roughly: "The story of a couple from falling in love to hurting each other is thrilling and full of black humor."

David Fincher knew Martin, who was a very serious person at work. Seeing his high evaluation, he said, "It's just right. You are going to the crew to do post-production dubbing in a few days. You can bring it over to me then."

"Okay, I'll bring the manuscript over then." The movie Martin had seen in his previous life was the work of David Fincher. Now he has worked with David Fincher before and the relationship between the two sides is also good. Of course, he would give priority to David Fincher.
David Fincher heard it: "The work is not finished yet?"

Martin nodded. "The original author is a deputy editor-in-chief of Entertainment Weekly. Only part of the novel has been completed. My studio has signed a film and television adaptation agreement with her. It may take about a year for the novel to be completed."

David Fincher calculated the time and found that "Benjamin" would not be released until a year later, which is about the same time and schedule.

After Martin finished his brief chat with David Fincher and reunited with Elizabeth, he walked among the guests, fully demonstrating his host's enthusiasm.

(End of this chapter)