Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 419 Meg Ryan, America's Sweetheart
After a fun-filled night, all the girlfriends overslept the next day.

In the afternoon, Link brought several of his girlfriends who were not pregnant to the AMC theater on Sunset Boulevard to attend the premiere of "The English Patient".

Due to the recent surge in popularity of Guess the Movies, many famous filmmakers came to show their support, including the Weinstein brothers, the president of Columbia Pictures, Jeremy Marloni, Robert Shea, Tom Cruise, Bruce Willis and his wife, Jim Carrey and his wife, and so on.

The ceremony was a star-studded affair, with many big names in attendance.

Following the premiere ceremony, Guess the Movies hosted a premiere party at the Hilton Hotel to entertain the guests and media.

At the party, everyone surrounded Link, praising "The English Patient" as fantastic and wishing the film great success. Some even brought up the possibility of a film collaboration, which Link readily accepted, letting Daniel DeVito take charge.

Many female celebrities attended the premiere today. Since they didn't have a chance to talk to Link in person, they approached some of Link's girlfriends, hoping to get on his good side through them.

"Judy, are you and Michelle really going for this?"

Meg Ryan, America's sweetheart, held a champagne glass and looked at Link in the middle of the crowd, asking in a low voice.

"What's real or fake?"

"Are you planning to be Link's girlfriends long-term, or just playing around?"

"Of course, we're not people who just play around."

Jodie Foster shrugged. For reasons of secrecy, she hadn't told Meg Michelle Pfeiffer about her pregnancy; if she had, Meg would probably have screamed in surprise.

"Is Link really that great, that he can make you two disregard what others think and voluntarily go public with your relationship?"

This is what Meg Ryan is most curious about.

No matter the era or place, being someone's lover or a third or fourth party is never a glorious thing.

Jodie Foster, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Diane Lane are all celebrities and public figures who pay great attention to their personal image.

After becoming Link's girlfriends, they disregarded public opinion and publicly revealed their private relationships with Link, which she and many others found unbelievable and couldn't understand why they would do this or what benefits they would gain from it.

Jodie Foster smiled slightly, swirling her champagne glass, and said, "Although I've never had a boyfriend and don't know what other men are like, from my personal experience, Link is a perfect man. He can exceed all my needs and desires. Being with him, I experience happiness every moment. Michelle and Diane think so too."

"Really? Is he... well, you mean?"

Meg Ryan made a suggestive gesture with her hand.

Jodie Foster blushed and glared at her. "Don't be so lewd, okay? If it's just like that, it'll get boring after a while. We focus more on intellectual exchange and spiritual communication when we're together. It's wonderful, and words can't describe it."

"Is it that amazing? It feels like magic."

Meg Ryan blinked, put her arm around Jodie Foster's shoulder, and laughed, "Honey, could you introduce me to Link so I can experience your happiness too?"

“No, Link is too great. You’ll fall for him. If you fall for him and don’t let go, Michelle and I will have another competitor. I don’t want to do that.”

Judy laughed.

"You're so stingy! We're friends. I even helped you when you didn't like men. Now that you have Link, you've forgotten about your friend. You're so stingy."

Meg Ryan angrily tried to scratch her face.

Jodie Foster smiled and avoided the question.

Not far away, Nicole Kidman was also accompanied by two beautiful women.

One is Naomi Watts, who rose to fame with her supporting role in "Scream," with blonde hair, a red dress, and a youthful face, like a Barbie doll.

Another is the elegant beauty Cate Blanchett, also from Australia, who was invited by the crew of "Road to Paradise" to film in Hollywood last month.

Nicole Kidman is going to introduce the two to Link.

Although everyone in Link's group of girlfriends gets along well and often seeks each other out as allies, there is also competition and some small cliques behind the scenes.

Among them, Liu Xiaoli, Monica, and Sofia formed the largest group and were the most competitive for favor.

Jennifer Connelly also had her advantages, but she was aloof, disliked vying for favor or forming cliques, and only befriended a few artsy young women like Winona Ryder and Liv Tyler, though they also received a lot of affection.

Michelle Pfeiffer and Jodie Foster form their own group; they are older, more famous, and adept at networking, making them rising stars in Link's group of girlfriends and increasingly competitive. Nicole Kidman, after joining Link's group, also tried to win over some of them to vie for Link's favor, but she joined too late and her status in the industry is not as high as Michelle, Jodie, Sandra, etc., so she doesn't have much influence.

Therefore, she had no choice but to bring in outside help to please Link, believing that Link would like it.

"Kate, have you signed with a talent agency?"

Nicole Kidman, wearing a gold sequined gown and with her long, flowing golden waves, paired with her fair skin and tall, voluptuous figure, became one of the highlights of the event.

"No, I've heard that Hollywood talent agencies have very high requirements, especially the four major ones, which are very difficult to join."

Cate Blanchett said.

"Yes, the Big Four rarely sign newcomers now, they only sign established actors to train. But if you want to sign with one of the Big Four, I can help you."

Nicole Kidman smiled slightly.

"Wouldn't this be too much trouble for you?"

Cate Blanchett was somewhat tempted. To truly join the big party of the entertainment industry, one had to join one of the Big Four talent agencies or the Big Eight film studios. Those outside of the Big Four and Big Eight could only play minor roles.

Naomi Watts interjected, "This is nothing to Nicole. Nicole is Link's girlfriend now. Link is a shareholder of UTA, a senior partner of WMA, has a very close relationship with CAA, and has a deep collaboration with ICM in the modeling agency field. Link is like the king of Hollywood. Nicole can do this kind of thing without Link even asking."

Nicole Kidman shrugged. "It's just a lot of collaboration and resource exchange. Besides, Kate, you're a good candidate and qualified to join one of the Big Four agencies. I'm just helping to introduce you."

"Nicole, thank you. It's my luck to have met you in Hollywood."

Cate Blanchett said gratefully.

"You're welcome!"

Nicole Kidman smiled slightly, and after Link finished dealing with the guests, she led Naomi Watts and Cate Blanchett over to introduce Cate, her new fellow countrywoman.
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The premiere of "The English Patient" was a great success, and the next day many film critics wrote articles praising the film's extremely high production quality.

Many media outlets have praised the film and Link himself with phrases such as "most touching love movie of the year," "epic love movie," "a classic masterpiece in the love genre," and "Link never disappoints."

Moviegoers also really enjoyed the film.

Sophie Marceau, Julie Delpy, Diana, and others praised the film "The English Patient" after watching it.

They said it was the best romantic movie they had ever seen, praising him as incredibly talented, the most gifted director in the world, better at making films than Godard, Hitchcock, Spielberg, and others, and that he would be the greatest director in film history.

Director James Cameron also called to praise "The English Patient" as very moving and his favorite of all of Link's films.

Steven Soderbergh and director Richard Linklater said they wanted to learn how to make movies from him.

Quentin Tarantino's tone was not very friendly. He criticized him for having slept with Diana, making billions of dollars in the stock market, and now making a movie like "The English Patient." He said that he had all the good things in the world and that people like him are unlikely to have any friends.

Tom Cruise also called, praising Link and "The English Patient" with many beautiful words, and expressing his hope to have the opportunity to act in his film.

Michael Ovitz also congratulated Link on the phone with a smile, saying that he has a great chance of winning an Oscar next year.

Harvey Weinstein's congratulations were heavy-hearted; the "congratulations" he uttered sounded more disheartening than "please accept my condolences."

Many people expressed their friendliness to him, even his enemies.

Due to its positive reviews, "The English Patient" became the most popular film at the end of the year, receiving more media exposure than any other film released during the same period.

After a week of release, the film grossed $3851 million in 2471 theaters across North America, unsurprisingly taking the top spot at the box office.

Second place went to the comedy film "Angels Are Not Guarded," released by New Line Cinema and starring John Travolta, Andy MacDowell, and others. It tells the story of an angel with a unique appearance and eccentric temperament.

It grossed $2762 million in 2141 theaters in its opening week, making it a very competitive film.

The third place went to "Jerry Maguire," starring Tom Cruise, which earned $1703 million, bringing its North American box office total to $8235 million. It is expected to break $100 million in box office revenue within two weeks.

This week, Toy Story dropped to fifth place, earning $984 million, bringing its total box office to $1.35 million.

Scream earned $133 million and grossed $1.01 million in North America, becoming Guess Movies' fifth film to break $5 million at the North American box office this year.
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After the release of "The English Patient," Link participated in several film promotion events in North America. Just before New Year's Day, he and the crew returned to Ireland and France to film the movie.

(End of this chapter)