King of Hollywood

Chapter 159: Chapter 159 Party (Part 1)

The villa was ablaze with light, the rhythm of lively dance music wafting back and forth, and the boisterous sounds rising and falling. Men and women crowded the hall with enthusiasm, groups of them holding glasses or bottles of alcohol, chatting, playing games, dancing, and laughing. If it weren’t January, there would also be many bikini-clad bombshells frolicking in the outdoor swimming pool.

Even though the weather was rather cold, the outdoors still hung with decorative lights and there were quite a few people wandering outside, chatting. Flamboyant, noisy, and bustling—this was an American party.

“This is an American party, Emma, I hope you don’t feel constrained,” Adrian said to Emma Thompson because there were so many people around, he had to raise his voice.

“No, not at all,” Thompson immediately shook her head but after being stared at by Adrian for a few minutes, she grinned and threw up her hands, “Okay, it is indeed a bit noisy.”

“If you really feel out of place, you can…” Adrian gestured without finishing his sentence.

“Thank you, I will,” Thompson nodded her head.

Although nominally the celebration was for “Scent of a Woman” having won the Golden Globe for Best Drama, in reality, there was more than that to celebrate, as the films that had taken the Best Actor and Actress in a Drama, as well as Best Supporting Actress, were all produced by Bossworth. Therefore, everyone from John Travolta, aside from Anthony Hopkins who was absent from the Golden Globe awards dinner due to commitments, was on the invite list. Emma Thompson had originally intended to decline, but Adrian kept persuading her.

“Come on, Emma, haven’t you attended an American party before? Moreover, everyone is going to be there. It wouldn’t be quite right without you,” he said.

Given that, Thompson had no choice but to agree. Of course, she had been to American parties before. She neither particularly liked nor disliked them, but tonight seemed just a little too noisy. Adrian seemed to have noticed this as well, which was why he took a moment to come over, ask, and say the above-mentioned words to her.

Of course, it wasn’t just the actors and crew of three, oh, four productions attending the party. In addition to them, there were a lot of other people, such as the heads of film companies or the agents of the actors, as well as their dates and friends.

“Hey, Eric, how does it feel?” Adrian now approached Eric Cahill, manager of the Disney department, to shake his hand. Cahill was currently chatting with Laverne about something.

“Hey, Ed, it’s such a pity you didn’t get the Golden Globe for Best Director,” Eric patted his arm.

“Thanks, but it’s okay. At least we got the Best Drama,” Adrian waved his hand indifferently.

“Of course, you had two nominations. If you hadn’t won Best Drama, the media surely would’ve questioned the credibility of the Golden Globes,” Eric said complimentarily.

That was one of the reasons why the media said Bossworth Film Company had dominated the headlines when the Golden Globe nominations were announced. “Scent of a Woman” and “Howards End” were both nominated for Best Drama, a first in Golden Globe history.

“Nonsense, I’m sure the judges of the Golden Globes are fair-minded in their decision-making,” Adrian laughed it off, not wanting to dwell on the subject. He promptly changed the topic and asked, “By the way, what were you two just talking about?”

“Some film-related stuff,” Laverne jumped in, “We just brought up ‘Casper.'”

“I think if Ed has any similar screenplays, we could work together again,” Eric stated outright, as the previous “Casper” only made $120 million at the North American box office, which didn’t seem like much, but the overseas box office exceeded $200 million, so Disney naturally wanted to repeat the success.

“Really?” Adrian said without any hesitation, “Talking of which, I do have a screenplay that would be a perfect fit for Disney.”

“Really?” Eric instantly showed a look of surprise.

“Of course,” Adrian nodded, “I came across an interesting screenplay quite by chance in the editing department of our company. Based on my judgment, it would make a decent film if produced, but with so much to do lately, there hasn’t been time to act on it. Handing it over to you guys now might also be a nice choice.”

“Is it a family film type?” Eric inquired.

“No, it’s a bit edgier in terms of its content but still suitable for the whole family to watch,” Laverne explained at his side, “Basically, it’s about a man who gets thrown out of his home due to a workplace blunder and has his custody rights taken away by his wife. To be with his children all the time, he must disguise himself as a woman to apply for a nanny job.”

Saying this, he sneakily glanced at Adrian, who then returned him a smile.

“That’s interesting, it sounds somewhat like Dustin Hoffman in ‘Tootsie’?” Eric asked with interest, “When can I see the screenplay?”

“I’ll have Laverne arrange it as soon as possible. After all, we have enjoyed our cooperation and will continue to enjoy working together, right?” Adrian said with a smile.

“Of course, we are the best of partners.” Since a hand was already extended towards him, how could Eric not shake it?

“Then it’s settled, you may continue, I’ll have to excuse myself for now.” Adrian nodded and then left.

The movie that was just mentioned was “Mrs. Doubtfire,” starring Robin Williams. In the original trajectory, the film was released at the end of ’93, so the shooting must have been done quite early. But now that the script had fallen into Adrian’s hands, he decided when it would be filmed.

Speaking of which, it was quite a surprise that this script ended up in his hands. Originally, during the filming of “Memento,” because of Joe Pantoliano, Adrian thought of that movie which mimicked “Home Alone”—”Baby’s Day Out.” It seemed that the film had achieved a decent box office, but after a third of it was written and shown to the company’s screenwriters and producers, most of them thought it was deliberately fun but a bit exaggerated; too many coincidences would reduce watchability.

Although Adrian disagreed, he still carefully searched his memory, and because he had plenty of clues, it didn’t take him long to find that bit of information in a corner. Indeed, as they had said, that movie had lost quite a bit of money. This made him more cautious, and from then on, if he had any ideas that suddenly came up because of something, he would surely remember to reflect on them before making a decision.

In addition, Adrian stepped up the review of scripts submitted to the editing department. Although he had Laverne send the submitted scripts to him every week after he had acquired Bossworth Film Company, he basically only looked at them once a month. After that incident, however, the review became a weekly task. It didn’t take much time; a spreadsheet with names and brief content was enough for him, and if something caught his attention, he would have his assistant bring it for a detailed read.

Then, during the first review, Adrian discovered the script for “Mrs. Doubtfire.” A good omen, wasn’t it? However, since he had already started the trilogy of ’92, he could only buy it and set it aside for a while, and it ended up being put off until the end of the year.

Laverne had intended to have his own company produce the film, and calculated that, since there were many indoor scenes, the budget wouldn’t be too high. So when Adrian told Eric there was a suitable script, he gave him a meaningful look.

But Adrian didn’t take it to heart; there were plenty of money-making movies, and there was no need to focus on just this one. Right now, he needed to consider some ideas regarding Disney, so leaving the operations to them was fine. After all, as a collaborating party, Bossworth Film Company was not unable to invest; they’d still have no shortage of say in the matter.

The party’s fervor continued, with the living room and courtyard almost overflowing with people. As lively as it was, if one wasn’t careful, an accident could occur. For instance—

“Be careful!” Adrian, stationed by the staircase, dashed forward and caught the girl who had stumbled and was falling down. Although he caught her, he couldn’t maintain his balance. He took several steps backward, his back hitting the wall with a soft thump before coming to a stop.

“It’s okay, there’s no problem here,” he said with a strained smile to the onlookers.

“Sarah, how are you?” Roselan hurried down from the stairs, reaching out to take her daughter from Adrian’s arms.

“Wait a moment, Rose,” Adrian stopped her, “It seems Sarah is not quite alright.”

Sarah Michelle Gellar in his arms had a slightly pale complexion and seemed unable to stand on her own.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Roselan said, her voice tinged with panic and confusion.

“Don’t worry, Sarah might have sprained her ankle,” Adrian spoke as he lifted Sarah in his arms and headed upstairs, “I’ll take her to a room. Could you please find Kate, Rose, and have her bring the first-aid kit to room 16?”

Climbing up to the second floor and swiftly reaching room 16, Adrian opened the door intending to set Sarah down. He then noticed that at some point, she had wrapped her arms around his neck and was staring at him in a daze.

“Sarah?” he tried calling her name.

Sarah jolted slightly, then seemed to come to her senses and began to struggle, wanting to get down: “I’m… I’m sorry, I just…”

“It’s alright, don’t talk just yet, sit down and let me take a look.” Without further ado, Adrian gently placed her in a chair, and knelt down to lift up her sprained leg into his lap, then proceeded to remove her shoes and socks.

“Ad… Adrian… I… I…” the girl called out, sounding somewhat flustered.

“Don’t worry, it’s going to be fine.” As if he hadn’t heard anything, Adrian carefully inspected her ankle. Minutes later, he looked up with a smile: “There, it’s just a bit red. You’re lucky; it’s not serious. A bit of rest and you’ll be able to walk again soon.”

“Um… Ah… Thank you,” Sarah said, lowering her head, seeming a bit shy to meet his gaze.

(To be continued, for more of the story, please visit www.qidian.com. More chapters are available, support the author, support genuine reading!)