King of Hollywood

Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Don’t You Ever Get Tired?

1991 finally passed, and after spending Christmas Eve with “The Godfather”, Adrian took Kate back to London to fulfill his promise to Little Emma. However, considering Kate’s feelings, they spent six days with the little girl before using a trip back to Los Angeles as an excuse to have a good time in Paris.

Of course, when parting, the little girl still eagerly demanded a promise to set a time for his next visit. Although it was somewhat comical, thinking about his plans for the year, Adrian still placated her by giving a date.

“Actually, if she wasn’t so indifferent to me, I could often visit him,” Kate said on the Champs Elysees, mentioning the little girl inadvertently.

However, Adrian immediately teased her, “Please remember, Miss, you are currently attending university in California.”

Stumped, Kate could only glare at him reproachfully.

The two then traveled to Luxembourg and the Netherlands and spent the New Year holiday in Europe before returning to New York. As usual, Adrian planned to visit his uncle, but he wasn’t sure whether he should bring Kate, considering Uncle Anderson’s temper.

However, Kate insisted on going: “You’ve already met my family; shouldn’t I have the chance to meet yours? If you’re worried about your uncle’s temper, I can handle it.”@@novelbin@@

Since that was settled, after giving her several pointers and rehearsing at the hotel, Adrian took Kate to his uncle’s house. Luckily, the visit went smoothly; although his uncle still kept a stern face and spoke in a preachy tone, he was much better than before and remained neutral towards Kate, neither showing dislike nor affection.

Auntie seemed to really like Kate, chatting and asking her numerous questions, but when it came to how she and Adrian met, Uncle snorted through his nose, which only Adrian, sitting closest, heard.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Ed,” Anderson said privately, “There are plenty of nice girls in the Upper East Side; don’t always focus on those…types of people.”

Hearing this, Adrian shrugged with a mixture of amusement and resignation and said nothing. Well, at least Uncle didn’t use offensive words, indicating that he considered his feelings. Whatever Uncle thought, Adrian knew what he wanted.

After staying in New York for about three more days, on January 6th, Adrian and Kate returned to Los Angeles. Once relaxed, it was naturally time to dive back into post-production. The film industry seemed calm over the holidays, though many films were released, but the Soviet Union’s dissolution captured most people’s attention.

As expected, on December 25th, Gorbachev announced his resignation, and the tricolor flag rose at the Moscow Kremlin after over sixty years, marking the Soviet Union as a chapter in history.

The impact on the Western world was unimaginable. After many years of standoff, the sudden collapse was hard to accept. In the studio, Adrian often heard staff discussing the reasons and implications of the Soviet Union’s dissolution—staff who usually cared little for politics and voting.

Adrian, however, was not concerned, giving only cursory responses when asked. He focused entirely on editing “Scent of a Woman.” Building a vast empire was no easy task; even with knowledge of the future, one could not act carelessly. Caution was necessary at times, as was decisiveness.

Even so, this opportunistic, rapid development brought substantial benefits but also many problems. If not handled well, escalating issues could lead to collapse in an instant. Thus, everything he was doing now laid the foundation for a future empire, each strike solidifying the base, making it stronger against impacts.

After mid-January had passed, the post-production editing of “Scent of a Woman” was finally completed. The film’s presentation was conventional, and the editing techniques didn’t require much attention, so it was completed ahead of schedule. Nonetheless, Adrian couldn’t help but lament about how inconvenient computer editing was.

After completing the editing, Adrian could wash his hands off it. Subtitles, soundtracks, and the like were left to others to synthesize, but then Laverne approached Adrian to discuss the movie’s promotional work, though the president could never have predicted the answer he would receive.

“In my opinion, this movie will be released at the end of this year, so there’s no need to rush the promotion,” Adrian said, gesturing as he spoke.

Laverne raised his eyebrows in surprise and pondered for a few minutes before responding, “Because of the Oscars?”

“Yes, we all know that releasing at the end of the year has its advantages. Since this movie is aimed at the Oscars, delaying it a year is also feasible,” Adrian spread his hands, “Although this will incur additional costs, I believe you can recoup this extra cost through promotion, right?”

“You really trust me, Ed.” Laverne’s tone was slightly helpless.

“Of course, I trust you, or else I wouldn’t have entrusted you with the PR of ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ Laverne,” said Adrian with a grin.

Laverne fell silent for a while, then flashed a strange smile, “Alright, then let’s shelve this movie for now. But, Ed, I’m curious, since you’ve already decided to release this film at the end of the year, why rush the post-production like this?”

The smile on Adrian’s face immediately stiffened, and after staring blankly at Laverne for a long time, he finally hung his head, chuckled ruefully, and shook his head, “Alright, that was an oversight on my part.”

Seeing his dejected look, Laverne, usually a serious middle-aged man, couldn’t help bursting into laughter. Obviously, due to the high intensity of the previous three movies, Adrian had become accustomed to editing immediately after filming. With so much to focus on, he didn’t think much when producing “Scent of a Woman,” resulting in such an awkward situation.

“Okay, Laverne, stop laughing, what’s there to laugh about? Haven’t you ever had this problem?” Adrian sighed as he looked at Laverne, who was still laughing behind the desk.

“I can’t help but laugh, Ed, even someone as confident as you can make such a mistake,” Laverne said, shaking his head, trying his best to hold back his laughter, but it seemed he was about to fail.

Adrian raised his hands, “Okay, let’s talk about the new movie now.”

“God! Another new movie! Don’t you ever get tired?!” This time it was Laverne’s smile that froze on his face.

(Next week’s strong push… Keep seeking…)