Chapter 95: Chapter 95: It’s Not Easy in the Spotlight
Although Monica Bellucci was more experienced than Kate, women are women after all, and they do share certain similarities. Just as Adrian once told Dennis, if you want to attract a woman’s attention, you necessarily have to set yourself apart, whether as a bad boy, a humorous and understanding person, or someone powerful.
Of course, this was still far from enough—if your goal was an ML rather than just going to bed—you would have to understand what was on their minds, what each of their actions meant, whether it was resistance or a mixed signal. Then, you could use that to stir the other person’s heartstrings and seize control of the game. Yes, the game was complicated and troublesome, and the possibility of failure was also high; however, which was more pleasing, controlling someone’s body or their mind and body?
From the current situation, Monica was already under control; a suitable opportunity plus a little extra push was all that was needed. Back outside the restaurant, Adrian pinched his fingers with a smile and frankly stated that her figure was indeed outstanding.
However, as much as teasing was part of the game, it was important to maintain decorum. The main task at hand was filming “Pulp Fiction”; he couldn’t let her get too distracted. In fact, that earlier forceful kiss had been slightly overboard, but luckily, the character Mia was important but not unfathomable. With Adrian’s explanation, Monica merely had more NGs, but her performance was not much worse than Uma Thurman’s.
“Mr. Adrian, your phone,” an assistant said, running over with a large old-style cellphone just as he sat down.
“Phone?” Adrian frowned, but relaxed immediately after answering it. “Roger? What’s up? Oh, nothing, you handled that well… No, I’ve told you I don’t have time right now… Really? You’ve asked for Laverne’s opinion? Alright, I understand, but that will have to wait until next month; I can’t drop my current work… No problem, I can agree to that condition… That settles it.”
After ending the call, Adrian shrugged, relieved he had arranged for Roger to be his agent a while ago; otherwise, he would inevitably have suffered headaches during this period. Although as time passed and with the awards ceremonies postponed until the end of March, the flurry of news about the Oscar nominations list began to fade, public curiosity about Adrian remained high.
The key was in the two articles by Haggis, especially the first one, which satisfied many people’s curiosity by digging up dirt on a person. In fact, Adrian would have never agreed to the exclusive interview if Haggis’s attitude hadn’t been relatively objective.
Once the second article was published, Adrian used his busy work schedule as an excuse to decline further interviews, inadvertently whetting the public’s appetite even more. If one considers the time from when he started producing “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” he’d been in the entertainment industry for less than two years but had already worked on five movies. Even though Haggis’s second article provided an overview of Adrian, it was inevitable that people would imagine all sorts of things based on their experiences, thus fueling their curiosity and attention toward him. That’s how one’s popularity increases.
“Adrian clearly knows how to keep people interested in him,” someone had once said irritably.
Regardless, as the attention on Judi Foster, Anthony Hopkins, and others began to slowly return to normal levels, Adrian still maintained a high profile. Even though he announced through Roger that he was temporarily not taking interviews, many reporters and media outlets still tried various ways to invite him to their shows. Fortunately, as a director rather than an actor, he didn’t always have reporters hanging around the set hoping to catch some action.
But there’s always a trade-off; though these folks weren’t engaged in 24-hour surveillance like they would with stars, they would dig into Adrian’s past just like Haggis did. Regular media were still manageable, but tabloids were relentless. Headlines like “The ‘Bad Student’ Genius Director” were fairly normal, and the content was even more exaggerated; yet, these tabloid reporters knew very well where the line was.
Because of these guys, Adrian had been somewhat bemused during this period.
“Ed, did you often attend those kinds of… parties in college?” This was a question from Kate, prompted by her roommate. No matter how calm she tried to keep her tone, a hint of nervousness and awkwardness was still discernible.
Adrian had no idea how to respond. Brotherhood parties in American universities were indeed chaotic, and picking up girls at dance parties was common, but those kinds of… parties were absolutely out of the question. The school administration wouldn’t permit them, not to mention that if any incidents were exposed, any Brotherhood members, no matter how well-connected, would be finished, and all their carefully built connections could be destroyed in an instant.
“Hey, buddy, it’s the first time I’ve heard that you can dunk from the free-throw line like Jordan while playing basketball,” Claude said, calling with a laugh and a teasing tone, making Adrian want to punch him.
Despite being his best friend, Claude never missed a chance to tease him.
“Ed, I’m worried about you, your… uncle is also very worried about you,” his aunt called from New York.
Needless to say, his uncle, who valued reputation above all, was very upset with the situation. Their recently improved relationship was bound to be clouded again, even though he knew the news was false.
It was really frustrating, but Adrian had no solution—at least not for now. His media company was still somewhat underperforming; if he wanted to reach his set targets, more investment was needed. He didn’t know how Claude was handling things, as Adrian hadn’t asked and Claude hadn’t mentioned it.
That was also why when Roger called earlier urging Adrian to accept the invitation to NBC’s talk show, after much consideration, he agreed. After all, the low-profile period had ended, and it was necessary to refute some claims on TV as part of the corrective plan. Being a celebrity director didn’t seem like such a bad idea, as long as he carefully kept the other side hidden in the shadows—in Hollywood, that’s just how everyone operated, isn’t it?
“Adrian, your break is over,” the assistant director Markley came over.
“Alright, tell everyone to get ready.” Glancing at Monica as she came out from the side room, Adrian withdrew his thoughts and spoke.
Although there were plenty of troubles, there would always be a solution as long as he was careful enough.