America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

On Monday, Martin, Nolan, and Charles Roven entered the Warner Building from the underground parking lot and took an elevator up.

When the three of them exited the private elevator, Warner's president assistant Marisa was waiting to greet them in the elevator lobby.

The moment the elevator doors opened, she swiftly stepped forward, shaking hands with each of the three as they exited, smiling, "Barry and Ellen are waiting for you."

Charles said, "Let's go over."

Martin and Nolan nodded and followed him out of the elevator lobby.

The door to a reception room opened from the inside, and Barry Meyer, the CEO of Warner Bros., along with Ellen Horn, the president of Warner Bros. Pictures, came out to greet them.

"Welcome our director who created a box office miracle!" Barry Meyer sounded more like a fan rather than like the head of a big company.

He shook hands with Nolan first, and then firmly with Martin, "And the leading man who created the legend."

Martin replied with a smile, "With a well-written character and guidance from Director Nolan, I was able to bring the Joker to life."

Ellen Horn replied with a laugh, "Martin, you've made cinematic history; anyone or any media discussing the most classic villains in film history will certainly mention the Joker and your name."

Martin shook hands with him, and since Warner Bros. Pictures had also invested in "The Dark Knight," all the past unpleasantness dissipated in the face of huge commercial profits.

Just like in sports, as long as you keep winning, no problem is really a problem.

After Barry made the pleasantries, he went straight to the point, "Chris, Charles told me you have a new project?"

"I've had this idea before shooting 'The Dark Knight,' an original concept." Nolan knew that big original projects weren't popular in Hollywood, but now he felt confident, "It will combine sci-fi, adventure, action, and mystery, and it might involve an investment of over 150 million US dollars."

If a common director mentioned a big original investment project here, Barry and Ellen might have shown them the door immediately, but Nolan was different.

Nolan continued to add weight to his proposal: "The screenplay is still written by Jonathan, and Charles will be the producer!"

He stated the most significant factor, "Martin will be the leading man!"

To have Nolan as the director and Martin as the leading man made Barry think that such an original sci-fi project might not be a bad idea after all.

The combined drawing power of these two would likely be very strong.

The Dark Knight's 172 million US dollars in its opening weekend was too convincing.

Ellen Horn interjected, "Why not let Warner Bros. handle this project, I'll figure out the financing." He believed he had found the key point, "Chris, I have only one requirement, Martin must be the leading man!"

Nolan looked at Martin as if Juliet had seen her Romeo, "Apart from Martin, I don't acknowledge any other actors."

What could Martin say? He could only smile at the two of them.

The cascading effects of a box office blockbuster were simply too powerful.

......

New York, a small ferry dock in Manhattan.

Leonardo and Scorsese got out of the car, ready to take the earliest vintage ferry to Roosevelt Island, to the long-abandoned mental hospital there for inspiration.

"Hey, buddy, wanna become the Joker?" someone shouted, "Only ten dollars!"

Leonardo looked in the direction of the voice and saw one pale face after another painted with bright red smiles.

He recognized the look – it was Martin's portrayal of the Joker.

A balloon vendor walked by, carrying red balloons and also donning the Joker makeup.

Leonardo couldn't help but remark, "So many Jokers!"

Scorsese said, "Martin's character has had a huge impact, it's become phenomena."

Leonardo sighed, "This guy, he'll have bragging rights in front of me now, an opening weekend of 172 million US dollars!"

Suddenly, two assistants came over, pulled Leonardo and Scorsese into the car, shut the doors tightly, and the driver drove the car far away.

It turned out that a robbery had taken place at a convenience store on the side of the old dock.

From the car window, Leonardo saw the robber running out of the convenience store, his face painted ghastly white with a bright red smile, he was clearly a Joker!

"Martin's influence is just too damn strong!" Leonardo couldn't help but say, "Even the robbers are dressing up as the Joker!"

Scorsese saw it too, "Movies do have an impact on reality."

Leonardo, being a member of the Trio of Scoundrels, couldn't help but feel schadenfreude, "Among Martin's fans will be a large portion of utter nuts."

Scorsese suddenly shifted the conversation to his own work, "Leo, you need to bring out the spirit Martin has."

Leo scratched his head, "Ah, never thought the day would come when I'd be outdone by Martin." He asked, "Unless something unexpected happens, 'The Dark Knight' should be the box office champion of the year, right?"

As 'The Dark Knight' stayed hot in theaters, Batman shone brightly once more, but the Joker had a greater influence.

The Joker became the first choice for many people's face paint, and many robbers and "zero money purchase" thieves painted the Joker's face on themselves, as if it gave them confidence in their endeavors.

Inevitable negative voices began to arise, the "Washington Post" pointed out that the Joker might trigger a crime wave.

But Hollywood has never cared much for such opinions, and similar criticisms rarely bring significant negative effects on movies.

For instance, during the hot screening of 'The Matrix,' a boy killed his parents because he believed he was living inside the mother matrix.

Meanwhile, 'The Dark Knight' continued to set new box office records.

The film took just four days to break through 200 million US dollars in North America, setting a new record for the fastest to reach that milestone.

......

Sherman Oaks, Cody Community.

In recent days, the front door of Martin's house had been surrounded by numerous reporters, paparazzi, and movie fans.

Countless young people with their faces painted like the Joker wandered nearby, just hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite movie star.

Tony was one of them.

Although she was a girl, she had been captivated by the Joker from The Dark Knight.

Over the past weekend, Tony had walked into a cinema three times, contributing to The Dark Knight and the Joker's ticket sales.

In just three days, she had even formed a Joker Sisterhood.

These blonde girls were all tall and sexy, charmingly seductive.

Today, Tony led them to the opposite side of Martin's house.

Dressed in a red Coke culture shirt, their faces painted white like the Joker, the girls got out of their cars one after another and gathered under Tony's command.

Seeing the fans and reporters gathered at Martin's doorstep, Tony shouted, "Sisters, let's express the love in our hearts!"

Another girl, Aisha, responded, "Let Martin know we love him, that we love the Joker!"

A dozen girls stuck out their chests and swung their hips, starting to dance the Zombie Gun Dance.

They quickly caught the attention of the reporter paparazzi, whose cameras immediately turned towards them.

Tony yelled, "Follow my lead, one, two, three, rip!"

A dozen dancing girls simultaneously tore open their shirts, revealing a vast expanse of snowy peaks and the line written across them. Your next read is at empire

"I love the Joker, I love Martin!"

Tony took the lead and shouted, "I love Martin! I love Martin!"

The rest of the girls followed suit and joined in.

This shouting was contagious; it sparked the other fans to join in, "I love Martin! I love Martin!"

Suddenly, among these young people, a Latin middle-aged woman burst out, holding up a poster of a supporting actor from The Dark Knight, and bellowed with her loud, booming voice, "I love Mene! I love Mene!"

Unfortunately, she was too isolated to draw much attention.

The fans' voices were so loud that they spread throughout the entire Cody Community. The community residents, originally just watching, were seriously distressed and started calling the community committee.

Suddenly, a few reporter paparazzi sneaked over to Martin's side because they noticed a large bag of trash had rolled out of the garbage chute.

The eagle-eyed Tony also spotted this, she hurriedly put on her coat and beckoned, "Sisters, hurry and follow me, with some luck we might get something Martin has used, or clothes he's worn."

A dozen girls picked up their clothes and ran over to that spot.

Tony didn't forget to remind her companions, "Focus on the used condoms, whoever finds one for me, I'll pay her 2000 US dollars!"

Aisha asked, "What do you want a used condom for?"

"To taste Martin's flavor!" Tony said passionately, "If luck permits, maybe I could even have a baby with Martin, and his bloodline would forever be with me!"

Hearing this, the other girls felt secretly ashamed. None of them loved Martin as much as Tony did or could reach her level of devotion.

The dozen girls madly rushed to the side of the garbage bins, pushed aside the reporters digging through trash, grabbed the freshly discarded bags of garbage, and ran off.

Tony shouted, "Quick! Quick! Let's find a place to sort through this."

The reporter paparazzi, caught off guard by the girls, did not give up but chased after them, "Don't run, we found it first!"

One of the paparazzi, seeing the girls almost at their cars, had a stroke of inspiration and shouted, "Don't let them get away, there are private items of Martin's in there!"

Someone else shouted, "I saw two socks, definitely the original scent!"

Once these words were out, quite a few people were tempted, and some immediately took action, rushing to grab the items.

The already chaotic scene became even more disorderly.

However, before it could escalate further, vehicles from the Cody Community committee arrived on the scene along with the police cars.

Several LAPD officers got out, stabilized the situation, and then dispersed the crowd.

The community committee's chairman, Harold, had also become somewhat troubled, as too many people had gathered over the last couple of days.

Behind the iron gate, Martin sat in front of the attic window with sunflower seeds and cola, enjoying his snack.

Bruce cleaned up the sunflower seed shells from the table and reminded Martin, "Did you see that? Those girls are frantically grabbing the trash we threw away."

Martin asked, "Is there anything sensitive in there?"

Bruce said, "Apart from the life trash, just the clothes we disposed of."

"That's of no concern," Martin emphasized, "In the future, used condoms need to be dealt with separately."

Bruce teased him, "Or just don't use them at all."

Seeing the community committee chairman Harold approaching the gate, Martin said, "There comes Harold; let's go meet him."