I am Hollywood

[Chapter 1080: Promotion]

Eric merely glanced at the Vanity Fair magazine that Drew handed over, immediately recognizing the cover featuring Gwyneth's photo -- a body graffiti portrait adorned with various horror movie symbols.

It was evident that this was a piece he had whimsically created at a party at Kate Hudson's place. On the magazine cover's keyword section, bold letters clearly stated "A Work by Eric Williams."

He flipped to the related feature page, skimming through it. Aside from an interview with Gwyneth, the rest was largely promotional fluff for The Fast and the Furious, where Gwyneth replaced the original Jordana Brewster as Dominic's sister, Mia.

However, unlike the graffiti on all the other girls that night, Gwyneth's iconic "Williams handprint" was stamped right on her chest, and she wasn't wearing a bra. This was certainly a detail that could easily spark a conversation.

But since the person involved didn't seem to mind, Eric naturally didn't care. He put down the magazine and laughed, "Isn't it a bit late to show me this now that it's published?"

"I knew you'd agree, so I let them go ahead and do it," the girl said with her usual cheerful demeanor. After Merissa Mayer left the office, she dashed around the desk and jumped into Eric's arms, then pressed her little nose to him with a playful "gotcha" expression, before getting back to business. "Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and that Kristanna Loken are just rookies; the actors really had no buzz, so they had to rely on Kate."

In the cast of The Fast and the Furious, aside from Gwyneth Paltrow, who had starred in some low-budget indie films, everyone else could be considered Hollywood novices. Even Vin Diesel, who was initially supposed to have a minor role in Saving Private Ryan, had remained under the radar due to historical changes. MGM higher-ups had raised objections to this more than once and even submitted a list of famous Hollywood actors willing to lower their fees to sign onto the franchise.

After all, while MGM had been the paymaster for the major series in the spy universe, it was only a fraction compared to the explosive global box office for the three series. When reckoned closely, the pay for a few leads equaled that of Hollywood's A-list. Therefore, following Hollywood's traditional view, Eric's choice of rookies to star in the first spin-off of the spy universe was almost reckless. Without a connection to the spy universe, the cast of The Fast and the Furious wouldn't have attracted any audience attention at all.

"As long as Gwyneth is willing, that's all that matters," Eric said as he held the girl snugly in his arms, looking over at Gwyneth. "How was your Thanksgiving?"

"It's been ages since Thanksgiving," Gwyneth teased lightly, concealing her envy for Drew leaning against Eric. "Eric, are you free lately? We're hosting a party at my place."

"Sorry, but I'm swamped," Eric shook his head regretfully. "I'm so busy, I'm practically flying."

After a brief chat, Eric remembered a mountain of documents waiting to be reviewed, so he patted the girl in his lap. "Alright, I have work to do. You can take Gwyneth home."

The girl didn't linger too long; she leaned in and kissed Eric on the lips before standing up. "I'll take off then; we have a meeting to attend later."

...

Watching them leave the office, Eric turned his attention back to the pile of paperwork on the desk. Merissa Mayer had just placed some hiring documents for servers at the big ship's internal restaurant on top, and Eric casually grabbed it to skim through, unable to resist smiling. As he studied the candidates' profiles of the girls, he could easily envision Kelly's exasperated expression or Merissa Mayer's subtle resentment.

Compared to the original waitstaff's appearances, these ten candidates were pretty average in looks.

For example, one girl caught his eye -- she had round features with red hair and blue eyes, a hint of resolve at the corners of her eyes, and skin fair enough to align with Eric's aesthetic preferences.

He took a pencil and marked a few details on the profile, selecting three more girls before setting the documents aside to focus on other work.

...

In the first week of December, the British biopic Elizabeth, jointly produced by New Line and the UK's Working Title company, had officially opened on over 500 screens in North America.

As the lead actress, Cate Blanchett had already made a strong impression with her debut in Casino Royale, which helped Elizabeth garner significantly more popularity than the original version.

Moreover, as an actress raised on Shakespearean drama, Cate's performance in Elizabeth was simply stunning.

With rave reviews from critics and media alike, the film scored $5.69 million at the North American box office during its opening weekend, with a per-screen average exceeding $10,000. At this rate, the film was poised to surpass $8 million by the end of its first week.

As an indie film relying on a small-scale, long-run release strategy, Elizabeth's performance was decidedly remarkable -- considering that the previous year's Miramax production of The English Patient, which had a similar release scale, had only earned just over $4 million during the same period.

Simultaneously, Elizabeth became a frontrunner for Hollywood's awards season.

...

On the other hand, Eric had paid little mind to the Vanity Fair cover, yet it stirred a reaction far beyond anyone's expectations.

The day Drew showed Eric the sample magazine was actually the day before its official release.

The next day, the new issue of Vanity Fair hit the stands and immediately caught the attention of countless media outlets.

Despite the graffiti covering it, Gwyneth's photo arguably counted as a topless shot; Vanity Fair had always maintained a fairly risque cover scale, so this wasn't entirely out of the ordinary.

What ultimately grabbed everyone's attention was Gwyneth's iconic "Williams handprint" stamped on her chest.

Of course, Vanity Fair wouldn't disclose the term "Williams handprint," nor would Gwyneth and Drew when they used this portrait for the cover.

However, because it was a work by Eric Williams himself, and fresh off a wave of New York Times interviews, any news related to Eric garnered immense attention. Thus, while getting reprint rights proved difficult, every detail in the cover photo ignited countless discussions.

Whether out of boredom or actual interest, a Yahoo forum user analyzed each horror movie symbol on Gwyneth's body, focusing specifically on that handprint. They claimed that upon zooming in, they had discovered distinct palm prints that were easily identifiable.

This meant that the handprint wasn't merely painted on; someone had pressed their hand directly onto her.

With hands in that sensitive spot!

Wasn't that juicy enough?

Not knowing the intricate details of the photo shoot, the user openly called out the girl on the forum: "Drew Barrymore, take a look! Your boyfriend's handprint is on your best friend's chest!"

Including Vanity Fair, virtually all media outlets were equally clueless about the complete story behind this graffiti portrait, but they very much understood the close friendship between Drew and Gwyneth, and though aware of Eric's playboy reputation, they quickly reacted as if they had stumbled upon something scandalous.

After all, stealing a best friend's boyfriend certainly wasn't appropriate behavior.

...

Originally, the intention behind releasing this portrait was to promote the upcoming The Fast and the Furious. MGM didn't want the media to steer the conversation toward scandalous news.

Thus, Drew quickly took the forefront to clarify the matter, posting a photo of her own graffiti portrait from that night on her rarely-used Yahoo blog, along with several explanations.

Seeing the graffiti symbols depicting Eric Williams' signature style, the media quickly dropped their fixation on Gwyneth; after all, this could be called art. It's natural for an artist to have some intimate contact with their "work." However, the image Drew published sparked another media frenzy.

Nothing ever remains secret for long, and soon a Hollywood newspaper broke the news that this was Eric Williams' work from a graffiti party, where he had left various fun-themed graffiti marks on several girls.

If one set aside the scandalous connotations, as the most renowned director in Hollywood, and given the artistic skills and standards portrayed in the two existing graffiti portraits, Eric's collection immediately caught the attention of numerous media publishers.

Conde Nast, the parent company of Vanity Fair, quickly contacted Gwyneth and Drew, offering $1 million to acquire the rights to publish their graffiti portraits. After being turned down, they raised the offer to $2 million.

At the same time, many media publishers began to inquire about the girls who attended the party that night. They believed that, while Eric had personally painted the graffiti, since it was the girls' portraits, the copyright naturally belonged to them. They couldn't believe that other girls would have the same ability to turn down a $2 million offer as Gwyneth and Drew.

While several girls were quickly uncovered, unfortunately, Eric had only done graffiti on a handful: just Drew, Gwyneth, and Kate Hudson among a few. Most only had the "Williams handprint" as Eric's work on them. The other girls' sketches could not compare to Eric's artistic creations.

Moreover, after privately chatting with everyone, none of the girls in attendance were so tactless as to sell their graffiti portraits to the publishers.

...

Meanwhile, MGM's PR department didn't sit idle either; they swiftly utilized this portrait incident to hype up The Fast and the Furious.

As a spin-off of the spy universe, The Fast and the Furious had already garnered intense attention from core fans of the spy film franchise. However, this devoted fanbase clearly wasn't enough; capturing the interest of a wider audience was vital for ensuring significant box office potential.

As a strategy beyond the graffiti portrait incident to generate buzz, MGM quickly linked Kevin Costner's ongoing contract negotiations for the Mission: Impossible series with The Fast and the Furious. They emphasized Kevin Costner's contemplative stance regarding the series as well as the many potential repercussions for the entire MGM spy universe if The Fast and the Furious underperformed at the box office.

Following these operations, amid the frenzy of anticipation for the upcoming Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace at the end of December, The Fast and the Furious finally established its own recognition.

...

At the Firefly Cinema, inside the restaurant aboard the big ship,

Eric walked in with New Line's CEO Kenneth Horne. After they sat down, a fair-skinned red-haired waitress approached with the menus and respectfully asked, "Mr. Williams, and this gentleman, would you like anything to eat?"

"I'll just have my usual," Eric replied, handing the menu back. He smiled at the girl before him. "Amy, what's it like working here?"

The red-haired, blue-eyed girl with a round face in front of him was named Amy Adams.

Eric had recognized her instantly from the stack of potential waitstaff candidates and couldn't help but marvel at the twists of fate.

Amy Adams felt as if her recent experiences were somewhat dreamlike.

Though considered one of Hollywood's aspiring girls, she had only recently moved to Los Angeles two years prior, and unlike other girls still caught up in dreams of fame, 24-year-old Amy had long released such unrealistic hopes.

Growing up in a single-parent household, she had been working as a waitress -- a line of work with little future -- since graduating high school at eighteen. Only weeks ago had she been waitressing in a Hollywood restaurant, and while she had always aimed to make it as an actress, she was acutely aware of her modest potential for fame. In her two years in Los Angeles, auditions had come to fewer opportunities than she could count on one hand.

To land this coveted job that was a dream for many Hollywood hopefuls was completely unexpected.

Not long ago, she had stumbled across a somewhat vague ad for high-end restaurant waitstaff in the newspaper; the generous pay threw her into a state of intrigue. So, she swiftly submitted her "experienced" waitress resume to the address listed in the ad.

Until she ultimately secured the job, Amy Adams never expected that she would be working on this big ship in the Firefly Studios.

*****

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