I am Hollywood

[Chapter 868: Be Careful of Being Drained]

As Larry Ellison stepped back into Liberty City, he gazed at the sleek villa perched on the edge of the cliff, looking like a piece of art, with a mix of envy and desire in his eyes.

Unfortunately, at that time, he had even been willing to trade all his properties in Malibu to Eric for this estate, but his offer was flatly rejected. Now, Eric's net worth was nearly ten times his own, making the chance of acquiring this manor seem practically zero.

Eric led Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs into the villa's grand hall. Noticing Larry's expression, he teased, "Larry, it seems you've accumulated quite a few properties in Malibu. Are you still willing to trade them all for this place?"

Larry knew Eric was joking but nodded without hesitation, chuckling, "Of course! If you're willing, I could call my lawyer right now to arrange the handover."

"Ha! You really are something else, aren't you?" Eric quipped as he guided them to the sitting area by the glass wall. He casually asked Steve, who was sitting on the sofa, "What do you think of the place, Steve?"

Steve surveyed the surroundings, speaking frankly, "If it were up to me, I'd clear out all the mismatched furniture by the glass wall."

The villa's seaside glass wall was divided into three sections by the furniture arrangement: on the eastern end were two hanging space chairs, with a row of long sofas in the middle, and to the west, where Eric and the others sat, was a lounge area. If this villa were a public space, moving all the furniture would create a more open vista of the vast ocean. However, as a private residence, it felt bare and cold.

Steve's opinion stemmed from his extreme perfectionism. It was said that due to his extreme pickiness regarding furniture, many of his living spaces appeared stark and empty.

Eric chuckled, "If we move all the furniture, we'll have to sit on the floor to chat."

Steve shrugged, "That might not be so bad after all."

At that moment, the sound of footsteps echoed as twins approached, carrying coffee. One served three cups of brewed coffee to the three men while the other set a coffee pot and sugar cubes on the table. After that, Natasha, who was beside Eric, looked up at him and softly asked, "Master, do you need anything else?"

Eric shook his head, "Nope, you both can get back to your tasks."

He watched the twins' tall figures disappear before Larry Ellison exclaimed, "Eric, I'm envious of you now! Where did you find them?"

Eric joked, "You're an old man now, so it's best you don't entertain such ideas, or you might get drained dry."

"Hey, you really have no shame," Larry shot back, playfully throwing Eric's earlier comment back at him.

After exchanging a few jokes, Eric turned to Steve and brought up the real matter at hand, "So, Steve, have you decided to return to Apple?"

"No," Steve shook his head, stating, "I'm still considering it."

Eric lifted his coffee cup, not surprised, and pressed on, "Then why are you here today?"

"Well, Eric," Larry spoke, "Steve is eager to take the reins at Apple again, but he wants some guarantees."

Eric raised an eyebrow, "Larry, I don't quite understand."

This time, Steve replied, "Eric, Apple's PC business is in serious danger. After you acquired Apple, I hope to secure the patent for the MP3 player to expand Apple's product line, giving the company more of a buffer."

Eric had already developed a hunch about this, and hearing Steve's affirmation, he shook his head firmly, "I'm sorry, Steve, but I can't agree to that."

Steve retorted, "If that's the case, I might not return to Apple."

Eric laughed, "Steve, that's not my concern."

"No, Eric, I can see you're very interested in Apple, just like you were with Pixar back in the day. Otherwise, you wouldn't have set Larry's investment conditions like that."

"Steve, I admit I'm interested in both Apple and you," Eric replied, "But that's just interest. If the investment doesn't go through, I won't face any losses; in fact, I could invest that money in a company with clearer prospects."

Steve fell momentarily speechless and glared at Eric in frustration.

Larry understood his friend's personality well and worried he might say something offensive. He quickly intervened, "Eric, you should also know that if Firefly Electronics clings to the MP3 patent, they'll risk federal antitrust investigations. Just like Intel, which had its X86 architecture licensed to AMD and other companies."

"Firefly Electronics is still quite small. Even if there is an antitrust investigation, that won't be for a long time," Eric continued to shake his head, sipping his coffee. "Besides, Intel was forced to license its X86 architecture to other companies by IBM, not because it wanted to."

Larry and Steve didn't give up so easily and tried to say more. However, Eric waved his hand, addressing Steve, "Steve, the reason I offered Larry those investment conditions was that I believed you could save Apple. So, what you need to do is focus on reviving the company after Larry completes the acquisition, not busy yourself searching for other options. If you don't have confidence in revitalizing Apple and need certain guarantees to return, then I'll retract my investment promise from a few days ago."

Steve stared at Eric for a moment before abruptly standing up, saying, "Well, I suppose I should take my leave."

And with that, he walked straight out.

Eric remained seated on the sofa, smiling as he watched Steve leave.

Larry stood up helplessly, calling out, "Hey, wait! Why can't you show a little patience?"

Steve completely ignored Larry and continued to walk out of the villa.

Seeing Larry in a dilemma, Eric set down his coffee cup, stood up, and patted Larry on the shoulder, saying, "Alright, Larry, he agreed. So, you should go back and continue raising funds."

Larry knew that Steve was more prideful than most imagined. After Eric's provoking words earlier, it was clear Steve wouldn't set aside his pride and ask for the MP3 patent authorization again.

"Steve cares about Apple more than anyone, and I always knew he would go back. It's just that," he shook his head and smiled bitterly, continuing, "Eric, Steve holds grudges. You probably won't get any friendly faces from him going forward."

"Honestly, I don't mind. Getting a pleasant demeanor from that guy was always a challenge," Eric replied with a shrug. "What about you? There's a movie premiere tonight. Want to join me for some fun?"

"Maybe another time for dinner," Larry shook his head and replied, "I'll just head back to San Francisco with Steve."

Eric nodded, not pressing further. He personally escorted Larry to the parking lot, where Steve had already climbed into the car without bothering to say goodbye, acting like a petulant child. Eric didn't mind, sending both of them off before turning back toward the villa.

...

On his way back, Eric happened to encounter the twins; one was carrying a box as they walked in from the entrance.

As they approached, Eric casually asked, "Did you buy new clothes?"

Natasha on the left opened the box she was holding to show Eric, saying, "These are the clothes for you and the boss tonight. They just arrived from Givenchy."

Inside, Eric saw a black suit and nodded, "Take it inside. Oh, has Drew woken up yet?"

"Not sure. When we came out to grab these clothes, the boss was still asleep."

Eric checked his watch; it was just past two in the afternoon. The other day, he had attended Chris's wedding in Maryland, and Drew had flown to Europe a day earlier to deploy the distribution work for Casino Royale. She had just returned to Los Angeles a day earlier than Eric and was still adjusting to the jet lag, taking naps every afternoon for a few hours.

He had assumed that afternoon would be spent welcoming Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs, not realizing Steve would leave unexpectedly.

...

Taking the twins back into the villa, Eric didn't disturb Drew's sleep but rather slipped into his study to read the script for Iron Man, which Marvel had just completed.

...

Time flew, and by four o'clock, when Drew got up, the two changed into their clothes and set off for Hollywood Boulevard.

Tonight marked the premiere of Firefly's summer blockbuster, Con Air, which was set to release two days later alongside Paramount Animation's The Lion King 2.

In simple terms, Con Air told the story of a retired soldier imprisoned for manslaughter who gets trapped on a plane filled with the most notorious criminals. Despite the clever premise, the story still mirrored traditional action films like Die Hard.

Honestly, Eric wasn't too optimistic about the commercial potential of traditional Hollywood individual heroic films. Furthermore, since films like Charlie's Angels and Mr. & Mrs. Smith had adopted more visually compelling action designs, North American audiences had clearly lost interest in conventional action films.

However, as Firefly Group continued to grow, it was becoming impractical for Eric to manage every film's production. Appropriately delegating production power to his subsidiary studios had become a necessity. This summer, Firefly's main production studio had three films, Con Air, Finding Nemo, and Ice Age, along with New Line's Bad Boys 2 and Final Destination 2. To be precise, apart from the initial project review, Eric didn't intervene much in the detailed production of these films.

Con Air was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who had a solid box office draw in recent years, with Nicolas Cage taking the lead role. The production budget was well-controlled at $75 million, and with Firefly's powerful marketing and distribution push, the film should easily recoup its costs and turn a profit globally.

Recently, the media had been buzzing about the competition between Con Air and The Lion King 2. Although the two films hardly competed due to their themes, both Firefly and Paramount ramped up their efforts to generate buzz, ensuring that critical events like the movie premiere weren't overlooked.

In addition to the cast and crew of Con Air, many big-name stars close to the Firefly Group showed up to support the premiere, creating a star-studded red carpet event. Eric brought Drew along for the premiere of Con Air precisely for this reason.

Perhaps finding collaboration with Michael Bay easy, Jerry Bruckheimer opted to hire ad director Simon West for Con Air, and Eric had a hand in this decision. After all, without Eric's approval, Bruckheimer wouldn't appoint a newcomer to direct a big-budget film with a $75 million budget.

This choice was also due to Simon West being the original director of Con Air. With Eric lacking the energy to delve into all films under Firefly's banner, having the original crew was undoubtedly a safe bet.

...

Arriving at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood at six o'clock, Eric and Drew completed the red carpet walk just as Jerry Bruckheimer approached with Simon West for a greeting. While Simon West wasn't prolific, he had directed profitable hits like Con Air, Tomb Raider, and The Expendables.

As they all chatted at the end of the red carpet, Eric had arrived relatively early and couldn't stay there forever. He was about to head inside the theater when a faint stirring caught his attention. Turning, he spotted a tall figure in a red gown striking poses on the red carpet.

The model was Helena Christensen, also a Victoria's Secret model, who played Nicolas Cage's wife in Con Air.

Under Emily's management, the operations of the Victoria's Secret brand became increasingly mature in recent years. The number of models in the brand did not fluctuate as it had in the past. Even if ordinary Victoria's Secret Angels didn't receive the same treatment as the five main spokesmodels, they still had significantly more resources and exposure than other industry models. As a result, even if the pay for walking in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show wasn't regarded as high, very few supermodels voluntarily gave up their Angel status.

With the members of the Victoria's Secret Angels becoming fixed and with Firefly's cooperation, the brand's influence increased beyond the annual fashion show.

In recent years, appearing frequently in Hollywood films and TV shows was one of the perks that Victoria's Secret Angels enjoyed.

Compared to the relatively narrow fashion industry, the film and TV fields held a much greater influence. Even small roles in blockbuster films created more impact than appearing on the cover of a fashion magazine.

*****

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