Chapter 853: Chapter 259: Here We Go Again
Another film production wrapped up smoothly, and Adrian relaxed again, having more time to spend with the women and his daughter. Of course, there were also calls to London, as Little Emma’s tender affection flowed through the radio waves without reserve over the Atlantic, reaching Adrian’s heart, so he wasn’t obligated to rush off to the United Kingdom right after the wrap.
A girl who has tasted that sweet flavor is indeed not easy to deal with, especially if the other party is a cunning little imp. For instance, she basically rushed in as soon as she entered, not caring at all that the door wasn’t closed yet or the sound of footsteps outside still thumping, or whether there might be others in the room, until Adrian pressed her down on the ground and kissed her for a while before she stopped.
But this didn’t end there, as she immediately imitated some scenes from the movies, reaching out to grab his shirt, eager to tear it apart.
“How many of those movies or novels have you watched that aren’t suitable for your age?” Adrian, being passive and accepting because he feared hurting her, asked helplessly.
“A lot, a lot.” Little Emma raised her face, cheekily with unstoppable laughter.
At this point, what could Adrian say? Although he worried about hurting her and couldn’t fully indulge, each time he kissed Little Emma’s tender body, it always brought an extraordinary ecstasy.
“Satisfied?” After the passionate encounter directly on the floor, with the petite girl in his arms, he asked while gently kissing her.
“Aren’t you satisfied?” The girl, slightly breathless, raised her head a little from Adrian’s chest and asked sweetly.
“Of course not, just…” Adrian scratched his head, “I still haven’t thought about how to tell Kate about this, let alone Lily; now, really, only God knows how they will react.”
“Alright, how about I tell them?” Little Emma thought for a moment and then said.
“Don’t create more trouble for me, Emma,” Adrian kissed her forehead, “I’ll handle it; it’s my responsibility… of course, it’s best to wait a while until I fully think things through; I imagine… for the short term, they probably won’t expect it.”
True, their intimate relationship had lasted for more than a decade, and no one thought it would turn into another form. This is also why Adrian insisted on telling Kate himself; firstly, as he said, it’s his responsibility, one he has always taken on; secondly, even if he claimed Little Emma forced him to do so, it would be hard to believe for people.
Because of this, under Little Emma’s soft pleading and strong threats—even calling Kate, hoping Adrian would accompany her more—Adrian had to stay in London a few more days. Of course, luckily Kate was busy during this time, discussing sequels for both “Tomb Raider” and “Underworld,” and Adrian planned to arrange another artistic film for her to continue building her career, so nothing was detected in the calls.
Similarly, Ivanka, who was most likely to notice something, was also busy with many things. Adrian’s work-related affairs were often handled by her, his assistant secretary, and since she wasn’t by his side then, she only might have had minor puzzles about scheduling. Yet, judging by Charli handling this position, she might have already guessed most of it.
Nevertheless, Adrian still had many things to personally attend to; those that needed review still had to be reviewed, especially in entertainment, where a series of films and TV shows needed oversight. For example, entering May, with the summer blockbusters approaching, various film companies began warming up. Universal arranged for Lindsay Lohan’s “Mean Girls” to release during this period.
Holding a premiere was a sure thing, as Lindsay was essentially one of the most popular teenage idols these years, yet the scale wouldn’t be big. Adrian didn’t attend, even though Keeley played a villainous school belle in it, but he attended the following party because it was held at the Finess family estate.
With an invitation from Silver and participation from Joaquin and River, Adrian decided to come. Interestingly, unlike visiting the set of “Walk the Line” with River and Silver, Silver only visited River’s set for “Brokeback Mountain” at the wrap, whereas Joaquin didn’t appear even once, only speaking to River on the phone, perhaps avoiding witnessing River’s intimate scene live or fearing being outshone.
Of course, Adrian wouldn’t verify these things, even though he teased them about it, subsequently chatting with Tina Fey who was attending the party.
Tina not only handled the script for “Mean Girls” but also played a role in it. Without her “Saturday Night Live” experience, her comedy skills were somewhat lacking, but she learned a lot in Adrian’s writing group, so her script for the woman’s TV drama that was almost ready now, just awaiting casting, was quite good.
“I’m not flattering you, Tina, you did a great job supplementing some of the scenes I proposed, some even perfectly,” Adrian clinked glasses with Tina, “So, as a reward, I think you could play the role from the beginning and serve as the narrator at the start of each episode—what do you think?”
“Wonderful, thank you, Ed, I hope this drama and ‘Mean Girls’ will be well-received.” Tina replied with a smile, naturally happy to receive affirmation.
“They definitely will, I’m sure of it.” Adrian said, intentionally leaning closer, which caused Tina to retreat, her smile taking on a slightly enigmatic aura.
“What’s the matter?” Adrian continued to move forward, even raising her chin with his hand.
Tina neither struggled nor spoke, just stared at him with nervousness, and only after a while, did she seem to awaken from her dream, retreating further before shyly whispering “Sorry, I need to go back” and then fled the party.
“I was only joking.” Adrian shrugged rather regretfully at her departing figure.
He was, indeed, joking. After all, Tina was already married, and over the years, the only married woman Adrian actually hooked up with was Nicole—Alizée doesn’t count. But then again, with his Playboy reputation, most people in the circle knew he was likely the catalyst for Nicole’s divorce.
No worries, with Keeley around, there’s no need to worry about being alone tonight. Over the past couple of years, she’s grown even more beautiful, and her figure has become even hotter. Although “Hyper Heroes,” like all sci-fi shows, has had diminishing returns, the popularity she gained from the cheerleader role isn’t so easily exhausted. Keeley is also working hard to maintain her fanbase, and under Adrian’s guidance, she is trying to play a villain in a campus comedy film to seek a breakthrough.
The saying “different experiences create different lives” is well portrayed in Keeley. Even though she remains hot, compared to her past image, she is now a completely different person. So, Kayden better work hard too; Adrian didn’t take her in just because she’s pretty.
The results of “Mean Girls” need not be mentioned much; with a nearly $30 million opening weekend, it was decent, but the reviews were pretty good. Most critics praised it, “telling their own world from a teenager’s perspective, and how they evolved from innocence to worldly maturity” sums up the reviews. Though not entirely accurate, it indeed resonated with many young people; they could somewhat see their reflection in the film’s main characters.
Lindsay undoubtedly continued to be popular, but some of Keeley’s fans protested. They believed that although Claire’s character in “Hyper Heroes” had tendencies to create trouble, she would never be the arrogant, proud, and unscrupulous villain like in “Mean Girls.” Of course, such protests are generally laughed off; no one takes them seriously.
As the summer season of 2004 is slowly approaching, besides focusing on post-production of “Walk the Line” and soon “Brokeback Mountain,” Adrian spent most of his energy on TV series, especially since the women’s show is set to air in the fall. The casting will start soon, and that big-budget sci-fi series should also begin filming.
“Very good, Ms. Lee Young-ae, you’ve done very well,” Adrian nodded with satisfaction as he looked down at her doing some things, “I hope you won’t disappoint me in the future.”
It was relatively significant, and not airing on ABC didn’t earn much, but Adrian had already communicated these with Claude. Therefore, this drama took a long time to prepare. Abrams even specifically chose an island near Hawaii, creating a set and a plane model for the opening crash shoot, so it had been in preparation since last year.
Yet, it could basically start, with the premiere set for this fall season; only a few actors weren’t completely finalized yet, and one of them was that Korean woman. Adrian hadn’t thought too much previously, but after keeping Li Zi, he pondered whether to change the character to Chinese and bring her over from Hong Kong. Although she hasn’t come to Los Angeles infrequently over the months, always being out of sight isn’t good.
However, using Gao Yuanyuan in “Battlestar Galactica” has already brought him some pressure, even though the series has great popularity and reviews in both China and the United States, there was still gossip, especially since Lin Chi-Ling has two major commercial films releasing this year, so extra caution was needed. Moreover, Li Zi’s contract hadn’t expired, making it impossible to bring her over anytime soon, along with several other suitable roles being available, so he gave up on this idea.
Therefore, Adrian focused again on South Korean actors. The choice had been there before; it wasn’t Kim Tae Hee or Han Ga In, nor Han Chae Young, whom he called over several times as she had a great figure along with Kim Tae Hee, but Lee Young-ae, who became famous across Asia with “Dae Jang Geum.”
It was quite simple indeed. Adrian just subtly hinted towards South Korea that he wanted a well-known Korean actress around thirty for a major TV series investment, and they sent over various profiles for him to choose. Selecting Lee Young-ae and replying back was all it took.
AC Media and Samsung were already quite close; during the previous East Asia trip, it was mentioned that the more South Korean actresses Adrian played with, the happier Samsung was. Additionally, the big hat of introducing Korean culture to the world fit perfectly, making them extremely cooperative. Samsung even invested in this TV series.
With that in place, Adrian had fewer scruples, as it was just for fun anyway.
As for “Lost,” that was settled, then the casting for the women’s series was about to begin, but a sudden change interrupted this task. Many times this happens, especially when the change is so glaring.
“You mean… you’re pregnant?” Adrian looked at Megan Fox in front of him with widened eyes, his mouth twitching a little, glancing at the calendar on his desk, confirming April 1st had already passed.
“Y-yes.” Megan bit her lip and nodded timidly, her hands crossing protectively over her belly, looking both nervous and scared.
“Hmm… wait, let me think…” Adrian rubbed the sides of his head and picked up the diagnosis to examine it closely.
This diagnosis was detailed, covering all aspects. According to over four weeks of time, it could be determined that it was when he paused “Brokeback Mountain” shooting to go to London for Little Emma’s birthday, then stopped by during “Transformers” post-production when Megan got pregnant.
That day, they were indeed passionate, as Cameron initially didn’t want to shoot Megan’s slender waist fixing a car scene, but Adrian persuasion finally made him compromise, for which Cameron complained about the interference in filmmaking. Adrian had to half-jokingly retort, “I’ve invested 200 million dollars in this movie; this small request shouldn’t be too much.”
Regardless, the scene remained, and Cameron shot it very well—the girl’s sun-kissed skin and soft waist combined with the sunset, its sultriness at least half a notch higher than the original. Even though Adrian saw it without being clipped or optimized, he still felt very much, so he pulled Megan to that specially ordered Bumblebee version Lamborghini concept car for the crew, chased away others, and indulged for a while.
Since it was spontaneous, he wasn’t prepared, so the last was left directly inside, which unexpectedly hit the mark.
“Should I be amazed at my hit rate?” Adrian rubbed his forehead, sighing.
“What are you going to do about it, Ed?” Jessica, who came along with Megan, asked at this moment, her eyes filled with a mix of anger, dissatisfaction, depression, sighs, and curiosity. She seemed very eager to know how he would treat Megan Fox, who was similar to her in both life and circumstances. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote recommendations or monthly votes on Qidian (); your support is my greatest motivation.)