制霸好莱坞

"You're well dressed," Cesare complimented Jenny politely when she drove to CAA to find him.

"Thank you." Jenny suddenly realized that Cesare was also wearing a black suit today, and they both chose the same accessories by coincidence—he wore pearl cufflinks and tie clips, and she also chose pearl earrings. This detail made her feel a little uncomfortable. "Honestly, your dress taste is straight out of the 1920s. Is there another agent in the city who would choose pearl cufflinks for daily wear?"

"A tasteful agent would." Cesare's eyes lingered on Jenny's ear for a moment, his eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you wearing fake pearl earrings? I thought I made it very clear to Lillian that day that I would pay for you to pick out a presentable outfit."

"Believe me, if I had let her do it that day, you would have gone bankrupt a long time ago." Jenny felt that Cesare suspected that Lillian was stingy and hurriedly clarified, "What does it matter if pearls are real or fake? Most people can't tell anyway."

The problem now is that their outfits are too couple-like, which may cause Robert to misunderstand... But Jenny thought again and felt that there was no need to avoid this misunderstanding. In fact, letting Robert continue to misunderstand might actually be a good idea.

"But I know you are wearing fake pearls," Cesare said coldly, obviously upset about it.

"Can't you stand all the fakes?" Jenny asked, laughing secretly in her heart: this was probably a very rare moment of Cesare's humanity. "What do you do when you go to Manhattan? The ladies there wear fake jewelry so often that you can't stand it."

Cesare snorted and didn't answer Jenny's question. Jenny was a little excited. As they entered the elevator, she said, "Of course, if you can't stand my earrings, you can get me some lucrative jobs instead of musicals. With the current audition schedule, the day when I can afford real pearl earrings is still a long way off."

"Can you please shut up?" Cesare said quietly.

"OK, OK." Jenny also felt that she was a little too much. In fact, Cesare had done a good job. Even if he couldn't help her get a lucrative film contract right away, it was because of Jenny's career planning. If she wanted to go another way, she could indeed make money now—a supporting role in a B-level movie, or a leading role in a small-scale R-rated movie, can earn hundreds of thousands. But if the career starts from here, almost the entire career can only roll around in the hundreds of thousands, and the millions of film contracts are just a mirage, not to mention the Golden Globe Award and the Oscar.

The two remained silent until they reached the parking lot. Jenny drove her own car, but she changed her mind and did not walk to her car, but walked with Cesare to his Bugatti Veyron.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Facing Cesare's puzzled eyes, Jenny explained, "Maybe I have to drink tonight. I can't drink much. You don't want me to drink and drive, do you?"

Cesare did not object. The two got into the car together. While driving, he instructed, "Don't talk about the audition rashly at the beginning, wait for my signal."

"No problem," Jenny said.

"Rob is not a vegetarian, so don't show too much personality. Tonight is not the time to diet." Cesare paid close attention to details, "Don't interrupt too much, stick to your duty."

Jenny agreed to everything.

By coincidence, Rob's car arrived at almost the same time as them. The three of them greeted each other at the restaurant entrance, sat down by the window, and ordered their own dishes. Rob and Cesare both ordered a lot, and Jenny thought about it and ordered a main course and dessert, of course, salad.

Jenny was not familiar with either of them, Cesare was such a robot, and Rob was a perfectionist control freak, so the meal should have been awkward. But surprisingly, it was not the case—Jenny also saw what Cesare said, "When necessary, I can also be polite and humorous."

He was really polite and humorous. The whole meal was almost finished with laughter, and he did not mention the audition for the musical "Chicago" at all.

"Indeed," Rob put the last bite of salad into his mouth, "Indeed, I have to admit that I'm starting to miss Broadway. The weather in California is too hot, and you know I never drive in New York, but in California, public transportation is a decoration. I think I may be the only exception in the city. Everyone in New York is eager to escape immediately, but all I want to do is go back to that high-risk city to continue working."

Cesare and Jenny laughed together: his words may seem strange more than ten years later, but in the months after 9/11, there was indeed an argument that the next wave of terrorist attacks would target New York City.

"Affected by 9/11, this year's Broadway fall and winter box office should be low." Cesare took a sip of wine. "Honestly, you should be glad that you came to California at this time. Advertisers don't care about 9/11. They will only stare at the theater manager and scold him, and the theater manager will of course—"

"Take it out on the poor director." Rob spread his hands. "So, who can blame the director for having a bad temper?"

The two laughed again. Rob glanced at Jenny. "Frankly speaking, when you mentioned that to me before, my attitude was very conservative. But today, my opinion has changed. Nowadays, we need some actors with professional attitudes, not picky and arrogant big names."

He must be talking about more than just Broadway. Cesare's eyes flashed. "I heard that Renee complained frequently in private."

"She's a bitch." Rob took a big sip of wine and his words were a bit fierce. "Katherine too, and Richard even more so—for God's sake, what's so great about him? If Marlon Brando hadn't rejected the role, we wouldn't even consider him. I was even very opposed to Harvey's decision. Richard's voice is too bad. I would rather have a younger one than him."

The Harvey he was talking about was Harvey Weinstein, the main investor of this film and the Oscar master of later generations—the films produced by Weinstein Company have a higher chance of winning Oscars than those of other companies, and their entire company's operating policy revolves around the Oscars.

"Who doesn't feel the same when making their first movie?" Cesare comforted Rob. "When James Cameron was filming Piranha 1, he dissed the actors and the production company in the bar every night. The situation did not improve until he made Jaws. It wasn't because his temper got better, but because no one dared to go against him. Rob, all you lack now is a movie to prove yourself. Believe me, Chicago can help you do that."

Rob was in a good mood tonight. He didn't show any of the irritability and neurosis he showed on the set. He smiled and said to Jenny, "Cesare was an important factor in convincing Harvey to make additional investments. After reading the script, he gave it a high evaluation and came to me directly to promote you. I fed back his promotion to Harvey, which directly led to Harvey making a lot of concessions in our budget wrangling. In fact, if it weren't for Cesare's introduction, Harvey might not have noticed me at the time."

"I didn't know that Cesare, in addition to his film career as an artist, also acted as an agent for directors," said Jenny.

"He doesn't," Rob shook his head, "but he's very helpful and always willing to lend a hand. There are many people on Broadway who owe him favors. This guy is like a fucking angel."

"Only to people with potential." Cesare shook his head and said, "I'm not helpful. I'm only happy to help tomorrow's superstars, so that they owe me a big debt before they take off."

This flattery was very good. Robert was very pleased. He raised his glass and clinked it with Cesare's. He turned to Jenny and said, "Tomorrow's superstar, Cheers."

The three of them finished their meal and soon came to the highlight of the meal: tasting wine, enjoying dessert, and talking.

After a pleasant dinner, Robert was obviously in a good mood. He was very tactful and got to the point without any guidance. He stopped talking about Broadway's personnel disputes and play gossip, and praised Jenny's performance to Cesare. "You know, when Catherine spoke to me, I felt very uncomfortable. I mean, this is my first movie, and I hope everything is very professional. Of course, I felt even more uncomfortable when I later found out that she was your artist. Based on our friendship, you didn't have to start with Catherine. Later, I figured out that you wanted to save that favor and save it for me to promote her musical interview."

Rob's words may be very confusing, but Jenny understood: Americans are more straightforward than Chinese in this regard. Cesare played the role of go-between between Rob and Harvey Weinstein, so that Rob's script found a chance to be filmed. Rob owed Cesare a favor. The "I owe you a favor" here is very straightforward, which means a favor. After Rob returned the favor, there was no favor relationship between him and Cesare. In the future, he will be fair and just at work, and there will be no phenomenon of repaying a favor multiple times in the workplace in China. (Of course, if Robert and Cesare were good friends, there would be no favor relationship between them, but mutual help.)

So Cesare asked Catherine to put Jenny in the interview at the beginning, just to avoid using this precious favor. Later, Robert decided to use Jenny to play "Kitty". Although Cesare helped in the middle, it was still Robert's own decision in the end. He did not do it against his will out of favor, so it had nothing to do with Favor.

Tonight, Cesare hoped that Robert would use his influence to put Jenny, a candidate who was obviously not qualified enough and had no professional background, and who would have been eliminated in the first round, into the final interview of the musical "Chicago". This would be a real favor, and Robert could repay Cesare this time. Of course, if Jenny was ugly and fat, Robert would not agree to his obviously unreasonable request even if he had to repay the favor next time.

From the tone of Robert's words, it can be seen that he is very satisfied with Jenny and is willing to use his favor for this purpose. He even took the initiative to arrange a dinner to facilitate this favor. But Jenny can analyze from Cesare's attitude: he is a little reluctant to waste this favor here, so he hopes that he can impress Robert during this dinner and let him facilitate the interview for other reasons, saving this favor for future use.

Some of this information she had pieced together from tonight's conversation, micro-expressions, and body language, and some of it she had already felt. Now with Rob's very straightforward words, all the puzzle pieces fell into place, presenting a complete context of human relations. Jenny took a sip of wine as a cover, thought for a second or two, then raised her head and smiled confidently, "In fact, Rob, Cesare does have this intention, but I persuaded him not to use this precious favor for the time being. Let me try to convince you."

Rob really had a good impression of her. Instead of being unhappy that she interrupted the conversation between him and Cesare, he smiled with interest, "I finally heard your voice, Jenny, it seems that now is your performance time?"

Regarding the topic they had been talking about before, Jenny could only be a qualified listener, knowing when to laugh and when to agree, not being out of place or ruining the atmosphere, but she was not familiar with Broadway to the point where she could participate, so Rob said that he finally heard her voice and was happy to hand over the baton of conversation dominance to her, obviously giving her the opportunity to perform.

"It's not showtime. I don't intend to 'conquer' you with my charm." Jenny made a double quotation mark with her hand, which made Rob chuckle. She could feel that Cesare was also observing her with interest, but chose not to care. "What I want to convince you is, Rob, that I am worthy of this interview."

She leaned forward slightly, which was a posture that Cesare often used to enhance the sense of pressure and persuasion. "And I am also worthy of your investment in a favor, Rob."

Rob's movements paused slightly, and then he burst into laughter, "Cesare, your little girlfriend is really interesting—she doesn't look like the kind of little actress who is satisfied with marrying you, right?"

Sure enough, he misunderstood. Jenny breathed a sigh of relief in her heart: the coincidence of the pearl cufflinks and earrings worked, which not only showed that Rob paid attention to details (this is not surprising, Jenny had already discovered this from the three-hour tragedy), but also showed that he would definitely not make any sexual suggestions tonight.

It's not that Rob is a mean person, but this may be a common practice in the Hollywood circle. For example, if Rob is persuaded today and is willing to recommend Jenny without Cesare spending any favors, then Jenny owes him a huge favor. She must greet him with a smile when she sees him next time. If he suggests going to the bar to continue the conversation, and the two of them have a pleasant chat, and he makes a few eye contact with her, she will actually have little room to refuse. At least it will be difficult to refuse without hurting her. But now that he thinks she is Cesare's girlfriend, everything is different.

Now it depends on how Cesare responds.

"Rob, you know I don't get involved with my artists," Cesare said—but his tone was casual and relaxed, with a hint of smile, "For the company, this is unprofessional."

Rob smiled and raised his hand, "I understand, I understand, OK, I won't say anything nonsense. Well, Jenny, I already know that you can act, you are very dedicated, and can withstand repeated performances over and over again, which is a very important quality for acting in a drama, and more importantly, you are also very beautiful. Whether it is Hollywood or Broadway, there are many handsome men and beautiful women, and acting schools are everywhere, but those who can combine the two in one are scarce resources. I admit this, and Cesare also admits it, otherwise you would not be signed by him—I believe Cesare will not be blinded by love—I would not choose you to play "Chicago."

He took a bite of the angel white cake, "You have a good singing voice, a good dancing voice, I can see all this, yes, you can compete for Roxy, you are qualified. But what I want to know now is, why do you want to play Roxy."

"You mean—" Jenny was a little confused.

"Musicals can't make your earrings real, dear," Rob said, "nor can they make you Angelina Jolie overnight. It pays only a limited amount and has a limited influence. Why do you want to act here? Don't tell me that this is arranged by Cesare. That's not a reason that can convince me. The effect of you being able to play Roxy well under someone else's arrangement is completely different from the effect of you really wanting to play Roxy from the bottom of your heart. If you don't want me to recommend you just to repay a favor, then you have to convince me that the person I recommend can really make the musical better. You know, I'm not responsible for the casting of the musical Chicago. In order to recommend you, I have to use my connections."

Although he had drunk some wine, his eyes were calm and clear, revealing the nitpicking of a perfectionist. Jenny knew that this was the core issue of the night, and this issue determined the success or failure of her night.

She took a deep breath.