Chapter 178: Alienation
Thinking about actors, Eric suddenly realized that Michael Madsen who played the role of Mr. Blonde was the brother of Virginia. Although Virginia had been his friend for more than half a year, Eric had never seen Michael Madsen. He only knew through his conversation with the girl that Virginia had quite a good relationship with her brother. In Eric's memory, Michael was characterized by roughness and seemed like a born villain. However, Virginia's narration showed that Michael was a talented man who loved conjuring, photographing and writing poems. Acting was, for him, more like an avocation chosen for a living.
Eric had not seen Michael yet, but the man could be treated as a friend since Virginia was Eric's lover. Eric was always keeping the goodies within the family.
Eric asked Quentin for the script and confirmed the colors before saying directly, "Well, Quentin, I have a nice actor to recommend for the role of Mr. Blonde. I am sure that you will be satisfied."
Eric was smiling as if this were nothing serious, but Quentin Tarantino knew that he had no choice but to show satisfaction.
After all, Quentin was already overjoyed that Eric promised not to interfere with the content production. Then the recommendation of an actor was acceptable. According to the rules, Eric was the investor and had the final say about the whole cast of the film.
"Okay, Eric, I believe that your recommendation will be satisfying," Quentin smilingly replied. The three were about to go on discussing when someone knocked on the door of the lounge. A staff member looked in and said, "Mr. Williams, time is up."
Eric looked at his watch and stood up, "Okay. Let's do it that way."
Quentin and Lawrence immediately stood up and shook hands with Eric once again. After that, they felt at a loss. What should they do next?
Eric was hurrying to leave when he noticed the look of the two. He smilingly patted on his head and said："Sorry. I have such a tight schedule that I am always forgetting about things. Follow me, please."
Eric called his assistant Alan and told him something before speaking to the two, "This is Alan, my assistant. He will take you to see Jeffrey Hansen. You can go through the specific matters with Jeffrey."
Then Eric saw the two off. He was about to start working when the little girl suddenly appeared from nowhere.
Eric was taken by surprise and asked："How come you are still here?"
Drew seemed unhappy already and these words only irritated her even more. Arms akimbo, she retorted："Why do I have to go? I will just stay here!"
Eric shrugged and remembered that Drew behaved herself quite well when she visited the set while he was shooting Running out of Time. "Okay. You can do as you like as long as you do not make trouble."
"Well, Eric, I don't feel that they like me," the girl held Eric's arm, followed him into the working area of the studio and whispered by his ear. She had been treated like a princess by the cast of Running out of Time and all the staff members except Eric were on call 24/7. However, the staff here were not familiar or that close. They were polite to Drew but kept her at arm's length.
Eric asked the crew to get rolling. Then he rubbed against the girl's head and explained smilingly, "Why don't you understand the reason? Jenny's father is the very producer of the TV series and he has selected all the staff members. Jenny is the princess right here. Since she does not like you, all the others here will follow suit."
"Um, how snobby they are!" Drew curled her lips.
"It is natural and they are just trying to avoid trouble. This can not even be called office politics. If they are that close to you, they may be found fault with somehow." Eric smiled and sat on the director's chair. Watching the staff walking to and fro in preparation for the shooting, he took the shooting journal from his assistant.
Actually, the reason why Drew was alienated here was that Aniston was quite popular with the crew. Aniston had her likes and dislikes but she was good at making friends. She had a good relationship with the main characters and was liked by most of the staff members. Furthermore, her father was the producer. Thus, it was reasonable for the crew of Friends to keep at arm's length with Drew, a potential rival in love for Aniston.
Drew also did well in maintaining interpersonal relations, but her characteristics could be unreasonable sometimes. Before Eric appeared, the girl had good self-knowledge and dared not show her unreasonableness. However, now Drew had Eric standing behind her back thus she went wild. When she was with the crew of Running out of Time, the girl acted just like a spoiled princess. As Eric was busy shooting Running out of Time, Drew could go so far as to play with the camera worth several million dollars everywhere she went. Only she would get away with it.
Eric did not worry that his love would make the girl run wild, though. He knew that Drew understood exactly what she was doing. She simply had a serious lack of due love in her childhood. Once she got something from Eric, she would become greedy, desiring more to make up her losses when she could still act as a willful child.
"Well, I may as well go back," Drew stood up leaning against Eric. Since she was not welcome here, the girl did not bother to change the situation, "Eric, have you fulfilled your promise made last night?"
"What promise?" Aniston was approaching with the script in hand. Hearing Drew's words, she frowned slightly and asked Eric in a dissatisfied tone.
"All is on the table of the study. I have written a lot on the spur of the moment. You can choose what you like." Eric answered and gave Aniston a hint that he would explain later.
Drew smiled sweetly and then, right in front of Aniston, bent and kissed Eric on the face, leaving a striking lipstick mark. Then the girl turned around and left with her bottom shaking.
"She is scantily clad and seems like a street girl at night," Aniston said with envy, watching Drew leaving. The girl was already 160 cm tall. She boasted of both a slim figure and fair skin that could be the envy of a great many women. Aniston was among them since her skin condition was less perfect to some extent.
As if sensing something, Drew turned around suddenly before reaching the gate. She opened the small sunshade in hand, put on the heart-shaped sunglasses and whirled around on tiptoe coquettishly. Then she moved back and made a face at Aniston with her small tongue stuck out.
This had not only irritated Aniston but also stunned most of the crew members. Everyone here was engaged in the entertainment business and many of them had watched Kubrick's Lolita, especially the scene where Drew was dressed in a T-shirt and hot pants, exposing the fair skin of her arms and legs. The black nail polish on her toes had rendered the girl even more attractive. Her every move highlighted the coquetry of women and the naughtiness of girls, tantalizing every man right here.
"How flirty she is!" Aniston looked annoyed and said to Eric, "Are you sure that you have sent her to a Catholic school?"
Eric smiled and held Aniston's hand："Okay, Jenny, there is no need to get angry with Drew. She is always like this and you have seen this before. Well, why have you come here?"
Pointing at Eric's cheeks, Aniston said："You'd better remove the lipstick mark on your face first."
Eric felt a little embarrassed and took out a tissue to wipe his face. Aniston made sure there was nothing left and then started to discuss the script with Eric unwillingly. She believed that she could offer great insights.
In the next few days, the shooting of Friends went according to plan. Eric had a meal with Miramax's Bob and Harvey Weinstein, talking about the acquisition. The brothers had just put on show Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies and Videotape, a film that had won the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival. This had brought them a good fortune, so they asked for a price that was much higher than what Eric had expected.
Robert Schey had hinted that the New Line Cinema could be acquired. Some of Eric's conditions could not be met, though. Thinking of this, Eric stopped the negotiation with the brothers.
The brothers made their first sum of money from Sex, Lies and Videotape but their business did not thrive until Pulp Fiction was put on show. In the previous life, the film was released in 1994, 4 years to go from now. Moreover, Quentin had already promised cooperation. Hence, Eric could, for the moment, stop the effort to acquire Miramax and focus his attention on purchasing the New Line Cinema.