America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

The next morning, Martin headed to Century City and entered the WMA office building.

As before, Bruce went to cozy up to the assistant Natasha, while Martin entered Thomas's office alone.

Thomas's desk was piled with a stack of documents. Upon seeing Martin enter, he said, "I've got everything ready."

Martin grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and sat down on the long couch.

Thomas, holding the documents, placed them on the coffee table: "I've printed out scripts and projects suitable for our company, anything that has a glimmer of hope."

Martin spotted the first one, emblazoned with one of Hasbro's signature toys: Optimus Prime.

He picked up the script.

Thomas said, "Hasbro, DreamWorks, and Paramount are collaborating, with DreamWorks handling the adaptation as the production company. Spielberg himself serves as producer, and they've chosen Michael Bay, who recently botched 'The Island', as the director. They're expecting to invest over 150 million US dollars."

Martin didn't even look at the script, but directly asked, "Lead role?"

Thomas picked up the script, flipped to a page, pointed at a concept drawing of a soldier, and said, "Male supporting role, the captain of a U.S. Army special forces team."

Martin had a vague memory of the character and could almost recall which one it was: "Let it go."

Thomas opened his mouth but couldn't help himself: "But this is a Spielberg and Michael Bay project."

Martin flipped through the script and said, "The true leads are Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, the male lead at most would be third billing, and the male supporting role?"

Thomas set it aside for now and picked up the second set of materials, a few pages of paper, and a book titled 'The Last Man.'

He handed the book to Martin: "Under Warner Bros., David Heyman, the producer of the Harry Potter series, plans to remake Warner's old film 'I Am Legend'. I've heard that the story will differ from the original, as he intends to use the plot from 'The Last Man'."

Martin was familiar with this film; the rights were entirely in Warner Bros.' hands.

Thomas continued, "I haven't gotten hold of the script yet. They will probably use the one written in the 90s, back when Warner intended for Ridley Scott and Schwarzenegger to team up, but later dropped the project due to a high budget."

He added, "But I can confirm that the film will follow the one-man, one-dog, one-gun format you mentioned; it's likely the success of 'The Hills Have Eyes' in the same format helped Warner Bros. make up their mind."

Martin asked, "What are the requirements for the lead actor?"

Thomas said, "The Last Man, as you can tell from the title, relies on a single actor to carry the whole film. Newcomers are definitely not within the considerations of Warner and David Heyman; the lead must have substantial box office appeal."

Martin was aware of his position: "My box office drawing power isn't enough."

Thomas said, "If 'Wanted Order' is a huge success, maybe we could make a case."

Martin said, "Keep an eye on this project, and snatch it if you can."

From his understanding, the success of the original film and the recognition of the novel and the original movie itself were parts of it, but, more crucially, the appeal of the lead actor.

The latter was likely more key.

The next role came from 'Zodiac Killer,' confirmed to be directed by David Finch.

Susan Downey, who changed her surname after marriage, had already secured one of the primary roles for Robert Downey Jr., and three other significant roles were still casting.

This was also an adaptation.

Thomas had prepared the original novel for Martin, too.

Martin had enjoyed Finch's style in his previous life, having seen basically all of his works. 'Zodiac' was probably one of the more mediocre ones.

After reviewing the script, Martin said, "The protagonist's role isn't prominent enough; we'll put it on hold."

Without saying much more, Thomas took another set of documents, also accompanied by a novel: "The director you told me to keep an eye on, Christopher Nolan, director of the new Batman film, is planning to adapt Priest's novel 'The Prestige' into a movie. Warner Bros. has already bought the rights, and Jonathan Nolan is working on the script."

Martin asked the key question, "Has Warner Bros. given the green light to the project?"

Thomas nodded, "The green light has been given. If all goes well, they will be preparing for filming next year, aiming for a 2007 release."

Martin took the novel 'The Prestige': "Keep close tabs on Nolan's project. If there's an opportunity, try to make contact with him or his wife first."

"Emma Thomas has always co-managed Nolan's projects as a production executive," Thomas said, then asked, "She seems to be over 35, shall we bring in Mene..."

Martin shook his head, "Let's get a clear picture before we talk about anything else."

Thomas nodded, "Understood."

Martin picked out the books 'The Last Man' and 'The Prestige' and told Thomas, "Focus on 'I Am Legend' and 'The Prestige', let go of the rest."

In fact, Thomas was quite optimistic about Transformers, being able to work with Spielberg.

But Martin was being realistic. If there were projects where he could vie for the lead, why settle for playing second fiddle to robots?

"I'll make appropriate contact with Warner Bros.," Thomas said, gaining more confidence with Martin as his client.

Martin grabbed the books and said, "You carry on with your work, I'm leaving."

Thomas escorted him out of the office.

Enjoy more content from m-v l'-NovelBin.net

Martin waved at Bruce and they left together.

Midway through, he tossed two novels to Bruce: "New harvest."

Bruce glanced at the covers and said, "I haven't finished 'Dark Domain' yet, and now you've brought two more."

The two left the office building, got into the Escalade, and Martin asked, "What's Alan's book about?"

Bruce started the car and slowly drove off, waiting until they were on the main road before he said, "The male protagonist is a writer, similar to you in personality, daydreaming all the time, but without any real talent—just a loser, really."

Martin nodded, "The standard loser start, is there a game-changer?"

"Game-changer?" Having heard a simple explanation of the term from Martin, Bruce said, "Of course, there's a game-changer. The protagonist comes across a drug that can unlock human potential, even the dumb parts of the brain, all of it, to the point where he could learn a new language or master a skill like finance or martial arts in just one day."

Hearing this, Martin suddenly became serious, "Go on."

Bruce, not particularly adept at storytelling, could only express it in his own way: "After taking the drug, the idiot becomes a genius, making money as easily as picking up fallen leaves in the woods, and even radiating charm like Leonardo in 'Titanic,' I mean the Leonardo from 'Titanic.'"

He struggled to articulate, "His abnormality was discovered by a capitalist, and I haven't read what comes next, but I imagine it's about the capitalist trying to seize the drug and the protagonist fighting back with the abilities granted by the drug."

Martin thought of a movie he had seen before, one especially beloved by underdogs, a representative work of wish-fulfillment fantasy in films.

The Chinese translation should be called 'Limitless.'"

He still remembered watching it with an extra, who for a long while afterward fantasized about getting his hands on that drug, earning him the nickname "Can't Stop the Drug."

The movie was perfect for ordinary people: take a pill and become a superhero, make lots of money, and woo plenty of beautiful women.

Author Alan Green, with his experience working for entertainment magazines, knew exactly what ordinary people most envied about Hollywood stars.

Wasn't it mansions, luxury cars, beautiful women, and most importantly, stacks of money?

As for the original lead actor, he was probably still an obscure performer.

Martin asked, "Where's the novel? Did you bring it?"

Bruce pointed to the glove compartment, "It's in there."

Martin opened it and took out the novel Alan had given them, "Let's find a place, and read the book."

Bruce found a coffee shop nearby, parked the car, and they both entered the shop. They ordered two coffees and settled down to read the novels patiently.

Martin quickly skimmed through 'Dark Domain,' while Bruce began reading 'The Prestige.'

Both of them took their reading seriously, despite being academically challenged.

Martin wasn't good at writing, but his reading comprehension was okay.

The novel differed greatly from the movie, but the main storyline and structure were essentially the same as 'Limitless.'

Martin was certain that this was the original novel for the movie.

He took out his phone and called Thomas, "Help me check something. A novel called 'Dark Domain' by Alan Green, how many copies has it sold?"

At the wine-tasting event, Gillian had mentioned that Alan Green had produced only this one work so far.

After waiting for about fifteen minutes, Thomas called back, "Published and released in 2001, so far it's sold less than 40,000 copies."

Martin didn't want to get involved directly, "Contact the publisher and the author himself through Jessica, on behalf of my film studio, and buy the film and television adaptation rights for this novel."

Thomas didn't understand, "Its readership is limited; its value isn't great."

Martin said, "That's exactly why it won't cost much to acquire, and even if we can't adapt it, the loss won't be much."

Thomas seemed to understand, "Let Jessica handle the negotiations, I will assist her."

Martin approved, "That's fine, I'll be at ease with you looking after it."

Thomas was quick to act, "I'm heading to the studio now."

Martin had already called Jessica; with no special tasks at hand, she and Emily would stay at Davis Studio to handle fan and online affairs.

Bruce had already put down 'The Prestige' and pointed at the novel, "Are you sure it's our next target?"

Martin put away the novel, "Acquiring the adaptation rights for this one won't be a problem." He patted the other two novels, "If we can get the protagonist from one of these, that would be a real surprise."

Bruce said, "Nolan? He's not all that famous, besides the New Batman movies, I haven't heard of his other works."

Martin simply stated, "He's one of the more prominent up-and-coming directors right now, Warner Bros. values him greatly, and Legendary Pictures is giving him strong backing, all because he revived Batman."

Batman and Superman are the most important assets to DC and Warner Bros.

Martin picked up the books, "Let's go."

Bruce followed him out, "Too bad, Batman doesn't have superpowers."

Martin asked offhand, "Does being rich count?"

Bruce paused for a second, "If you're as rich as him, it counts."

Money was the most tangible power, one that could make an entire city join in your game.