King of Hollywood

The morning sun fell on the yard, and the automatic sprinkler head was rotating and spraying water. The water droplets looked crystal clear under the sun. This Monday was another fine weather. Thomas Mottola tightened the collar in front of the mirror, and carefully observed up, down, left, and right. After confirming that there was no problem, he ordered a few words to the servant, and then walked out of the villa with the briefcase.

A car came in slowly at this moment, and after it stopped in front of him, Sam Tanaka, who was driving, got out of the car and came around, opening the door for Mottola. [m]

"Thanks, Sam, I'm sorry to ask you to pick me up." Mottola straightened his clothes and sat in with a smile.

"This is what I should do. It is my honor to work together with Mr. Mottola for the acquisition of M Records for more than a month." Tanaka bowed modestly.

"Me too, Sam, you did a great job, without you, we might have spent more time and energy." Mottola laughed, and then made a driving gesture, "Let's go, let's Go enjoy the victory."

He was so complacent, squinting his eyes and looking at the receding street scene outside the window, the smile on his face couldn't stop overflowing. Last Friday, Eric Norton, the artistic director of M Records, finally turned to them secretly. In this way, even if the media can get enough funds, they can't recover. When today's contract is signed, they Just hand over M Records completely, which is perfect.

Mottola's mood is getting better and better, and after going around and around, the record copyright in MJ's hands has finally returned to him, and at the same time, the entire M record. Norton said that although the two popular supergirl idols admire Adrian very much, it is not impossible to pull them over. This is really great, and it is probably the first time that the media has suffered such a major setback. Thinking of seeing the ugly faces of Adrian and Claude in a few minutes, this Sony recorder couldn't help humming a little song.

Soon, they came to the outside of M Records, stopped the car and met up with some of the people in charge on their own side, and then explained a few words, Mottola then led a group of people into the building. Then, led by the reception staff, they went outside the meeting room.

Stepping into the spacious conference room, Mottola was taken aback. Because there are only three people sitting inside, Claude Ron Rees, Adrian Cowell, and... Penelope Cruz? !

Even Mottola couldn't help having a look of surprise on his face when he saw Penelope. Did they find out? But he soon relaxed, it doesn't matter if they found out, emails can't be used as evidence, the worst is to sell Penelope to them. You can also save yourself a fortune.

"You're really on time, Thomas." Adrian greeted first with a smile, and Claude, who was sitting at the top, also smiled. Only Penelope had no expression on her face.

"Punctuality is a virtue, Mr. Adrian." Although he still felt something was wrong, Mottola remained polite.

"Then let's get started, you know, wasting other people's time for no reason is murder." Adrian made a gesture of invitation. Then Claude pushed the two folders over.

"This is a very philosophical sentence, Mr. Adrian." Mottola once again showed a suspicious look, even with several people around him, including Tanaka, which is too strange. Come three people. One of them has nothing to do with this matter, what are they thinking? Doesn't look like a complete surrender?

"We have already signed. Mr. Thomas, now you are the only one left." Claude made a gesture of invitation at this time.

Mottola frowned, and then started flipping through the folders in front of him, forgetting to sit down. After turning over a few pages, his face turned cloudy. He glanced at Adrian and Claude who were still smiling, and speeded up the reading. Even so, it still took him several minutes to finish reading, and then snapped. With a very angry sound, he closed the folder.

"Are you joking? Or do you want to use this method to satisfy your poor self-esteem that doesn't want to admit defeat?" Take out the contract and sign your names, not such inexplicable things!"

"I think you must have misunderstood something, Mr. Thomas, this is indeed today's contract." Claude said seriously.

"Do you think I'm a child?!" Mottola finally couldn't help roaring, "Or do you regard Sony records as your own, thinking that you can decide my company's affairs at will?!"

"Don't move, Mr. Thomas, how about it, let me explain." Claude knocked on the table, still wearing the smile that looked disgusting in Mottola's eyes.

"Everyone thought that we were at a loss for the whole situation before. In fact, they were wrong. The countermeasures have already begun. It is very simple to solve these problems, but neither they nor you know." Claude's tone was very relaxed, " You think United Warner, Disney, Fox, and talking Viacom to the sidelines can cause trouble for our acquisition? Well, I admit, it did cause a little bit of trouble, but only a little bit."

"Redstone is smarter than you think, Thomas, and Murdoch is also more cunning than you think." Adrian interjected, with a little disdain and cynicism.

"Before we started to do anything, Lei Shidong, who smelled the wind, took the initiative to contact us." Claude made a gesture, "and then made the right decision."

"A TV series, "The Intern" is expected to be watched by more than 10 million people in the first season. The same is true for "The Office", which will also be watched by more than 10 million people in the first season." Adrian cut in again, Pointing to himself seriously, "I said it all."

"That's right," Claude glanced at his best friend, "Of course, I won't tell you the details."

"It won't be a problem for me to show off, Crowe, such an opportunity is rare." Adrian laughed.

The muscles on Mottola's face twitched, staring at them without speaking.

"Fox is just a bystander from the beginning to the end. Faced with this situation, they will only stretch out their claws when they are fully sure, and then quickly retract them. If they want to use them as a weapon, they must have enough The strength is enough, so it is very simple to let them stop." Claude continued. "Then, Warner may be in a bit of trouble. Unfortunately, they are now involved with America Online, and they really don't have the energy to deal with other situations. Although they compete with us in many places, as long as they promise a little benefit, they are enough to stop them gone."

At this point, he spread his hands: "So, only Disney is left. Are they really interested in Universal Music? Or is this just Michael Eisner's grievance? Besides, they are not at peace, Roy? Disney publicly declared not long ago that if Michael Eisner insisted on going his own way, he would resign from his position on the board of directors. As the only member of the Disney family still serving on the board of directors, once he resigned. Sooner or later, Eisner will fall. So, last Friday afternoon, we have officially acquired Universal Music, but the announcement was delayed until today. Just a few hours later."

"So what?" Mottola squeezed out these few words from his teeth, and the fact that he never appeared on his side made him feel more and more bad, "This has nothing to do with what we are going to talk about today! "

"Yes, yes," Claude smiled with a good temper, "I just want to say. Some things seem complicated, but they are very simple to solve. In the end, it's just a matter of interests. We can give the entire Sony The benefits are far greater than the benefits of a record company, even if the record company has the rights to the records of Elvis Presley and the Beatles."

"Sony Pictures has lost "Spider-Man" but there are other comic heroes, not to mention that we are preparing to make "X-Men" into a big series and plan to invite them to participate." After a pause of two seconds, He continued, "As for the entire Sony Group, we also have a lot of things that can be exchanged, such as..."

Claude looked at Adrian, and the latter shrugged: "Support them in the new generation of high-definition DVD format standards, you know, we have tens of thousands of film libraries, and the four major film and television production companies under our umbrella The profitability is also very good, and at the same time, we are also a major shareholder of Apple."

He lù smiled slightly mockingly: "Sony's main business is electronic manufacturing, and the profits of movies and records are at least behind the top three—do you really think that I just went to discuss record copyrights with MJ on a whim? We You were included in the plan from the very beginning! Of course, your strategy is indeed very effective, and it is surprising that you have made a lot of noise, but you shouldn't be so stupid as to buy my woman, Thomas."

Adrian laughed and put his arms around Penelope's shoulders: "At the beginning, Pepe told me the whole thing, and then I asked her to use the time of our public invitation to win your trust, and then use it many times." Vague intelligence deepened this impression and ultimately misled you, the news that we were completely in trouble and even Eric Norton began to waver more than a week ago must be fresh in your memory, Thomas."

Mottola's face became more and more ugly. He stared at the expressionless Penelope, his eyes seemed to burst into flames, and he clenched his hands into fists, using a lot of strength to push the "

h" was swallowed.

"Of course, Eric also helped a lot. If it weren't for him to deal with you, we would at most get back all the shares and cross-shareholding, instead of having a seat on the Sony Records board of directors like we do now." Adrian Smiling and continued, "As for the funding, don't worry, I just called my uncle and it's settled. He's a decent guy with a sense of responsibility, and I just hit him with one sentence: You want these things in American culture Is the precious heritage of an important position in our hands? Or is it handed over to a group controlled by Japanese funds?"

At this time, the few people who followed had already read the contract. As Thomas Mottola's confidantes, they all turned pale. Especially Sam? Tanaka, most of this plan was planned and implemented by him. Once Mottola signed it, he would definitely leave. However, Mottola seemed not reconciled, he gritted his teeth and looked at Claude and Adrian: "I will not sign, I will mention it to the board of directors..."

But they didn't give him a chance, and Claude interrupted him directly: "Okay, Thomas, it's useless, you know very well that you have already lost, and the person you are waiting for will never come Yes, and the people behind you have secretly called Sony Records just now to verify. If you sign, at least you can step down with dignity; if you don’t sign, you will not only be directly dismissed by the board of directors, but all benefits will be greatly reduced. Neither we nor Sony will give you a chance."

"It's not just our request that the board of directors conceal information from you, you have to understand, Thomas," Adrian also put away his smile at this moment, and his tone became harsh. "So, please sign this contract and leave here on a mellow note."

The corners of Mottola's mouth twitched twice, and he no longer looked as angry as before. The whole person seemed to be several years old in an instant, and was silent for several minutes, and finally opened the contract in front of him and took out a pen. Trembling, he signed his name on it. Then, he dropped his pen and turned around without saying a word, and staggered out of the conference room. The remaining few people looked at each other, and finally followed them out in despair. Tanaka's face was ashen.

"You are too mean, Ed." After they left, Claude laughed, "Leave here with a rounded gesture? Oh, I think this may become the most popular swearing without swearing this year Way."

"Why be so polite with him. Crowe, although we won in the end. But this guy still caused us a certain loss. To be honest, I hope that this contract will be thrown to him on the Sony Records board of directors." Go to your face." Adrian said lazily.

"You always have to consider the face of Sony Records. After all, Thomas Mottola belongs to them and has been doing a good job. If we didn't have enough backhands and hole cards, he would definitely be treated as a hero." Ke Lauder shrugged, then glanced at Penelope, who was already sitting on pins and needles beside Adrian, and then stood up: "Okay, you still have things to deal with, so I won't delay you."

Seeing Claude leave the conference room, Adrian stood up and let out a sigh of relief. Before he could speak, Penelope next to him knelt down with a plop, trembling violently with a blank face: "I'm sorry, Ed I'm sorry! I was wrong, I was fooled by them because I was in a daze, I just... I just..."

"You just don't think I can give you more, right, Pepe." Without even looking at her, Adrian came to the small table in the conference room and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Listen to me, Ed! Listen to me!" Penelope's knees rubbed against the ground and made a dull sound. When passing a chair, she accidentally hung the stockings on her tuǐ with a big hole, but She didn't care about it at all, just looked at Adrian with pleading, "Please forgive me, Ed! Please! I don't know why I agreed at that time, I shouldn't participate in these things... I really don't know why... ..."

Those once charming eyes were full of fear and trepidation, and tears began to flow, with a look of remorse on his face, he knelt on the ground with his arms folded and trembled with his head up.

"I understand you, Pepe, everyone has ambitions and desires, and everyone wants to realize their ambitions and desires, it's normal," Adrian sipped his coffee and finally turned around, looking condescendingly. Looking at Penelope, "However, there are many ways to achieve ambition and ambition. Some have very little risk and little reward, and some have great risk but high reward. But why did you choose the one with the greatest risk and the greatest reward?" How about the stupidest kind of very uncertain?"

"I know, I'm so stupid, Ed, please, I'm a fool, please, forgive me." Penelope said tearfully.

"No need, Pepe," Adrian sighed, and put down the cup in his hand, "Anyway, we've gotten along very happily most of the time in the past few months."

"If...if...you want to..." Penelope quickly forced a smile.

"I've always had a clear distinction between grievances and grievances, so..." Adrian ignored him, took out a checkbook from his pocket, wrote a few strokes, tore it off and raised it, "This 3 million is my compensation for you."

As he said that, he walked up to Penelope who was kneeling on the ground with a smile, leaned over and put the check in along her neckline, and squeezed two handfuls on the pair of firm tǐng slippery nèn by the way.

Penelope, who thought she had gotten the hint, was immediately overjoyed, and immediately reached out to hug Adrian's big tuǐ to show his affection, but the other party turned around and left, leaving her in vain.

"Then," Adrian, who was leaning on the long table, put away his smile, and his condescending gaze became cold, "Go back to Spain, and never let me see you in Hollywood!"

Known as the national treasure of Spain, Penelope Cruz returned to Spain quietly after several years of intermittent development in Hollywood. There were different opinions for a while. Some people thought that she was not used to the style of Hollywood, so she chose to come back. Some people also speculated that she seemed to be involved in some big incident and had to come back. The Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar who discovered her at the beginning held the former opinion.

Penelope herself didn't say anything, but announced in a low-key manner that she would not go to Hollywood again, and then took a small production in Spain, and then cooperated with Almodóvar again. But what is strange is that this time she didn't know why she had a big fight with Almodóvar on the set, so that she finally announced her withdrawal from the crew, and Almodóvar publicly announced that she had become an unreasonable splash fù, and vowed never to cooperate with her again.

But immediately after, Penelope announced her withdrawal from the entertainment circle, and the excited people immediately began to speculate again. A large number of reporters also wanted to interview her, wanting to know what happened. But she seemed to have expected it a long time ago, and within a few days after making the statement, she took her family and disappeared without a trace, and no one has seen Penelope since then.

Then, as certain things in Hollywood came around, all kinds of gossip and rumors started to circulate again, some people said that they saw a hostess like her in Barcelona, ​​others that she worked as a prostitute in Amsterdam, and Some people say that she started a pornographic website and became an adult film actress. However, these gossips and rumors did not take long to calm down. After the update speed in the entertainment circle was so fast, it didn't take long for this former Latin wild rose to be completely forgotten by people. Q! .