Birth of an actor

Just from the point of having its own regional zip code (90210), you can know that Beverly is not small. This small town (or small town) is actually one of more than 130 satellite cities in Los Angeles. Of course, the house price is also expensive. There are cheap, with Sunset Boulevard as the boundary, most citizens live in the relatively flat area in the south, where housing prices are also cheaper, while the hilly area north of Sunset Boulevard has the most expensive houses in the United States that are almost comparable to the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York. This is what people usually call "Beverly Hills".

William wanted to own a home in Beverly Hills for many reasons.

The apartment in Los Angeles has been rented out after the exposure, and William will always have a place to live when he goes back; the home in Santa Monica is actually no longer clean. Following the exposure of the Los Angeles apartment, someone also revealed to the media that William Bran According to the news that Deli and her mother live in their community, Madeleine also said in a recent phone call that now not only will she see paparazzi staying in the community during the holidays, but sometimes she will even be photographed driving to the supermarket to buy groceries. .

"I'm not a movie star. Is William Bradley's mother going to the supermarket worthy of news?" Madeleine complained.

"The reporters probably just want to study how you raised such a handsome and excellent son from the recipe of the Bradley family." William explained to Madeleine solemnly.

Madeleine laughed so hard that her stomach ached: "Oh Will, you make me laugh so hard I can't stop."

In addition to annoying the media, Madeleine has also become the most popular lady in the community. She is invited to barbecue parties, wine parties, and neighbors' dinners. It didn't take long for the topic to turn to Madeleine, and the housewives enthusiastically asked Madeleine about her past life on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York. "Have you seen Bill Gates? Where's Murdoch? Where's Hillary?" , and William's Hollywood upstart status "I heard that Bradley Jr. can make millions of dollars for a movie? Really? Can you let him come to our barbecue party when he gets home? If he is willing to donate It would be very generous to beautify the community environment for everyone."

—Middle-class couples are so curious about Upper East Side socialites and life in Hollywood, even their husbands, these community parties make Madeleine exhausted to cope, and the illustrator's job requires a quiet environment, It's not that people come over to chat as soon as you go out to sketch, and you don't have to participate in community activities before the weekend, which seriously affects Madeleine's normal work and life.

The community has good law and order, no gossiping and curious neighbors, good privacy and is not easy to be peeped by paparazzi. These three points can rule out almost all middle-class communities and general wealthy areas in Los Angeles. The rest are only single-family houses or It is a high-rise apartment. In fact, if you want to completely isolate yourself from the media at home, living in a high-end apartment with more than 24 floors in the middle of Beverly Hills is the best. There are [-]-hour floor security, fingerprint code locks, and endless views overlooking the city. The excellent field of vision also eliminates the possibility of any sneak shots by the media. Unlike the streets where a few Hollywood stars gather in Beverly Hills, it often happens that the media drives a helicopter to secretly take panoramic photos of the new homes of superstars.

——Because the Los Angeles government has requirements on the building height of villas, the single-family houses in Beverly Hills are almost all built at the same height, and the highest will not exceed three floors. The paparazzi choose a suitable one opposite the house It is possible to take photos of celebrities at home with a telescope, and it is possible to take pictures of celebrities at home (so this is also an important reason why Tom Cruise almost turned his home into a botanical garden, in order to isolate anyone outside the house from the curious line of sight ), and as more and more superstars buy properties in Beverly Hills and their residences are more and more concentrated, Los Angeles actually opened a tourist bus directly to the foot of Beverly Hills. Tourists from all over the world only need to go to the city If you buy a ticket, you can be guided by the bus to the foot of Beverly Hills, where there are the most superstars, and you only need to tiptoe to look at a corner of a star’s house. If you’re lucky, you can even see through it. Through the undrawn floor-to-ceiling windows, you can see the interior decoration.

Although in terms of privacy, high-rise apartments are much better, but they also have many other flaws that are not as convenient as villas: there are too few rooms, and most high-rise apartments are designed with two to three bedrooms; Hold a small party; except for a few penthouses with open-air swimming pools and open-air golf courses, most of them do not have any sports facilities; it is not possible to design a screening room in the apartment.

Therefore, if you want to be a happy bachelor, you should choose a high-rise apartment. If you want to live comfortably and enjoy most of the indoor and outdoor entertainment and sports activities at home, you should choose a detached villa.

William wants a spacious and comfortable living space, he wants to be able to swim, exercise and even play ball at home, and he wants to invite friends to hold parties occasionally. Apart from those villas in Beverly Hills, there seems to be no other better choice.Anyway, he can afford a villa now, can't he?

……

It took Armon Goffman a week—even using his brokerage privileges to threaten William's accountant to get some truth from him—to digest what William had told him.

After reacting, Amon Goffman's first thought was: Will Will not abandon Hollywood and directly embrace Wall Street?

This idea made Amon Goffman suffer from insomnia for several nights, until he finally dialed William's phone unbearably, and tentatively said: "Will, you have only been in the stock market for a few months, and you have saved money. To be honest, even Hollywood stars would have to struggle for at least ten or eight years to become the protagonist of a popular cable TV show if they want to save such a large sum of money. position, or above the big screen B-lister, uh, how do you feel about Wall Street now?"

William understood what his agent really wanted to ask: Do you want to continue to be an actor and continue to struggle in Hollywood?

One of the main motivations for many young actors to work tirelessly is to buy luxury cars, luxury houses and holiday villas for themselves as soon as possible, including William, who first entered the industry as a graphic model. Wasn’t it also because he wanted to improve his economic situation?And now that William's rising road in Hollywood has just changed from a winding path to a bright and spacious Roman road, he unexpectedly found another way and achieved a great economic leap from the stock market in advance...

Amon Goffman is very worried. He is also worried that William thinks that Wall Street is better for making money and directly abandons acting and goes into business. After all, William is different from other actors who entered Hollywood before graduating from high school. Adding acting skills has no choice but to be an actor in Hollywood, and once William graduates from Harvard, there are many good outlets to choose from—and he is worried that William's ambition in Hollywood will gradually disappear with his financial prosperity. Become a savorer of life instead of focusing on the upward climb in status.

Amon Goffman is so worried. On the one hand, he thinks that William has impeccable appearance and talent. It is a pity not to eat the rice bowl of an actor. On the other hand, William's career has long been linked to his career. If he is not an actor, Amon Goffman's career will not only stagnate, but he may also be ridiculed by his peers-after all, Amon Goffman is now competing for the position of senior partner of WMA, and William Morris agency and him There are at least four or five colleagues who are also eyeing the position of senior partner.

"Don't think about it, Amon, I will not abandon you to go to Wall Street." William knows the character of his agent very well, and knows how to speak to reassure the other party: "Look, I asked you to help me in Beverly Hills." I have chosen a house, have you ever seen anyone other than a celebrity buy a house in this place where the paparazzi gather?"

After a brief blushing and heartbeat, Amon Goffman quickly spurned his IQ, which was as if his head was muddy before—why didn't he think of such a simple causal connection? !Then he held down the phone's handset and quickly summoned his assistant with the phone on his desk: "Eric, what about the information I asked you to find from the real estate agent? Find it in three seconds and bring it to me!"

Assistant Eric ran into Amon Goffman's office as soon as he put down the phone, and while putting thick documents on the desk, he silently pointed to the phone and asked, "Will? He's buying a house in Beverly? Whoa! Will there be a housewarming party?"

"Yes, Will is going to buy a house, but it's none of your business. As for the party, you can ask him when he comes another day, now, get out of my office quickly, I'm going to keep calling!" Ya Mon Goffman lowered his voice and chased Eric out of the office, then let go of the microphone and said in a disguised and slightly hurt voice: "I'm your manager, Will, we are one, but you I didn’t even know about such a major change in my life, I’m a little sad, really..." Will didn’t take him to make money and fly together, the Jewish manager who was born to love money thought of this, and he really It's starting to get a little sad.

"Oh, dear Ami." William said dryly: "If I hadn't heard that you were still torturing Eric as usual, maybe I would really believe that you are sad now."

"..." Amon Goffman: "I'm very sad, really."

"The tone is too fake, Ami." William pointed out bluntly.

"It's really sad that I don't have such a good opportunity to make money!" Amon Goffman finally roared uncontrollably: "I'm almost so sad that I can't breathe!"

"You have to listen to my explanation, Amon." William slowed down and said, "Although it sounds like I made a lot of money very easily, I can't describe the past few months to you. What kind of state am I in? Excited, excited, but also nervous and scared. I have gambled all my money and my best friend's trust in the Thai stock market. I am lucky, I won, and I don’t have to worry about money anymore, but what if I lose? That’s why I didn’t tell you in advance—think about it now, if a few months ago, I told you I’m going to use all my money to buy put options on Thai baht, what do you think?”

"I probably think you're crazy." After concentrating on thinking for a minute, Amon Goffman confessed, "Then, I'll do my best to stop you."

"Look, we have reached a settlement again, haven't we?" William thought for a while and said, "But there is a very good opportunity at present. Although it is not as profitable as in Asia, it is also very profitable, and it will continue to flow for a long time. the benefits of."

Amon Goffman asked eagerly, "What is it? Come on, Will, I absolutely trust your mind."

"Do me a favor first, is David Geffen throwing a party recently? Take me to it."

"David Geffen? Why do you want to attend his party?" Amon Goffman asked in confusion but with a bit of vigilance: "You know this old man over fifty is gay, right? If he bypasses me and meets you, or even promises you something, don’t believe it, he—”

William interrupted the agent with a smile: "Thanks, Amon, but let's stop talking like a mother chicken. David Geffen and I have never met, and even if he did, he might not be right." I'm interested. So stop worrying, okay? I want to go to his party because I heard that Pixar owner Steven Jobs has no time to juggle Pixar Animation Studios after returning to Apple and is working on a project between Disney or DreamWorks. time for a collaborator, so he's probably going to David Geffen's party."

Steve Jobs, who founded Apple with his friends in 1976, was kicked out of the company he founded in 1985. In 1986, he sold almost all of his Apple shares in a fit of anger. After cashing out $1000 million, Steve Jobs Steve Jobs not only started a new technology company NeXT, but also bought his studio from George Lucas for $[-] million and established Pixar Animation Studios, putting a foot into Hollywood.

Both NeXT and Pixar have developed very smoothly, especially Pixar. In 1995, "Toy Story" not only allowed Pixar to gain a firm foothold in Hollywood, but also made Steve Jobs famous and his personal worth rose to ten. billions of dollars or so.Last year, Apple's development fell into a quagmire. When it was looking for a change, the board of directors was arguing about whether to acquire NeXT and invite Jobs back. Because NeXT had several technologies that Apple valued very much, on December 1996, 12, Apple Inc. Officially announced the acquisition of NeXT for $20 million plus some shares, and Steve Jobs returned to Apple as a consultant—yes, it was a consultant rather than a power, Steve Jobs returned to Apple, in Something that will happen soon in the future.

"Why would you want to meet Steve Jobs? He's not even a complete Hollywood guy, and whether Pixar chooses to work with Disney or DreamWorks is none of our business, Will."

"I know, Amon, I want to meet Jobs because I want to buy his Apple stock." When Apple acquired NeXT a year ago, it gave NeXT founder and CEO Steve Jobs 150 million shares of stock , William knew that Jobs would find an opportunity to sell these stocks.

"Are you optimistic about this company? Apple, let me think about it, I seem to have a little impression-oh, isn't this the Silicon Valley high-tech company that is not doing well but has been trying to sue Microsoft for plagiarism?"

"Yes, but Apple will not sink forever. If you still have liquid funds in your hands, buy more Apple stocks, the better."

"Can I become a billionaire by buying these stocks?" Amon Goffman teased William: "Could it be that you are Buffett, the stock god, and can turn stones into gold?"

"I'm serious, Amon." William's tone also became serious: "You can choose to listen to my suggestion, or not to listen."

Amon Goffman was silent for a few seconds: "Apple? Really?"

"uh-huh."

"I'll go to David Geffen's party with you and watch you negotiate a deal with Steve Jobs. Once your deal is settled, I'll—" Amon Goffman gritted his teeth and said with determination : "I'll let the stockbroker cash out my blue-chip stocks, and then buy all of Apple's stock!"

"You won't regret your choice, Amon." William promised: "I promise." After a pause, he added: "A new company called Amazon has just gone public with an opening price of eighteen dollars , it should be between 25 and [-] dollars now, if you want to bet something small, buy it, and you will see good returns in a year or two. Then you will know whether I am telling the truth or not .”

……

David Geffen, one of DreamWorks' "Big Three", the most powerful gay Jew in Hollywood, is also a famous party fanatic.

On weekends, it was time for Geffen’s party again. Because he was on vacation in Malibu recently, David Geffen simply held the party by the sea, in his Mediterranean-style villa worth tens of millions of dollars and private on the beach.

William's high school classmate and assistant, Danny Byrne, heard that he was going to a party hosted by Hollywood bigwigs, and urged him to go, so now Danny Byrne is driving, and William and Amon Goffman are sitting in the back seat, while chatting with each other, while watching the script.

"Amon, this script is very interesting, but why does it look so thin, the plot doesn't seem to be able to support a 10-minute feature film, and there is no logo of the production company?" William raised a script in his hand, confused looked at the broker.

Amon Goffman took the script and flipped through it, frowning and said: "This is not the script I gave you at all, it seems to be sent to me by some new screenwriter or director? It must be that careless guy Eric Confused."

Those directors, actors, singers, and screenwriters who yearn for Hollywood but don’t know how to get into the industry, and who are eager to become famous quickly, often do this by sending their resumes or works to those big companies, or famous people in big companies. The management personnel accept it, hoping to be recognized by the noble person and get a shortcut to the sky.

But as far as William knew, most of the people who received these letters usually didn't even read them, and threw them directly into the trash can, and his own agent was still a minority, who occasionally opened the express mail to check the contents.

Amon Goffman casually left the script in the corner of his seat, but William picked it up again with a thought, and opened the outer cover to see the signature on it.

Title: "Follow"

Screenwriter: Christopher Nolan

Director: Christopher Nolan

Another Christopher?William raised his eyebrows high.