Global Film Emperor

Chapter 345 The Effect

"So what? Lu Ze, you're over thirty years old. Can't you talk to me about things? Do you even consider me your girlfriend? Yesterday you promised me you were going to start a new life, and what happened? You left with him without a word, and only called me to tell me you were leaving when you got to the airport in Beijing and the plane was about to take off?"

“I’m sorry, Pei-ling. I was wrong to do this, but I didn’t want you and Mickey to argue after I made the decision, so I could only tell you after we got to the capital.”

"Tell me? You should tell me, right? Really, Lu Ze, I've realized... maybe I'm not that important to you. I really hate it when you disrupt our planned life together without saying a word. If you cared about my feelings, you shouldn't have left, at least not today."

"I... I just wanted to give it a try. If the film doesn't do well in a few months, I'll give up completely, go back to Lu Hua and work hard. I'll just treat this trip to England as a vacation."

"And what if the grades are good?"

"..."

Hearing Lu Ze's silence, Gao Peiling chuckled, reached up and tucked her long hair that had fallen across her forehead behind her head, leaned back on the bench, twirled her water glass, and stared at the photo of the two of them on the monitor. She remained silent for a long time.

"Perhaps we should both calm down and think things through for a while. Call me again after you finish filming. Be careful abroad."

"beep……"

After she hung up the phone, Lu Ze glanced at the screen, tossed his phone onto the tray table in front of him, closed his eyes, rubbed his forehead, and sighed softly. He had gone a bit too far.

But he really didn't want to see Gao Peiling and Mickey arguing or fighting in front of each other at the bar. Given Gao Peiling's fiery temper, it wasn't impossible. His actions this time were more like those of a child who ran away from home for fear of getting into trouble and being found out by his parents.

"What? Is the billionaire angry? I'm sorry you might not be able to hook up with a rich woman this time, but we can become rich ourselves! We don't need to be subservient; we can be our own masters and take control of our destiny and money!"

"Come on, stop trying to brainwash me. I know a guy who runs a pyramid scheme, and he can use these tricks to fool adults even when he's peeing in the mud. Save your breath. Let go, I'm going to call my mom."

With a hint of disgust, Lu Ze tossed aside the arm that was around his shoulder, picked up his phone, and called Li Yumei. After three rings, the call was answered.

"Hello? Mom, there's something I want to tell you. I'm going to England and I'm leaving now. A friend asked me to... act in a movie. I'll probably be back in two or three months. I got my UK visa when I went to France, and it hasn't expired yet, so I can leave right away. Peiling knows. Okay, then you and Dad take care of yourselves. I'll definitely be back before the New Year."

The mountains near Lü Hua were much cooler than the city. Sparrows perched on the grape trellis chirped twice, making the environment even more pleasant. Li Yumei hung up the phone, and the sound of a cleaver hitting the cutting board came back up.

"Where did Daze go?"

"He said a friend had asked him for a job, he needed to act in a play, and he would be back in two or three months."

"Oh."

Lu Weiguo didn't say much. After giving his instructions, he quietly watched TV and slowly sipped his tea, but a smile suddenly appeared on his face.

……

The conversation was a little rushed because the flight attendant asked Lu Ze to put his phone into airplane mode. After the plane slowly entered the orbit, it suddenly accelerated and soared into the sky. Lu Ze's seat was right by the window. Watching the clouds getting closer and closer to him, he closed his eyes to rest for a while, but Mickey was never still.

"Damn, economy class is so cramped, my knees are killing me. 'The Wasteland'... Hey, Lu Ze, isn't that the movie you filmed before? It's already in theaters."

"Well, so what?"

"Hmm... a 600 million investment, converted to pounds, at an exchange rate of 1 to 8.3... that's almost 100 million. That's a huge investment! Let me check the opening day box office... wow~ over 120 million! The second day... 100.8 million! The third day, 98 million! My god, to be honest, Lu Ze, I feel like you leaving this production team... was a bit of a loss. At this rate, hitting 3 to 4 billion shouldn't be a problem. Hey? Why are there so many negative reviews despite such high box office numbers?"

"Stop nagging, I already knew. Just look at the magazine date."

"June 18th? What the hell? A magazine from two weeks ago? They really don't treat economy class passengers like human beings."

"A ticket for two thousand yuan, I'm already being generous by giving you a seat. You're just a ballast cargo. Don't talk, I didn't sleep well last night, I'm going to catch up on some sleep."

Lu Ze didn't want to explain to Mickey why a movie that was being universally panned would become a box office hit. Anyway, Mickey wasn't stupid; he'd figure it out eventually. Without speaking to Mickey anymore, Lu Ze put on his eye mask and fell asleep within two minutes. As for his sleeping posture or whether he snored, he didn't care.

The plane landed at Dubai Airport at 10 p.m., and they had to wait at the airport for eight hours to transfer.

The feeling of landing was quite nice. After being woken up by Mickey, the two went to the smoking room to satisfy their cravings. Then they bought two hot dogs and sat in the corner of the airport cafe, discussing the purpose of Lu Ze's trip to England.

"Let me see the script."

"no problem."

Mickey opened his backpack and took out a stack of A4 papers. The handwritten script looked exceptionally neat, with the blue ink writing the words in a neat arrangement. Lu Ze could tell that Mickey had a habit of writing in a cursive style, but none of the text used cursive to make it more difficult for the reader to read. Instead, it was written in a standard font.

This shows Mickey's attitude towards the script and even the film, which Lu Ze greatly approves of. It's just that it's not bound, so you have to read one page at a time and put that page at the end, which is a bit messy. But that doesn't matter, because Lu Ze has already been attracted by the content and his eyes have been deeply captivated by the words.

An hour and a half later, Lu Ze handed the script back to Mickey, pinched the corner of his eye, picked up his now-cold coffee and took a sip. He didn't say anything, not because he was being pretentious, but because he was trying to calm the emotions stirred up by the script.

According to domestic film industry standards, this script is bold and sharp; in other words, it is unlikely to pass censorship because it expresses an attitude of inherent human evil, a sentiment shared by people all over the world.

This reminded Lu Ze of another director who wrote and filmed his own movies, namely Zhuang Yu, who had recently entered into marriage.

Both actors share a sharp attitude towards film and a strong hostility towards the ugliness of the world. However, they differ in that Zhuang Yu portrays the world's tragedy with a compassionate heart, while Mickey portrays the world's evil with a constant resistance to it.

Mickey noticed that Lu Ze was trying to calm down, so he didn't disturb him. After stuffing the script into his bag, he picked up the cold hot dog, ate the sausage, bacon, and cheese inside, threw the remaining bread, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles into the trash can, and finally drank his coffee in one gulp, burped, and then slowly opened his mouth.

"You read the script so fast? But judging from your expression, you must have been reading it carefully. What do you think?"

"The kicking cat effect, the suggestion effect, the Mandela effect, and some other effects I've seen, but I've forgotten their specific names. They're brilliant ideas."

"It's clever, but it's not an idea; it's something that happened to me. I just wrapped it up as another story and was determined to make it a good film. So what do you think of it?"

Their eyes met, and Mickey gave a mysterious smile. Lu Ze looked at him for a long time, took a sip of coffee, and nodded repeatedly.

"I like it."

"Okay, to be honest, I can't get any investment at all. The banks won't lend me money, and the film companies only want to buy this script but won't let me direct it. So I had to sell another script that I really liked and raised 250,000 euros. All I can give you is 50,000 euros, really that's all."

“If I cared about money, I wouldn’t have come. Besides… I know how much I’m worth now. In terms of exchange rate, it’s over 400,000. In two or three months, that’s a lot.”

Even though Lu Ze had already gone abroad with him, Mickey was still worried. After all, if they could leave, they could come back. If Lu Ze felt that he was not giving enough or was not satisfied with the script, he could not stop him. If Lu Ze's nod at the bar was a surprise, then Lu Ze's agreement now was definitely touching. He expressed himself just as frankly, getting up and hugging Lu Ze tightly.

"Thank you, thank you Lu Ze, I will definitely repay you double, I promise."

"It doesn't matter whether you pay it back or not. After all, we both want to give it our all. If we win, you'll essentially give everything back to me. I also want to thank you for remembering me even with such a great script. Um... I need to take this call. Hello, Dahai?"

Dahai was the first customer to arrive at Lu Ze's tavern after it opened. Lu Ze left in a hurry and entrusted the cripple to Dahai's care. Anyway, he was a novelist who was bored all day long. When Lu Ze told him to take care of the cripple, he immediately patted his chest and guaranteed that the cripple would gain two pounds when Lu Ze came back.

However, Dahai is probably kicking itself now. Lu Ze has been gone for more than ten hours and hasn't come back yet. It seems a little anxious, jumping up and down in Dahai's house. Dahai had no choice but to call Lu Ze. At this moment, Lu Ze felt apologetic, not only to Dahai, but also to the cripple. After all, cats don't live very long, and he, as its owner, couldn't provide it with long-term companionship, which was irresponsible, even though the cripple is only four or five years old now, which can only be considered a young adult.

Lu Ze asked Da Hai to put the phone to the cripple and comforted him on the other end of the line. The cripple seemed to understand and meowed a few times before returning to its cage to sleep. This made Lu Ze determined to finish filming as soon as possible and go home, as many people were waiting for him at home.

After hanging up the phone, Lu Ze asked Mickey to bring out the script again, and the two began to discuss the storyboard and the revisions to the plot. They talked until six o'clock the next morning in Dubai before finally stopping.

On the flight to the UK, the two were in completely different states than when they flew to Dubai. Mickey started to fall fast asleep, while Lu Ze kept studying the script. After a systematic and intensive training, Lu Ze had grasped the main character's personality in just over ten hours.

Because the tickets to Liverpool were sold out, the two flew to London first. They landed around 4 p.m. and had dinner in London. Due to limited funds, Mickey could only treat Lu Ze to fish and chips at a small street stall.

To be honest, Lu Ze felt that this stuff... wasn't very tasty. The batter for the fried fish was too thick, and it had an indescribable taste. On the other hand, Lu Ze ate quite a lot of fries. It wasn't that the fries were particularly delicious, but rather that Lu Ze liked potatoes.

After dinner, we took the most common mode of transport in Britain, the train, and after a three-hour journey, we finally arrived in Liverpool at eight o'clock in the evening.

My initial impression of this city was probably that when I came out of the train station, a policewoman riding a big white horse almost hit Lu Ze's foot with poop, and the somewhat comical way the usually dashing policewoman dismounted to shovel the poop.

"It feels so good to be home~ Come on, I'll take you to a fun place."

Mickey grabbed Lu Ze's arm and hurried forward, but when Lu Ze heard that they were going to play, he immediately frowned and stopped.

“I think the most important thing right now is to prepare for the film crew. I came to England with you not for tourism.”

"Of course I know, but this is your first day here! Don't work like a robot, working and working nonstop. How did you treat me when I went to China? So how will I treat you when you come to Liverpool? Trust me, this is the last time before filming is finished. Let's go, let's go!"

Hearing Mickey say that, Lu Ze had no choice but to follow him. They passed several bars along the way, where many young people dressed fashionably stood in line at the bar entrances to have their ID cards checked. Unfortunately, neither of them was going to any of these bars. Finally, after twenty minutes, Mickey led Lu Ze to a stop at the entrance of a bar called Lionheart and gestured for Lu Ze to enter.

Upon entering the pub, he was greeted by the smell of alcohol and a noisy din. However, Lu Ze breathed a sigh of relief. Compared to nightclubs with electronic music blasting non-stop, this kind of old-fashioned English pub with rugby matches playing on TV was more to the liking of middle-aged people like Lu Ze.

Hey! Mickey! Your new boyfriend?

“I’m not some pervert who likes to wear leather underwear, right, James? Hey! Elena! You look even more beautiful.”

Mickey seems to be a celebrity here. Many guests greet him and joke around with him. Occasionally, a drunkard makes a raunchy remark, but Mickey immediately retorts, demonstrating what it means to be sharp-tongued.

Lu Ze's focus was on the overall environment of the bar, which was similar to the English pubs in the movie. The wooden decorations looked very retro, but the walls were covered with photos. Even though Lu Ze no longer paid much attention to football, he recognized many Liverpool legends and historical players in the photos.

"Mickey, where have you been these past few days? I haven't seen you anywhere."

After finding an empty seat, a girl dressed as a waitress walked over. She was a typical Western beauty with a hot figure, blonde hair, and blue eyes. She was chewing gum and chatting and laughing with Mickey. Lu Ze already knew her name when he entered the room.

"Just returned from China, having kidnapped a friend."

"China? Is it fun? What's the scenery like?"

"Scenery? I don't know. I only stayed in China for two days and drank too much. Let me introduce you. Elena is the bar owner's daughter. This is Lu Ze. You can call him Loser. Of course, I changed my name too. I'm also called Loser. Two Losers... That's it."

Lu Ze didn't mind the self-deprecating joke. He just waved to Elena. Instead, the girl shook Mickey's shoulder, trying to comfort him. After all, everyone knew what Mickey's situation was. But Lu Ze always felt that there was something between the girl and Mickey.

"Let's not talk about that anymore, what would you like to drink?"

"A bottle of Black Label, two ounce glasses, and two ales. After we finish, two more beers, until one of us is passed out. Lu Ze, what would you like?"

"I'll drink whatever you order." The girl understood and returned shortly after leaving with drinks and snacks. After setting them on the table, she smiled and greeted the other guests.

Mickey unscrewed the whiskey, filled two ounce glasses, then threw the glasses directly into the beer, creating a thick layer of foam. He handed Lu Ze a cigarette, lit it, and raised his glass.

"cheers!"

Perhaps it was because this way of drinking was so easy to get tipsy, or perhaps it was because of the time difference, but after finishing their second drink, the two of them were already slightly tipsy. They blended into the bar environment and shouted loudly at the rugby players clashing on TV. Just as they raised their third drink, their arms were already on Mickey's shoulders.

"Look who this is? Mickey, how are you, my friend? I haven't seen you for days, I thought you were back in jail. How's the prison food?"

Not to mention Mickey, even Lu Ze's expression changed instantly. You see, going to jail is a scar that Mickey can't bring up, and this person is constantly rubbing salt into Mickey's wound, which proves one thing: he... is not a friend.

"What did you say?"

Flicked his cigarette ash and stared at the drunkard, who was wearing a wrinkled suit and had a face as red as a butt, with an unfriendly expression. He didn't mind fighting this bastard. He was sure he could beat him. If things got too bad, he could just call for backup. He had a whole bunch of ideas for fighting in his head.

“It has nothing to do with you, you out-of-towner, you know? I’m not racist, but I hate those self-important outsiders. I don’t care if you’re Asian or an American of Chinese descent, this is Liverpool.”

Before Lu Ze could stand up, Mickey pushed him back down, shook his head at Lu Ze, and made him sit back down. At that moment, Elena also rushed over.

"You better not cause trouble in my house. If you're going to drink, drink properly. If you're not going to drink, then get out, Dave. I hate you."

This man had a grudge against Mickey, but he didn't dare to argue with Elena in the tavern. After all, eighty percent of the people sitting in the tavern were regulars, and ninety percent of those regulars had watched Elena grow up. If he didn't want to get his brains splattered out, he had to behave himself.

"Okay, then I'll have a Chivas Regal and a slice of lime."

The drunkard was clearly too drunk, but not to the point of losing consciousness. He waved his hand, obediently found an empty seat, and sat down. Elena smiled at Mickey before turning to leave.

"Who is he?"

“A former neighbor of mine went bankrupt, lived on alcohol, his wife divorced him and took the children, and when his welfare payments ran out, he asked me for money. I refused, and he hated me. Nobody here likes him, but he's from Liverpool, so you can't lay a hand on him, or nobody here will welcome you, unless…”

Mickey shook his head, clinked glasses with Lu Ze, and then waved to Elena again. The girl was clearly annoyed by his repeated visits. Even if she had a crush on Mickey, she shouldn't be bossing him around like that.

"What are you doing now? Are you helping me lose weight?"

"No, I have something I want to ask you. Do you want to make movies?"

This question clearly startled Elena. She opened her mouth, unable to speak for a long time, only shaking her head repeatedly. After a while, she managed to catch her breath and gave a somewhat stuttering answer.

"Who wouldn't like it? But I know my own limitations. This kind of joke is meaningless. Don't tease me."

"No, I'm serious. My new movie, although it's low-budget, I'm not messing with you. Do you want to play the lead role?"

"Can I really do it?"

"Stop talking nonsense, do you want it or not?"

"Of course!"

Lu Ze was naturally surprised by Mickey's absurd decision, but Elena was right in front of him, so he couldn't object in front of her. He could only silently take a sip of beer, while Mickey, with a smile, leaned on the table and craned his neck to look at Lu Ze.

Do you know what I meant by "unless"?

"What do you mean?"

"You're an outsider, you can't hit him, unless the Liverpool people themselves do it..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mickey stood up instantly, walked towards Dave, snatched the whiskey glass from Dave's hand, and smashed it hard on his head. The whiskey glass had a thick wall, so it didn't break. Mickey threw the glass aside. Obviously, he was afraid that continuing to smash it would cause more damage, so he kicked Dave down, straddled him, and started punching him repeatedly in the face.

The surrounding customers were watching the spectacle and, under the influence of alcohol, began to cheer, until the bar owner came out from behind the bar. He was over two meters tall, and his massive body tossed Mickey aside like he was grabbing a chick.

"Mickey, you're going to kill him! This is my territory, you can't cause trouble here. Elena, call the police and let them handle this. But before that, you have to compensate me for my losses."

"No one can humiliate my friend! No one!"

Mickey, drunk and seemingly not yet satisfied, being the male protagonist of the Jackie Chan Adventures fanfiction, got up and charged again the moment he was thrown out, but he couldn't get past the bar owner's arm, which was thicker than Mickey's thigh.

"That's enough, Mickey! One hundred pounds, then get out of here."

"But he insulted my friend!"

"But he's not my friend."

Seemingly realizing that the boss was there, he couldn't continue beating Dave. Lu Ze quickly went over and pulled Mickey away, took out a hundred pounds, and prepared to leave. Only then did he stop, panting heavily, and sat down to the side, washing the blood and wounds on his hands with beer. However, the boss did not intend to let Mickey and Lu Ze stay in the bar any longer.

"Get out of here, go home and wake up. Wait for the police to come knocking on your door. Elena, go see how Dave is doing."

"You better not kick me out, I'm serious, Depp. Your daughter is the lead actress in my movie. You want to kick your daughter's director out?"

Upon hearing the news, Depp first looked at Elena, and only after receiving confirmation did he look Mickey up and down. He knew, of course, that Mickey was a very talented director; it was no exaggeration to say that all of Europe knew that Liverpool had produced a genius director. But he was also well aware of Mickey's current situation and had doubts about whether Mickey could still make movies.

"You? You can make movies? Who would invest in a drug addict?"

"First of all, I don't use drugs, never! Also, my new movie, although the investment is not large, has indeed been approved. Do you want to come with me to check my bank account? If you've never respected me before."

The two men were vastly different in stature, but Mickey met Depp's gaze without flinching. Only when Depp realized he was confident did he nod, grab Dave by the collar like a dead dog, throw him to the side of the road, and then return to the bar, waving to Mickey.

"Come sit at the bar with your friend. I think... we need to talk. First, who is the male lead?"

"That's my friend."

"Asian?"

"What? You look down on Asians?"

"Of course not, I'm just curious."

"Best Newcomer at the China Golden Rooster Awards, two-time Best Actor at the Golden Rooster Awards, one-time Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards, one-time Best Actor at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards, and a Cannes nomination for Best Actor—have you become so arrogant that you look down on the winner of four awards at Asia's top film festivals? Are you a caveman? Go online and look it up yourself."

The string of titles truly stunned everyone in the bar, including Depp. While the Golden Rooster and Golden Horse Awards may not be well-known in Europe, the Hong Kong Film Awards are widely recognized as the Hollywood of the East. In addition, the Cannes Film Festival nomination for Best Actor easily proves that this man, whom most people can't recognize, is really impressive.

"Yes, but I don't want my daughter to have explicit scenes on screen."

"If kissing scenes are considered explicit."

"Let me take a look at the script."

"I'm sorry, I won't take it out before signing the contract."

"I've never heard of such a rule."

"Because this is the rule I set."

"Why?"

"Because I am Mitch Fernand Taylor."

Have your friends seen it?

"Seen."

Mickey didn't hide the fact that Lu Ze had read the script, which infuriated Depp. Why could the male lead read it, but the female lead couldn't? Just because Lu Ze was some kind of multi-time Best Actor winner, while his daughter was just a bar owner's daughter? Just because his daughter worked as a waitress in a bar?
"And on what basis?"

"Because he is my best friend."

"Are you a couple?"

"He's not gay, and neither am I. It's just that he saved my life, and now I'm saving his."

This statement is completely baffling. It's just making a movie, right? Why all the talk about this life and that life? Are you two playing Contra? Perhaps any filmmaker or movie enthusiast who knows both of them would understand the meaning of this statement, but these rough English men in the bar, who only know how to drink, watch the game, vomit, and go home to make babies, obviously wouldn't understand it.

Mickey poured himself a beer, gulped it down in one go, let out a loud burp, and nodded to Elena.

"It's getting late, we need to go back and rest. If you'd like to film, contact me after 10 a.m. tomorrow. Don't call before 10 a.m., I won't be able to get up. Goodnight everyone."

He patted Lu Ze on the shoulder and prepared to leave with him. Just as the two reached the door, Depp called them back again. When they turned around, they saw Depp waving his hand helplessly.

"What about the name? At least we can know the name, right?"

"Effect".

"The Effect? ​​What does that mean?"

"Keep it a secret, that's the rule I set."

"..."

Today marks the start of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday! Wishing everyone a happy Dragon Boat Festival in advance! Hope you all have fun and enjoy the food. For those taking the college entrance exam the day after tomorrow, stop reading novels and get back to studying! Even last-minute cramming can be effective. Wishing all students the best of luck on their exams and that they get into a university with fast internet! Good luck to all you high achievers! I'm going to sneak over downstairs to steal a couple of sprigs of mugwort from the old man…

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(End of this chapter)