The Wolf of Los Angeles.

Coming out of the specimen villa in Silver Lake, Hawke got into the car driven by Edward, and the two rushed to Burbank together.

This weekend, "Nightcrawler," directed by Eric Eason and starring Tom Cruise, was screened at a Burbank theater by distributor Paramount Pictures.

As the undisclosed prototype of the film, Hawke received the invitation.

Edward was driving and said, "Boss, I got into the missing persons support group."

The idea of ​​establishing this group originated from Hawke's proposal. With Twitter's technology and algorithms, it is possible to create multiple accounts with completely different ages, genders, addresses and IP addresses.

Hawke could imagine that Harley had fallen into a den of fraud, and everyone in the group except her was a guide.

Guide her to charge forward.

Edward said at this time: "Harley has brought two people into the group in three days. These people are the families of the missing persons she brought in."

Hawke understood: "Real family members?"

"Yes." Edward added, "This woman is very capable at work. In addition to looking for the victim's family, she is also contacting people at the Orange County Ackerman Medical Center. She believes she can handle that person."

Hawke said, "I found the right person."

Edward said: "Campos also reported one thing. Harley sent a message to the secret mailbox, wanting to meet with the news source."

Hawke considered for a moment: "Don't meet yet, wait a moment."

This good show needs to keep the pace controlled because the audience has not yet arrived in Los Angeles.

The car arrived in Burbank, turned onto South Bowei Street, and stopped in front of a small theater.

Hawke got out of the car, showed the invitation to the person at the door, waited for Edward to come over, and then entered the theater together.

Eric, Catherine and Tom Cruise were standing in the lobby welcoming guests.

Hawke walked over quickly and shook hands with them one by one. He glanced at the main poster of the film next to them. In the poster, Tom Cruise was standing under the night sky of Los Angeles, like a ghost.

“This image is different from before,” he said.

Tom Cruise said with a smile: "If you want to win awards, you have to change your image."

Eric responded: "Tom's performance was outstanding and he definitely deserves a big award."

Hawke said seriously: "I have always believed that Tom's acting skills are no worse than any Oscar winner. The reason he didn't win the trophy in the past was all due to off-field factors, not because Tom was not good enough."

Tom Cruise is a confident and proud man: "You really understand me best."

There was no one else in the front hall, so Hawke said directly, "The old judges at the core of the academy thought that it was too difficult to become famous, and they believed that acting skills were the result of hard work and practice. Tom became famous too easily, so they were envious and jealous. Naturally, they classified Tom into the opposing camp and kept suppressing him to show their authority."

Tom Cruise nodded repeatedly, not without trying to please: "Finally someone is willing to speak fairly and impartially, Hawke, I don't know how to thank you."

Hearing this, Eric looked worried: "It seems that it will not be easy for us to win the award."

Tom Cruise has a clear understanding of this: "To win an award, you have to fight not only with those old guys, but also with your competitors."

Hawke saw another person coming in the door and said, "Let's talk after the preview."

Tom Cruise nodded and turned aside: "Please come in."

Catherine accompanied Hawke and Edward into the theater.

She took the initiative and said, "This movie is a big hit, and it will be easy for Eric to get investment in the future."

Hawke understood what this meant, but he said nothing.

Catherine added: "Hollywood's atmosphere is too bad. Those little bitches are more shameless than each other. Eric hasn't even started preparing for a new project, but they've already stuffed their contact information into Eric's hands like crazy. Some even called him directly to invite him to a hotel."

Hawke is well aware that every Hollywood director faces this situation.

Not only do actors have to put themselves out there and actively pave a path for themselves, or have a path paved for them, but they often also have to pimp and please directors and producers.

Hawke thought for a moment and said, "For this kind of thing, only you and Eric can have a good talk."

Catherine sighed: "When Eric was not successful, I hoped that he could succeed so that I could prove my vision and make a profit from my investment. Now that Eric is successful, I am afraid that he will be too successful, because if he is too successful, I will not be able to control him."

"Keep calm." Hawke had nothing to say. How many male directors in Hollywood could withstand this kind of test from actors?

If he were to change his position, he wondered if he could bear it.

Because the woman he got was not only a beautiful woman, but also a beautiful woman who was famous throughout the United States and even the world.

Why do Hollywood stars always like to be involved with politicians and wealthy people? Why does Hilary have a special liking for Leonardo?

Catherine saw that Hawke didn't want to get involved in her and Eric's private affairs, so she didn't say anything more. Hawke entered the theater and sat on the sofa chair as arranged by the staff.

At one side of the theater, Jacqueline saw Hawke, walked over calmly, and sat on the chair next to her.

She reached out her hand, shook Hawke's, and introduced herself as if they had just met.

Hawke asked, "I heard from Eric that you completely gave up your side job."

"Yes, it's been a long time." Jacqueline said softly, "After the filming of this movie, I found a role as the second female lead in another crew based on my experience working with Tom Cruise. The salary is enough to support me."

As far as Hawke knew, Jacqueline was the second person to successfully transition from a high-class prostitute to an actress.

He said, "You didn't have any trouble leaving your old agent, did you?"

Jacqueline said: "I joined William Morris. In front of these real agencies, the original agent is not on the stage... Oh, by the way, my agent is Dany Garcia, Dwayne Johnson's wife."

She lowered her voice even more: "When I first joined William Morris, I wanted to ask you to help with publicity and public relations. When Nightcrawler is released, my experience will definitely be exposed by the media, which may cause some trouble. But Danny persuaded me and said that it is not right to trouble you for such a small matter."

Hawke, considering that they had worked together before and Jacqueline was obedient enough, said, "I remember you said that your original family was not very happy?"

Jacqueline nodded: "It's very bad. My parents divorced very early and started their own families. I became a burden and no one wanted me."

Hawke said, "Play the victim. Let Dani write a copy for you in advance, emphasizing the misfortunes of your original family. Write a few cases where you were almost raped or raped to gain sympathy. At the same time, emphasize that you have never been defeated by pain and have worked hard to get to where you are today. The focus should be on women's efforts, self-reliance and struggle."

Jacqueline quickly took out her notepad and quickly wrote down what Hawke said.

Hawke thought for a moment and asked, "Last year, you helped a friend raise money?"

"It's to help her child. Her child has a congenital disease." Jacqueline said quickly: "He has to be hospitalized every once in a while, and each time it costs a lot of money. I have helped her several times."

Hawke said, "You and Dani should go and have a good talk with her, ask her to stand by you and endorse your previous career. You did this job to help her and her child... Well, you came to Los Angeles and she took you in, but her child was seriously ill and dying, and someone happened to invite you to do that job. You had nothing and couldn't bear to see the child suffer from illness, so you could only use your only capital to exchange for money to save his life."

Jacqueline found that her own problems were trivial issues that were not worth mentioning to Hawke.

At this point, Hawke realized that this could also be used in movie promotions, and said, "Go find Catherine later. These should be able to be used in movie promotions. Hollywood and the entertainment media love the theme of a prodigal son returning home. You have good looks and are full of love, so you are a good promotional point."

Jacqueline put away the notepad and said, "I wrote that down."

Hawke said, "You can discuss the details with Dany."

Jacqueline hurriedly called Dany Garcia, exchanged a few pleasantries with Hawke and Edward, and quickly left the theater.

Edward looked at her hurriedly leaving figure and said, "She has embarked on a brand new path."

Hawke had a good impression of Jacqueline: "I wish her good luck."

People entered the theater one after another, mostly Hollywood insiders and a few critics.

There were only about a hundred people sitting in the huge theater, and Paramount's marketing specialists distributed a questionnaire to each person.

Not long after, Eric and Tom Cruise also entered the theater and the preview screening officially began.

Most of the scenes in this film take place in the dark. The down-and-out young man who has just arrived in Los Angeles is determined to realize the American dream and chooses the career of freelance journalist by chance.

Fireworks shooting, lamp pole wars, proactive news generation, etc., all appeared in the movie after being adapted and polished.

The film ends with a major conflict between reporters, Mule Gang drug dealers, and the LAPD.

Thanks to the big news, the male protagonist earned a high income and established his own media company.

Most of the content of this film comes from real cases of West Coast Studios, but considering the audience's acceptance, media opinion and the need to win awards, the behavior of the male protagonist has been beautified to a certain extent, and overly sensitive links have been handled in a more dramatic way.

If the film were really shot according to what Hawke did, it might gain better reputation among a group of audiences.

But on a commercial level, the response was definitely not good.

As for media opinion, if you slander the media, how can you expect the media to say anything good?
There is no chance of winning the prize.

Movies with overly dark themes have never been Oscar favorites.

At the end of the preview, there was warm applause from the audience.

This was an internal preview, not intended to sell the film, and the applause stopped after only a dozen seconds.

Edward whispered, "Boss, at this year's Cannes Film Festival, a film received an extra-long 10-minute applause."

Hawke gave the questionnaire an A+ and said, "A new applause record will be set soon." (End of chapter)