Santa Monica.
Chatting the whole way, Simon and Nancy soon arrived at the Hilton near Century City in Beverly Hills.
The sedan pulled up in front of the hotel. Because of Qintex's signing ceremony with MGM, a crowd of reporters had been staking out the Hilton all day. The moment they spotted Simon Westeros's car, they surged forward.
A hotel attendant hurried over and pulled open the door. The two bodyguards in the front seats got out at once.
Ignoring the barrage of questions from the reporters, Simon patiently waited for Nancy to step out on the other side, circle around the car, and come to his side. Only then did the two of them walk into the hotel together.
News of Simon's engagement to Janet had been spreading like wildfire lately. Seeing him bring another woman to Qintex's luncheon today, the reporters perked up immediately, raising their cameras in a frenzy.
But they were quickly disappointed. Once Nancy fell into step beside Simon, she didn't hook her arm through his. Instead, she kept a proper distance. Dressed in black suit trousers with her blonde hair neatly pinned up, she looked like a textbook corporate professional, with none of the "date" aura of a woman accompanying a man to a luncheon.
And because of the consumer division's disputes with Arista Records over the past few months, along with Nancy's frequent media appearances during the blockbuster success of the Ninja Turtles game, the reporters weren't unfamiliar with her identity.
A boss bringing a senior executive to a business event was perfectly ordinary.
Still, with Simon's status and Nancy's looks, the reporters refused to let it go. They tried to dig up, or outright manufacture, something "juicy." So in the short distance from the car to the hotel doors, an endless stream of suggestive, misleading, even provocative questions followed them.
Entering the lobby beside Simon with a blank expression, Nancy felt the camera flashes still popping behind them. Noticing how calm the man next to her looked, as if none of those questions had touched him at all, she suddenly asked, "If I'd hooked my arm through yours just now, would the papers be lively tomorrow?"
Simon gave her an amused, slightly surprised glance. "No need to wait until tomorrow. It'd get lively immediately."
"Then…" Nancy remembered how her boss always seemed to have little rumors around him, yet the tabloids had never actually caught him. Lowering her voice with curiosity, she asked, "How do you usually sneak off for a bite?"
Simon shook his head without hesitation. "That I can't tell you."
"Why not?" Nancy pressed.
Simon didn't explain. "I just can't."
As he spoke, a group of men and women came to greet them. Nancy recognized the leader, a neatly groomed man in his forties with a precise side part, Christopher Skase of Qintex. She stopped her questioning.
Watching Simon exchange pleasantries with practiced ease, she suddenly understood why he refused to talk about his affairs.
Maybe it was a kind of protection.
No woman liked a man who constantly bragged about his conquests, especially when she herself might end up as one of the leading ladies in his stories.
If he had just casually told her exactly how he'd been sneaking around with some actress, even if she was the one who asked, she would have walked away afterward with a worse impression of him, maybe even kept her distance entirely.
Now...
"Chris, this is Nancy Brill, our consumer products division manager. Nancy, hey, you with me? This is Christopher Skase. You two should meet."
The voice in her ear snapped Nancy out of her thoughts. She quickly collected herself and greeted Skase and the others politely.
There were five people in total.
Besides Christopher Skase, there was also Sherry Lansing, who was about to take over as CEO of MGM UA.
Sherry Lansing was already a big name in Hollywood, even in Simon's original timeline. She would later become the first woman to run a major studio, leading Paramount for thirteen years after Viacom acquired it.
Right now Sherry Lansing was forty-five. She'd started out as an actress in the sixties, then quickly moved into producing. Two consecutive producing successes, the blockbuster Fatal Attraction the year before, and last year's The Accused, which won Jodie Foster her Oscar, had rapidly raised her profile in Hollywood.
Skase knew essentially nothing about Hollywood, so Sherry Lansing ending up in charge of MGM was the result of Simon pulling strings.
Sherry Lansing had been running her own independent production company for years, so she lacked no experience.
MGM was battered and diminished, but it was still one of the seven major studios. Hollywood, like many industries, was steeped in discrimination against women, and career advancement for women had never been easy. For a woman to leap straight into the top seat of one of the major studios was, by itself, an irresistible lure.
With Simon's introduction on top of that, Sherry Lansing accepted the invitation almost immediately.
After greetings, everyone headed together into the hotel ballroom.
Christopher Skase was a man who loved spectacle. The room was packed with Hollywood power players and stars. The luncheon was buffet-style, letting people choose who they wanted to talk to, drifting into clusters and conversations. Compared to a stiff, formal banquet, it felt louder, warmer, and more alive.
Simon exchanged brief greetings with a few guests, picked up some food, then sat at a table with Skase, Sherry Lansing, and the others. Nancy naturally took the seat beside her boss. She didn't say much, simply listening quietly to the conversation.
Buying MGM UA for one billion dollars meant Qintex's scale nearly doubled in an instant.
But the company's debt also surged.
Because investors and creditors had tightened their oversight of Qintex, Skase's control over his own company had been sharply weakened after the acquisition.
Of the five who came out to greet Simon, aside from Skase and Sherry Lansing, the remaining three were all representatives of Australian investors and creditors.
Because of Simon's tangled connections with Australian capital, and the string of "miracles" he'd produced in Hollywood, these people valued Simon even more than Skase did.
Through his contacts in Australia, Simon already knew that although Skase founded Qintex, between the steady dilution of his shares and the steep rise in debt, he was now in a position where he could be pushed out at any time.
If Simon wanted indirect control over MGM, Qintex's investors and creditors were the real key.
Since both sides understood what they wanted, the talks moved smoothly.
Even so, Simon didn't immediately agree to give MGM slots in the ten co-production films he'd offered externally. Instead, he suggested that once Sherry Lansing took over MGM, she should resolve the James Bond rights dispute as quickly as possible and restart the franchise.
The creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming, had published the Bond novel Thunderball in 1965. Because it involved ideas from another writer, Kevin McClory, the resulting rights lawsuit had dragged on for decades.
McClory had obtained rights to a major piece of Bond lore, including the villain Blofeld and SPECTRE. In 1983, McClory even partnered with Warner Bros. to make a Bond spinoff, Never Say Never Again, starring the original Bond, Sean Connery. The box office had been respectable.
Either because he'd tasted success from that spinoff, or because, as some reports claimed, he was facing a personal financial crisis and nearing bankruptcy, McClory sued again this year, demanding the right to produce another Bond spinoff based on Thunderball, targeting United Artists and the Broccoli family in the UK.
The earlier spinoff had already infuriated United Artists and the Broccolis. Naturally, they refused to let McClory do it again.
Neither side was willing to yield, and the case was still dragging on.
Since MGM's decline in the early eighties, the Bond series had been the studio's lifeline, and in Simon's memory it would remain so for decades to come.
Resolving the dispute quickly and restarting Bond could keep MGM running normally, and the franchise's steady profitability could also help prevent the company from sliding into bankruptcy.
Once the business was done and lunch was nearly finished, people began getting up to circulate.
While Simon was chatting with George Miller, who had come specifically to show support today, Sherry Lansing approached with a man and a woman in tow: Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner.
Daenerys Entertainment's string of disputes with CAA had ultimately ended with CAA proactively dropping four clients: Barry Levinson, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, and Meg Ryan.
Sherry Lansing's move now was clearly an attempt to smooth things over for Tom Cruise.
Cruise had close ties with Paramount, and Lansing had worked frequently with Paramount over the years. Two years ago, Fatal Attraction had been a Paramount production. Simon wasn't surprised she was friendly with Cruise, or that she was willing to step in for him.
Even though Lansing had already made her leaning toward Simon quite obvious during lunch, Simon wasn't about to loosen his stance on certain things. There was too much at stake. He greeted Cruise and Wagner briefly, then moved on.
From the moment that man stepped into the ballroom, Nicole Kidman had been watching him.
As an Australian doing fairly well in Hollywood, she had naturally received an invitation to the luncheon. But more than halfway through, she still hadn't found a chance to greet him.
At the same time, she understood that compared to their first meeting, his power in Hollywood had climbed to an unprecedented peak. Even the old moguls who had built the studios in the golden era might not have the influence he held now.
Thinking of Meg Ryan made her shiver.
With just one film, When Harry Met Sally, Meg Ryan had shot into the A-list. But ever since she broke with CAA, for the past half year, studios had been wary of Daenerys Entertainment. Meg, now fully on her own, not only couldn't get signed by another agency, she hadn't even landed a single new role.
Hollywood competition was always fierce and brutal, and for actresses it was even worse. A sweet, charming type like Meg was exactly the kind Hollywood never ran out of.
Now everyone could see it. The Rocketeer, opening December 29, was a life-or-death round for Meg Ryan.
If The Rocketeer performed well, she could use the status of leading lady to keep getting cast, even if studios had to endure Simon Westeros's pressure. But if the box office failed, Tom Cruise might still find a way back. Meg Ryan would be eliminated quickly and completely.
And what about herself?
After Pulp Fiction, she hadn't been satisfied with several scripts Daenerys Entertainment offered her. She'd only wanted to get out of that first-look agreement so she could manage her career more freely.
Now?
All she felt was regret. More regret than she could swallow.
She could only hope he wouldn't take her earlier little maneuvers too personally.
The deeper she went into this world, the more she understood how much power he held now, and how small she was in front of him.
Ninja Turtles was already finished filming. Nicole was behaving herself now, waiting obediently for Daenerys Entertainment to assign her next film, not daring to entertain a single extra thought.
When she saw Simon speak briefly with Cruise and then head in her direction, she seized the moment and walked forward, making sure the Gucci clutch in her left hand was more visible.
"Hi, Simon."
Simon looked her over. She was wearing a white off-the-shoulder gown that revealed the delicate line of her collarbones. He smiled. "Hi. You look beautiful today."
"Thank you." She lifted her wineglass slightly. "The Batman premiere is the day after tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it."
"Oh, then make sure you come and show your support."
"I definitely will." She nodded, then remembered something and added, "And congratulations on your engagement to Miss Johnston."
"Thanks. How about you? Found yourself a boyfriend lately?"
"No," she said, putting on a faint, plaintive look. "I spent months with four turtles. When would I have time?"
In truth, of course she didn't lack suitors, and she even had someone she was testing the waters with. But in front of this man, she was smart enough to present herself as single.
Simon didn't press it. After a few more words, he turned and walked away.
Nicole replayed the details of their exchange and realized he didn't seem to hold any feelings toward her at all. She finally relaxed. His attitude was cool, clearly showing he didn't care much about her, but she didn't dare ask for more. Being ignored as a tiny nobody was already good enough. At least it was better than Meg Ryan's situation.
Since they'd mentioned the Batman premiere, once the luncheon ended, Nicole immediately called her publicist to discuss the details for attending the premiere the day after tomorrow. This time, she absolutely had to prepare a Gucci gown.
Busy as she was, Monday and Tuesday passed in a blink.
And then it was December 20.
Wednesday.
All of Hollywood's eyes were fixed on tonight's Batman premiere, held at the Shrine Civic Auditorium.
As another heavyweight new film directed by Simon Westeros, this comic adaptation had been promoted so aggressively over the past few months that you could see it just from the venue alone. The Shrine Civic Auditorium was a place usually reserved for massive ceremonies like the Oscars.
And according to whispers from inside sources, both the producer, Daenerys Entertainment, and the distributor, Warner Bros., were brimming with confidence in the film.
In the early stages, the two companies had been almost ruthless about keeping details under wraps. But because they believed in the film's quality, they would lift the embargo tomorrow and allow full media reviews after tonight's premiere.
In fact, with a premiere audience of over a thousand, the film's reputation was never going to stay hidden after tonight anyway.
The red carpet was scheduled to begin at six in the evening.
Yet as soon as daylight arrived today, the area around the Shrine Civic Auditorium rapidly became packed beyond belief. The wave of fans gathering there looked even larger than the crowds for past Oscars ceremonies.
[TL/N: Cliffhanger.]