American fame and fortune

This year's Cannes Film Festival has come to the last day, and the closing ceremony and awards ceremony are about to begin.

In the room, Martin put on Brioni's evening clothes, put on a brand new Cartier watch on his left hand, and held a Nokia N98 concept phone in his right hand.

Bruce came over at this time and said, "The car sent by Cadillac is here. It's down there."

Thomas, who made a special trip from Los Angeles to Cannes, said: "The Coca-Cola cult in France organized a group of people to come over and uniformly wear red cultural shirts."

Martin nodded slightly and reminded Bruce: "Don't forget to bring the commemorative Coke."

Bruce stuffed the prepared Coke into his pocket.

Thomas walked out with Martin and said as he walked: "I have talked with your five major advertising sponsors one by one. If you win the Best Actor at Cannes, you will receive a bonus of 6 million U.S. dollars, plus the latest products totaling no less than 1 million U.S. dollars. ."

Martin is very generous: "They deliver everything to Los Angeles. You can choose whatever you like, such as cars, watches, and mobile phones."

Thomas agreed happily.

When Martin went out, Bruce motioned to Thomas to slow down.

Thomas slowed down and asked in a low voice: "Is something wrong?"

Bruce said softly: "From all of these, choose the best one for Mene... Yes, Mene may not return to Los Angeles. Give him an agent first."

Thomas said, "I understand."

The group of people took the elevator downstairs, and Melanie, the public relations manager hired by the crew, was waiting in the hotel lobby.

When she saw Martin, she came over and nodded to him, and then said, "Walk the red carpet faster."

Martin didn't quite understand what she meant.

Melanie said: "The economy has been bad in the past two years. In order to make money, the film festival organizing committee has gone crazy this year and sold too many red carpet tickets. There is no need for us to interact with those carpet stars or be their background."

Martin briefly talked about the Coca-Cola Cult.

"You can go directly there when the time comes." Melanie suggested: "There is no need to stay outside any longer. The interviews and the like will wait until the awards ceremony is over."

The other party was a senior local public relations officer, and Martin listened to her opinion and agreed.

After David Fincher and Kathleen Kennedy came down from upstairs, the three of them took cars to the Palais des Festivals.

It's only a little over 100 meters away and you'll be there in a blink of an eye.

Not only Martin, but the crew also signed a sponsorship agreement with Cadillac. No matter how close the distance is, they still have to take a ride there.

Because many crews clearly cannot win awards, there are obviously fewer crews walking on the closing red carpet today, and there are more stars on the carpet.

Martin made a visual inspection and felt that during the entire Cannes Film Festival, the organizing committee had at least six to seven million euros in revenue from selling red carpet tickets.

Plus various brand sponsorships, registration fees and transaction commissions...

The long-lasting success of Europe's three major film festivals relies not only on brand and art, but also on strong financial strength.

The heroine Cate Blanchett did not come, and Kathleen Kennedy, David Fincher and Martin once again walked on the red carpet in front of the Lumiere Hall.

Compared to the high-profile opening ceremony, they were extremely fast and only came to the media area to shoot for a short time.

Martin is very particular. When taking pictures, his watch and mobile phone are all exposed.

Then, he went alone to the area where dozens of people in red cultural shirts gathered, signed autographs for them, and raised Coca-Cola together.

"Cola God Cult! Cola God of War! Long live Martin!"

The sudden burst of shouts resounded throughout the entire seaside area.

In the hotel room, Harvey Weinstein was sitting on the sofa, quietly watching Martin walk up the steps.

"This bastard!" The flesh on his fat face trembled slightly.

Quentin's reaction was relatively dull and said: "He has learned all your skills."

"The main reason is that I was negligent." Harvey rarely reflected: "I didn't pay much attention to Adjani staying at the Provence Hotel. When I met her, I had a casual chat, but it turned out to be a fatal blow to the prize. .”

Quentin casually pointed to Martin on the other side of the steps: "It means he has been staring at us."

Harvey said: "I can confirm that Adjani is not the same person as him. I don't know what method he used to send Adjani to Provence."

Quentin shrugged: "We lost miserably this time."

"Inglourious Basterds" didn't win a single award, not even the consolation Jury Prize.

Harvey saw it clearly: "As soon as Adjani came out, we didn't get zero points in Huppert's eyes, but negative points."

Quentin looked at his watch: "It's almost time, let's go back to Los Angeles." He knew that the old man's heart was not as broad as his belly, so he comforted him: "It's normal to lose and win when competing for prizes. Don't worry too much. I'll win back next time. That’s it.”

Harvey smiled and shook his head. The two of them were in different positions and had different levels of concern.

Quentin is just the director, writer and producer.

As an investor, he has not won a single award, which means that the public relations funds invested have been wasted, and the subsequent market will also be affected.

But there is no other way now. Harvey can't go to the award ceremony, drag Martin out and shoot him for ten minutes.

It is estimated that before he can kill Martin, he will be headshot by the opponent.

Harvey had a ledger in his mind, and he made a very clear note of it. Martin's new account was written down again.

There will always be a day when the old and new accounts will be settled together.

…………

In the Lumiere Hall, Martin walked along the aisle. When he turned from the fourth row, Mene, who was sitting on the edge, waved to him.

"Boss." Menei was not in good spirits and had bags under his eyes.

Martin came next to him and patted him on the shoulder.

Mene smiled and asked: "When shall we go to Morocco?"

Martin said: "The flight is the day after tomorrow, and the crew has arranged a press conference tomorrow."

Mene nodded: "We can stay for one more day."

Martin saw Charlize smiling at him from the front and said, "I'm going to the front."

Menet said no more, but felt a little regretful that this time he only spent time alone with Isabelle Huppert. There are many older literary and artistic goddesses in France.

Sophie Marceau, Juliette Binoche, Emmanuelle Béard...

Mene suddenly slapped himself on the head and cursed himself for being short-sighted and too narrow-minded. He could have looked at the whole of Europe, such as Monica Bellucci.

In the front, Charlize was wearing a fishtail skirt and said: "Let me tell you a secret, I am the guest of honor for Best Actor."

Martin said seriously: "If we have anything to say, can we wait until the awards are over to discuss it?"

Charlize responded: "No problem."

Martin smiled: "I hope you will be my lucky lady."

Charlize had a great impression of her neighbor and said, "I hope so."

Martin took a few steps forward and sat in the second row.

Perhaps affected by the atmosphere of the awards ceremony, David Fincher thought of the Oscars again and asked Martin: "Have the LAPD and FBI responded to what I said last time?"

Martin knew he was asking about an adaptation of Incident on the Santa Monica Pier, saying, "I've been in contact with them and they've been saying seriously consider it, and while we can do it without them, I think it's best to have their support."

"Without them, an important link is missing." David Finch added: "I don't have any friendship with those two parties, so I can only ask you to help keep an eye on them."

Martin responded: "Every once in a while, I will call and ask."

The award ceremony began soon, during which many people spoke French. Martin couldn't understand it at all, so he could only wait patiently, occasionally getting distracted.

Awards were given out one after another, from the Special Attention Unit to the Main Competition Unit. No film could win two awards.

The three major film festivals pay more attention to dividing the cake than the Oscars.

Charlize Theron moved from backstage to the awards stage after British actress Charlotte Gainsbourg took home the Best Actress crown.

The South African actress opened the envelope without saying anything, took a look at it, her eyes fell exactly on Martin, and said with a smile: "The best actor is Martin Davis!"

The applause started. Martin clenched his hands into fists, looking excited and uplifted. He stood up and hugged David Fincher and Kathleen Kennedy respectively. He also high-fived several actors who reached out to them before striding onto the awards podium.

Charlize first handed Martin the Palme d'Or box containing the Best Actor award, and then handed him the certificate tied with red silk.

Martin opened his arms to hug her and whispered: "Sally, you are indeed my lucky lady."

Charlize smiled coldly but brilliantly: "Congratulations."

She took the initiative to step aside.

Martin placed the award box on the wooden table in front of the microphone, with the crystal glass side facing the audience. Holding the rolled-up certificate in his hand, he said: "Thank you to the organizing committee and the jury for recognizing me, and thank you to director David Fincher." And Ms. Kathleen Kennedy, thank you to every member of the production team..."

His acceptance speech was nothing special, just thank you from beginning to end.

I got the Best Actor at Cannes, so I should say some good things to Cannes.

Martin thanked those around him who needed to be thanked, and walked backstage with Charlize.

The two sides are both neighbors and friends. They talk while walking, and they seem to have a good relationship.

Of course, the new Cannes Best Actor will receive great attention. Cameras have been filming Martin, and by the way, Charlize was also filmed.

The two went backstage and chatted with Charlotte Gainsbourg, who won the Best Actress Award.

The European actresses that Martin knows are all at the artist level, like Charlotte Gainsbourg, who has related memories of "The Hermit" shot by Lars von Trier, Charlotte Gainsbourg He made a lot of sacrifices for art.

The general scale of European cinema movies far exceeds that of Hollywood.

Martin did not leave the backstage for the time being, watching the final award results from one side.

The Grand Jury Prize went to the French film "The Prophet", and the Palme d'Or went to Michael Haneke, director of "The White Ribbon" as expected.

When Huppert personally presented the award to Haneke, there was a lot of noise.

The relationship between the two is destined to cause huge criticism for the Palme d'Or afterwards.