American fame and fortune

Sunset Boulevard, Smoke House Bar.

In a booth, Leonardo opened a bottle of wine, poured himself and Nicholson across from him a glass of wine, and said: "Martin, that bastard, actually stood us up."

Nicholson picked up the glass and took a sip: "Is the Hard Hastings he mentioned the founder of Netflix?"

Leonardo knew more about this: "The founder of Netflix and the current chairman."

Nicholson glanced at Leonardo and suddenly lost interest in him, and asked: "I remember that Martin, that bastard, invested in Netflix. How much assets does he have now?"

"Not only invested in Netflix, but also Apple and Tesla." Leonardo picked up the glass and clinked it with Nicholson: "I don't know exactly how much, but I can calculate it."

Nicholson thought of Lorraine.

Leonardo estimated: "Martin has a lot of Apple stocks, all of which are purchased from the stock market. He bought them very early, starting in 2006, and the current value is at least 2 billion US dollars."

Nicholson grinned.

"Tesla is the best estimate. We have dealt with Musk a lot. Martin has more than $1 billion worth of Tesla stock." Leonardo is relatively conservative: "Then there is Netflix. I don't know how much Martin has, but at least $1.5 billion." Nicholson looked at Leonardo across from him. He was fat and ugly, not a good match for Lorraine. Leonardo said: "Martin's Davis Film Studio has the copyrights of many popular movies. Although the studio is not listed, it is worth at least $500 million. There is also the brand that Martin cooperated with Coca-Cola, the fixed assets such as real estate, the annual commercial endorsement income of nearly 100 million US dollars, the high salary and offline share..." Nicholson scratched his fingers on the table and calculated silently for a while: "At least 6.5 billion US dollars in assets." "This is the most conservative estimate." Leonardo recalled: "I remember that in Forbes last year, Hard Hastings had only 3 billion US dollars in assets, not even half of Martin." Although Nicholson is a layman, he still knows the basics: "He has too much financing." Leonardo drank a glass with him and poured more wine: "Martin, this bastard, has a good eye for choosing movies and an equally good eye for investment. Now this bastard is the richest among the three of us." Nicholson Nicholson decided to give up Leonardo: "Forget about you and Lorraine. I don't like to force people, so I won't force you..."

"Wait!" Leonardo interrupted him: "Lorraine and I are fine, okay!"

Nicholson said: "Okay, you are fine." He saw that Martin was getting closer and closer to the direction Leonardo was facing, and deliberately guided: "Let's set a new goal..."

Leonardo got excited: "Yes! We want Martin to marry Lorraine, or the kind without signing a prenuptial agreement, divide up Martin's property, and remember to give me half of it!"

Martin came from behind, hugged Leonardo's neck, and pressed his hard knuckles against his temple: "Say ten sentences that you are the biggest idiot and waste in America, otherwise I will blow your head off!"

Leonardo pointed at Nicholson opposite: "Jack is the biggest idiot and waste in America!"

Martin pushed the bastard aside and pulled over a high chair to sit down.

Leonardo poured him a glass of wine and asked, "Have you finished talking about the work with Netflix?"

"We talked about a project." Martin nodded, thinking of the series of Goldfish Girl in his previous life, and asked, "You have been in Hollywood for decades and have a wide range of knowledge. Have you heard of scripts, novels, or non-fiction about chess?"

Leonardo shook his head: "This subject is too unpopular. It seems that there are few similar works. I haven't paid attention to it before, nor have I heard anyone talk about it."

"Chess?" Nicholson frowned and recalled: "I seem to have seen it, but it's been too long. Let me think about it."

Martin and Leonardo were silent.

Nicholson thought carefully for a long time, took another sip of wine, and then said: "In the 1970s, it should be a few years after Sharon Tate died. I read a novel by Roman Polanski. Polanski likes chess, and the novel is about chess." Because of the relationship between Polanski and Sharon Tate, he has some memories, otherwise he would have forgotten it after so many years: "It seems to be about a female orphan who grew up to be a top chess master in the 1950s and 1960s. The title of the book... should be The Queen's Gambit." Martin checked it online, but couldn't find it. Is it because it is an unpopular novel about an unpopular sport? Nicholson confirmed: "Yes, it's called "The Queen's Gambit." Martin believed this old bastard, took out his mobile phone and sent text messages to Thomas and Jessica respectively, asking them to find this novel and see if there are any related scripts in the circle. Leonardo picked up the topic and asked Martin: "Aren't you going to a mental therapy center to experience life? When are you going? Are you going to New York?"

"Not going to New York." Martin said: "My psychiatrist Laura helped me contact a therapy center in California, which has admitted many patients with mental illness. I will go there to take a look."

Leonardo had a similar experience and said to Nicholson: "Jack, we should visit Martin often and invite Martin to come out for a party, so that he won't really become a psychopath."

Nicholson picked up the wine glass, clinked it with Martin, and said, "I wish you will go crazy soon."

"Thank you!" Martin drank a glass of wine: "If I go crazy, the first thing I will do is blow up the homes of you two bastards and make you go crazy together."

Leonardo answered: "Then we march to Washington together?"

Martin raised his glass high: "I wish you will go crazy soon."

In the next few days, in addition to participating in the post-production of "Shark Beach", Martin went to the psychiatry center and combined the cases given by Dr. Laura to conduct on-site inspections of the conditions of some patients with schizophrenia to prepare for subsequent performances.

This morning, Thomas rushed to Disney Studios with a pile of information.

He entered Martin's director's office on the set of "Shark Tank," put a crew and a novel on his desk and said, "Finally I found it."

Martin took it over and took a look. The name of the script and the novel were the same, "The Queen's Gambit". The author of the novel was Walter Tevis, and the screenwriter of the script was Alan Scott.

Thomas said: "The script, the novel, and the author are basically unknown. We tried our best not to alert our colleagues. Fortunately, we got the title of the novel and contacted the author through the publisher."

The script Martin read first was different from what he remembered. It was a movie script, but the content was about a female chess player born as an orphan who defeated the world champion of the former Soviet Union and became a top chess master.

The main plot is the same as the episode in his memory.

He read the original novel again to make sure there was no mistake, and asked: "Where is the copyright? Who holds it now?"

"There may be a little trouble with the copyright." Thomas said directly: "A few years ago, Heath Ledger bought the film and television adaptation rights from screenwriter Alan Scott."

Martin was quite surprised: "The copyright is actually in the hands of Heath Ledger?"

Thomas generally said: "In 1992, screenwriter Alan Scott bought the film and television adaptation rights and began to write the script, hoping to adapt it into a movie. However, he spent many years and failed to find investors. In the past few years, When he met Heath Ledger, the two were drug addicts of special drugs. As they were talking about this, he sold it to Heath Ledger.”

Martin understood that the script had been floating in Hollywood for more than 20 years. Not only had it not been made into a movie or TV series, it had not even attracted attention.

Thomas continued: "I asked Ivan to contact Alan Scott. According to him, Heath Ledger's career as an actor has basically been finished in recent years. No film crew in Hollywood that has invested more than one million is willing to start him." After playing important roles, he gradually disappeared, but he was unwilling to return to Australia to be a small actor and wanted to find another way to become a director. "

Bruce was fully involved in the conflict between Martin and Heath Ledger and the series of events that took place during the fight for the Joker: "The reason why he chose this script was because he felt that the heroine of the novel, Beth Harmon, had a close relationship with him. The problem of stubbornly fighting drug addiction is very similar to his own, and he believes that he can achieve the desired results. "

Martin thought about the bad things he had with Heath Ledger many years ago. Perhaps it was because of these that Heath Ledger did not go to see God like he did in his previous life.

The actor's career was certainly not going well, and he was basically ignored.

It’s almost impossible to make a comeback through acting, so why do you want to make a career as a director?

Thomas said: "We didn't contact Heath Ledger because we were worried that he wouldn't sell."

After what happened back then, Heath Ledger would probably not sell it, or he would charge a very high price. Martin thought for a moment and asked, "Is Heath Ledger still taking drugs?"

Thomas specifically inquired about this: "It has never been broken, otherwise it would not be where it is now."

Martin looked at Bruce: "Go and investigate the latest situation of Heath Ledger."

Thomas said: The initial copyright transfer, as well as the transfer agreement between Alan Scott and Heath Ledger, had no restrictive clauses. We could find a new face to contact Heath Ledger and get the copyright. "

Bruce said: "Let's look at the specific situation of Heath Ledger first."

…………

Los Angeles seaside town, Venice.

The afternoon sun shone on the sea level. Heath Ledger drove to the coastal road, parked the car in a secluded parking lot, and waited patiently.

Originally, he could steadily get goods from Michelle Bryan.

Although a bit expensive, the goods are of good quality and safe.

After Michelle Bryan committed suicide, he could only take the risk to buy goods in person.

Ten minutes later, a Mercedes-Benz SUV drove over and stopped close to the driver's seat of Heath Ledger.

There was a knocking sound. Heath Ledger glanced at the Mexican over there through the two car windows, lowered the window, took out some cash, and handed it over.

The other side also lowered the window, took the cash, and gave Heath Ledger a paper bag.

The two of them inspected the goods separately.

Heath Ledger took out a small plastic bag, opened it, put it in front of him and sniffed. The product was very genuine.

The man next door made sure the money was fine and said, "Contact us anytime if you need anything."

These poisonous insects were his favorite, and they could continuously harvest wealth.

Heath-Ledger collected the goods, drove out of the parking lot and returned to the single-family house he rented in Venice.

He parked the car on the side of the road and quickly entered the house.

In the distance, Ivan parked the car, dialed Bruce's special contact number, and the two started talking.

Not long after, a red BMW drove up and parked behind Heath Ledger's car.

Gemma Ward glanced at her boyfriend's car and entered the house directly. As soon as she turned from the entrance to the living room, she saw Heath Ledger lying on his back on the sofa with his eyes blank, and his consciousness seemed not to be inside his body.

She came to the coffee table, opened the paper bag, took out a small plastic bag, opened it, sat next to Heath Ledger, and inhaled vigorously.

The two people's lack of energy at the beginning quickly turned into excitement.

As we all know, the poisonous insect became excited and wanted to let the dog fight, and the two quickly rolled into a ball.

Heath Ledger's reputation in Hollywood has long been bad. Although his new girlfriend is a slightly famous Australian model, the key to hanging out with him lies in common interests and hobbies.

After struggling for a long time, the sky gradually turned dark and the room finally became dark.

Heath Ledger called and ordered takeout, and Gemma Ward briefly tidied the house, mainly putting away the goods.

"So much?" Gemma Ward asked.

"That's as much as all the cash can buy," Heath Ledger said.

Gemma Ward received the goods in an iron box and asked again: "Did you spend all the money to buy the goods?"

Heath Ledger didn't think there was a problem: "The two of us use these, and it's not enough for a week."

Gemma Ward's addiction is much lighter than that of her boyfriend: "The money also includes the money we use to pay the rent. We have been delayed for a while. If we don't pay the landlord two months' rent, we will be evicted. ”

"Don't worry!" There is no bottom line for poisonous insects. Heath Ledger said: "If he dares to come and chase us away, I am a homosexual and mentally cognizant of women. You are just the opposite. He is discriminating against minorities!"

In the past year, Dorsey Ledger has not been working seriously, but he has carefully studied the changes in Hollywood. This method works quite well in Los Angeles.

The LAPD will be cautious when encountering them.

Gemma Ward began receiving professional modeling training when she was in her early tenth year. She is far less smart than her boyfriend who has been in the entertainment industry for many years. She just said: "It's not just the rent, but also our daily life. You have no income from work, and I have no income." The money is still an advance payment for a clothing exhibition. If there is no money, where will I get the goods next week?”

Heath Ledger didn't seem to hear, and slumped on the sofa without speaking.

Gemma Ward asked tentatively: "A few months ago, didn't you buy a script at a low price and want to make it into a movie? Have you secured investment?"

These words reminded Heath Ledger, who stood up and looked around, and finally found the script called "The Queen's Gambit".