I am Hollywood

[Chapter 1004: Sleepy Hollow]

Mayer's eyes flickered as she stepped forward, wanting to sit beside Eric, but he raised a hand to stop her.

Eric lifted his hand to block Mayer, though he did not pull it back. Instead, he let it rest gently against the girl's leg, which was covered in a light silk dress, slowly beginning to wander upward.

Mayer felt as if several mischievous little rascals were softly yet audaciously crawling up her leg, sending waves of tingles and shivers through her, causing her breath to quicken.

Taking a cautious deep breath to steady her nerves, Mayer suddenly realized that even if she were willing, she shouldn't let her boss run amok with her. It felt like that invasive hand had reached her waist, as if it had plans to roam uncharted territories. Mayer instinctively pressed her hand against his, almost whispering, "Eric, it's already very late, and Carly is coming over tomorrow morning."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Mayer realized she had spoken something incredibly foolish.

Why did she have to bring up Caroline at such a moment?

Indeed, upon hearing that, Eric hesitated. Thinking of Caroline's heartbreaking little gaze, Eric felt most of his earlier desires dissipate. It was one thing for his interactions with other women, but Mayer was essentially someone who would have to face Caroline daily. If Caroline found out he had slept with Mayer, it would undoubtedly sadden her, even if she didn't voice it.

With these thoughts, Eric withdrew his hand and stood up, giving Mayer a polite kiss on the cheek. "Well, you should get some rest. Good night."

"Yeah, good night," Mayer nodded. It was only after Eric disappeared at the top of the stairs that she suddenly flopped onto the sofa, hugging a cushion like a cat and scratching it for a while. Then, she banged her head against the pillow a few times, muttering, "Marissa Mayer, you are such a big fool, a big fool, a big fool."

...

Good weather was rare in London, and although it wasn't raining like the previous day, it remained overcast on that Sunday morning.

At Wilson Manor, Eric's bodyguard arrived early to pick up Caroline.

"Don't worry, Mom. I'll take care of myself. Eric is really good to me," Caroline assured her mother one last time as she embraced her parents. After a few more words of concern from Lady Wilson, Caroline got into the car, rolled down the window, and reluctantly waved goodbye to her parents, before instructing the driver to leave.

Watching the car pull out of the manor, the Count, who had just assumed a fatherly posture, suddenly turned to his wife, saying, "That girl must be hiding something from us."

Lady Wilson glanced at her husband. "It's probably something with Jane. Carly and Jane have always been quite close."

"No, I think it's something else," the Count frowned at the mention of his sister's name, letting out an exasperated sigh. "If she's back, she should be reasonable and do things properly. Why open a gallery? Does she think she's Picasso?"

Lady Wilson looped her arm through her husband's as they walked back toward the castle. "Let her do what she loves; after all, she..."

As she spoke, noticing the displeasure on her husband's face grow, Lady Wilson decided to hold her tongue.

...

In the car heading towards downtown London, Caroline let out a small sigh of relief. She had thought her parents knew about Eric, but they were clueless. Her aunt had specifically told her not to mention Eric to her parents, so she hadn't brought it up. Still, being around her parents for the past few days had left her feeling a bit apprehensive. Truth be told, she really wanted her mom and dad to know that Eric was her cousin.

Instead of taking Caroline to Kensington, they headed to a cafe near Regent's Park. There, Caroline met Eric and Mayer.

The London tabloids were notoriously pesky. Even though the gossip columns from the News Corporation wouldn't chase after Eric, the other tabloids were unrestrained. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't have been a major issue, but since Eric was going to visit Olivia today, he had to avoid media scrutiny.

Thus, he had to put in considerable effort that morning to shake off the paparazzi.

Olivia's gallery was close to Regent's Park. Although it wasn't far, for caution's sake, the three of them decided to drive there.

...

A few minutes later, they arrived outside a four-story white European-style villa. Eric led Caroline and Mayer out of the car, quickly scanning the surroundings. The street appeared quite secluded, lacking any shops. Though the villa appeared luxurious, it seemed more like a private residence than a gallery, given the absence of any signs and the presence of a fence and steps, giving off a vibe of intentional exclusion for passersby.

Eric hesitated, questioning whether they had come to the right location when the villa's door swung open. Olivia stepped out, dressed in a black shirt and white casual pants, offering a soft smile.

Seeing Olivia, Caroline rushed up affectionately to hug her aunt. Then she turned to stand beside Olivia.

Eric approached as well, exchanging a light embrace with Olivia and introducing Mayer. Olivia then led the three of them inside the villa.

From the outside, the villa looked like a regular home, but inside, it had the layout of a standard gallery: an open hall, white walls, and soft lighting. The walls were adorned with realistic-style watercolor paintings, mainly depicting landscapes -- morning farms, castles among the hills, seaside towns, all evidently crafted by the same hand. Eric didn't know much about painting, but he understood that accomplished artists usually had a strong personal style.

Olivia quietly stayed by Eric's side as he walked around the hall. After they ascended the spiral staircase to the second floor, they found more artwork but Olivia led Eric to a relaxation area by the windows, where a few armchairs surrounded a large coffee table, complete with a small bar nearby.

...

Since this wasn't Caroline's first visit, she eagerly ran off to brew coffee for them. Olivia and Eric sat on the sofa together, and sensing Eric's confusion, she explained, "I don't like strangers interrupting; I only allow familiar friends or agents to bring guests."

Eric remembered Caroline mentioning Olivia's quirky shop on Greece's Minox Island and understood her attitude toward the gallery. She didn't rely on it for a living. He smiled and said, "That's fine, too."

Olivia smiled back. "What about you? Have you been busy lately?"

As Eric took the coffee Caroline handed him, he held it and nodded, "I've been flying around a lot. I came here from New York last week, and next, I'm off to Australia before heading back to Los Angeles - just making a circle around the globe."

Olivia held her cup, smoothing Caroline's blonde hair back, then looked at Eric, "You're doing great; there's no need to overburden yourself."

Eric simply nodded. Olivia knew that even if Eric wanted to let some things slide, it wasn't that easy, so she didn't push further but asked Caroline and Mayer to take good care of Eric.

Casual chatting carried on, and before they knew it, it was lunchtime.

...

The villa belonged to the Wilson family, with the lower two floors converted into the gallery by Olivia. The third and fourth floors were her living quarters, which felt very warm and homely, unlike the gallery's layout.

The women prepared lunch together. After eating, Eric suggested they head to Pinewood Studios to check things out.

The set for Sleepy Hollow was built on a nearby farm. Tim Burton was in London, and given the project's enormous budget, Eric certainly wanted to stay involved.

Naturally, Caroline and Mayer didn't object, and Olivia nodded in agreement, so they quickly set out.

...

After over an hour, they met with Tim Burton at Pinewood Studios and made their way to the nearby farm, where the extensive set of Sleepy Hollow had been constructed over several acres.

The afternoon sky remained gloomy, but the atmosphere perfectly complemented the gothic-style town, standing at the entrance while gazing at the eerie vibe created by the town's homes, churches, wooden bridges, and watchtowers; Olivia suddenly exclaimed, "It's beautiful here."

Eric couldn't help but agree with Olivia; although the atmosphere felt strange, the town's architecture clearly showcased careful design that enhanced the visual aesthetics of the film's composition. Photos taken here could easily serve as movie posters. In fact, Eric could sense that as long as the cinematographer was exceptional, this film would produce stunning frames, which, in his memory, could only be described as computer wallpaper-level quality.

The filming was scheduled to commence in September, with other sets and various props being produced. However, the choice of cinematographer had already been decided: Emmanuel Lubezki. Although many later recognized Lubezki for his long takes in Gravity and Birdman, he excelled at using natural light, which was precisely the style Sleepy Hollow demanded.

Tim Burton was an eccentric, reclusive genius who preferred to immerse himself in his own world. Aside from discussing the movie, Eric found little common ground with him, listening as Tim explained his vision for the filming of Sleepy Hollow while walking around the set.

Tim initially envisioned the film being as dark as possible, but this conflicted with the tone of a commercial film, especially one with such a substantial budget. Ultimately, the script had to include a rather heartwarming conclusion. As they reached an agreement on the script, Eric chose not to interfere too much with Tim's creative vision.

...

After spending the weekend in London, Eric set off again the next day, heading to Queenstown, New Zealand.

This journey far exceeded his previous trips, with the straight line distance from the polar region of the UK to the southern hemisphere of New Zealand nearing 20,000 kilometers.

No commercial aircraft yet boasted the capability to cover such a distance nonstop. The Boeing 767-200ER, which Eric was flying, was the longest-range variant of the 767 series but could only manage a little over 12,000 kilometers. Therefore, after departing from London, they had to stop for refueling in Singapore, making the entire journey exceed 24 hours.

New Zealand was 11 hours ahead of London. When Eric left Heathrow Airport in London on Monday afternoon, it was Wednesday morning at 5 AM local time upon arrival in Australia's XN.

At that time, New Zealand was far from the Middle Earth tourist hotspot it would later become thanks to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The country didn't even have an adequate airport; neither Wellington Airport in the North Island nor Queenstown Airport in the South Island could accommodate medium-sized Boeing 767 aircraft for a safe takeoff and landing.

Leaving the 767 at XN International Airport, Eric borrowed a small Gulfstream III jet through Elisabeth's connections to fly anew to Queenstown in New Zealand's South Island.

...

While Eric was flying, the box office results for the opening weekend of The Matrix Reloaded, which had released in North America, emerged. After setting a midnight record of $9.95 million, the film garnered a total of $83.66 million by the end of its opening weekend.

Although it didn't surpass the previous year's record of $91.05 million set by Casino Royale, it comfortably outstripped the $73.75 million cumulative figure for The Day After Tomorrow from two weeks prior. The film breaking the $100 million mark during its opening week was no longer in doubt; everyone began to focus on whether The Matrix Reloaded could maintain enough momentum at the box office thereafter.

By the third week, The Day After Tomorrow saw its weekend numbers drop by 55% due to the impact of The Matrix Reloaded. Ultimately, the weekend's earnings fell to $18.91 million, bringing its cumulative total to $194 million. While it was likely to comfortably break the $200 million mark this week, based on the current trends, The Day After Tomorrow's total North American box office might struggle to surpass $250 million.

From the current perspective, the opening weekend box office for The Matrix Reloaded wouldn't be much worse than Casino Royale's from the previous year. That is to say, the opening weekend box office for The Day After Tomorrow also wasn't too far behind Casino Royale. Each of the three films easily crossed the $100 million mark during their first week, and the key factor in influencing their total North American box office would be the drop rates in the following weeks.

Due to the bombastic word-of-mouth success of Casino Royale, its ticket sales had consistently remained down by the 30% range for several weeks. Seemingly minor differences in percentage points during the same opening might lead to stark contrasts in final box office numbers. If both films had the same $100 million opening weekend but different decline percentages of 30%, 40%, and 50%, their eventual totals would widely differ -- $400 million, $300 million, and $200 million, respectively.

However, despite the polarized reviews affording uncertainty to The Matrix Reloaded's future box office trajectory, its opening weekend gross exceeding $80 million provided ample ammunition for the media to mock Firefly for having initially abandoned the production of any Matrix sequels.

*****

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