I am Hollywood

[Chapter 1026: It Recognized Me]

East Hampton always managed to set Eric's mind at ease. Summer, however, wasn't the best time for sleeping in. Feeling the warmth of the sunlight pouring through the burgundy curtains, with Joanna no longer by his side, Eric got dressed and got out of bed.

After freshening up, he headed downstairs, and from the staircase, he could hear Emma's sweet voice. The smell of food wafted from the kitchen, but Eric followed the sound to the small living room on the lower level instead. In the spacious living room, a large coffee table occupied one corner, and three little figures were seated on small stools around it. Emma appeared to be drawing, while the other two kids had their backs to him, not quite sure what they were doing. A girl with a ponytail sat near Kevin, also turned away from him.

When Emma spotted Eric entering, her eyes went wide with excitement. After a moment of confusion, she shouted, "Daddy!" and dashed toward him.

Bending down, Eric scooped up the little girl in his arms, smiling as she planted a kiss on his cheek. He then gently asked, "Did you miss Daddy?"

"Uh-huh," Emma nodded vigorously, her face lighting up with anticipation. "Daddy, did you bring me a present? Auntie brought me so many gifts last time!"

"Of course I did! Daddy would never forget to bring you a present. I'll have Auntie Joan get it for you later."

As Eric spoke, he walked over to the coffee table and set Emma down, glancing at the cluttered surface. In front of Emma lay a pile of colored markers, and Kevin was holding a pencil, scribbling something in his notebook. When he noticed Eric, his gaze turned shyly towards him. Elia was still engrossed in a rather hefty book, completely oblivious to the fact that her father was in the room. Next to her was a seven-inch mini keyboard and a small tablet that he had seen before. These had been custom-made and sent over by Steve Mitnick; they simply weren't available on the market.

Ruffling Emma's hair, Eric settled down on a mat between Kevin and Elia. The girl with the ponytail had initially stood up at Eric's arrival but hesitated for a moment before sitting down beside Kevin instead. "Hello, Mr. Williams, I'm Annie Brunelle," she introduced herself.

Eric nodded in response. This was likely the tutor Virginia had hired for Kevin. He wasn't particularly fond of the idea of Kevin receiving formal education so early and had opposed it several times but couldn't win against Virginia's insistence, so he conceded: "You can head out for now; I'll stay with the kids."

Annie's eyes flickered with a hint of disappointment, but she obediently stood up to leave.

Noticing his father sitting nearby, Kevin shyly called out, "Daddy."

Eric awkwardly adjusted his seating position and realized that the mat wasn't conducive for a grown man to sit comfortably. He stood up, lifted his son into his arms, and sat down on Kevin's little stool while looking over at his sweet daughter. "Elia, don't you think you should say hello to Daddy?"

Without turning her head, Elia flipped a page in her book and replied, "Good morning, Daddy."

"Uh-huh, sweetheart, what are you reading?"

"Models for Web Data Retrieval Based on Bayesian Theory."

Eric felt a moment of frustration and thought that he needed to try harder. He cautiously asked, "What's that about?"

Elia didn't answer. Instead, she studied her father intently, as if assessing his intelligence, then returned her attention to her book with a nonchalant expression.

Okay, that was a blow to the ego.

Feeling defeated, Eric glanced at Kevin's notebook and realized that it was a word puzzle. His fatherly pride surged as he exclaimed, "Hey, son, you're doing a word puzzle! Let me help you."

With that, Eric picked up the pencil Kevin had put down and looked at the prompt in front of him.

P_ncil.

This was simple; clearly, it was 'pencil.' He just needed to fill in an 'e.'

His confidence returned instantly.

After a while, Joanna walked in and noticed that Eric had already completed most of the word puzzle book. She laughed, "This is the homework Vicky left for Kevin. If she found out you did it, she'd be furious."

With a sense of irresponsible pride, Eric penned a few more words in the notebook and said, "Just don't tell her."

Joanna squatted down on the other side of the coffee table, sorting through the scattered colored markers in front of Emma. She shot a reproachful look at Eric and said, "It's time to eat. You should take Kevin to the dining room."

Eric didn't get up but pointed to his sweet daughter.

Joanna took a glance at Elia, said nothing, and picked up the tablet. "Elia recently created something fun; let me show you."

Emma immediately raised her little hand, "I'll do it, Auntie Joan! I can too."

Eric noticed that his son also wore an excited expression, piquing his curiosity further.

Joanna pressed the power button, smiled, and handed the tablet to Emma, then retrieved a camera from beneath the coffee table and switched it on.

Upon seeing the camera, Eric looked at the separate mini keyboard and tablet and instantly realized something crucial he hadn't noticed before: all these components were evidently using Bluetooth technology.

However, that thought was fleeting as Emma's attention drew him in again.

The tablet's screen lit up, and the little girl tapped on an app icon, which opened on the desktop. She then pointed the camera at her own face with great seriousness and pressed a button on the screen.

In an instant, a female voice emanated from the tablet's speakers: "Emma Roberts Murdoch Williams."

"Daddy, look! It recognized me!" the little girl exclaimed, even more thrilled to hear her name as she pressed the button again, and the speaker repeated that lengthy name.

After several rounds, Emma aimed the camera at Joanna and pressed the button. The speaker chimed in, "Mom."

After testing with Joanna, Emma turned the camera towards Eric and pressed the button once more. The speaker accurately responded, "Eric Williams."

Eric paused for a moment, then chuckled at Joanna, "Why do you get to be 'Mom,' and I'm just 'Eric Williams?'"

"Who knows?" Joanna shot Eric an eye roll, took the tablet from Emma, and said, "Alright, sweetheart, time to eat. We can play again later."

The two adults tidied up and led the three kids to the dining room. Joanna then explained, "Elia wrote a recognition program herself. Steve said that although the program is simple and can only recognize people whose data has been pre-stored in the computer, Elia's concept surpasses all existing face recognition algorithms. With enough database and computational power, it could eventually identify any person in front of a connected camera worldwide."

Eric set his son down beside the dining table and said, "I'm only focusing on one issue here: our daughter isn't even six years old, is she?"

Hearing that, Emma, who had just settled down at the table, raised her little hand. "Daddy, no! I'm already seven!"

Eric laughed, responding, "Yes, Emma is very clever."

Joanna remarked, "I don't think it's a big deal. Our daughter might become someone brilliant, like Da Vinci."

Eric, receiving breakfast from the maid, began distributing plates to the three little ones. "Let's leave Da Vinci aside. Knowing too much can be exhausting."

Joanna took a small pot of porridge from the maid and sat down at the table. "As long as Elia enjoys it, that's what matters."

"Well, then," Eric nodded and sat down. "Regarding the trip to Poland, I'll have Carter arrange for four female bodyguards for you. With the two at home, that should be enough. You'll be taking that Boeing 767 to get there."

Eric always took the safety of women and children very seriously, donating to the East Hampton Police Department every year to enhance security patrols in the area. Apart from a custom security system, two female bodyguards were always stationed at the estate, while Eric had never considered hiring male guards.

However, since Joanna wanted to take the kids back to Poland, they naturally needed to increase the number of people accompanying them. He wasn't entirely clear about the current situation in Poland.

Joanna didn't refuse Eric's arrangement and added, "And there's Vicky too. We plan to go together. The kids have grown up here and haven't really been anywhere outside of Long Island except for Chris's wedding."

Eric thought for a moment and said, "That sounds better. I won't go this time, but next time I'll join you all on vacation."

Joanna nodded. "Also, we've completed building our private school and plan to start enrolling students this year. Would you like to meet the principal at noon?"

"Sure, I'm leaving in the afternoon, so let them come over for lunch," Eric replied without hesitation.

Although he had been wary about Virginia pushing Kevin into education too early, he still took the children's education quite seriously.

...

Many Americans held the belief that instead of leaving their children a vast sum of money, it was better to provide them with a quality education. The competitive elite culture in America placed enormous emphasis on elite education, and for the upper class, children's education was of utmost importance. Many times, a failure in their education could signal the family's decline.

Thus, the children of America's upper echelon also carried the burden of rigorous education, while the carefree rebel students often depicted in Hollywood movies and TV shows typically belonged to public schools -- the so-called "underachievers." The true elite were shaped in expensive private schools and the Ivy League universities.

In recent years, the two women had devoted a significant amount of energy to preparing for this school. The budget for its infrastructure alone had unexpectedly topped $30 million, and assembling a teaching management team had cost an arm and a leg. They named the school East Hampton Private School, a decision made by Eric since he felt uncomfortable attaching his name or surname to things around him.

Currently, the school offered classes from first to sixth grade, with a total of six classes and thirty students each, catering to residents of East Hampton, Southampton, and Bridgehampton on Long Island. While money did not guarantee the best school, no one could underestimate the impressive hardware and software strength of this new private institution. Although the school was only accepting 180 students, the management team had already received over 500 applications for enrollment in recent months.

Eric and Joanna invited Principal Katherine Wister to lunch at noon, discussing various details for several hours. Finally, Eric made his way to JFK International Airport at 4 PM to board a private flight back to Los Angeles.

...

"Eric, based on the box office data from Friday and Saturday, the drop for The Ring this week should stay under 30%. The total box office could surpass $180 million this week," Mayer reported report while holding a stack of documents in the lounge of the plane.

After reviewing the box office report in his hand, Eric took a coffee from Caroline and gestured for Mayer to continue.

"Furthermore, due to the success of The Ring, other companies are now trying to acquire the rights to Suzuki Koji's other novels. Several adaptations of Japanese horror novels have also begun development recently. New Line emailed us to ask if we wanted to immediately start the sequel and another project for Ju-on."

"Not for now," Eric shook his head and added after a moment's thought. "I'll discuss this with Kenneth personally when I get back. In addition, how's the situation with Rush Hour 3?"

Mayer hadn't been keeping tabs on that matter and turned to Caroline, who had been following up on the news related to the Firefly system tech companies. Usually, she was the one managing the film company's progress.

Caroline looked at Eric, but her mind wandered to his trip to East Hampton to see the kids. She quickly regained her focus. "New Line has finalized the contracts for both male leads' salaries, and they're currently working on the script."

Eric recalled that the first two Rush Hour films performed well, but the third one had struggled due to its change in style. Still, since they hadn't drafted the screenplay yet, there was no rush.

After a brief pause, Mayer saw that Eric had no objections and handed over another document, saying, "Eric, this is the pirate script you requested last time. The writers are Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, who originally worked at Disney's animated division. However, the script is quite underdeveloped; it's just a basic outline. They've registered it with the Writers Guild, but we haven't had any contact with them yet."

*****

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