America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

The Saturn Awards hadn't concluded yet when at least twenty well-known entertainment bloggers released news that Hollywood's rising star, Martin Davis, had won the Best Young Actor award.

In addition to the praise, they highlighted Martin's background prominently.

Coming from the slums and achieving success through hard work, this kind of story not only didn't seem outdated but also resonated with the average person.

These bloggers also shared the URL to Martin's blog.

Backstage at the Saturn Awards, Martin, holding his Saturn Award trophy, began his mission.

Bruce followed behind, carrying a digital camera.

When Martin saw Uma Thurman, who had just received Best Actress, he immediately approached her, and using the Saturn Award trophy to break the ice, he said, "Ms. Thurman, I am a fan of 'Kill Bill,' especially your fight with Ishii Goren. Can we take a photo together?"

Seeing the trophy in Martin's hand, and recalling the dance performance from earlier, Uma Thurman said, "No problem."

The two of them stood together and had Bruce take their picture.

After the photo was taken, Uma Thurman added, "I just became your fan. That dance was astonishing."

Martin exaggerated, "Wow, to have a big-name fan like Uma Thurman is too much. Now, I won't be able to sleep tonight! No, I'll be too excited to sleep for a whole week!"

Everyone likes to hear flattery, and because of the way it was said, Uma Thurman chatted with Martin for a bit longer.

After Martin left, he saw Frodo, who had won Best Actor, heading backstage, and immediately became a die-hard fan of 'The Lord of the Rings,' managing to get a photo with Elijah Wood.

Then he found Jennifer Connelly, who had returned backstage as an award presenter.

This Oscar winner had breathtaking beauty in the eighties; now, she was stout enough to compete with Old Cloth, and her face seemed a bit stiff, possibly from recent treatments.

Martin still acted like he was in the presence of a goddess and continued using the Saturn Award trophy as his calling card, charming Jennifer Connelly into taking a joyful photo with him.

When there was no one around, Bruce whispered, "Can you use these?"

Martin replied quietly, "I've specifically consulted about it. Posting them on the blog is not a problem at all."

Bruce pointed out, "Quentin is here."

'Kill Bill' had won Best Action/Thriller Film, and the "ugly" Quentin entered with a smile, looking for his muse, Uma Thurman.

Martin intercepted Quentin midway; perhaps a kindred spirit finds familiarity in another freak as they seriously discussed which film had the most beautiful feet for the female lead, then they took a photo with their arms around each other's shoulders.

Before leaving, Quentin told Martin, "Buddy, you're totally my type. Let's go out for a drink someday."

Martin exchanged contact information with him.

After they left, Bruce said, "He feels even more twisted than I am."

Martin lowered his voice, "Put you two freaks together and one woman can handle you both, the butt's yours and the feet are his."

With the award in hand and sweet talk, Martin managed to take photos successively with Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, and Keanu Reeves.

He even snagged a photo with Peter Jackson.

Isn't success all about rubbing shoulders?

A modest Saturn Award for Best Newcomer could be utilized in so many ways.

After the award ceremony ended, Bruce took the memory card out of the camera and handed it to Thomas.

Thomas quickly left the Avalon Theatre and went to a nearby room he had booked in advance. He opened his laptop and logged onto Martin's blog.

He posted a pre-prepared essay on his award-winning journey and uploaded various photos Bruce took that night.

Especially the photos of Martin holding the Saturn Award with various stars and famous directors.

Thomas then notified the large entertainment bloggers they collaborated with, having them repost Martin's blog en masse.

Many people were redirected there.

But there was more than just these on Martin's blog.

There were also some photos with Eliza Cuthbert.

A video of practicing the zombie Gatling gun dance.

Costume test photos from 'House of Wax,' and so on.

Previously, the few hundred followers of Martin's blog were mostly redirected from Eliza's side.

Once these blog posts were released, the number of followers on Martin's blog quickly surpassed 10,000.

Meanwhile, editors from various entertainment magazines were also looking at the pictures and crafting various essays about Martin.

The hard-won sponsorship money must be well spent.

Media coverage about stars and their reviews, much like film criticism, are a business too.

After attending the official party, like most people, Martin left Avalon and returned to Los Angeles.

On the way, he called Louise, "Hey, boozer, you awake? I won a big award, aren't you going to celebrate for me?"

Louise replied, "I'm waiting for you to come over."

Martin drove to Sherman Oaks and entered Louise's villa.

Louise was sitting at the bar in the living room waiting for him.

Martin, holding the trophy, came to sit across from her, placing the trophy in front of Louise: "Best Young Actor Award."

Louise poured two glasses of wine, handed one to Martin, and asked, "Why come to my place?"

Martin said seriously, "Without you, I couldn't have gotten it."

Louise laughed, not being polite with Martin at all, "How are you going to thank me?"

Martin took off his suit jacket, tossed it onto the sofa, started undoing his belt, and said, "I'll repay you with my body."

Louise drank her wine and opened her arms: "Carry me upstairs."

Martin picked her up and went to the upstairs bedroom.

The next morning, Martin swam a few laps in the pool on the first floor, took a shower, and came out for breakfast, where the butler Mary brought in a pile of newspapers into the dining room.

Louise said, "I had Mary buy them specially."

Martin took them over and flipped through, saying, "There's quite a bit of coverage about me."

The front page headline of "US Rumors" was about last night's Saturn Awards ceremony, listing the winners, including Martin's name.

On the third page, accompanying pictures and text specially introduced the best new actor, Martin Davis.

Similar reports appeared in many entertainment gossip publications.

Louise asked, "Must have cost a pretty penny, huh? Is your savings enough?"

Martin, shamelessly, "That's why I'm looking for a sugar mama." He paused slightly, then said, "I've secured a sponsorship, House of Beast Club, full sponsorship for my expenses for this awards ceremony."

Louise couldn't help but laugh, "You're venturing out in Los Angeles to start new ventures, yet you haven't given up on your Atlanta base."

"This is called advancing to attack and retreating to defend," Martin put the newspapers aside, ready to enjoy breakfast.

The entertainment gossip papers had paid-for coverage, all written based on themes provided by Thomas, with not much difference in content.

Louise handed over a copy of "Hollywood Reporter" and said, "You actually have die-hard fans, a woman was interviewed last night and said a lot of good things about you."

Martin quickly skimmed through it, the interviewee was Rachel, who emphasized her interactions during the last fan meet and greet and this time on the red carpet.

-exclusive

"This isn't paid for," he noted, looking at the placement which was towards the back: "'Hollywood Reporter,' such a top industry newspaper, charges too high, one insertion could be as expensive as ten from the others, yet its circulation doesn't compare to any three of the others combined."

Many tabloids had good circulation, especially among the general public.

Louise said, "I checked out your blog; you've got quite a few followers."

Martin quickly ate his breakfast, "I'll use your computer later."

After breakfast, he took a laptop to check the information on the Internet; his blog followers had surpassed thirty thousand overnight.

There were even more articles on the Internet.

Also, his performance from last night's award ceremony appeared on many websites and forums, seemingly garnering a high number of views.

A few movie forums even highlighted and pinned it to the top.

Martin used a search engine to look up his own name, a bunch of related entries popped up, mostly about "Zombie Stripper," the Saturn Award, and the Zombie Gatling Dance.

Apart from that, he spotted a special piece of information from IMDb.

The official movie database site had just added an actor's entry for Martin Davis, IMDb ID nm0451313.

Martin opened it, the profile picture was clearly from the Saturn Awards ceremony, and listed below were three works.

"People from the City," a film by Ma Zhen.

"Zombie Stripper."

And "House of Wax."

The last one was marked as unreleased.

Martin, who had previously done post-production dubbing, asked Louise, "Is there a release date set for 'House of Wax'? "

Louise said, "Traditional horror film release season, October." She thought for a moment, then deliberately added, "I and the investors behind Paris Hilton want to recuperate investments as quickly as possible and have been pressuring Warner Bros."

Martin asked, "When did they originally plan to release it?"

"Next year, I guess," Louise said casually, "Big companies have their drawbacks, with many projects under their belt, scheduling can be troublesome."

She winked at Martin, "For you, I specifically requested Warner Bros. to release it earlier."

Martin remembered "Alexander the Great," "What about your epic film?"

Louise frowned slightly, "December, prime time, I don't feel too good about it; 'Troy,' that epic film starring Brad Pitt, opened early in the month and its first-week box office was far below Warner Bros.'s expectations."

She waved her hand dismissively, "Why am I telling you this, you're not yet at the level to worry about these things. Martin, urge your agent more, you've now won an important acting award, you have the right to ask the agency to invest more resources."

"Thomas is working on it," Martin asked, "I trust you more than an agent, what kind of resources do you think the agency could offer me?"

Louise cautioned him, "Don't expect to sky-rocket to success, what you've won is the Saturn Award for Best Young Actor, not an Oscar for acting."

She pondered briefly, "Normally, a supporting role in a production around 20 million US dollars, or a leading role in one below 10 million dollars. Whichever main supporting role it is, if the opportunity is right, take it; success is an important credential, and if it fails, the main responsibility lies with the leading actor."

Martin grasped the implication in her words, "So should I be more careful with films where I'm the lead actor?"

Louise nodded, "Absolutely correct, no matter what the producer and distributor have done, once a film fails, the director and the lead actors are always the primary ones to be blamed. You're just starting to emerge, and if you mess up your first film as a lead, you can imagine the consequences without me having to spell them out."

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