Chapter 319: Chapter 314: The Good Guy Among Jerks
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Los Angeles International Airport – shortly after the flight from Atlanta landed, Lily dragged her suitcase and arrived at the terminal exit.
Even though she was wearing nothing more special than jeans and a sports T-shirt, the young and pretty brunette still attracted the attention of many people around her.
A handsome guy with a bag slung over his shoulder immediately approached her, "Hey, beauty, are you here to tour Los Angeles?"
Lily glanced at him and ignored him.
The handsome guy put on his brightest and most sunny smile, "Cabs in Los Angeles are hard to hail, and they are expensive, too. How about we share a ride?"
Thomas wanted to go over from about five or six meters away.
But Louise put her hand on his shoulder, "No rush, let's see what happens. My bodyguard is over there; nothing will go wrong."
Thomas still walked a few steps forward.
Facing the handsome guy, Lily also smiled, "No need, my brother is an officer at the Los Angeles Police Department. He just called me, and he'll be here soon."
"Is that so?" The handsome guy backed off on his own, "I'll go find someone else to share a ride with."
Lily's parents were no ordinary people, and she had wide-ranging experiences from a young age, with enough awareness of the evil in people's hearts.
She curled her lip and looked at the Sect Hierarch on the Coca-Cola advertisement on the side of the terminal building, thinking to herself that even such an ugly monster had the gall to come up and hit on her.
Thomas came over quickly, "Hey, Lily."
When the "Wanted Order" crew was shooting in Atlanta, Lily had met Thomas, she said, "Thank you for coming to pick me up."
Then, she saw a woman walking behind Thomas, who appeared to be in her thirties, beautiful and sexy, sharp, and capable.
"Louise Mel."
"Lily Carter."
Both of them introduced themselves and, at Thomas's invitation, got into a commercial van together.
Louise signaled the driver to drive and asked, "Do you want to go to Martin's to settle down first, or go to school?"
Lily made an effort to appear mature, "Please take me to the school."
The driver headed straight for Valencia Satellite City, where the California Institute of the Arts was located.
Louise said, "I'm good friends with Martin, and we're also partners. He's in London for a shoot and can't make it back. He specifically entrusted me to help pick you up."
"Thank you." Lily opened the backpack she carried with her, took out a small gift box, and handed it to Louise, "Thank you so much for your help. This is a handcraft I made myself, please don't disdain it…"
Lily didn't understand Louise, but Louise somewhat understood Lily; she knew without guessing what was inside the box.
But since the other party was earnestly expressing gratitude, and she was a young, pretty, and cute girl, it was hard for Louise to refuse, so she accepted it, "You're welcome."
Lily took out another one and handed it to Thomas, "This is for you."
"Thanks." Thomas took it, and while Lily was placing another one on the passenger seat beside the driver, he quietly opened the gift box to take a peek.
Indeed, inside was a hand-carved, very cute and adorable Joker figurine.
Thomas really wanted to tell Lily, no need to give me one, I've already got a lot of similar things, including the Bay Crocodile pendant you didn't give.
Louise opened hers freely and let out a sigh internally; she would need to buy a special cabinet to house Lily Carter's hand carvings.
Lily didn't know that her practice carvings were beginning to flood Hollywood. Upon arriving at the California Institute of the Arts, she gave another to Louise's assistant Nikki and Thomas's assistant Natasha, one each.
Natasha and Nikki looked at each other, how come these siblings both liked to give away carvings?
The wild Australian buffalo sure are pitiable, aren't they?
Louise accompanied Lily to the college, first meeting Vice Chancellor Diana and her future tutor, then handling various enrollment procedures and even applying for a single-person apartment.
Everything went very smoothly without any trouble.
After putting her luggage in the apartment, Lily didn't forget Louise, who had come to help specially, "Let me take you out for a meal later."
"No need." Louise took out a business card and handed it to Lily, "Martin isn't in Los Angeles. If you need anything, you can call Thomas or me."
Lily took it; the address was in Sherman Oaks. If she remembered correctly, Martin also lived in Sherman Oaks.
Louise took the initiative to invite her, "Come visit me when you have time."
"Thank you." Lily couldn't articulate it, but she had a feeling that this Louise was somehow strange.
After seeing off Louise, she immediately called Martin and specifically mentioned the situation with Louise.
Martin on the other end said, "You can go to her if you have problems, but don't bother with her otherwise."
Lily reported, "I've settled in. Louise and Thomas who escorted me, as well as their entourage, the school's welcoming upperclassmen and teachers, I gave each one a small gift."
In the London studio, Martin had a very bad feeling and asked, "What kind of gifts did you give?"
"Horn carvings," Lily said, "Joker figurines modeled after you."
"Did you give them to many people?" Martin asked.
Lily confirmed, "I gave them to many people."
Martin slapped his forehead and said, "All right, we'll talk when I get back to Los Angeles."
After hanging up, Bruce wanted to laugh but held back.
Martin looked at him and said, "Go ahead and laugh." He snorted coldly, "I'm going to make Australian wild buffalo and Bay Crocodile rare animals one of these days."
Bruce asked, "Will you continue to give them away?"
Martin hardened his resolve, "I'm going to give one to everyone in Hollywood!"
That jerk Bruce deliberately said, "A future where every person in Los Angeles has one?"
Martin asked, "How many did you bring this time?"
Before coming to London, Bruce had specially handed over a large piece of luggage to the crew to be checked in together.
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Bruce said, "One gift per person in the crew is enough."
Martin nodded, "The filming is about to end, get ready, I'm going on a gift-giving spree."
The shooting of 'The Reader' had reached its final stage. Actors were leaving the team one after the other, and each departing member, besides receiving a memento from the crew, would also get an extra gift from the leading man and woman, Martin and Kate.
What Kate gave was English tea.
What Martin gave was a pendant of a fang with a carving on a horn.
Three days later, all of the crew's scenes were shot.
Sam Mendes announced that filming was a wrap.
Before Martin could react, Kate grabbed a party popper and sprayed him all over his head and face.
Felicity Jones also grabbed a popper to join the fun.
Martin, trying to escape the mess, took a popper thrown by Old Cloth and, with a loud pop, sprayed Kate all over her face.
But Kate threw away the popper and rushed over to hug Martin, pressing her whole body against him, visibly excited.
Martin hugged her back, "Kate, you're a true artist, your performance this time was fantastic!"
Kate released Martin and cupped his face with her hands, "Without you, I couldn't have done it. You're a great actor who can really bring out someone's A-game, you're a genius."
They both broke into laughter.
A co-producer from the crew entered the soundstage to hand out mementos.
The presents for Martin and Kate were the two books that Michel read to Hannah.
Although the crew wouldn't disband, most of them would not be involved in the post-production.
Martin handed the books to Bruce, carried his gifts and shook hands with the crew, making his way to Sam Mendes.
He intended to shake hands with Sam.
But Sam took the initiative to hug him, patted his back, and said, "You did great in this movie, keep it up, I see a bright future for you."
Martin nodded vigorously, "Sam, you're a true artist. You gave me crucial guidance and advice when times were tough, and that will benefit me for life."
When it came to professionalism, he was far behind Kate and her husband.
Really no comparison.
After leaving the soundstage and finishing with makeup, Bruce suddenly came down from the trailer.
"Don't! Don't move, I'm here to see Martin."
Bruce brought in Silsa Ronan from outside, who, raising her hands, said to Martin, "I heard that your crew finished shooting today, so I specifically came to find you."
Martin, having just changed back into his clothes, asked, "You wanted to see me for something?"
Silsa glanced at the makeup artist but didn't speak.
Martin picked up his bag, thanked the makeup artist with a few words, and was the first to step off the makeup trailer, waiting for Silsa to follow and asking, "You're not still looking for fireworks, are you?"
Silsa giggled, "I still have some left." She boasted with pride, "Hermione's as proud as a peacock, looking down on everyone. She bullied me several times; this time, she's the one who lost face big time."
Martin had read the articles in The Sun; he didn't know if it was a PR strategy or the truth, but Emma Watson had gone to see a psychologist.
But Silsa was concerned, "I wish her an early onset of depression."
Martin thought, maybe she'll reach out on her own in the future.
"Many people say I have great talent and suggest that I go to Los Angeles to develop. My mom plans to take me there in a couple of years," Silsa had been in more than one crew and was far from naïve.
She asked, "Martin, can I come to you then?"
Some things, Martin only needed to talk them up, "Sure, I'll introduce you to an agency then."
"Leonardo's an asshole, you're a good person," Silsa extended her hand and placed it in front of Martin.
Martin took out a business card and gave it to her.
Silsa carefully stored it away, "Thank you."
She gave Martin a smile and then curtsied like a lady, "I'm heading back now."
Martin waved at her.
Silsa ran off.
Bruce came up from behind.
Martin asked, "I'm a good person, right?"
Bruce spoke an honest truth, "Among the bad ones, you are a good one."
Seeing that he had finished packing, Martin said, "Let's go; we'll head to the hotel to get our luggage, then back to Los Angeles."
The post-production team would continue to work at Pine Forest Film Studio. Since there were almost no outdoor scenes left, Martin had asked Sam, and there was no need for him to do any post-production dubbing for his scenes.
Before the formal promotion of the film started, his job had come to an end.
Back at the hotel, after packing his luggage, Kate suddenly arrived.
Bruce voluntarily left the room.
Kate asked, "What time is your flight?"
Martin glanced at the clock, "Leaving in three more hours isn't too late."
Kate pulled out a script from her bag and said, "There's a scene I need to dub, I want to get more familiar with it, and since you're still here, let's make the most of it."
Martin, being the kind person he was, how could he refuse to indulge her?
After two months of filming in London, the experiences with 'The Reader' gave Martin a lot to gain and understand how a good actor could become a true artist.
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