Chapter 485: Hanging a Sheep's Head to Sell Human Flesh

"Hello, Duke."

"Hello, David."

After James Franco's introduction, Duke shook hands with David Ellison. Although he didn't have many memories of the man, he still remembered him as one of the major future investors in Hollywood.

In Duke's gradually blurring memories, David Ellison only officially entered Hollywood over the next two years. Rumor had it that his billionaire father, Larry Ellison, gave him two hundred million dollars for film investments. Faced with the vampires of Hollywood, this young, inexperienced, yet incredibly wealthy man inevitably ran into a lot of trouble.

He was even privately dubbed Hollywood's most famous sucker.

However, someone who grew up in that kind of family and received an elite education was certainly no fool. After struggling in Hollywood for a few years and taking a few hard falls, David Ellison accumulated experience as he grew older. He gradually reined in his arrogantly overconfident attitude and began treating movies with a cautious approach.

This man was practically born with a halo. In the words Duke had read online in his previous life, David Ellison came equipped with a super cheat. Furthermore, after the 2008 economic crisis hit, Hollywood experienced a literal money drought. Lacking no funds himself, he descended upon Hollywood like a savior, investing heavily in famous but cash-strapped projects. He even rescued Paramount Pictures from a severe liquidity crisis, thereby earning the right of first refusal for investments in Paramount's projects.

True Grit, Mission: Impossible 4, Jack Reacher, World War Z, G.I. Joe, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible 5, Terminator 5...

Duke roughly remembered that these were all David Ellison's investment projects.

Although all of Hollywood was unwelcoming to him and his sister, this super-rich heir completed his transformation in less than ten years.

Perhaps others would feel an inexplicable sense of envy, jealousy, and hate upon seeing David Ellison, but Duke wouldn't. For one, he was long past that age; for another, he came from a wealthy background himself.

"Duke, I heard your new project has been greenlit?"

David Ellison brimmed with confidence and spoke very directly, without beating around the bush. "I have high hopes for your project. I'd like to invest in it."

"Invest?" Duke looked at David Ellison, a perfectly measured look of confusion on his face.

"That's right. Warner only invested 40 million dollars in your new project. That doesn't match your current status and reputation at all." David Ellison's words seemed to carry a hint of provocation. "Don't you think your movie deserves a bigger budget? I'm willing to put 40 million dollars into your film."

"Oh?" Duke showed a thoughtful expression.

If there really was a sucker willing to invest, he had no reason to refuse. Besides, there were too many ways to make a project look like it lost money in the end. Not to mention anything else, folding the marketing and distribution expenses into the production costs alone could scam David Ellison to death.

However, David Ellison was currently studying at USC Film School and had some understanding of the industry; he was clearly no fool.

"Of course, I want half of the film's copyright," he added.

He wanted the copyright? Duke immediately dropped his previous thought. He slowly shook his head.

"Sorry, David. I believe a 40-million-dollar budget is more than enough for this project."

"You'd better think it over," David Ellison said, refusing to give up.

Since the other party was asking for the copyright, he clearly wouldn't be so easy to scam. Duke had zero interest in collaborating with him.

"There's no need," Duke said flatly.

David Ellison furrowed his brows, the smile on his face gradually stiffening into something formulaic. Fortunately, he knew what kind of occasion this was and didn't do anything inappropriate for his status.

"Tell me..." Amidst the pleasantries, David Ellison put on an arrogant front similar to his father's. "What are your terms?"

Hearing this, James Franco immediately distanced himself a bit from David Ellison. The man was indeed very wealthy, but for someone trying to make a living in Hollywood, it was absolutely not worth offending a super director over this.

At this point, Duke also dropped the pleasantries and said directly, "There is no possibility of a collaboration between us."

David Ellison stared straight at him. Duke lightly shook his head, too lazy to pay him any more attention.

Ivanka, who had been standing by his side the whole time, chimed in at the perfect moment. "I see Sofia. Let's go say hi."

This was a public occasion, and as one of the hosts of the party, Duke couldn't exactly do anything to David Ellison, even if the attitude he was displaying now was incredibly obnoxious.

"Excuse us."

Leaving behind those last words, Duke took Ivanka's arm and walked toward where Sofia Coppola was standing.

Watching Duke's departing back, David Ellison's expression stiffened. In his past twenty years of life and experience, the money in his hands had always been omnipotent. Any difficulties or obstacles were never a problem in the face of massive sums of cash.

Before coming here, he had already prepared himself to write an astronomical check.

He knew very well that to step into this circle and achieve success, the first step was crucial. That was why he had specifically chosen Duke. Furthermore, in his and the public's impression, Duke was a thoroughly commercialized director who was always chasing financial gains...

Now, the situation seemed somewhat different from what he had imagined.

"Who is that?" Sofia Coppola asked, looking in the direction Duke had come from. "He looks unfamiliar."

"Larry Ellison's son," Duke explained briefly. "He wants to break into Hollywood. I'm guessing he's sitting on a huge pile of cash and wanted to smash me senseless with it."

Facing an old friend like Sofia, Duke didn't hide his attitude at all.

"Does he not know that you aren't lacking money?" Sofia curled her lips disdainfully.

Ivanka sighed and said, "From his tone, it seems he really doesn't know. He's just treating Duke like any ordinary director."

"I'd really like to know," Sofia joked deliberately. "To knock Director Rosenberg out with money, how big of a check would that guy have to write..."

She playfully winked at Ivanka. "Evie, you better watch out. Maybe he'll cater to Duke's tastes and get a dozen blonde, long-legged supermodels."

Duke raised an eyebrow. "Sofia!"

Sofia Coppola smiled.

"Alright, enough joking around," she said.

As she spoke, she walked over and took Ivanka's arm. "Evie, let me introduce you to some friends."

"Sure."

Ivanka nodded at Duke and followed Sofia Coppola toward another social circle.

David Ellison had been watching Duke's side the whole time. The sheer resolve in the man's attitude was something he hadn't expected at all. However, he wasn't the type to fixate on just one place. Hollywood was huge; without Duke, he could still go collaborate with someone else.

"James. I heard some agencies in Hollywood specialize in packaging deals?" David Ellison asked Franco beside him. "Is that true?"

"Yeah, a lot of companies do that now," James Franco answered. "As long as someone is footing the bill, they'll handle everything from the project to the script, from the actors to the director, and from finding a production company to signing a distributor."

"What's the success rate?" David Ellison asked.

"It's decent." James Franco saw a middle-aged blonde woman walking over and spoke quickly, "If it didn't bring in a profit, packaging services wouldn't be so widespread in Hollywood."

"Hmm."

David Ellison had just nodded when the middle-aged blonde woman stepped up in front of him and greeted him first. "Hello, Mr. Ellison."

"Hello." David Ellison was certain he didn't know her.

"I'm Michelle Braun, head of an International Travel Company." The blonde woman was clearly a seasoned socialite; her smile and demeanor were impeccable. "Our company specializes in serving..."

She turned her head to look to the side. "...honored guests like you and Mr. Franco."

With that said, the woman named Michelle Braun took out a business card and handed it over with both hands. "Our company is organizing a costume ball for Halloween. If you're interested, you are very welcome to attend."

David Ellison took the card and glanced at it. "If I need to, I'll give you a call."

Michelle Braun knew how to read the room and immediately took her leave.

"Who is she?" David Ellison asked, watching her departing back. "How come I've never heard of her?"

"I'm not sure either." James Franco shook his head. "But to be able to appear at this party, her status or net worth definitely isn't ordinary."

Although this was a celebration party, it still had a threshold for entry. Not just in North American society, but in Hollywood as well, class division was equally apparent. It was perfectly normal in Hollywood for a person's treatment to depend on who they were.

Just like the Oscar red carpet—for A-list stars, appearing on it wasn't difficult at all, whereas those minor celebrities would try every trick in the book and still often fail to score an invitation.

Some would even go to great lengths to crash the red carpets or banquets of high-end events.

When the blonde woman walked up to Duke and greeted him, Duke was very certain that he neither knew nor had ever heard of this Michelle Braun.

"Director Rosenberg, this is my business card," Michelle Braun said. "You're welcome to attend our Halloween costume ball."

"Thank you." Duke simply nodded.

She suddenly lowered her voice. "If you have any special needs, you can call my number anytime."

Hearing this, Duke immediately looked up at her.

Michelle Braun whispered again, "I have premium resources here. BBC hosts, supermodels, famous movie stars, all of them blonde with long legs..."

Seeing Duke frown, she smiled, dropped a few very famous names, and then turned to leave.

Looking at the business card in his hand, Duke couldn't help but shake his head and smile, already understanding what she did. There were quite a few companies of this type in Hollywood. Many so-called modeling agencies were actually hanging a sheep's head to sell human flesh, only they usually provided young models who had just entered the industry.

The names she had mentioned, while not currently at the absolute peak of their careers, still held considerable fame.

"What's that you're holding?"

Ivanka's voice rang out beside him. Out of curiosity, she took the business card from Duke's hand.