The new week began, and Martin, having taken so ti off, started his new job.
After a lengthy period of preliminary preparations, the "Infernal Affairs" crew was about to move into the filming stage.
Before heading to New York to shoot, Warner Bros. Company held a script eting and a et-and-greet for the creative team.
Early in the morning, in a room at the Burbank Hotel, ne crawled up from the carpet, glanced at Ellen who was still bleeding from above and below, licked his slightly swollen lips which tasted both salty and bitter, and quickly spat out a few tis before rushing to the bathroom to brush his teeth thoroughly.
Ten minutes later, he erged from the bathroom, gently patted Ellen's wrinkled face, and said, "Darling, you keep sleeping; I'm off to the crew."
Ellen, the casting director whose work with the crew had finished, opened her eyes with effort and pressed her hand onto ne's mouth, "Baby, your skills here are amazing; I can't help myself."
ne's mouth and tongue were numb, fearing another round, he quickly said, "I have a eting at the crew today."
"I know," Ellen let go of him, too content to even think of getting up, "Considering your outstanding performance last night, I'll remind you and your boss; big crews are tough to navigate, especially in situations like yours, where direct audition rivals are still on the crew."
ne asked, "Any advice?"
Instead of answering, Ellen said, "I'll wait for you here, co back tonight."
The thought of getting her back that evening made ne's heart harden with resolve; he was going to make her beg for rcy, "I'll be here at seven sharp."
Ellen, unhurried, said, "Scorsese only has eyes for the Oscar statue right now, anyone who gets in the way of him chasing that award will beco his enemy, so whatever happens on the set, don't interfere with the shooting or the work."
She stretched lazily, "Besides Scorsese, Leonardo has the most say on the set; he recomnded your boss before, so it wouldn't hurt to get cozy with Leonardo privately."
ne nodded and said, "See you tonight."
Leaving the hotel, he drove to the Warner Bros. building and after waiting a while in the lobby, he spotted Martin and Bruce.
"Boss," ne approached proactively.
Martin greeted him, "Let's go, we'll head up together."
While walking, ne relayed Ellen's words to Martin.
Martin patted ne's shoulder, "We aim to be kind wherever we go, to be good people, but being a good person doesn't an being a pushover; when the bad guys do bad things, we need to be ready to knock them down hard."
ne said, "Boss, I'll do as you say."
Martin and ne entered the crew's eting room together, where six or seven people were already seated around a long conference table.
The eting room was a ss, with many items scattered across the floor and table.
A mini doll lay at the door, its key parts revealing half of a black cylindrical object, by it on the floor was a little ball tied up with a belt, and moving forward there was sothing resembling a black flowering whip.
Further in, there were at least a dozen different types of sex toys.
These made Martin subconsciously wonder if he had entered the wrong place, not Scorsese's crew but Jenna's.
Martin quickly shifted his attention from these items to the person seated at the head of the table on the left side.
By appearance alone, this man looked like a born villain.
Jack Nicholson!
From the looks of the others, Martin guessed that these toys were related to Nicholson.
He stepped past the mini doll and took a place at the right side of the conference table.
By the default rules of the crew, the first seat was certainly Leonardo's.
Martin could either sit in the second seat or where Jack Nicholson was currently sitting.
But he noticed a cushion on the second chair, a very common type.
So people like to put a softer cushion on their office or conference chairs.
Glancing around, Martin saw no cushions on the other chairs.
Without any hesitation, he gave up the second chair, which implied a higher status within the crew, and sat in the third spot.
ne took his place on the other side.
Jack Nicholson turned his head and flashed Martin a smile, much like the evil Joker character he once played.
Martin returned the smile but didn't say a word.
The two had no prior interactions.
In the following few minutes, other mbers of the crew started trickling in; most were surprised by the sex toys strewn about the floor, and the veterans naturally turned their gazes to Nicholson.
It was clear that Nicholson wasn't new to this kind of behavior.
Just then, Leonardo walked in and, seeing the mini doll, couldn't help laughing: "Is this a free giveaway or what?"
Martin greeted him, "Hey, Leo."
Leonardo nodded at him and said directly, "You did great; you've got Kate so happy, just be careful Sam doesn't co looking for a fight."
Martin knew he was referring to Sam ndes and laughed, "Kate and I are just friends."
Just then, Matt Damon walked through the door, eyed the seats, and without hesitation, took the place in the second chair next to Leonardo.
As he sat down, the conversation between Martin and Leonardo petered out.
Matt greeted Leonardo, then turned to extend his right hand to Martin, "You've done sothing truly impressive."
Martin didn't bother to guess whether they were talking about the Burbank High incident or sothing else. He shook hands with Damon, and the all-purpose complint imdiately ca out, "I'm your fan, a super fan, Bourne is so cool."
"You can't make it as Damon by being a plain honest man," Damon said, continuing Martin's train of thought, "as a fan, you've surpassed the stars you like."
Martin countered head on, "When a fan loves a star to the deepest extent, so things just happen naturally."
Damon burst into laughter, his smile as sincere as his looks.
Scorsese was the last to co in, looked at the specialty products scattered on the ground, and said, "Jack, you're at it again!"
Nicholson's laugh had a wicked edge, "etings are so boring. It's good to add a bit of fun."
Scorsese, knowing him for nearly thirty years, didn't mind much, pulled out a chair to sit down, and announced, "Let's begin the script reading."
Everyone took out their scripts and started reading seriously.
The assistant director turned on the projector, and as Scorsese explained the intricate relationships between the plot and the characters based on his own coursework, everyone listened attentively.
Just as Scorsese finished explaining and reached for his water bottle to take a drink, Nicholson suddenly pulled out a small remote control from his pants pocket and pressed it.
Pff—
The sound of flatulence filled the entire eting room, loud and long-lasting.
The sound was closest to Martin and Leonardo, so they both turned their heads simultaneously to look at Matt Damon in the middle.
All eyes imdiately followed Martin and Leonardo's gaze to Matt Damon.
As the flatulent sound faded, Matt Damon looked innocent, "It wasn't ."
Nicholson secretly pressed the remote control again.
Pff—
Another loud and long fart sound erged from right under Matt Damon's bottom.
Everyone's face showed a peculiar expression.
Leonardo unconsciously moved back, trying to stay as far away from Damon as possible.
Matt Damon suddenly stood up, grabbed the cushion from his chair, and loudly demanded, "Who is it? Who's doing this?"
Several people sneakily glanced at Jack Nicholson.
Martin smiled at Nicholson; under normal circumstances, it would have been him sitting in Matt Damon's chair.
Unexpectedly, Nicholson took out the remote control, placed it on the table and chuckled, "I did it. Such etings are dull and boring. You must find so amusent."
He looked at Matt Damon, "It's just a little prank, you won't hold it against an old man, right?"
Matt Damon threw the cushion on the conference table.
Nicholson, not waiting for Matt Damon to lose his temper, said to Martin's side, "Originally, my plan was to play a joke on the hero of Los Angeles... no, Arica. But the hero didn't take that seat and chose another."
Matt Damon turned to look at Martin, seeing his face full of surprise and innocence, he could only sit back down heavily on his chair.
ne wanted to act, but Martin quietly held him back, his eyes turned to Nicholson and he nodded with a smile.
Nicholson didn't care at all; he had done too many similar things.
At this point, Scorsese had finished drinking water and said, "Jack, end your pranks here, and don't let them show up on set again."
Nicholson declared, "I promise!"
Martin realized that Scorsese had an obviously special relationship with that old rascal.
The script reading went smoothly afterward, as if everyone had forgotten the incident.
When the eting ended and Scorsese had left, Matt Damon imdiately stood up and walked out.
Martin ignored the others and approached Leonardo, "How about we go out for a drink one of these days?"
Leonardo brought up sothing else, "I heard from Kate that you organized an amazing thed party that even convinced that fussy old man, Wes Craven."
Martin nodded, "That's true."
Leonardo lowered his voice, "New York is a gathering place for supermodels. I plan to contact a few, rent a yacht or a mansion for a party. Can you help plan it? The usual parties in our circle are boring to play at."
In Martin's mind, two plans automatically surfaced, one of which was the water gun party that Leonardo loved most.
But he thought again, knowing this guy liked that kind of thing and must have played it privately quite a bit.
He asked, "What level of models are we talking about?"
When it ca to supermodels, Leonardo was quite confident, "Victoria's Secret Angels level. As long as I send out invitations, there will definitely be those willing to co."
Martin asked again, "Are they willing to cooperate?"
Leonardo was exceptionally arrogant in this regard, "Of course."
Martin agreed, "I'll give it so thought in the coming days."
Suddenly, a large head poked over; Jack Nicholson, the unpredictable fellow, leaned on the conference table, stretching his head out like a turtle: "Count in on your sche, you two scoundrels, or I'll call and report you guys!"
Martin eyed the old man whose appearance resembled a villain, completely unable to decipher him.
Nicholson snorted, "I just live spontaneously, doing whatever I want to do, unlike you guys, who wear masks on your faces every day."
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