A new week began, and Hollywood, as always, was abuzz with gossip and scandals galore.
But one particular piece of gossip first surfaced on the TMZ website before being widely republished by nurous social, IT, and entertainnt newspapers and websites.
Kim Kardashian, through her spokesperson, made public an email she received from an unknown hacker.
The so-called hacker inford Kim Kardashian via email that he had recently hacked into her computer, found so very interesting things, and stolen a copy. If she did not want these things to be exposed, she needed to transfer 300,000 US dollars into the account provided in the email upon his next contact.
Along with the email, a screenshot of a video was sent, showing Kim Kardashian in fabric scantier than a sock, looking extrely provocative as she waited for sothing, with a large hairy leg visible beside her.
Those with experience could guess what was to unfold next.
The screenshot of the photo and email spread rapidly through newspapers and the internet.
Because Kim had beco famous riding on the coattails of Paris Hilton's dia hype, she was considered a celebrity.
The public's interest and appetite were imdiately piqued by the image of a socialite's video being stolen by a hacker, followed by extortion demands, with a photo as evidence.
The internet was abuzz with emotion.
"Where's the video? We want the video!"
"Where's that stupid hacker? Without a video, what's the point of your extortion!"
"No video ans nothing at all."
"Crowdfund the money, we strongly demand the hacker release the video."
Inside Davis Studio, Bruce pushed open the door and entered Martin's office, seeing Martin sitting in front of his computer, enthusiastically indulging in the gossip.
Martin looked up and gave Bruce a thumbs up, "That was quick action."
"The impact was much larger than expected," Bruce reported the latest developnts, "The press conference is ready and will be held this afternoon."
Bruce seldom asked for Martin's help, so Martin took the matter to heart, specifically advising, "At the press conference, Kim needs to do more than just cry out. She also must show the independent and ntally strong side of a woman, like a warrior declaring war on criminal behavior."
"Do the favor and see it through," Bruce said, making the rare request.
After thinking for a mont, Martin instructed, "Take this down and then recite it to Kim's professional PR people, let her follow this line of thinking for her PR statent."
Worried that he might not rember, Bruce quickly grabbed a pen and notebook.
Martin, drawing on the styles of Jolie and Aniston when handling similar incidents, considered what they might say and went on at length.
Bruce wrote everything down.
When Martin finished, he gestured his hands, "You go tend to your business; I'll go join Leo and Jack for the gossip."
"This story won't disappoint you," Bruce said, walking out with long strides.
Martin reminded him, "You can have Kim's people contact TMZ and Jenna's company separately; sell a short clip as a teaser to TMZ, and the rest to Jenna's company. Once the hype is sufficient, release a DVD and videotapes, they're sure to be a hit."
Bruce stopped, turned back, and looked at his old friend with genuine admiration, "Martin, your success in Hollywood isn't just luck."
Martin replied casually, "Mainly for you, because I'm still counting on you to take a bullet for ."
Bruce laughed, said no more, and quickly exited the office, heading straight for Satellite City Venice in his car.
Martin also left the company, driving a plain Volkswagen, and quietly entered Nicholson's house.
Nicholson said he had prepared a lavish lunch for him and Leonardo today.
Martin entered the living room and discovered not only Nicholson but also a pretty blonde girl, no more than eighteen years old.
"This is..." He felt he had seen her sowhere.
Nicholson introduced, "My daughter, Lorraine."
Martin rembered her, having seen the girl in several group photos in this very living room.
Lorraine greeted Martin openly, "Hello, Martin."
"Hello, Lorraine, you're a beautiful angel," Martin deliberately glanced at Nicholson, "You're a hundred tis better-looking than your father."
Lorraine laughed and said, "I think so too."
Martin continued to needle Nicholson, "How can an ugly guy have such an angelic daughter?"
Nicholson retorted, "Your future kids definitely won't be as good-looking as mine."
Understanding her father's boisterous friends well, Lorraine, not wanting to engage in their crude banter, said, "I'll go check on the kitchen."
"Please do," Martin replied.
Lorraine left the living room.
Martin glanced in that direction.
Before he could speak, Nicholson said, "My daughter is beautiful, isn't she? She has a good personality too, if you are willing to settle down, I might consider letting her marry you."
Nicholson was always irreverent. Martin didn't take him seriously and pretended to be heartbroken, "Jack, I didn't expect you'd be this kind of person!"
"What kind of person is Jack?" Leonardo walked into the living room from outside.
Martin pointed at Nicholson and condemned, "I thought of you as a brother, the 'big brother' of our trio, but you? You want to be my father-in-law, have you lost all sense of decency!"
Leonardo imdiately joined Martin's camp: "Jack, you're such an asshole. Even if we, the trio, aren't too particular about this stuff, you can't just introduce this sour and stinky thing called love into our pure male friendship!"
Nicholson shook his head: "You two are beyond saving; I wish you'll never get married."
Martin gladly accepted: "Thank you for your blessing."
Leonardo called out: "Let's go, Martin. Let's pick so good wine from Jack's cellar."
Martin followed him to the basent, picked up two bottles of fine wine, and ca back up, while Lorraine directed the servants to lay out the seafood feast prepared by the chef in the dining room.
Nicholson told them to sit wherever they liked.
But Lorraine announced that she would take her leave.
Leonardo asked: "You're leaving without eating?"
Lorraine said: "I won't bother you guys."
Nicholson waved his hand: "Go ahead, go ahead." As his daughter was about to leave, he added: "You can freely access your trust fund account when you turn 21. Don't bother until then."
Lorraine waved goodbye and left.
Martin said: "You should be nicer; love isn't expressed in such a rough way."
Nicholson dismissed the servants and said: "You talk as if you've ever had children."
Martin fell silent.
But Leonardo countered: "They say strife often begets father-daughter relationships."
"You guys still dream of having such worries," Nicholson changed the subject. "I saw in the news, you had a run-in with Bale on set? What's the situation on his end?"
Martin pointed to his head: "He was triggered here, now he can't see or Joker without possibly going crazy."
Leonardo regretfully said: "Jack, we should have stayed in Atlanta for a few more days."
"Bale's done for," Nicholson mused. "What about Blanchett?"
Leonardo asked: "Isn't she your favorite?"
An impudent Nicholson replied: "It's just unrequited love on my part."
Martin said bluntly: "Blanchett wants to compete for the lead role in David Fincher's new movie 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.' I have a good chance of getting the male lead and plan to get rid of Blanchett during negotiations."
"Why get rid of her?" Leonardo disagreed: "If she's the female lead, you'll have the chance to face her head-on."
Nicholson shared the sentint: "To get rid of soone beforehand, what's that? Cowardice! You're losing face for our trio!"
Martin frowned: "Is that so?"
Leonardo nodded: "Of course."
Nicholson emphasized: "When facing Bale, did you think of getting rid of him beforehand? And now, when it's a woman, you're thinking of getting rid of her early. What kind of man does that make you?"
He intensified his tone: "When Leo and I co to visit the set, if there's no fun, no people to ss with, what's the point? Is that still our style?"
Leonardo added: "The Dark Knight won't be released until next year; you're planning to continue playing Joker on set! By then, if there's no worthy adversary, who are you going to ss with? David Fincher?"
With these two bastards going back and forth, Martin began to feel that Blanchett should indeed beco the female lead.
"Alright, we'll talk about this when the crew auditions," Martin opened the wine and poured a glass for each of them, raised his glass, and said: "Jack is treating us to a seafood feast today; I'll treat you to lon."
Having spent a lot of ti with Martin, Leonardo and Nicholson knew what he ant by 'eating lon.'
The forr asked: "Got any earth-shattering gossip?"
Martin took a sip with the two of them and said: "Kim Kardashian is holding a press conference shortly."
The matter between Bruce and Kim was quite secretive, so even to these two n, Martin had not revealed anything, which is why he only ntioned Kim Kardashian.
An astute Nicholson had an inkling and said: "It looks like sothing interesting is about to happen."
Martin turned on the laptop he had prepared in advance, connected the data cable, and cast it onto the LCD TV in Nicholson's dining room, opening up TMZ's live streaming window.
The press conference would be broadcast live by TMZ.
The three of them ate the seafood feast and waited a while for the live broadcast to begin.
Thanks to Bruce's secret contacts, over a hundred entertainnt reporters arrived at the scene, with TMZ setting up live caras.
A red-eyed Kim Kardashian walked up to the news podium, accompanied by her publicist.
She faced the caras and first expressed her anger: "A hacker stole a private video of mine and blackmailed with it. I can tell the blackmailer now that I am hurt and angry, but I will never give in to blackmail!"
Beyond anger, Kardashian aid to shape another image: "The video was fild by my ex-boyfriend and , during our most intimate monts. It was a wonderful relationship that lasted three years, and we wanted to keep a nto of our love with it. I never imagined it would lead to this!"
"This is a cri. Soone is trying to profit from my video. This is my body, and I should have control over it; I will not compromise!"
Kardashian's voice was firm and resolute: "To stop this cri, to prevent the criminal from succeeding, I have decided to release this video myself and nullify their criminal act!"
Following her final statent, the room fell silent; no one had anticipated such a response.
Then, there was an uproar.
Because an even bigger 'lon' had appeared.
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