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Beverly Hills, Davis Estate.
Martin ca back to the living room with several bottles of fine wine from the cellar, only to find that Leonardo, Nicholson, and Silsa Ronan had disappeared.
He saw Elizabeth erge from the kitchen and asked, "Where did everyone go?"
Elizabeth pointed outside, "They all went to the yard."
Martin took her hand, and they both ca out of the villa to find everyone by the fountain square.
It was getting dark, and the lights around the square had been turned on.
Leonardo picked up a tube with a handle, angled it forty-five degrees toward the sky.
Nicholson flicked his cigar, lit a special firework, and stuffed it into the tube, then slapped Leonardo on the head and shouted, "Lift off!"
Martin was anxious and yelled, "Don't light the fireworks! Don't light..."
With a bang, a spark flew up into the sky, trailing flas and then burst open, filling the sky with cascading fiery flowers and silver chrysanthemums.
Martin scratched his head—these two rascals were actually setting off fireworks to celebrate at halfti!
Silsa spotted Martin and Elizabeth and called out, "Teacher, Liz, co on over and set off fireworks with us."
Elizabeth, with the montum that seed unstoppable like leading an ox, caused those around her to stop.
Nicholson called out, "Martin, don't hold back. Leo and I just want to see if celebrating at halfti really results in losing the ga."
"Fire another one! Keep going!" Leonardo clamored, "Martin, let us try. If worse cos to worst, Jack can give you one of his Oscar statuettes—he's got three."
Martin spread his hands, "You guys really know how to go from outsiders to your own. Worthy of Hollywood's biggest troublemakers!"
Nicholson lit another firework, and Leonardo sent it into the sky, lighting up half the heavens.
Deciding not to bother anymore, Martin pulled Elizabeth back, "Let's go prepare the dinner."
Elizabeth smiled reassuringly at him, "Leo and Jack contributed a lot this ti; they deserve a celebration."
Martin said, "Don't worry about them."
At this year's nominee luncheon, "The Martian" crew reaped a rich harvest with eight nominations including Best Art Direction, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture.
For the Best Director category, Ridley had clearly stated he would give up any further PR.
The crew and Disney Studios had co to an agreent, prioritizing Martin's Best Actor award.
After a fierce competition, with Matt Damon now out of the picture, Martin stood nearly peerless among the nominees.
The task at hand was to prevent any upsets.
......
In just one night, Matt Damon had fully accepted the reality of bowing out of this year's Oscars early.
Without a nomination, any further struggle was futile.
The misdeeds of the past had cost him sothing after all.
But Matt Damon had no regrets; without those misdeeds, he wouldn't be where he was today.
First thing in the morning, his agent ca to see him.
Upon entering the living room, he said, "Steven Soderbergh is planning to make a biopic about the pianist 'Liberace.' You've worked with him several tis; if you're interested, you could reach out to Soderbergh."
Matt knew that biopics had a good chance at awards and said, "I'll give Steven a call."
The agent said, "There's always next year's Oscars. If not this ti, we'll fight the next. There's no point dwelling on this one."
Matt kept silent, his face a picture of simplicity, seemingly taking the advice to heart.
The agent picked up his bag, "I'm off then. Call if you need anything."
"Wait," Matt called the agent back, saying, "Keep in touch with the dia, and release all the dirt we have prepared on Martin Davis."
The agent couldn't help but shake his head—what dirt did they have? Throwing wild parties, hooking up with a neighbor's fiancée, ssing around with nurous supermodels—what were these for Hollywood stars?
He said, "It won't do much."
Matt said, "I didn't get nominated, and now Martin Davis is the favorite. If we can drag him down even a bit, that's worth sothing."
The agent responded, "Alright, I'll do what I can."
When the negative stories first surfaced, Matt hadn't given it a second thought, imdiately suspecting Martin Davis's involvent.
He had considered striking back, but despite extensive investigations, he couldn't find any angles for a retort.
That jerk had never dated anyone under eighteen, never coerced any won, never engaged in tax evasion, etc.
Seemingly one of the top troublemakers in the circle, his actual moral baseline was much higher than most in Hollywood.
Matt got into his car and left his mansion for the state prison.
Today was a scheduled visitation day.
Matt Damon t his forr close buddy Ben Affleck and seeing his worn-out and emaciated appearance, he suddenly felt incredibly lucky not to have been dragged down by Harvey and the Affleck Brothers into this situation.
In the past, to please Harvey, Matt had done countless unsavory things, so many he couldn't even rember them all.
In the last two years, Hollywood had drastically changed.
Even heavyweights like Harvey had been taken down and locked up.
```
Matt Damon got out of the state penitentiary, got into the car, and sat in silence for half an hour.
He picked up his phone and called his agent, "It's , about the things I ntioned this morning, forget all about them, there's no need, let's save our energy for the next opportunity."
The agent replied, "A wise decision."
Matt Damon hung up the phone, started the car, and as he drove out of the parking lot, he glanced back at the state penitentiary; he didn't want to end up inside there.
After this Oscar PR, Matt Damon had realized sothing: whether it was money and power, or fa and status, he was no longer on the sa level as Martin Davis.
It was just that he had a bit more brains than Ben, to apply pressure without resorting to illegal acts.
...…...
On a sunny afternoon, Martin and Elizabeth Olsen lounged at ho, originally huddled together looking at yacht advertisent posters. Sohow, as they looked, they got into a fight.
Soone seized the advantage.
Soone bit into their strong point.
And naturally, the yacht advertisent could no longer be viewed.
Martin had secured an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and Elizabeth had specially celebrated for Martin the night before; celebrating again today was becoming too much.
"I'm alright, can you stop for a bit..." Elizabeth rubbed her numb cheeks, glanced at Martin, and couldn't help but roll her eyes.
Unable to handle it anymore, she rubbed her palms together to warm and soften her hands.
Martin patted her, "Exhausted, huh? You rest for a bit, I... I'll go take a cold shower."
Elizabeth bit her lip, watched Martin enter the bathroom, then slumped down, too tired to move again.
Every ti she was alone, she ended up overwhelmingly defeated, even needing an all-hands effort to resolve it.
She usually ended up so tired she was listless the next day.
Elizabeth pulled a cushion over, rested her chin on it, and murmured to herself, "This can't go on."
She couldn't help but think back to that idea that had previously cropped up.
Lily got along well with her, and whenever she was in Los Angeles, she basically stayed here.
Elizabeth noticed several nights that Lily sneakily climbed up to the second floor like a thief.
She told Martin, expecting that he hadn't noticed since he was focused on her, but it turned out Martin had realized it a long ti ago.
Martin then told her that Lily had developed this bad habit since she was about ten years old and, despite efforts to correct it, the results were still unsatisfactory.
The bathroom door opened, and Martin glanced at his phone with ssages from Chad and Marcus. He said to Elizabeth, "I'm stepping out."
Elizabeth nodded.
Once Martin got changed and left, she took out her phone and dialed Lily's number, "When are you coming back? It's nothing serious, just want to give you a surprise, and give Martin a surprise too."
"A surprise? It's not a shock, is it?" Lily felt Elizabeth was up to no good.
Elizabeth said, "Of course it's a surprise, family doesn't lie to family."
Lily had also been following entertainnt news recently, "Before the Oscars, I guess. I have to go back to congratulate that bastard on his Best Actor win."
Elizabeth reminded her, "Don't open the champagne halfway through."
Lily responded, "I understand."
Martin left Beverly Hills and went to the Chief Stone Theater in the Hollywood area.
They had spruced up the place, getting ready for the premiere.
Martin got out of the car and went inside the theater where Marcus, Chad, and Chen Hu were all present, along with Disney Studios' distribution producer.
Marcus personally set up the display stands, arranging the promotional materials for "Lone Survivor."
This highly politically correct film was about to be released.
Considering the characters involved and in case Mark Wahlberg brought any uncertainties, this film was resolutely scheduled for a January release.
As an investor in the film, Martin got his way with support from Disney Studios.
Marcus, standing in front of the display, said, "It's finally going to be released."
Martin patted his sturdy shoulder, "Pre-sales look good, this film will make people rember what you guys once did for Arica."
Marcus's double chin quivered as he replied, "I invited their families over."
These details were not Martin's concern anymore, with Emily and Jessica managing the day-to-day operations of Davis Studio efficiently.
After discussing "Lone Survivor," Chad approached Martin, "When you have ti, let's go to the Angel's Club. We've designed so new action sequences."
Martin directly asked, "Can I pull them off?"
Chad smiled, "They're sowhat challenging."
Martin joked, "You're not going to have drive a car into space and crash into a satellite, are you?"
"Of course not," Chad replied. "Just added so hand-to-hand combat mixed with shooting sequences. What we're making is an action movie, not a sci-fi."
Martin toured the premiere theater setup with them to ensure there were no issues, then invited Chad, Chen Hu, and Marcus to freshen up and casually discuss preparations for "John Wick 3."
Chatting about creativity when one's spirit is at its most refreshed is when ideas flow like a fountain.
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