Chapter 843: Chapter 249: What’s Next
“Hey, darling, it’s already light outside, we should get up. Sleeping in like this isn’t good.”
“…Let sleep a bit more, Ed… I’m still tired… You wore out last night… I need rest…”
“That’s not a reason to stay in bed. Besides, it was you who pestered last night, promising that you alone could drain dry.”
“I don’t care, I want to sleep, don’t bother .”
Seeing Sophie childishly grab a pillow and cover her head with it, Adrian shook his head with a smile, leaned down and kissed the softness exposed outside, then got out of bed, put on his shorts and pajamas, and went straight downstairs. All the ingredients were ready in the kitchen, and the newspaper was already placed beside the dining table, but no servants were around, as they all knew his habits.
After simply preparing breakfast, Adrian carried it to the dining table and ate leisurely while reading the newspaper. After about half an hour, Sophie, wearing only underwear and a shirt, lazily arrived late.
“I thought you’d sleep for a few more hours.” Looking at Sophie, who despite being almost forty and having kids, still maintained a beautiful figure, Adrian said with a smile.
“Because soone always thinks they’re clever, waking people up with unconventional thods,” Sophie pouted, appearing reluctant, then noticed the half-eaten bacon toast on Adrian’s plate and eagerly reached out to try it as if she’d found a treasure.
Unfortunately, Adrian imdiately swatted her hand away, making Sophie’s already pouting lips puff out even more.
“I left your portion in the kitchen, why compete with for mine?” Adrian asked with a smile, then grabbed Sophie’s thigh as she angrily walked past him, “Hey, what’s up, Sophie? It’s just one night, why are you acting like a little girl, fussing over everything?”
“Why can’t I act this way?” Sophie initially wanted to pout more, but upon eting his gaze, she sighed, her playful smile softening. Finally, she leaned down to kiss him.
To her surprise, Adrian leaned back imdiately, looking at her with a tense expression: “Have you brushed your teeth or used mouthwash?”
Sophie was stunned for a mont, but then realized what was happening two seconds later, and imdiately started playfully hitting him with her fists amidst Adrian’s hearty laughter. Fulfilling a longstanding wish, plus last night’s intense one-on-one ti with Adrian in bed left her understandably worn out, it was no wonder she acted like a young woman in the morning.
“What are you reading with such focus?” After fooling around for a bit, Sophie finally started eating breakfast and couldn’t help but ask as she watched Adrian flipping through the newspaper for several minutes.
“Of course, it’s the reviews of last night’s award ceremony, quite interesting.” Adrian said as he pushed a newspaper towards her, “Take a look, I specifically had soone buy a French newspaper.”
“Oh?” Sophie looked curious, quickly taking it and flipping through it. After a few pages, she rolled her eyes, “This is ridiculous… Is this… Le Parisien? That’s a local Paris newspaper, right? Why isn’t there coverage from Le Figaro or the World Newspaper?”
“It’s simple, because they only briefly ntioned it, announced the winners, and that was it. Luckily, I had Innie keep an eye on it last night and, if necessary, have soone buy so French local newspapers to send over,” Adrian shrugged.
“Buy so… local newspapers to send over?” Sophie looked at him in surprise.
“It’s not troubleso at all,” Adrian smiled, “You know, we’re in the internet age now, any news will be online first, so these local newspapers just summarize a bit and make their reports, even though they still have to print them, a phone call can get them, and then it’s just a matter of waiting for them to be flown over.”
Sophie said nothing, just stared at Adrian in silence for a while before snapping back to reality, sipping her coffee to hide her expression. Monts later, she looked up again, her smile turning more gentle. Compared to everything Adrian had done for her, the sarcastic tone of these newspapers wasn’t worth ntioning. No matter what, she had received Oscar’s recognition, and even though Adrian had put a lot of effort into it, her hard work and dedication justified the honor, so why bother with those?
Seeing her like this, Adrian felt relieved, knowing that this slap in the face to the French film community should be heavy-handed. Sophie, once considered just a pretty face by them, actually won the Oscar for Best Actress. From the start of the nominations, they were in turmoil, always handling it coolly, and even when they couldn’t avoid La Vie en Rose, they just extensively discussed Piaf’s life and Adrian’s directing techniques, thinking people would soon forget Sophie after the award ceremony, who knew she would actually end up on the Oscar-winning actress’s throne!
One could imagine the faces of the French critics, though they could still make a fuss over the Best Short Film, but what’s the use? Moreover, just getting a nomination was enough to showcase Sophie’s directing skills, not to ntion that the short film won several awards at so film festivals. Ignoring the Best Actress and quibbling over this would only embarrass them further.
As a result, the well-known newspapers reluctantly continued to handle it coolly, while local newspapers, though they reported it casually, used increasingly bitter language, saying things like Sophie had never been recognized by the three major film festivals, and the like everywhere. Unfortunately, no matter how unwilling they were, with Hollywood’s powerful film industry, the Oscars were always more world-renowned than the three major film festivals.
Of course, the comnts from so dia in the United States weren’t worth ntioning. Although so praised her, like the San Francisco Chronicle which detailed Sophie’s journey and ultimately affird her efforts, stating that awarding her the Best Actress was appropriate, so dia outlets criticized Sophie in a manner similar to their treatnt of Monica.
The nicer ones simply stated that the beautiful French lady was lucky to have t a man who could bring out her potential after wandering for ten years. The less charitable ones outright suggested that she won Best Actress because she hooked up with the Miracle Director, calling it a public relations victory, especially when combined with images of Adrian surrounded by several Miracle Girls outside the Kodak Theater; such reports seed quite convincing.
However, the public was more interested in “what exactly is the relationship between the Miracle Director and the Miracle Girls?” Is the Miracle Director juggling multiple relationships with these Miracle Girls, or are the Miracle Girls a cover for his private life? Anyway, among the Miracle Girls, only Julia Roberts and Monica Bellucci had confird dates with Adrian; the rest were ambiguous, especially with the rumors flying around when Nicole Kidman divorced Tom Cruise, citing Adrian’s direction of Eyes Wide Shut as the catalyst, while the paternity of soon-to-be Miracle Girl Kate Beckinsale’s daughter was also questionable.
In recent years, the Miracle Girls all had their share of rumors, like Nicole being pursued by McGregor after filming Moulin Rouge, even though these rumors were either disproven or unverified, their ambiguity kept people guessing. That’s the thing about humans, the more ambiguous sothing is, the more they want to figure out what’s really going on, so gossip always attracts many eyes.
Of course, no one thinks the relationship between the Miracle Director and his Miracle Girls is purely platonic. Although Adrian’s playboy reputation isn’t known universally, most people have at least heard sothing.
So when that photo ca out, people’s curiosities were imdiately piqued, with all sorts of speculation online. If it turned out to be the first scenario ntioned earlier… well, that would be enviable. Yes, that’s what most people thought. Besides, as long as they’re not married, who dates whom, who sleeps with whom, it’s no one’s place to judge, such things are quite common in Hollywood.
Moreover, Adrian is young, talented, and possesses great wealth, his rise to fa is practically legendary, so why shouldn’t he maintain ambiguous relationships with these won? As the saying goes, quoted countless tis, if the gap between people is small, there’s jealousy and hatred, but if it’s too big, only admiration and worship remain.
In short, all eyes were on the gossip, so much so that no one discussed his second Best Director Oscar statuette, or that the first non-reality-based Best Picture in Oscar history was born. Basically, once Adrian held up the Best Director trophy, there was no doubt about which film would win Best Picture. Typically, the Best Director and Best Picture winners co from the sa film unless the Film Academy deliberately balances things out.
Adrian knew this too, so when he gave his acceptance speech for Best Director, it would have been fine to use it for Best Picture as well.
“They didn’t even ntion the genre of the movie, just said it’s an epic work finally getting the recognition it deserves. It’s so disappointing,” Adrian sighed as he flipped through the newspaper in his hand.
“Co on, Ed, everyone knows what kind of movie ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is. Don’t you think it’s a bit petty to let the dia overly emphasize its nature?” Naomi said with a laugh while fiddling with the cara, “This doesn’t match what you said in your speech — that this is a great change for the Academy.”
“Can’t you comfort a bit, Nami?” Adrian deliberately furrowed his brow.
“Why?” Naomi blinked, “It seems like you ca here to comfort today.”
Failing to feign seriousness, Adrian could only raise his hands with a smile. At this Oscars, among the won around him, four received acting nominations. Although accompanying the Best Actress on Oscar Night alone was the norm, who could expect that he would once again win Best Director and Best Picture this year? So, from the end of the award ceremony, when the winners began to pose for photos together, he beca the focus of many people’s attention.
Previously, he was one of the focal points, but with the achievent of winning both Best Director and Best Picture a second ti, he naturally beca the first on the night, after all, not many directors win Best Director twice. It was even more so at the Vanity Fair party, especially when surrounded by a group of directors and producers led by Caron — whether it was intentional or not, it’s unknown — leaving him unable to do anything else but deal with them.
Previously, around this ti, Adrian would usually manage to talk separately with his won after dismissing those swarming around him, and if needed, even engage in more in-depth communication elsewhere. But that night, he couldn’t even chat with other won, much less with Sophie, though there were more than a few Miracle Girls at the party, Sarah, Kirsten, and Scarlett all gave him dissatisfied looks in the crowd, especially Keira, who missed last year’s Oscars and finally could co this year; her displeasure was evident even when she was on the outskirts.
So, after spending Oscar Night with Sophie, Adrian would have to shuttle between won to comfort them with his… well… body.
“You’re really not cute, Nami, but it doesn’t matter anyway…” Adrian chuckled, dropped the newspaper, and hugged Naomi from behind, then started to get handsy.
“Ed!” Naomi exclaid crossly, though she couldn’t hide the coy tone in her voice, “If you keep this up, you can forget about finishing today’s work.”
“That’s fine, if we don’t finish, you can go ahead,” Nicole’s voice ca from the doorway, as she appeared dressed in a black dress with lace and cutouts.
“That’s not right,” Naomi shrugged, “We’ve agreed that we’re supposed to be filming your movie today.”
Then she sighed, “Clearly, you ca to comfort , but the main character turns out to be Nicole. Should I feel sorry for myself?”
“She’s jealous, Ed,” Nicole giggled as she wrapped her arm around Adrian’s, “It’s rare to see Nami show jealousy; she usually prefers to hide in the background and watch coldly.”
“That’s not right to say, Nicole,” Adrian slapped her on the backside, “Nami’s just used to it; she’s such a delicate woman, I’m lucky to have her by my side.”
Hearing this, Naomi smiled softly, and lowered her head to continue fiddling with the cara in her hand. Nicole glanced at Adrian, gave a silent snort, then walked to Naomi’s side: “Actually, starring is very simple, Nami; just sign a contract like I did, and you can imdiately be a star. Ed’s been wanting to make an adult version of ‘Mulholland Drive’ for so ti now.”
She shrugged, “You see, that’s what happened to , from his private whore to his private high-class call girl, and then upgraded to his private porn star. — Hey, Ed, how much are you planning to pay ? Asking an Oscar-winning actress to star in a porn movie isn’t going to work without enough pay.”
“What, didn’t you initially say $1 as a friendship price?” Adrian pretended to be shocked, “How can you breach the contract?”
“That was just a verbal agreent,” Nicole put her hands on her hips, puffing her chest, “Now I’ve changed my mind.”
“Alright, you two, let’s get ready!” Naomi pushed them with a laugh, “I really don’t know where Ed cos up with so many dirty ideas…”
She couldn’t help but blush slightly at the last sentence. To prepare for the passionate scene between won in ‘Mulholland Drive’, Naomi and Nicole had privately gotten intimate several tis in front of Adrian, and during filming, it was done for real. Adrian had kept this footage, just like the passionate scene with Nicole in ‘Eyes Wide Shut’, often enjoying watching it.
Naomi was initially a bit uncomfortable, but gradually got used to it, which marked her complete surrender into Adrian’s embrace. Hence, the cinematography for ‘The Cheating Wife’, the intimate adult version of ‘Eyes Wide Shut’, was entrusted to Naomi by Adrian, and today, he brought them to a villa in Montecito to shoot the final few passionate scenes.
“Let’s get started, do you want to say sothing to the cara?” Adrian set up the lighting and checked the carefully arranged environnt; although his studio was small, it managed to recreate the ballroom from the beginning of ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ quite well, only the preparation took a lot of ti, which was unavoidable, as he had to adjust everything personally, with Naomi rely assisting in filming.
But this didn’t stop him a few minutes later from engaging in intense with Nicole in the ballroom in front of the cara.
“What should I say?” Nicole faced the cara, “Introduce myself like Gwyneth.”
“Of course, you can choose not to,” Adrian said deliberately, and sure enough, Nicole gave him a sideways look before starting her introduction: “Hi, my na’s Nicole Kidman, and I’m about to star in my first pornographic film after winning the Oscar for Best Actress…”
What other won could do, she could also do. This was Nicole’s attitude, shared by many won, sothing Adrian liked, though sotis things would go in, or rather, always went in unexpected directions for him.
For instance, now, as Nicole lasciviously introduced herself to the cara, she first talked about her cravings and needs for sex, then started evaluating Adrian’s size, length, and abilities, sotis praising him as incredibly heroic, and at other tis belittling him as completely inadequate. In her account, Adrian was both brutish and tender, both super strong and pathetically weak, full of exaggerated contradictions.
“In short, soon you’ll see for yourselves in front of the cara what kind of person he is,” Nicole concluded her introduction with this sentence, leaving Naomi beside her laughing so hard she had to pound on the chair to keep herself from bursting out loud, while Adrian had a face dark as if it could drip water.
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