[Chapter 45: The Farce]
First, just as Eric had suspected, the Los Angeles Daily News exposed new photos of Julia leaving Eric's house. They specifically ntioned the wild party Eric had hosted at ho, but they only glossed over the involvent of the Ho Alone cast, instead focusing ambiguously on a group of young, beautiful won.
Following that, several newspapers jumped on the bandwagon. They dug up dubious gossip from seemingly nowhere, criticizing Eric's personal character. Slowly but surely, he transitioned from an aspiring young man into a notorious playboy who abandoned his girlfriend, allegedly engaged with underage girls, and indulged in a decadent party lifestyle. "... Perhaps Eric Williams was indeed a sowhat talented young man, but after acquiring vast wealth so easily, he evidently began to fall from grace at an incomprehensible speed..." "... Having just dumped his low-profile girlfriend to spend ti with Drew Barrymore, Eric Williams instantly moved on to a new woman. According to reports, the blonde beauty in the photo is the star of the currently released Mystic Pizza..."
"... It's hard to believe that Eric Williams would so shalessly pursue the 13-year-old Drew Barrymore. Personally, I think there must be so hidden details here. Regardless, Eric's actions have definitely crossed California laws. I can almost see a second Roman Polanski -- a talented director who committed equally unforgivable cris. To prevent Eric from slipping away like Polanski to evade legal responsibility, I believe the LAPD should take swift asures against him..."
Even so low-brow tabloids, lacking any solid information, began to fabricate stories out of thin air. All of a sudden, the good public image Eric had built started to crumble.
...
When Fox noticed that the uproar was escalating, they jumped into action. Their film, 17 Again, was still doing well in theaters, and they had just purchased the overseas distribution rights for Ho Alone. If Eric's image -- as both the leading man and director -- were to suffer, it was clear they would incur direct financial losses.
As for Columbia Pictures, they took a mostly indifferent stance, adhering to the promotional contract but remaining a bystander. So employees in Columbia's publicity departnt suggested that they should support Eric, but the proposals were never approved. Cohen Blount had recently been left red-faced due to Eric, and the higher-ups in the departnt even speculated about whether these scandals had Cohen's encouragent behind them, making them reluctant to take any risks in backing Eric.
News Corporation, originally known for their print dia, had played the dirty publicity ga before, using character assassination to boost sales. Hence, when it ca ti for them to deal with public relations crises, they handled it easily.
Before long, negotiations between Fox and Eric led to a rapid counterattack. In an attempt to rehabilitate Eric's image through various dia outlets, Fox expertly picked a few recently released movies featuring less than squeaky-clean actors and directors to exploit, diverting the public's attention away from Eric.
The public also began to sense sothing unusual amidst the flood of gossip. While the dia was adept at manipulating public sentint, they learned that if they treated the public like fools, they would only end up fooling themselves.
...
Soon, a lesser-known publication, Hollywood Inforr, published a special comntary article that fully exposed the undercurrents behind the drama.
The Christmas Farce: It's All About the Box Office
"With the annual Christmas movie season arriving, studios that usually pulled out all stops to promote their films have resorted to a series of despicable sar tactics against their competitors this year. It all began with the miraculous rise of a young man nad Eric Williams.
After the latest week's box office results rolled in, two films associated with Eric Williams had collectively surpassed $100 million, especially the low-budget cody Ho Alone, which, despite facing a slight drop, continued to perform with only a 20% decrease in its third week, raking in $23.15 million and bringing its total to nearly $80 million, landing it in the sixth position on the annual box office chart. Its miraculous montum was unstoppable.
It's well-known that the total box office take and the number of moviegoers during the Christmas season are finite, and major studios were set to withdraw their annual blockbusters. Thus, it was no surprise that Eric Williams found himself under attack from various scandals as competitors vied for market share.
Regardless of Eric's true character, or whether we discuss the recent alleged misdeeds of various stars, we simply call for studios to maintain composure and return to a standard of fair competition. Resorting to underhanded tactics to undermine opponents will ultimately backfire."
...
This unique article from Hollywood Inforr seed to send a signal. As major newspapers began to reprint it, the influential figures orchestrating the sar campaign against Eric had no choice but to back off, realizing Eric was no longer alone. The rapid, fierce counterattack from News Corporation clearly indicated that Eric Williams had ford a solid alliance with Fox.
Though so tabloids clung to the story, most influential publications quietly ceased attacks on their competitor.
It appeared that the uproar had passed.
...
A few days later, after being hounded by paparazzi to the brink of insanity, Eric finally moved into a mansion at the top of Beverly Hills. He firmly shut the door, no longer having to look out from his North Hollywood apartnt and see a line of paparazzi cars parked outside.
Jeffrey Hansen glanced at the towering walls surrounding the mansion and, feeling a bit envious, pressed the doorbell. After a few minutes, Eric opened the door and welcod Jeffrey inside.
After parking in front of the villa, Jeffrey asked, "Eric, what have you been doing at ho? You haven't stepped out in days, have you?"
ntioning that really depressed Eric. After the paperwork at Firefly Films was wrapped up, he had very few things that required his personal appearance. Additionally, with the paparazzi chasing him down every ti he went out, Eric had practically been housebound. Compared to the happy lives of hobodies in his previous life, this ti without the internet and smartphones felt maddening.
"I've been writing novels, scripts, watching TV... Just really bored. At this point, I'm afraid to step outside. The last ti I just dropped by a convenience store for a drink, the next day there were headlines about trying to make a move on the cashier girl."
Hearing this, Jeffrey couldn't help but laugh at Eric's plight.
Eric led Jeffrey to the study on the second floor of the villa. As soon as they entered, Jeffrey noticed a large wooden board on one wall covered with an assortnt of newspaper clippings and scrawled notes pinned to it.
"What's this for?" Jeffrey asked curiously as he stepped closer.
"Not much," Eric replied as he pulled off a clipping and chuckled. "I got bored at ho, so I figured I'd try to analyze who was behind all this from the gossip papers. Once I'm big, I'll
settle the score later."
Jeffrey teased, "You think you're Sherlock Hols? If those clippings could really show you the truth, the veterans in this business would be out of work."
Eric shrugged. In fact, he still considered himself sowhat lucky because of the temporary alliance with Fox that had pulled him back from the edge of disaster. Compared to Michael Jackson in his previous life, who disturbed too many powerful interests and ended up alone and tornted, Eric dared not hope for anything more.
Setting those thoughts aside, Eric asked, "By the way, Jeffrey, how are things coming along?"
Hearing this, Jeffrey pulled out a thick stack of docunts from his briefcase with slight resentnt. "You have it easy as a boss, passing everything off to . I'm already renovating the company's office building; that should take about half a month. Also, these are the materials for the talent agency you asked to find. Eric, are you really planning to buy a
talent agency?"
Eric accepted the materials and replied, "Of course. You saw what happened with Stuart Ronkel. CAA is tightly holding onto him, waiting to squeeze for a big deal. I can't keep grooming stars for others."
"But the federal antitrust laws prohibit film companies from owning talent agencies." Eric flipped through the docunts and replied, "I'm well aware of that. I don't plan to rge the two companies. In my vision, the film company and the talent agency will operate completely independently. Legally, there's no issue."
"Well, suit yourself. By the way, have you finished that new script you talked about?"
Eric found a stack of scripts buried under the piles of newspaper on his desk and handed them
to Jeffrey. "It's finished; take a look."
*****
spatreon/Sayonara816.
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