King of Hollywood

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"Time to say goodbye!" The bearded guy raised his knife and approached the person who wounded him, then heard a crisp click from behind. He turned his head in astonishment to find the black muzzle of a gun aimed at him.

Bang bang bang! The sound reverberated like popcorn, with long tongues of fire spewing from the machine gun, pouring bullets into the room. In the middle of the room, the girl in a Bohemian-style dress was in stark contrast to the dark machine gun spitting fire. Although her expression was indistinguishable due to the lighting, her frowning and pouting pose left a very peculiar impression, especially with the slow-motion close-up of her sweeping with the machine gun further boosting adrenaline levels.

"I never thought I could be so cool!" Catherine exclaimed with wide eyes, watching herself on the screen. "It's incredible. I didn't feel like this at all while shooting that scene!"

"That's the magic of movies, darling," Adrian said, holding her in his arms.

"Oh no!" Catherine suddenly cried out. Although she had emptied the machine gun's bullets on the screen, she hadn't managed to take down many opponents, and after that awkwardly stood still, only to be knocked out by the leader of the robbers who walked up to her.

"Why couldn't you let me take them down!" Catherine asked with some vexation.

"Because you brought it up just now," Adrian laughed heartily and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"What about the other scenes? Is there just this one?" Catherine huffed lightly and inquired further.

"Sorry, the main part is here. Any other scenes were just brief appearances. You have to understand, you're playing a girl who's mentally unhinged from smoking marijuana, with a very faint presence," Adrian shrugged.

"But... I remember I had some lines," Catherine furrowed her brows, pondering.

"They were just a few exclamations and one 'what,' so..." Adrian made a cutting gesture.

"Oh, how disappointing." Catherine sighed with bent eyes, obviously joking.

"In fact, I've been considering," Adrian suddenly turned serious, "to simply cut this scene out as well. It doesn't affect the plot much anyway."

"You can't do this!" Catherine cried out immediately, waving her fists and pounding on Adrian.

"Heh heh, what do you want to do? Do you want to fight me, miss? You aren't holding a machine gun now," Adrian laughed and grabbed her hands.

Catherine fought back unwillingly. Unintentionally, both of them tumbled from the chair. Yet neither seemed to care, still rolling around on the floor playfully; Catherine occasionally let out shrill laughter-filled screams. From the floor, they rolled onto tables, chairs, and even walls, until Adrian pinned her down securely, when they finally stopped.

"I told you, you won't wrestle out of my grasp," Adrian teased, looking at Catherine, who was just inches away.

Catherine glared at him defiantly, her chest heaving up and down as her blushing face appeared particularly alluring. Then, Adrian kissed her bright lips, effortlessly parting her teeth. In the next second, Catherine responded passionately, wrapping her arms around his neck, and pressing her entire body against him.

After gently sucking her lower lip, Adrian suddenly stopped his actions. The two of them rested their foreheads against each other, not saying a word, with only slightly heavy breathing echoing in the room.

After a while, Catherine finally spoke, "I'm sorry, Ed, I just... I just..."

"It's okay, Kate, it's okay," Adrian said gently. After feeling his emotions settle, he released Catherine. "I'll tidy up here, then take you home, alright?"

Catherine opened her mouth as though wanting to say something but swallowed her words hesitantly after watching Adrian tidy up.

The drive back was silent, and soon Adrian's car stopped outside Catherine's house. After parking the car, Adrian turned to her, "Well, good night, then."

"Good night..." Catherine replied softly. After opening the car door, she gathered the courage to say, "Ed, actually, I'm not..."

"It's okay, Kate, as I said, it's okay," Adrian interrupted her. He reached out, caressed Catherine's face, and smiled at her. "Your feelings are what matter most, understand?"

Catherine stared blankly at Adrian, suddenly lunged forward, embraced him, and kissed him hard, leading to another round of passionate entanglement.

"I love you, Ed," Catherine's cheeks turned red, uttering seductively.

"I love you too." Adrian gently kissed her forehead again. "Sweet dreams."

After Catherine got out of the car, he suddenly called out to her, "By the way, Kate, this film has been submitted to the Venice Film Festival. Would you like to go with me to Venice? You're still on summer break, after all."

"Of course, I'd love to." Catherine answered without a second thought.

"Then it's settled." Adrian nodded and waved goodbye.

As usual, he only drove away after watching Catherine skip away till she disappeared from the doorway. Despite tonight seeming like a failure, Adrian knew in his heart that Catherine wouldn't escape the palm of his hand.

"What a rare, adorable, bashful young girl, the taste of love is truly sweet," Adrian mused.

He seemed to split into two personalities: one fully invested in the date, and another impeccably composed outsider once it's over. However, he did not find it terrible; he enjoyed the feeling.

Though slightly bothersome... Adrian rubbed his fingers as if savoring what had happened in the studio. If he judged right, there was a high chance Catherine was still... a virgin! This is quite normal; not all young girls lose their virginity early. Many 17-year-old girls are still virgins, and what's more, Kate seemed to be quite innocent.

Frankly, a man derives indescribable satisfaction from claiming a woman's virginity. But from another perspective, purely in terms of sex, virgins and mature women of allure are entirely different experiences.

Adrian shook his head with a chuckle. If it were just about chasing skill and bodily pleasure, he could easily go to East London's Bond Street, where 500 British Pounds per hour high-class call girls could cater to all kinds of needs.

"Let it be, we'll talk about it in Venice," Adrian shrugged.

The Venice Film Festival first launched in 1932 and is considered the progenitor of all film festivals worldwide, being one of Europe's top three film festivals. Held every year in late August or early September and about two weeks long, its aim was "to serve serious film art," proposing different slogans each year with a very pure judging criterion: artistry. However, in Adrian's view, encouraging experimental films would serve as a more fitting standard.

During his previous life at the Film Academy, Adrian had been deeply enamored by Europe's so-called art films and harbored ambitions to make remarkable artistic films. But after watching and analyzing enough, he started feeling indifferent and even slightly contemptuous. Watching films is subjective; it's impossible to unify perspectives. Most so-called artistic films are merely results of mutual praise because they hold the discourse. To sound harsh, Hollywood's commercial blockbusters have long dominated the European film market, while European films cling to the art label for survival.

Of course, this is just Adrian's personal opinion. Just like the definition of film artistry, different people have different views. Even though he did not favor Venice Film Festival's artistic reputation, Adrian appreciated its attitude towards experimental films. The festival often accepted films with unique shooting styles and techniques, even with some imperfections, as long as they had innovations. While releasing quite a few low-budget films under the guise of art, it also produced films with gripping stories that appealed to most viewers.

This was partly why Adrian insisted on submitting "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" to the Venice Film Festival. Essentially, this film was experimental, making participation in the Venice Film Festival very suitable. The three major film festivals in Europe each have their distinct attributes. For instance, the Berlin Film Festival focuses more on ideology. If a film reflects on Germany's World War II, as long as it gets recognized, it stands a very high chance of clinching the top award. On the other hand, the Cannes Film Festival traverses between Berlin and Venice, favoring political or inspirational works. Given "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'" quality, participating in these two festivals would garner praise, yet the potential impact wouldn't compare to that of the Venice Film Festival.

There's no help for it. Smaller film companies or independent films looking to increase their influence or find a suitable company for distribution, as well as new directors seeking exposure, often walk the festival competition route. But Adrian believed this situation to be temporary, unlikely to persist significantly over time.

(Noteworthy mentions of offensive terms... alas...)

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