Vol 2 Chapter 731: Dilemma

The black Bentley car slowly stopped at a coastal villa area in the west of Long Island. After Duke got off the car, waited for Tina Fei to call to confirm, and entered the nearest villa facing the sea, probably inside. The two staff at the door did not stop him. ,
The villa is not particularly big. After passing through a long corridor behind the gate, Duke heard familiar voices before he walked far. He followed the sound to find it, and then saw his mother, Scarlett Johansson, and a A real estate broker specializing in serving the wealthy.
"mom……"
After greeting his mother, Duke asked again, "How's it going?"
Mrs. Leah smiled and pointed to Scarlett. "Scarlett thinks this villa is very good. You can also participate in your comments."
Duke looked round, and briefly looked at the white-walled and red-roofed villa, and asked Scarlett, "My dear, you can just make up your mind."
Having seen it almost, Scarlett nodded to Duke and turned to the real estate agent, "This one is ready."
The real estate agent’s face was almost full of smiles. At the moment, the real estate market in the United States is extremely depressed, and it is not easy to make such a large business worth millions of dollars.
"I'll let someone go through the formalities first."
After saying this, the real estate agent stepped aside and called.
Scarlett Johansson and Mrs. Leah accompanied Duke to the private beach provided by the villa.
"We can move here in the summer."
Walking near the beach, Scarlett sat at the table under the umbrella and said, "Long Island summer is much more comfortable than Los Angeles."
Tina Fei nodded, "It's true."
Scarlett turned to look at Mrs. Leah, "We live here in the summer. You can also accompany your godmother."
Seeing his mother smile and pat Scarlett's hand lightly, Duke said, "This is a good idea."
Buying a holiday villa in New York was originally Scarlett’s idea. Now the economy in North America is sluggish. Her mother, Melanie Sloan, could not find a suitable job in Los Angeles, and had to return to New York to work as a Broadway screenwriter. Although she was not close to her parents in these years, Scarlett still paid for her own money for her mother and underage. His brother's family bought an apartment that was spacious enough, and also planned to buy a home for himself on Long Island.
Of course Duke would not object. After Mrs. Leah learned about it, she also found a real estate agent who specializes in serving the rich.
The Upper East Side of Manhattan is too crowded, and neither Duke nor Scarlett wants to live there. Long Island has undoubtedly become the best choice.
Long Island is located in the northern temperate zone, surrounded by the sea on three sides, the island is full of forests, abundant rainfall, and humid climate; due to its maritime climate, summer is not hot, and is considered one of the most inhabitable areas in the world.
This is also an area where the rich gather, many of the richest in the United States. Including rich people from overseas, they all like to buy real estate here.
It was just the economic crisis last year. Many people went bankrupt, and many houses in the villa area on the island were listed for sale.
"The U.S. economy is in recession now..."
The topic naturally shifted from real estate to economics. Mrs. Leah said to Duke, "You have to be more cautious about your investment."
"Mom, you know." Duke said with a relieved smile. "I have always been very cautious."
In fact, even with preparations, the economic crisis has had a certain impact on Duke, but the impact is not that big.
Not only him, the Santa Fea company founded by Mrs. Leah was also affected. It is also currently tightening business.
They didn't stay here much. Scarlett left her assistant to go through some formalities with the real estate agent, and the four returned to Manhattan in Mrs. Leah's RV.
Now that the economic crisis is raging, Manhattan, the world's financial center, is unrest. On the way back to the Upper East Side, Duke saw some sporadic gatherings. Although it was far less exaggerated than occupying Wall Street in his impression, it also played some similar banners.
These sporadic gatherings are bound to evolve into a vigorous movement in the end.
It's just that this movement is doomed to end in failure.
Regardless of the country and region, power, wealth, and voice are in the hands of a very small number of people. In the face of major conflicts of interest, ordinary Americans want the federal government and the New York government that are deeply influenced by capital power And the sympathy and relatively fair treatment of the media is tantamount to idiotic dreams.
The so-called people have the power to resist tyranny with guns. In this country today, it's just a talk.
"Maybe one day those people will really take down Wall Street with guns."
Returning to her home in the Upper East Side, Scarlett listened to Duke's words and deliberately teased, "divide all the wealth of you capitalists."
"Take a gun?" Duke closed the door, took off his coat, and hung it on the hanger, and said, "My dear, do you really think that letting them legally hold guns is to resist tyranny?"
Scarlett shrugged, "What is that for?"
Duke held up a finger, "Actually, there is only one purpose, to commit suicide when they are desperate!"
Hearing these words, Scarlett's mouth trembled, "This joke is not funny at all."
After living here for so many years, Duke is very clear that this country is not at all what some people with ulterior motives once propagated on the other side, and the so-called free country is nothing but a mere appearance.
Duke is temporarily on vacation. Leonardo DiCaprio, who is also on vacation, has received the script from Tina Fei and Hino Martin.
The Spanish island of Mallorca is known as the closest place to paradise on earth. There are more than 300 days of sunny weather every year, and it is also called "the paradise of the Mediterranean."
Under a sun umbrella on a golden sandy beach, Eno? Martin found Leonardo DiCaprio and his new girlfriend, Barr Lefari.
After receiving Ino Martin's script, Leonardo simply flipped through it and said, "I took this role. I have been waiting for the second collaboration with Duke."
Ino Martin sat beside Leonardo's beach chair, but did not speak, but looked at Barr Lefari.
Bare Lefari winked a bit, stood up from the chair Shiran, took off her coat, and said, "I'll swim in the sea."
Looking at the back of Barr Lefari walking towards the beach, Leonardo took out two cans of beer from the basket behind and threw a can to Ino Martin, "Say, Ino, what matters? "
He made it clear that he would take over Duke's new project, but Eno Martin did not say anything, obviously he did not agree.
"You misunderstood, Leo."
Even if he is the master of aa, Ino Martin would not be so stupid to regard Leonardo as a at his mercy, and quickly said, "I am not opposed to you taking over Duke's project. On the contrary, I think You should take it. In the past few years, you have been too focused on winning prizes and gradually neglected the commercial aspect. The day when the market appeal of "Titanic" is always used up, you need a good enough commercial masterpiece to consolidate your super Superstar status."
Leonardo nodded slightly. He also knew this very well. If there is not enough market appeal, even if he gets the best actor Oscar, he will not become a superstar. The reason why he has not been in a hurry is that he has been patiently charged. Award, because Duke revealed it very early, to cooperate with him once.
Leonardo can also figure out what type of cooperation project Duke is talking about with his toes. It must be a large-scale commercial film.
But when Hearing Inno Martin's statement, Leonardo was puzzled. He looked at his agent with puzzlement and didn't understand what he wanted to do.
"Leo, you should know that aa is facing some difficulties now?"
Seeing Leonardo nodding, Hino Martin opened the beer can, took a sip, and said, "The current six major film companies, including some second-tier companies, have become subsidiaries of certain groups. Strong, although aa’s business share is rising, packaged services, which account for the main share of our profits, are shrinking across the board."
Leonardo also knows about these things that Hino Martin talked about. After the era of independent studios in Hollywood was completely over, the six major companies did not buy aa's account, especially the big investment and large production. Among the high-profit commercial films, aa's packaging service is almost useless.
The package service that aa relies on can only survive in the independent film circle, and it is even jokingly called the "one-stop service for independent films".
How much profit can independent films make? Aa’s business volume seems to be expanding, but its annual revenue is still hovering between one or two billion US dollars. The revenue situation does not match the company’s reputation at all.
As an industry insider, Leonardo knows very well that he touted aa at the beginning, saying that the brokerage company can decide the people in the entertainment industry, either with bad intentions or with problems in their heads.
Of course, Eno Martin also knows this. The entire Hollywood and related industries have a scale of hundreds of billions of dollars. It is a big joke that a brokerage company with an annual revenue of only hundreds of millions of dollars can dominate this industry.
Of course, he has a clear understanding of the brokerage company's positioning on the one hand, and he wants to expand aa's business on the other.
One-stop packaging services can bring high profits, especially in those successful business giants.
If you want to extend the package service's tentacles into Hollywood's major production mainstream films, aa must come up with an extremely successful example.
It’s just that such an example is not easy to find, so he thought of Leonardo. After Tom Hanks turned behind the scenes, Julia Roberts, who was painstakingly digging up, was no longer in appeal. Leonardo ? DiCaprio can be said to be aa's trump card.
Ino Martin looked at Leonardo and said solemnly, "Leo, you can help aa bring the packing service to Duke."
ps: 　　 ask for a recommendation ticket!