Chapter 644: Warrant

After a whole day of madness, Chen Jiajun finally sobered up.

His powerful body ensured he suffered no side effects from such activities.

The murderous intent previously stirred up by the High Table had also dissipated quite a bit by now.

So it is said, women are the best medicine for men.

After Monica sobered up, the two enjoyed breakfast before heading to Netflix.

Although he had stood them up yesterday, who could blame Chen Jiajun, the Boss? The people at Netflix wouldn't have any complaints, nor would they dare to have any.

In a screening room at Netflix, Chen Jiajun watched the finished cut of the film *Malèna*.

Chen Jiajun had made some modifications to the details of the final cut.

After all, Monica was his woman now, and Chen Jiajun had no intention of letting her shoot those explicit scenes.

Don't talk to Chen Jiajun about damn art; in his view, those European artists were just perverts.

Fortunately, the director, Giuseppe Tornatore, was a man who listened to reason and completed the suggestions from his financier well.

Watching the entire film, it truly showcased Monica's charm.

"Not bad!" Chen Jiajun nodded and commented on the film: "It should be able to snag a few awards!"

This film was originally intended as a test for Netflix, so the investment cost wasn't very high.

It was specifically aimed at winning awards, so they weren't too concerned about the box office.

As long as it could win awards and stimulate Netflix's streaming business, it would have met the standard.

Marc Randolph also nodded and said: "I also think it should be able to win quite a few awards, so we plan to start with the Berlin International Film Festival and then participate in this year's Academy Awards."

"The Academy Awards might be a bit difficult," Chen Jiajun said, frowning: "Is it possible to get a Golden Globe Award?"

Although the Golden Globe Awards were practically considered a bush-league award compared to the Academy Awards, winning a Golden Globe would still be a significant boost to their prestige.

Marc nodded and said: "It's possible, but it will likely require a lot of public relations expenses!"

"Don't I have money? Throw it at them!" Chen Jiajun snorted coldly and said: "You need to know that what we need to do now is enter the game; only by entering the game can the subsequent matters be handled easily!"

Marc nodded quickly and said: "Fine, I'll have a PR team assembled immediately!"

Chen Jiajun nodded and said: "By the way, have you received any good scripts lately?"

Marc made a bitter face and said: "Where would there be any good scripts? They're all bastards looking to take advantage! They don't even have a project proposal, yet they dare to spout nonsense in front of me; it's simply absurd!"

Chen Jiajun stroked his chin and began to think: "What about adaptations?"

Hearing Chen Jiajun's question, Marc was stunned for a moment, then shook his head with a bitter smile and said: "Boss, those famous works are just too expensive to adapt, and in our situation, not many people are willing to hand their works over to us for adaptation, as their profits would be very small."

In the United States, film adaptation is a very common thing. Various films, to a greater or lesser extent, have traces of adaptation.

Moreover, many authors write books specifically for the sake of adaptation, hoping to sell the film and television rights.

Generally speaking, it's very expensive! And there are subsequent profit-sharing deals.

That is, after the work is adapted, they get a slice of the film's revenue.

But given Netflix's situation, how would the subsequent profit-sharing be calculated? For many bestselling authors, this is not a cost-effective deal.

So either Marc pays a high price for a buyout, or no one is willing to do this kind of thing.

But spending a large sum of money to gamble on the film adaptation rights of a novel is clearly not a cost-effective matter.

This is also the reason for Marc's distress.

Hearing Marc explain the reason, Chen Jiajun stroked his chin and said: "Bestselling novels are hard to handle, then... what about comics?"

"Comics?" Marc's expression was a bit strange: "But comic book adaptations aren't mainstream! To date, the only ones that can be considered successful are *Spider-Man*, *Blade*, *X-Men*, and a few others, and over at DC, ever since they botched the new *Batman* film and the new *Superman* film, there hasn't been much noise."

Indeed, during this period, superhero films were not yet mainstream in Hollywood.

Many people didn't even think highly of the future of these films.

But Chen Jiajun knew that this would be a huge gold mine in the future.

So he said to Marc: "Since no one is competing with us, let's start with superhero films! Buy as many copyrights as you can get your hands on!"

"Huh?" Marc was a bit surprised: "You think highly of these comic adaptations?"

"That's right, so for the film and television adaptation rights of these comics, we want as many as we can get! It's best to buy them out once and for all!" Chen Jiajun said to Marc.

Although Marc really wanted to ask Chen Jiajun why he felt this way.

But Chen Jiajun, this Big Boss, hadn't made a single wrong decision from start to finish.

This made Marc think for a moment and agree: "Okay Boss, then I'll go find all the comics with adaptation value and study them?"

"Hmm, go ahead!" Chen Jiajun nodded and said to Marc.

After coming out of Netflix, Chen Jiajun prepared to take Monica out for a stroll.

He intended to buy a house in Los Angeles as well, to save himself from having to stay in hotels every time he flew over.

Just as they stepped out, Monica's phone rang; it was her agent calling.

Ever since Monica was arranged by Chen Jiajun to work with Marc, she had re-signed with a talent agency.

And it was the famous CAA.

Because Monica brought her own resources, CAA managed her very loosely, even placing themselves in the position of service providers.

Monica felt this kind of cooperation was quite good.

It was just that her agent had suddenly reached out today, saying there was a very good opportunity, which made Monica feel a bit strange.

After seeking Chen Jiajun's opinion, Monica still decided to meet with the other party.

Afterwards, she went to a cafe by herself and met her agent, Lauren.

"Monica, let me introduce you; this is director Gaspar Noe," Lauren introduced to Monica. "Hello, Director!" Monica shook hands with the bald man in front of her.

However, this bald director very greasily hooked his finger against her palm.

This made Monica frown involuntarily.

Moreover, the other party's gaze made Monica feel very uncomfortable, as if he were trying to strip her clothes off.

However, Monica had seen plenty of such people in Hollywood; with her agent by her side, the other party likely wouldn't dare to do anything, so she endured it.

After both sides sat down, Gaspar Noe said to Monica, "Miss Monica, I have watched your 'Malèna', and your performance left a deep impression on me."

"Thank you!" Monica said to Gaspar Noe, neither servile nor overbearing.

Monica's attitude caught Gaspar Noe somewhat by surprise.

However, he continued, "I have a film, and I would like to invite you to be the lead actress."

Hearing Gaspar Noe's words, Monica frowned.

After all, she had been in Hollywood for quite some time and was very clear about the rules of how Hollywood operated.

If it were a formal project, it would be absolutely impossible for a director to personally invite the lead actress.

The general procedure is for the production crew and producers to select various roles through casting calls.

Only after an actor auditions can it be decided whether they can take on the role.

Gaspar Noe's approach, however, was somewhat like the style of those independent films.

And Monica had seen more than once just how chaotic the independent film circle was.

So, Monica's expression immediately turned cold. After hearing this, her agent also frowned, and her expression turned cold as well.

Ever since Monica had played bit parts in films from the Big Six studios and had shot a film of her own, she had already drawn a line between herself and the independent film circle.

After all, she had a benefactor and a backer behind her; there was no need to struggle in such a chaotic circle.

CAA did not sign Monica for her to mingle in the independent circle.

Therefore, whether it was Monica or her agent Lauren, both appeared cold toward this invitation.

But Gaspar Noe did not notice it at all and continued to say to Monica, "I can guarantee that my film will absolutely be able to further showcase your charm."

Monica originally did not want to pay any attention to this guy, but since she had already come, she decided to take a look at the script first.

So she said to Gaspar Noe, "Do you have the script?"

"Yes! You can take a look first!" Gaspar Noe appeared very happy, "This is absolutely a great artistic masterpiece!"

Saying this, he took out a script and handed it to Monica.

Monica and her agent had only read half of it when they both felt terrible.

Damn it, the script for "Irreversible" in front of them was simply... it was even on par with scripts from the Fernando Valley.

Just reading the script was enough to make a person feel physically uncomfortable.

So Monica simply kept a cold face, and her agent Lauren said directly to Gaspar Noe, "Sorry, Director Gaspar Noe, this film does not quite fit our artist's acting path."

"How could it not fit? This is art!" Gaspar Noe said hurriedly, "Monica, this is art! Shouldn't one sacrifice for art?"

Monica was almost laughed to anger by this guy's shameless appearance; she grabbed her handbag directly and said, "Sorry, I have other things to do, I'm leaving first!"

Lauren also stood up, not paying any attention to this idiot at all.

"Wait, Miss Monica!" Gaspar Noe was still unwilling to give up and said to Monica, "For this film, I can offer you three million dollars."

Three million—if this were before Monica became famous, she might have gritted her teeth and agreed.

Perhaps if she had been sweet-talked by this guy a bit more, she really would have gone to film this movie.

But the current Monica lived in a luxury mansion worth tens of millions, and the payment for just one magazine cover was more than this amount, so she said with a cold face, "No need!"

After they got out the door, Lauren said to Monica with some apology, "Sorry, Monica, I didn't know this guy was this kind of trash!"

"It's okay, just be careful next time." Monica didn't take it to heart; after all, Lauren was much better than her previous agent.

At the very least, she didn't have the urgent thought of "selling Monica for a good price."

Lauren nodded, "I will be careful to screen things in the future. Do you need me to drop you off?"

Monica looked at the unwilling-looking Gaspar Noe, and she nodded, saying, "Drop me off at Netflix."

Having encountered such a jerk, Monica's mood was terrible for the whole day.

When Chen Jiajun returned, his expression was still very ugly.

After all, no matter which female star it is, being treated as a sex symbol is very unpleasant.

Chen Jiajun asked with some curiosity, "Didn't you go to discuss a project? Why this expression?"

Monica was already full of grievances, so she told Chen Jiajun the whole story from beginning to end.

After listening, Chen Jiajun immediately laughed, "In a vanity fair like Hollywood, there are all kinds of people! You have already entered the mainstream film and television circle; you don't need to pay any attention to such people at all! In the future, just have your agent do more screening when she gives you projects."

Although that was what he said, Monica was still a bit depressed.

Chen Jiajun said with a smile, "Then let me tell you something happy! Mark found a project that might be quite suitable for you!"

"A new project?" Monica's eyes lit up immediately.

Chen Jiajun nodded and said, "A work adapted from a comic, though we are still negotiating the comic's copyright."

What Chen Jiajun was talking about was a film that had once left a deep impression on him.

That was the film adapted from the comic "Wanted," although Chen Jiajun could no longer remember the specific plot.

But the famous scenes in it were still fresh in Chen Jiajun's memory.

It was those assassins in it, each of whom had the Superpower to make bullets curve.

Although this film was absurd, Chen Jiajun remembered it was at least a successful comic adaptation.

It just so happened that Chen Jiajun planned to make a move on Marvel, so he would use this film to practice first.

However, the owner of the comic copyright was a bit difficult to deal with; after all, the other party was the famous comic artist Frank Miller.

Wanting to buy the copyright from his hands was not an easy thing.

After all, before this, many of his comic works had already been brought to the big screen.

Right now, Mark was still haggling with the other party over the copyright.

Chen Jiajun naturally left such trivial matters to his subordinates to resolve, but seeing Monica like this, he simply said it to make her happy.

While Chen Jiajun was vacationing in the United States, a big problem arose in Brunei.

Originally, Li Yaohua's plan to seize Kalimantan Island had caused some unpleasantness with both Indonesia and Malaysia.

But fortunately, as Li Yaohua fulfilled his promises one by one, Malaysia let go of its previous grievances.

Both sides resumed normal relations.

However, something that happened recently has caused Li Yaohua great distress.

A member of the Malaysian royal family went missing while visiting Brunei.

That's right, they went missing on the soil of Brunei.

Although Li Yaohua reacted quickly, promptly detaining the royal family member's entourage and sealing off the news.

This kind of situation cannot be kept under wraps for long.

"Mr. President, although I am very clear that this matter has nothing to do with you, you cannot hide the Prince's disappearance for long," the detained official said to Li Yaohua with a helpless expression.

Li Yaohua said with a headache: "I understand, but you need to give me some time! We have finally ushered in peace with such difficulty; it is impossible for us to start a conflict again because of this, right?"

"I can understand your intentions, which is why I haven't put up any resistance!" the official said, spreading his hands: "But you must know, time is running out!"

Li Yaohua nodded: "I have already dispatched all my subordinates to begin searching for the whereabouts of the Prince! Please give me some time, and before then, I am afraid you will all have to stay here for a while!"

The official shrugged and did not object to this.

After all, Li Yaohua was providing them with good food and drink, and this matter indeed had nothing to do with Li Yaohua.

They did not mind waiting for a few more days.

After leaving the Safe House, Li Yaohua immediately summoned all his subordinates.

After explaining the problem he was facing to them, everyone's expressions turned serious.

"Are you sure they went missing here with us?" Ao En asked with a serious face.

This matter is no small thing, after all, such an important member of the royal family went missing in Brunei.

It is very likely to trigger a new First Round of war.

Although for these subordinates of Chen Jiajun, they do not hold Malaysia in high regard.

But the current situation is one that Li Yaohua fought hard to achieve; if something like this happens again, it will lead to two countries that have finally normalized diplomatic relations going to war, and at that time, the leaders of Indonesia would probably laugh themselves to death. (End of chapter)