You're Not Afraid, You Know You're Going to Die

A few days later.

Li Chen had Natasha call Harry Sloan over, and then, in front of her, had Harry Sloan approve the project for "Lucy".

"Okay, I'll have someone write the script right away."

After understanding the general idea, Harry Sloan immediately nodded.

Li Chen is the boss, so naturally he can't be asked to write the script; otherwise, what's the point of having screenwriters?

However, he still had some doubts. "Boss, is it a bit inappropriate to use a woman as the absolute protagonist?"

Hollywood has too few successful films featuring female leads.

Especially these days, successful movies are few and far between.

The first Tomb Raider film was a success, with Angelina Jolie showcasing her stunning figure on screen.

But the second season quickly flopped, completely destroying her status.

Besides these, Charlie's Angels can be considered a success.

In "Charlie's Angels," the three stunning female leads showed off their bodies on screen, which is why the movie didn't flop.

Other films, such as the older versions of Resident Evil and Underworld, had mediocre box office results; they weren't exactly flops, but they weren't blockbusters either.

Moreover, these films share another characteristic: they are adaptations of established intellectual property (IP).

Underworld is a vampire movie, which gives it a natural advantage.

Even "Charlie's Angels" is an adaptation of the decades-old TV series "Charlie's Angels".

Needless to say, Resident Evil and Tomb Raider are incredibly popular games.

Compared to these, * Lucy * has absolutely no advantage, especially since it features a female protagonist...

Li Chen said, "These things don't matter for science fiction movies. As long as the movie quality is good, the audience will buy it."

He doesn't care about box office failures; he doesn't want box office numbers, he wants CPH4.

"All right."

Although Harry Sloan disagreed, he was no longer in power and could only nod in agreement.

This is also why Li Chen didn't fire him; although he wasn't capable, at least he was obedient.

Most CEOs of Hollywood companies are professional managers; they don't own the company, they merely act as agents.

To put it simply, it's just a job. If you do well, you earn more; if you don't, you're fired.

Of course, Disney is an exception.

Michael Ace genuinely owned shares in Disney back then, but even so, he was still ousted from the company.

In Li Chen's view, the competence of these professional managers is declining.

The 1990s were the peak of these professional managers; they were indeed capable, and even produced the first female CEO in history, Shirley Lansing.

It was under Shirley Lansing's direction that Paramount made Mission: Impossible: Impossible, although Tom Cruise later took over the reins.

What made Natasha, the Black Widow, a little anxious was that Li Chen didn't mention her at all during the entire meeting.

This made her realize that even if she wanted to become the female lead, there would be a price to pay.

Li Chen was manipulating her, but in order to complete her mission, she had no choice but to let Li Chen manipulate her.

At this moment, Harry Sloan said, "By the way, boss, there's a banquet tonight; all the big names in Hollywood will be there."

"Then I'll go take a look."

Li Chen nodded.

I don't have anything planned for tonight, so I might as well make the most of my nightlife.

As the head of Starlight Pictures, Li Chen is fully capable of changing female celebrities and supermodels every day.

He's already showing some restraint.

Harry Sloan immediately went down to approve the project, while Black Widow gave Li Chen a resentful look, but Li Chen did not respond to her.

Although she is the Black Widow, she doesn't have diamonds.

Even if the budget for "Lucy" isn't high, it would still cost at least tens of millions of dollars, and with the subsequent marketing and distribution, it would easily reach around thirty million.

Of course, the original actress was Scarlett Johansson. At that time, Scarlett had already become famous for her role as Black Widow, so her salary was not cheap.

If it were Natasha... then this money would have to be squeezed out of them.

Moreover, a film that cost tens of millions of dollars to produce is not something that can be easily handed over. Even if she had diamonds, Li Chen still needed to taste it before it could be given to her.

You reap what you sow; this is the truth of the world.

Of course, the most important thing is that Li Chen thought it was fun.

Having superheroes make movies about you... is there anything more awesome than that?

Hmm, preferably a beautiful woman.

That evening, Black Widow Natasha once again demonstrated her 'professionalism'.

Li Chen brought his personal assistant to the banquet. She intimately linked arms with Li Chen, seemingly whispering to him, but actually introducing Li Chen to everyone present.

Somewhat embarrassingly, Li Chen knows fewer people than she does.

Aside from celebrities, those present tonight are mostly producers, directors, and even Hollywood professional managers.

The celebrities who are able to participate are basically all top-tier stars.

Li Chen knew quite a few of these people.

But Li Chen didn't recognize those producers, CEOs, and the like.

Therefore, Natasha had to keep introducing people to him, telling him who they were and what their positions were, so that Li Chen wouldn't make a fool of himself by not recognizing them.

Because some older white men are really confident, they don't introduce themselves, as if everyone should know them.

Li Chen attracted a lot of attention, both for his identity and for the events of the past few days.

Chinese Americans are at the bottom of Hollywood's hierarchy of discrimination.

Although there was a period of boom, such as when kung fu movies were most popular, Jack Cheng and others came to Hollywood to work.

But Hollywood quickly learned their methods, and they naturally lost their jobs.

Hollywood is like a microcosm of America; they are very good at learning, and they learn very quickly. But that's also the problem: when they have nothing left to learn, they can only rapidly decline.

"This is a high-ranking official at Sony's headquarters in Japan, named Yoshida Kenichiro."

Unlike Sony, Sony's top management still largely controls the day -Panasonic to-day operations.

People in the last century were indeed very wealthy; they waved their money around, wanting to buy up the whole world, even scaring America.

The forced smile on Li Chen's face vanished instantly.

"Li-san, Arigato!"

Yoshida Kenichiro was extremely respectful and bowed to Li Chen in front of everyone.

This is how they live their lives – they're very skilled at it, after all, it's a matter of stubbornness.

Is there anything that a bow can't solve?

In their view, since they had already bowed, how could the other party not give them face?

"What's up?"

Li Chen made no attempt to hide his disdain.

In fact, the people around him were looking at Yoshida Kenichiro with disdain, after all, bowing so often made him seem too humble.

But Yoshida Kenichiro didn't care at all; he didn't know anything about face in his daily life.

"Mr. Li, I have heard about the conflict between my subordinates and you. We are here specifically to resolve it in good faith. Whatever you need, we will do our best to satisfy you."

Natasha, the Black Widow who had been clinging to Li Chen, had a flicker in her eyes. What had Li Chen done to make the usually unruly Xiao Rizi so afraid?

At this moment, Li Chen laughed, "This guy... living a pretty good life, you're not just scared, you know you're going to die."