I am Hollywood

Chapter 423: Chapter 424: An Unforeseen Circumstance



[Chapter 424: An Unforeseen Circumstance]

As midnight approached, rain began to trickle down outside, but the sound of the rain didn't disturb Eric at all.

Virginia lazily leaned against Eric's side, softly murmuring, "Wouldn't it be great if it could always be like this?"

Eric playfully pinched her cheek, teasing, "You're not a little girl anymore. Where do these silly thoughts come from?"

Virginia shook her head in annoyance, looking up at Eric, "Ugh... come on, you're only twenty! Can't you say something sweet that a guy your age should say to charm a woman?"

Eric chuckled, "I can't say that. We know each other too well; it would feel awkward to say those kinds of things."

But Virginia seemed to have found interest, sitting up slightly to look at Eric, her eyes wide with a playful pout. "Come on, darling, say something. I want to hear."

Eric quickly raised his hands in surrender, pleading, "Stop! Don't talk to me like that. It gives me the chills. Alright, let me think... let me think..."

Under Virginia's expectant gaze, Eric pondered for a moment before stammering, "Li... little baby..."

Hearing Eric's painfully awkward tone, Virginia burst out laughing, her whole body sinking back against Eric as she mimicked in his tone, "Little baby... li... little baby."

Eric couldn't help but laugh too, "Alright, stop laughing. It's just that we're too familiar with each other; I can't pull this off. Next time, let's go to a club, and you can see my skills at charming ladies."

Virginia chuckled a few more times before saying, "Yeah, right."

Eric insisted, "I'm serious! Last time I was in New York, I actually snagged two girls at a club. But since I stuck to my principles, I ended up going back to the hotel alone."

Virginia asked pointedly, "Did they recognize you?"

Eric hesitated, stumbling over his words, "Uh, well..."

Virginia laughed even more. If Eric had been recognized, it was almost guaranteed that women would flock to him; after all, he was a billionaire.

Eric didn't make any arguments, letting Virginia continue to be amused for a while before saying, "Let's get some sleep; I've got to wake up early tomorrow."

Virginia soon quieted down but then softly asked, "Eric, if you can't even whisper sweet nothings, does that mean I'm no longer your sunshine?"

Eric nodded confidently, "Of course not. I just wish that our relationship leaned more toward familial feelings."

Virginia sighed in a small voice, "But I've never even tasted the flavor of love yet; it's a bit disappointing to shift to family feelings so soon."

Eric turned and kissed her cheek, saying, "You might not like it, little beauty, but you won't get away now."

Virginia snuggled against Eric, murmuring, "I've never worn a wedding dress or put on a ring."

Eric took her small hand and said, "I'll buy you a diamond ring one of these days. A big rock, how does that sound?"

Virginia laughed, "Wouldn't that be too extravagant?"

Eric gave her a look that said she was being too picky. "What do you want then?"

Virginia thought for a moment and replied, "I want you to design a unique ring for me."

"Not a problem," Eric immediately agreed.

With this promise, Virginia was soon satisfied and fell asleep quickly. Eric felt the wind outside pick up a bit. He got up to close the window and took a shower before lying down to sleep.

...

In a haze of sleep, he suddenly heard urgent knocking at the door. He opened his eyes to see it was still dark outside. Turning on the light, he glanced at the clock; it was three in the morning.

Feeling Eric move and the disturbance from the knocking, Virginia woke up, saw Eric hurriedly throwing on his pants, and sat up too, quickly finding her clothes. The crew couldn't possibly not know she was staying in Eric's room, and with knocking at this hour, something serious must have happened.

Just as Virginia walked into the living room, she saw Eric return with a serious expression.

"Eric, what's going on?"

Eric quickly found his shirt and jacket, shaking his head at Virginia's worried gaze. "Nothing. I have to go out for a bit. You stay right here and don't wander around."

Virginia, sensing Eric was keeping something from her, grew more anxious. "What is it? Please tell me."

After a moment of hesitation, Eric finally said, "Around two in the morning, a tornado passed through the northwest of Ponca City, hitting the street set we built for the film. Some staff got injured, and Jeffrey and I need to head there now."

As Eric rushed out, he felt Virginia following him, leaving the room too. At that moment, many doors opened in the corridor, crew members were looking to see what was happening, and no one seemed to care that Virginia had just come out of Eric's room.

The door to Joanna's room on the right side also opened. Dressed in her pajamas, Joanna quickly woke up upon seeing the chaos in the corridor. After learning what was going on and that Eric was heading to the site, concern flashed across her face. Since they were filming Twister, Joanna was well aware of the seriousness of the situation.

Seeing Eric prepare to leave, Joanna stepped forward and tugged at his sleeve. "Eric, why don't I go with you?"

Virginia, still following closely behind Eric, quickly added, "I want to go too."

"Stay in your room, you both. This hotel is a reinforced concrete building; the weather forecast said there wouldn't be a major storm. So this place is safe," Eric said in a calm voice, his expression leaving no room for argument.

Knowing that going wouldn't help at all, Joanna tugged at Virginia and the two women returned to Joanna's room. Eric and Jeffrey quickly left the hotel with a group of people as the sound of car engines filled the streets.

...

The two women had no thoughts of resting anymore. They sat on the small sofa in Joanna's room. Virginia took the coffee Joanna handed her and couldn't help glancing out at the bright headlights outside. "This afternoon, I said there might be a tornado, and Eric told me not to be a jinx. Who knew... I really shouldn't have said that."

Joanna poured herself a cup of coffee, settling onto the sofa. "It's okay; this has nothing to do with you. Because of this movie, I've also been paying more attention to tornadoes. I've already seen several tornado incidents reported in the papers lately; it's pretty normal in the

Midwest."

Virginia sighed again, hearing the wind occasionally howling outside, murmuring, "I hope Eric will be fine."

Joanna blinked her long eyes and quickly said, "Don't say that."

Virginia froze for a moment and immediately covered her mouth.

...

Out in the outskirts roughly seven kilometers northwest of Ponca City, a street in the small town where the main character's aunt lived looked like it had been rampaged by some giant beast. Aside from the clear ruins stretching southeast, other structures, built as temporary sets, were also severely damaged by the force of the wind and were no longer usable.

In the spotlight of several SUVs, an assistant director was briefing Eric and the senior crew members on the situation, "The seven staff members who were on watch managed to hide in the south-facing abandoned basement just in time. One fell and may have a fractured leg, but the others only had minor scrapes. All seven have been taken to Ponca City Hospital for

checkups."

Still worried, Jeffrey asked, "Are you sure it's seven people and no one is missing?" The assistant director nodded, "I arranged this personally. The workers are from the nearby town; they all went home for the night. There were only those seven people here."

Eric and Jeffrey breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the crew members were okay, there wouldn't be a major issue, or else they would have to deal with the unions again. Given the numerous thrilling scenes in this film, various unions had representatives stationed here, always ready to stir up trouble.

Eric understood why so many productions preferred shooting in places like Canada. The low labor costs and high tax rebates were one thing, but the main reason was to avoid getting tangled up with the many unions in the U.S. These unions could be a nightmare, and whatever they said had to be listened to; otherwise, they would threaten to withdraw all their members, bringing production to a halt.

Seemingly oblivious to the easing expressions among Eric and the others, the assistant director continued, "However, the town of Richie to the southeast was hit by the tornado as well. I heard two people were swept away and still haven't been found. Many others were

injured."

Eric and Jeffrey exchanged glances, unsure of how to respond. In situations like this, no one could possibly say it wasn't their concern.

The assistant director felt he'd struck an inappropriate note by bringing that up, so he turned back to the matter at hand. "So, Mr. Williams, what should we do about this? Do we need to

rebuild?"

Eric looked at the condition of the ruins illuminated by the vehicle lights and shook his head.

"Since this place has already been destroyed by the tornado, it'll be more authentic than what we could make ourselves. So let's film the scene of the tornado passing through here directly. Also, let's find a similar small town quickly to shoot the scene where the main character has dinner at her aunt's house."

They deliberated over the relevant details, and by the time they returned to Ponca City, it was already bright outside. Perhaps due to last night's wind, all the gloomy clouds had

disappeared, and the orange sun slowly peaked over the horizon.

...

Back at the hotel, Virginia and Joanna came out to meet Eric. Once they saw he was safe, they

both felt relieved.

Only one person among the seven watching over the set had a slight injury, but during the day, the crew still encountered a tussle with union members.

Moreover, news of the tornado hitting the crew made it to the reporters who remained in Ponca City. By the next day, it appeared in the newspapers, with more reputable ones reporting the truth, but the sensational tabloids didn't hold back. To draw attention, their reports leaned towards exaggeration, even pinning the situation in Richie town onto the crew. In just a few days, Ponca City was swarmed with reporters again. Seeing that things were escalating, Firefly Films had to issue a formal statement in the Los Angeles Times along with a joint statement from the related unions to calm the storm.

...

Whether this sudden tornado had blown away the crew's luck was uncertain, but the subsequent filming began to encounter issues one after another, including a car accident. Eric had to establish a dedicated safety team, and due to these delays, the original shooting schedule, which was set to wrap up by the end of June, might fall back by at least a week. This meant that not only would Eric miss the premiere of Toy Story, but he also might not make it back for the release of Terminator 2.

The quality of both films spoke for itself, and their promotional work was proceeding steadily, so Eric's presence wouldn't impact their box office much. However, what Eric was most concerned about was the film Cutthroat Island, which was set to premiere between the two films. In early May, teasers for Cutthroat Island had started airing on television, and according to intel, the movie would finish post-production by mid-June without any delays. Of course, Eric didn't want Cutthroat Island to be delayed. Disney intended to release it between Toy Story and Terminator 2 to compete with them. But Eric knew that in the end, it would be Cutthroat Island that would suffer the most. All he hoped for was that Cutthroat Island

would be hit as hard as possible.

...

Chris kept updating him on progress from his end. Firefly Investment had successfully

dispersed and acquired 7% of Disney shares through several shell companies. If Cutthroat Island could repeat its disastrous failure from the original timeline, then with the Disney stock price dropping as a result, Firefly Investment could capitalize on acquiring more shares.

...

Fully immersed in the production of Twister, Eric hadn't left Oklahoma for months. Virginia's visit was soon followed by Jennifer Connelly, Elisabeth, and Drew making their rounds at the set. By early June, Famke Janssen, who had finished filming Thelma & Louise, also stopped by,Nôv(el)B\\jnn

but the tall actress could only stay for two days before she had to head back as the new season of The X-Files was about to begin production.

After Famke left, the crew soon welcomed a little girl. Eric initially agreed to pay one hundred

dollars to Ivanka Trump for her to make cameos in five movies. The script included two scenes

suitable for the little girl: one where the main character Jo Harding was a child, and another where Jo, upon arriving at her tornado-destroyed aunt's town, saw a family of three embracing, which also featured a little girl.

Ivanka didn't have the final say in this, so Eric faxed the two scenes' scripts to Donald Trump

in New York. The real estate mogul, who had just pulled through the economic crisis,

ultimately chose the role with more screen time for his daughter.

*****

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