America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

California, Orange County, Irvine.

After lunch, Andy Weir stood by the office window, resting his eyes on the distant view.

In the small square in front of the building, the orc wolf cavalry statue raised its battle-axe high, while the Lich King on the opposite side pointed his sword afar.

Andy Weir looked down and pulled out a card with the phone number of a publishing house that had reached out to him, wanting to promote his serialized side project "The Martian" for publication.

It was his most prized creation, into which he had poured countless efforts.

Andy Weir stared at the Lich King sculpture, muttering to himself, "My child, how I wish that on the day of your birth, the whole of America would speak your name..."

His wish was beautiful, but reality was cruel.

Andy Weir took out his phone and dialed the publishing house's number, but was met with a busy signal.

After waiting a while, he called again, still getting a busy signal.

Andy Weir had an uneasy hunch that the publishers might have rejected his work.

After the hope was given, then lost, his mind became a mess.

Before returning to work that afternoon, Andy Weir made one last attempt to call the number, but again, the call did not go through.

Just as he was about to put his phone away, it vibrated with an incoming call from an unknown number.

Andy answered, "This is Andy Weir."

The voice on the other end was unfamiliar, "Hello, Mr. Weir, this is Thomas Ryan, agent of Martin Davis. On behalf of Martin, I would like to discuss "The Martian" with you."

Andy was stunned, "Martin Davis? Hollywood's Martin?"

"Yes, the Martin you're thinking of, America's national hero, Martin." The man asked, "Do you have time now? We could find a place to talk."

When the shattered dream suddenly gave way to an even bigger hope, Andy hardly thought before saying, "Yes, yes, I'll go ask for leave right now."

Throwing everything else aside for work, Andy asked his supervisor for leave and drove to the agreed meeting place.

He remembered that the films "Wanted Order" and "Limitless," both starring Martin Davis, were adaptations of literary works.

The obscure writer Gillian Flynn, because of Martin and David Fincher wanting to adapt her novel "Gone Girl," became a best-selling author on the New York Times list almost overnight.

To remain a lifelong coder or to become famous from a book, the choice was not even a choice.

When his car stopped outside the arranged café, Andy didn't immediately enter; after the initial excitement, he cooled down a bit and took out his phone to search for Martin's agent.

There were many photos of Martin with his agent online.
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Andy memorized the agent's features, exited his vehicle, and entered the café, quickly spotting the exact same face.

However, the hair seemed less than in the photos on the web; the forehead had hair in the pictures, while now it was balding.

Thomas also noticed Andy, stood up to shake hands, and after inviting him to sit, went straight to the point, "Martin saw your serialization of 'The Martian' on your personal blog while he was in Washington, and he's very interested. He wants to promote the book's publication and the film adaptation."

Andy promptly asked, "Will Martin be playing the male lead?"

Thomas, having received a definite answer from Martin, confirmed, "Yes, you can be one hundred percent certain of that."

Andy knew that the opportunity to change his fate was right before his eyes; the publisher who had contacted him and then disappeared was now a forgotten concern. "I'm willing to work with Martin!" he exclaimed.

Only he himself knew how much he had devoted to writing "The Martian."

For the sake of writing this novel, Andy had self-studied orbital mechanics, botany, aerospace history, and details about Mars.

"A wise decision," Thomas said with a smile. "You can call your agent to come over, and we can discuss the copyright licensing details together."

Andy offered an amused smile. "I don't have an agent."

Thomas proceeded by the book, to avoid later disputes, "A lawyer will do then."

Blizzard had a professional copyright lawyer on call, and Andy immediately sought help. The next day, he began formal licensing negotiations with Thomas.

......

Morocco, Astra Film City.

Taking advantage of the film crew's break, Martin Davis quietly entered the studio outfitted with a centrifuge.

The normally unexcited Nolan perked up upon seeing Martin, promptly welcomed him with open arms, and gave him a bear hug, "I've been waiting for you to come back!"

Martin laughed and replied, "As soon as things wrapped up in Washington, I rushed back here."

Mene and Ellen Page came running over to congratulate Martin for receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Just as Nolan was about to gesture, he noticed his assistant, equipped with a pen and notebook, already standing beside him.

"Write this down." Nolan instructed, "During the filming period, Martin Davis received the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom in Washington and upon his return to the crew, a grand celebration was held in his honor."

The assistant took notes quickly while glancing at the other side of the studio, where Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, and some other British actors led by them clearly had no intention of congratulating Martin.

Nolan paused briefly, thinking of a critical detail that could serve as promotional material, then added, "Maria, the daughter of Guanhai, took advantage of the summer break to come to the set for a work-study program..."

The assistant felt that, up to this point, Martin's receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Maria, the daughter of Guanhai participating in the work-study on set, were the most eye-catching details.

"That's enough for now." Guanhai's daughter had come to the film set for practice and was able to produce dozens of different tidbits and news stories. Nolan felt that even the non-troublesome Martin could create a buzz, which reassured him a great deal.

In recent days, Nolan even considered getting directly involved with Martin to generate some news and highlights.

But he was also worried that if he really angered Martin, he might turn into the next Bale.

When the studio quieted down a bit, Nolan found Martin again and said, "There's been a series of good news for the crew recently. You've received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Professor Mordecai has won Morocco's National Physics Award."

All of this could be used in promotional marketing.

"Where's the professor?" Martin hadn't seen Mordecai, "I'd like to congratulate him."

Nolan looked around and pointed behind the centrifuge, "Over there." He added, "The professor won't be able to stay with the crew for much longer, he'll be heading to Tehran soon for academic exchange."

Tehran? Martin looked in that direction just in time to see Mordecai and that beautiful woman named Gisele walk out together.

Mordecai also saw Martin and walked over, "Congratulations."

It wasn't just a verbal congratulations, he took out a small box from his pocket, "For you."

Martin accepted it, "Professor, I also want to congratulate you on winning the award."

When Bruce saw Mordecai pull out the gift box, he opened his bag, took out a Joker gift box from the Cola Cult, and quickly walked over.

After Martin finished offering his congratulations, the perfectly coordinated Bruce already handed over the gift box, which he then gave to Mordecai, "Carved by hand by my family."

Mordecai smiled and said, "Then I'll take it without being polite."

After accepting it, he handed it to Gisele standing beside him.

After another break, with the crew nearly ready, Nolan raised his megaphone to notify the actors to prepare.

In the next action scene, Mene was the absolute protagonist.

Several actors entered the rotating corridor.

Today, with no scenes scheduled for Martin, he went behind the director's monitor to quietly watch Nolan coordinate the entire crew.

The director is the commander of the set; even the producer will defer to the director's opinion while on set.

After a period of training, Mene was already capable of handling the action scenes in the rotating corridor.

However, Nolan had designed over a hundred shots for this scene, and all the actors, including Martin, had to collaborate with Mene.

Martin watched through the director's monitor for a while, and whether it was action or wire work, Mene performed quite well.

During a break in the shooting, Gisele went to make coffee for Mordecai.

Another unremarkable-looking female assistant came over and asked in French, "How is the progress?"

Gisele replied in French as well, "He trusts me a lot now, I'll try again."

The assistant glanced outside and added, "The intelligence we got was correct. Mordecai has made a breakthrough in certain areas. The order from above is to preferably bring him out, he is of value to us, and if that's not possible, we should at least try to capture him alive."

She stressed, "He'll be in Tehran for academic exchange next month, so we don't have much time left."

Footsteps started outside, and with a quick nod, Gisele walked off with the prepared coffee.

At lunchtime, she went to the cafeteria to get food and brought it to Mordecai's office to have lunch together.

During the days Martin was away, Gisele and Mordecai's relationship had rapidly progressed, looking very much like a couple.

"In no more than ten days, we can finish shooting the scenes with the centrifuge." Gisele spoke as they ate, "You mentioned last time that after shooting, you'd take me to the Mediterranean..."

Mordecai scratched his head, apologetically said, "That might not be possible, I need to go to Tehran for academic exchange."

Gisele was very surprised inside but didn't show it on her face, "To Tehran?"

"It was supposed to be next month." Mordecai explained, "But after discussions between the University of Casablanca and Tehran University, the schedule was changed. I need to go over two weeks earlier to handle some matters."

A look of disappointment flashed across Gisele's face, "I see..."

Mordecai was a well-known physicist in Morocco, with significant research on centrifuges, which was why the crew had invited him.

Gisele worried internally, some centrifuges could be used in special industries.

Mordecai continued, "When I come back from the exchange, I'll take you to Europe."

Gisele couldn't oppose, she tentatively agreed, "Okay."

After lunch, as she went to throw out the trash, Gisele met the plain-looking female assistant again.

"Brought it up?" the assistant inquired.

"There's been a change," Gisele whispered low and fast, "Mordecai is heading to Tehran earlier, which might involve something very important."

The assistant pondered briefly, then made up her mind, "We can't wait any longer, we must act tonight."

Gisele said, "You better have a plan."

The assistant nodded, "I'll head back to the hotel earlier to think of a way, we can't let Mordecai return to Casablanca."