Chapter 22 The Edge of Crisis

"What did you call us so late for? The crew will start filming in five days. Now is the final rest time!"

Being recalled by Twelve Serial Calls, even Yue Fei would sing Man Jiang Hong in grief and indignation, let alone Charlotte. Waking up in the middle of the night by the ringing of the phone, he hurried to the office of producer Westwood, yawning and complaining, while observing the situation in the room——

Except for Westwood who called him and director Alan McElroy, the heads of all departments of the crew were there. Charlotte should be the last to arrive because she lives the farthest. The room was surrounded by smoke, filled with the smell of nicotine and suspicion. Everyone was sitting or standing in twos and threes, whispering and whispering to people they knew well.

"What's going on? Isn't it a seizure of power?"

Charlotte patted the shoulder of Old Gun who arrived earlier than herself, and asked in a soft voice. The old man with the red beard was sitting in the corner, holding a can of beer in his hand and was drinking heavily. After hearing what Charlotte said, he suddenly froze, and then coughed violently.

"Cough cough cough...you, what are you thinking? If there is really some conspiracy, how could there be such a big battle?"

——Of course, Charlotte is also aware of this. Such a sudden meeting is more like some unexpected situation that needs to be dealt with than some conspiracies and tricks that exist in imagination such as seizing power. He just wanted to make a joke with Lao Qiang, but unexpectedly he almost choked him to death.

"I don't know what happened. Westwood called me suddenly and didn't say anything about the specific situation. I guess you are the same?"

Recovering from the cough, Old Gun shrugged,

"It is estimated that everyone is in the same situation. They know what's going on. Only the director and producer who didn't come!"

"Correction, the only one who knows the specific situation is Mr. Director, and I know about the same thing as you do."

Say Cao Cao, and Cao Cao will arrive. Producer Anthony Westwood opened the door and walked in. His face was full of sorrow, his eyebrows were almost twitched:

"The problem now is that the person who knows the problem, that is, our Mr. Director, is gone!"

"What!?"

"WTF!!"

... Following Westwood's words, exclamations and curses resounded in the office. After a long time, everyone calmed down under the comfort of the oldest gun.

"What's going on, Tony?"

The old gun called the producer Westwood's nickname, but his tone was quite unfriendly.

"Don't you tell me that guy Mike Elroy ran away with the money!?"

Although Hollywood is the most developed place in the entertainment industry in North America or in the world, it is often chaotic here, because the official statements of the entertainment industry are bullshit, and gossip is regarded as the truth, and many liars are here. —

Like Charlotte's predecessor, it is only a small case to deceive a beautiful woman with star dreams into bed with the excuse of "I am a producer, but the crew does not have enough money, the actors have not been determined, and the script is not yet available". The director or producer organizes a Fake crews, and then take investors' money and run away, which can be regarded as a bit technical. And there are even some people with realms who even cooperate with the CIA to deceive foreigners. Hollywood in later generations even made a special movie to commemorate this great scam, called "Escape from Tehran"-what's more, this wonderful movie won an Oscar.

In fact, due to the characteristics of North American people advocating oil and worshiping financial operators who get something for nothing, such tricks as rat clubs or Pompeii schemes, which are not very clever, are widely spread in this fertile land. There are also some "Robin Hoods" who specifically pick out those rich people who are known for their shrewdness, and they actually reap a lot of money, which really makes many real masters of deception sigh.

Of course, although everyone has heard stories like the Pompeii scheme,

But there are not many who have really experienced it first-hand, so when they heard what Lao Qiang said, everyone in the room became nervous when they thought that they might become a marionette in the hands of a liar.

"Don't worry, it's not there yet!"

Westwood waved his hand to calm down the nervous crowd,

"After I couldn't contact Alan for two consecutive days, I called the police and immediately went to check the account—don't worry, everyone, our money is still there!"

"Huh, that's good!"

After hearing this sentence, many people were relieved, but Westwood was not included:

"Although the worst situation has been avoided, to a certain extent, compared to the kind of fraud that just needs to call the police, this situation is the most troublesome—"

Seeing everyone's puzzled expressions, Westwood couldn't help scratching his scalp, which had begun to bald,

"According to the latest investigation results of the Los Angeles Police Department, the place where Mike Elroy disappeared is likely to be Vianers Valley!"

"Isn't that the location we finally chose?"

Hearing this place name, Charlotte, who had dozed off due to lack of sleep, suddenly woke up——

In director Allen's script, the location is basically country roads, forests and mountains. Based on the principle of proximity, they plan to shoot directly in the Rocky Mountains where Los Angeles is located. After choosing and choosing, the location that was finally selected for shooting was the Vianers Valley. There are dense forests and mist all year round, and there is a country road passing by, which is very suitable for shooting.

When going there to view the scenery, although Charlotte found that the forest there was a bit ghostly, but thinking about it carefully, how many places in the virgin forest that are inaccessible to people will have no mysterious atmosphere at all? Even if it's a sea of ​​trees like RB Fuji where countless suicides are buried, as long as you don't die, you won't die, not to mention that the film the crew is going to shoot is a horror film, and the ghostly atmosphere there is very suitable.

However, now that she heard that her director had disappeared there, Charlotte couldn't help thinking about it.

"What's going on specifically? It's impossible to be eaten by a grizzly bear, right?"

"I hope not!"

Westwood didn't seem to be sure either, he silently made the sign of the cross on his chest,

"After the Los Angeles Police Department issued a report, the local police department contacted and said that Allen's car was found on the country road in Vianers Valley. At that time, I followed the people from the police station to check, and it was true that Allen's car was missing. Wrong, but no son of a bitch, Allen!! Police and local rangers are still looking for him, but I don't think there's much hope."

The bald producer sighed,

"Moreover, the local forest ranger told me that there have been frequent disappearances of people in that place in recent years. Many people, like Allen, left their cars on the road and disappeared. It's a pity that we didn't consider it when we were looking at the scenery. to this issue."

"What's the problem? What's the problem!?"

The old gun who had been calm all the time suddenly became more serious. The red-bearded man glared at Westwood like a real Viking and started yelling,

"Come on! We are not in the 19th century, and we are not shooting the cursed "Macbeth", let alone the damn "Hell's Angels". You are a producer who should care about the devil for money. Why are you here? The place is superstitious!!?"

——Macbeth, one of Shakespeare's four major tragedies, has the reputation of being "cursed" for a long time after its birth. As long as there is a theater that wants to rehearse this masterpiece, there will inevitably be unfortunate accidents Happening, let the show be empty; and the air combat epic film "Hell Angels" of the famous tycoon and playboy Howard Hughes in American history, because of Hughes himself's high investment and strict requirements like a prodigal son, created a movie history. The number of miracles and shooting accidents is the highest. Both are examples of the famous bad luck in art history.

In Hollywood circles, although it cannot be said that there are many people with low education, as an art industry, it is a fact that people with literary minds abound. They are more superstitious than the engineering men with long gears in their heads. In fact, Lao Qiang himself is also a superstitious person. Every time he participates in the shooting of a film, he has to wear his lucky suit—and this suit was even passed on to him by his father. The degree of dilapidation can also be imagined-but even so, the old gun is still the same.

However, when the words of the producer Westwood revealed that "the choice of location is not good, which affects luck", the old gun who had already started to re-iron the lucky suit immediately became a firm materialist—— Like casting, the location selection was also done under the auspices of Lao Gun, the assistant director. As an old fritter on the set, even if it involved illusory luck or curse, he would never take the blame for it.

"Easy!"

Westwood is also experienced, he understands that Lao Qiang doesn't want to take any responsibility, so he hastened to explain,

"I don't want to blame anyone for this. After all, this situation is an irresistible factor. It's just that in this way, the possibility of the bastard Alan coming back in a few days will be greatly reduced! Now, regardless of which bastard's life or death, Gentlemen, our biggest trouble is that we may not have a director when the movie starts!"

Having said that, he gave a wry smile, and finally poured it out in one breath,

"Actually, it's not just that there is no director anymore - after investigation by the police, it was found that the person who was seen in the car with Allen was a young woman with blond hair and blue eyes who resembled Eliza Kunis - that is to say, Our whore heroine disappeared along with the bastard director!"

"Holly shit!!!"

Photographer Edison Yang jumped up. In the crew, the photographer has always been the director's support team and the strongest supporter, and Edison is no exception. When everyone was talking about director Allen before, he kept silent. However, now that he heard the news, he couldn't help it anymore——

"This bastard must have dragged the heroine to the location to fight field battles again!! When he was filming "Moonlight Panic 4", he was still the screenwriter, so he did it! This bastard, he just likes the dangerous outdoors so much, Can't you open a room!!?"

Obviously, because of Mr. Director's deadly behavior, even his die-hard supporters have turned against him. If producer Westwood really wants to seize power as Charlotte joked before, it should be a A very favorable situation, however—

"Gentlemen, the biggest question we are facing now is, can this movie still be made? And, if it is made, who will be the heroine—"

"—Who will be the director!!?"