Chapter 868 The Queen's Chess Game

Sunset Boulevard, Smoke House Bar.

In a booth, Leonardo opened a bottle of wine, poured himself and Nicholson across from him a glass of wine, and said, "Martin, that bastard, actually stood us up."

Nicholson picked up the glass and took a sip: "Is the Hard Hastings he mentioned the founder of Netflix?"

Leonardo knew more about this: "The founder of Netflix and the current chairman."

Nicholson glanced at Leonardo and suddenly lost interest in him, and asked, "I remember that Martin, that bastard, invested in Netflix. How much assets does he have now?"

"Not only invested in Netflix, but also Apple and Tesla." Leonardo picked up the glass and clinked it with Nicholson: "I don't know exactly how much, but I can calculate it."

Nicholson thought of Lorraine.

Leonardo estimated, "Martin has a lot of Apple stocks, all of which were bought from the stock market. He bought them very early, starting in 2006, and the current value is at least 2 billion US dollars."

Nicholson grinned.

"Tesla is the best estimate. We have dealt with Musk a lot. Martin has more than $1 billion worth of Tesla shares." Leonardo is relatively conservative: "Then there is Netflix. I don't know how much Martin has, but at least $1.5 billion."

Nicholson looked at Leonardo across from him. He was fat and ugly, not a good match for Lorraine.

Leonardo said: "Martin's Davis Film Studio has the copyrights of many popular movies. Although the studio is not listed, it is worth at least $500 million. There is also the brand that Martin cooperated with Coca-Cola, the fixed assets such as real estate, the annual commercial endorsement income of nearly 100 million US dollars, the high salary and offline share..."

Nicholson scratched his fingers on the table and silently calculated for a while: "At least 6.5 billion US dollars in assets."

"This is the most conservative estimate." Leonardo recalled: "I remember that in Forbes last year, Hard Hastings had only 3 billion US dollars in assets, not even half of Martin."

Although Nicholson is a layman, he still knows the basics: "He has too much financing."

Leonardo drank a glass with him and poured more wine: "Martin, this bastard, has a good eye for choosing movies and an equally good eye for investment. Now this bastard is the richest among the three of us."

Nicholson Decided to give up Leonardo: "Forget about you and Lorraine. I don't like to force people, so I won't force you..."

"Wait!" Leonardo interrupted him: "Lorraine and I are fine, okay!"

Nicholson said: "Okay, you are fine." He saw that Martin was getting closer and closer to the direction Leonardo was facing, and deliberately guided: "Let's set a new goal..."

Leonardo got excited: "Yes! We want Martin to marry Lorraine, or the kind without signing a prenuptial agreement, divide Martin's property, and remember to give me half of it!"

Martin came from behind, hugged Leonardo's neck, and pressed his hard knuckles against his temple: "Say ten sentences that you are the biggest idiot and waste in America, otherwise I will blow your head off!"

Leonardo pointed at Nicholson opposite: "Jack is the biggest idiot and waste in America!"

Martin pushed the bastard aside and pulled over a high chair to sit down.

Leonardo poured him a glass of wine and asked, "Have you finished talking about the work with Netflix?"

"We talked about a project." Martin nodded, thinking of the series of Goldfish Girl in his previous life, and asked, "You have been in Hollywood for decades and have a wide range of knowledge. Have you heard of scripts, novels, or non-fiction about chess?"

Leonardo shook his head: "This subject is too unpopular. It seems that there are few similar works. I haven't paid attention to it before, nor have I heard anyone talk about it."

"Chess?" Nicholson frowned and recalled: "I seem to have seen it, it's been too long, let me think about it."

Martin and Leonardo were silent.

Nicholson thought carefully for a long time, took another sip of wine, and then said: "In the 1970s, it should be a few years after Sharon Tate died. I read a novel by Roman Polanski. Polanski likes chess, and the novel is about chess."

Because of the relationship between Polanski and Sharon Tate, he has some memories, otherwise he would have forgotten it all after so many years: "It seems to be about a female orphan who grew up to be a top chess master in the 1950s and 1960s. The title of the book... should be The Queen's Gambit."

Martin checked it online, but couldn't find it. Is it an unpopular novel about an unpopular sport?

Nicholson confirmed: "Yes, it's called The Queen's Gambit."

Martin believed this old bastard, took out his mobile phone and sent text messages to Thomas and Jessica respectively, asking them to find this novel and see if there are any related scripts in the circle.

Leonardo decided on the topic and asked Martin: "Aren't you going to the mental therapy center to experience life? When are you going? And to New York?"

"I'm not going to New York." Martin said, "My psychiatrist Laura helped me contact a therapy center in California, which has admitted many patients with mental illness. I will go there to take a look."

Leonardo had a similar experience and said to Nicholson, "Jack, we should visit Martin often and invite Martin to party together to prevent him from becoming a psychopath."

Nicholson picked up his glass, clinked it with Martin, and said, "I wish you to go crazy soon."

"Thank you!" Martin drank a glass of wine: "If I go crazy, the first thing I will do is to blow up the homes of you two bastards and make you go crazy together."

Leonardo replied, "Then we will march to Washington together?"

Martin raised his glass: "I wish you to go crazy soon."

In the next few days, in addition to participating in the post-production of "The Shallows", Martin went to the mental therapy center, combined with the cases given by Dr. Laura, to investigate the conditions of some patients with split personality, and prepare for subsequent performances.

That morning, Thomas rushed to Disney Studios with a bunch of information.

He entered Martin's director's office in The Shallows, put a crew and a novel on the desk, and said, "Finally found it."

Martin took it and took a look. The name of the script and the novel are the same, both called "The Queen's Gambit". The author of the novel is Walter Tevis, and the screenwriter of the script is Alan Scott.

Thomas said: "The script, the novel, and the author are basically unknown. We tried not to alarm our colleagues. Fortunately, we got the name of the novel and contacted the author through the publisher."

The script that Martin read first was different from what he remembered. It was a movie script, but the content was about an orphan female chess player who defeated the former Soviet world champion and became a top chess master.

The main plot was the same as the series he remembered.

He looked at the original novel again to make sure he was not mistaken, and asked, "What about the copyright? Who owns it now?"

"The copyright may be a little troublesome." Thomas said directly, "A few years ago, Heath Ledger bought the film and television adaptation rights from screenwriter Alan Scott."

Martin was quite surprised: "The copyright is actually in the hands of Heath Ledger?"

Thomas said in general, "In 1992, screenwriter Alan Scott bought the film and television adaptation rights and began to write the script, wanting to adapt it into a movie, but he spent many years and couldn't find an investor. A few years ago, he met Heath Ledger. The two were drug addicts of special drugs, and they happened to talk about these things, so he sold it to Heath Ledger."

Martin understood that the script had been wandering in Hollywood for more than 20 years, not only had it not been made into a movie or TV series, it had not even attracted attention.

Thomas continued: "I asked Ivan to contact Alan Scott. According to him, Heath Ledger's acting career has basically ended in recent years. No Hollywood crew that has invested more than one million is willing to start him to play an important role. He gradually disappeared, but he was unwilling to return to Australia to be a small actor. He wanted to find another way to be a director."

Bruce participated in the conflict between Martin and Heath Ledger and the series of events that occurred during the competition for the Joker. He knew everything clearly: "The reason why he chose this script was that he felt that the heroine Beth Harmon's tenacious struggle with drug addiction in the novel was very similar to himself, and he thought he could achieve the ideal effect."

Martin remembered the bad things that happened with Heath Ledger many years ago. Perhaps it was because of these that Heath Ledger did not meet God like in his previous life.

Of course, the development of his acting career was not smooth, and he was basically ignored.

It is basically impossible to turn things around through acting career, so he wants to make a difference in directing?

Thomas said: "We didn't contact Heath Ledger because we were worried that he wouldn't sell it."

After what happened back then, Heath Ledger might not sell it, or he might ask for a very high price. Martin thought for a moment and asked: "Is Heath Ledger still taking drugs?"

Thomas specifically asked about this: "He has never stopped, otherwise he wouldn't be at this point now."

Martin looked at Bruce: "Go and investigate Heath Ledger's latest situation."

Thomas said: The initial copyright transfer and the transfer agreement between Alan Scott and Heath Ledger have no restrictive clauses. We can find a new face to contact Heath Ledger and get the copyright. "

Bruce said: "Let's take a look at Heath Ledger's specific situation first. ”

…………

Venice, a seaside town in Los Angeles.

The afternoon sun shone on the sea level. Heath Ledger drove to the coastal road, parked his car in a secluded parking lot, and waited patiently.

Originally, he could get goods from Michelle Bryan stably.

Although it was a bit expensive, the goods were of good quality and high safety.

After Michelle Bryan committed suicide, he could only take the risk to come out and buy the goods in person.

More than ten minutes later, a Mercedes-Benz SUV drove over and stopped right next to the driver's seat where Heath Ledger was.

There were knocking sounds. Heath Ledger looked at the Mexican over there through the two car windows, lowered the window, took out some cash and handed it over.

The other side also lowered the window, took the cash and stuffed a paper bag into Heath Ledger's hand.

The two of them checked the goods.

Heath Ledger took out a small plastic bag, opened it in front of him and sniffed. The goods were very good.

The man next door confirmed that the money was fine and said, "Contact us anytime if you need anything."

These drug addicts, he liked them the most, he could reap wealth continuously.

Heath Ledger collected the goods, drove out of the parking lot, and returned to the single-family house he rented in Venice.

He parked the car on the side of the road and hurried into the house.

In the distance, Ivan parked the car, dialed Bruce's special contact number, and the two talked.

Not long after, a red BMW drove up and stopped behind Heath Ledger's car.

Gemma Ward glanced at her boyfriend's car and went straight into the house. As soon as she turned from the entrance into the living room, she saw Heath Ledger lying on the sofa with lifeless eyes, and his consciousness seemed to be out of his body.

She came to the coffee table, opened the paper bag and took a look, took out a small plastic bag from it, opened it and sat next to Heath Ledger, taking a deep breath.

The two of them quickly became excited from being lifeless at the beginning.

As we all know, when drug addicts get excited, they want to let the dog Cao, and the two of them soon rolled into a ball.

Heath Ledger's reputation in Hollywood has long been stinking. Although his new girlfriend is a little-known Australian model, the key to hanging out with him is common interests and hobbies.

After a long time of tossing and turning, the sky gradually darkened, and the room finally darkened.

Heath Ledger called for takeout, and Gemma Ward simply cleaned up the house, mainly to put away the goods.

"So little?" Gemma Ward asked.

Heath Ledger said, "This is the amount that can be bought with all the cash."

Gemma Ward put the goods in an iron box and asked, "Did you use all the money to buy goods?"

Heath Ledger didn't think there was a problem: "These are not enough for the two of us to use for a week."

Gemma Ward's addiction was much lighter than her boyfriend's: "The money also includes the rent we pay. We have been delayed for a while. If we don't pay the landlord two months' rent, we will be kicked out."

"Don't worry!" There is no bottom line for drug addicts. Heath Ledger said, "If he dares to come and drive us away, I am a homosexual and a psychologically recognized female, and you are just the opposite. He is discriminating against minorities!"

Heath Ledger has not had a proper job in the past year or so, but he has carefully studied the changes in Hollywood. This method is quite effective in Los Angeles.

The LAPD will also be cautious when they encounter it.

Gemma Ward started professional modeling training when she was just over 10 years old. Her brain was far less sharp than her boyfriend who had been in the entertainment industry for many years. She just said, "It's not just the rent, but also our daily life. You don't have any income from work, and my money is the advance payment for a fashion show. If I don't have money next week, where will I get the goods?"

Heath Ledger seemed not to hear and sat on the sofa without saying a word.

Gemma Ward asked tentatively, "A few months ago, didn't you buy a script at a low price and want to make it into a movie? Did you get the investment?"

This reminded Heath Ledger, who stood up and looked around, and finally found the script called "The Queen's Gambit".