King of Hollywood

Chapter 358: Chapter 82 Facing Desires

The film that was being prepared for Rachel was naturally “The English Patient,” which turned the scriptwriter Anthony Minghella into a top-tier director through its success. Though the box office was not great, the film’s reception was extremely good in both the United States and Europe, no doubt partly due to the heavy promotion from the production company Miramax. The quality of the film itself was also excellent.

In fact, after “The English Patient,” Anthony Minghella never produced anything quite as outstanding. It seemed he had poured all his inspiration into that one film.

Now that Miramax was a subsidiary of AC Media, and as a work that had shined brightly at the Oscars, Adrian remembered it clearly, and naturally wouldn’t let the opportunity pass. Rachel’s scholarly demeanor was a perfect fit for the female lead, and with Ralph Fiennes’ acquaintance with the novelist, they had secured the adaptation rights early on.

At this time, Anthony Minghella had only just shifted from scriptwriting to directing and had just wrapped up his second movie. Because it was a relative failure, he had no new projects lined up, so inviting him to join didn’t take much effort.

The discussions in the meeting room were quite relaxed and pleasant, which had almost become Adrian’s personal hallmark. He’d invite the actors and director he deemed suitable to the company for a thorough talk, and then they would confirm the preparations. It was the same for “Seven Deadly Sins,” “The English Patient,” and no one had any complaints or differing opinions.

After all, who wouldn’t recognize him as the Miracle Director? His discerning eye for talent was known to all, and countless actors had expressed a desire to work with him. Fiennes had agreed to appear in “Schindler’s List” because of him, so he would certainly not refuse this invitation. And Rachel certainly wouldn’t, either; Minghella wouldn’t be considered a top-tier director until after this film, so he had no say in casting or anything of the sort.

Besides, there were plenty of precedents from both actors and directors. Only a fool wouldn’t want to collaborate with Adrian, so it didn’t take much time to finalize. Only Sophie, although very proper throughout the process, couldn’t help but have a slight look of dissatisfaction when she glanced at Adrian.

“I need an explanation, Ed,” Sophie said to Adrian with a questioning tone after everything was concluded.

“What’s wrong?” Adrian spread his hands innocently.

“I came here,” she pointed at the floor and then crossed her arms, tilting her head with an air of displeasure, “to complete the final voice work, not to discuss appearing in a film role.”