King of Hollywood

Chapter 421: Chapter 143 Collective Loss of Voice

When “Eyes Wide Shut” ended, the screening room was deathly silent, and only after quite a while did sparse applause break through, which was considered quite rude. After all, if a film aimed at critics didn’t receive applause at the end, it could only mean one thing: the film was a disaster, so bad that it left people unwilling to clap.

Of course, the reason there wasn’t any applause here was not because the film was terrible. In fact, a few minutes later, once people had had a chance to process what they’d seen, the applause, while not enthusiastic, had picked up quite a bit from the start. This was because the content presented in the film was just too provocative. Nicole’s nude scenes and the bodies of the several hookers that followed were within the bounds of the acceptable, but the quasi-religious party in the middle was audacious and shocking.

The shock didn’t come from the film’s depth or message but from the scale of the nudity and sex scenes, which was almost unprecedented in Hollywood’s history, apart from adult films. Critics could sound very authoritative in their reviews, but encountering these elements for the first time—especially in a formal setting—provoked an emotional rather than a rational reaction.

Adrian, however, wasn’t bothered by any of this. As soon as the film ended, he whispered something to Clarkson and then left through the back door with Charlize. As for the Cruise couple, Nicole had left early, not even bothering to say goodbye to her husband. Cruise didn’t seem to mind either and merely shrugged when Adrian suggested, “Maybe she’s a bit upset because I accidentally spilled some water on her.” It seemed as though the premature ending of “Eyes Wide Shut” had accelerated certain events.

He quickly returned to his new mansion in Beverly Hills. True to his word about buying a new property, Adrian had spent weeks carefully gathering information and listening to plenty of advice before purchasing the mansion valued at around 40 million US dollars with a total area of about 1.5 acres. The main building wasn’t particularly large—just about 200 rooms—but there were additional structures like a garage, gym, recreation room, tennis court, outdoor swimming pool, and home cinema scattered around, as well as extensive lawns, bushes, and small woods that remained lush and delightful to the eye even in winter.

After buying it, Adrian had spent a few months decorating the place. He wasn’t going for excessive luxury but definitely wanted a stylish feel, dividing the space into various zones with an assortment of styles that needed to transition and blend well—just the design plan alone had cost several hundred thousand US dollars. After leaving it unused for a while, Adrian hadn’t moved in until Mrs. Galen, with the newly hired maids, became familiar with the mansion’s environment.

“Welcome back,” said Nakama Yukie, who had been waiting at the door; she bowed deeply and then carefully took Adrian’s coat from his hands.

“Thank you,” Adrian replied with a smile, nodding, “How are the preparations coming along? This will be your first role.”

“Thanks to your concern, everything is going smoothly.” Yukie had been keeping her submissive demeanor unchanged for almost a year; Charlize was used to seeing her like this, though the new maids couldn’t help but look curious.

Adrian looked around. Mrs. Galen had already gone home, so he didn’t say much but gestured for Yukie to follow him, bid Charlize goodnight, and headed upstairs.