America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

Chapter 144: Chapter 144: Despised by Gods and Ghosts

```

Los Angeles' Westwood Fox Theater, with a red carpet spread on the sidewalk, saw a steady stream of movie fans gathering on both sides of the barricades.

Emily and Jessica, each holding a ticket from Martin, had rushed over by mid-afternoon.

They were prepared, having brought Martin's character posters with them.

The number of fans on-site was surprisingly high, most holding character posters of Paris Hilton.

That poster of the wax figure corpse.

It was popular and selling like hotcakes.

They also brought various signs insulting and condemning Paris.

The fans of Paris Hilton's quirky personality nearly took over both sides of the red carpet.

The fans of the leading lady, Eliza Cuthbert, could only shrink into a corner near the media area.

Jessica was tall, and she pointed to the other side of the media area, "There are some people over there holding Martin's posters."

Emily pulled her in that direction, "Let's go take a look."

To the left of the media area was a group of about twenty young men and women, led by a young woman with glasses who was handing out posters to everyone.

Seeing two girls with Martin's posters, Rachel waved, "Come over here, we are all here!"

Out of curiosity, Emily entered the crowd and asked, "Are all of you supporters of Martin?"

A big boy with freckles replied, "Yeah, Zombie Dancer is so cool, I've always wanted to learn the machine gun dance."

Jessica had seen many who wanted to learn that dance: "It's not something the average person can pull off."

Several people nearby agreed: "It's too difficult."

At that moment, Rachel asked, "Did you sign up through the blog?"

Emily shook her head, "No, we came on our own."

Rachel quickly said, "We organized this through Martin's blog. If you like Martin, you can follow his blog. There's a special fan section where we inform everyone in advance about events."

Jessica was surprised, "I had no idea Martin had so many supporters."

Rachel still remembered the first time she met Martin: "Martin is a great actor and a very nice person."

Next to her, Phoebe pointed out, "Look, a car's coming."

People on both sides of the red carpet were very excited as Eliza Cuthbert stepped out of the car, the Girl Next Door that attracted much attention this summer.

Screams arose.

Bruce drove a black Cadillac from the distance.

In the back seat, Martin was flipping through a notebook.

Bruce said, "If you had worked this hard in middle school, you would have gotten into an Ivy League school a long time ago."

"Natural born slacker, can't make it," Martin replied, also having been a genuine slacker in his past life: "I know myself well, I'm not made for studying."

Bruce understood, "Your talents are all in stirring up trouble."

Martin couldn't be bothered with him and kept memorizing the lines from his notebook.

This was the first fan meeting of his life, and some fans had left him their blessings.

Although he had a great time doing reverse signings, controlling the rhythm of the entire meet-and-greet easily, remembering the blessings was somewhat difficult.

Rachel, who had witnessed the red carpet of the Saturn Award, rallied supporters on the blog to come to the premiere to cheer for him.

Martin took it to heart; if the others were also coming, he wanted to show that he hadn't forgotten them.

After carefully reading through them again, he closed the notebook, swearing never to play like this again.

At that moment, the Cadillac stopped in front of the red carpet, and Martin stepped out of the car, smiling and waving the moment the flashlights came on.

Different from before, the promotion of "House of Wax" was massive, and the reporters all recognized Martin as the male lead of the film.

Martin paused briefly at the entrance of the red carpet for photos, then made his way to the theater entrance, his eyes catching only posters of the character played by Paris.

Judging by the premiere, the promotional effect was very good.

Martin waved frequently to both sides and soon spotted his team of fans, walking briskly towards them.

Upon seeing Martin, Rachel immediately screamed, "Martin! Martin..."

The surrounding people all shouted, with Emily and Jessica also screaming at the tops of their lungs, their voices temporarily overpowering the hundreds of people present.

Martin approached their barricade, "Hey, Rachel."

Then he nodded to Emily and Jessica and greeted everyone, "Good afternoon, everyone, thank you for coming to support me."

Rachel handed him a pen to sign autographs with, taking a poster in turn.

Martin had just rehearsed the lines, and he wrote swiftly, "You are the lightning in the rainy day, illuminating the whole night sky."

Overjoyed, Rachel covered her mouth, her eyes brimming with tears, not knowing what to say.

Martin gave her a gentle hug, "Keep it up, Rachel."

Then, he signed autographs for the other fans.

For Phoebe, who was seeing Martin in person for the first time, she murmured non-stop, "He's so handsome, and so stylish, he's my idol."

Emily and Jessica, Martin's neighbors, saw him often.

Unlike the easygoing Martin they knew from life, once dressed in formal wear, he exuded glamour, possessing an aura that was both approachable and upscale.

He somehow perfectly merged these two different auras.

The noise at the front of the red carpet grew louder as someone else approached.

Martin turned to look and shockingly saw an old acquaintance—Kate Winslet.

It must have been Louise who invited her.

```

Martin finished signing autographs, and Kate also made her way over, purposely stopping to wait for him before they both entered the media area together.

A reporter immediately came over for an interview, "Kate, are you close with Martin?"

Kate looked at Martin with a smile, then turned and said, "I met Martin when I was filming in Atlanta, haven't you noticed that Martin has appeared in my movies?"

Most of the reporters had seen "Eternal Sunshine of the Beautiful Mind", but had no recollection of Martin.

Martin had watched it long ago, and in that film, there were only four shots of his face, and only one line of dialogue remained for him—the total screen time added up to just over 20 seconds.

The reporter then asked Martin about Kate.

Martin praised Kate, "Without a doubt, I am a forever fan of Kate. Rose will always be my goddess, and so is Kate."

The two of them stood in front of the advertising backdrop, complying with the photographers' requests.

Afterward, they entered the theater together.

Louise came out of the rest room at that time, greeted them, and approached Kate, "You even came back from out of town."

"I didn't come back specially, the Toronto Film Festival just ended." Kate said with a smile. "You're an investor and a producer; if I don't curry favor with you, I'll have no roles in the future."

Martin followed the two women as they headed towards the screening room.

Kate said, "Award season has already started, I'm getting ready to host a party. I'll send you both invitations."

Martin joined the conversation, "You've got to introduce me to some British directors and producers."

"No problem," Kate said, winking at Louise and turning to Martin, "I can introduce you to a few British actresses as well."

Louise turned her head to look at Martin, "The British roses, huh."

Martin just laughed and asked, "Does award season officially start now?"

Kate explained concisely, "In a narrow sense, it starts from December, but broadly speaking, it starts from the Toronto Film Festival in September."

The three of them entered the screening room together, with Martin taking a seat in the front row.

Director Zomi had already arrived.

After chatting for a while, Mene also entered the screening room and sat beside Martin, quite excited, "Boss, you have no idea, when I walked on the red carpet, the fans on both sides were shouting my name. It felt so good."

Martin responded, "You're a celebrity now, you need to have style."

Mene, with a shameless smile, said, "I didn't expect it, just that one time with Paris... and now I've got all this fame; I'm really a celebrity now!"

Eliza, dressed in a red gown, came over at that moment, greeting the crew members one by one.

When she approached Martin, she nodded with a smile.

Martin nodded with a smile in return, and neither of them spoke.

The guests, audience, and media reporters gradually arrived, and Susan and Zomi led the main creators of the crew onto the small stage in front of the screen for a brief photo shoot and speeches, after which the film started showing.

This was a traditional American horror film, but the method of torture involved wax instead of knives, axes, and chainsaws.

The crew had also made some innovations, such as the gimmick of twins fighting twins.

In the film, the wax sculptor and his conjoined twin brother were twins, and the female lead and male supporting character who defeat them were twins as well.

Perhaps it was Zomi's intention, or maybe Paris naturally exuded it, but her character in the film was bitchy from the moment she appeared.

The first peak for the general audience occurred during the intimate interaction between Paris and Mene's characters.

Even sitting in the front row, Martin could hear bursts of swearing.

Originally, after the release of the tape, Paris's reputation was not good, and after a hurricane-like promotion campaign, her notoriety as a scandalous heiress of the Hilton Family hit rock bottom faster than Martin had in his previous life.

Since the leading role belonged to Eliza, Martin's character could only be considered standard.

But Zomi, Susan, and the editor knew how to attract female audience members beyond the realm of horror films.

Every time Martin appeared on screen, he was always tall and straight, cool and handsome.

In the audience, Phoebe, who had come with Rachel, was infatuated, "That's my idol!"

Rachel nodded repeatedly, "Handsome looks, good acting, nice personality—our Martin will soon be a superstar!"

Jessica, however, interjected, "I think he's better in person."

Everyone around agreed.

Emily reminded, "Martin also starred in another horror film where he's the absolute lead; it might be released next year."

Suddenly, the theater erupted into cheers.

No one spoke anymore, settling down to watch the film.

As it turned out, Paris Hilton had encountered the killer.

An eagerly awaited segment for many had finally arrived.

Paris was relentlessly pursued by the killer.

Suddenly someone shouted, "Kill her! Kill her..."

There was actually a smattering of responses.

It's a formidable talent to be able to make oneself so loathsome.

Take Paris, born into the Hilton Family, with a gift that ordinary people couldn't possess.

Perhaps "House of Wax" would set a record for audience anticipation in horror film history.

Never has there been a character whose demise was so eagerly anticipated by the audience.

Therefore, the theater welcomed the real climax of the evening.

When Paris's character had her ankle ligaments severed by the cannibal and was captured and turned into a wax statue in the wax museum, the entire theater erupted into thunderous applause.

The audience, bombarded by the news media and oppressed by the scandal involving Paris, released their pent-up frustration in a satisfying catharsis.