America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz
Chapter 101 - 101: Indeed a Good Brother

When filming began, Martin's sidekick was replaced, Adrian was dismissed from the crew and replaced by an Australian actor named Leder.

The studio scenes were primarily shot at Warner Roadshow Studios, while the outdoor scenes were set in an abandoned town west of Brisbane, where sets were constructed.

The crew publicly claimed they built a brand-new town for on-location shooting, using wax products to create a one-to-one scale wax museum, with all figures carefully crafted by masters.

But in reality, only four actual human wax figures were made.

Like every Hollywood crew, once shooting wrapped, all these would be dismantled and disposed of as trash.

As for the real reasons, no one in the crew, including the actors, would offer an extra word about it.

Near the riverbed where the outdoor town was located, several large trailers were parked.

With preparations complete, filming began immediately following the director's command.

Judd Padalecki, who played Wade, caught the football thrown by Mene and shouted, "Dalton!"

Leder put down his camera, leaped to catch the football, and then threw it back to Mene.

"Nick!" Mene tossed the ball towards Martin.

Martin was sitting in a chair, and as per filming directions, the ball was supposed to land at his feet.

Mene's throw was off, and the ball flew towards Martin.

Martin stretched out his hands, caught the incoming ball, stood up, took a running step, and zipped the ball far away.

Mene and Judd spread their hands helplessly.

Sidekick Leder came over and said, "Boss, this isn't quite right."

Eliza, who had been leaning against a car, strode over and argued with Martin.

The two had frequently acted opposite each other these past few days, knew their parts by heart, and nailed the emotional conflict between siblings, getting their scenes right in one take.

Everything generally went much smoother without parts involving Paris.

Once Paris appeared on set, it was a disaster, with countless NGs awaiting everyone.

Fortunately, Martin didn't have many scenes with her.

Since neither the male nor female leads were required next, Eliza joined Martin in the rest area and said, "You don't look like a brother who loves his sister when you argue."

Martin replied, "If you got to know me better, you'd find I'm very fond of my sister."

Eliza asked, "Do you have a sister?"

Martin responded naturally, "Isn't it you?"

Eliza said, "I'll write another piece later, 'My Twin Brother is a Sister-Spoiling Maniac'."

Martin brushed a fallen leaf off Eliza's chair and sat beside her, "I've read the piece 'My Twin Brother' on your blog. You've painted me in such a good light, I have to be a good brother or your fans will definitely kill me."

Eliza gave him a wink, "Then be nicer to me, play the role of a sister-spoiling maniac."

At that moment, Bruce came over, handing a phone to Martin, "Thomas said you should call him when you find time."

"I'm going to make a call." Martin stood up and moved to a quiet place to dial Thomas's number.

Thomas immediately asked, "Are you okay?"

Martin said, "I'm fine."

Thomas inquired, "What's the deal with Adrian?"

Martin replied, "How would I know? He's got issues in his head. It should've been consensual flirting, but he had to get physical."

Yet Thomas questioned, "It has nothing to do with you?"

"Please, use that walnut-sized brain of yours to think. I'm a good person, why would I do such a lousy thing?" Martin sounded quite indignant, "It's my first time in Australia, and apart from the crew, I don't know anyone."

After thinking it over, Thomas realized this was true and shifted gears, "Adrian is a young male actor that the company is heavily pushing. This incident has affected him greatly; resources that were initially inclined towards him will inevitably be diverted. I'll try to secure them for you."

Speaking softly, Martin said, "That's good, the more you can get, the better."

He muttered to himself that if it required selling out, Thomas could take his place.

"Another thing, there's a tabloid in Los Angeles reporting that you're in a romantic relationship with Eliza Cuthbert, is it true?"

"Fake news, but I have indeed been quite close to her," Martin pondered for a moment, "How should I put it, just above being friends."

Thomas declared, "If there's any progress, remember to let me know."

"Understood," Martin replied nonchalantly, "If you want to be a star, forget about having a private life. When you're climbing to the top, everything must be put out for publicity."

After hanging up and returning, Eliza was gone. Martin asked Bruce, "How are things on your end?"

"Not very good," Bruce replied, "She says she's just a small sidekick, not as good as me, her manager, but in reality, she doesn't think highly of me."

Martin wasn't surprised, "I've gathered some info; her father was Simpson's lawyer, and Simpson is her godfather. Although she's far from being like Paris, she comes from a very decent family."

Bruce curiously asked, "Why would she want to be Paris's sidekick? She must have better job options, right?"

Martin explained, "She wants to be the next Paris, to become a socialite in the upper circles."

"I see," Bruce pondered, "Aside from the backing of the Hilton family, there must be other reasons for Paris's fame, right?"

Martin casually mentioned, "The tape, of course." He looked surprised, as if seeing an extraterrestrial, "Old Cloth, you've never seen it?"

Bruce took it for granted, "I don't like that on her, she doesn't even have a butt, why would anyone look?"

Martin said, "It might not be quite accurate, but I personally feel, what really shot her to fame was that video tape, watching a celebrity tape feels completely different than a Sacred Valley film."

"Famed through a videotape?" Bruce dove into this quagmire, recently doing some reckless research, after all, having become Martin's manager, he would inevitably have to clean up Martin's messes.

With someone like Martin, who knew what kind of trouble he would get into in the future.

Looking around to make sure no one else was at the resting area, Bruce said, "How about I use her to practice my hand?"

Martin didn't understand, "What?"

"The ways of civilized people don't often suit Hollywood," Bruce explained briefly, "Just like I can't dump that trash in a deserted area to feed the Bay Crocodiles, I can't keep thinking like a mob cleaner."

Martin gave a thumbs-up, "Old Cloth, congratulations, you're starting to evolve."

Bruce said, "The power of your example is too strong, forcing this civilized man to get used to the ways of doing dirty deeds."

The two had a lengthy discussion until Eliza returned from the trailer, at which point they changed the subject.

Soon, it was Martin and Eliza's turn to come on, after freshening up their makeup, they stood before the camera lens and continued performing their scenes together.

Due to Adrian's incident, Susan Levin tightened up on set management and no one wanted to upset the producer at this time; the filming over the past several days was exceptionally calm.

Susan's face was even darker than Mene's, with Martin, normally one to cozy up to others, staying well away for the time being.

By the time Friday rolled around, while others were filming, the stunt coordinator Geddes pulled aside the two sets of twins onto a flat area to rehearse some of the action sequences.

Geddes asked Martin, "Do you know how to use a crossbow?"

Martin took the prop from the prop master's hand, "I've used one before."

While he spoke, he easily strung it and placed one of the production's rubber-tipped arrows, aimed at a tree, and shot.

The bow was very soft, the arrow flew feather-light and was completely off-target.

Martin returned it to the prop master on the side, "And here I was thinking of hunting a big kangaroo."

Eliza came over carrying a baseball bat, "Kangaroos are so cute, why would you want to hunt them?"

What flashed through Martin's mind was the image of a kangaroo punching like a boxer, beating a person up.

Bryan Holt, who played the villain twins, had been to Australia multiple times and made a point to warn, "Best to keep your distance from big kangaroos, they're temperamental and can really fight."

Stunt coordinator Geddes, a large man, said, "Guys, don't worry, if a kangaroo really comes by, I'll knock it into a pig's head."

Under his direction, the two pairs of twins started rehearsing the action sequences.

This wasn't an action movie, and there wasn't any highly difficult choreography, so for actors with professional physical training, it wasn't too difficult to manage.

The crew's temporary location was a riverbank, with very shallow water, and pebbles could be seen on the riverbed from a distance.

After the training ended and the crew continued filming, Martin pointed towards the upstream part of the riverbank and asked Eliza, "Shall we go have a look? Old Cloth and I went around yesterday, it's quite a nice view."

Eliza answered, "Sure."

Martin went back to the resting area to grab his bag, packing two bottles of water, and pulled out some mosquito repellent, "Spray some on."

Eliza took a sniff.

Martin said, "It's extracted from pure natural plant essences, totally environmentally friendly."

Eliza took it, sprayed herself a bit, then sprayed Martin, handed it back to him, and started walking upstream, "Hurry up."

Martin followed after her, reminding, "Be careful, the rocks might be slippery underfoot."

Walking a few hundred meters further, the river widened and shallowed, and many large rocks jutted out of the water like stumps.

Martin pointed at the largest and highest rock, "Shall we go there?"

Eliza got ahead, called back to Martin, "Let's race to see who gets there first, the loser has to grant a wish for the winner!"

Martin hurried after her, "Slow down."

He and Old Cloth had been there the day before, and it was safe.

Eliza hopped and jumped along, moving quickly.

Martin chose another set of rocks and managed to get in front of her.

The stones near the middle of the river were exceptionally slippery due to the river's erosion.

This was a spot Martin had carefully picked for their excursion, and he had chosen a particular rock, waiting for Eliza to come closer before reaching out to pull her across.

The rock wasn't very large, just enough space for the two of them to stand face to face.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Martin leaned down to kiss Eliza, and Eliza didn't move away, her hands that were grabbing Martin's arm wrapped around his neck as she tilted her head up.

The river water rushed by as a man and a woman embraced and kissed passionately.

Martin put more force into his arms, lifting her horizontally up to the largest rock, "I win."

Eliza objected, "That was together."

Martin pointed downwards, "Your feet didn't touch the ground."

Eliza, too lazy to argue further, embraced Martin's neck and kissed him again.

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