From the beginning of August, Eric stayed in New York for another half a month before returning to Los Angeles in a low-key manner.
The one who 'goed back' earlier than Eric was the cash flow he took away from several companies under his command. As hundreds of millions of dollars of funds flowed back to companies such as Firefly, several companies that were in a panic due to the sudden depletion of funds quickly Normal operations resumed, and Firefly's chief financial officer, Caroline Elliott, quietly withdrew Citibank's loan application in early August.
At this moment, no matter how dull a person was, he also realized that Eric had won the bet.
In the Middle East, after Saddam Hussein annexed Kuwait, he did not stop his offensive. After clearing Kuwait's internal resistance, the 100,000 troops directly pressed towards the border of Saudi Arabia. Damm's actions at this time have already terrified most Western countries.
Because Saudi Arabia, which has a land area of more than 2 million square kilometers, has only 70,000 conventional troops, which is worse than Kuwait on average, not to mention its ability to resist Iraqi invasion.
Once Saddam invades Saudi Arabia again and guards the main route of the Persian Gulf, Western countries will completely lose control of the Middle East.
The proven crude oil reserves of Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia account for 45% of the world's total reserves, and the remaining 55% are scattered around the world. Therefore, once Iraq annexes Saudi Arabia again, then Even if Saddam shouted a high price of US$100 per barrel, Western countries can only obediently pay for it.
Faced with such a naked threat from Iraq, the Arab countries that originally did not want the West to intervene in Middle East affairs quickly compromised and accepted the US proposal to send troops.
at the same time. Western countries quickly imposed large-scale sanctions on Iraq. It not only froze hundreds of billions of dollars of overseas assets of Iraq and Kuwait. The strictest embargo was also imposed on Iraq.
However, all this did not stop the price of crude oil from soaring, because the Iraqi army was ready to move against Saudi Arabia. In just one week, the price of crude oil soared to 29 US dollars, an increase of more than 40%. Until August 7, 1990, the Pentagon announced that The advance unit of the Federation's most elite 82nd Airborne Division has arrived in Saudi Arabia. The panicked rise in crude oil prices has only slowed down.
When Eric returned to Los Angeles, more than 100,000 U.S. troops had already stationed in the Persian Gulf, forming a confrontation with the Iraqi army. The rise in international crude oil prices slowed down again, but in the face of the imminent war, the rise in oil prices still did not stop sign.
A black helicopter landed in Playa Vista in the western suburbs of Los Angeles. Eric got off the helicopter with a group of people. Stan Winston got up and said, "Stan, what do you think of this place? Less than 100 meters ahead is the airport of Howard Hughes. Of course, it is deserted now. I plan to buy 100 meters here. Hectares of land to build a shooting base for fireflies."
Stan Winston looked around for a while before he said, "I'm just sure that you did make a lot of money this time."
Eric smiled slightly, but did not pick up the topic.
Now many people who know that he speculated in oil futures some time ago are curious about how much money he has made. During this period of time, he has never stopped overtly or secretly.
But now he doesn't even know the exact number, because it will take three months for New York to finish.
Noticing Eric's expression, Stan Winston also laughed. He just joked casually just now, and quickly changed the topic to the matter in front of him: "It's only less than five kilometers away from Venice. , if you want to build a photography base here, the special effects studio in the digital field may also be moved here. The Tyrannosaurus rex model in the planned "Jurassic Park" is 20 feet high and requires a lot of space to operate. .”
"I thought about this," Eric said, "Not only will I build a regular studio here, but I will also build a special effects film and television base, Stan, if you want, you can be in charge of this base. "
Stan Winston was a little excited, but he still said cautiously: "Eric, the geographical conditions here are really good, but there is a big disadvantage. It is too far away from downtown Los Angeles, and the traffic is very inconvenient. If you follow your plan, it will require a large number of professionals."
"I've also considered this, and I will pay for the construction of a system-wide supporting infrastructure here, including residential areas, supermarkets, schools, etc.," Eric said quickly.
Stan Winston was just a little surprised, but the executives of Playa Vista who were with Eric were so excited that they couldn't be more excited. If Eric's plan is realized, it will have a great impact on the economic development of this administrative region. to a huge boost.
"Mr. Williams, is what you said true?" A tall and thin middle-aged white man couldn't help asking.
"Of course," Eric looked at each other seriously and said, "But, if you can fully cooperate, I promise that the completion of this plan will not take more than three years, and the total investment will not be less than 1 billion U.S. dollars."
The executives of Playa Vista who were with Eric suddenly started whispering, a big project of 1 billion US dollars, they didn't dare to think about it before, and they didn't expect to encounter such a good thing suddenly.
Eric took Stan Winston and others to continue walking forward. The reason for choosing this area was not Eric's whim, but because of the memory of the DreamWorks created by Spielberg and others in his previous life. , the chosen shooting base is here, and after many years, it has developed into a famous Playa Vista community, where many well-known movies are chosen to be shot, such as the "Iron Man" series.
It took Eric a tour of the Playa Vista area all morning, and discussed the preliminary plan with the executives of the administrative district. Near noon, a group of people were standing by an artificial lake and pointing at the surrounding terrain. At that moment, an SUV drove onto the road near the crowd, and a few people got out of the car quickly.
Today's Playa Vista is equivalent to a suburb of Los Angeles. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as sparsely populated. Therefore, the off-road vehicle that suddenly appeared attracted everyone's attention. Many people realized that the people in the car must be related to their group.
Sure enough, as the people in the car got off, Eric recognized the tall slender girl walking in front at a glance, and was a little surprised at how Nicole found this place.
Nicole in the distance explained to the accompanying bodyguards, and soon came over with only a blond woman in her thirties.
When she was still four or five meters away from Eric, the tall slender girl showed a faint resentment. And his eyes were undisguised, and he was directly locked on Eric.
Eric noticed the ambiguous eyes looking at him from left to right, and he greeted the girl helplessly: "Nicole, how do you know I'm here?"
"Yeah, it's really not easy to find you," Nicole didn't answer this question, but complained softly.
Eric didn't ask again, there were only a few people who knew his whereabouts, and after thinking about it, he knew where Nicole got the news. Eric turned to look at the blond woman following Nicole: "This is?"
"Hello, Mr. Williams. I'm Pai Kingsley."
Eric looked up and down the woman in surprise, he only remembered saying something to Nicole casually. Unexpectedly, it's only been a few months, and Nicole has changed agents.
After shaking hands with the other party, Eric smiled and said, "Hello, Ms. Kingsley, that, how is Cruise recently?"
"Very well, thank you for your concern," Pai Kingsley said politely, and at the same time secretly looked at the young man in front of him. Although Eric had cooperated with Cruise, at that time, Cruise's agent The person is still Paula Wagner, so this is the first time the two have met.
After exchanging pleasantries with the other party, Eric looked at his watch and said to Nicole: "Nicole, it's a coincidence that you came, I just have to go back."
The girl's gaze suddenly became extremely resentful again: "Is that why you don't like seeing me that much?"
Hearing the girl's words, Pai Jinsili raised her eyebrows slightly, and quickly retreated a few steps wisely, leaving room for the two men and women to communicate.
Eric shook his head: "No, what I said is true."
"Then can I go to your place as a guest?" the girl said again.
"Okay, but I came here by helicopter, maybe you have to let your bodyguard assistants go back by themselves."
The resentment on Nicole's face immediately dissipated, and she nodded with a little joy: "I'll go tell them right now."
After a while, Eric and Nicole got on the helicopter back to Malibu together. As for Stan Winston, Pai Kingsley and others, they wisely didn't make light bulbs.
Half an hour later, after getting off the helicopter on the tarmac of the Sharp Point Manor, Eric took the girl to the villa and asked casually, "When did I change the manager, why don't I know?"
"You never cared about my affairs, how could you know, I... I still listened to your suggestion and changed."
Eric coughed awkwardly, and quickly changed the subject: "What do you think of her?"
"It's okay. Pat suggested that I take a low-key and mysterious acting route and try to keep a distance from the public. I haven't seen anything special about her yet."
Eric just nodded slightly and didn't express any opinions. The previous life Pai Kingsley was able to manage Tom Cruise's career in an orderly manner. It seems that this is the packaging route adopted. The image of Cruise over the past ten years It has been maintained flawlessly, which shows that this route is very practical.
Pushing open the door and leading the girl into the hall, the villa seemed empty.
Although Drew returned to Los Angeles with Eric, he returned to Culver City after only one day at Pointe Manor, and at the same time began to work with Elizabeth on TG's second movie.
Connery has already entered the crew of "Fighting Condor", and with Eric's affirmation, Fox has given the green light to the film all the way, and now the filming has started, so Eric is the only one left in the villa again People, the servants of the manor usually don't come in here.
From the bottom of his heart, Eric actually enjoys the feeling of living alone.
"You sit down first, I'll call for takeaway," Eric said with a casual look at Nicole.
"Let me make lunch, what do you want to eat?"
Eric didn't delay either, and said, "I don't know, just do something casually."
The girl nodded and walked towards the kitchen. Although she didn't come to Angle Manor many times, Nicole was quite familiar with the villa.
After Eric went upstairs to take a shower and came out with a change of clothes, Nicole had already served a simple lunch on the table.
Eric sat down at the dining table, watched the girl divide lunch for him and sat back across from him, and then said, "By the way, how is your film score?"
Nicole, who had just picked up the knife and fork, paused for a moment, then uttered a word in frustration: "flop."
"Um, well, let's eat first," Eric said quickly, and at the same time realized Nicole's purpose for coming today. However, when raising funds some time ago, Eric took away 8 million from Nicole. U.S. dollars, it is estimated that this is all the savings of the girl this year, and maybe the salary of the movie that hit the street. As for what the movie was, Eric turned his head, but he didn't think about it.
And Nicole's grudge against Eric is also here. The girl thinks that her relationship with Eric should be closer than Julia Roberts.
But now, Julia has three consecutive movies "Pretty Woman", "Steel Magnolias" and "Sleeping with the Enemy" that have exceeded 100 million at the box office, but she only got one "Sleepless in Seattle". Rick doesn't care about her anymore. Nicole's original manager chose the last movie together with her. "Sleepless in Seattle" has just been a success, and without Eric's participation, the girl dare not change rashly. For the play, I still chose a romantic comedy, but after it was released in July, it has only received more than 10 million US dollars at the box office for almost a month now. You know, because this movie is also a romantic comedy, she took a salary of 5 million U.S. dollars, and the total cost reached 30 million U.S. dollars. It will take at least 60 million at the box office to recover the cost. The current situation is that this movie It is not bad if the total box office can exceed 20 million.
Because she became famous with romantic comedies like "Sleepless in Seattle", now she is rushing to the street on the subject she is best at. If she doesn't work hard to find a turning point, she may soon become a box office poison.
What's annoying is that she contacted Eric several times during this period, and the little bastard in front of her tried to evade it with various reasons. Nicole couldn't bear it anymore, and she just drove to the suburbs to bet on Eric today.
"By the way, I have something to give you later, I hope you will like it," Eric said while eating lunch, feeling that the scene was a bit deserted, and quickly found a topic. (To be continued..)