MTLNOVEL Chapter 705: Bringing Him Home
The uniquely shaped white yacht gradually approached, blowing its horn and prompting Martin to reel in his fishing rod and look towards it.
Mene asked, "Is the boat carrying the beauties here?"
Martin patted his shoulder and asked back, "Did you call for it?"
Mene, noticing Celine Dion's eyes sweeping over, quickly said, "How could I!"
Bruce hurried over with a radio and pointed at the white yacht, saying to Martin, "Someone on that boat wants to talk to you."
Martin took the radio and moved away from the crowd, saying, "Hello."
"Aren't you Leonardo?" the person on the other end asked, "Isn't this Leonardo's yacht?"
Martin straightforwardly replied, "I'm Martin Davis. Who are you?"
The person on the other end laughed heartily, "Hey, old pal, can't you recognize my voice? Right, this damn radio, it distorts the voice!"
He said aloud, "I'm Elon Musk!"
This was the man who had thrown nearly ten million US dollars into sponsoring "The Martian." During the negotiation period, they hadn't stopped interacting. Martin simply extended an invitation, "I borrowed Leonardo's yacht for a party. Interested in joining?"
"I'll be there!" the other end hung up the radio.
Before long, a speedboat arrived carrying two people to Martin's side, and they boarded from the yacht's aft platform.
Musk and Talulah Riley waved to Martin.
Martin, accompanied by Elizabeth, went to receive them and led them to where the crowd was gathered, where he introduced them to everyone.
Elizabeth took care of entertaining Talulah Riley. Enjoy exclusive content from My Virtual Library Empire
Musk mentioned he had something to discuss.
Martin grabbed two fishing rods and went with him to another spot to fish.
Musk skillfully tied the hook, baited it, cast his line, and said, "Don't forget to invite me to 'The Martian' premiere."
Martin secured his fishing rod in the railing's socket and said, "You're the major financier, the invitation has already been prepared for you."
Musk said, "Invite more beauties to the premiere."
Martin pointed behind him, "You're married."
Having seen plenty of Martin's gossip, Musk said, "And you have a girlfriend too! And still throw parties and look for beauties? I've heard a rumor in the modeling circuit, that one isn't a supermodel without passing your test, is that true?"
Martin casually said, "Alexandra Ambrosio, Carolina Kurkova, Angela Lindvall, they've formed a Fashion Supermodel Group, using me as a test for new members joining the group."
A lover of fun himself, Musk said, "I want to join too, to test the new model recruits!"
Having grown familiar with him during advertising sponsorship negotiations, Martin directly said, "Your corpulence lacks any convincing power."
Musk looked down at himself and said, "Your way is too complicated for me, I prefer a simpler method."
"Money does have its uses," Martin understood his meaning, "but it lacks a lot of fun."
Musk turned serious again, "I can't continue to waste too much energy on women. I need to spend my limited time pushing technological advancement, working towards a Mars landing."
He reiterated an old proposition, "You've made at least a few hundred million in movies over the past few years, join me in investing in space, and make an effort for humanity's journey to the cosmos."
Martin wasn't one to fall for such smooth talk and replied, "I have no problem investing with you, but I choose Tesla."
Musk asked, "Haven't you already bought a lot of stock from the secondary market?"
Martin half-jokingly said, "The end of the year is near, and I'm due to receive a lot of revenue. Keeping money on hand will only lead to depreciation, a boon to the tax office. Better to invest it elsewhere."
Musk understood, "You want to participate in Tesla's funding and stock expansion?"
At this point, Tesla's electric cars were just starting out, not yet what they were destined to become. Martin kept silent, pressed the electric reel on his rods, and a deep-sea fish that had taken the bait was pulled up.
Musk considered many powerful investors for the funding and stock expansion, but didn't think Martin qualified.
However, seeing the fish Martin had caught, he suddenly considered it could be beneficial for electric car promotion.
Gasoline vehicles remained the absolute mainstream, and promoting electric cars was not easy.
Musk mentioned once more, "How about being Tesla's global spokesperson? If you agree, the next time we expand our financing, I'll have ample reason to convince the board."
Martin replied, "Aren't you already in talks with my agent?"
Negotiations between Tesla and Thomas hadn't made much headway, mainly because the contract with Cadillac was not yet up.
The electric reel on Musk's rod buzzed with motion, and quickly, a fish was pulled up.
Musk then asked, "Having dealt with Johnny Depp so much, are you familiar with Amber Heard?"
Martin turned to look at him and asked, "Are you interested in her?"
Both men were unabashed womanizers, and Musk plainly said, "Amber's looks and figure are exactly my type."
Martin gave him a thumbs-up, "You've got quite the taste. Aren't you afraid she'll do that on your bed, or do you actually like that smell?"
Musk didn't care, "What's there to be afraid of? Just have her clean herself up thoroughly beforehand!"
Martin said, "You really know how to play."
"How about it, do me a favor?" Musk sounded like a super pimp, "You help me with Hollywood stuff, I'll help you with Silicon Valley and tech circle things."
Martin asked curiously, "Haven't heard of any big-name beauties in the tech circle."
With a grand gesture, Musk declared, "I'll introduce you to a bunch someday."
Not just one, but a bunch! Martin thought about it and said, "You know 'The Lone Ranger,' right?"
Musk nodded, "The movie starring Johnny Depp. I've seen the entertainment news about how Depp pissed on you and your crew during the filming of that movie."
An idea struck him, a burst of inspiration, "Martin, I'm helping you here. Think about it, if I get with Depp's wife, I'm also avenging you."
Martin said, "'The Lone Ranger' was a project snatched away from me by Larry Ellison's daughter, Megan Ellison. Given how confident she is, she'll definitely send me an invitation to the premiere. You can come with me then."
Musk laughed heartily, "Good idea!"
If Martin was Hollywood's asshole, he was the tech circle's asshole, "I'll bring a few beauties from the tech circle, you hand over Amber to me, and I'll hand them over to you. It's a lot more thrilling to play this kind of game."
Martin didn't care about the other stuff, but he wouldn't miss the chance to mess with Depp.
After fishing for a while longer, Musk and his wife had lunch on the yacht and then returned to his place.
Before dark, the yacht returned to the dock.
Everyone left one after another.
Martin, carrying the cooler with fish, put it in the back of the Escalade.
Elizabeth helped with the other stuff, glanced back at the yacht, and asked, "Is this Leo's boat?"
Martin simply said, "He bought it from a tycoon in Silicon Valley."
He had a vague suspicion, "I remember there are quite a few yacht dealerships in Los Angeles. When you have time, Lily can take you to look around, and we can order one called the Elizabeth."
Elizabeth said with a smile, "Sounds good."
The two got in the car, with Martin driving back to Beverly Hills.
Bruce didn't come back; instead, he went straight to Jody's place.
Possibly inspired by the yacht and the Elizabeth, that night, Elizabeth was especially vigorous, and she couldn't even eat breakfast the next morning.
...
After a short vacation, Martin dedicated all his energy to the promotion and marketing of "The Martian," making frequent appearances with Ridley Scott and Jessica Chastain among other key creatives in various media events.
The promotional campaign for "The Martian" was already in full swing.
In September, Disney Studios partnered with NASA and SpaceX, two professional agencies, to endorse the film's background and technical aspects.
NASA and SpaceX publicly claimed the movie was a promotional film for the human Mars habitation program.
Jim Green, NASA's astronaut and planetary science division head, appeared multiple times at professional interviews for "The Martian."
"NASA now requires all employees to read 'The Martian' novel," his statement appeared early on in various news and internet videos, "It gives us an opportunity to talk about Mars and how we plan to get humans there."
In October, a finished version of "The Martian" entered the International Space Station, where several astronauts watched the film together outside of Earth, taking movie marketing into space for the first time.
Additionally, posters printed on special paper that had been to space and back were released to the market as part of the movie's presale lottery prizes.
The film crew and Disney Studios released the main poster of the movie, and beneath a large close-up of Martin in a spacesuit, a new promotional tagline was added—Bring Him Home!
The women's group reacted very enthusiastically at the two initial screenings of the film.
To bear in mind, for such a science fiction film, men are typically the main audience.
On the basis of highly positive reviews from male audiences, gaining the approval of female viewers meant that "The Martian" may have an even larger market space.
Of course, there are risks, since female viewers are not the primary audience for science fiction films and are usually hard to engage with this genre in general.
Following a series of research and analysis on targeted marketing strategies, Disney Studios decided to finalize the global communication strategy for "The Martian" as "Bring Him Home," emphasizing the emotional aspect of the movie in various promotional materials as much as possible, with the space science fiction elements only as a complement, to guide female viewers' interest in the movie and word of mouth.
In the presales, men naturally went without saying, but the rate of ticket purchases by women was noticeably higher than for the average science fiction movie.
Disney Studios' marketing strategy was effective.
The next decade in Hollywood, starting from now, also belonged to Disney.
By mid-November, "The Martian" was riding high.
New billboards appeared on various radio stations, television channels, online videos, and social media.
"This is the movie that got NASA to make the original novel mandatory reading for their staff; this is the film that, associated with Ridley Scott's name, makes fans list it as the must-see of the year; this is the film where Hollywood spends the most manpower and resources to rescue Martin Davis from Mars!"