America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

Warner Bros. Pictures, early in the morning, Matt Damon and his agent entered the reception room.

Jon Berg personally came forward to meet the two.

He shook hands with them and said, "Our movie's box office is doing pretty well, now let's see what we can reap during the awards season."

The agent immediately started praising his client, saying, "Matt's appeal is undeniable."

"Moneyball" was released in September, and by mid-December, the North American box office reached 70 million US dollars, with the global box office breaking 100 million US dollars, while the film's production cost was only 50 million US dollars.

Matt Damon, with his naturally honest face, grinned shyly, "It's been a long time since I've made a splash in the awards season, I hope this time, with the push of Warner Bros., I can take something home."

Jon Berg said, "Warner Bros. will go all out to campaign for this film's Oscar race."

Although North American DVD sales have been sliding since "Avatar," DVDs are still one of the most important sources of income for a movie, and even the point with the highest profit margin.

If the "Moneyball" DVDs sell well, his pressure would be decreased a bit too.

The film had faced a lot of difficulties during the preparation period; after Jon Berg took over, he employed Mike De Luca as the producer, which propelled the project forward and led to "Moneyball."

Compared to films like "The Hangover 2" and "Harry Potter 9," "Moneyball" was more like Jon Berg's own child.

The agent said, "CAA is also planning to push Matt for the Oscar Best Actor! Even Leonardo, with his level of acting, has won the statuette, so it's Matt's turn now."

Matt Damon expressed his willingness, "What does Warner need from me? I'll cooperate fully."

Jon Berg said, "In terms of publicity and public relations, it's not just the company that needs to push, you guys also have to put in the work."

The agent replied, "We'll give it our all."

"I have another meeting to attend, so let's end it here," Jon Berg stood up, "You guys wait a moment, someone will come over to discuss the details with you."

The reception room was left with only Matt Damon and his agent.

The latter said, "Support from Warner Bros. is just the foundation and cannot guarantee us an award. Looking at the current situation, the competition this year may not be fierce, but there are still strong contenders."

Matt Damon, who had been in the industry for nearly twenty years, had bodied through an Oscar Best Screenplay campaign and was well-connected with Harvey Weinstein, could see clearly, "Recently, news of Martin Davis and 'The Martian' is everywhere in the media. Their goal can't just be Best Picture, they must be aiming for Best Actor too."

He grimaced, "In those sob-story news pieces, it's like all the sufferings of the world have fallen onto Martin Davis. That bastard has become the so-called epitome of a prodigal son returning!"

The agent, however, said, "The media and the public love this stuff."

Matt Damon couldn't help but blurt out, "It's bloody ridiculous, last year Leonardo got Best Actor by playing ugly, and now does Martin Davis want to get it by playing pitiful? What the hell kind of Oscars is this? What kind of nonsense are we competing with?"

The agent didn't see it that way, "Martin winning the award seems unlikely, right? 'The Martian' is, after all, a sci-fi movie."

"No, Martin is the biggest competition!" Matt Damon insisted he wasn't mistaken, "It has nothing to do with the genre of the film, but with who he is!"

The agent, being older and more experienced in the industry, naturally had more traditional views, "How could a non-realistic science fiction film compete with our biographical picture? Martin Davis's Oscar for Best Supporting Actor wasn't because of the character and acting talents but the reward from Hollywood and the rest of America..."

Matt Damon cut him off, "Don't you think that's even stronger? Terrifyingly strong PR and campaign abilities."

The agent reconsidered and saw the point, "We can't have some crooks jumping out at this stage..."

Matt Damon shook his head, "Last year Leonardo succeeded with ugliness, which reportedly involved Martin Davis's strategizing. Today he's selling misery, which shows he's confident."

Thinking of the Affleck brothers and Harvey Weinstein, Matt Damon suddenly felt like backing out. At times, Martin Davis was like a mad dog, latching onto someone and biting down until they were at death's door before letting go.

At that moment, the agent said, "No matter who the competitors are, we can't give up, opportunities like this year's are rare."

Hearing this, Matt Damon's mind started turning, this was the normal Oscars competition. In recent years, Martin Davis had received several Best Actor nominations but never won, and the winners had all had normal acting careers without experiencing any accidents.

Once he thought about it, his vision suddenly widened, and the Oscar campaign strategies he frequently observed at Harvey's side immediately popped into his head.

After considering for a few minutes, Matt Damon said, "Facing an opponent like Martin, just doing well ourselves isn't enough."

CAA had worked with Harvey Weinstein before, and the agent looked towards Matt Damon, "Smear him?"

Matt Damon recalled the tactics that Harvey often used during award seasons, "Find some critics and retired astronauts to pick apart 'The Martian,' especially on the technical side, the movie is full of bugs. Also, whatever the opponent is striving to do is what we oppose. Isn't Martin Davis selling misery? He is not miserable at all right now, with a net worth in the hundreds of millions, and a bunch of influential women."

He mulled it over and said, "All this is easily verifiable. Expose him in the media, expose his fortune, expose his relationships with a multitude of women, so he can't sell his misery! Prevent him from gaining sympathy!"

The agent said, "This will be easy."

After all, stars are public figures; this area is really too easy to investigate, especially for someone like Martin Davis who doesn't pay much attention.

Matt Damon thought of a key point, "You take care of this personally and keep it secret. Don't let anyone know it's us doing this."

The agent nodded, "I understand."

After they talked for a while, there was a knock on the reception room door, and people from Warner Bros. walked in.

After the meeting, Matt Damon's agent immediately sought out those who were closely cooperating with media and consulting firms.

In the realm of gossip and rumors, even though it was known that Martin Davis had a reputation as a super playboy, the agent was still surprised at the precise gossip he collected.

His official girlfriend, Elizabeth Olsen, and other long-term lovers like Louise, Jolie, Aniston, Charlize, Daddario, and so on—a number he couldn't count on both hands.

Plus, there were rumors about the initiation tests to join the Fashion Supermodel Group and Taylor's entourage.

Although there was no evidence, once these entertainment industry rumors began to spread, they were generally true.

By the time the agent saw the asset statistics for Martin Davis, he wasn't just surprised; he was shocked.
Your next read is at My Virtual Library Empire

Since entering Hollywood in 2004, this country boy, Martin Davis, had already far surpassed the nearly twenty years of hard work of Matt Damon!

The agent immediately took the information to Matt Damon, saying, "Take a look, it's astonishing!"

Matt Damon skipped the part about the women and looked directly at the assets, "I had no idea he'd also invested in Apple and Netflix—the stocks of these two companies have been constantly appreciating."

The agent said, "Neither did I."

"Don't mention this to anyone else for now," Matt Damon said. "After the Christmas vacation ends, the Academy will formally mail out the Oscar ballots. By December 30, Academy members living in major North American cities will receive their ballots, and that's when the peak period for the judges to make their choices begins."

Being a member of the Academy himself, he knew plenty about it, "Find people to pick apart 'The Martian' beginning after Christmas. This needs a few days to ferment. As for the stuff about Martin himself, start that from December 30."

The agent agreed, "Numerous past cases have proved that this is the best time frame; it can influence a lot of the judges' choices."

Since the other party's main strategy was to elicit sympathy from the judges with a sob story, Matt Damon decided to counteract this point, "I want everyone to know that Martin Davis is a billionaire and his life is not the least bit pitiable!"

......

Burbank, Davis Studio.

Bruce pushed open the office door and limped in.

Martin looked up from behind the monitor, surprised, "What happened; did you get into a terrorist attack?"

"Worse than a terrorist attack!" Bruce wiggled his pelvis, feeling a tad more relaxed, and said, "I can't understand why such a frail-looking woman could have such terrifying fighting power."

Martin stated matter-of-factly, "Because you're a rusty old clunker and she is a fertile field."

Before sitting down, Bruce deliberately took a soft cushion and placed it under his butt, "One more night and I'm certain my pelvis would suffer a comminuted fracture."

Martin sympathized but was powerless to help, so he simply changed the subject, "How are things going?"

Bruce replied, "Jody has organized the previous videos and cutout a lot of footage about Matt Damon. Some of the women who were forced by Harvey in the past were actually pressured into silence by Matt afterward; he can't escape responsibility for that."

He handed a storage drive to Martin and continued, "When I came over, Jody had already contacted a few women who had been pressured by Matt, those women trust Jody a lot because she helped them get plenty of compensation from Harvey. They expressed their willingness to come forward and accuse Matt."

Martin looked at the storage drive and then handed it back to Bruce, "Go find Jessica and later, have her contact the media. Those accusers of Matt, don't let them go on TMZ; find a way to get them interviewed by talk shows or mainstream newspapers."

These tasks weren't difficult for Davis Studio nowadays.

Bruce answered and asked, "When exactly?"

"Leo, Jack, and I have discussed it," Martin had already decided on the timing, "Expose everything by the end of this month, on December 30!"

Before Christmas arrived, Martin went back to Atlanta and stayed there for three days before returning to Los Angeles, ready for Oscar-related matters.

He wanted to rightfully vie for Best Actor at the Oscars this session.