"Why is Miramax getting involved in this mess?" Ethan found it puzzling.
This company wasn't exactly a stranger to him. After all, his first film, Chicago, was produced by them.
However, after Weinstein left, Ethan had shown no mercy to his old acquaintance, poaching a good number of talented individuals.
But that was the extent of their interactions. It seemed unlikely that the new president still harbored a grudge over Ethan's past actions and was now seeking revenge.
That reasoning simply didn't hold up. In business, Ethan had never resorted to underhanded tactics against Miramax. If anything, Miramax should resent the Weinstein brothers far more.
So there had to be a deeper reason behind all of this.
Ethan closed his eyes in thought for a moment, then opened them and looked at Yuffie, who wore a serious expression.
"Get in touch with Miramax. Ask them why they're doing this and demand an explanation. Then notify Tom and have him contact the private investigators we work with. I want a thorough investigation into Victor—his family, financial transactions, recent whereabouts, and who he's met in the past few days. I want a detailed report."
"Understood." Yuffie nodded.
"And… have the lawyers stall for time. No matter who is backing Victor, their ultimate goal is certainly not just throwing dirt at us. The longer this drags on, the more it works in our favor."
After a year of behind-the-scenes battles, Ethan had developed a strong sense of vigilance. He wouldn't take even the smallest issue lightly.
Because no one could predict if there was an even bigger move waiting behind it.
After giving these instructions, Yuffie immediately went to handle them.
Ethan, on the other hand, started analyzing the situation in his mind.
Since 1993, Miramax had been under Disney's ownership. However, after the Weinstein brothers left in 2006, the company had fallen into decline, breaking apart as its core employees departed. Now, it lacked even basic production capabilities.
So, its sudden attack on Norton Eye was unlikely to be its own decision. This move felt more like Disney targeting Ethan's company.
But that only made things more baffling.
Could Disney have somehow foreseen that Ethan's SuperCyc Universe would threaten their Marvel Cinematic Universe in the future and decided to strike preemptively?
That seemed far-fetched. Even Ethan himself wasn't completely sure how things would turn out, so how could Disney be reacting based on just one film?
Ethan thought hard for a while, and suddenly, a vague memory surfaced.
Back in 2010, Disney had sold Miramax.
He couldn't recall exactly who had bought it, as he hadn't paid much attention at the time. But he was sure that Miramax had indeed been sold off.
Could it be that the company that acquired Miramax was actually the one targeting him?
Regardless, now that he was aware of this, he could prepare in advance.
Whoever was trying to smear his name would have to be ready for his retaliation.
With that settled, Ethan returned to preparing for the filming of Lucy.
The movie was planned to be shot in three locations: Seoul, New York, and Hong Kong.
Additionally, for post-production effects, a massive soundstage had to be built on set for shooting the laboratory scenes.
However, thanks to the experience he had gained while filming Inception, Ethan was confident that things would proceed smoothly once he gave the orders.
Next came casting.
Scarlett Johansson was, without a doubt, the lead actress.
For the supporting role of Professor Norman, Morgan Freeman would reprise his role.
As for the male supporting role of the police officer, Ethan decided against using Amr Waked from the original film. He simply didn't like the guy's look—it didn't match Scarlett at all.
Instead, he reached out to Chris Hemsworth, the future Thor.
Hemsworth was still relatively unknown at this point, and hiring him was a bargain before his rise to fame with Thor in two years.
For the villain, Ethan felt Choi Min-sik was a great fit. The actor excelled at portraying ruthless and psychotic roles, as seen in I Saw the Devil and Oldboy.
His performance in I Saw the Devil was particularly chilling—many viewers were left with lasting nightmares after watching his portrayal of a deranged killer.
However, since Ethan had modified the script significantly, a new minor antagonist had been introduced. He left the casting of this role to the casting director, instructing them to find a suitable mixed-race actor in Hollywood.
Since the main antagonist led a multinational organization, it made sense for him to have subordinates from different backgrounds.
Once the cast was finalized, three days had passed since Victor's public accusations.
At this point, Tom had returned from dealing with his family matters.
"Ethan." Over the past year, Tom's hair had grown out quite a bit, and he even had some bangs now, making him look less like the cold, tough guy he used to be.
"How's everything at home?"
"It's settled. They've divorced." Tom looked somewhat helpless as he spoke.
"That's probably for the best. But with your father's gambling addiction… are you planning to keep covering his losses forever?"
Ethan set down his pen and looked at Tom.
Tom shrugged. "Do you have a better idea?"
"I wouldn't call it a good idea…" Ethan chuckled. "But I do have plenty of bad ones. For instance, instead of letting him lose money to others, why not make him lose to me?"
"?" Tom raised an eyebrow, clearly puzzled.
"Remember that casino we shot Inception in? They recently completed renovations and reopened. Their owner even gave me a VIP black card."
Ethan took a card out of his wallet and handed it to Tom. "Get in touch with them and ask for a favor. It shouldn't be too difficult."
Tom remained silent for a moment, then nodded. "You're right, Ethan. I can't let him keep throwing his money away."
Even though Tom was making millions of dollars a year now, he wouldn't be able to keep up with his father's gambling habit forever. So instead of watching him lose to random casinos, it was better to set up a controlled loss that would force him to quit.
"Alright, back to business." Ethan tapped the desk. "Have you found anything on Weinstein?"
"We have." Tom pulled out a manila envelope, untied the string, and took out a stack of photographs.
Ethan examined them one by one.
The images showed an unfamiliar woman in a backless dress entering Weinstein's company building, accompanied by her agent. Not long after, she exited, looking visibly upset, as if something unpleasant had occurred during the meeting.
But that wasn't the crucial part. The crucial part was that the way her dress was tied at the back when she left was completely different from how it was when she entered.
It was as if she had taken off her dress inside the company and put it back on afterward.
"What's her name?"
"Guna Vargas. A Cuban model, 22 years old." Tom provided the details. "The investigator noticed the discrepancy in her dress, just like you suspected."
"But this photo alone doesn't prove that Harvey forced her into anything."
"Exactly." Tom nodded.
"Hmm…" Ethan thought for a moment. It was proving difficult to pin Weinstein down.
After all, every time he was alone with an actress, they were in a private space. Unless the actress carried a recorder herself or used her phone to record, they wouldn't be able to obtain solid evidence.
However, when he thought of a recorder, Ethan suddenly had a revelation, recalling many details.
It seemed that before Harvey Weinstein was accused in 2017, someone had already exposed his ugly side, but at that time, Harvey managed to suppress it.
With this in mind, Ethan immediately said to Tom, "Have the detective investigate Harvey's past scandals, especially accusations from actresses against him. Once found, contact the victims immediately."
"Understood."
Weinstein and Burney PR had been competing fiercely this year. After all, they were both in the PR business. There were only so many Oscars to go around, and if Bernay's PR snatched them up, then Harvey Weinstein would be left with nothing.
Moreover, after Bernay's company won big at the Oscars in 2008, Harvey was furious, frequently making outrageous remarks and speaking ill of Bernays & Co.
Ethan had also been the target of this loudmouth's sarcasm several times. For instance, six months after No Country for Old Men won an award, at a small gathering of directors and actors, Harvey claimed that the film's win was undoubtedly the result of extensive PR work—perhaps even suggesting that Ethan knew the color of the Oscar judges' underwear.
That statement was practically the same as calling Ethan a gigolo.
However, Ethan only heard about this remark long after it was made. Someone who disliked Harvey Weinstein had secretly passed the information to him.
So, Ethan had long considered kicking this old bastard out of Hollywood. He just hadn't had the time to do it.
And although Harvey Weinstein was absolute scum, his position in the industry wasn't something that could be easily shaken.
The man had built an entire interest group around himself, with protectors even within the police, the courts, and the government.
That was why, despite past rape accusations, he had remained unscathed.
"What about Victor?" Setting aside Weinstein's case, Ethan asked Tom about Victor.
"All his background information is in here." Tom handed Ethan a file. "The detectives have been tailing him these past few days, but he's very cautious and rarely goes out, so there's not much to report. And as for Miramax's motive, we still don't know. They haven't provided any explanation."
"Then we don't need their explanation." Ethan flipped through Victor's file and said, "Get the hackers to dig into his emails and computer. See if someone else is instructing him."
"Understood."
"Also, check his call records and text messages. There might be some clues in there." Ethan added.
"Mm." Ethan didn't ask how Tom planned to investigate, because they had professionals for that.
Either they'd get a thief to steal his phone, or they'd bribe someone inside the telecom company to retrieve his call records.
As long as they had money, this wasn't hard to accomplish.
Of course, Ethan had already taken precautions to avoid being investigated in this way.
For instance, he used multiple phones and anonymous SIM cards.
But Victor was unlikely to be that cautious—he wasn't some billionaire and probably never imagined someone would use these methods to investigate him.
Two days later, Tom returned to Ethan's office with updates on the Harvey Weinstein investigation.
Yuffie thoughtfully closed the door behind them, ensuring that all sound was sealed within the room.
"The detective found Weinstein's weak spot."
"Let's hear it." Ethan sipped his tea while listening to the detective's report over the phone.
"In 2005, Harvey Weinstein was accused by an Italian model named Ambra. She reported to the police that Weinstein had attempted to assault her."
"With the help of an undercover officer, she recorded a conversation with Weinstein. However, the recording is now missing. We only learned from a contact at the police station that in the recording, Weinstein repeatedly pressured Ambra to enter the bathroom, swearing on his child that he wouldn't do anything to her."
"Mm, and then?"
"Then, the incident was exposed. But soon after, someone dug into Ambra's background and smeared her reputation. It turned out she had previously attended a secret adult party. Although she left midway, evidence of her attendance was uncovered. So, people started calling her a whore, a gold-digger trying to frame a Hollywood mogul."
"Heh." Ethan chuckled. "So Weinstein got away with it, and Miss Ambra was the one who had to leave America, right?"
"Exactly."
Hearing this, Ethan recalled something else—years later, Harvey Weinstein was finally brought down, and Ambra played a key role by providing crucial evidence.
Although he couldn't remember exactly what that evidence was, one thing was certain: finding this woman would be the key to bringing Weinstein down.
Ethan was no longer an ordinary man without influence. If he wanted, he could easily rally dozens of A-list celebrities to stand up against Harvey. That was his leverage.
The only thing missing was solid proof.
"Can we find this woman now?" Ethan asked over the phone.
"I'm doing my best to track her down. But she's not famous, doesn't have many friends in the U.S., and it's difficult to determine her whereabouts for now. However, I believe she'll return home—her family is in Italy. So, I'm investigating her family now."
"Good. Keep at it."
"Understood."
Beep, beep, beep... The call ended.
Ethan looked at Tom. "Even though we don't have solid evidence yet, we can't stop monitoring him. I'm sure that perverted old man won't be able to keep his hands to himself for long—he'll go after someone else sooner or later. If the opportunity arises, we can plant an actress to get close to him."
"Got it." Tom knew Ethan was planning a sting operation.
Shortly after Tom left the office, Yuffie walked in and said, "Boss, Victor just posted a blog online."
"Oh? What did he say?"
"He's talking about Lucy, claiming that it will be your downfall."
...
Hi For access to additional chapters of
Director in Hollywood (20 chpaters)
MV Director (30 chapters)....
Douluo Dalu:Breaking Clan(30 chapters)
Made In Hollywood (50 Chapters)
Pokemon:Bounty Hunter(30 Chapters)
Join pateron.com/Translaterappu