"Thud, thud-thud-thud…"
With several loud crashes, Rebecca inside the frame turned into Rebecca paste.
But unlike the tragic death shown on camera, Emma Roberts—sitting beside Gilbert and watching herself get smashed into a pulp—looked oddly excited.
"This dummy looks so realistic. It really turns into a pile of meat mush." Emma Roberts clapped enthusiastically, then asked Gilbert, "Can I go up there and stomp on it?"
Gilbert stared speechlessly at the destruction-hungry girl, then shook his head. "You'll be disappointed, Rebecca. Only Adam Smasher can achieve that effect."
"Oh…" Emma Roberts looked slightly let down, but then immediately asked, "You said the material is edible. What does it taste like?"
"Wow, terrifying." Gilbert tapped her lightly on the forehead. "That's your corpse. Are you planning to eat human flesh?"
Human flesh?
Gilbert suddenly remembered something, his expression turning thoughtful.
Emma Roberts pouted, not noticing the shift in his demeanor. "I was just curious! I'm not that twisted!"
The day's shoot ended quickly. After a simple wrap-up meeting, Gilbert returned to his room to handle his emails.
Everyone already knew about the two of them, so Scarlett didn't bother pretending anymore. Instead of staying in the room the crew arranged for her, she directly lived in Gilbert's room.
The moment Gilbert walked in, he saw Scarlett—who had no scenes today—sitting there playing a handheld game, occasionally scratching her foot.
If her fans ever saw this less-than-glamorous sight, they'd probably feel their idolized image shatter on the spot.
Gilbert, however, was used to it. A little inelegance wasn't a big deal—he'd seen rich heiress Ivanka pick her nose.
"Done for the day?"
"Done."
Scarlett put down her handheld, bounced over, and leapt into Gilbert's arms. Her hand that had just scratched her foot reached for his neck.
"Hold up." Gilbert pressed a hand against her forehead, annoyed. "You just scratched your foot. That's filthy."
"Ew? But when you're holding my foot doing that thing, you never complain."
Scarlett stuck her fingers into her mouth, sucked on them, and then planted a kiss on Gilbert—problem solved.
With her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck, her whole body hung off of him.
Supporting her by the hips, Gilbert set her down on the bed. "Not now. I want to ask you something."
"What thing?" Scarlett tilted her head curiously.
Gilbert thought for a moment before saying, "If a group of people held a massive… group-activity party and it got exposed, what would happen?"
She rubbed her chin in thought, then replied, "If they're normal people, the media won't care. If they're Hollywood celebrities, it would probably cause a scandal."
"What if they're powerful people? Say… people in Washington."
"Then it's huge," Scarlett said immediately. "Depends on whether the media belongs to them. If it does, it'll probably get buried."
"What about online public opinion?"
"Online public opinion?"
Scarlett paused. "What about it?"
Gilbert smiled faintly. "I found something they don't value—online public opinion. Online media is becoming more and more influential, and with the future growth of mobile devices, it will become even stronger.
But those traditional power figures still haven't realized the revolution brought by information technology. That's an opportunity."
"You're saying you want to use online public opinion to counter our disadvantage in traditional media?" Scarlett asked.
"Yes."
Gilbert nodded firmly, then continued, "And what if these people not only hold massive group events… but even eat human flesh—and that gets exposed?"
"Eat people?" Scarlett shivered. "What do you mean?"
"Eat people. Literally eat human flesh," Gilbert said with certainty.
Scarlett trembled. "No way. Only Amazonian cannibal tribes would do that. That can't be real."
"Hmph." Gilbert let out a cold laugh. "And who says they're any different from those Amazon cannibal tribes?"
"The only difference is that they live in mansions, drive luxury cars and yachts, drink red wine, and have more power. That's all."
Scarlett shook her head. "If this is real, once it's exposed, I think it will shock the entire world. The foundations of the Western world would collapse."
"It's not that dramatic. Only the sky hanging over Hollywood and California would collapse."
Gilbert's words pointed quite clearly at the truth: even if those things were done by the Blue Party and their supporters, the Red Party was currently in power, and the Blue Party didn't dare go too far.
If they were the ones in power, Gilbert would be targeted even more harshly. Just look at Donald's situation to understand.
However, at this point in time, Donald was still a Blue Party supporter, had not yet been humiliated, and had no intention of switching to the Red side.
Scarlett suddenly sensed the ambition rising in Gilbert's heart. She wrapped her arms around his waist. "Don't worry. No matter what you do, I will support you."
"Thank you, Scarlett." Gilbert gently pecked her lips and smiled. "But it won't be too dangerous. We have a fallback plan."
"A fallback plan? Where would we escape to?" Scarlett was confused. "We can't possibly run to Moscow, right?"
"Moscow? Our fallback is in the siheyuan." Gilbert tapped Scarlett lightly on the head. "I'm going to take a shower."
Watching him walk into the bathroom, Scarlett was still puzzled. "Siheyuan? Isn't that in China?"
Time moved into October, and Toronto had begun to cool down, though it didn't yet affect the production schedule.
Gilbert's new film The Last of Us, which premiered in May, finally completed its North American theatrical run after the first weekend of October.
The Last of Us finished with a total North American box office of $293.62 million, failing to break the $300 million mark.
The global release was also nearing its end, with daily revenue dwindling. Its worldwide box office had reached $623.36 million, a solid performance.
For an original film, this box office result was enough for the studio to pop champagne.
But for Gilbert, the achievement was only average. Despite grossing this much, some media still claimed he had suffered a "Waterloo."
Even so, the film turned a profit from box office earnings alone, and merchandise and licensing only added to the positives.
More importantly, audience reception was excellent. The film scored 8.9 on IMDb, becoming another of Gilbert's works to enter the IMDb Top 250.
Coincidentally, The Last of Us squeezed its way in, pushing Hero out of the 250 list entirely.
But since it didn't get an Oscar nomination for Best International Film, Director Zhang probably wouldn't care about a ranking.
Award-wise, the film earned a few wins. But if Gilbert wanted to make waves at the Oscars, it would require massive effort—at most, he might get a nomination.
And given Gilbert's increasingly tense political situation, whether the Academy would even consider awarding his film remained uncertain.
Although The Last of Us looked "average" from the outside, its performance actually ranked fifth in the entire 2006 film market—quite respectable.
...
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