[Chapter 56: Let Me Play the Villain?]
Orlando barely remembered Madonna's questioning phone call. After all, he'd already "opened up" to the pop queen a long time ago. He had told her he would never get married in this lifetime. If she wanted to keep things as they were, no problem. If she wanted to end it, he wouldn't push. But wanting to take things further? Sorry, he wasn't going to give up the entire Amazon rainforest just for her mighty redwood.
As for Jennifer, winning her over was simple. He didn't even need to buy her gifts anymore. By pure chance, James Cameron, whom Orlando met briefly in Los Angeles, had invited him to lunch today. Orlando casually told Jennifer that he'd take her to meet Cameron in the afternoon.
At this point, Cameron hadn't yet solidified his status as one of the world's top directors, thanks to his upcoming big hit. But he had already made his mark in Hollywood with Aliens and Terminator. If not for the box office disappointment of The Abyss, Cameron's standing would be even higher now. Orlando mentioned he'd try to secure a small role for Jennifer in Cameron's upcoming Terminator 2.
Jennifer was thrilled -- she had only acted once as a child and hadn't been in a film since.
She naturally turned a blind eye to the rumors about Orlando and Shania.
---
After breakfast at the Four Seasons hotel, and a little rest, Orlando headed down to the gym again. This time, Shania wasn't there. The company had already arranged an apartment for her in Manhattan's Chelsea district, and she had moved in the night before. With renovations about to start, Orlando was splitting his time between the Four Seasons and his penthouse duplex there.
Because of his physique management, he had hired a personal trainer. After months, working out had become a habit. The trainer observed that Orlando's physical condition was nearly NFL-level, maybe even better. However, Orlando didn't know how to fully harness this power; he just used equipment to burn energy.
After watching him for a while, the trainer recently suggested Orlando learn boxing and yoga to better control his body. Orlando thought it sounded scientific and agreed.
An hour of training left Orlando drenched in sweat. He wiped his face and neck with a towel, sat down to take off his shoes and socks, then went barefoot into the locker room. He stripped off his sweat-soaked workout clothes, turned on the shower, and started rinsing off.
He pondered what his team was missing.
In the music and entertainment world, he already had Seymour and Frank -- industry veterans. His political consultant was George Morgenthau, introduced by his girlfriend Daisy. Though the $1 million annual fee was steep -- it was still a bit above the norm -- it was a way for Orlando to establish goodwill with the Morgenthau family.
His legal team currently consisted of two lawyers: Kurt, who handled tax and business matters, and Melvin, an expert in litigation. Their pay depended on how much work they did. Depending on future needs, he might add lawyers specializing in intellectual property, medical malpractice, immigration, traffic accidents, and more. That's how specialized the legal field was in the U.S.
In a country of over 200 million people, with more than a million lawyers, there were nearly two hundred people for every lawyer. Each attorney was a high-income professional, far above the global average.
He also had assistants and security now. Thanks to his telepathic ability, he wasn't too worried about betrayals -- they'd be detected before they happened.
After the shower, dressed in comfortable casual clothes, Orlando left the hotel and headed to the office.
"Phew..." He exhaled deeply in the car. Everything was finally on track.
---
Orlando took Jennifer to meet Cameron at noon.
Half an hour later, Orlando exclaimed, "You want me to play the robot villain?"
"That's right."
Before his blockbuster, and far from the glory of the blue-skinned alien films, and after the flop of The Abyss, Cameron was modest now. Even though his status in the entertainment circle clearly surpassed Orlando's at that time, he stayed humble.
Film outranked television; television outranked music; music outranked modeling.
This hierarchy existed in the entertainment industry. Otherwise, Michael Jackson wouldn't have eagerly appeared in Men in Black. Although top musicians made as much money as big movie stars, their influence, fame, and commercial endorsements just couldn't compete.
Orlando was still a upcoming superstar in the music world. He had only released one hit single. His EP wasn't even out yet. With the rumors with Madonna, his looks, and the racial themes of his hit that drew massive attention, he was somewhere close to Will Smith, who had just won a Grammy last year.
"If you agree to act," Cameron said, "I'll significantly revise and add more scenes to the villain, the T-1000 robot. I promise it won't affect your image. Instead, it'll help boost your music career!"
"I've never acted before, and I'm probably not good at it. I'm afraid I won't do well..."
"That's okay. The T-1000 is a robot. All you need is a serious face. No acting required -- well, I mean, I believe your acting is good enough for this role."
"I remember Terminator had action scenes and shootouts..."
"No worries. There'll be stunt doubles, and they'll shoot out of sequence. Plus, lots of special effects."
"I'm really busy right now. I have a new EP to release and songs to write for my label's artists..."
"One month! You only need to give me one month -- no, twenty days. Twenty days is enough!"
James Cameron looked sincere. Jennifer, sitting beside them, couldn't hide her envy.
Often, roles in a Cameron film were the hottest commodity in the industry -- even just a minor villain role with screen time was highly coveted. Jennifer knew this firsthand.
And here Orlando was, with Cameron immediately offering him the lead villain role -- not just any role, but one with a bigger part than the second male or female lead, just a bit less than Schwarzenegger's T-800.
Cameron was even willing to rewrite the script, add more scenes, and make many compromises -- just hoping Orlando would join the cast.
Jennifer realized just how powerful Orlando had become. He was crossing over from music to film, stepping firmly into a new realm.
*****
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