Simon and Nancy chatted all the way and soon arrived at the Hilton Hotel near Century City in Beverly Hills.
The sedan pulled up in front of the hotel. Because of the signing ceremony between Qintex Group and MGM, many reporters who had been lying in wait outside the Hilton swarmed the moment Simon Westeros's car appeared.
A hotel attendant eagerly stepped forward to open the door; the two bodyguards in front exited swiftly.
Ignoring the reporters' clamouring questions, Simon waited patiently for Nancy, who had gotten out on the other side, to round the car before they walked into the hotel together.
With news of Simon's engagement to Janette flying around lately, the reporters perked up when they saw him arrive with another woman for Qintex's luncheon, cameras clicking away.
But to their disappointment, Nancy kept an appropriate distance instead of slipping her arm through his. Her black pantsuit and pinned-back blonde hair gave her the look of a standard office lady, nothing like a date.
Besides, after months of headlines about Daenerys Entertainment's consumer-products clash with Arista Records and the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' game boom, the press recognized her face.
A boss bringing a senior executive to a business lunch, hardly scandal material.
Still, Simon's fame and Nancy's looks made the reporters itch for dirt, so they kept firing suggestive, misleading, even provocative questions as the pair moved the few steps from car to lobby.
Walking poker-faced beside Simon into the lobby, Nancy felt the occasional flash still popping behind them. Noting his unruffled calm, she suddenly asked, "If I'd taken your arm back there, would tomorrow's papers go crazy?"
Simon gave her a surprised once-over and grinned. "Forget tomorrow, things would explode right now".
"So…" Recalling how her boss always managed dalliances without being caught, she lowered her voice. "How do you usually sneak around?"
Simon shook his head without hesitation. "Can't tell you that".
"Why not?" she pressed.
He offered no explanation. "Just can't".
As they spoke, a group approached; Nancy recognized the leader; Qintex's Christopher Skase, forty-ish with neatly parted hair, and dropped the subject.
Watching Simon greet them smoothly, Nancy suddenly understood why he never spilled his romantic escapades.
It was probably a form of protection.
No woman likes a man who brags about his conquests, especially when she might become the next anecdote.
If he'd casually recounted sneaking off with some actress, even if she'd asked, she'd have come away with a poorer opinion, maybe even kept her distance.
"Chris, this is Nancy Brill, head of our consumer-products division. Nancy, earth to Nancy, this is Christopher Skase; say hello".
The voice snapped her out of her reverie; she gathered herself and greeted Christopher Skase and the others politely.
Five people had come out to meet them.
Besides Christopher Skase, there was Sherry Lansing, about to take over as CEO of MGM-United Artists.
In the original timeline Sherry Lansing was a Hollywood powerhouse: the first woman to run a major studio, she steered Paramount for thirteen years after Viacom's acquisition.
Now forty-five, Lansing started as an actress in the sixties, quickly moved into producing, and scored back-to-back hits with 'Fatal Attraction', breaking $100 million in North America, and 'The Accused', which won Jodie Foster her Oscar, cementing Lansing's reputation.
Hollywood-illiterate Christopher Skase owed her appointment at MGM to Simon's introduction.
Lansing had run her own indie production company for years, she had experience to spare.
MGM might be down but was still one of The Big Seven. Hollywood, like many industries, discriminates against women; corner offices are rare. For a woman to leap straight to the top of a major studio was irresistible, and Simon's backing sealed the deal.
She accepted the invitation almost immediately.
After pleasantries they moved to the hotel's banquet hall.
A stickler for pomp, Christopher Skase had packed the room with Hollywood notables. Buffet-style lunch let guests mingle freely, livelier than a sit-down affair.
Simon worked the room briefly, grabbed some food, then sat at a table with Christopher Skase, Sherry Lansing and others; Nancy naturally took the seat beside her boss, saying little, quietly listening to Simon and Skase talk shop.
The $1 billion purchase of MGM-United Artists nearly doubled Qintex Group overnight, but also loaded it with debt. Heightened scrutiny from investors and creditors had since slashed Christopher Skase's control.
Of the five greeters, three were Australian investor-and-creditor representatives, outnumbering even Skase and Lansing.
Thanks to Simon's deep Oz connections, they valued his opinion more than Skase's.
Through Australian channels Simon learned that, despite founding Qintex, constant equity dilution and ballooning debt now left Christopher Skase on the verge of being ousted.
To gain indirect sway over MGM, these investors and creditors were the real keys.
Mutual interests clicked at once.
Still, Simon didn't immediately promise MGM ten co-production slots, only urged Sherry Lansing to resolve the 007 rights dispute and revive the franchise.
The 1965 novel 'Thunderball', penned by 007 creator Ian Fleming, had borrowed ideas from writer Kevin McClory, spawning decades of litigation.
McClory wound up owning the rights to iconic villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld. In 1983 he and Warner Bros. made the unofficial Bond film 'Never Say Never Again' starring original 007 Sean Connery; it did decent business.
Perhaps still tasting the profits from 'Never Say Never Again', or perhaps because the press claimed he was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, Kevin McClory filed suit again this year against United Artists, the 007 rights-holder, and the U.K.'s Broccoli Family, demanding the filming rights to another 007 spin-off adapted from 'Thunderball'.
That earlier 'Never Say Never Again' had already infuriated United Artists and the Broccolis, so they naturally refused to let Kevin McClory do it again.
Neither side would give an inch, and the lawsuit is still tangled up in court.
Since its decline in the early eighties, the 007 series had been MGM's lifeline; in my memory it still was decades later.
Settling the copyright dispute quickly and restarting 007 would both keep MGM running normally and, thanks to that reliably profitable blockbuster series, keep the studio from sliding into bankruptcy.
With business finished and lunch nearly over, everyone rose to mingle in the hall.
While chatting with George Miller, who had come especially to show support, Sherry Lansing walked over with a man and woman in tow: Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner.
The string of clashes between Daenerys Entertainment and CAA ended when CAA voluntarily dropped Barry Levinson, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, and Meg Ryan as clients.
Sherry Lansing's move was clearly meant to mediate on Tom Cruise's behalf.
Tom Cruise's ties to Paramount were very tight, and Sherry Lansing's 1987 hit 'Fatal attraction' had also been released by MGM, so Simon wasn't surprised that Lansing was friendly with Cruise and would speak for him.
Although Sherry Lansing had shown an obvious tilt toward Simon during lunch, Simon wasn't about to yield on certain matters, too much was at stake, so he merely exchanged a few polite words with Cruise and company and then walked away.
From the moment the man entered the ballroom, Nicole Kidman kept her eyes on him.
As a well-connected Australian in Hollywood, she had naturally received an invitation to the banquet, yet even as lunch neared its end she still hadn't found a chance to greet him.
She understood all too well that, compared with when they first met, his power in Hollywood had reached an unprecedented peak; even the studio titans who had founded the majors in the golden age might not have wielded such influence.
Thinking of Meg Ryan's fate still sent a shiver through Nicole.
On the strength of 'When Harry Met Sally', Meg Ryan had rocketed to the A-list, yet since parting with CAA she had spent half a year in free fall; wary of Daenerys Entertainment, no new agency would take her on, and she hadn't landed a single new role.
Competition in Hollywood has always been brutal, especially for actresses, and sweet-heart types like Meg Ryan are the least scarce commodity in town.
Now many insiders saw the December 29 release 'The Rocketeer' as a make-or-break moment for her.
If 'The Rocketeer' scored big, Meg could still ride its coattails and studios might brave Simon Westeros's displeasure to hire her; if it tanked, leading man Tom Cruise might rebound, but Meg Ryan would be swiftly written off.
And what about herself?
After 'Pulp Fiction', dissatisfied with the scripts Daenerys Entertainment kept offering, she had wanted only to escape that option contract so she could steer her own career.
Now… all she felt was regret upon regret.
She could only hope he wouldn't hold those little manoeuvres against her.
The deeper you venture into this circle, the clearer his clout becomes, and how small you are beside it.
'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' had finished shooting; she would simply wait quietly for Daenerys Entertainment's next film and banish every other thought.
Seeing the man head her way after a cool exchange with Cruise, she quickly stepped forward, angling the Gucci clutch in her left hand so it showed more prominently.
"Hi, Simon".
Simon took in the off-shoulder gown that revealed her delicate collarbones and smiled. "Hi, you look stunning tonight".
"Thanks". She lifted her wine glass. "The day after tomorrow is the 'Batman Begins' premiere; I can't wait".
"Then be sure to come".
"Wouldn't miss it". She nodded, then added, "Congratulations on your engagement to Miss Johnston, by the way".
"Thank you. So, found yourself a boyfriend lately?"
"Nope. After months with four turtles, who had time?"
She let a trace of playful grievance show, though of course she had no shortage of suitors and was even seeing someone, just clever enough to sound single in front of this man.
Simon didn't press; they chatted a moment longer and he moved on.
Reviewing the exchange, she found no hint of resentment in him and relaxed. His manner was distant, but she dared not ask for more; being ignored as a minnow was better than Meg Ryan's plight.
Once lunch ended and 'Batman Begins' was mentioned, she phoned her publicist to plan every detail of her premiere appearance, this time she would wear Gucci.
Busy as she was, Monday and Tuesday flew by.
Wednesday, 20 December, 1989, arrived in a blink.
All Hollywood fixed its gaze on tonight's 'Batman Begins' premiere at the Shrine Auditorium.
As Simon Westeros's latest heavyweight film, the comic-book adaptation had enjoyed a months-long publicity blitz, obvious from the choice of venue, since the Shrine is usually reserved for events on the scale of the Academy Awards.
According to inside sources, both producer Daenerys Entertainment and distributor Warner Bros. Pictures are brimming with confidence.
The companies guarded plot details fiercely, yet, trusting the film's quality, they'll lift the review embargo the morning after the premiere. With an audience of over a thousand, word-of-mouth can no longer be contained after tonight.
The red-carpet ceremony begins at six p.m.
But crowds started swelling around the Shrine at dawn, the fan turnout eclipsing even Oscar night.