America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

Avalon Island was packed with a large number of vehicles crowding the coastal road leading to the Avalon Theatre, where dozens of actors or stars like Martin were seated, all awaiting the moment to walk on the red carpet at the entrance to the theatre.

Bruce drove slowly forward. read-this-on-NovelFire

From hundreds of meters away, the fans' shouts were intermittent.

The traffic stopped moving again, and Bruce simply said, "This scene doesn't seem any smaller than the Oscars I've seen."

Sitting in the passenger seat, Thomas said, "Most of the Saturn Award nominees are big-selling commercial films from last year. High box office means a wide audience, and when the audience likes it, naturally more people support it."

Martin was deep in thought, "How can I draw attention? Such a worry."

Thomas said, "Tonight's attendees include big stars like Keanu Reeves, Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, and Nicole Kidman, so you might want to focus on making an impression during the stage performance."

Martin was aware of reality: "There's too big of a gap in status."

Thomas told him a more painful truth: "You don't have a status to speak of at the moment."

Martin was hit hard.

Bruce, looking to settle a score from the other day, said, "Buddy, show your craziest side, and you'll be the brightest star tonight."

Martin tucked his clothes back, "I need to be civilized."

The car crawled along exceedingly slow, with only one road leading to the Avalon Theatre; those with lower status naturally had to wait.

Bored, Martin started to think of bad ideas again, "What if I trip while walking the red carpet?"

Before Thomas could reply, Bruce said, "You're a man, not disabled; everyone will laugh at you."

Thomas saw that Martin was desperate for attention and was thinking of creating a scene. He advised, "You don't have the capital to mess around right now. If you want more exposure, you can walk a bit slower on the red carpet, and talk more during interviews."

Martin nodded his head, men are at a much greater disadvantage than women on the red carpet. Sophie Marceau had a couple of wardrobe malfunctions, the big cousin wrestled, and Scarlett Johansson probably found male reporters...

As for wardrobe malfunctions like exposure, see-through, and protrusions, those are exclusively women's tricks.

The inequality between men and women, sigh!

Royce, a journalist from the gossip tabloid "US Rumors," stood behind a tripod, specializing in capturing the moments the stars got out of their cars.

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His many years of experience had accumulated a wealth of shooting techniques, selecting particularly good angles that always managed to capture the special moments when stars got out of their cars.

For instance, female stars wearing high-slit gowns were most prone to reveal what's underneath when exiting the cars.

Royce had just captured Lindsay Lohan's high-slit evening gown without underwear beneath it.

A black Audi stopped in front of the red carpet. As soon as the car door opened, Royce's lens followed the action, only to feel somewhat disappointed when he realized it was a man.

When the man stepped out, he was slightly surprised, who is this? Handsomer than a young Keanu Reeves and the late River Phoenix.

Moreover, unlike Depp or Phoenix, he did not have a feminine delicacy. Light shone on his face as if he was surrounded by overwhelming brilliance.

Martin descended from the car, stood still, and waved frequently in all directions.

The fans around him, already roused by the earlier appearance of the big stars, let out series of cheers.

Television cameras were set up cross-wise, aimed right in front of the red carpet.

For his real first red carpet walk, Martin wanted to hold onto more memories.

The Audi drove away, and he still waved at the media photographers.

Royce couldn't help asking, "Who is he?"

The journalist beside him tried to remember carefully, there was no such person among all the well-known figures: "Don't know."

Another online journalist recognized him, "Do you know Eliza Cuthbert? Her ex-boyfriend."

Royce realized, "That twin brother who split up right after one red carpet appearance."

The surrounding journalists began snapping photos. "The Girl Next Door" had a good resonance among teens, and the ex-boyfriend of the female lead was somewhat newsworthy.

As the Audi moved away and the car behind gradually approached, the silly figure was still waving around; staff had to softly remind him, "Sir, the next car is coming, you should move forward now."

"Thank you," Martin acted as if he had just snapped out of it, "First time, I'm too nervous."

The staff member, seeing his youth and unfamiliar face, felt it was forgivable, and quickly comforted him, "It'll be fine after a few times."

Martin smiled, "Thanks for your encouragement."

With a short exchange, Martin stayed in front of the live TV cameras for another 5 seconds before strolling onto the red carpet, not too fast, not too slow.

His pace wasn't very slow, much quicker than a turtle that usually wins races.

Unfortunately, not a single fan on either side was holding up his nameplate or a "Zombie Stripper" poster.

The red carpet was only a few dozen meters long, and Martin's dawdling wasn't going to let anyone behind him catch up.

Gradually approaching the theater entrance, a girl mingled in the crowd on one side of the red carpet suddenly squeezed forward, "Excuse me, make some room, please? The person I support is coming."

Finally making her way to the front, she raised a DVD poster from a disc store and shouted loudly, "Martin! Martin Davis!"

Among the many posters of stars, suddenly there appeared one of Zombie Dancer—Martin quickly noticed it.

There were a few hundred people at the event, and at last, he saw one supporter.

Martin, this shameless good-for-nothing, actually felt a tinge of emotion.

He found an excuse to mooch some more time, striding over, he recognized the woman holding the poster; after a brief moment of recollection, he remembered her.

Seeing Martin approaching, the woman was extremely excited, "Martin, over here! I'm right here!"

Martin walked over, smiling and greeting her, "Rachel, I didn't expect to see you here."

Seeing that he remembered her name, Rachel's eyes reddened, "I saw the news about your nomination and came."

Martin opened his arms and gave her a gentle hug, "Thank you! And thank you for your encouragement! Do you remember the good luck message you wrote for me?"

Realizing he had forgotten, he quickly glossed over it, "Your support helped me through the toughest stage of being an actor."

Rachel was so moved she teared up, "Martin, I will always support you!"

Martin opened his arms and gave her another gentle hug, "Let's keep going strong together."

The two parted, and Rachel took out her phone, "Can we take a selfie?"

Martin called out to a young man nearby, "Handsome guy, could you help us take a picture?"

Speaking nicely, the man took Rachel's phone and took a photo of Martin and Rachel together.

Martin returned to the red carpet, having been surpassed by the actors behind him.

He didn't feel the slightest embarrassment and walked forward with big strides.

In the media area, the Warner Television Network conducting live broadcasts provided brief interviews to the nominees.

The female host Sunny, not recognizing the man approaching, quickly glanced at an assistant nearby, who through an earpiece prompted, "That's Martin Davis, nominated for Best Young Actor, movie 'Zombie Stripper,' a horror film."

By the time Martin entered the media zone and stood in front of the sponsors' backdrop for photos, Sunny approached to greet him, "Hi, Martin, is this like a dream night for you?"

Martin had done his homework, "Good evening, Sunny. Walking the Saturn Awards red carpet has been my dream since I was a child. I grew up watching Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Freddy, and I knew I wanted to follow this path."

Sunny nodded frequently, ready to end the routine interview, as time shouldn't be wasted on an unknown actor.

Martin knew he lacked status and had no right to be questioned extensively, so he took the initiative to create his own questions. To be on camera even a second longer might mean snagging an extra shot in the live broadcast.

He interjected very timely, "Sorry, Sunny, I was a bit late coming over because I met the only fan supporting me at the red carpet. She holds a very special meaning for me, and I had to thank her."

Sunny, momentarily losing the lead, could only follow up with a question, "What happened between you two?"

"At one event for 'Zombie Stripper,' I was standing in front of fans and media, completely clueless..." Martin rambled on about the past event and mentioned a few names.

Sunny thought to herself, are you really clueless in front of media reporters? What about now? But Martin's mention of seeking fans for autographs and good-luck messages seemed fresh even to her, an experienced entertainment reporter, and she couldn't help but ask another question.

By the time Martin finished, she realized that the one-minute scheduled interview had taken nearly four minutes.

The live feed transmitted to the television station where the director shouted, "This interview is interesting. A main actor asking for a fan's autograph, that's really playing the game differently. Broadcast the whole interview."

Ever since the Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction earlier in the year, all live broadcasts in America were delayed by ten seconds, which gave directors more choices.

In front of the TV, among those watching the live broadcast, some had attended the fan meet-up last year.

At the bar, Rick said to a few friends, "See that? That's Martin. He asked for my autograph last year. Did you hear that? He mentioned my name!"

The friends clinked glasses together, "He's a good guy."

"Another round, I'm buying tonight!" Rick said, "His movie is not bad either, I recommend you guys check out 'Zombie Dancer.'

In the movie forum, there were plenty of discussions.

A male lead attributing his success to the encouragement of his fans, even those he didn't know, significantly increased his likeability.

Soon enough, someone clipped Martin's interview video and uploaded it onto the internet, attracting quite a bit of attention.

In Clayton Community, Elena went to work, while Lily and Holle sat in the living room watching the live broadcast on TV.

The latter said, "He's still as shameless as ever."

Lily punched Holle on the head with a thump, "That's called staying true to one's roots, not forgetting those who helped him!"

Holle turned his head to face Lily, "Something's off with you!"

"Because I'm smarter than you," Lily said disdainfully, "while you're just stupid enough to dig holes for yourself."

She clenched her fist, "Martin will definitely win tonight."