America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

After four days in the hospital, Martin was discharged and returned to the set to continue filming the final few action scenes of Batman's showdown with the Joker.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew had been busy, and all the other scenes had already been shot.

In the pitch-dark studio, the figures of the Joker and Batman intertwined, grappling with each other.

In this installment, Batman could be considered the weakest in terms of combat ability.

Ultimately, the Joker was subdued by Batman, who chose not to kill him but handed him over to the Gotham police for legal judgment.

Though the movie's storyline doesn't spell it out, anyone familiar with Gotham knows that the Joker would surely be sent to the legendary Arkham.

With Director Nolan announcing this cut as a keeper, all scenes of The Dark Knight were finally wrapped up.

There was no fanfare, no cheering; months of intensive work, coupled with the mess Bale created, left the crew without the desire to celebrate.

The atmosphere on set had been rather poor ever since the "Batman attacks the Joker" incident.

In private, many of the cast and crew were complaining about Bale.

"It's all Bale's fault!"

That had nearly become a unanimous consensus among everyone on set.

As to whether the hundreds of extras had anything to do with fanning the flames, only Robert knew for sure.

Nolan stood up from behind the director's monitor, taking a long breath, and felt that without Bale, the atmosphere on set was much better.

In the middle of the set, Martin shed his worn suit, tossing it high into the air.

Before the suit hit the ground, several stunt performers scrambled for it.

Watching these few guys shred it into rags, Martin shouted, "Stop fighting, I've got memorabilia for everyone."

"Really?" asked the guy in the Batman costume, rushing over first.

The others followed suite.

Martin gestured, and Bruce brought over a large box.

Other cast and crew members also came over to join in the excitement.

Martin opened the box and said, "Nothing special, just handcrafted statues of the Joker, which are high-end handmade merchandise for The Dark Knight; everyone gets one, and when you go back, spread the word."

Some had seen Hiby use a Joker statue from Martin to hit Bale on the head and were already very interested.

Even Morgan Freeman and Maggie JillEnhall asked for this memorabilia when they left the set.

Martin personally handed the gift boxes to the cast and crew.

The crew, who already had a favorable impression of him, thought Martin really knew how to be personable; although his sinister madness as the Joker was a bit scary, he was warm and approachable, always responding with a smile to anyone who greeted him.

Martin took two gift boxes and specifically looked for Nolan and his wife, Emma Thomas.

Nolan said, "I don't need it."

Emma Thomas, however, took the gift box from Martin, opened it, and suddenly realized why Hiby and Maggie liked the Joker statue so much.

"Thank you!" Emma accepted it unhesitatingly, "It's a very unique keepsake."

Martin refrained from saying it was his own handiwork, having given too many away, and instead said, "It's made of natural horn material, entirely hand-carved."

Emma glanced at Nolan, feeling the statue was definitely useful to her, and said, "I really like it."

She called over an assistant, took a photo album from him, and passed it to Martin, "The crew prepared this especially for you."

Martin flipped through it; it was full of his photos as the Joker—laughing madly, frowning in deep thought, holding a weapon, and so on.

They held significant sentimental value.

Martin was very pleased, "Emma, thank you."

Nolan just nodded and said to Martin, "Let's talk privately for a moment."

Martin followed him to a secluded spot.

As they walked, Nolan said, "The producers and marketing department have had meetings to discuss the publicity concept we talked about and unanimously believe it has high feasibility. A professional team will develop a specific plan, and once we finalize it, we'll invite you to participate."

Out of the 2 million US Dollars in compensation, 1 million had already been transferred to Martin, so he responded, "I will cooperate fully."

"I have a very good feeling about this movie," Nolan said confidently, knowing Martin had a knack for attracting attention with his promotional stunts, "I've been getting a clearer feeling lately that this film could potentially smash the box office, provided we handle the marketing well."

Martin agreed, "Even a high-quality movie needs people to know about it."

Nolan smiled, "We share a lot of the same views on film."

Martin also smiled, "That's right."

Apart from doing their jobs well, both were known for being publicity-savvy as an actor and a director, respectively.

Times are changing, and as media grow more powerful, being savvy in publicity is not a bad thing.

With the shooting phase complete, post-production would move back to Los Angeles, where Warner Bros. Studios had fully equipped post-production facilities.

But Nolan still had troubles to deal with; a few days ago, during the shooting of a car chase scene, an IMAX camera was damaged, and the compensation would inevitably be added to the production costs.

Martin returned to his makeup trailer to take off his makeup.

Bruce had already packed up the items they left on set and came in carrying the bag.

When only the two of them were left inside the trailer, Martin asked, "This time when we go back to Los Angeles, you're going to accompany Kim to shoot that video."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I've already promised her that after the video is shot, she won't interfere with me and Cohler anymore." Bruce appeared as grim as if he were heading into battle, "These days, I've studied Paris Hilton's videos and also watched quite a few first-person perspective films from Sacred Valley. I'm going to design the scenes myself and personally hold the DV to film."

Martin couldn't help but praise, "Old Cloth, turns out you are not only the lead actor but also the screenwriter, director, and director of photography."

Bruce was worried, "It's a bit difficult."

"How difficult can it be?" Martin, who always performed reliably in unethical matters, said, "You managed to get past your ordeal with Sophia - this should be nothing."

Bruce shouldered his bag and left; this guy was truly inhuman.

Martin picked up his own bag and followed, saying, "Now that Sophia is wholeheartedly focused on Scott, only occasionally coming out for a fling, even if you wanted another chance, there wouldn't be one."

Finally, Bruce couldn't hold back anymore, "Put on that greasepaint makeup!"

"What do you mean?" Martin asked deliberately.

Bruce gave him the middle finger, "You're just a Joker!"

The two men drove the electric car to the parking lot and switched to the Escalade.

Martin had Old Cloth head to Northville Community, where there was a dinner tonight with Elena.

After dropping off Martin, Bruce went to the House of Beast to drink with his old buddies.

Martin entered the Carter family's villa and found that today, only Elena was there.

The dinner was ready, covered on the dining table.

Elena was cutting vegetables. Seeing Martin's smiling face, she pointed a knife at him and said, "Wipe off that ugly smile, don't play the fool in front of me."

Not wanting to receive a blow of love, Martin immediately wiped his smile, washed his hands, and helped to serve dishes and mix drinks.

Ten minutes later, they sat down at the dining table.

The dinner was all of Martin's favorites: barbecue and fruit.

While cutting the steak, Elena asked, "When are you going back to Los Angeles?"

Martin said, "Tomorrow I need to sign a new endorsement contract with Coca-Cola, and in the afternoon I have a media event. If nothing unexpected happens, I'll leave the day after tomorrow."

He added, "There's also an audition to attend over in Los Angeles."

Elena nodded, then added, "A few days ago, Lily came back. Is the job you found for her paying well?"

"I just happened to come across an opportunity." Martin downplayed it, "The opportunity presented itself, and Lily had the right skills to seize it."

He picked up a Joker figurine from the shelf next to the dining room, saying, "It's this thing. Lily always used me as a model for her sculptures. This time, in the Batman movie I starred in, the Joker was the core character. The production team was willing to spend a lot on Joker merchandise, and just happened to fancy Lily's sculptures."

Elena understood, "She earned a good deal of money, was quite confident in front of me, and even had the nerve to act defiant."

Martin silently mourned for Lily for three seconds, "And then?"

Elena smiled, "She fully experienced the love from her elder sister, then after staying just one night, she ran back to Los Angeles."

Martin was surprised, "She left so quickly? Even with your 'love', she usually tolerates it."

"Because Holle followed his school baseball team to an away game." Elena explained simply, "She couldn't pass on her love to Holle, felt very upset, and left."

Martin nodded, understanding that if this love couldn't be passed on, staying was futile.

He forked some barbecue and took a big bite, asking, "Holle is pretty good at baseball?"

Elena nodded slightly, "Not bad, no worse than his skill in digging pits. The coach from the school called me and said Holle has made it onto several college coaches' scouting lists, and he may possibly be recruited by a college based on baseball."

She frowned slightly, "In the end, only I haven't been to college."

"Me too," Martin consoled, "I'm also a dropout."

After dinner, they went for a walk in the yard and then, these two dropouts went upstairs to delve into the profound science of human biology.

The following morning, Bruce and Thomas came to pick up Martin for a visit to Coca-Cola headquarters.

The contract renewal with Coca-Cola, while lacking the fanfare of Martin's initial signing, didn't draw as many media reporters, but Cola Cult followers numbering in the thousands turned Coca-Cola headquarters' small plaza red.

As Martin got out of the car, countless followers raised their cans of Coke.

Prepared, Bruce immediately handed Martin a bottle.

Martin opened it and drank with them, raising the bottle in a toast.

Afterwards, the cheers of the Cola Cult followers shook the entire block.

Martin once again donned the red cloak, put on the red crown, and held the Coke scepter in his hand, appearing before over a hundred media reporters to sign a five-year endorsement contract with Coca-Cola.

The contract included a base amount of 10 million US dollars per year.

In addition, there were several performance clauses.

For every global box office hit of Martin's main movies exceeding 100 million US dollars, there would be a 1 million US dollar bonus, and so forth.

If Martin had a suitable film and role to compete for an Oscar or one of the three major European film festivals, the Coca-Cola Group would provide full support.

Winning an Oscar Best Actor or Best Actor at one of the European film festivals would bring additional bonuses of varying amounts.