Chapter Twenty-Five Dragging

  The school bell rang "ding ding ding", and Ryan sprinted out of the classroom at a speed of 100 meters, taking advantage of the empty corridor to quickly open his locker, grab his backpack, and rush towards the school gate, as if a thousand monsters were chasing him from behind.

  These damned little rascals are more troublesome than reporters and paparazzi! Ryan's face was written all over with fatigue, it was clear that today's experience wasn't very pleasant.

  Jumping onto the off-road vehicle and closing the door, Ryan finally let out a breath of relief, taking over the juice prepared by his agent and drinking almost half of it.

  "What's wrong, Ryan?" Kinsley asked curiously, "You look exhausted."

  "Let's not mention it, Patrick." Ryan twitched the corner of his mouth, as if recalling the terrifying scene when he was surrounded today. "Those little guys are too scary, and even now I still feel like there are ten thousand crows chirping wildly by my ears."

  "Little guy?" After the car drove onto the highway, Jin Silie reacted and smiled, saying "Do you want me to make a call to the school?"

  "Is it okay?" After getting a confirming answer from Jin Silie, Ryan relaxed a lot. "That's great."

  Back in the apartment, Ryan threw away his backpack and directly collapsed onto the long sofa, leaning against Nicole's body. Nicole put down the script she was holding and gently rubbed his forehead, saying to Goldie, "Thanks, Patrick."

  "There's no need to be so polite, besides, it's what I should do." Sitting on the opposite sofa, Jin Silie noticed the script on the coffee table and asked, "Is this... Ryan's new script?"

  "Right." Nikki nodded and directly pushed the script in front of Jin Silie, "A story about love, heaven knows what this little guy is thinking."

  A black sedan pulled over to the side of the road, Carter Eisner looked at Chris Columbus in the passenger seat, "No phone call, no warning, is it okay to just show up like this? God knows if they'll even be home."

  "See those reporters, Carter?" Chris nodded towards the guys with cameras hanging around their necks not far away. "If they're staking out this place, Nicole Kidman and Ryan Jenkins have at least one person at home."

  "Alright, I guess I must be crazy."

  "Is that so?" Chris laughed and pushed open the car door to get out first, "Don't say you can't see the value of that collection of stories."

  Ryan returned to his room and changed out of that ugly school uniform, only to walk back into the living room and discover that they had guests. Two men, one he didn't recognize, the other somewhat familiar.

  "Ryan, they're here to see you. This is Carter Eisner, head of the film division at Touchstone Pictures, and this is Chris Columbus, the director." Nicole made the introductions simply.

  After greeting the two, Ryan sat down beside Nicole and finally remembered who that familiar person was - the director of his plagiarized little witch's previous two films. How interesting, he actually took the initiative to come to the door, the inertia of the wheel of history is indeed enormous.

  "Ryan, we're here because Chris and I have taken an interest in one of the novellas from your collection." Carter Eisner said bluntly.

  "Little devil at home." Chris Columbus added, pulling out a book from his briefcase, which was the boy's storybook, "I want to adapt it into a movie."

  "Really?" Ryan pinched his fingers together, looking rather troubled.

  "Is there something troubling you?" Carter asked.

  "I've recently been adapting 'Home Alone' into a script, and I'm more than halfway done. It's impossible to sell the adaptation rights." As Ryan spoke, Nicole suppressed the urge to roll her eyes - this little devil could lie without even needing a draft.

  Others don't know, but she's still unclear that "Little Ghosts at Home" and the script she's been studying were completed at the same time.

  Carter and Chris exchanged a look, both of them bursting out laughing. They had originally planned to have Ryan rewrite the story himself, but it seemed he was already on it. This was indeed good news.

  "Actually, Ryan, we were going to ask you to adapt it yourself. This is your story and no one knows it better than you do. After 'The Sixth Sense', I don't think anyone will question your ability to write a script." Carter thought another sentence but didn't say it out loud - the second work of a super genius was quite a big selling point after all.

  He said after exchanging a few words in a low voice with Chris, "Besides, we also want to invite you to perform Kevin."

  Ryan suddenly burst out laughing, thinking that Chris Columbus would go invite his greedy friend's son, in which case he absolutely wouldn't sell him the adaptation rights, even though it was originally his work.

  But little does he know, this story is actually prepared for him!

  "Alright." Since that's how it is, Ryan didn't have anything else to say. "In principle, I agree; you can discuss the specific conditions with Pete."

  Carter and Chris didn't say anything, but instead looked at Nicole Kidman again, after all, such things still need parental consent.

  "Ryan's affairs, he can handle them himself." Nicole's words made the two of them feel at ease.

  This conversation should have ended here, but Carter had already spotted the corner of the coffee table, and in just a few seconds he confirmed that it was definitely a script, but didn't know if it was Ryan's new work or Nicole Kidman's next play.

  As a businessman, having a thick skin is a must, he thought for a moment and casually made up an excuse, pointing to the script on the coffee table and asked, "Is this the script of 'Little Ghost Home' that's already been written, Ryan?"

  Everyone present had black lines all over their faces, this excuse is really terrible!

  "No, that's a new script I'm writing for Nicole." Ryan seemed utterly nonchalant, as if writing a script was as mundane as drinking water or eating food.

  "Can... I take a look?"

  "Of course." Ryan promptly took over the script and handed it over.

  Carter Eisner originally thought that this script would have a child as the main character, like "Sixth Sense" or "Home Alone", but after flipping through it for a while, his eyes couldn't help but jump with excitement - this is an out-and-out romance!

  "This...this is too surprising." After a long time, Carter closed the script, and several people chatting on the other side immediately looked at him.

  "Ryan..." Carter seemed at a loss for what to say.

  "I understand what you're saying, Mr. Carter," Ryan said offhand. "Would a ten-year-old kid know what love is? Honestly, I don't really get it either - all I know are some things from TV and movies, so this script is pretty clever in many ways, borrowing from 'An Affair to Remember', which also runs throughout the movie, and the final meeting of the male and female leads at the Empire State Building is also to make up for that promise in 'An Affair to Remember'."

  "What a brilliant and touching story!" Carter exclaimed, his eyes shining with excitement as he turned to look at him, "Ryan, how about handing this script over to Touchstone Pictures for operation?"

  Ryan shrugged and glanced at Nicole Kidman. "Sleepless in Seattle now belongs to Nicole, she calls the shots."

  To be honest, Nicole Kidman isn't particularly well-suited to this film - she's too icy, and compared to American sweethearts like Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts, her performance in this romantic comedy may have some flaws. However, she also has her own advantages, such as acting skills that far surpass those of her predecessors, a tall stature, and outstanding looks.

  So, Ryan made some slight modifications to the female lead based on Nicole's image and personal habits, and also drew many storyboard setting drafts with her as a blueprint. Anyway, "Sleepless in Seattle" is not a typical romantic comedy, but more of a tear-jerking comedy, and with Nicole's acting skills shown in "The Sixth Sense", there shouldn't be too much of a problem.

  As long as there are two high-grossing and highly acclaimed films, Nicole can stand firm in Hollywood without having to hone her acting skills in those inexplicable films like she did in her past life to get rid of the symbol of being Mrs. Cruise.

  In short, there's no need to rush. It's only 1990 now, and if we want Nikki to reach the top without any controversy, she needs to gain enough experience first.

  Although no deal was made with Nickelodeon, Carter Eisner and Chris Columbus left the apartment smiling, knowing they still had a chance since the script hadn't been shopped around yet.

  However, they would never have thought that a long and arduous negotiation was waiting for them.

  "Stall the negotiations with Pyotr and the Litmus as long as possible, don't agree to any of their terms until after 'Sixth Sense' airs," Ryan said after sending the two men away.

  Everyone was smart, Nick and Kim only slightly stunned, then suddenly understood, laughing brightly.

  After entering June, with the summer vacation of schools across the United States, the hottest summer file war began. Although the number of lines in "The Sixth Sense" has been reduced by nearly half, this film is still the first choice for many viewers. Although the box office is no longer as frightening as it was a few weeks ago, it is still growing steadily and continuously.

  This film left many people speechless, no one had expected that a thriller-disguised family ethics film would receive so much acclaim and earn such high box office returns. In comparison, Miramax's $20 million investment was not even worth mentioning.

  Harvey Weinstein beamed with delight during an interview, "This is a masterpiece, no question, David, Al, Nicole and Ryan did an outstanding job. What? You said Ryan, right! I knew he was a super genius the first time I met him, nobody can do better than him! Of course, we will collaborate again next time, it would be great if he could provide the script, who knows what kind of ideas he will come up with!"

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