บท 63: Chapter 63 - The test

In the '80s, Hollywood had yet to become a worldwide landmark. So the Walk of Fame wasn't that famous yet.

When night fell, the street was no different from the others. Packed with shops, crowded by pedestrians, and home ground to the occasional scantily clad girls.

From the passenger's seat of an inconspicuous car parked in the street, Eric watched with interest as men sometimes stopped to accost Julia Roberts.

Right now, the girl was wearing heavy makeup, and even those familiar with her wouldn't be able to recognize her. She was somewhat lazily laying against a lamppost, nonchalantly gazing at the ongoing traffic. She looked exactly like Eric remembered Vivian did in the movie.

Within half an hour, the men who struck up a conversation with Julia had exceeded the number of 10. Just when he was thinking of putting an end to the test, Eric noticed three to four youth dressed quite pompously encircling her. He turned towards the robust man sitting in the driver's seat and said: "Drive, Tony. You handle them."

"Yes, boss." Tony started the car and pulled it next to Julia. The girl could barely maintain her smile in front of the youths. So when she noticed the car, she quickly said: "See guys, my client came to pick me up. I told you I was waiting for someone. And he's big money."

The several youths turned around and eyed the car with contempt as they struggled to contain their laughter: "Honey you're kidding, right? How can someone with such a broken-down car be from money? Look, we'll give you 200 $ for the night, how about it? All the other girls on the street only charge 70 $."

Tony opened the door and got out. He was nearly two meters tall and built like a bull. He glared fiercely at the youths, who suddenly felt weak in their knees. They all smiled apologetically and scrambled with their tails between their legs.

"Miss Roberts, please," said Tony, as the fierce expression on his face vanished and he considerately opened the rear door for Julia.

Julia thanked him and got in, while her assistant, Alison Green, hurriedly put a jacket on the actress. Los Angeles nights were cold at this time of the year.

"So Eric, what did you think of my performance?" Julia hastily asked the man who was sitting in the passenger's seat.

Eric praised: "I'm very satisfied with it. If it weren't for Tony, we might have run into some trouble."

"I'm just doing my job, boss." The giant honestly smiled and started the car.

Tony was part of the security team hired by the Firefly Studios. Although he was a black and brawny guy, he was fairly mild-tempered and disliked fighting if he didn't have to.

Hooker was a very dangerous occupation. Some of the girls would sometimes be abducted, and their bodies would be found a few days later in some garbage somewhere. These kinds of things happened, so to prevent that, Eric had brought Tony along.

"Tony, you live around here, right? Pullover at the intersection, and you can go home. I'll send Julia back."

Tony nodded, stopped the car at the indicated place, and took his leave.

Alison Green looked at Julia, then Eric. She opened her car door and said: "I'll get off too. I'll just take the bus home, sir. Good night."

Soon, only the two youths' were left. Eric got in the driver's seat and started the car, while Julia anxiously curled up in the back seat. The two of them kept silent.

Half an hour later, the car pulled in front of Julia's apartment. The girl got down and waited a moment before turning around and realizing Eric hadn't followed her. He stuck his head out the window and said: "Julia, you need to move out as soon as possible, preferably to Beverly Hills. If you still live here once the movie is out, you'll be harassed by the paps. I'll tell Jeffrey to give you a down payment of your salary."

"Okay. Eric… aren't you coming in?" Julia softly asked, a little anxious.

Eric playfully winked at her: "Not today. Although I've taken some measures, I can't be completely certain that none of those damn paps are hiding somewhere."

Julia didn't know whether to be happy or disappointed. She hesitated twice, before waving to him and walking towards her apartment.

Eric waited until she had gotten in, before rolling his window up and driving away.

...

On New Year's Day, Al Pacino flew from New York to Los Angeles. He settled down in his own villa in Beverly Hills, before quickly joining the Pretty Woman's crew.

The movie, therefore, held its first meeting with both main actors present, and everyone talked for an entire morning. Eric also took this opportunity to give out new pointers about the script to the cast. After all, Al had replaced Richard Gere, and their acting styles were completely different, so Eric couldn't only rely on his past knowledge to shoot this time.

He also let Al and Julia act a few scenes together. The actor tried his best to lower his acting level to hers. But while performing, he still somewhat pressured her.

Al Pacino was only a meter and seventy centimetres tall. While Julia was nearly one meter eighty with high heels on. If it had been before, Eric might have allowed Julia to wear flat shoes and Al elevator shoes to get rid of the height difference.

But after seeing them interact together, Eric gave up on the idea. Julia's only advantage at this point was her height. If he got rid of it, she would be crushed by Al Pacino.

...

Since they had agreed to spend a million on sponsorship fees for Pretty Woman, Lamborghini, and its parent company, Chrysler, attached considerable importance to the project.

Two small trucks parked on the training ground of a Los Angeles driving school. Under the command of the staff, two Lamborghini Diablos were carefully unloaded.

Eric and Drew were standing around, and when the lass saw one silver and one purple car, her eyes sparkled. "Wow, those sports cars are so cool!"

She was about to get closer when Eric stopped her, so she turned around and said: "Eric, I want the purple one, it's so beautiful!"

Eric pinched the girl's small nose and laughed: "It's not a toy, you can't just have it."

Next to them, Ian Brewster, who was part of the Lamborghini staff, smiled proudly at the girl's reaction and introduced: "Miss Drew has the eye, the purple color represents nobility, luxury, wealth, power, independence, pride, and mystery, which tends to appeal to women a lot. The car was specially made to meet Mr. Williams' demand, it is not yet on sale."

They chatted with several other people, then a staff leader directed Julia and Al to the two cars and began to carefully explain how it was to be operated. While they had their driver's licenses, they had never driven a Lamborghini. Especially, Julia, she hadn't even seen one before.

In Pretty Woman, the car appeared in the first twenty minutes of the movie, and the two actors had to drive for a long time as they introduced some of its aspects and latest innovations.

To ensure there would be no accidents during the shooting, Eric decided to have Julia and Al go through a three-day training session. Lamborghini was also very eager to cooperate and deliberately sent Ian Brewster to supervise.