Chương 198: Chapter 198: The Vanity Fair~ - Part 1
"Next, I will hand my microphone over to my dear brother!"
"Without him, 'Star Wars' could never have exploded the market on its first day of release!"
"It's because of his and Steven's persistence and encouragement that I—George Lucas—have come this far! I'm deeply grateful for his selfless help in promoting the film! His rich imagination in gaming left me in awe, equally as important as Steven's re-editing!"
"By now, I think everyone knows who he is."
"Now, please join me in shouting his name, welcoming his entrance!"
"It's—"
"Ethan~~~Jones~~~"
The trembling voice, the elongated tones, brought forth a uniform chant.
With George Lucas's roar, dressed in a floral shirt and white shorts, wearing a pair of flip-flops, Ethan Jones stretched out his left hand, continuously greeting the crowd behind him.
Like a superstar's entrance, it won countless screams. When the piercing high notes suddenly emerged, Ethan Jones, nearly overwhelmed by enthusiasm, hurriedly took the stage.
First, he gave George Lucas, dressed in a suit and shoes, a big hug, shoulder to shoulder like good brothers, giving a thumbs up to the crowd below, and then took the microphone from him.
His first words silenced the men and women on the scene.
"MFxxk! George! Who the hell said we're brothers?"
Ethan lightly pushed George Lucas's chest, saying, "This guy, when he called to invite me to today's banquet, just told me to come for fun. I even asked if this banquet was very formal. If so, I would dress more properly. He said no, it's just a simple party."
"When I heard 'party', I thought great, dress comfortably, so I wore this. But when I arrived at the entrance, I was stopped by the very professional security, saying—" Ethan cleared his throat, with a deep voice, "Sir, we do not require pizza delivery services here."
The stifled words drew a burst of laughter from the audience.
Standing in the front row, Steven Spielberg, also in a suit and bow tie, shouted, "Oh Ethan—how did you get in then?"
"Good question." Ethan gave a thumbs up to his buddy Steven.
Then he picked up the sunglasses hanging on his shirt collar and pushed them up to his nose.
"That's how I came in," said Ethan.
"After hearing the question, I did this." Ethan took off his sunglasses.
At the same time, he stretched his neck as long as a goose's, trying to push his face forward.
Such actions made the audience laugh uncontrollably, and after pausing for a few seconds, Ethan pulled back his neck and raised the microphone, "You get it, right?" He patted his face, "If it weren't for my handsome face, you might not see me here today."
"When I took off my sunglasses, the security guards at the door were all shocked!"
"They exclaimed—'Wow! How can there be such a handsome man in the world? He's much more handsome than Mark Hamill! Harrison Ford! He must be the protagonist today!' Then they apologized, saying they were sorry for not recognizing me, and stepped aside, welcoming me in…"
"Ha ha ha ha—"
The audience burst into laughter.
"Whoosh—"
Applause thundered.
Looking at the men and women with happy smiles below, Ethan also put away his stern face.
"Okay." He smiled and said, "Welcome everyone to the 'Star Wars' celebration banquet."
"As for this movie, I have nothing more to say."
"I won't praise the greatness of the movie anymore, because I had already witnessed its shock before its release. Now, I just want to say—"
"One hundred million is just the beginning!"
"We will gain even more in the future!"
"It's two hundred million! Three hundred million! Four hundred million! Five hundred million!"
"Cheer—"
"Because today's celebration banquet is the beginning of witnessing history!"
As his words ended, the grand banquet hall erupted with countless whistles.
Ethan and the warmly embracing George Lucas hugged tightly, then, Ethan heard a word of thanks in his ear, "Oh Ethan, thank you, thank you for coming to my celebration banquet."
"You said it better than Steven."
"Really—"
"I love that two hundred million, three hundred million, four hundred million, five hundred million!"
"That's really—"
"So cool—"
George Lucas's thanks made Ethan's eyes smile.
After patting the other's back a couple of times and saying a few modest words, he decisively left the stage.
As he made his exit, Lucas once again became the center of attention. As Ethan merged back into the crowd, the smiles and applause that met him made him feel as though he had ascended to the clouds.
Indeed, three days ago, after sending away Arakawa, the call Ethan received was
from George Lucas, inviting him to today's 'Star Wars' celebration banquet.
'Star Wars' was released more than two months ago, on May 25th. After seventy-three days of screening, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader slaughtered the entire North America. At the beginning of this month, on August 5th, it officially hit one hundred million dollars in box office, successfully breaking the record held by Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws' for the fastest global box office to break one hundred million.
When seventy-three days and one hundred million dollars were equated, George Lucas became the brightest star in Hollywood, even in all of North America, at that moment!
No one could match the average daily audience of five hundred thousand!
Because 'Star Wars' swept through America with irresistible force, crushing all other movies released at the same time underfoot and creating a historic record, as soon as the new history appeared, Fox couldn't wait to contact all parties, wanting to hold a celebration banquet.
Although Fox was regretting not owning the sequel rights to 'Star Wars', that didn't matter, right? If acting like a loyal fan could keep the movie sequels in their hands, they would willingly kneel and kiss George Lucas's new shoes.
And since they were holding a celebration banquet, how could they possibly miss Ethan Jones, the great benefactor in the publicity field? So, after finalizing the time of the celebration banquet, George Lucas personally sent him an invitation. The speech on stage was also pre-written by him, which he personally found quite amusing, full of laughable points, but…
"Oh Ethan, if I were your teacher, I would give your writing an F."
When the speeches of the hosts and invited guests ended, and the band took the stage to officially start the celebration dinner, the gathered crowd instantly dispersed, forming small groups of acquaintances, talking about their favorite topics.
At this time, Evelyn, also invited, swayed her champagne glass, smiling admiringly, "Is this what you spent three days coming up with for your speech?"
"Really, it's too embarrassing... too embarrassing..."
Ethan simply raised his glass, downing the not-so-strong liquid in one go.
"Embarrassing? But they still listened excitedly, didn't they?"
Ethan's glass was just emptied when a waitress in a small vest immediately approached with a tray.
Placing the empty glass on the tray and picking up a new one, Ethan nodded to the waitress and continued, "Actually, no matter what I say up there, they would clap along, right?"
"Because I succeeded, it's that simple."
Evelyn's lips twitched into a smile at his straightforward words.
Glancing at Ethan, her proud expression made her shake her head repeatedly.
She admitted, Ethan was not wrong.
Or rather, when they arrived in Los Angeles and entered the venue, they had already become the focus here. Before the banquet started, George and Steven had already introduced them to many friends, including their common teacher, Francis Ford Coppola, the main stars of 'Star Wars', Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, the New York University film professor Martin Scorsese, and their mutual friends Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, and so on.
When the most productive directors of the 1970s in Hollywood smiled and greeted them...
Could the rest dare not to smile?
When Ethan hooked arms with Steven on his left and George on his right...
Would anyone dare to say his jokes were boring?
Oh—Who do you think you are?
"You're not wrong, but after all, this is not home," Evelyn nudged him, reminding, "I know you're happy, and I like this feeling too, but try to restrain a bit."
"You can express your thoughts in front of me as much as you want, but..."
"Don't talk nonsense here."
"Especially now that you've had some drinks."
The girl cautiously advised.
The caring tone made Ethan smile and nod, "Alright, alright~ I know~"
"I'm just sharing happy things with you, how could I express myself recklessly in front of others?"
"And besides, today is George's home field."
"Although this has something to do with us, it's not that significant."
Ethan clearly positioned himself, today, he was just here for fun.
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