The interview lasted until 8 PM. T-Ray sprayed trash talk like a machine gun with infinite ammo.
As one glass of strong liquor after another went down, he completely let himself go, praising Leon in various ways, becoming more and more outrageous.
The CBS reporter listened without saying a word, nodding repeatedly like an elementary school student.
Low-level praise is high-level blackening. Seeing the time was about right, Leon raised his hand to signal the end of the recording.
On the way back, Ariana suddenly opened her chatterbox. She had been too shy to lift her head at the interview scene just now due to the overwhelming dirty words and dirty jokes.
After a whole day of following the shoot, she had a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of this young boss's experience.
"Today's experience was truly incredible. I've only seen such a life in movies before." Ariana looked at Leon with girlish admiration.
"Reality is more twisted and bizarre than movies." Leon smiled and pulled her into his arms. "Because reality is a movie directed by God."
"You are simply amazing. I didn't see a single white person on the streets of Brownsville, but you conquered that place. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I couldn't imagine how you did it..."
For a girl who hasn't stepped out of adolescence, especially a rich girl, such a street story full of male hormones has a fatal attraction.
This is why those penniless street thugs can always easily trick ignorant girls into cheap motels to roll in the sheets.
Even though they often can't afford to buy a box of condoms.
After witnessing the entire community's respect for Leon like Godfather Corleone, Ariana's admiration was pushed to a new height.
She snuggled in Leon's arms, her fantasy drifting to married life.
The commercial van turned a corner, getting closer to Apocalypse Music, where Bonnie would get off.
Jorge, who was driving, turned his head and asked, "Going back to Tribeca later, BOSS? What about Miss Ariana?"
Leon frowned. "Does this even need to be asked..."
"You seem to have never invited me since you moved to your new home." Bonnie rolled her eyes.
As a sensible girl, she chose to fade out when Leon's career map expanded rapidly, intentionally drawing a line. "I was worried about being rejected by you. Do you want to come over tonight?" Leon grinned wickedly. "More people, more fun."
Ariana didn't understand the obscene meaning, her eyes wandering left and right. "That's great. If Miss Bonnie can come, we can have a small party to celebrate today's shooting."
"I like this suggestion." Leon's smile gradually got out of control.
Bonnie curled her lips, feeling helpless for Ariana's innocence.
Party? What Leon said could only be that kind of colorful party.
"Spare me; I don't want to see his unwashed dirty clothes. I finally don't have to be a maid for this guy." She quickly changed the subject. "Smith just responded to you on Blue Bird (Twitter)."
"What did he say?"
"See for yourself." Bonnie handed over the phone.
Will Smith's latest update read: [Drive this dirty and obscene criminal out of the entertainment industry! He is destroying the moral awareness and values of young people! I will spare no effort to do so, hoping more friends stand with me!]
Although there were no dirty words like "F-word" in this tweet, the intensity of the wording rose to another level.
It is not uncommon for celebrities to tear each other apart publicly on social media or even in front of TV cameras due to personality clashes or cracks in friendship.
In most cases, it will end up with nothing as time goes by.
But Will Smith's tweet obviously crossed the line; the intention to suppress Leon's career was obvious.
"Looks like he is trying to build an [Anti-Street Jesus Alliance]." Bonnie said with a smile, "I'm not joking. Smith has a close relationship with the Oscar jury. It seems difficult for Straight Outta Compton to hit the Oscar nominations next year."
Leon tilted his neck and thought carefully. He had long thought about how strong Smith's anger would burn after his wife was humiliated, just didn't expect it to be this intense.
He wouldn't believe if there were no more intricate reasons behind this.
Piecing together the information fragments in his mind, soon the spearhead pointed to a clue figure—JAY-Z.
Also starting as a rapper, Smith's hip-hop qualifications are much earlier.
When he won the Grammy Award in 1989, JAY-Z had just walked out of the street vortex, transforming from a drug dealer to a rapper.
By the time JAY-Z was flourishing in the 90s, Smith had already switched to the film and television industry.
His transformation is considered the most successful transformation in the history of the entertainment industry. The success of three consecutive commercial films Bad Boys, Independence Day, and Men in Black directly established his position as a first-line superstar.
Although the path and timeline of becoming famous do not overlap, the interaction between the two is very close.
Smith is a regular at Diddy's parties. His partner in his rap career, DJ Jazzy Jeff, also joined Bad Boy Records later.
"Fck these damn bastards..." Leon cursed while typing on the screen.
[You can attack my works; this is your freedom. But you shouldn't take Jaden to Diddy's party; he is still just a child.]
Seemingly plain tone, but the lethality was maxed out directly.
"This..." Within a minute of the tweet being sent, the likes and retweets soared exponentially. Bonnie was dumbfounded.
Smith's tweet didn't hurt Leon, but Leon's every counterattack hit the vital point directly.
The melon-eating crowd (onlookers) on social media can always find fun, acting as internet detectives one after another, looking for clues linking Smith and Diddy's parties.
The commercial van stopped in front of Apocalypse Music. Bonnie stepped on her high heels and reminded before getting off: "I know you have physical work to do tonight, but don't forget we have to fly to Los Angeles early tomorrow morning. Don't get too high."
"Don't worry." Leon grinned.
Early tomorrow morning, he will fly to Los Angeles. Besides discussing the audition process for Ready Player One with James Wan, he will also finalize the purchase of property in Beverly Hills.
After a brief exchange at the UFC scene in Las Vegas last time, he established contact with action superstar Vin Diesel, and the two chatted very well.
The other party agreed to transfer his mansion in Beverly Hills at a price of $14 million.
The next morning, Leon got up early as agreed.
Ariana was still indulging in dreams, a trace of saliva hanging from the corner of her open mouth, charmingly naive.
Dating a petite girl has a hidden advantage. No matter how intense the fight last night, it won't affect the energy of the next day.
But whether Beyoncé or Taylor, they have both made Leon feel like his legs were floating and couldn't touch the ground.
After a six-hour flight, Leon landed at Los Angeles International Airport with lawyer Luca, Bonnie, and others.
The commercial van made several turns and arrived at Beverly Hills.
The main entrance of the mansion is a double-opening solid wood door up to three meters high, made of redwood, plus a row of walls making it difficult to peek inside from the outside.
Vin Diesel pays great attention to protecting personal privacy. Even in the circle, few people know what his real name is.
Under his arrangement, three assistants had been waiting at the door, waiting for Leon's arrival.
"Mr. Leon, it's an honor to meet you!" The leading assistant took out his phone. He had the same bald look as Diesel. "I'm informing Mr. Diesel now that you have arrived. Please follow me in first; I'll show you the interior of this house."
Leon and his party followed the assistant into the mansion covering an area of more than 35,000 square feet.
The first thing that came into view was a huge circular fountain with a nude banshee sculpture standing in the center, water flowing from the holes in her chest, flanked by neat Italian cypresses.
Not far away, a tennis court and a blue swimming pool could be vaguely seen.
"The view here is excellent, located at the high point of Beverly Hills. You should have known this before." The bald assistant introduced.
Leon nodded. The reason why he chose this house from the list of mansions given by the agent was not because of Diesel's name.
This is located at the high point of Beverly Hills, the best location.
Looking down from the edge of the pool, you can see half of the cityscape of downtown Los Angeles.
Pushing open the main door, the nearly six-meter-high ceiling makes the entire living room space extremely open.
A giant chandelier made of Swarovski crystals hangs in the center. The floor is paved with white marble imported from Italy, luxurious but not old-fashioned.
The picture frames on the wall have been emptied. It is not difficult to imagine that valuable artworks must have been hung here by Diesel before.
"Mr. Diesel doesn't like overly modern styles, nor overly old-school styles." The assistant introduced: "But the furniture and appliances here are the latest trendy products. Those European old-school brands and clumsy leather sofas make people feel depressed."
"This looks as luxurious as described in The Great Gatsby. I'm reading that book." Bonnie praised.
There is a fundamental difference between mansions in Los Angeles and luxury apartments in downtown New York. The latter, no matter how outrageous the price, can only be called an apartment.
Only independent mansions with gardens like in Los Angeles can be called big houses.
"I know that novel. The latest movie version about it will start shooting soon."
This was news Leon got from Jeff. This movie was pushed for greenlighting and directed by Baz Luhrmann, the soul figure of the Hollywood Aussie Posse.
The reason why he remembered this deeply was that a small episode occurred during the movie's greenlighting process.
Baz originally favored British actress Carey Mulligan for the female lead, playing Gatsby's old lover Daisy in the movie.
But with Robbie's explosive popularity, he leaned more and more towards this blonde sweetheart with more gimmicks. There is also a nepotism relationship between the two as Australian fellow villagers.
This is good news for Leon. Although he and Robbie have broken up, she is a singer under Apocalypse Music after all.
The other party's success on the big screen can largely affect record sales.
However, this proposal was strongly opposed by Leonardo, and Baz could only shelve it temporarily.
The reason for the opposition is actually not difficult to guess. During the filming of The Wolf of Wall Street, he was infinitely close to scoring with Robbie.
As a result, Leon intervened.
No matter on any occasion, when the two are in the same frame, there is zero communication.
There was even an eye confrontation full of gunpowder like at the charity auction.
Leonardo, who repeatedly suffered losses, certainly didn't want a woman he failed to score with to be the heroine of his movie.
Now Leon is trying to pressure Baz through Jeff to fight for the heroine role of The Great Gatsby for Robbie.
"Leon, buddy!" During the chat, Vin Diesel walked down from the escalator on the second floor.
Wearing a loose white bathrobe, holding a cigar in his left hand, he opened his arms and gave Leon a solid hug.
"How does this house look?" While speaking, he turned on the 100-inch OLED TV on the wall, paired with a Bang & Olufsen top-tier sound system.
Playing on the screen was Leon's Radioactive MV. Shocking sound effects surrounded the entire living room.
"What else can I say?"
Leon spread his hands. A superstar like Vin Diesel's pursuit of quality of life is unquestionable.
"There's something even better. The basement has a multi-functional entertainment space with a home theater and leather seats, everything you need." Diesel put his arm around his shoulder. "If I didn't want to leave damn Los Angeles, I really couldn't bear to sell this artwork-like house. You know, there are more paparazzi in Beverly Hills than rats."
According to related reports from entertainment media, before selling this property, Diesel invested heavily in buying a house on the Upper East Side of New York and might live in New York for a long time in the future.
At the UFC post-match reception, the two chatted very agreeably because both of their hometowns are in New York.
Different from other Hollywood screen tough guys, Diesel is also a tough element in life.
At the age of 17, relying on his burly physique, he got a job as a nightclub bouncer in New York, barely considered street background.
"Heard you spent over $30 million buying property on the Upper East Side. Neighbors are executives from Morgan Stanley and Disney. The entire Central Park is in full view." Leon complimented: "Congratulations, the success of Fast Five is phenomenal."
Released in April this year, Fast Five surpassed the previous work with a box office of $626 million, becoming the highest-grossing film in the series.
Relying on strong personal charm, Diesel counterattacked the original first male lead Paul Walker and became the soul figure of the entire series.
The exposed salary was $13 million, but Diesel, who serves as both the leading actor and producer, definitely got far more than this number in the end.
Although he has not disclosed the box office sharing ratio to the outside world, Leon boldly guessed that it would not be less than 10% of the box office profit sharing.
"You too." Diesel grinned from ear to ear, pretending to be modest. "Straight Outta Compton is the biggest dark horse in the film market this year. No one could imagine that your first attempt achieved such brilliant results. You are preparing a new movie called Ready Player One, right? Fast & Furious 6 is also on the way. Maybe we can have a crossover or something."
"That would be simply wonderful." Leon's eyes flashed with light.
Ready Player One has made all preparations before shooting, leaving only the most headache-inducing IP problem.
He doesn't intend to copy Spielberg's version of the IP list completely. A 65-year-old stubborn Jewish old man finds it hard to understand the ideas in young people's heads.
Many outdated IPs in the original version should be deleted.
And the Fast & Furious series happens to be very influential among young people.
The box office of each new work can always surpass the previous work, which is a very rare achievement for a film series.
After visiting the whole house, the subsequent signing process didn't take much effort.
The two sides had reached an agreement on the phone long ago, and Diesel is a person who doesn't like to dawdle.
Luca confirmed the content of the agreement, and Leon also readily signed on the transfer agreement.
After signing the contract, Leon and Vin Diesel sat on the white sofa in the living room, with two glasses of amber whiskey in front of them.
"If you don't have time to move the collection in your wine cabinet, I'd be happy to help you consume it." Leon swirled his glass and teased: "$600 million box office, I think film distributors' invitations have been lined up to 2020. You don't have time to enjoy these whiskeys."
"Haha, brother, this is just the beginning." Vin Diesel leaned on the sofa, crossing one leg. "I plan to play big in Fast & Furious 6."
"How big?" Leon raised his eyebrows. "Driving a McLaren, flying into the Empire State Building?"
"About that." Vin Diesel grinned, revealing an expression of [you know], "I plan to add a new protagonist in the sequel, The Rock (Dwayne Johnson)."
"That WWE wrestling star?"
"That's right. I have to tell you the truth; I don't like that guy very much." Diesel spread his hands. "But he is very popular now. Fans are crazy for his steroid muscles."
"He will regret it sooner or later. I heard many WWE wrestling stars can't perform 'down there' anymore due to drug overdose."
"Really?"
"Of course, Dana told me personally."
"Fck, cheers to Johnson's black toothpick." Diesel clutched his stomach and laughed, almost dropping his glass.
"Cheers."
After chatting for a while, Leon and his party left Beverly Hills by car.
Because there were still many personal items not moved away, the two sides agreed to officially hand over the house three days later.
He had no objection to this. Anyway, he still held the key to Taylor's house not far next door.
The commercial van drove out of the city center quickly towards the airport, but not for the return trip. This West Coast trip is not over yet.
"Honey, have you arrived at the airport?" Leon leaned his ear against the phone; Taylor's sweet voice came from the phone.
"Almost..."
"The plane will land in half an hour. I want to see you at the first sight after getting off the plane. No being late this time!"
"I understand."
"If you behave well, I'll give you a surprise tonight~" Taylor's volume gradually decreased, her voice sickeningly sweet.