Hollywood starts with a broker

While filming "The Rocketeer," Jennifer Connelly attended the Toronto International Film Festival to promote the Italian film "Voyage of Silence";

Meanwhile, director Giuseppe Tornatore also helped Aaron acquire the remake rights to "Scent of a Woman" for $300,000.

At the Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood, Aaron and Jennifer Connelly were enjoying afternoon tea.

"Has Director Giuseppe Tornatore returned to Italy?"

"Yes, 'Voyage of Silence' will be officially released in the United States next month!"

Jennifer Connelly said, flipping through the copy of "Entertainment Weekly" in her hand.

"It's amazing, Carolco spent $3 million to buy the script 'Basic Instinct' from screenwriter Joe Eszterhas;"

"The highest price ever paid for a Hollywood script!"

Aaron was reading a copy of "Financial Times". Hearing her voice, he looked up, "Carolco, is Paul Verhoeven the director they're collaborating with?"

Jennifer Connelly nodded, "It's him. Carolco collaborated with him on 'Total Recall,' which was released in the summer and grossed $260 million worldwide!"

Joe Eszterhas, Aaron knew, had left CAA this year and was now represented by an independent agent.

"$3 million?"

Aaron shook his head with a smile. Only Carolco would offer that price.

Aaron knew the story of "Basic Instinct" involved thriller, suspense, crime, and erotica!

"America is going to war again," Aaron said, putting down the "Financial Times." The article discussed the rise in international oil prices due to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Earlier last month, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait caused the price of crude oil, which had been at $15 a barrel, to rise.

By the end of last month, it had risen from $15/barrel to $25/barrel, and now in mid-September, it has risen to $30/barrel!

"You've been on set and haven't paid much attention to the news, have you? The United States has joined forces with many countries and decided to send troops," Jennifer Connelly explained.

Aaron pressed his forehead. Of course, he knew. The first Gulf War!

Now, Aaron was considering whether to play around with oil futures. In his memory, this oil crisis should push the price above $40/barrel, right?

"The world is a mess right now. The Soviet Union is also in turmoil, Germany is reunifying, and the United States will have no opponents in the future."

Aaron said, standing up.

"Honey, you go back to the room and rest first. I need to go out!"

Aaron was going to find a brokerage firm to play around with oil futures. He was too poor now, and it was hard to do anything without money.

Soon, Aaron drove his roadster to the investment department of First Intercontinental Bank in the financial district!

The person in charge of reception explained the trading principles of oil futures in detail to Aaron, emphasizing the high leverage due to the margin system.

"There's even 100x leverage!" Aaron didn't know much about this.

The staff member smiled, "Some companies can offer leverage up to 500x."

Aaron raised his eyebrows. Wouldn't even a small fluctuation lead to huge changes in capital!

Aaron chose 20x leverage to go long. Although there were options for 5x and 10x, Aaron couldn't be too timid.

With 20x leverage, investing $2 million meant controlling $40 million, and the remaining $700,000 would be used as reserve funds to avoid margin calls!

"$30 a barrel, I have to stop when it rises to $40!"

As he left, Aaron warned himself in his heart not to be greedy. He must not be greedy in businesses he wasn't familiar with.

In the evening, when Aaron returned to the Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood, he ran into Hollywood star Charlie Sheen, who was bringing several young women into the hotel!

A rising star among the new generation of American male actors, 25-year-old Charlie Sheen was extremely famous, far surpassing Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp, and others.

The son of veteran actor Martin Sheen, Charlie Sheen was also a Hollywood "star二代" (second generation star). His leading roles in "Platoon" and "Wall Street" made him an undisputed A-list actor in Hollywood.

"Bringing so many girls into the room?" Aaron understood what was going on, but Charlie Sheen's behavior was very common!

At this moment, a young woman seemed to see Aaron and proactively greeted him, handing him a business card, "Mr. Anderson, I'm Heidi Fleiss from the Hollywood Madam."

"Hollywood Madam!" Aaron knew what it was as soon as he heard it.

A call girl club. Aaron looked at Heidi Fleiss, "Are those girls just now all the girls you have on hand?"

Heidi Fleiss nodded, "Does Mr. Anderson need anything? We have strong confidentiality and will never reveal customer information!"

Aaron smiled, "It seems you have quite a few clients in Hollywood. How do you even recognize me?"

"Mr. Anderson used to be an agent, and we often contacted agents at CAA. Moreover, Mr. Anderson has done many great things since then;"

"We always keep an eye on things in Hollywood!"

Aaron casually took the business card, asking seemingly casually: "Do you have clients like Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman?"

Heidi Fleiss just smiled, "These are all confidential. We can't disclose any information about our clients."

Aaron scoffed, "Is that your service code of conduct?"

"Mr. Anderson, you should know that many things cannot be said."

Heidi Fleiss herself started as a call girl, but she found that being a pimp earned more money, so she specialized in being a madam;

Her subordinates were all young girls, specializing in providing sexual services to Hollywood stars, company executives, and high-level government officials!

Aaron knew he wouldn't get anything out of asking, so he left directly. It seemed that Jack Wells was more suitable for this kind of thing;

After all, Jack Wells knew some private investigators.

Seeing Aaron Anderson leave, Heidi Fleiss didn't feel anything. Many people wanted to get celebrity secrets from her;

But she didn't dare to do anything. She couldn't afford to offend either side. Once she opened her mouth, she would have no place in this industry.

On the other side, Aaron looked at the business card in his hand and called Jack Wells, asking about the Hollywood Madam!

"Oh, you're talking about Heidi Fleiss. She's the fastest-rising girl pimp in the past two years, and she's developed a lot of Hollywood clients;"

"We have quite a few at CAA. I even delivered girls for Ronald Meyer before. What's wrong, do you need anything? I heard the quality of the girls Heidi Fleiss has on hand is quite high!"

Aaron scoffed, "I ran into her sending girls with Charlie Sheen at the hotel, and received her business card. I wanted to ask if there was any news about Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman!"

"She definitely won't tell you. They all have confidentiality agreements."

After thinking for a while on the phone, Jack Wells spoke again, "However, we can consider it from this perspective. Warren Beatty has already lost all his face last time. There are quite a few reporters around him, so it's probably difficult to get news;".

"Why don't I find someone to help and ask some professionals to follow them?"

"Okay, find two trustworthy private investigators to follow Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman to see if there are any bombshells!"

This kind of expense was insignificant to Aaron.