Director in Hollywood

Chapter 125: A Representative of the American Dream

After finishing the scenes in San Francisco, the crew quickly moved to Alcatraz for filming.

Since Alcatraz is a tourist destination managed by the National Park Service, they couldn't close it off entirely for filming.

So, during the filming on Alcatraz, curious tourists would come to watch every day.

Fortunately, this was before the age of portable video-recording smartphones, and not everyone could afford a camera like the one Sullivan and Bauer had.

Plus, with the internet not being widespread, it was difficult to share videos, so the content of The Rock was only circulated in small circles and didn't count as spoilers.

From a certain perspective, this limited sharing even helped promote The Rock.

That's why Gilbert didn't give Sullivan and Bauer a hard time. The crew was always surrounded by spectators from the start, so it didn't really matter.

In fact, no one else was seen sneaking around with a camera like they were.

Currently, Sullivan and Bauer were the stars of St. Mary's High School, bragging about their amazing experiences with the film crew and attracting a bunch of new friends.

Because of this adventure, they even caught the attention of the media.

Of course, this was orchestrated by the publicity department as part of the film's early promotion, keeping fans' attention on the project.

In The San Francisco Morning Post, there was a feature on the two high schoolers' wild adventure, complete with a photo of them with Gilbert.

In the interview, Sullivan said, "Being part of the filming process was so cool. I never imagined I'd get to participate in a movie shoot."

Bauer added, "When we got caught at first, I thought we were done for. But Gilbert was actually really nice—he even gave me an autograph."

Thanks to this adventure, Bauer found himself suddenly popular at school. "Now even the hottest girl in school wants to date me…" he said.

Well, at least Bauer's problem of not having a girlfriend in high school was solved. Gilbert never imagined he'd turn into Cupid.

Meanwhile, various local newspapers kept interviewing and covering the tourists who had witnessed the filming of The Rock.

One funny incident that got reported was about how a stuntman hanging off a thirty-story building caused the police to think there was a real emergency.

Gilbert himself stayed busy. He had his assistant, Anna Singh, run his Facebook account, posting some stills from the movie to generate fan interest.

Facebook now had over 500,000 users across the U.S. This wasn't just 500,000 accounts—because of the real-name social network foundation, these were all real users.

This strong user engagement and solid data made Facebook more and more attractive to investors.

With the improvements in internet speed from the "Information Superhighway" project last year, online speeds had increased significantly.

Although it was still difficult to transmit video, it was now much faster to upload and download lower-resolution images.

As a picture-based social site, Facebook benefited greatly from the increased internet speed, accelerating its growth.

After the Series A round of financing, Facebook quickly moved into Series B, and then Series C funding, bringing its valuation to around $450 million.

As Facebook's CEO and largest shareholder, Gilbert still held 44.3% of the shares, despite giving up some equity during the funding rounds.

With Facebook, Gilbert was now a billionaire.

It was no secret that Gilbert owned Facebook. When people found out that he also owned the portal and search engine site "Banana," both Silicon Valley and Wall Street were shocked.

Back when Gilbert first invested in Apple, both Silicon Valley and Wall Street mocked him, thinking he had poor investment judgment.

But now, having founded two unicorn internet companies, people were starting to question if Gilbert was actually a genius in investment and business. Both Facebook and Banana's Chief Operating Officers credited the initial ideas and creative vision to Gilbert in interviews.

It didn't end there. In August, Netscape went public, and Gilbert was on the list of shareholders.

He was also rumored to be continuously buying stock in other popular tech companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, and had invested in several startup internet companies.

After The Wall Street Journal featured Facebook's development on its front page, it dedicated the second page to detailing Gilbert's business investment empire, estimating his wealth to be over $500 million.

This figure didn't even include Gilbert's Hollywood earnings. Factoring in the various copyrights held by his Melon Studios and Gilbert's personal value, his wealth was estimated to be over $700 million.

Of course, most of this $700 million was in shares and stocks, not liquid assets.

The market was unpredictable, and his wealth could diminish if one of these companies went under.

However, for now, it seemed unlikely that Gilbert's wealth would shrink.

The Los Angeles Times remarked that, aside from his achievements in the film industry, Gilbert's accomplishments in investment were beyond what many could achieve in a lifetime. He was given the title of "investment prodigy," and The Wall Street Journal added another fitting label: "Little Gates" or "Little Buffett."

But whether he was called Little Gates or Little Buffett, nothing overshadowed Gilbert's reputation as a genius film director.

His accumulated accolades ultimately contributed back to his film career.

Anywhere in the world, people are fascinated by geniuses.

While the world is built by countless ordinary, hardworking people, it's undeniable that many changes and advances are driven by extraordinary minds.

And now, Gilbert was seen as being on the same level as those prodigies, though no one knew that he was actually cheating.

After marveling at Gilbert's creative ideas and vision, Silicon Valley and Wall Street turned back to Apple, wondering if they had overlooked its potential.

However, after another serious study, the capital market still concluded that Apple was beyond saving and should be abandoned.

It seemed that even a genius like Gilbert needed to learn and grow, with Apple serving as an example of a failed investment.

This not only didn't diminish Gilbert's star power, but even added a touch of humor and humility to his persona.

Given Gilbert's background and success story, he became the new poster child for the American Dream. Countless people, including immigrants and those in the lower strata of society, now aspired to become the next Gilbert.

All these details, however, were left out of the media narratives, which didn't mention that Gilbert's father had strong Hollywood connections and support from the Italian mafia and the Jewish Club.

Moreover, Gilbert's first opportunity to direct came after he slept with Gwyneth Paltrow, though it wasn't a disadvantage for him.

Of course, even with deep family connections, a talentless person would be stuck living off others. Gilbert's own "talent" was still essential.

As November began and the weather turned colder with cold air fronts and the Pacific chill, the temperature felt colder than usual.

However, San Francisco rarely had snow, and this year was no different.

With the outdoor scenes wrapped up, the crew moved to the studio, shielding them from the cold weather.

Scarlett Johansson's birthday was coming up, and she called Gilbert, inviting him to her birthday party.

"Can you come to my birthday?" she asked.

Hearing the anticipation in her voice, Gilbert checked his schedule. Fortunately, he wasn't too busy, so he could attend.

"Sure, Scarlett. What kind of birthday gift would you like?" Gilbert agreed and asked her what she wanted.

But Scarlett coyly replied, "Mom says girls shouldn't ask for gifts directly. Boys should have to guess."

Amused, Gilbert played along, saying, "Alright, in that case, I'll try to guess what you like and surprise you with a gift!"

"Okay, just don't be late, or all the cake will be gone."

"Alright, alright, I'll be there…"

After hanging up, Gilbert asked his assistant to book round-trip tickets to Los Angeles.

Although driving the 600 kilometers from San Francisco to Los Angeles was possible, it would take longer.

With North America's railway system still using the infrastructure from the 1930s, train travel wasn't convenient in the 90s.

So, people either drove or flew, with short flights being affordable and frequent.

As for the gift, Gilbert put in some effort and went to San Francisco's Chinatown to order a custom folding fan.

The fan was made with Xiangfei bamboo and decorated with intricate charms, embroidered with a verse from the Classic of Poetry.

While the poem expressed romantic admiration, Gilbert figured Scarlett wouldn't understand, so he didn't change it.

He placed the fan in a wooden box with longevity symbols carved into it and wrapped it in gift paper.

After handing over the filming tasks to Charles Roven, Kane Wecksman, and Anne Burton, Gilbert and Sophia headed to Los Angeles for Scarlett's birthday.

"Happy birthday, Scarlett," Gilbert said, handing the eagerly awaiting Scarlett her gift.

Scarlett quickly accepted it, while Sophia also presented her gift—an electronic device.

After a quick glance, Scarlett put Sophia's gift aside and opened Gilbert's, revealing the beautiful folding fan.

Immediately beaming with delight, she said, "Thank you, Gilbert, I really like it."

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Scarlett, don't you like my gift?"

"I do! I like both of them," Scarlett replied.

But it was clear she preferred Gilbert's gift.

At that moment, Mrs. Sloan came to greet them. "Director Gilbert, Sophia, dinner is ready—join us!"

"Sure…"

Gilbert and Sophia followed her inside, where they found a house filled with Scarlett's friends.

Of course, plenty of adults had also come to celebrate.

Seeing the famous director Gilbert, some adults were caught off guard.

Although Mrs. Sloan had made the transition from Broadway to Hollywood as a writer and producer, her success had been limited.

After the meal, singing "Happy Birthday," and eating cake, Gilbert joined Scarlett upstairs as she proudly showed him her princess-themed room. "You designed this yourself?" he asked, impressed.

"Yes! Mom helped me with the setup."

"Wow, you might have a future as an interior designer," Gilbert said, genuinely impressed.

"Of course," she replied, proudly pulling out a sketchbook to show her various designs. Although the drawings were amateurish, her artistic talent was evident.

Flipping through her sketches, Gilbert noticed a comic book on her nightstand. "Scarlett, you still read comics?"

"Yep," she said, handing it to him. "It's Iron Man. I have more on my desk, like Captain America, Superman, and Batman."

Seeing her comic collection, Gilbert couldn't help but think about the incredible success of superhero movies he knew would come in the future. Though the technology to film them was still developing, he saw a huge opportunity in Marvel Comics. Even though there were still years before the superhero boom, acquiring shares in Marvel now could be a game-changer.

Filled with excitement at the idea of a billion-dollar industry within reach, Gilbert impulsively kissed Scarlett's forehead. "Scarlett, you're my lucky star!"

The young girl, now a little dazed, watched Gilbert rush off to make some calls, wondering, "What did I do?"

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