[Chapter 491: Harvest Season]
Winter of 1998 was a harvest season for Link.
First, American Beauty premiered in early December, screening in just 4 theaters during its opening week, grossing $325,000. It averaged $80,000 per theater, setting a record for limited-release box office in North America.
In its second week, the film expanded to 168 theaters, earning $6.82 million, with box office numbers continuing to climb.
The film also received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Sixty-three media outlets gave scores over 90, and it maintained a 9.4 rating on IMDb from 32,000 voters.
The Los Angeles Times praised it as "one of the best and most representative American films," using the backdrop of the Los Angeles suburbs to portray the tragic fate of middle-aged Americans and the middle class. Director Link blended dark comedy elements into a modern dramatic framework that vividly showcased the sickness at the heart of society. The film's message was profound, like a surgical blade cutting deeply into the issues plaguing America, which festered like cancer within the social fabric.
The Chicago Tribune named American Beauty the top film of the year and a must-watch, praising Link's deep understanding of family life, his masterful use of cinematography, and his expert control of the film's narrative. They lauded him as a master director, well beyond the average filmmaker.
The New York Times called it Link's best film, superior to any commercial movie like Batman Forever, The Rock, or Armageddon. Its excellence was evident not just in techniques and camera work, but in Link's relentless pursuit of innovation and the deep, revealing themes he explored. The paper looked forward to more of Link's meaningful art films like American Beauty, The English Patient, and Se7en.
Besides lauding the film and Link, media praised performances by Kevin Spacey, Diane Lane, Thora Birch, and Chris Cooper, especially highlighting Kevin Spacey as the best actor to portray the lead role Lester, whose brilliant acting brought vibrancy to an otherwise dull character.
...
Due to the rave reviews, American Beauty sparked a sensation after release across North America, with public demand pushing for a wider release.
In its third week, American Beauty screened in 2,947 theaters, earning $85.03 million, breaking Christmas box office records.
Its total North American gross hit $92 million, with a production budget of just $18 million.
This blockbuster success was one of Link's year-end rewards.
Other gains followed in quick succession.
...
From mid-December, more than twenty of Link's girlfriends -- including Diana, Jodie Foster, Brooke Shields, Jennifer Connelly, Diane Lane, Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger, Cindy Crawford, Gong Li, Vivian Chow, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, and Chen Hong -- began giving birth.
Diana and Vivian Chow had twins; others had boys or girls.
Including nine children born last year, the household's total children swelled to 32.
Because of his heavy workload year-end, Link rarely spent time daily with the kids, sometimes going two days without seeing them, leading to some confusion about who was who, much to his girlfriends' playful teasing.
After Diana and Jodie gave birth, good news followed from Monica Bellucci, Lily, Sofia Coppola, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Naomi Watts, Winona Ryder, and Julie Delpy.
Lily and Monica Bellucci were pregnant by choice; they loved children and planned more -- Monica aiming for over six, Lily planning three more.
Sofia became pregnant early to spite Nicole Kidman.
Originally, the two didn't get along, with Sofia spending more time with Link and enjoying his favor being more senior.
But after Nicole gave birth, becoming the mother to one of Link's children, she often flaunted her baby in front of Sofia.
Annoyed, Sofia deliberately got pregnant herself.
This infuriated director Francis Ford Coppola.
He tolerated Sofia's earlier wild behavior but considered premarital pregnancy disgraceful to the family.
Despite his fury, Sofia stood firm, and Coppola begrudgingly accepted he was about to become a grandfather, grumbling but submitting.
...
Familiar faces like Quentin Tarantino, Nicolas Cage, and Ben Affleck called to congratulate or joke about Link.
Someone even suggested Link apply for a world record as the man with the most children.
Link wasn't interested in such silly records; instead, he advised friends to marry and have children to contribute to the world's population.
"Otherwise, you'll be lonely and bored at home without a spouse or kids," he said.
Quentin and Ben took it personally, accusing him of monopolizing all the beauties in the industry, calling him the biggest villain in showbiz.
Link knew they were just jealous and didn't mind.
...
Still, with so many children, annual expenses skyrocketed, pushing Link to find ways to earn more money to improve his family's living standards.
Seeing the tech bubble nearing its peak, with nearly all internet stocks skyrocketing and the NASDAQ Composite reaching record highs, Link planned ahead.
Before 2000, he intended to sell some internet stocks at high prices, investing the proceeds in well-performing companies like Cisco, Oracle, Walmart, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Berkshire Hathaway, short-term treasury bonds, and ExxonMobil.
He also planned to buy put options on the NASDAQ and short-sell overvalued fiber optic and internet companies.
By 2002, when the internet bubble burst and prices plunged, he would reinvest heavily into Microsoft, Cisco, Amazon, Apple, and others.
If all went well, his assets might top $100 billion by 2002, exceed $500 billion by 2010, and reach over $1 trillion by 2020.
With a trillion-dollar foundation, he would never worry about his children's needs again, and his girlfriends could have another hundred kids if they wished.
...
Ring! Ring!
That morning, while Link was reviewing Glimmer Capital's annual report in his office, Joseph Schuertz, head of intelligence at Blackwater Defense, called with a breakthrough regarding the assassination attempts.
Recently, they received information about the intermediary "Jack" operating in the Middle East and captured him.
Interrogation revealed Jack confessed to facilitating three assassination attempts on Link.
The first happened in 1996 in New York outside ABC Television headquarters; the second and third were in August and September in Los Angeles -- the "Red Carpet" and "Cafe" assassination attempts.
Jack disclosed that Harvey Weinstein, president of Miramax, paid him. They obtained bank transfer records.
Jack's only condition was for the case to go to court, avoiding vigilante justice.
"Harvey?" Link was surprised but not shocked.
Surprised that Harvey dared use such extreme methods, but it wasn't unexpected since Link already suspected him.
"Yes, Harvey transferred $3.5 million over three payments to that account as payment for the hit men. We obtained the records from the bank," Joseph said.
"Understood. Keep investigating and gather as much evidence as possible."
In murder cases, hiring a killer is complicated, and with America's presumption of innocence, just witness testimony and bank records make convicting Harvey difficult.
More evidence was needed.
Joseph acknowledged.
After hanging up, Link called lawyer Sean Tangney, updated him on the case, and instructed him to cooperate with Blackwater to secure more evidence and ensure Harvey faces justice quickly.
*****
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