Simon stayed one more night in Rivne before departing for London the next morning.
Meanwhile, the Sundance Film Festival in the USA concluded on Sunday evening.
Since the premiere on January 21st, Simon personally scripted the new version of The Man from Earth, which had three screenings over the past week, all of which were sold out. The media buzz surrounding the film skyrocketed, even overshadowing the Golden Globe Awards on the night of January 28th.
As the film's popularity grew, so did the controversies.
Fans of The Man from Earth revered it as a masterpiece, a classic sci-fi movie that told a magical story without relying on special effects. On the other hand, critics bashed the film for its seemingly forced plot and lack of sincerity.
Often, the level of discourse around a film is what ultimately drives its box office success.
With Simon Westeros as the screenwriter, the movie came with a built-in marketing advantage that could save millions of dollars in promotional expenses. Now, with intense debates surrounding the film, and the majority of them being positive, the executives at Daenerys Entertainment were increasingly optimistic about its box office potential.
The biggest challenge for the film's distribution team at Garon Pictures was preventing spoilers.
Traditional print media were easier to control. With a few words exchanged, most outlets would avoid revealing the plot, lest they be excluded from future Daenerys Entertainment premieres. However, the rise of the internet made keeping secrets far more difficult.
Especially since The Man from Earth was a high-concept film that could be summed up in just a sentence.
Fortunately, they had the support of the Eaglet portal. Even though IE browser's homepage restrictions had been lifted, most major forums and social media platforms were still under Eaglet's influence. Despite this, the distribution team went to great lengths to clean up or hide potential spoilers. In an email to Simon, Ella Deutschman joked that a quarter of the film's marketing budget was spent on preventing online leaks.
On the night of January 29th, during the 11th Sundance Film Festival's closing ceremony, despite Simon hinting to Robert Redford, The Man from Earth won the well-deserved Audience Award.
In addition to The Man from Earth, the main Jury Prize went to another Daenerys Entertainment production, The Brothers McMullen, which also received high praise at the festival.
Another emerging director Simon admired, James Mangold, won the Directing Award for Heavy, along with The Thief's Life. Daenerys Entertainment's final project, a fashion documentary titled Zipped Up, didn't win any awards. However, thanks to relentless promotion by Garon Pictures and Liska Studios during Sundance, Zipped Up garnered more buzz than the Jury Prize-winning documentary Crumb. Many audiences were eagerly awaiting this documentary featuring numerous supermodels.
On the other hand, Edward Burns' The Brothers McMullen was an in-house project funded by Daenerys Entertainment, while James Mangold's Heavy was not. After Simon personally met with Mangold, the director signed a three-picture deal with Daenerys. However, Garon Pictures' attempt to buy Heavy fell through.
The film, financed by an independent production company, saw its price inflated to $3.5 million for domestic distribution rights after a bidding war. Garon Pictures had estimated Heavy's domestic box office at $5 million, offering a maximum of $2 million, figuring it would make its profit through video sales. Facing such competition, Ella Deutschman had no choice but to walk away.
Before the Golden Globes and Sundance closing ceremony, on Friday, January 27th, Daenerys Entertainment's first major film of the year, Rumble in the Bronx, was released in North America. Distributed by New World Pictures, the film opened on 1,736 screens. Daenerys had been working hard over the past few years to cultivate a market for Hong Kong films, and Jackie Chan had begun to build a reputation in North America. The film received positive reviews from both the media and audiences. With New World Pictures' strong marketing efforts, the box office for Rumble in the Bronx was expected to surpass the $32 million it had originally earned in history.
Following the audience's anticipation, Garon Pictures quickly announced that The Man from Earth would open on February 24th.
This scheduling was primarily to clear the way for Broken Arrow, which was set to be released on Valentine's Day, February 10th.
Additionally, The Brothers McMullen and Zipped Up, which also participated in Sundance, were scheduled for February 10th and March 3rd, respectively.
The Brothers McMullen was slated for release on the same day as Broken Arrow to capitalize on its Jury Prize win at Sundance. The two films weren't seen as direct competitors. Zipped Up, being more niche, was scheduled for March 3rd. Garon Pictures planned to release it on around 500 screens, which wasn't too small—The Brothers McMullen would have a similar release scale.
Simon arrived in London on January 30th.
Because there were still several matters to negotiate with the Ukrainian government, Cecilia's group had to stay in Ukraine for a few more days, so they didn't leave together.
Coincidentally, it was Chinese New Year's Eve that day.
London, being an immigrant city, naturally had its own Chinatown. However, due to the cold weather, Simon had no plans to join in the festivities. While checking work emails on his private jet from Kyiv to London, he sent New Year's greetings via text message to Lin Su and Chen Qing, who had returned to China for the holiday.
After driving from Rivne to Kyiv and flying to London, Simon arrived at the Kensington Gardens mansion where Sophia Fascia was staying. By the time he got there, it was already past 2 p.m. local time.
It was a Monday, a regular workday.
The negotiations to acquire Burberry were still ongoing, so Sophia didn't meet him at the airport, nor was she waiting at home. Instead, she was busy with work.
However, someone else was waiting for him at the Kensington Gardens mansion.
It was Yulia Shurshikina, a ballet teacher Simon had casually taken under his wing last year. Simon had seen the Russian beauty leading a group of girls in a graceful ballet performance through a remote camera and, after some effort, brought her under his care.
Over the past year, Simon hadn't had the opportunity to visit London or summon Yulia to his side. Instead, aside from teaching ballet, she had been given another role—managing Simon's properties in the UK.
Yulia's treatment was on par with that of Lin Su and Chen Qing. Besides housing, she had both a maid and a bodyguard.
After the turmoil of nearly being sold off along with her mother by a previous lover, Yulia didn't resist her new role. Over the past year, she had diligently handled the tasks Simon had assigned her.
Meeting Simon for the first time in person, Yulia neither showed excitement nor shyness. At 31 years old, she still looked flawless, her blonde hair tied up, wearing a tailored office suit. Her hands were folded in front of her, and she greeted Simon with neither a familiar "Simon" nor the ambiguous "boss," but rather a gentle "sir," which made Simon think of the British butler joke from Big Shot's Funeral.
Since Yulia had been appointed as a housekeeper, she had undergone professional training, so it wasn't surprising that she adopted the demeanor of a British butler.
Simon always felt that Slavic women were the closest to resembling elves. Yesterday's Lyudmila and today's Yulia were both perfect and exquisite, but in two completely different ways—one vibrant, the other reserved.
After hearing Yulia's greeting, Simon lifted her delicate chin, studying her carefully. Only then did he notice a hint of nervousness in her expression. He smiled and said, "Go change into your practice clothes. I want to see you dance."
Yulia hesitated for a moment, and after Simon let go, she instinctively nodded but then lowered her eyes, avoiding his gaze.
Simon then headed upstairs to take a hot bath and relax after his journey.
While doing so, he called Sophia, who said that the negotiations would likely be finalized today, so she wouldn't be back until around 5 p.m. Simon mentioned that it was Chinese New Year's Eve and asked if she wanted to have Chinese food. Sophia suggested a few good local restaurants and offered to invite a chef to cook at home.
After his bath, Simon arranged for one of the female assistants to handle dinner. Then, led by the mansion's maid, he made his way to a spacious room on the first floor, about 100 square meters in size. It had originally been the former owner's recreation room, but after Simon purchased the property, the old furnishings were cleared out. Only the corner had been repurposed as an indoor bar, intended to serve as a dance floor during parties.
Yulia was already waiting inside, dressed in a white ballet practice outfit, the kind without the tutu, which only accentuated her perfect figure.
There was a ring of sofas near the bar and a stage for a band to play on, with a piano positioned there.
Instead of sitting on the sofa, Simon walked over to the piano and looked at Yulia standing in the center of the room. He smiled and said, "Last year, when I saw you dance, I had an idea. I thought you'd be amazing at solo ballet. I happen to have a piece of music for you to hear. If your performance is good, we can record an MV for you in the future. But we'll talk about wardrobe changes later."
After saying this, Simon began playing the piano.
His piano skills, inherited from previous memories, had never faded. He quickly found the rhythm, and soon, the room was filled with piano music.
This was from a ballet solo Simon had seen in his past life, Bach's Last Day.
Even though he had never been interested in ballet before, this particular piece had captivated him, showing that ballet could be this beautiful. He later looked into it and found out that the piece was composed by a German singer in memory of his late wife. While Simon didn't find much emotion in the full version of the song, the instrumental paired with a solo by Polina Semionova, the principal dancer of the Berlin State Ballet, was stunning.
Since the original piece was created after the turn of the century, Simon's influence as a metaphorical butterfly was increasingly large. If he didn't bring this out, it might never appear in the future. That's why he had the idea of having Yulia perform it.
After playing it through once, Simon began guiding Yulia through the corresponding dance movements.
Based on what he had read, Yulia had been practicing ballet since childhood, and her skills were not far behind those of many ballet principals. But in matters like this, personal opportunities were often more important than talent. Before meeting Simon, Yulia had always been the one who lacked luck.
Under Simon's guidance, Yulia soon began gracefully dancing through the spacious room.
Again and again.
She grew more familiar.
Then, she became confident.
Before they knew it, night had fallen in London. Sophia, returning from work, stood at the door watching the woman's movements perfectly sync with the piano music. She felt a tinge of jealousy but didn't want to interrupt. It wasn't until another round ended that she walked over to Simon. Looking at Yulia, who was still on the floor in a swan-like pose, she said, "That was beautiful. Did you write that piece for her?"
Still seated on the bench, Simon didn't answer, but instead reached out and wrapped his arm around Sophia's waist, pressing his face to her abdomen as he smiled and asked, "How's the baby doing today?"
Sophia, recognizing that Simon wasn't going to answer her previous question, wisely didn't press further. She softly replied, "It's only been two months. The little one isn't causing any trouble yet."
Simon listened for a moment and said, "It's too cold in London. Let's leave tomorrow. We can go to Cannes, Rome, or Athens. The climate there is better for the baby's development, and you shouldn't be working so hard in the coming months."
Hearing the concern in Simon's voice, Sophia's earlier jealousy faded. She gently stroked his head and agreed, "Alright. Today's business is already settled anyway."
As the two exchanged intimate words, Yulia remained curled up on the floor, unmoving, as if she had fallen asleep.
Of course, she hadn't really fallen asleep.
Over the past few hours, as she danced to the man's music, Yulia felt her heart, which had gradually grown cold over the years, suddenly begin to thaw.
Memories of many things flooded back to her.
Her first ballet class as a child.
The clumsy little swan.
The joy of being praised for her dance as she grew, feeling like the world was beautiful.
Back then, she had been as proud as a swan.
Later, she recalled the thrill of joining the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow.
And then…
It was as if her life had derailed, like a train.
Falling.
Falling.
Until today, when her heart, submerged for so long, finally resurfaced, breathing in long-lost air.
The man at the piano was her savior.
She knew she was merely a possession to him.
She didn't dare to love him.
But still, she wanted to dance to his music forever and ever.
_________________________
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