Chapter 453 Super High Salary for a Movie Appearance
Twenty thousand?
This is an amount that Veronica didn’t even dare dream of. But she knew one thing for sure—the reason she was promised such a high salary was because of Stephen and Larry’s blessing, and that she had good fighting skills.
“Mr. Director, you… don’t actually need to give me that much.” She was guilt-ridden at this point. “I will only be starring in this fight scene. You are giving me too much money. I feel bad about accepting it.”
Her words made Johansson raise his chin as he let out a hearty laugh. “With your ability, you are worth the price. Besides, I am looking forward to our future collaboration.”
Action actors were already as rare as they were. Most fight scenes relied on either bridge suspension cables or special effects, and neither could get Johansson the effect he wanted.
He would always pay attention to action actors as he appreciated them.
This was why he was willing to wait for Veronica the whole day.
Even though he seemed solemn just now, that was just his attitude toward work. He had never meant to put Veronica on the spot.
After all, he had come across a lot of beautiful women like her who people around them would honey their recommendation of these women, only for them to fall short of his expectations in all ways possible.
It was proven now that him waiting on Veronica was worth it.
“I look forward to working with you too.” She nodded with a smile on her face.
She was glad that she had signed a reasonable contract with Sean because she was Elizabeth’s granddaughter.
It was written in black and white that other than modeling, she would not get involved in doing anything beyond that, such as being an anchor, an actress and the like.
On top of that, the contract would only last for a year.
It was only after she joined Starshine that she learned that the minimum period for a model’s contract was three years.
Hers, however, was only a year.
They were talking about the contract after they had gotten more familiar with each other when Sean told her, “When we signed the contract with you, I didn’t think you would stay in our company for long after I knew that you were the god-granddaughter of Elizabeth Hutchinson. If I had known that the Madam wouldn’t interfere with your work, you would have had to sign a three-year contract like the rest of them as well.”
Most bluebloods didn’t like actors and actresses very much.
After all, actors would have to hug or kiss on screen.
It might just be another requirement of the occupation, but it wasn’t something notable families could accept.
It was normal for Sean to have reservations about this.
But what Veronica didn’t know was that Sean signing a one-year contract with her, and not interfering with anything else she did, was not Sean’s intention. It was Matthew who wanted this for her.
How would Sean have the courage to sign a long-term contract with her when Matthew had personally called him for a ‘friendly greeting’?
Maybe if he didn’t want Starshine anymore, that was!
“It’s rather late. You can go to the set tomorrow to film this scene.” After Johansson finished speaking, he suddenly remembered that Veronica had to work. “Do you have the time?” he added.
He had already asked her about the contract she signed with Starshine Media Agency after the long chat they had.
Naturally, he felt at ease about his collaboration with her after confirming that her contracted company would not interfere with her other matters. Not only that, she had even showered Starshine in praise, saying that it was a legitimate company.
“I have time tomorrow.” Veronica nodded quickly, unable to hide her excitement.
When everything was wrapped up, Larry and Stephen invited Veronica for a meal together again. The three then went to a sushi restaurant, where they found the most quiet corner to sit in.
Because they all wore masks and were dressed casually and kept a low profile, they didn’t attract any attention from the people around them.
They happily conversed, and it was 9.30PM when they left.
Larry, who suddenly remembered that Veronica hadn’t driven herself to the filming location, offered then, “It is late. Let me send you home.”
“There’s no need for that. I can just get a cab.” She then gave a roundabout excuse for her rejection. “It is more convenient for me to use a cab, anyway.”
It would take half an hour to drive to her apartment from here, which meant that it would be past 10PM by the time Larry rushed back to the hotel.
She was worried that him getting insufficient rest so late at night would affect his filming tomorrow.
More importantly, Larry was no ordinary person. Veronica could only imagine the kind of false rumors that would spread tomorrow if he was photographed sending her back to the apartment.
“It is so unlike you to be so wishy-washy, Demoness.” Larry was dressed in casual clothes, and had a black cap and a mask on as he stood beside her when he reached out and patted her on the head. “Hop in quickly. We would have reached your place by now if we didn’t spend time listening to all this nonsense.”
He then turned to Stephen and said, “Let’s go, Stephen. Let’s send her home together before we return to the crew.”
“That is a good idea,” Stephen readily agreed.
Finding it hard to refuse their kindness, Veronica had no choice but to get into Larry’s car. However, instead of giving him her apartment’s address, she made a different request. “Please send me to Westcross Children Hospital. A friend of mine just gave birth. I have to keep her company for a while.”
“Alright.”
Larry then started the engine of the sedan, turned on the GPS, and went straight to the destination.
“Veronica, feel free to ask me if you have anything you don’t understand.” Stephen, who sat in the back seat, offered to help Veronica, who was currently seated in the passenger seat.
He realized that his interest in her had been piqued, though the time he spent with her was short.
With how they could happily talk about common topics and hobbies, it somehow made him regret knowing her too late.
“Oh, okay. I—”
Veronica was just about to reply to him when Larry suddenly interrupted, “What are you calling her Veronica for? Demoness sounds much better.”
“Demoness? That doesn’t sound very nice, does it?” Amused by Larry, Stephen let a handsome and sultry grin show on his face while flashing his row of white teeth.
“It’s her nickname. It doesn’t sound bad at all!” Larry rebutted in all seriousness.
He then looked through the rearview mirror to glance at Stephen before he himself started to laugh cheerfully.
This playful side of his was the exact opposite of the cold, ruthless image he portrayed on screen.
Veronica couldn’t get used to the contrast, and so she teasingly asked, “Do you think your fans will regret liking you if they knew what a goofball you are?”
Because of how cold he looked when he was his serious self, most of the roles he was offered were of domineering presidents and the like.
He had also attracted numerous fans because of his extreme good looks and talent in acting.
“I don’t care about that,” Larry answered her as he drove with both hands on the steering wheel.
“Do I look like I would believe that? If you really don’t care, why do you keep such a low profile when that personality of yours would inevitably attract the attention of ladies?”
After seeing the many entertainment news, Veronica had come to understand that the charismatic characters on the screen were completely different from how the celebrities were in private.
A lot of stars were intentionally ‘selling’ a false image to the public.
In recent years, many top stars had their true personality revealed due to the continuous exposure by the media. Even those who went to prison for drug offenses, and those with problematic private lives were all blacklisted from the industry.
She had seen Larry on TV before, and she had thought then that it must have been hard for him to still maintain his public image when his true personality was polar opposites with his image to the world.
“I am not interested in those women.” Larry sighed. “Most of them have bad intentions. It is not easy to find someone as dumb as you, so what is the point of keeping in contact with them? I will only end up on the losing end eventually.”
