Chapter 241: Chapter 240: Guardiola Drops a Bombshell, Spain’s Team Championship Confirmed (22nd Update)
"If halfway through your attempt at transformation fails, you still have your solid fan base. I believe that having one’s own film series is one of the important criteria for a top-tier movie star in the future,"
Hathaway was, ahem, persuaded by Deng Kai in bed, and returned to the United States to start competing.
The Paramount Pictures Company had thought inviting Hathaway was hopeless, and had already started deep discussions with Angelina Jolie about the role and the crew, when suddenly Hathaway turned back around.
So, Paramount could only apologize to Angelina Jolie.
In the entertainment circle, being hot is everything.
It was quite a coincidence, too.
At the 72nd Academy Awards, Angelina Jolie won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her brilliant performance in "The Soul-transferring Lady".
And it was that same year, Anne Hathaway, with "The Princess Diaries" and the subsequent wave she created for contemporary North American womanhood, won the Oscar for Best Actress!
If these two were to compete for a role, Angelina Jolie had no chance.
Of course, after finding out that Angelina Jolie was already in deep collaboration with the production and then was bumped by her, Hathaway called to express her apologies.
She said she had hesitated for too long before, thinking that she couldn’t handle the role, but after her boyfriend Deng Kai’s persuasion, she was willing to give it a try, and that had caused so much trouble for Jolie.
How Jolie felt inside, she didn’t express, but outwardly she maintained harmony with Hathaway.
In fact, she did appreciate the wave for contemporary North American women that Hathaway had created.
Having a role taken by someone else might be unacceptable for Jolie, but if it was Hathaway, she had no choice but to accept it.
Naturally, Hollywood reporters couldn’t be kept in the dark about this.
A reporter interviewed Jolie and deliberately stirred up trouble.
But Jolie responded magnanimously, "Of course, this won’t cause any conflict between me and Hathaway. We didn’t have any interaction before, but Hathaway specifically called to talk to me about this, and we cleared everything up, we even became friends because of this."
"Of course, I think the next time Hathaway’s little boyfriend helps her choose roles, he should do it a bit faster, so as to avoid a lot of trouble."
Deng Kai, who was at the scene of the European Cup, also replied to Jolie during a pre-game media interview, "I did have some suggestions regarding Hathaway’s role selection, and I’m relieved that Hathaway took my proposal into serious consideration; it feels good to be valued."
"Of course, I also want to thank Angelina Jolie for her magnanimity in this matter. If you ever have a role that’s hard to decide on in the future, feel free to let me help you with that."
Deng Kai’s reply almost made North American entertainment reporters cry with laughter.
You’re a football player, what do you know about movies?
Helping Hathaway blindly choose is one thing, but now you want to meddle with Angelina Jolie?
She’s not your brainless little girlfriend.
It must be said, whether it was the supporting role in "The Lord of the Rings" that Deng Kai helped Hathaway pick, or the "Tomb Raider", the media were very skeptical.
Hathaway should be doing youth romance films, and after a few years, move on to pure romance films, the kind with some explicit scenes, and eventually do those real major explicit movies.
That’s the destiny of a young movie actress.
After all, Deng Kai is of Chinese descent, too conservative. His "selfishness" is bound to affect Hathaway’s development.
At the very least, Hathaway’s role in The Lord of the Rings won’t be remembered, and that "Tomb Raider" is bound to flop at the box office!
Definitely!
...
Once Hathaway’s role was set, she quickly joined the crew.
In contrast, the group stages of the European Cup ended with the powerful England and Germany teams being "eliminated."
They both went home.
Portugal and Romania from the same group successfully advanced to the knockout stages of the European Cup, becoming one of the top eight. It was the first time in history that the latter had made it to the European Cup knockout stages!
On the day they were eliminated, Beckham and Matthäus both made startling statements.
Matthäus: "Actually, when I called Deng Kai dozens of times and couldn’t get through, I had a premonition. I had resented him before, thinking how dare he not answer my calls."
"But now it seems that he just didn’t want to hurt me prematurely. I must apologize for the curses I had heaped on him in my heart. I now feel lost about my own future, it seems I can no longer bring victory to the team, whether it’s with Bayern, New York Metro Stars, or the German national team."
Beckham: "I’m really sad, but I also understand Victoria. Deng Kai initially told him that it would be very difficult for the England team to advance from the group stage, and Victoria, afraid that I would be upset, told me that England would make it to the semi-finals no matter what."
"I was wrong to have asked Deng Kai in the first place. It caused trouble for Deng Kai, Victoria, and myself. If there’s a major event next time, I won’t call Deng Kai."
"Because although learning in advance from him that the team would advance can be exhilarating, if you find out you’re going to be eliminated, I’m afraid no one can handle it well."
"Of course, I have to say, Deng Kai is really psychic."
Guardiola said the same, "Deng Kai is so psychic! Deng Kai, forever a god! The thing I’m most grateful for in my life is attending the Portugal Diamond Generation Invitational, which allowed me to discover the gem that is Deng Kai!"
"Some say his magic is in his predictions, but to me, he just really understands football! His understanding of football is in his marrow, so he can distinguish who is genuinely strong and who is falsely so. Who will go home after the group stage, and who can become the true champion!"
Reporter: "From what you’re saying, does Deng Kai think Spain can win the championship?"
Guardiola: "I really shouldn’t be telling you this, but I believe Deng Kai would understand me. Yes, Deng Kai told me that Spain has a very good chance of becoming the champions of this year’s European Cup!"
Reporter: "Unbelievable, this is definitely today’s headline, even more incredible than England and Germany going home! Did he mention anything else?"
Guardiola: "He’s very concerned about the physical condition of the Spanish players, he told us that if possible, try not to eat foie gras, macarons, escargot in garlic sauce, baguettes..."
Reporter: "Did you notice that all these foods he mentioned... are French?"
Guardiola was startled, and his brilliant smile, which had lasted for over a month, finally faded, "So, what you’re saying is, Kai is warning us to not face France? As long as we don’t meet France, we can win the championship?"
Many reporters, after analysis, felt that this was indeed the perfect reading comprehension: "It probably should be seen that way."
But France had also made it into the top eight of this year’s European Cup.
Guardiola shook his head: "France is indeed strong, if we really face France in the final, it certainly seems like our chances of winning would be much lower. But we still have confidence to defeat them, as for meeting France before the final... please, with so many teams, it’s not that easy to face France prematurely."
The next day, the groupings for the knockout stage of the European Cup were announced.
The Netherlands would face Yugoslavia.
Italy drew Romania.
Portugal engaged in a fierce battle with Turkey.
Spain... drew France.
At once, European football fans were in an uproar.
Really, France?
Spanish fans vaguely felt that something was amiss.
June 25th.
The match between France and Spain began.
