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"Hey, Eric, I have watched all your films. They are all common except Running out of Time."
"Thanks for your appreciation, Elizabeth."
"I am not praising you," the girl said angrily. "I am just curious about why quite a few of your films have become a huge box office success. It is an interesting topic and I am going to use it in my thesis."
"Do you major in communication?" Eric asked, making a guess based on the girl's family background.
"Of course. I am studying in Va.s.sar College, New York and will graduate next year."
Eric just nodded without making any comments. Although he possessed the body now and could remember most of the things, he could not recall the 8 universities in the Ivy League, let alone Va.s.sar College.
The girl was dissatisfied with Eric's reaction and asked:"Haven't you heard of Va.s.sar College?"
Eric replied:"Elizabeth, in fact, I am just a senior high school graduate and cannot even remember the names of the Ivy League, so..."
"Fine," the girl shrugged her shoulders and became even more interested in Eric. A young man that had not gone to college could make such an achievement in such a short time. How strange it was!
The senior managers of Universal Picture and MGM arrived at almost 2 o'clock. After everyone was there, the staff ushered them into a luxury video hall in the Sunset Hotel.
Eric just nodded at Virginia and others and then sat in the first row. By his side were Michael Eisner and Paramount's President Nade Tarn. There were altogether 8 seats in the first row and the remaining ones were occupied by senior managers of 5 other major film companies.
Elizabeth Murdoch was an uninvited guest. She did not want to cause trouble for the staff and just sat in the back row among the crews of The Others and Steel Magnolias. She even moved closer to Julia.
Julia took a look at this strange girl that had suddenly appeared by her side and felt a little strange. She did not know who the girl was. Eric was quite a playboy so it was easy for Julia to link Elizabeth with Virginia. Then she became somewhat hostile towards the girl.
Julia had made up her mind to break up with Eric, but he had surely left a deep imprint on her. Such an imprint had even stimulated Julia to compare other men with Eric. Then her romantic relationship with them was unlikely to last for long.
Dylan McDermott played the role of Julia's husband in Steel Magnolias. He had been courting Julia during the shooting. He was a tall and handsome man who had graduated from the School of Drama in Fordham University, a private college in New York. Moreover, the man was talented, mild and considerate, showing a stark contrast with Eric who was always overbearing. So Julia had tried to get on with Dylan. After the shooting, however, the imprint left by Eric ruined the romantic relationship between them. All ended up in vain.
These days Julia had been bearing a resentment towards Eric, since she thought that Eric had influenced her private life. In order to weaken the influence, she had never seen Eric after the shooting of Steel Magnolias, even though they were in the same city of Los Angeles.
While the staff were preparing for the show, Elizabeth Murdoch greeted Julia. After being acknowledged, Elizabeth asked softly as if they were friends:"Julia, what do you think of Eric Williams?"
"He is a real jerk!" Julia directly blurted it out without even thinking. Elizabeth's approach had somehow put her in a bad mood.
"..." Elizabeth looked at Julia, confused and wordless.
Julia spoke in a low voice and others were chatting softly, so her words were heard by only several persons around. Sitting by Julia was Sally Field who could not help laughing. Sally had similar experiences and heard about the affairs between Julia and Eric. Thus, she could surely sense a woman's jealousy hidden in Julia's words.
Julia realized what she had just said and blushed scarlet, trying to find a place where she could hide herself. Fortunately, the video hall became darkened. Not until then did Julia draw a deep breath.
Elizabeth Murdoch sat straight and could not help but glance at Julia several times before focusing her attention on the screen.
Since Eric prioritized The Others among the 3 films he had invested in, it was naturally arranged in the latter half of the show as the highlight. The first movie to put on show was Herbert Ross's Steel Magnolias.
Steel Magnolias was featured by plots characterized of trivia. The whole film was centered around the daily life of 6 women and the highlights included the Eatentons' wedding, Easter, Christmas, the New Year and funerals. Although Herbert Ross had added some comic elements, it was a drama film on the whole.
The movie started with the wedding of Shelby Eatenton, a role played by Julia. Minutes of narration combined with trivia presented to the audience the images of 6 women with distinct characteristics.
Shelby's wedding was followed by the New Year. The hairdresser named Annelle was no longer shy or self-abased like she used to. She got to know a waiter at the wedding and the two fell in love and started living together soon. Annelle felt that all was a G.o.d-given gift and treasured her life a lot. For this, she began to embrace Christianity hectically and kept on praying all the time. Shelby suffered from hyperinsulinemia, a disease that was in stark contrast with diabetes. The illness could cause hypoglycemia and the patient would faint in an attack. So the doctor advised Shelby never to give birth.
After marriage, Shelby's medical certificate showed that she could not adopt children. Then she tried to get pregnant without telling her parents.
Life went on slowly and Shelby gave birth to her child smoothly. However, another nightmare befell the family.
Due to her delivery, Shelby suffered from serious kidney failure. In this case, her strict mother tried to save her by giving one kidney.
The operation was successful and Shelby seemed to go back to her normal life. Her son was growing up gradually and she continued to devote herself to her beloved work. However, life was not all roses. One day, Shelby fainted on the floor while taking care of her son at home.
After she was sent to hospital, the poor woman could only stay alive with the help of life support apparatus. Shelby's mother was staying by her side all day and all night, only to find her incurable. Eventually, Shelby's father signed his name on some papers and the apparatus was removed.