Ronald’s words remained factual: “There are quite a few people in Hollywood who don’t like Jewish influence, but all of them have been suppressed and excluded by Jewish forces.”

Just think of Mel Gibson—a top star and Oscar-winning director—look how miserable he ended up.

Mentioning Jews, Mansell’s expression grew grave, but he also knew that anti-Semitic forces had always been prevalent in America.

The conflict between the Arab world and Jews is extremely sharp; the vast majority of the UAE’s military is meant to defend against Israel.

“My father, myself, and Sahara Entertainment all belong to the non-pro-Jewish faction in Hollywood.” Ronald wasn’t making this up; the Anderson family had almost no dealings with Jews: “The Anderson family has no Jewish blood whatsoever and has always kept its distance from Jews. In all the films we’ve produced, we’ve never spoken well of Jews.”

Except for “Against All Odds,” Sahara Entertainment’s productions are all typical grindhouse B-movies—these films focus on simplicity, absurdity, violence, and gore, and never mix in things like ethnic sentiment that might provoke audience resentment.

Ronald began to slowly mix in some embellishments with verifiable truths: “Since its founding, Sahara Entertainment has only ever received a total of two million dollars in loans from film industry investment capital deeply influenced by Jews—and all of it was asset-backed loans!”

A trace of indignation appeared on his face: “My father was extremely capable, but limited by funding, he couldn’t expand Sahara Entertainment.”

Old Anderson’s conservatism, coming from Ronald’s mouth, sounded completely different: “Many small companies founded at the same time as Sahara Entertainment have become mid-sized companies, but Sahara Entertainment? Funding and distribution channels have always been limited. After ten years, it’s still a small company, barely surviving by making direct-to-video films.”

“What about your father?” Mansell asked.

Ronald’s eyes reddened: “He died in an accident.”

Mansell quickly said, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right.” Ronald continued to embellish: “My father told me long ago that we should grow Sahara Entertainment and make big movies.”

He seemed like a model filial son: “That’s why, on impulse, I produced ‘Against All Odds’—I wanted to fulfill my father’s wish.”

Mansell comforted him: “You’ll definitely succeed in the future.”

Ronald said gravely, “If Hollywood weren’t controlled by Jewish forces, Sahara Entertainment would never be in this situation.”

He spoke the truth again: “I applied for support from the Producers Guild of Hollywood’s ‘Film Industry Allowance and Health Plan.’ Sahara Entertainment is a member of the Producers Guild and pays hefty dues every year. This plan is supposed to help companies and producers in the guild who are in trouble, but the guild’s power is in the hands of the big companies.”

A bit more embellishment: “The top executives of the big companies are basically all Jews. Since I and Sahara Entertainment refuse to cozy up to Jewish forces, we were rejected.”

Mansell nodded slowly, connecting Ronald’s words to the situation in the Middle East—Jews have always been like this.

Suddenly, he felt a sense of shared enmity.

Ronald continued, “The banks won’t lend, support can’t get through, so I can only raise funds to save myself. No matter how hard it is to raise money, I will never sing praises for Jews in my films.”

“Exactly right,” Mansell agreed. “If you bow to Jews whenever you face difficulties, they’ll only become more arrogant and domineering.”

From Mansell’s words and attitude, Ronald judged that at least nothing had gone wrong.

There was no other way; if you want to win the favor of Arabs, the simplest way is to make an issue out of the Jews.

“Mr. Anderson, I personally really appreciate your attitude toward Arab characters in the script.” Mansell changed the subject: “Why not let Arabs be the protagonists?”

Chapter 10: Eager for Fame

Let Arabs be the protagonists?

Ronald instantly became fully alert. Was Mansell testing him? Or did he really have this idea?

Either way, he had to give a reasonable explanation.

Ronald probed, “You want to improve the image of Arabs through Hollywood movies?”

“Hollywood movies have such a wide reach and huge influence, but they’re very unfriendly to Arabs,” Mansell said slowly. “Last year, I visited Paris and New York, and in both places, many people openly protested, calling us terrorists. Even the media mocked and ridiculed us.”

Ronald sighed lightly and said, “They’ve all been misled by people with ulterior motives.”

Mansell continued, “His Excellency the President is very angry. The UAE is an enlightened country and has a responsibility to improve the image of the Arab world.”

Ronald nodded slowly. “So you want Arabs to be the protagonists and positive characters in Hollywood movies?”

Mansell countered, “If Jews can, why can’t Arabs?”

As soon as he said this, Ronald immediately understood that Mansell wasn’t testing him—he really had this idea.

But in Hollywood movies, it’s always been that Jews can be protagonists, while Arabs can only be villains.

If he were just out to scam money, Ronald could agree without hesitation. But he genuinely wanted to complete “The Purge” project as the starting point of his career.

Therefore, Arabs absolutely could not be the protagonists.

Facing someone of Mansell’s status, he couldn’t make rash promises either.

After a brief thought, Ronald said, “It’s not very appropriate at this stage.”