Chapter 107

"You've been smiling so much lately. Did something good happen?" In New York Central Park, the crew had just gone on break. Duke looked at Scarlett Johansson, who grinned as she handed him a coffee, and felt something was slightly off. Ever since they had dinner together that night, her mood had been excellent. Especially when she looked at Naomi Watts, she would always break into an inexplicable, silly smile.

"Because you promised to take me to the Super Bowl," she said.

Tugging at her blonde hair, the little girl leaned on the back of Duke's chair. "When my godmother came over yesterday, she even promised to take me onto the field."

"You're not being honest, Scar." Duke knew this was all nonsense. He pointed at her. "A lying child's nose grows long."

"Then... I'll tell the truth," she said.

Her eyes darting playfully, Scarlett leaned in and whispered into Duke's ear, "Because you've been nicer to me lately. You're happy, so I'm happy."

"Really?" Duke didn't buy it.

"Hey, you're my brother." The little girl pouted in dissatisfaction. "If you're happy, of course I'm happy."

Although he still didn't believe a word the cunning little rascal said, Duke nodded anyway. During filming, he treated all actors equally. Neither Naomi Watts, with whom he had a physical relationship, nor Scarlett Johansson, who was closely connected to his family, would receive any special treatment.

"You have time now, right?" Scarlett moved to the front of his chair, grabbed Duke's sleeve, and pulled him up. "There's another crew filming over here. Let's go take a look."

Scarlett dragged Duke forward along the riverbank in Central Park. It wasn't long before they saw the camera setups and a bustling crowd. When he first arrived on set today, Duke had actually noticed another crew filming here. But Central Park was always a popular shooting location for Hollywood films, and the two groups were a fair distance apart, so he hadn't been curious enough to come over and look.

"I auditioned for this crew last year, too," she said.

Standing on the outskirts of the crowd, Scarlett pointed at a fat man behind a camera. "That's the director. Because I wasn't old enough, he dropped me in the very first round of auditions."

"Him?" Duke suddenly took an interest in the crew.

"That's him. A Frenchman," Scarlett confirmed. "In the end, he chose another girl from New York!"

"Look, that's the girl."

At some point, Scarlett had hopped onto a nearby stone bench. Pointing at a little girl who had left the crowd and walked under a large tree, she said, "She's full of tricks. That fat director originally eliminated her because of her age too, but she shamelessly blocked his path..."

The little rascal grumbled a whole string of complaints, clearly still holding a grudge over the results of last year's audition.

"Darling, opportunities always have to be fought for."

After watching the shoot for a little while, Duke lost interest. He gave Scarlett a tug and headed back. "Especially in Hollywood."

This little rascal beside him seemed to have plenty of schemes, but compared to the girl back there he knew of from the rumors, she didn't even come close.

"I want to fight for opportunities too." Scarlett jogged up from behind and grabbed Duke's sleeve. "Director Rosenberg, do I still have a chance to act in your movies?"

"That depends on my mood," he said.

Filming for Independence Day had gone smoother than expected and was gradually drawing to a close. Duke was in a good mood, so he took the rare chance to crack a joke. "If you can make it so the first thing I feel when I see you is happiness, rather than a headache over your mischief, I'll consider it."

"Oh, I understand." The little rascal followed closely on Duke's heels, nodding repeatedly. "I'll try my best to play the role of an earnest, hardworking, and cute girl in front of you."

'Play the role?' Duke turned to look at the grinning Scarlett and shook his head as he walked back toward the crew. Actually, lively, mischievous, and smart girls were quite cute most of the time.

Returning to where the crew was stationed, they made a simple adjustment to the camera positions, and Duke resumed filming. There weren't many scenes set in Central Park. Aside from getting some establishing shots, there were just a few relatively unimportant transitional scenes. The difficulty of the shoot wasn't high, yet it couldn't be called smooth, either. After all, this was Central Park. Tourists from all over the world gathered to watch, often bringing unexpected trouble to the crew.

Maintaining order was sometimes a massive headache, especially with out-of-town tourists. If they suddenly snapped a photo, the flash alone was enough to ruin a take and force a reshoot.

Then there were the reporters. Although the journalists tacitly followed the rule of not interrupting the shoot, Duke was no longer the unknown director he had once been. This was especially true now that the global box office for The Rock had slowly surpassed the $390 million mark and was charging toward $400 million, which was more than enough to make him a focal point for the entertainment media.

For the sake of promotion, and at Warner's urging, Duke would say a few words to the media during his breaks from filming, throwing out some juicy scoops to grab their attention.

The promotion of a commercial film generally reached its peak about one to two weeks before release, but the overall campaign would never rely solely on one type of media or method. Even the viral marketing that countless people would mythologize in the future couldn't work on its own. A film's promotional plan was always a long and complex process. Any star or big-name director was merely a chess piece in the campaign. An individual never played the decisive role; teamwork was always the eternal theme in the war of publicity.

Independence Day's primary promotional focus at the moment was the upcoming Super Bowl. Outside of his filming duties, Duke made a special trip back to Los Angeles. After communicating thoroughly with the special effects department, he edited together a 30-second commercial trailer.

Because of the chain reaction brought about by The Rock, trailers for quite a few films this year would appear during the Super Bowl halftime commercial slots. Among them were names Duke was extremely familiar with, such as True Lies and The Lion King.

As February arrived, Duke returned to New York, and the filming of Independence Day drew to a close. For a film that had been in preparation since September, the actual time spent shooting the actors wasn't much. Moreover, if the actors' performances were placed in front of professionals, they could only be described as a disaster. This was especially true of the male lead, Will Smith, and his exaggerated, comedic style. Even though the film was far from release, Duke could already imagine being torn to shreds by film critics when the time came.

However, none of that mattered. This was inherently a massive collection of the Summer Season's most vulgar tropes. Almost all of the cliché plot devices typically used in the Summer Season could be found in Independence Day in one form or another.

The crew's main actors left one after another. When filming entered the final scene, aside from the staff in various departments, the crew was left with only a dozen or so stunt performers and a batch of extras recruited in New York. Duke brought them to Eighth Boulevard in Manhattan to shoot the final sequence.

"Grace..."

Standing at the temporarily blocked intersection of Eighth Boulevard, Duke gathered all the stunt performers together. "You're driving the police car..."

Duke led them to the center of the intersection. "The police car will stop right here. After you get out, you'll look up at the sky in shock."

"Understood."

The middle-aged stunt actor nodded and continued walking forward with Duke.

As they walked across the road, Duke pointed to various positions and gave instructions. "Three taxis and two sedans rear-ending each other! Pay attention to the force of the collision!"

After circling the prepared stunt vehicles, the group returned to the intersection. Duke pointed at the truck on the left and said, "Martin, watch for the signal! Only come out and ram the police car after you see it!"

After the man earnestly agreed, Duke walked over to where the sound and camera crews were stationed. "John, the old method. Mount the cameras on the cars, especially the truck. Lana, record the live audio. I want the most authentic collision sounds possible."

Adjusting the camera angles, measuring the driving routes for the vehicles, and giving safety instructions to the "pedestrian" extras—Duke couldn't relax in the slightest before a shoot, just like always. He stayed busy for nearly two hours before finally returning to his spot behind the director's monitors.

"Duke, we need to hurry," Sofia Coppola said, walking over to remind him after sending off the representative from the New York City Government. "New York gets off work in two hours."

This was Manhattan, the most crowded place in the world. Duke naturally knew the relevant government departments couldn't give him too much time. After checking with the various departments, the shoot officially commenced.

A police car sped over. As if witnessing some unimaginable sight, it braked abruptly. The police officer leaped out of the vehicle and gazed up at the sky in astonishment, unconsciously stepping forward. A taxi coming from behind couldn't brake in time and crashed into the police car. Then, even more cars slammed into each other, making a massive pileup inevitable.

Just as the officer stepped away from the police car, a truck charged out laterally from the intersection, sending the police cruiser flying. However, the officer didn't even glance at his own vehicle, still staring at the sky in wonder...

Duke didn't yell cut. He watched the monitors intently. The collisions, the chaos, and the panic were all playing out exactly according to the planned scenario. The cameras scattered around were capturing the reactions of the pedestrian extras upon seeing the alien spaceship.

"Cut!"

Finally, Duke called a halt, and the chaotic Eighth Boulevard instantly returned to silence. Although there would still be a wrap party after the Super Bowl weekend, the crew had essentially fulfilled its mission.

There was no screaming excitement and no intimate hugs; there was only light, routine applause. Every Hollywood crew always concealed countless conflicts, and Independence Day was no exception. But as the crew disbanded, many of the conflicts Duke had suppressed faded away like passing clouds.

Under the urging of the city government representative, the crew hurriedly packed up the equipment and cleared the site. Duke personally delivered the film reels to a bank vault before returning to his hotel. He was preparing to temporarily enter vacation mode and fly to Atlanta to participate in North America's annual carnival feast—the Super Bowl.

And, of course, the Super Bowl halftime lingerie show.