Chapter 309: A Competition Between Explosion Maniacs

"Ohga, how could you do this?"

Michael Ovitz stormed into Shinobu Ohga's office, sat down across from him, and demanded harshly, "Why is Sony Columbia Pictures canceling preparations for the Godzilla sequel?"

Shinobu Ohga gave Michael Ovitz a cold look.

"Do you really not know why, Michael?"

He had dropped his usual welcoming smile for Ovitz; his face was tight.

"Yes, I know. Godzilla's box office numbers are falling short of expectations."

Michael Ovitz had faced that look countless times, and his thick skin made him completely immune.

"But I want to remind you," he said, "Godzilla's North American box office is nearing 100 million dollars. It will break that mark in just a few days. We still have the overseas numbers and merchandise. Recouping the budget and even turning a profit within the next year or two won't be a problem."

As he spoke, Shinobu Ohga's gaze gradually shifted from cold to mocking.

Michael Ovitz ignored it and continued, "Now that the first Godzilla has established a certain level of popularity in North America, the chances of a successful sequel have greatly increased. We shouldn't pull the plug now..."

Everyone in Hollywood knew that Sony Entertainment was incredibly ambitious, aiming to turn Godzilla into a franchise on par with Jurassic Park, and they had entrusted the packaging deal to him, Michael Ovitz. If the sequel was canceled, it would undoubtedly tell everyone in the industry that his package had been an utter failure. That was a situation he refused to see.

Despite Michael Ovitz's highly persuasive speech, Shinobu Ohga remained unmoved.

"Michael, just state your purpose directly," he said plainly.

"Continue the Godzilla franchise," Michael Ovitz said in a resonant voice. "Continue letting me package and run it!"

Shinobu Ohga suddenly smiled. He tapped lightly on his desk and said, "Actually, during Sony Entertainment's executive meeting, this project wasn't completely vetoed. The chairman's opinion was very clear."

"What opinion?" Michael Ovitz asked impatiently.

"Michael."

Shinobu Ohga stared closely at him and said with utmost seriousness, "As long as you can get Duke Rosenberg to direct the sequel, not only will Sony Entertainment continue the Godzilla sequel, but we will also hand the project over to you to package!"

'Bring in Duke Rosenberg?' Michael Ovitz frowned.

Agents had no need for pride. Swallowing his pride to beg Duke Rosenberg would mean absolutely nothing to him. But who in Hollywood didn't know the young director was currently preparing The Lord of the Rings trilogy? An epic masterpiece of that scale, combined with Duke Rosenberg's usual meticulous style, would inevitably consume a massive amount of time and energy. How could he possibly take on Godzilla—and a sequel, at that?

After going in circles, things had returned to square one. The answer Michael Ovitz ultimately received was that he had to seek out the very person who had caused his failure to solve his problem.

'Do I really have to make a trip to New Zealand?'

Leaving Sony Columbia Pictures, Michael Ovitz pondered exactly that.

Whether Michael Ovitz came to New Zealand or not, Duke's workload there wouldn't decrease in the slightest. After returning from North America, he first went to see a villa recommended by a real estate agent and promptly bought it. He would be stationed in New Zealand for the next few years, and living out of a hotel every day would drive anyone crazy.

With his housing settled, he returned to the set on the outskirts of Wellington. This modest film set had been completely contracted by The Lord of the Rings crew and Weta Studio. All kinds of preparatory work were proceeding in an orderly manner. Because Duke frequently traveled back and forth to this place, he was practically involved in the entire process, making timely adjustments based on the actual situation.

For example, the crew would not use Queenstown as their filming base, but instead use Wellington as the main shooting location, giving priority to its surrounding areas for location scouting.

Just as in the past year or so, all preparatory matters for The Lord of the Rings trilogy would eventually converge in the hands of Charles Roven and Tina Fey, with Duke making the final decisions.

Counting from when Duke first approached Weta Studio, preparations for The Lord of the Rings trilogy had been underway for over a year. Yet, the massive and complex workload was only about half done.

After Duke returned to Wellington, the first thing he had to do was finalize the main cast for both projects, especially the members of the Fellowship of the Ring. Jimmy Carter had already brought in a Western swordsmanship master and an archery coach from Scotland. Over the next six months or so, they would be responsible for training the Aragorns and Legolases.

Overall, casting for The Lord of the Rings wasn't hard to lock down. It wouldn't feature any A-list actors, and the ensemble cast didn't require massive superstars. Furthermore, the news Tina Fey brought him was that every single actor who received an audition invitation had accepted without exception. Starting this week, they would fly into New Zealand one after another to audition.

Strictly speaking, aside from Orlando Bloom, all of these candidates—even the underage Elijah Wood—had relatively rich acting experience. Their acting skills were absolutely above standard. Orlando Bloom, meanwhile, had a formal acting education. Even if his acting was just average, it wouldn't be unwatchable. And looking cool and handsome was the most important requirement for Legolas Greenleaf anyway.

If Tom Cruise was the one who popularized the concept of male eye candy, then Orlando Bloom's portrayal of Legolas pushed the box-office drawing power of male eye candy to its absolute peak.

In his past life, after the release of the first film, Peter Jackson had specifically gathered the crew for reshoots, and nearly half of those shots consisted of Legolas drawing his bow and shooting arrows...

Over the course of a week, Duke watched the auditions of all the invited actors. At top speed, he locked in Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, and Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, among others.

He then temporarily tossed the audition duties to casting director John and assistant director Anna Printz, leaving them to select the other minor roles alongside two other producers, while he threw himself into auditions for his new project.

The project's title was already finalized: Daylight. The name held a double meaning: first, the emergency situation between the robbers and the police during the bank heist; and second, the tense relationships between the various characters and their family members...

According to Duke's vision, this would be a film reflecting the impact of family on people, disguised under the cloak of a robbery.

"Don, if you were a police officer."

In the audition room, Duke asked the black man in front of the camera lens, "Faced with two ruthless robbers armed with automatic rifles, what would you do?"

"Find a way to protect myself," Don Cheadle said without hesitation, "and call for backup."

This wasn't Don Cheadle's first time working with him. He had appeared in Independence Day a few years ago, though he was just an extra with a few frontal shots. He had been drifting up and down in Hollywood these past few years. Compared to black comedic stars like Will Smith, his acting skills were considered quite excellent.

Duke nodded to Tina Fey beside him.

"Mr. Cheadle, the audition ends here," the assistant immediately said. "We will notify your agent of the results as soon as possible."

After Don Cheadle left, Tina Fey lowered her voice and asked, "Is it him?"

"Remember to notify Dario to go negotiate with his agent." The man Duke mentioned was the production manager Warner Brothers had assigned to this project.

Since the film had a multi-linear narrative, it would naturally be an ensemble piece, and the black police officer would be one of the many main characters.

In most mainstream Hollywood films, black characters were indispensable, often occupying a considerable amount of weight in the story.

In fact, upon careful observation, it wasn't hard to realize that within the assembly-line factory of Hollywood, formulaic cast setups were incredibly prominent. For example, in major commercial productions, there would generally be a male lead who simply couldn't be killed no matter how much he was beaten, a busty, brainless, and highly attractive female eye candy, one or two little brats who would drag everyone down, and a black character who always played a crucial role at key moments but never died...

In short, if one didn't want to turn the film into a cult classic or something non-mainstream, certain formulaic elements were unavoidable.

Later, Duke also met with Liam Neeson, who came to audition, and had a detailed discussion with him. This tall actor could be said to be the biggest star among the cast members. His acting skills were absolutely not a problem, and in order to star in Duke's film, he had also agreed to lower his salary.

Although his reduced salary was still 1.5 million dollars, Duke decided to use him for the most heavily weighted police officer role.

"The script will be in your hands very soon."

Standing on the set, watching the Bank of America Los Angeles Branch under construction, Duke chatted with Liam Neeson about the upcoming collaboration. The two were old acquaintances.

"Your character is a single father experiencing a family crisis, with a daughter going through her rebellious phase," Duke added.

"And my prototype is?" Liam Neeson also knew about that famous robbery.

"I'll hand his files over to you along with the script." Duke thought for a moment, then added, "This is only a movie adapted from the North Hollywood bank robbery. There will inevitably be discrepancies between the characters and the real people. The files are merely for reference."

Hollywood had filmed countless biographical movies or films adapted from true events. For their own purposes and to attract audiences, which of them truly matched the facts?

For this type of film, having even fifty percent of it rooted in fact was already incredibly rare.

In fact, a considerable number of them merely borrowed the names of people or events, only to completely fabricate the rest according to Hollywood rules.

"Also, Liam."

As the actor prepared to take his leave, Duke reminded him.

"Once the contract is finalized, I want you back in Wellington as soon as possible. You need to undergo professional police training."

Despite being far away in New Zealand, the Los Angeles County Police Department showed immense enthusiasm for this film. They had provided professional armorers and training personnel. Their goal was very simple: they wanted to use this film to influence the media, the public, and the state government, fighting for the right of ordinary patrol officers to be equipped with semi-automatic or even automatic weapons.

Most states in America prohibited the possession of automatic weapons, but in this country overflowing with guns, incidents where criminals suppressed dozens of police officers with automatic firepower so heavily that they couldn't even lift their heads were common. The North Hollywood robbery was not the first time, and it absolutely wouldn't be the last.

While walking toward the set's production office, Duke suddenly remembered something else.

"Tina, get in touch with the management at Victoria's Secret later. I want the Angels to appear in my film."