Chapter 323: Ellen Page's Gift

For most people, the distant past lay too far outside their current plans and was easily set aside. Those memories would only leap back to the surface when triggered by a person or event—which was exactly what had just happened to Duke.

He must have heard Ian McKellen mention X-Men and Magneto in the past, but he hadn't taken it to heart. It wasn't until he needed a suitable investment target and was nudged by the roles of "Gandalf" and "Magneto" that they finally caught his attention.

Still, this just proved he was one of the countless ordinary people in the world; his brain wasn't necessarily any sharper than anyone else's.

What did X-Men represent?

Duke subsequently had Tina Fey look into it. X-Men still belonged to Twentieth Century Fox, and the film rights to a certain little spider were firmly in the grip of Sony Columbia Pictures. Furthermore, after the Godzilla franchise stalled, Sony Entertainment was preparing to push Spider-Man onto the big screen.

After learning the current status of these superheroes, Duke naturally turned his gaze toward their parent company—the mortal enemy of Warner Brothers' DC Comics, known as Marvel Comics.

The company had filed for bankruptcy protection a few years ago, and now they were scraping by just by selling off the film rights to their superheroes.

Ever since Batman and Robin suffered a catastrophic failure at the box office and in audience reception, superhero films—which had never occupied the mainstream market to begin with—had virtually vanished from Hollywood. With his memories of Marvel now awakened, Duke knew that X-Men would change all of this. When Spider-Man hit theaters, the Marvel heroes, born with various flaws and ordinary troubles, would truly shine alongside advancements in special effects, eventually dominating the commercial film market.

Even further down the line, Marvel Pictures would become the most dynamic and profitable production company in Hollywood over the next decade.

Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America...

Thinking of this, Duke suddenly realized something. Perhaps because Scarlett Johansson appeared beside his mother so often, he had grown too accustomed to her, completely forgetting about Agent Natasha Romanoff.

That was today's Marvel Comics, the Marvel of the future.

Having locked onto his goal, Duke once again sent Tina Fey back to North America, instructing her to work with David to investigate and make contact with Marvel.

Of course, Duke didn't plan on buying Marvel outright. For one, he couldn't possibly dump all his cash flow into it. For another, Marvel's management wasn't stupid enough to sell themselves to a director or a small film studio.

Not to mention, the backer behind his particular film studio was the parent company of their mortal enemy.

Marvel's management and shareholders certainly entertained the idea of selling themselves, but who they sold to mattered.

Duke only had his people reach out to see if Marvel had any thoughts of seeking financing or accepting outside investment to escape their current predicament.

According to the preliminary information Tina Fey had gathered, Marvel was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. If they hadn't relied on selling off character rights, they likely wouldn't have survived this long.

Just like countless investment firms large and small across North America, Duke wanted to invest in Marvel, hold a portion of the shares, and wait for a massive potential return.

How much did Walt Disney finally spend to acquire Marvel Comics? Duke couldn't remember exactly, but it had to be in the billions of dollars.

Afterward, Duke turned his focus back to the post-production of Daylight. Having the opportunity to invest in Marvel was a stroke of luck; if the chance didn't pan out, he couldn't force it.

After all, he wasn't the center of the universe.

Around mid-February, David officially made contact with Marvel. Ever since the comic industry's harsh winter began in 1995, Marvel had suffered capital withdrawals from several large investment firms. Although filing for bankruptcy protection kept them from truly falling into the abyss, it caused the investment market to lose faith in them. Aside from selling off hero film rights, their only other option was to use the copyrights of their famous characters as collateral for bank loans.

However, Marvel's superhero films had never succeeded on the big screen. Their print copyrights alone simply couldn't secure much money from the banks.

Marvel's predicament arguably laid the foundation for an investment partnership between the two parties, but the investment amount and the resulting share changes would require a lengthy process of negotiation and haggling.

Naturally, professionals would handle these matters. Duke had never relaxed his oversight measures; when it came to commercial transactions involving massive sums of money, he wouldn't easily trust anyone—not even Tina Fey.

As mid-February approached, the post-production editing for Daylight went far smoother than expected under the joint efforts of Duke and Mike Dawson. Both of their skills had been thoroughly honed through past productions. After getting past the initial adjustment phase, their actual progress consistently remained far ahead of schedule.

On February 20th, after the opening and closing credits were added, all production work on Daylight was officially complete.

Warner Brothers dispatched a special team to escort the film back to Los Angeles in preparation for test screenings and copy production. Duke wouldn't be returning to North America for the time being; a significant amount of the pre-production work for The Lord of the Rings trilogy had also reached its final stages and required his personal oversight.

After over a year of lengthy preparation, and following the immense time and energy poured in by the crew across every position, the pre-production for The Lord of the Rings trilogy was nearing completion.

This was a massive and complex undertaking. After The Lord of the Rings Studio officially established itself in Wellington, Duke and Robin Grande began their final review of all the completed tasks.

Even just conducting a review was an arduous task. The sheer number of aspects involved in The Lord of the Rings trilogy was staggering.

Setting everything else aside, the wardrobe alone—designing distinct clothing styles and looks for every single race in Middle-earth—was no easy feat.

The production would feature hundreds, even thousands, of characters portrayed by real actors. They belonged to nine different races, each with distinct body types and cultures. Each culture averaged about five hundred costumes. This staggering volume alone was jaw-dropping. Over the past year, the costume designer had led a team of more than eighty tailors, embroiderers, cobblers, and jewelers, sewing beautiful yet functional outfits for every single character.

According to the shooting schedule, many characters required two identical sets of costumes: one for the actor, and another for a differently proportioned body double.

The costumes for just a few of the lead actors could fill an entire truck—Frodo had 64 outfits, Aragorn had 50, and the Ringwraiths had 30. The nine members of The Fellowship of the Ring required 150 travel bags... and their doubles averaged 20 costumes each!

If a director didn't participate in pre-production and just tossed everything to others, a mere wardrobe issue would be enough to cause lengthy delays during filming.

When shooting a film, wasting time was synonymous with needlessly burning through massive amounts of money.

As for those rumored directors who never participated in pre-production, simply waiting for their deputies to finish the prep work before waltzing in to shoot a massive blockbuster—Duke figured there were only two possibilities: either God had personally descended, or Satan had manifested.

Even during this final review, when Duke walked into the costume warehouse, his costume designer continuously explained the design concepts and clothing materials, ensuring that Duke would have a firm grasp of everything during filming.

Walking over to a cluster of twenty-some plastic mannequins that stood only about half the height of a normal person, costume designer Ngila Dickson pointed at the hobbit clothing on them and began her explanation.

"Hobbits revere nature. When making these costumes, we used a large amount of natural materials like linen. The design drew inspiration from ancient European styles, with the clothing primarily featuring natural colors like green, yellow, and brown."

She walked over, touching the accessories on the garments, and added, "Duke, you said the costumes needed to highlight the comical and playful side of the hobbit personality. I added some quirky and striking details—for example, their trousers and sleeves are quite short, the buttons are oversized, and the collars are asymmetrical. I purposely sewed their pockets a bit higher, so when they shove their hands into their pockets, it looks really funny."

As she spoke, Ngila Dickson even mimed the motion, drawing laughs from both Duke and Charles Roven.

The elf costumes they examined next featured an entirely different style to showcase their elegant temperament. The colors Ngila Dickson used included mossy greens, bark-like browns, and light crimson, bringing out an androgynous aura and an antique texture.

After circling the warehouse for the better part of a lap, Duke found himself generally satisfied with the design and production of the vast majority of the costumes, thanks to their ample communication during the prior work phases. The wardrobe team had indeed done an outstanding job.

However, when he arrived before the mannequin representing Gandalf, Duke frowned. He walked over and took off the wizard hat. While the hat inherited the usual traditions of a European wizard's hat, it was somewhat too large.

"This is just a prototype..." Ngila Dickson came over and said.

Duke placed the hat back and said, "Ngila, I want Gandalf's wizard hat to be an impressive accessory. It should look ancient and magical, but not overly exaggerated. When placed on the wizard's head, this current design of yours looks like a massive ship."

Thinking for a moment, Duke added, "Scrap the design and start over. I need a wizard hat that is both functional and exudes a sense of mystery."

Ngila Dickson immediately noted it down in her work log.

Lastly, Duke looked at the costumes for the film's two most important female characters: Galadriel and Arwen Evenstar.

Per Duke's requirements, their clothing not only had to display a metallic sheen, but also needed to be sufficiently flowy, making the female leads appear almost like angels of Middle-earth in the film.

As for the Elven Queen's wardrobe, Duke had already seen Cate Blanchett's makeup and costume photos, and the overall effect was quite excellent. But for Arwen Evenstar...

The actress playing Arwen Evenstar had still not been finalized. Duke had no intention of casting the previous model; her bloated and bulky figure completely contradicted the slender, ethereal design of an elf.