Chapter 348: Slaying the New York Tycoon

Duke had just returned to Wellington when he heard some bad news. The previously smooth-sailing production had encountered its biggest setback since filming began: a major cast member had asked to leave the crew.

"The most pressing issue right now is finding a suitable actor to replace her!"

Filming had just wrapped up for the time being in front of the magnificent Rivendell sets. Taking advantage of the break, Duke called over Charles Roven and a few other production heads.

"Swordplay is easy to handle; we can use a stunt double the whole time," Duke said. "The key is that the actor's aura must match the character's settings."

He turned to the production manager. "Charles, terminate her contract as soon as possible."

"I'm communicating with her agent," Charles Roven said. His capability was definitely trustworthy.

Duke rubbed his forehead. There was no helping it. Let alone a production as massive as The Lord of the Rings, even small indie film crews encountered unexpected situations from time to time during a shoot.

"Duke..."

The speaker was Anna Printz, who had rushed back specifically from the location shoot. The departing actor was tied to the scenes she was about to take charge of directing.

"I recommend we choose a replacement from the actors who already auditioned," she said.

"That's all we can do," Duke said with a nod. "Anna, you take charge of this."

In truth, the situation wasn't complicated. Anna Printz was about to shoot scenes involving the Princess of Rohan, Éowyn. The Australian actress cast for the role, Miranda Otto, had already prepared to join the set. Who could have known that just a few days ago, she would get into a car accident in Australia? With several fractures in her arm and leg, she had no choice but to exit the production.

The people around them gradually dispersed. Nancy Josephson, who had been standing on the periphery with Tina Fey and Cate Blanchett, walked over.

"Duke," she said in a low voice. "Can I recommend a candidate?"

"Go ahead." Duke turned his head, watching the set workers busily arranging Rivendell's Council of Elrond set. "Did you sign a new actor?"

"No." Nancy shook her head. "Someone who's worked with you before."

"Oh?"

Retracting his gaze, Duke looked at her. "Who is it?"

"Kate Beckinsale."

In this regard, Nancy Josephson was absolutely a qualified agent, always fighting for every possible opportunity for her clients.

"I think Éowyn suits her quite well," she added.

"Nancy, even though this character leans toward being eye candy overall," Duke said, refusing outright without a second thought, "some of her scenes are still extremely important. I don't want to use an actor with a poker face."

During their last collaboration, Kate Beckinsale's terrible acting had left Duke with an extremely poor impression.

Éowyn was indeed a bit of an eye-candy role, but in Hollywood films, there was a difference between one type of eye candy and another. Beckinsale was better suited for expressionless vampires or pure eye-candy roles with very low acting requirements.

Seeing that Duke had such an abysmal impression of Kate Beckinsale's acting, Nancy said no more. After all, the weight of Duke's words was far heavier than the future of a minor actor on her roster.

This suddenly vacant role carried considerable weight in the film. Not long after Nancy left, taking advantage of Duke's brief moment of free time, Cate Blanchett walked over.

"You have an actor to recommend too?" Duke asked when he saw her tall figure.

Blanchett smiled softly. "Remember Ella Fisher, who you met at my house, Duke?"

"Her?" Duke frowned in thought for a moment before remembering who she was. He gave Blanchett a nod. "Cate, leave her contact info with Tina. Tell her to get ready to come to Wellington for an audition."

"Thank you." Blanchett leaned close to Duke's ear. "My Lord Sauron."

Duke replied with a strictly business attitude, "I can only give her an audition. I can't guarantee anything else."

Speaking of which, he was mildly curious. "What's your relationship with her?"

Under most circumstances, Hollywood actresses rarely possessed such kindness and generosity.

"Ella is sort of a cousin of mine," Blanchett explained.

Ending their brief conversation, Duke threw himself back into his work. The representatives of the various races participating in the Council of Elrond had mostly finished their makeup and were waiting in the rest area. The set arrangement was also nearing completion.

After taking a lap around the shooting location, Duke returned behind the monitors, looked at the leaves piled all over the set, and called over the head of the props department.

"Bill, get your people up on the lifts to scatter the falling leaves," Duke ordered.

Just as the props head was about to leave, Duke patted his arm and instructed, "Six people!"

Although the Council of Elrond was very long, it was broken up into many short takes for filming. During this, the hobbit roles had to switch back and forth between the main actors and body doubles. When Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood appeared in a close-up shot together, the crew also had to elevate the spot where Ian McKellen stood to highlight the difference between nine feet and four feet.

Then came the leaf-scattering task Duke had emphasized.

During this council, Rivendell's leaves needed to fall continuously to imply the ever-expanding reach of evil forces. This meant six crew members had to stand on cranes positioned around the set, constantly tossing leaves.

Though it seemed like an inconspicuous task, the crew had begun preparing for it long ago.

The falling leaves were all collected bag by bag by the crew during autumn. However, once detached from the trees, the leaves quickly withered and turned yellow, looking nothing like fresh foliage. So, the props department re-dyed every single leaf, which resulted in the massive amount of fallen leaves used in this scene.

Shooting a movie was never a simple matter, nor was it a job where having a brilliant script or an excellent director could solve everything.

Duke spent two whole days shooting just this one council. Then, he moved to another soundstage to continue filming the Lothlorien scenes from earlier. Some shots simply couldn't be resolved on location; they required the controlled environment of a soundstage, utilizing props and bluescreens to achieve a superior result.

Most of the trees in the Golden Forest were realized by the crew through props and sets. Often, after a brief shoot, these meticulously crafted props and sets—much like the massive Titanic model ship James Cameron had spent a fortune to build—would merely become trash, disposed of as scrap.

Whenever this happened, the people in the props and art direction departments always felt a twinge of reluctance. After all, too much of their blood, sweat, and tears had been poured into them.

This also showed how the pre-production time for the vast majority of films was often several times, or even over a dozen times, longer than the actual filming.

It wasn't too obvious yet, but in a few more years, a budget of 100 million dollars would become the baseline for mainstream commercial films. Movies would rely far more heavily on visual effects for box office success, and Hollywood production cycles would stretch out accordingly. One year of pre-production, one year of filming and post-production, and one year of marketing and release would become the standard workflow.

Most directors would even be rigidly locked into this cycle. Massive investments meant studios would never treat the production process as a joke. Save for a select group of top-tier directors, everyone else had to adhere to Hollywood's assembly-line model.

In fact, top-tier directors like James Cameron and Steven Spielberg were themselves the epitome of consistent success under this standard Hollywood model.

To put it bluntly, if it weren't for his cheat, Duke wouldn't be able to maintain a production pace of roughly one film a year.

Moreover, this pace had nearly pushed him to his limits. Even if he could handle it, the other people on the crew couldn't.

One had to remember, films were always the product of teamwork, not a one-man show run entirely by the director.

Though sudden emergencies popped up occasionally, the shooting schedule remained firmly under Duke's control. Over the past few days, they had been shooting the Lothlorien scenes on the soundstage. After wrapping up each day's shoot, he still had to review the footage Anna Printz had completed on the other soundstage.

With Zack Snyder officially leaving the crew to prep for The Matrix sequels, Anna Printz had naturally taken over the role of first assistant director, working hand-in-hand with Duke to share the heavy filming workload.

The trilogy required an astronomical number of shots. Duke had discussed having John Schwartzman lead a separate unit, but the increasingly plump director of photography had no intention of becoming an independent director. He just wanted to safely remain one of Hollywood's top cinematographers.

"We've worked together for years, Duke," he had said to Duke. "I know how much effort and energy you've put in to get to where you are today, and how much pressure you bear. The profession of a director is just too terrifying for me. That exhausting workload and the omnipresent stress would crush me."

Since he couldn't force the matter, and Duke couldn't find a second suitable candidate on short notice, the production had no choice but to continue shooting split into two units.

The Lothlorien scenes on the soundstage took a little over a week to finish filming, and the constructed sets were about to be dismantled.

Right before demolition, the head of the props department, Bill, specifically stood there to shoot a commemorative behind-the-scenes featurette for the archives.

Facing the props and sets that were about to be turned into ruins, he was deeply moved. "It took us eight months to build these sets and props, but the filming time was no more than eight days. Now that we're done shooting, these beautiful trees and this forest will vanish. But for generations of audiences, it will live on forever in the film."

One could only say that this was filmmaking.

The process of making many big-budget films was often an enterprise that generated massive amounts of waste.

Afterward, Duke attended another round of auditions for the role of Éowyn. Ultimately, he took Anna Printz's opinions heavily into account; after all, Anna would be the one filming the majority of Éowyn's scenes.

Their opinions were quite aligned, without much disagreement. Out of the three actors who participated in the second audition, they chose Ella Fisher, whom Cate Blanchett had recommended, and notified her to report to the set as soon as possible.

With Queen Galadriel's scenes complete, Cate Blanchett also became the first official cast member to bid farewell to the crew. Following their initial agreement, Duke gave her the elven queen's crown and her white costume as commemorative gifts.

However, he had made sure to have two sets of the Queen's costume prepared.