Chapter 349: How to Play an Elf Well

"Are you a reporter, miss?" the driver asked the blonde woman sitting in the back of the speeding taxi. "An entertainment reporter from America, right?"

'When did I get so famous? Or is "reporter" written on my face?' she wondered.

Sarah took off her sunglasses. "How did you guess?" she asked.

The taxi driver shrugged and turned onto a quiet road before answering. "Going by your accent, you must be from North America. Right now, there are only two kinds of North Americans heading to Blenheim."

He held up two fingers to the rearview mirror. "Members of The Lord of the Rings crew, and entertainment reporters. The crew has dedicated transport. Since you're in a cab, you must be an entertainment reporter."

Sarah laughed. "You're very observant. You should consider changing professions."

"It's not that I'm observant. It's just that I've seen way too many entertainment reporters over the past two weeks."

Taxi drivers everywhere were experts at small talk. "Between yesterday and today, you're the fifth reporter I've driven to Blenheim."

"Oh?" Sarah's interest was piqued. "That many people have gone out there?"

"I don't know much about Hollywood, but even I know Duke Rosenberg is one of the best directors in the world right now."

The driver was in full conversational mode. "The Lord of the Rings trilogy has a total budget of 350 million dollars. Add the fame of the original books, and is it really surprising that it's drawing all of you in?"

"Not surprising," Sarah agreed with a nod. She thought for a moment. "Do you go to Blenheim often?"

"Of course!" the driver said proudly. "I'm a Blenheim Town local. We have the best natural scenery in the world here; Blenheim Town is the ultimate tourist destination. Think about it—the fact that Duke Rosenberg chose to shoot the exteriors for The Shire in Blenheim says a lot."

He glanced at Sarah through the rearview mirror again and said mysteriously, "I'll let you in on a secret. Duke Rosenberg himself said that if The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a hit, Blenheim Town will become famous all over the world."

"Do you think the film will succeed?" Sarah asked.

"It'll definitely succeed," the driver said with absolute confidence. "It's directed by Duke Rosenberg."

'It seems everyone has absolute faith in him.'

Keeping the thought to herself, Sarah remembered the purpose of her trip and asked, "Do you have any recent news about the crew?"

Seeing the taxi driver suddenly focus entirely on the road, looking as though he hadn't heard a word she said, Sarah added, "If you have any information I'd be interested in..."

She raised an eyebrow at the rearview mirror.

The driver caught her drift immediately. Within a few sentences, they agreed on a price, and before the car reached their destination, he rattled off several valuable pieces of news.

"Word is that for the shoot, the crew attached 250,000 fake leaves to a single tree. And every evening, the director takes his two female assistants for a walk down Crown Street. I heard the new assistant is the daughter of some billionaire..."

Pulling out her notebook to jot down everything the driver said, Sarah felt her anticipation grow. While other reporters would find it nearly impossible to meet Duke Rosenberg, she had already made an appointment with Duke Studio before coming here. She was bound to dig up an exclusive scoop or two.

As an entertainment reporter with a keen nose for trends, Sarah had noticed Hollywood quietly shifting over the past few years. This was especially true on the internet, where feedback was extraordinarily fast. Directors were being treated like superstars, gradually amassing their own fan bases—some as rabid as any obsessive groupie.

James Cameron and Duke Rosenberg were undoubtedly the standouts. The latter had even launched a personal website. No one could say for sure just how big a role that site played in the massive box office success of The Matrix, but the entire industry agreed on one thing: this summer's smash hit, The Blair Witch Project, had effectively lifted its viral internet marketing playbook straight from The Matrix.

The horror film, which boasted a production budget of a mere 100,000 dollars against marketing costs of a staggering 25 million dollars, became a massive hit and was widely acknowledged as the greatest beneficiary of copying The Matrix's marketing strategy.

In fact, Sarah believed that without the blueprint of The Matrix's online marketing, The Blair Witch Project wouldn't have achieved such monumental success.

It was just a pity about its two directors...

Sighing softly, Sarah knew all too well from her time on the entertainment beat that the benefits those two directors reaped were extremely limited. Their cut of the profits was pitiful. It made perfect sense, of course—if they hadn't sold the film's rights to Lionsgate Pictures, why would Lionsgate sink tens of millions of dollars into marketing it?

The major studios in Hollywood weren't running charities!

The two directors might have made a name for themselves now, but Sarah wasn't optimistic about their futures. That utterly terrible movie, propped up entirely by marketing gimmicks and a massive promotional budget, had already drained their future credibility. Audiences would naturally expect their next film to be just as bad as The Blair Witch Project.

Even though the tabloid media hyped the duo as the next Duke Rosenberg-style success story, Sarah was certain that, barring a miracle, they wouldn't accomplish much going forward.

How many brilliant directors had ever made their name relying on such smoke-and-mirrors gimmicks? And of those who did, how many actually had a lasting future in the industry?

Stepping out of the taxi and walking toward the set, Sarah continued to mull over the thought. The quality of Duke's breakout films had been rock-solid. Even looking back at them now, they stood as absolute classics of the action genre. Since early December, the Los Angeles Times had been compiling lists of the best films of the 1990s across various genres. Based on the votes gathered so far, Speed and The Rock had both cracked the top five of the best action films of the decade, while The Matrix was dominating the top-ten sci-fi list with a commanding lead.

Even in the artsy drama category—supposedly his weakest genre—Chicago had managed to squeeze into the top ten!

How could a director who consistently churned out such classics ever be compared to hacks who survived by overdrawing their credibility?

With a disdainful snort, Sarah arrived at the production's base camp and quickly got in touch with the press officer. Thanks to her direct referral from Duke Studio, she barely had to lift a finger before being escorted onto the set of The Lord of the Rings, drawing envious glares from nearly a hundred fellow reporters waiting outside.

Once inside, Sarah adhered to the unspoken rules between the crew and the press. She didn't take any photographs; she simply watched and recorded everything with her pen and notebook. She jotted down anything of value, gathering the raw material she would later spin into captivating entertainment news for the public.

Upon reaching the perimeter of the active set, Sarah was instructed to halt. Filming was currently underway just ahead, so she found a slightly elevated spot, doing her best to locate the subject of her interview.

She soon spotted the director with his short dark brown hair. He stood behind the camera, apparently shooting some pastoral landscapes. Behind him stood a tall blonde girl who had to be his assistant.

As Sarah's gaze swept across the girl's face, she felt a vague sense of familiarity. Then it suddenly clicked—this was Donald Trump's daughter, the one the outside world had been buzzing about, wasn't she?

She couldn't help but marvel to herself. When it came to the sheer pedigree of personal assistants, no one in Hollywood could rival Duke. His previous assistant was Francis Coppola's daughter, Sofia Coppola, and his current one was the billionaire's daughter, Ivanka Trump...

The director, it seemed, never lacked appeal to women.

"Duke..."

Having just wrapped up a take, Duke heard Ivanka's voice coming from behind him. "The reporter from the Los Angeles Times is here."

"Mm." Duke nodded, turning to the cameraman beside him. "Dave, keep rolling."

He turned and walked over to Ivanka Trump. "Where is she? Make sure to coordinate with the press officer. Try to keep the interview as brief as possible."

"I've already spoken with Livni," she replied.

With that said, Ivanka fell into step beside Duke, and the two walked toward the perimeter of the set.

Sarah was an old acquaintance of Duke's. The fact that the Los Angeles Times had dispatched their current deputy editor of the entertainment section spoke volumes about their sincerity and the importance they placed on this interview.

The press officer had arranged for the interview to take place by the bridge over the Brandywine River. Seated on highly realistic prop tree stumps, the two of them began the brief, routine promotional interview.

Ever since their Super Show presentation, the production had maintained a steady hum of promotional buzz. In addition to releasing a steady stream of news and photos, they had also systematically arranged for the main cast and crew to give media interviews, further expanding public awareness of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Duke himself was no exception. His personal website, in particular, was updated with the latest photos from the set at regular intervals, drawing the attention of massive swaths of film fans.

Of course, as an incredibly busy director, Duke only checked in on the site occasionally. Just like all directors and stars would in the future, he had handed the management of his personal website over to a dedicated team.

He never underestimated how vital promotion was to a film's success.

So, Duke fully engaged himself in this brief interview, answering all the film-related questions Sarah threw his way.

Taking out her pen and notebook, Sarah led with her first question of the day. "Duke, what made you choose to bring The Lord of the Rings to the big screen? It's widely considered by Hollywood to be the most difficult work to adapt."

"I'm a massive fan of The Lord of the Rings. I love the series," Duke answered without a second thought. "Tolkien used his words to build an incredible magical world, drawing in readers from all across the globe. It resonated so powerfully that it left a massive cultural impact on society as a whole and birthed the entire fantasy genre."

Pausing briefly, Duke continued, "The Lord of the Rings changed the entire entertainment industry. When you look back, you realize that countless books, videos, role-playing games, video games, comics, and movies all trace their roots back to it. Thanks to Tolkien's inspiration, an unprecedentedly vibrant market was born."

"I've always believed that The Lord of the Rings trilogy was practically made for the big screen. But to faithfully capture the true essence of the original books, the trilogy was bound to be the largest-scale production in cinematic history. I felt that the time was finally right—with the rapid, groundbreaking leaps in visual effects, I finally have the chance to faithfully recreate the magnificent fantasy world Tolkien envisioned."

"Is that your goal in directing The Lord of the Rings trilogy?" Sarah asked.