Chapter 361: Tearing Apart a Person's Soul

Seventy million dollars. That was the production budget for Enemy at the Gates. With a cast led by rising stars Rachel Weisz and Jude Law, the film appeared to have plenty of box-office appeal. But after witnessing the collision between Godzilla and The Matrix, Michael Ovitz had come to a profound realization: the xenophobia of the North American film market was far more severe than he had imagined!

Between a World War II film about Soviets and one about the attack on Pearl Harbor, which would American audiences choose?

Although Disney would need to run an evaluation before deciding whether to place Pearl Harbor on this weekend, Michael Ovitz was certain they would make the exact same choice he had.

Leaving the reception room, Michael Ovitz made a point to walk alongside Michael Bay as they headed out of the Disney building.

He could tell that Michael Bay had some objections about changing the release schedule for Pearl Harbor, and it wasn't hard to guess what the long-faced director was thinking.

Michael Bay was a director he had just signed, and he was crucial to the entire Artists Management Company. Although the company boasted a renowned, top-tier director like Martin Scorsese, Old Martin's commercial box-office appeal was strictly average, offering very little actual help to the all-in-one packaging service Ovitz was pushing.

Unlike Martin Scorsese, Michael Bay was not only hailed as the Little Explosion Maniac, but his style was also similar to Duke Rosenberg's—he leaned heavily toward commercialization. Even Ovitz couldn't deny that packaging commercial films brought in far more revenue than any other genre.

No matter what, Ovitz valued Michael Bay tremendously.

"Don't be anxious. You'll have your day to face him directly."

They had just stepped out of the Disney building and were waiting for their car to arrive.

"Don't forget, he also has a movie coming out in next year's summer season," Ovitz told Michael Bay. "If Pearl Harbor can crush The Lord of the Rings in both box office and critical reception, that will be more than enough to prove yourself."

Michael Bay gave a solemn nod. He was brimming with confidence!

While Michael Bay fantasized about shedding the title of "second best" during next year's summer season, Duke had already plunged back into filming far away in New Zealand.

Returning to Wellington, he reviewed the footage shot by Anna Printz before splitting up with her once again. Anna went off to film Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas summoning the Army of the Dead, while Duke returned to the small city of Nelson. There, on a fully constructed set near a quarry, he shot the scenes related to Minas Tirith.

Just like the Hornburg, the Holy White City featured several different scale models, with the smallest miniature city built specifically for wide panoramic shots.

The sweltering heat had passed, leaving the New Zealand autumn skies clear and boundless. Up on the temporarily constructed walls, heavily armed Gondor soldiers stood in neat formations, staring straight ahead as if an Orc army truly stood right beneath them.

Of course, there was no Orc army. Standing just a short distance across from them were over twenty crew members. This jarring contrast made the scene look like a collision of eras.

Yet even more jarring was the fact that every single crew member held a bloody, severed Gondor soldier's "head" in their hands!

Sitting beneath a large patio umbrella, Duke received confirmation that all departments were ready and gave the clapper loader a hand signal.

The clapper loader held the slate in front of the camera lens. "Scene 413, Take 29, action!"

The crew members had long been in position. Upon hearing the unified command, they followed their previous rehearsals and began hurling the bloody silicone heads. One head after another traced an irregular arc through the air, sailing over the soldiers at the front of the wall and crashing down into the phalanx behind them. Caught off guard, the Gondor soldiers hastily raised their shields to block the projectiles. When they realized that the objects raining down were the severed heads of their comrades, terror slowly crept across their faces.

"Cut!" Duke pulled his eyes away from the monitor. "That's a print."

The Gondor soldiers needed to regroup before they could shoot the other scenes, so Duke could only wait patiently. This was a frequent occurrence on set—lengthy preparations followed by only a few brief shots. Still, the film's overall shooting schedule was actually moving much faster than planned.

This was primarily thanks to their extensive and thorough pre-production, as well as the fact that Duke, as the director, had never distanced himself from the prep work. Without all that, filming such a massive, complex epic trilogy would have been impossible.

Sitting beneath the umbrella, Duke watched a few assistant directors coordinate the extras. Aside from a handful of roles that required showing their faces on camera, the men playing these Gondor soldiers weren't actors or extras—they were actual military troops the production had borrowed from the New Zealand government!

This was another major factor in the smooth shoot. From the military to tax incentives to the management departments of various location sites, the production team had received tremendous support across the board.

Light footsteps approached from behind. Dressed in casual attire, Ivanka Trump climbed a flight of stairs and stepped onto the raised platform where Duke was seated.

"Something from Tina?" Duke glanced back at her.

Ivanka had just stepped away moments ago to answer a call from Tina Fey.

"She passed on a few pieces of news," Ivanka said. "Disney has changed the release date for Pearl Harbor. They've moved it up by two weekends..."

As she spoke, a look of genuine admiration surfaced in Ivanka's eyes. Having grown up in a business-oriented family and been heavily influenced by her father since childhood, there was nothing she admired more than a winner.

She certainly wasn't a film buff, but she knew that modern Disney had already completed its preliminary transformation into a media conglomerate. For them to proactively compromise for a single director was enough to prove just how powerful and successful that director was!

Furthermore, having come to work on his sets twice now, she was extremely clear on one point: the success of the director in front of her was not based on luck, nor was it a fluke!

If it were only in the realm of film, that would be one thing, but his acumen in the business world was nowhere near as poor as he made it appear!

Originally, Ivanka had simply considered him a highly successful director. But ever since Tina Fey began making frequent trips back to North America, Ivanka had gradually taken over his personal assistant duties, giving her access to many matters regarding his investments. Only then did she realize just how terrifyingly impressive the director's commercial achievements were.

She hadn't calculated it closely, but just from the documents she had received sporadically since last December, it seemed that after flipping his IT stock investments, he had made a profit of at least 200 million dollars.

For someone of her background, money was more like a numbers game. But it was a numbers game that represented the line between success and failure!

Since she was determined to enter the business world, Ivanka had never even considered the possibility of failure.

A director who could consistently triumph in film while simultaneously reaping massive profits in business was incredibly rare. If you narrowed the age range down to around thirty, there was likely only one in the entire world—and he was sitting right in front of her.

It was hard not to admire a man like that.

The young director across from her was hardworking, resolute, confident, elegant, cheerful, multi-talented, tall, handsome, and courageous...

Without realizing it, Ivanka had practically applied every word of praise in the dictionary to Duke. For a girl her age, mature, successful men were often the easiest objects of adoration.

Duke had no idea what his temporary assistant was thinking. His sole focus was still on his work.

"I remember Doug mentioning that the release schedule for May was extremely packed."

More accurately, finding a weekend with weak competition in May—or the entire summer season, for that matter—was fundamentally impossible.

"Which movie did Pearl Harbor end up crowding against?" Duke asked.

Ivanka immediately snapped back to reality. She was equally focused and diligent when it came to her work.

"Originally, Paramount Pictures had Enemy at the Gates slated for that weekend," she explained. "But after Disney announced their schedule change, Paramount shifted theirs as well, moving their film up to March."

"At least they aren't completely foolish," Duke murmured. Turning his attention back to matters that concerned his own project, he asked, "Out of the films that have been announced so far, which major productions are coming out around next year's Memorial Day?"

"After the release date for the first installment of The Lord of the Rings leaked, it wasn't just Pearl Harbor—several other big-budget films slated for that window adjusted their release dates too," Ivanka said. "On Memorial Day weekend, we won't have any competitors on our level, or even one to two tiers below us."

Ivanka looked at Duke once again. He had already achieved a level of power and success that forced his rivals to proactively yield.

"If nothing unexpected happens, the weekend before us is DreamWorks Animation Studio's Shrek, and the weekend after us is Paramount Pictures' Tomb Raider," she continued.

Both of those films packed considerable competitive power, but Duke didn't mind too much. This was the fiercely contested summer season. The idea of releasing a movie in complete peace and comfort was simply impossible.

Entering the summer season didn't just mean more audiences; it also meant incredibly intense market competition.

In today's society, did commercial activities without competition even exist?

"Also..."

The next shoot hadn't started yet.

Taking advantage of the downtime, Ivanka quickly added, "Tom Cruise sent an official invitation for you to attend the premiere of Mission: Impossible 2 in May."

Duke thought about it for a moment, then replied, "Tell him I'll be there."

Regardless of anything else, it was a film he had invested in. Showing up to support it was a mandatory choice.

There seemed to be an unusually large amount of business today.

Showing no sign of stopping, Ivanka continued, "There's a message from Nancy. The organizing committee for the Australian Open has sent you an invitation to participate in a few charity events."

"Hmm..."

After a brief moment of thought, Duke remembered. Someone from the Australian tennis association had invited him in person last year, but he had vaguely brushed them off.

Normally, Duke wouldn't mind taking a trip out there, but he had just given the crew a vacation and couldn't possibly leave again.

"Tell Nancy to send someone to attend on my behalf. As for any donations or charity auctions, she and Tina can discuss and handle it."

For these kinds of things, sending a proxy was more than enough. Duke gave Ivanka a few more instructions before diving right back into filming.

The Battle of Minas Tirith had only just begun.