Chapter 372: That Mountain Called Duke

In the first installment of The Lord of the Rings, the sequence where the Nine Ringwraiths chased Arwen was quite thrilling, arguably one of the film's highlights. But after Arwen crossed the Brandywine River, the moment she borrowed her people's power to summon the water and wash away the Ringwraiths looked a bit fake on screen.

According to the original novel's lore, the Ringwraiths truly feared fire and water. This was exactly how Aragorn, fighting entirely alone, used fire to drive several of them away. Yet when Arwen stood on the bank of the Brandywine River and the summoned water rushed toward the Ringwraiths, they were clearly closer to the opposite shore. Instead of running for the far side, they fled down the riverbed and were completely washed away...

In life, the Nine Ringwraiths were supposedly outstanding human kings. Even before being reinforced and empowered by Sauron's magic as they were in Return of the King, they couldn't possibly be that braindead.

Therefore, when Duke saw that their prepared location had dwindled to a dry ditch in the low-water season, he abandoned it without hesitation. He traveled nearly a hundred miles to film at another river—one no more than four feet deep, but plenty wide.

The crew set up a blue screen directly upstream so CGI water could be added in post-production. The stuntmen playing the Nine Ringwraiths, along with Alessandra Ambrosio and her stunt double, were all ready.

The horseback chase across the plains had already been filmed when Ambrosio first joined the set. Now, they only needed to shoot the scenes involving the Brandywine River.

It wasn't actually difficult. Ambrosio's stunt double rode her horse across the river to face the Nine Ringwraiths from the opposite bank. Duke called a print after just two takes, and then it was Alessandra Ambrosio's turn to step in herself.

Though she didn't know how to gallop on horseback, standing by the river was no problem at all. The Frodo on the horse was also a silicone dummy, so it was relatively easy to manage.

After reminding John Schwartzman to focus on the water splashing from the hooves as the Ringwraiths charged, Duke walked over to Alessandra Ambrosio, who was standing in front of the white horse.

"How is the practice going, Corinne?" Duke asked.

"Didn't you already hear it last night?" she asked, blinking innocently. "Did it sound right?"

The two had essentially spent the past few nights together. Duke was never the type to shy away from what he had done. Before stepping away, he gave her a warning.

"Make sure to use a British accent!"

Arwen summoned the water here using Quenya. Duke intended to record the audio on set, which was why he had gone over to remind her one more time.

Returning behind the director's camera, Duke checked on the preparations of the various departments with the assistant director, then nodded at the clapper loader.

"Scene nine hundred forty-two, take eleven, action!"

Dressed in a moss-green fitted warrior outfit, Alessandra Ambrosio sat on the white horse. With one arm wrapped around the silicone dummy of Frodo, she drew her curved sword with the other, faintly facing off against the Nine Ringwraiths across the Brandywine River.

"If you want him, come and claim him!"

Murderous intent covered Alessandra Ambrosio's pretty face.

The Nine Ringwraiths drew their swords simultaneously and charged into the Brandywine River. Because they feared water, they did not move very fast.

Seeing the Ringwraiths enter the water, the boom crane dropped swiftly, positioning the microphone just above Alessandra Ambrosio's head.

Alessandra Ambrosio chanted in a British-accented Quenya, "Waters of the Misty Mountains, hear my command. Surge forth and wash away the Ringwraiths. Waters of the Misty Mountains, hear my command..."

John Schwartzman lowered the camera he was operating to capture the changes on the water's surface.

Just as the Nine Ringwraiths reached the middle of the river, they seemed to sense approaching danger. They turned to look at the blue screen upstream, then wheeled their horses around and began to flee...

"Cut!" Duke shouted forcefully. "That's a print!"

In late July, temperatures in New Zealand reached their lowest point of the year. Although the North Island hadn't frozen over, it was far from warm. The moment filming ended, the care staff hurried over to both the actors and the horses, helping them towel off and draping them in blankets and felt tarps to keep them warm.

Then, the voices of protesting representatives from the Animal Protection Organization echoed from the outskirts of the set. Duke ignored them completely, merely reviewing the footage shot that day. Security personnel were keeping an eye on them anyway; they wouldn't be able to cause any real trouble.

Otherwise, was he really supposed to do what they asked—cancel the horses and shoot the sequence entirely with people, or delay it until October when the weather warmed up?

Filming was about to wrap up completely. Duke had no time to endlessly bicker with them.

After instructing the assistant director to pack away the day's film, Duke walked over to the trainers and checked on the horses. They had spent very little time in the water, so the equine actors were clearly fine.

Returning to the riverbank, Duke stood on a large rock and looked out over the wide but shallow Brandywine River. The props and sets departments were taking down the blue screen. A wind blew off the water, bringing waves of chill.

"This is a wind tunnel," Tina Fey reminded him from behind.

Duke turned his head, took the gloves and hat she handed him, and put them on. "An environment like this makes my head a bit clearer," he said casually.

Tina Fey pulled up the collar of her woolen coat to cover her ears. "You'll catch a cold. You always have a hard time recovering when you get sick."

"Filming is almost over," Duke said slowly, seemingly deaf to Tina Fey's warning. "I have to consider whether there are any gaps in the shooting schedule. Otherwise, once the crew disbands, calling everyone back for reshoots will be incredibly troublesome."

Tina Fey took a step forward and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Duke on the rock.

Duke was a bit confused at first, but after feeling the biting wind lessen slightly, he couldn't help but shake his head. Tina Fey had positioned herself upwind of him, using her own body to block some of the chill.

"Let's go. We're heading back." Duke stepped off the rock first and walked toward where they had parked.

The sun gradually shifted overhead. Even though it was nearing noon, the late July sunlight was weak and listless. Duke returned to his car and waited for about half an hour while the crew largely finished packing up. Once he gave the order to depart, the long motorcade slowly started up and drove toward Wellington.

As usual, during their downtime on the journey, Tina Fey summarized the latest updates on their North American affairs for Duke.

"First, some good news." Tina Fey pressed a button to raise the partition, separating the front and back seats of the car. "Nancy has wrapped up negotiations with Hasbro. They reached a final agreement, and all they need is for you to officially sign it once you return to North America."

This news was only a matter of time. By the time Tina Fey had returned to New Zealand, both parties had already reached a preliminary agreement.

Then, Tina Fey outlined the most crucial terms of the deal—undoubtedly the price for the adaptation rights and the profit-sharing structure between the two sides once the film made money.

Transformers had released an animated feature film before, but it had flopped disastrously. The movie rights themselves weren't worth much, so Hasbro ultimately only asked for $6 million. However, when it came to the heavy-hitting toy segment, Hasbro would take 70% of the profits from the sales of film-related merchandise and toys.

As for the film's future box office, DVD, television, and other media revenues, Hasbro would also get a 10% cut of the profits!

Like G.I. Joe, the Transformers franchise was one of Hasbro's flagship toy lines. Unless their entire management team had been struck by a stupidity curse, why wouldn't they be making exorbitant demands?

As the manufacturer holding the toys and all the copyrights, Hasbro also had the right to demand this share!

Though the terms were somewhat harsh, Duke had no real objections. In the business world, when did you ever reap rewards without putting anything in?

Besides, Transformers was not some obscure, nameless product.

The formal contract between the two parties would wait until Duke finished filming The Lord of the Rings trilogy and went to Hasbro's headquarters in Rhode Island to sign it.

"There's also a notice from David." Tina Fey flipped open her daily work log, reading as she spoke. "Marvel Comics wants you to attend their board meeting before the New Year. It seems to be related to superhero film adaptations."

"The success of X-Men..." Duke tapped lightly on the armrest of his seat, "...has shown them the cinematic value of their comic book heroes."

Although Marvel Comics had sent him an invitation, Duke hadn't attended the X-Men premiere due to his busy filming schedule. Just as it had in the past, the film exploded with nearly $55 million at the box office in its opening weekend, and in a mere ten days, its North American box office broke through the $100 million mark!

Even with Twentieth Century Fox's operations playing a role, the inherent influence of superheroes couldn't be ignored. If Marvel Comics' upper management still couldn't see the value of their own children, they really ought to jump off the Empire State Building.

Marvel Comics had never been involved in film production itself. Their first thought was that one of the company's major shareholders was a film expert and one of the best directors in Hollywood, which was why they were in such a hurry to call Duke over to discuss future plans.

After having Tina Fey write back to Marvel Comics, Duke thought of another film he was tied to and asked, "How is the box office for Mission: Impossible 2 doing?"

The information he knew was from a long time ago. Ever since King Kong and Gladiator premiered one after the other in May, both the daily box office numbers and the number of North American theaters screening Mission: Impossible 2 had been constantly shrinking.

"The day before yesterday, Mission: Impossible 2 passed its thirteenth weekend in North America." Tina Fey flipped back through her work log and spoke quickly. "Across 219 theaters, it pulled in $144,562 at the box office. Currently, its North American box office has accumulated $228.98 million, temporarily ranking first for this year's annual North American box office."

Not waiting for Duke to ask, she continued, "Starting in late May, the film has successively premiered in 79 overseas countries and regions. As of the data from the day before yesterday, the international box office sits at $235.66 million."

"Not bad. The box office is enough for us to recoup our investment."

After a long trek, the crew returned to Wellington. Duke waited for two days before the team led by Anna Printz successfully returned from the South Island. As the year 2000 rolled into August, the crew prepared for their final scene.