Chapter 39: The Dawn Appears Again

Briefcase in hand, Nancy stepped out of the elevator, turned down the hallway, and arrived at Duke's door. She rang the bell.

The door opened to reveal a blonde woman. Nancy frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Nancy."

Naomi greeted the agent and quickly stepped aside to let her in. "Looking for Duke? He's on the phone in the study. I'll go get him."

Watching her hurry off, the displeasure on Nancy's face vanished in a flash. She walked over to the sofa, sat down, and poured herself a glass of water from the silver pitcher with practiced ease.

Hanging up on Zack Snyder, Duke walked into the living room. He offered Nancy a casual wave and dropped the cordless phone onto its base.

"Here so early?" he asked his agent.

"It's important."

Nancy ignored him, looking instead at Naomi Watts, who had followed him out. Naomi wasn't stupid; she grabbed her purse from the coat rack and told Duke, "I have things to do. I'll get going."

"Goodbye."

Since Nancy had come straight to his door, it had to be urgent. Duke didn't try to make Naomi stay and saw her out.

"Are you two sleeping together?"

The moment he closed the door, Duke heard his agent's displeased voice. "Duke, the last thing an agent wants to see is two of her own clients hooking up!"

"It's not what you think."

Taking a seat on the sofa opposite Nancy, Duke gave her a knowing look. "It's just playing a game for the occasion. Don't worry about it."

Seeing that Duke wasn't joking, Nancy gave a slight nod and opened her briefcase. "I have bad news. I reached out to Twentieth Century Fox again yesterday, and they have absolutely no intention of backing down."

"And some good news." She handed over an invitation letter. "This morning, Warner Brothers sent formal notice. They want to open negotiations with us for The Rock."

"Warner Brothers?"

Even as calm as Duke usually was, his spirits lifted at the news. Finally... another studio was paying attention.

"And I have solid information." Nancy looked unusually intense. "Warner's investment in Batman Returns needs time to recoup, and they've poured heavy funds into projects like The Fugitive, which won't hit theaters until next year or even the year after. Right now, their budget is a bit tight..."

"Meaning they might accept my investment?" Duke instantly caught her drift.

"It's possible..."

Before Duke could celebrate, Nancy continued, "Even if they do, you'll only get short-term returns. With your current capital, you don't have the leverage to share in the film's long-term profits."

"A cut of the box office, Videotape, and television syndication rights is enough." Duke hadn't expected a long-term meal ticket anyway.

The two then discussed a few points to keep in mind when meeting with Warner. Nancy Josephson poured her utmost enthusiasm into facilitating Duke's investment. The reason was simple: if the deal succeeded, on top of her ten-percent cut of Duke's salary, she would also get five percent of his investment returns.

There is no free lunch in the world.

The film industry itself was like gambling; there were only higher odds of success, never a sure thing. To some extent, Duke was betting on his own success, and Nancy was betting on it too. It carried risks. She might run herself ragged only to find Duke's investment taking a loss, leaving her with nothing. But what if the film turned out as successful as Speed? She would walk away with a massive commission!

The next day, as agreed, the trio of Duke, Nancy, and Sofia walked into the Warner Building in Burbank.

The man who received them was Jeff Robinov, the Warner Brothers executive in charge of film production.

"Duke, we meet again."

Sitting across the long conference table, the balding executive of Jewish descent got straight to the point. "Lately, I've been wondering—if I had given you ten more minutes back then, would Speed belong to Warner right now?"

Offering a polite smile, Duke said nothing. The answer was obvious; even if he had been given two more hours, the other party wouldn't have been swayed by a newcomer like him.

Both sides quickly cut to the chase. This was a standard commercial film collaboration in Hollywood, where playing the friendship card or citing connections meant nothing. Warner Brothers wanted to work with Duke because they saw profitable prospects in The Rock, and Duke was sitting here instead of hiding behind the scenes because Warner was open to accepting outside investment.

Just like his partnership with Twentieth Century Fox on Speed, everyone took what they needed, minimizing or shelving their differences based on mutual consensus.

This was only the initial negotiation, still far from reaching a true agreement. As the talks neared their end, when Jeff Robinov asked, Duke truthfully laid out the special requirements he would need once the project was greenlit.

"The film involves a large number of soldiers, combat, and military equipment. I need professional military advisors, preferably with support from the Pentagon."

"For the score, it's best if we can bring in Hans Zimmer. For the assistant director, cinematographer, editor, and production manager, please give priority to the candidates I recommend. And during post-production editing, I want my input to take precedence."

For an investment of this scale, Duke knew he wouldn't be able to secure final cut rights right now, so he could only phrase the demand this way.

The other side wouldn't agree to these immediately; they would have to be fought for one by one in a tug-of-war negotiation.

Afterward, Duke and his team left Warner, handing the remaining negotiations over to his agent, Nancy. It would be a time-consuming and exhausting process, and it was hard to say whether it would ultimately succeed. Therefore, he didn't give up his chances of contacting other studios.

Everything from their respective investment quotas and profit sharing to the crew composition, along with Duke's various rights and obligations, had to be hashed out one by one and written into the final contract.

"Looks like I won't need to find a new job."

Outside the Warner Building, getting into Duke's Bentley, Sofia buckled her seatbelt and said to him in the driver's seat, "Don't forget—assistant and assistant director now, but assistant director and producer in the future. You promised me, Duke."

The reason she had returned to Los Angeles from Europe wasn't just to be someone's assistant, but for her own cinematic dreams.

Duke knew this too. Starting the car, he said, "We're all rookies. We can figure things out together, grow together, and fight for the vision we believe in."

"Our cinematic visions seem a bit far apart, don't they?" Sofia tilted her head to look at him. "I have no interest in madly destroying a city... no, madly destroying the entire world on film."

This difference in philosophy couldn't be bridged. Duke shrugged, opting to change the subject. "Did you give the script to Nicolas? What did he think?"

"He took it." Sofia knew Duke meant her cousin Cage. "He thought it was kind of interesting."

"Just kind of interesting?" Duke turned his head to look at her.

"It's not Nicolas's preferred genre." Sofia spoke as if it were obvious. "He likes more alternative roles. He's not interested in action movies."

"In today's Hollywood, if you want to be a real superstar, you have to break into mainstream cinema." Duke turned the steering wheel, steering the car onto the road heading for West Hollywood. "Look at Depp. He's played so many critically acclaimed roles, yet he's still stuck in this middling position. He can't even compare to Keanu Reeves nowadays."

"These things..." Sofia pouted her lips. "You should tell Nicolas yourself when you get the chance."

There was no rush on casting yet. After all, the negotiations with Warner still hadn't yielded any results.

After that, Duke settled back into a patient wait, continuing to refine the prep work he had been doing all along. Holed up in Duke Studio in North Hollywood with Sofia, he drew storyboards and laid out the foundational script; he discussed with cinematographer John Schwartzman how to shoot scenes that would thrill the audience; and he debated future production color palettes with Zack Snyder.

A movie was never a one-man masterpiece. Every successful director was surrounded by an incredibly capable team, without exception.

Building a team with similar visions and strong chemistry was something every director did on the road to success, and Duke was no different. Besides this core group, he also found time to meet with Robin Grande and editor Mike Dawson a few times. Currently out of work, both men were extremely interested in collaborating again.

This was Hollywood; very few secrets could be kept. Twentieth Century Fox quickly got wind of Duke's contact with Warner Brothers. According to the rumors Duke heard, they were furious about it and completely shelved any prospect of working with him. But since Duke had never signed any preliminary agreements with them and all their financial transactions had been settled long ago, Fox couldn't find any leverage to use against him for the time being.

Working with Twentieth Century Fox was a standard business collaboration, and so was dealing with Warner Brothers. At least on the surface, no one could say otherwise.

Still, Duke knew the executives at Twentieth Century Fox had to be upset. There was no telling when they might jump out and take a bite out of him. He would never overestimate the moral compass of capital.

If the new movie project went smoothly, Twentieth Century Fox would likely just watch from the sidelines out of caution toward Warner Brothers. But if he ran into trouble, they would absolutely leap at the chance to kick him while he was down.

Duke wouldn't fear it, nor would he hide. The road to success for any superstar director was never completely smooth. Hollywood was Vanity Fair—an arena where money, power, fame, and talent clashed violently. It was no pristine world of pure kindness.

Just as August passed its halfway point, after more than ten days of tug-of-war negotiations, Duke's side finally reached a consensus with Warner Bros. Pictures. They signed a preliminary collaboration agreement. After an agonizing wait, Duke finally saw the dawn of officially picking up the director's megaphone for a second time.