Chapter 457: A New Project About a Father and Daughter

How difficult was it for a woman to take home the Oscar Best Director Statuette? Anyone familiar with the Oscars understood it was virtually impossible in this era. The Oscars were never just about having an excellent film. Even though the feminist movement was gaining momentum, it was nowhere near the heights it would eventually reach. Without the right alignment of social factors, Sofia Coppola would score a nomination at best.

Even with the Coppola family standing behind her, the backing of several major film studios, and the PR machinery of the Weinstein brothers—led by Harvey—her chances were virtually zero.

None of that could fight the broader social climate. Even the Weinstein brothers would fail here. The School certainly had its biases, but it never belonged to any single person.

Following its inaugural reception, Marvel Pictures faded back into quiet obscurity. It was just one of countless new production companies in Hollywood. Much like the early days of Duke Studio, even with someone as uniquely experienced as Duke backing it, growing the company would be a long, gradual process.

Moreover, Marvel's top executives had learned quite a few lessons from their bankruptcy crisis. They understood the importance of patience.

A week after the reception, Doug Walter delivered good news. Warner Brothers had canceled the Catwoman and Superman Returns projects. They were currently negotiating with DC Comics to establish a dedicated department to explore the possibility of serializing DC superhero films, and how to go about it.

At the same time, Warner Brothers and DC Comics had no objections to handing the Batman Series over to Duke.

Meanwhile, the post-production editing of Return of the King had reached its final stage. Duke rejected some of his own plans from the rough cut, deciding to re-edit the Battle of Minas Tirith and the Battle of Pelennor Fields.

"Mike, remove all of Frodo Baggins's shots from the battlefield scenes," Duke said. "I don't want fragmented battlefield footage."

In the editing room, after reviewing the scenes Mike Dawson had cut, Duke shook his head.

"Compress the length of Frodo's storyline," he ordered.

"If we give most of the time to the war scenes..."

Mike Dawson stopped after just one sentence. Having worked together for ten years, he naturally understood Duke's philosophy. As long as it didn't affect the narrative, the priority was always to preserve the massive set pieces. As for the deep exploration of inner emotional conflicts that critics praised so highly, in his boss's eyes, a significant portion of it could simply be cut.

Scenes reflecting character emotions were definitely necessary, but they had to be done in moderation. Duke knew exactly what he was good at. Moreover, Return of the King was already longer than the first two installments. Once the pacing slowed down, the entire film would feel agonizingly dragged out, leaving the audience impatient.

Starting from The Two Towers, Duke had been appropriately reducing the screen time of Frodo Baggins's storyline to accelerate the film's pacing. For Frodo and Sam's arc, it was enough to simply convey the progression of the story. He wasn't shooting an art-house film or a purely fan-oriented movie. His first priority was always the grand spectacles that would draw the audience's eyes.

Of course, the massive set pieces wouldn't be flooded without restraint either. Just like Frodo's storyline, they would only go as far as necessary.

"Isolate the scenes with Frodo, Sam, and Spider Shelob into their own narrative sequence," Duke continued, outlining the necessary changes for the edit. "I need a complete, comprehensive, and largely uninterrupted battlefield sequence. Connect the Battle of Minas Tirith and the Battle of Pelennor Fields into one cohesive scene."

Seeing that Duke had made his decision, Mike Dawson offered no further opinions and simply nodded.

Duke added, "Simplify the death of Denethor. Compress the time to under three minutes."

His philosophy was simple: in the climactic battle of the trilogy, allocate more time to showcase the sheer scale and majesty of the battlefield.

As always, Duke's first consideration was the market and the reaction of mainstream audiences, rather than professional critical acclaim.

As for professional reviews, in the mind of a heavily commercialized director like him, they were entirely dispensable.

After a busy day, Duke returned to his home in Malibu, only to find that Ivanka was even busier than him. She called to say she would be back late and told him not to wait up for dinner.

The Instant Share Company had just relocated to Burbank, putting them in their busiest phase. Ivanka had been running around in circles lately. Although Duke could offer a few insights regarding website and software development based on his memories, he was a layman when it came to company operations. Knowing his own limits, he understood that he would essentially be useless even if he went over, so he never spoke out of turn.

This operated on the same principle as how Ivanka interacted with him. It was impossible for couples to avoid conflicts and friction, but those issues should be resolved in private, not in public. Duke could see that whenever Ivanka accompanied him to events or banquets, she entirely deferred to him. Naturally, when in front of Ivanka's employees, he would also show his utmost respect for her.

Although he had once hesitated about whether to change things, since he had accepted Ivanka, Duke valued this relationship greatly and was putting genuine effort into maintaining it.

After eating dinner, he gave Ivanka another call to check in, then returned to the upstairs study. He turned on his computer, ready to handle some emails.

Most of the emails were work-related, but there were exceptions. For instance, there was a message from Edward Newgate and attorney Al Ryder. The verdict for Christophe Rocancourt's case had just come down a few days ago. Rocancourt was sentenced to ten years in prison and hit with a massive fine. His girlfriend, Jessica Alba, fared slightly better, receiving a sentence of eighteen months.

Seeing this, Duke gave attorney Al Ryder a call to briefly check in. Christophe Rocancourt and Jessica Alba had already filed an appeal, meaning the case wasn't completely over yet. However, the final outcome was unlikely to change much. With so many celebrities and socialites keeping their eyes on a disgraced con artist, there would be no surprises.

However, another piece of news from Al Ryder caught Duke by surprise. The master con artist wasn't staying quiet. Word was that he was currently peddling his experiences to Hollywood, along with that incredibly authentic script and project plan.

But after going through such a farce, Duke had completely lost interest in Napoleon the Great and had no intention of taking it over.

After processing his emails, Duke opened a script document, ready to organize the outline for his next phase. There was no rush for the Batman Trilogy. The rights already belonged to Warner Brothers, and there was no need to worry about creative issues. Much of the original trilogy's content hadn't been entirely original anyway; it was adapted from the comics Frank Miller had created for DC.

The comic rights similarly belonged to Warner Brothers and DC Comics, so none of this was an issue. After their previous discussion, Duke had called Doug Walter again, successfully securing the rights to one of Frank Miller's graphic novels as well.

The latter two installments of The Matrix had already been filmed, and Matrix Reloaded was slated for a July release. Unlike Anna Printz, Zack Snyder was a highly ambitious director. If he was interested, he would naturally be the top choice to direct the film about the three hundred red underpants. But if he wasn't, Duke would have to find a new director...

Duke also couldn't guarantee that Zack Snyder, whose life trajectory had drastically changed, would still be interested in those red underpants.

Putting aside his thoughts on the comic and graphic novel adaptations, Duke turned his mind to the smaller-scale production he planned for after The Lord of the Rings Trilogy wrapped up.

It was a story about a retired special agent and his daughter—a furious father willing to pay any price to rescue his child. Family and paternal love, though incredibly cliché, were timeless themes in mainstream Hollywood cinema. They were also the core values endlessly promoted across the United States.

Duke planned to start filming in the second half of next year. Since the film was being produced several years ahead of schedule, certain elements had to be adjusted accordingly. Most importantly, the actress playing the daughter—the female lead—would need a recast. That particular former child star had clearly lost her childhood charm as she grew up, so he was absolutely going to replace her.

As for Liam Neeson, he was currently just a B-list actor. In terms of both age and acting skills, he perfectly matched the film's requirements.

If Duke extended an invitation, the man surely wouldn't refuse.

Focusing his attention, Duke began writing the character settings and script outline. After he had typed a few dozen lines, a knock came from the study door. Duke called out in response, and Ivanka pushed the door open and walked in.

"You're back?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

Ivanka walked over, leaned down, and kissed him. She glanced at the laptop and let out a soft sigh.

"You're working again. Darling, please don't put so much pressure on yourself, okay?" she said.

Duke saved the document and shut down the computer.

"I was just writing a script outline," he said.

"You're already preparing for the new movie?" Ivanka pulled over a chair and sat down next to him. "Isn't the post-production for Return of the King still unfinished?"

"I need to get the outline and character settings written out," Duke explained simply. "Then I'll hand it over to the studio's Editorial Department to flesh out. I have to review their work, and if there's anything I'm not satisfied with, it'll need further revisions. All of this takes time."

Pausing for a moment, Duke asked, "How's your company doing?"

"The office equipment is basically all in place." Ivanka gently rubbed her forehead, a trace of exhaustion appearing on her face. "We're currently migrating the server data. Things will be on track very soon."

Duke couldn't really help with any of this work.

"Tomorrow is the weekend. Do you still have to go into the office?" he asked.

"Did you have something in mind?" Ivanka asked.

Duke stood up and stretched lazily.

"We haven't gone out for a stroll in a long time," he said. "The premiere for Matrix Reloaded is coming up soon. Let's head over to Rodeo Boulevard tomorrow and get a dress custom-made for you."

Ivanka stood up as well.

"Sounds great," she said. "I've been so busy lately, I really want to relax a bit too."

The Matrix Reloaded was set to premiere the weekend before Independence Day, and it was currently in its most intense promotional phase. As this was the premiere of a major blockbuster co-invested by Duke Studio and Warner Brothers, Duke naturally wouldn't miss it.