Chapter 468: The King of Men and the Elf Prince Are True Love

"What's going on?"

This was the critical phase of the promotional campaign, and Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas, was a vital part of it.

"We just received a notice from his agent," Tina Fey said as simply as possible. "After his schedule ended last night, Orlando went to a nightclub and got into an altercation with a Chinese-American man..."

"Is he badly hurt?" Doug Walter couldn't care less whether Orlando Bloom lived or died. "Will this affect the upcoming promotional tour?"

"Has the news leaked?" Duke knew exactly how popular Orlando Bloom was right now.

"His agent stalled all night," Tina Fey said, rather helplessly. "By the time they notified me just now, the negative news was already all over the internet."

Duke walked back behind his desk and opened Yahoo Entertainment. Just as Tina Fey had said, news of Orlando Bloom's brawl was everywhere, even accompanied by photos.

Although there were no pictures of the actual fight, there were photos of him leaving the nightclub and heading to the hospital. The Legolas who displayed such extraordinary agility on screen looked utterly miserable in the pictures, his face beaten to a pulp. Even with prompt medical treatment, it would be impossible for him to appear in public anytime soon.

Yahoo Entertainment used relatively impartial wording to describe how the incident unfolded...

"Orlando Bloom has recently been involved in a passionate romance with a female model from Australia, and this event was triggered by her. The model, named Miranda Kerr, broke up with her boyfriend because of Orlando Bloom's interference. Her wealthy Chinese-American businessman boyfriend had clearly been keeping an eye on Orlando Bloom for a while. He chased him into the nightclub and immediately attacked. Legolas had no ability to fight back until the club's security arrived..."

"The man who assaulted Orlando Bloom is named Edward Yang, a wealthy Chinese-American businessman from San Francisco. He was bailed out by his lawyer last night..."

Edward Yang?

Duke found the name somewhat familiar, but he had forgotten exactly who the man was.

While he browsed the news online, Tina Fey made calls to verify the truth of the incident.

She soon put down the phone and said to Duke, "There's not much discrepancy with the Yahoo Entertainment report."

Duke nodded. If one looked solely at the incident itself, it was just an ordinary Hollywood conflict sparked by romantic jealousy. Aside from the fact that a popular movie star like Orlando Bloom had been beaten a bit severely, there was nothing particularly unusual about it.

It was just that the reaction online was a bit too intense.

He opened several websites and forums in succession, finding them almost entirely flooded with posts about Orlando Bloom getting beaten up. There were very few sympathizers; the voices were basically all cold mockery and sarcasm.

"Legolas is a shameful homewrecker who specializes in seducing other people's girlfriends."

"Aside from a handsome face, what does Orlando Bloom have? The Legolas he plays isn't worth everyone's praise at all. He's nothing but a useless pretty boy."

"This is the moral standard of The Lord of the Rings Crew. A bunch of homewreckers who specialize in breaking up families!"

"To the people planning to watch the Lord of the Rings movies just because you like Legolas, I suggest you reconsider. Save the dollars in your wallets!"

If Duke couldn't tell that paid online shills were guiding public opinion, he truly would have wasted all his years in the industry.

He turned off the computer. Duke immediately had Tina Fey contact Orlando Bloom's agent and public relations team, while also notifying Penny Kalis to come to the studio for a discussion.

Orlando Bloom alone certainly wouldn't have a significant impact on The Return of the King; he just wasn't that important. Furthermore, this was merely a brawl over romantic jealousy, not some massive scandal.

But by noon, CBS and ABC Television had already followed up on the incident. Media outlets belonging to Walt Disney, Viacom, and a few other companies were also aggressively hyping it up. Just past lunchtime, a website owned by Walt Disney suddenly published a photo of Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen walking into a bar together.

Walking into a bar was no big deal. The problem was that they had entered a famous gay bar in the Los Angeles area!

The result was entirely predictable. In barely an hour, under the manipulation of those with ulterior motives, the story spread all over the internet.

"So the King of Men and the Elf Prince are true love..."

"Aragorn fell in love with Legolas, this world has completely collapsed..."

No one would be stupid enough to openly discriminate against homosexuality, but using this method to provoke the disgust of certain moral crusaders was entirely possible.

By evening, fan fiction featuring Aragorn and Legolas appeared across several famous forums, detailing the untold love story between the King of Men and the Elf Prince, and they were even being widely reposted...

"Obviously, someone is targeting us!"

It was already very late, but The Lord of the Rings Studio remained brightly lit. Duke stood at the head of the conference table, looking at Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom. The latter truly looked a bit pathetic; he had multiple bruises on his face and had clearly taken a severe beating.

"Viggo, Orlando, speak up. What is going on with you two?"

Even though rumors about the two of them had once flown everywhere, Duke was certain they were not a couple—at least, not right now.

"We did go into that gay bar together." Viggo Mortensen turned his head to look to the side. "But the two of us were looking for Ian."

Ian McKellen nodded solemnly. "I can confirm this."

As long as it wasn't true, a few pictures didn't prove anything. Although there would definitely be an impact, active public relations could minimize it as much as possible.

"Penny..."

Duke stepped aside; professional matters naturally had to be left to professionals.

In reality, the public relations effort didn't require any special methods. They just needed paid online shills to ramp up the promotional intensity for The Return of the King on the internet, while simultaneously releasing new information to divert the public's attention.

As for the focus of the public opinion maelstrom, resolving that wasn't difficult either.

The very next day, Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom were each seen out on intimate outings with female companions. When Ian McKellen accepted an interview with a media outlet, he also mentioned the fact that the two had gone to the bar to look for him.

Although it was impossible to completely erase the impact, this kind of hype rose quickly and faded just as fast.

By the third day, as Duke was still monitoring the progression of the event, someone reached out through Duke Studio's connections to apologize in person.

"I'm very sorry, Director Rosenberg. When I ran into Orlando Bloom, I acted on impulse and couldn't hold back."

Looking at the Chinese-American man sitting nearby, Duke remembered who he was and gave a slight nod. "Make sure there isn't a next time!"

"I promise!" Edward Yang said, pledging solemnly. "While The Return of the King is in theaters, I won't touch Orlando Bloom again."

The other party was one of The Lord of the Rings Studio's largest merchandising partners on the West Coast, so Duke didn't plan on pursuing the matter further. "Let's leave it at that, Mr. Yang. Just remember what you said."

"Thank you!"

Edward Yang reached over to shake hands with Duke, then took his leave.

Duke didn't care about the conflict between him and Orlando Bloom. Once the hottest period for The Return of the King had passed, whether Orlando Bloom was beaten into a pig's head or anything else had nothing to do with him.

However, the people who had always found The Lord of the Rings and Duke to be eyesores seized upon the Orlando Bloom incident to pounce. This was especially true for the critics; they seemed to want to ride this wave to influence the market response to The Return of the King.

Roger Ebert specifically published an article in his column.

"Duke Rosenberg doesn't use acting skills as a standard when casting actors at all; talent has never been a factor he values. Just look at the upcoming third installment of The Lord of the Rings. It is filled with male and female eye candy. This is disrespect toward cinematic art, disrespect toward the audience, and even more so, disrespect toward those who strive and work hard."

"In his films, actors brimming with talent and outstanding acting skills have no room to shine, while the young who only possess pretty faces become extremely popular. This runs completely counter to the American dream we have always advocated. Duke Rosenberg doesn't even respect the most fundamental principles of social fairness..."

"Look at the actors he chooses, always mired in various scandals. To the audiences who like Duke Rosenberg's movies, wipe your eyes and see clearly just what kind of people you're actually supporting!"

On the eve of the film's release, Roger Ebert had undoubtedly sounded the battle horn for the critics against The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Other prominent film critics followed suit one after another, continuously attacking Duke and his movies in their own columns.

"The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is so boring and dragged out that it feels like living through a century. To the audience planning to enter the theaters, did you remember to bring your pillows?"

— David Denby, The New Yorker.

Although the famous film critics voiced their disdain one after another, hoping to use their meager influence over the Summer Season to damage the box office of The Return of the King as much as possible, they had to face a single truth. No matter how much they hated the film, they still had to buy a ticket, walk into the theater, and contribute to its box office.

There were two reasons for this. First, the distributors didn't provide free tickets to any film critics. Second, the response to The Lord of the Rings was too overwhelming; how could their gradually marginalized group pass up such a good opportunity to gain attention?

Even if they were prepared to give negative reviews before they even saw the film, and even if their reviews were bound to be fiercely cursed by the fans, that was still attention.

Being talked about was always better than being ignored.

If no one talked about them or paid attention to them, it would mean that the group of professional film critics was truly finished.

On May 1st, Roger Ebert changed into formal wear early and sat in the living room of his mansion. He watched the time tick by minute by minute, waiting to head to the theater to watch the advance screening playing concurrently with the Premiere.

While he waited, a massive sea of people gathered in front of the Hollywood Chinese Theater. The Return of the King, which had previously been entangled in all sorts of public opinion and negative news, seemed entirely unaffected as it kicked off its global screening tour on an exceptionally grand scale!