Chapter 528: The Richest Among Directors

"Rachel, no... this, all of this..."

On the soundstage, facing Anne Hathaway in the role of his childhood sweetheart, Christian Bale seemed to struggle for words. He stammered, "This isn't who I really am. Deep down, I'm not this superficial..."

"Hurry up, Bruce."

From a sports car on the other side of the set, two hot blondes called out to him. "Come on, Bruce, let's go buy a few more hotels."

Anne Hathaway shook her head slightly, forcing a stiff smile. "Bruce, deep down you're still that same good kid. But it's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you."

She turned and walked away.

"Cut!"

Duke called cut and popped his head out from behind the monitor. He praised Bale first: "Good job, Christian. Keep it up."

Then he waved Anne Hathaway over. The actress immediately hurried toward him in her high heels.

"Is..." she asked tentatively. "Is there a problem with my performance?"

"Control your smile," Duke said, getting straight to the point. "Don't laugh; it'll ruin the character's image."

Anne Hathaway was likely aware of this flaw and quickly replied, "I definitely will."

Duke nodded and dismissed her, telling a nearby assistant director, "Five-minute break, then we go again."

Just as in her audition, Anne Hathaway was incredibly photogenic. She just had to keep her smile in check. Otherwise, it would look disastrous even to the naked eye, let alone through a camera lens that magnified every flaw.

Still, ever since joining the crew, she had acted with great caution and worked extremely hard. She didn't carry herself like an established star at all; instead, she seemed more like a rookie just starting her climb from the bottom.

Regardless, anyone who knew how to navigate interpersonal relationships and was willing to put in the effort would be popular on any set.

In truth, Duke could guess the reason. It had to do with Anne Hathaway's currently awkward career situation.

The Princess Diaries had made Anne Hathaway, but it had also limited her. As a product of Disney's teen idol factory, anyone familiar with Hollywood knew exactly what kind of treatment she would face as she grew older.

Because of its brand positioning, Walt Disney produced more teen idols than any other company in Hollywood. But teen idols had an extremely limited shelf life. When these young actors and singers aged and urgently needed to transition their careers, Disney never formulated a plan for them. Instead, the studio opted to abandon them and pivoted to manufacturing fresh faces.

Doing so also kept costs lower.

As a result, Disney's teen idols had become practically synonymous with depravity once they grew up. The luckier ones merely saw their careers stagnate, while the less fortunate ruined themselves until they were barely recognizable as human beings...

Of course, the blame couldn't be placed entirely on Disney. There were also their parents!

Teen idols were almost all former child stars. Most of their parents only saw the immediate benefits and neglected their education. Yet it was an undeniable fact that education was crucial to a person's development. When these idols grew up and could no longer coast on their youth, they needed to become independent and transition. Lacking sufficient education and knowledge, they often went astray the moment they encountered a setback.

After all, not everyone was a Jodie Foster or a Natalie Portman, possessing such formidable nerves and mental fortitude.

Disney's young stars who found fame early were practically the definition of fragile.

Anne Hathaway could be considered an anomaly among Disney's teen idols, serving as one of the very few classic examples of a successful transition.

To transition successfully, aside from talent, opportunity, and the courage to bare it all, personal effort was a factor that could never be ignored.

As long as she kept her awkward smile in check, Anne Hathaway's current acting skills were more than enough to handle a character like Rachel Dawes. After filming two more takes, Duke declared the scene a pass. They then moved to the adjacent set to continue shooting Anne Hathaway and Christian Bale's scenes together.

The biggest difference this time was that Bale had changed into his Batman suit.

"Camera?"

"OK!"

"Lighting?"

"OK!"

"..."

Duke went through his routine checks before having the clapper loader call for action.

The set was arranged to look like a dilapidated rooftop in the Narrows District. Batman had just rescued Rachel Dawes and was about to turn and jump off the building when she stopped him.

"Wait!" Anne Hathaway stood up and took a step forward. Bale, dressed in the standard bat suit, turned to look at her. Hathaway quickly said, "You could die. At least tell me who you are!"

Bale hesitated slightly before speaking in a muffled, deep voice. "It's not who I am underneath... but what I do that defines me!"

After saying that, he turned and leaped off the building. Anne Hathaway said in astonishment, "Bruce?"

"Good job!"

Both actors were in great form, so Duke passed it immediately. "Moving on!"

Afterward, the actors went to remove their makeup and rest. Duke left the temporary soundstage and headed to the adjacent hangar, where Anna Printz and Jimmy Carter were leading a group of stunt performers in shooting Bruce Wayne's flight scenes over Gotham City.

A shooting area had been constructed within the hangar using green screens. Aside from the stunt performers used for the flight sequences, the entire background would be generated with CGI.

The flying motions were accomplished using wires. The crew suspended the cameras on a wire rig, allowing the stunt double standing in for Bale's Batman to glide a distance of 800 feet across the hangar.

Once the day's shooting wrapped up, all the footage was gathered in Duke's hands. Whether he had shot it himself or Anna Printz or Jimmy Carter had manned the camera, Duke would review everything again so any flaws could be promptly addressed the following day.

"That's it for today."

In the temporary office, Duke stood up and clapped his hands to alert everyone. "We're off the clock!"

Many breathed a collective sigh of relief and began packing up their things to leave. Duke and Anna Printz walked together, discussing the shooting schedule for the next day as they went. As time progressed, the number of unfilmed scenes steadily dwindled. Having finished his own parts, Liam Neeson had already left the production early to shoot for another studio.

As they walked out the hangar doors, two people stepped out of a nearby makeup trailer, bumping right into them.

"Hi, Duke. Hi, Anna."

Anne Hathaway was linking arms with a man, greeting the two of them affectionately.

"Hello, Anne," Duke said, giving her a slight nod.

Stopping in her tracks, Anne Hathaway took the initiative to introduce them. "Duke, Anna, this is Raffaello Follieri, my boyfriend. Raffaello, this is Director Rosenberg, and this is his deputy, Miss Printz."

After the introductions, Duke and Anna Printz each shook hands with the man, and the group walked toward the parking lot together.

Anne Hathaway's boyfriend was very talkative. "I'm Italian. I primarily work in the real estate business."

"Raffaello is the Vatican's representative in America," Anne Hathaway added.

"Oh?" Duke couldn't help but take a serious look at the man.

The Vatican represented not only religion but also massive wealth. Anyone who could become the Holy See's agent in the United States surely held an extraordinary status. It made sense why Anne Hathaway had chosen him.

The man named Raffaello Fleming smiled and said modestly, "I wouldn't call myself a representative. I merely help the Holy See handle their real estate business in North America."

Duke gave a polite response, "That's still incredibly impressive."

Hearing Duke's words, Anne Hathaway opened her mouth wide and laughed. But in anyone else's eyes, this look was truly quite ugly.

The difference between this big-mouthed actress smiling and laughing was simply the difference between angels and demons.

Upon arriving at the parking lot, Raffaello Fleming took out a business card and handed it over with both hands. "Director Rosenberg, if you ever need any historic real estate properties, feel free to contact me."

"If the need arises," Duke said, taking the card and putting it away, "I will."

Duke and Anna Printz each got into their own cars. After driving out of the Hughes Aircraft Plant parking lot, they headed off in different directions. He first made a trip to Burbank to pick up some documents from Duke Studio, and only then did he return to Duke Manor.

After parking his Bentley, Duke walked into the villa carrying his briefcase. He handed both the bag and his coat to the housekeeper, Emma, then walked over to the sofas and sat down across from Tina Fey, who was reviewing some materials.

"I heard there are preliminary results from the negotiations?" Duke asked.

Tina Fey put down her papers and pushed a document folder across the coffee table toward him. "Steve Jobs has agreed in principle to sell Pixar Studio, but the transaction must be carried out through a cash and stock exchange."

This outcome did not exceed Duke's expectations. Steve Jobs had dragged things out until now primarily to secure the maximum benefit for himself.

"Time Warner has also agreed to this deal in principle, and they will complete the acquisition of Duke Studio through a stock exchange as well," Tina Fey continued. "They've agreed to let our funds join the acquisition of Pixar Studio and be converted into corresponding Time Warner shares..."

Organizing her words slightly, Tina Fey added, "But the exact numbers for the stock exchange and the amount of our investment still need to be negotiated."

"There's no rush." Duke opened the folder and began reading it carefully. "Take your time negotiating with them."

A giant media conglomerate like Time Warner was incredibly massive, with assets measured in the tens of billions of dollars. However, assets weren't liquid capital. A corporate group required an enormous amount of liquid funds. It was impossible for them to be like Duke, holding massive cash flows while having extremely limited personal expenses.

In today's Hollywood, everyone acknowledged that Duke had absolutely surpassed George Lucas to become the richest among directors.