Chapter 731: Predicament

The black Bentley sedan pulled to a slow stop in a coastal villa district on western Long Island. After stepping out, Duke waited for Tina Fey to finish her confirmation call, then headed into the nearest sea-facing villa. The two staff members at the door didn't stop him, likely having already received notice.

The villa wasn't particularly large. Walking down the corridor past the front gates, Duke hadn't gone far when he heard familiar voices. Following the sound, he found his mother, Scarlett Johansson, and a real estate agent who catered exclusively to the wealthy.

"Mom..."

After greeting his mother, Duke asked, "How does it look?"

Mrs. Leah smiled and pointed at Scarlett. "Scar thinks this villa is quite nice. You can weigh in, too."

Duke looked around, briefly taking in the villa's white walls and red roof, before asking Scarlett, "Darling, you can just make the decision."

Having already seen enough, Scarlett nodded to Duke and turned to the real estate agent. "We'll take this one."

The real estate agent's face practically bloomed with a smile. With the housing market across America in a severe slump, closing a deal worth over a million dollars was incredibly difficult.

"I'll have someone start the paperwork."

With that said, the real estate agent stepped aside and made a phone call.

Scarlett Johansson and Mrs. Leah then accompanied Duke to the villa's private beach.

"We can move here for the summers from now on."

Approaching the sand, Scarlett sat at a table beneath a patio umbrella and said, "Summers on Long Island are so much more comfortable than in Los Angeles."

Tina Fey nodded. "That's certainly true."

Scarlett then turned to Mrs. Leah. "If we stay here in the summer, we can also spend more time with you, Godmother."

Seeing his mother offer a gratified smile and gently pat Scarlett's hand, Duke said, "That's a good idea."

Buying a vacation villa in New York had originally been Scarlett's idea. With the current economic downturn in North America, her mother, Melanie Sloan, had been unable to find suitable work in Los Angeles and had no choice but to return to New York as a Broadway screenwriter. Although Scarlett hadn't been very close to her parents in recent years, she still paid out of pocket to buy a spacious apartment for her mother and underage brother, while also planning to purchase a residence for herself on Long Island.

Duke naturally didn't object. Upon hearing about it, Mrs. Leah had even found a real estate agent who specialized in serving the wealthy.

Manhattan's Upper East Side was too crowded. Neither Duke nor Scarlett wanted to live there, making Long Island the undisputed best choice.

Long Island lay in the north temperate zone, surrounded by the sea on three sides and covered in lush forests. With its ample rainfall and humid maritime climate, the summers were never too hot, making it widely considered one of the most habitable regions in the world.

It was also a gathering place for the affluent. Many of America's ultra-rich, as well as wealthy individuals from overseas, loved to buy property here.

However, last year's economic crisis had driven quite a few people into bankruptcy, leaving many homes in the island's villa districts listed for sale.

"Right now, the whole American economy is in a slump..."

The conversation naturally shifted from real estate to the economy as Mrs. Leah warned Duke, "You need to be a bit more cautious with your investments."

"Mom, you know me," Duke replied with a reassuring smile. "I've always been careful."

In truth, despite his preparations, the economic crisis had still impacted Duke—it just wasn't a particularly heavy blow.

He wasn't the only one; Saintphia Company, founded by Mrs. Leah, had also been affected and was currently scaling back its operations.

They didn't stay much longer. Scarlett left her assistant behind to handle some paperwork with the real estate agent, and the four of them took Mrs. Leah's RV back to Manhattan.

With the economic crisis currently raging, Manhattan—the financial center of the world—was far from peaceful. On the way back to the Upper East Side, Duke spotted scattered crowds gathering in protest. Although it was nowhere near as extreme as the Occupy Wall Street movement from his memories, they were raising similar banners.

These scattered protests were bound to eventually evolve into a massive, sweeping movement.

But this movement was destined to end in failure.

No matter the country or region, power, wealth, and a voice were always held in the hands of a tiny minority. In the face of major conflicts of interest, ordinary American citizens hoping for sympathy and relatively fair treatment from the media, the New York City Government, or a Federal Government deeply swayed by the power of capital was nothing more than a pipe dream.

The so-called right of the people to bear arms against tyranny was, in this modern nation, nothing more than empty talk.

"Maybe one day those people really will take up arms and occupy Wall Street."

Back at their home on the Upper East Side, Scarlett deliberately teased him after hearing Duke's remarks. "They'll carve up all the wealth you capitalists have."

"Take up arms?" Duke closed the door, shrugged off his coat, and hung it on the rack. "Darling, do you really think their legal right to bear arms is meant for fighting tyranny?"

Scarlett shrugged. "Then what is it for?"

Duke held up a single finger. "It actually only serves one purpose: so they can kill themselves when they're driven into a corner!"

Hearing this, Scarlett's mouth twitched. "That joke isn't funny at all."

Having lived here for so many years, Duke knew very well that this country was absolutely nothing like what certain individuals with ulterior motives heavily publicized on the other side of the ocean. The so-called land of the free was merely a facade.

While Duke had temporarily entered vacation mode, Leonardo DiCaprio, who was also on holiday, had already received the script that Tina Fey had asked Eno Martin to pass along.

Spain's Mallorca was hailed as the closest place to heaven on Earth. With over 300 sunny days a year, it was even known as the "Paradise of the Mediterranean Sea."

Beneath a patio umbrella on a stretch of golden beach, Eno Martin found Leonardo DiCaprio and his new girlfriend, Bar Refaeli.

Accepting the script from Eno Martin, Leonardo simply flipped through it before saying, "I'll take this role. I've been waiting for a second collaboration with Duke."

Eno Martin sat beside Leonardo's beach chair but didn't speak, instead turning his gaze toward Bar Refaeli.

Bar Refaeli had enough tact to read the room. She stood up gracefully from her chair, slipped off her cover-up, and said, "I'm going for a swim in the ocean."

Watching Bar Refaeli's retreating back as she walked toward the water, Leonardo grabbed two cans of beer from a basket behind him and tossed one to Eno Martin. "Spill it, Eno. What's so urgent?"

He had made it clear he wanted to take on Duke's new project, yet Eno Martin hadn't shown any reaction, which clearly meant he disapproved.

"You misunderstand, Leo."

Even as the head of CAA, Eno Martin wasn't foolish enough to treat Leonardo as a pawn he could manipulate at will. He quickly explained, "I'm not opposed to you taking this project of Duke's. On the contrary, I think you absolutely should. Over the past few years, you've been too focused on chasing awards and have gradually neglected the commercial side. The box office appeal of Titanic will run out one day; you need a sufficiently outstanding commercial blockbuster to cement your status as a superstar."

Leonardo gave a slight nod. He was well aware of this fact; without enough box office draw, even winning the Oscar for Best Actor wouldn't make him a true megastar. The reason he hadn't been in a rush and had patiently pursued awards was because Duke had revealed early on that they would collaborate again.

Leonardo could guess what kind of project Duke meant without even trying—it was bound to be a big-budget commercial film.

However, hearing Eno Martin frame it this way only made Leonardo confused. He looked at his agent inquiringly, completely baffled as to what the man actually wanted.

"Leo, you know that CAA is facing some difficulties right now, right?"

Seeing Leonardo nod, Eno Martin popped open his beer can. After taking a sip, he continued, "The current Big Six Companies, along with some second-tier studios, have successfully become subsidiaries of massive conglomerates. They are growing more and more dominant. Even though CAA's business share is increasing, our packaging services—which make up the bulk of our profits—are shrinking across the board."

Leonardo had some understanding of the issues Eno Martin was bringing up. After the complete end of Hollywood's independent studio era, the Big Six Companies didn't give CAA much weight anymore. Especially in big-budget, large-scale commercial films that could generate massive profits, CAA's packaging services had almost no room to operate.

The packaging services that CAA relied on as its foundation could only survive in the independent film circle, to the point where they were even mockingly called "the one-stop shop for independent films."

Just how much profit could independent films yield? CAA's business volume seemed to be expanding, but their annual revenue still hovered around one or two hundred million dollars. Their financial performance didn't match the company's fame in the slightest.

As an industry insider, Leonardo knew perfectly well that those who originally hyped up CAA, claiming that a talent agency could dictate the entertainment circle, were either harboring ulterior motives or simply out of their minds.

Eno Martin naturally knew this as well. The entirety of Hollywood and its related industries represented a scale of hundreds of billions of dollars. The idea that a talent agency with merely a few hundred million dollars in annual revenue could dominate this industry was nothing but a massive joke.

Of course, having a clear understanding of the agency's positioning was one thing; wanting to expand CAA's business was another.

One-stop packaging services could bring in exorbitant profits, especially on those successful commercial blockbusters.

If CAA wanted to extend the tentacles of its packaging services back into Hollywood's mainstream big-budget films, they had to produce an undeniably successful example.

Such examples were hard to come by, which was why he thought of Leonardo. Today, with Tom Hanks transitioning behind the scenes and the painstakingly recruited Julia Roberts losing her box office appeal, Leonardo DiCaprio could be considered CAA's ultimate trump card.

Eno Martin looked at Leonardo and said solemnly, "Leo, you can help CAA bring our packaging services to Duke."