Chapter 761: Gravity

As June began, Warner Brothers officially announced that Duke's new film had been greenlit and was about to enter pre-production. The new project would be a space adventure.

Pressed for time, Duke dumped the film's promotional work entirely onto Warner Brothers. He didn't even hold a press conference to announce the project. His only statement was a casual remark to reporters hounding him outside Warner Studios, calling the new film a space version of Cast Away.

To some extent, he wasn't wrong. For the vast majority of its runtime, the film would be Scarlett Johansson's one-woman show.

The plot of this film was incredibly simple—one could even say it had no plot at all. The female lead, played by Scarlett Johansson, suffers an accident in space and does everything possible to return to Earth.

The new film's name hadn't been announced to the public, but after assembling his team, Duke officially named it internally: Gravity.

Moreover, the moment the project was greenlit, Duke locked down another actor. He extended an offer to George Clooney, who, along with his agent, accepted immediately with barely a second thought.

Originally, Robert Downey Jr. had caught wind of inside information from Warner Brothers and wanted the role, but Duke turned him down. Perhaps from an acting standpoint, George Clooney wasn't a perfect fit. But from the perspective of an Oscar Campaign, having him in the film offered far greater benefits than Robert Downey Jr.

Over the past dozen years or so, Robert Downey Jr. had offended almost everyone he could. If it weren't for Iron Man, making a comeback would have been nearly impossible.

George Clooney was different. The sheer breadth of his Hollywood network made him one of a select few among actors.

It was practically the norm for Hollywood actors and directors to be enthusiastic about politics and actively participate in social causes. George Clooney was the poster child for this. He had even leveraged his political activism to secure his current status in Hollywood, maintaining excellent relationships with a large crowd of similarly active figures. Examples included Steven Soderbergh, Julia Roberts, and Harrison Ford.

The importance of a strong network for an Oscar Campaign went without saying.

Although Duke had no ambition for Best Director or Best Picture, if he wanted Scarlett to beat Natalie Portman—who was highly popular in the Jewish Club—he absolutely had to leverage every available advantage.

Besides, Scarlett was politically active herself and already shared a rapport with George Clooney.

Pulling George Clooney into this massive Oscar Campaign would definitely increase Scarlett's chances of winning the award.

Many might believe George Clooney's reputation in Hollywood outstripped his actual talent, but no matter what methods he used, his A-list status and genuine popularity were undeniable.

True, if viewed from the old Duke's perspective, George Clooney's words and actions were quite repulsive. But he was no longer that past version of Duke; operating from the standpoint of a Hollywood director, collaboration would bring nothing but benefits.

Besides, if he judged things based on his old mindset, over ninety-five percent of Hollywood—people like Steven Spielberg, Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, and even Scarlett Johansson herself—could be crossed off his list of potential collaborators.

If he did that, how could he possibly survive in Hollywood?

Politics had never been far from Hollywood, and every star had their own political stance.

In this life, Duke's standard for judging business partnerships was simple: profit!

Privately, Warner Brothers had asked Duke if the protagonist could be changed to a man. However, after Duke refused, they didn't push the issue.

From an investor's perspective, changing the lead to a man in a one-person show like this could draw a larger audience. After all, in the traditional mindset of these Hollywood studios, male-led films were vastly more popular than female-led ones.

But this film didn't fall into that category. To be exact, Gravity had absolutely no originality in its plot—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it had no plot at all. The film's appeal would rely entirely on two things: outstanding visual effects and the actors' performances.

The visual effects went without saying. As for the cast, swapping to a male lead would drastically diminish the film's overall atmosphere. Men and women represented completely different concepts on the silver screen. In movies, men were inherently synonymous with resilience and toughness, while women represented frailty and were seen as subjects needing protection...

If the protagonist of Gravity were male, the sheer impact of his self-rescue would never be as powerful as a woman's.

Without a doubt, if they wanted to achieve at least a limited release before the New Year, time was exceptionally tight. Scarlett Johansson's performance and Duke's shooting schedule were manageable; the film's visual effects production was the real hurdle. Because of this, Duke had demanded a massive production budget of 200 million dollars from Warner Brothers, the vast majority of which would go toward special effects.

He made a special trip to San Francisco to speak with the upper management of Industrial Light and Magic. Swayed by the massive budget, they agreed to dispatch as many visual effects artists as possible for Gravity.

Following that, Duke paid a visit to George Lucas's estate. Lately, rumors had been running wild in the industry that George Lucas wanted to retire.

Because their two families shared an unusually close relationship, Duke knew very well that George Lucas was genuinely preparing to step down.

"Actually, what I'm most reluctant to let go of is Lucasfilm..."

In the estate's reception room, George Lucas spoke to Duke, who sat across from him. "It's been over twenty years since I founded Lucasfilm. It's like a child to me."

Speaking with George Lucas, Duke didn't beat around the bush and asked directly, "George, are you planning to sell Lucasfilm?"

George Lucas glanced at Duke, guessing his intention. After a moment of thought, he gave a light nod. "I do have that in mind, yes. People from Twentieth Century Fox and Walt Disney have already approached me."

"Walt Disney?" Duke frowned slightly. He picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, considered for a moment, and asked, "How about transferring it to me?"

Lucasfilm not only held the copyrights to the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, but it also controlled the number-one visual effects department in the world—Industrial Light and Magic!

If Duke claimed he had no designs on Lucasfilm, it would definitely be a lie.

Setting Industrial Light and Magic aside, going by the price Walt Disney would pay to acquire Lucasfilm, as long as he rebooted the Star Wars franchise and guaranteed a certain level of quality, he could make the entire investment back just from merchandising!

"Duke, I'm only one of the shareholders in Lucasfilm." George Lucas didn't reject Duke, but offered a reminder. "This is business!"

Faced with a transaction of such massive proportions, the influence of personal ties was extremely limited. Duke understood this perfectly.

He put on a very serious expression and said, "George, my offer will definitely satisfy Lucasfilm's shareholders."

George Lucas knew Duke possessed both the net worth and the capability.

He stroked his beard with his left hand and said, "You've collaborated with Lucasfilm for years. All else being equal, I believe the shareholders would prioritize selling their shares to you. However, Duke, you need to hurry. Taking early action is the only way to hold the initiative."

"I understand." Duke gave a solemn nod. "I'll assemble a professional team as quickly as possible to contact Lucasfilm's management."

He had already snatched Marvel Comics and Pixar Studio from Walt Disney's hands; snatching Lucasfilm away as well came with zero psychological burden.

Back in the day, Duke had the opportunity to acquire Digital Domain, but he hadn't made a move, simply watching as it fell into the pockets of Paramount Pictures. He had held back because he knew very well that before long, he could bring Industrial Light and Magic, along with all of Lucasfilm, into his own fold.

However, acquiring Lucasfilm would inevitably require a massive sum exceeding four billion dollars. Even with Duke's current net worth, this would be an incredibly difficult task.

On the latest Forbes billionaire list, he did rank in the top ten worldwide, and that was without even counting the assets hidden across various foundations. But stocks and fixed assets were a completely different beast from the liquid capital needed for an acquisition.

An acquisition of this scale required meticulous planning, and Duke needed more specialized professionals to get involved. He knew he was perfectly capable of steering the general direction, but lacked the capacity for its concrete execution.

He was well aware that he wasn't some omniscient, omnipotent genius; such geniuses didn't exist in this world.

Regardless, if the conditions were comparable, George Lucas personally leaned toward selling Lucasfilm to Duke. Moreover, Duke had made a proposal that severely tempted George Lucas: if he became the new owner, he would do his utmost to hire Katherine Kennedy—George Lucas's old friend, whose ideologies were in complete alignment with his—to run Lucasfilm.

For the sake of Lucasfilm, Duke spent two dedicated days in San Francisco. Afterward, accompanied by George Lucas, he went to meet with several of Lucasfilm's other major shareholders. To a large extent, in this bloodless acquisition war about to detonate across Hollywood, he had already secured the upper hand.

To convert this advantage into a decisive victory, however, Duke still needed to shell out billions of dollars in cold, hard cash.

How to raise this sum as quickly as possible was undoubtedly one of the key tasks he had to focus on next.

He had even prepared a backup plan: if raising the funds didn't go smoothly, he would bring Warner Brothers into the acquisition strategy.

Lucasfilm was a temptation no company in Hollywood could refuse. The Star Wars franchise and Industrial Light and Magic alone were enough to make people fight tooth and nail.

Leaving San Francisco, Duke returned to Los Angeles to continue prepping Gravity. After an in-person meeting with George Clooney, he flew straight to Washington D.C., where, relying on the excellent relationship he had built with the Pentagon over the years, he secured an introduction to NASA.