Chapter 853: The Laughingstock of the Internet Carnival

Looking back, Wendi Deng and Rupert Murdoch's marriage was never viewed favorably; many believed it was bound to be short-lived. Anyone who knew Wendi Deng even a little could easily see that her entire rise to power was essentially a textbook on how to use her body and leverage men to climb the social ladder.

The outside world had speculated at length as to why Rupert Murdoch married Wendi Deng, the most prevalent theory being that he did it for the Chinese market.

Unfortunately, Murdoch hadn't understood the Chinese media market well enough back then. The Chinese media market certainly wasn't going to give him special treatment just because he had a Chinese wife.

On the other hand, Wendi Deng was incredibly ambitious. Marrying Rupert Murdoch was about far more than just becoming a billionaire's wife, but Murdoch had kept his guard up. Not only was Wendi Deng barred from entering the decision-making core of News Group, but even her two children only received trust funds without any actual equity.

In truth, anyone who had dealt with the couple could easily see their separation was only a matter of time.

However, no one expected things to take such a dramatic turn. Not only did Wendi Deng cuckold Rupert Murdoch, but the other man was a former British Prime Minister.

The "Wendi Deng Letters" published by Vanity Fair were frantically shared across the media and the internet.

In her diary, Wendi Deng had written several "sappy love letters" in broken English: "Oh, damn, oh, damn... Why do I miss Tony so much? He is so charming, and his clothes are so well-tailored. He has a great body, very long legs, and a fantastic ass. Not only that, he's tall and lean, with great skin. I love his blue eyes, and I love his presence on stage..."

In addition, Vanity Fair published several photographs.

In the photos, Tony Blair and Wendi Deng were feeding each other dinner at Murdoch's California Farm. The farm's servants also revealed that they had personally seen Blair enter Wendi Deng's room and close the door, staying overnight in her bedroom at least three times.

This news was swiftly republished by major websites, newspapers, and television stations. In less than half a day, it had spread across the globe. The entire world was in an uproar...

Newspapers then pointed out that Wendi Deng and Murdoch's public displays of affection were nothing more than a show, and that the previous attack incident was merely a PR stunt orchestrated by News Group. The whole world had been fooled.

If anyone had previously doubted whether this was slander, the public completely lost faith in News Group's media outlets once the corporation's deceitful practices were exposed.

Although all three parties involved vehemently denied it, "Affairgate" continued to ferment for several days. Tony Blair was forced to resign from all his positions within the Labour Party, and New York newspapers broke the latest news: a furious Murdoch had already instructed his lawyers to expedite divorce proceedings with Wendi Deng.

Surrounded by formidable enemies with his own backyard on fire—this was Rupert Murdoch's current predicament.

Duke didn't even need to initiate anything. Media companies like Time Warner, Viacom, and Comcast had always kept a close eye on News Group. Their goal wasn't complicated: use this scandal to force the actual dissolution of News Group and eliminate a powerful competitor.

Before leaving North America, Duke had been closely monitoring the situation's progress. Rupert Murdoch was facing his most difficult crisis in twenty years. Even if News Group avoided being broken up, they wouldn't enjoy their boundless past glory for the next few years.

While keeping an eye on News Group, Duke also finalized a deal.

The majority of Lucasfilm consisted of high-quality assets like Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound. However, it also had its share of marginal departments like Lucas Animation and Lucas Games. Driven by Duke, Lucasfilm underwent industrial optimization while maintaining its stability; Katherine Kennedy sold Lucas Animation and Lucas Games to Summit Entertainment in a package deal for 95 million dollars.

Afterward, leaving Tina Fey in North America to handle various affairs, Duke flew the crew to Britain, preparing to shoot the Wayne Manor scenes there.

The primary sequence here was a party. It was during this very party that Selina Kyle would break into Wayne Manor, dragging the retired Bruce Wayne back into the fray.

The filming location was in Nottingham, specifically the ancient villa belonging to Aerin Lauder's cousin. Unlike the previous shoot, Duke paid the full rental and renovation fees this time to make the site more suitable for filming.

It was an estate of considerable age, but Duke had never been interested in history or historical sites. Their shooting schedule in Britain was limited; aside from the party scene, they also had to film a masquerade ball in London.

Charles Roven and Anna Printz, who had arrived earlier, had largely finished preparations and found enough extras. Once Duke arrived with Christian Bale, Gal Gadot, Michael Caine, and the others, they threw themselves immediately into filming.

The focus here was mainly on the scenes between Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne.

Without a doubt, the tall, long-legged, model-turned-actress Gal Gadot was much more physically suited for Catwoman. Her biggest issue was her acting. However, Duke didn't have overly high demands for performances; this was just a commercial film, and it wouldn't be as heavy as The Dark Knight.

In just two days, Duke finished shooting all the Wayne Manor scenes. Right as he was preparing to lead the crew out of Nottingham and head for London, James Franco, who played John Blake, came looking for him.

In the hotel suite's reception room, Duke told James Franco to take a seat, then asked directly, "Coming over this late—is something up?"

"Remember that comedy project I told you about before?"

Knowing Duke's working style well enough, James Franco didn't beat around the bush. "Seth Rogen and I have already found someone to write the script, and we've mapped out some general plans..."

With that, James Franco handed the file folder in his hands to Duke.

Taking the folder, Duke quickly skimmed through it. Just as James Franco had mentioned, it was a typical comedy, though the content was somewhat sensitive.

Like traditional North American comedies, the story relied on typical toilet humor. The male lead was an American talk show host who, alongside his producer, ran a highly successful celebrity gossip TV show called Tonight's Nonsense. When they discovered that the North Korean supreme leader, Kim Fatty III, was a fan of their show, they decided to interview him and attempt to become officially authorized journalists.

As they prepared to head to North Korea, an agent team from the America Central Intelligence Agency recruited them. This changed their plans for the Pyongyang trip—the two of them were now going to assassinate the great dictator.

According to traditional thinking, this was an absolutely untouchable subject. However, looking at it from a producer's perspective, Duke found it easy to see that this was a project with a high probability of success.

For the North American market, the story's premise itself was utterly hilarious. To the American public, rather than a genuine political figure, Kim Fatty III was more like the laughingstock of an internet carnival. While it was unlikely to become the era's most prominent political satire, it was undoubtedly a clever, unconstrained, and uproarious adaptation.

Indeed, even if this film were successfully produced, it would be a second- or even third-rate movie at best. But it would absolutely become a hot topic.

Sufficient buzz guaranteed that the film would not lack an audience.

Of course, in Duke's view, whether the film succeeded or not would still depend on its marketing.

After thinking for a few seconds, Duke handed the folder back to James Franco. "After we return to North America, you can head to Warner Brothers. I'll give Doug Walter a call."

Any project he recommended was bound to pass the review of the Warner Bros. Review Committee.

Three days later, the crew began filming at the Hilton Grand Hotel in London. Unlike the preliminary shoots in the Los Angeles soundstages, standard digital cameras were used here.

Duke would use IMAX Cameras for action sequences and wide-angle location shoots, while switching back to ordinary cameras for scenes with tighter framing.

However, when filming the panoramic shots of the masquerade ball, Duke utilized the IMAX Camera as well.

Shooting an interior wide-angle scene with IMAX was quite a challenge for the lighting technicians. The taller aspect ratio captured by IMAX made it difficult to hide the lighting fixtures. The reason Duke had chosen the Hilton Grand Hotel in London was precisely because the banquet hall ceiling featured square recesses that could conceal the lighting equipment.

The lighting crew installed eight 750-watt ellipsoidal reflector spotlights on the ceiling overlooking the dance floor. They used barn doors to cut the light and shaped the beams to match the ceiling's recessed lights, bouncing the light off the ceiling to create the effect of everyday lighting.

While filming the scene of Christian Bale and Gal Gadot dancing together, Duke was quite dissatisfied with the extreme close-ups of their eyes. He had the lighting crew switch to LED snooted softboxes to provide catchlights, while simultaneously using 5K tungsten lamps to outline a soft edge light between light and shadow. This would ensure the actors' eyes appeared brighter and more expressive on camera.

Standing in the banquet hall, Duke shouted a reminder to the lighting crew, "If the camera moves past Bale's right shoulder, you stand at his left shoulder to light him!"

During the shoot, Duke requested multiple 360-degree rotating shots between Christian Bale and Gal Gadot. He also had the lighting crew create a continuous, softened edge light effect by placing controllable China ball lanterns above the actors and on the camera dolly trailing behind them.

After staying in London for less than a week, the crew took a chartered flight to India. Duke only shot there for a brief two days before leading the crew back to North America, shooting location scenes in New York, Chicago, and Pittsburgh.