Chapter 909: The Test of Life and Death

When Duke lived on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, he had read plenty of articles about Hollywood written by distant observers. These pieces always painted Hollywood stars as playthings easily manipulated with a little bait, or likened them to the lowly actors of a bygone era. Perhaps that was true in the 1930s and 40s, or even during the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood. But with the industry's modern commercialization, no one could ignore the status of stars in a business worth hundreds of billions of dollars—they were as vital to it as highly paid corporate executives were to a company.

To some extent, Hollywood stars were just like businessmen: a group of people chasing fame and fortune. That much was true. But anyone who thought they could just toss out a role or a script and have these massive stars drop their pants or skirts to let others do whatever they wanted was simply being too naive.

Stars were an absolutely special existence in Hollywood. The fact that a profit-driven investor like Duke was willing to offer Harrison Ford a $20 million salary was proof enough of their status and value.

It was no exaggeration to say that, much like Chanel and Versace, a star's name represented a powerful brand. Furthermore, few Hollywood stars and the teams behind them were actual fools; once they established a strong brand, they would follow up with the necessary promotion and marketing.

In this massive industry, a star's brand was built through constant reinforcement. However, branding only capitalized on the star's value as a commercial symbol. What was even more important after establishing the brand was executing brand extensions.

When an established brand was applied to a different product category, "brand extension" occurred.

Similarly, when Hollywood stars stepped away from the types of roles or activities that made them famous, they were expanding their star brands. This expansion took several forms, which could be broadly divided into two categories: the extension of creative value and the extension of business value.

The extension of creative value referred to stretching a star's familiar image into other creative endeavors. When a star's new role aimed to transcend their established on-screen persona, successfully opening up a new "acting path," a creative value extension took place.

For example, a string of hilarious comedies like The Mask and Dumb and Dumber quickly cemented Jim Carrey's status as a comedic actor. However, in later films like The Truman Show and The Majestic, he began shifting toward more straightforward dramatic roles. These films transitioned Jim Carrey into a different "product category."

However, facts proved that Jim Carrey's pivot toward becoming a serious dramatic actor was the wrong path. This shift directly caused him to fall from the ranks of A-list superstars, and he never got the chance to return.

Therefore, some stars took a safer approach, entering the creative field through extensions into related professions. A wave of "star directors" who had "transitioned from acting to directing" served as vivid examples of this.

The most typical among them was Ben Affleck. When his career as a star actor was crumbling, he promptly stepped into the directing industry, thereby saving himself.

The extension of a Hollywood star's business value basically took two forms. The first was an alternative realization of the career expansion mentioned earlier—such as actors establishing their own independent production companies, transcending acting to enter the field of production management. Examples included George Clooney's The Ides of March and The Monuments Men.

The second form was the high-level commercialization of the movie star system. When a movie star's net worth was utilized to promote the sale of products outside of film—simply put, when a star endorsed a certain commodity—an extension of business value was realized.

By branding a star's characteristics and executing brand extensions, the Hollywood star industry made the most efficient use of a star's symbolic value, expanding it into the commercial world beyond movies.

A Hollywood star brand was a medium used to help the public establish their perception of a movie.

Through the prism of a star's branded identity, films were positioned within the rigid lines of market similarities and differences. Therefore, a star brand had to present a distinct significance, giving it obvious symbolic traits to generate commercial value.

The commercial rules of Hollywood stars aimed precisely at this. Economic value had always occupied the central position; the star demographic represented the high-level elite among box office draws, or in other words, the elite of this highly commercialized society.

As the press conference drew to a close, Duke once again became the focus of the media's siege.

A reporter from the Los Angeles Times asked, "You've said elsewhere that this movie will convey a powerful spiritual force. During the film's production, did you feel the presence of the Force?"

Feel the presence of the Force? That was naturally impossible.

However, Duke gave the response most beneficial for marketing. "One day, Harrison Ford was injured by a prop door that smashed his left leg. It was a very serious accident, of course. You get terrified, and the outcome could have been terrible, but he was lucky enough to pull through. Thank God, we all felt incredibly blessed."

"After Harrison recovered, I felt that the entire cast and crew had become a big family because we went through something so terrifying. We had weathered a test of life and death."

While the leading actors weren't exactly strangers or hostile toward one another, they weren't nearly as friendly as Duke made them sound. In truth, outside of work, there was very little interaction between the cast members. Naturally, Duke wasn't about to mention this to the media.

"Especially after Harrison returned," he added, "everyone was infused with a kind of energy and passion. It felt like the lines between light and dark became clearer, making us stronger. I've always loved the Force, and I love its non-religious spirit. I think we could all feel a power connecting us to one another, and you could say that was a kind of Force."

Words like this were not only great for promoting the film, but they were also exactly what the media and the public loved to hear.

As for the hidden struggles and covert infighting that actually existed on a Hollywood set, who really cared?

A reporter from China had also zeroed in on Duke. "Director Rosenberg, you have a great eye for picking newcomers. How did you end up choosing Daniel Wu and Daisy Ridley?"

"We followed the standard casting process, but in order to find the right fits, we also conducted a much broader search. Both of these roles required very specific personalities," Duke replied.

Duke knew exactly what these Chinese reporters wanted to hear. Unhurried, he said, "I felt Daniel was fantastic. I've seen his work in New Police Story and other films, so I knew he had a great sense of humor and a strong grasp of character. Daisy was a bit trickier because we didn't know much about her, and she didn't have a lot of prior work. But when we met, I realized she had an outstanding personality. The sense of strength she carried made me feel she was a perfect fit for the female lead, Rey."

After the interviews concluded, the crew continued shooting at the Black Forest Studio in Dublin. A visual effects supervisor from Industrial Light & Magic also arrived in Ireland, not only to oversee the practical effects used during filming but also to deliver some of the completed visual effects shots for Duke's final review.

While filming Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Duke could mobilize every available resource to tell the story, which brought him a tremendous amount of joy. Which scenes could be achieved with practical effects, and which would have to be finished with CG in post-production—these were all things he had to control as the director.

This film would feature massive set pieces and magnificent, breathtaking visual effects. Naturally, a lot of the content couldn't possibly be accomplished with practical effects. However, in order to achieve a sense of nostalgia and stir up the emotional attachment of Star Wars fans, Duke and the crew opted for practical shooting wherever possible.

Among the completed shots brought by the VFX supervisor, there were quite a few scenes featuring the new droid, BB-8. It was so striking and impressive on screen precisely because two puppeteers were on set controlling it live during the shoot. In post-production, the VFX team used computer graphics to paint out the two puppeteers, removing the wires, rigs, and operators. Sometimes CG was used to enhance the physical sets and props, but much of the time, what you saw was captured straight in camera.

All the visual effects—the massive volume of already completed shots—were absolutely brilliant. Some of the effects in the film were truly unprecedented, utilizing simulation technology specifically developed for the production of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

It was no exaggeration to say that the entire Star Wars: The Force Awakens crew was marching to Duke's rhythm.

Following the director was a universal value in the film industry, much like how "following one's feelings" was popular and widespread in modern society.

A saying once circulated in Hollywood: "James Cameron is in charge of revolutionizing film technology, and Duke Rosenberg is in charge of changing mainstream commercial cinema." Over the 120-year history of film, the true pioneers of cinema had all been directors without exception. Without great directors like James Cameron, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg, world cinema would not have entered the golden age it enjoyed today.

The director was the dominant role in the entire film industry. Every year, millions of film professionals dreamed of becoming directors, yet the path to directing was definitely not smooth sailing.

Even someone like Ang Lee had been a stay-at-home husband for six years before his breakthrough; even someone like Quentin Tarantino was just a no-name video store clerk; and even Duke, as established as he was now, went all out to shoot and produce every single film.

All roads lead to Rome. Though the paths to becoming a successful director were all different, a universal truth was always hidden within them: sufficient hard work and absolute focus.

Duke's shoot at the Black Forest Studio in Dublin lasted for quite a long time. A massive amount of practical footage involving the Millennium Falcon and X-Wing Fighters was filmed there. It wasn't until mid-July that Duke wrapped up the Irish leg of the shoot and led the entire crew back to Los Angeles.

He needed to prepare for the San Diego Comic-Con. This could be considered a crucial major promotional event leading up to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It would also be the first time they released a significant amount of material to capture the attention of fans.