Monster movies have always had a certain market in North America, and King Kong has remakes countless times. After Naomi Watts became popular through "Chicago", it is believed that Universal Pictures has paid a considerable price to choose such a movie. It is not easy to invite popular movie stars to act in such movies that are partners with Monsters. First-line actresses rarely play such roles.

Duke could vaguely guess that there must be the reason behind this for Nancy Josephson's persuasion and promotion. She invested a lot in Naomi Watts. Of course, she wanted to make more money when she became popular. The shelf life of Hollywood actresses is relatively short. After the age of forty or even thirty-five, even if they are unwilling to do so, most actresses will go up and down.

Although no one will say it directly, chasing young and beautiful women is not just Hollywood, but also a very common mentality in this patriarchal society.

Later, the older actress was given injections crazily, and she did not hesitate to turn herself into a zombie face and maintain her youthful and beautiful appearance. It can be said that it is the best portrayal of the actress's own development history.

However, Duke did not say it out loud. Naomi Watts must also understand this. Few actresses pretend to be elegant and reject commercial films. They do not have enough box office appeal. No matter how many awards they win, they are at best Meryl Streep's embarrassing position that is neither up nor down.

After reaching this position, who doesn’t want to be one of the top actresses?

If you want to become a top actress in the circle, you can be like Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts now, without the recognition of academic awards, but you must have excellent box office appeal as support.

After leaving the lounge, Duke took Naomi Watts around the studio. In fact, there was a busy construction and setting here, and there was nothing good to watch. The two of them casually turned around and went to the special effects studio where the prop group and Industrial Light Magic team were located.

"Is this squid?"

Standing in front of a batch of special effects props, Naomi Watts asked curiously, "Futuristic Science Fiction Creature?"

Through a layer of glass window, the squid exuded a metallic luster all over his body, and several long legs that drooped like springs. There were also flashing cold lights such as spikes and saws. On the hideous metal face, the dense red eyes made it look even more abominable.

"This is a mechanical squid." Duke waved to Collins and walked behind Naomi Watts, "some of the villain's minions in the film."

Naomi Watts pointed to the mechanical squid's face, "It looks so ugly."

"Dear, I'm not shooting beauty and beasts." Duke shrugged, "The villain must look like a villain, otherwise is it still a Hollywood commercial film?"

The American film industry has been developing for more than ten years. Not only has Hollywood formed an assembly line-based commercial production model, but even mainstream audiences in North America and the entire Western world have formed an inherent concept of film. Most of the time, it is not that directors do not want to innovate, but that innovation often faces huge risks, and risks represent failure most of the time.

The success of commercial films is often the result of the accumulation of multiple elements, while failure only requires one aspect to make the audience feel annoying.

In addition to the mechanical squid model, the special effects group also made models of hovercraft and some wheat fields. Especially the wheat fields that are densely erected on the chassis, and the "huge machinery" standing there. Even though the proportions are reduced, they look particularly realistic.

"What do these do?" Naomi Watts asked curiously at Mai Tian.

"For growing things." Duke pointed to mechanical models more than a foot tall, "and they will be responsible for picking them when the planted things mature."

“What exactly is planted?”

"Human baby." Duke shrugged, "The people in the film are no longer embryo reproduction, but are similar to those grown with such devices. To be precise, they are mass-produced."

"It sounds like a great idea." Naomi Watts' eyes rolled, "I regret it a little."

Duke turned to look at her, and she smiled and said, "I regret not continuing to work with you."

Although she said this, Naomi Watts knew very well that the crew would definitely not accept such a low salary for the heroine.

Walking out of the special effects studio, the two left the studio, Duke looked at the time, "It's noon soon. If you don't mind the simplicity of the restaurant on Fox set, I'll treat you to lunch."

"Okay." She held Duke's arm, "We haven't had lunch together in a long time."

At the end of July, Sydney was the lowest temperature of the year. The weather today was not very good. The sun was completely hidden behind the dark clouds. Fortunately, although it was winter, there was no need to worry about snowflakes. Duke tightened his tweed coat and Naomi Watts accelerated his pace a little, and soon walked into a restaurant that Fox Studios only opened to the interior.

Like most Hollywood studios, Fox Studios in Sydney are divided into two parts: Fox Cinema and production area. The former is entirely a tourist facility and the latter is a studio.

Generally speaking, the latter will not be open to the public at all, otherwise the crew would probably even have a meal.

“Hi, Duke.”

As soon as he walked into the restaurant, someone greeted him. When Duke passed by, he also greeted him, "It's very early today, Liam."

"My play is over quickly." Liam Neeson said with a smile, "I came out a while ago."

Duke looked at the restaurant, "Where is George? Are you still busy?"

Liam Neeson knew he was talking about Lucas, "The heroine rushed over from New York, and George seemed to be talking to her."

He introduced him and Naomi Watts again. Duke washed his hands, picked up the plate, and chose a few suitable meals with Naomi Watts. He found a round table by the window, and sat down to prepare for a safe meal.

Just as Sofia Coppola said, George Lucas's "Star Wars Prequel: The Ghost Threat" was selected as the base camp for shooting, and they entered the crew earlier than the "Matrix" crew and have now entered the shooting stage.

"When will the Matrix start filming?" Naomi Watts asked.

He swallowed the food in his mouth and drank another sip of juice, Duke said, "It will be September as soon as possible, and it may be later."

Naomi seemed to sigh a little, "You are so cautious every time, just like when I first met you, confident but never proud."

"Only enough preparation can you avoid failure as much as possible." Duke took it for granted, "Preliminary preparations will not be simple because I have had several movies successful. Any negligence may lead to the failure of the movie."

Just like at the beginning, Duke never thought he could succeed easily. Even if he was cheating, without decades of learning and decades of learning, the so-called reference to success is just a delusion.

Success in this world is never easy, and requires continuous efforts and struggle to accumulate. Failure is just the opposite. When you relax and think that everything you do should be successful, you will be infinitely close to failure.

The two of them ate and chatted, and occasionally talked about interesting things when they were together in the past. Naomi Watts was a woman who grew up in a Western atmosphere. Duke has been influenced by Western culture for more than 20 years and will not take the past to heart. Moreover, the status of the two of them is different from the past, so some of their thoughts naturally fade away.

Duke is neither stupid enough to seduce first-line actresses with scripts and roles, nor is he stupid enough to want to control a woman's life. After experiencing many big-time movies such as "Independence Day" and "Chicago", Naomi Watts has firmly taken the position of first-line actresses. Although he is naturally in a weak position against top directors, he does not have to deliberately please anyone.

To be precise, they have a foundation for equal dialogue than ever before.

"Duke." Naomi Watts put down his knife and fork and talked about the past. "After the fire on the set, especially the comfort and care you had given me in the hotel, I once made me crazy infatuated with you, and even wanted to become your girlfriend at all costs."

The past incident was started after filming "Chicago". Duke didn't care, but just asked curiously, "What happened later?"

"Later I found out that you wouldn't focus on any woman." Naomi Watts chuckled and shook his head. "At least not in the short term, no one will maintain a relationship where you give but get no reward."

"It seems like my mom said this too."

Duke muttered, and when he raised his head, he found George Lucas walking towards him with a dinner plate, followed by a petite girl.

"Don't mind if I'm sitting here?" George Lucas asked, then sat on the round table near Duke.

Duke laughed, "Sit as you please."

Then he greeted another person, "Sit as you like, Miss Portman."

The girl looked a little taller than when she saw her last time, but she still looked thin and thin. She put down the plate, said thank you first, then pulled open the chair, and said, "I'm happy to see you again, Director Rosenberg."

"Just call me Duke."

"Then... I'm happy to see you, Duke."

She reached out her hand and Duke gently held it on it, "I'm happy to see you, Natalie."

"I can call me Nat." Natalie Portman seemed very polite, "Friends call me that."

Duke nodded, looked at George Lucas who was eating on his own, and said to Natalie, "Have your Broadway show over?"

"Yes, it's over," she replied.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't see your show."

Hearing Duke's words, Natalie smiled slightly, "It's okay, you must be very busy at work. And I have met Mrs. Leah at the party after the performance." (To be continued, please search for Astronomy, the novel is better, updated and faster!
Chapter completed!