The era of the Internet explosion is coming, and Duke is very clear that the past is quickly dug out, and there is no need to avoid it now. He grabbed the beer can, raised his head and drank several sips, and when he put down the beer can, Natalie Portman had already handed a roasted corn in front of him. His bright brown eyes were full of curiosity, and he looked like a gossip girl of this age should have. ▲∴

After taking a bite of the roasted corn, Duke recalled it briefly and said slowly, "That's the tenth grade. I just transferred from boarding school to Santa Monica Mountain Middle School. Because I have been practicing football, I passed the assessment smoothly and entered the school's football team."

"I've read it in the gossip newspaper," Natalie said, blinking, "they said you've been a quarterback on the school football team in high school and college."

"I entered the football team and met a very beautiful girl who was one of the cheerleaders." Duke shrugged and gestured, "Blonde, long legs, beautiful, sexy, I've been pursuing her, but like most people, she's biased against transfer students until a game in the California area..."

"Don't stop." Natalie hugged her knees with her hands and urged, "Continue."

"In that game, Shandi Middle School was still five points behind in the last moment and had to make a touchdown." Duke stretched out his legs to make himself feel more comfortable. "When the second attack approached the midfield, there was not much time left. The third attack either made a touchdown or lost the game. Then I sent out the first sixty-yard long touchdown in the history of the Valley Middle School!"

"Turn defeat into victory!"

Duke did not take Natalie's words and continued, "We had a crazy party celebration that night, and I went from being a disgusted transfer student to the most popular person at the party."

"You confessed to that blonde girl?"

Duke nodded when he heard Natalie's words. "Yes, I kissed her at the party and she didn't refuse."

"Is there any?" Natalie was curious.

Duke smiled, "That night, I had sex with her in the football team's locker room, my first time with her."

"It's true." Natalie murmured and asked again, "Then why did you break up?"

"Do you think she loves me?"

Hearing Duke's words, Natalie shook her head, "I don't think she loves you, but because you have become a storied figure in the school."

Speaking of this, she suddenly understood something, "You can't generalize by all odds, not all girls are like this!"

"What about you, Nat?" Duke suddenly raised his head and stared at her tightly, "What are you doing for me, even though you know I have ideas about you, but you are constantly approaching me?"

"I...I..." Natalie didn't expect Duke to ask like this at all. After hesitating for a while, she said, "I'm just an ordinary girl, neither beautiful nor sexy, nor cute. I don't think I can attract you. I think we have many common topics and can be good friends."

"You really think so?" Duke turned his head.

“Isn’t it good for us to be friends?”

Even though he is smart enough to be precocious, Natalie is still just a sixteen-year-old girl, "We are all Jewish..."

Duke stood up, "Friends need trust."

After saying that, he shut up and Natalie was silent. Trust was easy to say, how difficult it was to build it?

During the whole night, she couldn't remember how many truths she had said. She couldn't tell how many of Duke's words were fake. Just like most people in this circle, it was impossible for the two to treat each other with sincerity.

"I'm going to New Zealand tomorrow." Duke stood up, "Goodbye, Nat."

"Goodbye, Duke."

With a gentle sigh, Duke slowly walked forward, getting farther and farther away from the place illuminated by the bonfire, and eventually disappeared completely into the darkness.

Natalie Portman... He shook his head gently. Since he had decided to let go of everything he had once been in his youth, why bother with him?

Just as she said herself, she is not beautiful or sexy, and her figure and appearance are at most medium-level in Hollywood.

Temporarily put Natalie Portman aside, Duke went straight back to his room and prepared to leave Fiji early tomorrow morning and head for New Zealand.

Compared to the huge investments in the next few years, what does Natalie Portman count as?

The crew continued to stay in Fiji for a carnival, and Duke and Zach Schneider rushed to New Zealand and Los Angeles separately. Needless to say, Duke was naturally for the preliminary preparations for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, while Zach Schneider escorted the film back to Warner Studios, and at the same time joined the computer special effects teams of Mike Dawson and Industrial Light and Magic to prepare for the later work of the film.

Headed by art director Hannah Selena, a considerable number of members of Duke's team have worked in New Zealand with Charles Rowan for more than half a year. Although the various manufacturing work of the film has not yet been carried out, the design aspect has been initially completed when Duke comes to communicate almost every week.

Since the film shows an illusory world that has never appeared before, everything must be designed and manufactured, rather than being solved by renting, clothing, shapes, sets, props, buildings, carriages, daily necessities, etc. Everything is brand new and has never appeared before.

Middle-earth world is not something that can be constructed so simply. It requires a lot of time and effort from the director to all staff.

The design completed in the past six months is only the first draft. Duke kept communicating with relevant personnel and putting forward opinions on various design artworks. After they were revised, they would also send it to Los Angeles as soon as possible and hand it over to him for review again.

Fortunately, most of the people here are long-term partners, so it is easier to understand Duke's ideas.

For example, the design of Habiton was completely recognized by Duke, and Charles Rowan also found a suitable outsourcing company, and then contracted the project and chose to build a Habiton that is conducive to shooting at the right time.

There is also an outdoor location. Taking advantage of the short time I stayed here, Duke went to several newly provided places by Charles and found a suitable location for shooting.

In addition, the preparations for Vita Studios. They have designed various versions of the orcs and powerful orcs. Although Duke rejected a lot, some of them have also been recognized by him, as well as improvements and experiments in motion capture technology. Vita Studios has also made a lot of progress, and it is not a problem to use it in the studio for shooting.

After a week in New Zealand, Duke flew back to Los Angeles, where a lot of work was waiting for him.

The first thing is that the negotiations between Tina Fee and Warner Bros. have had preliminary results. After several consultations in a week, the two sides basically reached an agreement. Warner Bros. exchanged 30% of Duke's shares in Duke's hands with its own shares, becoming the second largest shareholder of Duke's studio outside Duke.

After multiple reviews by lawyers and accountants, Duke and Warner Bros. signed the purchase agreement very quietly.

With the completion of the exchange, the Duke Studio is no longer a completely empty shell in Duke. Duke has become Warner Bros. with its previously increased shares and shares it has obtained in exchange, with a share of 7.5%, and serves as one of the board members of Warner Bros.

Of course, Duke doesn't have time to perform this position, and most of the time he will only designate one representative.

After the large amount of exchange is completed, the interests between the two parties can be said to be closer together, and the profits and losses of Warner Bros. and Duke Studio will be directly related to the profits of both parties.

In this way, Warner Bros. will inevitably participate in the investment in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Although this is not very consistent with Duke's original intention, it can also reduce his financial pressure. After all, he has spent more than $300 million to produce the trilogy at one time. Even though he has made a lot of money in recent years, he still feels tight.

The interests between the two parties are closely tied together, and the remaining cooperation seems natural.

Three days later, Harby Potter Studio was officially established at Warner Studios, with Duke Studio and Warner Brothers each accounting for 40% and 60% of their shares. However, after the exchange of shares between the two parties, the actual share calculation became more complicated.

The promotion of the Harry Potter series has also been officially put on the agenda. Duke does not need to participate too much in this regard. Warner Bros.'s professionals are more experienced and more capable than him. All he needs to do is to cooperate with Warner's plan and use his identity as a super director when needed to stand up for the Harry Potter series.

The big director itself is an asset, otherwise the Duke Studio would not be worthy of Warner Bros.'s attention.

Duke also understood that he and Warner Bros. had become a community of interests, and his vision naturally turned to some works that Warner Bros. hold, but they were not in a hurry. After all, there was still a long "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy waiting for him.

Of course, before "The Lord of the Rings", "The Matrix" cannot be ignored. Zach Schneider, Mike Dawson and Industrial Light and Magic's special effects staff have been waiting for him at the Duke Studio. This series is about to be transferred to more important post-production.

Since a large number of computer special effects will be used in the film, which is extremely time-consuming, Duke specially prepared for the post-production time for the film for nearly half a year. In fact, there is nothing to take advantage of in this regard, otherwise the only way to fail is to wait for the film.

It was only now that Duke discovered that he was busier than before.

The post-production of "The Matrix" has just begun, and Thanksgiving is coming soon. On the weekend before Thanksgiving, a film that has created the highest investment in history will be fully launched in the North American market - "Titanic", which Duke accounts for one-quarter of the investment amount, is about to be released! (To be continued, please search for Astronomy, novels are better, updated and faster!
Chapter completed!