Just as June began, Warner Bros. officially announced that Duke's new film had been approved and would soon begin preparations. The new project would be a space adventure.
Due to the extremely tight schedule, Duke completely left the film's promotional work to Warner Bros. The film's approval didn't even come with a press conference. When asked by reporters outside the Warner lot, Duke simply mentioned that the new film would be like a space version of Cast Away.
In a way, he wasn't wrong most of the film would be a one-woman show for Scarlett Johansson.
The plot of this film was extremely simple, even to the point of being plotless. Scarlett Johansson's character encounters an accident in space and tries every possible way to return to Earth.
The title hadn't been made public yet, but after assembling his team, Duke had already internally named it Gravity.
And at the very first moment the project was approved, Duke had already confirmed another actor he extended an invitation to George Clooney. Clooney and his agent didn't hesitate at all and immediately accepted the offer.
Initially, Robert Downey Jr. had gotten wind of the project through some inside information at Warner Bros. and wanted the role, but Duke turned him down. From an acting perspective, George Clooney might not have been the best fit, but from an Oscar standpoint, his presence in the film would offer far greater benefits than Robert Downey Jr.
Over the past decade or so, Robert Downey Jr. had managed to offend just about everyone. If not for Iron Man, making a comeback would've been as hard as reaching the heavens.
But George Clooney was different. His network in Hollywood was among the most extensive of any actor.
It's common in Hollywood for actors and directors to be passionate about politics and actively involved in social causes. George Clooney was a prime example he had built his current status in Hollywood largely by aligning himself with political causes. He maintained good relations with other politically active stars like Steven Soderbergh, Julia Roberts, and Harrison Ford...
The importance of networking when it comes to Oscar contention is self-evident.
Although Duke wasn't particularly interested in Best Director or Best Picture, helping Scarlett Johansson beat Natalie Portman who was immensely popular in the Jewish circles meant using every possible advantage.
Scarlett herself was politically active and had some connection with George Clooney as well.
Bringing George Clooney into the fold as part of this massive Oscar campaign would undoubtedly improve Scarlett's chances of winning.
Many people might say that George Clooney is overrated in Hollywood, but regardless of how he achieved it, his A-list status and excellent reputation were undeniably real.
Indeed, if Duke were still the person he used to be, he'd have found Clooney's behavior intolerable but he wasn't the same Duke anymore. From the perspective of a Hollywood director, working with Clooney could only bring benefits.
Besides, if he were to judge based on his past stances, people like Steven Spielberg, Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, and even Scarlett Johansson would all be out of bounds.
Then how could he survive in Hollywood at all?
Politics has never been far from Hollywood, and every star has a political stance.
In this life, Duke had a simple standard for business cooperation profit!
Privately, Warner Bros. once asked Duke if the protagonist could be changed to a male. But after he refused, they didn't press the issue further.
From the investors' perspective, for a one-person show like this, casting a male lead would be more appealing. After all, in the eyes of traditional Hollywood studios, male-led films perform far better than female-led ones.
But this film wasn't in that category. To be more precise, Gravity had no creativity in terms of story. Saying it had no plot at all wouldn't be an exaggeration. The film relied on two main attractions: outstanding visual effects and the actor's performance.
As for the effects, no need to elaborate. If the lead were a man, it would greatly reduce the film's emotional resonance. On the big screen, men and women represent vastly different meanings. Male characters naturally convey strength and toughness, while female characters symbolize vulnerability and the need for protection...
If Gravity starred a man, his self-rescue wouldn't be nearly as powerful or impactful as a woman's.
There was no doubt that they aimed to have at least a limited release before the New Year, so time was extremely tight. Scarlett Johansson's acting and Duke's directing weren't the main concerns. The real issue was the film's special effects. To address this, Duke requested a production budget of $200 million from Warner Bros., most of which would be spent on visual effects.
He made a special trip to San Francisco to meet with the executives of Industrial Light & Magic. Faced with such a high budget, they agreed to assign as many VFX artists as possible to the production of Gravity.
Afterward, Duke visited George Lucas's estate. There had been rumors in the industry that Lucas was planning to retire.
Their families were close, and Duke knew very well that George Lucas really was preparing to retire.
"Honestly, the one thing I can't let go of the most is Lucasfilm..."
In the sitting room of the estate, George Lucas said to Duke, who was seated across from him, "It's been over twenty years since I founded Lucasfilm. It's like my child."
Speaking with George Lucas, Duke didn't beat around the bush. He asked directly, "George, are you planning to sell Lucasfilm?"
George Lucas glanced at Duke and seemed to grasp his intention. After thinking it over, he gave a slight nod. "Yes, I do have plans in that direction. I've already had talks with both 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney."
"Walt Disney?" Duke frowned slightly, picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, and after some thought, asked, "What if you sold it to me?"
Lucasfilm not only owned the rights to Star Wars and Indiana Jones, but also had the world's top visual effects division Industrial Light & Magic!
If Duke claimed he wasn't interested in Lucasfilm, he'd clearly be lying.
Not even mentioning Industrial Light & Magic, just based on the price Disney paid to acquire them, as long as the Star Wars series is rebooted with decent quality, the merchandise sales alone would be enough to recover the investment!
"Duke, I'm only one of the shareholders of Lucasfilm." George Lucas didn't refuse Duke, but gave him a reminder, "This is business!"
In a deal involving such a large sum of money, personal relationships play a very limited role. Duke was fully aware of that. He put on a serious expression and said, "George, my offer will definitely satisfy the shareholders of Lucasfilm."
George Lucas knew Duke had the wealth and capability for this. Stroking his goatee, he said, "You've worked with Lucasfilm for many years. Under equal conditions, I believe the shareholders of Lucasfilm will prioritize selling their shares to you. However, Duke, you need to act fast—striking early gives you the upper hand."
"I understand." Duke nodded solemnly. "I'll quickly put together a professional team to start engaging with Lucasfilm's management."
He had already taken Marvel Comics and Pixar Studios from Walt Disney. Snatching Lucasfilm as well caused him no psychological burden.
Back then, Duke had the chance to acquire Digital Domain, but he held off and watched as it fell into Paramount's hands because he was well aware that it wouldn't be long before he could possibly bring Industrial Light & Magic and all of Lucasfilm under his control.
However, acquiring Lucasfilm would require more than four billion dollars in funding. Even with Duke's current net worth, this was an extremely difficult task.
In the latest Forbes Billionaires List, he indeed ranked among the world's top ten. Even the assets hidden within various foundations weren't included in that ranking. But stock holdings and fixed assets were entirely different from the liquid capital needed for an acquisition.
A deal like this required meticulous planning, and Duke needed more professional personnel involved. He knew he was good at steering the overall direction, but not skilled enough at the detailed execution.
He was very aware that he wasn't some all-knowing, all-capable so-called genius such a genius doesn't exist in this world.
In any case, if the conditions were similar, George Lucas personally was indeed more inclined to sell Lucasfilm to Duke. Moreover, Duke had made an offer that greatly appealed to George Lucas: if he became the new owner of Lucasfilm, he would do his best to appoint George Lucas's old friend Kathleen Kennedy, whose vision aligned with Lucas to lead Lucasfilm.
For the sake of acquiring Lucasfilm, Duke spent two full days in San Francisco. Later, accompanied by George Lucas, he also met several other major shareholders of Lucasfilm. To a large extent, in this smoke-free acquisition battle that was about to shake all of Hollywood, he had already gained the upper hand.
However, to turn this advantage into a victory, Duke still had to come up with billions of dollars in real, hard cash.
How to quickly raise that amount of funding was undoubtedly one of the key tasks he would need to focus on next.
He had even prepared an alternate plan if fundraising didn't go smoothly, he would bring Warner Bros. into the acquisition effort.
Lucasfilm was a temptation no Hollywood company could resist. Star Wars and Industrial Light & Magic alone were enough to make people fight to the death over it.
After leaving San Francisco, Duke returned to Los Angeles to continue preparations for Gravity. After one more meeting with George Clooney, he flew directly to Washington, D.C., and thanks to the strong relationship he had built with the Pentagon over the years was introduced to NASA by them.