Chapter 63: The Commercial Show

"Hey, Jones! Allen!"

Sitting on the couch of the rented apartment, Kunitz called out towards the kitchen, "Halftime is here, the most exciting part is about to start! Hurry up!"

"We're coming!"

Jones and Allen ran out one after the other, each holding a beer and popcorn, and sat down next to Kunitz, asking, "Has Michael Jackson come on yet? This game has been so dull; the Dallas Cowboys' tactics are too conservative, relying too much on ground plays…"

After Allen finished complaining, Jones handed him a can of beer. "Don't talk about the game; I've been waiting for Michael Jackson. I believe this will be a great performance."

"Have you heard?" Kunitz suddenly said, "There's a rumor going around that Michael has been accused of molesting a young boy."

"I don't believe it…"

"Neither do I…"

The mood became heavy, and the three of them turned their attention back to the television screen. Before the halftime show, there was a dazzling showcase of commercials.

"What's the first ad going to be?" Kunitz seemed to be talking to himself. "Chanel? Dior? Lancome?"

"I guess it'll be Versace!"

"It could be Tiffany!"

Jones and Allen chimed in one after another.

Most Super Bowl commercials typically open with glamorous ads for luxury brands, captivating viewers with stunning visuals and top models.

However, they all guessed wrong.

"Boom…"

The commercial began with a thunderous explosion, flames engulfing the entire screen, swirling and pulsating as if it were happening right in front of them.

"What is this…" Kunitz' lips quivered as he felt a sense of familiarity.

"This explosion technique…" Jones halted the popcorn from reaching his mouth.

As the flames rose, a line of big letters appeared "The Rock!"

Next came the name of the director who had been causing a stir last spring—Duke Rosenberg!

"This is a movie trailer!" Allen dropped his beer can, exclaiming, "Duke Rosenberg's new film; it's finally coming out! I've been waiting so long for this!"

"Shut up!"

The other two glared at him for interrupting the television sound, and Allen quickly covered his mouth, wide-eyed, staring at the screen.

A Humvee and a Ferrari raced through the streets of San Francisco in a life-or-death competition. The Humvee, trying to escape, rammed into anything in its way, creating obstacles, while the Ferrari took shortcuts, speeding through alleys and smashing through windows.

Though it was only a brief clip lasting a few seconds, the power of the Humvee and the agility of the Ferrari were vividly portrayed.

"This is a chase scene that completely surpasses "Speed" the three of them murmured in unison.

The roar of the engines and the screech of tires against the ground, paired with the thrilling music, made them unable to look away, their hearts racing.

"This is classic Duke Rosenberg-style filmmaking!"

The only regret was that there weren't any super explosions; that didn't match the style of *Speed* that shook souls with its blasts.

Just as they were thinking about this, a squadron of F-18 Hornets flew over the Golden Gate Bridge and approached Alcatraz. One dropped a bomb and climbed almost vertically, while the footage followed the bomb's rapid descent, as if it had become their own eyes, the sound of its rush echoing their gasps, getting closer and closer to the ground as if it would crash at any moment.

The shot was entirely from the bomb's point of view, plunging down at high speed, and the scenery of Alcatraz grew larger and clearer…

Finally, the bomb hit the island with a thunderous explosion, and flames erupted into the sky, scattering like a meteor colliding with the Earth.

The three wiped the sweat off their foreheads simultaneously; in that moment, they had completely imagined themselves as the bomb, their hearts trembling from the explosion.

"The Rock", May 7th, inviting you to share the thrilling moment!"

Amidst the explosive flames, another line of text appeared. Kunitz read it aloud and committed the date to memory.

Meanwhile, Allen jumped up, rushed to the calendar in the living room, flipped to May, and drew a heavy line on the 7th.

"The Rock" he shouted, "Our summer blockbuster!"

Not far from the area around the University of Southern California, in an independent house, Johnson took out a pen and noted down the date in his memo, muttering to himself.

"Oh God, how does that director do it? This is a whole new filmmaking technique! Just this one explosion is enough to grab attention!"

He immediately decided to watch the film the moment it was released.

Although Super Bowl Sunday is known as North America's most important unofficial holiday, the CAA office in Century City remained busy. Martin Bob sat in his office, his eyes just pulling away from the television screen.

Originally, he intended to watch Michael Jackson, as many unfavorable rumors had emerged in the media lately. CAA sensed something unusual and quickly abandoned any thoughts of poaching; the reason was simple: no matter how powerful CAA was in the entertainment industry, they could not compete against the predominantly white society.

To his surprise, just as halftime began, he saw a film advertisement, and from the short clip, he could infer that it was likely of a quality at least on par with *Speed* Especially the bomb's point-of-view shots made even him unable to suppress his admiration. He had to acknowledge that Duke Rosenberg had a unique perspective and insight when it came to filming impactful scenes.

Such a talent was not even a client of CAA!

Thinking about this, Martin Bob dialed Lovett's phone number, suppressing the urge to scold the fool, urging him to come meet him quickly.

"Mr. Bob." Lovett cautiously sat down in the chair.

"Did you see the ad just now?"

Hearing Martin Bob's question, Lovett quickly nodded. "Yes, I saw it; they actually spent a fortune on advertising during the Super Bowl…"

"What do you think?" Martin Bob impatiently interrupted him.

"In the past, no movie has advertised during the Super Bowl, so the effect is hard to say." Lovett thought for a moment before adding, "Trailers can't tell us much; there will always be times when viewers don't buy into chase scenes and explosions."

"What about Warner?"

"That…"

In front of Martin Bob, Lovett dared not lie and had to speak the truth. "It's said that Warner's executives have already listed *The Rock* as their top priority for the summer schedule after viewing Duke's rough cut, and they've preliminarily allocated a $15 million promotional budget."

The situation was clear: Warner Brothers were optimistic about *The Rock* profit potential.

"Warner will soon launch a promotional campaign capitalizing on the Super Bowl's momentum," Martin Bob lightly tapped the table. "Meanwhile, our collaboration with Fox on *Interview with the Vampire*has just completed filming, and timing is not on our side. You go to Connolly Manor to meet Sean, and we need to act in due course."

Given CAA's capability, it wasn't difficult to learn that there would still be a British agent role in the film.

Just as Lovett was about to leave, Martin Bob added, "Also, let it be known that this is said between me and Ovitz. If anything is truly related to him, don't let there be a next time! *The Rock* is a Warner Brothers project, not an independent production by Duke Rosenberg. One transgression is enough; if there's a second, CAA and 20th Century Fox won't protect him!"

Although Warner had not issued any formal statement or protest, a few Warner executives had discreetly expressed their dissatisfaction to him and Michael Ovitz during several encounters at parties. If this truly drew a full-scale backlash from Warner, Martin Bob wouldn't even need to think to know that Hollywood companies, including 20th Century Fox, would choose to stand by.

The traditional forces of Hollywood are both competitive and cooperative, deeply interconnected, while CAA, which truly rose in the '80s and inflated production costs to terrifying levels, is essentially the enemy of all Hollywood movie companies.

This circle is complex and simple at the same time; all competition and cooperation actually revolve around one thing—profit!

For profit, enemies can become friends, and friends can turn into enemies.

As a seasoned agent and a powerful figure in Hollywood, Martin Bob understood this well. He didn't know how things might connect to Connery, but he knew that Duke Rosenberg had seriously offended him, and Connery had a bad temper, especially after drinking and using drugs; it was hard to say what impulsive decisions he might make.

"Make sure to pass this message to Sean Connery!" he reminded one last time.

"Yes, Mr. Bob!"

As Sofia Coppola once said, Duke chose to temporarily forget the fire and put all his energy into post-production. When Super Bowl Sunday arrived, Charles Roven gave the entire studio a break. Duke declined Naomi's invitation and chose to return to Santa Monica to watch the game with his mother.

Unfortunately, Leah's focus was clearly not on the game. Even sitting in front of the television, she had a thick stack of documents beside her.

In some ways, Duke's workaholic side was also influenced by his mother.

After seeing the ad for his film, Duke felt little interest in the remaining commercials and Michael Jackson's halftime performance, so he simply picked up the thick color plate book beside his mother. Opening it, he was immediately intrigued; it featured sexy models wearing various lingerie, quite different from the skinny models popular today,these underwear models were all curvy.

There were sexy models wearing all kinds of underwear. Unlike the skinny models that are popular nowadays, these underwear models were all curvy.

Could it be a new business of Santa fia Advertising Company?

With this in mind, Duke's eyes turned to the brand of the underwear. It was an extremely familiar name - Victoria's Secret!