Rupert Murdoch's roar was something Isabella knew nothing about.
Even though they were currently in the same city, both in New York.
After sending away Nathan Bailey, who had come to reconcile the accounts, Isabella planned to take a shower and go straight to bed. Long-distance flights were exhausting, and the day after tomorrow, January 5, 2006, the follow-up shooting of The Devil Wears Prada would resume.
If nothing unexpected happened, the next three to four weeks would pass without a single day off for her.
The reason was simple. It still had to do with the filming locations of Prada. Since none of the outdoor locations involved in the film could be freely applied for, rushing the shoot and working nonstop was inevitable.
And this—
Isabella didn't mind.
Just like Catherine had said: you make eight hundred million dollars a year, so what's the big deal about working twenty days straight?
Right?
Hehe~
However, Isabella had just finished her fragrant shower and stepped out of the bathroom when she received a new "task." Well, it wasn't really work. Because what appeared before her were several invitation letters.
"What's this?"
With her hair loose, hands in her pockets, and slippers on her feet, Isabella somehow carried the aura of an old man out for an evening stroll.
When she saw the gilded invitations her sister handed over, she instinctively asked, "Is someone getting married?"
"That doesn't seem right though. The people I know are either already married or not old enough to get married yet. And the people I know shouldn't all be getting married at the same time, right? So what exactly are these things?"
The string of guesses made Catherine's lips twitch.
Her little sister's thought process left her speechless, and her lazy appearance made her even more helpless.
"Why don't you just take a look and find out?"
"I won't."
"Why?"
"Because these things definitely aren't important."
Isabella had no intention of even taking the invitations.
She withdrew her gaze and walked straight toward the bedroom. "I don't care whether these invitations are for weddings, banquets, or some kind of grand event. Anyone who can't just call me directly isn't important."
"Since these invitations are from unimportant people, why would I bother reading them?"
"Waste of time."
"Better to sleep."
"Hahahahaha—"
Catherine burst out laughing at her sister's words.
Seeing Isabella really walk into the room, she shook her head and followed.
But she didn't enter the bedroom.
Instead, she leaned against the doorframe, one hand touching the light switch, and said to her sister who was wriggling under the covers, "These are invitations from various Hollywood guilds. Aren't you going to take a look?"
"Hm?" Isabella who was wrapping herself in the blanket froze.
She poked her head out, not quite processing the information.
Catherine continued, "The Producers Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Writers Guild. They want to invite you to join."
Although Isabella had debuted five years ago, she hadn't joined a single guild in the industry.
The reason was simple: joining or not joining wouldn't affect her life at all.
Other people joined guilds because they wanted protection and more job opportunities.
But her—
What interests could those guilds possibly protect for her?
Did she need them to help her find work?
To put it bluntly, many times she was the one disrupting the overall environment.
But if you looked at the issue from the guilds' perspective, it was completely different.
Because they needed Isabella.
The logic was simple.
A guild itself has no real power.
It's the members who have power. Because the guild has members with power, the guild can represent them in exercising that power.
A guild's strength comes from the strength of its members. It's the power of many people adding fuel to the fire.
Not the guild itself.
And every collective needs a leader. Without someone guiding it, a collective becomes nothing but scattered sand.
So in that case, if the top figures in an industry refuse to join a guild, does that guild still have any meaning to exist?
People who want protection will think the guild lacks leadership ability. If it can't even attract the industry's top figures, they'll start looking for other paths.
And then that guild will naturally decline.
Precisely because the heads of the major Hollywood guilds understood that their power came from the bottom up—and because thirty years ago they had been slapped hard by George Lucas, the father of Star Wars, who had basically punched their teeth out—they now dared not cause trouble.
That was why they hoped someone as powerful as Isabella would join them.
But as for that—
"I'm not even American."
Isabella shrank back.
Only idiots share power with others.
Although Isabella wasn't interested in the invitations from the guilds, after waking up and making up for dinner, she still asked where the invitations had come from.
She wanted to know why the guilds had suddenly invited her to join at this moment.
She wanted to know whether Nathan Bailey had brought the invitations.
As for that—
"No."
Catherine, who had also taken a nap like Isabella, scooped fruit salad from her bowl while answering, "These invitations were delivered directly to the hotel. The hotel manager brought them over while you were in the shower."
"He said the invitations actually arrived last month, right after we left. The hotel originally wanted to contact us immediately, but the people who delivered them said it would be fine to hand them over when we returned. No rush. Anyway, I think they already know you probably won't accept their invitations."
Isabella nodded slightly.
She understood what her sister meant.
After quite a few major capital forces had collapsed because of her, if those guilds still didn't know how to behave with dignity, someone would help them behave with dignity.
Not bothering with such trivial matters, Isabella rested for an hour after dinner and then went to the hotel gym to exercise.
When you have money, you start valuing your life a lot more.
The next day, Isabella went nowhere and just stayed in the hotel.
Three days later, on January 5, the final sprint of filming for The Devil Wears Prada officially began.
When the shout of "Action—" rang out, Isabella also welcomed her best friend in the film, Kate Dennings.
And—
Yes.
Isabella chose to have the "Max" from 2 Broke Girls play Lily in Prada.
There were two reasons.
First, the two were similar in age. Kate Dennings was only three years older than her, so it didn't feel strange for them to be best friends.
Second, at the end of last year, Kate Dennings had regained her freedom. She reached a settlement with her former agency, CAA, and then proactively joined the Marmot Agency, signing a six-year contract.
So naturally, good opportunities shouldn't go to outsiders.
Although the hit broadcast of Music Town had turned Kate Dennings into a rising star in the American entertainment industry, when facing someone like Isabella—a giant in the industry and her own boss—Kate Dennings still behaved rather cautiously.
If one had to describe it—
When talking with Isabella, she was even more careful and cautious than Margot Robbie had been when she first met Isabella years ago.
Because the law of the jungle is the fundamental rule of how the world works, Isabella could understand Kate Dennings' state.
As long as she didn't bring that nervousness into the performance and could act freely with her on set, Isabella didn't care how she behaved off camera.
And as for that—
"Darling—look what I found for you!"
"An unpublished manuscript of Harry Potter!"
"So? Surprised? Didn't see that coming?"
When Kate Dennings waved the stack of unbound pages in her hand with a bright smile, the proud, almost begging-for-praise performance made Isabella, who was sitting in front of the monitor, extremely satisfied.
"She's a good actress."
Isabella nodded in approval.
"But I don't have a suitable project for her."
Chris Columbus replied immediately.
The moment he said that, Isabella's face instantly lengthened and she pouted.
"Chris, did I ask you for a project?"
"Oh? I didn't? That's good then."
Columbus raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.
The relieved expression made Isabella roll her eyes wildly and ignore him.
Perhaps because there were no unexpected disturbances, the final sprint of filming for The Devil Wears Prada went very smoothly.
By the end of January, all the scenes in New York had been completed. After everyone flew to Paris and captured Andy and Miranda's storyline during Fashion Week, the wrap party for Prada finally arrived.
After a big celebratory meal filled with joy and anticipation, Isabella—now free of burdens—and Columbus flew to London together to meet David Heyman, who had been waiting for a long time.
The preparations for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix slowly surfaced.
Since the plan was already mature—
Columbus had long discussed the split-filming point for Order of the Phoenix with David Heyman. They intended to use the formation of Dumbledore's Army as the dividing line, placing the events before its formation in "Part One," and everything afterward in "Part Two."
Because the script was already well developed, the screenwriter had begun polishing it as soon as the split point was determined.
So the discussions related to the preparation of Order of the Phoenix went very smoothly.
On February 10, 2006, Isabella handed the script to J.K. Rowling.
While waiting for her review, Isabella—who could have taken a break—instead chose to work overtime voluntarily and looked over Kevin Feige's proposal for Iron Man.
Oh my, oh my! She really was hardworking!
As Isabella flipped through the pages, the Iron Man concept—roughly the same as the one she remembered from her previous life—came into view.
This time, the first opponent Tony Stark fought was still a veteran within Stark Industries, the Iron Monger who had stolen his armor technology.
But unlike the previous life, Kevin Feige wanted to invite Chris Columbus to be the director.
As for that—
"Obviously impossible."
Isabella directly crossed out that line in the proposal.
Because Columbus didn't have time.
Right now, just the Harry Potter series alone had already made Columbus want to retire.
Spending ten years filming a single franchise was simply too long.
Perhaps knowing Columbus had no time, Kevin Feige had written another name under the director column.
That name was Jon Favreau.
"Do you think this guy might be connected to him somehow?"
Isabella raised her head and looked at her sister beside her, who was also reading the proposal.
Catherine understood immediately and nodded decisively. "I've never even heard of this person's name, so if Kevin Feige really wants to use him—personally, I think whatever you think is right."
Since Catherine also felt that Jon Favreau seemed like someone brought in through connections, Isabella directly asked her for the phone and called Kevin Feige.
Then she heard a story—
"Uh—Isabella, Jon Favreau and I really have known each other for a long time."
"He played Foggy Nelson, Daredevil's friend, in the movie Daredevil. He acted pretty well, so I remembered him. And his directing experience is quite rich. The 2003 blockbuster Elf was directed by him, and last year's Zathura: A Space Adventure was also his film."
"And—Director Columbus should know him too. He's good friends with Sean Astin and Vince Vaughn."
Jon Favreau was actually friends with actors from The Goonies and Jurassic Park?
That was the first time Isabella had heard about that.
Of course, even though she was surprised, Isabella didn't dwell on it for long.
Because she had only made the call to satisfy her curiosity. In her previous life, she had always wondered how the director who saved Marvel had been chosen by Kevin Feige.
And in this life—
Power really could give birth to everything.
"Okay, so that's how it is?"
"Yeah~"
"Alright, I've got no more questions then."
Since the gossip was finished, Isabella prepared to hang up.
However—
"Isabella."
Kevin Feige stopped her.
"Hm?"
"There's actually something I want to talk to you about."
"What is it?"
"The casting for Iron Man is a bit difficult." Kevin Feige said, "Because a lot of people want to take part."
Once the whole world learned that Isabella was making Iron Man, even though Iron Man's influence in comics was far weaker than Spider-Man's, everyone in the entertainment industry now believed it would become the next Spider-Man.
Don't ask why.
If you ask, the answer is that Isabella can turn stone into gold.
Because of that, after New Line Cinema announced that Kevin Feige would be the producer of the project, those in the know immediately contacted him, recommending themselves in hopes of landing a role.
For example, Drew Barrymore wanted to play Pepper Potts. She was Spielberg's goddaughter.
And Natalie Portman also wanted to play Pepper Potts. The Star Wars prequels had earned her countless fans, but she still felt something was missing.
And Reese Witherspoon had also called Kevin Feige.
Her career was going quite well at the moment, but who would refuse an even better future?
To be honest, multiple-choice questions in the acting world are usually very easy.
If a project is liked by many people at the same time, then prioritizing people with connections is usually the most correct choice. Only when there are no such people available do they choose someone whose appearance and skills meet the requirements.
But when all the options are people with connections—
That multiple-choice question becomes much harder.
Kevin Feige's dilemma made Isabella laugh helplessly.
She exchanged a glance with her sister.
Catherine, who had been "eavesdropping," immediately said, "No one wants to play Tony Stark?"
"Uh—Miss Catherine, after people learned that Isabella had decided to let Robert Downey Jr. play Tony Stark, no one in Hollywood has asked me about that role anymore, so—"
Kevin Feige dragged out the final word.
Knowing what he meant, Isabella immediately said, "Just pick whoever you think is suitable."
"Don't worry about their feelings."
"They won't dare have any objections."
"Okay." That was exactly the sentence Kevin Feige had been waiting for.
Excitement came through the phone. "If that's the case, then I have no problem."
"Alright then, I'm hanging up. After I finish reading the proposal, I'll have someone send you the revised version."
Since the Iron Man proposal Isabella was currently reading was roughly the same as the finished product she remembered from her previous life, it was inevitable that she would go through it quickly.
For this project, Kevin Feige had prepared a budget of about 150 million dollars.
"What was the budget for Order of the Phoenix again?" Isabella couldn't quite remember.
"Four to five hundred million," Catherine replied. She still remembered.
"So about two hundred million per film?" Isabella sounded surprised.
"Because Chris likes practical sets," Catherine said.
If each Harry Potter film could cost over 200 million, then using 150 million for Iron Man didn't seem unreasonable.
At least in Isabella's eyes.
So—
With a bold stroke of her pen, red marks appeared across the page.
By the time Isabella finished reading the Iron Man proposal, Rowling had also finished reading the Order of the Phoenix script.
"I think the split point you chose for Order of the Phoenix is quite good. But after dividing it like this, Order of the Phoenix (Part Two) will exceed 180 minutes. About that—Isabella, what do you think?"
"There's nothing we can do about that. After the formation of Dumbledore's Army, there's simply too much major plot. Harry being attacked by Nagini, Harry breaking up with Cho Chang, the older generation's bullying past, the Weasley twins rising to power, and of course, most importantly, Sirius's death."
"These are all stories you wrote. And then you ask me what I think?"
"Oh—Joanne, all I can say right now is that the only thing I can do is slowly read Order of the Phoenix."
"Hahahahaha!"
Isabella's sarcastic tone made Rowling laugh.
She raised her voice and tossed the script back to Isabella.
"So that's how you're going to say it, huh? Okay. If the movie turns out badly, it'll be your problem!"
Isabella raised her eyebrows and sighed helplessly.
Order of the Phoenix was the longest book in the Harry Potter series. Even if it was split into two films, one of them might still exceed 180 minutes. The theatrical version of Titanic was only 194 minutes.
So—
It was very difficult to film.
But since they had already embraced it, they might as well try their best to make it good.
With Rowling approving the Order of the Phoenix script, Isabella had basically finished her early-year work.
She handed off the remaining small tasks to others, picked up her GCSE exam prep books, and started practicing questions.
To be honest—
Isabella herself didn't really know what the point was of taking the GCSE exam.
At this point, whether she had an academic certificate issued by the British Department for Education wouldn't affect her earning a billion dollars a year, right?
So—
All that could be said was that even a giant like Warner still didn't want to clash directly with the British government.
Since Isabella usually still flipped through her textbooks—she had no choice, because her mother kept an eye on her—reviewing wasn't particularly difficult.
But after staying at home in London for a week and feeling that winter was too cold, Isabella suddenly had another brilliant idea.
First, she told her sister that she wanted to take her books to the Southern Hemisphere to study.
Before her sister could respond, she told her mother that Catherine wanted to go somewhere warmer.
While the two were still comparing information, Isabella directly called Warner and told them her mother wanted to relax in the Southern Hemisphere, asking them to arrange a flight to Fiji.
Then—
In less than forty-eight hours—
Isabella arrived at a vacation paradise with warm weather, few people, blue skies, and a turquoise sea.
Her smooth, prison-break-style escape immediately earned her a "palm technique descending from the heavens."
Although she got beaten by her mother, Isabella didn't care and happily began her vacation—
No.
Her "study abroad" trip.
The crystal-clear ocean was intoxicating.
The lush, primitive scenery was mesmerizing.
The rainbow-like underwater world looked like paradise.
Even though Isabella and the others didn't visit any tourist spots, just traveling around like Mundo was already enough to bring endless happiness.
When time finally reached March—
Isabella received her first outside phone call during her relaxing days.
It was from Margot Robbie.
She told Isabella that Transformers was about to start filming.
"Oh—so you're calling to invite me to visit the set?" Isabella asked with a smile as she lay on the beach.
"Huh? Didn't you say before that you were coming?" Robbie sounded confused.
"Did I?" Isabella pretended not to know.
"You did! If you don't believe me, ask Keisha!" Robbie tried to recall the past.
"Oh—well now I don't want to come anymore—" Isabella deliberately dragged out the words.
"—"
Isabella's sudden change of attitude nearly made Robbie throw her phone away.
After letting out a heavy sigh and cursing a thousand times in her heart, she forced a smile.
"Okay, Isabella. Actually, I wanted to invite you to visit the set, but I was too embarrassed to say it directly."
"Hey! What's there to be embarrassed about? Fine then, since you've said it like that, I'll reluctantly come over for a visit!"
"…"
"… "
Now Robbie really wanted to swear.