King of Hollywood
Chapter 438 - 160: This is the Charm of Movies

Chapter 438: Chapter 160: This is the Charm of Movies

Bullock was a Treasure Hunter who loved salvaging priceless items that had sunk to the bottom of the vast ocean after maritime disasters. Although some called him a Treasure Hunter pejoratively, he always enjoyed it. This time, he had set his sights on the famous Titanic, rumored to hold the legendary sapphire necklace known as the Star of the Sea.

Confidently, he rented a Russian submarine and finally saw the wreckage of the Titanic on the seabed. However, when he excitedly retrieved the safe, he found not the precious necklace, but only a sketch of a woman wearing the necklace.

Disappointed, the Treasure Hunter, or rather Treasure Hunter, had not expected that broadcasting the sketch on television would bring out the woman in the drawing.

"She’s a fraud, if she was really on that ship, she would be over a hundred years old now, an old fraudster!" Bullock’s assistant couldn’t believe what the woman had said over the phone, but Bullock eventually decided to invite her to the ship, regardless. After all, this was the only clue to finding the Heart of the Ocean, and he couldn’t give up halfway through all his efforts.

The elderly woman, who was over a hundred years old, came aboard the ship and readily admitted she had once worn the necklace and even correctly named the owner at the time, but what really unfolded was a story almost a century old.

"It’s been... eighty-four years, and I can still smell the fresh paint, the porcelain and the cutlery were all new, the sheets and blankets too. People called the Titanic the ship of dreams..." As the old woman spoke, the computer screen showing the Titanic wreckage suddenly came to life with James Horner’s grand music and beautifully produced effects.

When the full panorama of the massive Titanic and the bustling Southampton Pier was displayed, spontaneous murmurs of admiration arose in the cinema. Everyone was captivated by Cameron’s unique and engaging introduction, and Adrian nodded from his seat.

Cameron had put a lot of effort into this opening, aiming to stir a desire in the audience to continue watching and to set the stage for the grand narrative to follow. He almost rented a submarine to film close-ups in the Atlantic. Fortunately, although he was reckless with money, he wasn’t really insane. After some consideration, he used original ocean-floor footage and implemented it into a model filmed in a specially constructed large water tank, integrating these with the original wreckage footage to achieve the effect that now enthralled the viewers.

The feeling of antiquity, combined with the deliberately aged, sepia-toned silent film footage of the Titanic’s departure, and Celine Dion’s soft singing, immediately enveloped the audience with a profound impact, no wonder they expressed their admiration.

Next, it was time for the female protagonist to appear. Dressed in white striped ladylike attire and a wide-brimmed hat, she exuded exceptional beauty and well-educated elegance. Her seemingly indifferent and dismissive attitude along with her comment, "It doesn’t look that remarkable," exuded a cool aloofness and a hint of rebellious dissatisfaction, superbly supplemented by the older Rose’s narration.

Gwyneth was at her prime, both in age and form, finely honed by "Emma" to master the British ladylike demeanor. With Adrian’s intentional shaping, she was neither too thin like some women nor as plump as Fert, her physique in other respects may be debatable, but the shot of her looking up as she stepped out of the car was absolutely stunning, surpassing Fert.

Adrian couldn’t help but gently pat Gwyneth’s thigh, who was sitting beside him, as he turned his attention back from the screen. The lady responded with a sweet smile, seemingly still savoring the earlier "victory."

Since Adrian had resolved to hold a grand premiere, he straightforwardly invited all the women. It was bound to happen sooner or later, so why not take the initiative to test the waters now. As expected, the outcome was as anticipated; the women were well aware of his flirtatious nature. Since they had tacitly accepted this situation for so long, they naturally continued to do so. Although it was somewhat uncomfortable inside, besides verbally sparring a bit, there were no other actions.

Gwyneth was the leading lady in "Titanic," so Adrian spent the entire evening by her side, which inevitably allowed her to revel in front of other women. Of course, whether Monica and her friends were upset for feeling upstaged or thought that fortunes could turn, Gwenyth wasn’t entirely sure.

Unexpected situations also occurred. Kate, having quickly discerned his intentions, used the excuse of looking after her daughter to stay at home, and even gave him a big eye-roll when Adrian left.

"Is this also part of the job?" Charlize asked with a sly, half-smiling expression.

Sarah and Liv did come, but they always moved together and didn’t meet with Gwyneth’s group. Zetajones was the same, but she didn’t have companions like Liv or Sarah by her side.

"There’s no need for that, is there?" Zetajones said somberly when Adrian tentatively asked, "Just let me stay quietly in your shadow."

As she spoke, she slightly furrowed her brow, as if sighing about something; although we knew this emotion was mostly feigned, it still involuntarily evoked a sense of pity. Her acting was indeed not bad.

As for Rachel and Sophie, the former had just returned to the United Kingdom under the guise of needing rest, and the latter was in France with apparently no plans to come to the United States any time soon, though the first draft of "Anna Karenina" had already been mailed to her. Kirsten quite wanted to come, but Adrian tactfully declined her over the phone. He’d been rather indulgent with her lately, and if he weren’t careful about revealing too much in public, it could end badly. Natalie didn’t need to worry about this, but she wasn’t ready to face these things yet—she was much smarter than most.

However, the most surprising was Nicole. After "Jerry Maguire" and "Eyes Wide Shut," Cruise had almost no dealings with him because he rarely saw her. But today, not only did she come, she even mingled with Gwyneth and others, which was intriguing and further corroborated Adrian’s assumptions.

Alright, let’s get back to the movie, we can talk about these matters later.

Now that the leading lady had appeared, it was time for the leading man to make his entrance. Sun-kissed, handsome, yet somewhat rebellious and unruly, this was how Cameron depicted Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie. It must be admitted, he indeed had a handsome appearance which, coupled with the aura projected on the screen, was quite appealing to the high-society ladies accustomed to wearing masks.

Finally, the Titanic set sail, and Cameron prepared a series of panoramic images here. In the virtually flawless special effects, the vessel of that era fully and thoroughly burst forth its own momentum, especially in striking contrast as it passed next to a smaller boat—the spectacle was even shocking to the audience. The grand industrial spirit surged up from the screen. Even today, this colossal ship still remains impressive, so even if Jack’s declaration at the bow that "I’m the King of the World" seemed a bit affected, it didn’t feel out of place.

The identities and circumstances of the leading man and lady were clarified, and the foretold disaster romance was a part of the plot. Hence, following a series of developments, the two young people finally came together. To make it believable, Cameron spared no effort in his descriptions, such as using Picasso to reflect Rose’s shallow fiancé, or their conversations between mother and daughter exposing the greedy and vain mother, and Jack drawing on the third-class deck being noticed by Rose who came out for some air. Of course, as a significant prop that catalyzed the story, he didn’t forget to mention the Heart of the Ocean, followed by their meeting at the stern of the ship.

Here, Cameron initially spent a few minutes describing Rose’s despair and suffering at the party before bursting out, but due to time constraints, this part had to be cut. However, after watching it, Adrian had suggested keeping it.

"You need to give the audience an explanation as to why she suddenly wanted to end her life," he had said.

Cameron wasn’t oblivious, but the problem was that a 3-hour film set could no longer accommodate any more content. After pondering for a long time, the two called the editor and discussed back and forth for days, finally squeezing in two more minutes. Although it was still a bit short, compared to the original, Rose’s reason for wanting to commit suicide was now more convincing.

Next, the relationship between the two young people heated up quickly, but Rose’s fiancé, Karl, soon noticed and furiously warned her. Startled, Rose realized that her fate was not in her hands and had no choice but to compromise, but Jack refused to give up and even snuck into the first-class cabin to find her.

After several tangles, Rose finally opened her heart and decided to seize her own fate, leading to the "I’m flying" scene at the bow of the ship. Like before, this segment could be deemed trite or contrived, but it definitely couldn’t be called abrupt.

Later, returning to the cabin, Rose put on the Heart of the Ocean and left behind the sketch that would not see the light of day until more than eighty years later; their affection for each other continued to heat up. They freely ran around the massive ship, playing hide and seek with the men sent by her fiancé, running through the cargo hold, the engine room, and past the giant revolving shafts that were a marvel to behold.

Cameron never hid his obsession with machinery and industry, whether it was the robotic endoskeletons in Terminator, the Harrier jet in True Lies, or now the gigantic structures within the ship shown on the screen. It was this obsession that always kept him ahead in film technology and allowed him always to be the best.

As the audience watched the male and female leads on the screen, it seemed as if a fairy tale of love was about to blossom. They all knew that disaster was imminent – the calm night was about to be shattered.

"Iceberg! There’s an iceberg ahead!" With the lookout’s panicked cry, the crew members quickly sprang into action, desperately trying to change the ship’s course, but it was already too late. The bow scraped past the iceberg – the terrible kinetic force ripped open the front underwater chambers of the ship, shaking the entire vessel as disaster finally struck.

The audience finally exhaled in relief, but their hearts were immediately raised again, wondering how the protagonists would face what came next. This was the biggest draw of the entire movie – what would their outcome be? Through the past several minutes of depiction, even though this love story only existed in fairy tales, it had already won over the majority of the audience.

In truth, if one had to be particular, the protagonists’ ending could only go two ways: either both escaped alive, or Jack died and Rose lived – if Rose had died, there’d be no one to tell the tale. But regardless of the outcome, the story unfolding as the ship sank was extremely captivating. That was the magic of movies.

As the "unsinkable ship" was about to sink to the bottom of the sea, the crew began to act urgently. The first-class passengers were invited under the guise of acting to the deck to board the lifeboats, while the third-class passengers remained unaware.

However, one can’t cover fire with paper. As the ship gradually tilted, everyone knew great disaster was upon them, sending panic throughout the entirety of the deck. The ugliness and kindness of human nature were vividly displayed in this moment – from the shipping company owner who hid in a lifeboat, to the band that kept playing until the final moment, from the "gentlemen" who fought fiercely to stay alive, to the captain and the designer who went down with the ship. And, there was the first officer who had accepted Karl’s bribe to secure a spot for him but got so stressed maintaining order that he accidentally killed an innocent person and finally committed suicide with a gun.

"He was actually a hero," Cameron once said about Murdoch, the chief officer of the Titanic, "regrettably, time was too short, and we had to combine several people’s stories onto him."

Be that as it may, the effect was surprisingly good. At the moment of the first officer’s suicide, a sigh swept through the theater.

Jack and Rose, the young lovers, had faced various difficulties. For example, Jack was falsely accused and trapped in a flooding cabin, and Rose had boarded a lifeboat under the persuasion of Jack and Karl — but ultimately, she jumped back onto the big ship to be with Jack. Thinking he had won, Karl was furious and ordered his butler to chase after them for a long time.

Speaking of which, there was an episode here where Cameron originally planned a scene of Jack fighting with the butler and didn’t care about the objections, but when Adrian asked him, "Are you making a disaster movie or an action movie," he thought it over and gave up on that idea. However, that was after post-production had already begun, so he had to find two stand-ins to shoot a scene running through certain cabins, which took a lot of effort to finally get right.

Although they eventually escaped from below, they had missed their best chance and could only stay at the almost vertical stern, as the Titanic was in its final moments.

"The ship will pull us under, listen to my command, take a breath! Keep kicking, don’t let go of my hand!" With Jack’s voice, the sea came rushing towards them, and the back half of the Titanic finally sank, leaving the last survivors to fall into the icy waters. A mournful wail spread across the area, and without rescue, the people soaked in the icy seawater were slowly moving towards death.

"Listen to me, Rose, you must get out of this...You have to survive, have many children, watch them grow...You will enjoy your old age and die in a warm bed...not here tonight, not like this. Do you understand?" Placing Rose on a floating wooden plank, Jack, with most of his body submerged in water, held his lover’s hand and said shakily.

"Winning that ticket...was the luckiest thing in my life...it brought me to you...Thank God, Rose, I am so grateful for it! You have to do me a favor, promise me you’ll survive...no matter what happens...no matter how desperate...never give up. Promise me, Rose, never give up on your promise to me."

"I promise you...I won’t give up, Jack...I will never give up..."

At this time, the theater began to occasionally ring out with a few soft sobs. A tragic love story is always more touching, but the most heart-wrenching moment was yet to come.

When the plank-bearing Rose started to get drowsy in the cold air, she finally heard shouts and saw lights. The first lifeboats that had sailed away, after merging, had finally dispatched one to come back to rescue those who had fallen into the water.

"Jack, someone is coming to save us, Jack..." Rose’s face froze in joy, the man who had brought her unprecedented happiness and shown her the meaning of life over these few short days, had left this world.

Rose started to sob softly; she wanted to scream for help, but her voice, hoarse from the cold, could not make any loud sounds. Watching the lifeboat about to leave, missing it could mean there may not be another chance, and the only way to win was one method.

"I promise you...Jack...I will definitely promise you...I will..." Rose cried as she pried open Jack’s frozen hand holding hers, repeating the words she had spoken earlier over and over. Those words cut like a knife in her heart. He had died for her, yet she couldn’t even preserve his body.

Hearing these tragic words and understanding what Rose wanted to do, the cinema suddenly buzzed with a low hum. Such occurrences were rare at a premiere, usually happening only when a movie was terrible, but this time it was different. Most of the women were wiping their eyes, including Gwyneth who was sitting next to Adrian with red eyes and nose. Only when Adrian passed a handkerchief to her did she slightly control her emotions.

You should know, she was the leading actress of the movie, and if she was so moved, what about others. That’s the charm of movies. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation.)