The bright sunlight illuminated every inch of the hotel plaza, but Michael Eisner, stepping out of the hotel, suddenly felt the world grow much darker. Standing in front of his car, his brows knitted into a deep frown. Even when his assistant opened the car door for him, he didn't notice.
The assistant waited a moment before speaking up, "Chairman…"
Michael Eisner snapped back to reality, bent down, and slid into the car. Facing the assistant in the passenger seat, he said, "Call Cook Dick. Tell him to come see me."
After saying this, he slowly closed his eyes. The calm on his face gradually vanished, replaced by a deeply serious expression.
The reason for this was related to the recent Walt Disney shareholders' meeting.
At this meeting, spurred on by Roy Disney, the shareholders demanded that someone be held accountable for the failure of the Disney park project and the Customs and Border Protection investigation, and they pointed their fingers at Michael's side.
Those shareholders cared most about profits. The failure of the Disney park project and the Customs and Border Protection investigation had severely negative impacts on the entire Walt Disney Group, most obviously reflected in the continuously falling stock price, which seriously rattled the shareholders' nerves.
Michael Eisner was after all the chairman and CEO of the group. No matter how you looked at it, he needed to make an explanation to the shareholders.
And he had to make that explanation; otherwise, most shareholders with voting power would oust him.
To appease the shareholders' anger and secure his position, Michael Eisner had no choice but to sacrifice his right-hand man, Cook Dick, who had been Walt Disney's president for only a year.
Robert Iger successfully maneuvered into the position of group president.
This outcome was something Michael Eisner did not want to see, but it was a forced choice someone had to take responsibility for those two serious incidents. And the person had to carry enough weight; Cook Dick was almost the only candidate.
Could he himself just resign as chairman and CEO?
Even if Robert Iger became Walt Disney's president, he wouldn't gain much real power. After years of running Disney, the triangle of power among president, CEO, and chairman had long become unbalanced. Most power was concentrated in Michael's hands alone.
However, Michael Eisner also saw the danger clearly: Robert Iger obviously wasn't just backed by Roy Disney and the Disney family.
If he wanted to stabilize his position, he needed to sever the hand behind Robert Iger, and he knew exactly where that hand came from.
The car drove directly into a clubhouse. In the clubhouse's private meeting room, Michael Eisner met with Cook Dick.
The former Walt Disney president looked gloomy but tried hard to maintain calm. After greeting Michael Eisner, he sat down.
Michael Eisner sat beside him and slowly spoke, "You rest for a while. This matter won't just end like this."
"I want to spend more time with my family, too." Cook Dick said this with some difficulty. The feeling of falling from a high position was not easy to accept. But he understood Michael Eisner's way of doing things, and added, "Laura has long planned a trip around the world. This time she can finally do it."
"Don't lose heart." Michael Eisner said confidently. "As long as we cut off the hand behind Robert Iger, Disney's situation won't change at all."
"He…" Cook Dick knew who he meant and sighed, "He's not easy to deal with. With the precedent of 'Iron Man,' we can't use the same methods again."
"Those methods definitely can't be used a second time." Michael Eisner's eyes flashed with a few sharp glints. "Duke Rosenberg is clear-headed and determined, but that doesn't mean everyone around him is the same."
Cook Dick raised an eyebrow. "Michael, you mean…"
"There are some people who've been by his side for so many years, stuck in middle-level positions. Surely some of them have their own ideas."
Suddenly standing up, Michael Eisner paced the room and said harshly, "Ron Meyer once betrayed CAA and Michael Ovitz for a high position in a media company. Those around Duke Rosenberg wouldn't be any different."
He walked over and gently patted Cook Dick's shoulder. "You rest for a while first. You'll also need to assist from the sidelines in this matter."
As usual, Cook Dick replied without hesitation, "I understand."
Michael Eisner left the clubhouse first. Cook Dick watched his back and stood at the door for a while. The unwillingness in his eyes gradually showed. His supporter had so decisively made him the sacrifice to stabilize his own position!
Nobody liked being betrayed. Cook Dick was no exception. If he wanted to regain power in Hollywood, besides Michael Eisner, who else could he rely on?
Walking out of the clubhouse, Cook Dick got into the car. Just as he was about to start the engine, his phone rang.
Looking at the number, he pressed the answer button. A familiar voice came from the other end.
"Sorry, Cook. I just got the news from the Disney shareholders' meeting. This is too unfair for you…"
Fair? It was indeed unfair. Michael Eisner had failed in competition against Duke Rosenberg and Time Warner, but Cook Dick had to bear the consequences.
"Cook, what are your next plans? I don't think you have to rely completely on Michael Eisner. I have an old friend who wants to talk with you…"
The other party said a lot. In the past, if these things were unfavorable to Disney and Michael Eisner, Cook Dick wouldn't have paid any attention. But now, it's different.
At the end of the call, they said, "If you're interested, you can come to Burbank to meet him."
After hanging up, Cook Dick hesitated for a few minutes, then started his car and drove toward Burbank.
Inside the Warner Bros. studio in Burbank, after more than a month of hard work, Duke's fine editing was basically complete, and some special effects had been added. After leaving the editing room, he went to the nearby sound effects room, where Hans Zimmer had just sent over some sample main scores.
The delivered scores were mainly divided into three parts, respectively related to the Joker, Harvey Dent, and Bruce Wayne.
After bringing in Charles Rowen and Anna Princz, Duke had the sound engineers play the preliminary scores.
The first played was the Joker's main theme. As Hans Zimmer told Duke, it uses a large amount of oppressive electronic music to highlight the Joker's evil nature.
Although Duke was an outsider to music, having produced so many films, he had some understanding of scores.
The distinct feature of this Joker theme is its sense of oppression. It uses seemingly extremely discordant single-tone modulation, combined with special effects produced by synthesizers, giving a strong auditory stimulation.
Hans Zimmer clearly used a lot of cold tones to create a dark atmosphere in the score. Many dissonant chords and almost insane bizarre melodies, mixed with abundant electronic elements, even including simulated stopwatch countdowns and explosion-like sound effects—these mixed tones made the electronic effects describing the Joker not sound thin, but richer and more authentic emotionally.
Next was Batman's background score, inheriting the style of Batman Begins but richer and more splendid. The violin continuously played a sixteenth-note spiccato, strong and powerful, combined with percussion creating a sense of urgency, showing an unstable and uneasy emotion.
Added to this were long sustained notes from the strings, a complete release of passion, combined with an accelerated, rhythmically intense Batman theme full of momentum.
This score combined electronic music with orchestral bursts, quite commercial and distinctly modern.
Duke, who had collaborated with Hans Zimmer many times, knew this approach often appeared in Zimmer's works. The score rapidly shifts between heavy electronic sounds and orchestral music, transitions so quick they're hard to notice, making the music flow smoothly.
Finally, Harvey Dent's background music was played. This score employed a large amount of beautiful piano solos and many variations of the Batman theme, clearly divided into two parts, just like Harvey Dent's life.
However, even in the bright first half, the piano melody used a series of cold-toned notes, the melody quite dispersed, seemingly telling a tragic story.
The room fell silent. Duke turned to Charles Rowen and Anna Princz, asking, "How does it feel?"
"I think it's good," Anna Princz nodded, "Consistently high quality."
Seeing Charles Rowen's approving expression, Duke said to an assistant, "Inform Hans Zimmer that I'm very satisfied with the score. Ask him to finish it as soon as possible, no later than early April."
The assistant busied himself with the call. Duke and the two left the sound effects room, ready to check on the Industrial Light & Magic effects studio. Suddenly, hurried high-heeled footsteps echoed by the stairs. Tina Fey appeared from the stairwell.
She walked very fast, as if the stiletto heels on her feet didn't affect her at all, and her expression was strange, as if she had encountered something unbelievable.
Before she reached Duke and the others, Tina's phone rang again. She glanced down and answered.
Duke heard Tina say, "Confirmed? No mistake? Got it. I'll notify Duke right away."
What happened? Duke frowned slightly.
....
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