"What? You said Orlando Bloom got hit by a car? Is it serious?" Gilbert's first reaction was to ask about Orlando Bloom's condition.
"It's not too bad," reported his assistant Anna. "Just some scrapes, but his assistant wasn't so lucky his leg was crushed."
"My God, Orlando is really lucky," Gilbert sighed.
The Elven Prince ended up with a limp—if it could be healed, that'd be fine, but if not, Hollywood didn't need a crippled Elven Prince.
Even more fortunate was the fact that Orlando Bloom only got scrapes, while his assistant took the real hit.
Gilbert frowned. "Isn't the timing of this accident a bit suspicious? The premiere of Return of the King is just around the corner."
"It definitely wasn't an accident," Anna said, revealing what she had found out. "I called Director James. The perpetrator has already been arrested.
According to his confession, he did it on purpose."
"On purpose? Why?" Gilbert was puzzled. Had Orlando Bloom offended someone?
Anna explained, "Apparently, Orlando Bloom recently got involved with a Victoria's Secret model from Australia, named Miranda Kerr.
Miranda Kerr was the girlfriend of the suspect. Because Orlando Bloom played the third wheel, the guy got furious.
In a moment of rage, he tried to run Orlando Bloom over..."
"???" Gilbert was speechless. Love triangles were nothing new in Hollywood.
Just a few days ago, Gilbert had heard Leo say that Brad Pitt and David Schwimmer had a huge fight over Jennifer Aniston, and Brad Pitt got beaten up.
No one expected it David Schwimmer looked smaller than Brad Pitt, but he fought fiercely.
Brad Pitt actually lost, which was a major embarrassment.
The story about Brad Pitt getting beat up was still being circulated in the tabloids, and now Orlando Bloom nearly got killed for being a third party.
Brad Pitt, who had been in deep trouble, ought to thank Orlando Bloom this car accident had drawn all the gossip column's attention away from him.
Gilbert felt a headache coming on. Affairs were common enough, but the issue now was the car accident.
If the driver had been a bit more accurate, Return of the King might have become Orlando Bloom's final film.
Although Orlando Bloom wasn't dead, the situation wasn't getting better. Public opinion didn't side with the victim but with the driver.
The reason was simple. The media painted Orlando Bloom as the homewrecker.
No matter what happened in private, in public view, being the third party in a relationship was still condemned by mainstream society.
There might not be legal consequences, but the moral backlash was unavoidable.
And the driver was clever. After being bailed out by his lawyer, he quickly admitted his mistake, which gained public sympathy.
A lot of netizens even commented that although his methods were extreme, he was a "real man."
Ironically, Orlando Bloom, though the one injured, received more criticism.
That wasn't even the biggest issue the biggest problem was that Orlando Bloom's damaged reputation began to affect the film crew.
People online started saying things like: "Just look at Orlando Bloom and you can tell what kind of people are behind Return of the King. And look at Gilbert he's got four or five rumored girlfriends..."
Comments like that weren't fatal, but they definitely influenced some viewers' decisions.
This whole thing was fishy. Gilbert didn't believe there wasn't someone orchestrating it behind the scenes.
Faced with this situation, the PR team didn't have any effective countermeasures.
Orlando Bloom then appeared in public with Miranda Kerr, along with his poor assistant in a wheelchair, trying to salvage his image.
Orlando Bloom's lawyer said they might sue the perpetrator, or they might settle privately.
Whatever the outcome, the damage was already done.
Gilbert's meteoric rise had naturally earned him plenty of enemies.
They might not act directly, but they'd never miss a chance to kick him while he was down.
Orlando Bloom's love triangle car crash was one such opportunity.
Even with all that drama, the massive momentum behind Return of the King remained largely unaffected. All other films scheduled for early May had backed down.
But it wasn't over yet. In The Two Towers, Princess Éowyn of Rohan once suspected that Aragorn and Legolas were romantically involved.
So following Orlando Bloom's car accident, a few "slash" fanfics about the Human King and the Elven Prince popped up online, very explicit.
This wasn't the future yet, and although open discrimination wasn't allowed, such stories still triggered some people's discomfort and affected their movie choices.
"It's obvious someone is targeting us," Gilbert said, turning to the PR manager. "Marco, do you have any solutions?"
Marco looked at Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom and said, "Starting tomorrow, each of you will appear in public with an intimate female companion.
I'll arrange for paparazzi to follow you and take pictures preferably with you doing something affectionate."
The two actors were very cooperative. The next day, they went out with their respective female companions.
Soon after, paparazzi websites posted photos of them kissing their companions, which helped ease some of the rumors about their sexuality.
These were minor issues and didn't cause any serious problems for Return of the King. The film launched its premiere with an immense fanfare.
On Thursday, May 2, 2002, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King held its world premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
Thanks to two years of growing word-of-mouth from The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, along with the fact that this was the final chapter of the trilogy, fan enthusiasm reached a peak.
According to statistics, 150,000 fans from all over the world gathered in Los Angeles that day to take part in the premiere in a carnival-like atmosphere.
Many fans camped out with tents two or three days in advance just to get a good spot for a glimpse of the stars.
Although the premiere began in the afternoon, by 8:30 in the morning, fans had already packed Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Chinese Theatre until it was bursting at the seams.
These fans wore a wide variety of costumes. Though May weather in Los Angeles was already turning hot, they wore wizard hats, robes, cloaks, armor, elven dresses, and more. They carried staffs, bows, swords, and all kinds of props.
Some even cosplayed as orcs to stand out from the crowd.
If you ignored the surrounding shops and high-rise buildings, you'd almost think you'd been transported to Middle-earth.
All around were elves, hobbits, orcs, and various monsters.
The influence The Lord of the Rings trilogy had accumulated erupted with incredible energy on the day of the premiere.
The media were equally animated, offering full coverage of the grand event.
The city government of Los Angeles gave strong support. Mayor Locke granted permission for the costumed fans to parade through the city's main streets in a massive celebration.
Mayor Locke also received the Return of the King team at City Hall before they headed to the premiere venue.
Because of delays caused by the parade, the red carpet ceremony didn't start until around 5 p.m.
Gilbert walked the red carpet with Anne Hathaway. The deafening cheers from fans on both sides of the carpet seemed capable of piercing the earth itself.
TV reporters broadcasting live had to raise their voices: "As we can see, director Gilbert is walking the red carpet with elven princess Anne Hathaway.
The fans' cheers are absolutely deafening—I feel like my eardrums are going to burst…"
Gilbert didn't say much on the red carpet stage, giving more space to the leading actors.
Still, he said, "From the beginning of preparations until now, we've finally arrived at the final chapter of The Lord of the Rings.
I want to thank our team. Without their hard work, this series wouldn't have gone so smoothly.
Therefore, I dedicate this final chapter to our team members this is a glory we all share.
Though The Lord of the Rings story is coming to an end, the tales of Middle-earth will never end…"
That last line gave fans endless room for imagination.
Could it be… The Hobbit?
After the main cast walked the red carpet, it was time for the celebrity guests.
Almost every A-list star and director in Hollywood came to show support for Return of the King.
Jackie Chan appeared on the red carpet with Bingbing Li and Shuchang.
It was Shuchang's first time on a red carpet. Seeing the frenzied fans on both sides, she looked calm on the surface, but inside she was panicking.
"Bingbing-jie, is this what Hollywood movie premieres are like?" she asked, amazed at the massive scale of the event.
Li Bingbing was also surprised, but she knew that not all Hollywood films had this kind of spectacle.
"Of course not. Only movies directed by Gilbert can pull off something this huge," Li Bingbing said.
Jackie Chan was now a well-known action star in Hollywood, and bringing along two stunning Eastern beauties did attract some attention.
This was exactly the effect of synergy riding the wave of Return of the King to promote The Mysterious of the Talisman.
But tonight's main star wasn't Jackie Chan and company it was Return of the King.
The red carpet alone gave the media enough material to write several reports.
Because the earlier parade took quite some time, once the guests and cast took a group photo, they immediately went into the theater for the second part of the premiere.
The fans who didn't get tickets for the following portion of the premiere quickly dispersed with surprising speed.
However, some of them didn't go home. Instead, they headed to nearby cinemas.
Alongside the premiere, there were 2,200 early screenings across the United States. No Lord of the Rings fan wanted to miss the chance to see the film as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, those early screening tickets had been sold out a week earlier, so fans who didn't manage to snag a seat would just have to wait a bit longer.
...
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