Chapter 531: Chapter 531: Escaping Smoothly

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Once Henry stopped weaving around obstacles and leaning on the horn constantly, and the roads became noticeably smoother, he knew he had finally left New York City behind.

Don’t ask how he managed to find a route out when it seemed like the entire city was trying to flee at once.

The answer was simple:

His suite of super-senses was absurdly overpowered.

That, combined with occasionally driving his car like an off-road vehicle, was how he made it out.

In any case, once Sentinel and New York were both left behind in the rearview mirror, Henry’s mood lightened considerably.

Only then could he relax and happily chat with Katharine Hepburn, listening to stories from her era.

Many of the people in those stories were already gone.

And now that she was old, she guarded her privacy far less fiercely than in her younger years.

Which meant Henry got to hear some astonishing gossip.

At the very least, her relationship with Spencer Tracy—twenty-seven years spent together as "the other woman"—was something only now, at this stage of life, she could speak of without reservation.

Of course, the conversation still had limits.

Henry wasn’t getting any scandalous bedroom stories.

And if he pushed too hard, the old lady’s verbal iron fist was still every bit as sharp.

Still, Katharine Hepburn wasn’t like many elderly people who endlessly repeated stories from the past.

She was equally interested in discussing recent events.

"I remember that this year’s big Oscar winner, Titanic, also had your investment in it?"

"Yes.

"Stark Pictures invested sixty-five million dollars.

"Of that, ten million was my own personal money."

Henry openly revealed insider information most people would never know.

As for how much they had earned so far—

That was harder to say.

The movie was still in theaters.

Even 20th Century Fox, who had handed over North American distribution rights, was now regretting it so deeply their intestines had probably turned green.

Giving up distribution rights meant giving up control of the books.

Everyone knew Hollywood accounting involved mysteries outsiders could barely comprehend.

Sometimes even insiders got trapped by it.

Whether profits were distributed proportionally or not, once someone else controlled the ledger, black holes had a way of appearing.

Revenue vanished into "miscellaneous costs" no one could quite explain.

Though Stark Pictures had previously remained a third-rate studio in scale, it still had complete production and distribution departments.

For Titanic, Henry had even expanded the distribution division to ensure simultaneous release in more than three thousand theaters across North America.

At first, plenty of internal staff criticized the move.

Then the ship hit the iceberg—and the box office exploded.

All criticism instantly disappeared.

Replacing it were whispers of:

"Lucky bastard."

"Beginner’s luck."

"Stepped in dog crap."

Henry, naturally, didn’t care in the slightest.

Once the profits were in hand, what did it matter if jealous people muttered a few things?

Katharine Hepburn listened to Henry speaking in a tone so cheerful it was practically humming.

"At first, I wondered why someone who refuses to adapt his own works into films would invest so heavily in a romance picture.

"I still remember you saying that for films with clear historical or literary settings, cost control is everything.

"If spending becomes too large, the break-even target becomes too high, and you risk another Cleopatra disaster.

"But then I remembered what you once said about cultural barriers being the key issue for audience acceptance.

"And Titanic had none of that.

"Do you think that’s why it succeeded?

"The story of Cleopatra may not be universally known, but it’s close enough.

"So do you truly believe mere cultural difference explains the wildly different outcomes of those two films?"

Henry thought for a moment before answering.

"Maybe it’s because we know Cleopatra’s story too well.

"There are official histories, unofficial histories, adaptations, wild fabrications—

"And who knows how many people claim they were Cleopatra in a past life.

"But while we know the ending of the Titanic itself, we know nothing about Jack and Rose.

"That’s why audiences didn’t treat it as a disaster film about a ship hitting an iceberg.

"They treated it as a love story.

"Women saw a woman pursuing true love and gaining a man willing to die for her.

"Men saw a poor bastard who successfully slept with a rich heiress."

Henry shrugged.

"The Titanic sinking isn’t actually the important part.

"James Cameron used that framework to create a film where both male and female audiences wanted to be one of the leads.

"That’s what mattered."

After hearing that, Katharine Hepburn said:

"So if you changed the setting entirely, spent far less money, the movie would still succeed?

"Use a fictional ocean liner.

"Or a plane.

"Or a spaceship.

"Perhaps the Orient Express."

The Orient Express had operated since 1883, crossing Europe from Paris to Istanbul.

Henry replied:

"A film’s success depends on many factors.

"But you can’t deny that the hook of ’Titanic hits iceberg and sinks’ was a major draw that got audiences into theaters.

"Then the enormous budget made people curious what such a costly movie looked like.

"All those factors combined—and the film itself being excellent—created results nearly impossible to replicate."

"Mmm. True enough.

"Even I went to the theater to see it once.

"That was unusual for me."

Then she asked:

"With such a major investment, why didn’t you get your girl cast as the female lead?"

Henry glanced in the mirror.

"Katharine, if you were the right age—would you have taken that role?"

She thought seriously for a while, then sighed.

"If I truly had, I think I would’ve regretted it afterward."

"Exactly.

"That’s what I thought too.

"So I didn’t fight to get Charlize the opportunity.

"Though even if I had, it probably wouldn’t have mattered.

"That director isn’t the compromising type."

"That much I believe," she said.

"You can tell from his films."

At this point, Maria Thomson—who had mostly listened quietly the whole trip—finally spoke up.

"Miss Katharine, why would you regret making that movie?

"Isn’t it a good film?"

"It’s a very good film," Katharine Hepburn said calmly.

"But people would say it’s James Cameron’s movie.

"They would never say it’s Katharine Hepburn’s movie.

"As for those two children—Leonardo and Kate—

"They’re about to have a difficult time of it."

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