[Chapter 464: Buying an Island]
"128th scene, 3rd take, roll camera!"
On the set of The Truman Show, Link and his crew kept filming.
On Seahaven Island, after meeting his dad, Truman sensed cracks in the perfect world around him and began plotting to escape.
At first, producer Christof thought he could trap Truman this way, but it didn't work. Truman exploited a flaw in the camera angle, placing a doll under the quilt while sleeping in the basement to fool the crew's surveillance, then snuck out through a pre-dug hole in the villa.
When the crew discovered Truman was gone, they searched everywhere and finally found him at sea preparing to leave by boat.
To stop Truman's escape, the production team used gear to create storms and lightning, trying to scare him off.
But Truman wasn't fazed.
After surviving the first storm, Truman shouted out, "Got any other tricks? You want me to give up? You'll have to kill me!"
...
"Cut!"
"Great, next scene!"
Sometimes actors don't nail the performance, and you need to guide them. Other times, an actor outperforms the script, going far beyond the role's intended limits. That's when a director's courage and artistic sense really matter.
Mediocre directors tend to cut off actors and demand they stick strictly to the script to avoid messing with the film's flow or throwing off other actors' performances. Sometimes it's better if all actors deliver an average performance rather than one doing great and another falling flat.
Top directors have strong control, but they let actors express themselves freely, letting their talents shine.
That's why actors flock to work with top directors -- because it pushes their craft, raises their profile, and earns awards.
Working under a mediocre director cramps creativity and leads to weak productions.
That's why Jim Carrey could really let loose on camera.
...
Boom!!
Despite objections from the crew, Christof insisted.
After pressing a button himself, massive waves surged toward Truman's boat.
Truman was tossed by several giant waves and knocked unconscious in the ocean.
The staged storm attack was over.
...
"Cut!"
After wrapping that scene, Link checked his watch. It was 8:40 PM. The studio's thousands of lights made it as bright as daytime.
He noticed Jim Carrey looked exhausted and asked if he wanted to keep going.
...
"Who are you?" Truman asked looking up to the "heavens."
"I'm the creator."
"The creator of what?"
"A show - that gives hope and joy and inspiration to millions."
"A show. Then who am I?" Truman asked.
"You're the star."
Truman struggling to take everything in, "Nothing was real."
"You were real. That's what made you so good to watch," Christof replied.
Truman nodded solemnly and headed for the exit.
"Wait, Truman!" Christof called out. "Listen to me, Truman -- You can leave if you want. I won't try
to stop you. But you won't survive out there. You don't know what to do, where to go"
"I have a map."
"Truman, I've watched you your whole life. I saw you take your first step, your first word, your first kiss. I know you better than you know yourself. You're not going to walk out that door--"
"--You never had a camera in my head," Truman bowed to the sky, then turned and walked out the door.
...
With that scene done, filming hit 90% completion -- just a few indoor shots remained, simple to wrap up in a couple of weeks.
---
While shooting in Florida and Los Angeles, Link got an unexpected call from Epstein, who said he was a big fan and wanted to visit the crew.
Link was fine with it.
When Epstein arrived, Link chatted briefly but was too busy to talk long, leaving the assistant director to entertain him.
Before leaving, Epstein enthusiastically invited Link to join his club, mentioning acquaintances like Bill Gates, Prince Andrew, and Bill Clinton were members.
Link politely declined, saying work kept him busy and he rarely made time for clubs. He had never joined new clubs after quitting his previous one to avoid being rude.
Epstein said he had insider info on the finance world to share at parties.
Link declined, saying he wasn't into investing. Glimmer Investment was managed by others, and he knew little about finance. Knowing too much wouldn't help.
---
After over three months, The Truman Show was finished. Link returned to the studio with the film reels and started editing.
Post-production finished on American Beauty and Armageddon back to back, and Link received systematic evaluations and bonuses.
His participation in American Beauty is 73.1%, the film is 99.1% complete, and the film meets the market at 93%. Rewards include 2.8 times the box office bonus; directing experience +20%; physical stamina +15%; film quality increase +16%
Participation rate on Armageddon was 65.3%, completion rate 96.8%, and market alignment 90%.
Rewards included 2.5 times box office bonus; directing experience +15%, physical stamina +20%, film quality increase +15%.
After boosting his stamina by 35%, Link's fitness had a qualitative leap. Test data were off the charts, near half-superman level. Too bad he was just a director without aspirations to save the world; otherwise, his skills could change the outcomes of wars or even shift humanity's course.
Cities still bore the scars of war -- smoke rising from ruins -- awaiting long recovery.
However, when his physical fitness improved again, his girlfriends at home suffered. Whether it was Monica, Brooke Shields, Sandra, Sophie Marceau and others at home, or Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Brigitte Lin, Li Bingbing, Rie Miyazawa, Shizuka Kudo and others outside, as well as Lily, Lewinsky, Aishwarya who worked with him in office, they all suffered.
...
Because Link met them often, 21 people including Diana, Jodie Foster, Brooke Shields, Jennifer Connelly, Diane Lane, Nicole Kidman, Cindy Crawford, Gong Li, Vivian Chow, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, and Chen Hong announced happy news one after another.
For security and privacy reasons, Link spent $200 million to buy 98% of the land ownership of Lanai Island in Hawaii, allowing his girlfriends to raise their babies on the island.
[T/N: Original number was 600 million, but In June 2012, Larry Ellison purchased 98 percent share of the island for $300 million. So, I changed it to 200 million.]
...
Lanai is the sixth largest island in Hawaii, with a total area of 140 square miles or 365 square kilometers. It has 18 beaches, five coral reef diving sites, a whale watching resort, golf courses, horseback riding ranches and shooting bases. It is 60 miles away from Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, and has convenient transportation.
Originally, the pineapple king, James Dole Smith, invested $1.1 million to buy the island in the 20s, and spent another $5 million to transform it into a pineapple plantation, build a dock road, dig water sources, and eventually established the city of Lanai.
In the 1960s, Dole Food Company was acquired by Castle & Cooke, an American food company.
Due to climate and market reasons, the pineapple industry declined significantly. After Castle & Cooke discovered that growing pineapples was not profitable, it began to develop tourism and real estate on Lanai.
After more than 20 years of development, Lanai Island had grown into a renowned tourist destination in Hawaii.
However, poor management meant Lanai didn't bring much profit to Castle & Cooke, becoming a financial burden.
Late last year during a Hawaii vacation, Link heard Castle & Cooke considered selling the island. He arranged negotiations through his contacts.
After several bidding rounds, the Link Family Foundation invested $200 million to acquire 98% ownership of Lanai from Castle & Cooke. The remaining 2% stayed with Hawaii's state government.
...
After purchasing the island, Link planned to transform it, isolate the area with the best scenery with an artificial canal, and build a super luxurious holiday estate on the island, allowing only family members to enter. This part was about 50 square kilometers.
Then build a luxury resort in the next-level scenic area, open it to the public after completion, and rent it out to wealthy people for vacation. This part covered approximately 100 square kilometers.
The remaining 200 square kilometers would be used to build public tourist attractions and open them to the public, thereby increasing the island's revenue and tax revenue for the state of Hawaii.
The investments are expected to cost approximately $3 billion and are expected to be completed within five years.
...
Standing atop Lanai Ridge, more than 1,000 meters high, gazing down at the lush beaches below, Monica happily said, "Such a big island, now it belongs to our family?"
"Yes, it belongs to us in property rights."
However, land tax, that is, real estate and property tax, must be paid every year. Depending on the different uses of the land on the island, Lanai Island had to pay approximately US$5 million in property taxes each year. This was also the reason why the property rights price of the island was not high, but not many wealthy people were willing to invest in it.
"This place's so big, there must be several countries in the world smaller than our island," Lily said, blushing.
"Maybe twenty or thirty," Link replied.
Indeed, many countries like Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino were smaller than Lanai, though Link never counted exactly.
"This is really great. In the future, I can ride horses on the island whenever I want, dive whenever I want, and run without clothes here without being photographed by paparazzi. It's great."
Jennifer Lopez, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Kate Winslet and others shouted excitedly down the mountain.
He smiled and kept climbing the mountain with his girlfriends.
*****
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