Chapter 214: Chapter 213: Hathaway starring in The Lord of the Rings, Deng Kai leads the team to the Super League
Fourth!
Even, if among their last five opponents there were not three teams that are right ahead of them in the rankings, they theoretically had a chance to advance.
"I don’t quite understand this part, if you still have games against your competitors for promotion, shouldn’t that be a better situation?" Over the phone, Hathaway’s voice came through, "As long as you win against them, it’s a victory worth six points... that’s how you say it, right?"
Deng Kai laughed, "It looks like you’ve been following football news closely lately, very professional. But you have to understand, the teams that can rank ahead of us are very strong, and when we play against them, the chances of losing are much greater."
"Oh, I see," Hathaway’s voice was somewhat low as if she was mourning Deng Kai’s results this season in advance, "But no worries, you’ve already performed well enough this year; very few players can enter the professional scene at your age and achieve success."
"And this season you’ve got at least one top assist provider! By the way, remind that Ronaldo guy to score more from your passes, don’t let him dribble too much, in case it doesn’t count as an assist. His dribbling is really nothing to watch, my conclusion is it’s not as good as Maradona’s!"
Deng Kai covered the phone and turned to look at Ronaldo, "I told you not to listen, but you insisted. How about it, feeling comfortable now?"
"Is this how you usually talk about me?" Ronaldo was furious.
"Sorry, we never talk about you normally; what we discuss is always poetry and literature..." Deng Kai pushed Ronaldo away, letting the beast lick his wounds alone.
The truth is always so cruel.
Hathaway’s idea was naive; a six-point game is not so easy to win.
And Moreirense had three of such six-point games.
Everyone knew the difficulty involved.
But in fact, Deng Kai agreed with Hathaway’s view.
They really still had a chance.
As long as... they could beat Vizela, Gil Vicente, and Rio Ave, who were ahead of them!
"Oh! There’s one more thing." Hathaway said with some excitement, "The Lord of the Rings crew contacted me! Peter Jackson himself called me!"
"Really?" Deng Kai got excited too; Hathaway had mentioned this to him before, but since it wasn’t confirmed, she hadn’t gone into detail.
The Lord of the Rings production had actually started filming last October and would continue until this December, almost two years in total.
Three parts would be filmed at the same time, to be released at different dates.
It was a super big production, with a total budget of 281 million US Dollars.
Last year, a minor actor of Hathaway’s caliber wouldn’t even dream of getting a role in it, let alone a passerby role with a single line or a ten-second silent screen time.
But times had changed.
Jackson invited Hathaway to play a role that was quite significant, second-tier among the main characters—Elf Princess Arwen, the official consort of King Aragorn!
The specific reasons couldn’t be revealed, but essentially the original actress, Liv Tyler, who played Keanu Reeves’s female version—damn, Elf Princess Arwen—had fallen out with the director’s team for various reasons.
These included, but were not limited to, different interpretations of acting, differing views on the amount of screentime, and delays in shooting due to prop damage, among other issues.
Both parties were considering a breakup.
Jackson could afford the losses from reshooting the relevant scenes, but only on the condition that he found a better replacement.
Hathaway’s popularity was the focus of Jackson’s attention.
At the same time, Hathaway’s pure appearance and the Elves were a natural fit.
According to Hathaway’s agent, at this stage it would be best for her to only take on lead roles, and preferably continue with the "American girl" style romance movies, which are also considered to have box office guarantees.
Rashly acting in other genres, the fans might not buy into it.
"Even if you really did romance movies, the fans might not buy into them," Deng Kai analyzed, "At this stage, the campus romance movies that seek you out are mostly small productions hoping for a big break."
"It’s difficult for these production teams to produce a polished script, let alone gather a strong cast. This isn’t the kind of bad money you should be after at your stage."
"Movies like The Lord of the Rings, destined to go down in film history, obviously cannot be passed up. And as far as I know, Arwen already has the most screen time among female characters, right?"
"Cate Blanchett’s screen time isn’t even a third of yours!"
"Moreover... if The Lord of the Rings series is successful, there will be many spin-offs to follow. You are very aware of the influence of the Star Wars series, perhaps The Lord of the Rings could become the next big hit series?"
"Of course, this is just my suggestion, whatever decision you ultimately make, I will support you."
Hathaway was smiling on the other end of the line like she had eaten honey, "Alright, I know what to do now, so let’s hope I can live up to the role!"
It wasn’t two days later that the news of the cast change for The Lord of the Rings spread.
Hathaway rose to the top of all the headlines, but the reviews were mixed.
Some said she used her newly-won Best Actress title to snatch the role, despite it having already been in production for a while.
Others said she didn’t understand self-respect, willing to play a small part just to squeeze into a big production team, and that it would be difficult for her to land lead roles in the future.
Still others asked if this is what contemporary North American women should be doing?
The skepticism triggered a new storm of controversy.
But Hathaway, having joined the production team, found a moment of tranquility.
Beyond filming, she spent her days chatting with Deng Kai, in great spirits.
Similarly, Deng Kai spent most of his time training, and in his rest periods chatting with Hathaway, not overly disturbed by public opinion.
In the team, the only one who could remain as undistracted as him was Ronaldo; the others were more or less influenced by the media outside.
Because Moreirense had just won the 26th round of the league, defeating Belenenses two to zero and raising their points to forty.
Among the top three, Gil Vicente and Vizela had a showdown, ending in a draw, with Vizela continuing to lead with forty-five points and Gil Vicente closely behind at forty-four points; Rio Ave was third with forty-two points.
The gap between Moreirense and them was at most five points.
Five rounds for seven points, four rounds for five points, if this wasn’t heaven-sent opportunity, what was?
"Moreirense’s promotion hopes? Don’t be naive, these three teams are not like the other teams in the second division!"
"One to eleven! Moreirense scored one goal in the first half against the top three teams, with eleven goals conceded, the gap is too obvious!"
"Vizela: The three points from the match against Moreirense are crucial, we cannot afford to lose!"
"Gil Vicente: The next two rounds of matches are the last supply before the big battle; bottom-ranking Fatima and fourth-placed Moreirense are no different in our eyes!"
"Rio Ave: The next round’s game against Vizela is a battle for our survival, and the last round against Moreirense could very possibly decide if we succeed in our promotion this season!"
