In the following days, Laila clung to her laptop.
Roy occasionally saw her typing a few words or sifting through a pile of photos.
"Are you brainstorming a new movie?"
"I want to publish a soul-refreshing version of a photography collection," she paused and then smiled, "or you can call it 'Journey of the Ring' or 'Travel Guide to the East and New Zealand.'"
"...What on earth are those?"
Roy was speechless. He understood photography collections and soul-refreshing concepts, but what about a journey or a travel guide?
Hold on! Perhaps he was focusing on the wrong point: "You want to publish a photography collection?" Is it the kind of publishing he imagined?
"Yes, didn't I take a lot of scenic photos when choosing the filming locations before? Many people liked them when I shared them online. Some even wanted to help me publish a photography collection. But think about it, what does the Moran family do? If we're going to publish, it should be our work."
She was undoubtedly someone who fully embodied the saying "keep the benefits within the family"!
Roy exclaimed, "Impressive!" Perhaps he had been instilled with similar concepts since childhood. In his mind, anyone who could publish something was a great figure called an author.
"If you have something you want to publish, I can help you with that too." Laila thought it was a straightforward matter. With her current popularity, whether it's a novel, a photo collection, or an autobiography, it would surely stay on the bestseller list for a while.
"I'd better not." Roy quickly waved his hands. "I can act in a movie, but writing is not my cup of tea." To avoid her giving him a challenging task, he quickly found another topic to shift her attention. "After finishing 'Lord of the Rings,' what are your plans next? Many media outlets are speculating about your next work."
Laila thought for a moment. "I'm not sure yet. Just have a small plan."
"Can you share it with me?" Roy curiously sat down beside her.
"It's just a thought for now. I'll tell you when I've figured it out."
What Laila wanted to do was a grand plan. She wanted to create a truly original film. A film written, directed, and produced by herself, entirely her creation, operated solely by her hands, without relying on any aspect of the reborn new movies!
From her debut until now, all her films relied on the powerful tool of rebirth, bringing forward some movies from future years. Although some of her later movies incorporated many of her ideas, it couldn't be denied that the main body still relied on the insights and experiences brought by future generations. Her pre-rebirth research on those movies and her understanding of films ensured that she rarely made mistakes.
But she was an ambitious person. She didn't want to just stay in the realm of making movies with information obtained through rebirth. She wanted her completely original work. However, this was currently just an idea, and she was unsure about the extent of her capabilities at the moment.
If she failed, she would have to endure the eager black marks that her critics would undoubtedly heap upon her, drowning her in countless criticisms and attacks. She was not a person who couldn't accept criticism; she could humbly accept genuine opinions. But she didn't want the Moran surname and her family to be disgraced due to her risky endeavors.
So, she planned to take some time to carefully consider and use as much time as possible to prepare for this work.
However, this was not something she could tell others, not even Roy. Otherwise, how would she explain the fact that her previous "original movies" were not truly original?
After more than half a month of promotion, with the premiere date approaching, Laila finally left the crew members still on a promotional tour and returned to Hollywood alone.
As soon as she returned to the company, Louise came to find her.
"Laila, have you seen the news?"
"I just returned to the U.S. and haven't had a chance to check the news. Is there something noteworthy?"
Louise picked up the remote control and turned on the TV in the office, flipping to a news channel.
At the moment, the news was showing a house still emitting black smoke. A few damaged letters were visible in the wreckage.
"What's this?" Laila was puzzled. What did a burned house have to do with her?
Before Louise could answer, the TV host had already explained, "Following last night's arson incident, this is the third one. In these three incidents, there haven't been any casualties so far, but no one knows where the next one will happen..."
After the news segment, Louise finally spoke, "You were on a plane when this happened, and I couldn't inform you. Since last night, there have been successive cases of arson targeting the homes of the main members of the resistance against our movie."
Laila's eyebrows furrowed, understanding what she meant. This was the rhythm of forcing her to take the blame!
"What does the police say?"
"What else can they say? The houses that were burned were relatively lucky; there were no people inside at the time, and the surveillance cameras around were either broken or not installed, so there is no useful information." Louise relayed the information she obtained.
"Why are you so sure it's because of the resistance that these houses were burned?"
"Because someone sprayed some words on the burned houses, accusing them... accusing them of doing something bad, harming you..." Louise hesitated, not wanting to tell her this if the matter wasn't so significant. If it didn't happen on such a large scale, she wouldn't want Laila to know about it.
Laila nodded thoughtfully, "So, someone burned the homes of those who opposed 'Lord of the Rings' because of me, right?"
"No! It might be because of some other reason, deliberately bringing you into it. You mustn't overthink this because of such a thing!" Louise was afraid that this matter would harm her "fragile and kind" soul.
Anyone who heard such news wouldn't be in a good mood. Not to mention the media making a fuss about it, there would undoubtedly be some self-righteous individuals standing on the moral high ground, spewing nonsense.
"Don't worry; I won't be demoralized by something like this." Laila smiled. Although she felt a bit shocked and uncomfortable hearing about it, she wouldn't lose her appetite or go to extremes.
This matter was indeed tricky, and it made her more certain that someone wanted to create trouble behind her back. Burning three houses without hesitation showed that this person was ruthless.
"Get me all the news about this incident, and don't miss any details. I want to see who's been playing these clandestine tricks behind my back!" She squinted and ordered, "I want to find out who's been orchestrating these underhanded moves!"