The next day, Nolan contacted the production team over the phone. As soon as they heard that Laila already had a promotional strategy ready, they immediately scheduled a meeting to discuss the specifics.
Yesterday, on the car ride, Laila had come up with the idea of leveraging Roy's looks for publicity after seeing a giant billboard. It had been a moment of inspiration. But after a night and a morning of serious thinking, she finalized a detailed step-by-step plan and turned it into a proposal.
When she brought out the proposal, everyone who read it was stunned.
So this is how hype could work? They felt like they had just been taught a valuable lesson. Although it was clear that Roy would benefit a lot from this kind of publicity, so what? The movie itself would gain even more.
Think about it—hyping one actor inevitably boosts the movie and its investors too. That's why producers keep doing it—they're all beneficiaries.
"No problem. Let's go ahead with the plan!" The representative from the production team approved it immediately—no need for further reporting.
In terms of promotional power, few in the industry could compare to Laila. Behind her stood not only the full force of Moran Media, but also FB, which she had built from the ground up, along with a tight network of long-time media partners.
Often, each party focused on their work, but as long as Laila paid up, whatever message she wanted to spread could reach its destination in the blink of an eye.
And Laila had one more secret weapon—a massive, well-organized online army powered by FB's programmers. Unlike typical "internet trolls," who were just anyone with a Wi-Fi connection, her people were different: some wore ties as professional coders by day and led water army campaigns by night. They were like a sword—Laila, as their commander, only needed to point, and they'd strike.
That same day, on several major online forums, new threads popped up discussing the current crop of summer blockbusters—basically, saying that although there were a lot of films out, very few had any real eye candy.
Under the guidance of Laila's online army, the conversation naturally shifted to a broader topic: Hollywood male actors and their looks.
In America, it's common for male stars to grow more appealing with age. It's perfectly normal for actors in their 30s or 40s—sometimes even with a full head of gray hair—to save the world and get the girl on screen.
But then came Roy. With his striking face, gray eyes, dark golden hair, and flawlessly trained physique from years of martial arts, he instantly became the object of countless women's fantasies. He had even been voted the world's sexiest man multiple times by well-known magazines.
Of course, not all fans agreed. Some insisted their idols were the most handsome. But whenever that happened, Roy's fans would simply drop his Oscar Best Actor title on the table.
It wasn't just about looks—their idol had the acting chops to back it up.
What could the others say? Unless their idol had also taken home a little golden statue, they had no comeback.
Some tried to dismiss Roy's success, claiming it was all thanks to his fiancée's backing.
But instead of feeling insulted, Roy's fans took pride in it. Yes, he was supported by his incredibly powerful fiancée. If you're so envious, go get a fiancée like that yourself—if you can!
Most celebrity couples avoid going public to keep fans from jumping ship. Even when they do "go public," it's often fake. Rarely does a couple show their real selves.
But Roy and Laila were different. Their story was already known to many and considered a real-life fairytale. Fans didn't just support it—they loved it. In the entertainment industry, that was practically unheard of.
If they ever broke up, fans would probably cry en masse.
This unexpected surge in online discussion about attractiveness managed to steal the spotlight from the summer movie season—at least partially.
The truth was, this year's summer lineup had been underwhelming. So far, only Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Hancock, and Kung Fu Panda have performed well.
Others, like Hellboy II: The Golden Army, with a $75 million budget, only pulled in a dismal $35.88 million box office return.
Besides the hits produced by Laila's own company, like The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2, which both did well, only 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian' from another studio managed a passable performance.
No wonder people started complaining that there weren't enough attractive stars on screen this year.
Audiences often equate good looks with shallow acting. But when no one attractive is around, they complain about a lack of visual appeal.
And so, Roy's looks were successfully hyped. A few other good-looking stars rode the wave, a little baffled but not unhappy about the extra attention.
This was just the first step of Laila's promotional plan.
Time was short. The premiere was fast approaching, so most of the groundwork was already laid. The real payoff would come after the film's release. For now, it was all about building momentum.
The Dark Knight would premiere on July 18.
Summer blockbusters were everywhere, and before a movie had been tested in the market, no one could say for sure which would soar and which would flop.
As a general rule, studios avoided releasing films near big-budget giants. The common belief in Hollywood was that big budgets meant big potential returns.
But ever since Laila joined the summer release schedule, another rule had emerged: stay at least two weeks away from any movie she's involved in.
No one wanted to be the next Titanic—crashing into an iceberg like one of her releases.
The producers had originally planned to dodge other major releases to give their film a better chance at success. After all, who knew when Laila would agree to produce another one of their movies?
But once they locked in the schedule, they realized they'd made a mistake.
Because now that Laila was listed as the film's director, every other summer blockbuster was dodging them.
In the end, they didn't need to avoid anyone—everyone else was avoiding them.