Isabella suddenly trending again left the North American public utterly confused.
After Azkaban came out last year, she had pretty much vanished from public view.
Once the premieres in the UK and the US ended, she didn't accept any interviews. Even after Azkaban broke $1 billion at the global box office and set a new historical record, she never appeared in public a single time.
Since the media repeatedly said Isabella was filming Goblet of Fire and Warner had already announced that Goblet of Fire would be split into two parts due to story complexity, doubling production time...
So, while Isabella was busy with actual work, the public was still willing to accept her "disappearance."
Because when a public figure goes off the radar for long enough, suspicions begin to rise.
And the level of suspicion rises with the person's fame.
The smaller the name, the smaller the waves.
But the reverse...
Let's put it this way. The people at the very top of the world have a public schedule every single day. If they disappear for one day, rumors spread. Two days, and people think something happened. Three days? Either a new player has stepped onto the stage, or World War III is beginning.
Isabella may not be comparable to the actual sun, but she does hold the most popular reality show IP of the 21st century. If she's not busy, and she doesn't show up in her own show, her fans will start screaming.
That's precisely why people thought she was filming Harry Potter. Yet somehow... during filming, she ended up trending nationwide again? And this time... it seemed negative?
What on earth?
Baffled like clueless monks, people started checking today's news.
That's when they discovered it: Beaver Productions bought Marvel's rights from Lionsgate, abandoned Resident Evil, and this information entered the public's view for the first time.
Then many people got confused. Basically everyone who saw it for the first time was stunned.
Because...
"Isn't Resident Evil a horror game? How is this thing Isabella's?"
"The Resident Evil movie was made by Beaver Productions? Since when?!"
"If I remember correctly, Isabella was born in 1990, right? She was only picked by J.K. Rowling in 2000? Official debut was 2001 when Sorcerer's Stone released? And when did the first Resident Evil movie come out? Did she even have the power back then to fund a multi-million-dollar movie?"
"…"
Exactly.
Since Resident Evil wasn't exactly some major IP, and Beaver Productions never publicly bragged when they acquired it… well, even if they had, no one would have cared anyway. Because back then, the biggest news in North America was Fox discriminating against the first-ever Black Oscar-winning actress.
So to the average person, they didn't even know Resident Evil belonged to Isabella already.
The missing key information made this sudden attack seem very random.
Once the media chasing the trending story released the full context, the public realized something: last year, the victim of the "discrimination" scandal wasn't only Halle Berry.
Another victim was Constantin Films, who had co-developed Fantastic Four with Fox.
After Fox cut ties with them due to the scandal and Constantin had already invested large amounts of money into the project, they fell into a critical financial crisis. To survive, they had to sell off projects they could no longer develop, including their major IP: Resident Evil.
That's when Beaver Productions picked it up.
Then Beaver actually invested money and developed it.
The second film, Apocalypse, was officially released earlier this year.
Although it was strongly tied to the first movie… its box office greatly disappointed.
Once all of this entered the public eye, the social narrative finally found direction...
"Oh, I think I finally understand why Milla Jovovich suddenly attacked Isabella."
July 10, 2005.
CBS Late Night Talk Show.
The host in a suit held two photos.
One of Milla Jovovich wearing a red strap dress, blonde hair, looking sexy.
The other of Isabella in her Hogwarts classroom, adorable and bright-eyed.
Showing both to the camera, the host began:
"I can responsibly say this: the reason Milla is attacking Isabella is pure nonsense. It's just venting."
"Why?"
"First of all, Resident Evil wasn't originally Beaver Productions property."
"I don't know why they bought it, but since they only joined from the second movie onward, how is the quality of this franchise Isabella's problem?"
"Right?"
"She didn't make the first one!"
"And when they bought the rights, the second movie was already in development! The script already existed!"
"Secondly, for Beaver Productions to intervene at the second-film stage proves they believed in the project. Otherwise why spend money to buy rights and invest in production?"
"And since they believed in the project, obviously they would keep the original creative team, to maintain continuity with the first film. That was their only path to success, and they absolutely followed that logic."
"So, if Apocalypse bombed, isn't that on the creative team?"
"Isn't that the fault of the director, writers, and actors?"
"So when a creative team might be a problem, and a project might be flawed… pulling the plug is the normal choice, right?"
"Personally, I think Beaver Productions made the right call!"
"I even think Milla can't logically attack them at all!"
"So here's the question. If Beaver's decision is perfectly logical, why did Milla attack them? Why is she now insulting Isabella?"
At this point, the host raised his eyebrows at the camera, smiling widely.
Curious viewers stared at their screens, eager for his analysis.
The host cleared his throat and continued:
"I'll give you a hint. Milla Jovovich was born in 1975."
"This year is 2005."
"She's 30."
"We all know male actors and female actors peak differently. Men can rise with age, but women… 30 and things usually go downhill."
"So no matter how hard Milla works, she cannot compete with someone in their twenties."
"She's unlikely to ever get a new franchise."
"So for her, clinging to her only possible franchise was crucial. But unfortunately, that franchise failed, and the failure wasn't the investor's fault."
"When she can't logically blame the investor, her only option is to curse and vent her furious frustration."
Boom.
The talk show host's words landed like a bomb in a volcano. Not the biggest explosion ever, but enough to trigger reactions across North America, even globally.
"So Milla's just throwing a tantrum???"
"No wonder I couldn't understand the news! I never got why she was attacking Isabella. Now I get it… she's incompetent, wrong, AND angry!"
"How is someone like this even real?"
"Everyone knows Milla is shady. Her dad went to prison for the biggest medical fraud case ever. She herself was tried for credit card fraud and vandalism! If someone climbs up by constantly dating directors, how could she be decent?"
"Seriously? Isabella literally saved Resident Evil! Milla ruined the franchise herself! So the good person gets attacked? Why is she still allowed to exist?!"
"…"
With her reputation collapsing and Isabella's image being pristine, tides of hatred surged toward Milla Jovovich.
Within one day, public opinion erupted.
Within two, people's fury targeted Milla directly.
Also, Isabella's image was simply too good.
As they say…
When a person makes their public image that of a saint, there will be no trace of a devil on that card. Personality quirks are fine, but only demons stink so badly they cannot pretend to be angels.
That tidal wave of backlash made Milla Jovovich smash several cups in rage.
Eyes wide, nostrils flaring, she glared at her agent.
"Do you have a solution?"
"Did you reach the PR team?"
"I REALLY want to curse Isabella! That filthy brat! That little b*tch! But I never said it in the media! So they're spreading lies! Lies!!"
"I want them to pay!!!"
"And now that I've torn things with Isabella, I'm going to say EVERYTHING! Get me a talk show! I'll expose the whole story! I'll let the WHOLE WORLD know she's a FAKE ANIMAL!"
Theoretically, someone at Milla's level can afford PR.
But...
She poured too much money into her personal brand over the years.
And that brand has been losing money.
So she switched from annual PR coverage to "pay-per-need." And now, with a real storm coming… she can't get premium coverage anymore.
And…
"Sorry, Milla. No PR firm is willing to take this on."
Her agent sighed. "They all think this situation is too tricky."
"And…"
"Honestly… nobody will take on PR against Isabella. Her PR is backed by Warner and Disney. No PR firm dares go against those two!"
"They'd still need media to publish their statements. If they get blacklisted by both Warner and Disney… they'd go bankrupt overnight."
"So…"
"Lay low."
"Take a vacation in Africa? Or… Europe? And wait for the filming of .45?"
The agent's words made Milla take a deep breath.
Chest high. Then slowly… she exhaled.
Her calmer expression made the agent think she'd accepted the reality.
However…
"Contact director Brian De Palma for me."
Milla stared straight at him. "I hate the feeling of running away."
"Milla, are you insane?!"
Before the agent could respond, Paul W. S. Anderson, who had been listening in the shadows, exploded:
"Milla! You and De Palma aren't even connected anymore, okay?"
"And even if you were! He'd side with Isabella!"
"Stop this! You said something wrong, so admit it! Can't we just accept that?!"
Milla was born in Kyiv, former USSR.
In 1980 she fled to London with her parents, then in 1981 moved to Los Angeles.
Since it wasn't easy for Soviets to survive in America, her parents worked odd jobs.
The man employing them? Hollywood director Brian De Palma.
Uh…
To be blunt, the only reason Milla was able to enter the entertainment industry at all, and still keep getting projects even when her films kept flopping, was because of Palma's recommendation. In those days, with the hostile climate between countries, without Palma's help she wouldn't even have been able to attend school. In the eyes of Americans back then, her whole family were Soviet spies.
And Palma's teammate in Hollywood was George Lucas.
The two of them were very close.
Back then, when Palma was shooting Carrie, the budget was too small, so many of his ideas couldn't be realized. When Lucas, who was just then preparing Star Wars, heard about it, he let Palma share his prep team.
Yes, Carrie's early prep work was basically paid for by Star Wars.
And since Palma was more famous than Lucas back then, Lucas asked him for feedback on Star Wars. And after that, the opening crawl was born.
Right, the iconic opening of Star Wars was written by Palma.
So when Palma and Lucas were close friends, whenever Milla ran into a thorny problem, she wanted to ask a bigshot like that for help. But sadly, everyone in the industry already knew: the person closest to Lucas was Spielberg.
So…
"Paul! Besides yelling at me, what else do you even know how to do?"
"Milla, you—"
"Stop! I don't want to see you anymore, okay? We're done! We have no future! So! Leave my house right now! Now! Immediately! Get out—"
Her heart-rending scream left Paul Anderson frozen in place.
He really wanted to say that maybe everything happening now was part of Milla Jovovich's earlier scheming, but…
He couldn't even be bothered to say it anymore.
He just glanced at her twice, then turned and walked away.
As he left, Milla collapsed to the floor, unable to move even though her agent was shouting like crazy.
When the public in North America saw that Milla Jovovich didn't come forward to face the backlash, most people assumed she was guilty and didn't dare show up. Others thought this might be the beginning of the end of the whole incident.
Because when you mock someone again and again, but they don't respond at all… it kind of stops being fun.
But just as online outrage was slowly fading away, on July 13th, someone finally stood up to defend Milla.
It was the host of an NBC entertainment show.
While talking about the current industry buzz, he said:
"In my personal opinion, some of the public discourse has been too extreme. A lot of arguments and judgments don't hold water."
"First, people say it was logical for Beaver Productions to abandon Resident Evil because its results were bad. Really?"
"Well then, may I ask: have comic book adaptations generally performed that well?"
"Besides Spider-Man, has there been any other massive success in the comic book movie genre?"
"So if Beaver Productions intended to save Marvel, why couldn't they save Resident Evil too? Did they lack the ability? Or did they just look down on it?"
"Second point: Isabella is not short on money right now."
"As everyone knows, The Voice is her project, now in its third season."
"And if every season of The Voice brings Disney billions in revenue, her income must also be huge."
"So why would she cut Resident Evil?"
"Why couldn't she develop it alongside Marvel?"
After this statement came out…
North American public opinion exploded again!
Countless netizens already dissatisfied with Milla started attacking, calling the host a bleeding-heart saint. They said a company has to make profit, and if he thought Resident Evil was so good, why didn't he buy back the rights himself? It's only a few million, right?
Blah blah blah…
The renewed cursing threw North America into chaos once more.
And at the same time, support began to rise in Europe.
Well, that's what happens when Isabella is the top star of the moment. If the North American online battle had only lasted a day or two, her European fans probably wouldn't have joined in.
But when it kept going…
"I strongly suspect this NBC host is Japanese! Only a Japanese person would say something that stupid!"
"Exactly! Marvel is an American company! Resident Evil is a Japanese game! Now Isabella thinks American comic characters can be made into something big, but the American TV host says she should also save a Japanese game franchise at the same time? That's insane!"
"NBC should investigate their host's background! Who knows if company secrets are being sold behind their backs!"
"…"
The global uproar drew huge attention.
In the eyes of many major players, the whole thing was quite interesting. And the public defending Isabella showed just how much influence Isabella had among ordinary people.
But in the eyes of Ted Turner and Steve Case…
"Steve, tell me, why couldn't this have happened earlier?"
"Why… did this only happen now?"
Ted Turner felt bitter.
Steve Case took a long breath. "If this had happened a little earlier… maybe we'd already have won. Maybe we'd already be in control of Time Warner…"
Exactly.
To them, this was the perfect time to attack Isabella.
It was simple.
At a time when everyone thought cutting Resident Evil was the right move, if they revealed the truth behind Constantin selling the rights, they could completely destroy her good image.
Simple logic.
Although Constantin lost Resident Evil mainly because they worked with Fox earlier to strike at Isabella, that had no evidence and couldn't be used publicly. But if the public simply learned that Isabella bought Resident Evil for only $250,000, they could slap the label of "thief" on her.
Strike when the fire is hot.
It would destroy her public image instantly.
And the resulting tsunami would be enormous.
But unfortunately…
By this point, Ted Turner and Steve Case had switched strategies.
After giving up on attacking Isabella and choosing instead to win her over, having already invested heavily in that approach…
Changing plans now would cost them dearly.
And that's not even counting Carl Icahn, whom they already robbed. He'd tear them apart.
Because their move would affect Warner's stock price.
If Warner's stock crashed, Carl Icahn's cost to get a seat at the table would suddenly be full of water.
"Sigh…"
The two looked at the outside world with disappointment.
At that moment, they really felt unlucky.
Meanwhile, someone else felt the same way: Rupert Murdoch.
"You're sure all this news was released by Warner themselves?"
New York.
News Corp headquarters.
Murdoch looked at his secretary with a complicated expression.
"Yes," the secretary nodded. "The public fight is being orchestrated directly by Barry Mayer. As for the reason… we've heard two explanations. One says Isabella wants to hype Marvel early to build momentum for her film. The other says Milla Jovovich disgusted Isabella earlier, so Barry Mayer is helping her."
What about Milla Jovovich's fashion business?
That's no secret in the industry.
Even though she never revealed her plan to revive the brand, anyone who understands the industry can guess.
So…
Isabella didn't like her?
Honestly, unless you're a masochist, no one likes being treated like a pig headed for the butcher.
And Isabella's love for Marvel…
Murdoch let out a long sigh and waved his hand. "Go. I need to think."
The secretary nodded quickly and left.
Murdoch leaned back in his chair, feeling irritated.
As someone who's been dominating the industry for decades, he knew very well: right now, Isabella is full of weak spots.
If Barry Mayer dared use Resident Evil to boost Marvel's momentum, all Murdoch had to do was use his media power to expose the real sale price of Resident Evil to disgust Isabella and Warner.
But…
He couldn't do it.
The reason was simple.
Without his punch last year, Isabella would never have gotten Resident Evil so cheaply. If he was actually the origin of the whole thing, publishing that information wouldn't be a "leak." It would be self-destruction.
So someone else had to do it.
But who?
Right now, what media company would dare?
After all, behind Isabella aren't just Warner and Disney. There's also Viacom.
Which means CBS.
Everyone knows she's embraced Transformers.
Even if she doesn't star in it, her name attracts traffic.
When Sumner Redstone can directly profit from her influence, then even if she was truly guilty of horrible things, the people who don't want her to fall would cover every mouth out there.
And that's not even counting the other media companies profiting from The Voice who haven't even spoken yet.
Once BBC joins in…
Who's roasting who?
Thinking of all this, Murdoch sighed again.
He was well aware he couldn't take another hit.
Earlier this year, to erase last year's racial discrimination scandal and to avoid being reported by competitors, he moved News Corp entirely to the US and used it to acquire Fox.
From January onward, Fox was delisted from NYSE and absorbed into News Corp.
If a brand as big as Fox couldn't survive another round of public backlash…
Bringing up last year's incident again?
Let that storm hit again this year?
That's like jumping face-first into a cesspit.
"Forget it."
"Let's pretend this never happened."
Murdoch rubbed his temples and decided to spare Isabella.
Frankly, he also felt that Barry Mayer was fishing.
Because the media storm he stirred up had too many flaws.
That's not the work of a smart person.
Which means…
A sly old fox like him is probably waiting in the shadows for someone to take the bait, so he can punch them the moment they do.
When Ted Turner, Steve Case, and Rupert Murdoch all chose silence, the world gradually calmed down.
And that made Barry Mayer smile widely.
"Looks like Kevin Feige was right."
He called the princess.
"So?"
Isabella yawned, unimpressed with the outside world's reaction.
She wasn't someone with a good temper.
When those people kept targeting her again and again, what she wanted most was to slap those idiots across the face.
Maybe sensing her thoughts, or maybe just sticking to the plan, after hearing her question Barry Mayer directly said: "Release the show?"
"Okay." Isabella didn't object. "Talk to Bob directly. I've already done everything I had to. You guys handle the release however you want. I don't care."
Her lazy tone made Barry Mayer chuckle.
After chatting a little more, he hung up.
Then he dialed his old friend Robert Iger.
July 23rd, 2005.
Disney suddenly announced…
The Voice-related spin-off series will officially launch next Wednesday!
And its name is—
The Voice: Hannah Montana