Chapter 66: The Legendary Lee
As time slowly crept toward mid-April and Duke finished all post-production work, he followed Warner's schedule and accepted an exclusive interview for the entertainment section of the Los Angeles Times. The interview took place at Rock Studio. Aside from the routine promotional push for The Rock, a significant portion of the conversation revolved around John Mason and Christopher Lee, just as they had coordinated beforehand.
"Rumor has it that you initially wanted to invite Sean Connery to play John Mason?"
Sarah, the reporter sitting across from Duke, asked, "Why did you abandon that idea and choose Christopher Lee instead?"
"Mason is an incredibly formidable agent, even if he is getting up there in years." Duke threw a perfectly timed phantom punch, prompting the reporter to immediately reply, "Yes, we could see that in the trailer."
"Actually, in my initial concept..."
Having received guidance from Warner's public relations team beforehand, Duke understood how to leverage momentum for publicity. "The ideal candidate for Mason was an explosively capable action star like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Unfortunately, Mr. Schwarzenegger accepted a role in True Lies, so I had to look for someone else."
"So what you're saying," the reporter immediately seized on the key point, "is that Sean Connery wasn't the first choice for John Mason either."
"Exactly." Duke nodded at once, lying without missing a beat. "Someone later recommended Mr. Connery to me, and I felt he was a suitable alternative."
He deliberately emphasized the words "alternative" and "audition." "As a result, the production team sent him an audition invitation. We never finalized Sean Connery to play John Mason. He was merely one of the candidates. Even though he played 007, that was far too long ago. As you can see from the trailer, Mason is a fierce and ruthless agent—completely different from Bond."