Made in Hollywood

"Duke, this is Lieutenant Colonel Howard from the Department of Defense."

Under the introduction of the Pentagon's Hollywood liaison officer, Duke shook hands with a soldier with short chestnut hair, "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, Director Rosenberg."

Those who can sit in the position of officials dealing with the media industry are definitely not rigid people. The Colonel Howard showed a rather bright smile to Duke.

"Just call me Duke, Lieutenant Colonel."

Although he has achieved something, Duke has never been an arrogant person. Besides, it is only beneficial to befriend the Pentagon. In the future, he will use the Pentagon in a lot of places, and only an idiot would think that the people in the Pentagon are a group of people. idiot.

This is the reception room of Duke's studio. Lieutenant Colonel Howard introduced Duke's accompanying members, and the two sides started a small negotiation on film cooperation.

As we all know, the Pentagon has always supported the filming of Hollywood movies, and in many cases it can provide free equipment and personnel support, of course, on the premise that the film must conform to the purpose of the military's consistent propaganda.

Although the script of "Iron Man" somewhat alludes to the Afghan war, it actually contains a strong sense of Great Americanism. After the final version of the script was determined, Duke sent the script to the Pentagon's Hollywood Liaison Office. Small details that don't hurt the movie's market value, the Pentagon didn't offer much.

Duke has been cooperating with the Pentagon since more than ten years of "Breaking the Dead Island". The subsequent "Independence Day" and "Saving Private Ryan" not only deepened the cooperation between the two parties, but also these films have no It is no exaggeration to say that it is not an exaggeration to say that the United States saves the world, and after 9/11, Duke cooperated with the various ideas put forward by the government and the military. He is definitely the most trusted partner in the eyes of the Pentagon.

This is also related to Duke's personal character and thinking. Whether it is him in the past or he is now, he is very clear that an individual will never be able to compete with the entire mainstream society and the huge state apparatus.

His experience is very special, but only his head is funny. would be foolish enough to confront rather than cooperate.

It's like being a Hollywood director, he's not stupid enough to be arrogant to fight the traditional Big Six, but instead has built very deep partnerships with some of them.

An agreement was reached on the direction of cooperation. This small negotiation went very smoothly. The Pentagon will send a military Humvee convoy, more than 20 fighter jets and a large number of professionals to participate in the filming, just for a nominal fee. .

But what Duke did not expect was that the Pentagon also sent a luxury gift package.

"Duke. There's a scene in the script where Tony Stark encounters an Air Force fighter, first confrontation and then rescue."

Although he was a civilian officer, Lieutenant Colonel Howard always sat upright, he said after a brief recollection. "I remember you suggesting here that the Pentagon is using the F-16 or the F-18 Hornet?"

"That's right." Duke nodded slightly.

Although I can't remember which year the F-22 Raptor will be equipped in the future, it is obvious that the US military is not listed, so Duke did not propose it.

What he didn't expect was that Lieutenant Colonel Howard took the initiative to bring it up. "Have you heard of the F-22 Raptor?"

Of course Duke knew, said. "A new generation of main battle aircraft?"

"The F-22 is about to be officially commissioned." Lieutenant Colonel Howard Ye said directly, without going around in circles, "The Pentagon wants the F-22 Raptor to appear in your movie and make its name ring the world as soon as possible."

Giving is rewarding. The Pentagon's support for him isn't a free lunch, Duke understands, and it's only good for the movie.

After Tony Stark incarnates into Iron Man, confrontation with the F-22 Raptor will undoubtedly add a big highlight to the film.

So Duke said without any hesitation, "I totally agree with this suggestion."

Lieutenant Colonel Howard stood up and extended his hand, "I believe this will be another pleasant cooperation."

Duke took his hand and said, "I've always thought we had a great time working together."

After sending off the Pentagon and his party, Duke also left the Duke studio and went to Warner Studios not far away to check the progress of some preparations. As usual, except for some people from Marvel Studios to join this film, the crew's The key personnel still consist of Duke's team.

On the producer side, in addition to him and Kevin Feige, Charles Rowan took on the role of another extremely important production manager, who, as in the past, was responsible for chores for Duke.

At present, the most important job at hand is to negotiate with the main actors. After about a week of wrangling, the contract of Robert Downey Jr. has been confirmed. The other party not only officially signed the actor contract, but also signed the supplementary clause.

According to the provisions of the supplementary terms, Robert Downey Jr.'s total compensation of $2 million, except for the $500,000 previously paid by the crew to make him repay the debt, will not be paid until the film is dropped from North America. If Robert Downey Jr takes drugs again during this period, the remaining compensation will be automatically forfeited.

Of course, drug use here refers to being stabbed in public by the media.

Even if Robert Downey Jr. switched to injecting heroin, Duke wouldn't bother as long as it didn't cause any negative effects on the film.

It is true that this circle cannot be measured by normal standards, but after all, the path is chosen by oneself.

In addition, the crew also signed a formal actor contract with Scarlett Johansson, and her salary was only half a million dollars.

At first glance, this seems to be very incompatible with Scarlett Johansson's fame, but at this price, Marvel Studios has actually given a great discount for Duke's sake.

Scarlett has a certain reputation, but she has never appeared in a commercial film, and she has never proved her market value. To a certain extent, this is a great tragedy for literary and artistic actors, just like the former Daniel Day. ?Lewis and Meryl? Streep, in the field of commercial films simply can not be called too high.

In particular, the latter, with her acting skills and the number of awards she has won, should be a member of Hollywood A-level and even Super A, and has already entered the 20 million club, but the fact is just the opposite.

Acting and awards have always been part of what makes a superstar, if not the most important part.

Take Julia Roberts, for example. Even if she didn't win an Oscar at the turn of the century, no one would deny that she was the most iconic actress in Hollywood in the 1990s.

The price of $500,000 is enough to confirm the current worth of Scarlett Johansson, and Duke vaguely remembers that the former Scarlett Johansson, in order to transform into commercial films, seemed to be paid for the role of "Iron Man 2". Less than three hundred thousand dollars.

Entering the large soundstage of Warner Studios, Duke went round by department to keep abreast of the progress of various preparations. Although there were no tax concessions in California, Duke decided to put the main shooting of the film in the Greater Los Angeles area. .

"While the locations in the Iron Man comics are primarily New York, like all M Marvel superhero comics, I wanted to set the story on the West Coast."

While walking in the studio, Duke said to his deputy Anna Prinz, "There have been too many superhero movies in the past that set the battlefield in New York, and Tony Stark is fundamentally different from other superheroes. , we have to bring something different."

Compared to Zach Snyder, Anna Prinz is an excellent performer, but not a decider. She thought about it and said, "What's the difference between other superhero movies? This is your insistence on letting Tony Stark at the end of the movie. Why did gram reveal Iron Man's identity?"

"All superheroes are hidden, with two identities and two lives, although there is no aesthetic fatigue now."

Walking to the door of the studio, Duke stopped, looked up at the vast sky, and said, "But we always have to bring something new, will an Iron Man who dares to publicly admit his identity as a superhero will be more fresh? ?"

In the previous movie, Tony Stark publicly admitted that he was Iron Man at the end of the movie. This scene had a very big impact, because no superhero had ever done this in a movie in the past, and Marvel could. Duke is not clear about the considerations behind agreeing to make the film like this.

Perhaps it was because it was too early. When Duke proposed this idea, he was strongly opposed by the Marvel writers headed by Stan Lee. After so many years of development of superhero comics, it is inevitable that some stereotyped fixed thinking will emerge. , Duke was finally able to convince them that past achievements played a huge role.

After all, no one can ignore the advice of such a successful director.

Besides, the plans made by Marvel Pictures will develop to the back, and the Avengers will inevitably appear, and the Avengers will definitely make an earth-shattering prestige. If in this case, the identities of the superheroes can still be kept secret, that is I'm mocking the intelligence of the audience.

"I'm leading a couple of associate directors on script planning and storyboard artwork."

Seeing Duke prepare to leave, Anna Prinz handed him a folder, "This is the completed part."

Now is not the time to watch these, Duke just opened it and simply flipped it over, and handed it over to the bodyguard who followed behind, waved to Anna Prinz, indicating that he will be here for the time being, and turned to the training next to the studio. Go to the hall.

Several main actors in the action scenes and their stunt doubles are currently receiving professional training from Jimmy Carter in the training hall. After Duke walked into the training hall, in addition to seeing the familiar figure of Scarlett Johansson, Also met another main actor - Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. (To be continued ~^~)

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