Made in Hollywood

If you want to enter the ranks of the first line, it is not enough to rely on the Marvel series alone. Scarlett Johansson also needs to prove herself in the works that lead the way.

Duke is very aware of this, and has filed a script with the Screenwriters Association early. This will be a film with a female-oriented perspective. The heroine is almost the only one acting in the whole story, and the actress needs to use excellent acting skills. And strong personal charm, supporting the whole film.

Frankly speaking, Scarlett's acting skills are not a problem as she transformed into a business as a literary youth, but her personal aura and charm are lacking.

Therefore, Duke is waiting for the right time after filing.

"Dinner I had yesterday with Jamie Johnson..."

After drinking a glass of water, Nancy Josephson took the initiative to change the subject, "He asked me to ask you, do you have any specific plans for the next part of "The Dark Knight" and the sequel of "Transformers?"

Hollywood film companies like to make sequels of blockbuster movies, and Warner Bros. is no exception. Both "The Dark Knight" and "Transformers" have achieved great success. If the sequels of the two films are not on the agenda, Warner Brothers is definitely not a Hollywood company.

"The next installment of 'The Dark Knight' is a few years away."

Although people who like this movie like it terribly, and those who don't like it hate it very much, but no one can deny its success and influence. Duke understands this. A film like "The Dark Knight" has a good reputation and box office. The sequel is not easy to produce, "Wait for a little longer, the influence of "The Dark Knight" will weaken a little bit, and the market's expectations will rise a little bit, then we will make it at that time."

Obviously, the management of Warner Bros. knew that they could not change Duke's plan, so they had to convey and remind through Nancy Josephson. Let him not forget those big-selling series.

Duke thought for a while, and then said, "As for "Transformers"...I think it's more appropriate to release one in two to three years."

"Looking for someone to take over?" Nancy Josephson had already guessed what Duke meant.

"That's right." Duke nodded, propping his chin with his left hand on the armrest of the chair, and said, "I remember that you have already signed Michael Bay. I will recommend Michael Bay to Warner Bros. to take over this series."

Having said that, Duke frowned, "How to convince Michael Bay is your job, Nancy."

"He has no choice now." Nancy Josephson seemed extremely confident.

In fact, since "Escape from Clone Island" hit the street, Michael Bay's position in the industry has declined sharply. Few major production crews are willing to invite him to lead the director, and ICM's situation has improved slightly after being recruited by Nancy, but the market response of an action film he produced is also mediocre, and there are not many paths for him to choose now.

Even if he accepts a procedural film, it is unlikely that he will refuse.

Not just the next "Dark Knight" installment and "Transformers" sequels. The entire Time Warner has long taken aim at Duke's blockbuster works, and plans to develop them into a series of movies. For example, the sequel of "Taken" has been put on the agenda, and the sequel of "Independence Day" is also under planning. Restarting the "Matrix" series is also one of the future plans.

While the three were chatting, Tina Fey received a call. She left the terrace briefly and walked back a few minutes later.

"Good news..." Tina Fey sat back in her seat and said to Duke, "Charles Rowan has reached an agreement with Pat Kingsley. Tom Cruise is basically done."

Duke nodded slightly, and with Charlize Theron already done, the male and female protagonists of the new project are all here.

"Also," continued Tina Fey, "Warner Bros. has also acquired the sequel rights to the "Mad Max" trilogy you want from 20th Century Fox."

She was a little puzzled, "What do you want the copyright of these B-grade movies for?"

Tina Fey thought that Duke wanted to target Mel Gibson again. After all, there have been rumors circulating recently that Mel Gibson might return to Hollywood from Australia. Her employer has never been a generous person in this regard.

"It's nothing." Duke shook his head, "It's just in case."

His next film is tentatively titled "Fury Road", which is an upgrade of the "Mad Max" trilogy. This film only borrows Max's name, and the content is similar to the first three. Ministry actually has little to do with it.

Once upon a time, Mad Max was a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller from an original script by James McCausland and starring Mel Gibson. It was the highest-grossing Australian film that year and held the Guinness record for the most profitable film for decades. It definitely opened up the international market for Australian New Wave films. The sequel "Mad Max 2" was released in 1981, and the third "Mad Max 3" was released in 1985. After a lapse of 30 years, George Miller re-shooted the fourth "Mad Max: Fury Road".

The "Mad Max: Fury Road" once left an extremely profound impact on Duke. It climaxed all the way to the end in two hours. It is not an exaggeration to say that several scenes have reached the unprecedented supernatural realm. If you have to talk about the style of the film, it can barely be said to be a combination of the racing version of Terry Gilliam + the punk version of James Cameron. In addition to the admirable photography, the story rhythm controlled by the director and the control of the shot, the film is also full of steampunk, wasteland aesthetics, doomsday future, feminism, hybrid power, heavy rock... these elements.

Although he was going to use Fury Road, Duke didn't want to get too involved with "Mad Max", so enough precautions were taken.

Not only did he get the copyright for the continuation of the "Mad Max" trilogy from 20th Century Fox, but he also found someone to investigate with George Miller. After all, in the previous hype, the other party It has been more than ten years of preparation for this film, but the results of the investigation show that this is just publicity and hype. George Miller has never considered making a sequel at all. He has been carefully preparing and producing "Happy Big" Foot", has entered the state of retirement in the past two years.

If not, Duke would not have chosen this work.

There is no doubt that this is a film with an extremely strong personal style, and to some extent, it is also a near-cult type that does not match his production style.

Duke is not good at this kind of style. He intends to make a series of changes to the film, and reduce some non-mainstream elements as much as possible on the basis of keeping it cool enough.

Moreover, the theme promoted by the film in his hands is very mainstream-even the doomsday wasteland world where society and order have collapsed cannot stop people's desire for freedom.

In a world devastated by nuclear apocalypse and its environment permanently damaged, what is the most precious resource? In addition to freedom, Duke's script also focuses on human life that has not been polluted-the existence of the five wives in the film and their fertility are the most precious resources in the end of the world.

As George Miller once said - "Fury Road" is not "Mad Max 4", not a sequel to the previous trilogy, but an independent new chapter, these films do not exist on the timeline relevance.

The name Max will not appear in the film produced by Duke.

The women in the previous film became the absolute protagonists. Compared with Commander Ferosa played by Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy's role took a backseat to the second place, although there are many male hormone-inducing characters in the film There are big scenes and action scenes, but Ferosa, who has strong ability and independent personality, is the support point to promote the development of the plot.

Now that Duke has hired Tom Cruise as the leading actor, he will definitely adjust the roles of the leading actors and actresses appropriately.

In Duke's conception, "Fury Road" is a movie whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It will definitely not be full of fearlessness and unlimited vitality like the "Mad Max" trilogy, but more Mature, more refined, more like a modern movie than a B-movie.

Duke proposed to Warner Bros. that the estimated production cost would be as high as 100 million U.S. dollars. With 100 million U.S. dollars to make a B-level movie, not to mention that Warner Bros. would go crazy, he would go crazy too.

What's more, the former film was not a B-grade film in any way, and there were very few cult elements in it. From the theme to the production, the film was almost a standard mainstream commercial film model.

This is also an important reason why Duke chose it.

In Hollywood and even the world, the movie circle and movie fans basically have a consensus that Duke has redefined action movies with "Speed", "Into the Deadly Island" and "The Matrix", leading a new era of action movies. Fengchao, wouldn't it be more interesting to have an atypical subversive action movie at this time?

The most important thing is that Duke now has enough capital to do so, but also found two superstars Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise to accompany him.

Duke submitted the script and related plans to Warner Brothers as early as the first half of the year, and the review committee completed the review in July, but Warner Bros. still has some opinions on this.

"They strongly request you to use 3D technology to make the film," Nancy Josephson relayed some of Warner's ideas, "3D can raise the box office figures of the film to a higher level."

After thinking about it for about five minutes, Duke nodded slightly, "I will use IMAX3D technology to produce it. You inform Warner Bros. that I request an additional $120 million in terms of production cost."

In the original plan, Duke, Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise's salaries were the most costly. Although Warner Bros. adopted the usual method of basic film salaries plus post-production share in order to reduce the initial investment. However, the basic remuneration of the three still accounted for nearly half of the original cost of 100 million US dollars.

If you want to complete an excellent movie, sufficient funds are always one of the basic conditions. (to be continued ~^~)

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