Made in Hollywood

Time slowly entered June. On June 1st, Marvel Pictures and Warner Bros. held a huge press conference in Burbank, officially announcing the superhero movie " "Iron Man" enters the preparatory stage.

The outside world has been rumoring that Duke's next film will be "Iron Man". When he sat in the Warner News Hall, he undoubtedly confirmed this.

There were hundreds of reporters sitting in the news hall. Marvel Pictures’ CEO Kevin Fitch personally served as the host. Next to him were Duke, Warner Bros’ CEO Doug Walter, and the father of Marvel’s superheroes. Stan Lee and Marvel comics ceo Avi Allard and other heavyweights.

The presence of these people also fully demonstrated that both the producer and the distributor have high hopes for "Iron Man."

However, the focus of the media reporter's attention is still Duke, after all, his director is not only the most famous person here, but also the director and producer of the film.

When the press conference entered the free questioning session, the gunfire of each reporter's questions was directed at Duke.

A reporter from the "New York Times" stood up first and asked, "Duke, Marvel has a large number of superhero characters. According to the exact news~, Marvel Pictures first prepared Iron Man from Based on your suggestion, why did you choose Tony Stark in the first place?"

"In the comics world, the "Iron Man" series is as famous as "Spider-Man", "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four". This comic has been popular for decades and has always been concerned by readers."

Tony Stark can be said that Marvel can find the most popular character now. After losing the copyright of Spider-Man, there are not many choices for the first step, and Duke doesn't give much explanation. Slightly organized the language, and then said, "Because he is not a biological variant, or bitten by some insect. He is just an ordinary man, using his intelligence to create a steel garment, a man's greatest invention."

"Tony Stark is a superhero with weaknesses. And he lives a dazzling **** life, so I specifically chose this story as the first film work under the brand new Marvel Pictures."

Duke paused for half a second, and then said, "We think'Iron Man' is a very interesting character; "Spiderman" and "X-Men" have brought supernatural heroes to the audience. This story is very The reason for the adaptation is that it can touch social issues and the world in which we live. This story is about salvation and an ordinary person who can be transformed into a hero. He must encounter misfortune to exert his power."

Now that the film has just entered the preparatory stage, it is not yet the time for the real promotion of the promotion, and subsequent questions about the setting of Tony Stark, etc., Duke has turned to Marvel Comics Avi Arad and Stan Lee. .

The press conference lasted for nearly one morning. After a simple lunch at noon, Duke left the Warner Building and returned to his Duke’s studio to start the preparations for the film.

To prepare a film, the first thing is funding. At the same time as the press conference, Marvel Studios has allocated the $40 million required for preliminary preparations.

Without money. Not even Duke can do anything about it.

The estimated production cost of "Iron Man" is 130 million U.S. dollars, of which the bulk of the expenditure is Duke's 15 million U.S. dollar director and producer basic remuneration, and the most important special effects production.

To put it bluntly, Duke's "Iron Man" will still be a movie with special effects as its main selling point.

Of course, Tony Stark's character charm cannot be ignored, and the once "Iron Man" can become the most successful series in Marvel hero movies. It has nothing to do with the setting of the male protagonist, and even in the later "Avengers", Tony Stark is still a key figure in the sale of treasures.

Among them, Robert Downey Jr. is undoubtedly quite successful in shaping this role, perhaps because of the relationship between character and personal experience, he is almost acting in his true colors.

So Duke’s primary actor candidate is still Robert Downey Jr. Charles Rowan is currently in contact with him and his agent. It is impossible for Robert Downey Jr., who is in the quagmire of drug abuse, to refuse. The biggest difference between the two parties is that Duke requires him to sign on drug abuse. Special terms.

However, none of these will be a problem. Robert Downey Jr., whose career is at a slump, has basically no choice.

Not to mention this kind of A-level commercial production. In order to earn living expenses, Robert Downey Jr. even wanted to appear in some not-so-famous TV series. It was just that the other party had taken photos of him in the past and didn't want to use him.

Taking a 10,000 step back, even if Robert Downey Jr. was so confused as to reject the role, Duke had prepared a spare tire. This is his usual style of doing things. There is only the primary candidate, and there will never be an impossible actor.

After the news that Duke might be directing "Iron Man" spread, both Nicholas Cage and Tom Cruise had a high degree of interest in playing "Iron Man", and Cruise also wanted to be a producer for the film. people.

It’s just that the film already has Duke, a director who wants to take a lot of compensation. With Marvel’s consistent management style, it’s impossible to introduce Tom Cruise, who is also highly paid, and the soup later got a title called " Assassination of Hitler's project, interest immediately shifted away from "Iron Man".

The remaining Nicholas Cage spare tire, in terms of price, is also in line with Marvel's appetite.

This Oscar actor, who has shown signs of the king of bad movies, is currently experiencing financial crisis. After the original Christopher Rockencourt incident, Duke once vaguely reminded him through the mouth of Sophia Coppola, but Nicholas Cage obviously didn't pay attention to it, and walked on the old path.

The other party used to be an actor that Duke liked very much, and he can only do this. After all, he and Sofia Coppola are good friends, but they have nothing to do with Nicholas Cage, and this is a high pursuit of personal freedom and extreme privacy. It’s definitely not worth the gain to say something too much in the country.

Although Nicholas Cage's bitterly hated face is a big problem, he is just one of the spare tires, and speaking of it, the role of Iron Man made Robert Downey Jr.

There are also the two most important female characters in the film, Pepper? Boss and Natasha Normanoff. The latter has been confirmed to be played by Scarlett Johansson, and the former will be confirmed through auditions.

In the recent period, those well-informed agents have passed various channels to Duke and his deputies about their actresses. These people know that Duke and Scarlett Johansson have a deep connection and they are all targeting the right target. The heroine was approved.

Although Pepper Boss is a standard vase, there are countless actresses who have become popular through the vase role in Duke's films, and even Charlize Theron has become one of the top stars by virtue of the vase role.

Duke quickly delineated the scope of the audition. There are many familiar names, such as Rosamund Parker, Rachel McAdams, Amy Adams, etc. These people may not be as famous as Gwyneth now. Silk Paltrow, but appearance, acting skills and fashion taste are not necessarily different.

In short, with Duke’s appeal today, it’s not difficult to find the right actress. To put it a bit exaggerated, as long as he hooks his fingers, the actresses who want to star in his films can be ranked from Warner Studios. Foley Hill.

After the project was established, the script of the film was finally determined after many changes.

This script was written by the writers of Marvel Comics. They are the people who know the characters of Marvel best, and then combined the opinions of Stan Lee and Duke, plus the need to meet the needs of the entire series, the existence of Iron Man The age has moved to the present society.

As we all know, Iron Man was born in the sixties of the last world, and the characterization of the male protagonist Tony Stark is based on the legendary American entertainment industry Howard Hughes.

In the words of Stan Lee, Howard Hughes was one of the most interesting characters of that era. He was an inventor, adventurer, millionaire, a lover, and definitely a madman.

The reason why Marvel Comics created the character "Iron Man" is to create a character different from ordinary superheroes.

Among all Marvel comics characters at the time, "Iron Man" was the superhero that received the most letters from female comic fans. Readers of all ages are concerned about the human aspect of this character. "

In Duke's view, the character "Iron Man" is not only very popular, but also the only self-help superhero in his Marvel series, because his superpowers come from the iron suit made by the actor Tony Stark himself. .

In the original comics, the role of Tony Stark participated in the Vietnam War, which was later changed into the Gulf War. Now it is adapted into a movie. The battlefield must be relocated again. Duke put it in Afghanistan. In line with the needs of the entire Marvel universe project, secondly, as a film aimed at teenagers, the story must not appear too old, it must be given a true contemporary look.

After the script was finalized, Marvel Comics combined Duke's opinions and officially named the space where the universe exists as the ultimate version. The entire Avengers plan and even the future plan to move toward the universe will take place in this space.

At the same time, as long as the first movie can be launched, various comics surrounding the ultimate version will also be available, including some superheroes whose movie rights are not in the hands of Marvel.

Like Spider-Man and X-Men, although the copyright of the movie cannot be recovered, the copyright of the comic is still there. Of course, Marvel will not miss the opportunity to make money.

In addition to these, Duke personally contacted the Pentagon. This film requires a lot of military equipment. If supported by the military, it will definitely save a lot of energy and expenses. Since the beginning of "Brave Death Island", he has always Maintain a good relationship with the Pentagon.

The Pentagon also responded positively, and even specially sent a team of liaison officers to Los Angeles, hoping to use Duke's film to make a name for their upcoming equipment of an advanced weapon. (To be continued...)

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