Made in Hollywood

The preparatory work has been progressing smoothly. The members of the Duke team have not only completed their own work, but also used the old and new ways to teach the relevant experience of the staff who joined the crew of Marvel Pictures, just like all those who have just entered Like Hollywood companies, if there is no help, Marvel Pictures will make many detours.

Duke is the largest shareholder of Marvel Comics, and in the future it is impossible to only shoot Marvel superhero movies. The faster Marvel Pictures grows, the more it is in his interests.

"Duke, I think you are still too conservative in constructing this parallel world."

Stan Lee, who came to Los Angeles from New York, said to Duke, "Many of the technology and abilities in comics are based on your opinion in the script, There is not much description."

Looking back from the Tony Stark mansion model arranged in the front, Duke slowly said, “Stan, this is the beginning of the entire series. The audience truly recognizes this world full of superheroes. There are a lot of films to be produced, so there is no need to rush for a while."

"You seem to be more confident than me." Stan Lee took off his sunglasses and looked at Duke, "Will our world really succeed?"

Duke laughed ∝⊥ and stood up, "Don’t you want to see Marvel’s superhero movies sweep the world?"

Stan Lee also laughed. As the creator of Marvel's most famous superheroes, he wants to see Marvel movies succeed more than anyone.

According to the contract signed between Marvel Comics and Stan Lee, any superhero from him is made into a movie, animation or TV series. Stan Lee can extract close to 8% of the profit.

Not to mention anything else, how much income can the "Spider-Man" series alone bring to the old man?

That's right. Stan Lee’s age is indeed very old. It seems that it’s the time to completely ignore money, but Duke remembers clearly that after Stan Lee was completely rampant in the world after Marvel’s superheroes, Stan Lee did not hesitate to talk to his old club due to uneven distribution of accounts. Marvel comics are in court.

Today, every cent of revenue generated by Marvel comics. They are all closely related to Duke. He has long talked with Avi Allard to further refine the sharing contract between Marvel and Stan Lee. Try to avoid the old man's greed and unnecessary trouble in the future.

Of course, the problem always has two sides, from the perspective of Stan Lee. He is defending his normal rights and interests. But from the perspective of major shareholders such as Duke, the other party is delusional to share their cake.

After chatting with Stan Lee for a while, Duke threw him to the assistant of the crew to receive him. Although the old man is a well-deserved core soul of Marvel Comics, the crew is in the busy preparatory stage, and it is impossible for him to spend too much money on the other party. Much time.

And the Marvel screenwriters headed by Stan Lee play the most role in frame setting and plotting. They are simply outsiders in film preparation. Duke wouldn't be so stupid to find some layman to point fingers at the movie.

For example, Tony Stark's suit is the same thing in comics. Being on the big screen is quite another matter.

Comics and movies are two completely different carriers.

Industrial Light & Magic was responsible for the production of Tony Stark's suit. From the time Duke entered Hollywood, Industrial Light & Magic gave him a lot of support because of George Lucas's relationship. Every film produced by Duke will Using a large number of special effects, except for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Weta Workshop was used on the principle of proximity. Industrial Light and Magic participated in the special effects production of almost every film.

Originally, Duke wanted to use the studio of model master Stan Winston for the prop design of "Iron Man", but the head of Industrial Light and Magic took the initiative to find him and wanted to participate in the special effects production of this movie. And came up with a complete set of design plans at the fastest speed.

Every director likes to use familiar people in film production, and Duke is no exception.

Although today’s computer special effects technology continues to develop, in Duke’s vision, the film will not completely use cgi special effects. It must be shot and produced with real props. This method of combining props with computer special effects was originally created by Industrial Light and Magic. And there is nothing to worry about if you leave it to them.

And even ten years later, Industrial Light and Magic is still the best film special effects company in Hollywood and even the world.

In the previous preparations, Duke has had enough communication with the two drawing designers on the crew. They also combined the characteristics of the past cartoons and Duke’s suggestions to design the initial design drawings and hand them to Industrial Light & Magic The department in charge of mold making will produce the first-generation samples, which can be finalized after Duke's review.

Walking into an exhibition room next to the studio, Phil Sanders, who is in charge of the "Iron Man" business at Industrial Light & Magic, has been waiting here. On the two fixed display racks next to him, four two versions of the Iron Man suit.

The taller one is grey and puffy and looks a bit rough; the other one is slightly taller than the real one, with red and gold coatings on the surface, it looks extremely well-made, like a work of art.

"well done."

Simply greeted Phil Sanders, Duke circled the four suits back and forth twice, and said, "When did it finish?"

Phil Sanders has been following Duke, "The work was only completed yesterday afternoon, and I asked Los Angeles to be shipped from San Francisco overnight."

"These samples are made of polystyrene, they are just models." He introduced to Duke. "After confirming the final version, in addition to polystyrene, the key moving parts will be made of light and strong titanium alloy. It won’t be a problem to put it on for shooting.”

"In mass production," Duke asked another question of concern, "will the cost be high?"

"The cost of mass production will drop by a large amount." Phil Sanders calculated silently and said, "Titanium alloy can be replaced by aluminum alloy. In this case, it can be done within three or two thousand dollars."

Duke nodded slightly. If the movie can sell well, the Mark 1 and Mark 2 suits can be launched in real-life versions. There will be many enthusiastic fans paying for it.

Of course, the premise is that the shape of the steel suit is cool and handsome enough, and pleasing enough.

The four first version models in front of you are obviously not in this rank. Looking at the good design on paper, after turning into real objects, whether it is observed by human eyes or taken by Duke with a camera lens, it always feels bad. What happened.

"Phil, give up these two versions."

After turning around the steel jerseys of Mark 1 and Mark 2 again, Duke stood beside him and thought for a while, so that the two designers were also called, plus the industrial light and magic system. The model staff held a brief meeting in the exhibition room.

The theme of the meeting is Tony Stark's suit.

In the script setting, Tony Stark designed the first steel suit when he was captured, called the Mark Generation, which was also called "gray armor" in the early Marvel comics.

Duke once again emphasized the concept of combining comics, "The Mark generation was designed when captured, especially when the enemy was watching. In my imagination, this suit looks a bit like a waste weapon dump. It will be the most original prop in the movie."

Phil Sanders is not only a well-known model maker in the industry, but also one of the best concept designers. He thought about it and suggested, "We can use clean metal sheets as materials to inject images into the design. The modernized technological elements, coupled with some panel accessories, make the Mark 1 look like a combination of weapons and military equipment."

"Well, yes." Duke nodded in agreement and said, "But you should also remember a few points. After all, this is not an original movie, but an adaptation of a comic with a huge fan base."

He explained one by one, "First, you must not be too far away from the original work; second, you must show the evolution of Iron Man. It is best to make the suit a bit like the clothes worn when fleeing, like a powerful humanoid tank. ."

After thinking about it for a while, Duke said again, "It should be light enough, preferably not more than ninety pounds."

The production of the Mark generation is not a decoration. It requires actors to wear and shoot in some scenes. If it is too heavy, let alone shooting in front of the camera, I am afraid that even wearing it will be a problem.

"We can completely separate the tops and bottoms." Phil Sanders walked to the display stand and pointed to the waist of the Mark generation. "This way, it will be easier to wear and shoot."

Duke nodded and walked over, but this time the goal is Mark II. "The design of the second-generation suit is generally good. The biggest problem is the color."

He pointed to the red and gold painted part on the Mark II, and said, "The color is still a bit dim. Think about Tony Stark's stinky character in the setting. Since you have chosen these two Color, will you not use the brightest one?"

Red and gold are undoubtedly very bright and eye-catching colors, just in line with Tony Stark's style of behavior.

Tony Stark’s battle suit is not only a very important part of the film’s preliminary preparations, but also the key peripheral products launched after the release. The consumer groups who are willing to pay for these peripheral products will definitely be composed of teenagers.

The mainstream part of this group doesn't like relatively dull colors.

Mark 1st and Mark 2nd generation battle suits not only take time to design and make, but also take time to test. The battle suits produced must undergo a series of experiments in field wearing and shooting. Otherwise, problems will be discovered during the official shooting, which will inevitably affect To the filming progress of the film.

By mid-August, the two generations of suits finally finalized the appropriate version. Duke was just about to relax, but received an invitation from Rupert Murdoch. (To be continued...)

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