Chapter 556: The Ultimate Version

Time is slowly entering June. On June 1st, Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. held a huge press conference in Burbank, officially announcing the superhero movie that truly belongs to Marvel. Iron Man has entered the preparatory stage.

It has been rumored that Duke's next film will be Iron Man, and when he sits in the Warners Press Hall, it is undoubtedly officially confirmed to the outside world.

Hundreds of reporters sat in the news hall. Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige served as the host himself. Next to him sat Duke, Warner Bros. CEO Doug Walter, and the father of Marvel superheroes. Stan Lee and Marvel Comics CEO Avi Arad and other heavyweights.

The presence of these people also fully shows that both the producer and the publisher have high hopes for Iron Man.

However, the focus of media reporters is still on Duke. After all, the director is not only the most famous person in the audience, but also the director and producer of the film.

When the press conference entered the free question section, the fire of reporters' 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 information, it is from you that Marvel Studios first prepared Iron Man. Suggestions, why did you choose Tony Stark in the first place?

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

Tony Stark can be said to be the most popular character that Marvel can find now. After losing the copyright of Spider-Man, there are not many options for the first step, and Duke does not explain much. After organizing the language a little, he said, Because he is not a biological mutant, or was bitten by some insect. He is just an ordinary person who used his intelligence to create a steel suit, the greatest invention of mankind.

Tony Stark is a superhero with weaknesses. And he lives a dazzling playboy life, so I chose this story as the first film work under the new Marvel Studios.

Duke paused for half a second, then added, We think 'Iron Man' is a very interesting character; Spider-Man and X-Men have brought supernatural heroes to the audience. The story is very interesting. The reason for the adaptation is that it touches on social issues. And the world we live in. This story is about redemption, and the ordinary man who can be turned into a hero, and he has to suffer misfortune to be powerful.

Now that the film has just entered the preparatory stage, it is not yet time for the publicity to really exert its strength, and the subsequent issues such as the setting of Tony Stark. Duke has moved on to Marvel Comics' Avi Allard and Stan Lee.

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

A film wants to be prepared. First and foremost is funding, at the same time as the press conference. Marvel Studios has already allocated the $40 million required for the preliminary preparations.

Without money, not even Duke can do anything.

The estimated production cost of Iron Man is $130 million, with Duke's $15 million base salary for director and producer making up the bulk of the cost, as well as the most important special effects production.

to be honest. Duke's Iron Man will still be a special-effects movie.

Of course, Tony Stark's character charm cannot be ignored. The fact that the former Iron Man can become the most successful series in Marvel hero movies is not unrelated to the setting of the male protagonist, and even the later Avengers Alliance, Tony Stark is still a key figure in playing tricks and selling poverty.

Among them, Robert Downey Jr. is undoubtedly quite successful in shaping this role. Perhaps it is the relationship between character and personal experience. He is almost performing in his true colors.

Therefore, Duke's main actor candidate is still Robert Downey Jr. Charles Rowan is currently in contact with him and his agent. For Robert Downey Jr., who is deeply involved in drug addiction, it is impossible to refuse. , the biggest disagreement between the two sides is the special clause Duke asked him to sign on drug use.

However, these will not be a problem, and Robert Downey Jr., whose career has fallen into a trough, basically has 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 lesser-known TV series, but the other party took pictures of his bad past and didn't want to use him.

Taking 10,000 steps back, even if Robert Downey Jr. was too dumb to reject the role, Duke was ready for a spare tire. This is his usual way of doing things. There are only the first candidates, and there will never be an impossible actor.

After news broke that Duke might be directing Iron Man, both Nicolas Cage and Tom Cruise had a high degree of interest in playing Iron Man, and Cruise once 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 considerable amount of compensation, to join. With the consistent management style of Marvel, it is impossible to introduce Tom Cruise, who is also highly paid. The Assassination of Hitler project immediately shifted interest away from Iron Man.

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

The Oscar winner, who has already shown signs of being the king of bad movies, is currently in financial crisis. After the Christopher Rockencourt incident, Duke once vaguely reminded him through the mouth of Sofia Coppola, but Nicholas ? Cage obviously did not take it to heart, and embarked on the old road.

The other party used to be Duke's favorite actor, and that's all he can do. After all, he is friends with Sofia Coppola, but has little to do with Nicolas Cage, and this is an actor who highly pursues personal freedom and pays great attention to privacy. In some countries, saying too much is definitely not worth the loss.

Although Nicolas Cage's hated face is a big problem, he is only one of the spare tires, and it is also the role of Iron Man that made Robert Downey Jr.

There are also two of the most important female roles in the film, Pepper? Waves and Natasha? Normanoff, the latter has been confirmed by Scarlett? Johansson to play, the former will be determined by audition.

During the recent period, those well-informed agents have passed various channels to Duke and his deputies to pass information about their actresses. These people know that Duke and Scarlett Johansson have a deep relationship, and they all aim to Got the heroine.

Although Pepper Wave is a standard vase, there are countless actresses who have become famous through the role of the vase in Duke's films, and even Charlize Theron has risen to the ranks of first-line superstars with the role of the vase.

Duke quickly set the scope of the audition, including many familiar names, such as Rosamund Pike, Rachel McAdams, Amy Adams, etc., these people may not be as famous as Gwyneth now. Silk? Paltrow, but the appearance, acting and fashion taste may not be much different.

In short, with Duke's current appeal, it is not difficult to find a suitable actress at all. To put it more exaggeratedly, as long as he hooks his fingers, the actress who wants to play his film can be ranked from Warner Studios to the top of the list. Mount Foley.

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

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

As we all know, Iron Man was born in the 1960s in the last world, and the character of the actor Tony Stark is based on Howard Hughes, a legendary figure in the American entertainment industry.

In Stan Lee's words, Howard Hughes was one of the funniest characters of his era, inventor, adventurer, millionaire, romantic, and absolutely 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 who received the most letters from female comics fans. Readers of all ages care about the human side of the character.

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

In the original comics, the character Tony Stark participated in the Vietnam War, which was later changed to the Gulf War. Now it has been adapted into a movie. The battlefield must be relocated again. Duke put it in the appropriate Afghanistan. In line with the needs of the entire Marvel Universe project, and secondly, as a film aimed at teenagers, the story must not appear too old, and must give it a truly contemporary look.

After the script was finalized, Marvel Comics, combined with Duke's opinion, 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 around the ultimate version will also be released, even some superheroes whose movie rights are not in Marvel's hands.

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

In addition to these, Duke also personally contacted the Pentagon. This film requires a lot of military equipment. If the military supports it, it will definitely save a lot of energy and expenses. It has a good relationship with the Pentagon.

The Pentagon also responded positively, and even sent a team of liaison officers to Los Angeles, hoping to use Duke's film to make a name for them to be equipped with an advanced weapon. (To be continued ~^~)

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