Chapter 557: Raptor

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

Introduced by the Pentagon's Hollywood liaison officer, Duke firmly shook hands with the military man sporting short chestnut hair. "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Director Rosenberg."

Any official assigned to deal with the media industry certainly wouldn't be rigid. Lieutenant Colonel Howard flashed Duke a rather bright smile.

"Just call me Duke, Lieutenant Colonel."

Despite his achievements, Duke had never been arrogant. Besides, staying on good terms with the Pentagon only brought benefits. He would need their help in many places for his future films, and only an idiot would think the people inside the Pentagon were actually idiots.

Inside the reception room at Duke Studio, Lieutenant Colonel Howard introduced his entourage, and the two sides began a brief negotiation regarding their film collaboration.

It was common knowledge that the Pentagon consistently supported Hollywood film productions. They often provided equipment and personnel free of charge, provided the film aligned with the military's established promotional objectives.

Although the script for Iron Man subtly referenced the war in Afghanistan, it fundamentally embodied a heavy dose of Great Americanism. After finalizing the script, Duke had a copy delivered directly to the Pentagon's Hollywood liaison office. Aside from a few minor details that wouldn't harm the film's market value in the slightest, the Pentagon raised few objections.

Duke had been working with the Pentagon for over ten years, starting with The Rock. The subsequent Independence Day and Saving Private Ryan not only deepened their collaborative relationship but were also films where America saved the world. Combined with the various concepts Duke had proposed in cooperation with the government and military after 9/11, it was no exaggeration to call him the most trustworthy partner in the Pentagon's eyes.

This was also related to Duke's personality and ideology. Whether in the past or present, he was acutely aware that an individual could never contend with mainstream society and the massive state machine.

His experiences were highly unusual, but only someone who had lost their mind would be foolish enough to choose opposition over cooperation.

Similarly, as a Hollywood director, he wouldn't be foolish or arrogant enough to fight the traditional Big Six Companies. Instead, he had established deeply collaborative relationships with several of them.

With an agreement reached on the major direction of their partnership, this brief negotiation proceeded quite smoothly. The Pentagon would dispatch a convoy of military Hummers, over twenty fighter jets, and a large number of professionals to participate in the shoot, charging only a nominal fee.

What Duke didn't expect, however, was that the Pentagon was also offering a luxury gift package.

"Duke, there's a sequence in the script where Tony Stark encounters Air Force jets, leading to a dogfight and a subsequent rescue."

Despite being a desk officer, Lieutenant Colonel Howard sat perfectly straight. After a moment of recollection, he asked, "I recall that you suggested the Pentagon use F-16s or F-18 Hornets here?"

"That's right," Duke said, nodding lightly.

Although he couldn't remember exactly which year the F-22 Raptor would be commissioned in the future, it was obvious the US Military hadn't deployed it yet, so Duke hadn't brought it up.

He hadn't expected Lieutenant Colonel Howard to bring it up himself.

"Have you heard of the F-22 Raptor?" the lieutenant colonel asked.

Duke naturally knew. "The new generation of fighter jets?" he asked.

"The F-22 is about to officially enter service," Lieutenant Colonel Howard said without beating around the bush. "The Pentagon wants the F-22 Raptor to appear in your film so its name can resonate across the world as quickly as possible."

You only get what you pay for. The Pentagon's support wasn't a free lunch. Duke understood this principle; besides, it would only benefit the film.

Having Tony Stark don his armor to become Iron Man and face off against F-22 Raptors would undoubtedly add a massive spectacle to the movie.

Therefore, Duke said without hesitation, "I completely agree with this suggestion."

Lieutenant Colonel Howard stood up and offered his hand. "I believe this will be another pleasant collaboration."

Duke shook it. "I've always found our collaborations to be very pleasant."

After seeing off the Pentagon group, Duke left Duke Studio and headed to the nearby Warner Studios to check on the progress of their prep work. As usual, aside from a few members from Marvel Pictures, the primary crew for this film still consisted of Duke's own team.

On the producer side, aside from him and Kevin Feige, Charles Roven took on an extremely crucial role as the unit production manager. Just like in the past, he was specifically responsible for handling all of Duke's miscellaneous chores.

Right now, his most important task was negotiating with the lead actors. After about a week of haggling, they had finalized Robert Downey Jr.'s contract. The actor had formally signed not only the acting contract but also the supplementary clause.

According to the supplementary clause, out of Robert Downey Jr.'s total salary of 2 million dollars—minus the 500,000 dollars the production had advanced him to pay off his debts—the remainder would not be paid until the film ended its theatrical run in North America. If Robert Downey Jr. used drugs again during this period, the remaining salary would automatically be voided.

Of course, drug use here meant being exposed to the public by the media.

As long as it didn't negatively impact the film, Duke couldn't care less even if Robert Downey Jr. went off to shoot heroin.

This industry truly couldn't be judged by normal standards, but ultimately, everyone chose their own path.

In addition, the production had also signed a formal acting contract with Scarlett Johansson. Her salary was only 500,000 dollars.

At first glance, this seemed drastically disproportionate to Scarlett Johansson's fame. In reality, Marvel Pictures had already offered a massive concession on this price out of respect for Duke.

Scarlett had a certain level of fame, but she had never starred in a commercial blockbuster and thus had never proven her market value. To a certain extent, this was a major tragedy for arthouse actors. Just like Daniel Day-Lewis and Meryl Streep, they simply couldn't command exorbitant quotes in the realm of commercial films.

The latter, in particular—given her acting skills and the number of awards she'd won—should have been a member of Hollywood's A-list or even super A-list, stepping into the 20 million dollar club long ago. The reality, however, was exactly the opposite.

Acting skills and awards were always only one part of what made a superstar, and not even the most important part.

Take Julia Roberts, for example. Even if she hadn't won the Best Actress Oscar at the turn of the century, no one would deny she was the most representative Hollywood actress of the nineties.

A price tag of 500,000 dollars was enough to confirm Scarlett Johansson's current market value. Moreover, Duke vaguely remembered that when the original Scarlett Johansson tried to transition to commercial blockbusters, her salary for Iron Man 2 had been less than 300,000 dollars.

Entering the large soundstages of Warner Studios, Duke did a round of all the departments to get up to speed on the progress of various preparations. Although California offered no tax incentives, Duke still decided to base the film's principal photography in the Greater Los Angeles area.

"Even though the primary location in the Iron Man comics is New York—like all Marvel superhero comics—I want to set this story on the West Coast."

As he walked through the soundstage, Duke said to his deputy, Anna Printz, "In the past, too many superhero films have placed their battlegrounds in New York. Tony Stark is fundamentally different from other superheroes. We need to bring in some distinct changes."

Compared to Zack Snyder, Anna Printz was an excellent executor, but not a decision-maker. She thought for a moment and asked, "To differentiate it from other superhero films? Is that why you insisted on having Tony Stark publicly reveal his identity as Iron Man at the end of the movie?"

"All superheroes hide their faces and sneak around. They all have dual identities and lead double lives. While that hasn't caused audience fatigue yet..."

Reaching the soundstage doors, Duke stopped, looked up at the vast sky, and said, "But we still need to bring something new to the table. Wouldn't an Iron Man who dares to publicly admit his superhero identity feel much fresher?"

In the original film, Tony Stark publicly admitting he was Iron Man at the end had caused a massive impact, because no superhero had ever done so in a movie before. As for what considerations had gone on behind the scenes for Marvel to agree to shoot the film that way, Duke wasn't sure.

Perhaps because it was brought up earlier than originally planned, when Duke proposed this concept, it met with fierce opposition from Marvel's writers, led by Stan Lee. With superhero comics developing over so many years, it was inevitable that rigid, formulaic thinking would emerge. The fact that Duke was ultimately able to persuade them owed a great deal to his past track record.

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

Besides, as Marvel Pictures' planned roadmap developed further, The Avengers would inevitably appear. The Avengers were bound to cause earth-shattering spectacles. If the superheroes could still keep their identities secret under those circumstances, it would be insulting the audience's intelligence.

"I'm leading a few assistant directors in formulating the script plans and storyboard drafts."

Seeing that Duke was preparing to leave, Anna Printz handed him a folder. "This is the completed portion."

Now was not the time to look at these. Duke simply opened it, flipped through it briefly, and handed it off to his trailing bodyguard. He waved a hand at Anna Printz, gesturing that this would be all for now, before turning around and heading toward the training hall next to the soundstage.

Several lead actors with action scenes in the film and their stunt doubles were currently undergoing professional training with Jimmy Carter inside the training hall. Upon entering, in addition to seeing the familiar figure of Scarlett Johansson, Duke also spotted the other lead actor—Robert Downey Jr., who would be playing Tony Stark.