Chapter 566: Smart Actors

Robert Downey Jr.'s miserable cave life only lasted a week before Duke restored him to his wealthy, handsome status. The crew left Hughes Airport and relocated to the beach villas in Malibu to begin filming Tony Stark's luxurious private life.

In the script, Tony Stark was not only a billionaire with a net worth of nearly ten billion dollars, but he also lived an incredibly high-profile life.

His motto, in a sense, was to buy what was expensive, not necessarily what was practical.

If Peter Parker and Steve Rogers were everyday heroes, then Tony Stark was the quintessential billionaire hero.

Of course, in addition to being wealthy, he was also a playboy.

Inside the rented beach villa, Duke checked the room's furnishings one last time. He consulted a top-tier designer who specialized in serving the wealthy, and after confirming the background details were perfect, he nodded to the clapper loader.

"Scene two, take seventeen," the clapper loader said, holding the clapperboard in front of the camera. "Action."

In the luxuriously decorated beach villa, Lily Aldridge from the ranks of the Victoria's Secret angels stepped in front of the camera lens.

"Tony, Tony..."

Like a wife waking up to find her husband missing, Lily Aldridge wore a loose men's dress shirt as she circled the villa's massive living room. Unable to find her target, she began looking around in curiosity.

She first admired the room's layout before walking over to a closed door. Perhaps because she was used to walking the runway, she naturally displayed her beautiful figure throughout the entire process, perfectly acting out the role of eye candy exactly as Duke had requested.

Lily Aldridge walked up to the door. Spotting a button, she pressed it out of curiosity, and a synthesized mechanical voice immediately rang out.

"You are not authorized to enter! You are not authorized to enter!"

In the film, this was Jarvis's voice, but what hung there was actually just a tape recorder, and the button Lily Aldridge had pressed was simply for playback.

Duke made a gesture to the camera crew. The main camera, personally operated by John Schwartzman, immediately panned away from Lily Aldridge and turned toward the center of the villa's living room, where the film's female lead, Rachel McAdams, stood wearing a black business suit.

"This is Jarvis. He's the butler here," Rachel McAdams said, holding up the clothes in her hands and gesturing toward Lily Aldridge. "These are your clothes. They've been dry-cleaned and ironed."

She then pointed outside the villa. "A private car is waiting outside at your disposal. You can go anywhere you want to go."

Lily Aldridge turned and walked over. "You must be the famous Pepper Potts."

"That's right." Rachel McAdams nodded slightly.

"To think that after all these years," Lily Aldridge said, obvious sarcasm in her tone, "Tony still has you picking up the dry cleaning."

"I do whatever Mr. Stark asks me to do."

Perhaps infected by Lily Aldridge's attitude, Rachel McAdams adopted a heavily sarcastic tone of her own. "And that includes sweeping out the trash he's done using. Any more questions?"

"Cut!" Duke called a halt to the scene. "Rachel, that's on you."

Rachel McAdams was quite perceptive. The moment Duke called cut, she realized where the problem lay and immediately said, "Was my tone a bit too sarcastic just now? Pepper Potts is a quiet, mature female assistant. Even when speaking ironically, she should sound more composed."

"Exactly." Duke gestured to the crew, signaling the various departments to reset. "We'll go again in five minutes."

However, the second take still didn't pass. The problem this time lay with Lily Aldridge. She wasn't a professional actress, after all, and she couldn't consistently maintain the excellent form she had shown earlier.

Duke was in no rush. After patiently shooting a few more takes, he finally announced a pass.

Next, Rachel McAdams returned to the makeup trailer to change outfits, and Duke began shooting some solo shots of Tony Stark to show off his tech-nerd side. Everyone had their own hobbies, so what was the biggest hobby of a super-billionaire and tech maniac like Tony Stark?

Naturally, it was tinkering with technology no one else could create—like building the Iron Battle Suit.

Robert Downey Jr. consistently maintained his form. Although a few shots required several NG takes before passing, Duke was very satisfied with his performance, and the filming schedule progressed slightly faster than planned.

In the minds of many, anyone starring in a big-budget commercial film had mediocre acting skills. But in reality, Robert Downey Jr.'s acting was quite outstanding. Even if he weren't playing a role seemingly tailor-made for him like Tony Stark, his newly reformed self could handle it with ease.

In fact, in Duke's view, his acting might not be any worse than some Oscar best actors.

However, not even Duke could deny the truth: playing a superhero—especially a massively popular one—easily stereotyped an actor's image. Once they stepped away from the role, their career path would narrow, and they could even become box-office poison in other films.

The Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp of the past were undoubtedly prime examples of this.

But that was how the world worked. You win some, you lose some; it was impossible for one person to have it all.

About an hour later, Rachel McAdams returned to the villa after changing her makeup and outfit. Duke gave her some brief instructions and began shooting her scenes with Robert Downey Jr. This actress from Canada might not match Robert Downey Jr. in acting skills, occasionally making a few mistakes, but she was smart enough to realize her errors in time and self-correct.

Every director loved smart actors, and Duke was no exception. The relatively outstanding performances of Robert Downey Jr. and Rachel McAdams saved the crew a lot of trouble.

Filming proceeded step by step according to the pre-established plan. Duke consistently maintained a pace slightly ahead of schedule. He had mapped out a three-month shooting period for this film, leaving more time for post-production. The movie utilized a massive number of special effects scenes, even surpassing his most effects-heavy film, The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King.

This was inextricably linked to the rapid development of special effects technology. Effects that would have cost 20 million dollars a few years ago could now be done for just over 10 million dollars, or even less.

Take Motion Capture, for example. Around the year 2000, there weren't many companies proficient in it, and Weta Studio was undoubtedly the cream of the crop. Today, Weta Studio still maintained its leading position, but many other companies had also made significant strides in Motion Capture technology. Using it to film vivid monster characters had already become a trend in Hollywood.

For still scenes or those with very little movement, Robert Downey Jr. could film while wearing the prop Iron Battle Suit, but all the combat sequences had to be realized in front of a green screen using Motion Capture.

In the past, Robert Downey Jr. had leaned more toward artsy roles and wasn't particularly skilled in this area.

For the sake of the film's results, Duke brought in Andy Serkis, with whom he had worked before, to share some of his experience and insights in this field with Robert Downey Jr. during their downtime.

Although his live-action acting was only average, Andy Serkis, who had played Gollum, was widely recognized as Hollywood's number one figure in Motion Capture.

Back when The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released, many people felt that the Oscars should have awarded him the Best Supporting Actor Golden Statuette. However, Andy Serkis didn't even receive a nomination; the School would never, under any circumstances, award an acting prize to an animated, synthesized character.

But in the assessments of quite a few media outlets, just as The Lord of the Rings Trilogy frequently made it onto various Top 100 Classic Movies lists worldwide, the Gollum Andy Serkis brought to life through Motion Capture, along with his line "My precious," was also a regular on lists of classic movie characters and iconic lines.

Since they couldn't rent the Malibu villa for too long, after finishing the indoor scenes, Duke didn't return to the already-built soundstages in Burbank. Instead, he stayed there to shoot footage of Tony Stark's daily life.

The roar of an engine rang out, and a silver, latest-model Audi sports car drove in from the distance. After a beautiful drift, it stopped in front of the villa. Robert Downey Jr., wearing a dark casual suit and sporting Tony Stark's signature facial hair, stepped out of the car. Despite being middle-aged, his every gesture brimmed with the charm of a mature man. It would be hard for him not to draw people's eyes.

To some extent, Tony Stark was also a piece of eye candy. His lethal appeal to female audiences was no less than that of Legolas.

"Good job, Downey!" Duke walked over to the Audi sports car after calling the take a pass, lightly patting the still-hot front hood. "What do you think of this sports car?"

"It's fantastic."

During filming, Robert Downey Jr. had grown familiar enough with Duke to joke, "Audi sponsored the crew with so many cars; let me drive this one home."

"Of course you can."

Before Robert Downey Jr. could even celebrate, Duke added, "But you'll have to wait until the crew finishes all the filming."

Audi was one of the film's main sponsoring advertisers. They had reached a strategic partnership with Marvel Pictures, giving them priority sponsorship rights for automotive advertising in all future Iron Man movies.

Of course, this also had to do with Duke. Even a character like Batman, who had nearly lost all chance of making a comeback on the big screen, was reborn in Duke's hands. Let alone Iron Man, who already possessed immense popularity?

Rather than saying Audi was investing in Marvel Pictures, it was more accurate to say they were investing in Duke's films.