Made In Hollywood

Tony Stark's miserable cave life lasted only a week before Duke restored his identity as a wealthy and handsome man. The crew left Hughes Airport and moved to the Malibu beachfront villa area to start filming Tony Stark's luxurious private life.

In the script, Tony Stark is not only a billionaire with nearly tens of billion dollars in assets but also someone who lives life very ostentatiously.

His principle, in a way, is to only buy the most expensive things, not the right ones.

If Peter Parker and Steve Rogers are considered common heroes, then Tony Stark is a standard rich hero.

Of course, besides being rich, he's also a playboy.

In the rented seaside villa, Duke took a final look at the room setup and consulted a top designer who specializes in serving the wealthy to ensure that the background was perfect. Then he nodded at the script supervisor.

"Scene two, Act seventeen," the script supervisor placed the slate in front of the camera, "Action."

In the lavishly decorated beachfront villa, Lily Aldridge from the Victoria's Secret Angels team walked in front of the camera.

"Tony, Tony..."

Like a wife waking up in the morning searching for her missing husband, Lily Aldridge, wearing a loose men's shirt, wandered around the huge living room of the villa but didn't find her target and curiously looked around.

She first admired the room's decoration, then walked to a closed door. Probably because she was used to runway walking, throughout the process, she naturally displayed her beautiful figure, doing her best to play the role of a vase.

Lily Aldridge reached the door and saw a button. Curious, she pressed it. A synthetic mechanical voice immediately sounded: "You do not have permission to enter! You do not have permission to enter!"

In the film, this was the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S., but it was just a recording hanging there. What Lily Aldridge pressed was the playback button.

Duke signaled to the camera crew, and the main camera, personally operated by John Schwartzman, immediately shifted from Lily Aldridge to the center of the villa's living room. The female lead, Rachel McAdams, dressed in a black business suit, was already standing there.

"This is J.A.R.V.I.S. He is the butler here," Rachel McAdams raised the clothes in her hand, gesturing to Lily Aldridge, "These are your clothes, they've been dry-cleaned and ironed."

She pointed outside the villa. "The car is waiting outside, ready to take you anywhere you want."

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

"That's right," Rachel McAdams nodded lightly.

"Never thought it's been so many years." Lily Aldridge's tone was obviously sarcastic. "Tony still lets you do the dry cleaning and clothes picking up."

"Mr. Stark tells me what to do, I do it."

Perhaps influenced by Lily Aldridge, Rachel McAdams also adopted a heavily sarcastic tone. "Including sweeping his leftover trash out the door. Any problem with that?"

"Cut!" Duke shouted to stop, "Rachel, your line."

Rachel McAdams was quite perceptive. Once Duke called cut, she immediately realized the problem and said, "Was my tone too sarcastic just now? Pepper Potts is a quiet and mature assistant, even if it's irony, it should be expressed in a more steady manner."

"Exactly," Duke gestured to the crew to prepare, "We'll do it again in five minutes."

However, the second take still failed because of Lily Aldridge. After all, she wasn't a professional actor and couldn't always maintain such a good state.

Duke was patient and after a few takes, finally declared it a pass.

Then Rachel McAdams returned to the makeup trailer to change clothes, and Duke started shooting some solo scenes of Tony Stark to show his tech geek side. Everyone has their own hobbies. For a super rich tech fanatic like Tony Stark, what would be the biggest hobby?

Naturally, making tech others can't replicate, like manufacturing the Iron Man Suit.

Robert Downey Jr. kept his good form throughout. Although some shots needed multiple takes to pass, Duke was very satisfied with his performance, and the shooting progressed slightly ahead of schedule.

In many people's fixed impressions, actors in big commercial films usually have mediocre acting skills. But in fact, Robert Downey Jr.'s acting is quite outstanding. Even if it weren't for the role of Tony Stark tailored for him, he could still handle it easily.

In Duke's view, his acting might not be any worse than some Oscar-winning actors.

However, even Duke could not deny one fact: playing a superhero, especially a popular one, easily traps an actor's image, narrowing their range of roles afterward, sometimes turning them into box office poison.

Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp were typical examples.

But the world is like this: you gain something, you lose something. No one can take all the good things.

About an hour later, Rachel McAdams, having finished makeup, returned to the villa. Duke gave her a few brief instructions and began filming the scenes between her and Robert Downey Jr. This Canadian actress might not match Downey Jr.'s acting skills and occasionally made some mistakes, but she was smart enough to quickly spot her errors and self-correct.

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

Filming proceeded according to the pre-set plan, steadily moving forward. Duke maintained a slightly faster pace than scheduled. He had planned a three-month shooting schedule for the film, leaving ample time for post-production. The film used an extraordinary amount of special effects scenes, even more than his previous record-holder, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

This was closely related to the rapid development of special effects technology. A few years ago, it would cost $20 million to create effects now done for just over $10 million or even less.

For example, motion capture around 2000, companies specializing in it were few, with Weta Workshop undoubtedly the leader. Weta still holds a leading position today, but many companies have made great strides in effects capture technology. Using motion capture to create vivid monster characters has become a Hollywood trend.

Those static or minimally moving scenes allowed Robert Downey Jr. to wear the prop Iron Man suit during filming, but all combat scenes had to be shot in front of a green screen using motion capture.

The Robert Downey Jr. of the past was more of an artistic actor and less skilled in this area.

To improve the shooting effects, Duke invited Andy Serkis, with whom he had worked before, to teach Robert Downey Jr. some experience and techniques during breaks.

Andy Serkis, known for playing Gollum, wasn't a standout performer in live acting but was recognized as Hollywood's top motion capture actor.

When The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released, many felt the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor should have gone to him. However, Serkis didn't even get nominated. The Academy simply would not award a performance prize for an animated composite character.

Nonetheless, in numerous media assessments, just like the LOTR trilogy's frequent appearances in world's top 100 classic film lists, Andy Serkis's portrayal of Gollum and his iconic line "my precious" remain staples in various classic character and quote rankings.

Since the rented Malibu villa couldn't be used for too long, after finishing indoor scenes, Duke did not return to the Burbank studio where sets had already been built. Instead, he stayed on to shoot Tony Stark's daily life scenes.

The roar of an engine sounded as a silver latest-model Audi sports car came driving up from a distance, performing a sharp drift before stopping in front of the villa. Robert Downey Jr., wearing a dark casual suit and sporting Tony Stark's signature beard, stepped out of the car. Though middle-aged, his every move radiated the charm of a mature man; it was hard not to catch anyone's eye.

In a way, Tony Stark was also a "vase" role — his appeal to female audiences rivaled even Legolas.

"Well done, Downey!" Duke called out after approving the take, walking over to the Audi and lightly tapping the still-warm hood. "How's this car?"

"Excellent."

During filming, Robert Downey Jr. had become quite familiar with Duke and joked, "Audi sponsored so many cars for the crew; let me drive this one home."

"Of course."

Before Robert Downey Jr. could celebrate, Duke added, "But only after the entire shoot is done."

Audi was one of the main sponsors of this movie, having formed a strategic partnership with Marvel Studios. Going forward, Audi would have priority sponsorship rights for all Iron Man films' automotive ads.

Of course, this was also related to Duke even Batman, a character who had almost lost his chance for revival on the big screen, was reborn under Duke's direction. So, how much more so for the originally very popular Iron Man?

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

...

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