Entertainment: Starting as a Succubus, Taking Hollywood by Storm Chapter 643 - 640: Bainstorming how to copy The Dark Knight

In the studio.

Robert Downey Jr. dressed in a green bodysuit, was performing so strange movents.

"Cut! Start this section again. Robert, rember you're supposed to be in steel armor. Your movents need to feel chanical—you're a robot in an iron shell. You can't walk like a regular person..."

"Got it, I just forgot. Let's go again."

Although Robert Downey Jr. had a sowhat cynical personality, he was serious when it ca to acting.

After shooting the scene two more tis—

"Cut!" Martin stood up from behind the director's monitor. "Very good, that take's approved." He gave a thumbs-up to Robert Downey Jr., who was sitting on the ground, panting. "Nice job, Robert. Keep it up. The next scene involves a fight with Daowei Ya, so we'll give you ten minutes to recover."

"No problem!" Robert Downey Jr. waved casually.

Martin turned to the assistant director and said, "Tell the stunt team to get ready. Have Tiger demo the fighting sequence again in a bit."

Then he snapped his fingers at the lighting technician and called out, "David, we'll need lower lighting later—I want Robert's face to look partially obscured by the helt."

"Got it!"

"You really look like a director now," Robert Downey Jr., having rested for a mont, ca over jokingly.

Martin replied, "What do you an 'look like'? I am the director!"

"Alright, alright, you're the boss. Damn, I didn't expect Iron Man to have this much action. I thought it'd just be flying around shooting missiles and lasers. But these action moves feel pretty dumb."

"Fighting is essential—robot versus robot. The moves are stiff by design. They may look dumb now, but when they hit the big screen, the intensity will co through," Martin explained, then added with a grin, "Dude, you should hit the gym and pick up so fight training. By the ti we get to the sequel, you won't be so helpless."

"Fuck, helpless? ?—wait, did you say sequel? Is Marvel Studios already planning it? Will you still cast ?"

"The sequel hasn't been greenlit yet. But if the first one crushes it at the box office, the second will definitely get approved. As for casting you again... that depends on your performance here."

"Fuck you , you're really confident. How can you be so sure the first movie will be a hit?"

"Because this is a Martin yers film!" Martin said proudly.

"You smug bastard."

"Smug? Were you looking in a mirror just now?" Martin shot back.

Filming resud.

Robert Downey Jr. ran through the fight scene with Wiia several more tis. In the end, he still couldn't et Martin's expectations, so Tyler had to step in and finish it for him. Robert only needed to strike a few poses and show his face.

"Sigh, I really do need to hit the gym." Robert collapsed into a folding chair next to Martin, panting. "If there's a sequel, I swear, I'm doing all the action myself."

Martin glanced at him, realizing that he actually ant it.

Before shooting began on the sequel, Robert not only built muscle but also trained in martial arts and ended up doing most of the action scenes himself.

Of course, when it ca to dangerous stunts, even if Robert wanted to perform them personally, the insurance company wouldn't allow it.

Take Jackie Chan, for example—famous for doing his own stunts in Hong Kong. But once he started working on Hollywood productions, any dangerous scenes were done with doubles or fild on studio sets.

In fact, in the original tiline, during an interview after Zodiac, Jackie Chan was asked about Tom Cruise's famous jump on the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible 4.

Jackie bluntly replied, "You think he really did that? I've worked in Hollywood for years. I can tell you—the insurance company would never let him actually jump."

Jackie also shared that while filming Rush Hour 3, he wanted to jump from the Eiffel Tower—but the insurance company said no, and the final shot was done in a studio.

As ti passed, by April, filming on Iron Man was nearing completion.

anwhile, the theatrical run of The Dark Knight was also coming to an end.

By this point, the film had grossed $582 million in North Arica and $1.114 billion worldwide, making it the seventh film in history to cross the billion-dollar mark globally.

...

In an unassuming gray building on the edge of Hollywood—

In a third-floor conference room, two white n and a white woman were having an intense discussion.

This was the headquarters of a film company called The Asylum.

The three people in the eting—David Michael Latt, David Rimawi, and Sherri Strain—were the company's founders. All of them had previously worked as executives at Village Roadshow before quitting in 1997 to launch their own venture.

When they first started, they proudly waved the banner of originality and hoped to find a path through DVD distribution.

Like many small studios, their early business revolved around low-budget horror movies made for ho video.

Hollywood is full of such small companies—while their low-budget films can't compete with the majors, they survive and even thrive by selling DVDs.

The turning point ca in 2004, when the U.S. ho video market began to decline.

To survive, The Asylum pivoted to imitating the blockbuster films of major studios—in other words, they beca a "mockbuster" factory.

That sa year, director Steven Spielberg was preparing to adapt H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.

So, The Asylum decided to make their ownWar of the Worlds movie. They invested $500,000—more than double their previous budgets.

Their version, titled War of the Worlds: Origins, was released in 2005—the sa year Spielberg's film ca out.

Surprisingly, their gamble paid off. Blockbuster Video, the leading U.S. rental chain at the ti, took notice and ordered 100,000 copies of The Asylum's version.

That even surpassed the video sales of so major studios. David Latt and David Rimawi saw hope and imdiately restructured the company's business model.

Now, they were brainstorming how to copy The Dark Knight.

"Our poster needs to look just like the real one," Rimawi said, gesturing dramatically—his manner more French than Italian.

"That way, when soone sees it at the video store, they'll think, 'Oh, this is the Batman movie I was looking for.'"

"As for the title," he continued, "it has to sound almost identical. What about Batman: The Dark Knight?"