"Where have you been this past month?"
In the Duke Studio, Duke looked at Heath Ledger sitting across the desk. "If your agent, Mara Buxbaum, hadn’t stayed in contact with the production team, I would’ve thought you vanished into thin air."
"I... uh, I..." Heath Ledger subconsciously pouted and swallowed. "I locked myself in a hotel room to study the Joker character."
Hearing this, Duke raised an eyebrow. He always appreciated hard-working people.
Looking carefully at the young Australian actor, Duke noticed that compared to their last eting, Heath Ledger had clearly changed.
He was more silent than before, seed to have had little rest lately, and looked haggard. A closer look revealed the heavy dark circles under his eyes.
"What exactly did you do?" Duke frowned slightly.
Heath Ledger’s dedication was comndable, but Duke didn’t want to see his chosen actor burning out before the film even began shooting.
"I... I read every Joker comic I could find, then locked myself in the hotel room for a whole month. I wrote journals, experinted with different maniacal laughs, until I finally pushed myself into the mindset of a ntal patient..."
Heath Ledger showed a smile that looked awkward no matter how you saw it. "Since last week, I’ve only been sleeping two hours a night, lost in my thoughts the rest of the ti. I’m physically exhausted."
Seeing Duke frown even more deeply, he imdiately added, "Don’t worry, Duke. My head is perfectly clear. I know where my limits are."
Sighing softly, Duke got up and walked over to pat Heath Ledger on the shoulder.
"Take a vacation and relax. If you’ve got a girlfriend, go to the Caribbean or Hawaii. Wait for my notice."
Heath Ledger seed to want to say more but was stopped by Duke raising his hand.
"That’s it. You don’t need to rush into the production team."
Since this touched on personal privacy, Duke couldn’t say much more and had to use this approach to adjust Heath Ledger’s condition.
From a business perspective, if Heath Ledger died, it would only benefit The Dark Knight. Hollywood had proven countless tis that a deceased lead actor contributes far more to a film than a living one.
But after all, people aren’t comrcial machines. Even soone as cold-hearted as Duke couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathy seeing soone this dedicated possibly about to disappear forever.
However, for soone already addicted to dication, the right to choose their fate was in their own hands.
After Heath Ledger left, Duke also departed the Duke Studio and headed to Warner Bros. Studios to check on another actor. Christian Bale was training in the studio gym.
Although this was Christian Bale’s second ti wearing the Batman suit, he still had to undergo specific training for the role. In this installnt, "Batman" had many new characteristics—so overpowered abilities were toned down, while others were proportionally enhanced.
It wasn’t just the new elents that required special training; even the original skills needed reinforcent. Jimmy Carter was extrely familiar with Christian Bale. The two had seamless cooperation. Moreover, the production team was still using the sa two stunt doubles from the previous film. They were so accustod to Bale that they could even perfectly mimic how his arms swung when walking...
It was precisely due to this close cooperation that everything was progressing smoothly.
After training ended, Christian Bale took the initiative to approach.
"I’ve never felt more certain that taking on the role of a superhero was the right decision."
He stood beside Duke, seemingly very moved. "If Batman Begins amazed , then the script of The Dark Knight outright shocked ."
Christian Bale looked over curiously.
"Duke, how did you co up with such a setup?"
"Just restoring the essence of the comics," Duke replied flatly. "Most of it cos from the comics’ creativity."
Shaking his head, Christian Bale clearly didn’t quite believe Duke and added,
"I might be the first superhero who loses to the villain."
Batman won the personal duel with Joker but lost the spiritual war for Gotham.
Duke prepared to leave the gym and go to a nearby soundstage. Before leaving, he said,
"I just saw Heath Ledger. His state... hmm, how should I put it? It’s terrifying. You need to give it your all—otherwise, with the script and character design, you’ll be overshadowed."
Christian Bale nodded solemnly.
"I will."
Due to the script’s inherent advantages, even if Heath Ledger gave 100% of his effort, Christian Bale would need to give 120% just to keep the two roles balanced.
This wasn’t about acting skills between the two actors—but about the difference in their roles.
Entering a soundstage that was divided into many smaller workspaces, Duke first headed to the office of the pyrotechnics team. Joss Williams was already waiting there.
During filming, there would be a lot of gunfight and explosion scenes. To match the film’s style, all explosions had to be done on location, and unlike Duke’s early style, they couldn’t be overly exaggerated.
"I think we should give up using explosives."
The two began discussing the film’s most important explosion scene—the one that directly leads to the birth of Two-Face. Duke said to Joss Williams,
"Just like the script says, try using a few bullets and so gasoline to create the explosion."
Joss Williams crossed his arms and held his chin.
"If we shoot it with models, gasoline explosions have a certain level of unpredictability."
"We’ll definitely shoot it with models," Duke said as concisely as possible. "Green screen shooting. The explosion will be added in post."
"Give so ti. Let the props team build a few more models."
Joss Williams frowned slightly, then relaxed.
"I need to do more testing. I’ll definitely figure it out."
"Then I’ll wait for your good news."
Duke had always been confident in his pyrotechnics team.
Likewise, he had always trusted his cinematography team, but he still took a trip to the outdoor set, where John Schwartzman was leading a few cara assistants, getting familiar with the equipnt and testing a few shots under the guidance of IMAX’s technical engineers.
Two IMAX caras were set up on the outdoor set. They were several tis larger and heavier than the caras typically used in Hollywood. The increase in weight and size also ant that operating them would be more cumberso and inconvenient.
Standing beside one of the IMAX caras, Duke tried operating it for a bit. After standing back up, he said to John Schwartzman, "The scenes I plan to shoot with IMAX are the ones with real impact."
Walking a circle around the IMAX cara, Duke continued, "For example, the scene where Batman rides the Batpod in a chase."
"We usually strap the cara to the front of the vehicle for that."
As soon as John Schwartzman finished his sentence, Duke patted the IMAX cara and said, "John, is it feasible to strap this big guy onto the Batmobile or the Batpod for filming?"
Staring at the cara for a while, John Schwartzman thought seriously for a few seconds and said, "The current Batmobile and Batpod won’t do. They’ll need specialized modifications."
Duke made a decision imdiately. "Then contact Lamborghini and have them do the modifications."
"Wait a second, John, Duke, hold on."
The IMAX team had been paying close attention to the two of them. Duke and John Schwartzman hadn’t spoken quietly, so their conversation reached Richard Gelfond’s ears. As the IMAX team leader on set, he quickly walked over and said, "I think your idea is too risky. It could seriously damage the equipnt."
Duke couldn’t help but furrow his brows slightly. "Richard, if we want to showcase the strengths of IMAX technology, we need to construct truly exceptional scenes."
The other party seed like he wanted to say more, but Duke didn’t give him a chance and directly said, "If the equipnt is damaged, the crew will pay for it at full price."
Richard Gelfond opened his mouth, then shut it again.
Though IMAX caras were expensive, they weren’t so costly that a production with a $150 million budget couldn’t afford to replace them.
While IMAX provided the caras free of charge, Duke wasn’t going to be overly courteous about using them. IMAX had always adhered to a policy of renting, not selling, but in recent years, their participation in Hollywood productions had basically involved free provision.
Afterward, Duke and John Schwartzman left the outdoor set and went to find the representative from Lamborghini on the production team to discuss the Batmobile modification plans.
There were always many such problems discovered during pre-production. This was, after all, the phase for solving problems. The more issues that arose now, the fewer troubles there would be during shooting.
From equipnt to props, actors to costus, shooting plans to storyboards—Duke was involved in and reviewed every part of the pre-production work and was well aware of the overall progress.
Warner Bros. also gave him the greatest degree of support. Aside from essential financial matters, they had essentially given full authority to Duke and Charles Roven.
Ti gradually slipped into September. Preparations for The Dark Knight continued, and there was still a long road ahead before filming began. Aside from being busy with pre-production, Duke would occasionally visit Marvel Studios. Marvel’s grand plan included two new films—The Incredible Hulk and Captain Arica—which were also entering pre-production.
Unlike Duke’s side, which was still in the prep stage, at Washington Square in New York, David Ellison’s new project had already entered its final stage of shooting. This young billionaire, full of ambition and capital, hadn’t given up on his Hollywood journey easily. After Flyboys failed, he had once again raised massive funds to start a new project.
Standing in the center of Washington Square, watching the black actor with a pair of distinct protruding ears walking a dog in front of the cara, he believed with conviction that this ti, he would succeed.
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