America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 654 Magneto Wins Easily

"What? Warner Bros. isn't satisfied with Ridley's cut?"

Martin wasn't too surprised to hear the news from Thomas. It's common practice in the industry for production companies to cut the director's cut, and most of the time it's key to a film's success.

He asked, "What exactly happened?"

Thomas inquired and found out that "Warner Bros. president Jon Berger thought the director's cut was too long, and that the nearly three-hour length was not conducive to scheduling. He brought in the film's editor to take charge and prepared to shorten the film's length to less than 130 minutes."

These words reminded Martin of Kingdom of Heaven, which was exactly the same.

But he also knew that similar situations were constantly occurring in Hollywood, and that "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Owls and Gods" were just typical examples of the hundreds of director's cuts that were revised every year.

Ridley's epic films and sci-fi films are like they were made by two completely different directors; the latter is easy for him to handle, while the former always requires a long runtime to tell a good story.

To avoid this situation, Martin specifically called producer Louise and asked her to find an appropriate time to communicate with Ridley in advance to ensure that the director's cut of "The Martian" should not exceed 130 minutes.

Aside from subtitles, the video content should ideally be around 120 minutes.

The Green Lantern will have a test screening in May. Martin Scorsese has been following the situation for a while. Ryan Reynolds will still play the male lead. It is said that most of the scenes were shot in the studio and a lot of green screen scenes were used.

He had heard from an old friend at Warner that even Ryan Reynolds's costume was generated using CGI.

With such extensive use of special effects, the amount of money burned is unimaginable; the film's production cost reached a staggering $2 million.

Martin then went to the studio to meet with Ridley to discuss the preparations for the film.

Martin pretended to know nothing about "Pharaohs and Gods" and didn't even ask.

The preparation for "The Martian" also encountered many challenges.

First, the actual spacesuits were enormous and cumbersome. Filming walking scenes was not only difficult for the actors, but also looked terrible. Ridley rejected the idea, having the costume department redesign it to be more aesthetically pleasing and easier for the actors to wear.

Ridley initially wanted to film in Australia, where there were both studios and desert terrain. However, no one knows what the Australian government was thinking, or perhaps it was related to Martin's long-standing feud with the Australian clique. The local government used environmental protection as a reason to refuse approval for the film crew.

The alternatives are Morocco's film studio and Jordan's Rose Desert, but the situation in the Middle East has been unstable recently, especially since Jordan is adjacent to Israel. Security expenditures are high, and security is not guaranteed.

The production team had to choose the last option: filming in California.

All the interior sets were built at the Disney Studios. According to Ridley's plan, only 20 sets needed to be built, which is much fewer than for a typical movie.

The location shooting was chosen within California, encompassing deserts, wastelands, and wastelands.

No matter where it is, outdoor scenes always end up being filmed on a green screen and then generated using CGI.

According to Ridley's plan, $1.2 million would be enough to make this film.

This veteran director, despite having botched so many big-budget films, continues to direct top-tier productions. On one hand, he uses science fiction films to revive the blood lost from epic films. On the other hand, unlike some directors who are difficult to work with and constantly demand additional budgets from the production company, he makes reasonable use of every penny within the budget.

During this period, the production team held auditions for several roles. With Martin's recommendation, Jessica Chastain unsurprisingly passed the third round of auditions and landed the role of the spaceship commander.

Menez will also play an important supporting role on the ground.

In addition, the production team also attracted veteran supporting actors such as Jeff Daniels and Sean Bean.

After receiving the audition invitation, Sean Bean's first question upon arriving on set was, "Can anyone tell me how my character is going to die?"

Martin understood what he meant and told him very seriously, "Don't worry, your character won't die this time."

Sean Bean was surprisingly excited: "Finally, I've landed a role with a good ending."

Unfortunately, too many of the characters he played were killed off in movies: "Was this character's ending good?"

"Well, it's a hundred times better than death." All Martin could say was, "I was just made a scapegoat and had to resign from my senior management position at NASA for it."

From the very first 006 character to the present, Sean Bean, in his major supporting roles, has died nearly twenty times.

Although he has played a variety of supporting roles, his image has not been fixed, and his acting range is very wide, his development in Hollywood is still limited. Most of the roles that the production teams that approach him offer him are death scenes.

Sean Bean sometimes wants to ask, "Can I live to see the end of the movie?"

He said, "This ending is not bad; it's not easy to survive to the end of a movie."

Martin expressed deep sympathy and great curiosity, asking, "Which character's death do you find most memorable? 006?"

"No, not 006, it's Boromir," Sean Bean said seriously. "I think Boromir's death was heroic and inspiring; he was a hero."

He sighed: "There's no need to say anything else."

After signing the contract, Jessica Chastain and her agent came out of the studio and met Martin in the lobby.

The agent stepped forward and shook hands with Martin: "Thank you for giving Jesse this opportunity."

Martin said, "I only recommended Jesse, but she was good enough to pass the audition."

Jessica Chastain said, "If you hadn't helped me out that day, I would have been in big trouble. Megan Ellison is so domineering. Later, I don't know how she got my phone number, but she called me several times and wouldn't allow me to work with her. God Jesus, how can there be such a person?"

Martin said, "Just ignore her."

Perhaps due to her natural features, Jessica Chastain has a remarkably similar skin tone, and with her red hair, she resembles Nicole Kidman in her younger days, giving her a radiant, almost glowing, complexion.

She added, "Several times Megan Ellison called me after that, I just hung up on her."

Martin cautioned, "Don't mess with her."

"I'll try to stay away from her as much as possible." Jessica patted the fitness advice sheet provided by the film crew in her hand: "I've made an appointment with a professional fitness coach, let's talk another day."

Martin watched her leave, then waited in the foyer. A few minutes later, the person he was waiting for finally arrived.

Alan Horn accompanied Robert Iger into the studio.

Martin went up to them, and after Alan Horn introduced them, he shook hands with Robert Iger and led the two on a tour of the studio.

Robert Iger said, "I attended an internal screening of 'John Wick 2' at Disney, and the film was very well made and filled a gap in Disney's lineup for this genre."

Martin specifically thanked Alan Horn: "Alan reached out to me during a difficult time and gave me the opportunity to work with Disney."

The three of them went into the studio's design area together. The props team, the art direction team, and the technicians sent by NASA collaborated to draw up many design drawings and concept drawings, as well as some models of Mars rovers and barracks.

Hollywood production teams have always been meticulous in this regard, and all the models are realistic enough to fool the eye.

Potatoes have already been planted in the nearby photography studio where sets are being built.

Alan Horn is very optimistic about Martin's project, saying, "This film will show a lonely person struggling to survive on Mars with limited resources. If the film is well-received, could we launch a new attraction at Disneyland? A Mars Living Experience!"

Robert Iger said, "That's a good suggestion. We can do some market research on it after the film is released."

This is just a suggestion right now; a decision can't be made yet. Martin pointed to the newly designed spacesuit: "These can be used to make peripheral toys and figurines, which will be different from the image of astronauts in the past and more distinctive."

The spacesuit uses orange and beige as its main colors, unlike the bulky designs of real spacesuits.

Robert Iger looked at it carefully and said, "Other related aspects also need to be developed. The tax rate for human-related products is much higher than that for other types."

Martin knew to some extent that the tax rate for human toys was 12%, while other types were only 6.8%.

Alan Horn said, "We've been trying to figure out how to get around this, since human toys make up a significant portion of the merchandise and related products for the next Marvel movie released by Disney."

Martin suddenly remembered a news story he had seen in his previous life, and not knowing if it was true or not, he replied, "I do have an idea, but I'm not familiar with the relevant laws, so I'm not sure if it's feasible."

Robert Iger had long heard that Martin had a lot of ideas and could always come up with many unique creative ideas in publicity and marketing.

He looked at Martin: "It's okay, tell me about it."

Martin gathered his thoughts briefly and said, "Take Thor, for example, who's coming out this year. He's not human; he's a god. How can he be categorized as a human toy? By the same token, those superheroes who've been exposed to cosmic rays, bitten by bugs, or hit by cars should also be considered outside the realm of humanity. And what about the X-Men? Shouldn't they be considered human too?"

Alan Horn found that this method seemed to have some feasibility.

Robert Iger was inspired; Martin's points were one-sided, but the underlying idea was correct.

"No wonder so many people say you're a genius," he said. "Martin, you've opened my eyes to new ideas!"

Martin smiled and said, "I can only say that whether it's feasible or not is up to Disney to verify."

"Excuse me, I need to make a call." Robert Iger couldn't wait any longer. He pulled out his phone and called his assistant. Once the call connected, he said immediately, "Summon the heads of the legal department right away. I need to see them in the small conference room in an hour."

Disney's legal department is very powerful. Martin once said that if someone is stranded on a desert island, how do they escape? Draw a Mickey Mouse on the ground.

A thought suddenly popped into his head: if Disney really succeeded, wouldn't it ruin Professor X's life's work, and Magneto win easily?

(End of this chapter)