America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz-Chapter 967 - 886 The Commissioner Sent by DC_2
Chapter 967: Chapter 886: The Commissioner Sent by DC_2
Chapter 967 -886: The Commissioner Sent by DC_2
He specifically cited an example, “Not to mention the films Martin personally got involved in, even those he invested in are continuously successful! This past weekend, Martin’s investment in ‘Border Killer’ exploded in popularity, with an opening weekend box office of 20 million US dollars, and it’s conservatively estimated to bring in 60 million US dollars in North America!”
Hamada didn’t say much more and decided he would later call Martin himself to try.
After seeing Hamada off, Daniel shook his head. As a seasoned professional in the film industry, he had a vague idea of Hamada’s intentions.
But how could he possibly do such a thing?
Over at DC, the rights to a standalone Joker movie had already been licensed to Warner Bros., and now the “Joker” project was under Warner Bros. It would be him who would first be affected if the project failed.
Both the Warner Bros. Team and the DC management led by Hamada opposed the “Joker” project. If “Joker” turned out to be a huge success, Daniel could prove his own capabilities and vision.
Meanwhile, Hamada returned to his office and immediately had his deputy, Rogers, call Martin to discuss matters concerning the Joker’s setting and plot.
Without any surprises, the response was polite on the other end, but the refusal was firm.
Rogers reported the situation to Hamada.
Hamada said, “This ‘Joker’ is beyond our control, and I have a feeling it might jeopardize DC’s plans.”
Sharing his leader’s urgency, Rogers pondered then suggested, “DC holds the copyright, and we have the power to supervise the film crew. How about this: we dispatch a copyright representative to the crew to ensure DC’s copyrights are not compromised.”
Although the agreement did not allow DC to send producers to the crew, according to some unwritten industry practices, deploying a copyright monitor was completely doable.
After considering for a while, Hamada was finally unwilling to let “Joker” be entirely out of control and said, “In that case, Rogers, you go to Brooklyn Studio in New York for a while as DC’s representative.”
Without any hesitation, Rogers responded, “Okay, boss, I’ll start making arrangements.”
Hamada mentioned, “If possible, it would be best to obtain some influence in the crew, to impact the filming and production of the movie.”
Rogers nodded repeatedly, “I understand.”
Some things didn’t need to be ordered by superiors; he could grasp them on his own.
The boss’s intentions were clear, although not said outright: a project like “Joker,” which was out of control and could potentially affect the Justice League Universe, had better not succeed.
…
New York, Brooklyn Studio.
In the open-air set area, the “Joker” crew was making final preparations before starting the shoot, in a street-like set, numerous extras took their places as instructed by the assistant director.
Dressed in a cheap purple-red suit, carrying a traditional Joker mask, Martin had just ended a phone call.
Louise, right beside him, asked, “The call from DC, what’s going on?”
Martin briefly said, “They want to interfere with our shooting content. DC thinks we should respect the comic original, rather than creating our own storyline.”
Louise remarked, “The problem is that DC Comics also does not specify why the Joker became the Joker; there is no clear explanation for the Joker’s origin in DC.”
Like during “The Dark Knight,” Martin, unfamiliar with the specifics of DC Comics, directly said, “Don’t worry about DC; let’s stick to our plan.”
Louise pushed her black-rimmed glasses up, “Focus your energy on filming and acting. Let me handle all the mess from DC, like you have said about Warner Bros. Team before; I am curious to see what chaos Warner Bros. Team intends to cause on this project.”
Martin thought this was a good idea; he had to juggle the roles of director and lead actor and focus on the movie’s promotion. He didn’t want to deal with Warner Bros. Team’s super geniuses, immediately saying, “Based on Warner’s past behavior, they are likely to forcibly dispatch people to our crew to interfere with our shooting and production.”
“They wouldn’t dare!” Louise said coldly, “If anyone dares to mess around in our crew, I’ll have them thrown off the Brooklyn Bridge into the Atlantic Ocean.”
Throughout the temporary set, at various noncritical filming locations, there were over a dozen professionally dressed security personnel in black suits and earpieces.
Martin concluded his conversation with Louise and called over a cameraman, saying, “Go shoot the security personnel, no close-ups needed.”
The employment contracts for these individuals included the relevant authorization: the footage shot by the crew could be used for the film’s promotion.
Because of the shooting incident at the premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises,” Martin had specifically hired a security team for daily protection on the set.
Martin would exploit every opportunity for marketing and promotion.
A photographer, holding a handheld camera, started filming the security personnel before the crew had begun shooting.
Martin approached the director’s monitor, exchanged a few words with the first assistant director, Steve Downton, and then called over the cinematographer, Jeff Cronenweth, and said, “For the first shot, film in front of me.”
Cronenweth responded, “I have it arranged.”
Martin put on the Joker mask, and his demeanor instantly changed. With the mask’s specialized design, he looked somewhat decadent.
This was also one of the key emotions for the character in this scene.
Martin entered the set, and the clapper loader came in front of the camera to slate.
The shooting officially began.
Martin sprinted at the speed of a hundred-meter dash, racing along a sidewalk that had numerous extras as background.
He ran past phone booths, long stairs, a subway station, frantically dashing through the streets without any regard.
In this running scene, Martin dashed into a small alley, hands on his hips gasping for air, and simultaneously pulled out a revolver from his pocket, aiming it at two people following him.
From the initial decadence before running to the frantic madness during the run, and finally to the evil at the verge of murder, this scene represented the transformation of the Joker.
“Cut!” yelled Steve Downton, stopping the filming.
Martin took a deep breath, put away the revolver, and walked back behind the director’s monitor.
Cronenweth also came over.
The three reviewed the footage that was just shot.
Martin slightly frowned, “The straightforward front shot is mediocre.”
Steve Downton suggested, “Add another camera from the back to follow the action.”
“That could work,” Martin considered for a moment, then told Cronenweth, “Add another camera in the back, not handheld—use the Steadicam.”
This way, the post-production could utilize cross-cutting between two angles.
Soon, another cameraperson entered the set, filming from the same side as the main camera without interfering with each other.
Martin returned to the set, slightly adjusted his emotions, waited for the clapper to slate again, and took off running once more.
This time, the shooting did not go smoothly. An extra playing a shopper did not hold onto his hotdog properly, and as he turned, he blocked Martin’s front view.
Steve Downton immediately called a halt.
“Sorry,” said the person hurriedly.
Martin passed by the extra, gently tapped his shoulder, and returned to the starting point.
The rest of the crew reset.
This time, the take was smooth, but after watching it, Martin requested to shoot several more times.
According to the traditional Hollywood style, scenes like this would inevitably utilize multiple cameras for cross-cutting editing.
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Martin wanted to make sure the production team had enough material for post-production.
After shooting the scene eight times, Martin finally approved it.
The film had just begun shooting, and the entire crew was adjusting, so the filming wasn’t progressing very quickly.
By the end of the morning, the crew had filmed a total of seven shots.
However, after two or three days of tuning, the pace had significantly increased, as many had previously collaborated on “Shark Beach.”
At this moment, a copyright commissioner sent by DC parachuted into New York.
