"Where have you been this month?"

In the Duke Studio, Duke looked at Heath Ledger sitting opposite his desk, "If it weren't for your agent Mara Buxbum who had been in touch with the crew, I would have thought you had disappeared out of thin air."

"I...well, I..." Heath Les subconsciously made a flat mouth and swallowing saliva, "I locked myself in the hotel room and studied the role of clown."

When Duke heard Heath Ledger say this, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. He always admires those who work hard.

After taking a closer look at the young Australian actor, Duke found that Heath Ledger had obviously changed compared to the last time they met.

He was more silent than before, and seemed to have not had a good rest recently. He looked a little haggard. As long as he pays a little attention, he can find the thick dark circles under his eyes.

"What did you do?" Duke frowned slightly.

Although Heath Ledger works hard, he doesn't want to see that the film has not started filming yet, and the actors he selected will be ruined first.

"I...I read all the comics about the clown, then locked myself in a hotel room for a whole month, wrote a diary, tried different crazy laughter, and finally made myself into a state of a mentally ill..."

Heath Ledger showed a smile that was awkward no matter how you look at it, "Since last week, I can only sleep for two hours a night, thinking all night, and exhausted."

Seeing Duke's brows frowned even tighter, he immediately said, "Don't worry, Duke. I have a very clear head and know where my limit lies."

With a gentle sigh, Duke stood up and walked to the opposite side, patted Heath Ledger on the shoulder, "Give yourself a vacation and relax. If you have a girlfriend, it is best to go to the Caribbean or Hawaii for a vacation together and wait for my notification."

Heath Ledger seemed to want to say something, but Duke raised his hand to stop him. "That's it, you don't have to rush into the crew."

When it comes to personal **, Duke couldn't say much, so he had to use this method to adjust Heath Ledger's status.

From a commercial perspective, Heath Ledger's death only has the benefit of "The Dark Knight". Hollywood has proved countless times that a dead star has made far greater contributions to the film than living.

But people are not commercial machines after all. Even if a person like Duke is a person who is as stalked as a stone, he will inevitably feel a little compassion when he sees a person who works so hard.

However, for a person who has long been addicted to drugs, the right to choose his future destiny will only be in his own hands.

After Heath Ledger left, Duke also left the Duke Studio. He went to Warner Studio to see the situation of another actor. Christian Bale was undergoing training in the studio's training hall.

Although this is the second time Christian Bale has worn the tights of "Batman", he still has to give this character some corresponding special training, because "Batman" has many new characteristics in this episode. Some excessive abilities are weakened, and some abilities are also proportionally improved.

What needs special training is not only the newly added elements, but also some of the original skills need to be reconstructed. Jimmy Carter can be said to have a very good understanding of Christian Bale, and the two of them cooperated tacitly. In addition, the crew still used two special stunt stand-in from the previous movie. They are quite familiar with Bale, and even the way he swayed his arms when walking is not bad...

It is precisely because of such intimate cooperation that everything goes very smoothly.

After the training, Christian Bale took the initiative to find him.

“I never thought it was so right to decide to be a superhero,” he seemed to be very touched by standing next to Duke. “If “War Moment” surprised me, the script of “Dark Knight” was shocking.”

Christian Bale looked here curiously, "Duke. How did you come up with such a setting?"

"Just restore the essence of the comics." Duke said lightly, "most of them are creative in the comics."

Shaking his head, Christian Bale obviously didn't believe Duke's words and said, "I'm afraid I'm the first superhero to lose to the villain."

Batman won the battle with the Joker personally, but lost Gotham's soul battle.

Duke was about to leave the training hall and go to the studio next to him to see it. Before leaving, he said, "I just met Heath Ledger, his condition... Well, how to say it, it's very scary. You have to work hard and come up with the best state, otherwise you will be overwhelmed with the script and character settings."

Christian Bale nodded solemnly, "I will."

Due to the inherent advantages of the script setting, if Heath Ledger takes 100% state, then even if Christian Bale takes 100% state, he may not be able to balance the two characters.

This is not the difference in acting skills between the two actors, but the difference in roles.

Walking into the studio divided into many small workshops, Duke first went to the office where the fireworks group was located, and Jos William was already waiting here.

During the shooting, there will be a lot of gunfights and explosion scenes. Because to conform to the style of the film, all explosions must be filmed on the spot, and they cannot be as exaggerated as Duke's early style.

“I think the explosives should be given up.”

The two discussed the most important explosion scene in the film, which directly led to the explosion that was born by the Double-Faced Man. Duke said to Jos William, "As the script says, try to use a few bullets and some gasoline to create the explosion."

Jos William held his chest with one hand and raised his chin with the other, "If you use the model to shoot, there is some uncertainty in the gasoline explosion."

"You must use the model to shoot," Duke said as concisely as possible, "Green screen shooting, add the explosion later."

"Give me some time and let the prop set make more models." Jos William slowly frowned and then let go, "I need to do more experiments, and it will definitely be solved."

"Then I'll wait for your good news."

Duke has always been very confident about his own fireworks group.

Similarly, he has always been relieved of his photography team, but he still went to the outdoor set outside. John Schwartzmann was bringing several photography assistants, with the assistance of technical engineers from Iax, to familiarize himself with the equipment and test footage.

The two IAX cameras are installed on an open-air set, which are several times larger and sunken than Hollywood's usual cameras. The increase in weight and volume means that the operation will be more cumbersome and inconvenient.

Standing next to an IAX camera, Duke tried to operate it, and after standing up, he said to John Schwartzman, "I need to shoot with an IAX camera, all the impactful lenses."

After circling around the Iax camera, Duke said again, "For example, the scene where Batman rides a bat motorcycle to chase."

"We used to tie the camera to the front of the car to shoot."

As soon as John Schwartzman finished speaking, Duke took pictures of the IAX camera and said, "John, is it feasible to tie this big guy to a batmobile or a bat motorcycle?"

After staring at the camera for a while, John Schwartzman thought carefully for a few seconds and said, "The current Batmobile and Bat Motorcycle are not good, and they need to undergo special modifications."

Duke immediately made a decision, "Then contact Lamborghini for the reconstruction."

"Wait, John, Duke, wait."

The people from Iax Company have been paying attention to them. Duke and John Schwartzmann's voices were not low, and they all fell into Richard Gerfon's ears. The person in charge of Iax Company's crew quickly came over, "I think your proposal is too risky and may damage the equipment."

Duke couldn't help but frown slightly, "Richard, if you want to show the advantages of Iax technology, you must build a good enough scenario."

The other party seemed to want to say something, Duke didn't give him a chance at all, and said directly, "If the equipment is damaged, the crew will compensate according to the price."

Richard Gerfang opened his mouth and finally closed it again.

Iax cameras are very expensive, but not so expensive that a crew with an investment of $150 million cannot afford to pay.

Although Iax provides free equipment shooting, Duke will not be polite when using it. Iax has always adhered to the principle of renting but not selling. However, in recent years, it has basically been provided free of charge.

Afterwards, Duke and John Schwartzman left the open-air set and went to find Lamborghini's representative on the crew to discuss matters such as renovating the Batmobile.

There are always many similar problems that can be found in the early preparations. This is a stage of solving problems. The more problems you encounter at this stage, the less trouble you will encounter in the later shooting.

From equipment to props, from actors to costumes, from shooting plans to storyboard artwork, Duke will participate in and review each preliminary preparation work, and understand the progress of the entire preparation work.

Warner Brothers also gave him the greatest support. Apart from the necessary financial problems, they basically delegated power to Duke and Charles Rowan.

Time slowly entered September, and the preparations for "The Dark Knight" continued, and there was still a long way to go before filming began. In addition to busy preliminary preparations, Duke also went to Marvel Studios from time to time. The two new films of Marvel's major plan, "The Hulk" and "Captain America" ​​have also entered the preparation stage.

Unlike Duke's only preparations, David Ellison's new project invested in on Washington Square in New York has entered the end of the filming. This young rich man with ambitions and funds has not easily given up his Hollywood path. After the failure of "Air War Hero", he once again raised huge sums of money to start a new project.

He stood in the middle of Washington Square, looking at the black actor with a pair of distinctive wind-catching ears holding a dog in front of the camera, and firmly believed that he would succeed this time. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!