Made In Hollywood

During the early preparation and filming process, only two special effects teams—Industrial Light & Magic and Weta Workshop—were serving the crew. But when it came to post-production, in order to meet the summer 2006 release schedule, Duke had to ensure that the complex and tedious special effects work could be completed on time. Therefore, he hired more special effects studios to join the process.

Among them was a visual effects studio also renowned in Hollywood. Although its scale and reputation were far inferior to ILM, it had its own areas of expertise.

However, the special effects work still mainly revolved around Industrial Light & Magic and Weta Workshop. Newcomers like the visual effects studio mainly handled peripheral details and patchwork.

Just like how Duke didn't follow rigid logical editing patterns at the beginning, he was never a rigid person during post-production either. Editing was overseen by Mike Dawson, who had always adhered to Duke's style, while Duke encouraged the VFX artists to create characters and scenes with an exploratory mindset rather than just mechanically following his instructions.

This incident was quickly picked up by Marvel Studios and Warner Bros., who used it as an early promotional highlight for the film.

Phil Sanders, the person in charge of ILM for the Iron Man production, even gave an exclusive interview to Yahoo Entertainment.

"We were all very surprised by Duke's demands, and even a little bit scared of some of the unexpected scenes we were encouraged to create."

He said during the interview, "But Duke is a great director. He knows how to inspire the entire crew's creative enthusiasm. It's a very interesting kind of expression. Because although we didn't directly participate in the pre-production, we were invited by Duke early on to contribute our ideas. That was really nice. But this is just one of those things... In the past, we often hoped for creative opportunities, but in this movie, we were amazed at how much we suddenly got!"

While post-production was underway, the promotion of Iron Man was also gradually gaining momentum.

Of course, all of that was handled by dedicated personnel. Duke's main task was still to complete the post-production work with high quality and on schedule, because after consulting with him, Warner Bros. had already selected a release date for Iron Man. Just like last year's Batman Begins, this major debut of the Marvel film series would be officially released in North America at the beginning of the summer 2006 season.

Perhaps because Kingdom of Heaven and Flyboys, which competed directly with Batman Begins last year, lost so badly they couldn't even recoup costs, many distribution companies, while not saying anything publicly, privately distanced themselves from that release window. For the first weekend of May when Iron Man would be released, there were simply no competitors of the same level only two weeks later would Paramount's Charlotte's Web, a film Duke vaguely remembered, be released.

All promotional tasks were handled solely by Warner Bros., with Tina Fey on Duke's side helping with coordination. He didn't have to worry much about that. What he cared about most was completing the special effects production brilliantly.

After all, special effects were one of the film's biggest selling points.

In most movies, storyboard-based effects shooting usually supports smaller visual effects input. Then the editors piece them together, and the sequential frames, along with instructions, are sent to the VFX team so they understand how to proceed.

Subsequent director meetings usually revolved around specific topics, such as a character moving too fast, or where to move an object, and so on.

Though Duke wasn't a perfectionist like James Cameron, he also wasn't easily satisfied. Whenever the VFX department sent him newly completed footage, he would always say to Phil Sanders, "You know, this is far from what we want. This is just preliminarily acceptable. Remember, you guys are the top VFX experts in Hollywood."

For those shots to be used or those effects to be combined, Duke had to make choices to ensure they better served the film as a whole.

So once he got into work mode, if he found some shots didn't meet the film's standards, he wouldn't explode with rage like James Cameron. Instead, he would try to stay relaxed, consider other suitable types of replacements, rethink it, and then hand it back to the VFX team for revision.

Encouraging innovation also brings problems. For example, those working in CG production are often wildly imaginative, and sometimes their creativity can go overboard.

By early February, a considerable amount of completed work had been rejected by Duke.

For a long time, the post-production team privately believed this was a case of digital effects being misused.

Digital effects had become a standard running through Hollywood's entire production line. They were not only used to solve problems or add flashy highlights, but also to create complete scenes and workflows critical to the whole film and product.

However, few directors acknowledged the talents of these providers, and even fewer recognized the contributions they made to a film's success. Being repeatedly rejected by a top-tier director like Duke left the VFX team unsure of what to do next.

Communication was the best way to resolve conflicts. Duke took the initiative to approach Phil Sanders, who was in charge of VFX.

Originally, Phil Sanders thought that even if Duke didn't lose his temper, he would still deliver some harsh criticism. But Duke didn't do that. He knew very well that one shouldn't use restraints to tie down these imaginative wings.

Many people, at the mention of CG effects, automatically associate them with childishness, immaturity, and lack of depth symbols of assembly-line production. But have they ever considered that CG, like their glorified practical effects and other artistic techniques, is also the brainchild of imaginative individuals? When VFX artists craft CG scenes, the imagination and brainpower they expend often far exceed those who champion so-called "Dogma95" rules.

Therefore, Duke continued to lead with encouragement.

At a short meeting called by Phil Sanders with the VFX artists, Duke showed a brief clip of CG footage that was largely unusable and said to the group, "Let's not rush to dismiss anything yet. Let's take a few steps back and look at the entire sequence of images. It's right there in the film how can we make it serve the story? This shot might never work again. We may no longer need it at all."

Looking at the VFX artists, he added, "But no one can deny how imaginative and creatively passionate this visual is. To me, this is something very much worth promoting in the Iron Man project."

Everyone needs affirmation and encouragement. In a film crew, recognition from someone like Duke, who wears the dual hat of director and producer, undoubtedly fuels the creative passion of these visual effects artists.

Iron Man was a meticulously planned and well-organized project with plenty of fun ideas worth exploring. Though Duke wasn't the type of director who was madly in love with robots, mechanical devices, or technical craftsmanship, he had every reason to enjoy this exciting film, maintaining strong interest throughout the shooting and production process.

He graduated from CalArts and, strictly speaking, was an academically trained director. Given the artistic immersion Duke received in film school, it would seem that he should be more inclined toward arthouse films rather than commercial ones. But in this world, who—human or God—has ever decreed that academically trained directors must only direct arthouse films?

Some people like commercial movies, others prefer arthouse films—everyone has the freedom to choose. But Duke has always believed that films are made to be watched. The kind of films that garner broad support are exactly the kind he wants to make.

Besides, in the ecosystem of Hollywood, could a director who loses money on every film truly gain power?

From the very beginning, Duke was never just a simple director.

Here's the most basic question: Between Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg, on a global scale, whose name resonates more with general audiences? Who holds a higher position in Hollywood?

Arthouse directors have their own rules for survival, but those rules simply don't apply to Duke. If he had chosen the path of an arthouse director, could he have reached the status he has today?

Even a fool knows that would be impossible in Hollywood.

Hollywood is ultimately a place where commercial success speaks louder than anything else.

Although Duke encouraged the VFX artists to unleash their imagination and be creative, the prerequisite for any team-based creation was to remain within the bounds of permitted character definitions a heroic figure, dressed in a perfectly fitting humanoid armor suit, capable of flight.

For example, although Iron Man's flying scenes were shot using motion capture with Robert Downey Jr., Industrial Light & Magic still needed to add the flight effects. These flight scenes were among the film's major highlights.

The size of the reactive force when flying and the style of the jet sparks were both critical. ILM created numerous versions of the effect for Duke to evaluate. After several rounds of revisions, he finally locked in the best version.

Then there were Iron Man's weapons—especially those clever, compact gadgets. Too much time had passed for Duke to remember all the details. Designing these tiny tools racked his brains. This was when Marvel's support played a key role Kevin Feige brought Duke a bible of Iron Man: a complete catalogue of all weapons and props used by Iron Man over the past forty-plus years.

Over the past half-century, many brilliant comic artists had designed an eye-popping array of fantastic weapons, giving Duke and weapons VFX artist Adi Granov ample inspiration.

So, filmmaking has never been about individual heroism. It's the product of a tightly knit team working in harmony.

The entire post-production visual effects process was extremely tedious. Even the VFX suit generated from Robert Downey Jr.'s motion capture had to be modified multiple times using CG.

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