Chapter 218 - The Same Kind of People

Speaking of which, this was the second time Lin Mingyang had come to Kate's house, but he had never felt as uncomfortable as he did now. From the moment he sat down in the living room, Kate's mother, Judy, had been sizing him up with that strange gaze.

Lin Ming Yang pretended to drink his coffee and glanced at the other person with his afterglow, then said to himself, "This coffee tastes good!"

"It's good that you like it!" Judy smiled and nodded, but her gaze still didn't move away from Lin Ming Yang's face.

Lin Ming Yang squirmed uneasily, "Mrs. Judy, is there something dirty on my face?"

"Something dirty?" Judy suddenly reacted, she giggled, "No lah, I just think you look very flavorful with a beard."

Lin Ming Yang smiled awkwardly, "Actually, I didn't want to keep it, but the director had to make me do it!"

Judy bristled, "I think you look more mature now...very manly!"

If it was someone else who complimented him like this, Lin Ming Yang would probably take it with open arms, but when it was Kate's mother who said this, Lin Ming Yang had to keep an extra eye out. He smiled coyly and didn't say anything.

Judy didn't seem to intend to let him off the hook and continued to ask, "I heard that you dropped out of Harvard?"

Lin Ming Yang was cautious and returned to say, "I think I might gain a little more by getting out of school."

"Really?" Judy covered her mouth in surprise, "That's what Kate said to me back then...you guys didn't discuss this beforehand, did you?"

Kate, dressed in civilian clothes, walked to the stairway, then looked over here with a curious face, "What are you guys talking about?"

Judy stood up with a grin, "Felix actually dropped out of Harvard for the exact same reason you did, don't you think it's a marvelous thing to happen, dear?"

"Mom, that news was a long time ago!" Kate shrugged as she put on her sunglasses and looked like she was ready to go out.

Judy looked at her daughter, and had a look at Lin Mingyang who was sitting on the sofa a bit fidgety, "Are you guys getting ready to go out on a date?"

"Mom!" Kate protested loudly.

Judy spread her hands, "Fine, I won't pry into what's going on between you two...coming back for dinner?"

"Today we're going to eat outside..." replied Lin Ming Yang, "Stuttering."

"Great!" Judy shook her hand, "No need to prepare dinner, then I can shop until the evening...well, have fun!"

Under Lin Ming Yang's dumbfounded gaze, Judy patted him on the shoulder, then grabbed her own carry bag, hugged her daughter, and couldn't wait to get out of the house.

The living room was soon left with only Lin Ming Yang and Kate, the two of them looked at each other in disbelief, and finally Lin Ming Yang hemmed and hawed, "Your mom is getting more and more interesting, is she hinting that we should do something about it when she can't wait to leave?"

Kate glared at him poutingly, "She was busy going shopping."

Lin Ming Yang looked at his watch, "Then shouldn't we leave as well...Jon's side should already be waiting for us!"

----

Lin Ming Yang naturally didn't come to Kate this time to go out on a "date" with her, he was planning to take Kate to visit the cast of Iron Man and convince her to join the movie.

Kate had just gotten her hands on the script for Man of Steel, and out of curiosity, she was ready to look through it in the car, but Lin Ming Yang stopped her and explained, "Reading in the car isn't good for your eyes!"

"But I don't know anything about the plot, I don't even know what kind of character I'm going to play..." pouted Kate, with only a charming flair on her face.

Lin Ming Yang said smugly as he drove, "But you still agreed to come out with me without hesitation...no matter what, I won't let you down!"

Kate picked up the script and slammed it lightly on Lin Ming Yang, "You still have the nerve to say that, who doesn't know that this kind of comic book adapted into a movie is just a vase no matter how well the female lead performs."

Lin Ming Yang shrugged, "Even if it's a vase, you're at least a TOP 10 in Hollywood... If you feel disadvantaged, big deal, if you do a movie in the future, I'll go as a 'vase' for you!"

Kate's pretty face reddened, "Who wants to act with you bad guy!"

Lin Ming Yang heatedly smiled, "Seems like we've already acted together quite a bit!"

Kate changed her expression to a serious one, "You've already acted as Spider-Man, so why would Marvel still want you?"

Lin Ming Yang snickered, "Because Spider-Man is masked when he goes out on stage, while Iron Man has to rely on his 'face' when he performs."

"That's the answer?" Kate frowned slightly, she obviously wasn't satisfied with such an answer from Lin Ming Yang.

"Well, you should know that in the beginning, Marvel Comics was just a title supplier selling licensed patents in the movie industry. There was just less than 200 million dollars coming in every year from that kind of business. And Marvel was happy with that, not thinking about it. It wasn't until 2002, when Sony Pictures slashed $800 million at the worldwide box office in one fell swoop with "Spider-Man," that they came to their senses and realized the business mistakes they had made over the years."

"Marvel wasn't stupid, so they immediately mended their ways and started working on the movie right from Spider-Man 2, a move that also started to skyrocket Marvel's performance. After that, Marvel took advantage of the victory, "Fantastic Four", "X-Men", "Hulk", "Ghost Rider" and other heroes of the League of collectives, in the final analysis, it is to grab money. Of course, Marvel is coming on strong for the sake of emptying the pockets of moviegoers. And now comic book hero movies are blatant money grabs are the order of the day."

"The early fans that Marvel Comics cultivated are now grown-ups who are starting to throw down their comic books and walk into movie theaters, which is why Marvel is starting to make a big push into the movies; it's as if they planted seeds in the comic book fields in the spring, and now it's the season to reap the rewards of the movies. The other companies were asking for too much money, and Marvel had to choose to do a deal with MGM, and that's the main reason they wanted to come in and play Iron Man."

"So you're in it for the money too?" Kate asked immediately afterward.

"Part of it, but not all of it." In front of Kate, Lin Mingyang didn't have that pretense of talking about the artistic pursuits of the movie, and it was only on the basis of acknowledging the monetary benefits that he talked about his preferences for the role.

"I'll admit, Iron Man is pretty much my favorite of all the superheroes in all the comics. Spider-Man was originally my favorite comic book hero, but when it was made into a movie, it was inevitable that it would have to cater to the current staples of American society. And I realized during my performance that the character looked cool on the surface, but lacked something on the inside. Spider-Man has been constantly changing his identity between superhero and ordinary person, and there's a big generation gap between different identities of the same character, like a split personality, and the two identities don't blend well together."

After carefully mulling over Lin Ming Yang's words, Kate felt that he did have a point, "If that's why you finally gave up on Spider-Man, then what's the difference between the character of Iron Man and Spider-Man?"

The reason why Lin Ming Yang liked to talk to Kate in depth about some issues was because this smart woman could always guess what you wanted to say next, and the two of them had a feeling of being very compatible together.

"The Man of Steel doesn't have any powerful special abilities, nor has he been bitten by any bugs or anything, instead there is a heart that will be finished if he's not careful; although he is also armed with high technology all over his body, but this body of high technology is completely all his own after-school life out of the whole thing, which means that this guy's IQ is higher than Spiderman, Superman or anything else; of course, what's even more critical is the personality This kind of cynical character is comparable to that group of guys who hate to save all mankind all written on their faces. For the average viewer, Iron Man's character definitely seems more likable. Simply put, there's something endearingly handsome about the guy, and that swagger is cool to the bone."

Kate nodded, she had probably understood Lin Ming Yang's meaning by now. Just like Venus with a broken arm, superheroes with character flaws were the ones that made people feel affectionate and cute. Lin Ming Yang liked Iron Man so much, probably also because he and Iron Man were similar in some ways, both of them were talented and youthful, but both had this and that problem in them.

If Lin Mingyang is compared to a radiant sun, then these faults of his are the atmosphere that protects those around him from being stabbed by his kind of genius-like burning light. Many geniuses were accompanied by loneliness, but Lin Ming Yang had quite a few friends around him, and many people found him to be an interesting fellow, and that was probably why.

Kate turned her face sideways and said seriously, "If you really like this role so much, then I'll be this vase for you!"

Lin Ming Yang slowed the car to a stop, "You're telling the truth...I'm not dreaming?"

Kate twisted her hand hard on his arm, and Lin Ming Yang grinned and bared his teeth.

Kate playfully winked at him, "Does it hurt?"

Lin Mingyang nodded, "It hurts!"

"If you can feel the pain, then you're not dreaming!" Kate giggled.

"Alright!" Lin Mingyang restarted the car, but instead of continuing to drive forward, he turned around and drove back in the original direction.

Kate asked curiously, "We're not going to the theater?"

Lin Ming Yang shrugged his shoulders, "You've already agreed, why are we still going to the theater?"

Kate was both surprised and delighted, "Then where are we going now?"

Lin Ming Yang heatedly smiled, "Now that I'm your driver, of course it's up to you where to go!"

----

In addition to Kate's promise to play the female lead, black powerhouse actor Terrence Howard will once again show off his superb acting skills in Man of Steel in order to aid Lin Ming Yang in his heroic endeavors. Jedi Master Samuel L. Jackson, who made a deep impact on Star Wars, will play the villain this time, and director Jon Ferru and Oscar winner Hilary Swank will also appear in the movie.

This cast list alone is enough to get the Hollywood press excited, but MGM's promotional program isn't just satisfied with that. The first teaser clip with slapdash publicity was rolled out before the movie even started filming, and the massive campaign kicked off with it.

As their own as MGM's "first battle", this time the publicity strategy adopted by Eckles and Paramount to promote the "Transformers" of the same formula: first of all, the exposure of stills in phases, five or six trailers debut in phases, picking the appetite of the fans is a wave; and then is the film advertisements all over the world.

In order to have a preemptive effect, this wave of publicity has almost reached the point of spreading all over the world. Including Asia, Europe, the Americas and other 30 countries and regions of the theater has been finalized in the next year's late April and early May summer full screening of "Iron Man", billion looking forward to "Spider-Man" after the birth of another box office miracle.

The famous toy company "Hasbro" has developed and promoted the "Iron Man" toy series simultaneously. Sega Games also launched the Iron Man online game at the same time. More companies from other industries are also getting caught up in the Iron Man global offensive. 6,400 7-Eleven stores are responsible for distributing peripheral products; the Burger King fast-food chain, which will be featured in the film, and Audi, which will make a splash in the movie with a variety of new cars, have rightfully shared nearly $30 million in filming sponsorships. The Burger King fast food chain and Audi, which will be featured in the movie with its new cars, rightfully shared the nearly $30 million in filming sponsorship.

On the way to confirm the progress of the movie's preparation, Eckles excitedly described the experience to Lin Mingyang: "The whole world is crazy about a movie, is this the charm of the movie?"

"I don't think it has anything to do with the movie, in the end it's still the charm of the dollar!" Lin Mingyang hit Lin Mingyang with a pot of cold water on the head, dousing the fervor in Ecks' heart. He had been in the euphoria of success during this period of time, and now that he had calmed down and thought about it, although the wave of publicity campaign that MGM had launched around the world had been effective, it was also true that quite a lot of money had been smashed into it during this period of time.

Lin Mingyang read the financial statements during this time, in addition to the huge investment in the film's pre-publicity, Audi provided the film with 18 million dollars of sky-high sponsorship costs, but also attracted his attention, and he always felt that Audi wanted more than just to show their faces in the film so simple.

"Audi has spent a lot of money this time...I'm worried that too many ads inserted in this movie will cause the audience to complain!"

Eckles waved his hand carelessly, "What's there to worry about, we've got the money, but we'll shoot the movie however we want. At the end of the movie, we'll put Audi's new sports car in the main cast list...even though it looks silly, this movie is clearly going to be commercial to the end. As long as the movie is good enough, the audience won't care about the details!"

Lin Ming Yang frowned, his expression then became serious, "Did you come up with this idea?"

"Don't make a face, I was just joking!" Seeing that Lin Ming Yang's expression wasn't right, Ecks hurriedly explained, "But in the movie, all the vehicles that appear frontally in the screen shots will be provided by Audi, whose new supercar R8 will be your ride in the movie, while the Audi A6 sedan and Q7 SUV will also be featured in the movie. I've seen pictures of these cars, especially Audi's new R8 sports car, which is extremely racy with its ultra-cool silver-gray form, and I'm a little worried that this car will steal your thunder in the film."

Lin Mingyang didn't take this matter to heart, "Don't worry, people come to see the people, not the cars!"

"Speaking of the filming of this movie...Felix, I always have a worry that the movie 'Iron Man' is a bit close to 'Transformers' in both plot and content...after seeing the big showdown between the Transformers, will the fans feel that in our film, the two robots fighting doesn't seem a bit childish? "

This kind of worry Eckles in contact with the script when there, only at that time did not think so much, this period of time with the film preparation continues to deepen, his this kind of worry becomes more and more obvious.

The success of "Transformers" depends largely on its visual effects breakthroughs, this kind of animation theme for the first time to the real image of the complete display on the big screen, absolutely let a person wait and see, and many viewers in the watch before they can't imagine, until the end of the time to watch it, and then shouted, deeply impressed by the development of science and technology, the advanced film technology, and even more marveled at Michael Bay for the grasp of this kind of big scene ability! But after personally participating in the filming of the movie, I was very impressed by the advanced technology and the advanced movie technology. But personally involved in the filming of the movie, Lin Mingyang as an "insider" but a different understanding:

"Iron Man" and "Transformers" homogenization of the competition is inevitable, although in the scene on the grandeur of this film can not compare to the "Transformers", but in the details, we can completely beyond that film."

"Details?" Ecks was a little confused, nowadays commercial movies, the plot is all fast-paced jumps, the audience is pursuing the visual impact, the details are all to be seen before slowly savoring. Some movies just over-pursued the perfection of the details and neglected the objectivity of the whole, and in the end, the audience didn't understand what the plot was about for half a day.

"The details I'm referring to are not plot-wise, but the part of the picture that refers to special effects... In Transformers, did you see the details of Optimus Prime or the other robots' transformations?"

Ecks thought back carefully, as if he had seen the robot's body parts moving at that time, the transformation process was quick, the camera flickered, and no one had paid attention to this. Now that Lin Mingyang mentioned it, Ecks realized that it seemed like there really wasn't anything detailed in that movie.

"You reminded me of Michael Bay's filming techniques last time, how come you've become confused now instead... Although the 'human' factor is important in shaping the traits of the character 'Iron Man' is the most important, and the representation of his battle armor is more than simply a visual gimmick. In order to convey this clearly, Jon and I decided to make the design and manufacturing process of the armor the focus of the film. In this way, the battle armor is not a very photogenic but cold prop, but a vessel that carries the character's personality."

Seeing that Ecks still didn't understand, Lin Mingyang further explained, "In this film, we will show the entire process of Iron Man putting the armor on his body in a very complete and detailed way, every piece of iron, every combination of screws will be given a very detailed close-up of the camera, and this kind of detailed close-up can definitely satisfy the audience's curiosity. Then it will be accompanied by music, so that we can achieve the effect of visual and auditory as one!"