After returning from South Africa, Charlize Theron suddenly had a whim and said she wanted to adopt a Black child as her son, but Gilbert flatly vetoed the idea.
Many Hollywood stars adopt one or two impoverished children as a way of doing charity, and most of them tend to be Black.
In the general perception of North American society, Black people are often associated with poverty, while Latinos are linked to violence and crime. As for people from Japan and Koreans, they are generally regarded as very smart, and Indians are viewed much the same.
As for Chinese people—sorry, they barely receive any attention from mainstream society.
Gilbert felt that donating money and doing charity, along with participating in public welfare activities every year, was more than enough. Adopting another Black child would be somewhat redundant and unnecessary.
Charlize Theron could only let the idea go. Although she had a strong personality outside, at home she was still quite obedient to Gilbert.
After returning to Los Angeles, the first thing Gilbert focused on was the preparation of The Avengers.
So far, Marvel Studios had produced a total of five films: Iron Man, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man 2.
There had been both losses and profits, but overall, Marvel's brand value had increased significantly.
This time, The Avengers was the key to whether the Marvel Cinematic Universe could succeed, and there was no room for carelessness. However, what troubled Marvel Studios the most was the actors' salaries.
Take Robert Downey Jr. as an example. When he starred in Iron Man, his salary was only five hundred thousand dollars. By Iron Man 2, it had risen to ten million dollars.
For The Avengers, if Robert Downey Jr.'s agent did not ask for a salary of at least twenty million dollars, it would be an insult to the profession of being an agent.
Although Marvel's films currently appeared to be standalone productions, in reality they were essentially equivalent to sequel films.
In Hollywood, there is an ironclad business rule: if you want a high paycheck, star in a blockbuster commercial sequel.
The Harry Potter series is an obvious example. The Gryffindor trio, especially the actor who played Harry Potter, Haley Joel Osment, and the actress who played Hermione, Emma Watson, saw their salaries skyrocket.
This pushed the production cost of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to as high as 315 million dollars. Fortunately, Warner Bros. shared the burden; otherwise, even Disney would have struggled to handle it.
However, in order to maximize profits, after discussing it with Gilbert, Disney decided to split Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows into two parts.
The first part would be released this November, and the second part would hit theaters during next year's summer season.
The terrifying salaries of sequel actors were also the reason why 20th Century Fox chose to reboot the X-Men story after X-Men: The Last Stand.
As an aside, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was not the end.
Gilbert had already spoken with J. K. Rowling, and development of the Harry Potter series would continue. Before the Gryffindor trio, the story of Dumbledore's youth was also well worth telling.
Whether it was Disney or Warner Bros., neither would abandon this gold mine. It had to be fully exploited.
Returning to The Avengers, since it was essentially a sequel in nature, it was only natural for the actors' salaries to rise.
Scarlett's salary rose from three hundred thousand dollars in Iron Man to ten million dollars in The Avengers. The rest of the cast also received increases to varying degrees, pushing the production budget of The Avengers to 220 million dollars.
Starting in July, The Avengers continuously released news to the public.
"Robert Downey Jr. walks out of the Marvel Studios building, confirming that he will continue to play Iron Man."
"Chris Evans smiles broadly, confirm that he is very excited to continue playing Captain America."
"Scarlett Johansson posts a tweet, sharing a photo of herself with director Gilbert, with the caption: I really like the character Natasha."
"Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth have successively confirmed their participation. Shortly afterward, Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki, also confirmed that he would return."
One piece of news after another was released, continuously bombarding fans. Some netizens even claimed they went to the Melon Manor to pick up trash and found a blueprint resembling an aircraft carrier.
It bore Gilbert's casual signature, along with the name of the carrier: the Helicarrier.
Such a massive project clearly stirred both Hollywood and the public. The director had long been confirmed, but there was still plenty of room for hype around the cast.
During this period of constant information leaks, many actors were rumored to be associated with The Avengers.
"Gilbert did talk to me about this project. He hopes I can play a role in it."
Tom Cruise said. "But as you all know, I've been busy preparing Mission: Impossible 4 lately and don't have the time."
Needless to say, Tom Cruise was using The Avengers to build momentum for his new film, with both sides mutually riding each other's publicity.
Leonardo DiCaprio, who had just collaborated with Gilbert, said, "I'd be very happy to play a superhero. If Gilbert needs me, I honestly can't wait. Speaking of that, my new film Shutter Island stars Mark Ruffalo, who plays the Hulk. If you're interested, please go support it."
Aside from these superstars, the lower-tier actors had even more ways of hyping themselves up.
Kate Larson, who had played Pepper Potts in an adult version of Iron Man, claimed on social media that Marvel planned to use her to replace Kate Beckinsale.
Surprisingly, many fans supported this idea. The logic was simple: Kate Larson's looks and figure seemed better than Kate Beckinsale's.
But one Kate was an adult film actress, while the other was a legitimate mainstream actress.
All these years, no one had ever seen an actor successfully cross from the San Fernando Valley to Hollywood. That gap was like an insurmountable chasm.
Aside from casting issues, the remaining problem was the script.
Although there was an original version to use as a reference, Gilbert still had to overcome and revise certain problems that existed in the original.
From a story perspective, The Avengers has a very simple plot.
Earth suddenly faces a powerful enemy, catching everyone off guard, so S.H.I.E.L.D. steps in to organize the superheroes to fight this formidable threat.
Compared to Gilbert's previous film Inception, the story of The Avengers is so simple it can be summarized in a single sentence.
But it must be acknowledged that in the film market, simple movies are the ones that become massive hits. Complex films like Inception will never be the mainstream of the market.
At the script level, based on the popularity and importance of the heroes, the story was divided into six different parts. Iron Man had the highest popularity, while Captain America was the core, making these two the central focus.
Black Widow, as the only female superhero, was also guaranteed sufficient screen time. As for Thor, the Hulk, and Hawkeye, they could only make do with less.
However, when Gilbert asked the screenwriters to create the script, he required them to balance the characters as much as possible and avoid uneven screen time.
In the end, by late July, the script finally met Gilbert's requirements and was delivered to the actors.
In early August, Marvel Studios officially held a press conference to announce the launch of The Avengers. Director Gilbert and all six superheroes appeared together, giving fans a small but thrilling shock
...
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