Inevitably, the scene had to be reshot—after all, Kate Beckinsale's performance had been overshadowed.
Jon Favreau called the two actresses over, while Gilbert stood nearby in silence. But as Favreau was explaining the scene, both actresses kept glancing at Gilbert from time to time.
When it was time to shoot, Gilbert gave them a thumbs-up gesture. Kate Beckinsale instantly felt confident and nailed the scene in one take.
"Cut! Not bad, not bad! Director Gilbert, what do you think?" Jon Favreau turned to ask for his opinion.
"Good. Both actresses gave excellent performances," Gilbert praised.
"You heard that, right? Director Gilbert said you both did great!" Jon Favreau announced loudly.
The two actresses were overjoyed. After all, praise from Director Gilbert was hard to come by.
Later, when Leslie Bibb was asked, "How did you manage to overpower Kate's presence in your first take?"
Leslie Bibb replied proudly, "It's simple. Before the shoot, Director Gilbert encouraged me, but he didn't encourage Kate. So I had the advantage."
Everyone around suddenly understood—it all made sense now.
After that scene wrapped, there were still scenes left for Robert Downey Jr., and Gilbert spent some time chatting with him.
Robert Downey Jr. said sincerely, "This has been the most fulfilling period of my life. Every day on set, I give it my all, treating it like it's my last chance."
Gilbert nodded. "That's a good mindset, Downey. The most important thing in Hollywood is opportunity—and opportunities are extremely rare.
I hope you remember this feeling. When the movie is released, if it succeeds, don't let success go to your head."
"Of course not," Robert Downey Jr. promised. "I'll never forget who I am now, and I'll use my past self as a negative example—to make sure I never repeat my mistakes."
"That's good," Gilbert said, relieved.
Of course, Gilbert didn't actually care about Downey personally—it was because Downey's image affected the entire plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Just imagine if Robert Downey Jr. were to have another scandal like in the past—what kind of negative backlash would that bring to the Marvel films?
It's common for people to hate a movie just because of one actor. But fortunately, in his previous life, Robert Downey Jr. had done well and never fell back into trouble. Gilbert was merely reminding him.
Before returning to Australia, Gilbert also met with Marvel's senior executives for a meeting.
At the meeting, Gilbert made Marvel's leadership clearly realize the current situation of superhero films, bluntly saying that this was an unprecedented golden age for the genre.
But Marvel needed to stay sober and not lose themselves in the joy of success.
"Marvel movies are bound to succeed because they meet a fundamental demand in the film market," Gilbert said. "We all know that superhero comics were born around World War II because people needed heroes.
In the past, audiences could only satisfy their fantasies about superheroes through comics, cartoons, or poorly made movies.
In other words, those forms never truly showed superheroes as omnipotent as audiences imagined them to be.
But now, with the rise of computer-generated effects, the amazing powers of superheroes can finally be brought to life on the big screen.
That's why Spider-Man and X-Men succeeded—they fulfilled the audience's fantasies."
Seeing the executives deep in thought, Gilbert continued, "I predict that the next ten to fifteen years will belong to superhero movies. Two to three generations of comic book fans have built up expectations that are now ready to explode.
This is Marvel's rare golden age—you must seize it."
One executive asked curiously, "So after ten or fifteen years, superhero movies will be outdated?"
Gilbert replied, "I can't see that far ahead. But every film genre eventually wears out its welcome.
Fortunately for us, the superhero era has only just begun. We can figure things out as we go—plan for the future and think about how Marvel will survive in the post-superhero era."
Gilbert's words were thought-provoking. Everyone present was no fool; they all took his message seriously.
As for Gilbert, he knew Marvel still had more than a decade of glory ahead. What he wanted to prevent was the future decline caused by excessive political correctness—leading to unnecessary and misplaced elements being forced into films.
He definitely didn't want to see another scene like in Eternals, where a black character kneels and weeps before a memorial monument—something that made him cringe.
Nor did he want to see Black Panther 2 featuring an advanced, high-tech Wakanda still fighting with primitive tribal warfare—it was simply too absurd to watch.
Even worse would be low-quality visual effects flooding the market, combined with movies overflowing with political messaging.
So Gilbert's mission at Marvel—just like at Disney and Warner—was to "reprogram" the executives. He wanted them to stop listening to certain investors who claimed that political correctness was the golden path to profit.
As for whether his actions disrupted the schemes of certain elite capital groups trying to divide the lower classes—Gilbert didn't care.
Having been reborn, why should he still put up with such nonsense?
A true man lives between heaven and earth—there are things he will do and things he won't. In this life, since he had the ability to say no, no one could ever force him to bow his head and say yes.
The filming of Iron Man went exceptionally smoothly, so Gilbert returned to Australia with peace of mind.
Once Tom Cruise's preparations were complete, he soon headed to Australia as well. The production of The Last of Us officially began filming there.
Compared to Marvel's first movie, Gilbert's third collaboration with Tom Cruise—The Last of Us—was undoubtedly far more attention-grabbing.
On the first day of shooting, not only did media outlets from Australia and New Zealand arrive, but many Hollywood journalists also flew in to cover the production.
Early-stage publicity was essential. This was an entirely original project, so it needed strong marketing from the start.
Therefore, on the first day of filming, the crew allowed the media to watch. The scene being shot wasn't very difficult—just a simple one to get things started.
Having previously worked with major directors like Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, Dakota Fanning was no longer nervous this time, even when collaborating with Gilbert and Tom Cruise again.
Reporters, seeing Dakota perform with such confidence, couldn't help but praise her. "A future star—this little girl is destined for greatness."
"Indeed," another added. "At such a young age, she's already worked with directors like Spielberg and Gilbert. That's incredible."
"But I heard she doesn't have that many scenes this time—the main role belongs to another young actress from Ireland."
"That one's pretty lucky too. I heard a bit of inside news—the actress named Saoirse Ronan is a genius. She actually beat Hermione in the audition."
"Which Hermione?"
"Who else? The one from Harry Potter—Emma Watson."
"Oh, then this Saoirse Ronan must really be something."
"It's a pity we didn't get to see her today—she doesn't have any scenes scheduled for the first day."
After the first day of shooting, the production would switch to a closed set, meaning reporters would no longer be allowed to conduct interviews.
Not just fans—even veteran Hollywood entertainment journalists were deeply curious about what kind of story Gilbert would bring to life this time.
.....
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