Chapter 67

Combining box office and word-of-mouth, *Batman Begins* was not the best or most popular movie,

but at least as a Batman reboot, it had achieved initial success.

It is expected that *Batman Begins* will earn about $400 million in box office, basically breaking even, and even making a small profit.

Of course, Warner Bros. didn't care at all whether the first one made money.

Everyone's focus was on the second part, *The Dark Knight*!

*Batman Begins* was currently a hit.

They were just sandwiched between Disney's *Pirates of the Caribbean 3* and Paramount's *Transformers*, which could be considered grabbing a piece of meat from the giants' mouths.

Xu Can's progress in filming *Iron Man* was already more than half done.

He didn't expect that when he became a director, he could significantly accelerate the filming process through the "god-level director" state.

Many times, directors often call cut and often NG,

not because the actors' performance is poor, but because the director himself hasn't figured out what kind of shot he wants.

A typical representative is Wong Kar-wai; he didn't know what he was filming when he was filming, just letting the actors act randomly over and over again.

Until he could find the shot he wanted.

Many big-name actors were tortured by him.

Xu Can could grasp any subtle reason like a computer, analyze it, and convey it to the actors.

It was simply easy for Downey and Pepper to perform!

Xu Can explained the scene once, and it could improve their performance by a large margin!

And lens scheduling, actor scheduling, scene scheduling, etc., were simply as easy as moving an arm!

If post-production is fast enough, *Iron Man* could even be released in 2007!

Taylor Swift's North American concert tour ended, and she finally returned to Los Angeles with a tired body.

She was just a girl about to come of age, and such high-intensity performances made her fall ill as soon as she returned.

Xu Can took a half-day break for the crew during the filming of *Iron Man* and went to visit Taylor specifically.

"Xu, you're here."

She opened the apartment door, and her sickly and weak appearance was really pitiful.

After not seeing each other for more than two months, Xu Can couldn't hold back anymore and stepped forward to hug her.

Taylor was already thin, and now she was as light as paper, leaning weakly on Xu Can.

She was tall, and her chin rested gently on his shoulder.

The next second, Taylor only felt dizzy, and her whole body lifted into the air!

It scared her and she became energetic instantly.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

At 1.8 meters tall, she was actually picked up by Xu Can in a princess carry like a little woman!

This was an experience Taylor had never had before.

She was carried by Xu Can straight to the bedroom.

Just when Taylor was wondering if he had any improper actions,

Xu Can gently placed her on the bed and tucked her in.

"Lie down obediently, have you eaten today?"

Taylor Swift shook her head gently like a little girl.

"I'll go get you something to eat."

Xu Can suddenly put his head in front of Taylor's face, and Taylor subconsciously thought he was going to kiss her, so she hurriedly closed her eyes and prepared.

Who knew Xu Can just put his forehead against hers.

It was slightly hot, and it was estimated that the low fever hadn't subsided yet.

The kiss Taylor was waiting for didn't come, and she felt a little disappointed in her heart.

"Sleep for a while, you need rest."

"Hmm."

The weak Taylor was indeed a little sleepy, closed her eyes, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

Xu Can went to the kitchen, but there was nothing in the refrigerator, so he could only call Vanessa to help go to a Chinese supermarket to buy some things.

"Here, boss, the millet, red dates, pumpkin, eggs, and chicken you wanted..."

Vanessa couldn't understand what the boss wanted to do; these ingredients didn't look like they could be cooked.

"Come and help me wash the red dates."

Xu Can greeted Vanessa to help, and soon, a pot of hot red date, millet, and pumpkin porridge was cooked,

and chicken soup was stewing in another casserole, fragrant.

"If you're hungry, eat some too; there's plenty of porridge."

Watching her boss carry the millet porridge to take care of Taylor Swift,

Vanessa's usually calm state of mind had ripples.

For a moment, she really envied Taylor, not because her album sales exceeded 4.5 million copies,

but because she met this man.

Through the door crack, seeing Taylor's surprised smile when she woke up to drink porridge, and her admiration for Xu Can,

the porridge in Vanessa's hand didn't seem so sweet anymore.

"Robert, what are your plans later?"

"Not sure, maybe just stay at home and wait for the agent to call me."

Robert Downey Jr. smiled self-deprecatingly.

"No, I mean, your schedule is empty early next year, right?"

"Ah? You're going to film a sequel so soon?"

"No, not a sequel, but the whole series."

Xu Can handed the document in his hand to Downey, which contained the Marvel movie production plan and Iron Man's scenes.

August 2007, *Thor* end-credits egg;

January 2008, *Iron Man 2*;

Second half of 2008, *The Avengers*;

First half of 2009, *Iron Man 3*;

*Avengers: Age of Ultron*, *Captain America: Civil War*, *Avengers: Infinity War*, *Avengers: Endgame*!

*World War Hulk*, *Avengers vs. X-Men*, *Onslaught*, *Dark Reign*...

Just looking at Iron Man's scenes, you can see that every movie is a node, forming an incredibly huge network!

Robert Downey Jr. caught a glimpse of Xu Can's cinematic universe for the first time!

Before this, no one in the world had played like this.

At most, like *007* or *Harry Potter*, forming a single-line series of movies.

Under the same universe, different characters intertwined into a huge cinematic world; Robert Downey Jr. didn't even dare to think about it!

He even felt a kind of fear for the young man more than a dozen years younger than him next to him,

he was simply a monster!

"How about it? Any thoughts on joining? There is enough time for you to film other types of movies during this period; you don't have to play Iron Man all the time."

Robert Downey Jr. realized that even if he filmed other movies, the influence of Iron Man would probably get deeper and deeper.

But with such a huge plan, he would probably regret it if he didn't join.

"I'm in, count me in."

"Very good, then our contract needs to be readjusted. Let the legal department talk to you later. Don't worry, I won't treat you badly."

"Thank you, Xu. You could have chosen Tom Cruise to play it, but you insisted on choosing me..."

"Haha, we're all buddies, I think you are Tony Stark."

"So, do you think I'm a jerk?"