Shiller's scenes are concentrated in the first half of filming, and most are shot in Hampton, New York, using real locations from the Sinful Crown Region, as well as his new house's interior scenes.
Arrogant mainly takes charge of some lifestyle shots. He is simply too perfect for scenes with this medieval magic atmosphere. If Greed's role allows the audience to see Saphir's exceptional talents and superlative wisdom, then Arrogant lets them witness Saphir's cultivation and elegance.
The temperament of a character is very important. Without some traits that are useless to the plot to mold his temperament, the entire person would just seem like a tool to drive the plot, lacking authenticity. The arrival of Arrogance nicely makes up for this point.
He lets the audience know what Saphir is like in everyday life. Arrogant's slightly old-fashioned lifestyle perfectly aligns with the era Saphir lives in. To some extent, this portrayal of Saphir even surpasses that of the Supreme Magician, because not much of Strange's personal life has been filmed so far.
In fact, there's not much to film. When Strange was living as the Supreme Magician, most of his time was spent in meditation. He didn't even handle sudden events much; it was always the Grand Mage who resolved them. So, even if one wanted to draw from everyday life, there was no way.
Considering the importance of the Supreme Magician's character, Chris decided not to force the filming but to research more. Therefore, by the end of the second film, Saphir's popularity was significantly higher than that of the Supreme Magician. Quite a few audience members even thought it would be fine for him to become the Supreme Magician.
But they are destined to be disappointed. Saphir is indeed a complete villain, with no hope of redemption. Shiller also refused Chris's attempt to redeem Saphir.
It should be known that after Saphir is exposed in the later stages, he works tirelessly, day and night, to eliminate the protagonist group. To achieve his goals, who knows how much effort he has put in. Shiller also gave his all in the performance, investing a lot of energy.
If in the later stages there's some twist like "he has his own sorrows," then the effort Saphir made in the show and Shiller's outside it would all be in vain. By then, Chris would have no choice.
Additionally, Mephisto has completely fallen in love with the acting profession. It's his first time realizing that pretending to be someone else and telling lies can actually make money. Who do you think came up with the human race?
Actually, the pay is secondary. Mephisto doesn't really care about this pocket change; the key is to be popular. The average audience doesn't know it's Mephisto playing Mephisto; they praise the actor for his excellent performance, saying how convincing it is. Mephisto ended up gaining quite a few fans.
Before this, to spread his influence through the internet, he toiled away setting up several accounts. Despite trying many types of content, they all failed to take off. But by playing a role with a total screen time of less than ten minutes, he gained so many followers. Mephisto was suddenly reinvigorated.
What's a devil best known for? Performing, of course. If his acting were a bit poor, how could he have deceived so many humans? Mephisto's issue is no longer about resembling who he plays; he can directly become that person.
And not just a specific person. He can penetrate people's inner desires, becoming the person the other most longs to see. This means that no matter how abstract the director's requirements are, he can present them perfectly. Truly a born actor.
Mephisto is unstoppable now. Why do people say he is a devil? He wants to act, but the first thing he does is not to apply for roles or go to auditions; he persuades people to invest, planning to custom-make a show for himself.
A devil knows where the cracks are. With a glint in his eye, Mephisto directly approaches the military—with a face indistinguishable from Captain America.
The Federal Government and the military have always wanted to use Captain America for promotion. But Steve resolutely refuses to cooperate. He won't even show up for an interview, let alone shoot a promotional video, nor will he say one more word than necessary.
What's more, now all the superheroes have become self-reliant. The Federal Government and the military's methods of intimidation no longer work. Although Steve is now married with children, none of them are easy to provoke. Daring to touch Carter will have Nick fighting to the death; as for Little Thomas, it increasingly seems like a trap.
No matter how much they would like to cultivate a new Super Soldier, they missed the opportune moment of that era, and surpassing Captain America is unlikely. Reluctantly, that plan had to be shelved.
Unexpectedly, a young man who resembles Captain America Steve Rogers so much comes calling. Yes, Mephisto is cunning. He didn't exactly become Steve, but he resembles him greatly, especially his younger appearance.
This gives the military renewed hope. Currently, the rights to Captain America are in their hands. This means they can bypass Steve to make a Captain America movie, as long as they don't use the name "Steve Rogers."
Previously, there was no one who could play Captain America because Captain America is still alive and everyone knows what he looks like. If the actor doesn't look like him, the audience simply won't buy it.
But now, with someone who looks so similar, there's nothing more to say—just go ahead with filming.
The military excitedly invested a lot of money, involving the Federal Government and some arms companies as well. They hired a famous Hollywood war film director. Not to mention the producers and crew, it was a large-scale investment, aiming to recreate the golden age.
If Mephisto were still the old devil purely interested in profit, uncaring about the real Captain America, this movie would probably be an abomination.
However, Mephisto set his sights a little further. If the goal is to imitate superheroes, then one not only needs to imitate them but also go above and beyond. Having constructed an immersive, large-scale live-action imitation show, he insists on demanding himself to be even more righteous than Captain America, in order to fully commit and forge some emotion.
Captain America wasn't already that American to start with. With Mephisto's overcorrection, it seems even less so. As the film progresses, apart from the blue and white parts of Captain America's shield, some sections seem a bit glaring.
Seeing the situation take a turn for the worse, the military urgently called for a halt. They couldn't control Captain America, but they thought they could handle a little actor?
Turns out they really couldn't. As always, devils are adept at political struggles. With one sweeping glance, he grasped everyone's inner weaknesses tightly. How could you fight against him?
An angel falling to become a devil may not always excel. But if a devil reforms to become an angel, they would undoubtedly be among the best of angels. Lucifer is like that, and so is Mephisto. At the heart of it, those who have been villains understand better how to deal with villains. And villains are always more difficult to deal with.
Mephisto struck hard, and within a few rounds, the military was defeated. The producer and director couldn't escape either. The entire production turned into Mephisto's one-man show, and he decided how things would be changed.
But Mephisto wasn't making changes recklessly. He clearly knew that many people grew up with Captain America's life experiences, and if they changed too much, there would definitely be criticism.
He conducted very thorough research, even figuring out with whom Captain America cooperated on which battlefield, and what wartime exploits were achieved, down to the names. He slightly amplified parts that showcased Steve's charisma and trimmed parts that were controversial.
When it was time for the release, not even the reviewers could escape Mephisto's iron fist, and the film passed through just like that. After it premiered, it caused a global uproar.
No one knew where this movie came from, not even the members of The Avengers. Because Steve was right under their noses, how could he have run off to film a movie?
So when they heard a movie titled "Captain America" was about to be released, The Avengers rented out a theater to watch it. They weren't there to enjoy the film, but to enjoy Steve's expressions.
In others' views, it was just the military unable to hold back any longer. Steve wouldn't cooperate, so they found an actor to play him, determined to achieve their promotional goals. How the film would end up as astoundingly bad was beyond doubt.
It's quite a spectacle when everyone gathers to watch Captain America suffer through his own lousy film. Stark's main reason for coming overnight was that he defiantly refused to believe Steve Rogers could go without cursing under these circumstances.
To hear Steve's first-ever curse, everyone came in full force, booking out a theater. They surrounded Steve from left to right, top to bottom, not missing a single expression.
Sitting in the middle, Steve looked despondent. He wanted to scold his unscrupulous friends but feared his words might be too harsh. If the film turned out to be utterly awful and he couldn't hold back and cursed, they would spread the word. So he sat in the middle with a lifeless look.
"Relax, Captain," Peter said looking at him, "Don't worry too much, maybe they want to say something nice about you?"
Steve coldly chuckled, attributing it to Peter's youth, having never dealt with those people, too naive, and didn't bother arguing with him.
As the movie slowly began, everyone's eyes lit up with excitement. But as the plot progressed and the story unfolded, everyone grew increasingly silent, while Steve's eyes grew brighter.
Never mind whether the actor resembling himself was due to special effects or what – the plot was actually not bad. Though some parts were a bit exaggerated, most of it felt very authentic. Plus, the actor was fully committed with no traces of acting. This guy's just like me!
"See, Tony, the actor playing your father really does resemble Howard," Steve excitedly patted Stark's shoulder, "See those two little mustaches, he loved showing them off to me back then."
"Oh, Bucky, the actor playing you isn't great at all. He's nowhere near as handsome as you, and he cut his hair too short. With your flamboyant personality at the time, you wouldn't go for a hairstyle like that."
"Wait, which battle is this filming? Why does it look a bit like Berlin..."
When they saw Captain America and the Soviet Army appear together on the battlefield of the Berlin campaign, everyone couldn't hold back. Peter gasped, Shiller spewed out his drink, Stark coughed violently while leaning on a chair, Natasha nearly slammed her head to the ground.
"Captain, how could you..."
"Why would I have a showdown with Red Skull?" Steve rolled his eyes at them, "If we hadn't fought into Berlin, how could we have a showdown?"
"Right, but I meant why were you..."
"They were the main force," Steve said, "Of course, I had to charge with the main force. If I were left behind, Red Skull wouldn't be my business, would it?"
"It's a shame they didn't give you a medal," Natasha said.
"Indeed," Steve no longer pretended, he pouted, "Everyone who entered at the same time got medals, except for me. It wasn't a great time to fall."