"Have you spun around enough?" Shiller sat on the sofa, watching Stark circle around like a donkey grinding mill and sighed.
Stark gave him a look but didn't say anything. Shiller cleared his throat and said, "Okay, if you insist on me using mind reading technique then..."
Suddenly, Shiller raised his voice: "Tony Stark is extremely jealous of Steve Rogers' personal film being hugely successful!!!"
Stark made a swift move to cover his mouth.
"Keep your voice down!" Stark gritted his teeth and said, "I'm jealous of him? Why would I be jealous of him? That film wasn't made by him, it has nothing to do with him!"
"That's exactly the main point of your jealousy." Shiller spread his hands and said, "He neither spent money nor effort, yet he has a globally popular, seemingly perfect biopic."
"But I think you don't need to be too jealous," Shiller continued, "From the moment he was chosen to be injected with the Super Soldier Serum and succeeded, you should have known he was a lucky guy. God is on his side."
Stark forcefully closed his eyes, waved his fist, and then said, "Don't talk to me about this. Howard's Stark Group's promotional video practically nobody watches, the viewing rate is not even a fraction of that movie, what do you want me to do?"
"You said it yourself, it's a corporate promotional video." Shiller sighed and said, "Besides the employees who were given mandatory orders, who would really like to watch that thing?"
Stark immediately deflated: "Even those who were ordered to watch don't like it, and they've put it online. But even with that, not many people pay attention. It's really enough."
Shiller chuckled, Howard's promotional video indeed was quite pathetic. While Howard was a successful businessman, he was, after all, from a previous era, and his taste was somewhat outdated.
The promotional video he made was very suitable for the Golden Age America, exuding an overall uplifting atmosphere, wishing to portray Stark Group like Heaven. But unfortunately, the current audience doesn't like this style, the online spread and discussion are close to zero.
Let's put it this way, even those video bloggers specialized in mocking bad films haven't bothered to ridicule this promotional video. Some fans suggested it, but it was rejected for being "too boring, lengthy, and dull."
Even Stark himself couldn't watch it. Previously, when they gathered to watch it, they managed less than ten minutes before it was like they collectively got hypnotized, feeling sleepy and slumping over. Its power is evident.
"I want to make a personal bio!" Stark suddenly said.
"What?" Shiller said with some surprise, "What do you want to shoot?"
"My personal biography," Stark stood up again and said, "Isn't my personal experience worth recording?"
"I'm asking what experience do you plan to depict? Is it your anxiety attack almost dying in the office, or your experiment accident almost blowing up the entire Stark Building?"
"Can't you remember something good?!" Stark said angrily, "These are just minor accidents, they don't affect my legendary life."
"Come on, I'm your psychiatrist. If you didn't cause trouble, why would you hire me? What I see are of course the bad things." Shiller shook his head and said, "You'd be better off filming your time in Afghanistan..."
Stark's eyes turned a bit strange: "You mean the Captain America performs heroic battles in his personal movie, while Iron Man performs how he gets kidnapped in his personal movie?"
Shiller paused in his actions: "I didn't expect you to view this part of your experience like that."
"...how else to look at it?"
"I thought you were proud of how you escaped on your own." Shiller said, "At that time, you were just an ordinary person, and after being kidnapped, you used your wisdom and courage to create mecha, and successfully saved yourself and Ethan, isn't that heroic?"
Stark was stunned on the spot. He pursed his lips, looked at Shiller, and said, "Is that how you see it?"
"How else should I see it?"
Stark stood there for a long time, then sighed deeply, sat on the sofa next to him, and said: "Don't you think I brought it on myself?"
"How so?"
Stark hesitated, seemingly unwilling to speak. He squirmed for a long time before saying, "I went over there to showcase new weapons. And do you know where I showcased my weapons?"
"Where?"
"American military base." Stark paused for a bit, then said, "The key issue is why there is an American military base there."
For a moment, Shiller was speechless. It's needless to say whom Captain America fought against, but whom Stark fought against is quite worth studying.
From America's perspective, those were certainly terrorists attacking the American military base. However, why there was an American military base on their territory is a very worth studying issue.
Because the U.S. Military is globally spread, the bases are indeed plentiful. Over 90% of places worldwide have their bases, many people no longer care about it.
But this is not something that stands up to scrutiny. A military base from another country sticking out on someone's national territory is not okay no matter how you look at it. Especially, Afghanistan is not a U.S. colony, if you put a base there and get attacked by them, you kind of deserve it.
If Stark could set aside his conscience and just insist he was the victim, then with Hollywood's powerful propaganda skills, he might succeed. But the problem is, he can't let it go. He's not some fool raised on easy education; the American elite are well aware of this. And Stark happens to be a conscience-driven member of the elite, so having him reverse black and white in front of a global audience is something he can't do.
"Besides, it's rather stupid for a businessman and scientist to rush to the front lines," Stark said, covering his face. "I was so young back then, I thought I had to demonstrate it myself to achieve the best effect. Who knew..."
"Sounds like you totally deserved it," Shiller concluded.
"So this part definitely can't be filmed," Stark said emphatically. "This is one of my few black marks, much worse than blowing up a lab or something. I can't hide it fast enough; if it gets filmed, I'll be cursed to death."
Shiller sighed. He thought about it and said, "Actually, you've fought the Red Skull too."
Stark gave him a puzzled look. Shiller thought about it and said, "To be precise, you've fought Hydra like Captain America. Remember Baron Zemo?"
"Uh, totally forgot," Stark answered quickly.
Shiller wanted to explain, but didn't know where to start. He said, "I died, and then you guys fought Hydra. That's basically it."
"You've died too many times," Stark said with a bit of a headache, "I can't remember exactly which time."
"You don't need to recreate it exactly," Shiller thought for a moment and said, "Just outline the general story arc and leave the rest to the writers. As long as the money's right, they can come up with a satisfying script."
Stark nodded thoughtfully but then quickly said, "But I seem to remember that it wasn't them who killed you, but rather you who killed Baron Zemo, and that led to us fighting."
"What are you talking about with this kind of villain organization," Shiller waved his hand, "Anyway, they got me killed, you guys fought Hydra to avenge me, and in the end, you won."
"Wait a minute," Stark said again, "but you're still alive now, that won't convince the audience, right?"
"Then just replace me with someone else," Shiller said, "Can't it be Dr. Ethan? He almost died for you. Hiring an actor to play me is tough, but hiring one to play him should work."
"True," Stark nodded and said, "But the big battle with Hydra is only suitable for the climax, what about the plot before that?"
"Start by filming your childhood," Shiller thought for a moment and said, "Just right, the Hampton plot can connect with 'Ilvermorny'. Later, in the grand finale, Captain America is present, so it can connect with his standalone film. This will make it feel more real to the audience."
"You mean we find two actors to play the childhood versions of us? Finding one to play me shouldn't be hard, but playing you..."
"You're not thinking of hiring the child version of me to play, are you? I remember you've seen the young me..."
"No, no, no, don't bring him up." Stark started having a headache again. "Then start with the teenage years."
"Alright," Shiller said, "but it would be best if you yourself turned back to your teenage years and then acted with the teenage me. Otherwise, I can't guarantee what might happen to the actor."
"If you're coming on stage personally, then I definitely have to come on stage personally as well," Stark said, "It's settled then, I'm off to find a screenwriter."
"Wait a minute. In my teenage years, Strange definitely makes an appearance. Wouldn't that mess things up?"
Shiller counted on his fingers: "In 'Ilvermorny', I'm the school nurse, he's the principal. But in Iron Man, we're college classmates... Oh, it seems there's no problem."
"It's just that later when Saphire's true identity is revealed, things get interesting," Shiller shook his head and said, "A Supreme Magician, a Black Magician. A surgeon, a psychiatrist. Maybe that's why they're archenemies."
"Come on, this is my personal movie," Stark stressed with dissatisfaction, "I'll give him at most 30 seconds of screen time; he better not steal the show."
After Stark left, Shiller began to ponder. If they shoot it like they plan, it would quickly form something similar to the MCU.
With 'Captain America' being so popular, a sequel is inevitable. The Red Skull has already been dealt with, so the second movie will definitely focus on modern events, and it can't avoid encountering Stark and Strange.
Stark wants to film his autobiography, and there's no way to avoid the Supreme Magician and Captain America. They're bound to appear in Stark's film too.
And the Supreme Magician in 'Ilvermorny' is played by Strange himself, so he's sure to appear in the other two movies as well. This way, everything ties together.
It's just that the role Shiller plays in the Movie Universe is quite subtle. Both the roles of Saphire and the school nurse are fictional. But the audience wouldn't care; they will only associate Saphire with Shiller. It seems my reputation is about to suffer again.
Just after sending off Stark, the brothers from Asgard showed up. Apparently, they've also put their film plans on the agenda and are getting ready to study how to shoot it.
"Please sit," Shiller moved some chairs for them, and then said, "Your TV series is actually quite simple; most of it can be directly adapted from reality, only some details need modification. But I need to remind you, TV series and movies are different."
"Movies have to present enough content in a very limited time, and the biggest taboo is bloated content. But TV series need to fill a very long length with enough content, and the biggest taboo is empty content. So, just filming that event isn't enough."
Thor and Loki exchanged a glance. Shiller continued, "You can adapt your daily life a bit to fit Earth, adding a bit of light comedic style should make it more popular."