To be honest, even though Mulan was also terrible, when Gilbert later heard that Disney was planning to make a "Black version" of Mulan, he suddenly felt that the "Fairy Sister" version didn't seem so bad after all.
Of course, by now he was already a shareholder and a board member of Disney, so the wave of so-called political correctness would never happen under his leadership.
While other Hollywood studios had lost their sense of normalcy, Gilbert still wanted to remain one.
He figured that when the time came, surrounded by all that political posturing, the media would surely attack him from every direction but that didn't bother him much, since by then he would already have control over plenty of media outlets himself.
If they said political correctness was good, he would say it was bad—whatever it took to stop public opinion from leaning to one extreme and to give ordinary people a breath of fresh air.
Thinking of the great mission he had set for himself, Gilbert suddenly felt almost godlike or rather, in the eyes of many people, he already was.
Sigh, he thought, to keep the entire Western world sane, how much effort have I put in with my loyal heart? You people should be thanking me…
As for the potential Sino-American co-production with Huayi Brothers, Gilbert instructed Anna to maintain contact for now. As long as no real money was involved, there was nothing to lose—he'd just observe what kind of tricks Huayi was trying to play.
Besides preparing The Last of Us, Gilbert was also overseeing the production of Iron Man, which undoubtedly increased his workload.
But there was no helping it—since it was Marvel Studios' very first film, he had to personally ensure everything was on track.
Fortunately, the project was proceeding exactly as planned. Cameron Diaz and Kevin Feige had saved Gilbert a great deal of effort.
In the Nevada desert, Iron Man officially began filming its first scene.
Because of a cooperation agreement with the Pentagon, the production team was able to borrow real military equipment—Humvees, tanks, and other vehicles currently in use by the U.S. Army.
Stan Lee, enduring the scorching Nevada heat, came to visit the set of Iron Man.
Marvel Studios had made a deal with him: for every superhero he created that was adapted into a film, television series, or animation, he would receive roughly five percent in royalties.
Spider-Man alone had brought the old man immense wealth, and now that Marvel Studios was making its own movies, his future earnings were uncertain but there was no way he'd give up his share.
Yes, Stan Lee was old, perhaps old enough to seem indifferent to money but money, like life, is something no one ever truly has enough of.
If people really disliked having too much, then Warren Buffett's company wouldn't be constantly trying to acquire Gilbert's shares in Apple, Microsoft, Banana, Watermelon, and Amazon.
Buffett had even tried to get hold of Gilbert's stakes in Time Warner and Disney, but Gilbert had rejected him flatly without hesitation.
At a party in New York, Donald ran into Buffett, and the big-mouthed Donald couldn't help but mock him: "Old man, it's time to call it quits.
Look at yourself—you've already got one foot in the coffin, and you're still dreaming about expanding your empire?
And even if you want to expand, can't you pick someone else?
What, you think our Gilbert is easy to push around? Let me tell you, as long as he's got me, you can't bully him."
Ever since Ivanka and Gilbert had become truly involved, Donald had regarded himself as Gilbert's father-in-law. He even said publicly on multiple occasions that his businesses would one day be inherited by the children of Gilbert and Ivanka.
Being the loudmouth he was, Donald naturally couldn't stand seeing Buffett trying to treat Gilbert like some rookie, so his words were brutally direct.
Even though Buffett had a famously thick skin, after being called out like that, he had no choice but to avoid Donald whenever they crossed paths.
Donald also specifically warned Ivanka to tell Gilbert that many powerful financial groups were now eyeing the assets he held.
Buffett was merely acting as a representative, testing Gilbert's reaction on their behalf.
Donald's advice was simple—never compromise when it came to corporate takeovers. He knew those financial groups all too well: give them an inch, and they'd take a mile.
Stand firm, and they'd be the ones to hesitate.
Ivanka relayed everything her father had said to Gilbert, which was why, before heading to Australia, Gilbert had met several times with Silicon Valley's top tech giants.
If there was anyone who despised Wall Street's meddling, it was undoubtedly the tech leaders from Silicon Valley.
Compared to the old-money financiers, these tech entrepreneurs were much younger—bold, innovative, and unwilling to live under the control of financial capital.
However, since their companies went public, contact with Wall Street's financial giants had become inevitable. Through the stock market, those conglomerates could easily acquire large amounts of tech company shares.
At the same time, Silicon Valley did occasionally need Wall Street's capital to fund its research and product development.
It all depended on how carefully those tech leaders managed the balance—because if someone like Buffett set his sights on them, they had better watch their backs.
Gilbert, however, wasn't afraid of Buffett. Unless someone possessed superhuman power, they were all standing on the same starting line. He was one of North America's top billionaires himself and not much worse off than Buffett.
As for those financial conglomerates behind Buffett, in the past their words carried real weight because they controlled the majority of society's resources.
But now, the rise of the internet had opened a huge gap in that control. If they ever pushed Gilbert too far, he'd rather go down with them and those conglomerates wouldn't come out unscathed either.
If they wanted to take the wealth in his hands, how could it happen without paying a price?
The same logic applied to Stan Lee—if he wanted a bigger share of the profits, he'd have to pay a higher price.
Gilbert vaguely remembered that in his previous life, Stan Lee had become dissatisfied with his share, turned against Marvel Studios, and even took them to court.
This time, Gilbert had already discussed the matter with Kevin Feige, further refining the profit-sharing agreement with Stan Lee to prevent the old man's greed from growing and leading him astray.
Now, every bit of income from Marvel Studios was directly tied to Gilbert. He hated nothing more than people eyeing the money in his pocket, even though he himself loved to eye the money in others'.
Of course, from Stan Lee's point of view, he was merely fighting for the profits he rightfully deserved. But from Gilbert's perspective, it was nothing less than an attempt to snatch his money.
Different positions led to different ways of viewing things and that was perfectly normal.
Watching the busy set, Stan Lee actually wasn't very satisfied with the choice of Robert Downey Jr., as the actor's past reputation was rather poor.
But when it came to filmmaking, Gilbert certainly wouldn't take orders from an outsider like Stan Lee, so the old man had no say in casting decisions.
However, after watching several of Downey's performances, Stan Lee changed his mind. He felt that Downey's portrayal was genuinely impressive.
From the performance alone, Robert Downey Jr. was practically Tony Stark himself—they were almost identical.
Marvel's comic division had already decided that once the film succeeded, all the comic book versions of the characters would be redesigned to resemble their movie counterparts.
That was also why Stan Lee had come to the set—to think about how to incorporate the cinematic version of Tony Stark's image into the comics.
.....
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