"Me? I get to name it?"
Scarlett pointed at herself and asked, "Can I really?"
Duke smiled and said, "Of course, darling. That’s your right."
With her arms crossed and one hand pinching her chin, Scarlett Johansson began to think seriously. After several minutes, she finally spoke a name that lacked much creativity, "How about ’Duke’? I think it sounds pretty good."
The corner of Duke’s eye twitched slightly. He understood when it came to naming things, Scarlett was just like him, not particularly gifted. Still, "Duke" wasn’t bad; it was certainly better than names like "Octopus" or "Chief."
Following the spiral staircase in the living room, Scarlett pulled Duke up to the top deck. Hiding under a parasol, they stood at the railing, gazing at the distant sea. She suggested, "Let’s go out to sea."
Since they were here to check out the yacht, of course they had to take it out. Duke pressed the intercom and notified the captain. However, taking such a large vessel out to sea wasn’t a simple task. Not until the sun began leaning westward did the "Duke" finally depart the harbor and sail away from the coast along the sea lane.
Even at sea, the weather was still scorching. They didn’t stay long on the top deck before Scarlett pulled Duke back below. As dusk fell, the kitchen brought up the veal steaks they had ordered.
Sitting by the glass window, admiring the night view over the sea while enjoying delicious food, the two weren’t planning to return to the Malibu estate tonight—they intended to spend the night on the water.
"The yacht is big enough."
Scarlett soon put down her knife and fork. "We can host parties here in the future."
Picking up the knife and fork again, then wiping her mouth, she asked, "Last year you mentioned going on a world tour have you scheduled it yet?" Chapters fırst released on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾※𝙣𝙚𝙩
"Darling," Duke reminded her, "I don’t think your schedule allows for that, does it?"
"Marvel Studios’ executives are insane," Scarlett said with some exasperation, putting down the napkin. "Captain America hasn’t even finished its theatrical run and they’re already preparing Iron Man 2."
At this, she asked Duke, "Will you still be directing this series?"
Duke shook his head. "I’ve already turned Marvel Studios down."
He couldn’t tie himself to the Marvel series forever. In fact, he had already recommended Jon Favreau to take over the project. Iron Man 2 was about to begin production, and Black Widow was an essential component. Scarlett was currently in negotiations with Marvel Studios for this project, but both she and Nancy Josephson were quite dissatisfied with Marvel’s offer.
"How are the negotiations going?" Duke asked.
Scarlett shook her head slightly. "Not very smoothly. Kevin Feige keeps bringing up the industry standards for actor and actress compensation."
Out of respect for Scarlett’s pride, Duke hadn’t stepped in, but now he tentatively asked, "Do you need me to call someone at Marvel?"
"Not for now," Scarlett wasn’t averse to compromise—she simply didn’t want Duke to step in too early to fix things. And even for her, pride was still a thing. "If it really comes to that, I’ll let you know."
Duke could only reach out and gently pat her hand.
This kind of negotiation between actors and production companies was incredibly common in Hollywood. The disparity in pay between male and female actors was also an industry norm.
Remuneration represents more than just money it also reflects status. In Scarlett’s own words, when she found out about the gap between her paycheck and Robert Downey Jr.’s for Iron Man 2, she was completely disheartened.
It wasn’t about the money. Scarlett’s disappointment stemmed more from the status of women in the industry and the implicit discrimination they faced.
Scarlett had always been passionate about political and social causes. She was also one of Hollywood’s advocates for feminism, so naturally, she wouldn’t easily sign off on such a contract.
But Duke knew well looking back at Hollywood’s nearly century-long history, this was entirely normal. If he didn’t step in, it would be difficult for Marvel Studios to compromise.
Still, Duke had to think carefully about how to intervene. After all, he also needed to respect Scarlett’s feelings.
From Marilyn Monroe to Meryl Streep, Hollywood had no shortage of actresses whose fame endured for decades. The film industry had brought them endless honors and praise but when it came to pay, Hollywood’s regard for women was rather lacking. Sometimes deeply lacking.
Not only were female roles scarce in film, television, and comedy, but women also routinely earned less than their male co-stars.
In Hollywood, pay is determined not only by fame, status, and box office draw but also by one critical factor gender!
If both actors are at the same tier, playing the leads in a film, the actress’s pay is often only half or even less than a third of her male counterpart’s.
Gender discrimination is just too commonplace in the industry.
Female actors often only realize the gap when they find out what their male co-stars are being paid and how much less they’re making simply because they weren’t born male.
It’s not just about the paychecks. The lack of female representation on screen means actresses also have fewer chances to land lucrative roles. Reese Witherspoon once posed a question at an awards ceremony—women make up fifty percent of the population, so shouldn’t they also account for half of the roles on screen?
But anyone with a clear mind knows that’s just wishful thinking.
Behind the scenes, the gender imbalance is even worse. When it comes to directors, screenwriters, and producers, women make up less than 2%, just over 10%, and less than 3% respectively.
"Why does this happen?" Scarlett knew Duke had seen much more than she had.
"It stems from an outdated mindset," Duke explained simply. "Most people in the industry still believe that films led by women don’t sell."
Scarlett’s eyes flickered. Indeed, films in Hollywood led entirely by women and still achieving box office success were few and far between. And ever since Julia Roberts, Hollywood hadn’t had a similarly representative figure in that area. Even Julia Roberts’ success followed the route of playing the lovable, ditzy girl seeking love—something that appealed to male audiences.
This was, undeniably, a depressing fact.
"Darling, don’t be discouraged," Duke added. "When audiences prove that films led by women and driven by female-centered stories have an audience and a market, then as a profit-driven industry, Hollywood will be forced to pay attention to female actors."
Strictly speaking, white actresses like Scarlett Johansson didn’t face the most severe consequences of this situation. Non-white actresses including those from continental Europe faced even harsher challenges.
Although, on average, women in the United States earned only 78% of what men earned, for African American and Hispanic women in the U.S., that figure was just 62% and 57%, respectively.
This imbalance was also reflected in the number of non-white characters in films.
Duke had seen a study published by the Annenberg School for Communication that showed in the top 100 grossing films in North America in 2007, Native American and Hispanic characters with speaking roles or names accounted for less than 5%. Roles representing these groups on the big screen were seriously lacking, even though more than a dozen of these 100 films featured minority actors in leading roles.
Of course, this was a problem affecting the entire United States, not just Hollywood.
In Hollywood, those affected were the lucky ones who could earn six-, seven-, or even eight-figure salaries. In other sectors across America, the ones affected were women struggling to support themselves and their families.
Still, because of Hollywood’s high visibility, it always had the power to spark public discussion.
But even in a highly visible industry like Hollywood, changing the situation wasn’t something that could be easily achieved.
Waving over the staff to clear away the plates and cutlery from the table, Scarlett poured them each a glass of water. After taking a sip, she asked, "Aren’t you planning to produce a film from a female perspective?"
Duke thought for a moment and replied, "I do have such a plan, but now’s not the time."
In fact, he had long had his eye on a representative feminist character. But the role was too sensitive if the film came out too early, male audiences might find it hard to accept.
Only when the feminist movement grew stronger and women held a higher status would the timing be right.
At that thought, Duke glanced at Scarlett. If she hadn’t played Black Widow, she would undoubtedly be the ideal choice for the role. But Natasha Romanoff jumping into another universe would be hard for audiences to accept.
But there was no rush. After several years of high-intensity work, Duke was feeling the fatigue. After Transformers wrapped, he planned to take a good long rest. Starting a new project in the fall wouldn’t be too late.
In fact, the leading actress for the new film had already been chosen last year. Charlize Theron didn’t take long to decide she accepted the role and was willing to destroy her glamorous image for it...
As for the male lead, Duke had mentioned it to Tom Cruise during a hunting trip in Australia last year. Once they were back in Los Angeles, he planned to have someone formally approach him.
These days, despite rumors of odd beliefs about Cruise showing up in the media, he wasn’t plagued by scandals like before, nor had he done anything overly outrageous. Even though the media still took shots at him from time to time, his public image was nowhere near as bad as it used to be.
His star power remained strong. Like Leonardo DiCaprio, he held one of the few ultra-A-list positions in Hollywood.
The male lead in the new film was set to be slightly less prominent than the female lead. And with Charlize Theron’s intense personal charisma, if they didn’t pair her with a sufficiently powerful male actor, there would inevitably be a serious imbalance between the male and female leads just like in the past.
Charisma was intangible and invisible, yet it could be captured clearly through the camera lens and on the big screen.
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