Made in Hollywood

The angels who contacted Victoria's Secret, of course, not because of this small production of "Hundred Thousand Fires", but the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

In this magical masterpiece, there are elves, a beautiful, slender and agile race. Duke not only asked a few linguists from the Kingdom of Great Britain to study and teach Tolkien's Quenya language, but also planned to find a large number of linguists. Handsome men and beauties appear as the elves in the film.

The crew also has dedicated casting staff in New Zealand and Australia, looking for suitable male and female models, and when it comes to the quality of the models, the Angels of Victoria's Secret are naturally the best.

This is just a simple cameo appearance. In Duke's view, it is a completely mutually beneficial cooperation. The film can increase the hype and publicity. Victoria's Secret can also use him and the name after the film to continue to expand its influence. .

As a major shareholder of Victoria's Secret, after Tina Fey and Victoria's Secret executives contacted, Duke personally hung up the phone with the president of Victoria's Secret, Sharon Jester Tenney, and the communication between the two parties was extremely smooth. , can be described as a hit and miss, at the right time, the high-level Victoria's Secret will launch its angels to New Zealand with great fanfare.

However, after the main cast of "The Lord of the Rings" was basically determined, Duke still had to first determine the cast of "One Hundred Thousand Fires".

After Gerard Butler came in for two auditions, Duke decided to cast him as the complicated Emile Decbal Matasalinu.

Another robber, Larry Eugene Phillips, also found the right man.

It was an old-fashioned British-born American actor. His bald forehead was impressive. Although his acting skills could not be described as outstanding, his strong physique and clear appearance showed a fierce feeling.

The other party walked out of the audition room, and Nancy Josephson, who made a special trip to Wellington, took the documents. Introduced to Duke, "He started out as a diver and won a World Diving Championship once."

She knew that Duke required a strong body and was clearly prepared.

"He played a total of 12 years on the British diving team, and later became a model, and the sense of the camera will not be a problem. And also has some acting experience."

Nancy closed the document and said, "He acted very well in the black comedy "Two Smoking Guns" released by British director Guy Ritchie this year."

"Have you seen that movie?"

Seeing Duke shaking his head, Nancy Josephson said with a smile, "When I came here, I specially found a copy. You can go check it out when you have time, Jason's..."

"No, Nancy."

Duke raised his hand to interrupt her, "Jason Statham basically meets my requirements, you can negotiate with Daario. Don't be too greedy."

"You know my style." Nancy's smile grew brighter, "I'm optimistic about his future."

Turning off the camera monitor in front of him, Duke took the lead out of the audition room and out of the studio. Walking towards the office area on the set, Nancy Josephson followed from behind.

Although will not execute any packaging strategy of any brokerage firm. But under similar conditions, Duke will definitely give priority to the actors recommended by his agent. In this extremely complicated circle, common interests are the best connection.

Prioritize yourself. This is a choice all directors and producers in Hollywood make.

"I heard you're looking for a daughter for Liam Neeson's male lead?"

Walking up to Duke, Nancy asked again, "Is there a suitable candidate?"

"No." Duke frowned and said as he walked, "Actor candidates must be between 15 and 18 years old, and roles require certain acting skills. There are only a few girls in this age group who have excellent acting skills. inappropriate."

This is not a vase role. Liam Neeson plays the policeman Michael's family, which will be one of the main lines of the film. His emotional problems with his daughter also have a certain amount of weight. This cannot be solved by just looking for a vase.

In fact, in the whole of Hollywood, there are only a few actresses aged 16 to 18 who really perform well, Christina Ricci, Kirsten Dunst, Natalie Portman...

These people are out of date now.

Since last week, Duke has also auditioned for several girls, and he has rejected them without exception.

Among them, the one with better appearance was recommended by Eno Martin, called Jessica Alba, and his appearance was not bad, but his skin color and acting skills did not meet the requirements.

Especially the skin color, she is obviously Latino, standing with Liam Neeson, even a fool knows it can't be father and daughter, and according to the conventions of mainstream movies, the important character of this main line must be an orthodox White, not a Latino.

Don't underestimate ethnicity and skin color, even if it is a vase, there will be huge differences in the future.

To put it bluntly, in Hollywood, Latin actors are more discriminated against than black actors.

"Do you have a suitable candidate to recommend?" Duke asked Nancy.

Nancy shook her head helplessly, "If you hold a large-scale audition, you may not be able to find a few newcomers, but from the existing ones, as you said, there are only a few outstanding people in this age group in Hollywood. indivual."

"I really can't find a suitable candidate." Duke was a little helpless, "Just hold a large-scale audition."

"When I go back to Los Angeles..."

Following Duke into an office, Nancy sat next to Tina Fey's desk and said, "Try to help you find it."

Duke nodded and suddenly remembered something, "Where's the heroine? Didn't you say there is a suitable person to recommend to me?"

"She can't get to Wellington until the afternoon." Nancy flipped through the documents in her hand, "I wanted you to meet her first."

She handed a resume to Duke, saying, "This is a British actor who studied at Oxford University and has been in movies since '93, and she's willing to play the role of a mother."

Duke looked at the document and said, "She's younger, she's going to play a mother, she's willing?"

"I have already explained to her that she has no opinion." Nancy looked at Duke and said seriously, "You are ignoring the attraction of the name Duke Rosenberg to actors who dream of becoming famous."

After closing the information, Duke didn't say anything. In fact, a role like mother is very easy to shine in Hollywood movies, but it is the type of role that young actresses can't avoid.

In this industry, the first thing it caters to is the needs of mainstream audiences, and various taboos have arisen from this, such as serious racial discrimination in society, but if a black person is the first villain in a movie, it will definitely be self-defeating; Shoot directly in the film, otherwise the NC-17 is waiting...

Similarly, actresses who act as mothers of relatively older children are generally not favored by roles such as public lovers, and can also be regarded as a taboo.

For actresses, popular lover-type roles are often the highest paid roles.

Of course, the daughter of this mother role has already found a suitable candidate through audition. It was also recommended by an acquaintance. An ICM agent with Canadian nationality recommended a girl from Canada. Although the other party is 11 years old, I don’t know if it is There are developmental problems, and it still looks like seven or eight years old.

In the afternoon, Duke met the actress recommended by Nancy Josephson in the audition room. The acting skills of the other party were not very good, but they did not have a lot of roles, plus they had a certain performance foundation and experience, and the salary was cheap enough. , Duke still decided to cast her in the mother role.

In the next few days, Duke basically spent the audition, not only "One Hundred Thousand Fire", but also some role auditions in "The Lord of the Rings". He kept switching between magic and reality. This kind of preparation for two films at the same time The situation is simply maddening. Fortunately, one is only a very small production, otherwise it must be schizophrenic.

People's time and energy are limited, and it is impossible for the director to leave the preparatory work. Even if Charles Rowan and Zach Snyder are still in control of the "Lord of the Rings", the director Duke is still very tired.

"The Matrix" and "The Lord of the Rings", "One Hundred Thousand Fires" and "The Lord of the Rings", two consecutive preparations at the same time, have already made him feel the limit of his ability.

He is just an ordinary person with more memory and experience, neither a super genius nor a computer that can be powered up.

Duke has also decided that this is the last time to prepare two films at the same time. This kind of inhuman work, if not necessary, will never be repeated for the third time.

The only thing that can make him feel comforted and fortunate is that after several films and more than five years of cooperation, Warner Bros. and him are closely bound by common interests, and the traditional power of Hollywood is also full of confidence in him. , whether it is the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy or "One Hundred Thousand Fire Urgent", they have given full support.

There is also the full cooperation of his team. This team of tacit understanding is also an important condition for Duke's success. Anyone who knows a little about the film knows that a successful film cannot be produced with a director and a script.

Over the next week, after several auditions, Duke settled on the last of the six leads, Liam Neeson's daughter in the film, from a friend of Nancy Josephson's. Recommended, last year starred in "I Know What You Did Last Summer"...

Frankly speaking, the actress's acting skills are barely up to Duke's requirements, and she's a little older, but the difference between sixteen and nineteen for white women isn't that big, plus makeup and lens retouching, The problem is not that big.

At this point, the six main actors of "One Hundred Thousand Fires" are all in place, and Duke found that, from the perspective of the future, the lineup of the crew is quite luxurious. (To be continued ~^~)

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