章 103: **Chapter 104: Ben Stiller's Discouragement**
Spending Christmas with Wayne, her boyfriend, was one thing, but surely she had to go home for at least part of the seven-day holiday, right? After all, she wasn't as busy as Mia and Jessica, who couldn't break away. Most of the time, she was either wandering around the set or curled up in her room, checking emails and printing out documents.
Soon, Susan arrived with Nolan and Master Yuan.
There was no need to explain Nolan's presence; as both the screenwriter and director, he was naturally required to be there for the audition.
Master Yuan, although just the action director, was also invited because the upgraded version of *Resident Evil* had a lot of action scenes. The actors needed to meet high standards in terms of movements and physicality, so Susan asked him to join as well.
Upon seeing them, everyone stopped chatting.
Aside from Charlize Theron, who was irreplaceable, everyone, including Eva Green and Zhang Ziyi, began preparing mentally and getting into the right mood for the upcoming audition.
"Phew!"
Mike let out a long breath and quickly slipped away. His eyes scanned the room until he spotted someone in the corner, exuding a sly, mischievous aura.
This guy was also prepping for his audition, but in a completely exaggerated way, twisting his waist and kicking his legs like he was doing aerobics.
Clearly, this was Ryan Reynolds, who had just landed a golden opportunity and recently signed under Mike's name.
"What are you doing?" Mike looked at him twice and couldn't help but ask.
"I'm warming up! Did you forget my role is a mercenary? What if there's an action scene later?" Ryan Reynolds explained while continuing his warm-up. His over-the-top actions caught the attention of others, as if he deserved a BGM for his performance.
Honestly, if Nolan hadn't cut the role of the goofy guy from *Resident Evil 2*, Ryan Reynolds would've been perfect for that part.
"Idiot," Mike muttered, instinctively inching away from Ryan to avoid "catching" his stupidity.
But Ryan, still twisting his body, leaned over and whispered, "Are those Anderson's women?"
"Yeah." Mike frowned and glanced at him. "You're not interested in one of them, are you? Let me warn you, that's a bad idea."
"Relax, I'm not that crazy," Ryan quickly replied. "But handling so many women at once? Anderson is impressive!"
Mike sized him up again, and seeing that Ryan was just envious without any other intentions, he withdrew his gaze and calmly said, "Having that many women is more trouble than it's worth. You should stick to your league."
Mike used to envy Wayne for having so many different top-tier beauties by his side. But after trying to challenge himself once and inviting two actresses from the San Fernando Valley at the same time, he completely gave up on that idea.
Even though he could now afford to keep two mistresses with his current income, his body certainly couldn't handle it.
Ryan snuck a glance at Mike's hairline, and a flash of sympathy crossed his eyes.
Luckily, Mike didn't notice, or he would've given Ryan a good kick.
The audition started after about ten minutes.
Ben Stiller, the biggest name present, was up first due to his tight schedule.
To be fair, Ben took this audition seriously.
Although his fame and influence had grown significantly thanks to the box office success of *Meet the Parents*, his roles had always been typecast as goofy and straightforward. His career was getting a bit stuck in that lane, so this audition was a good opportunity for a breakthrough.
With that in mind, Ben Stiller strode confidently into the audition room.
However, this audition turned out to be nothing more than a formality for him—no surprises, no disappointments. Even though he gave it his all and delivered a fully immersive performance, Nolan maintained a polite smile throughout, showing no emotional reaction whatsoever.
This left Ben Stiller feeling a bit discouraged.
But discouragement aside, there was no way he would turn down a $14 million paycheck.
Even someone at Tom Hanks' level cared about their paycheck, so of course, Ben wasn't going to pass up that kind of money—especially since he wasn't anywhere near that level yet.
Next up was Charlize Theron.
Unlike Ben Stiller, Charlize wasn't too concerned about whether her performance would win Nolan's approval.
That's just how people are: when they're not famous, they want fame. Once they're famous, they start chasing things like critical acclaim and awards.
But in the end, most people in Hollywood were in it for the money.
While Charlize might have earned an Oscar later on to boost her asking price, she didn't need it anymore, thanks to Wayne's support. Her paycheck had already skyrocketed, so she cared less about winning an Oscar now.
That said, not caring didn't mean she wasn't serious.
After all, while she didn't care about Nolan's approval, she did care about what the audience—and Wayne—thought of her.
So, throughout the audition, she gave it her all and performed at her highest level.
Nolan's reaction to Charlize was noticeably warmer than it had been with Ben Stiller.
After all, he wasn't stupid.
As Wayne's chosen leading lady, Charlize Theron was the real core of this movie franchise, and Nolan knew that well.
He understood that his role as the director, along with the entire cast and crew, existed to support Charlize. So, after her audition, he even gave her a few "sincere" compliments.
If Ben Stiller had known about this, he would have been pretty frustrated.
"Thank you!" Charlize flashed a charming smile and gracefully left the audition room. Only then did Nolan finally perk up for real.
Now, he could finally take charge of the auditions.
(End of the chapter)
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