章 37: **Chapter 37: The Female Lead**
This is the female lead for the critically and commercially successful *Bourne* series, a role that could easily elevate a relatively unknown actress to the ranks of a second-tier Hollywood star.
Originally, he intended to give this opportunity to Annie, but now it seems that won't be possible.
Charlize Theron could be an option, and giving the role to her wouldn't be a loss for Wayne. Although it's not explicitly stated, both of them tacitly understand that they intend to maintain their relationship for the long term.
However, Charlize Theron's next project is already set: a romantic film *Sweet November*, where she teams up with Keanu Reeves again.
This Warner Bros. film is scheduled to start shooting in early November of this year, wrap up by the end of December, move into post-production, and is planned for release on February 14th next year, Valentine's Day.
Even though it's just a romance movie, the production budget is a whopping $40 million.
Although that figure is somewhat inflated, it's not too outrageous, mainly because Keanu Reeves' fee has now started at $10 million, and Charlize Theron, as the female lead, commands $3 million.
These two alone take up a third of the budget.
The key issue is that, even for a romance film, a one-and-a-half-month shooting schedule is extremely tight.
As a result, Charlize Theron definitely wouldn't be able to spare the time to play the female lead in *The Bourne Identity*, as the main scenes for the latter require filming in Europe.
Asking Charlize Theron to give up *Sweet November* is obviously out of the question.
If she really did that, it would mean offending both Keanu Reeves, currently a top A-list star, and Warner Bros., a Hollywood giant.
Even though Wayne has some pull, he wouldn't be so foolish and arrogant before his career is fully established.
He then thought of Naomi Watts, a star who he had only had one in-depth interaction with but who later became quite famous in his previous life.
However, he quickly dismissed the idea.
Naomi Watts is very beautiful and a good actress, but he doesn't plan to hold onto her long-term, because Naomi Watts' shelf life is running out.
Moreover, the film crucial to Naomi Watts' career, *Mulholland Drive*, is set to start auditions around the 20th of this month and will begin shooting in mid-October.
This thriller directed by Oscar-winning director David Lynch and produced by Universal Pictures didn't perform too well at the box office in his previous life, but since its production cost was only $15 million, it still turned a decent profit with the box office and DVD sales.
Additionally, this film won numerous awards at various international film festivals in 2001. It would be a huge shame for Naomi Watts to miss out.
She might even blame him for it later.
After all, although *The Bourne Identity* has good box office potential and critical acclaim, its "artistic value" is obviously not on par with *Mulholland Drive*.
Wayne then thought of Liv Tyler, who had been trying to meet with him but couldn't due to scheduling conflicts, and Natalie Portman, whom he had deliberately kept his distance from.
In terms of image and acting ability, these two are even more suitable than Charlize Theron.
Especially Natalie Portman, who is at just the right age.
However, his casting standards aren't much different from those of entertainment capital in his previous life: either the actress has to be close to him, or she has to be famous enough to bring in traffic and heat to the movie, boosting his role as the lead.
Clearly, neither of these two meets the requirements.
Natalie Portman isn't famous enough to carry a $50 million blockbuster, and Liv Tyler is even less qualified.
Unless he postponed *The Bourne Identity* until after the release of *The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring* next year, but that would delay things for too long.
He wants the film to be released as soon as possible so he can pocket the box office revenue.
Although he already owns Wayne Manor, as a qualified millionaire, how could he be without a yacht and a private jet?
And even if he has a luxury yacht and a private jet, there are still so many good things waiting for him in the system's store.
The thought of the store having treasures like Iron Man's suit and Spider-Man's serum filled him with motivation to make money.
"But apart from these, the list of 18 to 27-year-old actresses that Mike helped me compile only leaves Angelina Jolie, Penélope Cruz, Winona Ryder, and Drew Barrymore with Hollywood second-tier fame."
Wayne leaned back slightly, letting himself relax into the soft chair behind him, pinching his brow as he quickly ran through the information of these four actresses in his mind.
"Angelina Jolie..."
At this time, Angelina Jolie hadn't yet seduced Brad Pitt, causing his divorce from Jennifer Aniston, but she had already been through two marriages.
To Wayne, she was a bad woman with a penchant for trouble, even more cunning than Natalie Portman.
If that were all, it would be fine, but she was also particularly good at packaging herself, using philanthropy and political correctness to clean up her image, making herself look like a saint.
It was a bit disgusting.
In his previous life, he quite liked Angelina Jolie after watching *Tomb Raider* and *Wanted*.
But curiosity killed the cat; after doing some research on Angelina Jolie, all he felt was... emmm.
Now, after looking at the first-hand information Mike got from WMA, he realized that many of the tabloid rumors he had read in his previous life were true.
So, even though Angelina Jolie was now slightly more famous than Charlize Theron, he never considered collaborating with her.
Penélope Cruz, the Spanish national treasure, didn't have such issues.
But movie audiences are divided into groups.
Penélope Cruz's fame is mainly in independent and art films. In simple terms, while she's won many awards and is quite well-known in the industry, she's not very famous among commercial blockbuster audiences, and her box office appeal isn't strong.
To give a simple example, it's like the difference between 'Pepper Potts' and 'Black Widow.'
For general blockbuster audiences, 'Black Widow' obviously seems more famous, so even if 'Black Widow's' solo movie isn't great, it still does decently at the box office.
But in reality, 'Pepper Potts' is an Oscar-winning actress, and in the industry and among art film audiences, she's much more famous than 'Black Widow.'
So fame doesn't necessarily equal box office appeal, and Penélope Cruz falls into this category.
The same goes for Winona Ryder, who rose to fame with *Edward Scissorhands*, *The Age of Innocence*, and *Little Women*.
But *The Bourne Identity* is a legitimate commercial blockbuster, and the casting definitely needs someone like 'Black Widow.'
Drew Barrymore, who started as a child star and succeeded in both commercial and art films, does meet the requirements for *The Bourne Identity's* female lead.
But she's a seasoned addict.
And unlike Robert Downey Jr.'s redemption arc, Drew Barrymore started at thirteen and was later sent to rehab, but even now, she hasn't quit.
You can see the side effects in how quickly her looks faded.
Of course, this isn't a big deal in Hollywood or even North America. As long as you're not caught red-handed, you can still be a big star and stay famous.
But due to the influence of his previous life's values, which haven't fully adapted to Hollywood, he still doesn't want to work with such actors unless they're as irreplaceable as Depp in *Pirates of the Caribbean*.
So, after considering everything, he ruled out all four.
"Maybe I should expand the age range a bit?"
(The End)
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