This guy's acting skills and image are definitely not an issue, and his pay is not much higher than the original minor actor—just $100,000. To Wayne, this deal was too good to pass up.
For the third male lead, the mercenary "Nikolai" who tries to act tough but gets killed by a dog, he chose Chris Evans, who debuted just this year and is even less famous and cheaper than Jason Guo Da.
Additionally, Hugo Weaving was cast as the villain boss "Cain," Elizabeth Olsen as the little girl "Angela," young Kristen as the "Red Queen," and Willem Dafoe as the final character, "Dr. Isaac."
This cast might not seem impressive now, but ten or twenty years later, looking back, it would definitely be considered a stellar lineup.
By then, they could follow in the footsteps of *Titanic* and *Avatar* with a re-release or remake, easily raking in more cash.
"Ah—!"
"Yes! I passed the audition!"
In another bright and spacious bedroom, even more girlish than Annie's, Olsen excitedly screamed after receiving her audition results. She jumped around on the bed like a little rabbit, holding her phone, which quickly attracted her two sisters.
"What are you screaming about?"
"Nothing, I just passed the audition!" Olsen stopped, and despite her sisters' frowning questions, she suppressed her excitement and pride, pretending to be calm.
Unfortunately, her minor acting skills couldn't fool her sisters. After all, they both entered the entertainment industry before they were even a year old.
But after hearing she passed the audition, while happy for her, they also felt a bit jealous.
Hollywood chases success.
And Hemera Productions, with three consecutive box office hits, undeniably represented success at this time.
So, it's not an exaggeration to say that even they would be excited if they had landed the role of "Angela."
Unfortunately, their age didn't fit Angela's character, and their acting had long lost its youthful charm. Even if they had the chance to audition, they wouldn't have passed.
"Looks like Wayne has an eye for you."
"Could it be he has some special...preferences?"
The two sisters teased, their tone a bit sour.
This instantly displeased Olsen.
"Mr. Wayne is nothing like that!" Olsen puffed out her cheeks and defended Wayne angrily.
"Besides, I'm already eleven! Even if Mr. Wayne liked me, so what? By your age, you'd already lost your first kiss, right?"
The Olsen sisters were left speechless.
In America, they say you should wait until you're sixteen for that kind of thing, but that's really just a guideline.
Even though they were only fifteen, they had already given their first time away last year. Their first kisses were long gone, back when they were eight or nine years old.
So, they had no way to argue back against Olsen.
But if words didn't work, they could always resort to physical means!
The sisters exchanged glances and then pounced on Olsen, giving her a good-natured beating.
Finally, Olsen escaped their clutches by promising to text Wayne to thank him.
"Remember to sound sweet and cute when you do~"
"If you can hold onto Wayne's coattails, you'll never have to worry about getting roles again~"
Before they could finish, Olsen pushed them out of the room and slammed the door shut.
After calming her racing heart, Olsen blushed, nervously picked up her phone again, and dialed eagerly.
Unfortunately, Wayne was busy at the moment and didn't have time to answer. After two failed calls, she huffed and sent him a text instead.
It wasn't until the next day that Wayne saw the message, but he just briefly replied, "Keep up the good work," and then got up to have breakfast.
Two hours later, Wayne personally drove Hannah and Martina to the airport.
"I've arranged your accommodation, and don't worry about a manager—mine will sign with you."
"Okay, dear, I know. I'll wait for you in L.A."
Martina, full of reluctance, hugged Wayne and kissed him.
Wayne then turned to Hannah.
"I know~ I'll make sure she gets there safely~" Hannah said before Wayne could open his mouth.
This made Wayne smile wryly.
"Travel safely."
With that, Wayne kissed Hannah in front of many astonished onlookers and sent them off on their flight.
"Did I just see that right?"
"Did both those women kiss him?"
"F***! What's going on?!"
Even after Wayne left the airport, people were still buzzing about it.
If this were twenty years later, when phones could easily take photos and upload them online, many would have captured that moment, sparking jealousy and envy across the internet.
Twelve hours later, Hannah and Martina's flight landed safely at LAX, where Mike picked them up.
Martina's contract was similar to other newcomers, with a one-year term. Thanks to Wayne, her commission was only 7%, three points lower than the average newbie.
As for her accommodation, Wayne had purposely arranged for her to live next door to Annie.
Annie, still bitter over her failed audition, had just finished breakfast and was heading out for some retail therapy when she saw Mike's car drive past and stop at the house next door.
"Hannah?"
Annie was surprised to see Hannah get out of the car.
As Wayne's assistant, Annie knew her well.
"Wasn't she in Europe with Wayne? Why is she here now? Did she...get kicked out of Wayne Manor for angering him?"
Annie immediately thought of a reasonable explanation and felt a rush of excitement.
But the next moment, another door opened, and Martina, in a bohemian dress, stepped out of the car.
"Is that girl Wayne's woman too?"
"Did Wayne rent that house for her?"
Seeing the girl pull her suitcase and walk into the house with Hannah under Mike's eager assistance, Annie quickly pieced it together, her face turning dark.
(End of chapter)
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At this moment, she recalled what Eva Green had mentioned during the audition: a girl who got a leading role in a $14 million production just after auditioning with Wayne.
"So, that girl Eva Green talked about must be her."
Although they were over ten meters apart, that brief glance was enough for her to see Martina clearly.
She had to admit, even with her pride, that Martina was indeed very beautiful. She was not any less attractive than herself and even outshone both Eva Green and Naomi Watts slightly.
Moreover, Martina appeared younger, which made her feel an enormous sense of pressure.
But then, her eyes lit up as she thought of something.
"Only the lead actress and second lead for *The Dark Side* are confirmed, right? I can totally go for one of the other roles! Plus, Naomi, that bitch, is busy filming *Resident Evil*, so no one should compete with me for it, right?"
With that in mind, Annie quickly lost interest in shopping and hurried back to her room, grabbing her phone to call Wayne.
"Supporting role No. 3 in *The Dark Side*?"
After a moment, Wayne was a bit surprised when he heard Annie's request.
When Annie first mentioned *The Dark Side*, Wayne thought she would be aiming for the lead or second lead, but to his surprise, she only wanted a third supporting role. Her low expectations completely caught him off guard.
But then again, it made sense. Including her audition for *The Princess Diaries*, Annie had failed three auditions in a row.
This had caused her to seriously doubt her own acting skills, and her ambitions were no longer as high as they used to be.
She had no other jobs lined up, so landing the third supporting role would at least give her another chance to appear on the big screen and earn some income. Of course, she wanted to fight for that opportunity.
"Is that... not possible?"
"No, of course, it's possible." Hearing the tension and uncertainty in Annie's voice, Wayne smiled slightly and agreed.
James Wan had just finished the script and sent it over. The third supporting role was similar to the original version: a violinist named Veronica, a member of the band led by the male protagonist Adrian. She had a brief romantic entanglement with him, which prompted Adrian's wife, Belen, to hide in a secret room to test whether her husband still loved her, sparking the entire storyline.
This character didn't have many scenes, and the performance wasn't particularly demanding. As long as the actress was attractive, anyone could play the role. Since Annie proactively wanted it, Wayne was happy not to waste any more brainpower thinking about it.
"That's great!"
Annie let out a long sigh of relief after hearing this, thanked Wayne profusely, and hung up the phone, satisfied.
Meanwhile, Wayne continued flipping through the script, considering actors for the role of Detective Bernardo, the second male lead.
Suddenly, he thought of Clark Gregg, who had played the "nice guy" Coulson.
Clark Gregg had been acting for 12 years and had appeared in over a dozen films, though all in relatively minor roles. He wasn't as famous or well-paid as Willem Dafoe, but his acting skills were solid. Casting him as Bernardo would definitely be cost-effective.
"Cut all the intimate scenes that can't be done with body doubles or clever angles."
On the other end of the phone, James Wan was momentarily stunned but then burst out laughing: "Don't worry, I've already thought about that. I won't let anyone take advantage of your girl."
Having collaborated once before, James Wan understood Wayne's thinking very well.
"Then it's settled. Work out the audition schedule with Sarah. I just want the film completed as quickly as possible."
"No problem. Matt Damon already said he's ready to sign whenever. I plan to start auditions tomorrow, begin filming on the 2nd of next month, and if all goes well, we should finish shooting by the 15th and complete post-production by the 20th."
Wayne quietly checked the system panel and then agreed to James Wan's plan.
The next day arrived quickly, and the audition for *The Dark Side* was also held at Hemera Films.
Even though it was still the Christmas holiday, every actor who received a casting notice arrived on time. Some even drove seven or eight hours overnight from other cities to make it.
Compared to the *Resident Evil* auditions two days earlier, the scale of *The Dark Side* auditions was noticeably smaller.
The biggest star involved was Matt Damon, who was cast as the male lead, Adrian.
Unfortunately, at this point, Matt Damon was far less famous and successful than Ben Stiller. Despite having been nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor, he didn't draw much attention from the actors auditioning around him.
This left Matt Damon feeling a bit down, and the smile on his face was becoming hard to maintain, despite dressing up and preparing himself before coming.
His agent, who seemed to know his personality well, quickly whispered a reminder, "Eight million! Think about that eight million!"
Matt Damon took a deep breath, tore his gaze away from the trio of actresses, including Martina, and plastered a humble smile back on his face.
In the last couple of years, Damon had starred in several box-office and critically acclaimed films, such as *Good Will Hunting*, which grossed $225 million globally, and *The Talented Mr. Ripley*, which made $229 million worldwide.
However, his most recent two films, *The Legend of Bagger Vance* with Will Smith, and *Finding Forrester* with Sean Connery, both flopped.
Even *All the Pretty Horses*, which he co-starred in with Penélope Cruz, was currently performing poorly at the box office.
With a production budget of $57 million—nearly four times that of *The Talented Mr. Ripley*—the film was on track to gross only $18 million worldwide.
As of now, it wasn't even ranking higher than *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*, which had been out for nearly a month, sitting at fifth or sixth place on the daily box office charts. This had severely impacted Damon's earnings.
Two years ago, after *The Talented Mr. Ripley* was released, his salary had risen to around $12 million, but now it had dropped to $6 million after the failures of *The Legend of Bagger Vance* and *Finding Forrester*.
Seeing that the box office disaster of *All the Pretty Horses* would likely cause his pay to drop further, he wasn't about to miss Hemera Films' offer of $8 million for this project.
(End of chapter)
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