v2 Chapter 483： Casting director

Compared with the awards season, when there is no gunpowder, the competition in the theater is more direct and fierce. After the release of Pixar Studio’s masterpiece "Looking for Nemo", it unexpectedly broke the dominance of "The Return of the King". Ended the latter's four consecutive summer championships.

This feature-length animated film with ocean as the main theme once again demonstrated the strength of Pixar studios to the whole Hollywood. It opened 3374 theaters in North America and got a box office of 70.25 million U.S. dollars. The box office of a single library exceeded 20,000 U.S. dollars. This is also the best drawing performance ever made by Pixar Studios and animated films.

There is no doubt that "Looking for Nemo", which was released in the first week, became the second box office champion since the beginning of the summer vacation in 2003.

"The Return of the King", which won four consecutive championships before, also ended the hottest screening stage. Both the number of theaters and the rate of filming have begun to decline, but this week still stood at the second position of the box office. 3,458 theaters in North America earned 14.22 million US dollars.

It is impossible for any movie to be hot forever, let alone this is still in the summer.

To avoid the edge of "The Return of the King", many big productions chose June. With the arrival of Memorial Day, May also came to an end.

Since the beginning of June, a series of major productions have been released one after another. Films such as "X-Men 2", "Terminator 3" and "Fake God" have all achieved good results. By the end of June, "The Return of the King" is no longer visible in the top five of the North American weekly box office rankings.

However, even if the film was released for nearly two months, it was still in the top ten of the box office chart. As of July 1, the North American box office of the film finally passed the $500 million mark, reaching $515.87 million.

In terms of global box office, "The Return of the King" also exceeded $1.3 billion. Reached $1.35277 million!

Due to the continuous cooling of the film and the successive large-scale commercial films released in North America and overseas, the global single-day box office of the film has fallen below US$4 million, and it has begun to rely on time and long screenings to accumulate box office.

After the screening of "The Return of the King" entered the third month, the global craze for the Lord of the Rings basically faded, but the hacking fever hit again.

Last year's "Reloaded" scored $795.5 million at the box office worldwide. Moreover, after removing those inexplicable things, although the film’s audience reputation has declined compared with the first film, it has remained within the scope of the normal sequel film. The film’s relative simplicity and de-philosophical thinking have also achieved good results.

This "Matrix Revolution" is generally good, with a box office of $92.12 million in the first weekend, which is enough to guarantee the final commercial results.

Two consecutive "The Matrix" sequels have achieved good market response, and Duke's former assistant Zach Schneider immediately became a highly sought after director in Hollywood.

Even many companies have opened 1+2 contracts to invite him to direct the film.

This is Hollywood. When struggling on the road to success, no one cares. Even if you are really talented, Hollywood giants will not show appreciation. Even if they show appreciation, they will never let go of themselves easily. Money bag.

When successful, even if you stand still, the invitations will fly over like snowflakes.

"Any new plan?"

In the Duke's studio. Duke looked at Zach Schneider, "About the future or the next movie."

"I desperately need a vacation."

Zach Schneider's bearded face. The skin and bones are almost only the skin and bones left. "In the past, although you saw that you were responsible for a project independently, it would be a lot of pressure, but when you really step into it, you will know how much the pressure that accompanies you all the time. terror."

He sighed long, "Since I officially took over. I haven't had a good night's sleep until now."

"Slowly get used to it." Dukla opened the drawer and handed him Frank Miller's illustrated novel. "Go on vacation and take a look at this novel by the way."

"Spartan Three Hundred Warriors?" Zach Schneider opened a glance, "I saw it a long time ago."

"Are you interested in adapting it into a movie?"

This kind of thing can't be forced. Duke added, "If you are not interested, I can only find someone else."

The two are friends and partners who have known each other for more than ten years, and Zach Schneider is not polite, "Leave it with me for now, I want to study it."

Duke didn't intend to intervene too much, and nodded, "DC Comics only gave me five years of permission to adapt. Don't think more than five years."

Zach Schneider laughed, "I will definitely give you a definite answer after I come back from vacation."

There was a soft knock on the door, and Tina Fei opened the door and walked in, "Mr. Neeson is here."

"Then I'll leave first." Zach Schneider stood up, nodded to Tina Fey, walked out of the office, and waited for him to disappear before Duke said to Tina Fey, "I'll see him."

Leaving the office, Duke walked into the reception room on the same floor and saw the person who had been invited.

"Hi, Duke."

The tall actor took the initiative to greet him, "Long time no see."

"Yeah, Liam."

Duke asked him to sit down and asked him to serve coffee again, without going around in circles, he asked directly, "Is there a schedule for the second half of the year?"

Although I received the notice from the agent, I had a faint guess, but when Duke said this, Liam Neeson's eyes lit up and he answered without hesitation, "Yes!"

"Tina." Duke greeted him, and Tina Fey, who was sitting on the other side, handed a file bag to Liam Neeson.

"This is..." Liam Neeson looked at Duke.

Duke made a gesture of please, and while watching the other party open the file bag, he said, "This is my next project. Shooting will start in the second half of the year. It is a story about a retired agent and his daughter, an action movie type."

Liam Neeson nodded and opened the script to read it. Duke continued, "I think you are very suitable for a leading actor."

Although Liam Neeson couldn't make a casual decision without the agent being present, he simply scanned the script and said, "Duke, no one can refuse your invitation."

In fact, in his opinion, the level of the script is only average. If you switch to another director, he will not consider it at all. However, the director sitting opposite is one of the top Hollywood directors. A fool would think he only Will produce an ordinary film.

Even if there will be professional negotiations in the future, Liam Neeson does not want to miss such an opportunity.

"Your role will be an agent." Duke said simply, "Although he is retired, he is also very skilled. Therefore, Liam, if we can cooperate, you have to accept a period of time. Professional Training."

"No problem." Liam Neeson nodded.

Duke only reached a preliminary intention with him, and the subsequent negotiations were naturally between Charles Rowan and Liam Neeson’s agent. After a brief chat between the two for a short time, Liam Neeson left. The Duke’s Studio.

After the Independence Day holiday, Duke put "Hurricane Rescue" on the agenda. The project passed Warner Bros' review as quickly as possible. The film’s production budget was US$40 million, which is no longer considered in this era. It was produced by Shanghai University.

Duke did not plan to engage in any high-investment scenes. The film was all invested by Warner Bros., and the production cost piled up to 40 million US dollars, because his basic salary alone was as high as 10 million US dollars!

After the project was formally approved, the main members of the Duke team ended their vacations and began to work. Now, people like John Schwarzman have become top figures in their respective industries and inevitably become other companies. Or the target of the cast, although most people choose to continue to cooperate with Duke, some people choose to change jobs.

For example, the former casting director John retired from his team.

This is a normal flow of personnel, and Duke does not care too much. It is not too difficult to find a suitable substitute, but he will not rashly trust the newcomer, and temporarily handed the position of the casting director to Wallace Lee.

Although Hollywood-style casting is supervised by actors and actresses and has a relatively complete system, it cannot prevent some private transactions at all, and no one will take care of transactions that you wish. As for Hollywood, there is no variety. The so-called unwritten rules, as well as the actors and performances themselves can completely determine the role, especially the attribution of some small roles, how much should the head be showy...

As long as there is no problem with their heads, they know that Hollywood has never been a pure circle.

Duke never asks his subordinates with pure standards. It is impossible in Hollywood. As long as he meets his requirements, he doesn't care who plays those small roles.

In "Hurricane Rescue", the main characters such as father, daughter and mother, casting director and deputy director, basically have no say.

"Lee, I need a lot of Eastern European actresses."

In the conference room, the preparatory meeting is in progress. Duke explained to the new optional director Wallace Lee, "There are also Eastern European actors who play the gangsters, who must have a distinctive appearance. In addition, all prostitutes and women choose. , The appearance should be beautiful enough."

"No problem, Duke, I promise!"

Wallace Lee is still very willing to take this job, on the one hand, it can prove to Duke his ability, on the other hand, it is also a good position that individuals envy.

He knows very well that those Eastern European actresses and prostitutes. Actresses can make their own decisions.

As long as the actor can meet the basic requirements of the director, he basically has the final say. Such a position is highly sought after by the little actors and their agents in Hollywood.

"Anna." Duke turned to Anna Prinz, "You take over the part that Zach was responsible for." (To be continued...)

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