Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 323 Everyone uses their own methods
In Hollywood, an actor's competitors are not only people from other agencies, but also so-called colleagues within the same agency.

This is actually similar all over the world. For example, the female celebrities signed by Huayi Brothers in China, even though they are "sisters" in the same company, will never hold back when they tear each other apart because of this.

There are only so many resources. How can you get them without fighting and using some tricks?
William Moss & Associates (WMA) is one of the oldest brokerage firms in the United States, founded in 1898 and headquartered in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. It is known for representing film and television stars and for industry innovation.

Although CAA has squeezed it out quite a bit in recent years, poaching many big names, it is still a former king and still has a large number of signed stars.

Natalie Portman's career has long been tied to William Morris Agency, which represented her when she rose to fame at the age of 13 with "Léon: The Professional".

The company facilitated its subsequent collaborations with directors such as Luc Besson and Mike Nichols through rigorous resource integration.

It can be said that Natalie Portman's path to fame was entirely orchestrated by William Morris Agency, and she was one of their own.

Even though the company was unhappy about her mother, Shirley Stevens, interfering in her management affairs, Natalie Portman was still considered the company's "favorite daughter."

Compared to Natalie Portman, Eva Green, born in Paris, France, is one of the actresses whose career has seen a more significant rise in the last two years.

However, Eva Green was not a direct affiliate of the company; she signed with William Morris Agency after coming to Hollywood to develop her career.

The company was actually having some trouble figuring out the career paths for the two, since both of them came from an art-house background and wanted to achieve something in the art-house film field.

However, doing so would cause their career paths to overlap.

Therefore, William Morris Agency and his agent team devised a new development strategy for Eva Green: to pursue a sexy image and take on big-budget commercial films.

To put it bluntly, it means giving up on developing in the arts and taking the "pretty face" route. This is a way to quickly become famous, and it also allows her to differentiate herself from Natalie Portman, avoiding competition for resources.

For artists and intellectuals, there is often an obsession with winning awards to prove themselves.

Therefore, Eva Green is somewhat dissatisfied with the career path her agency has created for her.

She had complained to her agent more than once that if things continued like this, the whole world would see her as just a sexy vase and forget that she was once an artistic actress with aspirations.

After she landed a role in "Casino Royale" and became the new "Bond girl," her agent was overjoyed, believing that their artist was likely to become a star.

But Eva Green wasn't too excited. She knew that once she was labeled a "Bond girl," she would never be able to shake off the "sexy vase" label.

This is a sad thing for French actresses who aspire to develop in the field of art films.

Imagine, which director would cast an actress labeled as "sexy" in an art film?
Just like Charlize Theron, in order to get rid of the "pretty face" label, she did not hesitate to ruin her image and played an ugly character as a psychopathic female killer.

Eva Green admitted that she couldn't learn from Charlize Theron; she was certain she didn't have that much determination—ruining one's image, especially by playing ugly, is something not every female star can do, and it's very difficult to do.

Eva Green was ready to give up when, unexpectedly, an opportunity fell into her lap.

Cao Yang, a renowned director famous worldwide for his art films, sent her an audition invitation.

Although the film I auditioned for was a remake, an adaptation of an adventure amusement park project, and not exactly an art film, being associated with Cao Yang means I'm sure I'll get art films.

In the days leading up to the audition, Eva Green watched the failed Pirates of the Caribbean movie many times, and also watched all of Cao Yang's films several times, including several Chinese-language films, just to prepare as much as possible.

The more movies Cao Yang watched, the more Eva Green admired him.

As an art enthusiast, she could clearly see that Cao Yang's early films, in their portrayal of female characters and their training of actresses, were simply unbelievable.

Working with a director like that on an art film is probably every actress's dream.

"I must seize this opportunity!"

Eva Green knew that even if she was labeled "sexy," director Cao Yang could make her a new artistic goddess in no time if he wanted to.

"I must seize this opportunity!"

Natalie Portman said to her mother.

Her gaze was firm, and her tone was extremely serious; she absolutely could not afford to fail this audition.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Sherley Stevens asked."

She knows her daughter very well; she is a very opinionated child who will do everything she can to achieve what she sets her mind to.

As a mother, she is proud to have such a child, but sometimes it also gives her a headache.

"According to information I obtained from Disney, Director Cao Yang only sent out two audition invitations, and both were from William Moss's people."

Natalie Portman, with bright eyes, said to her mother:

“The other person who was invited already has a career path that was tailor-made for her by the company. She has been doing quite well on that path recently, so there is no need for her to compete with me for this role.”

Shirley Stevens understood what her daughter meant: she wanted her to use her connections to prevent Eva Green from auditioning from within the company.

This is a bit difficult. Eva Green's career is clearly on the rise; her new film, *Casino Royale*, is scheduled for release in November, and she'll soon be labeled a "Bond girl." Besides, her agent certainly won't let such an opportunity slip by.

Shirley Stevens remained silent for a moment. It seemed that it would be difficult to achieve her goal through lobbying alone; she would also need to add an exchange of benefits.

One advantage is that Natalie Portman is considered a protégé of the company, and like several other senior executives, she is of Jewish descent, so there is still a chance to achieve her goal.

In particular, Eva Green only signed a Hollywood agency contract with William Morris; she has another agency in Europe.

"If the company wants to give you more movie roles because of this, would you be willing?"

"Sherley Stevens asked."

Natalie Portman replied without hesitation, "I can accept it."

Even if it's a script you don't like?

Shirley Stevens pressed for an answer.

Natalie Portman frowned slightly, then nodded firmly: "I'm fine!"

Three days before the audition date, Eva Green's agent came to her house and said he wanted to talk to her about something.

Eva Green thought her agent had come to discuss the audition with her, since not only was she taking this audition very seriously, but her agent was too.

However, her agent brought her devastating news: the company wanted her to give up the audition for "Pirates of the Caribbean 2," and as compensation, the company would give her three A-list roles.

"I fucking don't want A-grade resources!"

Eva Green was furious. What a load of bullshit A-level resources! As long as she can become the female lead in Cao Yang's new movie, why would she be afraid of not having A-level resources?
Look at Anne Hathaway, who was once an unknown actress. Just because she starred in Cao Yang's "The Dirty Milk," she is now a top-tier actress with a plethora of good opportunities.

Preventing me from auditioning is bullying an honest person, isn't it?

"What if I insist on going to the audition?"

Eva Green wanted to question her agent, but she didn't say it aloud.

The company could easily stop her with a very simple method: just quote her a high price, above the market rate, and give that despicable bitch a low price, and she would definitely be out of the running.

Eva Green is disappointed with her agent, and even more disappointed with William Morris.

She didn't argue with her agent; she knew that since the agent was there, he must have already been "taken care of" by the company.

"I see."

She replied to her agent in this way, and then decided to find a way to "save herself".

Eva Green instinctively wanted to call her boyfriend, Marden Cocks, whom she met and fell in love with while filming Kingdom of Heaven, but she quickly dismissed the idea.

Marden Sox isn't even doing as well as I am yet, what can he possibly do?

Before coming to Hollywood, Eva Green was involved in European arts and culture circles, and many of the directors and actors she knew knew Cao Yang.

For example, in the film "The Piano Teacher," which she starred in, not only did director Michael Haneke know Cao Yang, but Isabelle Huppert, the French-born queen of European art and literature, was also very familiar with Cao Yang.

She and Isabelle Huppert were both born in Paris, France. Although they are quite different in age, they have a very good relationship, and Isabelle Huppert takes good care of her.

So she called Isabelle Huppert and told her what had happened, hoping to get some help.

Isabelle Huppert did not refuse; she and Cao Yang had a good relationship.

Last year, when Cao Yang won the Venice Golden Lion again for "Black Swan", she also won the Venice Special Golden Lion Award for "Gabriel".

Isabelle Huppert called Cao Yang, but didn't recommend Eva Green. She understood that great directors are very wary of others interfering in their films.

She simply said that she had a junior colleague who greatly admired Cao Yang and loved his films. Since this junior colleague happened to be in Los Angeles, she asked if she could give him a chance to meet him.

Cao Yang didn't think too much about it at first. He thought that meeting would just be about signing autographs and taking photos. He had seen this kind of thing many times before, so he didn't refuse.

It was under these circumstances that Eva Green met Cao Yang.

When actresses meet with directors in private, most of them have definitely made up their minds to have the director give them a chance to audition.

Eva Green is no exception.

What? You have a boyfriend?
So what if you have a boyfriend? You just don't understand the French way of being romantic. Even if you're married, it's a little embarrassing not to have a lover.

At Eva Green's insistence, Cao Yang auditioned.

During this period, Eva Green had quite a few roles; she was young, beautiful, and had long legs, which were all assets for her auditions.

(End of this chapter)