Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 324 Preparation Completed
In Hollywood, male and female actors are treated the same; both have the opportunity to audition privately in advance.

Many male directors and producers like to privately invite male actors to audition.

However, Cao Yang is a straight person and is only interested in auditions for female actors, so when it comes to auditions for male actors, it's a real audition.

For Jude Law, Casey Affleck, and Chris Evans, Cao Yang did not test their acting skills during their auditions. Instead, he had the makeup artist do their makeup and dress them up in blacksmith costumes to see who looked the most handsome.

The effect of this comparison is then apparent.

While Casey Affleck and Chris Evans are both handsome, they are indeed somewhat inferior to Jude Law in his prime.

Furthermore, Jude Law's charisma completely overshadows the two of them.

Then, Cao Yang had the three men dress up in James Norrington's clothes, and he planned to choose the actor to play James Norrington from among the three.

James Norrington is a supporting character with a decent amount of screen time. He is a commodore who likes the female lead and is dedicated to fighting pirates.

Okay, even in a navy uniform, Jude Law still completely outshines the other two in terms of charisma.

After careful consideration, Cao Yang chose Jude Law to play the blacksmith Will Turner, and then gave the role of James Norrington to Casey Affleck, who was more familiar with the character.

The audition for the female lead was much simpler.

Natalie Portman was indeed the only one who auditioned. After the audition, Cao Yang had someone tell William Morris's people that she was not suitable, and then he left it at that.

He believed that William Morris's men would definitely regret it and be anxious.

Actually, Natalie Portman is a bit unsuitable; she's a bit short and not quite right for a leading lady who's adventurous, daring, and involved in action scenes.

Sure enough, William Morris panicked when he learned that Natalie Portman was not suitable for the lead role.

That evening, their senior partner personally called Cao Yang, saying that Eva Green, another actress who had been invited to audition, was sick and therefore did not attend the audition, and hoped that Director Cao Yang would give her another chance.

Cao Yang glanced at Eva Green lying next to him.

Okay, if you say she's sick, then let's just say she is.

So Cao Yang gave William Morris's senior partner face and let Eva Green audition tomorrow.

Eva Green was very grateful to Cao Yang. After Cao Yang hung up the phone, she very conscientiously went down and used both words and actions to implement the software hardening project.

Then, not long after, her phone started ringing incessantly.

Eva Green ignored it; she knew without even guessing that it was her agent calling.

Knowing that her company and agent must be frantic with worry because they couldn't find her, she worked even harder, feeling a sense of vengeful satisfaction.

In the ensuing conversation, this feeling amplified her sensitivity, allowing Cao Yang to understand why women are said to be made of water.

Afterwards, Eva Green felt she would never forget that feeling.

With the roles of the blacksmith, the female lead, and James Norrington finalized, the rest was left to the casting agency and executive producers.

Disney has already reached an agreement with China Film Group and Qingdao Film Studio.

Cao Yang then returned to China.

Cao Yang didn't announce the selection of Hector Barbosa publicly. Since Duan Yihong wasn't chosen by Lao Tian, ​​he decided to give the spot to Duan Yihong directly.

With this role, Cao Yang felt that as long as the movie was successful, Duan Yihong would definitely be able to make a name for himself in Hollywood.

Especially the first three films, which were absolutely able to change the audience's perception of him.

What? You're asking why there are Chinese people in pirate movies who become the captain's first mate and even manage to "usurp" the position?

This is actually a very normal thing.

The events depicted in "Pirates of the Caribbean" are set around 1700, about 40 years after Zheng Chenggong's reconquest of Taiwan. At that time, there were still many Chinese pirates and powerful maritime forces. For example, Zheng Chenggong's father, Zheng Zhilong, once commanded 10 men, making him a "giant" among pirates worldwide.

Later, Zheng Chenggong seized Taiwan from the Dutch and used it as a base for his anti-Qing campaign. The main force behind this was Zheng Zhilong's pirate group.

Later, the female pirate Zheng Yi Sao also commanded an unprecedentedly large fleet.

At its peak, he commanded approximately 1800 ships of various sizes, totaling 70000 to 80000 pirates, and is known as the most successful pirate fleet in history!
Its formidable naval strength meant that even the Qing, British, and Portuguese navies had to avoid its advance.

The female pirate queen "Madame Ching" in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series is based on her.

Pirates, after all, value strength above all else. As long as you demonstrate ability at sea, "usurping" the position of captain is no big deal.

On October 20, President Han, full of confidence, held a press conference with Cao Yang to announce that China Film Group, Qingdao Film Studio, and Disney would jointly invest $160 million to create the fantasy film "New Pirates of the Caribbean".

This caused a sensation in the country.

Although the media reported the news extensively, they were not particularly surprised.

Disney had already held a press conference in the US, and the news had also reached China, although it wasn't mentioned at the time that it would be with China Film Group and Qingdao Film Studio.

Even the media reporters didn't expect that this film, with an investment of $1.6 million, would ultimately become a co-production.

Of course, there are also well-informed people who know that Cao Yang played a decisive role in all of this; otherwise, China Film Group and Qingdao Film Studio would have had no chance.

The two CEOs of Huayi Brothers knew about this news and sighed that China Film Group and Qingdao Film Studio had gotten incredibly lucky, otherwise they wouldn't have had so many high-quality resources to invest in them.

Huayi has the right to speak on this matter.

They also tried investing in a few movies in Hollywood, but in short, it was all for naught – a complete loss.

Those ruthless bastards in Hollywood, some of their movies do quite well at the box office, and based on Huayi's experience, they're definitely going to make money.

However, the result was that the finance department showed their people a huge pile of receipts, and when they added them all up, none of the box office revenue was enough to break even.

Therefore, after being scammed several times, the Huayi Brothers gave up the idea of ​​investing in Hollywood movies.

However, the information they received indicated that China Film Group and Qingdao Film Studio had made a fortune, several times their initial investment, following Cao Yang's several investments.

This made the Huayi brothers both envious and angry.

Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, they couldn't get in touch with Cao Yang; he simply ignored them.

What? You want to be tough and assertive?
Ha, with Cao Yang's current status and influence, it's already a good thing that he's not causing them any trouble. What right do they have to act arrogantly?

The Beijing Film Academy is quite remarkable these days. With a core leader, there's a growing sense of unity and cohesion. The directors and cinematographers who are doing well all understand the importance of unity.

Especially the graduates of Beijing Film Academy in recent years, they are even more remarkable, with stronger cohesion.

Given President Han's relationship with Cao Yang, who would dare to offend Cao Yang now?
Huayi Brothers also heard inside information that next month, Cao Yang's identity will receive an additional layer of official protection.

In November, Cao Yang attended the Eighth National Congress of Literary and Art Circles, which was of a very high level.

As expected, Cao Yang became one of the vice chairmen of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

This month, while preparing for the film, Cao Yang also summoned several lead actors to Beijing for a script reading session.

This has almost become his trademark: before filming begins, he always spends at least twenty days discussing the scene.

This is also considered by outsiders to be one of his methods of training actors.

Of course, the actor himself also believes that the reason he was able to be so relaxed and comfortable during filming was because of this process of explaining the scene.

In any case, there is already a consensus that Cao Yang has a special "charm" that makes it easier for actors to understand the film and get into character.

(End of this chapter)