I was just thinking about taking the arts exam and you said I've been playing supporting roles

Chapter 471 Desperate measures!

As it turns out, Rachel Winter was indeed a difficult woman to deal with.

Even with funding cut off like this, she didn't immediately agree to Paula's offer because she knew very well what Chen Jin's team was planning.

Chen Jin wants the role of Raine.

However, in her opinion, a script adapted from a true story should not have an Asian actor playing the second male lead. This would not be in line with the original intention of the story and would feel very out of place.

Out of her love for the script and the trust Matthew, the male lead, placed in her, she felt she couldn't rashly agree to the investment just because of the funding.

Yes, Rachel is indeed short of money.

The Dallas series has indeed run out of funding.

However, there are countless examples of scripts being ruined by changes in actors due to the intervention of capital.

In Hollywood, this is perfectly normal.

Investing in Saunders is normal practice, but ruining the project is something Rachel cannot accept. She has already taken the current "Dallas" script as her hope and belief, and she will definitely make the project and achieve perfection with limited funds.

So... Rachel neither rejected nor accepted the investment from CETC.

She maintained a smart neutrality, after all, she didn't know what the future held, and it wouldn't be polite to refuse outright.

Psychologically, she doesn't actually accept it.

"All right!"

"I didn't expect her to be so persistent!"

Chen Jin couldn't help but laugh as she listened to Paula's constant rants and insults towards this stubborn and foolish woman on the phone.

Actually, from Chen Jin's perspective, he didn't see anything wrong with it.

Rachel Winter is a very competent producer. Even at the risk of losing funds, she would not bring in investors she was not optimistic about without her consent. Doesn't this further demonstrate how much the other party values ​​the project?
No wonder "Dallas" was a success in the end; it was inseparable from her persistence, the actors' dedication, and mutual trust.

This made Chen Jin even more interested in the drama.

Because if that's the case, his butterfly effect would change less; even if he played Ryan, the quality of the film should not be much different from the original, at least the plot of the movie would definitely be outstanding.

The only difference is that the character of Ryan has been replaced by a Chinese person.

This may seem incongruous, but if the acting is convincing, the audience will overlook these details; because there are Chinese people with AIDS in the United States, and it is possible for Chinese and white people to become friends, there is no problem in reality.

"Now, there's only one last move left!"

Chen Jin certainly hadn't given up on the project. On the contrary, he had anticipated this would happen when he had Paula make the call to invest.

If the investment is accepted, that would be even better, as he wouldn't need to prepare anything for the role.

Investing a few million to get a supporting role in a film is feasible in any film market worldwide.

But now that the other party is being ambiguous, let's follow the original timeline and wait for the actor that Ryan confirmed to withdraw, that is, Bernal's failure to show up. At that time, Rachel Winter will definitely be anxious to audition again.

That investment call will be very useful.

If Chen Jin hadn't contacted her during this time, Rachel Winter might not have even thought of him after Bernal dropped out of the show.

But now, she will probably send Chen Jin another audition invitation.

This is called "desperate measures."

Given how much Rachel Winter values ​​this script, she will obviously be eager to film it, and filming may start soon.

In that case, Bernal not playing Ryan would be another major mishap for Rachel's production team.

When that time comes, she will definitely recruit the actors who auditioned for the role of Ryan as soon as possible, including Chen Jin.

She will choose the most suitable one.

As with the original timeline, she conducted the audition online.

"Chan, you're not still thinking about that role, are you?"

Paula noticed that Chen Jin hadn't spoken, so she couldn't help but ask him a question, mainly because his previous words didn't seem to express any anger.

Most people, when faced with this situation, would definitely join their manager in cursing this bitch.

But Chen Jin remained calm throughout.

"Why not?"

"No one can say for sure until things reach the final stage!"

Sensing Paula's displeasure on the other end of the phone, Chen Jin quickly said, "Paula, you're not Chinese, you don't understand our situation in Hollywood!"

"Although I'm not desperate to make a living in Hollywood, it's much harder for me to get roles than for white people!"

"This means I have to put in more effort than other North American actors, even those less talented than me!"

Do you understand what I mean?

Paula fell silent at Chen Jin's words, though she actually understood what he meant.

Yes, it's harder for Chinese actors to make it in this country than for Black actors; Chen Jin didn't come to Hollywood just to make a living. If he wanted to make money or anything else, he could have done it all in China.

He wanted to conquer this place, or rather, he wanted to gain worldwide recognition.

To put it in a pretentious way, this is a pursuit of the spiritual world.

To reach such a level, one must pay a heavy price; one may even suffer discrimination, criticism, and insults, but one will also gain their respect.

Just like Yao Ming is to the NBA, or Jackie Chan is to Hollywood.

They come to America and Hollywood, partly to make money, but also partly to pursue their own goals.

Chen Jin is a case in point now.

"It will be very difficult for Chinese films alone to win an Oscar in this lifetime!"

Although the value of an Oscar may decrease year by year, winning one is certainly better than not winning one.

For actors, more honors are certainly beneficial.

Moreover, around 2012, it was the honeymoon period between China and the United States, and the Oscars were at their most valuable.

"Chan, then good luck!"

"I won't give up on any audition, and I really want to witness with you the world's first Asian to win an Oscar for Best Actor!"

To date, apart from Li An and a few others who have won directing awards, no one of the actors has won Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, or Best Actress awards.

Including actors from Japan and South Korea.

"That's my goal too!"

Chen Jin smiled. In fact, if he continued to develop like this, winning an Oscar was only a matter of time.

Because he knew better than anyone that some films that would win Oscars in the future had a chance if they seized just one opportunity.

And as his fame in Hollywood grows, his success rate will increase.

Because of his fame, he is more likely to get roles in auditions, which means he is more likely to participate in award-winning films in the future.

If they can't get one, they'll get two. Chen Jin didn't believe that they wouldn't be able to get one in the next 10 years.

This is his bottom line.

After hanging up the phone with Paula, Chen Jin immediately began filming "Fast & Furious 6".

While the Oscars are important, commercial films are also crucial for boosting his popularity and influence in North America.

You can not have it both ways.

But Chen Jin wanted to try and see if she could have both the fish of North American commercial films and the bear's paw of art films.
Having a system should be feasible.

In Chen Jin's view, the two are even complementary.

Commercial films boost his fame, awards bolster his professional abilities; the combination of the two makes it entirely possible for a top Hollywood star to have an Asian face!
Rumbling--

Violent explosions accompanied Chen Jin's high-speed car chase, and scene after scene unfolded on the film set.

What Chen Jin didn't know was that the "Dallas" crew was facing another very difficult problem. His butterfly effect hadn't affected Bernal's decision to give up.

Just like in the original timeline, after Rachel Winter secured funding for the start of filming and the initial stages, she prepared to contact the actors to confirm their start dates, but... Bernal had somehow gone missing.

She tried to contact him for two days but couldn't get through to him or his agent. What made Rachel even more devastated was that this guy had just unilaterally announced that he was withdrawing from the filming of the movie "Dallas".

"Isaac, I need an explanation!"

What's going on with your artists?

Rachel, suppressing her anger, yelled at Bernal's agent on the other end of the phone.

"Rachel, Wall Street is withdrawing its funds!"

"Yes, so what? I've raised the funds!"

Rachel was speaking through gritted teeth when she was interrupted by Bernal's agent, Isaac, who said, "I know about Matthew's zero-pay appearance!"

"Besides this guy, no one else will play these unreliable tricks with you!"

“I initially agreed to let Bernal audition because of Wall Street’s investment, but now that they’ve withdrawn their funding, I’m not optimistic about the film’s prospects. Do you expect Bernal to play this game with you, spending half a year just to film a supporting role?”

This would not be allowed by any agent.

Not to mention that Dallas was a low-budget film from the start, very few agents would support their artists choosing this script.

Now that they've withdrawn their investment, they have even more reason to make their artists choose to give up.

This project looks like it has a very high chance of failing.

If producers can salvage the situation, then what's the point of having the Big Six Hollywood studios?
A producer can't really help much with the start and finish of a film, especially when it comes to funding.

"Rachel, calm down!"

"Our contract was signed with Wall Street, and withdrawing now is simply fulfilling the terms of that contract!"

There was absolutely no breach of contract.

If we really have to categorize it, it was Wall Street that broke the contract first, and the actors were just helplessly giving up after the other party withdrew.

Yes, at least that's what Isaac thinks.

"Is this your idea, or Garcia's?"

Rachel gritted her teeth. She really thought highly of Bernal playing Ryan because he had played similar roles before and had a lot of experience, which would be important for the stability of the filming and would also save money.

So unless absolutely necessary, she still wants to try.

"what?"

Isaac responded coldly, as if it were a joke, "What's the difference? Garcia's meaning is my meaning!"

"Is it because he doesn't want to act?"

"I want to talk to Garcia on the phone!"

She couldn't believe that an actor would give up such a role after seeing such a good script.

Just like Matthew McConaughey would have done this for free.

Excellent actors will definitely be able to see the excellence of this script.

"Excuse me, Rachel, to be honest, I'm the one who asked him to audition for this show, purely because you were my original partner!"

“Garcia didn’t actually want to play this role; he felt it was repetitive!”

"You should understand that actors who are truly ambitious about their careers never play repetitive or similar roles!"

"In this way, you won't be able to break out of your own performance framework!"

"Stepping outside and constantly challenging oneself with new roles is what actors love most, just like... DiCaprio!"

Leonardo DiCaprio's roles have never been repeated.

But how many people in this world can become Leonardo DiCaprio?
But that's how Americans are; they'll look to the best as an example, calling them idols, and so can they.

And you can't mock him, otherwise they'll say you don't respect his ideals and discriminate against him... Americans are very superstitious about this.

So even though Rachel was furious at Isaac's words, scoffed at Bernal's self-proclaimed status as Leonardo DiCaprio, and inwardly mocked him, she... still didn't say anything.

Because he knew that the agent on the other end of the phone, like his artist, was an extremely short-sighted clown.

"I really hope that one day in the future, I can see Garcia become DiCaprio!"

Goodbye, Mr. Isaac!

Snapped!
Before Isaac could continue, Rachel Winter abruptly ended the call.

She was afraid that hearing this bastard's disgusting, anal-slurred words would make her nauseous, and she was afraid she wouldn't be able to resist unleashing a torrent of abuse on him.

This has resulted in Rachel having a lot of pent-up anger with nowhere to vent it.

"You son of a bitch, are you torturing me?"

Rachel looked up at God and felt that God was deliberately working against her lately.

But the more challenging the situation, the more resilient Rachel becomes.

She has that kind of personality—unyielding and never backing down.

"Three weeks. There are still three weeks until the plane departs!"

"I need to lose weight for this role, and even if the schedule is moved up, I don't have much time!"

Rachel bit her fingernails, extremely anxious. She paced back and forth, calculating that she had at most three days to quickly determine and finalize the role of Ryan.

Only 3 days!
Moreover, a contract must be signed and the salary negotiated.

This puts a lot of pressure on the casting process.

But there's no way around it; that's just how filming is sometimes—accidents happen all the time, especially for independent, low-budget art films like hers, which are often short on funds.

"Calm down, Rachel, you need to calm down!"

clap clap clap!
Rachel stretched out her hands and slapped her face hard, forcing herself to calm down.

After focusing his gaze, he said calmly, "Let's finalize the cast first. In case another talented person like Bernal comes along, we can hold auditions together!"

With that in mind, Rachel quickly made phone calls to the casting director and several main actors.

Once all the actors and crew members were confirmed, Rachel then compiled a list of candidates who needed to audition and recruited any missing personnel.

Fortunately, Rachel is actually quite popular.

After several hours of phone calls, the most important thing was still the role of Ryan. Other missing characters in the production could be easily replaced, and extras who were unavailable could be replaced by actors from the Screen Actors Guild.

Rennes!
He needs to audition again, and... he only has 3 days.

"Then let's choose from the actors who auditioned at the beginning!"

Rachel got into work mode, turned on her computer and started looking through the audition materials from the beginning. Suddenly... a special actor's resume appeared in her sight.

This is an Asian actor. Rachel didn't have a particularly good impression of him, but his agent had just called her a few days ago to say that he could invest in the script for "Dallas".

"Jin Chan?"

Rachel muttered to herself, shook her head, and mentally ruled out this candidate.

The reason I took a second look was simply because his skin color stood out among the resumes of all the auditioning actors.

"Fine, I'll let them know too!"

The main problem is that there's no time; finding new actors within three days is definitely not enough.

Then we can only choose from the actors who auditioned before. Sending out more audition notices means one more chance.

Although Rachel didn't think highly of Chen Jin!
But what's that old Chinese saying again?

A dead horse... we might as well try anything!
It's better than nothing, right?
(End of this chapter)