Literary Master: Starting with Refusing to Be a Child Star

Chapter 157 Casting

Three days after the outline was finalized, Luo Jinnian changed the project code name from "Space-Time Gravity" to the official project name "Interstellar Travel". He wrote this title at the beginning of the document and then began to organize the complete project plan.

Following the project proposal format of Early Spring Culture, he listed several main modules one by one: project overview, story synopsis, etc.

Character design, science advisor selection, filming techniques, and post-production. The project overview briefly explains the story's background and core concepts:

As Earth's ecology continues to deteriorate, former astronaut Cooper travels through a wormhole to an unknown galaxy in search of habitable planets for the future of humanity.

While on a mission on a planet near a black hole, he discovered a previously overlooked medium of transport—gravity.

Using gravitational waves to transmit information is the only effective way to do so near a black hole. He also discovered that he could use gravitational waves to establish a time-transmission mechanism with his past self.

He spent a significant amount of time on the story outline. He structured the main plot into three acts: the first act depicts Cooper's participation in the exploration mission on Earth and his interactions with his daughter, Murphy; the second act covers the spaceship's exploration of different planets after traversing the wormhole, including the time difference caused by time dilation and the disagreements and pressures that arise during the mission; the third act shows Cooper's journey through the black hole, his information transmission in five-dimensional space, and his eventual reunion with his daughter. He labeled each point with the corresponding scientific concepts to ensure that the subsequent scriptwriting was synchronized with the technical consultants' verification.

He wrote the character settings very briefly, only listing basic information about a few main characters: Cooper, as the central protagonist, is the main driving force of the entire story; Murphy, as Cooper's daughter, serves the dual function of emotional connection and information reception; Dr. Brand is the main scientific advisor; in addition, there are supporting characters such as the spaceship's pilot and navigator. He recorded...

Each character's personality traits and role in the plot were clearly defined, ensuring that this information was sufficient to support the subsequent scriptwriting, without excessively elaborating on each character's background and details.

He listed Chen Yuanfan's name as a science advisor and noted in the remarks column: "Mainly responsible for the theoretical verification of core settings such as gravitational time dilation effect, black hole physics, and wormhole travel." He plans to extract the relevant scientific settings separately after the first draft of the script is completed and submit them to the advisor for special review.

In the section on filming techniques, he briefly outlined the implementation methods for several key scenes: the visual presentation of black holes and their motion patterns from an orbital perspective, the spatial distortion and light refraction effects during wormhole traversal, and the visualization of time in five-dimensional space. He left blank spaces below each item for later additions of more detailed technical solutions and possible implementation paths.

In post-production, he documented the sound design and musical direction, noting that it differed from the soundtrack of *2001: A Space Odyssey*, leaning more towards creating a sense of silence and loneliness in the universe. He listed several key scenes with specific sound requirements, one note mentioning that "the sounds in scenes near black holes should be compressed to an extremely low level to emphasize the visual oppression." These notes were intended for the actual production phase after the script was completed; he was merely making preliminary directional notes during the planning stage to provide reference when coordinating with the relevant production teams.

After completing the proposal, he sent the document to Director Qin and Director Mo for record-keeping, and at the same time notified the project team to officially enter the scriptwriting stage.

He then began to develop the first draft of the script scene by scene according to the outline's scene-by-scene structure, marking each paragraph involving scientific principles with parentheses to indicate that the section required further confirmation from the technical consultant.

He updated the project folder's status label from "Planning" to "Scriptwriting in Progress".

Casting has officially begun. Similar to the pre-production process, Luo Jinnian continued with a systematic approach: first determine the role requirements, then match actors to the roles.

During the project planning phase, he had already set preliminary casting directions for several core roles.

Cooper: A former NASA astronaut, father, and engineer. This role requires both a raw, realistic portrayal of life and deep, complex emotions.

The first name Luo Jinnian chose was Duan Yihong.

The profound sense of weight that the other person displayed in "The Dead End" after being repeatedly honed by life matched Cooper's temperament. A man who has experienced loss and silently shoulders everything should have weariness and resentment in his eyes, but at the same time, he should still be able to shine when looking at the universe.

Amelia Brand: A scientist and astronaut, embodying both reason and conviction.

Luo Jinnian favors Tan Zhuo. Her performance in "The Silent Truth" proves that she can portray the calmness of an intellectual woman, while also conveying the inner strength of the character in extreme situations.

Adult Murph: Cooper's daughter, the scientist who ultimately solves the equations of gravity and saves humanity. This role requires portraying the immense range from childhood reluctance to part with her father to adulthood, inheriting his legacy and shouldering the fate of humanity alone. Luo Jinnian's first choice was Ren Suxi.

The explosive power and emotional intensity she displayed in "Mr. Donkey" and "The Unknown" perfectly matched the nuances required for the role of Murphy, who needed to portray both the precision of a scientist and the pent-up emotions of a daughter waiting for a long time.

Professor Brand: The planner of the project, an old man who dedicated everything to the future of humanity. Luo Jinnian did not hesitate and wrote Jiao Huang's name. The very existence of this over-eighty-year-old artist was the embodiment of the phrase "highly respected and virtuous."

Young Murphy: 8-12 years old, intelligent, stubborn, and full of curiosity about science. This casting was the most challenging—it needed to connect with the adult actor's temperament while also carrying the film's most emotionally charged scenes. Luo Jinnian reviewed the profiles of the child actors he had worked with during the "Tales of Wonder" project and ultimately chose Gu Yanxi. Her age of eleven perfectly matched the character's description, and based on their previous collaboration, he knew she could portray the emotional progression from innocence to confusion to unwavering resolve.

Dr. Mann: An astronaut in Project Outpost, outwardly a victim but harboring selfish ambitions. Luo Jinnian considers Wang Yanhui—his face, which sent chills down one's spine with just a video clip at the end of "The Dead End," perfectly embodies the "seemingly reliable, yet dangerous" quality Dr. Mann needs.

Tom: Cooper's son, unlike Murphy, he chose to stay on the ground. Luo Jinnian set his sights on Zhang Yu, who possessed a rugged quality honed by the land and labor.

As for the supporting characters, the robots TARS and CASE will be created by the special effects team in conjunction with motion capture. For the voices, Luo Jinnian prefers to find a voice actor with a calm voice and a slightly dry humor to give TARS a unique personality.

The first round of casting communication was mainly conducted via email and phone. Luo Jinnian had the casting director send script summaries and character introductions to the agencies of several actors. The responses were faster than he expected—Yi Hong responded the next day, with his agent saying he was "very interested and wanted to see the full script first"; Tan Zhuo said directly on the phone, "For the role of Brand, I'll go back and memorize the physics terms in the lines so I don't get stuck during the audition."

Gu Yanxi was in class when she received the notification. She only replied with one message: "Show me the script."

A week later, the first round of auditions was scheduled at Early Spring Culture's BJ office. Luo Jinnian sat in the conference room, facing the actors who had come to audition. Duan Yihong arrived first, and without exchanging pleasantries, he sat down, flipped through a couple of pages of the script, and then looked up at Luo Jinnian: "In the scene where Cooper leaves his daughter, do you want the line 'I will always love you' to fall to the ground, or float in the sky?"

Luo Jinnian looked at him for a moment: "He fell to the ground. He's not good at saying 'I love you,' and when he said those words, he was also processing their weight."

Duan Yihong nodded, then closed the script: "I'll act it."

When Tan Zhuo auditioned for the role of Brand, she brought a well-worn copy of "A Brief History of Time." "I read this," she said, placing the book on the table, "and some popular science articles about relativity. I need to understand what Brand means before I can say what he says." She read aloud a passage from Brand's monologue on the spaceship about whether love can transcend dimensions—her voice was low, her gaze fixed on some non-existent distance.

When Ren Suxi auditioned for the role of adult Murphy, she chose the scene where she reunites with her elderly father. She stood there, looking at the empty seat opposite her, and said a line: "You shouldn't have come to see me; you should have gone to Brand." Her voice was flat, but there was a very subtle crack at the end. Luo Jinnian noticed that after she finished speaking, her fingers curled slightly at her side, then relaxed. He ticked the box on the form.

Gu Yanxi's auditions were conducted separately, and she stayed behind alone after the meeting. She sat opposite Luo Jinnian and quietly read through several scenes depicting the childhood of Murphy. After closing the script, she asked, "Did Murphy ever hate his father after he left?"

"Yes," Luo Jinnian said, "but that hatred later turned into understanding, and eventually into something else entirely."

"What is it?"

"Turn the reason for leaving into the reason for living."

Gu Yanxi thought for a moment and then said, "I understand."

After the auditions, Luo Jinnian updated the casting status in his memo: four core roles had been confirmed, and the remaining roles were still under negotiation. He noted the corresponding role and confirmation date after each name, then synced the memo to the project folder, noting the next steps in the contract process and scheduling coordination.