Dominating Hollywood: Starting with Scarlett

Chapter 172 Recruiting actors
"Excuse me, what's the matter with you?" Tang De asked.

Scott Borchetta smiled politely: "I want to know what song was sung just now? I am a record company boss, maybe we have a chance to cooperate."

"Oh." Tang De said regretfully, "Sorry, it was a girl from my company who was singing just now. This is her first album."

Little Taylor nodded repeatedly: "My name is Taylor Swift."

"Taylor Swift...you sing really well. Unfortunately, I seem to be a step too late." Scott Bochetta felt a little regretful.

He had a vague feeling that this girl would become a new generation of backbone singer in the future, and maybe many people would like her.

But now that she has been signed, it seems that she has no chance.

So after expressing his appreciation, Scott Borchetta left.

"Look, Don, the record company has taken a fancy to me." Little Taylor was very happy when he saw this: "If you hadn't signed me, maybe I would have joined his company."

"You're right, Taylor, but there are no ifs in this world."

After a series of negotiations, Lionsgate and Norton Eyes finally reached an agreement with some revised terms.

One percent of the profit in the tens of millions is hundreds of thousands, so Tang De was very satisfied with this agreement.

But it is really difficult to find suitable actors with such a cost, because "Little Miss Sunshine" is destined to be impossible to give an exorbitant salary.

But now they can't find the right person.

Tang De smiled and then continued to chat with Nathan Chapman about musical collaboration.

Greta handed over a few pages of white paper with faces printed on them: "Don, I have found some actors who agree with the request, but... we can't give them the salary they want. These people's salary is increased It’s already four million dollars.”

For example, the final profit amount of the movie was changed to 40 million US dollars.

Fortunately, they finally found Abigail Breslin.

And Tang De was not idle. He signed a gambling agreement with Lionsgate Pictures.

It's nice to be able to take some hair off the cheapskate that is Lionsgate.

"Salary?" Tang De spread his hands: "It doesn't matter, Greta, I will make them realize the potential of this movie. Maybe they will cut their salary to star."

Although Norton Eyes became an instant hit after the success of "Saw", "Little Miss Sunshine" is still a low-cost movie, with a production cost of only $800 million.

One day later, Tang De and his party returned to New York after finishing their camping trip.

"Greta, do we have any candidates now?" Tang De leaned against the table, surrounded by the staff of "Little Miss Sunshine". They were contacting the venue, contacting the car company, and handling the crew's affairs.

And if the profit exceeds 40 million, then Lionsgate Pictures will distribute the profit at 8%.

And that's even if it's a road movie.

The reason why it was not filmed before was because we could not find a suitable little girl actor. After all, half of the success of this movie is based on the protagonist. If she does not look cute enough and interesting enough, the tension of the movie will be much less.

This little girl is the original protagonist of "Little Miss Sunshine". She is a child star and is only 7 years old now.

After signing the agreement, Tang De returned to the company without stopping.

However, finding the heroine does not mean that the preparation of the film will be smooth sailing, because other supporting actors are also crucial.

Because "Little Miss Sunshine" encountered some problems.

After saying that, he looked at the actors on the paper. The first one was the actor who played Grandpa: Alan Arkin.

Alan Arkin is a veteran actor who has performed wonderfully in "Edward Scissorhands" and "Love". He is also a director, screenwriter and producer.

If you want to convince him to star, you can only visit him at home.

After finding out where Alan Arkin lived, he took Greta and screenwriter Michelle and flew directly to California.

"Ding dong!"

In front of the gate of a country villa, Tang De and three others were waiting quietly.

"Click." A minute later, the door was opened.

Behind the door stood Alan Arkin's wife. She was a middle-aged woman who looked very kind. After seeing Tang De and his party, she said enthusiastically: "You are Tang, come in quickly..."

Several people followed the woman into the villa and saw Alan Arkin sitting on a chair and reading a newspaper.

"Welcome!" Alan Arkin stood up immediately after seeing Tang De and opened his hands.

Tang De reached out and hugged him.

"Mr. Arkin, I really like your "Seven Loves"." What Tang De was talking about was the drama film shot by Alan Arkin in 1967, which tells seven short stories about "adultery" . "Oh, that's really old. To be honest, I have forgotten the plot of this movie now." Alan Arkin laughed, and everyone took their seats.

"I came here this time to actually have a script for you to star in." Tang De took out the script and handed it to Alan Arkin: "I know you have been recuperating during this period, but after I read this script, The first thing that comes to my mind is you.”

"What kind of script is it?" Alan Arkin looked at the cover of the script, "Little Miss Sunshine."

It doesn't seem like a story about old people.

"This is a story about family." Tang De briefly explained the plot of the story.

Although "Little Miss Sunshine" is a movie that shows family problems, it is not a traditional movie full of coldness and despair. Instead, the film replaces sadness with joy and depression with brightness.

The little girl Olive is a common country girl in America. She has a small belly, a round face, and wears glasses. She looks ordinary. But she had a dream to be a model, so by chance, when she qualified for the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant, her family accompanied her on the journey.

But unlike a regular family, the other members of Olive's family also have their own flaws and are a little weird.

For example, her father is a success trainer and firmly believes that his books can be successful, so he spends his family's savings to promote his books.

For example, her uncle was a psychology professor, but unfortunately he fell in love with his male student. After his love was rejected, he cut his wrists and committed suicide in anger. He was later rescued, but he fell into depression and was unable to extricate himself.

Another example is her brother, who, in order to pass the pilot test, refused to speak until he achieved his goal, and insisted on using writing instead of speaking for 9 months. Unfortunately, Olive finally discovered that he was color blind and was not qualified to take the pilot test.

And finally, her grandfather, who was kicked out of a nursing home for sucking leaves, chose to teach Olive how to striptease because he liked sexy women. This leads to Olive performing a striptease at the beauty pageant, which becomes the most hilarious scene in the film.

The only normal person in the entire film is Olive's mother, and it is her mother who firmly supports Olive and allows the little girl to realize her dream.

Although this dream finally turned into a joke in the eyes of the world, it is not important. What is important is that in the process, the Olive family finally learned to reconcile.

By the time Alan Arkin finished reading this script, it was already dusk.

Tang De and the others were playing Frisbee with the old man's dog in the yard.

"Don, do you think he would agree?" Michelle came over. "Little Miss Sunshine" was his first script. Unfortunately, he never had the chance to make it into a movie, so after Norton Eyes purchased it, he has been very concerned about it. Take heart.

"Of course I will, don't worry." Tang De comforted the anxious man: "I believe Mr. Allen will like the role of grandpa in it."

"hope so……"

As soon as he finished speaking, Alan Arkin walked out of the room: "Don!"

"Mr. Arkin." Tang De threw the Frisbee far away and came to Alan Arkin: "How is it?"

"I like this script." Alan Arkin expressed his love as expected: "I think this character is very interesting. He sucks leaves and loves beautiful women, but he always encourages everyone in the family with his nagging. Even though he died in the end, it was quite interesting to play a corpse.”

"Then do you agree to perform? We may not be able to give a high salary."

Greta and Michelle both walked over, waiting expectantly for Alan Arkin's answer.

"Of course, even if you don't pay me, I still want to act." Mr. Alan Arkin led everyone back to the house and changed the subject: "But Tang, you need to promise me something."

"What's the matter?" Tang De didn't know what he was planning to do, but he thought it was something related to the crew.

However, to his surprise, Alan Arkin said: "I want you to take a group of photos for me, how about it?"

"Photos?" Michelle and Greta looked at each other, wondering why the old man made such a request.

Tang De was also a little confused: "Why?"

Alan Arkin laughed: "Good luck, Donde, is that enough?"

"Hahaha, I didn't expect you to hear this nickname." Tang De laughed.

"Of course!" Alan Arkin picked up the newspaper: "Charlize Theron recently won the Screen Actors Guild's Best Actress award. She thanked you for filming at the award ceremony."

Tang De has been busy with the crew for the past two days, and he really hasn't paid attention to "The Devil". The movie has just been released, and he didn't expect to win an award.

Look at the newspaper in the old man’s hand again. The headline on it is: "Charlize Theron wins Best Actress, frankly speaking that Tang De brings good luck."

It seems that this title has really begun to be implemented. Now, the curvature of Tang De's mouth is even wider.

This will undoubtedly save him a lot of effort in persuading other actors.

Maybe some actors will take the initiative to seek cooperation.

"So I think your picture is more important than your paycheck," Alan Arkin quipped.

"This is my honor." Tang De nodded: "Don't worry, I will take a great set of photos for you."

(End of this chapter)