Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 271 Batman Selection

As changes were taking place in Hollywood, Link brought the crew of "The Sixth Sense" to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the East Coast to shoot.

The reason for choosing to shoot here is that Philadelphia’s history is older than other cities, and there are many older buildings. The environment here is quiet and has a high vegetation coverage rate, which is suitable for shooting supernatural movies.

"Philadelphia," which won Tom Hanks the Oscar for Best Actor this year, was also filmed here.

However, when the crew started filming, Tom Hanks was still studying how to be a good psychologist and did not join the crew, so Link was unable to appreciate his expression when he revisited the old place.

"Scene 1, 1st take, begins!"

The male lead Tom Hanks was not there, so the crew first filmed the scenes with the little boy Cole, who was played by child star Haley Joel Osment.

Haley is 7 years old this year, two years younger than required in the script. He once played Forrest Gump's son in "Forrest Gump".

Over the past two years, he has grown a lot and looks like a little adult, more mature than his peers.

He has a handsome and cute appearance, and his acting skills are very spiritual, which is why the crew lowered the age standard and selected him.

The actress who plays Cole's mother is Holly Hunter, who won the Oscar for Best Actress for "The Piano Lesson" earlier this year. The image of the mother she played in "The Piano Lesson" is very full and very suitable for the role.

The role of the doctor's wife is played by Diane Lane.

She did well in the audition, and being friends with Jodie Foster and Michelle Pfeiffer, Link called her name in the final round.

After the filming of the movie officially started, her performance was good and did not disappoint Link's expectations.

"The Sixth Sense" began filming in early October. Since the early stages were mainly focused on shooting the little boy Cole's scenes, the filming progress was relatively slow. We shot two or three shots a day, and the rest of the time we chatted with the little guy, told him stories, and taught him how to shoot, helping him slowly get on with it.

Fortunately, Haley has a great talent for acting, and he can perform many scenes quickly as long as he is patiently explained a few times.

"Mommy, what are you thinking about?"

In the restaurant, little Cole looked up at his mother, Lynn Hill. Mrs. Hill had left the restaurant less than 10 seconds ago. When she returned, she found that all the drawers and cabinet doors in the restaurant were opened. Some doors were more than one meter from the ground, while little Cole was only one meter away. It was impossible for him to do all these things in just 10 seconds, but he was the only one in the restaurant.

Mrs. Hill screamed in fear when she saw the scene in the restaurant.

"A lot of things."

Mrs. Hill said, standing at the dining table.

"Do you think I'm bad?"

asked Cole Jr.

"Hey, look at me!"

Mrs. Hill bent over the dining table and looked into little Cole's eyes. "I definitely don't think you're bad, understand?"

"understand!"

Cole nodded.

Link looked through the set of shots and found a few problems, so he walked to the dining table and chatted with the young actor Haley Joel Osment, telling him that he did a good job and that there were a few places that needed slight adjustments to make the performance better.

Haley's father is Eugene Osment, also a professional actor, Haley's agent and acting teacher.

Sometimes little Haley's father would also give guidance and tell him how to act.

During the second take, Haley performed much better. Although there were still some minor problems, he was not going to interfere too much.

In order not to destroy the spirituality displayed by the young actor in his performance, he can play freely in some places without forcing him to follow the script.

While Link was filming in Philadelphia, there was a lot of negative talk about him in the media.

Some media accused him of cutting in line to shoot other movies while preparing for the "Batman" sequel project, believing that he was not serious and indecisive, and that it was possible that both movies would not be good.

Some media also reported that senior executives of Warner Bros. were dissatisfied with Link's approach and were preparing to replace the director.

Neither Link nor Warner Bros. responded to the reports.

Because it is not necessary.

In early November, after completing the project budget, Warner Bros. transferred the first installment of filming funds of $5500 million to the project account.

Preparations for the sequel to "Batman" are also progressing smoothly.

Under Link's instructions, the props team, costume design team, model makers, set designers, sculptors and others began to work, making the props needed in the movie according to his design, and creating "Batman" filming sets in New York, Chicago, Cincinnati and other places.

At the same time, the crew also started casting.

It was finally confirmed that Gary Oldman would play the role of "Two-Face". He had played the vampire Dracula in "Dracula" and the bad policeman Stanfield in "Léon: The Professional", and his acting skills were superb.

Jim Carrey plays the 'Riddler', a role designed for Jim Carrey and most suitable for him to play.

Nicole Kidman plays Dr. Chase. Originally, this role was played by Monica, but Monica didn't want to play such a vase role, and she had better roles in her hands, so this role fell into Nicole Kidman's hands.

Michael Caine plays the butler, who is also the butler in Nolan's Batman trilogy. He is 61 years old this year and has superb acting skills. He is the most suitable actor to play the old butler. Ryan Phillippe plays Robin. He looks sunny and handsome, and is not very old, which fits the setting of "Robin".

Drew Barrymore plays the villain assistant Britney Spears.

Michelle Pfeiffer reprises her role as Catwoman in the Batman sequel.

The action director is Yuan Heping.

The male protagonist Batman is played by Ben Affleck.

During the audition process, the crew considered many male stars, including Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis, rising star Brad Pitt, Matthew McConaughey, Val Kilmer, Jean-Claude Van Damme and others.

Some of these people have superb acting skills, some are famous, some have excellent looks, and some are good at action scenes.

But in comprehensive comparison, they are all inferior to Ben Affleck.

Ben Affleck has a good appearance and is 191 cm tall, which fits the tall and handsome image of Batman. After the hit movie "Seven", Ben Affleck's fame soared and he became a top male star in Hollywood with a certain box office appeal.

Also, Ben often has a cold and expressionless face when performing, which is also in line with Batman's setting.

In the end, considering that Ben Affleck played Batman well in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", he is considered to be the most popular Batman after Christian Bale.

After looking at the profiles of several auditioning actors, Link accepted the role.

In fact, he also thought about inviting Christian Bale to play Batman, but he was still developing his career in the UK and was a second-tier actor who had just debuted. He lacked acting skills and box office appeal.

In this case, Ben Affleck is the only choice.

"Thank you, Link! Thank you for giving me this role. Don't worry, I will definitely play this role well and strive to make our version of Batman the most classic one."

After receiving the notice from the crew, Ben Affleck excitedly called to express his gratitude and made some bold statements.

Link shook his head. "Don't be happy too soon. After the casting is over, the crew will give you special training, practice fighting, martial arts, boxing, etc. If you can't persist, the crew will consider replacing you."

"Haha, don't worry Link, I won't give up even if I die of exhaustion on the training ground."

Ben Affleck said, patting his chest.

"Also, you are too thin. You need to gain muscle during training and have obvious muscle contours. The stronger the better."

"Haha, no problem, no problem at all. I will definitely train hard and grow muscles. The next time you see me, I promise that my figure will be no worse than that of a bodybuilder."

"I hope you can do it."

Link hung up the phone.

"yeah!"

Affleck clenched his fists and shouted excitedly.

"Ben, did Link really let you play Batman?"

In the villa, Casey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix, and Summer Phoenix asked curiously.

"Of course, I'm Link's favorite actor now, so it's normal for him to use me as Batman."

Ben Affleck grinned with a smug look on his face.

"That shouldn't be the case. I heard from Sofia that you performed very poorly in the crew. You always held the crew back during each shoot, and Link had to give you repeated instructions before you could perform well. Sofia said that Link was almost fed up with you. How could he give you such an important role as Batman?"

Casey Affleck teased.

"Hmph! Don't listen to what Sofiako says. She doesn't understand the friendship between us men. Link and I are not only good partners, but also good friends. He told me in person that I have the greatest potential among all the actors he has worked with. If he doesn't think highly of me, would he say something like this?"

"Link has said this to many actors, some have the greatest potential, some have the highest talent, some are the most spiritual, etc. There's no need to take this kind of compliment too seriously."

Joaquin Phoenix curled his lips.

"You are jealous. I am in a good mood and I won't bother with you."

Ben Affleck chuckled and looked at the silent Matt Damon, "Hey, Matt, relax a little, don't be too stressed. Although I'm a big star, I'm still your friend. I'm not the kind of person who will stop recognizing friends after becoming famous."

Matt Damon glanced at him and said, "You should be the one feeling the pressure. Batman is a superhero with many fans. If you don't perform well and the audience is dissatisfied, don't blame me for not acknowledging you as my friend at the premiere."

"Hehe, don't worry, I can definitely play Batman well."

Ben Affleck was originally very happy, but after hearing Matt's warning, he suddenly felt a lot more pressure.

"Batman" appeared in comics in the 30s. It became very popular as soon as it was launched and has a large number of fans across the United States and around the world.

Later, it was made into a movie and achieved very good results, making Batman a classic screen image comparable to Superman. If he had messed up this role, the consequences would have been serious.

Ben Affleck didn't dare to show off anymore and quickly found the script to read it carefully.

(End of this chapter)