Best Director in Literature Department of Huayu

Chapter 101 Audition and Flirting with the Director (4K Views, Seeking Monthly Tickets)

With Christmas just over, most Hollywood studios are in a semi-holiday state.

But the lights still shone all night in a temporary, rented independent production office in Century City.

The speakers on the corner of the table were playing Mars' new single "Attack" in 30 seconds, the booming bass guitar and the lead singer's hoarse screams echoing in the room.

When Roger pushed the door open, he almost thought he had gone to the wrong place.

"Damn it." He glanced at the stereo.

"I'm starting to wonder if this is a casting office or a rock music backstage."

Lin Ruiyang didn't even look up.

"Get used to it in advance."

"Adapt to what?"

"I'm getting used to listening to this guy go crazy every day for the next few months."

After a while, Lin Ruiyang connected to Skype (an instant messaging software that was discontinued in May 2025) video call, but the screen was still black.

The next second, the screen lit up.

The artistic madman that Rogge had been talking about has finally appeared.

At first glance, the people in the conference room were stunned.

Jared in the video clearly had just finished a tour; his long hair was disheveled and his face was somewhat pale.

But what's most eye-catching is his lips; the bright red lipstick is so thick it's almost exaggerated.

A brief silence fell over the meeting room.

Roger rubbed his forehead, suddenly beginning to understand why this guy could make his agent so angry that he had high blood pressure.

Jared acted as if he didn't see the reactions of the crowd.

He slowly tidied his hair, then unzipped his coat, revealing a pink knitted sweater underneath.

"Hi, director." His voice suddenly became softer, even carrying a hint of deliberate coquettishness.

Lin Ruiyang instantly understood; this bastard had already started auditioning.

Skype video resolution is not very high at present, and the picture has a slightly grainy pixelation.

But it is precisely this lo-fi texture that gives the young master on the other end of the camera a hazy, ambiguous feel, like a Texas underground bar.

In the video, he extends his finger, still covered in black nail polish, and slowly pulls a tube of brightly colored, cheap, low-quality lipstick from his pocket.

He doesn't even need a mirror.

He slightly raised his chin, and the scarlet ointment spread roughly and skillfully across his thin lips.

The casting director sitting to the side gasped. He glanced at Lin Ruiyang, then at the screen, completely dumbfounded.

That bastard isn't Jared Leto anymore. Right now, sitting at the desk in that unknown motel is Raymond.

"I heard you're looking for a girl to go to hell with that redneck Ron?"

Jared (or Raymond) tilted his head slightly, his messy long hair slipping down the shoulders of his pink sweater.

He looked at Lin Ruiyang on the other side of the screen with an almost provocative gaze, his fingers tracing circles on his bare collarbone, his voice sweet but bitter: "Oh, look at you, director. You have a face that could make even Hollywood producers obediently pull out their checks."

To be honest, I don't like those suit-wearing weirdos on Wall Street, but you're different...

Tell me, how are you going to torment me on set? Are you going to strip me naked with your cold, unfeeling camera, or do you want to see me slip and fall in the mud in high heels?

Faced with this impromptu audition that could be described as "shocking," Lin Ruiyang not only did not stop it, but also cooperated fully and continued.

As a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy, he knew that this was what it looked like for a method actor to fully immerse himself in a role.

"Raymond, New Orleans winters are cold, and the clinic isn't running out of medicine. What makes you think you'll get your share of the profits within a month?"

"Oh, honey, money is never a problem." Raymond rolled his eyes in front of the camera, leaning forward again until his face was almost pressed against the lens.

The question is, do you dare to want me?

For the next twenty minutes, this Skype call, which spanned half of the United States, turned into a private conversation between Lin Ruiyang and "Raymond".

Jared completely abandoned any semblance of dignity as a star.

Using Raymond's identity, he flirted with Lin Ruiyang, talking about the awful men in Texas's underground bars, his rigid and unforgiving father, and even the despair he felt on the morning he learned he had AIDS.

His tone was sometimes flippant, sometimes melancholic, as he held a non-existent cigarette between his fingers, breathing it out elegantly and morbidly.

Twenty minutes were up.

Raymond on the other end of the screen suddenly dropped all her coquettishness and affectation. Jared Leto's deep blue eyes regained their usual coolness and aloofness.

He tugged at his pink sweater, switched back to his original baritone voice, and raised an eyebrow at the camera: "So, director, am I your Raymond now?"

Lin Ruiyang did not answer directly: "How much do you weigh now?"

Jared paused, clearly not expecting to hear this question.

"Around 76 kilograms."

"It's too heavy."

Jared blinked. "So?"

"If you sign the contract, I need you to lose at least 15 kilograms before filming starts in February, and also shave your eyebrows completely."

Jared grinned, revealing a fervent smile: "No problem, Lin, see you in New Orleans."

The video abruptly cut off, and the conference room fell into a brief silence once more.

Roger let out a long sigh of relief, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. "God, Lin, I take back what I said earlier. This guy isn't crazy, he's a devil. I even thought he really wanted to kiss you through the screen just now."

"This is the artistic tension we're looking for."

"By the way, has it been confirmed that filming will take place in New Orleans and Baton Rouge?" Lin Ruiyang turned to look at Graham, the producer sent by Searchlight.

"The company has confirmed that Louisiana offers tax breaks of up to 30%, and the research team has found filming locations that can be disguised as 1980s Texas."

"That's good. Let's rest for a bit first. We'll try to finish the next audition as quickly as possible."

After dealing with the most troublesome Raymond, the Dallas Buyers Club machine has now completed the installation of its two most crucial gears.

For Lin Ruiyang, there is no more time to spend on casting; the remaining roles just need to be finalized quickly as long as they are suitable.

Soon, the first batch of auditioning actors who had been notified arrived one after another, and the waiting area outside the conference room was soon filled with people.

For lower and mid-level actors in Hollywood, the absolute off-season between Christmas and New Year's is a tempting piece of meat for any independent film project with a full budget of eight million dollars and a cast and crew including established stars like Matthew McConaughey.

If Jared Leto's Skype audition across half of America was like a rock concert, then the subsequent auditions were more like standard procedures on an assembly line.

Come in, perform, leave, and then wait for the outcome.

Lin Ruiyang's requirements were actually very simple.

Authenticity is all that matters, as long as it's authentic.

Lin Ruiyang rubbed his temples and glanced at the last few lists of core personnel he had opened in his hand.

"We got a call from Ghana." Roger shrugged at Lin Ruiyang with a hint of helplessness as he hung up his phone.

"Jennifer Garner's agent just praised Fox and us on the phone, but his tone was full of regret."

She just gave birth to her daughter at the beginning of this month, and her recovery is slower than expected. Coupled with the various inconveniences of breastfeeding, it's simply impossible for her to coordinate with the high-intensity, back-to-back filming schedule in New Orleans in February. She could only wish us a great box office success.

"As expected." Lin Ruiyang calmly drew a faint slash across Jennifer Garner's name.

Hollywood independent films are like marching through a quagmire, allowing no room for fussiness or delays.

While Ghana's absence certainly deprived the production team of a commercially appealing face with inherent buzz, it actually opened a door for Lin Ruiyang to break through traditional casting thinking.

In the original timeline, the role of Doctor Eve Sachs was ultimately played by Jennifer Garner.

Although the performance was decent, the image of the white middle-class female doctor seemed somewhat too bland and symbolic, overshadowed by the almost sacrificial acting of Matthew and Jared, two madmen.

"Lin, if we don't have Ghana, we'll have to pick a female lead from the candidates outside who can carry the rational tone of the whole play." Roger handed over a backup list.

"The people sent by CAA and William Morris are all outside."

Lin Ruiyang's gaze swept quickly across the list, finally settling on one name—Amy Adams.

Adams).

Upon seeing this name, Lin Ruiyang's inner balance began to shift.

At this time, Amy Adams was on the eve of a transformative moment in Hollywood.

Before this, she had wasted nearly ten years in various bad movies, guest appearances in American TV series, and endless auditions, and was once labeled as "sweet but with no presence".

Until this year, she became an overnight sensation at the Sundance Film Festival and in the independent film world with her role as a talkative yet heartbreakingly innocent pregnant woman in the independent film "Junebug," and film critics began to praise her "eyes that can see into the soul."

At this time, she was at a peculiar juncture where her acting skills had just begun to gain recognition, but the mainstream commercial big screen had not yet fully opened its doors to her.

"Call Amy Adams in." Lin Ruiyang tapped the table with his pen.

Two minutes later, Amy Adams, sporting her signature red hair, walked into the conference room.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Amy Adams," Amy greeted politely.

"Good afternoon, Amy. I really enjoyed your performance in 'Junebug,' your eyes are so expressive."

Without wasting any words, Lin Ruiyang pushed a page of the script in front of her: "This is a scene from Dr. Sachs's film in the later part of the movie."

She discovered reports that hospital executives were deliberately concealing the side effects of AZT for the benefit of the pharmaceutical company, and she was going to confront her mentor and boss. "I'll give you five minutes. No need to move around, just read your lines."

Amy took the script and began to read it carefully.

Five minutes later, when she turned back to face Lin Ruiyang, the tension and shyness in her eyes disappeared, replaced by a suppressed pain.

"Doctor, we took an oath." Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke.

"When those young people died in the ward like rotting leaves, we told them it was God's will."

But now you're telling me that it's actually determined by... by the financial statements of those pharmaceutical companies?

I spent thirty years learning how to save lives, not to be a cleaner for a bunch of murderers in suits!

As she finished speaking, a tear unexpectedly slid down her slightly reddened eye and rolled down her pale cheek.

"Thank you for your performance."

Amy, still not quite understanding, paused for a moment, then asked, "Is it over?"

"it's over."

She seemed a little reluctant to leave, but still stood up with a smile: "Thank you to the production team for giving me this audition opportunity."

The door closed again.

The three people at the main table exchanged glances.

"How is it?"

The casting director shrugged hesitantly: "Her explosive power is indeed amazing, but do you really think her sweet red-haired face can hold her own against those two lunatics, Matthew and Jared? Dr. Sachs is a professional who has seen life and death in a cold medical system, and I'm worried that she looks too weak."

"It's precisely because she looks sweet that her idealism is so cruel."

Graham agreed: "And she's really cheap right now. As long as we offer her the independent film union's base salary plus a symbolic share of the profits, her agent can sign the contract tonight. That's the perfect value for our $8 million budget."

"Then it's her. Let's notify William Morris to prepare the contract."

With the female lead, the biggest variable, secured, the auditions for the remaining supporting roles proceeded much faster in the following days.

Police officers, doctors, FDA officials, club members.

One by one, names were chosen, and then one by one, they were crossed out.

When the last supporting character's name was chosen by Lin Ruiyang, the eight-million-dollar art machine that was "Dallas Buyers Club" was finally fully assembled at the end of 2005.

The most brutal yet fascinating side of Hollywood's independent film industry is about to be revealed: extreme exploitation and absolute dedication.

In early January, Searchlight Pictures' financial audit was officially approved.

With the entire budget of eight million dollars secured, actor contracts were signed one after another, and the filming schedule was precisely planned down to the hour each day.

For independent films, this means they can start filming. The rest is naturally left to the production team to move things forward.

The day before his departure, Lin Ruiyang made another special trip to Fox. The first trailer for "The Devil Wears Prada" had entered the final editing stage and needed his confirmation.

The next morning, at Los Angeles International Airport.

Lin Ruiyang dragged his luggage through the waiting hall. Through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, he could see rows of passenger planes about to take off on the tarmac.

In just six months, from the completion of filming "The Devil Wears Prada" to the completion of preparations for "Dallas Buyers Club".

He has spent almost all his time in the United States, and now he can finally go home for a short break.