Huayu: The Big Players Behind the Scenes

"Bro, didn't I tell you I can't afford to hire you?"

Looking at the shameless Li Zi in front of him, Zhuang Huai'an felt somewhat helpless.

"Besides, you've already read the script; there's no suitable role for you at all."

"I don't care, I'll put on makeup!"

Little Li grinned, "An, since I introduced you to a girl before, how about I give it a try?"

"You have the nerve to say that? Because of this, my scandals have gone viral."

"Tsk, seriously, An, you know what?"

Leonardo DiCaprio looked at him strangely. "Now the whole of Hollywood is practically worshipping you as a medieval paladin! I really don't know if it's your faith or if you've picked up his habits from spending so much time with that weirdo Kirk. What kind of billionaire acts like this?"

"Tch," Zhuang Huai'an said with a disdainful look, "How could someone like you, who stole someone else's fiancée, understand my pure heart?"

"Who stole someone's fiancée?" Leonardo DiCaprio immediately retorted, "The whole world knows I have only one type of interest, don't slander me!"

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, I misunderstood."

Leonardo DiCaprio gave an awkward smile and let the matter drop.

He also knew that there was no suitable role for him in the movie, and he was just here to tag along with Zhuang Huai'an so that they could communicate in the future.

He has no shortage of fame and money, and in terms of awards, he has a Berlin Silver Bear for Best Actor and last year's Golden Globe for Best Actor.

So far, he has no obsession with the Oscars.

"Since we're already here, let's not just sit around."

Zhuang Huai'an got up and pulled him to the audition room. "I'm not very familiar with the actors here, can you introduce them to me?"

"Okay." Little Li nodded indifferently, unable to escape the four great forgivenesses of the Chinese people.

"Brother Yang, release them. Let the actresses come first." In Hollywood, where the latest technology is available, Zhuang Huai'an was very cautious.

"it is good."

Yang Chen was also very cautious, so he specially pulled Zhang Lu along. The man and woman stood at the door calling out numbers, with Lao Feng acting as the deputy examiner. There was also a female black producer from MGM inside.

With all elements maxed out, we fear nothing!

The first person to enter was Nicole Kidman. Even at the end of her prime, the "Goddess of Man" was still formidable, and her pale skin seemed to brighten the room.

Zhuang Huai'an was somewhat surprised. Top-tier actors like them wouldn't go to auditions in person; they have plenty of good resources and are basically all pre-selected.

But since he was already there, after his performance, Zhuang Huai'an didn't act arrogantly. He politely and courteously refused Man Shen's offer, and she didn't seem to mind. She left her contact information and left without showing any emotion.

Zhuang Huai'an initially thought this was just the professionalism of Hollywood actors, but the continuous stream of big-name actors left him a bit bewildered, so he quickly called for a halt.

"Hehehe, are you dumbfounded?"

Leonardo DiCaprio winked at him, "Now you know your status in Hollywood, right?"

"call…"

Zhuang Huai'an also figured it out. This wasn't an audition for a role; they were clearly here for him. He had specifically told Yang Chen that this was an art film, and art films are equivalent to low-budget films, so he hadn't planned to use A-list actors, and he hadn't expected so many A-list actors to come!

"Okay! Let's call it a day. Yang, go and have them leave their information. I'll contact them directly." Zhuang Huai'an said somewhat helplessly, hastily ending his first Hollywood audition.

"Bro, you've actually fallen into a misconception."

Leonardo DiCaprio laughed and said, "You started out as a director of art-house films and just won the Grand Slam, which makes everyone have high expectations for your film. The chances of winning are high, so they are willing to lower their standards. They would even offer themselves up for auditioning, let alone personally."

"Okay, then I have no choice. Shall we go?"

Zhuang Huai'an got up and stretched, extending a manly invitation. Little Li accepted without hesitation, and the two went to the toilet to relieve themselves.

"Bro, is this reasonable?"

"That makes sense."

"Fuck, he's even taller than me!"

"Not only that, it's farther than you."

The two walked out the door. Zhuang Huai'an looked down at him with disdain, as if he had won a military parade. Little Li, feeling thoroughly defeated, refused his invitation to dinner and left dejectedly.

Watching his alluring figure disappear into the distance, Zhuang Huai'an struggled to maintain his composure. "Tch, not a single one of them can fight!"

After browsing the Screen Actors Guild website for an entire afternoon and considering it further, Zhuang Huai'an finally finalized the cast list. The film is called "Three GG Cards," a classic suspense film, which is his consistent style and also reflects the national conditions of the United States.

Original director Martin McDonagh had this idea in 01, but it didn't really take shape until 2011. He then started writing the script and filming didn't begin until 2015. With such a long timeframe, the idea doesn't seem to be a clash; whoever films it first gets to keep it.

There are eight main actors.

The mother is the core female lead, and Tony Collette will play the role. If there are no surprises, she will become a sensation next month with "Little Miss Sunshine". She is still cheap now, and can be acquired for $100 million. It's a good opportunity to ride the wave of her popularity.

The sheriff used Greg Kinnear, who was also the male lead in "Little Miss Sunshine," and received the same $100 million salary—cheap and effective.

The young police officer is hot-tempered, paranoid, racially prejudiced, cowardly, and foolish, but he later achieves redemption. He is also the most important fulcrum of the dramatic conflict in the entire film. Originally, we wanted to use Heath Ledger, but he was too expensive, so we had to settle for the original actor, Sam Rockwell.

The reason why Zhuang Huai'an chose Emil Hirsch for his son was simple: he wanted him to get beaten up, preferably slapped a few times!

The small-town dwarfs had no choice but to choose Peter Dinklage, the Dwarf King.

The sheriff's wife is played by Winona Ryder, the female lead in "Edward Scissorhands." She's beautiful and gentle, but her popularity has waned for a long time, so she's cheap.

The GG Merchant uses Steve Carell, whose most well-known role to Chinese audiences is probably that of the four-star general in "Space Force," who orders astronauts to sabotage the University of Tokyo's base.

The last volatile ex-husband role was one he thought about for a long time before finally deciding to boldly cast Robert Downey Jr., who needs no introduction.

This year, Downey's career has just started to recover, and he urgently needs high-quality films to wash away his negative image, so he has taken on a lot of independent films at low prices and with extremely low salaries.

His decadent, violent, yet fragile demeanor perfectly embodies the scumbag ex-husband, delivering a powerful performance that also slightly boosts the film's viewership thanks to his personal popularity.

Uh…

I wonder if Iron Man would still be willing to play such a violent character during this transitional period. Oh well, let's leave it at that for now.

Zhuang Huai'an picked up his pen and drew a circle, then added Steve Buscemi's name next to it. The actor who played the housekeeper's husband in "Parasite" had a neurotic performance comparable to Wang Jingsong, which left a pretty good impression on him.

With everything settled, Zhuang Huai'an nodded in satisfaction.

This lineup may not be top-tier, but it has one thing in common:

Cheap, easy to use, and sturdy – just like the style of a rabbit.

Upon closer examination, the actors' salaries were only $650 million USD. Even including the extras, the total salaries were estimated to be around $900 million USD. This is a rough estimate of the costs…

Zhuang Huai'an looked at the bright red number on the paper: 2100 million US dollars.

Tsk, that's so petty. If foreigners saw this, they'd think Director Zhuang couldn't afford to make a blockbuster!

They forgot that they were using MGM's money to do MGM's business; they should have been bolder.

Never mind, I'll definitely do it next time.