Ace Hollywood

Cusa always knew that Daniel was performing an amazing "talent", but whether it was the fat boy Billy Bob in "School Blues" or the audition performance of the elf prince Legolas in "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy", For Daniel, it was just a taste of acting. The role of Billy is limited by the campus background. He is only a high school student. Even if he is discriminated against because of obesity, and the consequences are serious due to mistakes, it is impossible for the actor to perform complicated and excessive force on this role. It's going to take people off the show.

Not to mention Legolas, his role setting has been fixed as a beautiful vase, and there is no room for a systematic performance.

So, in fact, Kusa has not seen Daniel in full swing.

And now, under his own eyes, in just a few minutes, a gloomy and crazy Commodius, weak and pretending to be powerful, almost suffocated him.

This is Daniel's brilliant moment. Every facial movement, body shape change, hand movement, and even voice all show extraordinary control and appeal.

why not?

Cusa asked himself, if he was Ridley, why not choose Daniel?

Of course, Ridley didn't do what he wanted, although he doesn't know how Ridley feels about Daniel's performance. At least on the surface, he did not show any obvious tendentious attitude. Of course, as a matter of fact, such a main role cannot be determined after a short-term audition. They will inevitably have to communicate two to three times about the film and the script. After that, the distribution department may have other requirements. Finally, a mutually satisfactory contract will be given.

To give a simple example, if you are all right but unwilling to cooperate during the promotion period, then it is likely that this role will not belong to you.

However, all the initial conditions were approved by the audition team.

The current good news is that Ridley met with Daniel twice in the next week. They talked about the old Roman emperor Marcus, the last of the Roman "five emperors" era, in the real Roman history and Like Yu, the last person in the mythical era of "Yao, Shun and Yu" in ancient China, they all passed the throne to their own blood, not to more virtuous people, which is of course completely different from the script.

But this is irrelevant, it is not a historical documentary, but a biography of a hero, a legendary story born of a mixture of various historical facts and creations, no one will care about these things with John Logan, the screenwriter of the film.

In the official history of Rome, Marcus passed on the empire to his son, Commodius, who was fought by Daniel, and then from him, the Roman Empire undoubtedly fell into decline until it was lost by the Germans three hundred years later. Invade the city of Rome!

This also provides historical material for creating this story, the turning point of the Roman Empire, which is a perfect match for a real and fake heroic story.

It's just that in the heroic story, Marcus became a wise emperor who decided to return Rome to the Romans at the end of his life, but was finally killed and usurped by his crazy son.

The hero Maximus, of course, is the brainless fan of the Holy Roman Emperor Marcus, such a perfect and outstanding emperor, Maximus should worship him and respect him, shouldn't he?

Ridley and Daniel chatted enthusiastically about Marcus. As a modern person, no one would think that the emperor of a certain historical period was a saint—that would be a joke. Of course, as believers in historical facts, they also believe that Marcus is indeed extraordinary.

Daniel told Ridley about Yu's Chinese story,

There is an allusion about Dayu's control of the floods, the allusion that he never entered the house three times, and he passed the emperor's throne to Qi—his son, the first person in China's hereditary dynasty.

Other than that, Ridley and he are of course more focused on the discussion of Commodius' role.

He was the first emperor who was born a king in the history of the Roman Empire, but he was mediocre, headstrong, and neurotic. This is consistent with the characteristics of most bloodline or ethical heirs of great powers. You can't ask a person who was born in the light of greatness to shake off negativity and strive to become greater, very little, almost never.

The father of Commodius was almost a god to the citizens of Rome, his image was inscribed in the temples, and his sculptures were everywhere. Commodius grew up under such a shadow, so he appeared incompetent, longing for power and the respect of the citizens, willful and unwilling to compromise, had feelings for his biological sister, was full of jealousy for the heroes of the empire, and wanted to kill him quickly .

This is a very clear image, if the person who plays this role - Joaquin Phoenix or Daniel wants to, they only need to show a young man with serious character flaws, who comes from a well-off family and has a huge amount of wealth , the task can be completed.

In other words, the Commodius that the film requires to be portrayed is very symbolic, which will definitely become an excuse for being attacked.

But this is understandable. If the title of "Gladiator" is changed to "Maximus" or "Maximus Legend", there will be no trace of PS. This is a hero belonging to Maximus biography.

Compared with Commodius, who is completely negative, Maximus is so comprehensive and three-dimensional. He is the god of war of the Roman Empire and has won a great victory over the barbarians at the beginning of the movie; he regards status and wealth as dung, and in the When the old emperor wanted to reward him, his request was to retire and go home to be with his wife; he was in a tragic situation but never sank, his family was ruined and he still saved the empire; he was brave and resourceful, and he defeated all enemies in the arena, including Kang Murdius.

This is the hero.

What the movie needs is a full-bodied Maximus, not Commodius.

"But do you want the hero to live in a pile of paper people? Is such a hero a real hero?" Daniel asked Ridley quietly, "Mr. Scott, you must understand that I have no intention of challenging the script, I just provide an idea, a group of lively supporting actors can make Maximus more like a hero."

"We've been doing that, but not everything is going our way."

"I completely understand. For example, now I'm actually restless about belonging to this role, but I can only pretend to be calm." Daniel spread his hands, showing helplessness.

Ridley couldn't help laughing.

"You are very good, Daniel, and I think you also understand this deeply, otherwise you wouldn't think that Commodius should be more three-dimensional and complete, because that means stronger character shaping and control."

Ridley's eyes were of course very sharp, and he saw through Daniel's implication at a glance.

But it doesn't matter, this is a conspiracy, what Daniel said is consistent with Ridley's wish, who would not want every character in his movie to be alive and able to walk out of the movie screen. If this is not the case, not all film festivals have set up the best supporting actor performance award.

"Yes, we will think about it, Daniel, anyway, I look forward to working with you, you—you are an unimaginably good actor."

That statement brought Ridley back to the day of the audition.

After Joaquin Phoenix and Daniel both left Universal, several people discussed the outcome of the audition. No one can deny Daniel's excellence, because the gap is very obvious. According to Walter, Jacques is a talented actor with a constant mind, and he is worthy of this role, while Daniel is a monster.

Twenty years old, less than a year into the industry.

The performance is extremely contagious and expressive, which is an achievement that can only be achieved after more than ten years of training. Sometimes the mere explanation of genius is not convincing enough.

But he just exists alive.

So it stands to reason that Daniel will undoubtedly get the role, but that's not the case. Although everyone has not made a clear statement, although Walter himself is full of praise for Daniel, he is inclined to choose Joaquin, and John Logan is hesitant. Whether Daniel's Commodius will be too far from what is set in the script, but this gap seems to be good.

Ridley was silent.

He is the director, the first producer, and the director of the entire film.

He understands that both sides will have some actions in the future. Jacques obviously has the advantage, but Daniel doesn't seem to be defenseless. Of course, it doesn't rule out that they just have a try mentality. After all, for Daniel, A-level production The supporting actor seems a bit unattainable.

In fact, the same is true for Joaquin Phoenix, but ten years in the industry really gave him more qualifications.

Ridley was impartial to Jacques and Daniel's follow-up contact, but Daniel gave him more and more surprises. He knew that his balance had tilted towards Daniel in terms of role matching.

This attitude quickly became known.

Of course, this includes Philip, Joaquin Phoenix's agent.

He has a pair of Hollywood twin stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in his hands. Matt Damon won the Oscar winner nomination for "Good Will Hunting", and he and Ben Affleck "do nothing" to win won an Oscar for an original screenplay. Next, Matt has a series of excellent works. Last year, he played Ryan in Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" and began to prove his commercial value, thus stepping into the ranks of A-level actors.

As a direct result of sharing a manager with these already famous stars, Joaquin has been doing nothing, and now it seems that Philip is determined to add another cash cow to his money tree.

He told Jacques that they faced a strong opponent, and the worst news was that Ridley was leaning towards the other side.

"We have to work harder."

"What else can we do?"

Philip patted Jacques on the shoulder, "Don't worry, there is still a lot that can be done."

He called a senior executive of Universal to seek support from investors and issuers. Ridley had already refuted Universal's face once and rejected Paul Walker. Although Paul's sunny and healthy face was indeed not suitable, Lei Derry would not want to do it again.

Philip called the other party "Daisy", obviously it was a high-level lady from Universal, and the conversation between the two was familiar and close. Philip bluntly expressed his desire for "Gladiator". He praised Jacques like a flower, as if in front of him was really a genius like River Phoenix. When the other party talked about the business, his words seemed to be very cautious, but in the end Philip got a certain degree of promise - within Daisy's ability.

Philip, who hung up the phone, turned to Joaquin Phoenix, "Now we don't know how strong Ridley's tendencies are. If he really must be Daniel Sandler, then our chances of winning are really not great. But I think That's unlikely, Sandler isn't Russell Crowe, and he doesn't have the charisma to make Ridley go all-in."

"Let this phone test the waters first," Philip shook his phone, "Jaquin, have you seen how difficult it is for an opportunity that doesn't match fame, of course, for Daniel Sandler and the same young Ku It's harder for Sarah Damon. We're the dominant side, and we're going to get the roles."

"Philip, if I—I mean I could be more—oh, you know what I mean."

"Of course, but Jacques, don't ever think like this. You can't be more talented and powerful than all Hollywood actors. Success is not based on this at all. He needs a lot of power to promote from all aspects. Sometimes These forces come from UTA, from me, such as the person I was on the phone with just now, and she will push Universal to express its casting preference to Ridley. At other times, these forces also come from you, including your acting talent , your qualifications, some of your unique advantages."

Jacques pursed his lips, "I think I understand what you mean, and I will cooperate."

Philip smiled gently, "Don't be sad, Joaquin, all your relatives will be proud of your success, all, trust me."