From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

“The situation is like this.”

“Gus is preparing to film a movie about Columbine for a cable TV station. The project is basically settled, and Gus is also starting to prepare for filming.”

“But just then, that documentary landed at Cannes. Because of the wide-ranging discussion, it once again pushed the Columbine incident to the forefront. The discussion and controversy in the recent period simply hasn't stopped.”

“The TV station executives realized that the situation might be slightly different from what they imagined.”

“Firstly, the influence of the Columbine incident still far exceeds expectations; secondly, it may not be appropriate to show such blatant bloody violence on the television screen.”

“They were worried about pushing themselves into the eye of the storm and causing controversy, so they backed down at the last minute, putting Gus's work on hold.”

“After learning about the situation, HBO expressed willingness to take over, but they need to make some slight changes.”

“It can't be said to be about the Columbine incident, but rather a fictional script based on the incident.”

Sure enough, it was "Elephant."

Hu.

Darren's long breath came from the telephone receiver. Even through the phone, Anson could feel the heaviness behind the words, which made him chuckle softly.

“Uncle Darren, this phone call has aged you ten years.”

The teasing made Darren shake his head slightly, “At most, it's three years. How could it be ten years? At my age, every year older is especially difficult. Don't talk nonsense.”

“Haha.” Anson laughed loudly.

Darren's tense nerves relaxed slightly.

“Gus's idea is that he's going to start filming in Portland…”

“That Portland?” There is more than one city called Portland in North America.

“The one in Oregon. Right next to Salem.”

So that's it. Anson immediately understood—

Oregon, between California and Washington, is not far from Colorado. Obviously, Gus is trying to find a town similar to Columbine High School, at least with a similar atmosphere.

Although the city is chosen as Portland, it should be the suburbs. Columbine High School is located in the suburbs of Denver; at the same time, Portland is southwest of Salem.

Historically, the "Salem Witch" case is well-known, which has had a profound impact on various fields such as journalism, communication, and psychology; but that Salem is located in Massachusetts, that is, the east coast of North America, that New England area is still one of the most conservative regions in the entire North America.

And the Salem in front of us is located in Oregon, on the West Coast.

Obviously, these are two different things.

But from the details, Gus is subtly playing with words, using Portland to correspond to Denver, Salem to correspond to Salem, and a fictional high school to correspond to Columbine High School.

This is the movie—

Before a movie goes into production, the director needs to choose the filming location everywhere. This preparation is the first step in creating the movie's unique atmosphere.

In the past, watching movies was often just watching the excitement, watching the story, watching the special effects, and watching the emotions; but now, entering the film industry and becoming an actor, switching to a different perspective to appreciate movies, you can slowly see the different elements that make up an excellent movie.

Back and forth, asking and answering, Darren himself didn't realize that the words had already blurted out.

Slightly stunned, a hint of relief appeared in Darren's eyes, “It seems that working with Steven Spielberg has indeed taught you a lot.”

This is a good thing. It seems that Anson becoming an actor is indeed the right choice.

“At the same time, Gus hopes to go to local high schools for casting, using non-professional actors to perform, to truly create the daily atmosphere of a high school campus.”

“However, Gus is considering that one or two of the roles, the existence that plays a key role, still needs to be linked by real actors.”

“Now, among the seventeen and eighteen-year-old actors in Hollywood, it is not easy to find an actor with a suitable temperament to play a special role in such a special work; the important thing is that the movie project has a limited budget, and Gus has no way to launch an open audition, with no time or money.”

“And the youngest of the actors Gus himself is familiar with, Casey Affleck, is already twenty-seven years old.”

“For God's sake, Gus absolutely doesn't want a twenty-seven-year-old actor playing a high school student. He believes that this is an act of compromising the film's texture to commercialism.”

“So, HBO needs a little help, and I think, maybe you can try to take a look.”

After going around in circles, Darren called Anson.

And, he cracked a little joke.

“Now the whole of Hollywood knows, Anson Wood, a specialist in high school students.”

Anson immediately heard the teasing in Darren's words, “Sorry, the first time I appeared on the small screen, I already ruined my image, that's obviously not a high school student.”

“Haha.” Darren burst into laughter.

Carefully observing mainstream Hollywood movies, whether it's commercial genre films or artistic independent projects, the protagonists are often in the thirty to fifty-year-old age range.

The reason is very simple and direct, because the target audience and mainstream market are in this age group, so film companies and producers are constantly digging up more projects, telling their stories, and exploring their current situation. Even superheroes are often in this age group.

On the other hand, the target audience of campus movies is girls—chick flicks. Those romantic and beautiful fantasies are more likely to impress girls. Naturally, vibrant teenage girls can also get many roles, but boys of the same age can only play vase supporting roles.

Therefore, the actor structure in Hollywood presents an interesting phenomenon. Male actors are often around thirty-five years old, radiating out from this age as the core; female actors are often around twenty-five years old, forever young, forever beautiful, forever vibrant.

Of course, this is not absolute, but the mainstream situation is indeed like this.

This also leads to a strange phenomenon. Female actors over forty-five may have no roles to play, and male actors under twenty-five may not be able to find projects.

The current Gus is like this. He hopes to find a seventeen or eighteen-year-old teenager to play in "Elephant", but all he sees are a bunch of vases.

Including Anson is no exception. "The Princess Diaries" is a vase, and "Spider-Man" is a special case.

Obviously, Darren's recommendation for Anson to go to the "Elephant" crew is not just to help HBO, but also to open up Anson's acting career.

In Darren's view, working with Gus may open up Anson's acting career—

After all, for the same vibrant high school student role, Anson can't always play a vase, right? Even if he's still a wet-behind-the-ears high school student, Anson can open up the situation and show his different colors.

However, Darren also knows that things are not that simple.

“There is a problem. This movie is indeed a sensitive topic. If you are worried about getting involved in controversy and refuse, I can understand.”