From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Anson believed that while the character in "The Butterfly Effect" had the potential to develop into something as terrifying, profound, and complex as "There Will Be Blood," it didn't necessarily mean it would actually happen.

After all, it depended on the director's execution and the script's scope.

From the start, "The Butterfly Effect" and "There Will Be Blood" had different focuses; but undeniably, the character of Evan had more potential for exploration.

In his past life, the male lead of "The Butterfly Effect" was Ashton Kutcher, a typical idol-type actor born in 1978.

But without a doubt, Ashton had a legendary career.

He debuted as a model, not only shooting numerous magazine posters but also filming CK commercials and walking the runways in Paris and Milan.

At the age of twenty, he went to Los Angeles and quickly landed a role in the TV series "That '70s Show" thanks to his handsome and sunny appearance.

Ashton's career was smooth sailing, with hardly any setbacks. He subsequently became a heartthrob through a series of chick flicks such as "Just Married," "Guess Who," "Valentine's Day," "Killers," and "No Strings Attached." Later, he replaced Charlie Sheen, who was fired from the cast of "Two and a Half Men" due to off-screen scandals, and his career remained stable.

However, in his over fifteen-year acting career, Ashton never managed to break free from his established image. His terrible, expressionless acting and somewhat exaggerated soap opera performances prevented him from taking on other roles. Like Adam Sandler in the comedy world, he repeated the same character day after day for thirty years.

The key point is that in 2019, Adam Sandler made a big comeback with the small-budget independent film "Uncut Gems," transforming into a respected actor with serious acting chops; but Ashton Kutcher's dramatic acting transformation in the 2013 biographical film "Jobs" ended in a critical failure.

In November of the same year, Ashton joined Lenovo Group as a product engineer—

This shift was also unexpected.

In fact, although Ashton is a mediocre pretty-boy actor, he is an excellent product manager in private. He owns his own venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, investing in companies including Uber, Airbnb, and Skype. In just six years, he transformed his $30 million into a net worth of $250 million.

Perhaps people criticize his acting, perhaps people gossip about his sixteen-year age-gap marriage with Demi Moore, and perhaps he gradually faded out of Hollywood after dating Mila Kunis in 2013, but he has his own life and has always lived comfortably.

Turning the focus back to "The Butterfly Effect."

In this movie, Ashton dutifully delivered his usual performance, barely giving the character any room for extension or exploration, completing the director's tasks like a puppet on a string.

From the finished product, it's clear that the movie's focus was never on the character's growth arc. The dramatic tension of the plot itself completely captivated the audience, which was enough to make them overlook Ashton's expressionless acting.

Ashton didn't make any mistakes, but that also meant he extinguished possibilities.

At the same time, he had indeed won a second chance to write his life, although it wasn't a complete do-over of his past life, but his every move now was indeed creating a butterfly effect, changing the world he once knew and entering a completely new parallel universe. He was experiencing everything in the movie.

To be narcissistic and bold, this movie was simply tailor-made for Anson—

Although no one should know that the soul under this skin is a transmigrator, otherwise he wouldn't be able to sit here peacefully now.

But there's a key point here: too much is as bad as too little.

Not just the "Elephant" acting experience, but also the several commercial films Anson has participated in so far are the same—

For a commercial genre film, if it wants to win widespread market recognition, pacing is crucial. How to strike a balance between shaping characters, driving the plot, and exploring depth is always a challenge.

If the actor is single-mindedly focused on exploring the character and showcasing their acting skills, which drags down the plot, the result will be to disrupt the film's rhythm and break the overall balance, which will be counterproductive.

In other words, Anson believed that even though he was a 100% fit for this role, trying too hard to show himself, trying too hard to make a statement, and trying too hard to explore the character, the end result might ruin the work.

No one likes a "Mr. Know-It-All," and that's why sometimes it's a good thing to be like Ashton, having no ideas about the character and just playing a puppet according to the director's vision—

Alfred Hitchcock has publicly stated more than once that he hates method acting. He requires actors to perform as required.

Therefore, Anson needed to explore the character as much as possible within the limited space of the plot, without disrupting the film's framework and narrative structure, and control his impulse to pontificate appropriately.

Previously, in "The Princess Diaries" and "Spider-Man," Anson had successfully done this, so "The Butterfly Effect" shouldn't be difficult either.

No, things weren't that simple.

The plot of "The Butterfly Effect" is very dense, with one plot driving another, interlocking and without any dull spots, leaving no time for the audience to think, and also leaving no room for the actors to perform.

If Anson wanted to grasp the character's traits, he had to understand the state of the character at every point in the plot, at every point in time, and connect them through his own understanding of the character, and finally complete the connection through performance, building an arc.

Once Anson got completely into the role like in "Catch Me If You Can" or even couldn't extricate himself, or if he overdid it like in "Elephant" at the beginning, he might disrupt the director's rhythm.

Difficult!

Even if Anson had prepared himself mentally and set up scenarios, the actual situation might be more difficult than expected.

After all, it's always easy to theorize on paper.

Moreover, Anson hadn't forgotten Edgar's casual remark—

The director hasn't finalized the ending yet.

Did this mean that this version was different from the version Anson had seen in his past life? Was the potential butterfly effect of Anson trying to replace Ashton also affecting the movie "The Butterfly Effect" itself?

Anson felt that he didn't need to rush to a conclusion, but should calm down and read the script, and then tell Edgar his decision.

This was the first time Anson had the right to choose a project.

Putting away the script, Anson returned to the room. Charles and Nora immediately looked away and continued to pretend to be busy with their own things; but Lucas didn't hide it at all, stood up and looked at Anson.

"What, did your agent complain about you?"