Millennium director

Of course, although they were proactively invited actors, Chris and Scarlett still had to audition. If their acting skills were not good, they would have to choose new actors.

Wu Yuan briefly exchanged greetings with the two of them, and after chatting about their acting experiences, the formal audition began.

Actually, there's not much to say, just that one person was given a short piece of the script and asked them to play it together to see if it felt right.

As for acting?

To be honest, as long as the acting is not so bad that you find it unacceptable after just one glance, it can generally be trained.

For example, Huang Xiaoming's acting skills are often criticized for fluctuating levels, not just because he likes to reward himself with The Boss after a good movie.

Also because his acting skills require on-site training.

Huang Xiaoming, who has a professional background, at least has an acting level above the passing line, and the upper limit is also high.

When you meet a director who knows how to train actors, he can push his limits to the limit and deliver a score of 70, 80 or even 80 or 90.

But when faced with a director who doesn't know how to train, Huang Xiaoming can only give a 60-point performance, or even fail.

If you ask Huang Xiaoming to act in a play directed by Zhang Yimou, do you think he will still be good at it?

Although Wu Yuan is embarrassed to say that he is as good as Zhang Yimou in training actors, he is capable!

He clearly knows what the protagonists of the movie "Juno" need to look like to be good and eye-catching!

"Juno" is not a classic movie, but the original actors' performances are indeed remarkable. It is relatively simple for Wu Yuan to train the actors when he has reference answers.

And the acting skills of Chris and Scarlett are not bad. Chris has studied acting, and Scarlett is considered a child star.

The two cooperated to perform a rivalry scene in front of Wu Yuan. Although it was not perfect, it was still above the passing line.

Wu Yuan nodded with satisfaction: "Not bad, I think you can fulfill these two roles."

"Sign a contract with the crew, and leave two months' schedule. The movie will start filming in half a month at the earliest!"

It is easiest for a sixteen or seventeen year old girl to play a sixteen or seventeen year old girl.

In addition, Scarlett's character has many similarities with Juno, which makes it easier to understand the character.

As for the remaining deficiencies, Wu Yuan can teach them while filming. As long as Chris and Scarlett cooperate seriously, it can be done.

Fortunately, they are just two unknown little actors now, and they dare not show any slack or disobedience in front of the director Wu Yuan, even though Wu Yuan is also an unknown little director in Hollywood.

This is also the reason why Wu Yuan tends to find these two young actors, they are cheap and obedient!

Since the director approved it and the producer had no objections, the contract between Chris and Scarlett was easily settled.

On the same day, the two of them signed a contract with John, who represented the crew. The salary of both of them was not high, and the main focus was a low price.

Afterwards, Wu Yuan and John interviewed a group of actors to play Juno's parents and the child's adoptive parents in the film.

These are all recommended by the Hollywood Screen Actors Guild. They have played the role of mothers and fathers in major film and television dramas all year round, which is equivalent to Hollywood's blue-collar class, or golden supporting roles.

Wu Yuan didn't know most of them, but it didn't affect his audition. For this kind of actor, you only need to choose the one with the best acting skills.

In less than two days, the four main supporting roles were finalized. They are all experienced actors with excellent acting skills, and they also focus on one cheap thing.

Whether in Hollywood or in China, this kind of golden supporting role is synonymous with "cheap and easy to use".

Coupled with the extra actors expected to be used and the acting fees of the school students, the "Juno" movie has not yet started shooting, and one million US dollars has been spent.

The total budget given by Fox Searchlight for this movie was only US$6 million.

It looks like it's half a million less than the original movie's cost of $6.5 million, but it's actually a higher budget than the original movie!

Because Wu Yuan’s director + script fee of US$1.2 million has not been included, this will not be paid until the gambling agreement comes into effect.

Including the US$1.2 million, the production cost announced by Fox Searchlight is US$8 million!

As for why this is an extra $800,000, of course it would be nicer to tell it!

After settling the main actors, Wu Yuan no longer has time to have sex with the blonde beauty, and John doesn't have time to organize any parties.

The two took the crew's cameramen and traveled around North America to start the scene.

Even though the time has advanced six years, some things still cannot be changed.

For example, due to budget constraints, although Wu Yuan liked a small town in Minnesota the most, due to budget considerations, after several discussions, they decided to settle on the next best option and set the shooting location in Vancouver. Same as the original movie crew.

Because Vancouver has financial support for film shooting, it’s the cheapest!

After the filming location was determined, the long-awaited cast, photography, lighting, sound recording, art director, art design, set makeup and other crew members came to Vancouver from the United States one after another.

These crew members were not selected by Wu Yuan, but were arranged by Fox Searchlight. Wu Yuan has tested their skills, and they are indeed pretty good, at least for the filming of "Juno".

Moreover, the division of labor among the crew in Hollywood is very clear, which is almost the same as that in Mainland China around 2015. This made Wu Yuan feel professional for a long time, and he felt like he was back in a dream world!

Of course, it is undeniable that some staff in the crew did look down on Wu Yuan, a director from China.

In their opinion, how can a Chinese director make a movie that is popular in Hollywood?

Don't mention Wu Baige, he is a director born in the Hong Kong film industry, and Hollywood still recognizes Hong Kong films. After all, they were strong rivals back then!

But in the mainland film industry, it has little status in Hollywood.

Now that Wu Yuan, a director from China, is directing them, there are some racially discriminatory staff members who will be unhappy and contradictory.

At this time, John, the producer, came in handy.

Fox Searchlight hired Wu Yuan to make a movie because they wanted to make money and win awards. They didn't just want him to experience Hollywood's discrimination against Asians.

John, who is usually very kind and cheerful when facing Wu Yuan, is like an angry lion when facing the crew!

During the days when the crew was getting used to it and before filming officially started, John sat next to Wu Yuan every day as soon as work started!

Once he found out that a staff member didn't listen to Wu Yuan's instructions, or was sloppy in his work or dragged his feet, John would immediately yell at him!

"Son of a bitch!"

"You guys will do whatever Daniel says. If there is any delay, get out immediately!"

"Fox Searchlight doesn't need disobedient crew members!"

"On the set, Daniel is God, and his words are the truth!"

John is more like a tyrant on the set than director Wu Yuan, but I have to say that this is really effective.

Under John's watchful eye, the crew adjusted very quickly. In just one week, Wu Yuan felt that the crew had already mastered it.

With the crew's obedience, the filming of the first official scene of "Juno" finally began.