Birth of an actor

For an independent film, it is impossible for the main creators to earn the same salary as commercial films. Steven Spielberg took the initiative to reduce the film salary by 20.00%, which greatly reduced the financial pressure on the crew, but he demanded 5000% of the box office Profit sharing—this number is actually not too much. Spielberg has been taking this percentage since the time of "Jurassic Park", which finally made him 15.00 million U.S. dollars. It is also impossible for Erlot to nod and agree without cutting a single knife. After some bargaining, the share ratio was reduced to [-]%.

Willot announced the joining of Steven Spielberg in a relatively low-key way-really very low-key, just released an announcement on the official website, still without pictures.

But no one can underestimate the sensitivity of the Hollywood media and Spielberg's influence. "Milk" once again ignited attention because of the choice of director.

Before the movie even had a starring role, the media was buzzing about it. After all, Steven Spielberg and William Bradley looked like an ambitious combination.

"Variety" joked: "It seems that Spielberg finally remembered that he hadn't walked the Oscars red carpet for several years, and it was time to refresh his sense of presence."

And "Entertainment Weekly" claimed to have obtained the truth about William's participation in "Milk" from "important people": "William Bradley has already won an Oscar for playing a schizophrenic patient. The only way to continue to break through is to play gay — and he sees Tom Hanks as a career role model. Hanks is known to have been nominated for five Academy Awards, earning him Best Actor for two roles, One is mentally handicapped, one is gay."

Both William and Spielberg deliberately suppressed the news from the media. In any case, it is always bad to clamor for an Oscar before the filming starts. The principle of going too far is applicable everywhere.

As soon as the contract was signed, Spielberg devoted himself to script revision and actor selection, watching at least twenty auditions a day.

"Milk" did not invite well-known actors, but used the traditional public audition method to select roles, which is also the common idea of ​​​​William and Spielberg.It is not a commercial film, so there is no need to use all movie stars. Unknown actors are cheaper and easier to use. Anyway, William already has William as a guarantee at the box office.

The ideas of the two are very good, but they both ignore how attractive "Milk" has become now, especially for those movie stars who have made some achievements in the field of commercial movies but have no awards at all. Said, this is a piece of cake that they really want to eat - they don't care how niche the subject matter of the film is, and they can fully bear the consequences of screwing up a film at the box office. Leigh has worked together, and the beautiful resume of award season is no longer blank.

Many agents and managers with excellent means got an audition request related to the role of the script from nowhere, and frequently called the casting director or Spielberg's assistant director, recommending their own actors, saying that they How well his appearance and talents meet the requirements of the script.Those who couldn't get the director's phone number also sent photos of actors, resumes and even audition tapes to the script, hoping to get further audition opportunities.

Among them were some faces that even Spielberg felt familiar. After weighing it, he invited these actors to internal auditions, and they all agreed.

A few days later, Spielberg called William and asked him to conduct a "chemical test" with several actors who entered the final round of auditions, that is, let them play against each other to see if they fit together and whether there was any spark. , Putting it on the big screen can make the audience believe that the feelings and relationships between the actors are real.

William came to the audition location only to find that Tobey Maguire was actually here, "Toby? Are you here to audition?"

"Hello, Mr. Milk!" Tobey Maguire stepped forward to hug William and winked at him.

William took a closer look and found that Toby was wearing a pair of big black-rimmed glasses and a sea soul shirt. This outfit didn't look like his usual style, but looked like another person...

"Cliff Jones?" William responded, following Toby's words.He has already discovered that Toby's baby face, black-rimmed glasses, and retro clothes are somewhat similar to Cliff Jones, Harvey Milk's assistant in the 70s campaign, and the other party called him "Harvey" must have also substituted himself into the role of Cliff Jones, but I don't know if this is just a joke, or I want to impress the director.

At this moment, a pair of hands suddenly reached out from the side, holding William's face, and then a warm object pressed heavily on his right cheek before leaving, "Harvey, dear." The man said in a grinning tone.

"James." William warned awkwardly and helplessly.The person who inexplicably gave him a kiss on the cheek was James Franco, who played Peter Parker's best friend Harry Osborn in "Spider-Man", and later the Little Green Goblin, William and Franco Ke had met in various social occasions before, and with several exchanges during the visit and promotion of "Spider-Man", the two were regarded as ordinary acquaintances.

"It's not James, I'm Scott Smith, Harvey Milk's boyfriend." James Franco has obviously put himself into the role of the movie.

William: "..."

Spider-Man and the Little Green Goblin, one came to audition for Milk's assistant, and the other came to audition for his boyfriend. This is a magical unfolding that even William didn't expect.

Steven Spielberg watched quietly for a while before notifying them to start the audition.

……

"Really? This is great!" Tobey Maguire said in a patiently excited mood: "It's okay to lose weight. I will combine with the fitness trainer to stop those muscle-building exercises and pay attention to diet." .”

After being "hmm" for a long time amidst all kinds of instructions from the manager, after hanging up the phone, Toby clenched his fists and said "yeah", his face was full of excitement.Although he couldn't control his volume, it wasn't loud in a noisy arena.

Leonardo DiCaprio, who was sitting next to him, turned his head and glanced at him: "The agent called?"

Today happened to be the game day, and both Leonardo and Toby were free, so they made an appointment to watch NBA games at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Leonardo was a frequent visitor to the Staples Arena, because he After "The Aviator" finished filming, he has been resting and hasn't picked up new films. Recently, he has been playing every game, and his old friend Toby, who has not had a new job for a long time, is often brought by him as a companion.

"Yes." Toby said happily, "I got the job on Milk."

"Congratulations." Leonardo said sincerely, he knew that his friend really needed such a job.

"Thank you." Toby bumped Leonard's arm with his arm, "I'll treat you to dinner after the game to celebrate."

Toby had read the script and knew that Clive Jones would only be fourth in the film, but he was still happy because it was the first job he had gotten in months, and Spielberg movie of.

Since "Spider-Man" achieved great success at the box office, Toby, as the leading actor, became famous overnight and got a beautiful new girlfriend. Outside of the role, Toby's career path has not been smooth.

Like Elijah Wood, Toby was limited by his height and baby-faced appearance. Although "Spider-Man" brought him great fame and money, it didn't bring him many opportunities. Good scripts don't look for He, he didn't like the bad script of Spider-Man's fame, and Toby actually didn't like to socialize very much. In the months leading up to the end of post-production, he didn't sign a single contract.

In fact, in the past few years, apart from the two "Spider-Man", Toby has only filmed one "The Pentium Age".He was originally the protagonist in that movie, but his performance was not as good as the other two old actors who played the role, so that the movie was nominated for seven Oscars in the end, but it did not bring him the slightest gain.

That's why Toby worked so hard to audition when his agent told him there was a supporting role in "Milk" he could try—he couldn't play Peter Peterson all his life without looking for other film opportunities. Parker?

Toby actually doesn't dislike playing Spider-Man all the time, but how long can this character's life last, five years?ten years?Even as Willlott described, Marvel movies developed into a series, forming a complete movie universe, and Spider-Man can go to other movies to star in cameos, but I have never heard of a role that can be tied to an actor forever Certainly, even 007 often changes the leading role, Toby must consider his career after "Spider-Man" ends.

"When will the movie start?" The game on the field has entered garbage time, Leonardo no longer pays attention to the score, but instead cares about his friend's new movie.

"I don't know." Toby shrugged helplessly: "I was supposed to start rehearsing lines this week, but I just heard from my agent that Matt Damon's role has changed and he may need to find another actor , God knows how long it will be delayed."

"Which one is Matt Damon's character?"

"Dan White. Former member of the San Francisco Council, Milk's colleague, and the murderer who finally shot him." Worried that Leonardo didn't know the character's situation, Tobit deliberately explained.

"Why didn't Matt Damon play it, the role was so bad?" In a biopic named after Harvey Milk, as the murderer of the protagonist, Dan White sounds like a super villain.

"No, this character is very complicated and cannot be evaluated with a simple 'bad' word." Toby shook his head and said, "Matt Damon seems to have quit because of the schedule, I don't think he will deliberately Give up, not to mention Spielberg and Weir, who just exist to prove that this movie can't fail."

Leonardo touched his chin and thought: "Do you think I am suitable for Dan White's role?"

Toby:? ? ?