The top of fame and fortune [Comprehensive British and American]

Rome, Lazio, Italy

"Princess Anna, among the cities you have visited, which one is your favourite?"

"Rome, of course it is Rome, and I will cherish the memory of this place forever."

In the early morning, a black Italian car was driving along the quiet Tiber River. Erica was sitting in the car, admiring the magnificent "Eternal City" through the window. What came to her mind was the scene in " The equally timeless Ms. Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday.

At this moment, the fast-moving Italian cars passed by the Vatican City, and Erica set her sights on St. Peter's Cathedral.

It was listed as one of the filming locations of "The Godfather 3", but due to the repeated incidents of changing roles of the actor who played 'Mary Corleone', the current filming schedule has seriously fallen behind the plan.

Inside the car, Michael Ovitz looked at Erica who was still holding the script, "What do you think of "The Godfather 3"? It is currently being swept by negative news."

"I think it's an excellent sequel, but I'm afraid there will be a lot of criticism," Erika replied. "People don't always like to see greatness destroyed."

If the two previous works of "The Godfather" announced to the world how the Corleone family became a legend and established a gang empire.

Then "The Godfather 3" is undoubtedly a complete tragedy. After all, Coppola and the screenwriter and original author Mario Puzo originally set the title of this movie as "The Death of Mike Corleone". ".

The godfather in his later years did not want to be immersed in violence and blood. He tried to turn the family business from the mafia to a legitimate business, but fell into a complex commercial and political conspiracy.The most beloved daughter, Mary, was shot and killed, which made Michael Corleone lose all hope. Finally, the gangster emperor passed away in endless despair.

Erica recalled the classic dialogue in the previous work of "The Godfather", "'With the respect captured by the fear of others, sudden death is inevitable'. Director Coppola made a complete ending for the "Godfather" series."

She thinks this masterpiece is still excellent, but in terms of commercial achievements, the audience may not be too willing to pay for this tragedy.

Michael Ovitz did not continue to deepen the discussion. The box office performance of "The Godfather 3" is not very closely related to him. At present, it is Paramount who needs to have a headache.

All Ovitz needs to focus on is the paychecks received by CAA's contracted clients.

And Erika has undoubtedly become a "prospective contracting client" recognized by him, so Ovitz said to her, "Before, Paramount offered 'Mary Corleone' a performance fee of US$50. "

The production cost of "The Godfather 3" exceeded 5500 million, and $50 sounds like a drop in the bucket.But even so, I am afraid that this price will only be paid to actresses who have already achieved some fame.

As a fledgling, it was not easy for Erica to get this reward.

The salary gap between male and female actors in Hollywood is very different. Right now, Barbra Streisand, as the highest-paid female star, can hardly cross the dividing line of 500 million US dollars. In the whole of Hollywood, there are no more than 200 actresses with a salary of more than [-] million US dollars .

In fact, even among first-line stars, the current average salary gap between male and female actors is as high as two to three times.

In "The Godfather 3", the actor Al Pacino received an undoubted salary of 500 million yuan; followed by Andy Garcia, who played the role of the new godfather 'Vincent Corleone', he enjoyed a lesser salary. Pacino's salary.

As for 'Mary Corleone', as the female role second only to the two male actors, 50 yuan can already be regarded as a "good remuneration".

As for what Erika will face, even if she can get the role today, Paramount and the "Godfather 3" film studio will also have a high chance to exert pressure from various parties on the basis of this price, and the final salary paid to her will be Reduced to 20-30 yuan.

Unless, she has a strong supporting force, such as a super agent who is powerful enough to make studio executives and film producers have to bow to her——

At this time, Michael Ovitz was taking out a contract document from his briefcase and handing it to Erica, "As long as you can show enough outstanding acting skills, CAA will try to achieve everything for you."

At this moment, in order to get the attention and support of this super agent, all the little tricks that Erica has used can be regarded as an effective result.

******

At eight o'clock in the morning, the lazy European city is still not fully awake. In the historic resort hotel at the west end of Rome, the crew of "The Godfather 3" is already preparing to start another audition.

This wasn't even a small audition.

In the top-floor suite temporarily set up as an audition meeting, except for director Coppola, representatives of the Screen Actors Guild of America, and Michael Ovitz, who had just entered the audition meeting 5 minutes ago.

There were also representatives of Paramount productions who came from Southern California on a special trip-Hollywood golden combination, Stanley Jaffe and Shirley Lansing.

Paramount Pictures, which has been in a trough for many years since the previous executive resigned, finally ushered in new forces.There have been rumors in the Hollywood industry recently that Stanley Jaffe will soon be promoted to the general manager of Paramount Media, and his golden partner Shirley Lansing will be in charge of Paramount jointly with Jaffe.

At this time, Stanley Jaffe and Shirley Lansing appeared in the audition meeting, which undoubtedly showed Paramount's tough attitude.

At the same time, just like Ovitz offered Erica an audition opportunity, the two new leaders of Paramount also recommended a number of actresses today, and they are all gathered in the hotel corridor outside the audition With temporary waiting room.

Erica is just one of more than twenty actresses.

In the audition waiting area, there were not only young girls from Hollywood, but also several Italian local actors. "The Godfather" was famous, and participating in this sequel almost represented instant fame.

Half an hour ago, Michael Ovitz suggested to Erica that he could make a key introduction to Director Coppola and Paramount before the audition officially started.

This will not only save her from waiting for a lengthy audition, but at the same time, with Ovitz's current influence in Hollywood, Erica's chances of getting a role will be greatly increased.

But again Ovitz was surprised that Erika did not accept his proposal.

She chose to enter the temporary audition department like most of the actresses who participated in the audition today, handed her resume to the selection staff, and then began to sit for a long time, waiting for the interview to proceed.

In the audition room, Ovitz couldn't help thinking that this young lady seemed to know how to grasp the scale-to conduct her fair competition without putting herself at a disadvantage.

Alert, intelligent and confident.

But soon Ovitz discovered that Miss Parker seemed to be having some bad luck today.

She turned out to be the last one to audition.

But there is also one thing that can barely be regarded as "good news", that is, the 22 actresses ahead of her failed to get the unanimous approval of Coppola and Paramount.

"No. 20 three, Erica Parker—" the casting assistant spoke out at the right time, reminding the interviewers behind the long table.

After all, after many hours of lengthy auditions, everyone at the audition became a little restless and bored.

But soon, the casting assistant discovered that he didn't seem to need to specifically remind him just now——

This 'last girl' has a striking appearance that is impossible to ignore, and you can't even take your eyes off her.

But this does not mean that she can rely on this outstanding face to gain the approval of the interviewer.

Director Coppola flipped through Erica Parker's resume and asked first, "You don't have any acting experience?"

Coppola was surprised by this. When she first entered the audition, the expression, momentum, and even walking posture she showed had an almost charming theatrical atmosphere and aesthetic sense of form.

And Erica quickly answered for him, "I only briefly joined Broadway summer camp when I was young."

Although Coppola is still insisting on using his daughter Sophia to play Mary Corleone, he did not belittle Erica because of this, and his words were even regarded as a great compliment, "I think you have stopped performing these years, yes A serious waste of talent."

If only a brief drama training is enough to give her a dazzling star look-Coppola frowned slightly, at least in these years, he has not seen such a gifted film talent.

"You were originally blond?" Shirley Lansing, the representative of Paramount's interviewer, showed a hint of surprise.

She was intrigued by Erica's profile, which contained multiple images of her for Vanity Fair.

It was an expected query, and Erica repeated what she had said to Ovitz a few hours earlier, "In the previous Godfather, the baby Mary had brown hair. And the dark hair color is more suitable for Italian women. image."

"The difference in hair color brings you great contrast," Shirley Lansing expressed full appreciation, "but also very attractive, which is rare."

Michael Ovitz watched several Hollywood colleagues repeating his surprise, admiration and anticipation for Erica Parker not long ago.

Top appearance, acting talent, dramatic atmosphere, changeable plasticity, smart enough.

When an actress possesses these qualities at the same time, it almost indicates that she is not only likely to become famous and become a well-known actor, but even has unlimited potential to reach the top of Hollywood.

But at this moment, our Miss Erica Parker is just an impromptu audition meeting. She must win the support of all the strict interviewers in front of her with a very powerful performance before she has a chance to win the first audition. The Nobody of the character.

So—what kind of opening will she stage?