System in Hollywood

Wayne closed the panel, glancing at the disheveled bed beside him where Annie, Martina, Sarah Michelle, and Isla Fisher were sleeping soundly. He couldn't help but shake his head, feeling a sudden surge of envy.

With such a conscientious benefactor, it's no wonder so many women in Hollywood want to climb into his bed.

The next morning, after enjoying a delicious dessert, Wayne drove his flashy Karlmann King and picked up Monica Bellucci from a villa across the street to attend the auditions for "Taken" as a screenwriter.

Since Wayne wasn't starring in this film himself and the main roles were already pre-determined, only about thirty actors showed up for the auditions.

The most competitive roles were the protagonist's fallen colleague and the current wealthy husband of the protagonist's ex-wife. These two roles attracted more than half of the auditioning actors.

However, these roles didn't have much screen time, just seven or eight scenes with a few lines, so the auditions went quickly. Wayne directly handed over all decision-making power to Quentin.

It's worth mentioning that Quentin once again chose Yuen Woo-ping's team for the action choreography.

So, "The Bourne Identity," "Resident Evil," "Taken," and the upcoming "The Bourne Supremacy" in the second half of the year will all have Yuen Woo-ping's team handling the action scenes. If it weren't for "The Matrix Reloaded" also requiring Yuen Woo-ping's team, he would have practically booked the entire team.

Additionally, the roles initially intended for Sarah Michelle Gellar as the friend who is kidnapped and killed alongside the protagonist's daughter and Isla Fisher as another girl rescued from traffickers by the protagonist were both recast with local French actors on Serra's suggestion.

This wasn't about saving money; after all, it wouldn't save much.

The main reason was that using local actors would reduce some unnecessary troubles during filming in France.

Wayne naturally went along with Serra's professional opinion.

By 11 a.m., all the roles had been cast, and the entire process took just over 80 minutes. During that time, Wayne spent two-thirds of it writing the script. It was unbelievably fast for a production with a budget of over 30 million.

"Let's call Mia, have a coffee, and then lunch. How does that sound?"

"Sure."

Since he still had to visit Industrial Light & Magic in the afternoon to finalize the acquisition deal with Lucasfilm, Wayne didn't rush to leave. Instead, he invited Serra and Mia to a nearby café to chat about the promotion for "The Bourne Identity."

In fact, as early as February 24th, four days after Hemera Pictures submitted "The Bourne Identity" for review, the MPAA had already given it a PG-13 rating.

This rating suggests that some material might not be suitable for children under 13, and parental guidance is advised.

If it weren't for the additional, more realistic and brutal Krav Maga fight scenes that Wayne added, this film might have received a PG rating.

However, Wayne wasn't dissatisfied with the result; it was entirely within his expectations.

Since then, everyone from the Big Seven studios to Miramax and New Line Cinema, which had not yet risen to prominence with "The Lord of the Rings," had been closely watching Hemera Pictures' moves.

They wanted to see how this suddenly emerged company, with its substantial financial backing and recent entry into distribution, would launch its promotional campaign.

But to their surprise, Wayne didn't follow the expected route of overwhelming media promotion with big capital.

However, their confusion didn't last long because several of the Big Seven are backed by media giants in America. It soon became known that Hemera Pictures had spent a fortune reserving the front pages of nearly every entertainment newspaper and media outlet from March 26th to March 31st, a month in advance.

"The Bourne Identity" was also scheduled to start previewing on March 26th, with a full release on April 1st.

At first, everyone was slow to react.

It wasn't until someone mentioned the Oscars that they realized Wayne's plan, each one taking a sharp breath.

Given their connections and channels, most of them already knew that Julia Roberts had a 90% chance of winning the Best Actress Oscar this year.

And Wayne himself was expected to receive a Best Actor nomination for his role as Bartleby in "Accepted."

Coupled with the Best Picture nomination for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and its action choreography team, it wasn't hard to imagine the immense attention that would follow when the Oscar winners were announced, and the public compared the winners with the cast of "The Bourne Identity."

Add to that the widespread attention and sympathy for Nicole Kidman due to her divorce from Tom Cruise.

The first action movie starring "Titanic's" leading lady, Rose.

Jessica Alba, who skyrocketed to fame with her stunning performance in "Happy Death Day" and her immense popularity.

Even the villain was played by Ian McKellen, who left a deep impression as Magneto in "X-Men."

When they looked back at the cast of "The Bourne Identity," they couldn't help but curse, "Holy shit."

There was no denying it; the sheer star power of this cast was staggering.

Though Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, and Will Smith might individually outshine anyone in this cast.

But with these six together, you'd need both Leo and Tom combined to match them, right?

With such immense star power and the Oscars lining up, as long as the movie wasn't terrible, it was bound to be a massive hit.

As for the movie's quality, Hemera Pictures didn't spend so much money on buying off critics and newspapers for nothing, did they?

Under a concentrated barrage from all mainstream media, even if the movie wasn't good, they'd turn it into something great, making audiences doubt their taste.

In an instant, everyone who had secretly been waiting to see Wayne and Hemera Pictures fall flat was left dumbfounded.

Clearly, though new to the game, Wayne played the Hollywood traffic game as well as, if not better than, the veterans.

Then again, it was no wonder. With over twenty years of future memories and a deep understanding of Hollywood's ecosystem, how could Wayne not excel at this game?

(End of Chapter)