Chapter 129 The Deluxe Lineup
When Sierra Leone's civil war broke out, other countries turned a blind eye to the chaos. Most of the journalists at that time chose to flee the country, but Semura decided to stay, and he decided to record everything that happened here on camera. Being in the midst of the civil war riots, that kind of danger can be imagined, before Semura, there have been nine colleagues died tragically under the rebel gun, he was lucky to survive, as a result of which this "Weeping Freetown" has gained recognition all over the world, not only picking up a few prestigious awards, but also becoming the most authentic record about this period of history.
Edward Zwick soon got in touch with the author of the film, Soriles Semura, and when he learned that Edward was working on a movie about the Sierra Leonean civil war, the courageous war correspondent wanted to make sure that all the details of the movie were true to the facts. Although the story and characters of the movie were fictional, it was important to convey the true original story. After Edward Zwick showed him the script, Soriles Semura realized that Lin Mingyang was thinking the same thing he was, and then he approached Edward Zwick with a desire to join the cast.
Director Edward naturally welcomed it to the core, he was in need of a technical advisor who was familiar with this area. Not only could Soriles Semura advise on the film's costumes and props, but he could also introduce the crew to people who spoke Mende and Krio dialects. He has also studied the diverse Sierra Leonean culture and has worked with scouts, smugglers, and mercenaries, an experience that will be of great help to the actors in the movie in terms of characterization.
Finding a technical consultant familiar with the Sierra Leonean civil war, and a talented screenwriter to write the script, coupled with Edward's own rich directing experience, a Hollywood film success of several important factors are already in place, only in the choice of actors, MGM and the director Edward Zwick had some differences.
In Edward's past directorial works, there is a very obvious tendency is that the cast is very strong, it is rare to come across a good script, of course, he will not miss the opportunity, in addition to the male lead has been determined to be played by Lin Mingyang, he gave the main star candidate list, the black movie star, the veteran Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington; a new generation of Hollywood beauty queen, the new Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron Huron in the list.
Not to mention that Denzel Washington is the highest-priced actor among black movie stars, and the blonde beauty Charlize Theron is also wildly expensive because she has just been awarded the Oscar, plus the highest-priced new generation of Hollywood movie stars, Lin Mingyang, the film's budget is rising, and at once it is more than one-third more than before.
Edward listed this luxury star lineup can be said to take into account all aspects of the audience, almost the old, middle-aged and young generations of men and women, its powerful box office appeal is undoubtedly, but the cost of such a configuration of the budget pressured the MGM company some breathless.
It's not that MGM wasn't willing to invest the money, in fact, compared with the same type of movie, the previous budget cost of "Blood Diamond" is already not low. This type of movie in Hollywood is generally good but not sell, the producers invest in this kind of movie, most of the money to buy shouting, can make a small profit is already very successful, many companies will not bet heavily on this, because the odds are too high.
MGM had suffered such a loss before, the highly anticipated "Windtalkers" met its Waterloo at the box office, and the company was almost on the verge of bankruptcy. Although the director Edward is full of confidence, several creators of the film are very high evaluation, but in the face of Edward submitted this list, MGM executives are still slow to make up their minds.
Late recovery, Edward waited has lost patience, he made the final killer, if this list can not be passed, he is the director of the next to go there is no meaning, MGM executives, if they are hesitant, then they do not have to worry about the actors and actresses, the first to consider the replacement of the director's choice!
This move is really effective, MGM can not afford to resign the director of the toss, they agreed to the list of actors, but in the film's budget is still not fully meet the requirements of Edward. Denzel Washington and Charlize Theron's fee is not so good to negotiate down, even if the director Edward self-surrendered pay one million, but the budget gap is still a little big.
After learning about this situation, Lin Mingyang also did a good deed. He announced that he would take out one million dollars from his own fee and work with director Edward to fill in the budget gap. His high-profile reaction finally made MGM's face finally hang on, and they added another three million to the movie.
The gap in the movie's budget was closed, but a new problem arose. Edward and Denzel Washington still had a few friendships, but there was no contact with Charlize Theron at all. He was worried that if he handed the script over so boldly, the possibility of Charlize Theron rejecting it would be high. In the end, Edward's assistant gave him the idea to ask Lin Mingyang to be the lobbyist.
At this year's Oscars, the most talked about thing was not Peter Jackson's feat of sweeping eleven small gold medals in one movie, but the harmless hot kiss between Lin Ming Yang and Charlize Theron. After the awards ceremony, various rumors about the relationship between the two, in the media was fired up, but the latter period of time the two basically have no contact, the debate also slowly subsided.
This time in Harvard to stay, Lin Mingyang has become not want to former so love the limelight, this kind of "attention" thing, at first he is certainly not not agree. But in the end, he couldn't resist the pleas of director Edward, who lowered his profile, so Lin Mingyang was pushed into this gentle pit of fire without a second thought.
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Upon realizing that it wasn't the imaginary Edward Zwick who came to meet with him, Charlize Theron's sexy lips grew so large that they could almost stuff an apple. Although Theron duly covered her mouth, this scene was still captured by Lin Mingyang, who was sitting across the table, and he looked at Theron with a smile, admiring the rare surprised gesture of this beauty.
Even though Lin Mingyang was wearing sunglasses, Charlize Theron could still feel the other party's gaze through the lenses, recklessly wandering between her sexy collarbone and her high, elastic breasts. No wonder some photographers say that Charlize Theron is the camera's best friend. The supermodel's body is indeed not a cover, less than 30 years old Charlize Theron is gorgeous, her charming green eyes and her charismatic smile, as well as her sexy body is enough to make anyone want to fall in love with her.
Charlize Theron, who never had any stage fright in front of the camera, but in Lin Mingyang's admiring gaze, her peach color steeply smeared all over her cheeks, her eyebrows sunk down, and a wisp of shyness penetrated her heart. This Hollywood supermodel beauty, Oscar-winning actress, actually in the face of Lin Mingyang to show shyness, it is estimated that the rumor will let a lot of people fall through the eyeglasses.
Since the last "Vanity Fair" cocktail party fled, Charlize Theron saw Lin Mingyang again, the heart actually have some nervous and panic. The smile at the corner of Lin Ming Yang's mouth seemed to have a seductive charm, firmly attracting every member of the opposite sex who approached him like a magnet.
Charlize Theron began to regret that she didn't reject Edward Zevic's invitation directly at the beginning, or else she wouldn't have put herself in such an awkward situation, being stared at by a man smaller than herself with that kind of gaze, and then think about how she actually kissed with him in public at the Oscars, and then later on laughed at the other party for being a "fledgling" when it came to kissing! Then she thought that she actually kissed him in public at the Oscars, and later mocked the other party for being a "child" in kissing, and in the end she was "molested" by the other party, and she couldn't help but blush with shame.
"Beauty, we meet again!" Lin Ming Yang's mouth was filled with a cynical tone, and these words in Charlize Theron's ears were almost equivalent to someone whistling flirtatiously at them on the road.
Although her heart was beating like a bunny, the perfect acting skills of an Oscar-winning actress allowed Charlize Theron to be completely at ease with her facial expressions, and apart from the blush on her face, she did not let Lin Mingyang notice any more of her true emotional fluctuations. She glared at Lin Ming Yang in mock mortification, "Why you guy, where's Director Edward?"
Lin Ming Yang shrugged regretfully, "As the film's screenwriter and leading man, on behalf of Director Edward and the entire cast and crew, I'm honored to extend an invitation to the beautiful and touching Ms. Charlize Theron to be the female lead in this film!"
Charlize Theron didn't expect Lin Ming Yang to be so direct, she had read the script of Blood Diamond before, the plot was deep and extremely challenging. But after receiving the honor of winning the Oscar for Best Actress, Charlize Theron had also become picky about the movies she took on, and she preferred to play roles that had more room for individual performances. In "Blood Diamond," a movie with two male leads, the beautiful heroine is inevitably reduced to a beautiful vase.
In front of Lin Ming Yang, Charlize Theron found it hard to say no. It was as if there was a shrunken version of herself within her that was constantly instigating her to accept Lin Ming Yang's invitation, but the other proud one would not allow herself to agree so easily. In the end Charlize Theron decided to make things difficult for Lin Ming Yang, because if you get it too easily, you won't know how to cherish it.
"Flowery compliments are the reason you used to convince me?"
Lin Ming Yang kept a faint smile on his face, "I know you were born in South Africa, and most of the film's sets will be done in South Africa, traveling plus visiting family, this is a rare opportunity."
"You also know that I grew up in South Africa?" Charlize Theron this time promptly covered her mouth with her hand when it opened wide, which didn't make Lin Ming Yang look at her jokes again.
"As the first beautiful woman to kiss me in public, paying attention to you is not just a privilege for movie fans and directors!" Lin Ming Yang tsked his mouth as if he was reminiscing about the lingering scent of that passionate kiss, an action that caused Charlize Theron to blush once again.
"I know that you are the first Oscar winner from Africa, and the president of multi-billion South Africa even specially presented you with a gold nugget engraved with his name after you won the award in recognition of the honor you won for the people of South Africa." In addition to lamenting the South African government's true gold recognition, Lin Mingyang actually wanted to suggest that the Oscar's little gold man also be made of pure gold, presumably so that it wouldn't be in a situation where an awardee would put it in the toilet or casually discard it.
"That's not a good enough reason, since you know that the president of South Africa gave me an award, you should have thought that I just came back from there!" Charlize Theron shook her head, a pair of wonderful eyes flowing with a luster that Lin Ming Yang could not understand.
"I know that last year's 'Stealing the Sky' was your first commercial movie in Hollywood to gross over 100 million dollars, so I'm guessing that this year you're planning to take on more commercial movies?" Lin Ming Yang wasn't in a hurry, sipping his coffee slowly, his tone was very much like the kind of tone one would use when chatting with a friend.
"Before I turned 18, I was just a small model, I had to participate in commercial activities in modeling land while also taking care of my studies, at that time I never dared to hope that I could become a superstar in the spotlight, I just hoped that I could earn more money to make my family's life a little better." Charlize Theron propped up her chin with one hand, a reminiscent expression appeared on her face.
"You can't even imagine that I met my first agent while walking on a boulevard in Los Angeles, when he gave me a business card, and then I stepped into show business in a blur."
This reminiscent atmosphere touched Lin Mingyang's dusty memories, and he began to talk about his own rise to fame: "My situation is somewhat similar to yours, but my luck is a bit better than yours. Three summers ago, I was working at a gas station owned by my friend's father, then I met Mr. Ortega when I was helping someone wash their car."
Charlize Theron shook her head, there was more than just a gap in luck between her and Lin Ming Yang: "You were the sunny and handsome leading man in Follies, while I played an unassuming minor role in my first movie, Chicago Beats the Devil 3. The next year I appeared in the dark comedy Two Days in the Valley, and that's what got me into the ranks of third-rate Hollywood actors."
Charlize Theron then co-starred with Keanu Reeves in The Devil's Advocate, a film that was her breakout hit, but audiences always remembered her as "Keanu Reeves's wife in the film," and the character lacked a distinct personality. Since then, her beauty and figure have overtaken her fame as an actress and she has become the center of attention.
Compared to Lin Ming Yang, Charlize Theron's road to fame was more difficult, people only saw her amazing beauty and supermodel body, but did not pay more attention to her acting skills, so the title of "vase" all the way to follow. Although she took a lot of classic literary films, but she still can't completely get rid of the shackles of the vase, always in the breakthrough and confinement in the repeated struggle, when she just started a new style of acting, but it is always a couple of boring commercial works to the haphazard stirring of the situation, the money she earned, but the performance is always the same place.
It wasn't until the real-life adaptation of The Devil Woman came along that Theron's career saw the light of day. In this movie she self-destructed and became a huge success. For a girl who grew up on a farm in the outskirts of South Africa, it's been quite a journey to get to where she is now.