"I won't say anything about the actors. ”

In the office of Shahai Entertainment, Mark Randolph, who came from San Francisco, first looked at Ronan and then at George Clint: "I am not professional in this area, you will definitely choose the most suitable person." ”

George Clint was not polite, saying: "The male lead is the key to this series, and his personal charisma directly determines the success or failure of the series. ”

Ronan really can't remember the name of the actor who used to be, it was originally a TV series

After watching the first two seasons, the actor slid across the Hollywood sky through "Prison Break" like a not-so-bright meteor, and soon disappeared, which is really hard to impress.

seems to have starred in the fourth or fifth "Resident Evil" later, playing a supporting role that is not heavy.

Since I can't remember the name, Ronan doesn't force it, this kind of TV series is more biased towards the type of actors who have become popular in dramas and roles, and Hollywood has never lacked good actors waiting for opportunities, just replace them.

After Bright Ratner joined the cast as a director, the crew began to conduct a wide range of auditions for the male lead, and a large number of male actors signed up for auditions, including some familiar names.

"I watched the video of my first audition. Ronan took out one of the many materials, put it on the coffee table, and said: "I think this person is good, he can be listed as one of the potential candidates, his appearance and temperament are absolutely tough guy type, and when he auditioned for the performance, under the rough appearance, there will be a little cold humor." ”

Although Mark Randolph said that he would not participate in the opinion, he couldn't help but take a look.

This drama is directly related to whether Netflix's streaming business can be launched smoothly next year, otherwise he would not have made a special trip from San Francisco to bring Ronan, who is increasingly inclined to control the general direction, to discuss several important decisions of the crew.

There is a large audition photo with makeup on the data, on which is a tall, muscular strong man, the explosive muscles, it looks completely "macho" type, but the smile on his face makes people feel that he has a humorous and tender side.

This macho actor is very familiar, but Mark Randolph can't remember the name for a while.

George Clint glanced at the information, rock-solid muscles, a big man of nearly two meters, and an impressive appearance.

"Dwayne Johnson. George Clint was impressed with the actor: "Former professional wrestler. ”

Mark Randolph suddenly realized: "George, when you say that, I think about it, is it the actor who played the Scorpion King in "The Return of the Mummy"? Later, Universal Pictures also created an independent "Scorpion King" movie for him. ”

Ronan answered, "That's right, it's him." ”

George Clint pondered for a moment and said, "I don't know exactly what a prison place looks like. But in pop culture, the strong must be respected, and a person who can get along well in prison must be a macho man. ”

Mark Randolph chimed in: "Makes sense. ”

But George Clint is not undoubted: "In the first audition, Dwayne Johnson's acting skills can only be said to be average, and this type of actor can easily give people the feeling of a brainless hunk." ”

Ronan is not worried: "Being able to deal with the role of the Scorpion King, it shouldn't be a big problem to appear in a TV series, and a macho man with a brain can also bring a kind of contrasting beauty." ”

For some considerations, Ronan did not say that Dwayne Johnson can become a long-term co-actor of Relativity Entertainment, and this macho actor is more mature and will become one of the most popular actors in the North American and even global film market, and even one of the few stars who can fight the box office in the future.

It looks brutal, but it is humorous.

Now that the full rights to the Fast and Furious series are in his hands, Ronan is also considering one thing, whether he can let Dwayne Johnson enter the series early.

Vin Diesel was the key to the franchise becoming a mainstream commercial film, but he is Hollywood's most famous-stirring stick, and no one from the producers to the distributors likes him.

But he can make a huge investment in commercial films successful, and can bring huge profits to the studio, so all the flaws are not comparable to this one shining point.

Ronan knows the charm of this series, so he is also preparing for both.

"That's right, George. Ronan was a little curious: "You were in contact with Dwayne Johnson's agent, why did they come for the role?"

"The Scorpion King" is commercially successful, and Dwayne Johnson is also a little famous as the absolute protagonist, and actors who have starred in successful movies often rarely turn their attention to TV series again.

In this era, there is still a big gap between the status and style of TV series and movies.

George Clint obviously understands: "Because of differences in salary and production philosophy, Universal Pictures changed the actor when filming and producing "Scorpion King 2" earlier this year. Universal Pictures didn't want to invest too much money in the series, and the second part could be released directly in the cassette and DVD markets as a B-movie, much to Dwayne Johnson's disappointment, and he had no interest in starring in the series again. ”

He glanced at the information on the coffee table and continued: "Dwayne Johnson is a very special type of actor, it is difficult to find a role that suits him, after "Scorpion King", he only took on a small production called "Megatron", he is the male protagonist, but this role is a retired soldier, from the role to the content setting of the film, it is almost a copy of Rambo. ”

Mark Randolph chimed in: "There's no other character of this type going better than Rambo. ”

Ronan nodded slowly: "Just by imitating, he will soon lose the popularity that the Scorpion King brings." ”

George Clint said: "I was in contact with Dwayne Johnson once, and he was a very thoughtful actor, so he would rather take on a TV series than waste time on that type of role. ”

"There was also an audition that put Dwayne Johnson as a key candidate," Ronan said. George, you host the actor's final audition, and if Dwayne Johnson's acting skills are not up to par, don't force it. ”

George Clint told the truth: "Dwayne Johnson still has basic acting skills, he has already made two movies, one of which is still the leading actor. ”

Ronan nodded: "You can grasp the specifics." He instead asked, "Mark, how is Netflix preparing in terms of design and technical support?"

Mark Randolph is very confident: "There will be no major problems, it will definitely be done within the planned time. ”

George Clint has been in charge of content production, and he has not had much contact with Netflix, so he has certain doubts: ""Survival in the Wild" and "Prison Break" have a lot of investment, especially the former, with a budget of more than 10 million US dollars, and do not go through TV broadcast channels, but only rely on online broadcasting, can it achieve the expected results?"

"Netflix now has nearly 10 million subscribers, and it expects to reach at least 12 million subscribers by the end of the year, which is close to the number of first-tier first-tier TV stations," Randolph reminded. ”

Ronan smiled: "Any business, the beginning is always the hardest, and Netflix's streaming business has a very high starting point." ”

Of course, the situation is not as rosy as Mark Randolph suggests, after all, many new Netflix users are attracted by Netflix's sharing feature, and there is a lot of work to be done to convert them into paid users who want to convert into streamers.

George Clint didn't say anything more, after all, he was not very familiar with Netflix's business, and Netflix had to pay for the dramas it introduced to Shahai Entertainment and production.

The little meeting of the three ended quickly, and as he left Shahai Entertainment, Mark Randolph got into Ronan's Rolls-Royce Phantom.

"It's not just 'Prison Break' and 'Wilderness Survival' that are streaming at the same time. "There are more than 20,000 other films and series in the library. I'm worried about whether it will impact the existing DVD rental and sale business if it can be viewed online on the Internet. ”

"The impact is definitely there, but it's not going to be big at this stage," Ronan said. For the current network bandwidth and the general level of computer hardware, the quality and clarity of online viewing cannot be compared with high-definition DVD. ”

Mark Randolph wonders, "Do DVDs really go down the drain?"

Ronan asked rhetorically, "Mark, do you think the Internet will evolve further?"

"Absolutely. Mark Randolph's tone was unequivocal: "The Internet is the future, there's no doubt about it. ”

Ronan said calmly: "If you can watch videos online through the Internet with the same quality as HD DVDs, the number of people who rent and buy DVDs will inevitably decrease significantly. In this respect, the prosperity of DVD actually depends on the development of Internet technology and computer hardware. ”

Mark Randolph smiled: "It's a bit unwilling, to think that the DVD network business that we have managed to grow big will have a serious recession in the next ten years." ”

"As long as we transform in time, we won't face many crises. Ronan knows the future trend: "Most of Netflix's users today are on a monthly basis, and their monthly fee for content consumption includes both DVD rental and streaming services that will be launched in the future. ”

He said very seriously: "Our newly developed programs, as long as they can have a good reputation and wide influence, can carry out DVD sales and rental business, and I believe that there will be many fans who will pay for it in order to see more high-definition programs." ”

Mark Randolph nodded and said: "The businesses of the two sides can promote each other and complement each other to a certain extent. ”

Ronan said slowly: "Don't worry, the plan is implemented step by step, we are already ahead of all Internet companies, we must lay a good foundation." ”

Since Netflix was acquired by Relativity Entertainment, the relatively smooth development has made Mark Randolph never doubt the future of Netflix.

"I understand. He said.

Back in the office of Relativity Entertainment, Connie came over to tell Ronan that Scarlett Johansson had arrived and had been waiting in the reception room for a while.