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After only a month away from Great Britain, Matthew returned to London to audition for "The Mummy Returns", accompanied by Helen Herman, who has been in and out of the Pinewood Studios where the crew has been staying since the first day of staying at the hotel, to find out the latest developments in "The Mummy Returns" and auditions.

Judging from what Helen Herman heard, the audition was not optimistic.

"The Mummy Returns" is a sequel film that continues the main cast of the previous "Mummy", and among the new characters, there are only a few important characters, and the Scorpion King is one of them.

"The Mummy" sold more than $400 million at the global box office, and the sequel is bound to attract attention, and the main characters in it certainly have no shortage of competitors.

According to Helen Herman, the crew of "The Mummy Returns" sent out nearly twenty audition invitations for the role of the Scorpion King.

Looking at the number of auditions alone, it seems that the competition is not as fierce as when he auditioned for Ronald Spears, but in fact it is the opposite.

Because director Stephen Sommers has his own candidates, if it weren't for his lack of power, the producers and Universal Pictures demanded that auditions must be held for the roles, I'm afraid the Scorpion King would have already decided on the actors.

Although the previous film was a big hit, like most Hollywood directors, Stephen Sommers does not have absolute power in the crew, and his name is not even in the list of producers.

In Helen Herman's words, similar to the first part, Stephen Sommers, the director and screenwriter, is more like a filming director, not to mention the final editing rights, even when it comes to the use of important roles, his opinion, although important, has no decision.

Matthew has been in Hollywood for a year, and he knows a little bit about this most basic situation, and if the director doesn't do the point of Spielberg or James Cameron, he doesn't actually have much say in front of the big studios.

After all, Hollywood is a producer-centric system.

"Each of the nearly 20 actors who participated in the audition was very competitive. ”

At a drink shop at Pinewood Studios, Helen Herman told Matthew about the latest situation, "But for now, the best chance of winning is the one proposed by Stephen Sommers." ”

Matthew turned the coffee cup in his hand and asked, "Who is Stephen Sommers proposing?"

"A professional wrestler. "Helen Herman uttered a name," Dwayne Johnson the Rock. ”

Hearing this name, Matthew gradually remembered, isn't this the bald head he can't remember the name?

Helen Herman continued, "Stephen Sommers strongly recommends Dwayne Johnson to producer Sean Daniel and Universal Pictures for the Scorpion King. ”

Matthew frowned, "Even if the decision is in the hands of the producer, Sean Daniel will prioritize the director's opinion, right?"

"He's definitely going to take into account the director's opinion. Helen Herman looked at her watch, "But the news I got was that Sean Daniel wasn't too fond of Stephen Sommers' recommendation, otherwise there wouldn't have been this audition." ”

After spending a lot of time with Helen Herman, Matthew has gradually become accustomed to the way she speaks, and can understand the subtext, and if he can't find a better candidate than Dwayne Johnson, Sean Daniel will definitely take Stephen Sommers' advice.

"Dwayne Johnson is famous, isn't he?" Matthew asked tentatively.

"More famous than you. Helen Herman thought for a moment and then said, "Jack used to work as a personal assistant to Sean Daniel, and I heard him talk about Sean Daniel, who is said to be a very old-fashioned white Southerner. ”

Matthew knew that Helen Herman's Jack was the bearded man from the Gladiator crew.

"You don't have to think about these things. Helen Herman advised, "All you have to do today is pass the first audition!"

"By the way, skin color ......" Matthew thought of another thing from Helen Herman's words, "Does the crew have any skin color requirements?"

Helen Herman shook her head, "Don't worry about this, what kind of skin color the ancient Egyptians had, let alone Hollywood, the academic community has not yet reached a conclusion." Arnold Vothroo, who plays Immorton, is a white man, although he was born in South Africa. In Hollywood, black people are black, white people are white, and Asians are yellow. ”

She smiled rarely, "This is not a historical biopic, it's just a commercial entertainment movie." ”

Matthew nodded, stopped talking, and looked out of the drink shop through the huge glass curtain wall, thinking about the afternoon auditions.

It's been three days since I came to London, and if I can't pass the audition, I can only go home.

The drink shop is built at a fork in the road of Pinewood Studios, the location is very good, due to a series of tax rebate policies for film crews by the London authorities, not only British TV movies, but also many Hollywood crews, will choose to shoot in the UK.

Pinewood Studios is the oldest and most well-equipped studio in the London area, and is the venue of choice for many crews filming in London.

People come and go in the studio, and it can be said that it is the norm for five or six or more crews to work at Pinewood Studios at the same time.

It's almost noon, and the traffic around the fork in the road is surging, and it's just the beginning of the hot season, and many people come to the drink shop to buy cold drinks.

There were three children coming from a distance, gradually approaching the drink shop, Matthew looked over curiously, children in the studio are still rarely seen, and the three children are followed by a young man, who looks like an assistant to the crew.

Soon, a woman, two men and three children entered the drink shop, each asked for a cold drink and walked towards this side.

Matthew also saw clearly that the girl had brown hair and a little freckles on her face, which is very common in the British, and the two boys, one with black hair and the other with the rarer red hair, were both about ten years old.

As one of the girls walked by, she looked at Helen Hermann, who had her back to the door, and suddenly stopped.

"Hello, Helen. She took the initiative to say hello to Helen Herman.

Helen Herman also saw her, immediately stood up, and said with a smile, "Hello, Emma. Then she beckoned to the boys, "Hello, Daniel." Hello, Rupert. ”

The two children didn't seem to know Helen Herman, but they just smiled, pointed to an empty table, and said, "Emma, we'll wait for you there." ”

The girl was generally precocious, and Emma nodded, and then said to Helen Herman, "Does Mommy know you're coming?"

Helen Herman laughed and said, "I didn't inform her, I might be back in a few days." ”

Matthew, who had already recognized the girl, interjected, "Tell me, Helen." ”

"Are you Helen's boyfriend?"

Unexpectedly, the girl took the initiative to speak, "Hello, I'm Emma Watson." ”

"I'm Matthew Horner. Matthew explained, "Helen's client." ”

"Oh......" Emma Watson smiled sheepishly, "sorry, I misunderstood." ”

Matthew smiled and shook his head, "It's okay. ”

Emma Watson seemed to be more acquainted with Helen Herman, chatted with her for a while, and then went to find her companion.

"Is this an actor?" asked Matthew deliberately.

"Warners is the heroine of a crew. Helen Herman said directly, "The last time I was in London, I was on this crew. ”

Matthew immediately understood, "You want to poach people. ”

Helen Herman didn't answer, but she didn't deny it either.

The two sat down again, Helen Herman made a phone call, called Matthew to go to the studio rented by the crew of "The Mummy Returns", and waited for about forty minutes before someone came over and asked Matthew to go to the styling room.

There was no make-up artist to do the makeup, a female costumer provided him with a close-fitting boxer shorts, and when Matthew came out of the changing room, he was given a black burqa similar to that worn by boxers.

Matthew put on a black burqa to cover his muscular body, and followed an assistant to the audition room.

He doesn't have bad associations because of the costumes, and it's a very formal audition, and not only the casting directors and producers of the crew will participate, but the representatives of the Screen Actors Guild will also supervise the audition as usual.

This is not the Hollywood of the fifties and sixties, and even if someone really wanted to do something, they would not be stupid enough to choose the audition room of the crew.

Entering the audition room, Matthew stood directly across the camera lens as requested, his eyes quickly swept over the opposite side, and after seeing the photos collected by Helen Herman before, he immediately recognized Stephen Sommers and Sean Daniel, who were sitting next to each other behind the monitor.

These two people directly decide the fate of the auditioning actors, especially the latter.

Hollywood is a very patterned place, even the crew audition is no exception, because it is not an audition with makeup, Matthew quickly finished introducing himself according to the requirements of the casting director.

"The resume is ok. Behind the monitor, Stephen Sommers looked at Matthew's cast profile and whispered to Sean Daniel, "It's just that the body is a little thin." ”

Sean Daniel ignored him and said to Matthew, "Take off your burqa." ”

Matthew took off his black burqa and handed it to the staff next to him, leaving only a pair of boxer shorts all over his body, his figure was majestic, and his muscles were smooth, like David under Michelangelo's knife.

Then, under the direction of the casting director, Matthew showed off his strong body and toned muscles from different angles.

Stephen Sommers didn't speak again, and anyone could tell that the actor was quite strong.

Sean Daniel nodded, although this actor does not have an almost perverted body like Dwayne Johnson, his body size and muscles fully meet the requirements of the crew.

What's more, this man has far more experience than Dwayne Johnson, and is not yet a ......

He shook his head, didn't continue to think about it, and didn't ask Stephen Sommers for advice, picked up his pen and wrote a line directly on the information in front of him.

"Audition with makeup!"

After writing, he nodded to the casting director, who said a few formulaic words, and the actor left the audition room.

Sean Daniel glanced at Stephen Sommers and said to the casting director, "Let the next one in!"

Matthew and Helen Herman left Pinewood Studios and had just returned to the hotel where they were staying when they were notified by the crew.

"Congratulations, Matthew. Helen Herman put away the phone, "You've passed." ”

Matthew breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Have a drink in the evening?"

Helen Herman shook her head, "It's not time yet. She waited for Matthew to leave, picked up her phone and dialed the number, "Jack, can you help me meet Sean Daniel?"