As Jude's agent, Leet clearly told Jude New Line directly about this request, Jude would not agree to it at all, and even refused the director's job.

Leeter once tested Jude's attitude and asked him if he had any thoughts of becoming an actor again. Jude refused without hesitation, and said that he never wanted to be the Jude Locke who tried his best on camera but couldn't please the director and the audience, and this kind of life made him feel insecure. He wants to be in control, not a marionette in front of the camera.

In Leet's opinion, such an idea is obviously too extreme, and he feels that Jude should not give up the road of being an actor, even if it is not developed as his main business, he should not completely block the road.

Hollywood has never had a shortage of talented directors and handsome actors, but there are very few people who have the status of stars and can achieve success in their directing careers. The scarcity of resources determines their value, and the same applies to the rules of the game in Hollywood.

The script provided by the new line company allowed Leet to see the possibility of convincing Jude.

"Why did the new line company suddenly think of asking me to act in a movie? Don't tell me it's all your idea! ”

After a long silence for half a minute, Jude finally asked the question that had been holding in his mind for a long time.

Litt said in his heart that it was his idea, but he didn't think it would be a good idea to let Jude know the truth now.

"New Line has been preparing to make this script into a movie since last year, and at first the director they chose was called David Fincher, maybe you have heard of this name, "Alien 3" was made by him, but before that he mainly shot commercials, and worked with Madonna, Michael Jackson and other big-name singers in the MV. The new line company approached him, and the two sides negotiated smoothly at first, but there were disagreements between the two sides in terms of actors. David Fincher must let Brad Pitt star in this movie, and Brad Pitt's agent offered New Line a salary of $10 million, and New Line felt that the asking price was too high and never agreed. ”

Jude was suspicious when he first heard David Fincher, and when Brad Pitt showed up, it would be strange that he couldn't guess that it was the movie.

The information of time and film company can be matched, but there is one thing that Jude still can't figure out.

"Ten million dollars is really too much, but Brad is an actor with a lot of potential, and if I were Shay, I would definitely say yes."

"The problem is mainly with David Fincher, "Alien 3" did not perform well at the box office, although Shay White is optimistic about this person's talent, but this does not mean that he can tolerate the other party's very excessive demands, such as insisting on Brad Pitt as the leading actor. So it's not that Shay isn't willing to spend $10 million to hire Brad Pitt, it's that he's not willing to invest that amount of money in a director who hasn't proven himself at the box office. ”

Litt paused as if to give Jude some time to think, and then he brought the conversation back to the previous topic.

"The biggest difference between you and David Fincher is that you've proven yourself. The box office performance of "Two Smoking Guns" in the UK speaks for itself, and Shay White doesn't even want to wait for the film to be released in North America and rush to finalize your next film collaboration. The investment of $40 million is not to say that it is a big project for an independent production company like New Line, or for those big film companies, the difference is that the big film company still has room for maneuver if it does a bad job, and if New Line fails this time, the whole company will have to go bankrupt, so you should know how important this project is in Shay's heart. In order to reduce the risk, of course, he had to find a more reliable person to be the director. ”

Jude put one hand on the edge of the window, looked at himself in the rearview mirror and asked, "That just explains why Shay White asked me to be the director, and why did he ask me to be the lead actor at the same time?" ”

"If I tell me why, can you promise not to get angry?" Li Teh asked abnormally.

"No, but you'll have to tell me why." Jude replied very directly.

"Well, the reason is that Shay White thinks that if they ask you to be the leading actor, at least they can save $5 million on the new line of actors' salaries, and this money is more in line with their plans whether it is invested in the filming of the film or as an increased price to attract a bigger actor to join them than spending 10 million dollars to get Brad Pitt to play the movie."

Jude couldn't laugh or cry.

"Five million dollars, that's how much the new line paid me?"

"It was only after I tried so hard that they agreed." Leet deliberately added.

"You just want me to do this movie? I'm absolutely sure if I'm only a director, but the script can't be too bad, but at the same time, it's complicated for me to play the leading role, and I can't guarantee that I can do it well. ”

There seems to be a bit of loosening in Jude's words, which is definitely good news for Little.

"Come on, you've been facing the camera since you were 7 years old, don't look at David Fincher has more experience than you, but when it comes to the time he has been in the industry, maybe he's still behind you."

"It's because I've been filming since I was a kid that I can figure out a truth that few people at my age can understand, maybe I'm really not suitable for acting."

"So you told me before that the reasons were all fake, and this is the real reason?" Li Teh couldn't help but mock and said: "I didn't let you show Oscar-level acting skills, as long as your performance can be worthy of a salary of 5 million, this shouldn't be a difficult thing for you, right?" ”

Jude didn't speak, seemingly persuaded by Little.

However, Li Tet was not satisfied with this result, and then resorted to the last resort.

"Kate will be the heroine of this film, and New Line has agreed, and if you don't mind your girlfriend making out in front of the camera, and you as a director can only sit behind a monitor and watch like this, it might be a good choice to have Brad Pitt play the male lead."

Looking at Kate's puzzled eyes on the side, Jude was suddenly a little passive.

He turned his head out of the car window, lowered his voice and said, "You're threatening me!" ”

Lee's voice on the other end of the phone became calmer and calmer, "I'm just reminding you that this matter is also beneficial to Kate." ”

Jude took a deep breath and made his final decision.

"Well, this time you won!"