Watching Sophia send Monica Bellucci out, Helen lifted the gold-rimmed glasses on her face and said, "Very good candidate." ”

Helen's careful thinking naturally can't hide from Ryan, an actor who is about to return to Italy, and the relationship with his agent can be imagined, and it is not difficult to dig it up with Helen's means.

"Very good indeed. ”

"It's a pity that the heroine in the film has limited shots, so compared to the heroine, the choice of the actor is the key. ”

"Helen, do you have any good candidates to recommend!"

Ryan's voice changed, and he suddenly asked Helen.

Helen glanced at the work record on the table and said, "Isn't Sophia already scheduled to audition for the actor!"

Ryan shook his head and said, "It's right that Sophia arranged an actor audition, but I'm not very satisfied with the selection." ”

Some of the actors auditioned for Sophia were from Star Agency, and some were from the actors' union, and there were a lot of them.

It's just that he wasn't very satisfied.

The heroine in the film can be a beautiful vase, and the male protagonist needs good acting skills.

"The right people I can recommend are on the audition list. ”

Helen glanced at the direction of the door and saw that Sophia had not returned, so she continued: "You should not come to ask me, but you should ask Sophia." ”

Without waiting for Ryan to react, she continued: "The Coppola family is not only directors. ”

"You're talking about Nicolas Cage, Sophia's cousin?" Ryan reacted immediately.

Sophia's cousin is none other than Nicolas Cage, the future box office poison.

"Okay, it's time for lunch, and when lunch is over, you can talk to Sophia in person. With that, Helen stood up and walked outside.

She has one more important thing than Nicolas Cage, who just mentioned.

"Nicolas Cage, a good candidate. Ryan muttered to himself.

After lunch, Ryan called Sophia into the office to talk about Nicolas Cage.

"I heard that Nicolas Cage is your cousin?" Ryan asked knowingly.

Sofia Coppola frowned, after a few days of contact, she has been very clear about Ryan's character, and she will never ask boring questions for no reason, unless it is related to the filming of the film.

"You're trying to get me to send him an audition invitation?"

"I advise you not to work in vain, he won't take on a horror movie. ”

"What's more, his salary is definitely over your budget. ”

Since the release of "Wild at Heart" and won the Palme d'Or at the 43rd Cannes Film Festival, Nicolas Cage has made some fame, there is no shortage of scripts, and his salary is also rising.

"I just want you to send him an audition invitation, and I'll take care of how to convince him and the budget. ”

"I guess as a cousin, he's not going to turn down your invitation to audition anyway. Ryan said half-jokingly.

American society also talks about human feelings, not to mention that Nicolas Cage is also a member of the Coppola family, the nephew of director Coppola, and has naturally been cared for by director Coppola, such as the role in the film "Betta".

Even if Nicolas Cage has been reduced to box office poison in his previous life, he will still be cared for by Sophia, who has already achieved fame.

It can be seen that the two of them, as cousins, have always had a good relationship.

Sofia Coppola couldn't believe his ears, he wanted to use himself to send an audition invitation!

However, she still agreed, anyway, it was just an invitation to audition.

"Well, I can try, but I can't guarantee that he will accept it, and even if he is my cousin, there is nothing I can do. ”

Favors are favors, work is work, although they can occasionally be confused, but once it involves money, then it can only be business.

It's rare in Hollywood to see actors slash their salaries to star, unless it's an art film for awards.

Sofia Coppola sent an audition invitation to her cousin and made a phone call herself.

Receiving Sophia's call, Nicolas Cage was speechless for a while, he just helped Monica say hello to Sophia, why did he end up sending him an audition invitation?

I can't refuse, no matter what the script is, I have to find time to go to an audition.

As Ryan thought, Nicolas Cage had always had a good relationship with Sophia, and Sophia's father took care of him a lot, so he couldn't refuse no matter what.

"Sophia's call?" asked the agent who had just walked in, slightly surprised.

"Well, she sent me an invitation to audition, and I said yes, and it seems like a horror movie. "Nicolas Cage didn't hide anything.

"Since it's an audition invitation from Sophia, you should go there, as long as you think the script is suitable, you can completely agree to it. ”

Naturally, the agent would not let him refuse, an opportunity to deepen his relationship with members of the Coppola family.

It is true that Nicolas Cage is a member of Coppola's family, but he is only the nephew of director Coppola, and the level of intimacy is far less than that of Sofia Coppola, who is his daughter.

Coppola's last work, the fantasy horror film "400 Years of Vampire Zombie Horror", grossed more than $200 million worldwide, a staggering figure.

Perhaps Nicolas Cage will be a little resistant to a horror film, but as an agent, there is no resistance at all, "400 Years of Vampire Zombies" is also a horror film, but it has grossed more than $200 million worldwide.

Nicolas Cage didn't say much, and working with Monica Bellucci was probably a good experience.

Of course, it would have been more enjoyable without Sophia.

The next morning, Ryan asked Sophia to notify the other actors who came to audition to move the time to tomorrow afternoon.

The reason is simple, today Nicolas Cage will come to the audition.

Around nine o'clock in the morning, Nicolas Cage showed up very punctually downstairs in the office.

The Nicolas Cage in front of him should be said to be a young version, although he is thirty years old, he still looks very young, far less mature and full of charm than in his previous life.

According to his appearance, he is not very outstanding in Hollywood, but he can be remembered at a glance, he is Nicolas Cage.

Even if Nicolas Cage in front of him lacks the charm accumulated over time, he is still very outstanding and qualified for the role in "Saw".

The most important point is that Ryan knows very well that the current Nicolas Cage is far from reaching the peak of his career, and he will shine in Hollywood and become an out-and-out box office star.

The only thing that makes him a little embarrassed is probably the salary.

Nicolas Cage put down the script in his hand, glanced at Sophia, who was expressionless, and said, "Very interesting script." ”

"It doesn't look as beautiful and luxurious as "400 Years of Vampire Zombie Horror", but it is full of horror, as if as soon as you close your eyes, countless bloody pictures will appear in your mind. ”

"It's just that I can't figure out how Sophia would be interested in a horror script!"

He knows Sophia very well, a typical literary girl, no matter how you look at it, she will not be an assistant to a horror director.

With the connections that the Coppola family has, as well as her status in the independent film circle, Sophia can enter any crew.

Even some commercial film crews with huge investment are not difficult.

"Why can't I be interested?"

"Just because it's a horror movie!"

Sofia Coppola said unceremoniously: "The end of art is always business, and I just familiarize myself with it in advance." ”

She has seen art films clearly since she was a child, may I ask if there is any art film director who doesn't want to see his works sell well at the box office?

Including her father, all directors are just pursuing more profits and fame.

"Sophia, you're still the same as before. ”

Nicolas Cage rolled his eyes, he didn't want to argue with a literary girl.

In his eyes, Sophia is a literary girl, and even a problem girl.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have just become a little famous in Hollywood, and ended his acting career in anger because of a Golden Raspberry Award and the cynicism of the media.

"Director Ryan, I'm interested in the characters in the script, you can ask Sophia to talk to my agent about the specifics. ”

After speaking, Nicolas Cage closed the script, glanced at Sophia, and said, "I'm very happy to work with you." ”

Apparently he said this to Sophia, not Ryan.

Ryan didn't expect it to be so easy, and was somewhat surprised.

All things being equal, any director wants to work with a guaranteed actor, and so does Ryan.

In fact, Ryan doesn't know that the current Nicolas Cage is far from going as smoothly as he and Sophia imagined.

"My Heart is Wild" won the Palme d'Or at the 43rd Cannes Film Festival in 1990, and as the protagonist of the film, it can be said that Nicolas Cage is about to become famous.

However, things are far from being as rosy as imagined, and at the test screening of "Wild in My Heart", 350 viewers left the table 300.

The market response to the film's release was not good, with critics and audiences receiving mixed reviews of the David Lynch-directed film.

In the next few years, almost all of the films starring Nicolas Cage were small-budget productions.

"Honeymoon in Vegas", the only film with a relatively large investment, earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical Comedy.

Of course, "Honeymoon in Vegas" did not be a big success at the box office, the film cost as much as $25 million, but the North American box office was only $7.1 million, and the global box office was only $35 million.

If you want to recover the investment cost of the film, I am afraid it will be difficult and it will take a long time.

"The First Lady's Bodyguard", which was released in March, was like a basin of cold water falling from the sky, and the investment cost of the film was as high as 20 million US dollars.

But the film's North American box office was only $7 million, and the global box office was only a little more than $27 million.

Even if you include the distribution rights of offline videotapes, the rights of the first round of broadcasts by TV stations, etc., it is still difficult to recover the investment costs.

So in the face of the absolute protagonist in a film, even if the investment is small and it is a horror film, he will not easily refuse.

After all, "400 Years of Vampire Zombie Horror", which is also a horror film, was a great success, and it was an audition invitation sent by Sophia herself.

According to past experience, such a low-budget independent film, generally speaking, the shooting time will be very short, and it will not take many days.

According to the trajectory of his previous life, his next two films released this year, "Tales of a Fallen City" and "Heaven is in Trouble".

The former's "Tale of a Fallen City" only grossed $8.1 million in North America and $37 million at the global box office, while the cost of the film was as high as $20 million.

The latter's "Heaven in Trouble" grossed just over $2 million in North America and just around $6 million worldwide.

Until the low-budget film "Leaving Las Vegas" released next year, he lowered his salary to join the crew, won the Academy Award for Best Actor in one fell swoop, and became an Oscar winner.

The investment in the film was only $4 million, and the global box office was as high as $49.8 million, making the investment company a lot of money.

That's when the time came to work, and the transformation into an action superstar began.