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Chapter 324: What does your role as Iskander have to do with me, Alexander the Great?
🕑 Added 2025-05-06 15:08:33 +0000 UTCAs soon as Dwayne Johnson stepped into the audition room, Nanaya stopped fooling around and began to observe the actor carefully.
The image of the King of Conqueror played by Johnson caught Nanaya's attention.
Although the clothes he was wearing were made at the last minute, they looked very awkward because they didn't fit him well.
But the other party's unruly appearance did have some of Iskandar's charm.
To be fair, there is definitely a certain gap between Johnson's outfit and the FZ illustration in Nanaya's mind.
But filming a movie is not cosplay. Rather than simply looking similar in appearance, Nanaya, as a director, pays more attention to whether the actor can express the spirit of the character.
From this point of view, although Johnson's performance is not 100% restored, it is much better than other dead faces.
In the past few days, the only one who could achieve this level was Baldy Fan, whom Nanaya disliked very much.
In fact, the quality of an actor's acting skills is a very subjective judgment, and more often it is a person's subjective feeling.
When people like someone very much, they will subconsciously ignore some problems and take them as the criterion.
It’s like the die-hard fans of some stars. Even if their idols just stand in front of the camera and recite “one, two, three, four” like zombies, the dubbing is entirely done in post-production.
But in the eyes of those people, their idols are always the best.
This is the feeling that Nanaya is facing now. In fact, in terms of hard level, the acting skills of Johnson and Vin Diesel are only comparable.
But in Nanaya's eyes, the one in front of him was more pleasing to the eye.
Therefore, when Nanaya saw Johnson wrapped in a cloak and holding a dagger walking into the room, Nanaya had a feeling that he was the other person.
However, Nanaya still has some professional qualities as a director. No matter how good he feels, he definitely needs to let the other party perform.
If the other party does not meet your qualifying standards, all you can do is say sorry.
Nanaya held his chin and stared at Johnson. He left all the tasks of hosting the audition to Feige.
"Well, please introduce yourself first."
Feige's tone was as if Mr. Wang from Banbi Jiangshan was asking, "What is your dream?"
But Johnson had no intention of laughing. He took a deep breath and began to give a brief self-introduction to the judges in front of him.
Feige then had Johnson read a few more lines, including the ones where the Emperor joked with Waver, explained to others that he was the king, and led the charge.
Finally, Feige directed Johnson to make several sword-wielding poses.
Thanks to his muscular body and big frame, Johnson can perform these movements with great accuracy.
But Nanaya also discovered a more serious problem with the other party - that is, he was too friendly but not powerful enough.
To put it more directly, Dwayne Johnson now lacks the domineering aura that belongs to a king.
There is no problem with Johnson's performance as the King of Conquerors with Waver's jokes, and he can even play the King of Conquerors fighting on the battlefield. However, Iskandar, who is so domineering that he can crush his opponents with just his momentum, is still lacking.
However, this defect is not incurable and can be compensated through special targeted remedial measures.
It all depends on whether this big actor is willing to do it.
"You performed very well. We will inform you in two days whether you have entered the next round of auditions. You can leave now."
After completing all the projects, Feige signaled Johnson that he could leave.
"Thank you, all the judges."
Johnson glanced at the three judges behind the table with the corner of his eyes, trying to get a glimpse of their expressions.
But both Feige and Nanaya were smart people, and even though they didn't communicate with each other, they all had polite smiles on their faces.
The assistant was only responsible for recording and had no power to decide anything, so he recorded the entire process with a blank expression on his face.
Johnson felt a little regretful that he couldn't know the specific results, but he was very clear about the principle of "don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask" as his agent had reminded him.
[The script I was given just now mentioned that my character is Iskandar, maybe I can do some research on this.]
Johnson didn't know that the name Iskandar was the Arabic name of Alexander the Great.
After all, most of the time, people refer to the King of Conquerors as Alexander the Great, just like people rarely use [Suleiman (Solomon's Arabic name)] when referring to Solomon.
Johnson, whose knowledge is only average, certainly wouldn't pay too much attention to this aspect.
But Johnson knew very well that since the character he played was an ancient hero, there must be relevant records, and he would definitely gain something by checking them out when the time comes.
After Dwayne Johnson left the audition room, Feige asked Nanaya, "How is it? I think you should be very satisfied with this actor."
"How did you know?" Nanaya was a little surprised.
Feiqi said, "Because you haven't said a word since the audition began. This is the only time you have said anything in the past few days of auditions."
"He's still a little short." Nanaya shook his head, "But it's not like he has no chance of getting the role."
Feige smiled and said, "So you are still very satisfied with him?"
"Um?"
"Because you Japanese people always like to express satisfaction in a less certain way, don't you? In your local language, it seems to be called... tsundere?"
If a cute girl said the word tsundere, Nanaya would find it very interesting, but when it came out of a rough old man's mouth, Nanaya just felt a chill.
"Anyway, go talk to Johnson later and tell him to read more historical documents related to Alexander the Great and watch more movies related to the emperor."
Nanaya thought for a moment and added, "Not just Johnson, all the actors I circled were notified in the same way. I will audition them for the second round after I return from England."
Originally, Nanaya wanted to go by himself, but considering that if he went there in person, it would convey some unnecessary information to the actors and make them think too much, he decided to ask Feige to go.
"Okay, I understand."
Feige is happy to do this kind of thing, which is just a notification.
"Also," Nanaya instructed Feige, "Say one more thing when you meet with Johnson, and ask him to grow his hair and beard. Keep the beard the same as the one he's wearing today, and keep his hair at least long enough for him to wear a wig."
Although Dwayne Johnson is indeed charming with a bald head, it is better for King Conqueror Iskandar to keep his hair and beard.
It took me several hours just to put makeup on Johnson today. It will be too troublesome to do the same thing after the official shooting.
"I see." Feige gestured to show his understanding.
Nanaya waved his hand and said, "I will be going to England tomorrow. Please pay more attention to the negotiations with Universal."
"It shouldn't be a big problem. Universal is not opposed to cooperating with us on a movie." Feige shook his head and said, "It's just that they asked for too much."
Having a sucker who can share the risk in film production is certainly a good thing for Universal, especially since this sucker is eyeing the failed project "The Incredible Hulk".
At present, the main disagreement between Marvel and Universal is still on the profits of movies.
Although Universal was not aware of Marvel's cinematic universe plans, they still smelled something different from the negotiations between the two parties.
Therefore, Universal has been somewhat aggressive in sharing the profits from "The Incredible Hulk". Not only do they hope to take the lion's share of the profits from "The Incredible Hulk", they also want to get a piece of the profits from the character of Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Of course Nanaya and Marvel would not agree to such a thing. It’s fine for Hulk’s personal movie to give up part of the profits, but why should we have to pay for it afterwards?
This resulted in the Incredible Hulk project being stuck right after it had begun.
Universal's attitude is as ugly as ever, but Seven Nights and Marvel themselves are not good guys either.
Especially when it comes to the distribution of commercial profits, it is difficult to say who is right or wrong, it is more about which side one sits on.
"If Universal pushes too hard, you can say that the movie will be produced by Marvel, and we will give up the distribution rights and let Universal distribute it."
Nanaya thought of the old wisdom of Marvel in his previous life and told it to Feige: "We only retain the profits of the producers and the offline distribution rights of the film. Anyway, there are certain fuzzy boundaries in the copyright agreement of Hulk, which is very beneficial to us."
"I'll try."
Afterwards, Nanaya explained to Feige the important contents of the preparation for "Iron Man", including the requirements for the director and several actors with long-term contracts.
Judging from the progress feedback from all sides, after solving the big problem of financial pressure, the progress of "Iron Man" is much faster than Nanaya's previous life.
Optimistically speaking, the filming could start in the first half of 2006. Taking into account filming and post-production, Nanaya thinks it might be released in the second half of 2007.
It is about half a year faster than the original May 2008.
In Nanaya's opinion, starting the Marvel Cinematic Universe early also has its advantages. After all, the sooner you cultivate fans, the better.
Moreover, the behind-the-scenes background of the "Iron Man" movie also involves the war that took place in the Middle East, so it is better to make this hot topic as hot as possible.
After finishing these annoying chores, Nanaya boarded a plane to London, England.
The targets of the seven nights include but are not limited to Waver, Kenneth, Lancelot and other British actors in the FZ setting.
But as soon as he got off the plane, Nanaya met a person who did not exist in the plan.
"Hey, Director Nanaya, I haven't seen you for a few days. Do you miss Lily?"
As a cheerful voice sounded, Nanaya saw the familiar girl with a ponytail waving her hands and appearing in the airport reception hall.
