Chapter 31

On the second day, Nicolas Cage, under the witness of his agent and lawyer, signed a contract, which meant that "Saw" finally had its male lead.

Ryan paid the entire fee at once, and the only comforting thing was that Nicolas Cage did not make any excessive demands other than having a separate dressing room and a rest trailer.

Some Hollywood actors would make extremely excessive demands to the crew, such as only eating food from a certain restaurant, requiring payment for pet care, or having a personal chef, and so on.

It can be said that they can come up with anything you can't imagine.

Of course, Nicolas Cage's fee was a bit high for the crew.

Nowadays, Nicolas Cage, although not a big star, has appeared in many films.

Several of them are even starring roles, and considering his current fee, it's already quite low, even to the point of taking a pay cut.

Ryan was well aware of this, and Sophia played a crucial role in this, while not excluding the impact of his previous film "The Blair Witch".

Of course, it also had to do with the short shooting time of the crew.

Three days later, Scarlett Johansson joined the crew with her mother accompanying her.

Monica Bellucci also seemed to have reached some agreement with Helena and was busy changing agents. It would probably take a few more days to sign the contract.

Apart from that, another important character in the film, Dr. Lawrence, was confirmed to be played by Edward Norton, who had just been signed by Helena.

This name may be unfamiliar to most people, but mentioning the movie "The Incredible Hulk" from his previous life would surely make people realize. He played the role of the Hulk in the film.

Ahem, well, I admit "The Incredible Hulk" seemed to flop.

But after all, he had starred in a commercially successful blockbuster.

With that, the crew of "Saw" was barely assembled.

Apart from the main actors in the film, the entire crew had more than twenty people, including five university interns who were paid poorly.

However, Ryan was very generous when it came to selecting props masters, set designers, and makeup artists. He chose the best among Hollywood professionals, and they were paid handsomely on a weekly basis.

Compared to the previous crew of "The Blair Witch", it seemed to have improved several levels.

As for the other main actors in the film, the partner of Detective Taylor, Xin, and the female character killed by the vertical saw, were personally played by Sophia.

According to Ryan, the winner of the Razzie Award for Best New Actress and Best Supporting Actress was perfect for cameos.

There was also another female detective, Carrie, along with the remaining few minor roles and some background actors, all from Helena's roster of contracted actors.

From this, it can be seen that having a contracted director under one's umbrella has its advantages, even better than having well-known actors.

The preparations for the crew went smoothly, except for the box office stair-step sharing of "The Blair Witch".

After several negotiations, 20th Century Fox finally agreed to pay all the box office stair-step shares within the first week of the film's release in North America, which meant it wouldn't arrive until the end of June at the earliest.

Obviously, for Ryan, time was running out.

Fortunately, Helena had made preparations early on and had already contacted a small community bank to arrange a mortgage loan, with the box office stair-step share contract of "The Blair Witch" as collateral.

Inside the rented haunted house, the crew gathered for the first time.

As the film's sole investor, director, and screenwriter, Ryan took the initiative to introduce everyone.

"Sophia Coppola, my assistant and part-time assistant director, as well as the overall coordinator of the crew. You can call her Sophia."

Glancing at Sophia, whose face looked somewhat unpleasant, Ryan naturally understood why, but he didn't say anything and continued to introduce everyone.

"Oh, Sophia's father is the famous director Coppola. If you have any problems in the future, feel free to ask her."

Then, he pointed to Nicolas Cage and introduced, "Nicolas Cage, the actor who plays Adam, the male lead in the film. I'm sure everyone knows him."

"Monica Bellucci, playing Amanda Young, a very charming lady in the film."

"And our Scarlett Johansson, the future Hollywood superstar."

"Edward Norton, playing Dr. Lawrence in the film, a very promising newcomer."

After a brief introduction, Ryan allowed everyone to talk among themselves.

However, most people were a bit nervous, occasionally glancing at Sophia and Nicolas Cage.

Some of the veteran Hollywood professionals were even more surprised. The relationship between Sophia and Nicolas Cage had long been no secret, both being from the Coppola family.

For a moment, they looked at Ryan with a hint of awe in their eyes. Not everyone could have connections with the Coppola family.

"Sophia, how come you didn't even say hello to your cousin when you saw him?" Nicolas Cage turned around and looked at Monica Bellucci, taking a step forward and showing what he thought was a very handsome smile. "Miss Monica, long time no see."

"Do you have time for dinner tonight?"

Monica Bellucci was slightly surprised. She hadn't expected Nicolas Cage to be the male lead in the film.

"Cage, long time no see."

"I also want to thank you for the recommendation."

"As for tonight, it depends on the crew's schedule."

The two had already met during the filming of "Vampires in Love for Four Hundred Years".

Seeing his cousin Nicolas Cage's eyes almost falling on Monica Bellucci, Sophia Coppola couldn't help but snort lightly and said, "If you like flirting at a crime scene, then you can continue."

Crime scene!

In the next moment, everyone's eyes turned to Sophia.

"Don't look at me. This is the residence Ryan rented." Sophia Coppola's teeth were clenched, as if harboring endless resentment.

"This?" Ryan smiled awkwardly, without hiding anything. He said, "The property manager said that a murder occurred on the second floor a few months ago, and this apartment has had several suicides. It is rumored to have been cursed by a witch."

"So I want to shoot some of the scenes from the film here to add some horror atmosphere."

"Just think about it, what could be a better location for shooting than an apartment that just had a murder case!"

The several main actors on the side had to admit that this was a very good selling point for promotion.

But just thinking about shooting at a murder scene made them feel a bit chilly.

However, several senior crew members were excited. They looked at Ryan with a newfound respect.

From this perspective alone, he was indeed a director with great ideas.

Ignoring everyone's reactions, Ryan instructed Sophia to distribute the shooting schedule and said, "I hope everyone can spare some time to go through the main scenes of the film and get familiar with them."

Similar things were not uncommon in Hollywood. Many major films required the main actors to rehearse for a long time before shooting.

Of course, if we talk about rehearsals to the extreme, it should be across the Pacific.

For example, to shoot "Dream of the Red Chamber", actors from all over the country had to undergo three months of training first, with a very tight schedule every day.

Every actor had to shape their body according to the characters in the script, discuss and rehearse over and over again.

Even makeup, costumes, and music had to follow suit, everything had to be in line with the original work.

The most crucial point was that casting suitable actors from among them didn't start until this stage. Often, five or six actors competed for one role, and those who weren't chosen had to go back.

It can be imagined that TV dramas produced in this way were even more stringent in quality than movies. If they weren't good, then something was wrong.

For rehearsals, everyone naturally had no objections. As the only investor in the film, Ryan wasn't afraid of wasting time, and they were all happy with that.

Little did they know, whether in the past or present, Ryan was known for being a fast shooter. For example, recently, a certain director took twenty days to shoot a large-scale fantasy film, which was considered slow in his opinion.

Twenty days?

If it were him directing, he could finish shooting in at most fifteen days, and if he wanted to be faster, ten days would be enough.

Today, Ryan just wanted them to get to know each other a bit. They couldn't start shooting officially right away.

There would be a small dinner party tonight to relax a bit.

When shooting officially started, they would know what a race against time was like. The entire shoot could be completed within two weeks.

After all, the film from his previous life didn't even have rehearsals.

Now, Ryan didn't want to waste time on rehearsals either.