As soon as it dawned, Ronald went out and bought some newspapers at the newsstand. He wanted to find out if the movie he dreamed about last night was Alan Parker's "Hot Lunch."
Picked up a copy of Hollywood's Daily Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter. There are many stage plays and musicals on Broadway here in New York, and there are also many magazines focusing on Broadway.
I got another job of "backstage" and "acting career".
When I returned to the apartment, I spread four newspapers and magazines on the table and scanned the news one by one.
"'The Deer Hunter' director, Oscar winner for Best Director and double Best Picture winner, Michael Cimino signed a new contract with United Artists to direct the new film 'Heaven's Gate.'"
Well, forget about this for now.
"British director Alan Parker and producer David Da Silva both said that the revival of musicals has arrived. After last year's 'Saturday Night Fever' and 'Grease', MGM launched another musical The film 'Hot Lunch'. The film is in the casting process and is expected to start filming in July."
After flipping through four newspapers and magazines, Ronald only found reports about "hot lunch", but no news about "famous all over the world".
I only remember three dances from yesterday’s dream, but I can’t remember who was the director in the opening credits.
Maybe there will be a revival of musicals in the future? Another similar high school musical movie called "Famous"? But Meg was very young in the dream, probably no more than 20 years old. Maybe it's "Hot Lunch" too.
"Ring ring ring ring..."
The phone rang and Ronald picked it up. It was director Alan Parker.
"Ronald? I'm Alan Parker. Come to Feuer & Ritzer today, West 48th Street near Broadway. The exact address can be found in the phone book. 10 A.M. Let’s meet there.”
After saying that, he hung up the phone with a bang.
Ronald suddenly woke up. Isn't this the competitor that Julia ordered yesterday? Let me first report to Julia what’s going on here.
"Is Julia here? I'm Ronald Lee. I have something important to see her."
"Ronald? It's me."
"Today, Director Parker said that he was going to a company called Feiure and Liesel for casting." Ronald spelled the name awkwardly according to the name written down in the book. The German pronunciation was really damn good.
"It's Fei Er, I understand. Remember to tell me any new developments."
I dug out the yellow pages that had accumulated a thick layer of dust at home and found Fair and Liezel's address, which was at the intersection of 6th Avenue and West 28th Avenue, not far from Broadway.
Better to tell Meg first, Ronald dialed his girlfriend’s home phone number.
The line is always busy.
After running to Meg's house, her roommate opened the door for Ronald.
"Yes, Jennifer, I have already got the contract. I don't know... I still have to wait for the director to continue the audition. The director asked me to sign up for an acting training class."
Seeing Ronald coming in, Meg held down the phone and said, "Ronnie, it's my sister Jennifer. I'm reporting the good news to her."
"I'm going to the director to help him audition. You go ahead and I'll tell you."
Taking the camera and film, Ronald took the subway to his destination.
Howard Fair, a partner in the studio, personally welcomed him through the door.
"How did you meet Director Alan Parker?" He asked about Ronald's background in a roundabout way.
"I'm a photographer who specializes in audition portraits. I've taken pictures of Natasha Kinski before. Director Parker wanted me to audition for his new film and take some photos for reference." Ronald was flawless.
"There are not many photographers as young as you."
"They all say I have some talent..."
Just as he was talking, Director Parker also entered the office.
"Hello Howard, let's make a long story short, I need 600 extras, high school students studying dance, music, and acting. I also need 8 protagonists, and 16 minor roles. This is the casting requirement." Director Parker said thickly Fold the documents and throw them on the table.
"Ah, Ronald you're here too, good. Let's get started."
The two began to discuss the requirements for the audition, and Ronald took out pen and paper to take notes.
Director Parker told Howard Fehr to find actors who were more ordinary and less successful and exposed.
After a simple lunch, Director Parker took Ronald out.
"I want you to go to all the auditions with me, and you take photos of the auditions for me and record them. You know, not all the audition photos are as real as the ones you took. Some are retouched."
"Of course, Director Parker." Ronald was very happy. He had a short-term job and could learn how directors choose actors.
"I may watch dozens or hundreds of actors every day, so I may not remember them at the end of the day. You remember to use Polaroid to take pictures of their appearance and record my evaluation at the same time." Parker saw the efficiency of Ronald's shorthand It's very high and quite satisfactory. If you hire an assistant, you can use it for two people.
"One more thing, I hope you don't tell Julia and Margaery at the casting studio about our coming to Fair." Alan Parker finally made his attitude clear, hoping that Ronald would promise him loyalty .
Ronald thought for a while, expressed his attitude, and gave a hint:
"I am not an employee of the casting studio, and Julia is not my superior, so I have no obligation to report your whereabouts to them, Mr. Parker."
"You are a smart young man. Let's do this. I will be busy with auditions this month. I can ask the producer to hire you as my temporary assistant and driver and rent your car."
"But I don't have a car now."
"Why have you become stupid again?" Alan Parker gave Ronald a slap on the forehead, "The daily rent and driver fee are 200 yuan. If you buy a new car, you can make it back in a month."
Can you still play like this? Ronald nodded quickly and agreed.
The director took Ronald to yesterday's audition studio again.
Julia and Margery were already waiting for him in the conference room.
Also present was a semi-bald man, whom Director Parker introduced as David DaSilva, the producer of "Hot Lunch."
Ronald quickly stood up and said hello to him.
After the director's introduction, he started the casting meeting by himself: "Let's see, which children will you bring today?"
Ronald felt that Director Parker didn't take producer Da Silva seriously. Speaking of producers and directors, who has more power?
Margaery spread out dozens of photos, "These are recommended by agents after hearing the news. We have selected 5 actors for each protagonist. Let's take a look together."
"The first is Hillary, a girl from the dance department. This character is a rich girl, majoring in ballet, and her dream is to join the New York City Ballet." Margery pasted Hillary's background on the whiteboard and used a magnet to attract it.
Ronald almost couldn't hold back his laughter. Isn't this the image of the rich second generation who bought the New York City Ballet that Meg despised yesterday? It seems that the script is very down-to-earth and comes from life.
But at this point, it is basically certain that the "hot lunch" is the "famous person" I dreamed about yesterday. The background of Hillary is very consistent with the practice scene in the dream, and the name is also right.
"What do you think about these photos?" Margaery asked, pointing to the five photos spread out on the table.
Director Parker shook his head, "They are still too American, with a victor's expression on their face."
"What do you think, Ronald? You happen to be about the same age as them and have more sense." The director asked him to express his opinion.
"I think this is good, you can try it." Ronald pointed to a photo of a beautiful woman. The blonde beauty looked a bit like a cat. "
The actor in this photo looks most like the one in the dream last night.
"Why?"
"Intuition? I think she has the temperament of a rich girl, and her thin figure looks like that of a dancer."
"I think so too. Michelle was specially recommended by William Morris' agent. She won the sixth place in Miss California last year." Producer Da Silva expressed his opinion for the first time.
"Very well, I'll give her...well, Michelle, an audition," Director Parker said.
Margaery looked at the director and pasted the photo of this beauty under the label "Hillary".
Then there is the character of Montgomery, a sensitive boy with low self-esteem whose mother is a mentally ill actor.
"Which one do you think is suitable? Director Parker asked Ronald again."
Ronald didn't remember the plot of the character Montgomery, so he just pointed to one randomly based on his intuition.
"Okay, blond hair, your smile looks a bit fragile, your teeth are messy, and you probably have low self-esteem."
"Very good, I think he's suitable, too." This time it was Margery from the casting studio who agreed, then placed his photo under Montgomery's character.
The director also nodded in agreement.
…
More than 10 audition candidates for the leading role were selected, but it was still not enough. We decided to go to a performing arts high school in New York the day after tomorrow to discuss with the school and organize a large-scale on-site audition for students.
After finishing their business, Julia and Margery from the casting studio served sandwiches and Coke. Everyone replenished their energy while chatting, and Ronald ate a lot.
"Ronald, I think you'd be perfect for casting. Did you know that the founder of our studio, Marion Dorotti, is now a vice president at Paramount?"
"She always emphasized the importance of choosing people based on intuition, and your intuition is very keen. Would you like to consider joining us?"
Julia said to Ronald.
"Me? I still want to go to college first to see if I can be a director." Ronald said.
"Yeah, who doesn't want to be a director?" Julia smiled, changed the topic and continued:
"Next, I will mainly be doing casting for Woody Allen's new film, and Margery will be mainly in charge of the auditions for the acting high school."
"What, Julia, are you abandoning me for that Jewish dwarf Woody?" Director Parker made an exaggerated gesture to express his heartache.
"No, your movie requires a total of about 600 actors. This cannot be accomplished by any one casting company alone. We should find several more casting companies and hold joint auditions."
Alan Parker was silent for a rare moment, "You are right, I will ask the producers to contact casting companies in New York and Los Angeles and issue casting invitations publicly."
"We've made an appointment with all the casting companies to do a big joint audition in a big house. Ronald, you'll come too, we all like your instincts."
"Okay, thank you, director." Ronald was very happy. Maybe the director saw that he and the character in the script were of the same age, and he had a better sense of people?
It takes a certain amount of time from sending out an invitation to receiving a recommendation, and everyone started discussing how to organize a joint audition.
Julia Taylor called Ronald outside, leaving Margery and the director to discuss the details of the joint audition.
"Ronald, your briefing was timely. We reached an agreement with Howard Fehr that they would pass on Woody Allen's new film and we would give in and do a joint audition with them for Hot Lunch."
"But if a third audition company steps in, you still remember to notify Margaery promptly. The rest of our deal remains the same, do you understand?"
"Okay, I understand." It happened that the two audition companies compromised and formed a joint audition. Ronald didn't have to waver between them and the director, using a car to test his integrity.
I just took the opportunity to ask about Meg: "Ms. Taylor, if Meg wants to take an acting training class, do you have any recommendations?"
"Aren't you from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts? Why are you asking me? The best acting coach in New York is at your school."
"Well, I haven't started school yet."
