The Best Director

Chapter 34: The Hands that Make Idols

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“The Magic of Wang Yang’s New Declaration, High School Musical Film ‘High School Musical’!”

This was the headline of the entertainment section in the Los Angeles Times, which, as promised, published the exclusive interview with Wang Yang. Shortly after this edition of the newspaper hit the market, the interview was posted online and quickly reposted everywhere. Forums that had been influenced by the viral marketing of ‘Paranormal Activity’ were now buzzing with discussion. After all, ‘Paranormal Activity’ had just ended its run in North America, amassing a box office total of $163 million. Wang Yang’s popularity hadn’t faded yet, and he still had many fans.

Anyway, everyone who followed Wang Yang now knew the news; he was going to make a school musical film called ‘High School Musical’, a story about inspiration. By the way, to produce this film, he had acquired a small, hopeless movie company whose previous name was unknown, now renamed to Flame Film Company, making him a company boss.

Of course, Wang Yang had already told his friends, such as Jessica and Zachary, about this news last night and shared his joy with them.

However, what the media focused on was not his film company-as there is no lack of movie companies in Los Angeles and acquiring a small one for tens of millions was not surprising. The media were interested in the film, his second film; a school musical? This caught the film industry by surprise. It was not strange for Wang Yang to shoot a school film, but a musical was surprising. How was the market for musicals? Depressed. Everyone was clear about that. A high school musical drama? He said he had high expectations for this film? How high is “high”? To recoup the costs or become the next ‘Footloose’?

Although entertainment media had not yet commented, discussions about this news had already started online. “To be honest, this film is concerning. Maybe in the future, it will teach a lesson to this ambitious 18-year-old director, telling him that filmmaking is not that simple.” This comment was rather polite; many comments were outright sarcastic: “Perhaps the sting of being wronged by a university has made him nostalgic for high school life? Wants to make a film about high school students? But does he understand filmmaking? Sure, he went to the University of Southern California School of Cinema- Television, but guys, he only studied for one and a half semesters. He probably can’t even tell the difference between Eisenstein and Einstein…”

Eisenstein was a great director, and Einstein was a great scientist. Wang Yang of course knew the difference, and he ignored these voices; public doubt was all within his expectation. If he continued making horror films, they might say “looking forward” and consider him the future star. But as he was making a school musical film, their attitudes changed drastically-he was no longer seen as having a bright future but as a moth seeking death.

Whether this moth would die, whether he understood filmmaking, the future would prove with facts. Arguing with the media can be one way to promote a film, but it didn’t suit the positive theme of ‘High School Musical’, and he didn’t like using it. Furthermore, the primary market for ‘High School Musical’ was the student population, who are not as harsh as film critics. They are open to new things, the more unconventional the better, such as his title of “youngest millionaire,” and he is now the idol of many young students.

Wang Yang’s previous concern had also become reality, in that Los Angeles Times interview article, two-thirds of the content was about his personal life It was not surprising: Wang Yang seldom accepted media interviews, even declining the opportunity to be on the cover of Vanity Fair, not to mention discussmg his personal life publicly. This time the Los Angeles Times was invited by Flame Film Company for the interview, and the journalist Kim Silvey naturally knew to seize the opportunity and ask thoroughly.

In the chairman’s office of Flame Film Company, Wang Yang sat in a swivel chair, looking at the spread-out newspaper with a resigned expression on his face.

More than half of the page was dominated by the headline “The Youngest Millionaire is Single,” and the first question in this lengthy section was, “Do you have a girlfriend?” Followed by his answer: “No, my career is just smarting, and I hope to devote myself to it.” This was indeed his current mindset; he had been through a lot over the past six months, and his attitude had changed considerably. He now only wanted to make good films and cherish these hard- earned opportunities; relationships would happen naturally.

“Have you had a girlfriend before?” pressed Kim Silvey, shifting the interview towards his private life and adopting a tabloid style. His answer followed: “I was in a relationship once in high school, you know, and then we broke up.” Seeing this question and answer, Wang Yang couldn’t help but shake his head and rub his eyes. It had been a relationship filled with sweet passion that ultimately ended in failure. During his sophomore year, at a high school exchange event in San Francisco, he met a mixed-race blonde girl from Lowell High School. She was pretty, with a lot of character, and they felt a mutual attraction, which led them to get together.

Initially, their relationship was great; they happily chatted on the phone every day and met on weekends to maintain their love. But the good times didn’t last long. After the initial passionate romance, issues with their incompatible personalities emerged, leading to frequent arguments over trivial matters.

“I like going to the movies, but she preferred amusement parks; I liked basketball, while she liked baseball; I was a fan of McDonald’s, she favored KFC; I liked Coca-Cola, she preferred Pepsi… So we started arguing, arguing and arguing until we both couldn’t take it anymore and just had to break up, ” he answered Kim Silvey in the newspaper when she asked, “Can you share with us about this relationship?”

Looking at the words on the newspaper, Wang Yang smiled faintly, recalling the relationship still brought back a hint of sweetness, but mostly it was just calm. He had almost forgotten what that blonde girl looked like-trying hard to remember now only offered a vague image, the hearty laughter, the pleasant voice… He shook his head vigorously, interrupting his memories, and glanced at the newspaper again, “Have you ever thought about what your future partner would be like?”

All these gossip questions? Wang Yang helplessly set the newspaper aside, no longer interested in reading it. He turned on his computer, ready to start working, and began the first round of casting for “High School Musical.”

In fact, a few days ago, right after acquiring A-Pix company, he had drafted a casting sheet for “High School Musical” and sent it to actors’ unions and agencies, asking for good recommendations.

Unlike “Paranormal Activity,” “High School Musical” required a double-digit number of main actors, so without the help from the agencies, the casting process would be much more difficult and a self-inflicted hassle.

His casting sheet set forth basic criteria for all the major roles including the male lead, female lead, etc. For instance, the male protagonist Troy Bolton required: tall frame, sunny and handsome appearance, strong athletic ability… The casting sheet sent to agencies was the first-round standard. The agencies notified members who fit the character descriptions and then sent back the information of those interested in auditioning to Flame Film.

Then, Wang Yang would review this information, filtering out those who didn’t meet his physical requirements, and send the final list of actors back to the agencies to set a time for a group audition.

And today, the company began receiving replies from the actors’ union and several agencies. They had transmitted information of members who met the qualifications and were interested in auditioning for the lead roles in “High School Musical.” Information for those who fitted the other characters would take more time to organize.

In “High School Musical,” a few characters were especially important: the male lead Troy Bolton, the female lead Gabriella Montez, the second female lead Sharpay Evans, the second male lead and best friend as well as teammate of the male lead, Chad Danforth, plus Sharpay’s brother Ryan, Gabriela’s best friend Taylor McKessie, and the pianist Kelsi Nielsen.

As for the roles like Troy’s dad, Gabriella’s mom, Coach Darbus, the cooking-loving black teammate, the chubby classmate, and the like, there was no need to worry about casting. These characters didn’t have much screen time and didn’t require explosive performances. Young ones didn’t need to be charming or particularly skilled-acting school had plenty of those; for the older ones, Hollywood had countless middle-aged actors with decent acting skills who ’ would work for cheap.

So in this casting session, the main focus was on those seven vital roles, among which the most challenging to cast were the two leads and the secondary leads. These four roles had many requirements in terms of looks to match character personas, sufficient acting ability, and a salary aligned with the movie’s budget.

Additionally, for the singing and dancing aspects, those who already knew were naturally at an advantage; but ignorance wouldn’t lead to direct elimination. Regardless of their current skills, they would receive professional training to learn and rehearse the dances for the movie; as for singing, as long as they had talent and a good voice, with the help of professional teachers and recording studios, they would be able to accomplish the recording tasks for the songs.

Since Wang Yang was the investor, producer, and director of “High School Musical,” there was no doubt he held the ultimate power. It was his decision who would play what roles. Out of the seven important characters, he had more or less decided on one—Rachel would play Sharpay Evans.

Sharpay Evans was an arrogant, competitive heiress, an absolute star of the school’s music club along with her brother Ryan. She always dressed elegantly and beautifully, spoke in a quirky inflection, a sharp-tongued, spiteful “bad girl.”

Rachel’s acting was now sufficient to handle this character, and she had done very well in the forthcoming “The Hot Chick,” a perfect “bad girl.” She continued with impressive performances as the most popular girl in “Mean Girls” and the heiress in “The Notebook.” Playing “Sharpay Evans” seemed like a predestined return to her original path in performing arts.

In terms of appearance, she was spot-on, and her dance skills were excellent, her voice lovely. Now, all that remained was to confirm that she wasn’t entirely devoid of musical talent, and Wang Yang would hand over the role of “Sharpay Evans” to her.

Why not let her audition for the leading lady? Wang Yang had considered it, but ultimately discarded the idea; it had nothing to do with Rachel’s appearance or acting skills. The reason was that she was the lead actress in “Paranormal Activity.” The impact of “Paranormal Activity” was such that when audiences saw her, they would think of “Mel,” which carried somewhat of a horror vibe, not conducive to the film-watching experience.

So for now, she couldn’t be the leading lady. The market needed time to shed its impression of her; otherwise, she would continue to act in horror films. This is the horror of “typecasting” — once you are identified as a “horror film actor,” sorry, but it’s difficult to get a chance to act in G-rated movies.

Wang Yang did feel apologetic about this, but he wouldn’t give roles to Rachel and Zachary out of guilt. He had to be responsible for the film, the company, and himself. “High School Musical” was extremely important to him. The outside world was waiting to laugh at his failure. He couldn’t mess it up. If he did, it would not only affect his own future but also put the jobs of dozens of employees at Flame Film at risk.

He promised Chris Lynch that he would make the company better and also promised himself that he would make a great film! If “High School Musical” failed because of his bias, leading to big layoffs at the company, he could never forgive himself.

So the only reason Rachel got the role of “Sharpay Evans” was that she was suited for it, she could handle it. The same went for Zachary Levi, whom Wang Yang wanted to entrust with the role of “Ryan Evans.”

Of course, if there were several girls suitable for “Sharpay Evans,” he would choose Rachel; but if someone was significantly better than Rachel, he… would hesitate.

Thinking about all this, Wang Yang held the mouse and opened the data sent from the agencies, starting the selection of the male and female leads.

Only in a small number of films are these two roles not the most important. However, in all films, regardless of how long the male and female leads appear, they directly affect whether the movie will succeed or not. This was especially true for “High School Musical.” The movie favored “idols” over “talents.” The physical appearance of the male and female leads had stricter requirements than their acting skills. They had to be beautiful, cool, and enchanting to their peers, becoming the new idols of students and driving them mad.

“No, not tall enough, lacks dynamism…” Wang Yang, with a face of concentration on the screen, muttered and clicked the mouse a few times, eliminating the handsome candidate from the screen. His name was deleted, no longer to be considered in the second round of auditions.

“Eyes not big enough, the look is not charming enough, no… Eyes too big, looks too cute, no…” In a short period of time, Wang Yang had deleted more than twenty young handsome men of various types. He clicked on the next picture, and a blue – eyed, arched – brow Caucasian hunk appeared on the screen. Wang Yang paused, murmuring to himself, “Why does this guy look so familiar?”

He stopped to look at the actor’s information for this photo — Jake Gyllenhaal, born on December 19,1980, height 183 cm… After a mental search, he suddenly realized that Jake Gyllenhaal was a leading actor in “Brokeback Mountain,” and that now this fellow still looked very youthful, making him momentarily unrecognizable.

Jake Gyllenhaal? Wang Yang frowned, looking repeatedly at his photos, contemplated for a while, but finally shook his head, eliminating the future “Brokeback Mountain” lead. Jake Gyllenhaal was certainly handsome, but he didn’t have the sunny good looks for the character of Troy Bolton; he looked too mature. One could say, Jake Gyllenhaal was “good-looking,” not necessarily “handsome.”

Wang Yang continued to delete actor after actor; then another one made him pause — Heath Ledger! Born on April 4,1979, height 185 cm… Wang Yang couldn’t help but feel a bit of awe, oh my, it’s another “Brokeback Mountain” lead actor! And the Joker from “The Dark Knight,” this guy’s future acting was too amazing; his portrayal of the Joker was simply out of this world, definitely Oscar-worthy! But he didn’t appear in any movies after the Joker role, and there was no further news about him in Wang Yang’s mind, he didn’t know what had happened. Thinking of these, Wang Yang once again shook his head, eliminating Heath Ledger.

The reason was simple: Heath Ledger didn’t have the appearance to match; he was not handsome enough to convey the charming effect of Troy Bolton. He was a talent, not an idol.

“No, lacks the robustness of a basketball captain… No, it needs to be sunny…” Wang Yang kept clicking next, one handsome candidate after another was eliminated.

Wang Yang’s hands now were like the “hands creating idols,” those left had a chance to play Troy Bolton. If “High School Musical” succeeded, “Troy Bolton” would become the heartthrob of youth around the world, an overnight sensation. Those he deleted, regardless of whether they would become famous later, would forever miss the opportunity of “High School Musical.”

One after another, the candidates were eliminated, and in the end, not a single name for the male lead made it to the second round! Wang Yang couldn’t help but be stunned. Was he being too picky? Oh, please, where have all the sunny, handsome guys gone?!

Wang Yang scratched his head in resignation. Under these circumstances, he had no choice but to send the list for casting the male lead to more talent agencies, widening the search. If Los Angeles didn’t have the right candidate, he might even have to look in New York. For now, he had to turn his attention to the auditions for the female lead, where there was quite a slew of candidates, nearly twice as many as there were for the male lead.

This was quite normal. Female actors often became famous earlier, usually starting as child stars or models. They peak in their youth and then, a few years later, are often replaced by new beauties. Male actors, on the other hand, tend to grow more charming with age. They may not be well-known when they’re young, but by middle age, many of them suddenly explode onto the scene and become top-tier superstars.

Among these girls, the ones who came for the first round of auditions weren’t very famous, let alone movie stars. It wasn’t surprising; an 18-year-old director’s first film project, a low-budget investment, a musical… All these factors seemed to point to one thing: “flop.”

“Nice smile, not bad… Hmm, captivating eyes, also good…” Wang Yang browsed through the photos of these youthful beauties, eliminating some and selecting others for the second round.

Each of these beauties had their own charm and grace. The requirements for Gabriella, the female lead in “High School Musical,” boiled down to being pretty, sweet-smiling, having a good figure, and not being taller than 180CM. So, how many pretty girls don’t have a sweet smile? Consequently, Wang Yang finally made some progress this time around. Only those who were too short, lacked the right charisma, or whose faces looked either too mature or too childish, were out of the running.

“Wow, what a beautiful girl!” Wang Yang smiled contently as he paused on a photo. It was of a Caucasian girl with hair that was a mix of black and gold, dark eyes, a straight nose, and a very sweet face. He looked at her information: her name was Jennifer Love Hewitt, born on February 21,1979,160 cm tall, and she had played small roles in many movies. She had been dancing and singing since childhood, and last year, she had won the “Best Young Star” award from the Hollywood Reporter. Her future seemed very bright indeed.

Without a second thought, Wang Yang checked off Jennifer’s name, then continued to the next photo.

After reviewing another dozen or so beauties, he made another discovery—a sexy, charming beauty with a sweet smile, Eliza Dushku, born on December 30, 1980,165 cm tall, also trained in dance from a young age, and could play the piano. At 14, she had already made a name for herself when she played Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daughter in “True Lies.”

“Another one!” Wang Yang happily checked off Eliza Dushku *s name. More than a dozen beautiful girls had made it to the second round of auditions, including several who could sing and dance from a young age. It seemed like he wouldn’t have to worry about finding someone to play Gabriella, as, based on looks alone, these beauties all seemed well-suited.

After browsing for a while more, Wang Yang, looking at the screen at a girl who laughed showing her teeth, couldn’t help but smile: “Jessica Alba? Born on April 28,1981,170 cm tall… OK!” He nodded his head, checking off Jessica’s name, and smiling at the screen, he said, “Of course, you’re in for the second round.”

He looked over the list of candidates he had marked: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Eliza Dushku, Jordana Brewster… Undoubtedly, Jessica was next in line based purely on appearance, and in the future, as she would become even more enchanting and gain more acting opportunities. Although she would win some “Golden Raspberry Awards,” she would become the most accomplished among these girls.

But now it was 1998, and the present was the present. Jessica’s appearance hadn’t yet reached the point of stealing the show, and her acting… would definitely not be a problem! Wang Yang looked at the screen and softly said, “Jessica, all the best.”

PS: In the blink of an eye, there are now two helmsmen, Cang Lan and pandaboy! Wow, thank you so much. Also, “wow” has received notification that the book will be promoted next week, and then it will be listed after the promotion, so let’s book your March monthly tickets in advance for “wow”!!! Leave them for “wow”!!!