My Hollywood System

Chapter 62:

The casting for [Sherlock Holmes] was going great. Amanda took great care about finding suitable actors for the roles, and Will personally oversaw all the auditions held in a theatre they had rented for two days.

Most of the small roles were already cast like this, and the only thing pending was the few main roles that will play a pivotal part in the story.

Thankfully, most of the actors that they have given the script to had responded well, and today Will, Amanda, and Jeffrey were even signing the contract of a popular British actress for the role of Irene Adler.

In the meeting room of Dream Vision Studios, 5 people were seated on their chairs as they were discussing a contract.

Will, Amanda, and Jeffrey were discussing the contract with Maria McCollins, an older woman who is also the agent of Rachel Linden.

Rachel Linden was a British actress who was selected for the role of Irene Adler in the movie. She was a beautiful woman in her early thirties. She had been in Hollywood for a long time and was quite a popular actress too.

After going through a list of the movies she had acted in, Will had decided to sign her up for the role of Irene Adler, who had appeared just once in the original story ‘A Scandal of Bohemia.’ But in the movie, Sherlock and Irene have a love affair.

After some digging, Will thought that Rachel would do great as Irene Adler and called her for auditions. The auditions have already been done, and the current contract signing process only showed how well it went.

She had done a great job at portraying Irene Adler, and Will was deeply impressed, so he decided not to dilly dally much and just sign her up. The procedure would be taken by Amanda mostly, but he wanted to be there when they signed the main roles of the movie.

After some discussions, the contract was finalized at 1 million dollars. Nobody had to negotiate much as 1 million wasn’t a small amount, and as an agent, Maria was quite satisfied with the amount Rachel was offered.

After a while, they discussed some more about the contract and the clauses. Amanda said that they’d send Maria the schedule for Rachel and handed Rachel the script for her to prepare, which she enthusiastically picked up.

Although she had acted in many movies, a movie such as [Sherlock Holmes] which was set in the 1890s would be her first, and she was really looking forward to it, especially after going through the script.

The meeting finally ended with everyone being on happy terms; it was obvious after such a huge amount of money was paid. To Will, this was just an investment that would keep everyone happy and make him avoid unnecessary complications if the movie made it big.

There were chances that it wouldn’t succeed at all and that Will should have worked on a less budget and more profitable movie before jumping to such a big one. But life was short, and Will wanted this world’s Hollywood to be dominated by his previous life’s blockbusters and make people experience the movies that had set the standards in his previous life.

Obviously, there were many movies that he could have gone for instead of [Sherlock Holmes], but since he got the script, had the money, and wanted to leave a deep impression on people, this franchise would do it all for him.

After the meeting, Will felt gleeful as he had finally signed one of the main roles for the movie.

***

After going through Will’s script, Jared Morgan’s agent Perry Hopkins came to have a meeting with Will.

In Will’s office, Perry was seated in front of Will.

“It’s really nice to be meeting the genius young director.”

Perry laughed as he said. He was here to finalise the conditions for Jared’s audition. Jared was busy in a shoot, so only Perry had come.

“The pleasure is all mine.”

Will said with a smile.

If anyone saw his innocent and charming smile, they would just think of him as a pure young man who has yet to see the world, but getting fooled by someone’s business smile was one thing Perry had learned not to do with his years of experience in the industry.

“The script was really great. There is no comparison to be made with the 1990s [Detective Sherlock Holmes] by Z Studios. Jared liked the script a lot too.”

Perry said with an earnest expression. Anyone who read the script would agree with his words.

“I really did put a lot of thought into it; thank you for praising it.”

Will replied humbly as he came to the crux of the matter.

“So is Mr. Morgan willing to join the [Sherlock Holmes] cast?”

Perry’s expression visibly changed as he said.

“Yes, he is indeed very interested in the movie and is willing to join the cast. He read through the whole script, and he said that he would like to play the lead role, Sherlock Holmes himself.”

Perry looked at Will’s expression after he said that. There were no visible changes in it, with Will having the same smile that he had since the start of the meeting.

Jared Morgan was a handsome man in all honesty. The roles he did till now suited him so well that his fame in the industry was built as a handsome antagonist.

He wanted to change it, and this role seemed like the chance to do it, so he had told Perry to get the lead role for him.

Will, who heard what Jared wanted, contemplated on the matter. If there was no RDJ in this world, he would have even agreed to it, but since he had quite a clear picture in his head of how the lead role will be, he didn’t think too much before rejecting.

“Ah, Well, Mr. Hopkins. The thing is, I already have an actor in mind for the lead role, and I don’t think that the role of Sherlock Holmes would suit Mr. Morgan. In fact, the role of Lord Blackwood would be perfect for him.”

Perry was surprised at that. He didn’t think that Will already had someone in mind.

It was common that a director would scout out the whole cast then pick the main lead. It was mostly due to the suitability that directors would take their time selecting the main leads of their movies.

A suitable main lead was also one of the factors which decided if the movie sank or swam; after all, people would never take Iron Man as someone else after seeing RDJ playing the role of Tony Stark. Although Will was a bit biased due to the fact that Micheal had the potential of becoming this world’s RDJ, it was also true that Jared Morgan would be much more suited to play the role of Lord Blackwood.

“If you don’t mind me asking, who is this actor that you’ve in mind?”

Perry asked cautiously. Most of the time, directors won’t reveal the cast to each other to not cause a conflict of interest, he was worried that Will would do the same, and if he did, then he would just leave.

Will, who sensed his motives, didn’t hide and said.

“It’s Micheal Robert Elrod. He’s one of MCA’s actors.”

Perry had a confused expression on his face, and even after recalling for a while, he wasn’t able to think of anyone with that name in his memory.

But after some minutes, a face suddenly appeared in his mind. ICM had looked into a lot of actors of MCA to sign them in the past few years, and for that reason, Perry still remembered the names of a few obscure actors.

“You’re talking about that guy? Are you serious? Isn’t he one of the worst even in MCA?”

“Yeah, that. He isn’t the worst; he just hasn’t gotten a suitable role till now.”

Will replied calmly.

Perry had a strange expression on his face. He couldn’t fathom the absurdity of the situation he was currently facing.

Will was asking for Jared, one of the top B-listers, to play the antagonists’ role while a no-name actor would play the lead role.

“Sorry if you think I’m rude but are you really going to risk a 60 million dollar movie just because you want to be biased to some unknown actor? Is there even any ‘reason’ you are doing that?”

Perry said in an annoyed tone. Right now, he didn’t care what Will or anyone thought of him. He was annoyed because he thought Will was taking him as a joke.

Will totally understood where Perry was coming from. It would be the common reaction that most people would have after learning about Robert, and there was only so much that Will could explain. After the movie was shot and released, it would be another thing, but before that, most people would doubt Robert’s qualifications.

“So what are you suggesting? That I should kick Robert and take Mr. Morgan as the lead?”

Will asked again with both his hands supporting his chin.

“Yes, this isn’t even a question. Jared will only work with you if you give him the lead. And if you don’t do it, I would make sure that ICM blacklists Dream Vision Studios.”

Will raised an eyebrow at the obvious threat. It wasn’t uncommon in Hollywood as this was simply considered as utilising power, especially towards someone like Will, who was yet to establish himself as someone who amounted to anything in Hollywood.

“As you’re a senior in the industry, I’ll surely consider your suggestion.”

Will said with the same never-changing smile, making Perry click his tongue. He was annoyed at this lad that was still so young yet didn’t lose his composure even in front of such blatant threatening.

If he did this with some established director in the industry, he would surely lose his job and even be blacklisted by all the directors in the industry. However, since Will was still young and had only directed one movie that was more of a homemade clip, he felt like he could get out of doing anything to him.

…

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