Chapter 256: Sky-High Expenses

"How could this be?"

Looking at the data report in his hands, Charlie Adam, head of the Twentieth Century Fox Distribution Department, stared blankly. Even though he had braced himself, he was still struck with disbelief when the opening weekend box office numbers came out.

A massive hit would have brought ecstasy, not shock. Charlie Adam felt his position teetering. First came Chicago, the project he had vehemently opposed and killed, and now the monumental box office failure of Speed 2. Even though the true decision-maker was CEO Thomas Rothman, he knew exactly who would be made the scapegoat.

His eyes fell back to the report in his hands.

Speed 2 had a production budget of 110 million dollars, yet its three-day opening weekend grossed only 16.15 million dollars—falling wildly short of Twentieth Century Fox's expected 40 million!

Why had this happened? The first Speed was a massive blockbuster. Its Videotape sales and rental numbers had been fantastic over the past few years, meaning it had surely amassed a huge fanbase. By all conventional logic, the sequel's opening weekend should have exploded at the box office.

Could it be...

Charlie Adam sighed. Was it really just because they changed the director? Was the difference between a film made by Duke Rosenberg and one not made by him truly that vast?

Keanu Reeves's agent harbored the exact same thought.

"Keanu, you can't keep being so careless," he said, looking at Reeves. "Since Speed, not a single one of your movies has truly been a hit. Now even the safest bet, the Speed sequel, is basically ruined. Your standing is going to plummet further. If you want to survive in Hollywood, you have to get it together."

Much like his fondness for drugs in his youth, Keanu Reeves loved to live however he pleased. But he was no longer young. The experiences of the past few years had taught him a harsh lesson: if you wanted to live as you pleased, you needed money and status to back it up.

Except... given the current situation, most people would probably line up to kick him while he was down. Who would be willing to help? Even Twentieth Century Fox had abruptly cut off negotiations for an upcoming film project the moment the opening weekend numbers came out.

If Speed 2 didn't make a miraculous comeback in the coming weeks, he would officially become box office poison. And realistically, what were the chances of a comeback?

After all, this wasn't a film directed by Duke Rosenberg, where he could somehow annihilate the competition even after falling so far behind early on!

Sighing inwardly, Keanu Reeves knew all too well that his fate as box office poison was sealed.

"Tell me, Vicente. What should I do?"

Hearing the question, Vicente set down his coffee cup and pulled his gaze away from the view outside the cafe. "Return to where the dream began!"

"Where the dream began?" Keanu Reeves didn't understand.

"Yes, Keanu." Vicente pulled out a formal invitation and slid it across the table. "Did you forget? Whose movie made you an A-list star?"

Keanu Reeves opened the invitation. "Duke Rosenberg?"

"He's inviting you to audition!" Vicente's voice trembled with excitement. "I got word that you're someone he personally requested! Keanu, this is your chance! Duke Rosenberg's new project is a sci-fi blockbuster for the Summer Season. If you can land the lead role, by next summer, everyone will be crazy about you all over again!"

If the king of the Summer Season couldn't save Keanu Reeves, who could? Vicente kept the thought to himself, knowing Keanu surely understood.

For Hacker Studio, finding actors to audition was the least of their worries. Not only had Duke's handpicked choices like Hugo Weaving and Keanu Reeves agreed to participate, but the agents for numerous famous, high-potential rising stars—like Will Smith, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Ewan McGregor—had proactively reached out to campaign for roles on behalf of their clients.

Even Tom Cruise, who was busy filming Mission: Impossible, had called to ask if there was any chance for them to collaborate again.

"Tom, if you're willing to take the same salary you took for Chicago, I will pick you without a second thought, and you wouldn't even need to audition!"

Duke's response was completely sincere. If Tom Cruise were willing to play Neo for a 5 million dollar salary, Keanu Reeves wouldn't even be in the conversation. Duke would have welcomed Tom with open arms.

Unfortunately, while Tom might take a pay cut for an Oscar shot in Chicago, he would never lower his rate for a commercial blockbuster.

The first round of auditions would be handled by casting director Gray and assistant director Zack Snyder. Duke wouldn't be involved. If the people he had personally invited couldn't even pass the initial screening, they were destined to be cut.

Beyond the auditions and standard pre-production work, Duke had another equally important task. Using the script and concept art, he presented various scenarios to multiple manufacturers, showcasing exactly how their products could appear in the film to attract their advertising dollars.

Product placement was an indispensable element of commercial filmmaking. Duke certainly wasn't foolish enough to turn it down. As long as the integration felt natural and matched the scene, it was no big deal.

The product placements primarily involved trench coats, sunglasses, Mobile Phones, computers, televisions, cars, beverages, and courier companies.

Even though everyone knew that securing product placement in such a high-budget commercial film would be astronomically expensive, dozens of manufacturers still flocked to Los Angeles to enter commercial negotiations with Hacker Studio.

Perhaps the representative from Nokia said it best: "Nokia is entering these negotiations solely because this is a film directed by Duke Rosenberg!"

After Duke presented his vision and concepts for the film, Hacker Studio's commercial development team immediately split up to begin negotiations. After over a week of intense haggling, more than a dozen manufacturers signed product placement agreements, guaranteeing the production team a staggering influx of advertising sponsorship fees.

Ray-Ban Glasses for 1 million dollars, Coca-Cola for 3 million dollars, Dell Computer for 3 million dollars, Nokia Phone for 4 million dollars, Panasonic Television for 4 million dollars, Cadillac for 4 million dollars, FedEx for 1 million dollars...

Before the cameras had even started rolling, the staggering 80-million-dollar production budget had already recouped 20 million!

And that was just the baseline sponsorship amount. According to the supplementary clauses in the agreements, if the film's global box office exceeded 500 million dollars, the advertising fees from all manufacturers would increase by another ten percent.

At North America's average ticket prices, a 500-million-dollar box office meant, at a minimum, one hundred million theatergoers. The manufacturers who regularly placed ads in films knew full well that a movie's lifespan didn't end in the theater. It would eventually reach countless more households worldwide through television broadcasts, Videotapes, DVDs, and various other mediums.

Ultimately, in the business world, there were no fools who only knew how to pay without demanding a return on their investment.

Securing 20 million dollars in advertising sponsorships before release undeniably relieved a tremendous amount of pressure on Duke and the entire production crew.

Meanwhile, the crew's preparations in Los Angeles were gradually drawing to a close. Once the auditions finished, they would depart for Australia to meet up with the action choreography team flying in directly from Hong Kong, kicking off an even lengthier phase of pre-production. Furthermore, all the actors Duke had reminded Tina Fey to invite had smoothly passed their first-round auditions.

The second round of auditions was unlike standard Hollywood tryouts. There were no character scripts, no lines to read, and it didn't even require the actors to showcase their acting skills.

If they could pass the first round, their foundational acting chops were obviously not an issue.

"Mr. Smith, please imagine a cool scenario," Duke said personally from behind the monitor to Will Smith, who was participating in the audition. "And act out what you're imagining."

Will Smith stood in front of the camera. The combination of a black trench coat, black sunglasses, and his dark skin was so cool it was off the charts. If it were judged purely on appearance, he was indeed a very suitable candidate for Neo.

However, the guy had probably acted in too many comedies. When trying to act cool, just like most Black actors, his performance featured a face full of disdain paired with wildly exaggerated body language...

Neo truly didn't require much deep acting, but he did require a specific stylistic presence. Will Smith's overly extroverted performance style was clearly a mismatch. The Savior didn't just need to be cool; he needed to exude a profound, brooding coolness. In other words, he had to know how to posture—posturing that was both deep and cool.

It was undeniable that The Matrix expounded upon many philosophical concepts, and the world it created was fascinating enough. But whether it was the dialogue, the wardrobe, the kung fu, or even the overall tone of the film, everything existed to define the word "cool." Taking that coolness to the absolute extreme was a vital reason for the movie's massive success.

Will Smith soon left the audition room. Zack Snyder, Robin Grande, and the others had long since thoroughly studied the script and the character. Without waiting for Duke to say a word, they shook their heads.

"He doesn't fit Neo's settings."

"A hip-hop style Savior doesn't suit our film."

Duke nodded at the two of them and gestured to casting director Gray, who immediately notified the assistant outside the door. Soon after, Keanu Reeves walked into the audition room.

A black trench coat, black sunglasses, black leather boots, topped off with his dark, parted hair. Combined with Keanu Reeves's naturally quiet disposition, he stood there radiating the profound aura of some cult mystic from the Los Angeles area.

This sight was simply Neo brought to life.

Duke couldn't even be bothered to ask him to perform. He simply asked, "Keanu, I heard you have some Chinese ancestry. Don't worry, I don't mean anything by it, I just want to know if you're familiar with kung fu."

"Of course."

Keanu Reeves pointed at his sunglasses. Seeing Duke nod, he took them off. "Even though I don't know how to fight, I've seen people practice it. It's very flashy."

"If you pass the audition, you'll need to participate in at least three months of kung fu training!" Duke said as he flipped through Reeves's file. "And it will be in Sydney, Australia. That is absolutely mandatory."

Frowning slightly, Keanu Reeves hesitated for a few seconds before answering, "None of that is a problem for me."

"Good." Duke nodded at him. "Once we make our decision, we'll notify your agent immediately."

Negotiations with Keanu Reeves would definitely drag out a bit longer. The worse Speed 2's subsequent box office trajectory got, the more leverage Hacker Studio would have to suppress his asking price.

Next up were the auditions for the female lead.