Chapter 36: The Best Actors

  "Mr. Stanton, I expect you to do what you promised me on the set."

  In an office of the Hollywood Screen Actors Guild, Mr. and Mrs. Mulligan sat in a slightly outdated sofa, closed the actor's contract in their hands, and looked at Murphy across the room, with a few warnings, and said, "My agent will be keeping an eye on you."

  Next to Mr. and Mrs. Mulligan, Carey Mulligan didn't say a word, looking at Murphy's eyes, but with the pride of belonging to the victor.

  "Don't worry guys." Murphy said with conviction, "Stanton Studios, although it was just established, is a reputable company, and I personally hold integrity as the most basic principle."

  In the previous two meetings, the Mulligans had very strong opinions about the script of Fruity Hard Candy, and Murphy promised them to make changes, and even came up with an improved version of the script with the fastest speed possible, along with Carla Faith, the news director of Channel 6, who was willing to endorse the project, the Mulligans finally nodded their heads.

  Fame and status are such things that can't be touched or seen, but they can actually work, and without Carla Faith's help, Murphy might have had to re-select the female lead.

  The signing of a contract involving a minor actor like this is never child's play, and the people involved, in addition to Murphy as well as Carey Mulligan and her parents, include Robert, the legal counsel for Fruity Hard Candy, Bill Rossis, Julian Fellowes' agent who is also the new Carey Mulligan's agent, representatives of the Children's Guild and the Screen Actors Guild, Julian Fellowes himself, and so on.

  After more than two hours of reviewing the contract, haggling, and once again pulling the plug on certain clauses that were still in dispute ..., the two parties officially signed Carey Mulligan's casting contract.

  Because of the minors involved, or a member of the actors' union, coupled with the supervision of the Children's Association, this contract is quite harsh, from Carey Mulligan daily working hours to the hiring of tutors have made specific provisions, in Hollywood's more sound and strict security system, Carey Mulligan in the cast of the right to get the maximum degree of guarantee.

  Although looking at these clauses is a bit of a toothache, but Murphy knows that he is involved in a legal game, want to survive in this game circle, at least in the bright side to comply with the rules of the game.

  Besides, in the place of any minor actor, the contract signed would inevitably be this relatively harsh.

  However, there was also something that made him feel more satisfied, Carey Mulligan had not appeared in any movie or television productions before, it was simply impossible to ask for a high price, her pay was only five thousand dollars.

  As for the working hours stipulated in the contract, as well as study time and other rules and regulations, the Children's Association and the Actors Guild people will not always be on the set to keep an eye on, at most, send a person to occasionally come over to look at, all of these have a cushion of space.

  Murphy promised to modify the content of the script, originally taken out to the Mulligan couple to see is the first draft, the content of the scale is quite large, shot out of it is not allowed to become NC-17, he certainly can not be so shot.

  Although to this day I do not know what method Carey Mulligan used to let his parents compromise, but the other party was willing to talk to him, there is no doubt that there has been the meaning of cooperation, Murphy first threw a slightly large-scale script and then step back, but also can show the sincerity of the crew.

  This is also a psychological tactic often used in negotiations.

  Moreover, the Mulligans will go back to London to busy themselves with their own work after signing the contract, and Carey Mulligan will be left in the care of Julian Fellowes and Bill Rossis, who are also difficult to deal with, but compared to the curmudgeonly Mulligans, these Hollywood insiders have a much broader understanding of the scale of the movie.

  More importantly, Carey Mulligan saw him as someone to be trusted, and as long as she didn't make a scene, there was bound to be a lot less trouble.

  The two sides signed a formal contract and made separate filings with the Screen Actors Guild and the Children's Guild, and the female lead of "Fruit Hard Candy" was truly finalized.

  "Murphy ..."

  Outside the Actor's Union, walking to his car, Murphy was just about to pull open the door, when he heard a crisp voice coming from behind, turning his head to look, only to see Carey Mulligan jogging to follow him, also waving at him as he ran, "Wait a minute, I've got something to say to you hey."

  Turning around, Murphy's gaze crossed to behind her, the Mulligans were looking this way, he smiled politely over there and turned to Carey Mulligan, asking, "Something wrong?"

  Carey Mulligan stopped five feet away, backed up a small pair of hands, shifted her body, and lowered her voice, "I came over here specifically to thank you."

  "Thank me?" Murphy pointed to himself as if he didn't understand her at all, "Why?"

  "You made me see the target completely clearly." Carey Mulligan's voice was still low, but unusually firm, "And taught me that if you want something, you have to go all out for it."

  "No, no, no, Carey, none of that has anything to do with me." Murphy knew exactly how to deal with the girl, "Everything that's going on right now only shows that you're a good girl with a quest."

  "Really?" Carey Mulligan asked with flashing eyes.

  Murphy nodded without hesitation, "Of course it's true, when have I ever lied to you."

  Carey Mulligan took a slight step forward, her voice becoming lower, "You're the best, Murphy."

  Hearing this, Murphy raised his eyes upwards slightly, it seemed like a crow had just cawed above him, but he then smiled, "You're the best too, Carey, and I'm sure you're going to be the best actor ever."

  "Uh-huh!" Carey Mulligan was not modest and nodded her pointed chin vigorously.

  "It's getting late ...," Murphy signaled Mr. and Mrs. Mulligan with a wink, "Your parents should be waiting."

  "They ... "Carey Mulligan grunted through her nose a few times before saying, "If I hadn't pushed them out of options, they would have given me free choice?"

  Even after getting her wish, her resentment towards her parents hadn't dissipated.

  Murphy was more than a little curious and lowered his voice, "What did you do, honey?"

  "Guess ..." Carey Mulligan revealed a wry smile, "It's my secret, I'm not going to tell you."

  "Well ... then." Murphy made a gesture to call, "Wait for my call, and! Don't forget to study the script."

  Watching Carey Mulligan leave, Murphy was still ever so slightly curious, what had she done to make the Mulligans finally compromise?

  But when he got into the car, he roughly understood, from the previous contact, he could see that Mr. and Mrs. Mulligan actually still loved Carey Mulligan more, but their archaic character and busy work destined them not to be a pair of parents who were good at communicating, and a girl who was about to reach adulthood, wanting to let her loving parents compromise, there were actually too many ways that could be used.

  What methods did Carey Mulligan use, and does it matter? She's become the leading lady of Fruity Hard Candy anyway.

  Maybe she wasn't the best candidate when looking at the whole of Hollywood, but of all the actresses Murphy had access to right now, Carey Mulligan was the most suitable one.

  After handling Carey Mulligan, Murphy returned to Mittens Café and continued to busy himself with the preparations, he collaborated with the set designers, lighting designers and props designers to visit the San Fernando Valley once again, and also exchanged quite a lot of opinions with them on the envisioned scenes.

  Frankly speaking, the progress of the preparations is far less smooth than Murphy expected, he himself does not have much experience, and hired these people have been in the bottom of Hollywood, not entirely due to the relationship between the opportunity, their own ability is really not to talk about too good.

  The good thing is that Murphy is also prepared for this, he knows very well that everything is difficult at the beginning, a group of people who do not have enough experience and ability to get together, it is impossible to complete a movie project in a short period of time, even if the movie most of the time there is only one scene and two actors.

  After returning from the San Fernando Valley to inspect the shooting locations, Murphy made a special appointment to meet with James Franco.

  "Check this out." In Café Mitton, Murphy placed a stack of copies of the contract on the coffee table, and pushed it across the table to James Franco's eyes, "This is what I prepared especially for you."

  "I can't sign any contracts without my agent present." Thinking that this contract was prepared especially for him, James Franco picked it up and flipped it open to read a few pages, his eyes immediately lit up, especially after seeing the set photo of Carey Mulligan sandwiched inside, his eyes seemed to pop, "Oh ... Oh... . ah ... that ... this ..."

  He let out a string of meaningless noises, took a deep breath, closed the copy of the contract, and slapped it down hard on the table, "You're not lying to me?"

  James Franco wasn't stupid, although Murphy had said earlier that Carey Mulligan had joined the cast, he had been dragging out the negotiations between the two parties and hadn't exactly taken him at his word.

  Murphy looked at him, "Do you need me to get the original contract out and get Mr. Julian Fellowes, Carey's parents' agent in Los Angeles?"

  Seeing James Franco open the contract again, staring at the picture of Carey Mulligan's Little Red Riding Hood-like costume inside it like the big bad wolf, Murphy said faintly, "If you think it's pushing it, I can find another actor."

  "Don't! Don't ... "James Franco raised his hand as if trying to stop Murphy in this way, "Don't ever! Murphy, I'm very, very interested in the role inside the script, but your fee is too low, my agent is especially against it, I've been convincing him, it takes time too."

  Once upon a time Murphy knew through the media that James Franco was known for his eccentricity, now it seemed that he was even more eccentric than what the media reported.

  "Jim, I'm on a tight schedule, I'm pretty much prepared for everything else, and I have to set aside time for the male and female leads to rehearse individually before filming begins ...," he intentionally aggravated the 'individually ' pronunciation, "There are only two main actors in this project, and you'll definitely need more time for separate rehearsals."

  James Franco seemed to have made up his mind and slapped the table hard, "I'll go talk to my agent now."

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