Chapter 76 Referendum Girlfriend
The news of Hilary Duff's termination of her contract with Disney was not announced at first, and the only reason why Kenny Ortega and Eckles were able to know about it in advance was because while the start of the shooting of "Baseball Girls" was just around the corner, the choice of the female lead had to be reconsidered. Even if Hilary Duff is willing to continue to star in the movie, Disney can not tolerate with their eyes "traitor" continue to work together, everyone is separated, and then go their own way.
Because the original reason for the birth of the movie "Baseball Girl" is to prove that there is no contradiction between Lin Mingyang and Hilary Duff, but with the escalating storm of Hilary Duff's contract termination with Disney, the reason is more and more untenable in the eyes of the media. Finally the two sides announced the official termination of the contract, the media was in an uproar, and the sniffing Hollywood reporters rehashed the old news of Lin Mingyang and Hilary Duff's discord and made a big fuss.
Unlike last time, this time the spearhead of public opinion reversed direction, of course, there may be Disney's crisis public relations to get the effect, anyway, this time everyone suspects that Hilary Duff intentionally use this matter to hype themselves. At this time, Lin Mingyang has been different from the past, after two large investment of more than 100 million dollars in the production of the film as the main character, he is now completely overshadowed by the popularity of the youth idol Hilary Duff.
In the previous cold war between Hilary Duff and Disney, she has been "frozen", no film contracts, no notice, no endorsements, which caused immeasurable losses to the popularity of Hilary Duff.
In Hollywood, some people even joke that if you don't appear in the newspaper for a month, you will be forgotten. Hilary Duff, right now, was in this embarrassing situation of being about to be forgotten. The acting company that was ready to sign her to a contract certainly didn't have the financial strength that Disney had to go to media relations, so she was in a very unfavorable position in this fight from the very beginning.
Disney originally didn't want to fight such a war of words with Hilary Duff either, but Hilary Duff's agent took the initiative to stir up trouble, first she complained in front of the media about all the oppression and injustice that Disney had been treating actors with, and then she rehashed the same old story, accusing Lin Ming Yang and Disney of colluding with each other and using their reputations to bully Hilary -Dave.
She was counting on the media to sympathize with Hilary Duff as they did last time, before pulling Lin Ming Yang down. In this way, not only can cause the public to pay attention to Hilary Duff again, but also can take the opportunity to retaliate against the Disney Company. This "kill two birds with one stone" plan in the end but let her eat her own bitter fruit, from beginning to end Lin Mingyang did not make any comments in front of the media, but Hilary Duff had to come out to defend herself.
"Felix and I have never met or even spoken a word, there is no conflict between us, I know he is very popular now, but I just don't like him!"
This statement which looked more like a gaslighting became a handle for many newspapers to gloat and satirize Hilary Duff, but Lin Ming Yang was not happy when he saw this report, in fact, he felt that this matter and Hilary Duff's current situation was more or less related to himself, and to have this kind of result was not what what Lin Mingyang wished to see, so he finally made his attitude clear to the media:
"The cooperation was finalized more than three months ago, but then I've been busy shooting during this time, to be honest I was surprised to hear the news, it's a pity that I can't work with her, I hope that I can make up for it when I have the chance to do so in the future."
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Disney side did not slow down the preparation plan of the new movie "Baseball Girls" because of Hilary Duff's change of heart. While the media is buzzing about Hilary Duff's termination fiasco, Kenny Ortega is also working non-stop to find a suitable female lead for the new movie. With Lin Ming Yang's final statement, the "Hilary Duff" matter has been settled, while the new baseball girl has become the new focus of media attention.
Disney will not let go of this opportunity to do free publicity for the film, they first revealed the source of the plot story adaptation, youthful modern version of the "Twelfth Night" quickly attracted people's attention, with "Cinderella's Glass Phone" in front, Lin Mingyang penned a youthful campus theme of the comedy film naturally also be people's high hopes. Lin Mingyang's current popularity and box office appeal is beyond doubt, then find a suitable heroine, has become the topic of discussion.
The film's director, Kenny Ortega, has refused to relent on this issue, and this pending choice of a female lead instead stirred up more passionate concern, and finally the Disney Company launched a call for fans to vote for the most suitable candidate for the female lead in their minds, Kate Beckinsale, who has worked with Lin Ming Yang before, Keira Knightley, and Megan Fox were all on the list, but it was Scarlett Johansson who had the highest calling.
Ever since she was favored by director Robert Redford at the age of 14 to play the girl who lost her leg in The Horse Whisperer, Scarlett Johansson's acting talent has been recognized by audiences. In the 2000 independent film "Ghost World", which became a sensation in Europe and the United States, her performance again allowed audiences to see the rebellious loveliness of an adolescent girl. And the success of last year's spider-based monster movie "Octopussy" has familiarized most moviegoers with the teenage star.
Perhaps due to the image of youthful rebellion is deeply rooted in people's hearts, perhaps because the audience did not have enough fun in that monster movie, anyway, Scarlett Johansson has become the best candidate in the hearts of moviegoers to dress up as a man to play the heroine Viola.
At first Scarlett Johansson didn't take this seriously, because every movie before the lead actor is determined, the producers will come up with this kind of similar poll to attract popularity, but everyone thinks the most suitable actor in the end is basically no chance. She even joked in front of the press, "It's probably because she cut her hair short a while ago, so the audience thought it would be better for her to dress up as a man!"
Kenny Ortega wasn't sold on the results of the audience vote at first either, preferring Natalie Portman, who is attending Harvard, but the actress, who played a precocious girl at the age of 12 in mega-director Luc Besson's This Killer is Not Cool and then later took the world by storm in George -Lucas' Star Wars Prequels: The Phantom Menace as the regal and beautiful Queen Amidala-apparently lacked enough interest in a teenage school movie like Baseball Girls to turn down Kenny Ortega's offer quite bluntly.
Somewhat disappointed, Kenny Ortega looked back and realized that the fan poll initiated by Disney had indeed provided him with a suitable candidate for the female lead. After reading Scarlett Johansson's profile, the overjoyed Scarlett Johansson rushed straight into Moss Middle School and pulled out Lin Ming Yang, who was in class.
"Going to Los Angeles to meet Scarlett Johansson?" Lin Mingyang froze for half a day before he understood what Kenny Ortega meant from his hand-waving gesticulations.
"Do you want to continue to stay here and be bored in class?" Kenny Ortega said without hinting.
Lin Mingyang didn't feel that classes were a boring thing, the courses arranged in American high schools took into account the interests of the students very well, and didn't need to face the huge pressure of exams and promotions, even though it wasn't as wonderful as depicted in the movies, the life of American high school students was basically still considered happy. However, he was definitely not willing to miss the opportunity to skip class, not to mention that Lin Mingyang was also full of curiosity in his heart about his "girlfriend" who was voted by the movie fans.
Other people may not be clear, but Lin Mingyang can know, this is still only a budding teenage star, in the future with her beautiful appearance, sexy lips, delicate skin, clear eyes, seductive curves to become a new generation of Hollywood Marilyn Monroe's perfect incarnation of the many fashion magazines in the selection of the sexy actress, her charm index has always ranked in the front position. position.
Scarlett Johansson learned from her agent that Kenny Ortega and Lin Mingyang came together, and the surprise in her heart was not small. Kenny Ortega is a new director who has risen to prominence because of his directing role in Song and Dance Youth, while Lin Mingyang is one of the best of Hollywood's new generation of movie stars. Although this guy has been a constant source of scandal ever since he took over his first movie, Lin Mingyang's upside potential has been recognized by the Hollywood community as a "big star without a little bit of scandal". Scarlett Johansson would like to meet the media's favorite, as Lin Mingyang's rising potential is favored by all.
The two sides met in a very special way, wearing a baseball cap and a pair of cool black sunglasses, carrying a video camera Lin Mingyang was not recognized by Scarlett Johansson at first, she and her agent took Lin Mingyang as a photographer who followed Kenny Ortega.
"Mr. Kenny, what are you?" Scarlett Johansson looked at the other party in disbelief as she put up this stance.
"Felix suggested that the on-stage and behind-the-scenes footage of the making of this movie be preserved in the form of video footage, and the interesting parts of it can be edited into a promotional video when it's time for publicity." Kenny Ortega explained.
This is a common practice in movie making and Scarlett Johansson can understand it, but she immediately had a new question, "What about Felix?
The guy beside her, who was carrying the machine and filming, suddenly extended a hand and said, "Hello!" Scarlett Johansson was startled.
"Well, I'll admit that this might be a bit of an unusual way to meet someone, since this guy is obsessed with photography these days!" Kenny Ortega explained helplessly.
"It can also be interpreted as, I'm a bit nervous about meeting a beautiful woman, so I'm looking for something to do for myself!" Lin Mingyang acted "professionally" and had no intention of putting down the camera as he spoke, only grinning a bright smile towards Scarlett Johansson.
"Wearing sunglasses and then pointing the camera at a strange lady, don't you think this behavior is rude?" Although he hadn't seen the other party's true face yet, this unique style of Lin Mingyang's did give Scarlett Johansson a deep impression.
"I think for any actor, it's the self in front of the camera that's the most beautiful, I think there's no greater compliment to a beautiful woman than pointing the camera at her, and of course if the beautiful woman can show a charming smile, the effect will be even more perfect!" Lin Ming Yang bristled, "Besides, we're not exactly strangers to each other, after seeing that movie The Horse Whisperer, once my biggest dream was to drive a convertible sports car and take you out for a ride in the movie, to be precise I'm also a fan of yours."
"Now you're much more famous than me!" Pretty words Scarlett Johansson had heard a lot, but it was the first time she had heard such a chic praise like Lin Ming Yang's. Every woman liked to hear praise from others, especially when the one giving it was also a handsome mess of a guy. So the initial displeasure of the meeting quickly dissipated in such a playful "bickering".
"God created men and women, and then gave them different missions, so no matter how famous I am, I can't be the female lead in a movie, right?" Lin Mingyang made another joke, skillfully bringing the topic back.
"For me to play a role where a woman dresses as a man, don't you think that's a bit unfair to me?" Scarlett Johansson was a very intelligent woman, she reacted instantly and made a very sharp response.
"The plot of the film is not original to me, and if you really have doubts, you can go to Mr. Shakespeare to discuss it. Of course from the standpoint of the screenwriter of this movie, I feel that this arrangement is precisely a tribute to current feminism. The concept of 'equality between men and women' has developed to the present day, not to say that men should be very gentlemanly and give way to women everywhere, but that women should be more proactive and courageous in taking up the work that originally belonged to men, and that only with equality in social status can true equality between the sexes be realized. The equal status of women cannot wait for men to bestow it generously, because this expectation itself is a recognition of an inequality."
Scarlett Johansson asked thoughtfully, "Is that what you're trying to tell the audience in this script?"
"In fact you can see flashes of that thought in Felix's recent work." Kenny Ortega interjected at this point.
"But I can't play baseball!" Scarlett Johansson whispered very quietly.
"That's great!" Lin Mingyang put the camera's lens down and said excitedly, "It just so happens that I don't know how!"
Scarlett Johansson was a bit baffled.
"At first I was worried that if the female lead was a girl who liked baseball, then if I didn't know how to play baseball, would I be made fun of by her, but now I'm finally relieved!" Lin Mingyang took a long breath of relief.
"We've taken your worries into consideration, so there will be a special baseball coach on the sidelines during filming who will be responsible for correcting your movements during the performance!" Kenny Ortega's words finally dispelled the last doubts in Scarlett Johansson's mind.