Chapter 153 Cao Kun's New Project

Upon hearing that Crowley had found him a new role, Cao Kun asked, "What movie? What role?"

Crowley: "Do you know the X-Men comics?"

Cao Kun was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected it to be about this movie: "I know."

Crowley: "20th Century Fox is planning to make this movie. I got you an audition for 'Cyclops,' and I spoke with the producer. You have a very good chance of getting the role."

Cao Kun was somewhat surprised. Although Cyclops wasn't a main character, he was still a respectable one in the X-Men series.

Cao Kun: "As a Chinese American, why would they give me this role?"

Crowley: "If it's just based on your identity as an actor, of course it won't work."

But you are the founder of the mockumentary genre, and you created "The Blair Witch Project," which grossed over $300 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing horror film in history.

Your subsequent production, "Saw," achieved unprecedented success and broke the box office record set by "The Blair Witch Project."

Your two consecutive huge successes have greatly enhanced your image as an actor.

In Hollywood, one of the things people love to do most is pursue success.

You already possess the qualities for success.

They're willing to hire you because they also want to succeed.

Cao Kun nodded. Crowley was right.

Actually, this applies not only to Hollywood, but to every industry.

The more successful you are, the more people will admire you.

The more you fail, the less attention you get.

Cao Kun's achievements last year were truly remarkable.

No one can help but want to take advantage of him.

Although his Asian, or even Chinese, identity prevents them from easily giving him the male lead or even a top-ranking role, other roles are still fine.

To put it bluntly, when promoting the character Cyclops, add the note "founder of mockumentaries, producer of Saw" after the character's name.

They can at least attract some fans of "The Blair Witch Project" and "Saw".

None of these companies are fools; they would never do anything without a profit.

However, after careful consideration, Cao Kun still declined, saying, "No need, I'm not interested in this role."

Crowley was puzzled: "Why? This character is one of the main characters, and he has quite a lot of screen time."

Cao Kun asked, "How much is the pay?"

Crowley: "The production cost of X-Men was $75 million, and I can negotiate a salary of $300,000 to $500,000 for you."

Compared to Cao Kun's previous $50,000 salary, this is at least six times higher, and could even be up to ten times higher.

It can be said that it jumped several levels at once.

But Cao Kun said, "Then do you think it's appropriate for me to spend three to six months earning $300,000 to $500,000, before taxes and profit sharing?"

Crowley was speechless.

She doesn't know how much money Cao Kun made from the movie "The Blair Witch Project".

But she knew that Cao Kun had earned at least tens of millions of dollars with "Saw".

Thinking about it this way, it is indeed a bit inappropriate to use this salary to buy Cao Kun's time for three to six months.

Cao Kun added, “Now that I am the founder of mockumentaries and the producer of the highest-grossing horror film, I should make good use of it and not sell it off cheaply.”

“I understand,” Crowley said. “Then would you like to learn about the ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’ project? Julie is the female lead.”

"You're her friend, how about you look after her?"

"What a load of rubbish, she's just trying to sleep with me."

Cao Kun thought to himself, "This is what I'm thinking."

As for Crowley's "Gone in 60 Seconds," he knew about it.

It's a Nicolas Cage movie.

That sounds nice, but Julie is the leading lady.

While that is true, the female lead in this movie is just a decorative character with virtually no presence.

Seeing that Cao Kun remained silent, Crowley assumed he was somewhat interested and quickly said, "The male and female leads for this movie have already been cast, but I can try to get you an important role."

What do you think of the character with the most screen time in the male lead's team?

"No need," Cao Kun refused again.

In this movie, Nicolas Cage is the absolute protagonist, and everyone else revolves around him and has little presence.

He only takes on such roles after he's had a full meal.

Crowley said helplessly, "So what kind of role do you want? Or should we meet and discuss it?"

Cao Kun: "Speaking of 'Gone in 60 Seconds,' I am reminded of another project."

“What?” Crowley asked.

Cao Kun: "The Fast and the Furious".

Crowley: "I think I've heard of this movie before. Wait, isn't this a movie from the 1950s? You want to remake it?"

This time, Cao Kun was dumbfounded: "This movie existed in the 1950s?"

Crowley: "Yes, I don't remember the exact year, but there was indeed a movie called 'Fast & Furious' in the 1950s."

Cao Kun thought for a moment, and in his memory, "Fast & Furious" was not a remake.

That's possible; it's just a case of having the same name.

Cao Kun: "It should be a case of the same name. It's not the one from the 1950s. I'm talking about the new project."

Crowley: "Okay, I'll go ask someone."

After hanging up the phone, Cao Kun began to recall information about "Fast and Furious".

He remembered that the movie should have been released within the last year or two, but he forgot the exact date.

However, this series is definitely one of the most profitable film series in the world.

If Crowley hadn't mentioned "Gone in 60 Seconds," he probably would have overlooked the series altogether.

But now that he's remembered it and has this opportunity, he's determined to seize it.

Even if he can't play the lead role, he can still buy the script and the copyright.

Not long after, Crowley called back: "Damn, I don't know if this is the project you're looking for."

David Ayer wrote a racing script, I think it was called "Fast and Furious".

He had previously discussed this script with Universal Music, but Universal didn't seem too optimistic about it and hasn't given a response yet.

"global?"

Cao Kun's eyes lit up; that's it.

The Fast and Furious franchise is produced by Universal.

He remembered that Universal hadn't really taken this movie seriously.

This kind of action film only cost a little over 30 million US dollars to make.

This may seem like a lot, but for a large-scale car chase action movie, it's only a tight budget.

Clearly, Universal Pictures doesn't have high hopes for this film.

No one expected that this movie would later become a dark horse.

Cao Kun: "Contact David Ayer immediately; I need to meet with him."

11:30 a.m.

Cao Kun and David Ayer met at a restaurant.

David Ayer is tall and strong, of average appearance, but has a tough guy vibe.

Only after asking did I learn that he had served in the military of country M.