Chapter 201: Enhanced Modifications

"Darling, if you're feeling too tired, why not take the day off and rest? Work will never be finished anyway," Wayne said, looking at Mia's somewhat haggard expression, his heart aching for her as he tried to persuade her.

Mia was tempted by his words but eventually sighed and shook her head.

Though she said nothing, the arrival of Amanda and Lydia had subtly increased her sense of pressure and urgency.

She firmly believed Wayne's promise to leave Hemera Pictures in her hands in the future wouldn't change, but she still hoped her abilities would be worthy of such a position.

Wayne understood her thoughts and didn't push further. After breakfast, he personally drove her to the office.

He left Mia with a brand-new McLaren F1, a "prop car" worth hundreds of thousands of dollars recently acquired by the Wedding Crashers crew. Wayne then switched to the Silver Angel, driven by his bodyguard, and headed to the film's set.

"Hey, Wayne, how was your trip to China these past few days?"

"Not bad. How's the progress on your side?"

"Everything's on track, no worries," replied director Peter Farrelly with confidence.

After exchanging a few words with Peter and producer Nina Jackson about the shooting schedule, Wayne headed to the dressing room to get into character.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered, he was ambushed by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Isla Fisher, who had been lying in wait behind the door.

Had Wayne's self-control not been strong enough, today's shooting schedule might have been completely derailed.

"I'll deal with you two after wrap," Wayne said, giving them both a firm squeeze before changing clothes under their wide-eyed, gulping stares.

For the next stretch of time, his life settled back into its usual rhythm: filming during the day, coffee with Nicole Kidman and Scarlett in the evenings, and either returning home if he finished early or staying over at their place if it was late.

Everything was ordinary and unremarkable—simple and steady.

The only noteworthy incident was during the monthly interview for the now streamlined Wayne’s Garden, which had been reduced to just over twenty members. This month, Wayne spotted two promising new faces.

Like Lighthouse Entertainment, Wayne’s Garden also held two unified interviews each month, and as the interviewer, Wayne always made it a point to be present.

At the interview on the 15th, Wayne was surprised to see two familiar faces.

One was Raisa Bakulova, a Ukrainian former rhythmic gymnast who had won the national championship eight times. After retiring earlier this year due to injury, she had initially planned to model in Taiwan before shifting to the entertainment industry.

Though she hadn't made a name for herself in either modeling or entertainment, her figure and looks were undeniably outstanding—almost on par with Anne and Jessica.

Her only drawback was a lack of distinctiveness. Unlike Anne and Jessica, her beauty wasn’t immediately recognizable, making her less memorable at first glance.

After a straightforward conversation, Wayne arranged for her to move into Villa 11, where Adriana Lima and her housemates lived.

The second familiar face was Clara, hailed by many as the most beautiful woman in Asia and even the world.

Wayne could understand Raisa coming to Los Angeles to interview at his agency—she was a white European trying to break into a higher-tier modeling circle. That was reasonable.

But Clara, a South Korean model, showing up in Los Angeles? That was bold.

Upon reviewing her background, however, Wayne realized it wasn’t as strange as he first thought.

Unlike many South Korean girls who entered the industry to escape their circumstances or make money, Clara came from a well-off family.

Born in Switzerland and holding British citizenship, Clara had attended school in America from a young age.

Her family background was superior even by South Korean standards, surpassing that of many corporate middle managers in the country.

She hadn't initially succeeded with modeling agencies in the U.S., so she'd moved to South Korea to work as a print model. Her stunning looks quickly landed her decorative roles in TV dramas, earning her significant fame in both South Korea and China.

To be fair, Clara's figure and beauty fit East Asian aesthetics perfectly, though they were considered average by Western standards.

At 168 cm tall, it was no surprise that mainstream U.S. modeling agencies hadn’t picked her.

However, Wayne’s taste was more aligned with his roots, so he signed her immediately.

Clara had also come specifically for Wayne, and when he mentioned the offer, she eagerly agreed, fearing he might change his mind. She moved into Villa 10, where Son Ye-jin and her group lived.

While handling these matters, Wayne hadn’t forgotten his promise to DiCaprio and Jet Li about their scripts. He had even finished writing the script for The King's Speech.

As for Jet Li’s script, Wayne was still weighing his options.

The current contenders included XXX starring Vin Diesel, The Mechanic starring Jason Statham, and Undisputed III: Redemption, a cult-classic fight movie that scored 7.9 on both Douban and IMDb.

For context, even The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring had an IMDb score of 8.8.

For an action movie with a thin plot, Undisputed III scoring 7.9 was exceptionally high.

Among the three options, XXX had the highest box office, thanks to Vin Diesel’s popularity.

In terms of ratings and revenue, The Mechanic ranked second, while Undisputed III had the highest ratings but the lowest box office.

This clearly showed the significant impact a lead actor’s fame could have on a film’s commercial success.

If Wayne chose to produce XXX, he would need to register the script and begin filming as soon as possible.

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Considering that Hero won’t be completed until at least next year and that it will be directed by Master Yuan, Wayne decisively ruled out XXX and The Mechanic when he thought of a new option.

That new option is SPL 2: A Time for Consequences.

Forget the plot for a moment—just the final fight scene featuring Wu Jing, Max Zhang, and Tony Jaa was enough for Wayne to pick this project.

Of course, to make it suitable for Hollywood, some changes were necessary.

First, Wu Jing's lead role would naturally be replaced by Jet Li.

Tony Jaa's character, for the sake of box office appeal, should be recast with Michael Jai White, a top-10 popular Black action star nicknamed "The Martial God."

As for Max Zhang's "suit-wearing enforcer" role, it could be handed to Jean-Claude Van Damme, who also shares the "suit-wearing enforcer" nickname and is known as "Hollywood's King of Legs."

For the remaining two key roles:

The main villain, Hong Wengang, originally played by Louis Koo, could be recast with Anthony Hopkins.

Tony Jaa's colleague could be played by Morgan Freeman.

This lineup wouldn’t just deliver visceral fight sequences and embody the aesthetics of violence; it would also be a massive draw for audiences.

Jet Li would bring in Asian box office revenue, and Michael Jai White would attract Black audiences—at least a $50 million starting point.

The best part is, these stars aren’t too expensive.

Michael Jai White, though quite popular among Black actors, only commands $6–8 million in Hollywood these days—on par with Jet Li.

Jean-Claude Van Damme, despite being a global sensation in the '80s and '90s, has seen his popularity wane, and $4 million would suffice for a supporting antagonist role.

Morgan Freeman, known for being "affordable and reliable," would need just $4 million for a supporting part.

Anthony Hopkins, thanks to the massive success of Hannibal earlier this year, would command about $6 million, even for a less prominent villain role.

Even with these salaries combined, the total cost for these five stars would only amount to $28 million.

Given the limited need for car chases, explosions, or special effects, the total production cost could be controlled at around $50 million.

Of course, to be fair, the combined star power and buzz generated by these five wouldn’t match Tom Cruise or Leonardo DiCaprio individually. If box office hype was the sole goal, the $28 million would be better spent hiring DiCaprio.

But the problem is, DiCaprio and Tom Cruise can’t pull off the gritty, visceral action required for this type of movie. Hiring them would only lead to disasters, like the S Fortress disaster from the past.

So, hiring these five is quite cost-effective.

After refining his idea a bit, Wayne sent a summary of the script to Jet Li and Master Yuan to get their opinions.

Frankly, organ-trafficking crime thrillers like this one aren’t new. Both the premise and the story are fairly standard—nothing groundbreaking.

But that’s how action movies work. After decades of production, the genre is pretty worn out. Modern action movies rely solely on star appeal and fight sequences. As long as these two aspects are outstanding and the plot holds logical coherence, that’s enough.

Jet Li and Master Yuan, upon seeing the proposed cast, eagerly agreed.

During a lunch break, Hannah approached Wayne with a notebook, saying, “While you were filming, both Li and Yuan replied. They love the script, and Li said his current project, under Zhang’s direction, will wrap as early as January.”

“Also, the post-production for Taken is complete. Sarah wants you to check it out.”

“Howard Stringer from Sony has invited you to the celebration party for the success of The Notebook, which is the day after tomorrow.”

“And Warner Bros. is holding a celebration party for The Dark Side tomorrow evening.”

“Finally, Harvey Weinstein has invited you to a party, saying he has a surprise prepared for you.”

Wayne listened to her report while sipping juice.

He already knew Taken was complete thanks to a system notification earlier that morning.

With a modest production budget of $35 million, the system’s threefold return added up to $105 million, bringing his remaining funds to a healthy level again.

*[Remaining Film Investment Funds: $13.63 million]*

*[Ongoing Film Projects:]*

*[Resident Evil 1 & 2: $17.5M budget; $15.7M invested]*

*[Ocean’s Eleven (18%): $1.5M budget; fully invested]*

*[Pirates of the Caribbean (16%): $2M budget; $600K invested]*

*[Spider-Man 1 (22%): $3M budget; fully invested]*

*[Star Wars Episode II (4%): $1.5M budget; fully invested]*

*[The Ring (US): $3M budget; $2.4M invested]**

*[Wedding Crashers: $4.2M budget; $3.15M invested]*

*[Heidi: $1.5M budget; $1M invested]*

*[Wanted: $17M budget; $7.5M invested]*

*[The Intern: $2.5M budget; $500K invested]*

Satisfied that his remaining funds were enough to finish all projects except Wanted, Wayne felt reassured.

“The Notebook celebration party? Oh, right. Today’s the 23rd. I’ve been so busy with filming that I almost forgot,” Wayne remarked.

Hannah rolled her eyes playfully. Filming? Clearly, filming was more like a break for Wayne. The real “work” was grabbing coffee with those “beauties” after wrapping up each day.

Wayne smirked, pulling her into his arms for a kiss. Within seconds, any trace of annoyance disappeared.

“By the way, what’s the final box office for The Notebook? Did it break $800 million?” Wayne asked.

“No,” Hannah replied, giving an answer that left him slightly disappointed. “Domestic gross: $320 million. Overseas: $440 million. Total: $760 million.”

“Only $40 million short,” Wayne sighed.

“And The Dark Side?” Wayne inquired.

It had premiered a few days before The Notebook, so it must have finished its run as well.

“Domestic gross: $113 million. Overseas: $51.66 million. Total: $164.6 million.”

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