*Chapter 185: A Stunned Swann*

Although Wayne didn’t count them precisely, he could roughly estimate that in the film, there were at least ten supporting actresses who appeared on screen for more than five seconds.

Five seconds might seem like a short time, but let’s not forget—this is a movie starring Wayne.

How many viewers would see that five-second appearance?

It’s no exaggeration to say that even the lead actress of a movie with a budget of three or four million dollars wouldn’t be as valuable as these supporting actresses with a five-second appearance!

It’s like appearing solo for five seconds on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, which is far more valuable than being the lead actress in a small village theater group.

So today, not only did the number of actresses auditioning almost double compared to "The American Version of The Ring," but the quality also significantly improved.

Even Anne, Martina, and Eva Green considered making a "cameo."

However, Wayne turned them down, saying it wasn’t necessary.

On the other hand, after some thought, he included Chi-ling Lin and Vivian Hsu in one of the seventeen weddings, specifically a mixed Western and Chinese wedding.

Chi-ling Lin would play the bride, while Vivian Hsu would be the bridesmaid who plays poker with him.

If Annie Hurston's recruitment goes smoothly after acquiring SM Entertainment, he could even add two more actresses from that side.

After all, it makes sense to have several Asian friends or bridesmaids, right?

"Sir, here’s the audition list."

"Alright, thank you."

Wayne took the audition list from his assistant, Nina Jackson, and started flipping through it.

Of course, at this point, it wasn’t really an audition "list" anymore; it was more like an audition booklet. Even though each actor’s information—name, age, headshot, etc.—only took up a line or two, the sheer number of participants meant the list was nearly twenty pages long.

"Let’s begin."

At Wayne’s signal, the audition officially started.

As the male lead, Wayne obviously didn’t need to audition. Not even Peter Farrelly, a top-tier director, would expect that, let alone Cameron or Spielberg.

So, the first up for audition was Sarah Michelle Gellar, who was auditioning for the female lead.

To be honest, compared to the original lead actress Rachel McAdams, Sarah Michelle Gellar's acting was considerably weaker.

But this film didn’t require her to deliver an extraordinary performance, so her acting was sufficient.

Wayne didn’t pay much attention to her audition, knowing that unless the director found her performance utterly terrible, her role wouldn’t be recast.

While Sarah Michelle Gellar was auditioning, Wayne continued to flip through the list.

With over three hundred actors auditioning—nearly two hundred of whom were for the supporting actresses—how long would it take to watch every single audition?

As for leaving the decision to the director? No way. Wayne had worked too hard to cross into this world, own such a large production company, and have such influence in Hollywood. It would be a waste not to use that power!

However, before he even reached the actresses’ section, Wayne spotted a surprise among the actors auditioning for the third male lead villain.

James Marsden, who debuted in 1993, had been struggling in Hollywood for seven years with no real fame, until his role as Cyclops in "X-Men" finally elevated him to a third-tier actor.

At this point, only the first "X-Men" movie had been released, so his fame was still limited, and his asking price was low—just $300,000, a real bargain.

But Paul Walker was even more of a steal.

Yes, Paul Walker, who played Brian in the "Fast & Furious" series.

At this point, Paul Walker was still a small-time actor. "The Fast and the Furious," which would catapult him to stardom, wouldn’t be released until June 22, so his current fee was only $10,000—one-thirtieth of what Cyclops cost!

Additionally, the actors who auditioned for "The American Version of The Ring" but didn’t make the cut—like Venom, Hawkeye, and Star-Lord—were all back.

There was also Simon Pegg, a second-tier comedy actor in Hollywood, known for his role in "Shaun of the Dead."

Not to mention Colin Farrell, who had only debuted last year and had climbed to second-tier status with two films, "Tigerland" and "Ordinary Decent Criminal."

And Oded Fehr, who gained some fame for his role as the leader of the Pharaoh's guards in "The Mummy" series.

Wayne scanned the list quickly. There were over twenty third-tier actors and seven or eight second-tier actors in the mix.

As for first-tier? None.

That’s because first-tier male actors require prior communication.

They wouldn’t risk auditioning only to be rejected. How embarrassing would that be?

Of course, these third- and second-tier actors weren’t just here for the third and fourth male leads.

Since Wayne hadn’t yet locked in the second male lead, most of them were hoping to audition for that role.

Wayne couldn’t help but imagine Simon Pegg, at only 31 but already losing hair at an alarming rate, in some of the comedic roles from his previous life.

Wayne was even tempted to replace Vince Vaughn with Pegg for the role of Jeremy, the second male lead.

But he would wait until after the auditions to make a final decision.

Wayne then shifted his attention to the actresses.

Maybe because they were auditioning for minor roles, only five second-tier Hollywood actresses were present. These included Liv Tyler, who hadn’t yet appeared in "The Lord of the Rings," and Claire Danes, who had gained recognition from winning Best Actress in a TV Series at the 52nd Golden Globe Awards for "My So-Called Life" and from her role in "Romeo + Juliet."

Also present were Dominique Swain, whose popularity peaked with roles in "Lolita" and "Face/Off," but had since dwindled; Anna Paquin, who had gained considerable attention for her role as Rogue in "X-Men"; and Reese Witherspoon, who had failed to pass her audition for "Mean Girls."

As second-tier Hollywood actresses auditioning for such small roles, their motives were clearly not pure.

So Wayne didn’t cater to them.

Liv Tyler was the only one he kept, as her fee was incredibly low—just $200,000.

The other four were all passed.

As for the third-tier actresses, there were over thirty.

Wayne had met only a few of them before, such as Amy Adams, Rose Byrne, and Emmanuelle Chriqui.

The rest were mostly actresses he had seen in movies in his previous life but hadn’t yet encountered in this one.

For example, Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez, who played Mia and Letty in "The Fast and the Furious."

Brittany Murphy, who gained some popularity from "Clueless" and "Girl, Interrupted."

And Eliza Dushku, who co-starred with Sarah Michelle Gellar in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and had since starred in various films and shows but never quite broke out beyond third-tier.

After a brief moment of consideration, Wayne made notes next to the names of Rose Byrne, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Jordana Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez.

Emmanuelle Chriqui was chosen purely for her beauty.

Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez were selected not only for their looks but because "The Fast and the Furious" would be released in just over a month, greatly boosting their fame.

Right now, Jordana Brewster could be hired for just $30,000, and Michelle Rodriguez for $50,000—a steal.

It was worth noting that, while Jordana Brewster played a high school dropout from a poor family in "The Fast and the Furious," she was actually a Yale graduate.

This surprised Wayne.

But in truth, Wayne didn’t have much personal interest in Jordana Brewster or Michelle Rodriguez.

Michelle Rodriguez was fine.

But Jordana Brewster aged rapidly; by the time she was 30, she looked as if she were in her 40s. Her "shelf life" was just too short.

Among the group, the only person who piqued his interest was Emmanuelle Chriqui.

As for choosing Rose Byrne, it was simply because her acting was excellent.

Moreover, like Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, Rose Byrne is someone who is undeniably beautiful, yet she often chooses to play roles that downplay her looks in films.

For a talented actress like that, if there was no harm in it, he was more than willing to give her a chance.

“Next, Vince Vaughn!”

Just as Wayne was making his notes, Isla Fisher finished her audition for the second female lead, "Glory," and director Peter Farrelly had no objections either.

Now it was time for the audition for the second male lead.

Since Vince Vaughn had been personally invited, even though he wasn’t the biggest star among the actors auditioning, he was scheduled to go first.

“I’m Vince Vaughn.”

Wayne looked Vince Vaughn up and down as he introduced himself, and a big question popped into his head—how blind must Jennifer Aniston have been to be attracted to this guy?

He was slightly overweight, unattractive, and exuded a greasy vibe typical of someone from the Eastern Hemisphere. Aside from his height of 6’5", there wasn’t a single redeeming quality.

Wayne couldn’t fathom how Jennifer Aniston had dated him for two years.

“But perhaps it’s exactly because a guy who’s ugly, fat, and greasy can attract a sweet, sexy beauty like Isla Fisher that it fuels the fantasies of the audience,” Wayne thought to himself.

He quickly rearranged the audition schedule, moving Simon Pegg, who was originally set to audition 30th, to the second slot.

Whether it was due to the impression Vaughn had left, Wayne couldn’t say, but Simon Pegg seemed much more pleasant to look at in comparison.

Sure, in terms of being greasy and ugly, Simon Pegg couldn’t compete with Vince Vaughn.

But Simon Pegg’s face had a more comedic charm to it.

“Peter, which one of these two do you think is more suitable for the role of the second male lead?”

After Simon Pegg’s audition ended, Wayne turned to Peter Farrelly for his opinion.

“Both of them are capable enough to play the role,” Peter Farrelly, unaware of Wayne’s thoughts, gave a neutral evaluation after a brief pause.

“Vince Vaughn fits your ‘greasy, unattractive middle-aged man’ description more, while Simon Pegg has more comedic charm and is more likable. Since ‘Wedding Crashers’ is a romantic comedy, I lean more towards Simon Pegg.”

Hearing Peter Farrelly’s choice, which was completely different from the original version, Wayne couldn’t help but frown slightly.

He glanced again at Simon Pegg, who was still standing there waiting for the results, then turned to Nina Jackson and said, “Have your assistant take him to do a ‘greasy middle-aged man’ makeover and see how it looks.”

“Sure, boss,” Nina Jackson immediately had her assistant take Simon Pegg to the makeup room.

Meanwhile, to save time, Wayne promptly ended the audition for the second male lead.

He had Peter Farrelly and the assistant director continue with the auditions for the third and fourth male leads, while he, along with Hannah and producer Nina Jackson, moved to another room to begin auditions for the female supporting roles.

“Why don’t we just audition them in batches, like they do with model agencies?”

Wayne couldn’t help but think as he looked at the hallway outside the conference room, which was packed with people.

Since these were only minor roles with limited screen time, and they needed a large number of actresses, this audition method seemed reasonable.

However, considering that several B-list actresses and a whole bunch of C-listers were there to audition, he decided to put the idea on hold until after they had auditioned everyone.

“Ms. Dominique Swain, please give me a two-minute performance of you approaching and striking up a conversation with a handsome guy at a wedding.”

It was an improvised scene with no script, and the time limit was only two minutes.

This was Wayne’s way of making the process as efficient as possible.

“Aren’t there poker scenes too? Don’t those need to be auditioned?” Dominique Swain was somewhat surprised.

In her past auditions, plenty of directors and producers had asked her to act out poker scenes or perform seductive routines.

This was the most “simple” audition she had ever encountered.

But seeing Wayne’s deliberately expressionless face, she suppressed her surprise and began the improv.

Two minutes later.

“Cut!”

“Alright, Ms. Dominique Swain, that will be all for today. We’ll notify you of the results by phone or email as soon as possible.”

“Next up, Ms. Liv Tyler.”

(End of Chapter)