*Chapter 95: Innocence and Youth?!*

Actually, Liu Xiaoli didn’t need to say much. She would almost send Wayne messages every day, trying to chat with him. But Wayne was just "too busy," always giving her a lukewarm response, which made her frustrated yet even more determined to win his approval.

After all, the hardest thing to obtain is often the most desirable.

Meanwhile, after Mike hung up the phone, the next person he called was Eva Green.

Though Eva took it a bit better than Zhang Ziyi, when she received the call confirming her role as the second female lead, Jill Valentine, in Resident Evil 2, she let out a long sigh of relief, her face lighting up with excitement.

"Yes! Thank you, Mr. Jones! My passport is ready, and I’ll definitely be there before the audition!"

Eva Green, much like Zhang Ziyi, was so excited that she immediately dialed Wayne's number after hanging up.

"Darling! I just got a call from Mr. Jones! Thank you so much—"

Eva excitedly thanked Wayne, then asked when he’d be available to meet again.

Wayne, for his part, was much warmer towards Eva than he had been with Zhang Ziyi. They chatted for five or six minutes and agreed to meet up again once they were both back in Los Angeles. Only then did they end the call.

Still buzzing with excitement, Eva called her mother to share the good news and then busied herself with arranging time off.

That same evening, she boarded a flight to Los Angeles.

However, Mike was working even faster than she was. By 5 PM that afternoon, he had already contacted all the people on Wayne's list.

Naturally, actresses like Zhang Ziyi and Eva Green eagerly accepted the roles without hesitation.

As for the rest, apart from the biggest star, Ben Stiller, who hadn’t responded yet, the other agents immediately agreed to meet and discuss further upon receiving the invitation. After all, Hemera Pictures had earned quite the reputation for being generous lately.

But, as usual, Mike couldn’t clock out on time and had to work overtime. He needed to go through the script to see if there were any other roles suitable for his other clients.

If he found fitting clients and roles, he would take note and notify them later, ensuring they were prepared for auditions.

This task was quite burdensome, but Mike enjoyed it immensely. Other agents could only dream of getting their hands on a script. Often, just acquiring information about the characters would come at a price, but thanks to Wayne’s trust, Mike could sift through the script directly, making him feel like he had hit the jackpot!

By the time he finished going through the entire script, it was already 1 AM.

But Mike only glanced at the clock before picking up his list and phone, starting to contact the clients he had selected.

Actors are different from other professions. Unless you plan on staying a background extra forever, every audition opportunity before making it big is incredibly important.

Mike was confident his clients would appreciate his calls, rather than being upset about the late hour.

And, in fact, they did.

"Hello, Megan? It’s Mike."

Megan had been cutting back on her expenses and saving as much as possible to attend acting classes, so she was living frugally and avoiding nightlife. Every evening, she would go to bed early after taking a bath.

When Mike called, she was fast asleep. But when she heard she had landed another audition, and for the third female lead in a major production like Resident Evil 2, Megan was beyond excited and deeply grateful to Mike.

Although getting the news at midnight or the next morning made no practical difference, it was nice to know sooner and celebrate earlier.

However, Megan’s excitement may have been premature.

The third female lead in the second film, the journalist character, Susan, was someone Suzan was considering for Naomi Watts.

Given her background, Suzan had a soft spot for people who turned their lives around and worked incredibly hard.

Although Naomi Watts didn’t have a redemption story, she had come all the way from Australia to Hollywood, quietly grinding for nearly a decade, only breaking into major roles this year. Her inspiring journey deeply resonated with Suzan.

Moreover, the two had enjoyed a pleasant collaboration on Gifted. As a result, Naomi Watts had a much better shot at landing the role than Megan.

But that’s a story for another time.

It’s also worth mentioning that when Mike finally managed to get ahold of Ryan Reynolds' agent and contacted Ryan himself, he was working part-time as a server at a men’s club.

When Ryan heard that a major production with a $30 million budget was considering him for the male lead, his first reaction was that his agent was joking.

After repeatedly confirming that it was true, Ryan thought one of the rich women at the club had taken a liking to his "innocent and youthful" look.

When he found out it was Hemera Pictures, and that the person reaching out to him was none other than the hotshot Wayne, the sleazy guy thought Wayne might have a certain "interest" in him.

It’s probably for the best that Wayne never found out, or he might have reconsidered the casting.

As Resident Evil moved into a new phase of production and changed its shooting schedule to film both the first and second installments back-to-back, Wayne’s funds were getting tight.

*[Name: Wayne]*

*[Remaining Film Investment Funds: $37 million]*

*[Ongoing Projects:]*

*The Bourne Identity: Production budget $56 million, with $41 million invested so far.*

*Resident Evil 1 & 2: Production budget $65 million, with $15 million invested so far.*

In Koblenz, Germany, in a mountainside hotel room overlooking the Rhine Valley, Wayne stood alone on the balcony, wearing a bathrobe. As he fed Mia and the others, he gazed out over the quiet valley under the night sky. The cool night breeze washed over him as he opened the system panel and checked the usage of his funds.

With Gifted completed, the threefold return of the $36 million production cost had already been deposited into his system account.

If he had stuck to his original plan to shoot just one Resident Evil movie and avoided hiring big stars like Ben Stiller, the cost could have easily been kept under $30 million.

After all, there weren’t many special effects in Resident Evil 1—just the final battle with the Licker. The rest of the zombies were handled by makeup artists.

But now, with two movies being shot simultaneously, even with the potential savings in unnecessary expenses, the budget would inevitably skyrocket.

(End of chapter)