Both Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning had a natural, fresh, youthful vibe, the kind that arthouse directors love the most.
However, commercial directors weren't very interested in these "schoolgirls" with less commanding presence.
Commercial directors preferred leads like Megan Fox, Scarlett Johansson, and Jessica Alba—those with full-on charisma who could captivate male viewers with just a hint of sexiness.
"Is this an IMAX camera?"
Elle Fanning looked at the huge camera equipment suspended from a robotic arm in front of her, her face full of awe.
Martin glanced over and nodded. "Yep, that's it. Be careful; this toy is really heavy. If it hits you, it won't feel good."
"I'm 22, not a kid," Elle Fanning muttered.
Meanwhile, Martin was discussing business with Dakota Fanning.
"Marvel is planning to reboot the Spider-Man project next year. Interested in a role?"
"Spider-Man is getting rebooted again? Didn't they already reboot it once?"
"You mean The Amazing Spider-Man? Because the second installment underperformed, plus Marvel proposed buying back the rights to characters previously sold, including Spider-Man, and Sony also wanted 'Spider-Man' to join the 'Avengers' family to boost popularity. Early this year, Marvel Studios and Sony negotiated and agreed to share the usage rights for the Spider-Man character. So the third reboot begins."
"Who's playing Spider-Man? Still Andrew Garfield? I really liked his performance in The Amazing Spider-Man."
Martin shook his head. "Not him. Andrew's too old now; he's 32, not suitable to play a high school student again. We'll recast with a suitable actor."
"Then who would I play?" Dakota Fanning was curious. "I remember Gwen Stacy died in *The Amazing Spider-Man 2*?"
"Not Gwen Stacy, and not Mary Jane either. It's a girl named Liz Alan. In the film, she's Peter Parker's classmate and also the daughter of the main villain, Adrian Toomes (Vulture). It's a decent role."
"I'd love to play her," Dakota Fanning said happily, pleased that Martin valued her.
...
Three months passed.
The Oscars arrived.
This year's Oscar ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Neil Patrick Harris hosted, and ABC televised it live, reaching over 225 countries and regions via TV or live stream.
Get Out, a film that started making money from its first day of release, received six nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Score.
In the end, Birdman won Best Picture, Alejandro González Iñárritu won Best Director for Birdman, Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor for The Theory of Everything, and Julianne Moore won Best Actress for Still Alice.
The heavily favored Get Out only managed to win the consolation prize of "Best Original Screenplay."
One could imagine that after this year's Oscars ended, it would once again face criticism from the media and the black community using their pens as weapons.
...
Time flew by, and it was already April.
One-third of 2015 had passed.
Get Out finally concluded its run, letting all film studios breathe a sigh of relief.
Then, looking at its box office performance, everyone was shocked again: an $8 million investment yielded $414 million in North America and $789 million globally.
Simply put, a massive success!!!
The film earned not just money but also countless honors.
Besides the Oscar for "Best Original Screenplay,"
it also won the "Critics' Choice Award for Best Original Screenplay,"
"Atlanta Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay and Breakthrough Award,"
"New Mexico Film Critics Award for Best Actress,"
"Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best New Filmmaker,"
"Critics' Choice Award for Best Director and Best Actor,"
"Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay,"
"New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director,"
"MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance, Movie of the Year, and Best On-Screen Duo," was listed in Sight & Sound's
"100 Greatest Films of All Time (Critics' List),"
"50 Best Films of the 21st Century,"
The New York Times' "Most Influential Film of the 2010s,"
"Empire Award for Best Screenplay,"
"Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay,"
"Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy,"
"Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Feature"...
Get Out also had very high topicality in North America, earning Martin immense prestige within the black community.
Furthermore, the audience composition for Get Out wasn't the "mostly non-white with scattered white viewers" some imagined, but a normal distribution: 38% (non-white), 35% (white), 16% (Latino), and 10% (Asian).
Renowned New York social commentator Alton Roland commented on this: "The ultimate reason, beneath the 'Black vs. White' surface, is actually Martin's critique of the elite class versus the common people. As he mentioned in interviews, this film actually attempts to attack those self-righteous liberal elites."
...
The early morning sun spilled into the estate. Martin returned from his jog, leading two Labradors.
Martin was only breathing lightly, but the two dogs were so tired their tongues were hanging out, looking like they were about to puke.
Cameron Diaz, who was enjoying breakfast in the garden, couldn't help but laugh. She remembered clearly how excited and bouncy those two Labradors were the first time Martin took them for an early morning jog.
But after that run, the two dogs were listless. Ever since, these two looked like they were being tortured every time they went jogging with Martin.
"Sweetie, you need to take it easy. Don't make these two puke again."
"Hey, these pet dogs just have poor stamina. Back when little Arthur (the lion) was around, he could keep up with me for the entire run."
"Yeah, but you guys had fun running back then. You just scared all the neighboring households. Hahaha, I remember residents calling the police saying Martin was being attacked by a lion and was being chased by one."
"Haha."
Martin was amused too.