Behind The Spotlight Chapter 217
"Lawrence, I know that your decision is the most important. But I want you to listen to me carefully. I think you need to divorce Emma. She's holding you back. What we received from them is already enough. It's worth the trade, but not in the long run. If you can't even choose your own movie, then she doesn't deserve you. She doesn't support you at all," Collin said firmly, his tone calm. He stared at the blank screen of the theater but his mind was calculating.
He recognized that Emma would only make things worse. She was like a chain wrapped around Lawrence, preventing him from moving forward.
'Lawrence is my money maker, a pillar in my roster. Emma and her father can go to hell. The benefits they bring are useless if Lawrence can't maintain his status at the top.'
"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Collin." Lawrence nodded lightly. He also admitted that the benefits they received from the Blackrock Corporation were quite substantial.
Collin knew that pushing his own agenda wouldn't help, so he stopped saying anything bad about Emma. Lawrence already understood the implication. Sometimes silence worked better than persuasion.
"As for the scripts you sent me... I'm thinking of auditioning for the drama-romance. It's a heavy theme, and I find it interesting." Lawrence leaned back, his brow furrowed as if weighing the decision.
Lawrence wanted to transition to other genres to grow as an actor, as he wanted to try something new. The topic of the drama-romance he read was something he wanted to work on. There was something about the story that pulled him in.
The script was about a man who fell in love with a woman who forgot him every day, the title was Walk and Remember. Perhaps it could lead him to acting awards. For once, he wanted to try another heavy theme like Passionate Island.
With that, the movie started on premiere night. The theater lights dimmed and the chatter faded. The audience watched with grins on their faces. They laughed at the jokes and punchlines, their laughter echoing through the theater. Lawrence's performance was natural, effortlessly pulling reactions from the crowd.
They realized that Lawrence was not only meant for romance movies, but he also had a talent for making people laugh. On screen, his comedic timing was sharp and precise.
February 13, 2000. The movie, Funny Ones, grossed $10 million at the North American box office in its opening numbers. This was considered a success by analysts.
February 14, 2000, Saturday. The box office increased to $29 million.
Then on Sunday, February 15, 2000, the movie grossed over $39 million, continuing the momentum.
Naturally, Fair Amount Pictures was very happy about these results. As the movie's budget was only $50 million, with Lawrence Terrence getting the biggest cut of the budget, the performance it showed was better than they expected.
On top of that, this further solidified Lawrence's status in Hollywood as the Box Office King. Many executives only saw him as the face of romance movies because most of his filmography consisted of romance films.
In this movie, Lawrence proved that he was not just about romance movies. His box office appeal also influenced other genres, making him a better actor in the eyes of many studios.
However, people didn't know the biggest factor behind these outcomes. In the first place, they couldn't understand it because they didn't have supernatural eyes that could see people's talents like Collin.
Collin had rarely given his clients mediocre scripts and mediocre directors. His selections were of high standard. He made sure that Lawrence and Axel had amazing directors and promising projects to work with.
In a way, he was one of the biggest factors in why these actors constantly achieved success. And no one appreciated him for what he did, well, he didn't need to. He preferred staying behind the spotlight and letting others take the recognition.
Together with Lawrence's Yellow Talent in comedy films plus the director's Yellow Talent, it was not surprising that the movie was successful. Collin basically understood the best formula for making successful films.
In fact, if he wanted to, he could make a simple actor with no defining talent become a star. Collin had enough influence and capability to do that. It was not an overstatement anymore, Collin could really do that.
Collin just didn't want to, because his standards had risen over time. Yellow Talent was the minimum standard, but even then, he wouldn't accept just anyone.
With that, Lawrence received another success, and headlines about him grew rampant once again. Even though Lawrence only appeared in one movie per year, he maintained his status because all of his movies were box office hits.
The audience and fans didn't grow fatigued because he only had one movie per year, which helped him a lot in maintaining demand.
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Jennifer Randon licked her finger and turned the page of the novel she was reading. She was in the hallway of a building, and one of the rooms was rented by a production studio as the audition room.
Unlike her usual experience with auditions, the hallway only had four women this time. The morning talk show was greenlit, but the host had to be a woman, as a gorgeous woman was pleasing to look at in the morning... Was this even real? Who cared. Probably yes.
The women present today had passed the first and second rounds, which deemed them worthy to audition personally in front of the director, producer, and other important members of the production team for the final selection.
The women eyed each other coldly, not hiding the fact that they didn't like each other. They were all gorgeous and attractive, so even their glares looked sexy.
Anyway, Jennifer kept her composure. She was not a simple person anymore. She had experience in hosting and knew what to do. For some reason, she was not nervous. Was it confidence because she had prepared for this moment for many years?
This might be the first time Jennifer attended an audition without feeling nervous.
She kept reading her novel titled Yang-Yang Dual Cultivation. She had a certain genre she loved reading.
Jennifer might be at her peak right now. Despite being in her mid-30s, she was gorgeous and well-maintained even without makeup.
One by one, the women were called. These women were not actresses. One was a newscaster, another was a weather reporter, another was a magazine writer, another was a sports reporter, while Jennifer was a host of a singing competition.
They all had experience with interviews. To be precise, they were the ones who conducted interviews, talking to and asking people questions.
Jennifer kept reading her novel, waiting for her name to be called. She was last on the list. When someone called her name, she stood up and walked inside with steady steps.
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[Author's Note:]
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