"Now everything is over. That hobo must have taken it. He'll fly to Florida or Hawaii, or maybe Canada, Panama, Bermuda, and live a carefree life".
"What about Lonnie?"
"He'll kill me, Lola".
"You have to tell him".
"Come on, he won't believe a word".
"Why?"
"Once I secretly kept a carton of cigarettes, and he found out immediately. He doesn't trust anyone. This deal was a test to see if I'm trustworthy".
"How much money was in the bag?"
"100,000 dollars."
"What!"
"100,000 dollars, a test".
"Oh, damn."
Inside the audition room.
Simon listened intently as Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves finished rehearsing the dialogue, then made a stopping gesture: "Alright, that's enough".
Both of them stopped.
Simon waited for Keanu Reeves to stand still again and said, "So, Keanu, can you tell me why you're interested in this movie?"
"I think this is a very special movie," Keanu Reeves looked up slightly, thought for a moment, and said, "A special format, a special story. If I can participate, I believe it will be a very special experience".
Simon smiled and said, "Then you also need to understand that this is an absolute female-led movie, and it won't do much to advance your career".
Keanu Reeves also smiled and said, "Compared to my career, I'd rather try something interesting."
"Alright," Simon nodded and said, "Last question, the male lead's hair definitely can't be longer than the female lead's, so if you want to be in this movie, you'll need to cut your hair. Any problem with that?"
Keanu Reeves shook his head: "No problem".
Simon said with satisfaction, "Then, thank you for coming today, Keanu. We'll let you know the results as soon as possible".
After Keanu Reeves left, Sandra said, "Simon, you seem very interested in this actor."
Simon glanced at Sandra and asked with a smile, "Don't you know Keanu? He's also with WMA".
Sandra rolled her eyes slightly and said, "WMA has over three thousand clients, how could I know all of them?"
Simon nodded in realization.
In his memory, Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves had been good friends ever since they collaborated on 'Speed', but he hadn't expected them to still be strangers at this point. However, thinking about it now, their collaboration was no coincidence; they both belonged to WMA. In the nineties, the project packaging model should have already been the mainstream operating model for Hollywood's major agencies.
Thinking this, Simon glanced at Ron McMillan on the other side: "Ron, what do you think of him?"
"Well," Ron smiled and said, "Simon, this time you'll have to judge for yourself".
Simon felt Ron's expression was a bit strange and asked, "What's wrong?"
Ron shrugged and didn't hide anything, saying, "Keanu's stepfather, Paul Aaron, and I happen to know each other. Paul just called me this morning".
Simon was a bit confused: "Paul Aaron?"
Ron explained, "He's a director, but mostly he produces TV movies for several major TV stations. We've worked together a few times, so we're quite familiar".
Well alright, Simon silently complained a little in his mind.
Didn't they say Keanu Reeves had a tough childhood, went to Hollywood alone, and almost starved to death during his most difficult years?
How did he turn into a Hollywood second-generation in the blink of an eye?
Shaking his head gently, Simon cast aside these chaotic thoughts and simply evaluated Keanu Reeves based on his recent performance.
Keanu Reeves was just 22 years old this year. Although he had stubble, his youthfulness was still evident, and he was far from the gloomy and cold temperament he would have many years later. Playing a small-time thug, while perhaps a bit too handsome, wasn't too inappropriate.
In fact, in the original timeline, the first Hollywood movie Keanu Reeves starred in, 'River's Edge', had him playing a troubled teenager. In the years that followed, Keanu Reeves also tried his hand at comedy.
It wasn't until after 'The Matrix' that Keanu Reeves' screen image was solidified, making it difficult for him to escape the image of Neo, the trench coat-wearing, black-spectacled saviour.
After pondering for a moment, Simon quickly made up his mind.
He flipped through the remaining four resumes. Simon didn't stop directly, but motioned for the staff to call in the next auditionee.
The day after the audition, the 'Run Lola Run' crew officially confirmed Keanu Reeves as the male lead.
As a newcomer to Hollywood, despite some experience in TV dramas, the crew offered Keanu Reeves a modest salary of only $2,000.
After the male lead, the other roles in 'Run Lola Run' were quickly finalized in the following days.
On the other side, 'The Butterfly Effect' also completed its supporting cast selection and preliminary preparations. During this period, Simon also attended several auditions for the film, offering his suggestions for character selection.
At the end of September, according to the contract signed with Fox, Simon once again went into seclusion to begin the final revision of 'The Butterfly Effect' script.
In comparison, 'Run Lola Run' did not have such a rigorous production process.
However, a low-budget production with a $650,000 investment and a blockbuster with a $10 million investment are indeed not comparable.
Peter Sanders, the vice president at Fox responsible for 'The Butterfly Effect', expressed his dissatisfaction with Simon's 'neglect of proper duties' when he learned that Simon was concurrently working on 'Run Lola Run' while also being the screenwriter for 'The Butterfly Effect'.
David Giler and Brian De Palma simply treated Peter Sanders like air, and Simon didn't pay much attention to him either.
September 26th.
Friday.
Today was the last day of script revisions. Simon rushed to Fox Studios early in the morning and held an all-day meeting with key creatives like David Giler and Brian De Palma.
It wasn't until 5 PM that Simon drove home in a black Chevrolet SUV.
This was a car Simon had recently bought. Compared to the generally boxy 'Santana' shape of sedans of this era, the equally angular SUV barely met Simon's aesthetic taste, and the price wasn't overly expensive either, only a little over $32,000 including various taxes and fees.
Simon couldn't afford this amount of money at the moment, so he arranged for a three-year instalment plan, only needing to pay less than $1,000 each month.
As soon as Simon returned to his residence in the Montana area, he received a call from Janette, who directly suggested they have dinner together that evening, with Simon treating. She had already booked a restaurant and somewhat reluctantly mentioned that Kathryn would also be joining them.