boxer to hollywood

"Will you go for a morning run tomorrow?"

While changing in the locker room, he opened his phone and saw a text message from Alexandra Daddario.

"Yes, if it doesn't hail tomorrow," Link replied.

As he put on his pants, the girl quickly replied.

"I want to run too. How about we meet at the museum bus stop at 7 am tomorrow?"

"Okay, see you there."

The girl also replied with a "See you there."

When he left the boxing gym at around 3 pm, the sky in New York had cleared up. The sun shone on the streets of Brooklyn, the tall buildings were renewed, and the leaves of the cedar and sycamore trees on the roadside became lush and green.

Link drove towards central Manhattan, planning to visit Link Music.

Shortly after getting on the road, he received a call from Paris, France. The caller was Woody Allen's assistant, Franck Alella.

Franck asked if he had time on Wednesday and Thursday. The weather forecast said it would rain in Paris on those two days, and Director Allen planned to change the deleted scenes back to the original setting and shoot them again, trying to make the film perfect and leaving no regrets.

Link was helpless. Changing it back meant he had to go to Paris again and be tortured by that old man Woody Allen.

Some time ago, he had just broken up and was in a bad mood. During the filming on set, he was PUAed by Director Allen every day, and he almost became depressed.

He really didn't want to go back to that place.

He looked at his schedule.

His main work in the next few days was boxing training, tour rehearsal, and shooting commercials. There was a boxing match on Sunday, and it was okay to fly to Paris on Wednesday and Thursday.

He asked Franck if they could finish filming before Friday. If not, the crew had better find another time because the date of the boxing match had already been set and it was not convenient to change it.

Franck said he needed to ask Director Allen.

Link heard Franck talking to Director Allen through the phone.

Director Allen said it was okay, as long as Link's performance wasn't too bad, they could finish filming in one day.

Link was unhappy to hear that.

Although his acting skills were not as good as those veteran actors, they were considered good among his peers.

Even Marion Cotillard and Jennifer Lawrence, two acting powerhouses, praised his acting skills, saying that he had good control over both micro-expressions and emotions, and was very talented in acting.

But every time he went to the set, Director Woody Allen could always find some problems with him to pick on and undermine his confidence.

Link was numb to it and eventually didn't even bother to argue with him.

"Link, Director Allen said it's okay."

"Okay, I'll be there on time."

Link hung up the phone and drove to the Link Music office in Manhattan. He told Anna that he had to go back to Paris on Wednesday and Thursday to film again and asked her to make work arrangements in advance.

Anna told him that Katherine had sent three scripts and an audition invitation. The three scripts were "The Green Hornet," "Warrior," and "In Time."

"The Green Hornet" was a remake of Bruce Lee's work from the 1960s, about a white rich second generation who fights for justice with a Japanese kung fu master, Kato.

The second male lead seemed to be Jay Chou.

A bad movie, no need to consider.

"Warrior" was about two brothers who participated in a free combat competition and met in the ring, fighting for their own purposes.

Although this movie was about free combat and two brothers fighting in the ring, its core story was similar to "The Fighter," about family, faith, friendship, honor, etc.

He had seen this movie, and one of the leading actors was the famous British actor Tom Hardy. The quality of the movie was good.

But Link didn't plan to act in it. Firstly, he didn't want to repeat himself, and secondly, this movie had no chance of winning an Oscar. 

"In Time" was a science fiction action movie set in a fictional world where everyone had a "timer" on their arm after birth. The timer showed the length of each person's life, and time was also currency that could be used to trade and buy anything they wanted.

However, due to genetic defects, everyone could only live up to 25 years old. To continue living, they had to obtain more time through various means, including work, borrowing, trading, selling, and even robbery.

The male protagonist was a poor man who worked in a factory to survive. By chance, he obtained a hundred years of time from a rich man, and his life changed dramatically.

Link had seen this movie, starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. It had mixed reviews but was relatively well-known, and its box office performance seemed to be good.

After reading these three script invitations, Link felt a little helpless.

After "The Fighter" was released last year, it brought him some positive reviews. He originally thought he would receive countless script offers.

But from the current situation, the mainstream film industry still didn't fully recognize his acting skills, especially those top literary directors. Except for Director Allen, no one was willing to give him good roles.

The producers of movies like "The Expendables" and "The Green Hornet" invited him to collaborate because of his fame and box office appeal, not because of his good acting skills.

If he wanted to make a name for himself in the film industry, he still needed to use good works to further prove himself. Starting with commercial films was also an option.

"Anna, what's the salary for this movie?" Link asked, holding the script of "In Time."

"The initial offer is 8 million US dollars. If you agree to star in it, we can continue to negotiate the salary," Ms. Anna said, holding the documents.

"The script is good, continue to talk to them. What's the other audition invitation for?"

"It's for Marvel Studios' new project, 'Captain America.' The pre-production work has been completed, and they are currently casting. The producers have also sent you an audition invitation, scheduled for next Monday to Wednesday," Ms. Anna said.

Captain America?

Hearing this role, Link fell into deep thought.

Firstly, this role was very good. From the "Captain America" series to the "Avengers" series and the "Thor" series, Captain America played an important role in these movies. If he could get this role, he wouldn't have to worry about not having movies to shoot or money to earn in the next ten years.

But according to the film industry, it would be more difficult to win an Oscar after acting in a Marvel movie. Actors like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans had good acting skills and had also acted in many literary films, but they never received Oscar recognition.

Link was originally a crossover actor and was not favored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. If he played this role, it would be even more difficult to win an award.

So to act or not to act, that was the question.

Link thought for a moment and decided to go to the audition first.

"Captain America" was a big movie project that received a lot of attention, and there would be many famous actors competing for this role. It wouldn't be easy for him to pass the audition, so there was no need to consider whether to act or not now.

"Anna, arrange it. I'm going to attend the Captain America audition."

"Okay, boss!"

Anna nodded and asked if he had any other instructions.

Link said no and let Anna go make arrangements. He flipped through the script and thought for a while, then picked up the phone and called Katherine to ask about the situation at Palm Beach Pictures. He planned to start "Buried" at the end of the year.

Katherine said there was absolutely no problem. "Easy A" had been scheduled for release in early July. According to the internal screening feedback from Warner Bros. Distribution, the movie had good internal reviews and would be promoted and released according to the B-level production specifications.

After the release of this movie, Palm Beach Pictures would also be able to recoup some funds to shoot new movie projects.

(End of Chapter)