The Face Genius Actor

Episode 157

After a long flight, I arrived at Los Angeles International Airport and drove for another 30 minutes to reach Burbank.

Burbank was a city located in California, known as the world capital of media, and this is where the production company of “Sacred” was located.

Kim Bo-mi muttered in front of the headquarters building of ‘Winner Family’.

“…So this is Winner Family.”

Indeed, the grandeur of Winner Family was impressive.

Numerous facilities operated by Winner Family, including sound recording studios, indoor studios, and a film museum, occupied entire streets.

While tourists could go on studio tours, we entered the headquarters through a dedicated entrance accessible only to staff.

Soon, guided by a company employee, Kim Bo-mi and I were able to enter a spacious meeting room.

In the impressively luxurious meeting room, two men were already seated.

The two men reflexively tried to stand up and greet us as soon as they saw Kim Bo-mi and me, but…

“Hello… Gasp!”

“…What in person.”

They couldn’t finish their sentences.

One person inhaled sharply, while the other blurted out his thoughts.

‘It’s the same as always.’

Thinking this, I greeted the two men first.

“Hello. I’m actor Lee Si-joon.”

“I’m Kim Bo-mi, head of the Business Planning Team.”

Only after Kim Bo-mi finished her greeting did the two men belatedly come to their senses.

“I’m Benjamin Goldman, Chairman of Winner Family.”

“I’m Frank Borodvin, director of ‘Sacred’.”

I was inwardly surprised to hear the introductions of the two men.

I hadn’t expected the chairman of Winner Family to attend the meeting in person.

On the other hand, I had anticipated Frank Borodvin’s attendance.

He was both the director and writer of “Sacred”.

“Shall we sit over here then?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

“I’ve heard the rumors, but I’m very surprised to meet actor Lee Si-joon in person. I’ve never seen such a handsome person in my life.”

“It’s an honor to receive a compliment on my appearance from the chairman who has met almost all global stars.”

The initial conversation flowed lightly with mutual compliments.

Before long, even Kim Bo-mi joined in, freely participating in the conversation.

However, for some reason, Frank Borodvin seemed to be struggling to participate in the conversation and was on the periphery.

Somehow, his gaze felt sharp, as if he was wary of me.

I had a rough idea of why, but I thought it wasn’t the right timing to bring it up yet, so I pretended not to notice.

The fortunate thing was that Benjamin Goldman seemed to welcome me more than I expected.

Benjamin Goldman explained why he had offered me the casting for “Sacred 2”.

“Originally, we were going to offer the casting to Rolling Stuckman, who played the role of Yerom in the first part.”

“But the plan fell through?”

“I thought Rolling Stuckman would never age, but he did. How fortunate that he’s human, not a vampire. Hahaha.”

Benjamin Goldman joked, and Kim Bo-mi and I laughed along.

But Frank Borodvin still had a stern expression.

Benjamin Goldman glanced at that expression and continued speaking.

“While we were looking for a new person, Frank Borodvin recommended actor Lee Si-joon.”

It was unexpected.

Because until now, I thought Frank Borodvin wasn’t very pleased with me.

Certainly, for Frank Borodvin, my presence as someone who could also work as a writer and director might have been uncomfortable.

It meant he could perceive me as someone who might carelessly infringe on his rights.

‘But that wasn’t the case… Then why is he making that expression?’

Was it Benjamin Goldman’s lip service to ease the meeting atmosphere?

I looked at Frank Borodvin’s expression again and soon realized why his expression was stiff.

Frank Borodvin was not wary, but tense.

However, I couldn’t figure out why he was tense.

“Hahaha. That’s how much Frank Borodvin and I have high expectations for you. Now, shall we start by looking at the contract?”

Benjamin Goldman dealt with matters swiftly, and soon a stack of documents detailing the contract terms appeared in front of Kim Bo-mi and me.

“Please check carefully and let me know if you have any questions.”

So the two of us began to examine the contracts we each held.

‘Overall, the conditions… are not bad.’

The terms from Winner Family were excellent.

Everything from the appearance fee to the running guarantee based on profits was beyond expectations.

I also liked that the filming period was set neither too long nor too short, and the benefits such as accommodation, vehicles, and private jets were appropriate.

Kim Bo-mi seemed to like the conditions too, as she nodded slightly while looking in my direction.

“The contract terms are acceptable for now. If it’s alright, could we hear more specifically about the filming plans?”

“Of course.”

Benjamin Goldman answered and turned his head, and Frank Borodvin, still looking tense, opened his mouth.

Fortunately, as he spoke, Frank Borodvin’s pronunciation became clearer, as if his tension was gradually easing.

From the director’s mouth came specific details about:

Where the filming would mainly take place.

Who the cast actors were and who they were considering.

What kind of experienced staff they would work with.

Who would be in charge of sound and CGI.

The plan was also very well put together.

At least the process of making the film itself seemed to be problem-free.

“How is it?”

After the director’s explanation, Benjamin Goldman asked.

The satisfaction evident in his expression suggested he liked the director’s explanation.

Certainly, the atmosphere of the meeting so far wasn’t bad.

‘However…’

This alone wasn’t enough to finalize the contract.

I hadn’t yet stated my conditions.

‘From now on is crucial. If the script isn’t revised, everything will be in vain.’

Organizing my thoughts, I opened my mouth.

“It’s good. I like everything. However, there are a few points that concern me.”

At those words, Frank Borodvin tensed up again.

Benjamin Goldman also seemed to tense up in response.

“Points of concern… What might those be?”

“The script.”

“Pardon?”

“Actually, all the points that concern me are in the script. Would it be possible to revise it?”

Benjamin Goldman’s gaze naturally turned to the director.

From this, I could realize that Winner Family had entrusted Frank Borodvin with full authority over the work.

‘It means Frank Borodvin has to agree to revise the work. I wonder what decision he’ll make.’

After a brief silence…

Finally, Frank Borodvin nodded as if he had made some decision.

Simultaneously, the words that came out of Frank Borodvin’s mouth were unexpected.

“Actually, I’ve been waiting for those words. Please tell me. I’ll accept anything.”

* * *

I couldn’t help but be a little surprised by Frank Borodvin’s response.

I hadn’t expected him to be this proactive.

While I was taken aback, Frank Borodvin continued speaking.

“I was aware of the script’s shortcomings. In fact, that’s why the film production was delayed for nearly 20 years.”

“Was that so?”

“Yes. I tried to fix it in my own way, but it felt like the core parts just couldn’t be resolved.”

He said that sometimes one should know when to give up on a work, but he just couldn’t do that.

So he decided to film the work if it met certain standards, and recently it seemed to have met those, which is why he sent the script to me.

Frank Borodvin’s story continued.

“And secretly, I wanted to hear advice about this work from a globally renowned actor like you.”

Frank Borodvin seemed to have been impressed by “I Am Not a Villain” and “Toema Hwan Ya Dam.”

Watching these two works, he thought I might be able to find the problems with “Sacred 2.”

‘Is that why he looked tense earlier?’

Thinking this while listening to Frank Borodvin’s story, I soon nodded.

“Alright. Then I’ll speak frankly about the problems I felt.”

As I started speaking, Frank Borodvin straightened his posture, and Benjamin Goldman and Kim Bo-mi also showed interest.

“In my opinion, there are three main problems with ‘Sacred 2’.”

First, the introduction of “Sacred 2” was too unfriendly.

The introduction is an important part that sets the overall flow of the work, but it felt like it relied too much on the settings of the first part.

It was too complacent to produce a sequel assuming everyone had seen the first part.

This was especially true considering that the first part was released nearly 20 years ago.

“If the overall story of the sequel is too complex to simplify the introduction, I think it’s also an option to boldly cut out some settings.”

So I pointed out all the settings that seemed okay to cut out and moved on to the second problem.

The second problem I thought of was the wasteful use of some characters.

As a movie needs to unfold its story within a running time of one or two hours, the story needs to be concise and compressed.

Otherwise, it loses focus.

In this regard, this work had quite a few wasteful characters.

Frank Borodvin seemed to have affection for even small characters, but it wasn’t necessary to include all characters in the sequel.

“If a character needs to appear just to drop a single clue, it would be wiser to boldly cut out that character and assign that role to another major character. This would be better for making a third part in the future as well.”

So this time, I pointed out all the characters that seemed removable and moved on to the last problem.

The last one was about the motivation of the protagonist, Yerom.

Currently, Yerom was convinced he would go to hell because of his past experience of attempting suicide and surviving.

And this was the crucial reason why Yerom fought against evil.

The problem was that this reason wasn’t sufficient for the audience.

It might have been okay in the past, but not now.

There needed to be an additional reason why he had to fight against evil.

“…What kind of reason would people like?”

I answered Frank Borodvin’s question.

“There’s the woman who attempted suicide with Yerom, right?”

“Yes. The one he reunited with in hell in the first part.”

“How about setting it up so that she didn’t actually fall into hell just because of suicide?”

“Ah.”

“When her soul was leaving her body due to the suicide attempt, a demon took advantage of that moment to take her to hell. Yerom watched this in his soul state, was shocked, and returned to his body.”

“Guilt and anger. These are certainly worthy reasons to fight against evil. But wouldn’t this weaken the connection to the hell part?”

“Escaping alone. If we frame it as Yerom thinking this is a reason to fall into hell, I think it would work.”

So I had a full-fledged discussion with Frank Borodvin about revising the script.

The conversation continued for over five hours without interruption.

And when all was said…

“I’ll try to revise the script according to your advice.”

I was able to receive a positive response from Frank Borodvin.