Chapter 419: Lack of Confidence

Chapter 419: Chapter 419: Lack of Confidence

The salary negotiations within CAA had finally settled; the team for Will Smith and Echo Pictures had officially finalized their cooperation agreement.

With only the signing of the formal contract remaining, the core cast for The Pursuit of Happyness was completely locked in.

When Shelly relayed the news of this high-quality partnership—achieved only after layers of back-and-forth and multi-party balancing—to Irene, time had already quietly slipped into October.

By this time, the Transformers production crew, having gone through five full months of high-intensity filming, had finally entered the final stages of principal photography.

Over a hundred days and nights of camera coordination, practical effects filming, explosion sequences, and actor rehearsals had allowed the prototype of this heavy-industry blockbuster to fully take shape.

The atmosphere on set had shifted from initial trial-and-error to orderly efficiency and ease.

The entire crew had developed excellent synergy, and with the remaining closing shots and pickup scenes proceeding methodically, they were just one step away from wrapping up the entire film.

Irene’s work rhythm, which had been strained for months, finally eased slightly.

No longer needing to be rooted in the film set day and night for continuous coordination, she was able to carve out spare energy to oversee and manage other new projects under Echo Pictures.

At the same time, the nationwide casting event for Twilight, which had continued to cause a sensation across the United States and sweep the globe with its popularity, finally came to an end after months of online voting and the production team’s review and screening, officially finalizing the entire core cast.

This nationwide casting, initiated by Echo Pictures, had dominated the trending searches on major social platforms since the day it launched.

Hundreds of millions of Facebook users participated in voting, discussing, and picking their favorite actors.

Its popularity consistently crushed all other film and television projects of the same period, making it the most talked-about cinematic event of 2004.

The final cast list was completely different from the classic lineup in Irene’s memories from her previous life; both the male and female leads had been completely replaced, which was quite unexpected.

The cold, gloomy vampire male lead Edward, who carried an air of broken detachment, ultimately went to James Franco, whom Irene had worked with and knew well.

The self-reliant human female lead, Bella, was to be played by the spirited, up-and-coming actress Lily Collins.

Looking at this cast list that deviated completely from the classic version of her past life, Irene could not help but feel a bit surprised.

However, this casting process had upheld the principle of public voting and selection by the masses from beginning to end.

Every vote and every screening was open and transparent.

The final result was the answer chosen collectively by hundreds of millions of viewers and the market, representing the screen chemistry most recognized by the public at the moment.

Irene, who always respected the market, quickly and calmly accepted this new lineup.

She decided to fine-tune the script details and character settings to match the temperament of the new cast, adapting to the new on-screen chemistry.

Compared to the completely new and unfamiliar cast, the film’s director remained unchanged; it was Catherine Hardwicke, who had directed the first installment of Twilight in her previous life and created the global Twilight craze with that film.

Catherine was not only a mature and high-quality female director in the industry but also a senior alumna from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, just like Irene.

She had solid professional training, a delicate and unique aesthetic, and was extremely skilled at controlling the atmosphere of youthful ambiguity and hazy tension characteristic of young girls.

However, this talented female director was not approached or invited by Irene; the entire process of introduction and finalization was handled by Irene’s good friend, Vivian Taylor.

Outsiders were unaware of the history behind this, and even Robert Smith assumed that Irene had determined the director from the very beginning.

Only Irene and Vivian knew clearly that there were quite a few stories behind the choice of this director.

Tracing back several years, as early as when Irene first directed Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, achieved instant fame, and held massive industry resources, she and Vivian had conceived a bold idea to form an exclusive campus film association.

Relying on the professional talent base of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, they aimed to gather a group of aspiring, talented, and capable young academic filmmakers to develop together, share resources, and build their own cutting-edge creative team, thereby breaking free from the constraints and coercion of traditional Hollywood capital circles.

This concept was not just empty talk on a whim; over the years, Vivian had been silently putting it into practice and steadily advancing it.

Leveraging Irene’s steadily climbing industry connections and top-tier project resources, Vivian had been rooted in various film crews for years.

Starting from basic script supervisor and executive assistant director roles, she accumulated on-set practical experience step by step.

At the same time, she silently paved the way for many fellow alumni, securing internships and job opportunities in major Hollywood crews for countless junior students in cinematography, screenwriting, lighting, costume design, art direction, and other specialties.

After several years of accumulation, Vivian’s own professional abilities had grown visibly and rapidly.

Her skills in camera aesthetics, on-site coordination, crew management, and script polishing had become increasingly mature.

Although she had never independently directed a theatrical feature film and lacked a formal director credit, her solid on-set experience, delicate creative aesthetic, and reliable coordination ability were already on par with most mature directors in the industry.

Irene had seen and remembered everything throughout the process, never overlooking every bit of her best friend’s effort and growth.

Therefore, from the very beginning of finalizing the Twilight project, she had already made a plan: this youth campus romance film, with its gentle entry barrier, broad audience, strong atmosphere, and high fault tolerance, was the theatrical directorial debut she had specifically reserved for Vivian.

Without the cumbersome pressure of heavy-industry special effects or complex, grand plot structures, and focusing instead on delicate emotions and a youthful atmosphere, it was the most suitable project for a new director to practice and make a name for themselves. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

When Irene candidly told Vivian about these expectations, stating directly that she would fully support her in directing independently and making her official debut, Vivian was happy, but her heart was also filled with immense anxiety and fear.

She cherished the exclusive opportunity and complete trust Irene had given her—an opportunity countless directors would kill for—but facing the unprecedented scale of the online hype for Twilight, she truly could not muster the courage to carry the banner alone.

After all, the casting event of just a few short months had already ignited global social networks, with hundreds of millions of users following it continuously.

With the entire nation watching and the entire internet waiting, this meant that once the film started shooting and was released, it would inevitably be subjected to comprehensive scrutiny and harsh judgment from global audiences, critics, and the media.

Any minor flaw or mistake would be magnified infinitely.

Vivian was afraid that her skills were insufficient and her experience lacking, making her unable to handle such a top-tier project.

She was afraid of failing to live up to Irene’s years of careful cultivation and full support, and even more afraid of ruining this high-quality IP with infinite potential, thereby dragging down Echo Pictures’ project layout.

Even though Irene patiently comforted her countless times, repeatedly emphasizing that this was just a lighthearted youth romance with no high creative threshold, and urging her to unload her psychological burden and film boldly, promising to oversee the entire production as a producer to cover all risks and solve all problems, Vivian still could not overcome her inner timidity and lack of confidence.