System in Hollywood

Driving this car, he dared to rush recklessly through downtown Los Angeles alone. Unless those gangsters and drug dealers dared to use an RPG in the city center, there was no way to damage this vehicle.

Of course, the car wasn't without its flaws. Its heavy armor made it overweight, with a total mass of 5 tons. Even after using more advanced materials 20 years later to reduce the weight, it still exceeded 3 tons.

This excessive weight also resulted in astonishing fuel consumption—30 liters per 100 kilometers. Even if you gave one of these cars for free to a middle-class family, they couldn't afford the high fuel costs.

But for someone like Wayne, who was wealthy, these issues were of no concern. So, he went ahead and custom-ordered three vehicles in one go—one for him, one for Hannah, and a spare at home.

The $1.5 million expenditure for these cars, like the Silver Angel, came out of the production budget for *The Bourne Identity*, so he didn't spend a single cent of his own money.

Once Hannah and Sarah's assistant left, the auditions resumed.

The first to appear among the 27 auditioners was the most famous at the moment, Reese Witherspoon.

Born in 1976, she had appeared in her first film at the age of 15. In 1999, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for the romantic comedy *Election*.

Additionally, last year she finished filming *Legally Blonde*, which was set to be released in July this year. This film, expected to be a commercial success, grossed $141 million worldwide and pushed her to the ranks of a second-tier Hollywood actress—high up in that tier as well.

Later, in 2006, she would win the Academy Award for Best Actress for the biographical musical film *Walk the Line*, propelling her to the status of an A-list star in Hollywood.

However, Wayne didn't want to cast her, simply because he didn't think Reese Witherspoon was attractive enough.

Reese, unfortunately, was one of those stars whose appearance would suddenly deteriorate. At this point, she still looked good, just slightly inferior to Naomi Watts. But within a few years, her looks would begin to decline rapidly. By the time she reached 35, she'd have what people called a "mom face."

And because of her fame and status, every time Wayne saw her, he couldn't help but imagine her with that faded beauty, which bothered him.

Aside from Reese, the next biggest names among the auditioners were Keri Russell and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Both of them were far more attractive than Reese, with looks on par with Naomi Watts, and they hadn't shown signs of their appearances fading prematurely—just a gradual decline over time.

The only issue was that both of them seemed a bit too young for the roles.

Keri Russell, also born in 1976, had appeared in her first film at 15 and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 1998 for her role in *Felicity*. But in appearance, she still looked like a high school or college student.

Even when she dressed up in business attire and put on black-rimmed glasses, she didn't quite fit the role of the math teacher, "Noburi."

As for Sarah Michelle Gellar, born in 1977, she had earned the title of "America's Sweetheart" even earlier than Jessica Alba. Her eyes and smile were especially captivating. She could easily play a 17-year-old like Scarlett Johansson or a 19-year-old like Anne Hathaway without missing a beat.

But casting her as a teacher? The mismatch in appearance was just too great.

Wayne felt a bit regretful but still mentally passed on them both.

However, he quickly had to change his mind and reconsider them as backup options. As the auditions continued, he realized that every girl auditioning was quite young, with a fresh, youthful look, and none of them appeared to resemble a teacher.

"Are these girls really here to audition for 'Noburi'?" Wayne couldn't help but glance at Melanie.

As the producer, Melanie had already pre-screened the girls, so those who made it to this final audition had passed her approval.

"There's nothing I can do," Melanie shrugged helplessly. "The agencies are only pushing girls like this. Honestly, I already eliminated anyone under 24; otherwise, you'd be seeing girls as young as 16 in this group."

"..."

Wayne was speechless.

But he understood that these girls were auditioning mainly to impress him, so he didn't feel it was his place to complain.

Besides, he had to admit that some of the girls did catch his eye during the auditions.

For example, Isla Fisher, an Australian actress who had mostly done miniseries up to this point and had little fame.

With her golden-brown wavy hair, red lips, and a sexy figure, she was stunning in both appearance and demeanor.

Later, she would go on to star in films like *The Great Gatsby* and *Now You See Me*, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, becoming a well-established B-list Hollywood actress. She would definitely make for an interesting new "toy."

There were also Mina Suvari, Alyson Hannigan, and Tara Reid from the *American Pie* trilogy.

If not for the fact that their agency details showed they were with different management companies, Wayne would have assumed they had teamed up to audition together.

Despite *American Pie* being a huge box office hit, Mina Suvari and the other two didn't gain that much popularity from it. As a result, they were still struggling to break into the B-list.

Mina Suvari, who had also starred in *American Beauty*, was the most famous and attractive of the three.

But even they still looked more like college students than teachers.

After nearly three hours, the auditions for the role of "Noburi" finally came to an end.

"What do you think, Wayne?" Nancy Meyers asked.

"I'll think about it."

Although Wayne had already made his choice in his mind, he didn't give an immediate answer. After all, why not take advantage of the situation while he could? After all, this was Hollywood.

"I'm stepping out for a bit. You all carry on."

With that, Wayne got up and left the audition room, heading next door to the lounge. He dialed a number based on the contact details provided.

(End of chapter)