Saturday, March 11, 2023
The casting process for Lights Out had come to an end.
They had been intense days, practically without breaks, in which Owen, Matt, and Francine, the casting director, whom Owen had already hired before, worked reviewing material and making decisions.
It had all started with Backstage.
In that first round, they received 2,613 submissions just for the role of Rebecca, from which they selected 200 actresses to move on to the self-tape phase.
But that wasn't the full number of candidates.
At the same time, 17 actresses represented by agencies entered the process directly, skipping that first stage. And in some cases, they even bypassed the self-tape phase as well, moving straight into more advanced stages of casting.
After the self-tapes came the callback, the first in-person casting.
For that phase, Owen had to hire a temporary receptionist at the Second Take Films offices. Someone to receive the actors, guide them through the space, and maintain some order in a constant flow of people coming in and out for hours.
Some actresses arrived directly at that callback without going through the earlier stages. Among them were names like Angourie Rice, Odessa A'zion, and Emily Rudd.
From the initial group of two hundred actresses, the list was reduced to thirty who participated in this in-person phase.
At the callback, they performed between two and four scenes from the script in front of Matt, Francine, and Owen. They received direction, adjusted their tone, repeated scenes, and that's where it started to become clear who could truly carry the character.
From those thirty, ten actresses advanced.
At that point, the process became more demanding: longer scenes, improvisation, and one-on-one work with Matt.
Two stronger names also entered directly at that stage: Anya Taylor-Joy and Milly Alcock. From the agency actresses already in the process, Odessa A'zion and Emily Rudd managed to remain.
That left a very interesting group.
On one side, four agency-represented actresses who already had experience, credits, and the ability to carry a film.
On the other, six actresses who came through Backstage, many without agencies or with very small representation, with résumés built mainly on student short films and ongoing training.
Matt paid special attention to that.
He wasn't interested only in technique or prior experience. He was looking for real presence on camera, something difficult to explain, but obvious when it appeared. Something that didn't always come from experience.
Even so, he also viewed the more experienced actresses positively.
In the end, they knew what they were doing.
And in a film where the lead had to carry almost the entire weight, that was an important factor.
From those ten, three were finally selected:
Anya Taylor-Joy.
Odessa A'zion.
Chelsea Hale.
The third name was the one that surprised Owen.
Chelsea.
A former USC classmate. Back when he had dropped out, or rather, been expelled, from the university.
They had overlapped for a few months in the acting program. They hadn't been inseparable, but they had been close enough for him to remember her.
Owen only recognized her during the callback phase, when the group had been narrowed down to the final thirty. The memories he had, or rather, the memories of the previous Owen, were quite clear.
There had been a certain closeness. Something that could have become more, but never fully did.
Back then, Chelsea saw him as someone too chaotic. Someone who didn't seem like the kind of person who would settle down enough to build something serious.
Chelsea had presence. She was solid. And compared to Owen's memories from that time at USC, it was clear she had improved.
In the end, training did matter.
Even so, although he recognized her and those memories painted her as someone pleasant, hardworking, and quite committed, he didn't let that influence the process.
From the beginning, he had made a very clear decision.
The casting wasn't his. It belonged to Matt and Francine.
Owen participated, observed, and gave his opinion when asked, but he didn't interfere with the final decisions. He preferred to stay in a role more focused on overall production, letting the director build his own cast.
Additionally, he wasn't involved as an actor like he had been in Good Will Hunting. There, he had taken on a much more active role in casting. He needed to find chemistry, see how dynamics worked, and he had clear preferences, like favoring Bryan over Ethan.
Here, it was different. Lights Out was still an important project for Second Take Films, no doubt. But it wasn't a central project for him on a direct creative level.
Matt, for his part, had virtually no recollection of Chelsea from their USC days. Maybe he had seen her at some point, but not much beyond that. So everything Chelsea had achieved in this process, she had earned on her own merit.
The final test between the three finalists was the screen test.
At that stage, it was no longer a casting in the traditional sense. It was almost like shooting actual scenes from the film.
Key moments from the script were performed with proper lighting, camera work, and a level of direction much closer to a real shoot. They weren't just looking for acting, they wanted to see how the film felt with each of them on screen.
They also tested chemistry with other characters, such as Rebecca's love interest.
That casting had been shorter and had wrapped earlier. The chosen actor was Yoshi Sudarso, thirty years old, who had primarily come through Backstage, although he already had a small agency.
His résumé was, to say the least, unusual.
He had been one of the leads in a Power Rangers series between 2015 and 2016, the Blue Ranger, then had a role in an action western film produced in India in 2018, and after that, not much else.
His fee was $25,000.
Yoshi did tests with each of the finalists. Dialogue scenes, tension, and proximity, enough to measure chemistry, but without going into anything intimate. That kind of material wasn't handled during casting.
After that, the three finalists did tests with Sarah and Elizabeth, who played Rebecca's sister and mother.
Chemistry with Sarah was especially important. It was the second most significant role in the film, and much of the emotional weight depended on that relationship.
Owen, silently, had to admit there was something slightly amusing about that moment.
The initial reactions.
That brief instant when each actress processed that the character's sister was Owen's real sister and that the mother was as well.
It wasn't exactly common. Not even in environments where nepo babies were relatively normal.
After several hours, repetitions, adjustments, and cross-tests, they evaluated everything: chemistry, presence, how each combination looked on screen, and finally, Matt made his decision.
Anya Taylor-Joy.
Just as her agent had anticipated, her fee ended up being negotiated down. The final agreement was $250,000.
A figure below what she would normally ask for given her trajectory, which could easily range between $300,000 and $500,000, but aligned with the project.
Additionally, her agent negotiated a box office bonus system:
$50,000 if the film surpassed $20 million
$100,000 if it surpassed $50 million
$150,000 if it surpassed $100 million
A potential additional $300,000.
In the best-case scenario, Anya's total cost would reach $550,000.
And Owen firmly believes that scenario will happen, since Lights Out in his past life grossed $148 million in 2016.
In fact, Owen saw the box office outlook as even more favorable.
Not just because of the concept, which had already been proven in the short film, but because of the changes they had made to the script alongside Matt. The addition of a teenage sister, instead of a child, gave the story a different dynamic.
And now, on top of that, they had Anya Taylor-Joy leading the film.
In this reality, Anya hadn't yet had the global breakout that would turn her into a massive star. The Queen's Gambit didn't exist.
But that didn't mean she was unknown. She was an actress with prestige within the indie circuit, respected by critics, with a very strong on-screen presence. She wasn't on the same level as emerging actresses like Emily Rudd or Odessa A'zion.
She was a step above.
She had starred in The Witch, which carried significant weight within the genre. She had been part of Split, a film that grossed over $200 million at the box office. And in 2020, she led Emma, a $10 million production that nearly reached $30 million in revenue, even releasing right before the pandemic.
In simple terms, she was an A-level actress, without the price tag of an A-list actress.
For Owen, that was an opportunity. To build a relationship with an actress of that level of talent who could lead the film.
Owen knew perfectly well what she could become. And beyond that, she had something difficult to describe.
A very particular kind of screen magnetism. Something almost reminiscent of old Hollywood.
Owen stopped writing for a moment. He stared at the screen of his laptop, the document open in front of him.
'No doubt: The Queen's Gambit will be the second series I create,' Owen thought.
It wasn't a new idea. He had been considering it for weeks.
He remembered perfectly the first time he watched it. He had binge-watched it almost without realizing. And somehow, it had achieved something curious: it made him interested in chess when before he barely knew the basics.
And it was a series with a perfect balance. It could be mainstream while also having a very strong awards trajectory.
Commercial potential and high prestige.
There was one downside, though. It didn't have a lead role for him. But there was one role that interested him: Benny Watts, the U.S. champion before Beth.
A supporting character, but an important one. With presence and character.
His screen time throughout the series wasn't dominant, but it was significant enough to be memorable.
Still, that wasn't the central point for Owen.
The idea behind this project went beyond that. He wanted to use the series as his second major television play.
A project focused on further consolidating Second Take Films. Continuing to build his brand, generate revenue, and at the same time bring in a story he knew could connect with audiences in a powerful way.
He had to start working on the script, and that's where the other big question arose: the lead actress.
The ideal option, almost the obvious one, was Anya Taylor-Joy. After all, in his other life, he had already seen what she was capable of doing with that character.
In this reality, the only difference was age, and it was minimal. Just a few years older.
But she wasn't the only name on his mind. There was also Sarah, his sister.
She fit the age better if he wanted to stay faithful to the script. Beth starts as a teenager and then grows into her twenties over the course of the story.
His sister's age aligned better.
And that project could be the one that turns her into an A-list actress in one of the fastest rises the industry had probably ever seen.
'We'll see…' Owen thought, barely shaking his head.
He wasn't going to hand her the role. Sarah would have to convince him. She needed the level and the dedication.
And if that happened, he wouldn't be able to play Benny Watts. The character had a relationship with the protagonist.
And that simply wasn't an option.
Under no circumstances.
So in that scenario, his role would be entirely on the creative and production side.
Which didn't bother him much either. He saw this series more like Lights Out, a project where his role wasn't about acting, but about building it from another place, more focused on production and overall vision.
That inevitably led to a question.
If The Queen's Gambit was going to be his second series, then what was the first?
The answer was right there, in front of him. In the document open on his screen, one he had been working on for the past few days.
A project that didn't rely on drama or horror, but on something much simpler, and at the same time, much harder to do well.
Making people laugh.
Owen stared silently at a few lines of dialogue.
It was: Friends.
One of the most famous sitcoms in history.
Though, of course, from the history of the world he came from.
It had never existed here.
Owen let out a soft sigh, leaning back slightly in his chair. 'There are too many movies and shows to bring over, I won't have enough lifetime,' he thought with a faint grimace.
He closed the document and stood up, stretching his arms.
Still, being realistic, in the best-case scenario Friends, season one, could enter a serious pre-production phase between May and June of that same year, once he was finally free from Lights Out and Good Will Hunting and had much more time available.
And the release, according to the timeline he had mapped out mentally, if everything went well, could arrive between November and December of 2023.
Which fit perfectly.
Second Take Films would have three releases in the same year:
Good Will Hunting, in summer, between May and June.
Lights Out, in October, aimed directly at Halloween.
Friends, their first series, as the year's closing project.
The Queen's Gambit would already be a 2024 project.
Owen stepped out of the room and, after just a few steps, paused for a second.
He sniffed the air. A warm, slightly sweet aroma filled his senses.
His stomach reacted instantly, and he started walking toward the kitchen almost on instinct.
There, he found Jenna at the counter, focused on what she was doing. Her phone was set off to the side, screen lit, probably showing a recipe she was following on and off.
"What smells so good?" Owen asked as he approached from behind.
He leaned in naturally, resting his head near hers and getting a bit closer to take in the scent.
Jenna smiled without stopping her work, "An appetizer," she replied. "Bruschettas with tomato and cheese. Something light."
She gave the preparation a final touch before continuing, "It's four-thirty. If we eat something heavy now, we won't be hungry for dinner."
Owen nodded slightly.
That day, both of them had been at Owen's apartment since the morning. Each focused on their own things.
Owen alternating between scripts, reviewing Lights Out details, contracts, and schedules.
Jenna working through her agenda, readings, and a few pending tasks.
They weren't glued to each other the whole time, but sharing the same space felt nice in its own way.
They'd see each other, talk a bit, go back to their own things, and then again.
As he watched her cook, Owen pulled out his phone.
"Great opening for Scream six," he said, looking at the screen. "Nineteen point three million on Friday. And today, Saturday, they're saying it could go over twelve."
"Yeah, that's great," Jenna said, nodding.
"It'll probably close the weekend above forty million," Owen added.
For a film with a budget of around thirty-five million, recovering that in the first weekend was already a pretty clear sign.
Everything pointed to it surpassing one hundred million in its total run.
A success.
Jenna turned her head and looked at him with a smile.
"What?" Owen asked.
She let out a small laugh. "You talk like you're a producer analyzing box office numbers all the time, and it's not even your movie," she said, amused.
Owen laughed softly. "True."
He looked back at his phone. For someone in his position, those numbers came almost automatically.
But for an actor who only focused on acting, it was different.
Box office mattered, yes. It was a sign that the film was working, that people were going to see it.
But it wasn't the main thing.
There could be a thousand reasons behind a strong opening weekend, marketing, campaign, and more. It didn't always reflect how audiences truly felt.
For actors, what mattered more was whether people connected with the film, liked the performances, and enjoyed it.
"As we already know, critics liked it, but audiences even more. It went up to eighty-eight percent on Rotten Tomatoes," Owen said.
Jenna turned her head slightly, listening as she finished arranging the bruschettas. "Really?"
Owen nodded. "Yes, a two percent increase in just one day. That's a lot for a horror movie," he replied, as he looked at his screen and started reading audience reviews.
First, the good ones, which were the majority. Many praising Sara Carpenter's performance, Jenna's character.
Jenna tried to keep a neutral expression as she continued working, but a small smile slipped through.
Then Owen started reading some more curious ones.
"'Amazing movie! This is the third time I've seen it!' And it's followed by a smiling face with hearts emoji," Owen read.
He looked up, surprised. "Third time? Seriously?"
He glanced back at the screen. "And it's a verified account."
Jenna looked at him with an amused smile. "Unlike you, who watches a movie once and never wants to see it again… there are people who actually enjoy rewatching them."
She turned, picking up the plate. "Bring the water and the glasses."
Owen set his phone aside and quickly grabbed the glasses and the bottle. He followed her into the dining area and set everything on the table.
"Why would I watch a movie so many times if I already know everything that's going to happen?" he said as he sat down.
He shrugged slightly. The only times he rewatched movies were if they were his favorites, and even then, a lot of time had to pass.
Or when he was lying on the couch, the TV on, and there was nothing better to watch. Then, sure.
They kept talking while they ate, unhurried. Until the conversation shifted to the next day.
"Ready for the Oscars?" Jenna asked, looking at him curiously.
Owen nodded slightly. "Yeah. The guys are a bit nervous," he replied with a small smile.
Jenna raised an eyebrow. "A bit is generous. I don't know about Tyler and Eric, but Matt was way more than just nervous."
Matt had stopped by the apartment earlier that day, and Jenna had seen him. More restless than usual, on edge.
Between Lights Out and the fact that the next day they'd be attending the Oscars for the first time, it wasn't surprising.
Jenna already knew that Matt knew about her relationship with Owen, so there was nothing to hide. That made everything easier.
"Well, yeah, more than a bit," Owen corrected.
Jenna looked at him for a moment. "Do you ever get nervous?"
It wasn't that she saw him as dull, far from it. Owen joked around, made unexpected comments, sometimes right on the edge of being controversial, and laughed it off like nothing.
But even then, he always seemed to keep everything under control. There was a constant calm about him. As if he were always one step ahead of everything.
She, on the other hand, even if she shared many of his strengths, discipline, focus, work ethic, did feel nerves in certain moments.
Owen lifted his glass. "I got nervous when you kissed me for the first time," he said, pointing at her slightly before taking a sip.
Jenna didn't hesitate to respond. "Correction: you were surprised because you thought I was a lesbian. You weren't nervous."
Owen looked at her for a second. He didn't have an immediate reply, so he naturally changed the subject. Jenna just smiled faintly, shaking her head, and let it go.
And just like that, the day passed, and Sunday, the day of the 95th Academy Awards, arrived.
...
A/N: Those are Owen's next projects. Who should he play in Friends: Ross, Chandler, or Joey? And as for The Queen's Gambit, should he choose Anya or Sarah? I'm just asking to read opinions, it's not a poll.
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