David Crane was very, very frustrated.
A few days ago, David received a call from his good friend Darren Star, asking him to arrange a role for a child he had watched grow up. David readily agreed—
This was simply a non-issue.
As the producer of "Friends," David's influence in Hollywood was at its peak. This sitcom had already aired its sixth season, and its ratings remained high, clearly becoming NBC's undisputed pillar; in addition, he was simultaneously producing three other series.
Arranging a small role was truly simple.
Actually, Darren could have handled this himself. "Sex and the City" was also a top-tier series with both critical acclaim and high ratings, with countless handsome men and beautiful women making guest appearances every now and then, making it very easy to arrange a small role; but there was a small problem here: "Sex and the City" was a restricted series.
"He just turned eighteen. I'm worried his mother might send me a screaming letter of protest. She probably wouldn't want to see her young son taking off his shirt on screen."
These were Darren's exact words, successfully eliciting a hearty laugh from David.
So, David agreed, and he was very generous, planning to find a small role in "Friends" as a favor to his good friend.
Viewers familiar with "Friends" would know that Chandler and Joey's favorite show in the series was "Days of Our Lives," which was a production by Darren. From this small detail, one can see the close personal friendship between David and Darren. Faced with Darren's small request, David naturally wouldn't refuse.
What's more, it was originally just a simple favor.
Series like "Friends" and "Sex and the City" are almost all filmed and aired concurrently. On one hand, new topics are constantly added based on current events and trends, and on the other hand, scripts are continuously revised and adjusted based on audience feedback and ratings to ensure quality—especially for public television stations.
"Sex and the City" is an HBO series, which is a cable television station. They don't need to consider ratings; the only thing they need to consider is the feedback from paying subscribers, which also means they have greater creative freedom, allowing HBO to create countless classics in the late 1990s and early 21st century.
"Friends," on the other hand, belongs to NBC, a public television station. The fluctuations in viewership and ratings each week are constantly monitored and measured, and they become the standard for whether a series can be renewed for the next season. Therefore, adjusting the script weekly based on performance feedback is routine work.
Originally, the creative team needed to hold script meetings every week to discuss subsequent creation and plot direction; now, according to David's instructions, the writing team only needed to casually insert a small role into the subsequent script, and that would be it, completely without affecting the series.
But!
Unexpectedly, the writing team completely misunderstood David's meaning—
A small role?
No, the writing team actually specifically wrote a brand new script, and it was for a guest star! The entire plot revolved around the guest star.
This...
During the communication process, where exactly did things go wrong?
David was furious.
For HBO, there's no need to worry about ratings, but for NBC, it's different.
Of course, a series of the caliber of "Friends" would not be canceled due to fluctuations in ratings for one or two episodes; the seventh season had already been ordered early; however, this would directly affect advertisers' quotes and David's reputation. He was unwilling to do such a foolish thing.
Damn it!
David had a headache.
But after his outburst, David quickly calmed down and found a solution in a short amount of time. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, anyway.
Darren Star's request was still fine; it could just be postponed a bit.
The only thing that frustrated David was that this season of "Friends" was nearing its end, and the ratings were very important, so they needed to be more cautious in the later stages; if they couldn't find an opportunity to insert a role, then it would be fine to have him guest star in his other series, which could be easily resolved.
The real problem still lay with "Friends." For a perfect season finale, they needed a strong stimulus. Now the writing team had come up with an idea, so David only needed to find a superstar to be this guest star, and he already had someone in mind.
—Bruce Willis.
This actor, who became a Hollywood A-list superstar with the "Die Hard" series, had a career resurgence last year with the low-budget suspense film "the sixth sense," and at the beginning of this year, he ventured into comedy for the first time in "The Whole Nine Yards," with his career flourishing.
In "The Whole Nine Yards," Bruce partnered with Matthew Perry, who plays Chandler in "Friends." At the time, Matthew and Bruce made a bet: if the movie could take the weekend box office crown upon release, then Bruce would guest star in "Friends" for free. Bruce agreed.
As a result, "The Whole Nine Yards" topped the North American weekend box office chart for two consecutive weeks.
David believed that now was the time for Bruce to honor the bet.
However, the tricky key was whether Bruce had an available schedule.
Damn it!
Cursing aside, David was, after all, a top producer in the industry, and he handled crises decisively, immediately taking action—
The audition could wait for now.
Originally, today's so-called audition was just a formality, a show. What people didn't know was that auditions were very important, of course, but often, decisions were made before the audition even began.
David just wanted to see Anson and play the role of an elder, giving the young man some advice as a producer. That was all.
But now, the audition had to be postponed. He needed to contact Bruce, first convince him with a personal favor, and then pressure his agent to make time for him.
Every second counts.
Then, David saw the young man.
He had been in Hollywood for twenty years, and had seen all sorts of handsome men like Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jude Law, Hugh Grant, and so on.
But, he was still instantly drawn to the person in front of him.
His features were as if meticulously sculpted by the finest craftsman: eyebrows like sharp blades, a nose like a mountain rock, a perfectly proportioned face, with cheekbones and a jawline precisely measured like steel wires, truly invigorating to behold.
His eyes and expression relaxed, like the first ray of sunlight passing through the blue hour on a summer morning, falling upon the branches of a pine tree, a natural youthful vigor radiating from him.
There was no nervousness, no apprehension, no awkwardness; he simply stood there with an open and confident demeanor.
David paused slightly, his thoughts surging. Angry words were still on the tip of his tongue, but in a flash, he changed his mind—
It was still urgent, just as urgent, but there was no rush in these three to five minutes. At this time, Bruce should still be hungover.
"Come in."
David decisively pushed open the office door and made an inviting gesture.
Anson politely smiled at the statue next to him, walked around its position, and entered the office. The dumbfounded figure stood bewildered in the wind:
What just happened?
What about "every second counts" and "imminent urgency"? What kind of 180-degree plot twist is this?