Chapter 347: Joining the Group in May

The timing of Gu Wei's revelation was very coincidental, as it was just before the hot release of "On the Beach at Night Alone" .

When companies in the industry came to inquire about it, he did not give a specific answer. Many people knew about this, but most did not know the specific time. They believed that even if they wanted to make a domestic blockbuster, they might have to wait a little longer, because the current domestic market can support a movie with a box office of over 1 billion.

But if the investment exceeds one billion, then relying solely on the domestic market, the box office would need to be at least 20 to 30 billion to make a profit, and the current film industry cannot meet this requirement.

But they forgot that making 3D special effects blockbusters is not just about focusing on the domestic market, the international market is the biggest part. Perhaps they subconsciously do not believe that China can make a movie that is popular all over the world.

However, after Liu Yifei left for France, people in the circle also knew that Gu Wei was going to make big moves in China later.

All of a sudden, celebrities who had worked with him before called one after another. Some asked about the role in a subtle way, while others took advantage of Gu Wei's free time to ask him out for dinner and drinks.

Gu Wei knew exactly what everyone was thinking.

"Director Gu, when you start a new movie, you can consider me. My salary is cheaper than Yifei's, haha."

After receiving Zhou Xun's call, the other party came up and spoke. Gu Wei knew that this girl was definitely somewhere between a goddess and a crazy woman, and she also had some literary ideas, otherwise she wouldn't have made a movie and talked about a "good friend". He smiled and said, "Okay, if you really want to make a new movie, invite you to audition. Then we can see the live PK between the three Golden Horse Awards and the Berlin Film Festival."

"Okay, I won't give in to Yifei. Don't let Yifei get discouraged by then." Zhou Xun was extremely confident in his acting.

Afterwards, Huang Xiaoming called. The leader was smart and did not ask directly about the movie. Instead, he asked them to get together when they had time.

On the contrary, Huang Bo, since he got the role in Stephen Chow's "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", in order to play the role well, he was said to have joined the crew early and suffered a lot.

"Oh, don't mention it. Director Zhou has very high requirements and often teaches actors how to act. I almost can't film anymore."

Huang Bo was just joking. After all, many people in the circle envied being able to participate in Stephen Chow's movie.

"Director, I have never worked with you before. Please leave a role for me when the time comes. It doesn't matter if it's a supporting role or a guest role. I'm not picky."

"Haha, you dare to ask a big director for a role. You are brave enough to play the role of Sun Wukong." Gu Wei joked with a smile.

More and more people from the outside world invited Gu Wei to dinner parties, most of them were CEOs of film companies in the industry. After attending two dinner parties, Gu Wei decisively chose to refuse subsequent occasions. My goodness, each of them asked about movies in a roundabout way and had no other purpose.

...

On the other side, Huairou Film and Television Base.

Since joining the crew of "The Blade of the Assassin", Zhao Liying has gone from being reserved, nervous and uneasy at the beginning to being able to face everything with ease now.

Because Yingbao felt that Lu Yang was always like an older brother, he gradually let go of his awe and would even occasionally make a joke.

For example, telling some interesting stories about yourself, acting cute, etc., while chatting and laughing, the relationship will naturally become closer.

On the set, Vincent Zhao's role as "Shen Lian" had no problem with fighting scenes. His performance of Tongbeiquan as "Nine-Gates Commander" left a deep impression on the audience.

But what Lu Yang didn't expect was that Zhao Wenzhuo's acting skills were also good. He had heard Gu Wei say before that the acting skills of action stars are often overlooked, and he cited the examples of Jackie Chan and Li Lianjie.

"Click, passed."

In front of the monitor, looking at Zhao Wenzhuo's subtle facial expressions in the camera, Lu Yang nodded with satisfaction.

"The Blade of the Assassin" is essentially a commercial blockbuster that combines martial arts with comedy elements, a popcorn movie.

In terms of character creation, Shen Lian has some changes in mentality before and after, and the character needs to be portrayed in depth, rather than just being a reckless man.

Lu Yang also had high requirements for this film. He wanted the audience to be moved by the story and character performances in the film when they sit in the theater, and to be amused by the jokes in the film, so that they would not feel that they had been cheated of their ticket money and their intelligence had been insulted when they leave the theater.

As for the fact that word of mouth must reach a very high level, he does not have any mandatory requirements. There will always be some criticisms of every movie, which is not a big deal.

Making a movie is not like reading online novels, where you level up and fight monsters, and each one is always more exciting than the last.

According to this logic, after director Chen Kai finished filming "Farewell My Concubine", he made one bad movie after another. People who didn't know would think that he was possessed by someone else. Director Zhang Yimou's works in recent years have received more criticism than praise.

The filming of "The Blade of the Assassin" continues on the set. The word-of-mouth reviews and so on will not be known until the film is released, but we can always see whether the actors' filming is good or not.

The mainland film market has not been doing well since late February, with very few high-grossing films being released.

Audiences and netizens have been looking forward to two blockbuster movies in April, but each one is worse than the last, and it is better not to watch them.

Well, May hasn’t even begun yet, but the list of domestic films that are about to be released is already making us dreadful.

In the chairman's office of China Film Group, Han Sanping frowned.

Originally, he had a good plan. He planned to rely on "Warring States" and "Guan Yunchang" in April, and then continue to make a big push until early to mid-May or even late May, competing with a batch of imported films for the market and promoting other domestic films.

But what he didn't expect was that these two movies performed so poorly that they posed no threat to the imported films in May.

You know, in order to protect domestic films, China Film Group has arranged six Hollywood blockbusters in June.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", "Kung Fu Panda 2", "Fast and Furious 5", "Thor"...

Many producers who have movies to be released in May are feeling anxious. With the arrival of May, the release dates of several domestic films have not even started yet, but the endings have already been determined.

Even if China Film Corporation wanted to temporarily arrange a movie to go in to support the show, it is too late. Besides, other film producers are not fools. They want to take advantage of any opportunity, but no one is willing to suffer a loss.

You can tell without even looking that the entire month of May will be dominated by imported films.

At the same time, "The Most Beloved", directed by Gu Changwei and starring Aaron Kwok and Zhang Ziyi, was the first to be released.

The result is predictable. There was no wave at all and it was directly knocked down.

The leading actress Zhang Ziyi once again became box office poison, and another movie she starred in flopped.

...

The blame-shifting game of "Guan Yunchang" has not ended yet. If it was Jiang Wen before "Let the Bullets Fly", Zhen Zidan could really compete with Jiang Wen with the reputation he accumulated from the "Ip Man" series.

However, after "Let the Bullets Fly", Jiang Wen became the director with the highest box office record for domestic films. Now Jiang Wen is not someone Donnie Yen can afford to offend.

Moreover, apart from "Ip Man", Zhen Zidan really has nothing to show for himself. Several movies such as "October Besieged" and "Guan Yunchang" have failed, and his status has declined significantly. He used to be a new generation of action superstar and a first-tier celebrity, but now he is almost demoted from the position of a first-tier star.

Zhen Zidan's sarcasm and innuendos finally irritated Jiang Wen. He had a bad temper to begin with, and now that he was being blamed openly and covertly, of course he couldn't stand it.

In addition, Jiang Wen is a well-known figure in the Beijing circle. He has a good relationship with Boss Huang and also has a decent relationship with Gu Wei. His network of contacts is much stronger than Zhen Zidan's.

"This time, we need to teach him a lesson. He doesn't know who he is after making two movies."

Seeing that disaster was about to happen, the chairman of the Academy Awards immediately came out to mediate. It was said that he was commissioned by Zhen Zidan's mother.

Jiang Wen still had to give face to this person, and then Zhen Zidan stopped and apologized. Seeing this, Jiang Wen didn't bother with him.

In May, "Legend of the Hongmen Banquet" was announced to have started filming, and Tong Liya and Feng Shaofeng were about to join the crew.

However, Li Rengang was very worried at this time, with a look of concern on his face.

Zhen Zidan doesn't understand the history of the Three Kingdoms, so the role of Guan Yu he played was criticized for being stupid, but Li Rengang doesn't understand Chu and Han very well either. This is a common problem among Hong Kong directors. They all learned Chinese history from physical education teachers and have no common sense at all.

He felt that the plot adapted from the movie script was okay, and the cast was also okay, but when he saw the endings of "Guan Yunchang" and "Warring States", he seemed to see his future self.

So much so that, during the early preparations of the crew, the Hong Kong staff were severely scolded. As for the several actors from the mainland, times have changed and they dare not act condescendingly anymore.

On the other hand, the two have not seen each other for more than a month since Tong Liya signed a contract with Shiba Culture Company.

Tong Liya was a little nervous when she first met Gu Wei, but after traveling in Europe, she was less restrained and respectful when she met Gu Wei again.

"Yaya, you have joined the crew of "Legend of the Hongmen Feast". There will be a training period of about half a month, and the crew will officially start filming at the end of May." Gu Wei called her by her nickname. Hearing his name, Tong Liya's face lit up with joy, but she didn't dare to show it directly. She could only be happy silently in her heart.

"I know, director, I will act well and won't embarrass you." Upon hearing this, Yaya immediately said as if to make a promise.

Gu Wei paused and said with a smile: "Haha, just focus on filming and don't worry about the rest.

In addition, there shouldn’t be any actors or staff members who will deliberately target you, but if something like this happens, don’t just tolerate it. If you’re bullied, speak up and don’t be afraid of making a big deal out of it.”

The reason why Gu Wei said this is that although the male and female protagonists of "The Legend of Hongmen Banquet" are mainland actors, there are many Hong Kong actors and crew members in other roles.

Having learned from previous experience, the "Guan Yunchang" incident had just happened, so he had no choice but to treat it with caution.

However, Gu Wei thought that as a director, Li Rengang would certainly not bully the female lead. She was chosen by him personally, so he wouldn't dare to do so. But there was no guarantee that those people below would make trouble. After all, it is the nature of Chinese people to stick together.

But Gu Wei heard that some people in the team invited by Li Rengang were very dishonest. Hong Kong Island is a small place, and even when the actors and crew are filming in the mainland, they are accustomed to forming cliques and taking sides, and there are even cases of discrimination and exclusion of mainland actors.

Xiaobailong back then was a typical example. Although the people involved were banned, Xiaobailong's future was basically ruined.

Hearing this, Tong Liya's face became a little serious. She listened carefully and nodded from time to time to show her response.

"Director, don't worry, I will definitely not bring shame to the company."

"Don't be nervous. Director Gu is just reminding you. Besides, these things are unlikely to happen unless Li Rengang doesn't want to stay in the mainland anymore."

Wang Jinghua who was standing next to her spoke in a domineering manner. Even if Gu Wei was not involved, she alone would not watch her artists suffer. If things really got out of hand, Wang Jinghua could handle Li Rengang and his group by herself.

Hearing this, Tong Liya's frown finally relaxed, and she secretly warned herself in her heart, "Yaya, you must work hard and not let Director Gu and Sister Hua down."

Tong Liya has a strong personality. If something really happens, she will not give in even if the other party is a director.

Seeing Tong Liya clenching her fists, there was a different change in Gu Wei's eyes. He liked the other party's character very much, otherwise he would not have chosen to train her.

"I hope the other party can see the situation clearly. If anything really happens, I will definitely teach them an unforgettable lesson." Gu Wei thought secretly.

……

(End of this chapter)