Chapter 282: Girl Mou

Zhang Yimou showed great interest in Du Sheng's kung fu.

In fact, it's not just him.
Nine out of ten acquaintances who have watched Du Sheng's competition will not be able to help but ask him about it after meeting him.

Du Sheng did not hide anything and gave a brief introduction.

After all, Huang Deli did teach him hard qigong.

But whether you can reach a certain level depends entirely on your personal efforts and talent.

When Zhang Yimou heard that practicing hard qigong required hitting the body with a wooden stick and poking the throat with chopsticks, which was most likely to injure the waist,

His reaction was the same as other people who learned about the practice for the first time: he was surprised and admired, but did not ask any more questions.

In addition to unremitting perseverance, cultivation also requires enduring inhuman pain and torture.

A middle-aged or elderly person like him simply can't bear it.

"anyway."

Zhang Yimou brought the topic back to the point:

"Liu Dehua should have mentioned to you that the film is scheduled to start shooting before November. I hope you can also serve as the martial arts instructor. Should that be a problem?"

"Brother Hua said earlier that you invited Cheng Xiaodong. Didn't they come to an agreement?"

"Indeed, the deal was not reached. He was called away by Huayi Films' Noble Family at a high price."

Zhang Yimou's tone was somewhat melancholy.

Although he has made some name for himself, he is still no match for capitalists like Huayi.

Du Sheng is currently very famous, so he has no worries about not having any roles to play, and there is no need for him to take on the role of martial arts director.

If you want to invite him, you must show enough sincerity.

Du Sheng thought for a moment and said:
"There are two movies coming out at that time. I don't know if I can spare the time. If you can invite other..."

Zhang Yimou waved his hand and made a decisive decision:

"This isn't your first time as an action director, so it's settled!"

In fact, he had asked well-known martial arts directors such as Won Bin and Hong Jung-bo before, but they were all busy at the end of the year.

Since this film is a big production, he naturally cannot neglect to invite an unfamiliar martial arts director.

In this way, it is very appropriate for Du Sheng to be the leading actor and martial arts director at the same time.

Facing Director Zhang's enthusiasm, Du Sheng did not immediately agree, but asked:

"As for the female lead, has Director Zhang decided yet?"

He could tell that the other party's tone was somewhat urgent, and there might be some unspeakable secret behind it.

In this case, it is human nature to strive for more benefits.

"Is such that."

Zhang Yimou began to explain the general plot of the movie to Du Sheng.

He even dances when he gets excited. Du Sheng finally understands why he can become a top filmmaker.

This is a director full of inspiration and ideas.

After more than half an hour of explanation, Director Zhang still wasn't satisfied.

If assistant Li Hong hadn’t reminded me, it might not have been over yet.

"Let's go to the audition first!"

As the film's pre-selected action director, Du Sheng was also pulled to the next door scene by Zhang Yimou.

The heroine of this film has a lot of martial arts moves, so it's reasonable for him to refer to one or two.

The two walked into the conference room and signaled the audition to begin.

Du Sheng looked around and didn't see any female artists.

Is this the beginning?

On the side, assistant and deputy director Li Hong saw this and said with a smile:

"The actresses who came to audition today are all famous, and they may know each other, or even have ties with each other.

In order to avoid embarrassment, we will not gather in one place, and we will enter the venue only when we are notified.”

"I see."

Du Sheng suddenly realized that this was ultimately a matter of face.

Just as Li Hong said, not long after they sat down, actresses came into the room one after another.

Kyoko Fukada, Lin Xinru, Xiao Qiang, Zhao Qi, Xu Jinglei, Jiang Qinqin...

It has to be said that the actresses selected by Zhang Yimou are both popular and good-looking.

Du Sheng looked at it quietly, making a silent assessment in his mind.

From his LV4 professional performance perspective, their acting skills are a bit uneven.

In addition, according to Zhang Yimou's requirements, each auditioner needs to prepare a classical dance to show their physical beauty.

However, the dancing skills of most people can only be described as acceptable.

Although Zhang Yimou once said that a body double could be used during filming, if the actors cannot even perform basic rotations and kicks smoothly, it will undoubtedly greatly increase the difficulty of filming.

After watching the performance of Lin Xinru and Zhao Qi, Du Sheng shook his head slightly.

The two classical dances performed by the heroine in "House of Flying Daggers" are very stunning, with poetic charm and fairy-like artistic conception.

These two popular actresses from "The Princess Fantasy" can't even do the splits.

However, the primary consideration for an actor is his acting skills after all, and the physical appearance just needs to be barely acceptable.

As an assistant judge, he rarely spoke unless Zhang Yimou asked him to.

But if he were to choose, these female artists would either be too old, have a dark history, or not look good in ancient costumes.

There is currently no one who is quite suitable for the role of the younger sister.

As Zhang Yimou is in charge of the overall situation, his vision is naturally more discerning.

By the way, his film aims to expand into the international market.

This is also the reason why he invited Jin Chengwu, Liu Dehua and others to play the leading roles in the beginning.

Now that it has been decided to replace Jin Chengwu with Du Sheng, the heroine naturally has to be matched with an influential actress overseas.

"How about letting Ziyi try?"

Li Hong understood Zhang Yimou's thoughts very well and touched upon the core with just one sentence.

Zhang Yimou pondered for a moment, a little uncertain:
"Is she here?"

"coming."

After careful consideration, Li Hong replied:
"In fact, it's not a big problem to let Ziyi play the role, but we have to avoid confusing the roles."

Zhang Yimou quite agrees with this view.

The plot of the heroine falling in love with the hero due to a misunderstanding in the shower is more or less common in many movies. But if Zhang Ziyi plays the role, the audience will easily think of her role in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" three years ago.

The plots of these two stories are very similar.

If the audience connects the two films together, confusion between the characters is inevitable.

This has always been Zhang Yimou's concern.

"Then let her try."

Not long after, the door of the audition room opened again.

A slender lady appeared at the door.

She wore a pair of large fashionable sunglasses and was followed by a female assistant.

Even though her face was blocked by the sunglasses, Du Sheng could still recognize her identity at a glance.

Screen queen Zhang Ziyi.

Zhang Ziyi looked calm and had a calm expression.

After entering the room, he greeted Zhang Yimou and Li Hong politely.

As a "Mou Girl", she and Zhang Yimou are old partners, and it is rumored that they have a past relationship.

"You can start now. Choose a performance of your own."

Zhang Yimou ended the polite conversation and spoke.

Ten minutes later, after the audition ended and everyone left, Zhang Ziyi suddenly asked:
"The martial arts instructor sitting next to Director Zhang just now looked familiar. Is he also an actor?"

Hearing the question, the female assistant beside her quickly responded:
"Yes, he is an actor who recently played the leading role in the hit TV series The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber."

"I was overseas at the time and had never heard of it."

Zhang Ziyi started out as a movie heroine. She doesn’t know what TV dramas are and doesn’t pay much attention to them.

The assistant added:
"He also starred in King Liu's "Big Man" with Zhang Baizhi."

"Now that you mention it, I have some impression of it."

Zhang Ziyi nodded slightly.

The assistant continued:
"He has become more well-known recently for his martial arts identity, as the first idol boxing star to reach the K1 finals."

"K1 Fighting? Has it been advertising frequently on the Bund recently?"

Zhang Ziyi immediately understood:
"No wonder I feel like I've seen it somewhere before. It looks like it's developing well."

The assistant hesitated and revealed:
"It is said that Director Zhang has already locked him in as the male lead."

Zhang Ziyi stopped and was a little surprised:

"really?"

The assistant nodded repeatedly:

“Although it has not been announced yet, seeing how much Director Zhang values ​​Du Sheng and has invited him to assist as a judge, he should have signed the contract.”

Zhang Ziyi recalled her performance when she entered the room and said:
"I should have said hello to him just now."

I was a bit negligent before, and only regarded him as a martial arts director or casting director.

Not long ago, she was busy winning awards for "Purple Butterfly" abroad, and at first she only knew that Zhang Yimou planned to invite Jin Chengwu to star in the film.

I didn't expect the change to be so big.

The newcomer was promoted too quickly.

The assistant couldn't accuse her of being a little arrogant before, so he smiled and said:

"He is your junior, Sister Yi. It doesn't matter whether he greets you or not."

Zhang Ziyi just mentioned it casually, not taking it seriously, and said calmly:

"Now that the pigs are watching, we still need to maintain good relations."

Her status is there, so she really doesn't need to please anyone except Zhang Yimou, Li Hong and others.

However, during the filming of "Rush Hour 2", she publicly said that she was a gift to Cheng Long and threw herself into his arms, which caused great heat and controversy.

Now we are being watched by pigs all the time, so we have to do a lot of superficial work.

"clear."

The assistant will naturally not sing a different tune.

After Zhang Ziyi left, Zhang Yimou browsed through the actor information in his hand and instructed:
"next."

In more than an hour, seven or eight people had auditioned, all of them well-known actresses.

However, even though they are famous, they still fail to meet the best selection standards in terms of voice, lines, body shape and performance skills.

In Du Sheng's opinion, the common problem among these artists is that they are too mechanical.

Lack of natural temperament.

Performances often fall into a stereotyped rut.

For example, when crying, the facial features are wrinkled, and when laughing, the mouth and eyes are flailing, lacking depth and delicate emotional levels.

This type of actor has already been stereotyped and is often the most difficult to control.

Ten minutes later, the door of the conference room was pushed open again.

A pure and elegant woman walked in.

It was Zhang Baizhi.

"Bai Zhi, what are you going to perform first?"

After Zhang Yimou finished his polite conversation, he asked.

"I have prepared a classical dance."

Zhang Baizhi couldn't help but look up and glance at Du Sheng.

During this period, she devoted a lot of energy to learning classical dance, which was exactly at Du Sheng's request.

The reason why he couldn't help but look at Du Sheng was that he was completely surprised that he was serving as a judge.

However, this situation gave her more confidence, which meant that the possibility of passing the test was greater.

"Then you perform a piece."

Zhang Yimou knew that this person came prepared, so he smiled and gestured.

Zhang Baizhi took a deep breath and began to dance to the music.

Her dance steps were light and her sleeves were flowing, like a flying swallow, which surprised many people present.

It can be seen that Zhang Baizhi's hard training has achieved remarkable results.

Complete multiple difficult moves in succession, and grasp each move well.

.........

(End of this chapter)