Chapter 54: Manly Character
Seeing Jiang Heng signed Wu Jing, Hong Jinbao hurriedly said, "Well, why not sign Tian Ming as well! I don't want him to be famous, I just want him to make a living in the industry!"

In 99, Sammo Hung really had no resources.

Otherwise, Hong Tianming would not have always played supporting roles after his debut and almost never been the protagonist.

This is incomparable to Fang Zuming, who enjoys the treatment of being the center of attention.

Thinking of Jaycee Chan and then looking at Wu Jing standing beside him, Jiang Heng suddenly remembered a movie.

That is Wu Jing’s classic villain action drama - "The True Colors of a Man".

In this play, Wu Jing plays the role of the gangster leader Tian Yangsheng, who suppresses the three protagonists throughout the whole process. If it weren't for the "screenwriter", the protagonists would probably have been wiped out.

When he first watched this movie, he was amazed. He had never seen such a handsome villain.

Since Wu Jing has been signed, we have to provide him with resources and first practice playing a villain.

For the male lead role, Jaycee Chan definitely cannot be chosen, so Timmy Hung was chosen instead, which can be considered as a way of repaying Sammo Hung’s favor.

Sammo Hung is a man who can be described as "jumping back and forth" among various forces in the Hong Kong film industry. He has participated in various collaborations and is always a guest of honor wherever he goes.

It is rare that Jiang Heng was able to decisively provide help before he became successful.

"Okay, then sign it!"

Without waiting for Hong Jinbao to say thank you, Jiang Heng said, "By the way, I want to make a low-budget police and gangster action movie to be released during the Spring Festival. As for the male lead, let Tian Ming play it!"

Hong Jinbao was overjoyed when he heard this, and his face was full of gratitude, "Brother, thank you!"

He also knew what his son was like, and even if he wanted to attract investment and let his son play the leading role, he didn't know what kind of movie he would direct.

Jiang Heng said, "Don't thank me yet. Well, in my imagination, there are three male protagonists!"

Wu Jing was surprised, "Me?"

Jiang Heng laughed, "No, you are the villain!"

"What?"

Wu Jing was confused. He had never tried playing a villain before!

Jiang Heng patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "To be honest, you are very talented in playing villains!"

Wu Jing was puzzled, "Really? How come I didn't know that?"

Jiang Hengxin said, because you haven’t seen you play a villain, but I have!

But he said, "This is what I was thinking. Let's see if I can help you win the Best Supporting Actor award through this play!"

Wu Jing was obedient and felt much more balanced.

After all, I'm a newcomer and I'm still looking forward to winning awards.

I don’t feel that it would be a loss of status to play a supporting role after playing the male lead in “Lion Camel Ridge”.

After all, he was able to play the role of Sun Wukong because Jiang Heng felt he was suitable, not because he was of that status.

If it weren't for this film contract, he wouldn't know where his next film contract would come from!

As long as there is a role to play, it's fine. Anyway, I will be the protagonist in the future.

"It would be great to win the prize!" Wu Jing said happily.

After chatting for a while, filming continued. Because it was shot entirely in a studio and used motion capture and CG technology, the actors all wore strange equipment, which was quite a test of their acting skills.

At the very least you can't laugh, and you have to act seriously.

In the blink of an eye, it was the beginning of August. The scenes of Lion Camel Ridge were all finished. The preparations for True Colors of a Man were almost done. Jiang Heng was going abroad, so he asked Sammo Hung to direct it.

However, he still determines the main candidates.

The male lead, Hong Tianming, plays the role of Fang Zuming in the original version. Xie Tingfeng plays Chen Jin in the original film.

The police officer Fang, who was fed bullets by Tian Yangsheng in the original version, was played by the most famous actor Wu Weizu.

The rest of the roles are not very important, so let Sammo Hung take care of them.

Before leaving, Jiang Heng took out the storyboard script that he had drawn long ago, which left Hong Jinbao stunned.

If he follows the storyboard script entirely, he will be a director in name only!

But thinking about the treatment her son received as the protagonist, she held back what she wanted to say.

Before leaving, Jiang Heng visited the crew of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and arranged things in both the mainland and Hong Kong before arriving in the United States by plane in mid-August.

I first went to my own villa in Beverly Hills to rest for a few days and sleep until I woke up naturally.

He immediately went to a small special effects company that he had acquired previously and gave them some small, simple special effects shots.

Afterwards, he flew to Australia, where there was also a special effects company acquired by Jiang Heng. Its main characteristics were that it was small and weak, and giving them some simple, low-priced special effects lens orders was enough to keep them busy.

Not only that, Jiang Heng also outsourced some special effects shots to special effects companies in Japan, South Korea and other countries.

The main focus is "multi-production" to shorten the production cycle.

When typing the subtitles, the names of all these production companies can be written down.

However, the number of shots actually completed by these special effects companies is less than one-fifth of the entire film.

Those extremely shocking, expensive and time-consuming shots were completed using Jiang Heng's "super microscopic computer", with the main focus on saving money and being efficient.

During this period, Jiang Heng flew all over the world, sometimes abroad and sometimes in China.

Today I am still on the set in Hong Kong, directing the filming of "True Men". The next day I will take a plane to the United States to work on post-production (resting) there.

It wasn't until November that Jiang Heng finally had some free time.

In his words, it's almost done, so I can take a break and then watch "True Men" directed by Sammo Hung.

When it comes to Sammo Hung's directing ability, there is no doubt about it. He shot his first directorial work as early as 75.

Of course, his style is naturally different from Chen Musheng's, but if you shoot according to the storyboard script left by Jiang Heng, the style will be infinitely close.

At least in Jiang Heng's opinion, apart from the differences in a few actors, this drama feels very similar to the original.

That was enough. He didn't expect the movie to be very good, nor did he expect it to make money. It was enough as long as it didn't lose money.

In the original history, Wu Jing was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Horse Awards for his outstanding performance in "True Men", but unfortunately he did not win the award.

After watching the sample film, Jiang Heng suddenly said, "By the way, this movie is basically directed by you, so let's put your name on it!"

Hong Jinbao said quickly, "No, that's not right. The script and the storyboards were all conceived by you. I was just sitting behind the monitor. Anyone else can shoot a similar picture."

Jiang Heng said: "It's different. There are so many people in the crew, and there are so many things to do, big and small. You have to deal with all kinds of emergencies every day, and you are the one who solves them. You also shot the film, so let's put your name on it!"

After hearing this, Hong Jinbao was no longer humble.

The reason why he ended up in this situation is that the film he directed failed at the box office, which scared people into asking him to make a movie anymore.

He thinks the movie "True Men" is quite good. He estimates that it will have good reputation after its release and the box office will not be too bad either. At least it will be able to save some face for him!
(End of this chapter)