While Zhang Yuan and his two companions were indulging in wine and women and writing obscene poems.

1200 kilometers away in the imperial capital, in a private room of a high-end restaurant, the atmosphere was not quite harmonious.

If a movie fan accidentally walked into this private room, he would probably be immediately surprised and delighted by the scene and people in front of him.

Ge You, Zhang Guoli, Xu Fan, Fan Bingbing, Fan Wei...

These people are all familiar faces and big stars in the film and television industry.

In addition, director Feng Xiaogang, agent Wang Jinhua and others were also present.

In fact, if you have a discerning eye, you can probably tell at a glance that these stars and directors are from the same film.

"cell phone".

It was the team building of the main creators of "Cell Phone".

The cost was less than 10 million, but it earned over 50 million at the box office.

Feng Xiaogang also very cleverly placed a lot of advertisements in the film, including but not limited to Motorola, BMW, China Mobile...

All in all, this movie made a ton of money!

Compared with the box office revenue of billions in later generations, 50 million seems to be a failing grade.

But any discussion out of the context of the times is meaningless.

In 2003, China's total box office for the year was only 10 billion.

By 2023, that number will be 550 billion.

In this way, we can understand how terrifying it was that in 02, when the total box office was only over 9 million, Zhang Yimou's movie "Hero" earned 2.5 million yuan at the domestic box office.

At that time, he was jokingly called the National Master, and he deserved the title.

This also aroused the competition and desire of other big directors for higher box office and the title of China's number one director.

Among them is Feng Xiaogang.

This is also the reason why he transformed from a New Year's comedy to a realistic film like "Cell Phone".

Because in those days, the box office ceiling for comedy films was too low.

This phenomenon was not completely broken until the release of Lost in Thailand in 2012, ushering in the era of high-grossing comedy films.

Since then, there has always been a comedy in the top ten of the box office chart every year.

Since the box office is good, why is the atmosphere at this table so unharmonious?
There are two main reasons.

"Guoli, things have come to this point, there is nothing we can do." Xu Fan comforted.

"Yes, if you are not allowed to study, then don't study. We will help you in the future, so your kid won't starve."

Zhang Guoli was frowning because of the incident at the Central Academy of Drama.

In fact, after the Central Academy of Drama incident, the only beneficiary was Zhang Yuan.

Shu Chang's academic performance was stabilized, and Cheng Hao got admitted to graduate school for free.

As the main parties involved, Zhang Guoli and the Central Academy of Drama both suffered losses.

It's embarrassing and disgraceful.

"It's true that I rely on friends when I go out. With your words, I feel much more comfortable." Zhang Guoli raised his glass to toast everyone.

In fact, if the kid hadn't made such a heinous mistake later, he would have been able to have smooth sailing relying on the old man's connections.

A similar person should be Zhang Ruoyun later.

When that guy went out to film a movie, all the veteran actors around him were uncles and acquaintances of the family.

However, character determines destiny, and the kid from Uncle Guoli's family is destined to have no good end.

"Hey, Xiaogang, it's okay for Guo Li to be sad, but why do you have such a sad face?" Wang Jinhua pushed Director Feng who was sitting on the main seat.

"Tsk..." Feng Xiaogang smacked his lips, his eyes full of fatigue.

"My problem is more troublesome than Guoli's."

"At least his problem can be solved, but I can't see the end of mine."

"What's wrong?" Ge You, who has a close relationship with Director Feng, asked.

Uncle Ge doesn't talk much usually, but once he drinks, he changes his personality.

"It's not about the script of the new film yet." Xu Fan replied with a smile.

"This is fucking painful, these birdmen up there are so fucking annoying!"

Director Feng is known as Feng the Big Cannon. He has no control over what he says in front of the media and is even more rude in private.

But everyone here is not a stranger and has gotten used to it.

"Tell me, I finally bought the script from Emei Film Studio, and I revised it seven or eight times, but it still didn't pass!"

"Is this the one you asked me to talk to?" Zhang Guoli asked.

"Yes, it's the novel called A World Without Thieves!"

The author of the novel "A World Without Thieves" is named Zhao Benfu, and his hometown is Fengxian County, Xuzhou, one of the Thirteen Guardians of Jiangsu.

Two famous people came from this place.

One was called Liu Bang and the other was called Zhang Daoling.

The copyright of this novel was bought by Sichuan Emei Film Studio, but it has not been filmed yet.

Director Feng read the novel after being introduced to it by someone and liked it very much. He planned to adapt it for filming.

After all, Cell Phone was a box office success, so he wanted to make another realistic film, strive to make it bigger and stronger, and create greater success.

Zhang Guoli has worked and lived in Sichuan for many years and has deep roots there. His ex-wife is also from Sichuan.

So with his matchmaking and arrangements, the matter was finally settled.

Speaking of which, this is not the first time that Zhao Benfu’s work has been adapted to the screen, and the one who loves to adapt his works the most is Zhang Yuan’s “acquaintance”.

It was the director Pingjiang Suojing who was lusting after his junior sister Liu Shishi's body.

"Out of the Blue Water River", "Blue and White Porcelain", "Flying Flowers Like Butterflies"... were all made into TV series by this director.

However, after Director Feng obtained the copyright of the novel and began to adapt the script, he finally understood why Emei Studio had held on to the script for many years without starting filming.

This thing won't pass muster!

The main story is about two thieves who find their conscience and escort a simple and naive boy who believes that "there are not so many thieves on the train" back to his hometown, and the conflicts they have with other criminal gangs along the way.

According to the rules from above, the script must be submitted for review before filming begins.

After the film is completed, the main film must be submitted for review.

Of course, you can also be smart, be clever!

The content of the finished film does not match the script submitted for review.

It's not that no one has ever tried to play tricks on the radio and television industry. It just depends on whether your background is strong enough.

Of course, most directors don’t have such a strong background and have to follow the procedures honestly.

So, why not polish the script to perfection before submitting it for review?

You are infallible and there is nothing to fault with you. Is this to show off your ability or to show that your superiors are incompetent?
If every script submitted for review is approved without modification, then you might as well just dismiss our department.

This means: if they say you can do it, then you can do it, and if they say you can't do it, that's okay too.

If you say no, then it’s not possible. Even if you say yes, it’s not possible.

Horizontal banner, you can't refuse to accept it.

People also need a sense of existence.

Director Feng is a veteran of overnight breakfast.

Following the usual practice, he submitted the flawed script to his superiors for review, finding faults, and then revising it himself.

It didn’t pass the first trial, but Director Feng was happy about it.

In the second review, I failed, but Director Feng smiled.

After the third review, he failed and Director Feng’s smile faded.

After the fourth review, he failed and Director Feng looked embarrassed.

It failed the fifth review and Director Feng grimaced.

After the sixth review, it failed and Director Feng went completely crazy.

Anyway, the reasons given by the superiors are similar.

"The protagonists are two notorious bandits, and describing their stories in detail is not in line with social values."

In those days, it was not popular to be dark and cruel, and people’s thoughts were relatively conservative. It was in line with the public sentiment that good people would be rewarded and bad people would be punished.

The two thieves were able to get away with it just by helping a young boy? That was too easy for them.

So, what the higher-ups mean is that no matter how good they are, the only two possible outcomes are arrest or death.

But if it were these two endings, Director Feng felt that the story would be difficult for the audience to accept.

So he was caught between the market and the review.

The key issue is that Huayi has already approved the project, the film group has also agreed on it, and the investment has been found, but the script review is stuck.

It's like having a stunningly beautiful girlfriend, only to receive a letter from the palace asking you to become a eunuch. That's very uncomfortable.

"Oh, this is indeed troublesome." Zhang Guoli raised his eyelids: "You can't go against the higher-ups, otherwise you will end up like Jiang Wen."

What happened to Jiang Wen?
"The Devils" was sent to Cannes without approval, and as a result he was banned from directing for five years.

What’s even more frightening is that five years later, Jiang Wen asked someone if she could still film.

The result says...

"Don't talk nonsense, or I'll sue you for defamation!"

We never banned you. It's you who chose not to act.

When and when established, it belongs to yes.

You have no idea whether it will be banned or not. If Jiang Wen really makes a movie, I guarantee that every one of them will be banned.

Although there is no formal document, some people are unhappy, which is more difficult to deal with than issuing documents.

"Then how do we do this? We can't just keep waiting. Huayi is starting to urge us." After saying this, Director Feng glanced at Wang Jinhua.

Sister Hua just smiled and said nothing.

She was very familiar with the tempers of the Wang brothers. If they took the money and didn't do the job, the result would probably not be good.

"Hey, Director Feng, do you remember that there was another person when we were filming "Cell Phone"? " At this time, Fan Bingbing rolled his eyes and remembered the guy who he had given the pink and green underwear to.

"He has a lot of ideas."

"Who?"

"Zhang Yuan!" Fan Bingbing said loudly.

Her agent, Sister Hua, glanced at her expression and thought that Fan Bingbing was usually very presentable, but she just laughed and chatted along and didn't say too much, being very tactful.

Today, however, it was very unusual for me to suddenly give the director some suggestions.

"Zhang Yuan... I've heard of this name. He seems to be a young man who is filming a TV series." Sister Hua recalled.

"Yes, you can ask him. This guy has a lot of tricks up his sleeve." Zhang Guoli immediately replied, "He was the one who informed me about that matter in advance."

"And him."

"That's right. It was he who arranged Wang Fei's flight to Hong Kong last time. I don't know which channel he used." Xu Fan also said.

Sister Hua looked at the few people.

Oh?
This guy has a close relationship with them.

interesting.

Director Feng looked at his old friend Zhang Guoli, and then at his second wife Xu Fan.

"Can it be done?"

"It's better to give it a try. You have nothing to lose."

"That's right." Director Feng said, taking out his cell phone.

On the other side, Hengdian.

Zhang Yuan, who had just come out of a nightclub with Wang Lujiang and Peng Yuyan, received a call from Feng Xiaogang.

"Script review?"

Zhang Yuan calculated the time with his fingers and immediately guessed that it was "A World Without Thieves".

Once he knew that, he had a clear idea in his mind.

"Why don't you send me the script and I'll take a look at it."

The other party was silent for a while, then said: "Okay, but remember, you must keep it a secret."

"I understand. Do you want me to write you a letter of guarantee?"

"You kid..." Director Feng cursed with a smile. Hearing him joking like that, I felt relieved.

Zhang Yuan put down his phone, thinking that he would definitely have to take care of this matter.

Because once you get in control, you'll at least get a role in the movie!

I was in a good mood and took bigger steps than before.

"Hey, I heard you saying Director Feng, Director Feng on the phone. Who is this Director Feng?" Wang Lujiang was gossipy to begin with, so he asked immediately.

"Feng Xiaogang."

"Who!" Peng Yuyan was so frightened when he heard the name that he woke up.

One of them is not a professional actor, and the other just debuted. He has only acted in a few idol dramas, and still played supporting roles.

To them, directors of Feng Xiaogang's level are like the stars in the sky, visible but unreachable.

"He, he, he wants to film with you?" Wang Lujiang asked nervously, "Or he will call you in person."

Generally, actors will only receive calls from casting directors. In a large crew, if the director calls the actor personally, it means that he is very optimistic about the actor and the probability of getting the role is very high.

"I played a small cameo role in his play before. You have all seen Cell Phone, I think."

"Oh, I remember now, you are indeed there!" Wang Lujiang finally reacted.

Unfortunately, the role has so few scenes and lines that it is easy to overlook it unless it is mentioned specifically.

"There's a new film this time, but there's a little problem with the script. Let me take a look. It's not time for shooting or casting yet." Zhang Yuan told the truth.

"That's amazing. You can even change the script... I think so." Peng Yuyan remembered that Zhang Yuan helped change the lines for Lin Yueru's death a few days ago.

Wang Lujiang and Peng Yuyan looked at each other, both of them with envy in their eyes.

A few days later, Zhang Yuan received the script mailed by the other party.

When taking a break on the set, I would take it out and look at it for a few moments.

"Are you reading the script?" Boss Cai happened to be "supervising" on the set and passed by him.

Zhang Yuan abided by the agreement with Director Feng. When he saw the other party coming, he closed the notebook and blocked it with his hands.

"Why are you so mysterious? What are you looking at?"

"script."

"Then what's blocking it?"

"It's not our group's script."

Cai Yinong: …

"New film, another acting offer?"

"Not really." Zhang Yuan briefly told the story. After all, he was on someone else's crew, so he had to explain it to avoid making the other party suspicious.

"Oh..." Boss Cai nodded, feeling mixed emotions.

"Director Feng's new play..."

"Feng Xiaogang has started to get involved with Huayi in recent years."

"And Huayi has Wang Jinhua in charge."

"hiss……"

Boss Cai thought, if Zhang Yuan was favored by Wang Jinhua, no, with his abilities, he would definitely be valued by the other party.

That would be bad for me!
She also wanted to get Zhang Yuan to make the sugar man.

"We've only sent you a script. The roles haven't been confirmed yet. We'll have to think about it over time." Boss Cai suppressed his emotions and didn't show any expression.

"Let's go." Instead, he patted his shoulder.

"Where are we going?" Zhang Yuan asked puzzledly.

"Give your Zhao Linger a welcome. The 15 days are up and she's back." Boss Cai felt a little unhappy when he mentioned this.

"Now, if you hadn't asked me, I wouldn't have let her go."

"I understand. Mr. Cai is generous."

Zhang Yuan smiled and walked with her to the entrance of Hengdian World Studios... (End of this chapter)