After landing at Hong Kong International Airport in the New Territories, Zhang Yuan picked up his luggage and hurried to the agreed location to meet with the famous director Liu Weiqiang.

Liu Weiqiang can naturally be called a great director now. After all, the movie "Infernal Affairs" made him famous all over the country and even the world, and the copyright was sold to Hollywood after all.

Zhang Yuan took Hong Kong's iconic red Toyota taxi, traveling through this bustling city once known as one of the "Four Asian Tigers".

This place gave him the feeling of...narrow, old, dark and shabby.

Compared with the newly built urban areas in the mainland, Hong Kong has become obviously decadent, with only the afterglow of its colonial past, which should be considered a humiliation but is a source of pride for some people.

We arrived at an office building, which looked a little old, just like the scenery we had seen along the way.

After entering, he asked the security guard how to get to the address. After hearing his Mandarin accent, the other party gave him a dismissive attitude.

Zhang Yuan didn't care.

But fortunately.

"Fortunately, we have reconciled with Emperor Entertainment Group and now have their support."

If not for this, he would not dare to come to Hong Kong alone. Who knows what will happen in someone else's territory.

It’s different now. Not only do I not have to worry, but if I really encounter any problems, I can call on Brother Hua or even Emperor Entertainment Group’s Lao Yang for help.

Take the elevator, walk through the narrow corridor, enter the office, go to the innermost room, knock on the door and enter.

"Hello, I'm Zhang Yuan."

A middle-aged man with black-framed glasses, a short flat head and a very southern look appeared in front of him.

"Ah, hello."

This person is naturally Liu Wei Qiang.

This man first worked as a photography assistant at Shaw Brothers around 80.

The so-called photography helper is a "coolie" who helps the photographer run errands, serve tea and water, disassemble and assemble equipment, and carry heavy bags. Occasionally you can take a peek, which is considered learning the technology.

It took me almost five years to be qualified to operate a camera.

Three years later, he won the Best Cinematography Award at the Academy Awards for his film As Tears Go By.

It can be seen that his talent is amazing. At the same time, although Shaw Brothers is not a good person, his training does make it easy for people to become talented.

Therefore, people have two hurdles: fate and luck.

Liu Weiqiang was born to be a photographer. It was his good fortune to meet the King of Sunglasses and be able to participate in "Chungking Express".

Afterwards, he became a director just like Zhang Yimou did back then, after being a good filmmaker, he became a director and entered the director industry.

Not to mention individuals, even companies are the same.

This was the case with Shaw Brothers, the former giant.

In the early days of Shaw Brothers, this future giant was far from having the strength to dominate the market. At that time, the strongest film company in Hong Kong, and even in the whole of Asia, was called Dianmao.

Just when Shaw Brothers was full of worry and didn't know how to compete with Dianmao.

In 64, there was a sudden thunder in Taichung City, Taiwan. A plane carrying 57 people crashed to the ground and exploded, leaving no one alive.

All the people on this plane are filmmakers who came to Taiwan to participate in the Asian Film Festival.

In this plane crash, the chairman of Dianmao, his wife, and other senior company executives were all killed.

Then Run Run Shaw discovered that he had suddenly become the leader of the industry while just sitting at home and doing nothing.

Just like Sima Yi, the one who survives will be the king.

So, sometimes fate is really a mysterious thing, and Hong Kong people especially believe in it.

"Director Liu, nice to meet you. Please take care of me in the future."

"Okay..." Liu Weiqiang pushed his glasses, stood up and shook hands with him awkwardly.

Not to mention the awkward movements, even the look in his eyes when he looked at Zhang Yuan was a little awkward.

Zhang Yuan naturally observed all of this, but he remained calm, said nothing, and sat down steadily.

He still has a lot of respect for this director, after all, apart from "As Tears Go By" and "Infernal Affairs".

He has countless famous works, including the Young and Dangerous series, Storm Riders, Chinese Hero, and Battle at the Forbidden City.

It can be seen from his works that although he is a man, he has a great preference for handsome guys when making films.

Ekin Cheng, Edison Chen, Shawn Yue, Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok... He has used almost all the good-looking Hong Kong actors.

The copyright of "Initial D" was bought by Peter Lam of Media Asia, who is also a famous rich second-generation and playboy in Hong Kong. It was he who played with Joey Wong for many years.

This time, his wife has taken a fancy to Zhang Weijian and is helping him resolve the lawsuit with the Xiao father and son. At the same time, because of the beating incident, Media Asia gave Zhang Yuan the opportunity to perform. It can be regarded as an exchange of interests, and it also allows him to give face and not pursue Zhang Weijian.

Originally, after Peter Lam acquired the copyrights, he was very ambitious and invited Tsui Hark to direct the film.

But after some effort, Xu felt that he was not suitable for this subject matter, so he packed up his bags and ran away.

At this time, we have to say that it was Brother Hua who had face and recommended Liu Weiqiang and Mai Zhaohui to Boss Lin.

Originally, Boss Lin was reluctant, after all, these two were good at making gangster films.

But thanks to Brother Hua's support, we have the current script and team.

Liu and Mai had just finished filming the "Infernal Affairs" series and were winning numerous awards.

So they wanted to take advantage of the popularity of "Infernal Affairs" and reunite the original crew.

The original plan was for Andy Lau to play Fujiwara Bunta, Edison Cheng to play Fujiwara Takumi, and Shawn Yue to play Takahashi Ryosuke.

After all, these two guys just formed a couple in "Infernal Affairs 2".

It turned out that Brother Hua was too busy and not very interested in the characters.

Liu Wei Qiang thought that it was normal that Brother Hua was not available, so the others would be decided.

But suddenly Peter Lam called.

"Wei Qiang, do you know that there is a singer named Jay Chou in Taiwan?"

"He's been very popular in recent years. I've already talked to him. Let's use him as the male lead."

Liu Weiqiang didn't recognize Jay Chou, so he went to get his records and photos. After listening to them...

"What the hell is this song about?"

"Has this person's tongue been ionized?"

"I don't understand a word you say!"

When Liu Weiqiang looked at the photo, he closed his eyes and thought that according to his aesthetic standards, Jay Chou was not good enough.

But the boss has spoken, what else can I do?
Let’s meet.

As soon as Liu Weiqiang contacted Jay Chou, he got angry again.

"Let me go to Formosa to meet him?"

"I am considered a big director, so why should I take the initiative to meet him?"

"I don't want to save face!"

Liu Weiqiang was dissatisfied and called Peter Lam.

Or I should use Edison Cheng. I am familiar with him and he is easy to use.

Boss Lin was quite polite to him, the "savior" after Old Monster Xu ran away, and told him something.

Not long ago, Boss Lin went to Siam.

Most ordinary men go to Siam for pleasure, as the sex industry there is extremely developed and professional.

It enjoys the reputation of being a paradise for old white men.

Otherwise, where did so many mixed-race stars in Siam come from?

Boss Lin certainly doesn't go there to enjoy the prostitution industry. It's not that he has gotten rid of low tastes, but mainly because if he wants to play, he would only play with people at the level of Joey Wong. Ordinary, vulgar fans really don't look down on him.

So why did he make this special trip?
In Chonburi Province in the central region of Siam, there was a Teochew overseas Chinese named Zhou Qinnan.

Mr. Lin went to visit him.

The reason why Lin Sheng went to visit this man in person was because he had a nickname, "White Dragon King". This man was a famous Feng Shui master in the entire Asian entertainment industry, especially in Hong Kong and Formosa!

In addition to Boss Lin, the Xiang brothers are also his loyal fans.

And the most amazing thing about this person is that he does not help whoever has more money, but it depends on fate.

If he doesn't like you, he will refuse to let you in no matter how much money you offer.

And after helping, he will not charge any money, and will allow you to donate to his temple, no matter how much you want.

In fact, this way of playing can make more money. After all, free things are the most expensive. Tencent is familiar with this.

Is this person accurate?
That's a different story.

When Leslie Cheung asked for a meeting, he was rejected and said that his "luck had run out."

When Luo Zhixiang asked for a meeting, the White Dragon King told him that if he wanted to remain successful, he had to abstain from sex… We all know how he ended up like this.

Before the filming started, Peter Lam took a stack of photos and birth dates and found the White Dragon King, asking him to help see if the actors were suitable.

After getting Shawn Yue's photo and horoscope, White Dragon King spoke.

"Your luck is average. You won't be very successful, but you will have a small amount of success."

He handed over Cheng Guanxi's photo and horoscope, and the White Dragon King nodded at first, then shook his head.

"You have great luck and are very popular, but it won't last long."

Boss Lin felt relieved after confirming that Edison Cheng would not affect his film.

Then, he took out Jay Chou's photo and horoscope.

After looking through them, White Dragon King pointed to all the remaining photos.

"This person's luck is stronger than all the people you have put together, so naturally he will continue to prosper."

Just like Shaw Brothers, people are made up of two parts: fate and luck.

Just because of White Dragon King's words, Boss Lin decided to let Jay Chou play the leading male role!
For this purpose, I even called Jay Chou several times in person.

Finally Jay Chou couldn't resist the other party's constant nagging and squeezed out time from his concert tour and album production to shoot this film.

A 400 million yuan salary is not a lot of money for Jay Chou at this moment.

Besides, he has never made a movie before, and many film and television companies have offered him tens of millions of dollars to star in his debut film.

But this person still has some aspirations, and he didn't accept any scripts that were too bad.

But after this film approached him, he started to read the comics.

"that's amazing."

“Pretty cool.”

I was quite satisfied, so I accepted it.

Liu Weiqiang went to Taiwan to meet him angrily, but when he arrived at the office, he was greeted by Jay Chou's assistant.

"Jay is a little busy and can't see you right now."

Director Liu was so angry that he almost slammed the table and left.

But he also believed in the White Dragon King very much, so he suppressed his anger.

After waiting for several hours, this person finally saw the master.

At this time, Jay Chou was already the number one Chinese singer, no doubt about it.

Even after twenty years, he is still the number one. What does it mean to be popular for a long time?
Jay Chou politely chatted with the other party for a long time, and said that he not only read the original comics, but also asked someone to teach him the basic skills of drifting and racing, and did his homework in advance.

After hearing what he said, Liu Weiqiang felt better.

“Although it’s very popular, I’m still dedicated to my work.”

Here, Liu Wei Qiang had just prepared himself mentally when Boss Lin, who was far away in Siam, suddenly called him.

"Wei Qiang, I know a new actor here, can you arrange a role for him..."

Liu Weiqiang was almost crying with anger.

You can't play with people like this!
I originally wanted to reunite with the original cast of "Infernal Affairs", but if we change it again there won't be a single one left!
He wanted to object, but Boss Lin remained firm and insisted that the arrangement must be made.

And explained to him the matter of Zhang Weijian and Zhang Yuan.

Director Liu had no choice but to accept it.

"The role we assigned to you is called Nakazato Takeshi." Director Liu said, holding a screenshot of a comic.

"This character is probably the third male lead, after Jay Chou and Edison Chen."

Sheet Metal King... Zhang Yuan knew immediately that he had chosen Shawn Yue as the role.

The character Nakazato Takeshi has earned the title of Sheet Metal King among anime fans because he has multiple car crashes in the anime and often has to use sheet metal to repair the car body.

Zhang Yuan estimated that the role of Nakazato Takeshi was comparable to that of Huang Qiusheng and Du Wenzhe, the pair of Crouching Dragon and Phoenix.

I guess he’s the third male lead…at least barely.

"Jay Chou cannot be replaced, and Edison Chen is quite popular, so I can't bear to let him go. After all the calculations, I can only sacrifice Shawn Yue to make room for me." Zhang Yuan smiled in his heart.

"How about this, go change your clothes and fix your hairstyle first, and I'll see the effect."

Liu Weiqiang had only seen photos of Zhang Yuan before, but now that he has seen him in person, he feels that Zhang Yuan’s image is in line with his expectations.

However, he is also an old Hong Konger with a strong sense of local protectionism. He hopes that his films can help cultivate talents in the Hong Kong film industry.

My vision and pattern are indeed narrow.

The crew designed a costume for Nakazato Takeshi in the film, which is a complete set of pure black Adidas Y-3 suit with gold thread.

This dress is the work of Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto, and "Initial D" is adapted from an Japanese manga, which is a good match.

He was given a pair of pure white Nike AF1 on his feet.

It was a black and white combination, and the stylist added some hairspray and smoothed his short hair.

After everything was done, he returned to Liu Weiqiang.

Director Liu took a look and nodded.

"After putting on the styling, it looks more handsome than in casual clothes."

"But... this person's temperament doesn't seem to match the designed role."

Zhang Yuan has a background in martial arts and opera. He has an upright posture. Whether he walks, stands, sits or lies down, his back is straight and he exudes a powerful aura.

Everyone who came to see him felt that he was in very good spirits and had a sunny and generous vibe.

In daily life, this kind of image naturally makes it easier to get close to others and is especially likely to attract the opposite sex.

But individuals are individuals and roles are roles.

The character designed for Nakazato Takeshi in the movie was originally based on Shawn Yue.

His temperament... to put it nicely, it's called ruffian.

To put it bluntly, he is a bit uncouth and doesn't seem like a good kid from a wealthy family.

Therefore, the character of Nakazato Takeshi has to be a bit ruffian and decadent, but in this ruffian and decadent state, he also has to have a little bit of pride and ruthlessness as a racer.

With Zhang Yuan's temperament, he can play a racing driver.

But he has to be a regular driver from a regular team, running laps on the track in the paddock.

Rather than the biker gang in the movie who races recklessly at night and on mountain roads.

If it were a normal casting, seeing such a huge contrast between the actor and the role, Liu Weiqiang would probably just throw the photo into the trash can and call the next one.

But Zhang Yuan is different!
Firstly, Boss Lin was pressuring him to let him take part in the performance in order to put Zhang Weijian to rest.

And Boss Lin also said that this guy has been very popular in mainland China recently. In his words, he might be able to help the film sell more box office in mainland China.

In addition, there is another very important reason why Liu Weiqiang did not dare to touch him.

When Peter Lam went to see the White Dragon King, he also showed him a photo of Zhang Yuan! (End of this chapter)