Imperial Capital, No. 77 North Third Ring Road.

The Beijing Film Studio, the first of China's film studios, is located here.

This place was originally the third studio of the Central Film Enterprise Company of the Kuomintang Party. After the liberation of Peking in 48, the state took over this place and transferred a group of literary and artistic backbones from Yan'an to come here to completely transform it.

In April 49, the Peking Film Studio was established on this basis. In October of the same year, on the day of the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, it was renamed Beijing Film Studio.

So, this place was born and rose together with the Republic.

However, when the country was founded, the area around this place was quite barren, but now it has become an urban area.

As time goes by, the studio of Beijing Film Studio can no longer meet the needs of all the filming work of domestic blockbusters, and can only be used as a location for some indoor or small outdoor scenes.

One of the distributors of "Curse of the Golden Flower" is China Film Group, so it was natural for the crew to use this place as the office location for auditions and early preparations.

And we can see from the distributors that in addition to China Film, there are also Sony, French Nouveau Cinema, and Emperor Films.

Sony is responsible for the island countries and South Korea, and New Style Films is responsible for Europe.

Behind Emperor Motion Pictures is Hong Kong distribution tycoon Kong Chi-keung, who controls a lot of cinema resources in North America and Oceania.

Zhang Yimou still has a lot of reputation, and his overseas distributors are all industry leaders.

Unlike The Banquet, the Wang brothers still had to go to film festivals to woo foreign companies.

Of course, in addition to Zhang Yimou, the credit for getting so many big-name companies to support the company also goes to Gong Huang.

In 97, he became the first Chinese to serve as a judge in the main competition unit of the Cannes Film Festival.

In 00, he became the first Chinese to serve on the jury of the main competition unit of the Berlin Film Festival.

In 02, he became the first Chinese to serve as chairman of the jury at the Venice Film Festival.

If the films you star in can participate in the three major film festivals and win awards, you can be called an international movie star in China.

So what should we call someone like her who has served as a judge at three top film festivals?

Including his later positions as chairman of the jury for the Tokyo Film Festival and the Shanghai Film Festival, he has served as a judge at five international A-class film festivals.

Zhang Ziyi was dubbed the International Zhang and Gong Li's successor.

But in fact, whether in acting skills or domestic and international popularity, she is at least one level lower than Gong Huang.

This is also the reason why Zhang Weiping, although he has a grudge against Gong Li, still cannot refuse Zhang Yimou's choice of her as the heroine.

With her around, foreign film producers are willing to pay.

As soon as Zhang Yuan entered Studio No. 2, he saw a row of bodyguards forming a human wall and blocking a path, as if they were welcoming someone.

"Wow, she is the queen after all, what a grand ceremony." Zhang Yuan automatically stepped aside.

Although he is quite popular among young audiences now, he is still far behind Gong Li.

Of course, this is not shameful, and Zhang Yuan was also very convinced.

Zhang Yuan and his assistants were watching from the side, only to see a white business car parked steadily in front of the studio entrance. Several assistants and bodyguards in black suits walked forward, suddenly opened several pure black umbrellas, and blocked the car door.

After everything was blocked tightly, the car door slowly opened.

Zhang Yuan glanced around and there were not many outsiders here, just some professional media and actors auditioning.

Although Gong Li is indeed a big star, isn't it a bit too much to do this?

While he was thinking about it, a figure wearing a white polo shirt and matching sneakers came out of the car.

This man, wearing sunglasses on his nose and with a slicked-back hair, walked quickly past the crowd with an expressionless face.

“Thump, thump, thump…” The theme song of “God of Gamblers” automatically played in Zhang Yuan’s mind.

"It turns out it's not Gong Li, it's Fa Ge..."

"Brother Xiao Ma doesn't look that handsome..." said Zhao Xinxin, his assistant beside him, frowning.

After the bodyguards and the human wall dispersed and the noise died down, Zhang Yuan planned to move on.

However, at this time another car stopped at the door.

The person inside pushed open the car door and jumped down in one step.

Wearing a pink sportswear and carrying a small white schoolbag, she walked in with brisk steps.

Many staff members recognized her and waved and greeted her with a friendly and enthusiastic smile.

This is the real arrival of the queen!
Zhang Yuan took a look and saw that Gong Li brought a female assistant with him. They were walking very quickly and had no bodyguards or security guards to protect them.

She even took photos with fans on her own initiative, showing no airs of being the top Chinese actress at all.

Zhang Yuan calculated with his fingers and concluded that this person should be forty years old this year.

But judging from her casual and beautiful outfit, no one would doubt that she is thirty.

"No wonder Lao Mouzi was so fascinated by her back then..."

Even now, she cannot be said to still be charming, but rather to be in her prime.

"Ah, this is Gong Li!" Zhao Xinxin said in surprise.

"She looks so big in the movie, but in real life she is so tall and thin, and her face is smaller than that of an average person."

Zhang Yuan nodded.

Yes, the camera will make people look fatter, so those who appear thin on the screen are actually skinny in real life.

When Gong Li was admitted to the Central Academy of Drama, his academic scores were 11 points short of the admission score.

Logically speaking, he is not eligible for admission.

The teachers of the Central Academy of Drama jointly wrote to the Ministry of Culture's Education Department to grant her special approval to enter the school.

You can tell how valuable this person's appearance and abilities are.

The two of them stopped staring at Teacher Gong Li until he disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Zhao Xinxin muttered again: "They are both big stars, why did Gong Li come by herself, but Fa Ge made such a big fuss..."

Zhang Yuan smiled and patted her shoulder: "This is how the Hong Kong circle works."

But the glory will not last for a few years.

The two came to the lounge.

After all, it is a large crew, and there will be cameramen recording interviews before the audition.

Convenient for publicity or documentary.

Many actors would flock to Zhang Yimou's movies if their company could get an audition opportunity.

So the dressing room was extremely lively and crowded.

Seeing that it would take some time before it was his turn to put on makeup and try on costumes, Zhang Yuan simply went out for some fresh air.

"Woooooooo..."

I walked around and found a corner to smoke, but when I turned a corner, I saw someone squatting on the ground crying.

"What... is wrong with you?" Zhang Yuan asked kindly.

But when she heard someone calling her, she wiped her tears hard, got up and ran away, completely ignoring him.

"Huang Xuan..." Zhang Yuan glanced and recognized the young and familiar face.

"He's also an unlucky guy."

Zhang Yuan looked at his departing back and shook his head.

This person originally auditioned for the role of the third prince in the film.

They all passed the preliminary test and entered the re-examination, but who knew that Zhang Yimou suddenly changed the setting and lowered the age of the third prince to fourteen.

The group of people who auditioned before only received the notice before coming today.

"I guess this guy still wants to fight for it. He's quite brave to rush to the studio."

Zhang Yuan knew that the role of the third prince was later given to Qin Junjie.

This half-sister Li Yue is an actress and is very familiar with the Beijing circle.

In addition, the Qin family is a wealthy family in Putian, with both money and resources.

So to get this role, he probably had some PY transactions with Zhang Weiping.

It was none of Zhang Yuan’s business. He wasn’t qualified to audition for the role of the Third Prince anyway.

"Zhang Yuan!" He had just lit a cigarette and was pacing back and forth in the corridor, thinking about how to behave when a male voice with a Taiwan accent interrupted his thoughts.

Jay Chou walked towards him.

He was also accompanied by two bodyguards.

But he really needs it because it's so popular.

Not to mention the staff, even the actors who came to audition for small roles surrounded him when they saw him arrive.

"Oh, you're here."

"Are you also auditioning for this movie?" Jay Chou bumped fists with him and then asked.

"Yeah, waiting in line to get my makeup done."

"I have a private dressing room and a makeup artist. Come to my place."

"Okay."

The two of them walked away arm in arm.

The young actors standing by all looked at him with envy.

"Zhang Yuan is already famous enough, but I didn't expect he also knows Jay Chou."

"You're stupid, they filmed Initial D together."

"As expected, only popular people will make friends with popular people."

"When can I go to Jay Chou's dressing room?"

The two of them sat down in the separate dressing room.

"What role are you auditioning for today?" Jay Chou asked cautiously.

"Guess?" Zhang Yuan saw his complicated expression and teased him intentionally.

“Uh…” Jay Chou felt a little guilty.

He heard that the producer contacted the company to invite him, but the director was not very satisfied with him.

The tentative role assigned to him is the second prince, a role that involves a lot of fighting scenes.

Jay Chou really wants to film a costume action movie, he has a dream of becoming a Kung Fu master.

But he knew even more clearly that Zhang Yuan really knew kung fu!

If he were to compete with me for a role, I would be at a huge disadvantage in both acting and action scenes.

Moreover, he felt that Zhang Yuan was a friend and actually didn't want to "kill each other".

He would feel a little guilty if he relied on his popularity and fame to suppress the more powerful Zhang Yuan.

"Hey, hey, don't panic. I'm auditioning for the role of the eldest prince. Call me brother."

"Bullshit!" Jay Chou heaved a sigh of relief when he heard him say that.

Zhang Yuan said with a smile again.

"According to the plot, your mother is the queen."

"The eldest prince is having an affair with the queen again."

"So it's wrong to call you brother." Zhang Yuan put his hand on his shoulder.

"Lun'er, from now on, I will call you brother and you will call me dad. We will each have our own affairs."

Jay Chou was rummaging through his bag, wanting to take out the nunchaku he used to show off his talent to Zhang Yimou and hit him. "Brother, what are you looking for? Dad will help you find it..." Zhang Yuan helped him rummage through his bag.

For a moment, the dressing room was filled with a happy atmosphere...

Zhang Yuan is going to try out two scenes in total.

One scene was of the eldest prince lying weakly on his sickbed after committing self-harm.

In the other, the Queen reveals Jiang's identity, and the eldest prince learns that he has been having sex with his own sister.

After changing into a golden ancient costume, Zhang Yuan walked towards the audition room.

When he arrived at the door, it just opened from the inside, and a tall and thin man walked out and met Zhang Yuan.

The two exchanged glances and gave in to each other.

"Hello." Zhang Yuan stretched out his hand and greeted him.

"Oh, Hello."

"Teacher Hu Jun often mentions you to me." Zhang Yuan said with a smile.

"You are familiar with Jun, so you are friends."

The person who went out was Liu Ye.

Liu Ye glanced at the person in front of him.

He is a centimeter or two shorter than me, so he doesn't have any obvious height disadvantage.

And the character who is wearing similar clothes as me should be auditioning for the same role as me.

Liu Ye knew Zhang Yuan; he had heard of him on TV and from his friends.

It is clear that he is a newcomer who has just risen in recent years.

At this time, he has already won the Golden Horse and Golden Rooster Best Actor awards. If the local protection barriers of the Hong Kong Film Awards were not too strict, he might have won three awards.

Moreover, I have experience in participating in top domestic productions.

He plays the killer Ghost Wolf in the recently released "The Promise".

In addition, he was introduced to this film for audition by Zhang Ziyi.

Because when they were in Class 96 of the Central Academy of Drama, Zhang Ziyi and Liu Ye had the best relationship.

It’s not because they are great, but because they were the last ones in the class at that time, and they cried together all day long because they couldn’t hand in their homework.

The friendship between top students may be fake, but the friendship between poor students is definitely more real than gold.

But after graduation, they were the ones who did the best.

However, the top students in the class, Qin Hao and Zeng Li, did not perform well.

Just like in life, many bad students are very successful in society, while good students become unknown after their success in school.

Therefore, Liu Ye thought that he was much better than the other party in terms of honor, experience, and relationships.

So I didn't pay much attention to the smiling little brother in front of me.

"You are busy, I will leave first."

"Okay, see you later."

The two said hello and then parted ways.

Zhang Yuan scratched his head: "What on earth is it about him that fascinates Junge..."

Among all the works played by Liu Ye, his favorite is "Autonomous Driving".

Because in that film, Li Xiaoran was wearing a vest in the kitchen, wow... art, it's all art.

After entering the room, Zhang Weiping, Zhang Yimou, martial arts director Cheng Xiaodong, screenwriter Bian Zhihong, and Gong Li sat on chairs.

Zhang Weiping and Gong Li were far apart and didn't even look at each other.

There is a camera on the side that will record everyone's performance.

Zhang Weiping looked at Zhang Yuan with a smile. After all, it was he who called people here.

Zhang Weiping: The silly boy is happy to be used as my knife.

Zhang Yuan: This fat guy is used as a knife by me, and he looks so handsome.

They both have their own ulterior motives.

Zhang Yuan looked at Lao Mouzi, smiled and nodded.

Lao Mouzi also raised his hand and greeted.

Zhang Yuan didn't see Cheng Xiaodong, but the old man also nodded at him.

After all, his good disciple Ma Yuchen had worked with Zhang Yuan several times and had mentioned Zhang Yuan's name to this well-known Chinese martial arts director.

Gong Li was still wearing his sportswear and glanced at the people around him.

"Who is this guy? Lao Zhang, Yimou and Xiaodong all know him." Upon seeing this, the Queen couldn't help but take a few more glances at him.

"He has a handsome appearance and an upright posture."

She thought, I just don’t know if her health is good... Teacher Gong Li’s marriage life is not very happy.

"If you are ready, let's start." Lao Mouzi looked tired, but his eyes were still clear.

The director called him and he began to perform according to the script.

I saw him quickly lying down on the ground without any cleaning action, nor did he care whether the ground was clean or not, he just lay down like that.

A few people nodded, saying it was not bad and not pretentious.

Just like Liu Ye just now, start as soon as he says start.

Lao Mouzi stared at him straight.

Zhang Yuan's face became visibly darker.

Although his eyes were closed, fatigue, weakness and pain seemed to be pouring out from between his brows.

"Yeah." Lao Mouzi nodded: "Not bad."

"Once it was done, the state was captured very accurately."

"And when Liu Ye was acting this part just now, he had more small movements and small expressions, but he was more restrained."

"But it is this restrained acting that enhances the realism of weakness."

This scene shows the eldest prince groaning in pain while lying on the bed after being stabbed in self-harm.

Liu Ye has rich acting experience, is good at thinking, and naturally acts well.

But, he has no life!

Zhang Yuan knew too well what this kind of weakness and pain was like.

After all, he was stabbed by Xiang Zuo a few months ago!

The feeling is still fresh in my memory and I just need to recreate it without having to perform it deliberately.

Gong Li was also surprised, because Liu Ye was her junior in the same school and was considered one of her family members.

But even so, she had to admit that in this performance, Zhang Yuan's performance was indeed more real and delicate than that of her junior.

Gong Li thought about it, then stood up, walked slowly towards Zhang Yuan.

The others all sat up straight and looked at Zhang Yuan carefully.

This scene is a two-person scene.

According to the script, it is a literary drama between the eldest prince and the queen.

However, auditions are usually one-man shows without props.

In addition, Gong Li is a top actress, and no one thought that she would play a supporting role for the auditioning actors.

After auditioning, Chow Yun Fat would turn around and leave, never wasting even a minute on other actors.

This is the norm for big-name actors.

But Gong Li is different. Firstly, he is not arrogant. Secondly, he has the support of Zhang Yimou.

Gong Li came to Zhang Yuan's side, squatted down, and grabbed his left hand.

Zhang Yuan:!!!
He had his eyes closed, and just as he was about to speak, he felt his hand being held.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw the face of Teacher Gong Li.

Ordinary actors would be extremely nervous even if they were performing in front of Gong Li, let alone encountering such a "sneak attack".

Zhang Yuan suppressed his emotions and immediately realized that this must be a little "show" organized by the crew.

It is actually quite common for film crews to play pranks on actors during auditions, and some crews may even deliberately scare the actors to see their reactions.

Zhang Yuan guessed that this was probably also based on on-the-spot reaction and performance status.

After knowing what was going on, he continued to act, turned his head to the other side, and spoke quietly.

"You must be hiding something from me."

"Why exactly?"

Teacher Gong Li said in a cooperative tone: "I have to do this."

Huh... Zhang Yuan turned around and took the other person's hands, which were holding his own.

Gong Li frowned. There was no detail about touching hands in the script.

He added this himself.

It was our first time meeting and we were not familiar with each other, but he dared to hold my hand.

Courageous enough!
Young actors usually panic when they see her, and she often has to calm them down.

It is indeed rare to see someone who is not afraid at all.

And Gong Li knew that this action was suitable for the character and the situation.

From a performance perspective, there is absolutely no problem.

There is a wild energy... Gong Li thought to himself.

A bit like me back then.

"I beg you." Zhang Yuan continued to speak his lines without stopping.

"I'm doing it for your own good."

"That's enough!" Lao Mouzi called for a stop.

Zhang Yuan immediately calmed down and stood up.

Gong Li walked back to his seat and nodded to Zhang Yimou.

Gong Li had previously done the same thing to other actors who auditioned for the role of the eldest prince.

Among the six or seven people who had auditioned before, Liu Ye's performance was the best in terms of overall performance.

And Zhang Yuan is comparable to him.

And he also added the little action of turning around and shaking the other person's hand.

Be more proactive.

The two have slightly different personalities and performance styles, but it’s hard to tell who’s better at the moment.

Lao Mouzi touched his chin. It was hard to tell who was better. So this guy must have won.

After all, Liu Ye debuted earlier.

I thought to myself, no wonder Biaozi also gave him a bottle of wine, this guy is really good! (End of this chapter)