Inside the audition room for "Curse of the Golden Flower".

In front of Zhang Weiping, Gong Li, and Cheng Xiaodong.

Zhang Yuan's pupils trembled, his lips seemed to be half open, and his expression changed from confusion and panic to ferociousness and resentment.

The three most famous directors of the fifth generation of Chinese directors are naturally Zhang, Feng and Chen.

But these three people have a common problem, which is that their ability to create and adjust scripts is very average.

The most obvious one is poet Chen.

From "Farewell My Concubine" to "The Promise", the storytelling abilities are like heaven and earth.

There is no way. "Farewell My Concubine" is based on the original novel by Li Bihua, and the script is controlled by Lu Wei, one of the top screenwriters in China.

In addition, Gu Changwei was responsible for photography, and Mr. Chen was the art and action director.

All aspects are strictly controlled, and poet Chen has limited "creative" space.

But when it came to The Promise, poet Chen personally took on the role of screenwriter, and was given ample space for "creation" and "development", and then...

Among the three top costume dramas of the same era, "The Promise", "The Banquet" and "Curse of the Golden Flower", the story of "The Promise" is the most confusing.

The remaining two knew they were not good at making up stories, so they drew on famous works.

"The Banquet" is a direct copy of "Hamlet", also known as "The Revenge of the Prince".

So the whole film has a strong flavor of a stage play.

"Curse of the Golden Flower" is a copy of "Thunderstorm", but Zhang Yimou's experience in shooting blockbusters is indeed stronger than Director Feng, and the final effect is also better.

Directors Feng and Zhang were both very clever in re-shooting existing classics, but only Director Chen was very confident in creating original works.

"Good!" Lao Mouzi said in his heart after watching Zhang Yuan's performance.

"That transition from disbelief to anger and resentment was all there."

“There is a gradual process.”

Gong Li also kept nodding.

"Is good."

"With such performance at such a young age, his future is bound to be limitless."

“He’s very talented!”

Just as Gong Huang was thinking about it, she saw Zhang Yuan looking at her fiercely, his teeth grinding with a creaking sound. He spoke in a muffled voice, as if there was a blood clot in his chest.

"Why did you say it!"

The queen said it deliberately to the emperor's face just to seek revenge.

After the collapse, he felt infinite resentment towards the Queen, the whistleblower.

Zhang Yuan's eyes were bloodshot and he was filled with anger.

Gong Li's heart trembled when he saw this.

“What a strong emotional tension!”

"Okay, that's enough!" Lao Mouzi smiled and waved his hand to stop, while glancing at Zhang Weiping.

He thought that his financial sponsor and old brother often sent people to the crew, but this was the first time he had sent in someone so decent.

"What other strengths do you have that you can show?" asked Zhang Yimou.

"I know a little bit of martial arts." After thinking it over, Zhang Yuan realized that he knew a lot, but not much of it was useful in this film.

"Okay, let's try."

Zhang Yuan then threw a few punches.

From Shaolin boxing to Tongbeiquan, he also practiced the Fanziquan that he had borrowed from Li Lianjie.

Martial arts director Cheng Xiaodong felt that the character looked more and more familiar, and secretly applauded.

After showing all that he was good at, he stopped.

"Um, any more?"

"That's about it." Zhang Yuan shook his head slightly.

"Well, go back and wait for notification."

Zhang Yuan bowed to express his gratitude and then turned to leave.

"How were those few sets of Kung Fu?"

Lao Mouzi turned around and asked Cheng Xiaodong.

Cheng Xiaodong was the action director for both the blockbuster films "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers", so Zhang Yimou has extra trust in him when it comes to martial arts moves.

"The virtual and the real intersect, and you can tell that he has received excellent professional training and has a very good foundation."

"If designed properly, he should be able to perform a lot of difficult moves."

I had heard from my younger brother Ma Yuchen a long time ago that there was a young actor in mainland China who was very good at kung fu, and today I finally saw it for myself.

It turns out to be true.

"Well, what a pity." After listening to him, Lao Mou first nodded in response, and then sighed.

After saying that, he looked at Zhang Weiping with some dissatisfaction.

The eldest prince has action scenes in the film, but they are very few.

Most of the action scenes are performed by the second prince.

Zhang Yuan has a great appearance, excellent acting skills, and is good at action scenes, so he is very suitable for the role of the second prince.

But this role was given to Zhang Weiping.

That's why he feels so sorry.

"As for the role of the eldest prince, although he is younger than Liu Ye, his temperament is still quite calm." Zhang Yimou recalled and compared the two's performances.

"Liu Ye's performance has a stronger sense of stage, while Zhang Yuan's is more realistic."

“You can’t simply distinguish between good and bad.”

Gong Li also nodded in agreement.

"His action scenes are better than Liu Ye's..." Cheng Xiaodong added weakly.

"But in terms of performance experience, Liu Ye still has the advantage."

“Experienced actors are more consistent in their performance.”

“There’s also more control during the shoot.”

"So I think Liu Ye is more suitable for the role of the eldest prince." After thinking about it, Lao Mouzi decided to take a safer choice.

It's a good seedling, it's a pity.

But he is still young and there will be opportunities for cooperation in the future... Zhang Yimou thought so.

Although Liu Ye is his junior and one of their own, Gong Li also feels a little sorry for Zhang Yuan.

She really liked the wildness in Zhang Yuan just now, especially the angry look in his eyes, which made her particularly like him.

Amid the regrets of several professionals, Zhang Yuan was temporarily left out of the shortlist for the eldest prince.

Logically speaking, there is nothing wrong with Zhang Yimou's choice. Anyone would prefer Liu Ye, a good actor who has won two Best Actor awards.

But things are unpredictable...

……

Zhang Yuan didn't care too much about whether he was selected.

After all, he already has a big production "The Banquet" as a guarantee for next year.

I rushed to the dressing room in my costume, ready to take off my makeup and go home.

In the corridor, he saw a slender figure walking back and forth, muttering to herself anxiously.

"Hello." Zhang Yuan raised his arms tucked into the sleeves of his wide robe, walked up to the other party and shook hands with him.

"Hello……"

This young girl with long hair and an oval face is called Li Man. She is preparing her lines for an audition.

She is not very old, even one year younger than Liu Xixi, so it is normal for her to be nervous when auditioning for such a big crew.

She glanced at the man in front of her and immediately recognized him as "Li Xiaoyao".

I took another look at his outfit, which was almost the same as Liu Ye's just now, which meant that they were trying out for the same role.

Li Man is now unknown, and Liu Ye ignored her when he passed by just now.

Now that Zhang Yuan took the initiative to talk to her, she felt that this recently popular actor was quite friendly.

The role she auditioned for was the third female character, Xiaochan, who was the eldest prince's "dearest friend, sibling."

After chatting for a few minutes, Zhang Yuan stopped disturbing her and turned away.

"If I had to choose, he would be a better choice to play the eldest prince." Li Man whispered, looking at Zhang Yuan's back.

"After all, there are many rival scenes, and this one is more pleasing to the eye and seems easier to approach than Liu Ye."

"Oh, what I say doesn't count, and I can't even protect myself." Thinking of this, Li Man patted the back of his head and continued to recite the lines nervously.

"I can't tell if it's squeezed..." Zhang Yuan pondered after returning to the dressing room.

You know, one of the main features of the movie "Curse of the Golden Flower" is the northern hemisphere that fills the entire screen with white.

Especially led by Gong Huang and Li Man.

He didn't dare to look at Gong Li, not even to glance at her, because he wanted to respect the old artist.

I glanced at her a few times while talking to Li Man, but couldn't see any clues.

"It seems that we have to try it out in practice to know whether it is true or not." Zhang Yuan clasped his hands in the air.

“I just don’t know if there’s a chance.”

"How did you perform just now?" Jay Chou asked, pulling him aside.

"good."

"It would be great if you could be hired, so I can have someone I know in this crew." Jay Chou is still not confident about acting. Especially when facing a top director like Zhang Yimou, he is afraid of being embarrassed and scolded.

Not only is Zhang Yuan familiar with him, he also gave him guidance and help in acting when he was on the set of "Initial D", so he sincerely hopes that he can work with him again.

"Why, you still can't bear to leave your father?" Zhang Yuan smiled sideways.

"Get lost!" Jay Chou imitated the Northeastern dialect with his own Taiwan accent.

After saying goodbye to Jay Chou, he returned to the courtyard to rest.

New Year's Eve is coming soon, and after being busy all year, he finally has a few days of leisure.

"Next we just have to wait for the filming of 'The Banquet' to start." He lazily lay on the sofa.

Beep, beep... Just then, the cell phone rang.

When he picked it up and took a look, Zhang Yuan immediately smiled.

The fish I caught before took the bait.

"Hello, is this Brother Zhang Yuan?"

The caller was Yao Cheng.

Logically speaking, this guy is older than Zhang Yuan, but when he needs help, he naturally has to call him brother.

The next day, Zhang Yuan invited this person to his home.

Yao Cheng found the address indicated in the text message and nervously raised his hand to knock on the door.

"Just ask me to come home..."

She has been thinking about it a lot recently, especially since she lost her job after the filming of "Wulin Waijia" was completed.

No film crew has come to us yet.

She became increasingly worried about her future.

Thinking about the bait Zhang Yuan had thrown out before, the program on Shanghai TV and the movie role, this is just work.

She is just an unknown little actress now, and big companies may not want her.

Although Zhang Yuan's company is a small one, "Wulin Waijiao" was invested by others, so they were very generous.

In addition, Zhang Yuan used Ni Hongjie to stimulate her at that time, so she couldn't bear it anymore and came to him on her own initiative.

But when he saw that the meeting address Zhang Yuan gave was his home address, he felt a little uneasy.

"It seems I still have to sacrifice my chastity."

You are willing to give me resources, but you want me to come to you. Isn’t this obvious enough?
There are no free resources in the entertainment industry!

Knock, knock, knock... This person closed his eyes and knocked on the gate.

Yao Cheng specially changed into purple lace underwear today and came with some bubble gum in his pocket, making all preparations possible.

With a creak, the gate of the courtyard opened wide and the man opened his eyes and took a look.

Then I realized that my preparations might be unnecessary.

"Come in." Cheng Hao, who was wearing a red long dress and dressed up specially, appeared in front of her.

Yao Cheng took a closer look and found that on the other person's exposed snow-white neck, in addition to a delicate platinum necklace, there was also a fresh "strawberry mark" above the collarbone.

Then she saw Zhang Yuan waving at her not far away, and she understood.

Cheng Hao is his woman...

How could she be interested in me when she eats so well?

This guy has some self-awareness.

At the same time, Cheng Hao also breathed a sigh of relief.

When Zhang Yuan called him yesterday and said he wanted to sign a female actress, alarm bells went off in his good sister's head!
Previously at the Internet Festival Gala, it was discovered that this guy was having affairs with several women, all of them were beautiful beauties.

Are you planning to take this home?
She specially did her hairstyle and changed into a red "battle suit" because she was planning to make a demonstration.

But after opening the door and seeing Yao Cheng's appearance, the good sister immediately felt relieved.

"Zhang Yuan doesn't like her..."

Compared with her, I can easily crush her without even having to unleash my charm.

After one encounter, both of them felt that their preparations were in vain.

"Come, sit down, you're welcome." Zhang Yuan greeted the other party.

"Cheng Hao probably needs no introduction."

"No need." Yao Cheng lowered his head and shook hands with his good sister.

"Cheng Hao and I opened the agency together, and we are in charge of it for the time being."

"We will gradually add office space and teams later."

"In the early stages of starting a business, I hope for your understanding."

"Oh, I understand!" Yao Cheng nodded.

"Well, let me first introduce you to my current situation..."

Zhang Yuan told the story slowly, and Baoqiang and Ning Hao were the first to inform his subordinates.

He also mentioned that he has invested in three TV series, namely "Bright Sword", "Wulin Waijia" and "The Lotus Lantern", as well as the movie "Crazy Stone".

Yao Cheng's eyes widened after hearing this.

She knows Wang Baoqiang, who won the Golden Horse Award for Best Newcomer. His role as Sha Gen in "A World Without Thieves" won the love of many audiences.

She was not familiar with Ning Hao, but when she heard that he had just accepted funding from Liu Dehua to shoot a movie, she knew that this man must be something extraordinary.

With the addition of the popular actress Cheng Hao, Yao Cheng discovered that although Zhang Yuan did not have many people under him, each of them was a strong elite and none of them was just slacking off.

And the TV series he invested in are also amazing.

In addition to the "Wulin Waijia" in which he starred, "Bright Sword" has recently become popular all over the country.

She also knew "The Lotus Lantern", which was a CCTV masterpiece.

"Oh, by the way, I almost forgot to say that Shu Chang is also my person." Zhang Yuan added.

Yao Cheng opened his mouth and nodded slightly.

Shu Chang is also his man... He is the most powerful child star in the country. He became famous when he was only in his teens. Even though he is young, his pay is much higher than his!

Yao Cheng discovered that although Zhang Yuan's side had few people, they were elite. Except for the director named Ning Hao, the rest were all outstanding.

It is difficult for ordinary medium-sized companies to find artists of the same level as Cheng Hao, Shu Chang and Wang Baoqiang.

Only a few large companies can maintain the upper hand.

So, this place has a future?
"All the conditions I told you before can be written into the contract."

"If something unexpected happens, I will also provide you with resources of the same level as compensation."

Yao Cheng was afraid that he would write a bad check before, but now that she saw that the other party was so honest, she dispelled her last worry.

When drafting the contract, Yao Cheng carefully chose a three-year contract.

After finishing the job, Zhang Yuan invited the other party to dinner.

During the meal, Yao Cheng toasted repeatedly, and after drinking a lot, he asked tentatively.

"Um, boss, when can you help me contact the show and movie you mentioned?"

"No rush." ​​Zhang Yuan smiled and replied, "I'll get back to you before the New Year, don't worry."

Now is not the time to contact.

Because "Wulin Waijia" will not be broadcast until three days later.

By then, helping Yao Cheng to make the contact would be much more effective.

After dinner, Cheng Hao took his arm and they returned to the courtyard together.

"What do you like about her?" asked the good sister.

"I like her because she can make money for me." Zhang Yuan immediately replied, "By the way, you can sort it out in a while and give her some of those small businesses and advertisements that I don't like."

"They are looking for you, and she is not famous, so who would want to use her?"

"So I said in a few days."

Looking at Zhang Yuan's mysterious smile, Cheng Hao frowned, having no idea what he was up to.

A week later, Zhang Yuan received a call from Jay Chou.

"I got some information from the crew for you. It seems they have decided to use Liu Ye." Jay Chou said with some regret.

Zhang Yuan thanked him and put down his phone.

"After all, he is the man that Hu Jun can't forget. He must be really capable."

"Even I can't shake the other party's position?"

"It's a pity that I don't have the chance to act with Gong Li anymore."

"There's no way of knowing how old Li Man is..."

Not long after, he received a call from the crew of "Curse of the Golden Flower".

The other party informed him that there were no suitable roles at the moment.

This is a polite refusal.

But at the same time, he specifically mentioned that Zhang Yimou was very satisfied with him and expressed that he would consider him again if there was an opportunity in the future.

Zhang Yuan felt that if he could leave a good impression on Zhang Yimou, his trip would not be in vain.

At the same time, in order to create hype, Zhang Weiping leaked to the media the news that Jay Chou, Zhang Yuan and others were auditioning for "Curse of the Golden Flower".

It seems like everyone has started to learn Big Beard's hype tactics, creating hype first whether there is something going on or not.

Naturally, this matter soon reached the ears of the Wang brothers.

Of course, what these two brothers have in front of them now is not just the audition news.

And the broadcast performance of "Wulin Wai Zhuan"... (End of this chapter)