The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 592 Poor Student Huang Xiaoming

There are three major birthplaces of Chinese crosstalk.

Beijing Tianqiao, Tianjin Quanyechang and Nanjing Confucius Temple.

Tianjin dialect has everything! It is very funny and makes you want to laugh when you hear it. This is the charm of Tianjin dialect.

Tianjin is also known as the "Capital of Genres".

"Oh my, what the hell is this? It's such a mess!"

"Today's weather is really funny, just like a crosstalk, changing all the time."

"Huo Yuanjia, what's up with you?"

Even if you don't understand it, you can still feel the flavor of crosstalk brought by the dialect.

The dramatic tension of Tianjin is not only hidden in these vernaculars, but is also very conspicuous on the streets, especially in the buildings.

For example, the Five Avenues area is home to hundreds of buildings in various styles from countries such as Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain.

Among them are well-known places such as the Prince Qing’s Palace, which retain the historical features of a hundred years ago while also perfectly integrating modern atmosphere.

The schools in Tianjin also have a long history and their architectural styles are very contemporary.

Tianjin Foreign Studies University, Hebei University of Technology, Yaohua Middle School.
Therefore, Tianjin has naturally become a popular filming location in the minds of many directors.

It was sunny on March 11.

The crew of "Chinese Partners" met in Tianjin at the call of director Chen Kexin.

The total cost of this play is 8000 million.

The filming team includes director Peter Chan, Wang Jiawei's exclusive director of photography Du Kefeng, and three leading actors: Lu Yuan, Huang Xiaoming, and Tong Dawei.

China Film holds 30% of the investment, Peter Chan Studio holds 20%, Far Eastern Media holds 20%, and the remaining portion is held by several Hong Kong companies including Star Media and Media Asia.

Lu Yuan invested 1600 million yuan in the film and took dividends in the later stages. This has become his habit.

Since you chose to act in it, it means you are optimistic about this play. If you don’t even have the confidence to get dividends, how can you expect the audience to spend money to go to the cinema?
At noon that day, Lu Yuan and his assistant rushed to the hotel where the crew was staying.

There were staff members arranged by the crew downstairs to receive us. After some understanding, we learned that Chen Kexin and the director of photography and others were scouting the scenery on the set.

After putting his luggage in the hotel and taking a short rest, Lu Yuan planned to go over and take a look.

Putting on masks and calling Zheng Qian, the two went out. As soon as they stepped into the elevator, they heard Huang Xiaoming calling from behind.

"Junior brother, junior brother, wait for me."

Zheng Qian was quick to act and pressed the switch. The elevator door opened slightly and Huang Xiaoming walked in with his assistant.

"Brother, when did you arrive? I thought you were with the director."

"I arrived a little earlier than you and was planning to go and see it, but suddenly a phone call came in." Huang Xiaoming shook his cell phone.

Lu Yuan noticed his expression, and thinking of the recent interesting things, he tilted his head slightly and said teasingly: "Brother, happy birthday, you are so lucky."

"Don't tease me." Huang Xiaoming shook his head in frustration. "What do you mean by good fortune? If anyone wants this fortune, take it. My head is so big now."

Lu Yuan couldn't help but smile when he heard that.

Why is Huang Xiaoming like this? Because his ex-girlfriend Li Fei'er and current girlfriend Yang Ying were at loggerheads on Weibo.

At the beginning of the month, Yang Ying planned to hold a birthday party for Huang Xiaoming.

As luck would have it, a Hong Kong reporter knew about this and during an interview, he caught Li Fei'er and asked, "Are you the mistress between Huang Xiaoming and Yang Ying?"

Li Fei'er and Huang Xiaoming fell in love during the filming of "The Deer and the Cauldron". It was obviously she who came first, so she responded seriously: "Yang Ying is the mistress!"

Since then, the conflict between the ex and the current boyfriend has been made clear, and the two have been quoting classics and exchanging ideas on Weibo.

Yang Ying first quoted a Zen saying and wrote: "In the past, Hanshan asked Shiti: How should I deal with the people in the world who slander me, deceive me, insult me, laugh at me, look down on me, despise me, hate me, and cheat me? Shiti said: Just tolerate him, let him be, let him be, avoid him, endure him, respect him, ignore him, and wait a few years and you will see what happens to him."

The sentence "wait a few years and you'll see what happens to him" is a direct irony that Li Fier is no longer a thing of the past and is overestimating her own abilities.

Li Feier is naturally not a pushover, and she wrote a poem on Weibo.

"I am just a speck of dust in the universe, so I always have a reverent heart, reverence for the laws of nature, reverence for the clear principles of heaven, and reverence for the words of the wise. I dare not have too much luck. Because there are gods above my head, and God is watching what I do."

He not only hit back at Yang Ying's words, but also expressed his grievance. The phrase "God is watching what you do" says it all.

Fans of both sides were unwilling to be left out. While supporting their idols, they also did not forget to make harsh remarks to the "enemy camp", escalating the conflict.

Even now, wars of words often break out on Weibo.

Huang Xiaoming was caught in the middle. Due to various considerations, he kept silent. When he went out, reporters chased him for interviews, and when he returned home, Yang Ying looked at him coldly. He was only shown but not used. You can imagine how he felt.

"Ding dong!"

The elevator door opened and a group of people walked out.

Huang Xiaoming sighed, gently bumped Lu Yuan's shoulder, and said enviously: "Your family's Shishi is still the best, quiet and peaceful."

"Come on!" Lu Yuan shook his head and complained bitterly: "My aunt is not much better. When she is well behaved, she is really adorable. She lies in my arms and whines, letting me do whatever I want.

When she gets angry, she's just like a donkey, so stubborn. If you touch her, she'll explode. If you don't know, you might think she's done something to you and that your life is ruined by her."

Huang Xiaoming glanced at him sideways, feeling hurt, and said unhappily: "Brother, when you say this, can you please suppress the corners of your mouth and consider my current mood a little."

"Okay, I'll pay attention next time." Lu Yuan said seriously.

"I don't want there to be a next time. I can't stand it even once!" Huang Xiaoming felt quite aggrieved.

"I don't think it's easy for me. Who can explain the relationship clearly? It's been so long, and you're still holding on to it."

He was talking about Li Fei'er and was also dissatisfied with Yang Ying for bringing up old issues.

"Go tell them that. What's the point of saying it in front of us?"

Lu Yuancai would not indulge him. This senior brother was good in other aspects except that his emotions were a mess.

"You" Huang Xiaoming was choked.

Zheng Qian couldn't hold back, she looked at Huang Xiaoming's assistant, covered her mouth with her hands, and laughed so hard that her shoulders shook.

Tianjin Second Workers' Cultural Palace.

The area in front of the gate had been cleared, with only a few people standing there scattered around. Peter Chan and Christopher To stood shoulder to shoulder, hands outstretched, gesturing and communicating.

Chen Kexin casually said: "During the filming, let them enter from these two sides, and Cheng Dongqing followed the crowd with his bedding in his arms."

Du Kefeng stood at the preset position of the camera, holding his chin up: "How about changing to a bicycle, and arranging more extras to give Cheng Dongqing a feeling of being swept forward, and make his image of a country bumpkin more three-dimensional."

"Well, you have a point."

Chen Kexin instructed, "Super reasonable. Remember to inform Xi Shouchen later that the extras in this scene must be able to ride bicycles. Ask the props to prepare more bicycles. They must be in line with the styles of that era. Phoenix, Forever, and Fei Ge brands. Consider the different economic conditions of the students' families, don't use all the same brand."

Xi Shouchen is the casting director of this play.

"Okay." Assistant director Zhang Chaoli took out his cell phone to record.

Zhang Chaoli made his debut in 2005 and starred in the costume film "The Warlords" directed by Chen Kexin, and came to prominence with the role of Gou Zi.

His last role was as Tian Canjiao in Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons.

Because he hadn't received any acting jobs recently, Chen Kexin asked him to be his assistant to earn some living expenses.

As he was writing, he noticed Lu Yuan and Huang Xiaoming quietly walking behind him.

"The two teachers are here." He hurriedly greeted them and reminded Chen Kexin, "Director, Teacher Lu and Teacher Huang are here."

"director."

"Director Chen."

As Chen Kexin turned around, a gentle smile appeared on his face.

"Dongqing and Xiaojun are here."

Lu Yuan smiled and shook hands with him.

Chen Kexin is not tall, about 1.6 meters, wears glasses and has an artist's hairstyle.

The small tuft of bangs in the front, I don’t know if it was dyed white intentionally or it’s due to his age, but the overall feeling he gives is gentle and refined.

According to his father, Chen Tongmin, his mother had a difficult labor when giving birth to him, and it was very painful. In order to commemorate his mother's hard work and also hope that he could also have hard work, he named him Chen Kexin.

From his instructions on the bicycle model just now, it is easy to see Chen Kexin's characteristics, that he pays special attention to details.

In fact, you can also get a glimpse of it from the other person's accent.

The pronunciation is clear and round, even a little too much, and the tongue is exaggeratedly rolled when pronouncing retroflex sounds.

When it comes to the Mandarin proficiency of Hong Kong directors, Lu Yuan believes that Chen Kexin can definitely be ranked in the top three.

Chen Kexin crossed his arms, tilted his head back, and walked around Lu Yuan a few times, saying, "You've gained weight!" Lu Yuan said, "According to the director's request, I gained 14 kilograms, no more, no less."

"Okay, okay." Chen Kexin nodded repeatedly to show his satisfaction.

Then, he turned to Huang Xiaoming and saw that he had lost a lot of weight. His aura had become fierce, arrogant, and aggressive. He praised: "Xiaojun is not bad either. They are all good. This drama is a sure thing!"

Huang Xiaoming showed his signature smile.

His performance was ruined as soon as he smiled, so he had to smile less after the filming started. Chen Kexin stared at Huang Xiaoming for several seconds before looking away.

After the CEPA policy was introduced in 2003, a large number of Hong Kong directors went north to the mainland to make films, including Johnnie To, Dante Lam, Wang Jing, Tsui Hark and others.

He was one of them, and the first one among this group to move the entire studio to the capital.

As a Hong Kong director, "Chinese Partners" is his first film in which all the leading actors are from mainland China.

Everyone was unfamiliar with each other, and he was worried that Huang Xiaoming might be upset.

That’s right, it’s Huang Xiaoming.

Chen Kexin couldn't help but recall the first time he found the other party with the script.

At that time, he hoped that Huang Xiaoming would play the role of Meng Xiaojun.

But who would have thought that after reading the script, Huang Xiaoming fell in love with the role of Cheng Dongqing and asked to give it a try.

Chen Kexin refused without hesitation.

The drama "Chinese Partners" means a lot to him. In other words, he can't afford to lose now.

In 2007, "The Warlords" was released and ranked third in the national box office. He became the second director in China after Zhang Yimou to have a box office of over 2 million yuan.

Jet Li also won the Best Actor Award at the Academy Awards for his slightly villainous performance in the film.

All of a sudden, praises came pouring in, and everyone praised him as the best storyteller in Hong Kong.

He thinks so too.

Everyone said that martial arts was declining and the market was not good, but he wanted to give it a try even though he didn't know much about martial arts.

Who made everyone praise him for his talent?

In 2011, the 1.2 million RMB film "Wu Xia" was released.

The box office was dismal, 50% less than expected, a huge loss.

a bolt from the blue!

That was the seventh year that Chen Kexin went north.

Chen Kexin himself was also one of the investors of "Wuxia" and suffered heavy financial losses.

The loss of profits is a small matter, but there was also the incident of the sky-high priced straw hat, and the reputation was really ruined.

So this time on "Chinese Partners", he told himself two words: play it safe.

Whether it is to restore the precarious reputation or considering his 20% investment in the film.

Only success is allowed, no failure is allowed.

Therefore, even though Huang Xiaoming has repeatedly stated that his personality is very similar to Cheng Dongqing's, that he is stubborn, resolute, and persistent in his work, the more he says he is not good enough, the more he wants to make him do better.

He just pretended not to hear.

If Lu Yuan wasn't there, he might have given the other party a chance to try.

But since Lu Yuan has joined, the male lead role can only be played by him and no one else from the mainland film and television industry, unless he gives up being the director.

In his opinion, Lu Yuan's acting talent is far superior to Huang Xiaoming's.

What Huang Xiaoming can express, Lu Yuan can also express, and what Huang Xiaoming cannot express, Lu Yuan can also express.

The score on the paper was 100. Huang Xiaoming was able to get 100 because he had done similar papers in advance and was relatively familiar with them, but 100 points was not Lu Yuan's limit.

The real Chen Kexin is different from the gentle and elegant impression he presents to the public. He is good at calculating. Most directors only talk about art and empty words, but he is more pragmatic. He only cares about box office and money.

Obviously, in terms of box office appeal, Huang Xiaoming and Lu Yuan are not on the same level.

For anyone with good judgment, the answer to who to choose as the soul of the film is self-evident.

He had originally thought that if Huang Xiaoming had a little temper, he would have to replace him even if the other party had some connection with him. Fortunately, the other party was very sensible.

Several people stood in front of the gate of Ergong, and Lu Yuan asked: "Director Chen, have you decided on the title of our play?"

"Why, do you have an idea?" Chen Kexin read out, "At present, they are tentatively selected as China Partner, Roaring Twenties, Roaring Decade, and Dream Era. Pick one."

Lu Yuan shook his head. He was just asking. A movie was about to start shooting, but the title hadn't been decided yet. This showed the dilemma faced by the director and screenwriter.

"Zhang Qiang, vice president of China Film Group, launched a movie title vote on Weibo, intending to let netizens help us choose." Chen Kexin said with a laugh.

"Xu Xiaoping was still complaining in the comment section of Weibo, criticizing name after name, saying this was not good and that was not good, and he even found fault with Wang Shi, haha."

"This matter is not over yet?" Lu Yuan also laughed.

"It won't get better in a short time."

Huang Xiaoming listened for a while and suddenly asked, "Director, I heard you say before that you gave the script to Mr. Wang from Vanke to read?"

"Yes." Chen Kexin nodded and said, "I showed the script to Wang Shi because I had no choice. I didn't know any of the other entrepreneurs, and Wang Shi would tell me the truth."

At this point, he laughed again: "In fact, after I got Xu Xiaoping's script, I initially planned to overturn it completely."

They both listened carefully.

"Have you seen Citizen Kane?" asked Peter Chan.

Huang Xiaoming thought for a few seconds and was about to shake his head.

But Lu Yuan opened his mouth and said, "It was the debut film of American director Orson Welles when he was 25 years old. It tells the story of the rise of a newspaper tycoon."

When preparing for the role of Cheng Dongqing, he consulted a lot of information, including but not limited to Yu Minhong's biography, Feng Lun's "Wild Growth", and various films.

"Citizen Kane" is one of them. The protagonist's rise to fame is accompanied by grayness. He manipulates public opinion, politics, and uses all means to attack competitors.

Huang Xiaoming suddenly showed a look of surprise in his eyes.

When he first saw the script, he was not aware that Chen Kexin had already chosen the leading male role.

I just feel that Dongqing is very suitable for me and I want to fight for it.

After learning that it was Lu Yuan, he naturally lost interest, but that didn't mean he didn't have other ideas.

The character of Meng Xiaojun is not likable. He is selfish, arrogant and domineering.

But Chen Kexin projected his greatest personal emotions onto Meng Xiaojun. Some of the experiences actually happened to him and he has his own shadow in them.

So it can be said that Meng Xiaojun is the most completed character in the whole play, and he is also very capable of stealing the show.

It is almost his obsession to defeat his junior in terms of business ability.

But why hasn't he heard of Citizen Kane?
Huang Xiaoming felt frustrated for a moment. He thought he was well prepared, but now it seems that he was not prepared enough.

The smile on Chen Kexin's face grew wider, and he became more and more satisfied with his choice.

"Any director would be excited to see the upheavals of the times reflected through the fate of one person. My initial idea was to take the plot of Partners in that direction. After all, there are many such people in China's turbulent 30 years."

“Like entrepreneur Feng Lun’s book “Wild Growth”.”

At this point, he paused, worried that the two of them didn't understand, and asked, "Have you heard of this book?"

"Turn over a few pages." Lu Yuan nodded again.

Huang Xiaoming pursed his lips, inexplicably feeling as if he was back in his student days. He nodded pretentiously.

"Very good. I'm looking forward to the next shoot." Chen Kexin clapped his hands and continued the previous topic.

"Feng Lun frankly admitted in the book that he had bribed officials and received kickbacks during his years in business, and that dealing with gangsters was also common. We all know that these practices are actually a way of survival for private entrepreneurs and are not subject to moral judgment."

"But these things that happen under the table cannot be put on the screen in their original form. The story is thrilling, but how can we film the collusion between officials and businessmen and the transaction of money for power? Who dares to film it?"

Chen Kexin looked helpless and spread his hands: "I don't dare anyway."

"Later, I looked for biographies of Zhang Chaoyang, Ding Lei, Ma Yun and others, and found that they were all about mergers and acquisitions. There were no things that should have existed, which seemed particularly harmonious. Many business behaviors are incomprehensible to ordinary people, and even if they can understand them, they are meaningless."

“So, in the end, I still moved closer to New Oriental. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even want to have the words ‘new dream’ left.”

The doubts in Lu Yuan's mind gradually became clear. This was probably the crux of the problem that the crew was about to start filming, but the title had not yet been discussed.

"Hey, senior brother, what's that look in your eyes?" Lu Yuan raised his eyebrows, thinking that the other party was a little strange.

Huang Xiaoming withdrew his gaze.

Alas, melancholy!
(End of this chapter)