The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 672 Woodpecker

Gong Yu took every word seriously and reported the matter to his superiors that same day.

At the same time, Lu Yuanzheng and Liu Shishi attended the opening ceremony of "Lost in Thailand".

The play is adapted from Ning Hao's experience of accompanying Yue Xiaojun in healing his heartbreak.

Therefore, the shooting locations also follow their travel footprints.

Starting from Beijing, we passed through Zhangjiajie, Tianmen Mountain, Furong Town, Kunming, Dali, and headed south.
July 7th, after more than two months of careful preparation.

This road comedy finally started shooting in Beijing, with a budget of 3500 million yuan, starring Huang Bo and Xu Zheng.

As an investor and guest actor, Lu Yuan came with his girlfriend to support.

Beijing, Sanlitun Happiness Plaza.

The weather was fine today, so Liu Shishi followed her boyfriend, jumped out of the car holding a cold drink.

She was wearing a rainbow striped shirt, a white skirt, and white sneakers. Her arms and thighs were glowing white, making her look hot and playful.

Liu Shishi pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head and gulped down a sip of cold drink.

"Give me a bite." Lu Yuan turned his head.

Liu Shishi put the straw into his mouth and asked, "Guess what I just found on the Internet?"

"Suck~"

"what?"

"Do you know who Yue Xiaojun's ex-wife is?"

"The Eagle's agent?"

"Hey, how did you know?" Liu Shishi looked silly.

Lu Yuan glanced at her: "Why can't I know."

Liu Shishi held the straw in her mouth and sighed, "Our circle is really small. After searching everywhere, it seems that in the end, we are only looking for our own people."

Lu Yuan did not respond, but nodded to Yue Xiaojun who was walking towards them not far away.

His gaze swept across Yue Xiaojun's face and finally stopped, or to be more precise, on Yue Xiaojun's forehead.

Liu Shishi stood on tiptoe and looked in the direction he was looking. "What are you looking at?"

"I wonder if Yue Xiaojun's divorce has something to do with the fact that he lost all his hair." Lu Yuan pinched his chin and guessed randomly.

Yue Xiaojun is really bald. I remember when he was filming "Crazy Stone" a few years ago, although his hair was sparse, he was able to support the front line from the rear and barely cover it up. Now he is at the level of a senior beile.

"If you think that way, then Xu Zheng will end up living alone. Judging from Geng Hao's experience in the script of "Heart Flower Road", it is obviously a financial problem."

Liu Shishi finished speaking, and said in a pinched voice: "Brother, don't worry, even if you become bald, I will never leave you."

"Pooh, pooh, you evil-hearted woman."

Lu Yuan pretended to be disgusted and pulled his thick hair hard, and saw that his palm was clean: "I have nothing to worry about. My senior brother is more worried."

Liu Shishi was surprised and blinked: "Which senior brother?"

"Hmm" Lu Yuan coughed dryly, realizing that he had let the cat out of the bag.

"forget."

"Hey, tell me." Liu Shishi refused and wanted to get to the bottom of it. She put her arms around his waist and acted like a spoiled child.

"Did not say."

"Say it."

"Hiss, put the cold drink away."

"Please tell me quickly, I promise not to tell anyone, good brother~~"

When Yue Xiaojun approached, he saw the couple flirting and talking nonsense. "You two, can you please pay attention to your image in public and take care of the feelings of a single divorced person like me?"

Lu Yuan put Liu Shishi down from his shoulders. He didn't feel embarrassed at all. Instead, he stared at the pendant around his neck.

"Isn't this the antique you found before? How come half of it wasn't taken away during the divorce?"

Yue Xiaojun was speechless and admired this guy.

His experience is somewhat similar to Ning Hao's. Before entering the Central Academy of Drama, he set up stalls in Xisi and Qianmen in Beijing and sold various items.

Later, he was reported by a colleague and the police came to his door, and both his money and goods were lost.

This pendant was the treasure he found that year and he has treasured it till now.

Lu Yuan finished his desensitization treatment, glanced behind him, and asked, "Where's Ning Hao?"

"Hmm." Yue Xiaojun shrugged. "I don't know what's wrong with Huang Bo and Xu Zheng. They're clamoring to change roles. Old Ning has been discussing it with them."

"Change roles?" Lu Yuan was puzzled.

The general plot of "Lost in Thailand" is that Geng Hao is an out-of-date singer who is experiencing a mid-life crisis.

The wife, who had been with him through thick and thin, threw herself into Lao Wang's arms, left him her wedding ring, and threw a puppy named Juice to Geng Hao.

Geng Hao was completely desperate and picked up an axe, almost falling into the abyss of crime.

In order to help him out of his pain, his friend and producer Hao Yi, taking the opportunity of delivering props to the crew, decided to take him south to hunt for beauties and visit hundreds of flowers along the way.

So two middle-aged men and a dog embarked on a crazy and funny journey of 3,000 kilometers.

According to the character settings, the divorced Geng Hao appears decadent, while Hao Yi is relatively noisy.

Ning Hao initially decided that Huang Bo would play the role of Hao Yi, a troubled man, and that the role of Geng Hao, a divorced man, would be given to Xu Zheng.

After all, the two have played many similar roles before, so they are very familiar with them and there is no challenge at all.

As an actor himself, Lu Yuan probably guessed something.

The three continued to walk inside, and Zhou Dongyu, the actress of "Mou Girl", came towards them with an exaggerated "Shamatte" hairstyle.

"Senior Brother Lu!"

"Sister Shishi!"

"Teacher Yue."

Zhou Dongyu made a bitter face, bowed respectfully, and greeted everyone one by one.

In addition to the two leading actors Huang Bo and Xu Zheng, many popular actresses have joined "Lost in Thailand".

Unlike "The Golden Robbery", this drama will have an all-star cast, and the scale of investment is also the largest in the history of Ning Hao's comedy.

Lu Yuan stared at Zhou Dongyu for a moment.

The other person's appearance can only be considered ordinary in the entertainment industry, with a hunchback, drooped shoulders, and a thin body, like a matchstick.

The media praised her, saying that she has the youthful temperament of a girl next door.

But Lu Yuan couldn't agree with her when he saw her afro, thick eyeliner and strings of earrings that looked like the Lion King.

Compared with previous Mou girls, such as Zhang Ziyi, Ni Ni and others, Zhou Dongyu is indeed much inferior in terms of hardware conditions.

But she was undoubtedly lucky.

She was selected by Zhang Yi at the age of 17 and made her debut as the "purest Mou Girl".

Because filming delayed her college entrance examination, Zhang Yi recommended her to apply for the Film Academy the following year.

With the protection of a famous director, his acting career naturally went smoothly.

Lu Yuan hummed softly.

At this time, a middle-aged woman with short hair walked out from behind Zhou Dongyu.

"Hello, Mr. Lu, I'm Du Yang."

"Mr. Du, Mr. Song has mentioned you a lot." Lu Yuan nodded.

Du Yang worked as publicity director and deputy general manager at Huayi Brothers in his early years.

She rose to fame in 2003 by promoting three movies, Cell Phone, Heroes of Heaven and Earth, and Kara is a Dog.

She appeared in Lu Chuan's "Looking for the Gun", "Kekexili" and "Nanjing Nanjing".

After leaving Huayi in 03, she went to Xingguang and Taihe successively, and then moved to Perfect World as vice president in 09. Later, she followed Song Ge to Wanda and became vice president of Wanda Films.

Some time ago, Song Ge, dissatisfied with the neglect of Mr. Wang and his "monopoly" plan, resolutely resigned from Wanda Film and Television and founded Ferris Wheel Culture Media, and Du Yang followed him.

The company is newly established and urgently needs to take on projects.

Considering their past friendship, Song Ge found Lu Yuan.

Ferris Wheel Culture Media thus became one of the distributors of "Lost in Thailand".

Du Yang said: "Mr. Lu, Lao Song asked me to congratulate you in person. The box office of "Chinese Partners" has exceeded 5 million in 3 days. Congratulations! Mr. Lu is worthy of this title."

She gave a thumbs up.

"Old Song also said that he would give you a big gift when he comes back from abroad."

Lu Yuan smiled and waved his hand: "Then you can thank him for me. No need for a big gift. Let's drink together when we have time."

"it is good!"

While the two were exchanging greetings, Zhou Dongyu had been silently observing his senior from the Beijing Film Academy.

She used to think that the other party had strong business skills, talent and good luck.

But he's just a good actor.

However, after getting to know him a little, she discovered that although he was a low-key person, he had actually become a capital tycoon long ago.

Last year, Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping had disagreements over the profit sharing and employment issues of the film "The Flowers of War" and eventually announced their breakup.

This battle to separate the family affected many actors.

Zhang Weiping even threatened to forcibly take back the management rights of 12 artists under the company, including her, Ni Ni, Dou Xiao, etc., and issued a shooting restriction order.

You are not allowed to take any role without his permission.

Ni Ni publicly stated his support for Zhang Yi.

Dou Xiao was unwilling to be controlled by others, so he took legal action against the company.

They were then retaliated against by Zhang Weiping.

Zhang Yi was involved in a scandal involving excessive births and was fined seven million yuan.

Ni Ni’s large-scale indecent photos were exposed on the Tianya Forum, and her pure and innocent image collapsed instantly.

Dou Xiao's situation was not much better. He lost the lawsuit and had to pay several million in compensation.

In this vigorous capital war, Zhang Yi was defeated miserably, Ni Ni who stood on his side was hidden, and Dou Xiao was banned.

Among the few people, only Zhou Dongyu escaped unscathed.

Because she did not clearly stand on Zhang Yi's side in this conflict.

Instead, she bypassed the company and signed with Du Yang, and even asked him to be her godmother.

But she relies on her godmother, and the capital tycoon Song Ge behind her godmother.

When facing Lu Yuan, he could only smile politely, even with a bit of flattery.

Zhou Dongyu cast an envious look at Liu Shishi who was biting a straw.

"Okay, I will definitely convey Mr. Lu's intention to Old Song." Du Yang said, and after the polite talk, he took the dazed Zhou Dongyu and left.

Lu Yuan glanced at the backs of the two people leaving.

From an actor's perspective, he can understand Zhou Dongyu's choice.

After all, compared with Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping, she has neither background nor a firm foothold in the entertainment industry. She is just a small fry, and it is understandable that she chooses to protect herself.

However, there is the example of Ni Ni who, in order to repay the kindness of his mentor, dared to burn his boats and strongly supported Zhang Yi.

In contrast, Lu Yuan didn't have a very good impression of Zhou Dongyu.

The reason why she was chosen to perform this time was not Song Ge.

Instead, Ning Hao's wife Xing Aina had a familiarity with Du Yang, and Ning Hao thought she fit the character's image, so the crew signed a contract with her.

Although he had some reservations about her character, Lu Yuan generally would not interfere with the director's casting decisions as long as it did not violate the law or involve issues of principle.

After Zhou Dongyu left, Liu Shishi spit out the straw and wondered, "Why is she looking so sad?"

Yue Xiaojun explained: "According to the script written by Xing Jie, Zhou Dongyu was supposed to play a very quiet role, similar to Jingqiu in Under the Hawthorn Tree."

"But after meeting her, Lao Ning felt that she was not quiet at all. Instead, she had the temperament of a rebellious girl who likes to go to bars and sing karaoke. So he changed the script overnight."

"She had just finished her makeup, and she must have cried because she looked so ugly, so it was a little hard for her to accept."

"Pfft, so that's how it is." Liu Shishi burst into laughter.

The three continued to walk inside and saw Ning Hao squatting under a tree, with Huang Bo and Xu Zheng gesturing in front of him.

"What's going on, you two?" Lu Yuan asked with a smile.

Hearing his voice, Huang Bo turned around, trotted a few steps, and pulled his arm: "Lu Yuan, you come and judge for yourself."

"what's going on?"

Huang Bo was dissatisfied and said: "I said that the role of Hao Yi was not challenging for me and the audience was tired of it, so I discussed with Xu Zheng to switch roles, but Lao Ning refused to agree."

"I think so too." Xu Zheng added.

"I have played too many middle-aged male roles with failed marriages, and the audience must be tired of them. Only by changing up the roles can the audience feel fresh."

"Brother!" Ning Hao was about to cry, scratching his head, "My two ancestors, you didn't tell me earlier, but now you're asking to change roles right before the filming starts. You're making fun of me."

Huang Bo and Xu Zheng looked at each other and then looked at Lu Yuan at the same time.

"Hey!" Lu Yuan understood and realized that the three of them were acting for him.

"Okay, stop acting. Anyway, I've only invested so much money, you guys can do whatever you want. The loss is not just mine. This time, Brother Bo and Lao Ning both chose to invest in the company with their film remuneration. As long as Lao Xu has no objection, I have no objection."

Xu Zheng nodded decisively: "I have no objection!"

The reason why he did not choose to invest his film pay and get a share of the profits like Huang Bo did.

The main reason was that Ning Hao’s previous movie “The Golden Robbery” did not make much profit, which made him a little hesitant.

Moreover, he has been working on a new script recently and plans to start filming next year.

He needs to prepare for the second sequel of "Lost in Thailand" and he wants to get the biggest share in the next movie.

"That you"

"Ding Ding Ding!"

Lu Yuan paused, then took out his cell phone from his pocket and let out a light exclamation.

PPS has several senior consultants who are either retired from authoritative departments or veterans of state-owned enterprises and have been recruited by the company with high salaries.

It could be a former court elite, or a heavyweight in the General Administration...

These consultants, figuratively speaking, are the fuses of a large company.

The company spends millions of dollars every year to support them. What they value is not only their professional qualities, but also the intricate network of relationships behind them and their keen sense of smell.

Normally, these consultants would not call Lu Yuan on their own initiative.

Once a call comes in, it often means that the company has encountered difficulties in some aspects.

Lu Yuan gave a few brief instructions to Ning Hao and the others, and was about to turn around to answer a call when Liu Shishi's cell phone rang.

"Special love, for special you."

Liu Shishi took out her cell phone and looked at it, saying, "It's Xu Weifeng!"

When Lu Yuan heard this, his eyelids jumped and he quickly answered the call.

A middle-aged man in his fifties spoke from the other end of the line.

"Director Lu, there may be a woodpecker coming to the company for inspection in the next few days. Inform President Xu to make preparations in advance."

"toot toot"

(End of this chapter)