Meiyu: I don’t care about the cost when making movies

Chapter 173 Airport Encounters
If he had been a small actor, Soderbergh would have directly blocked him and replaced him. But who made Wayne not only a popular A-list star, but also the boss of one of the top five production companies among the Big Seven, and a billionaire? .

So in Soderbergh's view, Wayne's ability to come so quickly was undoubtedly very sincere.

Reciprocating the favor, Soderbergh discussed with the producer and immediately revised the shooting plan, preparing to finish shooting the scenes of Wayne and Charlize Theron as quickly as possible.

After all, Warner is also thinking about the super-luxurious "The Notebook" starring Wayne and Jessica and joined by Nicolas Cage, Dustin Hoffman, and Susan Sarandon.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Wayne arrived at the airport with Hannah and Charlize Theron, as well as four bodyguards and Charlize Theron's assistant.

There is no doubt that this lineup is very eye-catching wherever they go, even if Wayne and Charlize Theron are wearing sunglasses that cover half of their faces, but they are escorted by four bodyguards. Everyone who wants to sign autographs and take photos All the fans were blocked outside.

However, when entering the VIP lounge, Wayne unexpectedly saw a few familiar faces.

"Hey, Mr. Wayne! I didn't expect to meet you here!"

In a back-shaped sofa area, Li Min, who was originally sitting in the C seat in the middle, immediately changed his face when he saw Wayne walking in. He stood up and ran over with an extremely enthusiastic smile.

On the left and right sides of Li Min were Zhang Yimou, Li Lianjie, Zhang Manyu, a protégé of Yuan Baye and Zhang Yimou's assistant.

Looking at the entire Hollywood, there are 8 actors registered with the Screen Actors Guild alone, and there will be even more when screenwriters, directors, and producers are included.

Therefore, meeting celebrities at the Los Angeles Airport is not a rare event, but quite normal.

It's just a bit strange to meet these big names in the Chinese film and television industry here.

"Hello, Director Li Min, I didn't expect to meet you here."

Many thoughts flashed through Wayne's head, but a noble and elegant smile appeared on his face, and he shook hands with Li Min.

After a few simple greetings, Wayne deliberately turned his head to look at Zhang Yimou and others behind Li Min who had also stood up with a hint of curiosity.

"Let me introduce to you, this is Zhang Yimou, a great director from China. His works are... one of the best directors in China. He has won many awards at the three major European film festivals."

"This is Zhang Manyu, one of the most famous actresses in China. She won the Best Actress Award at the 92 Berlin International Film Festival and Chicago International Film Festival."

"As for this—"

"Jet Li, you are my idol. Although I like both "Lethal Weapon 4" and "Romeo", my favorites are "Dark Man" and "Fist of Heroes", especially "Fist of Heroes" , the fighting scene with you in it is really cool!" Wayne took the initiative to shake hands with Li Lianjie without Li Min introducing him this time.

After all, Jet Li is not an unknown person in Hollywood, and he is considered a second-tier actor at this time.

Li Lianjie naturally knew Wayne, so he felt quite flattered by Wayne's enthusiasm.

After all, Hollywood has always been very arrogant towards Asian actors.

However, Li Min already knew from the last Oscars that Wayne was very friendly to Asian actors, so he was not too surprised, and then introduced Wayne's identity to Zhang Yimou and others.

Regarding the identity of actor Wayne, Zhang Yimou and Zhang Manyu actually know something about it.

In the past ten days, "The Bourne Supremacy" has earned a box office of 1 million yuan and 8300 million Hong Kong dollars in mainland China and Hong Kong respectively, becoming the annual box office champion in both places.

As insiders, it's impossible for them not to pay attention to this movie, but they don't know much about Wayne's other identities.

So after learning that Wayne has a production company with North American distribution channels, and that the scale and influence of this production company is enough to rank in the top five among the Big Seven, both of them were secretly shocked, and at the same time, they were secretly shocked. His expression also became more polite and enthusiastic.

After Wayne introduced the identity of Charlize Theron, he curiously asked why they were here.

"That's right, I have a new movie that I want to invite Lian Jie to star in." Zhang Yimou said with a thought in his heart.

Although "Hero" is still in the preliminary preparation stage, it would also be a good thing if overseas distribution channels can be finalized in advance.

After all, the budget of this movie is currently as high as 2400 million U.S. dollars, which is nearly [-] million U.S. dollars when converted into soft girl coins. It is simply impossible to make money back domestically.

"Is it a martial arts movie like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"?" Wayne asked, pretending not to know, as he glanced at Li Min.

Zhang Yimou was slightly stunned.

In his heart, he must have felt that the concept and depth of "Hero" was much higher than that of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", but it was obviously difficult to explain this kind of thing, so he could only nod his head and said: "Yes, it is "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" A martial arts movie like Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Wayne's dream is indeed "Hero", so Zhang Yimou came to America specifically to invite Jet Li to play the leading actor Wu Ming.

If he remembers correctly, Jet Li should still be filming "The Cosmic Manhunt" directed by Huang Yiyu, the director of "The God of Death".

Coupled with Li Lianjie's own status, it makes sense for Zhang Yimou to travel thousands of miles to come forward in person.

After all, the salary he paid Li Lianjie was definitely not as high as in Hollywood.

"Can you show me the script outline and character settings?" Wayne asked pretending to be curious.

Such a request is undoubtedly a bit abrupt. After all, it is impossible for the script of "Hero" to be registered in Hollywood. However, Zhang Yimou quickly glanced at Li Min and Jet Li and saw that neither of them spoke, so he turned to his assistant to take it. I prepared a script outline and character settings.

He came to invite Li Lianjie, so naturally these things were already prepared.

Wayne took it and flipped through it quickly, then looked at Zhang Manyu with a smile and said: "If my guess is correct, the heroine Feixue should be played by Miss Zhang, right?"

"That's right." Zhang Yimou answered on his behalf. "Then for the second female lead Ru Yue, does Director Zhang have a suitable candidate?"

As soon as these words came out, let alone Zhang Yimou, everyone present couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. Only Hannah reacted the fastest, and something came to mind.

"Well, not yet. Does Mr. Wayne have any good recommendations?" Zhang Yimou came back to his senses and couldn't help but ask.

"That's right," Wayne said calmly: "My agent Mike happens to have a Chinese actress named Liu Qianxi. Her costume is very beautiful, and I think her image and temperament are quite suitable for this role."

Yes, the reason why Wayne went around so much was because he wanted to use Liu Tianxian to squeeze out Zhang Ziyi and win the role of Ru Yue.

Although he hasn't seen Liu Tianxian for a long time, Liu Tianxian has never given up sending him text messages and makes her presence known from time to time, so Wayne has not forgotten her.

Now that he had just encountered such an opportunity, he naturally didn't mind helping Liu Tianxian to win this role that although she didn't have many roles, was very amazing.

"I know that with Director Zhang's status in China, there should be no shortage of investment, but if Director Zhang wants to sell overseas copyrights at a good price, I think I should be able to help."

Such conditions may seem to others to be just an ordinary exchange of interests, but for Wayne, who knew that this "Heroes" would achieve good overseas box office, it was actually killing two birds with one stone.

"This." Zhang Yimou looked at Li Min and Jet Li again. He was not familiar with Hollywood after all, so he could only ask these two for help.

But this time, Li Min and Li Lianjie lost their previous calmness, and each of them quickly winked at Zhang Yimou, asking him to agree.

Just kidding, the copyrights of each of Wayne's films have been selling like crazy, leading to a frantic scramble by the Big Seven and many distribution companies. The overseas copyrights of "The Bourne Supremacy" were sold for US$1 million, which is unprecedented in Hollywood. People don’t know.

If Wayne helps, or even comes forward to certify it in person, the overseas copyright price of "Hero" will definitely be much higher than if they sell it themselves, or even multiple times.

Although Zhang Yimou didn't know the inside story, he was also a smart man. Seeing the reactions of Li Min and Li Lianjie, he immediately knew that there would definitely be great benefits in agreeing to Wayne.

However, at this time, what he valued more was the quality and awards of the film, so he did not agree immediately after hesitating for a while. He just asked Wayne for the contact information of Mike and Liu Tianxian, and wanted to see it first.

"No problem, that's how it should be."

Wayne smiled, not dissatisfied.

It's just a matter of casual words, and he won't suffer any loss whether it succeeds or not, right?
After taking the initiative to exchange contact information with Jet Li, Wayne saw that the time was almost up and boarded the plane with Charles Theron and others.

As soon as they left, Li Min couldn't help but spit on Zhang Yimou and others.

"Oh my god! Yimou, you have no idea what you almost missed just now! If I were you just now, I would definitely agree immediately."

Thanks to Li Min's popular science, Zhang Yimou and others finally understood Wayne's status and influence in Hollywood, especially after learning that every movie produced by Hemera Pictures would attract crazy competition from the Big Seven. He originally planned to talk about it after returning to China, but he finally couldn't sit still.

"Then I'll contact Mike Jones now!" After Zhang Yimou said that, he picked up his cell phone and dialed the number on the business card.

In addition to helping "Heroes" get higher copyright income, what he values ​​​​more is the good relationship between Wayne and Harvey mentioned by Li Min, which also has a great influence on the Oscars.

In today's era, as an aspiring director, who doesn't want to challenge for an Oscar?
"Hello, hello, are you Mr. Mike Jones? I am Zhang Yimou, a director from China. Mr. Wayne asked me to contact you, saying that you have an actress named Liu Qianqian who is very suitable for my new movie. a role.”

Although he has not received any notification from Wayne, after a brief exchange with Zhang Yimou, Mike confirmed that Zhang Yimou was not a liar.

After confirming Zhang Yimou's identity and influence in China through WMA channels, Mike quickly finalized the audition with him.

Then Mike picked up the phone and dialed Liu Tianxian's mobile phone number.

"Hey, Mike, do you have any new role for me?"

At this time, Liu Tianxian had finished filming several commercials and TV series guest appearances and returned to America. In order to graduate as soon as possible, he was frantically making up for credits. After learning that he had got the opportunity to audition for the second female lead in Zhang Yimou's new film, he almost jumped out of excitement. stand up.

She has been in China for several months, so she naturally knows how high Zhang Yimou's status is in the Chinese film and television industry.

Although in her opinion it is still not as good as starring in a big Hollywood production, this is an opportunity for the second female lead!You must know that her "good sister" Megan, the highest-ranking role she has played so far, is only the third female lead.

And when Mike said that this new film was a martial arts film similar to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", she couldn't help but feel even more satisfied. After all, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" had a global box office of US$2.05 million!
"Thank you, Mike!"

"You don't need to thank me. This is the opportunity that Wayne helped you get. He said that you are the most suitable for this kind of costume appearance. But your acting skills are still too immature, so I discussed it with Director Zhang and he will I will hire a professional acting teacher to come to Milijan to guide your acting skills, so that you can quickly improve your acting skills without delaying your credits. As for this part of the cost, the agency will bear it first and wait until later. After you get the salary, it will be deducted from the salary."

"Okay, I will study my acting skills hard and I won't let Wayne down!"

After hanging up the phone, Liu Tianxian immediately sent Wayne a text message of thanks.

Because he was already on the plane, Wayne didn't see it immediately.

Liu Tianxian, who was already accustomed to this, didn't care. After waiting for a while and getting no reply, he happily told Liu Xiaoli and her 'best friend' Megan the good news.

Unsurprisingly, after hearing the news, Liu Xiaoli was even more excited than Liu Tianxian himself. She kept telling Liu Tianxian to thank Wayne and improve her acting skills.

Although Meghan was also happy for Liu Tianxian, she still couldn't help feeling envious in her heart.

It seems that there is only one rank difference between the third female lead and the second female lead, but in fact, the gap is very large. Many actresses who have played the third female lead for a lifetime may not be able to cross this threshold and play the second female lead.

"Damn it, that guy isn't that good-looking, and his figure is average. Why does Wayne value her so much?"

(End of this chapter)