A widower's entertainment

Lin Zhaomei was well aware that her father, Lin Youcheng, invited Leslie Cheung to make a cameo appearance in the film "Our Millionaire" for her sake. She also knew that Leslie Cheung agreed to the cameo role right after winning the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor award because of her father.

Lin Zhaomei was naturally deeply moved, and she knew very well that she had to do a good job making this film.

The Yenching Film Academy was very supportive of Lin Zhaomei's plan to make a feature film, providing support from various quarters. Moreover, the script for this feature film was written by Lin Youcheng. If it weren't for the abundance of manpower, some teachers from the film academy might also have wanted to participate.

Of course, the most important reason why Lam Siu-mei was able to shoot this feature film was because of the sufficient funding. You know, many film studios nowadays can hardly pay salaries, let alone attract investment to make movies.

It can be said that Lin Zhaomei's success was due to the financial support of her father, Lin Youcheng; otherwise, how could a student still in school have had the opportunity to shoot a feature film?

Lin Youcheng is Lin Zhaomei's financial backer, which is also the most important reason why Lin Youcheng initially established Huayi Film and Television Company. Naturally, he wanted to become a financial backer to support his daughter's film production.

Because of ample funding, the production team consisted mostly of the same crew that Lin Zhaomei had previously worked with on the short film "Destiny." Additionally, Tian Zhuangzhuang, who was particularly interested in "Our Millionaire," recommended some of the people he had worked with on his previous films.
Now, with Lin Youcheng's financial support, Lin Zhaomei led the crew of "Our Millionaire" to the filming location in Sichuan Province for the opening ceremony.

As the screenwriter and producer of the film, Lin Youcheng naturally went along as well. Of course, the most important reason was that Lin Youcheng wanted to support Lin Zhaomei.

Leslie Cheung had very few scenes, but he came all the way to Sichuan Province to film with the crew. Seeing Lin Zhaomei explaining the scenes to the actors, he couldn't help but smile and say to Lin Youcheng, "Brother Lin, this story is really exciting. I want to act in more scenes."

Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "If you want to add scenes, you have to talk to the director. Talking to me won't do any good."

Lin Youcheng knew that Leslie Cheung was just joking and would never actually ask for more scenes.

"That child actor also performed quite well!"

Lin Youcheng knew who the child actor Zhang Guorong was talking about was. He would also become an actor in the future, but he would mostly act in TV dramas. Chen Xiao, who was only ten years old at the time, was also a child star. He played the male lead in the children's TV drama "Our Class's Song". He was also only ten years old at the time and was selected and recommended by Lin Youcheng to play the role of Xu Qingshan when he was young.

It must be said that although he has not yet formally entered the Beijing Academy of Drama to study acting, Chen Xiao's acting is very skillful. Although he does not look exactly like Duan Long, there are some similarities in their face shapes.

Lin Zhaomei, child actor Chen Xiao, and Jiang Wenli, who plays Bai Xuemei, the woman who was sold into slavery, are discussing the filming of the next scene.

There's no need to worry about Jiang Wenli's acting skills. Actually, her role isn't that big, but she put a lot of effort into it, just like her performance in "Farewell My Concubine".

"My mom is such a good actress."

It was a rare occasion for Leslie Cheung to run into Jiang Wenli on set. Although they played mother and son in "Farewell My Concubine," they had never acted together before. However, when Leslie Cheung met Jiang Wenli, he still called her "Mom," which was quite amusing.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wenli quickly said modestly, "Please don't say that, I still have a lot to learn."

Jiang Wenli greatly admires Leslie Cheung and genuinely believes that his acting skills are superb, deserving of the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival long ago. Now that Leslie Cheung has won the Cannes Best Actor award and is making a cameo appearance in Lin Zhaomei's film, Jiang Wenli feels even more that agreeing to star in it was the best thing ever.

"Brother, congratulations on winning the Cannes Best Actor award!"

Congratulations!

Leslie Cheung smiled; he'd heard these kinds of things too often lately. He said, "Thank you."

"I met my mother on this show, and then I met my current son. It's fate!"

Leslie Cheung glanced at Chen Xiao, the young actor who played his son, and said with a smile, "That kid acted quite well. He might become a good actor in the future."

At only ten years old, Chen Xiao is undoubtedly a handsome little boy, and he would be very suitable to play Leslie Cheung's son.

Hearing Zhang Guorong's words, Jiang Wenli nodded and said, "Yes, he is a very bright child with particularly expressive eyes."

Jiang Wenli and Chen Xiao also have scenes together, and you can naturally feel that the young actor Chen Xiao is very smart. I have also seen Chen Xiao's performance before and it was very good.

Lin Youcheng listened to Jiang Wenli and Zhang Guorong's words, smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Don't say anything now, the director wants you to come over."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wenli naturally rushed over as well.

In this film crew, no one dared to take Lin Zhaomei, this young new director, seriously, for no other reason than that Lin Zhaomei's father was Lin Youcheng.

The script supervisor told all departments to get their people ready, and then said, "All departments, get ready!"

"Third round, get ready! 3, 2, 1, Action!"

As the script supervisor picked up the clapperboard, it snapped shut with a final "snap".

Lin Zhaomei sat behind the monitor, watching Chen Xiao and Jiang Wenli's performance. The scene was naturally very quiet.

Chen Xiao, who plays the young Xu Qingshan, looks earnestly at Bai Xuemei, the trafficker played by Jiang Wenli, and says, "Sister Bai, the postman gave the letter you sent to Huang Degui."

Undoubtedly, the focus of this scene was on Jiang Wenli. On the monitor, her eyes instantly changed, conveying a sense of utter despair and helplessness, as if she had been struck down and didn't know how to escape. Jiang Wenli's acting was superb; in a single instant, she exuded a profound despair and sorrow that resonated even with the crew. Even Zhang Guorong and Lin Youcheng, watching from the sidelines, were moved by the depth of her emotions conveyed through her eyes.

Jiang Wenli didn't cry, but her sadness and despair emanated from the screen. Especially since the light from the doorway wasn't shining on her face, the shadows gradually shrouded her face in darkness, and she remained silent.

At that moment, Chen Xiao looked at Jiang Wenli and said, "Sister Bai, don't be sad, I'll go and send you a letter."

Upon hearing Chen Xiao's words, Jiang Wenli suddenly looked up. The light fell on Jiang Wenli's face, as if carrying a glimmer of hope. Then she reached out and touched Chen Xiao's head without saying a word.

It must be said that in just this one scene, both Jiang Wenli and Chen Xiao acted very well. Of course, Chen Xiao can only be said to have acted very well, while Jiang Wenli completely expressed the emotions. She was calm and composed, but she conveyed such strong emotions in that calm and composed manner.

This intense sadness even affected the young actor Chen Xiao, drawing him into the scene and causing him to naturally utter the line, "Sister Bai, don't be sad, I'll go and send you a letter."

In fact, this scene is the same one from the original "Blind Mountain" where the boy sends a letter to Bai Xuemei, who was abducted. If it weren't for that kind boy sending the letter, Bai Xuemei wouldn't know when she would have had a glimmer of hope for her father to find her. Although "Our Millionaire" doesn't explain the ending of the "Blind Mountain" story, there is no doubt that when the male protagonist Xu Qingshan sent that letter, some things changed because of his kindness.

In another timeline, Bai Xuemei, with the help of middle school student Li Qingshan, made contact with her parents. Due to obstruction from the villagers, the two policemen who came with her father were unable to rescue Bai Xuemei. They then conspired to secretly rescue her another day, leaving her father to stay with her. However, Huang Degui knew that Bai Xuemei's father wanted to take her away, so he planned to hide her. During the argument between Huang Degui and Bai Xuemei's father, Bai Xuemei, in an attempt to save her father, threw a kitchen knife at her hated husband.

This ending was actually modified in the later versions of the original, which involved rescuing Bai Xuemei directly, and only then was the movie released.

However, the ending of the drama "Our Millionaire" will not be explained in the present, because after Xu Qingshan helped Bai Xuemei send the letter, when Bai Xuemei's father came looking for them, Xu Qingshan and his father had already been driven out of the village.

This kind of blank space avoids directly confronting the tragic ending, but it also leaves room for hope, since Bai Xuemei's family has received the letter.

This is all because of the kind-hearted Xu Qingshan. Even when Xu Qingshan was a child, he had a kind heart.

Soon, the scene was finished, and Lin Zhaomei was very happy because the actors' performances were all excellent.

It can be said that the script for this film is very strong, the cast is also very strong, and the funding for filming is also very sufficient. The next step is naturally to see the director's skill. If she still can't make this film well, then it will naturally be the responsibility of director Lin Zhaomei.

Lin Zhaomei has always been very serious about this film. It can be said that she started preparing storyboards last year and put in a lot of effort, trying her best to make the story of "Our Millionaire" a success and absolutely not to ruin it.

After filming one scene, there wasn't much delay, and the crew naturally had to prepare to move to another location for the next scene.

Leslie Cheung's performance goes without saying. Although he was making a cameo appearance as a villager, he didn't act like a big star at all. Before filming, he lived in the village with the villagers and dressed like an ordinary villager with old-fashioned makeup.

Leslie Cheung has a strong passion for acting and doesn't consider himself a big star. Therefore, playing a villager in a mountain village was a great opportunity for him. Even though he didn't have many lines, he learned the local accent from the villagers.

Even after filming two scenes, Leslie Cheung still felt like he hadn't had enough of acting and was truly reluctant to leave.

Leslie Cheung looked at Lin Youcheng and asked, "Brother Lin, the story of that mine is really too..."

Leslie Cheung clearly knew the plot behind the mine scene, which was that his character, Xu Qingshan's father, was tricked into working in the mine, where he was brutally murdered with a pickaxe in the dark depths of a small private coal mine, creating an accident scene. Of course, these scenes wouldn't be shown on screen; they would be presented through other shots and dialogue, otherwise the movie would be much longer.

Upon hearing Leslie Cheung's words, Lin Youcheng knew that Cheung was deeply moved and said, "That's why stories like this should be filmed even more."

Leslie Cheung nodded, agreeing with Lin Youcheng's words, and said, "I think the stories Xu Qingshan experienced could all be made into a movie on their own."

"The stories here are all very interesting and deserve further exploration to make them into feature films."

Lin Youcheng nodded when he heard Leslie Cheung's words. He knew that Leslie Cheung was right. In fact, apart from Car 44, films like "Blind Mountain" and "Blind Shaft" were feature films. It's just that Lin Youcheng was now filming those two stories from a different perspective.

"This kind of story can be made into more than one movie."

In fact, Lin Youcheng is very clear that films like "Blind Mountain," as well as "Mountain Cry" and other films, are all quite profound stories. They all reveal some true stories, and those stories really should be known by everyone.

It wasn't just Leslie Cheung and Lam Yau-shing who talked about these things; Jiang Wenli and Lam Siu-mei also discussed them.

Jiang Wenli was undoubtedly deeply moved. She felt heartbroken about both the mine behind Xu Qingshan and the situation of Bai Xuemei, whom she played. She also hoped that such a thing would not happen again. It really needed to be exposed, otherwise, if it weren't for the help of kind children like Xu Qingshan, Bai Xuemei might have been trapped in that mountain village for her whole life.

Moreover, even if she could be rescued, the suffering Bai Xuemei had endured could not be changed. Jiang Wenli actually felt very painful playing this role because she really dared not imagine what it would be like if such a thing happened to her. The clearer she was, the more Jiang Wenli wanted to play the role of Bai Xuemei well.

Because it's very important to her!

Lin Zhaomei was well aware of this, otherwise she wouldn't have specifically filmed the story of college entrance exam fraud in "Destiny".

Now she is naturally very concerned about the previous stories and Xu Qingshan's fate, and hopes to truthfully portray the fates of Xu Qingshan, Bai Xuemei, and Xu Qingshan's father so that more people can know about them.

Lin Zhaomei is doing just that now.

The filming of "Our Millionaire" is also truly underway and has begun in a very orderly manner, and it's quite an amazing start! (End of Chapter)