China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 578

Sun Li didn't think about it at first, but when she heard Deng Chao say this, she was suddenly stunned.

He replied doubtfully, "No way?"

"How could it not be possible?" Deng Chao said angrily with a firm tone, "I have had my role taken away by someone else before. This is not uncommon in the industry!"

That year, when Zhang Jizhong's version of "The Deer and the Cauldron" started filming, the original male lead was Deng Chao, but later the role was snatched away by Huang Xiaoming.

When Sun Li heard what Deng Chao said, she immediately felt that it made sense.

Deng Chao then said, "Do you remember the movie 'Ghost Ship'? You've heard of it before. The heroine of this movie was originally scheduled to be Zhou Xun, but then Director Han said he wanted to expand the cast, so Gong Li was chosen to play the heroine."

“The real example is right in front of us.”

"And this time, China Film Group's "Founding of a Republic" clearly said that if the box office is a big hit, the actors will be paid according to the market price, but now there is no movement at all."

"China Film Group is not doing a good job. There are bound to be rumors in the industry. It's all about personal connections."

"If someone finds Mr. Han and expresses his opinion about Director Wang's play"

"You said, given that China Film Group did something dishonest before, and that Director Han has a relationship with those people, will Director Han come forward?"

"If he doesn't show up, others will stab him in the back."

"I figured if someone approached him, he would definitely show up."

"Given the friendship between Mr. Han and Director Wang, and the fact that China Film is one of the investors of this film, do you think there will be any changes in the cast?"

After listening to Deng Chao's explanation, Sun Li felt that it made sense.

Analyzing these words from various angles shows that this is indeed possible.

Moreover, the probability is very high.

She couldn't help but wonder, what if Zhang Ziyi found Han Sanping and expressed her ideas about "The Night the Comet Comes".

With Zhang Ziyi's participation, not only will the cast be more powerful, but it will also make up for the favor of Zhang Ziyi starring in "Founding of a Republic" for free.

From Han Sanping's perspective, should he kick her out or reject Zhang Ziyi?
Sun Li just thought about it for a moment and had the answer in her heart.

Han Sanping will definitely kick her out.

The only one who can protect her is Wang Shu.

But if Han Sanping wants to kick her out, Wang Shu will be in a dilemma.

Sun Li was silent for a moment.

Wang Shu has always given to her without asking for anything in return.

This time, if she took the initiative to step back, she could relieve Wang Shu's pressure.

Thinking of this, she bit her lip and made a decision.

She didn't want to keep asking for things, and if Wang Shu was in a dilemma, she was willing to take a step back.

Sun Li opened her mouth and said, "What you said are just speculations, how can it be so serious?"

Deng Chao was speechless: "Director Wang is an Oscar-winning director. No one would not want to act in his movies."

"If there is an opportunity this time, do you think someone will grab it?"

"Besides, we haven't signed a contract with Director Wang's Yikeshu Company yet."

“The role was snatched up, and there was nothing holding it back.”

Sun Li looked at Deng Chao's anxious look and understood that he was worried that his role would be snatched away.

However, the current situation is uncertain, but the other party is so worried.

Inwardly, he looked down upon this look, but outwardly he said, "Don't worry about nothing."

"Besides, even if the role is replaced, it is not something we can control."

"Why do you think so much?"

This made a lot of sense and Deng Chao was speechless.

After a moment of silence, he asked again, "Did you understand the script?"

Sun Li shook her head and replied, "No."

"Didn't Director Wang explain it to you?" Deng Chao asked immediately.

"Yes," Sun Li responded, "but I didn't understand it, and then Director Wang said that it didn't matter if I didn't understand, and I would just act according to what he said."

"." Deng Chao understood that Wang Shu disliked Sun Li for being too stupid and was too lazy to waste words on her.

Curiously asked, "What did Director Wang tell you?"

Sun Li recalled what Wang Shu had told her and then pieced together what he had told her.

After hearing what was said, Deng Chao gradually understood more and immediately discussed the script with Sun Li.

On the other side, Wang Shu went to Han Sanping's dinner party.

At the dinner, there were people from China Film Group as well as bigwigs within the system.

As we chatted, we got to talking about special effects films.

One of them said: "Some time ago, we watched a Hollywood special effects film and decided to introduce it to China."

When Wang Shu heard this, he thought to himself, could this Hollywood special effects movie be "Avatar"?

The film was released in mainland China on January 2010, 1, and earned 4 billion yuan at the box office. When Avatar was released in mainland China, there were only 13.28 theaters in the country, but it earned 5690 billion yuan at the box office, which is an extremely astonishing figure.

You know, even many years later, when the number of cinemas nationwide increased to more than 82000, there were not many movies that could break 10 billion at the box office throughout the year.

However, when there were only 5690 cinemas nationwide, it broke the billion-yuan box office record, ushering in a new era for movie box office.

In terms of plot, "Avatar" is very average.

Its selling point is the special effects.

And "Pacific Rim" is also a special effects film.

Therefore, Wang Shu does not want to see "Avatar" released in China earlier than "Pacific Rim".

Abroad, even if you want to influence something, you can’t.

In China, the release schedule for imported films is decided by China Film Group, so there is room for maneuver.

Therefore, in order to complete the production of "Pacific Rim" as soon as possible, one month after the filming began, Wang Shu had already handed over some of the shot footage to the special effects company for post-production.

Moreover, the special effects companies are not just Industrial Light & Magic, there are also Base FX and others.

Base FX, founded in 2005 by founder and CEO Chris Bremble, is a visual effects and animation studio headquartered in Beijing.

Its main businesses include developing and producing original animation IP, providing visual effects, visual effects preview and post-preview services for movies and television, etc.

in the original timeline.

In 2010, Base FX won the 1nd Emmy Award for Best Visual Effects for its special effects production in the fifth episode of Season 5 of the HBO fan drama "The Pacific."

In 2011, he won the 63rd Emmy Award for Best Visual Effects for his work on Boardwalk Empire for HBO.

At the end of May 2012, Base FX and Industrial Light & Magic officially started cooperation to carry out most of the special effects production of the movie "Pacific Rim".

In other words, in the original timeline, Base FX participated in the production of Pacific Rim.

It is now 2009, three years away from 2012.

Although it has only been three short years, movie special effects technology has undergone tremendous changes.

Just like the next year, iPhone 4 will enter the domestic market, and the following year, in 2011, the whole country will instantly enter the era of smart phones.

Previously, feature phones were the main focus.

Since then, smartphones have continued to iterate and develop. Although they have not changed generally, the accompanying functions and performance have been improved from generation to generation, until they reached a bottleneck and then slowed down.

So, don’t underestimate the fact that 2009 and 2012 are only three years apart.

There have been earth-shaking changes in the past three years.

For example, now Wang Shu is still using a Nokia feature phone, but by 2012, he will definitely be using a smartphone.

The same is true for domestic film special effects technology.

in the original timeline.

In 2011, Kennametal, a physical effects company spun off from Industrial Light & Magic, declared bankruptcy.

In 2012, Rhythm & Hues, the visual effects company that produced special effects for the movie Life of Pi, filed for bankruptcy protection...

The industry reality of "long construction period and high investment" makes life increasingly difficult for Hollywood special effects artists.

In addition, as competition among Hollywood special effects companies becomes increasingly fierce, a large number of subcontracting businesses and special effects talents have begun to shift to Asia, where labor costs are lower and the market is yet to be developed.

Under this trend, China has gradually grown into one of the important special effects production bases.

Base FX also rose to prominence because of this.

In May 2012, Industrial Light & Magic, Hollywood's oldest special effects giant, extended an olive branch to Base.

The two parties signed a strategic cooperation alliance agreement, which stipulates that BASE will undertake projects from major Hollywood production companies through Industrial Light & Magic, and Industrial Light & Magic will expand its business in China through BASE.

Since then, the two parties have started comprehensive cooperation, with Industrial Light & Magic providing BASE with all-round support and guidance.

The staff of Base also explained this: "In my opinion, this is like a master leading his closed-door apprentice. In addition to sending directors to Beijing to work with us, Industrial Light & Magic also holds video conferences with us every day to review our work and give feedback and guidance. We also send special effects artists to the Industrial Light & Magic headquarters in San Francisco for training."

Industrial Light & Magic helps Chinese special effects artists make great progress and "customizes" a satisfactory Chinese apprentice, which can not only share a large number of high-production projects in Hollywood every year, but also undertake some Chinese film projects through BASE.

BASE can also learn from the industry's top experts in the shortest possible time and obtain the nutrients needed for its own growth.

It is precisely because of this pattern that domestic special effects technology changes every year and every six months.

Even so, in 2013, when a reporter asked a big shot in the industry about the gap between China's special effects industry and Hollywood, he still said bluntly: "The level of China's special effects industry is still more than ten or twenty years behind that of Hollywood. But the Chinese team has the advantage of rapid improvement and is catching up very quickly. I personally think that some excellent companies will approach the level of Hollywood in three to five years. Of course, it will take longer for the entire industry to improve."

There is nothing wrong with this.

In 2019, "The Wandering Earth" was released, proving that the special effects technology of a few excellent companies has reached that of Hollywood.

It’s about getting close, not being on par or surpassing.

Because Hollywood's special effects technology has also been constantly updated and iterated, and has never stopped.

In the original timeline, when faced with reporters' questions, the special effects team of "The Wandering Earth" clearly stated that there were many aspects that were inferior to Hollywood's technology.

Although some pictures can be made in the same way, it is time-consuming and laborious, and requires more time and energy to complete them bit by bit using clumsy methods.

On the other hand, Hollywood has more advanced technology and can complete the task quickly.

Not to mention it’s 2009.

(End of this chapter)