Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 763 Model Drawings
La Peikang had just hung up the phone when Gu Wei noticed that Han Sanping's role was not good and was about to make fun of him.

Jiang Wen called.

He is no longer able to be described as being in high spirits. "One Step Away" was a big hit at the box office. Although the word of mouth was not perfect, it still greatly enhanced Director Jiang's status in the circle.

Now the domestic entertainment industry has completely regarded Jiang Wen as a big commercial film director. Some media outlets are even more nosy and directly ranked him among the top five directors, second only to Gu Wei, surpassing Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.

In addition to the preparatory meeting for "The Wandering Earth 2" organized by Gu Wei a few days ago, Jiang Wen also received support from China Film and Guang Guang. Although there were two companies that did not express their opinions on the spot, Jiang Wen felt that with the support of Gu Wei, directing this movie should not be a problem.

Jiang Wen was so full of energy that he said, "Director Gu, the celebration banquet will be held the day after tomorrow. You and Yifei must come then."

"I'm busy." Even through the phone, Gu Wei's ears were shocked by the other party's loud voice, and he just said two words.

"No, what's the point of the celebration party without you guys?"

"Haha, as long as we have you, Director Jiang, the others are not important."

The two chatted for a while, and Gu Wei tricked Jiang Wen into coming over for a drink. He really didn't have time to go to the celebration party. Today was the first day and he had only auditioned more than 40 people. He still had a long way to go.

...

After leaving the company, a group of more than a dozen people went straight to a nearby restaurant. When men are together, unless they are entertaining someone for work, as long as the wine is available, the food is secondary.

In the private room, Guo Fan and Wu Jing, one serving the wine and the other pouring it, worked in perfect harmony.

After a while, Jiang Wen came in in a hurry. The first thing he said when he entered the door was: "Hey, everyone is here, President Han is here too, haha."

"Hurry up and sit down." Gu Wei pointed at the other party with a smile, and then teased: "The food today is average, I don't know if it can match the current status of Director Jiang."

"Director Gu, you are scolding me." Jiang Wen pointed at the main dishes on the table, "It's only now that conditions are better. When I first entered the industry, half a bowl of peanuts was enough for a meal."

"That was in the past. If I give you half a bowl of peanuts now, Director Jiang, you must get up and leave." Wu Jing said with a smile.

"That's right, at least give me two cold dishes."

"Haha."

After a few jokes, the private room was suddenly filled with laughter.

As the saying goes, there are four iron bonds in life. Although Gu Wei and his group have never carried guns or squatted under windows together, they have been together for such a long time and they do have similar interests.

The wine has passed three rounds, and the food has passed the five flavors.

The topic naturally turned to Gu Wei's audition today.

"I saw it all on the news. They are all big names, amazing." Jiang Wen said with a slightly red face after drinking a few glasses of wine.

"If you don't make movies, you don't know how many celebrities there are in the circle. I screen and screen again, and the number of people auditioning is still hundreds." Gu Wei sighed.

"Haha, having too many stars isn't a bad thing. More stars means that the domestic entertainment industry is developing well." Han Sanping interjected.

"Yes, it's good. It's better than having a lot of handsome men and beautiful women in a few years, but not knowing many of them." Gu Wei muttered to himself.

There are indeed many talented and talented celebrities in the circle at this stage. Unlike the domestic entertainment industry that has experienced the "film and television winter", fan culture is rampant and few people know the new generation of celebrities.

I have to say, that was the tragedy of domestic entertainment at that time.

.........

The next day, Capital Airport.

Cheng Long and his assistant were spotted by the media.

"Brother, are you here to promote "Dragon Blade"?"

"Yes." At the airport gate, Cheng Long answered the reporter's questions with a smile.

"Brother, Director Gu Wei is currently auditioning for a new movie. Have you received an invitation?"

"Not yet, haha."

Cheng Long came here naturally to promote the new movie. As for whether he would participate in Gu Wei's new movie, since Gu Wei didn't say anything, he wouldn't directly say that when the other party went to Hong Kong Island to visit the set of "Lost in Hong Kong", the two of them agreed to make a cameo appearance.

However, even if Cheng Long did not answer, the reporters were smart and would naturally report based on the situation.

Just as the interview at the airport ended, the press release came out online.

"'Dragon Blade' is about to hit the Lunar New Year holiday, and several main actors have already gathered in the capital..."

"Brother Cheng Long arrived in the capital and did not reveal his intention to star in Director Gu Wei's new movie..."

"It is jointly produced by Xinghui, China Film Group, and Shanghai Film Group, directed by Zhou Xingchi, and starred by Deng Chao, Lin Yun, Zhang Yuqi and others.

The investment amount is as high as 3 million, and the science fiction comedy romance film "The Mermaid" is open to the media to visit the set..."

The audition had just ended at noon, and Gu Wei was browsing the news when he found the report on "The Mermaid".

Generally speaking, when a movie set is open for visitor visits, it means that the film is not far from completion.

In just the time it took to have lunch, Gu Wei received invitations to several movie premieres.

Among them are "There's a Place Only We Know" directed by Xu Jinglei and starring Wu Yifan, "Dragon Blade" directed by Li Rengang and starring Cheng Long, "The Man from Macau 2" directed by Wong Jing and starring Chow Yun-fat, Zhang Jiahui and Liu Jialing, and "Wolf Totem" directed by the internationally renowned director Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Feng Shaofeng.

These four movies can be said to be the most competitive blockbusters in the entire Spring Festival period. They are all ready to go, and each one is more big-name than the other.

Of course, the Internet is now full of announcements for these movies.

It can be seen that the propaganda war is in full swing and neither side is willing to give in.

Gu Wei casually took the invitation and took a look at it. The patterns on it were carved, gilded, and hollowed out, each one more exaggerated than the other.

However, apart from "Dragon Blade", it is highly likely that he will not go to the other films in person. At most, he will arrange for senior executives to go and show their support.

After all, Cheng Long had already called Gu Wei privately and invited him individually, so naturally he had to give him face.

Just after I put down the invitation letter, Reid from the other side of the ocean called me.

The other party spoke for a while before Gu Wei remembered that "Frozen 2" was about to be released.

He patted his forehead. No wonder Gu Wei always felt like he had forgotten something. He still had to show up at the premiere over there.

"Frozen 2" will be released in Hollywood at the end of February. This schedule is naturally not very good, but it has one advantage, which is that there is less competitive pressure.

According to the traditional North American schedule, February of each year is a cold period. Hollywood will not release too many blockbusters at this time, but more low-cost horror films and some other types of movies.

Gu Wei and Disney naturally took this into consideration when choosing this time to release the film.

Moreover, Gu Wei felt that as long as the publicity and preheating could keep up, "Frozen 2" could definitely dominate March, April, and May, and even dominate the first half of the year.

After all, in the original time and space, "Frozen 2" was able to carve out a niche in the popular months of November and December, and that was amid fierce competition.

In China, according to the data released by China Film, "Frozen 2" was introduced in late March, about a month later than in North America.

However, for Chinese people, Hollywood blockbusters are never released during popular periods, and audiences will not choose not to go to the theaters because of this. Overall, the impact is not that big.

"Boss, when are you planning to come over?" Reid continued to ask. Only after confirming Gu Wei's itinerary could he make preparations in advance.

"Well, maybe after the Spring Festival, Xixi and I will go there together."

"Ok."

This year's Spring Festival is the first one after their marriage. Gu Wei certainly cannot leave Miss Liu behind and go there alone. Besides, the other party is also the voice actor of Snow White, so he must attend the premiere.

Moreover, this year’s Spring Festival is on February 2th, and the Oscars ceremony is on the 19nd.

As an Oscar judge, Gu Wei naturally received an invitation.

Calculating the time, the two of them will have a schedule after New Year's Eve, so they can make it to the award ceremony and the premiere, and they can finish everything in one trip. After returning, they will prepare for "Nantianmen Battle" and then they can start filming.

Thinking of this, Gu Wei couldn't help but quicken his pace. The sooner the audition was over, the sooner he could go on vacation.

Taking advantage of this time before the New Year, Gu Wei can still spend some time alone with his young lady.

……

Another day of auditions ended, and before Gu Wei had time to catch his breath, La Peikang strongly "invited" him to come over.

At around seven o'clock in the evening, Gu Wei drove directly into China Film Studio. He enjoyed special access here, which was approved by Han Sanping and was not revoked after La Peikang took office.

When Gu Wei arrived at his destination and got off the car, he couldn't help but tighten his down jacket tightly as the wind was quite cold.

To be honest, Gu Wei had never tried to come to China Film Academy at night. It felt quite novel to come here occasionally at this time.

As soon as he entered the China Film Studio Hall, someone was waiting there. When he saw him, he came up to him and said, "Director Gu, Director La is waiting for you."

"Okay, who else is there besides Mr. La?" Gu Wei asked in advance. He didn't want Li An to be there too. It would be so awkward for everyone to comment on each other's script face to face.

"Director Gu, there's only Director La, no one else." The assistant replied with a smile.

"That's good." At this moment, Gu Wei couldn't help but think of La Peikang calling him over at night and not letting a third person get involved in this matter. The confidentiality work was done very well.

In other words, even if Gu Wei and La Peikang talked about something, the outside world would not know the specifics, which is a kind of protection for both of them.

Following the assistant, Gu Wei was thinking about all these random things along the way, and it felt like they arrived soon.

"Gu Wei, take a look at the script first and then give me some advice."

My goodness, as soon as Gu Wei walked in, La Peikang handed him the script directly with a look of urgency on his face.

To be honest, Gu Wei had never seen Li An's film "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" in the original time and space, but a director who was used to making arty and award-winning films suddenly made a commercial film, and a war film at that.

Even though Gu Wei hadn't read the script yet, he felt it was a bit unreliable. After all, not all directors are as "powerful" as Gu Wei.

And even if Gu Wei has a "hack", the majority of films he has made in recent years are still special effects science fiction films. Gu Wei has never touched upon romance, action, or even martial arts films.

After all, every director has a different growth environment and is good at different types of work, so there is no so-called all-rounder in the directing industry.

Just like Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and others before, they were used to making art films and suddenly switched to commercial films, and the box office and reputation were a mess.

I slowly opened the script and took a quick look at the content. I saw that the story mainly tells about the experience of American soldier Billy Lynn in the Iraq War.

The protagonist then used a battlefield video shot with a mobile phone to make himself and several of his comrades a nationally renowned heroic team.

After returning to the United States, several of them participated in a halftime performance at a football game. This experience made them deeply realize the division of society and the different views on war.

In general, this script reflects the cruelty and inhumanity of war by showing the lives of grassroots soldiers, while also exploring the diverse values ​​and contradictions in American society.

Ultimately, Li An's story is an art film disguised as a commercial drama.

"The script is not good?" Seeing Gu Wei shaking his head, La Peikang asked immediately.

“How should I put it? The story is still Director Li’s usual style, but it’s easy for commercial films to go wrong if they do this. After all, commercial films don’t need to tell too many stories about human nature and social conflicts.

I also think the idea of ​​shooting a lot from the first person’s perspective is very extreme and difficult for the general public to accept.

In addition, his narrative techniques and thinking are too novel and do not fit the market well.”

Gu Wei's meaning is very clear, that is, the script is a bit neither fish nor fowl. It doesn't want to be called an art film, but it contains too few commercial elements to be called a commercial film.

"Director Li An said during the introduction that this film is an unprecedented first-person feature film, using a completely new narrative method and thinking, which is quite groundbreaking."

La Peikang spoke slowly and summarized the content of his conversation with Li An.

"Fuck, such a high-sounding statement?" Gu Wei was stunned and complained silently in his heart.

Generally speaking, there are two types of war films. One type focuses on character creation, and focuses on depicting the characters' thoughts and personalities through the description of war events, campaigns, and battle scenes.

The other type focuses on reflecting war events, and through the description of characters and storylines, vividly explains a major military action, military thought, military principles, strategies and tactics.

Strictly speaking, Li An's genre should be called a "military drama", just like "Forrest Gump" also has some military drama meaning, but the latter also contains elements of biography, love and inspiration.

Simply put, Ang Lee's script lacks elements and the story is a bit thin.

Of course, this may be Li An's style, but this style may not have good results.

After all, there are very few successful examples of works that combine literary and artistic elements with commercial elements.

Typical domestic failures include "The Promise", "The Banquet" and "The Flowers of War", and even Jiang Wen's "One Step Away" in the original time and space is the same.

These are all great directors’ transformational works!!
But there are successful examples, such as "Dying to Survive", but this movie added some comedy elements, and the film was only successful at the domestic box office and had little influence overseas.

But Li An is different. It is obvious that he is preparing to release the film worldwide. It is possible that he was not having smooth sailing in attracting investment in Hollywood, otherwise he would not have come to China to find companies like China Film.

Thinking of this, Gu Wei pondered for a while, "Mr. La, think about it from another angle. If this is a Chinese-language movie, do you think domestic audiences can accept this?"

After hearing this, it was La Peikang's turn to be stunned.

"It's different, after all, Hollywood likes this. Li An's Life of Pi was also a success, and the screenwriter of both scripts was the same person."

After hearing this, Gu Wei finally discovered the similarities between La Peikang and Han Sanping.

Head as iron!!
"Haha, then why did you ask me to come here?" Gu Wei complained in his heart.

Half an hour later, after walking out of the chairman's office, Gu Wei sighed.

He did not tell La Peikang whether to invest or not, but just made a few comments from a professional perspective.

As for the results?
If the sky wants to rain, and if the mother wants to marry, let it be! !
...

It's a new day again, and Gu Wei finished his audition in the morning.

I had just finished lunch and was about to take a break when my assistant came over to report that some design models and drawings of "The Battle of Nantianmen" had come out.

In the special effects design room, Gu Wei looked at the various nuclear-powered mechas in front of him and couldn't help but praise everyone's wild imagination.

"Director, we have designed four types of mechas, namely Fuxi, Xingtian, Gonggong, and Nuwa. The first three are male, and the last one is female style."

"Among them, Fuxi and Xingtian are long-range mechas that fire various plasma and energy cannons. Gonggong is a melee mecha that uses weapons similar to the lightsabers in "Star Wars", except that they don't have swords. They are all spears, three-pointed double-edged swords, crescent-shaped swords, etc...."

"What about other designs?" Gu Wei was very satisfied with these mecha models and asked directly after looking at them.

"Over here." The person in charge called out, and Gu Wei walked to another computer not far away.

"Boss, this is an aircraft, a model of an aerospace fighter..."

“This is a spaceship model…”

"Next to them are models of alien spaceships and weapons..."

Most of the models were made based on the storyboard sketches drawn by Gu Wei himself, but they were optimized on this basis.

This one watched for more than an hour.

By the time Gu Wei came out of the special effects design studio, the celebrity artists who came for the audition had been waiting for a long time.

After turning his sore neck, Gu Wei suddenly felt that the number of auditioners was a bit too many.

But the call has already been made and I still have to go through the motions.

.........

(End of this chapter)