Actor: Thank you.

A film faces countless troubles from its inception to its release.

There are dozens or even hundreds of related entities, and tens of thousands of related personnel.

But the most troublesome thing during the filming stage is still "personnel".

Any place where people gather is a small society.

Managing people is the most troublesome thing.

So when Shang Jing approached Zhang Yuan to discuss filming the movie version of "My Own Swordsman", Zhang Yuan first saw a large box office revenue.

I'm a little hungry.

But delicious food isn't so easy to come by.

Besides, you can't rush things.

Especially the casting.

Logically speaking, casting should be the easiest thing for big-budget IP movies.

Just bring back the original cast.

It's nothing more than adding new plot points and a few new characters, but the core storyline is still the same old characters.

Zhang Yuan recalled that they seemed to have found Wu Ma to play the role of Magistrate Lou, who had never appeared in the play, and he was quite suitable.

But the problem lies in the fact that these lead actors are not having an easy time.

First is Yu Entai.

This person needs to be advised.

Looking at the world of cinema, Rowan Atkinson, the actor who plays Mr. Bean, is definitely one of the best at portraying a fool.

This person holds a Master's degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from Oxford University.

While some professions allow people to obtain diplomas through mere academic effort, this is not the case with mechanical and electrical engineering.

Therefore, there are taboos in the entertainment industry: it's difficult to play characters who are mentally challenged or disabled.

But those who can convincingly portray a fool are usually exceptionally intelligent.

Being so clever as to hide one's intelligence—isn't that even smarter than the average smart person?

Yu Entai is also such a person.

I graduated from the Shanghai Theatre Academy in 95 with a bachelor's degree in television editing.

He did not have a formal acting background.

However, he received a scholarship for four consecutive years.

In 00, I was admitted to the Master of Broadcasting program at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, ranking first in the entire academy in total score, and first in both English and professional theory.

Two years later, he received a full scholarship to study drama at Oxford University and went to the UK as an exchange student, becoming an alumnus of Mr. Bean's school.

After returning, this high-achieving student played Tom, a silly tech geek, in Shang Jing's "Urban Men and Women".

In the same year that he filmed "My Own Swordsman", he was admitted to the doctoral program in directing at the Shanghai Theatre Academy with the highest score.

Then he played the cowardly and down-on-his-luck Lu Xiucai.

Later, in order to pursue his doctoral studies, he turned down dozens of film offers after Lü Xiucai became famous, and focused on his studies.

Shang Jing has now approached him, saying he wants to make a movie version, and he just graduated with his doctorate.

In theory, this should be a good time to make a comeback.

Having just finished school and having been out of work for several years, I wanted to earn some money to make ends meet.

But this guy, who studied while also playing the stock market, caught the bull market of 08 and used his previous acting fees to make tens of millions...

They don't lack money at all.

In fact, neither Tom nor Lü Xiucai were his true selves.

In one episode of "My Own Swordsman," Xiao Bei travels to the modern era and becomes a wealthy boss in a suit and sunglasses, shrewd and assertive at first glance—that's the real him.

Now that person has a PhD, is rich, and has even greater ambitions.

I don't want to be a clown in comedy; I want to play different roles.

Later, his portrayal of Zhang Yi in "The Qin Empire: Alliance" was indeed quite good.

Shang Jing still needs to talk to him.

The other party has softened their stance somewhat.

Shang Jing pulled him into a drink, saying, "If you don't come, we'll be short-handed. The audience is counting on you."

Finally, after I made him a little embarrassed, he relented slightly and said that if everyone else was coming, he could too.

Let's treat it as a reunion with an old friend.

The remaining teachers, Ni Hongjie, Jiang Chao, and Fan Ming, are easy to find and not expensive.

However, after "My Own Swordsman," the show became more popular than before, making it difficult to schedule it.

When I talked about this with Yan Ni, another problem arose.

Shang Jing met her on the set of "A Simple Noodle Story".

When this was mentioned, the other person smacked their lips.

The main reason is that ever since the character Tong Xiangyu became popular, she's been getting offers to play the role of a landlady all the time.

Guangda has produced two films, "True Legend" and "A Simple Noodle Story," both featuring a restaurant owner with similar character personalities.

She's tired of watching TV dramas.

In the end, it was only through Shang Jing's persuasive reasoning and appealing to their emotions that a general agreement was reached, drawing upon their long-standing working relationship.

These two are already troublesome enough, but the real trouble is yet to come!

"What is Yao Cheng saying now?"

"Hey……"

After Zhang Yuan asked, Shang Jing let out a long sigh, then glanced at him.

"Just tell me the truth."

“She’s quite interested in this play,” Shang Jing said.

After Yao Cheng lost the role in "Lurking" to him, he did so-so.

Hua Yi provided a lot of resources and played supporting roles in several TV series and movies, but the overall effect did not meet expectations.

So she wants to make a comeback with her old roles.

"But her agent's attitude was ambiguous."

"They didn't say they'd answer, nor did they say they wouldn't."

"I only said I'd think about it." Shang Jing's expression was conflicted.

"Let me guess." Zhang Yuan smiled and stroked his chin: "You said in advance that you would want to cooperate with me, right?"

"Yes."

"That's not surprising."

"And then... let me guess, Sha Yi has the same attitude, right?"

After "My Own Swordsman", Sha Yi successfully transformed his image with roles in "Sweet Honey" and "Green Mango", and his acting skills were recognized.

He has shed his comedian persona.

But later, Sun Honglei, Huang Bo, and others forced him to put the coat back on...

He's been filming TV series lately, but now at least it's a movie, which he's happy to do.

However, the agent's attitude remained ambiguous.

"I understand now. It seems I'll have to handle this."

“Yes,” Shang Jing nodded in agreement.

At least on this matter, the two reached a consensus.

Why does it have to be Zhang Yuan who handles this?

Because Sha Yi has already started talking to Hu Ke.

And through her introduction, he also signed with Huayi!

Joining before the IPO can bring considerable benefits, even without shares.

He can be considered a minister who followed the emperor.

So now, the male and female leads of this drama are both from Huayi.

Without these two, the show wouldn't work.

That's why they reached an agreement, and it was clear that Zhang Yuan would be the one to talk to them.

Neither of them knew what the other wanted.

So after discussing the film, Zhang Yuan showed a hint of worry.

However, none of these Hong Kong bigwigs noticed.

In addition, he also chatted with Shang Jing about his time on Zhang Yimou's film set.

After all, they had both worked with the Imperial Advisor.

The evaluations were consistent.

Zhang Yimou has a pair of iron waists!

They don't sleep!

Zhang Yimou is almost 60 years old now, but he's still on the front lines every day. Even people in their 30s can't keep up with his all-nighters.

Shang Jing was almost 10 years younger than him, and they went to work together.

He's already past his prime, his eyelids are drooping, but Zhang Yimou is still studying the colors in the lens.

Of the three great directors in China, only he was able to maintain a production output of one film per year even in the later stages of his career.

They can even find time to do other things.

Feng Xiaogang and Chen Shiren simply do not have the energy for this.

They're both younger than him.

People who come from a photography background and carry equipment are naturally physically strong.

"Is everything going smoothly on set?" Zhang Yuan asked with concern. "It's alright. Director Zhang is indeed very capable; he has a firm grip on the entire production."

"However..." the man hesitated again.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Yuan asked curiously.

"Did you encounter that boss when you were filming 'Curse of the Golden Flower'? He always makes some demands."

"Many of them were added halfway through their careers."

"Zhang Weiping, right?" Zhang Yuan called out directly.

"Correct."

“When we were filming ‘Curse of the Golden Flower,’ Director Zhang and I had disagreements, especially about casting.”

"Yes, yes, yes!" Shang Jing perked up immediately upon hearing the words "casting".

Zhang Weiping often interferes, and he loves to stuff popular actors into Zhang Yimou's film crews.

Jay Chou and Xiao Shenyang are both.

Zhao Benshan and Zhang Yimou have a long-standing friendship.

According to Zhao Benshan, Zhang Yimou greatly admires him.

She also said that the way she looked at him was like he was looking at a young lady.

That's normal; Zhang Yimou likes actors with a "wild" quality.

In addition, Teacher Zhao's personal charm is indeed quite great.

When filming "Keep Cool," Teacher Zhao made a cameo appearance.

After one scene was filmed, Zhang Yimou fell in love with it.

Zhao Benshan's portrayal of ordinary, low-level characters doesn't even seem like acting.

Even if you bring in the Central Academy of Drama, the Beijing Film Academy, or any other professional school, none of them can compare to him.

Later, he filmed "Happy Times"... which was Dong Jie's debut film, the one where he played a blind man wearing a T-shirt and briefs.

You can vaguely see the protrusion and shadows.

Zhao Benshan was specially chosen to star in the film.

Liking Teacher Zhao is one thing, but dating Xiao Shenyang is another.

"The Zhao family troupe has been argued about this several times on site."

“When I was having dinner with Director Zhang, he also complained about it.”

"I feel restricted in every way. Even though it's my own work, I always have to listen to other people."

"Once I got drunk..." Shang Jing lowered his voice, adopting a gossipy tone.

"He even told me that it's one thing for Boss Zhang to boss people around."

"The money that was promised is still owed."

"We owe not only the actors, but also him."

"That's pretty tragic..." Zhang Yuan feigned regret.

Deep down, we all know the answer.

Zhang Yimou was talking nonsense while drunk.

Because the reality is much more serious than that.

Not only are they in debt, but they also keep making Zhang Yimou (the founder of 565) pay out of his own pocket.

"If it were me, we would have broken up long ago." Shang Jing kept shaking his head.

"Director Zhang is still loyal and nostalgic."

"But doing it this way can't last forever." As a fellow director, this person felt sympathetic towards the other party.

He never expected that the most famous industry leader in the country would encounter such a thing.

Any other boss would fawn over him, but Zhang Weiping does it this way.

What does it mean when people are in the right place at the right time, even a pig can take off?

Zhang Yimou is Zhang Weiping's biggest opportunity in his life.

Zhang Yuan remained silent, refusing to participate in such discussions.

If I were to say something offensive, and that gets back to Zhang Yimou, that would be a real problem.

However, even an outsider like Shang Jing could clearly sense the problems between the two, indicating that the conflict was not only deep but had also become public and overt.

Zhang Yuan noted down what the other person said, but didn't elaborate further.

……

"One last thing, about 'Ip Man 2'." He took a breath, straightened his back, and continued chatting with the Hong Kong businessmen.

"Just like 'Let the Bullets Fly'."

“I also have opinions about the casting of Ip Man 2.”

"As mentioned before, this concerns the selection of actors for villain roles."

At this point, the crowd didn't object much, unlike when they had rejected Liu Jialing before.

“You talked to Yip Wai-sing and the others before, saying that you wanted to find famous actors, and even wanted to find them in Hollywood.”

"Has someone been chosen yet?" Huang Baiming asked.

Ye Weixing is his man, and his son even participated in the screenwriting, so naturally he cares.

"Yes, after careful consideration, I have made my choice."

“Longel, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Adkins, and others are all on my radar.”

Zhang Yuan wanted these people mainly because they were all really good fighters.

He doesn't want actors who can act in dramatic roles; he wants actors who can fight.

Only when experts are involved can the action scenes be truly impressive.

"But I ultimately decided to use Mickey Rourke."

“Mickey Rourke?” Jiang Zhiqiang frowned when he heard the name.

"Is it that Philip who acted in Sin City and The Wrestler?"

He was afraid he had misheard, or that the names in mainland China and Hong Kong were translated differently.

“It’s him.” Zhang Yuan nodded with certainty.

This is not right!

The crowd, which had been quiet just moments before, became agitated upon hearing this.

He hadn't spoken up before because he was the lead actor in "Ip Man".

It's not unreasonable for the lead actor to choose his co-star.

But now that they've targeted this person, it's "too much."

"You don't know that he just won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, do you?" Huang Baiming asked, tilting his head.

"It's that movie, 'The Wrestler'."

"Not only did I win a Golden Globe, I almost won an Oscar." Zhang Yuan calmly stated that he knew it very well.

And the two female leads in this Gladiator movie are also interesting.

The lead actress, Evan Rachel Wood, later starred in "Westworld" and became globally renowned.

The second female lead is Marisa Tomei, who is also the beautiful Aunt May in the new Spider-Man.

It was Marisa Tomei who introduced Mickey Rourke to the role of Whiplash in Iron Man 2.

Because Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. have a good relationship, they acted together in "Chaplin" and later co-starred in "My Heart Belongs to You".

So it's true that Iron Man has feelings for Spider-Man's aunt; they've even played lovers in movies...

Tomei's later role in Spider-Man was also related to this relationship.

Because Iron Man is the most popular and iconic character in the Marvel Universe, Robert Downey Jr. has a huge influence and can easily recommend a few people.

"Since you know he just won the Best Actor award, and it's a world-class award like the Golden Globe."

"Then you should also know that his salary after that must have been quite astonishing."

Huang Baiming didn't know what to say.

Winning a Hong Kong Film Award can increase one's value a hundredfold, with a guaranteed salary of several million for a single film.

The Golden Globe Award, for example, can be worth millions of dollars!

The budget for "Ip Man 2" was much higher than the first film, but it was still only around 3000 million.

Is the total cost enough to pay this actor's salary?
The people you mentioned earlier, like Lundgren and others, combined probably aren't as wealthy as him alone.

"Of course I know."

Zhang Yuan spread his hands.

"But Gong Li's salary is also astonishing, but I still managed to get it."

They all shut down their microphones now.

With such examples right before their eyes, no one could easily refute them.

"Gong Li is Chinese after all, so it's harder for foreigners to handle him," Jiang Zhiqiang kindly remarked.

“Indeed, so I will talk to him myself.” Zhang Yuan made it clear that he did not need their help.

Besides, they can't help anyway.

Everyone else is incompetent; it seems I must step in!

Zhang Yuan knew that the conventional approach wouldn't work.

Even if you offered them millions of dollars in salary, they might not accept the role.

Because the reputation of the Huaxia production team... isn't very good.

Some people keep breaking the rules.

So, there's a clever trick to this.

However, the same "skillful approach" used against Gong Li cannot be employed... (End of Chapter)