Entertainment tycoon since 83

Chapter 118: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Begins Filming

The next day, more than a dozen newspapers reported Huang Ze's answer and gave it eye-catching headlines.

【Huang Ze made a bold statement that his new film grossed over 10 million in the US. 】

[Jerry Huang is not afraid of strong winds and his tongue is not sticking out].

【Director Huang's Hong Kong box office has not yet exceeded 10 million, but he has already set his sights on Hollywood.】

In a villa, Jackie Chan, nicknamed Double-Bone Dragon, was free and casually flipped through today's newspaper.

Just look at the title to see if there is anything of interest.

Seeing that many newspapers were speaking ill of Huang Ze, he couldn't help but think of himself as someone who was often criticized in the newspapers. He felt as if they were sharing the same hatred for the enemy and shook his head unhappily.

"This bunch of paparazzi."

"If I don't answer the interview, they will be unhappy. If I answer, they will ridicule me in various ways. In short, they just want to attract attention!"

He first complained, then took a quick look at the specific content.

When I saw Huang Ze say that he was confident that he could make over 10 million in the United States, I was immediately happy.

I don’t know what to say.

As for this world-renowned singer and director who also won the Venice Golden Lion, his godfather told him that In the Mood for Love and Taste of Cherry sold a lot of money. He admired this, "But art films and commercial films are not the same thing after all!"

"It's OK if an art film wins awards and sells copyrights."

"You make a commercial film. How can it be that easy to make over 10 million at the US box office?"

"That's the country Hollywood lives in!"

After sighing, he thought of his journey in Hollywood, which, if not horrible, could be described as a painful memory.

His first foray into Hollywood was with the film "Young Master", which broke Hong Kong records and sold over 10 million US dollars worldwide. He was so proud of himself.

As a result, the box office of "The Trench", which cost 4 million US dollars, was only over 6 million US dollars in the United States.

Another attempt was made last year, but the result was even worse for "Dynasty: Reborn," which only earned $980,000.

He no longer has any hope for Hollywood.

Therefore, seeing Huang Ze confident that he could get tens of millions of dollars, he could only say, "It's good to be young."

"It's a shame that he won the Venice Golden Lion at such a young age. I hope Hollywood won't dampen his enthusiasm in the end."

With a slight sigh, Jackie Chan went to read other newspapers.

There are many people working in the film industry in Hong Kong, but if you really count them, there aren't that many people. Within a few days, many people heard about this incident. When they heard that Huang Ze was aiming for a box office of over 10 million US dollars in the United States, their reactions were almost the same as Jackie Chan's.

Art films and commercial films are not the same thing.

This guy from the north is probably going to suffer.

In fact, Huang Ze also saw these eye-catching headlines in the newspaper and had the same reaction after reading them, not taking them seriously.

Why don’t you plant crops just because you hear the crickets chirping?
Keep doing what you should do.

As for these media newspapers.

"Don't be fooled by the cheers now. If the company really breaks through 10 million US dollars in the future, I'm afraid these people will be the first to praise it."

"Haha, sooner or later, I'll make you eat what you vomited again!"

Huang Ze still has confidence in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. After all, it is a movie starring him. Fans won’t be so unsupportive, right? They can afford the album, but can’t afford the movie ticket at $5?

I have confidence in them. Throwing the newspaper away, Huang Ze got in the car and drove to the shooting site.

This is a remote bar that was rented out specifically and has been transformed into a boxing ring with a table in the middle.

There were cards and chips on top.

Instructing the other crew members to get ready, the four actors began to take their seats in the middle of the ring.

Xie Xian had his hair slicked back and wore a black suit, a coat, and a pair of light brown glasses that allowed his eyes to be seen but added a sense of mystery.

"How about this style?" Xie Xian asked Huang Ze with a smile.

"That's enough." Huang Ze nodded. "You won't need much expression later. The main thing is to act out a very sophisticated expression. It's best to act it all out with a blank expression."

"I understand." Xie Xian made an OK gesture expressionlessly.

The other two actors were just extras and had barely two lines, so they just asked the on-site script supervisor to come over and make a cameo appearance.

Sitting opposite Xie Xian is Wang Zhiwen, who was called over by Huang Ze from Beijing Film Academy. He plays one of the four main characters in the group, a "card master" who relies on micro-expressions to judge his opponent's cards. Huang Ze named him A Jin.

"You need to maintain a very nervous look later and don't blink too much. Because of your ability, you are always observing the expressions of the other three people."

"understand!"

"Okay, let's start for the first time!"

Four people are playing Poker, each with three cards, and they are comparing the size of the cards.

A Jin relied on his own ability to beat the other two people off the table, leaving him to fight against the gangster boss.

However, no matter how high one's talent is, as long as it does not reach the level of superpowers, it will still be no match for technology.

Not to mention that this is the gangster's home ground.

Even when Ah Jin expressed his intention to come to his territory to gamble, the other party had already sent his general Dasha Cheng Kuian to investigate Ah Jin and found out that he was very good at playing cards.

Therefore, Ajin's seat was also carefully selected by the gangster boss. After Ajin walked in, only that seat was left, and behind that seat, there was a camera, which was connected to a closed-circuit television.

Every time Ah Jin played a card, everyone could see it clearly. Then Dasha, the gangster's subordinate, would tell his boss about it through a mechanism.

The two of them were left to duel for several times, and the gangster boss kept following the bets. Just when A Jin said he had no money and wanted to open his cards, he kindly said that he could lend him one million.

A Jin thought he would win this time, so he decided to take a gamble, borrowed the one million, and then opened the cards.

The gangster boss opened his cards first, and they were not big, just a pair of sevens.

But Ajin only had a pair of six in his hand, which was just enough to suppress him.

"Okay, point the camera at Wang Zhiwen's face. What follows are close-ups of his face." Huang Ze waved at Liu Weiqiang, "Shake the camera. I want a shaky shot, as if the actor is shaking even when he walks."

Not only that, Huang Ze also planned to use a frame-splitting trick and match it with the original film's soundtrack to show A Jin's collapse at that moment.

……

The main difficulty of this film lies in editing and music.

As long as the story is split into several parts, there is actually no difficulty in shooting. It is a black comedy and does not require high acting skills from the actors.

Even the scenes where Huang Ze had to perform, since he had filmed many MVs after all, he had to face the camera and answer reporters' questions from time to time. In addition, with the guidance of Liang Jiahui, an actor of movie star level, he occasionally needed to reshoot several times, but most of the clips went very smoothly.

It was not until December 1st that Huang Ze took out some time in the evening and went to a cinema under the Debao Cinema Chain with Liang Jiahui and Zhang Xueyou as soon as he finished work.

The first film invested by the company and not directed by Huang Ze, "As Tears Go By", will be released tonight.

(End of this chapter)