Entertainment: Who still wants to fall in love when there are cheats?

Chapter 197 Cameo
"Have you heard? 'The Founding of a Republic' grossed 430 million yuan. Tsk tsk tsk, no domestically produced film has ever grossed more than that." Xu Shanzheng said with a face full of envy.

"It would be strange if a domestically produced movie surpassed 'The Founding of a Republic' at the box office," Li Boda couldn't help but roll his eyes.

What kind of movie is "The Founding of a Republic"? How could its box office performance possibly lose to other movies?

Putting aside the fact that "The Founding of a Republic" is a high-quality film, its significance is extraordinary. How could its box office possibly lose to other films? At least this year, absolutely no other film will surpass "The Founding of a Republic" in terms of box office revenue.

"I know, I was just saying. Tell me, wouldn't it be great if our movie could get this much box office revenue?" Xu Shanzheng said with a longing look on his face.

"Stop dreaming." Li Boda couldn't help but laugh. "Our movie only had a total investment of four million. You actually think it can gross four hundred million?"

"Hehehe, I'm just thinking about it. Since it's all just daydreaming anyway, of course I want to do something better," Xu Shanzheng said with a chuckle.

"That's right. Let's not even talk about the movie 'Lost in Thailand.' I hope that all the other movies I make in the future will gross over a billion!" Li Boda shouted even louder.

Hearing Li Boda say this, Xu Shanzheng and the people next to him also laughed.

"Director, so many big stars starred in 'The Founding of a Republic,' why didn't you star in it?" someone asked Li Boda curiously.

"I wasn't famous enough before, at least not before, and I didn't have any notable films. Later, I did have some decent films, but unfortunately, 'The Founding of a Republic' had already started filming, and the cast had been decided long ago, so I couldn't squeeze in at all." Li Boda was also frank and spoke the truth directly.

At present, "The Founding of a Republic" is a topic of discussion among many people in the industry.

Because this film is so significant, almost every actor with a name wanted to participate in it, even if it was just to play a small supporting role.

It can be said that all the actors were honored to be able to star in "The Founding of a Republic".

Those who cannot act can only watch with envy and resentment.

However, the movie "The Founding of a Republic" features hundreds of stars, both big and small, who have all participated in the film, bringing together almost all of China's top celebrities.

Li Boda did indeed suffer a loss.

In fact, the production team of "The Founding of a Republic" did consider inviting Li Boda to star in the film. Unfortunately, it was too late. By the time Li Boda had established himself in the film industry, "The Founding of a Republic" was already in production, and all the roles had been cast. They couldn't just dismiss someone else and then have Li Boda take their place.

As for the box office performance of "The Founding of a Republic," everyone in the industry knows that its high box office returns are perfectly normal.

Even though it's only October, and there's still the Spring Festival film season coming up, no matter how well-made or popular the later movies are, their final box office will absolutely not exceed 430 million yuan. Anyone who shows up at the wrong time—

However, the box office of 430 million yuan has indeed made many directors envious. Many directors are eager to try their hand at it. If they can't reach this box office this year, they can do it next year!
Next year's box office will definitely exceed this number; it's just a matter of who will be the winner.

Of course, this matter was still a bit far off for Li Boda.

Even though comedy films are prone to high box office returns, they still fall short of surpassing 430 million.

At least Li Boda, as a director, is still a long way off.

Unless Li Boda releases two more films of decent quality, he won't have the qualifications or the resources to challenge for the highest-grossing film of the year.

Filming!

Keep filming!

The movie "Lost in Thailand" has already been filmed two-thirds of the way through, with less than a third of the scenes remaining.

Moreover, the entire crew of "Lost in Thailand" had already worked together seamlessly from top to bottom, inside and out, making the filming process smoother and faster.

Speaking of which, the actor with the best acting skills and the best performance in the entire crew was Wang Baoqiang!

When Li Boda discovered this, he was a little surprised.

After all, Wang Baoqiang looked simple-minded and foolish, as if he didn't have much of a brain.

He gives off a very down-to-earth vibe, like he's not very good at acting.

But when it came to actually filming, it was discovered that Wang Baoqiang's acting skills were actually better than Xu Shanxiong's, who had spent several years in the theater.

When Xu Shanzheng discovered this, he found it hard to accept.

You know, Xu Shanzheng has always been quite confident in his acting skills, you could even say he's arrogant.

After all, he went straight into the drama troupe after graduating from university, where he honed his skills for several years before starting to act. He felt that his acting skills had been honed to perfection over the years.

Compared to actors like Chen Daoming and Chen Baoguo, he admits there's a significant gap between them. However, among the younger generation of actors—well, he should still be considered part of the younger generation, right? Anyway, he feels that among actors of his generation, he's one of the most outstanding.

Unexpectedly, Wang Baoqiang, a struggling actor from northern China who had never attended a performing arts school, surpassed him in acting skills.

It was hard to accept, so during filming, Xu Shanzheng even tried to suppress Wang Baoqiang with his acting skills. However, the more he tried, the more outstanding Wang Baoqiang became. Not only did he fail to overpower Wang Baoqiang, but he also stimulated Wang Baoqiang, making Wang Baoqiang's performance even better.

Every time Xu Shanzheng competed like this and failed, he would look at Wang Baoqiang with that simple, honest smile, as if he didn't understand Xu Shanzheng's desire to surpass him during filming.

Even at first, Xu Shanzheng felt a pang of guilt when faced with Wang Baoqiang's seemingly innocent smile. He felt it was utterly wrong of him to even consider competing with such a naive person as Wang Baoqiang.

However, as time went on, Xu Shanzheng discovered that Wang Baoqiang was not as simple as he seemed at all.

Wang Baoqiang was just using his simple and honest appearance to cover up his true self. In reality, Wang Baoqiang was a very cunning guy. Every time the two of them finished filming, he would show that simple and honest smile, as if he was being teased.

This made Xu Shanzheng so angry that he couldn't help but grab Wang Baoqiang's neck several times.

Then Wang Baoqiang grabbed Xu Shanzheng's arm and made him scream in pain.

"Brother Shanzheng, I've practiced kung fu. I trained at Shaolin Temple for many years," Wang Baoqiang said with a simple smile.

"..." Xu Shanzheng was ultimately a respectable man, and he couldn't bring himself to utter a curse. Well, mainly because he couldn't beat Wang Baoqiang.

The atmosphere on set of "Lost in Thailand" was just like that—it was really great.

During filming, the plot was so funny that the actors often burst out laughing. Between takes, Xu Shanzheng and Wang Baoqiang would also occasionally cause a scene, providing amusement for the entire crew.

"Cut! This shot is good! Everyone take a half-hour break and prepare for the next scene." Seeing Sister Wang arrive, director Li Boda told everyone to take a short break.

Upon hearing Li Boda's arrangement, Sister Wang chuckled and had the coffee and milk tea she brought distributed to everyone in the crew.

"Director, how's the filming progress for this movie?" Sister Wang asked with a smile.

"We've almost finished filming. A few more days, a week at most, and we should be able to wrap up," Li Boda said to Sister Wang with a smile.

"A week? That'll be quick. After filming wraps, we'll immediately send it to post-production. We'll prepare more money and have them work overtime. We probably won't have a finished film before December—boss, our movie is scheduled for release during the Spring Festival, so the timeline is a bit tight." Sister Wang said efficiently.

"The finished film will be released after December, and there will be censorship afterwards. I'm afraid it won't be ready for the Spring Festival release?" Li Boda shook his head.

"Boss, you forgot, China Film Group is also an investor in this movie. We don't need to produce a finished film; just a rough cut, and we can submit the rough cut for approval. It won't waste any time," Sister Wang said with a smile.

Li Boda suddenly realized that he had forgotten about China Film Group.

That's not right either. It's not that he forgot, it's that Li Boda never even considered that possibility.

The main problem was that Li Boda hadn't paid much attention to these matters at all. He'd initially left them to Sister Wang to handle, and hadn't thought about them since.

"Sister Wang, you can make the arrangements."

"Don't worry, boss, I'll arrange it. I'll send what we've filmed to the editing room now. Let them edit it first; that will save us more time."

"Okay. When you leave, just take these photos with you."

Sister Wang came in a hurry and left in a hurry.

They brought a ton of milk tea and coffee when they arrived, and took away their memory card with them when they left.

Li Boda himself was not affected at all; his emotions remained extremely stable, and he continued filming.

"Exon!"

Wang Baoqiang and Xu Shanzheng immediately got into character in front of the camera.

Meanwhile, Li Boda was also preparing for makeup and filming.

That's right, Li Boda is also preparing to make a cameo appearance in this movie.

As for his cameo role, it's still as a director! A young, talented director!

The director, played by Li Boda, encounters Xu Shanzheng and Wang Baoqiang on their way home. He learns about their journey from Wang Baoqiang, sparking an idea, and then confidently promises them that he will turn their story into a screenplay and make a movie. The movie is called "Lost in Thailand"!!!
To improve his directing skills, Li Boda went all out to make a good film of "Infinite Terror"!
(End of this chapter)