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

Chapter 241 Casting, Screening

When Li Boda announced that he would not be directing "Infinite Terror 3" but instead planned to make a new film called "Chu Xuan", many people began to try to contact him through various connections and channels.

Among these people were directors, who naturally wanted to take over Li Boda's job and direct "Infinite Terror 3".

After all, Infinite Terror 3 is different from other movies.

Because the movie "Infinite Terror 3" will definitely be released globally, which means that once he directs it, he can legitimately call himself an "internationally renowned director." Even if he never gets access to such resources again, it doesn't matter; just this one movie is enough to make him incredibly wealthy.

Just like Wu Baige, after he broke into Hollywood and made a few big hit movies, he started to get involved in big investments and even caused MGM, one of the eight major entertainment companies in Hollywood, to go bankrupt. However, after Wu Baige returned to China, he was not affected at all and directly made two movies, "Red Cliff I" and "Red Cliff II", which were terrible.

Even so, he easily made another film, "The Crossing," which also lost money.

Making movies, especially big-budget ones, and failing one after another, yet still continuing to make movies—that's what makes an internationally renowned director.

Therefore, many directors were eager to work with Li Boda.

Directors from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and even Hollywood are all represented. The Hollywood directors were recruited through Legendary Pictures and Lionsgate.

The domestic directors, who were initially somewhat reserved, became even more restless when they saw that Hollywood directors wanted to take over the film "Infinite Terror 3".

Originally, they were quite interested in 3D special effects blockbusters like "Infinite Terror 3".

However, the "Infinite Terror" film series was ultimately started by Li Boda. When they took over "Infinite Terror 3", it always felt like they were just picking up scraps, or they were worried that outsiders would think they were too old and had no talent, so they took on a film that a young director like Li Boda didn't want.

It's just that they're worried about their reputation.

However, the "Infinite Terror" series is indeed too tempting.

A movie that can be released globally, and whose first installment grossed 400 million at the box office. As long as the movie isn't bad, whoever directs it will likely become an internationally renowned director, and might even catch the eye of international entertainment companies. And who knows, with a bit of luck, they might even become a director in Hollywood.

These people were even more tempted.

In reality, there are only three or four directors in China who can sit still and remain stable: Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen, and Feng Gangpao.

In fact, if Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen, and others were willing, they could easily go abroad to make movies; many companies would invite them.

After all, their previous films had won a ton of awards at the three major international film festivals. When they won these awards, many foreign companies invited them to make films, but they declined.

Well, Feng Gangpao was actually a little tempted. After all, he hadn't won any awards at the three major international film festivals and didn't have much international recognition.

Previously, relying on Huayi Brothers' resources, they produced a film called "The Banquet," which completely screwed over foreign audiences, becoming the final straw and closing the door on the international market for period dramas.

If possible, Feng Gangpao wouldn't mind directing "Infinite Terror 3".

However, although he was somewhat tempted, Zhang Yimou and the others didn't seem interested at all. He was known as one of the top three directors in China, alongside Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige. If he were to jump out and accept a role that Li Boda didn't want, it would probably be really bad for his reputation.

So despite his hesitation, Feng Gangpao ultimately didn't take any action. But even without taking action, he felt that such a big piece of fat was hanging in front of him, and he was really tempted!
After all, compared to Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, Feng Gangpao is ultimately inferior, mainly in terms of international reputation.

Therefore, the possibility of a global release for "Infinite Terror 3" was incredibly tempting for Feng Gangpao.

If he really makes this movie, and it's well-made, and it gets a very high global box office, then his title as one of the top three directors in China might truly be well-deserved.

However, while Feng Gangpao was struggling with his decision, news spread that Xu Ke had taken on the job of directing "Infinite Terror 3".

Upon hearing the news, Feng Gangpao's first reaction was to breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, if Li Boda hadn't made a decision and hadn't said who to choose, Feng Gangpao would have been torn to death. Now that things are settled, he no longer needs to worry.

However, Feng Gangpao was also envious of Xu Ke's role as director of "Infinite Terror 3," after all, it was such a great opportunity—

Xu Ke readily accepted Li Boda's offer to direct "Infinite Terror 3".

After all, Xu Ke had spent so much time on the set of "Infinite Terror 2" that he had worked his way up to become an assistant director. He was really envious and eager for a big-budget 3D production like "Infinite Terror 2".

Despite spending so much time on set, the real director was ultimately Li Boda. So even though he had been on set for so long, he was still a step behind, and it felt a bit like scratching an itch through a boot.

Now that Li Boda has asked him to direct "Infinite Terror 3", it's like Xu Ke can finally take off his shoes and scratch an itch. He agreed without hesitation.

He even decided to postpone the filming of "Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon," which he had originally planned to shoot soon.

After all, even though he filmed "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon" in 3D, it still falls short compared to the 3D of the "Infinite Terror" series.

It's worth noting that Xu Ke is practically the only director in both mainland China and Hong Kong who's obsessed with special effects technology. How could he possibly let go of such an opportunity?

Even after the directorship was finalized, many people still came to Li Boda.

What was the purpose? Naturally, it was to find out what Li Boda's next movie was going to be about and what kind of roles he would play. After all, for a director of Li Boda's caliber, his movies are very valuable to many actors.

In addition, many people want to invest in Li Boda's new play.

Even though they had no idea what Li Boda was going to film, what type of movie it was, or what story it was going to tell, they still took their money and rushed to Li Boda's side, wanting to get involved no matter what.

However, this time, Li Boda did not budge. He directly claimed that he had already signed a contract with China Film Group and was not short of investment.

In reality, Li Boda's behavior can be considered, to some extent, of hogging the benefits.

After all, if a movie doesn't have three or four investors, it's like trying to make a living all by itself.

However, on the one hand, China Film Group has already invested in the movie "Chu Xuan". Everyone knows the status of China Film Group. As long as China Film Group is involved, other issues are not really issues.

Another point is that the control of the "Infinite Terror" series is in the hands of Li Boda. Li Boda did not monopolize the "Infinite Terror" series at all. Almost everyone in the industry who was qualified to participate had a stake in the "Infinite Terror" series.

You should know that the [Infinite Terror] project is a huge one, and Li Boda is willing to share it.

So even though Li Boda occasionally made one or two films, and didn't share the investment with others, no one said anything.

Theaters and film companies shouldn't try to sabotage Li Boda's films because of this. That would be utterly insane.

So in the end, only Li Boda and China Film Group invested in the film "Chu Xuan," and that was the final decision.

As for the casting of the drama "Chu Xuan"

The movie "Chu Xuan" is actually Chu Xuan's personal feature film. It tells the story of Chu Xuan's birth, growth, and entry into the Main God Space. The opponents or various characters he encounters in the story are just embellishments.

However, even though it's just an embellishment, Li Boda still needs to make careful choices when selecting roles.

Because in the movie "Chu Xuan", these characters may not have many scenes or be very important, but any character with a name may enter the Main God Space later, which may be related to the filming of the "Infinite Terror" series.

For example, Adam, the clone of Chu Xuan's genes, and Adam's partner Haotian.

In addition, Li Boda also plans to film some scenes featuring the characters Zhang Heng and Ming Yanwei in the movie "Chu Xuan". In the movie, it will only be a casual glance by Chu Xuan when he is looking at the information.

There's also the character Cheng Xiao, who doesn't need much screen time. Chu Xuan just glances at Cheng Xiao's file when he's investigating information. This character might only have one photo in the movie "Chu Xuan," a mere second of screen time.

In the movie "Chu Xuan," Cheng Xiao's character isn't even a minor role. However, in the "Infinite Terror" series, Cheng Xiao will become a key member of the Zhongzhou team. So even though he only has one close-up photo in "Chu Xuan," Li Boda has to carefully consider who is more suitable for the role.

Another character who appears in a close-up photo booth scene is Wang Xia, or rather, Wang Renjia. He also appears briefly in the shot, and in Li Boda's arrangement, his close-up photo booth appearance is even shorter than Cheng Xiao's.

Therefore, in order to film the movie "Chu Xuan", Li Boda had to combine the "Infinite Terror" series and select actors to play the five roles of Zhang Heng, Cheng Xiao, Wang Xia, Adam and Hao Tian.

However, choosing five suitable characters is not actually that difficult.

The role of Zhang Heng was decided the fastest.

The actor who played Zhang Heng was personally brought to Li Boda by Li Lianjie and his men.

"Wenzhang, what are you doing? Hurry up and call for help!" Li Lianjie chuckled and scolded Wenzhang.

"Hehe, that's exactly what I was planning to say. Actually, even without you saying it, Godfather, Director Li is a great benefactor in my life. If I hadn't been chosen by Director Li to star in 'Love is Not Blind,' I definitely wouldn't have achieved what I have now..." Wen Zhang chuckled, her sweet words as charming as could be.

Seeing the emblem like this, Li Boda was in a good mood.

As Wen Zhang said, Li Boda initially chose him for the film "Love is Not Blind." At that time, although Wen Zhang had acted in TV dramas and had some fame, he was only a third-tier actor. It was Li Boda's "Love is Not Blind" that made Wen Zhang a star and a popular young actor.

The insignia said that Li Boda was a benefactor in his life, and that was absolutely true.

Li Boda never expected that Li Lianjie would actually adopt Wenzhang as his godson.

Even for the sake of his godson Wen Zhang, Li Lianjie personally went to Li Boda, hoping to get a role for Wen Zhang from Li Boda.

Looking at Wen Zhang's obedient smile, Li Boda felt that the role of Zhang Heng was actually quite suitable for Wen Zhang to play.

Herald's acting skills are more than enough to handle the role, and his appearance is also quite good.

Therefore, Li Boda immediately decided to give the role of Zhang Heng to Li Boda.

Even the emblems and Li Lianjie repeatedly expressed their gratitude to Li Boda.

For the role of Cheng Xiao, Li Boda chose Deng Chao, since Cheng Xiao is a somewhat comical and ridiculous pervert, and Deng Chao is fully capable of handling the character.

The role of Wang Xia, a former special forces soldier, was assigned to Wu Jing by Li Boda.

As for Adam and Haotian, Adam was given to Chen Kun. Chen Kun himself has a unique arrogance, which is quite suitable for this role.

As for Haotian, Li Boda gave him to a person named Zhang Ruoyun. The reason he gave him to this person was that his father found Li Boda through his connections in the Beijing elite circle.

In Li Boda's view, the role of Haotian was not particularly outstanding, so it was given to him.

After all, Zhang Ruoyun is actually quite handsome. Although his eyes are a bit small, his smile is like that of a husky, which makes it easy for people to like him.

Thus, Li Boda's important role as Chu Xuan was pretty much settled. The script had already been submitted to the Film Bureau and passed the review. Li Boda could gather the crew and start filming at any time.

Of course, although filming could begin immediately, Li Boda wasn't in a hurry.

Because it's already December, and "Infinite Terror 2" is about to be released!

Although Li Boda didn't participate much in the promotion of "Infinite Terror 2", he couldn't just abandon the film now that it was released.

With much anticipation from movie fans, the date finally arrived: December 16th.

However, this time, the premiere of "Infinite Terror 2" was not held in the evening.

Many movie premieres are held in the evening, with the movie officially starting to play at midnight or 12:00 AM, in order to maximize the box office figures when calculating the movie's opening day revenue.

After all, there's a significant difference between a movie's box office revenue after 24 hours of release and after 12 hours.

However, for Li Boda now, he no longer needs to care too much about the opening day box office.

Just like Zhang Yimou, his movies almost never have their premieres at night; he almost never holds them at midnight.

So, if you search online, you can find that Feng Gangpao's movies broke the opening day box office record, and Chen Kaige's movies broke the opening day box office record, but almost none of Zhang Yimou's movies broke the opening day box office record after that.

However, quite often, Zhang Yimou's movies have higher box office revenue than those of Chen Kaige and Feng Gangpao.

And Li Boda, he is now almost qualified for that position.

Therefore, Li Boda also adjusted the specific premiere time of the movie "Infinite Terror 2".

The premiere of "Infinite Terror 2" was scheduled for the morning, at 10:00 AM by Li Boda.

The premiere of "Infinite Terror 2" also boasted a massive lineup, with almost half of the entertainment industry in attendance.

If it weren't for the fact that some movie tickets were deliberately reserved for the audience in advance, no one would have been able to snag a ticket to attend the premiere of "Infinite Terror 2".

Of course, a premiere is a premiere. If the audience wants to watch the movie, they can go to other cinemas or even other screening rooms.

After all, "Infinite Terror 2" was released in China around the same time.

In other words, it was daytime, the weather was very good, and the light was very bright, so the camera lights were not very noticeable, but the camera was still clicking away continuously.

Countless celebrities in the entertainment industry, both men and women, walked the red carpet, surrounded by countless reporters snapping photos.

Some female celebrities have even started lingering on the red carpet, trying to stay there as long as possible.

Finally, the responsible security guards started to clear people out, which restored order to the premiere of "Infinite Terror 2".

Li Boda didn't bother with any of this. Let these people do whatever they want; they had no right to let Li Boda hear a single word about them.

After the premiere ceremony was completed, the film officially began playing.

The movie opens with Zheng Zha, who is almost completely decapitated, hearing Zhang Jie shout, "God, heal everyone! Deduct the points from your accounts!" (Heal everyone, God.)

The movie started like this, which made many viewers in the theater widen their eyes. There was no buffer or anything, and it was so exciting right from the start.

With only half of his body remaining, Zheng Zha's incomplete body was gradually pieced together by the healing light of the main god, as if a 3D printer was used to repair it.

Coupled with the amazing special effects, this one scene alone has already made many people feel that the movie ticket was well worth the money.

Later, when they entered the world of "Ju-on," Liu Yifei's appearance caught the attention of many viewers. Many couldn't help but whisper among themselves, because although most of the movies Liu Yifei made these days weren't very good, her fame remained stable, and she was still one of the top actresses in China.

However, when the camera focused on Fan Bingbing, who was wearing pajamas and whose body lines were faintly visible, many people in the movie theater almost drooled.

That alluring, seductive look, as if she had just woken up, paired with loose pajamas—although she wasn't actually revealing anything, it somehow made people feel as if she was showing everything. The image was incredibly tempting.

So much so that when the camera moved away from Fan Bingbing, many people cursed inwardly, wondering why the camera had been moved away.

Later, Chu Xuan, played by Li Boda, leaves with his android Arno.

The audience in the movie theater, those who had read the original novel, didn't think anything of it.

Viewers who haven't read the original novel often don't quite understand the character of Chu Xuan.

Having schemed against Zheng Zha before, and now directly separating from Zheng Zha's team, especially in a horror movie like this, isn't this just sending them to their deaths?

He clearly showed a high level of intelligence earlier on.

When someone couldn't help but mutter about this, the audience member next to them who had read the original novel couldn't help but quietly start explaining to the other person how awesome the character Chu Xuan was, why he did what he did, and so on.

Hearing the other party's surprised reaction, he couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice, "Wow, Chu Xuan is this awesome!"

True 3D special effects, plus superb filming skills.

The story of the Ju-on world terrified many people in the movie theater, leaving them pale-faced.

The movie "Ju-on" was already terrifying enough, and when Li Boda filmed "Infinite Terror 2", he captured the essence of the horror of "Ju-on".

In addition, there are extremely realistic 3D special effects.

As a result, many viewers watching the 3D version of "Infinite Terror 2" in the movie theater felt like they were being chased by Kayako, and screams could be heard from time to time in the theater.

It really terrified a lot of viewers.

Even so, despite the screams of fright, no audience member was willing to leave the movie theater early.

Although some people covered their eyes in fear, they still couldn't help but peek at the movie on the big screen through their fingers.

However, some people are indeed timid. Although they really want to watch "Infinite Terror 2", the realistic 3D viewing experience is too scary and they can't accept it, so they simply take off their 3D glasses.

It's still scary afterwards, but at least you don't have to experience that immersive, terrifying feeling of being chased by Kayako.

(End of this chapter)