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

Chapter 255 Bone-Corroding and Marrow-Sucking

Li Boda did not put too much effort into the movie "Infinite Terror 5".

The main focus is on the "Infinite Terror" series, which has already produced four films. The filming process for this series has long been established.

The film's investment, the selection of filming locations, and so on, all follow a well-established procedure and do not require any changes. Therefore, Li Boda naturally does not need to devote more energy to them.

Of course, Li Boda still needed to participate in the filming of "Infinite Terror 5".

Because the movie "Infinite Terror 5" mainly focuses on the annihilation of the Zhongzhou team.

Although Li Boda's character, Chu Xuan, wasn't currently in the Zhongzhou team, the Zhongzhou team was going to have a team battle with the Demon Squad, and the Demon Squad had a clone of Chu Xuan. Therefore, Li Boda was also required to participate.

Besides Li Boda, there is also Ming Yanwei, played by Fan Bingbing.

Fan Bingbing was overjoyed after receiving the script for "Infinite Terror 5" ahead of time.

After all, this is "Infinite Terror 5". With just this one movie, she can proudly say that she is an international superstar. At the same time, her already high salary will definitely increase by more than double.

It's fair to say that Fan Bingbing had been eyeing the "Infinite Terror" movie series for a long time.

Look at Zhao Liying. She was just an unknown girl before signing with Li Boda's studio. She was nothing. Although she later gained some fame by using Li Boda's resources to film some dramas, that was about it.

However, since taking on the role in the "Infinite Terror" series, Zhao Liying's fame has skyrocketed. Fan Bingbing isn't jealous or envious of her, given that she is already one of the top actresses in China.

What Fan Bingbing was jealous of was Zhao Liying's international fame and the $20 million salary that Hollywood offered her.

That's right. Ever since "Infinite Terror 4" became a global hit, grossing $16 billion, the salaries of Zhao Liying and Yan Kuan have been raised to $20 million.

Although it's nowhere near as good as Robert Downey Jr.'s salary, this is still considered a top-tier star's salary in Hollywood.

Of course, such a high salary is mainly due to Li Boda's willingness to pay. After all, Li Boda paid Zhao Liying 20 million US dollars for the "Infinite Terror" series, and the previous "Holy Grail War" also had such high box office returns, so publicly, Zhao Liying's salary was 20 million US dollars.

It would be strange if Fan Bingbing wasn't envious, jealous, or green with envy.

Now, her character, Ming Yanwei, has finally appeared.

Although for now there's only one installment, "Infinite Terror 5," at least it's finally made an appearance.

Fan Bingbing even secretly planned whether to have Li Boda film some spin-offs, such as content about the Demon Squad.

However, none of this matters to Li Boda, or to Li Boda at present.

The most important thing is the filming of "Dying to Survive".

Even before the production team for "Infinite Terror 5" had officially started, Li Boda had already led his men to South Korea.

I plan to finish filming this movie as soon as possible.

This way, when it comes time to film "Infinite Terror 5", Li Boda won't have any conflicts with film contracts.

Of course, even if the production team for "Dying to Survive" is set up and filmed ahead of schedule, the scenes involving Chu Xuan in "Infinite Terror 5" will still need to be adjusted later.

After all, filming "Dying to Survive" is not like filming "Infinite Terror 5," which had a fixed and mature process to follow. Selecting actors, choosing filming locations, contacting the local government and film companies in South Korea, and selecting actors, etc., all of these had to be done from scratch.

At most, it's because of Li Boda's own fame and ability that he can handle these matters more easily.

When Infinite Terror 5 officially began filming, it was absolutely impossible for Dying to finish filming.

Therefore, adjusting Chu Xuan's scenes later will make Li Boda's schedule more reasonable.

……

After arriving in South Korea, Lee Bo-da selected locations and actors, leaving the rest to the film's producer, Sister Wang.

However, as for the actors, Li Boda felt somewhat helpless looking at Fan Bingbing clinging to him.

"Bingbing, you also have to go to the set of [Infinite Terror 5] to film afterwards, which causes a scheduling conflict."

"Aren't you also going to film [Infinite Terror 5]?"

"Can we be on the same level? I'm the director of 'Dying to Survive' and also one of the investors in 'Infinite Terror 5.' I can get the crew to move my scenes back. What about you? You finally got this role after a long wait. How about this, you'll have a cameo in 'Dying to Survive,' playing the ex-wife of the male lead, Cheng Yongjun. It's a small role, so just a brief cameo. Then, study the script for 'Infinite Terror 5' carefully. Before filming starts, use the time to work out and improve your physical fitness, flexibility, and stamina. You know, the 'Infinite Terror' series has very high physical requirements for its actors," Li Boda said to Fan Bingbing.

Upon hearing this, Fan Bingbing had no other choice but to agree.

After all, she and Li Boda are not the same.

Especially in terms of physical strength, the characters in the "Infinite Terror" film series are all fighting desperately in life-or-death crises, so agile bodies, nimble steps, and super endurance are all essential.

After dealing with Fan Bingbing, Li Boda began selecting actors for the film "Dying to Survive".

To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that "Dying to Survive" couldn't be a Chinese film, or even a co-production, Li Boda really wouldn't have minded using a large number of mainland actors in this movie.

Unfortunately, this movie can only be a South Korean film. Therefore, the male and female leads can only be played by South Korean actors. If mainland Chinese actors were used for the main roles or if there were too many mainland Chinese actors, the movie might not be able to be released in mainland China at all.

However, although South Korea is a small country, it actually has quite a few excellent actors.

Although many South Korean celebrities have undergone plastic surgery, it's easy to find quite a few film stars with excellent acting skills.

When the news broke that Lee Bo-da was going to make a movie in South Korea and was going to select actors from South Korea, countless male and female movie stars from South Korea applied to participate in the movie "Dying to Survive".

Resumes were presented to Li Boda one by one, allowing him to choose which ones to select.

Looking at so many resumes, Lee Bo-da realized that South Korea really does have many excellent film actors.

Moreover, there are many handsome, talented, and experienced male actors among them, such as Hyun Bin.

"Sigh, it's a pity he's too handsome." Lee Bo-da regretfully put Hyun Bin's resume aside.

Although Li Boda didn't say he wanted to make "Dying to Survive" a 100% art film, it was definitely not a commercial film either. Therefore, actors like Hyun Bin, who are handsome, were absolutely unsuitable for the role.

Of course, Li Boda didn't mind the beautiful actresses.

It's normal for female characters to be beautiful; they're often just pretty faces, and even if they're not purely pretty, being good-looking is an advantage. But it's different for male characters. While we can't say we'll just pick ugly ones, they certainly can't be as handsome as Hyun Bin.

Because Li Boda wanted to start filming as soon as possible, the process of selecting actors was relatively simple and straightforward. He would first look at their resumes, select suitable candidates for the roles, and then bring them in for auditions. If the actors' acting skills were deemed excellent, the roles would be cast directly.

Therefore, in just three days, the majority of the roles in "Dying to Survive" were finalized.

For the role of Cheng Yongjun, Li Boda chose an actor named Huang Zhengmin. He is, well, so-so in appearance, not handsome, but his acting skills are outstanding. He is able to fully grasp the role of Cheng Yongjun.

As for Cheng Yongjun's brother-in-law, the policeman who arrested him, Li Boda chose Li Zhengzai instead.

Coincidentally.

Hwang Jung-min and Lee Jung-jae once starred in a movie called "New World," where they played the male lead and the second male lead.

Lee Jung-jae is handsome, but not quite as handsome as Hyun Bin. He's suitable for this role though.

As for the roles of Park Shouyi and Huang Mao, Li Boda directly brought in Wang Chuanjun and Wang Baoqiang from the mainland.

As mentioned before, due to the subject matter of this film, mainland actors could not play the lead roles. However, it was still possible to cast two mainland actors as important supporting roles. But Li Boda only chose these two.

Wang Chuanjun plays Park Shouyi, and Wang Baoqiang plays Huang Mao.

Male characters are easier to choose.

On the contrary, the women felt that, apart from Fan Bingbing making a cameo appearance as Cheng Yongjun's ex-wife, there was only one other woman who made money by dancing.

Unfortunately, South Korea has quite a few outstanding women, such as Han Ga-in and Son Ye-jin. They are not only beautiful, but also have excellent acting skills. Son Ye-jin, in particular, is not only beautiful, but also has a somewhat melancholic expression, making her very suitable for playing roles where she has to dance to earn money to treat her daughter's leukemia.

However, while Son Ye-jin's appearance is suitable, there are quite a few other actresses who are also suitable.

In particular, an actress named Hyun Young.

In terms of fame and status, Hyun Young is not as good as Son Ye-jin and others.

However, she also has advantages.

On one hand, there's Xuan Ying, whose appearance is very similar to Liu Ruoying. On the other hand, during the audition, she showed Li Boda a special skill that made him unconsciously swallow.

What's your special skill?

When Xuan Ying was interviewing, she brought a bottle of red wine. Instead of using a corkscrew, she put the bottle directly into her mouth and sucked hard, using the strong suction to pull out the cork.

With a pop, the wine cork was sucked out.

Seeing this, Li Boda was truly shocked once again. Was this Xuan Ying really that strong?
A human bottle opener, seriously?! (A scene from Family Honor 4, quite impressive.)
Unfortunately, although her skills were superb, Lee Bok-da still felt that Son Ye-jin was more suitable for the role. So in the end, Lee Bok-da could only bear the heartache and reluctance and choose Son Ye-jin.

However, while Hyun Young was somewhat disappointed by Lee Baek-da's choice, she said she could understand it very well, given the significant difference between her and Son Ye-jin.

Then, Hyun Young expressed her hope that Lee Bok-da would consider her for a suitable role when he filmed in the future. To this end, Hyun Young even specially invited Lee Bok-da to learn more about her acting skills that evening.

Although Li Boda felt it was a bit inappropriate.

But Xuan Ying was so enthusiastic. Even though he hadn't chosen her, she was still so enthusiastic. Li Boda reluctantly agreed and planned to test Xuan Ying's acting skills that night.

Then Li Boda finally understood what it meant to be "devouring one's bones and marrow".

All Li Boda could say was—Awesome!!!
Ahem, of course, these are just minor incidents, minor incidents!
Soon after the casting was completed, the production team for "Dying to Survive" began work.

It was still a press conference to mark the start of filming.

Because Li Boda has works such as the "Infinite Terror" series, "Chu Xuan" and "Holy Grail War", he is also very famous in South Korea.

Or rather, because Li Boda's movies were able to achieve high box office returns in North America and the United States, people in South Korea genuinely admired Li Boda.

Therefore, countless media reporters came to attend the press conference for the start of filming of this movie.

Even some of the most famous girl groups in South Korea, such as Long Legs Generation, have come here to perform.

The people from the South Korean entertainment company treated Lee Bo-dae with exceptional warmth, practically treating him like a father. They even bluntly stated that whichever girl group member Lee Bo-da took a liking to, or even which few he was interested in, they would be delivered to his room that very night.

That tone made it seem like they weren't treating the girl group members like human beings at all.

Although similar things happen in China, at least they are not as direct.

However, thinking about some rumors he had heard about the South Korean entertainment industry, Li Boda felt that this situation was actually quite normal.

then……

All I can say is that after becoming an internationally renowned director, the food really tastes delicious.

……

A somewhat dilapidated shop with a sign written in Indian script hanging outside. Inside the shop, Hwang Jung-min sat there looking dejected, as if all his bones had been removed, completely devoid of energy.

At this moment, Wang Chuanjun, wearing a mask, arrived at the store with a mixture of fear, longing, and anticipation in his eyes.

Sitting behind the monitor, Li Boda watched Wang Chuanjun's performance and couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

Li Boda never expected that Wang Chuanjun's performance would be so outstanding, portraying the character of Park Shouyi so well.

To be honest, Li Boda didn't initially think much of Wang Chuanjun.

At the beginning, Li Boda only chose Wang Baoqiang to star in this movie, since it was a Korean film.

However, Wang Chuanjun somehow got the information and made extensive preparations beforehand. He then personally traveled to South Korea to try and meet with Lee Bo-da and recommend himself.

When Li Boda saw Wang Chuanjun, who was so thin he was practically skin and bones, he was shocked by his appearance.

After asking around, I learned that after hearing some news, Wang Chuanjun started to lose weight. In just one month, he lost 50 pounds. Not only did he not eat, but he also maintained high-intensity exercise, which made him so thin that he looked like this.

Li Boda was moved by Wang Chuanjun's perseverance and gave him this opportunity. Wang Chuanjun's acting skills also exceeded Li Boda's expectations.

Li Boda's only impression of Wang Chuanjun was his role as Guan Gu Shenqi in the sitcom "iPartment".

Initially, Li Boda didn't really think Wang Chuanjun's acting skills were that outstanding, especially for a TV series like "iPartment".

Unexpectedly, Wang Chuanjun was so ruthless to himself.

Moreover, because the movie "Dying to Survive" was filmed in South Korea, most of the actors in the entire crew were South Korean and spoke the Korean language.

Originally, Li Boda's idea was to have the Koreans speak Korean, and have Wang Baoqiang and Wang Chuanjun speak Chinese. Although it would be completely nonsensical, it's filming, and as long as the acting is good enough, the dubbing can be done later.

This is how Li Boda filmed movies like "Infinite Terror".

After all, it's normal for people from different countries to have language barriers.

Not everyone speaks multiple languages.

All you need to do is remember how many lines you have and when to say them.

However, Wang Chuanjun is quite ruthless. He actually found someone to help translate, then marked it with pinyin, and then used the marked pinyin to act out the scene with the other person.

Although his Korean pronunciation was a bit off, Hwang Jung-min and the others could understand it perfectly, which even led them to mistakenly believe that Wang Chuan-jun could speak Korean.

However, after learning that Wang Chuanjun didn't know the Korean language at all and was using a phonetic notation method, I couldn't help but give him a thumbs up.

Wang Chuanjun's behavior actually made Wang Baoqiang feel very embarrassed. After all, there were only two actors from the mainland, and everyone was originally speaking Chinese together. Now, Wang Chuanjun used this method to speak Korean, leaving Wang Baoqiang to speak his lines in Chinese, which made him very awkward. So he started to learn from Wang Chuanjun. However, language is something that requires talent.

Wang Chuanjun has a strong talent for languages. He can speak Korean fluently using pinyin notation. However, Wang Baoqiang is not so talented in this area. His lines not only fail to achieve the desired effect, but are also unintentionally funny. As a result, when acting with him, Hwang Jung-min and the others often burst into laughter.

In the end, Li Boda forbade Wang Baoqiang from using the pinyin notation method. After all, even if there was a language barrier, it was better than having people laugh frequently and ultimately affecting the filming speed, right?

However, Wang Baoqiang's problem is not actually that big, because the character Huang Mao, whom he played, didn't have many lines.

The character Huang Mao is a stubborn guy. At first, with his messy blond hair, he looks arrogant and doesn't seem like a proper person.

However, this is only one aspect of Huang Mao's personality. More than that, Huang Mao represents a kind of stubbornness, or rather, a stubborn mule. Once he has made up his mind, nothing can change it.

Because of his own experiences, he is like a hedgehog.

Although Wang Baoqiang had never played a similar role before, he still managed to capture the essence of the character Huang Mao very accurately during filming.

In addition, most of the roles Wang Baoqiang usually plays are silly and foolish, but they are also very stubborn. Therefore, the role of Huang Mao is not actually too difficult for Wang Baoqiang.

Hwang Jung-min, Lee Jung-jae, and the others couldn't help but look at Wang Chuan-jun and Wang Bao-qiang with new respect after watching their performance.

Especially Wang Chuanjun, when they learned that Wang Chuanjun had starved himself to such an extent in such a short time just for a slim chance, they were truly in awe of him.

After all, if it were them, without any guarantees, it would be really hard for them to be so ruthless to themselves for a chance with almost zero success rate.

(End of this chapter)