Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 140: Open and hidden ridicule, plus an easter egg

In late September, at nine o'clock in the evening in Beijing, the streets were as bright as day, the traffic on Chang'an Avenue turned into a river of light, and the ginkgo leaves on both sides of the street glowed with a pale yellow light under the street lights.

The moonlight shines brightly, revealing the coolness of early autumn and the lingering warmth of the hustle and bustle.

In the practice room, the window lattice is half open and the evening breeze is blowing gently.

The wooden floor glowed with soft light, reflecting the girl's graceful figure.

Liu Yifei stood in the center, having just finished practicing a set of Kunqu Opera movements. Her white training clothes outlined her slender figure, her waist as slender as a willow, and her skin glowed with a warm luster under the light.
The slightly wet hair on her forehead made her unmade-up face look even more fresh and charming.

Liu Xiaoli sat on a wooden chair, watching silently, holding a bottle of water in her hand.

At this moment, the door of the practice room creaked, and a smiling head popped in from outside - it was Shu Chang.

Shu Chang was still wearing his promotional uniform, his hair was slightly disheveled, and his breath carried a hint of the evening breeze from outside.

"Auntie!" Shu Chang called out first. Liu Xiaoli responded with a smile. Then she glanced at the time on her watch and whispered to the two of them, "We have to go home. I'm going to get some things. You guys get ready and I'll be down soon."

Liu Yifei nodded, glanced at Shu Chang's outfit, and asked with a smile, "Just got back from promotion?"

"Yeah, hehe," Shu Chang raised her chin proudly, "My role as the female lead in 'The Lotus Lantern' is about to be broadcast on CCTV-8. Hahahaha, I'm going to be famous all over the country soon."

"Where's your version of The Return of the Condor Heroes? When will it be broadcast?" Shu Chang sat down on the floor and took off her high heels.

"I don't know yet." Liu Yifei walked over with a smile and gently poked her waist with her finger. "Producer Zhang is still in talks, but it's definitely not going to happen to you."

"Oh, it's itchy!" Shu Chang shrank back and couldn't help laughing. "It's okay if I bump into you. I'll prove who's the boss!"

"Sister, your head!" Liu Yifei tapped Shu Chang's forehead lightly.

The atmosphere in the house suddenly became particularly cheerful, as if the early autumn night was also stained with the laughter of a young girl.

"How's your junior brother doing in Hollywood? It seems like they've been filming for almost a month, and there's been no news." Shu Chang hugged his knees and looked at Liu Yifei curiously.

"He said it was going pretty well. He's going to do a low-budget movie after finishing 'Now You See Me'."

"Ah? There's another one?" Shu Chang's eyes widened. "How come there's no word from the industry yet?"

"Of course," Liu Yifei raised her eyebrows proudly. "Junior brother said that there are no more than a handful of people who know about this. I am one of them."

Then he straightened his back slightly: "You are redundant."

"You are redundant!"

The two of them laughed together, and their voices echoed off the wooden walls of the training room.

As the National Day approaches, "The Myth" is the only one to take the top spot, topping the box office with 2650 million yuan in the first weekend, surpassing "Seven Swords" and setting a record this year.

Chen Kaige's "The Promise" finally got the mainland's pass to the Oscars, and will compete for the Oscars together with Hong Kong's "If Love" and Taiwan's "A Cloud on the Horizon".

Since "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", the "Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film" has become a dream that is within reach for Chinese people.

Chinese-language films are flocking to it, and the annual "Olympic bid" is hyped up to great fanfare, as if this is the only way to reflect its unique value and status.

This year is no exception, but Zhang Yimou voluntarily gave up participating. "A Solo Journey" did not have any previews and did not meet the application rules, so it was naturally taken away by "The Promise".

Zhang Weiping also announced that "A Lone Journey" would be released on December 22. As a result, some nosy media have begun to write articles saying that "A Lone Journey" avoided "The Promise", giving the Oscar first and then the release date", which caused a sensation in the city.

Zhang Weiping was very dissatisfied at this time and yelled at Zhang Yi:

"I've said it before, we should confront him head-on. Give him a few days. Look at what the media is saying about us. Besides, art films don't strive for Oscars. How can Brother Chen Kai really get that spot with 'The Promise'?"

"Don't stop me. This is outrageous. Do you really think that I, Zhang Weiping, am afraid of The Promise?" Zhang Weiping waved his hand and made a direct statement.

"December 22 was chosen as the world premiere date mainly for two reasons: First, Brother Kai hasn't had a successful film in many years, and filming The Promise took three years, which was no small feat.

Unlike Yimou, who has already filmed "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers"

"Zhang Weiping is really tough, he can mock and ridicule people openly and secretly." Ning Hao was on the phone, watching the open and covert struggles between the two major crews in the film and television industry these days, and felt a lot of emotion.

His "Crazy Stone" is like a nobody at this moment. The two major crews ignored it at all. Although it is a current issue, no one mentioned it seriously.

"The publicity plan has been re-determined. I have to say, Junior Brother, the person you recommended is really something. The publicity team of China Film Group was dismissive at first, but after the plan came out, their attitudes changed. President Han even wanted to recruit him to China Film Group."
By the way, I heard from Li Feng that it was you, Junior Brother, who came up with this idea."

Ning Hao couldn't help but ask curiously when he talked about this.

"I just came up with an idea." Wu Chen couldn't help but laugh when he heard that, but Li Feng would definitely not join China Film Group. Only a fool would want to join Wangshang Culture, which currently has a bright future.

"In fact, China Film Group's publicity and promotion is not bad, but it is backed by the system and its plans are not flexible enough. It still sticks to the same old routine. It may be okay for blockbusters, but small films need something new."

Ning Hao nodded in agreement after hearing this.

This combination of online promotion and offline events was far superior to the previous one, effectively targeting the film to the most precise audience. On Wu Chen's side, filming had already entered its peak phase.

The French vault robbery, this scene is actually divided into two parts, one is a fake vault shown to the audience, and the other is the real theft.

At this time, Wu Chen looked at the one-to-one vault that had been made, and the blower was blowing banknotes all over the sky, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Click! Perfect!"

Wu Chen shouted, then smiled at the designer Frank behind him and said, "The effect is great!"

Frank looked at the effect and praised it. This was indeed his masterpiece, but he spent almost all his time in these damn two weeks reducing the take-off and landing time to meet the standards specified by Wu Chen.

Although Wu Chen is not a tyrant like Cameron who madly calls people idiots on the set, to a certain extent, the former is just as demanding about the shooting details.

Just after finishing filming this important part, during the break, Scarlett Johansson showed up again.

Wu Chen couldn't help but smile bitterly. The other party had been particularly interested in his second movie recently.

"Wu, if you're working on an art film, I can reduce my salary and participate." Scarlett Johansson said without reservation, "I'm also very interested in art films."

"Even though you can reduce your salary, the total amount you receive will not decrease."

Wu Chen spread his hands.

This is also some of the power of actors in Hollywood. For example, if you invite Scarlett Johansson to star in "Get Out", the salary can be negotiated very low, but she will definitely ask for dividends, which is inevitable.

Dividends?

Wu Chen didn't want to give it at all. The actress he chose now, Blake Lively, was very good, with big breasts and a nice butt, and a very charming face. Moreover, the salary was low, only $100,000, and he wouldn't get any dividends from the movie.

Thinking of this, Wu Chen looked at Scarlett Johansson with a strange expression.

If I remember correctly, Scarlett Johansson and Blake Lively are both the wives of Deadpool Ryan Reynolds. What a magical fate.

Ryan Reynolds didn't get a role in "Buried", but his two wives did act in his movies.

"Well, that's a pity!" Scarlett Johansson was a little frustrated. She had been trying for a long time these days, but still to no avail.

Although I don’t know why Jason Blum was so ecstatic that day, for someone who works in the independent film industry to be so excited, Wu Chen’s new movie must have something unique, but I don’t know whether the other party is willing to reveal it.

"Actually, you are very suitable for acting in commercial blockbusters." Wu Chen said with a smile.

Scarlett Johansson was startled, then slowly said: "Thank you, but I come from art films."

Wu Chen could not deny it.

In fact, in the world of Hollywood where beauties are everywhere, Scarlett Johansson's combination of classical beauty and sexy temptation made her a darling of art films in her early years.

"But you need to shed the image of the 'pure vase' that you see in art films."

Scarlett Johansson looked at Wu Chen thoughtfully: "Wu, do you mean that commercial films can help me?"

"Of course!"

"Wu, do you have any plans for commercial films?" Scarlett Johansson suddenly asked, scaring Wu Chen for a moment.

This sixth sense is so accurate.

"Now You See Me" is originally a series, and he planned to have people prepare the second part after the first part was released to make more US dollars.

Although he didn't plan to continue directing, he still wanted to continue using the original crew.

How to spend as little money as possible and how to renew the contract are the key.

Wu Chen did not respond to Scarlett Johansson.

At this time, Jason Blum rushed to find Wu Chen and picked up a scene that suddenly did not appear in the shooting plan. Although it was a simple scene of more than ten seconds, it was the scene of the four horsemen gathering in the house.
"Wu, have you added a new scene?"

Jason Blum was puzzled. "I don't think this scene was in the script."

"I just added this, an Easter egg." Wu Chen took a look and said with a smile.

"Easter eggs?"

Jason Blum was stunned. Generally speaking, Easter eggs are made for the next film. What does Wu Chen mean by this?

"Bingo, you guessed right." Wu Chen shrugged. "I'm also learning from you guys in Hollywood. If the box office doesn't do well, I won't make it. If it does well, I'll continue to make the second part."

(End of this chapter)