Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 263 Mr. Zhang's Generosity

As the saying goes, there are all sorts of people in the world. When filming officially started, many people completely forgot about Jiang Wen's demonstration. In addition, since they were rushing down a slope, there were quite a few people rushing fast and slow, and they all crashed into each other in a chaotic manner.

And each time it is restored, the explanation must be repeated.

As a result, this diving scene was filmed from a little after nine o'clock until noon.

This was done by armed police officers; if they had been replaced with ordinary extras, there would probably have been even more problems.

However, it must be said that Jiang Wen has a knack for directing. After repeated adjustments and staging, he managed to capture the essence of a massive brawl involving hundreds of people, giving it the feel of a steel torrent.

There are still several scenes to film, so the mutton soup we had at noon is definitely out of the question and we'll have to postpone it until the evening.

After finishing their boxed lunches and resting for half an hour, the crew resumed filming.

Xia Yu and several other main actors filmed a scene around a jeep where weapons were being distributed.

Zhang Yan was taken to an open space between the two groups to begin rehearsals.

His role was easy to play because he didn't have a single line—the only line the 'little rascal' uttered in the entire play was, "All men are brothers under heaven; peace is paramount in the face of turmoil in Wuzhou."

It's not easy to act, because Zhang Yan had to express emotions through physical movements as much as possible—since it was all long shots, his facial expressions had to be quite exaggerated to show any change.

Despite being called a rehearsal, Zhang Yan and Er Yong stared at each other for a long time without either of them saying a word.

"How exactly do I do it?"

Zhang Yan was the first to break the silence.

"I do not know."

Er Yong said awkwardly, "Brother Wen said that you, Mr. Zhang, should handle it as you see fit. It's basically a suggestion to make peace. If the bomb goes off over there, just give a reasonable response."

I think you're just trying to make things difficult for me, Zhang!
Zhang Yan was speechless. He could only discuss it with Da Te, who was playing the leader of the workers' children. Da Te was very easy to talk to and readily said, "Mr. Zhang, I will act according to your arrangements."

Got~
We still have to figure out a solution ourselves.

At this moment, Zhang Yan saw Er Yong take out a cigarette and try to light it, so he immediately snatched it away and said, "Give me a light."

"It wasn't Mr. Zhang, it was you..."

"I've quit, I don't carry it."

"When did you quit? Yesterday afternoon..."

"I quit last night."

Er Yong was speechless, but he couldn't afford to offend Zhang Yan, so he could only hand over his lighter.

Zhang Yan took it and looked at it. Fortunately, it was a kerosene lighter, not the more popular disposable lighters of the past. So he casually put it in his pocket.

By this time, the scene of the weapons being distributed to the other side had been filmed for almost the entire time. Jiang Wen jogged over with the military leader in uniform, asking in a cheeky tone, "President Zhang, how did it go? Do you want me to give you some more pointers?"

"No need, let's see first."

Zhang Yan gathered the two guest actors together, explained and demonstrated the movements he had envisioned, and then began the formal rehearsal.

There was nothing new to it; they were just talking and offering cigarettes. The two big shots were initially reluctant, but with Zhang Yan's encouragement, they lowered their heads and lit their cigarettes with the lighter Zhang Yan was holding.

At this moment, Zhang Yan put his arm around the shoulders of the two men and laughed heartily, meaning that the deal was done.

Then the three of them simultaneously shrank their necks, as if they had heard the sound of a gun misfire, and looked in the direction of the uniformed group.

Zhang Yan, being tall and strong, made a much more convincing performance when he put his arm around both sides' shoulders to mediate than the original chubby Wang Shuo's acting.

Jiang Wen made adjustments to a few details, but did not change Zhang Yan's design in general.

However, during the actual filming, a strong wind blew up as soon as they took off their clothes. The three of them hugging each other didn't seem like they were trying to reconcile, but rather like they were huddling together for warmth.

Seeing this, Jiang Wen waved his hand and said, "Let's run, run a couple of laps to warm up first."

Since it was a performance, Zhang Yan couldn't go against him, so he ran back and forth under the bridge twice. When he passed the military uniform crew, he saw the production assistant giving Xia Yu a "hot compress".

They wrapped a hot towel around his forehead to create that tense, sweaty feeling when filming started.

These young men suffered a lot following Jiang Wen.

After running through the scene, the effect was indeed much better. However, there was a problem with the props; the homemade musket, which was supposed to fire, failed to ignite.

During the next take, Da Te, who played the leader of the military uniform group, sneezed again.

It took six takes before the scene was considered acceptable.

Because he had sweated and caught a chill, Zhang Yan wrapped himself in a coat and went back to the Crown Plaza to enjoy the warm air for a long time before he felt better. Then he watched the armed police running around like crazy from the slope.

According to the plot, this scene shows everyone rushing excitedly to the Moscow restaurant after the peace talks, and then starting to celebrate with draft beer.

Actually, this part doesn't make much sense. Putting aside everything else, who can afford to take four or five hundred people to Lao Mo to spend money?

As a result, Jiang Wen said that this is called "when falsehood is taken for truth, truth becomes falsehood; when nothingness is taken for existence, existence becomes nothingness."

Zhang Yan rolled his eyes at him and said, "I come from a background of writing Dream of the Red Chamber fanfiction. What are you trying to prove?"

It's about four o'clock in the afternoon.

The armed police extras and Da Te were all sent to a restaurant, leaving only Zhang Yan, Jiang Wen, and Er Yong to finish up.

Zhang Yan was drinking goji berry tea in the car when Jiang Wen and Er Yong hurriedly got in, urging him repeatedly, "Let's go, let's go, hurry up and leave!"

"What's the rush?"

Zhang Yan slowly put down his teacup, showing no intention of starting the car.

"hurry up!"

Jiang Wen slapped her thigh anxiously: "Be careful, or someone might smash your car!"

Er Yong, who was in the back row, explained, "General Manager Zhang, let's hurry up. The union chairman will be catching up soon—we've damaged dozens of bicycles, and we're not going to be able to explain this to the workers!"

At this moment, Jiang Wen glanced at the rearview mirror, patted Zhang Yan's seat, and urged, "We're here! We're here! Drive! Drive quickly!"

"屮~"

Zhang Yan cursed, "Look at the mess you've made!"

As he spoke, he picked up his phone, dialed a number, and ordered, "Bring the person over here."

After saying that, he pushed open the door and got out of the car.

"Hey, hey, you're crazy!"

Jiang Wen leaned out and shouted, "Be careful, they might tear you apart alive!"

Seeing that Zhang Yan remained unmoved, he gritted his teeth and could only get out of the car with Er Yong with trepidation—after all, he couldn't just leave the investor here and run away, could he?

Seeing the union chairman cursing and leading more than twenty workers to surround them, Jiang Wen whispered to Zhang Yan, "How much money are you planning to use to settle this matter?"

"We will definitely spend the money, but the attitude is more important."

Zhang Yan took the initiative to greet him, shook hands with the union chairman and said, "I'm sorry, Jiang Wen is directing for the first time and is not very mature in his speech and actions. Please bear with him. Don't worry, everyone, our crew will compensate for all losses."

The union chairman's expression softened considerably after hearing Zhang Yan's words, but he still couldn't help but complain, "I only lent you the car out of kindness, how am I supposed to explain this to the workers?!"

"Don't worry, don't worry, we will definitely give you an explanation for this."

Just then, someone called out from behind, "Mr. Zhang, Mr. Zhang, we're here!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Li Yapeng, Yu Qian, and others arriving with about ten tricycles.

Once you get closer, you can see that those tricycles are full of repair tools and bicycle parts.

Zhang Yan pointed to the tricycle riders and said, "These are all repairmen. I've observed that most of the problems with our bicycles are with parts like spokes, tires, bells, and seats."

Today we'll focus on fixing the parts that affect cycling, and tomorrow we'll fix the rest—the ones that aren't faulty, our crew will also pay for the mechanics to help with maintenance.

If there's a car that can't be repaired, our production team will be responsible for buying a new one.

In addition, each of the workers who donated bicycles will receive fifteen yuan. It's a bit little, but our crew is indeed not well-off, so we hope you can understand.

As he spoke, he instructed Li Yapeng and Yu Qian to take people downstairs to check the condition of the cars and to make a note of which ones were severely damaged, so that the workers wouldn't end up smashing them and demanding replacements.

Seeing how well Zhang Yan had prepared, the union chairman's anger completely dissipated. He shook Zhang Yan's hand and asked, "I haven't asked you yet?"

"My name is Zhang Yan, and I'm the investor in this film."

"Oh, no wonder, you're a big boss. You're really generous in your words and deeds."

Then, turning to Jiang Wen beside him, he said, "Sorry, big star, I thought you were going to run away, so I led the way by cursing a few times."

Jiang Wen blushed and said awkwardly, "No, definitely not."

[PS: The part about Jiang Wen breaking the bicycle and running away is from Wang Shuo's interview recollection.]

(End of this chapter)