1979: The child's mother is a celestial being.

Chapter 60 Spy?

In Conference Room No. 1 of the Administration Building at Shanghai Film Studio, Chen Fusheng and his group held a day-long meeting with relevant leaders of the studio to discuss the casting of the film crew, and finally finalized the list.

The list is as follows:

Assistant Director: Bao Qicheng

Photography: Gu Wenhou, Zhang Fugui
Music: Lü Yue, Qian Manhua
Edited by: He Ming

Art Direction: Zhao Zipei
Art Design: Zhu Jianchang

Action direction: Li Song

Styling Design: Luo Yuhe, Kong Jie

Costume Design: Wang Shulan, Tang Fei

Lighting: Jiang Xiaoming
Recording: Wang Pei

Set design: Zhou Cheng

……

Among them, assistant director Bao Qicheng's resume includes that he served as assistant director in "Crossing the River to Reconnoiter" released in 1974 and "Romance on Lushan Mountain" which is currently showing.

At the same time, it was precisely because of the huge success of "Romance on Lushan Mountain" that the leaders of Shanghai Film Studio recommended him to Chen Fusheng and his colleagues.

Besides assistant directors, cinematographers also held a very important position in film crews during that era, and the two cinematographers recommended by Shanghai Film Studio were both experienced veterans.

Gu Wenhou has a vast body of work. Since he first served as the cinematographer for "The Demon's Tribulation" in 1948, he has produced 16 works to date.

As for Zhang Fugui, although his resume is not as extensive as Gu Wenhou's, it should not be underestimated. He was the cinematographer for this year's blockbuster film, "The 405 Murder Case".

The Shanghai Film Studio also provided experienced veterans for other positions. In short, the Shanghai Film Studio showed great sincerity in this move.

However, behind this sincerity lies not only the need to complete the tasks assigned by the Film Bureau and support the country's film foreign exchange earnings, but also, to a large extent, the fact that Deputy Director Shi had already given prior notice.

As mentioned earlier, Deputy Director Shi was just promoted from the position of deputy director of Shanghai Film Studio this year. Although he was transferred, the connection between them remains.

"Director Han, Comrade Chen, now that we've finished discussing the crew matters, let's talk about the actors?"

Chen Fusheng and Han Sanping had just gotten up to leave, but upon hearing Deputy Factory Director Zhang's words, they sat back down.

They exchanged a glance, not at all surprised that the Shanghai Film Studio wanted to target the actors.

However, they had already discussed this issue before, and their response was to neither agree nor refuse, nor make any promises—in short, to delay!

Deputy Factory Director Zhang was actually just testing the waters. Seeing that the two young men wouldn't budge, he smiled and didn't press them further.

However, he obtained the cast list for "The Tuner" from Chen Fusheng and Han Sanping.

After leaving the conference room, Deputy Factory Director Zhang had just returned to his office when Comrade Zhang Ruifang, the troupe leader in charge of the actors, knocked on the door and came in.

"Commander Zhang, you've been staring at me the whole time."

"Isn't my goal still to find opportunities for the actors in our factory? So, Director Zhang, did you discuss the actors' issue at today's meeting?" Zhang Ruifang asked.

"I asked for you, here is the cast list for 'The Tuner,' Commander Zhang, take a look yourself."

Zhang Ruifang quickly took it and immediately started reading.

“The male lead is Chen Mo…” Zhang Ruifang had just uttered the male lead’s name when she was interrupted by Deputy Factory Director Zhang, who said, “Don’t even think about this role. It was prepared for Comrade Chen himself.”

“I understand. In fact, I’ve asked many actors about Fusheng’s acting in ‘Cow’, and they all said that his acting style is too distinctive and our actors simply can’t pull it off.”

Deputy Factory Director Zhang had acted before and also had extensive experience watching films, including Western ones. He hadn't thought about it in this way before, so he just thought Chen Fusheng's acting skills were amazing. Now, with Zhang Ruifang's reminder, he thought about it carefully and nodded, saying, "You're right. Comrade Chen's acting style is indeed quite different from that of Chinese actors. His style seems to be more like that of foreign actors."

"You think so too?" Zhang Ruifang paused for a moment, then lowered her voice and said, "Hey, Lao Zhang, what do you think? Could Comrade Fusheng be...?"

"What is it? A spy?"

Seeing Zhang Ruifang nod, Deputy Factory Director Zhang shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Do you think that before the higher-ups called him into the film revenue-generating task force, they didn't conduct a detailed review of his identity information?"

"That seems to be true. I was just being cynical."

Zhang Ruifang breathed a sigh of relief, then continued to look at the cast list in her hand.

—Su Manqing: 27 years old, female reporter for a progressive newspaper…

—Wang Yaozu: 52 years old, outwardly a successful banker, philanthropist, Chinese director of the Shanghai Municipal Council, and a socialite. In reality, he is a hypocrite with ties to the Japanese puppet regime and gangs, a two-faced and sanctimonious man.

—Lin Meifeng, 33 years old, Wang Yaozu's second wife, was once a very popular singer. She was beautiful and charming, but she was extremely insecure, greedy and vicious. Her marriage to Wang Yaozu was a mutually beneficial arrangement. In secret, she not only had an affair with Wang Yaozu's driver and bodyguard, but also had a relationship with Detective Ma, a Chinese in the French Concession.

—Detective Ma: 40 years old, a Chinese detective who rents a police station. He is slick and worldly-wise, well-versed in the rules of survival in chaotic times. On the surface, he acts according to the rules, but in reality, he is opportunistic, accepts bribes, grovels before the powerful and wealthy, and swaggers around ordinary people.

—Old Zhou: 60 years old, a seemingly ordinary street vendor, but in reality an information broker. She is insightful and sees through Chen Mo's disguise...

——…

Zhang Ruifang looked at the cast list twice, then looked up at Deputy Director Zhang and said, "I think we can try to get the role of Su Manqing for Chen Chong. She has 'Little Flower' in the first half of the year as a foundation. If she gets this role, then next year our Shanghai Film Studio can follow the example of Beijing Film Studio and have four golden flowers."

"It's not up to me to decide; you need to get Comrade Han and Comrade Chen to agree first."

Zhang Ruifang knew, of course, that Han Sanping and Chen Fusheng needed to agree, but their production team consisted of people from the Shanghai Film Studio, so she didn't necessarily have to go directly to them to ask for roles; she could be more tactful.

So he asked Deputy Factory Director Zhang again, "Who are the people assigned to their film crew in the factory?"

“Bao Qicheng, Gu Wenhou, Zhang Fugui…” Deputy Factory Director Zhang read out several names in one breath.

After listening, Zhang Ruifang thought for a moment and said, "I'll go and discuss it with Lao Bao first."

Zhang Ruifang thought she would be the first to find her bag and set off, but she didn't expect someone to be faster than her.

"Zhang Yu, what are you doing here?"

"Commander, I..."

Seeing Zhang Yu's somewhat troubled expression, Zhang Ruifang knew perfectly well why she had come.

Zhang Yu, the female lead in "Romance on Lushan Mountain," is arguably the most popular actress in China right now because of this film.

Since she's already so famous, Zhang Yu naturally wouldn't be interested in ordinary roles. But for a film like "The Tuner," which everyone knew from the beginning was going to be submitted to an international film festival and even had some political significance, no actor in China wouldn't want to take the role, including Zhang Yu.

So when Zhang Yu heard that the assistant director was actually Bao Qicheng, the assistant director of their film "Romance on Lushan Mountain", he immediately came to find him.

However, seeing that the head of their actors' troupe had also come over surprised her and made her a little wary.

P.S.: Please, everyone, don't let books sit unfinished; it's very important to read new books regularly!
(End of this chapter)