HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 228 [228] Spending several years with Wang Jinghua is not as enjoyable as half a year with President Qi.

The tenth day of the Lunar New Year has just passed.

Li Xue brought Qi Yuan some good news.

Pepsi sponsored the 2000 National Football League A, with the opening ceremony scheduled to be held in Shenzhen in March.

As the most popular Pepsi star in China, Pepsi hopes that Qi Yuan can write a theme song and attend the opening ceremony to sing the theme song.

Qi Yuan was very expensive, and Pepsi, with its deep pockets, had no shortage of money, so Qi Yuan accepted the job.

It seems that Aaron Kwok sang the theme song in the previous life. That song, "Get Moving," was later performed on the Spring Festival Gala and became very popular at the beginning of the century.

In addition, the Chinese national football team at the beginning of the century was at its peak and was by no means bad.

In the 2000 Asian Cup, the Chinese team finished fourth.

In the 2001 World Cup qualifiers, the Chinese national team qualified for the World Cup for the first time with two rounds to spare, making history.

Many football enthusiasts thought this was the beginning of Chinese football, but little did they know it would be its peak.

……

Tuesday, May 2th.

When Qi Yuanren arrived in Hong Kong, he met with Alan Mak, who was accompanied by Lau Wai Keung.

Liu Weiqiang and Qi Yuan had known each other for a long time.

In 98, Liu Weiqiang's film "The Storm Riders" was released in Hong Kong, and Qi Yuan was invited by Aaron Kwok to attend the screening.

At the time, Liu Weiqiang did not pay Qi Yuan an appearance fee. Qi Yuan only came out of courtesy. Liu Weiqiang had a good impression of Qi Yuan. Later, at the celebration banquet for "Storm Riders", he took the initiative to introduce Qi Yuan to some directors from Hong Kong.

More than a year has passed, and things have changed.

Qi Yuan has evolved from a king of the Chinese music scene to a king of Asian pop music.

Moreover, Qi Yuan has stepped into the investment world and started investing in movies and TV series.

According to Alan Mak, Qi Yuan's five million yuan salary was converted into shares, and he also invested an additional five million yuan, making him, like Lam Kin-yue of Media Asia, the biggest investor in this film.

Alan Mak explained to Qi Yuan that he planned to co-direct "Infernal Affairs" with Liu Weiqiang.

Alan Mak had previously directed a film independently, but it flopped at the box office.

He couldn't manage such a large project, so he brought in Liu Weiqiang. He was in charge of scriptwriting, while Liu Weiqiang was in charge of controlling the overall pace and filming.

"Mr. Qi, you've been doing really well these past few years. You've even become an investor. I'm practically working for you now."

Liu Weiqiang said this in a joking tone.

His feelings were somewhat complicated. A little over a year ago, he called Qi Yuan "Yuanzi," but now he had been promoted to "President Qi."

Fortunately, he wasn't demoted from Director Liu to Junior Liu.

"Director Liu is too modest. Your film 'Storm Riders' was a huge box office success. If you and Director Mai co-direct 'Infernal Affairs,' you're sure to achieve even greater success!"

Qi Yuan replied politely.

Can we recreate past glories? Is it really possible?

Even Liu Weiqiang lacked this confidence, as Hong Kong's police and gangster films were too homogenized, and audiences were tired of them.

Police and gangster films have not been box office hits in the past two years.

However, he's just someone who gets paid to direct. People are willing to pay him to make films, so he just needs to focus on making them. He doesn't need to worry about anything else.

As we chatted, the topic turned to actors.

Mak Siu-fai was a little annoyed: "Leung Chiu-wai is demanding four million in salary, with no room for negotiation whatsoever, and he can only give us 25 days of his schedule. Damn it, the film market is sluggish right now, and many actors have lowered their salaries, but he won't lower his salary by a single penny."

If Liang Chaowei could carry the box office, people could tolerate it. The problem is that Liang Chaowei has absolutely no box office appeal.

Qi Yuan interjected, "Why not just find someone else? How about Liang Jiahui? I think Liang Jiahui is pretty good. For the police officer, you could find Simon Yam. They're both excellent actors, cheap in pay and great in acting." Why not just kick Liang Chaowei and Huang Qiusheng out of the game once and for all?

Huang needs no further explanation. As for Liang, let him play both civil and military roles.

Qi Yuan is one of the biggest financial backers, so his words carry weight.

As long as Qi Yuan doesn't suggest casting a mainland actor as Chen Yongren, both Mak and Lau will seriously consider Qi Yuan's opinion.

It's not that Chen Yongren and his partner objected to hiring mainlanders; it's that people in the Hong Kong film industry had objections.

If a Hong Kong co-production film has a budget of ten million from Hong Kong, and they cast two mainland actors, they will be criticized and gossiped about.

Taking this into consideration, Qi Yuan directly recommended Liang Jiahui.

Leung Ka-fai is much cheaper than Leung Chiu-wai, and his acting skills are also good. He can play roles ranging from emperors to merchants and peddlers, and is known as the "Thousand-Faced Actor".

In "Black Gold", Leung Ka-fai's character, Chow Chiu-sin, outshines Andy Lau, leaving behind the classic line, "You ride in a Mazda, no wonder you get stuck in traffic."

Since neither of them can guarantee box office success, they might as well find someone cheap and with good professional skills.

After exchanging a few words with Liu Weiqiang, Mai Zhaohui agreed with Qi Yuan's suggestion.

The prices are high and the availability is limited, so let's just not come. Wouldn't it be better to save the money and buy straw hats instead?
And so, Liang Chaowei and Huang Qiusheng were both eliminated.

Qi Yuan secured some benefits for the artists in his company; Li Bingbing played Mary, essentially the second female lead.

In addition, Qi Yuan's investment in "Young Justice Bao" started filming before the Chinese New Year.

At the time, Li Bingbing and Fan Xiaopang were filming "Hua Wuque". Qi Yuan thought long and hard and decided to give the role of Ling Chuchu to Li Bingbing.

The role in the previous life was played by Li Bingbing, who played it quite well, and it was the role that made Li Bingbing famous.

Li Bingbing was quite happy about this, and even sighed, "Several years with Wang Jinghua is not as enjoyable as half a year with Qi Yuan."

Look, these big jobs are being thrown at her one after another.

If her sister hadn't stopped her, she would have offered herself up to Qi Yuan and chatted about the script and life.

Li Xue was more alert; she realized things were going to get bad: "You got 'Infernal Affairs' and 'Young Justice Bao,' so Director Chen will definitely give that movie to Fan Binbin."

Li Xue put herself in Qi Yuan's shoes when considering the problem.

When a company is in its early stages, it's essential to balance the responsibilities of its artists.

Li Bingbing got the big job first, so Fan Xiaopang couldn't possibly be left out. Right now, Fan Xiaopang is much more popular than Li Bingbing.

Although Fan Xiaopang doesn't want to mention the role of Jin Suo, no one can deny that the role was very popular.

If Li Xue were the boss of Starry Sky Films, she couldn't just give all the resources to the second most popular actor and neglect the most popular actor.

Li Bingbing, who was happy just a second ago, could no longer smile. If she could choose between Chen Kaige's movie and "Young Justice Bao", she would definitely choose the former without hesitation.

……

Starry Sky Films.

Fan Xiaopang was a little upset to learn that the female lead of "Young Justice Bao" had fallen into Li Bingbing's hands.

Did Li Xue's meeting with Qi Yuan's parents actually have any effect?
Why don't she follow suit this year and secretly spend the New Year at Qi Yuan's house?

Chang Jihong smiled with delight: "Congratulations, Binbin, there's a 70% chance that Director Chen's movie will be yours."

If Li Xue could see the problem, then the more experienced Chang Jihong could not possibly have missed it.

In Chang Jihong's view, Qi Yuan first provided a whole host of resources to stabilize Li Bingbing and her sister, and then gave the lead role in Chen Kaige's movie to Fan Xiaopang, so they had nothing to say.

Fan Xiaopang belatedly realized what was happening, and he had only one feeling: awesome! Absolutely awesome!
President Qi really does care about me.

It's all those two damned old women's fault. If they hadn't sabotaged things that night, she would definitely have been spending Chinese New Year at the Qi family's house with her baby this year.

(End of this chapter)