HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 354 [354] A young man from a year or two ago, who was about to take me down?
A year or two ago, Qi Yuan and Cheng Long met briefly at the Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony.

At the time, Cheng Long had a good impression of Qi Yuan, his younger brother.

Perhaps seeing Qi Yuan reminded him of his own disappointing son, Cheng Long shared some advice with Qi Yuan, telling him that he must keep his own money and always be wary of women.

Jackie Chan himself was very surprised.

A year or two ago, Qi Yuan's status as a king in the Chinese music scene was not very stable, and his influence in East Asia was even more limited.

In addition, one of them works in the film industry and the other in the music industry, so the two of them basically have no interaction.

Recently, Cheng Long discovered that Qi Yuan, like him, had fought his way to America.

Qi Yuan was much more arrogant than him, and he gave the American media a good scolding.

Neither he nor Li Lianjie would dare to do such a thing.

Even more outrageous, Qi Yuan's attacks on the media actually boosted record sales.

To date, "22" has sold over 450 million copies worldwide.

Cheng Long asked the people around him what level this was, and the answer he got was that Qi Yuan was guaranteed to receive at least eight or nine million US dollars.

Jackie Chan looked utterly astonished!
Holy crap! Is he that strong? Is my old buddy going to crush him?
For "Rush Hour 1", his salary was $500 million, and he received $100 million in revenue sharing afterward, for a total of only $600 million.

However, that was in 98. In the past two years, Qi Yuan has made progress, and so has he. Currently, his salary has risen to $1500 million, plus revenue sharing from North America and overseas.

In terms of earning US dollars, he can still maintain a steady advantage over Qi Yuan.

But Qi Yuan's progress is ridiculously fast, okay?

He has been in the industry for almost 30 years, jumped off buildings countless times, and been injured countless times. He has worked relentlessly for nearly 30 years to get to where he is today.

Qi Yuan has only been in the industry for three years, and he's already caught up? Even Jackie Chan has to admit that the younger generation is truly formidable.

It's worth mentioning that Jackie Chan's initiative to contact Qi Yuan this time is related to Robert Shea, the head of New Line Cinema.

New Line Cinema is the distributor of "Rush Hour 2".

Director Brett Ratner suggested casting Takashi Taki as the mob boss, but Robert Shea rejected the idea.

Robert Shea said, "Fuck! Do you guys even know how to cast someone? The era of Tsunaki is over."

Zunlong is on a continuous downward trend.

In 93, when Chen Kaige was preparing to film "Farewell My Concubine", his initial choice of actor was Zunlong.

Zunlong made requests such as bringing a pet dog and providing a professional masseur, and because the salary was too high, Zhang Guorong was eventually replaced.

Zunlong missed an opportunity to reach new heights in his career. His subsequent starring role in "M. Butterfly" was poorly received, making it difficult for him to make it in Hollywood. His return to China for further development was also unsuccessful.

Why would you need Tsunaga? Don't Warner Music already have Chris Hemsworth? He's recently made a name for himself in the US and is at the peak of his career. Hire Chris!

New Line Cinema and Warner Music are both subsidiaries of Time Warner.

Chris, you've got the end credits song sorted out.

Brett Ratner is relatively inexperienced, having only directed one film before "Rush Hour".

Hollywood operates on a producer-centric system, where most directors have low status, and very few directors actually receive final cut rights.

Often, casting doesn't require the director's involvement; the production company makes the decisions directly, and the director simply acts as a tool, doing their job.

New Line Cinema advocated for a request for prayer, and Brett Ratner had no choice but to comply.

Cheng Long was even less likely to have any objections. He had a very good impression of Qi Yuan and was also amazed by Qi Yuan's rapid development.

At the time, Jackie Chan expressed his support for the company's decision and urged the company to quickly invite Qi Yuan.

Robert Shea replied, "Time Warner and Warner Music are both busy fighting amongst themselves. Jackie, you and Chris are both Chinese, so you should contact him directly." Jackie Chan was astonished and could only say, "That's fucking brilliant."

As expected of Warner, Time Warner is embroiled in internal strife, Warner Music (USA) is also embroiled in internal strife, and Taiwan's Warner Music just finished an internal conflict a few years ago, almost causing the company to go bankrupt.

Going through internal group communication channels is indeed more troublesome.

And so, after contacting Qi Yuan's agent, Li Xue, Cheng Long himself called Qi Yuan: "Ah Yuan, you're really something, young man. I heard you almost beat me up in America. Are you free lately? The director and I are coming to Beijing to see you... Remember to bring that Bingbing along, I'll tell you something in secret..."

It was Brett Ratner's idea to cast Zhang Ziyi as Hu Li.

Jackie Chan wasn't very optimistic about her. He felt that Zhang Ziyi lacked experience in action scenes and was just a young, inexperienced girl.

He expressed his incomprehension to the director, claiming that if it were him, he would not have chosen Zhang Ziyi.

The movie "Bouquet" has recently become a huge hit and is a box office success in Hong Kong. When Jackie Chan returned to Hong Kong, he heard about the movie and was amazed by Fan Bingbing's good looks.

He felt that even Fan Xiaopang was better than Zhang Ziyi. Since neither of them had experience in action scenes, why not find someone prettier?

Jackie Chan brought in some personal agendas.

To Cheng Long's surprise, Qi Yuan, this young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, lacked martial ethics and also had his own agenda.

……

Fengzeyuan, a time-honored Chinese brand in Beijing, is renowned for its Shandong cuisine.

Qi Yuan made the right choice this time; Sha Zhu's father, He Daqing, had once worked in this place.

After a round of mutual flattery, Cheng Long glanced at Li Bingbing and asked Qi Yuan with some confusion, "You mean she's Bingbing?"

Cheng Long has a good memory; he couldn't possibly mistake someone, especially a pretty girl. The Bingbing he's looking for definitely doesn't look like that.

Qi Yuan nodded seriously: "That's right, she is Bingbing."

Li Bingbing quickly introduced himself: "Hello, brother, my name is Li Bingbing."

Cheng Long: "..."

He realized that at over forty years old, he was a bit too young next to Qi Yuan, who was in her twenties. Nobody had told him that Qi Yuan had two Bingbings with her! That was ridiculous!
Qi Yuan knew perfectly well that the Bingbing Cheng Long was looking for wasn't Li Bingbing; he was doing it on purpose.

Jackie Chan wanted to cast Fan Xiaopang as Hu Li, but Qi Yuan personally thinks Li Bingbing is more suitable than Fan Xiaopang.

This character has amazing action scenes, and Li Bingbing's action scenes are miles ahead of Fan Xiaopang's.

In the later "Resident Evil 5", Li Bingbing's portrayal of Ada Wong represented the pinnacle of beauty for a Chinese actress in Hollywood.

Today, Qi Yuan brought Li Bingbing here, and he specially arranged for a makeup artist to do Li Bingbing's makeup, personally providing guidance, aiming to transform her into Ida Hwang.

As it turned out, the effect was good.

Brett Ratner was somewhat surprised when he saw Li Bingbing.

This actress is more suitable for Hu Li than Zhang Ziyi, whom he had seen before; this is the Hu Li he envisioned.

The eye makeup is sharp and has a very Western style, yet it retains the classical beauty of Eastern women.

He asked a few questions and confirmed that Li Bingbing could do action scenes, which made him even more satisfied.

With just a little manipulation from Qi Yuan, it shouldn't be a problem for Li Bingbing to get the role of Hu Li.

Try pushing Li Bingbing towards Hollywood; then she might not even be needed to star in "Full House".

At the same time, Zhang Ziyi, who was in the United States helping the film crew with promotions, shivered. For some reason, she had a bad feeling.

(End of this chapter)