The Road to Superstardom: Starting as a Singer

The online buzz continues, but Huang Weijie himself has already pulled himself away and thrown himself into his busy work schedule.

The final recording of the album proceeded smoothly.

That afternoon, Huang Weijie, who was checking a harmony in the branch office's recording studio, was informed by his agent Madeline that a guest had come to visit, a production manager surnamed Xu from Shanghai Film Group.

On the way to the conference room with Madeline, Huang Weijie also learned what the other party wanted to see him for.

Shanghai Film Group, one of the investors in the film "Painted Skin," wanted to invite him to create a promotional song or theme song for the film.

To put it bluntly, they only realized how much buzz this young man generated after watching Nike's press conference on the night of the 25th.

Both are singers. In 2005, Jay Chou's "Initial D" raked in more than 60 million yuan at the box office in mainland China. Shanghai Film Studio doesn't expect Huang Weijie to have the same impact as Jay Chou, after all, he has never acted before.

But even in 2008, movies that generate a lot of buzz are sure to attract more attention.

Given Huang Weijie's current popularity and influence, even if not many of his fans are willing to go to the cinema, as long as he can generate more discussion and higher popularity online, he can attract some passersby who originally planned to go to the cinema to choose the movie "Painted Skin", thereby increasing the box office.

Before 2008, many big-budget Chinese commercial blockbusters, such as "Hero", "The Promise", and "The Banquet", often used Hong Kong, Taiwan and even Japan stars as the absolute leads in order to guarantee box office success, while mainland actors mostly played supporting roles.

The movie "Red Cliff," which was released on the 10th of this month, is a case in point. Mainland actors can only play supporting roles in such blockbusters. The main actors are Tony Leung from Hong Kong, Zhang Zheng and Kurosawa Shirin from Taiwan, and Kim Sung-take from Japan.

The film "Painted Skin" was produced by Ningbo Film Studio and Shanghai Film Studio, among other institutions. Although the director was from Hong Kong, the main actors and production team were all from mainland China.

If this movie succeeds, it will prove that domestic blockbusters can achieve success even without Hong Kong and Taiwan actors, and that the box office appeal of mainland actors can be officially recognized by the industry.

Although a lot of preparations were made for this film in the early stages, Shanghai Film Group still wanted to have a better grasp of the project, which is why they approached Huang Weijie.

Upon entering the conference room, Huang Weijie saw a middle-aged man in his forties.

Slightly overweight, with a friendly smile, he is polite yet shrewd. He lacks Wang Zhonglei's江湖气 (jianghu qi, a kind of chivalrous spirit) and Wang Changtian's scholarly air, leaning more towards a businessman's pragmatism.

"Director Xu, hello." Huang Weijie walked forward with a smile.

"Jace, it's an honor to meet you!" Director Xu shook hands firmly. "Although we weren't there in person for your press conference at the Workers' Stadium, we saw it on the news. You truly are a talented singer who returned from studying abroad; your influence is indeed astonishing..."

After exchanging pleasantries, Director Xu quickly got to the point.

He opened his briefcase, took out a bound document, but instead of handing it over directly, he placed it on the table and lightly tapped the words "Painted Skin" on the cover with his finger.

"Our group collaborated with director Chen Jiashang on this film, 'Painted Skin,' which you may have heard of, Jace. It's adapted from 'Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio,' but the production aimed for a commercial blockbuster. The cast is also quite good, including Zhou Xun, Chen Kun, Zhao Qi, and Sun Li."

To be honest, we were under a lot of pressure with this film. The market now favors Hong Kong and Taiwanese actors for leading roles, but this time we used all mainland actors in the lead roles to prove that mainland casts can also carry the box office!

Therefore, we wanted to do our best in every aspect, especially the music, which is the emotional outlet of the film and is very important!

At this point, he looked at Huang Weijie with a sincere expression.

"Weijie, you're from Guangzhou, a rising international star who came from the mainland. We've been following you for a while now. Not just with 'Baby,' we noticed you when you first posted videos on YouTube. Our music director especially admires the songwriting skills and emotional intensity you displayed in those videos. So this time, we'd like to ask you to compose a theme song for us..."

Director Xu was very eloquent. He first explained the current predicament of mainland actors in the film industry, hoping to evoke sympathy from Huang Weijie, who was also from the mainland. Then he praised Huang Weijie's creative and singing abilities, and finally offered him a top-tier price with great sincerity.

It can only be said that he was very well prepared, but the only thing that Huang Weijie did not expect was...

"Director Xu, thank you for your high regard for Shanghai Film Group and yourself. I am happy to cooperate, but I have a question."

"Haha, go ahead, don't be shy." Director Xu smiled at Huang Weijie.

"Although I haven't read the script yet, you mentioned earlier that this movie is adapted from 'Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio,' a novel I've heard of. Asking me to compose an English theme song for it... doesn't seem quite right for the film?"

Huang Weijie was prepared to show off a little, and created "Painting Heart" in one day.

Unexpectedly, the other party's purpose was to ask him to compose an English theme song.

Do Chinese period dramas use English theme songs?

Isn't this too disjointed?

I know you guys want to ride the wave and attract more people to the cinema, but this way of doing so is just too clever.

Whose brilliant idea was this?

Huang Weijie isn't without English songs to compose, but he doesn't want his self-composed theme song to change the original trajectory of the film.

If this changes the direction, and there's a possibility of failure, then what's the point of their cooperation?

"Uh..." Director Xu gave an awkward smile, about to explain.

"How about this, Director Xu, we sign a confidentiality agreement first. I can create a demo based on the script and movie clips. You can take a look at the song and then decide whether to use it or not."

Huang Weijie pointed to the script on the table and said, "I am Chinese, and I think it might be more appropriate to tell Chinese stories through Chinese songs."

Huang Weijie didn't intend to assure the other party how good his Chinese songs were, because what made him popular so far were his English songs.

He hasn't had a chance to showcase his Mandarin songs yet.

But this is also an opportunity, a chance to prove that I can write good Chinese songs.

"this……"

Director Xu hesitated. He had come to invite the song with the intention of buying popularity, and he was willing to accept it as long as the song wasn't too bad.

But now the other party says they want to release a demo first. Normally he wouldn't have any objections, but now that the promotion is about to start, is there enough time?

"One day! If I can't write a Chinese song in more than one day, then I'll agree to write an English song." Huang Weijie saw his predicament and immediately gave him a timeframe.

"Alright!" Director Xu approved. "Weijie, it's not that I don't trust your creative abilities, it's just that the film's promotion is about to begin..."

"Haha, I understand..."