Huayu: Reborn in 97, transferring to the Central Academy of Drama's star-studded class

Before 1997, graduates of the performing arts department were assigned jobs by the state, usually to theaters, troupes, film studios, etc., which were considered secure jobs.

After 1997, the city underwent a market-oriented transformation, and in principle, job placement was no longer guaranteed. To get a job, you had to take an exam. Yes, in principle.

The group from Class 96 happened to catch this last train.

Although they had a work unit, they were still quite free in terms of management and were not restricted from going out to film. This "iron rice bowl" was more like a guarantee or a symbol of status.

Jiang Lai, Zhang Ziyi, Liu Ye, Yuan Quan, and Qin Hailu were all assigned to the National Theatre.

Liu Ye received the acting offer, checked in, and left, while Yuan Quan and Qin Hailu immediately started working, immersing themselves in the play.

Jiang Lai no longer considered leaving the entertainment industry, but he and Zhang Ziyi remained silent, even though they had gone to register together.

Zhang Ziyi has gained considerable international fame thanks to her Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival and the huge success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" at Cannes. She has been receiving a constant stream of film offers, but not many of them are truly reliable.

Yingjie told Jiang that there was a decent Sino-Korean co-production film and wanted Zhang Ziyi to play the female lead. She felt it was unnecessary, but Zhang Ziyi wanted to take the role.

Yingjie could tell that this girl didn't really want to film the movie; she just wanted to keep herself busy, so she asked Jiang to persuade her.

To everyone's surprise, Jiang Lai simply said, "Oh, go ahead, that's a good thing."

Ying rolled her eyes, thinking that since it was filming in China anyway and the pay wasn't low, she might as well accept the role.

She then brought up another matter.

"Who? Sam Remy?" Jiang Lai asked in confusion.

"Yes, slurp slurp, it's a director from the United States who has directed... I don't remember what he directed, but he's a huge Spider-Man fan and insisted on becoming a director, slurp slurp."

Sister Ying proudly showed off a bowl of hand-pulled noodles, exclaiming, "Old Xu's cooking skills have improved!"

Jiang Lai's eye twitched. Hand-pulled noodles with seaweed and sesame sauce—Sister Ying's taste was just as good as her father's.

"Did they buy back the Spider-Man IP?"

"Yeah, how about that? Aren't you amazing, sis?" Sister Ying raised an eyebrow proudly.

Yingjie made it sound very easy, but the process was actually quite complicated. When Jiang Lai made this request, it was during the most intense competition between Sony Columbia and MGM.

Columbia Pictures wanted to make a film series and set its sights on Spider-Man, but MGM also inherited some rights to the Spider-Man IP, so they wanted to compete for it. Neither side wanted the other to make a blockbuster film, but continuing to compete would be pointless.

Just then, Sister Ying appeared with Lao Zhan, and impressed both companies with a price that exceeded expectations.

Both heads of the two companies thought that since it was an unknown small company, it probably couldn't produce any blockbusters. As long as it wasn't their competitor that got it, it was fine. It would be easier to buy the copyright in the future.

So the three parties reached an agreement, allowing LeBron James' Good Machine Company to acquire the full copyright to Spider-Man.

Both Columbia and MGM treated Sister Ying like a sucker, happily counting their money.

So Sam Raimi, who had been trying to get himself to direct Spider-Man at Columbia Pictures, started bothering James again. James got so annoyed that he asked Ying to ask Jiang whether the IP had been bought back and whether it would be made into a film.

Jiang Lai thought about it and decided that it was a good idea to make films. If they made "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Spider-Man" next year, the reputation of "Good Machine" would be fully established, and it would also be beneficial to acquire Warner Bros. at that time.

"Then let's film it. By the way, has the male lead been decided yet?" Jiang Lai asked.

Yingjie looked at her strangely, "The director hasn't even been decided yet, and you're already thinking about the male lead? What, you want to act in it?"

Jiang Lai shook his head and chuckled, feeling like his head was spinning from what had happened recently.

"Then let Sam Raimi direct, and Tobey Maguire star. The director can assemble the rest of the team himself."

Yingjie racked her brains but couldn't recall who Toby Maguire was. She didn't care; she just had to listen to her boss.

"Any other requests?"

"I have only one request: have Sam Raimi bring out the maximum amount of Chinese elements in my work."

Yingjie gave an OK sign. "Also, Stephen Chow asked me to ask you if you're still going to act in his movie. If not, he'll have to find someone else."

"Act, of course you're acting." Jiang Lai blinked. "Wait, why are all these people contacting you instead of me?"

Yingjie gave her a disdainful look, "With that long face you had every day recently, not answering anyone's calls, how were people supposed to contact you?"

Jiang Lai chuckled awkwardly. After returning to school, he indeed didn't answer the phone. At the time, he was thinking of taking one last look at the school before retiring from the entertainment industry.

I never expected to be woken up by someone's scolding, especially by a minor villain from the old days.

"I'm going to Hong Kong in a few days. Is there anything else?" Jiang asked.

After finishing the last bite of noodles, Ying wiped her mouth and said, "That's all. I'm going to go film with Ziyi later. Go have some fun by yourself."

Jiang Lai nodded, then suddenly thought of something, "What about Marvel? What about Apple? What about theaters?"

Yingjie's dead fish eyes reappeared, and that look made Jiang Lai's skin crawl.

"Marvel has already begun the handover, while other aspects are still under negotiation. It has to be done step by step, right?"

With a somber tone, Jiang Lai nodded repeatedly.

"Well, I'll just say one last thing."

"explain!"

"Kevin Feige from Marvel, keep him and give him some serious training."

Yingjie was too lazy to talk to Jiang Lai anymore, so she waved her hand and ran out.

mid-December.

Sister Ying took Zhang Ziyi to the Beijing Film Studio, which is the Koreans' partner in China.

Although the Beijing Film Studio was merged into China Film Group at this time, it was still in a delicate state of integration without complete unity. It retained its brand and certain physical operation capabilities, and its hardware facilities and post-production were top-notch in China.

This co-production is called "The Samurai".

After Zhang Ziyi joined the crew, Jiang Lai also flew to Hong Kong.

When Stephen Chow saw him, he looked him up and down and said tactfully, "Mr. Jiang, you need to work on your acting, otherwise you won't fit the character image."

Jiang Lai rubbed his stomach helplessly. He was much fatter now than when he first met Zhou Xingchi. It took him half a year to build up that muscular physique, but it only took him half that time to make it almost disappear.

Fortunately, according to Stephen Chow, it would take about a month and a half of preparation before filming could begin, which would allow him to catch up on some of the training.

Right?

Stephen Chow also worked out like crazy for the movie. Jiang Lai didn't even go back to the mainland; instead, he shamelessly went to stay at Stephen Chow's house and followed his fitness coach to recover little by little, which saved him a lot of trouble.

They exercise every day and read scripts; the two of them are living a very comfortable life.

In August, Jackie Chan had just finished filming "The Accidental Spy" and took some time to return to Hong Kong. This time, he came back to see Jiang.