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

Hollywood has its own set of standards for classifying actors, which mainly measures their commercial value.

The most well-known classification is the S, A, B, and C grades.

The S tier is Hollywood's "20 million dollar club," and anything above that means even higher salaries plus box office revenue sharing.

Tier A actors typically earn between 10 million and 20 million yuan, Tier B actors earn less than 10 million yuan, Tier C actors earn several hundred thousand yuan, and anything below that is considered low-class.

Of course, the classification of actors and the production level of a film are not the same concept. In terms of movies, A-level is a high-budget commercial blockbuster, B-level is a medium-budget film, and C-level is a low-budget film with a very rough production.

Looking at the early Chinese filmmakers who ventured into Hollywood, they all started from the bottom and gradually climbed up.

Chow Yun-fat relied on his acting skills to work in low- to mid-budget art films for many years. He finally landed a big-budget A-list production, "Anna and the King," but unfortunately, it flopped at the box office and failed to propel him to A-list status.

Li Lianjie is a bit better than Chow Yun-fat, but he still works in mid-budget action films. Fortunately, he has made a name for himself as the king of B-movie action films.

Speaking solely of Hollywood, the most successful among these people is basically Jackie Chan. The film "Rush Hour" propelled him to the peak of his career, instantly making him a A-list actor.

By the time "Rush Hour 2" was being filmed, the salary had reached around $17 million. The most outrageous thing was that the actor was pulled from the C-level to the S-level goalkeeper, and received a salary of $20 million for the second movie. That actor was Chris Tucker.

Some people are speaking out in support of Jackie Chan, saying that his salary is not as high as that of that other actor. But don't forget that Jackie Chan gets a share of the box office profits, while that other actor only gets a salary.

Well, this is just wishful thinking; Hollywood is just very unfriendly to Asian actors.

It's true that Chinese filmmakers have tirelessly fought for cultural dignity in the West, breaking down barriers and deserving praise. But thinking about it, why do we have to seek recognition from others? Why can't it be foreigners who strive to gain our recognition?

This has nothing to do with cultural confidence. In short, dignity lies only on the edge of a sword, and truth lies only within the range of a cannon.

When America was strong, the whole world flocked there, and its cultural industry also flourished.

As we grow stronger, more and more foreigners are embracing Han culture. Of course, we should also thank the pioneers who promoted our culture.

Getting back to the main point, Jackie Chan's trip back to Hong Kong to meet with Jiang Lai was about the "Rush Hour 2" project.

There are two main points. First, the film's producers took a liking to Zhang Ziyi and wanted her to play the female assassin Hu Li in the film. Cheng Long then suggested that Jiang Lai also play a role. As far as the producers were concerned, it didn't matter who the supporting actors were, as long as the lead actors remained the same, so they agreed.

Secondly, Jackie Chan wanted to attract more investment for the film. The production company said that the production cost had been increased, making it a solid A+ blockbuster, but a significant portion of that went to the salaries of the two lead actors. Most importantly, he wanted to make the film's release in mainland China more secure, since the Hong Kong film industry was well aware of the relationship between Jiang Lai and Third Master.

After hearing this, Jiang Lai thought it was entirely feasible. After all, it was a Hollywood film, which would be quite helpful to Zhang Ziyi's career. Moreover, the film was indeed profitable, so he agreed.

Then he let Sister Ying make the contact, while he happily became a hands-off manager.

Jackie Chan said filming would start at the end of the year, and told Jiang Lai to make sure her schedule was free, along with Zhang Ziyi. After saying that, Jackie Chan happily went abroad to promote his new movie, and before leaving, he casually recruited Jiang Lai into the Hong Kong Actors Guild.

After that, Jiang Lai continued to work out, occasionally practicing soccer with Stephen Chow. They didn't need to actually play in the movie, just be passable, because many scenes required special effects.

Days passed by, and Jiang Lai's figure recovered quite a bit, although it wasn't as good as when she filmed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

That evening, after Jiang Lai finished practicing a set of movements, Zhou Xingchi walked over with a worried look on his face.

"Mr. Jiang, there's something I need to tell you."

Jiang Lai was drinking water and gave a mumbled reply.

"The originally slated female lead will not be acting."

Jiang Lai put down his water glass. "Why?"

Stephen Chow lowered his eyes and said, "The female lead needs to look ugly, but at the end of the movie, I envisioned having her shave her head."

"Shave your head?"

"Yes." Stephen Chow nodded. "The other party couldn't accept this and refused to act directly."

Jiang Lai leaned against the wall. The original female lead was Xiao Yanzi. In his previous life, he had heard that she refused to shave her head, and Stephen Chow eventually compromised and let her wear a wig. He never expected that she would refuse to act in this life.

"Mr. Stephen Chow, what are your thoughts?"

"I'm looking for an actress from mainland China."

Jiang Lai asked curiously, "Why not look for them locally?"

Stephen Chow vaguely replied, "I want to broaden my market reach in mainland China."

Jiang Lai nodded and didn't ask any further questions. The reason made sense, but it certainly wasn't the whole story. However, he didn't care about that. The question now was, who should he contact?

The first person that popped into his mind was Zhou Xun.

Then he quickly shook his head to get rid of the thought; a short, bald girl was almost horrifying.

Thinking about the actresses under his management, Zhang Jingchu was not suitable either, and it seemed that Wang Jinghua had already gotten her a role in a drama that she was currently acting in.

That leaves only the two ice-types.

Jiang Lai thought for a moment, then picked up the phone and called Wang Jinghua.

"Sister Hua, there's a role that requires me to play an ugly character and even shave my head. Could you ask Li Bingbing and Fan Bingbing if they're willing to take the role?"

Wang Jinghua asked, "What kind of movie?"

"Don't say it yet, and don't say it was me who said it. Just ask who can accept these conditions."

Wang Jinghua responded and hung up the phone.

Jiang Lai put his phone aside, and Zhou Xingchi winked at him, "Mr. Jiang, you're quite an interesting person."

Jiang Lai knew that Stephen Chow was referring to the casting call. After all, if a relatively unknown actor heard that it was a Stephen Chow movie, they would definitely agree to take the role regardless of whether they had to make themselves look ugly or shave their head, but their minds would definitely not be on the movie.

"Don't worry, Mr. Stephen Chow, the actors I found for you are definitely suitable."

Stephen Chow smiled and said, "I definitely believe what Mr. Jiang says."

Jiang Lai waved his hand, "Don't call me Mr. Jiang anymore, just call me Lai Zai."

Stephen Chow nodded and said nothing more.

Jiang Lai was aware of Li Bingbing's previous statements to the media, but since it was all for her own development, Jiang Lai understood and didn't take it seriously. She also asked Wang Jinghua to convey that she would treat everyone equally.

He had originally planned that if both Bingbing and Li Bingbing refused, he would mention that it was a Stephen Chow movie and that he had invested in it, and then invite the two of them to come and audition.

Unexpectedly, Wang Jinghua called back the next day and said, "Li Bingbing refused, but Fan Bingbing agreed."

Jiang Lai raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised, and asked, "What did Fan Bingbing say?"

She said it was fine, so she could just shave her head. She could just wear a wig for filming later, which would save her the trouble of styling it.

Jiang Lai put down the phone and clicked his tongue.

If she hadn't been tricked and taken the wrong path, it wouldn't be surprising if this girl eventually reached the top of the entertainment industry.