I really don't want to make bad movies!

Xia Ming began to consider the casting issue.

His budget is 80 million.

SunMedia invested 60 million yuan, and China Film Group contributed 20 million yuan.

It's definitely not as extravagant as Jiang Wen, who spent forty or fifty million to invite a movie star to participate.

Xia Ming, an actor with a salary exceeding ten million, is not planned to be used.

The primary goal of this film is to win awards; box office success is a secondary goal.

He did consider directly using the original cast and crew, employing all the actors from the Korean Peninsula production.

But that would present a huge language barrier, and the actors from the peninsula would certainly not be convinced by their young Chinese director.

Given the nature of people from the peninsula, they'll probably give the film crew quite a hard time.

Therefore, Xia Ming still chose to use domestic actors.

As fellow Asians, it's not difficult to portray a person from the peninsula with just a little effort in makeup and styling.

Regarding the dialogue, Xia Ming chose to film two versions: one is a standard Mandarin version, and the other is a Korean dub.

This is a skill he learned on the set of "Let the Bullets Fly".

Jiang Wen originally also dubbed a Sichuan dialect version of "Let the Bullets Fly", but ultimately abandoned this version due to tight publicity budget.

Xia Ming has a sufficient budget and can definitely produce a Korean dubbed version, which would be more in line with the work.

He did consider drastically altering the script of "Parasite" and changing it to a domestic setting.

The original basement was changed into a rental house in an urban village, and the tutoring was changed into an interest class training.

But those are all superficial. The issues of class solidification and wealth disparity discussed in Parasite, and even the deeper issues of state control, are not really relevant to our own situation.

If you change the script and also alter the core message, it will backfire.

After a busy day, seeing that it was getting late, Xia Ming posted an actor recruitment notice on Weibo and went straight to bed.

……

The next day, Xia Ming's phone exploded!

The number of actors who signed up for auditions was countless; he couldn't even keep up with all the private messages on Weibo, not to mention the hundreds of text messages and countless missed calls.

He's been making headlines lately!

That live-streamed promotion, which attracted millions of viewers, ensured that Xia Ming's next film would receive extremely high exposure.

Moreover, rumors have begun circulating in the industry that Xia Ming has meticulously prepared and gathered a large number of top professionals in preparation for winning the gold medal at the Desert Film Festival.

There are even rumors that Xia Ming has made a bet with a famous director, with the winner determined by his ranking at the Desert Film Festival!

These seemingly plausible rumors have once again increased the level of attention surrounding Xia Ming's new film.

With increased attention, naturally more actors are vying to participate.

Xia Ming set the audition date for three days later, and immediately got up to start following the Sun and Moon Commentary account.

Riding the wave of popularity from "Atlantic Rim 2" has earned him over 500,000 followers. If it weren't for the traffic restrictions imposed by two celebrity studios, he would probably have already surpassed one million followers by now.

Although his videos can now get over a million views, his follower growth rate is definitely not as fast as riding the wave of trending topics.

With filming about to begin, Xia Ming needed to think of a faster way to attract viewers.

While thinking about it, Xia Ming took out his phone to see if there were any trending topics he could jump on.

Suddenly, a message popped up on WeChat.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Ju Jingyi.

Xia Ming was puzzled. Why did she want to see him?

Director Xia, are you awake?

This wasn't the first message Ju Jingyi sent to himself.

She sent two greeting messages early in the morning, but Xia Ming was still asleep at that time.

Xia Ming replied with a question mark.

A moment later, Ju Jingyi replied: [I have an audition tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous. Can you help me?]

Xia Ming frowned. Was this actress trying to get him to pull strings again?

Her studio has lost its dominance, and now Ju Jingyi can only rely on her own abilities to pass auditions.

You need connections to get a supporting role in a romantic idol drama? Just how bad is your acting?!

Can't you even be cute?!

Xia Ming frowned, not one to tolerate her, and retorted directly: "If you need connections to even get a supporting role in a romantic drama, you might as well give up on making a living in the film and television industry."

【no...】

Ju Jingyi sent several crying emojis in quick succession, saying urgently: "I heard you're very good at training actors, that's why I came to you!"

I hope you can give me some pointers on my performance!

Xia Ming raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was up to.

Could it be that you really want to improve yourself?

But in the entertainment industry, there are no permanent enemies, only mutual exploitation.

Xia Ming was worried about his account not having enough traffic, so he typed to Ju Jingyi: "[Okay, could you retweet the episode of 'Atlantic Rim 2' commentary that Riyue was talking about on Weibo?]"

Ju Jingyi asked, puzzled: "Why?"

Using self-deprecating humor to deconstruct negative news can alleviate some of the public pressure; otherwise, no matter how well you act, it's meaningless because the audience doesn't care.

【Really?!】

I'm very busy, don't waste my time.

Ju Jingyi got anxious and, without even asking his manager KIKI, forwarded the video of Riyue's commentary on Weibo as Xia Ming had instructed.

She also posted an apology to all viewers, promising to produce better works in the future.

Half a day later, the Weibo post had been forwarded 100,000 times.

In the comments section of Weibo, aside from the die-hard fans who are oblivious to what's going on and continue to support the cause, there are also some casual fans who are taking a wait-and-see approach and are not making any criticisms for the time being.

Ju Jingyi was so moved that he almost cried, and his gaze towards the chat box became increasingly complicated.

She ruined Xia Ming's science fiction film, and Xia Ming retaliated by giving her a huge public opinion crisis.

The studio was forced to lay off half of its staff, but this did not affect the studio's normal operation at all.

It has even become more efficient.

For example, her account was always managed by the operations team, but this huge public opinion crisis directly caused the operations team to lose their jobs, and she only briefly regained the right to use her Weibo account.

Should she resent Xia Ming or thank him?

Ju Jingyi doesn't have time to think about these things anymore. Right now, her only acting opportunity is this sweet romance drama that Xia Ming gave her. If she doesn't perform well, she might really have to retire from the entertainment industry.

She had already completed the task according to Xia Ming's instructions and was anxiously sending messages and making video calls, but Xia Ming did not reply.

KIKI called at that moment, angrily questioning, "I told you to go to Xia Ming and plead for me, to build a good relationship with him, who told you to post that on Weibo? Delete it right now! This is utter nonsense!"

Ju Jingyi also lost his temper and hung up on his agent.

In her opinion, if KIKI doesn't believe in her abilities, why not use the tens of millions of public relations funds to hire professional performance coaches and vocal teachers to improve her skills?

A hundred comments from those online trolls are not as effective as Director Xia's open and honest apology.

Ju Jingyi was extremely frustrated. Holding his phone, he lay on the table, eagerly waiting for Xia Ming's reply.

……

Congratulations! You have reached the milestone of one million followers across all platforms!

[Reward: David Fincher's ability to construct narratives and shape core themes in his screenplays]

[Next Milestone: Two Million Followers]

[Bonus: Christopher Nolan's non-linear narrative construction and live-action filming skills]

Even though he lost a lot of followers due to the "Atlantic Rim 2" incident, Ju Jingyi is still a Weibo influencer with tens of millions of fans.

Her self-deprecating reposting of Riyue's commentary videos caused Riyue's fan count across various platforms to increase by hundreds of thousands in a single day, successfully surpassing the million mark.

Xia Ming also threw himself into writing the script the moment he unlocked the milestone.

With the outline and framework already written, he quickly perfected the script, thanks to David Fincher's ability to grasp the core essence.

After doing all this, Xia Ming remembered that he needed to give Ju Jingyi acting guidance.

He turned on his phone; it was already past midnight.

Not knowing if Ju Jingyi was asleep, Xia Ming casually sent an emoji.

As it turned out, Ju Jingyi was indeed waiting in front of his phone and immediately made a video call.

Xia Ming was dressed casually at home, while Ju Jingyi in the camera was wearing full makeup, a red collared dress, her hair tied to one side, and staring at the camera with teary eyes.

"Director Xia, KIKI just scolded me..."

"What does this have to do with me?" Xia Ming didn't have time for small talk and went straight to the point, "Have you seen any dramas starring Yu Shuxin?"

After a moment's recollection, Ju Jingyi realized that although both of them debuted as idols, she had never actually watched any of Yu Shuxin's dramas.

"Should we learn from her?"

"No, she's a negative example. Just do the opposite of her. Pay attention to all the wide-eyed, pouting, and cute expressions she uses in the show. Don't use any of them. Focus on polishing your lines and use your tone of voice and small gestures to let the audience discover your cuteness."

"Ah... lines..." Ju Jingyi frowned. Their studio had never trained anyone for this.

"I'll send you a tutorial. Practice your breathing techniques according to it, and read the script and memorize your lines whenever you have free time."

Xia Ming hung up the phone immediately and forwarded the dog-panting training method he had previously sent to Jiang Xixi to Ju Jingyi.

Xia Ming had to get up early tomorrow to audition, so after showering and getting ready, he put together a simplified version of the script and went straight to bed.

On the other end, Ju Jingyi stuck out her tongue in the way described in the passage, only to feel a surge of shame.

"What is this?!"