Chinese Entertainment: Directors Start with the Fairy Sister

Chapter 109: Casting for "King of Kung Fu" Confirmed; Little Liu Feels Ashamed

The cast for "The Forbidden Kingdom" has finally been finalized.

From the lead actress and second lead actress to the fifth and sixth male leads, the final cast was determined after the final auditions.

"Sister, Mr. Wang really kept his word. He said he'd get a role, and he did!" Li Xue said excitedly. "All our hard work as sisters was worth it!"

"It's just a supporting female character," Li Lin said casually, "and it's a role that Fan doesn't want."

Li knew a little about the inside story of why Fan Tao was blacklisted by the company after refusing the generous contract renewal offer.

"Hehe, don't dwell on that," Li Xue chuckled. "She's taking too big a step; it'll all fall apart sooner or later. Look at what happened when my godmother left Huayi."

"Don't think about leaving Huayi these next few years. Focus on accumulating resources and capital within the company; that's the key. And don't underestimate this role just because it's the second female lead. Her screen time isn't much less than the first female lead's. Who knows, this might even be a direct route to Hollywood!"

"Is Liu Yifei definitely going to be the female lead?" Li Tao suddenly asked curiously.

"Yes," Li Xue nodded, "I happened to be right next to President Wang at the time, so you have no idea what his expression was like."

"7

Li couldn't help but smile.

Xiao Wang wanted to keep Fan by offering her the lead actress, but she left in the end.

They wanted to sign Liu Yifei for the lead role, but she disagreed. Even if they sabotaged her, they couldn't stop her from getting the role.

It's a pity they were changing costumes at the time, otherwise I really wanted to see Wang Zhonglei's ashen face.

"Director Minkoff, why did you have to choose Liu Yifei for the female lead?!"

Wang Zhonglei was furious. He remembered that just now at the audition room door, he was still making a last-ditch effort to sign Liu Yifei.

As a result, Liu Xiaoli still refused outright, and the next moment the audition director came out and announced the casting results.

Fan Wenfang, Zhang Baizhi, and others whom I recommended were all rejected, but Liu Yifei, whom I had been resisting, was selected by the production team!

Thinking back to Liu Xiaoli's ambiguous smile at the time, Wang Zhonglei felt extremely embarrassed!

Minkoff didn't understand Chinese, but he had a translator.

"Mr. Wang, this matter has nothing to do with me," Minkoff said, completely absolving himself of any responsibility. "I can only offer suggestions during the audition, which will be judged by the audition directors. But I can tell you..."

"Liu Yifei's selection has little to do with us; it was decided by Lionsgate headquarters!"

"Headquarters? What connection does Liu Yifei have with Lionsgate headquarters?"

Wang Zhonglei was stunned for a moment, and before the translator could answer, he realized: "Zhao Yanxi!"

However, Wang Zhonglei couldn't understand why Zhao Yanxi's Crystal Pictures wasn't in competition with Lionsgate.

What gives him the right to decide the casting for a top-tier production like Lionsgate?!

"Director Minkoff personally praised my audition performance today, saying that even if Lionsgate hadn't signed me beforehand, he would still be willing to sign me. He said there were reasons for their previous strict requirements—"

Liu Yifei shook her head, her ponytail sweeping over her shoulders, her smugness almost overflowing from the ends of her hair.

Liu Xiaoli gently stroked her daughter's hair, her gaze tender: "The person we should thank the most is Yan Xi. If it weren't for him settling things with Lionsgate and Wang Zhonglei causing trouble in the middle, things wouldn't have gone so smoothly."

"Okay—" Liu Yifei drawled, a sly glint in her eyes, "When he comes back from Hollywood, I'll have to prepare a big gift—"

As she was speaking, Liu Yifei suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Liu Xiaoli looked up.

"Mom," Liu Yifei suddenly stopped smiling, her voice lowering, "I suddenly remembered that Yan Xi has given me two birthday presents, but I—I don't think I've ever prepared one for him?!"

Liu Xiaoli fell silent upon hearing this, and after a long while, she asked softly, "Do you know when his birthday is?"

"I don't know." Liu Yifei shook her head, her voice muffled. "He hasn't mentioned his birthday in the past two years, and I didn't think to ask him either."

"Let's ask around," Liu Xiaoli sighed. "I remember—doesn't that child have no relatives? Back when I was on the set of 'The Return of the Condor Heroes,' I think I heard an assistant director mention that his parents passed away very early—"

These words sent a shiver down Liu Yifei's spine.

She suddenly realized that she might be the closest person to him in the world, yet she didn't even know his birthday.

She enjoyed Zhao Yanxi's indulgence and pampering, but she overlooked the fact that she had never given him any passionate response. A bitter sense of guilt welled up inside her, and she whispered, "I'll go to the school to check tomorrow. There must be a record in the admission file."

Hollywood, North America.

On her second day in Hollywood, Zhao Yanxi finalized the publishing contract for "The Hunger Games 1".

Although the pen name for the "Fifty Shades" series cannot be revealed, the publisher still believes in Zhao Yanxi's writing skills, not to mention his identity as a famous commercial director and a Berlin Silver Bear winner.

With her abilities and reputation already established, the publisher wouldn't be foolish enough to impose conditions.

A 14% first-print royalty and a 15% reprint royalty are top-tier terms even in the North American novel industry.

Zhao Yanxi naturally had no objection.

After the contract was signed, the publishing house arranged for its finance department to pay Zhao Yanxi's royalties for the past two months in installments.

After deducting various taxes and fees, the Fifty Shades series also earned Zhao Yanxi $2000 million.

Including the $3000 million withdrawn from Crystal Pictures, the total is $5000 million. Zhao Yanxi's long-cherished dream of developing the cinema industry can finally be put on the agenda!

On the other hand, "Ghost II: The Gathering" also performed exceptionally well!

With an impressive $5280 million, it has firmly secured the top spot at the North American box office!

Lionsgate also took the opportunity to announce its co-production with Crystal Pictures of "Insidious"—a total investment of $400 million, including $200 million in production costs and $200 million in script fees.

Zhao Yanxi also appeared in Hollywood newspapers as an investor and screenwriter.

The two horror film companies, who were originally looking forward to a fierce battle, have now joined forces to produce a new film, which has also made movie fans in North America very excited.

Upon seeing this message, Wang Zhonglei finally understood why Zhao Yanxi was able to handle Lionsgate—if they were all working together, what was impossible?

Think about horror movies like "Shutter" and "Chainsaw." With such a small investment, they easily grossed one or two hundred million dollars worldwide, with box office revenues of two or three hundred million US dollars.

Even if "The Forbidden Kingdom" can gross 300 million US dollars, how much profit will it make? It's nothing like the huge profits of horror movies!

Zhao Yanxi practically paid off Liu Yifei for the lead role.

"What a lavish display of wealth, trying to win a beauty's smile!" Wang Zhonglei laughed angrily. "I'd like to see how far you can go!"

'

It's only natural for young people to admire younger women.

Having been in this industry for a long time, Wang Zhonglei didn't believe they could really go the distance for long.

Especially Zhao Yanxi, who is young, rich, and a famous director, is definitely the dream lover of countless actresses;

Faced with a group of actresses offering themselves up, Wang Zhonglei didn't believe Liu Yifei could resist!

"The mountains don't move, but the water does; let's wait and see."