Chinese Entertainment: Directors Start with the Fairy Sister

Chapter 115 "Holy Lament" Audition: The male celebrity who was cheated on!

Every year during the Lunar New Year film season, there's never a shortage of great shows.

Take, for example, the feud between the two Mrs. Chens in last year's "Perhaps Love" and "The Promise"—even though one of them was only referred to as a prospective Mrs. Chen.

This verbal sparring still opened the eyes of those outside the entertainment circle, showing them that the insults between female celebrities are not much different from the street brawls.

Zhang Weiping's move is no less impressive than that of the soon-to-be Mrs. Chen.

Although "Confession of Pain" is a Hong Kong film, its distributors are Polybona and Enlight Media.

Yu Dong's face was not like Ning Hao's in the rumors; he didn't look like a good person at all. Wang Changtian was a well-known naval commander.

Although Jia Zhangke is somewhat outnumbered, "Still Life" still won a Golden Lion Award, so how can Zhang Weiping be allowed to slander it at will?

Bona Film Group directly revealed that Zhang Weiping signed an unfair agreement with cinemas at the beginning of the release of "Curse of the Golden Flower", requiring digital cinemas to only screen "Curse of the Golden Flower" from December 14th to January 14th!

"Some people might watch two or three movies a month, but would anyone watch 'Curse of the Golden Flower' two or three times in a month? What is this if not monopoly and dictatorship?!"

"Others may be afraid of 'Curse of the Golden Flower,' but 'Confession of Pain' is not."

While netizens were busy gossiping, Zhao Yanxi didn't forget to do her normal work.

After the copyright transaction for "Painted Skin" was completed, he specifically invited representatives from the three investors—China Film Group, Ningbo Film Group, and Wanda Group—to Yanxi Film and Television.

"The money from the overseas rights sale of 'Painted Skin' has already been deposited into the corresponding account, and now we are just waiting for its domestic release."

Zhao Yanxi looked at the representative from China Film Group and said, "We've already discussed this with President Han; we'll release it during the May Day holiday. As for distribution..."

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"Don't worry, Director Zhao!" the China Film representative said confidently, "Painted Skin is China Film's most important project this year, and we will definitely go all out!"

Wanda Cinemas fully supports the film's scheduling!

Ye Ning personally came to Wanda and gave a direct and straightforward statement.

The fact that the overseas rights sold for nearly ten million US dollars already proves the excellence of this work. And since it's an investment from Wanda, there's no reason for Wanda not to support it!

The representative from Ningying Film Studio opened her mouth, but ultimately could only say, "Ningying Film Studio will fully assist in the film's promotion and distribution!"

After the three parties sat down to discuss and agree on the publicity and distribution costs, China Film Group would begin to formulate a publicity policy.

Normally, the large number of films they handle allows distribution companies like Huayi Brothers, Enlight Media, and Bona Film Group to survive.

Once China Film Group starts going all out for a film, not to mention Huayi Brothers, a half-baked distribution company, even Enlight Media and Bona Film Group will have to step aside!

China Film Group has invested in many cinema chains, including China Film Stellar, China Film South, New Film Union, and Pacific Cinema. China Film Group's on-the-ground promotion staff, both internal and external, are spread throughout the country.

Once China Film Group gets going, it's far beyond what those private companies can compete with.

Numerous resumes have been submitted for the male lead and second male lead in "Saint's Lament," including Huang Xiaoming, Deng Chao, and Tong Dawei.

A-list stars like Hu Jun also have supporting actors with solid acting skills, such as Zhang Hanyu and Duan Yihong.

Zhao Yanxi has been staying at the company for the past few days. There are more than a dozen people there, and the schedule is very flexible. She auditions five or six people every day.

The first people Zhao Yanxi met were not the big names, but Tian Yu.

For some reason, Zhao Yanxi wanted to laugh when she saw him, and a sentence involuntarily popped into her mind—"Big Silly Chun!"

What do you want to do?!

However, it cannot be denied that his acting skills are absolutely excellent.

An actor from the Central Academy of Drama, who has been involved in stage plays for many years.

"Director Zhao, was there anything wrong with my performance just now?" Tian Yu asked, somewhat puzzled.

He thought his performance was fine. Although he had only spent three to five minutes studying the audition clip, he believed he had portrayed the second male lead's cowardice and fear very well.

"No problem!"

Zhao Yanxi composed herself and chuckled, "I just suddenly thought of something interesting."

"Although Song Zhe is only the second male lead, his role is equally important. He represents the oppressed class in society, or embodies how systemic violence shapes a distorted personality. His fate points to an indictment of the social structure."

"Senior Tian, ​​please arrange for your agent to come and sign the contract as soon as possible. Once the contract is signed, you can get the entire script and take your time to study and master it!"

"I...I passed the audition?" Tian Yu asked in disbelief. "It's settled already?"

It's not like before, where they told me to go back and wait for notification, but I still haven't heard anything even after filming started!

"It's settled," Zhao Yanxi said with a smile. "We plan to officially start filming next month, which might delay the Chinese New Year."

"It's alright," Tian Yu said excitedly, "We still need to prioritize our careers!"

This is the first time a big-name director has cast him in a film. Although he's not quite as good as Director Li, who cast his girlfriend, Director Zhao is young. Director Li is still living off his girlfriend at this age!

I'm finally done being a kept man! I'll share this news with Weiwei when I get back!

Watching Tian Yu leave excitedly, the people outside the audition room were all surprised.

"So... you passed the audition?"

"It's settled so quickly?"

"Who is he? He looks kind of familiar."

"I didn't know her, but I think she was in a stage play. I got to know her later!" Deng Chao said with emotion.

After acting in Director Zhao's films, he naturally gained fame.

Despite gaining some fame through a few TV dramas, whether he can become a star on the big screen remains to be seen.

The other party has clearly gotten ahead of me. I wonder if I will be successful when it's my turn to audition!

Xiao Liu has been quite busy lately. Apart from his regular business activities, he's often nowhere to be seen.

I occasionally see him hanging out with Shu Chang all the time, I don’t know what they’re whispering about.

Zhao Yanxi intended to give the role of the second female lead to Shu Chang to give her a try, but Liu Yifei and Shu Chang didn't bring it up, so Zhao Yanxi thought about it and decided against it.

She's called the second female lead, but she's just a minor supporting character.

As the wife of the second male lead, she has even fewer scenes than the second male lead.

Shu Chang is a popular young actress, and giving her this kind of role would be like riding on her fame. Zhao Yanxi is even afraid that Liu Yifei will say that she bullied her best friend.

However, while Shu Chang might not be interested, this role is still very appealing to others in the industry.

Take, for example, Tang Yan, one of the most popular actresses of the 04 Olympic Games.

She was in the same class as Liu Yifei and Luo Jin, all graduating in 02, except that Tang Yan was from the Central Academy of Drama.

The rules at the Central Academy of Drama are much stricter than those at the Beijing Film Academy; students are generally not allowed to take on acting roles before their junior year.

Tang Yan's true debut began with the film "The Wind Rises" last year, but she still has no presence on the big screen.

Therefore, she was still very happy to come all the way from Shanghai to audition for the role of the second female lead in "Pieta".

After the audition, Zhao Yanxi quickly secured the role.

Zhao Yanxi took some time to attend the premiere of "Confession of Pain". Although it was said to be made by the original production team of "Infernal Affairs", it could only replace "A Battle of Wits" and "The Knot" in terms of screenings in the face of the overwhelming success of "Curse of the Golden Flower".

The premiere was quite a spectacle, but its opening day box office was still lower than that of "A Battle of Wits".

The production team's target of 100 million yuan in box office revenue in mainland China has essentially become empty talk.

"Still Life" has been abandoned by theaters, and its total box office has reached nearly two million.

Although it is Jia Zhangke's highest-grossing film in recent years, it is clearly not his goal.

Jia Zhangke once again criticized Zhang Yimou from afar, saying that "Curse of the Golden Flower" dominated most of the domestic screens, leaving no room for other films to survive.

They admire the freedom and democracy abroad, but dislike the free development of the domestic film and television market.

Such double standards are truly rare!