Chapter 15 Turn On!

The next day, at seven o'clock in the evening, in Fengze Garden.

Chen Kun, Zhou Xun, Zu Feng, Sun Honglei, Chen Jianbin, Yan Danchen, Zeng Li, and Qin Hailu gathered in a box and chatted constantly.

Mainland actors in 2000 didn't have much concept of celebrity status.

Although the Four Days Double Ice has gained momentum, some agents in domestic entertainment have also followed Wang Jinhua and learned about celebrity marketing in the entertainment circles of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

But the actors Wu Yuan invited were either more traditional professional actors who were still following the drama route, or they were young people who had just graduated.

In their current professional concept, no matter how big or small the role, they all act as part of the drama.

Whether you are playing a supporting role or a leading role, everyone is equal in terms of personality, whether on or off the screen. It does not mean that playing a leading role is superior to those playing a supporting role.

Therefore, although the roles and scenes among the eight actors are different, it does not affect their lively chat.

In other words, they are holding a script reading and discussion meeting.

This is something that would be rare to see 20 years later, but is very common now.

"I don't know Director Wu, but after I got the book from a friend, I was fascinated by it as soon as I read it. The writing in this book is so good that I can't stop just reading the text."

Chen Jianbin leaned on the table with one hand and waved the other hand up and down: "Good guy, I read the script three or four times before I roughly understood the contradictions in it and the changes in time and space!"

"Just for the role I want to play, there are more than a dozen versions of myself in "parallel worlds"!"

"It's so interesting. I've only seen this kind of theme in American blockbusters before. I didn't expect that our country would also have a director making such a movie!"

Chen Jianbin got excited when he spoke, and Zu Feng and Sun Honglei, who were sitting next to him, also echoed.

Among the several actors present, most of the others agreed to join the crew without hesitation because of their friendship and relationship with Wu Yuan.

But the three of them were really moved by the script. They talked about the script very clearly. It was obvious that they had read the script at least several times or even ten times in just one day after receiving it.

While chatting, Sun Honglei suddenly frowned and said hesitantly:

"Whether this script is good or not, it depends on whether the director can shoot it well. Just reading the script gives me a headache and my eyesight is dazzled. Isn't it going to be a mess during filming?"

It's not surprising that Sun Honglei had this idea. He learned about Wu Yuan's situation from Chen Kun. He is 18 years old and is a junior after the summer vacation. He has never had independent directing experience before.

Such a pure new director wants to make a movie with hundreds of contradictions and more than a dozen time and space intersections. Can he pull it off? Will the film be good?

"Harm, don't worry about it." Chen Kun stopped Sun Honglei's shoulders and said calmly: "Yuan'er is the screenwriter of this movie. He wrote this book. Can he not shoot it well?"

"Yes!" Zhou Xun, who is familiar with Sun Honglei, also said: "I filmed with Wu Yuan on the crew of "Seventeen Years Old Bicycle". At that time, he was working as an assistant director when he didn't have any roles. And I also had a film screening with the director.”

"Director Wang Xiaoshuai said that his junior brother is spiritual and was born to be a director. He is full of praise for him!"

As he was talking, Chen Kun suddenly remembered something, stretched out his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and then whispered: "By the way, it will be Yuan'er's in a few days..."

More than ten minutes later.

The door to the box was opened, and Wu Yuan led a handsome man in his early thirties wearing glasses and walked in.

"Everyone is here."

Wu Yuan looked around the box and nodded with a smile: "Let me introduce to you, this is our producer Chen Yuan of "The Night the Comet Came", Producer Chen."

"Your acting contracts will be signed by him on behalf of the crew."

As he spoke, Chen Yuan, the "supervisor" sent by China Film Group Corporation, took out stacks of contracts from the briefcase he carried.

Wu Yuan had already negotiated the remuneration with them yesterday. In fact, there was nothing to discuss. They were all a group of unknown actors who had only acted in a few movies and TV series at most.

Zhou Xun is the most expensive, with a salary of 6,000 yuan.

The rest of the people, including the male and female protagonists, all received a unified salary of 5,000 because their roles were similar.

Don't be too little, "The Night the Comet Came" is expected to only take seven nights to shoot, and they can rehearse and perform normally in the theater during the day.

This is equivalent to a part-time job. Part-time workers can earn 5,000 yuan a week, which is already a very high salary for these theater actors.

As for Zhou Xun's one thousand yuan more than others, this is the value brought by her Paris International Film Festival Best Actress Award.

Zeng Li, who plays the heroine, was originally supposed to be the highest-paid in the film. After all, the whole film is from her perspective, and her role is the most important.

But who told Zhou Xun to win the Best Actress trophy?

Wu Yuan felt that it was worth it to spend 6,000 yuan to invite Zhou Xun.

There was nothing interesting about the contract. There was no need to worry about the contract provided by China Film Group. Everyone signed their names at the end of the contract without looking at it carefully.

After Chen Yuan took back the contracts one by one, he sat down and looked up with the others at Wu Yuan, the only one standing.

Being watched by nine people, Wu Yuan felt a little nervous in his heart.

The last time he came to Fengzeyuan, he was just a small actor in Wang Xiaoshuai's crew.

This time, he suddenly became the director of a film crew.

Although there are only eight actors in this crew, there are only three crew members.

But Wu Yuan still had infinite pride in his heart.

In the dream world, it took him 20 years to become the chief director of a film crew and a real film director.

And this time, he only took two years to build a film crew!

Although this crew is small, this is where his dream begins!

"Okay, since everyone has signed the contract, we won't delay any longer."

Wu Yuan put his hands on the table, looked at everyone, and breathed a sigh of relief: "Next, we will hold a few script reading meetings, read the book thoroughly, figure out the relationship between the characters, and then we can start filming."

"During the crew's start-up period, I don't care about you during the day, but every night from 7 to 12 o'clock, you must arrive on time to start work, and you must be in makeup!"

"Any questions?"

"No problem!" Everyone answered in unison.

"Okay, let's eat first, and then we'll have a meeting!" Wu Yuan smiled with satisfaction.

At a time when Hong Kong's film capital has not yet moved north on a large scale, there is no ceremony to speak of when mainland films start filming, such as beheading chickens, worshipping Guan Gong, or lifting red cloth.

So for the crew of "The Night the Comet Came", this dinner tonight is the opening ceremony.

In the next three days, Wu Yuan and the eight actors will get together every day to discuss the script, their respective character settings, the code of conduct in the film, and how to act in some more complicated places.

Three days later, China Film helped Wu Yuan rent a shooting location, a small western-style building in the XC area.

Bringing the actors of the crew, a master cameraman invited from the Beijing Film Studio, and two rented film cameras, Wu Yuan moved to the small western-style building.

At this point, "The Night the Comet Came" officially started filming!