Chapter 187: Overwhelming Publicity, Invitation to Emperor Gong

The premiere of Painted Skin ended at 5pm.

The public opinion on the Internet started to explode at 6pm.

"Director Wu Yuan's movies can really be believed without thinking!"

"Painted Skin, a heartbreaking movie!"

"Love but not getting it, the most painful thing in the world is this - the impression after watching Painted Skin."

"Painted Skin - the perfect beginning of domestic magic movies!"

A group of film critics and reporters who were invited to watch the premiere all published their impressions of the premiere on the Internet as soon as possible.

Because it is not possible to directly spoil the plot, everyone's impressions are vague and do not involve specific plots.

But the core argument is the same, that is, this is a movie worth watching in the cinema!

This is a groundbreaking movie, a perfect beginning of domestic fantasy and magic movies!

Not just film critics and media.

The various publicity methods that China Film and Light and Shadow Times have prepared for a long time have also been put into use.

The first thing to hype is the relationship between the male and female protagonists.

Zhou Xun and Chen Kun have collaborated more than once or twice. They have also shown their special relationship that is more than friendship but less than lovers in front of the media many times.

At this critical moment when the new movie is released, this topic will of course be picked out as a hot topic to increase the attention of the movie.

The second thing to be hyped is Zeng Li's appearance.

As the most beautiful class flower in the 1996th class of the Central Academy of Drama, Zeng Li's beauty has actually only been spread within the circle.

The saying "a beauty that only appears once in two hundred years in the Central Academy of Drama" has not yet appeared.

Zeng Li's fame in this life is greater than that in Wu Yuan's dream, after all, she has the fame of "The Night the Comet Came".

Her second collaboration with Wu Yuan is already a big topic. Now that Light and Shadow Times has bought a lot of manuscripts, Zeng Li has been hyped even more.

"Wu Yuan praised Zeng Li and called her the most beautiful actress he had ever worked with."

"Wu Yuan: I was the one who took the initiative to invite Zeng Li to star in "The Night the Comet Came"

"The role of Peirong in "Painted Skin" was tailor-made for Zeng Li!"

In short, he praised her as much as he could. In these press releases, Zeng Li has become a peerless beauty that only the immortal world can hear of.

Wu Yuan, a famous director in Cannes and Berlin, was obsessed with her, so much so that he wrote a role for her in "Painted Skin" and invited her to play it.

Well, Wu Yuan had informed Liu Yifei in advance about this press release, otherwise he was afraid that his girlfriend would be jealous.

"Brother, when you were in school, did you really go to the Central Academy of Drama to see Zeng Li as rumored?"

Faced with his girlfriend's puffy questioning, Wu Yuan of course did not admit it, only saying that it was all nonsense, and he also dragged Huang Xiaoming into the water.

"Nonsense, it was Chen Kun and Huang Xiaoming who went to see Zeng Li at the Central Academy of Drama, and I was dragged there once, not on my own initiative."

This explanation only earned a proud and cold snort from my girlfriend.

Of course, the hype prepared by Light and Shadow Times also has a third hand.

The third hand is naturally Zhang Guorong.

"Zhang Guorong: The director said I have a lot of fighting scenes, but I didn't expect it was a fighting scene where I was beaten."

"The most miserable exorcist in history! Either being beaten or on the way to being beaten!"

"Zhang Guorong: Director Wu and I have a life-and-death friendship!"

Zhang Guorong really got beaten a lot in "Painted Skin", and his role is the kind of "If you are well, I will be a spare tire until old", which is naturally suitable for selling misery.

The publicity department of Light and Shadow Times will certainly not miss this hype point, and also prepared a lot of press releases for Zhang Guorong's Pang Yong.

Finally, the theme song of "Painted Skin", "Painted Heart", was also first released on the Internet on the 27th.

The song "Hua Xin" is originally from the pure music work "Asian Road" released by Japanese composer Fujiwara Ikuro in 2003.

When working on the "Painted Skin" project, Wu Yuan asked someone to buy the copyright of this pure music, and then wrote the lyrics of "Hua Xin".

As for the singer, he also found Zhang Liangying, the third runner-up of this year's most popular talent show "Super Girl", to sing.

At the same time, he also found a Japanese lyricist to write the lyrics for the Japanese version of "儚さ", which was used as the promotional song for "Painted Skin" when it was released in Japan.

The Chinese version of "Hua Xin" directly topped the hot song charts of major online music platforms on the day of its release.

"Super Girl" just ended this summer, and Zhang Liangying's current popularity is not ordinary.

With her popularity, "Painted Skin" has also gained a lot of fame among her fans.

Light and Shadow Times also bought some press releases to cooperate with the promotion.

From online to offline, from online portals to major entertainment newspapers, press releases related to Painted Skin are everywhere.

Whether the public cares about Chinese films or not, they all learned about the release of Painted Skin passively.

Interested fans are eager to buy movie tickets and take their girlfriends or families to the cinema to watch this rumored magical movie.

The director of this movie, Wu Yuan, is entertaining a guest at the headquarters building of Light and Shadow Times.

After the premiere of Painted Skin, he specially invited Gong Li to come to the company.

In fact, Gong Li knew the invitation very well and knew why Wu Yuan asked her to do so.

After the two sat down in the reception room of the Light and Shadow Times, Gong Li asked directly: "Director Wu, you want me to make a movie?"

"Hey, I can't hide it from Sister Li." Wu Yuan smiled, took the printed script from Li Xiaoping, and handed it to Gong Li.

"Sister Li, I'm preparing a new film "Gravity", and the heroine must be you!"

Yes, Wu Yuan wanted to invite Gong Li to play the leading female role in "Gravity".

The one-man show of the heroine of "Gravity" is very difficult, and it is very challenging for the actor's acting skills.

Among the domestic actresses, Wu Yuan can think of only two actresses who can be competent for the heroine of this movie.

Gong Li from the mainland and Zhang Manyu from Hong Kong Island.

But Zhang Manyu announced her retirement last year, and she has indeed made up her mind not to take any movies in the past two years.

In this way, the only actress in China who is suitable for this movie is Gong Li, and only she can play this movie well.

Wu Yuan really has nothing to complain about.

It's a bit embarrassing to say that the original heroine of "Gravity" was Sandra Bullock.

This Hollywood actress and producer is really miserable this time.

She is the heroine and producer of "The Proposal" and the heroine of "The Blind Side".

As a result, the filming of "The Proposal" has been completed, and Gwyneth Paltrow has replaced her as the leading actress.

"The Blind Side" has also been approved. If nothing unexpected happens, it is estimated that Sandra Bullock will have nothing to do with this movie.

She should have won the 82nd Academy Award for Best Actress, the 67th Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama, and the Best Actress in a Musical Comedy for these two movies.

This time, "Gravity" was also intercepted by Wu Yuan, and Sandra Bullock will miss the Oscar nomination for Best Actress again, as well as the Saturn Award for Best Actress.

Although Wu Yuan did not specifically target Sandra, she really became the Hollywood actor who was most affected by Wu Yuan's butterfly wings.

Back to the topic.

After receiving the script from Wu Yuan, Gong Li read it carefully on the spot.

For a professional and ambitious actor, the most important thing they care about when accepting a role is always the quality of the script and the level of the director.

Wu Yuan undoubtedly met the second point, but the first point needs to be seen before it can be known.

The script of "Gravity" is not thick, but most of the plot revolves around the heroine, and there are a lot of monologues.

Gong Li read it very seriously, and Wu Yuan was not in a hurry at all, and did not urge her.

"This movie is not easy to act." After a long time, Gong Li sighed, "There are very few characters in this movie, almost only these two leading actors, who will face the vastness of the universe and the loneliness of mankind together."

"This also means that the acting skills of the male and female protagonists will face a great test."

"Who are you going to find to play the male protagonist?"

For Gong Li, although the female protagonist has a lot of monologues, the rivalry between her and the male protagonist is also crucial. If the rival actor is not good, it will lower the level of the entire movie.

"The male protagonist." Wu Yuan didn't think of a suitable one for a while.

If the filming was to be done ten years later, it would be nice to find Wu Jing to play the role, but unfortunately Wu Jing is not suitable now.

Wu Yuan thought for a while and said, "How about Teacher Wang Xueqi?"

Teacher Wang Xueqi is almost 60 years old now, but he doesn't look old. At 60, he looks like he's in his early 40s. He can play the leading role in "Gravity".

"Teacher Wang Xueqi?" Gong Li frowned, "Director Wu, it must be very hard to shoot this play. You have to wear a thick aviation suit and imitate the state of weightlessness."

"Teacher Wang Xueqi is not young anymore. Can he hold on?"

Gong Li is not worried about acting, but she is worried that the old senior can't hold on.

This kind of science fiction blockbuster is a great challenge to both the body and mind.

"It should be. No problem?" Wu Yuan was not sure, "Then Hu Jun is also OK. His image is also suitable for this role."

As a second choice, if Wang Xueqi is too old, then Hu Jun is the best choice.

In fact, there is another choice, that is Zhang Hanyu, but now Zhang Hanyu has not yet proved himself with the male lead of "Assembly". His fame is more in the dubbing industry.

As for the film industry, he has played in several comedy films of Feng Xiaogang, which are not really recognized by mainstream audiences and industry insiders.

"Mr. Hu." Gong Li nodded thoughtfully, "I know."

"The script is very well written, depicting outer space in a spectacular way."

"I like the story of the heroine fighting for her life."

"But can such a sci-fi movie really be made well?" Gong Li's face was full of worry.

"Yes!" Wu Yuan said confidently with a gleaming look in his eyes: "60% of the content of this movie will be produced using CG technology."

"Using CG technology in movies is already a very common thing in Hollywood. The current CG synthesis effect is very real and can be mistaken for the real thing."

"We can definitely create a realistic outer space environment and will definitely not let you down."

"Okay." Gong Li nodded, "When is the filming expected to start?"

"Around October next year, the actors will join the crew and go to the National Space Administration for astronaut training."

"It will officially start filming in January 2007, and it should be finished before May."

After calculating the schedule in her mind, Gong Li replied, "Okay, I will make time for this period."

This means that Gong Li agreed to take on this drama. After finishing "Curse of the Golden Flower" next year, she will join the crew of "Gravity"!

Wu Yuan's face immediately bloomed with a bright smile, and she stood up and stretched out her hand, "Sister Li, I wish us a happy cooperation and smooth filming in advance."

"Happy cooperation!" Gong Li shook Wu Yuan's hand and smiled dignifiedly.

Neither Wu Yuan nor she talked about the salary.

Because Gong Li's salary is really cheap.

The salary for "Curse of the Golden Flower" was 40 million for Chow Yun-fat, but Gong Li only received 5 million.

When she acted in "The Monkey King 3" in 2015, Gong Li's salary was only 12 million.

Compared with her fame and the honors she has received, her salary is simply a bargain.

For such a cheap and easy-to-use actor, Wu Yuan will never be stingy with the salary, let alone bargaining!

It’s a great deal to be able to cooperate with her!