Chapter 649 The Cast of Chinatown Detective Is Officially Confirmed, the Unlucky Zhou Xun, Youku’s Latest Big Move!

After ending the call with Zhou Xun, Chen Fei went to deal with some of the company's accumulated affairs.

After he finished all the work at hand, he looked up and saw that it was almost three o'clock.

After eating in the company cafeteria, he went straight to the audition room of "Detective Chinatown" to see how the audition was going.

The actors who came to audition today are already the last batch after screening, so the remaining roles must be finalized before getting off work in the afternoon.

Wang Shiliang was probably worried that he would be too busy alone, so he specifically called Lu Yang to come over and help.

When Chen Fei arrived at the audition area, it was obvious that the originally crowded corridor had become much sparser.

Obviously, a lot of people were probably eliminated during those two hours in the morning.

"Director Chen!"

"Good afternoon, Director Chen."

"Mr. Chen, why are you here?"

With the voice of greeting ringing in his ears, Chen Fei opened the door and walked into the audition room.

However, what surprised him was that just as he stepped into the room, a rather "arrogant" voice suddenly came from his ears:

"Landon Huang, what do you mean? You came to my territory to arrest people without saying hello, and you also arrested my people... Who in the whole Chinatown doesn't know that Tang Ren is my horse boy?"

When Chen Fei heard the news, he saw a middle-aged man wearing a floral shirt, with a middle-parted hair, and a greasy face that looked like he hadn't washed himself in several days, reciting his lines with great emotion.

After just one glance, the title "greasy middle-aged man" popped up in his mind unconsciously.

No need to guess, this guy must be here to audition for the role of "Kuntai".

Because of Chen Fei's arrival, the ongoing audition was interrupted. Lu Yang and Wang Shiliang quickly stood up and greeted him.

"Sit, sit down, don't be restrained." Chen Fei waved to the two of them and the actor who was auditioning, and asked curiously: "How's it going? Is the audition almost over?"

"Almost." Wang Shiliang responded quickly: "This is already the last batch. In half an hour at most, today's audition will officially come to an end."

"The progress is quite fast."

As Chen Fei spoke, he turned to look at the actor who was participating in the audition.

After looking around, he suddenly asked: "Why do you look familiar to me? Have we met somewhere?"

"Hello, Director Chen! It's an honor to see you here!"

Xiao Yang said hello and responded: "We met when you went to Youku for inspection before. I was discussing the copyright of online short films with Youku."

"Oh! I remembered it! Which Chopstick Brothers group are you Xiao Yang, right?"

Although the song "Oldboy" and the short film of the same name became popular in 2010, to this day, you can still see some related discussions on the Internet from time to time.

The reason why Chen Fei remembers the name "Xiao Yang" is mainly due to the influence of Youku.

This guy also graduated from Nortel, majoring in advertising directing.

Although he came from an advertising background, he is quite ambitious. Not only has he produced works such as "Oldboy" with over 100 million clicks, he has even written, directed and starred in films including "Winner", "Father", "The Man". Memoirs of a Geisha" and a series of short films.

Although he is not well-known in the film and television industry, he is a leader in the field of Youku personal creators.

In the reports sent by Gu Yongqiang every month, Xiao Yang's name goes hand in hand with Brother Erlonghu Hao.

Or maybe people from Nortel are versatile. Although Xiao Yang is an advertising director, his acting skills are no worse than those of first-line actors.

Putting aside everything else, just the few lines Chen Fei heard when he opened the door and walked in were enough to prove his strength.

After a few words of encouragement, Chen Fei quickly left the scene without staying too much in the audition room.

He is quite confident in Wang Shiliang and Lu Yang, and believes that they will be able to select suitable candidates for the film.

…

Because of Zhou Xun, the preparation progress of "Red Sorghum" suddenly accelerated.

These girls were so pitiful that they were blocked by reporters for a whole day, and finally "escaped" through the back door of the studio at around 4 o'clock in the morning.

In order to prevent being surrounded by the paparazzi, she had nowhere to go and had to leave the capital first and planned to go to her hometown to hide for a while.

When "Red Sorghum" starts shooting, she will set off directly from her hometown and rush to the filming location.

As for the related launch conference, there is a high probability that it will not be held. After all, no one wants to see the press conference being overwhelmed by paparazzi.

When someone else got divorced, she, an outsider, was also affected. This was so complete that it left people speechless.

At the same time, as the auditions for "Detective Chinatown" officially ended, the relevant casting announcements were quickly announced.

"Project name: "Detective Chinatown."

Producer/Supervisor: Su Guohai.

Director: Wang Shiliang.

Screenwriter: Chen Fei.

Starring team: Wang Baoqiang, Huang Xiaoming, Zhang Ruoyun, Pan Yueming, Tong Liya, Xiao Yang, Xiao Shen Yang, Shen Teng, Yue Yunpeng..."

As the relevant news was exposed, for a while, major entertainment websites seemed to be celebrating the New Year and made corresponding follow-up reports:

"Huang Xiaoming challenged the comedy film for the first time and said that he will make subversive changes this time and will give all movie fans a big surprise!"

"According to insiders, Brother Chen Kai had invited Wang Baoqiang to play a role in "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain", but was rejected."

"After many years, Xiao Shenyang has joined the big screen again as an actor. Let us look forward to his performance..."

It took only one morning, and the heat about the divorce between the princess and Li Yapeng was temporarily suppressed, and replaced by a series of news about "Detective Chinatown".

The filming time is set at the end of the month on the 27th, about a week away.

At that time, after the launch conference, all the actors will rush to Thailand to complete the post-filming work.

At this moment, the name "Lost in Thailand" suddenly appeared in the minds of many people in the circle.

Looking back, this low-cost comedy film, which was also shot in Thailand, directly won a high box office of 515 million after its release.

This time, "Detective Chinatown" will still be starred by Wang Baoqiang, and will also be filmed in Thailand. It will also include powerful actors such as Huang Xiaoming, Zhang Ruoyun, a rising star in the circle, and Xiao Shen Yang, Shen Teng, Yue Yunpeng and many others from the comedy circle will appear in cameo roles...

With such a high-quality cast, plus Chen Fei, a recognized top screenwriter in the circle, how terrifying box office potential will this movie show after its release?

Many people are speculating whether this will be another "Heart Flower Road"?

Even Chen Fei himself is a little curious about how much box office appeal "Detective Chinatown" will have after his hands?

…

Xue Xiaolu's sudden visit surprised Chen Fei.

"Director Xue? Why are you free to come to me today? What's the matter?"

In addition to being a director in the circle, Xue Xiaolu is also a professor of literature and a master's tutor at Beijing Film Academy. He usually teaches students at school on weekdays.

"I want to discuss something with you."

After sitting on the sofa, Xue Xiaolu opened his bag, took out a script from it, and handed it to Chen Fei.

"Beijing Meets Seattle: The Unbreakable Love Letter?"

Looking at the name on the cover of the script, Chen Fei did not open it immediately, but looked up at Xue Xiaolu.

"Is this a sequel?"

"You can understand it this way. The original characters remain unchanged, but the plot will be very different from the first part."

Chen Fei nodded and opened the script.

The plot is very simple, telling the story of the correspondence between Macau casino public relations Jiao Ye and American real estate agent Daniu because of a novel.

Chen Fei thought that the script only had an outline, but he never thought that the characters and story lines in it were very clear and complete, and it was completely possible to start filming directly.

After briefly flipping through the script, he returned it to Xue Xiaolu: "So, Director Xue is preparing for the second part?"

"Yes, there is indeed such a plan, so I came to find you, and by the way, I also hope that Director Chen can help communicate with China Film."

The first part of "Beijing Meets Seattle" was led by China Film, and Feiyue Film and Television just followed and drank a sip of soup.

As for the second film plan, Xue Xiaolu should have gone to China Film first.

But because Han Sanping was about to retire, and she was not very familiar with La Peikang, she could only come to Chen Fei first, intending to make a reverse connection.

Chen Fei naturally understood her idea: "That's no problem, as long as Director Xue has time to shoot, we can always give support."

Hearing this, Xue Xiaolu was immediately happy.

Because most of the filming locations are abroad, communication with the locals is actually quite difficult, but if there is Chen Fei's support like the first part, everything will be solved.

Wall Street Pictures only needs to say a word, and the local cooperation in Los Angeles is simply too high!

In Xue Xiaolu's opinion, Hollywood is like Chen Fei's backyard, and he can do whatever he wants.

"Then I will go back and continue to improve the script. We will contact each other after the National Day week, and then the relevant actors, as the core, Jiao Enjun, must not be replaced..."

At this point, Xue Xiaolu hesitated and asked a question: "Director Chen, do you think that the heroine should still use Yang Mi? Or..."

To be honest, Xue Xiaolu actually wanted to keep as many of the original cast as possible, but the problem now is that Yang Mi is no longer a contracted artist of Feiyinghuang Agency.

For this kind of opportunity to promote people, generally speaking, no matter which company will try to stick to its own artists as much as possible, rather than making wedding clothes for others.

So, Xue Xiaolu asked this question.

Although Yang Mi had just found her not long ago and expressed her desire to participate in the filming of the sequel, and even proposed to participate in the film investment.

But Xue Xiaolu was not inclined to her. Her focus has always been on Feiyue Film and Television and China Film.

Facing these two completely unequal parties, even a fool would know what to choose!

Chen Fei fell into deep thought. How could he not know what Xue Xiaolu meant?

After a moment, he replied: "You should make the script first. After the project is established and prepared, I will recommend a suitable candidate to you."

"Okay."

Xue Xiaolu nodded, and his heart was inexplicably without too many ups and downs.

Since Chen Fei is willing to recommend, it means that this person must not be too bad. At least his acting skills must be at the same level as Yang Mi.

That's enough.

...

After seeing off Xue Xiaolu, Chen Fei paid attention to the box office of several movies that are being released recently.

Looking around, Zhang Ziyi's "Very Lucky" has the worst performance!

During the promotion of the movie "Dangerous Liaisons" last year, she made public her boyfriend Xiao Sa, which directly caused a sensation in the entire entertainment industry at the time, and received many blessings, and also triggered an increase in the box office of the movie.

And this year, she still did the same thing as last year.

It's just that her boyfriend changed from Xiao Sa to Xiao Wang.

Unlike Xiao Sa, who is known as a "talented man", Xiao Wang's reputation is much worse, so that there have been boos on the Internet recently, and there are also many mocking voices in the circle.

Both of them have a seamless connection. Zhang Ziyi is fine, just cheating and breaking up, but Wang Feng has just divorced his ex-wife!

This situation is hard not to misunderstand. Could these two have hooked up a long time ago?

Of course, the most important thing is that the quality of the film is really bad!

And according to rumors in the industry, the original director and production team did not match her ideas, so she, the producer, fired them and replaced them with a Hollywood team.

Now, the box office and word of mouth are in a mess.

What's more dramatic is that the production team that was originally fired by her was actually accepted by Fan Bingbing, and they also made "One Night Surprise", which was a double harvest of box office and word of mouth.

In this comparison, Zhang Ziyi's road is obviously getting narrower and narrower.

Even Fatty Yu was pitted by her.

Last month, "The Legend of the White-Haired Witch" just lost 100 million yuan, and this month "Very Lucky" lost another 100 million yuan, which directly led to the decline of Bona's stock price. The board was so green that it was scary!

And what made Yu Dong very puzzled was not only these.

According to his idea, Bona, which was listed on NASDAQ, should have taken off all the way, but as time went on, the stock price not only did not rise, but plummeted all the way.

Especially in the past two years, Bona's stock price has experienced several limit drops.

He was very puzzled, but he just couldn't figure out the reason. It was like seeing a ghost.

He always felt as if someone was messing with him, but no matter how much he tried, he just couldn't figure out who was behind him.

…

As the end of the month approached, "The Dragon King of the Capital" and "Ip Man 3" both entered the audience's movie-watching expectations list.

Both movies are sequels, and the previous ones have created very good box office and reputation, which is tantamount to giving many people confidence to watch movies.

Many production companies in the circle are watching the fun.

Huayi and Feiyue Film and Television are fighting again. This time, no one knows which one will succeed.

While Chen Fei is training diving moves, he will occasionally pay attention to the news in the circle.

Feng Xiaogang once again topped the Weibo hot search list.

He should have been brilliant as he controlled the entire Spring Festival Gala, but he repeatedly lost to other directors in the competition for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Last year, it lost to Ning Hao's "Ghost Blows Out the Light: The Ancient City of Jingjue", and this year it lost to Chen Kai's "Search".

Facing the former, Feng Xiaogang was still quite convinced. After all, whether in terms of investment or public relations, "1942" could not compare with "Ghost Blows Out the Light".

But what the hell is "Search"?

When the Film Bureau announced that the film selected for the Oscars this year to compete for the Best Foreign Language Film Award was Chen Kai's "Search", Feng Xiaogang exploded directly!

He posted three Weibo posts in succession, accusing Chen Kai of shamelessness!

"Compared with the clear-cut "1942", "Search" is simply a joke. Isn't it just a benchmark for online public opinion? Is such a subject worthy of participating in the Oscar competition? It's really ridiculous..."

He didn't dare to confront the Film Bureau, so he could only fire at Chen Kai.

After all, everyone in the circle doesn't know that the great poet Chen has always had a lot of face and connections in front of the top. In the absence of any strong competitors, Feng Xiaogang will definitely lose!

Facing Feng Dapao's name-calling, Chen Dapo didn't know whether he was in the wrong or what, but he didn't say anything, which was rare.

He has been busy casting for "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain" recently, and now only the role of "He Anxia" has not been selected.

Without inviting Wang Baoqiang, it is really difficult to find a suitable candidate!

But the majority of netizens don't care about these, they just want to see Feng Xiaogang and Chen Kaige fight online, and it would be best if they can fight offline.

Unfortunately, this situation is difficult to happen.

Chen Kaige claims to be "very high-class" and doesn't even go down to curse Feng Xiaogang on Weibo, just treating him as a jumping clown.

…

…

Chen Fei was quite surprised by Gu Yongqiang's sudden "urgent invitation".

When he arrived at Youku, he saw a scene full of people in the conference room.

Looking around, almost all the senior executives of Youku have arrived at the scene. This scene seems to be ready for the annual meeting!

"Mr. Chen."

When Chen Fei walked into the conference room, nearly a hundred people stood up and greeted him.

"Good morning."

Chen Fei waved to everyone to take a seat, then sat on the side and turned to look at Gu Yongqiang who was sitting in the main seat.

According to what he said on the phone, Youku will launch a new section plan next, and the internal resolution has been made. Today's meeting is simply to gather people for notification and arrangement.

"Let's watch a video first."

Gu Yongqiang took the remote control and turned on the projector.

Not long after, a scene from "Happy Boys" suddenly appeared on the screen.

Hai Qing, the mentor, suddenly knelt on one knee in front of a contestant named "Ou Hao" under the gaze of everyone on the scene, and shouted loudly: "You are my god!"

At this moment, Chen Fei only felt a burning pain in his eyes.

But Gu Yongqiang said very solemnly: "Just this promotional clip has been played hundreds of millions of times online!"

Hearing this, Chen Fei's expression was stunned, and he instantly put away his mentality of watching the fun.

For online film and television playback platforms such as Youku, playback volume means revenue.

And the value of this playback volume of hundreds of millions of times is self-evident!

Under the gaze of everyone on the scene, Gu Yongqiang solemnly announced word by word: "Next, Youku will officially enter the field of self-made variety shows!"

...

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