Chapter 894: Stepping on the Four Dans and Two Bings to Rise to the Top?

In the blink of an eye, mid-April is already halfway through.

On the 16th, "The Jungle Book", an imported blockbuster from Walt Disney, successfully achieved the highest single-day box office performance in April with a box office of 78.121 million.

Also released on the same day is an action and crime-themed movie "Glacier" starring Tony Leung, Tong Dawei, and Zhou Dongyu.

Unfortunately, however, the first-day box office of "Glacier" was only 9.026 million, and the market response was really poor.

"I don't know why, but if Liang Jiahui stars in a certain movie as the leading star, the fluctuations in box office results are always very exaggerated, either it will be a big hit, or it will fall very badly..."

Huo Qigang called and expressed his concerns about "Chasing the Dragon."

After all, this movie stars Tony Leung Jiahui and Andy Lau, and their box office appeal is always up and down, often leaving investors confused.

"Don't worry, just do the publicity and marketing as usual. Although their box office appeal does fluctuate a bit, if they work together, the chance of success is still quite high."

The competition for the May Day slot is not fierce. The only ones released at the same time as "Chasing the Dragon" are relatively popular, including "Xuan Zang of the Tang Dynasty" starring Huang Xiaoming and "Dream Partner" starring Yao Chen and Tang Yan.

Chen Fei is quite confident.

In his opinion, the gimmicks of the lineup of Liang Jiahui + Andy Lau are quite good. In addition, "Chasing the Dragon" is a classic theme, so it will definitely attract many movie fans to come and support.

"The premiere will be held in the capital on time on the 25th of the month. If you have time, remember to come and support."

"Yeah, got it."

Chen Fei responded and hung up the phone.

He has received quite a few premiere invitations this month. In addition to "Chasing the Dragon," invitations to the premiere of "Xuan Zang of the Tang Dynasty" starring Huang Xiaoming have also been sent to him.

Fortunately, the premiere of the latter is on the 26th. It would be embarrassing if it was also on the 25th.

As for the premiere of "Dream Partner", he will definitely not go.

Yao Dazui, Zhou Dongyu... He really didn't like these two people.

…

After ending the call, Chen Fei immediately logged onto Weibo and began to check relevant news reports about the new Cannes International Film Festival.

This year marks the 69th edition of the Cannes International Film Festival. The jury president chose Australian director George Miller, who directed the "Mad Max" series of films.

The old man is 71 years old this year and is a standard and typical "Hollywood" old white man.

Under his leadership, this year's Cannes International Film Festival went from the "main competition unit" to the "parallel competition unit" to the "screening unit", and there was not even a single Chinese-language film!

The Internet has already exploded. After all, since the Cannes International Film Festival officially entered the field of Chinese-language films, it has never been as miserable as this year!

In the past, even if Chinese-language films could not win the Grand Prix at the Cannes International Film Festival, there were still one or two nominations.

But this year, there wasn’t even a single nomination. Isn’t it a bit too much? !

Many netizens and filmmakers are expressing their dissatisfaction, but Chen Fei is not too surprised.

Because in this year's Cannes International Film Festival jury, from the jury chairman to the jury members, there is no domestic director or actor at all.

Under such circumstances, who would compete for fame and fortune for Chinese-language films?

After silently putting down his mobile phone, Chen Fei once again devoted himself to the filming of "La La Land".

From today until the day after tomorrow, he, the male protagonist, does not need to appear in the camera. The crew will focus on filming the singing and dancing scenes between the heroine and her three female roommates.

Therefore, in the next few days, he will have to shoulder the heavy responsibility of being a director.

In addition to the heroine Liu Yifei, the three female co-renters will be guest stars by Shu Chang, Jing Tian and Zhao Liying respectively.

As early as the beginning of the film's preparations, the producer Liu Yifei greeted the three of them and specifically asked them to learn some dance moves in advance.

Dancing is not a problem for female stars, so after systematic training, the three of them had already mastered very good dancing skills when they joined the group.

After carefully checking the scene, Chen Fei immediately raised the loudspeaker and shouted to Liu Yifei, Jing Tian, ​​Shu Chang, and Zhao Liying in the scene: "You four, stop talking, you are all ready." ”

The four people replied in unison: "Ready!"

Soon, filming officially started.

As the heroine, Liu Yifei is the well-deserved "red flower" among the four, while the other three appear as "green leaves" when they appear on the scene.

However, because the four people have different styles and each has its own unique beauty, you must grasp the balance when shooting.

After a few shots were over, Chen Fei stood up from the director's chair, came to the four people, and emphasized specifically: "You guys, please control your movements."

As he spoke, his eyes swept over Shu Chang, Jing Tian, ​​and Zhao Liying: "Have you memorized the scenes to be filmed next? Don't forget the dance moves. You have to revolve around Liu Yifei. Always remember that she is this The center point of the dance..."

Jing Tian and Zhao Liying both nodded lightly, not daring to look at Chen Fei.

After all, they were all "trained" by Chen Fei when they debuted, and there were even scenes where they were scolded and cried by him. Not to mention how scary that scene was.

Especially Jing Tian, ​​she had so many flaws in her acting that she was very nervous every time she worked with Chen Fei.

And with this tension, it was inevitable to make mistakes, and what followed was a scolding from Chen Fei.

As a director, he can really cover the sky with one hand on the crew!

Although Chen Fei is not known as a "tyrant on the set" like Zhou Xingchi, he is not a good gentleman either, and swearing at others often happens.

Shu Chang was not as nervous as the two of them. After all, she was very familiar with Chen Fei, and she was very confident in her acting skills, so she was inevitably a little careless.

No, she had already begun to murmur nonchalantly at this moment: "I know, Director Chen, we are all green leaves around your Yifei, and we want to complement her red flower..."

Chen Fei glared at her, ignored her at all, and sat back on the director's chair.

"Good students" always have privileges, and Shu Chang also made a free guest appearance, and the crew didn't have to pay her, so she could just murmur if she liked.

After three consecutive days of filming, this four-person song and dance scene dedicated to the heroine's best friend group has officially ended.

Then came the band led by Zhu Yawen.

The male protagonist played by Chen Fei, after a phone call between the female protagonist and her mother, accepted the invitation of Zhu Yawen, the band's lead singer, to join his band and serve as the keyboard player in the band.

After the filming officially started, in the studio set up as a recording studio, the band went into battle together and started recording songs.

The lead singer Zhu Yawen occupies the C position. As the male protagonist, Chen Fei naturally stands next to him, while the other members of the band use background blur processing.

During the filming stage, compared to those professionals who specialize in performing, Chen Fei was naturally much inferior.

All he could do was barely keep up with the rhythm, but that was enough because the only thing he needed to do for the movie was to make sure the playing was OK.

As for the music, I can just change it during post-production.

After a morning of continuous shooting, Chen Fei rubbed his sore fingers, returned to the director's chair, and began to check all the shooting content.

Zhu Yawen also followed and came behind the monitor.

At first, he watched the replay with great interest, but soon he joined in the discussion of Liu Yifei and others next to him.

When Chen Fei finished his inspection, he saw several people chatting enthusiastically about the freshmen in the acting department who had passed the Nortel and Chinese Theater Arts Examinations this year.

He interrupted curiously: "The results of the art exam are out. Who is the first in the acting department?"

Zhu Diwen turned back and said with some emotion: "This year, the first place in the Department of Performance of Bei Power and the Chinese Opera is actors who have debuted by child stars, one is Guan Xiaotong and the other is Zhang Xueying. Alas, now thinking about it, it's better to become famous. I want to think about it. When we went to college, we were still struggling to find crews and resources, but people didn’t even go to college, and it was already popular. "

Chen Fei raised his eyebrows and joked: "You can also start training your daughter from now on, and she will also be a child star by then."

"Forget it, I have no interest in imitating our teacher Huang Lei. Look at how he has raised his daughter. She is so young..."

Zhu Yawen didn't say anything else, but Chen Fei understood it.

He had met Huang Duoduo at the celebration dinner of "Mermaid". How should I put it, she really didn't look like an ordinary little girl. She drank more red wine than her father, and she kept saying all kinds of flattery one after another. It never stopped.

That's not to say that this is bad, but it feels a little uncomfortable for a little girl who has not yet grown up to be raised like this.

Combined with the teacher Huang's character of being a teacher, the weird feeling became even stronger.

…

Time quickly came to late April.

On the morning of the 21st, under the "much attention", the costume, fantasy, and suspense movie "The Legend of the Demon Cat", which was created by Chen Kaige over several years and auditioned for a month, finally officially announced the casting list today!

However, when the casting list was announced, it caused an uproar in the mainland film industry.

Because the casting result was so puzzling, so unbelievable, and it hurt the hearts of all the actresses in the mainland film industry!

"21st Century Shengkai Pictures released the latest announcement. The cast list for the movie "Legend of the Demon Cat" is as follows:

The male lead "Bai Juyi" will be played by mainland actor Huang Xuan, the second male lead "Kukai" will be played by Japanese actor Shota Sometani, and the third male lead "White Dragon" will be played by Liu Haoran, a sophomore at the Chinese Theater...

The film's leading female lead, 'Chun Qin', will be played by mainland actress Zhang Yuqi, and the second female lead, 'Yang Guifei', known as one of the four beauties in ancient times, will be played by Bay Area actress Zhang Rongrong..."

If it were just to issue a fixed angle announcement, although it would attract a lot of attention, it would not cause an uproar in public opinion.

The main reason is that along with the announcement, there was an entertainment news report from Taiwanese media:

"It is reported that because the search for an actor to play the role of 'Yang Guifei' in the mainland was unsuccessful, director Chen Kaige had no choice but to set his sights outside the mainland.

At this time, Taiwanese young actress Zhang Rongrong appeared, which immediately shocked director Chen Kaige!

After only one audition, Zhang Rongrong easily defeated a number of mainland celebrities including Zhang Ziyi, Fan Bingbing, Li Bingbin, Gao Yuanyuan, Yang Mi, and Yang Ying, and successfully won the role of "Yang Guifei" in the movie "The Legend of the Demon Cat". It’s really gratifying…”

As soon as this report with the obvious intention of "provoking war" appeared, it immediately aroused the indignation of the mainland film and television circles!

There is nothing wrong with Zhang Yuqi playing the leading female role. After all, she is also the beneficiary of "Mermaid"'s 3.4 billion box office. Coupled with the blessing of her figure, she naturally fits the image of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

But why was the Bay Area actress Zhang Rongrong chosen to play Yang Guifei?

She has a face but not a face, a figure but not a figure, and she is of mixed Chinese and French descent... How can she defeat a group of top domestic entertainment actresses including Fan Bingbing, Li Bingbin, and Zhang Zihan?

"A shady story! There is definitely a shady story!"

"You don't have to guess, this is the back door. Otherwise, how could you be worthy of the title of the Four Beauties of Ancient Times with such a big face?"

"So, is Brother Chen Kai's eyesight dim? Why is this casting operation becoming more and more unfair?"

"Is there really no one from the Mainland? Why did you choose a Chinese-French mixed-race person from Taiwan to play the role of Concubine Yang? It's really ridiculous."

"Da Dao predicts that after this movie is released, it will be a mess like the previous "The Taoist Comes Down the Mountain"."

"Haha, you just want to push an actress from the Bay Area to the top, but you actually stepped on several big stars from the mainland, and you are not afraid of laughing out loud?"

Times have changed a long time ago. Nowadays, the mainland film and television industry is very proud, and even netizens and fans have also changed their mentality.

And this kind of operation of "forcibly stepping on" mainland actors to gain positions has long been outdated.

For a time, the official blog of "Legend of the Demon Cat" and Chen Kaige's Weibo were filled with a lot of doubts and protests.

Looking around, almost every fan of mainland Chinese actresses came over, expressing their dissatisfaction with Chen Kaige for choosing Zhang Rongrong to play Yang Guifei.

Although those big beauties didn't say anything, you don't have to guess that they will definitely not give up!

"Do you believe it? This Zhang Rongrong will definitely not be able to develop in the mainland? Although she was lucky enough to get the opportunity to participate in "The Legend of the Demon Cat", those big stars will never allow her to establish a foothold in the mainland."

Listening to Zhu Yawen's confident analysis voice, Chen Fei smiled. Although he did not speak to answer, he agreed with this point of view in his heart.

At this time, actors from both Xiangjiang and Wanwan have actually come to the mainland to beg for food.

If you just keep a low profile and make a living, you might still have room to survive.

But if Zhang Rongrong enters the stage with such a high profile, the final result will definitely be short-lived.

He has no foundation, no deep background, he is like duckweed... He actually stepped on the heads of those big beauties as soon as he came up. He is simply looking for death!

…

"What is the background of Zhang Rongrong?"

Looking at the news on the Internet, Zhang Ziyi felt inexplicably unhappy.

Although she has fallen into a trough recently, as the old saying goes, the centipede is still alive!

A new actress from Taiwan actually got on top of her as soon as she came to the mainland and wanted to step on her to get the upper hand. This is really courageous!

Listening to his boss's question, the assistant responded immediately: "I didn't find out about her background. I heard that the reason why she succeeded in the audition was mainly because of the recommendation of Wang Huiling, the screenwriter of "The Legend of the Demon Cat"."

"Then inform the public relations and marketing people to destroy her prestige. Do you really think that the mainland film industry is her back garden?"

The assistant immediately responded: "Okay boss, I will make arrangements right away."

"Wait a moment!" Zhang Ziyi suddenly called to the assistant and asked in a deep voice: "Director Wu Yu hasn't responded to your message yet?"

"No, Director Wu may have been busy recently, or maybe he forgot..." the assistant whispered, for fear of making Zhang Ziyi angry.

After the audition for "Legend of the Demon Cat", Zhang Ziyi went to Wu Yu's "Pursuit" for a second audition.

However, it has been more than half a month since the audition ended, but there has been no news from there.

If nothing else, I’m afraid it’s hanging!

This situation is not a good thing for Zhang Ziyi, who is in urgent need of a comeback.

As an actor, if you are unable to produce high-quality works for a long time, the final result will be that you will completely fall to the bottom and never be able to turn around again.

And this is naturally not what Zhang Ziyi wants to see.

She couldn't imagine that while people like Fan Bingbing and Li Bingbin were on fire, she would be ruthlessly left behind.

This is absolutely no different from having a nightmare!

"Arrange someone to go out and find out what new film and television projects are about to be approved recently. Now it seems that I'm afraid I have to take the initiative. If I stay here, I won't be able to wait for the projects to come to me."

Hearing this, the female assistant nodded slightly.

However, just as she was about to leave the office, she suddenly thought of a key question: "Boss, do you only want movie projects, or do you also want news about TV series projects?"

Zhang Ziyi's expression suddenly darkened: "Of course I only want movies! Do you still want me to demote myself and act in TV series?"

"Okay, I understand."

The assistant fled out of the office and found someone to arrange work.

At this time, Zhang Ziyi, who was in the office, was in a state of entanglement and struggle.

She knew that the pay for TV dramas was higher than that for movies, but now was the critical moment for her comeback, and she really wanted a big-budget movie to lay the foundation.

If she chose to act in a TV series, she would be completely finished.

You know, after acting in a TV series, it would be as difficult as climbing to the sky to get a higher status!

…

(ps: Second update, please vote for me!!!)