Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 487 "Twilight"

Someone found Han Sanping and wanted him to help convey a message, asking them to stop the confrontation, no matter what method they used.

Han Sanping has also been paying attention to this matter.

Just as he was about to call Zhang Chen to tell him about it, he received a piece of news that made him decide to hold off for the time being.

The movie "New World" which is currently being released in South Korea and is a hit all over South Korea was written by Zhang Chen.

"New World" is a collaboration between CJ Entertainment and Star Entertainment, with an all-star cast, and is known as Korea's "Infernal Affairs".

Since its release, the film has attracted 320 million viewers and has accumulated box office revenue of over 2800 million U.S. dollars.

The box office wasn’t amazing, but it was definitely good.

The key is that word of mouth is booming!
On the Korean film review website Naver, the score is over 8, and on the domestic Douban, the score is as high as 8.9.

Now, people are no longer calm.

What's going on? When did Xingchen Entertainment secretly make this movie? Why is there not even any news about it?

This is the disadvantage of not being listed. Nothing needs to be disclosed to the outside world.
What is "New World" and why does it seem like it is not being released in China?
If it’s not released, where does the Douban rating come from?
The topic of "New World" is very popular on the Internet, but apart from the name, nothing else is said. Everything else is a mystery, which makes movie fans itchy.

There were sighs and groans in Zhang Chen's bar.

[Qingcheng boss, please give me resources~]

[Yes, could any big guy please release some resources for me? I beg you~]

[Don't worry, piracy is very serious in Korea. I believe it won't be long before we have the resources here...]

There are posts everywhere asking for seeds.

Looking at the howling in the bar, Qingcheng Wuji was also scratching his head.

Although he is the forum owner, he can't do anything about this kind of thing.

The key lies in the three holy places and whether there are any great gods contributing seeds.

Moreover, he also specifically asked Xingchen Entertainment about this matter.

Ever since the "Netizens' Expedition" incident, he has been in contact with the organization and is now considered a non-staff member of Xingchen Entertainment.

Xingchen Entertainment’s attitude is not to prohibit.

Anyway, the movie cannot be released in the country, and the spread of pirated copies can actually expand its influence.

But it is impossible to expect Xingchen Entertainment to provide pirated products.

Holy City Home is still the most powerful.

A day later, the seeds of "New World" appeared in Holy City Home, followed by Eden and Feiniao Films.

Netizens were celebrating and countless people started downloading it.

These days, since movies cannot be watched, some people have started copying film reviews from Korea.

【This is a stunning gangster epic. 】

[The birth of Korea's "Godfather"~]

[The movie is good, but it’s too dark~]

The reviews are all very high, but the more I read the reviews, the more itchy I feel because I can’t see it.

Finally, someone finished downloading it.

Click to play
Gangster life under a dark filter~
Ding Qing and Li Zicheng's friendship;
Section Chief Jiang's coercion of Li Zicheng;

The struggle for power among gangsters;

the chaotic fight from the elevator to the parking lot;

Ding Qing's last words before his death;

Li Zicheng's shock when he saw his undercover file;
Compared with Ding Qing and Section Chief Jiang, Li Zicheng has turned evil;
Fight back and take the high position;
So cool!
It’s so cool!

"New World" brought much more shock to domestic audiences than to Korean audiences.

How can a movie be shot like this?
The police are actually villains. Where have they seen this?
The story structure of "New World" is actually very different from "Infernal Affairs" except for the undercover part, which is similar to "Infernal Affairs".

But that doesn't stop people from comparing these two movies.

Who made "Infernal Affairs" famous?

"New World" is hailed as the Korean version of "Infernal Affairs", but the ending is much darker.

Also much more realistic.

People just think it looks good.

Whether it's out of curiosity or rebelliousness, I just think "New World" is good.

Especially in the end, Li Zicheng killed Section Chief Jiang and took the leading position of the society.

Unexpected, yet reasonable.

Moreover, "New World" is more romantic than "Infernal Affairs", even all the members of the society are dressed in suits.

Compared with the mainland, Hong Kong does not think that "New World" is so great.

It's just a dark movie that happened to do well at the box office.

Only Johnnie To showed great interest in this film.

He himself is fascinated by gang culture, and the movie "Underworld" directed by him is even hailed as "The Godfather" of Asia.

Of course, he doesn't think that "New World" is better than "Underworld", but the story is indeed very interesting. Maybe he can talk to Zhang Chen about it when he has time.

Maybe he has other club stories up his sleeve.

Just when the Hong Kong media was being sarcastic, an even more explosive piece of news broke out.

"Juno", the most famous box office dark horse in North America recently, which took in $1.4 million in the local box office, the boss behind the scenes is actually a Chinese.

The photo in the news was the scene at the celebration banquet where Diane pulled Zhang Chen to the podium and announced that he was her boss.

The Hong Kong media was dumbfounded!
The mainland media were also dumbfounded!

Is Zhang Chen the producer behind "Juno"?
Many people may not know about Cube Company, but "Juno" is still very well-known.

With a cost of $650 million and a North American box office of $1.4 million, it was enough to make him appear on the entertainment pages of media around the world.

People are always full of yearning for the myth of wealth.

That's not right.
Wasn’t Zhang Chen in Chungmuro, South Korea, clearing a dungeon? Why did he go to Hollywood again?

Some people didn't believe it at first, but as more and more accurate information came back, it was finally confirmed.

The person in the photo is Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen is the boss of Cube.

Zhang Chen actually owns a Hollywood film company, and this film company just made a hit~
Now, people are no longer calm.

People of this generation, if they make some noise abroad, would like to spread the news to the whole world.

Zhang Chen is the first one to be so quiet.

The media wanted to interview Zhang Chen, but couldn't find him.

He is still in North America and hasn't come back yet.

In the office, Han Sanping looked at the newspaper and laughed and scolded: "This kid hid it very well~"

In the same office, the two Wangs looked at each other in bewilderment: "The cube belongs to Zhang Chen?"

"Doesn't that mean that it was Zhang Chen who helped Huayi during The Banquet?"

This was really hard for the two to accept.

Feng Xiaogang locked himself in the study, smoking one cigarette after another and recalling the whole story of how he and Zhang Chen met.

The relationship between the two was pretty good at the beginning, but why did it go sour later?

It seemed like I was jealous of the other person's growth rate, and there was no one to help when he encountered problems, so our relationship became distant.

Later, the movies became competitors, and I complained a few times out of anger, but the other party didn't show any mercy and retorted on the spot.

Gradually, the two went from being friends to being enemies.

Feng Xiaogang always felt that the only thing he lacked compared to Zhang Chen was luck.

Even though the other party's "Painted Skin" won 2.7 million yuan at the box office, Feng Xiaogang did not feel that there was much gap between the two sides.

Just a movie.

All it takes is one movie, and it'll be a success.

But suddenly he realized that Zhang Chen was no longer on the same level as him.

While he was still working hard for that art award in China, Zhang Chen had already made a name for himself abroad.

Suddenly, Feng Xiaogang felt a sense of powerlessness, a feeling that he could not catch up no matter what.

……

At this time, Zhang Chen had no idea that he had become the focus of the country.

He was busy trying to convince Diane.

"Boss, I know Twilight is a bestseller, but I don't think it can be adapted into a good movie. In recent years, too many Hollywood adaptations of bestsellers have failed..."

Since the success of Juno, Diane has become more confident.

Zhang Chen wanted her to continue to produce "Twilight", but Diane had her own ideas.

Zhang Chen can't stay in North America for a long time because he is still busy with "Pacific Rim".

Besides, "Twilight" is not the genre he is good at, so everything still falls on Diane.

“I know you’re worried, but you have to trust my judgment. Do you remember how I evaluated Juno?
"Twilight", and the scripts we bought, are all my favorites, believe me..."

"Boss, I have no intention of challenging your authority, but I think you are too confident. Vampire movies have not been doing well in the past two years, and Stephenie Meyer even demanded that they be filmed according to the novel. Who would like to watch vampires falling in love?"

Diane was very familiar with the situation of "Twilight". The contract was originally finalized by him and Stephenie Meyer, and he was also very aware of Stephenie Meyer's conditions.

If Zhang Chen was not a reborn person, he would definitely be persuaded by Dai An.

Yeah, who would like to watch vampires fall in love?
But the fact is, some people like to watch it.

Not a lot!
"Twilight" is a must-play copy for almost all reborn people on the American entertainment route.

A typical example of making a small investment for a big gain.

There is no way Zhang Chen would give up.

"How about this, Diane, you help me finish the first Twilight movie, Twilight, and I won't interfere with what type of movie you want to make later. How about that?" In order to get Diane to agree, Zhang Chen had to resort to this last resort.

"Really? I can just pick from our library of scripts?"

Zhang Chen nodded: "Of course, I always keep my word, so do you agree?"

"Of course, you are such a generous boss. Don't worry, I will do my best to help you with Twilight."

After the deal for Twilight was made, Zhang Chen also became interested: "Can you tell me which script you like?"

Seeing Dai An's suspicious look, Zhang Chen immediately made a promise: "I swear, I will leave the script to you."

"Of course I believe you, my boss~"

"Then you can tell me now."

“It’s Get Out. I think it’s a good story.”

Zhang Chen suddenly realized that he was indeed a man with vision.

"Okay, the script is yours, but before that, you have to help me finish Twilight, and you can't mess around..."

"Boss, you can trust my character in this regard."

Now that Diane is settled, the crew can finally start preparations.

For this kind of project, the safest way is of course to use the original team.

But the necessary process must be followed again.

Say hello to the Actors Guild, tell them your requirements, and ask them to help recommend actors.

Then find the right director.

The preparation of "Twilight" was not announced to the public, but it still attracted considerable attention.

One reason is that Diane is a gold medal producer, and everyone wants to see if she can continue her last success.

If this fails, then the word "gold medal" in front of Diane's producer title will probably have to be removed.

Another reason is that Twilight itself is very famous.

"Twilight" is a frequent visitor on the North American best-selling novel list, and the series of novels is popular all over the world.

Amazon named it one of the best books of the decade, and The New York Times named it the best novel of the year.

This novel once appeared on the desks of senior executives of Paramount and Warner Bros., but was rejected without exception.

That's why it's Zhang Chen's turn.

The Big Six also wanted to see what this work, which they collectively returned, would look like after it was filmed.

It's obvious even with eyes closed that the Big Six are definitely here to watch the fun.

After the cube succeeded in making Juno, it thought it was invincible.

Then you will fall flat on your face.

It’s not surprising that they are so sure. Just look at the core story of “Twilight” and you will know…

Love triangle, Mary Sue, dog blood...

There are all kinds of inexplicable things.

What is this setting like in China? Yes, "Tiny Times"~
In fact, the status of "Twilight" in the United States is similar. Although the box office of the movie is high, the word of mouth is terrible. In Chinese, it is said that it was criticized to death.
There is nothing special about the plot setting and the story is extremely cliché.

Such novels can become so popular. It can only be said that the literary accomplishment of Americans is just so-so.

No wonder "Panlong" can become a tool for drug rehabilitation.

I can only say that foreigners really have not seen the world.

It's a pity that Zhang Chen has chosen to be a director in this life. If he had chosen to be a screenwriter, he could have found a few novels from Qidian and translated them here, and he would definitely have become a best-selling author.

The first person to be confirmed was not the actor, but the director.

Zhang Chen chose Catherine Hardwicke, who was also the director of the original "Twilight".

A female director with very delicate emotions.

Of course Diane would have no objection.

The project was able to be launched due to Zhang Chen's persistence. The role of producer Diane is to ensure that the project is carried out with quality and quantity after Zhang Chen leaves.

The actors' auditions were conducted by Zhang Chen, director Catherine and original author Mel at the Cube Company.

Many actors came to audition, even the waiters from the cafe downstairs came.

There are many such examples in Hollywood, where many people pursue their dreams while working.

Similar to the ladies in Hengdian nightclubs.

If you ask those nightclub ladies, one hundred out of a hundred of them came to Hengdian with the dream of becoming a star, but ended up falling here.

The first Twilight film, Twilight, cost $3700 million to produce.

In Hollywood, only those with a gross of over 100 million are considered A-level.

There is another saying that only those above 1.5 million are considered A-level.

"Twilight" is a B-rated movie. The $3700 million includes $200 million in copyright fees, and the rest is production costs and publicity and promotion costs.

In Hollywood, B-grade is the norm.

The actors who come for the interview are naturally not picky. There are only a few A-level projects a year, and they have to be very lucky to get their turn.

Therefore, most of the opportunities they can fight for are B-level.

What's more, "Twilight" is adapted from a best-selling novel, and this alone is enough to attract them.

The three of them were dizzy to choose from, and none of those who dared to compete for the female lead were ugly.

If all the beauties in China are in Hengdian.

Then all the beauties in the world are in Hollywood.

Beautiful women are the least valuable resource here. Countless eyes were looking at Zhang Chen. Zhang Chen felt like a piece of Tang Monk's meat, coveted by many beautiful skeletons.

Exchanging bodies is so common here that it's not even called unspoken rules, it's just the rules.

With notes slipped into his hands, his palms tickled, and flirtatious glances flying at him from time to time, Zhang Chen had never felt so popular in North America.

Dai An would wink at him from time to time: "Boss, do you need me to arrange something for you? A threesome or a threesome is no problem, you just need to put in the effort..."

Isn't that just freeloading?
Zhang Chen refused with a wry smile.

Well, how was the flag erected?

In your own crew, you must never do anything messy.

Then I remembered Blake Lively last night.

He knocked on his door in the middle of the night and wanted to go out the back door.

They were old acquaintances, so Zhang Chen felt embarrassed to refuse her.

I had no choice but to settle for it and go through the back door.

But don't think that the female lead role is hers, she is just given a chance to be on the shortlist.

"Hi, everyone. My name is Kristen Stewart. In 02, I worked with Jodie Foster in Panic Room. In 04, I played a high school student who suffered from depression due to rape and school bullying in the art film No Longer Silent..."

Christine introduced her resume and attracted everyone's attention as soon as she appeared.

Mel thought her image was very similar to the heroine in his novels, and Catherine was very satisfied with her image.

Catherine is an artist by training, and she designed cold light tones for Twilight.

She felt that Christine's image would stand out better than the other candidates in cold light tones.

Only Zhang Chen did not express his opinion.

What's there to express?

Christine is the soul of "Twilight", and Zhang Chen has never thought of replacing the heroine.

Kristen did a great job in giving questions and performing.

The acting is good and the image is outstanding.

"Okay, Miss Stewart, you can go back now. If we are interested, we will call you."

Katherine said finally, and Christine thanked her and left.

Next up was Blake Lively's turn.

Lively didn't show any sign of anything just because she had slept with Zhang Chen, and she continued to perform with all her might.

The most Zhang Chen would say is: "This Miss Lively has worked with our company before on "Hold Your Breath", and her acting is very good~"

The actresses auditioned, followed by the actors.

The selection principles for youth films like "Twilight" are actually not complicated. As long as the actors are young, handsome, and have good acting skills, they will be fine.

The final candidate was finally decided.

The female lead can basically be chosen between Kristen Stewart and Blake Lively.

The male lead can be chosen between Robert Pattinson and Paul Wesley.

Robert Pattinson was the original male lead of "Twilight", but Zhang Chen made it clear that he didn't like him.

In this version of Twilight, this guy must be replaced even at the risk of his life.

This guy is really a bit unkind.

In the original time and space, he became famous because of "Twilight", but after becoming famous, he criticized "Twilight" for being vulgar and said that the fans of "Twilight" were a bunch of garbage.

The typical way of eating is to pick up the bowl and curse when putting it down.

Please, "Twilight" may be vulgar, but you all became famous because of this show and you are a vested interest. But you turned around and did that kind of thing. Don't you have any gratitude at all?
There was a similar one in China in later generations.

For such a person, Zhang Chen could only decline the offer.

As for Paul Wesley, he is actually the male lead of "The Vampire Diaries" and is also a handsome guy.

The only drawback is that there are no works yet, but Zhang Chen thinks this is not important.

Finally, under Zhang Chen's insistence, Paul Wesley got the male lead and became the protagonist of "Twilight".

But the female lead has not been decided yet.

(End of this chapter)