Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 699 Celebration Banquet for "Let the Bullets Fly"
In early spring of 2011, the banquet hall of a five-star hotel in Beijing was brightly lit as a celebration banquet for the film "Let the Bullets Fly" breaking 6 million yuan at the box office was in full swing.

The crystal chandelier reflected a golden light, illuminating the huge movie poster on the wall—Jiang Wen, playing Zhang Muzhi, riding a white horse, his eyes sharp as an eagle, and the slogan below the poster, "Let the bullets fly for a while," has long been a buzzword of the year.

The banquet hall was bustling with activity. Amidst the elegant attire and the presence of film industry moguls, stars, and media reporters, the clinking of champagne glasses and cheerful laughter created a lively atmosphere.

Just then, a small commotion arose at the entrance of the banquet hall.

Zhang Chen, dressed in a dark gray suit, walked in with a composed gait.

He was tall and handsome, with a faint smile on his lips, and attracted a lot of attention as soon as he appeared.

As one of the fastest-rising directors in recent years, he has won numerous awards at home and abroad with works such as "Pacific Rim," and is already a highly sought-after figure in the industry.

Not far away, Jiang Wen, who was surrounded by a group of people, spotted him at a glance and immediately smiled and pushed through the crowd to greet him.

"Director Zhang! You've finally arrived!"

Jiang Wen's voice was loud and clear, with a touch of cheerfulness.

Before Zhang Chen could speak, he opened his arms and gave Zhang Chen a firm hug, patting him on the back with great force.

"Director Jiang, congratulations! 'Let the Bullets Fly' has surpassed 6 million yuan at the box office. This is an absolutely outstanding achievement!"

Zhang Chen smiled and hugged back, his tone full of sincere congratulations.

A box office of 6 million yuan is a record that only a handful of people have ever achieved in today's Chinese film market. In Jiang Wen's own film career, it is undoubtedly a milestone figure, enough to sweep away the shadow of his previous film, "In the Heat of the Sun".

Jiang Wen released his grip, looked Zhang Chen up and down, a sly smile on his face: "This is all thanks to Director Zhang's flawless strategy~"

After saying that, the two of them burst into laughter, their faces showing a tacit understanding.

No words were needed; they both understood each other's meaning.

Zhang Chen's gaze inadvertently fell on Feng Xiaogang, who was walking towards him not far behind.

Feng Xiaogang, dressed in a black suit, was holding a glass of red wine and looking at them with a displeased expression, his eyes filled with scrutiny and displeasure.

Zhang Chen understood, knowing that Feng Xiaogang was still resentful about "If You Are the One 2" being overshadowed by "Let the Bullets Fly" and "Inception," so he patted Jiang Wen on the shoulder: "Director Jiang, you should greet your friends first, we'll talk later~"

As Zhang Chen left, Jiang Wen saw Feng Xiaogang and greeted him warmly, "Xiaogang's here!"

Feng Xiaogang wore a half-smile on his face and spoke in a sarcastic tone: "Brother Wen, you're really not being fair this time. You actually teamed up with Xingchen Entertainment to set me up. 'If You Are the One 2' was doing quite well at the box office, but because of your mess, it's been completely crushed."

Jiang Wen first gave him a warm hug, and then said, "No way, Xiao Gang, don't wrong me. Zhang Chen and I are not on the same wavelength at all. We'd rather argue than cooperate. You must have misunderstood."

Upon hearing this, Feng Xiaogang rolled his eyes. "Do you think I'm blind?"

But he could only think these words in his heart; he would never dare to say them to someone's face.

Before me stood Jiang Wen, a man of special status in the entire Beijing social circle.

He paused, his tone tinged with helplessness, "Fine, a loss is a loss, I admit defeat."

Jiang Wen smiled but didn't reply. Instead, he took two wine glasses from the waiter and handed one to Feng Xiaogang: "Come on, Xiaogang, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's drink and wish each other to make even better movies in the future."

Seeing this, Feng Xiaogang could only shake his head helplessly, clink glasses with Jiang Wen, and drink the wine in his glass in one gulp.

On the other side, Zhang Chen walked into the center of the venue and immediately spotted Ge You.

Ge You is chatting with a group of old friends, including Zhang Guoli and Chen Daoming.

"what's the topic?"

Zhang Chen leaned closer, and Zhang Guoli chuckled, "It's nothing, just praising Uncle Ge~"

Zhang Chen agreed: "He deserves praise. Of the four films released during this year's Lunar New Year season, three are starring Ge You Nian. He's definitely a 'Ge You Nian'."

Ge You waved his hand with a smile: "Don't flatter me too much, it's not that exaggerated. If we're talking about what's outstanding, it's Director Zhang. None of my three movies have surpassed Inception."

Uncle Ge is a master at praising people.

"I've seen your Inception, and it's absolutely amazing. It's really well-made and full of ideas."

He patted Zhang Chen's arm and said, "Director Zhang deserves a lot of credit for the great box office of Inception. Even the success of Let the Bullets Fly owes a debt to you."

Zhang Chen chatted with the others for a few minutes, then started wandering off to other places.

A party is a place for socializing.

Suddenly, a woman's voice came from the side: "Zhang Chen? What are you doing here?"

Zhang Chen didn't need to turn his head to know who it was but Yang Xiaomi.
Zhang Chen looked puzzled: "I'm also an actor in 'Let the Bullets Fly,' so why can't I be here? But you, what are you doing here? I don't remember you being in this movie."

"It was Mr. Yu from Bona who invited me here."

She looked around and, seeing that no one was paying attention to them, suddenly leaned closer to Zhang Chen: "By the way, I heard you're going to remake 'Tomb Raider'? Is that true?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen said directly, "You can't act like that."

Upon hearing this, Yang Mi immediately became indignant and puffed out her chest: "Why can't I act in it? I'm quite popular now, and I've done a lot of action scenes, so my physical fitness is definitely not a problem."

“I’m not talking about physical ability, I’m talking about your physical condition not being good enough.” Zhang Chen shook his head.

"Physical condition?"

Yang Xiaomi followed Zhang Chen's gaze to her chest and immediately gave a coquettish look: "I'm not bad now, okay? Besides, don't you know whether my physical condition is good or not?"

Her words immediately created a somewhat ambiguous atmosphere.

Just as Zhang Chen was about to retort, he noticed several reporters walking towards them out of the corner of his eye and immediately shut up.

"Director Zhang, hello, we are reporters from Entertainment Weekly. We would like to ask you, you had a conflict with the 'Let the Bullets Fly' crew a couple of days ago, why are you still at the film's celebration party today?"

A female reporter asked the first question, and the microphone was handed directly to Zhang Chen's mouth.

Zhang Chen smiled calmly and took the microphone, saying, "Actually, it's all a misunderstanding. Director Jiang and the entire crew of 'Let the Bullets Fly' are good friends."

The argument arose because we're all filmmakers, and with a serious attitude towards filmmaking, it's inevitable that we'd be a bit meticulous during the creative process, having different opinions on certain plot points and details. But it was all for the sake of presenting a better film. Now the matter has been resolved, and there's no real conflict between us.

At this moment, Jiang Wen and his wife Zhou Yun also came over.

These reporters were deliberately arranged by him.

You should finish what you start.

The argument was for the sake of promoting the movie, and now that the movie is about to leave theaters, the relationship between the two of them needs to be clarified.

Upon hearing the reporter's question, Jiang Wen immediately added with a smile, "Director Zhang is right, it's all a misunderstanding. Later, I watched 'Inception' again and realized that I really didn't understand it the first time, but I had many new insights the second time. Zhang Chen has his own ideas about film creation, and we mostly learn from and exchange ideas with each other."

Zhang Chen joked, "Yeah, I have to thank Director Jiang for not cutting my scenes, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to freeload at the celebration banquet."

His words caused the surrounding reporters and those involved to burst into laughter.

Everyone knew perfectly well that the so-called "conflict" was nothing more than a publicity stunt. By the later part of the film, most people had realized that Zhang Chen's criticisms of "Let the Bullets Fly" were essentially his interpretation of the film, and Jiang Wen's response was also just adding to the film's buzz.

Despite their heated argument, the two were actually promoting each other's movies in a roundabout way.

After asking a few more questions, the reporters tactfully left, and the atmosphere in the banquet hall became cheerful again, with everyone raising their glasses in celebration and congratulating each other.

However, amidst this joyful atmosphere, a few people didn't look too happy, including the Wang brothers and Feng Xiaogang.

Chen Shiren's "Sacrifice" at least had a first-week box office to reap, while their "If You Are the One 2" was really badly attacked by "Let the Bullets Fly" and "Inception".

Now that "Let the Bullets Fly" has already held a celebration banquet, "If You Are the One 2" has only just surpassed 3 million yuan at the box office, far from expectations.

But there's nothing you can do about being unhappy, because this time they used a perfectly legitimate and open strategy, and they didn't utter a single smear against "If You Are the One 2".

They completely ignored "If You Are the One 2" and simply didn't include them in the game.

Zhang Chen, Jiang Wen, Ge You, and others were chatting when they suddenly heard a bigger commotion at the door, accompanied by exclamations from many people: "Cheng Long! It's Cheng Long!"

Everyone turned to look, and saw Cheng Long walking in, dressed in a black Tang suit, looking very energetic.

With his signature smile on his face, he waved to everyone, instantly becoming the focus of the entire event.

As an international superstar, Jackie Chan enjoys extremely high popularity and influence both at home and abroad. His arrival brought the celebration banquet to a new climax.

Jiang Wen, the host, went up to greet him. Cheng Long first exchanged a few pleasantries with Jiang Wen and congratulated him on the box office success of his film.

After exchanging a few words, Cheng Long scanned the entire room and quickly locked onto Zhang Chen, walking straight towards him.

Clearly, he was ostensibly there to support Jiang Wen, but in reality, he was there to see Zhang Chen.

"Zhang Chen, it's been a long time!"

Cheng Long walked up to Zhang Chen, warmly shook his hand, and gave it a good shake.

"Brother Long!"

"How have you been lately? How's the progress of 'Chinese Zodiac' going? I can't wait for filming to start."

Zhang Chen said with a smile, "Brother Long, the script is still being polished and is not completely written yet, but several high-energy scenes have been designed. I think two scenes are very suitable for you: one is inline skating on a ramp, and the other is rappelling down a volcano."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Long's eyes lit up immediately, and he quickly asked, "Oh? Ramp roller skating? How exactly is it designed?"

Zhang Chen explained, "Here's the thing, I plan to have you put on a special set of roller skates so you can go high-speed gliding on the mountain road."

"This set of equipment is called the Ammo set, also known as the Buggyrollin, and it was invented by French roller skating master Jean-Yves Blondeau. It is not a movie prop, but a real extreme sports set."

"Weighing about 17 kilograms, it can be equipped with 24-32 pulleys on key parts of the body, distributed on the chest, back, hands, knees, and soles of the feet, which can support the wearer to glide in various postures such as upright and prone, and the top speed can exceed 126 kilometers per hour."

Cheng Long became increasingly interested as he listened, his excitement evident on his face: "Is there really such amazing equipment? That's fantastic! I love this scene, it's so exciting!"

In essence, Jackie Chan is actually an extreme sports enthusiast whose talents could be wasted on movies.

Seeing Cheng Long's excited expression, Zhang Chen hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Brother Long, can we make a deal? You're already 57 years old. This time, we don't need to push ourselves so hard."

The rollerblading scene on this ramp is very dangerous; a slight mishap could result in injury. For this shoot, we can use some green screen technology appropriately, combined with post-production special effects, to achieve the same excellent results…”

However, before he could finish speaking, Cheng Long interrupted him: "I am Cheng Long."

These four simple words are filled with determination and pride. He has worked in the action film industry for decades, never afraid of danger; this is his principle and his pride.

Looking at Cheng Long's determined eyes, Zhang Chen knew he couldn't persuade him, so he could only shake his head helplessly: "Okay, Brother Long, I understand. We will take full safety precautions in advance to ensure safety during filming."

"That's right!"

Cheng Long smiled again and patted Zhang Chen on the shoulder, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing and I won't joke around with my life."

Zhang Chen knew this would be the outcome. He had advised against it before, in 2012, but it was no use. He tried again this year, but it was still no use.

The two continued to talk about "Chinese Zodiac". During this time, many people in the banquet hall came over to greet Cheng Long and Zhang Chen.

Seeing the two chatting so enthusiastically, many people thought of their upcoming film, "Chinese Zodiac".

I heard that the cast for this movie hasn't been finalized yet, and many young male and female actors are eager to get involved, making all sorts of excuses to hang around the two leads, hoping to catch their eye and get a chance to participate.

However, due to the two individuals' status and presence, no one dared to approach them and strike up a conversation.

Not far away, Jiang Wen watched Liao Fan, Bai Bing, and the others cautiously loitering around Zhang Chen and Cheng Long, but they didn't dare to approach them or say anything. He couldn't help but mutter to Zhou Yun beside him, "These cowards, weren't they usually so bold when filming? Why are they so timid now?"

Zhou Yun smiled and tugged at his arm: "Alright, they were just too embarrassed to interrupt Director Zhang and Brother Long's conversation. If you think they're good, you can introduce them to me."

Jiang Wen thought about it and felt that Zhou Yun's words made sense, so he took her over and joined Zhang Chen and Cheng Long's conversation.

He casually waved to Liao Fan, Bai Bing, and the others, signaling them to come over.

When Liao Fan, Bai Bing, and the others saw Jiang Wen waving, their faces lit up with surprise and they quickly walked over.

Jiang Wen pointed at them and introduced them to Zhang Chen and Cheng Long: "Brother Long, Director Zhang, these are all excellent actors. Their acting skills are evident in 'Let the Bullets Fly'."

Liao Fan's portrayal of the third brother in "Let the Bullets Fly," and Bai Bing's performance as Daiyu and Qingwenzi, were both outstanding. If you have good roles to play, give them a chance and let them broaden their horizons.

Cheng Long looked at Liao Fan and the others with a smile on his face, but he didn't say anything. He was well aware of what these people were thinking, but he was very discreet.

In Jackie Chan's previous films, regardless of whether he was the director or not, he was definitely the producer, and he was the one who made the decisions on set.

However, in this collaboration with Zhang Chen, although he is also a producer, Zhang Chen holds the reins of the film. Even if he has any ideas, he has to discuss them with Zhang Chen.

It's not that Zhang Chen is a bigger star than him, but on set, the director should be the center of attention. In this project with Zhang Chen, he's just an actor, and actors should listen to the director.

Jiang Wen took the initiative to ask for roles for Liao Fan and others, and Zhang Chen was very accommodating.

He looked at Liao Fan and nodded: "Liao Fan, I saw your performance in 'Let the Bullets Fly,' it was very good. You portrayed Lao San's calm yet ruthless character very well. Would you be interested in joining my and Brother Long's new project, 'Chinese Zodiac'?"

Upon hearing this, Liao Fan was so excited he could barely speak. He nodded quickly, "Of course I'm willing! Director Zhang, thank you for giving me this opportunity. I will definitely do my best!"

He never dreamed that he would get such a valuable opportunity to work with big names like Zhang Chen and Cheng Long. It was definitely a major turning point in his career.

Bai Bing, Du Yiheng, and the others standing nearby looked at Liao Fan with envy in their eyes.

They also wanted such an opportunity, but Zhang Chen didn't mention them, so they could only suppress their inner desires for the time being.

Jiang Wen was also very happy to see that Liao Fan had gotten the opportunity.

The gentlemen of Beijing are all somewhat concerned about their image, and Zhang Chen gave him that face.

Zhang Chen smiled and said casually, "By the way, Director Jiang, I'll need your help with the narration for the movie. Your voice is very distinctive and suits the style of this film perfectly."

Jiang Wen laughed heartily and patted his chest, guaranteeing, "No problem! I'm available anytime! As long as it contributes to a good movie, I'll do my duty!"

(End of this chapter)