Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 181 Casting
The main roles of "District 9" require two Chinese people, and Cao Yang has been considering this matter recently.

At the last premiere of "Mean Milk", Li Lianjie and Cheng Long, who were present, both talked about it privately, of course in a joking manner, asking if there were any roles suitable for them in the new movie, even if it was just a minor role.

Being a supporting actor is definitely just talk, but wanting to be in "District 9" is definitely real.

They are in Hollywood and know more news.

Knowing that a Chinese actor would be cast for a major role in Cao Yang's new movie District 9, I said this as a joke to avoid the embarrassment of being rejected.

As I said, it is not easy for Chinese people to make it in Hollywood.

Throughout the year, there are very few movies with Chinese as the protagonists.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be only a few relatively successful Chinese people like them in Hollywood.

In some big productions, even for important supporting roles, very few Chinese are used.

Li Lianjie and Cheng Long are now more famous and their pay has also increased, but looking back, there are fewer suitable roles and it has become more difficult to find work.

Not to mention Hollywood, even in China, if they don’t organize it themselves, few movies are willing to use them.

It’s not that we don’t want to use it, but compared to their pay, the cost-effectiveness is too low.

Of course, if they don’t reduce their pay, only big directors can afford to hire them.

Cao Yang's "District 9" is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them.

The co-production, which was announced to have cost 70 million U.S. dollars, plus the subsequent publicity and promotion costs, can barely be called an A-level production.

In Hollywood, most of the films that Cheng Long and Li Lianjie can get are B-level productions.

Rush Hour, which helped Jackie Chan gain a foothold in Hollywood, only had an investment of more than 3000 million US dollars for the first part. It was only in the third part that the investment increased significantly because the two protagonists had to share the profits.

Li Lianjie is similar. Most of the resources she receives are movies with an investment scale of 30 to 40 million yuan, and there are almost no movies with an investment scale of more than 50 million yuan.

In fact, Cheng Long's situation is much better than Li Lianjie's. He has distinctive characteristics and a series of movies in his hands, which gives him confidence.

The movie "Around the World in 80 Days", which left him exhausted, will not be released until June. He will only panic when the box office results are released.

So his current attitude is that it would be best if he could be in Cao Yang’s movie, but if not, he won’t force it.

Li Lianjie is different.

After his "Deadly Cradle" was released last year, he was seriously injured and it is difficult for him to get a movie role in Hollywood for the time being.

"Deadly Cradle" cost nearly 2600 million US dollars, with a North American box office of 3400 million and a global box office of 5600 million. If you want to make a profit, you can only rely on subsequent discs and peripherals, which is a long process.

Li Lianjie is the one who most wants to be in Cao Yang's movie.

Since he did not receive any promise or invitation from Cao Yang, he went to find Mr. Han from China Film Group, hoping to achieve his goal through him.

In his opinion, "District 9" is a co-production, and he will definitely have no way to deal with Columbia, and they will not give him face. But as another investor, isn't it easy for China Film to secure an important role?
It turned out that he had over-thought.

President Han was very happy when he first heard that he wanted to join this movie.

"That's great. We have Oscar winner Depp, and now you're joining us. It's definitely a good thing. By the way, have you talked to Director Cao? Has Director Cao agreed?"

Li Lianjie had a smile on her face, but she was still stunned for a moment after hearing the following words.

"Mr. Han, he's not the main character, just an important supporting actor. Do you still need Director Cao's approval? Aren't you the producer of this movie? In the United States, the producer can decide everything."

President Han's smile faded a little, and he just repeated, "Didn't you talk to Director Cao?"

Li Lianjie felt something was wrong and quickly explained, "Boss Han, I really want to join this movie and I really want to talk to Director Cao, but Director Cao is always busy and has no time, and I can't see him.

Mr. Han, to show my sincerity, I can give you a 500% discount on your salary, and only charge you $ million."

$500?
It is only a little over 4000 million, which is quite different from the more than 1 million he claimed to have received for his role in "Hero".

Relatively speaking, this is definitely a great honor.

President Han couldn't help but feel a little moved.

This is Li Lianjie, one of the best-developed Chinese actors.

However, President Han was still very clear-headed. He talked to Li Lianjie about this and that for a while, but in the end he did not give a clear answer, which made Li Lianjie very grateful.

Perhaps this is the art of speaking as a leader.

However, Mr. Han still called Cao Yang. He felt that 500 million US dollars was quite a bargain compared to "Hero".

Mr. Han now likes to make big productions and put in big-name actors. Cao Yang was chatting with Duan Yihong when he received Mr. Han's call.

Duan Yihong took the initiative to approach Cao Yang and surprised him as soon as he opened his mouth. He said he wanted to sign the agency contract with Cao Yang's studio.

Cao Yang has no intention of expanding the studio for the time being. His goal is to invest in cinema chains and those companies that have a say in the Internet. He has no intention of signing anyone for the studio.

His studio was just an empty shell, which was established to invest in "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox".

"Don't you work at the National Language Institute? Can you sign in outside?"

Cao Yang then smiled and said, "My studio is just a nominal one. Even if you sign it, it will be useless. I don't have time to find resources for you."

"It didn't explicitly say that we couldn't sign agency contracts with outsiders. I just saw some of my colleagues signed agency contracts with outsiders, and then I remembered that Director Cao also has a studio, and wondered if I could sign with Director Cao's studio."

Duan Yihong smiled and explained, "To be honest with Director Cao, I don't have big ambitions. I just want to shoot a movie with Director Cao occasionally, and act in a drama the rest of the time. I think this is great."

Cao Yang wanted to laugh. Would someone without ambition think of signing his own empty shell studio?

Would an unambitious person come over and say he wants to sign with his studio when he is casting for District 9?
Forget it. Seeing Duan Yihong's sincere look, maybe he really has no ambition and just wants to study acting and drama.

Cao Yang was chatting with Duan Yihong when Mr. Han called.

When Cao Yang learned that Li Lianjie wanted to participate and offered a 50% discount, "reducing her salary" to 5 million US dollars, he couldn't help but laugh.

“Boss Han, his salary is no secret within the film company.

His first Hollywood movie was "Lethal Weapon 4". The film company directly reduced his salary to 50 US dollars. His market value at the time was 2000 million Hong Kong dollars, but in order to develop in Hollywood, he took the movie for 50 US dollars.

The pay for the second film, "Romeo Must Die", increased to 240 million, the third "Kiss of the Dragon" increased to 500 million, and the fourth "The Messiah" increased to 750 million. It was at this time that an offer of 1000 million was announced.

However, this film cost 4900 million US dollars, but the North American box office was only 4400 million US dollars, and the global box office was 7900 million US dollars. The film company can only rely on subsequent revenue to make a profit.

By the fifth film, Cradle of Death, his salary had dropped back to 500 million. This was a film released last year, but it lost money again. Mr. Han, you know what I mean, right? "

Cao Yang smiled and repeated it to Mr. Han. This was the data he got from Columbia when he was casting for "District 9" in North America.

President Han was silent.

He is such a smart man, he understood it immediately.

In other words, if Li Lianjie wants to take on a movie in Hollywood, his pay will have to be reduced because he messed up two movies in a row... No, because he messed up the first two movies, it will be difficult for him to have resources in Hollywood.

Damn it, you dare to tell me that I gave you a 500% discount and quoted you million US dollars!
Mr. Han was a little angry. You can just quote 500 million, or even 700 million, that’s fine. The key is don’t pretend to be serious and tell me it’s a % discount. Aren’t you kidding me?
After hanging up the phone with President Han, Cao Yang looked at Duan Yihong. Although the other party didn't know that he was rejecting Li Lianjie, he could definitely guess that President Han was recommending a candidate to him.

"Boss Han just recommended Li Lianjie to me, but the budget for actors is limited now, so we won't hire him."

Cao Yang could clearly see that Duan Yihong breathed a sigh of relief.

That's normal. No matter what they say, since they are actors, how many of them really don't "compete" or care?
"Okay, I won't say any more. I'll give you the script later. There's a very important role. Go back and prepare."

The commander of District 9 has been determined, and now the only thing left is to choose the leader of the aliens.

This character can be considered as one of the protagonists, but because the alien character does not show his face, he is just the protagonist's name.

But no matter what, in a movie with such a large investment, even if you are just the nominal protagonist, even if you don't show your face, there will be many people vying for the role.

During this period, many people used various connections to find Cao Yang, and Cao Yang got annoyed, so he simply called Wu Qihua in Hong Kong and asked him if he was willing to play the role.

Wu Qihua was so happy that he joked that even if Cao Yang asked him to play a minor role, he would rush to do it, let alone such an important role.

As for not showing your face, what's wrong with not showing your face? If you don't show your face, you can't write on your resume that you have participated in a movie with a $7000 million investment?
Can't I claim credit for future movie box office revenue if I don't show my face?
As long as the movie is a big hit, I can write my resume and find some reporters to send out press releases, and I will still be the leading actor in a Hollywood hit movie.

The most important thing is that Wu Qihua felt that Director Cao finally remembered him.

In fact, he had wanted to call Cao Yang for a long time, wanting to continue to star in Director Cao's movies.

But he was also afraid that if he made the call and there wasn't a suitable role for him, Director Cao would think he was incompetent, so he resisted the urge to ask about the role.

Now, he doesn’t have to worry anymore. At least Director Cao is thinking about him.

Director Cao was not only thinking about him, but also about Dong Xuan, who liked to tie her hair into two ponytails at night.

There is a female character with a small role in the movie, a female reporter, and Cao Yang gave the role to Dong Xuan.

Director Cao is a nostalgic person. The old crew members who have followed him all know that he gave the role to Dong Xuan because of nostalgia, not for any other reason.

Yes, it is like that.

(End of this chapter)