Entertainment 2000: Supporting female stars will bring you a hundredfold return

Chapter 336 My Girlfriend's Best Friend: Where Does the Inspiration Come From?
Stephen Chow held the photo, his brows furrowed, his expression extremely serious.

Inside the room, the rest of the people remained silent, and no one made a sound.

Even the act of drinking water slowed down considerably.

The woman in the photo undoubtedly fits the image of the female protagonist as envisioned by Stephen Chow.

Her beauty was not aggressive; she seemed very gentle.

And her eyes are captivating enough...

He recognized the woman in the photo and knew she had just finished filming a martial arts drama, so she must be good at action scenes.

That's right. In the original script version of "Kung Fu Hustle", the female lead was not mute; she had quite a few lines and fight scenes.

Rumors circulate that Huang's acting skills and delivery of lines are simply not up to par.

In the end, her scenes were cut again and again, and she became a mute girl.

Stephen Chow was engrossed in rehearsing the scenario in his mind.

After a long while, he put down the photo of Gao Yuanyuan in his hand.

Looking down, I was stunned again when I saw the last female star.

There are two photos on the table, two stills from a movie with different styles.

The girl in the play, wearing a straw hat and a red floral shirt, stands in the field with a bright and clear smile, with an endless green field behind her.

Stephen Chow was startled, and four words popped into his mind—fresh and bright!
"This is?"

"This is a still from the movie 'Postmen in the Mountains' starring Chen, a drama actress from the Beijing People's Art Theatre." The assistant quickly replied, "The other one on the table is also a still; Chen plays a college student."

Looking at these two photos, I can appreciate two completely different styles.

Stephen Chow understood why everyone wanted him to see it for himself.

This Ms. Chen is an excellent actress who possesses both acting skills and beauty.

He looked at it carefully for a while and then asked, "We've been looking for actors for so many days, how come we haven't found a single suitable one?"

The assistant was speechless.

The assistant director next to him tried to smooth things over, saying, "It's probably because we've kept it too secret."

The implication is that we secretly invite people to audition, but we don't have many connections in mainland China, so excellent actresses don't know our background and won't audition.

"Let's leave the secrecy aside for now. Invite both of them to audition and give them ample time to showcase their talents."

"it is good!"

The assistant went to make the arrangements.

The next day, I called them one by one to invite them and explained the situation.

Upon hearing that it was Tang Wen who recommended him, and given Zhou Xingchi's renowned reputation, none of the women dared to neglect him.

Even Chen took a day off from work.

Since Tang Wen authorized the copyright of his novel to the Beijing People's Art Theatre to stage a play, he also brought Chen to make a movie.

The restrictions imposed by the Beijing People's Art Theatre on Chen, which prohibited him from going out to film for the first two years, were basically ineffective.

However, she is quite disciplined and will stay at the Beijing People's Art Theatre to rehearse plays unless Tang Wen arranges otherwise.

Audition invitations weren't always successful.

Fan Bingbing, who is already in Cannes, regretfully said that she probably won't be able to go.

At noon, at Blue Star Entertainment.

Tang Wen flipped through recent issues of "China Film News" and "Film Report".

News from Cannes occupied a significant portion of the newspaper articles.

The Cannes Film Festival in France has already opened.

Tang Wen was naturally invited to the opening ceremony, but he was too busy to attend.

Only the lead actress Fan Bingbing, assistant director Ning Hao, and nominal producer Han Sanping went to Cannes together.

For this reason, his close friend, the president of the French Arts Association, Leo, even called to complain about him.

This year, a total of five Chinese films were submitted to Cannes.

Apart from Tang Wen's "Peacock", which was shortlisted long ago.

Only Lou Ye's "Purple Butterfly" was shortlisted for the main competition.

This is reportedly the first time a sixth-generation director has appeared in this section.

The sixth generation of directors refers to Ning Hao, Guan Hu, and others.

Among them, those who are more favored by the West and have won awards or have the opportunity to win awards are Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye, and Wang Xiaoshuai.

In fact, Tang Wen wasn't included in this list of "directors of this generation".

Whether it's academics or the news media, they all directly refer to Tang Wen as a "genius director" or a "young director"...

It seems they don't know which generation Tang Wen should be classified into.

The "dynastic break" they created was, in a sense, a small circle. If you did well in the circle and became a leader, there were many benefits, but Tang Wen didn't care.

Now that he's caught up with the leaders in Jiangnan, he cares even less.

In a few years, these official and unofficial art organizations will naturally know how to approach Tang Wen with the right attitude and demeanor.

In summary, "Purple Butterfly" is a film about the War of Resistance against Japan, starring Zhang Ziyi, Liu Ye, and Li Bingbing.

Due to the rules of the Cannes Film Festival, anyone who is nominated for the main competition has the potential to compete for Best Actress.

Many domestic media outlets have begun speculating about whether Fan Bingbing or Zhang Ziyi will win the award.

Li Bingbing appeared as a supporting actress on the Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony red carpet, and some domestic news media hyped up the gathering of "the two Bingbings" in Cannes.

Fan Bingbing has issued numerous press releases this year.

She has been promoting her achievements, claiming that she surpasses two of the "Four Little Actresses" and another actress, Lin Gege.

Li Bingbing seized the opportunity to piggyback on her fame, creating a buzz around the "Double Bing Shining at Cannes" phenomenon.

The two Bingbings are now quite evenly matched in the industry, with a real sense of being evenly matched.

Fan Bingbing left Huayi early on.

Li Bingbing is now undoubtedly the top female singer at Huayi Brothers.

In the movie "Cellphone", she naturally played the female lead.

This opened the door to cinema.

Although the box office of "Cell Phone" was far less than that of "A World Without Thieves" starring Fan Bingbing, Li Bingbing was the female lead in "Cell Phone," while Fan Bingbing was the second female lead.

In addition, both "Purple Butterfly" and "Peacock" were shortlisted for Cannes.

In the realm of film, the two sides are barely even.

But in reality, it's obvious to anyone with eyes that Li is not as good as Fan.

After all, Fan Bingbing is the absolute female lead in "Peacock".

In addition, there were several songs that Tang Wen wrote for her.

Fan Bingbing is currently a popular singer, and in terms of popularity, she is better than Li Bingbing.

Of the other three films submitted to Cannes, only Wang Xiaoshuai's "Second Brother" was selected for the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival.

The other two films, "Beautiful Big Feet" and "Heartbeat Motuo", were not nominated.

Meanwhile, Gao Yuanyuan, Hu Jing, and others who received audition invitations for "Kung Fu" called Tang Wen one after another.

Stephen Chow is an absolute master in comedy films, and they didn't want to miss the opportunity.

Tang Wen took the opportunity to offer a few instructions over the phone:

"The female protagonist in the story represents the beauty and innocence that the male protagonist wants to protect..."

The last phone call was from Chen.

Good older sister doesn't need me to give her acting pointers.

He was simply talking about his daily life, subtly expressing his longing.

For the women in China who didn't have a relationship with Tang Wen, expressing their feelings was always this subtle.

Oh, except for Fan Bingbing.

She would directly ask Tang Wen if he missed her, and if so, how he felt about it, and whether he dreamed about it at night.

Tang Wen spoke frankly, saying he didn't have time to dream.

It made her so angry that she yelled on the phone, but she couldn't stop.

After hanging up the phone, Tang Wen checked the calendar and began meeting with each person one by one.

As for inviting Shanghai Film Group and China Film Group to invest in Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu Hustle," he didn't even need to personally handle it; he directly handed it over to Xia Tian to make the contacts.

"Kung Fu Hustle" was incredibly important to Stephen Chow's company.

But for Tang Wen's Blue Star Entertainment, it was just a project with a high investment point!
Stephen Chow's invitation to audition was no longer kept secret.

As a result, news of the audition spread rapidly within the industry.

In the evening, Tang Wenzheng had dinner with Zeng Li and Hu Jing.

Dong Xuan called suddenly, but Tang Wen didn't answer.

After a while, he excused himself to go to the restroom and then called her back: "I heard that Stephen Chow's movie is currently casting for the female lead in Beijing, and he wants to collaborate with us?"

"We are discussing it."

"Could you recommend Yueyue to audition?"

Dong Xuan is currently filming a movie by Zhang Yimou. She is not very career-driven and has no interest in Stephen Chow's blockbusters.

I just wanted to get some benefits for my best friend.

"Uh, send Guan Yue's photo to Xia Tian. Stephen Chow selects people from photos in the first round. If he likes someone, he will schedule an audition."

Tang Wen chatted with Dong Xuan for a while. He learned that the news had spread throughout the industry that Stephen Chow was in Beijing selecting a female lead.

Because so little information has been released, people don't even know the requirements for the role.

If the requirements are unknown, then all female celebrities have a chance.

Suddenly, the entertainment industry became even more lively.

Female celebrities with companies seek out companies, and those with connections seek out connections.

As for those without a company or connections, well, they don't know about this news yet...

After hanging up the phone, Tang Wen returned to the private room and found that Hu Jing was nowhere to be seen.

Her phone was gone from the table, and the Chanel bag that had just been given to her was also gone.

Zeng Li was the only one left in the room.

When Tang Wen came in, she looked quite uncomfortable.

Ok?
Something's up.

Before Tang Wen could figure it out...

Mobile phone vibration.

He took it out and saw it was a text message from Hu Jing: "[Pear really likes Stephen Chow's movies. I got the audition, but she didn't. She's a little disappointed. Can you help me comfort her?]"

Tang Wen's eyes looked strange.

No, I remember we were "flirting" separately, right?
Why are you suddenly being so modest?

hum~
Another text message:
Pear is my best friend! You're not allowed to bully Pear! Otherwise I'll... hmph!

Tang Wen almost burst out laughing.

He hadn't thought of it that way, but the word "best friend" made Tang Wen feel strangely excited.

As for Hu Jing's threat.

Hmm, it sounds almost like she's being coquettish.

Indeed, Hu Jing thought for a long time but still couldn't figure out "what she should do if Tang Wen bullied Li Zi," so she could only use an exclamation mark and let Tang Wen figure it out himself.

Tang Wen walked around the original seat, pulled up a chair, and sat down directly next to Zeng Li.

"You, you shouldn't sit here. Quietly, we'll be back soon." Zeng Li said somewhat uneasily.

She and Tang Wen didn't have much time alone together.

Sitting so close to you now, my heart is starting to race.

"Ha!" Tang Wen domineeringly wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a hard kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, you!" Zeng Li's pretty face flushed red as she gently pushed him away, "Be careful Jingjing sees this."

Tang Wen pretended not to have received Hu Jing's text message and analyzed, "Jingjing took her phone and bag, she must have had something urgent to do and left first, right?"

As he spoke, his hands began to wander again.

Zeng Li was flustered and quickly held him down.

But if you hold one down, there's still another one.

One man attacks from the left and defends from the right, while the other blocks from the left and deflects from the right.

Playing silently, Zeng Li soon found herself panting, her eyes glazed over from the kisses, almost forgetting where she was.

"Shall we go out for a walk?" Zeng Li asked pleadingly.

Reason told Zeng Li that she had no resistance to Tang Wen.

Or rather, even though she knew Tang Wen was a playboy, when they met, she not only didn't want to resist, but even pretended to be welcoming.

"Okay, since I have some free time today, I'll take you on a date."

Zeng Li's expression changed slightly: "I have to go back tonight, otherwise Jingjing will find out."

Tang Wen: Goodness, the way you're doing this makes it sound like you're really my girlfriend's best friend.

Pear, wake up! You're one of my girlfriends too...

"I know, I know! How it goes tonight depends on your performance!" Tang Wen said indifferently, pulling her up from the chair.

The two put on masks and sunglasses, and left the restaurant one after the other and got into the car.

Upon arriving at the destination, Zeng Li had to reapply her lipstick.

"Where am I?" Standing in the bustling street, she was a little disoriented.

"Look over there."

Zeng Li turned her head and was immediately stunned: "Chang'an Building?"

"Hmm, Chang'an Club. They invited me to join, but I haven't been here yet. Let's go, let's check it out."

Tang Wen spoke casually, without a trace of concern in his tone.

Zeng Li was dumbfounded!

Chang'an Club, these days, doesn't have a big reputation among the general public.

But within the well-informed entertainment industry, he is quite famous.

It is said that many of the members are Hong Kong's richest men, such as Chen Lihua, who married Tang Sanzang, and Li Jiacheng, Hong Kong's richest man.

It seems like you have to pay in US dollars for the annual meeting...

In the days before the internet was widespread, people often added all sorts of imaginations to such high-end venues.

Rumors have long since shrouded Chang'an Club in mystery.

But after coming in and taking a look around, Tang Wen thought: Hmm, it's quite retro.

It's clearly in the style of the 90s.

It seems that Ms. Chen, the creator, didn't have any sense of aesthetics that were ahead of its time!

Zeng Li felt awkward and secretly reminded herself: Don't embarrass Tang Wen.

Her acting skills were up to par, and in the eyes of the service staff, she was quite poised and elegant.

The two requested a recreation room.

Inside, there are snooker tables, automatic mahjong machines, and karaoke speakers.

Tang Wen had no interest in billiards.

Mahjong cannot be played by two people.

All that was left was singing, and Tang Wen's goal was also to sing, but not to sing opera.

The vast majority of members of the Chang'an Club are older men.

Many of them enjoy theater.

The karaoke music selection here includes many traditional Chinese opera pieces.

Zeng Li watched as Tang Wen selected several operas, recalling the scene of their first meeting and their discussion about opera.

"You want to hear me sing opera?"

"Hmm. Little Pear, sing well! I'll reward you handsomely." Tang Wen patted her lower back lightly, then leaned back on the sofa, acting like a big shot.

Zeng Li glanced at him, then bent down and operated the karaoke machine for a few moments.

There was no opera performance, so I requested "The Red-Clad Lament".

When she opened her mouth, her singing was amazing.

As she sang, Zeng Li turned her head back, her eyes conveying a complex, unspoken message.

She possesses the charm of a renowned leading lady.

After the song was finished.

Tang Wen lifted the person onto his lap and said happily, "This person has practiced my songs specially?"

Zeng Li retorted stubbornly, "What do you mean 'your song'? I only like this one."

Tang Wen chuckled and said, "Your singing is quite good. How about I find some inspiration and write a song for you?"

"Really?"

Zeng Li's work isn't busy, so she has time to surf the internet intensively.

I visit Renren.com most often.

On Renren.com, the most discussed topics, besides current events, are gossip about Tang Wen.

One popular claim is that Tang Wen wrote songs for every one of his "girlfriends".

She had received this treatment before.

Looking into her beautiful eyes, Tang Wen smiled and nodded: "I want to write a song in the style of traditional Chinese opera, but I have no inspiration."

Upon hearing "opera singing," Zeng Li's eyes lit up even more: "How can I get inspiration?"

Tang Wen looked down, and following his gaze, Zeng Li saw the large hand she had been pressing against her chest.

"Don't lie to me! What does this have to do with inspiration?"

“It’s very important! I get inspiration when I’m happy, but you can’t do that.”

Seeing his serious expression, Zeng Li let go of his hand with some skepticism.

Unexpectedly, the large hand took advantage of the situation and quickly slipped inside the clothes.

"You!" she exclaimed, both ashamed and angry.

"Shh~ Sing your opera tune quickly, don't go off-key, sing well, and my inspiration will come faster!"

Sitting in his lap, Zeng Li shifted her pert bottom: ...Is this inspiration you've come for?

(End of this chapter)