Exciting 1979!

Chapter 176 Casting (Guaranteed 1 update)
Liu Rulong had been gone for several days and called him two days ago. Wei Ming thought he was coming back, but the deal didn't go through. He planned to try with Tianjin People's Fine Arts Publishing House, which is also a major comic book publishing center and its "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" series is a classic.

So A Long came back from Tianjin without notifying Wei Ming.

Hearing the noise, Aaron opened his eyes.

From his expression, Wei Ming knew that the deal didn't go through, and the reason was the same.

"Our painting method is different from their traditional painting method. The editor is worried that the engravers will not be able to do it well, or even if they can do it, the market will not buy it."

Wei Ming sighed: "In the final analysis, it is still because they are not enterprising and unwilling to change."

He comforted Aaron, "Don't worry, I still have connections in Shanghai. Give me the manuscript and I'll send it over. Do you have any money? Pay your classmates first and don't owe them."

Aaron laughed and said, "I gave it to them a long time ago. I made a lot of money by drawing illustrations for you."

Wei Ming smiled and said, "Then please draw the second chapter of "Black Cat Sheriff". I have already written it. You can submit it to "Children's Literature" after you finish it."

"Okay, I won't leave today."

"Why are you leaving? It's so late. Just sleep on these readers' letters."

The next morning, as soon as A Long left, Wei Ming sent the drawings to the Shanghai Film Studio, to Gong Xing.

It depends on whether Xue Jie’s mother can help with this. If the mainland publishing houses are not optimistic, then we can just wait until the time is right and enter Hong Kong directly.

After sending the letter to Sister Xue, Wei Ming began to think about the letter to Amin.

He wrote four more songs, and the same old rule was used: 90% to 100% of the profits. He couldn't let the girl work for nothing.

Wei Ming is now a little hesitant about how to get the money.

This time, there are four songs, which means 8,000 to 9,000 Hong Kong dollars. This is not a small amount, and it is risky to put it in the package.

If Amin is asked to remit money, it will be safe, but when he wants to use Hong Kong dollars, he is worried that he will not be able to withdraw it. If he wants to use it, he can only exchange it into foreign exchange certificates according to the official exchange rate.

So Wei Ming and Amin agreed that two thousand yuan could be put in the package and the rest could be remitted.

Afterwards, Wei Ming went into the city again to buy some snacks that the little girl liked. However, the material conditions in Yanjing City were indeed not rich enough. The goods in the Friendship Store were very rich, but Amin could also buy those in Hong Kong, so it was not very meaningful.

After finishing the purchase, Wei Ming sent the package directly in the city.

When they returned to the South Gate, the gatekeeper told him.

"Brother Ming, a director wants to see you."

Then a middle-aged man with a simple and honest look leaned forward.

He smiled and waved to Wei Ming, "Hello, Writer Wei, I am Wu Tianming from Xi'an Film Studio."

"Hey, hello, Director Wu." It was the first time the two met. This man might be the benefactor of future new directors such as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.

Wei Ming put down his motorcycle and went to the playground with Wu Tianming to find a seat to sit down.

"Director Wu, is there any problem with the script this time?"

"Oh, no, no!" Wu Tianming said with a smile, "I am very satisfied, and the name change is also good. I came to Yanjing this time to select actors, and I came to see you by the way. Oh, and I also brought the royalties."

Seeing the other party handing over a thick envelope, Wei Ming smiled and said, "No rush, no rush."

But he is not slow at all, he is waiting for this to settle down and establish his own home.

Now Wei Ming has mastered it, and based on the thickness he can feel it, the amount should be around fifteen hundred, with a high probability of fifteen hundred.

After receiving the royalties, Wei Ming's cash flow turned into more than 500 RMB, foreign exchange coupons, and more than Hong Kong dollars.

Then Wei Ming asked about finding actors.

"It's mainly the two roles of Niu Er and Jiu Er. I hope Niu Er doesn't look so good, cowardly and stubborn. Jiu Er can be more aggressive and have a healthy beauty. It would be even better if she is from Shandong. The most important thing is acting skills."

In fact, Shandong people don’t mean much at this time, because the movie dialogues are almost all in Mandarin, and there is no dialect.

Wu Tianming came to Yenching to see the actors from the Central Academy of Drama and the Beijing Film Academy. Although they were students, most of them were over 20 years old, some even 30 years old, so they did not look too young.

In addition, the actor pool of Beijing Film Studio is top-notch among the major state-owned studios, and Wu Tianming also wants to take a look.

Speaking of Beijing Film Studio, Wei Ming suggested: "Although Liu Xiaoqing from Beijing Film Studio is not from Shandong, she is bold enough and has a plump figure, which is very suitable for Jiuer's image."

Although Wei Ming turned a blind eye to Liu Xiaoqing's advances, one thing is for sure. She is not suitable for "The Shepherd", but she is very suitable for the role of Jiuer.

Wu Tianming smiled and said, "Writer Wei, you and I are thinking the same thing. I also think Liu Xiaoqing is suitable, but he is now a nationally famous actor. I am afraid I won't be able to convince him, so I want to ask you, a great writer, to go with me. Maybe he will agree after seeing you."

Could it be that this old guy is trying to use his beauty to trap me?
However, Wei Ming was also about to go to Beijing Film Academy to inquire about the situation of "Heroes Have Always Been Young", so he could still go.

"Okay, when will you go?"

"How about now?"

So Wei Ming pushed the motorcycle out again and took Wu Tianming to the Beijing Film Studio. He praised Wei Ming's car highly and was obviously very envious.

But after hearing that Wei Ming bought it for 3,000 yuan, Old Wu gave up the idea and decided to just take the factory car, which would not cost him any gas.

On the way, Wei Ming talked to Wu Tianming about the candidate for the male lead. He had just arrived in Yanjing and had not yet found a suitable candidate.

"Then I'll take a day off tomorrow and accompany you to the Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama."

"That's a good feeling!"

When I arrived at the Beijing Film Studio, I happened to see Mr. Chen Qiang, Chen Peisi's father, who was also the head of the Beijing Film Studio's actor troupe. If I wanted to borrow an actor, I would go to him.

Wei Ming had met Chen Qiang, and Chen Qiang had also heard of Wu Tianming, so he immediately invited the two to his office.

"You came at an unfortunate time. Liu Xiaoqing just went to Sichuan and Chongqing to film "The Mysterious Buddha."

Wu Tianming said hurriedly: "It doesn't matter, our play is still in preparation and will not start shooting until a few months later, so it shouldn't be delayed."

Chen Qiang smiled and said, "Then let me ask for you, has the male lead been decided?"

He knew the novel "Er Niu". In the novel, the heroine Jiuer did not have many roles, while the hero Niu Er was the soul. This role was not easy to play, but if played well, it would definitely be outstanding.

Wu Tianming: "I haven't decided yet. I'm still looking for one."

Chen Qiang also hopes that the male actors of Beijing Film Studio can take on this important task, of course, under the premise of not delaying their own production tasks.

So he started introducing male actors from Beijing Film Studio to Wu Tianming.

The first person he recommended was Zhang Guomin. After all, he and Wei Ming were from Hengzhou. It seemed that the Beijing Film Studio was deeply infiltrated by people from Hengzhou.

Wu Tianming knew this actor. He starred in the movie "The Mist of Goddess Peak" produced by Xi'an Film Studio.

Wei Ming is more familiar with his daughter Zhang Yinyan, who has starred in popular dramas such as "Wulin Waishi" and "The Story of Minglan". When she was young, she was criticized for playing the role of the most beautiful woman in the martial arts world, but she began to exude charm in middle age.

Wu Tianming was not very satisfied because she looked too regular. Later, Chen Qiang introduced a few more girls to him, but they all had the same problem: they looked too regular.

Wu Tianming said: "I hope there will be an actor with an unusual appearance."

"The only actor like that is my son Pace, who is from the Bayi Film Studio."

Wei Ming said hurriedly: "There's no need to be so radical."

Old man Chen Qiang smiled. His youngest son shared the same face with him, so he would probably only be able to play roles like Xiao Nan Batian in the future.

They were chatting when someone knocked on the door. A white-haired aunt came in, and Wei Ming hurriedly stood up to greet her.

"Hello, Aunt Yu."

Yu Lan thought about it and then remembered: "Oh, little Wei Ming."

They met at the Writers' Congress and took a photo together.

Wu Tianming also knew Yu Lan. Like Chen Qiang, she was one of the “22 Great Movie Stars of New China”. Their photos could be found in almost every cinema across the country. They were in their prime back then, and are now almost sixty years old.

I heard that Wei Ming and his team are looking for actors. The requirements are that they must have good acting skills, be from Shandong, and not look too regular.

Yu Lan clapped her hands and said, "What a coincidence! How can it be such a coincidence!"

Wei Ming asked: "Aunt Yu, do you have a suitable candidate?"

Yu Lan sat down and said, "Then I will recommend someone who is worthy of my nephew's name. There is an actor from Shandong in the Air Force Art Troupe of my niece's unit. His acting skills are very good, and they are dating."

Wei Ming and Chen Qiang thought of who it was at the same time.

Chen Qiang said hurriedly, "Oh, that young man's acting was really great. Have you heard of the play "The September 13 Incident" a while ago?"

Wei Ming and Wu Tianming nodded at the same time.

Chen Qiang said: "It's the actor Li Jianjian who played in 101."

Wu Tianming had read relevant reports. The appearance of Li Xingjian in the newspaper was frightening, and he thought that his appearance was a bit eccentric.

He was too embarrassed to say it directly, so he said, "Isn't that a bit too old? Our requirement is that you are no older than 30 years old."

Yu Lan said: "He is only 26 years old, a very honest young man."

The old man spoke so highly of it that Wei Ming and Wu Tianming decided to meet him when the time comes, but they also wanted to go to Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama to have a look.

After talking about Wu Tianming, Wei Ming still had to go find Director Wang.

Yu Lan said: "Director Wang is not here. He is entertaining an Italian crew."

When he heard the word Italy, Wei Ming subconsciously thought it was "The Last Emperor", but later realized that the time was wrong.

After listening to Yu Lan's explanation, I realized that it was the crew of the TV series "Marco Polo". The other party wanted to shoot a movie in China and needed the cooperation of Beijing Film Studio.

In that case, Wei Ming took Wu Tianming and prepared to leave, and said they would come back another day.

Wei Ming was wondering where Wu Tianming lived, but it turned out that he lived in the Beijing Film Academy Guesthouse.

Director Wu smiled and said, "At home, you rely on your parents, and when you go out, you rely on your colleagues."

Wei Ming invited him to dinner outside the Beijing Film Academy, then went back to school by himself and agreed on a time.

They first went into the city and went to the Central Academy of Drama located in Dongmianhua Hutong.

You know what, the Central Academy of Drama really favors those who are ugly. In a short while, they have seen several men with unusual looks.

Wu Tianming grinned at Wei Ming and said, "We came to the right place at the Central Academy of Drama. I heard that the Beijing Film Academy selects students based on their looks, so I guess they don't have what we want."

"Hey, look at that guy. He's a little old. I don't know if he's a student or a teacher." Wu Tianming pointed at a person.

Wei Ming was delighted when he saw that face, and suggested, "Let's go over and ask."

(End of this chapter)