Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 299 Guest Starring
"Director Wu, let me introduce you."

In the hotel room, Meng Bai greeted Wu Jing, then gestured to the two people beside him and said, "This is our film's director, Guo Fan. The one next to him is the producer, Gong Ge'er."

"Is it the project of The Wandering Earth?"

Wu Jing enthusiastically shook Guo Fan's hand and said in an admiring tone: "I've heard before that it takes four or five years to make a science fiction movie. It's amazing!"

Guo Fan smiled restrainedly: "Director Wu, you are too polite. We are just stubborn. We all know that domestic science fiction themes are difficult to shoot, but we have to try anyway."

"That's just what I like. In terms of technology, market, and talent, we are no worse than those foreigners. Why can they make movies but we can't?"

Wu Jing showed an expression of deep agreement: "Just like when I filmed Wolf Warrior 2, I just wanted to show the audience that it's not just the Americans who can save the world, we can all do the same."

Directors Guo Fan and Wu Jing seemed to have a special common language and became familiar with each other after just a few words.

After they sat down, Meng Bai asked, "By the way, Director Wu, speaking of Wolf Warrior 2, has it been scheduled yet?"

"It's settled. It'll be released in mid-July, just in time for the summer season." Wu Jing sighed nervously, "I don't know how the box office will perform in the end."

"What are you worried about? We already have a guaranteed profit of 800 million, so you won't lose money," said Meng Bai.

Wu Jing shook his head: "It's hard to say. During the previous investment meeting, didn't you say that the filming might be overdue? You have experience, and the filming was indeed overdue."

According to the previous plan for "Wolf Warrior 2", it was expected to take four months to shoot all the content.

But when Wu Jing actually started filming, he found that his estimation was too good.

Just the six-minute underwater fight scene at the beginning took the entire crew more than half a month to shoot. And by the time the filming on the domestic set was finished, it had taken more than four months.

In the end, the entire film took almost half a year to complete.

It is precisely because of the delay that the production cost has increased a lot.

Add to that the publicity and promotion costs before the release, and even with Jingbei Culture's 800 million guarantee, it is not necessarily guaranteed that the film will not lose money.

"If it's released in mid-July, then the promotional roadshow should start about half a month in advance, right?" Meng Bai asked calmly.

Wu Jing thought for a moment and said, "Almost the same, but we haven't arranged too many cities. Mr. Song from Jingbei Culture talked to us before. The main audiences of this kind of military action film are mostly in second-tier and lower cities and small towns. Roadshows in big cities will not have much impact."

After that, he smiled and said, "But we still have to see how the response is after the release. If the results are good, I will definitely have to run more."

"That's okay. It's not too busy." Meng Bai responded, and then exchanged glances with Guo Fan and Gong Ge'er.

It’s good if you are not busy. Only when you are not busy will you have time to come and “help”.

The few of them did not rush to talk about the invitation, but started to toast.

This is the "ruling area" of Guo Fan, a Shandong native.

"Come on, Director Wu, it's a rare opportunity for us to meet today, I'll raise a glass first..."

"This second cup is mainly to express my gratitude. You are so busy with the film here, but you still come out. I'll drink it first to show my respect."

"Hey, Angkor, the fish are coming up, we have to take one."

"Brother Jing, come on, do it!"

"..."

The main people at the table were Guo Fan, with Gong Geer as the supporting person. Meng Bai brought some wheat juice and acted as the atmosphere creator.

After three rounds of drinks, the atmosphere in the room became much more lively.

Wu Jing's face turned red under the influence of alcohol. He patted Guo Fan on the shoulder and kept calling him "brother".

He even took the initiative to ask, "I heard from Mr. Meng that Lao Guo, you have a role and want me to play it?"

Meng Bai is not the type of person who likes to force others to do things, so when he was planning the party, he told Wu Jing about the general situation in advance.

If the other party disagrees, you can just say it directly to avoid making things difficult for both of you.

But since you've agreed, that means there's something to talk about.

Guo Fan nodded: "Yes, there is a special starring role. Brother Jing, if you have time, see if you can come and help to make a 'guest appearance'."

As he spoke, he also gave him a brief introduction to the plot of the movie and the setting of the character "Liu Peiqiang".

"Guest appearance..." Wu Jing thought for a moment, "How long will it take?"

"We will start filming in mid-April, and it will take about half a month." Guo Fan said, "We can give priority to filming your part, Jing Ge, so it won't delay the release and promotion of the movie."

"Okay, it's just half a month, no problem!" Wu Jing agreed immediately.

Guo Fan and Gong Ge'er were both delighted.

Although the fact that the other party could come today meant that there was no problem with the matter, I was finally relieved until I got the final answer.

As for the "space station line" which is almost as important as the "ground line", can it be filmed in half a month?

Anyway, just trick people over first and we can deal with the rest later.

"By the way, I heard that my sister-in-law also likes science fiction themes very much. She can also make a guest appearance together then." Meng Bai said.

Wu Jing's wife Xie Nan looks sweet and artistic, but she is actually a "true hardcore science fiction fan."

When I was in school, I submitted articles to Science Fiction World magazine, and I am a person with serious works.

To be honest, the role that suits her best for a guest appearance is actually "Han Duoduo" - not the little girl played by Zhao Jinmai, but the wife of "Liu Peiqiang".

She and Liu Peiqiang were both pilots, but unfortunately they got cancer due to excessive ultraviolet radiation during the "Age of Light" and died before the underground city opened.

The "underground city quota" that Liu Peiqiang obtained by serving in the military for 17 years was given to her father Han Ziang. Later, when Han Ziang participated in the rescue in the "Brake Era", he rescued a baby girl from the water. He adopted the baby girl and gave her the name of his daughter, also called Han Duoduo.

In the movie, "Da Duoduo" only has one shot, which is the funeral after his death.

It's all bed scenes, and all the actors need to do is lie there.

So even though Xie Nan is a host and hasn't acted in many movies, she doesn't have to worry about her acting skills at all.

However, the crew had contacted Wang Zhi for this role before, and she is the "Qiu Ya" who became famous last year with "Charlotte's Troubles".

He was quite generous. He knew that the crew didn't have much money and that his role was only for one shot, so in the end he didn't ask for any money and agreed to make a cameo appearance for free.

In this case, there is no reason for the crew to replace someone just for a cameo.

But it doesn't matter, it's just a cameo anyway. There are plenty of other passerby characters, there's no need to focus on this one.

"It's okay, any role will do."

Although Wu Jing felt a little regretful that he could not show his affection with his wife in the movie, he did not take it to heart: "I will ask her later to see if she is interested and has time."

After saying that, he sighed again: "Look at how righteous the girl is, and then look at the traffic of new people now, it's really..."

"What's wrong? Why are you so emotional?" Meng Bai, who was standing by, heard this and immediately felt that there was something to be said for him.

"Well, when the movie was being cast, they invited several young actors, but in the end, they all raised their prices." Wu Jing shook his head.

"How to say?"

After the serious business was over, everyone was in high spirits and it was a good time to chat and complain.

Wu Jing was not secretive and talked about it directly with Meng Bai and others.

When casting for "Wolf Warrior 2", Wu Jing planned to add a popular actor for box office considerations.

A special role was set up for this purpose, which is the "rich second generation" mentioned earlier.

Meng Bai originally recommended Bai Yu to go, but unfortunately, although this guy was a serious rich second-generation, he lacked the feeling of youthfulness and "clear and stupidity".

Later, the crew selected from several popular actors and finally contacted Wu Fan.

Although this actor's acting skills are not good, he is indeed very popular and has a good image. In addition, he is only a supporting role, so it doesn't have much impact.

Wu Fan's management team agreed at first. Although the price was a bit high, considering his popularity, the crew still gritted their teeth and agreed.

The character's name was also set as "Zhuo Yifan" according to the actor.

However, what they didn’t expect was that after several communications, Wu Fan’s team saw that the crew’s budget funds were gradually increasing, and they temporarily raised the price several times.

In the end, the offer even exceeded the total salary of all the leading actors.

Wu Jing couldn't stand it anymore, so he asked the other person to get out, and the crew temporarily replaced him.

But then again, although what Wu Fan did was a bit stupid, it is somewhat understandable, after all, his traffic is indeed high.

But the actress who played the other female lead was a bit ridiculous.

The female lead of "Wolf Warrior 2" was originally cast as an actress named Xu Jiawen, and everything was going well between them.

However, after the news of Beijing North Culture's guaranteed salary of 800 million yuan came out, she firmly told the crew that she would be paid more.

How could Wu Jing, who had already kicked someone out, agree to this? He just let her go and then contacted Lu Jingshan, whom he had known for many years, and asked her for help.

"It's not that I don't like these new actors. We've all been there before." Wu Jing said, "But you're asking for too much."

This is true. Master Wu also dressed up as a woman and played a young and handsome actor in the past. He is indeed not that disgusted by traffic actors.

"So who got the role of the rich second generation in the end?" Meng Bai asked curiously.

"He's a new star, his name is Huang Zitao, and he seems to be in the same team with Wu Fan."

"Huang Zitao? Ah..." Meng Bai suddenly realized.

Wu Jing asked: "Why, do you know each other? Yes, you are both from Blue Island."

"We are from the same hometown, but I don't know him. I just know this person." Meng Bai smiled and said, "The four returning sons."

In the past few years, the second-generation Korean wave returned to the domestic entertainment industry and attracted many new generation fans.

Many young people are attracted by Kpop and choose to go to Korea to debut as trainees.

It’s just that due to the huge gap in interests between China and South Korea, many people choose to return to their home country a few years after their debut.

Coupled with the Korean restriction order that began at the end of last year, this group of idols who were "exported and then sold domestically" have completely focused on domestic entertainment, attracting a lot of popularity.

However, the domestic entertainment industry has always been focusing on the principle of "learning from the barbarians to defeat them".

Just like the various variety shows and reality shows that borrowed from other countries before, since last year, many idol brokerage companies in mainland China have also begun to learn the idol group model of Korean groups.

Even the talent shows that had not made much of a splash for many years have seen a significant increase in number since the beginning of this year.

Such as "The Next Generation of Stars" jointly produced by Penguin Pictures and Wajijiwa, "The Rap of China" by Qiyi TV, etc.

As for why Meng Bai knew so much about it, it was not because Arc Light also planned to hold a talent show, but that Pinduoduo had already extended its advertising business to the entertainment field.

Since the beginning of the year, it has either titled or sponsored a large number of programs.

As an "insider", Meng Bai was naturally the one who was pulled in to act as a matchmaker.

(End of this chapter)