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

Chapter 421 Crash
If we were to ask which domestic producer is the most successful in Thailand, it would definitely be Chen Zhixi.

The movie "Lost in Thailand" increased the number of tourists from China to Thailand by 40%, and the Prime Minister of Thailand personally came out to express his gratitude to the crew. The movie "Detective Chinatown" a few years ago also led to a new wave of cultural tourism enthusiasm.

Chen Zhixi is still the producer of the new film "The Accidental Murderer". Thailand has given the green light to the entire project. They provided the people and the land, and also offered a lot of preferential policies for expenses.

Thanks to the help of the Thai Film Authority, Chen Sicheng's preparatory work went smoothly and filming officially started in early June.

The candidate for the role of the "eldest daughter" was finally decided on Zhao Jinmai. One reason was that her salary was cheaper, and the other was that Zhang Zifeng's schedule was not suitable.

However, it is exam season now, and Zhao Jinmai has to wait until she finishes her final exams before she can fly to Thailand to work as a “summer intern.”

As for the "little daughter", the crew auditioned a group of young actors and finally decided on a little girl named Yang Enyou. Born in 2013, she is only six years old this year and fits the role perfectly.

In addition, the two important villains in the movie, the rich second-generation mother "Police Chief" and her husband "Mayoral Candidate", were found by Chen Jin and Wang Jinsong respectively.

Not only do these two have excellent acting skills, but more importantly, their image and aura both have a sense of disguise and oppression of "seemingly evil but not righteous", which coincides with the image of the villain in the movie who is "honest in identity but dark in heart".

However, Chen Sicheng is also a little worried now because the villains are too powerful and the protagonists may not be able to suppress them.

Of course, Chen Sicheng is not the only one who is worried.

"I didn't expect that President Meng would still think of calling me."

Qin Lan's straightforward and slightly teasing voice came out from the phone: "I thought I was forgotten because I'm old and ugly."

"How could that be? As the saying goes, young people don't know how good sisters are, and mistakenly treat girls as treasures." Meng Bai said with a smile: "It's mainly because our white moonlight 'Sister Shanfeng' has been too popular in the past six months, so we dare not disturb her too much."

"Hmph, come on. I've never seen you feel embarrassed." Qin Lan said angrily, but there was a hint of smile in her tone.

Last year was a year of career explosion for Qin Lan. At the beginning of the year, she played the role of Chen Jiaying in the movie Peace Hotel, which brought her a lot of fans.

In the second half of the year, she starred in the TV series "Story of Yanxi Palace". Although she played a supporting role as Empress Fucha Rongyin, her gentle and outstanding character made her popular again and she became the "white moonlight" of many fans of the drama.

Before this, Qin Lan's popularity was always around the second or third tier, although her fame was not low. But last year's explosion made her status and popularity rise a lot.

By the way, although the drama Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace was withdrawn from the air last year, it has been seeking an opportunity to be broadcast again. As a result, Yu Zheng used his ancestral skills to make the drama Story of Yanxi Palace, which has a similar background and theme, be broadcast first and occupied the audience's attention.

Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace saw that any further delay would make it an "imitator", and there was no time to wait for satellite broadcast, so it went straight for the online broadcast.

However, the quality of this drama is average, and the plot has been changed into a mess. In the end, let alone being a "reproduction of "The Legend of Zhen Huan", it was even overshadowed by "Story of Yanxi Palace".

Li Qin wanted to pretend that nothing happened, hoping that Meng Bai would forget the bet at the beginning of the year, but it was a pity that Mr. Meng always had a deep memory of such things. In the end, he owed her "four demands" in total, including the principal and interest, plus the punishment for her attempt to default on the debt.

Now, the film has started shooting, and the female lead Qin Lan is already in Thailand. She called mainly to complain about her stress.

"Teacher Chen Jin's acting is really amazing." Qin Lan said, "I've watched her dramas before, and I felt that she looked kind most of the time. I was wondering if she was suitable to play a villain. But when we actually acted together, I found that she was absolutely perfect. The oppressive feeling hidden behind her smiling face was scary even though I knew it was acting."

After she finished speaking, she sighed, "I feel like my momentum is a little weak, and I can't quite keep up."

"It's right that you have a weak aura." Meng Bai comforted her, "There is already a gap in status between your characters. It's natural that she has a stronger aura. Only in this way can the audience feel the sense of urgency of the protagonist. What you need to do is to show the reversal of the inferior versus the superior, and the weak defeating the strong."

"Oh - I understand, but I still feel so stressed." Qin Lan sighed.

"So sister, you have to work hard. How can a woman not make progress?"

"You said it the other way around, didn't you?" Qin Lan complained, and then added with some expectation, "Have you been to Thailand recently?"

Meng Bai thought for a while and said, "Wait a few days, when I'm done with things here, I'll go over and take a look."

"What do you want to see?"

Meng Bai said with full righteousness: "Let's see how the filming is going and how the leading actors are performing. Anyone who performs poorly will have to accept my 'individual coaching'."

"..."

How could this guy say such things so openly?
-
"Avengers 4", which raged throughout May, finally came to an end one month after its release.

This "ten-year masterpiece" of Marvel Studios finally won a total of 48.95 billion yuan in box office in China, ranking first in the box office of imported films in the mainland market. It was less than million yuan away from the runner-up position of "The Wandering Earth".

Many of the former haters of "The Wandering Earth" have expressed sarcastically on the Internet that if "Avengers 4" could not be postponed, they would definitely be able to defeat the other party.

Fans of "Little Broken Ball" don't care about this at all. No matter how jealous these people are, the final result is that "The Wandering Earth" ranks first, so who cares about their "if not for this and that".

Marvel is taking advantage of the situation and announced a new summer movie Spider-Man 2: Far From Home, hoping to continue to carry the banner of the second phase of the MCU with the "slow failure" of Marvel's first IP.

It’s a pity that many viewers are dissatisfied with the large number of Iron Man elements in the trailer, and they have been tired of this type of superhero movies for so many years, so the current reputation is not very good.

Many viewers said that instead of continuing to watch the "high-tech primitive collision" in the MCU, it would be better to wait and see what new things "The Wandering Earth 2" can come up with.

By the way, everyone was urging Guo Fan, Wu Jing and Meng Bai to release the second part under their Weibo posts.

There was no response from Guo Fan and Wu Jing, but Meng Bai posted a new Weibo post, saying that he would no longer serve as the chief screenwriter of "The Wandering Earth 2".

[No way? Is there some conflict between Hu Guang and Director Guo? Our "Little Broken Ball" team is disbanding now! ]

[No, Mr. Meng Bai! The "little broken ball" can't live without you! ]

[Don’t do this, Mr. Meng. It’s so rare to have such a high-quality domestic science fiction series. Let’s not end it after the first film! ]

【…】

Many fans of "The Wandering Earth" were shocked by the news about Meng Bai, thinking that there was some problem between him and Guo Fan and they wanted to break up, so they all tried to stop it on Weibo, and it even became a hot topic.

Fortunately, Meng Bai quickly sent a new message to explain in detail -

[Sorry to all the fans, my expression in the last Weibo was a bit ambiguous. The current progress of "The Wandering Earth 2" is very smooth. Both Arclight Films and I will continue to accompany you on a new "wandering journey." ]

[The main reason why I will no longer be the chief screenwriter of the second part is that the second part will be more sci-fi and hardcore than the first part in terms of plot and style. As a standard liberal arts student, my ability in this area is indeed limited.]

[In order to avoid major mistakes in the plot, the overall setting of the second part will be designed by a more professional team and experts in related fields. Of course, I will still participate as a member of the entire film screenwriter team and be responsible for the storyline. ]

[I apologize for the misunderstanding and hope that everyone will continue to support The Wandering Earth 2. See you in 2023! ]

Meng Bai's new Weibo post was posted very timely, cutting off the spread of various rumors before the matter escalated. Fans of "Little Broken Ball" finally breathed a sigh of relief when they learned that the problem did not arise from the production team. Immediately afterwards, many people began to make fun of "Mr. Meng's" new Weibo post.

[I can already imagine the scenes during the filming of the second part. Dear experts: This plot mainly involves #(*&%￥#@……these principles. Guo Fan, Mr. Meng: What! What! What! What is written here!]

[If this were real life, I would say that Mr. Meng’s first part was actually pretty awesome! But since this is online, I would only say: Xiao Meng, now you know the importance of learning math, physics, and chemistry well.]

[Bad news: Mr. Meng said he couldn’t write it clearly. Good news: Actually, we couldn’t understand it either.]

[But having said that, I think Mr. Meng’s choice is really a good one. Although science fiction is “fantasy”, it also has “science”. Most directors and creators nowadays are either liberal arts students or art students. I’m afraid it’s really hard for them to understand how to shoot science fiction films. ]

[Yes, Cameron studied physics in college, Nolan has a brother who writes science fiction, one of Kubrick's masterpieces is "2001: A Space Odyssey", and screenwriter Arthur Clarke was a radar technician for the British Royal Air Force. In short, they are basically a group of bigwigs in science and engineering.]

[I suggest that these domestic directors who don't even know how many points they got in the college entrance examination should just focus on making their own comedies or genre dramas, and not try to make science fiction films. Yes, I'm talking about you, Ning Hao. Do you need to adapt "Rural Teachers" to make a film about Huang Bo playing monkeys? ]

【…】

Many movie fans are very supportive of Meng Bai's decision. They all say that after the great success of the first film, he chose to retreat at the peak of his career and hand over the main focus to professionals. This is what a truly responsible filmmaker does.

Of course, many people also noticed that Meng Bai left a time of "2023" at the end of the statement, which is equivalent to announcing the release date of the second part!

If you count the days, it's only four years. No problem, everyone can wait.

"I kind of regret telling you now that the release date is set for 2023." Guo Fan said with a wry smile, "I feel like it may not be completed in this time."

"It's okay. At worst we can just apologize and default on the payment." Meng Bai said nonchalantly.

Delays are a very normal thing for creators of projects such as movies, games, and novels. As long as the final product is excellent, the audience will not mind the length of the wait.

"Are there any plans for the second part now?" Meng Bai asked.

Guo Fan nodded. They had not been idle during this period. "For the second part, we plan to move the timeline forward. The protagonist will still be Liu Peiqiang. It is equivalent to a prequel."

As he said this, he laughed and said, "Do you remember when we had the celebration party, a little girl asked, what should we do if the moon moves away from the earth?"

Meng Bai recalled and remembered that it was indeed the case.

"According to the original story, they pushed the moon away by using an engine. We plan to blow the moon up in one go!"

"The moon, can it be blown up?" Meng Bai wondered.

"This... should work." Guo Fan was a little unsure. "Don't worry, I'll throw this idea to the big guys at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. They'll naturally be able to come up with a feasible solution."

As early as the preparation of the first film, Guo Fan and his team consulted many experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. With the great success of the first film, he is now confident enough to directly invite several scientific research experts from physics, astronomy and the Institute of Computing Technology to join the advisory group of "The Wandering Earth 2".

Meng Bai stayed in Beijing North. In addition to coordinating the progress of "The Wandering Earth 2" with Guo Fan, he also arranged the company's work in the recent period.

Zhang Ruoyun's wedding was scheduled for the end of June, so as the witness, he would definitely have to fly to Ireland. After attending the wedding, he would go on a few days of fun, and it would be July before he returned.

Although it was called an arrangement, it was not much work. There was someone in charge of each business unit, and he only had to make the final decision and approval. So after two days of easy "busyness", he finished his work and flew directly to Thailand.

There are good reasons too, just observe the filming of the new movie.

Thailand, Bangkok.

In a single-family villa next to the woods, dozens of people were busy coming in and out. This was the residence of the male protagonist's family in the movie, and it was also the main filming location of the crew.

"You guys shoot pretty fast." Meng Bai said, looking at the shooting form in his hand.

"We had experience here when we were filming Detective Chinatown 1, and there aren't any big scenes to design this time, so of course the progress will be fast." Chen Sicheng said, "In two more months, we should be able to wrap up by August. If everything goes well, we should be able to catch up with the May Day schedule next year at the earliest."

"Okay, I trust you as the director." Meng Bai said, "Then you go ahead and do your work. I'll check on the leading actor."

"Ha, you want to see the situation of our heroine."

Chen Sicheng smiled ambiguously and put his arm around Meng Bai's shoulders: "Hey, you and Qin Lan, are you two..."

"Brother, as grown men, let's stop gossiping."

Meng Bai put his arm down in a nonchalant manner, then waved his hand and walked out.

"Oh, I can tell even if you're pretending with me." Chen Sicheng laughed, and then couldn't help but sigh, "Sure enough, being single is still very free."

On the other side, the "free" Meng Bai had already arrived at the hostess' lounge, knocked on the door, and walked in after waiting for a response.

"Sister Qin Lan."

Meng Bai greeted him with a smile.

Qin Lan, who was taking a break, saw him come in and his eyes lit up instantly.

"Hello, Mr. Meng."

Because there were people around, she changed her name. But then she made an excuse, asked her assistant and makeup artist to leave, and then stood up and hugged him.

"I thought you weren't coming until next month."

"I'm going abroad at the end of the month, and I happened to have some free time recently, so I thought of coming to see you, sister."

As Meng Bai spoke, his hand had already touched Qin Lan's waist.

"Die!"

Feeling the movement on his body, Qin Lan patted him lightly and said, "It's not appropriate for the crew to do this. Let's go back to the hotel tonight..."

She was halfway through her speech when the door to the lounge was suddenly pushed open.

"Brother Meng Bai, you...ah!"

At the door of the lounge, Zhao Jinmai looked at the ambiguous man and woman in the room, and the originally cheerful smile froze on her face.

(End of this chapter)