Huayu started by playing Lao Ai

Chapter 4 I Want to Play Lao Ai

Because it was Wu Yijian who said it himself, Wu Xiaogeng attached great importance to Zheng Jing's role.

He is very efficient.

The next afternoon, Zheng Jing followed Wu Xiaogeng to the ancient city teahouse.

In a tea room, two middle-aged men sat at the main seats, with several subordinates sitting on both sides.

"I didn't expect you to arrive so early!" Wu Xiaogeng introduced with a smile: "Director Zhou, President Gu, this handsome guy is Zheng Jing, the nephew of our President Wu."

"Zheng Jing, this is Director Zhou Xiaowen, and this is CEO Gu Changning."

With Wu Xiaogeng's introduction, Zheng Jing got to know Zhou Xiaowen and Gu Changning.

Zhou Xiaowen has a long face, a bald head, deep bags under his eyes, and looks very tired, giving people a somewhat "depressed" feeling.

Gu Changning is relatively fat. He is one of the backbones of the northwest circle of the entertainment industry and is the cousin of Gu Changwei.

Gu Changwei is good at photography and recording, and now he has opened his own company.

In the drama "Lü Buwei, the Hero in Troubled Times", Gu Changning is one of the producers and also the representative of Jinhua Film and Television and Chang'an TV Station in the crew.

After everyone exchanged greetings and sat down, Wu Xiaogeng did not mention the role first, but asked: "How was the filming location investigation? Director Zhou, are you satisfied with it?"

Zhou Xiaowen came to Xi'an this time to scout filming locations for a TV series.

Hearing Wu Xiaogeng's question, he took a sip of tea, shook his head and said, "To be honest, there is no suitable place."

Chang'an TV and Jinhua Film and Television invested in the drama "Lü Buwei" because the drama tells the story of the Qin Dynasty and they also wanted to make a profit by promoting the city's culture.

The preferred filming location for TV series is of course Xi'an or Xianyang.

Gu Changning explained: "If we shoot in Xianyang, we will need more real scenes and large scenes. In addition, Xianyang's supporting facilities are relatively poor, and the investment may not be enough."

Wu Xiaogeng asked: "Isn't it enough to invest 32 million yuan in a 1200-episode TV series?"

Zhou Xiaowen said: "Our play tells the story of Lü Buwei, and success or failure depends on Lü Buwei.

Luo Xin meant to invite a male actor with sufficient weight to play Lü Buwei."

Luo Xin is the chief producer of the TV series and the representative of Zejiang United Film and Television and Zeying Studio.

Wu Xiaogeng asked, "Who does she plan to invite?"

Zhou Xiaowen replied: "Zhang Tielin."

Wu Xiaogeng was silent.

Since the hit of My Fair Princess, Zhang Tielin's popularity has skyrocketed, and the role of the Emperor has brought him both fame and fortune.

Although Zhang Tielin graduated from the Beijing Film Academy, he has actually been in the Hong Kong entertainment industry for nearly 10 years and is considered an actor in Hong Kong.

What's more, he obtained British citizenship in 1997.

His pay has always been much higher than that of mainland actors.

After Return of the Condor Heroes became popular, Zhang Tielin's pay increased to 8 yuan per episode.

In January this year, Iron Teeth and Bronze Teeth Ji Xiaolan was broadcast. The ratings of this drama were also very explosive, and Zhang Tielin's popularity further increased.

The pay for films also went up accordingly.

Gu Changning said: "Zhang Tielin quoted a salary of 10 per episode, and he said it was a friendship price.

In our drama, Lu Buwei has a role in every episode.

Just to invite him to star in the film, his salary will be 320 million. If you add the already confirmed female lead Ning Jing, her salary will be 130 million. The total salary of the two leading actors will be 450 million.

Adding in other roles, the cost of film remuneration has exceeded half of the total cost.

We have to save some elsewhere.

After comprehensive consideration, it is better to shoot in Zhuozhou Film and Television City, which will be more economical and can complete the shooting smoothly. "

Wu Xiaogeng said: "Then why not just not invite Zhang Tielin and replace him with another actor."

Gu Changning said: "If we don't invite Zhang Tielin, how can this drama get attention? It will be difficult to support it with Ning Jing alone."

Ning Jing had some popularity in 2000, but she was mainly in the film industry and was not well-known enough.

The "Secret History of Xiaozhuang", which really made her famous, has not yet been filmed.

Zheng Jing understood after hearing the discussion among these three people.

The drama "Lü Buwei, the hero in troubled times" intends to use today's top star Zhang Tielin as the popular actor to ensure the ratings of the TV series.

It’s just that Zhang Tielin is relatively expensive, so after hiring him, the production costs of other aspects of the TV series have to be reduced.

Wu Xiaogeng sighed and said, "You guys decide on the matter of Zhang Tielin and the filming location.

But I also have a request.

Zheng Jing is Mr. Wu’s nephew. He will play a supporting role in the TV series, so he must have a lot of screen time. ”

Only then did Zheng Jing realize how powerful Wu Xiaogeng was. He first deliberately made a fuss about the shooting location and Zhang Tielin to show his attitude of concession, and then put forward his demands.

At this time, it would be useless if Zhou Xiaowen and others did not agree.

I've made so many concessions, and now I want a supporting role, but you don't even want to give me one, that would be really disrespectful to me.

Sure enough, Zhou Xiaowen looked at Zheng Jing and said with a smile: "That's easy to say."

In order to give Wu Xiaogeng enough face, Zhou Xiaowen even took out the script, handed it to Zheng Jing, and said, "Take a look at the script first to see if there is a role you like.

I personally recommend you to play the adult Qin Shi Huang. Qin Shi Huang has a good image and he is an emperor, so this role is very impressive to play. "

"Thank you Director Zhou. You guys chat while I take a look at the script first."

Zheng Jing took the script and read it quickly.

What Zhou Xiaowen carried with him was the storyboard script.

He is worthy of being one of the representatives of China's fifth generation of directors. His storyboard script was very well written, and Zheng Jing felt hot all over after reading it.

Damn, the scale is too big, and every episode is so naughty.

About half an hour later, Zheng Jing finished reading the script.

You will see a prompt on the player panel.

[It is detected that the player is reading the script related to the character card "Lao Ai". Do you want to enter the script world and immersively perform the role of Lao Ai? ]

Zheng Jing was very surprised when he saw this information. He didn't expect that the character card had such ability!

He did not immediately enter the world of the script, because Zhou Xiaowen noticed that Zheng Jing had finished reading the script and asked, "How is it, have you decided which role to play?"

Zheng Jing's expression became serious, and he said very seriously: "I've made up my mind. I want to play Lao Ai."

Zhou Xiaowen, Wu Xiaogeng, Gu Changning: "..."

There was silence.

Wu Xiaogeng thought he was hallucinating and asked again: "What role did you say you were going to play?"

Zheng Jing said word by word: "I want to play Lao Ai."

Everyone was shocked by Zheng Jing's idea.

Putting aside whether Zheng Jing is suitable to play Lao Ai, in this era, no one likes to play a villain.

Haven’t you seen that Teacher Li Mingqi played Rong Mama and Wang Po, and was scolded even when she went out to buy groceries?

Lao Ai is not a positive character.

Wu Xiaogeng coughed and advised, "Xiao Zheng, you are still young and have a bright future ahead of you. Why do you want to play a role like Lao Ai?

You know, a person's image is very important.

Once people associate you with the character of Lao Ai, it will affect your future development."

Before Zheng Jing came, he had also thought of an excuse.

He packaged himself as a stubborn young man pursuing art.

“I just want to play Lao Ai.

Because the character of Lao Ai has the greatest contradictions and tension, he is the most attractive to me.

A good actor doesn’t care whether the role is good or bad. I just want to create a good character with flesh and blood.”

Looking at Zhou Xiaowen who was frowning, Zheng Jing continued, "The reason why I wanted to play a role in "Hero of Troubled Times Lü Buwei" is because I admire Director Zhou's talent.

Whether it is the deep-rooted conflicts in "The Price of Madness" or the plain and heavy reality in "Ermao".

Director Zhou’s movies all gave me a great shock.

Especially the extremely bold nudity and large-scale shots, which are not for the sake of exposure, but to serve the plot.

I have finished reading the script of "Lü Buwei, the Hero in Troubled Times". The only thing in it that is too explicit is the one about Lao Ai, which is only used to advance the plot.

So I chose to play this role.”

Zheng Jing's words were so sincere and everyone actually believed them to some extent.

On the one hand, Zheng Jing was very young and handsome, and everyone had a good impression of him. On the other hand, there was really nothing to fight for in the role of Lao Ai.

This role has a lot of scenes, but Zheng Jing has a good family background and has every opportunity to play other better roles.

Zhou Xiaowen was planning to refute Zheng Jing, but when he heard that Zheng Jing came for him, he swallowed his words of rebuttal and felt a little touched.

Back then, Zhou Xiaowen was also very successful. The movie "The Price of Madness" brought him both fame and fortune and was hailed as "China's first entertainment movie in the new era." He himself was also known as the number one commercial filmmaker in mainland China.

In 1996, the blockbuster film Qin Song directed by him was banned four days after its release.

This movie, with an investment of 4000 million yuan, was the first commercial blockbuster in mainland China, but it ended up being a failure.

Because of the failure of this movie, Zhou Xiaowen fell from the peak and could no longer survive in the film industry. Finally, he had no choice but to turn to the TV drama circle.

Meeting a “real fan” when he was down and out, Zhou Xiaowen felt warm inside and said, “If you were to play Lao Ai, the script might need to be revised.

Let’s discuss this and give you an answer.”

Gu Changning wanted to say something. He felt that Zheng Jing was not suitable for Lao Ai at all, so there was no point wasting time.

But Wu Xiaogeng gave him a look, and he immediately understood and kept silent.

Instead, Zhou Xiaowen talked to Zheng Jing about movies and scripts.

Zheng Jing came well prepared and gave a thorough analysis of Zhou Xiaowen's movies, which made Zhou Xiaowen very happy.

The two chatted very enthusiastically.

Although Zheng Jing did not get the role directly when he met Zhou Xiaowen for the first time, he established a good relationship with Zhou Xiaowen and also triggered the world of the script, which was a great gain.

(End of this chapter)