Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 452 Naza
The night before Li Qiutang flew to the United States, she had dinner with Mr. Hu from the propaganda department.

Surprisingly, this Mr. Hu is quite loyal; he's still with Nazha now.

Mr. Hu and Li Qiutang had known each other for many years, but he never asked Li Qiutang to provide resources to promote the actresses he favored.

But today was an exception; Mr. Hu actually took the initiative to ask Li Qiutang for resources.

"If you're looking for a suitable role, you should consider Nazha. I know the rules in your industry; we don't require lead roles, supporting roles are fine too. Nazha is so beautiful, she should be able to handle a supporting role."

Naza spoke up at the opportune moment, raising her glass: "Director, let me toast you. Please feel free to call me anytime if you find a suitable role in the future."

"Okay, but you have to be able to pull it off yourself. If you can't do it, I won't give face to anyone else."

Mr. Hu said, "That's for sure. You have to be strong yourself to succeed."

"What movie are you filming lately?" Li Qiutang asked Nazha.

"I'll be joining the cast of 'Zhao Zilong' in a few days, where I'll play Diao Chan."

"A big production indeed." Actually, Li Qiutang had only heard of the play and didn't know much about it, but since filming "Three Kingdoms" always involved a large-scale production, "Diao Chan has a lot of room to shine." Then, knowing the answer already, he asked, "Is Diao Chan the female lead?"

Naza shook her head: "The female lead is Xiahou Qingyi."

Not only did Li Qiutang not understand, but even Mr. Hu standing next to her couldn't understand: "Who is Xiahou Qingyi? Is there such a person in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms?"

But how could Nazha know? She's a terrible student; she's never read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and only knows a few of the main characters. She has no idea whether Xiahou Qingyi is in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

"I think so," Naza said. Even if she was stupid, she knew that you couldn't just make up stories about the Three Kingdoms, let alone create a female lead.

"Who will play Xiahou Qingyi?" Mr. Hu asked.

“Lim Yoon-a,” she said, worried that Mr. Hu might not know, “is a South Korean actress, a member of Girls’ Generation.” Nazha, on the other hand, knew all about her.

Mr. Hu knew Girls' Generation, but still didn't know who Lim Yoona was. However, that didn't matter. He simply said, "It's not a good idea to cast a Korean as the female lead in a Three Kingdoms drama."

Li Qiutang speculated: "This project may be a Sino-Korean co-production, as Sino-Korean co-productions have become quite popular in the past two years."

Li Qiutang said he would be flying to the United States tomorrow and would not be in China for a while: "There are a lot of things waiting to be dealt with at the American company."

Mr. Hu started speaking in official jargon to Li Qiutang, praising his American company for doing a great job and saying that domestic film and television capital is now being encouraged to go overseas, with the higher-ups using Lantern Entertainment as a positive example.

It wasn't that Li Qiutang wanted to pour cold water on things at this time, but rather to offer a reminder: "The original intention of encouraging film and television capital to go overseas and conquer foreign territories is good, but I'm afraid that the people below might mess things up and take this opportunity to transfer assets."

But until things develop to that point, many people can't see through it. Mr. Hu clearly didn't take Li Qiutang's reminder seriously: "Don't worry, the overseas results are quite good now. Although I'm not in the broadcasting industry, I have some understanding of film and television capital going overseas. It's just the beginning, and your company has responded very actively. Just do it. Thinking about what to do if problems arise before even starting is not the right attitude to do things. We'll solve the problems when they arise."

Logically speaking, Li Qiutang is an entrepreneur, owning a successful film company overseas, so his statement is somewhat inappropriate for his status.

Naza's brain couldn't possibly understand anything about capital going overseas or transferring assets, but she was well-behaved, just sitting to the side like a mascot, not listening if she didn't understand, and just eating in silence.

However, there were only three people at the table, and the conversation eventually turned to Nazha.

As if showing off Nazha, Mr. Hu had Nazha dance on the spot, showing off how a beautiful woman could satisfy a man's vanity. Then he asked Li Qiutang for his comments and even asked him what kind of roles Nazha would be suitable for.

To be honest, Li Qiutang has only seen Gulnazar's performance in "The Breakup Guru". It can't be said that it was terrible, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

Speaking of acting, Li Qiutang was quite blunt: "I can see you studied hard in school and want to put it to use." The traces of your learning were obvious, unlike his wife, Liu Yifei, whose academic techniques were barely visible. Liu Yifei focused on genuine feelings and immersion, "but your technique is still rusty, you should know that yourself." Nazha nodded.

"You should practice your facial expression control more. I've seen 'The Breakup Guru,' and your facial expressions would fly around when you were delivering your lines. You really need to correct this habit. Go back and practice in front of the mirror. Your teacher should have taught you the methods."

"Hey, who's your homeroom teacher?"

"Wang Chunzi".

"Wang Chunzi is your teacher?! What did she teach you?"

"Performance theory and creation."

"Oh, when I was in school, Wang Chunzi was doing her master's degree. My students even asked her for help with their assignments. Your Professor Wang is very capable."

When discussing creative work, Li Qiutang was very talkative. She advised Gulnazar not to play naive and innocent characters, although it might not be very helpful, since nowadays, female leads in idol dramas, whether modern or historical, are basically all going down the naive and innocent route.

Li Qiutang suggested that Nazha play a cold and beautiful woman. Since she couldn't control her facial expressions, she should make fewer expressions and speak in a cool and aloof manner.

Naza is a static beauty; she looks amazing in posters and photoshoots, but she becomes terrible when she moves.

If you absolutely have to act, playing a cold and beautiful woman is the most suitable role. Whether it's modern or period drama, there are always roles available for cold and beautiful women, just don't choose roles that are too difficult.

Towards the end, Nazha seemed to stop listening. After Li Qiutang finished speaking, Nazha said, "Director, could you give me Liu Yifei's WeChat? I really want to get to know her."

Li Qiutang laughed and said, "You came here today just to get my wife's WeChat, right?"

Naza was quite honest: "I thought she would come with you."

"She's in Chengdu now. Okay, I'll give you her WeChat later."

Mr. Hu also told Nazha to carefully remember what Li Qiutang taught her that night: "Others don't have such a good opportunity to be taught by a director like this."

Naza nodded, indicating that she had been listening to what Li Qiutang was saying.

Before the three parted ways, Naza got into the car first, Mr. Hu smoked outside the car, and Li Qiutang kept him company for a few words.

“Your Changying Group’s project is very difficult to handle. You just acquired land on Hainan Island two years ago, but construction hasn’t even started there yet, and now you want to acquire new land here. What are people supposed to think?”

“There’s been a lot of hot money these past few years. If you don’t rush to do it now, it will be harder to do it in a couple of years if the situation changes,” Li Qiutang said frankly.

"That's what everyone says, and everyone's eager to do it."

Things have progressed to this point, and backing down is no longer an option.

"What about that house in Wulin that I told you about a few days ago? What should we do with it?"

"Put it under her name," Mr. Hu gestured to Nazha in the car.

"Is this for real?" As far as Li Qiutang knew, Mr. Hu was not this generous to his previous girlfriends.

"What do you mean by real or fake? It's just a house. I can't live there, and they can't just give it to you for free." Mr. Hu stubbed out his cigarette. "Alright, I'm leaving."

(End of this chapter)