Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 546 Now I'm Going to See You

Han Yan has made films about terminal illnesses and obsessions; he really likes this subject.

Now they are preparing another movie with a similar theme.

Han Yan earned Shu Chang a Golden Horse Award nomination for Best Actress for her role in "The Fault in Our Stars"; "Go Away Mr. Tumor" is now nominated for Best Actress at the Beijing International Film Festival and the College Student Film Festival.

Judging from this, the female lead in Han Yan's movies seems to have a knack for winning awards.

Therefore, it's not hard to understand why Han Yan is so popular in the industry; his acting really makes people successful.

Han Yan is preparing a movie called "Now I'll See You," adapted from the Japanese film "The Rainy Season Never Comes Again." It tells the touching story of a woman who has already passed away, but who reappears in front of her husband and son when the rainy season arrives. However, she has lost all her memories. The movie follows the family during the month-long rainy season.

The General Administration has explicitly banned time travel and rebirth, but Qiu Tian somehow managed to get the project approved.

Han Yan's first choice for the female lead was not Liu Yifei. He wanted to find a Qingyi (a type of female role in Peking Opera), while Liu Yifei is a typical Huadan (another type of female role in Peking Opera). Moreover, Liu Yifei is too young. Although 28 years old is the age of a young mother, it seems difficult for the audience to believe that Liu Yifei's face on the screen is that of a young mother.

Han Yan's first choice was Tang Wei or Gao Yuanyuan, but Gao Yuanyuan, after getting married in 14, devoted herself to her family and personal life and surprisingly rejected Han Yan.

Tang Wei wanted to act in the film, but she hadn't had many opportunities in mainland China. Han Yan was a rising star director, and she really wanted to work with him. Unfortunately, she was pregnant and had to miss the opportunity.

But somehow Liu Yifei found out about it.

Liu Yifei is an artistic person at heart. She has top-notch commercial achievements, but she really wants to play challenging roles to prove her acting skills.

Stories like "Now I'm Going to See You" are very appealing to her.

The female protagonist, who has lost her memory, is reunited with her husband and children, which is quite a dramatic turn of events.

So she took the initiative to ask Han Yan to discuss the script.

Han Yan didn't know why Liu Yifei knew he was making this story. The copyright for "Now I'm Going to See You" was clearly obtained by Chen Zhixi and hadn't even passed through Li Qiutang's hands.

But since the landlady had spoken, he couldn't refuse, so he had no choice but to take the script and materials with him.

Liu Yifei is shrewd. Instead of inviting Han Yan to eat out, she had her mother cook a meal for him to eat at home, and also asked him to bring his wife Zhang Zhixia along.

Li Qiutang went to New Zealand, so Han Yan felt less pressured about the meal and gladly accepted.

Liu Yifei wasn't good at handling these kinds of social situations, but she knew she wasn't Han Yan's first choice, so she could only try her best to chat and win him over.

Just because you're the boss doesn't mean they have to give you the script. If they think you're not suitable, even Li Qiutang won't force you to accept it.

Therefore, Liu Yifei still needs to present herself as best she can in front of Han Yan in order to change his opinion of her.

"I want to get married at the legal age in China, and I already have a child who is about five or six years old."

Sitting to the side, Liu Xiaoli rolled her eyes inwardly. This silly girl really knows how to say anything.

It's not that you can't play a wife or mother if you're not married, but Liu Yifei said, "It's different if you're married."

She said she has a deeper understanding of married life and that she should be able to play a wife or a mother without any problem now.

Saying something like, "I'm almost 30, I can play a mother now," is a bit indecent.

Liu Xiaoli interrupted, "You know you're almost 30? Instead of playing a mother in a play, why not actually have one yourself? You'll act more convincingly then."

"mom!"

Han Yan and his wife both laughed. When discussing the film, Liu Yifei is very sincere. She almost never talks about practical things like salary and schedule. Instead, she talks more about her understanding of the character, the whole film, the ultimate goal, and the director's message.

This might make the listener feel that she is not practical or down-to-earth.

The meal was quite pleasant. Actually, the two of them didn't talk much about the movie "Now I'll See You," but rather chatted about everyday things. Liu Yifei told Han Yan about her work experience in Hollywood, and Han Yan shared some interesting stories about his filming.

When Li Qiutang wasn't around, Liu Yifei even complained a couple of times about her husband.

When he finally left, Han Yan didn't make any promises to Liu Yifei. He just emphasized once again that the filming schedule for his drama was very tight, and that he had to start filming next month, but he hadn't found a suitable female lead yet.

Liu Yifei laughed and said, "I have plenty of time this year."

After seeing Mr. and Mrs. Han Yan to the door, Liu Yifei turned and went back inside.

Li Qiutang visited Weta Digital's headquarters in New Zealand once again. She is an old friend of Weta Digital, and the two sides have collaborated on several films.

But the fat man still acted like a businessman, refusing to offer any discounts—and Li Qiutang rarely saw Peter Jackson either.

Li Qiutang came to Weta Digital this time to ask their team to help the crew of "The Wandering Earth" create the most critical props: protective suits and exoskeletons for the film.

This time, Li Qiutang was more shrewd and made demands that were quite different from before.

Weta Digital was required not to subcontract the project, and that it must be designed and produced by Weta Digital's own elite team; professional props instructors were required to accompany the filming crew and work with the domestic team to supervise and maintain the use of props; the patents of the props belonged to the production team, and Weta Digital was required to make all the design materials, production techniques and molds of the props available to the production team for use.

This isn't difficult, is it? Li Qiutang is paying for it!
When dealing with foreigners, you have to be willing to ask for a price.

Li Qiutang came in person because she knew that the people in her team wouldn't dare to make these demands to Weta Digital, and even if they did, it wouldn't be easy to negotiate with them.

Li Qiutang's request was not rejected immediately. Vita had discussed all sorts of partners, and there were many with much more demanding conditions.

You can name any conditions, but the price needs to be right.

However, Li Qiutang only mentioned one condition when negotiating: the props would be designed primarily by the Chinese team, with Weta responsible for their engineering implementation.

This is to prevent Weta from overcharging on design fees, which are difficult to quantify and estimate.

“Our domestic special effects studio, 421, has already started designing, and we hope that Weta Digital can work with them to serve our production team.”

However, the focus of Weta Digital's director, who met with Li Qiutang and others, was not on technology and cooperation, but on the project itself: "To be frank, I am not optimistic about your project. China does not currently have the capability to make such a large-scale film."

Since the announcement of "The Wandering Earth," countless people have been pessimistic about the project, which Li Qiutang was already used to. He asked intriguingly, "Oh? Tell me, why can't we do it?"

In reality, it's nothing more than the same old argument: China's film industry is still in a very early stage of industrialization, and the technology is not yet mature.

Chinese directors and their teams lack the capability to manage such large-scale projects.

"The most crucial point is that your investment is too small. According to your description, Lee, even if you cut corners, a film like this would cost $2 million to make in Hollywood, while you only have $5000 million. It's simply impossible to do that."

The initial budget for "The Wandering Earth" was $5000 million.

But Li Qiutang said, "Of course there are difficulties in making such a film, but I don't think my team can't do it. 5000 million US dollars is not a lot, but in China it is the cost of a blockbuster. I will try my best."

He then smiled and said, "So, please give me a discount."

(End of this chapter)