Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 722 Visiting Team
But no one expected that the heated public debate sparked by "Dying to Survive" would attract the attention of leaders.

"Cancer drugs are life-saving medications; we can't let taxes decrease while prices remain the same." "We must take multiple measures to streamline intermediaries and urge faster price reductions for cancer drugs, so that the public can truly benefit."

These reports further fueled the market performance of "Dying to Survive," and it's no exaggeration to say it's making great strides.

The box office of "Dying to Survive" has exceeded 25 billion yuan.

In contrast to the phenomenal success of "Dying to Survive," "Hidden Man" suffered a critical and commercial collapse, dropping from an initial rating of 8.2 to 7.5.

The negative reviews from viewers mainly focused on the disappointment of their expectations.

Audiences want to see a blockbuster film like "Let the Bullets Fly," with a captivating narrative, a high balance between metaphor and entertainment, and outstanding performances by award-winning actors.

Clearly, "Hidden Man" is not that kind of movie.

Perhaps Jiang Wen himself will never be able to make "Let the Bullets Fly" again.

But no matter what, "Hidden Man" has finally made it to over 4 million views.

Another film, "Asura," fared much worse!

It was released on the 13th at the same time as "Hidden Man". It was a highly anticipated fantasy blockbuster with a production cost of 1 million US dollars and a star-studded cast.

As a result, the film was pulled from theaters and its screenings were suspended at 10 p.m. on the 15th, with the cumulative box office revenue falling short of 5000 million yuan.

After the film was pulled from theaters and its screening was suspended, rumors of "money laundering" spread like wildfire!
People have been far too sensitive lately.

The production company did not disclose the reason for the withdrawal in the announcement, but in a subsequent interview, the film's producer and supervisor, Yang Zhenjian, said: "It is not a problem with the film itself, but more due to the unfair market environment such as Maoyan rating."

Fun fact: Yang Zhenjian's last film was "Painted Skin," a critically acclaimed and commercially successful movie.

Attributing the withdrawal to online ratings is utter nonsense.

Many filmmakers get upset when their films receive low ratings, but to say they get upset to the point of withdrawing the film altogether is an insult to the audience's intelligence.

But to say it's about laundering gold coins doesn't quite make sense.

If they really want to launder money, poor box office returns are no big deal. The film company will just grit their teeth and finish showing it for a month before pulling it off the screens, and that little bit of box office revenue will just be considered a handling fee for the cinemas.

Why go to the trouble of withdrawing the film to attract so much attention? Are they afraid others won't know they're laundering money?
"Dying to Survive" no longer needs producer Li to oversee it, so he can now go to the Oriental Movie Metropolis to visit his wife with peace of mind.

Three months into filming "Mulan," Guo Fan had a great time shooting.

With a budget of $1 million, Li Qiutang had never spent that much money before.

Guo Fan is really going all out. After filming at the Western Film City, he went to XJ to film the grasslands and snow-capped mountains, and then went to Tongling Grand Canyon in Guangxi Province. Now he is back at the green screen studio of Oriental Movie Metropolis to film special effects scenes, and he will go to Tang City in Xiangyang later.

According to Chen Zhixi, if it weren't for the unsuitable season, Guo Fan would have liked to take the whole crew to Altay to shoot snow scenes.

Li Qiutang didn't tell Liu Yifei before coming to Oriental Film Studio, but he told Guo Fan that he was going to visit the director on set, not to see his wife.

"Don't tell her, I'll scare her," Li Qiutang told Guo Fan to keep it a secret.

The Mulan film crew was mainly filming the major battle scene in the snow mountain in the studio.

This was Li Qiutang's first time visiting the "Mulan" film crew. He first went to the director's booth to see Guo Fan. The director's booth was about half Chinese and half Western.

The Chinese staff were naturally familiar with Li Qiutang, but many of the Western staff didn't. Guo Fan didn't go into much detail, simply saying that Li Qiutang was also a director and Liu Yifei's husband. Sean Vanden, the visual effects supervisor in the director's booth, was American. Hearing Guo Fan's introduction, he was surprised and said to Li Qiutang, "You?! You married Liu?!"

Li Qiutang found it amusing. "I've been married for years, what's so surprising?" she thought. Seeing the man's disbelieving expression, Li Qiutang nodded and replied in English, "Is that surprising?"

He asked again, "Liu married you?"

"We got married in 2015. Do you want to see our wedding photos?" Li Qiutang found it amusing and was actually planning to take out her phone to show him the evidence.

Guo Fan said to Li Qiutang in Chinese, "Yifei is very popular on set. Everyone likes to hang out with her. She's our goddess."

Being liked by people on set is a good thing.

Li Qiutang sat down next to the monitor and saw that the actors on set were taking a break, some touching up their makeup, some drinking water, and some simply sitting on the ground to rest.

After talking with Guo Fan for a while, the assistant director's voice came from the set: "Director, it's done."

Guo Fan then picked up the walkie-talkie and said in Chinese, "Okay, get ready, let's start filming."

Then say it again in English.

Li Qiutang laughed and said, "Is this how you film every day?"

"There's no other way. Half of the crew are foreigners. We can't film without speaking English. It's better now. After being scared for three months, we've developed a tacit understanding. When they see our staff preparing, they know what to do without being told."

Guo Fan glanced at the monitor and said, "I originally learned 'mute English,' and after so many years since graduation, I've completely forgotten it. But for this film, I studied even harder than I did for my college entrance exam." Guo Fan refused to use a translator because he believed that communication through a translator was too inefficient.

With everything going smoothly on set, Guo Fan said in English, "OK."

The assistant director then yelled "Action!"

Filming action scenes is really tough. Liu Yifei had to run and fight again and again while suspended by wires.

While filming, Guo Fan said to Li Qiutang, "Yifei has a nickname on set, Liu Yitiao."

Li Qiutang was puzzled, so Guo Fan explained, "Aside from scenes that require multiple people to work together, she always gets Yifei's solo shots right in one take. Even when filming scenes with multiple people, it's usually someone else who makes the mistake, and she rarely does. That's why we call her Liu Yitiao, or Sister Yitiao."

Li Qiutang said, "Really? You're not just saying this on purpose because I'm here to visit the set, are you? Do you know her acting skills better than I do?"

Guo Fan said, "This is her first film after 'Marriage Story,' and you may not know her current level as well as I do."

Li Qiutang knew that Liu Yifei had finally figured things out in "Marriage Story," otherwise she wouldn't have won that Best Actress award, but Li Qiutang really didn't know how well she could perform after she figured it out.

Today's filming was another action scene, so it didn't showcase my acting skills in dramatic scenes.

Guo Fan then asked, "How exactly did you manage to train them?" Guo Fan wasn't particularly skilled at training actors.

"You have to put in a lot of hard work, plus your own diligence, talent, and a bit of luck. There's no other way." From the moment they got together, Li Qiutang intentionally coached Liu Yifei's acting skills. Just the way she spoke her lines, her intonation and phrasing, took a lot of effort to retrain her. Who told her not to study hard when she was young?

"Okay, hold on a minute, Yifei, come to the monitor." Guo Fan's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

Liu Yifei patted herself off, took the small electric fan from her assistant, and walked towards the director's studio.

"Oh! What brings you here!" Of course, she was pleasantly surprised to see her husband!

(End of this chapter)