1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 166 Artists in the Training Class
Although "A Better Tomorrow" was released in Hong Kong.

But the heat continues to rise.

Recently, there are many more young people wearing long coats on the streets of Hong Kong.

Wan Ziliang wore the same sunglasses as Alain Delon in the movie, and the same sunglasses in Hong Kong were sold out.

Aladron sent a personal thank you letter to 91 Entertainment.

Chen Shilong returned to Hong Kong from Japan ahead of schedule. After watching "A Better Tomorrow", he called Zhai Yuan to ask him to help him with a script.

At a fan meeting in South Korea, Chen Shilong played "Mark's the Me" on the violin and introduced this unreleased movie to the South Korean audience.

Film critics were also busy, writing articles in various newspapers and magazines, digging deep into "A Better Tomorrow".

These articles also let Zhai Yuan know that in addition to the version of "A Better Tomorrow" directed by Long Gang, Bollywood's "The Wall" and Japan's "The Chase".

Even the scene in the movie where Mark enters the restaurant before the gunfight was an imitation of Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets".

When facing the interview from the reporter, Wu Yusen calmly said that this was a tribute to his predecessors.

Zhai Yuan had no choice but to smile apologetically, fearing that saying one more word would make him look timid.

It seems that pretending to be a genius is not an easy thing. Next time when you copy other people's work, you must do enough homework in advance.

"It's really hard to find a place without a mystery!"

After getting rid of the group of reporters downstairs, Zhai Yuan returned to his office, picked up two sheets of manuscript paper and fanned himself guiltily.

"Boss, Chen Yuexiang, the head of United International Pictures, just called me. Universal, Paramount, MGM, and United Artists have reported back that they have no intention of releasing A Better Tomorrow for the time being."

Wu Yusen also escaped from the crowd of reporters and brought bad news to Zhai Yuan as soon as he went upstairs.

"What did Zhou Zhizheng say?"

Zhou Zhizheng is the head of the joint office of Fox and Columbia in Hong Kong.

"No news yet, I'll ask later."

As soon as Wu Yusen finished speaking, the phone next to Zhai Yuan rang.

Zhai Yuan answered the phone and said a few words to the person on the other end, then slammed the phone on the table, making quite a noise.

He grabbed his hair and smoothed it back, then took a deep breath. "No need to ask. Zhou Zhizheng called. Neither Fox nor Columbia is interested. But he said he would help us contact small and medium-sized distribution companies there. Let's wait a little longer."

Under normal circumstances, it is common for overseas releases to be delayed for several years.

However, Zhai Yuan wants to recover the funds now and cannot wait that long.

"Boss, there is new news from Japan and South Korea."

Wu Yusen continued to report on the situation of overseas distribution companies. He was more concerned about this film than Zhai Yuan. He said, "Both Dongyang Pioneer and South Korean Film have contacted us. We can distribute it there first. After the second round of screenings, we can discuss the distribution of videotapes."

He continued, "In addition, I contacted the Soviet Union's Gorky Film Company. They have helped Jiahe distribute films before, and they are also doing this for "Project A". They are quite experienced."

The country mentioned by Wu Yusen made Zhai Yuan a little dazed.

"Please hire someone."

Rubbing his brows, Zhai Yuan said to him, "In the future, when we discuss distribution with overseas companies, we will definitely have to fly around the world. We still have to find a few professionals to do it. You know a lot of people in the film industry, so I'll leave this to you. It would be best to recruit a few capable and well-connected people from other companies, and you can pay a higher price."

"I know, boss."

Wu Yusen nodded, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he looked at Zhai Yuan with sparkling eyes and said, "Also, I have reorganized the script of "Wushuang" and have a general idea of how to shoot it."

Zhai Yuan looked up at him and said, "Well, that's good. When are you going to start filming?"

"Anytime." Wu Yusen chuckled and rubbed his hands, saying, "But the funding..."

Zhai Yuan glanced at him and sighed.

Money, money!

Just yesterday, I remitted 500,000 Hong Kong dollars to Japan for Guan Weiming. I think even 5 million will not be enough to stop Wu Yusen’s move today.

The 1024 Cinema did make a small profit from selling membership cards and movie peripherals, but before the money could even warm up in their pockets, they used it to renovate the four leading cinemas of the Zhao family.

Now that the overseas box office revenue of "A Better Tomorrow" has failed to recover, Zhai Yuan's entire net worth is only 20 to 30 million yuan.

He went over the scenes of "Wushuang" in his mind again and asked, "Will some scenes in this movie be shot overseas?"

Wu Yusen nodded and said, "That's right, there are a few scenes in Thailand, but we can shoot the local scenes first and leave the Thai scenes for last."

It is common for Hong Kong films to be shot in overseas regions.

Firstly, the local area is small, and with the development of the film market, it would appear crude to shoot in a studio like Zhao did before.

Secondly, there are requirements from investors. For example, Chen Shilong's "Drunken Master" was originally invested by Ho Hongshen, so it had to be filmed in Malaysia.

The investors of Ma Jiao were indeed generous, but the matter of trapping Deng Guangrong was not over yet. If he went to Ma Jiao to solicit investment now, the gambling king might have to throw a few grenades at him first.

Damn it! I have exhausted all the roads to Formosa and Majiao!

"boss?"

Seeing that he was slow to speak, Wu Yusen reminded him.

Zhai Yuan hummed, thought for a moment and said, "Let's take 5 million first, and we'll talk about it later if it's not enough."

Wu Yusen said in embarrassment: "There are not enough actors." Zhai Yuan asked: "How many roles are there in the movie?"

"Let me help you calculate it."

Wu Yusen counted on his fingers, "Di Long, Zhang Guorong and Wan Ziliang are indispensable. There is also Zhang Guorong's girlfriend Michiko, and the female servant who has a crush on him. The real painter Li Wen, and Li Wen's imaginary girlfriend Ruan Wen, and other members of the counterfeit money group..."

In the end, there are almost seventeen roles in this play, from the leading actors to minor roles.

"Hiring people, hiring people, put up two job vacancies outside, and bring over all the actor resumes that have been sent in recently!"

Zhai Yuan felt overwhelmed after hearing this and decided to start recruiting workers formally.

He is not familiar with the administrative staff, so he can ask Wu Yusen to poach them. However, Zhai Yuan probably has a rough idea of who are the good and who are the bad Hong Kong actors.

"Also, go out and spread the word that A Better Tomorrow is going to shoot a second season and invite actors who are interested to come for an interview."

After giving instructions to Wu Yusen, he asked the girl from the Human Resources Department to deliver the resume to the office.

Piles of resumes were soon placed on the table. Most of them were from artists who came to approach him after seeing that Jiu Yi won the box office championship after the New Year.

Most of them are newcomers, many of whom are young men with unfamiliar faces. They probably came here to try their luck after seeing Wan Ziliang, a newcomer in the film industry, become famous.

All these people were screened out by Zhai Yuan.

It's just a small amount of money, so it has to be spent wisely. Young and handsome actors are not valuable now, so it's more important to pick a few talented ones.

There are also some women with unfamiliar faces, whose faces are not familiar and who have no performance works, but most of the photos in their resumes are very outstanding.

Zhai Yuan took the photo and put it in a drawer, and threw the resume into the trash can.

"Huh? This person is also here to apply for the job?"

After flipping through dozens of resumes, Zhai Yuan's attention was suddenly attracted by a familiar face.

Before Bruce Lee, the most popular and expensive star in Southeast Asia was Xie Xian, also known as the fourth brother Xie.

"Zhao Shi is going to be screwed. Actors of this level are all running away."

Zhai Yuan hesitated for a moment with Xie Xian's resume in his hand, but decided to keep it and put it aside. He could hardly play the leading role now, but being a supporting role was definitely the best choice for him.

The second resume that caught Zhai Yuan's attention was from a boy with zero works and average looks.

Police officer Zhang Jiahui, with whom he had met once before at the Ngau Tau Kok Police Station.

"You have to keep this. You're only 20 years old, so it's a little ugly. But if you get double eyelids later, it will look much better."

Zhai Yuan put Zhang Jiahui's resume together with Xie Xian's.

I looked through more than a dozen resumes, but didn't find any familiar faces.

When he was planning to read this first today, he suddenly found a very thick resume. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was several resumes stapled together.

What is this operation? Don’t you know that bound volumes cannot be read?

Zhai Yuan curiously turned to the first page, and saw a photo of a young man with a shaved head.

Wu Zhenyu: 11 years old, graduated from the th Wireless Artist Training Class, has played the role of a disciplinary monk in "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", a student in "A Thousand Miles of Love", one of the five ugly men from the Tibetan border, Song Bingjia, and a disciple from the Unrequited Valley in "The Return of the Condor Heroes".

On the second page of the bound volume, the photo shows a young man with a buzz cut.

Liu Qingyun: 12 years old, graduated from the th Wireless Artist Training Class, and has starred in "****" and "Hong Kong ".

On the third page, the young man in the photo made Zhai Yuan unable to hold back his laughter.

Lee Chi Hung: 11 years old, graduated from the th TVB Artist Training Class, participated in the training class's graduation work "Energetic Eleven", currently working in the Immigration Department as a Level Clerk.

You sent your resume late, Zuo Qianhu, otherwise I would probably have used you to play Tan Cheng in "A Better Tomorrow".

The child is starving to death and you only start to feed him, alas!
Thinking that these three resumes were finished, Zhai Yuan rubbed the paper and found that there was still one.

The photo on the fourth page made Zhai Yuan's eyes light up.

Finally saw a beautiful girl.

Lan Juying: 12 years old, graduated from the 403th Wireless Artist Training Class, played a female student in "Three Encounters" and a female guest in "****", and is currently hosting the children's program " Shuttle"

"Gone?"

Zhai Yuan rubbed the paper again, then flipped through a few more resumes, but no more artists from the training class appeared.

He held up four resumes headed by Wu Zhenyu and said with some regret: "There is only one missing. If there is one more person, I can put together a new wireless five tigers for you."

Zhai Yuan didn't know what these four people were thinking.

But since the resumes were bound together, they must have discussed with each other in advance and planned to escape from Zhao's together.

Considering how stingy the Zhao family is towards their artists, it's not surprising that something like this happened. I just don't know whose idea it was.

"I just got along well with Boss Zhao, and you all jumped ship to Jiuyi. This is putting me in an unfair position!"

Zhai Yuan sighed heavily, but his hand reached for the phone on the table.

Wu Zhenyu, Liu Qingyun, and Li Zixiong passed.

Calling Lan Juying directly, Zhai Yuan asked in a low, bubbling voice, "Hello, I'm the boss of Jiuyi Entertainment. Are you Miss Lan?"

(End of this chapter)