1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 172 Casting of God of Gamblers
In the 1980s, Chow Yun-fat had not yet reached the point where he had to talk about his billions of dollars of blank checks every time he promoted a new film.

Nor did he casually say the famous line to reporters when faced with rumors that the mainland was treating him coldly:

Don’t look for any more.

At that time, he was still an unsuccessful actor who had just walked from Lamma Island to the city, got rid of the nickname "thin dog", and was labeled as "box office poison".

Xu Wenqiang made him famous in the Chinese community, but because he took roles outside and refused to act in TVB dramas, the two sides became enemies.

Just like later, in order to make a cameo appearance in the blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean", the day before the official filming of "Red Cliff", he suddenly asked Wu Yusen to increase his salary from 5 million US dollars to 40 million, and asked for a one-time payment, plus 50 pages of new terms. In the end, the two sides parted ways unhappily, and he successfully got away and went to Hollywood.

In another timeline, he should have become an instant star with "A Better Tomorrow" a few years later, and had been on the rise ever since, from being a poisonous fortune to being a god-like fortune.

It’s a pity that I offended Mr. Zhai.

"Well, I have told him that. I was very polite at the time and said, 'Brother Fa, our company wants to invite you to a movie. Can we chat about it?'"

In front of Chen Lan and Wu Yusen, Zhai Yuan acted out the scene with great excitement: "Do you know what happened on the street? Director Wu, you heard it too. Tell Sister Lan about it."

"I don't remember, boss."

Wu Yusen thought, who is so petty that he would write down all the bad things someone said a year ago? He must be bored.

"But I remember! Pujie told me, Boss Zhai, I don't think we are very familiar with each other, so where did you get this phone number? Please don't call me again in the future, okay?"

Zhai Yuan repeated Zhou Runfa's exact words, cursing, "You are such an old man! I can't afford to pay him, but it's my money that's the problem? I don't need him now, not to show others that I am powerful, but to tell everyone that things may change over time, don't bully the young and poor!"

Wu Yusen asked: "What if you become rich at the age of 30?"

Zhai Yuan said: "Don't despise the poor middle-aged!"

Wu Yusen asked: "What about sixty years old?"

Zhai Yuan said, "Don't look down on the old and poor! After death, the dead are the greatest. Eighteen years later, you can be a hero again! Fuck you, I'm talking about such a serious matter, and you're telling me a stand-up comedy?"

Wu Yusen laughed continuously and did not ask what stand-up comedy was. He thought it was a new trendy word among young people.

Zhai Yuan looked at Chen Lan and asked, "Why is he willing to film the company's drama for no reason? Isn't he afraid of being banned by Taiwan?"

Chen Lan glanced at Wu Yusen, leaned close to Zhai Yuan's ear, and whispered with a smile, "Axe Jun asked a few brothers to take the contract to see him. Even if he doesn't agree, he can only write a letter of repentance later. That kind of thing is as cheap as straw paper."

Zhai Yuan tilted his face and touched his ear: "Don't talk so close next time. I'm afraid Brother Qiang will misunderstand."

Chen Lan suddenly smiled charmingly.

Wu Yusen was watching from the side, not understanding what was going on. Are they going to play like this in front of me?

But although Zhai Yuan seemed to be joking with Chen Lan, he was actually thinking in his heart.

Letting Axe Jun force the actors to sign the contract should be regarded as a sign that the gangs began to invade the Hong Kong entertainment circle after the Yiqing project.

But now they only dare to bully actors without any foundation.

Just thinking of this, Chen Lan's smile did not fade, and she said casually: "By the way, boss, I heard from Ah Jun that you have a friend named Chen Jiale, and you have been doing business with him recently."

Zhai Yuan frowned and looked up at the woman.

Chen Lan was still staring at him with her big eyes, looking innocently.

Zhai Yuan smiled and lowered his head. He took a cigarette and put it in his mouth. He looked up at Chen Lan and asked, "Have I ever told you that Walt Disney has distributed A Better Tomorrow in North America?"

The smile on Chen Lan's face froze.

She mentioned Xin Ji Axe Jun twice, simply because Zhai Yuan asked her to change the male lead and then the female lead, which made her feel too passive and she wanted to turn the tables without making any noise.

But when he heard that Zhai Yuan had even secured North American distribution, and that it was from one of the eight major film companies in the United States, he suddenly felt a sense of regret.

The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became a little weird. Even Wu Yusen, who was standing nearby, noticed that something was wrong. He retracted his hand holding the teacup and glanced at the two of them with curiosity.

Zhai Yuan and Chen Lan looked at each other for a few seconds, and suddenly grinned: "What I mean is, you should focus on that "God of Gamblers", find a good director, and make the movie look good, then you can take it to America and make the foreigners' money!"

After saying that, he smiled and shook his head, not looking at Chen Lan's expression anymore. He held the cigarette in his mouth and fumbled in his pocket: "The lighter is gone again. I spent several hundred dollars on the St. Petersburgh Studebaker, and I don't know who took it away. Who the hell is that!"

Chen Lan reacted suddenly, and hurriedly took out a lighter from her handbag, and approached with a flame, "Boss, let me light it for you."

Zhai Yuan hummed, biting the cigarette butt and letting Chen Lan light it for him. He took a deep breath and blew out a cloud of smoke. He narrowed his eyes and smiled, "Thank you, Sister Lan, but you should be careful as a woman. Don't light the cigarette everywhere. It will be very serious if there is a fire."

"No, of course I will go there only if the boss tells me to."

Chen Lan breathed a sigh of relief and smiled brightly: "I will replace Zhou Runfa right away. Does the boss have any other candidates to recommend?"

Zhai Yuan said without thinking: "Wan Zi, of course when filming, we should promote our own company's artists first."

This time, before Chen Lan could speak, Wu Yusen said, "Boss, Wan Zi still wants to film my movie."

"It's just two sets of crews."

Zhai Yuan glanced at Wu Yusen with an expression that said, "Look, you have never seen the world."

Being an actor is bound to have to juggle multiple film crews. A few years ago, there was a big sister named Zheng Jiuzu who had to run around nine crews a day and was known as the parasol in the industry.

Of course, the name "parasol" is not the most impressive. Later, there was a beautiful actress named Fennie Yuen who was often late for filming. She even arrived later than Zheng Jiu's group on the same set, so she was nicknamed "parachute".

Why? She is too big to cover!

"Hey! You're in charge."

Wu Yusen hesitated to speak, and finally let out a sigh.

Zhai Yuan asked him: "Don't look so miserable in front of me. Zhong Chuhong will make Ruan Wen for you. Do you want it?"

Wu Yusen thought for a moment and said, "Let's try it first." Zhai Yuan felt that he was somewhat ungrateful.

He then asked Chen Lan: "Can you handle that crazy woman outside? If you can, she will be the heroine of your God of Gamblers. The most important thing is to stop her from bothering me."

The heroine he was talking about was the role played by Joey Wong in the original movie, not the wife of the God of Gamblers. After all, at that time, Lan Juying could not act out the feeling of a young mature woman like Zhang Min.

Chen Lan smiled confidently: "Don't worry, boss. I promise to help you train a batch of top-quality horses. I'll let you inspect the goods next time we meet."

Zhai Yuan always felt that women like Chen Lan, who came from nightclubs, were driving in every word they said.

Thinking of Xinji's background, he couldn't help but frown at her and reminded her: "Hey, if you can use her, use her. If you can't use her, let her go. Don't mess with her."

Chen Lan teased, "Be kind to women? Don't worry, I know how to do it. What other roles require?"

Zhai Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Chen Xiaodao, I want to use Liang Jiahui who was just signed. Director Wu, do you have any objection?"

Of course Andy could also borrow from TVB, but he has not yet opened up the overseas market, so it won’t be as useful as it will be in the future.

Wu Yusen curled his lips and said nothing.

Chen Lan nodded, thinking to herself that it would be Leung Ka Fai and that pretty girl named Lan Juying playing opposite each other. She would have to delete their intimate scenes from the script, or use a stand-in instead, to prevent the boss from getting jealous after seeing it.

In addition, you have to say hello to the men in the crew in advance. If anyone dares to flirt with this beautiful girl, Axe Jun will break their third leg.

It was so thoughtful that even Zhai Yuan had never thought of it.

Zhai Yuan continued, "The wife of the God of Gamblers is not as good as you, Sister Lan. You should go into battle yourself. Wouldn't it be great if you two, Long Wu and Jenny, could do it together?"

"Okay~" Chen Lan agreed without thinking.

The role of the God of Gamblers' wife was a pure vase, she didn't have many scenes and died early. Chen Lan's current appearance is fully suitable for the role.

As for Zhang Min, I don't know where he is now. Most likely he hasn't made his debut yet. There's no point in looking for him like looking for a needle in a haystack.

The two talked about casting again and basically decided that Michiko Nishiwaki would play the sieve queen Kikuko.

Let the senior brother Duan Shuiliu, who is still hanging out with Huang Jun, play the role of Gao Yi, the cousin of the God of Gamblers.

With Gao Yi, Wang Shen and Bai Jie... Zhai Yuan still follows the original film and plans to let Chen Kuian and Wu Mengda play the two villain roles, Dakoujiu and Hua Liucheng.

And it’s not difficult to invite these two.

Chen Kuian and Liang Xiaolong have a half-master-disciple relationship. They used to be martial arts masters together. Although he has now changed his apprenticeship to Li Xiuxian, no one cares if a small actor like him is loaned out.

It is even easier to invite Wu Monda, as he now owes the gang a gambling debt. Xinji stepped in to help him stop the interest on this amount, and let him slowly pay off the principal by filming.

If this supporting role can sign a long-term contract, then sign it. If not, it doesn’t matter. It’s convenient to borrow him.

In addition, the company also tries its best to arrange roles for people like Liang Xiaolong and Luo Jiaying in the drama to let them show their faces.

After discussing with Chen Lan for half an hour, most of the actors were finally confirmed, and the remaining supporting roles were left to her to perform on her own.

Chen Lan finally asked: "What about the director?"

Zhai Yuan looked at Wu Yusen.

Wu Yusen shook his head repeatedly. He basically understood what kind of movie this was, but he felt that it didn't match his style.

Zhai Yuan looked at him with a hopeless look, then turned to Chen Lan and said, "Go find a director named Wang Jin. He has filmed the TV series "King of Gamblers" and the movie "King of Gamblers". He has a lot of experience in gambling movies."

More than an hour later.

Chen Lan walked out of Jiuyi Entertainment wearing high heels.

At the company gate, she met Lan Juying who had not left yet, and a smile broke out on her face.

"Miss Lan?"

"Yeah, you're not also here to audition for the sequel to 'A Better Tomorrow', are you?" Lan Juying looked at the young woman in front of her warily.

"Of course not, but Mr. Zhai told me to give you another role."

Chen Lan smiled and said to her: "Don't worry, she is also the heroine of the movie, are you interested?"

"Will he be so kind all of a sudden?" Lan Juying's eyes flashed with surprise, and then she coughed twice pretending to be reserved: "Then I need to read the script first."

"Okay, come back to the company with me first, and I'll show you the script."

Chen Lan's smile did not fade. She held her arm intimately and walked towards the elevator. She asked with concern, "I heard that Miss Lan lives in Kowloon? What do your uncle and aunt do for a living? Where do they work? How many people are there in your family..."

In the 91st conference room.

Zhai Yuan stood by the window, watching Chen Lan leading Lan Juying towards Sanhe Studio, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally sent away.

The rest depends on how Chen Lan deals with her.

This woman was too straightforward in her actions and she never became famous. She played supporting roles almost exclusively throughout her film career. This time, she was given the role of Joey Wong in God of Gamblers in her debut film, hoping that this would change her.

"Do you have anything else to say?" Zhai Yuan asked when he saw Wu Yusen still in the meeting room.

Wu Yusen reminded: "Boss, you promised to give me a Zhong Chuhong. When can I have the interview?"

"Oh, yes, yes, yes." Zhai Yuan nodded, and instantly forgot about Lan Juying.

He rubbed his hands and adjusted his hair: "Let's go! Let's go meet this Miss Zhong now and see how popular she is!"

(End of this chapter)