1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 188

In an interview later, Wang Jin mentioned that the movie he shot the fastest was called "Tricky Brains".

The entire process, from script, shooting to editing, took only five weeks.

This record was broken today.

The project of "Irresistible Passion" was launched in mid-April. After ten days of shooting, the final scene was finally completed.

The film has a simple structure, consisting almost entirely of indoor scenes.

The plot is nothing more than a voyeur trying every means to get in touch with a beautiful female radio host. Under the protection of his lover and the police, the voyeur kills everyone and finally goes to the sky with the female host as he wished.

Of all the shots, the most expensive one was a birthday party scene. Zhai Yuan felt that 200 yuan was too expensive to hire an extra, so he simply pulled all the company's behind-the-scenes staff into a rented garden villa, did some team building, and completed the filming at the same time.

Of the seven main characters in the whole movie, almost all of them died in the second half, leaving only Lu Huiguang and Tina.

The filming period of the movie lasted ten days in total, and the editing took less than a week.

If it weren't for the need to train and adjust new actors, the progress would be even faster.

The quality of commercial films continues to increase.

Wang Jin's father, Fat Deng, once wrote in a newspaper column that there was a craze for seven-day fresh movies in Hong Kong in the 1950s.

On Monday, the film company will look for actors, ready-made scripts or novels, directors and production crews. On Tuesday, everyone will get together to discuss the shooting details, and finally submit the summary to the director. On Wednesday, the shooting will officially start, and the dialogue will be written while shooting. At the same time, the filmed film will be taken for printing and editing. The shooting can be completed by Friday at the latest. On Saturday, the follow-up work will be done, and copies will be printed overnight. Sunday is exactly the seventh day, and one copy will be sent to the Film Inspection Office for review, and the other copies have been sent to various theaters for screening at any time.

However, with the rise of the "Cantonese film cleaning movement" and the cancellation of the "guarantee" system in some theaters, the shoddy Seven Days Fresh films gradually faded out of the stage.

Until 91 Entertainment made a half-month breakthrough.

Although it is a low-budget third-level film, the speed of shooting it with a group of amateurs who have no coordination with each other is still very exaggerated.

Chen Lan sent the printed copy to the Film Censorship Office for review.

Zhai Yuan and Wang Jin waited for her to come out in the car.

"Director, high!"

In the car, Zhai Yuan was very satisfied with Wang Jin's shooting progress this time.

The movie was shot in the last two days of April, the theater opened on April 4th with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and was released on Labor Day in early May.

The time card is just right.

After half a month of intensive filming, Wang Jin finally relaxed and felt both exhausted and excited.

He never smoked or drank, and relied on coffee and strong tea to stay awake on the set. Later, he simply mixed the two drinks together and only slept three or four hours a day.

Zhai Yuan feels that there is a reason why this kind of person is successful. The audience only sees that he has many works and good resources, but fails to see how hard he works behind the scenes.

"It's not that great. Mr. Zhai wrote a good script. I just followed the routine."

Wang Jin said a few polite words in a hoarse voice. He felt very uncomfortable as he wanted to yawn but couldn't. He rubbed his nose hard and said, "While I was filming this movie, I also selected a few locations for "God of Gamblers" and "Borrowing Seed". The next filming should be smoother."

Zhai Yuan was full of admiration. On the other hand, Wu Yusen was the first one to be given the script of "Shocking Change", but he has been dragging his feet and has only completed half of it now.

He comforted Wang Jin and said, "Don't worry too much. Focus on Borrowing Seed from now on. Is twelve hours of rest enough for you?"

Wang Jin rubbed his face and hesitated to speak, finally saying helplessly: "I will go buy an insurance policy tomorrow. If I die on the set, I can leave some money for my wife to settle down."

The two stayed in the car for about two hours.

During the conversation, they chatted about some gossip in the film industry. As they were talking, Wang Jin's eyes started to stare blankly. He would wait for several seconds before reacting to what Zhai Yuan said.

When Chen Lan came down from the film censorship office and returned with the copy, snoring sounds could be heard in the car.

"What did the censor say?"

Zhai Yuan saw Chen Lan sitting in the passenger seat and asked.

Chen Lan looked back at the unconscious Wang Jin and said with a smile: "The man who reviewed the film asked me to introduce the heroine to him."

Zhai Yuan smiled.

Chen Lan went on to say, "There are no other problems. The reviewer asked us to cut out a few scenes showing pubic hair. I compared it with previously released movies and told him that the scale was not too large. They didn't insist too much. However, it depends on the market reaction after the release. If we receive too many complaints and reports, we will have to take the film down and face a second review."

She said these inappropriate words for children directly, her expression looked very natural, without any shyness or concealment.

Zhai Yuan nodded, quite satisfied with the review result.

Hong Kong does not have a sound rating system at present, and the censorship mechanism is also confusing. Sometimes a swear word in a movie will be ordered to be cut, and sometimes large violent and erotic scenes are allowed to be released without any cuts.

Basically, the first round of review depends on the reviewer's mood on that day, and the second round of review depends on audience complaints.

"Let's send the director back first."

Zhai Yuan glanced at Wang Jin in the back row. He didn't need to cut out the scenes, so he wouldn't be used for the time being. He said to Chen Lan, "Tomorrow we'll have the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the theater. Find a few celebrities to watch the ceremony and do some final publicity."

…………

The last day of April, eleven o'clock noon sharp.

1024 four cinemas located in Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island, Sham Shui Po in Kowloon, Yu Man Square in Kwun Tong and Portland Street in Mong Kok are all open for business.

The opening ceremony focused on Causeway Bay, and this was the first time that Zhai Yuan truly expanded his business from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island.

On the opening day, there were loud gongs and drums and firecrackers.

Two lion dance teams performed a "Cai Qing" drama at the entrance of the theater, attracting a large number of citizens to watch.

The lion head climbed up to the lintel of the theater and spit out a couplet from its mouth, pushing the atmosphere to its climax and receiving constant applause and cheers from the surroundings.

When it came to the official ribbon-cutting stage, in addition to the three stars of Fu Lu Shou who had attended last time, Cai Lan also invited the five tigers of TVB to show her support.

Cai Lan put her arm around Zhai Yuan's shoulder and said, "This is a gift from your sixth uncle. Let them perform something new later and buy all the front pages of newspapers tomorrow."

The four cinemas have changed their ownership on the surface, but in reality they are still Zhao's property, so it is not surprising that TVB came to support them.

You have to pay to buy a fruit basket, and you can instruct your own actors to come and show up without even having to pay them an appearance fee.

On the contrary, you can also earn a red envelope from Zhai Yuan.

This was his first meeting with the Five Tigers, namely Michael Miu, Tony Leung, Wong Chun-wah, Andy Lau and Leung Chiu-wai. At that time, young actors like Cheng Qiu-kuen were looking to develop their careers in the film industry and TVB was in urgent need of new blood, so they asked the five of them to form a group. The title of the Five Tigers was given by Zhao Yi-fu himself.

Zhai Yuan looked at the five people in front of him. Miao and Tang were a few years older and relatively outgoing, while the remaining three were somewhat reserved.

At this point, the five of them all had a pretty good relationship, chatting and laughing with each other during the celebration, but Zhai Yuan knew that it wouldn't be long before a "breakup of the Five Tiger Generals" would occur among the brothers.

"This time we have to see clearly who becomes the traitor first."

Zhai Yuan had been very curious about this question before. There were many different opinions among the marketing accounts, but no one was sure. Now that he had suddenly met the five parties involved, he could not help but be curious and wanted to see what was going on.

"Mr. Zhai."

Just as Zhai Yuan was staring at the five people with a gleam in his eyes, Michael Miu walked up to him as a representative.

Miao Sir played Yang Kang in The Legend of the Condor Heroes last year. He is very popular now, and his career and love life are both successful. He is a perfect match with Maggie Cheung outside the drama, and TVB has made him and Barbara Yung into a golden couple in the drama. The currently popular TV series The Heavenly Master has received a super high rating of 61 points, and he has the potential to become the top actor.

He walked up to Zhai Yuan and said with a smile: "The company asked us to help liven up the atmosphere. We have prepared several programs. This is the program list, please take a look." Then he handed over a piece of paper.

Zhai Yuan took it and took a look. Wow, it really fits his stereotype of TVB.

There are nearly ten items listed on the program.

Go through a fire ring, walk on a tightrope blindfolded, step on a spiked board barefoot, drag a car with your teeth, break a rock with your chest...

They are worthy of being the Wutai Mountain Acrobatic Art Troupe.

Most of these programs are basic operations for TVB's anniversary celebrations, and the artists are accustomed to them, but for Zhai Yuan they are still too advanced.

"Come on! You guys are just here to show your support. There's no need to risk your life, right?"

Zhai Yuan frowned and laughed, then slapped the program back to Miao Qiaowei. It would be inappropriate for such a grand opening ceremony to result in a death.

However, his open-mindedness made the Five Tiger Generals uncomfortable. They got together to discuss it, and fearing that it would be difficult to report back if they did not perform, they found Zhai Yuan to show their appreciation and performed a simple fancy gymnastics.

Zhai Yuan had no choice but to ask them to be careful.

In front of the open space in front of the theater, under the gaze of the audience, the five people rode astride each other and rode a bicycle for a few laps. Then they divided into groups of four, with four of them building a human stage, and the fifth person doing high jump and long jump, and performing all kinds of fancy gymnastics moves on their teammates. It felt like they could sign up for the National Games if they practiced a little more.

The response from the crowd was enthusiastic.

Zhai Yuan asked Lan Juying who was watching the ceremony: "Did you see that? This is the big star you envy. Think about it, if you become famous in the future, can you accept being made fun of and still smile?"

Lan Juying fell silent as she watched the scene in front of her. She had watched the anniversary celebration through the screen before and didn't think there was anything wrong with it, but now, watching the scene up close, she saw the five TVB tigers sweating profusely just to please the company and the boss of 91, which touched her heart a little.

She frowned and asked worriedly, "When we do the promotion for God of Gamblers, you won't ask us to do the same thing, right?"

Zhai Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Hey! That's a good idea. Go back and learn some acrobatics. Then you can promote new plays at the theater gate like them."

Lan Juying was so frightened that she stood there in a daze.

"Then do I also have to prepare a new program to promote it?"

Zhong Chuhong's voice rang in her ears. Sister Hong came with a fruit basket to congratulate him. She just happened to hear him teasing Lan Juying and gave him a teasing look.

In addition to Zhong Chuhong, other people from the "Wushuang" crew also came, and the already full theater entrance became even more crowded.

Zhang Guorong was not present. He discussed with Wu Yusen to finish filming his scenes ahead of time and go to South Korea and the Taj Mahal to hold a concert at the beginning of the month.

Zhai Yuan greeted everyone.

Michiko Nishiwaki came over, also holding a fruit basket.

"Why are you still so polite?" Zhai Yuan pinched her firm and perky butt without leaving any trace.

Michiko said in Cantonese with a Japanese accent: "It's not from me. A little girl outside recognized me and she couldn't squeeze in, so she asked me to give you this fruit basket."

When Zhai Yuan heard her say it was a little girl, he thought Zhou Haimei was stopped outside. He took the fruit basket and looked at the ribbon on it, and found that the signature was actually Zhou Huimin.

"This security guard is so ignorant!"

If even the fair maidens try to stop us, is there still any law?

Zhai Yuan said something indignantly, then rushed out of the crowd.

Looking around, a beautiful figure came into view across the long street.

After not seeing her for a while, Zhou Huimin has grown a lot taller.

She was stopped outside the crowd by security but did not leave. She stood quietly outside waiting for the show to end. Her fresh temperament contrasted sharply with the noisy environment around her.

"Hello, Zhou Huimin."

Zhai Yuan waved to Zhou Huimin across the street. The girl, who was kicking pebbles at her feet out of boredom, looked up with a look of surprise on her face.

There was no scene of two-way running towards each other as in Qiong Yao's dramas. Zhou Huimin lifted up the hem of her skirt and trotted over, calling him "Mr. Zhai" sweetly.

Zhai Yuan asked: "Is the school closed today?"

Zhou Huimin said: "The holiday is tomorrow, May Day, but I have time for a nap at noon."

Zhai Yuan was very touched that she sacrificed her nap to come and congratulate him on the opening of his theater, and decided to give her enough rest time as compensation if she had the chance.

He pointed to the crowd and said, "Come on, I'll take you in to see what's going on."

Zhou Huimin shook her head and said, "No need, I have classes in the afternoon. I just came to give you a fruit basket and say congratulations."

Then he asked with some anticipation: "Also, I want to ask you, can I go to your company for another interview tomorrow?"

Zhai Yuan raised his eyebrows and teased, "Your mother finally believed that I'm not a liar and let you go out to work?"

Zhou Huimin smiled sheepishly: "Yes, I cut out all the newspaper news about your company and showed it to her every day. It was very difficult to convince her."

In order to get Jiuyi's monthly salary of 3,000 yuan, she put a lot of thought into it.

"There's no need for an interview. Just go to the company tomorrow to sign the contract. You're still studying now, so just come and clock in when you're free. Try not to affect your normal life."

Zhai Yuan didn't care how much profit she could bring to the company. Even if she was just a vase in the company, it would be more pleasing to the eye.

He didn't let Zhou Huimin go back. He grabbed her hand in a somewhat rude manner and pushed her into the crowd, saying, "Since you're here, come in and take a look at my new theater."

Zhou Huimin was startled and subconsciously pulled her hand back, but did not pull it out. Her face suddenly turned red.

She felt a little embarrassed and annoyed, but when she saw Zhai Yuan leading her through the crowd without looking away, she wondered if she was overthinking.

…………

The time was already half past twelve noon.

All the necessary procedures and performances were reviewed.

As usual, Zhai Yuan took the microphone and said a few words.

1024 is now somewhat famous in Kowloon, but is still not well known to audiences in Hong Kong Island. Zhai Yuan then briefly introduced the style and features of the theatre.

Finally, he said: "…Thank you for your support, 1024 Cinema officially opened today. We will hold a three-day promotion. In addition to the low price discount for recharging membership cards, the cinema's movie-related peripheral products are also at the lowest price in history. Our goal at 1024 Cinema is to let everyone feel what a real movie-watching experience is."

These words were a bit irritating to the ears. Mixed in the crowd were staff from a nearby theater who came to gather information, and they all frowned when they heard the words.

But the audience was obviously happy to watch the fun, especially the old audience from 1024, many of whom came along to show their support, and they applauded and cheered after listening.

After the speeches, each of the Five Tiger Generals took a string of firecrackers and lit them. Amid the crackling noise, Zhai Yuan and his celebrity friends picked up a pair of scissors and cut the red silk short.

As soon as the ribbon-cutting ceremony was over, a wide piece of red cloth hanging on the wall of the theater slid down, revealing a poster that occupied half of the wall.

On the huge poster, the scene of Lu Huiguang and Tina kissing passionately came into view, causing cheers from the audience.

Although no private parts were exposed, such a blatant poster still had a great impact on the audience.

On the poster, the film title "Irresistible Passion" is written in vertical font. It will be officially released tomorrow, May 5st.

(End of this chapter)