1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 274 Booting up

'The Hong Kong team won a big victory over the Chinese national team. Thousands of fans welcomed the Hong Kong stars at Kai Tak Airport.' - Hong Kong Business Daily

"Zhai Yuan went to the mainland to film a new drama. It is said that he was beaten into a pig's head by the Chinese national football fans. Photos of the scene were leaked." - Ming Pao

'91 Entertainment strongly condemned the false statements made by the outside world and announced that the Sino-US co-production "The Invisible Woman" will be released in July. This film has already achieved great success before Hollywood...' - Oriental Daily

Zhai Yuan is not in Hong Kong.

His stories are still circulating in the world.

Under his influence, the publicity and promotion department of Jiuyi Entertainment took advantage of the popularity of the game and came up with a new set of marketing programs that they wrote, directed and performed themselves.

In the conference room, several senior executives held a brief meeting.

"Will the boss be angry if he sees you slandering me like this?"

"I don't think Mr. Zhai would care about such a small matter... He is already a hot topic, so it doesn't matter if he has one more piece of news."

"Let's promote it this way first, otherwise The Invisible Woman won't get enough exposure during the summer."

With Shi Nansheng's decision, the news that Zhai Yuan was beaten into a pig's head in the mainland appeared in the public eye along with the movie "The Invisible Woman".

This method actually has some effect.

When the news that Zhai Yuan was beaten up in the mainland first came out, the publicity department didn't even have to buy newspaper space. A group of media people vividly described the details of Zhai Yuan's beating. Most of them were print media that were biased towards Taiwan, which shows how much Zhai Yuan was hated.

As a result, the Taiwanese print media probably felt unsatisfied and exaggerated the story, even producing a version in which "Zhai Yuan clashed with fans in the mainland and was beaten to death."

The original intention was to blacken Zhai Yuan and the mainland together.

But they underestimated Zhai Yuan's influence among his fans and the fanaticism of his fans.

1024's fans were instantly excited.

Big brother is dead?!
A group of brainless fans didn't care whether the 1024 Theater was still in operation or not. They placed chocolates and flowers directly at the theater's entrance, and came to pay their respects holding a self-made black-and-white photo of Zhai Yuan. The scene was as unlucky as it could be.

When Shi Nansheng and his team saw the situation was out of control, they quickly stepped out to clarify: "Mr. Zhai is fine and is currently filming a new movie in the mainland. Please do not believe any false statements from the outside world. The company strongly condemns and reserves the right to sue. At the same time, the Sino-US co-production "The Invisible Woman" will be released in theaters in the second half of this year..."

To put it simply, it's all nonsense made up by outsiders.

The fans were furious at the time and denounced the unscrupulous media: Are you blowing the big brother to death?
The newspaper that spread the rumor was immediately besieged. This time, the black-and-white portrait was replaced with the newspaper owner and editor-in-chief. Zhai Yuan's fans were so powerful that they forced the newspaper to close down and rectify the situation.

After all the farce, the title "The Invisible Woman" not only appeared in front of the public, but also attracted the attention of peers in the film industry.

……

At Jiahe Film Company.

The second episode of this summer's Lucky Stars series, "Summer Lucky Stars", is still in production. Upon hearing the news, Zou Wenhuai gave an order and all the company's management gathered together.

"This is the information about The Invisible Woman that I just got from America."

Instructing his secretary to distribute the information to everyone, Zou Wenhuai continued, "This movie is currently being taken off screen in North America, so we can't see the original version for now, but the box office data is quite impressive. What do you think?"

Jiahe did not care much about the North American box office of "The Invisible Woman" of more than 30 million US dollars a few years ago, because the company invested in "Cannonball Run" at that time and raked in more than 72 million US dollars in North America.

But these days are different.

After the success of "Cannonball Run", Zou Wenhuai wanted to repeat the miracle and he invested in several movies in Hollywood in the past few years, investing 60 million US dollars in total. However, most of them ended in losses, which made Jiahe short of funds on its books and it could only produce some low-cost action comedies locally.

Ho Kwan-chang asked, “How much did this play cost?”

Zou Wenhuai said: "According to the information given by North America, the entire film cost less than 7 million US dollars to produce."

"Including the actors' salaries?"

“Well, the total production cost… and it’s a science fiction movie.”

After hearing this, everyone in the conference room's expressions changed.

Seven million dollars is probably not enough to pay the salaries of the several white actors who starred in "Cannonball Run".

This small amount of money was actually used to make a science fiction film. What's more important is that there was still a considerable surplus in the North American box office. When the global box office statistics are compiled in the future, won't it be pure profit?

Cai Dusheng said with emotion: "The new generation pushes the old generation forward, and the new generation is overwhelmed by the old generation! It's a pity that this movie is not released in North America, otherwise I would also like to buy a ticket to see it."

Ho Kwan-chang smiled helplessly: "Don't worry, it will be released in Hong Kong during the summer vacation, which will coincide with "Summer Lucky Stars"."

Liang Feng, who was standing by, said with a gloomy face, "Everyone has calculated it clearly. Jiuyi Entertainment's new film will not be released until October at the earliest. How come a film called 'The Invisible Woman' suddenly appeared to connect with the release date of 'God of Gamblers 2'?"

Hong Kong's film companies are now trying their best to avoid clashing with 91 Entertainment's release schedules.

Although Jiahe still appears to be in a confrontational posture on the surface, there is also an unspoken rule like this within the company.

When filming the sequel to Lucky Stars this year, Jiahe had already studied Jiuyi Entertainment's new films this year. Everyone believed that Zhai Yuan would not be able to produce any works in a short period of time since he went to the mainland to film, so Lucky Stars could enjoy the summer schedule alone.

Zou Wenhuai rubbed his face and said, "He filmed this movie 'Invisible Woman' last year. Xu Qi disappeared in Hong Kong for a while, around that time."

Everyone fell silent upon hearing this, and the same thought came to their minds:
It’s strange. Xu Qi also received a lot of production fees when he was at Jiahe, so how come he could only make films like Shushan?
He Guanchang broke the silence and said, "'Summer Lucky Stars' will be released soon. The publicity and promotion fees have been spent. It must be released in the summer."

"Of course it has to be released during the summer season, otherwise even the title will have to be changed. We're going to collide with it anyway, so we might as well crash into it head-on, to avoid the media writing that we're avoiding a fight and are afraid of 91 Entertainment." Zou Wenhuai tapped the table and continued, "Anyway, we'll choose the same day as their release date."

Cai Dusheng half-jokingly said: "Fortunately, 91 Entertainment and our film are not of the same genre, otherwise I would be a little worried if they were asked to make a kung fu movie."

"Kung Fu movie?" Liang Feng on the side said with disdain: "Who doesn't know that the best martial arts team in Hong Kong is in Jiahe? If they can't perform good-looking moves, it's useless to give them Bruce Lee!"

…………“Kung Fu movies are not just about typing, movies are about telling stories after all~”

At night, a bonfire was lit in an open space outside the city of Yanjing.

Zhai Yuan took the barbecue skewers, skewered the mutton he got from his fellow villagers, and roasted it on the fire until it sizzled.

Sitting around were the main creators of the “Once Upon a Time in China” crew.

We're going to shoot a night scene tonight, but the scenery in the village hasn't been set up yet, so we'll shoot this scene in the suburbs first.

The plot is that the big man Yan Zhendong from eastern Shaanxi appears for the second time in the movie, relying on his hard qigong iron shirt to fight against Master Yue in the suburbs.

"Although Yan Zhendong is a villain, he is actually very principled and cannot be considered a treacherous and evil person."

Zhai Yuan said to Yuan Heping: "The actions you designed before were too fierce and could easily destroy the image of this character. Besides, to deal with a character like Yue Menzhu, Yan Zhendong doesn't need to exert his full strength. The highlight is the final duel between him and Huang Feihong..."

During the day, the Yuan family team let Zhai Yuan observe the movements they designed.

For the fight scene between Yan Zhendong and Master Yue, Yuan Heping designed two versions, one more humorous and the other more fierce, but neither met Zhai Yuan's requirements.

Although the character of Yan Zhendong appeared in a down-and-out state in the original film, he at least still had some of the bearing of a master.

When he first came to Foshan, he wanted to make a name for himself with his boxing skills, so he asked everyone he met who was the best fighter in Foshan. When he was performing in front of someone's martial arts gym, he provoked Sect Leader Yue to come out for a duel. But after the fight, Yan Zhendong could see that the opponent's skills were mediocre, so he wanted to stop after a simple exchange of two moves. Unexpectedly, Sect Leader Yue attacked him from behind, which finally made him want to kill him.

Yuen Woo-ping's action design does not reflect these characteristics.

So they worked overtime to come up with a new set, and took Zhai Yuan to the shooting site for a visit.

Yuan Heping said: "I have discussed this scene with the director again, and there should be no problem with the action this time."

Xu Qi nodded and said, "I think we can film this scene tonight."

Zhai Yuan concentrated on the barbecue business, sprinkled cumin on the skewers, and said casually: "Okay, let's let the actors fight first to see the effect."

Not long after, the actors arrived at the scene with their makeup on.

Liang Xiaolong was wearing a homespun gown, had a shaved head, a Qing Dynasty braid on his head, and a few stubbles at the corners of his lips, making him look haggard and weathered.

His appearance is okay, but I have a preconceived impression of Zhai Yuan and I just don't like him no matter how I look at him.

Especially since Liang Xiaolong is only about 1.6 meters tall, it is not convincing to ask him to play the big man Yan Zhendong from eastern Shaanxi.

He pulled Xu Qi beside him and asked, "Are you sure Liang Xiaolong is okay? The Ren Shiguan I recommended to you is not bad. It's not too late to ask him to come over from Hong Kong now."

"It's cheaper to use our own people!" Xu Qi rarely considered the cost, and then said: "Besides, Liang Xiaolong is just a little shorter, so let him pad his shoulders and give him a few more overhead shots, and he will look more sturdy and powerful than Jet Li's Huang Feihong."

After a pause, he continued, "I've never heard of the Ren Shiguan you mentioned, but Liang Xiaolong's Chen Zhen is a household name. He is very good at playing such a master-level character. It's just that the emotional transformation that gradually turns him into a villain in the second half of the plot may need some adjustment."

Zhai Yuan had no objection to Liang Xiaolong's acting skills. He was not even worried about the transformation of Yan Zhendong's character from good to evil. After all, he was both Chen Zhen and the Fire Cloud Evil God. The only thing he was not satisfied with was his height.

However, he couldn't insist since the director had asked him to do so, and after all, he was their own artist, so he said noncommittally, "Let's give it a try first."

It was much easier to cast the role of Master Yue who acted opposite Liang Xiaolong.

In the original film, it was Yuan Xiangren who was in charge of the film himself. Now he is on the set and was directly pulled in to serve as a soldier.

Yuan Xiangren had a similar bald look to Liang Xiaolong, with a few strands of beard growing out to show his identity as the sect leader. As soon as he jumped out of the car, the martial artists from the Yuan family couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Pick! What's so funny? It's a movie!"

Yuan Xiangren is open-minded. He has never cared about his mischievous and ugly image. He even tried the style of an old woman in "The Thousand Faces of Dunjia".

This image is so classic that it was later adopted by Stephen Chow in "Forbidden City Cop".

The actors took their places.

Zhai Yuan’s skewers are finally out of the oven.

Holding a bunch of steel wire strips removed from bicycle wheels, he handed them to the staff around him one by one: "Come on, eat and watch, you're welcome."

Besides the staff of Jiuyi and comrades from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, those who came to visit the filming tonight included the staff of Jiuyi and comrades from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

There are also several directors and production leaders from China Film Studio and TV stations.

The mainland's film industry is not yet well developed, so the Hong Kong directors' coming to film is a rare opportunity for them to visit and learn. It is said that when Li Hanxiang was filming those two Qing palace dramas, almost all the film practitioners near Yanjing City rushed to the scene, and the students from the Film Academy were so crowded that the traffic was once blocked.

Zhai Yuan felt sorry that no students showed up tonight.

It seems that there are many talented people coming out of the film academy these days, even better than Moon Lee and her friends...

"Once Upon a Time in China, Scene 52, First Take, First Time, Action!"

While Zhai Yuan was still lost in thought, the voice of the stage manager rang in his ears.

As the clapperboard fell.

Liang Xiaolong and Yuan Xiangren, both wearing homespun jackets, stood opposite each other.

"You are a northerner, performing in front of my Yue Family Swordsmanship School. I chased you away and even injured my apprentice. What do you call me?"

"Yan Zhendong."

"We, the Yue family, have seven sword techniques and have fought in all nineteen provinces. This time, I will be the host and let you have three moves first..."

(End of this chapter)