Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 373 Yan Wangsun Honglei (34)

Why were you chosen to act in this play?
Shen Yan really wanted to say "Jing Tian recommended it" and then see his reaction...

Never mind...

"The Warring States" is truly a nightmare for Sun Honglei!
His character, Sun Bin, is a simple-minded male lead who spends all his time trying to steal kisses from the female lead.

A military strategist who used all his strategies on picking up women is truly eye-opening.

It can only be said that at this time, Sun Honglei still held himself to high standards as an actor.

Wait a few more years, and after the experience gained from "Go Fighting!"—you can easily make tens of millions just by making a fool of yourself.

Moreover, his popularity skyrocketed – during the years of "Go Fighting!", Sun Honglei landed a lot of advertising deals.

My mindset is definitely different now!

Therefore, Shen Yan said, "This script is actually quite clichéd, and it needs a male actor with strong acting skills to portray it... and he can't be a handsome man in the traditional sense..."

"Can't it be a handsome guy?"

"The traditional definition of handsome...thick eyebrows, big eyes, looking like Takeshi Kaneshiro...if that's the case, the movies wouldn't be interesting!"

Sun Honglei nodded: "That's true..."

"But you can't be too ugly... It's awkward to see someone like Huang Bo in this kind of movie... You have to be charismatic. I feel that among the actors, the most charismatic one is Jiang Wen, and the other is you, Brother Hong Lei!"

Sun Honglei chuckled, his small eyes narrowing into slits: "No, I can't compare to Senior Brother Jiang Wen!"

Oh...she responds better to gentle persuasion than force!

Sun Honglei has a typical Northeastern big brother personality; he's happy to be fawned over!
"After watching 'Let the Bullets Fly,' I kept thinking, what if Hong Lei had played the role of Huang Shilang...?"

"I wouldn't dare compare myself to Chow Yun-fat!"

"I think Chow Yun-fat's Huang Silang wasn't ruthless enough... If Hong Lei had handled it..."

"...You're flattering me too much, I can't handle it..."

Even so, Sun Honglei's eyes were practically closed from laughing...

With just a few words, he developed a great liking for Shen Yan and even regarded him as a close friend!

Then Shen Yan said, "Actually, your image is very suitable for playing the kind of character who uses violence to fight violence... I've been thinking about the 'Northeast Police Story' series... I think you're the most suitable!"

Sun Honglei's eyes lit up: "The Story of the Northeast Police?"

"Yes, three different crime stories: prostitution, gambling, and drugs..."

"Me, playing someone like Chan Ka-kui?"

"Pretty much, but with a touch of humor... I've always thought there's something funny about Brother Hong Lei, it's just that I haven't been able to find it yet!"

Sun Honglei shook his head and said seriously, "Who said that? My performance in 'The Warring States' was quite funny!"

"...But 'The Warring States' isn't a comedy!"

……

"Northeast Police Story" is not Xie Miao's story, but "The Outlaws"...

Actually, Ma Dong-seok's movies are very simple. Just his image stands there, and the basic plot is about violence fighting violence!

Shen Yan initially considered Jiang Wu…

Jiang Wu's image is very similar to Ma Dong-seok's, but Jiang Wu himself wants to be an actor!
Furthermore, his on-screen image isn't really suited to Ma Dong-seok's violent persona...

Sun Honglei is different. His roles in "Conquest" and "Seven Swordsmen" initially established his image as a brute, but his later work, "Lurking," somewhat reversed that image…

But his portrayal of Ma Xidao, or Sun Hongqi, was very convincing!
"The first part is about cracking down on organized crime..."

Shen Yan recounted the story of "The Outlaws," except that Zhang Chen was replaced by a local thug...

"I'm planning to cast Jiang Wu in this role..."

"I feel...is it a little too easy?"

"Popcorn action movies don't need overly complicated plots..." Shen Yan waved his hand: "The story of 'Taken' is also very simple... I can guarantee that as long as it achieves the effect I want, the box office will not be less than 3 million!"

Sun Honglei exclaimed in surprise: "So tall?"

"Action movies are all about the violence..."

“I’ll think about it…” “Brother Hong Lei, our mainland screens lack tough-guy roles. Let’s do this for the sake of Chinese cinema…”

Holy crap, how can making a popcorn flick be related to Chinese cinema?

Why not?
After "Northeast Police Story," they could make "The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil" and "The Evil Neighbor"...

"...I need to talk to my agent about this..."

"That's true... By the way, there's something I could trouble you with..." Shen Yan mentioned the cameo role...

He heard him say he was going to play a star actor who doesn't speak but only makes gestures.

"Why don't you speak?"

"This is a comedy. If you start talking, the dramatic tension will be gone!"

"Too…"

"All the actors in the cast of 'Go for It, Young People!' were recruited by 'Happy Meeting Room'... Do you know 'Happy Meeting Room'?"

"Have you heard of it? A comedy made by a group of young people?"

“Yes!” Shen Yan added, “These actors are all very good, they just lack opportunities… I’ve cast them in supporting roles in my previous films, so I know their abilities very well… Therefore, I made this film… to see if we can bring out a few new generation comedy actors!”

Sun Honglei nodded: "Indeed, there are too few comedians."

"Shall we grab some tea and head over to the film set?"

"Um,"

……

There was no mention of payment...

Sun Honglei's current film salary is no more than 200 million yuan...

Not to mention comparing her to those Hong Kong movie stars, she's not even as good as Shi Shi!

Shi Shi has starred in two blockbuster movies, "Our Times" and "Telephone," and she received a salary of 300 million for "Telephone."

For his next film, "Blind Witness," he received an even higher salary of 600 million.

From the perspective of film salary alone, she is already in the top tier!

Actually, Yang Mi's salary is quite high...

After the huge success of "The Telephone," the "Tiny Times" production team offered her a 350 million yuan contract to join the cast...

Unfortunately, films starring Sun Honglei haven't been box office hits, even though "A Simple Noodle Story" grossed nearly 2.4 million yuan and "If You Are the One 2" grossed 4.7 million yuan...

But the success of these two films has nothing to do with him personally!
The films that were supposed to carry the box office, such as "My Fair Lady", "The Battle of Shama Town", "I Do", and later "Border Town", all had dismal box office results!

Next year's "Drug War" and "Silent Witness" have received good reviews, but their box office revenue is still less than 200 million...

Following that, "The Intouchables" grossed 76 million yuan, and "The Class of 2013" grossed 52 million yuan...

He was rejected by the film industry!

Actually, he was quite regretful. Although he had acted for all three of the top directors in mainland China, most of his roles were cameos.

In "Drug War," Sun Honglei is the main character, but Johnnie To never intended to give him any personality. His original intention was to make him a symbol. I heard that Sun Honglei wanted to add some of his own ideas, but To thought he was being disobedient!
He wasted his prime years – it is generally believed that male actors' prime years are between 30 and 45 years old!
Oh, at this stage, Sun Honglei hasn't encountered any bottlenecks, nor is he resorting to formulaic approaches or rushing to finish his performance; he's genuinely sincere about acting…

A few years later, after "Go Fighting!", his performances became more about formalized external movements.

First, the environment has changed. Public opinion has placed high demands on him, and his co-stars and staff have been praising him in various ways. Even if Sun Honglei has the self-control of an actor, he is bound to fall into a predicament without realizing it—the onlooker sees more of the game than the player!

If actors are spoiled, their acting skills will naturally not improve.

Secondly…

Having been famous for too long and living an upper-class life for too long, they have lost sight of the life of ordinary people.

An actor without a life is like a character without a soul; no matter how well they imitate, it will never have the original flavor, like reinventing the wheel.

In fact, after 93, Maggie Cheung also encountered the same problem - at that time she had already won the Hong Kong Film Awards, the Golden Horse Awards, and the Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award, but her talent was too high and she was not popular!
"Center Stage" earned her the Berlin Film Festival Best Actress award, her second Golden Horse Award, and her second Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress...

Then she chose to retire from acting, only to return three years later with "Comrades: Almost a Love Story," followed by "In the Mood for Love" and "Clean," the latter of which won her the Best Actress award at Cannes...

Of course, no matter what happened to him later, "Lurking" is still a classic, and this role is enough for him to live off for a lifetime!
(End of this chapter)