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

Chapter 560 Casting (35)

First, everyone agrees on one concept: a film's final box office performance is the result of multiple factors, and actors are just one of them. Actors can influence box office performance, but they cannot determine it.

and then?
Secondly, the actors, script, production team, and other factors that influence box office performance are also interconnected.

Given the current scarcity of good scripts, the vast majority of actors are selected, not chosen.

The quality of the resources an actor can access should be commensurate with his own status.

There are certainly instances of "finding a bargain" and "misjudging," but these are low-probability events.

For example, "The Imperial-Granted Junior Coroner"...

But the production team behind "The Imperial Coroner" is very strong!
Director Lou Jian is a serious drama director who has directed CCTV dramas. He is somewhat of a national team director who has changed careers, which is why he can produce such rare commercial works with very low investment but high production quality.

His lack of commercially successful works in the past led to difficulties in attracting investment and a shortage of budget, which resulted in the temporary replacement of the actor with a lower salary.

But if you look at Lou Jian's previous works, you'll find that every single one of them is well-made and highly rated.

After the production of "The Little Coroner," the team will no longer face situations where they lack funding or star power.

Therefore, the claim that a certain actor is good at choosing scripts is simply unfounded – there has never been an actor who is good at choosing scripts. To be honest, if we're talking about choosing scripts, who is better at it than Liu Haochun?
Generally speaking, projects starring top-tier stars are usually pretty good...

It will also attract a lot of attention!
For example, Shen Yan, the films he stars in are sure to do well at the box office, and at least they are passable in terms of word-of-mouth.

Gradually, audiences developed a fixed mindset: all the movies he starred in were good, so this one must be good too. In this situation, what drives box office success is not the actor himself, but the audience's expectations of the film's quality.

If he plays roles in the same genre, like those of Stephen Chow or Jackie Chan, then he'll have box office appeal...

In most cases, the scripts and resources you can access are commensurate with your own status!
Objectively speaking, given Zhao Liying's status and popularity, it would be impossible for her to get involved in a project like "Sisters Who Make Waves" under normal circumstances!

But she happens to be the female lead!

Moreover, she is currently filming a movie with Shen Yan.

Many netizens have already included her in the "post-85s generation"!

Popularity and commercial value soared.

……

What were your initial thoughts after reading the script?

"I just think it's pretty fun..."

Zhao Liying was interviewed by Tencent Entertainment in the hotel lounge.

"What psychological burden do you have about playing Shen Teng's mother?"

"No...it was just a joke. We're all actors! Besides, I didn't know about it in the movie, but he did, so if anyone should feel guilty, it should be him!"

"So what kind of director do you think Shen Yan is?"

"...He's amazing. Before the film officially started shooting, he had already planned out all the cuts and basically wouldn't shoot any unnecessary shots... Moreover, he understands actors very well and can accurately express the state he wants... For example, the scene where I seduce Brother Teng, we rehearsed it several times. Before the official filming, he felt that I was too skilled, so he made me do a handstand for several dozen seconds, and then my face turned red."

"You really did a handstand?"

"Well, Xiaohua was actually embarrassed because she was going to blush, but she had to cooperate with her man... She knew that if she did it, her man would be happy, so she did it!"

"Then how do you interpret Niu Aihua's story?"

“A lonely, love-starved little girl… Xu Zhengtai is her everything!”

"So what do you think of the box office performance of 'Duckweed'?"

"...I'm very happy that the box office is so good."

"Did you anticipate the box office performance before filming?"

"We just thought the box office would be good. Actually, when filming started, everyone was focused on presenting the work in the best possible way, and we didn't have time to think about these other things!"

……

In the room, Shen Yan was pondering the second male lead in "Burning," the rich second-generation character...

The plot of "Burning" is simple: the male protagonist, Jang Jong-soo, suspects that Ben, a rich second-generation heir, killed his beloved girl, Shen Hai-mei, and thus kills Ben in revenge. Ben is a rich second-generation heir with antisocial personality disorder.

Shen Yan plays Zhang Zongxiu, and Hai Mei is played by Dilraba. Now all that's missing is a rich second-generation!
Regarding this actor, there are four requirements: First, the age difference cannot be too great; second, the appearance cannot be too different from Shen Yan's; and finally, acting skills…

We definitely need to find a professional actor.
We can still find a few that meet these three conditions.

But the fourth condition: one cannot be unknown; ideally, one should be as popular as Shen Yan…

That's difficult...

Shen Yan is a male actor born in the 85s, and he is the first among the new generation of actors to emerge from the gap in popularity.

The first three conditions are difficult, but not impossible to find. But the fourth one... is almost impossible!
Shen Yan had no choice but to settle for second best and considered a few less popular options... which meant deleting the fourth one.

Anyway, we're not expecting to make a lot of money from "Burning".

That's not a good choice either...

At this moment, Zhao Liying pushed open the door and saw Shen Yan deep in thought, clutching his computer. She immediately asked, "What are you doing?"

"Time to get to work!"

"Working? Writing a new script?"

"You think I'm a script generator...?" Shen Yan rolled his eyes. "I'm thinking about casting for my new movie!"

"new movie?"

Zhao Liying immediately sat down: "What movie? Is there a role suitable for me?"

Shen Yan shook his head: "It's an experimental art film, aiming for awards... There's no suitable role for you!"

Are there no female characters?

"Yes... but this role is for someone born in the 90s, and they need to be good at dancing..."

Zhao Liying said thoughtfully, "I know a girl from Shi Shi's company named Jin Chen. She's a dancer!"

"...I've already chosen the female lead!"

"Who?"

"Reba!"

“Reba…”

Zhao Liying certainly knows Dilraba, she's Jia Yi from "Sisters Who Make Waves"!

So she asked, "You'll be playing the male lead yourself?"

"Hmm... I'm having trouble finding the second male lead!"

Xiao Zhao originally wanted to say, "I'll give you the second male lead role; if I just let the news out, more than half the actors in the country would be happy to take it!"

But seeing that Shen Yan looked troubled, she pressed him for an answer: "What's wrong?"

"The requirements are very high! They have to be around my age, have an air of nobility, look like a rich second-generation, and have superb acting skills!"

Zhao Liying looked at the list of candidates he had compiled: Zhu Yilong, Huang Xuan, Wang Kai, and Zhu Yawen…

"Isn't Zhu Yilong good enough?"

"Brother Long looks like a good person, so it's highly unlikely he'd be believable playing this kind of role!"

"...Who is this Huang Xuan?"

"An unlucky actor..."

Shen Yan began to explain Huang Xuan's experiences of being disliked by several big directors over the years...

(End of this chapter)