This actor has something

Chapter 369 Persuasion
Mid-October in Northeast China is truly cold; it's a purely physical attack with shield-breaking and critical hit effects.

He Daqi's face was painted like a black donkey's testicle. He was wearing a grayish-yellow cotton-padded coat, but it didn't offer much protection from the cold. Standing in the trench, his upper body was exposed to the back and forth wind, and his face was numb, with his lips cracked open in two places.

He Daqi resisted the urge to lick his lips, especially since he was eating right now. Just a couple of days ago, he licked his lips during a break from filming, which caused them to crack in the wind.

Fortunately, this image perfectly matches the character in the movie; otherwise, I would have to find a way to cover up the cut on my lips.

"All units prepare! Assembly Call, Act VI, Scene 2, Begin!"

With a whoosh, the group in the trench all dropped to the ground, pressing their backs or shoulders against the breastwork, hiding their heads behind sandbags or wooden planks reinforced with wire above the breastwork.

Three cameras, two high and one low, began working above the back wall of the trench. This scene was not shot directly; the camera was constantly adjusted between side shots, oblique side shots, and back shots.

Feng Kuzi stood expressionless behind the camera at the back of the camera position, watching the scene on the monitor. Every now and then, he would turn his head to take a look at the performance of the actors in the trench.

Feng Kuzi is very serious. This film is crucial to whether he can change his career path. He went to great lengths to persuade He Daqi to participate, and Feng Kuzi doesn't want to create any unusable shots due to some basic mistakes.

These past few days he's been yelling at everyone he can find, from props to lighting. Except for a few lead actors who escaped the wrath, almost everyone else has been subjected to some backlash, clearly indicating that he's in a bad mood.

There are many reasons, part of which is due to Deng Chao, and another part is due to difficulties in communicating with the guidance team from South Korea.

Yes, in order to perfectly depict the large-scale war scenes, the movie "Assembly" specially invited the team that filmed "Taegukgi" from South Korea.

When the South Korean team arrived, they acted superior, like they were there to help the poor, not to make money. That was disgusting...

The key point is that the money has already been spent, so if there's any further conflict, it would be like paying money to suffer.

This has caused Feng Xiaogang to be extremely annoyed. The promise to hand over the special effects to the Korean team has been forgotten. Even though the Korean team has reminded him repeatedly, he just laughs it off.

This has deepened the rift between the two sides, with the South Korean team frequently trying to smooth things over or find fault with each other.

Fortunately, He Daqi was in the production team. The Korean team basically avoided He Daqi and didn't nitpick or make things difficult for the actors.

They couldn't afford to offend He Daqi. The Han River Monster in South Korea had just finished its run, with a final box office of 15.6 million viewers, raising the record by more than a million.

He Daqi is currently at the height of his popularity in South Korea, with a large number of female fans who are incredibly powerful. It's entirely possible that a single sentence from He Daqi could trigger a massive farce in South Korea, causing chaos for months on end.

This is not just hearsay. When He Daqi went to perform with the exchange group in August, the scene was packed with people almost every day. On the day they left, a group of Korean girls cried their hearts out and even stormed the airport, causing it to be closed for four hours. In the end, He Daqi had to step in and persuade them for a long time before they calmed down.

They really can't afford to mess with him, so the team from South Korea this time deliberately avoided He Daqi, only daring to find fault with the crew's logistics department. This is also why Feng Xiaogang has been criticizing the logistics department these past few days.

Of course, He Daqi didn't think so. He Daqi felt that Feng Kuzi was just arguing with netizens on Yabo.com and got carried away, which is why he had a bad temper.

The old internet addict teenager can't communicate, and he gets very excited every day.

"Okay, that's all for today."

As soon as the assistant director shouted through a megaphone, the crew immediately relaxed.

The days are short here; it gets dark before 5:30 PM. The film crew's rest area is not close to the shooting location, so they always finish work early and hurry back while there is still some light, otherwise the night roads in Northeast China are not easy to walk on.

He Daqi, with his body bound, leaped up from the trench, displaying his strong physique to the fullest, making the actors behind him, who were clumsily climbing up, extremely envious.

"Mr. He, this way."

Yan Jiu waved to He Daqi from in front of the car. A makeup artist was standing next to him. She knew the crew was about to wrap up and had brought the van in ahead of time.

As soon as He Daqi walked to the car, Yan Jiu draped a military overcoat over his shoulders, while the makeup artist used a towel soaked in makeup remover to wipe He Daqi's face before starting to remove his wig.

After taking off the wig, He Dayu used the warm water that Yan Jiu brought out of the car to wash his face, restoring his pretty-boy image. Then he jumped into the van and took the ointment that Yan Jiu handed him and applied it to his lips.

Normally, he shouldn't wash his face outdoors in this cold weather. He should go back to his resting place and wash his face in a heated room. But his mouth got chapped from the cold. He was worried that it wouldn't heal properly and would delay the roadshow for "After My Flowers Bloom, All Flowers Kill" and the filming of Jackie Chan's Peak Moment. So recently, as soon as he finishes work, he quickly removes his makeup and applies ointment to speed up the recovery.

After all, it will get colder and colder later on, so if I don't recover quickly, it might get worse when we film later.

The heater in the van made He Daqi a little more comfortable. He tightened his coat and was about to tell Qin Long to drive when the door was opened.

Wang Baoqiang squeezed onto the bus with a bright smile, followed closely by Feng Kuzi.

"Daqi, your car is really comfortable," Feng Kuzi praised after settling into the middle row.

“Yeah, I wish I could drive a car like yours someday,” Wang Baoqiang chimed in.

He Daqi's lips twitched, and because of the cut, he clicked his tongue. Ignoring Wang Baoqiang beside him, he asked Feng Kuzi, "Director Feng, are you going back so early today? Don't you need to make arrangements for the crew?"

“I’m already familiar with everything, but I can’t schedule it every day, can I?” Feng Kuzi replied with a smile. Then, his expression turned serious, and he turned back to say, “I happen to have something to discuss with you today, so I came over to hitch a ride with you.”

He narrowed his eyes upon hearing this. He had been wondering why Wang Baoqiang, who had no sense of boundaries and was used to occasionally hitching rides with him, had followed him here today for no apparent reason. It turned out there was something going on.

"Director Feng, wouldn't it be the same to talk about it when we get back?" He Daqi asked tentatively, mainly because Wang Baoqiang was in the car and he wanted to see if it was convenient for Director Feng to talk.

"Once you get back, you won't hang up the phone, you won't have time to talk to me." Feng Kuzi grinned and continued, "Daqi, I want to ask you, isn't your company also working on special effects now? Do you think your company can do the special effects for our movie 'Assembly'?"

Is it because they're tired of the Korean team?

He Daqi understood what was going on after a moment's thought.

It's likely that after Feng Kuzi decided to change his special effects team, he contacted many teams and probably felt that the prices were outrageous. So he remembered that Ya Yue was currently working on the special effects for "After My Flowers Bloom, All Flowers Wither". It's also very likely that Huayi Brothers went to Yonghui Qiming for a look and thought it was reliable, which is why Feng Kuzi asked this question.

"I can't decide this. I can't answer whether it can be done or not. Anyway, 'When My Flowers Bloom, All Other Flowers Wither' will be released in December. Director Feng, you can take some time to see the effect and you'll know what to expect."

“That’s true, there’s no need to rush.” Feng Kuzi nodded, then glanced at Wang Baoqiang subtly and said somewhat cryptically, “Daqi, do you know what Deng Chao has been up to lately? He’s just like you, always on the phone.” Feng Kuzi asked casually, but He Daqi knew that if it weren’t for his family’s shares in Huayi, Feng Kuzi would have already fallen out with Deng Chao given his current half-hearted and listless behavior at Jijihao.

The fact that Feng Kuzi is now coming over to whisper a few words to He Daqi is entirely because Feng Kuzi is doing this out of respect for He Daqi, afraid that he might clash with Deng Chao on set and make He Daqi feel uncomfortable.

"I'll talk to Brother Chao when I get back today."

"It's good to chat. You young people should communicate more. I know you're at the age where you love to have fun, but you can't neglect your work, right?"

"Haha, yes."

Outside, snow began to fall heavily. Wang Baoqiang noticed that He Daqi and Feng Kuzi were not talking, perhaps feeling a bit unaccustomed to the quiet in the car. He smiled and said, "Look, it's snowing outside. Director Feng, it's a good thing you didn't leave late today, otherwise it would have been difficult to get home tonight."

Unfortunately, Feng Kuzi frowned.

Snowfall now is not a good thing, as most snow photography takes place from late November to December, not now.

As mentioned before, the roads in Northeast China at night are not easy to walk on, so Feng Kuzi didn't think too long before taking out his phone and calling the logistics staff who were still packing up their things on set. He told them to find something to cover the props and hurry back.

The van began to slow down, clearly Qin Long felt there was still time and they could get back before dark, so he didn't want to drive too fast in the snow.

His estimate was correct; the van returned to the hotel just as night fell.

He Daqi had promised Feng Kuzi in the car that he would talk to Deng Chao, so he decided to do it sooner rather than later. He got out of the car and prepared to go find Deng Chao.

However, he didn't notice that after getting out of the car and saying goodbye, Wang Baoqiang didn't go back to his room on the first floor, but followed He Daqi up to the third floor.

"Brother, I have something I want to ask you." Just as they reached the third-floor corridor, Wang Baoqiang suddenly spoke up behind He Daqi.

"Holy crap, Baoqiang, you walk so quietly?"

Seeing that He Daqi almost dropped his phone, Wang Baoqiang scratched his head awkwardly.

Seeing his expression, He Daqi knew it wasn't intentional, so he said, "Tsk... What do you want to ask?"

"Brother, you have many connections and you're well-connected in Hong Kong. Can you tell me if there's any future for me if I go to Hong Kong to develop my career as an action star? Recently, a friend of mine suggested this idea to me, but I'm a bit hesitant because I've been making TV dramas ever since 'A World Without Thieves,' and my image hasn't changed much, so my acting roles are getting narrower and narrower."

"Which idiot suggested you go to Hong Kong to be an action star? ...No, I mean, there should still be quite a few production teams in mainland China inviting you, right? If you really can't make it there, then you can consider going somewhere else."

He Daqi blurted out "idiot" as his first word, but seeing Wang Baoqiang's embarrassed expression, he quickly tried to cover it up.

For He Daqi, both Wang Rui and Liu Ying had warned him long ago that Hong Kong cinema was in decline.

He even heard Jackie Chan say the same thing several times when they were drinking together. Not to mention that He Daqi himself had acted in several Hong Kong films and knew many Hong Kong actors. How could He Daqi not know what their mentality was?

So he couldn't understand why Wang Baoqiang, who was doing so well, would suddenly decide to go to Hong Kong to develop his career in 06. What was the difference between this and joining the National Revolutionary Army in 49?

Thinking of this, He Daqi went into the film library to check what movies Wang Baoqiang was going to film next. As soon as he clicked on the first TV series that aired at the end of 06, his eye twitched.

Damn! This TV series called "Soldiers Sortie" is actually going to be the top drama of next year. It won the ratings champion when it airs on Beijing TV next year.

Alright, stop watching.

He Daqi looked at Wang Baoqiang in front of him and didn't know what to talk about for a moment. The charlatan told him that his career would take off next year.
"Brother, do you think it's better for me to stay inland for now?"

"……Correct."

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

"What do you mean you're going to listen to me?" Watching Wang Baoqiang's smiling figure as he went downstairs, He Daqi felt a headache coming on.

If you really think about it, Baoqiang will take off next year, and since I own shares in Huayi, I'll be able to make money from it too. Thinking about it that way is pretty good.

He Daqi shook his head, walked to Deng Chao's room, and knocked on the door.

It took a while for Deng Chao to open the door, still holding the phone in his hand, clearly indicating that he had just hung up.

"What? It's snowing, are you planning to come over for a drink?" Deng Chao's impatience from hanging up the phone in a hurry disappeared when he saw that it was He Daqi who came to see him. He asked with a smile.

"Go in and talk."

He Daqi pushed aside Deng Chao, who was blocking the door, went into the room, sat on the sofa, picked up a bottle of mineral water from the table, twisted it open, and because his lips were cracked, he didn't dare to drink it in big gulps. He took a few small sips and put it down, looking at Deng Chao.

You're in a relationship!

"Who said that! I didn't!"

Deng Chaogang walked over and sat on the sofa. Upon hearing this, he jumped three meters high.

"Stop pretending. Now the whole crew basically knows that the scenes in 'Assembly' weren't filmed in order. They started with your scenes, but when it snowed a few days ago, you just couldn't get into character."
You finally get into the zone, but every time you stop to rest, and then you call back, it's all ruined again. Anyone could tell something's wrong.

As a result, those foreigners who didn't have much screen time in the first place haven't finished filming and have been lingering on set until now. Look, it snowed today, and they have to film your scenes again tomorrow. Are you going to keep dealing with this? Let those foreigners stay on set indefinitely?

When I came back just now, Feng Kuzi specifically looked for me, meaning I should remind you that it's going to snow a lot in Northeast China, and I can't play with you every day, can I?

Deng Chao remained silent for a while after hearing this, then smacked his lips and asked with some confusion, "What is a foreigner?"

This really startled He Daqi, who replied irritably, "It means what the foreign devils mean!"

(End of this chapter)