Huayu: When the director changed his major

Cheng Xi originally thought the two of them wouldn't have much to talk about.

Unexpectedly, Li Xiaoran quickly became close friends with her mother.

Even Cheng Xi could hear the laughter coming from the receiver.

It made him wonder if the person who had just yelled at him was really his mother.

What frustrated Cheng Xi the most was that after talking with Li Xiaoran, her mother became irritable again.

He gave himself a lecture, telling himself to be kind to others and to children, and so on.

this.
The discrimination is too obvious; she's definitely my mother.

After settling everyone in, Cheng Xi spent the evening with Da Ran.

After all, her parents were still around, so it wouldn't be easy for her to leave on her own.

Both of them were very happy.

They even smiled warmly at each other when they looked at each other.

Perhaps the two were uncertain about their future before, but it seems that at this moment, they are completely bound together by their child.

Moreover, both sets of parents now know about and acknowledge this matter.

This was a relief for both of them.

Li Xiaoran has been living in constant fear lately.

I first talked to my parents, and I had to muster up all my courage.

Later, she confessed to Cheng Xi, but was worried that he wouldn't accept it.

Everything's been resolved now; all that's left is to safely and peacefully deliver the baby.

Li Xiaoran: "Da Cheng, I'm so happy today."

Cheng Xi patted her head:

"Me too."

After saying that, Da Ran hugged Cheng Xi tightly.

They hugged each other just as tightly as the first time they were in the tent.

From then on, Cheng Xi spent her days shuttling between the hotel, the film set, and her apartment.

Occasionally, when I have free time, I'll make a video call to Dilraba and Gulnazar.

I'll handle some official business via email.

Deng Jie would compile a general overview of the company's situation every day and give it to Cheng Xi.

Cheng Xi was too lazy to bother, only checking it once every three to five days.

The projects I'm currently working on, such as updating "You Are My Glory," have also been paused.

Since they're all side stories, I can write them later when I have time.

Occasionally, I update the filming progress on Weibo to promote "Detective Chinatown 2".

After the first few episodes of "Battle to the Peak" were edited out, they were sent to Cheng Xi for final review.

After taking some time to watch it, Cheng Xi offered some suggestions for improvement, asking them to adjust the ratio of scenes showing competition and everyday life to approximately 70/30.

This way, it won't seem boring, and even viewers who don't play "Honor of Kings" will be willing to play it.

It can also maintain a certain level of competitiveness.

Then the list of artists participating in the second round was also sent over.

Aside from Tan Songyun (whom Cheng Xi promised), Yang Caiyu (whom he got through Nazha's connections), Meng Ziyi's roommate Lin Zi, and his fellow townsman Bai Xue, the rest were basically arranged by the company.

Lin Zi is a newcomer, and Bai Xue's career is currently stuck in the second or third female lead roles.

Now Yang Caiyu has even become a leading actress.

It's time to put yourself, a fellow villager, in the spotlight.

After all, he's been hanging out with me since freshman year.

Moreover, I have this resource myself.

It doesn't matter who it's given to.

Now "Mr. Donkey" has also been taken off the screens.

Due to positive word-of-mouth, the screening period was extended once.

The box office finally surpassed 10 billion yuan.

It's another classic example of "Zui Bai Entertainment" – a high-risk, high-reward strategy.

Cheng Xi never expected that "Mr. Donkey" would achieve such good box office results.

This demonstrates the high value of combining the "Zui Bai Entertainment" and "Ma Hua" brands.

One has quality, the other has traffic.

With effective marketing, even a small budget can generate huge box office revenue.

After this incident, Cheng Xi's legendary status in the industry continues, especially since his scripts are now extremely rare and highly sought after.

Everyone knows that Cheng Xi generally doesn't write scripts for other companies.

He can take the photos himself.

So they all went to Zuibai Chinese website to negotiate, hoping to acquire some of the copyrights to Cheng Xi's collection of short stories.

This is something that Zuibai Chinese Website definitely cannot decide.

When the report was sent to Cheng Xi, it was naturally rejected outright.

These are all prototypes for the scripts I will make for my own film and television productions in the future; they are just the first things I write to secure copyright.

How could I possibly give it away so easily?

Cooperation is possible, but direct purchase is not.

Directors Zhou Shen and Liu Lu also took off with Cheng Xi.

Now, with high aspirations, he has submitted a film project titled "Half a Comedy" to himself.

After reading the first draft, Cheng Xi realized that it was only a rough prototype of the original version.

So I only replied with three words:
"Polish it more."

As for the actors involved, they all benefited in their own way.

Because the set is small and there are few actors, everyone has a chance to perform.

Ren Suxi, Aruna, Tan Songyun, and others were all promoted several levels in terms of star power.

They're getting interviews everywhere now, asking about the details of filming.

The other main actors also got a chance to showcase their acting skills.

Tickets for performances in theaters are selling much better now than before.

With the box office success of "Mr. Donkey" far exceeding expectations, attention has now shifted to "Hello Mr. Billionaire" being filmed by the Mahua FunAge team and "Detective Chinatown 2" being filmed by Cheng Xi.

The progress of "Hello Mr. Billionaire" is currently much faster than that of "Detective Chinatown 2".

Shen Teng's participation in "Battle to the Peak" took up some time.

Fortunately, the manuscript is mature and won't need to be revised.

Moreover, after such a long period of working together, the Mahua team's filming efficiency is far higher than that of Cheng Xi's multinational production team.

In the end, the female lead role in "Hello Mr. Billionaire" was still given to Ma Li.

Continuing to play the "Shenyang-Ma" combination can be seen as making up for the previous regrets.

The key is that the two actors have great chemistry; let's see if this film, "Hello Mr. Billionaire," can surpass the original.

Many domestic reporters are now frantically contacting the film crew, wanting to visit the set.

Interview the main creators or something.

Cheng Xi rejected almost all of them.

In New York, I was so busy every day that I didn't have time to deal with them at all.

Chinatown, a Chinese job placement agency.

After a series of preparations, the crew began filming.

The proprietress (Fan Tiantian) glanced at Qin Feng:
"The brothel is short of a young master."

Then he glanced at Tang Ren again and said in a helpless tone:

"An old Shanghai restaurant is missing a chopping board operator."

Tang Ren held up Song Yi's photo on his phone and asked:
"Do you recognize this?"

The proprietress: "I don't recognize her!"

However, after Qin Feng called her "sister" in a coquettish manner, the proprietress became more amiable.

He showed Qin Feng his work logbook.

Just as the proprietress was flirting with Qin Feng, Tang Ren interrupted:
"Don't disturb him."

The proprietress said, "Come here, look at your dark and gloomy face. I guarantee you'll have a bloody disaster within three days."

Tang Ren: "Damn it. You even read my face? When I was telling fortunes for other people, you weren't even on your period yet!"

"You say I'm destined for bloodshed? I'd say you're facing a terrible calamity!"

"Click."

After Xin Yukun yelled "Cut!", Cheng Xi, as usual, went behind the monitor to check the footage. Fan Tiantian certainly had a natural comedic presence.

Her figure is similar to Jia Ling's, but her temperament is completely different. She appears much more mercenary and assertive.

This role is perfect for a boss lady who deals with all sorts of people and has no taboos.

His career in the entertainment industry has been full of ups and downs.

She started as a host, and later was spotted by Stephen Chow and signed to star in "Kung Fu Hustle," which was an even better start than Bai Xue's role in "The Flowers of War."

However, due to Huang Shengyi's "Men's Style" incident, she was implicated and subsequently sidelined by Star Overseas until her contract expired in 2012.

That gave her the opportunity to continue in the entertainment industry and appear on many variety shows.

Then, he finally gained widespread popularity on last year's "Qipa Talk".

She later regained popularity with her role as the landlady who slapped Hu Ge in the TV series "Blossoms".

Now that she's joined Cheng Xi's film crew, her performance has indeed been quite good.

It's no wonder that Stephen Chow chose this actor.

"Fan Tiantian acted well; she has comedic talent."

"However, there were a few too many small facial expressions, which made the acting a bit imprecise. Acting in movies is different from other forms of acting; we have to contribute the most essential parts and have a sense of conciseness."

"Otherwise, it will either steal the spotlight or prevent the audience from grasping the main point of your expression. So, you should tone down your facial expressions later. They are okay, but not too many."

As Cheng Xi spoke, he pointed to several frames on the screen.

“Look at this, and this.”

Cheng Xi had seen this kind of acting many times before.

Most novice film actors who have their own ideas make this mistake.

I think more is better.

Acting that reflects reality is good acting.

There will be an unconscious increase in movements and expressions, leading to inaccuracies and a lack of conciseness.

Acting isn't about being real, but about making the audience feel that it's real.

If you can't grasp the principles behind this, it will be difficult to take another step forward as an actor.

Fan Tiantian listened to Cheng Xi's instructions from the side, nodding repeatedly.

She was very excited and even a little surprised to be able to join the cast of "Detective Chinatown 2".

She didn't expect that Cheng Xi had also heard of her name.

Moreover, she knew that Cheng Xi had worked with Stephen Chow, but she didn't expect him to be so unconcerned.

Drunk Bai truly deserves to be called a great director!

Therefore, she cherishes this role very much.

Although she only had a minute or so of screen time, she put a lot of thought into it.

He even consulted some of his friends.

How should it be interpreted?

I thought it would have a good effect, but Director Cheng really taught me a lesson again.

"Director, I think I know how to act now. Let me try again."

"Okay, get ready, we'll continue in ten minutes."

After the crew finished work in the afternoon, Cheng Xi let Xin Yukun film the night scene.

He's taking Zhu Zhu to a dinner organized by CAA tonight.

I had talked to White about Taylor Swift and Gunslinger's song copyrights before, and it just so happens that Taylor Swift will be attending this gathering today.

So White invited Cheng Xi and Zhu Zhu.

If you only want to acquire the song copyrights, you can negotiate directly with the company.

However, Cheng Xi also wanted Taylor Swift to promote his movie.

Therefore, meeting in advance will facilitate discussions on cooperation later.

7 pm.

Zhu Zhu wore a burgundy deep-V dress, carried a small black bag, and had big waves on her head.

She doesn't make a single gesture, yet she's undeniably sexy and alluring.

Cheng Xi also dressed up in a suit and tie, which was rare for him.

Before entering the banquet hall, Zhu Zhu straightened Cheng Xi's tie.

Looking at Zhu Zhu's sexy appearance and her slender fingers painted with burgundy nail polish, Cheng Xi's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.

Zhu Zhu then smiled and whispered in Cheng Xi's ear:
"night."

Since it was a private gathering of fewer than 20 people, there were no red carpets or reporters at the entrance.

Cheng Xi has been here for over a month, and has been busy with her own affairs most of the time.

They rarely go out to socialize.

Not to mention attending American parties.

Zhu Zhu, on the other hand, is more familiar with the industry. She was already active in the American entertainment circle and was a contracted actress with CAA.

So most of the people inside knew each other.

Mr. White and the host of the banquet were also there to greet everyone at the door.

White: "Mr. Cheng, hello. This is Mr. Barton, the president of our CAA New York branch."

“Mr. Barton, this is the Chinese director Mr. Cheng that I was talking to you about.”

The two looked each other over and immediately shook hands warmly.

White then led the two into the inner hall.

As Zhu Zhu greeted the people she met, she explained their backgrounds to Cheng Xi.

Cheng Xi recognized some of them, but couldn't recall the names of most of them.

Listening to Zhu Zhu's introduction, Cheng Xi learned that most of these people were either from the pop music industry or film professionals.

At this moment, Cheng Xi's eyes lit up as he saw someone walking towards him—Wen Ziren.

James Wan is thin and small, with a Chinese face. Although he is not handsome, he is very recognizable.

Seeing this, White immediately introduced the two of them as well.

After all, James Wan is also of Chinese descent.

He subconsciously felt that the two of them should have common topics to talk about.

Cheng Xi also took a glass of champagne from the waiter and clinked glasses with Wen Ziren.

"Hello Mr. Wen, I am Cheng Xi. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hello, Mr. Cheng."

Cheng Xi knew that Wen Ziren didn't speak Chinese or Cantonese, but fortunately, her English was good enough. As long as the vocabulary wasn't too obscure or technical, she could have normal conversations without any problems.

Moreover, Zhu Zhu was there to act as a semi-translation assistant.

White was also there to help introduce Cheng Xi.

James Wan then realized that the person in front of him was actually a director worth billions.

Of course, Cheng Xi's current directorial works have not yet reached this box office level.

However, when you include the producers, executive producers, and screenwriters, it has already exceeded that number.

Moreover, after chatting for a while, he discovered that his "Furious 7" was released in China at the same time as Cheng Xi's movie.

Upon hearing White's explanation that Cheng Xi had managed to gross $300 million at the box office with a production cost of less than $1.5 million, he was deeply impressed.

His expression instantly turned somewhat surprised.

His most successful film to date, "Saw," cost $120 million and grossed $5000 million at the box office.

By this calculation, Cheng Xi's "Mr. Donkey" even exceeded his rate of return.

Moreover, this was happening at the same time as a big-budget production like "Furious 7".

This made James Wan look at him in a new light.

The two continued to chat about movies.

The more we talked, the more interesting I found this Chinese director to be; he was quite different from the general impression of Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.

Most importantly, the person in front of him is so young.

He was already the owner of several companies.

The highest-grossing film in China.

They practically have the words "limitless potential" printed on their foreheads.

James Wan is still very interested in getting to know such a person, even though he himself is currently very popular.

"Mr. Cheng, it's a pleasure to meet you today. I hope we'll have the opportunity to work together next time."

Cheng Xi knew, of course, that this was just polite talk, but he said it with a rather amused tone:

"Mr. Wen, perhaps there's an opportunity. What are your plans for your next project?" (End of Chapter)