Chinese entertainment starts with Hong Shixian

Chapter 511, "Operation Mekong," rewritten script.

“Berna Yu Dong…” Qi Hui stroked his chin.
At the time, he was in Hainan Province, filming "The Vanished Woman," and this was the celebration banquet for "Wolf Warrior."

Back then, executives from companies like Huayi and Berna would come over for a free meal, chatting and joking around.

Qi Hui remembered that when he arrived, he happened to see Yu Dong shoving his fist on Feng Xiaogang's face.

He pressed Feng Xiaogang about the film "Assembly," causing him to leave in embarrassment.

At that time, Yu Dong also told him about the project that Berna was preparing, a movie adapted from the Mekong River case a few years ago.

With this in mind, Qi Hui could roughly guess the specific project.

However... to be fair, if you ignore the violence, the realistic portrayal of Southeast Asians, and the brutality of drug traffickers depicted in the film, the movie "Operation Mekong" is actually just average.

Under such strong external sensory stimulation, most viewers overlooked its shallow storyline.

It's not that this is bad.

There's nothing wrong with it; it's a commercial film, making money is a good thing!

However, there was one thing Qi Hui couldn't quite accept: the narcotics police in the film looked like gangsters from Hong Kong movies engaging in gang warfare.
Zhang Hanyu's character, Gao Gang, is always ready to retaliate, which sounds satisfying, but it's too vague and lacks a broad perspective.

The people's police should not be like this. They have lofty ideals, strict procedures and firm goals. Director Dante Lam simply took the gang warfare from Hong Kong films and put it in a different guise.

If you replace Zhang Hanyu and Peng Yuyan with members of the non-drug-involved Hung Hing, and replace Nuo Ka and others with members of the drug-involved Tung Sing, there's actually nothing wrong with it.
At the start, a Hung Hing henchman is killed, enraging the Hung Hing leader, who orders his Double Flower Red Sticks to retaliate in kind.
Then give him an undercover agent, a few henchmen, and let's get started.

Double-flower Red Stick Gao Gang first surveyed the scene, then contacted undercover agents to dig for clues, and finally determined that the enemy was from the East Star gang. So he set a trap, and the two sides started fighting, blah blah blah...

As for that ancient dragon dressed in rabbit skin, its prestige as one of the three highest officials was essentially zero.

Ultimately, the creators on Hong Kong Island have too narrow a vision.

The movie "Operation Mekong" is only a small part. Qi Hui remembers watching a zombie movie about the corpse of Qin Shi Huang that returned from Myanmar and turned into a zombie...

He couldn't help but scoff when he saw the opening of that movie.

The mighty First Emperor, suppressing all things of his time, defeated the Xiongnu in the north and conquered the Baiyue in the south; under heaven, none dared disobey him.

In Hong Kong films, however, these are depicted as zombies sent back from Myanmar?

And the movie "Operation Red Sea" a few years later was similar.

If you replace the Jiaolong Commando Team in the story with the Hong Kong Flying Tigers, you wouldn't actually see any sense of incongruity.

But the gap between the army and the Flying Tigers... well, back then, even a few militiamen like Ye Jihuan could overpower the Flying Tigers. It's a bit unreasonable to equate the Flying Tigers with the army.

"Let's go back to the company," Qi Hui said.

He already has some ideas about the "Operation Mekong" project.
However, it depends on whether Yu Dong can accept it.

……

Not long after, Qi Hui and Xiao Yang returned to Yixin.

Bernard's Yu Dong was very sincere, arriving around the same time as Qi Hui.

"Oh dear, Mr. Yu, how could we trouble you to come in person?" Qi Hui shook Chairman Yu's hand repeatedly, his enthusiasm boundless.
"I, Qi, am deeply apprehensive!"

Mr. Yu is not only the general manager of Berna, but also the chairman of Berna.
Logically, one should address him as Chairman Yu.
However, the pronunciations of Yu Dong and Yu Dong are too similar, which can easily give the impression of calling someone by their full name.

Therefore, many people naturally choose another name when referring to Yu Dong.

"Haha, Chairman Qi, you're joking." Yu Dong was equally enthusiastic.

"Hey, hey, hey, please don't call me that." Qi Hui waved his hands repeatedly: "You are a senior, just call me Xiao Qi."

"Whether in the business world or on the battlefield, you are a senior!"

"Call me Xiao Qi, it sounds nice to me!"

"Hahahaha..." Yu Dong laughed heartily, feeling relieved.

Who said Qi Hui is difficult to get along with? Isn't he great?
It must be those two old bastards from Huayi talking behind my back!
The atmosphere was harmonious and pleasant; even Xiao Yang and Yu Dong's secretary were infected by the atmosphere and smiled.

As they spoke, the two arrived at Yixin's reception room.

Qi Hui brewed the tea himself, and Yu Dong exchanged a few casual words before getting to the point.

"Operation Mekong, with a total investment of 200 million yuan," Yu Dong said with a smile, as his secretary quickly handed him the documents.

"You've given me the male lead role?" Qi Hui asked with a smile as he picked up the script.
If nothing unexpected happens, the male lead in this script should be a provincial-level anti-drug squad leader, who is quite old, so it's impossible for him to play the role. "Yes, the male lead," Yu Dong said with a smile, "However, the script has two male leads, one old and one young, and you'll play the handsome one."

Qi Hui knew which one he was referring to—the character originally played by Eddie Peng.

His name was Fang Xinwu, I think. His girlfriend was tricked into taking drugs and then committed suicide or something.

This plotline feels abrupt; it would have been better if there had been some foreshadowing.

Qi Hui guessed that there was too much to say, and Dante Lam couldn't edit it all out, so the relevant background information was cut out.

With that thought in mind, Qi Hui had already opened the document. In the screenwriter section, there were six names listed, but apart from Dante Lam, Qi Hui didn't recognize any of them.

He immediately took out his phone and searched for them one by one.

As expected, they were all from Hong Kong Island.

Yu Dong looked at Qi Hui's actions with some confusion, but didn't say anything, quietly waiting for Qi Hui to finish reading the script.

After a long while, Qi Hui finally put down the script.

"How is it? Does it suit your taste?" Yu Dong asked with a smile, full of confidence.
"To be honest... Mr. Yu, I don't feel that good about it," Qi Hui chuckled.

"Uh...oh?" Yu Dong was taken aback for a moment, but quickly composed himself.

He was somewhat bewildered by Qi Hui's words, even though he had great confidence in the script.

But... I didn't expect Qi Hui to react this way.

"Well, how should I put it?" Qi Hui tapped the document and said, "This script has quite a few problems."

"First of all, there are too many characters in the first appearance!"

"The upright Gao Gang, Fang Xinwu, and the special team are almost ten people in total."

"The villainous boss, Nuoka Group, has almost ten people in total."

"Secondly, there are too many action scenes, which are lengthy and exaggerated!"

"The third one... haha, I won't say."

Qi Hui looked at Yu Dong's expression and quickly stopped, deciding to save face for the other party.

“So, Mr. Yu, the problems with this script are... well, quite significant,” Qi Hui said slowly.

Beside him, his secretary pursed her lips, her expression slightly strange.

Xiao Yang, on the other hand, was used to it; she had seen this scene many times before.

Yu Dong took a deep breath: "It seems you don't really like the story of our drama?"

“No, I really like this story,” Qi Hui quickly replied with a smile, his tone and attitude even better.

That's the truth; he really does like it.

Yu Dong's expression softened slightly; that was more like it.

Qi Hui continued, "However, it's not that I can't act in it, but look at this script, how about we revise it a bit?"

"How should we revise it?" Yu Dong also became interested. Qi Hui was the director and also the screenwriter.

Every single one of his works is excellent.

From "The Beginning" and "Glorious Era" to "Wolf Warrior" and "Mojin: The Lost Legend," he either spearheaded the project or revised it under pressure.

That's how "Mojin: The Lost Legend" is. It's ridiculous that those two old bastards interfered, and Qi Hui almost couldn't change the script!

How short-sighted!

Therefore, he was quite curious about how Qi Hui would revise the script.

"Well..." Qi Hui stroked his chin, "How about starting over from scratch?"

Yu Dong: "..."

I take back what I said before!

He suddenly understood those two old bastards from Huayi a little better.

(End of this chapter)