Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 354 A Blatant Sourness
"It's been several days, when are you coming back?"

The night was quiet. Wu Chen looked up at the clock on the wall, which pointed to 8:07 p.m., and called Liu Yifei, who was in Paris.

It was midday in Paris.

Liu Yifei had just finished a round of filming and was sitting in a high-backed chair in the dressing room when she heard the voice coming from her phone, feeling a little sweet.

"Junior brother, wait for me."

She looked at the busy makeup artists and hairstylists in front of the mirror.

A French hairstylist next to her was using a curling iron to carefully curl strands of her sideburns into styling gel. The hair flowed smoothly in front of the mirror, and her sideburns were gently pinned up, creating an atmosphere that was both classic and modern.

"Could we pause for a moment? I need to take a call."

"Of course, there's still plenty of time," the hairstylist replied politely in slightly accented English.

"Thank you." Liu Yifei smiled and bowed slightly, revealing her dimples. She picked up her phone and walked quietly towards the balcony.

In March in Paris, the chill of early spring has just faded, and sunlight filters through thin clouds onto the stone balcony. The wind is not cold, but rather sweet.

In the distance, the soft sounds of cars and pigeons fluttering their wings drifted from the street of Saint-Honoré. She held onto the railing with one hand and held her phone close to her ear with the other.

"Not yet, it will take two more days, because this time the endorsement has been upgraded to a global brand ambassadorship, and we need to shoot pictures for her entire spring/summer product line."

"Huh? Didn't you say it's hard to get promoted to global level? And there are lifetime benefits?"

On the other end of the phone, Wu Chen was taken aback, clearly not very familiar with the structure of the fashion industry.

He had heard of the additional benefits that such contracts could bring—lifetime use, historical retrospection, and even profit sharing when limited-edition collaborations were made.

"Hehe, I can tell you really don't understand." Liu Yifei turned and leaned against the railing, sunlight falling on her profile, making her features soft. "Only the main spokespersons of global perfume lines can have that, like Nicole Kidman before Chanel No.5."

However, I ran into Marion Cotillard when I arrived, and we chatted for a bit. I learned that Nicole Kidman's contract had expired, and many people were eyeing her.

Liu Yifei covered her mouth and chuckled softly as she finished speaking:

"Then, on the first day my mother came here for a meeting, she immediately said she wanted this, which completely baffled Chanel's PR director."

Finally, we discussed the upgraded endorsement deal, but the contract was only for two years for now.

She paused after speaking, then suddenly whispered in a coquettish tone, "I'm hungry, I didn't eat lunch."

Hearing his girlfriend's sweet talk on the phone warmed his heart. He softened his voice to comfort her and they even discussed the movie "Bad Genius" at the end.

Since this matter has been exposed, it's natural to finalize things as soon as possible so that things can be quieter. As for the casting, it's basically up to Ning Hao to choose, since there's plenty of time to screen the candidates.

At this point, Liu Yifei couldn't help but chuckle: "If Director Ning were casting, would he choose Huang Bo for the role? Na Ying always complains about him, saying he always casts the same group of people for every movie, hahaha."

"He won't; the role requirements are clearly stated."

Upon hearing this, Wu Chen couldn't help but chuckle.

Just as the two were joking around, Ning Hao did receive a call from Huang Bo.

"Brother Hao, Brother Hao, I can be the lead actor!" Huang Bo didn't stand on ceremony and started recommending himself in a very casual manner.

Xing Aina was overjoyed when she heard the loud, booming voice coming from the phone.

"You're supposed to be the main character, right? This time it's Iphie who's the female lead, what kind of main character are you? Your image is no good, you've lowered the overall level of attractiveness, maybe next time."

Ning Hao had a clear idea of ​​who was casting for "Bad Genius".

He absolutely had to seize this opportunity to salvage his image of only casting unattractive actors.

What a great opportunity.

With Wu Chen and Liu Yifei joining, the overall appearance has improved significantly. Huang Bo, on the other end of the phone, just chuckled when he heard this, showing no annoyance.

"I'm fine with playing an examiner, a villain, or a security guard. These kinds of roles are available, just give me one of them."

"Hahaha," Xing Aina laughed until her stomach hurt, tears welling up in her eyes, "Aren't you really going to consider letting Huang Bo give it a try?"

"."

Ning Hao was speechless.

The existence of the script for "Bad Genius" was quickly confirmed by all parties. Although there has been no news of the script being approved yet, all parties are actively trying to find ways to participate.

The very next day, several reports suddenly appeared in the media:

[The project "Bad Genius" starring Wu Chen, Ning Hao, and Liu Yifei has been finalized and is awaiting script approval!]

[Liu Yifei's role as co-producer confirmed; film's female lead cast!]

[The major investors for "Bad Genius" have been finalized, and Ning Hao will serve as director.]

In the chairman's office of Enlight Media, Wang Changtian's secretary knocked lightly on the door, looked at her boss, and said softly:
"Chairman Wang, the message has been released through our media outlets as you instructed."

Wang Changtian didn't speak, he just nodded.

The reports were written so meticulously that everyone knew they were probably true. It's likely that the script hadn't been approved yet, otherwise it would have been officially announced already.

"Damn it, I knew it! Such a sought-after project wouldn't make it to the market!"

"We just got the news, and the next day it's said that the project investment has been resolved, right?"

"Isn't the script still under review by the State Administration of Radio and Television with no response yet? How come the producers have already been scheduled?"

"."

For a time, many people in the industry sighed in despair.

Of course, there are many who envy him, but even more are directors who have fallen on hard times.

It's worth noting that some projects may take years to attract enough investors, while others may fill their projects as soon as there's a buzz.

However, the actresses were more focused on the latter part of the news.

The mere mention of "Liu Yifei serving as a co-producer" has already made many actresses in the industry green with envy.

It wasn't jealousy, but rather a blatant sourness.

It's important to know that, aside from unknown art films, in the past, only actors of the caliber of Ge You, Gong Li, and Zhang Ziyi were qualified to participate in the share distribution of a mainstream commercial film as co-producers.

There are certainly a few in Hong Kong as well, but when you count them all, there are very few artists in the industry who can operate like this.

For a moment, they even wondered if the script was written specifically for Liu Yifei.
Otherwise, how come the news only broke a couple of days ago, and they didn't even know what the female lead's role was or what the story of the movie was about? Now there are reports that Liu Yifei has become a co-producer.

Despite being unhappy, the situation was beyond their control, so they had to back down.

You know, this kind of project, where two mainland directors with budgets exceeding 100 million yuan collaborate, is incredibly imaginative. Even if she doesn't get the lead role, getting the second lead role would be excellent.

"You're finally free, but now all the people trying to find out about the roles have turned to me?" Ning Hao was both amused and exasperated. He didn't even need to look to know that Wu Chen or Wang Changtian had spread the news.

"It would have been better if the casting had been done sooner."

"When will Yifei be back? I'll ask her opinion. This script was originally written specifically for her," Ning Hao said, his expression suddenly turning playful as he continued with a smile:
"Speaking of which, if the industry knew that the script for 'Bad Genius' was written specifically for Iphie by one of our team of screenwriters, I don't know how envious and jealous they would be."

(End of this chapter)