Artists under the Rebirth of the Coal Boss

Chapter 146: Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame!
On Tuesday, Lin Xingzhuo, Xiao Ma, and Zhang Youqian departed from Xiaoshan Airport and arrived at Tangdu Xianyang Airport on an Airbus A320 operated by China Eastern Airlines.

Then, they took the bus that the film crew had come to pick them up from the airport and arrived at the Sanqin Jinzuo Hotel on Yanta North Road in Beilin District, officially joining the crew of "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame".

Lin Xingzhuo also met Cao Dun, who had left early to film the Zhejiang TV series "Delicious Food Wins the World" on set.

Cao Dun served as the second assistant director in the team of Zhang Xunwei, the assistant director of the TV series "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame".

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Wu Zetian Liu Jialing strongly recommended it, and it also received support from the director's ex-wife and producer Shi Nansheng.

Lin Xingzhuo replaced Deng Chao in the role of Pei Donglai, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, the fifth lead in the film.

Deng Chao, who lost the competition, entered the variety show arena ahead of time, becoming a guest judge on Dragon TV's "ZG Talent Show".

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In her past life, Lin Xingzhuo watched this movie and her first reaction upon seeing Deng Chao was that he had albinism. She could never connect the character with Deng Chao.

In this respect, Deng Chao's portrayal of Pei Donglai is quite successful! He truly embodies Pei Donglai!
Within the review department's office system, Deng Chao's acting skills were generally well-regarded.

He's incredibly versatile; he can play a handsome guy or a psychopath!
The true general in "Shadow", the character portrayal in "The Dead End", and the never-say-die Jiu Er in "The Breakup Guru".

It's not a rip-off at all!!

Unfortunately, his participation in too many variety shows made it difficult for viewers to connect with him, severely diminishing the depth of his acting skills.

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Cao Dun drove a minivan belonging to the film crew, bringing Lin Xingzhuo, Zhang Youqian, and Xiao Ma to Lao Sun's Restaurant in Tangdu City.

We sat at the innermost table of Lao Sun's Restaurant and ordered four servings of the restaurant's signature dish, the mutton and beef stew, which is known as "the best bowl in the world." We also ordered sesame pork tenderloin, warm lamb chops, braised oxtail, braised camel hoof, and a few bottles of Bingfeng soda.

This is a welcome feast to wash away the dust of your journey!
As Cao Dun ate the tender, flavorful, and fragrant beef and mutton stew, he said, "Brother Zhuo, you're really something, you actually managed to take down Deng Chao."

Zhang Youqian munched on the warm, fragrant lamb chops, first stewed and then roasted, the aroma of fat permeating the meat, and said, "Is Deng Chao really that powerful?"

Cao Dun pinched the edge of the steamed bun with his thumb and forefinger, carefully pinching it into pieces the size of soybeans, and explained as he built his own "water-encircled city":

"Last year's 'Difficult Love' broke the ratings record for Jiangnan TV. Didn't you watch it?"

"There's also the Zhang Jizhong version of 'The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber,' with Deng Chao playing Zhang Wuji, which will be broadcast on Zhejiang TV in November."

"Deng Chao is considered a top-tier leading man in the TV drama industry!"

Zhang Youqian picked up a piece of sesame pork tenderloin and said, "I remember now. I cried watching the tragic love story between him and Hao Lei in 'The Young Emperor'."

Lin Xingzhuo ate the dry-soaked beef and mutton soup with bread, with little broth reduced until there was no soup at the bottom of the bowl, and the bread pieces were chewy and firm. He said, "I heard that the filming discipline of Xu Ke's crew is very strict?"

Cao Dun picked up a piece of soft, chewy braised oxtail and said, "Don't even mention it, the partial set construction of the Tongtian Pagoda in Hengdian is almost complete."

"The scenes in Tangdu are all being filmed at a fast pace. We need to get to Hengdian as soon as we finish filming."

"Director Xu wants to finish filming, and he wants to finish filming. Even if it takes an hour, it has to be finished, no matter how much pain or emotion you're going through..."

"If a shot isn't done well, we won't get any food. Everyone just keeps shooting and shooting... We don't get to eat on set, and we don't even get to sleep. Our job feels like we're on a construction site."

Cao Dun paused here, recalling his experience filming the TV series "Dwelling Narrowness," and shuddered, saying with lingering fear:

"Brother Zhuo, let me check your filming schedule when we get back. When it's time to film your scenes, I'll pack some braised beef sandwiches from here in advance."

"Some people say that it takes six months to recover after working with director Tsui Hark."

Lin Xingzhuo said dismissively, "Then he hasn't kicked a hornet's nest yet."

After the 2020s, when filming the movie "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Tsui Hark and Xiao Zhan finished their collaboration, and Tsui Hark needed to take a six-month break.

Zhang Youqian said, "Indeed, I recently collected some information. Ming Pao Weekly once reported that Director Tsui was very irritable on set, smashing a horn and getting his face covered in blood, and even breaking two of his teeth."

As Xiao Ma ate the soft, chewy braised camel's hoof, he muttered, "This guy's ruthless!"

After eating most of a bowl of beef and mutton soup, Cao Dun added, "These are all rumors. There's even a rumor circulating in the production crew that Xu Ke once killed someone in Vietnam."

Along the way, Xiao Ma also heard Zhang Youqian talk about the crew information of "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame". Among them, the director's resume and shooting style were the most important parts of the information Zhang Youqian had prepared.

Xiao Ma scooped some of the bright red sauce from the dish onto the remaining half of the braised camel's hoof in his bowl and said, "But, given the circumstances in Vietnam back then, it's not surprising that people were killed..."

Lin Xingzhu finished a whole bowl of beef and mutton stew, and then picked up a large piece of braised camel hoof.

He recalled that when Tsui Hark and Liu Chia-ling participated in "A Date with Luyu" to promote "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame," the program invited Henry Lee to participate as well, which led to a memorable scene.

Lee Chang-yu: Have you had breakfast yet?

Xu Ke: I have never killed anyone.

As soon as Lin Xingzhuo joined the crew, he felt the intense work pace of "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame".

For the past few days, under the arrangement of art designer Zhao Chongbang, I've been dealing with chemical reagents every day...

Because of the albino nature of Pei Donglai, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, he also has the characteristic of photophobia.

First, we tried more than a dozen types of white dyes, including pure white, matte white, glossy white, athens white, moon white, ivory white, and cool white.

Next, at Zhang Youqian's request, the tolerance of the cosmetic materials was tested.

Finally, the hair and eyebrows are dyed pure white, and each makeup session takes two to three hours.

Although the cosmetic materials passed the tolerance test, the bleaching and dyeing process still caused Lin Xingzhuo to lose hair every day...

Li Nian was the one who knew how to care for people. After chatting with Lin Xingzhuo on QQ and learning about the situation, he specially sent her a bottle of Kerastase Kumano Horse Oil Shampoo.

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With the makeup and styling finalized, the stylist, Yu Jia'an, spent the following week helping Lin Xingzhuo get used to using sun protection props like cloaks and hats, and practicing maintaining physiological responses such as squinting and tilting her head down under strong light...

In addition, Lin Xingzhuo also participated in a meeting convened by the action director, Hong Jingbao.

Hung King-bo is an authority on replicating traditional martial arts weapons in the Hong Kong film industry, and he personally finalized the custom-made weapons for the character.

Then, the staff of the Sammo Hung Stunt Team designed the moves and conducted the training.

Currently, as per Xu Ke's request, seven weapon switching options have been specially designed for Di Renjie, including the Kanglong Mace, and for Shangguan Jing'er...

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In the evening, the scene was filmed where Li Bingbing, who plays Shangguan Jing'er, shaves Di Renjie.

In this scene, Bingbing needs to simultaneously portray the cold-blooded surveillance of Empress Wu and the dual psychology of the two people's hidden feelings for each other.

Xu Ke refused to use props again, opting instead for a real shaving tool...

With the blade pressed tightly against Andy Lau's throat, the tension and ambiguous atmosphere of the physical contact demanded a very high degree of discretion.

Also, be careful not to accidentally turn it into a Game of Thrones movie and end up with Andy Lau's throat slit...

The script for this scene included the detail "the blade trembled slightly," which led to over a dozen takes.

This resulted in the entire crew not getting any meals and everyone going hungry...

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The executive broker, Xiao Ma, visited Ding Ye's former veterans.

After leaving the military, the other party became the owner of a dump truck business in the area, managing two landfill sites and owning a fleet of dump trucks.

Zhang Youqian was somewhat dismissive.

Lin Xingzhuo, however, called his sister-in-law Shen Mojun and Ding Ye.

Finally, in addition to the standard five-star standard, Xiao Ma was asked to bring over the waste transportation order for the Tiger Eye Vision Group headquarters construction site as a gift.

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This year, the quality of Ding Ye's circle of comrades-in-arms has skyrocketed...

First came the "Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Improvement of the Planned Allocation and Placement Methods for Military Personnel Transferred to Cadres" (Guo Zhuan Lian [2009] No. 1).

Many of our comrades who were transferred to civilian jobs were promoted to high positions to provide emergency assistance to Sallan province and stabilize the western border.

While chatting with Ding Ye, Lin Xingzhuo noticed several names Ding Ye mentioned. According to his memories from his previous life, these names were members of the ministry after returning from several years of training in Shalan Province.

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Ding Ye's former subordinates who were demobilized and did not enter the system mostly returned to their local areas, relying on the mountains and rivers for their livelihood. They could only be considered local bullies in villages and towns, and were not considered respectable.

However, now that the four trillion yuan stimulus package has been implemented, it has taken off all at once.

During the era of the four trillion yuan stimulus package, anyone who could monopolize a mountain or a river in a locality to contract earthwork and sand and gravel projects was a force to be reckoned with.

Ask around locally...

He must be a strongman and hero qualified to be a part of the Water Margin world.

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While Xiao Ma was busy with Tiger Group's coal capital's diplomatic work in Tangdu City, the starving Lin Xingzhuo could only send his agent Zhang Youqian to the Bell and Drum Tower Square...

(End of this chapter)