This director lacks vision.

Chapter 262 Another Casting Ceremony

Seeing Yan Danchen's confident demeanor, Jiang Yifeng nodded and said, "You are the key character in this movie, so you must perform well."

Let me be upfront: for the sake of the final product, I will have very high standards, and you will have to endure a lot of hardship.

If you want to quit, just say so in advance.

"Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back. Once you've signed the contract, it's too late to back out."

Yan Danchen reiterated, "I absolutely will not go back on my word. Director Jiang, please do whatever you want!"

"That's good," Jiang Yifeng said. "If you do a good job making this movie, it will definitely be a masterpiece in your acting career."

Jiang Yifeng wasn't trying to fool Yan Danchen with these words.

The youth he wanted to film was a completely different story from Feng Xiaogang's.

Feng Kuzi's Youth is adapted from Yan Geling's novel...

The novel *Youth* was published by her in 2017... Both the book and the film tell the story from Xiao Suizi's perspective.

……

However, when Feng Xiaogang was filming Youth, he added his own personal feelings, embellishing some of his own experiences onto the male lead, Liu Feng.

Many people say that Youth is Feng Xiaogang's best film, and Jiang Yifeng also thinks that the film has some merits.

First, Feng Xiaogang captured the repression of his youth very well. The plot involving the male protagonist being bewitched is also very realistic and hasn't changed over the years.

Secondly, the film captures the feeling of the changing times, which is also very well done.

But Feng Kuzi, like most artists, ...

……

……

Jiang Yifeng then wanted to do the opposite...

Yan Danchen hesitated for a moment before asking, "Director Jiang, do you have a script here?"

I want to read the script first and try to understand the character.

Jiang Yifeng smiled and said, "The script is still being written, but I can tell you the synopsis."

After watching a dance performance at school, Liu Miaomiao, a first-year junior high school student, had the idea of ​​learning to dance.

However, her family was very poor and lacked the resources to learn dance.

One day, she heard a rumor that the school librarian, He Qingfang, used to be in the military's cultural troupe and was a very good dancer.

Although He Qingfang was aloof and eccentric, and no one liked her, Liu Miaomiao still sought her out in order to learn to dance.

He Qingfang was indeed a good dancer, but her teaching was extremely strict, even somewhat neurotic and abnormal.

Liu Miaomiao wanted to give up several times, but in order to get ahead, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and persevere.

After getting to know He Qingfang better, Liu Miaomiao began to learn about her past and gradually uncovered He Qingfang's story, which had been buried for 20 years, revealing her glorious era.

This film employs a dual narrative style, interweaving the present with the past.

Twenty years ago, He Qingfang was learning to dance, just like Liu Miaomiao is today.

Both generations worked together, striving for their ideals.

The character He Qingfang is both a student and a teacher, which is a very wide range and requires a high level of acting skills from you.

So you need to practice dancing first and try to use a stunt double as little as possible.

You're in great shape and don't look your age.

If you can practice your dance skills well and perform well, then you can play the role of He Qingfang when she was young.

If your performance is poor, I'll find someone else, and your role will be reduced.

After becoming the boss, Jiang Yifeng became increasingly adept at putting pressure on his subordinates.

Tian Qianwei and Song Zuer are still competing.

Yan Danchen felt the same way; after hearing Jiang Yifeng's words, she felt a sense of urgency.

When a famous director makes a movie, the pre-production preparation time is very long, but the actual shooting time is controllable.

For example, when Zhang Yimou was filming "The Flowers of War," Ni Ni and others trained for more than a year, but Zhang Yimou didn't keep an eye on them and instead filmed other movies first.

He will start filming once Ni Ni and the others have finished training.

Jiang Yifeng was in the same boat at this time, first selecting some actors from the youth drama and having them begin preliminary training.

So that evening, Jiang Yifeng posted a Weibo post.

"I've read all the suggestions everyone gave me."

I have ideas for a serious film, but I have too many other projects on hand, so I need to finish these first. Please be patient, everyone.

The finale of the second season of Sisters Who Make Waves was recorded tonight, and the champion has been decided.

My new movie, "Youth," also has a female lead.

This is an inspirational film with two female leads. Besides the winner of the "Sisters Who Make Waves" competition, it is missing one female lead.

On this occasion, we are once again seeking an actress from across the internet.

Applicants must be between 12 and 15 years old, have a presentable appearance, and those with dance skills will be given priority.

Those interested please send an email to register. The registration format is as follows: "

Jiang Yifeng is decisive and efficient; he immediately started recruiting actresses online.

His approach is not unique.

Nowadays, when big-name directors make movies, they hold auditions for all kinds of roles, or conduct multiple rounds of selection from the general public.

The main purpose is still publicity and pre-launch promotion.

Many movies simply use talent shows or large-scale auditions as a promotional gimmick, when in fact the roles have already been decided in advance.

However, Jiang Yifeng has a good reputation. He initially chose "Little Gao Yuanyuan" and selected Jiang Peiyao, and later chose "National Little Sister" and selected Tian Qianwei.

And competitions on several variety shows.

They have all achieved relative fairness.

Everyone has seen these situations, so every time Jiang Yifeng recruits actors, the buzz is very high, the number of applicants is huge, and the publicity effect is very good.

After he posted this Weibo post, the new movie "Youth" immediately sparked a lot of speculation and discussion.

There were also a lot of people who signed up.

Especially after Yan Danchen unexpectedly won the title of "Sisters Who Make Waves" on the evening of January 1st, it sparked heated discussions across the internet.

Riding this wave of popularity, "Youth" gradually became known to more people.

This is also one of the reasons why Jiang Yifeng agreed to let the winner of "Sisters Who Make Waves" become the female lead in his movie.

The "Sisters Who Make Waves" phenomenon can also generate buzz for movies, so the promotional efforts complement each other.

In particular, Yan Danchen's unexpected victory, even though she was a substitute for Zhang Ziyi, was remarkable.

This adds to the storytelling.

Many people have begun to mock Zhang Ziyi, saying that her withdrawal from the competition made a champion.

Although Youth has already garnered attention, the most talked-about movie these days is undoubtedly Lost in Thailand.

In its first week of release, Lost in Thailand grossed 4.13 million yuan, nearly 100 million yuan more than Return of 20, which was released at the same time.

A new opening week box office record has been set.

To celebrate this record and to boost production during the three-day New Year's Day holiday, the crew of Lost in Thailand released a behind-the-scenes clip about a king cobra.

In the behind-the-scenes video, Jiang Yifeng is seen touching a king cobra on set and interacting with it in various ways, which terrifies the audience.

Xu Zheng was so frightened by the king cobra that he wet his pants, which made everyone burst into laughter.

Wang Sicong immediately shared this behind-the-scenes footage and said, "The actors in the Lost in Thailand crew are all about authenticity."

Don't think that I'm the only one playing myself; Xu Zheng is the same.

You can see how he was so scared by the king cobra that he wet his pants and ran for his life—it was all real.

Why can we be authentic? Because Jiang Yifeng is even more authentic.

To capture the perfect shot, he learned snake training from a local snake trainer in Thailand and eventually tamed the dangerous king cobra.

When a film crew has a director who dares to play with king cobras, I believe no one dares to slack off.

That's why Lost in Thailand is so good.

Since Wang Sicong's "Onion-style love talk" became a hit across the internet, he has had an epiphany.

His mindset is getting better and better. Even when Lost in Thailand was released and people joked about his embarrassing incident with the ladyboy, Wang Sicong didn't get angry.

He also posted a Weibo post: "Can you tell whether a transgender person like Lisa is male or female?"

Anyone who sees it will be confused.

I didn't know the truth, so it's normal that I was deceived.

The real reactions in the movie fully demonstrate that I am a straight man, a normal man.

This is something to be proud of.

Wang Sicong's words, while not stopping people from continuing to joke about transvestites, did make more people like him and think he was a good guy.

With the release of the latest behind-the-scenes footage of King Cobra, Wang Sicong once again took the lead in praising Jiang Yifeng and Lost in Thailand, which garnered the approval of many netizens.

"Jiang Yifeng is really reckless. He dared to touch a king cobra just to make a movie."

"I'm scared when I see king cobras in videos. If I encountered one in real life, I'd probably be just like Xu Zheng and wet my pants from fright."

"Xu Zheng's reaction was hilarious! So that's how the comedic effect of Lost in Thailand came about!"

"Xu Zheng is so pitiful. First he was beaten by Wang Sicong, and then he was so scared by the king cobra that he wet his pants. It's both pitiful and funny."

"There's no way around it. The character of Li Chenggong is funny because he gets beaten up and pranked. When people see Xu Zheng, they think of Li Chenggong. They want to laugh when they see him in a miserable state."

After this behind-the-scenes footage was released, public opinion on Lost in Thailand improved again.

After all, a film crew that is so dedicated, even "risking their lives," is bound to produce a good movie.

With the three-day New Year's Day holiday, people had more time, and the box office of Lost in Thailand experienced another surge.

The three-day holiday generated a total box office of 1.94 million yuan.

By the morning of January 4th, the box office figures for Lost in Thailand had reached 760 million yuan.

The film grossed 7.6 million yuan in just 12 days, only 3 million yuan away from the domestic box office record of 10.6 billion yuan set when it returned to its 20th anniversary.

It's only a matter of time before Avatar breaks its record of 12.2 billion.

This achievement has attracted much attention.

The film market is one of the markets where the head effect is most obvious.

The higher a movie's box office, the more viewers it can attract.

After 12 days in theaters, under normal circumstances, the box office performance of Lost in Thailand should have weakened.

However, the film's popularity continued to rise, and even after the holiday ended on January 4th, it still grossed 38.8 million yuan, showing great staying power.

Some people who don't usually watch movies were drawn to the cinema and watched the film because of the discussions around them.

The more popular Lost in Thailand became, the fiercer the competition became for the role of the other female lead in Youth.

After recruiting actors online, Jiang Yifeng took a week off to enjoy a proper vacation.

He didn't arrive at the martial arts training venue until the morning of January 4th.

The auditions for some of the lead roles in "Youth" are being held here today.

(End of this chapter)