It's reasonable for me to be a three-time Golden Horse Award-winning director and an all-around

Chapter 65 The female lead must be burned!
"The costume martial arts drama 'The World's Number One,' directed and written by Wang Jing and starring Huang Shengyi, Ye Xuan, Li Yapeng, Huo Jianhua, Gao Yuanyuan, and Deng Chao, successfully started filming in Wuxi today."

"It is rumored that following the huge success of 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,' director Lu Rui will launch another commercial project, collaborating with top Hollywood studio Warner Bros."

"Casting for The Return of the Condor Heroes is underway."

Late April, Lü Rui successfully returned to China.

Even though reporters and paparazzi are always staking out the airport, they never spotted him because he went straight to the underground parking garage.

I got into the Mercedes-Benz that Zhao Peng had driven, and we sped off straight to the company.

"Brother Rui, the whole industry is buzzing with rumors that you're going to collaborate with Warner Bros. on a movie. Is it true?"

In the car, Zhao Peng couldn't hide his curiosity and asked.

"That's right, it's true." Lü Rui admitted directly.

"Like Columbia Pictures investing in Stephen Chow's 'Kung Fu Hustle'?"

"more or less."

"Holy crap! That's awesome!"

Having satisfied his curiosity, Zhao Peng's eyes widened slightly, and even his breathing became heavy.

My boss is just too awesome!
Although Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Stephen Chow have all collaborated with Hollywood, the youngest among them is over 40 years old.

Now let's look at Lü Rui.

At 22 years old, he has won both the Silver Bear and Silver Lion awards, and is one of only two directors in China to have a film grossing over 100 million yuan...

At this moment, Zhao Peng couldn't help but secretly gasp in amazement!
Following a boss like that guarantees a bright future!
"Oh, right, I have something for you to do. Get it done as soon as possible," Lu Rui suddenly said.

"what?"

"Spread the word that I'm returning to China."

"No problem! Keep it on me."

Zhao Peng patted his chest and readily agreed.

In the entertainment industry, secrecy is always as tightrope as walking, and rumors spread like wildfire.

Sometimes you don't even need to spread it!

As soon as the car stopped in front of the company, Lü Rui got out and immediately noticed several unfamiliar cars parked on the side of the road.

The car window was half-rolled up, and the reflection from the telephoto lens flashed by in the sunlight.

"Hey? Are they spying on me?"

"It must be paparazzi!" Zhao Peng frowned. The surrounding environment was too open, making it impossible to guard against them.

"Ignore them."

Lü Rui turned and went into the office.

As expected, less than half an hour later, Dong Ping called first: "Director Lü, I saw on the news that you're back..."

“President Dong.” Knowing what he wanted to say, Lü Rui interrupted with a smile, “No rush, the script isn’t finished yet. I’ll let you know when the project is approved.”

"Haha, okay, thank you very much, Director Lü. A friend just gave me some tea, saying it can refresh the mind. I'll have my secretary send it over to you..."

All morning, Lü Rui did nothing but answer phone calls.

Huayi Brothers, Bona Film Group, Shanghai Film Group, Enlight Media, Stellar Media... even the man behind Zhang Yimou called enthusiastically, expressing his desire to find an opportunity to collaborate with Lü Rui.

However, without exception, he used the excuse that "the script is not finished yet" to temporarily put it off.

This is not an excuse, but a fact.

The purpose of doing this is very simple: to get these people ready as soon as possible.

Next, while writing the script, he will gradually reveal some information to those who want to compete, so that they can be mentally prepared for something similar to participating in a "bidding" process.

……

Huayi.

Wang Zhonglei was now completely panicked.

He has a wide range of sources of information. Ever since Han Sanping returned to China, he has been receiving inside information one after another.

While the outside world was still speculating whether Lu Rui's collaboration with Warner was real or not, he already knew the project's name.

At the same time, the figure of 7000 million in investment also appeared before him.

Now that Lü Rui has returned to China, seeing the industry buzzing with activity, he naturally doesn't want to be left behind.

Not to be missed.

If he misses out again this time, people will probably never include him in their games again!
Upon realizing this, he immediately assigned the task to his assistant.

"Let's go! To Tianjin!"

Jiang Wen is currently filming "A Letter from an Unknown Woman" in Tianjin with Xu Jinglei.

Wang Zhonglei plans to personally visit Jiang Wen and ask him to rebuild the broken "red thread" and reconnect the relationship.

Even if it requires a huge financial loss, I'm willing to do it!

On the other side, beside the peach blossom grove, Liu Xiaoli was whispering with Liu Yifei: "Director Lü's new project seems to be generating a lot of buzz lately. I wonder if there are any suitable roles for you? We'd like to sign up for auditions."

Liu Yifei shook her head and then raised her phone: "I asked, and no, he told me to focus on filming 'Chinese Paladin' and 'The Return of the Condor Heroes,' and he'll take me on the next project."

"You asked?!" Liu Xiaoli's eyes widened instinctively.

"Yes."

"How did you ask?"

"I'll just ask directly."

"What did he say?"

"He said the female characters in the show are all a bit unusual and not really suitable for a little girl like me to play. Ugh, how annoying! I'm 17 already, how am I little?"

At the company, Lü Rui has already begun refining the script. He first defined the personality traits and physical appearance of several important characters.

Judging from the plot, this is actually a movie with two male leads.

One of them came from a wealthy family, had an "elegant" appearance, and was arrogant, vain, persistent, and cruel.

The other person is a street magician with a "simple" appearance but a stubborn, crazy, ruthless, and contradictory personality.

It's worth mentioning that both roles require the actor to play two or even more characters, so the acting skills must be excellent.

Then there are the two female leads.

One of them was gentle and considerate, but also sensitive. She was eventually tormented by her husband's secret to the point of mental breakdown and committed suicide by hanging!

The other one has a hot body and her allure is off the charts!
Lü Rui highlighted a few words on the latter's character design.

"It has to be gorgeous! Alluring! Stunning!"

In addition, there is a female character who appears early in the story and then drowns, as well as an elderly magician.

As for Tesla and the foreign supporting actors, Warner Bros. will be responsible for finding them; he just needs to send over the role requirements.

With the character designs finalized, Lü Rui began writing the scripts while considering who should play these roles.

He first typed out a line of text at the very beginning:

The film itself is a dazzling magic show!

Story background: Shanghai in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where foreign concessions and Chinese-controlled areas intertwined, saw magic emerge as a popular new form of entertainment, sparking a fierce fusion and clash between traditional magic tricks and Western science...

Meanwhile, just as he was perfecting the script, the outside world became incredibly lively!

When Wang Jing came to the mainland, he brought his ideas for making Category III films with him, which resulted in a large number of beautiful women in "The World's Finest".

In addition, the Hong Kong entertainment media were quite unreliable, actually claiming that Wong Jing had come to the mainland to film Category III films!
As we all know, the group of "old perverts" will never be small, no matter the era.

Especially those old perverts who have seen Wang Jing's Category III films, they regard him as the "father of Category III films"!

There's nothing we can do about it; he's really generous with his perks.
People are already tired of seeing those innocent beauties and goddesses from Hong Kong.

Now that this guy has suddenly come to the mainland... the signal he's sending is making a bunch of old perverts scream!

Riding on this wave of popularity, "The World's Number One" became a hit even before its broadcast!
In contrast, there is "The Return of the Condor Heroes" on the other side.

Zhang Dahuzi is really shrewd, especially when it comes to hype; he's practically mastered it!

For the role of Yang Guo alone, he brought together a whole host of young actors aged 20 to 30, including Li Yapeng, Chen Kun, Tong Dawei, Nie Yuan, Huang Xiaoming, Ren Quan, Lu Yi, and Huang Haibing.

That is, Shi Xue was arrested in 02 for financial fraud, otherwise he probably could have dragged this person out and hyped up the "Eight Beauties Fighting for the Role"!
There are even rumors in the industry that Nie Yuan went to South Korea to undergo jaw reduction surgery in order to win the role.

The character of Little Dragon Girl is even more exaggerated!

Jiang Qinqin, Zhang Baizhi, Faye Wong, Gao Yuanyuan, Zhou Xun, Jun Ji-hyun... a whole bunch of female celebrities were fighting tooth and nail for it!
"Currently, Jiang Qinqin has the most votes online, but I heard that rising star Sun Feifei has also been chosen by Zhang Jizhong."

But Zhou Xun said in an interview that she would play Xiaolongnu, and that she had already reached an agreement with the production team. It's unclear whether that's true or not…

Zhao Peng and Shen Ao would occasionally bring Lü Rui some of the latest gossip.

The casting of Yang Guo and Xiaolongnu has quickly become a hot topic of discussion among the public.

"Hitch, have you finished post-production for that movie, 'Hitch'?"

Lu Rui wasn't really interested in the casting for The Return of the Condor Heroes, since he already knew the answer; he was just watching for the spectacle.

"nailed it."

When the conversation turned to serious matters, Zhao Peng immediately became focused.

"Invite a few investors over, hold a screening, and then submit it for review," Lu Rui instructed.

"Ok."

Zhao Peng turned and quickly left the office, while Shen Ao curiously began to read the new script written by Lü Rui.

However, the more he looked, the more confused he became...

The following morning, everyone gathered in the Beijing Film Academy's screening room.

As a comedy, "Hitch" has a straightforward selling point: the novel concept of a dating guru, the contrast of two love stories, lighthearted and humorous dialogue, and an upgraded romantic comedy formula...

After watching the finished film, everyone applauded and cheered.

"It's in no way inferior to 'Cell Phone'," Ren Zhonglun commented.

Yu Dong nodded in agreement, saying, "It's a very interesting story."

that's enough.

With an investment of 1500 million, a box office of over 4000 million would be enough to make a profit.

Judging from both the cast and the completeness of the story, no one thought this movie would lose money.

Hearing the praise from everyone, Zhao Peng was very excited!
With this movie in hand, his graduation thesis and project are definitely on track.

"Director Lü, how's your new script coming along?" Wang Changtian asked Lü Rui with great interest.

"Don't rush, it'll be soon..."

Before Lü Rui could finish speaking, Jiang Wei, the counselor who had come over to look at the finished film, suddenly nudged his arm. "Do you have anything to do later? If not, come to my office."

"what happened?"

"Let's go first and talk about it later. The main issue is about your protection..."

Before Jiang Wei could finish speaking, a phone rang urgently.

At this moment, not only Lü Rui's phone, but also the phones of the others were ringing!
This scene surprised everyone.

"Hello?" Han Sanping took out his phone first and pressed the answer button.

A few seconds later, he suddenly widened his eyes and looked at Lü Rui with a surprised expression!
"It's Cannes..."

(End of this chapter)