Huayu Entertainment: The Birth of a Succubus Top Star

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, Gu Zhiyan and Zhou Xingchi met and had a meal together.

As Gu Zhiyan expected, Stephen Chow did indeed want to invite him to play a cameo role as a kung fu master, an opposing player on the field, responsible for high-difficulty kung fu soccer action scenes.

The role isn't large; a couple of days of intensive filming will suffice.

Gu Zhiyan readily agreed, as he still held Stephen Chow in high regard.

Despite his playful, outgoing, and eccentric persona on screen, Stephen Chow is actually an introverted and withdrawn individual in private. He doesn't talk much and is clearly not good at socializing.

Fortunately, Gu Zhiyan knows how to find topics to talk about and can keep the conversation going; otherwise, it would definitely be awkward and silent.

When the dinner ended and they parted, Stephen Chow politely thanked Gu Zhiyan again.

After the second year of junior high school, the older and younger girls began to leave home one after another to go out to work.

On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, Gu Zhiyan, Nazha, and Li Yunxiao went to the filming location of "The Swordsman: The Wind Rises in the Desert," Urho District, Karamay City, Xinjiang.

Li Yunxiao was summoned by Zha to set off together.

On the way, with nothing to do, Gu Zhiyan reviewed the work arrangements for the new year.

First, I'll film "The Swordsman," then "I'll Make You Shine" with Da Tian Tian, ​​then "A Love Letter to Grandma," followed by "Chasing Jade."

This year's schedule is packed.

The TV series "Chasing Jade" was something Tian Xiwei approached Gu Zhiyan with, wanting him to act in it together.

Oh, at this point, the drama was still called "Lady Hou and the Butcher Knife," but it was renamed "Chasing Jade" when filming was nearing completion.

Gu Zhiyan naturally wouldn't show favoritism and fulfilled Xiaotian's wish.

However, the filming schedule will definitely be postponed, which will be a good opportunity for the production team to revise the script.

The first half of "Chasing Jade" was decent, with its scenes of everyday life in Xigu Lane. However, once the main plot of power struggles and war began, numerous logical flaws emerged, the power struggles became childish, the original character settings were drastically altered, the female lead's character development was inconsistent, the villains collectively became less intelligent in the later stages, and the battlefield scenes seriously deviated from common sense.

In particular, outrageous remarks about "massacring the city" are absolutely not allowed to appear.

In terms of makeup, the male lead is positioned as a ruthless and avenging war god, but he still wears exquisite and heavy makeup when he goes to the battlefield, and the "foundation general" absolutely cannot appear.

There are still quite a few things that need to be changed, but there is enough time.

If the script still doesn't satisfy Gu Zhiyan by the time filming starts, he plans to bring the screenwriter to the set.

The film project "Love Letters to Grandma" was not initially favored by leading film companies. Major mainstream film studios generally did not favor the Chaoshan dialect and hometown of overseas Chinese, believing that the audience was narrow and the profit risk was high, and they all refused to invest.

The early script polishing and location scouting were extremely tight, and the production team was only officially assembled thanks to the start-up capital from Rongde Holdings.

The owner of Rongde Holdings is from Chaoshan. He values ​​the local culture and sentiment of his hometown, and his investments have a cultural and sentimental attribute, rather than solely pursuing short-term commercial returns.

But this funding is far from enough to make a complete film.

In its previous life, the entire film was a typical low-budget, grassroots production crew. The biggest challenge came from the equipment and location restrictions imposed by the limited budget. At the same time, they had to lead a group of inexperienced amateur actors and complete the historical narrative across provinces and countries under the pressure of maintaining historical authenticity. The entire process relied on a lot of flexibility and assistance from the public to successfully complete the filming.

Perhaps because of Gu Zhiyan's good reputation in the industry, director Lan Hongchun handed the script to Gu Zhiyan.

After all, Xu Zheng, Wu Jing, and Guo Fan, the three "Gu fans," have been praising Gu for many years. For scripts that Gu Zhiyan likes, he can work for free, and if there is a shortage of funds for filming, he will even help solve the problem of funding shortage.

Of course, any unpaid acting fees should be converted into investment shares, which is only natural.

With funding scarce and no one able to guarantee box office success, this is a godsend!

They'll even pay out of their own pockets to solve funding problems—what is that? That's a "living father"!

After all, nine out of ten film investments result in losses.

Gu Zhiyan naturally wouldn't miss out on this script that was offered to him.

He not only took on the role, but also invested a large sum of money to help the production team solve their funding problems.

When director Lan Hongchun learned of this news, he was stunned by this huge surprise.

He originally just wanted to give it a try, since there was no harm in trying and if it worked, it would be a windfall.

Actually, he didn't have high expectations, but he was surprised to be hit by a windfall. Gu Zhiyan not only wanted to act in the film, but he would also invest money to solve the funding problem.

As for postponing the filming time, Lan Hongchun didn't care at all.

This is Gu Zhiyan!

Everyone in the industry knows perfectly well what his joining means!

However, after the initial excitement wore off, Lan Hongchun became anxious and uncertain again.

Gu Zhiyan's involvement is indeed a great thing, but he is afraid that Gu Zhiyan will interfere with the casting, because he wants to use a non-celebrity for the female lead.

Well, he also wants to use non-professional actors for the other supporting roles, but he's not worried about that. Gu Zhiyan doesn't even like this role.

But the female lead is a big problem.

The story is adapted from the true stories of overseas Chinese in Chaoshan. It pursues the unadorned vitality of ordinary people. Professional actors, who face the camera for a long time, are prone to "acting traces", which breaks the immersive atmosphere of the film, which is similar to a documentary.

Gu Zhiyan is good as the male lead; his acting skills are so good that there is no "acting trace".

However, actresses of the right age simply cannot reach this level.

Professional actors do have greater performance stability than amateurs, and their performances in key scenes are more nuanced, but they lose the natural simplicity of ordinary people.

Moreover, the female lead, Xie Nanzhi, is a native-born Chaoshan Chinese, and her lines contain a lot of local slang.

Even professional actresses from Guangdong need extensive training to achieve a natural and fluent delivery of their native language and to speak in a manner that reflects the lifestyle of Chaoshan women. If their lines are stiff, the sense of regional atmosphere will collapse.

With a mix of trepidation and excitement, Lan Hongchun dialed Gu Zhiyan's number, hoping to discuss this issue with him.

Hopefully, it will turn out well!