The director starts by learning from the abilities of renowned directors.

Chapter 134 8 million, the ceiling for romance films

Wu Jing came to see Xie Nan, and upon seeing Shen Qing, he volunteered himself. Shen Qing thought for a moment and said, "There's a third male lead in 'Taken 3,' would you like to act in it?"

"Thank you for acting, director."

Shen Qing patted Wu Jing on the shoulder and said, "If you have any good ideas in the future and need funding, you can come to me."

Xie Nan, standing to the side, seemed pleasantly surprised and quite concerned about Wu Jing. Now that the kid had succeeded, Wu Jing immediately bowed to Shen Qing, saying, "Thank you, Director!"

The scenes in Beijing in "Lost in Thailand" are few; Fan Bingbing appears at the end to take a photo with Wang Baoqiang, and then filming officially wraps. Shen Qing plans to release the film during the Spring Festival, but time is still a bit tight, so he personally oversaw the editing for a period of time after filming wrapped.

10月1日至3日，《时空恋旅人》的单日票房都在4000万以上，4日至6日每日2000多万，7日1800万，国庆节结束时电影累计票房7.7亿，媒体预测最终票房将在8.3亿左右。

The film cost 4000 million yuan, of which Shen Qing took 2000 million yuan himself. Magical Films held 95% of the shares. Even with the most conservative estimate, the profit was over 2 million yuan.

A romance film that grossed over 8 million yuan is undoubtedly a top-tier film in its genre, setting a new benchmark for domestic romance movies in terms of both critical acclaim and box office success.

The fact that Shen Qing could achieve such high box office returns for his romance films has further convinced the industry of his vision and ability.

With the box office success of "About Time", Liu Shishi seems to be at the peak of her career. "Chinese Paladin 3" and "Scarlet Heart" were released one after the other. She just won the Golden Eagle Goddess award for the third time. Then, her starring film "About Time" was released and quickly broke 700 million yuan at the box office. It is certain that the final box office will break 800 million yuan!

Liu Shishi became incredibly famous, even to the point of feeling somewhat apprehensive.

They became famous far too quickly and too fiercely!

Gao Yuanyuan and Yu Xiaowei have officially announced their breakup. Previously, Yu Xiaowei even blamed Shen Qing for the breakup on the phone, but he didn't mention Shen Qing at all in interviews. He only said that he longed for a wife who would stay at home to take care of her husband and children, and that he would not date any actresses in the future. He said that both of them were in the entertainment industry and were always on the go, so they were unreliable.

Feeling somewhat apologetic, Gao Yuanyuan privately invited Shen Qing to dinner.

"I have a story—no, two stories—that would be perfect for you. I'll contact you whenever the film project starts."

The original novel of "Caught in the Web," titled "Please Forgive Me," has now been renamed "The Web Fades Away," and the copyright is also held by Shen Qing. Generally, for movies with an original novel, as long as Shen Qing remembers it, the copyright is mostly held by Shen Qing.

The reason he initially said there was one story, and then changed his story to two, is because Shen Qing had wanted to make "Breakup Buddies" while filming "Lost in Thailand." Since he didn't have time to film it himself, he approached Ning Hao to direct it, through Magical Films Investment.

This is a movie that's worth 10 billion; if we don't make money from it, we'll be doing it for free.

The female lead, Kang Xiaoyu, in "Breakup Buddies" was originally played by Yuan Quan, but Shen Qing felt that Gao Yuanyuan was also suitable.

"Then let me toast you."

Gao Yuanyuan stood up and filled their glasses as she spoke.

Actually, she wasn't that career-driven, but since a top global director like Shen Qing had personally promised to cast her in two films, she couldn't help but feel a little tempted.

"Cheers!"

The two men's glasses clinked together.

three days later.

Ning Hao was invited to Magical Films.

"Senior brother."

Ning Hao was slightly reserved in front of Shen Qing.

He was born in 77, Shen Qing was born in 80, and Ning Hao is three years older than Shen Qing. However, Shen Qing graduated from Beijing Film Academy in 1998, while Ning Hao graduated in 1999, so there is no problem with him calling him "senior brother".

"Please have a seat. The reason I invited you here is that I'd like you to direct a script."

"What script? Was it written by someone else, or did you write it yourself, senior brother?"

"I wrote it myself."

"Then I'll take it!"

"What, you're not accepting the assignment just because I didn't write it?"

"If it weren't for you writing it yourself, senior, I would have read the script first before making a decision!"

Ning Hao said half-jokingly.

He was indeed humble in front of Shen Qing. With Shen Qing's achievements, he couldn't catch up even if he tried, but he was not an unknown nobody either!

The two films, "Crazy Stone" and "Crazy Racer," made him a household name in the industry!

"Crazy Racer" cost 10 million to make and grossed over 100 million at the box office. This achievement is absolutely shocking, especially if it's not compared to the monster Shen Qing. Ning Hao is also a bit arrogant.

"I wrote it myself, so you can read the script first before we talk."

Shen Qing took the script out of the drawer and placed it on the table, saying, "A road comedy, which is quite in line with your style."

Ning Hao stood up, walked over, picked up the script, and opened it to find four big characters written on the first page—"Breakup Buddies"!

"Senior, you go ahead with your work, I'll read the script first."

"See?"

Ning Hao sat back on the sofa and began to slowly read the script.

A few minutes later, Ning Hao unconsciously sat up straight, and his eyes seemed to grow brighter and brighter. About twenty minutes later, Ning Hao finally turned the last page.

He carefully closed the script, then looked up at Shen Qing, stood up, and said solemnly, "Senior brother, only you would be willing to hand over a script like this to someone else to film!"

Ning Hao asked himself honestly, if this script were his, he would absolutely not have been willing to hand it over to someone else to film. A top director is a top director, with so many good projects in hand, that even a script of the caliber of "Breakup Buddies" could be discarded—even if it was because of time constraints.

"So you need to film even better and try to make more money for your senior's company."

"Don't worry, senior brother, this script is sure to make a fortune!"

The next day, Shen Qing met Da Peng at the company again. This time, the script he presented was "The Sewing Machine Band".

Compared to Ning Hao, Da Peng is just a nobody right now, so when Shen Qing invited him to act, Da Peng agreed without hesitation. The script? Was it written by Shen Qing himself? Da Peng didn't care! Director Shen Qing was giving him face by inviting him to act, and he had to accept that favor!

When the script for "Sewing Machine Band" came into his hands, he was so excited that he barely paid attention to it. Although he was flipping through the script, all he could think about was, "Shen Qing, this real god, has invited me, Da Peng, to act in this movie!"

"If you were offered the task of directing a film, would you dare to take it?"

"I dare!"

As soon as he uttered the words "I dare," Da Peng immediately realized something was wrong.

You want him to be the director? Not the lead actor?

"Mr. Shen, you misspoke, didn't you? You should be here to star," not to direct, right? I have some acting experience, but I really have no directing experience."

"Experience can be accumulated, and if you lack basic skills, you can hire three or five knowledgeable assistant directors to help you. The key is whether you have the courage and responsibility."

Dapeng fell silent for two or three minutes before nodding very solemnly.

"Mr. Shen, thank you for your trust!"

He stood up and bowed deeply.

In the following days, Ning Hao and Da Peng went to the Magical Film Company every day, and sometimes they would run into each other.

The first thing to determine is the approximate investment amount.

The investment for "Breakup Buddies" was set at 30 million yuan, with Magic Pictures holding 85% of the shares, and China Film Group, Enlight Media, and Ning Hao Studio holding the remaining 15%. The film was distributed by Enlight Media and China Film Group.

The investment in "Sewing Machine Band" was 15 million yuan, with Magic Film Company holding 90% of the shares.

The next issue is casting.

The male lead, Geng Hao, would definitely be played by Huang Bo. After reading the script, Huang Bo was the first person Ning Hao thought of. As for the other male lead, Hao Yi, to be honest, Ning Hao's first thought after reading the script was his senior brother, Shen Qing. However, he knew that was impossible; if his senior brother had time, the script wouldn't have ended up in his hands. So, he settled for Xu Zheng, and Shen Qing agreed.

Next, Shen Qing directly intervened in the roles of several female characters in the film:

The female lead, Kang Xiaoyu, will be played by Gao Yuanyuan.

Zhao Liying plays Zhou Lijuan, a post-90s small-town "shamate" girl, who is the same girl with yellow hair played by Zhou Dongyu in the original version. Shen Qing changed the character's name to Zhao Lijuan.

Guli Nazha plays Si Qing, the tall, leggy woman the two main characters encounter on the road, the girl whose car crashes into a rock, causing the brakes to fail.

Siqing's labels—long legs, aloof goddess, and nine-headed figure—are quite compatible with Gulnazar. Gulnazar's flaw is that her appearance has strong regional characteristics, but this is not a big problem in this modern road movie.

The biggest problem with Naza playing Siqing is her acting skills.

"Guli Nazha is a newly signed actress from our Magical Films, and I want to give her a boost. Her advantage is that her appearance is a good fit for the role, and she has a model's figure with long legs. The disadvantage is that you can't have high expectations for her acting skills. Let's make up for it with film and time. With proper training, she should be fine. Fortunately, the role doesn't have many scenes. The dreadlocked girl who is in a lesbian relationship with Si Qing is also played by a newcomer from Magical Films. This role has very few scenes, so whether she has acting skills or not is not important."

Shen Qing pushed photos of Gulnazar and Dilraba in front of Ning Hao. Ning Hao's eyes lit up after seeing them, and he asked, "Are both of them from ethnic minorities?"

Shen Qing nodded.

Ning Hao exclaimed excitedly, "Two girls with such distinct regional characteristics hugging and kissing—that's a surprise element of the movie! It'll grab attention and generate buzz; casting them was perfect!"

"real?"

"Definitely!"

"That's good."

No matter who changes the actor, the role of the gangster boss cannot be changed; Wang Yanhui's original performance was too impressive.

"Tattoos? Gangsters?"

"Brother, you're still young, you must never go down the path of crime."

That's absolutely hilarious.

Lei Jiayin's "I'm so angry" is a famous scene, so naturally they won't easily replace her.

Ma Su's line, "Look, the thread I just pulled was snapped in one slap, what should I do?" is also excellent, so let's use her again.

The actress who appeared alongside Ma Su is actually the same actress who played the role of Yan Lili, the little black fairy, in "Balala the Fairies: Pretty Baby".

It doesn't matter who plays this role, we'll just cast Mao Xiaotong, who's under our own management.

As for the Avatar girl Dongdong, Shen Qing thought Li Yitong was quite suitable. However, he wanted to specifically remind Ning Hao and Li Yitong not to do any passionate scenes. The car sex scene should just look like that from a distance.

It is said that the original film included many passionate scenes and car sex scenes between Xu Zheng and the Avatar girl. The later released version actually had very few such scenes, but that was because a large number of car sex scenes were cut to pass censorship.

Let's use Tan Songyun as Xiao Bei, the best friend of Dongdong, the Avatar girl.

In this way, all the actresses under the Magical Film Company were given opportunities.

The casting for "Sewing Machine Band" was even simpler. Shen Qing basically only had one requirement: that Guli Nazha play the female lead, Ding Jianguo. The rest was left to Da Peng to figure out on his own.

When Shen Qing and the two directors discussed casting, Gulinaza was called to the office several times, so this was not a secret within the Magical Film Company.

As soon as Guli Nazha signed with the company, President Shen immediately arranged several roles for her, one of which was the lead role in a movie produced by Shenqi Film and Television Company. Even Zhao Liying, who had already broken into the ranks of first-tier actresses with "Boss & Me" and "Legend of Lu Zhen," hadn't played such a role yet. What exactly did Guli Nazha do to deserve this? Was she the boss's new favorite?

The news quickly reached Dilraba's ears, and her sense of crisis suddenly exploded.

Kangci was the person she went to see President Shen with Gulinaza. After meeting President Shen and leaving the office, Gulinaza inexplicably returned to President Shen's office.

"After she returned to President Shen's office, what exactly happened in that office? Is that why she suddenly got the village role while Fan didn't?"

A variety of thoughts kept surging through Dilraba's mind.

In addition, the preparation work for the movie "The Great Wall" has been proceeding smoothly. Shen Qing just met Hu Jun at the company. After talking with him, Shen Qing felt that he was suitable and decided to cast him as the general in "The Great Wall".

Guocun Tianma Teda Porcelain is going to fly to China for an audition.

For such a big Hollywood star to audition in China was unprecedented for the Chinese film and television industry, and it caused quite a stir.

Shen Qing thought of something very interesting. It turned out that Matt Daz from the original timeline gave up Manchester by the sea for The Great Wall, which was used by his peers and netizens all over the world to tease him and became a common joke in media interactions.

Now that the "Great Wall" project has been brought forward and no longer conflicts with "Manchester by the Sea," has Shen Qing unwittingly helped Matt Daz? Unfortunately, apart from Shen Qing himself, no one else knows about this.

The character with the fiercest competition in "The Great Wall" is Mo Ying.

Fan Bingbing used every trick in the book to deal with Shen Qing.

Despite their failed attempts to meet, Li Bingbing and Li Xue remained hopeful and continued to try to see Shen Qing again. They believed that if Shen Qing gave Li Bingbing a push, everything in the village would be made possible.

Wanda not only owns 20% of the Greater China version of the film, but also 25% of the full version of the film. Wanda wants to promote Jing Tian.

Shen Qing had a secret he had never told anyone before: from the very first day he started revising the script, he had decided that the role of Mo Ying would be played by Liu Yifei.

Mo Yingtian is aloof, focused, technically talented, burdened by pressure, and unassuming yet opinionated. Fan Bingbing, on the other hand, has an aggressive look and a powerful aura, making her suitable to portray a woman who can withstand pressure and control the overall situation in a group of men. However, casting her as Tianyi, aloof, tech-savvy, and a female disciple of the Mo family disguised as a man, seems inappropriate.

Jing Tian was never considered by Shen Qing; at most, she would just be given another minor role.

The role of Mo Ying and Cha De will be played by Liu Yifei.

However, these past few days, Fan Bingbing has become increasingly attentive, serving Shen Qing too well and making her feel too comfortable. She has done everything she could, understood everything she could, endured all kinds of grievances, and was happy to suffer any abuse. She was really looking forward to the role of Mo Ying, but in the end, Shen Qing gave it to Liu Yifei—Shen Qing felt that this matter was a bit tricky.

"Although the 'Hurricane Business' series has achieved good results, it is ultimately a male-dominated film, and you, as the female lead, haven't actually received that much attention."

At night, Shen Qing, in his sage mode, suddenly spoke.

"What can we do? That's how movies are all over the world. The male lead is responsible for saving the world, and the female lead is responsible for being a decorative vase."

Fan Bingbing hugged Shen Qing's neck and said, "But being able to play a decorative role in a blockbuster series like 'Hurricane Business' is an opportunity that most domestic actresses could never achieve in their entire lives. Thank you, husband!"

"How about Fan tailors a female superhero movie just for you? This female lead isn't just a pretty face; she's the main character of the entire movie, and the whole film revolves around her. The target market is the whole movie market."

"Really?" Fan Bingbing showered Shen Qing's face with kisses. "My husband, you're so good to me!"

"Lucy" - Fan Bingbing should be suitable to play the female lead, right? After the "Hurricane Business" trilogy, she still has a certain degree of fame in Europe and America.