Huayu Shen Gongbao

Chapter 67 Perfecting the Best Strategy: The Roles and Arrangements at Red Cliff

After briefly browsing the comments under the blog, Shen Gongbao shut down his computer.

There's no need to respond to the fortune-telling issue immediately; let's wait for the public opinion to develop further before making a statement.

After Han Sanping dismissed his secretary and left only him and Shen Gongbao in the conference room, he exclaimed, "Master, your fortune-telling skills are truly amazing!"

Not a penny more, not a penny less; they could die out just like that!

In this fire incident on Hong Kong Island, Wu Yifang was not in mortal danger; it was just a case of "all for naught," which Han Sanping found most amazing.

To be so accurate in face reading is truly the mark of a master.

Shen Gongbao shook his head and said, "President Han, you should know that everything depends on human effort and that human determination can overcome fate. Feng shui and physiognomy are only auxiliary methods; ultimately, one's destiny depends on oneself."

Han Sanping took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "So I'm under a lot of pressure right now. Making 'Red Cliff' into an Olympic tribute film is not only time-sensitive and demanding, but I also don't have a particularly suitable concept!"

For the Olympics, films made to commemorate the Games are usually sports-themed.

Moreover, the films commemorating the 08 Beijing Olympics were mostly documentaries like "One Man's Olympics" and "Breaking the Ice," with virtually no purely commercial films.

Red Cliff is another war epic, which is completely opposite to the peace theme of the Olympics.

Shen Gongbao was prepared for Han Sanping's predicament and offered his advice: "First of all, although Red Cliff is a war movie, we can use anti-war propaganda slogans."

The late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period was the most brutal meat grinder in ancient Chinese history, described as "white bones exposed in the wilderness, a thousand miles without the sound of a rooster crowing. Only one in a hundred survived, a thought that breaks one's heart."

If we simply film the various scenes of the Battle of Red Cliffs in a normal way, we can show everyone the cruelty of war and make them cherish the hard-won peace even more.

This aligns with the Olympic theme.

In addition, we also need to incorporate sports elements into the film.

I think the best thing is dragon boat racing!

Upon hearing the words "dragon boat racing," Han Sanping's eyes lit up; it seemed like something worth doing.

Shen Gongbao continued, "There are various theories about where dragon boat racing originated in my country:"

There are theories that it commemorates Qu Yuan, that it commemorates Wu Zixu, and that it is related to Goujian training his naval forces.

However, some academic research suggests that dragon boat racing originated from military reviews and water exercises by the Eastern Wu navy.

According to the "Yue Di Zhuan", dragon boat racing originated from Goujian's training of the navy. The "Yue Jue Shu" also records that the Wu and Yue states "used boats as chariots and oars as horses". In order to enhance the combat effectiveness of the navy, they creatively transformed actual combat training into a racing competition.

During the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, Lu Su and other generals of Eastern Wu were stationed in Baling for a long time. They conducted naval drills in Dongting Lake and carried out military reviews during the Dragon Boat Festival, which evolved into the folk festival of dragon boat racing.

When filming Red Cliff, we can adapt these materials appropriately, such as changing some of the training ships of the Eastern Wu navy into dragon boats.

The film incorporates a dragon boat race to showcase the bravery and speed of the Eastern Wu navy, as well as their coordinated rowing tactics.

Even in the most crucial battles, dragon boats can be used for surprise attacks because they are the fastest ships!

Imagine dozens of dragon boats speeding forward on the Yangtze River as they are set ablaze, resembling dozens of fiery dragons!

These fire dragons devoured Cao Cao's iron-chained ships, ultimately completing the classic battle of the Battle of Red Cliffs!

This arrangement not only makes the movie shots more exciting, but also connects it with the Olympic Games.

For next year's Olympics, my country plans to include several sports, one of which is dragon boat racing.

Mr. Han, you can contact the Chinese Dragon Boat Association. Let's work together to promote dragon boat racing.

If dragon boat racing becomes part of the Olympics in the future, that would be another great deed, and Mr. Han, your luck will be terrifyingly strong!

After Shen Gongbao finished explaining his thoughts, Han Sanping stood up!

This approach is actually feasible; at least it provides a starting point and a direction for our work.

After thinking for a moment, Han Sanping said, "Master, I would like to ask you to work in the Red Cliff film crew. You can be listed as producer, supervisor, or assistant director. Salary is negotiable."

In Han Sanping's view, Shen Gongbao not only understands feng shui, but also has a quick mind and clear thinking.

For Red Cliff to be filmed well, and for him to make personal progress, he needs Shen Gongbao's help.

Therefore, the nominal positions offered by Han Sanping were all very high, and Shen Gongbao was not simply made an advisor.

Shen Gongbao did not refuse. He smiled and agreed, "No problem. We can discuss the specific position later, but I have other work to do next, so I need to coordinate my schedule."

"Schedule is flexible, I don't mind if you take on multiple projects at once."

After having a plan of action, Han Sanping became much more excited.

Shen Gongbao had many ideas. He not only wanted to incorporate dragon boat elements into Chibi, but also wanted to find an opportunity to influence the lighting ceremony of the Olympic Games opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics was practically perfect, with the only flaw being that the torch lighting ceremony wasn't particularly eye-catching, and the decision to have Li Ning light the torch was controversial.

Shen Gongbao believes it would be better to use a sport, such as dragon boating, to "swim" above the venue, with the dragon spitting out flames to ignite the sacred flame.

This not only aligns with our culture as descendants of the dragon, but also allows ordinary people from all walks of life to ride on the dragon boat, which is in line with the people's historical perspective.

Of course, these are just his initial ideas, and it would be very difficult to realize them.

We can only try again in the future.

Han Sanping brought Shen Gongbao to his office and said while making tea, "I've done some calculations. If this negotiation goes smoothly, Chengtian and Avex, Lion Mountain and Peak Entertainment will all withdraw from the Chibi project."

Several leading actors will also be replaced!

More than 70% of the footage shot by the crew earlier had to be discarded.

The only good news is that the fixed investments can be used, and most of the production team can be retained.

Shen Gongbao flattered, "President Han, you truly have guts! This is a real painstaking effort!"

Han Sanping shook his head, then suddenly complained, "What kind of courage is that? Actually, the Red Cliff production team is really short of funds. I've been wanting to curse those idiots Cheng Tian and Wu Yusen for a long time!"

Han Sanping had been holding back for a while, and now that they had finally broken ties, he began to tell Shen Gong the truth.

It turns out the Red Cliff production team really ran out of money.

Chengtian and Avex jointly invested US$2600 million, of which US$1200 million from Avex was the copyright fee for Red Cliff's future screening in Japan.

Lion Rock is the company where John Woo works, and together with Summit Entertainment, it is a US-based company.

The US investors originally promised to invest $3000 million, but only less than $1000 million was actually invested, and now they say they won't invest the remaining $2000 million.

Hollywood insurance companies have begun refusing to insure Red Cliff.

In his previous life, Han Sanping had China Film Group invest and underwrite the project, and also found Shanghai Film Group, Yinghuang, Polybona and other companies to help plug the funding hole.

Therefore, the production information for Red Cliff lists more than a dozen co-production companies.

In other words, even without Shen Gongbao's suggestion, the filming of Chibi would have resulted in a financial crisis by now.

Han Sanping needs to find new investors.

Both sides needed to find new investors, and now, because of Shen Gongbao's appearance, Han Sanping simply overturned the table.

After hearing all this, Shen Gongbao finally understood that Han Sanping's choice of the best course of action was not an impulsive decision, nor was it simply based on feng shui or physiognomy; there were also practical considerations involved.

It can only be said that Wu Yusen and Cheng Tian are truly despicable.

Han Sanping had a lot of complaints about them, and he felt much better after giving them a good rant.

He smiled and said, "You've helped me a lot, and I'll remember it all."

After the Red Cliff battle is over, the character of Sun Shucai will definitely be removed.

I'm planning to cast you as the male lead. Think about it, do you want to play Zhuge Liang or Zhou Yu?

In addition, a lot of Sun Shangxiang's scenes will be cut, but she is still considered the female lead in the movie.

I know what you're thinking; let Liu Yifei play this role.

Han Sanping is quite generous; with just a few words, he gave Shen Gongbao two big rewards, clearly determined to keep Shen Gongbao tied to the Chibi film crew.

Shen Gongbao thought for a moment and said, "Then I still want to play Zhou Yu."

If we're talking about the entire Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang might be more outstanding than Zhou Yu.

However, in the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhou Yu was undoubtedly the main protagonist, and Zhuge Liang could not compare to him.

As the saying goes, "If the tune is wrong, Zhou Yu will notice," and Shen Gongbao happens to have the skill of playing the zither, so it would be quite interesting for him to play Zhou Yu.

After reading Shen Gongbao's report, Han Sanping nodded and said, "Okay, Lu Wei has already finished refining the new script. The production team is going to be reorganized this time, and I'll also be looking for people everywhere."

If all goes well, filming should resume in early September. Be prepared.

After this collaboration, Shen Gongbao and Han Sanping's relationship became much closer.

They had another casual dinner together that evening before Shen Gongbao left China Film Group and went to Snow Leopard Studio.

The studio was quite full today; apart from Li, Liu Yifei, Li Yitong, and Li Xue were all there.

Upon seeing Shen Gongbao's report, Liu Yifei immediately retorted, "Daoist Master, Xianmei is such a jinx!"

Upon hearing this, Li Yitong immediately became anxious!

She reached out to cover Liu Yifei's mouth, but Liu Yifei dodged it.

"The building on Hong Kong Island that caught fire is the place where I had the last rumored affair with Ham-mei!"

I said that bamboo scaffolding was unsafe, but Xianmei said that nothing would happen!

I was shocked for a long time after seeing the news about the building fire today. I really need to be more respectful to Xianmei from now on!

That jinx is incredibly powerful!

Upon hearing this, Shen Gongbao couldn't help but burst out laughing.

He finally understood why such a coincidence had occurred; it turned out that Li Yitong's "poisonous milk" effect had kicked in.

This white tiger pet has countless uses.

Li Yitong immediately blushed and retorted loudly, "That was just a coincidence! I'm just an insignificant nobody. What does the scaffolding catching fire have to do with me?!"

Li Xue, who was standing nearby, joined in the fun and deliberately asked, "After almost a month of negotiations, Delhui has agreed to the Taoist priest's previous sponsorship offer of five million over two years. Do you think I should agree?"

Li Yitong thought about it carefully and said, "I think it's best to agree!"

After all, the popularity of the Red Cliff movie is only temporary. Signing an endorsement deal while my husband is still popular will get us the best price!

Li Xue nodded and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

"Sisi, look! Mr. Li is so wise; he knew I wasn't a crow—"

Before Li Yitong could finish speaking, Li Xue added, "Then I'll listen to you—we won't sign a contract with Delhui for now, and we'll raise the price again."

Li Yitong: "???"

"What do you mean? You call this listening to me?"

"How is this not listening to you? Even if it's the opposite of what you say, it's still listening to you!"

Upon hearing this, both Shen Gongbao and Liu Yifei burst into laughter.

Liu Yifei, in particular, laughed the most heartily, her laughter was extremely jarring.

Li Yitong opened her mouth, intending to say to Liu Yifei, "Since I'm a jinx, then I wish you a long and healthy life," but after thinking about it, she held back.

After all, during this period, she and Liu Yifei formed the "Fei Tong Yi Ban" CP together. Although the two still often quarreled, their relationship had improved a lot.

Li Yitong went from an unknown ordinary person to someone with some fame, all thanks to Liu Yifei's support.

Li Yitong was also aware of this.

Although Li Yitong doesn't consider herself a jinx, she still couldn't bring herself to utter any curses.

Shen Gongbao patted Li Yitong's head to comfort her before saying to Liu Yifei, "I will try to get you the role of Sun Shangxiang. You can start preparing."

Liu Yifei was overjoyed to hear this.

Ever since Zhao Yanzi was burned, female celebrities in the industry have all been eyeing the role of the female lead in Red Cliff.

Liu Yifei never expected that this good thing would happen to her!

Li Xue asked, "Can we arrange other roles?"

Shen Gongbao shook his head and said, "Don't overthink it. I've been planning this for a long time to get Qianqian the lead role."

Don't be fooled by the fact that the main cast of Red Cliff might change; the investors will also change, and they'll need to fill in the gaps with their own people.

There were many competitors, and you all know how difficult it was to get this role.

"9

No one knew that Shen Gongbao had already secured the role of Sun Shangxiang.

His words were carefully crafted, emphasizing his hardships and sacrifices.

As expected, Liu Yifei was deeply moved when she heard Shen Gongbao say this.

When Shen Gongbao returned to his office to check the public opinion situation, Liu Yifei, dressed in a professional secretary outfit and wearing glasses, walked in with a charming demeanor.

She whispered in Shen Gongbao's ear, "Daddy, I know you want me to be with Xianmei. I can help you win Xianmei over~~"

Upon hearing this, Shen Gongbao suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

See, that's the power of persuasive communication!

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