Chapter 364 Tsui Hark and 'Ghost Blowing the Lamp'
"Okay, let's do it this way. There are still six months left, so we have to hurry up."
In the office, Li Qian looked at the "Jaws 3" script created by Han Yan and nodded with satisfaction.
It’s been two full months since late November, and the script has been produced relatively quickly.
Moreover, Li Qian had nothing to add. The main points that needed to be said were already explained two months ago.
I have a background in Chinese opera, and I have also made many short films and TV movies. I have developed the abilities I should have, and I have won some small awards.
Han Yan, who had dark circles under his eyes, received a positive reply from Li Qian, and an excited smile appeared on his originally tired face.
The script passed the test and it was finally time to shoot my first big screen work.
Since 2002, I have been making DV movies, short films, and TV movies. I have made exactly ten works in the past ten years.
Among these ten films, the only one that made it to the big screen was "Let Me Do It for You" released in 2009.
However, the result was not very reliable, and the box office was only 600 yuan.
It’s the kind of movie that has no theaters, no publicity, no premieres, and no roadshows.
Although I am relatively satisfied with my previous films and received good reviews at various film festivals, as a director, no one wants to really go on the big screen.
Ten years later, the proud man, who came from a Chinese theater directing background, finally got his chance.
Han Yan suppressed the excitement in his heart and asked for instructions, "Director Li, do you have suitable personnel for actors?"
"Actor?"
This time, Li Qian was stumped. The male protagonist in the movie is the son of the male protagonists in the previous two movies. The setting is that he is 18 years old and has just entered college.
The other actors, who are the male protagonist's classmates, are all students in their late teens, both male and female.
It's easy to find actors in their thirties and forties, but it's really difficult to find male actors in their twenties.
In fact, this role is simple, but Li Qian doesn't recognize the actor who is around 20 years old at all.
"Wait a minute, I'll ask Zhong Shuai to come over." Li Qian said and dialed the number. Zhong Shuai happened to be in the company and came not long after.
"Has the company signed any young actors?"
Except for the few actresses signed at the beginning, Li Qian didn't know which actors were in the company at all.
Li Qian doesn't care about artist management, and Zhong Shuai doesn't know it. He smiled bitterly and said, "The male actors are not signed. The Mesozoic generation has just begun. Wherever there is room for the new generation, a few actresses are signed."
Also, Mesozoic actors have been suppressed for so long and have only started to come into their own in the past two or three years. Except for Hu Ge and Wen Zhang, there are no new generation actors at all.
Besides, no one is filming idol dramas anymore. Actors in their 20s can't even play leading roles in TV dramas, let alone the big screen, where there are no roles for them.
"Let's see, Zhongshuai, you go to the three major universities and find seven or eight freshmen and sophomores. "Jaws 3" lacks actors. The focus is on the male protagonist. It's enough that everyone else has a different style."
"How about Long Xinda's Yang Yang? Among the actors born in the 1990s, he is considered the most handsome." Zhong Shuai suggested.
"No, no need for a handsome guy, just an ordinary student with distinctive appearance." Li Qian shook his head.
"That..."
An ordinary student with a distinctive appearance?
Zhong Shuai's eyes lit up and he thought of someone, "How is Liu Xing?"
"how old is he?"
"I'm a freshman, I should be almost 20."
"also."
Li Qian nodded... No, he suddenly realized that he seemed to have missed someone.
I went and why did I forget Peng Peng? He graduated last year.
"In this way, we don't have to look for the male lead. Let's find a few supporting characters who look like students who have just entered college." Li Qian said.
"Are there any body requirements for actresses?" Zhong Shuai thought for a while and asked. For the beach scene, she must wear a swimsuit. The requirements for actresses are more detailed than those for male actors. Different body types have different effects.
"It doesn't matter if it's not a tablet, and it doesn't have to be too big or too big. Just look at it. Just have a better complexion, be younger, and have a better body proportion."
It's not about selling meat to attract people. It's enough to be pretty, and you don't need to pursue that aspect too much.
Zhong Shuai nodded, "Then the actresses in the company should be quite suitable."
"Let Han Yan take a look at it in the afternoon. You can make up your own mind about the role. If you have any needs, go to Zhao Jun and he will solve it for you. We will try our best to start filming after the beginning of the new year. There is not much time left." Li Qian told Han Yan.
warned.
"No problem, Director Li, the preliminary preparations have been started for a month and a half. The shark modeling is all ready-made. It should be no problem to start it after the year." Han Yan said quickly.
"Okay, let's go get busy."
After they went out, Li Qian took out his mobile phone and sent Peng Yuchang a text message, asking him to come to the capital with his luggage.
...
It was almost noon the next day, and Peng Yuchang, wearing a pot on his head, appeared in Li Qian's office carrying a large suitcase.
"Boss."
"I graduated in July last year. What have you been doing in the past six months?"
I get together with Peng Yuchang every New Year in Yuzhang, and I have fellow villagers Deng Chao, Gao Xixi, and Liu Tao. We are usually busy with our own affairs and rarely contact each other.
If he hadn't suddenly remembered, Li Qian would have remembered that Peng Yuchang had graduated when he went home during the Chinese New Year.
"I'm in the Shanghai Theater Theater. I entered the theater right after graduation." Peng Yuchang answered honestly.
"Why don't you come to me after graduation? Or you can go to Brother Chao." Li Qian was speechless. After filming "Sniper Phone Booth", he told him not to think about filming at this age and to spend four years of college in a down-to-earth manner.
I studied hard and studied hard. After I graduated, I started thinking about acting. But I didn’t expect that even after I graduated, I wouldn’t say a word.
"I..." What else could Peng Yuchang say? He was embarrassed to take the initiative to find Li Qian, and he had clearly posted on Moments.
Seeing how thin-skinned he was, Li Qian also had a headache, and he was so shy that he couldn't even find a girlfriend.
"Forget it, you settle down in the capital first. Is there any problem with the theater? If anything happens, I'll ask Xu Zheng to tell him there."
"There's nothing going on at the theater, and I don't have any rehearsals." Peng Yuchang replied. He had just graduated and was just a bit player as soon as he got in. The rest of the time he only received his salary.
"Let's go, I'll take you to the dormitory. The company bought an apartment not far away, so you can live there."
"Boss, don't bother me. Otherwise, I'll just stay at your house." Peng Yuchang said quickly, helping with cleaning, buying food, and paying the rent.
"roll..."
Li Qian cursed angrily, stood up and left the office.
Peng Yuchang was scolded and rubbed his head. He felt a little confused and quickly followed him with his suitcase.
However, Li Qian walked out of the office and stopped again.
Where are the apartments that the company bought to use as dormitories for artists?
Li Qian forgot a little, but only remembered that it should be nearby.
But it didn't matter. He turned around and walked into the practice room, and asked the actresses who were practicing, "Which of you lives in the dormitory?"
"?"
Several actresses who were practicing bodybuilding were startled by Li Qian and looked at him blankly, a little confused.
However, seeing Peng Yuchang who was shrinking behind Li Qian and not daring to look at them, and the luggage in his hands, Zhao Liying immediately trotted over.
"Director Li, I have always lived in the dormitory."
"Okay, Li Ying, go to the administration office to get a key, take Peng Peng to have a meal, and then go to the dormitory to settle down."
Li Qian said that he handed the script of "Jaws 3" to Peng Yuchang, "I have something to do at noon, so you can go with Liying and go back and take a good look at this script."
"Oh...ok." Peng Yuchang took the script blankly.
In the practice room, Li Chun, Tang Yixin, and Li Meng's eyes lit up and they also came over.
"Director Li, is this a new colleague?"
"Well, this is Peng Peng. He just graduated from college this year. Let's get to know each other. You play classmates in "Jaws 3", so it's good to get familiar with him in advance."
After Li Qian finished speaking, he handed Peng Peng over to them. They were all of the same age and should be able to chat with each other.
After he left, Peng Yuchang was left alone to face the four young ladies, all of whom were wearing tight-fitting training clothes, outlining their youthful and graceful curves.
He was surrounded from the front, back, left, and right, and he couldn't look in the right direction. He lowered his head involuntarily, and tightly grasped the suitcase's lever with both hands.
"whee......"
Seeing the embarrassed look on his face, the four girls couldn't help laughing.
.......
Li Qian left Peng Yichang, an innocent boy, to face four young ladies alone, and went to a private club in Chaoyang District. He asked Wu Siyuan to make an appointment with Xu Ke today.
Xu Ke was also discovered by Wu Siyuan at that time. His debut "Butterfly Transformation", as well as later "Green Snake", "New Dragon Inn", and "Once Upon a Time" were all produced or produced by Wu Siyuan
.
The reason for looking for Xu Ke was of course to adapt "Ghost Blowing the Lamp" into a movie. In China, only Xu Ke is the most suitable director for this series.
After waiting in the room for a while, Xu Ke, whose hair was half white but still strong, arrived as scheduled.
Li Qian stood up, took a step forward and said with a smile, "Director Xu, please sit down quickly."
Xu Ke smiled and sat down opposite. "Hello, Director Li, I have wanted to meet you for a long time, but I never had the chance."
"It seems I should have invited Director Xu for a while." Li Qian said with a smile.
"I'm not the only one who wants to meet Director Li. Everyone wants to communicate with Director Li. It's just that Director Li makes one movie a year and is really too busy."
Even though Xu Ke dresses very stylishly, has a long beard, and wears big sunglasses, he looks quite serious, but in fact he is a humorous and easy-going person that is rare among great directors.
It's a bit like movie fans who have never seen Zhou Singchi in real life. Their imagination of him. If Zhou Singchi in real life has the same character as Tsui Hark, it will be in line with the impression of most movie fans.
The two great directors met for the first time and discussed some movie ideas.
Xu Ke, who has stayed in Mi Lijian for several years, is studying radio, television and film courses at the University of Texas at Austin. He is considered the director of the older generation who is most receptive to Li Qian's commercial style.
"Director Li, actually before the release of "I'm Not the God of Medicine," I really thought you would make a real reality movie like other mainland directors.
But I didn't expect that it was still using purely commercial techniques, and it was extremely simple. It didn't use multi-line narratives, and it was able to portray such brilliant supporting characters with straightforward narratives. This is simplicity achieved to the extreme."
Xu Ke was filled with emotion. Sometimes simplicity is the most difficult thing. Who doesn’t know how to show off skills, and who doesn’t know how to twist and turn in plot design.
It is the simplest way of expression, but it is extremely difficult to do your best. It is not much easier than burning your brain.
"Director Xu is overrated. I just made the plot relatively simple to make it easier for the audience. All the plots did not mince words and developed naturally to guide the audience's emotions." Li Qian said with a smile.
Telling stories is a good story if it is not brain-burning. It is easy to understand and catches people's attention. It is also a good story.
After some exchanges, Li Qian also stated his purpose of coming.
"Director Xu, I wonder if you have watched "Ghost Blowing the Lamp"?"
"Ghost blows out the lamp"?
"I have a set of this book, and I have read it twice. It involves finding seals on hills, touching golden talismans, moving mountains and mountains to find dragon secrets; people light candles, ghosts blow out lanterns, survey and fight to find star peaks...
"
Xu Ke could still open his mouth to read the words in the book, and after he finished speaking, he was filled with emotion, "I have never thought that there are so many things to pay attention to in tomb robbing. After all, Xiangjiang is a cultural gap. I live alone and don't know many things."
There are no tomb robbers in Xiangjiang, and there are no tombs of important people at all.
I've seen "Ghost Blowing the Lamp" and I quite like it. It seems to be stable.
Li Qian said with some regret, "Last year I bought the film and television rights to "Ghost Blowing the Lamp", but after searching all the directors from across the Taiwan Strait and three places, none of them could perfectly recreate the story in the book on the big screen.
."
Xu Ke thought for a moment, smiled in his eyes, and said, "Yes, ghosts and rice dumplings cannot appear in movies. Even "Painted Skin" was changed to a fox demon."
"However, after thinking about it for a while, I found that only you, Director Xu, have this ability." Li Qian turned around and said.
"Director Li was so complimentary."
The smile on Xu Ke's face was even brighter. Even though Li Qian was much younger than him, he was still a great director who had created a box office of 1.6 billion. Even "Avatar" was overshadowed. He was praised by Li Qian, so there was no reason to be unhappy.
Moreover, Xu Ke didn't think Li Qian was really talking politely, and he was still confident in this aspect.
"But Director Li, why do you think I can remake this film well?"
"Director Xu's films have a world that makes people yearn for them, connecting reality and fantasy. They are more fantasy than movies."
Li Qian laughed and said, "Director Xu is second to none in the combination of personalized design of space modeling, color composition, and action special effects. He expands the visual space of the film with scene wonders, such as the desert landscape in "Seven Swords" and "The Legend of Shushan".
The fairyland Shushan, the Blood Cloud Formation, Sandstone Town, Hanging Mountain, the beautiful scenery of the West Lake in "Green Snake", the purple bamboo forest, the ancient house, the ancient fireworks alley and the water-filled Jinshan Mountain. This aspect has a strong mysterious color, which is very important for "Ghost Blowing the Lamp"
All are very important.
A fictional space is not only a matter of special effects, but more importantly, making the scene artistic, and more importantly, Director Xu's unique romantic style is also the most suitable for the movie."
"Romantic? "Ghost Blowing the Lamp" should be horror, right?" Xu Ke pretended to be puzzled.
"Terror is also one of the elements. I believe this is no problem for Director Xu. In "A Chinese Ghost Story", black, white, purple, and pink were used to highlight the horror of Lanruo Temple and the dreamy colors. It can be called a ghost.
A masterpiece of cinema.”
Li Qian continued, "As for romance, isn't it a kind of romance to go into an uninhabited land to explore with friends who are friends in life and death, and experience all kinds of weirdness and life and death? Romance is more than just love."
These remarks made Xu Ke nod his head frequently.
However, Xu Ke still shook his head and said with an apologetic expression, "Now I have the sequel of "Di Renjie" and two movies of "Lin Hai Xue Yuan" in preparation. I may not have time to adapt "Ghost Blowing the Lamp"."
Li Qian had known about these two projects for a long time. He smiled and said, "The title of "Lin Hai Xue Yuan" is still on the title, and Yu Dong was talking about 3D movies at the press conference announcing the Berner Project. It definitely didn't happen overnight.
It's over.
As for "Detective Detective", Huang Zhongjun wanted to use this series to make his own people famous, so he added four young actors, but I don't think they can support a big production."
Xu Ke frowned slightly. It was indeed the same as what Li Qian said. Huayang Media replaced Liu Dehua and Li Binbin and put in four young actors. Their acting skills were far behind. Deng Chao in the upper part could have beaten that in seconds.
Four young people.
It's not that he doesn't have the right to cast, but the actors Huang Zhongjun can choose from are all crooked, and it would be better not to change them at all.
"Director Xu, Huang Zhongjun can replace actors, but it is impossible to replace you, otherwise half of the series will be destroyed and no one can take over. You might as well shoot "Ghost Blowing the Lamp" first.
With the fame and novelty of the original work, and director Xu, it will be released two years later with a box office of at least one billion. By then, you will have a lot of autonomy as an actor in the sequel to "Detective Dee".
Huang Zhongjun is begging you to make a sequel." Li Qian suggested.