Chapter 1045

"Zhining went back to her hometown?"

Wen Xia looked at Miss Luo Quan, her expression somewhat surprised.

This assistant hadn't even stayed for a few days, so why did she suddenly go back to her hometown? It felt like she hadn't completed any work by Miss Luo Quan's side; she only saw her running into the room frequently.

"She said there was an emergency at home that needed to be dealt with for a while." Miss Luo Quan nodded, "Anyway, I don't have much work here, so I let her go back first."

"I see." After Wen Xia understood Ye Zhining's whereabouts, she didn't ask any more questions, "Speaking of which, I'm going to Jingcheng in a few days to film."

After resting for a few days during the Spring Festival, Wen Xia didn't stay idle; instead, she took on a role in a drama.

However, it wasn't the female lead, but a female fourth lead with not too many scenes; it counted as a guest appearance.

The reason for acting in this drama was, on one hand, the high pay from the production team, and on the other hand, the cast and script were both good, with the potential to be a big hit.

Although she didn't get the female lead position, even if it was just the fourth lead, as long as she performed well enough to leave a deep impression on the audience, it would be quite a success.

Actually, she hadn't originally planned on this drama because she had previously agreed with Miss Luo Quan to return to Yuzhou after the New Year to film *Return to Dust*.

But now the plan had changed; Miss Luo Quan had to film a few suspense movies first to prove to netizens that what she said wasn't just big talk, so *Return to Dust* had to be delayed for a while.

Plus, in the movies Miss Luo Quan said she wanted to film, there weren't many female roles, so since she was idle anyway, she took on a drama that wouldn't take up too much time.

By the time she finished filming here, Miss Luo Quan's first movie might have just finished.

At that time, she would go to Hengdian to see if she could snag a bit part or something.

This was Wen Xia's plan; she had discussed it with Miss Luo Quan when she took the role the day before yesterday, and today it was officially settled.

"Then bring more clothes; it's a bit cold in Jingcheng right now."

Miss Luo Quan's physical constitution had become insensitive to the temperatures of midwinter, but Wen Xia hadn't reached that point yet, so she gave a reminder.

"Got it. Every time I go on a long trip, you nag me a few times; you're almost turning into an old mother." Wen Xia waved her hand, thinking to herself that she was already in her twenties, could she not know to bring more clothes?

"Yes, you've grown up and started to find your mother's nagging annoying." Miss Luo Quan lowered her head in disappointment, like an empty-nester mother rejected by her children.

"Get lost." Wen Xia raised her leg and delivered a side kick, landing right on Miss Luo Quan's round butt, feeling like she had kicked a piece of jelly.

After some playful fighting, Miss Luo Quan asked Wen Xia again: "What level has your Wu Gong reached recently? This force is not small."

"Almost level six, how about that?" Wen Xia said with a bit of pride.

Having practiced for less than a year, she was already about to join the ranks of mid-level martial artists; this was indeed an achievement worth being proud of.

Of course, compared to Cheng Nuo, who was about to reach level four, Wen Xia was still quite far behind.

But she was a rare martial arts genius to begin with; Wen Xia never intended to compare herself to her from the start.

"It's indeed quite fast." Miss Luo Quan gave a light compliment, "But it's still far from enough. You have a long way to go; being complacent now is not a good sign."

"I know—." Wen Xia dragged out the long sound, then turned and went back to her room, not knowing whether she went to play on her phone or to practice.

The next day, Miss Luo Quan arrived in Hengdian by plane. She originally thought it would be quite desolate there after the New Year, but in the film city, one could still see extras wearing all kinds of costumes.

These people came here to chase their dreams; if they just wanted to make a living, there were better jobs than being an extra.

So before their dreams came true, most people chose to stay here.

Or rather, before they made something of themselves, they were too embarrassed to go back and see their parents.

Of course, most people could only waste their time here; after all, the miracle of a comeback like Bao Qiang's was too rare.

The good news is that precisely because of these people with dreams, Miss Luo Quan could effortlessly recruit a large number of extras to meet the requirements of her new film.

After the extras were found, the scenes also had to be well-arranged.

The original version of the movie took place in India, and the remake was set in Thailand. Compared to the former, the latter's background was simpler to set up.

And although both are in Asia, the appearances of Indians and Thais are still quite different.

And with the premise that most of the extras were Chinese, Thailand was definitely more reasonable; this way, it wouldn't look too incongruous.

And what are the characteristics of Thailand?

Miss Luo Quan felt that besides the various tropical rainforest trees growing in the city, it was the Buddhist buildings and items that could be seen everywhere; of course, Muay Thai was also indispensable.

By grasping these details, even if not in Thailand itself, one could still film a Thai feel.

Of course, there is still a gap between the overall atmosphere and on-location filming.

But isn't this to control costs?

If it weren't for the fact that the villain in the movie is a police officer, she wouldn't have to go through the trouble of setting the background abroad; filming it directly as a domestic movie would have solved everything.

But filming it this way would definitely not pass censorship.

Actually, there's no need to explicitly state that this is Thailand; as long as it's not domestic, it's fine. Creating an exotic atmosphere and letting the audience know it's abroad is enough; whether it's Thai or not isn't particularly important.

On the day of the meeting agreed upon with Xiao Yang, he arrived in Hengdian on an 8 AM flight.

Seeing him in person for the first time, Miss Luo Quan found that Xiao Yang looked a bit more portly than he did on the computer screen.

His physique was okay, quite sturdy, but his face was round and large, which made him look a bit fat.

"I've been acting for a while, no time to control my physique." Xiao Yang might have realized the problem with his body management, so he explained immediately.

Miss Luo Quan waved her hand with a smile: "I need this kind of ordinary physique. Eight-pack abs like Director Wu Jin's are the minority; those closer to the masses are easier for the masses to like."

Xiao Yang also laughed along, but for some reason, he felt that Director Luo's words were still teasing him.

"By the way, has anyone ever told you that you look a lot like a League of Legends pro player?" Miss Luo Quan scrutinized Xiao Yang's appearance and finally couldn't help but ask.

"Rookie, right." Xiao Yang smiled helplessly, "The whole world says we look a lot alike, like brothers from different parents. When he won the championship before, I even ended up on the trending list along with him."

Miss Luo Quan laughed out loud; this mix-up incident did indeed amuse quite a few people at the time.

After the joke, Miss Luo Quan called over the director's assistant: "First take Rookie—oh no... Old Xiao, to the hotel, rest for a bit, and we'll start filming officially tomorrow."

Under Xiao Yang's resentful gaze, Miss Luo Quan went to meet the other lead actors.

Because it was basically their first time working together, there was no small talk after meeting; it was all about work.

Everyone performed very professionally, and upon hearing that they would start tomorrow, they all appeared very excited.

Despite being a low-budget production, the director is Miss Luo Quan, the myth of the mainland film and television circle!

There are quite a few domestic directors who can win awards at the three major international film festivals, but she is the only one who possesses both international film festival and Oscar awards.

And the ones she won were all the most heavyweight awards.

Best Director, Best Actor, Best Picture, Best Screenplay...

Almost everything one can think of has been covered.

Collaborating with such a film and television myth, even a low-budget movie means infinite possibilities.

Is the investment for *Farewell My Concubine* high? Not even 100 million, but it is the highest-rated domestic movie on Douban, swept all major domestic awards, and also won the crown at the Cannes Film Festival.

What Director Luo is filming this time might not be *Farewell My Concubine*, but with her ability, it won't be too bad either.

After the movie is released, this film will also become a shining point in their resumes as small-time actors.

So the actors all cherished this opportunity, memorizing their lines by heart the moment they got the script, and then began to ponder the psychology of their characters.

Of course, these are all things an actor should do.

However, in the domestic entertainment industry where even actors memorizing their lines can get praised, the professional performance of these actors seemed all the more professional.

If it were traffic-driven young idols working this hard, Miss Luo Quan, as the director, would inevitably have to come out and accept media interviews to praise how diligent they were.

Fortunately, there were no young idols in the crew, so Miss Luo Quan naturally didn't need to engage in mutual flattery when accepting interviews from reporters.

Before the movie officially started filming, Miss Luo Quan held a movie press conference as usual.

With her fame, no matter how small the investment, a large number of reporters were willing to come and interview.

"Miss Luo Quan, may I ask what the investment budget for this movie is?"

A reporter from Weibo Entertainment asked first; this should also be the question netizens are most concerned about right now.

Since it was agreed to film three movies with 500 million, if she was extravagant with the first one, it would be quite controversial.

"The budget for the first one, I set it at under 100 million."

Miss Luo Quan took out a form from her briefcase in a leisurely manner: "This is the current expenditure breakdown. The actors' fees and the rental of filming equipment are the major parts, totaling just over 30 million."

The reporters immediately raised their cameras, zoomed in, and snapped away frantically.

Rarely do crews release their detailed bills to them; some even only give a vague investment amount. Honest people like Miss Luo Quan are rare.

"Then what is your estimated filming time?" Soon another reporter asked.

"Twenty days, I guess." Miss Luo Quan rested her hands on the table, "Twenty days to finish filming the movie, is it very bold?

I told everyone it would take twenty days to finish filming; all the actors and the camera crew were very excited because with such a tight schedule, there's no room for error. The shots have to be done in one take to keep up with the progress."

Speaking of this, Miss Luo Quan grinned again: "But in the end, I gave up. Twenty days is indeed a bit too tight, so I adjusted it to thirty days. I hope to get it done within the scheduled time."

Filming a movie in a month is indeed a significant challenge.

Old Mouzi's *Empty River Blue* was criticized for being filmed extremely carelessly and without sincerity, and it still took more than two months.

And Miss Luo Quan is even more ruthless; she doesn't even need a month, she can get it done in twenty days.

Of course, she finally gave a conservative statement that she hoped to finish within a month, but that is also quite exaggerated.

Actually, Miss Luo Quan said these things purely to play along with a meme, but none of the reporters present heard it.

Didn't Bilibili recently have an interview video of Old Mouzi that was quite popular? It said that he originally intended to film the entire movie *Empty River Blue* in a single long take.

After rambling on about a bunch of nonsense, he finally said he gave up.

This is as funny as a student from a second-tier university saying they want to get into Tsinghua, but then giving up.

And what's even funnier is that netizens created many versions based on this interview of Old Mouzi.

Among them, the most outrageous one is "I originally wanted to fly a fighter jet to school"; this derivative work even had more views than the original video.

After seeing it, Miss Luo Quan also wanted to imitate it to liven things up.

But she didn't expect that none of the reporters could get it; perhaps the self-entertainment of Bilibili netizens didn't cause a sensation across the entire internet.

"Maybe my imitation was too abstract." Miss Luo Quan laughed at herself and didn't take it to heart.

The interview lasted for a relatively short time; because it was a suspense movie, there was still quite a lot of content that needed to be hidden.

For most suspense movie trailers, sometimes you don't even know who the protagonist is or what the main content is; you can only get a full picture after arriving at the cinema.

Miss Luo Quan, who likes to leak inside information to fans, also chose to keep it confidential in the evening live stream:

"Don't ask anymore. Won't you know after going to the cinema in a month?

If you really don't want to spend money, you can also watch it on Bilibili after the movie is taken off the big screen; you just need to activate a premium membership.

For a dozen yuan, you won't lose out or get scammed."

Fans didn't really buy into such remarks:

"It's not a question of losing out, but I really want to know more before spending money."

"I'm a free premium member, but I still plan to go to the cinema to take a look."

"It would be great if Luo Bao was the lead."

"Yeah, Luo Bao, it seems like it's been a while since you were the lead."

"Shocking! Two-time Oscar winner reduced to having no movies to film!"

"Haha, the UC headline department wants you to start working tomorrow."

………………

Miss Luo Quan saw the fans' demands, and she smiled slightly: "I know everyone really wants to see a movie I star in.

Don't be anxious. Aren't we filming three movies this time? I can tell everyone very clearly that one of them is a movie I star in.

And in this movie, I'll be acting from start to finish, letting you see enough!"

Upon hearing this, the fans looked forward to it:

"Ah, is it a one-woman show?"

"Filming from start to finish by yourself, what a familiar type."

"Are there no male actors to cooperate with?"

"Uh... you guys are acting a bit strange."

"This is not the time for dirty jokes, you jerks!"

"It seems Luo Bao is trying a very new filming method."

"Then I wish Luo Bao success in both fame and fortune this time."

………………

Miss Luo Quan looked at the barrage, and a smile slowly appeared on the corners of her mouth.