Chapter 202

"Where, where. If your charm weren't enough, I'm afraid there'd be barely anyone in the circle who has any charm."

Xu Can said casually.

The two of them were sitting so close that their shoulders were touching, and leaning in just a little would let them reach her face.

After staring at each other for a few seconds, Song Qian actually leaned right in and launched a sneak attack without a word.

With Xu Can's spider-like reflexes, he could certainly have dodged it,

but there was no need.

He couldn't find Tan Zhuo, couldn't get Hao Lei, and after all this trouble had finally found a suitable actress—

he couldn't exactly leave her feeling cold, could he?

Besides, Song Qian still had her charm a decade from now; right now she was at her peak period.

Who wouldn't be dazed in his place?

And then there was Xu Zheng, off goodness knows where—he might walk back in any second.

Just thinking about it was kind of thrilling, the kind of thrill of "doing what before what."

Soon, in a certain sense, Xu Can achieved the same feat as Yin Zhiping.

The Little Dragon Girl of the East Sea is still a Little Dragon Girl—no problem there.

……

Returning to his room without a change in expression, Meimei had fallen asleep watching her show, sprawled out on her back with all fours in the air, the laptop still playing beside her.

Xu Can let out a slight breath of relief, headed into the bathroom first to rinse off, washing away the unusual perfume lingering on him.

Then he went back, took the laptop away, carried Meimei to the pillow, tucked the blanket over her, and lay down himself to rest.

"Mm… darling, you're back." Meimei was half-asleep.

"Mm, get some rest early."

"No way, we haven't played the game today yet."

"Ah, this…"

Xu Can felt a bit of a headache—was there still time to pull out a Holy Grail or an Ice Heart cooldown reduction now?

Online and waiting, kind of urgent.

……

Playing around in Hua Xia while preparing the crew, Xu Can finally finished setting up the production team for *Drug God*.

Since filming in Hua Xia required coordinating with various departments and securing permits for shooting locations,

there had to be someone in the know running things behind the scenes to maximize efficiency as much as possible.

Both Ning Hao and Xu Zheng carried the title of producer, helping Xu Can handle the various concrete matters.

Wen Muye was in charge of being Xu Can's assistant director, helping him complete the shoot.

Including the deputy director in charge of extras, as well as crew staff like stage management, art, and sound design, most of them were drawn from local Hua Xia teams.

For some of the cinematography, props, and lighting crew, Xu Can would also borrow people over from Hollywood.

Setting aside the cultural differences between Hollywood and Hua Xia cinema,

in terms of the completeness of the film industry, Hollywood was indeed more systematic and professional.

Hua Xia's film industry was still in a developmental stage, with great potential for improvement.

Bringing in seasoned members from Hollywood could also help Hua Xia's local talent grow quickly through the actual shooting process.

Xu Can figured he had indirectly made some small contribution to Hua Xia cinema.

Apart from the crooked paths of making films to launder money or chase traffic,

there were still plenty of local filmmakers earnestly doing the work, earnestly creating good pieces.

Constrained by the barbaric development of the film industry, many directors were truly struggling along this road of exploration.

Like Director Guo Fan's *The Wandering Earth*—without his persistence,

Hua Xia's film industry probably wouldn't have shown the slightest sign of getting off the ground; everyone would just be chasing traffic, chasing short-term profit.

The ones who suffered were ordinary film fans, who couldn't even see a single sci-fi film of normal quality.

This "Sino-American co-production blooming on both sides" film was now in active preparation,

and around early September, once every link in the chain was fully connected, Xu Can would return to his homeland and begin shooting.

Now he had to take Meimei back to Los Santos.

The night before departure, Xu Zheng went out again, and Xu Can and Song Qian chatted about the script once more.

Leaning against Xu Can's chest, Song Qian openly admitted it.

She just wanted to latch onto a big leg, to get on good terms with Xu Can………

At the same time, Xu Can's looks and his youthful, fit physique made Song Qian very envious.

There was no emotional entanglement between the two, which did let Xu Can breathe a sigh of relief.

In his past life he'd heard about Xu Zheng and Song Qian's "open marriage"—now he was finally seeing it for himself.

He'd originally felt bad for this bald man,

but then he thought about it—the man himself played pretty fast and loose too; he probably didn't care at all.

"Speaking of which, if I were ten years younger, would I have a chance to rank somewhere in your heart?"

Song Qian was very curious.

"Of course. Back in those innocent days, I did have my heart stir for the Little Dragon Girl—that's true."

Song Qian couldn't help reaching out to stroke Xu Can's stern, handsome face, her heart racing.

……

Back in Los Santos, Xu Can found that while he was efficient, Nolan's speed was even faster.

The crew has finished preparations for the film Inception,

with Leonardo DiCaprio, who is nominated for the Oscar every year but always comes in second place, officially joining; his fee is 20 million;

Ellen Page, who looks sweet and cute but has a tomboyish personality, has joined; her fee is 5 million;

Tom Hardy, who just finished playing the Dafan Sect's villain Bane and needs to lose 10 kilograms immediately, has joined;

Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Marion Cotillard, and the elder Michael Cane have all officially announced their joining.

Except for the role of Joseph Gordon-Levitt being replaced by Xu Can, everyone else is the original cast.

The filming start date is even earlier than for Drug Lord; it is expected to begin shooting by the end of August when The Dark Knight Rises is released.

When Xu Can and Nolan's "Dark Knight Trilogy" final chapter, Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, is released,

Spider-Man 2 is still playing in North American theaters, earning millions in box office revenue every single day to this day, showing just how huge Xu Can's Spider-Man influence is!

In some countries around the world, Spider-Man 2 is even firmly sitting at the top of the charts!

Sitting at the top of the box office charts for over a month straight, it's gone crazy!

Finally, the film's global box office total has surpassed Spider-Man 1 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, reaching 1.2 billion dollars!

Unfortunately, it is still far short of Titanic's 2.2 billion dollars,

a phenomenon-level film; one truly doesn't know how such terrifying box office numbers were generated in 1998.

Xu Can estimates that probably only The Avengers could compete for the top spot.

If Avengers 1 doesn't work, there are Avengers 2, 3, and 4; one of them will surely surpass the big ship.

On the day of the premiere of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, Xu Can did not attend the premiere ceremony.

This made Anne Hathaway a little sad.

"Are you really not coming?"

"Mm, I can't get away from here; you are the female lead, enjoy your moment."

Anne Hathaway understood; Xu Can was probably going to watch with Taylor or Emma.

She could only count as one of Xu Can's friends, with no qualification to have him accompany her.

Anne's intuition was not wrong,

Xu Can indeed was going to accompany Emma.

Having spent a long time in China with Taylor Swift previously, this time back, to keep things balanced,

Xu Can ran straight to New York without saying a word to give Emma a surprise on the set.

When Emma Stone saw Xu Can, her eyes lit up; she ran over from far away and threw herself onto Xu Can, clinging to him.

If Xu Can's physical constitution hadn't been greatly improved through Spider-Man, this one 2.1 impact might have knocked him straight to the ground.

"Did you miss me?"

"I think about you every day! As for you, you don't even call me! You take half a day to reply to messages!"