Chapter 111: Role Selection

"President Wang, that is the situation. Yes, yes, our friendship goes without saying. Next time for sure, rest assured."

The call was from Wang Changtian of Enlighten, who beat around the bush to ask about the project. Upon learning that the investors were already set, he complained that Wei Jin was being disloyal, saying they were supposed to be brothers for life, yet he had gone off to fly away with China Film Group.

Putting down the phone, Wei Jin felt a mix of laughter and tears; he had to blame Han Sanping for catching him off guard.

At the beginning of September, perhaps to mock the ugly way Huayi acted by hogging all the profits, or perhaps to finalize the project investment as soon as possible, President Han took the initiative to announce the *Brotherhood of Blades* project.

These past few days, quite a few companies in the industry had either called or visited in person to inquire about the project's investment status, all expressing that funding was not an issue, and that even a premium would be fine, just to have the chance to cooperate with Wei Jin.

President Wang of Huayi also called, though not to ask about investment—after all, that Sino-US co-production with an investment as high as 70 million USD had firmly locked up Huayi's cash flow. He mainly wanted to thank Wei Jin and, in passing, recommend his own artists.

*Taken* had already finished its theatrical run, with a domestic box office of 189 million and a global box office as high as 256 million USD.

According to a rough estimate, the producers could get a box office share of about 120 million USD. After deducting distribution and marketing expenses, the net shared box office was 100 million USD. Huayi's 10% share amounted to 10 million USD, which, when converted, was 80 million RMB.

Compared to the investment of 36 million, it was a huge profit. It was estimated that the two brothers were probably considering how to continue lobbying Wei Jin right now.

The success of *Taken* had also completely established Wei Jin's persona as a gold-medal screenwriter in North America. For a time, the scripts he registered received many invitations from independent film companies, but Wei Jin was not that generous.

Regarding the actors for *Brotherhood of Blades*, Wei Jin also had a headache. Big-budget films were truly scarce, and since it was Wei Jin's project, it was no surprise that it was once again being scrambled for by all sorts of stars in the circle.

Fortunately, Wei Jin already had preliminary candidates in mind and did not need large-scale auditions.

Thinking of this, Wei Jin picked up the office landline:

"Chen Xi, notify Huang Xiaoming, Zhao Wenzhuo, Hu Jun, Deng Chao, Wu Jing, and Duan Long to audition in three days."

Chen Xi was the famous gold-medal producer Chen Zhixi from his past life; she hadn't changed her name yet.

She had come to the company for an interview herself last month. She used to be an actress, but it seemed she had suffered some grievances on set and was no longer planning to pursue the path of an artist, intending to switch to producing instead. This time, Wei Jin simply let her serve as the executive producer of the film.

After hanging up the phone, Wei Jin fell into deep thought.

The screening for *Temptation of Going Home* organized a few days ago had been jointly acquired by Modu TV and Mango TV. The price per episode reached as high as 1.6 million, setting a domestic record for a single-series price. However, the news had not yet been announced; the two major television stations intended to stir up another wave of hype when it was broadcast. It was foreseeable that it would be another shock to the industry at that time.

*Search* had also wrapped up filming, but his mentor Tian Zhuangzhuang intended to aim for next year's Berlin International Film Festival, so there were no plans to release it this year. After all, if it could win an award, it would receive corresponding bonuses for both copyright and box office.

For *Soldiers Sortie*, Wei Jin directly arranged for a premiere on Potato Video, adopting a click-rate sharing model. In his past life, this drama only became popular on the internet before being broadcast successively by major satellite TV stations.

It wasn't that Wei Jin insisted on being unconventional; it was just that this type of military-themed subject was not easy to sell. Even with the "Produced by Wei Jin" label, television stations still wouldn't offer more than 100,000 per episode, which was something Wei Jin could not accept. Since the cost wasn't particularly high, he simply put it on a video website. As long as the number of episodes was controlled, he wasn't particularly afraid of piracy.

Flowers bloom in two places, each telling its own story.

In Hong Kong, on the set of *Twins Mission*.

Wu Jing was pleasantly surprised when he received the call from the *Brotherhood of Blades* crew. He never expected that after meeting just once at a cocktail party, Wei Jin would actually remember him and specifically invite him to audition. One had to know that such direct invitations usually meant a very high chance of success.

Wu Jing was born in '74 and was already 32 years old this year. Back in Mainland China, he could be said to have reached his peak upon debut, and it would be no exaggeration to call him a popular young actor of the 90s. It was just a pity that his ambition was too great; in order to transition to film, he came to Hong Kong alone from the familiar Mainland television circle to make his way.

Wu Jing had thought that as a national martial arts champion and a popular Mainland actor, he could carve out a piece of the sky in Hong Kong, just like his senior Li Lianjie, and become the next Kung Fu superstar.

Who would have thought that after nearly 4 years in Hong Kong, the roles he played were either supporting roles or villains, and his acting career could be said to have made no progress. Although Brother Hong thought highly of him, he couldn't give him much more help.

Regarding his development in Hong Kong, Wu Jing also felt a hint of regret in his heart, but his strong self-esteem made him unwilling to slink back to the Mainland like that, so he kept struggling on, not knowing until what day. But if he could participate in Wei Jin's film this time, there was no doubt he would smoothly integrate into the Mainland circle, and return as a victor.

Thinking of this, Wu Jing couldn't help but punch the air and roar.

"Ah Jing, what are you doing?"

Hong Jinbao, who was resting on set, saw him acting a bit strange and asked:

"Brother, I received a call from the *Brotherhood of Blades* crew. Director Wei specifically named me to go audition."

Wu Jing's voice was still a bit excited at this moment, showing how important an opportunity was to an actor.

"What? The new work from that big Mainland director?"

Hong Jinbao was surprised to hear this. When did Wu Jing get connected with a Palme d'Or-winning Mainland director? But then he was happy for him: "Then what are you still standing there for? Go find the director and ask for leave, you silly boy."

Three days later, at the conference room of Wei Jin Fengliu Film and Television Company, after watching the performances of several people, Wei Jin made his decision.

Huang Xiaoming would play Shen Lian; on one hand, after seeing Deng Chao's period costume look, it didn't quite fit the character; on the other hand, Wei Jin had a good impression of Huang Xiaoming, and by comparison, as one of the Four Young Dan, Huang Xiaoming's fame at this time was much higher.

However, during filming, Wei Jin would keep an eye on Xiaoming's acting, absolutely not letting him run wild.

Hu Jun would play the eldest brother, Lu Jianxing. This actor's performance was excellent, and he was solemn and dignified, having the air of an eldest brother.

Wu Jing would play the third brother, Jin Yichuan, and serve as the martial arts director. His acting was secondary; the main thing was that he could fight, and he could help train other actors in the early stages.

Zhao Wenzhuo would play the big villain Zhao Jingzhong. This actor could not only fight but his acting was also up to par, and he had played that kind of tough, villainous eunuch before; he was truly the only choice.

Duan Long would play Ding Xiu. This character was very brilliant. The original version by Zhou Yiwei was naturally played well, but he was too young now and couldn't handle it.

But Duan Long was different. This actor was a professional from the Central Academy of Drama and had honed his skills in the theater for many years. Known as the "Acting Demon," Wei Jin naturally didn't need to worry about his acting.

After settling the main cast, Wei Jin gave instructions to Wu Jing regarding the action design style of the film:

"Director Wu, the fight scenes in this film must be cold, crisp, and hit with real impact."

"No problem, Director Wei. In a week at most, I will provide a plan."

Wu Jing was actually a bit panicked inside. Although he was an action actor with a martial arts background, this was his first time serving as a martial arts director. But since the director trusted him, he had nothing to worry about. Fortunately, he had many fellow disciples, so this wouldn't be much of a problem.

*Brotherhood of Blades* was a competent commercial martial arts film. Of course, Wei Jin also made some adjustments to the script, burying some foreshadowing as hints for a sequel.

In his past life, this film's box office wasn't great, but Wei Jin felt it might have had a lot to do with the market environment and the distribution and marketing strategy at the time.

Because judging from the subsequent popularity, the potential of this film was still very great. If it could be tapped into, it still had the hope of becoming a martial arts film that was a success in both word-of-mouth and box office.

At the current stage, domestic period films, whether it was *The Promise*, *House of Flying Daggers*, *The Banquet*, or *Curse of the Golden Flower*, were all playing with flashy, hollow things and just wouldn't tell a story properly.

As for *Brotherhood of Blades*, other merits aside, just in terms of the story, it at least told things clearly and plainly. The audience could understand it, and that was a huge advantage.

Wei Jin believed that this version of *Brotherhood of Blades* that he was helming would definitely bring about different results. Feeling groggy after sleeping for a few hours, I got up and wrote a chapter. I ask all book friends and readers to reward me with subscriptions and collections, thank you everyone (End of chapter).