Chapter 30: Iron Man Dubbing (Request Monthly Votes)

Zhou Xingxing’s films feature many similar beauties, like Hua, A Zhen, Fire Chicken…

The film *The Foolish Monk’s Love for Autumn Fragrance* also has the stunningly beautiful Pomegranate Sister.

When the Pomegranate Sister, with her seven-colored eyeshadow, air-kiss bangs, and the era’s most fashionable “sunburn” makeup, made her entrance, she instantly claimed the center position in Hua’s household maid “girl group.”

Of course, Zhou Xingxing’s films also have genuine beauties.

If you’re talking about directors skilled at filming beauties, Xu Ke and Wang Jing are both masters, but Zhou Xingxing isn’t any worse than them.

Zhu Yin as the Purple Cloud Immortal, Zhang Baizhi in *The King of Comedy*, Huang Shengyi in *Kung Fu Hustle*…

You couldn’t possibly finish watching them all in one night.

No, it’s not about watching Zhou Xingxing’s films—you can take your time, one film at a time.

You can pick them up anytime, for practice.

Zhou Xingxing’s personal style is extremely unique; even if Qi Hao learned it, he could never replicate Zhou Xingxing’s achievements—it would only feel awkward.

Over all these years, no one has ever mastered the essence of Zhou Xingxing’s style.

Yet acting means absorbing the strengths of all schools and integrating them into oneself, eventually forging your own path—Qi Hao is no exception; he is currently in the phase of exploration.

These days of training have given him abundant gains.

Especially the live guidance from these acting masters has given Qi Hao a sense of clarity, as if the clouds had parted to reveal the sun.

He was eager to audition.

To make directors who once looked down on his acting and thought he was just an idol take a second look.

Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river.

Uh… Jinmen does have a Hedong District and an HX District.

The next day, Zhang Nan brought Zhang Yunming, the voice director for *Iron Man*.

Most voice directors are former voice actors who switched careers, but some are professionally trained voice directors.

The Zhang Yunming Qi Hao met is the former type.

He voiced the Monk in *Journey to the West*, and also characters like Gang Dan in *Shut Up, You Idiot* and many other films.

He is the China director of Disney International Dubbing Company and is currently serving China Film Corporation, tasked with evaluating Qi Hao’s test recording and negotiating a contract with him.

“Your voice sounds incredibly familiar—I grew up listening to you.”

You were too cruel to the female demons.

You made us overlook so many beautiful female demons along the way.

“Hehe, you youngsters of your generation are indeed more approachable to me.”

Zhang Yunming had to be dragged out on this trip during the New Year holiday—no one knew if he was happy about it, but he didn’t show it.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Qi Hao, he began listening to the recordings Qi Hao had made over the past two days.

The test recording was a scene from *Iron Man*—Iron Man chatting with several soldiers inside an armored vehicle.

One soldier asked Tony if he’d slept with every cover model from issue twelve, while another wanted to take a photo with him.

Iron Man Tony Stark’s carefree, humorous personality was perfectly captured in this segment.

It clearly revealed the voice actor’s skill level.

If improvements were needed, Zhang Yunming, as the voice director, would make specific requests, and Qi Hao would simply follow them.

“What do you think of my dubbing?” Facing this giant of the dubbing world, Qi Hao remained humble.

Or you could say he was timid.

“When I took on the *Iron Man* project, I already thought you were the right fit—after hearing this, I was right.”

As a dubbing director, Zhang Yunming’s job is to find suitable voice actors for imported films.

In the dubbing industry, Shi Ban Yu, who dubbed Zhou Xingxing, is one of those perfectly suited talents.

One could say that Zhou Xingxing’s current status among fans owes no small part to this voice actor.

Zhang Yunming was clearly very satisfied with Qi Hao’s dubbing.

No, it was even better than he expected—apparently Qi Hao hadn’t slacked off on his basic training during this period.

In fact, when Qi Hao completed the “Family Harmony Brings Prosperity” task, he received a +10 bonus to his lines.

Compared to the voice samples Zhang Yunming had heard before, there was clearly significant improvement.

“Thank you, Master Zhang—what areas need improvement?”

As a non-professional actor, Qi Hao’s knowledge system was entirely self-taught and stolen from others.

This Zhang Tianming was a giant in the dubbing world—he must have valuable insights to offer.

If he’d known earlier, Qi Hao would have delayed completing his previous task.

He could have captured “Zhang Tianming” as a training NPC.

But before completing his last task, Qi Hao didn’t know this one involved dubbing.

He could only hope that Zhang Tianming would appear among the backup NPCs after completing this task.

“Improvement?… Well, there are still a few things.”

Zhang Tianming was caught off guard by Qi Hao’s question.

He’d met many stars, including those he’d dubbed for—once they learned their dubbing was acceptable, they’d rush to finish and leave, too many schedules to keep.

After all, dubbing can’t be improved significantly in a short time.

The effort doesn’t match the output.

“I hope Master Zhang can give me some guidance—I’ll treat you and Zhang Nan to lunch.”

Qi Hao glanced at his watch—this Master Zhang had only been in the room for minutes, and already declared his voice acceptable.

He didn’t know how long the capture requirement was.

Might as well stretch it out a bit longer.

“Alright then, since I’m already here,” Zhang Tianming glanced at Qi Hao’s agent Zhang Nan, put down the coat he’d just picked up, and decided to teach Qi Hao some deeper dubbing techniques.

Honestly, Qi Hao’s voice quality is excellent.

To reach this level without scientific training is classic “born with a golden voice.”

What’s even rarer is his lack of arrogance or complacency.

Completely unlike the aloof image Zhang Tianming had of him before.

Now? He’s not aloof at all—he’s so down-to-earth he’s practically touching the underworld.

“If I pronounce it this way, won’t the pitch be too high?”

“Lowering it a bit is actually better—it fits the character better. If you think it’s too deep, pronounce it like this—listen…”

“That line was perfect—Zhang Nan, what do you think?”

“I think Master Zhang’s skill is truly exceptional.”

During this period, Qi Hao had “interacted” with many entertainment industry heavyweights—Zhou Xun, Li Lianjie, Li Mingqi, Ren Dahu—and unconsciously grown accustomed to dealing with such people.

No need to be timid—just treat them like NPCs and you’re fine.

The only pity is that NPCs in the training space give everything freely, while real-life masters have no reason to teach you their true secrets.

Even with Zhang Nan standing by doesn’t help.

All they teach is just a little.

Zhang Tianming left Qi Hao with the *Iron Man* audio files and signed the contract as agreed upon in terms of payment and deadline.

Per the contract, Qi Hao informed him he had another dubbing project pending.

“*Kung Fu Panda*? That was handled by Shanghai Dubbing Studio—the director should be Cheng Yuzhu. If you meet him, you can ask him for advice.”

Zhang Yunming smiled.

Within China’s dubbing circle, there are factions—like the Shanghai Dubbing School and the Beijing School; Zhang Yunming belongs to the Beijing School.

Everyone is civilized—they don’t speak ill behind each other’s backs.

“It’s a pity you have to rush back—you won’t even let me treat you to dinner tonight. Let’s make another appointment next time—thank you so much today, Master Zhang.”

Qi Hao checked the time—he felt genuinely apologetic.

Because of him, Zhang Yunming had to work overtime during the New Year holiday.

The payment was just lunch.

Hmm—turns out there’s not only free lunch, but also free overtime.

As for Zhang Nan also working overtime, Qi Hao figured he probably enjoyed it.

With the *Iron Man* dubbing job, Qi Hao’s New Year had become very fulfilling.

After signing the contract, the system did not mark the task as complete—meaning he had to finish the *Iron Man* dubbing to receive the reward.

Qi Hao was the type who, once he decided to do something, aimed to do it well.

He didn’t want people to criticize his dubbing once the movie was released.

In cinemas screening Hollywood blockbusters, there are English-language and Mandarin-language screenings—not everyone is used to reading subtitles while watching.

After receiving the full version, Qi Hao finally understood what *Iron Man* was really about.

Zhang Nan even helped him find comics related to the Iron Man character and stayed up late marking all of Iron Man’s appearances.

He even found a seasoned comic fan.

If Qi Hao had any questions, he’d have the comic fan explain them clearly over the phone.

Qi Hao also learned many things from the Marvel fans.

For example, in the comics, Tony Stark is not Howard Stark’s biological son—he was adopted and has an older brother named Arnold Stark.

Most importantly, after comparing the comics and the film, Qi Hao gained a deeper understanding of the character.

Zhang Nan also included all the Hollywood press coverage about the film in the emails he sent over.

This IP has changed hands multiple times over the years: sold to Universal in 1990, transferred to 20th Century Fox in 1996, then moved to New Line Cinema, and finally returned to Marvel.

At the time, while under Fox’s control, this IP attracted interest from major actors like Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage, both of whom expressed willingness to portray Tony Stark.

Fox also planned to have Quentin direct the film.

However, for various reasons, Iron Man remained unapproved for official development.

New Line Cinema also failed to produce it.

After Marvel regained control of Iron Man, it finally decided to risk everything.

Marvel was not the only one risking everything.

Robert Downey Jr., the lead actor playing Iron Man, was also risking everything.

This film, a gamble that embodied the hard work of many, made Qi Hao feel its weight.

It cannot be treated merely as a system task.

These efforts are not superfluous.

Voice acting, like acting, requires understanding the story and the character to be done well.

Only by understanding the character—his personality, his experiences, his values—can you truly portray him.

This holds true for acting, and equally so for voice acting.