Chapter 170

After the new film's press conference, the crew of Great Feng Night Watchman, led by Director Yuan Kui, headed straight to Hengdian to begin filming.

As for the media, naturally they all reported on it, causing quite a stir in public opinion.

Mainly, some media were not optimistic about Jiang Heng's xianxia drama; creating a fictional "Da Feng Dynasty" was bad enough, but the term "Night Watchman" just sounds tasteless!

The article also mentioned Thus output: Chen Kaige's supremely ludicrous "Lu Bu and Diao Chan", expressing the hope that Jiang Heng would not follow Thus output: Chen Kaige's old path, and that making movies honestly is the proper way.

Speaking of which, when Thus output: Chen Kaige saw similar reports, he nearly blew his top; if not for Chen Hong stopping him, he would have sued those media.

"You're not optimistic about Jiang Heng's new film, so why bring up my Lu Bu and Diao Chan?"

However, after Jiang Heng learned of the media's reports, he merely smiled smugly and said nothing more.

He did this precisely to stir up public opinion and generate some hype.

Afterwards, he again immersed himself in selecting film scripts.

Speaking of which, Han Sanping was almost at his wit's end, not knowing whether Jiang Heng was too picky or just tired and unwilling to film; he had sent over a stack of scripts one after another, many of which he thought were good, yet they were all rejected.

If it weren't for Jiang Heng making a killing on special-effects blockbusters, he would have wanted to hire someone else!

As for Thus output: Chen Kaige, there's no need to mention him; although Zhang Yimou's "Hero" made money, its box office simply cannot compare to Jiang Heng's films.

He hurriedly greeted several executives and drove together to Outstanding Rising Film Company; upon arriving at the meeting room, Jiang Heng picked up a script.

This meant combining the "Gold Horn Great King, Silver Horn Great King" and the "Green Bull Spirit" into one dilemma, instantly solving the problem of a weak plot in a single dilemma.

At first he still carefully examined each submitted script, but later he lost the enthusiasm.

Now that the two dilemmas have been combined, the material available for adaptation is comparatively richer.

Upon inquiry, he learned that it had been selected by a supervisor named Zhang Lei, who did not even know the original creator.

Unfortunately, there truly is no one in the current domestic film market who can replace Jiang Heng.

At the same time, naturally the casting of actors was put on the agenda.

Currently, the best collaborator remains Jiang Heng.

Han Sanping then discussed the cooperation matters with Outstanding Rising Film Company, basically following precedent: China Film invests thirty percent, production work is wholly handled by Jiang Heng, and China Film only handles investment and distribution.

Fortunately, those who submitted scripts left contact information, so we just need to have someone get in touch.

He immediately called Han Sanping, who, upon hearing the news, was overjoyed.

The next day, China Film contacted the scriptwriter, first paying to buy out the script, then recruiting him into the crew's writing team to participate in script revisions.

That day, as Jiang Heng was reviewing a script, he found that although the story had some flaws, its concept was very novel.

But he simply could not decide on a film he wanted to shoot, which made Han Sanping very anxious.

Even though it cannot be entirely blamed on him, given the premise of "Wuji", Han Sanping still dared not use him.

Wu Yansen indeed has ability, but his film "Wind Speaker" bankrupted MGM.

Over in Xianggang, Xu Ke suffered a box-office disaster with "Shu Mountain Legend", and "Seven Swords" wasn't much better, so Han Sanping really didn't dare to use him.

He had his subordinates review it once, and when they thought it was about right, they sent it to Jiang Heng.

In fact, while Jiang Heng was pondering an adaptation of "Journey to the West", he had also considered these two dilemmas, but he felt the plot was somewhat weak, so he didn't settle on it.

Han Sanping flipped through it once and felt a bit dazed; he had truly never seen this manuscript before.

Since there was a prior work, "Lion Camel Ridge", the main creators naturally tried to stay consistent.

Fortunately, they had early on decided to film a Journey to the West theme; Jiang Heng had greeted Wu Jing, Ding Haifeng, Lin Zhichong, and Zang Jinsheng, asking them to keep their schedules free for the first half of the year.

As for the villains, the Gold Horn and Silver Horn mainly engage in magical combat; even if they fight physically, they turn into huge monsters, which must be done with special effects, so the actors' martial arts background is irrelevant.

On the other hand, the Green Bull Spirit can trade blows with the Great Sage hand-to-hand, so one must certainly find someone with good martial arts skills, preferably with a slightly more robust build.

Speaking of which, after Jiang Heng finalized the script, a friend from Xianggang called, seeking to secure the role of the Green Bull Spirit.

Jiang Heng did not agree, mainly because he felt that if people like Zou Zhaolong appeared too often, the audience would get tired of them.

Just as, years later, Xianggang would forever produce the same type of films each year, forever featuring those few faces.

To be frank, just thinking about it without watching feels meaningless.

Therefore, this time Jiang Heng wants to choose a Neidi actor with martial arts skills to play the Green Bull Spirit.

When this news came out, it genuinely excited many martial-arts-skilled actors in the industry.

Zhao Wenzhuo also called, hoping to compete for this role.

Jiang Heng gave it some thought, but still turned him down.

Because in "Lion Camel Ridge", he played the major villain Golden-Winged Great Peng; it would be impossible for this drama to also have him play a major villain.

Someone recommended the action actor Wu Yue, who played Di Yun in "The Twin Daggers".

Jiang Heng thought about it and also felt it was unsuitable.

At this point, Wu Jing recommended a candidate to Jiang Heng: his senior brother, the junior disciple of Li Lianjie, Kou Zhanwen.

This person joined the Jingcheng martial arts team in 1983, debuted in 1988, and when Director Li Ang filmed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Kou Zhanwen was the Chinese martial arts consultant.

The same year, in the mythological comedy "Spring Light Splendid Piggy Eight", he played Second Ox (Hou Yi), which counts as his first role to become widely known.

And in the 2003 historical drama "Legends of the Sui and Tang Heroes", Kou Zhanwen also played Yu Chi Gong, with an equally good performance.

He is highly skilled in martial arts, yet in films he always ends up playing the role of the one who gets beaten.

If he were cast as the Green Bull Spirit, he would undoubtedly end up being beaten up in various ways by Sun Wukong.

Jiang Heng recalled Kou Zhanwen's image in his mind, and thus decided on the role.

Upon hearing this, Wu Jing was overjoyed and hurried to make a phone call to inform him.

"Hey, senior brother, it's done—Director Jiang has agreed!"

"Ah, really?"

Kou Zhanwen could hardly believe it, for he had really been doing poorly.

After all these years since his debut, he's still only playing minor supporting roles.

Recently he went to audition for the Joyful Ox Spirit Piggy Eight Piggy Eight troupe, but only landed a role so tiny it couldn't be smaller; he didn't sign the contract right away, and during the consideration period he went drinking with Wu Jing, pouring out his frustrations.

Wu Jing said Director Jiang is currently preparing a Journey to the West–themed film, and if there is a suitable role he will definitely recommend it to him.

Kou Zhanwen can't even get a good role in TV dramas, so how dare he hope for a movie by Jiang Heng.

However, since Wu Jing said that, he held a bit of hope, but still turned down the role of Zhu Bajie in that film.

Consequently, the other side's casting assistant director laughed at him heartily, roughly meaning this person wants food but still complains the food is dirty.

Kou Zhanwen was naturally indignant, but given his position he had no confidence to argue with anyone.

Yet he never expected it, but the matter actually came true.

He actually became the major villain in Jiang Heng's new film, which is somewhat legendary.

However, Kou Zhanwen arrived at the Love Outstanding Rising Film Company at the fastest speed, signed the contract at the fastest speed, and thus became a member of the main creative team of Jiang Heng's new film.

(End of chapter)