Chapter 329

As for the White Snake Legend produced by Torch Power Film & Television, Jiang Heng naturally didn't even bother to watch it.

Translate: "As for the film *White Snake Legend* produced by Juli Film & Television, Jiang Heng naturally hadn't even looked at it."

Torch Power Film & Television

Torch Power Film & Television

White Snake Legend

Thus line: "As for the film *White Snake Legend* produced by Torch Power Film & Television, Jiang Heng naturally hadn't even looked at it."

But we need to keep it as a single line.

Jiang Heng

Now output: 【1】 As for the film White Snake Legend produced by Torch Power Film & Television, Jiang Heng naturally hadn't even looked at it.

We need to decide about italics? Not required. We'll just plain text.

To be honest, being able to turn such a touching White Snake story into such a mess, the main creative team is also quite talented.

Translate: "To be honest, to make such a moving White Snake story this bad, the main creative team is quite talented."

White Snake story: main creative team is also quite talented.

Thus: 【2】 To be honest, to make such a moving White Snake story this bad, the main creative team is also quite talented.

To be honest, being able to make such a terrible mess of the deeply moving Legend of the White Snake shows the main creative team is quite capable.

The director of this film is Cheng Xiaodong, who indeed served as martial arts director and is quite skilled. From A Chinese Ghost Story to The Swordsman, then to Hero and House of Flying Daggers, the action design is grand and imposing, and the visual effects are extremely shocking.

Translate: "The director of this film is Cheng Xiaodong, who indeed excels as a martial arts choreographer; from *A Chinese Ghost Story* to *The Swordsman* to *Hero* and *House of Flying Daggers*, his action designs are grand and imposing, and the visual effects are extremely shocking."

A Chinese Ghost Story

The Swordsman

Hero

House of Flying Daggers

We'll keep them in quotes or italics? We'll just plain.

Thus line: 【3】 The director of this film is Cheng Xiaodong, who indeed excels as a martial arts choreographer; from A Chinese Ghost Story to The Swordsman to Hero and House of Flying Daggers, his action designs are grand and imposing, and the visual effects are extremely shocking.

But when it comes to storytelling, his ability is far from weak; nevertheless, his White Snake Legend and Slay Immortal 1 are utter garbage.

Translate: "But when it comes to telling a story, his ability is far from weak; the director's *White Snake Legend* and *Zhu Zion 1* are outright terrible films."

Slay Immortal 1

Thus line: 【4】 But when it comes to telling a story, his ability is far from weak; the director's White Snake Legend and Slay Immortal 1 are outright terrible films.

Of course, the failure of White Snake Legend can't be blamed entirely on the director; after all, the fundamental reason this film was made was to promote Huang Shengyi.

Translate: "Of course, the failure of White Snake Legend cannot be blamed entirely on the director; after all, the fundamental reason this film was made was to promote Huang Shengyi."

Thus line: 【5】 Of course, the failure of White Snake Legend cannot be blamed entirely on the director; after all, the fundamental reason this film was made was to promote Huang Shengyi.

Furthermore, the film also enlisted Li Lianjie, Wen Zhang, Cai Zhuoyan, Lin Jiang, Xu Ruoxuan, Yang Qianhua, Jiang Wu, and others.

Translate: "In addition, the film also invited Li Lianjie, Wen Zhang, Cai Zhuoyan, Lin Yao, Xu Ruoxuan, Yang Qianhua, Jiang Wu, and others."

Thus line: 【6】 In addition, the film also invited Li Lianjie, Wen Zhang, Cai Zhuoyan, Lin Yao, Xu Ruoxuan, Yang Qianhua, Jiang Wu, and others.

Moreover, each supporting role still gets plenty of screen time, which fundamentally cuts down the emotional development scenes between Bai Niangzi and Xu Zion, so that in the original Legend of the White Snake, Xu Zion ends up like a mere tool, his presence even less than that of the third male role, Fahai's disciple played by Wen Zhang.

In this life, Xu Zion is played by Wen Zhang, who will surely have more screen time, but it's estimated the performance won't be too good either.

Jiang Heng, on the other hand, takes the story of Legend of the White Snake: Origins as a blueprint, makes slight revisions and improvements, and the whole story ends up both touching and with a hint of reunion.

Since it recounts their previous life, the audience knows they eventually end up together.

As soon as the familiar music plays, one instantly feels wonderful.

Moreover, with stunning special effects and the boost of the 3D version, breaking the ten‑billion yuan mark in mainland box office is no problem.

As for the main crew, the director and male lead are Jiang Heng, the female lead is Jing Tian, Zhao Liying plays Xiao Qing, and the major antagonist, the National Preceptor, is played by Liu Xun.

Speaking of which, the old gentleman is already 70 this year and hasn't appeared in any film or TV drama for several years.

However, faced with Jiang Heng's invitation, Liu Xun still felt somewhat moved.

After all, he has spent his whole life acting, and he also hopes to take part in a high‑grossing big production, and hopes his work will be seen by audiences in more countries.

Upon learning that he only needs to handle the dialogue scenes, with the action scenes covered by a dedicated stunt double, Liu Xun still agreed.

Of course, another reason he readily agreed is that Jiang Heng offered a high remuneration, making it hard for him to refuse.

Don't let his status as a well‑known diamond‑grade supporting actor fool you; he hasn't made much money in his lifetime and still faces some retirement pressure.

Not only him; many actors in Xianggang grow old and live in straitened circumstances, and truly achieving financial freedom is only a small minority.

Moreover, there is another relatively outstanding role in the film: the disciple of the National Preceptor, a little Daoist who is highly skilled in both magic and martial arts.

For this role, Jiang Heng chose Zhang Jin, who is slender in build and possesses extremely high martial arts skill.

In *Sha Po Lang 2*, he single‑handedly subdued Wu Jing and Tony Jaa in a fight, giving a very impressive performance.

I believe he will give a good performance in *Legend of the White Snake: Origins* as well.

In Xianggang, Zhang Jin, who had just received the role invitation, could hardly believe his ears.

He has little fame in the circle; when people mention him, they mostly refer to him as 'Cai Shaofen's husband'.

Zhang Jin naturally hopes to make a name for himself, but the Xianggang film industry is in decline, and he has no connections on the mainland, so he doesn't know when he might get his break.

He truly never expected to have such a windfall opportunity.

The moment Zhang Jin answered the phone, he didn't ask anything; upon confirming it was a new film by director Jiang Heng, he immediately agreed.

He then immediately called his wife and told her the news.

Cai Shaofen was even more excited than Zhang Jin; she naturally hopes her husband will make a name for himself, and people say she married well.

She hurriedly booked two plane tickets, preparing to accompany Zhang Jin to the set.

However, by the end of February, *Legend of the White Snake: Origins* held its new‑film launch event in the capital.

Besides the aforementioned cast and crew, Huang Bo also attended, coming purely for a cameo; he will voice the canine bellyband in the film and make a cameo as Xu Zion's brother‑in‑law.

Additionally, Gao Yuanyuan was invited to play the Snake Mother.

As for the little fox spirit Princess Baoqing, Jiang Heng chose the young actor Jiang Yan. Born in 1986, Jiang Yan is a graduate of the Performance Department of Beijing Film Academy, with decent looks and figure, but she just never managed to break through.

Jiang Heng also happened to think of this person and ordered his assistant to call and get in touch.

At this moment, Jiang Yan is truly obscure.

At first hearing that it was an invitation from director Jiang Heng, she thought the other party was a scammer; only after going to Outstanding Rising Film Company and signing the contract did she dare believe it was real.

Even so, upon arriving at the new‑film launch venue, she still felt dazed.

Facing media interviews, Jiang Yan expressed feeling extremely grateful to director Jiang Heng and said she would strive to play her role well.

Jiang Heng chuckled, gave a polite remark, saying she would surely become famous sooner or later; Jiang Yan naturally didn't believe it, but seeing Jing Tian beside her, radiant and charming, she couldn't help feeling envious.

The filming locations for *Legend of the White Snake: Origins* are mainly set at China Film Digital Base, Hengdian World Studios, as well as the Broken Bridge of West Lake and the Yunnan‑Guizhou region for outdoor scenes.

As for now, they first went to the China Film Digital Base.

The attendees of the new‑film launch took a bus there; after getting off, they first went to the hotel to check in.

Jiang Heng, who owns properties everywhere, naturally went to a luxury residence near the filming base.

Not long after Jing Tian entered and settled down, the phone rang.

He picked it up and saw it was a call from Han Sanping.

President Han is quite busy this year, because with the 60th anniversary of the founding of the nation, he has to direct the tribute film *The Founding of a Republic*.

All the actors in the film are participating without pay, and naturally his old friend Jiang Heng cannot be missing.

"Congratulations, another big film has started shooting!"

Jiang Heng laughed: "What's there to congratulate? It's just an ordinary, unremarkable film."

Han Sanping said: "Don't pretend modesty here; dare you say that after the White Snake is released, its mainland box office will be under one billion?"

"That definitely cannot happen!"

"The overseas box office must be at least five hundred million US dollars!"

"Roughly speaking, that's about right."

"You say you're like a human money‑printing machine; how much do you have to earn this year?"

Jiang Heng laughed: "The money I earn from making films is hard‑earned; it can't compare to those business tycoons."

"Aren't you a business tycoon then? Speaking of your game…"

"Hold on, Old Han, listening to your tone, why do I sense a hint of resentment toward the rich?"

Han Sanping sighed, "The budget is limited, the box office prospects are insufficient, I naturally resent the rich, and naturally I'm worried!"

Jiang Heng laughed, "Not at all, not at all!"

"By the way, the two roles, Jiang Jingguo and Kong Lingkan, you pick one yourself!"

Director Jiang complained, "How come it's all the Nationalist Party side?"

Han Sanping said, "Isn't it because these two have more screen time? I'm on your side, okay?"

Jiang Heng chuckled, he naturally didn't believe Han Sanping's words, but could also guess the other's intention.

In The Founding of a Republic, the opposing scenes between Jiang Jingguo and Kong Lingkan are indeed very exciting, so Han Sanping hopes these scenes can be even more exciting.

Please invite the highly renowned Jiang Heng to make a cameo appearance, then cut the exciting clips into the trailer, which will surely boost the box office.

We can't let Jiang Heng play a reporter with no dramatic conflict, that would be too wasteful! (End of chapter)