Chapter 350: All the Rage Overseas

Korea also once adapted The Legend of the White Snake, it is the 1960 version of Madame White Snake.

That film's genre is horror fantasy, its music is comparable to that of Strange Tales, and its plot is even more imaginative.

Speaking of, the white snake that had cultivated for a thousand years and attained the Dao accepted the devil king's order, transformed into a beautiful woman to tempt the holy disciple at the temple. The holy disciple thus broke his precepts and affected the progress of making Buddha statues. The white snake, deep-rooted in affection, was unwilling to kill her husband. In anger, the devil king turned the white snake into stone.

Later, the white snake's deep affection moved Guanyin, who used magic to turn the white snake back into human form, and she continued to live happily with the holy disciple and his son.

Because the film was made long ago and the actors are older, its effect is naturally not great; it can only be said that Koreans' acceptance of Chinese mythological stories is still quite high.

White Snake: Origins has a beautiful visual style and a moving story, plus a sense of fate across past and present lives; its content absolutely outshines various Korean dramas, and it is currently the hottest 3D film. Upon release it sparked a viewing craze, and the IMAX 3D version is especially hard to get tickets for.

As for the important Beimei market, its box office performance is also not bad.

One reason is that Jiang Heng has accumulated fame over more than ten years, making many audiences accustomed to watching his films; unless Jiang Heng flops three or four films in a row, it is hard to break this box-office drawing power.

Secondly, it is naturally the extreme visual effects; one can say that the beautiful scenery shown in White Snake: Origins not only far exceeds what people can see in reality, but even the scenery photos in National Geographic Magazine or various filtered landscape pictures on the later Internet cannot match the film's beauty.

As for the deeply moving love story in the film, Euro-American audiences also like it, but not as fervently as East Asian and Southeast Asian audiences.

Thus, White Snake: Origins earned over 71 million yuan in its opening weekend three days in the Beimei market, and its total box office should exceed 200 million US dollars, placing it in the top ten of the yearly box office rankings.

Besides the box office gains, the acting of Jiang Heng and Jing Tian in the film is also widely praised.

Many film festivals and awards proactively contacted Jiang Heng's side, inviting him to register for participation; they thought that getting a Best Actor or Best Actress award would be easy to obtain.

Jiang Heng is not very interested in this, but he cannot stop others from progressing; he just lets the staff apply normally.

At this moment, the secretary came in and said that the Hong Kong Film Awards organizing committee called again, saying that if Jiang Heng is willing to attend, then the April Hong Kong Film Awards will surely let him win the Best Actor honor.

"Let's talk about it later!"

"Seeing the secretary wanting to speak but hesitating, Jiang Heng laughed, 'What else did they say?'"

"They said, 'You are the most prominent big shot in the Xianggang film circle, and you should support them even more!'"

Jiang Heng laughed, leaned back slightly, took a puff of a cigarette, and said: "Precisely because I am a big shot, I don't want to compete with those small actors for a Best Actor title; this thing is useless to me, but if a small actor gets it, perhaps their acting career could be changed."

The pretty female secretary, upon hearing this, had her eyes shine brightly and admired: "Director Jiang, you really have a broad vision!"

Jiang Heng smiled and said nothing more, just waved his hand for her to get back to work.

He truly had no mind for those things; The Legend of the Little Soldier, after over four months of tense filming, was completed just before the new year.

After the new year, Jiang Heng still had to arrange post-production special effects.

The film is scheduled for release in the summer, and the time is extremely tight.

Moreover, he has recently been constantly considering what to shoot for his next film.

The subject matter, well, there are just those few.

For the sci-fi genre, Three Body 2 is waiting for a suitable Zhuang Yan, while The Wandering Earth needs to wait a few more years before discussion.

For the mythological genre, White Snake: Origins has just been released, and other mythological stories have already been filmed enough in recent years.

For mecha-type films, Pacific Rim, after two installments' interpretation, there's nothing left to film about Earth's stories; one can't possibly counterattack the monsters' lair, or else immersion would be lost.

Jiang Heng repeatedly considered it and felt that continuing to film would carry too much risk, so let's just put it on hold for now.

As for monster movies, the atmosphere in the Chinese market still seems somewhat lacking.

After thinking it over, it seems that Heroic Legion 2 is relatively suitable.

And filming the second part would inevitably require a host of beautiful angels! Such as Kaisa, Hexi, Yan, etc., all extremely beautiful beings; finding suitable actors for them is truly not easy.

Unless virtual actors are used, it is impossible to perfectly portray these characters' beauty; and for his Super Microcomputer, this is a very simple operation.

But given current real-world technology, the cost to create a super-realistic, perfect character is absolutely astronomical.

To outsiders, Jiang Heng's behavior is absolutely deserving of the label "crazy"; in film and TV dramas, using ordinary-looking passersby to play the lead while boasting of being an "absolute beauty" happens all too often.

Even middle-aged women can play beauties, causing the male lead to become infatuated.

Why spend big money on a "virtual actor"? I completely don't get it!

"'Director Jiang, Miss Liu Yifei has arrived!' the secretary came to report."

"'Please let her in!'"

"Actually, given their relationship, there should be no need to report."

"But Liu Yifei fears bumping into Jing Tian, and Jing Tian also fears bumping into Liu Yifei, so each time before they come, they will tell Jiang Heng's secretary or assistant; otherwise, 'colliding' would be awkward."

"Not long after, Liu Yifei entered Jiang Heng's luxurious office."

"Miss wore a black undershirt with a camel-colored hooded outerwear, black tight pants and black leather boots, donned a black baseball cap and sunglasses, and let her long hair hang loose."

"She carried a white bag; the whole person looked both beautiful and sharp!"

"'You're really pretty today?'"

"'Hmph, when am I not pretty?'"

Jiang Heng heard this and laughed; he knew Liu Yifei was holding back her anger.

"After all, Jiang Heng, she, and Jing Tian each filmed a love movie; the result was that A Chinese Ghost Story's reputation and box office were far lower than White Snake: Origins."

"The Nie Xiaoqian she played, in every aspect, was outperformed by Jing Tian's Xiao Bai; being in a good mood would be surprising!"

"'What are you laughing at?'"

"Miss had an annoyed expression: 'It seems you look down on my Xiao Qian; forget it, I might as well go be a lonely ghost.'"

"Having said that, she made an angry expression and pretended to leave."

Jiang Heng hurriedly stood up and embraced her, laughing: 'Are you really angry?'

Liu Yifei turned around, used her soft, fair hand to scratch Jiang Heng's neck, occasionally making a baring-teeth expression, as if a little fox spirit wanted to bite someone.

"'When you filmed White Snake, you put in so much effort, but A Chinese Ghost Story was just going through the motions!'"

Saying this, Liu Yifei seemed truly a bit sad.

"'She has played so many good roles over the years; you say she should play true to herself, which would be more suitable, but I haven't said anything, nor have I competed for it.'"

"'I have filmed many special-effects blockbusters over the years, yet I have not a single role that people cannot forget.'"

Liu Yifei said this, and actually tears began to flow.

Jiang Heng, seeing this, also felt somewhat reluctant.

Upon careful thought, it really was somewhat unfair.

He racked his brains, wondering what role or film would suit her.

(End of chapter)