Chapter 546: Female Lead Han Duoduo

The Wandering Earth 1 truly didn't spend much on its cast—the male lead Qu Chuxiao was basically talked into coming from the Hengdian set, and audiences mistakenly thought the male lead Wu Jing had also been talked into it by the director.

Not only did they appear for free, they even ended up putting in over 60 million, but fortunately they not only broke even, they made a big profit.

But this time around, there's no such luck—being produced by Outstanding Rising Film Company, the funding is quite ample.

The cast will definitely not be as shabby as the original version's.

In another timeline's The Wandering Earth 1, there aren't many familiar faces to the audience, let alone someone who could 'carry the box office'.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have focused all the publicity on Wu Jing, causing many viewers to mistakenly think he was the male lead!

So, the roles with the most screen time—Liu Qi and Han Duoduo—will definitely be recast.

Jiang Heng couldn't immediately decide who would be suitable to play Liu Qi.

Among younger actors, Yi Yangqianxi has a demeanor somewhat like the male lead, but since he was born in 2000, he's really too young for this.

As for the role of Han Duoduo, it was naturally given without question to Zhang Ruozi—after all, she's the youngest among the contracted actresses at Outstanding Rising Film Company!

She's young, sweet-looking, and to Jiang Heng she's the unequivocal choice for Han Duoduo.

After chatting a while longer, Jiang Heng first called Du Huan to say they were going to launch The Wandering Earth project.

Upon hearing the projected investment, Du Huan was genuinely taken aback.

After all, it's a project with a total investment of over a hundred million USD—any other film company would need to hold several meetings, prepare piles of documents, and discuss for half a day before they could even consider launching it lightly.

But with Jiang Heng, it's just a matter of one sentence.

Du Huan felt moved, but he was also used to it, saying he would arrange personnel to prepare the crew.

Jiang Heng, however, said, 'Don't rush—contact the Chinese Academy of Sciences and have them help Guo Fan refine the film's worldview, then send me a draft of the script when it's done!'

Actually, even without consulting the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiang Heng could produce a script himself, but the point is to do things thoroughly—since Guo Fan, Liu Cixin, and others felt they needed professionals to help polish the setting, Jiang Heng saw no need to pose as an expert.

After hanging up, Jiang Heng directly said, 'Alright, go find Director Du—he'll sort things out for you, and bring me the script draft as soon as it's ready!'

'That's for sure—with you overseeing it, I feel much more at ease!' Guo Fan said with a hearty laugh.

The Wandering Earth is merely a visually impressive commercial blockbuster, unlike the personally styled films directed by Jiang Wen.

Guo Fan didn't think there was anything wrong with Jiang Heng overseeing the script; on the contrary, he considered it a good thing, guaranteeing success—if a hundred-million-dollar investment were to flop, he'd basically have to say goodbye to the Chinese-language entertainment industry.

Like a major director such as Wu Yusen, one box-office flop of The Wind Speaker was enough to topple MGM, instantly losing its foothold in Hollywood and forcing it to slink back domestically.

If he fails, where could he retreat to? Nowhere to retreat! That's why the producer of this film is still Jiang Heng, and the script still needs his oversight.

As for Liu Cixin standing nearby, he's already grinning from ear to ear.

After the consecutive releases of Three Body 2 and The Wandering Earth, his fame will surely surge, those novels will keep selling well—how satisfying!

And besides him, the other person feeling this windfall of joy is Zhang Ruozi.

Speaking of which, during a break in the afternoon, Jiang Heng suddenly thought of the female lead Han Duoduo from The Wandering Earth and called Zhang Ruozi.

She was in class, but fortunately she had her phone on vibrate.

Seeing it was Jiang Heng, she didn't dare keep him waiting and quickly answered, 'Hello, Director Jiang!'

'Mm, not busy?'

'Uh, I'm in class!'

At that moment the classroom was dead quiet; the teacher and classmates all stared at Zhang Ruozi as she took the call, her expression embarrassed, she gave the teacher a slight nod and stepped out.

From the other end of the line came a voice: 'Is it convenient to talk?'

'Convenient, convenient—I'm out in the hallway. You called—do you have good news?' Zhang Ruozi replied with a cheerful laugh.

Although they're close, Zhang Ruozi also understands that if there weren't something important, Jiang Heng wouldn't just call her out of the blue.

'Well, the company is preparing to film The Wandering Earth; there's a female lead who's currently in middle school, and I want you to play her!' 'The Wandering Earth, the female lead!' Zhang Ruozi exclaimed in surprise.

'Yes, let me know when you're free to come to the set, and I'll fill you in.'

'Oh, okay, I'm on my way now!'

'Alright, let's grab something to eat together tonight!'

After hanging up, Zhang Ruozi had taken just a few steps toward the classroom when she heard a chaotic scuffle of footsteps inside.

Reaching the door, she happened to see a bunch of classmates each looking for a seat—obviously they'd been eavesdropping by leaning against the door.

Zhang Ruozi wore a helpless expression, not knowing what to say.

On the contrary, the teaching teacher asked concernedly, 'Director Jiang called you—is it something important?'

Zhang Ruozi thought for a moment; things decided by Jiang Heng are basically set in stone, not likely to change.

In other words, her casting as the female lead in The Wandering Earth is already a done deal—saying it ahead of time wouldn't change anything.

After checking, there's not a single mistaken version!

'Director Jiang said they're preparing to film The Wandering Earth and want me to play the female lead!'

'Whoa!'

'That's great!'

'Nannan, I'm really jealous of you!'

'Ask Director Jiang later if they need any extras!'

The classmates in the classroom chattered excitedly, and the teacher also expressed some envy, congratulating Zhang Ruozi.

'Three Body 2, Hello Mr. Billionaire, The Wandering Earth—Nannan is our class's big star!'

Hearing that, Zhang Ruozi's face fell into an awkward smile; she said, 'That's me—just got lucky! Um, teacher, I need to go to the set for a bit; I'd like to take leave.'

'No problem, hurry up—I'll let the instructor know later!'

Zhang Ruozi quickly thanked him, grabbed her bag, and hurried off.

Arriving at the parking lot, Zhang Ruozi drove the company-provided Mercedes C straight to the set of The Return of the Great Sage.

By the time she arrived, it was already past five in the afternoon, and the crew was still shooting intensely.

Seeing Jiang Heng's serious gaze fixed on the monitor, Zhang Ruozi didn't dare speak and just stood silently to the side.

After one scene was done, the whole crew let out a breath.

Jiang Heng turned, smiling, and said, "You came over right after hanging up the phone, didn't you?"

Mm!

Okay, let's go rest in the RV for a while.

The two got into the RV, Jiang Heng gave Zhang Ruoruo a cold drink from the fridge, and then started talking about Han Duo Duo's role.

Actually, whether it was Guo Fan or Liu Cixin, at this point they only had a rough story outline in their minds, with no role for Han Duo Duo.

Jiang Heng, based on his previous life's "The Wandering Earth" film and behind-the-scenes data, explained to Zhang Ruoruo the full character concept of Han Duo Duo.

Yes, complete.

That version from his previous life cut many scenes to shorten the runtime.

As a result, Han Duo Duo was portrayed as a timid, crybaby, reckless chuunibyou girl, causing Zhao Jinmi to receive considerable criticism.

This version from Outstanding Rising Film Company definitely can't let Zhang Ruoruo suffer this injustice! (End of chapter)