Chapter 95

For regular media, if the other party spreads rumors or slander, we can still have lawyers communicate.

As for pirated magazines, even reporting to the police may not catch anyone.

Generally it doesn't cause too much negative impact; basically it's ignored, and Jiang Heng's side is the same.

After chatting a few sentences, Han Sanping suddenly said: "By the way, I heard you're preparing to direct and star in your new film?"

Jiang Heng blinked, then immediately realized it was definitely something the media said.

"I really hadn't thought about it!"

Han Sanping said: "But I think we can definitely give it a try!"

Jiang Heng's looks and physique definitely have the caliber of a top idol.

As for acting skills, with twenty years of polishing from his previous life and the help of the "Super Microcomputer" in this life, it's also an excellent choice.

Previously he had no martial arts foundation, so he felt shooting action scenes would be somewhat difficult.

But after joining the crew of "Hero," he discovered there was also a possibility of becoming an action superstar!

Hearing Han Sanping say that, he really felt a bit moved.

Everyone says Jiao Chunjun's portrayal of Erlang Shen is the most classic, and Jiang Heng also agrees.

While filming "Lion's Ridge," they once invited Jiao Chunjun for a cameo, and a few seconds of footage appeared in the final cut.

However, for this film "Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother," Jiang Heng did not plan to cast Jiao Chunjun as the lead.

The reason is that he feels the actor is a bit old; born in 1967, he is in his thirties, mature and steady, unsuitable for playing the youthful Yang Jian.

Jiang Heng's initial idea was to pick a young male actor from the mainland or Xianggang to play the lead in this film.

But after hearing Han Sanping's suggestion and thinking it over carefully, it seems feasible!

"It looks like you're moved; let me say, don't hesitate—just you take the role. I really can't find anyone better. You can't keep having Wu Yan Zu play it, or the audience will surely get visually fatigued!" Han Sanping advised.

Jiang Heng thought of Wu Yan Zu's stills as Erlang Shen and unconsciously shook his head.

He also pondered the young male actors in Xianggang and the mainland, but really none were very suitable.

"Hmm, then I'll give it a try?"

Han Sanping laughed and said: "What's there to hesitate about? I'm telling you, once the news of you directing and starring gets out, this film will definitely be a hit even before filming!"

Jiang Heng chuckled: "Then I'll also take a turn as the lead!"

Han Sanping then said: "As for the female lead, any ideas?"

"We need to find someone extremely beautiful and with great poise!"

"Which role?"

"The Jade Emperor's sister!"

Han Sanping gave a helpless wry smile: "You really aren't leaving any room for the male lead's romance to play out!"

Jiang Heng said: "The theme of this film is saving one's mother; there's no need for so much romance!"

Han Sanping thought, the problem is, counting from "The Matrix," you've made four effects-heavy blockbusters, and only the first one had a bit of romance!

Without romance, you'll lose a lot of audience and box office!

However, Jiang Heng's cooperation principle is not to interfere with his creation, so Han Sanping couldn't press too much and only said: "If it's the Jade Emperor's sister, I have a suitable person to recommend—He Qing, who has played roles in all four great classics, and her ancient costume look deserves the title of top beauty!"

In Jiang Heng's mind, He Qing's ancient costume image instantly appeared.

One must admit, she truly has a classical beauty's face, born with brows that seem to frown yet not quite, and eyes full of feeling yet also sorrow; she's quite fitting for the role of the Jade Emperor's sister in the film.

To say who could compete with He Qing in the classical beauty category right now, only Chen Hong comes to mind.

But Chen Hong is the wife of renowned director Thus output: Chen Kaige, and it's said that Thus output: Chen Kaige has never been fully convinced by Jiang Heng's achievements, so Jiang Heng naturally wouldn't consider Chen Hong.

"They should be a good match; we can first make contact, and discuss the specific role after the script is finalized!"

That evening, Yu Dong called again, saying the premiere of "Killing the Wolves" in Jingcheng was already prepared, and asked if Jiang Heng could return to attend.

This film is one Jiang Heng invested in and made a cameo appearance in, so naturally he should help promote it.

Originally scheduled for release two weeks after "Pacific Rim," but this mecha blockbuster turned out to be extremely hot, sparking a huge viewing craze, causing the box office drop to be slow.

Yu Dong therefore proposed postponing "Killing the Wolves" by one week, and only now are they preparing the premiere.

"Sure, the scenes here are finished; wait a month or so, then go to Dunhuang to shoot a few more scenes, and it'll be completely wrapped!"

Yu Dong wondered: "Going smoothly?"

"Yeah!"

"So you're saying, boss, you're really a master?"

Jiang Heng was speechless: "From now on, read fewer street tabloids!"

"Hey!"

Yu Dong laughed, hung up the phone, rolled his eyes, and sighed: "This talent is just too exaggerated!"

Meanwhile, Jiang Heng's side, with his assistant team, left the "Hero" crew, preparing to return to Jingcheng to attend the premiere of "Killing the Wolves."

After arriving in Jingcheng, he first went to Broad Sodium Film Industry to check the latest box office data for "Pacific Rim."

The mainland naturally kept advancing strongly, and Xianggang and Baodao also performed well.

What surprised Jiang Heng was the Japanese market: "Pacific Rim" had a decent box office at its release, but he didn't expect that over time its performance would become even more fierce.

Compared to the 1998 Japanese release of "Titanic," it seems to have the momentum to surpass it.

Note that "Titanic"'s box office in Japan was 26.2 billion yen, which converts to about 1.2 billion RMB, a quite high box office figure.

And he recalls that in his previous life, "Pacific Rim" seemed to have a lukewarm reception when released in Japan.

To say the biggest difference between the two versions, it's likely that the original version, due to the Japanese earthquake issue, changed the monster's rampage in Tokyo to a landing in Manila.

But in this life, Jiang Heng not only added scenes of monsters attacking Tokyo to the film, but also increased the runtime and added many close-up shots; could it be that they just like watching that?

Although it's somewhat hard to understand, looking at the box office data fed back by Toho Co., Ltd., it should indeed be like that!

And in South Korea, "Pacific Rim"'s performance has also been rising steadily, turning domestic Korean films of the same period into cannon fodder.

As a result, it sparked a large parade in the Korean entertainment industry, whose slogan was to restrict foreign films and protect domestic cinema.

The main content of the speech said: Korea's film market was once dominated by Hong Kong films, then after Hong Kong films declined, Hollywood blockbusters moved in.

Nowadays even Chinese-language special-effects blockbusters have broken in; if this continues, Korea's film market will truly become the backyard of Hollywood and Chinese-language cinema.

These slogans indeed attracted some young people, but more Korean youths planned to first go to the cinema to see what's so good about this film that sparked the boycott of *Pacific Rim*.

Of course, they definitely went with a critical attitude.

As a result, upon seeing the classic scene in the film of mechanized warriors battling monsters with superb texture and realism, too many Korean youths had their defenses broken.

Isn't it said that the neighboring big country is very poor?

How can such a poor country produce such impressive special-effects films!

This must be boycotted, otherwise if it continues to develop and jointly monopolize with Hollywood blockbusters, will there still be a survival path for Korea's domestic films!

(End of chapter)