Chapter 143

After signing his name on the contract and putting down the pen, Xiao Lizi breathed a sigh of relief, then stood up again and hugged Wu Yuchen enthusiastically, saying in a grateful and sincere tone:

"Wu Dao, I don't know what to say, thank you so much! I promise to join the crew on the second day of Christmas and try my best to film *Phone Booth* well!"

Wu Yuchen was also delighted to see him sign, smiled, and asked: "The second day of Christmas? Are you sure you don't need to run promotion for *Titanic* anymore?"

Xiao Lizi felt very unhappy when he heard *Titanic*, and complained with a face:

"I have already tried my best for *Titanic*. Fox only gave me 2.5 million, but it put me in such a big predicament. I have already done my best to help them run the promotion on Christmas Day!"

The agent on the side also guaranteed to Wu Yuchen:

"Wu Dao, don't worry, we have been running around for this broken ship for more than half a month. Fox has no reason to ask Leonardo to do more. In fact, they are all mourning now!"

Wu Yuchen nodded upon hearing this. He was naturally happier if he could start filming a day earlier. He smiled and said to Xiao Lizi:

"Leon, don't worry, I dare not guarantee more, but I have confidence in *Phone Booth* breaking 100 million at the box office!"

Xiao Lizi was stunned for a moment. Except for those big directors, small directors don't dare to say this before filming. However, the performance of Wu Yuchen's *Frequency* is just right now, which also made his words have more credibility.

However, Xiao Lizi felt that Wu Yuchen said this now just to give him confidence and encourage him. He felt that Wu Dao was really too warm, and then he also returned a smile to Wu Yuchen:

"Wu Dao, then I must perform well, striving for 100 million box office!"

He thought Wu Yuchen was talking about the global box office breaking 100 million. As for the North American box office breaking 100 million, he didn't dare to think about it anymore. After all, the cost of this movie was only 10 million. After *Titanic*, he really had no confidence in his box office appeal.

In fact, let alone breaking 100 million at the box office, reaching 50 million can help him stabilize the situation and let him walk out of the current predicament.

Wu Yuchen laughed: "We will definitely succeed. Leon, you have to rely on you to sell more effort during promotion~"

"Wu Dao, I will naturally exert 300% of my strength, as long as those media and audiences don't scold me because of *Titanic*..."

Xiao Lizi shook his head slightly bitterly and then guaranteed to Wu Yuchen.

Wu Yuchen chuckled and didn't say anything more to Xiao Lizi. Everyone in later generations knows that *Titanic*, this big ship, created a miracle in film history, collecting 1.8 billion US dollars globally, directly doubling the box office record. It is absolutely a milestone movie in world film history.

But few people know this process. Unlike most big hit movies, *Titanic* is not known for its explosive power, and even the performance of the first three days of the opening weekend was very poor. The box office of 28.63 million is absolutely a terrible result for a giant work of more than 200 million.

But the endurance of this big ship is astonishing, winning the North American weekly box office champion for 15 consecutive weeks! This completely subverted everyone's cognition!

Therefore, the current *Titanic* is still in the midst of ridicule and mockery. Xiao Lizi and Cameron, and even Fox, all think they are finished. These voices on the market will not disappear and change until a month after the release.

But by that time, Wu Yuchen should have already filmed *Phone Booth*. This is also one of the reasons why he chose *Phone Booth*. It can be done within two weeks!

As for his promise to Leonardo before, it is naturally genuine.

Now spending 3 million salary to invite Xiao Lizi might make some people think he is stupid if he says it out, but two months later, if you want to invite Xiao Lizi, the salary must be 20 million!

The first movie Xiao Lizi took after *Titanic* was *The Beach*, which took the Hollywood top salary of 20 million.

He gives enough 3 million now. Even if the situation reverses a month later and Xiao Lizi finds that he has not fallen into a predicament but has reached the peak of his life, he will not have any bad feelings towards Wu Yuchen, and will remember his friendship of sending charcoal in the snow now. At that time, he will work hard to help the movie promote. Wu Yuchen won't cut the price while taking advantage of the situation, which leads to no friendship between the two, only business left, which is not worth it.

There is also a promotion fee of more than 10 million, which is also written in the contract. It doesn't necessarily have to be Sony Columbia. As long as it is the Big Eight, this will have to wait until the movie is filmed to go to them to negotiate and see who wants a lower agency fee. By then, Xiao Lizi will have become famous and have bargaining chips. Wu Yuchen naturally has confidence in fighting for a lower agency fee.

Promotion and distribution is indeed a hurdle that cannot be bypassed. Like Lucas, a person at the top of Hollywood, he lacks neither connections nor resources, but the promotion and distribution of movies must cooperate with big factories. Therefore, Wu Yuchen and James discussed for a long time and finally decided to find the Big Eight for promotion and distribution.

Wu Yuchen touched the contract in his hand. Now the most important male lead in the movie has been settled, and it is basically stable, but it is not impossible to do better. Thinking of the villain in the movie, the figure of an old guy flashed in his mind.

After separating from Wu Yuchen, the agent let out a long sigh of relief:

"Leon, you are really lucky this time to meet a person like Wu Dao who still extends an olive branch to you in your time of trouble!"

"Yes, I didn't expect his attitude towards me to remain unchanged at all. Such people are too rare in Hollywood! I am full of good feelings for Chinese people now!"

Xiao Lizi said with a smile. *Phone Booth* is like a rope in despair, pulling him out of the sinking big ship.

The agent nodded and then said to Xiao Lizi:

"By the way, Leon, I have inquired, Wu Dao's orientation is very normal. He had an intimate relationship with the female lead during the filming of *Frequency*, so you don't have to worry!"

Xiao Lizi didn't show anything on the surface, but his heart relaxed again. With Xiao Lizi's prosperous beauty, it is impossible to say that he has not received invitations and harassment from gay men in Hollywood, but he can refuse them by relying on the protection of his brokerage company.

And this time Wu Yuchen was so good to him, which also made his agent have associations, naturally wanting to inquire carefully. But at present, Wu Yuchen has performed very normally from beginning to end. And this kind of transaction in Hollywood is to make requirements and trade directly. Now the contract is signed, and the other party doesn't even have trading chips, so naturally, there is no need to worry.

Xiao Lizi has a very good impression of Wu Yuchen now and spoke for him: "Wu Dao is a very gentlemanly director, you are thinking too much~"

The agent shrugged and joked: "Of course! But when you just received the call, I thought you were going to offer your ass to him!"

"Oh! Forget it, how is that possible! My ass is not that cheap! No, I mean I couldn't possibly do such a thing!"

Xiao Lizi and the agent chatted and laughed and went back. They still have to continue to run for the promotion of *Titanic* these days.

Shi Tailong is very happy now. He fought a turnaround battle with *Frequency* this time, not only with explosive box office but also with some media rarely praising his acting skills.

Now *Frequency* has been released in North America for 5 weeks, and the box office has reached 139 million. Moreover, the word-of-mouth is good. Judging from the current situation, 150 million is definitely not a problem under long-term screening, maybe 160 million can also be rushed.

You know, the contract he signed with Sony Columbia at the beginning was 8 million salary plus 12% of the North American box office share. Even if calculated according to 150 million, he could get 18 million just from the share, which is equivalent to getting 26 million salary at once. This is no less than any time he got before.

In the situation of gaining both fame and fortune, he looked at Wu Yuchen who found him and was also extra pleasing to the eye, treating him very enthusiastically.

Wu Yuchen rubbed Shi Tailong's eldest daughter Sophia's face with his fingers, making her giggle. Shi Tailong also looked at it with a smile. You know, when he was in the crew last time, he didn't let anyone touch his precious daughter!

After enjoying a sumptuous lunch, Shi Tailong took the script handed over by Wu Yuchen.

"Sylvester, I want to ask you to play a big villain. Of course, he is not really that bad. To some extent, he is a judge who punishes evil and promotes good. In the eyes of the audience, he is absolutely a very cool existence!"

Shi Tailong curled his lips and smiled at Wu Yuchen:

"I heard that you are producing it independently this time. Can you afford my salary? You know I am very expensive!"

"Sylvester, you won't appear for more than 2 minutes, and the filming time won't exceed half a day. Do you have the heart to charge me such a high salary?" Wu Yuchen made an exaggerated and unbelievable expression.

"2 minutes, half a day, are you sure?" Shi Tailong asked.

"Of course! If it exceeds 1 minute, I will pay you 1 million!" Wu Yuchen said solemnly.

Shi Tailong pondered for a while and then said: "Then I will give you a friendship price, 1 million US dollars. However, I want to see how the script is first."

For this kind of cameo role, he naturally knows that Wu Yuchen is looking for him to use his name for promotion. The price of 1 million is actually mainly for the portrait fee. Wu Yuchen had no opinion on this, which was within his acceptable range.

After a while, after Shi Tailong finished reading the script, the script was very fantastic, a truly good story, but he roared at Wu Yuchen:

"Are you sure this is a 2-minute scene?!"

He clearly saw many of his lines in the script, from beginning to end, all dialogues between him and the male lead.

Wu Yuchen maintained a smile: "Of course, Sylvester, think carefully, didn't you just appear once at the end of the movie? In fact, it might not even add up to 1 minute!"

Seeing Shi Tailong pointing at the script, he explained: "You can dub the lines in post-production. You really don't need to go there during filming~"

"You cunning kid!" Shi Tailong patted the script, both angry and amused.

His character has a strong sense of presence in the movie, but he only appeared once at the end of the movie, and at other times, he existed completely in the form of sound.

The kid in front of him is too good at stealing and playing tricks!

"1 million is not enough at all!"

"Sylvester, how about I pay your dubbing salary at the top salary for dubbing?" Wu Yuchen said shamelessly.

"Shameless bastard! How can you open your mouth?" The old guy roared.

"Just treat it as supporting the independent film cause!"

Finally, after a friendly consultation and negotiation, Shi Tailong agreed to play this role for 2 million US dollars. This is also looking at the friendship of the past *Frequency* and the optimism about Wu Yuchen's future, plus the script is really fantastic, so he agreed.

After Wu Yuchen walked out of Shi Tailong's house, he let out a sigh of relief. But now it seems that the movie should be over budget. 10 million is not enough. The salaries of Xiao Lizi and Shi Tailong are 5 million. It is estimated that the final production cost will have to be raised to 12 million.

"Wu Yuchen, everyone in China is looking forward to your return now. Has your 100-million big director been fascinated by the flower world of America and reluctant to come back!"

Hou Keming joked to Wu Yuchen on the phone.

"Dean Hou, you are wronging me. I am busy preparing for the second Hollywood movie, and it will be filmed tomorrow." Wu Yuchen shouted injustice at the phone.

"What?! You started filming again so quickly?" Hou Keming was surprised.

"Yes, the crew has already been pulled up, and it will start filming as soon as the male lead joins the crew tomorrow."

"Your kid's action is too fast!" Hou Keming knew that Wu Yuchen's creative speed was very fast and his inspiration was endless, but he didn't expect that he was the same in Hollywood. The last movie was still hot, and the next movie was already being filmed.

"No way, inspiration came, and the timing was right, so I filmed it. It's a pity to miss it." Wu Yuchen explained.

"Well, that's fine. You film with peace of mind over there. I will help you release this news. The Golden Rooster Awards have just ended. Originally, some people were dissatisfied that you didn't participate. Now it's nothing to explain it clearly for you."

Hou Keming said with a smile. It's just participating in an awards ceremony, which is naturally not as important as filming a movie, and it's in Hollywood.

Wu Yuchen immediately asked: "Dean Hou, is there any harvest this time?"

This time, *Together Forever*, filmed by Wu Yuchen last year, was shortlisted for the evaluation of this Golden Rooster Award.

"I thought you didn't care! The old lady Jin Yaqin of your crew won the Best Actress, and you, the big director, are not without harvest, Best Director Debut Award."

Wu Yuchen was not surprised after hearing this. Everyone knows what the urine of these domestic awards is. Seniority is common. The beautiful name is that young people need to exercise well.

However, Wu Yuchen has won so many big awards abroad after all, so it is definitely inappropriate not to give him awards. Therefore, he was given a Best Director Debut Award to show encouragement. And give the Best Actress to your crew, enough face.

Jin Yaqin is already so old, it is reasonable to give a film queen. As for Zhou Xun, the newcomer, naturally, she was listed in the list of exercise and tempering!

The Best Film was no surprise, Director Xie Jin's *The Opium War*, and the Best Director was given to the main melody film *The Great Turning Point*.

Wu Yuchen chuckled. He didn't care about this. To be honest, domestic awards have no bonus for him now. However, these people can't give it for one or two years, can they suppress it for three or five years? He is not without organization or connections!

In his past life, this movie *Phone Booth* was also filmed in winter. Originally, the filming location was set on West 53rd Street on Broadway, but after filming for one day, the whole crew was miserable by the biting cold wind. Seeing this, the director decisively changed to Los Angeles, which is spring all year round. Even so, it only took 12 days to finish filming.

Wu Yuchen naturally didn't need to toss again this time. On Fifth Street in Los Angeles, the lens was aimed at Xiao Lizi, who was wearing a bright black suit, a red coquettish shirt, and sunglasses, with an elite fan, and a small assistant who worshipped him by his side, showing that he was a successful person at all times.

Simply put, this male lead is pretending to be cool when he appears. Everyone can see it, and Xiao Lizi really doesn't have to work hard to play this kind of character, because he himself can pretend very well!

It's just that his styling now is slightly different from *Titanic*. One is that he looks slightly more mature, not a green boy, but a social elite. The second is that he is handsome differently. Jack in the big ship is a handsome boy, while in *Phone Booth*, Xiao Lizi's styling is handsome and ruffian, making people look like they have a bad boy taste.

"Cut!"

Leonardo, who picked up the microphone in the phone booth, couldn't help but look at Wu Yuchen after hearing his voice.

Wu Yuchen pointed to his left hand to him, Xiao Lizi suddenly realized, and immediately made an apologetic gesture to Wu Yuchen: "Sorry, director, I forgot!"

Wu Yuchen didn't get angry either, but stepped forward to explain to him patiently:

"Leon, you are a married person, but you are about to call your lover, so you took off your wedding ring before calling. This shows that you actually know your behavior is immoral, subconsciously feel guilty for your wife, and at the same time, it is also a kind of inner dissatisfaction with the constraints of marriage. This detail cannot be ignored, it will make the character full invisibly."

Listening to Wu Yuchen's peaceful explanation, Leonardo felt that Wu Yuchen was 10,000 times better than the set tyrant Cameron who only knew how to roar. After listening, he immediately nodded and guaranteed: "Okay, Wu Dao, I won't make this mistake again!"

The male lead Stu in the movie is an entertainment agent. The setting is a shameless bastard who is glib, lies, and is very promiscuous. He is bossy to small people with lower status than him, does not respect ordinary people, and hooks up with beautiful girls when he has a wife.

Although Xiao Lizi doesn't want to admit that he is a bastard, he is really quite like this male lead Stu. He has been in the entertainment industry for so long, stepping on the high and stepping on the low, isn't it very natural to be bossy to small people?

As for being promiscuous, people on earth know how promiscuous Xiao Lizi is, and he can't count how many girlfriends he has dated.

Therefore, after Xiao Lizi joined the crew, he quickly entered the state, just playing his true colors, and the filming was surprisingly smooth.