Chapter 881: Casting, Casting; Advice from a

On the morning of the 10th, the fact that *She Killed* officially appeared in the Film Bureau's script review catalog spread throughout the domestic film circle in an instant.

Now, it wasn't just a few scattered people in the industry who knew about this film project; every filmmaker in the entire industry saw it, especially the actors.

Agents and screenwriters with a little bit of insight reacted immediately, and a thought flashed through their minds:

*She Killed*? *Thallium Murder*? Based on that cold case where the truth was clear but it was nakedly impossible to close the case? This is a truly rare subject; only a big director would dare to touch it!

"There is no news of casting starting yet, but it is certain that Zhou Xun is competing with Fan Bingbing for the core lead actress role. It should be through private channels that they got in touch with this film project."

In 12 days, Zhang Ziyi finished her supporting role in *Godzilla: King of the Monsters*.

At eight in the morning, she and her assistant just landed at the Capital Airport and immediately received news from her agent about this top-tier resource, *She Killed*.

"What a pity, my schedule conflicts; we have already set *Imperial Dynasty*. Let me rest for a few days first, and then start casting from the 15th."

Although Zhang Ziyi said so, in all fairness, she was indeed very tempted. For a moment, she even had the urge to postpone *Imperial Dynasty* for a year; she wanted to fight for that film.

But this thought only lasted for a few seconds, because the project *Imperial Dynasty* had already been filed, and an investment of 700 million was no child's play.

"Sister Ziyi is acting in a TV series for the first time, so the male lead must be chosen carefully." The assistant flattered with a smile.

"Yes, I have to choose the male lead myself, carefully and seriously. Let's walk faster to avoid the paparazzi." Zhang Ziyi pushed her sunglasses and also revealed a smile of expectation.

"Zhou Yiwei, your emotions need to be more intense; the dubbing effect of the lines just now is still a bit lacking, just a tiny bit."

On the third floor of Tiangong Color, Lin Nan, sitting in front of the computer, took off his headphones and said to Zhou Yiwei, who was a few meters away. His expression was slightly serious, and his tone was a bit annoyed.

Across the entire glass wall, Xu Zheng, Wang Chuanjun, and others outside the dubbing room peeked in from time to time. Well, Zhou Yiwei was scolded by Lin Dao again; this was the third time the director had been dissatisfied.

"Lin Dao, please calm down. Let's do it again; I guarantee it will pass this time. Or... can we let Brother Xu Zheng go first? Let me brew my emotions a bit more?"

Zhou Yiwei smiled and begged for mercy, accompanying Lin Nan out of the dubbing room. He saw that in another dubbing room next door, Bai Bing was also busy.

"Lin Dao, he is anxious from the inside out right now; if you want him to have angry emotions, he really needs to brew them." Xu Zheng couldn't help but tease.

"Hmm? What's the situation?" Lin Nan was a bit puzzled.

"His wife is about to give birth. He accompanied her for a prenatal check-up this morning before coming over to dub."

Good heavens, hearing this, Lin Nan realized it belatedly.

No wonder he hadn't seen him for three months, and Zhou Yiwei was visibly exhausted. So he was at home serving a pregnant woman? He seemed to be almost forty, right? And his health wasn't that great...

"Fine, then you go brew your emotions; remember to notify me when you're ready, and I'll give you a gift."

"That's a good thing. I'll thank Lin Dao here first, hehe..."

While they were joking, a staff member ran over and handed a casting list to Lin Nan, "Lin Dao, Director Lu Yang has already finalized the actor list; please take a look."

"What? He chose Zhao Jinmai? But her age... Wait a minute... Her image plus the styling... Quirky, has personality, has similar character shaping... It seems, it seems it really can be considered, right?"

Lin Nan scanned the second female lead at a glance and muttered. Xu Zheng and the others also glanced over in surprise, all looking curious.

And at this moment, there was also laughter and joy at Shiba Culture.

"See? Is it like this? For actors in the industry, the hardest part of a project in the Lin Nan Film system is always the first collaboration; but once you have successfully collaborated once, you will become their priority choice later."

"Hmm, hmm. Director Lu Yang said the requirements for this role are actually quite high; I need to have some dark-bellied traits, it needs to be reflected in the makeup, and I need to be slightly more mature."

After Zhao Jinmai nodded repeatedly, she repeated Lu Yang's words quite seriously; she was also very pleasantly surprised to be able to get this role.

Because with *The Wandering Earth* before and *Detective Chinatown 2* after, she was already a rare actor in the industry to appear in two big commercial films of Lin Nan Film within a year, and both were important roles.

"Hmm, just follow the director's requirements. Also, still the same sentence, among female actors of your age group, your only competitor is Zhang Zifeng."

"Your overlap in resources and tracks is very high, so the competition will be very fierce; don't slack off... And the first part was her, and this time you have added yourself to the second part; there will definitely be a lot of press releases outside..."

After 4 days of release, *Secret Fruit*, which had harvested a total box office of 6.41 million, undoubtedly became the "laughing stock" for tea and after-dinner conversation in the industry on the morning of the 11th.

From the moment this film was filed and cast, it carried a halo of being in the spotlight; on one side was the spin-off of the popular youth IP *The Left Ear*, and on the other was the debut film of the young son of the Palme d'Or big director Chen Kaige.

According to estimates, it should have been a strong-strong alliance, but now it was the complete opposite, flopping miserably.

To tell the ugly truth, since Enlight entered the film production industry, it had never produced a film with such a "tragic" box office.

That's right, this *Secret Fruit* broke Enlight Media's lowest box office record, refreshing the box office bottom line of films produced by Enlight!

"Yesterday was the fourth day of release, and the daily box office was only 740,000. Let's not talk about the loss; anyway, Chen Kaige and Chen Hong's favor, Enlight is determined to have it this time!"

Chairman Wang Changtian, whose net worth had soared recently, looked at it very openly; he didn't care at all about the flop of a youth film with a cost of 20 million;

After all, he had long ago regarded *Secret Fruit* as a favor investment project, otherwise he would never have used a newcomer actor with no market recognition.

"However, the failure of *Secret Fruit* does indeed illustrate a rule, which is that the film market is indeed cyclical; a type of film can only be eaten for a few years at most."

"Take youth films for example; they exploded in 2013 and have only been popular for 3 years so far. And the current trend? I also hope it is what we expect, the trend of mainstream and 'patriotic themes'!"

Looking at Wang Changtian, who was chattering away, Lin Nan suddenly felt even more tired; he had too many things to worry about: "For the distribution of *Hanson and the Beast*, I didn't expect to catch up with *Wolf Warrior 2*, but don't be perfunctory. Although I did cancel the offline promotion plan, I only left internet channels."

"The two of you starring is already a big gimmick, naturally occupying an advantage in promotion. In addition, for screen allocations, Enlight will definitely try its best to grab a larger share."

"But then again, the Qixi Festival window is not a big window anyway; with the appeal of the two of you, getting sufficient screen resources should be a piece of cake."

Lin Nan didn't answer, just nodded. The reason he didn't plan to lead the team for promotion was mainly because he didn't have the energy. Even on the day *Hanson and the Beast* was released, he and Liu Yifei might not be in the country; maybe they would have flown to Venice.

And as early as after filming finished last year, he had already made a "supplementary" promotion plan, for example, publishing a "confessional" long Weibo post a few days before the release!

The 11th, 12th, and 13th—three consecutive days passed in a flash.

As Lin Nan expected, the script of *She Killed* did cause some trouble; Cao Baoping went to the Film Bureau for this and met several people in charge of the review.

A "kind-hearted person" entrusted someone in the review to give him advice, suggesting he carefully consider whether he really wanted to make this script; after all, the judicial system had already given the conclusion of "evidence lost, unable to detect."

But the other party obviously underestimated Cao Baoping's determination; he didn't hesitate at all and directly declined this kindness.

Especially the joking response of "the script is purely fictional, any similarity is purely coincidental" was simply a panacea, and it was truly ironic.

But at this rate, it was truly impossible for the script to pass the review within two months. After all, the people in charge of the review were also afraid of provoking a bunch of trouble.

At noon on the 14th, Liu Yifei, who had helped Han Jia for several days, finally "retired with success"—*The Unnamed* completed its final casting.

"When I start filming next month, you guys come to stand for me, okay?" When Lin Nan came to pick up Liu Yifei and incidentally have a meal, Han Jia issued an invitation.

To this, Lin Dao shook his head, "*Crazy Alien* is starting filming on the 20th of this month; I'm not even planning to go. You should forget about it here too; everyone is very busy."

"It's okay, if he doesn't come, Changchang and I will come." Liu Yifei smiled and rolled her eyes at Lin Nan, then promised Han Jia.

Before little Han could glare at Lin Nan, Han Sanping had already spoken, his expression a bit annoyed: "Over at China Film Group, that *Shanghai Fortress* is also casting."

"I heard this morning that several so-called 'top-tier' stars have gone, like Lu Han, Wu Yifan, and a few others; among them, the number of fans of the artists has also become one of the most important reference points!"

"Listen to this, this is something unheard of in the past; now this kind of crooked path has actually begun to be put on the table. Even the consideration of the actors' acting skills is not the most important point..."

"Chairman Han, you've been retired for several years, why worry about this? And who can deny that this is not a consideration of 'keeping pace with the times' by China Film Group and Chairman La?" Lin Nan joked.

"Whether La Peikang is keeping pace with the times, I don't know, but I can see that you are a bit gloating!" Han Sanping glared at Lin Nan and hit the nail on the head.

Well, Third Master's eyes were still as sharp as ever.

"Fine, pretend I didn't say anything. Come, eat, eat..." Lin Nan decisively chose to shut up; if he couldn't afford to offend, then he would hide!

The five people looked at each other, smiled speechlessly, and then focused on eating lunch.

However, this quietness only lasted for two minutes, and then the topic of the dining table was brought by Han Jia to the IP film *Wukong* which was released yesterday. It broke 100 million on the first day, and the results were okay!