Chapter 136

Cao Yang hugged Li Xiaoran and watched TV for a while, then his hand unconsciously slipped inside along her shoulder.

Li Xiaoran patted Cao Yang's restless hand and pouted: "Don't move around; you've ruined it."

Cao Yang smiled and didn't speak.

"By the way, Zhang Weiping also talked about you. The reporters reported his words exactly as they were." Li Xiaoran's bad taste came back, and she said to Cao Yang with a smile.

"What did he say about me?" Cao Yang's hand squeezed, and he replied absent-mindedly.

"He said filming a commercial movie isn't children playing house, and told you to go back and film your big heroine movies. Hehe, it really cracked me up."

Li Xiaoran laughed while speaking, and didn't forget to give Cao Yang a big eye roll.

"Can't your hand be honest?"

Cao Yang became interested. Although Zhang Zhang Dazuiba was a big mouth, just like Xiao Gangpao, he didn't bite everyone randomly; at least there had to be a certain purpose.

Otherwise, wouldn't he become a mad dog?

"He said that about me directly; isn't he afraid of offending me? I'm also on the same line as Old Mouzi. Offending me, Old Zhang won't be happy either."

"Zhang Weiping isn't a fool either. He also added a sentence, saying you don't know how to film men's plays. The reporter reminded him that your 'Milk', which just won the Cannes Palme d'Or, is a man's play. Guess what he said?"

"What did he say?"

"He said your film didn't win Best Actor, so you don't know how to film men's plays. It really cracked me up. You filmed a movie that won the Palme d'Or, and he still says you don't know how to film men's plays."

Li Xiaoran laughed like a flower, and Cao Yang's hand could feel the trembling.

"Exposing his own shortcomings, letting people attack him, leaving handles for others, making himself look like a clown... Zhang Weiping isn't easy either." Cao Yang commented.

"Yes, in order not to offend you, he made himself look like a clown." Li Xiaoran curled her lips.

"He wants to interact with me, have a war of words, and cooperate to hype up the movie?" Cao Yang whispered to himself.

"Mwah..."

Li Xiaoran kissed Cao Yang and praised: "Great Director Cao is still smart; you saw through the purpose of Zhang Zhang Dazuiba at once."

"Then let's hype it; it's good for everyone."

Cao Yang thought for a moment and said: "Hou Ke-ming and Han Zong aren't suitable to enter the fray. I'll let Cheng Jianye confront him and have a war of words."

"Fight about what?"

Li Xiaoran asked softly in Cao Yang's ear.

Cao Yang's hand was restless, and Li Xiaoran was ignited.

Cao Yang was a professional.

"This is the living room; shall we go back to the room?"

"The living room is good; I like the living room."

After a long time.

"Cao Yang,... ah..."

Cao Yang was a bit hesitant about the choice for the female lead, Xiao Wei.

The female lead, Xiao Wei, is a fox demon who came down the mountain. Because of Wang Sheng's various behaviors, she fell in love with Wang Sheng. Knowing that Wang Sheng already had a wife, she wanted to snatch Wang Sheng from the other female lead, Peirong.

In some ways, Xiao Wei is a third party, a mistress. Regarding the choice for Xiao Wei, Cao Yang's initial thought was to have Li Xiaoran play this role.

Li Xiaoran's breakout work 'On the Beach at Night Alone' featured her playing a third party, a mistress, so she should be able to handle it with ease.

But later, when he thought about it, this mistress Xiao Wei is a bit different.

She came down the mountain into the world for the first time, was ignorant of everything, and didn't have many concepts of good and evil.

Before falling deeply in love with Wang Sheng, she should be ignorant, innocent, and naive. It's a process from demon to human, but she's not human yet.

After a series of changes, Xiao Wei only then possessed "humanity". This transformation process requires the support of acting skills and the explosion of emotions.

Cao Yang didn't know if Li Xiaoran could perform Xiao Wei's ignorance and innocence when she first entered the world. Sometimes acting skills alone aren't enough; some roles also depend on appearance.

As for saying Xiao Wei is a fox demon and should find a charming actress, like Fan Bingbing, that's purely the influence of inherent impressions. Who says a fox demon must be charming?

Cao Yang couldn't help but think of Xun Ge'er.

Xun Ge'er's performance wasn't charming, and the subsequent emotional explosion was also performed very well, but the ignorance at the beginning was a bit lacking.

Maybe the positioning of the role was different, and the director's requirements for the role at that time were different.

!

Originally, Cao Yang thought about stacking two best actresses in this film. After Gao Yuanyuan's training through 'Secret Sunshine', it shouldn't be a big problem for her to play a virtuous wife and mother type, Peirong, or Yu Feihong could also play this role.

The problem now is, can Li Xiaoran play Xiao Wei? This role is actually the most important role in the whole film. If this role isn't played well, the film won't be brilliant.

This film is less of a double male lead and double female lead, and actually, the heaviest role is still Xiao Wei.

However, Gao Yuanyuan's appearance can play pure and ignorant. Why not let Gao Yuanyuan play this one too? Thinking about it this way, Gao Yuanyuan is quite suitable.

There is also another female role, and the role is also very heavy, which is the demon hunter Xia Bing, but this role doesn't have a particularly brilliant point, so it can be given to anyone.

Cao Yang thought about giving it to Dong Xuan, but later, when he thought about it, if there were three women in a crew who had a relationship with him, his head would be big just thinking about it. Forget it, let's find someone else.

Cao Yang determined several roles in the film. The lizard demon was chosen as Zhou Yiwei, and the leader of the sand bandits, the one who was the first to have his heart dug out by Xiao Wei, was still given to the old acquaintance Wang Jinsong.

He also had to leave a few roles for the school. Cao Yang left the maid in Wang Sheng's mansion, the lieutenant Gao Xiang, and a female noble guest who was hypnotized by Xiao Wei to buy things. These three roles were enough.

Among them, Gao Xiang's role was still quite heavy. He let the two assistant directors, Liu Shan and Li Mingyi, plus the assistant director Ning Hao, go to the school to audition.

"Dean Hou, should we leave a role for Han Zong?" Cao Yang asked Hou Ke-ming. China Film Group invested 40%, which already gave them the right to designate a lead actor.

But this was Cao Yang's film, a great director's film. Unless it was for the market, investors generally couldn't interfere with the choice of lead actors. Of course, if they threw money, sometimes they could make the great director change his mind.

However, unimportant supporting roles could still be left to them.

As a producer, Hou Ke-ming knew the script and also understood the roles of several characters.

He pondered for a moment and said in a tone of discussion: "Why don't we leave the role of the lieutenant Xia Houxiang to China Film Group? Xia Houxiang's role is still quite heavy, and it's enough for everyone to save face."

"Okay." Cao Yang decided.

In this way, the main roles left were the male leads Wang Sheng and Pang Yong, and an important female supporting role, the demon hunter Xia Bing, which hadn't been determined yet.

It depends on who plays the role of Xia Bing. If it's a female star with great fame, it's a triple female lead; if it's not famous, it's an important female supporting role.

The role of Wang Sheng, although he is the leader of the Wang family army, doesn't have many fight scenes, and it's mainly based on literary scenes.

Peirong will use Yu Feihong or Li Xiaoran. When the time comes, we'll see whose acting is better... and decide who to set.

Although Pang Yong is the film's martial arts representative, the actual fight scenes are just like that, so it doesn't necessarily have to choose a martial arts star, as long as there is a suitable one.

(End of chapter)