Chapter 142

Cao Yang looked at the reporters taking pictures non-stop under the stage and was momentarily distracted.

To be honest, he didn't want to be an actor and be in the limelight, and he was even less willing to be in the public eye. A director is a director; why go to the front of the stage?

There was another thing that made him give up the idea of acting.

The scenes to be filmed in Zhenbeibao were large-scale war scenes. One scene involved the coordination of thousands of people and over a thousand horses, which was extremely complex, far more complicated than he had imagined.

One careless mistake could lead to chaos and casualties, so there was no room for any sloppiness.

How could he have the energy to think about acting?

If he didn't act, he would have to use some small tricks to make Li Li Xiaoran and Gao Gao Yuanyuan have chemistry.

At the time, Han Zong of China Film Group heard that Cao Yang wasn't acting and suggested inviting Li Li Lianjie, or even Cheng Long, saying they could add investment.

He also said that the domestic market now only recognizes big directors and big stars.

Just like Old Old Mouzi, why did "Hero" pile up so many big names? He even spent 100 million to invite Li Li Lianjie, just to use Li Li Lianjie's fame to sell more tickets domestically and abroad.

At the time, it wasn't that they were afraid they couldn't break even domestically, but that they never thought they could break even domestically at all.

In fact, regarding "Hero" inviting Li Li Lianjie, Cao Yang knew more about the inside story than Han Zong.

Old Old Mouzi's name is very famous internationally, but that is as an art-house director.

For commercial films, it's not that easy for Old Old Mouzi's films to break into Hollywood.

Old Old Mouzi is not like Cao Yang, who is young, can promote people, and has a deeper bond with Sony Classics and Ehrmann, which can bring more benefits to them.

Most of the films Old Old Mouzi has made in recent years have been invested in by Zhang Zhang Weiping's New Pictures, so even if Old Old Mouzi wanted to give up more benefits, Zhang Zhang Weiping certainly wouldn't agree.

Zhang Zhang Weiping wanted more benefits and wanted to sell more copyrights, so he thought of Li Li Lianjie.

Li Li Lianjie is doing well in the US now and is friends with Harvey Weinstein, the founder of Miramax.

He introduced Harvey Weinstein to Old Old Mouzi and Zhang Zhang Weiping.

That's right, it's the same Harvey Weinstein, the founder of Miramax Films, who jumped out and wanted to take over the crew while Cao Yang was filming "Milk" in Hollywood, and was almost kicked out by Cao Yang in alliance with Ehrmann.

At the time, Li Li Lianjie introduced Harvey Weinstein like this, "This is my big boss, the emperor of Hollywood, Mr. Harvey Weinstein."

This person who was almost kicked out by Cao Yang might be the ultimate big boss of Hollywood to Li Li Lianjie.

Through Li Li Lianjie's connection, Old Old Mouzi and Zhang Zhang Weiping sold the North American copyright of "Hero" to Harvey Weinstein.

And then, this film was shelved by Harvey Weinstein. It still hasn't been released in North America, and the copyright fee hasn't been settled; they only gave a deposit, saying it would be settled when the film is released.

Zhang Zhang Weiping flew to the US many times to find Harvey Weinstein, but every time he couldn't even see Harvey's face. Being in a strange place, what could he do?

Call to urge him? Every time the answer was the same: don't worry, the time isn't right yet!

Realizing he might have been cheated, Zhang Zhang Weiping hurriedly contacted Li Li Lianjie and asked him to find a way.

Li Li Lianjie... could have a fart of a way. To him, that was the person known as the emperor of Hollywood; how could he possibly influence Harvey's thinking?

So, Zhang Zhang Weiping cursed Li Li Lianjie for being a liar too, colluding with foreigners to cheat people...

Does this method sound familiar?

Xiao Xiao Gangpao was scammed like this.

The specific process is: offer a high price to scare away potential buyers, and give you a deposit.

Drag it out for a while, then say they don't want it, don't even want the deposit back, and might even ask you to return the deposit.

At this point, you should be anxious. If you say they breached the contract, they don't even want the deposit, and there are no other buyers. What to do?

You can only lower the price.

You lowered the price and they still don't want it; they are just manipulating you, and you have no way to deal with it.

When you are anxious, they will offer an extremely low price to buy it.

This set of methods has scammed many people, not only domestic ones, but also many people in Europe who have been fooled.

Xiao Xiao Gangpao later, in order to break into the international market, once regarded Harvey Weinstein as a "savior", then was scammed, and once publicly cursed Harvey Weinstein as a liar, a disgrace to the film industry, and a despicable villain.

However, this time they met Old Old Mouzi. He is not Xiao Xiao Gangpao, and even less an unknown small director. Before Harvey Weinstein could make his next move, the national level took action.

Disney wanted to do a project in Xiangjiang, and then it encountered obstacles.

Through contact with relevant people, Disney understood the reason.

Well, on the surface, it was Jiang Zhiqiang, the boss of Xiangjiang's Edko Films, who took action, and he also invested in "Hero".

Disney is not a fool; they must have understood the reason behind it.

Miramax Films was acquired by Disney as early as 1993. Under pressure from its parent company Disney, Harvey Weinstein will arrange for "Hero" to be released next year and settle the buyout fee, without a single cent missing.

For Harvey Weinstein, this is an unsuccessful case of scamming.

So when you are out in the world, you can't lack reputation, international influence, or background.

Cao Yang felt that Li Li Lianjie's 100 million salary was a bit inflated.

He was unwilling to spend 100 million to invite Li Li Lianjie, nor was he willing to spend 150 million plus 20% of the global box office share to invite Cheng Long.

For this kind of costume film, inviting them is not cost-effective and won't sell tens of millions of dollars more. Cao Yang's film needs a male lead, and this news only circulated in a small circle.

Those who had the ability to know this news were all incredibly tempted, trying every possible way to find an opportunity to see if they could move Cao Yang.

For the current domestic film circle, there are only three and a half top-tier resources: Old Old Mouzi, Cao Yang, Chen Chen Kaige, and half is Xiao Xiao Gangpao.

Currently, Old Old Mouzi has turned to commercial films. By his standards of using people, commercial films almost all use big names, and others in the country have no chance at all.

And from the news learned, Cao Yang is different; he is more inclined to choose "amateurs", which gives many domestic actors more imagination and opportunities.

"Cao Yang's new film, do you think Kun has a chance? Isn't he your junior fellow apprentice? Can you think of a way?"

Li Li Xiaowan found Li Li Shaohong and asked, "Your film 'Baober in Love' has already finished filming. We've delayed Kun for more than a year; see if you can get him into Cao Yang's film."

"Baober in Love" is a film directed by Li Li Shaohong. It started preparation at the beginning of last year and started filming in April. It has taken a year and a half until now to just finish filming.

A few days ago, it was sent to the French Duboi computer special effects production company for post-production. This company is one of the special effects production companies for "The Lord of the Rings", and it is very expensive.

The production cost of "Baober in Love" suddenly soared from 1.5 million US dollars to 5.15 million US dollars.

Li Shaohong and Li Xiaowan are under great pressure. If things go wrong, the Rong Xinda they partnered to build will be lost.

!

Nowadays, the most potential people in the company are Xun Ge'er and Chen Kun, so they are thinking about whether they can push Chen Kun.

Li Li Shaohong gave a bitter smile, "Although Cao Yang is my junior fellow apprentice, do you think that with his current status, he still needs to look at anyone's face? What way could I have?"

Li Li Xiaowan looked at Li Li Shaohong and suggested hesitantly, "Why not find Teacher Situ?"

Li Li Shaohong hurriedly shook her head, "No, no, based on my understanding of the teacher, if I ask him to come forward for this, I will only get scolded. It's useless."

Li Xiaowan pondered for a moment, then suddenly joked with a smile, "I've got it. Didn't Tian Zhuangzhuang always treat you as his goddess? Why don't you sacrifice yourself and go find Tian Zhuangzhuang tonight to try?"

Li Li Shaohong rolled her eyes at Li Li Xiaowan and countered, "You were Chen Chen Kaige's assistant for so many years, who knows what kind of relationship you two had back then? Why don't you go find Chen Chen Kaige to come forward?"

Afterwards, the two sighed at the same time; they couldn't think of any good way to deal with Cao Yang.

Finally, Li Li Shaohong made up her mind.

"I'll go find Cao Yang myself; that will be more sincere. No matter what, we are from the same school. I'll say some soft words, and if it really doesn't work, I'll let Chen Kun join for free to see if he can give him an audition opportunity."

This media meeting for the start of filming was hosted by production manager Cheng Cheng Jianye, who briefly introduced the film and each character.

"'Nine-Tailed Fox' is a film with two female leads, two male leads, and one special lead."

"One of our female leads, Xiao Wei, is played by Cannes Best Actress Gao Gao Yuanyuan."

The reporters below either started recording or took crazy pictures of Gao Gao Yuanyuan; this is tomorrow's news hotspot.

"Our other female lead, Pei Rong, is played by Berlin Best Actress Li Li Xiaoran."

The reporters started pressing the shutter frantically again, the flash flashing non-stop, the momentum similar to Gao Gao Yuanyuan's.

"Our special lead, Xia Bing, is played by Pang Bing."

The reporters took pictures, but the momentum was clearly a cut below Li Li Xiaoran and Gao Gao Yuanyuan.

"One of our two male leads, Peng Yong, is played by Duan Duan Yihong."

The reporters took a symbolic picture or two, then put down their cameras, looking at Cheng Cheng Jianye expectantly.

Didn't they say there was another male lead? Who is playing him? Which international superstar? Why didn't he come?

"Next, let's invite our other male lead, Chen Kun, to the stage."

"To the stage?"

What's going on?

Just as the reporters were confused, they saw Chen Kun come out from the backstage, wearing bright silver Ming-style armor, a long bow on his back, a horse crossbow in his right hand, and a horse lance in his left hand.

He looked truly majestic!

"This full set of gear is called Ming-style armor, all restored according to historical records."

Cheng Cheng Jianye pointed at Chen Kun and said proudly, "We have hired the most authoritative relevant historians in the academic world, striving to do our best on the basis of restoring costumes, makeup, and props, and setting a benchmark for the industry!"

"Clap, clap, clap..."

The reporters started clapping very politely.

Having Chen Kun appear in full armor was also part of the hype.

In the future, the crew would release a picture of a main character's outfit every once in a while.

This is a very routine hype method in the future, but at this time, it was still a very fresh, fashionable, and effective brilliant idea.

After the reporters scrambled to take pictures of Chen Kun, Cheng Cheng Jianye didn't give the reporters any time to react and directly announced that the media meeting for the start of filming was over.

(End of chapter)