Chapter 176: Playing the Part of the Great Scissors

The project for *District 9* has already begun to move forward; the assistant director, cinematographer, art director, production designer, costume designer, visual effects supervisor, set decorator, and casting director have all been confirmed.

The lead cinematographer is still Gu Changwei. There are three assistant directors; Cao Yang gave one spot to Ning Hao. This guy actually went and passed the entrance exam for Old Tian's graduate program—it's hard to say whether that's a good thing or a bad thing for him.

Cao Yang originally wanted to use Ye Jintian for art direction, but since this is a science fiction film, he was worried about the lack of experience, so he gave him the position of production designer instead.

From here on out, Cao Yang doesn't need to worry about the details for the time being. The crew members will follow Cao Yang's requirements to design the mothership, the smaller spacecraft, the mechs, the alien "Prawns," the alien weaponry, and so on.

Once they have the blueprints designed, Cao Yang only needs to provide suggestions for improvement.

Hollywood is quite professional in this regard; the division of labor is clear, and there is no need for the director to worry about every single thing.

Consequently, Cao Yang returned to the country, as he still had to finish the post-production work for *Nine-Tailed Fox*.

After returning to the country, Cao Yang went to see Gao Yuanyuan.

Having not seen each other for a while, the first thing to do upon meeting was naturally to eat.

First, solve the problem of food and clothing.

After food and clothing come thoughts of carnal desire.

Next, they proceeded to logically solve the second matter.

After a long while, the Great Qingyi, who had been singing, suddenly transformed into a soprano, her voice possessing great penetrating power.

"Cao Yang, I want to have a... for you."

Cao Yang had been prepared for this and directly sealed off the rest of her words.

"Mmph..."

The soprano completely petered out, turning into a lazy little kitten, snuggling into Cao Yang's embrace.

"Let me tell you something: Columbia has invested in a film about the Japanese. Spielberg is the producer and executive producer, with an investment of about 80 million USD. They want to invite you, Li Xiaoran, and Yu Feihong to play the lead roles."

Gao Yuanyuan suddenly lifted her head, asking with some surprise, "Really?"

She then muttered, "Why are those two involved too?"

Although she is a Cannes Best Actress and holds the most top-tier endorsements in Greater China—or rather, in this region of East Asia—

when it comes to Hollywood, especially an 80-million-dollar production with a director as big as Spielberg acting as producer and executive producer, that is not a resource she can easily access.

"Of course it's true."

Cao Yang glanced downward; it still looked larger when she was holding her head up and leaning down like this, at least much larger than when lying flat.

Gao Yuanyuan clearly saw what Cao Yang was looking at and rolled her eyes at him. Isn't this size just right? You can hold it all in one hand.

"It will probably be in the next few days that Spielberg sends the formal invitation."

"Mwah..."

Gao Yuanyuan happily lowered her head and kissed Cao Yang on the face, then rested her chin in her hands, looking at Cao Yang with watery eyes.

"What is your opinion? I want to hear your opinion."

Cao Yang smiled; she wasn't too stupid after all, not having been blinded by the surprise, and still knowing to ask for his opinion.

"My opinion? I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed for nothing. I don't recommend you take this film."

Gao Yuanyuan pouted, though she didn't seem overly dejected.

"Why? It's 80 million; converted, that's six or seven hundred million. It's such a big production, wouldn't it be a pity not to go?"

"This film is unlikely to succeed. Not only will it not boost your status, but you might even get scolded back home. The pay isn't high either; it's a thankless task."

Cao Yang used his hand to lift her chin. "Besides, there are quite a few intense scenes, the kind where you show skin."

Gao Yuanyuan had an expression of realization and began to giggle.

"What are you giggling at?" Cao Yang flicked Gao Yuanyuan's nose and said huffily.

Gao Yuanyuan rested her chin in her hands and opened her mouth to bite Cao Yang's hand, but missed, so she giggled again. "Are you unwilling for me to film intense scenes?" "Director Cao will teach you how to film intense scenes right now."

Cao Yang flipped over and began to teach by example.

As a great director, Cao Yang's ability to guide actors is plain for all to see. Before long, Gao Yuanyuan couldn't help but start singing.

Cao Yang also had some slight attainments in music.

Gao Yuanyuan sang, and Cao Yang kept the beat.

The sense of rhythm was excellent.

The two of them were very in sync.

When Cao Yang kept the beat faster, Gao Yuanyuan's singing became tighter and more high-pitched.

The next day, when Cao Yang was about to leave, he instructed Gao Yuanyuan.

"After Spielberg sends the invitation, don't be in a rush to refuse. Leak the news first, make the matter a reality, let the domestic side know that you were the first to be invited, that you were the first choice. Make good use of this to hype things up."

Cao Yang patted Gao Yuanyuan's head and continued, "When the time comes, have your agent handle the negotiations and insist on one point: no intense scenes. You won't need to refuse; they definitely won't agree to that, and you won't offend anyone because of it."

!

"You're annoying."

Gao Yuanyuan brushed Cao Yang's hand away. "Alright, Director Cao, I've remembered it."

Yu Feihong and Li Xiaoran were not in Jingcheng, so Cao Yang called them separately to give them the same instructions.

Neither of them had any objections, unlike several actresses of later generations who were desperate to break into Hollywood.

Yu Feihong really didn't care; she only took on high-end endorsements now and was very picky about them.

Precisely because she was like this, she had few endorsements, and as a Venice Best Actress, her prestige was there, which actually made her more favored by high-end brands.

When Han Zong of China Film Group heard that Cao Yang was back, he called him urgently.

Through their conversation, Cao Yang finally understood what he meant.

*Milk* is no longer a gay film now, but a film satirizing American conservatives and politicians, which, domestically speaking, counts as a certain degree of "political" correctness.

In the eyes of politicians in capitalist countries, the masses are just objects to be fooled.

It's a comparison, after all.

And because this film was directed by Cao Yang and made a big splash at the Oscars, the domestic side imported it for release, and they prepared to release it on March 12th to coincide with the American release date.

Remember when *Titanic* was first imported for release, there were almost no cuts.

It's not that there are no cuts for this Cao Yang film; it's that no one is willing to do the job.

The influence of this film is a bit too large, it was specifically named by the higher-ups, and Cao Yang is now a world-class director who also won the Oscar for Best Picture. The Great Scissors also pick their targets based on who they are.

However, there are indeed quite a few restricted scenes in this film.

Depp and Anne Hathaway have several rather perverse intense scenes.

And under Cao Yang's perverse sense of humor, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Hardy, James Franco, Pedro Pascal, Ryan Reynolds, Henry Cavill, Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, Bradley Cooper, Cillian Murphy, Zachary Levi...

These future big Hollywood stars—well, the male stars—all have direct or indirect mouth-to-mouth intimate scenes.

Whether these are male-female intense scenes or male-male intense scenes, although they are all satirizing the Americans, releasing them domestically is a bit... inappropriate.

Fine, those were Han Zong's words.

Cao Yang understood Han Zong's meaning: others were afraid to cut it and wanted Cao Yang to do the cutting himself.

Uh, this is really...

Cao Yang hadn't expected that he would one day become the Great Scissors, and for his own film at that.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 177 =====