Chapter 59: Replace (Seeking follow-up reading)

Nicholas Tse instigated: "I know everyone has been very hard for the past half month, not only practicing jazz drums but also dealing with that Seeing Lu Kuan and accepting his unreasonable arrangements."

Edison Chen and Shawn Yue were both stunned. The latter was okay, but the former's anger at Seeing Lu Kuan was not a day or two.

This tyrant on set didn't give anyone face in the crew. He and Nicholas Tse, stars of such status, were treated the same as ordinary actors in terms of food, clothing, housing, and transportation in the *Whiplash* crew.

What made them most embarrassed was that Seeing Lu Kuan often pointed out their performance errors without hesitation, reminding them not to grab shots, grab scenes, not to just care about highlighting themselves, and ignore the shaping of the overall picture.

Even shooting a shot ten or twenty times had become a daily occurrence.

In the final analysis, it was the gap between the industry status and the film and television industry in Hong Kong and the mainland, which made them unable to put themselves in an equal position to look at problems, always feeling that they were here for technical poverty alleviation.

This can be seen from the Nicholas Tse and Zhang Weijian beating "Little White Dragon" incident only a year later.

Imagine if it was Wong Kar-wai, who was famous for being slow in filming, who let them shoot dozens of takes, would they still be so explosive?

The law of the jungle is mostly like this.

Nicholas Tse saw him slightly showing resentment and said hypocritically: "Frankly speaking, I am very optimistic about this script and story, otherwise I wouldn't have taken such a low salary to work in the mainland at the beginning."

Then the conversation turned: "But after such a long time of contact, I have doubts about Seeing Lu Kuan's directing ability. He doesn't understand actors, doesn't understand acting, and even many places in the script need to be modified."

Nicholas Tse looked at Zhang Jianting: "On this point, Director Zhang and I hold the same opinion."

Zhang Jianting adjusted his glasses. In fact, he was amazed by this script, and the one who had covetousness was himself. Liu Zeyu and Nicholas Tse were just like-minded opponents.

"Not bad, Ah Zai is right. This script has major omissions."

Zhang Jianting analyzed confidently: "The image of Teacher Zhuangzhong is too dark. This is not feasible in East Asia."

"East Asia, whether it is Hong Kong or the mainland, has been influenced by Confucianism for thousands of years, emphasizing respect for teachers and the way."

"The shaping of this image should be guided from the perspective of encouraging and educating the protagonist, rather than using such despicable methods to destroy the protagonist."

In Seeing Lu Kuan's *Whiplash*, the climax of the whole film is the band teacher Zhuangzhong deceiving the hopeful drummer Xu Huan to perform on stage, deliberately giving him the wrong sheet music.

He wanted to completely destroy Xu Huan's career in front of a group of social celebrities and music scene seniors, as punishment for Xu Huan secretly reporting his abuse of students.

Edison Chen, Shawn Yue, and others fell into deep thought. They were also professional actors and had their own thinking.

Seeing Lu Kuan's impression and opinions were one aspect, but when it came to actual work, they also had to make judgments from their own perspective.

Zhang Jianting was a senior management of Emperor Entertainment. Apart from nepotism, the *The Medallion* he directed and produced would be released next year, a 40-million-dollar giant production with Jackie Chan participating and cooperating with Hollywood.

One was a Hong Kong director and big boss's son-in-law who had been famous in the industry for a long time.

One was a little Daoist priest who didn't even go to university and was born as a commoner.

Coupled with the three's consistent dissatisfaction with Seeing Lu Kuan, the ending was self-evident.

"Director Zhang, tell us what to do, we will do it."

Liu Zeyu shook the scarlet liquid in his hand and was proud. Hong Kong people still have means.

He also figured it out this time. Why must he go to that "laborious" Beijing Film Academy? Go to a foreign country to hang a director degree from USC or NYU, capital leads the way, what can't he get?

But he must first pull out the nail of Seeing Lu Kuan from his heart. It was a thorn that had been in his heart since the day of the fourth round of auditions, making him feel humiliated!

Zhang Jianting smiled: "Very simple, you drag him in the crew, wait for the contract to be terminated, and Liu Shao's new film will re-sign you."

He was ready to find a gold-medal screenwriter in Hong Kong to overhaul *Whiplash* according to his own ideas, completely changing it.

*You play jazz drums, I can play piano and violin. All roads lead to Rome. *

Because the inner core of the story is contrary, Seeing Lu Kuan wrote about reflecting on the darkness of human nature, and he took the route of the "happy family" chicken soup text. The risk of plagiarism is very small.

"But... we all signed a triple liquidated damages. If we take the initiative to withdraw from filming..."

Shawn Yue spoke for the first time today. Unlike Nicholas Tse and Edison Chen, who had deep family backgrounds, he had to consider his own risks before participating in these conspiracies.

Zhang Jianting laughed loudly: "Ah Yue, you are stepping on Liu Shao's territory now, are you still afraid of this kind of thing?"

Liu Zeyu stood up and clinked a glass with him, then looked at his watch: "Wait a moment, they should be here soon."

Edison Chen and Shawn Yue were both confused. *Someone else? *

"Young Master Liu! Director Zhang! Distinguished stars, I'm late!"

The heavy door of the private room was pushed open abruptly. The person hadn't arrived, but the voice came first. Several people looked and saw a burly man with a round inch haircut and a big belly rushing in.

It was the thief who had a conflict with Seeing Lu Kuan at No. 88 Sanlitun, Zhang Tianshuo!

As the old saying goes, good things don't go out, bad things spread thousands of miles.

This "Rock Godfather" who could be called the ancient era was also famous in the Hong Kong circle.

Nicholas Tse, Edison Chen, and others had debuted for a long time. Although they didn't often come to the mainland, they had heard of the rumor that to hold a concert in Beijing, one had to pay respects at Zhang Ye's door first.

His positioning in this game was very clear: black glove.

Liu Zeyu smiled: "This Seeing Lu Kuan is arrogant because of his success. Not long ago, he offended our Beijing Zhang Ye at a party, and even had the audacity to say that Zhang Ye had a disaster in his life this year."

Liu the Second Generation said righteously: "Zhang Ye is righteous. This time, it can be considered as acting on behalf of heaven, clearing out this kind of pest in the mainland entertainment industry!"

Zhang Tianshuo chimed in at the right time: "That's right! This matter is for private grievances and public affairs. Young Master Liu has already thought of a perfect plan for everyone, guaranteed to work!"

What kind of perfect plan, it was just imitating the set of local ruffians to make things difficult for the crew.

Send ten or twenty old men and women early in the morning to wait at your studio. You can't move them, and you don't dare to push them.

Then send some strong men to threaten and intimidate the employees of the Youth Film Studio, so that Seeing Lu Kuan's movie can't be filmed.

Zhang Jianting smiled: "I have read your contracts, and one of the clauses is written like this."

"Except for force majeure, if the normal filming task cannot be carried out for more than a week due to the investor or the film side, and there is no obvious improvement, the actor has the right to unilaterally terminate the acting contract and obtain reasonable remuneration according to the length of work."

Zhang Tianshuo patted his round belly proudly: "Don't say a week, I'll make him unable to start work for a year!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 60 =====