Chapter 318: Fellow Students
Thanks to the good start of "Lost on Journey" at the beginning of the year, the box office performance of "Crazy Stone" is quite good.
In addition, the basic ticket price has been raised, and the box office is expected to increase by tens of millions compared to the original historical figures - that is, to between 3500 million and 4000 million.
This is the principle of planting trees so that future generations can enjoy the shade.
But don't expect more. The most classic aspect of Xu Kun's "Lost on Journey" is its fan marketing, and "Crazy Stone" obviously does not have this condition.
Xu Kun was not idle during this period. He asked Zhu Yawen to contact Tianxia Bachang and bought the film and television adaptation rights of "Ghost Blows Out the Light".
Whether it can be filmed or not is another matter. Anyway, the script is not expensive, so just buy it and stockpile it - which big director doesn’t have a few scripts stockpiled?
It is said that Liu Haibo spent half a month pondering this.
It was not until mid-July when Xu Kun sent Hao Lei away that he received news from Liu Haibo.
"Kun'er, I just took over a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law drama from Hualu."
"Hua Lu?"
"Yeah, didn't their movie 'Legendary Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang' just flop? They launched several more movies in a row to restore their reputation. It's true that they are a big company, but they look down on others!"
"What do you mean?"
"Isn't this my first time to switch to an urban drama? Hualu was a little worried, so they found someone to co-direct with me, saying that our strengths complement each other."
Hearing the disdain in Liu Haibo's tone, Xu Kun asked curiously, "Who is your partner?"
"Teng Huatao is Teng Wenji's son."
I have never heard of Teng Huatao, but I know Teng Wenji and Xu Kun, the director of "Blood Romance". At the beginning, Xu Kun almost played the fifth male role.
Fortunately, I had the support of Teacher Liu Heng at that time, otherwise I would have had no one to complain to after being cheated.
"Is this Teng Huatao good at filming urban dramas?"
"I don't know, it's mainly because his father has a good relationship with Hualu."
Okay~
This is not uncommon in a society where human relationships are important.
"So you called me, are you trying to show off or complain to me?"
"neither."
Liu Haibo said: "Please recommend another heroine."
"what?"
Xu Kun felt puzzled. When filming "The Princess Weiyoung", Liu Haibo asked him to recommend a female lead, which could be considered as returning a favor. But now he is actively asking him to recommend a female lead. What's the logic behind this?
"People say you're a lucky guy with women, so I'm here to get some good luck and use your name to put pressure on Teng Huatao."
It is said that small fame depends on promotion, while great fame depends on luck, so there are quite a few people in the entertainment industry who believe in ghosts, gods, and luck - but Lao Liu's purpose should be mainly the latter.
I guess he was afraid that Teng Huatao would use his father's connections to make things difficult for him in the crew, so he wanted to use this as a pretext.
"Then I will reluctantly recommend one to you."
"roll!"
"Seriously."
Xu Kun pondered and said, "What is your drama about? What is the character of the heroine?"
"Didn't I tell you? It's a drama about mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. It's called Double-Sided Adhesive Tape. It tells the story of a daughter-in-law from Shanghai who meets a mother-in-law from Northeast China. She is repeatedly provoked and harassed by the feudal mother-in-law, and eventually she and her husband part ways."
At this point, Liu Haibo couldn't help but spit: "Damn, this plot is a bit mean to us Northeasterners. We Northeastern ladies are open-minded. How can we be so petty?!"
Liu Haibo is from Jilin. He was quite unhappy with the plot, but he was still very optimistic about the script. Dramas like this where the mother-in-law makes things difficult for the daughter-in-law have been popular in recent years, and this one is obviously the culmination of the best.
Listen to Liu Haibo’s brief introduction to the plot and characters.
Xu Kun immediately thought of Hao Lei. Although Liu Haibo was trying to get a good start, recommending Hao Lei seemed a bit...
But Hao Lei is indeed quite suitable for this role now.
Moreover, she graduated from the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and she has some knowledge about the situation in Shanghai, and can even speak a few words of Shanghai dialect.
Finally, Xu Kun said, "Then I'll suggest a candidate first. If you think he's not suitable, just pretend I didn't say anything."
"Why are you still wasting time with me? Hurry up!"
"Hao Lei." Xu Kun said, "She just left me. How should I put it? She has a mature and steady yet a bit twisted vibe. I think she's quite suitable for playing the role of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law."
"Hao Lei?"
Liu Haibo groaned for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, we're all from Jilin, and we graduated from the Shanghai Theatre Academy, so we'll help if we can.
I will find someone from Shanghai to play the role of the Northeastern grandmother. This way, when we promote the film, it can not only give us Northeastern people a good name, but also create a gimmick!"
Xu Kun then remembered that Hao Lei was also from Jilin, and Liu Haibo also graduated from the Shanghai Theatre Academy.
Although the two do not have much contact in normal times, the identities of fellow villagers and classmates still have certain weight at critical moments.
…………
People's ability to adapt is actually very strong.
By August, although the scorching heat had not yet completely subsided, the crew's filming progress was greatly accelerated, and Zhao Changjun and Zhang Jin's cooperation became more and more tacit.
Zhang Ruoyun showed some comedic talent, but like his acting talent, there is some, but not much.
However, this kid did have some perseverance. He practiced martial arts with Xu Kun and Zhang Jin. Although he complained of being tired every day, he never stopped.
This quality is sometimes more important than talent, and perseverance may help you get the upper hand.
And now the TV industry seems to be paying less and less attention to acting...
In mid-August, Hao Lei brought back the good news, saying that she had successfully won the female lead in "Double-Sided Adhesive Tape".
In the final round, I met someone named Hai Qing, who was also very talented and suitable for the role. He was on par with Hao Lei during the audition.
However, thanks to Director Xu's support, Hao Lei finally won the first place.
Soon after, Chen Xuebin and Gan Wei also called to share the good news, saying that after the broadcast of "The Debaters", the show became a huge hit on the Internet, and now Zhang Chen, the boss of Happy Twist, personally drives Shen Teng to and from school every day, for fear that he would simply jump ship to LeTV.
"The Debaters" is LeTV's new current affairs commentary program. The name was given by Xu Kun. He didn't remember where he had heard of it, but he thought it was appropriate anyway.
It was late August.
While Xu Kun was busy with the filming, he also began to contact Huayi frequently, preparing to return to Beijing to attend the premiere of "The Banquet".
In fact, "The Banquet" has already premiered in Venice. Huayi announced that many countries have purchased it enthusiastically, and the cost has basically been recovered. The domestic box office is pure profit.
However, according to Wang Zhonglei, the proceeds from the sale of the film were actually less than half of the cost, or about 40%.
Although it was specially sent to foreigners for viewing, Director Feng's reputation abroad is obviously not as great as Zhang Yimou's, so it cannot be sold at a very good price.
The latter part of the sentence was guessed by Xu Kun. Feng Xiaogang was feeling depressed, and Wang Zhonglei didn't dare to provoke him again.
At this time, Li Yixiang specially sent a movie disc to Xu Kun, saying that it was a niche art film that would be released at the end of June and the acting was particularly good, and asked Xu Kun to consider similar movies in the future.
The movie is called "Tengu", and after watching it, Xu Kun was deeply regretful.
He can play this role too!
Forbearance, perseverance, indomitable spirit, tit for tat…
Almost every shining point of this protagonist hits Xu Kun's sweet spot.
If he had discovered this script earlier, I wouldn't say that he would have performed better than Fu Dalong, but at least he wouldn't have been much worse. It shouldn't be a problem for him to get a nomination for Best Actor.
pity……
Forget it, it’s okay to just get the Best Actor award first.
Although the nominations for the 23rd Golden Eagle Awards have not yet been officially announced, Xu Kun has already received inside information.
With his performances in "Zhu Yuanzhang" and "Boss", he received three nominations, including the Golden Eagle Award for Best Performing Arts, the Audience Favorite Actor Award, and the Golden Eagle Award for Most Popular Actor and Actress.
The first one is commonly known as the Golden Eagle Award for Best Actor, and the next two are group awards, which are part of the big pie.
However, the fact that he was nominated for three awards at once shows how popular Xu Kun is now.
In addition, this time the Golden Eagle Awards also wants to create a 'Golden Eagle Goddess', and the tentative candidates are: Liu Yifei, Jiang Yiyan, Liu Shishi, etc.
This is clearly intended to cause trouble.
The feud between Liu Yifei and Jiang Yiyan is well known. Since her debut, Liu Shishi has also caused dissatisfaction among Liu Yifei's fans because of her nickname "Little Liu Yifei".
If you put these three together for a PK, wouldn't that be like thunder and fire hitting the ground?
(End of this chapter)
