Huayu: From an ordinary person to a happy director

Chapter 11 Looking for the Male Lead
"I'm going to find Chou Zhaolong to play the male lead." Shi Lei did not hide it.

"Zhou Zhaolong?" Hua Shihong was a little confused.

"It's Chang Wei in 'Justice, My Foot', who often plays Jet Li's villain." Shi Lei explained.

Hua Shihong suddenly realized: "Oh~~Him!"

"But I don't remember him being among the international actors!"

Shi Lei immediately explained: "He starred in The Matrix 2 as the protector of the prophet. He had a very exciting fight with the protagonist Neo."

"The Matrix 2 will be released next May."

With the influence of "The Matrix", Zhou Zhaolong has indeed made his presence known to the world.

"You are... just taking advantage of a loophole!" Hua Shihong didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "I'm surprised you came up with that."

"Anyway, I didn't lie!" Shi Lei spread his hands and said indifferently.

He doesn't think there's anything wrong with it. Zhang Ziyi has labeled herself as such because of the role she played in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. As a result, she has failed to make it in the international arena, and she is also not doing well in China.

Zhou Zhaolong is a good fighter and his pay is low, so he is much more valuable than any international star.

He has already thought of the promotion method for North America, with the translated title being "The Matrix: The Retirement Life of the Prophet's Guardian", and it will be released while riding on the popularity of "The Matrix 2". It is impossible for it to be a big hit, but making money is a must. Of course, this depends on the attitude of Warner Bros. If they don't buy the copyright, then he has no choice.

In fact, if he were given the power to do it, he would turn "The Matrix" into a movie universe. Neo is the savior, but he also needs helpers. There can be a lot of helpers from other countries. The story is mainly told within the matrix. In addition to the central integrated area, there are also independent areas of other countries.

As long as the fighting is exciting enough, making money is inevitable thanks to the reputation of "The Matrix".

Of course, all this is just Shi Lei's idea. He is not from Warner Bros., so he won't bother with it that much.

"Oh... forget it, whatever you want!" After all, he is a director who won the Silver Lion Award. As long as it is not too outrageous, society will be very tolerant of him.

“Can you show me the script?”

Shi Lei replied: "The script still needs final improvement. I'll give it to you in a month!"

"I need your help in getting the script reviewed."

Helping with the review was the reason for giving the script to Hua Shihong. The script took place in ancient times and did not involve history, so it was easy to pass the review.

In fact, he just wrote an outline of the script, which took up a place in the Copyright Bureau, and the detailed content needed to be filled in.

"No problem. I'll use my connections to get your script approved as soon as possible."

-

The next day, newspapers from all major media outlets reported on Shi Lei's new film plan. Simply put, the famous director Shi Lei invited international actors to shoot a martial arts film.

For some reason, the newspaper did not say why Shi Lei is a famous director. Those who want to know will naturally check it out.

When people in the industry saw the news, they immediately started to inquire about it. Since international actors were invited, they were naturally looking forward to the overseas box office. Such movies were rare and they were all blockbusters. Although they doubted that Shi Lei could not find so much investment, it did not stop them from inquiring.

Shi Lei also accepted an interview at the right time and revealed the news that he had invested 1000 million US dollars to shoot the martial arts film "No One in My Eyes".

If it were any other company, it would probably cost 8000 million RMB, which would be a more shocking number, but since it’s an international company, let’s use US dollars as the unit!
Over the next ten days, Shi Lei continued to attend various film seminars and youth symposiums.

On September 9, "Empty Room" was released in major theaters.

Although there was no news report in China about "Empty Room" winning the Silver Lion Award, some speculators had already pirated it.

Once the title of Venice Best Director Silver Lion Award is announced, pirated copies can still be sold.

So both Hua Shihong and Shi Lei were a little anxious.

Unfortunately, it was useless to be anxious. "Empty Room" had no publicity and could only rely on the film reviews the day after its release. The film reviews were very high and attracted some people to watch the film. However, "Empty Room" only closed at 300 million in the box office after its release for a week. According to the box office trend, the total box office was only 700 million.

After all, it is an art film. There is not much difference between watching it in the cinema and watching a pirated version, and the pirated version is the uncensored version.

Nearly a month later, the various meetings finally came to an end.

Film seminars, discussions on future film trends...

These meetings were so torturous. I was young and could hardly say a few words. It was all directors from the fifth or sixth generation who were speaking. It was like listening to the principal's speech in middle school. I wished it would be over in the next second.

"Empty Room" has been released for a week, so he has time to recruit actors for "Unrestrained".

The first one is Zhou Zhaolong. Deng Hongxu from the studio has already offered a film contract to Zhou Zhaolong in North America.

Zhou Zhaolong quickly responded and said he wanted to take a look at the script.

On a certain floor of an office building near Beijing Film Academy, Shi Lei met Zhou Zhaolong in the reception room.

He didn't waste any words and handed the script over directly, "I want you to play the leading role, Cheng the Blind Man."

Zhou Zhaolong read the script carefully. The first half of the script was very detailed, while the second half was just an outline.

This is a normal confidentiality measure. If it was in the past to show sincerity, Shi Lei would give the entire script, but now his status is different, and his confidentiality measures will not be offensive.

The main reason is that Chou Zhaolong is an actor from Hong Kong Island, which is well-known for its quick shooters. If the negotiations fall through, Hong Kong Island may be able to shoot a copycat film in a month.

Of course, he personally believed in Chou Zhaolong's character, but he knew something about the business they were talking about and the taboos in doing business.

"I can play the leading role, but the action director..."

He knew the general direction of the script and had no problem with it. Given his status in the entertainment industry, he would not refuse any role to play.

"It's good that you agree to participate. I won't talk to you about this. I'm going to go out first. My assistant will talk to you later." Talking about money hurts feelings. Although there is no love between them, he doesn't want to argue with Chou Zhaolong.

He is an internationally renowned director who has won three Silver Lion Awards. He cannot lose face!

If Zhou Zhaolong minds and the negotiations cannot be concluded, then just find someone else. If that doesn't work, then try another movie project.

Chou Zhaolong looked at Shi Lei's back as he stood up and left, frowned, a little unhappy, but finally said nothing. He had encountered much more hurtful things in Hollywood, and there were many of them. What happened to Shi Lei was really nothing.

The reason why he was unhappy was more because Shi Lei was from mainland China. Although he knew that Shi Lei won the Silver Lion Award, he was unable to adjust his mentality in a short period of time.

After all, the three major ones are foreign. Although they are well-known, they have no achievements in China.

A minute later, Deng Hongxu walked in.

Deng Hongxu roughly guessed Chou Zhaolong's thoughts and said directly, "The lead actor's salary is 10 US dollars. You are also the action director, and your salary is US dollars. You can take this salary yourself or share it with others. Our company doesn't care about this. Of course, the premise is that the martial arts scenes are not bad."

The Hong Family Class has disbanded, and Zhou Zhaolong went to North America to make a living. Now that there is an opportunity to help the Hong Family Class, it is normal for him to want to help.

This movie is a small production and the shooting period will be only one and a half months if everything goes well, and two months if things don't go well. Zhou Zhaolong doesn't have many works in Hollywood (not counting those that have not been released), so one hundred thousand US dollars is considered high.

The action director was also paid $100,000, which shows that they invited him to act in this movie because of his martial arts skills.

"This..." Zhou Zhaolong felt disgusted. This young man saw through his thoughts at a glance and did not object to him letting the Hong family be the action director. However, he felt disgusted that the action director's money had to be taken from him.

Of course, no matter how disgusted he is, he will not give up the opportunity to make money.

And isn't this a negotiation?
"I can't handle it alone as an action director, so I need help from others. I have a group of fellow apprentices who can also serve as action directors."

(End of this chapter)