Chinese Entertainment 2017: Starting from the Top Writers

Chapter 115 Science Fiction Daji and Mai Mai

September 3rd.

While a group of young actors and students from three major colleges were busy preparing for the "Wind Dog" auditions next week, Lin Li took the duo of Xu Fei and Gao Wen on a flight to the island city.

In the first-class cabin, Lin Li admired the scenery outside through the glass window, but he was thinking about Guo Fan in his mind.

The Wandering Earth series can be regarded as a miracle in the history of domestic films, which is inseparable from the director Guo Fan behind it.

Few people know that in addition to being a first-rate filmmaker, Guo Fan is also an expert at attracting investments and engaging in pyramid schemes.

As a young director with no professional background and no good historical achievements, Guo Fan, with his empty words, fooled more than three investors, dozens of actors, and nearly 3 staff members, and created China's first hardcore science fiction film.

The level of exaggeration is no less than that of a young man who had just learned Python for 21 days and returned to his hometown to instigate his fellow villagers to build a Louvre in the village.

From then on, Guo Fan became famous for his ability to get something for nothing, and was praised by his peers as the master of begging, AKA the wool-pulling master.

When his story spread online, one netizen commented, "Even a passing dog could be fooled by Director Guo into giving a 200 yuan gift."

In 2014, China Film Group acquired the copyright of Liu Cixin's novel. No director dared to take the job, and after searching everywhere without success, they finally found Guo Fan.

With the experience and technology at the time, making science fiction films in China was like planting onions in the desert. No one was willing to charge into the battle and risk losing their reputation.

As the future freeloader in the film industry, Guo Fan resolutely accepted the olive branch.

Looking at the past works of this little cucumber, China Film Group didn't dare to go all out and could only let him give it a try.

With this little bit of light, Guo Fan spent one million yuan of his own money to start building the "pirate ship" The Wandering Earth, and took a big step towards a career of deception.

The first person he got on board was producer Gong Geer.

Xiao Gong, who has been in the entertainment industry for many years and was once eliminated from the Super Boy competition, was suddenly invited by Guo Fan to be a producer. He had no experience and no confidence, and even said that he was not good enough, but Guo Fan insisted that he was good enough.

Under Guo Fan's rock-solid affirmation, Gong Geer not only did not negotiate for remuneration, but also took out all his property when the crew was short of money, sold his car and performed art, and even wanted to tear down his house to contribute to the crew.

After working together with Gong Geer for half a year, Guo Fan presented China Film Group with a 100-year chronicle of the earth, 3000 concept drawings, more than 8000 storyboards, and more than 30 minutes of dynamic previews, and successfully won the right to direct.

Guo Fan calculated that the 8000 million project budget given by China Film Group might not even be enough for special effects.

If you have no idea about the cost of a movie, you can refer to Avatar, which cost $2.3 million. It is said that the special effects alone cost $1.5 million.

If you have little money, you have to spend it wisely. Regardless of whether to save on hardware or not, Guo Fan plans to start with the actors.

Guo Fan found Wu Mengda and invited him to play the role of Grandpa Liu Qi.

At that time, no one believed that the existing technology in the country could produce a great science fiction film, just like no one believed that an aircraft carrier could be built in a cave.

Guo Fan used honor, dream, mission and responsibility to win over Uncle Da with a low salary of 20 yuan. It is said that even when the filming was overdue for 5 days, Uncle Da did not ask for a penny more.

Using the same method, Guo Fan tricked Qu Chuxiao and Zhao Jinmai into joining the film with a salary of 10 and 5 respectively.

Since it was impossible to discuss the Chinese film dream with foreign actors, Guo Fan conquered them with food, and in the end, the pay of the Russian astronaut "Lao Ma" was paid off with a few boxed lunches.

The most interesting character is Wu Jing. Many years later, Wu Jing, who starred in two consecutive "The Wandering Earth" movies, recalled the afternoon when he was tricked by Guo Fan into joining the crew, only to find that he had been trapped.

Guo Fan invited Wu Jing to join the crew as a guest star, and then found various reasons to give him more roles.

It was only 31 days later that Wu Jing discovered something strange. How could a guest appearance not be completed within a month?
Halfway through the matter, Wu Jing was caught in a dilemma and ended up becoming the protagonist for unknown reasons.

The funding chain of the crew broke down halfway through the production, and Guo Fan had to tell Wu Jing that he had no money to pay the film's salary.

Under the charm of Guo Fanmei's strong and tragic character, Wu Jing not only agreed to act for no pay, but also invested 6000 million to help the crew out of their urgent needs.

Congratulations on getting paid for the film - is 6000 million okay?

From then on, Guo Fan had two more nicknames, Science Fiction Daji and Cyber ​​Succubus!
After fooling the actors, Guo Fan began to fool the partner companies.

Foreign special effects teams are too expensive, so he took advantage of domestic companies to attack them.

Because the budget was too small, he almost bankrupted two of the top special effects companies in the country, and he was also very picky, forcing them to the level of Hollywood.

Yet the money spent on visual effects was less than one-tenth of the Hollywood price.

Guo Fan even took whatever props he could, not only taking the crazy alien's space capsule and space suit, but also getting Ning Hao to make a cameo appearance, making the best use of everything and everyone.

Everyone who has witnessed Guo Fan's alms-begging method is worried. With his ability to deceive people, if he commits a crime, it will definitely be a major one.

Lin Li also felt that it was a good thing that this guy became a director. If he had done pyramid selling, he would have been sent to jail, right?

With an initial budget of 8 million yuan and a production cost of 8 million yuan, Guo Fan successfully brought the pirate ship "The Wandering Earth" ashore and ushered in the first year of Chinese science fiction film and television.

While his thoughts were racing, the plane broadcast a reminder that they were about to land. Lin Li came back to his senses and looked at the blue coastal city below.

"Science Fiction Daji, here I come."

After leaving the airport, the few of them went to Oriental Movie Metropolis in a six-seater commercial vehicle driven by Wang Bao through the car rental company they had contacted in advance.

In just over an hour, a little after two o'clock in the afternoon, the group arrived at the Oriental Movie Metropolis.

Oriental Movie Metropolis is a large-scale film and television industry production base that focuses on film and television shooting, and also has other functions such as sightseeing, cultural entertainment, and leisure and vacation. It covers an area of ​​376 million square meters and has a total construction area of ​​540 million square meters.

It is also the only film capital in the world that has comprehensive functions including film and television location shooting, film and television production, and film and television tourism.

Pacific Rim: Uprising, The Great Wall, Crazy Alien, A Good Show and other films were filmed in this place.

The underwater production center of the film and television industry park is a major feature, with a world-class outdoor pool and an advanced indoor constant temperature pool. The underwater production center also includes functional rooms such as dressing rooms and waiting rooms, as well as shooting auxiliary facilities.

There is absolutely no problem in undertaking the filming of a large-scale water film like Titanic.

Although the Film City was built not long ago, there are still many films shot here, with about 30 films shot here every year.

The meticulously crafted space capsule of The Wandering Earth was completed in Studio 2 of the Film and Television Industrial Park, the carrier vehicle was built in Studio 11, and the space engine was completed in Studio 12.

The underground city and ice and snow wonders at the beginning of the film were filmed in Studio 20.

As soon as they got off the car, they saw a few people waving and coming towards them from afar.

At this time, Xu Fei explained: "Director Guo asked about our approximate arrival time, and I told him."

Lin Li nodded to show that he understood, put on a smile, and strode forward to greet him.

"Hey, Mr. Lin, Mr. Lin, I've heard a lot about you, I've heard a lot about you."

As soon as they met, the bearded Guo Fan took a few quick steps forward with an enthusiastic look on his face and shook his hand vigorously, his eyes shining, as if he really admired him very much.

But Lin Li, who knew him very well, knew that what the begging master was interested in was not him as a person, but the money in his pocket.

"Director Guo, you are too polite. I hope you don't mind my intrusive visit. It's just that I am very curious about how science fiction movies are shot, so I want to come and learn a little."

Lin Li also responded to him enthusiastically, giving Guo Fan enough face in his words.

Guo Fan held his hand tightly and said with a grin, "That's not true. It's our honor that Mr. Lin can come to visit our crew."

The two smiled at each other, and the same idea came into their minds at the same time.

"Here comes someone to bring me money!"

"Boss Lin, let me introduce you to two young actors from our crew, Qu Chuxiao and Zhao Jinmai."

Lin Li looked at Guo Fan, who had a warm smile on his face, and always felt that his typical dog-wolf appearance was a bit like a delicate version of Jiang Wen.

He had also noticed the two people behind him, especially Zhao Jinmai. She was only 16 years old at that time, with a face full of collagen, a little chubby and very cute.

Ever since they met, she had been stealing glances at Guo Fan from behind, with a lively look in her eyes.

Zhao Jinmai's facial features are still very superior, with big eyes, high nose bridge, and cherry lips, which are truly in line with the aesthetic standards of Asians.

Today she is wearing a slim-fit straight-shoulder T-shirt with black high-waisted pants, which is simple, fashionable and neat, and has the playfulness of a young girl.

"Hello Director Lin, I'm actor Qu Chuxiao."

"Hello, Director Lin. I'm actress Zhao Jinmai."

After hearing Guo Fan's introduction, the two of them came forward and greeted him respectfully.

"Hello."

Lin Li responded with a smile.

Guo Fan introduced producer Gong Geer and others to them so that they could get to know each other, and after a round of greetings, he offered to take Lin Li to visit their filming site.

Lin Li naturally followed suit, and with Guo Fan leading the way, the group chatted and laughed as they headed to the filming site.

Zhao Jinmai, who was following behind the group, was secretly muttering: "Director Guo is going to start lying again. Nanjing University is going to bleed this time."

Qu Chuxiao touched her immediately after hearing this: "Don't talk nonsense, don't let anyone hear you."

Zhao Jinmai nodded like a chick pecking at rice: "I know, I know."

The main reason is that Guo Fan is too good at fooling people, and she is a little worried about her idol.

Back then, she didn't want to perform because she had to prepare for the high school entrance examination, so Guo Fan fooled her mother, saying that he was a top student and could help her with her homework.

The result? A top student couldn't even solve junior high school math problems!

So of course she was worried about Lin Li. After all, he was her idol. There were few young people of their age who didn't like Nan Xun.

After knowing that Lin Li was coming over today, she dressed up carefully. Unfortunately, seeing that Lin Li's reaction seemed a little dull, she was a little discouraged.

She thought about it and saw that, looking at the female celebrities that Lin Li usually dealt with, which one of them was not a beautiful lady?
Thinking of this, she puffed her lips in worry and looked a little unhappy.

It doesn’t seem so bad if idols are too good?

But she quickly cheered up. After all, she was in the mindset of a fan and just wanted to leave a good impression on her idol.

She was already very happy to see Lin Li here today.

Lin Li’s number of Weibo followers has now exceeded 80 million, with over 300,000 new posts on his super topic every day and over 20 million interactions, which are very scary statistics.

She is also a frequent participant in Linli’s super topic circle. She was thinking, if she could take a photo with Nan Da today and post it in his super topic circle, she would probably be envied to death by other fans, right?
Thinking of this, two dimples unconsciously appeared on Zhao Jinmai's cheeks, which surprised Qu Chuxiao who was standing beside her.

What's going on with this inexplicable laughter?
Today I had dinner with a client and drank half a catty of white wine. I have to sigh that in the more than four years I have worked in Shandong, I have never knocked a client down. It was always me who was knocked down. My alcohol tolerance has improved a lot.

Looking at this steady growth every day, if it continues like this, I feel that I am becoming more and more motivated. What should I do?

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(End of this chapter)