Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 344 Li Qiutang's Girlfriend Outside the Circle
Wan Da purchased the copyright of "Ghost Blows Out the Light" in 12, and found Li Qiutang's team to take over at the end of 12 and the beginning of 13. After Chen Guofu left Huayi, he signed a contract with Wan Da as producer.

Wanda's original plan was to start filming in 13 and release it during the Lunar New Year holiday in 14, but Li Qiutang felt that this schedule was unscientific.

In Time was already rushed, as the script took 10 months to prepare. For a fantasy adventure film like Mojin: The Last Dragon, the preparation time would be even longer. So Li Qiutang gave Wan Da a timeline of 14 to start filming and 15 Lunar New Year or Spring Festival release. If there was not enough time in post-production, the release would be postponed to the summer of 16.

Wan Da respects Li Qiutang's opinion.

But you can’t demand such a high box office share of 14%!

Wan Da was only willing to give 5%. As a compromise, Wan Da was willing to increase Li Qiutang's fixed salary to 2300 million after tax, but Qiu Tian disagreed, believing that both 5% and 2300 million were not in line with Li Qiutang's worth.

The two sides were in a stalemate, but Qiu Tian did not give up. Qiu Tian's team was still actively preparing for "The Ghouls".

Li Qiutang has withdrawn from "The Invisible Guest" to fully promote "Mojin: The Lost Tomb", and the crew is about to start casting.

Although the script has not been finalized yet, the tomb-raiding trio + Big Gold Teeth, these four people must be there no matter how the story is written, so these four actors need to be finalized in advance.

If some directors saw Li Qiutang working like this, they would probably accuse him of being lazy, thinking that Li Qiutang was just following novels and had no opinions of his own.

Nonsense! If you were to film Journey to the West, would you delete Tang Seng, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing and the White Dragon Horse?

Change the white horse into a black horse and see if the audience will scold you!
Li Qiutang would never do anything to offend fans of the original novel.

An important principle that Li Qiutang followed in adapting "Ghost Blows Out the Light" is that the story can be original, but the classic elements of the novel should be kept as authentic as possible.

In terms of actor selection, there was actually no major problem with Wuershan's version except for Shu Qi's accent, but Li Qiutang had her own ideas.

Da Jin Ya still likes Xia Yu, he acted very well, there is no need to change.

However, Xia Yu was not so easy to invite, and when Li Qiutang proposed to invite Xia Yu to play Da Jin Ya, producer Chen Guofu did not object, but also said that this was a risky move.

It's not that I don't believe in Xia Yu's acting skills, but he mostly plays positive characters. He almost never plays roles like Da Jin Ya, who is both good and evil and humorous.

But Li Qiutang still stubbornly insisted on chatting with Xia Yu, so the two of them made an appointment to meet at Lai Jin Yuxuan Tea House.

Xia Yu had never read the novel "Ghost Blows Out the Light" and didn't know what role Li Qiutang asked him to play. He only said that the name was very strange, it was actually Big Gold Teeth.

Li Qiutang introduced him to the character: "He is a greedy, cowardly, mercenary antique dealer, but he still has a conscience and is loyal to his friends. His father was a conscientious person, but because he had asthma, he did not follow in his father's footsteps and became an antique dealer instead."

Xia Yu laughed when he heard this and said, "An antique swindler from Panjiayuan."

"Almost." Li Qiutang smiled and continued, "He has a gold tooth in his mouth, so his nickname is Big Gold Tooth. This gold tooth was also stolen from the mouth of a dead body in an ancient tomb."

"Wow, you really don't mind being shabby." Xia Yu found the introduction of this character quite interesting.

Li Qiutang went on to say, "He was the logistics director and agent of the tomb-robbing trio, introducing Hu Bayi and the others to the tomb-robbing business. Of course, we didn't write it that way in the movie."

But Li Qiutang also said: "Although Da Jin Ya doesn't have many scenes, he is very versatile and interesting. He is a bit like Chen Wen in your Waiting Alone, smooth and unruly, but not bad either."

But Xia Yu was not persuaded by Li Qiutang's words. As the crew judged, Xia Yu mostly played positive characters. When he saw the role of Da Jin Ya, the first thing he thought was that he had never played it before, and it was still unknown whether he could play it well. But Li Qiutang said: "You are an actor, you should create characters, and it is more challenging to play characters you have never played before. Before I came, many people in our crew said that you are not suitable, but I think you should challenge yourself, and we can give each other a surprise."

Xia Yu still didn't agree to Li Qiutang on the spot, but through Li Qiutang's narration, he became interested in Da Jin Ya and said, "You are adapting it from a novel, right? I'll go back and read the novel to see what kind of person Da Jin Ya is."

"Okay." Li Qiutang agreed, "Big Gold Teeth is a really interesting character."

Xia Yu took the initiative to say: "My schedule is quite loose later on. I will reply to you after I finish reading the novel."

"no problem."

After talking about business, the two chatted in the teahouse. Both of them were playful people. Li Qiutang liked water sports and Xia Yu liked skateboarding.

Xia Yu talked about his experiences of skiing around the world, and Li Qiutang talked about his experiences of playing in the water.

"I joined a voluntary water rescue team." Li Qiutang told his story. "In the first few years, we were able to do some real work, but later on, it became impossible. The team had no money and asked us members to donate money. We did the rescue work for free out of love, but in the end, we still had to pay for it. It's not that we are reluctant to spend the money, but it's just that this is not the way to do it. The rescue team can get sponsorship by itself, and we are willing to do some publicity activities to raise funds. But I don't want to ask members to donate money."

"Yes." Xia Yu agreed, "I've encountered this before. I was willing to teach you for free to promote skateboarding, but the organizer took money behind my back. I didn't want to do it anymore at that time."

"Yes, we have good intentions, but they use our kindness as a tool to make money, and even say, since you are so rich, why donate some money?"

Xia Yu responded: "I hate to say that."

"So I won't participate in their activities anymore. Water rescue is quite dangerous. To put it bluntly, why should I take the risk?"

"Some people are like this." Xia Yu had many similar experiences to Li Qiutang. "I won't get involved in this kind of thing now. If you want to play, I will definitely be willing to teach you. But you have to tell me how much money you want me to be your teacher. I don't want to take on this kind of thing."

The two became more and more excited as they talked. Xia Yu invited Li Qiutang on the spot to go to Qiong Island for water skiing and surfing in a few days. Li Qiutang had no important work to do during this period except for "The Ghouls", so she agreed to Xia Yu on the spot.

The two chatted about work for an hour and spent the rest of the time talking about where to have fun.

If Yuan Quan saw this, he would definitely say that Xia Yu had tricked another playmate into leaving him.

"My wife and I don't play together." Xia Yu laughed, "I taught her how to ski, but she didn't want to play with me. Last year, when we said we were going to Switzerland, she thought it was too far and didn't want to go with me. In the end, I went with a few of my friends."

Li Qiutang said: "My child is willing to play with me, but she is too stupid. It takes a long time for her to learn. Even after she learns, she can't keep up with me. I don't want to play with her."

Xia Yu had never heard that Li Qiutang was married: "The one from your family? Who is it?"

"Ah," Li Qiutang then realized that he had slipped his tongue, "It was about that someone." Li Qiutang tried to cover it up by laughing.

"Who is it? Someone outside the circle?"

"Ah, he's outside the circle, you don't know him." Li Qiutang said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)