Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 40 Liu Yifei's Visit

Li Qiutang has been in seclusion since the preparation for the project of "No One in View". The last time he appeared in the media was more than a month ago when someone photographed him swimming in winter at the Binjiaoyuan Pier. The media only reprinted the photos taken by passers-by and did not meet and interview him directly.

He lives in Chaoyang and drives for more than an hour to come to Binjiaoyuan Pier to swim. It's really hard.

Apart from this time, the media and the audience have never seen Li Qiutang again. However, since she couldn't see the director, she would meet with Wang Zhonglei, the bold and showy chief producer, every few days, and could always get some information from him.

Huayi has achieved good results this year. The total box office of the films it produced and distributed has exceeded 3 million yuan, making it the first in China. Wang Zhonglei is also very satisfied with this result. At the end of the year, Huayi has no films to release. He is quite relaxed and talked to the visiting reporters: "Everything is going well with the crew of "No One". I went to see the director yesterday and the preparations have been moving forward.

"This is the first movie we have collaborated on with director Li Qiutang. The start time of filming cannot be disclosed yet and it is still in the confidentiality stage." The real reason is that the crew has not yet completed the schedule and Wang Zhonglei cannot tell anyone about it.

"An investment of 3000 million!" Don't underestimate the cost of 3000 million, it is a good scale in the current domestic films. "I am also a martial arts fan, and I strongly support him in making martial arts films." It is true that Wang Zhonglei likes martial arts.

But the fake truth is that Li Qiutang did not receive 3000 million. Wang Zhonglei reported 3000 million firstly to sound good and secondly to suppress Ning Hao.

Ning Hao's "Crazy Racing" is also in preparation. As the investor, China Film Warner Hengdian announced early on that the film's cost would be 2000 million yuan - "Stone" cost about 300 million yuan. It is very good to have such an investment scale for the second film.

Would Wang Zhonglei miss such a good gimmick? He insisted on offering 3000 million yuan to suppress you.

Ning Hao and Li Qiutang were the two most watched new directors in the mainland film industry last year, and they are bound to be compared.

Judging from the current results, Li Qiutang has a slight advantage, using less cost than "Stone" and achieving a higher box office than "Stone".

Wang Zhonglei also told reporters about Huayi's plans for this year. The most important one is of course Feng Xiaogang's "Assembly": "It is still being filmed and we will try to release it this year. We will definitely not let you down."

Then let’s talk about the highly anticipated "Double J Project". This film was released at the end of the year. As soon as the name "Double J Project" came out, it attracted the attention of almost all media, and then there were speculations about the heroine.

Wang Zhonglei refused to give in and kept saying that anyone could be the possibility, which whetted the appetite of the media and the audience.

Huayi didn’t have any movies in the show, but there were a lot of things going on, both happy and sad.

What has been making headlines recently is the contract termination incident of Fan Bingbing. Fan Bingbing has confirmed that her contract with Huayi will not be renewed when it expires this year. The outside world speculates that she may go to Orange Sky Entertainment, which is owned by her rumored boyfriend Wu Kebo.

Huayi tried to retain her, but Fan Bingbing was determined to leave - why shouldn't she leave? As long as Li Bingbing and Zhou Xun were there, she would never be able to take the position of the top star in Huayi.

The media reported that the two sides broke up, but Wang Zhonglei said it was a peaceful breakup: "We are very grateful for Bingbing's contribution to the company over the years, and we are still very good friends."

As for Huang Xiaoming, his move to Huayi is a foregone conclusion. Reporters had long guessed that he would star in two blockbusters, "The Banquet" and "The Deer and the Cauldron". However, neither party has made an official announcement nor held a signing ceremony.

Wang Zhonglei was showing off in front of the media, while Li Qiutang was busy as a whim on the set.

When the script was sent to Wang Zhonglei's office, it meant that the people in the president's office knew that the script of "Arrogant" had been finalized. The people in the president's office knew about it, and some internal artists with connections and means also knew about it.

So Li Qiutang spent a large part of her time meeting actors.

They are all related. Either they are familiar with the Wang brothers, or they are familiar with a certain vice president, or they are familiar with a certain producer of the crew.

Invite people to dinner, invite them to take a bath, invite them to sing, and some even bring them gifts at home. There are all kinds of things like that.

In fact, these actors only know that the script of "No One" has been released, but they have no idea what the story is about.

"... That's it. We'll go in for the set design and test shoot of Along the River During the Qingming Festival around April 4th, and start filming in early May." Li Qiutang and the heads of each group finally agreed on a specific time to go in and start filming. "You guys do the rest of the scheduling. When you're done, show it to me."

Li Qiutang stood up to leave, but was stopped by the production team: "We have to quickly schedule the actors, otherwise it will be difficult for us to schedule."

"I know." "You've seen so many, but you're not satisfied with any of them? There are only four main actors."

"Let's wait and see," Li Qiutang was also in a dilemma, "It's mainly because it's hard to determine if he's blind. I want to find a professional action actor."

"Didn't we meet Yu Bo yesterday? How's he? He must be very skilled in martial arts and very popular."

Li Qiutang smiled and said, "He is so handsome."

The producer also laughed: "Isn't it good to be handsome?"

Li Qiutang waved her hand: "I'll take a look and I'll give you the list before the end of the year."

Li Qiutang had just walked out of the conference room when her assistant called her back, "Director, someone's looking for you."

"Who again?" Li Qiutang has been a little stressed these days. When she heard someone looking for her, she thought it was someone who came to audition. "I'm leaving soon." Li Qiutang was already packing up.

"Liu Yifei is here." The assistant told him, "She's sitting over there." He pointed and saw that Liu Yifei was indeed not far away, staring at the whiteboard looking at the information about "No One in Despair", holding a prop sword in her hand.

"What is she here for?" Li Qiutang was puzzled. She and Li Qiutang were just classmates and they didn't have a very deep friendship, so she definitely didn't come here just to see her.

Talking about roles too? No way, would her mother be interested in her small crew? Doesn't she have to be the female lead?
But Li Qiutang still received Liu Yifei. She came alone, without even her assistant agent, and her driver was waiting in the parking lot.

"Why are you here?" Li Qiutang put on her bag, put on her hat, and was about to go out. She said to her assistant, "You just stay here and watch. I can go alone. Call me if anything happens." Then she went out.

Liu Yifei followed behind him and did not answer the previous question. Instead, she asked him, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the workshop to check out the props. The hero's weapons need to be customized." Li Qiutang walked towards the parking lot, and Liu Yifei followed behind. "Why are you here? Aren't you busy?"

"I'm not busy recently, haha." The actual situation is that she has not joined the crew since the filming of The Return of the Condor Heroes was completed. She trained in Japan for a year, and there seemed to be no movement after releasing an album. Liu Yifei's attempt to venture into the music scene was considered a failure. "Bought a car?!" Liu Yifei's eyes lit up when she looked at the Land Rover in front of her. She also liked this kind of big car.

"Well, I used to take a taxi, but now that my work is on track, it's inconvenient to take a taxi." Li Qiutang said, "Get in the car."

Liu Yifei opened the back door, and Li Qiutang said, "Sit in the front. I'm your driver, so you sit in the back." Liu Yifei smiled awkwardly, opened the passenger door and got in. Li Qiutang sat back in the driver's seat, started the car, and took Liu Yifei to the prop workshop.

Through the rearview mirror, Li Qiutang saw the GMC RV that Liu Yifei often rode in following behind him.

Liu Yifei sat in the car and said with a smile: "I didn't expect you to be quite rich."

Li Qiutang laughed dryly: "Comet made some money." The car was bought with Li Qiutang's savings, and Comet has not yet paid the bill.

"How's your current movie going?" Liu Yifei must have sensed that their relationship was not close enough to talk about money.

"We have the script and we are looking for actors now."

"Really? Is there any role I can play?" Liu Yifei joked.

"I only have two actresses, one is a singing girl, and the other is a young widow whose whole family was killed just after getting married. Which one can you play?" There is a scare element in it, but it's not nonsense.

Liu Yifei immediately felt that this classmate's words were very boring...

(End of this chapter)