Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 43 I have the final say in my crew!

Huayi couldn't quite accept Zhao Wenzhuo as the leading male actor.

Although the cost of "No One in View" is not high, the sales potential of martial arts films is relatively clear. Cheng Xiazi is the absolute core and selling point of the whole play. Even if there is no actor in Huayi who can play this role, Huayi can just use it as a favor or a deal. It is definitely better than just giving it to Zhao Wenzhuo.

But Li Qiutang said: "If you can find Li Lianjie, I will replace Brother Zhuo."

Li Qiutang knew that Huayi wanted to use people from Hong Kong or Taiwan to play the blind man. This is the way it is in the film industry now. It is generally believed that mainlanders cannot sell tickets if they play the leading role, so the male lead must be from Hong Kong or Taiwan, and it doesn't matter if the vase female lead and the male and female supporting roles are played by mainlanders.

Including his martial arts team also wanted to use people from Hong Kong and Taiwan - the two martial arts directors of "No One" are both from Hong Kong, so it is understandable that they want to use their own people.

But Li Qiutang couldn't tolerate this bad habit at all.

"How many middle-aged male actors from Hong Kong and Taiwan can fight?"

Zhen Zidan’s ancient costume looks are terrible, and he goes for the fashion action style, so he is not suitable for ancient costume martial arts.

Zou Zhaolong and Fan Shaohuang are not destined to be the protagonists. They want to play Li Qiutang but they don’t want it.

Who is left? Nicholas Tse? He has a heavy idol burden, not to mention his acting skills, Li Qiutang can't afford his salary.

But sometimes, movie casting is not about choosing the most suitable one, but about choosing the one that all parties can compromise with.

Anyway, as a director, Li Qiutang strongly supports Zhao Wenzhuo. Huayi doesn't say who is better, but they don't want to use Zhao Wenzhuo.

It is worth noting that the debate over the candidate for Cheng Xiazi only remained at the level of the crew and Huayi’s relevant business executives, and the Wang brothers at the top level never spoke out.

The meaning is very clear. If Li Qiutang can't handle such a small matter, how can we believe that you have the ability to lead the entire crew?
The Wang brothers only want results.

This also led to the situation where Zhao Wenzhuo received Li Qiutang's promise early on but was unable to sign the contract. Faced with such a good opportunity, Zhao Wenzhuo was also actively doing public relations with relevant executives of Huayi.

Li Qiutang slammed the table at a Huayi manager and said, "Okay, we won't use Zhao Wenzhuo, then who do you think we should use?

"You can't just oppose my plan without giving your candidate." Li Qiutang is not so easy to talk to at work.

"As long as it's not Zhao Wenzhuo, anyone can do it. Isn't this just hooliganism?"

"I'm not saying that Zhao Wenzhuo is the only choice. Then give me someone else. The crew only has so much money to pay the actors. Huang Xiaoming's agent is asking for an exorbitant price and we haven't been able to negotiate for several days. The salary that can be given to Cheng Xiazi is even less."

When Huang Xiaoming's agent Zhou Siwei was negotiating the contract, he asked for 300 million yuan and attached various conditions. His reasoning was that Xiaoming was very popular and it was his first time playing a villain, so he should get more.

Of course the producer who was negotiating the contract disagreed. Why should Huang Xiaoming earn 300 million in the current film industry?
Huang Xiaoming is already an actor of Huayi, so the price shouldn't be quoted like this.

But Huang Xiaoming signed with Huayi, but Zhou Siwei did not. He is not a Huayi employee, and the contract for "No One in My Eyes" was handled by Zhou Siwei. In other words, the film was brought to Huang Xiaoming by his agent.

The pay is low and the agent's share is small, so why should he help Huayi save money?
Judging from the three actors confirmed so far, even if Huang Xiaoming's pay is lowered, he is still the most expensive, because he is indeed more popular than Zhao Wenzhuo and Huo Siyan. He will be the one to take the lead in publicity when the time comes, and he is also counting on the Ming Cult believers to buy tickets.

Li Qiutang asked Zhao Wenzhuo to train slowly on his own, and he would not compromise on the selection of Cheng Xiazi. Zhao Wenzhuo said that as long as he could get the opportunity to play Cheng Xiazi, he was willing to reduce part of his pay.

Li Qiutang's answer to Cheng Xiazi was simple: "You said you don't want Zhao Wenzhuo, so you recommend someone whose overall performance is better than Zhao Wenzhuo, and I'll listen to you."

There are only a few action actors born and raised in mainland China, and Zhao Wenzhuo is almost the best solution: there are almost no ones who can fight better than him; those who can act better than him are not as famous as him; "Storm Warriors 2" and "Seven Swordsmen" are both the most popular dramas of the year; those who are famous are not as good at fighting as him; and people are willing to charge less, so why not use such an action actor.

Li Qiutang almost slammed the table and said, "This is my crew, I have the final say." Li Qiutang was so greedy that he dragged the matter out until the end to see whether Wang Zhonglei would scold him as the director or scold them as a group of employees.

The crew has set a strict timetable, and all four main actors must be confirmed before the end of the year, and relevant action training must be arranged. The date of entering the film and television studio at the end of April and starting filming in early May cannot be changed.

Let it go. Anyway, Zhao Wenzhuo is already trying to act like a blind person at home. Without Li Qiutang's nod, who would dare to become a blind person?
But Zhao Wenzhuo's agent would be worried until the contract was signed. He would come to ask every two or three days if the contract could be signed first. He also said that there was no rush to get the advance payment and it could be paid after he joined the crew.

Look how anxious he is.

Li Qiutang was not in a hurry and sat back and watched, even going to Yuyuantan Park for winter swimming for two consecutive days over the weekend.

"Director, will we have a holiday for the New Year this year?" Li Qiutang's assistant came to ask about the holiday arrangements.

The preparatory group was organized by Huayi, but they are not Huayi’s employees. How Huayi Company takes holidays has nothing to do with them. Without the approval of director Li Qiutang, they can’t leave.

Of course, if Huayi’s producer wanted to bypass Li Qiutang and give the preparatory group a holiday, he would be competing for power with Li Qiutang.

Conflicts between investors and directors exist in many film crews.

At present, Huayi still respects Li Qiutang.

Li Qiutang put on the face of a vicious capitalist: "Until the actors are decided, no one can leave. You just stay in Yanjing."

This news spread throughout the crew through the assistant's mouth. Although the crew often has no holidays, Li Qiutang's meaning was very clear: they can only take holidays if the actors are confirmed. If the actors are not confirmed, they have to go to work obediently.

Who wants to go to work when there is a holiday?

If Zhao Wenzhuo is included, three of the four leading roles have been confirmed, leaving only Qin Niang. This role has no less lines than Ni Yan's. Many actresses have ideas, and Huayi has turned down several, but Li Qiutang was not satisfied with any of them.

Li Qiutang's requirement for Qin Niang is just one word - beautiful!

She is a singer from Luoyang. She is bound to make people's eyes light up and unable to take their eyes away after just one look.

In fact, some people guessed who Li Qiutang wanted, but the other party didn't seem to realize it.

However, in the last two days of the month, she finally couldn't help it and came to my house.

Fan Bingbing!
Although she has left Huayi, her friendships and connections remain, so it is easy for her to get information about "Arrogant".

Her film resources are also very limited. She is destined to be a vase and a supporting role, and her resources are mainly in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

She had known about the play "No One in My Eyes" for a long time. Although the investment was small - no one cares about the investment amount now, as long as there is good acting - the director has received much attention from both inside and outside the circle, so it will definitely be exposed when it is released.

She didn't like the female lead Ni Yan, thinking that the role didn't allow much room for her to develop her talents, and she was interested in the role of Qin Niang.

It’s a supporting role, but the character is more fully fleshed out and more worth playing.

Fan Bingbing chatted with three people from the temporary casting team for more than half an hour, signed the contract on the spot, took the script and left.

(End of this chapter)