Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 62 Another Award
The first role that the crew of "Famous" decided on was the least noticeable Nightingale, but it was finally given to newcomer Zhao Liying.

Neither she nor He Ru had ever dreamed of Su Mengdie. Is that something she could achieve now?
On the day she came for the audition, Li Qiutang had an urgent matter, so she went south to Pengcheng. The assistant director and the producer met her together.

When Li Qiutang came back, the assistant director told Yeying that they were planning to cast Zhao Liying. Li Qiutang watched Zhao Liying's audition video and saw no problem with it, so they started filming.

This role doesn't really require much acting skills, as long as the actor has a good image. There are only a few minutes of scenes in total, so it's just used to fill in newcomers.

In fact, Zhao Liying is not the only newcomer trying out for the role of Nightingale in Huayi. Zhao Liying's strongest rival is He Zhuoyan, a new actress strongly promoted by Huayi and Big Beard.

But in the end, the crew still chose Zhao Liying. There was no other choice but to be obedient.

The opinions of Huayi’s top management eventually affected the crew. Although the Wang brothers did not speak out, the crew of "Famous" could no longer use Fan Bingbing.

Fan Bingbing had no complaints about this. He had tried his best, and there was nothing he could do if he couldn't get it.

She will not have to worry about film contracts in the next two years.

In fact, Li Qiutang has his own favorite candidate for Su Mengdie - Sister Chen Hong.

She is also a peerless beauty who has amazed people all over the country. She must look good in cheongsam.

After getting married, she retreated behind the scenes and became a producer for her husband, a famous director. But to be honest, she was not a very good producer. If Director Kaige should be blamed for the content creation of "The Promise", then Chen Hong should be held primarily responsible for the loose management of the crew. Rumor has it that Chen Hong was reluctant to spend money and did not give the special effects company enough time, which led to the failure of "The Promise" in terms of visual effects.

Chen Hong has reduced her production in recent years, but it seems that she has not said that she will stop acting, so Li Qiutang still tried to contact her.

I thought that Director Kai Ge is also a well-known director in the Beijing circle, and Chen Hong should consider Huayi's play.

After reading the script, Chen Hong personally called Li Qiutang, politely said that the script was very good, and then rejected the invitation of "Famous".

It wasn't because of anything else. "Mei Lanfang" was still being filmed, and as the lead actress and producer, she didn't have the energy to take on other roles.

Afterwards, an old-timer in the film industry told Li Qiutang that regardless of whether Chen Hong had time or not, Huayi generally would not look for Chen Kaige in its plays. Although they were both so-called Beijing filmmakers, Chen Kaige and Huayi could not get along.

The Beijing circle is actually divided into circles and factions!

To play the role of Su Mengdie, Li Qiutang wanted to find an actress who was around 40 years old and mature in all aspects.

After Chen Hong refused, Li Qiutang turned her attention to Yu Feihong, but hit a wall again. Teacher Yu was tortured to death by her movie "Ginkgo! Ginkgo!". It was said that he had sold his house, but the movie had not been completed yet.

There is no time to shoot "Fame and Fame".

However, the selection of other actors progressed very well. Either others found the crew through Huayi's relationship, or the crew used Huayi's relationship to find actors, and they actually confirmed a few.

Huayi gave the role of investor Lu Ziye to Yingda. Li Qiutang had no objection to this. After putting on makeup, Yingda did look a bit like a boss and his acting skills were also very good.

The bad movie director Zheng Qianli was taken over by Liu Yiwei, and Li Qiutang also nodded.

Neither of them is an actor of Huayi, but both have close ties with Huayi.

During this period, Li Qiutang, Huang Xiaoming and Deng Chao, two important candidates for Li Jiahui, met twice to discuss roles, but nothing was decided.

He was very skeptical about whether Huang Xiaoming could act in a comedy. Deng Chao did want to act in a comedy, but he really did not agree with Deng Chao's comedy style and was still undecided.

However, the out-of-date actor Guan Jingnian has his own candidate.

"Hello, Mr. Zhang," Li Qiutang called Zhang Songwen, "Are you busy recently?"

"I'm filming now, and it's almost finished." Zhang Songwen is very sensitive. If the director wants to meet you, there's a high probability that he wants to act with you, so he quickly said that he was almost finished.

Zhang Songwen is playing a villain in the TV series "The Second Side" directed by Guan Hu.

"When will you return to Yanjing? I have a role here, come and try it." Li Qiutang didn't hesitate at all.

Zhang Songwen is not picky about roles now, he will go if someone invites him, and he quickly agreed: "I will be back from wrapping up next week, I will come to find you then."

However, Li Qiutang still told him about the role of Guan Jingnian over the phone, a comedy, silent film emperor who became unemployed after the advent of the sound era because he could not speak Mandarin well. Now that he is old, he has no movies to shoot and relies on playing mahjong with rich women to earn some pocket money.

Zhang Songwen accepted the offer without hesitation: "Okay, I'll take the role. We'll talk when I get back to Yanjing." He doesn't have an agent now and has to do everything on his own.

Li Qiutang chose Zhang Songwen because, firstly, he has a very high cost-effectiveness ratio. His acting skills are not that good, but they are enough. The key is that he is cheap. If a movie script is looking for him, basically just pay him a lot of money. Secondly, he has the characteristics of the role that Jingnian needs. He is a lonely actor, and he doesn't even need to act. And although he has practiced Mandarin hard, you can still hear a relatively obvious old Cantonese accent when he speaks, which is very suitable for the role requirements.

With some makeup, it's no problem to play Guan Jingnian.

After deciding on Zhang Songwen, Li Qiutang immediately told Chen Guofu that there was no need to look for Guan Jingnian as he had already decided on the actor.

Chen Guofu didn't ask much, Xu Huayi put people in "Famous", but the director was not allowed to put his own people? He also wanted to put Hong Kong and Taiwan artists.

What’s more, he is just Guan Jingnian.

…………

On the evening of the 26th, Li Qiutang and Jiang Wei walked on the red carpet of the Huabiao Awards Ceremony on behalf of the crew of "The Night the Comet Came".

This year marks the first time that the Huabiao Awards have been adjusted to a biennial award ceremony.

"The Night the Comet Came" was nominated for two awards: Outstanding New Director and Outstanding New Screenwriter.

The Huabiao Award is not very prestigious in the industry, but as a government award, Li Qiutang still has to give it face. Moreover, the industry is still very enthusiastic about the award, and the scene was star-studded and lively.

As a new director, Li Qiutang did not expect to have screaming fans on the red carpet, as most people did not know him.

But reporters paid close attention to him, hanging around him on the red carpet to ask questions.

"I'm very happy to be shortlisted. Whether I win the award or not will be decided by the judges." Li Qiutang said some nonsense.

"'Crazy Stone' was nominated for three awards, but 'Comet' was only nominated for two. Why do you think this is?"

In addition to being nominated for Outstanding New Director along with Comet, Stone was also nominated for Outstanding Digital Film and Outstanding Film Technology.

But people in the know naturally know that "Comet" was still shot using a film camera, so how could it possibly be nominated for the Digital Film Award? The reporter asked this question, obviously to guide Li Qiutang to compare the two films.

Last year, two stars emerged in the Chinese film industry. Li Ning and Li Qiutang have been compared by the media. Li Qiutang defeated Ning Hao at the College Student Film Festival, and this year's Huabiao Award for Newcomer is also considered to be another showdown between the two.

Li Qiutang was not fooled and said, "You should ask the judges. I really don't know the requirements for being shortlisted."

"Then do you have the confidence to defeat Ning Hao again?"

"Of course I want to win an award, but it still depends on how the judges judge. Don't stir up trouble, and don't talk about who wins and who doesn't. They are all very good movies."

Entering the venue, as luck would have it, the crew of Nanjing! Nanjing! was sitting in front of Li Qiutang. The film was about to start shooting, and the crew came to the Huabiao Awards to show their faces.

Qin Lan also apologized to Li Qiutang, saying that she was too busy to walk the red carpet with "Comet", but Li Qiutang didn't care.

Tonight's party was full of double yolk eggs. Li Qiutang felt very uncomfortable watching from below. This is not how you play.

Jiang Wei noticed the student's strangeness and said with a smile, "You'll get used to it."

Alec Su and Gao Yuanyuan opened the awards for Outstanding New Director, Screenwriter, Actor and Actress. Gao Yuanyuan spoke first:

"The winners of the Outstanding Newcomer Award are screenwriter Mei Zi and director Li Qiutang."

Then handed it over to Alec Su: "Outstanding new actor Qiu Lin, actress Fan Zhibo."

Live broadcast: "Please invite the winners to come on stage to receive the awards."

Li Qiutang straightened her clothes and went on stage to receive the award.

Li Qiutang received the award certificate and trophy. He thought he would give a speech next and was about to go to the podium, but Gao Yuanyuan stopped him and whispered to him, "There are too many winners. We can't interview them anymore."

Li Qiutang smiled awkwardly, only to hear the on-site announcer say: "Thank you for presenting the awards. The next award is for Outstanding Screenwriter."

Li Qiutang then walked off the stage with the award presenters and award-winning colleagues.

(End of this chapter)