Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 133 After you sing, I will appear on stage

Boss Lu woke up in the big house of Bingjiao Palace. He was still dizzy after having a big drink with Liu Cixin and sitting in the car all night yesterday.

The formal renovation of the three courtyard houses began at the end of June.

Prior to this, Xu Kai and his comrades, taking advantage of Boss Lu's financial offensive, severely slapped the faces of more than a dozen co-owners and drove them out of their ancestral homes.

The last time Lu Kuan came with Concubine Liu Yi to inspect the progress, it was already nearing the end, and the renovation of the three houses had been completely completed at the end of October.

There is one advantage to renovating a courtyard house. According to the requirements of various departments, original materials must be used wherever possible.

Wood, bricks, carvings, etc. all have an antique flavor. Nowadays, chemical materials are rarely used, so there is no need to worry about pollution from products such as formaldehyde.

After washing up and going out, Lu Kuan looked at the numerous missed calls on his mobile phone and felt like he had returned to his previous life.

Previously, Wenjie Culture and China Film Group jointly issued an announcement that the film "Shoplifters" was approved, which attracted attention from all parties in the industry.

Wenjie invested 700 million yuan and China Film invested 300 million yuan.

This is still a low-budget movie.

Before the domestic film industry really took off, Lu Kuan remained cautious and made some low-cost films that were later proven to be both critically and commercially successful.

Moreover, this film will be released in theaters after Cannes, when the epidemic is raging in first-tier cities such as Beijing, and the situation is unclear.

This project has certainly attracted the attention of all parties.

Shanghai Film Group, Huayi, Fiber Optic, Star Media...

Even Fatty Yu, who had just made a fortune, made a few tentative calls.

In the first film, Boss Lu could have the whole profit alone, but now it must be difficult. No matter how reluctant he was, he still gave 30% of his shares to China Film.

This is the beginning of the formal cooperation between the two companies.

The other film companies that were rejected were not discouraged, as relationships are built through interaction.

Let's build a good relationship first. If Lu Kuan, a film with a strong temperament and artistic style, can continue to shine, then we will never lack opportunities to make money together in the future.

Being a worker is tiring, and being a boss is also tiring.

Workers only need to take care of their own little piece of land, but bosses have to deal with all kinds of relationships.

Because of the high position and great power, there are more intersections between people and various circles.

There is a saying that sums up this cultural phenomenon of the Chinese people very well:

Chinese people prefer communitarianism over collectivism and individualism because they are born to like to mingle in circles.

Look, a film called "Shoplifters", which has just been registered and approved, has already attracted the attention of various forces and circles.

Sun Wenwen knocked on the door and entered the office: "Mr. Lu, according to your wishes, all the appointments that can be postponed have been postponed, and those that cannot be postponed have been scheduled for today."

Boss Lu quickly signed the documents: "Well, come one by one, and we'll finish them all today."

"Shoplifters" is a group portrait drama, and the main actors are this family of six who are not related by blood.

A little girl about 6 years old, a little boy about 11 years old, a middle-aged couple, a girl about 20 years old, and a grandmother in her sixties.

The husband in the adult couple is still played by Feng Yuanzheng. Such powerful actors are the basic foundation of the film.

Audition invitations for the role of the 20-year-old girl have been sent to Wang Jinhua and Huayi. Although Fan Bingbing has been chosen, an open audition process is still required.

Bingbing is his secret weapon planted in Huayi, so he still has to keep a distance from her on the surface. Recently, he asked A Fei to secretly pick up the gun.

Lu Kuan invited teacher Li Mingqi to play the role of grandma, not for anything else, but because none of the things the old lady made back then were good, she has a clear vision and a clear mind!

The remaining roles of boy, girl and mother are still under consideration.

As for the selection of young actors, the boss has asked the casting director of the crew to lead a team to art schools and schools around Peking to select people. The shortlisted ones will come to the company for auditions today.

The first person to come was not from the film and television industry.

"Director Lu, excuse me for interrupting you!"

A female voice with a strong voice, followed by a skinny half-grown child, whose eyes were rolling around like a monkey.

"Teacher Han, welcome, welcome."

The person who came was Han Hong.

"Director Lu, I'm so sorry. I didn't even ask you to have a meal or anything like that before, but I just came here like this."

Although Lu Kuan has no foundation in various circles, he has always shown a tough image in his previous conflicts with Yinghuang and Zhang Tianshuo.

Now he has become a Golden Lion Award-winning director, so no matter which circle he is from, anyone who comes to ask him for help is always polite.

Things like Liu Bei asking for roles so casually before probably won't happen again.

"It's okay, I know why you're here. Is this the child, Teacher Han?"

Zhang Yishan, who was looking Boss Lu up and down, saw that he was being noticed, and immediately stood up straight, showing a fake smile of a naughty child.

"He's yours..."

"I'm sworn brothers with this kid's father. We've known each other for decades, and he calls me aunt."

Boss Lu understood that Zhang Yishan’s acting skills were not bad, but his roles had been stereotyped after he grew up, and his acting seemed a bit exaggerated.

The little boy in the movie has a lot of scenes, but the performance is not difficult.

It is not difficult to give a good performance with Zhang Yishan's cleverness, but his mischievous character must be straightened out.

"Okay! Teacher Han, take him outside to sit for a while. Several young actors will have a joint audition later."

Han Hong smiled and said nothing more. She was far from having the status and prestige that she would have in the future.

It wasn't until 2009, when she was specially recruited by the military and joined the Air Force Art Troupe as deputy director, earning the rank of senior colonel, that she truly began to hold a certain degree of influence in the circle. The second person to come also surprised Lu Kuan.

Jiang Wenli and her niece Ma Sichun, this is a bit nonsensical.

"Teacher Jiang, the little girl in this movie is no more than 10 years old. Xiao Ma's age..."

Jiang Wenli greeted Lu Kuan through Zhang Yimou and was quite polite at this moment.

"Hey, Director Xiaolu, I just brought my child here to show my face in front of you. If it doesn't work this time, there's always next time!"

Ma Sichun opened his eyes wide and was quite naive, just looking at Lu Kuan curiously. Who would have thought that he would later become a patient with end-stage love brain.

After some pleasantries, Jiang Wenli finally left.

This is the tentacles of the Northwest Circle.

The third person who came was from Beijing, but he was not the same as Wang Shuo's group of people who came from the big courtyard.

"Xiaotong, call someone."

"Hello, Director Brother!"

Boss Lu responded with a smile, saying that the child was quite smart, but his acting skills in the future could only be described as average, and the specific results would depend on the audition results.

The one who brought her here was her mother Li Jun, who is also a drama actor. She introduced them through Feng Yuanzheng and Lu Kuan.

Boss Lu looked at his watch and said, "Teacher Li, take Xiaotong to the conference room. The four children will be auditioning this morning."

"Good director."

The Wenjie Culture Conference Room temporarily served as an audition room for four children today.

In addition to Guan Xiaotong and Zhang Yishan, who had previously introduced themselves to Lu Kuan through various connections, there were also young actors who were painstakingly discovered from all over the country by the casting director of the crew.

After going through layers of selection, Lu Kuan finally made the decision and only two appeared on the scene today.

Yang Yang, born in 1991, is from Shanghai.

Yang Zi, born in 1991, is from Beijing.

They are all young actors who match the characters in the play in terms of appearance, age, etc.

Book lovers who have worked on a play or movie know the three major difficulties in filming.

Children, animals, and stage plays.

The staging of the play was not a big deal, as a director like Zhang Yimou, who even had a great grasp of the Olympic opening ceremony with thousands of people, would naturally not be afraid.

But children, like animals, cannot be guided and taught through normal methods.

Animals are even better off, with dedicated animal trainers to assist them.

Children really can’t be hit or scolded, they can only be coaxed slowly during filming. If a director encounters a child who really has no spirituality, it can make him worried to death!

The girls in "Shoplifters" are young and have fewer roles; the boys are older and have more roles, but as characters in a group drama, they are both crucial.

"Okay, kids, let's start the audition. Don't be nervous. If you need to drink water or go to the bathroom, tell me immediately, okay?"

"it is good!"

"Ok!"

Sun Wenwen acted as Lu Kuan's assistant today. She sat in the back row with the four children's parents and accompanying personnel, watching Lu Kuan audition the four people.

Based on the characteristics of the characters in the play, Boss Lu designed several audition steps and scored them separately.

The first question is poetry recitation, which tests the four children's breath and breathing conditions.

They all generally meet the requirements, but it is obvious that the three children from Beijing speak more fluently.

The second question is to perform the four expressions of joy, anger, sorrow and happiness, which almost takes up all the roles of the young actors in the play.

The most outstanding one should be Guan Xiaotong. Zhang Yishan's performance is too lively and he looks like a little monkey who can't sit still.

The third question was a situational performance. The girl acted out a scene telling a sad story, and the boy followed Lu Kuan to act out stealing things in a supermarket.

It has to be said that children from quyi families are more outstanding. Guan Xiaotong is a few years younger than Yang Zi, but her performance is much more lively and vivid.

The eye contact is particularly outstanding.

The little girl in the movie has had a tragic experience of abuse in her original family. Lacking lines and actions, she really needs this kind of eye play to highlight the character.

The gap between Zhang Yishan and Yang Yang in the other group was even more obvious in this round.

Two hours later, Boss Lu asked Sun Wenwen to give small gifts to the parents of Yang Yang and Yang Zi who were eliminated, and also officially confirmed the roles of the two young actors.

It's really a cycle of one person taking the stage after another, with people greeting each other from all circles. What's even more annoying is the afternoon.

The first person to arrive was the most skilled hairstylist in the entertainment industry and the youngest Golden Horse Award winner.

But after she won the Best Actress award, she turned around and criticized Chen Chong, blaming her for using a nude stand-in to make the public think it was her.

"Hello, Director Lu, I'm Li Xiaolu!"

She came without anyone accompanying her.

Are you kidding me? With her figure, looks, and the fact that she won the Best Actress award when she debuted and now has an average of one TV series per year,

Aren’t you sure about the width of the small road?

Of course, her mother also greeted Tian Zhuangzhuang before coming. The two were old colleagues at the Beijing Film Studio. They saw each other every day and were very familiar with each other.

　There is another one that has been harmonized. I will probably be released from prison tomorrow after I modify it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)