Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 182 The Troubles of Happiness

Tian Qiwen also held a stack of audition materials in his hands. In addition to the roughly finalized list of actors from Hong Kong, some supporting roles would also be selected in the near future.

Even some minor supporting characters with faces but no words, like the Axe Gang members, were fought over.

The King of Comedy still has a strong appeal in this era.

If it weren't for Stephen Chow's "Shaolin Soccer" winning the box office championship two years ago, the top ten films in Hong Kong film history from 1998 to 2001 would have been wiped out, and none of them would have been Hong Kong films.

It is not an exaggeration to call him the fig leaf of Hong Kong film industry in recent years.

"Director, you're looking for me."

Zhou Xingchi called him Tianji out of affection, but when working he always only called him director, which showed the caution of a person who does things.

"Let's see how this little girl performs." Zhou Xingchi turned the computer to his old partner.

The screen showed the breakup scene from "The Drummer" and the scene where the character instantly transformed into a snake demon from "Chinese Paladin".

Tian Qiwen praised: "Compared to her age, her basic skills are very good. She must have worked hard on them."

"Let her play the role of Fang'er." Zhou Xingchi's voice was as flat as ever, and the dialogue was terribly concise.

Tian Qiwen sat blankly in front of the computer, turned his head and looked at him in confusion, not understanding what this imaginative comedy genius was thinking.

A few days ago, I was very satisfied with the young girl in "Green Apple Paradise", but in the blink of an eye, the candidate changed.

"That was her mom sitting outside the door, right? Contact her and sign her up to Xinghui."

"Good director."

Tian Qiwen was about to leave when he turned back and asked casually, "Director, what about Huang Shengyi?"

"Let's talk about it later. Let's see what's going on with Concubine Liu Yi first."

Tian Qiwen said yes and left. When he returned to his room, he immediately called: "Hello, Madam Huang."

"Look, I just got a notice from the director that the role of Xiao Huang can't be finalized yet, and there may be some twists and turns."

"I know, I know. Don't worry. We all know Professor Wu's reputation. But Director Zhou usually doesn't pay attention to these things. The show is more important than the person!"

"Well, I understand how you feel. You all want your children to thrive. So, let me give you a suggestion. It's up to you whether you listen to it or not."

"Hurry up and contact Director Zhou to sign a contract with Xinghui. I won't say anything else. The sooner the better!"

Tian Qiwen stopped talking to the middle-aged woman on the other end and hung up the phone.

Huang Shengyi is a good candidate, but in a society where relationships are important, it is inevitable to build connections.

Her cousin Wu Jinglian has some connections with several Hong Kong scholars and TVB executives because of his achievements in economics. Xiao Huang's previous selection was more or less due to this reason.

He then thought of Liu Yifei who was auditioning today. It was said that she had a close relationship with Lu Kuan, the mainland director who had just detonated the "atomic bomb" yesterday.

With such resources, why did they come to audition for "Kung Fu"? It is obvious that these two directors will not let actors overlap with other actors.

It's just that he knows his boss's best partner too well. Once he makes a decision, no one can change it, and no one can provide him with any substantial advice.

Unless Zhou Xingchi changes his mind himself.

The previous investor Columbia wanted to give the mute girl Fang Er more roles in "Kung Fu Hustle". This was based on the idea of ​​Hollywood filmmakers. They wanted to add some oriental Kung Fu elements to this female character so that it could be more popular in the North American market.

As a result, Zhou Xingchi flatly refused and would not allow the investors to interfere with his script and filming work, even if it meant breaking up.

He just needs to find new investment, he doesn't care at all.

Out of kindness, Tian Qiwen could only give Huang Shengyi one last piece of advice: sign the contract as soon as possible.

Only in this way can the balance of victory tilt towards her side. No one knows Xingzai better than him.

Even though Zhou Xingchi is his boss and good partner, he is a comedy master famous in both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong.

But whether you love him or hate him, you have to pinch your nose and say that this star is a person who loves money like his life.

Huang Shengyi took the initiative to sign the contract, which means he has the initiative, which can add points to his reputation with Zhou Xingchi.

After all, cultivating a new person who can bring you benefits and then locking in future profits with a long-term contract is the correct code of conduct in the entertainment industry.

Huang Shengyi received a call from her mother on the third floor of the Beijing Film Academy cafeteria, and learned that a mainland actress had also joined the competition, which had caused trouble for the role she was about to get.

"How could it be her?"

The sophomore girl murmured, putting down her phone. She glanced at Jiang Yiyan across the table and asked casually, "Yiyan, is Liu Yifei in the same class as you?"

Jiang Yiyan was a little slow in picking up the food with her chopsticks when she heard the name that could be called her inner demon again.

She said calmly, "Yes, but she hardly ever comes to class."

Jiang Yiyan is one grade lower than Huang Shengyi, but they are the same age. They met at the rehearsal of senior classmate Yao Chen's graduation drama, where they played two supporting roles as waiters.

The two people's hometowns, Shanghai and Shaoxing, are not far from each other, and their eating habits are somewhat similar, so they became familiar with each other after a few visits.

As she spoke, she took out a tissue and wiped her mouth, then took out a small mirror to look at herself. Then she calmly asked, "What's wrong, Shengyi? Why did you suddenly mention her?"

Huang Shengyi looked around quietly and sighed slowly: "Please keep this a secret for me!"

Without waiting for Jiang Yiyan to nod in agreement, she told him everything. Her expression didn't seem like she was telling a secret, but rather she was showing off.

"I auditioned for the female lead in Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle. It was all but confirmed to be me, but my mom just called and said Liu Yifei also auditioned, and now the director might be hesitating..."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yiyan felt bitter inside and regretted asking this question very much. Why did she make her feel the unevenness of life again?

She's already competing for the leading female role in The King of Comedy, but I'm just someone to confide in for gossip.

Thinking of that delicate and pretty girl, she became furious.

Following the principle that a friend's enemy is his enemy, Jiang Yiyan felt a sense of sympathy: "Concubine Yi is going too far! How could she suddenly show up and steal your role?"

"Although I usually have a good relationship with her, this time I stand on your side and compete with her!"

Huang Shengyi sighed softly, "Her drama 'Chinese Paladin' was such a hit, she's also the leading lady in a Lu Kuan Golden Lion Award-winning film, and she has so many fans on her blog, I..."

Jiang Yiyan opened her mouth but couldn't say anything. She heard her admired senior schoolmate expressing her envy for Liu Yifei.

Then what am I?

It's really depressing.

Peking, Huayi headquarters.

"Xiao Lei, 'Kung Fu' is about to start filming, how come you, as a producer, don't pay any attention to it?"

Wang Xiaolei was smoking on the sofa in his elder brother's office, feeling a little depressed. It was obvious that he had not yet recovered from the blow of being questioned.

"I..."

The phone rang. It was the production manager of the crew.

"What? Concubine Liu Yi?"

"okay, I get it."

Wang Xiaolei hung up the phone and stood there in a daze for a long time, completely puzzled.

"what happened?"

"Lao Chang just called me and said that Liu Yifei went to audition for 'Kung Fu' this afternoon."

"So what?"

Wang Xiaolei suddenly looked excited: "Brother, you don't know, before, Mr. Liu set up a scheme to take Cheng Jingfei's shares in Hongxingwu, but for some reason, Liu Yifei was terminated by Lu Kuan, which made him very angry."

"Who is Lu Kuan? Can he do such a thankless task? Considering Concubine Liu Yi's worth, he will definitely sign her into the world of inquiry!"

Wang Dajun followed his brother's train of thought: "You mean, 'Alien Land' and several new films are casting, but she went to audition for 'Kung Fu' alone, is it because..."

"That's right! There must be something wrong between them and Lu Kuan!"

"Maybe... Hehe."

Wang Xiaolei thought of a lewd possibility.

"Brother, what do you say I try to sign her? This girl is ridiculously popular right now. The post-85s are almost beating the post-80s generation to death on the beach."

"Besides, this is the fruit cultivated by Lu Kuan and Wen Jie. Let's go pick it. It's exciting just thinking about it!"

Wang Xiaolei had been hit hard before, and he became excited when he had the chance to take advantage.

Wang Dajun warned him: "Don't forget what you said. How do you know this is not a trap?"

"this..."

"But it wouldn't hurt for you to give it a try and see what the mother and daughter have to say."

Wang Xiaolei pondered for a while. With the limited information at hand, he really couldn't figure out the ins and outs of the matter.

Lao Chang informed him that Zhou Xingchi was preparing to sign Liu Yifei and had asked Tian Qiwen to notify him, so he had to do it as soon as possible.

Otherwise, if Liu Yifei really went to Zhou Xingchi's Xinghui, all my credit would be gone, and how could I trick them into coming to Huayi?

"Okay, I'll call Liu Xiaoli now."

Liu Yifei and her daughter have just settled into their villa in Changping.

Yang Siwei was studying the script of "Foreign Land" and the character biography written by Liu Yifei herself. Liu Yifei changed into a training suit and warmed up in the dance studio.

"Sissi, this character has a lot of action scenes. I feel like you have the upper hand!"

Liu Yifei started with Grotowski's cat pose, stretching her entire body and completely relaxing.

Stand with your legs apart and your arms at right angles to your body, palms facing the floor.

Then he did a "cat waking up" move: he pulled his hands toward his chest, elbows pointing upward, palms on the floor as support points, and his hips raised.

At the same time, "walk" your legs toward your hands on tiptoe, while lifting and straightening your head.

The whole movement is quite difficult, but Liu Yifei, who has been doing morning exercises for almost two years, is very familiar with it.

Yang Siwei looked at the little girl's slightly curvy figure with envy, and looked down at her bulging belly.

This is not the whiteness, youthfulness and thinness that domestic female stars blindly pursue, but the sunshine and health displayed by long-term exercise.

After warming up with the format training method, she pulled out an elastic band and started doing pull-ups.

"Hold still! I'll take some pictures for the blog!"

The agent is very dedicated and does not forget to do business while accompanying the artist in exercise.

She was very satisfied with plugging the data cable into her digital camera, which was the EOS 300D released by Canon this year.

Liu Yifei and Lu Kuan bought it in Park City when they went to Sundance together at the beginning of the year for $899.

"what!"

Yang Siwei suddenly screamed!

"What happened?"

Hearing the noise, Liu Yifei hurried out of the practice room and looked at her agent in front of the computer in confusion.

"This photo! Who posted this photo!?"

Concubine Liu Yi leaned over and said, "I sent it myself!"

"Liu Yifei! You are going to piss me off to death!"

The little girl looked at Taylor Swift in a daze: "What's wrong with me?"

Yang Siwei felt sorry for her misfortune and was angry at her lack of resistance: "What else is wrong? Have you ever seen a female celebrity post an ugly photo of herself? At least put on some makeup and comb your hair!"

Liu Yifei felt aggrieved: "Didn't you say that Lu Kuan said that female celebrities also have to be down-to-earth? Why doesn't mine count?"

"I told you to be down-to-earth, not to be rustic!"

"Look at the comments below. How many of them are calling you a country girl?"

Concubine Liu Yi wiped the sweat off her face and smiled nonchalantly: "I'm just a country girl. It's too tiring to carry it every day. I can't do that."

Yang Siwei looked at the 3000+ comments and replies under the blog. He didn’t know how many people had downloaded the photos, and it was too late to delete them now.

She suddenly regretted it.

Boss Lu threw himself over here. Is he punishing himself?
You are simply the worst artist I have ever managed!
Although I have only brought you so far!
While everyone was laughing and joking here, Liu Xiaoli, who was still worrying about the auditions for "Kung Fu" and "Foreign Land" in the hall, received a call.

"Hello? Ms. Liu, I'm Wang Xiaolei from Huayi."

"Wang... Mr. Wang, hello, what can I do for you?"

Liu Xiaoli and Wang Xiaolei are acquaintances. The last time they met was when Liu Zeyu and Wang Xiaolei persuaded her to renew Liu Yifei's contract.

She was also promised the female lead role in "Kung Fu".

Another call... Could it be about "Kung Fu"?
Liu Xiaoli is no longer sleepy when this is mentioned!
"Ms. Liu, let me get straight to the point. Does Concubine Liu Yi have a new agency contract now?"

“Not yet. We have set up our own studio.”

Wang Xiaolei was stunned for a moment, then he was overjoyed. As expected, he and Lu Kuan had broken up!
"Look, Ms. Liu, we've discussed the 'Kung Fu' thing before. After your audition today, Director Zhou Xingchi called me to ask for my opinion. After all, I'm the producer."

Wang Xiaolei paused here, giving Liu Xiaoli enough time to figure out what he meant.

"What do you mean, Mr. Wang? Huayi wants to sign Xixi as an artist, right?"

"That's right! It's still easier to talk to Ms. Liu!"

It’s not that Liu Xiaoli is smart, it’s that everyone from Liu Zeyu, Lu Kuan to Wang Xiaolei are doing the same thing!

Use a film contract to seduce her into "selling her daughter"!
If it were Liu Xiaoli in later generations, she would probably be overjoyed facing such a situation.

But now she has Lu Kuan and Wen Jie, as well as the movie "Foreign Land" as references, and Yang Siwei, her agent whom she highly respects.

Liu Xiaoli decided to take it easy.

"Boss Wang, give me a few days to think about it."

"Okay, but you have to hurry. Director Zhou will finalize the female lead in the next few days, and he really likes that little Huang from Beijing Film Academy. Only I can make him change his mind!"

Liu Xiaoli inexplicably felt that Wang Xiaolei was bragging, because she had also seen Zhou Xingchi's weird behavior today, and he didn't seem like someone who could be influenced.

She thought about it and went to her daughter's room with her cell phone.

"Xixi, Siwei, I want to discuss something with you."

The two turned around and listened to her story calmly.

Concubine Liu Yi said without hesitation: "Impossible, reject him!"

Yang Siwei also nodded: "Auntie, Hua Yi is now Lu Kuan's sworn enemy. Although our relationship with Wen Jie is very delicate now, it is better not to offend him."

There was one thing she was too embarrassed to say: This is not a good person!

Just look at how miserable Xu Xiyuan is now!
He framed a famous director, then confessed his crime in person, was criticized by his former employer and the "Father of Variety Shows" in Taiwan, and was blacklisted by Huayi.

There were even rumors that she was taking and abusing psychotropic drugs.

too frightening.

"But we can't just sit around and do nothing, right? We have to find a movie that's a sure thing, right? Xixi is doing so well right now."

Perhaps because her marriage has been in a state of disorder throughout her life, Liu Xiaoli has a very low sense of security.

She always wanted to find a safe haven like a small boat.

It doesn’t matter what happens to her; what she worries about is her daughter’s future.

Liu Yifei raised her eyebrows and was about to refute her, but then she heard Liu Xiaoli's phone ringing.

"Hello? Director Tian, ​​hello, hello, please go ahead."

"What? Really? That's great! Thank Director Zhou for me and Xixi!"

Liu Xiaoli stood up from the sofa excitedly, her ecstasy beyond words.

Yang Siwei and Liu Yifei looked at each other and guessed what the good news was. It really happened!

This was the first time the little girl went to an audition independently. She did not mobilize any social connections and relied solely on herself.

The expression on Liu Xiaoli's face suddenly froze again. After a while, she replied bitterly, "Okay," and hung up the phone.

Yang Siwei was puzzled: "What's wrong, Aunt Liu?"

"One is good news, and the other is neither good nor bad news."

"Zhou Xingchi really approves of you and has decided to let you play the female lead Fang'er."

Concubine Liu Yi nodded, knowing that there was more to come.

"The condition is that you must sign with Xinghui Entertainment! Zhou Xingchi's own company, and it's a 7-year contract."

Yang Siwei instinctively wanted her to refuse, but he felt that he had no right to do so.

If she really told them, she was afraid that Liu Xiaoli would think that she instigated them because she didn't want to lose her job.

After all, this is Stephen Chow’s movie!
Its value in this era is unquestionable, even though the female lead has very few roles.

"Wait a minute, Wang Xiaolei called again."

Liu Xiaoli gestured to them to be quiet and went to the corridor to answer the phone.

When he came back, his face was already gloomy.

"This Huayi is really going too far! No wonder Xiaolu is teaching them a lesson! I'm so pissed off."

"what happened?"

"Wang Xiaolei threatened me that if I didn't agree to sign with Huayi, even if Zhou Xingchi agreed to let Xixi play the female lead, Huayi would still object."

Liu Yifei laughed and said, "It's obvious. He lied to you before. Even without Huayi, Zhou Xingchi had decided to use me."

"I'm just trying to trick you. Don't bother with people like that. They treat others like fools."

Yang Siwei nodded in agreement: "The only thing you need to consider now is whether or not to sign with Xinghui. This is a decision that only you can make."

Liu Xiaoli sighed deeply and sank into the sofa.

What's wrong with this world? Suddenly everyone wants to snatch my daughter away?

This can no longer be called a happy worry. For Liu Xiaoli now, it is nothing more than violent irritability.

　The previous one was reviewed and revised, so let’s go back.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)