Against the Current Hong Kong 1979

Chapter 103 "Shanghai Bund" is about to unleash its power (3rd update, please subscribe)

Wang Min's role as Quan is not large; it's basically just this one scene.

Filming continued until Valentine's Day, February 14th, when the crew took a five-day break and returned to work on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.

Zhang Shuai'an himself did not take a holiday, and was still in the office preparing how to film the subsequent scenes.

Filming began on January 8th and has been going on for over a month now, with two-thirds of the scenes already filmed.

The remaining scenes can be filmed in about twenty more days after the holiday.

With post-production and editing, this movie is just in time for the summer blockbuster season.

However, Zhang Shuai'an had a new idea for a few scenes, but changing the script now might increase costs, so he hesitated.

As dusk approached, he was still in his office deliberating whether or not to add these scenes.

Just then, Chen Xunqi knocked on his office door: "A'an, don't you have a girlfriend? Why didn't you take her out for Valentine's Day?"

Zhang Shuai'an said with a smile, "We have plenty of time to get to know each other. The important thing now is to make this movie a success."

"With such diligence, you truly deserve to succeed."

Chen Xunqi gave a thumbs up and casually asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"There really is."

Unexpectedly, Zhang Shuai'an seized the opportunity and took his casual remark seriously: "I have an idea that I need your help to consider."

"Tell me about it." Chen Xunqi sat down opposite him.

"About the role played by Rosamund Kwan."

Zhang Shuai'an knew that Chen Xunqi was a talented person, so he immediately said without reservation: "The scenes I designed for her before were a bit bland. It was nothing more than singing, dancing, wandering around the streets, and causing trouble—there were details, but it wasn't exciting enough."

"I thought of some other jokes to add the other day, like racing. Wouldn't that fit the rich heiress character better?"

"But this would significantly increase the cost."

"The two million on the books is almost gone. Fortunately, I managed to get another 500,000 from the sales office. Otherwise, I would have had to ask Golden Harvest for money for the rest of the filming."

'

After listening to Zhang Shuai'an's explanation, Chen Xunqi thought about it seriously for a while, and then said to him, "I know, this is your first time writing, directing and acting in a play, and it is also the company's first play. I understand that you want to do something like this to kick things off."

"But when making a film, you have to make choices. If you try to cram all the good stuff in, the audience's brains will explode."

Chen Xunqi gently advised, "Why do many comedy films have a lot of jokes that have nothing to do with each other, and even the plot doesn't seem very tight? It's not because they can't come up with them, but because they need to leave some space for the audience to breathe."

19

"A movie is about ninety minutes long, and there are already seven main female characters here. If each of them speaks for ten minutes, that's already seventy minutes."

"You wouldn't want to stretch a movie to over a hundred minutes, would you? That's unrealistic for cinemas these days."

"7

After hearing Chen Xunqi's advice, Zhang Shuai'an finally realized where the problem lay.

Zhang Shuai'an was a time traveler and was used to watching movies that were often two or even three hours long.

When writing a script, I habitually want to write it as long as possible. I initially used the movie "Love Transfer" as a basis and incorporated the structure of "Chasing Girls" into it.

"Love Transfer" is 120 minutes long, while "Chasing Girls" is only 93 minutes long.

No wonder he always felt something was off; it turned out to be because too much dry content was crammed into the movie.

"Actually, I was thinking about this issue when I was reading the script."

Seeing Zhang Shuai'an's expression, Chen Xunqi smiled and said, "However, sometimes it's not a bad thing for a movie to be filmed for a long time. When editing in post-production, there is more material, so you can be more relaxed and at ease."

He offered some words of comfort: "Like the movies with Big Nose, sometimes the footage from one movie is enough to make three or four movies."

Zhang Shuai'an humbly accepted the advice: "Thank you for your guidance, Brother Qi. I know what to do now. We do need to make choices about the materials. We can save the extra ideas for future films."

In the original version of "Chasing Girls", there is a small climax where they play a bowling competition to win the attention of the goddess.

Although Zhang Shuai'an also wrote this scene, he now feels it's not exciting enough and wants to change it to underground racing or motorcycle racing.

Here he could also create a memorable scene: having Rosamund Kwan wear a white wedding dress while he rides his motorcycle with her on it, speeding through the streets at night.

That's right, it's just copying a famous scene from "A Moment of Romance" in advance.

(Andy Lau and Wu Chien-lien in the 1990 film "A Moment of Romance")

However, after Chen Xunqi reminded him, he also felt that there was no need to add this scene, because it did not fit the comedic tone of the whole film.

Or we can just find an opportunity later and film "A Moment of Romance" directly.

At present, the plot of "Chasing Girls" is already rich and compact enough, and there is absolutely no need to add any extra complications. If the subsequent plot is filmed step by step, the movie will be successfully completed.

Chen Xunqi snapped his fingers: "Feeling better now? Let's go out and have some fun."

"Where should we go?" Zhang Shuai'an asked.

Chen Xunqi said with a smile, "Of course it's the Ocean Palace, there are lots of beautiful women there."

"Forget it, I'll just go home and sleep."

Zhang Shuai'an waved his hand.

It wasn't that he didn't want to go out, but it was Valentine's Day, and he was sure that Cherie Chung would come to see him tonight.

Back to the residence.

He Jiatong was indeed not there. He had been learning how to be a production assistant from Ling Zhijian recently, and had also been taken out to have fun. How could he possibly stay peacefully in his room during the holidays?

Zhang Shuai'an turned on the TV, and TVB was broadcasting the finale of "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang".

Because of his appearance, the filming of "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang" was delayed for a while, and naturally it ended a little later.

So it seems that "Shanghai Bund" should be the successor to Chu Liuxiang. Right now, the three most popular actors in Hong Kong TV dramas are Zhang Shuai'an, Zheng Shaoqiu, and Zhao Yazhi.

When "Shanghai Bund" airs, Zhang Shuai'an and Zhao Yazhi's fame will rise even higher, and Zheng Shaoqiu will probably have to temporarily avoid their limelight.

Shortly after "Shanghai Bund" finished airing, his film "Chasing Girls" was about to be released.

Riding on the success of "Shanghai Bund", "Chasing Girls" will definitely have a much higher box office than the original. Breaking ten million is not difficult, and it may even surpass Jackie Chan's "Young Master".

Jackie Chan's movies were very dominant in the 1980s, but he failed to win the box office championship a few times, precisely because he lost to Cinema City's comedies.

Zhang Shuai'an was lost in thought when he fell asleep on the sofa.

In a daze, I suddenly felt my body fall into a sticky and wet place, and even my hip bones were a little sore from the shock.

He slightly opened his eyes and was startled to see a glossy millstone, raised high and then falling heavily.

A notification suddenly rang in his mind, leaving him utterly astonished.

"Congratulations, host, you have obtained the achievement [The Blessing of Having Multiple Wives]."

"【The Blessing of Having Many Beloved Women】: When wearing this achievement, there is a 22% chance to receive this reward again!"

Zhang Shuai'an: "Hmm?"