The King of Huayu Science Fiction

Chapter 510 Chen Jingxing is the biggest insurance
The hustle and bustle of "The Walking Dead II" has not yet passed, and May [-]st has arrived.

After "The Ninth District" was shortlisted for the main competition in Cannes last year, DreamWorks missed the May [-]st again. Fans and audiences were somewhat disappointed.

This year's May [-]st stage staged the Three Kingdoms War against Lu Bu.

Three domestic films compete against Hollywood split films.

The love movie "Predecessor 4", the suspenseful crime film "Snowstorm" and the animated film "Wukong's Adventures", and the super British blockbuster "Thunder Rangers".

Since "The Return of the Great Sage", the domestic animation industry has ushered in a round of hot money investment, and "Kung Fu Panda" has reached its peak.

This year is basically the year when the production of various animated films is completed and released.

Especially as the animation trend set off by the box office miracle of "WALL-E" has not receded, "Wukong's Adventures" also wants to get a share of the Wuyi file.

It's just a pity that they were all under the pressure of "Thunder Rangers". The box office of the three domestic films was not satisfactory. During the four-day holiday, except for "Predecessor 4", the other two films did not even exceed [-] million.

The lack of worth-watching films among domestic films has also made this year's May Day schedule somewhat sluggish, and the market is even smaller than last year.

It can be seen that popular schedules still need popular movies to support them.

The disappointment and dissatisfaction of the audience did not affect DreamWorks.

As the biggest winner of the Spring Festival, after the Spring Festival, the second season of "The Walking Dead" dominated the hot topics on social media, so it's time to step back.

By the way, let colleagues take a good look at it. They can eat more meat if they don't let Dreamworks' movies withdraw from the popular schedule.

After May [-]st, "Once Upon a Time on Earth: Prelude" was also completed, and Chen Jingxing started "Interstellar" non-stop.

In the coming period, Chen Jingxing will be quite busy. The gift film "[-]", which is divided into two parts, and the original film "Once Upon a Time on Earth" are already in the queue.

There was no time for him to rest at all.

An empty conference room at DreamWorks.

The starring team and high-level crew of "Interstellar", more than a dozen people sat around the round table.

This is the first script reading.

It was also the first time for several leading actors to get together and meet each other.

There are only five actors in total, Chen Kun who plays the male lead; the first female lead, Yuan Wei who plays the male lead’s teammate; the second female lead, Nini who plays the grown-up daughter of the male lead; "Lei Jiayin; and the father of the first heroine, the person in charge of CNSA's project to find a livable planet, Wang Jinsong.

The old professor who deceived everyone in "Interstellar" doesn't have many roles, but it is quite important, and the performance is also difficult. He can be regarded as the big boss of the whole movie. Chen Jingxing still attaches great importance to the casting of this role.

Originally, his No. 1 choice was for Mr. Du Yulu Du, who played Zhang Tingyu's character in an old drama more in line with Chen Jingxing's expectations for the role.

But unfortunately, Mr. Du was diagnosed with lung cancer and was being treated, so Chen Jingxing could only regretfully find someone else.

Then I got in touch with several old actors, and finally settled on Wang Jinsong.

This acting school has created quite a few classic roles. Yang Jinshui can compete for the first eunuch in domestic film and television dramas, Lord Yan in "Nirvana in Fire", Wang Puchen in "Peking", and Xun Yu in "Military Master". They are all characters that can make the audience shine.

In addition to the good arc of the character itself, Wang Jinsong's own temperament and acting aura are the biggest contributors.

Some people just standing there is a story.

This is an actor with quite a sense of story. Chen Jingxing originally felt that Wang Jinsong was a little different from the old professor he imagined, but when he was auditioning, Chen Jingxing, who had just returned from the "Matrix III" crew at that time, saw a big difference in front of his eyes. Bright.

Even though he didn't wear old makeup or a wig, Chen Jingxing was moved by his gentle, mellow, but undercurrent and mysterious aura.

It didn't conform to the image of the old professor in his heart, but completely changed his original image.

And this change surprised Chen Jingxing a little.

Looking at the brown-red script in his hand, Wang Jinsong was amazed: "This is the first time I have seen such a script. It feels like I have entered some secret research institution."

As he spoke, he picked up the brown-red script and looked at the words displayed on it against the ceiling light.

This is a special paper that cannot be photographed and copied. The text cannot be photographed at all with a mobile phone lens or camera, and the aluminum protective layer on the paper can scatter or deflect the light of the photocopier, making the copy appear black.

It's part of the script's secrecy measures.

It is common in Hollywood. In China, only DreamWorks has used this method. Of course, it is mainly used in the preparation and shooting of Chen Jingxing's film.

This is also something that can’t be helped, this set is basically completely copied from the secret experience of the Hollywood director.

And anyway, Chen Jingxing didn't keep the name of the movie a secret.

Many famous directors in Hollywood even keep the title of the movie secret during the preparation period, and even use other names to obscure the view.

Not only is the script made of special paper, but if the script is to be given to the lead actor, a designated person must put the script in a lockbox and deliver it to the person in person by air.

Except for the leading role or the key role, the supporting roles of other non-key roles don't even have a complete script, only a few words related to the role they play, and the director personally talks about the play when filming.

Or the director directly tells the actors what expressions to use, what actions to do, and what lines to say, without you needing to figure out what role to play.

After such a set, the entire crew includes screenwriters, directors, assistant directors, executive directors and other high-level behind-the-scenes executives, as well as leading actors. There may be only 20 people who have read the complete script.

For example, the more eye-catching manga blockbusters even have to play tricks, prepare several versions of the script, and shoot several versions of the key plot and ending.

Of course, actors are really not used to doing this, especially actors who have never worked with Chen Jingxing, such as Wang Jinsong.

In fact, Wang Jinsong had broken several firsts with Chen Jingxing.

Wang Jinsong, who is now in his early fifties, is still relatively strict in accepting scenes. It cannot be said that he has never made bad films, but very few.

And in recent years, the capital likes to use old drama bones to add texture to the drama and match young stars. Wang Jinsong is not short of drama appointments, so he is even more picky, trying to pick and choose among a bunch of scripts, and stand tall among the dwarfs. .

Therefore, the requirements for the script are also higher. He has to read the script first for all film appointments. Without the script, he will never agree to act in it. This is his principle of accepting dramas.

As an old drama player who has become popular in recent years, I seldom go through auditions, let alone auditions where I don’t even have a script, so I just pass a small note and speak a line.

If it wasn't for Chen Jingxing's name, it would be impossible for Wang Jinsong to accept the play without a script.

In fact, it was mainly his agency's request to take this drama.

In the past, the brokerage company that respected Wang Jinsong's willingness to take on the show was uncharacteristically this time. After receiving a call from DreamWorks, the boss and the agent launched a persuasion work against Wang Jinsong.

Wang Jinsong is not that old-fashioned with a stubborn temper, otherwise he would not be able to become popular at this age and become one of the most active golden supporting roles and veteran actors in the film and television circle, so he did not stage any drama and insisted on sticking to the principle drama code.

After all, everyone loves money.

Of course, the remuneration of "Interstellar" itself is not very high. Dreamworks already has a very high bargaining power when it comes to actors, let alone Chen Jingxing's own play. The remuneration will only be lower than the market, which is impossible. Actors are invited at a premium.

Mainly because of the exposure brought by Chen Jingxing's films, the commercial value brought to the actors is immeasurable.

Wang Jinsong is not the kind of old actor in the system. He maintains a superior image, temperament and figure, and he has many commercial endorsements among actors of the same age.

The commercial value of Chen Jingxing's films to actors is 24k gold-plated. "Interstellar" is the last film of the space trilogy, not to mention any breakthroughs. Its box office is also very good compared to "Center of the Earth" and "Mars".

It will be of great benefit to the actor's future film remuneration and commercial endorsement.

Moreover, the so-called principle of "reading the script before accepting a play" itself is the way for a good actor like Wang Jinsong who cherishes his own feathers and pursues to fight against risks.

It is usually unreliable for a film studio to assemble a cast before the script is released.

But Chen Jingxing himself is the biggest insurance.

The nine films that have been released so far are all above 8 points without exception, and none of them are recognized as bad. The accumulated trust and reputation are very solid.

Of course, it's easy to destroy this kind of trust. One or two bad movies are enough. Aren't filmmakers with bloodlines as thick as Xing Ye's box office this year's Spring Festival Waterloo?

But at least Chen Jingxing hasn't shown signs of undermining the audience's trust.

Even Wang Jinsong, whose aesthetics is deeply influenced by the traditional performance system and film appreciation standards, is far less fond of these sci-fi works made by Chen Jingxing than young people, but he does not have much love for the films starring Chen Jingxing. Pollution" was concerned by audience criticism.

Many people just think that realistic works or historical themes are more "advanced" and closer to "art" than science fiction, magic, fantasy, and fairy tales whose worldviews are based on fantasy.

It doesn't mean they can't appreciate good non-realistic film and television works.

Compared to Wang Jinsong, the other leading actors are more familiar with Chen Jingxing.

Both Chen Kun and Lei Jiayin have cooperated with Chen Jingxing, and this set of secrecy measures started from "The Martian", and "Inception" also used it.

Although Nini and Yuan Wei had never cooperated with Chen Jingxing, both of them were well-known actresses in the industry, and they had also heard of DreamWorks' script secrecy system.

Of course, in "Interstellar", DreamWorks also introduced "high-tech" means.

In addition to the paper version of the script, DreamWorks also customized a special reading software. The leading actors and crew executives can log in to the reading software through mobile phones, tablets or computers to obtain viewing rights.

It was the first time for several leading actors to get the complete script, and they were very excited to flip through it.

(End of this chapter)