Acting school started in 1998

Chapter 391 Small Town Youth
The book is very thin, only about ten pieces of paper.

Li Tang understood and quickly took the book and said, "Then let me read it first."

The word "Wandering" is printed on the cover. As for the screenwriter, it is no surprise that it is Wang Xiaoshuai himself.

Li Tang took the cigarette handed over by Lou Ye, lit it and started to look through it.

Lou Ye is like this, he is not good at words, and handing over a cigarette is just a way of expressing his gratitude.

There were more than ten pieces of paper. If you read it quickly, it might not take 10 minutes, but Li Tang read it very carefully, and it took him nearly half an hour.

Lou Ye has been smoking silently, occasionally listening to the conversation between Wang Xiaoshuai and Jiao Xiongping. When the other party looks at them, he always smiles shyly and nods to express his agreement with the other party's opinions.

Wang Xiaoshuai and Jiao Xiongping mainly talked about some preparatory work for the movie. For example, Wang Xiaoshuai had been scouting locations on the southeast coast before. After all, he had spent four years at Hu Jian Studio and knew the situation there very well. He took a fancy to Hu Jianlian. The seaside scenery in Jiangna area still retains a complete ancient city of Dinghai.

There are two ancient Dinghai cities in Chinese history, one is Dinghai in Zhoushan and the other is Dinghai in Lianjiang.The Battle of Dinghai that took place during the Opium War was in Zhoushan; the Ming Dynasty's suppression of Japanese pirates, including the great victory of Dinghai where Zheng Chenggong defeated the Qing army, all took place in Dinghai in Lianjiang.

Li Tang didn't pay attention to their conversation and had been reading the script carefully.Perhaps because he had been acting in stage plays in his previous life, he always adhered to the principle that the script is the foundation of the play when he took on the show.Whether a play can be established mainly depends on the script.

Of course, the only exception is "Suzhou River", which also stems from his trust in Lou Ye.

In fact, this book says that the script is not accurate and there is very little dialogue. It is just a story line. It tells the story of a young man from a small town on the coast of southern Zhejiang who tried to smuggle to the United States and repeatedly failed.

Later, he finally succeeded and lived in the United States for several years.But when he was in California, he had a relationship with the Chinese boss's daughter and gave birth to a son.The boss angrily reported him for illegal immigration, and he was deported.

After returning to China, the young man became a celebrity in the small town, not for anything else but because he had been to the United States.The young man who returned to the small town lived a lifeless life, doing nothing all day long.The only thing that made him miss him was his daughter from the touring Yue Opera Troupe. The daughter also felt that life was boring, so the two of them dated in silence, without seeing any other changes in their lives.

But on this day, a change came. His son and his grandfather came back.He was already calm in his heart and was disturbed by the return of his son. Although he was unwilling to mention this question that confused him, his brother and sister-in-law strongly hoped that he would visit his son. After all, his son was their family's son. If you don’t let me, that’s another problem.

As a result, various unpleasantness and even conflicts occurred between the two families surrounding the son.Fortunately, one day he finally spent a pleasant day with his son on the muddy beach at the beach.But the son was eventually taken away by his grandfather.

At the end, the young man from the small town resolutely embarked on the old path, and this time he was followed by a girl from the theater troupe.

It should be said that the whole story is very dull, and there are no major ups and downs in the plot, but there is always a vague bond between the lines that controls the emotions of the characters.

Young people in small towns like this are no stranger to Li Tang. There are many such people in his hometown county.Of course it's not smuggling. For example, the group of people who sold foreign cigarettes with Lao Li made a little money by selling foreign cigarettes.Later, the country tightened the channels for smuggling cigarettes, and they could no longer continue. They had a little money, so these people would often go to dance halls or play mahjong all day long.

These people seem to live a very carefree life, but in fact their spiritual world is quite empty. They don’t know what to do if they don’t dance or play mahjong. They are just like the small town youths in the script, doing nothing all day long.

They were also regular guests at his hotel. Li Tang would often see them standing at the door of the hotel with cigarettes in their mouths and watching the people coming and going on the street, but their eyes never seemed to be focused.

If there is a way to describe the state of these people, Li Tang thinks it is more accurate to use Yang Guo's "Sadly Ecstasy Palm" move in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes".For example: a lonely shadow, a ghost, a walking dead, etc.

However, Li Tang's focus is not here, but that there is something wrong with the location where the story is set.

"Tsk, Director Wang, this story shouldn't happen on the southeast coast of Zhejiang, but should happen in Hu Jiancai."

Wang Xiaoshuai's eyes lit up and he said with interest: "How do you say that?"

"It is more accurate to say Wenzhou when talking about the southeastern coast of Zhejiang. But most Wenzhou people go to Europe, especially Italy, which has almost become the second home of Wenzhou people. But many people from Hu Jian went to the United States. I heard that Most of those who open supermarkets in Chinatown in the United States are from Hu Jian."

Speaking of which, the reason why Li Tang knows so much is because the owner of an optical shop next to his hotel is from Wenzhou, and many of his relatives have gone to Italy.

And I heard they said that the most important route for Wenzhou people to travel to Europe at that time was to take a train from the Northeast, cross the Soviet Union, and ride to the Black Sea coast, then take a boat through the Turkish Strait, arrive in Yugoslavia, and finally cross the Alps from the north to land in Italy. .

Only Hu Jianren could sail across the ocean to the United States.In his previous life, he lived in the United States, and the largest Chinese group he might have seen were Hu Jianren, and basically none of them came to the United States through formal routes.

Li Tang continued: "If the story takes place in Hu Jian, then the traveling Yue opera troupe that visits villages and rural areas does not make sense. Zhejiang people watch Yue opera, but Hu Jian should be a Fujian opera, right?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Xiaoshuai and Jiao Xiongping looked at each other, both showing expressions of satisfaction.Wang Xiaoshuai then smiled at him and said: "What you just said is absolutely correct. In fact, I wrote this script based on the story that happened along the coast of Hu Jian."

As he spoke, he smiled bitterly and said: "The reason why the story took place was moved to the southeastern coast of Zhejiang Province is to avoid checking in and not to fail the review when the time comes."

"Oh, that's it!" Li Tang nodded suddenly, feeling a little embarrassed at the same time.

Come to think of it, Wang Xiaoshuai has been with Hu Jian for four years, so there is no reason why he should not know about this kind of thing, and he must have gone through some research to be able to write such a script.If you raise this question yourself, it's just a trick.

I heard Wang Xiaoshuai say again: "Li Tang, the fact that you can ask such a question means that I didn't choose the wrong person. I invited you here today because I wanted to ask you to play the role of the second brother. Well... the only problem is that our funds are limited. The salary may not be too high, so I just want to ask for your help."

Wang Xiaoshuai was also a little embarrassed. The "second brother" he called was the young man from the small town in the script.

What he likes is Li Tang's fame. Thinking about Cheng Er last year and Zhang Baiyi this year, Wang Xiaoshuai sees it and it's hard not to be jealous.

In fact, no one wants to be a so-called "underground" director. Everyone wants to show the movie to the audience in their own country. Only in this way can they resonate with each other under a common cultural and historical background.

It can only be said that there is a problem of compromise and non-compromise.But artists, nine times out of ten, have a stiff neck. If you don't let them express themselves, maybe they won't be able to make movies.

For example, as Wang Xiaoshuai explained to Li Tang just now, the first priority that comes to his mind is how to pass the review in the future.

The two movies "The Third Man" and "Toward" at least show that Li Tang can handle the box office, and now he has a certain reputation overseas. In Wang Xiaoshuai's eyes, he is definitely a favorite.

Of course there are also acting factors involved, but this is not absolute.

For example, Wang Xiaoshuai had previously taken a liking to a Mandarin actor, and his acting skills were also quite good.Moreover, the melancholy and stubborn temperament exuded by the actor named Duan Long even fits the character of the second brother in the script even more.

But comparing him with Li Tang, his acting skills are the least important and can only be listed as an alternative.

Art films also need box office, and investors are not philanthropists. The purpose of investing in films is simply to get returns.But now Li Tang's external film salary quotation of more than 200 million has daunted him. Just kidding, it is almost more than two-thirds of the total investment.

So on the one hand, he moved out Lou Ye to try to play the emotional card, and on the other hand, he also wanted to attract Li Tang through the script.Actors, especially famous actors, what they lack is not money, but a good script.

If the script is good, the movie will be popular or win awards, and the actors will gain fame.Being famous is beneficial, and it is actually an investment.

To be honest, Li Tang felt that the script was just average, but the character was quite challenging.And looking at the entire script, all the scenes revolve around the character of the "second brother". Whether the movie can be successful depends on whether this character can stand up.

Li Tang pondered for a moment and said: "Director Wang, I need to go back and discuss this matter with my agent. Can the script be left with me temporarily?"

Wang Xiaoshuai was a little disappointed when he heard the first half of the sentence, but he felt happy when he heard the second half. Being able to leave the script shows that Li Tang himself is already inclined to take on this role.

He quickly said: "Okay, no problem!"

"Director Wang, when do you plan to start filming this movie?" Li Tang asked again.

"The initial plan is around January 15th next year, and it will definitely not exceed January [-]th, and there will be no holidays during the Spring Festival."

Li Tang quite understood Wang Xiaoshuai's statement.Because the most important scene in the script takes place during the Spring Festival, which symbolizes reunion.

Grandpa brought his second brother's son back to China for the New Year. At this specific time, the second brother's urgency to meet his son increased.

Shooting during the Spring Festival, on the one hand, it is more convenient to take advantage of the atmosphere of the New Year, but more importantly, it is also due to cost savings.

　The second update, I have the audacity to ask for a ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)