director of the millennium

Beijing.

After Liu Yifei spoke, Wu Yuan really stayed at home and rested for a while to recuperate.

Some things really can't be rushed, just like no matter how hungry you are you have to eat one bite at a time.

Sometimes it is better to relax and work hard than to be in a hurry.

After half a month's rest, Wu Yuan's mental state was obviously much better than before when he was busy. Although his face was not rosy, his energy and spirit had returned to normal.

It was only then that he began to focus on the preparations for Riding the Wind.

However, he did not do any heavy work right away. He just thought about the actor arrangement of the film during the break.

At his level, there is no need for auditions when selecting actors, unless he plans to hold an open audition for newcomers.

As a tribute film, the movie "Riding the Wind" certainly cannot use new actors.

First of all, the safest method is to use the original actors, namely Wu Jing and Wu Sanshi, as the leading actors.

Wu Jing is okay, as he is not young anymore and he looks older. To put it nicely, he has a sense of vicissitudes of life. He has no problem playing the role of a middle-aged man with a 17 or 18-year-old son.

Plus, he has a strong military vibe, so even though he was cast a few years earlier, he is fully qualified to be the male lead in "Riding the Wind".

But Wu Sanshi couldn't do that.

He is less than 15 years old this year and is still a boy. Plus, this age is when boys grow taller, so he cannot play a rebellious teenager of or years old, as he looks too immature.

However, it is not easy to find an actor in the entertainment industry who is of the right age, has a youthful spirit, and has a relatively "regular" appearance.

Judging from age, it would be best to find a male actor born after 95.

But at this stage, there are not many male actors born after 95 emerging in the entertainment industry. It is still dominated by male actors born between 85 and 90. Male actors born after 95 are basically child stars, such as Wu Sanshi.

Wu Yuan only wanted Liu Haoran, a male actor who was just about 17 or 18 years old and already had some fame in the circle.

Born in 97, he was selected by Chen Sicheng when he was still in the first year of high school last year. He got the opportunity to star in the movie "Beijing Love Story", which marked the beginning of his acting career.

In February of this year, "Beijing Love Story" was released and became a minor hit. He also successfully broke into the entertainment industry with his role in the movie.

It’s just that Liu Haoran looks a little too innocent, at least now he looks very innocent, which really doesn’t match the image of a young soldier who has experienced many battles.

After thinking it over, Wu Yuan felt that he really had to hold an audition this time.

He really doesn't want to find an actor whose actual age is too different from the age of the character.

Otherwise, Cao Jun is quite suitable for this role.

He is Cao Jun who played Chenxiang in "The Lotus Lantern".

He has regular facial features and a relatively orthodox Asian face shape. He looks very heroic when he grows up. In addition, he likes to exercise, so his muscles are very obvious. His baby face makes his age very deceptive. Even though he is 26 years old now, he looks no different from a boy around 18 years old.

But Cao Jun has passed the age of "youthful vigor", and all his youthfulness has been dedicated to the TV series "The Lotus Lantern".

Even now, he can no longer find the feeling he had when he played Chenxiang.

I can only say it's a pity.

"We can only hold a large-scale audition during the summer vacation." Wu Yuan thought so. In July and August, we will hold an audition to select a young actor, start filming around October, and wrap up before February next year. In this way, the film will be released in October next year, and we can even say that there is plenty of time.

The only one who was relatively busy was Wu Yuan. He had to improve the script, be in charge of directing, and also had to oversee the post-production editing.

After some thought, the two male protagonists of "Riding the Wind" were decided.

As for the heroine, it is naturally Liu Yifei. This time she has to play a pregnant woman, and a village girl, which is a big breakthrough in her image.

There is no need to worry that she is too beautiful and not suitable for playing the role of a village woman.

Zhang Tianai is also very beautiful, but the pregnant woman she played in "Riding the Wind" was also very impressive and not too distracting from the show.

There is no reason why Zhang Tianai can do it but Liu Yifei can’t.

Another half month later.

Wu Yuan, who has fully recovered, is thinking about visiting the crew of "The Great Wall". On the one hand, he wants to see how director Zhang Yimou is doing. After all, it is the first time for him to make such a special effects blockbuster, so he may need help.

On the other hand, Wu Yuan also planned to go see the leading actor of his new film, Wu Jing.

Since the decision was made to use Wu Jing, Guangying Times contacted him as soon as possible.

Wu Jing does not have many film contracts in the circle. Although he has been in the Hong Kong circle for a few years and has acted in several Hong Kong movies, his acting range is still quite narrow.

In Hong Kong Island, he can only play supporting roles in action movies, and in mainland China, he has to serve in the military all year round. These are the only two choices.

But there are not many TV dramas and movies of this type, so Wu Jing does not have so many film contracts that they can be scheduled until next year. As soon as Guangying Times came to him, he immediately took on the movie "Ride the Wind".

What a joke, it’s Wu Yuan’s movie, and it’s a movie that Wu Jing himself likes very much, a movie about war themes.

It's double the joy!

Wu Jing agreed readily, and Wu Yuan was naturally very satisfied. Now that he had time, he ran to the "The Great Wall" crew to check out the situation.

The main filming location of "The Great Wall" was at the Huairou Film and Television Base in Beijing, where a studio covering several thousand square meters was rented. In addition, scenes were also filmed in Hengdian and Xiangshan.

Because this is a special effects movie, and the "Great Wall" has been transformed into a war fortress with various machines and classical war weapons, there is no need to shoot on the real Great Wall, thus avoiding the trouble of borrowing the Great Wall from official departments.

But because of this, the crew actually built a section of the Great Wall in the studio to shoot the climax of the film, the Battle of the Great Wall.

When Wu Yuan arrived at the set, he saw a group of actors wearing armor in the style of the Song and Ming dynasties, flying in the sky hanging on wires.

Against the backdrop of the green screen, this scene is not passionate at all, and is even a little funny, but this is how most special effects movies are shot.

This was the first time Zhang Yimou shot such a "very fake" movie, and he was not very suitable for it.

He has made war blockbusters, and "Hero" can be considered a war blockbuster.

The filming of "Hero" was completely real. Although there were some scenes with wire suspension, most of the scenes were shot in real locations.

But "The Great Wall" was shot almost half-truthfully from beginning to end, which made him a little uncomfortable.

Wu Yuan's arrival was not specially announced. He just watched the filming from the outside of the studio. It was not until the break between takes that he approached the monitor and asked with a smile, "Director Zhang, how is it? Are you used to filming this kind of special effects movie?" (End of this chapter)