hollywood melon man

Chapter 482 Strikes hard
After intense preparations, Guo Fan’s first project was finally landed, and a crew was formed to start filming.

He and Liu Ji were both very busy. In order not to let down the money given by their investor, Boss Wang, they dared not relax for a moment.

Guo Fan is a detail-obsessed person. He strives to make sure every step is done to his satisfaction, and Liu Ji becomes Guo Fan's producer.

After all, he is a good friend from the Film Academy. Liu Ji is very versatile and good at networking, and can help Guo Fan deal with many things.

As a director with some experience, Guo Fan is too young and may not be able to control the old hands in the crew.

However, although Guo Fan did not really study with Gilbert Jr., he also learned one of Gilbert Jr.'s working methods, which is to do things impartially.

The crews of Chinese-language films are somewhat different from those of Hollywood. Mature Hollywood directors basically have their own fixed teams.

For example, Gilbert Jr.'s favorite photographer, Dur Randolph, later followed Sofia Coppola. Later, John Schwartzman's favorite art director was Selina Heffy.

There is also assistant director Anne Burton, stunt coordinators Tony Ridley and Luca Farias, editor Mehdi Thomson and others.

These people have been with Gilbert Jr. for more than ten years, and they work well together and are very efficient, which is why Gilbert Jr., a Hollywood fast-shooter, can produce works at the rate of almost one movie a year.

Did Gilbert have such a tacit team from the beginning? Obviously not.

At the beginning, young Gilbert was young and took charge of the crew for the first time thanks to his relationship with Spielberg. There must have been some people who did not obey him, especially the veteran assistant director.

Others have worked diligently in Hollywood for more than ten years but have not had the opportunity to direct independently, but you, a 21-year-old boy, got the opportunity to direct after working on "Hook" for only a few months.

How can those experienced people who have been in the industry for many years feel balanced? They will definitely make trouble for you because you are a rookie and don’t know the rules of the crew.

But Guo Fan knew that Gilbert Jr. later solved these problems very well by using contracts and work accountability system, and he would find the person in charge of any link when there was a problem.

Getting angry and arguing are meaningless and will make people think that you are nothing special.

These are what young Gilbert heard from some Hollywood old men. There may be some discrepancies and exaggerations, but the descriptions are basically true.

Later, as Gilbert Jr. became more successful, he naturally gathered the best talents in Hollywood around him to ensure the operation of his team.

What about those directors who don’t have the status of Little Gilbert? They don’t have the power of Little Gilbert, and they have their own fixed team.

Does it take a long time to get used to each other every time you shoot a scene?
Guo Fan discovered that the biggest difference between Hollywood and Chinese-language films is that Hollywood is producer-centered.

The director is a very important part of the film production process, but he is not irreplaceable. Just like a link in an assembly line, if someone is missing, they can always fill in.

Moreover, Hollywood has a sufficient amount of industry talent, just like screws, who can be used at any time. They can start working after a little adaptation.

There are only a few people like Gilbert Jr., where even the producer has to listen to the director.

In the Chinese entertainment industry, many big directors basically have their own fixed team. But many directors, like ordinary Hollywood directors, do not have their own team members.

What Chinese-language films lack the most is actually professional producers, which results in a director having to take on multiple roles, including managing the crew and being busy with filming.

He and Liu Ji did some calculations and concluded that a director can only spend 10% of his time on filming, and the remaining 90% is spent on crew management.

So on the first day of work, Guo Fan hoped that Liu Ji could learn from Hollywood producers and manage the crew well so that he could shoot with peace of mind.

Liu Ji said he couldn't do it, but he would try his best.

The project that the two men persuaded Boss Wang to invest in is a satirical comedy full of black humor. The story itself is adapted from an incident in which Guo Fan pretended to be a student.

After reading the script, Liu Ji thought the story was good, but he was a little worried that the film might offend some people.

"Those people are very, very hateful now. They hate Director Gilbert Jr. and they also hate you," said Liu Ji.

Guo Fan was very surprised: "Why do you hate me? It wasn't me who did it. Besides, Director Gilbert Jr. was right to stick to his principles!
You replaced the student who was selected through the assessment. Aren't you slapping the face of the Hollywood director?"

"That's true, but if everyone recognizes their mistakes, there won't be so many disputes in this world." Liu Ji pointed at the script and said:
"If you film this, you'll probably offend a lot of people, and you'll be in trouble."

"Since you've offended someone, do you still dare to work with me?" Guo Fan asked with a smile.

Liu Ji shrugged and said indifferently: "I am just playing around. If I offend someone, the worst that can happen is that I go home. You are different. You have ideals.

Brother, I can't let you fight alone. We, the newcomers, have to fight and beat the old ones to death on the beach."

"It's best to kill them on the shark shoal and let the sharks bite them to death." Guo Fan said.

Liu Ji was stunned, still wondering where the shark came from on the beach. After a while, he remembered that it was from Gilbert Jr.'s first movie, The Shallows.

"That's right, let the sharks bite them to death." Liu Ji felt that he had made the right move and that Guo Fan had the potential to change the Chinese-language film industry.

By then, I will be the emperor's loyal minister. With Guo Fan's character, he will never treat me unfairly.

After discussing the project with Boss Wang in February or March, the two have been writing the script, preparing the crew, and selecting actors.

Because it looks like a makeshift troupe, many actors with a little fame will not choose Guo Fan's projects.

But it doesn’t matter. Guo Fan has a special charm and he still managed to trick a few familiar faces from the film and television industry into coming.

They also found an actor named Huang Bo, whose online status is unknown, and Baoqiang Wang, who had appeared in several film and television dramas, to star in the film together.

The crew was successfully set up and the official opening ceremony was held.

As investors, Mr. Wang and Sister Ling personally went to the scene, opened Maotai, worshipped the gods, and announced the start of filming. So when the movie "Wushuang" was released in the Chinese market, Guo Fan and Liu Ji led the team to start their hard work of filming.

"Lao Guo, we had some problems with our work process yesterday. You see, Brother Bo and Baoqiang are both the main actors, and our crew has just started filming. If we need to run in, we should use small supporting roles and extras to run in.

If we use the protagonist to get along with others, they may have some opinions even if they don’t say it out loud.”

After a day's work, Guo Fan and Liu Ji returned to the hotel and summarized today's shooting process.

Guo Fan slapped his head after hearing this and said, "This is a mistake made due to lack of experience. Fortunately, Brother Bo and Baoqiang have good tempers, otherwise it would be a mess."

The two of them discussed and decided to communicate with the leading actors tomorrow to change the shooting method.

After discussing the work, it was time to rest. In order to save money, Guo Fan and Liu Ji lived in one room and spent more money on filming.

"By the way, 'Wushuang' did well at the domestic box office." Liu Ji mentioned this matter.

Guo Fan didn't really pay attention: "How much is it?"

"The box office for the first three days was 2750 million, which is not bad. We estimate the final box office will be around 1 million," Liu Ji replied.

"Not bad. I haven't seen this movie yet. It's said to be a crime action movie starring Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks."

Guo Fan was a little envious. When would he be able to film a movie that brought together Edward Lau and Clarence Fok and Raymond Lam?

In this day and age, although Hong Kong films have begun to decline, when it comes to movie stars, especially male stars, the first thing that comes to mind is Hong Kong male stars.

There is no way. Due to objective limitations, the development of mainland films is relatively slow, and the movie stars cultivated there are indeed not as famous as Hong Kong stars.

So when Guo Fan thinks of movie stars, the first thing that comes to mind is Hong Kong stars.

Liu Ji also mentioned what happened in Shanghai: "Miss Charlize Theron came to China for promotion, and I heard that someone deliberately asked questions at the road show in Shanghai.

The person who said that "Wushuang" imitated the style of Hong Kong films has now been severely criticized by the media and domestic filmmakers."

"Really?" Guo Fan was very surprised: "Does that person have a grudge against Director Gilbert Jr.?"

"Of course there is a grudge. Have you forgotten about the fake student?"

Guo Fan suddenly realized: "So that's how it is. These few words are insignificant. Director Gilbert Jr. is a big shot and won't care about these boring accusations."

"That's true. Miss Theron didn't get angry. Instead, she said that it was because Hollywood learned from others that it became the center of the film industry." Liu Ji sighed.

Yes, what's wrong with accusing others of borrowing? Can making a movie be called plagiarism?

If we talk about reference, then all of these later directors basically borrowed from Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick.

"By the way, do you want to make a response? After all, I have made your name as director Gilbert's student known to the public." Liu Ji asked.

"Well," Guo Fan decided not to respond proactively: "I think someone will ask me this question first, so I will answer it."

"That's fine!" Liu Ji agreed.

Although Guo Fan decided to concentrate on his work and not respond to this matter, it does not mean that others cannot respond.

Ning Hao, who had worked in the Little Gilbert crew and was already a little famous at that time, stood up and spoke out, denouncing and attacking the remaining forces in certain circles in the circle.

Why is he getting so angry instead of keeping his head down at this moment?
What happened last year was not a simple case of impersonating a student. I went to Hollywood to study, but was discovered and sent back.

What is this? This is a slap in the face. The key is that you still have to stand at attention, after all, you are in the wrong.

Because of the chain reaction caused by this incident, people lost face abroad and their international image was affected.

At this point, these people won’t think that now that the incident is over, everything will be calm and they can come back to continue to do evil and abuse their power, right?

After Ning Hao, other big directors such as Guoshi Zhang, Pigeon Chen and others were interviewed and highly praised the movie "Wushuang".

The two did not mention what happened in Shanghai, but supporting the movie is enough to show their attitude.

Of course, the one who was even angrier was Lao Tian.

He was originally in charge of the cultural sector, and the incident last year made him extremely passive. This time, this incident happened again, and Lao Tian was very angry.

Old Tian once again called Sanping Han and several domestic film and television company bosses, gave them a good scolding, and ordered them to go back and discipline those disobedient bastards.

If anyone causes trouble for him again, he will kill that person before he leaves.

Several powerful executives in the film and television industry remained silent, not daring to say a word in rebuttal, and repeatedly promised to discipline those who disobeyed them.

The Shanghai incident was actually a small matter, and Charlize Theron herself didn't care much about it.

She didn't tell little Gilbert after she returned, but the consequences of last year's incident were so serious that Old Tian was panic-stricken and launched a heavy attack.

However, this incident did not affect the huge sales of "Wushuang" in the Chinese market, and Little Gilbert is still very popular here.

(End of this chapter)