The literary era since 1979

When Wang Jing heard that Gong Xing would serve as the assistant director of "Baby Smart Star", he agreed with both hands and had no objection at all.

After all, it’s enough that he is the director!
Du Qifeng also held a similar attitude. Anyway, he had become the executive director as he wished and had taken the crucial step in his transformation from a TV drama director to a film director. As for who was the county magistrate, no, who was the director or who was the deputy director, he didn't care at all.

At this moment, the two suppressed their inner joy and excitement, sat opposite Fang Yan, Fang Yihua and others, and flipped through the script.

After just a few glances, he immediately realized the great value of "Baby Smart Star" and subconsciously licked his lips with his tongue.

Especially for Wang Jing, as a director who started and became famous with comedy films, it was the first time for him to know that comedy films could be shot in this way!
The movie has neither the shit, piss and fart elements of Hong Kong comedies nor all kinds of vulgar and obscene jokes. The movie is quite "clean".

The comic effect relies purely on the children's clever dealings with, and even "playing with", "teasing" and "torturing" the stupid thieves to amuse people.

"There is a saying that goes, build your own happiness on the suffering of others. This is the principle used in Baby Smart Star."

Fangyan smiled and said, "Just like a clown in a circus, his job is to uglier or even make fun of himself in order to please the audience."

"I understand, Fang Sheng!"

Wang Jing suddenly understood, "Your script is like a child playing a clown to make the circus audience laugh, right?"

"Yes, the kid's home is a circus-like scene."

Fang Yan said in a serious tone, "So we have the stage. The next step is to determine the actors. The casting of the children and the clown is crucial. How effective the comedy scenes designed in the script will be depends entirely on their performance."

Fang Yihua said: "In the past, when we used children in Shaw Brothers' films, we basically asked the actors to recommend their own children to play guest roles."

Fangyan suggested that in addition to internal recommendations, there should also be television auditions, which is equivalent to the early publicity of the movie to increase the exposure of the children.

Fang Yihua readily accepted the idea, as TVB Jade Channel happened to have a children's program, "430 Shuttle".

"So, do the two stupid thieves have to have an image requirement?"

Du Qifeng asked: "For example, treacherous, vicious, cold, clumsy, stupid, vulgar..."

Speaking of this, Wang Jing did not hesitate to recommend Chen Baixiang who starred in "The Frog Prince".

This wretched and mean-spirited look is really suitable for the image of a "stupid thief" who is teased!
"Great, let him audition."

Fang Yihua immediately made the decision and suggested that another candidate be Tony Leung Chiu-wai, one of the five tigers of TVB.

As a rising star that TVB is promoting today, he shot to fame with the role of "Wei Xiaobao" in "The Deer and the Cauldron". More importantly, he was once the host of "430 Shuttle" and was widely acclaimed among children. Both his fame and image are suitable for "Baby Smart Star".

"Well, Aunt Six, would you like to reconsider this?"

Fangyan knocked on the table.

"Is there anything wrong with this candidate?"

Fang Yihua was very surprised.

"It's not bad."

To be frank, from the perspective of the performance evaluation system, comedy is a very difficult genre to perform, and it is not easy to grasp the "degree".

If it's a little less, the audience won't think it's funny enough; if it's a little more, it will seem over the top.

Once an actor performs well, it is easy for him to be stereotyped, which will greatly limit his future development space. If he does not encounter any opportunities for transformation in the future, it may be difficult for him to tear off the label of "comedian" in his lifetime.

"What Fang Sheng said is absolutely correct."

Seeing that Wang Jing and Du Qifeng both held this view, Fang Yihua became hesitant, unwilling to see the cash cow she had carefully cultivated turn into a comedian.

"What Aunt Six just said is very clever. It's best to find someone who is child-friendly to play the stupid thief."

Fangyan asked if there were any other hosts or actors with acting abilities in "430 Shuttle".

Fang Yihua couldn't help but understand, and immediately asked his secretary to get him the employee list.

"Swish, swish." Flipping through the pages of employee resumes, Fangyan immediately locked onto the resume of "Zhou Xingchi".

It clearly says that she is the host of the children's program "430 Shuttle" and she also co-stars with Long Bingji in the unit drama "Black and White Zombie"...

"I seem to have some impression of this person."

Du Qifeng thought about it for a while and suddenly remembered that this was the supporting actor who played "Song Bing Yi" in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"!
Fangyan asked, "How is his acting?"

"How should I put it? He has potential, but he is too serious about acting and too self-centered."

Du Qifeng said that Zhou Xingchi put a lot of thought into playing the role of "Song Bing Yi". He was originally a supporting role who was beaten to death by someone, but he felt that this was not realistic, so he designed a few resistance moves, but they thought it was a pure waste of time and did not adopt them.

"Wow, a minor actor wants to add to the drama. He thinks he is the main character. How can he die no matter how hard he tries?"

Wang Jing joked.

Fangyan disagreed and specifically asked this useless extra to be included in the audition list:

"A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier, and an actor without ideas is not a good actor. Let him try."

"Just do it!"

Even if Fang Yihua didn't care about his face, she had to believe in Wang Tianlin's vision in selecting people.

When it was the turn of another candidate, Wang Jing and Du Qifeng both recommended the candidates they thought were suitable.

For example, Chen Honglie, who will play "Zuo Lengchan" in the future Lu Songxian version of "Swordsman", made his debut in King Hu's "Drunken Master". He became famous for the role of "Jade-faced Tiger" and can be regarded as a professional villain in Shaw Brothers.

For example, Luo Ye, one of the Five Tigers of Shaw Brothers, has a kind of both good and evil style. He can play a hero or become a hero.

"Others can give it a try, but forget about Luo Ye."

Fang Yan said: "We are not making a horror film, nor a police and gangster film, but a family movie for all ages. We want a stupid thief, not a fierce gangster. Once he appears with this face, the comedy effect will be greatly reduced."

"It makes sense."

Fang Yihua smiled and said, "Yanzi, besides the candidates they recommended, are there any other actors that you like?"

"It's best to have a contrast between the two stupid thieves, for example, one is tall and the other is short, one is fat and the other is thin, one is simple-minded and the other is cunning..."

Fangyan flipped through the employee roster and found Wu Mengda's page.

"This guy is no good!"

Without waiting for Fang Yihua to speak, Du Qifeng blurted out.

Fang Yan raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

Wang Jing explained: "This Wu Mengda is a gambler. I heard that he owed a lot of money a few years ago. When he lost money in gambling, he borrowed money from his old friends. He was almost forced to commit suicide by his creditors. He is a hopeless case. His relatives and friends have cut off all ties with him..."

"Yes."

Fang Yihua said: "Whether it is Shaw Brothers or TVB, they have always attached great importance to the image of artists and would never condone an artist like Ng Man-tat to make such a big mistake. I originally wanted to keep him hidden forever, but fortunately he made a friend in Chow Yun-fat who interceded for him, so I was willing to give him another chance."

"So how is he now?"

Fangyan gave a faint smile.

"I've gotten better. I've stopped gambling and I'm focusing on my acting."

Fang Yihua said that Elder Peng in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" was played by Ng Man-tat, and because of his outstanding performance, he was recommended by Wang Tianlin to another TVB drama, "The Rookies". According to the crew's reaction, the whole person seemed to be reborn, and it seems that he has really changed for the better.

"Since he has turned over a new leaf, give him another chance."

Fangyan said: "This can also be regarded as a publicity gimmick!" (End of this chapter)