China Entertainment 1997

Cao Xuan stayed in the United States for about a week, mainly doing various makeup tests on Hawkeye and finalizing some script details.

The shooting of "Eagle Eye" is actually quite urgent. It is considered an unplanned new movie. According to the original plan, they will shoot "Avengers" early next year.

Now there is a "Hawkeye" inserted, and the plan has changed, so I have to finish filming in February next year, and then start filming "Avengers".

The director of "Hawkeye" has been decided. Jon Favreau, the director of the first two "Iron Man" films, is also the actor who plays Iron Man's fat bodyguard Happy in the movie.

After directing "Iron Man 2", the actor had creative differences with Marvel and announced that he would no longer direct "Iron Man 3", but he would still participate as an actor.

At the same time, he also has a close relationship with Marvel. He has served as the producer of "Iron Man 3", "Avengers 2" and other stars, and he is considered a die-hard Marvel fan.

Originally, Jon Favreau had no intention of directing a Marvel movie, but he changed his mind this time because of "Hawkeye."

The main reason is that the plot of "Hawkeye" is more independent than that of "Iron Man 2". There are not many other superheroes joining the cast. Except for a few people from S.H.I.E.L.D., the main battles are between Hawkeye and Black Widow.

The previous "Iron Man 2" was modified while filming, and a large amount of S.H.I.E.L.D. plot was inserted to pave the way for "The Avengers", thus greatly reducing the independence of the film itself.

Jon Favreau resigned angrily because of this. If "Hawkeye" can maintain creative independence, he can still trust Marvel.

Of course, the main reason is that he is a fan of Cao Xuan.

That's right, this new commercial star director who is famous in Hollywood for the "Iron Man" series particularly likes Cao Xuan's movies. He has watched almost every one of Cao Xuan's movies.

As early as when he was filming "Iron Man", he had wanted to invite Cao Xuan, but there was no suitable role.

Now I learned that Marvel and Cao Xuan are collaborating on "Eagle Eye". After asking about it, I took the initiative to take over the directorship.

Other than that, the cast of "Hawkeye" is pretty good.

Black Widow Scarlett Johansson, this drama is a serious heroine + second episode.

She has an emotional scene with Hawkeye in the movie. One of the two has a childhood shadow and is unwilling to open his heart, while the other is a cold-faced and arrogant person who likes her in her heart but is hesitant to say anything.

The emotional line is very ambiguous, but it has never been made clear. At least it was not made clear in the first "Avengers", but the CP line is very obvious.

Marvel has not yet determined how the sequel will develop, whether it will allow the two to get together completely, or let Hawkeye give up on marrying a wife and having children, and the two will become platonic soulmates.

After being strengthened, Hawkeye's strength has soared. Even if Cao Xuan does not play the role, Marvel will not give up this role.

Since there is a female Hulk, a female Iron Man, a female Thor, and a second generation Captain America, there can also be a female Hawkeye or a second generation Hawkeye.

This new Hawkeye is originally a daughter in the comics, but it can also be changed to a sister. Considering that Hawkeye is set to become an orphan, if it doesn't work, he can just accept an apprentice.

No matter what, in Marvel's imagination, the emotional line between Hawkeye and Black Widow is likely to become one of the important main lines in the first few stages of Marvel.

In addition, there are three important characters in the "Hawkeye" movie, the male lead Barney and the villain Eggman, or Mad Doctor, who crossfire with the thugs under the villain.

Barney is Hawkeye's brother in the original comic. They learned skills together in the early years, and there is a duel between brothers in the comic.

The movie is set up as an orphan boy who met at the circus. The two brothers had a good relationship when they were young. They did secretly learn skills from "Swordsman" and "Jieshe", but they were too playful and not serious. Both masters did not want to see him. A flowery display.

After becoming an adult, Hawkeye followed his master Jetshot away, honing his skills while robbing the rich and giving to the poor.

And Barney also left the circus, relying on a few secretly learned skills to become stronger than ordinary people, and joined a gang.

This gang is controlled by the villain of the "Hawkeye" movie, and the two sides clash.

Barney's setting is very simple. He is similar to Captain America's good brother Bucky.

However, although they are both from the Ba family, he is much worse than Bucky. He has no abilities. He was directly killed by the villain in the movie. His main credit was to inspire the explosion of Hawkeye's small universe.

Cao Xuan wants his own artist to compete for this role, but Marvel prefers European and American actors.

The director and producer preferred a British newcomer named Andrew Garfield to play this role.

Well, the one from The Amazing Spider-Man!

However, this actor has not come forward yet. His first starring role in the movie "The Social Network" has not yet been released, and Marvel only learned about this young actor through other channels.

Barney in the movie is set up as a light-hearted, lively, cheerful character who has no thoughts and is in contrast to the cold and reserved Hawkeye. They think this newcomer is quite suitable.

As for the villain Eggman, Marvel has not yet fully decided. Cao Xuan also recommended Lao Bai and Uncle Fried Chicken from "Breaking Bad". No matter who these two are, they will definitely have no problem playing villains.

This Eggman is a mad scientist who is Ant-Man and Hawkeye's mortal enemy in the comics, causing all kinds of trouble.

The villain [Ghost] in "Ant-Man 2" is Eggman's daughter, but Eggman is just set as a colleague of Ant-Man's father-in-law.

"Eagle Eye" used him as a villain, and even integrated him into the Cosmic Cube and joined the main plot.

Egghead was originally a government scientist who also worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. He was particularly interested in the construction of some super weapons. He was later fired for some reasons, but he still did not give up research. In order to raise funds, he established a gang to make money.

When he was in S.H.I.E.L.D., Eggman accidentally came into contact with the Cosmic Cube inside S.H.I.E.L.D., also known as the Space Gem, and thought that this thing would be very beneficial to his research.

The latter spent a lot of money to hire two villains, Crossfire and Taskmaster, with the intention of robbing the Cosmic Cube research.

When the first operation failed, SHIELD aroused vigilance and sent Black Widow and Hawkeye to investigate. In the end, the two sides faced off, which is the main plot of the first part of "Hawkeye".

Eggman himself has little combat power, but he researched a laser weapon, which was very powerful when released. In the end, he even used it to threaten the US government and S.H.I.E.L.D.

As for the two villains Crossfire and Taskmaster, the former is purely paid to do things, while the latter is acquainted with Eggman. He was also a SHIELD agent before, and this time he came to learn about SHIELD's new ace Hawkeye.

Crossfire is different from Captain America's crossbones. This one takes the long-distance route, that is, he plays with guns.

The Imitation Master can imitate and copy the fighting abilities of others. No matter how complex and delicate the opponent's fighting movements are, he can copy them perfectly.

However, it is worth mentioning that this guy can copy fighting skills, but he cannot copy super powers. The setting is more biased towards top physical skills masters.

One ranged, one melee, obviously a villain specifically designed for Hawkeye.

In the movie, Hawkeye will fight with a cross-fire sniper rifle with a bow and arrow, and then have a peak close combat with Taskmaster, which perfectly reflects Hawkeye's strength.

The two villains are wearing equipment. The former wears a headband and an eye patch, while the latter barely shows his face. Cao Xuan doesn’t know who Marvel plans to hire.

However, Cao Xuan still recommended several Chinese actors to Marvel, especially Taskmaster. This role is very good at acting, and many Chinese action actors are suitable for it.

If it seems repetitive that both the male protagonist and the villain are Chinese, you can make Taskmaster Japanese. Cao Xuan still likes to fight Japanese villains.

Although Cao Xuan is a shareholder of Marvel and has certain rights to the "Eagle Eye" movie in the contract, Cao Xuan only has the right to make suggestions regarding casting.

To be honest, Cao Xuan will play Hawkeye, and Fan Xiaopang is scheduled to play Hill, the deputy director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who has roles in "Hawkeye" and "Avengers".

The most popular actors and actresses in China currently all have roles, and they have enough leverage to please the mainland and Asian markets. As a result, Marvel is not very interested in other Chinese actors.

There is no way, who makes Cao Xuan so popular.

To a certain extent, he blocks the way of other Chinese or Asian actors, that is, he is powerful and not just an artist. Otherwise, he would have been the target of public criticism and would be criticized by many.

………

In mid-September, Cao Xuan returned to China, and this year's summer schedule was officially announced to be over.

The performance of the two movies controlled by Fanxing is not bad. "No Man's Land" has a box office of 178 million, which is considered to have reached the expected target.

As I said before, this movie is not intended to be a big hit. It would be good if it makes money.

In addition, if the reputation is good, Duan Long and Huang Bo Chong can be awarded.

Cao Xuan has already won the Chinese Grand Slam, and he is not very enthusiastic about domestic film awards. If he has the opportunity, he will win it. If he doesn't win, it doesn't matter.

Therefore, as soon as he stepped back from the "second line", the connections and various public relations resources that had surrounded him over the years would automatically fall into the hands of the stars.

Especially the male artists benefit the most.

Currently, apart from Cao Xuan, the only male actors who are most eligible to win awards in film are Huang Bo, Duan Long and Jiao Enjun.

Although Hu Ge is developing well, his experience in the film industry is still relatively low, his professional level is slightly inferior, and he is from an ancient idol, so he is naturally discriminated against by the outside world and the audience.

If you want to win the honor of Best Actor, I am afraid it will take a few years to settle down and completely transform into a powerful actor.

However, during this period, you can also work hard in TV and movies [Best Supporting Actor], which can not only enrich your resume, but also help you transform as soon as possible.

As for Huang, Duan and Jiao, Huang Bo has already won the Golden Rooster Best Actor. There is no need to think about the Golden Rooster. If you want to win the Golden Horse, it depends on your luck. Baihua and Huabiao have the best hope.

Although Jiao Enjun is the most famous after starring in "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff", he is not recognized as a capable actor. If he wants to win awards, he must choose some good works.

Only Duan Long performed well in "No Man's Land" this time and was highly praised by the industry. He can give Golden Horse, Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers a try in the past two years.

If "No Man's Land" successfully completed its mission, another "Unfortunate Journey" was a surprise. The box office finally exceeded 100 million, making it a dark horse in this summer's season.

This is also related to the themes of this year's summer movies. The styles of popular movies such as "No Man's Land", "Three Kingdoms·Guandu" and "Tangshan Earthquake" are not very relaxed.

Therefore, many movie fans hope to find a comedy movie to relieve their boredom.

There are a lot of comedy themes this summer, and it can even be called a gathering.

Zeng Zhiwei and Chen Sicheng's "Seven Little Arhats", Ren Xianqi's "Dragon and Phoenix Shop", Da Tiantian's first hit "My Beautiful Boss", Huang Xiaoming and Zhou Coffee's "Tang Bohu Points to Autumn Fragrance: The Four Talents" 》.

Going forward, there are also Xu Zheng and Happy Family's "Traveler", Sun Honglei and Zhiling's sister "Battle of Shama Town", and Brother Cheng Long's "Kung Fu Dream".

There are many movies, but there are really few that can be played.

Among this batch of movies, only "Kung Fu Dream" and "Battle of Shama Town" scored 6 or above on Time.com.

The score of "The Lost Road" is 7.8 on Time.com. Not to mention this bunch of comedy movies, in this summer's entire summer season, it is ranked only behind "Tangshan Earthquake", "No Man's Land" and "Ocean Paradise" later.

Of course, good reputation does not mean high box office.

But don't forget, "The Lost Road" is produced by Fanxing, so you don't have to worry about promotion and filming. Once it gets a good reputation, it will immediately become a dark horse.

In the end, the box office of the two movies was nearly 300 million, which meant that Fanxing's hard work this summer was not in vain, and he even made a small profit.

However, the one that steals the most limelight this summer is Feng Pants' "Tangshan Earthquake".

With a box office of 710 million, it set a new record for the second part of "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" and became the new box office number one in the history of mainland Chinese films.

Fortunately, there was "Avatar" at the beginning of the year that exceeded 1 billion, otherwise Feng Pants would have gone straight to heaven.

It just so happened that Fanxing didn't have much plans for the summer season this year, but Huayi took advantage of it. The stock price soared and the Wang brothers smiled broadly.

At the "Tangshan Earthquake" celebration party, President Xiao Wang even shouted the slogan "Let Huayi become the second star", which was interpreted by the media as a declaration of war against Cao Xuan.

Fortunately, he was still sensible and did not shout the slogan "Beyond the Stars", otherwise it would not be a declaration of war, but a laughing stock.

After all, the two sides are currently not at the same level in terms of size. Even if the development of Fanxing stops, Huayi will have to struggle for several years and may not be able to catch up.

However, they didn't shout, but the Wang brothers had similar thoughts in their hearts.

Many people have forgotten that Fanxing is actually a descendant of Huayi. However, in recent years, Fanxing has been overwhelmed by Fanxing and suffered a lot of losses overtly and covertly.

The Wang brothers have been holding their breath. They had no chance earlier, but this time "Tangshan Earthquake" can be regarded as a shot in the arm.

In addition, Huayi has raised a lot of funds since it went public last year. The two brothers are really determined to give Cao Xuan a try.

However, Cao Xuan didn't take the Wang brothers seriously. To be honest, Huayi still relied on Feng Pants to support himself.

In the two years when Feng Pants was at his peak, he might have developed well, but pointing at Feng Pants and wanting to compete with the stars was simply a dream.

What's more, Huayi has a great director, Fanxing is also not lacking, and there is even a new great director who has defected.

As soon as Cao Xuan came back this time, Li Xuejian called him and asked him to go home, and then gave him a big surprise.

Lao Mouzi couldn't stand Boss Zhang anymore, he wanted to come to Fanxing!

In "The Love of the Hawthorn Tree", which was just released this month, many people think of the rise of the little yellow duck Zhou Dongyu, but in fact Cao Xuan's master Li Xuejian also played a role in it.

There are only so many top mainland actors, and everyone is basically in the same circle.

But even so, there are not many actors who can simultaneously act in films directed by the three major mainland directors: Lao Mouzi, Chen Dadao, and Feng Pants.

Li Xuejian is one of them, and among them Lao Mouzi cooperates the most.

Lao Mouzi has appeared in movies such as "Shake, Shake, Shake to Grandma Bridge", "Speak Well", "Happy Time" and "Hawthorn Tree Love". He is also the actor with whom Lao Mouzi has collaborated the most in his career.

For example, actors such as Uncle Ge, Li Baotian, Zhao Benshan, Ni Dahong, and Sun Honglei all performed three times.

Being able to work together so many times is partly due to Lao Mouzi's appreciation of Li Xuejian's acting skills, and also because the two have a good personal relationship.

So this time Lao Mouzi also specifically asked Li Xuejian to be the intermediary. In addition to believing in Li Xuejian's character, it was also because he was Cao Xuan's master and his words had weight.

"I was afraid that I couldn't explain it clearly on the phone, so I specially called you here. You also know Director Zhang's strength and influence. It will definitely be good for Fanxing. You have to consider this matter carefully. Whether it is successful or not, your reply must be thoughtful... …”

Li Xuejian is serious in his words. He actually doesn't like to meddle in these nosy matters and rarely gets involved in the right and wrong in the industry.

This time, he was willing to help set up the connection. On the one hand, he had many years of friendship with Lao Mouzi, and on the other hand, he also saw that Cao Xuan was interested in this matter.

He could ignore other people's affairs, but he and Cao Xuan got along as if they were brothers. For such a good thing, he would definitely have to help his apprentice's house.

Cao Xuan did not let go rashly, but asked about the situation: "Master, has Director Zhang told you about the situation? I have to find out."

"He told me a little bit."

When asked by others, Li Xuejian might help his old friend, but facing his own disciple, he would definitely turn to Cao Xuan.

As long as Cao Daguan doesn't trap Lao Mouzi to death, Lao Li will turn a blind eye...

Li Xuejian organized his speech and said eloquently: "Actually, when we were filming "The Love of the Hawthorn Tree" in Hubei Province, he often chatted with me. I didn't react at the time..."

It turns out that these years, Lao Mouzi and Boss Zhang have been getting angry and quarreling over creative matters. This situation reached its peak after the rush filming of "Three Guns" after the Olympic Games.

Lao Mouzi did not elaborate on the specific circumstances, but he must have been forced to compromise a lot, and ultimately made a bad film that he later admitted was the most dissatisfactory work for him personally.

Because of this movie, the gap between Lao Mouzi and Boss Zhang became deeper and deeper.

When filming "Hawthorn Tree Love", I often came to chat with Li Xuejian and vented my bitterness from time to time.

It's just that his meaning was very obscure, or he hadn't made up his mind yet, and Li Xuejian didn't notice it, so he just treated it as a casual chat, but he did get some information about Fanxing at that time.

Compared with other companies, Fanxing's creations are far from arbitrary, and there are many internal review and supervision levels.

However, the advantage of Fanxing is that it will not easily interfere with the director's correct creation. As long as you can convince the producer or relevant people, or give a sufficient reason, Fanxing will not force changes.

They will not overly pursue the commercial attributes of movies. In most cases, priority is given to movie quality, and review and supervision have extremely standard and mature systems and processes.

This is actually very tempting to Lao Mouzi. He is not afraid of scrutiny and supervision, but he has to follow the rules.

The new picture seems to allow Lao Mouzi to have a free hand and meddle in many key issues, even sacrificing the quality of the film. This is something Lao Mouzi can't stand.

What's more important is that Boss Cao is generous.

Among the many directors who have collaborated with Cao Xuan and Fanxing, almost none have had trouble with Fanxing because of money.

The reason why Lao Mouzi broke up with New Picture Boss Zhang was because the latter was often not lenient to Lao Mouzi financially.

Although Lao Mouzi pursues film art, he also has to earn money to support his family, especially since he has many children at home, so he naturally hopes to earn more.

In addition, Boss Zhang is a big mouth and has been criticized by many people over the years, including some big guys.

He himself made enemies everywhere, and it was fun to talk to him, but it also made Lao Mouzi suffer, and the latter must not be happy in his heart.

In contrast, although Boss Cao sometimes behaves domineeringly, he has good relations with all parties and is quite popular.

Not to mention the power gap between Fanxing and New Picture. One is an aircraft carrier and the other can only be regarded as a speedboat, and the engine is still his Lao Mouzi.

Old Monster Xu, Ning Hao and others lived a relaxed and happy life with their backs against the big tree.

Lao Mouzi is not a masochist. If he can eat a lot of meat and fish every day, who the hell will eat chaffy vegetables?

Therefore, after the exchange with Li Xuejian, Lao Mouzi was actually tempted, but he had not made a complete decision at that time.

Until the filming of "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins", Boss Zhang interfered again in the new scene, and various related behaviors made Lao Mouzi very resistant.

So Lao Mouzi finally couldn't bear it anymore and quietly contacted Li Xuejian, planning to join Fanxing.

"Xuanzi, what do you think?"

After Li Xuejian finished speaking, he took a sip of water. He was curious about his apprentice's attitude, and Cao Xuan didn't hide it from him.

"Director Zhang wants to come to Fanxing, of course I welcome him."

In Cao Xuan's heart, Lao Mouzi has always been one of the top directors in the country, but his shortcomings are obvious, but they can be made up for.

To be honest, Cao Xuan missed Lao Mouzi more than just a day or two.

He doesn't like Director Chen, he doesn't like Feng Trousers, and the Wang brothers also take a close look at them. These top mainland directors, Lao Mouzi, suit him and have the opportunity to poach them.

His previous efforts in the Beijing Olympics and "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" are not in vain. It seems that he left a good impression on Lao Mouzi.

Coupled with the major advantages of Fanxing, when Lao Mouzi wanted to leave, he immediately thought of Fanxing.

However, the matter of signing Lao Mouzi needs to be done steadily.

On the one hand, the cooperation between the other party and the new picture "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins" has not ended yet, and Lao Mouzi can't just leave.

On the other hand, if he remembered correctly, Boss Zhang had played a lot of dirty tricks, and Cao Xuan had to see if he could clean them up privately.

Even if it can't be swept clean, let the thunder explode smaller so as not to cause too strong a negative storm.

Don't sign Lao Mouzi over at that time. As a result, public opinion exploded and he had to avoid the limelight for two years. Then wouldn't Cao Daguan suffer a loss?

Moreover, Boss Zhang is, at best, a gangster, and at worst, a mad dog.

I really poached Lao Mouzi. This guy might be crazy about gains and losses, and he would say anything. Although Cao Xuan is not afraid, he is still a trouble after all.

The most important thing is that Cao Xuan doesn't want this matter to turn into Fanxing bullying others, poaching others' pillars, causing everyone in the company to be in danger, which will be bad for Fanxing and his reputation.

Cao Xuan thought about finding a chance to meet with Lao Mouzi to see how he could calmly switch to Fanxing...