China Entertainment 1997

Fanxing Building, Cao Xuan's office

Cao Xuan came out of the elevator and just entered the office when secretary Hu Ya in professional attire knocked on the door and came in.

"Boss, Director Zhang has been waiting in the waiting room for half an hour."

"Well, let him... forget it, I'll go over."

Cao Xuan left the office and walked around a corner along the corridor to the reception room on the top floor. He knocked on the door and came in. Lao Mouzi was sitting on the sofa puffing away smoke with a cigar in his mouth. When he saw Cao Xuan appearing, he hurriedly Smoked out.

"CEO Cao."

"Sorry, Director Zhang, there was a bit of a traffic jam this morning, so I kept you waiting."

"It's okay, I understand. It's really not easy to walk around the capital in the morning."

Although he is a well-known director, Lao Mouzi has no intention of showing off to Cao Xuan. Although his words and deeds are not respectful, they are still very polite.

After all, Cao Xuan is not just an ordinary film and television company boss.

His social status, asset class, industry power, international reputation, and network level are even better than him, and even far beyond him in many aspects.

Moreover, when Lao Mouzi escaped, Cao Xuan was kind to him. Lao Mouzi was secretly grateful for Cao Xuan's help.

Therefore, the bosses of other companies always licked Lao Mouzi, but Cao Xuan respected each other more, and even Lao Mouzi's attitude was lower.

"Mr. Cao, let me introduce to you. This is Ni Ni, the heroine of "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling". She has just signed a contract with my lover's company."

The girl who had been standing obediently in the corner just now mustered up the courage to say hello: "Hello, Mr. Cao."

Cao Xuan took a look at the girl. To be honest, the girl's appearance was not particularly in line with his taste, but she was not bad either. More importantly, she had an excellent figure and temperament.

With a good director and costume styling, it is easy to become an actress killer and overwhelm her with glamor at every turn.

Lao Mouzi went through all kinds of troubles with "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins" to snatch her away from New Picture.

For this reason, the ownership of Little Yellow Duck and Gong Yao may change, which shows how much Lao Mouzi values ​​this girl.

There are rumors that Lao Mouzi wants to make her the third "Mou Girl" to go international after Gong Li and International Zhang.

As for Little Yellow Duck, the former girl, although she is also somewhat popular, her own conditions are insufficient. In everyone's opinion, she is far less promising than Ni Ni, a great beauty.

If it weren't for God's Eye, Cao Xuan would probably feel the same way.

After all, who would have thought that the little yellow duck, whose acting skills and external conditions are not outstanding at this time, would become the third best actress with three gold medals.

Although the little yellow duck has the credit of joining the Hong Kong circle, Ni Ni got very close to the Beijing circle and the Shanghai circle in the later period, and even had contact with the Hong Kong circle. However, in terms of popularity and achievements, he is far inferior to the little yellow duck.

Fortune, destiny!

Starting high does not mean leading everywhere. There are too few examples of companies that have successively released several masterpieces and then become popular for a long time like International Chapter.

Making an amazing debut and gradually falling into mediocrity is the ending for most people’s artists who start from a high starting point...

Cao Xuan was somewhat interested in this girl Mou, and at the same time, he chatted with her for Lao Mouzi's sake.

"Ever learned dance?"

Ni Ni said obediently: "I have practiced national standard for several years."

Lao Mouzi deliberately praised him and said a few words of praise: "This kid studied broadcasting in college, won a provincial championship in dance, and is a national second-level swimmer. He is extremely talented."

"It can be seen that he has a good temperament."

Lao Mouzi's taste has always been stable, and he prefers girls who have practiced dancing.

He believes that such girls have a good temperament, and at the same time they don't like mature actors. They prefer students or amateurs. They think they are easy to train and the audience is more likely to get involved in the drama.

Gong Li was a student at the school, International Chapter was also a student, and she was a dancer. Dong Bailian was also a dancer. Little Yellow Duck practiced gymnastics. Ni Ni needs no introduction. Liu Dianping, who was sprayed with bloody sprays later, was also a dancer. .

Although Lao Mouzi has also broken his own rules, such as Da Tiantian in "The Great Wall" and Sun Niangniang in "Shadow".

But analyzing these women he brought out single-handedly, we can still see his psychological thoughts.

Moreover, he likes to collaborate many times with actors he values ​​​​more, such as Gong Li. Not to mention in the early years, later in "The Golden Armor" and "Return", he found his ex-girlfriend regardless of the gimmick.

In terms of actresses alone, Gong Li is definitely Bai Yueguang in Lao Mouzi's heart.

We have also collaborated with International Chapter several times, and Little Yellow Duck also acted in his "Solid as a Rock" later on. Yu Hewei and Zhang Ze have almost become queen actors.

Not to mention Liu Dianping, many people suspected that Lao Mouzi had been poisoned...

In the original time and space, Lao Mouzi did not have the stars as a backer, and because of lack of preparation, he was tricked by Boss Zhang. Ni Ni did not join him and went their separate ways.

But the two still collaborated once, but it was not directed by Lao Mouzi, but "28 Years Old Minor" directed by his daughter, and Lao Mouzi was the producer.

Therefore, Lao Mouzi still had some concern for Ni Ni. Not to mention that he is still his own artist.

I was specially brought to see Cao Xuan today. To some extent, I was using my own face to pave the way for her.

Boss Cao also knew what he was doing and was willing to give Lao Mouzi some face. Anyway, there were plenty of starry dramas.

"Director Xu is planning to shoot a martial arts movie for her next film. I remember that a few female roles have not yet been decided. I will let her try out the role later."

Lao Mouzi didn't expect Cao Xuan to be so straightforward, so he felt more face-saving and hurriedly asked Ni Ni to express his thanks.

"Thank you, Mr. Cao."

"Thank you, Mr. Cao."

Ni Ni hurriedly bowed to express his thanks. Cao Xuan waved his hand. Seeing that there was still some smoke in the room, he smiled at Lao Mouzi.

"Come to my office and chat. Last time, a friend gave me some of the best Huangshan Maofeng. Director Zhang can try to see if it is authentic."

"Then I'm in for a treat."

The two laughed and chatted for a few words. Cao Xuan looked at Ni Ni who seemed to be hesitating whether to follow or not, and reminded him.

"You can go back by yourself first. Director Zhang and I need to chat for a while, so there's no need to wait here."

Lao Mouzi nodded: "Just ask Lao Liu to take you back to the company, and then wait for my call."

"Um, uh, okay."

Ni Ni watched the two people leave the reception room in a daze. She never expected that things would go so smoothly today. She felt happy and a little disappointed at the same time.

Gao Xing naturally registered in front of Cao Xuan and got the opportunity to audition for Xu Laoguai's new movie.

It was said to be a trial, but now that Cao Xuan has spoken, it is a done deal.

As for loss, it’s more complicated.

Ni Ni is not a novice, of course he knows why Lao Mouzi brought him to see Cao Xuan.

The manager helped train her several times in private, and even repeatedly reminded Cao Xuan of some of her habits and taboos to prevent her from acting randomly and causing Cao Xuan's displeasure.

This kind of training is actually not the first time for Ni Ni. When he was filming "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins" before, he also attended some dinners with Zhang Weiping and even Lao Mouzi, and met some big names or investors in the industry.

I know everything about dinner parties in the entertainment industry.

Although she is the heroine and is also the future ace that Er Zhang is optimistic about, no one will force her to sell her virginity as long as she doesn't want to, but her innocence can be maintained, and it is difficult to avoid being teased with some dirty jokes while drinking and laughing at the dinner table.

Taking into account Boss Cao's reputation, Ni Ni was already prepared before arriving.

However, compared to those fat-bellied, bald and greasy bosses, Ni Ni did not dislike Cao Xuan. He even had some vague expectations and did not mind what would really happen.

You know, Boss Cao is the dream man of countless women around the world, and the lover/lover with the highest voting rate among Asian women.

This voting scope includes China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and even some South and West Asian countries.

Although there are still some competitors in South Asia and West Asia, the home base of East Asia is almost far ahead, crushing the stars, rich people, and elites from China, Japan, and South Korea.

On the contrary, it is the husband who votes for the candidate. Due to Cao Xuan's reputation as a great official, many women do not regard him as the first choice, but even so, Cao Xuan's name has not left the top three.

After all, with Cao Xuan's level of appearance, fame and assets, the flaw of being a philanderer is not intolerable.

With his fame, Ni Ni felt that if he could communicate with Boss Cao, it would be the pinnacle of his life and he would make a lot of money.

In the same way, if you are given the opportunity to have a romantic relationship with a super white, rich and beautiful woman who has the face of Fan Xiaopang + the assets of Ponyboy Ma + the fame of Scarlett Johansson, I am afraid that 99.9999% of men will not do it. reject.

Ni Ni, who had thought about it countless times before, had thought of all the scenarios, but she didn't expect that Cao Xuan was not interested in her at all, so he dismissed her with just two words.

So much so that Ni Ni left with deep self-doubt and regret.

………

Cao Xuan and the other two did not expect that Ni Ni would be so fancy.

Lao Mouzi just brought her to brush her face, not to pimp her. Besides, even if he wanted to, he wouldn't dare to take her to Fanxing Building. Hu Jing's office is next door. Wouldn't he offend the Empress of the East Palace to death?

Cao Xuan didn't think much about it. He could hardly resist the wolf-like things in Ergong, so he had no energy to eat wild food.

The two of them left Ni Ni behind and came to the office to make tea and chat while drinking.

When Lao Mouzi came here this time, he didn't just bring Ni Ni to show his face. He was just there to talk about the new movie.

The last time he took "Hunting" from Cao Xuan, after much thought, he finally made up his mind. Now he is revising the script. He plans to finish "The Thirteen Beauties" by the end of the year and start preparations for filming next spring and summer.

At present, the first version of the Chinese script of "The Hunt" has been released.

"Will this pass trial?"

Cao Xuan did not approve of the adaptation, feeling that it was too risky, and he did not want the film to be linked to politics.

"If it were shot like this, it would be a bit like "Furong Town" and there would be no difference. The political conflict would be stronger than the moral conflict, and the flavor of the story would change."

"Then what do you mean?"

"Just put it in the 1990s or early 1990s, in relatively remote mountain villages and towns. The focus is still on the human and social level."

Cao Xuan knows that many of these older filmmakers suffered losses back then, and they often want to perform at that time.

After all, they were not the parties involved, and Cao Xuan didn't want to comment on their actions, but he didn't care about other movies, but there was really no need to bother with the movie "Hunting".

Lao Mouzi still wanted to argue, but Cao Xuan persuaded him one by one.

In the end, I couldn't help but bow my head and admit that if it were placed in a peaceful era and put aside some other factors, the plot of the movie would be even more frightening and chilling to the bone.

After discussing the script for a while, the two of them each had their own successes and losses, and they finally agreed upon their opinions for the time being, before Lao Mouzi asked.

"You said before that you would think about it before replying. Now can you give me a confirmation?"

The male protagonist in the movie is set to be a teacher. Because he is liked by precocious girls, his image should be more mature and handsome, and then he should consider his acting skills.

Lao Mouzi finally drafted several candidates, Chen Daoming, Wang Zhiwen and Cao Xuan.

Considering that Cao Xuan has been exposed to movie scripts very early and has discussed many times that he has a deep understanding of the character, he is more inclined to Cao Xuan.

Chen Daoming and Wang Zhiwen have no problem with their image and acting skills. They are a bit old, so they can't be called uncles and girls, but grandparents and granddaughters.

Cao Xuan is actually very moved. His previous role in "Saving Mr. My Life" was said to be more literary, but in fact it still had many commercial elements and was considered a drama.

"Hunting" is a literary film through and through, which is a big challenge for Cao Xuan, who has never made a literary film.

The reason why he didn't agree was not because he was timid or hesitant, but because he had another literary film script in his hand——

"Fireworks in the Day"

This movie was recommended to Cao Xuan by Zeng Li. The director and screenwriter Diao Yinan graduated from the Chinese Theater Academy. He went to attend an event at the Chinese Theater Theater last semester, and then told his friends about the story of the movie.

Zeng Li was at the scene at the time and found it interesting after hearing it. When he learned that he was soliciting investment, he told Cao Xuan.

Of course Cao Xuan knew about this movie, and he won a Berlin Best Actor and a Golden Bear Award. At that time, he was obsessed with collecting and wanted to cut off his mustache to compete for the top three European awards.

Because of this, Cao Xuan has been swinging between the two movies "Hunting" and "Fireworks in the Day".

Personally speaking, Cao Xuan prefers "Hunting", but "Fireworks in the Day" seems to be easier to win prizes. From a practical point of view, it is a more suitable choice.

Before meeting Lao Mouzi, Cao Xuan had a special chat with Diao Yinan, who finally helped him make up his mind.

Diao Yinan believes that Cao Xuan is too handsome and does not meet the position of the male protagonist of "Fireworks in the Day".

Because the male protagonist of "Fireworks in the Day" is a middle-aged detective, he even made mistakes and was fired later. He is relatively depressed. He even has some addictions and was rejected by his wife and divorced. He is a very sad character.

He was dressed in rags, had an unkempt beard, greasy hair, hunched shoulders, and spoke in a rough voice.

Diao Yinan has no doubts about Cao Xuan's acting skills, but image is indeed a problem. Even if Cao Xuan deliberately pretends to be ugly, he is still more upright than ordinary people.

If the actor's image conflicts with the role positioning, then the movie will become inconsistent. This is a taboo.

Maybe Cao Xuan can play the male protagonist he wants, but Diao Yinan prefers a less handsome male protagonist.

On the other hand, the male protagonist in "Hunting" is a middle-aged elementary school teacher. He is gentle and elegant, with a good temperament. He is more in line with Cao Xuan's image. He does not need to deliberately change himself too much, and he can convince the audience.

Listen to others' advice and eat well. Cao Xuan is a person who can listen to opinions.

Every actor has his or her own areas of expertise and acting skills. Given these conditions, there is no need to pursue so-called breakthroughs or blindly challenge roles that are not suitable for you. The one that suits you will always be the best.

So after talking to Diao Yinan, he gave up on the movie "Fireworks in the Day" and only made investments, not even intervening in the casting.

At the same time, he also gave Lao Mouzi the confirmation letter: "Send me the shooting time then, and I will ask my assistant to arrange the schedule."

"okay."

Lao Mouzi happily clapped his hands. If Cao Xuan joins, the film will become one-third.

Even considering the names of the two of them, even though it is a literary film, Lao Mouzi is confident that it will sell more than 200 million.

Although Fanxing will not deliberately pursue box office, as the first movie he has joined, Lao Mouzi still hopes to make some money and make his situation better.

As soon as it was noon, the two of them were chatting in a lively manner, so they simply asked someone to go to the cafeteria to get some food, and they ate and chatted in the office.

"There's nothing wrong with the other actors, but the little girl really needs to think about it."

Lao Mouzi talked about casting. The most important role in the movie "Hunting" is the male lead played by Cao Xuan. It is not difficult to find a few representatives of other townspeople/villagers who can use capable actors.

The most troublesome thing is this little girl. She is the focus of the whole movie. She needs to find someone with spiritual energy, otherwise she may not be able to hold on.

"If that doesn't work, let's hold auditions. Ages 6 to 12 are selected first, and then the roles are adjusted according to the actors."

"It's best to be under 10 years old. 12 years old is a bit too much. The younger you are, the stronger the contrast will be."

"Then add a priority of 6 to 10 years old. I think adding an extra two years old will give a wider range. Some children may grow slower and look younger, but are actually older and can communicate better during filming."

Lao Mouzi also nodded, and then proposed another idea: "You said, if it is changed to a boy, the effect will be even better."

"Well……"

Cao Xuan couldn't keep up with his wild ideas, so he rubbed his eyes and explained with a headache.

"Firstly, this kind of subject matter may not be supported in China by censorship. Secondly, domestic audiences may not be very sensitive to this, and the plot logic does not fit well."

A very sad thing is that the protection of young boys in China is not ideal. It was only in the following years that people slowly became aware of and paid attention to this issue.

According to the timeline of the movie, if the plot is changed to a boy, I am afraid that some of the plot logic in the movie will not hold true. China has not yet become sensitive to it, because a little boy isolates his teacher.

After careful calculation, Lao Mouzi found that it was indeed not in line with the domestic situation, so he gave up angrily.

Cao Xuan also breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time he felt a little tired.

When these directors make literary films, they always try to focus on political or sensitive themes.

If it really comes from the heart, it would be great. For example, "Into the Smoke" rarely focuses on farmers, and the technique is very advanced. It is very subtle and quietly thought-provoking.

And most of the literary and artistic films are more about whining and making excuses, using side-effects to stuff private goods, and expressing what the director calls a certain thought.

High emotional intelligence: exposing social reality and caring for marginalized groups.

Low EQ: I just want to find some excitement to satisfy my restless literary youth and public intellectual mentality.

Cao Xuan has no prejudice against literary and artistic films. It is normal for some to be good and bad. There are also high-quality and bad commercial films. However, compared to some film techniques and so-called conveying of ideas, he personally prefers plot and emotional expression.

He has no control over other movies, but for the movie "Hunting", he doesn't want Lao Mouzi to mess around.

When necessary, he doesn't mind being a show tyrant again.

………

So when Lao Mouzi left, Cao Xuan assigned him a screenwriter to assist in script creation and to supervise him not to make blind changes.

Lao Mouzi is not good at scripts. If he lets himself go, the movie will definitely be scrapped.

Cao Xuan still remembers the plots of "Shadow" and "The Great Wall".

Rotating two iron umbrellas while playing on the slide on the street and diving into the water to fight monsters gave him a huge shock to his soul at the time.

He couldn't figure out how Lao Mouzi figured it out.

Not to mention "The Great Wall", this movie is a complete mess and has countless flaws, so it's not too outrageous to throw in a lot of bad stuff.

But the overall quality of "Shadow" is pretty good, except that Cao Xuan really doesn't understand why Lao Mouzi insists on insisting on the "umbrella" weapon, which is completely unconvincing.

It's enough to just close the sword, just use it as a strange weapon, and it's really not enough for a small team to sneak attack the city.

Even if the bow and arrow cannot break through the defense, if you hit the head office with a stone, it will not kill you, but it will still be injured. If it is not injured, it will still be able to hinder the umbrella from flipping. In the terrain at that time, as long as one of them flips over, the whole group will be wiped out.

The solution that normal people can think of to break the situation is not reflected in the movie at all. The plot is forced to reduce intelligence and kill people, which makes people vomit blood.

If the other plots of "Shadow" are rated 7.5 to 8, Cao Xuan feels that they are not up to standard just because of this weapon and a series of plots.

To put it harshly, it's just one rat droppings that ruined the whole pot of soup.

Therefore, when Lao Mouzi is in charge of the movie, the script really needs to be reviewed by professionals. Otherwise, if he is allowed to play whatever he wants, there will be big jokes.

The specific filming of "Hunting" will have to wait until next year, so there is no rush for the time being. Cao Xuan is now paying more attention to "Hurricane Rescue 3".

"Now You See Me" was a box office hit, and Warner specifically wanted to make a sequel. Cao Xuan didn't refuse, but the script was a problem.

The plot quality of the original "Now You See Me 2" was not ideal, so Cao Xuan hoped to make the script better and not ruin the signature of the first film.

Considering the box office volume of the first part, Cao Xuan personally is not worried about the popularity of the second part. It is not a bad thing to wait for a few years and polish it slowly.

The copyright is in his hands, and there is nothing Warner can do about it. Besides, Cao Xuan wants to make "Rescue 3", which is also good for them.

Riding on the popularity of "Now You See Me" and the Marvel series, Warner is particularly optimistic about the prospects of this movie. As long as the quality is decent, it won't be a big problem if it surpasses the previous two films, and it may not even be comparable to "Now You See Me 2".

To this end, Warner and New Line agreed in principle to further increase Cao Xuan's salary for "Taken 3".

Who makes Cao Xuan famous right now, and the "Hurricane Rescue" series is entirely supported by Cao Xuan, Warner and others are passive, and there is nothing they can do if they disagree.

In mid-September, the crew of "Taken 3" officially announced that it would be filming soon, and the Hollywood media also found out a big piece of news.

Cao Xuan's salary for this movie is US$20 million + partial profit sharing!

This also means that there is now one more person in the Hollywood 20 million salary club.

Even if Cao Xuan's salary is mainly for the "Taken" series, it may not be that high for another movie, but being able to get such a high salary is a victory.

When taking stock of Hollywood's top names in the future, Cao Xuan will not be said to be firmly at the forefront, but he certainly cannot be avoided.

Especially among action stars, Cao Xuan must have a place, and he is even now one of the leading superstars in action movies...