China Entertainment: Director’s happiness is so simple

"Wow! Mom!!!"

On the set of "Insidious", the filming process was forced to stop as a burst of crying broke out.

It turned out that the young actor Sonny, who played the hero's son, was frightened by the actor wearing "ghost make-up".

Lu Ping'an was helpless. This was already the fourth time. He didn't think much and directly said Wen Ziren: "Xiao Wen."

"clear!"

Wen Ziren immediately ran forward and performed the magic of warming men.

After a while, the young actor returned to his normal state, and the entire crew relaxed.

Child actors are troublesome in Hollywood.

The shooting time cannot exceed 3 hours a day. For horror films, you must have psychological-related medical equipment, and you cannot die during the plot, etc.

So little Sonny was frightened in this way, but now he has calmed down. If he still has problems after being questioned later, the crew may be in a lot of trouble, such as losing money, going to court, etc. It will be very troublesome.

Fortunately, James Wan is obviously more effective than ordinary psychotherapists, and even more effective than little Sonny's mother.

After some coaxing, hugging, and a few words, the problem is solved.

Even though it has been a week since the filming of the film, Lu Ping'an suspected that Sonny deliberately did this so that James Wan could "play" with him.

Speaking of which, James Wan is really useful.

His native language is English, and he has an extremely keen sense of smell for horror movies. He can completely follow Lu Pingan's ideas. So when Lu Pingan needs an actor to express what kind of effect he needs, but he can't express it clearly quickly, Wen Ziren can understand it instantly. Helps with communication very well.

This also made the filming process go very smoothly.

Now that we have been shooting for a week, the film is about 60% complete, which is three days faster than expected.

Not bad, Lu Pingan feels that this little brother is worth it.

In the afternoon, after getting off work at the same time, Wen Ziren and Lu Ping'an went home together, had dinner, and then began to summarize today's problems and discuss other things.

Lu Pingan also plays the role of his "master".

If you can answer it well, teach it well. If it is not easy to answer, just say: "You have to understand it in practice."

Generally speaking, the number of times that the above answers cannot be answered is very small.

Because the current Wen Ziren is indeed not that strong and has very little practical experience.

But Lu Pingan can also see that with his talent, it won't be long before he surpasses ordinary people like Lu Pingan in horror movies.

Jimmy Fallon came to guest star the next day, and Lu Pingan gave him the role of the first batch of exorcists who appeared in the film. This is a pair of exorcists.

In order to echo "The David Late Show", Lu Ping'an and Jimmy Fallon each made a guest appearance, just for fun, which was quite interesting.

During his cameo, Jimmy Fallon recorded a follow-up report that will air as Insidious begins to promote its release.

Combined with talk shows, the publicity effect will be good.

During the filming period, the box office of "Death Day" was released in the third week, which was 16 million, and the total box office in North America also reached 56 million. This also made Lu Ping'an once again become one of the focuses of the Hollywood media.

Another success after "Chainsaw 1", Lu Ping'an has basically established a firm foothold in Hollywood, and the market quotation of the director's salary has also completely stabilized at US$3 million!

At the same time, other regions have begun to go online one after another, and the box office this week is expected to exceed 20 million.

Regardless of other regions, Lu Ping An only looks at the North American account. The profit after deducting costs and publicity will be about 22 million.

Nice, but gets used up quickly.

Wattsberg has already contacted several theater companies, and his task next year is to establish his own distribution channels and the first theater chain.

The rest was saved for future film projects.

In the future, both legs must be strong to reach the top.

One is a low-budget horror film, and the other is an award-winning film.

Low-budget horror films are currently developing step by step. After "Insidious" is completed, it will be released in March next year, followed by "Death Day 2", "Chainsaw 2", "Insidious 2", etc., all of which are profitable films. Ping An only participated in the screenwriting, not the director.

As for award-winning movies, the closest one is "Brokeback Mountain" which Lu Ping'an bought before.

The specific shooting time will be in the second half of 2004, and will impact the 2005 Venice and 2006 Oscars.

There will be profits and awards, and once the wave is over, Peak will be able to establish itself as the first echelon of Hollywood independent film companies.

During my stay in the United States, news also came from the mainland.

The Bashu team has completed the filming of "Kung Fu Panda" and is currently moving back to the capital. Wu Guohua has rented a larger office space, and the next work will only be arranged after Lu Ping'an returns from Lao Mei's business.

During this period, Wanwan also called. There was a Golden Horse Awards ceremony on December 13. The other party invited him, but Lu Pingan was not available. After filming "Latent", he had to follow up on post-production. At the same time, he also had to watch some of James Wan's movies. The point is, besides, he didn’t have any works shortlisted for the Golden Horse this time, so he simply didn’t go.

The original owner's sister-in-law also called to remind him not to forget the date.

December 18th was the wedding of the original owner's sister-in-law and her boyfriend, who was a policeman. Of course, Lu Ping'an would not forget it, because that day was also an auspicious day, suitable for getting married, praying for blessings, and offering sacrifices.

Lu Ping'an had long decided to set the day for the opening of the masterpiece.

By December 11, "Insidious" was completed.

[Completeness 97%]

[Reward: No change of expression]

The structure of the work is complete, and there is basically no room for Lu Ping'an to improve. James Wan, who was brought in to help, is still a rookie, so it is expected that he failed to surpass it.

Looking at the reward again, Lu Pingan found that it was a psychological-related skill.

The so-called calm expression means that when seeing certain disgusting, scary and other scenes that can cause negative emotions, there will be no physiological reaction.

This skill is very suitable for forensic medicine!

Lu Ping'an thought of it immediately.

However, Lu Ping'an was still very satisfied, because he would indeed feel nauseous after seeing some exciting scenes.

Now when I think of some scenes, such as the short video of northern Myanmar that I saw in my previous life, it feels like watching an ordinary movie. I don’t feel much, and I even feel a little bit disappointed.

Not bad, this at least fills up one of my psychological weaknesses.

After accepting the reward, Lu Pingping called everyone to call it a day and wrap up the party at night.

This time the actors in "Insidious" are all newcomers.

Rachel became popular and joined the new cast, and so did David.

In fact, even if they were free, Lu Ping An would not let them act. It would be inappropriate and too expensive.

Now these new actors are pretty good, with a total salary of less than 90,000.

The shooting took 12 days and the total cost was only 770,000.

Of course, it's expensive if you include Lu Ping'an's own director's salary. This time, the director's salary will be paid at 2 million, so you still have to take the money.

In addition to this there is a share, 50%.

The film was a huge hit and he is still the biggest winner.

Several shareholders didn't have any objections. Without Lupin, there would be no such hugely profitable project, and they were all satisfied.

"Insidious" is finished, and the next step is post-production work.

James Wan is still learning at this stage.

At the same time, the news that "Death Day" was a hit after three weeks of release in North America spread back to China, immediately causing shock in the domestic industry.

At this time, China is just a window for the marketing of "House of Flying Daggers".

On that day, the stills of "House of Flying Daggers" were released, showing Andy and Takeshi Kaneshiro's costumes as royal guards, International Chapter's gorgeous costumes and dance poses, Song Dandan's style, and the bamboo sea on the movie set.

Several stills, exquisite and beautiful.

In addition, "House of Flying Daggers" also released more soft articles about the plot and story.

Lao Mouzi focused on the martial arts style this time, saying that his favorite martial arts novel author is Gu Long.

The new film "House of Flying Daggers" will also be different from "Hero", adding more special effects and more visually impactful martial arts action.

All in all, a lot of marketing has made many movie fans interested in "House of Flying Daggers".

Zhang Weiping specifically read the comments online and found that everyone basically had the same idea.

That is, "Hero" should still be criticized, but Lao Mouzi is still recognized.

After all, Lao Mouzi has a lot of blood. He is one of the top directors in China at the moment, with both commercial and artistic excellence. Therefore, even though the reputation of "Hero" in 2002 was torn apart, most people still recognized Lao Mouzi and felt that "Hero" "Hero" is just a small mistake on his part, and it will get better later.

Zhang Weiping was very happy, he felt that everything was under control.

Movies rely on publicity.

At this point, he couldn't help but think of Lu Ping'an.

Now Lu Pingan's new work "9527" is still tightly covered, which is very effective. Everyone is very curious, and it also puts a lot of pressure on Zhang Weiping, but after an overall assessment, he still feels that Lu Pingan's Star Film and Television is in terms of marketing Far inferior to him.

This is still soft power. In terms of hard power, the lineup of "9527" is average, the director's reputation is not as good as that of Lao Mouzi, and the investment is even less than that of "The Source".

So for now, it seems that the advantage still lies with me!

However, at this moment, news about Lu Ping An suddenly broke out on the Internet.

"Ping An Lu succeeds again in Hollywood"

Zhang Weiping shuddered suddenly and clicked to take a closer look.

The media painted it very vividly.

It was said that Lu Ping An's first Hollywood movie only received an investment of US$1 million, but the result was a huge hit and a miracle.

When it came to the second part, it would have been reasonable to expect at least US$30 million in investment, but in the end it was still less than US$5 million. The investors felt that Lu Ping An's first success was due to luck.

But Lu Ping'an did his best. With only this little money, he still relied on his strength to achieve amazing results for you.

4 million US dollars, 56 million box office! And it’s only three weeks, and the global box office will still exceed 100 million in the future!

This achievement is a miracle in Hollywood!

The media also reproduced many comments from old and American media, celebrities, and the public.

"Lu is the most talented Chinese director I have ever seen."

"Lu's movies are really great. He made me realize the strength of Chinese directors."

"Lu is so surprising. He will become a truly great director."

"Because of Lu, I became very interested in Chinese movies."

The news finally said: After this time, Lu Pingan will completely gain a foothold in Hollywood and become another successful Chinese director in Hollywood after Li An, John Woo and others!

These days, anything related to Lao America can attract widespread attention.

What's more, Lu Ping'an still strives for glory, and he still strives for great glory!

Furthermore, in this era when commercial films are gradually being accepted by mainland filmmakers, it is no longer difficult to discuss the box office in public.

Lu Pingan's commercial success in Hollywood may bring him a bigger bonus than the short film Oscar and Grand Slam.

As a result, this piece of news quickly became a hot topic today, directly crushing "House of Flying Daggers" in the film industry, and even directly leaving the industry. It became social news to a certain extent.

After seeing it, the general public were very excited.

The previous story-telling news narrative can only make domestic netizens have a small climax.

But when I saw the comments from foreigners that were reprinted later, and when I saw them all saying they admired it, the climax suddenly went up a few degrees.

Many netizens commented in the forum.

"Peace on the road!"

"What kind of movie is it and where can I watch it?"

"I want to know if it can be released in China."

"I've seen all of Lu Ping'an's movies, and they are indeed very interesting."

"When it comes to the storytelling of the movie, Lu Ping'an is better than Lao Mouzi!"

"Same feeling, but it would be better if Lu Ping'an could have the look of Lao Mouzi's movie."

"I'm in the United States, so I watched "Saw" and I can only say that Lu Ping'an is amazing! The quality of the new movie "Happy Death Day" is not as good as "Saw", but it's still good-looking!"

"Do they sell discs upstairs? I want to buy them at a high price."

"I just want to know what kind of movie "9527" is."

"Inside information, "9527" is a comedy!"

"It's all nonsense upstairs."

Then various news about Lu Ping An's new Hollywood movie also became the focus of attention.

Everyone is curious, what kind of movie can conquer the United States?

The escaping curiosity also flooded into Lu Pingan's new film "9527" in the Mainland.

As for House of Flying Daggers?

There are still people paying attention.

But Zhang Weiping knew that this wave of marketing was far from the effect he wanted.

But he is not panicking, because "Hero" will be released in the United States in a few months.

I believe that when it achieves super high box office, it will surely regain its popularity!

Lu Pingan has achieved another success in Hollywood, and many people in the industry are ready to make a move.

Countless people are thinking that if Lu Pingan succeeds in Hollywood, will he be able to use his connections to star in Hollywood movies in the future?

Of course, industry leaders are relatively calm about this matter.

Because they all know what kind of role a director is in Hollywood.

Whether you can participate in the project or not is not decided by the director. This is not a co-production, but a pure Hollywood film. It is not that easy to participate in investment.

However, it is still necessary to keep paying attention, so everyone politely sent their blessings, congratulations and best wishes for Lu Ping An's career to make further progress.

But some people are not so sure.

When Zhang Weiping was asked by reporters about Lu Ping An, he sang the opposite tune.

"Horror films are niche films in the United States and are not mainstream. No matter how high the box office is, what's the use? Let's wait until he participates in a big-budget project and achieves success."

After saying that, he turned around and left.

He was fed up with the news these days.

And as Zhang Weiping came out to badmouth.

There are also more negative voices in the market.

Some people think Lu Ping'an is stupid. He went to Hollywood to make money for others. After making so much money, you don't get any share. It's almost like being taken advantage of.

Some people think that Zhang Weiping is right. Horror movies are not mainstream anywhere, and Ping An's success is nothing to brag about.

Some people say that Lu Ping An is passing on stereotypes to the West, making them think that Chinese people can only make horror movies.

There are all kinds of voices, good and bad.

But one thing is for sure.

That is, Lu Ping'an's directorship is indeed much higher.

After all, this is Hollywood, a circle that is at the top of the current contempt chain in the film and television industry.

Regarding the Hong Kong and Taiwan film and television circles, practitioners in the mainland have sharpened their heads to get in, and this is even more true in Hollywood.

So regardless of whether Lu Ping An's films in Hollywood are mainstream or not, now that he has achieved great success, he has directly become the most popular among mainland and even Chinese directors.

Countless actors began to imagine that it would be great if they could be taken seriously by Lu Ping An. That would be a Hollywood movie!

As a director, Lu Ping'an doesn't have a clue when he inserts someone into the team?

So find a way to get along!

Those who hold this view are basically people who know nothing about Hollywood.

Their perspective on things is not that high, so they are naturally much more naive.

Zhang Songwen, Ning Hao and other friends who are close to Lu Pingan are always asked this question these days.

Zhang Songwen was even said to have said that as long as he could appear in a Hollywood movie, money would not be a problem.

But there is no answer to this question.

If there is a chance, can I give it to you?

You don’t believe me when I say there is no chance, and you also offend others.

So the answers are all the same: I’ll ask later

Liu Xiaoli also took the initiative to ask Liu Qianqian: "Have you contacted Ping An recently?"

"Of course."

Liu Qianqian was a little impatient.

She didn't like her mother's snobbish questions.

But she was still very happy about the matter itself.

Because she had always had a good relationship with Lu Pingan, she always went to his courtyard. When Lu Pingan was at home, she would occasionally go there to have a meal, and she could also enter Lu Pingan's study! She bought all the koi in his water tank, but she didn't know if they were dead now. She decided to get the key from Zhang Songwen tomorrow and go take a look.

You see, this is much better than many actors who have difficulty meeting him.

"That's good." Liu Xiaoli felt relieved after hearing this, but still asked: "When you are free, ask him when he will come back."

"No, there's no reason."

Liu Qianqian still felt that the purpose was too obvious and she didn't like it.

Liu Xiaoli shook her head: "Give him the script of the next play as a consultant."

"That's not necessary."

"Silly girl!"

Liu Xiaoli started to raise some points, "If the relationship is good now, will it continue to be good in the future?"

"...All right."

Liu Qianqian looked helpless, but Liu Xiaoli's words did make her feel a little bit in crisis.

Lu Ping'an is doing so well in Hollywood, flying higher and higher, and getting busier and busier. In the future, the opportunities to go to his house for dinner will be less and less, and the relationship will become further and further away. Thinking about it this way, it's really Some sense of loss.

So she quickly accepted her mother's advice.

After the text message was sent, Liu Qianqian felt inexplicably nervous.

Fortunately, Lu Pingan quickly replied: "We will wait until we return to China in a few days."

With a text message, Liu Qianqian's whole sky seemed to light up. Oh no, it's never been dark before, only her mother was thinking nonsense!

Lu Ping An received a lot of similar text messages.

Everyone wants to improve their relationship with Lu Ping'an.

Even Yan Danchen was not exempt from the vulgarity. You could hear the sense of crisis in his tone when he called.

Lu Ping'an couldn't help feeling that although he had won so many awards in the past and had several box office hits in the country, none of them had as big an impact as his success in Hollywood.

The American monk is really good at chanting sutras!

He felt it was a bit much.

This is really not the case.

But it can't be changed.

That's the way it is in this era.

Just as he was thinking about it, the phone rang again. It was Han Sanpin calling to congratulate him.

"Safe, congratulations!"

"It's nothing, just a small achievement."

"Then try to achieve greater results next time!"

"I try my best."

After congratulating him, Han Sanpin continued: "I know you are just the director now and can't make the final decision on many things, but if there is an opportunity for Sino-US cooperation, you should still consider it, but don't take it too seriously. That's what I said. There is really no chance. It’s okay.”

He didn't know Lu Pingan's status at the top, so he just mentioned it.

Lu Ping'an probably also heard that Han Sanpin might be under some pressure at the moment, otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned it.

"Okay, Uncle Han, I will fight for it."

In fact, "Batman 1" is actually okay. There are several scenes in it that involve the mainland.

It's just that "Batman 1" is still in the prop production stage, and the official filming will not start until next year, so there is no rush.

Han Sanpin then asked: "When will you return to China?"

"I'll be back on the 18th to attend the wedding."

"That's just right. It will probably be the 18th or 19th. The boss will have a meeting with you. Regarding the Olympics, I should call you tomorrow. Please pay attention."

Han Sanpin said that this time Lu Ping'an made great achievements in Hollywood, which indirectly affected his status in the eyes of the superiors.

Lu Ping'an spoke calmly about this, saying that he would not think about it after knowing it.

It's a pit, and he won't jump out of it, not to mention that others may not really jump out of it for you, with Lao Mouzi standing in front of you.

Han Sanpin continued: ""Ambush from Flying Daggers" was blocked by you from a distance."

Lu Ping'an laughed on the spot after hearing this.

It was unexpected, but it sounded very comfortable.

Han Sanpin: "Zhang Weiping is very unconvinced and says you are not popular."

"Ignore him, no matter how nice he says, I will always keep an eye on him!"

Lu Ping'an didn't feel anything at all.

It's not Zhang Weiping who has the final say whether he lives in the mainstream or not.

What's more, if you really want to say that horror movies are not popular, for him, it is only a matter of minutes to become popular.

But it all has to go according to plan.

Now he has attracted so much attention in the mainland just by relying on two small-budget successes.

If it were to be a big-scale production and succeed, it would not explode.

To take it to another level, let them know that they are also capital in Hollywood.

Well, I have no leisure time anymore.

Lu Ping'an didn't expect to reach that point so quickly.

Just take your time.

Hide if you can.

Now, he just wants to be a "not popular" little director.

For the rest, just keep silent and make a fortune.

After the phone call, Lu Pingan continued to reply to a few close text messages, then ignored the phone and continued to work on the post process.