In fact, the news brought back by Li Tang was full of uncertainty, but Cheng Er was very happy because he at least saw hope, instead of being almost desperate like before.
"Brother Li, I'll quickly find someone to translate the script."
"Why bother? I'll do it."
Translation is expensive these days, especially script translation, which is a publication-grade Chinese-to-English translation and is the highest among translation quotations. A script of more than 100,000 words is also a huge expense.
"Uh... then I'm sorry to trouble you."
Only then did Cheng Er think of the legend when Li Tang was filming "Shanghai Chronicles". It was said that he had no barriers to communication with foreign actors and was even more like an American than a foreign actor.
Translating scripts is really a piece of cake for Li Tang. After traveling through time, he has mastered two native languages. Especially the translation of lines is more accurate and closer to the expression habits of the Angsa people, rather than the dry and boring expressions. A decent translation. This will increase the quality of the script.
The translation of hundreds of thousands of words was also a big project. Even if Li Tang stayed behind closed doors, it still took ten days to complete.
After reading it carefully to make sure there were no problems, I sent both the Chinese and English versions to Nai'an, and left the rest of the registration and application matters to her.
That day he suddenly received a call from Director Xiao Teng.
"Young Master Linghu, what are you busy with?"
"I'm not busy, just stay at home."
"Hey, that's just right, help me play a role."
"What kind of show is this?"
"On this movie, the movie channel cooperated with our Beijing Film Studio and asked my old man to be the art director. You also know that my old man is not free at all during this time, so he asked me to follow him and be an assistant director. Isn't this right now? I’m short of a role, so come over and help me out.”
Director Xiao Teng said that Li Tang couldn't agree to this. Anyway, he was idle, but he still had to ask clearly about the situation, so he said: "What kind of subject do you want to do? How many days will it take?"
"It's a story about two policemen escorting a fraudster. It will take you about ten or twenty days to play one of the young policemen."
Li Tang felt something was wrong as soon as he heard it. Two policemen were escorting a criminal, and he wanted to play one of the policemen. This was definitely not a simple guest appearance, and it would take ten or twenty days, so he would at least be the third male lead.
"How can this be a guest appearance? Brother Tao, let's go back to the same code. You have to talk to my agent about this first."
Li Tang was most afraid of this kind of favor lawsuit, so he simply made a name for himself and offered guest appearances. It was no problem, but it was just a guest appearance. If you are allowed to play a serious role in the name of a guest appearance, then I'm sorry and I need to talk to my agent.
Director Xiao Teng said hurriedly: "Don't worry, can my brother still lose you? To tell you the truth, the director and screenwriter of this movie are from the General Administration. They used to be in charge of film production, distribution, screening, and economic operations. One piece. He is also a serious graduate of the Nortel Literature Department, and he is my senior brother. This time I made a book and planned to be a director myself. The book is well written, really, otherwise my old man would not have taken over the art project. Guide this job. As for the shooting, don’t worry, I’ll be watching..."
This sounds unreliable at first glance. What do you mean that the director and screenwriter are both from the General Administration? Li Tang guessed that it might be a small bureaucrat from the General Administration who was restless and wanted to play, so he made a script and asked the movie channel to pay for it, hoping to become a director.
He felt uncomfortable thinking about this kind of thing. Cheng Erzheng was a director for eight times. It was so difficult to make a movie, but look at him, he just wanted to ease his director's addiction.
Li Tanggang wanted to refuse, but then he thought about it. At the moment, he was still tinkering with "The Third Man" with Cheng Er. In the future, he would have to face the review of the General Administration, licenses, releases, etc., and a lot of things. Whoever cares about this cannot afford to be offended.
Moreover, Li Tang's mind moves very quickly. Since he cannot offend, he must make good friends. This is the life experience that Lao Li taught him. Also, Director Xiao Teng just said that this movie is a collaboration between Movie Channel and Beijing Film Studio. Movie Channel is a wealthy company. They spend a huge amount of money every year on acquiring film and television copyrights, and they also own Invest in making movies, not just TV movies, but also movies that can be released seriously.
It is said that many scripts apply to the movie channel for filming funds every year. Of course, this is very difficult. But the director of the General Administration can get investment from the movie channel, which obviously has a good relationship. Li Tang wondered if he could use this relationship to get online with the movie channel, and then try his luck.
As for the myth that you hand over a script and the person in charge is shocked after reading the script, and then starts crying and wanting to invest in you, it only exists in YY. It doesn't matter if you are not famous. If you rely on formal channels, it will be useless no matter how good your script is.
In his previous life, when he was working in Hollywood, he heard that the six major Hollywood production companies had countless unknown screenwriters submitting scripts to them every day. In each company's warehouse, there were at least hundreds of thousands of scripts piled up gathering dust. , there are very few people who can really soar into the sky by delivering scripts.
So he said to Director Xiao Teng on the other end of the phone: "Okay, but you have to let me read the script first."
As a result, Director Xiao Teng paused for two seconds. Just when Li Tang was wondering if the mobile phone signal was not good and the other party did not hear clearly, he heard Director Xiao Teng say in surprise: "Okay, I will send it to your email soon. I will You said this book is really good, just believe me!"
In fact, Director Xiao Teng called today because he was trying his luck. His father gave him this task because he had the intention of being on good terms with the person from the General Administration. If you want to stand out in the industry, in addition to your own abilities, you also need to have a good relationship with the leaders of the competent departments, down to the actors and behind-the-scenes practitioners.
Li Tang has just finished filming "Swordsman". It is foreseeable that it will be a big hit after it is broadcast. Moreover, Li Tang's acting skills have been proven by awards. If he can get Li Tang to be in this drama, he will gain face on the one hand. , on the other hand, it is not the best way to make good friends with the person in the General Administration.
Of course, he knew very well that despite Li Tang's usually harmless appearance, he was actually a very principled person at heart. A capable person always has a character, so he didn't have much confidence at first.
Li Tang was a little surprised when he heard Director Xiao Teng's words. Although this guy usually seemed out of tune, he was a proud man. If he said the script was good, then at least it shouldn't be bad.
Although Li Tang had the idea of befriending the director of the General Administration, the prerequisite was that the script was acceptable. If the script is bad, then he has a reason to shirk it. And it is impossible for him to make a bad movie for Cheng Er's "The Third Man" just to flatter him. Isn’t this putting the cart before the horse?
"Well, I'll give you an answer after reading it."
"Okay, okay, but you'd better hurry up. I've already started building a group here. Time waits for no one!"
"knew."
Director Xiao Teng was very fast and sent the script in less than five minutes.
Nothing was wrong, Li Tang opened the email and started reading it immediately.
The script is called "The Escort Story" and it is very straightforward.
Then in the afternoon they signed: Wang Liang, Qi Xin.
Qi Xin is the little bureaucrat from the General Administration mentioned by Director Xiao Teng, and he is also the director of this play.
When Li Tang looked at this signature, he felt somewhat disdainful. Director Xiao Teng just said that this director Qi is a serious graduate of Beidian Literature Department and writes and directs himself. Qingqing got a notebook from someone else and then signed his name on it.
Li Tangte looked down upon Awu Egg's behavior of pretending to be a diamond. For example, he had given many ideas to the script of "The Third Man" before, and Cheng Er wanted him to sign his name, but he firmly disagreed at that time. After all, the creative idea of the story and the overall creation belong to others. If he just put forward some opinions from the perspective of actors and audiences and signed his name, he is not that thick-skinned.
The summary of the story is a simple sentence: Li Gongan, a veteran policeman from the police station, and Zhang Lei, a young policeman who just graduated from the police academy and went to the countryside for internship, were ordered to capture Yu Tai, a fraud suspect who was fleeing from remote mountainous areas, and escort him back to Shaanxi.
Director Xiao Teng asked himself to play the role of the little policeman Zhang Lei. As for the name Li Gong'an, it seems quite friendly. It immediately reminds people of the Li Gong'an in "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit", a middle-aged policeman who speaks Shaanxi dialect and takes care of the parents' shortcomings.
It was precisely because of his disdain that Li Tang looked down with contempt, but when he looked at him, he suddenly "tsk".
Surprisingly, this is actually a road movie-themed script that is rare in China today. Two policemen and an economic criminal, the threesome must have a story. Economic criminals are not the kind who commit heinous crimes; they are a combination of two policemen, a very humane and experienced veteran policeman and a fledgling rookie policeman with a strong sense of justice.
A series of stories happened during the escort. Although they are not thrilling, they are still tense. In particular, the simple and rough writing style does not lose the delicacy, and the cold black humor makes people smile from time to time.
The key point is that Li Tang saw in this script the shadow of the classic crime comedy "Midnight Run" directed by Martin Brest and starring Robert De Niro.
If you are not familiar with director Martin Brest, then you will definitely be familiar with his famous work "The Three Gunslingers". And of course there is the classic film "Scent of a Woman" for which he was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Director.
When Li Tang even forgot to eat dinner and read the script in one sitting, his first feeling was that just as Director Xiao Teng told him on the phone, this script was really good.
Although most of the scenes focus on the old police officers and fraudsters, the young trainee police officers are stubborn and are teased by fraudsters from time to time, which also contributes a lot of laughter. The key is that along the way, the trainee policeman went from not understanding the old policeman to understanding and then to transformation. There is also a story about growth here.
Li Tang couldn't help but smack his lips. He was a little surprised. He originally wanted to flatter someone, but he didn't expect that he was actually a good book.
He immediately picked up his cell phone and dialed director Xiao Teng's number: "Brother Tao, I've accepted this play."
"You are right to listen to me! Oh, by the way, there is something I have to say hello to you. We don't have much money in this movie, and the salary is probably quite high. You can only get 20,000 at most!"
"..."
Twenty thousand, to be honest, is too low. With Li Tang's current status and popularity, the film's salary is at least 200,000 yuan. Now that the next zero was suddenly erased, he didn't even know what to say.
Director Xiao Teng estimated that the salary he offered was indeed a bit low, and it was a slap in the face to say it was ugly.
He hurriedly explained: "Li Tang, please be patient. There is really nothing we can do. The total investment is only over one million. But don't worry, it won't take long. According to the shooting plan, it can be completed in a month at most. Don't say anything." Okay, how about you give me some face this time?"
Since Xiao Teng's introduction mentioned this, Li Tang had no choice but to say in a very reluctant tone: "Uh, okay... But Brother Tao, this time I am doing it entirely for your sake!"
"Understood. I'll treat you to dinner and singing later. You can choose any place!"
First update!
(End of chapter)
