After sitting down, Zhang Weiping kept chatting quietly with Second Young Master Jiang, while Cheng Xiaodong asked Li Tang about the moves and characteristics of the Thirteen Wu Style Tai Chi Spears. At first glance, it seemed that he was very interested in marksmanship. In fact, "Hero" There is a fight scene between Wuming and Changkong, where they use swords against guns. He has not yet figured out how to design this action scene.
About half an hour later, there was movement downstairs, and then the sound of someone coming upstairs was heard.
"Yimou is back." Zhang Weiping said first.
He and Zhang Yimou have been working together for several years, and they are already familiar enough that they can hear each other's footsteps.
Sure enough, the next moment, director Zhang Yimou walked in with an old woman who looked to be in her sixties but was dressed like an old goblin, followed by a young woman in professional attire.
Seeing Li Tang here, Director Zhang nodded and then introduced the old lady next to him to the people in the room.
At this time, Li Tang learned that this old lady dressed like an old goblin was a famous Japanese film costume designer named Emi Wada, who actually won the Oscar for Best Costume Design. In Japan and even Asia as a whole, he is definitely the number one person in the field of film costume design.
When introducing Li Tang, Director Zhang introduced him as "my country's famous young actor." Compared with the previous two big guys and Cheng Xiaodong, a famous martial arts instructor renowned in Asia, Li Tang is really not enough.
But Little Japan has absolutely no choice in etiquette in public. The old lady still bowed as before and said polite words in Japanese such as "I have admired the name for a long time".
Before waiting for the girl in professional attire behind him to translate, Li Tang also bowed to her and said in Japanese: "Senior Wada, it is a great honor to meet you!"
Almost no one on the crew can speak Japanese, and the old lady doesn’t understand Chinese, so she has to carry a translator with her at all times, making communication very inconvenient. When she heard someone greeting her in Japanese, the old lady’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she continued to chatter. Got a pass.
In fact, Li Tang's Japanese is average. He learned it from a Japanese girlfriend in his previous life. Simple communication is okay, but more complex ones are a bit confusing. Fortunately, he even vaguely understood the meaning of some old ladies' words. They were just praising himself for being handsome. He would definitely develop better in the future, and he was looking forward to his works.
Li Tang also expressed her gratitude for following the Japanese example, and also expressed her compliments on the Oscar she had won. The old lady actually became shy.
Japanese people can be quite cute sometimes, just like the Japanese girlfriend he found in his previous life. She wasn't actually particularly pretty, but the squeaking sound she made when she was happy was really addictive. Her confidence and Overwhelming with satisfaction.
Director Zhang, on the other hand, was stunned for a while. After sitting down again, he said: "Xiao Li, I have heard that you are good at English. I didn't expect that you can also speak Japanese!"
Li Tang originally wanted to say that he could not only speak Japanese, but also speak French and German. But I didn’t want to show off too much in front of the bosses, lest they lose face. I just smiled shyly and said, “I don’t know much Japanese, so I can only do some simple communication.”
As long as you think that Li Tang is from Shanghai, it won't be too surprising that he can speak some Japanese. After the reform, there are quite a lot of people going to Japan in Shanghai, and Shanghai also has the most Japanese-funded companies. In addition, the pronunciation of Japanese is somewhat similar to that of Shanghainese, so it is relatively easy for Shanghainese to learn Japanese.
Director Zhang liked Akira Kurosawa's "Ran" very much, so he went through several twists and turns before hiring Wada Emi, the Oscar winner for Best Costume Design, to be responsible for the film's costume and character design.
After chatting for a while, Cheng Xiaodong couldn't wait to say: "Director, I just had a conversation with Li Tang. He has great experience in marksmanship. I want to go downstairs with him to try it out."
The role of "Hero" has almost been confirmed. The male protagonist Wuming wanted to find Cheng Long at first, but on the one hand, because Cheng Long was positioned as a martial arts comedian in Hollywood, it was not in line with the main tone of the movie. On the other hand, it was also because Cheng Long is too expensive. With the popularity of the "Rush Hour" series in North America, Cheng Long seems to be a member of the 20 million club.
In comparison, Li Lianlian's salary is half cheaper than his. Moreover, Li Lianjie's screen image of always having facial paralysis fits Wuming better.
Then the two roles of Can Jian and Fei Xue have already been cast by Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, and the other role of Can Jian's maid Ru Yue has been given to Zhang Ziyi. After all, Xiao Zhang has successfully entered Hollywood with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
The King of Qin found the emperor-like Chen Daoming in "Kangxi Dynasty" broadcast last year.
Now there is only one role left in Changkong. Originally, Ershao Jiang recommended the American Hong Kong actor Donnie Yen, but Zhang Weiping did not nod. On the one hand, Donnie Yen is not well-known internationally and is more of a martial arts instructor. On the other hand, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung are both Hong Kong actors. The roles of mainland actors Chen Daoming and Zhang Ziyi are obviously not as important as the first two. He would rather find a domestic actor to play Chang Kong.
Of course, this is not a battle between the Mainland and Hong Kong, but a battle for the right to speak. The new picture clearly has a big head, and Zhang Weiping naturally has to dominate the discourse.
It is not difficult to understand why Second Young Master Jiang looked cold when he saw Li Tang, and his face became a little ugly when he heard the exchange between Li Tang and Cheng Xiaodong. It's just that if someone has the real thing, then the Donnie Yen he recommended will not have an advantage.
Tony Leung is the new Best Actor at Cannes, Director Chen became popular again with "Kangxi Dynasty" last year, Zhang Ziyi and Maggie Cheung needless to say, the remaining candidates to play Chang Kong also need a popular actor. So Er Zhang's eyes naturally focused on Li Tang, who plays Linghu Chong in the popular "Swordsman".
The key point is that Director Zhang has a particularly good impression of Li Tang, and he still remembers hearing Li Tang say that he was practicing with a big gun at the closing ceremony of the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival, which undoubtedly matches the character setting of Changkong. Hence today's meeting.
As for why Director Zhang’s assistant Zhou Wei is so arrogant and respectful at the same time, it’s because Director Zhang has met many actors. At first, he didn’t take Li Tang seriously. Until today, Director Zhang paid special attention to Li Tang when he came to the door, and heard that Li Tang Tang came to interview for the role of Changkong, which made him feel the weight of Li Tang.
Originally, Director Zhang was not sure how well Li Tang was practicing with his big spear, but as long as he had the basics, it would be fine. After all, this was a movie, not a martial arts competition, not to mention Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, etc., who had no martial arts foundation. Do you shoot the same?
Hearing Cheng Xiaodong's words at this time, Director Zhang suddenly became interested and said hurriedly: "Okay, let's go down and have a look together."
After saying that, Director Zhang wanted to say hello to Emi Wada next to him, apologize, and let her take a break. As a result, the old lady listened to the interpreter and learned that Li Tang was going to demonstrate martial arts, and she actually said she wanted to go and observe.
The old lady even made a point of clenching her fists and saying to Li Tang: "Gan Ba Lei!" (Come on)
There is a large backyard behind the villa, which is covered with turf, but it is all withered and yellow this season. Cheng Xiaodong asked the staff to bring over a big gun.
Li Tang took the gun and weighed it. It was similar to the pewter pole he usually practiced with, but it was a bit shorter. The total length was only about 1.8 meters and less than 2 meters.
However, the shorter the gun, the more effective it is. Li Tang shook the gun and made two gestures, which was quite smooth.
As the saying goes: An expert can tell if something is there as soon as he reaches out his hand. His marksmanship practice over the past two years was not in vain. Cheng Xiaodong saw the movement of shaking the gun and couldn't help but nodded. At least it was not a fake move.
It made him look forward to Li Tang's marksmanship a little more.
So he shouted in front of everyone: "Li Tang, stop playing tricks and do something real."
Li Tang was originally thinking about how to show off his skills in front of the big bosses. After hearing what Cheng Xiaodong said, he immediately said: "Director Cheng, since you are serious about it, let's set up a target."
"no problem."
Cheng Xiaodong gave instructions to the staff again, and the man brought a model dummy out of the house and erected it on the lawn. It was also supported by wooden stakes at the back to prevent the lower plate from being unstable and falling over when poked.
Li Tang first did a few stretching exercises to warm up, then held a big gun in his hand and stared at the dummy on the lawn.
The main theme of Tai Chi's Thirteen Spears is the word "piercing". At this time, Li Tang's piercing spear, which he had been practicing almost all the time, finally came into use.
He took a deep breath, shook the gun, and stabbed the dummy in the head.
One pierces the eyebrows, two pierces the hands, three pierces the shoulders, four pierces the elbows, five pierces the chest and six pierces the knees, seven pierces the strange python passes through the crotch, eight pierces the golden rooster nodding randomly, nine pierces the silver snake pierces the throat, and ten pierces the enemy's back, making it difficult for him to move away.
Li Tang almost completed these ten spear strikes in one go, and the connection between strikes was very fast. The onlookers were dazzled, and all they could hear was "Tap, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk, Tuk." Especially in the last shot, Li Tang was seen dragging the gun back, and suddenly he was seen holding the gun behind his back and turning in a circle.
"Crack!"
There was a loud noise, and the gun came out like a dragon. The head of the gun rushed directly to the neck of the dummy model and stabbed it in half. The dummy's head fell to the lawn with a plop.
"good!"
Cheng Xiaodong couldn't help but clapped his hands and cheered loudly: "What a turnaround!"
Although Director Zhang didn't understand the art, he saw the neatness with which Li Tang struck the spear, and he was extremely powerful while not missing the target. Especially the last shot is very enjoyable to watch.
"pretty!"
He also clapped his hands and turned to ask Cheng Xiaodong: "Is this a carbine?"
Cheng Xiaodong said with certainty: "Of course, this is the real killing move!"
As for Zhang Weiping, he was all smiles. He felt that he had seen the right person. This little guy Li Tang did have some skills.
As for Second Young Master Jiang, although his face was not very good-looking, he had to admit that Li Tang was indeed a good candidate.
As for the two old Japanese ladies, they clapped their hands exaggeratedly and jumped on the spot without fear of missing their arms or legs.
Second update! I have been typing since six o'clock until now, and I haven't even eaten dinner. Shamelessly ask for a vote!
(End of chapter)
