Some things really can't bear to be talked about. A few days after Zhou Xun called, Li Tang received a call from Zhang Dabeard, asking him to come to the capital to talk about the drama.
There was a verbal agreement between Li Tang and Big Beard before, and he also informed Big Beard at that time that he had accepted the role of "Hero" directed by Zhang Yimou, which was scheduled for September or October.
In other words, if "The Condor" starts shooting before or between September and October, then he will have to leave the crew for a period of time. Anyway, Yang Kang, the second male lead, should be able to squeeze in this time.
Big Beard called at this time, and Li Tang estimated that the preparations for "The Condor Shooting" were almost complete and might officially enter the casting stage.
During this period, Cheng Er has been immersed in making films at the Shanghai Film Studio, and Nai'an is also actively contacting international film festivals. The last thing he hopes for now is the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, which will open in early August, and the 58th International Film Festival in Switzerland, which will open in late August. Venice International Film Festival.
Because Marco Muller, the chairman of the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland and the head of the Asian region of the Venice International Film Festival Selection Committee, is an old acquaintance of Naian.
Of course, this European filmmaker who lived in China as an Italian student for a long time and whose first wife is Chinese is also an old acquaintance of many Chinese directors and has given a lot of help to Chinese films.
For example, Director Chen's "Yellow Earth" was introduced to the Locarno Film Festival and won the Silver Leopard Award.
For example, "Raise the Red Lantern" directed by Zhang Yimou ten years ago was also recommended to the Venice Film Festival by him and won the Jury Prize that year. It was also the first award won by a mainland Chinese film at the Venice Film Festival.
For another example, during his tenure at the Locarno International Film Festival, Wang Shuo's "I Am Your Father" and Lule's "Mr. Zhao" both won the festival's highest award, the Golden Leopard Award.
It is no exaggeration to say that Marco Muller can be regarded as an old friend of the Chinese people.
Cheng Er hopes to participate in the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland. After all, there is much less competition pressure than the Venice International Film Festival, which attracts worldwide attention.
But the current problem is that it is too tight before the opening of the film festival in early August, and it has to pass the review before then. Now the General Administration of China has expressly stipulated that those who participate in overseas film festivals without censorship will be punished by being banned from directing. Lou Ye, including the so-called "Seven Gentlemen" before, are all learning from the past.
Li Tang rushed to the capital the next day after receiving Zhang Dabeard's call.
"Brother Li!"
Zeng Jia is now traveling between Beijing and Shanghai. As soon as Li Tang left the gate, he saw her waiting outside.
"Hurry, it's probably too late."
The time we made an appointment with Beard was two o'clock in the afternoon, but unfortunately the flight was delayed. It was already past one o'clock, and the journey from the airport to Beijing Film Studio was probably not even an hour long.
There are many cars in Beijing, and the congestion on the roads is much more serious than in Shanghai.
Zeng Jia had been waiting at the airport for more than an hour. While calling Shen Lin to drive up, she and Li Tang walked out.
The traffic situation in Beijing is indeed not optimistic. It took a full hour to walk from the airport expressway to the North Third Ring Road. It was already half past two when Li Tang arrived.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, teachers, I've been waiting for a long time."
When Li Tang walked in, there was a room full of people sitting inside. Except for Zhang Dabeard and several behind-the-scenes creators who had worked together on "Swordsman", most of them were unfamiliar faces.
"This is Director Wang Rui and our chief director."
Zhang Bearded first introduced a middle-aged man who looked to be in his early forties sitting on his left.
Li Tang's eyes lit up when he heard Wang Rui's name. He stretched out his hands and said, "Are you Mr. Wang from Nortel?"
Wang Rui stood up with a smile and shook hands with him: "Hello Li Tang, I have heard Cheng Er mention you more than once!"
Director Wang is an associate professor in Nortel's Directing Department and Cheng Er's teacher.
He then asked with concern: "How is your project going?"
"The filming is finished and we are currently in post-production."
Although they met for the first time, because of Cheng Er's relationship, the chief director was finally considered an acquaintance. Moreover, Li Tang had learned from Cheng Er that his teacher was very good and had made several movies and TV series. However, compared to Huang Jianzhong, his qualifications and reputation were far inferior.
Li Tang even secretly murmured in his heart that the reason why Big Beard found such a chief director was probably for easy control. After all, the last time he cooperated with the cunning old Huang, Big Beard, who had a strong desire for power, suffered a lot. .
The other two directors, one of whom is named Yu Ming, is an old partner of the bearded man. Since he has not participated in "Swordsman", Li Tang only knows them but is not familiar with them. Another literary and drama director, Ju Jueliang, is a senior TV drama director at TVB and has filmed many TVB versions of martial arts TV dramas.
Two martial arts instructors, one is an old acquaintance Zhao Jian, who is one of the action directors of "Swordsman"; the other is Ma Yucheng from Hong Kong, whose representative works include "Swordsman: The Undefeated of the East" and previous years There is a very popular Sino-Korean co-production "Flying Dance".
It was the first time that Li Tang and Ma Yucheng met, but he was very enthusiastic about Li Tang. After chatting, he realized that he and Cheng Xiaodong were in the same group.
So the entertainment industry is really not big, and there is always an acquaintance who can connect two strangers. This is probably what is called a circle.
The two co-screenwriters look relatively young. They both graduated from Zhang Dabeard’s alma mater, the Chinese Opera. One is a thin man with glasses named Lan Xiaolong, a professional screenwriter from the Comrades Art Troupe; the other is a wretched-looking and somewhat loud-tongued man named Shi Hang, who is also a professional screenwriter, but has no establishment, and is currently a substitute teacher at the Chinese Opera.
In today's meeting, in addition to getting to know each other, there is also an important topic: casting. Although Big Beard kept claiming that he would discuss the selection of actors with the chief director, he came up with a list himself.
The first one on the list is Li Yapeng, who plays Guo Jing. Li Yapeng became famous a few years ago for starring in the hit "Love to the End" with Xu Jinglei, but has been a little quiet in the past two years. Last year, he competed with Li Tang for the role of Linghu Chong.
This time Zhang Dabeard was Guo Jing's first choice. It could be seen that the guy had done a good job in advance. Huang Rong was naturally played by Zhou Xun, and she finally agreed to Zhang Beard's invitation.
What surprised Li Tang the most was that the second female lead, Mu Nianci, was played by Jiang Qinqin, playing a pair with him. Knowing that she was going to play the role of Yang Kang in "The Condor", this woman actually didn't tell her anything in advance.
As for the selection of actors, others have no say. It is mainly a game between the producer and the chief director. Last year, Lao Zhang and Lao Huang fought openly and secretly for a long time because of the casting issue.
When Wang Rui got the list this time, he was surprised at first, and then his face became obviously ugly, but he didn't say much in front of everyone. As soon as the meeting ended, he excused himself from filming in Tianjin and left in a hurry without even eating the dinner he had booked in advance.
Seeing this, Li Tang and several familiar behind-the-scenes creators looked at each other speechless.
Today's gathering is the first time since the filming of "Swordsman" was completed. It can be regarded as a reunion for everyone after a long absence. In addition, many new members have joined, and it is indispensable to exchange cups and cups. As the second most popular figure after Lao Zhang, Li Tang is really Drink a lot.
When he was slightly drunk, Zhang Dabeard still put his arms around his neck and said: "Li Tang, I didn't expect that you are a real person and don't show your face! But take it easy and don't make the matter a big deal."
Li Tang was confused at first when he heard this. He might have been drunk and his reaction was slow. It took him a long time to figure it out, but because of Zhou Xun and Jiang Qinqin, Lao Zhang might have misunderstood.
But there is no way to explain this kind of thing, and it often gets darker and darker. Li Tang simply pretended to be stupid and ignored him.
…
"Teacher Li, be careful!"
Shen Lin helped Li Tang walk into the small courtyard, and Fan Xiaopang came out when he heard the noise.
As soon as he got close, he pinched his nose and said, "Hey, how much wine have you drunk?"
He said that he didn't dislike it, and took the staggering Li Tang from Shen Lin's hand.
"Master Shen, leave it to me, thank you for your hard work!"
"It's okay, it's okay, I'll leave first." Shen Lin waved his hands hurriedly and said goodbye knowingly.
When Li Binbin and Fan Binbin took turns appearing in the small courtyard, no matter what he thought, there was no flaw on his face, and he always played the role of an honest and diligent driver.
Celebrities have rich private lives, and others can only envy them. Besides, he is quite satisfied with his current job, which is enough to support his family. There are some things that he can't talk about even to death.
In fact, Li Tang was not drunk to the point of fragmentation. He just couldn't hold back everyone's enthusiasm. After drinking a few more drinks, it was a bit difficult to walk in a straight line.
Xiaopang returned to the capital before the May Day Golden Week last time. She also missed a lot of work because of filming "The Third Man". And it is said that Hairun Company, which works closely with Chang Jihong, is preparing a new work by Haiyan.
The last movie "Your Life Is So Sentimental" starring Xiao Pang was unable to be aired on satellite TV after several revisions due to its subject matter. It could only be broadcast on local TV stations without making any waves.
Originally preparing for Haiyan's new drama, Hairun Company did not include Xiaopang in the plan at the beginning. After all, it failed once. It cannot be said to be the actor's fault, but due to metaphysics, everyone did not have enough confidence in her.
But after Chang Jihong's fierce struggle, Xiaopang was reluctantly included among several candidates. In fact, among these candidates, Xiaopang is the most popular and popular. Except for a little girl from Shanghai who retired from the Art Corps, the others are all newcomers with professional backgrounds.
To be honest, it was a bit humiliating for Xiaopang to compete with this group of newcomers, but this time Xiaopang just held his breath and wanted to make a comeback. For this reason, two dramas were rejected.
Li Tang took a shower and came out of the bathroom. Although he was still a little dizzy, his energy had recovered a lot. He saw Xiaopang concentrating on reading the script. He walked over and took a look at the cover, and saw three words written on it - "Jade" Guanyin".
Second update!
(End of chapter)
