China Entertainment 1997

Japan, the cast of "Taken"

In the hotel, Cao Xuan killed the last villain with one shot. Liu Tianxian broke away from the "dead body" and rushed over with tears in his eyes.

"elder brother!"

Cao Xuan held a gun in his right hand, facing the door warily, and gently caressed the hair of his frightened sister with his left hand.

"Brother is here, it's okay."

"Good!"

Lin Chaoxian shouted from behind the monitor and announced with a bright smile that the film was finished. All the actors and staff from Japan and China cheered.

Afterwards, a wedding banquet was held as usual. Cao Xuan showed his face and hurried back to the hotel to pack their luggage.

Liu Tianxian and his daughter, who planned to take a private jet back to China, were a little confused. They finally finished filming and had no other work. Even if they didn't stay in Japan for a few days, there was no need to be in such a hurry to go back.

When Cao Xuan heard this, he shook his head and smiled bitterly: "If you don't go back, it's time for a fight."

Liu Tianxian was stunned. His teacher was pregnant, and people would die in the Shura field at this time.

Cao Xuan knew that he was thinking wrong as soon as he saw her worried expression.

Zeng Li's pregnancy was a top secret, and few people knew about it. Fanxing's entire company was only known by two hands. Except for a few close friends such as Yuan Quan, the rest of the circle didn't know much about it.

Liu Tianxian is the only insider in Class 02 of the Chinese Opera, and one of the few people who has gone to see Zeng Li. She knows the stakes and is very tight-lipped. Even Liu's mother doesn't know.

Seeing this, Cao Xuan hurriedly explained, otherwise he would be afraid of this girl nurse, so he would first hit the hard-core big Mi Mi in the East Palace.

"The choice of Zhuge Liang has been undecided for a long time, and there is quite a quarrel within the crew. I will go back and take charge of the overall situation."

"You haven't decided yet?"

Liu Ma muttered that although she was not a qualified agent, she still had at least some information channels. Tianya, Blog, and Shijiang.com also had relevant revelations.

As far as she knows, this has been debated for almost a month, and it hasn't been decided yet.

"Not only is it undecided, but it's getting more and more noisy."

Cao Xuan gets a headache when he mentions this. The character Zhuge Liang is too charming. Everyone has their own preconceptions and opinions about each other.

If we had just cut the knot with a sharp knife before, dissatisfaction was just dissatisfaction, and there was nothing we could do to change it.

But because I wanted to find one that was relatively suitable, this hesitation gave everyone room to argue, and everyone was tearing up the item in full swing.

Not to mention the outside world, there are many mountains within the crew alone.

Jiao Enjun is an artist from Fanxing, so he naturally receives strong support from Fanxing. The producers and the company's related teams are all his supporters.

Chen Kexin, one of the directors of Jincheng Wuyou, supported it and also won the support of many Hong Kong and Taiwan personnel within the crew.

China Film also feels that the five members of Jincheng are the most popular, and their attitude towards box office growth is relatively ambiguous.

Huang Haibing and Xin Baiqing are both good because of their excellent costumes, and the other because of their acting skills and temperament. They also have certain supporters, but considering their reputation, they are obviously inferior to the top two.

There are also those who feel that none of these four are suitable and want to propose other candidates. Everyone has their own wishes, and several relevant meetings have become really popular.

Let's put it this way, after listening to the reports of several confidants, Cao Xuan felt that even if he dragged Tang Guoqiang from 1994, he would still be criticized by these people for being useless.

It is precisely because of this that Cao Xuan decided to vote, a relatively fair method.

The voting staff, including himself, three directors, some main creators, some staff leaders, and some investment shareholders, each has a different number of votes based on their right to speak on the crew of "Three Kingdoms·Red Cliff", but the cumulative total of them is almost 300 Zhang heads out.

When Cao Xuan returned home in a hurry this time, he was just there to suppress the situation.

As the first person in charge of the crew and the biggest box office guarantee, Cao Xuan is the well-deserved C position of the crew of "Three Kingdoms·Red Cliff", and Mr. Han will be ranked behind him.

It was precisely because of waiting for him that Zhuge Liang's vote was delayed for less than half a month.

It's almost too late now, and Cao Xuan has just finished filming, so he hastily returned to China to complete the voting, otherwise the crew will have to fight within the crew before filming begins.

………

After flying back to the capital, Cao Xuan didn't even go to the Queen of the West Palace. He rushed directly to Fanxing Building and directly called Zhuge Liang to vote for the casting of "Three Kingdoms·Red Cliff".

All those who are eligible to vote will come, and those who cannot make it will join the meeting by phone.

Anyway, Cao Xuan, who had suffered enough from procrastination, just said, this matter must be done today.

After the relevant personnel were basically present, and those who were not present were put through the phone, Cao Xuan, who presided over the meeting, nodded to Mr. Han and several senior consultants, and then spoke.

"During this period, I have been busy filming in Japan. Thank you to everyone for the crew's preparations."

Everyone hurriedly gave way and exchanged a few pleasantries, and Cao Xuan also brought the topic to business.

"I have also read some of the opinions discussed by everyone. Some of them are indeed meaningful, and some are unrealistic. I will not discuss them one by one here.

Zhuge Liang is a historical celebrity. It is impossible for any actor to perfectly recreate Zhuge Liang. What can be done is to make up for and optimize as much as possible in the subsequent filming..."

Cao Xuan said a lot because he knew that no matter who won the bid, some people would be dissatisfied, so he was taking precautions.

Anyway, the rules were explained in advance, and even more than half a month was set aside for canvassing votes.

The person with the highest number of votes wins, and his word is true.

Be happy when you win, and don't be reluctant to give up if you lose.

This is also the reason why we have to wait until Cao Xuan comes back to put an end to the situation. Once the decision is made, it will not be changed. The absence of Cao Xuan, the decision-maker, represents uncertainty. Even if they vote, everyone will feel guilty, fearing that Cao Xuan will not be satisfied when he returns home. overthrow.

But Cao Xuan is here today, and the consultants, directors, investors, screenwriters, and producers are basically all present, and there are even videos. It is impossible for them to regret it later and slap themselves in the face, which also means that the result of this vote will become a foregone conclusion.

There was no anonymity. After writing the votes, they went directly to the producer Ding Ying, who was doing statistics and counting on the sideline, to check the votes on the spot and make an announcement on the spot.

Cao Xuan had the most votes, with 10 in total, 5 of which were given to Jiao Enjun. After all, he was his own artist, and the boss could not take the initiative to cause trouble. The remaining 5 were given to Xin Baiqing, who was personally the most optimistic.

But Cao Xuan knew in his heart that Xin Baiqing's chance of ascending to the throne was too small.

"Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" was able to ignore the Hong Kong and Taiwanese artists and use a large number of mainland actors. On the one hand, the stars have risen in the past two years, and their brands have accumulated a lot of reputation. There are also a group of stars who are not weak in popularity. On the other hand, it all depends on Cao Cao. Xuan held on.

As the only mainland star who has just broken the box office record in film history and whose cumulative box office of starring movies exceeds 1 billion, Cao Xuan is now the number one Chinese-speaking person in terms of box office appeal.

In contrast, he alone can withstand the combined efforts of Liang Chaowei, Jin Cheng-oh, Chang Chen and Zhao in the original "Red Cliff".

After all, although Liang Chaowei has a high status in the film industry, his box office appeal has never been strong. In fact, it is difficult for Jin Chengwu to compare with the top movie stars.

Not to mention Zhang Zhen, who may still be somewhat famous in the literary and art circles. Before the commercial films "The Grandmaster" and "Xiu Chun Dao", not many people knew him at all.

Zhao is very popular and well-known, but in terms of his achievements in movies, he has to be reflected after "Painted Skin".

"Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" may not be the top lineup of Chinese-language films, but it is definitely a big production that can be counted.

The combination of Cao Xuan + Lao Mouzi alone can make countless people flock to it, coupled with an investment of 300 to 500 million, and many popular mainland artists supporting/guest roles.

I dare not say that we can completely ignore the big names from Hong Kong and Taiwan, but from a business perspective, "Three Kingdoms·Red Cliff" has the confidence to refuse.

In fact, although the previous "The Night Banquet" had a mediocre reputation, its box office was really not bad.

And this movie is one of the few major productions that does not have a high proportion of big names from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Wu Yanzu, the only Hong Kong actor in the starring role, can barely count as a triple in the movie, ranking behind International Zhang and Uncle Ge, and even Mr. Zhou is vaguely better than him. .

The box office success of "The Banquet" actually proves that big-name productions don't have to include big names from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

No matter how you evaluate Feng Xiaogang, among the early commercial directors in the Mainland, he did use relatively few big names from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Except for "A World Without Thieves", in many other movies, there are only a few big names from Hong Kong and Taiwan who can really talk about the male and female protagonists, and most of them are actresses who don't do much at the box office.

Nowadays, in addition to "The Night Banquet", there is also "Painted Skin" with a box office of over 500 million, and the previous "Xiu Chun Dao" series, which basically all have purely mainland casts.

Cao Xuan has proven that he can still handle the box office without big names from Hong Kong and Taiwan, so China Film and investors are willing to let him arrange the casting of "Three Kingdoms·Red Cliff" as he pleases.

It seems that the first selling point of this movie is the Three Kingdoms IP, and the second selling point is Cao Xuan, but in fact, the second selling point is the real core.

After all, anyone can develop the Three Kingdoms IP. Whether it can sell it or not depends on Cao Xuan.

But even so, Zhuge Liang is the second protagonist after all, and there is a limit to his willfulness. Xin Baiqing's reputation is too low. Even if Cao Xuan fully supports it, I am afraid many people will not agree.

In contrast, Jiao Enjun has been participating in star-studded popular dramas in the past two years, such as Erlang Shen in "Lotus Lantern", Zhuo Yihang in "The Legend of the White-haired Witch", Yang Xiao in "The Legend of Heaven and Dragon Slayer", etc. Although he is not out of the entertainment industry in terms of popularity and fame, It can barely be considered a front line.

Even though the celebrity status is far from being tied with Cao Xuan, he is still qualified to be the protagonist.

More importantly, he is a star performer.

"Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" is controlled by Fanxing, and more than 70% of the crew are Fanxing people. He has an advantage when it comes to voting.

Originally one of the favorites, and taking advantage of the home vote, the ending was as expected.

There were more than 300 votes, and Jiao Enjun won almost half of them, winning strongly.

Some people may think that it is unfair because of the shady case, but there is no way, why did these people not join Fanxing? Several contestants have their own advantages, and Jiao Enjun's biggest advantage happens to be the Fanxing artist.

After the voting was over, Cao Xuan didn't waste any time and directly finalized the candidates. Some people were dissatisfied, but there was nothing they could do.

Cao Xuan took several senior executives and big bosses to his office to chat. The people below were doing their own thing, and the news of today's meeting spread quickly.

………

Suburbs of Beijing, the crew of "Magic Phone"

This drama is a production team invested by Guolan and created by the original cast of "Lotus Lantern", with Jiao Enjun playing the second male lead.

Originally, Jiao Enjun didn't want to take on this drama. He has become a celebrity in the past two years. He even played the male lead in Fan Xiaopang's "The Legend of the White-haired Witch", which is very popular, so he accepted many scripts.

However, he happened to owe a favor to the producer of this crew, and he couldn't resist several invitations. Most of the actors were acquaintances of "Lotus Lantern", so he finally accepted the script. It was all about repaying the favor and reminiscing with his acquaintances.

Today's filming was about the flying man fighting the Bull Demon King. The person who played the role of the Bull Demon King was also an acquaintance, Chen Minghao from the 96th class of China National Drama.

His fame has skyrocketed since he starred in "Xiu Chun Dao 2". In the TV series "Zhu Yuanzhang" starring Hu Jun, he played the role of general Tang He, and his role was still very important.

But he prefers drama. He used to think about getting ahead, but when he became famous and had a future, he started to think about pursuing his dream again.

If there is a movie, I will shoot it. As long as the script is suitable, I don’t choose roles much. If there is no movie, I will go back to acting in dramas. My life is very comfortable.

He found the book "Magic Phone" interesting, and he knew the director and screenwriter. He didn't mind that the role was small, so he acted happily.

The other characters have also been changed. Sha Niu is still Shu Chang, and the Yellow Eyebrow King is still Roaring Dog. However, the male lead has been changed and became Qiao Zhenyu, a star artist.

It is precisely because of his presence that Jiao Enjun's management team does not care too much about the position. It is not uncommon for artists within Fanxing to match each other.

Today, Jiao Enjun played the second male role for Qiao Zhenyu. Maybe one day Qiao Zhenyu will have to praise Jiao Enjun. As long as the two are not in direct competition, it will not be a loss of status.

Hanging the wires, several people played several rounds in the field until the director called the card and greeted them for lunch. Several actors unloaded the wires, stretched their muscles, talked and laughed and came to the rest area to prepare for dinner.

Before Jiao Enjun could sit down, he saw his assistant running over in a panic and almost falling over.

"Brother, Mr. Jiang's phone number."

"Which Mr. Jiang?"

"Our immediate boss, Jiang Yue."

Although Jiao Enjun has a good status in Fanxing, there are too many artists in Fanxing, and Jiao Enjun is really not outstanding.

Jiang Yue is in charge of the artist management business and is very busy at work. Except for those top-notch people, it is difficult for others to make even one call a month.

The two had an average personal relationship, and most of the work was handled directly by Jiao Enjun's agent. Out of the blue, Jiang Yue suddenly called.

Jiao Enjun thought about the recent events, and his mood suddenly became hot, and at the same time he was so uncontrollably nervous that after he answered the phone, the first two syllables were slightly trembling.

"Hey, Mr. Jiang..."

"Okay, I understand, I will prepare well..."

"I understand, you have taken the trouble, and please thank the boss for my support..."

"Well, I'm waiting for your call..."

After hanging up the phone, the assistant looked at Jiao Enjun expectantly. He obviously knew the key to this call, otherwise he wouldn't have been so gaffey just now.

Jiao Enjun nodded to him, and his assistant immediately hugged him excitedly and raised his arms and shouted. The other people were confused when they saw the movement. Only Qiao Zhenyu probably knew something.

"Brother Jiao, is it done?"

Jiao Enjun smiled reservedly and nodded gently. Qiao Zhenyu immediately raised his hands: "Congratulations, congratulations, you are going to treat me this time, and the quality will be high."

"It's easy to talk about."

Jiao Enjun was in high spirits during happy events and would not refuse anyone who came. This time, other people also reacted. Although they didn't know the specific situation, they started to make fun of each other and have a meal first.

The few people who knew the inside story didn't say much. Although the matter has been decided, the crew has not officially announced it. They still want to keep a low profile to avoid any complications.

Looking at Jiao Enjun with a smile on his face, Qiao Zhenyu couldn't hide his envy.

"Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" is such a large-scale production, which has greatly benefited the actors. Did you know that sister Zhiling, who was originally from "Red Cliff", went from a model outside the mainstream film and television industry to a well-known movie star, and then took on several roles? Movie heroine.

In the same way, if this Zhuge Liang plays well, he can directly elevate Jiao Enjun to the ranks of first-line movie stars.

Even if he doesn't have a financial backer and his film resources are limited, if he comes back to film TV series, his status as a celebrity will probably make a qualitative leap.

It was previously joked that Qiao Zhenyu would have the opportunity to play the role of Jiao Enjun in the future. Now it seems that it is not a joke, but it is very likely to become a reality.

As long as the performance of "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" is outstanding, even if Jiao Enjun cannot be the first brother of Fan Xing because of his age, he will definitely be a presence that cannot be ignored.

No one would envy the opportunity to reach the sky in one step and leap over the dragon's gate...

Of course, in the same competition, while Jiao Enjun is happy, others are sad.

Beijing, Mandarin dormitory

Xin Baiqing put down the phone in his hand, and his wife Zhu Yuanyuan looked over and asked, "What did you say?"

Before he could say anything, he quickly added: "It's okay if it doesn't work out. It's good for us to just keep filming dramas."

In fact, the couple knew that they had the lowest chance of winning.

Zhu Yuanyuan still had some luck, while Xin Baiqing, who had a more stable personality, had no hope from beginning to end.

As the saying goes, the smaller the hope, the smaller the disappointment. Even though I am still a little disappointed, my overall mentality is pretty good.

"Zhuge Liang is out of luck, but he was given the role of Gu Yong and there were a few scenes."

"Gu Yong, a famous prime minister of Soochow, that's not bad."

Zhu Yuanyuan comforted, and Xin Baiqing nodded: "I heard that Cao Xuan helped me win this role. It is said that he is very optimistic about me and publicly supported me from beginning to end."

Although he couldn't get the role, he received strong recognition from an outstanding colleague, which made Xin Baiqing feel warm in his heart.

He and Cao Xuan rarely met each other on a daily basis. They only collaborated once in "The Golden Family". Unexpectedly, being remembered by others until now is still something worth being proud of for Xin Baiqing, who is not well-known.

Zhu Yuanyuan also nodded and called out the seniority of the characters in "The Golden Family": "Lao Qi is a good person. He is very loyal to his friends. Actors with good careers are also willing to help. He will help with anything. In addition to the reputation, he will help." , everyone in the circle admires him."

"But I'm also very vindictive. I heard that someone recommended Lu Yi, but because I offended him before, he was rejected directly."

"What does this mean? If you don't have a good relationship with XX, will you lend him money? The Seventh Lao spent his own money to set up the bureau. Why should his enemies benefit from it? This is not generosity, but a disease in the brain."

Zhu Yuanyuan had a good impression of Cao Xuan and defended him directly. Xin Baiqing thought about it and agreed with his wife.

"you're right."

The couple had limited expectations and soon returned to normal. Huang Haibing was similar to them. Although he was more famous, he was not as good as Jin and Jiao. He was not a star artist, so his chance of getting promoted was too small.

Only Jin Chengwu was emotionally depressed. He was a big favorite and had great hopes that he could become one of the top celebrities through movies.

Jin Chengwu was born in 1973, debuted in 1991, and starred in his first movie in 1993. Although his debut was not particularly early, he would not be classified as a new generation like Chef Xie.

His reputation and popularity are not bad, but he has yet to make a large-scale appearance in the industry. It always makes people feel that he is still far away from top artists like the Four Heavenly Kings, and is even slightly inferior to Zheng Yijian.

In 2003, "House of Flying Daggers" made him famous in the mainland, and he increasingly wanted to participate in another major production and go one step further.

"Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" is a big production that he has worked hard for a long time, but unfortunately it failed in the end.

The internal competition in Xiangjiang is too great. Liu Tianwang is suppressed by several people above him, and there are Chef Xie, Teacher Chen and others around him.

This time it was rare for him to have a role of the right age, and the other party was not a crew that particularly valued famous celebrities. This allowed him to show up as an artist in Hong Kong. It would be difficult for him to get such an opportunity next time.

………

Cao Xuan didn't know the complicated psychology of the actors. After presiding over the meeting, he went to the Changping villa of the Empress of the West Palace.

After two months apart, he thought about them both when he went to bed at night.

Of course, Cao Xuan did not forget about the Empress of the East Palace. Due to the presence of his mother-in-law, Cao Xuan once again lived a life of running back and forth between the East and West Palaces.

Fortunately, they are all in the capital, not too far away. If they lived in two places, he would live on a private plane every day.

Before he could settle down for two days, he received bad news.

Grandma still didn't survive the winter, and passed away silently one night in early December.

Cao Xuan hurried back to his hometown, not caring about his grief, and helped his uncle and others arrange the funeral arrangements. Hu Jing accompanied him the whole time. Even Zeng Li, who was inconvenient, quietly came over to pay homage, and then was sent off by Cao Xuan. Return to the capital.

The old lady was nearly 70 when she passed away. Although she couldn't say that she was free from illness and pain, compared with the serious diseases, she didn't suffer much at all. It was considered a happy death.

In addition, everyone was mentally prepared before, and the process was handled in a fairly orderly manner.

After bidding farewell to his uncle, Cao Xuan took his parents back to Beijing. Sun Lan took out a jade pig the size of a thumbnail from his pocket and stuffed it into Cao Xuan.

"Next year is the Year of the Pig. This is the jade your grandma asked your dad to buy from the coffin book. It was carved by a master from the collection. I plan to give it to your child as a meeting gift next year..."

Speaking of this, Sun Lan burst into tears and choked with sobs that she could no longer speak. Cao Xuan did not cry, but he felt very sour while holding the piglet.

His grandparents passed away relatively early when he was young, and the older generation he spent the most time with was actually his grandma.

Not being able to see him for the last time, not being able to let the old man see his great-grandson, will be Cao Xuan's eternal regret.

Grandma and Mr. Huo a little earlier, two respected elders passed away one after another, which also had a great impact on Cao Xuan. Especially when he saw that his parents had a few white hairs on their heads and more wrinkles on their faces, he felt nostalgic for the years. ruthless.

Although he usually thinks of an old couple in his heart, in fact, in his heart, his parents have always been in their thirties, an age when they were still beating him to death with a broom.

However, now he suddenly realized that his parents had passed the age of knowing their destiny.

Even though they have been pampered in recent years, the suffering suffered by the old couple in their early years cannot be easily made up for.

Cao Shuangguo worked hard as a young man and suffered from a bad back and a broken leg. The pain was severe when the weather was particularly cold.

It was said that Sun Lan had to work in the fields during confinement and suffered from sequelae. Moreover, Cao Xuan's family was poor when he was a child, so Sun Lan would only eat one or two meals a day, and the food was not good, so he always had stomach problems.

The death of his grandma made Cao Xuan feel that he had "grown up" a lot. He tried his best to take time to come back to visit every few days, and also planned to find an opportunity to take his parents out for a few rounds.

Grandma's regrets could no longer be made up for, and he didn't want to add new regrets.

————

ps: Friendly recommendation of the book "A Top-notch Life Starts on the Street" by the master Chen Xinshu of the Southern Dynasties. If you are interested, you can read it.