Chapter 5: It’s normal to brag during interviews
In the next few days, the crew’s filming went smoothly, and there were no more emotional outbursts among the actors.
Zhang Yuan is completely familiar with the other actors.
In the entertainment industry, connections are even more important than acting skills. Having lived in two lifetimes, he knows this well.
We eat and live together with the protagonists every day, and our relationship has naturally improved a lot.
"Hey, man, it's just the same fate." Sun Honglei sighed as they were having dinner and drinking together that day, with a look of resentment on his face.
“Brother Honglei, what’s wrong?” Zhang Yuan asked doubtfully.
Today the director had something to go out for, so the leading actors did not gather for dinner in a private room of the hotel. Instead, three or five of them found a barbecue stall by themselves to eat skewers and drink beer.
After "settling" the matter of Ma Xiaoming last time, everyone knows that he has a good drinking capacity, and they will call him for private dinners.
Also because it was more casual to eat in private, Sun Honglei opened up about his bitterness.
"You don't know, actually, the director invited me to join the set, but I refused once because the schedule was already full."
Sun Honglei came out to join the society very early, and with his superb dancing skills, he was in In the 1990s, he had already achieved a monthly income of over 10,000 yuan.
But his ambitions did not stop there. After venturing into the film and television industry, he also appeared in major productions such as "Like Fog, Like Rain and Like Wind", but unfortunately it was only a small supporting role.
But at the end of last year, he was invited to play the leading role in the TV series "Dust Settled".
The budget of "The Fall" was more than 20 million, and the salary given was ten times that of "Conquest".
In addition to Liu Wei, who starred in "Tang Minghuang", this film also stars Song Jia, who became famous for her Qiong Yao drama in the 1980s and played Wu Zetian.
More importantly, the female lead in this film is Fan Bingbing!
Whether it was about funding or casting, this film was the one that crushed "Conquest". At the time, any fool would have chosen "The Fall".
Sun Honglei made the same choice and signed the contract quickly.
Since the film is adapted from a novel by a Tibetan writer and tells the story of the rise and fall of the XZ Tusi family, the crew planned to shoot on location. All the cast and crew, including Sun Honglei, went to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau before filming started.
Then... there is no more.
Sun Honglei never expected that with a strong body, many years of dance experience, and extremely strong cardiopulmonary function, he would suffer from extremely severe altitude sickness. After arriving on the set, let alone performing, he could only smoke all day long. Oxygen lay on the bed shivering.
Fortunately, the crew was pretty good. When they saw that he couldn't perform the role, they peacefully terminated the contract without asking him to compensate for the loss.
The actors who replaced him were Lin Pingzhi in the bearded version of "The Swordsman" and Li Jie, who played Ouyang Ke in Hu Ge's version of "The Condor".
Sun Honglei was desperate, he felt that he had lost the chance to become famous in one fell swoop!
After learning about this, Gao Qunshu refused to give up and invited him again, calling him to star in "Conquer".
Of course Sun Honglei is grateful to Gao Qunshu for his kindness, but he has been to both crews. When compared, the gap is huge!
After hearing what he said, Zhang Yuan smiled secretly in his heart.
Yes, this is life!
But Sun Honglei thought that his life was miserable and he missed a huge opportunity.
But Zhang Yuan knew that this was God sending an opportunity to his arms!
20 years later, how many people know about "The Dust Has Settled"?
Twenty years later, how many people don’t know about “Conquest”?
What is lost in the east is gained in the mulberry tree.
The star he was replaced was bright, but the Li Jie who replaced him was not very popular. Isn't this fate?
"Brother Hong Lei, this is all a good thing. What if you become famous with the role of Liu Huaqiang? There's no telling." Zhang Yuan persuaded with a smile.
"Brother, the director is not here today, so let me tell you the truth." Sun Honglei's cheeks were slightly red, and he was a little swollen: "I don't know whether our film is good or not, and how the final film will be. . ”
“But I doubt whether this film can be sold, let alone broadcast.”
Sun Honglei looked around and continued after confirming that there was no one he knew. Do you know why the director was not here at night?"
Zhang Yuan probably guessed it, but still shook his head.
"I heard from the cameraman that the director went to the seller with a rough cut of the film."
As expected, he guessed it right.
“Generally TV dramas have investors, so there is no need for a director to take care of selling the film. And if it is a large-scale production, the broadcast schedule will be arranged with the TV station early.”
Sun Honglei He still looked sad, but in fact he was very confident in this role and his performance.
But if no one buys the film and it cannot be broadcast, then all the efforts will be in vain, and his dream of becoming a superstar will be far away.
"True gold is not afraid of fire. I think we will definitely meet Bole in this film, and you will be famous all over the country."
"Haha, let me lend you some good words." Sun Honglei squeezed out a smile, Then he continued to drink to drown his sorrows. But Zhang Yuan put down the beer bottle and thought about it in his mind.
From the beginning, he chose to come to this crew for several purposes.
Being friends with future superstars is one thing, but besides that, he already knew that there would be difficulties in selling this film.
According to his memory, "Conquer" was finally sold to a female restaurant owner in Qin Province when he was desperate. She wanted to transition into the film and television market, so she only spent 4.5 million to pick up a huge deal. Cheap!
Gao Qun and Shu Guang spent 4.2 million yuan on this film. In the end, after working so hard and making a classic masterpiece, he only earned a measly 300,000 yuan.
Zhang Yuan has already had an idea about selling the film, and he will only implement it after the filming of his scenes is completed.
The iron hammer was crackling and sparks were popping up. After eating and drinking, the actors returned to their hotel rooms to rest.
Zhang Yuan came to the crew late, and lived in a double room with Li Jingxiang, who also came late, who would star in "The Blind Shaft" in the future.
Apart from the director and Sun Honglei, Zhang Yuan was the most familiar with him on the set, after all they lived in the same room.
The two of them returned to the room together. Zhang Yuan threw himself on the bed and lay there, relaxing after a day of shooting. When he turned around, he saw Li Jingxiang sitting on the bed next door, restlessly smoking. Worry.
"Brother Jingxiang, what's wrong with you? Are you worried that the film won't sell?" Zhang Yuanxin said, are all these actors so dedicated?
"No, I...I'm fine." After saying that, Li Jingxiang screamed and then waved his hand.
"Come on, you didn't even know the cigarette butts burned your hands, and you said you didn't have any worries." Zhang Yuan sat up and handed over a bottle of water out of habit.
Li Jingxiang gritted his teeth and told the truth.
“Brother, I have a play tomorrow, you know that.”
“The plot of tomorrow’s play is that my character takes the female lead out to find his niece. "
"Then what?"
"I'm going to ride a motorcycle." At this point, Li Jingxiang's face twisted.
"What's the problem with this?"
"The problem is, I'm... a little unfamiliar with motorcycles..."
If you don't know how to ride, you can't ride, he said politely rusty!
"Isn't that right? The director didn't ask you if you knew how to ride a bike before you came to the set?" Zhang Yuan didn't know what to say.
“I asked and I said I can ride two wheels.”
"The truth is?"
"I can ride a bicycle." Li Jingxiang took a deep breath of cigarette.
Zhang Yuan: ...
Although motorcycles and bicycles are both two-wheeled, motorcycles have clutches, and the oil clutch must cooperate with them. It's really impossible if you haven't learned this before.
Seeing his look of disdain, Li Jingxiang coughed a few times and explained: "It's normal to brag in interviews, everyone does it."
Also, you have to get the role first. Many people who play costumes say they can ride a horse, but when it comes to filming, they have to find a few people to borrow seats and pretend to be on horseback.
Motorcycling is obviously much simpler than riding a horse.
But this little crew doesn’t have the money to find a stand-in.
"I'm fine, I'm just afraid that if I carry Liu Weiwei, someone will throw her over, which will delay the filming."
When the car hits the wall, you know you have turned, and if the child dies, you will nurse, Filming starts tomorrow and you know you won’t be able to.
"Don't look at me, I don't know how to ride a motorcycle." Zhang Yuan spread his hands.
"Brother, aren't you smart? Help me think of a solution."
Li Jingxiang has noticed Zhang Yuan's performance on the set these days, and the director always comes to him for anything. , Ma Xiaoming is so difficult to deal with, Zhang Yuan can handle it with a bottle of liquor.
Seeing that the other party had his hands clasped together in a pious attitude, Zhang Yuan chewed his teeth and saw that he had no good solution for a while.
Coincidentally, after they returned to their room, they turned on the color TV in the room. The TVs in those days were still "big ass", and the LCD era was still several years away.
At this moment, the news broadcast has just ended and the weather forecast is being broadcast.
Zhang Yuan stared at the TV for a while, then turned around with a smile.
“Brother Jingxiang, I have an idea!”
(End of this chapter)