Author: Stupid Old Leek

Chapter 275

At Hong Kong Island International Airport, two middle-aged men walked out of the airport and directly hailed a taxi and reported their address.

The driver asked directly: "Are you two going to Zulong?"

The two middle-aged men looked at each other, and the short man nodded: "Yes, man, is Zulong famous?"

"Of course it's famous. Boss Wu's company always has a bunch of fans downstairs, and everyone who passes by knows about it.

Previously, the copyright of Zulong's "Millionaire" earned Gui Lao 100 million US dollars, and no one in Hong Kong knew about it.

Being young, wealthy and handsome, and being liked by so many girls is simply a man’s ultimate dream!”

Listening to the driver's emotion, the elegant middle-aged people behind him also sighed:

"100 million U.S. dollars..."

Then he asked the short man:

"Brother Qiang, didn't you say that Wu Nianzu contacted you last time in Hollywood? What exactly did he say?"

Hearing this, Jiang Zhiqiang shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Half a year ago he asked me if I had a role in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". At that time, Jet Li had already been cast, so I refused. Unexpectedly..."

At that time, Wu Nianzu was on the phone with Jiang Zhiqiang and told him to contact him if something went wrong in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". He thought he was a cuckold, but he didn't expect something terrible would happen!

Li An also sighed after hearing this.

He bought the rights to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" a few years ago and spent two years revising the script.

Afterwards, we contacted an investor from Wanwan, Chen Taiming, the boss of Wanwan Yageo Electronics, and invested 80 million to make this martial arts movie.

The male and female protagonists have been decided, Li Lianjie and Yang Ziqiong.

Everything went smoothly. In September, Li An took his team to the mainland to start collecting stories and recruiting characters. Even some supporting actors had been selected and they started to do martial arts training.

As a result, bad news suddenly came to us at this time: Chen Taiming, an investor in Wanwan, withdrew his capital!

Jiang Zhiqiang and Li An hurried to Wanwan, but when they spread their hands, they just said two words: no money!

It's useless for the two of them to be angry, they can only start discussing the next step.

According to Li An's thinking, he is a little scared of investors who withdraw their capital at any time, so it is best to go back to Hollywood to attract investment. After all, the entire production process in Hollywood is very formal, and there are many mechanisms and measures to ensure that the film is completed.

.

However, Jiang Zhiqiang felt that Hollywood might not be willing to invest in such a purely Chinese martial arts film. This is why the investors he initially sought were Chinese.

Without Wu Nianzu's influence, the two would have gone back to Hollywood and attracted investment from Sony Columbia.

But at this time Jiang Zhiqiang thought of Wu Nianzu's phone call, so he hurriedly dragged Li An to Hong Kong Island.

Jiang Zhiqiang suddenly said to Li An again:

"Li Lianjie learned about the changes on the set. He called me yesterday and said that the delay was too long and that he would not be able to do it anymore. He had to prepare for his wedding to Li Zhi next year."

Li An rubbed his eyebrows when he heard this. Another piece of bad news was that the leading actor who had been presupposed in his mind for a long time was going to be replaced.

More importantly, Jet Li is the biggest publicity point of the entire crew!

Most investors only invested money because Jet Li played the leading role. Without him, who would invest 80 million for you?

"Brother Qiang, tell me whatever you think." Li An knew that Jiang Zhiqiang's words to him now were probably not without purpose.

Jiang Zhiqiang no longer tucked it in, stretched out two fingers and said:

"A'an, the current situation has two major problems.

One is that there is no money, and the other is that there is no leading actor.

But there is a way to solve it:

Wu Nianzu is rich, and he wants to act in our play. As long as we give him the leading role, all the problems of the crew will be solved!"

Jiang Zhiqiang clapped his hands and looked at Li An expectantly.

Li An looked a little confused: "Brother Qiang, but Li Mubai is a middle-aged man, Wu Nianzu seems to be only 20 years old this year, right?"

Jiang Zhiqiang patted Li An on the shoulder and persuaded:

"A'an, we are originally a film and television adaptation!

You can cast Brigitte Lin in The Invincible of the East, but what does it matter if you make Li Mubai younger?

The core emotional relationship will not change.

If you say Wu Nianzu has no acting skills, then I won't advise you even a word.

But with the Berlin Best Actor Award and you as the director, there will definitely be no problem with the performance!

And I asked Yuan Baye, who has worked with him before, and he is great in action scenes!"

Li An was a little moved when he heard this: "Really?"

"Do I need to lie to you? You can go and ask Mr. Yuan Ba ​​in person!"

Li An waved his hand and said he didn't need it. He chose Jet Li because of his nickname as the Kung Fu Emperor, he was cool and elegant, and his martial arts scenes were extremely brilliant.

Jiang Zhiqiang then said: "A'an, after so many years of experience, you should understand best that a movie is called a movie only when it is made. If it is not made, it can only be a script that eats dust!"

Li An nodded when he heard this. He was not a very stubborn director. After he graduated from the drama department, he was raised by his wife for six years and had been a stay-at-home husband. There was also a period of inner suffering.

Li An, who has experienced severe beatings in life, knows the importance of opportunities.

He thought for a while and made up his mind: "Brother Qiang, do as you say, the most important thing is to be able to film it!"

…

In the office, Lin Zhiling brought a pot of brewed tea, poured it for Jiang Zhiqiang and Li An, and then said with a sweet baby voice:

"You two, please use it slowly~"

Although Lin Zhiling was fair-skinned, beautiful and had long legs, the two of them were also well-informed. They were not surprised that Wu Nianzu had such a beautiful little secret, so they just politely thanked her.

On the opposite side, Wu Nianzu was reading the script of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" quietly.

After contacting Jiang Zhiqiang six months ago, he thought that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was affected by his butterfly effect and had no chance to work with him.

Unexpectedly, things have turned around and producers and directors have come forward to ask for investment.

After asking, he finally understood the story. It turned out that there were such twists and turns before Sony invested.

In terms of the general story line, the script is not much different from the version he read in his previous life, and the emotional entanglements of several characters are still the same.

However, there are a lot of changes in details. For example, in several fight scenes, the proportion of male protagonists has greatly increased.

Come to think of it, this version of the script was written based on Li Lianjie. After Li Lianjie quit and replaced Chow Yun-fat as the male lead, Li Ancai significantly reduced the number of martial arts scenes because Fa Ge's martial arts scenes were really not good.

At Fa Ge's age, he can learn English again, but he really can't practice Kung Fu.

But Wu Nianzu doesn't care. Judging from his current physical talent and previous experience of working with Yuan Heping, it won't be difficult for him to play.

To be honest, Wu Nianzu was a little excited about "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". After all, the first Chinese Oscar had a global box office of 200 million US dollars, which directly sparked the world's interest and trend in Chinese martial arts films. It is definitely the most colorful in Chinese movies. One stroke!

There is no doubt about Li An's directorial ability, and he understands the aesthetics and values ​​of Western society very well, and can tell Eastern stories with Western values.

Throughout all of Li An's works, it is this dialectical relationship that he deals with the most. East and West, reason and emotion, morality and desire, ethics and freedom, family, country and individual, human nature and bestiality...

It is definitely not an accident that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" won the Oscar.

But what he is a little confused about now is that he remembers that in his previous life, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" started filming next year and was not released until the year after that, and it did not win the Oscar until March 2001.

It's only the end of 1998, which is a long time.

His "New Police Story" will be released next year. If everything goes well, if "The Mummy" is filmed next year, it will be released in 2000.

So how useful will the 2001 Oscar be to him then?

Maybe it becomes useless.

If this film can be filmed next year and win the Olympics...

From the villain of "New Police Story" to the leading actor of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", this transition is not bad, and it can completely help him increase his popularity in the United States, stabilize his status as a Hollywood star, and have a positive impact on the release of "The Mummy"

Also beneficial.

Wu Nianzu was thinking in his mind, but no matter what, the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has a very high return rate, and he would definitely invest in it.

As Wu Nianzu put down the script, Jiang Zhiqiang's heart began to lift. He put down his tea cup and asked with a smile:

"Wu Sheng, I wonder how you feel about the script?"

"Haha! Mr. Jiang, Director Li, I said I was very interested in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

It's just that I'm currently very busy with work and my schedule is very tight. I can't help myself. It's really hard to say whether I can play the leading role.

I would like to ask the crew about their shooting plan."

"Wu Sheng, your family has a big business and you are busy with things. We can try our best to accommodate Wu Sheng's time during our filming."

Jiang Zhiqiang smiled.

Li An also said: "Wu Sheng, I don't know how good your martial arts skills are. If you don't need preliminary training, your shooting time will not be that long."
To be continued...