Chapter 25: Visiting Under the Guise of Learning
In a conference room, Li Chen sat at the rectangular conference table, with the main creative staff of shoplifters seated on both sides.
The youngest was Guan Xiaotong, who was not yet 7 years old.
Her small, thin frame looked a bit malnourished.
This perfectly matched the outward appearance of the daughter character who was abused by her birth family.
This little girl would also appear as young Qingcheng in The Promise.
“Sister Mei Ting, you, who have lived your whole life without children, had a sudden realization during your days in prison.”
“That’s why you personally told Ah Tai (Shota) the clues to his biological parents.”
“It seems like you pushed your son away, but at this moment, you already possessed the selfless love of a mother.”
“At this moment, you are already a qualified mother.”
“As your wish is fulfilled, this glance back into your cell.”
“It should contain both a sense of satisfaction, of 'my heart is content,' and also a feeling of relief from being freed from constraints.”
Li Chen spoke eloquently, and Mei Ting nodded in response while taking notes.
Li Chen went over the script with each actor for an entire afternoon.
It didn't finish until almost six o'clock.
Li Xuejian laughed, “At this moment, we finally feel in sync with the Director.”
Lu Zhong also nodded and said, “I've always been a bit curious, and after hearing the Director's explanation of the characters today, I'm even more curious.”
“Given the Director's age, how did he write such a profound and realistic script?”
“If the Director were the same age as Xue Jian, I wouldn't be surprised.”
Li Chen's face didn't flush, and his heart didn't pound; he just smiled and said, “Teacher Lu, you flatter me. Young people just like to let their imaginations run wild.”
“I also wrote this after being inspired by a news report about a thief.”
First Scene
Action
The story is set in a small coastal town in a certain East Asian country.
Li Xuejian takes his son to steal in a supermarket.
Xie Miao conveys complex internal activities through a strange finger movement.
At a crucial moment, Li Xuejian blocks the stocker with his body.
Xie Miao quickly puts the items into his backpack and then quickly flees the supermarket.
Teacher Li Xuejian's facial expression management was very precise.
His shifty eyes and hunched, timid posture perfectly resembled a habitual thief from the lower class.
It truly exemplified the saying: a good actor can play anything; a bad actor always plays themselves.
Hengdian World Studios began to experience an explosive boom this year.
The total number of film and television works in 2004 alone was equivalent to seventy to eighty percent of the previous decade's total.
Therefore, during the filming of shoplifters, many peers wanted to visit the set.
Li Chen politely declined them all.
Fourth Scene
On a day of torrential rain, only the father and mother were left in the small house.
The two rarely had a world to themselves.
The mother had specially dressed up, wearing a sexy, form-fitting sheer dress.
This made the father, who was eating, a bit agitated.
When it came to the only passionate scene between the mother and father.
To help the two actors feel more at ease, Li Chen specifically asked everyone to leave.
Both were professional actors, and they vividly portrayed the release of passion, like a long-awaited rain after a drought.
Mei Ting's figure is really good, no wonder...
Of course, to enable its release in China, Li Chen used camera cuts and long shots to omit some revealing segments.
When it was released in Japan at the time, both the male and female leads appeared fully nude, which would certainly not be allowed in China.
After their passion, the two were soaked in sweat, lying naked on the floor.
The woman's curvaceous figure and the man's gaunt, aged appearance formed a stark contrast.
During their conversation, it was revealed that the two were not actually a real couple.
The man had merely assisted the woman in killing her ex-husband, who had long subjected her to violent abuse.
Just as the two were about to rekindle their passion, there was a commotion outside—the children had returned.
The two clumsily put on their clothes, and the father pretended as if nothing had happened.
Teacher Li Xuejian perfectly displayed that internal struggle of feeling extremely awkward but unable to show it, through subtle details.
“Cut!”
Li Chen gave both of them a thumbs up and smiled, “That's a take.”
Mei Ting and Li Xuejian put on their clothes, seamlessly transitioning in and out of character.
On June 6th, Emperor Entertainment Group grandly announced an investment of 50 million yuan to co-produce the undercover police blockbuster new world with Rongchen Film and Television.
Their slogan was to rival Media Asia's infernal affairs.
The industry was full of ridicule, as a higher investment amount than infernal affairs doesn't guarantee the same good reputation and high box office.
Few people believed that anyone could surpass the classic.
When the media asked about the source of confidence for new world to rival infernal affairs, Emperor Entertainment Group stated:
“The script for new world comes from the original screenplay by Director Li Chen, a member of the 'Hundred Million Director Club.'
Both the excitement and realism of the story are no less than infernal affairs.”
“The main cast of new world also features the strong addition of several film emperors, including Zhang Jiahui, Tony Leung Ka-fai, and Ren Dahua.”
“With Emperor Entertainment Group's professional production team, we are fully confident in surpassing the achievements of infernal affairs.”
Following closely, Xu Zheng's nightclub also completed its casting.
Li Chen took a look, and Xu Zheng's eye for talent was good.
The several people he chose all had great comedic talent, such as Jiang Chao, Lei Jiayin, plus Huang Bo.
For Li Xiaolu's role, Xu Zheng chose Du Ruoxi, who was much more eye-catching than Li Xiaolu.
However, Xu Zheng was also a ruthless person, mostly Shanghai Theatre Academy juniors and seniors, and Huang Bo was still dirt cheap at this time.
Unlike the several people chosen by the director of nightclub in his previous life.
Besides Xu Zheng.
Qiao Renliang, Li Xiaolu, Zhang Jiayi, which one of them could act in a comedy?
A good script was ruined, possibly due to the limitation of a two-million-yuan budget.
At the end of June, the box office share for crazy stone came down, and Li Chen put the money into Tencent's stock.
Crude oil futures could not be operated now; in the second quarter, international crude oil prices fluctuated between 34 and 42 US dollars.
Li Chen couldn't grasp the timing.
What if he bought at 36 today and it dropped to 35 tomorrow? Then his crazy stone would have been for nothing.
Long-term stock holding was still the most stable option.
In mid-August, the box office of house of flying daggers surpassed crazy stone, raking in 150 million yuan.
Li Chen's heart remained calm.
Given Zhang Yimou's reputation and the lineup of big stars, this figure wasn't particularly outstanding.
If last year was the year of Zhao Yanzi, then this year was truly the year of Zhang Ziyi.
Whether it was Hero, house of flying daggers, or Purple Butterfly, which were successively released in North America.
Or memoirs of a geisha, produced by Spielberg.
Her title of 'International Zhang' was truly established.
shoplifters was nearing the end of filming.
The arrival of Liu Xiaoli and her daughter truly caught Li Chen off guard.
Looking at the graceful Liu Yifei in front of him, her thick, dark hair cascaded over her shoulders.
She was wearing a white T-shirt with a cartoon pattern.
Her fair, smooth arms, like lotus roots, were exposed, a pleasant sight to behold.
However, the silver, delicate cross-body bag she wore seemed a bit out of place; her lower body was still a pair of jeans.
How much does she love jeans?
The girl smiled triumphantly, “What? You don't welcome my mother and me to visit the set?”
Li Chen laughed, “You're asking me to break the rules; I've refused everyone else who wanted to visit.”
Liu Xiaoli laughed, “Li Chen, if it's inconvenient, then forget it. Qianqian insisted on coming to the set to learn.”
“I thought the actors in your film are indeed talented teachers, so I agreed.”
Facing Yifei's somewhat fierce yet cute little eyes, Li Chen smiled, “Auntie is right.”
“Teacher Lu Zhong and Teacher Li Xuejian are both powerful figures in the industry.”
“If Yifei can learn something from them, she will certainly benefit immensely.”
Liu Yifei's face then cleared up, and she smiled, “That's more like it.”
Thanks to book friend: Wufeng Yikefei for the reward.
Tomorrow marks the first round of recommendations; please, family, follow and support, I'm so nervous…