Chapter 487: It won’t work without Director Zhou, the super killer "Detective Chinatown 3"
Compared with ordinary movies, the number of actors in "Changjin Lake" is relatively large.
Auditioning is naturally more troublesome.
Also, because he was selecting the cast together with Xu Ke and other producers, Zhou Qing could not appoint the actors at will.
This resulted in the casting process for "Changjin Lake" not being very fast.
However, even so, by the end of January, the main actors of "Changjin Lake" were basically confirmed.
The male lead Wu Qianli is played by Zhu Yawen, the male second Wu Wanli is played by his younger brother, the firepower platoon leader Yu Congrong is played by Li Chen, the sniper Pinghe is played by Han Dongjun, and the artillery platoon leader Leidie is played by Hu Jun...
The main characters are basically the same as before.
That is, the actor who played Wu Qianli changed from Wu Jing to Zhu Yawen.
So who will play the instructor Mei Sheng originally played by Zhu Yawen?
After several auditions and comprehensive considerations, Huang Xiaoming was finally chosen to play the role.
Wu Jing, the original absolute leading actor, has absolutely no chance to appear in "Changjin Lake".
There's nothing we can do about it, it just happened to coincide with the schedule.
For Wu Jing, "Changjin Lake" is definitely not as important as "Wolf Warrior 2".
Fortunately, the role of Wu Qianli was not given to an outsider, but was given to Zhu Yawen.
After all, the meat is rotten in the pot of Zhou Qing Pictures.
So what about the other supporting roles, big and small, that have not yet been confirmed?
We can only pause and continue after the new year.
That’s right, it’s already the end of the year in the blink of an eye.
Everyone has to go home for the New Year, right?
In fact, according to other producers, in order to catch up with the progress, they don't plan to interrupt the work during the Chinese New Year.
Instead, we have to continue to be busy with casting and various preparatory work.
But it was stopped by Zhou Qing, the main controller and director.
The entire crew was given a New Year holiday on the pretext of going home for the New Year.
It’s a fuss. The force majeure events started in early December and have now shown signs of exploding!
Of course Zhou Qing has to be on guard.
Not only did he force the crew of "Changjin Lake" to take a holiday, he also made a special phone call to call Liu Yifei back from the crew of "Wolf Warrior 2" in advance.
Of course, he did not forget to remind Wu Jing to make preparations early.
But since I'm not a reborn person, it's really hard to have a correct understanding of such things.
Wu Jing felt that Zhou Qing was making a big deal out of nothing. Although he was grateful for Zhou Qing's kindness, he didn't really take it to heart.
Zhou Qing was helpless and could do nothing about it.
He actually understood Wu Jing, because even Liu Yifei, who was closest to him, was skeptical about Zhou Qing's words.
If Zhou Qing hadn't repeatedly warned her, Liu Yifei would definitely have stayed on the set of Wolf Warrior 2 to celebrate the New Year.
"Zhou Qing, is it really as serious as you say?"
Even now, when Zhou Qing called her back home, Liu Yifei still didn't quite believe it.
"Would I lie to you?"
Zhou Qing's expression was more solemn than ever before.
Liu Yifei then raised her eyebrows: "Did you get some news that we don't know?"
Zhou Qing also knew that it would be hard to convince people without giving a definite explanation.
So he picked up the future he already knew and revealed a little bit.
It can be said that Liu Yifei was shocked.
Although I still couldn't believe it, I was really scared.
An Anxin and Zhou Qing stayed at home and never mentioned continuing to film.
Facts soon proved that Zhou Qing's statement was completely correct.
Just one day before New Year's Eve, an act of force majeure broke out as big news, shocking the whole country.
This made Liu Yifei realize the seriousness of the matter.
Movies like "Win the Championship", "Lost in Russia", "Emergency Rescue" and so on were urgently withdrawn from the schedule and will be released at another time.
Only Xu Zheng's "Lost in Russia" took an unusual approach: it was not withdrawn and was still released on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
However, it will not be released in theaters, but will be launched on ByteDance's video platform.
As soon as the news came out, the whole circle became completely lively.
The ordinary audience naturally cheered, and many people shouted slogans such as "I owe Brother Shan Zheng a movie ticket."
After all, "Lost in Russia" is broadcast for free.
Xu Zheng’s slogan was very clear: please invite people across the country to watch Lost in Russia for free.
As for the new film in the “囧 series”, “Lost in Russia” is definitely a heavyweight movie.
When the release date was set, I didn’t know how much anticipation the film had aroused among the audience.
This time, people suddenly didn't have to buy movie tickets and could watch the movie for free, which naturally won a lot of applause.
But some of their peers in the cinema industry had completely opposite reactions.
The producers were all sarcastic about Xu Zheng, implying that he was undermining his peers, and the theater chains even reported the matter directly to the Film Bureau.
23 cinema chains jointly submitted documents such as "Urgent Request to the Competent Department to Standardize the Film Window Period" to the Film Bureau, hoping to stop the free release of "Lost in Russia".
Especially Bo Na, who was so angry that he directly posted on Weibo to curse.
"Driven by profit, betrayal, kicking someone when they are down, and taking advantage of someone's misfortune."
The scolding was already very unpleasant to hear.
In short, some people clapped their hands and some people jumped up and down.
But no matter what the reaction is, this Spring Festival period can be said to have been "revitalized" by Xu Zheng in another way.
"Xu Zheng really dares to do anything."
Liu Yifei couldn't help but sigh out loud, she was so impressed by Xu Zheng.
There's nothing shameful about making money. Everyone makes movies to make money.
But isn’t Xu Zheng’s eating style a bit too ugly?
And honestly, it’s too short-sighted.
Although the money was made now, the cinema chain and peers were offended.
That's not how it's done.
"Compared to a director, Xu Zheng is more like a businessman."
Zhou Qing smiled and said nothing.
Although they are all "Zhou Qing-style directors", Xu Zheng and those directors like Lu Yang and Xue Xiaolu are somewhat different.
On the contrary, he has many similarities with Chen Sicheng.
Neither of them is satisfied with just being a director, their appetites are obviously bigger.
Zhou Qing made no comment on this behavior. He himself would never do that anyway.
Fortunately, Xu Zheng had bought the copyright of "Lost in Russia", and he had nothing to do with the movie.
Zhou Qing was also happy to watch Xu Zheng's troubles.
"I don't know how Xu Zheng can shoot the '囧 series' without you."
Liu Yifei's voice rang in her ears, and the girl couldn't help but speak with great interest.
In fact, it’s not just Liu Yifei, I don’t know how many people have similar ideas.
As everyone knows, the first three films in the "囧 series" were produced by Zhou Qing Pictures, but the fourth film has nothing to do with Zhou Qing Pictures.
Xu Zheng bought the copyright from Director Zhou and developed it on his own.
The screenwriter is no longer Director Zhou, but Xu Zheng himself.
Even the cast, the regular protagonist Wang Baoqiang is gone, only Xu Zheng is the leading actor.
So the question is, can the "囧 series" produced solely by Xu Zheng still maintain its original high standard?
The question was soon answered.
Due to force majeure, everyone had to stay at home on the first day of the Lunar New Year when they were supposed to visit relatives and friends. With nothing to do, they could only watch movies to pass the time.
"Lost in Russia", which can be watched without buying a ticket, is undoubtedly the first choice for many people.
Although it is impossible to count how many times "Lost in Russia" was broadcast on online platforms on the first day of the Lunar New Year, according to data disclosed later, the number of legitimate online broadcasts of "Lost in Russia" reached 6 million times.
Therefore, the number of broadcasts on the first day of the Lunar New Year cannot be small.
While many people expressed their joy at watching movies for free, they also couldn't help but start complaining.
"Lost in Russia", not good!
It really doesn't look good.
Compared with the previous works in the "囧 series", "Lost in Russia" is really a disappointment in all aspects.
Especially the script and the story, they are worlds apart and there is absolutely no comparison.
"Sure enough, it won't work without Director Zhou."
"Without Director Zhou's '囧 series', the quality would have dropped drastically."
"There is no harm without comparison. Xu Zheng's '囧' is far inferior."
This kind of voice is everywhere on the Internet.
No one expected that the biggest beneficiary of Xu Zheng's hit "Lost in Russia" would be Zhou Qing.
There is no other reason. The "囧 series" produced by Zhou Qing Pictures and written by Zhou Qing is really much better than "Lost in Russia".
Zhou Qing's level is more fully highlighted after being compared with "Lost in Russia".
The director is still the same director, but the screenwriter and producer have changed, and the movie turned out to be a piece of shit.
The contrast is simply too strong.
……
"Director Zhou, Happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year, Director Zhou!"
Due to force majeure, this year's New Year was much more peaceful.
There is no need to be busy visiting relatives and friends, or receiving visitors like in previous years.
It's basically all done over the phone.
Whether it's Zhou Qing or Liu Yifei, their status and position are there, so there's no need to say much about them.
So this year for the two of them can basically be summed up in one thing: making phone calls.
Most of the time, it was other people who called Zhou Qing and Liu Yifei, mainly big actors, some investors, and other people in the circle.
Of course there were people who needed Zhou Qing and Liu Yifei to call personally, but not that many.
"Director Zhou."
"Director Liu."
In addition, Zhou Qing also held an emergency video conference with another producer, Bayi.
The two sides discussed and communicated in detail the follow-up matters related to "Changjin Lake".
Because the force majeure event was so sudden, the outbreak of the incident really caught everyone off guard.
For example, the preparation of "Changjin Lake" will inevitably be greatly affected.
But the key issue is that "Changjin Lake" is not an ordinary film, but a task assigned by the superiors.
There is a deadline for when it will be completed.
This is also the reason why "Changjin Lake" was rushed to be directed by three directors.
If it was any other movie, it would be delayed, no big deal.
But "Changjin Lake" really can't be delayed.
"Director Liu, given the current environment, it is not appropriate to continue with the preparations, otherwise something might go wrong."
"I suggest asking the higher-ups to postpone the production of Changjin Lake for a while."
Zhou Qing solemnly expressed his opinion to Director Liu.
Director Liu had the same idea, and the two sides had some corresponding communication before ending the call.
"Hey, Ladong!"
Next came La Peikang, and Zhou Qing also communicated with him.
They were still discussing the issue of "Changjin Lake".
"The ministry is holding an emergency meeting to study the issue. I believe a conclusion will be reached soon."
As a leader of China Film Corporation, La Peikang knew more than Zhou Qing, and he revealed this news to Zhou Qing.
It can be heard that La Peikang's voice is also extremely serious.
"Please wait patiently for a few days. Before there is a conclusion, we will mainly communicate online."
La Peikang did not forget to tell Zhou Qing this at the end.
It was obvious that the other party had heard some news, but it was not easy to explain it too clearly to Zhou Qing.
In fact, as a reborn person, Zhou Qing already knew clearly what the attitude of the Central Propaganda Department was.
The fact was just as Zhou Qing remembered. Instructions were issued from above about a week later.
All work arrangements for "Changjin Lake" will be suspended for the time being, and the specific time of resumption will depend on the situation.
The filming, originally scheduled to start in April, naturally became a joke.
"Director Chen, the entire Zhou Qing Film Company has extended its spring break."
Zhou Qing also extended the holiday for his company as soon as possible.
Even those most critical positions where leave cannot be extended are allowed to work from home.
In short, we must resolutely not cause even the slightest trouble to this society.
Under such circumstances, this New Year's holiday can be said to be the most relaxing New Year's holiday Zhou Qing has had in all these years.
Every day I just stay at home and spend time with my girlfriend without having to worry about all kinds of work matters.
Honestly, it was pretty cool at the beginning.
But after just over half a month, both Zhou Qing and the girl began to feel unable to hold back any longer.
It is really a challenge to stay at home for such a long time without going out.
Even if Liu Yifei is with me.
So Zhou Qing had no choice but to continue working.
This is not the work related to "Changjin Lake". Zhou Qing has followed the instructions of his superiors and chose to suspend this work.
He was busy with his own business.
Since there is nothing to do at home, I might as well write a script.
Anyway, Zhou Qing is not only a director but also a screenwriter, and typing is something he can do at home.
What's more, there is also a studio specially reserved for Zhou Qing in his luxurious villa.
It is just in case Zhou Qing needs to work from home.
"Zhou Qing, what are you writing?"
The girl sat down next to Zhou Qing out of curiosity.
Just a glance at the computer screen and my interest was immediately piqued.
"Tang Ren? Are you writing a sequel to Detective Chinatown?"
Liu Yifei made such a guess as a matter of course.
"It's been a year since Detective Chinatown 2 was released, and it's time to put Detective Chinatown 3 on the agenda."
Zhou Qing nodded and gave Liu Yifei an affirmative answer.
This made Liu Yifei's eyes sparkle even brighter.
Among the many movies released by Zhou Qing Pictures, the "Detective Chinatown" series is definitely the most explosive one.
Can you believe that the box office of "Detective Chinatown 2" has exceeded 40 billion?
In this case, "Detective Chinatown 3" will definitely be a super killer. (End of this chapter)