Chapter 356 Win or Lose

In the hotel room, Li Gen sat cross-legged on the carpet, referring to the script of "Drug War" and mumbling the storyboard script.

This is a method he figured out by himself, in order to complete the "homework" assigned by Xu Rong.

Although he has the title of assistant, he actually doesn't do much assistant work at all. Firstly, he doesn't know how to do it, and secondly, he can't get it.

No matter how busy Wang Yaqin is, she will not assign work to him.

He could vaguely understand Wang Yaqin's little thoughts, but he could only remain speechless while smiling bitterly. He was just an assistant, and he couldn't really rob it, so why bother?

Because he was too busy, he could only observe and learn how Du Qifeng shot and scheduled as much as possible. However, after a busy day, he would often find that except for the last shot, he had forgotten almost everything else, and every time

Looking back afterwards, he always felt that if he had been directed, he would have used roughly the same techniques, and he would not have had any insights or experience at all.

However, he still has some self-awareness and understands that it is just because he can't think of a better reason in his mind.

After doing it again and again, he finally came up with a way, which was to write the script for the next day's filming in advance of what he was doing right now, and then compare it with the actual shooting.

As for the storyboard of "Drug War", he didn't want to take a second look at it, because Du Qifeng didn't follow the script for more than half of the scenes.

Hearing Xu Rong's words, "But something has to be done, someone has to do it." He was stunned for a while, and then he realized that the biggest difference between Xu Rong and himself was not that he was older, that he made more money than him, or that they were intrigues.

Better than himself, anyway, in his opinion, if after all the hard work, a bunch of white-eyed wolves were gained, then he would rather let the situation fester.

Seeing that Wang Yaqin was still unhappy, Xu Rong smiled and stopped trying to persuade her.

He wanted to train Li Gen to be a great director, but he never thought of training Wang Yaqin to develop into management. I don't know if it was because of laziness or something. He was a little reluctant to adapt to a new assistant again.

From the beginning, he never thought about going to war just to deal with Wang Hui and Huang Yi. As an investor, shareholder, and auditor representative, he had a transcendent status when he joined the group. Even if he did nothing, no one would

What can I do to him, not even Du Qifeng?

Firstly, it is unclear whether Du Qifeng can overcome the common problem of Hong Kong and Taiwan directors who are not accustomed to the local environment. Secondly, the scale of the script of "Drug War" determines that it is difficult to find a second group of investors for this drama. After all, Hairun

, CCTV, China Film Co., Ltd., jointly invested, plus his starring role, from a certain special perspective, it is not an exaggeration to call it "Galactic Battleship", and the mainland film and television circle cannot make up a second group.

As for the adulation and praise of Du Qifeng from his mainland counterparts, he doesn't care. As long as he can always maintain the strongest market appeal, the more mainland actors as a whole get a piece of the cake, and as the first one to cut it, he will also

will be the biggest beneficiary.

He has always believed that if he eats meat, he must not let his colleagues drink soup. Otherwise, no matter how good a person he is, no matter how strong his skills are, he will become the target of public criticism.

Furthermore, the profit-seeking nature of capital determines that the situation in which Hong Kong actors dominate the film market cannot last long. If this continues, it will inevitably trigger resistance from mainland capital.

Xu Rong saw Li Gen lying in front of the computer with his eyes blankly in a daze, and said, "Tell me what you think."

"What did you say?" Li Gen raised his head and looked at him blankly, "Oh, I was just thinking about how to shoot a shot."

"That's it, what do you think of the current results?"

Li Gen said without hesitation, as if reciting a text: "If we seek unity through struggle, we will survive; if we seek unity through concessions, we will perish."

Xu Rong looked at Li Gen with a smile, until Li Gen's eyes started to wander around, then he asked with a smile: "Don't tell me, you thought of this yourself?"

What he can be sure of is that although this sentence is familiar to the vast majority of Chinese people, this "majority" does not include Li Gen, who has always been rebellious.

Li Gen laughed dryly a few times. He didn't dare to lie that he didn't mean it himself, and he was embarrassed to admit that he asked someone else for advice.

Because he was really not sure whether Xu Rong could.

Xu Rong stopped asking further and said: "The truth is correct, but you must not apply it mechanically. When encountering similar things in the future, you must especially pay attention to the practical application of "Concern for the Lives of the People and Pay Attention to Working Methods"."

Li Gen was stunned. He had no idea what Xu Rong was talking about. He was talking about struggle and unity. Why did he care about the lives of the masses?

Xu Rong also saw Li Gen's embarrassment and confusion, so he stopped mentioning it and asked instead: "How do you evaluate Du Qifeng?"

Li Gen chuckled and said, "Technically, he's really awesome, but when it comes to intrigue."

Seeing that Xu Rong's eyes were wrong, he immediately changed his words: "If we talk about management level, he is not even close to you in terms of management level!"

Probably worried that Xu Rong would pick on the language errors in his words, Li Gen gave a thumbs up as he spoke.

Xu Rong thought for a while, shook his head and said: "Du Qifeng is not as unbearable as you said. In fact, if you really want to say it, we are tied."

Now not only Li Gen, but also Wang Yaqin sitting opposite also showed a suspicious look: "Tie?"

"right."

Xu Rong felt that the temperature in the room was a bit hot, so he walked to the door and lowered the air conditioner temperature by two degrees, saying: "In the first round, I grabbed Wang Hui's pigtails and caught him off guard. In the second round, actually,

I lost."

"Lost?"

"Yeah, I lost." Xu Rong sighed. When he heard Du Qifeng say those words to the media in the afternoon, he suddenly realized that Du Qifeng had adopted asymmetric tactics and fought a beautiful turnaround.

Facing the confused looks of the two, he explained with a smile: "When looking at the outcome of a struggle, don't judge it based on the loudness of the cheers and shouts, but look at who is the ultimate beneficiary. Some people laugh, but not necessarily.

Just win, some people cry, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you lose. Who do you think is the biggest beneficiary from replacing Huang Yi?"

Li Gen and Wang Yaqin looked at each other, neither of them dared to answer. The beneficiaries were obviously other domestic actors, but they couldn't tell the truth, because if they did, it would not only make Xu Rong look stupid, but also reveal their inner feelings.

My true thoughts are not that smart either.

Seeing that the two of them were silent, Xu Rong said: "There are many beneficiaries. From the current point of view, it is me, because I have the biggest say in the crew, but even if Huang Yi is not replaced, it is almost the same, followed by my colleagues from the mainland.

, a hole has been opened in the glass ceiling that has restricted them for many years.”

"But if we take a longer view, the biggest beneficiary of this matter should be Du Qifeng. The essence is that I spent a long time making a wedding dress for him." Xu Rong said without hesitation, "Du Qifeng said to me this afternoon

What the media said did offend some Hong Kong actors, because the co-production of the film

The male lead role is no longer exclusive to a few people, but as long as Du Qifeng has strong capital from the mainland, Hong Kong actors will have little influence on him. And the current fact is that Du Qifeng has become the most popular director in the mainland. This

This kind of welcome will gradually transform into word-of-mouth, and then affect the general audience."

"No way. Besides, if "War on Drugs" doesn't do well at the box office, wouldn't all this be in vain?"

Xu Rong picked up the tea cup and said to Li Gen: "Didn't you realize that there are two doubts about this matter? The first is that the media is too well-informed. As soon as Huang Yi was replaced by the front foot, the reporter from the back foot came to the set, and then

Du Qifeng is not you, and you will not be offended by the media's few words, especially in

When the crew is involved in controversy, every word he says will be widely watched by the outside world. Based on his experience, every word can be said to be carefully considered. In the short term, he has indeed offended some Hong Kong people, but for the media

The impact of what was said has not actually begun to be felt.”

Wang Yaqin frowned and said in confusion: "It hasn't manifested yet?"

Xu Rong sipped his saliva and said: "There are only a few directors in the mainland who can support the box office, and each of them is highly valued by the company they belong to, so many mainland companies have to use Hong Kong directors, but it has always been proven that in the mainland,

Highly capable Hong Kong directors are extremely reluctant to allow mainland actors to play leading roles. The salaries of Hong Kong actors are too expensive. How expensive are they? They are so expensive that they have greatly reduced the profit margins of mainland film and television companies."

"On the contrary, the remuneration for mainland actors to star in movies shot in the mainland is much cheaper, plus various favors. For example, when I starred in "Drug War", I only received an average of 10,000 yuan a month, so I worked for free.

There is no such method. According to the market price, Hairun saves me at least 20 million in salary alone.

, plus Sun Honglei and others, they have saved at least 30 million, which is a profit for the investors. However, Hong Kong actors do not show any mercy, and they will pay as much as they want, and they will not agree to any less.

, so for mainland film and television companies, they are actually equally disgusted with using Hong Kong actors."

"Based on this situation, mainland film and television companies probably very much hope that "Drug War" will be a hit. It can be said that if the box office fails, Lao Liu, I, and Du Qifeng will not be in a good mood, but the bosses of domestic film and television companies will definitely not be either.

How happy I am, because this proves that the budget-saving way of pairing a mainland male lead with a Hong Kong and Taiwan female lead won't work, which means that in the future they will have to bite the bullet and spend a lot of money to hire Hong Kong and Taiwan actors to support the box office."

"Although it's a bit incredible, I can basically conclude that after "Drug War" is released, whether it is a domestic film or an imported film, even if it is scheduled to be released in the fiercely competitive summer season, colleagues will try their best to make room for "Drug War"

With a schedule of at least half a month, we will use the success of "Drug War" to introduce it to the market.

and the industry have proven that pairing a mainland male lead with a Hong Kong female lead is not only feasible, but can also be a great success. Once this happens, Du Qifeng will immediately become the hot favorite of major mainland film and television companies. After all, no one can refuse an established actor.

A director who can work hard to make money and save money at the same time.”

Li Gen took a breath of cold air and said, "This, this, can't be done, right?"

Xu Rong sneered: "Du Qifeng's personality is indeed a bit fiery on the set, but that also depends on the person. He has never blushed towards me once, and what he said is equivalent to offending almost all Hong Kong men.

Xing, if he doesn’t have great benefits, do you really think he’s stupid?”

"Once successful, he will immediately be comparable to Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaogang, and become one of the top directors in the mainland with strong appeal."

"Hiss." Li Gen quietly closed his notebook, "Why do I suddenly feel that the director's profession is not that easy to do?"

"It's the same in every profession." Xu Rong said with a smile, "It's not difficult to be an ordinary director. It's harder than you think to be a good director who can control both on and off the set.

many."

At the same time, in a private room on the second floor, Du Qifeng served as host to Wen Yongshan and Charmaine Yu.

"Director Du, thank you for giving me this opportunity, and I'd like to toast you."

With her fluent Mandarin, Wen Yongshan succeeded Huang Yi in the female lead role, while Charmaine Yu, who was unsuccessful, did not complain even though she was disappointed.

Before she came, her agent told her that even if this trip didn't work, the next trip would definitely work, provided that she could be disappointed, but she must not express dissatisfaction.

It will certainly not be the last time that Johnnie To uses a Hong Kong actress as the female lead.

Naturally, she could understand the deep meaning, so when Du Qifeng asked her to play a cameo role with few scenes, she agreed without hesitation.

While they were chatting, Wen Yongshan saw You Naihai coming in and asked, "Isn't Teacher Xu here?"

You Naihai smiled and sat down in the empty seat on Du Qifeng's left hand side, saying, "He said he didn't have the habit of drinking during filming."

Jiang Haowen took advantage of the situation and added, "This is true. I heard from friends in the mainland that it is indeed the case."
To be continued...