Chapter 232
Chapter 232: Actors Choices .
Chen Huan knew exactly what Zhu Mei was thinking .
As mentioned before, Zhu Mei was different from Wang Jiawei as she would take account of the production side in some aspects and compromise with the market to a certain extent .
People who didn’t compromise didn’t actually exist .
Wang Jiawei in China and the Coen brothers in America could actually be willful in many of their movies but wouldn’t be willful with everything in their movies .
They must occasionally make sure to make some work that would do well in the box office while getting a good rating to safeguard their status .
Otherwise, no matter how much the boss liked trophies, would the boss still be favorable to them if they always lost money and never compromised?
Therefore, it was a must for the heavenly king to participate in the movies .
“Not Teacher Xu . ” Chen Huan leisurely said, “Aunty Mei, do you think Guo Hang can do it?”
“Guo Hang?”
Zhu Mei was completely shocked, “Chen Huan, are you joking with me?”
Guo Hang was the actor that played Ye Mao, the protagonist’s friend in ‘Love Letter’, and he was also a student that graduated from Huhai Opera however he couldn’t find any role in movies for three years so he went to play in theaters for 4 years .
In theater, he also played small roles so he caught nobody’s eye .
It was the same for the roles he got in the movies as just played background characters and didn’t get any increase in scenes . Background characters were synonymous with him .
Had it not been for working with Zhu Mei once and giving a great 12 seconds performance, Zhu Mei wouldn’t notice this little junior and let him play Ye Mao .
In popular movies such as ‘Love Letter’, he had about the same amount of screen time as male Fang Shu and his role was also quite important . The key point was that he performed his role perfectly and made everyone call him the ‘Super Caring Guy’ .
Guo Hang received a newfound luck through the role of Ye Mao .
He was nominated as the best supporting actor in three different film award ceremonies and there were also roles offered to him .
He had acted in 5 movies so far .
Although they were all supporting roles and the screen time was around 10 to 20 minutes, he was already very satisfied by it .
Judging from the two movies that had been released, Chen Huan still felt that his acting was still as smooth as a veteran who had acted for many years .
Guo Hang’s looked very experienced in his acting but also didn’t show any apathy as he showed the distinctive characteristics of his role in his limited time and lines which was extremely impressive .
“In the past few years, there hasn’t been any really strong actor debuting in the film or TV industry . There are a lot of pretty and effeminate actors though . ” Chen Huan slowly said, “I like actors like Guo Hang and I’m willing to give him a chance . When we make a movie, we can’t always have the same old people and must give the chances to some new faces . ”
Zhu Mei fell silent .
If Chen Huan recommended anybody else, Zhu Mei would have argued with him even if they were super popular actors such as Chi Bin or Cai Changyi .
But she hesitated after hearing Chen Huan’s opinion .
She was obviously familiar with Guo Hang and it was her decision to replace the perfidious Xu Dong with Guo Hang . The result was that Guo Hang did great on the role .
She didn’t have much doubt concerning Guo Hang’s acting skills .
An actor that could surprise her in a 12 seconds performance was definitely a good one .
“But…” Zhu Mei said with hesitation, “He’s only 31 years old, isn’t he too young?”
“Li Chenglong in prison looks a bit decadent so with a bit of makeup and also some sloppy look, it won’t be difficult to pass him as a mid-thirties man . ” Chen Huan said, “What’s more, Guo Hang isn’t very good looking to begin with and his skin is very dark so he looks nothing like an idol . Such an actor has not a hint of cuteness . ”
Zhu Mei gave a knowing smile when he thought of Guo Hang’s face .
“I’ll do this, I’ll add him amongst the candidates for the audition of the role . ” Zhu Mei decided, “Him, Sun Dahe and Fan Yuyue, it’ll be only the three of them okay?”
“Alright!”
Chen Huan didn’t object to it either .
If Guo Hang fails to meet the expectation during the audition and couldn’t handle that pressure, then this role was just destined to be his .
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The remaining two wouldn’t be bad at the role whoever it was .
“What about Li Yiyuan?” Zhu Mei asked, “What do you think of the kids I selected?”
She understood now that Chen Huan didn’t comment on the casting suggestion because he had different opinions and not because he didn’t want to interfere .
“They are all alright . ” Chen Huan felt a bit of regret, “ Zhang Shihan in the theater version is great but they will start to perform in June so the schedule isn’t suitable . ”
“For children, the most important is the aura, the other aspect doesn’t matter as much . ” Zhu Mei was very experienced in this regard . “Don’t worry, the one I selected all have very good and suitable aura . Their performance would be no worse than Zhang Shihan . ”
Zhu Mei personally didn’t like the same people other people used, especially if it was for the same work .
She needed to have her own choice and shot the movie as she saw it .
This was also the pursuit of every director .
In the other world, even the most obscene directors were the same and it was because of that they were able to create some generational cult classic so one could imagine what Zhu Mei thought about this .
“Alright!”
Chen Huan readily agreed .
Zhu Mei’s was very reassuring in her works and making a good movie was her priority regardless of other conditions .
“But for the five supporting roles, the prison’s security chef and two prison guards, I have some suggestion . ” Chen Huan said, “You can take out two roles and give one to Japanese actor and another to a Korean actor . ”
“Huh!?”
Zhu Mei was stunned at first but her eyes soon lit up, “Xiao Huan, you’re really smart! Like this, the box office in Japan and Korea will definitely explode in popularity!”
“They couldn’t obtain the permission to shoot their own version of ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ so their actors used a lot of their contacts to convey me that they hoped to play a role in the adaptation . ” Chen Huan said, “They must be all superstars actors if they could pass it on to me so don’t worry that this would be an empty gesture without any acting skills to back it up . ”
“Okay, I got it . ” Zhu Mei nodded .
When they participated in the international film festival, several national treasure level actors in Korea already strongly expressed their determination to participate in the adaptation of the movie and that any role would do .
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It was definitely impossible for Zhu Mei to make them come just to be background characters but those important supporting roles suited them .
Besides, who said that the other five prisoners in Room 7 had to be Chinese?
Wouldn’t it be more interesting if there were some extra jokes due to different languages since there was a Korean and a Japanese?
Moreover, having two heavenly kings from their respective countries would definitely benefit the movie .
The actors from the three countries were definitely not willing to lose as they would try to outperform the others and become the biggest highlights of the movie .
It shouldn’t be doubted .
The gang leader, the swindler, the wanted criminal, the model prisoner and the intimidating prisoner were all very important roles in ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ .
They would definitely stand out and impress the audience if they played it well .
If they could outperform Li Chenglong, it would be the highest praise of their acting skills and would forever have their imprint on this movie, how nutty was it!?”
With such a fierce clash and great acting skills, Zhu Mei felt that ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ was destined to be great .
There was also the box office expectation in Japan and Korea .
Nowadays, China’s action and comedy’s movies at the box office have long since surpassed those from Japan and Korea .
However, the box office generated by those Hollywood movies in Japan and Korea were very high and it showed that the film market in both countries had in fact great potential .
‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ had an extremely good story to begin with and had a very high reputation through Asia for making people cry .
If it was adapted into a movie and it also featured a movie star from their own country, wouldn’t those book and movie fans in Japan and Korea eagerly join in the hype?
Not to mention in the category of literary movie, their box office could almost beat that of China’s .
The box office of ‘Love Letter’ was only 320 million in China . South Korea had only a population of 50 million but the box office was 430 million and japan had a box office of 520 million with 150 million in population!
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Once those movies and books fans took action, it would be very easy for them to break the record of ‘Love Letter’ in those countries .
Especially since it featured a star from their countries .
If that was the case, ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ would be very steady with no pressure for their box office at all .
“Zheng Rongrong is indeed very generous and gave us each 10% of the profit shares . ” Zhu Mei said, “If the box office in Japan and Korea rocket up, Shanhai Streaming will bleed out a lot . ”
“She is eager to give us as much as possible . ” Chen Huan bluntly said, “Because she will earn more out of it since it would perform better and Shanhai would gain more fame and prestige out of it . ”
“You’re right . ” Zhu Mei acknowledged .
Although Shanhai Streaming was valued at 40 billion USD, they were still expanding and the money they made every year were invested back into the company . Not much of the money was used to pay the shareholder .
Even if they didn’t expand, it was said that their net profit in a year didn’t reach 5 billion Yuan yet .
This was for the last three years where the rapid development of the internet and the increased functions of a mobile phone had driven the rapid growth of video streaming service .
Five years ago, Shanhai Streaming was operating at a loss .
Now if a movie could earn Shanhai Streaming a few billion yuan, it would be a great boost to the moral of Shanhai Streaming .
This proved that the princess set foot at the right path and that their future was bright .
Didn’t an internet company depend on everyone’s hope and dream before it went public?
Shanhai Streaming wanted to become bigger and more powerful so those hope and dream were indispensable .
If Zheng Rongrong continues to lead them to continuous success, Shanhai Streaming would have the hope to surpass Shanhai Group .
Chen Huan estimated that Zheng Rongrong wanted to surpass her father and wanted to surpass the 400 billion USD valuation of Shanhai Group but Zhu Mei thought it was impossible .
However, it was also true that Zheng Rongrong wanted to achieve more so they people take her as a real entrepreneur instead of a second generation .
Embarking on the path of producing Films and TV series, if ‘Miracle in Cell No . 7’ could bring fame and fortune to Zheng Rongrong, she wouldn’t mind sharing 10% of the profit to each Zhu Mei’s team and Chen Huan .
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