Chapter 33
Chapter 33: Here’s come the mission again!
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Sure enough, Zhu Mei called two days after and told Chen Huan that Firmiana refused to change the script .
Since he was unwilling to revise it, Zhu Mei also returned the script and would not do this movie .
Zhu Mei wasn’t in the top five director of china but she was still a reputable director . She was a relatively outstanding director of films focusing on literacy and artistic and had a big appeal on literacy fans .
She returning the script made Firmiana very unhappy because it proved that Zhu Mei thought his script was unworthy and it was a blow to his reputation, especially if he tried to sell it again .
Zhu Mei said she was fine but Chen Huan could hear some regret in her voice .
He talked with Shui Qingshan about it and found out that Zhu Mei had it difficult these last two years because artistic film didn’t generate much money and only go for awards . She had to seek capital protection before she could get actors .
Zhu Mei was already a very good artistic director as she made 7 movies so far, which 3 had made money, 2 broke even and 2 made a small loss . She produced 9 female and male stars even though they were mostly second or third rate but the reputation was still very good .
With this reputation, films companies were willing to invest in her .
The movie ‘Paper Kite’ she just completed was done with those conditions .
A well thought out Zhu Mei found a new actor and an experienced middle aged actress to become the main actors of this movie .
She only spend five million yuan from beginning to end of the film, which was very cheap .
But this ‘Youth Rise’ was brought by a film company and Zhu Mei gave her approval but they didn’t expect her to return it in the end . It not only pissed off Firmiana but the film company as well .
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The film company was called Toy Entertainment and didn’t have much fame but the problematic things was one of their shareholder was Xie Yang, one of three giants of the movie industry .
Ding Lun called Shui Qingshan and wanted him to persuade Zhu Mei but she didn’t listen .
This female director had quite a temper!
Back at home, Chen Huan heard the system ‘Ding Dong’ before he had the time to think about it .
“Because of the weak chick host meddling, Zhu Mei is about to be oppressed by Toy Entertainment, so the host must take responsibility for his own action . ”
“If the host can help Zhu Mei to get through the difficult times, her fame will rise and be a renowned artistic director, then the great system will give out rewards to the host . ”
Chen Huan listened to the Great Lord mission and his first impression was there was something fishy .
Did it know that Aunty Zhu Mei would be in a bad situation when he picked up the song so that was why it gave him the reward to be able to choose a movie?
Isn’t it telling him to use the claim a movie to help her?
Great Lord, you’re doing this deliberately!
He wanted to choose a low cost and high earning commercial movie so he could get a big profit with other!
How could he lack money if he wanted to have good and leisurely life?
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If he could get a few billion RMB shares of the movie, he could spend the rest of his life playing around and relax!
He could only choose an artsy movie if he went to help Aunty Mei!
He was losing a lot of money!!
Let’s not mention Chen Huan grievance or the fact that the reward came from the Great Lord . It was indeed Chen Huan’s comment and evaluation that led to Zhu Mei abandon ‘Youth Rise’, so Chen Huan indeed was a little bit responsible .
In desperation, Chen Huan could only wrack his brain and try to recall what kind of movie suited Zhu Mei .
It wasn’t that he couldn’t choose blockbuster/commercial movies but Zhu Mei would definitely refuse to make those .
Wouldn’t be it a waste if he gave it to her and she didn’t use it? He wouldn’t be able to help or accomplish the mission .
So he could only choose literacy movies .
‘Dying to Survive’?
Emmmmm… .
That movie seems to be too advanced .
‘The Way We Are’?
Huh, the box office of this movie was too shit .
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After Chen Huan thought for a while, he set out a few guidelines .
First, it should be an artsy movie that didn’t involve monetary gain .
Two, this movie shouldn’t be too depressing and it would be better if it was joyful so it could perform a bit better in the box office .
Third, this movie should give out a big artsy feeling of literacy and should have a high standard so everybody that looked at it would be shocked .
Otherwise it wouldn’t be a good artsy film if it didn’t win any awards .
In his original world’s artsy movies, more than half shouldn’t be taken out such as Chen Kaige’s ‘Farewell My Concubine’ .
Because to be honest, Zhu Mei’s current level and ability was far worse than those masters and it would only embarrass her if he gave her those hard to make movies .
So, it was necessary to add that the film couldn’t be too difficult and mustn’t too relying on the actor performance such as in ‘Farewell My Concubine’ with actors Zhang Yiyi, Ge You and Zhang Guorong who are all top notch! How else could it become a classic if it wasn’t for them?
Kaige could film ‘Farewell My Concubine’ because on one hand he was already a very reputable and established director in China and on other hand, the Tomson Riviera’s boss had a lot connection in Hong Kong and just casually dragged the like of Zhang Guorong over . Otherwise how could so many big stars gather in one movie?
Was he going to ask Zhu Mei to hire Sun Dahe? Or invite Jin Weijie? Or even ask Ma Xing?
Those movie emperors would not come!
Therefore, he could only reduce the difficulties of the film and make it as simple as possible .
Chen Huan still had some choices even with those conditions .
‘You Are the Apple In My Eyes’, ‘Love Is Not Blind’, ‘Finding Mr . Right’, ‘Soul Mate’ were all good choices .
But after some careful thinking, those movies were about love and youth and was lacking in term of literacy or being artful . It also couldn’t meet requirement of the Great Lord for making Zhu Mei famous .
Chen Huan used his brain and chose two movies that were more suitable after some more thinking .
One was called ‘Comrades, Almost a Love Story’ which was a super cult classic that starred Zhang Manyu and Li Ming .
The other one was ‘Love Letter’ a well-known pure love cult classic by the Japanese director Shinji Iwai .
Chen Huan would have preferred to choose ‘Comrades, Almost a Love Story’ but it would require too much of an investment .
Li Ming and Zhang Manyu were movie emperor level and even the supporting actor Zhang Zhiwei was film emperor . They needed to shoot it in Hong Kong but also in abroad .
The production of this movie would at least need 20 million and that wasn’t even including the actors’ pay .
They probably wouldn’t able to do it without at least a 50 million budget .
This amount was too great for a director such as Zhu Mei .
In the end, Chen Huan chose the Japanese pure love cult classic ‘Love Letter’!