yournovel Chapter 13 Beauty is not as good as cheap
Chapter 13 Beauty is not as good as cheap
Although the female lead, Xiang Ling, has a small role, she is a key character in the film.
It serves as both the core of the narrative and the emotional anchor, as well as a vehicle for contrasting the cruelty of the martial arts world.
The entire film unfolds from Xiang Ling's narration and flashback perspective.
All the grudges, revenge, and battles in the martial arts world are presented through her eyes and inner feelings.
However, the requirements for actors are not high; the most important thing is beauty.
"The female lead must be chosen from among TVB artists, and Fong Yi-wah also recommended three."
Lam Kit-ying, Kathy Chow, and Lau Ka-ling are all stunning beauties, popular TVB actresses, and perfectly suited for the roles.
"Hey bro, which one do you think is more suitable?"
Cheng Xiaodong pondered for a moment and then said:
"Since all three are suitable, let's choose the most famous one, Lan Jieying."
"I also prefer Lan Jieying. She is known as the most beautiful woman in Wutai Mountain. Her looks are the best."
The most important thing for the female lead, Xiang Ling, is to have a striking beauty.
Seeing that both women chose Lan Jieying, Tang Jia couldn't help but remind them:
"Lam Kit-ying has been famous for many years and has the highest salary ever, quoted at HK$500,000."
Zhou Haimei and Liu Jialing have only recently become popular, and their fees are less than half of hers; she's asking for 200,000 yuan.
Tang Long and Cheng Xiaodong exchanged a glance, both understanding each other's thoughts.
"Forget it then, 500,000 is too high a salary. Let's choose one of the other two."
He must be crazy to spend HK$500,000 to choose a female lead with a small role; Cheng Xiaodong and his action choreography team only spent HK$500,000.
The total investment was only five million Hong Kong dollars, and every penny had to be carefully calculated.
The three reached a consensus that the total remuneration of all actors and crew members should not exceed two million.
Tang Long, who was both the male lead and the screenwriter, only received HK$100,000.
"I also want to remind you that this filming will be done in the western part of the mainland, and the filming environment is not very good."
They might not be willing to go; after all, we're just a small production crew.
"That can't be right, they wouldn't dare disobey Fang Yihua's arrangements, would they?"
Fang Yihua's domineering nature is well-known in the industry; if you don't obey her arrangements, she dares to directly send you to film movies with explicit content.
She threatened Chen Yulian and Zhong Chuhong to film these scenes.
"Even if they don't dare, they won't film properly if they go there and they're unwilling."
"We have a limited budget and can't afford to delay, so we need to find an actress who is willing to accept tough filming conditions."
Uncle Tang Jia is right; their small production crew really can't afford to waste time.
"Then let's send out notices to both Zhou Haimei and Liu Jialing, explain the situation clearly, and see who is willing to take the role."
If none of them are willing, then let Fang Yihua recommend someone else.
Cheng Xiaodong made the decision immediately, and then continued:
"The last main character, Feilong, needs to have excellent martial arts skills. Do you have any candidates in mind?"
"How about Ah Long's master, Li Haisheng?" Tang Jia recommended.
"Ah Sheng won't do. Although he's very good at fighting, he's suited for more stereotypical villains. He's not suited for a character like Fei Long, who has a strong presence."
The original Feilong was played by Xiong Xinxin, but he has only recently joined the Yuan family team and has not yet played the role of Guijiaoqi. He is currently not famous at all.
Tang Long recalled a classic villain from another "Once Upon a Time in China" movie.
"I have someone in mind."
"I think there's someone who would be a good fit."
Tang Long and Cheng Xiaodong spoke at the same time, and then they couldn't help but smile at each other.
"Boss, who do you think is suitable?"
"A mainland actor, Yu Rongguang, who plays the main villain in 'The Cotton Robe'."
I worked with him on "A Terracotta Warrior's Tale" last year. He's good at fighting, and he has a lot of presence when playing villains. I think he's suitable for the role of Feilong.
"I would like to recommend Ren Shiguan."
You may not be familiar with his name, but many people will definitely remember the roles he played.
The monk Yan Kong in "Iron Monkey", Feng Xifan in "The Deer and the Cauldron II", and Ren Woxing in "Swordsman II" are all classic roles he created.
Ren Shiguan has become increasingly domineering with age, and his portrayal of villains is effortless and unforgettable.
Upon hearing Ren Shiguan's name, both Tang Jia and Cheng Xiaodong nodded in agreement.
He debuted very early, so the two of them naturally knew about his situation, especially Tang Jia, who had even worked with him in Zhang Che's film crew.
"Then let's contact both of them. Director Tang, you go find Ren Shiguan, and I'll contact Yu Rongguang to see who's available and who has a lower fee."
After roughly determining the actors for the main roles, the three discussed some other filming-related matters.
For the next period of time, Tang Jia and Cheng Xiaodong became busy, while Tang Long became idle.
However, he was not idle. Instead, he had Kim Heung-hyun add more teaching courses and figure out how to play the role of Ding An well.
Good news kept coming in during this period.
Liu Qingyun signed an actor contract for a fee of HK$200,000.
Metropolitan Films successfully reached an agreement with the mainland side, allowing the crew to travel to western China for location shooting.
Liu Jialing agreed to play the female lead, Xiang Ling, for a fee of HK$150,000.
Zhou Haimei and Liu Jialing received the notice at the same time. Upon hearing that the filming conditions were quite difficult, the former said she would consider it.
The latter readily agreed and acted very enthusiastically.
Faced with this situation, Tang Jia naturally didn't hesitate and directly signed a contract with Liu Jialing, even cutting her salary by 50,000 yuan.
The character of Feilong was quickly decided upon.
Ren Shiguan and Yu Rongguang were both interested in the role and were available for the role.
Ren Shiguan quoted HK$150,000, while Yu Rongguang only asked for HK$50,000 in payment.
The production team promptly signed a contract with Yu Rongguang.
In fact, Yam Sai-kwan's asking price for film remuneration was not high at all; he had been working in the Hong Kong film industry for more than 20 years.
Although he has never played a leading role, he has at least become a familiar face to the audience.
The quoted price was HK$150,000, but a discount was offered out of consideration for Tang Jia.
However, as a mainland Chinese artist, Yu Rongguang's pay is much lower.
Yu Rongguang hadn't yet developed his career in Hong Kong, so he quoted fees based on mainland film salaries. He was a little worried that he might have quoted too much at HK$50,000.
Subsequently, Cheng Xiaodong and Tang Jia finalized the behind-the-scenes filming team, including photographers, lighting technicians, prop masters, art directors, and makeup artists.
Apart from the photography team, which was hired from outside by Ching Siu-tung, the rest of the crew were recruited from TVB in order to save money.
The entire production team has been basically assembled.
The two then rushed to the mainland to scout locations, determine filming locations, and set up a simple studio and exterior buildings.
It wasn't until mid-June that Cheng Xiaodong returned to Hong Kong from the mainland.
He gathered the filming crew and main actors to prepare for their trip to the mainland.
From securing investment to setting off for the mainland, the film's preparation took nearly a month.
This efficiency is considered slow even in Hong Kong.
But none of that mattered anymore. Tang Long set foot on the mainland with a slightly excited heart.
His first starring film is finally about to start shooting.