Chapter 897 It's time to join the group.

"Yan River".

Suddenly someone came up to greet him.

Lu Yanhe looked up.

It turned out to be Yu Mengling.

“Sister Meng Ling.” Lu Yanhe smiled with surprise.

"Where are you going?" Yu Mengling asked first, then quickly followed up, "Is anyone with you?"

"No, please sit down."

Yu Mengling sat down.

"I'm going to the United States for a brand endorsement job," Yu Mengling said. "Are you going there to film a movie?"

"Yes, they're going to film 'Men in Black'."

"Ah, this movie!" Yu Mengling laughed. "A big production."

Lu Yanhe nodded.

He asked, "Sister Meng Ling, how many days are you going to work? If you have time, could you come visit the film set?"

Yu Mengling asked, "Where is your film crew shooting?"

"We've been filming in New York recently," Lu Yanhe said. "We'll start by shooting some exterior scenes in New York."

“Okay.” Yu Mengling nodded. “That’s great. My job is in New York, so it’s very convenient.”

Lu Yanhe laughed, "If possible, how about you come and play a cameo role for us?"

Yu Mengling agreed without hesitation.

"Has anything been decided about what Meng Lingjie will be filming next?"

“I’m looking at the script, not yet.” Yu Mengling shook her head. “I also want to rest for a while. I was too tired in Xituer before, and the film is going to be released in April. There’s a lot of promotional work. I’ll wait until the second half of the year before considering taking on a new film. I’m not in good shape right now.”

Lu Yanhe nodded.

Yu Mengling's output has indeed been very low.

Moreover, almost all of the roles Yu Mengling has taken on have been art films; he has never acted in genre films, let alone commercial films.

In recent years, the most commercially viable role Yu Mengling has taken on is still the TV series "Rouge".

Strictly speaking, however, "Rouge" is not a commercial film in the traditional sense.

Lu Yanhe was quite envious of Yu Mengling's insistence on her own artistic aesthetics.

This is especially true in an industry where people are easily tempted and easily swayed by various related interests.

It can be said that the entertainment industry is an industry circle that puts the gap between the rich and the poor and the class gap completely on the table.

In the entertainment industry, actors who earn tens or hundreds of millions in film fees are often accompanied by assistants who only earn three thousand yuan a month.

The popular actor who is praised, favored, and even fawned over by producers and directors wherever he goes might be a small actor who has been sitting at home for half a year before finally getting a minor role.

It's no exaggeration to say that this is a chaotic environment. The immense exposure, the constant scrutiny, the pervasive discrimination, the fluctuating career, the precarious nature of popularity… Anyone who has experienced temptations and setbacks understands the immense difficulty of maintaining one's original aspirations and persisting in one's artistic pursuits in such an environment.

Yu Mengling is not an actress who lives in poverty, but she is able to guard her heart, which is very rare.

Lu Yanhe knew exactly how rare this was.

Yu Mengling agreed to make a cameo appearance in "Men in Black" without hesitation. This showed her trust in Lu Yanhe, and also indicated that she didn't truly consider this cameo a full-fledged performance. If she were actually offered the lead role in "Men in Black"—and if there were a lead role at all—she might not have been willing to take it.

However, her acting style may not be suitable for commercial films.

As Lu Yanhe looked at Yu Mengling, the image of Maggie Cheung suddenly appeared in his mind.

In fact, the one who truly bridged the gap between commercial films and artistic temperament, and who could transcend multiple themes and character types, was this legendary actress.

She can act in "Ruan Lingyu" and she can also act in "Dragon Inn".

Will Yu Mengling one day be able to break through her own performance limitations and further broaden her acting range, as well as the types and styles of films she participates in?

Who knows what the future holds?

-

Filming for "Men in Black" has begun.

Hollywood is very adept at making these kinds of movies, thanks to its highly developed industrial system.

Fu Kai served as the director and began preparations well in advance.

At the time, Soren also wanted to hire an American director for the film. Although Lu Yanhe recommended Fu Kai, Soren still felt that Fu Kai was a Chinese director who had never directed a film in Hollywood before, and he might not be able to handle such a large production right away.

If there is an American director co-directing, many issues can be communicated and negotiated by that person.

Moreover, he is more familiar with the Hollywood filmmaking system.

Lu Yanhe firmly refused, and asked in return, "If you were to invite Liu Bige to direct 'Men in Black,' would you also arrange for an American director to co-direct it?"

To put it bluntly, Soren simply felt that Fu Kai was not qualified to direct this big-budget production on his own.

After all, of Fu Kai's past directorial works, only "Road to Glory" has garnered any attention during North American awards season. Apart from this film, Fu Kai's other directorial works are only well-known in China and have never received international attention.

Lu Yanhe, however, knew very well that Fu Kai had made many successful commercial films in China, such as "Enjoy Life While You Can".

The environment for Chinese films today is not the same as it was twenty years ago.

The film projects directed by Fu Kai, in terms of both funding and production scale, are comparable to most Hollywood productions. Aside from his unfamiliarity with the Hollywood industrial system, Fu Kai is otherwise incapable. This lack of familiarity can be overcome with more learning and understanding.

As it turned out, Fu Kai had absolutely no problems. There was no way he could have had any problems in the first place—

He's not a novice director; he's very experienced. Plus, the script for "Men in Black" is very easy to film. Lu Yanhe had already communicated with Fu Kai beforehand about his ideas when writing the script.

Fu Kai and his team came to the United States and began scouting locations two months in advance, discussing shooting plans, which studio shots and which location shots, and how to design each shot.

When Lu Yanhe arrived at the "Men in Black" crew, Fu Kai had already earned the crew's recognition through his own abilities.

-

Lu Yanhe once told Fu Kai why Hollywood does a better job of making movies like "Men in Black" than other parts of the world.

On the one hand, the technology is more mature and cheaper. On the other hand, they have many years of film production experience. They have accumulated a lot of production experience in science fiction and action movies. Therefore, their film art, visual effects and other departments have enough experience to make every scene very realistic.

Even for the creation of a single scene, they have very professional databases and production experience for different eras, industries, and styles. They can create a 100% realistic scene in just one afternoon.

Therefore, when filming "The Wandering Earth 2", Guo Fan recruited many film school students to stay on set every day, making various records, including all kinds of production materials, which were all sorted out and organized. They made this film from scratch. With the materials and complete records, when others make a film on the same subject later, they can not only obtain all kinds of production records, including various scene designs, electronic information materials, costume materials, etc., but also do not have to go through the hardship of "from scratch". Instead, they can optimize and upgrade on this basis. This is not only twice as efficient, but also can significantly reduce production costs, R&D costs, and design costs.

Hollywood, on the other hand, has accumulated a wealth of experience and material through its past productions.

“There’s no need to think about making a unique sci-fi action movie. It’s just a very orthodox, conventional Hollywood movie with at most some comedic elements,” Lu Yanhe said. “We can use the original materials directly without any pressure. As long as there is 15% of the original ideas that have never appeared before, it will be enough to surprise everyone.”

Lu Yanhe didn't want Fu Kai to be under too much pressure, or perhaps he had some other intention, wanting to make "Men in Black" into an epic classic. "Men in Black" isn't like that at all. To give an analogy, its style is more like a teen comic—the pacing and style are typical and lively. It's not "The Matrix," much less "Star Wars."

"Your best style is actually the style I envisioned when I was writing Men in Black: lighthearted, lively, fast-paced, with occasional slapstick moments. It's a bit more mature than teenage fantasies, but more comic book-like than mature science fiction films."

This is why Lu Yanhe chose Fu Kai to direct this film.

(End of this chapter)