Chapter 168 Film Selection
[Left Ear] also has extraordinary significance to Gu Wei.
This is Gu Wei's first youth film and also the most suitable film for him at this stage.
Although Gu Wei knows many films that have been both box office success and well-received, his current age and image mean that there are many roles that are not suitable for him to play.
For example, he is currently filming a movie called "Charlotte's Troubles". He knows that it will be a big hit at the box office after it is released next year, but there is no role suitable for him in the film.
It is impossible for him to play Charlotte, as that is Chen Teng's exclusive role, and he is not suitable for the role given his age and appearance.
Only the "Tidal Sea Spirit" Yuan Hua played by Yin Zheng is suitable for him, but the production cost of "Charlotte's Troubles" is only 20 million, and Gu Wei's current film salary is also 20 million.
I guess the producers don’t even have the courage to look for him.
Moreover, with Gu Wei's current fame and status, playing a supporting role in a low-budget comedy is a complete demotion and a thankless task.
Most of his current fans became his fans after watching "Gu Jian Qi Tan". It would be strange if they didn't stop being his fans after seeing him play the role of "Tidal Sea Spirit".
However, if it is a movie invested and controlled by Gu Wei's own company, then it would be fine for him to play a supporting role. For the sake of making money, everything else can be put aside.
It turned out that Gu Wei also wanted to invest in "Charlotte's Troubles". Later, he asked his agent to find out that in addition to Happy Twist, the producers of that movie also included Wanda Pictures and Tengxun Video, all of which were wealthy, so it would be difficult for him to get involved.
Gu Wei thought it would be a good idea to make some youth films, since he was still young. All the young stars in the circle who were around his age had made a lot of youth films.
People should act in roles that suit their age. When Gu Wei gets older in a few years, he may not be suitable for acting in youth dramas.
Gu Wei doesn't want to be like some male actors who have to play young handsome men at an old age. Even makeup can't cover up the old age on their faces, which distracts the audience and is too embarrassing.
And there is another advantage of making youth films, which is that it allows everyone to intuitively see your box office appeal.
Everyone knows that most of the people who watch this kind of movie are young men and women, and they basically go to see the stars in the movie.
If the box office is a big hit, it is naturally the credit of the protagonist of the movie, who brings in his own fans and box office.
After the filming of [Left Ear] was completed, some subsequent work had nothing to do with Gu Wei. Only when the large-scale publicity was carried out on the eve of the release, would the actors in the crew reunite.
The release date of this movie has been confirmed, and it will probably be around April next year. Of course, these are all decided by the producer Light Media and director Su Youpeng. As a paid leading actor, Gu Wei has no say.
Although his salary was converted into investment, he was not the main controller after all. All he could do was cooperate with the publicity in the later stage and wait for his share of the money.
Coincidentally, another film invested by Gu Wei, Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior", is also scheduled to be released in April next year.
However, the two films are of completely different genres, one is about military war and the other is about youth idols, so there is no need to worry about them competing too fiercely with each other.
In the golden September, the capital also welcomed the beautiful weather of clear and crisp autumn weather. There was no more chirping of cicadas and no more endless heat. Even if the air conditioner was not turned on in the office, the cool breeze coming in through the window could make Gu Wei feel cool.
After returning to the capital, Gu Wei took a brief rest and then immediately started working.
The filming of "Left Ear" lasted for more than two months. Gu Wei only returned to Beijing for a guest appearance in "The Pancake Man". He also took time to go back to the company to deal with some backlog work.
"Mr. Gu, these are the plays that have been looking for you recently."
Agent Yang Liwen knocked on the door and came in, holding a thick stack of scripts and placed them on the desk in front of Gu Wei.
"I've filtered out some obviously unreliable, three-no dramas. The remaining ones are basically produced by companies with some reputation in the industry, and some of them are directed by directors with achievements."
"Wow~ You're looking for me in so many dramas?"
Gu Wei looked at the tall pile of scripts in front of him and said in amazement.
"You don't know how popular you are right now. I've read almost all of these scripts. Most of them are for TV series, and there are fewer invitations for movies.
The TV dramas that approach you are all about playing the leading male role, and most of them are costume dramas."
Yang Liwen said as she divided the scripts into two piles, the taller ones were TV series and the smaller ones were movies.
"Some of these film and television companies have signed actors under their own names, right? Why don't they promote their own people?"
Gu Wei was talking to Yang Liwen while looking through the script of the TV series.
“After producing a TV series, one is afraid that it won’t be broadcast on satellite TV, and the other is that it won’t sell for a good price. In fact, many TV stations don’t even buy it after it’s finished.
With your current popularity and fame, boss, no matter what TV series you star in, that drama will immediately become the most popular series, attracting the attention of major TV stations, and can be easily sold at a good price after filming.
It’s good to promote your own people, but making money from selling dramas is the most important thing!
It is said that during the preparation period of new TV series in the circle, you will be invited as long as the role is suitable.
We will look for other actors only after we reject them."
"So exaggerated?"
Gu Wei is not aware enough of his current popularity.
"Of course, at the beginning of the year, the TV series you and Zhao Liying collaborated on, [My Dear Mr. Right], was initially under great negotiation between the production company Jukuu and Lizhi TV, but was bought out by Mango TV at a high price.
It is said that Lizhi TV is deeply regretful now, and the director of the film purchasing department has been criticized by the station."
When Gu Wei flips through a script, he basically just looks at the names. If he doesn't remember any of the characters, he will skip them directly. If he has some impression of them, he will open them and take a quick look.
"Has Huanrui not started filming [Grave Robbers' Chronicles] yet?"
Gu Wei suddenly found "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" sent by Huanrui among a pile of scripts.
He had thought of this big IP when he first acquired the copyright, but unfortunately he was not the only smart person in the world.
【Grave Robbers' Chronicles】is a novel serialized on the Internet by Nanpai Sanshu since 2006. It became a hot seller after its official publication in 2007.
In 2012, Nanpai Sanshu and Shanghai Chengzong Culture Communication Co., Ltd. signed the film adaptation and production rights of "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", and agreed to start filming within one year.
However, until the end of 2013, Shanghai Chengzong Culture Communication Co., Ltd. had not fulfilled its contract. In accordance with the contract, Nanpai Sanshu issued a unilateral notice of termination of the contract to the other party.
Subsequently, Nanpai Sanshu sold the six-year TV adaptation rights of "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" (parts 1-9) to Huanrui Century for a copyright fee of 5 million yuan.
"This script was recently handed over by Huanrui. They plan to shoot a 12-episode web series per season, and the production cost of each episode is about 5 million."
Gu Wei frowned and thought for a while. His current price for TV series is 800,000 per episode, which is a slight increase from 600,000 per episode two months ago.
There is no need to complain about the high price. Gu Wei is just following the market trend. The crews that sent him the scripts all agreed with his salary. Some even said that as long as Gu Wei is willing to participate, the salary can be negotiated.
If he joined the crew of "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", because it only had 12 episodes, his salary would be 9.6 million, but it would take 3 to 4 months to shoot. Although he remembered that "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" was also very popular when it was later broadcast on the Internet, the cost-effectiveness was not high.
"The filming time is too long, the episodes are too short, and the pay is too low. I'll politely decline Huanrui and say I don't have the time. After all, our previous collaboration was very pleasant, and there will be opportunities for further collaboration in the future."
Gu Wei put "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" together with the pile of scripts he had just flipped through, and spoke to his agent indifferently.
He flipped through the scripts of these TV series and found that except for "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", which was somewhat interesting, the rest were unwatchable. The only thing that caught his attention was that everyone was willing to pay money.
His salary for a 50-episode TV series alone was 40 million yuan, but unfortunately he took any film that he thought had good ratings.
Once Gu Wei accepts a role, he will finish it honestly and will never overlap with other projects. At most, he will take a short leave if something happens. Given his fame and popularity, the crew understands this.
This resulted in his annual film output being low. If he had the efficiency of Yang Mi, who could shoot 11 films a year, he could easily earn several small goals in a year just from film remuneration.
It's a pity that Gu Wei is too concerned about his reputation and is afraid of damaging his own brand.
Throwing the scripts aside one by one, Gu Wei felt as if he saw countless small amounts of money slipping away, and his heart ached.
After finishing the last TV drama script, Gu Wei picked up another pile of movie scripts.
"Mr. Gu, there are fewer film invitations, and some of them are not starring roles, but I think you can pay attention to them. I have marked the ones that need special attention."
Gu Wei was not surprised to hear this. Compared with TV dramas, the casting of movies is more rigorous. It not only looks at the fame of the actors, but also their acting skills and compatibility with the role are very important.
Gu Wei flipped through a few books and found that most of them were youth films, the titles of which he had never even heard of.
But there are also surprises.
There are two scripts from Huayi Brothers, both of which were specially marked by Yang Liwen.
One is the drama action film "Old Cannon" directed by Guan Hu and starring Feng Xiaogang.
Gu Wei was invited to play the role of "Zhang Xiaobo", the son of the male protagonist "Liu Ye", which is the role played by Li Yifeng in the original time and space.
Speaking of it, the movie "Old Cannon" is also very interesting. In order to attract more young audiences to go to the cinema, the original time and space found two top stars at the time to play supporting roles for Feng Xiaogang.
As a result, both of them got into trouble later.
Although "Old Cannon" had good box office results afterwards and Feng Xiaogang even won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor for this movie, it was just a waste of time for Gu Wei.
The only benefit of him taking this movie is that he can build good relationships with the people at Huayi and increase his own network.
However, he has not forgotten that there was a small conflict between him and Feng Xiaogang when the movie was released last year, and it will inevitably be awkward when they meet then.
Gu Wei has always believed that there is no need to force yourself to fit in if you are in a different circle. He has his own fame and resources, so there is no need for him to have good relationships with everyone.
Thinking of this, he threw the script of "Lao Paoer" aside.
Yang Liwen saw the title of the script and wanted to say something, but she looked at Gu Wei's expression and didn't open her mouth.
There is also a sequel to the film "Ex-Files 2: The Backup Strikes Back" directed by Tian Yusheng.
The box office of the first film exceeded 100 million yuan, and Gu Wei remembered that the box office of this sequel should have exceeded 200 million yuan.
Unfortunately, it's another useless thing. If [Ex-Files 3] had approached him, he would have agreed.
After reading all the movie scripts, Gu Wei took out one and put it on the table and said to Yang Liwen.
"Anle sent me an invitation. Did they decide to change the cast and reshoot so quickly?"
Yang Liwen looked down and saw three big words written on the script: [Monster Hunt].
“Yes, in fact, Anle communicated with the General Administration after the incident.
The General Administration’s attitude is that illegal artists must be completely banned, and the film cannot be released unless the actors are replaced.
This film has invested more than 200 million yuan in production, and the investor, Enlight Pictures, is already in a difficult situation.
Their boss Jiang Zhiqiang decided to spend another 100 million yuan to reshoot the film, which was a last-ditch effort.
However, this matter is still confidential and has not been released to the media or the public."
The Ke Zhendong incident that was exposed last month shocked the entire entertainment industry, and Gu Wei certainly paid attention to it.
This young Taiwanese actor, who became famous for his role as "Ko Ching-teng" in "You Are the Apple of My Eye", had his future ruined because of his illegal activities.
Even more unfortunate was Emperor Motion Pictures, which had already finished filming a movie but was banned from release by the General Administration of Press and Publication because of the relationship between the artist and its bad record. It seemed that its investment of more than 200 million yuan was about to go down the drain.
Gu Wei guessed that Anle was now eager to kill Ke Zhendong.
Seeing that Gu Wei was very interested in "Monster Hunt", Yang Liwen, as his agent, couldn't help but give him some advice.
"Mr. Gu, this film format is the first of its kind in our country, and no one in the industry knows if it will be a success.
Now that this incident has happened, the production costs have skyrocketed, making it even more difficult to make a profit.
If you want to take over this mess, you have to be careful."
Gu Wei smiled. What Yang Liwen said made sense. Most people in the circle probably thought so now.
Unfortunately, his exam was open book and he knew the answers.
After the release of the original time and space "Monster Hunt", it achieved a good box office result of 2.4 billion yuan, breaking the mainland movie box office record in one fell swoop.
Although there were some negative news about box office fraud later on, the box office revenue was still around 2 billion.
This data is a very great achievement for the leading actor of the movie.
Moreover, the male lead Jing Boran, who was caught to save the day in the original version, was not very famous before filming "Monster Hunt". He became famous only because of the popularity of the movie.
If it were Gu Wei now, he might be able to win the domestic box office championship with his strength.
"When will Edko Films start reshoots?"
Seeing that her advice was useless and Gu Wei seemed determined to take on this movie, Yang Liwen didn't say anything else. She still admired Gu Wei's vision very much.
"Around the end of this year or the beginning of next year, the schedules of other actors still need to be coordinated.
Anle really wants you to take on this film, and they've offered you a salary of 30 million, which is far higher than the market price."
After hesitating for a moment, Yang Liwen added.
"It's rumored online that Anle's CEO Jiang has staked his entire fortune on this film."
Gu Wei smiled and was not surprised by this. At this time, people in the circle were generally not optimistic about "Monster Hunt".
After all, including the money spent on reshoots, this movie is already a mega-production with an investment of more than 300 million yuan. Movies with this amount of investment are rare in the film industry at that time.
If other movies had this much investment, they would definitely have a bunch of big stars, but the original "Monster Hunt" chose a little-known Jing Boran as the male lead.
This shows the general opinion of the circle on this movie at that time.
The reason why Enlight Pictures is now looking for Gu Wei is naturally to use his huge popularity to help maximize the box office of the movie. After all, they have already gone all in this time and have no way out.
"Contact Anle and confirm the time for the reshoot. If there are no problems, sign the contract."
(End of this chapter)
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