Chapter 536: Difficult to Determine Angle
Today is the casting day for "The Martian". Only after all the main roles are confirmed will Blue Whale Entertainment and Li Donglai announce the establishment of a 200 million-level movie project.
It was Li Donglai who proposed doing this, in order to prevent too many people from knowing the news and coming to use their connections to disrupt the progress of the project. This move was strongly supported by Blue Whale Entertainment.
The actors and artists who received interview invitations remained silent and did not publicize them on any celebrity Weibo.
The dust has not settled yet. You can only accept congratulations if you are selected, but it is not shameful if you are not selected.
"How about it?"
A morning passed, and director Li Donglai interviewed a small group of invited artists. Zhou An'an, who was sitting next to him, did not express any opinion throughout the whole process. However, Feng Jiming, who had been out for something, asked about it after he came back.
"For the female lead, I think Han Dong'er is more suitable, and the second female lead needs further consideration. For the male lead, I have also selected a few, but have not yet decided."
As for the female lead, Li Donglai had communicated with the big boss and decided on Chinese actress Han Dong'er, who had worked with him twice in Hollywood.
The actress who has won the title of international film queen for many years has good acting skills, is quite popular overseas, has a good figure, and is favored by international friends. She is considered to be a more suitable candidate for the female lead.
The other supporting roles are basically not important. The most important thing is that the first male lead, second male lead and second female lead have not been decided yet.
If there are no suitable candidates, Li Donglai decided to select the second female and second male roles from the existing artists of Blue Whale Entertainment.
The male lead must be the most suitable one.
After all, "The Martian" is still a male-led drama, and the male lead needs to carry the entire movie's box office alone.
If the leading actor doesn't act well, it won't matter how great the special effects are.
"Thank you for your hard work, Director Li. I'll offer you a cup of tea instead of wine."
Picking up the tea brewed by his secretary, Feng Jiming said with a smile.
As the general manager of the company, Feng Jiming positions himself well and absolutely listens to the opinions of professionals in terms of professionalism.
Just like now, many calls came to his mobile phone, but Feng Jiming refused to give in.
Although it has not been made public, everyone in the industry knows that after the high opening of its first film, Blue Whale Entertainment is preparing to launch a big satellite and is full of enthusiasm to enter the big screen.
Therefore, many people used their connections to find out some inside information, and major brokerage companies wanted to get their artists in, but they all hit a wall.
Are you kidding? When it comes to a film project with such a huge investment, all personal connections will have to be put aside. It will be their company that will suffer the loss.
Feng Jiming is very clear about the importance of this point and also emphasized at the company meeting that any management interference in casting matters must be prevented.
"Mr. Feng, you're welcome."
After only a few days of contact, Li Donglai really likes the atmosphere of Blue Whale Entertainment.
There are no laymen guiding the experts, and there are not so many personal relationships to consider. You only need to be responsible for the projects in your hands, and all the pressure will be borne by the company.
If he had met such a boss at the beginning, he would not have gone overseas in anger for many years.
However, if he had not gone to Hollywood, he would not have his current achievements and abilities.
The three of them chatted for a while in General Manager Feng's office. Li Donglai continued to interview the remaining artists, and Zhou Anan did not join in the fun.
"Is 200 million enough for this project?"
After taking a sip of tea, Zhou Anan asked about the progress of the project.
The upfront expenses for purchasing a special effects company should naturally be included outside the project.
Otherwise, when the special effects company makes a profit in the future, it will have to share the money with those rich second-generation investors.
Zhou Anan didn't cheat by adding the acquisition cost of the special effects company into the budget and then taking it out separately. This didn't fit his strategy of cheating those rich second-generations with a lot of money in the long run.
Allowing the second-generation rich who invest to make money and gain fame is the long-term way to defraud them of their investment.
"The modeling will cost more than 10 million, the actors' salaries have not yet been determined, the manpower time and cost of filming cannot be estimated, and the special effects investment is unknown, so it may exceed the budget."
Pressing his brows, Feng Jiming told the preliminary results reached by the budget department.
This is still under the premise of controlling the actor costs as much as possible, otherwise the project expenditure may be even greater.
After all, it's because their domestic special effects industry is too backward, and they can't afford to hire foreign special effects companies.
Those foreign blockbusters often cost hundreds of millions of dollars, most of which is spent on special effects, and the actors' pay does not account for the bulk of the money.
“It doesn’t matter if the budget is exceeded, as long as we ensure quality and quantity.”
The current actors' pay is not that high, and Zhou Anan did not propose to convert the lead actor's pay into a percentage of the project's profit.
After all, this is the first 3D science fiction movie in the country, which has enough gimmicks and the possibility of making a profit is still very high.
"Don't worry, I will personally monitor this project."
For Feng Jiming, this film project is the focus of his current work and he absolutely cannot afford to make any mistakes.
As for the acquisition of Marvel shares, it was all led by Excalibur Capital. They were responsible for paying the money and the final negotiations and signing. Feng Jiming did not spend much energy on this matter.
"Mr. Feng."
The two were chatting when General Manager Feng's Secretary Chi walked in with a pile of documents.
"You go ahead and do your work. I'll go take a look."
Without disturbing General Manager Feng's work, Zhou Anan got up and walked outside.
The elevator stopped at the floor where the interviews were held. Zhou Anan walked out. When she passed the artist candidate room, she happened to see someone opening the door and walking out.
"Li Frame?"
Looking at the familiar-looking female artist, Zhou Anan blurted out.
"Mr. Zhou."
Unexpectedly, seeing each other at the company headquarters, Li Zhen, who had officially become an artist under Blue Whale Entertainment, was less flustered and showed a gentle smile.
"Are you here for the audition too?"
Knowing that all the artists under the company came for the interview, Zhou Anan was not surprised why the other party came. However, when they met, there was nothing to say, so she could only ask despite knowing the answer.
Zhou Anan has a good impression of this intellectual and beautiful female artist.
"Yes, I'll see if there's any chance."
Li Zhen, who has always been tepid, doesn't think he has a chance to become the protagonist of a movie directed by Li Donglai, so he just tries his luck.
Anyway, everyone else in the company has come, so she doesn't make any difference.
Li Zhen was rather pleased to meet this handsome young man who had helped her: "By the way, I haven't thanked you properly for the last time you helped me."
"It's no big deal, just go and audition first."
With a wave of her hand, Zhou Anan told the other party to go back to work first, just in case director Li Donglai noticed his acting skills.
"Okay, I'll treat you to dinner when I'm free."
Remembering that he had other important things to do, Li Zhen walked quickly towards the audition room, even though he felt that he had little chance but could not offend the big director.
Without looking to see if there were any female artists from her own family that she was familiar with, Zhou Anan strolled around for a while and then quietly walked into the audition room.
Li Donglai and two senior screenwriters sat there, watching the performance of the female artist in the middle of the room seriously.
After nodding to a few people, Zhou Anan sat quietly next to them.
Li Zhen, who was performing a certain plot, looked at the familiar young second-generation man and couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, but he quickly reacted and continued his performance.
"Okay, go back and wait for notification."
After the other party finished their performance, Li Dong said some ordinary polite words.
"Okay, thank you Director Li."
Li Zhen bowed respectfully, feeling that there was no hope, glanced casually at the slightly confused second generation, and walked out.
"Who's next?"
Leaning back in his chair, Li Donglai asked.
"It's Liu Feifei, interviewing for the second female role."
The assistant, who was sitting not far away and had little presence, heard the boss' question and quickly controlled his volume to answer.
(End of this chapter)
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