Chapter 161 Controversy and Sensation in Actor Selection
The next day, Liu Zhou slept until he woke up naturally.

Liu Zhou, feeling relaxed all over, wanted to stretch, but suddenly felt his right hand a little numb.

Only then did he notice that there was a beautiful woman lying in his arms!
Zhang Tong seemed to have woken up very early, and was now drawing circles on his chest with a smile on his face.

She noticed as soon as Liu Zhou moved his body slightly.

"you're awake?"

"Well, have you been awake for long?"

"No, I just woke up too. Are you hungry? I'll make you breakfast."

After saying that, Zhang Tong wanted to get up, but Liu Zhouyi pulled him back.

"I'm not hungry now. Lie down for a while."

"Ah."

Zhang Tong leaned her head tightly against Liu Zhou's arms, her pretty face slightly blushing, and responded in a low voice.

Seeing her like this, Liu Zhou suddenly found it very interesting.

I didn't expect Zhang Tong to be such a little woman. She is no longer as bold and even a little bit aggressive as she was yesterday.

"Xiaotong, do you have any ideas about your future career?"

Since Zhang Tong has become his woman, Liu Zhou certainly cannot let her grow wildly like he did before.

As for material things, Liu Zhou was worried that she would think too much, so he didn't mention it for the time being.

As for her career, Liu Zhou can still give her some help.

"I don't have big ambitions in my career. It's enough for me to act in movies or TV series, or in dramas when there are no more acting offers.

I feel that my current situation is pretty good. I am not too busy, I can do what I like, and I earn enough money to spend. ”

"Don't you want to win a Best Actress award or make it in Hollywood like Zhang Ziyi?"

"The queen of the film industry is thinking, who among those studying acting doesn't want to prove themselves? But it's too difficult. To win this award, you need the right time, right place, and right people.

As for venturing into Hollywood, forget it. I don’t have such big ambitions, and I don’t want to make myself so exhausted.”

"Xiaotong, I promise to help you become the best actress in five years!"

Zhang Tong heard this and said with a smile:

"Now that your company is so big, do you still have time to make movies?"

"Even if it's just for your Best Actress title, I have to continue making the movie."

Although he knew that Liu Zhou was just trying to coax him, Zhang Tong still liked to hear it and the smile on his face became even more intense.

Liu Zhou originally wanted to just chat quietly with Zhang Tong.

But it was early in the morning, and the secretion of hormones was relatively high. Plus, the two of them were pressed tightly together, so Liu Zhou had a reaction after a while.

Zhang Tong also immediately felt Liu Zhou's reaction, her face turned slightly red, and she buried her head in Liu Zhou's arms.

At this moment, Liu Zhou couldn't bear it any longer and simply pulled the quilt to cover the two of them.

When you are doing what you like, time always passes quickly. It seems that before long, the morning has passed.

At this time, the radiant Zhang Tong was preparing lunch in the kitchen, and from time to time he glanced at Liu Zhou who was drinking tea and reading a script in the living room.

This kind of life is what she has always dreamed of, so when making lunch, Zhang Tong probably didn't even realize that she was smiling all the time.

After lunch, Liu Zhou rested for a while and then drove to a conference room of China Film Group.

Unexpectedly, so many people came. Liu Zhou thought he arrived quite early.

When the people in the conference room saw Liu Zhou come in, they couldn't help but admire and sigh with emotion.

Soon Han Shanping also hurried into the conference room. The five major investors of "Red Cliff" and director Zhang Yimou were already seated.

They were all very busy people, so they didn't chat for long before letting Zhang Yimou talk about the preparations for the project.

“First of all, the movie is officially named “Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff” and is divided into two parts.

The script has been created and has been sent to everyone.

The protagonist of the first part is Zhuge Liang. It starts with the retreat from Xinye, where he single-handedly rescues his lord at Changbanpo and drinks the sword that breaks the Dangyang Bridge. Then he allies with Sun to fight against Cao, debates with many scholars, borrows arrows from a straw boat, and finally officially ushers in the Battle of Chibi.

The protagonist of the second part is Zhou Yu. Jiang Gan stole the book, used a counter-espionage plan to kill Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, used a self-torture plan to attack Huang Gai, used a trick to deceive the armored vehicles, and finally burned down Chibi, destroying Cao Cao's army in the midst of laughter and conversation.

Do you have any comments or suggestions on the script? "

After Zhang Yimou finished speaking, he couldn't help but look at Liu Zhou, and the others also looked at him.

Except for Liu Zhou, the others had already read the script several times and had no problems with it.

"I have no opinion on the script." Liu Zhou said directly.

After hearing Liu Zhou's words, Zhang Yimou felt slightly relieved. He liked this script very much and thought it was perfect.

Then, Zhang Yimou continued:

“During the script writing period, I also took the team to investigate the location.

I first went to see the "Three Kingdoms City" built by CCTV for the filming of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but found that the buildings and scenes were relatively small, and many scenes, although retro, were not grand enough.

This is a big production, and those small towers don't quite meet the requirements of the movie.

Then I went to see the ancient battlefield of Chibi, which cost a huge amount of money to build the scenery, which was not worth it.

After visiting various film and television cities, we tentatively decided to shoot the first part in Zhuozhou Film and Television City, Warring States Film and Television City and in the studio of Beijing Film Studio. As for the second part, we found two very good places.

One is in the Shidu Scenic Area in Fangshan, Beijing. There are continuous cliffs standing along the river, and a gap suddenly appears in the middle. We can build an ancient tower across the gap and use it as Zhou Yu's command platform.

The other is Yishui Lake in Yi County, Hebei Province, which is large enough and has beautiful scenery. I think it is very suitable for the Red Cliff Wall on the shore, the water fort and dry land, the continuous warships, and the final fire attack scene. "

"I have no problem. The framing will be based on Director Zhang's opinion." Liu Zhou spoke first.

When it comes to selecting and setting up film locations, no one in China can match Zhang Yimou, and he is the best.

Zhang Yimou saw several people nodding, and then said:

"I've done a rough budget analysis for this film, and it might be between $40 million and $50 million."

"Why is the gap so large, 10 million US dollars?" Liu Zhou asked.

“There are two main reasons. One is the choice of actors. If you choose a popular superstar, the budget will be larger.

Another point is the last scene of burning warships. I have reserved space for this scene. If it fails once, it will need to be burned a second time. The construction of those warships requires a lot of money. "

"Then Director Zhang, do you have any favorite actors?"

“I haven’t thought about the actors yet, but Mr. Jiang suggested inviting Zhou Runfa to play Zhou Yu and Liang Chaowei to play Zhuge Liang.

And try to invite some popular movie stars with box office appeal to play important roles in the movie.

Wei Ping, Chen, and Han all agreed with Mr. Jiang’s proposal. ”

At this time Jiang Zhiqiang said:

“Mr. Liu, this movie has such a huge investment, so inviting more stars to join will make it easier to sell tickets and make a profit.

And since it is a big production, it certainly needs big stars to join in.”

After hearing what Jiang Zhiqiang said, Liu Zhou couldn't help but fall silent.

In the current mainland film market, it is widely accepted that mainstream commercial films choose Hong Kong stars to star.

Because at this time, Hong Kong stars do have more box office appeal.

Due to market considerations, Hong Kong stars are also the first choice of these film investors.

Not only Jiang Zhiqiang had this idea, but Han Shanping and others also had the same idea.

In the past, Liu Zhou sometimes had to make the same choice due to market considerations.

But the movie "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" is different!
This movie is a typical example of a play that saves people rather than people saving the play.

The Battle of Red Cliffs during the Three Kingdoms period is a story that is familiar to countless people in mainland China and already has a very large audience base.

As long as the actors chosen are not particularly bad, and with the support of big productions, the actors' appeal is really not that important.

So this time, Liu Zhou is not planning to invite any stars from Hong Kong or Taiwan, but only actors from the mainland.

But this project is not controlled by Liu Zhou after all, so it does not seem so easy to convince the other people.

"I think we can reconsider the choice of actors."

"Does Mr. Liu have any other more suitable candidates?" Jiang Zhiqiang couldn't help but ask.

"You don't want to invite Liu Dehua again, do you? I see you really like working with Andy." Chen Guofu also smiled and continued.

"No, I think we don't need to hire those big stars for this project. The actors here are fully capable of doing it."

Sure enough, when everyone heard Liu Zhou's words, their expressions were somewhat disapproving, so he had to patiently explain:

“First of all, the story of the Battle of Red Cliff is well known to everyone. Audiences don’t want to see who performed the role, but whether you can film the characters and story scenes they imagined.

Therefore, the status and popularity of the actors in this movie are not particularly important.

Secondly, instead of spending so much money to hire stars, it would be better to spend the money on making the film production more refined and grand.

This may attract more audiences to the cinema.

Last but not least, without being modest, if we talk about the popular stars in this movie, I think it is enough to have me and Director Zhang.

I feel that the two of us are as good as any two superstars, and I am confident in our box office appeal.

Therefore, mainland actors are fully capable of playing all the roles in this film."

After listening to Liu Zhou's reasons, Han Shanping seemed to be thinking about something, while Chen Guofu had a blank expression on his face and no one knew what he was thinking.

Jiang Zhiqiang and Zhang Weiping were obviously not convinced and still insisted on inviting popular superstars to star in the film.

There was some controversy over this for a while.

Finally, Liu Zhou proposed:

“Since we can’t reach a consensus on the choice of actors, we can put it on hold for now.

Anyway, it’s still a long way from the filming start date, we’ll discuss it later.”

"Let's do as Liu Zhou said. We'll talk about the selection of actors later." Han Shanping said.

Afterwards, the few of them discussed some other trivial matters and ended the meeting.

The next day, "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" was officially registered and approved, and this project, which caused undercurrents in the circle, finally revealed its mysterious veil.

At the same time, the project team also officially announced the preparation status and staff list of "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff".

This immediately caused a huge sensation in the circle and outside!
(End of this chapter)