Chapter 167 The Cast of "New World"
Three days later, Liu Zhou invested 300 million yuan in Golden Harvest Media Group.

After obtaining the funds, all the companies that had been eager to go all out began to operate at full capacity.

Liu Zhou and Zhong Lifang also began to prepare for the project "New World".

When Liu Zhou was preparing to make a pure Hong Kong film, the first movie that came to his mind was "New World".

This undercover gangster film with a strong Hong Kong flavor, shot in South Korea, can be said to be a work that is better than the original.

South Korean films developed very rapidly after entering the new century, and within two years they surpassed their former teacher, Hong Kong films.

This "New World" is the best proof.

Some people say that this movie is a bit like "Infernal Affairs", but almost all Hong Kong movies from now on will have the shadow of "Infernal Affairs".

Moreover, Liu Zhou feels that the plot of "New World" is much more exciting than "Infernal Affairs".

In Liu Zhou's opinion, since "Infernal Affairs", there is almost no Hong Kong movie that can compare with "New World".

Maybe only "Dynasty Warriors" can compete with it, but Liu Zhou still thinks that "New World" is better.

Liu Zhou also considered whether he could shoot "Wushuang", but after thinking about it, he decided to shoot the more exciting "New World".

However, one big problem in making this movie is passing the censorship.

In the end, the undercover agent turned evil and killed the police, becoming the gang boss. Such an ending would never pass review in mainland China.

Of course, there is no problem with such an ending being released in Hong Kong, but how could a movie directed by Liu Zhou be limited to being released in Hong Kong?

The mainland is Liu Zhou’s base.

This time he is planning to make a Hong Kong movie that will break the mainland box office record.

However, in order to pass the review in the mainland, the ending must be modified to a certain extent.

Of course, the ending is that the hero surrenders himself, so there is no problem in passing the review, but the excitement of the movie will be greatly reduced, and the biggest highlight will be gone.

Instead of changing it like this, it would be better to shoot "Wushuang".

However, Liu Zhou got inspiration from Du Qifeng's "Underworld: Harmony is the Most Important Thing".

In this movie, Jimmy, played by Koo Tim-lok, is forced by Officer Shek to compete for the leader because he wants to do business in the mainland.

Officer Shi's goal is to let the more easily controllable Jimmy take control of the society, maintain stability in Hong Kong's underworld, and ensure a smooth return.

Therefore, Liu Zhou also modified the backgrounds of several characters in "New World".

The story is set before the return of Japan. The police boss is no longer eager to make a contribution, but has become an ambitious British dog.

He wanted to take the opportunity to stir up trouble during the leadership change of the club where the male protagonist was undercover, so as to make the club out of control and cause turmoil, which would in turn affect his plan of returning.

The hero discovered his conspiracy in the subsequent struggle with him.

The hero avenged himself for his own selfish reasons as well as for the interests of his country and family, and ultimately killed his boss and the second-in-command who conspired with his boss, and became the leader of the society.

The male protagonist wanted to clean up his name and go into business, or simply leave Hong Kong, but he was visited by people from the mainland.

They knew what had happened and also knew the protagonist's undercover identity. They felt that the protagonist's character was trustworthy and that they could cooperate, so they hoped that he would continue to be an undercover agent and control the society as the boss to maintain order.

Thus, the male protagonist became an "undercover" who would never be able to come ashore, and the Hong Kong underground world and Hong Kong also ushered in a new world.

In this way, the thrilling moment of the male protagonist killing his police superior can be retained, and it should be easier to pass the review.

To ensure that everything went smoothly, Liu Zhou also sent a copy of the script to Han Shanping and asked him to submit it to see if it could pass the review.

Because Liu Zhou was in a tight schedule, he had already started making preparations in Hong Kong without waiting for the results over there.

First, Liu Zhou recruited behind-the-scenes staff.

There are a lot of people behind the scenes in Hong Kong who are unemployed now, even those who were previously famous are still the same, so Liu Zhou can make his choice calmly.

Photographer Liu Zhou finally chose Lai Yiu-fai, who was also the famous photographer of "Infernal Affairs".

Art designer Zhao Chongbang, costume designer Li Bijun, and visual effects designer Huang Hongxian are all well-known figures in the industry.

As for props and stagehands, there are plenty of them in Golden Harvest, and most of them are veterans who have worked in Golden Harvest for 20 to 30 years and are very experienced.

This shows the benefits of acquiring Golden Harvest. It is very easy to form a crew, and even if you form several crews at the same time, there is no pressure at all.

After recruiting the crew behind the scenes, the next most important thing is the selection of actors.

There aren’t many main characters in the movie “New World”.

The male protagonist Li Zicheng, the male protagonist's good brother, the elevator god Ding Qing, the villain police boss, the second in command Zhang Shouji who is pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger, the fourth in command Wu Zhongjiu who is vying for the top, senior police officers, the villain boss's contact person, and two killers.

As for some other background characters, they can be ignored.

Liu Zhou decided to cast Andy Lau for the role of the male lead Li Zicheng, and he had already agreed with Andy Lau before.

Andy Lau has always kept a schedule for Liu Zhou. After the Chinese New Year, when he saw that Liu Zhou had not made any move, he called to inquire and only gave him the script some time ago.

Liu Zhou still remembers the joy on Andy Lau's face after he finished reading the script, and then he immersed himself in figuring out the role.

This movie does require a lot of acting skills from the male lead, and it is also a test for Andy Lau.

Apart from the male lead, the characters with the most important roles are the villain police boss, Ding Qing and the fourth in command.

To be honest, Liu Zhouzhen thinks that Huang Gou is very suitable for the role of the villain police boss. He is very good at playing this kind of crazy role, and the role setting of leading Ying's lackey is also very suitable for him, which can be said to be a true performance.

But Liu Zhou was worried that he would want to slap him when he saw him, so he thought it was disgusting and gave up the idea.

In the original version, this role was played by Choi Min-sik, who is known as the Korean version of Chow Yun-fat.

Liu Zhou also considered asking the real Zhou Runfa to play this role, but he was worried that the other party would not be willing to play a supporting role, and it would be too expensive.

At this time, Chow Yun-fat, who had just returned from a failed career in Hollywood, was very arrogant.

And to be honest, Liu Zhou was also worried about whether he could portray the role well, as the acting skills of the real version of Chow Yun-fat were quite different from the Korean version.

In the end, Liu Zhou decided on the candidates, namely Sammo Hung and Simon Yam.

As Sammo Hung gets older, his aura becomes more steady and domineering. Wang Bao in "SPL" can be said to intimidate all the characters.

Ren Dahua did not have a very good image when he was young, so he never had any roles to play. After entering middle age, he looks gentle and simple.

He can play a righteous policeman, a gangster boss, and even a lunatic who appears to be a good gentleman but is actually an evil villain.

So when the Hong Kong film industry was in a slump, he continued to receive acting offers.

As for the character of Ding Qing, it can almost be said that he is the most charming and outstanding character in the entire movie.

Liu Zhou thought about the Hong Kong actors and still found it difficult to make a decision.

Finally, I wrote the names of Liang Jiahui and Liu Qingyun behind this character.

Liu Zhou prefers Liang Jiahui, who has more bossy temperament and a more varied image and temperament.

But to be on the safe side, in case he doesn't have the schedule at this time, he can invite Liu Qingyun.

When it comes to the role of the neurotic Fourth In Command, the first person Liu Zhou thinks of is Wu Zhenyu, and there is almost no second choice.

Liu Zhou even suspected that the original version of "New World"'s portrayal of this character was designed based on Wu Zhenyu's representative role, Liang Kun.

When Liu Zhou watched this movie, he felt that the character of the Fourth Master was too much like Liang Kun.

The role of a senior police officer is easy to find. There are many veteran actors in Hong Kong. Liu Zhou has tentatively chosen Patrick Tse and Kenneth Tsang to play the role. Let's see who has time.

The male protagonist's wife had almost no role, so Liu Zhou gave this role to Wen Yongshan.

Anyway, Liu Zhou also took her first blood. She can't handle a role that is too big at the moment, so this role is just right for her.

The contact person of the villain boss, although her role is not as many as that of the male protagonists, she is also the nominal heroine of this movie.

Liu Zhou gave this role to Fan Xiaopang.

Since Huang Xiaoming joined Golden Harvest and was given the role of Zhao Zilong as a gift, it was only natural for him to give the female lead in "New World" to Fan Xiaopang.

Finally, there are two killer characters. In the original version, the movie deliberately slandered Yanbian and set these two killers as Yanbian people.

Liu Zhou set the two killers to be from Vietnam, but he really didn't intend to frame anyone.

Because the Vietnamese have endless dark history in Hong Kong.

For these two roles, Liu Zhou wants to invite several new generations in Hong Kong to see who is willing to take them.

The above-mentioned roles have been basically confirmed, and Liu Zhou asked the people from Jiahe to handle the other minor roles.

After Liu Zhou confirmed the role, Zhong Lifang also sent invitations to these people.

They responded quickly. For the role of Ding Qing, Liang Jiahui called personally two days after reading the script to express his willingness to take the role.

As for the role of the villain police boss, Sammo Hung actually had the same role in another movie from the company, "SPL".

He had already accepted the role of Wang Bao, and since both films were set to start shooting recently, he had no choice but to reject Liu Zhou's offer.

Zhong Lifang had no choice but to invite Simon Yam, and this time it went smoothly and he took on the role.

After waiting for a few days, Wu Zhenyu also received a positive reply.

Then there was the senior police officer, but Patrick Tse was busy with his love life so he turned it down. In the end, Kenneth Tsang took on the role.

Finally, the two Vietnamese killers, Chen Guanxi and Yu Wenle, also expressed their willingness to act after seeing the cast.

As for Wen Yongshan, needless to say, she jumped for joy when she received the notice.

Maybe because he was too happy, he didn't notice the ugly smile of his good friend Yang Baobei beside him.

As for Fan Xiaopang, after Liu Zhou called her, she couldn't wait to come to Hong Kong.

For her, this is her first mainstream commercial film as the heroine.

Of course, that man was always attracting her.

However, just when Liu Zhou was making preparations in Hong Kong in full swing, he was poured a bucket of cold water on by the mainland.

Han Shanping called him personally and said that the script had not passed review and needed to be revised.

There was no other way, Liu Zhou could only let Zhong Lifang negotiate the contracts with the actors temporarily, while he flew to Beijing to smooth things over.

(End of this chapter)