Chapter 226: Four Mainland Students
The reason why big companies like to make blockbuster movies is because only blockbuster movies can make big money.

Although there are occasionally films that achieve big success with a small investment, they are actually the minority.

Every time this kind of film appears, it will attract a lot of heated discussion and pursuit, just because it is rare.

Moreover, the waves and influence created by blockbusters are not comparable to those of small productions.

This time, the "Three Kingdoms Red Cliff" project has attracted huge attention from the outside world since its inception.

Up to now, "Red Cliff" has been a huge box office hit, not only making huge profits, but also playing a very important role in the brand building of the five investment companies.

Not only that, this movie also sparked a Three Kingdoms fever in mainland China.

The economic effect it triggers is not just as simple as the box office, it also generates GDP output in tourism, culture and other aspects.

Because of this incident, the entire "Red Cliff" project was praised by relevant authorities.

This is also a huge affirmation for several investors.

With their current company size, they can no longer simply pursue economic benefits, but must also assume certain responsibilities.

After they chatted for a while in the private room, a staff member came over and asked them to start knocking on the ice sculptures.

The necessary ceremony should still be held.

The other main creators were already waiting, and as soon as Liu Zhou and others appeared, they immediately became the focus of the whole audience.

As the leading actor and investor, Liu Zhou was pushed to the center position, with Han Shanping and Zhang Weiping sitting next to him, and other main creators of the film on the periphery.

Fortunately, the box office was high enough and the digital ice sculpture could be made long enough, otherwise people wouldn’t be able to stand in it.

There are several investors and several leading actors, more than ten people in total.

After hammering out the ice sculpture and briefly accepting an interview from the reporter, Liu Zhou was actually preparing to leave first. He had already bought a flight to Los Angeles tonight.

His schedule was indeed tight this time, as everything else in Hollywood was ready and they were just waiting to start filming, and Liu Zhou didn't want to let the entire crew wait for him too long.

However, just as Liu Zhou was about to leave, he was stopped by Huang Xiaoming and Qin Hao.

"The celebration party hasn't even ended yet, are you in such a hurry to leave?"

Seeing that there were two people, Liu Zhou smiled bitterly and said:

"I can't help it. Hollywood is quite busy. I have to get back as soon as possible."

"Is it really that urgent?"

"It's so urgent. I was supposed to start filming yesterday, but I had to come back to attend the celebration party, so I had to keep them waiting."

"Well, Xiao Ming and I wanted to treat you to a meal to thank you."

"Why are we being so formal with each other? Besides, now that you are more famous, you can make more money for me, haha!"

"I can't make much money for you. If we talk about the ability to make money, it has to be Xiao Ming."

Huang Xiaoming said unhappily after hearing this:
"But go to hell with that. I don't know who has recently received several endorsements at once, and the total amount must be tens of millions."

"Isn't this something Sister Jia forced upon me? Besides, you've taken on quite a few endorsements during this period."

In addition to making huge profits for several investors, the movie "Red Cliff" also benefited the most from the main actors.

Qin Hao and Huang Xiaoming benefited even more.

Several veteran actors like Chen Baoguo and Chen Daoming are already very popular and have a high level of national recognition. This movie is just icing on the cake for them.

Qin Hao and Huang Xiaoming are in the rising period of their careers, and this movie will have a huge impact on their popularity and industry status.

Needless to say, Qin Hao, as the male lead of the movie, this movie directly made him a first-line actor.

After "The Piano Tuner", Qin Hao's popularity gradually declined because he had been stuck in dramas and art films.

Before the filming of the movie started, his popularity was even lower than that of Liu Ye, who came later.

The fact that he was able to play Zhuge Liang this time was also the result of Liu Zhou's strong recommendation.

However, Qin Hao also worked hard and portrayed a vivid Zhuge Liang, which received widespread praise from audiences and professionals.

So after this movie, Qin Hao's popularity skyrocketed again and he directly became a top star in the industry.

As for Huang Xiaoming, he is no less capable.

At the beginning of the year, the TV series "The Return of the Condor Heroes" starring him was broadcast on major domestic satellite TV stations.

Although some people complained that Huang Xiaoming's acting was a bit greasy, to be honest, Huang Xiaoming played the role of Yang Guo quite well.

Moreover, Zhang Da Huzi also put a lot of effort into the entire TV series, and the quality of this "The Return of the Condor Heroes" can be said to be excellent.

Huang Xiaoming also became really famous through this TV series, and combined with his previous accumulation, he was also promoted to a top position in the industry.

This time, with the addition of Zhao Zilong, a character whose popularity is second only to Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang, not only did his popularity rise to a new level, but he also officially entered the film industry.

At this time, Huang Xiaoming had already caught up with his classmate Chen Kun.

"Southern Weekend" recently announced the new batch of four young actors from mainland China. I don't know if it was for publicity, but they are Chen Kun, Huang Xiaoming, Qin Hao and Liu Ye.

Two from the Central Academy of Drama and two from the Beijing Film Academy.

Southern Weekend's selection of mainland young actors is not as popular as the four major actresses, and the selection of young actors changes almost every year.

But this time, the selection has attracted a wave of recognition.

Needless to say, Chen Kun has always occupied a spot since the selection of this young actor began.

With Huang Xiaoming and Qin Hao's current popularity, no one can say anything.

Perhaps Liu Ye is the only one who has received some criticism. Before this, he had always been involved in art films and was known as the little prince of art films in the mainland.

Although his acting skills are widely recognized by industry insiders, his popularity is indeed not as high as those of his peers who act in TV dramas.

However, he also had a big hit "Blood Romance" last year, which made up for his lack of popularity.

Most importantly, he also has a Golden Horse Award for Best Actor, which is a huge plus.

Therefore, as soon as the selection of Southern Weekend came out, it was well received by everyone.

Upon seeing this, the agency behind the four immediately issued a press release, hoping to solidify the title like the four major actresses.

The layman looks at the excitement and the insider looks at the doorway.

After the selection of the top four young actors, Jiahe attracted more attention.

Because Golden Harvest not only produced one of the four great actresses, but also two of the four great actors.

Although Huang Xiaoming was not really promoted by Golden Harvest, anyone with a discerning eye could see that Huang Xiaoming was able to get the role of Zhao Zilong in the project "Red Cliff" because of his relationship with Golden Harvest.

With the addition of Qin Hao's Zhuge Liang, the actors from the Golden Harvest series have reaped the most lucrative actor bonuses.

In addition, as Golden Harvest becomes increasingly powerful, its agency department is becoming more and more attractive to actors, even popular stars are very attractive.

Fan Xiaopang and Huang Xiaoming joined the team midway through, and now their resources are so good that others are jealous.

But Golden Harvest is not like Huayi, they cast a wide net.

I heard a joke in my previous life that Zhu Yawen became a little famous because of his outstanding performance in "Crossing the Guandong".

When Wang Zhonglei saw him at that time, he thought he could sign him to Huayi. After checking, he found out that Zhu Yawen was already an actor of Huayi.

As for Golden Harvest, they are responsible for every artist they sign. In the past, they did not have the resources and conditions, but now they have them, and they have to train their artists well. Therefore, Golden Harvest has not signed artists on a large scale. Recently, apart from Huang Xiaoming and Fan Xiaopang, there is only one Huang Bo.

"I say to you two, you should only talk like this in front of me. If you talk in front of Liu Ye or Chen Kun, you will get beaten, don't you know?"

Although Chen Kun and Liu Ye are listed as the top four young actors together with the other two, the agency companies behind them are not as good as Golden Harvest.

As a long-established film company in Hong Kong, Golden Harvest, coupled with Liu Zhou's fame and status, has access to more resources.

It’s not easy to get high-quality endorsements nowadays. In addition to being famous, you also need to have connections.

Therefore, the number of endorsements Liu Ye and Chen Kun received was not only less than the other two, but also the quality was inferior.

However, Liu Zhou saw the two men laughing in a frivolous manner and couldn't help asking:
"You haven't shown off to them yet, have you?"

"Good things have to be shared with good friends, but Ye Zi was a bit impolite. He hung up the phone when I was halfway through my words." Qin Hao said with a smile.

"Just wait and see if he'll rip you off next time you meet."

Liu Zhou looked at the time and continued:

"I have to catch a flight, so there's no rush for dinner. Let's get together at the end of the year when everyone has time."

After saying goodbye to the two people, Liu Zhou headed straight to the airport with his bodyguards.

By the time Liu Zhou adjusted to the jet lag and returned to the crew, it was already September 4th.

Liu Zhou had already met all the people from the previous crew, including Nicolas Cage.

Nicolas Cage is younger now, but when Liu Zhou sees him, his devilish laughter can't help but ring in his mind.

Because the crew was already ready, Liu Zhouyi started filming as soon as he came back.

At this time, the entire crew was on a huge beach on the coast of San Diego, California.

This is the location with the most scenes in the movie, the beach battlefield.

The actors were resting on a nearby set, and Liu Zhou brought various departments and the action director team to the scene for inspection.

After nearly a month of construction, this empty beach has turned into a huge battlefield.

All previous fighting scenes involving alien creatures have been completely simulated on the computer through 3D animation, and the entire battlefield was also determined by action director Sang Lin and special effects director after repeated calculations and rehearsals.

Including where there is a hill and where there is a pit, every detail of the entire battlefield of more than 30000 square meters has been taken care of.

The alien creatures in the movies move quickly and have many tentacles, and they can often sweep across a large area at once.

A certain action shot involves five or six extras, so there must be a complete design in advance. Each extra's falling direction and posture must be simulated repeatedly.

After walking around the entire battlefield and making sure everything was correct, Liu Zhou returned to the set.

Liu Zhouwei said to Sang Lin as he walked:

"Sang Zhi, in the next two days, you will lead the others to familiarize themselves with all the action scenes on the battlefield and see if there is anything that needs to be improved."

The movie "Edge of Tomorrow" has a lot of action scenes, so Liu Zhou directly pulled Sang Lin from the company over.

The two have worked together several times and are more familiar with each other.

"Don't worry, Director Liu. We will make sure everything goes well."

After saying that, Liu Zhou looked at Tatum again and asked:

"Jason, is there any problem at the military base?"

"Don't worry, we have already communicated with the Pentagon, and the military base will cooperate with us in the filming."

"Ok!"

The film will use a large number of fighter jets, armed helicopters, large transport aircraft, and dozens of warships capable of carrying tanks and armored vehicles.

But the good thing about the United States is that in order to export the values ​​of the United States to the world and demonstrate its own strength, the military generally supports the filming of related movies in Hollywood.

The Pentagon also has a department dedicated to liaising with the crew, and they will generally cooperate as long as it does not discredit them.

The reason why Liu Zhou chose to place the beach battlefield in San Diego was because there was a Pentagon military base more than 30 kilometers away.

In fact, those weapons can be made of empty shells, but in the United States, who would use props when they can use real weapons?

"Then we block this area for a month or two. Will there be any trouble?"

This is not because of concerns about the authorities, they have already communicated.

What Liu Zhou was worried about was the various messy associations in the United States. If he offended them somehow, it would be troublesome for them to organize a group of people to protest.

"It won't be a problem. Even if there are any problems, I will solve them. Director Liu, just focus on filming the movie."

Seeing Tatum's determination, Liu Zhou smiled and said:

"Okay, thank you for the hard work."

In the afternoon, Liu Zhou led part of the crew to the military base where the filming was to take place.

The first scene of "Edge of Tomorrow" takes place in the base, which is the scene where the male protagonist is thrown into the base at the beginning.

On the first day, Liu Zhou deliberately chose a simple scene, hoping that the filming would have a good start, and then go from easy to difficult, allowing the crew to slowly get used to each other.

"All departments prepare!"

"The actors are in place!"

"Third scene, one take, one time!"

"start!"

In the camera, Nicolas Cage is lying on his side on a pile of camouflage backpacks, his hands handcuffed, and there are soldiers in training everywhere around him.

Nicolas Cage struggled to get up in confusion, and the camera slowly shifted from his perspective to the surroundings.

The camera turned half a circle, taking in most of the surrounding scene, and finally focused on him.

"Click."

Liu Zhou called a halt immediately.

In the first shot, not only did Nicolas Cage's performance have some flaws, but each group had some problems to a greater or lesser extent.

"Camera No. 1 doesn't need to be pointed at Nicholas' face. Just tilt it slightly to the left. Then, lighting engineer, lower the brightness a bit."

After that, Liu Zhou said to Nicolas Cage:

"Nicholas, when you first open your eyes, you should subconsciously squint and look left and right, don't open them all at once."

"Ok, I'll remember that."

After making some adjustments, continue shooting.

This scene is relatively simple and I passed it on the second try.

Then in the second shot, a bus carrying War Roses drove into the base from the road.

The body of the car is a huge statue of a person wearing a special exoskeleton armor. He has a heroic face and holds a huge weapon similar to a ship-cutting sword on his shoulder.

The heroine also appeared.

(End of this chapter)