Chapter 274 Heading to Dunhuang and Confirming the Actors

September 798th, Art District, Golden Harvest Headquarters.

Liu Zhou found Zhang Zhao and told him about his idea of ​​building a Mars theme park solely funded by Golden Harvest, taking advantage of the popularity of "The Martian".

He also described the general plan to upgrade this theme park into one that integrates filming and entertainment, similar to Universal Studios.

After listening to this, Zhang Zhao pondered for a while and said:
"Boss Liu, if we put a base like this in the Great West, won't there be too few people flowing in? Will it fail to develop and cause continuous losses?"

“We probably won’t make any money in the first few years, but we won’t build the base all at once. We can also build it in batches over several years.

According to the current economic development speed of our country, everyone's living standards will definitely get better and better, and the demand for tourism will definitely increase.

There are also many scenic spots with historical and cultural heritage in Dunhuang, and there should be many people visiting there.

Now we have the Mars theme, and then we will add the "Ghost Blows Out the Light" theme, and then any popular IP themes can be added to keep the popularity going.

Even if the base is located in the Great West, it should be able to develop. "

The novel "Ghost Blows Out the Light" has been published for six or seven years and has a very large fan base.

Under Liu Zhou’s blog, one can often see fans of the book asking Liu Zhou to make a live-action movie of “Ghost Blows Out the Light”.

The influence of this IP is already very great now. As long as the movie doesn't turn out to be a bad one, the Ghost Blows Out the Light theme park will be able to attract people even if it is in the West.

Moreover, "Ghost Blows Out the Light" can do more than just make a movie. With the continued development of the full copyright in the future, the influence of this IP will become greater and greater.

After that, he will come up with a Fengshen theme or even a Wandering Earth theme. Liu Zhou doesn’t believe that it won’t develop. Ten years later, the Western tour will be very lively.

"Mr. Liu, what do you need me to do next?"

“The first thing is to communicate with the Martian rescue project team to discuss the funding issue for the construction of the Martian landscape.

My suggestion is that the required land and construction should be handled by Jiahe, and the project team only needs to provide people to carry out the transformation.

Then you need to go to Dunhuang and negotiate the land lease issue with the local department. At that time, you should try to lease for a longer period and a larger area.

Finally, we will need to ask a designer to make an overall design for our base, leaving room for future expansion.

And after the crew of The Martian finishes filming and leaves, we will complete the Mars theme park as soon as possible.”

"Okay Mr. Liu."

"If you are not good at this, you can find someone with rich work experience to assist you, and let him be responsible for the operation of this base in the future."

"Okay, I'll ask a headhunting company to find a few suitable candidates, and then you can decide on the candidates, Mr. Liu."

Seeing that Liu Zhou did not comment, Zhang Zhao obviously agreed to this matter, and then continued:

"Mr. Liu, does Room really not need a premiere?"

“No, just release it directly.”

Liu Zhou also understood why Zhang Zhao asked this question. A few days ago, the crew of "Lust, Caution" announced that it would hold its world premiere on October 30th.

"Room" is scheduled to be released on the 25th, a week before "Lust, Caution".

"Room", which has always been compared with "Lust, Caution", would be less impressive if it didn't have a premiere.

But it wasn't that they couldn't afford to premiere "Room", but that the big boss was not prepared to do it. Seeing the huge publicity for "Lust, Caution", Zhang Zhao certainly didn't want to be outdone.

So Zhang Zhao couldn't help but ask again.

Liu Zhou doesn't have the heart to plan for a premiere right now. Besides, "Room" not only won Zeng Li the Best Actress award, but also brought him the Golden Lion Award. He is already very satisfied.

As for the box office, he no longer cares about it, and there is no need to engage in any emotional dispute.

"Ok."

Afterwards, Zhang Zhao also reported to Liu Zhou some other work of Jiahe.

"Crazy Racing" was eventually closed with a box office of 1.4 million yuan, becoming the only fig leaf for domestic films in this summer's season.

Then, the period drama "Crossing the Guandong" co-produced with Shanying has been completed, and an agreement has been reached with CCTV. It will be broadcast in the prime time of Channel 1 as CCTV's opening drama of the new year.

Speaking of which, since "Drawing Sword", the cooperation between Golden Harvest and CCTV in the field of TV dramas has become increasingly close.

In addition to "Drawing Sword", "Soldier Assault" produced by Golden Harvest also appeared on CCTV's TV drama channel. This year's CCTV's opening drama is also "The Ming Dynasty 1566" produced by Golden Harvest.

And now it has been booked as CCTV's opening drama for next year.

The reason why CCTV is willing to cooperate with Golden Harvest is that the TV series produced by Golden Harvest have very good ratings.

"Drawing Sword" and "Soldier Assault" won the annual ratings championship for two consecutive years.

The ratings of "The Ming Dynasty 1566" were not so good, but being placed on the CCTV platform, it was not as bleak as in history. The average ratings exceeded , and the highest was over , which is considered a good result.

More importantly, this TV series has received rave reviews, which is also something that CCTV attaches great importance to.

Now the drama "Crossing the Guandong" is a strong collaboration between Golden Harvest and Shanying, and Li Youbing is the lead actor, so CCTV did not think too much about it and directly scheduled it as the opening drama of next year.

However, when thinking of "Crossing the Guandong", Liu Zhou suddenly thought of the sister work of this drama "Going West".

In Chinese history, there are three famous major population migrations: Going to the West, Going to Guandong, and Going to Southeast Asia. Any one of them is a rich story.

After the original time and space drama "Crossing the Guandong" became a huge hit, the drama "Going West" was naturally launched, starring Du Chun, the great protector of the "Stabbing Knife Sect".

"Going West" was also CCTV's opening drama in 09, and it surpassed "The Disguiser" by a slight margin to become the ratings champion of the year.

But there is no doubt that although "Going West" is popular, it cannot compare to "The Disguiser" in terms of discussion, nor can it compare to "Crossing the Guandong" in terms of classicism.

This drama was popular for a while, and then not many people mentioned it anymore.

The main reason is that the plot of "Going West" revolves entirely around the male protagonist Tian Qing, and the screenwriter only uses this heavy layer of migration history as superficial knowledge.

There are too many scenes about romantic relationships, which not only obscures the scenery outside the borders of Shanxi Province, but also fails to reflect the hardships of ordinary immigrants and the grandeur of immigration history.

So Liu Zhou also mentioned the idea of ​​going west to Zhang Zhao and asked him to cooperate with Shanying again.

Liu Zhou is quite confident about the Shanying team. If they are in charge of the production, "Going West" should be a classic period drama that is no less than "Crossing the Guandong".

And this has to be done as soon as possible. After all, after the broadcast of "Crossing the Guandong", someone will definitely start a project for "Going West". Don't let others get there first by then.

However, Zhang Zhao does not need to do such things personally. The head of the Jiahe TV drama department will handle this matter.

The most important thing for him now is to complete the things Liu Zhou had arranged for the Mars theme park. After leaving Golden Harvest, Liu Zhou once again devoted himself to the preparations for "The Martian".

With Liu Zhou as the backbone, everyone had a clear direction in their work, and the efficiency of the Space Administration and a large group of artists soared.

Golden Harvest Special Effects Studio and Hualong Digital also worked at full capacity to produce 3D stereograms and 3D models.

As time passed, the design plans were revised and finalized one by one.

At this time, Zhang Zhao also reached an agreement with the "The Martian" project team. With the filming location as the core, Golden Harvest would invest 30 million to build a Mars Village tourist attraction.

All costs were fully borne by Golden Harvest, even all expenses required for modifications for the filming of "The Martian" and even labor costs were borne entirely by Golden Harvest.

This is a good thing, so that Liu Zhou won’t be accused of abusing his position to take advantage of the project team.

On the day when "Room" was officially released, Liu Zhou, Zhang Zhao, as well as technical personnel from the space agency and some artists, set off for Dunhuang.

Now that the shooting location has been determined, Liu Zhou will of course take the design team to conduct an on-site inspection.

The design drawing has been made, and it must be combined with the actual scene. Certain modifications may need to be made, and then the final plan will be determined, and then construction can begin.

Zhang Zhao was going to discuss investment matters with the locals in Dunhuang, and happened to go there with Liu Zhou and others.

What Liu Zhou did not expect was that the Dunhuang authorities gave Liu Zhou and his entourage a grand reception.

A deputy of the Dunhuang authorities came to the airport in person with people from the Tourism Bureau to pick them up, and then treated them to a meal.

Liu Zhou could understand this. Although Dunhuang is a historical city, it is located in the west and is not as developed as the eastern coastal cities.

Although they have concerns about investing in Mars-themed tourist attractions, they certainly welcome others to invest.

What's more, Liu Zhou is the second richest man in mainland China, and "The Martian" is also a highly anticipated movie. If the project is settled in Dunhuang, it will also have a significant publicity effect on the entire city.

The next day, Liu Zhou asked Zhang Zhao to deal with the people from the local department, while he took his men straight to the filming location.

I have seen countless pictures of Yadan landform, but this is the first time I have seen such a unique landscape in person.

"How spectacular!"

After driving around these hundreds of acres of land, Liu Zhou couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Afterwards, Liu Zhou and others also started to work. Based on the actual scene, they checked which drawings needed to be modified, and also determined the general renovation plan.

Liu Zhou and his companions stayed in Dunhuang for nearly a week before returning to the capital.

However, Zhang Zhao was still in Dunhuang, and such a large investment could not be negotiated in a short time.

After returning to the capital, Liu Zhou thought that the preparatory work had progressed to this point, and the cast of "The Martian" could also be finalized.

The male and female protagonists will need to go to the space agency to receive weightlessness training and various special training, at least to be like astronauts.

As for the selection of actors, fame is no longer important to Liu Zhou now.

The original version hired Matt Damon for $2500 million. His fame was needed because Hollywood has no shortage of science fiction films.

It’s different in China, where expectations for science fiction blockbusters are extremely high.

In addition, with the support of the great director Liu Zhou, the appeal of big stars is not that important.

This time, Liu Zhou's choice of actors is still in his usual style. He sets a first choice and a backup for each role, and then sees who has availability.

In fact, if Liu Zhou had just held an open audition, it would have definitely been very popular.

But Liu Zhou is too lazy to do this. The current "The Martian" is also very popular. What's more, he is not just a director, he has a big family behind him.

Therefore, Liu Zhou directly decided on Qin Hao and Huang Xiaoming as the core male lead of the film, and will audition who is the most suitable one at that time.
At present, Qin Hao has finished filming "Assembly" and Huang Xiaoming has also finished filming "Painted Skin", and both of them have schedules.

It can be said that Liu Zhou was not partial to them and did not treat them unfairly, and all the company's big productions were given to them.

This much-anticipated sci-fi production has also been given to them, but who will get the leading role in the end will depend on their respective professional abilities.

In order to show his importance, Liu Zhou specially asked Han Shanping to interview them both.

Qin Hao may have just finished filming "Assembly" and still retained some of his military style and traces. In addition, he is taller and his acting skills are indeed better.

In the end, Liu Zhou and Han Shanping both agreed that Qin Hao should be the male lead.

Huang Xiaoming could only smile bitterly at this. He had nothing to complain about. He was present throughout the audition and could only say that his skills were not as good as others.

After the audition, Huang Xiaoming, full of regret, pulled Qin Hao over and gave him a good beating, and only then did he feel a little better.

After the male lead was confirmed, the remaining roles were only a few leaders of the space agency, the female lead and four other astronauts.

Liu Zhou found Li Youbing to be the leader of the Space Agency who had the most roles.

This role has a scene where he gives a public inspiring speech, and his voice is particularly suitable.

As for the roles of the other astronauts, they didn't have many scenes, so Liu Zhou directly gave them to Zhu Yawen, Luo Jin, and Zhang Yi, and the supporting actress role was decided to be played by Yang Mi.

It’s not that Liu Zhou had any ideas about Yang Mi, but that Li Shaohong of Rong Xingda personally found Zhang Yimou, and then Zhang Yimou recommended Yang Mi to him.

Of course Liu Zhou had to give face to Zhang Yimou. This role was nominally the second female lead, but it was equivalent to a supporting role with slightly more screen time.

But despite this, it is also a rare opportunity for Yang Mi at this time. After all, "The Martian" has attracted much attention. Even if she just makes a cameo appearance and then releases some press releases, the popularity will not be low.

As for Zhu Yawen, needless to say, he is an artist of Golden Harvest, and this time he will be allowed to show up in the movie.

Luo Jin was Zhu Yawen's classmate. Liu Zhou was originally planning to recruit externally, and Zhu Yawen took the opportunity to recommend his classmate.

Liu Zhou thought the image was suitable and agreed.

As for Zhang Yi, it is because he is also an artist under Golden Harvest.

His previous unit was also the Comrades Repertory Theatre of the Beijing Military Region, where he was a colleague of Lan Xiaolong, and Zhang Yi also starred in the drama "Erna. Assault".

This is also the reason why he was able to star in "Soldier Assault" later.

But last year, Zhang Yi was discharged from the army and joined Golden Harvest under the introduction of Lan Xiaolong.

In the end, only the female lead was left. Liu Zhou originally wanted to ask Zhang Ziyi if she was interested, but unexpectedly Han Shanping recommended a candidate to him.

(End of this chapter)