Chapter 275 The explosive hit "Lust, Caution"

"Mr. Han, why do you suddenly recommend Boss Zhao?" Liu Zhou asked in surprise.

When Han Shanping just told Liu Zhou that he had a recommendation for the female lead, Liu Zhou thought that no matter who it was, since Han Shanping had asked, he would nod and agree.

After all, Han Shanping also made great efforts to ensure that the film could be advanced so smoothly, and he had never interfered with the casting before.

So no matter what, since it is rare for someone to speak, you must give them face.

But I didn't expect that Han Shanping actually recommended Boss Zhao. I have to persuade him well. Boss Zhao cannot be touched.

When Han Shanping heard Liu Zhou's question, he explained:
"I can't help it. Someone asked me for help. I thought Boss Zhao is also very famous. The heroine doesn't have too many scenes anyway, so she should be suitable."

"Is the person behind Boss Zhao so powerful? He actually made you give him face."

"Don't underestimate Boss Zhao, this girl is amazing."

"Boss Han, is the person who greeted you very powerful? Do you have to give him this favor?"

"No, he has no control over me."

"If you don't use Boss Zhao, will it affect you and the project of The Martian?"

"Why, do you think Boss Zhao is unsuitable?"

"Inappropriate!"

It's an international joke. Let alone anything else, just because of the flag issue, there's no way she would be used.

Haven’t you noticed that now that he has left the Beijing circle, not many people in the industry want him to film a movie with him?

Of course, it’s not that she doesn’t have film and television resources, but with her current status, she simply doesn’t look down on ordinary movies and TV series.

No one would look for her with high-quality resources, so in the end she became a director herself.

Besides, "The Martian" now has the support of so many departments, and it can be regarded as the main theme.

Boss Zhao will be harmonized in the future, and Liu Zhou doesn't want his movie to be taken off the shelves.

"Do you have a grudge against each other? I haven't heard that you have any conflicts!"

"Boss Han, don't make random associations. I just think she's not suitable."

Seeing that Han Shanping still didn't believe it, Liu Zhou had to explain:
“Mr. Han, when astronauts go to outer space and Mars, they have to fly the five-star red flag, and the five-star red flag will also be printed on their space suits.

If Boss Zhao were to act in the film, and the audience saw the red flag on her clothes, they would think of the Japanese flag and bring up the bad things again, which would have a bad impact on our film and on her."

Liu Zhou is not making this up, this is really possible.

However, another more likely scenario is that Boss Zhao is using this film to whitewash himself. After all, the audience's opinion of the actors comes from their works.

Just like if "The Fortress" was at the level of "The Wandering Earth", Lu Han would be praised to the sky, no matter how many bad movies he had made before.

Liu Zhou didn't want to do this because Boss Zhao had no relationship with her.

"What you said is true. Forget it, don't use her as the heroine."

Han Shanping actually knew that the probability of this happening was not high, but he did not want to take the risk. He would not allow any factors that might be detrimental to "The Martian" to exist.

He could also see that Liu Zhou didn't seem to like Boss Zhao and was somewhat repulsed by her.

If that’s the case, then why recommend Boss Zhao?
"Boss Han, if you don't use her, it won't affect you, right?"

"Of course not. You can rest assured that I will deal with the people behind her. Just focus on preparing for the movie."

"Okay, if there's anything you need my help with, just tell me. After all, it was me who advocated not using her."

"Haha, don't worry, it's not that serious."

After separating from Han Shanping, Liu Zhou continued to contact Zhang Ziyi according to his previous idea.

Unexpectedly, this international actress who has been staying in Hollywood, after learning that she did not have many roles, immediately accepted Liu Zhou's invitation.

Liu Zhouben was just trying it out. After all, Zhang Ziyi can be said to be the second most famous mainland actress after her predecessor Gong Li, and her status is not low.

But since Zhang Ziyi is willing to act in it, that’s great.

As for why Fan Xiaopang was not invited to join, she is currently filming Derek Yee’s new film “Shinjuku Story”.

This film is a collaboration between Golden Harvest and Emperor Entertainment Group, with Jacky Cheung as the male lead and Michael Fan as the female lead. She also participated in the historical film, playing a supporting role.

And because Fan Xiaopang is now more famous and the female lead has more scenes, she doesn't have the schedule now.

With the addition of Zhang Ziyi and Qin Hao, the cast of this movie can be said to be not weak at all.

After the release of "Assembly", Qin Hao's fame will reach a new level.

After confirming the actors, Liu Zhou also asked the producer to sign contracts with them one by one and determine the time for them to go to the space agency for training.

Although some of them are supporting roles, they also have to undergo training such as weightlessness training.

Afterwards, Liu Zhou continued to devote himself to the preparation work for other films.

While Liu Zhou was busy with "The Martian", the outside world was in an uproar.

At this time, one month after the release of "Curse of the Golden Flower", the box office exceeded 300 million, reaching 320 million. At present, the film has applied for an extension key and is still slowly harvesting box office, but inevitably, its popularity has gradually passed.

Another highly anticipated film, "Room", directed by Liu Zhou, which won the Golden Bear at the Venice Film Festival and made Zeng Li win the Best Actress award, will also be released nationwide on October 25th.

Although Golden Harvest did not invest too many promotional resources, but because of the added bonus of Liu Zhou and the Golden Bear, everyone is still looking forward to this movie.

On the first day of its premiere, it earned 12 million yuan at the box office, which is the best start for a mainland art film.

In the following two days, he won another 15 million and 13 million respectively.

The box office grossed a total of 40 million in the first three days.

This result is extremely good for an art film. People outside have predicted that "Room" is likely to become the first art film to break the 100 million yuan box office.

Moreover, the word of mouth for this movie is very good, with Douban giving it a high score of 8.6.

But this is an art film after all, and the box office of the film has been declining since then, and the single-day box office has never exceeded 10 million again.

Seeing this, some people in the circle also breathed a sigh of relief.

It would be scary if an art film shot by Liu Zhou could gross over 100 million yuan.

However, seeing that "Room" achieved a box office of 50 to 60 million in just a few days, I am still somewhat shocked by Liu Zhou's box office appeal.

The film was able to achieve such an outstanding start, although the Golden Lion and Zeng Li were factors, but Liu Zhou's role accounted for at least half.

Even so, it can be seen that Liu Zhou has a strong appeal and can bring in 30 to 40 million box office revenue by himself.

However, the limelight of "Room" was completely stolen by "Lust, Caution" later.

Compared to the low-key "Room", "Lust, Caution" was promoted with great fanfare and held its global premiere on the last day of October.

The premiere of "Lust, Caution" was held not only in Beijing, but also in Hong Kong and New York at the same time.

As an Oscar-winning director, and the only Chinese to win the Oscar, the release of Lust, Caution was as much of a hit as any other blockbuster, and even more so.

Not to mention the trailers and posters of the boat scenes that were leaked continuously during the previous promotion, which were so exciting that they also attracted a lot of attention to the movie.

At the premiere, "Lust, Caution" did not disappoint everyone. The five-minute long and difficult boat scene left the guests and audience stunned.

Everyone thought they would be satisfied with just some exposure, but they didn't expect it to be double the amount.

So the next day, online discussions about "Lust, Caution" swept the entire Internet, and major media outlets also reported on it.

However, what made these old perverts overjoyed was that, seeing the strong public opinion, the higher-ups directly demanded that "Lust, Caution" be re-edited before it could be released in theaters.

This made everyone so angry that they started cursing the relevant departments online.

Perhaps the only ones who are smug are those who were fortunate enough to see the full version at the premiere and have been complaining about it online.

But despite this, when "Lust, Caution" was officially released, it couldn't resist everyone's enthusiasm.

The box office on the first day was as high as 15 million, and 50 million in the first week, which was even better than "Room". Moreover, the box office trend of "Lust, Caution" was still very healthy. Although it was declining, it was not falling very seriously.

However, at this time, criticism of "Lust, Caution" also appeared on the Internet and in some newspapers.

But compared with the positive comments, these are not worth mentioning. It is obvious that someone is manipulating the comments.

Two days later, Zheng Pingru's eighty-year-old sister, who was far away in Los Angeles, held a press conference to accuse Li An.

She also told a story about that period in public.

But this is useless at all, not many people care. After all, Li An is an Oscar-winning director, so he should be praised.

However, Liu Zhou will not indulge him. Although Liu Zhou will not speak personally, he directly posted the text content of the press conference held by Zheng Pingru’s sister on the homepage of Sina portal.

At the same time, the video recorded on site was also posted on the Sina Video website.

But this approach has had little effect.

Firstly, there are many people whitewashing Li An and praising him, and secondly, no one cares about these situations at all.

What everyone cares more about is whether actor Leung and Tang Wei really had sex!

Discussions on this topic almost drowned out other discussions.

Whether they are literary youths or angry youths, the Internet is always dominated by lsp.

And because the version officially released in mainland China has been edited, they also found that the version released in Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas is still the unedited version.

So everyone is busy looking for various resources, and the movie itself is not worth mentioning.

Those pirates were very considerate, as if they had heard everyone's requests for seeds. Soon, pirated discs kept flowing into the mainland and the video spread all over the Internet.

Those three boat scenes really made the audience scream with excitement!

This also helped boost the box office of "Lust, Caution" again. After half a month of release, the box office actually reversed the decline.

It can be said that an art film like "Lust, Caution" has successfully become a hit.

(End of this chapter)