Chapter 430 Deluxe Edition of "Empresses in the Palace"

Before the filming of "Moon" began, Liu Zhou was thinking about bringing Zhang Yimou completely into Golden Harvest.

However, Zhang Yimou was still somewhat hesitant about Liu Zhou's various explicit and implicit hints and could not make up his mind completely.

Historically, Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou broke up after "The Flowers of War", but they had conflicts before that and were not as close as they were at the beginning.

In this life, although Zhang Weiping's attitude towards Zhang Yimou is slightly better because of Liu Zhou's enticement.

But as the saying goes, a dog will always eat shit. Zhang Weiping is not a filmmaker at all, but a businessman. After spending a long time with a more pure filmmaker like Zhang Yimou, conflicts are inevitable.

Especially with a company boss like Liu Zhou who is more knowledgeable about movies and is relatively generous, Zhang Yimou felt more comfortable working with Liu Zhou and Golden Harvest.

So under Liu Zhou's continuous solicitation, Zhang Yimou has already softened his stance a little.

However, he later became busy with the filming of "Moon" and didn't want to push himself too much. Liu Zhou also had a lot of work arrangements, so he handed the matter over to Zhang Zhao.

It was just the finishing touch, and Liu Zhou felt that Zhang Zhao should be fine.

Sure enough, upon hearing Liu Zhou's question, Zhang Zhao smiled and said:
"Director Zhang has agreed to join Golden Harvest, but he said he would wait until the Moon project is completely completed before announcing it. After all, Moon also has New Picture's investment."

Hearing this good news, Liu Zhou couldn't help but smile:
"No problem, as long as Director Zhang is willing to come to our Jiahe."

Zhang Yimou is not an ordinary person. In terms of his influence as a director, even Liu Zhou does not dare to say that he can surpass him. At most, he can barely be compared with him.

The Olympic Games opening ceremony brought him a huge boost, and the title of national teacher was not given for nothing.

Moreover, for a film and television company, the role of a great director far exceeds that of one or more big stars.

Huayi is the best example. In 05, so many artists were taken away by Wang Jinghua, but with Feng Kuzi, they immediately recovered within two years.

Even after Huayi went public, it was still trying hard to win over Feng Kuazi, but I didn't see the Wang brothers trying to win over Huang Xiaoming and Zhou Gongzi and others.

The same is true for Golden Harvest. If Zhang Yimou joins the company, Golden Harvest's stock price will definitely rise.

Historically, after the two Zhangs fell out, LeTV Pictures, which recruited Zhang Yimou, became an industry giant comparable to Light Media, Bona and even Huayi.

However, because Jia Yueting was too suffocated by his dream, the development of his various industries came to an abrupt halt.

Otherwise, if companies like LeTV Video and LeTV Pictures had not been implicated, they could have developed very well.

If Zhang Yimou joins Golden Harvest now, Liu Zhou can maximize his influence instead of wasting several years.

Liu Zhou has always felt that a famous domestic director like Zhang Yimou, who is renowned overseas, has strong creative energy and should not keep staying in China.

It should play a greater role, expand overseas again, and bring Chinese culture out as well.

“By the way, you have to be prepared. If Director Zhang leaves New Picture and joins us at Golden Harvest, Zhang Weiping will definitely not let it go.

We at Golden Harvest are not afraid of his attacks, but he will definitely target Director Zhang, so we must make a good plan and not let Director Zhang fall into the whirlpool of public opinion. Zhang Weiping is most accustomed to guiding public opinion. "

"Don't worry, Mr. Liu. We have already made plans for this. We have worked with Zhang Weiping many times before, and we have a general idea of ​​what kind of person he is."

Liu Zhou was also quite satisfied with this. Zhang Zhao was indeed very capable and had done all the things in advance, so he didn't have to worry too much.

At this time Zhang Zhao continued:

"Mr. Liu, should we set up a subsidiary company at Golden Harvest to produce and distribute low-budget movies and profitable but not-so-good-reputation movies?

As a main label, Golden Harvest focuses on producing blockbuster films. Otherwise, it would be a pity to give up on some films, but not giving up would affect Golden Harvest’s brand image.”

"Okay, you can arrange this."

Zhang Zhao's suggestion is indeed good. Now that Golden Harvest has grown in scale and its brand image is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, if all movies are produced under the Golden Harvest label, it will indeed have an impact on the brand image.

Almost every one of the seven major Hollywood companies also has such a sub-label, which is responsible for the production and distribution of low-budget and independent films.

For example, 20th Century Fox owns Fox Searchlight, Universal Pictures owns Focus, and Disney owns Touchstone Pictures and the acquired Miramax and Hollywood Pictures.

"Including movies like Aftershock, I hope that this year, Golden Harvest, including the Hong Kong branch and even this new label, can produce 15 films in total.

By next year, I hope to increase the number to 20 and stabilize it afterwards." Liu Zhou continued.

The next ten years will be a period of rapid growth for the domestic film market. Even if it is interrupted by the mask incident later, the mainland film market will still be prosperous after the incident is over.

The overall environment may be a little bad due to the international situation, but this has no impact on the film market, but has a promoting effect.

Because there is a popular saying that when the economic environment is good, KTV business is particularly prosperous, and when the economic environment is bad, the cinema business is very good.

When the financial crisis broke out, condoms sold the best.

So Liu Zhou certainly wants to reap as much of the dividends of this development as possible, not only in terms of quality but also in quantity.

"It should be no problem. We produced eleven films last year, so it should be no problem to produce fifteen this year. The only thing that limits our production volume now is good scripts and good directors."

"Then you and Chen Guofu should work harder on these two aspects and discover more outstanding talents and good scripts."

After discussing the movie aspect, Liu Zhou also turned his attention to the TV series.

TV series will also be a key project of Golden Harvest Group, and the TV series market in the future will be no smaller than that of movies.

So Liu Zhou is no longer as indifferent as before, but he is more concerned about the TV series department, but not every TV series.

There is only one TV series that he cares about, and that is "The Legend of Zhen Huan", the most influential work overseas since the new century.

In China, "The Legend of Zhen Huan" was also extremely popular, and has been popular for more than ten years. Even after it was aired for several years, the price of selling the broadcasting rights to TV stations was no less than that of the first round of some TV dramas.

Therefore, Liu Zhou is also quite concerned about this veritable drama king.

This TV series began to be prepared last year, and Hu Mei, a big name in the TV drama field, was invited to direct it.

It is worth mentioning that the Golden Harvest version of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is not set in the Qing Dynasty, but is a fictional history of the original novel.

Although it is not explicitly stated that historical TV dramas cannot use fictional backgrounds, in the first decade of the new century, if the dynasty background was blurred, they would be required to make corrections. However, these standards are not always the same. Later, Nirvana in Fire used a vague cover of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and later dramas like The Rise of Phoenixes, Phoenix Power, and Joy of Life all used fictional historical backgrounds.

So Jiahe has already made way for it. It may be a little difficult to land on the CCTV platform this time, but it won’t be a problem if it is broadcast on satellite.

The reason why the original version of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" chose the Qing Dynasty as the background is mainly because Qing palace dramas are so popular now, and have been popular from the beginning of the new century to the present.

Zheng Xiaolong announced that his superiors did not allow him to make up stories, and then he looked through all the history books and felt that the Yongzheng period was more in line with the background of the original novel, and only then did he film it as a Qing palace drama.

But these are all excuses. With the help of Zheng Xiaolong's connections, he was able to get through the connections. The main reason was that Qing palace dramas were more popular and sold better.

However, Liu Zhou had no interest in Qing Dynasty palace dramas, so he chose to make it fictional.

The preliminary preparations for this TV series have almost been completed, with only the cast to be finalized.

"The Legend of Zhen Huan" is a palace fighting drama, and it is a very popular palace fighting drama. It is also the most important TV series of Golden Harvest Group this year. Liu Zhou intends to create a deluxe version of "The Legend of Zhen Huan".

Although Sun Li performed very well in the original version, Liu Zhou would definitely not let her play the leading female role this time. There are so many actresses under Golden Harvest, and she is not the only one who can perform well.

In order to avoid being ignored by the already famous artists under Golden Harvest, Liu Zhou personally arranged some of the roles this time.

First, for the heroine Zhen Huan, he directly chose Fan Xiaopang.

She had originally decided not to act in TV dramas and wanted to focus on movies, but later saw that Zhou Gongzi became popular after "The Disguiser" and his popularity was likely to surpass his.

In addition to Liu Zhou's persuasion and seeing the entire group's attention to this TV series, he finally agreed to take on the TV series.

However, after reading the script, she wanted to play the bright and unrestrained Concubine Hua, as she felt that this role was more in line with her personality.

The most important thing is that Fan Xiaopang actually still doesn’t want to act in a TV series. Compared with the female lead, Hua Fei’s role is not that many. Fan Xiaopang wants to finish it as soon as possible and then go to film the movie in a down-to-earth manner.

However, Liu Zhou directly rejected Fan Xiaopang's little tricks and threw the heroine to her.

Then Liu Zhou gave the role of the second female queen to Zeng Li, who wanted to satisfy her acting addiction.

Liu Zhou originally wanted to give this role to Mr. Zhou, and at the same time, bring together two of the most popular actresses in mainland China. By then, it would be full of hype before filming began, and would be enough to make all the TV stations scramble for it.

However, this idea was opposed by Zhang Zhao and Zeng Li. They believed that Master Zhou was as good as Fan Xiaopang in every aspect and it was impossible for him to be her supporting role.

If Mr. Zhou is forced to take this role, she will definitely be driven away.

Liu Zhou immediately realized that he had taken it for granted and gave up this tempting idea.

Later, Zeng Li realized how much he valued "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and took the initiative to take on the role of the queen. She hadn't acted for so long and was already itching to do it.

As one of the four great actresses, Zeng Li has both fame and status. Although she is not as popular as Zhou Gongzi now, she is still a big hit, and she no longer cares about her status.

No matter how big a star you are, Fan Xiaopang, aren't you still working for yourself?

Zeng Li's mentality has changed a long time ago, and she has begun to take on the role of the boss lady.

Apart from these two female characters, the most important character left is the male protagonist, the emperor.

There is no need to find Chen Jianbin again. In the original novel of "The Legend of Zhen Huan", he played a handsome uncle. I guess the original version didn't want it to become an idol drama, so they deliberately found a fat orange guy.

Moreover, with the presence of Fan Xiaopang and Zeng Li, the cast of the Golden Harvest version of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is extremely luxurious, and ordinary people really can't dominate the show.

So Liu Zhou planned to choose among Qin Hao, Huang Xiaoming and Liu Ye.

All three of them are the most outstanding male actors in mainland China, and they are all considered to be quite handsome.

However, after asking around, Liu Ye found out that he had been working non-stop since joining Golden Harvest and had hardly had any rest, so he rejected this role and planned to take a good rest for a while.

Then Qin Hao and Huang Xiaoming, they both don’t mind acting in TV dramas.

After joining Golden Harvest, Huang Xiaoming acted in TV dramas for a while and then shifted his focus to movies. However, in his mind, there is no distinction between high and low, and he is also willing to take on TV dramas.

Although Qin Hao had never acted in a TV series, he was not aloof and would not look down on TV series. In addition, he also understood Liu Zhou's importance attached to this TV series, so he did not refuse.

These two people can undoubtedly hold their own in terms of acting skills and fame, so it doesn't matter who plays the role.

Finally, Liu Zhou gave the final choice to director Hu Mei, and director Hu Mei chose the taller Qin Hao.

After learning the reason behind director Hu Mei's choice, Liu Zhou couldn't help but feel a little funny. It seemed that Huang Xiaoming had lost to Qin Hao several times because of his height.

Last time in "Assembly", it was also because of the height issue that Huang Xiaoming unfortunately failed to compete with Qin Hao and lost the role of Guzidi.

However, his height is indeed Xiao Ming's weakness, and he has been ridiculed many times in later generations.

With Qin Hao, Fan Xiaopang and Zeng Li in charge, "The Legend of Zhen Huan" will definitely cause a huge sensation once it is announced.

These three are some of the most popular male and female actors in mainland China.

Originally, Liu Zhou was planning to include Liu Yifei and Yang Mi, who had just joined Jiahe, but he thought that the three of them were already eye-catching enough.

Add to that the two of them who are also among the four popular young actresses, and it's a bit too much.

In addition to these three people, Liu Zhou also included Dou Xiao and let him play Prince Guo.

He is currently accumulating fame, and it is a good opportunity for him to show his face in this drama.

Then Liu Zhou handed over some other roles to Zeng Jia and director Hu Mei.

Zeng Jia has also signed some new people in the past six months. There are many outstanding supporting roles in "The Legend of Zhen Huan", some of which can be given to newly signed artists, and some can also be used to exchange resources with other companies.

Liu Zhou did not ask about the specific arrangements of these supporting roles.

"The Legend of Zhen Huan" can actually be considered a TV series that relies on performance to ensure its performance. As long as the performance is good and the costumes and props are exquisite and detailed, it doesn't matter who plays the supporting role.

(End of this chapter)