Chapter 951 Stock Madness
"You didn't invite Pan Hong?"
"Hehe..." Luo Yang chuckled and gave him a knowing look.
Jiang Wen then understood what Luo Yang's look meant, and cried out in his heart that he was innocent.
That's right, he had worked with Pan Hong, and that was many years ago. At that time, the two of them collaborated on a movie "The Last Empress", in which Pan Hong played Wanrong and he, Jiang Wen, played Puyi. It was also this movie that brought the two together.
After the filming was completed, "The Last Empress" caused a sensation and Pan Hong won the Best Actress Award at the Damascus International Film Festival for her outstanding performance in the film. In addition, Pan Hong was also awarded the Outstanding Actress and Society Award at the 9th Xiaobaihua Award and the 1st Performing Arts Award. For a time, Pan Hong was in the limelight and became one of the most popular actresses in China.
Even though Liu Xiaoqing is very famous now, he could not compare with Pan Hong back then. The only one who could be compared to her was Chen Chong. Moreover, in the film industry, Pan Hong's acting skills are recognized as being the best, and Jiang Wen, who once acted with her, knows this best.
Jiang Wen and Pan Hong have a good relationship in private, and they are very good friends, but they have seldom contacted each other in recent years. The main reason is Jiang Wen's marriage to Liu Xiaoqing, because he met Liu Xiaoqing, fell in love and got married because of "Furong Town", and Jiang Wen and Pan Hong also starred in "The Last Empress" together, so there have been rumors that Jiang Wen and Pan Hong were in love, which Jiang Wen had no way to explain. Who made him and Liu Xiaoqing get together because of the drama?
For a moment, Jiang Wen regretted asking just now. If he had known that Pan Hong would be the heroine, he would not have asked. But now that he had asked, it was impossible to take it back. He looked at Liu Xiaoqing with a guilty conscience. When he saw that Liu Xiaoqing's expression was still smiling and he didn't seem to care, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Haha, Pan Hong is a good actress... this... haha... not bad..." Jiang Wen laughed and stopped asking questions, but everyone saw his expression. Fortunately, Liu Xiaoqing was here today, otherwise everyone would definitely make fun of him. But even so, although everyone pretended to be calm, they were actually holding back their emotions, especially Wang Shuo, whose face was like a cramp, with two pieces of fat twitching slightly, and it was really hard for him to hold back his emotions with his small round face.
Finally, Wang Shuo couldn't hold back any more and burst into laughter by slamming the table. No one could hold back his laughter and they all started laughing too.
Liu Xiaoqing didn't care about it. She and Pan Hong were only two years apart in age. Liu Xiaoqing was slightly older, and the two had worked together before. She was very impressed by Pan Hong's acting skills.
"Pan Hong is originally from Shanghai. She is a very outstanding actress. There is absolutely no problem for her to play this role. Mr. Luo, you have chosen a good actress." Liu Xiaoqing congratulated Luo Yang.
But while saying these words, her hand quietly reached under the table. Jiang Wen suddenly felt a slender hand covering his thigh under the table. He thought to himself that something was wrong and just as he was about to dodge, it was too late. Liu Xiaoqing pinched his thigh hard with lightning speed. Jiang Wen grimaced in pain, unable to say anything. At this time, Liu Xiaoqing specifically asked him if this was the case. Jiang Wen nodded helplessly and said yes. Fortunately, he did not change his costumes , otherwise people would have thought that the couple was on the set of "The Eunuch Li Lianying".
The casting for "Stock Madness" was quite easy. Song Yuanchao gave Luo Yang a lot of references, which were basically recommendations based on the characters he remembered. Among them, there were many comedy actors from the Shanghai Comedy Troupe who played supporting roles, including the famous Wang Xiaomao.
However, Luo Yang has not yet decided who to choose as the director. Considering that the film is invested by a Hong Kong company, the director plans to select the actors in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong has some experience in shooting such films.
In addition, there are many people from Shanghai in the Hong Kong entertainment industry, including directors, so there are not many problems in language communication and customs communication. According to the plot and design of the movie, Xu Guanwen from Hong Kong is actually a very good candidate. He is known as the deadpan comedian and is a famous comedian in Hong Kong, and he is also an excellent director.
However, Xu Guanwen is not from Shanghai and is not familiar with the local customs and culture of Shanghai. In addition, his main focus is now on his own Xu Film Company and he has no energy to take care of other things. So after Luo Yang contacted Xu Guanwen, although the other party was quite interested in directing this film, he finally declined Luo Yang's invitation for other reasons.
As a result, the selection of the director became a problem. Luo Yang was even considering whether to choose a suitable director from the Shanghai Film Studio. However, since this movie was different from previous movies, it was indeed difficult to choose a suitable director. Even after Luo Yang returned to Hong Kong from Yanjing, he still had not decided on the director.
At this time, TVB recommended a person to Luo Yang. This person was TVB's producer Li Guoli. Li Guoli used to work at Singapore Television for nine years. Later, he returned to Hong Kong and joined TVB as TVB's producer.
It was a coincidence. Li Guoli learned from somewhere that Luo Yang had such a script and was planning to start filming. Although this script was invested and produced by a Hong Kong company, it was also a cooperation with Shanghai Film Studio. The film was mainly released in mainland China, and the entire filming process was also carried out in Shanghai. He instantly became very interested in this film.
Because of his background as a member of the older generation in Hong Kong, although Li Guoli was born in Hong Kong, he is not unfamiliar with Shanghai. There are many elders from Shanghai in his family who can understand and speak fluent Shanghainese. In addition, Hong Kong and Shanghai have a deep connection, so Li Guoli not only understands the customs and culture of Shanghai since he was a child, but also has done considerable research on it.
Speaking of the origins of Hong Kong and Shanghai, in addition to a large number of old people who moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong in the early years, there are also film exchanges and past events between the two places. Needless to say, Shaw Brothers, the largest film company in Hong Kong, was originally a company in Shanghai, and later moved to Hong Kong. Many of the directors and actors are from Shanghai.
The famous Jin Yong is from Chaoxian. It is conceivable how close Chaoxian is to Shanghai. Moreover, Jin Yong worked in Shanghai before going to Hong Kong, so he can be considered half a Shanghainese.
There is a classic comedy that I think everyone in Hong Kong knows, and that is "Seventy-two Tenants". This comedy has been remade several times in Hong Kong, including movies, TV series, and performances on the stage of drama.
But many people don't know that the real source of this comedy is Shanghai. As early as 1958, the Shanghai Comedy Troupe created the large-scale comedy "Seventy-two Tenants". Later in 1963, the Xiangjiang Hongtu Film Company and Zhuhai Film Studio cooperated to change the story background from Shanghai to Guangzhou, and thus made this movie.
Li Guoli visited Luo Yang in person and directly asked him to direct "Stock Madness". Although Luo Yang had heard of Li Guoli and learned from TVB that he was a very capable producer, the problem was that Li Guoli had never directed any film before, which means that if he directed this film, "Stock Madness" would be his first film.
For this reason, Luo Yang had no idea at first. After all, handing a movie to a director who had never proven himself was too risky. Who would have thought that after Luo Yang rejected Li Guoli the first time, Li Guoli did not lose heart. He went back and made a storyboard and shooting plan based on the content of Luo Yang's script for "Stock Madness", and then found Luo Yang again with these things.
When they met again, Li Guoli showed Luo Yang what he had spent several days to make, and explained to Luo Yang in detail his shooting ideas and understanding of movies. It has to be admitted that although Li Guoli had never been a director, he convinced Luo Yang in this way. After listening to Li Guoli's words, Luo Yang thought about it for a long time and finally decided to let Li Guoli give it a try.
In this way, Li Guoli became the director of "Stock Madness". When Song Chaoyuan heard about it, he couldn't help but sigh at the coincidence of history, because in his previous life, "Stock Madness" was directed by Li Guoli. Although as his first film as a director, Li Guoli made many mistakes in the process of filming the movie. For example, the most criticized plot was that the female ticket seller Ali, played by Pan Hong, quarreled and fought with passengers on the bus, which eventually caused a traffic jam.
Due to Li Guoli's negligence, the stop of Bus No. 43 in the movie was wrong. It was moved directly from the stop near Ali's house to the First Department Store, which is not where Bus No. 43 passes at all.
This mistake made many Shanghai residents burst into laughter. They said this bus was simply a magical car. It was in the south of Shanghai a few minutes ago, and then it moved to the city center a few minutes later. The difference was more than ten kilometers. It was simply incredible.
But then again, this mistake still cannot conceal Li Guoli's ability and level of directing. When "Stock Madness" was released, it became a very classic Shanghai dialect movie overnight. In the following decades, this movie was often compared with other movies, praising it as a rare good movie.
The selection of the director also means the confirmation of the crew members. Soon, Li Guoli and his part of the crew joined another part of the crew in Shanghai. The leading actor Liu Qingyun also arrived in Shanghai with the crew. Chen Xiaoer is the deputy director of this film. Although he is very famous in both places, many comedy films he starred in and directed were released in the Hong Kong film market in recent years. Although the box office was average, it also made many Hong Kong people know this famous actor and director from the mainland.
Although he was only an assistant director and played a small role in the film, Chen Xiaoer was still very responsible. He not only took this opportunity to learn from his Hong Kong colleagues, but also met several veteran actors of Shanghai comedy during the filming process and learned and studied the essence of comedy from them.
Chen Xiaoer's performance style and habits are deeply influenced by the northern school, but comedy in China has always been divided into southern and northern schools, just like the northern crosstalk and the southern comedy. The two have similarities and differences. Through this contact and communication, Chen Xiaoer privately told Song Chaoyuan that he really benefited a lot and learned a lot. Just from this point, it is enough.
