Although Li Mu admired Lu Xinyi, she was only a third-tier manager in his future company. Therefore, after she joined Makino Technology, Li Mu did not keep in close contact with her. Instead, he handed her over to Lin Ching-ah and Wang Nan. All the preparations for the portal website's launch were also handed over to Wang Nan, who was in charge of preparing for the launch as soon as possible.
These few days, Li Mu did not even have the time to be in close contact with Zhao Ziqiu, the seductive little vixen. He only took one evening to have dinner with her and gave her the dress he bought for her in Hong Kong. After that, he buried himself in other things. These few days, Zhao Ziqiu missed Li Mu very much, both psychologically and physically. However, she could see that he was very busy, so she refrained from telling him that her mother had bought her a suite between the National People's Congress and Beijing University.
Although Li Mu also missed Zhao Ziqiu's gentleness, he had to take some time every night to write the script for "The Girl We Chased Together Those Years." He planned to finish it in the next two days and wait for Ning Hao to arrange an appointment with Teng Huatao so that he could read the script.
The Girl We Chased Together in Those Years was a semi-autobiographical novel written by Jiu Dao. The basis of the story came from his own first love story. But for Li Mu, that was not a problem at all. For such a love story, as long as he changed the names of the characters, at least 50 million of the 1.3 billion people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the mainland would feel that the story was very similar to their own. So, as long as he adapted the part of the story that was more local to the mainland and made some appropriate changes to the characters, Jiu Dao was sure that he would feel the same way as those 50 million people.
After the script was completed, Li Mu asked Ning Hao to help him arrange a meeting with Teng Huatao. Coincidentally, Ning Hao had just returned from inspecting the filming site in Yuzhou, so he immediately arranged a time to meet with Teng Huatao. Teng Huatao did not have any films on hand recently and was traveling abroad. When he received Ning Hao's call, he promised to arrive in Beijing in two days and contact him immediately.
Teng Huatao was not a well-known director yet, and his main focus was on television dramas. Therefore, very few people were willing to look for him to film a movie. When he heard that Makino Image was going to invest in a campus romance film, Teng Huatao was very excited. Although he had not seen the script, he believed in the capabilities of Makino Image. With the backing of such a large company like Makino Technology, they definitely had a lot of money on hand. Therefore, if they were going to invest in a movie, the budget would definitely not be small. Having a sufficient budget was a very important prerequisite for making a movie.
Many of the director's ideas and ambitions needed to be supported by a budget. Li Mu did not carefully consider how high the budget for "The Girl We Chased Together All Those Years Ago" should be. However, most of the scenes in this movie were concentrated on campus, so the overall production cost would be much lower. In terms of actors, the male lead would definitely be Zhang Kexuan, and the female lead would definitely be Du Wei. There were many people that could be considered for the second male lead. Chen Kun, whom he had worked with before, was a good choice. There were also many "fresh meat" male actors from the Chinese Academy of Drama and Yanjing Film Academy who were also good choices. This could be decided by Teng Huatao himself. However, Li Mu already had a candidate in mind for the second female lead. It was Su Yingxue's cousin, Wang Xinran.
If the early preparations for this movie went smoothly, it would definitely not be a problem to start shooting during the summer. This kind of movie with fewer changes in the scenes was already a fast shooting speed. In addition, there were not many scenes for the second female lead, so Wang Xinran only needed to take a month off from her summer vacation. It could be considered as giving her an electric shock in advance and accumulating some acting experience. Moreover, Li Mu had also heard that the acting freshmen of the Film Academy and Chinese Academy of Drama were divided into two categories. The first category was those who had never acted before, and the second category was those who had acted before. This was because almost all the acting freshmen were relatively good-looking, so the real deciding factor for their status after entering the school was whether they had acting experience or not.
Back then, Xia Yu, who had acted in "Sunny Days," entered the Chinese Academy of Drama with the title of Best Actor. Therefore, when he entered, he was an influential figure. The title of Best Actor was very helpful to his studies and life in the Chinese Academy of Drama. Of course, it was a pity that he did not find a good direction to develop his career in later stages.
After that, when Guan Xiaotong was admitted to the Yanjing Film Academy, she was also an influential figure in the school. The media chased after her for a long time. The reason was also very simple. She had ample acting experience before, so compared to students of her age, she was already a senior.
Li Mu also wanted to accumulate some similar experience for Wang Xinran. Although he could not give her the first female lead, it was already a very, very good opportunity to get the second female lead to make her debut. If her performance was up to standard, he would definitely take care of her in the filming of other movies in the future.
Two days later, Li Mu and Teng Huatao met. This time, Ning Hao accompanied them the entire time. With him around, although it was the first time Li Mu and Teng Huatao had met, they had a very congenial conversation. They both felt that they were quite to each other's liking.
Teng Huatao was concerned about the script, so Li Mu gave him the script for "The Girl We Chased Together All Those Years" so that he could read it first. After Teng Huatao received the script, he began to read it seriously. Li Mu, on the other hand, was chatting with Ning Hao. He asked him, "How's the location going?"
Ning Hao smiled and said, "It's going very smoothly. We talked about a temple in the city called Luohan Temple. We're planning to use that as the main filming location. However, we'll only shoot the exterior of Luohan Temple. As for the interior of the temple, we'll shoot it in a relatively larger temple outside of Yuzhou City. It'll be more convenient that way."
Li Mu nodded. "As long as you think it's suitable."
Ning Hao said, "When I went to Yuzhou this time, I also found a few local actors."
Li Mu immediately thought of Wang Xun and the local actors in the film who spoke with a Yuzhou accent. He couldn't help but ask him, "How is it? Are there any suitable candidates?"
"Yes!" Ning Hao said excitedly, "I've found a few very suitable candidates. I've already talked to them, and they're all very willing to join us. Before we start filming, we'll have them gather in Yanjing for a meeting. After we've sorted out the script, everyone can start working."
As he said that, Ning Hao added, "Heavenly King Liu's schedule is quite full, so he'll go directly to Yuzhou two days before we start filming."
Li Mu was relieved. If Heavenly King Liu acted, just the acting effects alone might not be as good as the original actors. However, he was very famous. Spending more money to hire him was to add a gimmick to the movie and greatly increase the popularity of the movie.
Li Mu really wanted to ask him if there was a person named Wang Xun among the local actors, but he didn't know how to ask. After hesitating for a while, he pretended to be curious and asked, "What's the situation with the local actors you found? Tell me about them. "
Ning Hao said excitedly, "Yuzhou's local drama troupe is really a place with crouching tigers and hidden dragons. There are many outstanding comedic actors. This time, we'll probably find more than ten actors from the local drama troupe to help for each role. Also, an old classmate even introduced me to an actor from the Sichuan Art Troupe. A few years ago, he was named one of the top ten comedians in Sichuan. A few days ago, we met for a meal together. He's also a very outstanding veteran actor."
Li Mu didn't know if he was talking about Wang Xun. If it was, of course, that would be for the best. Li Mu really admired this actor. He had portrayed the character very well. Whether it was "Crazy Stone," "My Regiment Commander My Regiment," or "Militia Ge Er Dan," he had performed very well in all of them. He was a talent.
Ning Hao then said, "Oh right, I've also talked to Tang Wei. She's read the script and is very interested in the role of the mafia boss's girlfriend. She's willing to act in it. Also, she's a director, so this time, she wants to be an assistant director for the whole process to accumulate experience."
Li Mu smiled and said, "It's a waste of her talent to be an assistant director. In the future, she'll definitely develop into an actress. But since she likes it, you can take her with you."
Tang Wei was also an actress that Li Mu liked. Her path to stardom in her previous life wasn't easy. Although "Lust, Caution" made her a success, it also brought her trouble and was criticized by some people. According to Hua Xia's way of thinking, Li Mu didn't want her to take on a film like "Lust, Caution" in this life. Although it was a good film, it was better to let someone else act in it. If Makino Image could give her a good opportunity, she wouldn't have to take the risk to take on a film like "Lust, Caution", which was difficult for the domestic audience to accept.
Ning Hao said, "I'm almost ready. We can start shooting in July."
Li Mu said, "Tell me when you call everyone to Beijing for the meeting. I'll go and have a look."
Ning Hao nodded and said, "Okay!"
After waiting for more than half an hour for Teng Huatao, he quickly finished reading the script of "The Girl We Chased Together in Those Years."
Putting down the script, Teng Huatao said, "Li Zong, the overall structure of this script is very complete, and the splicing is also very clever. The story is warm and real. Although it's a little regretful, it fits the tone of a young love story. It's very good, I'm willing to shoot it!"
Li Mu nodded and smiled. Teng Huatao had very few opportunities to shoot movies now, so he was very persistent in his pursuit of movies. Moreover, he personally liked movies with a young love theme. This "The Girl We Chased Together in Those Years" could easily move him. The current young love movies were either fake or pretentious. There really wasn't a script like this that was more down-to-earth and warm and real.
Li Mu said, "Since you're willing to take it, then I can rest assured and hand the script to you. How much do you think this movie's budget will be?"
Teng Huatao said, "If we don't include the actors' salaries, three million is enough."
Teng Huatao said with a little uncertainty. Three million was really not a small amount of money. Excluding the actors' salaries, using three million to shoot a simple movie with such a simple scene was already considered a high standard. If it was given to those directors who specialized in digital movies, one million would probably not even be needed. However, Teng Huatao also wanted to keep improving, so he offered three million. If Li Mu agreed to this standard, then he would be able to perform in more areas.
Li Mu said without hesitation, "Okay, three million is not a problem at all!"
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