But which actress in Hua Xia was suitable to play the female lead?
He couldn't figure it out just by thinking about it. So, Mr. Jia decided to go to the capital and organize an audition for actors. He would use live auditions to determine the relevant actors for Ultraman Tiga.
Therefore, as early as the last time Mr. Jia and Brother Long shot an advertisement, he started the audition process at the same time. Then, through Director Chen, he contacted the Central Academy of Drama, the Imperial Capital Film Academy, and other professional schools located in the Imperial Capital. Through the teachers, he announced that there would be an audition for the actors of a Sino-Japanese TV series. All interested male and female students could attend the audition.
Then, the auditions began.
Nominally, the person in charge of the audition was the chief director of Ultraman Tiga, Murashi Hiroshi. However, Mr. Jia was sitting next to this director, so it was hard to say who was the real decision-maker.
The first to begin was naturally the audition for the female lead. Probably because they heard that it was a TV series co-produced between China and Japan, many students were interested. Within three days, more than 600 people came for the audition.
Most of them were students from the school. According to Mr. Jia's request, the actors couldn't be older than 22 years old. After all, a TV series aimed at young people couldn't have an overly old female lead. So, most of the people who came to the audition were female students from several schools.
After three days of observation, a few names that would be familiar to future generations were included in the preliminary selection list.
Among them were: Jia Jingwen, Zhang Ziyi, Jiang Wenli, Yu Feihong, Jing Qiaoqiao, Jiang Qingqing, Xu Jinglei, and Yuan Li. Mr. Jia looked at them. Anyway, all the suitable actresses who graduated from classes ranging from 88 to 92 were basically here.
Moreover, all of them were extremely tender. They were all in the prime of their youth. Compared to their 28 years after becoming famous, they still had a very obvious youthful aura.
However, Mr. Jia didn't feel that they were suitable for the female lead even after looking at them a few times. He couldn't make up his mind.
"President, why don't we choose Miss Jia Jingwen? I think she's the most suitable out of all of them!" In the end, the chief director Murashi Hiroshi took the initiative to suggest.
"How about this?" Jia Yapeng nodded. Jia Jingwen was indeed a good choice. She later acted as Zhao Min, which was Jia Yapeng's favorite version of Zhao Min. However, Jia Yapeng still felt that there was something wrong.
This was because Jia Jingwen's temperament was too lively, and her whole body was filled with a quick-witted energy. This kind of energy was not in line with Lina's more mature and steady personality. Jia Yapeng was worried that the effect of Jia Jingwen's acting would not be too good.
Of course, it could also be that Manager Jia was too prejudiced by the first impression. Because the impression from his previous life was too deep, it was difficult for him to change his mind.
Just as Mr. Jia was about to nod and agree to this suggestion, a series of hurried knocks came from the door.
"I'm sorry, I'm late. I had a competition … a swimming competition … synchronized swimming … I'm very sorry … Can you give me another chance?" A young girl stood at the door and said while panting heavily.
This little girl's hair was all wet and dripping with water, as if she had just been fished out of the water.
"Miss Taohong?" When Manager Jia saw this person, he didn't know how to react. However, when he heard the words "synchronized swimming", Manager Jia remembered.
"It's me, you know me?" Taohong asked in surprise when she heard her name.
"I have the registration list here. You are the only one who didn't come for the audition. Her specialty is swimming. That's you!" Manager Jia held the list in his hand and smiled. Murashi Hiroshi, who was standing at the side, admired him very much.
There were thousands of names on the list. Each name was followed by information about their specialty, age, school, acting experience, and so on.
They didn't count who didn't come for the audition. However, the president was able to find the information of this little actress in such a list. This ability was not ordinary!
Was this the strength of the legendary genius?
"I'm sorry, director. I've troubled you!" Taohong said with shame.
"It's okay. You've won glory for our country by participating in the synchronized swimming competition!" Jia Yapeng handed a small page of the script to Taohong and said, "Come on, try to act it out!"
Taohong nodded. She thought that there would be a short scene in the script for her to act out.
However, she didn't expect that although there were many lines in the script, they were all "Dagu."
【
Your lover, Big Gu, had gone missing, and in your excitement, you shouted out "Big Gu".
Team member Dagu returns safely. You shout out "Dagu" in excitement.
Team member Dagu is about to set off at the risk of death. You shout out "Dagu" in excitement.
…
】
In this page of the script, there were ten different scenes. Taohong was asked to shout out "Dagu" in all of them.
Obviously, this was to test Taohong's ability to control her emotions and expressions.
However, Taohong had never tried this kind of audition method before. The school didn't teach it either. Taohong cursed the director in her heart for being too scary. She started to build up her emotions. First, she shouted out "Dagu" according to the different scenes.
"OK!" Seeing Taohong's expression, Jia Yapeng nodded. This is right. This is the Lina he wanted.
Thus, the female lead of "Ultraman Tiga" was decided just like that.
After the female lead became a Hua Xia, Director Jia decided to go all the way. Other than Dagu, more than half of the actors were replaced by Hua Xia actors.
After a discussion and asking the actors for their opinions, the director decided to go with the script.
Among them, the female captain of the winning team, the weapon researcher, Masami Ujii, and the computer expert, Norui Baku, were still played by the original Fusang actor.
The vice-captain, He Zongfang, was played by Zhang Fengyi. This actor had just finished playing the role of Duan Xiaolou in "Farewell My Concubine." He was one of the professional actors of the future emperor. Jia Yapeng didn't expect him to agree. Jia Yapeng originally thought that he would refuse. In fact, Jia Yapeng thought too much. These days, there weren't many TV dramas and movies. If there was a show to act in, it would be enough to earn money. As for the genre of the movie, even Zhang Fengyi had acted in it, let alone a TV series aimed at teenagers.
Then, there was the ace fighter pilot, Chen Zhefu, played by Hu Jun. This drama actor was reluctantly dragged by his friends to the audition. Then, he was chosen by Jia Yapeng at a glance and was put on the list.
There was also the director of the winning team, Yang Zejing, who was the overall person in charge of the Pacific Rim. In the end, Cheng Daoming was in charge of the role. This was something that Director Jia didn't expect.
This was Director Jia's favorite actor in his previous life. That mature domineering aura was something that Director Jia felt that no other actor could compare to. Therefore, Director Jia had long wanted to invite him to make a guest appearance as the overall person in charge.
However, Director Jia was a little embarrassed to ask. When he was chatting with Director Chen, he mentioned this point. He didn't expect Director Chen to directly mention it to Cheng Daoming. Cheng Daoming laughed when he heard it and said that it was okay. He had also watched Ultraman and felt that it was a very interesting type. Moreover, it was only a guest appearance, so he agreed very quickly.
Therefore, all the main actors in the TV series were confirmed. As for the remaining actors who weren't so important, Director Jia didn't care and left them all to the director's team. In any case, he asked for half of the actors from Fusang and Hua Xia.
Because New Year's Eve was on January 23rd, the crew didn't start work immediately after confirming the actors. Instead, they officially started work on February 10th. However, Fusang's team had basically all arrived in Hua Xia in December and began a lot of filming work. Then, they had to make a variety of leather cases and simulation models of buildings.
These were actually the biggest part of the cost. A leather case cost tens of thousands of yuan, and an ordinary building model cost thousands of yuan. In addition, there were also various moving railways, car models, street lights, and so on. Anyway, all kinds of models needed a lot of preparation time.
However, the crew was very happy to say that because Hua Xia's labor cost was very cheap, the actual shooting cost might be greatly reduced. The original one billion yen shooting cost might be reduced to about two to three hundred million in the end.
[PS: If anyone has any opinions about this lineup, you can leave a comment here. If there are really many opinions, the author will make changes. Also, don't mention the original Japanese cast.
China bought the company and invested money to film it. It doesn't make sense that all the actors are Japanese, right? So, everyone can think that the actor is not very suitable, but if you ask for the original cast, the author won't respond.]
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