Chapter 43: Hired as Director for Tangshan Big Brother

  Wang Wei thought that director Wu Jiaxuan's shortcomings in kung fu would only appear after a while, but it only took three days for Wu Jiaxuan to say that he couldn't continue filming due to various problems.

  Apart from his own shortcomings in martial arts films, the most important thing is that Wu Jiaxuan's physical condition can no longer support him. After all, as a director who has just turned 50, he is in a foreign country and still has to do this kind of high-intensity work under such harsh conditions. In addition to his own shortcomings in martial arts films, Wu Jiaxuan had to constantly think about it during his rest time, which made him mentally exhausted. Under the double torture of physical and mental exhaustion, Wu Jiaxuan fell ill.

  So there was no way out, Jiahe could only temporarily replace Wu Jiaxiang. To deal with this matter, Zou Wenhuai put down the work in his hands and personally ran to Bai Zhuang to handle it.

  Zou Wen rushed to the small inn in Bai Zhuang Town, looking dusty and disheveled. Without even taking a sip of water, she ran straight to Wu Jiaxiang's room. Fortunately, Wu Jiaxiang was not seriously ill, but had caught a low-grade fever due to fatigue and being unaccustomed to the local environment.

  After confirming that Wu Jiaxiang was fine, Zou Wenhuai finally put her mind at ease. However, the current lack of a director is an unavoidable problem for the crew, and without one, the entire crew's operations would have to come to a halt.

  Zou Wenhuai called Li Xiaolong and Wang Wei into his own room to discuss how to deal with the current situation.

  "Little Dragon, Ah Wei, Wu can't shoot anymore now. You two take a break for two days and let the crew members rest too. I'll go back and find the director immediately to take over Wu's work." Zou Wenhuai said with a bitter face. Small company is indeed small, lacking manpower, she thought bitterly, this wouldn't have happened when they were at Shaw Brothers.

  Li Xiaolong had no objection to Zou Wenhuai's proposal, after all, the current situation can only be like this. On the other hand, Wang Wei did not speak, but remained silent.

  Zou Wenhuai saw that Wang Wei didn't say anything, so she thought Wang Wei was worried about his investment. She explained: "Ah Wei, don't worry, the company will arrange a director as soon as possible and won't let the crew stop working for too long. This time I'll definitely find a director with experience in martial arts films." Zou Wenhuai could only make such a promise to Wang Wei because it was common for investors to withdraw their funds when film production didn't go smoothly. If Wang Wei withdrew his investment at this time, "Big Brother of Tangshan" would undoubtedly be stillborn, and the best result would be to delay it again and find another investor. In that case, it wouldn't be until next year or even later.

  Zou Wenhuai explained to himself, Wang Wei smiled lightly and said: "Brother Zou, you're overthinking, I didn't mean to withdraw my investment at all." Zou Wenhuai saw that Wang Wei didn't intend to withdraw his investment and let out a sigh of relief. However, before Zou Wenhuai could catch his breath, Wang Wei dropped another bombshell.

  "But Brother Zou, I have a request. I hope you can agree." Wang Wei said with his eyes fixed on Zou Wenhuai. "What is it? Speak up!" As long as Wang Wei didn't plan to withdraw his investment, everything was easy to discuss. Zou Wenhuai thought for a moment before speaking.

  "I'll take on the role of director for this play." Wang Wei said after a moment's thought.

  "What? You want to be the director of Big Brother Tangshan?" Not only Zou Wenhuai, but also Li Xiaolong on the side was shocked by Wang Wei's request.

  "No, no... Ah Wei, I won't agree to this. Making a movie is not like writing a script, it's not as simple as you think." This time, Zou Wen refused Wang Wei's request without hesitation.

  On the other side, Li Xiaolong also expressed his agreement: "Ah Wei, being a director is not child's play. It requires not only on-site coordination ability and camera control ability, but also a certain level of control over the actors' performances. As well as control over the visual effects, it's not something you can do just because you want to." Li Xiaolong himself has ideas about being a director, but he doesn't dare say that he will direct this play now. Now hearing Wang Wei say that he will direct this play, Li Xiaolong thinks it is fundamentally impossible.

  For Zou Wenhuai and Li Xiaolong's strong opposition, Wang Wei did not have any emotional fluctuations because Wang Wei had already anticipated this before speaking. Therefore, Wang Wei had already had a countermeasure in his heart.

  Wang Wei smiled and glanced at the two of them, saying: "Whether it's possible or not, try it out and you'll know. If it doesn't work, I won't mention such an unreasonable request again."

  Wang Wei did not waver due to the two people's persuasion. Zou Wen hesitated for a moment, then seriously said to Wang Wei: "The trial shoot can be done, but you have to agree to one condition."

  "What conditions."

  "If the trial shoot is not successful, you will not be able to mention withdrawal of funds in the future, and you will also step down as deputy director. From now on, you will no longer interfere with the company's filming matters." At this time, Zou Wenhuai had already regretted it, if she had known earlier, she would not have done Wang Wei a favor by letting him take over as deputy director.

  But there's no such thing as "if only" in this world. Now we can only let Wang Wei try to take a shot, and then hurry up and get him out of here.

  The crew members were suddenly notified to start work, and some were unclear. The director wasn't sick, was a new director coming so soon? However, despite the confusion, the crew members still arrived at the studio one after another.

  After arriving at the studio, it was only then that we found out that the new director was Wang Wei. Although everyone had some doubts about whether Wang Wei could direct this play, no one wanted to lose face in front of him. This is because Wang Wei's relationships with the crew members were the best, and despite being together for just a short period of time, most people had benefited from his kindness in one way or another. It was known that when Wang Wei arrived at Bai Zhuang, Deng Lijun had bought him many snacks, which he then distributed to the crew's working staff.

  So everyone gave each other face and took their respective positions.

  "Are you ready?"

  As he watched the photographer, actors and crew waiting for his instructions, Wang Wei felt an indescribable surge of excitement in his heart. He recalled his previous life as a third-rate film major, chatting with friends about his dreams of becoming a great director like Feng Xiaogang, making movies that would win applause from audiences. At the time, it was just a fantasy. But now, he had actually become a director, and the actors he was directing were none other than the famous Li Xiaolong, and also Lin Zhengying, a newcomer known as "Little Daochang".

  "Attention everyone, scene eleven, Xu Jian and Lao Ma's casino scam scene, all units take note. Is everyone ready? Alright, let's get into position... Action!"

  When Wang Wei shouted "start", Chen Qingqu pushed the camera along the pre-laid track to follow the movements of the actors.

  Xu Jian, played by Tian Yun, enters the casino and goes up to a small private room on the second floor. "Camera follow! Don't shake... Okay." "CUT"

  When Xu Jian was leaning against the casino door, Wang Wei suddenly shouted "Stop!" Then he walked to the door of the private room and gave Tian Jun a demonstration: "Ah Jun, pay attention to your facial expression, don't frown. Think about it." After explaining to Tian Jun, Wang Wei said to photographer Chen Qingqu: "Later, give the poker table a close-up shot."

  "You guys should slow down when dealing cards at the table, you're dealing so fast, you'll lose all your money soon"

  Wang Wei made a moderate joke with several extras, causing everyone on the side to laugh uncontrollably. "Props, are you ready? Okay, let's do it again."

  "Alright, take your positions. Round 11, Xu Jian versus Jie Chuan's gamble to draw the thousandth picture. All units, attention! Everyone, get ready... Aiqi Shi!"

  "Okay, follow up with photography, okay."

  The players started flipping the cards, and then the banker flipped his card, a pair. I won! The banker let out a loud cry. They began to collect the money. At this moment, Xu Jian patted Old Ma: "Old Ma, look." After saying that, he picked up the dice from the table. Then, with a sudden force, it split into two halves, and the specially made dice broke as expected. Inside, there was actually a steel ball.

  "Okay......okay......"

  "Cut... Perfect."

  As Wang Wei shouted "cut", the crew members all applauded spontaneously. Zhou Wenhuai, who was standing on the side, also couldn't help but applaud for Wang Wei's direction just now. Zhou Wenhuai had thought that Wang Wei had a good grasp of directing on set since the first take.

  While Wang Wei was directing the re-shoot, Zou Wenhuai stood on the side, staring intently at Wang Wei, ready to find any mistake he made. However, after watching Wang Wei direct the second take, not only did Zou Wenhuai fail to find any errors, but she was also conquered by Wang Wei's directing skills. She thought that Wang Wei's command of the scene was simply too perfect.

  Even if Jiahe's current leading role, Lu Wei, is in charge of directing the scene, he may not be able to catch up with Wang Wei's level of performance just now. More importantly, Wang Wei has a good sense of the drama. Zou Wenhuai thinks that Wang Wei already had a clear picture in his mind when shooting, otherwise how could Wang Wei grasp the camera position and the degree of the actors' performance so skillfully.

  On the other side, Bruce Lee thought to himself after watching Wang Wei direct and finish filming this scene, "I didn't expect Ah Wei to be so talented, I think cooperating with Ah Wei will definitely be much better than Director Song." Thinking of this, Bruce Lee ran to Wang Wei's side and said: "Ah Wei, your control over the scene is almost as good as those Hollywood directors."

  Regarding Li Xiaolong's evaluation, Wang Wei just smiled and said: "Dragon brother is overpraising." When everyone came forward to thank Wang Wei, Wang Wei secretly let out a sigh of relief. Because when Wang Wei was filming the first take, he was also very nervous.

  However, at critical moments, the filming techniques learned from art school and the experience of learning on-site dispatching with Song Cunshou came into play.

  When Zou Wenjuan announced that Wang Wei was hired as the director of Tangshan Big Brother, Wang Wei gently stretched out his hands and found that his palms were already wet.

  During the strong promotion period, everyone has voted for Mao Mao! Mao Mao thanks you! Wishing everyone a happy reading experience.