China Entertainment 1997

Before coming, Cao Xuan originally planned to be gentle and go back, so as not to make his parents suspicious.

However, the beauty Zeng was too charming, so she kept her with just a look of reluctance, and carefully tested the quality of the double bed imported from Europe that cost 3,000 oceans to buy.

The next day, Cao Xuan felt a little tired and ran home to have a meal with his parents and then went to the company to take a look.

He took Zhu Jiang and Zhang Chong directly to Xinwu to attend the press conference of "Swordsman".

As for Zeng Li, she doesn't have many roles in Blue Phoenix, and she has some unfinished business at school, so she will join the cast later.

On the evening of March 15, Cao Xuan rushed to Xinwu Film and Television City, the filming location of the "Swordsman" crew.

That's right, it's the filming location of "Water Margin" and the place where Cao Xuan's dream began.

However, this time Cao Xuan did not live in a dormitory, but in a newly built hotel inside the base. He was no longer an extra or supporting actor, but a well-deserved male protagonist.

In the hotel lobby, Cao Xuan met Zhang Dabeard and the two directors of "The Swordsman".

Huang Jianzhong is a veteran TV director. His most famous work before this was "1919" starring Chen Daoming, followed by "The Qin Empire - Fission".

Another director is Yuan Bin, the younger brother of Cheng Long and Hong Jinbao, and one of the members of the Seven Little Blessings. However, he mainly works behind the scenes and has participated in the action design and direction of many action and gangster movies in Hong Kong.

Last time "Water Margin" gave Lao Zhang a lot of sweetness. This time when filming "The Swordsman", Yuan Jiaban was not invited. Yuan Bin, one of the Seven Little Fortunes, was hired as the director, mainly responsible for the action scenes. .

In addition, Cao Xuan also met two old acquaintances, Kang Honglei, the assistant director of "Water Margin", and Zhao Jian, the action designer, who participated in the production of "The Swordsman" again this time.

Zhao Jian is still the action designer and assists Yuan Bin, while Kang Honglei has been promoted to executive director, and it seems that he is quite valued by the bearded man.

In addition to Kang Honglei, the crew of "The Swordsman" also has a well-known assistant director in the future - Guo Jingyu.

This is a famous TV director who has produced "Dog Stick", "Tie Lihua" and "Brave Heart" for later generations, sweeping the middle-aged and elderly TV market. Now he is not famous at all, and he follows Bole Huang Jianzhong.

Cao Xuan was still very covetous of this "Thunderstorm" pairing, and he began to poach them.

However, it is still very difficult for these two to poach them.

At the moment, both Zhang Dabeard and Huang Jianzhong have deeper connections in the field of TV dramas than Cao Xuan. They are also highly regarded, and they may not necessarily have the courage to leave everything behind and join Fanxing, whose future is uncertain.

Especially for Kang Honglei, "The Years of Burning Passion" is probably already in preparation, and he will be able to direct it independently without having to mess with Cao Xuan.

Overall, the atmosphere between Cao Xuan and the behind-the-scenes team is very harmonious.

After all, several of them are old acquaintances, and others who are meeting for the first time have to give face to Cao Xuan, the popular male protagonist.

…

Cao Xuan met with the producers and directors, and the next day Cao Xuan also met some of the starring actors in "The Swordsman".

The first one is the heroine Xu Qing.

Cao Xuan was deeply impressed by her, and Cao Xuan kept away from her.

In addition to Xu Qing, the person who plays the most opposite roles with Cao Xuan is Weizi, who plays Yue Buqun. This veteran actor is an experienced actor with a strong acting style. Cao Xuan is looking forward to competing with him in the play.

The remaining leading actors are either newcomers or veterans. The overall lineup is good, but their reputations are not that great. Therefore, the crew's promotional selling point has to be carried by Cao Xuan, the popular king.

This is also true. After the launch conference of "The Swordsman" was held, more than 80% of reporters' questions were directed to Cao Xuan. Even if they asked questions from other people, the topic could not be separated from Cao Xuan.

Most people were mentally prepared and began to praise Cao Xuan in a fancy way. Some said they were his fans and had succeeded in chasing stars; some said they had seen Cao Xuan perform and were looking forward to working with him; some also praised Cao Xuan for his politeness and character. Good blah blah blah.

In short, no matter what he thought in his heart, there was no stupid young man who appeared in front of reporters to give eye drops to the crew leader.

Cao Xuan also reciprocated the favor, praising each other in return. Everyone praised each other in business, saying hello to me and hello to everyone.

Of course, Cao Xuan didn't just talk superficially, he also talked a few words from the bottom of his heart.

Jin Yong's drama is the hottest film and television IP nowadays, and "The Swordsman" also has several excellent previous versions. He is under pressure to play Linghu Chong this time, and he is also prepared to withstand negative reviews.

But this does not mean that he will lie down and be laughed at. During the filming, he will try his best to overcome all difficulties and play this role well.

Speaking of this, he took a special look at Zhang Jizhong and Huang Jianzhong.

Huang Jianzhong had no reaction, but Zhang Dabeard had some bad thoughts.

Sure enough, before the first scene was filmed that afternoon, Cao Xuan came to the door and asked to change the script.

The bearded man's eyelids twitched, he covered his temples and asked, "Where to change?"

Cao Xuan wanted to say it all in one breath, but he was afraid that the bearded man would suffer from high blood pressure again, so he only raised a few points.

"In the first episode, Linghu Chong opens an inn at the foot of Wuyi Mountain. This completely violates the original work and does not conform to Linghu Chong's character. The plot is not clear, and..."

Cao Xuan hesitated for a moment: "Ren Yingying has too many dramas. The original work was hidden behind the scenes, relying on Dongfang Invincible to command the heroes. Now she is almost the deputy leader. It doesn't make sense logically."

This is also what Cao Xuan thinks. Frankly speaking, Zhang Jizhong's version of "The Swordsman".

The scenes, lens design, scheduling, soundtrack, fight design, costumes, and actors' acting skills are all of a first-class level, and some of them can even be said to be top-notch in the field of TV dramas.

But there are only two major flaws.

One is Li Yapeng's performance. We can't say that his performance was bad. After all, he also came from a Chinese opera major, so he still has some foundation, but the key word is that the performance style is wrong.

The character of Linghu Chong is very contradictory. He is bohemian and unrestrained, but also a lot of aggrieved and depressed.

Therefore, Linghu Chong needs to have two personalities at the same time. He must not only show the characteristics of the character, but also fit the plot. The middle level is more difficult to grasp.

Zhang Jizhong's version of "The Swordsman" is close to the realism style, and the plot highlights Linghu Chong's depression. However, Li Yapeng also has a "simple" face, which makes Linghu Chong's character look even more useless.

And this role positioning also deviates from the public impression of Linghu Chong, who is a carefree and optimistic prodigal son. Even if he is depressed and depressed, he is still tough and free.

This popular impression actually deviates from part of the plot of the original work to a certain extent.

But there is no way, everyone just understands that if the TV series wants to cater to the majority of the audience, it must be close to the popular impression of Linghu Chong.

If you deviate from the track and are inconsistent with public perception, you will definitely be scolded.

Cao Xuan's biggest advantage is that he has the example of Li Yapeng, who has been able to avoid many unnecessary mistakes.

At the same time, through the golden finger, he learned about the network information of later generations and understood the public perception of Linghu Chong's image.

These two items alone can help Cao Xuan roughly restore a Linghu Chong in his mind that is more recognized by the audience.

However, these alone are not enough. Another drawback of "The Swordsman" is that a large number of plots are deviated from the original work.

This is also a common problem in most drama adaptations. Due to various reasons, the plot of the original work is changed and the plot is justified, causing the characters to deviate from the original work and the personality and plot logic to collapse.

Linghu Chong is like this. In the early stage of the original work, he was actually heartless and didn't understand anything at all. Later, he gradually matured after repeated changes.

Now Linghu Chong is directly involved in witnessing the annihilation of the Lin family, and he also confronts Ren Yingying, which directly changes the plot and characters of the two people.

Cao Xuan bala bala complained, making his bearded face turn red.

When he went to Jin Yong to buy the copyright, he vowed not to change a word of it, but later he turned around and deleted a lot of plots.

Later, after Jin Yong watched the drama, he was still angry, but because the costumes and scenes in this version were very good, plus he got along well with the bearded man, he later posted this article.

It's mainly because I'm used to it. None of Jin Yong's dramas in Hong Kong and Taiwan are based on the original works. All of them have been modified.

As time went by, Jin Yong himself didn't bother to take care of it. He only came out to criticize a few words because he couldn't stand it.

Later, the old man left, and the changes were even more extreme. In the latest version of "Dragon", Qiao Feng is an ugly and greasy man who winks, and Duan Yu actually peed his pants when he first met Wang Yuyan...

Of course, Zhang Dabeard was not a vegetarian and began to come up with his own reasons.

The most direct thing is that men and women should appear earlier, otherwise they will not attract the audience.

If it were filmed according to the original work, Linghu Chong would have appeared in at least three or four episodes, and Ren Yingying would have probably appeared in more than a dozen episodes.

Naturally, this argument did not convince Cao Xuan. To put it this way, the protagonists of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "The Legend of Heaven and Dragon Sword" appeared later, so the audience could not mistake it.

The two quarreled in the lounge for more than ten minutes, and Zhang Bearded was so angry that he banged the table, but Cao Xuan was not afraid and even moved out of Jin Yong.

I called the old man and the original author said it was okay to shoot this way, but he didn't say anything. If the original author disagrees, then you have to change it.

Zhang Jizhong really didn't dare to make this call, so he finally admitted it and both parties took a step back.

All plots involving Linghu Chong related to the Lin family have been deleted, but the male protagonist must appear in the first episode, which means adding a few scenes with the Huashan sect, or facing Tian Boguang in advance, so the two lines run parallel.

Cao Xuan agreed to this change. As for Ren Yingying's role, he persuaded him, but the bearded man didn't listen, and Cao Xuan didn't say much.

In the final analysis, he is just an actor. He only needs to argue for the role of Linghu Chong. It is not his turn to care about other people's roles.

On the first day he joined the cast, he had a quarrel with the producer and forced the bearded man to change the scene. Cao Xuan's "daring behavior" shocked the entire "Swordsman" crew.

Cao Xuan didn't care. To be honest, after he took the role, he was already ready to be a "drama tyrant". He had read the original work several times and was ready to go to war with the screenwriter, director and producer at any time.

To put it unluckily, if "The Swordsman" fails, Zhang Jizhong will be the first person responsible, and he, the male protagonist, will not be able to escape the relationship.

Even comparing their reputations, Cao Xuan is likely to take most of the blame.

Compared with this serious consequence, the mere "drama tyrant" is nothing to worry about.

Chen Daoming, Li Baotian, Jiang Wen, and Xing Ye are all "play masters", but as long as the play is filmed and receives flowers and applause from the audience, no one will pay attention to the rest of the sour words.

As for whether the reputation of being a "drama tyrant" will affect Cao Xuan's acceptance of dramas, that's not a problem.

He himself is the boss of a film and television company. If he can't get any outside projects, he will shoot them by himself. Then he can dominate as much as he wants...