Chapter 17: Hard Shooting
On March 2, Xia Meng returned to Hong Kong by plane from Jakarta, and Li Hualong personally greeted him at the airport.
During Xia Meng's time in Southeast Asia, she often called Li Hualong to relieve the pain of lovesickness.
In public, Li Hualong and Xia Meng did not act too intimately, and after they got into the car, they hugged and kissed each other regardless of the bodyguards in the car.
After kissing, Xia Meng's cheeks flushed, and he whispered, "Let's go back." ”
"Isn't the car moving?" Li Hualong smiled, "Auntie has prepared a sumptuous dinner table to welcome you home." When you're out and about, you're still used to eating, right? ”
"It's okay, there's nothing unaccustomed to in terms of diet. During this time, the temperature in Southeast Asia is hotter than that in Hong Kong, there is no rain, the sun is shining, the climate is pleasant, and you have the opportunity to go and see. ”
"Okay, we'll go next time."
After Xia Meng returned to Hong Kong from Southeast Asia, she did not feel easy, and she immediately participated in the preparation for the filming of "Wong Fei Hung: The Righteousness of Bo Yuntian".
Five days later, Li Hualong and Xia Meng began the filming of Huayi Brothers Film Group's fifth film "Huang Feihong's Righteousness Bo Yuntian".
This time, Li Hualong did not act as an actor, but as a director, and he directed the movie "Huang Feihong: The Righteousness of Bo Yuntian", the screenwriter of this movie was provided by him, and he plagiarized the movie of the same name starring Jet Li in the later generations, and Xia Meng played the thirteenth aunt in the movie.
Huang Feihong in "Huang Feihong's Righteousness Bo Yuntian" has a handsome young man named Song Songhai to play, this person has been practicing martial arts since childhood, his father used to open a martial arts gym in Yangcheng, after his father died of illness, he and his mother and other family members moved to Hong Kong a few years ago in order to make a living.
Li Hualong met Song Songhai It can be regarded as a coincidence, not long after the filming of "Tang Bohu Dots Autumn Fragrance" started, he saw three hooligans shooting a pedestrian's briefcase at the door of the hotel, Song Songhai happened to pass by and helped the pedestrian snatch back the briefcase.
Li Hualong felt that Song Songhai had good skills, some kung fu foundation, and handsome appearance, which was very suitable for playing a positive role, and could be cultivated into a martial arts star, so he took the initiative to talk to him and invited the other party to dinner.
After talking, Li Hualong learned that Song Songhai did not have a serious job, and usually carried sacks at the dock.
Song Songhai learned from Li Hualong's mouth that making movies is very profitable, and the other party intends to invite him to make movies, in order to increase the family's income and let the family live a good life, he didn't think much about it, and immediately agreed, not thinking about whether he can make movies at all.
After Song Songhai signed a contract with Huayi Brothers Film Group, Li Hualong found someone to train Song Songhai's acting skills, and sent him to the crew of "Tang Bohu Dots Autumn Fragrance" to do chores, so that he could observe how others acted.
When Li Hualong participated in "Hong Kong Holiday", he clearly learned from Yue Feng how to direct and shoot movies.
In order to make a good movie "Huang Feihong's Righteousness Bo Yuntian", Li Hualong specially found a director who had made several movies as the assistant director Wu Yuanhua (apocryphal role) and asked him to help check it.
Shortly after the filming of "Wong Fei Hung's Righteousness Bo Yuntian" began, on March 14, Wang Tianlin's Virgo "Heroes of Shushan" was officially released in Hong Kong.
Huayi Brothers invested in the filming of "Heroes of Shushan", and the total cost of filming and post-production, as well as publicity, was 160,000 Hong Kong dollars.
After completing the post-production, Li Hualong watched the movie "Heroes of Shushan", and he felt that this movie was made well, quite enjoyable, and it may not be a box office hit, but it is unlikely to lose money.
"Heroes of Shushan" was released in Hong Kong for a month, with a box office income of 336,000 in Hong Kong, and Huayi Brothers received 130,000 Hong Kong dollars, plus the sales income in overseas markets, this film made Huayi Brothers earn a profit of more than 200,000 yuan, and the return on investment was more than doubled.
……
Li Hualong remembered many martial arts clips of classic martial arts films in later generations, in order to shoot "Huang Feihong's Righteousness Bo Yuntian", he put a lot of thought into it, and in the process of filming, he strived for perfection and frequently ng, but it did not make the actors participating in this movie dissatisfied.
The filming time is extended, the income of the actors will increase, and they will not suffer at all, and at the same time, the actors feel that they have learned a lot in the process of participating in this film.
Xia Meng is Li Hualong's fiancée, and she naturally supports her fiancé's career.
Song Songhai regards Li Hualong as his benefactor, if it were not for Li Hualong's support, he would not have been able to get a salary of 600 yuan a month, carry a sack on the dock, and work tirelessly and tirelessly for a month, he may not be able to earn 200 Hong Kong dollars.
Song Songhai signed a ten-year contract with Huayi Brothers Film Group, receiving a basic salary of 600 per month, and if he participated in the filming of the film, he would have an additional bonus of 20 yuan every day, and the liquidated damages were as high as 1 million Hong Kong dollars. Li Hualong regarded Song Songhai as a cash cow, but he didn't think about only picking the money from the tree instead of watering and fertilizing.
Li Hualong thought that it would take him three months at most to finish filming "Huang Feihong's Righteousness Bo Yuntian", but he asked too much, and this movie was really difficult to shoot, he needed to design martial arts actions on the spot, and after the design was completed, the actors also needed to spend some time practicing the shooting, which extended the filming period.
……
In mid-May, Yue Feng's third film "Golden Lotus" directed by Huayi Brothers was released in Hong Kong.
After the release of "Golden Lotus", it had a good reputation and won praise from many film critics, but compared with the two previous films he directed, the box office of this film was tepid, and it was released in Hong Kong for more than a month, and only received 362,000 Hong Kong dollars at the box office.
If it weren't for the good price of the screening rights in the foreign market, Yue Feng would definitely be very depressed, after all, he had already made two blockbuster movies before.
……
On June 12, "Huang Feihong's Righteousness Bo Yuntian", which lasted nearly 100 days, was completed.
"Okay, it's over!" Li Hualong stood up excitedly, applauded and shouted, ""Yi Bo Yuntian" is finished! ”
"Wow, it's finally over." Many crew members had happy smiles on their faces and cheered.
"Everyone has finished the business at hand, in the evening, I will invite everyone to a big dinner, and you can drink tonight!" Li Hualong said with a smile.
As early as the filming of "Hong Kong Holiday", Li Hualong found that many people in the film crew liked to drink two sips, and some people drank too much and would go crazy with alcohol.
After that, Li Hualong promulgated a ban on alcohol in Huayi Brothers Film Group, and during the filming of the movie, the crew members were not allowed to drink, and when the movie was not filmed, he did not care.
In fact, there are still a few people who secretly drank during the filming of the movie, and Li Hualong did not find out, after all, during the filming of the movie, the crew members also had their own private time, they did not drink on the set, and Li Hualong could not have known.
Compared with his peers, Huayi Brothers Film Group's salary to employees is quite high in the industry, although there are many rules, but Li Hualong will hardly scold people for no reason, if Li Hualong does something wrong, he will take the initiative to admit his mistakes to his subordinates, and the company thinks that Li Hualong is a good boss.
At the finale celebration dinner, many people toasted a lot of wine to Li Hualong, Li Hualong didn't put on a score at first, someone toasted him, he would drink, but later, he couldn't resist it.
"Okay, okay, I'm almost done today, and if I continue to drink, I won't be able to settle the bill."
Li Hualong stood up, raised his wine glass, and shouted: "Colleagues, I toast you with a glass, after drinking this cup, I won't drink it, and you should drink less, if you get drunk, you will drink too much, which is not good for your health...... Alright, I'll stop talking, cheers! ”
That night, Li Hualong did not go home, he stayed in the hotel.
During the filming of "Wong Fei Hung: The Righteousness of Bo Yuntian", Li Hualong rarely went home, after all, it took a long time for him to return to his home on the top of Hong Kong Island from Clear Water Bay, and he had to cross the sea on the way, which was too inconvenient.
As early as mid-December last year, Li Hualong began to build a dormitory building of nearly 10,000 square feet in Clear Water Bay.
During the filming of the movie, the crew members lived in the dormitory on the set most of the time, and the company did not charge them for the room, and provided free meals, of course, you can add meals if you want, you need to give money.
After the movie was completed, Li Hualong did not immediately devote himself to the post-production work of the film, he had a lot of things to be busy, after all, in addition to the film company, he also had other industries, and he wanted to spend more time with his family.
After a week of relaxation, Li Hualong began to get busy working on the post-production of "Huang Feihong's Righteousness Bo Yuntian".