The determination of the male and female lead actors can be regarded as the completion of an important preparatory work in the early stage of the film.

Li Shengyao gave the script to Zhang Ziyi and Duan Yihong, and then led people south to Yunnan Province.

He had already arranged for the assistant director and the photographer to come here to select the location, and the assistant director had now identified three domestic cities and four foreign cities, and now it was up to Lee Shengyao to make the final decision to determine those two cities.

These two cities correspond to the two important places in the film, one abroad and one at home.

In his previous life, "Border Killer" was filmed directly in Juarez and El Paso, which has to be admired, the production company is very courageous and very daring.

After all, Juárez claims to be the capital of violence.

If Lee Shengyao chooses the site according to the script story this time, he will choose a city in the north of Lao-Myanmar/Burma.

He still felt too dangerous and gave up on the idea.

The local wars/lords in Lao Burma are even lower than the drug dealer floor in Mexigo.

Many people may be very surprised and think that Mexico is very dangerous.

Compared to the mainland, Mexico is indeed very dangerous.

But for tourists, it's really hard to say who is more dangerous, Mexico or Lao Burma.

Mexico is one of the top five tourist destinations in the world all year round, and a large number of people from all over the world travel there.

Many drug/trafficker-managed cities treat foreign tourists very gently, and local thieves have stolen tourists' wallets, as long as you report it, people can quickly find it out for you.

These drug dealers hired some of Wall Street's best economists to help them grow their local economies, and the money they earned was used to open casinos, hotels, and nightclubs to attract tourists from all over the world.

Las Vegas often complained that Mexico had stolen a lot of their business.

It is true that Mexigo has the highest shooting death in the world, but if you are a tourist, as long as you don't mess around, the basic safety is still guaranteed.

As for Lao Burma?

Li Shengyao can't believe them, he thinks that the lower limit of this group of people is really low, they cheat/cheat every day, sell human organs, treat tourists narrow-mindedly, and don't know how to develop in the long run.

After reading the script to the assistant director and the camera team, everyone discussed where to shoot.

Some people suggested simply going to the cities in the south of Lao-Myanmar, which they thought would be safer.

Actually, no, Lao Myanmar is really not kind to tourists.

For the safety of the crew, Li Shengyao directly refused.

After careful consideration, he planned to arrange for the assistant director and camera team to go to Laos/Laos and Tyrande to find suitable cities.

The reason why I didn't choose Annan and Cambodia is because the characters of these two countries are very different from those of Lao Burma, and they belong to the kind of characters that laymen can see the difference at a glance.

The Lao/Laos and Tyrande are different, and the scripts of these two countries and Lao Burma are both evolved from Sanskrit and look very similar.

However, Lao/Laos and Tyrande can be regarded as the difference between Ho Nan and Ha Shao, and the languages of these two countries are very different from Burmese.

Of course, these are minor problems, and the dubbing will be fine when the time comes.

The three domestic cities selected by the assistant directors are Quang Nan County and Honghe County in Yunnan Province, and Mashan County in Gui Province.

The four foreign cities selected are Khai Son Phong Vihan, Pakse, Luang Prabang in Laos, and Chiang Rai in Tyrande.

After Li Shengyao went south, he observed these three domestic cities, and finally chose Honghe County.

These three small counties are all poor, but Honghe is a border city in the end, and the poor ones are more distinctive.

He then continued south, out of the border, to observe four cities abroad, and he quickly ruled out Chiang Rai.

Chiang Rai is also poor, but the environment here is quite good, the scenery is very beautiful, and the temperament does not match the border city imagined by Li Shengyao.

He then rushed to Laos, which actually has an airport, but there are not many flights.

Li Shengyao and they went from Tyrande to Laos/Laos, it was much faster to take the train, they took the train, and just out of the Vientiane Railway Station, they felt a stream of yellow sand rushing towards their faces.

The train station is still some distance from the city center, there is nothing outside the train station, a few small shops have been built next to the muddy dirt road, all of which are one-story tiled houses, and a dozen tricycles are parked under the trees to greet the passing passengers.

Such a level of development is, to put it mildly, incomparable with the railway stations of small counties in China.

But it's a relief to think that there are only a few million people in this country.

Li Shengyao and his entourage quickly waited for the pick-up car, and then they got on a bus and headed for Vientiane.

It felt like a rocking car ride along the way, with constant bumps.

It was very hot and the buses were not air-conditioned, but everyone closed all the windows early because the dirt road was too dusty.

If the window is open, it will be full of dust.

Soon after, they arrived in Vientiane, the roads were still dilapidated, and there were many construction sites here, the air was very bad, and the sky was gray.

The assistant was holding a mobile phone next to him, and while taking pictures, he said: "Boss, this place actually looks like a border city, I just sent it to my friends, and they all thought we were on the China/Myanmar border." ”

Vientiane was really poor at this time, and now it is engaged in construction, and there are many construction sites, all of which are developed by mainland companies.

If it weren't for Huaxia wanting to take this little brother, Lao/Laos would be even poorer.

Vientiane can indeed be regarded as a border city in the movie.

The assistant director immediately said next to him: "Boss, we thought about Vientiane at the time, but our story is quite special, and the big guy still thinks that it is not necessary to shoot in Vientiane, after all, this is the capital of other people." ”

The city outside of the movie is not a good place, with gangs rampant, gunfire and hanging bodies in the streets.

Lee Shengyao will not clearly specify which city it is in the movie, that is, replace it with City A.

In this way, you can avoid some unnecessary troubles.

The consciousness of the assistant directors is okay.

After all, Laos and China have friendly relations, and there is no need for black families.

"It's okay, I also don't think it's good to shoot in Vientiane."

In this way, Lee Shengyao and the others only stayed in Vientiane for one night, and then left, all the way north, to see the cities of Khai Son Phong Vihan, Pakse, and Luang Prabang.

One place a day, all by car, the road is bumpy, Li Shengyao and his group are very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, they found a place they liked, and this city was Kaishan Fengweihan City.

The city of Phong Wai Han is the second largest city in Laos, and the urban area has a population of 100,000 at this time.

The city is known as the "City of Paradise" in Laos.

I have to say that at this time, the old/Lao people still have less knowledge.

There are almost no high-rise buildings in the urban area, most of them are one-story bungalows, and a few are three- or four-story small buildings.

The common people are dressed very badly, many of them are wearing grass-green mainland militia uniforms, or embroidered with the short sleeves of so-and-so middle school.

They are certainly not military personnel from the country, nor are they secondary school students from the country.

Such clothes are not wanted by the people in China, and they are thrown into the garbage can, or the old clothes in the donation box.

Those with a commercial eye recycle, wash it and pack it up to sell it in poor places.

It is especially popular in Africa, where five beautiful knives can buy a snakeskin bag of clothes.

This snakeskin bag is all encapsulated and cannot be picked, which is equivalent to opening a blind box.

Li Shengyao didn't expect that there was such an industry in Laos.

There are a lot of jobless people on the street here, sitting in groups of three or five, chatting together.

There are almost no fat people, and the vast majority of people are black and thin.

The overall temperament of the city is very weak, and there should be no such city in China, perhaps eighty years ago.

When Li Shengyao first came to this city, the bus just entered, and he fell in love with it at a glance, and he felt that this city was like a poor and chaotic border city in his impression.

It was decided to shoot in Kaishan Fengweihan City, and Li Shengyao came to the city again with the film crew.

They will meet with the city's leaders, and in addition to giving some benefits, it is very important to meet with the top management of the local security company.

As long as you search for the news of large domestic companies in Laos/Laos, you can basically see a company, and this company is Laos/Laos State Security Company.

In other words, it is the high-level security company in this country.

All major domestic projects in Laos/Laos will sign an agreement with this company to hand over the security work to them.

This kind of industry can also be regarded as one of the ways for Laos/Laos to earn foreign exchange for themselves.

This time, Li Shengyao will meet with the top management of the state-owned security company and sign an agreement.

In a cloud of dust, Li Shengyao and his party stepped off the bus, and then hurried into the largest gold hotel in Kaishan Fengweihan City.

With seven floors, the hotel is arguably the tallest building in the city.

It is said that the boss behind the scenes is a Chinese, and of course local officials have shares.

"Director Li, you're finally here, welcome, welcome."

A group of old/Lao people were waiting for Li Shengyao, led by a young man who was not tall, about 1.68 meters, with big eyes, very attentive.

He has a flat nose and large nostrils, which you can tell at first glance that he looks like a tropical man.

He just spoke Mandarin, which is pretty standard.

This person's name is Sisavang, who once studied at the University of Yunnan Province for four years, and is the third generation of Laos/Laos officials.

Li Shengyao smiled and shook hands with Sisavang, "I'm going to trouble you this time." ”

"Where, where, please come in, we have a lot of old/Lao food ready."

Soon after, Li Shengyao and his entourage came to the box that had been prepared by Sisavang and met some high-level officials in Kaishan Fengweihan City.

The common people here in Laos like to eat sticky rice, cold vegetables, and if it is cooked food, it is generally boiled and eaten.

It's a bit similar to the third brother, but they don't put so many spices.

Li Shengyao took it as a taster and sat down to eat some old/Lao food.

After dinner, with the help of a translator, Lee signed a filming agreement with local Laotian executives, according to which the film will employ at least 300 locals during the filming period, and will also donate 100,000 US dollars to a local middle school for the development of the Laos/Laotian education industry.

Then with Sisavang, a security agreement was signed.

It is said that Sisavang's grandfather is the person in charge of the state-owned security company in Khaishan Phongweihan City, and according to the agreement, during the two months of filming, the Laos/Laos state-owned security company will be responsible for the security of the entire crew, and the cost is 200,000 US dollars.

After the agreement was signed, photos were also taken, and Li Shengyao was interviewed by a reporter from a local TV station.

The high-level officials of Kaishan Fengweihan City also had to stay and drink.

However, Li Shengyao and the others were tired and planned to go back to the hotel to rest.

Sisavan chased him out, and he followed Lee Shengyao to the bus, and one of his younger brothers followed him on the bus, and the younger brother carried a bag, and then the younger brother began to give gifts to Li Shengyao's side.

It's all coffee, old/Lao coffee is quite famous, there are many mountains here, the weather is hot, and it is very suitable for growing coffee.

Li Shengyao also received a bag, and he had more coffee than others.

Sisavan said next to him: "I heard that you don't like to drink coffee, but it doesn't matter, this coffee is very fragrant, you don't like to drink it, you can give it to people who like to drink coffee, it is definitely worth collecting." ”

"Okay, thank you."

"Director Li, our state-owned security company in Kaishan Fengweihan City is the best and strongest security company in Laos/Laos, if you cooperate with us, you will not be disappointed, and when it comes to shooting, there will be absolutely no problems."

The employees of the old/Laotian state-run security company are all local ex-military personnel, and it is more reliable to say that the security company in that place is more reliable.

This Li Shengyao is not clear.

"If there is anything else to shoot in the movie, such as formalities or permit applications, you can come to me, I like to make friends the most."

Li Shengyao looked at Sisavang with a smile, and he felt that Sisavang had something to say.

"We are friends, and if I have something on my side, I will not be polite."

"Of course, I don't have to see outside, I like Huaxia the most, I plan to wait until I make enough money, I will move to Huaxia to live, now I often dream of the days when I used to study in Yunnan Province."

"Sisavon, I remember."

Sisavan looked left and right, and seeing that no one was paying attention to this, he continued: "Director Li, thank you for your recognition. ”

"I've loved movies since I was a child, especially Hong Kong Island movies, and now I like Chinese movies, and I especially want to act."

"Director Li, can you give me a chance to play a small role, it doesn't matter if you have lines or not, just show your face."

After chatting for so long, I finally said what I thought.

There are almost no self-made dramas in Laos, and ordinary people watch Thai dramas.

Sisavan wants to act, but he really doesn't have much chance.

Without waiting for Li Shengyao to reply, Sisavan continued: "I heard that you are very strict in this regard, if you don't want to, then forget it." ”

Li Shengyao smiled, "If it's a small role, there's no problem." ”

A small role with one or two lines will not affect the overall quality of the movie.

When Sisavan heard this, he almost jumped up, he looked excited, "Okay, Director Li, I must prepare well, what role can you play for me?"

"Play the policeman who handed over in a place, you caught a small drug dealer and handed it over to the police in Huaxia."

"Okay, okay, okay, I'll be ready."

Li Shengyao looked at the excited Sisavang and couldn't help but look forward to the shooting in Kaishan Fengweihan City.

(End of chapter)