Director He, why don't you take the role of actor?

Chapter 91 Director He, how about you take the role? (Bonus chapter for the author, please vote!)

There was a moment of silence in the meeting room, then the group of people looked at each other in bewilderment.

"The Three Kingdoms?" Ma Ming's eyes widened. "Director He, do you mean a remake of the Three Kingdoms TV series? Or—"

"It's either a TV series or a movie based on the Three Kingdoms period."

"I've seen the film 'Hero,' and Liu Guonan also personally directed it. He should know more about it than I do."

He Yi'an pointed at Liu Guonan and then said, "Hero is about to be released. Director Zhang's film will definitely set off a craze for period blockbusters."

"When making a movie, timing, the current situation, and the audience's tastes are all very important. We want to take this opportunity to film the Three Kingdoms."

That's the logic, and everyone present understood it.

However, putting what's in a PowerPoint presentation into practice is not so easy.

Liu Guonan, having personally participated in the filming of "Hero" as an assistant director, understood the difficulties better than others.

After pondering for a moment, he frowned: "Director He, your deduction is correct; it is indeed a hot trend ahead. However, the investment in period dramas is too large, and our company's current size—"

"I'll handle the investment issues," He Yi'an interrupted him. "If this project is feasible, China Film Group will see this..."

"I will definitely support any opportunities, and I can also negotiate other investments."

"The key is that we need to come up with a decent plan."

Liu Guonan, Ma Ming, Zhang Jing, and several other editors exchanged glances.

Zhang Jing asked, "Director He, so you're saying you asked us to come here today just to discuss this project?"

"That's right!" He Yi'an nodded. "But I'm just raising this issue now. You should think about it carefully first, or deal with the problems of your respective film crews!"

He Yi'an wasn't a pressure-blaming boss; it was impossible for him to expect his subordinates to immediately provide solutions as soon as he raised a problem.

Let them think about it first and deal with other issues to give them some breathing room; that might be more effective.

"Director Liu, you just said there are a few more episodes of 'Full House' that I need to decide on? What are they?"

"One is the ending," Liu Guonan said, temporarily setting aside the topic of "Three Kingdoms," as he opened the document and pushed it in front of He Yi'an. "The ending we're filming now is that the male and female leads get together, a standard idol drama happy ending."

"But I feel like, wouldn't that be too ordinary? All the idol dramas on the market these days follow this formula. If we film like that, won't we lack distinctiveness?"

He Yi'an leaned back in his chair, thought for a moment, and then understood his concerns.

This is a common problem among directors who want to express themselves; they all want to be different from others.

It's as if this makes him seem sophisticated.

But, what's the point of idol dramas having any substance?!

"Director Liu, it's good that you have your own ideas."

He Yi'an did not directly reject the idea, but instead expressed his thoughts in a more peaceful way: "But the core selling point of 'Full House' is not the plot, but the good looks and sweetness."

"Viewers watch this drama not for education or the plot, but for Yan Danchen and Qiao Zhenyu's faces, and for the sweetness of their romance."

"Therefore, the ending must be sweet, the sweeter the better. The audience needs to feel, 'Oh, I want to fall in love too!' after watching it."

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"This is how idol dramas should be presented!"

Liu Guonan pondered for a moment, then finally nodded.

"Okay, let's proceed with the original plan."

"Any other questions?" He Yi'an asked.

"The second thing is the music," Liu Guonan said. "We asked a few people to write songs, but the results were not ideal. Yan Danchen's theme song for 'Full House' was quite good, but the other background music just felt a bit lacking."

He Yi'an thought for a moment and said, "I'll take care of the music; you just need to focus on filming."

"OK."

"Is there anything else?"

Liu Guonan shook his head: "That's all for now."

He Yi'an nodded and turned to Ma Ming.

"Director Ma, how's the preparation for 'Chinese Paladin' going?"

Ma Ming put down his teacup and cleared his throat.

"The scene design is basically complete, and several drafts of the costume design have been produced. I think they're okay, but I still need you to make the final decision."

"Did you bring the sample copy?"

"I brought it." Ma Ming took out a stack of blueprints from the file bag and handed them to He Yi'an.

He Yi'an took it and flipped through it page by page.

The costume design follows the Tang Dynasty style, with white, blue, and pink as the main colors. The overall style is elegant and graceful, which is in line with the tone of the Xianxia genre.

"Not bad," He Yi'an nodded, "Let's do it in this style, but we need to pay attention to one thing: the female lead's clothes must be good, not cheap stuff, but also not too complicated."

"The character Zhao Ling'er is a descendant of Nuwa, so she should have an innate fairy-like and spiritual aura. If the costume is too complicated, it will only look cumbersome."

Ma Ming nodded: "Understood."

"What about the setting?" He Yi'an asked.

"We referenced Hengdian's existing costume bases for scene design, but most of them needed to be built by ourselves," Ma Ming said. "Places like Fairy Island, Nanzhao Kingdom, and Mount Shu all required specially constructed sets."

"But if we do all of that, the budget might be exceeded."

"How much more?"

"About 30%."

He Yi'an thought for a moment and said, "Thirty percent is acceptable. But there's one thing: the set must be exquisite. It can't look like plastic. Future audiences will become more and more discerning, and they'll spot a rough set at a glance."

"Don't worry about that," Ma Ming said with a smile, "I have experience in this area."

"What about the actors?" He Yi'an asked. "How's the casting going?"

Ma Ming and Zhang Jing exchanged a glance.

"Director He," Zhang Jing began, "this is exactly what I wanted to tell you. Regarding the actors, we've contacted several people, but none of them are quite ideal."

"How so?"

"For the role of Li Xiaoyao, we wanted to find a young actor who had a youthful spirit, a chivalrous attitude, and a bit of a roguish charm."

Zhang Jing opened her notebook, tidied her words slightly, and continued to summarize: "But those that meet this condition are either already signed by other companies or are too expensive."

"So, do you have any candidates in mind?"

Zhang Jing hesitated for a moment and said, "Besides looking for some established people, we also selected some students from various universities, but we felt that none of them were quite suitable and none of them truly met our requirements."

"The Shanghai Theatre Academy does have a few good ones, but they're not very famous and have no acting experience."

Hearing Zhang Jing say this, He Yi'an didn't ask for her name, but he guessed that it was one of the people who had gone to the Shanghai Theatre Academy.

Hugo —

It can only be said that timing and fate play a part; sometimes, becoming a big star really does depend on destiny.

In the original timeline, he became famous for playing Li Xiaoyao.

Unexpectedly, this time, even though it was our own company making the film, after all the selections, we still ended up choosing these people.

But he didn't want to use Hugo.

Judging from Zhang Jing's words, it seems that there are no suitable people in the Chinese entertainment industry at this age?

He took Zhang Jing's list and glanced at it.

Good heavens, Hu Ge really is there.

Also, He Jiong, Vic Chou, Lin Zhiyin, Sun Xiezhi, Xie Tingfeng, Edison Chen — Yuan Hong, Jia Nailiang, Zhang Jing, Ren Quan, Nie Yuan —

He really couldn't hold back when he saw Xie Tingfeng, Chen Guanxi, He Jiong, and Nie Yuan.

Xie Tingfeng, Chen Guanxi, and He Jiong are fine, since they are indeed very popular now, but why choose Chen Guanxi and Nie Yuan?

He Yi'an disliked Nie Yuan quite a bit.

Suppressing the urge to immediately cross them out, He Yi'an threw the question back at them: "So, since you're in charge of casting, are there any people you'd like to use?"

"Don't give me multiple choices; I'd prefer something definite!"

Seemingly sensing the anger in He Yi'an's words, Zhang Jing and Ma Ming exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Director He, we actually have another candidate, and we all think he's suitable! We just don't know if he can take the role."

"Oh?" He Yi'an was somewhat surprised, and at the same time a little angry: "You have a target but you're playing games with me? Who's so high and mighty?"

"We couldn't even get them to come?"

"It's you! Director He! You'll play Li Xiaoyao!"

"Huh?!?!"

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