Huayu Shen Gongbao

Chapter 3: The King of Kung Fu, Double J Showdown

As a seasoned veteran, Shen Gongbao understood almost instantly: some people are reckless and just plain stupid.

He glanced at Li Xue's skirt subconsciously and couldn't help but marvel at the book's awesomeness.

They've really adapted to the times very quickly.

There are no white-browed tigers in the Dharma-ending Age, but there are white tigers.

That's really crazy.

Shen Gongbao was also curious about the effects of the beast taming technique, so he decisively chose to capture one and received feedback.

[Your intimacy level with the target is insufficient; this capture attempt has failed. Please try again.]

Shen Gongbao was somewhat disappointed and asked Li Xue, "How are you feeling now?"

Li Xue sighed, "I feel the outside world is so complicated and scary, full of scammers. I think I'd better just go to the Beijing Dance Academy!"

Li Xue was still immersed in the lingering fear of almost being deceived and had no idea that Shen Gongbao was trying to catch her.

Seeing this situation, Shen Gongbao even doubted whether his skills were useful.

After all, it's the end of the Dharma era, and many skills are limited by the times, so they'll definitely become rubbish modern versions, and it's hard to say what kind of effect they'll have.

Shen Gongbao wasn't in a hurry. He wanted to build a closer relationship with Li Xue first, and he was determined to figure out the effects of this beast-taming technique.

Moreover, putting aside the matter of beast taming, 18-year-old Li Xue is sweet, beautiful, and naive, which is the most charming time of her life.

Since we've met, it must be fate, so of course we can't miss it.

"The outside world may be complicated, but it's also wonderful." Shen Gongbao took out the 1000 yuan he had just swindled and said with a smile, "Didn't I just make a killing?"

Upon hearing this, Li Xue gave a thumbs up and exclaimed, "You're really something! You even managed to swindle money from a con artist!"

Shen Gongbao then said, "If you really want to act, come with me."

Li Xue immediately took a step back, her face full of vigilance.

"You're not trying to lie to me, are you?"

Shen Gongbao: "..."

Seeing Shen Gongbao's speechless expression, Li Xue blushed slightly, but still covered her wallet.

Shen Gongbao was eloquent and had many tricks up his sleeve. He managed to swindle a sum of money from the fraudster in just a few words.

Li Xue was meeting him for the first time. Although she had a good impression of him, she had just been scammed and was now suspicious.

Shen Gongbao said meaningfully, "Don't worry, I'm not interested in your money."

Men are either lustful or greedy for money; if they are not interested in money, then their motives are self-evident.

Li Xue didn't understand this point. She hesitated for a moment, but decided to go with Shen Gongbao. In any case, she was determined not to spend any more money to buy roles!

Instead of going directly to the Actors Guild, Shen Gongbao first went to a tobacco and alcohol specialty store and bought two bottles of Moutai.

At that time, a bottle of Moutai cost four or five hundred yuan, and two bottles of Moutai cost exactly 1000 yuan. The money he had just swindled was spent in the blink of an eye.

But Shen Gongbao has no regrets at all.

After all, when asking someone for a favor, you still need to bring a gift; if you don't have connections, you don't even have the opportunity to give a gift.

Carrying a bottle of Moutai, Shen Gongbao led Xiao Bin and Li Xue into Qiu Lijun's office.

When Qiu Lijun met Shen Gongbao, she thought he was a handsome and talented man. Her talent as a "social butterfly" came into play, and she made a very good first impression.

Adding to the fact that he was a student from Zhejiang University, had connections who could help him, and was polite enough to have two bottles of Maotai, Qiu Lijun was extremely satisfied.

He immediately called over his subordinates and introduced them: "This is Chen Yi, the manager of our actor management department."

Xiao Chen and his two friends are all top students from Zhejiang University. They wanted to experience filming on set as a precious graduation memento.

President Li has also inquired about this matter; you must make proper arrangements.

By 2007, Hengdian had established a system for managing extras: with Hengdian World Studios Management Service Company and the Actors Guild at its core, management was carried out from top to bottom.

The two organizations are two sides of the same coin; one mainly serves film crews, while the other serves actors.

For example, Qiu Lijun is both the vice president of the management company and the vice chairman of the association, responsible for the management of specific affairs.

Below Chiu Li-Chun are several managers of the actor management department, and below that are more than twenty "filming site managers," who are commonly referred to as "group leaders."

At the very bottom level are several "group leaders" who directly contact the extras.

Once you understand this framework, you'll realize that the "Little Chen" Qiu Lijun talks about has some real power.

He doesn't have much say in the important roles in the production, but he can still arrange a lot of things for extras, including background actors and featured actors.

Qiu Lijun was busy with work, so after chatting with Shen Gongbao for a while, he tactfully took his leave and went to Chen Yi's office.

Chen Yi was very polite. He invited the three of them to sit down, asked his assistant to pour tea, and then handed a document to Shen Gongbao, saying, "This is the information about the film crews currently shooting in Hengdian. See which crew you would like to join."

I can speak up to some film crews, but not so much to some.

Generally speaking, the larger the production crew, the more troublesome it is; smaller crews are easier for me to manage.

Shen Gongbao said thank you and took the documents to read.

[The Warlords, The Last Princess, The Eastern Overlord, The Railway, Wu Cheng'en and Journey to the West, The Bodyguards, Qi Family Army, Detective Dee III, The Storm Riders, Better to Be a Woman, Brothers in the Jianghu, Part II of Red Cliff...]

It must be said that Chinese film and television dramas have grown rapidly in recent years, with increasing output. Hengdian World Studios is extremely popular, attracting numerous film crews.

The film crews on this list include those that are about to finish filming, those that are currently filming, and those that are about to start filming.

After looking around, Shen Gongbao's gaze settled on a film crew:

【The King of Kung Fu: Filming begins May 2nd, main locations: Qin Palace and Ming and Qing Expo City.】

Production companies: Casey Silver Productions; Huayi Brothers; China Film Co-production Corporation.

Producer: Casey Silver; Director: Rob Minkoff; Action Director: Yuen Woo-ping.

Starring: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Liu Yifei, Li Bingbing...

Note: This production has specific requirements regarding body type and physique for extras; those with experience in action scenes will be given priority.

Upon seeing this information, Shen Gongbao immediately made a decision: he would go to the film crew of The King of Kung Fu.

If we're going to stir things up, then the bigger the production team, the more interesting it will be.

Moreover, large production crews are more likely to gain attention and fame, which aligns better with Shen Gongbao's characteristics.

"Mr. Chen, we'd like to join the cast of The Forbidden Kingdom."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yi's face fell; his worst fear had come true.

The King of Kung Fu, with an investment of US$7000 million, is the first collaboration between kung fu superstars Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

This film has garnered significant attention even before filming began, and it enjoys a certain international reputation.

There aren't too many people who want to join the film crew.

Chen Yi advised, "It's not easy to get into the Kung Fu King crew. Even if I arrange for you to get in, the roles will be very bad. Forget about lines, you might not even get a front-facing shot. Besides, big production crews have a lot of rules, which is very troublesome."

Shen Gongbao remained unmoved and insisted, "We just want to join the cast of The King of Kung Fu, and we would appreciate your help, Mr. Chen."

Having used personal connections and given wine, Shen Gongbao, not one to stand on ceremony, naturally seized the opportunity to join the best film crew.

Remembering Qiu Lijun's instructions and the mention of the company's top executive, President Li, Chen Yi couldn't refuse. So he said, "How about this? I'm quite familiar with Li Zhongzhi, the director of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. I'll ask him to do me a favor and let you guys spend a couple of days with the Jackie Chan Stunt Team."

Whether you'll actually get a role in this film is uncertain, but taking some photos on set will at least give you a keepsake.

Chen Yi's arrangement was quite appropriate, and he also had to repay a favor.

But upon hearing the words "Jackie Chan Stunt Team," Shen Gongbao had an idea. He asked, "Was the action team in charge of the action sequences for 'The Forbidden Kingdom'?"

Chen Yi explained, "It's mainly the Jackie Chan Stunt Team members, because Jet Li doesn't have his own action team."

To balance this situation, the production team specifically invited Yuen Woo-ping to serve as the action choreographer.

As Shen Gongbao expected, he smiled and said, "I've heard that Li Lianjie is a very proud person. Have you ever thought about contacting him and offering him some services?"

"What do you mean?" Chen Yi poured Shen Gongbao another cup of tea, his expression turning serious. "Please explain in detail."

Shen Gongbao began to exaggerate: "The two international action stars are working together for the first time, but the action crew consists of Jackie Chan's stunt team. Although Yuen Woo-ping is very familiar with Jet Li, he is outnumbered after all."

From the perspective of the audience and reporters, this shows that Jet Li's performance was inferior to Jackie Chan's, as if Jackie Chan was the one making all the decisions in the King of Kung Fu film crew.

"Mr. Chen, if you were to proactively approach Jet Li at this time and provide him with an action team—it doesn't have to be very practical, just something to give him face and create a spectacle—the superstar Li would definitely be very happy."

Shen Gongbao spoke slowly, but every word struck Chen Yi's heart.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized it made sense.

Celebrities in the entertainment industry are all about pomp and circumstance. On a small scale, it's about face; on a larger scale, it's about status.

Especially those stars who came back from Hollywood, they were quite pretentious.

Chow Yun-fat has strict requirements regarding accommodation, number of bodyguards, and the condition of his van. When filming "Curse of the Golden Flower," Zhang Weiping often complained that he was acting like a diva.

Jet Li was even more concerned about his image than Chow Yun-fat, and he was also a bigger star, so he had more demands in all aspects.

Previously, in the film crew of "The Warlords," Jet Li received a salary of over 100 million yuan and was the absolute top star in the crew, so he could relax a bit.

Now that he's on the set of The Forbidden Kingdom, Jet Li will definitely be more sensitive when facing Jackie Chan, who is even stronger than him.

At this point, he needs to put on a show and appear to be on par with Jackie Chan.

The Forbidden Kingdom is not only the first collaboration between the two Js, but also implies a rivalry between them.

Li Lianjie couldn't say this openly either.

If Chen Yi offered to help at this time, he might actually have a chance to befriend Li Lianjie.

This was a great opportunity to curry favor with a superstar and expand one's network, so Chen Yi was naturally very tempted.

In 2007, Jackie Chan certainly outshone Jet Li in terms of international influence, but when it came to performance in the domestic film market, Jet Li was undoubtedly the most popular.

Last year it was Huo Yuanjia, this year it was the Warlords at the beginning of the year, the Forbidden Kingdom in the middle of the year, and the Mummy 3 at the end of the year.

With work at full capacity and money flowing in like water, a fund was also established.

If Chen Yi could befriend Li Lianjie, it would greatly benefit his career.

Because professions like Chen Yi's are known outside as "extras agents".

In addition to their regular work at the company, they also sign contracts with contract actors and find roles for them.

This profession places great emphasis on connections, and the ultimate goal is to cultivate a star actor and make a lot of money from them.

For Chen Yi, Shen Gongbao's analysis made a lot of sense and was worth a try. After all, there was little cost or risk involved, and the rewards would be substantial if successful.

For Shen Gongbao, the Jackie Chan Stunt Team is a well-established system, and following them would likely result in him not getting any acting roles. He could only hang around the film set for a couple of days like a special fan, and it wouldn't be convenient for him to cause trouble.

Because Jackie Chan has a very advantageous mindset when facing Jet Li, he would never provoke trouble.

Li Lianjie, on the other hand, often boasted in interviews that he knew the behind-the-scenes bosses and was on a completely different level from ordinary actors.

The production team of The Forbidden Kingdom has also consistently promoted the film, claiming that Jet Li wrote the script and was the initiator of the movie.

It's clear that he really cares about these things.

If you can join Jet Li's faction, there will be more room for maneuver. If you can sabotage your teammates and even Jet Li himself, that would be even more interesting.

Chen Yi was very proactive and immediately went to contact Li Lianjie's assistant, Lin Jiaxian.

Shen Gongbao went to thank President Qiu before leaving the guild.