After The Vicious Cannon Fodder Was Reborn

Chapter 234: Casting & Dinner Party

The news that Tao Mu was the producer of the mainland remake of "Black and White" immediately made headlines in the larger entertainment sector. At the same time, news of the release time of "Black and White" in the mainland being set for the New Year's holiday slot, and the mainland remake would be making changes to the ending, as well as the replacing of the actor of Yan Yu also spread.

Everyone knew that the main reason why Yan Yu's actor would be replaced in the mainland remake of "Black and White" was because Shen Yu was banned by SARFT. If "Black and White" wanted to be released in the mainland, all the scenes with Shen Yu must be deleted. Of course, Shen Yu himself didn't perform well during the filming and Xu Musen had long wanted to replace him, but because of the persistence of the investor, the Shen Group and later, the Lin family, he had to dismiss the idea in the end.

Now SARFT had stood forward with a strong attitude and asked the "Black and White" crew to delete all the scenes of the banned artist. So in order to maintain the integrity of the work, Xu Musen was happy to push the boat along the flowon the one hand, he could smoothly replace the role's actor, and on the other hand, he could push the black pot to SARFT. The solution was simply perfection. Even the Lin family, who had always been domineering, likely not have the confidence to challenge SARFT either.

However, in the eyes of Shen Yu and Shen Yu's fans, Tao Mu, as the producer of the mainland remake of "Black and White", the fact that the first thing he did after taking office was to kick Shen Yu out of the crew and replace him with another person to play the role of Yan Yu. This was undoubtedly iron-clad evidence that Tao Mu was targeting Shen Yu.

Not to mention that the actor of Yan Yu in the mainland remake of "Black and White" turned out to be Gu Yuzhangthe Yan Film student who was scolded by Shen Yu's fans in the hot search for "bullying" Shen Yu back then. Under normal circumstances, melon eating netizens have poor memory. If many news were not tracked and reported, the heat would dissipate within three days at most. But only in one case did netizens have a particularly good memory. The kind that even the most trivial things from more than ten years ago could still be vividly rememberedthat was when the fans and antis were fighting.

Under the digging attitude of Shen Yu's fans, soon, the news that Gu Yuzhang "betrayed" Yan Film and went to audition for "Soldier Elite" while Yan Film was planning to film their own TV series, and after passing the audition, regardless of his status as a freshman, he even asked the school for a half-year leave to experience life in the army was dug up.

Then connecting this to Gu Yuzhang's success in hugging Tao Mu's thigh a few days after he joined the crew of "Soldier King", and replacing Shen Yu in the role of Yan Yu. Many netizens (mainly fans of Shen Yu) immediately gave Gu Yuzhang the hat of "scheming boot-licker". And it's a boot-licker that "after licking to the end, manages to gain everything".

Shen Yu's fans were furious, and immediately rushed to Gu Yuzhang's FlyNews, insulting Gu Yuzhang with the most vicious remarks. Personal attacks and photoshoped posthumous photos were considered light, there were even fans who came all the way to throw wreaths at the gate of Yan Film. If it wasn't for the fact that Gu Yuzhang had already flown to Hong Kong to join the filming crew, these fans would have likely even thought of beating him up.

Now that Gu Yuzhang, the culprit, couldn't be beaten, the furious Shen Yu fans have nowhere to express their anger, and in the end ran to Tao Mu's FlyNews to spew a new round of abuse. Tao Mu's scolding fans certainly couldn't tolerate Shen Yu's fans being so presumptuous. The two fan clubs who already had it out for each other once again waged a new war.

However, Tao Mu, who was in the center of the whirlpool, felt a little wronged. Because the decision to cast Gu Yuzhang in the role of Yan Yu was really not made by him. It was actually at the insistence of director Xu Musen.

After the script of the mainland remake of "Black and White" passed the review of SARFT, Tao Mu and the Hong Kong's producers negotiated with the mainland theaters the schedule of the Lunar New Year slot time with the approval document from SARFT. While taking the time to communicate with the other actors in the crew about reshoots, they also had to find Yan Yu's new actor.

In line with the mindset that the fertilizer would not flow into the outsider's field, Tao Mu directly had several Beijing Film classmates who signed under his film and television company to audition. According to the script's requirements for the role of Yan Yu, this was a righteous and upright, strong-principled, and even a bit stubborn good guy character with a black-and-white moral viewpoint. At the same time, he must have the compassionate heart of Buddha to cut hisbown flesh to feed the eagle. In the words of director Xu Musen, there must be both the compassion of Buddha and the thunderous wrath of Vajrapani, Buddha's warrior attendant. Coupled with some appearance descriptions, although Wen Bao's stature was a little short and did not meet the requirements, Du Kang and Chu Sui'an's stature were enough. It was just that their aura was a bit lacking. But this kind of thing could be made up for by acting skills.

According to Tao Mu's selfishness, he actually wanted Xu Musen to choose between Du Kang and Chu Sui'an to play Yan Yu.

As a result, Tao Mu, in order to save time and fearing that others would delay the training of the troops, took advantage of Xu Musen's convenience of negotiating schedules with the mainland theaters, and directly dragged him over to the military camp for the audition. By the way, he also wanted Xu Musen to guide the production team of "Soldier Elite" on how to shoot the gunfight scenes. After all, as we all know, Xu Musen was the most famous director in Hong Kong best at shooting gangsters, police and crooks. Tao Mu wanted his own production team to learn from Xu Musen's production team and carry out the audition by the way.

But who knew that Xu Musen immediately took a fancy to Gu Yuzhang and picked him out from the crowd. Insisting on having Gu Yuzhang audition as well. Well, no wonder it wqs said that Director Xu's eyes were sharp, right? Gu Yuzhang's personality was a bit similar to Yan Yu, both of whom were low emotional intelligence but strong in principle, and possessed a great sense of justice. After training in the army for a month, Gu Yuzhang's aura became more and more upright. Moreover, when his whole person stood there straight and at attention, he was like a cypress tree proudly facing the wind. When the Hong Kong policeman uniform was on him, there was no need to mention the effect it had.

It simply caught Xu Musen's eyes and nothing could pull his gaze away. In Director Xu's words, Du Kang and Chu Sui'an who auditioned before were indeed very good, but they just lacked something special. And this special something was reflected most vividly in Gu Yuzhang.

Tao Mu had always had a habit of nepotism. In his thinking, even if Xu Musen didn't like Du Kang and Chu Sui'an, he should at least choose a student from Beijing Film to play Yan Yu. Now that Xu Musen had eyes only for Gu Yuzhang, it was not just the problem of fertilizer flowing into the outsider's field, it was simply the fertilizer flowing into the opponent's field.

Absolutely not.

Xu Musen could also understand Tao Mu's thoughts. In fact, Tao Mu's mindset was a problem that many producers and investors would have. It was just that Tao Mu was much better than the average investor and producer. He didn't ask the crew to forcefully support a certain actor, or add scenes to a certain actor, but only asked Xu Musen to find actors from within the scope of his choice. Tao Mu invested money and energy and pulled connections to help the crew reshoot, and it was not right that after doing all this it ended up benefitting an outsider instead.

But Xu Musen really liked Gu Yuzhang. So he suggested that Tao Mu sign Gu Yuzhang to his film and television company. After learning about Gu Yuzhang's experience of being violently cyber abused by Shen Yu's fans on the Internet, he also used this incident to convince Tao Mu that using Gu Yuzhang as Yan Yu would definitely arouse discussion among netizens and add topicality to the movie. This way it was even more convenient for the crew to hype and promote. As expected of a Hong Kong director, this marketing hype was very skilled. It was a pity that Tao Mu didn't buy it. He only wanted to use Beijing Film's students. Either Du Kang or Chu Sui'an, or someone else from Beijing Film. Yan Film was not possible.

Director Xu had no choice but to go to Gu Yuzhang behind Tao Mu's back and give Gu Yuzhang an idea. As a result, that night, Gu Yuzhang went to Tao Mu's room and offered to sign the contract.

"I don't have to have such a high share. I have inquired about it. There are three types of artist contracts in our company. Senior Chu, Senior Du and Senior Wen signed A-level contracts, and other Beijing Film students signed B-level contracts. Only the artists selected from the talent shows would be given the 3/7 dividend when they sign with the management company. This is because Longteng Entertainment and Summer Star Entertainment also need to sign artists, and it is not good for the company to increase the industry price on their own. Therefore, I can also sign according to 3/7 dividend contract for ten years. So long as you give me filming opportunities."

Gu Yuzhang looked at Tao Mu steadily. He was very serious. He liked filming and enjoyed the feeling of acting. But in the entertainment industry, if you don't have connections or background, then don't even think about being able to pick a good role. Gu Yuzhang was not reconciled, he also wanted to become famous and successful. From the incident with Shen Yu, he knew that in the entertainment industry, regardless of what was right or wrong, fame was justice. Even if the little transparent with no fame was in the right, there was still no place for him to speak reason.

Gu Yuzhang felt that this situation was wrong. But he was powerless to change it. All he could do was try to make himself popular. At least when that day came, he could guarantee that he would not be wronged. If someone encountered this kind of thing, he could also help others to speak a word of justice.

Moreover, he had long wanted to sign a contract with Tao Mu's film and television company. It was just that he never had a chance to bring it up before.

The three roommates and Gu Yuzhang have been training together for a month, and they were also very fond of this young and energetic Yan Film student. Knowing the stalemate between Tao Mu and Director Xu, they also privately persuaded Tao Mu to sign Gu Yuzhang. And also consoled with a smile: "It's just a role. You are now a well-known top level producer in the industry, so what is there to worry that we will not have filming opportunities in the future. As long as you have the heart, when our sophomore year is over, you can directly tailor a big movie for us. And make us brothers famous."

This was the truth. With "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" and "Fashion Storm" in front, the three roommates were really not worried about filming resources and whether they could become popular. Including the other students of Beijing Film, they now have a kind of confidence in Tao Mu, and they felt that so long as Tao Mu was willing to support them, they would definitely become popular. So instead of fighting for resources, it was better to behave well and let Tao Mu remember them. At that time, Tao Mu would also tailor a drama for them, and it would be a matter of minutes to become famous.

Even Tao Mu himself did not have this confidence. But he could feel the good intentions of his roommates. And Gu Yuzhang was indeed more suitable for the role of Yan Yu than Du Kang and Chu Sui'an. To put it bluntly, it was simply acting himself.

And just like what Du Kang and Chu Sui'an said, it was just a small supporting role who showed up in a total of less than ten minutes. As long as the resources remain in their own hands, whoever acted was really not much different. It was not like it was the male lead of a big movie, they really didn't care.

So in the end, Tao Mu gave in. According to Gu Yuzhang's proposal, he signed him to his company, and directly helped him take a ten-day leave from the military training so that Gu Yuzhang could make up Yan Yu's scenes.

When Tao Mu arrived in Hong Kong with Gu Yuzhang, it just happened to be the night before the premiere of "Black and White". According to Director Xu, the cast haven't seen each other for a long time, so why not get together for a meal. As a result, it was only at the dinner party that Tao Mu found out that not only the other cast members of the cast of "Black and White", but even Shen Yu had come.

Seeing Tao Mu and Gu Yuzhang following behind, Shen Yu's expression was a bit complicated. There was some unwillingness and also somewhat resentful, but Shen Yu himself knew that he was now banned in mainland by SARFT, and the crew had no choice but to delete his scenes.

The only thing that Shen Yu couldn't let go of was Tao Mu coldly watching on the side and even throwing stones at him when he was down. Others say that Tao Mu had a very good relationship with the SARFT leaders. If Tao Mu was willing to help him, could it be possible that his ban would be lifted? Could he continue to return to the mainland to film?

Third brother Lin said that Tao Mu refused to help him because he was worried about the competition for the Golden Crow Award for Best Newcomer. Both of them were shortlisted, and now Tao Mu was the one with the highest shoutout to win. However, Shen Yu was banned from the mainland because of the constant scandals. Even with the full support of the Lin family, the chance of winning was not very big. Unless Tao Mu became embroiled in any scandal at a critical moment in the competition for the award that the public could not accept. For example, as an orphan, Tao Mu refused to recognize his parents after he became famous and successful.

Lin Rongan's words made Shen Yu's mouth go dry subconsciously. He also didn't understand why Tao Mu didn't want to recognize his biological parents. Clearly, both of them were orphans. He was so eager for family and affection, but Tao Mu didn't even want to know who his biological parents even were.

Was he really so cold and ruthless?

Shen Yu didn't know. But he subconsciously felt that maybe Tao Mu was indeed such a ruthless person. Otherwise, he would not have reached such heights at such a young age. Third brother Lin had said that the business world was like a battlefield, and the reason that Tao Mu could thrive in the capital circle that was described as the battlefield. It must be because of his hard heart. After all, how could a person who was unwilling to recognize his biological parents be a kind person?

Third brother Lin said that people with a hard heart should not be liked by anyone. Just like Yan Sheng..

Thinking of this, Shen Yu bit his lip. Even more unwillingly, he glanced at big brother Yan, who hadn't said a word to him since he sat at the dinner table. His heart ached as if even his intestines were twisted up.

Shen Yu took a deep breath. Thinking of Lin Rongan's advice to him, he forced a smile and raised his glass, and said to Tao Mu, "It's been a long time since I saw you. I used to be ignorant and caused so much trouble to CEO Tao unintentionally. Now I toast to you as an apology. I hope CEO Tao will be magnanimous, and don't bother quibbling with me."

Tao Mu looked at Shen Yu in surprise. He didn't know what medicine was being sold in Shen Yu's gourd (TN: what one's intentions were). But in front of so many bigwigs, Tao Mu didn't want to be a mood damper. He directly took his wine glass and drank it, then took a bite of food and said, "As long as we can keep the water from the well and the water in the river (TN: both go their own separate ways), it's fine."

Shen Yu hooked up the corner of his mouth. When he sat back down, he was a little lost, accidentally knocking down Tao Mu's chopsticks.

Shen Yu quickly apologized and asked the waiter to remove the chopsticks and put out a new pair.

Because Shen Yu usually did things clumsily, Tao Mu didn't care. Naturally, he didn't notice that Shen Yu glanced nervously at the dropped chopsticks that were brought out by the waiter.

Since sitting at the wine table, although he hadn't said a word to Shen Yu, Yan Sheng, who had been paying attention to Shen Yu, still noticed this anomally. He frowned suspiciously then took out his phone subconsciously, and quietly sent a message to the assistant who was waiting outside.