207 Preparing to film "Shawshank Redemption"

It was already very late when Chen Fei returned to the hotel that night, almost half past 10 pm local time.

Along the way, he kept calling on his cell phone, some of which were long-distance calls from China, and some were friends from the United Nations League. However, he didn't answer before, because he was not the only one in the car, and some words were inconvenient to say, so he simply returned to the hotel and replied one by one.

I went back to the hotel and looked at it. I didn’t answer more than 40 calls, which was enough for him to work hard for a while.

He first used the landline to return to several calls from the United Nations, and he called Shangdun first: "Hi, Shangdun."

"Chen, I really didn't expect you to talk about a talk show. You are really amazing. A friend just now told me that he wanted to invite you to participate in his variety show?"

Shangdun said excitedly, speaking very fast, like a machine gun fire.

But he had nothing to do, so he mainly expressed his congratulations.

Tonight, Chen Fei will attend the dinner at the Presidential Office and give a speech. They have known about this for a long time and have watched the live broadcast.

Several people had encouraged Chen Fei before and told him not to be nervous and to say it relaxedly. If you really forgot the words, you can just say hello to everyone. Shangdun also used the example of his first dinner at the President-General's House to cheer Chen Fei up, but how could he know...

Chen Fei became popular in the United States with another talk show.

Talk shows are not that easy to say.

Even in the United Nations League, few people can attend dinners and give speeches at the General Office. They can talk about talk shows to Chen Fei. There are not many people in the United Nations League, but Chen Fei did it all, but the problem is that he is still a Chinese, which is even more amazing.

After hanging up Shangdun's phone, Chen Fei called back to Ruimei, Linda, and other locals. After that, he started making a long-distance international call and called back to his domestic friends.

He called Yang Xiyue first.

Yang Xiyue called three times in a row before and finally sent a text message, so Chen Fei had to reply to him first.

"Hey, Xiaoyue."

"Brother!" Yang Xiyue's voice came out of the receiver and she was very excited: "Brother, we have read all your speech tonight. You are so awesome. Brother, you are really amazing."

Chen Fei was stunned: "Did you see the video?"

"Yes, someone uploaded a video on B station? We all saw it? Brother, how could you say that it's so good? I've made a group of American League laugh and out of breath? I saw many people commenting below that famous spoken show actor of American League is not as good as you said? When we watched it, the website had problems several times? There were so many people watching it. Brother? You don't know how popular you are now. On B station, your videos are ranked first again, and we just climbed over the wall to watch foreign video websites? Your talk show? It's already ranked first."

So many people are watching in China?

Chen Fei was stunned.

Talk shows are quite popular abroad, but there is no market in China yet. Domestic people prefer crosstalk and sketches, so they don’t catch a cold about talk shows? Of course, they don’t know much about it. They don’t even know that there is such a thing.

Thinking of this, Chen Fei frowned. He thought about it. It seems that he can start a domestic talk show? He can broadcast it online first? He can slowly cultivate his own audience.

If this program becomes popular? On the one hand, it can cultivate a market, and on the other hand, it can also drive the prosperity of video websites, killing two birds with one stone.

Bilibili is getting more and more popular now, but if you want to become stronger and bigger, especially if you want to go public on the American Union, you still have to work hard.

Well, this time I’m shooting a movie in the United States, maybe I can do some live broadcasts to increase everyone’s attention.

On that night, it took Chen Fei a lot of time to call me alone, and of course, it also cost a lot of money. International long-distance is really expensive.

However, after making the phone call, Chen Fei did not go to bed immediately. He just lay in the bed, but his brain was still thinking at high speed.

Now, his popularity has reached a certain level, which is just right for a while. If "The Shawshank Redemption" is filmed at this time, it will definitely be a big shot. Then you can take the opportunity to become his famous director.

But how to shoot the drama "Shawshank Redemption"?

He had to think about it carefully in his mind.

This thought came to the early morning. When he came to a clue in his mind, it was already past one o'clock in the morning.

"Can't stay up late anymore, hurry up and go to bed." He looked at his watch, then quickly put the information on the bedside table, and fell asleep.

He slept very comfortably on that night and had a few wonderful dreams. When he woke up the next day, it was already six o'clock in the morning, and he was still training without any movement, and then he had breakfast. The breakfast provided by the hotel was not delicious for Chen Fei, and he could only fill his stomach. However, he was not very demanding and could eat when he had delicious food, but if not, he could also fill his stomach with some messy food. This was the result of training in the special forces back then. They even ate snakes and even caught live fish to swallow it alive.

After eating and drinking, and resting for a while, Shang Hong came to find him.

"Brother Fei, you are so famous now. Many of my friends envied me so much? They all said that I was so lucky that I actually hugged your thighs and I was going to ride the wind and waves."

Shang Hong's first sentence is to flatter.

But he didn't just talk nonsense, and soon he handed several newspapers to Chen Fei.

"Brother Fei, look, this is all about your reports."

He bought several major newspapers from Nuren.

Sure enough, Chen Fei took it and looked at it. Many media homepages were his avatars, with different titles, but most of the content was related to the talk show he had finished.

"Chen from China conquered all the audiences on the scene and in front of the TV with a wonderful talk show! I didn't notice that Chen always surprises us again and again. He first came to us as a savior, and then an amazing action star. Now, he has transformed into a famous talk show actor. I really want to know how many identities he has hidden from us!"

This is a report from the Nurete Times.

This newspaper has a good impression of Chen Fei, so it reported Chen Fei in a long and comprehensive manner, in all aspects, and even introduced the news that he was about to bring the story of "The Shawshank Redemption" to the screen in the United States.

Another media wrote: "Talk show is not just the favorite of the Americans, but Chinese people also have a special liking for him. It is said that Chen's talk show once caused a website in China to collapse several times."

His point is that since Chen Fei can speak the talk show so well, it means that China must have its own talk show. Otherwise, without the influence and influence day after day, Chen Fei would not have said it so well.

Another media discussed the difference between Chen Fei's talk show and the common talk show in the United Nations League, and why Chen Fei's talk show is more likely to make people laugh and is more popular with the audience. Finally, at the end of the article, they put forward three suggestions on the development of the United Nations talk show.

Chen Fei roughly flipped through these newspapers, and his face was full of smiles. No matter who it is, he likes to hear praise, even if it is like him. This is why he likes to be a star very much. He is highly anticipated, admired by many people, and praised by countless people. That feels really good.

After reading the newspaper, Chen Fei looked at Nuren and talked about the serious matter: "I asked you to come today, mainly to discuss with you the preparations for filming "Shawshank Redemption."

"Brother Fei, do you really plan to be a director and film it yourself?" Shang Hong stood up suddenly, his eyes shiny.

Chen Fei nodded.

He imagined Ang Lee to become a famous film director of the United Nations League.

Compared with actors, the director has a greater influence. If he can become both a famous director and a movie star, then Chen Fei's influence will be even more extraordinary.

When he stands at a very high level and then shoots domestic military films, the influence of those films will be greater and the scope of communication will be wider. In that case, it will be a good thing for both himself and for China. It is a real win-win situation, because its height represents the height of China.

Therefore, he plans to be the director of the movie "Shawshank Redemption".

"Brother Fei, the first problem we need to solve is funds. We need to find suitable investors, but this is not a difficult task. I know a few investors and have a good relationship with them. I believe they will definitely be interested in your movie." Shang Hong immediately couldn't wait to make suggestions.

The issue of funding is very important to every director, so finding investment is the first problem for all directors.

The filming cost of "Shawshank Redemption" is as high as US$25 million, but the box office after its release was only US$28 million.

However, Chen Fei believes that his box office will not lose, because he has summarized the reasons.

Many years later, actor Morgan Freeman talked about the reasons for the Shawshank's redemption box office failure in an interview. He said that the biggest reason for the unsatisfactory box office was the name of the movie.

Because in those days, the promotional methods of movies were far less numerous than modern times, and the best promotional methods in that era were word of mouth among the viewers, so after the first group of viewers went back to watch the movie, if they could not sincerely exclaim in the surrounding circles: "I watched "XXX", which is really a good movie!" Then this work must not go far in the market!

Therefore, "Shawshank Redemption" encountered the same problem. It was not that the work was bad, but that after the first group of viewers watched "Shawshank Redemption", most of them said that the work was indeed good, but when they returned home and chatted with their friends and relatives, they said: "I watched a superb movie today, the name is u u u u u u u u u u u _ u _ "Shawshank...Shame" and "Shawshank Redemption"..." Most movie fans cannot remember the name of the work at all!

Even when actor Morgan Freeman met a movie fan in the elevator, the two talked about the new movie, the movie fans suddenly said: "I saw you in "The Empire of Money!" The Empire of Money and Shawshank were released at the same time.

Therefore, "Shawshank Redemption" suffered such a "dumb loss". Although the audience liked it very much after watching it, they could not remember the name. This is the biggest "flaw"!

But even such a "failed" product that seemed to be "unrecovered" began to ferment in the hearts of movie fans after its release. While its status soared, it also won a lot of praise, and even dominated the dual-profile NO1 of IMDB's "250 Best Works in History" and Douban rankings.

Therefore, as long as Chen Fei pays a little attention, he can guarantee the box office.

The reason why he chose this movie to debut was that, first of all, the cost of the drama "Shawshank Redemption" is not high, and the biggest expense is the actor's pay, but if Chen Fei did not plan to hire those famous actors, the pay expense would not be very high. Secondly, the scene construction will cost a lot of money.

Most of the Shawshank redemption scenes are filmed in prisons, and a real scene of the prison is required, which will cost a lot of money. Of course, if you can contact a real prison, it is naturally the best, but it may not necessarily save money. As far as Chen Fei knows, the original work of "Shawshank Redemption" was filmed at the Mansfield State Disciplinary Institute in Ohio, but because the prison is too dilapidated, the crew had to renovate it before shooting. The indoor scenes were filmed in the studio, because restoring the interior of the prison costs more than building the same set.

In view of this, Chen Fei's initial plan was to simply build a real scene by himself. On the one hand, he avoided the trouble of finding people to find relationships, and on the other hand, he might save some money.

The original investment of this movie is more than 25 million, but Chen Fei can save a lot of money without hiring famous actors and finding cheaper actors.

In fact, the quality of this movie is very good. For a long time, it can make him a star in the AFC movie rankings. He may even win the Best Director Award for this movie.

Therefore, Chen Fei decided to film "The Shawshank Redemption" himself.

Chen Fei had already had some savings at this time - not counting domestic funds, but only the US dollars he earned recently - Zhao Yuliang has paid him the royalties for "Shawshank Redemption" - more than 100,000 US dollars. In addition, the book "Shawshank Redemption" has been published, with the copyright fee of about one million, and Zhao Yuliang also prepaid some of the royalties for "Harry Potter", which is a little more, about 300,000 US dollars. In addition, he rescued a plane due to the May 11 incident and also received a bonus. Total total, it was about 1.5 million. It was basically enough for him to get some money from China.

In fact, the reason why Chen Fei wants to use his own money is not that he is reluctant to give up profits. This film will definitely be a big hit. After all, the original work is rated as one of the 100 most classic movies in American history. The quality is there. The box office is not the best in the world, but at least a small profit can still be made. Chen Fei is also willing to share the box office with others, but what he is worried about is that if the investor has too much money, it will affect his voice when shooting and editing.

Chen Fei made this movie not just to make money. He also wanted to express a value and concept in it. For example, when the world is unfair to you, he would rise up and resist. For example, the United Nations League is not good, etc. These things are very suitable for silently joining "The Shawshank Redemption" in a silent way. However, if the investor has too much say, people will point fingers at his movies or even forcefully modify them, which is what he most unwilling to see.

At this time, he was weak in the film industry of the United Nations League and had a relatively small influence. Some people wanted to modify his movies, but he had no choice but to do so. Therefore, the best way is to ensure his voice. Even if someone wants to invest, he can only give a little share.

When Chen Fei expressed his thoughts, Shang Hong was disappointed. He originally wanted to show himself in front of Chen Fei and show his broad connections and strong negotiation skills. Unfortunately, Chen Fei didn't care at all. He brought his own funds and did not lack money at all.

Thinking of this, Shang Hong felt a lot of depression. Why is the gap between people so big? When he was filming movies, he only knelt down and called him father in order to attract investment, but Chen Fei...

However, Shang Hong's depression had just begun.

Before he could adjust his mood, Chen Fei's phone rang, but it was Shangdun. Shangdun said directly: "Hi, Chen, this morning, I saw the newspaper saying that you are going to direct the movie "Shawshank Redemption" in person. Is this true?"

"It's true. I'm discussing the details of the shooting with a friend of mine?" Chen Fei said with a smile.

Shangdun immediately said, "Chen, that's really great. Chen, then I'll invest in you!"

"Investment? Shangdun, have you even started working as an investor?" Chen Fei was very surprised.

"Haha, I've just started. I just set up an investment company last month and I've only invested in one order so far, but it seems like I'm going to lose money. Chen, if you really want to make this movie, will I invest 30 million enough? But I'll give you a little more, but it can't exceed 50 million. I won't have much money anymore. I've promised another director to give him 30 million!"

Chen Fei heard this and smiled: "The Shawshank redemption does not require so much money, but if you come to invest, I agree, but I can only give you a part of the share."

"No problem, as long as you can invest, Chen, I am very optimistic about you. I believe that this investment will be my first investment to make money. Chen, come on, don't let me down."

The phone just hung up. Before Shang Hong could tell him other questions, his phone rang again. This time, it was a call from a strange film investor: "Hi, Chen, hello, I am Hal, the manager of Longmei Film Investment Company. I saw a newspaper this morning and said that you are preparing to film "Shawshank Redemption", right? I want to invest in this movie! If possible, I want to invest 50 million!"

The phone number was hung up, and another phone number came in. This was a Chinese-controlled film investment company, and the other party said 80 million.

Seeing this, Shang Hong was stunned.
Chapter completed!