Chapter 300: Promotional Activity
After the news of Director Wang’s incident became a hot topic on Weibo, everyone was heatedly discussing it. But no matter what, Director Wang’s winning this award was well-deserved, and no one doubted his ability. What’s more, this movie would soon be released in Japan and South Korea, representing China to compete in the global market.
And not long after this, as people online were guessing where the original story of Director Wang’s script came from, Yu Linna received an invitation.
“Inviting me?”
When she received the call, she was a little surprised.
“Yes. Because the movie is still in filming, we can’t come to you. We hope that Shion-sensei can come to Hainan for a bit. It won’t take long, half a month is enough. We will cover all the expenses. As long as the sensei cooperates with our promotion, we don’t need you to do anything, just simply cooperate with the commercial promotion.”
She received an invitation, an invitation for a movie promotion.
The crew of Black Wolf invited her to the set for promotion. Although the movie hadn’t been released yet, it still needed to be promoted because the movie’s fame was really too low. It was hard to get people’s attention without creating some news and heat. Plus, the director and lead actor, Hu Qing’s, popularity was not as good as before. The movies he had starred in for many years had flopped, making him a box office poison. From being the successor to an action superstar, he had fallen, even to the point of acting in TV dramas. This movie was one he had paid for out of his own pocket, directed and acted in himself. The movie’s theme was action-war, and it would be presented in 3D in cinemas.
Black Wolf was not very famous, and not many people knew about it. They wanted to invite Shion-sensei to participate in a commercial activity. Even if she didn’t show her face, it would be fine. As long as she came and sat there, signed a few autographs, and then had her name added to the movie’s production, someone would surely pay attention to this movie. Even if Shion-sensei’s popularity had dropped severely, she had been popular before, after all.
Director Hu Qing had invited her to promote the movie, which showed that their crew was also poor and couldn’t afford a great god. Yu Linna had also once been a great god, but she had fallen from grace. They had seized this opportunity to invite this great author who had fallen from the altar.
“Director Hu, is it really okay for you to invite me? I won’t show my face, nor will I appear on camera.”
“It’s fine. Everyone has their own ideas. I agree. You just have to come and participate in the activity, put your name on it, and that’s okay. That’s enough. We will give you an appearance fee of one million. You just have to sign a few more autographs, and we will be responsible for distributing them. Shion-sensei, you really don’t have to do anything, just come and participate. We will cover your food and lodging. The entire crew is going to Africa to film next month. We have to finish filming the domestic scenes first. The schedule is tight, please.”
Director Hu Qing was also requesting her to come.
To be honest, Director Wang Weifan had actually introduced her to him, and had him take the initiative to contact her. Yu Linna had originally prepared for a long time without any big names looking for her. Before, when she was writing TV series scripts and doing character designs, many big names had looked for her. But as her popularity declined and the heat was no longer there, not many people looked for her anymore.
“Alright, I agree.”
Yu Linna also wanted to change her mood, so she agreed. And the money they offered was already a lot. It wouldn’t hurt to go.
“Thank you very much. Come over for a big meal.”
She could hear Director Hu Qing’s laughter through the phone.
Speaking of this Hu Qing, he used to be quite famous. When he first debuted, he was an action actor, once considered to be the successor to the action film genre. But his eye for scripts was not very good, and he always acted in bad films. Later, he even went to Hong Kong to develop, but he did even worse. After returning to the country to start over, he began to film TV dramas. Now he was directing and acting in his own films, trying to escape his current predicament.
…
“Where are you packing your luggage for?”
Fang Jiangning saw her preparing a luggage bag and couldn’t help but ask.
“To Hainan, to participate in an activity, for about two weeks. I’ll take a vacation for myself during this time.”
She packed her luggage and said faintly. The three of them in the dorm looked at each other, one by one asking her where she was going. She could only answer truthfully.
“Hu Qing… he used to be quite popular, but not necessarily now. The popular action star now isn’t Nangong… ahem, anyway, the most popular action star now is not a man.”
Xiao Yanhan had just wanted to say that name, but quickly changed her words after reacting. But what she said was also a fact. In the current film market, if you wanted to say which action film star had the highest popularity, it would definitely be Nangong Ying, and she was also a woman. Everyone unanimously believed that she would take over the action film genre and represent China.
The high box office of the previous action-comedy film Blue Pupil was the best proof. And then this May, her new movie The Maze was also released. It changed her previous free and easy, comedic image. Her fighting style became fierce and violent, and she no longer played a good person. The style of the whole film was also biased towards seriousness and violence, and was even restricted to R13, not to be watched by children. But even so, it still took in two hundred million at the box office on its premiere, and now the cumulative box office was 700 million, and it was expected to break the one billion mark.
In short, everyone knew that female action stars had become mainstream, and the most popular action star was none other than Nangong Ying. Hu Qing was in his forties, after all. It was still a bit difficult for him to create his own action film era at this age. What’s more, the older generation of action stars had already retired, and many of them could no longer fight. The next era would surely be carried by Nangong Ying, because she was still young.
“And this crew is a bit not simple. Haven’t you seen Weibo? The female lead is An Xiayue, that very popular Chinese-American star.”
Fang Jiangning mentioned a very unfamiliar star’s name.
“Oh, her. I’ve seen the American drama she acted in. Skyfire Agent is quite good. I just want to see the fourth season, although she’s a supporting character. And the movies she’s acted in are also quite good. I’ve seen many of them. But I didn’t expect her to come back to the country to film. I heard she signed for several movies.”
“And it’s Black Wolf? To be honest, I’m not very optimistic about this movie.”
“Didn’t she say on Weibo? She and Hu Qing knew each other before. She was invited back by Hu Qing to save the day because the original female lead went on strike. I heard her salary is the highest, thirteen million. Note, this is not US dollars.”
“She actually condescended to be in this kind of war-themed movie? Wouldn’t it be better to film an art-house film or a science fiction movie?”
Everyone knew a lot about this female star, An Xiayue. Yu Linna didn’t know much. She specially went to her encyclopedia to take a look. Only then did she know that this female star, An Xiayue, had been a child star since she was little and had stayed in Hollywood for a long time, having a little fame. Her English name was Belia, and she was a Chinese-American.
In other words, she would inevitably come into contact with her when she went to the set to work. This big star was not a simple character. Everyone thought she would make a name for herself in Hollywood, but no one had expected her to give up Hollywood and return to the country to develop. Perhaps her career in Hollywood was not smooth. The movies she had participated in recently had almost all lost money.
“An Xiayue…”
She looked at the photo of this girl on the encyclopedia and fell into deep thought. This female star’s eyes were really beautiful, like the eyes of a demon, deeply attracting people, making them unable to extricate themselves. And for some reason, she felt that her eyes were very familiar.
“If you go there, get me an autograph. I’ve always wanted her autograph.”
“Okay.”
Yu Linna closed the webpage and continued to pack her luggage. This time, she was going out for two weeks. She hoped she could get something out of it. Most importantly, her new book Demon Child had a bad response. Sister Chen had asked her to revise it again, so she could only continue to revise. She needed to go out to clear her head and change her mood.
…
Yu Linna bought her ticket and went to Hainan. When she arrived at the set, the staff didn’t believe she was Shion-sensei, thinking this little girl was lying. Some staff members even thought she was a relative of the female lead, An Xiayue. She felt helpless and had no choice but to personally call Hu Qing over. Director Hu Qing came over personally, said a few words to the staff, and took her in.
“Hey, Shion-sensei, first time meeting. I didn’t expect you to be so young. I thought you were the same age as Belia. Are you still in high school?”
“I’m in university, thank you.”
“Hahaha, so young. I really can’t tell.”
Director Hu Qing was a cheerful person, and it was impossible for people to dislike him. The news often reported that he was a steely straight man, but he didn’t look like it.
As soon as she entered the set, Yu Linna toured the place and got a vague understanding of the crew of this action movie. This movie was expected to have an investment of over two hundred million, which was a huge sum. It was hard for a company that wasn’t a big one like Chenghe to bear. Plus the actors’ salaries, the total production cost could be imagined. But the most expensive actor’s salary in the entire crew was An Xiayue’s thirteen million. The lead actor was Hu Qing, and he didn’t need a salary. The other actors’ salaries were between 500,000 and four million. No one’s net worth was as high as An Xiayue’s, and she wasn’t even a big star, at most just a small star. Even in Hollywood, she was a third or fourth-tier type. But she was a child star, after all, and she was only 23 this year. She had time to grow.
She finished touring the set. According to the director, they would be promoting in Hainan for these few days, holding an event, and using Yu Linna’s fame to promote it a bit. They hoped Yu Linna would produce a dozen autographs so they could distribute them during the event. The autographs were limited, and the audience who won the lottery would have a chance to interact with the main actors of the crew and receive a copy of Shion-sensei’s latest volume of Zixuan and the Paper Airplane.
“Director, have you finalized the arrangements for these few days?”
“That’s natural. You can rest assured. You don’t need to do anything, just sign. By the way, the crew might have a few days off to cooperate with the event promotion. You can play with Xiayue. You two are both kids, so you should have a lot to talk about.”
With that, Hu Qing called out to the female lead who was resting on the set, loudly greeting her. An Xiayue put down her lines, and in her costume, she slowly walked over.
She had long blonde hair, tied into a ponytail for the filming, a tall figure, surging peaks, and muscles that were exercised just right, a figure that made many men drool. Even Yu Linna was stunned.
“Hello, what’s your name, little one?”
An Xiayue said with a smile.
Yu Linna’s first impression was that this big sister’s eyes were really beautiful, and she didn’t dislike her at all.
