Cheng Long threw the crutch aside and walked over carefully. He said to Binie Yuquidz and Prayut, who were fighting, "You are making a movie, not a ring. Prayut's feet should be high, so that they can look better when they enter the camera. And Binny, I must play the target correctly. Although this may not be enough, it will be more comfortable to watch in the camera..."

Although he cannot go on stage to film in person, Cheng Long, as the action director of this film, has no time to rest. In fact, his feet are no longer seriously damaged, but Cai Yongchang insists that he raises two more days. Not only that, he even gets Cheng Long a crutch.

Kang Jianfei is still directing the shooting, but Lin Qingxia and Sophie Marceau are having a happy chat. Maybe it is because there are too few women in the crew, and they naturally get together after filming, and it takes only one day to become good friends.

After Sophie Marceau debuted, the Gaomeng Film Company she signed with consciously trained her, and teaching English is also one of the training courses. Lin Qingxia and Sophie Marceau are now communicating in English.

"You have made more than seventy movies?" Sophie Marceau looked at Lin Qingxia in surprise and exclaimed, "It's so amazing, how could you make these many movies?"

Lin Qingxia lay on the back of the chair, looked at Kang Jianfei, who was directing the show in the distance, and said, "After suddenly becoming famous, many directors came to invite the show. At that time, she was young and didn't know how to refuse, so she filmed more than ten movies in a year."

Sophie Marceau could not imagine how an actor could act in more than ten movies a year. She shrugged and said, "If it were me, I would probably go crazy. Are you still so busy now?"

Lin Qingxia smiled and said, "Now, she can shoot at most three movies a year. When women are older, they have to cherish themselves twice as much, otherwise they will grow old very quickly."

Sophie Marceau said seriously: "Miss Lin, you are very young. And your skin is much more delicate than mine. I really envy you oriental people's skin."

"Don't be humble," Lin Qingxia was quite happy that she was praised by the girl for her beauty. She said with a smile, "There are many fans of your movie in Taiwan."

Sophie Marceau didn't even know where Taiwan was. She asked curiously: "Is Taiwan far away from Japan? Someone is watching my movies such a faraway place."

"Not far from Japan," said Lin Qingxia. "When "The First Kiss" was released in Taiwan, it caused a great sensation, and many young people regarded you as their dream lover."

Sophie Marceau said happily: "If you have the chance in the future, I must travel to Taiwan."

Lin Qingxia smiled and said, "Okay, I will be a tour guide for you then."

Sophie Marceau got up and asked for two bottles of mineral water, threw it to Lin Qingxia, and then raised her head and drank it. She looked at the martial arts actor who repeatedly made the same moves and the supporting actor who was pulled and kicked away, and couldn't help but say, "I didn't expect it to be so hard to shoot an action scene."

Lin Qingxia boredly swirled the bottle cap and said, "It's quite hard. She has to be injured frequently. She can get tired of falling asleep after filming a fighting scene for a day."

Sophie Marceau pointed to Kang Jianfei who had just shouted "Click" and said, "Is Mr. Kang very famous in Asia? I found that everyone in the crew respected him very much."

When talking about Kang Jianfei, Lin Qingxia couldn't help but smile and said, "Of course he is famous. He is a genius director in Hong Kong. There are many strange nicknames."

"Strange nickname?" Sophie Marceau asked in confusion.

Lin Qingxia said: "Like a 'disaster film director' or something."

Sophie Marceau asked: "He has also made a disaster movie?"

Lin Qingxia explained: "The director of a disaster film means that the movies he directs are a disaster for other directors. Any movies released at the same time will be squeezed out by the movies he directs to the box office."

Sophie Marceau was so surprised that she couldn't speak. She didn't expect Kang Jianfei to be so powerful.

While the two beauties were chatting, an Asian man walked over quickly and went straight to the direction where Cheng Long was.

"A Qiang, why are you here?" Cheng Long looked at the man in surprise.

The person who came was Cheng Long's friend Chen Ziqiang and his agent. It was Chen Ziqiang who recommended Cheng Long to Luo Wei at the beginning, which gave Cheng Long the opportunity to make a comeback. Later, Cheng Long was poached by Jiahe, and Luo Wei took his anger on Chen Ziqiang's recommendation. Cheng Long was quite loyal and took Chen Ziqiang into Jiahe as an agent with kindness.

"I heard that your foot was injured, so I rushed over in advance." Chen Ziqiang looked at Cheng Long's feet with concern.

Cheng Long patted Chen Ziqiang's shoulder with emotion and said, "It's just a little injury."

"Don't work so hard in the future," Chen Ziqiang persuaded, "By the way, Alin can't leave when he makes a movie in Hong Kong, so I'll ask me to come and visit you on his behalf."

The "Alin" mentioned by Chen Ziqiang is Qin Xianglin. Cheng Long first met Chen Ziqiang through Qin Xianglin and was then introduced to Luo Wei by Chen Ziqiang. The relationship between the three is very good.

Chen Ziqiang pulled a stool and sat down, lit a cigarette and said, "I originally planned to come back in a while. Since I came, I will tell you. Boss Zou is going to release a record for you."

"Is the record released again?" Cheng Long immediately recalled the painful experience of recording songs more than two years ago.

Chen Ziqiang explained: "Your movie episodes, theme songs, and theme songs of the drama you are shooting now, Boss Zou is planning to make these songs into an album."

Cheng Longmo calculated the time and said, "I will record the song when the movie is finished. Christmas is about to come. Mr. Zou is going to let me release records during the New Year?"

Chen Ziqiang nodded, shook the ash, and asked, "How about it, do you feel uncomfortable working with that genius director?"

"Fortunately," Cheng Long also pulled the bench to sit down, "Mr. Kang respects my opinion very much."

Chen Ziqiang glanced at the crutch next to him and couldn't help but smile and said, "Who got it for you?"

Cheng Long took the crutch over with laughter and cry, and said, "Who else can you do? Of course it's Uncle Chang. He sprained his lower ankle and actually got me a crutch."

Chen Ziqiang wanted to make a few jokes, but suddenly his face changed, he stood up and shouted: "Stop!"

Before Cheng Long could react, he saw that Chen Ziqiang had already chased him, and a man turned around and fled in the distance.

"What happened?" Kang Jianfei came over and asked.

Cheng Long shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Kang Jianfei asked again: "Who is the person I caught up with just now?"

Cheng Long said: "My agent Chen Ziqiang."

"Oh, it's him." Kang Jianfei has long been well known for Chen Ziqiang's reputation. This person is not only the producer of films such as "Myth", "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", and "Shinjuku Incident", but also the agent of big stars such as Cheng Yuling, Zhang Xueyou, Zhang Manyu, Zhong Chuhong, Wang Shuxian, Liang Chaowei, Leung Ka-hui, Zhang Aijia, Carina Lau, Liu Qinguang, Ng Junru, Zhao Yazhi, etc. in another time and space.

A few minutes later, Chen Ziqiang returned to the crew panting, and Cheng Long hurriedly asked, "Aqiang, who were you chasing just now?"

"Remember... Huhu, reporter... the reporter was taking a photo just now," Chen Ziqiang gasped and slowed down for a few seconds before continuing, "I beat his mother and ran so fast that she disappeared in a blink of an eye."

Cheng Long said: "Just shoot, it's no big deal."

Chen Ziqiang pointed to the crutch and said, "Did you forget? Are you lying on the crutch in your hand just now?"

Cheng Long's face changed and he said, "Will those reporters go back to write randomly, right?"

"That's more, it's definitely because Cheng Long was injured in a film and uses a crutch. Maybe he would even write about your disability," Chen Ziqiang said angrily, "These deaths are so desperate that they actually came to Italy."

"Okay. Just help us promote the movie." Kang Jianfei advised with a smile. He thought that these reporters were definitely not here to take Cheng Long. Most of them came to Rome to do business and take a few photos. Just like Qin Xianglin and Teresa Teng were photographed by reporters visiting Rome a few years ago. That was purely bad luck, and happened to meet a Taiwanese reporter who came to Rome to do business.

...

...

Three days after the secret filming incident, a Hong Kong tabloid revealed a big news that Cheng Long was injured while filming a new film and suspected of having a broken leg due to a fall. Now he has to walk on a crutch.

As soon as this news came out, the newspaper's sales indeed increased significantly, and many Cheng Long's fans even called Jiahe to verify.

Zou Wenhuai, who was prepared, took the opportunity to hold a press conference to clarify and also promoted "Deadly Express". Some photos of the crew were also published in Ming Pao and Oriental Daily in the following days.

These photos aroused great interest from readers, such as Cheng Long and Zhou Billy squatting together to eat a box lunch, Kang Jianfei leaned on the director's chair and napping, etc.

Among them, the photos of Lin Qingxia and Sophie Marceau sitting together eating ice cream attracted the attention of Taiwanese media. The China Times actually came to Jiahe and DreamWorks to buy photos.

For a moment, this film, which had not yet been completed, became a topic of discussion among many citizens.

Jiahe Films, General Manager's Office.

Zou Wenhuai threw a cigar to He Guanchang and asked, "How is it in Rome?"

He Guanchang said: "Apart from Aaron's injury, everything else went smoothly. However, Yongchang called and said that the budget would have to be increased, and it would be too expensive to shoot movies abroad."

Zou Wenhuai asked, "How much does it cost to add to the budget?"

He Guanchang replied: "The shooting budget may be above HK$50 million."

Zou Wenhuai couldn't help but frowned. Hong Kong dollars of 50 million are simply a sky-high price for Hong Kong films, but it only costs more than 6 million US dollars. The movie "Sky" invested by Jiahe a few years ago cost money.

But what made Zou Wenhuai unhappy was that "The Deadly Express" did not invite any big European and American stars to star in it. Zou Wenhuai didn't think she was very famous for her girl stars like Sophie Marceau.

If you didn’t invite top stars, where did the 50 million Hong Kong dollar budget go?

This is what Zou Wenhuai was dissatisfied with. He felt that Kang Jianfei was a bit too expensive to shoot. If Cai Yongchang had not calculated every account clearly, Zou Wenhuai would even suspect that Kang Jianfei would make profits from it.

The budget of 50 million is actually not enough. Kang Jianfei's director's salary is 5 million, Cheng Long's actor's salary is 5 million, and Lin Qingxia's actor's salary is 2 million. The pay of the three main creators alone can be scary, and 12 million is enough to make seven or eight low-cost movies in Hong Kong.

However, since I chose the cooperation of Gen Dream Factory, there is no use to regret it now. Zou Wenhuai is not a kind of tiny person. He changed the topic and said, "Shi Chang, I came to you today, not for the "Deadly Express". Sir Shao has already heard the news and is preparing to sell Shaw Brothers Cinemas."

He Guanchang nodded: "I heard about it too."

Zou Wenhuai asked, "Do you think we should buy it?"

He Guanchang pondered: "The layout of Jiahe Cinema is very good now. I don't think there is any need to steal the theater anymore. Sir Shao will definitely not sell it at a low price."

Zou Wenhuai said: "If we don't buy it, someone will definitely buy it. I'm afraid that when the time comes, there will be another Golden Princess or a new era. There will be another competitor for nothing."

He Guanchang smiled and said, "There is no such easy-to-do theater chain? Lei Juekun is rich and Kang Jianfei is talented. This has supported Princess Jin and the New Era. If it were others, they would have finished playing themselves."

"I'm not afraid of ten thousand, I'm afraid of anything." Zou Wenhuai sighed.

...

...

"What? You ask me to buy a theater!" Pan Disheng looked at Cen Jianxun in surprise.

Cen Jianxun nodded and said, "Shaw Brothers wants to sell the theaters, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you miss this opportunity, you may not encounter such good things again in ten or twenty years."

The reason why Pan Disheng opened a film company was just to use movies to promote his brand and to make a fortune in the prosperous Hong Kong films. How did he ever think of opening a theater company?

"I'm afraid it will cost a lot of money to acquire theaters?" Pan Disheng asked.

Cen Jianxun analyzed: "If it were a few years ago, it would definitely be so expensive. But now the political situation in Hong Kong is unstable, and land and property are falling sharply. Although Hong Kong films are becoming more and more profitable, the cinemas are not as valuable as three years ago. If you take action now, you can win more than half of Shaw Brothers theaters in tens of millions. If you wait for the negotiations to end in two years, you will have to at least 100 million or 200 million at that time."

He could make money by asking Pan Disheng to invest millions in movies. If he bought theaters at tens of millions, he could only turn to his father for help.

Pan Disheng shook his head and said, "I think it's better to be safer. We haven't even officially established a film company yet. It's still a little early to talk about acquiring theaters."

Cen Jianxun was still instigating: "Mr. Pan, even if we don't make movies ourselves, judging from the current development trend of Hong Kong films, we will make sure to open a theater company within at least ten years."

Pan Disheng still didn't want to take risks and said, "I don't know much about running theaters, so I'd better make two movies first."
To be continued...