Time flew.
The preparations for the film were almost completed in just three days.
Various costumes, props, guns, knives, and other tools have begun to be customized. As for the ships, Wang Zhanpeng, Wang Zhanhong, and Wang Ming built ten huge ships in one day after the design drawings were finalized. Each ship was large and docked at the south side of Mount New Moon near the sea.
The designers were also shocked to see these prop ships.
“Although the shape is exactly the same as that on the design drawings, the whole construction process is too simple. This isn’t a shoddy project, is it?”
They didn’t know that the Wangs had set up many newly learnt arrays on the ship, which made the ship strong and beautiful, and even the guns and the other equipment on it were not replicas.
Zhang Han and Zi Yan also came to see the ships and were quite satisfied with them. The ancient and weird Black Pearl, the luxurious HMS Dreadnought, and some other historical ships were just like the products of that era.
As for the location of the shoot, they set the shooting site in an archipelago not far from Hong Kong, where there are many dangerous reefs. Originally, the director suggested a safer but far place, but this location was finally chosen.
“What a joke. It is just some reefs.”
The engineering team took a cruise ship to the shooting site to start constructing a building complex. Of course, most of the buildings were just beautiful frames, and only those involved in the plot would be constructed carefully. But it was still a big project.
The director was stunned about the construction. He was used to looking for ready-made sets or backgrounds in other places when he worked for other companies. He had never expected Purple Moon Entertainment Company to build a whole set itself. It was the first time that he had experienced such a way of spending money.
“It’s so nice to have money.”
Feeling like he was a business overlord, the director quickly put himself to work.
According to the director’s estimate, as long as the most important and difficult parts of the role selection process were successful, the shooting could start in ten days.
He had difficulty selecting the main actor. Zhang Han had meticulously described the man’s appearance and other details in his script, and it was proving hard to find an actor who met all the requirements. Not just that, the actor’s expression-controlling ability and demeanor should also be excellent. The director had never seen such an actor before.
Therefore, there were some difficulties while choosing suitable actors for the roles.
Hong Kong Purple Moon Entertainment Company was spending 1.5 billion to produce an epic-level magic genre blockbuster film and was also holding auditions for actors from Europe and America.
This had also caused quite a stir in the European and American entertainment circles.
“More than 200 million dollars? It’s a first for Hua nation’s film and television industry. But can they make a good magic film with their poor skills?”
“Perhaps, they can make it if they’re willing to hire a top Hollywood team for the special effects.”
“This is just a local enterprise in Hong Kong. It is said that their capital and influence is quite strong, and the Luo family and other major families in Hong Kong all support them. I think this is a good opportunity.”
“It’s really a good opportunity. You can not only make money but also enter Hua nation’s market. There should be a lot of people staring at this piece of cake.”
Although some people were cynical about this, more people knew that it was a matter of profit without the risk.
“Three days later, I’m going to participate in the auditions of Hong Kong Purple Moon Entertainment Company.”
Many of the less famous actors who hadn’t done anything recently couldn’t stand their yearning. Some even went to Hong Kong for preparations as soon as they received the news.
In a luxury villa in Canada.
A handsome man with blonde hair and green eyes was lying on the sofa lazily. A little frivolity showing in his eyes from time to time, as if he didn’t care much about the news from the outside world.
A 40’ish years old man behind him was softly telling him about Purple Moon Entertainment Company.
“Two hundred million dollars? I can go for it.” The man said calmly.
“But you’ll be starring in two films soon. Someone from Purple Moon Entertainment Company said that they would start shooting within the month after the main roles are finalized.” The man in a suit behind him replied.
“Within a month?” The man on the sofa waved his hand casually. “Let the other two films wait for me. In recent years, Hollywood films and TV shows have a growing share in Hua nation, and their market has great potential. If I go to Hong Kong as the hero in the most expensive movie they have made till date, it will greatly improve our reputation in China.”
In his mind, he was already the leading actor.
But the middle-aged man behind him was not surprised by what he said.
The young man was Edmund Parker. His uncle occupied a high position in the Edmund family. His uncle had a lot of friends in Hollywood and was familiar with many people behind the scenes. Therefore, Edmund’s career in the entertainment industry was thriving.
The Hua nation market had only opened up in recent years, and Purple Moon Entertainment Company was sending out signals worthy of his attentive participation.
“And what’s more, I want to make friends with Zi Yan, that famous oriental beauty.”
The young man’s eyes brightened at the thought of Zi Yan’s appearance. Then he waved, “You can go arrange it.”
“Yes.”
Even actors like him had been attracted, let alone others, but scheduling conflicts had also blocked many people. The rest of the actors and actresses were also very confident of scoring a good role in the Hong Kong film.
Three days passed by quickly.
Purple Moon Entertainment Company began its auditions.
At 7:50 in the morning, Zhang Han, dressed in casual clothes, and Zi Yan and Mengmeng, who were dressed meticulously, got in the panda car and went to Saint Kindergarten together.
During the first few days, Mengmeng had resisted a little while going to kindergarten, but now she seemed eager to go there.
She got another little red flower yesterday, which made her very happy.
“PaPa owes me 19 things now.”
Although she didn’t know what it meant, she thought the more something was the better it was.
“I’ll join you today.” After arriving at the kindergarten, Zi Yan put on her cap as they sent Mengmeng into the kindergarten. During this period, Zi Yan met Lu Guo and chatted with her for a while.
Lu Guo admired Mengmeng’s parents because not only were they successful in their careers but also good at educating their daughter. After greeting the other teachers, Zhang Han drove Zi Yan back to Mount New Moon to have a look at the nearly 100 ships docked at the foot of the cliff.
This was all possible due to the hard work of the Wangs. Of course, Chen Changqing had also been caught by them as free labor.
When they reached the top, they saw Wang Ming, Rong Jiaxin, Chen Changqing, Zhou Fei, and Zhao Feng standing on the edge of the cliff.
“You are here,” Rong Jiaxin said as she smiled at them.
“Yes, we just dropped off Mengmeng to kindergarten,” Zi Yan replied with a smile.
Then she walked to the edge with Zhang Han, looked down, and asked in surprise, “Where are the ships?”
“There are too many of them, so I hid them.” Chen Changqing replied with a smile.
“You hid them? Where did you hide them?” Zi Yan became even more confused.
“Where can such large ships be hidden?”
“Under the water.” Zhang Han soon found the ships with his soul sense. He smiled, reached out his right hand over the cliff, and pressed it down.
Clatter!
Suddenly, the water below began to churn and separated, as if a large piece of land was about to burst out from beneath.
At the bottom of the sea, in front of them, there were many ancient-styled ships.
“What a spectacle.” Zhou Fei was stunned.
She was a little afraid of the martial arts world, not only because of the spectacle of the billowing sea below but also because of the strange ship forest full of vivid colors.
“So many ships.” Zi Yan was shocked.
She didn’t know why, but she could easily accept anything in the martial arts world as if they were all common and normal to her.
She also told Zhang Han about her thoughts.
Zhang Han quickly replied to her that it was because she was extraordinary. She had given Zhang Han a Ten Inches Dantian, and now Zhang Han couldn’t scan her dantian, even with his Earth-Realm soul sense. This was obviously somewhat beyond Zhang Han’s imagination.
“Phoo!”
Zhang Han withdrew his hand and let the sea recover to its original state.
“It’s the first time that I saw a film be prepared so fast. The engineering team built houses in just a few days, and only those large complex buildings are time-consuming. But they have promised to finish them in half a month.” Zhou Fei’s eyes lit up. “With the premise of everything going well, we can start shooting after half a month!”
Just as she said ‘the premise of everything going well’, her cell phone rang.
Zhou Fei frowned as she answered the phone. After hanging up, she told Zi Yan, “There’s something wrong with the auditions. Someone’s causing trouble.”
“Ah?” Zi Yan was a bit surprised.
Zhang Han casually said, “Just drive them out.”
“That guy was driven out, but he is Edmund Parker. The forces behind him are related to some top Hollywood companies. We may have some trouble, so I’d better go to have a look,” Zhou Fei replied.
“We’ll go with you.” Zi Yan nodded and turned her gaze to Zhang Han, and said, “You wrote the story. You should come and see if there are any suitable actors.”
They went down the mountain to the company.
Half an hour earlier—
The parking spaces in the square of the Mengmeng Group as well as the temporary parking spaces on the roadside were full of cars.
Ordinarily, there would not be so many people here.
The unknowing passers-by on both sides were a little confused and didn’t know what was happening.
While walking, they learned by chatting with others that these people had all come to audition for the first film produced by Purple Moon Entertainment Company.
Soon they began to discuss it, “Why are so many people here? There are only a few main roles in a movie. Are these people here for the insignificant roles?”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Have you ever seen insignificant actors driving a luxury car?”
“It’s magnificent.”
“I didn’t expect that Purple Moon Entertainment Company would develop to such a scale after it was established just recently. I’m afraid it’s the best in Hong Kong.”
“…”
Many onlookers, who had nothing do with it, were enjoying the scene.
The large conference room on the ninth floor of the building was full of people. On the dais in front of the conference room, Sun Ming, the president of Purple Moon Entertainment Company, was a little nervous but tried calming down when he was speaking.
“Welcome to the auditions of Purple Moon Entertainment Company. This is the first film by the company with a budget of 1.5 billion yuan. You should have heard of it, and it will be a top-level movie. I want to say that we don’t lack funds and that our equipment is the best. However, we will only look for the most suitable actors. Everyone here has a chance. Good Luck. Please form a line in the corridor on my left and have a great audition later…”
More than 20 members of Mengmeng Security, led by Xu Yong and Ah Hu, were standing around the hall with Liu Jiaran watching from the side.
As for Instructor Liu, he was running away.
Because he saw the devil-like figure of Jiang Yanlan in the center of the hall!
“She is here! I’d better escape.”
Instructor Liu dared not face Jiang Yanlan for the time being.
He hadn’t completely mastered Zhang Hang’s methods yet.
The guardian force was very powerful.
There were more than 300 people from all over the world sitting in the conference room.
70% of them were foreign actors, 20% were locals, and 10% were people who came here with help from others.
In spite of any help they received, they had to come here to compete for the role.
There seemed to be a lot of people coming to the audition, but the majority of them were assistants of famous actors and so on.
So the audition task in the morning was relatively simple.
Being in the same industry, most of the people here knew each other. Gradually they came together to form groups to discuss other actors and their competitions.
“I didn’t expect Louis to come here. He should be able to get the second lead role, at least with his skills.”
“He’s very popular, and his acting skills are excellent. I heard that he accepted the movie invitation of Universal Video, but if he were to succeed here, he may give up that movie. It seems that he also attaches great importance to the Hua nation market.”
“Wow! Aili is here?”
Suddenly, there was a bit of a commotion in the crowd. A woman with long blonde hair and brown skin was walking gracefully, step by step, from the door of the hall.
Her arrival shocked a lot of people present here.
“She is a first-rate artist. Why is she here? Doesn’t she know that the female lead of this film is Zi Yan?”
“You are wrong! She must have come for the second female lead role! Sometimes, the second female lead will even surpass the first lead as long as she makes the most of her acting skills. She is so clever and ambitious that she dares to compete with Zi Yan, the oriental beauty.”
“And what’s more, Aili has strong supporters. She is sure to get the role!”
“…”
Only famous people could get so many comments from this crowd.
Those who came after Aili were not so familiar to the others in the hall and most of them were not very famous.
After more than ten minutes of silence, another shocking figure appeared.
“Hiss! It’s Edmund! My God, why is he here?”
“I know he’s going to be in two high-quality films recently. Both of which are arranged for him by one of his elders. So why is he here?”
“We’re done for. The role of the male lead will definitely be his. We have no hope.”
“Yes, the production cost of this magic movie is 200 million dollars, so they will hire the top Hollywood production teams for the special effects. They need Edmund very much. If they offend him, his supporters will prohibit any production teams from cooperating with Purple Moon Entertainment Company!”
“That’s right. Sometimes money is not everything!”
While everyone was discussing Edmund, many people closest to him began to say hello to him enthusiastically.
Edmund slightly nodded at Aili without paying any attention to others. Then he sat in the first row in a graceful way.
His assistant, a poker-faced man in a black suit, went directly near the dais and proudly said to Sun Ming, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Sun. I’m Edmund’s assistant and you can call me Mr. Man. We hope to facilitate this cooperation.”
After saying that, he was carefully looking at Sun Ming’s expression as he saw the surprise in his eyes. Mr. Man was satisfied and thought that they would be invited to the VIP room for a private chat.
However, Sun Ming just nodded and replied, “Okay, you’re welcome.”
Then he stopped.
“Huh?”
The assistant frowned and said, “Edmund canceled two good arrangements and took the time to come here. With all due respect, he is very impatient and wants to understand the script more thoroughly and see which role he is suitable for. Let’s have a private chat first. I think you should be smart and know Edmund’s identity and status.”
“Ah, yes. I know.” Sun Ming nodded his head again and replied, “Please go sit down and wait for the audition.”
“Hmm?” The assistant was confused. He didn’t know what to say anymore. “Is the president of Purple Moon Entertainment Company a piece of wood or what?”
He took a meaningful look at Sun Ming, and then went to Edmund and sat down. It seemed that Edmund was dissatisfied after hearing his words.
The auditions soon began.
Edmund stood up and ignored the people in front of him as he went straight to the audition site.
“He cut in line!”
The people behind him, though angry, dared not to speak out against him.
Edmund was used to it and was frowning slightly in an indifferent way.
But today, he was not in the right place to do as he wished.
“Whoosh!”
When Edmund was about to arrive at the door of the audition site, Xu Yong appeared in front of him.
Xu Yong looked at him calmly and said, “Go back in line.”
“What did you say?” Edmund asked in anger.
He pointed to himself and said, “You want me to line up? Who are you? Are you even qualified to speak to me like this?”
“Stop talking nonsense!” Xu Yong took a step forward and looked down at Edmund with his height advantage. Then he threatened, “Behave yourself if you still want to audition, or you can go out and turn right to leave the building. You can’t do as you wish here!”
“Haha.” Edmund was so angry that he burst out laughing. He turned to Sun Ming and said, “Where is this fool from? Is he a staff member of Purple Moon Entertainment Company? Are you looking down on me? You’d better apologize to me, or you can’t even think about the consequences you’ll bear!”
“Er, this…” Sun Ming was in a dilemma. “I’m sorry, but the gentleman in front of you is Executive Xu of Mengmeng Security.”
“Buzz!”
Edmund was surprised. “He is an executive?”
At the same time, he felt even angrier. “You should know me even better as an executive. How dare you speak to me like this? Don’t you still want your job?”
When he was just thinking about how to punish Xu Yong…
He saw a hand approaching him.
“Swish!”
Xu Yong had grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.
Then Xu Yong strode towards the door and threw him out.
A cry of pain came from outside the door.
Everyone waiting in line was shocked at this outcome.
“Edmund… He was thrown out.”
