Cinema City

The auditions went on for two days. Chen Qi picked out several candidates, naturally including Yuan Jieying and Zhu Yin. Yuan Jieying was like a tomboy, while Zhu Yin was overly sweet; neither was truly a fit for the role. This character required pure innocence that could reveal an uncanny trace of coquettish allure, because her true age was thirty-three. She preferred mature men and longed for sexual intimacy with an adult male. That was why she had seduced her former adoptive father, only to be rejected, leaving her with no choice but to suppress her restless desires deep inside. As an aside, watching the original Orphan had always made him want to scoff: given how rampant pedophilia was in America, the fact that she actually had to repress her desires was practically a miracle. In any case, the auditions were still ongoing. If this batch didn't pan out, he would just have to resort to his metaphysical methods! *** In Hong Kong, there was a tycoon surnamed Lei whose holdings included Kowloon Motor Bus and Kowloon Development. He wanted to enter the film industry as well, so he formed the Golden Princess theater circuit, boasting over a dozen cinemas and ranking behind only Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest. Once he had the circuit, he needed films to screen, so Boss Lei set his sights on a small company. That small company had been started in partnership by Mai Jia, Shi Tian, and Huang Baiming. Mai Jia was an engineer who had transitioned into filmmaking, sporting a prominent bald head. Shi Tian was a veteran actor who had appeared in Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master. Huang Baiming came from stage drama and excelled at screenwriting. The three hit it off immediately and made a name for themselves. Boss Lei later bought them out and restructured the business into a company named Cinema City. Afterward, they brought on Tsui Hark, Shi Nansheng, Zeng Zhiwei, and Teddy Robin, forming the famous Cinema City Seven! Their creative process worked like this: The seven-person group held brainstorming meetings late into the night, carrying on until dawn as they pooled their wits and dreamed up inventive concepts. Huang Baiming would run a tape recorder to capture the discussions, then transcribe them into written notes later. Once the script was finalized, no one was allowed to change it. Though Chen Qi might badmouth Cinema City publicly, inwardly he gave them credit for their contributions. For example, in a ninety-minute movie, they structured the story into nine distinct parts: The opening had to seize the audience's attention, followed by buildup and transitions; the fourth part had to deliver a major climax, the seventh another climax, and the ninth the grandest climax of all as the finale... This was already standard Hollywood practice. Cinema City's films were the closest Hong Kong got to the Hollywood model, and they were willing to spend money on lavish productions. If they had persevered, they might well have achieved even greater glory. Unfortunately, the company fell to internal strife. In Cinema City's equity structure, Huang Baiming held nine percent, Shi Tian nineteen percent, and Mai Jia and the Golden Princess circuit jointly held seventy-two percent. Calling Tsui Hark and the other three the core team sounded nice, but in reality they were just senior wage earners. During the startup days, enthusiasm made such things easy to overlook, but once substantial wealth rolled in, the spoils were divided unevenly. All told, Cinema City's heyday lasted only six years before it disbanded, leaving behind a string of classics like the Aces Go Places series, the Happy Ghost series, Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing?, and A Better Tomorrow... Right now, inside the Cinema City offices. The Seven were discussing the production details for Aces Go Places. The film carried a budget of eight million dollars, two million of which was Sam Hui's acting fee. That level of investment ranked near the very top in Hong Kong, leaving no room for failure. "..." Tsui Hark listened to the others speak, his attention wandering. Honestly, he disliked these mindless, purely commercial pictures, but a man had to eat, so there was no avoiding it. "..." Zeng Zhiwei was also a bit distracted, thinking back to the remarks that mainland kid named Chen had given to the newspapers a few days ago: "Cinema City has problems with its internal profit sharing. It's bound to collapse within three to five years!" He was the director of Aces Go Places, yet he would receive at most a director's fee plus a red envelope bonus. The lion's share of the profits had nothing to do with him! None of them had really thought about it before, but now that someone had called it out, it was hard not to let his mind wander. "Ah Wei? Ah Wei?" "Did you get down what we just said?" "Got it, got it! My head is plenty sharp—not a single word missed!" Snapping back to reality, Zeng Zhiwei let out his signature wheezing chuckle. "Good. We've staked our entire fortune on Aces Go Places. Put your heart into it. If we make money, we all prosper together; if we don't, we all go down together!" As the leader, Mai Jia rallied their spirits, though deep down he understood the tension and cursed that mainland kid inwardly. Since he took the lion's share, he naturally wouldn't bring it up himself and could only play dumb. One could say that Cinema City, which should have had years of glory ahead of it, had just had a landmine planted in its path early. Having wrapped up their business, they were about to adjourn when an employee came in. "Boss, someone delivered a calling card." "A calling card?" Everyone was taken aback. Mai Jia frowned at the red envelope. "What era is this that people are still sending calling cards? What antique crawled out of a grave? Am I supposed to write him a reply card and hire a page boy to run it over?..." His voice cut off as he slipped open the envelope. Out dropped a business card, followed by a succinct letter. The gist of it read: *During my previous visit to Hong Kong, time was tight, and I was unable to call upon you. Now that I have returned to Hong Kong, having long heard that your esteemed company gathers brilliant talents and commands great renown across the city, I shall pay a formal visit tomorrow morning to discuss important matters.* The business card read: *Eastern Culture and Art Co., Ltd., Chen Qi!* That in itself was unremarkable, but above it sat an official title: starting directly with the state, followed by the ministry, and then the Bureau for External Cultural Relations! The card was printed in traditional characters, clearly designed specifically for use in Hong Kong. Since Hong Kong was still under British lease, coming here was effectively traveling outside the mainland; naturally, he had included the full official titles to clarify his organizational status. "..." Mai Jia's heart skipped a beat. He slid the letter and card to Shi Tian, who read them impassively before passing them to Huang Baiming. Once they had made the rounds, the atmosphere turned distinctly odd. Huang Baiming spoke first. "What is this about? What does he mean by dropping a letter on us? Is a mainland cadre coming to inspect our shop? Are we supposed to roll out a red carpet for him?!" "Could he be looking to organize some cultural exchange with us?" Shi Tian suggested. "No, no, I want to clarify first—is he representing the government, or is this private?" Zeng Zhiwei asked. Mai Jia was a native of Taishan, Guangdong, who hadn't moved to Hong Kong until he was fourteen, so he understood these matters a bit better than the rest. Scratching his big bald head, he said, "His company should be under the official government umbrella. It's a state enterprise, and it has an administrative ranking." "???" The others wore subtle, puzzled expressions. The mainland system was completely foreign to them! Huang Baiming waved a dismissive hand. "Forget it, that's not important. The key question is, what do we do? If a mainland official comes to our office and the Free Association finds out, it'll cause serious trouble." "Then do we refuse to see him?" "Just keep him from coming in, that's fine. We'll block him at the door!" "Should we take a hard line and show him we're not to be pushed around?" Huh??? Mai Jia stared at Huang Baiming, who had made the suggestion, and shook his big bald head. "Come on, he represents the mainland government! You want to get tough with him? Even the British don't dare take a hard line with the mainland!" He tapped the desk. "Let's just avoid him. We'll steer clear—that should be enough, right?" With that, the meeting broke up on the spot. As Tsui Hark walked out, Shi Nansheng caught up to him. "Don't you think this visit is a bit strange?" "What's strange about it?" "First he ran us down in the papers, and now he's suddenly coming over. It feels like he's targeting Cinema City." "As long as he isn't targeting me, that's fine. All I want is to make movies!" Tsui Hark quickened his pace into the elevator. Shi Nansheng rolled her eyes and stepped in after him. The two had been dating for three years and were already talking about marriage. Tsui Hark had never had any patience for mundane affairs, leaving Shi Nansheng to shoulder the burden.