1980 My literary era

As August approaches, the post-production of "Speak Well" has been completed, and the preparations for "Hero" are also proceeding smoothly, but Zhang Yimou is becoming more and more anxious.

There are two main reasons for his anxiety.

On the one hand, there has been a lot of news about gift films recently.

"The Opium War" directed by Xie Jin has just started filming, and it is clearly stated that this is a film prepared for the return of Hong Kong.

"The Opium War" has attracted much attention since its preparation. Some newspapers said that the British Princess Diana will play the Queen of England. Some newspapers said that the script has been changed seven or eight times, and Xie Jin is still not satisfied. Some newspapers also said that Xie Jin invited the director of Wan Dao Joining the franchise, etc., instantly earned enough attention.

CCTV also co-produced a TV series with Xiangjiang Yindu Organization to celebrate the return of Xiangjiang.

There have been more and more movies and TV series about the theme of return recently, which will inevitably distract the audience's enthusiasm for gift films. This is one of the reasons for Zhang Yimou's anxiety.

Another reason is that there has been news about "Song of Qin" recently. This movie caused a certain response when it started filming last year.

It is somewhat similar to "Hero". This is a big-investment movie. Xiangjiang Dayang Pictures invested 40 million in this movie. In addition to the powerful Xiangjiang producer, this movie is also produced by Xiying Film Studio.

The director is Zhou Xiaowen, who, like Zhang Yimou, was born in the Yanying Photography Department. He is a few years older than Zhang Yimou, and he also belongs to the fifth generation of directors.

But what is more similar to "Hero" is the plot of "Song of Qin". "Hero" tells the story of the assassination of Qin, using the historical Jing Ke to assassinate Qin, while "Song of Qin" tells the story of another story. The story of Gao Jianli, an eternal assassin who assassinated Qin.

Although "Hero" introduced the concept of "Chinese-style blockbusters", when it comes to true Chinese-style blockbusters, "Qin Song" should be regarded as a pioneer.

40 million yuan investment, co-produced by institutions from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, written by Lu Wei, starring Jiang Wen, Ge You, Xu Qing...

Every factor makes Zhang Yimou feel extremely heavy. He is not only worried about being criticized for being a loser, but he is also worried that if "Qin Song" comes first, the audience will become tired of this subject, which will directly affect the performance of "Hero" .

In later terms, "Hero" and "Song of Qin" are competing products. "Song of Qin" is scheduled to be released at the end of October, earlier than "Hero", which cannot help but worry Zhang Yimou.

The production of "Speak Well" was completed. Zhang Yimou was about to take the film to participate in this year's Venice Film Festival. But before going abroad, he felt uneasy. After a few days, he couldn't stand it any longer, so he found Lin Weimin. , complain to him.

At the beginning, he took on the role of "Hero" with great difficulty. Now, two months later, the preparations for the film are going more and more smoothly, but he feels less and less confident about himself.

Lin Weimin can understand his mentality. "Song of Qin" will be released in a few months. This is Zhang Yimou's benchmark. If the movie does not have a good reputation at the box office, it will be fine. Once it is really popular, for Zhang Yimou Just put on shackles.

His "Hero" can only be better than "Song of Qin", and not just a little bit better, but a lot better.

"Hero" has an investment of 80 million yuan. Now the second version of the script is being revised. Compared with the original version, it has been greatly changed. It has strengthened the motivation of Wuming and others to assassinate Qin, that is, the impact of war on the people, and the character settings are also more detailed. It is clear and full, without those artificial and inexplicable lines and actions, and the essence of the drama has been significantly improved compared to later generations.

Because the script is still being revised, the actors have not been completely determined. Only a few confirmed starring roles have been decided for the time being. Han Zhuangzhuang plays Ying Zheng, Zhang Guorong plays Wuming, and Gong Li plays Feixue.

The character names in the movie still continue the style of the original "Hero". As for why this was done, it happens to be related to the reason why Zhang Yimou came to Lin Weimin to complain.

From the 1990s to the early 21st century, the fifth generation of directors all focused on the story of "Assassination of Qin".

"Song of Qin" by Zhou Xiaowen, "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin" by Cheng Kaige, and "Hero" by Zhang Yimou.

"Song of Qin" was the first film produced and released. In terms of quality, it is remarkable. However, when it was released in 1996, the film made two fatal mistakes, which resulted in the film being canceled after only four days of release. Emergency release.

Xiangjiang's production company was fined NT$500,000 for this, and Xi Film Studio was also ordered to inspect. It wasn't until a year later that the film was allowed to be re-released. The result was a mixed bag, a box office failure, and investors losing their money.

The beginning of the film "Song of Qin" shows the scene of Gao Jianli's mother breastfeeding Ying Zheng and Gao Jianli when they were infants. It was originally nothing, but the director chose to have the second wife feed them separately, and the scene was too exposed; there is also a scene where Gao Jianli had an intercourse with Ying Zheng's favorite child. His daughter Princess Liyang, who suffered from leg disease, was cured of the disease.

To say that the plot is too revealing, in fact many films of that era were even more outrageous than "Song of Qin", but why was it blocked alone?

This is mainly due to the director's private goods and independent deconstruction of history.

To put it bluntly, it is a mistake of historical nihilism.

Gao Jian divorced Ying Zheng's most beloved daughter, Princess Liyang. Princess Liyang, who suffered from leg disease, was cured of her illness.

What would you think of in 1996 when the movie was released?

"Song of Qin" follows a path that is neither history nor a joke, but fiction within a historical framework, and this fiction is full of controversy and subversion. In the film, Ying Zheng, played by Jiang Wen, said a line, " I will write history!"

It is difficult not to understand this line as the director using the character's mouth to promote his own private goods.

If "Qin Song" is a complete play, it doesn't matter. However, it pays attention to historical details, but does not refer to historical records in its narrative. The history in the film becomes the context of the literary text, which completely deviates from the historical materialism that I have always adhered to, so its ban is unreasonable. Strange.

Lin Weimin is no stranger to "Song of Qin" and is familiar with the news of the year when this film was released. Naturally, he will avoid the problems involved and blur the names of the characters in "Hero" in order to avoid encountering problems. To the question of "Qin Song".

The purpose of "Hero" is to make a commercial blockbuster, and it is not to truly restore history. There is no need to get into trouble.

Zhang Yimou talked with Lin Weimin about his depression and anxiety, and received Lin Weimin's relief.

At the end, Lin Weimin said nonchalantly: "You have also seen Zhou Xiaowen's movies. They are too literary. For an investment movie like "Song of Qin", if he still makes it according to the previous concepts and rhythm, the final result will be certain." It’s a loss at both the box office and word-of-mouth. You can’t have both. As long as you have a firm grasp on the concept of making an excellent commercial movie, the result will definitely be right.”

Lin Weimin's words were very firm, which made Zhang Yimou feel confident in his heart.

Yes, what I want to shoot is a commercial blockbuster, which needs to be close to the audience.

After talking with Lin Weimin, Zhang Yimou regained some confidence in his heart.

But Lin Weimin knew very well that this kind of self-doubt and certainty would haunt Zhang Yimou all the time in the next year.

Because what he is doing is something that has never been done before. Even "Qin Song", which invested 40 million and gathered many celebrities, cannot be compared with "Hero". The essence of "Song of Qin" is still an auteur film disguised as a blockbuster.

"Hero" is a film that is completely commercialized. Lin Weimin also strictly followed the commercial creation model when guiding Tong Zhonggui and Mo Yan to create the script.

Respecting the creation itself and respecting the audience are the prerequisites for the success of the work. Whether it is profound or not is not the point.

Two days later, Li Xin suddenly found Lin Weimin's office and brought him good news.

The sales volume of the last issue of "Hongdou Comics" officially exceeded 6 million copies yesterday.

The achievement of 6 million copies in a single issue is gratifying. This not only surpassed the sales volume of "King of Painting", but also made "Hongdou Comics" the well-deserved number one publication in the domestic popular reading field.

Since 1985, domestic popular readings have flourished, and a large number of publications with extremely good sales have emerged, such as "Popular Films", "Legends of Modern and Ancient Times", "Story Club", etc.

"Popular Cinema" once achieved a record of 9 million copies in a single issue, but that was just a flash in the pan. In recent years, with the decline of the film industry, "Popular Cinema" has long lost its glory.

In recent years, the top spot among popular literature publications has been monopolized by "Story Club", with sales remaining between 5 and 6 million copies year-round.

In the past few years, Tongwen News Agency successively launched "Kyushu Heroes" and "Hongdou". The sales volume of "Kyushu Heroes" has been 4 million copies per issue for many years. The sales of "Hongdou" were due to competition with the TV series "Flower Season and Rainy Season" last year. The sales volume of "Story Club" once exceeded that of "Story Club", but the sales volume soon fell back to less than 5 million copies.

The first issue of "Hongdou Comics" was released in the second half of last year. It only took less than a year to successfully break the barrier of 6 million copies of "Story Club". All this is inseparable from the help of "Spirited Away" comics.

Counting from its publication, "Spirited Away" has been published for more than three years. Not to mention the number of readers who read it when it was serialized in "Children's Age", the total sales volume of books published by Guowenshe alone is close to 1,900 10,000 copies, and the mark of 20 million copies is very close.

In the history of Chinese publishing, except for some specific books, no book has ever achieved such amazing sales, which is enough to prove the influence of the novel "Spirited Away".

Riding on the momentum of the original novel "Spirited Away", the "Spirited Away" comic helped "Hongdou Comics" break the sales record of 6 million copies in just over half a year, which not only seemed logical but also made people feel. surprise.

After all, this is just a shojo manga publication.

Li Xin came to Lin Weimin, of course, not just to tell Lin Weimin the good news.

"Hongdou Comics" successfully broke the record, which is not only a happy event for Tongwen Society and Chinese Literature Society, but also a happy event for the Publishing Department.

This comic publication is a selected publication of the "5155 Project". It has achieved such great success in less than a year after its first publication. This is also good news for the Ministry of Rites and the Publishing House who launched the "5155 Project".

"President, our comic publication is so successful, and the published comics have achieved good results, shouldn't our animation company also be established?" Li Xin said.