Back to 80: My Literary Life

"How could it be?" Zhang Yimou said quickly: "We are still us. There is a saying that honor only belongs to the past."

"Ouch? Outsiders say that Zhang Yimou only knows how to make movies but is not good at speaking. Doesn't this mean he is good at speaking?"

"Director, you are not an outsider, you know me best!"

As the two of them talked, Wu Tianmin sat on the sofa, stopped Zhang Yimou from pouring him water, took out a magazine from his briefcase, turned to the middle page and handed it to him.

"Yimou, look at this."

Zhang Yimou took it and looked at the cover of the magazine first, the latest publication "Yanhe".

Then he opened the article Wu Tianmin asked him to read and read it carefully.

"Written by Ming Hua? The style is very simple, a bit like "No One Less" he wrote two years ago," Zhang Yimou commented while reading.

"Do you want to make it into a movie?"

"I think so," Zhang Yimou raised his head and looked at the other party: "But, director, I want to co-direct "Codename Jaguar" with Yang Fengliang. Look at this schedule."

Yang Fengliang is also a Western film director. He served as the assistant director of the movie "Red Sorghum" last year, and the two have a good relationship.

After "Red Sorghum" won awards abroad, Yang Fengliang wanted to make a movie of his own, but was a little worried that he wouldn't be able to win. So I found Zhang Yimou to co-produce, and actually wanted to take him with me again, and Zhang Yimou agreed.

Who made the two of them work together so well during the filming of "Red Sorghum"?

After hearing what Zhang Yimou said, Wu Tianmin said calmly: "I just want to ask you, do you think this novel can be made into a movie? Can it be made well?"

"I think! I can!" Zhang Yimou answered simply.

"Then I'll untie you. Over there, Feng Liang, I'll tell him."

Zhang Yimou chuckled after hearing this: "Director, you still understand me."

It turns out that Zhang Yimou didn't want to film "Codename Jaguar" at all!

He was not familiar with urban-themed movies, let alone an action movie. In his words, he didn't feel anything after reading the script.

But he had a good relationship with Yang Fengliang, so he had no choice but to agree to save face, lest others become arrogant and forget about his friends after winning the award.

But now that the boss of Xiying has told Yang Fengliang about this matter, he no longer has to worry.

He knew that since Wu Tianmin came to him personally with the novel, it must be the script that will be the focus of filming at the West Film Studio this year.

After hearing Zhang Yimou's reply, Wu Tianmin said: "Okay, I'll go to Minghua to discuss how to change it into a script. I'll leave first."

Wu Tianmin stood up after speaking.

"Director, please sit down for a while." Zhang Yimou enthusiastically persuaded him to stay.

"No, there are a lot of things going on in the factory." Wu Tianmin replied, and suddenly thought of something: "Where is your wife Xiao Hua?"

Zhang Yimou was silent for a while before replying: "I took Momo back to my parents' home."

"You, you." Wu Tianmin glared at Zhang Yimou, but said nothing, shook his head and turned to leave.

Zhang Yimou moved his mouth but said nothing.

At this time, his marriage to Xiao Hua has come to an end.

Fang Minghua met Zhang Yimou a week later. He was looking at documents in the office when he heard someone knocking on the door.

"Come in."

A man wearing a jacket and a crew cut walked in with a smile.

It's Zhang Yimou.

"Yimou."

Fang Minghua came out from behind the desk and said with a smile: "Congratulations, you have won glory for the country."

"I have to thank you for recommending such a good novel to me." Zhang Yimou spoke from his heart.

Back then, I directed my first movie independently. Fang Minghua took the initiative to write the script for me. As a result, I won an award when it was made. The filming of "Red Sorghum" was all based on his recommendation.

After hearing this, Fang Minghua said: "You're welcome. It should be said that you have found the right person. If you take the picture with someone else, you probably won't get the same result."

As the two of them talked, Fang Minghua poured the other person a cup of hot tea, sat on the sofa next to him, and asked with concern: "By the way, Yimou, when will "Red Sorghum" be released in the mainland?"

After this film was filmed and approved by the relevant departments, it was directly sent to Berlin for competition. It has not yet been released in the mainland!

Fang Minghua asked again.

"I heard from Director Wu that we are in talks with China Film Company and the release is not expected until the second half of the year." Zhang Yimou answered truthfully: "I don't know if the audience will like it or not."

"Don't worry, I absolutely love it. The box office will be sold out!" Fang Minghua laughed.

"I hope so. To be honest, this movie cost 800,000 yuan, which exceeded the original budget." Zhang Yimou sighed: "You don't know, just planting 100 acres of sorghum land cost 40,000 yuan. A lot of energy!”

Fang Minghua said nothing.

Before he came to this era, he had seen similar posts on the Internet. Although "Red Sorghum" was about the Gaomi area of ​​Shandong Province, it was only when Zhang Yimou arrived in Gaomi during his early inspection that he discovered that sorghum was not grown at all here.

How to film "Red Sorghum" without sorghum!

With no other choice, Zhang Yimou paid 40,000 yuan to ask local farmers to help him plant 100 acres of sorghum land, saying that the harvest would be theirs.

But the farmers were reluctant to fertilize in order to save money. As a result, when it was time to shoot, the crew was dumbfounded when they arrived at the destination.

The sorghum in the field is sparse, short, yellow, and not dense at all.

There was no other way, so Zhang Yimou had no choice but to ask the local decentralized departments for a few water sprinklers. The county leaders approved 5 tons of chemical fertilizers and prepared for manual watering. Just after the fertilizer was applied, it rained, and the sorghum grew day by day.

In the following days, I worked with the local villagers to weed and water the sorghum, and walked around the sorghum field every day. It wasn't until the sorghum was about to mature that Zhang Yimou allowed the leading actors to come here to experience life.

Although the shooting time was postponed, the sorghum was as tall as reeds. When shooting, it was blown by a wind machine and swayed in the wind, which was very beautiful.

Zhang Yimou is now complaining about this matter, and it is not convenient for Fang Minghua to ask again.

The two chatted for a while, and Zhang Yimou got down to business: "Minghua, last week Director Wu came to me with the novel "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit" you wrote and asked me to make it into a movie, and I agreed. I'm here today, The first is to sign a contract with you to purchase the film adaptation rights, and more importantly, to talk about adapting it into a script. "

Fang Minghua was not surprised by the purpose of Zhang Yimou's arrival.

He took a sip of tea and said, "Of course I can rest assured if you film it. As for adapting it into a script, who are you going to find to adapt it?"

"Who else do you need to look for? Just you!"

"That's okay." Fang Minghua didn't refuse.

Make a note to adapt it into a script, hurry up and finish filming, and meet the audience as soon as possible.

"Yimou, tell me about your requirements for this script." Fang Minghua asked.

"Actually, I don't have any requirements." Zhang Yimou put down his tea cup and seemed to be thinking about the words:

"I think that compared with famous Taiwanese directors such as Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang, our mainland directors, including myself, focus on how attractive the storyline is and how good-looking the pictures are when making films, but they lack the focus on "people"."

"You are like "Once Upon a Time" shot by Hou Hsiao-hsien, which won the Golden Horse Award, and "A Day at the Beach" shot by Edward Yang. The film focuses on the "people" ability rather than the story, so the protagonist leaves a deep impression on the audience. I am in this regard There are still big shortcomings, so Minghua, I hope your script can help me with this shortcoming."

oh.

"Okay, I'll try my best." Fang Minghua said modestly.