Back to 80: My Literary Life

After Zhang Yimou left, Fang Minghua returned to the study and did not rush to type, but drank tea, thinking about what Zhang Yimou had just said.

Fang Minghua had not seen "Ju Dou".

As a banned film, it was not released in the mainland, and Fang Minghua had not seen it online before this era.

But I have read the comments on this movie.

There is a very interesting passage.

In Zhang Yimou's movies, women are always sexually repressed.

In "Red Sorghum", "Raise the Red Lantern", "Curse of the Golden Flower" and even "Qiu Ju Goes to Court", the women in them either exploded in sexual repression or perished in sexual repression.

"Ju Dou" is a relatively late movie in Zhang Yimou's film sequence, because although it also talks about sex, it does not have the passionate and exciting power of "Red Sorghum", and it was once listed as a banned film.

Compared with "Raise the Red Lantern", its critical strength is superficial, lacking the profoundness of penetrating the paper, like a half-finished product.

However, it has a milestone significance in Chinese film history.

It is the first Chinese Oscar-nominated work, representing the fifth generation of directors represented by Zhang Yimou's official impact on the Oscars. From it, we can see Zhang Yimou's courage to explore and his eagerness for quick success.

Zhang Yimou catered to the tastes of the audience, so much so that he overdid it, causing this "Ju Dou" to go off track, lacking in criticism and too much curiosity, becoming a lustful film in the hearts of many people, until the next "Raise the Red Lantern" to put the steering wheel back on.

Okay, let's put it back on track.

Fang Minghua put down the teacup and turned on the computer again.

In the evening, when Song Tangtang came back from work, Fang Minghua brought out two bowls of oil-splashed noodles, and the two ate and chatted.

When Song Tangtang heard that Zhang Yimou was preparing to shoot a new film and had not yet found an investor, she immediately clapped her hands in joy.

"Okay, I'll go to Zhang Yimou tomorrow to discuss investment with him!"

"The script hasn't been written yet."

"My husband, you write the script, what should I worry about?" Song Tangtang giggled.

"Look, the novel was written by Su Tong, you will adapt it, and Zhang Yimou will shoot it. It's a perfect combination!"

"And our beautiful Song invested in it." Fang Minghua joked.

"Yeah!" Song Tangtang laughed, "But this will make my husband suffer again. You can rest after dinner, and I will wash the dishes."

A week later, Fang Minghua finished writing "Twilight", which was about 280,000 words, enough for a long novel.

Fang Minghua copied the content into a three-inch floppy disk and sent it to Li Li in the United States.

Since using floppy disks, it has been much more convenient. There is no need to print out piles of manuscripts. It is simply a big package.

Then he made an international long-distance call to Li Li to explain some things. He no longer worried about it. He believed that Li Li would translate it well.

The next step was to write a script for Zhang Yimou.

"Raise the Red Lantern" was adapted from Su Tong's "Wives and Concubines", but compared with the original work, the changes are quite large.

In the original novel, although there are lanterns, there are not so many scenes of big red lanterns hanging high, but this idea is quite good.

In the original novel, a well under the wisteria trellis is described many times, and people have died there. The servant told Songlian that a woman in the previous generation had an affair and was thrown into the well.

There is water in the well, and water is yin, so the well also has a gloomy color. There is a "Zhenfei Well" in the Forbidden City in Beijing. When the Eight-Power Allied Forces entered Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi asked the eunuch to push Zhenfei, who supported the Reform Movement, into the well and drowned her before fleeing.

Therefore, the well also symbolizes the oppression and humiliation of women in feudal society.

The well in the original novel symbolizes death. The dead souls in the well appear in Songlian's trance, which also shrouds the novel in a gloomy atmosphere.

But in the movie, in the movie, there is no well under the wisteria trellis, instead there is a remote small dark room.

Fang Minghua thought that a well was better, so the script was changed to a well in accordance with the original work.

As for wisteria, the flower language is endless love, and willing to sacrifice everything for love.

However, the movie was shot in the Qiao Family Courtyard in Shanxi Province, and there are no wisteria flowers in Shanxi Province!

Also, Su Tong's "Wives and Concubines" is obviously about a story in the south of the Yangtze River, but Zhang Yimou chose to shoot it as a northern courtyard.

Think about it, this is also easy to understand.

Zhang Yimou himself is a northerner, and he is more familiar with the north than the south.

In addition, as a photographer, Zhang Yimou prefers northern architecture from an aesthetic point of view, because it is square, straight, unobstructed, and symmetrical, while the south is curved and thin.

Obviously, Zhang Yimou is interested in big and straight, but not in curved, thin, and messy. If he is asked to shoot a city like Suzhou, he will not feel it and probably will not shoot well.

Well, that's it.

Writing a movie script is much easier than writing a TV script, especially for a talented director like Zhang Yimou.

The script doesn't need to be too much, giving the director room to play.

Maybe this time, the filming will be better than in history.

So, Fang Minghua only took two days to complete the script, which is about 30,000 words.

The first reader was of course Song Tangtang.

In the evening, Song Tangtang looked at the script and was a little surprised.

"Minghua, what you wrote is not the same as the original. Suddenly there are so many lanterns, and the name has been changed to "Raise the Red Lantern""

"Don't you think this name is more vivid than "Wives and Concubines"? " Fang Minghua smiled.

"Well, Zhang Yimou is a photographer, he must like it! Okay, I will give him the script tomorrow." Song Tangtang said.

"Tangtang. How did you talk with China Film Co-production Company?" Fang Minghua thought of another question.

"The other party is very interested, but we still have to see the script first."

It turned out that although Song Tangtang was ready to invest in Zhang Yimou's new film, Shengshi Film and Television did not have the qualifications and had to find a film studio to cooperate with.

Xiying Studio could not be found. Director Liu was as timid as a mouse and was afraid that Zhang Yimou's film would cause trouble for him again.

Zhang Yimou came up with an idea.

When shooting the last movie "Ju Dou", in addition to the investment of Xiying Studio, there was another company: China Film Co-production Company, which could be found for cooperation.

In this era, in addition to the eight major film studios in the mainland such as Bayi and Xiying, there is another less familiar film studio - China Film Co-production Company.

It was established not long ago - it was only established in 1979, and it is called Hepai Company for short. Unlike the eight major film studios, the company is entrusted by the national film authorities to manage, coordinate and provide services for Sino-foreign co-production films (Sino-foreign co-productions).

In other words, this company is not responsible for filming, but for reviewing co-productions!

No matter which film studio you are from, all Sino-foreign co-productions must be reviewed and approved by the company before they can be filmed!

Very awesome.

Fang Minghua was relieved when he heard his wife say that the other party was willing to cooperate, and he certainly didn't have to worry about the specific process.

Now he is going to write the script for "Yanjing People in New York".

In addition to the script, there is another key thing, which director will shoot it?