Millennium director

Zedong Film Company is a Hong Kong-funded film company jointly founded by Sunglasses King and Liu Zhenwei.

This company not only produces movies, but also contracts actors and agents.

Under its banner, there are many Hong Kong celebrities such as Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, and Lau Jialin.

Gong Li, the number one actress in Mainland China, also signed a contract with this company.

It was precisely because of signing a contract with this company that Gong Li was able to enter the Hong Kong film industry after parting ways with Zhang Yimou and starred in many Sunglasses King movies.

"2046", which will be released this summer, is directed by Sunglasses King and stars Tony Leung and Gong Li.

In addition, there is a 104-minute erotic film "Love God" co-produced by Italy, Hong Kong Island of China, the United States, France, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom.

Well, I can’t say much about this movie. In short, it is a movie that will never be released in mainland China.

But the cast of this movie is very sharp, and later Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. also appeared in this movie.

Gong Li, who had just finished filming the movie and returned to the capital from Hong Kong Island, was flipping through a script in the Beijing office of Zedong Film Company.

"Ali, this is the script sent by your great mainland director, Director Wu Yuan from Hollywood."

"Although it is the second female lead, this is an award-winning literary film and it will be judged in the main competition section of Cannes."

"I thought you would like it, so I agreed for you."

Gong Li's agent is a veteran agent from Hong Kong Island. He has managed many Hong Kong kings and queens, and he was specifically invited by the Sunglasses King to take care of Gong Li.

There is a slight gap in her Mandarin. Every time Gong Li listens to her, he has to be very careful to understand her.

"Director Wu's new movie? It's not a commercial film?" Gong Li was a little surprised.

Wu Yuan actually came back to make a literary film, which is really rare.

Her agent nodded excitedly: "Yes, the staff who sent me the script asked me to tell you that Director Wu has high expectations for this movie and wants to achieve better results than "The Embalmer"."

Although many Hong Kong filmmakers look down on mainland movies, they look down on the entire industry, and they dare not look down on certain directors in the industry.

Such as Zhang Yimou, such as Wu Yuan, such as Chen Kaige.

These three directors, even if they were placed in the Hong Kong film circle, would still be respected and sought after, because their films either ranked among the top three in Europe or topped the box office.

Naturally, Gong Li's agent would not think that letting Gong Li play the second female lead in Wu Yuan's new movie was a bargain.

She even hopes that Gong Li can play Wu Yuan's role.

There is no way, the big directors from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and three places can be counted on two hands. For an actor of Gong Li's status, her range of choices is also very small.

You must seize the connections that can open up a new top leader!

Not to mention that Wu Yuan still holds a direct ticket to Hollywood.

Gong Li was indeed very interested. She carefully looked at the script of "Love" sent by Wu Yuan and read the story carefully.

Wu Yuan thinks this movie is better than "The Embalmer"?

"The Embalmer" won Berlin's Best Director. If it was better than this award, it would have to be the Jury Prize and the Palme d'Or for Best Film.

You know, currently only Chen Kaige has won the Palme d'Or in Cannes for "Farewell My Concubine", the only one in China.

Gong Li can see that "Love" is a good movie, but if she is asked to judge whether this movie or "The Embalmer" is better, it is definitely not something that can be done at this stage.

At least we have to wait until the entire movie is finished, and then we can have a comparison in our mind after seeing the finished film.

"It's a pity that the heroine is an old man in his seventies and is not suitable for me." Gong Li sighed and said with some disappointment.

It would be great if she could play the heroine in Wu Yuan's new movie, but the second female lead is still a bit lacking.

"The second female lead also plays a very important role. There are only three important roles in the whole movie." The agent advised.

"I know." Gong Li glanced at the manager who looked utilitarian and said helplessly: "I have to accept Director Wu's invitation, even if it's a guest appearance."

Even Gong Huang is not willing to easily refuse Wu Yuan's invitation to star.

"Then I will return to the age of light and shadow?" the agent said in agreement.

"Reply, act."

You Benchang, Wu Yanshu, and Gong Li, this is the starring team Wu Yuan prepared for "Love".

Coupled with the guest appearance of Liu Yifei as the granddaughter, and the seven or eight character actors invited from Beijing Film Studio, the preparations for "Love" are complete.

As a literary film, "Love" naturally does not have any big scenes.

On July 6, 2004, "Love" was officially launched in an old employee building in Beijing.

You Benchang and Wu Yanshu, who also wore old-age makeup on the basis of their original ages, started filming the movie with trembling.

Most of the content of this movie was shot in this small two-bedroom faculty dormitory.

To be precise, this is the home of the elderly couple in the movie.

They are a couple who have been engaged in music education for more than 40 years and have just retired a few years ago.

This house was allocated by the school. It has the characteristics of that era. It is not very big and is only big enough for a couple and one child.

However, their daughter has already started her own family and has moved outside to live with her husband and daughter.

The staff dormitory is not big, but it is just right for the couple to live in, and it is also very warm.

The filming of "Love" started from the couple's daily life.

In order to ensure that the actors' emotional expressions can be coherent, Wu Yuan chose to shoot in sequence this time instead of shuffling the sequence.

This is also one of the reasons why many actors in literary and artistic films are fuller of emotions and seem to feel "better at acting".

Because art films often focus on one or two scenes, the director can calmly follow the script sequence.

For example, a love movie can be filmed from the moment the hero and heroine meet, get to know each other, become familiar with each other, and fall in love. The actors' emotions will completely follow the story.

Unlike some TV dramas and commercial films, which require a lot of transitions and a scene has to be filmed in a few days, the actors may not know each other in one scene, kiss in the next scene, and break up in the next scene. .

No matter how good the acting skills are, actors cannot change their emotions so quickly and reveal their true feelings.

This was not the case when filming "Love". You Benchang and Wu Yanshu truly stepped into their roles and regarded themselves as this elderly couple.

We go out to exercise together, go to the market to buy groceries together, take the bus together, take a walk after meals together, and tidy up the room together.

These plots are very bland and have no explosive points.

But it is precisely this ordinary daily life that truly presents the life of a pair of elderly people living alone to the audience.

The details also show the love between them that has transformed into family affection.

When taking a walk, the old man still protected his wife on the inside and walked on the outside near the road as he did when he was young.

When taking the bus, he would also carefully protect his wife on the inside.

Although during the filming, the two people's lines did not contain any disgusting words such as "I love you", there were no love words, it was just ordinary daily life.

But after Wu Yuan edited the finished film and put it together every night, what he saw was full of "love".

This made him very satisfied.

A seasoned actor who has been acting in dramas for decades, his acting skills are really nothing to say.

It's really impossible for young actors to perform such a bland and real thing.

Wu Yuan didn't need to explain too much on the set. Just by understanding the script, the two veteran actors could very well perform the feeling Wu Yuan wanted.

This also made him very stressed.

If the actor's acting skills are fine, then whether the final film effect is good or not depends entirely on whether he can grasp the lens language and lens art.

Fortunately, he still used his strengths and avoided weaknesses in his film selection this time.

Most of the plot of "Love" was filmed in a small house with two rooms and one living room. The main focus is a script story, not graphic art.

The shooting progress was very smooth, with few NGs, and most of the shots were passed or saved.

The material produced is also very good. Wu Yuan sometimes shoots and starts editing directly at night.

Because it was shot smoothly, you don’t have to worry about it getting messy after cutting it now.

It even gave him the illusion that artistic films are better than commercial films.

In this way, the crew continued filming step by step, and the days gradually came to July 16th.

On this day, Wu Yuan gave the entire crew a day off, and then invited everyone to watch a movie in the cinema.

Watch "House of Flying Daggers" directed by Zhang Yimou on a reserved basis.

Wu Yuan did not go to the premiere, mainly because director Yimou invited a bunch of singers and turned the premiere into a party. Han Hong, Dao Lang and others came on stage to sing. It was very lively, but Wu Yuan I just didn’t like the atmosphere, so I didn’t go.

When a movie premieres, it premieres. It’s no big deal to find a group of singers to sing.

But support is still needed.

On the day "House of Flying Daggers" was released, the entire cast of "Love" watched this new film directed by Yimou at the Xinghui Cinema in Beijing.

After watching it, Wu Yuan could only say that this movie well demonstrated the consistent style of Zhang Yimou's movies: exquisite scenes.

The Peony Square in the movie is really beautiful. It should be the first time such a beautiful Tang Dynasty-style building appears in a Chinese movie.

In addition, the bamboo forest shrouded in mist, the brilliant sea of ​​flowers, the silvery birch forest and the picturesque distant mountains are all rare beauties.

All I can say is that this group of fifth-generation directors make really beautiful movies.

But that's all I can boast about.

The plot of the movie is too simple and full of loopholes.

The martial arts scenes are not as "more professional" as director Yimou said. On the contrary, they are even worse than those in "Hero". The action scenes are all quickly edited with close-ups and close-ups. There are no long shots that are done in one go, and the performance is not good. Here’s what’s really exciting about martial arts movies.

I don’t know if it’s because the international chapter doesn’t know how to film, or because director Yimou doesn’t know how to film.

Anyway, in "House of Flying Daggers", the martial arts scenes used a lot of montage-style editing methods. They didn't look realistic at all, and they didn't have the excitement of punches to the flesh and swords clashing.

But the rest of the crew still watched it with gusto.

There are really not many martial arts blockbusters like this these days. Compared with those martial arts movies shot in Hong Kong, the scenes shot by director Yimou are indeed grand and magnificent, revealing the magnanimity of a great nation.

At this stage, only director Yimou in the whole of China can make such an atmospheric martial arts movie. It is no wonder that "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers" both sold tens of millions at the box office in North America.

Wu Yuan also sent a congratulatory message to director Yimou.

If nothing else goes wrong, "Your Name" will lose its top spot at the mainland box office this year, which it has held for half a year, to "House of Flying Daggers."

There is no way, director Yimou has really become the most powerful director in the hearts of mainland movie fans of all ages with "Hero".

When his new movie is released, it is true that all three generations of old, middle and young people will be interested in going to the cinema to watch it.

Unlike Wu Yuan, "Your Name" mainly attracts young people. The box office of 140 million has almost drained the mainland young people's market.

The fact was just as Wu Yuan thought.

The box office of "House of Flying Daggers" reached 55 million yuan in the first weekend after three days of release, exceeding the 52.4 million yuan of "Hero" at the time, breaking the mainland record again, and it is about to break the record of "Hero"!

However, public opinion soon poured cold water on "House of Flying Daggers".

The opening weekend box office was not well deserved.

Although photography, sound effects, and color are still Zhang Yimou’s strengths.

The massive publicity campaign in the early stage and the box office appeal of director Yimou and many stars also caused the film to trigger a viewing craze among the audience when it was released.

However, the plot is not tense enough. The confrontation between the government and the people, the blurring of the chivalrous spirit of martial arts and other factors are written with a love suspicion. It is not full of enough and other fatal shortcomings cannot be covered up.

After watching the movie, many fans felt that the movie was not well shot and could not be compared with "Hero".

Or the public's expectations for Zhang Yimou are too high, and his "House of Flying Daggers" and "Hero" are simply not comparable.

In Wu Yuan's eyes, "Hero" was an immature commercial blockbuster, and "House of Flying Daggers" was even less good.

Although subsequent box office results still dominate the daily championship, the gap between the momentum and "Hero" has widened, and market expectations continue to decline.

It only took less than half a month for Zhang Weiping's slogan to go from "box office of 300 million" to "more than "Your Name", with a box office of at least 150 million".

Not bad, I can still keep my No. 1 box office spot in the Mainland.

Although the grand success of "Hero" has not been repeated, and the audience's evaluation of "House of Flying Daggers" is somewhat mixed, the box office has continued to rise in the past few days, which makes people full of confidence in the box office market of domestic films.

Wu Yuan also felt a little regretful about this.

It's better to let Hong Kong and Taiwan stars pull this off.

The handsome guy Jin + Hua Tsai currently dominate the box office in the Mainland.

Now, the group of actors and directors from Hong Kong who want to go north to make money may be tempted to take action.

Fortunately, Wu Yuan counted on his fingers. If "Painted Skin" is faster, it should be released in the summer of 2005!

After many adjustments, he personally took over the film. All the resources of the company and China Film were tilted towards "Painted Skin", which could speed up the production of the film.

Based on this calculation, if "Painted Skin" can achieve good box office results, the first batch of Hong Kong directors and actors to go north to make money will not be in a smooth situation.

If he remembered correctly, it seems that few of the Hong Kong-Taiwan co-productions made in 2005 did well at the box office.

"Initial D", "The Great Sage" and "Han City Strategy" all only had box office results of 50 to 60 million.

"The Promise" did well at the box office, but it will undoubtedly be nailed down as a bad movie in the history of Chinese cinema.

Under such circumstances, as long as "Painted Skin" can win the annual championship, the money-seeking group will probably have nothing to say, and they will not dare to shout the slogan "Mainland can't make movies."

The success or failure of all this depends on the movie "Painted Skin"!