Save the Bachelor of Heaven

In 1998, Zhang Yimou participated in the Cannes Film Festival with "No One Less". But at the Cannes Film Festival, the film, which featured out-of-school children, was criticized for promoting the government positively.

In a fit of anger, Zhang Yimou withdrew from the Cannes Film Festival and sent an open letter to express his dissatisfaction, thinking that it was a prejudice against Chinese films.

Because of this turmoil of retiring from the competition, the relationship between Zhang Yimou and Cannes fell to a freezing point. Fortunately, he has won the Palme d'Or before, and he has no regrets about the Cannes Film Festival. So since then, Zhang Yimou has never been to the Cannes Film Festival.

Of course, this is something for later.

After withdrawing from the Cannes Film Festival, Zhang Yimou took "Not One Less" to the Venice Film Festival, where he won the Golden Lion Award, UNICEF Award, Magic Moment Award, Sergio Trasatti Award, etc. Multiple awards.

In addition, "No One Less", because it conforms to the government's policy of popularizing compulsory education and saving out-of-school children, has also received strong support from the government.

The National Copyright Administration specially issued a copyright protection notice, which is the first time that China has implemented copyright protection for domestic films. Although the effect may not be great, it is of great significance.

In addition, this movie has also entered the campus as a youth education movie, and its influence is unprecedented. This is undoubtedly a good thing for Zhang Yimou and even Kirin Pictures.

Xiang Nan also reciprocated, not only donating all the box office of "Not One Less" to the Hope Project. And I was still at the filming location of "No One Less", investing one million yuan to build Hope Primary School to help children realize their dream of going to school.

After the news came out, it was good for Xiang Nan's reputation.

...

In 1998, Feng Xiaogang and Zhang Yimou each came up with new scripts and prepared to shoot.

What Feng Xiaogang showed was "Endless", which was a script he and his friends chatted about. It told the story of the bus driver Han Dong asking for debts from his boss, which reflected reality.

In fact, he originally wanted to make Wang Yi's "The Wolves", which tells the story of a middle-aged man's extramarital affairs.

But at that time, because Wang Yi was too high-profile, he aroused the disgust of many people in the literary world. His novels were scolded as ruffian literature, and he was also scolded as a rogue writer.

Wang Yi is not a master who is willing to suffer, so he scolded others. The two sides fought in newspapers and magazines, and even spoke to the media, which caused a very bad influence.

In addition, Wang Yi has been controversial since his debut. Now that something like this happened again, it was banned in a disguised form. No one dares to publish or use his novels, essays, and scripts.

Feng Xiaogang's script was adapted from his novel, so naturally he couldn't use it, and couldn't pass the review and get a license. Only now did Feng Xiaogang settle for the next best thing, and took out this "Endless".

Zhang Yimou took out "My Father and Mother". This play is adapted from the novel "Remembrance" by writer Bao Shi. After the novel was released in 1998, Zhang Yimou noticed it.

He was still filming "Not One Less", so he called Bao Shi to the mountain village to discuss writing the script with him. The environment in the mountain village is quiet and quiet, and the two just wrote the script.

...

After reading these two scripts, Xiang Nan thought they were well written, so he directly approved the filming.

However, he still made some suggestions on the choice of actors.

In the original version of "My Father and Mother", Zheng Hao played the leading role, and Xiang Nan recommended Xu Zheng and Duan Yihong to Zhang Yimou. Because the two of them have more potential to be popular, and they deserve more effort to cultivate.

As for the heroine, Xiang Nan still suggested Zhang Ziyi to play the role. This is also a good opportunity for her.

"Endless", Feng Xiaogang plans to use Hong Kong and Taiwan artist Wu Qianlian as the heroine. Because at that time, domestic directors did not trust the box office and ratings appeal of mainland actors, and they were more willing to use Hong Kong and Taiwan artists as the leading roles.

For example, the heroine Guan Zhilin in "Big Wrist", Andy Lau and Liu Ruoying in "A World Without Thieves", the hero Wu Yanzu in "The Banquet", the heroine Shu Qi in "If You Are the One", Liang Chaowei, Maggie Cheung, Donnie Yen, Li Lianjie in "Hero" Starring Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro of House of Flying Daggers, Zhou Runfa and Jay Chou of "Curse of the Golden Armor"...

Xiang Nan disagreed with this.

To be honest, the entertainment industry in Hong Kong and Taiwan has declined significantly since the late 1990s. Whether it's the actors, the directors, or the behind-the-scenes, it can't be said that Jiang Lang's talents are exhausted and the scenery is no longer, but they are still far from the golden age.

Instead of believing in their abilities, it is better to devote these resources to young mainland actors, so that it is easier to cultivate new box office stars.

Therefore, Xiang Nan stopped Feng Xiaogang's approach and replaced it with Chen Hao.

Chen Ruan is much more beautiful than Wu Qianlian, and her acting skills are also good. It is very suitable for her to play the heroine.

In the end, both Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaogang accepted Xiang Nan's suggestion.

Zhang Yimou finally chose Duan Yihong and Zhang Ziyi, while Feng Xiaogang chose Ge You, Chen Hao, and Fu Biao.

...

At the end of 1998, various TV dramas were arranged again.

Zhao Baogang is preparing to film the TV series "Like Fog Like Rain and Like Wind" adapted from Zhang Yongchen's novel of the same name; Gao Xixi is preparing to film "Yongzheng Dynasty" extra chapter "Li Wei is an Official"; Kong Sheng is preparing to film "The Great New Year" which is also a life theme ; Kang Honglei started filming "The Sky of History"; Zhang Guoli started filming "Kangxi Weifu Private Interview 2"; Ouyang Fenqiang started filming "Intern"... Each has its own thing to do.

Xiang Nan didn't interfere too much. On the one hand, several directors have experience, so it's not wrong for him to stare at him every day and give them advice; .

Therefore, Xiang Nan only let Xu Zheng act in "Li Wei as an Official" and let Jiang Qinqin be the heroine.

This made Xu Zheng very happy. After he signed with Kirin Films in 1997, he played the eldest son Shi Lin in "The Years of Burning Passion"; Played a supporting role. Now that he is officially the protagonist, he is naturally very happy.

And Xiang Nan was also happy that Ouyang Fenqiang's "Intern" actually chose Gao Yuanyuan as the heroine, which added a touch of new blood to the company.

Zhao Baogang's "Like Fog, Like Rain and Like Wind" discovered two artists, Lu Yi and Li Xiaoran, who also contributed to the company.

Xiang Nan didn't want to sign too many artists. Because there are too many people, there are too many dragons, and too many chickens can't lay eggs. If there are too many artists, it will be difficult to achieve a balance. It is bound to favor one over another, and it is easy to be divorced from the company.

However, these talents were so good that he was reluctant to let go, so he signed them all in the end.

But he also knew that after signing an artist, he should take good care of it. Otherwise, an artist with great potential may be abandoned if he is not careful. Therefore, he is also thinking about how to take care of everyone.