Save the Bachelor of Heaven

In March of 2001, the martial arts film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" directed by Ang Lee won four awards including Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Original Soundtrack at the Academy Awards. awards.

And later, it also made a box office of 102 million U.S. dollars in the United States, and the global box office reached 205 million U.S. dollars. Such achievements are the envy of all mainland directors.

Among them was Zhang Yimou. After he won the top awards at the three major European film festivals, he set his sights on Hollywood's Oscars.

But it is a pity that although many of his works have been shortlisted, such as "Raise the Red Lantern", "Ju Dou", "To Live", "Shake Ah Shake, Shake to Grandma Bridge", they have all been shortlisted for Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film award, but did not win the award, I have to say it is a pity.

And Zhang Yimou is also thinking about how to make a movie in order to win the favor of Oscar. The award of Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" immediately gave him a lot of inspiration.

Therefore, he is also preparing to make a martial arts movie, in order to hit the Oscars.

For this reason, he took a fancy to the novella "Assassination of the Qin Dynasty" by the well-known writer Li Feng, and planned to make it into a movie. The adapted script is the "Hero" that Xiang Nan saw.

Xiang Nan knows that "Hero" is Zhang Yimou's representative work, and it is also the film that opened the era of Chinese blockbusters.

Prior to this, most Chinese films were medium- and low-cost, with production funds ranging from several million to tens of millions, and the scenes were relatively small. The production cost of "Hero" was 200 million yuan, setting a record for investment.

Since then, the cost of Chinese films has become higher and higher, and commercial blockbusters have gradually become the mainstream of domestic films. This is actually beneficial to the development of Chinese films.

Because Hollywood's experience proves that blockbuster films are often easier to achieve high box office and high returns than small and medium cost films.

Because blockbusters have a larger investment, the production will be more sophisticated. At the same time, blockbuster films are more willing to invest in publicity. However, the general small and medium cost films are often rough in production.

For example, the production costs of Internet giant-level movies such as "Pen Fairy", "Chopsticks Fairy" and "Someone Under the Bed" in the mainland cost hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, and the quality was shoddy and perfunctory. quality, so it is often a day trip to the cinema.

Moreover, because there is no money for publicity, even if it is released, everyone will not know about it, and naturally it is impossible to spend money to support it. For example, "Zhang Zhidong", which was released a few days ago, had a box office of only 90 yuan on the first day of its release, which was a huge loss.

...

Although the movie "Hero" has mixed reputations in China, it is quite well-known internationally, and is even regarded as Zhang Yimou's best work.

It is precisely because of this that it not only earned 250 million yuan at the box office in the Mainland, but also earned 140 million US dollars internationally, which can be said to be quite good.

Therefore, Zhang Yimou wanted to make this blockbuster, and Xiang Nan was naturally very supportive.

"Director Zhang, don't be stingy with money, and make it the best martial arts blockbuster in mainland China." He laughed.

Zhang Yimou nodded, "Professor Cheng, thank you."

He predicts that the cost of "Hero" will not be low, because he needs to shoot a lot of big scenes, build a lot of buildings, do a lot of special effects, and use a lot of extras... All of these need money.

Xiang Nan promised him unlimited financial support, which is undoubtedly a great trust and support for him.

"However, I only have one condition, all the actors must be from the mainland." Xiang Nan named them.

The original version of "Heroes" used a large group of artists from Hong Kong and Taiwan. In his opinion, it was originally unnecessary.

Although Li Lianjie, Liang Chaowei, Zhang Manyu, and Donnie Yen are somewhat famous, but to be honest, "Hero" can win a high reputation internationally, and the core element is Zhang Yimou.

Li Lianjie, Liang Chaowei, Zhang Manyu, and Donnie Yen played almost negligible roles. The reason is simple, Li Lianjie's status in Hollywood is not as good as that of second-tier movie stars.

The movies he starred in Hollywood, such as "Danny the Wolf Dog", "Romeo", "Universal Pursuit", "Kiss of the Dragon", etc., are not considered big productions, that is, B-level movies.

Zhang Manyu and Donnie Yen have never made it to Hollywood, while Leung Chao-wai only played the civil and military roles in Marvel when he was a bit older. A villain role is not worth bragging about.

Therefore, Xiang Nan didn't want Zhang Yimou to waste resources by praising those outdated Hong Kong and Taiwan stars. With this "Hero", Kylin Films can definitely launch its own box office superstar, and it can't be wrong to take advantage of others.

"Professor Cheng, I want to make this movie a world-class blockbuster. I'm afraid our mainland artists won't be able to do it?" Zhang Yimou said worriedly.

Apart from Gong Li, there seems to be no other mainland actors who are internationally renowned.

"Of course it's impossible if you don't give them a chance." Xiang Nan smiled, "Don't worry, I have confidence in our actors. Besides, I'm not afraid of losing money, so what are you afraid of?"

Hearing what he said, Zhang Yimou could only nod his head.

...

Subsequently, "Hero" began to select actors.

For the role of Emperor Qin Yingzheng, there is no need to choose, just choose Chen Daoming. He just played Lord Kangxi in "Kangxi Dynasty" last year, and he is mighty and domineering, which is not bad.

As the nameless, Xiang Nan recommended Hu Jun. The northern man is tall and strong, rough and tough, with a masculine temperament. It is Wu Yue who plays the role of Sky, and he needs such an opportunity to go to the big screen.

Duan Yihong plays Canjian, Zhang Ziyi plays Feixue, and Chen Hao plays Ruyue...

After Zhang Yimou passed the assessment, he felt that it was okay, so the film was officially prepared for shooting.

The first investment was as high as 50 million, because Zhang Yimou had to prepare too many props, including thousands of bows and armors. An investment of 10 to 20 million yuan is useless at all.

After this news was reported by the media, some people rejoiced, thinking that the era of blockbuster movies in China has come. After all, Hollywood now costs hundreds of millions of dollars to make movies, especially "Titanic", which costs 200 million dollars.

Domestic movies, if they still cost a few million or tens of millions, they can't compare with others. That is tantamount to handing over the domestic film market to others, without the power to resist.

So now Kylin Pictures is investing in blockbuster films, which is a good thing for domestic films.

But there are also some people who believe that the film investment is too large and there is no benefit. The mainland film market is still very poor and weak. With so much money, it is better to make more films and spread investment. In this case, it is safe and has more works to entertain the public.

In short, the public says that the public is right, and the mother-in-law says that the mother-in-law is right, and there are endless debates.

In Xiang Nan's view, this is actually a good thing.

As soon as the filming started, there was a lot of enthusiasm. Free publicity, don't waste it.