Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

The plan worked out by the representatives of the four companies will ultimately need to be confirmed by their respective headquarters, and there are still some details that need to be discussed.

For Yang Ye, the most important thing is the admission ticket, and everything else is a minor issue.

Yang Ye had some discussion with Lin Baocheng. After seeing Lin Baocheng off, it was almost noon and another group of people came looking for them.

They are the producer of "Red Sorghum" Wen Jun, director Zhang Yimou, photographer Gu Changwei, screenwriter Mo Yan, starring Jiang Wen, Gong Li, Ji Chunhua, and a financial officer who manages the money.

Wen Jun has admired Yang Ye since his student days. Influenced by Yang Ye, he decisively joined the film industry after he became an adult.

When filming "Pretty Girl" in 1982, Wen Jun, as a screenwriter, was appreciated by Yang Ye and soon became the gold medal producer of Baiyang Company.

Wen Jun, after watching "Furong Town" and "Red Sorghum" in the original time and space, admired Jiang Wen very much and took the initiative to go to the mainland to invite Jiang Wen to make movies in Hong Kong.

Later, when Jiang Wen was filming "Sunny Days", he had no money, so Liu Xiaoqing went to Hong Kong to find Wen Jun for investment. When Wen Jun heard that Jiang Wen was the director, he decisively invested 100 million US dollars.

Later, Wen Jun often cooperated with the mainland and invested in many films, such as "My Brothers and Sisters" and "My Beautiful Nostalgia".

This guy is very biased towards the mainland. One year at the Academy Awards, all the winners were from Hong Kong, and he was unhappy. He said that this was very xenophobic and very "small Hong Kong", and that the award judging mechanism was unfair.

In view of this, Yang Ye directly appointed Wen Jun as the producer of Red Sorghum.

Gu Changwei and Zhang Yimou were classmates at the Beijing Film Academy, both in the Department of Photography.

After graduation, Gu Changwei was assigned to the Xi'an Film Studio. This time, when Baiyang Company and Xi'an Film Studio cooperated, he naturally became the photographer of "Red Sorghum".

Mo Yan has been famous for less than two years and is still a newcomer in the literary world. His personality is just like his pen name, he is not talkative.

Due to his outstanding performance in "Furong Town", Jiang Wen is now a famous male actor in mainland China, and the crew of "Red Sorghum" directly decided to give him the leading male role.

Yang Ye had originally planned to personally select Gong Li to play Jiuer after arriving in the capital, but he was delayed in Tokyo by something, and by the time he arrived in the capital, the candidate had already been decided.

The process of searching for Jiuer for the "Red Sorghum" crew was quite difficult, and they looked for several candidates, including Shi Ke and Gong Li from the Central Academy of Drama.

The crew tried out different looks for Gong Li and Shi Ke and found that they felt somewhat different. Later, they filmed two skits with them, but still felt that Gong Li was more suitable, so she was chosen.

As for Ji Chunhua, although he did not play the Vulture in "Shaolin Temple" in this time and space, he practiced martial arts since he was a child, and later became an actor, playing many villains.

When it came to the role of the bandit leader Tu Sanpao in "Red Sorghum", Wen Jun, Zhang Yimou and others decided that he was the right person to play and they didn't even think of anyone else.

Jiang Wen and Liu Xiaoqing had filmed "Furong Town" together and were already familiar with each other. When he saw Liu Xiaoqing sitting next to Yang Ye very obediently, he was stunned for a moment.

However, this woman's social circle is famously wide, so it's not surprising that she knows a Hong Kong guy.

Yang Ye met many of these people for the first time, so he shook hands with them enthusiastically.

When shaking hands with Jiang Wen, the guy said, "Mr. Yang, I've seen you before."

Yang Ye thought for a moment and said, "It was at the Beijing Film Academy, when I showed you The Terminator, right? You asked me about it."

Jiang Wen was very impressed and said, "Your memory is amazing."

At that time, Jiang Wen was a small figure, and Yang Ye was a big figure. It was normal for Jiang Wen to remember Yang Ye, but it was quite amazing that Yang Ye remembered Jiang Wen.

Yang Ye smiled and said, "Because you entered the auditorium late, and seemed to be injured at the time, I have a deep impression of you. Were you a student at the Beijing Film Academy at the time?"

Jiang Wen said: "I was not a student of Beijing Film Academy, but of the Central Academy of Drama. But I had just passed the entrance exam and had not yet enrolled. Uncle Qin, the doorman of Beijing Film Academy, would not let me in, so I climbed over the wall to get in."

"I see. Then we are destined to meet. Please take a seat. I will treat everyone to a simple meal."

Although it is called a simple meal, the prices at Maxim's restaurant are considered expensive even by Hong Kong people. The price of a bottle of red wine is not even enough for a year's salary for Gu Changwei, Jiang Wen and others.

Gu Changwei looked at the red liquid in the cup and was a little afraid to drink it. Is it made of gold?

Zhang Yimou has been filming with Yang Ye all over the world. What hasn't he experienced? He has played with many Japanese witches and North American sluts. He has seen the world.

He swirled the red wine glass skillfully and whispered to Gu Changwei, "Eat when you should, drink when you should, don't worry about it, it's nothing."

In fact, although Zhang Yimou became rich later, he still liked to eat oil-splashed noodles and gnaw on pickles the most.

Gong Li was still a student. She was a little scared when she followed everyone into this magnificent restaurant. However, this woman was very strong inside and she quickly calmed down.

When eating, she would lock her eyes on Liu Xiaoqing and eat the same way he ate without any panic.

French food is a slow process, with people stopping and starting to eat, and naturally they chat while eating. Since everyone present is a filmmaker, the topic of conversation is naturally about movies.

The movie that has been hotly screened abroad recently is "Terminator 2". Yang Ye and Zhang Yimou are both the main creators of this movie, so the two of them started to praise each other.

Zhang Yimou praised Boss Yang's various filming techniques as full of fantastic ideas and magic. Although everyone has not seen the movie yet, they all seem to be impressed.

Yang Ye also boasted about Zhang Yimou's photography skills: "We want to shoot night scenes. If it were an ordinary photographer, he might use black, but Zhang Yimou is different. He used blue and green. It's very clever."

"Mouzi even inspired the Hollywood photographer Storaro, who is the photographer of the great director Bertolucci. I watched the rough cut of The Last Emperor and found Mouzi's photography style in it. By the way, do you know him?"

Zhang Yimou said modestly: "When Storaro came to China, he had a discussion with our photographers from the 78 class of the Beijing Film Academy. Chang Wei and I were present."

During that exchange, Storaro absorbed Zhang Yimou's unique photographic style of "light that is neither completely aesthetic nor completely documentary", and applied it to the filming of "The Last Emperor".

After The Last Emperor was released, Taiwanese photographer Li Pingbin (7-time Golden Horse Award winner for Best Cinematography) burst into tears after watching the film. He said, "Even if a photographer has thoroughly understood Chinese history and culture, he may not be able to take such an excellent work."

Li Pingbin didn't know at the time that Storaro had learned from Zhang Yimou. Later, "The Last Emperor" successfully won the Oscar for Best Cinematography.

After finishing the main course, Yang Ye asked Zhang Yimou and Wen Jun: "How is the preparation for Red Sorghum going?"

The two looked at each other, and Wen Jun said, "The script, costumes, props, cast and crew, and filming locations have all been prepared. We plan to shoot in Gaomi, Mo Yan's hometown in Shandong, and Zhenbeibao in Ningxia."

Why did they go to such a remote desert in Ningxia to shoot a story that takes place in Shandong?
In the 1960s, writer Zhang Xianliang was sent to Ningxia to work. He was shocked by the two ancient castles he saw there, which were simple, primitive, rugged and desolate.

After the turmoil ended, Zhang Xianliang wrote about these two castles in his novel and specifically pointed out that this place was particularly suitable for filming movies.

Later, when Xie Jin adapted Zhang Xianliang's novel, he followed Zhang Xianliang's advice and went to Zhenbeibao to shoot the film, and produced "The Shepherd" which caused a sensation across the country.

That place is so unique that the crew of "Red Sorghum" also went to Zhenbeibao.

Zhenbeibao was later built into a film and television city, where many classic movies were shot, such as "New Dragon Inn" and "A Chinese Odyssey".

Yang Ye nodded, and suddenly thought of a question: "The sorghum you planted can be used to make wine, right? Can we still shoot it?"

Zhang Yimou smiled and said, "We were working on the script before, and only started planting after we finished it. We are planting autumn sorghum, and it has been less than a month, so it won't delay the filming."

"Then let's get started as soon as possible! Well, this Miss Gong Li is not very old, she is still a student, right?"

Zhang Yimou said, "Yes, she is a sophomore in the acting department of the Central Academy of Drama. Xiaoli, give Mr. Yang a glass of wine!" Gong Li quickly stood up, holding the wine glass with both hands, and said shyly, "Mr. Yang, I toast to you! I have seen all your movies, they are very good!"

Yang Ye clinked glasses with her and said with a smile, "There is one movie you definitely haven't seen."

"Ah, which one?" Gong Li was a little surprised. Yang Ye didn't have many movies, but because they were very popular, she had watched every one of them several times. How could there be some she hadn't seen?

"It's Terminator 2, which hasn't been released in China yet."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone at the table started laughing.

Gong Li then realized that she was being teased by Yang Ye, and she couldn't help but grin, revealing her two pointy little canine teeth.

Yang Ye thought to himself, she looks so much like Baihui, so damn much like her.

Especially since Gong Li is still relatively slim now, not as fat and broad-shouldered as in later generations, it is even more similar.

Gong Li said with some regret: "I heard it will be released soon, but we have to go to Gaomi to film, I don't know if we can see it first."

Yang Ye smiled and said, "It's very easy to see it. I will have a speech at the Central Academy of Drama in a few days, and I will bring Terminator 2 to the screening. You can just go and watch it then."

"Really? Then I must go and see it!" Gong Li said quickly.

……

Next, Yang Ye attended two seminars arranged by the Film Association.

Mainland filmmakers recently watched "A Chinese Ghost Story" and "Terminator 2" shot in Hong Kong.

I am amazed by the amazing film techniques used in the movie.

These two films caused a sensation in Japan, South Korea, and throughout Southeast Asia.

Now that Yang Ye himself showed up, they were naturally very interested and kept asking questions. Yang Ye also told them everything he knew.

Today's mainland films, with the rise of the fifth generation of directors, have also won several small awards abroad.

However, it is incomparable to Hong Kong films that have swept overseas, raked in box office revenue, and set off a cultural trend.

Who wouldn’t be envious?
However, domestic functional departments are actually very conservative, and often do some terrible things for their own interests.

For example, in the early 1990s, there was a craze for co-productions between Hong Kong and the Mainland.

At that time, the agreement discussed by Wu Siyuan and Minister Tian Congming was that films co-produced by Hong Kong and the mainland could share the box office revenue in major cities in the mainland.

After two years, the mainland discovered that in big cities like Shanghai and Nanjing, co-production films accounted for 70% of the box office, and the figures in Guangzhou and Shenzhen were even lower.

People would rather watch "New Dragon Inn" ten times than take a look at those things made in mainland China.

So...the co-production was stopped.

This is fucking... If no one watches the movie you made, you just close the business.

Typical of not being able to afford it!
……

In fact, there has been such a trend in the past two years. The films of Baiyang Company are so popular that local films have no chance of fighting back.

Many people would rather watch Yang Ye's movies over and over again than watch those films shot in the mainland.

Yang Ye naturally became a thorn in the eyes of many people. Some people couldn't stand it anymore and shouted for it to stop.

But Yang Ye’s backing was too powerful, so it was useless for them to shout.

Moreover, Yang Ye did not take a single cent of the money he earned in the mainland with him.

Not only do I pay taxes according to the law, but I also invest part of the money I earn and donate part of it.

At this time, in order to suppress this discordant voice, Yang Ye added: "If everyone wants to understand Hong Kong's film technology, it is actually not difficult.

Our Baiyang Company can work with mainland film studios to jointly shoot a large-scale film using the latest technology.

This cooperation is a deep one, unlike before when mainland film studios only assisted in filming.

Mainland film studios can make investments, and we will directly activate mainland film talents, including leading actors.

After the film is finished, our Baiyang Company will distribute it overseas and we will split the profits equally.”

Wang Yang said: "Isn't that the same as when director Li Hanxiang filmed The Biography of Empress Dowager Cixi?"

In 1982, with funding from He Xin, Li Hanxiang established the New Kunlun Film Company and invested 6000 million Hong Kong dollars to prepare for the filming of "The Biography of Empress Dowager Cixi".

The plan is divided into five parts: the burning of the Old Summer Palace, the regency, the Tongzhi Restoration, the Reform Movement, and the Eight-Nation Alliance.

The filming of the film received strong support from dozens of relevant departments and units in the mainland, but in the end only two parts, "The Burning of the Old Summer Palace" and "The Last Emperor", were produced before the project was shelved.

The leaders didn't like the film because it was too much of a farce and contained too much unofficial history.

Although the box office was good, the investment was too high and not much money was made.

For that filming, the mainland not only provided manpower but also money.

Yang Ye shook his head and said, "It's different. When Director Li Hanxiang came to the mainland to film, the mainland mainly played a supporting role, but my film is a true co-production, allowing mainland film talents to participate deeply. Moreover, Li Hanxiang is an old director, and his filming techniques are relatively traditional. We use the latest techniques and the most advanced technology to create a magnificent movie scene."

This aroused everyone's interest. Wang Yang asked, "Are you going to make a movie like Terminator 2?"

Yang Ye shook his head again and said, "If the story is set in the mainland, I can't think of a good science fiction story for the time being. I want to make... a war movie."

"War Movies?"

"Yes, although I have shot more action films, I really like war films. I have shot "Wushe Uprising" before. Recently, I am co-shooting a World War II film "Enemy at the Gates" with the Soviet Union, and I have invited Irina Alfarova to star in it."

New China was too deeply influenced by the Soviet Union. All the old guys present here learned Russian when they were young. When they heard that Yang Ye was going to film with the Russian goddess Irina, they all thought it was awesome.

"So what are you going to shoot in this war film?"

"Our Baiyang Company previously filmed a movie called Project A, starring Chen Long, which was very popular overseas. That movie was actually adapted from Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy. To be honest, we filmed it without permission, which infringed on copyright. I would like to apologize to Mr. Qu Bo, the author of Lin Hai Xue Yuan, pay double the copyright fee, and remake Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy!"

"Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" is one of the eight model operas. Everyone was surprised that Yang Ye would film such a red and professional subject.

At the same time, everyone is very curious, if a Hong Konger like Yang Ye were to film a red theme, what would he do? (End of this chapter)