Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 853 If you want to film, film "Investiture of the Gods"

Fang Minghua told Song Tangtang his opinion:

Can’t take pictures.

It rained today, the first rain since the beginning of autumn. The originally sultry weather suddenly became cooler.

While his wife was at work, Fang Minghua was squatting in the yard fiddling with the pot of Epiphyllum when he heard someone ringing the doorbell.

He brushed the dust off his hands and went to open the door, and it turned out to be Zhang Yimou.

"Come in." Fang Minghua called.

"Are you growing flowers?" Zhang Yimou asked when he saw the mud on his hands.

"Yes, take care of this pot of Epiphyllum and see if it can bloom tonight." Fang Minghua said as he squatted down and continued to loosen the soil in the pot with a shovel.

Zhang Yimou squatted beside him and watched him fiddle with it.

"Yi Mou, you never come to me for no reason. Do you have something to talk to me about?" Fang Minghua asked while working.

"Yes, a little bit. It's about the script. I heard from Mr. Song that you also think the script is not good?"

"It's really not possible. To be honest, if this script is followed, the box office won't be too bad. After all, your fame and acting skills are there. But the problem is, you are Zhang Yimou. What's the point of making a movie that's not as good as "Hero"?!"

Zhang Yimou was silent.

Fang Minghao put down the shovel, turned around and looked at him, and said:
"Yimou, you have won gold medals at the three major film festivals, Cannes, Venice, and Berlin, and this year you won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. You can be said to have achieved a grand slam in the film industry."

"Besides, they already have enough food and clothing, and they don't make movies just for the box office. So why would they shoot a script that has flaws? My view is, if you want to shoot a movie, find a good script and shoot it well, or don't shoot it, just follow me and do some flower dancing for a day."

After hearing what Fang Minghua said, Zhang Yimou was somewhat touched.

Indeed, he has long passed the stage of making movies for box office, fame and fortune. Every time he makes a new movie, it is an attempt and also for some kind of breakthrough.

But this time, Fang Minghua told him clearly that if the script was not good, there would be no point in filming it.

So I asked, "So, if we don't shoot this script, what will we shoot?"

"I suggest you return to art films, find a good novel, and then let Lu Wei adapt it into a script for you. Of course, if you still want to make commercial blockbusters, don't touch martial arts films anymore."

"why?"

"What's so good about martial arts films? From the Shaw Brothers' martial arts films in the 1970s to Tsui Hark's new-style martial arts films, to your film Hero, and Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, almost everything has been done, and there's nothing new to come. Instead of doing this, you might as well make a fantasy film."

“Fantasy? I heard that Kai Ge’s script for The Promise was also rejected by you.” Zhang Yimou said with a smile.

"It's just too bad." Fang Minghua also laughed and patted the mud off his hands. "I'm not the only one who said that. All the screenwriters in the company think so. It's recognized to be bad. When it's released, you'll see. It'll be strange if the audience and critics don't scold him to death."

"Let's not talk about him. If you want to shoot a fantasy film, I'll tell you a subject." Fang Minghua said finally.

"What subject matter?" Zhang Yimou perked up.

"The Investiture of the Gods"

"The Investiture of the Gods? But it has been adapted many times." Zhang Yimou said.

indeed so.

除了后世内地熟知的1990年版傅艺伟主演的电视剧，还有81版、86版港台拍的影视剧，连原来的西京电影厂在89年也拍了一部5集电视连续剧。

The most recent version was a Taiwanese mythological TV series starring Chen Yizhen, Wang Genghao and others on Taiwan CTS in 2000.

After hearing what Zhang Yimou said, Fang Minghua clapped his hands and said with a smile, "This shows that this subject is very popular, with a large audience and high attention. If it is well made, everyone will definitely like to watch it. And it hasn't been put on the big screen yet, right?"

That's true. Zhang Yimou nodded.

"The Investiture of the Gods" is a novel that combines mythology and history, and the story is well-known and easy for the audience to identify with, just like "Hero".

"Then can you help me write the script?" Zhang Yimou said again.

"Look for Lu Wei. He is the top screenwriter of Shengshi Film and Television. It's absolutely right to look for him."

"OK then."

Zhang Yimou knew that Fang Minghua rarely wrote scripts for others in recent years.

After seeing Zhang Yimou off, Fang Minghua continued to fiddle with her Epiphyllum.

Today is the weekend. Fang Minghua went out for a run in the morning and then wrote a novel. After lunch, he didn't even take a nap and set up the mahjong in the mahjong room on the first floor early.

A few days ago, Bai Miao called and wanted to come to Fang Minghua's house to play mahjong. He said that you had been in the United States for more than a year and you hadn't seen anyone. This time you came back, you wanted to come to your house to have some fun and prepare dinner.

Okay, Fang Minghua agreed.

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Fang Minghua hasn't played mahjong in the United States for more than a year and has quit his addiction. It seems that he will have to resume his old habits after returning.

People arrived one after another, and Lu Yao, Jia Pingwa, Bai Miao and Fang Minghua just occupied one table.

Chen Zhongshi is old and will soon be sixty. He rarely participates in their entertainment activities now.

Ever since "Queyou" produced the first domestically produced fully automatic mahjong machine in 1997, this thing has quickly become popular.

Fang Minghua also bought one to save himself the trouble of sorting and shuffling the cards himself every time.

Everyone drank tea, smoked cigarettes, and chatted while playing.

"Hey, Minghua, I heard that you rejected the scripts of two two directors, Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou?" Bai Miao asked while fighting.

"How do you know this?"

"It's spread all over the film and television circles in Xijing. Even people like us outside the circle know Pingwa, right?"

"Well, I heard from Jianxin that you don't give face to these big directors at all." Jia Pingwa replied while smoking.

Jianxin is Huang Jianxin, who is an alumnus of Northwest University with Jia Pingwa. He is a former director of Xi'an Film Studio and now a contracted director of Shengshi Film and Television. His representative works include "Black Cannon Incident" and "Stand Up Straight, Don't Lie Down".

He once adapted Jia Pingwa's novel "Wu Kui" into a movie, and the two had a good personal relationship.

Recently, the comedy film "Who Says I Don't Care" is being prepared for filming, and comedian Feng Gong has joined the cast.

Seeing this, Fang Minghua had no choice but to answer: "This is not a question of face or not, it's really that the script is too bad, and I'm not the only one who thinks so, you can go ask Lu Wei, he thinks the same thing."

Lu Yao took over the conversation and said, "Some time ago, Chen Kaige held a press conference in Yanjing and announced the filming of "The Promise" in a high-profile manner. It seems that he was protesting to you."

"It's useless to demonstrate to me. In the future, box office and word of mouth will prove who is right and who is wrong." Fang Minghua played a card and said lightly.

"Chen Kaige is not from Shengshi Films, so I have no control over whether they shoot the film or not. However, Yimou is the number one director of Shengshi Films, and we cannot destroy his reputation!"

"Indeed, Yimou's transformation after filming "Hero" is considered to be relatively successful."

The four of them were playing and chatting, when suddenly Fang Minghua looked up and saw through the window that the door was open and the babysitter was greeting a man to come in.

It turned out to be Zhang Yimou.

(End of this chapter)