A widower's entertainment

Chapter 366 [Film and Literature] (Please Subscribe)
Regarding the casting for the film "The Reader," Lin Youcheng only offered suggestions. The final decision rests with director Li Shaohong, who will consider both her opinion and the actors' own willingness to participate. Of course, the role of the young Jiang Xia will require special casting, and as Lin Youcheng stated, the actors portraying the middle-aged and young Jiang Xia cannot be completely different and unrecognizable.

These are all things that Li Shaohong needs to worry about.

As a screenwriter, Lin Youcheng prioritizes the script. However, Li Shaohong clearly respects Lin Youcheng, a veteran screenwriter, and approached Pan Hong early on, wanting her to star in "The Reader." Pan Hong readily agreed to Li Shaohong's offer to play the role of Yang Ju in "The Reader."

The key point is that Pan Hong immediately went to Xinghua Hutong to talk to Lin Youcheng about the character Yang Ju in "The Reader".

To be honest, Pan Hong is actually ambitious and has a passion for acting. It's worth noting that the 1994 film *Stock Market Fever* was something she initiated herself. She planned it, wrote the outline, found a screenwriter, secured investment, and found a director and actors. This was because her previous films, *Single Woman* and *Woman Taxi Woman*, had received lukewarm responses. She decided to try and create something new, and *Stock Market Fever* was a box office and critical success, earning her numerous awards, including three Golden Rooster Awards for Best Actress. However, the following year, the Golden Rooster Awards blocked her from winning her fourth award, giving her a special award, clearly indicating they didn't want to award her any more. After that, as she got older, she had fewer and fewer opportunities to play leading roles.

Lin Youcheng knew very well that Pan Hong's acting skills were far more than this, and her career achievements should not have stopped here. She had the opportunity to reach even greater heights internationally. It is worth noting that the famous French director Jean-Luc Godard once wanted to make a biopic about Hollywood goddess Greta Garbo and searched for actresses all over the world before finally choosing Pan Hong. He even bought plane tickets to take Pan Hong to France, but unfortunately, Pan Hong missed the opportunity because she was filming "The Last Nobleman". After she started acting in TV series, she unknowingly began to play mother roles. In fact, in the past 20 years, she has played more than 50 mother roles, more than 30 of which were evil mother-in-laws. She is the only one who can be called a "professional evil mother".

Pan Hong finally won an obscure, low-level award. In her acceptance speech, she thanked everyone for their recognition when her career was no longer at its peak, which is quite poignant.

After all, who else could be like this three-time Golden Rooster Award-winning actress who never had the chance to act in movies again?

"Youcheng, I have to thank you for recommending me to Director Shaohong for this role."

Clearly, Pan Hong had heard from Li Shaohong that Lin Youcheng had recommended her for the role of Yang Ju in "The Reader." Pan Hong was very grateful to Lin Youcheng, as he had recommended her for the role as early as "The Message."

Upon hearing Pan Hong's words, Lin Youcheng waved his hand and said, "It's all because you're suitable for this role, and Director Shao Hong also thinks you're suitable."

"Then I still have to thank you. Actually, Director Hou Xiaoxian had contacted me before, but I had taken on other work, so I didn't go."

In fact, Pan Hong knew that Lin Youcheng had recommended her more than just these two times. Hou Xiaoxian had also recommended her to play the daughter of the elderly couple in the movie "Love". However, she didn't film "Love" because she had taken on other work. After all, it's not easy for a mainland actress like her to go to Taiwan to film movies.

Lin Youcheng nodded and said, "It's alright. The role of Yang Ju in 'The Reader' is more challenging. Director Shao Hong wants to compete in the three major film festivals."

In Lin Youcheng's view, compared to the supporting role of the daughter in the movie "Love", Yang Ju in "The Reader" is undoubtedly more challenging. It can be said that such a role is one that an actress can only dream of in her entire life.

Pan Hong, upon hearing Lin Youcheng's words, naturally understood that director Li Shaohong also wanted to use the film "The Reader" to compete in the three major European art film festivals. This naturally made her very eager to play the role of Yang Ju well; otherwise, she wouldn't have made a special trip to Xinghua Hutong to talk to author Lin Youcheng about the role of Yang Ju.

Pan Hong nodded, a firm look in her eyes, and said, "I will definitely perform well!"

She was well aware of how profound the character Yang Ju was and how deep the whole story was. She had read the novel "The Reader" several times before. She knew that the story was about a woman's life and her painful choices between dignity and suffering. It was also a record of the complex relationship between two people throughout their lives. It was not just about simple love stories and arguments, but more importantly, about the humanity behind it.

Thinking about all this, Pan Hong's heart, as an actress, was pounding wildly.

Lin Youcheng actually has high hopes for Pan Hong. As an absolutely top-tier actress in China, many people may think that mature and melancholic roles are her domain. But the later film "Stock Fever" opened up a new world for her and truly proved that her acting skills are far more than that. Even when playing a shrewd, ruthless, and mercenary character, she is absolutely stunning.

The fact that Kate Winslet won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her outstanding performance in the highly complex role of Yang Ju demonstrates the complexity of the character and the immense challenge and opportunity it presents to an actor.

Of course, Lin Youcheng was also curious to see how much of a shock a film like "The Reader" would bring to the international film industry at this time, and he also wondered how well Pan Hong would portray the character of Yang Ju.

Of course, film is ultimately the art of the director, and it all depends on the direction of director Li Shaohong. After all, the script of "The Reader" is there, and it is undoubtedly strong. In another time and space, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay.

……

Xinghua Hutong, Beijing.

After Pan Hong left, Xie Shuhua talked to Lin Youcheng about another matter.

"Yu Hua plans to come to Beijing."

Lin Youcheng knew very well that Yu Hua would eventually choose to leave Jiaxing and come to Beijing, and would start another marriage with Cheng Hong. It wasn't particularly surprising. Moreover, after Yu Hua's "Cries and Drizzles" was published in Harvest magazine, he had a truly representative work. He couldn't help but say, "I told him that if he was going to come to Beijing, he should come sooner rather than later."

In fact, the novel "Cries and Drizzles" is also Yu Hua's "Cries in the Drizzle".

Xie Shuhua was chatting with Lin Youcheng when another guest arrived at the courtyard—Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei had been coming to Xinghua Hutong to see Lin Youcheng for a while, but Lin Youcheng had been busy with film scripts, not only the script for "If Love Has a Destiny" but also the script for "The Reader," so he naturally didn't have time to do what Zhang Wei, the editor, was so eager to do.

“Youcheng, you can’t just give up on literature like other writers.” As an editor of People’s Literature, Zhang Wei had long known that the literary craze seemed to be gradually fading. With pure literature becoming increasingly marginalized, the ranks of writers were becoming more divided. Some writers had already started to go into business and left the literary world, some had gone into writing popular works, and some had joined the film and television industry to make a difference through mass media. Of course, there were still some writers who persisted on the path of literature.

Zhang Wei, watching as Lin Youcheng's novels and screenplays were continuously bought by Hollywood companies for high prices, and other film directors approached Lin Youcheng to discuss screenplay adaptations, naturally couldn't help but urge Lin Youcheng to finish his work.

Upon hearing Zhang Wei's words, Lin Youcheng couldn't help but laugh and said, "I haven't stopped writing yet. 'If Love Has a Destiny' has already been published."

“This was a long time ago. Compared to your previous creative passion, it’s been a long time since we’ve received any new manuscripts from you.”

Zhang Wei knew that Lin Youcheng had been busy writing screenplays. Whether it was Hou Xiaoxian's "Love" from Taiwan or "The Truman Show" for Paramount Pictures, they were all movie screenplays, not to mention the screenplays he had recently written, "If Love Has a Destiny" and "The Reader".

More importantly, Lin Youcheng also writes other movie scripts when he has time. Although he is not in a hurry, he still types them on the keyboard and saves the script documents in a folder on his computer. This is the golden house that Lin Youcheng plans to sell to Hollywood, and it is also the capital he accumulated in the beginning.

Therefore, it was true that Zhang Wei said he hadn't received any new manuscripts from Lin Youcheng for a long time. Lin Youcheng was indeed not busy writing novel manuscripts, but rather writing script manuscripts.

Although Zhang Wei was well aware that many writers around him were now choosing to go into business, and that tabloids were full of trivial news about TV dramas, and that even Mo Yan had started writing TV drama scripts, as a literary editor, Zhang Wei naturally still urged writers to submit their work.

Of course, regardless of whether Lin Youcheng had written the novel manuscript or not, the editor would still urge him to finish it.

"I'm just afraid that you'll be so busy writing screenplays that you'll forget to write your People's Literature."

Hearing Zhang Wei's teasing words, Lin Youcheng couldn't help but laugh. This People's Literature was the kind of literature he had been writing, as he had mentioned earlier. However, Lin Youcheng also understood why Zhang Wei would say these things and why he was urging him to submit his manuscript. The more important reason was, as Zhang Wei said, that some things in the literary world were changing.

Of course, this change is also due to the changing times. After all, literature is created in different periods, and as times change, literature naturally changes as well. Now, we are in a new era, and many best-selling literary works are beginning to appear on television screens. As Zhang Wei said, the feelings that may be hard to articulate at this time will gradually become clear later. In fact, literature in the 1990s has truly begun to lose the fervor of the 1980s.

As time goes by and the tides of time keep moving forward, those voices of literary fervor will gradually weaken, and the once-loud slogans of "Long live literature, long live poetry" will gradually become echoes of bygone eras.

To some extent, the 1990s are becoming increasingly diverse and complex, but they still carry the lingering warmth of the 1980s. However, the literary fervor has undeniably begun to recede. It is in this receding tide that literature presents a diverse and fragmented appearance. In particular, many individual writers have emerged who have gone into business, resigned from their jobs, parted ways with the mainstream literary scene, and eventually faded out, moved away, or continued to create. Of course, this does not mean that the influence of these writers will disappear.

Lin Youcheng was well aware of this, but he did not intend to follow Zhang Wei's suggestion that they were next door in the literary field.

"I have no intention of putting down my pen."

Hearing Lin Youcheng's words, Zhang Wei couldn't help but say, "You don't seem to be planning to stop writing, so you should create more. I thought you should write your story 'Love' into a novel and publish it in a magazine."

Clearly, this was also what Zhang Wei was dissatisfied with. The story of "Love" hidden in "The Reader" was so thrilling that he felt it could be written into a short story, but Lin Youcheng had no intention of doing so at all. Instead, he wrote it directly into a movie script and handed it over to director Hou Xiaoxian of Taiwan to film. This really made Zhang Wei a little anxious.

It should be noted that at that time, some literary critics criticized Lin Youcheng's novel "If Love Has a Destiny" for not being as profound as his previous works "Atonement" and "The Reader," lacking depth in human nature. However, the story in "If Love Has a Destiny," which is about love but ends with the husband killing his wife, is undoubtedly thrilling.

Yes, it was truly thrilling. Zhang Wei still feels terrified whenever he thinks about the story of "Love".

Upon hearing Zhang Wei's words, Lin Youcheng couldn't help but laugh and said, "That story would be great if it were made into a movie."

"You could write it as a novel, publish it, and then make it into a movie!"

Zhang Wei said, "Your novels have all been adapted into movies and TV series."

Lin Youcheng knew that Zhang Wei was considering things from the perspective of a literary magazine editor, and he understood what Zhang Wei meant. He couldn't help but say, "Don't worry, I haven't given up writing. I'll write a novel as soon as possible."

These words were exactly what Zhang Wei wanted to hear, and his eyes lit up instantly, as if he had discovered a new continent.

Zhang Wei said all this in order to urge Lin Youcheng to finish writing the novel.

"So, do you have any ideas for this draft yet?"

Lin Youcheng found it somewhat amusing to see Zhang Wei, an old acquaintance, instantly fixate on his new manuscript. However, he understood that this was Zhang Wei's mindset as an editor. After a moment's thought, he said very seriously, "Just like you said, no matter what I write, I'm ultimately writing for People's Literature—"

"The people's literature".

(End of this chapter)