A widower's entertainment

Chapter 382 [The Great Director] (Please Subscribe)
Xinghua Hutong, Beijing.

Lin Youcheng gave Xu Feng in Hong Kong and George in Warner Bros. the scripts for "Infernal Affairs" and "Infernal Walker". As for when these two companies would actually shoot the film, Lin Youcheng didn't care much, because that wasn't something he could decide. Besides, such film scripts also required casting, and Xu Feng also had Chen Aige's film "Farewell My Concubine" to shoot.

Of course, if Xu Feng plans to immediately start making the movie "Infernal Affairs", or collaborate with other film companies in Hong Kong, that's another matter.

Clearly, Lin Youcheng was unaware that film companies and directors in Hong Kong were indeed seeking collaborations with Wan Chen Hong Kong Film Company. After all, it was a script written by Lin Youcheng, and directors naturally wanted to work with him as well.

Although Lin Youcheng didn't pay much attention to these things, some film directors still came to him directly.

Xu Feng had already been considering the director of Lin Youcheng's "Infernal Affairs" movie script. In fact, the Tung Chen Film Company was also specifically looking for a suitable director, just like they specifically found Chen Aige for the movie "Farewell My Concubine". Xu Feng felt that if "Infernal Affairs" was to be made well and the story was not ruined, it would naturally need to find a suitable director.

Lin Youcheng hadn't expected that Xu Feng would bring director Wu Yusen to Beijing to meet him.

"Yoo-sung, I've read your script for 'Infernal Affairs,' it's really excellent!"

Wu Yusen was well aware of Lin Youcheng's influence in the domestic and even international film industry. He originally planned to move directly to Hollywood after finishing the film "Hard Boiled". Now that he knew that Xu Feng was going to collaborate with Lin Youcheng on a film, and that the script had been bought by Warner Bros. in Hollywood, he was naturally very curious and hoped to work with Lin Youcheng.

Most importantly, Wu Yusen really wanted to get to know Lin Youcheng, a great screenwriter from mainland China. You know, Lin Youcheng's previous novels and screenplays were very popular in Hollywood. His previous screenplay, "Everyday," was a box office hit. The film was very successful. It was a low-budget romance film, but it was able to make such a big impact in Hollywood and was even nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Wu Yusen really admired him.

Not to mention, he was very aware of how amazing Lin Youcheng's later work, "The Truman Show," was. He had specifically watched this film, which was now generating a huge buzz in the overseas film market, and was completely impressed by Lin Youcheng's talent. It was truly astonishing.

Although most of his previous films were violent aesthetics, such as gunfights and explosions, how could he not want to get to know Lin Youcheng, a mainland screenwriter with such influence in the Hollywood market?

As for the film "Infernal Affairs" that Lin Youcheng gave to Xu Feng, it terrified him even more.

It's worth noting that his previous film, "Hard Boiled," also featured a police undercover plot, but it's completely different from the story of "Infernal Affairs" written by Lam Yau-shing. It actually features two male protagonists, one of whom is an undercover cop, and the other is an undercover agent in the underworld. This idea is truly brilliant!
Otherwise, Wu Yusen wouldn't have made a special trip from Hong Kong to see Lin Youcheng.

When Lin Youcheng heard Wu Yusen's words, he simply smiled and expressed his gratitude. Although Lin Youcheng was somewhat surprised that Xu Feng had asked Wu Yusen to direct the film "Infernal Affairs," he felt that Wu Yusen was quite suitable to direct the film.

It's worth noting that although John Woo is known as a director of violent aesthetics, his directing skills are actually quite high. His first and second "A Better Tomorrow" films are classics. Later, he directed the action film "The Killer," which not only became one of John Woo's representative works of violent aesthetics but also laid the foundation for his development in Hollywood.

Later, John Woo had a very good early career in Hollywood, directing and shooting several action films, especially the later film "Face/Off". While maintaining his personal style, he also incorporated mainstream Hollywood film elements. After its release in the United States, it became the top-grossing film of the month and was selected as one of the "Top Ten Films of the Year" by Time magazine.

Of course, this is about Wu Yusen's later trip to Hollywood. After failing to develop his career in Hollywood for several films, he was unable to continue and naturally returned to China.

However, in reality, the original Infernal Affairs was inspired by John Woo's film Face/Off. However, the "face swapping" scene in Face/Off is impossible in reality, so this story was created to swap two characters, but without surgery, only the identity and inner self were swapped. Moreover, in another timeline, the original Infernal Affairs changed its focus during script revisions. The initial script emphasized the battle of wits between the police and criminals, but later the elements of gangster or hero films became more prominent.

As for finding the original film director, Liu Weiqiang, Xu Feng probably won't entrust this film to him, since he was previously a cinematographer and only started directing a film two years ago.

Xu Feng had also discussed the movie directed by Wu Yusen with Lin Youcheng on the phone. Lin Youcheng had no objections and said with a smile, "Originally, Wu Yusen planned to go to the United States to develop his career after 'Hard Boiled,' but now that he knows about this script, he really wants to make this movie and even came to Beijing specifically to meet with you and talk about it."

Lin Youcheng understood Xu Feng's meaning, after all, they had communicated beforehand over the phone.

Wu Yusen said with a smile, "I've really wanted to get to know you, Youcheng, for a long time. I've seen all your works, and every single one of them is quite wonderful!"

Whether it was the opportunity to collaborate on the script for "Infernal Affairs" or Lin Youcheng's influence in Hollywood, it was well worth Wu Yusen's special trip to Beijing to meet Lin Youcheng. After all, Lin Youcheng, who has won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, is definitely the top screenwriter in China. Wu Yusen also hopes to continue to collaborate with Lin Youcheng in the future.

Of course, the script for "Infernal Affairs" really excited him this time. As expected of Lam Yau-shing, although there were no particularly large gunfight scenes, the character portrayals were truly amazing. It's not a simple commercial film. You could even say that the human struggle and conflict in the film really impressed John Woo.

Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "When I was writing 'Infernal Affairs,' I specifically watched some Hong Kong police and gangster films. Your 'A Better Tomorrow' is also quite a classic." As for whether the DVDs he found were pirated, Lin Youcheng didn't say anything. He wanted to find genuine DVDs, but it wasn't certain that he would find them. The piracy market is so hot right now. Just like when Márquez criticized domestic writers for reading his pirated novels, it was because there might not be any officially authorized copies in mainland China. Moreover, pirated books and pirated DVDs are rampant right now. Police and gangster films like this won't be released in mainland China. The version of 'A Better Tomorrow' that was actually released in mainland China was the public release version after the 21st century.

Wu Yusen made a special trip to Beijing to meet Lin Youcheng. Besides wanting to get to know Lin Youcheng and make his acquaintance, or perhaps to pay his respects, he also naturally wanted to discuss the script for "Infernal Affairs" with Lin Youcheng, talk about his thoughts on the film, and the cinematic language he planned for the later stages of filming. Of course, these were all his own ideas and interpretations as the director. He was only discussing it with Lin Youcheng, the screenwriter, since Lin Youcheng would definitely have a better understanding of the story.

"Youcheng, the narrative of your script is excellent. It serves the plot without any extraneous details and flows seamlessly. Every scene is well-written. When filming, I will follow your script and use many close-ups to express the characters' inner thoughts."

These are Ng Yu-sen's honest thoughts. He is very clear that the focus of Lin Youcheng's "Infernal Affairs" is on portraying the psychological changes of the characters, and it does not need to pursue big scenes and explosions. Instead, it focuses on describing how things will go. This requires his narrative style to be more compact. In fact, using many close-ups to show the characters' inner thoughts is to enhance the tension and suspense of the film.

Lin Youcheng nodded upon hearing Wu Yusen's words. He actually had no objection to Wu Yusen directing "Infernal Affairs," as he trusted Wu Yusen's directing skills. He simply said, "I trust you, Director Wu. In fact, even if some parts of the script are changed, I have no objection. Besides, I've told Xu Feng before that the most important thing about this film is the actors."

Wu Yusen nodded in agreement, adding that he was also thinking about it. He said, "I've worked with Leung Chiu-wai before. He's a very good actor, and I think he's suitable for the role of Chen Yongren. He can play the role of Chen Yongren well."

Lin Youcheng had no objection to Wu Yusen's words. Liang Chaowei's acting skills were beyond doubt. He smiled and said, "You can decide on the casting. I think you know better than me which actors from Hong Kong are more suitable for the roles in this film."

Wu Yusen understood Lin Youcheng's meaning. In his heart, there was no doubt that screenwriter Lin Youcheng had a say, given his status and influence in the film industry. If Lin Youcheng recommended any actors, he would definitely consider it, since that was exactly what he wanted to do with Lin Youcheng.

Of course, this is also because Wu Yusen has not yet succeeded in Hollywood, and it can even be said that he has not even entered Hollywood yet, so he naturally has no sense of pride. He also admires Lin Youcheng, a mainland screenwriter who has already successfully entered Hollywood.

Lin Youcheng said with a smile, "Speaking of which, Director Wu, you must be under a lot of pressure with this film, 'Infernal Affairs,' since Warner Bros. will also be making the same film."

Wu Yusen actually knew this, but for him, it was actually a good thing to prove himself.

"Don't worry, I'll make this movie well!"

Lin Youcheng knew that Wu Yusen had not yet established himself in Hollywood, or even entered it at all. Naturally, he wanted to befriend this influential screenwriter in Hollywood. Thinking of the founder of violent aesthetics films in China, who failed in Hollywood and had to return to China to make films like "Red Cliff", Lin Youcheng couldn't help but feel a sense of pity.

After all, who would have thought that the director of the classic film "A Better Tomorrow" would remain popular for so long, and that he was the first Chinese director to break into Hollywood and be hailed as an internationally renowned director, would later have to return to China to make films?

Speaking of John Woo, he was once very successful in Hollywood. In addition to "Face/Off", he also starred in "Mission: Impossible 2", which grossed over $5.45 million worldwide and became the highest-grossing film in the world that year. At that time, he was truly unparalleled in Hollywood. It's just a pity that his later film, "Windtalkers", was a complete failure.

In fact, due to the box office success of John Woo's previous films, film companies had high hopes for him. As a result, the investment in "Windtalkers" in 2002 was as high as $1.2 million, which was equivalent to RMB 10 billion at the time. It should be noted that this did not include marketing and distribution costs. However, "Windtalkers," as a major production of Hollywood film giant MGM, met a tragic fate after its release, causing MGM's stock price to plummet and Robert Levin, the company's president of world markets and distribution, to resign.

The big-budget production of "Windtalkers" resulted in a massive loss of $7000 million, which, at the exchange rate at the time, was equivalent to approximately 6 million RMB. This severely damaged MGM's financial health and accelerated its bankruptcy process. After several years of struggle, MGM declared bankruptcy.

After the huge losses of "Windtalkers," major film companies were hesitant to use John Woo, which is actually quite normal. Similarly, after Li An's consecutive failures in two big productions, "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" and "Gemini Man," it became difficult for him to get roles in big films. That's just how realistic Hollywood is.

There were even rumors that Hollywood dared not use Chinese directors for ten years because of John Woo's film.

Lin Youcheng looked at Wu Yusen in front of him and thought that if Wu Yusen really developed in Hollywood, he could remind him to avoid the tragedy of the movie "Windtalkers". After all, it is not easy for Chinese directors to gain a foothold in Hollywood.

Of course, for screenwriter Lin Youcheng, the failure of the film directly affected the director. As for the scripts he produced, they have been absolutely solid so far. Otherwise, why would those Hollywood companies be vying to work with him?

Although John Woo is a great director, Lin Youcheng can be considered an even more prestigious screenwriter in the film industry.

(End of this chapter)