A widower's entertainment

Hong Kong.

As someone who has known Leslie Cheung since 1982 and is also a top agent in Hong Kong, Chen Shufen undoubtedly has a very close relationship with him. You could even say that she is like an older sister to Leslie Cheung. Many projects are discussed and considered together with Chen Shufen. So, it was a bit of a surprise for Chen Shufen to hear that Leslie Cheung wanted to turn down the offer to star in Wang Jiawei's film "Happy Together".

"what happened?"

Chen Shufen was also surprised that Leslie Cheung would suddenly want to turn down Wong Kar-wai's film offer, and asked, "Do you still think the film's subject matter is too direct?"

Leslie Cheung shook his head and said, "It's not because of the subject matter, but because Lin Youcheng called me and wanted to talk to me about a movie."

Upon hearing Leslie Cheung's words, Chen Shufen's eyes widened immediately. Although Wong Kar-wai's movies were also very good, the filming time was too long, and the crew's on-set conditions were truly torture for the actors. Most importantly, it was Lam Yau-shing who was calling Leslie Cheung. How could he possibly refuse?

You have to understand, that's Lin Youcheng! He's an internationally acclaimed screenwriter who just recently won his second Oscar!

"Really? What kind of role are they offering you? Is it the male lead?"

Chen Shufen was also very surprised and asked several questions in a row.

Seeing Chen Shufen's surprise, Leslie Cheung smiled and shook his head, saying, "It's just a recommendation. I still need to go to Beijing to talk to the director, who is Director Li An from Taiwan."

"Li An!"

Chen Shufen was even more shocked. She hadn't expected that this was a film co-produced by Li An and Lin Youcheng. Li An was an absolute master director, having won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival twice and been nominated for the Oscars several times. The fact that these two would be working together, and that Lin Youcheng had even approached Leslie Cheung, meant that although it hadn't been officially confirmed yet, it seemed to be a recommendation from screenwriter Lin Youcheng. Li An should definitely consider it.

"What drama?"

Leslie Cheung naturally understood why his sister Chen Shufen was so surprised, and said with a smile, "It's that novel 'Strange Tales of the Human World' by Lin Youcheng, which was very famous before."

"Strange Tales of the Human World?!"

Chen Shufen was also surprised that it was this novel. She had naturally read it before, and it was undoubtedly a very exciting novel. It seemed to have won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in mainland China. The story of Lin Qi's rebellious life was really touching. When she read the ending of the novel, Lin Qi became an infant and closed his eyes in his lover's arms, she was moved to tears.

Now that Lin Youcheng is actually going to collaborate with Li An to adapt this novel, just this news alone is likely to cause a sensation in the entertainment industry, and other actors will probably all want to star in this movie.

It's worth noting that there were previous reports that other directors and companies wanted to adapt the novel, but Lin Youcheng declined.

"This story is wonderful!"

It's fair to say that even without this script, the collaboration between Lin Youcheng and Li An would have made Chen Shufen very supportive of Leslie Cheung working with these two international filmmakers. Now that she knows it's based on the novel "Human Wonders," she hopes even more that Leslie Cheung can land the male lead role in the story.

"I don't have any events tomorrow, so should I book a flight to Yanjing now to go first thing tomorrow morning?"

Leslie Cheung nodded and said, "Director Li An is also in Beijing now. I was recommended by Lin Youcheng to play the male lead, so Director Li An naturally wants to meet with me to talk."

Chen Shufen naturally knew that it was screenwriter Lin Youcheng who made the recommendation, and the next step was to see what Li An thought. In Chen Shufen's opinion, Li An was able to collaborate with Lin Youcheng this time, and even collaborate on adapting Lin Youcheng's classic novel "Strange Tales of the Human World", so he absolutely could not ignore Lin Youcheng's opinion.

Leslie Cheung undoubtedly loves Lin Youcheng's classic novel "Strange Tales of the Human World" very much, and has read it several times. The whole story is so captivating, fantastical yet realistic, full of indescribable charm. If this novel were to be made into a movie, the role of the protagonist Lin Qi would be one that actors could only dream of.

His heart was pounding wildly when he heard Lin Youcheng tell him about this on the phone.

The character Lynch is so charismatic!
He had wanted to work with Lam Yau-shing for a long time, and Lam Yau-shing had said that he would write a script for him. Later, he played the role of Ni Yongxiao in "Infernal Affairs 2", which earned him the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor. He thought that he didn't know when they would work together again. Unexpectedly, Lam Yau-shing recommended him to act in "Human Tales". Although it has not been officially confirmed, the fact that Lam Yau-shing recommended him to act has already made Leslie Cheung very grateful.

Chen Shufen quickly made a phone call to have someone book plane tickets to Beijing for both her and Leslie Cheung. She also told Leslie Cheung, "We'll give you an answer to Wang Jiawei after we return from Beijing."

After hearing Chen Shufen's words, Leslie Cheung thought for a moment and said directly, "Let's withdraw first."

Chen Shufen naturally knew that Leslie Cheung really wanted to work with director Lin Youcheng and director Li An, and he really wanted to get the role. However, since it wasn't 100% confirmed yet, there was no need to turn down the script offer from Wang Jiawei. She said, "Let's wait until we return from Beijing before we talk about it."

Leslie Cheung, unaware of Chen Shufen's meaning, didn't say anything more and simply nodded.

……

Xinghua Hutong, Beijing.

The TV series "The Great Song Dynasty Forensic Examiner" is currently airing in mainland China and is quite popular. Lin Youcheng is naturally very happy that the show is so popular. However, Lin Youcheng is currently in talks with Li An about a film collaboration, namely the film adaptation of "Strange Tales of the Human World".

Almost six years ago, Chen Aige's side had also wanted to adapt and film the novel "Strange Tales of the Human World". However, Lin Youcheng rejected it at that time because "Strange Tales of the Human World" was not easy to adapt with the makeup technology at that time. The male protagonist's fantastic life of rejuvenation would be better not to film if the makeup and costume of the male protagonist were not handled well.

It's no longer the 1980s, and although it's not yet the millennium, makeup and special effects have naturally developed, especially with the strong support from Hollywood. Columbia Pictures is also investing. Lin Youcheng and Li An had previously discussed collaboration at the Berlin Film Festival, and now Li An has mentioned his interest in the novel "Human Wonders." Lin Youcheng also feels that Li An would be a very suitable candidate to adapt and film this movie.

It's important to know that Li An isn't just capable of directing realistic films like "The Wedding Banquet" and "Eat Drink Man Woman," but also of creating captivating fantasy films like "Life of Pi." Of course, the most important reason is that Li An himself is a big fan of the novel "Human Wonders." "Chen Aige also planned to adapt this novel, but I felt the technology wasn't right, so I collaborated with him on the film 'Atonement.'"

Lin Youcheng wasn't worried that Chen Aige would have any objections, because he had initially refused Chen Aige's request to film "Human Wonders," and the two later collaborated on the film "Atonement." Moreover, he had rejected Zhang Yimou and Jiang Wen and chosen Chen Aige instead. If Chen Aige had any objections because he had given "Human Wonders" to Li An to film, then Lin Youcheng would actually have a problem with Chen Aige.

Lin Youcheng naturally discussed this matter with Chen Aige, who didn't say anything, especially since she knew it was being filmed by Li An and supported by Columbia Pictures from Hollywood. She also knew that with technical support from the United States, the film would definitely be good.

Ultimately, the fact that Hollywood film companies were able to invest in a story like "Strange Tales of the Human World," which takes place in China, is really only because of Li An and Lin Youcheng.

Li An smiled and said, "The movie 'Atonement' was also very well made, and I really like that story."

"Of course, I also really like the other stories you write. When I first saw Hou Hsiao-hsien's film 'The Devotion of Suspect X' in Taiwan, I thought it would be great to work with you."

Lin Youcheng naturally trusted director Li An; otherwise, he wouldn't have entrusted the script for "Strange Tales of the Human World" to Li An for filming.

As the two were talking, Xie Shuhua walked in and said, "Zhang Guorong and his manager are here."

Upon hearing this, Li An couldn't help but laugh and followed Lin Youcheng out. Actually, when Lin Youcheng recommended Leslie Cheung to play the role of Lin Qi in "The Strange Tales of the Human World," he had considered other male actors, but he felt that Leslie Cheung was quite suitable. After all, he knew Leslie Cheung's acting skills. His performance in the movie "Farewell My Concubine" was really excellent. Moreover, Leslie Cheung was an absolute superstar in all of Asia and an actor with a certain degree of fame worldwide.

Even so, Li An still wanted to meet and talk with Leslie Cheung.

When Leslie Cheung saw Lin Youcheng and Li An, he naturally came over to greet them.

Li An isn't a very talkative person. Since his meeting with Leslie Cheung is essentially an audition, he'll naturally chat with Cheung, not about the role, but about other topics to observe the actor.

Lin Youcheng naturally didn't disturb Li An and Zhang Guorong's conversation. He also chatted with Zhang Guorong's manager, Chen Shufen. In particular, Chen Shufen brought a lot of local specialties from Hong Kong, which was very polite. It was clear that Lin Youcheng knew very well that Chen Shufen wanted to continue to maintain a good relationship with him.

"Brother Lin, thank you. Leslie really likes your novel and really wants to play the role. He even turned down a role with Wang Jiawei for it."

Leslie Cheung's English name is Leslie, and Chen Shufen has always called him that.

Chen Shufen will also express her gratitude to Lin Youcheng, because the movie "Human Wonders" is not only a collaboration between Li An and Lin Youcheng, but also has Columbia Pictures in Hollywood as an investor. It is conceivable that there is no need to worry about the production cost, and it can be considered a big production.

Upon hearing Chen Shufen's words, Lin Youcheng raised an eyebrow and immediately realized that the film Zhang Guorong had turned down from Wong Kar-wai's was probably "Happy Together." He couldn't help but ask, "I didn't expect to run into him. What film is he working on?"

"It's a story between two men, and we'll be filming in Mexico."

Chen Shufen naturally told Lin Youcheng about this special story directly.

Lin Youcheng knew that Leslie Cheung had suffered a lot while filming "Happy Together." Although it shared the same view of love as "Farewell My Concubine," "Happy Together" was more direct. In fact, Wong Kar-wai initially intended to cast Andy Lau in "Happy Together" because some news reports suggested that Andy Lau had unusual views on love. After this film, Leslie Cheung had a deep conflict with Wong Kar-wai and never collaborated again. This was also because the film was later used as a basis for the award ceremony where the presenter ridiculed Leslie Cheung's choice, even directly using Tony Leung's choice to criticize Leslie Cheung's performance.

"Some scenes shouldn't be too direct, to avoid affecting his life, given the current environment."

Lin Youcheng thought for a moment, and then said those words.

When Chen Shufen heard Lin Youcheng say this, she naturally understood what he meant. Suddenly, she realized that she should think about it carefully and talk to Zhang Guorong again. Even if she didn't work with Li An on "Human Tales" this time, she still needed to reconsider whether to accept "Happy Together".

Lin Youcheng wouldn't say much, as some things can't be influenced by just one movie, *Happy Together*. If it does have an impact, then this film, *Human Tales*, should have a positive effect on Leslie Cheung. After all, the moving story of *Human Tales* isn't just about Lin Qi's rebellious life; it also conveys many different lessons. For example, when Lin Zhaomei was filming the short film *Destiny*, the cinematographer had recited that passage directly in front of Lin Youcheng—

"Be the person you want to be."

There is no time limit for this matter.

"You can start anytime you want, as long as you're willing."

Lin Youcheng felt that this movie might have a different impact on Leslie Cheung.

Of course, this also depends on Li An's opinion.

Clearly, after talking with Leslie Cheung, Li An also felt that Leslie Cheung was very good at playing the role of Lin Qi in "Human Wonders". Of course, the most important reason was that Leslie Cheung was recommended by Lin Youcheng, the original author and screenwriter.

It can be said that Li An was also very satisfied with Leslie Cheung as the male lead.

Soon, the news spread, and it was vaguely known that Lin Youcheng would be collaborating with Li An, with Leslie Cheung as the male lead, to adapt the novel "Strange Tales of the Human World."

This truly caused a huge stir! (End of Chapter)