Huayu: The director just wants to save money

Chapter 874: Five Expeditions to Qishan, and Death is the End

The day after Zhou Mo and Da Tiantian finished chatting about "The Three-Body Problem", someone called them.

"Hello, is this Director Zhou?"

"Hello, who are you?"

The person on the other end of the phone introduced himself, and the next second, Zhou Mo's face tightened.

He was the one who gave suggestions for "The Three-Body Problem" back then.

"Hello, Leader. I didn't expect you to call me..."

"You're welcome. I just heard about The Three-Body Problem a while ago, so I..."

Half an hour later, Zhou Mo hung up the phone, and his expression gradually changed from nervous to relaxed.

The general meaning of the half-hour communication just now is:
"The Three-Body Problem" is a very good work, but due to various reasons, it has never been shown on movie screens.

Nowadays, various conditions in the domestic film and television industry are gradually improving, and Zhou Mo has never disappointed anyone, so I hope he can give it serious consideration and film "The Three-Body Problem" one day so that everyone can see the level of this sci-fi masterpiece.

Since Zhou Mo has been given so much face, there is no reason for him to refuse.

He immediately agreed to film "The Three-Body Problem" in the future and talked about some of his future plans.

Finally, the conversation ended in a very relaxed atmosphere.

After a while, Da Tiantian, who had been staying in the outer room, walked in. Seeing Zhou Mo's relaxed expression, she felt a lot more relieved as well.

"Have you finished talking? How is it going?"

"It's pretty good. The leaders have always been very concerned about The Three-Body Problem and said that as long as The Three-Body Problem can be filmed well, they are happy to provide any help they can."

Da Tiantian suddenly realized, no wonder Zhou Mo was in such a good mood after the phone call.

This promise can be said to be of considerable weight.

"So what have you decided to do? Move up the Three-Body Project to next year?"

Zhou Mo shook his head.

"The more times like this, the more we cannot rush. The weight of The Three-Body Problem is too heavy and the content is too rich. It is impossible to finish the research in one year. It is definitely impossible to do it next year. The earliest we can do it is the year after next. Then we can focus on shooting this work."

Da Tiantian frowned, and she thought of a question based on what Zhou Mo said.

"Since The Three-Body Problem has so much content, one... no, one movie is definitely not enough. How about three movies? Do you think that three movies can tell the story of The Three-Body Problem clearly?"

Da Tiantian has also watched "The Three-Body Problem", and because of the filming of "The Wandering Earth", she even had a special chat with Mr. Liu about "The Three-Body Problem".

It was only after the conversation that she realized how profound the content of "The Three-Body Problem" was and how complicated it would be to adapt it into a film or TV series.

When Zhou Mo heard this question, he also fell into deep thought.

After he finished talking about "The Three-Body Problem" with Da Tiantian last night, he recalled the plot of "The Three-Body Problem" alone.

After recalling, he commented that even if the film was shot in the most refined language, it would not be possible to complete the film in three films.

But a night of thinking did not give him an answer as to how many films it would take to finish shooting.

So Zhou Mo just shook his head and did not give a specific answer to Da Tiantian's question.

Da Tiantian understood what Zhou Mo meant and immediately said, "Then how do you plan to arrange the filming of this movie?
The script of "Three Kingdoms" is suitable for all ages. The three films took half a year to shoot. "Three-Body" will only be longer and more tiring... and it is likely that it will not be able to catch up with the commercial attributes of "Three Kingdoms". "

The last half of Da Tiantian’s sentence sounds very realistic, but it is indeed a very realistic problem.

The reason why many classic works cannot be adapted into film and television dramas is that the profits after the adaptation are immeasurable and there is a high probability that they cannot cover the costs.

As a sci-fi masterpiece, and hard sci-fi at that, the cost of adapting "The Three-Body Problem" can be imagined.

But because it is hard science fiction, its threshold and style will definitely affect its audience.

Fortunately, this problem is not a big deal for Zhou Mo.

"The commercial attributes don't matter. If we don't make money, we don't make money. If we lose money, that's fine too. For a science fiction masterpiece, these are not a big deal." Zhou Mo said casually.

For him, the real problem is the production cycle. Now it is 2019. If he starts shooting movies in two or three years, that is, in 2022, and then shoots four or five movies, one every two years until 2028, it will really be a long time to shoot.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Mo said to Da Tiantian: "I have discussed this issue with the leader. The leader must pay more attention to quality. As for speed, it's okay to be a little slower."

Da Tiantian nodded slightly. In this case, the task would be easier.

"So what you mean is, should we shoot a movie first to test the waters? And then adapt it after seeing how it goes?"

"Yes, although we are not pursuing commercial attributes this time, we must pay attention to market feedback anyway."

Zhou Mo recalled the "Three-Body" animation produced by a clown production team in his previous life.

How to say it, two words can describe it:

Rubbish.

Zhou Mo had also watched this drama. After forcing himself to watch two episodes, he began to think about the fork in the upper right corner.

He remembered a review that described the "Three-Body" animation like this.

"Ye Wenjie must have watched this animation and wanted to destroy the world."

In a word, it can be said that the garbageness of this drama is fully reflected.

After this drama, "The Three-Body Problem" also had another live-action TV series.

To be honest, Zhou Mo thinks that drama is really good.

This TV series did not make any adaptations to the original novel. Instead, it stuck to the novel very closely, with many plots being reproduced based on the original novel.

This also indirectly shows that as long as the original work is good enough, even if it is filmed according to the original work, it can gain the support of the audience.

"So, for this shoot, we must ask Mr. Liu for more advice, to avoid a situation like the animation "The Three-Body Problem". "

Zhou Mo made up his mind.

……

In the following time, Zhou Mo returned to the crew and kept control of the progress of "Three Kingdoms".

Perhaps because he has collaborated with Zhang Yimou many times, Zhang Yimou has basically become accustomed to Zhou Mo's style and has taken the initiative to adjust his own style. Therefore, Zhou Mo's work has become much easier during this period. After finishing his work every night, he even has some free time to review "The Three-Body Problem".

Soon, it was the end of November.

The Shu Kingdom chapter of "The Three Kingdoms" has also entered its final stage.

In 233 AD, Zhuge Liang wrote a letter to the later emperor Liu Chan, requesting the fifth Northern Expedition.

This time, it can be said that Zhuge Liang was the most well prepared since his first Northern Expedition.

There was abundant food, strong soldiers and horses, and even he himself had accumulated enough experience from the previous four Northern Expeditions.

Zhuge Liang was full of confidence in this Northern Expedition and was determined to gain something.

He wrote a letter to the later emperor Liu Chan, titled "The Second Letter to the Emperor".

In the letter, he expressed his determination by saying "Devote all I have to the cause until my death".

At the same time, Sima Yi, a trusted minister of Wei State, who was on the south bank of the Wei River, also deployed troops on the border, waiting for Sima Yi's arrival.

Sima Zhongda also had high hopes for this war.

He knew that Zhuge Liang had led his troops out of Shu and was exhausted from the long journey, and his men and horses were tired.

He is well rested and full of energy.

Just drag it out, drag it out until the Shu army runs out of food and can no longer hold on.

He won this battle!

(End of this chapter)