The literary era since 1979

Dongxingshun, Baodu Zhang.

As soon as Jiang Wen received Fangyan's call, he rushed here without stopping.

I saw Fangyan sitting in the corner by the window, drinking a sip of mutton soup and eating a piece of pancake in small bites.

"People are here, the tripe can be served. We both have big appetites, so go ahead and eat until we are full."

"Got it!"

The waiter responded and then hurried to the kitchen to urge the food to be served.

Jiang Wen walked past him, approached Fang Yan, and respectfully called him "Teacher Fang".

Fang Yan said, "Please sit down. The food will be served soon. I want to try the fried tripe, mutton offal soup and roasted meat later."

Jiang Wen grinned and noticed that he was looking him up and down.

"It's been a while since we last met. I didn't expect you've improved a lot?"

Fangyan raised his eyebrows. The man in front of him no longer had the elegance and honesty he had in "Furong Town". Both in temperament and appearance, he was getting closer and closer to "Zhang Mazi" in "Let the Bullets Fly". There was a domineering look between his eyebrows, and his physique was much stronger than before.

"This is for filming!"

Jiang Wen explained that he had recently taken on the role of Yu Zhan'ao, a bandit leader in the movie Red Sorghum.

"Directed by Zhang Yimou, right?"

Fangyan said casually.

Jiang Wen nodded: "If it weren't for your sake, I would have really thought about quitting the job and withdrawing from the crew."

"You are such a scoundrel. You dare to show off to the director even as an actor."

Fangyan was happy. Although he was the first to introduce the "producer system" and the concept of "supervisor" these days, the mainland is still based on the studio system. The director still has the final say in the crew and is in charge of the life and death of all aspects of the film.

Actors were not as bold as they are in later generations, dared to challenge directors.

"This is mainly because Zhang Mouzi is really incompetent, but his ability to shoot pictures and create colors is first-rate."

Jiang Wen curled his lips, "But when it comes to understanding and comprehension of the script, it's far from enough. We had quarrels several times because of changing the script."

"From your tone, it seems that if the script is not changed according to your wishes, the filming will definitely fail?"

Fangyan glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw the waiter carrying trays and placing plates of fried tripe on the table.

"It's hard to tell!"

Jiang Wen took the mutton offal soup handed to him by the waiter.

Fang Yan said, "You're still not convinced? If I let you shoot it, will you definitely shoot it better than Zhang Yimou?"

"more or less."

Jiang Wen said confidently, "He was a photographer before, and I'm an actor. We both became directors halfway through our careers. Strictly speaking, we are equally skilled. He may be professional in terms of images, colors, and camera movements, but I'm not inferior in my understanding of scriptwriting."

Fangyan teased, "You're not polite at all when you talk about yourself."

"If you are not envied by others, you are a mediocre person. Only mediocre people have no confidence in themselves."

Jiang Wen said that he wants to be a director one day and use his own aesthetics to express what he believes in art, which is really "exciting"!
"Well, if there's a chance tomorrow, I'll invest in a movie for you and let you try being a director."

Fangyan touched his chin, thinking about how to control his bad habit of wasting the budget.

"Really? Teacher Fang, if you are really willing to give me this opportunity, then I would like to thank you so much!"

Jiang Wen picked up the mutton offal soup and said, "I, I won't say anything. All my feelings are in this soup. I'll give you a bowl."

Seeing him gulping down the soup in a rough manner, Fang Yan rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Look at you, just making do!" Jiang Wen said, "Teacher Fang, you don't know how much I want to be a director and shoot the movie I want to shoot."

"So what do you want to shoot the most now?" Fangyan asked.

Jiang Wen blurted out that his favorite movie at the moment is "Looking for the Gun", and he feels very involved in the role of "Ma Shan" in the movie.

Yo ho!

Fang Yan's mouth twitched. "What a coincidence! This novel was originally scheduled to be adapted by Xi'an Film Studio, and you were the first person chosen for the leading male role. However, Xi'an Film Studio has a more important filming task now, so they must finish Farewell My Concubine first."

Jiang Wen was very surprised, but then he thought about it and suddenly shuddered.

"Teacher Fang, you asked me to have dinner with you today. Could it be because of Farewell My Concubine?"

"Yes, you must have read the novel of Farewell My Concubine. I plan to ask you to play the role of Duan Xiaolou."

Fangyan announced the members of the main creative team who have been confirmed so far.

"Duan Xiaolou? This fake Overlord is such a coward. His acting is not exciting at all."

Jiang Wen was not interested in Duan Xiaolou, but wanted to play Cheng Dieyi. "Teacher Fang, how about letting me have a try?"

"With your looks, if you were to play a female role, you would either scare the audience to death or be laughed to death by your peers."

Fang Yan said, "Just give up on this idea. The role of Cheng Dieyi should be played by Zhang Guorong, so he has to play it."

Jiang Wen smiled awkwardly. He could save face for Zhang Yimou, but he absolutely dared not offend Teacher Fang, so he agreed.

"Teacher Fang, I have another question. Who are you going to ask to play the important role of 'Juxian'?"

"Do you have any recommendations?"

Fangyan saw through his little thoughts at a glance.

"I really can't hide anything from you."

The person Jiang Wen recommended was Gong Li, who co-starred with him in "Red Sorghum".

Fangyan said "as expected" in his heart, and saw that he thought he didn't know "Gong Li", so he briefly introduced her. Although "Jiuer" in "Red Sorghum" was Gong Li's debut, she was talented and had a good image, and was extremely similar to "Yamaguchi Momoe".

"She is considered the 'golden flower' of the Central Academy of Drama. She might not have been able to become my junior schoolmate, but fortunately the teachers in the admissions office valued her talent and wrote a serious report to the higher authorities, which specially approved the Central Academy of Drama to admit Gong Li!"

"It seems you have a good impression of her."

Fangyan joked.

"Not bad, but not as good as Zhang Mouzi. When he was casting at the Central Academy of Drama, he chose Gong Li at first sight."

Jiang Wen reported Zhang Yimou with "bad intentions". After all, Zhang Yimou was the cinematographer of "Farewell My Concubine".

"Since both of you think so highly of her, let her audition."

After smacking his tongue in dialect, Jiang Wen then changed the topic to "Looking for the Gun", and he described in vivid detail how the filming was done.

The two of them devoured plate after plate of fried tripe. The waiter came very diligently, clearing away the plates and bringing new plates of fried tripe.

Jiang Wen dipped the fried tripe in the sauce and fiddled with it while saying that he originally wanted to ask Gong Wei or Zhu Lin to play the heroine of "Looking for the Gun". There was no need to explain the reason for asking Gong Wei. As for Zhu Lin, he had worked with him in "Shang Yang" and "The Qin Empire", but now there was a problem.

"why is that?"

Fangyan narrowed his eyes into slits.

"You were in Hong Kong at the time, so you definitely didn't know."

Jiang Wen said, "When Zhu Lin was acting in Journey to the West, the media fabricated a lot of scandals about him, which had a very bad impact." (End of this chapter)