Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 130 [Director Li must be a master of Qigong! Box office on the first day is 130 million US dollars! ]

The movie officially started showing.

Li Yishu, who was sitting next to Jiang Qinqin, also smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll take beautiful photos of you."

As soon as he finished speaking, "Xiyu" played by Jiang Qinqin appeared on the stage.

On her oval face full of classical beauty, there are a pair of willow-shaped eyebrows, eyes like autumn water, a cherry mouth, bright eyes and white teeth, with long hair standing up in a high ponytail, a tight suit, and a sword in her right hand. She lacks a bit of girlish tenderness and has a bit more arrogance and sharpness.

"So beautiful!" Mother Zhao Xue's eyes lit up and she said quickly, "Qinqin, I didn't expect this brat to take such a beautiful picture of you."

"Yes...it is very beautiful."

Looking at herself on the screen, Jiang Qinqin couldn't believe it was herself. It was too good to be true! !
I never thought that I could be so beautiful, so cool and aloof.

Xu Ke, who was sitting in the third row not far away with Zhang Guorong and others, immediately said after seeing Jiang Qinqin on the screen: "This girl is pretty and has a cool and elegant temperament. Guorong, do you know who she is?"

"Director Li's sister has made a cameo appearance in our Farewell My Concubine before."

Zhang Guorong said with emotion: "She looked like a little girl before, but I didn't expect that she became much cooler under Director Li's lens."

"Is this Director Li's sister?"

Zhang Manyu beside her couldn't help but ask, "Sister? She's so pretty."

Zhang Guorong shook his head: "She is not my biological sister."

Mei Yanfang smiled and said: "If she is not my biological sister, then she is my love sister..."

"Amei, don't joke around. People in the mainland are still very conservative."

Zhang Guorong interrupted, "I heard from Director Li before that she seems to be the daughter of a friend of my parents."

"Okay, okay, it's just a joke. No one can understand us when we speak Cantonese."

Anita Mui said this, but she didn't make any more jokes. Instead, she said, "I didn't realize that Director Li takes really beautiful photos of women. I want to work with Director Li."

"It is very beautiful, but unfortunately I went to the theater when Farewell My Concubine was screened internally, so I didn't get to see the film."

Zhang Guorong was a little disappointed. When "Farewell My Concubine" was screened internally, Xu Suo, Li Bihua and others all went, but Zhang Guorong was filming in Shaanxi and had no time at all.

Fortunately, he later learned from Li Bihua that the movie was very well made and Zhang Guorong's acting skills were first-rate, so he might really have a chance of winning an award.

After they chatted for a while, the movie started its official plot, and everyone shut up and watched the movie quietly.

The plot is not complicated and can be considered an alternative treasure-hunting theme.

It's just that the traditional magic weapons and martial arts secrets were transferred to a corpse that is suspected to have special energy.

Many directors and actors in mainland China are quite interested in the plot.

After all, they haven't seen many martial arts films, unlike Hong Kong Island, which has been making martial arts films for decades and has basically made all kinds of martial arts films.

There are blood feuds, fights for secret weapons, or martial arts fanatics wreaking havoc in the martial arts world... basically all the martial arts-themed plots you can think of have been filmed.

"This martial arts move is quite interesting."

Xu Ke stared at the screen with burning eyes. He had nothing to say about the plot. It was an old-fashioned story, the kind that you could tell the ending after watching the beginning.

But the fighting moves are truly eye-opening; they are not flashy, but deadly.

Especially the rapier of "Xiyu", which is fast, accurate and ruthless. This fierce sword technique that pursues a one-hit kill is really refreshing.

Zhao Wenzhuo was stunned: "Master Yu, your sword skills are amazing."

"It's not that I'm good at directing, but the director's filming technique is great."

When Yu Chenghui watched the swordplay in the movie, he was also surprised at first. The effect was surprisingly good. Later, after a closer look, he discovered that the director had sped up the movements, causing the heroine "Xiyu"'s swordplay to appear as fast as wind and lightning.

And the fast forward is just right.

The plot advances bit by bit.

After the heroine changed her face, Gong Li appeared on the scene.

This is the first time in Gong Li's life that she has starred in a film about a female knight. Sitting next to Zhang Yimou, she seemed a little excited.

After that, it was a peaceful plot.

When the Black Stone organization found the renamed heroine "Zeng Jing", Lei Bin played by Yuan Piao and Ye Zhanqing played by Yang Liqing appeared and started fighting with Zhao Wenzhuo.

Those silver needles look so dazzling under the slow motion!

"This... is so handsome!"

Jiang Asheng's graceful swordsmanship, coupled with the handsomeness presented by bullet time, made Anita Mui's eyes light up. She had thought that this actor was quite handsome, but she didn't expect that the martial arts moves were so exhilarating.

Most people at the scene exclaimed in surprise.

This flying needle effect is amazing!!

How was the extremely slow flying needle filmed being split into two halves by a sword?
"Brother Yishu, how...how was this filmed?"

Jiang Qinqin's face was filled with shock; she had never thought that movie scenes could have such an effect.

Li Jian, who was sitting next to Zhao Xue, was also surprised. He was an old director with more than ten years of directing experience, but he had never seen anything like this.

Even those Hollywood movies you’ve seen don’t have this kind of technology, right?

Zhao Xue was surprised and said, "Yes, son, how did you take this photo? It's amazing!"

Li Yishu smiled and said, "The principle is actually very simple, but it can't be explained in a few words. I'll tell you when we get back."

"Yeah, you must tell me when you get back."

Zhao Xue and Jiang Qinqin nodded repeatedly. They really wanted to know how the photo was taken.

Looking at the two of them like this, and the exclamation from the back just now, Li Yishu couldn't help but wonder when the battle in the bamboo forest happens later and the raindrops in the sky are frozen, will she think it is a special function?

You should know that Qigong is very popular now. Yanjing TV even invited a master who is said to have Qigong abilities to be on its show.

The qigong craze has been spreading one after another. Even many of the elderly people who live in the courtyard where Li Yishu lives have started to go to the park to practice qigong.

When the plot came to the battle in the bamboo forest.

"Zeng Jing" held a sharp sword in his hand and closed his eyes in the heavy rain. At this moment, time seemed to stand still, and the sound of the rain was instantly frozen in the air.

At this moment, the camera rotated 365 degrees, and a drop of water slowly fell on the sword edge of "Zeng Jing". Even the scene of the water drop being split into two halves was so slow and clear.

At this moment, someone at the scene exclaimed: "Qigong, this is Qigong, Director Li must be a Qigong master!"

Li Yishu looked back with a strange expression on his face. He didn't see who shouted, but he was sure that it must be a qigong enthusiast.

"Zeng Jing" played by Gong Li moved. She was seen holding a sharp sword, and stabbing at the "Chakravartin" with a shocking sword in the midst of the slowly falling rain. In the opponent's horrified gaze, the sword tip pierced through the raindrops and went straight into the chest of the Chakravartin.

The movie is basically over here.

It took everyone a long time to recover from this sword attack.

Most of the people at the scene are actually insiders in the industry, who often watch movies or shoot films.

How could they not see that the sword stabbed by the heroine was so powerful that even the big boss, the Chakravartin, couldn't put up any resistance and was stabbed directly in the heart to death.

It’s because the heroine is too fast.

It is so fast that it can even exceed the speed of raindrops falling to the ground in the heavy rain!

"Clap clap-"

As the subtitles began to play and the lights in the auditorium came on, there was thunderous applause.

They all applauded sincerely and excitedly, not out of politeness, just because the movie was so well shot.

There is nothing much to say about the plot, it is a very ordinary plot, but it wins in action and technology!
No wonder "Sword Rain" has always been promoted as a new-style technical martial arts masterpiece.

Just these two shots are worth the price of admission!

Not to mention that Gong Li's role as "Zeng Jing" is first-rate in both martial arts and literary drama.

"Thank you, everyone, and thank you for your applause!"

Li Yishu took the stage with Gong Li, Jiang Qinqin, Yu Chenghui, Zhao Wenzhuo and other members of the creative team.

He looked at the guests with a smile on his face, started chatting casually, and then said:
"To be honest, I had never thought about making a martial arts film before. I personally like watching martial arts films, but I know that it is basically impossible to make a martial arts film feel fresh."

"Because the mainland and Hong Kong have made thousands of martial arts films in the past, this theme has almost lost all its novelty."

"But Gong Li told me that she wanted to try a different genre and she happened to have been invited to act in a martial arts film, but she missed the schedule. So I told Gong Li that I would shoot it for her."

Hearing this, Gong Li looked at Li Yishu, and at this moment her eyes were moving with a bit of complicated emotions.

"The plot of Sword Rain is actually very simple. Relatively speaking, it still cannot break away from the traditional themes of treasure hunting and revenge."

Lee Yi-su, who didn't notice Gong Li's change, continued to tell everyone, "So in order to make the film fresh, I invited Master Yu Cheng-hui, the two-handed sword master, to be the martial arts instructor and villain of the film, Chakravartin."

Yu Chenghui on the side clasped his hands together and applause broke out again. Many of them knew this martial arts master.

"In addition to martial arts guidance, I also discussed photography techniques with our crew's director of photography Zhao Fei, and eventually created bullet time, which is the technique that you just saw in the movie, where the flying needle becomes slow and even the heavy rain stops."

"I just heard someone talking about Qigong. I'm sorry to tell you, this is not Qigong, this is photography!"

"..."

After a lot of talking, Lee Yi-su said with emotion: "After more than two months of hard work by the crew, we finally shot such an epoch-making technical martial arts masterpiece. I am very satisfied with the results. From everyone's expressions and applause just now, I think everyone is also satisfied with it. This is enough."

"thank you all!"

clap clap-

There was thunderous applause.

Not just in the auditorium.

At this moment, "Sword Rain" is also being released today across the country, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and some European and American countries.

There were constant exclamations in cinemas in various countries, especially in China. At a time when almost no one has watched Hollywood special effects movies, such a technical film with a touch of magical colors instantly set off a wave!
The next afternoon, the first day box office statistics came out. Excluding a few countries where the film had not yet been released, it was released in a total of 53 countries and grossed a total of 2075 million US dollars.

Japan contributed the most to the box office, simply because it was a special edition, plus the aftereffects of "Love Letter", Mie Nakayama and Takuya Kimura played a couple again, and the box office on the first day was as high as 900 million US dollars!
(End of this chapter)