Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 181 Chapter 191 [Director Wu goes to the US and steals "Face/Off"]

"Ka, take a rest."

After filming the explosion scene on the rooftop, Li Yishu asked everyone to take a break. The weather in the mountain city was too hot at the moment. It was not even ten o'clock in the morning and the sun was so strong that everyone almost got heatstroke.

Zhang Manyu was originally supposed to play a patient who had been lying in a hospital bed all year round and could not move anything below the neck except her head. However, during the filming, Zhang Manyu could not withstand the scorching sun and had to climb out of the wheelchair several times.

I really can't stand the heat~~
"Drink some Huoxiang Zhengqi water."

Seeing Zhang Manyu's red face, Li Yishu asked someone to bring her some Huoxiang Zhengqi water and told her to drink some quickly, otherwise she would get heatstroke.

Zhang Manyu took the Huoxiang Zhengqi water, endured the bitter taste, and drank it in one gulp. The strange smell of Chinese medicine immediately made her face twisted.

After a while, she calmed down and said, "It's not so hot actually. It's mainly because of the sun. It wasn't this hot when I went to the northwest to shoot Dragon Inn before."

Li Yishu smiled and said, "After this scene, you will either lie down or sit in the next scene, which will be much more comfortable."

“But it’s also painful.”

Thinking of the next scene, Zhang Manyu's face looked very strange, because the next scene was her urinary incontinence while sitting in a wheelchair. Although props were used, the feeling was still very embarrassing.

Li Yishu comforted her, "Don't worry, I will clear the place for the shoot when the time comes."

"I don't have any psychological burden, I'm just worried that I can't act out that feeling."

Zhang Manyu recalled that when she was in Hong Kong, she went to the hospital to visit those people who had suffered spinal damage and paralysis of the lower body due to various reasons. Even though they still had the use of their hands, they could no longer control urinary incontinence.

To put it simply, the nerves in the brain and lower body are no longer connected, and the consequence is that the bladder cannot be controlled at all, and one will defecate and urinate involuntarily.

Therefore, most people with lower body paralysis will choose to wear diapers like babies in order to avoid this embarrassing situation.

Although Zhang Manyu had been thinking about it for a long time, she had never experienced urinary incontinence in her lower body and was afraid that she would not be able to act out that feeling.

Li Yishu smiled and said, "Take your time. If one time doesn't work, try two times. It will be fine after a few more times."

After chatting with her for a few sentences, seeing that Zhang Manyu's expression had eased a lot, Li Yishu went to arrange for the crew to prepare for the next scene, and at the same time asked Zhang Fengyi to start getting ready so that they could start filming.

The overall narrative structure of "Nobody" directed by Lee Yi-su is the same as "Crazy Stone" and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", and he also borrowed the essence of these two films and combined the wonderful points together.

The original version of "Nobody" actually has no problems with the narrative line. Multiple story lines are entangled and collided with each other under the influence of a core element, creating all kinds of sparks.

The element in "Crazy Stone" is the jadeite worth eight million, and in "Nobody", what connects these groups of people together is Lao Ma's homemade gun.

However, perhaps it is a problem with the screenwriter's ability, "Nobody" feels weak and far-fetched when connecting multiple lines into one main line.

In "Crazy Stone", the protagonist and the stupid thief live in the same small hotel but do not know each other. However, they accidentally collide with each other and cause countless laughter and scolding. The fight between the stupid thief and the big thief makes the whereabouts of the real jade confusing, including other side lines such as the factory director, the factory director's son, and the developer.

Each story line plays a decisive role in the development of the plot. It can be said that the story cannot develop without any one of the lines. The interweaving and entanglement of different story lines have produced an excellent and interesting story, and it has become the first domestic example of making a small profit with a big investment.

Although the four story lines in "Nameless" proceed simultaneously, there is almost no collision throughout the whole process. There is no problem in telling a love story about Hu Guangsheng and Ma Jiaqi alone, and it has little impact on Ma Xianyong's security line and other side plots.

In terms of narrative structure and script, it is not even a little bit different from "Crazy Stone".

This was also a fatal problem that Li Yishu discovered when she started writing the script of "Nobody". It was not perfect enough, so Li Yishu directly adopted the strategy of plagiarism and absorbed the essence from "Crazy Stone" and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels".

At the same time, the connection points connecting all the branches were changed to "jade raw stones" among the stones.

This also avoids the question of why the heroine Ma Jiaqi in the play kept Hu Guangsheng and the other man with the bizarre reason of "I will call for help if you leave".

So after piecing it all together, the plot is very similar to "Crazy Stone", but also very different:

Hu Guangsheng learned that a priceless stone had been dug up, so he wanted to go to the home of the male protagonist Ma Xianyong to steal the key, thus entangled with the female protagonist Ma Jiaqi;

Liu Haigen, one of the two stupid thieves, fell in love with the hostess of Dream Paris, and thus colluded with a group of local gangsters;
Ma Xianyong used to be a policeman, but later he quit his job and became a security guard because of a mistake. He wanted to solve a big case and learned that there was a gang of evil elements in Dream Paris.
The gangsters colluded with the wealthy people from Hong Kong and wanted to steal the jadeite, which led to a dispute with Hu Guangsheng and others who stole the jadeite, and kidnapped Ma Jiaqi.

In the end, all four lines will meet in Dream Paris.

The core of all this is essentially Ma Jiaqi, played by Zhang Manyu, because in the end the jade will be snatched away by Hu Guangsheng, but because Hu Guangsheng still has kindness at heart, he chooses to join forces with Ma Xianyong.

"Director Li."

Just as Li Yishu was arranging the upcoming scenes and the afternoon scenes, Yongmei arrived with Zhang Guorong, Qingxia, Lai Shengchuan and others.

They didn't have to film, and they drank a lot of wine yesterday, so they slept in this morning and are still sleeping now.

Li Yishu smiled and said, "Brother Guorong, do you want a role from the client?"

"What guest role?" Zhang Guorong was stunned.

"A big bad guy." "Sure."

Zhang Guorong laughed and said, "Actually, I've always wanted to play a villain."

"Haha, forget it, it was just a joke. Your image is not suitable for playing the villain in my play."

Zhang Guorong was not very suitable for the role of a Hong Kong tycoon because he was too handsome. If they had to find an actor, they had to find someone with a dagger hidden behind a smile, and that person was Zeng Kang. Zeng Kang was really suitable for playing the villain.

After chatting for a while, Li Yishu said to Qingxia and Lai Shengchuan: "Sister Qingxia, Director Lai, you can go back and start preparing the crew. I will go to Taiwan to start filming in November."

According to the current progress, "Nobody" will be completed before the end of July, after which we will start the fine-tuning of "Central Station" in post-production, and then the fine-tuning of "Nobody".

It should be possible to finish everything by the end of October. "Central Station" has already been edited once and roughly edited once. Next, Li Yishu will do a fine edit, and then we can basically wait for next year's Berlin Film Festival.

Qingxia and Lai Shengchuan nodded: "Okay."

noon.

In a restaurant that was booked in advance.

Li Yishu held a small press interview, and dozens of reporters attended the event, including those from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as several reporters from Japan and South Korea who rushed there after hearing the news.

"Li Wen, may I ask how you feel about the $3 million box office of your movie The Sixth Sense in the United States?"

"Director Li, as the first Chinese director to venture into the American film market, can you tell us the secret of your success?"

"..."

Seeing a bunch of reporters chattering, Li Yishu spoke directly:

"Alright everyone, please be quiet for a moment. You're all too noisy, I can't answer you all."

"Well, I'll call on a few people and ask them to answer a few questions. After they're done, we can all have a good meal and drink. It's not easy in this hot weather."

Seeing Li Yishu say this, the reporters all quieted down and waited for him to call their names.

Li Yishu glanced around and pointed to a reporter from Popular Movies: "You go ahead and ask the questions."

"Thank you, Director Li." The reporter who was called was delighted and asked quickly, "Hello, Director Li. I am a reporter from the monthly magazine Popular Movies. I would like to ask that your movie The Sixth Sense, which you shot in the United States, has earned a box office of 3 million US dollars. What do you think?"

The reporters around, especially those from Hong Kong and Taiwan, all frowned. What was there to ask? If you were to feel this, you would definitely be happy. How could you cry? What a waste of an opportunity.

"Of course I am very happy and excited. This is my first time directing a movie and I have achieved such an excellent result. I believe this will not be the last time..."

Balabala, Li Yishu expressed her gratitude.

"Reporter over there."

Li Yishu noticed a female reporter with exquisite makeup, who looked like she was from Hong Kong.

"Hello, Director Li. I am a reporter from Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily. I wonder what you think of Director Wu Yusen's filming in the United States this time? As a successful director in the United States, can you provide him with some experience or advice?"

Li Yishu was slightly stunned. Wu Yusen went to the United States?
Seeing his confused look, the female reporter immediately explained, "Director Li, Wu Yusen went to Hollywood in April and is currently filming an action-themed movie starring American action star Jean-Claude Van Damme."

Jean-Claude Van Damme, Li Yishu remembered that this should be Wu Yusen’s first movie in Hollywood, "Target".

He has seen this movie, and it is considered an action film that is up to standard. Logically speaking, the 1980s and 1990s were the time when director Wu Yusen was at his most talented. If this movie is only up to standard, it is probably because he is just a tool director at that time.

It wasn't until he made a few good action-packed films that Hollywood saw his money-making ability, which led to the 1997 film "Face/Off".

And later "Mission Impossible 2", which made him famous.

"Of course I wish him the best."

Li Yishu smiled and said, "Director Wu is a senior and is good at shooting action movies. I don't think he needs me to provide any experience."

When Li Yishu was "young", she admired Wu Yusen very much. This director who pioneered the aesthetics of violence, his films such as "A Better Tomorrow" and "Hard Boiled" are all classics.

However, with the advent of the Internet age and the convenience of news and information, problems with Wu Yusen's character have gradually surfaced. At the same time, the Hong Kong and Taiwan circles have been deliberately suppressing and hyping up his worth, which has completely destroyed the filter of "Hong Kong film stars" for most people.

Now that Wu Yusen has gone to the United States, it seems that "Face/Off" can be snatched up in advance.

The global box office of this film was not very high, just over 200 million US dollars, but the VCD and DVD sales made the producers earn a lot of money.

(End of this chapter)