Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 221 Chapter 231 [The shrewd Zou Wenhuai, there is no Bao Zong on the Yellow River Road]

Hong Kong.

Golden Harvest Film Company.

In the chairman's office, Wu Yusen said excitedly: "Mr. Zou, my project will definitely be successful, and Director Li Yishu also strongly supports me. He said he would help contact Columbia Pictures to arrange the film's distribution in North America."

"Ah, Sen."

Zou Wenhuai's eyes flickered as he said, "You have to know that making movies in the United States is different from making movies in Hong Kong. It's not that easy to be an independent producer."

Wu Yusen said: "I know this, Mr. Zou. I am very confident in this project. I just hope that Mr. Zou can help invest. This movie will definitely not disappoint you."

In fact, for Wu Yusen, the easiest investor to find should be Lei Juekun of Golden Princess Entertainment Company. The movie "A Better Tomorrow" that made him famous was produced by Cinema City Film Company, which is controlled by Lei Juekun.

However, after the internal split of Cinema City in 1990, Lei Juekun, the boss who controlled Cinema City, began to lose interest in the film industry.

It was not until last year, after completing all of Cinema City’s unfinished film projects, that he let go completely and focused on his Kowloon Motor Bus and real estate projects.

With no other options, Wu Yusen could only turn to his old employer, Golden Harvest.

As for the older owner, Shaw Brothers, it had long ceased production and no longer made movies, focusing solely on TVB.

"Asen, I'm afraid I can't help you with this."

Zou Wenhuai sighed and said, "You should also know that we cooperated with Mr. Li on a movie. The production fee alone was as high as 1 million Hong Kong dollars. Currently, most of Golden Harvest's funds are invested in this movie. I'm afraid there is no way to invest in your film."

"This..." Wu Yusen frowned. He had heard about this before he went to Hong Kong, but he didn't expect that the cooperation was actually finalized. If Zou Wenhuai didn't agree, he might not be able to get any investment.

"Asen, Jiahe can't help you, but..."

Zou Wenhuai suddenly changed the subject: "I can ask Manager He to help you contact more investors in Taiwan. Your name, Wu Yusen, is still very well-known in Hong Kong and Taiwan. This time, Mr. Li will help you with the distribution. As long as you shoot well, it will definitely succeed!"

"Thank you, Mr. Zou!"

Wu Yusen was delighted, because he liked investors from Taiwan the most. They never complained and were happy as long as they could make money.

He is very confident that this new film project will be a great success.

As long as he can make his first success in Hollywood, he will be able to gain a firm foothold in Hollywood in the future. In the future, he may even be able to start his own film company and return to Hong Kong and Taiwan to seek investment when he needs funds.

After chatting for a while, Wu Yusen left happily.

As soon as he left, Ho Kuan-chang came in from next door and said, "Wen Huai, why don't you invest in Wu Yu-sen? His directing ability is still very good."

Many big-name directors were born in Hong Kong in the 1980s, including Wang Jing, Xu Ke, Wang Jiawei... and Wu Yusen.

It is undeniable that Wu Yusen is a very good director. Not only did he create the aesthetics of violence, but his films "A Better Tomorrow" and "Once Upon a Time" have also influenced generations of audiences.

But talent does not equal character.

The person who wrote "Draw the sword and make it into one piece, not to let the youth down" was also a talented and passionate young man back then, but unfortunately he became a traitor and a running dog later on.

“So what if I’m a good director?”

Zou Wenhuai adjusted his glasses and looked up at Ho Kuan Chang: "Over the years, we have seen so many talented directors, but the only director who has successfully entered the Hollywood market is Li Yishu from the mainland!"

"Wu Yusen is quite talented, but he is too impatient. His last movie directed in Hollywood, Target, had a total investment of 2500 million US dollars, but the global box office was only 7000 million, and the North American box office was only 3200 million."

At this point, Zou Wenhuai shook his head and said, "He is too impatient. The consequence of being too impatient is that everything will be lost!"

"Look at Mr. Li. The production fee was $2000 million, and the publicity and promotion cost no more than $4000 million. The global box office earned $4 million. With such a good result, Mr. Li did not rush to prepare a new movie in the United States. It is because he has to think twice before acting!"

Zou Wenhuai is the most qualified filmmaker in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China to talk about Hollywood.

As early as the 70s, he teamed up with Bruce Lee to venture into Hollywood and achieved certain results.

Later, he tried to encourage Jackie Chan to develop his career in Hollywood several times. Although most of them ended in failure, it allowed Zou Wenhuai to see the market patterns and rules of Hollywood, which led to the global success of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" he invested in and filmed later.

He Guanchang was surprised and asked, "Then why are you introducing investors to Wu Yusen?"

Zou Wenhuai smiled and said, "If we do him a favor, we can get a ride if he succeeds. If he fails, we'll still have a favor. Anyway, we don't have to pay for it."

Zou Wenhuai's shrewdness is definitely the main reason why he has been able to remain standing in Hong Kong's ever-changing film industry for many years.

"Oh~ I understand!" He Guanchang suddenly realized that Wenhuai is still the one who has to do business!
It only took two days.

Wu Yusen met with a dozen investors from Hong Kong and Taiwan introduced by Ho Kuan Chang. Wu Yusen's name was still very well-known in Hong Kong and Taiwan. In addition, he deliberately concealed the production fee of "The Ultimate Target" and only said that he had made an action movie in the United States and earned 7000 million US dollars at the global box office.

In the minds of Hong Kong and Taiwan investors, how much does an action movie cost to produce? At most, 1000 million US dollars is amazing. They got a return of 7 times, not counting the income from the videotape, which is definitely a huge return.

In the end, under the deception of Wu Yusen and his good friends Liu Zhenwei and Xu Ke, a total of 1.2 million Hong Kong dollars were taken from these investors, which is equivalent to about 1500 million US dollars.

This amount of money was definitely not enough, so he went to find Lei Juekun, the boss of Golden Princess Entertainment, and persuaded him to invest $100 million. After that, he pieced together a total of $2000 million.

Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport. Wu Yusen said with emotion: "Zhen Wei, Xu Ke, thank you for your hard work this time."

During this period of time, he finally understood what friends and brothers meant.

The two laughed and said, "It's not that hard. I believe you can succeed."

"Ok!"

Wu Yusen said with great enthusiasm: "Just wait, when I come back from the United States next time, things will not be like this. This time I will definitely become the number one Chinese director!"

After saying this, Wu Yusen walked into the boarding gate without looking back. The $2000 million production fee was still very tight, and he had to return to the United States as soon as possible to start preparing the crew.

It's getting dark, Shanghai, Huanghe Road, Taishengyuan Restaurant.

In the box, Liu Jialing stood by the window, looking at the busy traffic and bright lights outside, and sighed: "Huanghe Road is really prosperous!"

She is from Suzhou, which is not far from Shanghai. When she was a child, she often heard people talk about the various legends of Shanghai, such as the Bund and Nanjing Road, which deepened her impression of Shanghai.

Now, even the Yellow River Road, which I had never heard of before, is flashing with neon lights, and it looks no different from the bustling downtown of Hong Kong.

Yu Wenzheng, a producer at Shanghai Film Studio, couldn't help but laugh when he heard what Liu Jialing said, "Miss Liu, Huanghe Road wasn't so prosperous before. It was only transformed into a food street this year."

At this point, Yu Wenzheng looked at Li Yishu and Qingxia beside him and said, "This Taishengyuan Restaurant is the largest and best local cuisine restaurant on Huanghe Road, mainly serving seafood and river fish. Director Li, Ms. Lin, you two may want to taste our Shanghai cuisine later."

"Producer Yu praised it so much, so I have to taste it carefully."

Li Yishu smiled and said, "I'm from Sichuan. There's no seafood there. Today I'm going to try some seafood dishes made in Shanghai."

He also didn't expect that after visiting the set, Qingxia and others would actually want to come to Huanghe Road for dinner.

Li Yishu had never heard of this Yellow River Road before. After all, he had rarely been to Shanghai in his previous life. Even if he had been there, he mostly stayed in the Lujiazui area which has not yet been developed.

Thanks to the TV series "Fang Hua" filmed by Wang Jiawei, he learned that there was a food street in Shanghai that was as prosperous as Hong Kong Island in the 90s.

But there is no Zhizhen Garden and no Baozong on the Yellow River Road.

After the group sat down, Yuan Piu, the male protagonist of the movie "The Six-Fingered Piano Demon", was surprised to see the string of seafood on the menu and asked the manager: "Manager Cui, you even have Australian lobsters?"

Manager Cui said excitedly, "Yes, sir, our seafood is shipped from Guangzhou and Hong Kong, and it is guaranteed to be absolutely fresh!"

Many of the dozen or so people present are well-known celebrities.

How could Manager Cui not be excited when he saw so many big Hong Kong stars for the first time?
Yuan Piao looked up at Li Yishu and said, "Director Li, what would you like to eat?"

"I can do anything." Li Yishu smiled and looked at the restaurant manager Cui: "Manager Cui, what are your signature dishes?"

Manager Cui immediately said, "Yes! One snake, three ways to eat it!"

"One snake, three ways to eat it?"

Everyone frowned.

"Yes, one snake, three ways to eat it: salt and pepper king cobra, raw snake gallbladder and cold-mixed snake skin!"

Seeing that actresses like Qingxia and Liu Jialing looked unhappy, Manager Cui quickly introduced: "In addition to the three ways to eat this snake, we also have the signature dish "Farewell My Concubine", as well as king crabs, geoducks, Australian lobsters, grouper, etc. shipped from Guangzhou, Hong Kong."

"Producer Yu, do you have any recommendations?" Li Yishu looked at Yu Wenzhen who was sitting next to her.

Yu Wenzheng is a local. He doesn't come to Huanghe Road every day, but he often comes here for social events. He said with a smile, "Director Li, if you really want to eat it, you should try this snake in three ways. It tastes really good, especially the salt and pepper king cobra. The one made by Moss Sheng Garden is very authentic."

"Sister Qingxia, Jialing, what do you want to eat?"

"We can all do it, Director Li."

"Okay, then let's have one snake, three ways to eat it, and Farewell My Concubine. As for the rest of the seafood, you can choose from them."

Li Yishu closed the menu and handed it to Manager Cui.

"Okay, okay, Director Li, please wait a moment. I'll go and arrange for the kitchen to prepare the dishes right away."

Manager Cui didn't quite know this young man, but looking at Yu Wenzheng who often came here to eat, and the attitude of the Hong Kong celebrities around him, how could he not know that this was the real boss.

After nodding enthusiastically, he arranged for the waiter to wait in the room, and he hurried out to the kitchen to make arrangements.

Seeing that it was almost time, Yu Wenzheng smiled and introduced a beautiful woman sitting next to him: "Director Li, let me introduce you, this is Zheng Yan from the Yanjing Children's Art Theater. This time she plays He Qinghua, the apprentice of the Liehuo Patriarch in "The Six-Fingered Lute Devil."

Zheng Yan stood up gracefully, took the initiative to extend his hand and said, "Hello Director Li, it's nice to meet you. I like your film "Sword Rain" the most. It's so beautiful."

"Hello, Ms. Zheng. I've seen your performance in Love with Hate. It's very well made and you have a good chance of winning the Hundred Flowers Award for Popular Films next year."

Li Yishu still has a good impression of this great Zheng Ran. In the 96 version of "Water Margin", her role as Hu Sanniang was very impressive. At the same time, she also felt sorry for her for having such a name, which was ruined by "Yishuang" in the future.

　Please give me a monthly ticket! I beg you guys!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)