Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 300 [Zhang Yimou, who was caught by Cannes]

Gong Li laughed and ignored Li Yishu's stubbornness. She asked, "Yishu, when will the filming of Red Cliff start?"

She also participated in the Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff, but was just a supporting role, playing the role of Mrs. Mi.

She was Liu Bei's second wife who entrusted A Dou to Zhao Yun and then committed suicide by jumping into a well.

Li Yishu thought for a moment and said, "It should start filming in May or June next year."

"How long will the filming take?"

"It will probably take more than half a year."

"Red Cliff" is a big drama, which is divided into two parts. Fortunately, there are so many directors to cooperate, otherwise it would definitely not be completed in half a year.

Fortunately, the crew is not short of money and can start filming in multiple locations. Li Yishu himself is only planning to direct three major dramas, namely Cao Cao's expedition against Wuhuan, Zhao Yun's seven ins and outs, and the Battle of Chibi.

As they were chatting, Gong Li suddenly said, "Director Zhang has a movie and wants me to star in it."

"what movie?"

"It's a gangster movie set in Shanghai during the Republic of China, adapted from the book "The Rules of the House" by writer Li Xiao. The script is still being written. I read the novel and was asked to play a dancer named Xiao Jinbao."

Rocking, Rocking to Grandma's Bridge

When Li Yishu heard the name Xiao Jinbao, she thought of the only gangster-themed film ever shot by Zhang Yimou.

Regardless of whether this movie is good or not, at least the pictures and atmosphere are good. In particular, Gong Li, who loves cheongsam, was finally satisfied in this movie. She wore more than a dozen cheongsams of different styles in one movie.

Long wavy hair, fiery red lips, heavy makeup, coquettish and charming.

Lee Yi-su pretended to be curious: "When did Director Zhang become interested in gangster movies?"

Gong Li said: "I don't know about that. The novel is quite interesting. The role of Xiao Jinbao is quite challenging. Anyway, it is quite different from what I have played before. Let me tell you..."

She talked enthusiastically about Xiao Jinbao in the novel.

What a queen of song and dance in Shanghai, what a person who was caught in the vortex of power between Mr. Tang and Mr. Song, and who eventually met with misfortune due to adultery and cruel fate, and became a victim of the power struggle.

Balabala said a lot.

Li Yishu nodded as he listened. He had not read the original novel, but he had seen the movie.

The film as a whole is quite good, with the combination of pictures and colors, the bright lights, debauchery and extravagance, and it has the flavor of Shanghai in the 1930s.

But he remembered that the movie didn't seem to win any major awards.

Li Yishu asked, "When will Director Zhang start filming?"

"I'm not sure about the details. The script is still being written. It will probably only be in the next few months. I heard from Director Zhang that he wants to participate in the Cannes Film Festival next year."

At this point, Gong Li recalled what Li Yishu had said, and couldn't help shaking her head: "Director Zhang seems to be stuck in it. He only thinks about winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes. He doesn't think the three major European awards are that easy to win, does he?"

As someone who has a very close relationship with Lee Yi-shu and has received explanations from Lee Yi-shu, Gong Li is very clear about how thrilling it was for Lee Yi-shu to win the European Triple Gold Grand Slam.

Gong Li is not very clear about the stories behind the Golden Lion Award in 1991 and the Palme d'Or in 1993, but she knows more than outsiders how she won the Golden Bear Award at this year's Berlin Film Festival.

From the beginning, Lee Yi-su had already conquered two people on the jury.

One of the jury members, Xu Lu, has worked with Li Yishu many times. Who else should we vote for if not him?

There is also the black American actor Morgan Freeman. Gong Li also learned from Li Yishu that in order to get this ticket, he had finalized a movie with the other party with an investment of nearly 10 million US dollars a month before the opening of the film festival, and the director was Morgan Freeman.

There were only a few members in total, and they had already secured two tickets a month before the opening.

Later, with the support of the Germanic architecture of Jinan’s old railway station and the racial discrimination of the two American actors, the Berlin Film Festival was able to present Lee Yi-su with the Golden Bear Award despite tremendous pressure, allowing her to complete the achievement of the triple gold grand slam.

Gong Li has heard a lot about the shamelessness of foreigners from Li Yishu in the past two years, so she is not optimistic about Zhang Yimou's determination to win the triple gold Grand Slam.

"There's nothing we can do. Director Zhang is just one Cannes Palme d'Or away. If you tell him now that it's impossible, regardless of whether he believes it or not, he will want to give it a try."

Li Yishu smiled and said, "There's a saying that goes, people can never teach people, but things can teach people, and they are always right!"

"Yeah, so I didn't tell Director Zhang about this. I'll just wait until I hit a wall before turning back."

Gong Li nodded. She would not do such a thankless task. Zhang Yimou is now obsessed with the triple gold grand slam. So when he knows that his rural themes can no longer win awards as before, he breaks through himself and starts shooting in styles other than rural themes.

This remake of the novel "The Rules of the House" is a bold attempt by Zhang Yimou.

"Director Zhang has the ability to direct. If he doesn't win the Palme d'Or next year, it's just because of the suppression of the European Film Festival. But Sister Gong Li, you can try to win the Best Actress Award."

Li Yishu said thoughtfully, "Although I haven't read the novel, from your introduction just now, the character of Xiao Jinbao is quite complicated. If Director Zhang is aiming for the Cannes Film Festival next year, as long as the film is of high quality, the organizers of the film festival will definitely give you an award. It depends on whether you can turn this award into the Best Actress Award with your acting skills."

The movie "Raise the Red Lantern" can be considered a movie with a strong female theme. The whole movie largely revolves around her. The two characters, Tang Lao Da and Song Erye, actually just play a role in fueling the flames.

As long as Gong Li can perform better than before, and with a little public relations, Li Yishu feels that Gong Li's chances of winning the award are still very high.

For the three major European film festivals, the Grand Slam director's award has the highest value.

It is common knowledge that Zhang Yimou wants to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, after all, he has already won the Golden Bear and the Golden Lion.

At this moment, Zhang Yimou is the fish and the Cannes Film Festival is the fisherman. The fisherman throws out the Palme d'Or as bait. As long as Zhang Yimou is determined to become a grand slam director, he will definitely take this bait.

As for being caught, it is impossible, it will eventually be caught as a black carp.

Because Li Yishu has successfully "landed", becoming the fourth director in the world to win the triple gold grand slam, and the only Chinese director.

If the three major film festivals want to maintain their status, they will certainly not mass-produce directors who have won the triple gold grand slam.

Anyway, there is already the successful case of Li Yishu, and there will be many black carp from Asian countries waiting for them to catch in the future, so there is no need to find a second case.

"Then what are my chances of winning the three major awards?"

Gong Li's eyes flickered. She had already won the Golden Lion Award for Best Actress. She only needed two more awards, one from Berlin and one from Cannes, to complete the three Grand Slam awards. "Of course there is, but don't even think about it in the short term."

Li Yishu shook her head. Gong Li's hope of winning the three major awards is definitely greater than Zhang Yimou's, but it is hard to say how high the chance is.

At this year's Berlin Film Festival, Gong Li performed very well in "Central Station", a film with humanistic themes, in which the female lead accounted for 80 percent of the scenes.

If Lee Ye-su had not promoted the Golden Bear Award in advance, Gong Li might have won the Berlin Film Festival Best Actress award with this opportunity.

"Take your time. I'm not in a hurry anyway." Gong Li nodded: "When will the movie about Lü Zhi that you told me about be filmed?"

"There's no script yet, just wait and see. I don't know when it will start filming, but I'm sure you'll get to play the role of Empress Gong, Sister Gong Li."

"Then I'm going to have fun now!"

Gong Li grabbed Li Yishu's vital point, with a cold and arrogant look on her face: "I am very dissatisfied with your performance just now. Now I will punish you to serve this queen well!"

In order to avoid becoming the real "Little Leo", the captured Li Yishu must serve Gong Huang well.

"Isn't this right?"

Li Yishu said with a wicked smile, "Sister Gong Li, aren't you going to play the role of Little Jinbao, the song and dance queen of Shanghai? Why don't you let me see how you dance as the song and dance queen, and test it out?"

Gong Li was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "That's right, let's try it?"

“Try it!!”

Huadu Hotel opened in 1982 and was the leading international hotel in Yanjing at that time.

The hotel is not large, with six floors in total. It has more than 500 guest rooms including single rooms, standard rooms, deluxe double rooms, suites, etc. It provides more than 60 satellite TV programs. The standard room is 25 square meters in size.

The hotel is equipped with recreational facilities such as chess and card room, karaoke room, swimming pool, sauna room, gymnasium, shopping mall, beauty salon, bicycle rental and other supporting services.

These may seem like just regular supporting facilities of ordinary large hotels in the future, but now they are definitely synonymous with luxury. Ordinary people are quite fascinated by the life here.

The hotel staff are also proud to work in such a big hotel. After all, the higher the grade of the hotel, the higher their salary, and even the status of their outings will be different.

It’s not like thirty years later, when people heard that you were a hotel waiter, the first impression was that you were a wage earner. It’s not like now, when the job of a hotel waiter is worthy of envy and jealousy.

This was also Li Yishu’s first time visiting the Huadu Hotel. As soon as she drove downstairs, she found that this hotel was a bit similar to the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong.

The U-shaped semi-enclosed architectural style is very characteristic of the times. In the future, large hotels will be as tall as possible, and their style will be standard skyscraper style.

"Director Li!"

Li Yishu had just parked the car when she heard someone calling her. She turned around and saw Wang Shuo and two other people walking towards her from the direction of the hotel entrance.

"Brother Wang, you can just tell me the room number, why did you come down in person?"

"That won't do. You can be a distinguished guest today. If I don't come down to greet you personally, I'll be wrong."

Wang Shuo laughed, and after leading the group over, he introduced the two people around him:

"This is Ma Weidu, the editor of Youth Publishing House. We all call him Master Ma. He likes to tinker with antiques, calligraphy and paintings. If Director Li is interested, you can contact him. He knows everything."

"Master Ma likes antiques, calligraphy and paintings?"

Li Yishu recognized the collector who would become famous in the future at a glance, except that his hair was still very dark and he was a little plump.

"What Master Ma? Director Li, don't listen to Wang Shuo, just call me Old Ma."

Ma Weidu smiled and stretched out his hand:

"As for antiques, calligraphy and paintings, Wang Shuo is just giving me face. How can I be knowledgeable in this field? There are so many fine treasures from the Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Even professors and experts can be fooled sometimes, not to mention me, who just started my career halfway through."

"That won't do. Brother Wang calls him Master Ma, so how can I call him Old Ma? And to be honest with you, Master Ma, I am really interested in antiques, calligraphy and paintings, but I know nothing about them and I'm afraid of being cheated. If there are any good things in the future, Master Ma has to help me identify them."

By saying this, Li Yishu gave face to both Wang Shuo and Ma Weidu.

"Haha, no problem, no problem!"

"Director Li, if you are unsure about something in the future, feel free to call me. I know a lot of friends in the antique business and I will definitely not let Director Li suffer any loss."

Ma Wei seemed very happy. He had heard from Wang Shuo at the beginning that although Li Yishu was young, he was easy to get along with. It turned out to be true. He was famous all over the country at such a young age, and he was so polite to call him Master Ma.

After all, to put it bluntly, Ma Weidu is now just a small collector with some connections in his family. He has written a few novels and has a certain fame in the Yanjing cultural circle.

Compared to top directors like Lee Yi-su who are famous both at home and abroad, his fame is not worth mentioning at all.

"Then Master Ma, we have a deal!"

Li Yishu smiled, then looked at the other person, and her anus immediately tightened.

Wang Shuo also took the opportunity to introduce: "Director Li, this is Haiyan. We all call him Yanzi. Yanzi has written many novels. A few years ago, his novel "Plainclothes Policeman" was adapted into a TV series."

Li Yishu pretended to be surprised: "So this TV series was written by Yan Ge. I loved watching this TV series when I was in high school."

He really didn't lie. The drama was very popular at the time and had a wide influence because it was the first in China to expose the relatively real life of police officers, and the role of plainclothes police was clearly different from that of regular public security police.

Moreover, the drama also has anti-espionage plots, including the iron-fisted smash in 77, which can be said to be very eye-catching for the audience.

Haiyan looked a little serious, but after hearing what Li Yishu said, he still curled his lips and smiled, "I didn't expect Director Li to have watched this drama."

"Of course I have seen it. This TV series was so popular back then. I even wanted to be a plainclothes policeman at that time."

"Fortunately, Director Li didn't take the job, otherwise we would have lost a great director who was famous overseas."

Wang Shuo saw that the conversation was almost over, so he said, "Let's go, Director Li, everyone from our Haima Film and Television Creation Center is here, and we are just waiting for you, our distinguished guest."

(End of this chapter)