Coquettish Rebirth

When Lao Mouzi changed the script over and over again, of course he also had to operate other things.For example, in the selection of actors, in order to have a better life, Jia Hongjian discussed the production of such a film, and Lao Mouzi directly rented a house in a residential area in Pudong, Shanghai. So Er drove his small Bujing 660 car to discuss with Jia Hongjian.On the issue of actor selection, Lao Mouzi immediately put forward his idea, "Should we look for Cheng Long or Li Lianjie? They are relatively popular in the United States, right? If we can find them, our film will be relatively speaking. It should be much better at the box office, right?"

This kind of thinking is the common thinking of ordinary domestic directors, and even foreign directors often think this way, so there is a tradition of finding stars to make films, because stars have the so-called box office appeal!However, Jia Hongjian has something to say about this method, "If it is purely for the domestic market, then just find a few well-known domestic stars. If you are looking for stars who are well-known abroad, the money is too expensive to be honest. When the time comes The quality of the movie must be lowered. When this is inappropriate, it is a matter of opinion. But from my point of view, Cheng Long and Li Lianjie are not well-known in North America, and Cheng Long's style is different from our films. Similarly, his fighting style is more humorous. Even if there is not so much humorous content in "Who Am I Remastered Edition", the routine of fighting with various materials on the spot has not changed. This is different from our The style to be presented is a bit different, we don’t take martial arts as the core selling point, it’s not that an assassin who simply uses guns, knives and swords must be inferior to an assassin who uses a bench..."

That's right, Jia Hongjian's "Heroes" is actually mainly about storytelling, relatively speaking, the main character is not an assassin!Although the camera is always facing the assassin, it is not necessary to portray the assassin as a positive example like Chen Jiaju in "Police Story", nor to portray it as a typical character that the audience will be drawn into by a large margin.So from this point of view, the assassin's skills and what weapons are actually not so particular.After all, "Police Story" sells Cheng Long's fights.And such a film does not sell fights but stories.

"Mr. Jia, what do you mean?" Zhang Yimou suddenly felt something was wrong, wondering what Jia Hongjian was going to do.As a result, when he was thinking about it, he only heard Jia Hongjian say: "I just want to focus on some domestic stars. At most, I can choose someone like Li Kuang to gain some momentum abroad. For example, if Chen Daoming plays the role of King Qin Yes, his price is not too expensive. Then what about the protagonist... I think it is Yuen Biao?" "Yuen Biao? Cheng Long's junior? He... can he do it?" Zhang Yimou was shocked at that time!He knew Yuen Biao, and Yuen Biao had already "retired to the second line" in the past two years.In the 80s and early 90s, Yuen Biao was supported by Cheng Long and Hong Jinbao.You can also be a leading role in a movie or something.But in the early 90s, Hong Jinbao himself could no longer be the protagonist, and only Cheng Long was still the protagonist. Naturally, Yuen Biao had to retreat to the second line like Hong Jinbao.

So for Yuen Biao now, in fact, there is only one movie a year, and sometimes even one movie every two years.The filming is just playing some supporting roles, and more is being a martial arts instructor.I have to ask Yuen Biao to come here, can it work?Seeing Zhang Yimou stunned, Jia Hongjian explained with a smile: "Yuen Biao doesn't have to be involved in this matter, you can also pick those actors who have a little knowledge of martial arts and can make movies, I think The overall salary of the lead actor should not exceed 500 million RMB.” Jia Hongjian’s pricing made Zhang Yimou immediately understand Jia Hongjian’s role as an actor!

What is the feeling of 500 million RMB?The Hong Kong dollar is more than seven points to one against the U.S. dollar this year.RMB is more than eight points to one, so 500 million RMB is less than 500 million Hong Kong dollars!And what kind of stars can you find in Hong Kong with 500 million Hong Kong dollars?To put it simply, before Jet Li went to the United States, his film salary in Hong Kong in 93 was 1200 million Hong Kong dollars!Moreover, this is still the price quoted in 93. Now, in 2002, nearly ten years have passed. Because of the mainland market, Hong Kong Star's value has increased a lot.For example, Cheng Long is directly worth over 93 million!In 2000, Cheng Long was only worth 6000 million in Hong Kong!As for Li Lianjie, although he is not as good as Cheng Long in Hollywood.But he is represented by a brokerage company in Hollywood, Cheng Long can get less money because of his friendship, but even if Li Lianjie is willing to nod, the Hollywood brokerage company is still unwilling to nod!So Li Lianjie doesn't say he wants to get a worth of [-] million, why should he get [-] to [-] million?

Others, like Zhou Runfa, are not low in value, so they have to come to 6000 to 4000 million, right?And people still don't know how to fight.I even heard that Gong Li is doing well in Hong Kong now.That worth has reached about 500 million Hong Kong dollars!And Jia Hongjian gave Lao Mouzi 57 million yuan to hire the male number one. Who can he hire?That is Yuen Biao, Hong Jinbao and these semi-retired old guys, okay?Although Yuen Biao is younger than Cheng Long, he is also [-] years old, and he is in his early forties now.Don't say you can't fight.But the body shape must have dropped a bit, and the skin has become a bit loose. Is it really good to be the leading actor in this way?

While Lao Mouzi continued to worry, he only heard Jia Hongjian say: "Don't worry about these things, this time we are going to lower the actors' wages and try to use cheap actors with good acting skills. Even if the image It doesn’t matter if it’s a little bit close. You have to know that in China, we don’t need their box office appeal. With you, me, and the two of us, this film already has box office appeal. It doesn’t matter if there are no stars! On the contrary, there are no stars. This is a breaking news and a gimmick! We can also spend more money on film production. You said that we invest less than 2.5 million yuan in a film, and more than 2.4 million yuan. In the end, if Cheng Long is invited , just give him half of the money, and leave us to fuck? The rest of the money we have is not only for filming but also for publicity, how can it be enough? And you have to know, going to overseas markets, especially the US market, what Li Lianjie Ah, what Yuen Biao, that’s pretty much the same for Americans! Besides, our "Tang Monk" doesn’t use any familiar male stars in Europe and America, isn’t it still doing well at the box office?”

Of course Jia Hongjian was fooling around, he knew that Jet Li's worth in the United States was really much higher than that of Yuen Biao.Da Li is now worth tens of millions. Although there is still a little gap between Cheng Long's public asking price of 1500 million to 2000 million, he is barely considered a second-tier star!But the problem is that Jia Hung-chien doesn't think Jet Li's films are worth his worth, at least he doesn't think so in the film "Heroes"!In history, Lao Mouzi had no confidence, so he needed celebrities to come to the market to appeal.But now he, Jia Hongjian, is a star.Do you need other stars to come to the market to call?Believe it or not, when the movie comes out, everyone in the market knows that he can fry it in minutes?We are capitalists. On the basis of ensuring product quality, of course we must be able to lower costs!Who said that you must find a big star to make a film?Just like in the film "Bad Boys" where Will Smith and Michael Bay shined at the same time, there was no star when it was filmed!Michael Bay was still a third-rate director at the time, and Will Smith was just a fledgling kid. Even the guy who acted with Will Smith was just a well-known third-rate actor!

Just such a third-rate platform. With an investment of 2300 million US dollars, it created a box office of 95 million when it was released in 1.4, and it also made countless Americans willing to spend money to go to the cinema to watch it!What does this mean?It shows that the quality of the movie is excellent, it doesn't matter if it is a big star or not!Our film is going to be released in the United States, unless you are willing to spend a lot of money to find Li Lianjie or Cheng Long, or choose other people, it is almost too much!And even Zhou Runfa, an actor who relied on the name of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" to spread across the United States.Then a year or two ago in the United States, he wasn't considered a third-rate star, and he couldn't even act in a play!So when it's released in the U.S. market, does it matter who plays the leading actor?Instead of thinking about how to rely on the actor's name to win the box office, it is better to think about how to make a good story and how to make a sincere film out!Otherwise, it will be the same as the so-called blockbuster movies in later generations, bringing in a few big stars.Make a fooling plot, so that you can make money by making a film?Can this approach make the Chinese film industry progress?If Zhang Yimou just wants to fool around, then forget it. If he really wants to improve, then it is better to directly improve the charm of the plot!

"Okay... Teacher Jia, then I understand!" Lao Mouzi really understood at this time.He knew that such an investor and producer as Jia Hongjian would not be afraid of losing money without being a star, so what else was he afraid of?Just do it right away!And a few days later, DreamWorks in the United States also sent an executive producer to help Jia Hongjian.Originally, the executive producer was supposed to be doing all kinds of outpost work, ordering lunch boxes and the like.However, Jia Hongjian's executive producer was generally blamed by the producer who helped him execute the details, such as controlling the budget of the entire crew, and then supervising the expenditure of every sum of money, and so on.And after such an executive producer came, the old Mouzi had to make a budget!

In such a budget table, the total remuneration of the actors as a whole is only 2000 million RMB!And this price still includes various supporting roles and various extras!Then the filming itself would cost about 1 million yuan, and this [-] million yuan budget is divided into many parts.For example, how much does it cost to buy film.How much does it cost to rent cranes or aerial photography equipment, how much to rent a full set of radio and photography equipment, how much to make various costumes and props, and even various box lunches, drinking water, and hotel expenses.The cost of renting a car... such a bunch of expenses that are extremely detailed must be budgeted!This surprised Lao Mouzi a bit!When he was filming before, even if he broke away from the old system, he started to cooperate with Zhang Weiping in the new picture.The filming with Zhang Weiping's money is just a general impression in my mind, about which aspect will cost about what order of magnitude of money, but it is not so detailed!I also had to get the budget right before the filming started!Just watching Jia Hongjian do this, he looks professional!