The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 123 Diagnosis
Basically, China Film Group gave the "Hero" crew all the support it could.

From funding to venues, from equipment to manpower, from distribution to promotion, China Film Group has almost taken care of everything. It has to be said that Zuoshandiao has both vision and courage - it will be another matter if he retires and makes money on the mountain.

So Xu Jiuyang was very curious. Zhang Weiping was essentially a pig in the wind. What was he crazy about back then?

Well, there are always many people who can’t see themselves clearly.

So... OK, Angela, as a "noble" foreign investor and deputy director of Sony-Columbia Greater China, has signed Zhang Yimou and is involved in the "Hero" project. China Film Group is so happy that it can't contain itself.

You know, even if China officially joins the WTO in the second half of this year, the country's hunger for foreign exchange will not be completely alleviated until five or six years later.

Well, come to think of it, the higher-ups started cleaning up foreign investment in traditional media in 06, so maybe this is a factor?

"She really dares to let me sort out the plot of "Hero"." Xu Jiuyang returned to the rented house and said to himself while flipping through the script.

If you think about it carefully, it's normal. Nowadays, there are very few Chinese people who don't have a filter when it comes to Europe and the United States, and even fewer in the film and television and entertainment circles.

Then, as Angela said, I have sufficient understanding of Europe and the United States and have a certain level of writing skills.

only……

"It always feels weird," Xu Jiuyang recalled Angela's attempt to sign him. "I'm not Tang Sanzang's flesh, why do they all want it... and won't let go of me?"

Despite this, when he looked through the script of "Hero" again, he did not feel depressed, but rather excited and eager to try it out.

After all, it is well known that the plot of "Hero" is terrible. Zhang Yimou was obsessed with imitating Kurosawa Akira, but he didn't even learn the skin, let alone the bones. Angela's comment about imitating others like Dong Shi and learning to walk by imitating others is indeed a very accurate comment.

In a sense, the trend of mainland China's big productions not paying attention to script polishing, leaving it entirely up to the director to improvise and create random introductions, started from here.

Who made "Hero" the pig in the wind?

Therefore, if I can really organize the script well, make the whole story smooth and logical, and let Angelababy press Zhang Yimou to shoot it, it will be a good start for Chinese films.

Even if it's just a little bit of change, or even no change at all, it's still meaningful.

Even though Xu Jiuyang kept saying that he wanted to lie down and hasn't changed his mind till now, when faced with such a big event, he still couldn't help but want to get involved.

It’s like the saying circulating among “Call of Duty 17” players: I don’t want to betray, but he calls me TZ.

"Come on then." Xu Jiuyang rubbed his hands with determination.

Then he stayed in the house for three days without going out, until the meager supplies in the refrigerator were gone.

"Road movie, then fighting, and unification of the world..." After taking a shower, Xu Jiuyang went outside and found a nice restaurant to have lunch. He thought while eating.

The Rashomon narrative should naturally go as far as possible. If it can't even tell an ordinary narrative well, why is it trying to do such tricks? If you want to make yourself happy, go and get investment yourself. What's the point of using the country's money to build a PC?
Then, a few fight scenes have to be retained. After all, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" brought about the craze for martial arts and kung fu movies, and although the fights in the original version were flashy, they were still worth watching from an aesthetic point of view.

But at that time, Angela must hold down Zhang Yimou and not let him let go and make a bunch of inexplicable demands, or simply replace Cheng Xiaodong with Mr. Yuan.

Also need to be preserved are the various marching scenes from the original version, otherwise how can it be considered a big production?
So he thought the whole structure could be restructured into a road movie narrative, with Wuming initially killing Changkong and catching the eye of the Qin general who was ordered to capture the assassin, who then recruited him. He then went on to kill Feixue and Canjian, and finally was summoned by King Zheng of Qin, even being able to bring weapons with him.

Who knew that when you arrived at the palace, a large number of armored warriors rushed out. At the same time, King Zheng of Qin said that he knew you came for assassination, and that Changkong, Feixue and Canjian deliberately died in your hands in order to make the assassination successful.

However, King Zheng of Qin was neither angry nor contemptuous. Instead, he asked Wuming if he was willing to serve him, because the world would eventually be unified.

Unexpectedly, Wuming also said that he knew the king knew that he was here to assassinate him, but he still came. The reason he did so was not because he wanted to surrender, but because he had to stab him with the sword no matter what.

Only Your Majesty can end this chaotic world. However, I have shouldered too much and seen too much along the way. Therefore, I cannot stab you with this sword, but I must stab you. Therefore, Your Majesty, please unbutton your clothes.

So after King Zheng of Qin took off his clothes and hung them up, Wuming stabbed him three times and finally committed suicide.

That’s right, the plot line sorted out by Xu Jiuyang was based on the story of Yu Rang assassinating Zhao Xiangzi, which was recorded in the 26th chapter of “Biographies of Assassins” in “Records of the Grand Historian”.

This story goes that when the Three Kingdoms divided Jin, Zhi Bo, the head of the Zhi family, a minister of Jin, was killed by Zhao Xiangzi, the head of the Zhao family. Yu Rang was a retainer of Zhi Bo, so he wanted to assassinate Zhao Xiangzi to repay Zhi Bo.

To this end, Yu Rang swallowed charcoal and disfigured himself, begging in the downtown area in search of opportunities.

But Zhao Xiangzi was very alert, and Yu Rang's assassination attempts failed several times and he was eventually captured.

Zhao Xiangzi was broad-minded and thought Yu Rang was a righteous man, so he wanted to let him go. However, Yu Rang said that if he let him go, he would still find a chance to assassinate him, and left behind the words "A gentleman will die for his friend".

In the end, Yu Rang asked Zhao Xiangzi to take off his clothes and let him stab them three times to fulfill his loyalty to the king, and then he committed suicide.

You can find a good story by flipping through any history book, so some people are either stupid or bad, or both.

"That's not enough, the plot needs more depth..." Xu Jiuyang muttered, unable to help but sigh again.

Can't you just tell a good story? No matter how much you want to express or educate, you have to first attract the audience through the story.

Fortunately, he was prepared. Forget about peace. It was so damn awkward, so awkward that it could make someone want a three-bedroom apartment.

So, isn’t it in the form of a road movie? Moreover, the time point is set after Jing Ke’s assassination, so along the way you can compare the areas after unification with the areas that have not yet been unified.

Then the character of Canjian needs to be changed...or rather, the characters of the three swordsmen need to be changed. Changkong will have the least changes, and he will be a hero in the martial arts world who values ​​his promises over life and death.

Feixue... Xu Jiuyang hasn't made up his mind yet. He was thinking about whether to remove this character and replace it with three male assassins. After all, there are no women in "Biographies of Assassins", and there are not many records of female assassins in history books - let's forget about Lu Siniang.

But then I thought, I have already said that the main focus should be on the story. Even if it is now in the form of a road movie, the core is still a kung fu movie and an action movie, and it still needs female characters to add some balance.

So at present, it is still set that he is related to Canjian, and they part ways because of whether to assassinate King Zheng of Qin. The rest of the story will have to wait until Canjian’s character setting is completed.

The character of Canjian is no longer the inexplicably bankrupt petty bourgeois in the original version. He appears as an old farmer, works diligently in the fields, and marries a country wife.

(End of this chapter)