A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 160 Go wild!

I stayed in Taiwan for three days.

During this time, Chen Shuhua's parents made an unprecedented trip to visit her. At their first meeting, Lin Jianlu was polite, but not overly so. Her mother was also quite assertive, but after a few rounds of verbal sparring, she immediately realized that the reason this young man was so famous and could subdue her nearly forty-year-old daughter, making her so submissive to him, was not entirely because of his good looks. So she softened her tone and gave in a little.

Whether it's her own daughter or Su Huilun, they didn't have a marriage certificate or a wedding ceremony, yet they lived together. Don't talk about who's the wife and who's the mistress; the elderly can see very clearly that they're both mistresses.

However, there was nothing that could be done back then, and now that their daughter is pregnant with someone else's child, how could they possibly persuade her to turn back? Moreover, this person is indeed very talented, and when their daughter's career was clearly on the decline, he managed to make her the most popular artist in Hong Kong and Taiwan with just one album.

Despite all the grievances and reluctance, I could only swallow them down.

Even if it were only for their daughter's happiness, things had come to this point, and ruining their relationship would only cause more trouble—once again. Besides, although the boy was young, he had an indescribable aura in his every move, and his speech and behavior carried an indescribable masculine and fierce spirit. After spending a morning with him, the old couple inexplicably felt that he was indeed a trustworthy person.

A mistress is fine, as long as the daughter is willing.

Moreover, he allows his daughter to have a child for him, provides her with a large villa like this, pays a monthly allowance for the family's livelihood, and gives her a separate allowance of one million... The treatment is good enough!

So, when the old lady came, she probably had an inspection mindset, but when she left, she had almost calmed down and left with a sigh of humility and contentment.

Then, Lin Jianlu went to Ganggang.

This was a time when the Hong Kong film and television industry was in an uproar.

Whether it's "Ip Man" or "Fearless," as long as it's Sammo Hung and Lam Kin-lu, all the companies in Hong Kong are particularly willing to spend money. However, when it comes to Ge Fuhong's proposal that Lam Kin-lu hopes to introduce mainland companies to invest, the reactions from all parties are almost unanimous - they disagree!

Lin Jianlu is valuable, especially since it was his first appearance on the big screen. That goes without saying; you can name your price, it's just a matter of three million or five million. But as for investment? Sorry, you're not qualified!

With Hong Kong cinema so thriving, when did it become your turn, a mainlander, to invest?
Do we lack money?
No matter how famous you become, just focus on earning your paycheck!
Who are the people qualified to work alongside big shots? Only those who have been box office guarantees for almost twenty years with virtually no box office failures are allowed to invest!
We need Wang Jing, Du Qifeng, or at least Xu Ke—successful directors of this caliber who have been working in the market for twenty years. They are already a very important force in this market, which is why we allow them to bring in money and eat the top slice of the pie!
Hong Kong people talk about Chow Yun-fat, Chow Sing-chi, and Stephen Chow, but Chow Yun-fat is far from qualified to enter the capital market!

No matter how popular Li Lianjie, a mainlander, becomes, he is still far from becoming a player in the capital market!
What gives you the right to see Lin Jianlu?

You've sold a few records, know a few kung fu moves, and been famous for a year, so you think you're someone special? — Only Hong Kong capital is allowed to invest in the mainland, not for your few stinking coins to run wild in Hong Kong!

During dinner that evening, Wang Jing advised, "There's no need to make it so ugly! Good movies will keep being made and will continue to be made. You should focus on making a few serious films first. If the market is booming, everyone will value you more, and your status in the film industry will be higher. Then, of course, everyone will understand that your films are guaranteed to make money, and of course, you'll want to get in and get a piece of the pie from the very beginning. No one will really refuse to give face to a superstar who is currently at the peak of his career. But right now, you're in a bit of an awkward position. After all, it's your first film, and nobody knows how well your first film will do! Everyone thinks it will make money, but nobody knows if your second film will be able to make money either. In short, you still need to prove yourself again in terms of film and box office appeal!"

Sammo Hung also advised, speaking more directly, "Your achievements in the music industry don't necessarily translate into monetization in movies! You do have some popularity now, but don't take it too seriously. You're just selling your face, so why not try making a movie? Don't close your own path from the start!"

It also contained an implicit threat: "This red aura is very mysterious; it might suddenly disappear one day!"

After listening, Lin Jianlu remained silent and decided to stop talking about it.

The next day he simply left and returned to the mainland.

It is said that Sammo Hung was very unhappy.

However, even with the combined efforts of Wong Jing and Sammo Hung, they were unable to persuade Lin Jianlu to back down. But Yuan Heping, the action choreographer introduced by Wong Jing, was very willing to cooperate and went to the capital with Lin Jianlu the next day.

He recently brought his team to produce a TV series called "Tai Chi Master," which was made in mainland China. He really likes Wu Jing and previously made a film for him called "Kung Fu Kid," but it flopped and didn't make much of a splash in the film market. This TV series is the result of his persistence, and he is currently in talks with mainland TV stations to sell the series. Many stations are quite optimistic about it.

They gathered Zhang Yimou, Zhou Xiaowen, and others together to discuss how to shoot the music video.

Well, Lin Jianlu has a much bigger reputation in the mainland film and television industry than in Hong Kong and Taiwan. So, what was originally just a planned get-together for the crew, with the addition of Yuan Heping as the action choreographer, to help everyone get to know each other, turned into a gathering of dozens of friends.

Zhang Yimou, Gu Changwei, and Yuan Heping are the director, cinematographer, and action choreographer for Lin Jianlu's project.

But many people came to join in the fun, whether they said it was to help friends or to curry favor, it didn't matter. In short, they were willing to help even without any reward. Zhou Xiaowen's "Qin Song" was pulled from theaters after four days of release. He was depressed for half a year and finally began to recover. Hearing that Lin Jianlu was going to shoot a large-scale music video, he volunteered to join in the fun and asked him to assist Zhang Yimou as assistant director.

Han Shanping arrived, and Jiang Wen and Jiang Wu also came to offer suggestions. Feng Xiaogang, Zhang Yibo, Zhang Yang, Zhang Zien, and others, and even Zhang Jizhong (the bearded Zhang), whom we saw again after almost a year. Yes, *Water Margin* is finished filming.

If we add Zhao Baogang, Li Xiaowan, Li Shaohong, and others who are already considered Lin Jianlu's own people, it's no exaggeration to say that at least a dozen directors have gathered in Lin Jianlu's courtyard house.

Some are film directors, and some are television drama directors.

A group of people get together to work out a story, discuss storyboards, and even talk about makeup and costumes.

The storyline that Lin Jianlu had been conceiving for a long time, and the effect he wanted to present, were quickly enriched into specific scenes by this group of people.

Jiang Wen volunteered to play the main villain.

He had enough presence that Lin Jianlu agreed without hesitation.

Many people make things easier. Many amazing things are the result of a group of talented people sitting together and arguing. Speaking of the story, the music video is definitely not very sophisticated. However, many of the shooting requirements put forward by Lin Jianlu and the effects he hoped to achieve in the end were quite challenging for even directors like Zhang Yimou and Jiang Wen, cinematographers like Gu Changwei, and martial arts choreographers like Yuan Heping. So everyone was very enthusiastic.

At the dinner table, Jiang Wen directly challenged him, rolling up her sleeves and slamming her hand on the table, "If you can't do it, I'll do it!"

Zhang Yimou waved his hand dismissively, "Go away! They're looking for me!"

Many things were decided on the spot.

We're going to Xi'an to film the ancient city wall and the Three Kingdoms Film City to film the Han Dynasty palace. The former is a specialty of a group of directors from Xi'an Film Studio, while Zhang Jizhong has just filmed many scenes there and knows the latter inside and out.

So Zhou Xiaowen was in charge of scouting locations in Xi'an, Zhang Jizhong accompanied Gu Changwei to Taihu City, and Zhang Yimou was responsible for coordinating with the pyrotechnicians. On the one hand, they needed to apply for gunpowder, and on the other hand, they needed to find a place in the outskirts of Beijing for testing. In addition, Zhang Jizhong was also responsible for coordinating the issue of warhorses, which required a great many, thousands of horses.

If all goes well, the local garrison will also be needed to film some scenes with large numbers of troops. Han Shanping will submit a report to apply for this—in the name of Beijing Film Studio, it's still something that can be done in this era.

They got right to work, with ample funding and manpower.

It's no longer the time when you could hire someone to shoot a music video for 30,000 yuan.

The budget has now risen to over four million RMB, yet many people still refuse payment, purely for help. The next day, Ge Fuhong even called again, saying that the Taiwanese photographer Chen Huaien was also willing to help, just to come and assist. After all, he's one of the top three photographers in Europe, so they invited him to come and earn some money, assisting Gu Changwei.

Lin Jianlu returned to the capital at the end of March, and before he could even reunite with his lovers, he took Yu Feihong with him and set off for Xi'an.

Filming begins.

Perhaps years later, when this filming experience is unearthed, the mere list of production staff for this music video will be enough to make many people's eyes widen – Jiang Wen, Feng Xiaogang, Zhang Jizhong, Jiang Wu, Zhang Zien, Zhang Yang, Zhang Yibo, and others, including Zhang Guoli who later deliberately got involved, were all just production staff.

We spent four and a half days filming in Xi'an, and then turned around and went to Taihu City.

There were some minor accidents during the explosion, injuring a few horses. One soldier who was assisting with the filming was hit by a horse and suffered a fracture. Without hesitation, Lin Jianlu not only covered all medical and nutritional expenses, but also gave him his business card, saying that if he ever got discharged and needed to find work, he could just give him a call and he would take care of it!

In fact, Lin Jianlu herself was not having an easy time either.

The fish-scale armor and helmet he had specially ordered weighed over 40 kilograms when he put them on!
They're all made with the real best materials, the kind that actually survived and worked well on ancient battlefields!

That's exactly the kind of quality I'm looking for!

However, carrying 40 to 50 pounds of armor every day is exhausting, even if you're just trying to look cool!
They filmed for another six days.

After filming the ancient scenes, we moved on to Shanghai to film the modern skyscrapers—aside from the scene requirements of the story itself, there was only one requirement: to capture the most modern side of China!
Cultural products, whether songs, novels, or films, ultimately possess a powerful cultural export attribute beyond their commercial value. In the planning stage, the "Believer" music video is the last of the first three hits of the album. Even if the first two main singles don't become hits, Lin Jianlu wants to take this opportunity to promote Eastern culture to Europe and America!

(End of this chapter)