HuaYu: A Great Director Starting with Dream of the Red Chamber

It was late at night, and it was raining heavily.

Although it was a rain curtain created by a sprinkler truck, it was still bitterly cold in Huairou in December.

On the monitor, Lin Mengmeng, played by Jing Tian, ​​stood blankly in the courtyard of the mansion.

After the trial, her father was sentenced to prison, and she was acquitted.

Li Yan did not let her burst into hysterical sobs.

She was soaked to the bone, her hair plastered to her face, and her once pure and noble face was now filled with twisted regret and despair.

Tears fell silently, like a "sad frog" (scratch that?!) or a "drowsy dog"...

During those fifty-two days, she was completely overwhelmed by the acting skills of several movie stars, which finally made Li Yan's hard work in training her pay off.

In this scene, her dramatic tension seemed to have materialized somewhat.

"Click!"

Li Yan took off his headphones and sat up from the chair:

Filming wrapped!

The set fell silent for a moment, then erupted in deafening cheers.

Ding Xiaoxiao and her entourage delivered the prepared flowers and blankets to the lead actors who were still present.

For films like this with a small scale, there are usually only about seventy scenes. Under normal circumstances, the filming period is two to three months. Not everyone is Wong Kar-wai...

But Li Yan's "Silent Witness" is different; he completed all the filming tasks in 52 days with great enthusiasm.

At the wrap party, everyone drank heartily.

The award-winning actors were also very happy with their drinks, mainly because the filming was quick and enjoyable, so they naturally mingled with Li Yan, calling him brother.

Jiang Zhiqiang and Lu Zheng also made an appearance. Even Fan Bingbing, who had to rush to the event, made a special trip to have a drink and take a group photo with everyone before leaving in a hurry.

Li Yan didn't dare to drink too much. After seeing off these big shots, he only rested for one night before plunging into editing and post-production.

The days of going back and forth between two points were bleak and hopeless.

Despite working frantically, Li Yan finally finished the first draft on New Year's Eve.

After a two-hour internal screening.

Lu Zheng pointed at the scrolling subtitles on the screen, clapping incredulously as he looked at Li Yan: "This... this is our Tian Tian acting?!"

Jiang Zhiqiang also took off his glasses and nodded. It was indeed a very mature commercial film, and the pacing was unusually tight in the current market.

"There's hope!"

Jiang Zhiqiang uttered two words, then turned to look at Li Yan: "Which date are you planning to book?"

Li Yan leaned back in his chair, rubbing his throbbing temples. From a commercial film perspective, he was fairly satisfied with the finished product.

"Ideally, it could coincide with the Spring Festival!"

The concept of a Spring Festival film season hadn't even been formed yet, and the Lunar New Year film season was completely crushed by Cameron's "Avatar".

"Spring Festival?" Jiang Zhiqiang was taken aback. "Avatar hasn't been downloaded yet, and there's also Jackie Chan's Little Big Soldier and Donnie Yen's 14 Blades. Oh right, and there's a mixed-genre film, Hot Summer Days!"

"What's there to be afraid of?" Li Yan smiled.

"Avatar makes the big splash, and while it's generating a booming market, we can easily scrape by! Besides, aside from aliens, the rest are nothing to fear!"

Seeing that no one had any objections, Lu Zheng slapped the armrest with a flourish, "Alright, then let's get it submitted for review as soon as possible!"

Zhang Qiang nodded and said, "No problem, I'll submit it tomorrow!"

……

Just a few days after the New Year's Day holiday, Li Yan was given a harsh dose of reality.

While he was catching up on sleep in Doujiao Hutong, Ding Xiaoxiao and Zhang Qiang smashed the door open.

The two stood at the door, neither of them looking too happy.

"Junior brother, something's happened! The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has rejected the film."

"What?"

Li Yan was instantly wide awake:

"How could that be? I specifically avoided mentioning any mainland Chinese background, and I even had the legal procedures reviewed. What problem could there be? It doesn't even remotely relate to anything!"

Ding Xiaoxiao was still just a young girl, and she was so anxious about such a big project that her eyes were red.

"The higher-ups didn't give any specific feedback, just one sentence: 'Suspension of approval for now; revisions recommended!'"

Li Yan took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down:

"Don't panic! Xiaoxiao, contact the editor. We'll cut out those corpse shots, go over the dialogue again, soften all the sensitive parts, and submit it as soon as possible..."

For the next few days, Li Yan didn't sleep a wink.

He re-edited and modified every part of the film that might have an impact.

We'd rather sacrifice a little bit of pace than fail to pass the review.

The second version was sent out quickly.

A week later.

Ding Xiaoxiao stood in front of Li Yan with the results in hand.

The decision document contained only eight cold, hard words:

"Due to technical reasons, it is not approved."

Li Yan sat in his office chair with the review comments in front of him.

He propped his head up and unconsciously tapped the table.

If the issue is with the content, the review committee will usually provide suggestions for revision.

Gore, violence, sex... and so on. Some important films even specify which scene is recommended to be modified or deleted at the minute and second!

"Technical reasons"?!

This is just an excuse; it's obvious they're trying to put pressure on you!

Just as I was pondering this, the phone on the table rang.

"Li Yan..."

Jing Tian's urgent voice was tinged with tears:

"I just heard Uncle Lu yelling at someone on the phone. It sounded like... it sounded like someone passed on a message."

"What did you say?"

"They say our film... has a problematic message, glorifies criminals, and uses public opinion to interfere with the judiciary."

Li Yan suddenly sat up straight.

Damn! Is this a problem with the direction of the message?

This is absolutely ripping "Silent Witness" off its face!

Once this label is attached, it's uncertain whether the film will ever see the light of day again, let alone be released during the Spring Festival!

"I see."

Li Yan comforted Jing Tian a couple more times before hanging up the phone.

Not long after, Zhang Qiang pushed the door open and entered.

Even the usually cheerful senior brother couldn't hide his gloomy expression at this moment.

As soon as I walked in, I slammed my handbag onto the sofa.

"Damn! He doesn't even deserve to have that name? He's a disgrace to 'Zhang Qiang'!"

Upon hearing this, Li Yan asked, "You found out?"

"I've found out."

Zhang Qiang plopped down on the sofa, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag.

"It's the vice president of China Film Group, also named Zhang Qiang! He used to be the general manager of Forbidden City Film Studio, and he has some connections with Guan Hu's father... This time, it was he who spoke up to a few people on the committee to block the approval, saying that he wanted to teach the young people some manners."

A gloomy atmosphere hung over the room.

Ding Xiaoxiao flipped through the calendar with a long face:

"Director...Director, it's almost the end of the month. If we don't get the permit soon, it'll be too late for the Spring Festival release..."

Li Yan remained silent.

Guan Hu, Zhang Qiang, circle, rules.

I thought my vision and abilities were enough... not to say I crushed them, but at least I far surpassed these sixth-generation sycophants!

I never expected this...

Even someone as marginalized as Guan Hu can be blocked!

Ha ha!

After a long while, Li Yan stood up, stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, and crushed it out forcefully.

His face regained that familiar confident smile, he clapped his hands, and said casually:

"Alright, stop looking so gloomy."

"If we can't make it, we can't make it. It's good that we're avoiding Avatar. The King of the World is still too powerful. How many billions is it now? It must be 12 billion, right? Let's not compete with the little blue man for now. Let's change the release date, perfect..."

"Pass the word: holiday!"

"Everyone's been busy all year, go home and have a good New Year. Xiaoxiao, don't forget the red envelopes! The quality of the film speaks for itself, a couple of days late is fine, don't worry..."

Zhang Qiang and Ding Xiaoxiao looked at him, opened their mouths, but said nothing.