Huayu: Reborn in 97, transferring to the Central Academy of Drama's star-studded class

Jiang Lai seems to have discovered the secret to becoming a great director: building houses.

It can only be said that an architect who doesn't want to do engineering is not a good director.

Zhang Yimou built a school when he made "The Road Home," Jiang Wen built a village when he made "Devils on the Doorstep," and now it's Li An's turn; he wants to build a restaurant.

Jiang Lai stood at the door of a two-story wooden building, looking it up and down with a sigh.

Three days.

Li An built the small restaurant in just three days, and it looked quite decent.

Jiang Lai stepped onto the stairs, and the entire wooden staircase creaked and groaned. He looked at Li An with a puzzled expression, "Director, won't this thing collapse?"

Li An remained calm and replied, "Yes."

Jiang Lai: "Huh?"

Li An waved his hand casually, "Anyway, we'll dismantle it after filming, so we'll dismantle it while we're filming."

Jiang Lai was stunned by what he heard.

Filming has progressed to a scene he particularly likes: Xiaolong's adventures in the martial arts world.

Yu Jiaolong ran away from her arranged marriage. Perhaps she was awakened by Luo Xiaohu, or perhaps she never intended to get married in the first place. In any case, she ran away.

She stepped into the martial arts world she had longed for, only to find that it was not quite what she had imagined.

Two burly men confronted her, only to be taught a lesson by her. Unable to defeat them, they naturally called for reinforcements, gathering a group of people from the martial arts world to teach Yu Jiaolong a lesson.

The result was that a group of people couldn't beat Yu Jiaolong alone, and they all got a lesson.

The extras were already in place, each dressed in brightly colored costumes and carrying knives, spears, and clubs, standing on the second floor of the restaurant, looking quite intimidating.

Zhang Ziyi had also changed his makeup and attire, wearing a watermelon-shaped hat and a brocade robe. Holding the Qingming Sword, he looked at the group of pretentious people with a slight upturn of his lips and a hint of disdain in his eyes.

A young lady who is new to the martial arts world but fearless is vividly portrayed.

Li An sat behind the monitor and picked up the walkie-talkie.

"Action!"

A burly man rushed towards Zhang Ziyi, but she kicked him so hard that he fell from the second floor.

The railing is broken.

The extras swarmed forward, swords flashing and shadows flying.

Zhang Ziyi weaved through the crowd with swift and decisive movements, each move clean and efficient, and then delivered another kick.

Another section of the railing has broken.

With the help of wires, Zhang Ziyi performed every somersault and kick with exceptional skill, as if she truly possessed the ability to perform light-body kung fu.

The crowd chased after her, smashing a window and a table.

Before long, the restaurant was filled with people lying haphazardly on the floor.

Then, the stairs collapsed.

Jiang Lai rubbed his chin, thinking, "Li An is really something. He saved money on the demolition workers while filming."

After causing a scene at the restaurant, Yu Jiaolong seemed to realize that she had made a mistake and hurriedly ran to Yu Xiulian for a hug and comfort.

Instead of finding comfort, the two started arguing and then began fighting, wrestling in the courtyard.

Michelle Yeoh showed what a true martial arts actress looks like, handling various weapons with ease.

Then Chow Yun-fat appeared and stopped everything.

Zhang Ziyi turned and ran.

Chow Yun-fat chased after him.

The two of them, one in front of the other, skimmed over the rooftops and across the surface of South Lake.

Then, there is the bamboo forest.

In order to find the ideal bamboo forest in his heart and capture that fleeting glimpse of oriental poetry, Li An traveled almost all over the country.

He was torn between three places: Anji Bamboo Sea in Zhejiang Province, Mukeng Bamboo Sea in Huangshan, Anhui Province, and Shunan Bamboo Sea.

In the end, he decided, "Only children make choices; I want them all!"

The close-up shots were taken at Mukeng Bamboo Sea, the mid-range shots at Anji Bamboo Sea, and the far-field shots at Shunan Bamboo Sea.

It can only be said that having no shortage of investment means they have money to burn and can do whatever they want.

Mukeng Bamboo Forest is only a few kilometers away from Hongcun, and the film crew had to go there to shoot some close-up shots whenever they had free time.

In the bamboo forest, rows of green bamboo stand tall and straight. When the wind blows, the bamboo leaves rustle and the light and shadow are dappled.

Chow Yun-fat and Zhang Ziyi are pasted on bamboo, one calm and composed, the other stubborn.

Zhang Ziyi leaped up, tapped her toes on the bamboo, and used the momentum to fly towards Brother Fa.

Chow Yun-fat raised his hand, drew his iron sword, and gently deflected her force.

The two fought each other in the bamboo forest, their swords flashing, their moves light and graceful, creating a poetic scene.

Li An said this was just a small-scale operation. When he went to Anji Bamboo Forest to shoot medium and long shots later, he planned to bring in several large construction cranes to hoist Chow Yun-fat and Zhang Ziyi to the top of the bamboo, which is 20 meters high.

To put that into perspective, it's about five or six stories high.

Jiang Lai already found it quite difficult to listen to, but Li An said it wasn't over yet.

The camera had to be fixed to the remote control gimbal of the crane for synchronous shooting. Dozens of stuntmen also had to be found on the ground to precisely control the swing of the bamboo and the actors' every rise and fall and rotation through multiple steel wires in different directions to ensure that they could make smooth movements.

Jiang Lai listened with amazement, thinking, "They really are engineers; they even have large construction cranes."

October arrived in the blink of an eye.

The film crew arrived at Cangyan Mountain in Hebei Province.

The mountains here are steep. Stepping onto the suspended ladder and walking to the end, you will find the Hanging Temple, built on a stone bridge between two mountains. From a distance, it looks like it is hanging in mid-air.

"This is Wudang Mountain," Li An said, pointing to the hanging temple with a serious expression.

Jiang Lai blinked. "Director, isn't Wudang Mountain in Hubei?"

"I know."

"So what you're talking about is...?"

"This place is beautiful, therefore this is Wudang Mountain."

OK, fine.

You're the director, so you call the shots.

The scene filmed here is the one where Luo Xiaohu and Yu Jiaolong meet at Wudang Mountain.

This is also the second intimate scene between Jiang Lai and Zhang Ziyi in the movie.

Although it was just Jiang Lai on top of Zhang Ziyi, and they were still dressed, how could kissing not be considered an intimate scene?

In the room, the two embraced and soon collapsed onto the bed.

Jiang Lai hugged Zhang Ziyi tightly and nibbled at her neck.

"Cut!" Li An called for a stop. "Xiao Zhang, you were too cooperative just now. Yu Jiaolong no longer loves Luo Xiaohu."

Zhang Ziyi nodded shyly, "Okay, director."

Jiang Lai chuckled to himself, while Zhang Ziyi pinched the soft flesh around his waist and started twisting it.

Filming resumed.

Jiang Lai kissed her again, but Zhang Ziyi dodged, looking sad and upset. Li An called a halt, saying he would take a break and then called Zhang Ziyi over to start rehearsing the scene.

They talked about the disillusionment with life's dreams, the end of worldly love, and mental collapse, blah blah blah.

Zhang Ziyi tried hard to understand, but with little effect.

Jiang Lai listened from the side and also felt that these statements were a bit too metaphysical.

"Buzzing!"

Just then, Jiang Lai's phone rang.

He took it out, his face froze, and he hung up immediately. But the next second the phone rang again, so he simply turned it off.

Zhang Ziyi didn't notice it at first, but she caught a glimpse of the name on the screen on the second look.

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Her expression changed instantly.

For some reason, she didn't have much of a guard up against Zhang Jingchu, but she was extremely wary of this girl she had never met before.

Filming resumed.

This time, Zhang Ziyi neither cooperated nor evaded.

She lay there, her eyes open, staring blankly at the camera, her eyes vacant and numb.

A tear slid down her cheek and disappeared into her hair.

"OK, that's a wrap!" Li An nodded in satisfaction. "That's the feeling! Xiao Zhang, your performance just now was great!"

Zhang Ziyi sat up, wiped away her tears, smiled, and said, "Thank you, director."

Then she turned to look at Jiang Lai, her smile fading slightly.

"Remember to put your phone on silent in the middle of the night, it's not good to disturb others."

Jiang Lai gave an awkward laugh, opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately said nothing.