Reborn in the Chinese Entertainment Industry: You're a Director, But You're a Casanova?

They gave me a direct cold shoulder right from the start.

This aligns with the rumors circulating outside. Jiang Wen has always been a straightforward man, except in movies where he's half-hearted and vague, trying to express something but not saying it directly, and trying to say something but not making it fully clear.

Liu Yuehua didn't explain. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to Jiang Wen, then threw a script and a heavy model pistol onto the editing table.

"Teacher Jiang, I'm not here to ask you to act in a movie today, I'm here to ask you to swear at me."

Jiang Wen shifted his gaze from the monitor, glancing at the model gun and script on the table. He raised an eyebrow, finally turning his gaze to Liu Yuehua.

"Whom do you want me to insult?"

"Let's criticize those self-proclaimed experts in high art from the Beijing art circle, criticize those spineless directors who wet their pants behind the monitor, and incidentally, show our guns on Mr. Cao Yu's Thunderstorm stage."

Liu Yuehua went straight to the point, revealing the entire structure of "Flying Man" and the character design of the second male lead.

"In the movie, you'll play a top actor in the theater world."

"Because they disliked the wooden prop guns used by the production team, which looked too fake, and couldn't capture the despair of the young master Zhou Ping before his death."

"So during the formal rehearsal, you pulled out a real gun."

Liu Yuehua observed Jiang Wen's emotional state and his psychological changes.

"When the whole crew is so scared their legs are weak, you have to point a gun at the camera and say, 'I was filming a scene with a small director surnamed Lu in Guizhou where I lost my gun, and that bastard was so scared he peed his pants.'"

"This gun is the real one I traded for a fake one. How can I portray the fear of death without a real weapon pressed against my head?"

Jiang Wen's previously lazy gaze instantly lit up with interest. As someone involved in "Looking for a Gun," he knew all too well the lethal power of those lines.

"This is fucking a direct slap in the face to Lu Chuan."

"It's still a mockery of the entire traditional authority of directors. You've got some nerve, kid."

Jiang Wen picked up the model gun on the table and weighed it in his hand.

"You actually dare to write a script that's so veiled and indirect?"

"Do you know that if this line were to appear on the big screen, the Lu family father and son would become your mortal enemies?"

"I'm not going to write it. That guy surnamed Lu is my mortal enemy anyway, I might as well fuck him."

Hearing Liu Yuehua also utter two curse words, Jiang Wen finally laughed.

"Sure, young man, those two sentences are quite to my liking. Please continue."

"What I want is to expose the hypocrisy of these people in the play, in a real and authentic way."

To deal with a comedian like Song Dandan, you need to point out her predicament.

To deal with a director like Jiang Wen, who can make serious dramas and win awards, you need to demonstrate your professionalism.

Liu Yuehua provided some practical insights into "Thunderstorm" from a professional perspective, which he had Lao Tian, ​​an academic, write overnight to help him with reading comprehension.

After all, professional matters should be handled by professionals.

"Thunderstorm is the pinnacle of the three unities in classical drama, emphasizing order and destiny."

"And Brother Jiang, what you have to do in this play is to use realistic experientialism to violently dismantle this classical order."

"On stage, you have to replace the fake wine with real wine, and when rehearsing, you have to speak without a script, using absolute realism to drive the male lead crazy."

"Who is the male lead?" Jiang Wen asked.

"Feng Gong".

Jiang Wen was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Let Feng Gong play Zhou Puyuan, and then let me play his son and torture him on stage."

Jiang Wenxiao almost burst into tears; he instantly understood the sophisticated absurdity behind the script.

"Are you trying to put the dignity of Chinese comedians and traditional Chinese drama into a meat grinder, shred them up, and show them to everyone?"

In the logic of film art, actors value not their paychecks, but whether the role can provide sufficient performance space and structural value.

Ultimately, it's all about getting a higher salary.

However, the people Liu Yuehua chose were not particularly concerned about their pay.

The domineering character in "Flying Man" is not only a self-deprecating joke about Jiang Wen's own real-life predicament, but also a concentrated explosion of the chronic problems of the entire industry.

Liu Yuehua played his trump card in terms of business and publicity at the right time.

"This film is shot in a single long take. As long as you take this role, the news that Jiang Wen drove Feng Gong crazy on set is itself a natural publicity material worth tens of millions."

"We not only want to maximize the dramatic conflict within the play, but also squeeze every last drop of curiosity from the audience outside the play."

Jiang Wen slammed the model gun back onto the table and began to think.

For a creator like him, with a strong desire to express himself but unable to do so, this play not only allows him to fully unleash his acting potential but also provides an opportunity to re-establish his name in the mainstream film and television industry.

That's so appealing.

"Long take staging demands a very high degree of precision in the actors' movements and dialogue delivery. I have no problem as an actor, but you're a director who started out making commercial comedies—can you control the scene?"

After much deliberation, Jiang Wen posed his final, soul-searching question.

Liu Yuehua observed the emotional energy cloud, and upon hearing these words, combined with the fact that the emotional energy cloud had turned golden, he understood that Jiang Wen was willing to accept.

"I decide where the camera goes, but how you drive someone crazy in front of this camera is up to you."

Liu Yuehua gave an ambiguous promise.

"Alright."

Jiang Wen stood up and patted Liu Yuehua on the shoulder.

"I'll take this job."

"But let me make this clear from the start: if you mess up the coordination, I'll really become the tyrant on set."

The deal was struck quickly between the two in less than 20 minutes, without any personal exchanges or toasts, based entirely on their recognition of the script's commercial value and artistic structure.

Jiang Wen pulled Liu Yuehua and walked out.

"Come here, kid, since you've got this temper with me, I'll show you my big treasure today."

"No, Brother Jiang, I'm not that kind of person."

"Damn it, what are you thinking, kid?"

"This is a Japanese military sword that I collected before. Here, let me show you."

After chatting for a while, the two felt the atmosphere was right, and Liu Yuehua brought up a crucial casting issue.

The central characters in "The Flying Man" are Feng Gong and Jiang Wen, but the central character in the play-within-a-play "Thunderstorm" is Fan Yi, the nominal stepmother, who serves as a bridge between the two.

The cowardice and madness of Zhou Ping, the young master, are all brought to life by his stepmother.

Jiang Wen then entered into a purely business-oriented discussion.

"If you want to shoot a film in one continuous take, you have to rely entirely on the actors' movements and breath control."

"The character Fanyi is not only an appendage of Zhou Puyuan, but also a young woman whose desires are suppressed and unfulfilled in the deep feudal mansion."

"If the actress standing opposite me can't keep up with my performance, this long take will completely fall apart. Who are you planning to cast?"

Instead of giving a direct answer, Liu Yuehua offered several potential benchmarks within the industry.

"There aren't many leading actresses in China who can carry the box office. There's Yuan Quan in the theater circle, or Chen Hao, who recently became a sensation with 'Pink Lady'."

"If you want to create a sensation by exploiting interpersonal conflicts within the industry, Chen Kaige's wife, Chen Hong, is also an option."