Chapter 58: No One in the World Looks Forward

When facing the task assigned by Gu Cheng, Liu Hui's heart was actually very excited. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoShe also wanted to participate in the production of high-level art films, preferably with a bit of cautionary value.

It's a pity that the most demanding film she has ever handled before following Gu Cheng is only "A Place of Chicken Feathers" filmed by Director Feng eight years ago. At that time, she was just an intern who had just been admitted to the film academy's choreography and directing major.

Later, even Director Feng, the leading director of the Huayi brothers, was forced to go to "Party A and Party B" and "Endless", Liu Hui never came into contact with art films again, either commercial movies or TV series.

It's been eight years, and she has also changed from a young female college student to a mature woman who is 27 years old.

Liu Hui said that she would do it, and immediately began to use various relationships in the circle to find resources.

The actor's affairs are not in a hurry first, after all, there is not even a story now, and the director and script must be found first, and then the rest of the crew can be prepared.

"I heard that Gu Cheng is going to make a movie! This time it's a movie proposed by Gu Cheng himself!" As soon as the news spread, there was a lot of shock in the circle.

"There are two major publicity channels, YY and Renren.com, and the future distribution of the new film will definitely be no problem, it depends on whether the shooting is good or not - you didn't see Zhou Jielun just signed the brokerage contract on the mainland side to Brother Cheng, and now "The City is Full of Golden Armor" has just begun, and all kinds of news and interviews are overwhelming on the Internet, and YY actually has pop-up advertisements!"

"It's all fate, who asked me to take refuge in Brother Cheng early, it's like a son's treatment. I also want to take refuge, but I can't look down on other people's businesses. ”

Many little fresh meat beauties who have just entered the industry in the past two years don't understand Gu Cheng's former glory, and they think that he is an upstart after the IPO, and he has so much money that he loses himself. So it's just a long sigh.

Don't be surprised, this kind of rich man who has lost himself is not a lot in history, Chen Tianqiao in parallel time and space has also been lost after Shengda went public, but he is lost in arrogance.

But most of the knowledgeable old choreographers and directors still know Gu Cheng's literacy.

From "Meteor Garden" to "The Family of Gold Powder" to "The Condor Heroes", the first male number two, the second absolute male number one, and the third self-directed and self-acted, Gu Cheng's performance in each film is making crazy progress, and the modern Republic of China costumes, literary and martial arts can be played.

In other words, the old drama bones all know that Gu Cheng's catties and taels are by no means the kind of big dogs who only have money, he has his own artistic understanding.

It is precisely because of this that those seniors who are engaged in art films in the circle are willing to chat with Gu Cheng or respond to the invitation sent by Liu Hui.

Otherwise, money alone will not be able to buy the dignity of some artists who do not want money. At this time, the benefits of Gu Cheng's bowing down were reflected.

……

Liu Hui helped Gu Cheng find the script, and at the same time first looked for a director who could cooperate with him, and talked to Gu Cheng in person.

The first to be invited were Liu Hui's former bosses, Feng Xiaogang and Feng Dao.

Director Feng actually didn't have a schedule, so he just came to chat with Gu Cheng and see how to help him land this project. Because Director Feng has already arranged to shoot "No Thieves in the World" this year, it is no surprise that the starring roles are Andy Lau, Milk Tea Liu, Li Bingbing, and Uncle Ge.

Because there is a bond between Huayi Brothers and Gu Cheng with Liu Hui, it can be regarded as a bit of incense, and Huayi also knows the publicity energy of the Eslite system, and as usual, he has pulled 20% of Eslite Film and Television in the investment of "No Thieves in the World". I hope that Renren and YY will work harder to advertise movies in the future.

“…… Director Feng, this is roughly the case of me, and Sister Liu should have told you all about it. You see if there's a good way. As soon as Gu Cheng met, he was very open and honest, and he was not polite, and analyzed the thoughts and stories he wanted to expound in detail.

Feng Xiaogang listened very carefully, thinking about it, the scabs on his face were shiny, and when he thought about it, he unconsciously took out the big water cup with a screw-on lid that he often carried, drank two sips of the tea made by the fat sea, and then took out a cigarette.

Just now, Director Feng remembered to ask Gu Cheng: "Uh...... Don't you mind if I smoke it? We filmmakers smoke it casually, I'm afraid you won't be used to singing. ”

Gu Cheng waved his hand: "It's okay, what song do I sing, the movie may not end in person." Smoke as much as you like. ”

"Huh...... If you have money, you can't afford to watch movies. Director Feng's tone was a little lonely, and a trace of disdain flashed.

Gu Cheng said lightly: "I can't talk about looking down on it, it's just that there are too few movies that deserve me to shoot -- how much can I make from the most profitable movie in the world? I can't make a net profit of $1 billion from filming "Titanic." So money doesn't motivate me to make my own films, unless I like it - I can't buy it for a long time, and I can do what I like without money, right? ”

"There is personality and I like it. Director Feng's expression quickly lit up, and he felt that Gu Cheng was a lover.

He sorted out his thoughts for a long time and helped Gu Cheng summarize a few points.

"After "A Place of Chicken Feathers" was rectified by the General Administration, I was a little decadent, and I have simply become commercial in the past few years;

I think it's very difficult to make your film, first of all, the main line is difficult to clarify. The topic is too grand, at least it must be filmed into a multi-line narrative, and at worst, it is also a light and dark line narrative, on the one hand, it is 'on the rise with industrialization and replication', and on the other hand, it is 'forced step by step with the progress of the media'.

Combined with your thoughts, there are only a few directors who can control in China, Chen Kaige and Wang Jiawei are not qualified, is there in Xiangjiang, Wu Yusen, Tsui Hark, and Du Qifeng are not even right, and the entire Xiangjiang does not need to be considered at all. ”

Gu Cheng listened and listened, and knew that Director Feng was afraid that he would think that there was no basis for his straightforward judgment, so he analyzed them one by one, so Gu Cheng immediately raised his hand to stop the other party: "Director Feng, you don't have to explain why those people can't do it, you just say whoever can do it, I won't suspect that your peers are light or something." ”

Director Feng smiled awkwardly and said calmly: "Alas, there is an old problem in the circle, no one is convinced, and you must analyze the ugliness." Then let me put it this way, this kind of story of yours, Jia Zhangke and several of them of the new generation, is estimated to be in line with the artistry, but I estimate that they don't agree to your ideological setting - these people are making art films in nostalgia, or they are looking for a 'It turns out that there is still this kind of horn in China and the mainstream society has not found it', you look forward to something like this, it is really difficult in China. ”

Gu Cheng actually doesn't know much about today's domestic art film circle, that is, after moving the idea of this film, he began to make up for it and understand the market.

He knew that what Director Feng said was not unreasonable.

In the early years - the so-called early years were the Cold War, or at least the years of bad relations with the West in the 90s - the mainstream official media controlled by the General Administration of China criticized many domestic directors who went to Western film festivals to win awards in violation of regulations (the so-called violations are that domestic films have not been reviewed and have not been released to the Dragon Standard):

There are open and progressive places in the country, and they don't shoot at all. Specially pick places that are still too late to progress and open up, and have remnants of feudal remnants of stereotypes and bad habits, mislead foreigners, please foreigners, cater to foreigners' outdated understanding of China, and achieve their own goal of winning awards.

When this kind of public opinion is fierce, even the people in the circle themselves ridiculed: If you want to win awards at major Western film festivals, you are not eligible to participate, so you will go to the gate of the film festival to set up a stall and cry miserably.

No matter how bad the shooting is, it can't be said that it won't give a small award. Besides, foreigners don't know if it's really rotten, maybe some places in China are like this? Foreigners just like they watch García Márquez's magical realism, and when they watch "One Hundred Years of Solitude", they are just happy and indignant, and they won't really investigate whether Colombia is really this pee.

Márquez again exclaimed hoarsely, "One Hundred Years of Solitude is not magical realism, this is life in Latin America". Europeans and North Americans laughed and listened as a joke.

In fact, even before Jia Zhang and Ke Louye were recruited, they were also said by the official media of the General Administration.

Later, it gradually became mainstream, and only conscientious film critics began to discover in the mainstream media:

Oh, it turns out that Jia Zhangke just likes to reflect the countryside, and feels that the country is developing so fast, and some miserable unnoticed corners have been cut off and pulled down, and he hopes that the society will pay attention to these corners, and he does not deliberately show the dirty mess in the country to foreigners. So there are "Xiao Wu", "Platform", and "Public Place".

It turns out that Lou Ye just likes nostalgia, likes to see the pain when the "cultural dirt" that is gradually forced into the corner is swept away, and whether there is any accidental injury. So there are "Summer Palace" and "Suzhou Creek".

These people's art is art, but it's a pity that it's still twilight, and to put it bluntly, they only spray no solution. A true master can say "you-can-you-up, no-can-no-BB" in seconds.

Of course, it is not only the sixth generation of directors who are artistic, but the fifth generation also has art.

Lao Mouzi, who once didn't even need to mention his name in the domestic film industry, will also make a "Thousands of Miles to Ride Alone" after more than a year, "I am tired of making commercial films, making enough money, and talking about my ideals when I was young". is also human nature, but also nostalgic, and also reflects on the essence lost in the great waves of cultural progress, and also invites his childhood idol Ken Takakura to perform. The artistic realm of Lao Mouzi's film is good, but the ideological realm is similar to what Jia Zhang and Ke Louye showed in that ticket.

The art films of famous directors in China are all nostalgic and sad.

It seems that when it comes to art films, they must "break beautiful things for people to see".

Director Feng chatted with Gu Cheng without a match, and he felt that the more he talked, the narrower the way he talked.

Gu Cheng wants to look forward, no one can accompany him to look forward.

"The ideological height that your film wants to cover is unprecedented, and I can't give good examples to citing, but the number of ways to reflect on the loss of traditional art and culture in China is definitely not qualified, they don't have that cultural literacy, and they are not profound enough. At the very least, you have to be at the level of "Cinema Paradiso" to barely be able to play. It is simply impossible to find such a person on the mainland. ”

In the end, Director Feng said dejectedly.

The "Cinema Paradiso" he mentioned, Gu Cheng also knew that it was the masterpiece of the great Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, the 90-year Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.