Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 329 I don’t agree with you getting married!
The original "Departures" was filmed in a small city in Japan. However, Japan and China are different. Japan is a developed country, and even some of its smaller cities have already undergone significant development. In contrast, many third-tier cities in China are still relatively underdeveloped, making many scenes feel out of place.

Therefore, Wu Yuchen changed the location to Shanghai. Shanghai is the city in China that is most integrated with the West, and the male protagonist's style of blending Chinese and Western elements is most reasonable to be set in Shanghai, so it is appropriate to set his residence in the suburbs.

In short, after being laid off from a band in Shanghai, the male protagonist was forced to move from his rented apartment in the city center back to his suburban residence. In order to make a living, he found a job at a funeral company.

Another point is that "Departures" is definitely intended to be shown worldwide, and Wu Yuchen wanted to portray Chinese culture as well as possible. If he were to film scenes of backwardness in third- or fourth-tier cities, the film's atmosphere would be lost.

Even the original "Departures" filmed various beautiful scenes, making viewers feel that even small places in Japan are beautiful and have a great environment. Although people's clothing is not luxurious, it is very appropriate, leaving a very good impression.

Therefore, Wu Yuchen's photography will definitely follow a slightly beautified tone. Not only should the scenery be well-shot, but the people should also be well-shot, in order to promote the country's culture and enhance its image to the outside world!
Moreover, this style of dressing and behaving appropriately is also in line with the characteristics of people in Shanghai, so that domestic audiences will not feel out of place when watching it.

Then there are the actors. Besides the male and female leads, there are several supporting actors who are also very important.

Since the filming was scheduled to take place in Shanghai, Wu Yuchen simply decided to select actors from Shanghai first.

First and foremost, the male protagonist's boss and mentor is the one who guided him into this profession after his unexpected entry into the field, personally teaching him all aspects of the work of an embalmer.

The boss is steady and mature, sometimes serious, sometimes humorous, sometimes silent, and sometimes telling Dawu many life philosophies. He is an old man who has experienced the vicissitudes of life, and his age is set to be between 60 and 70 years old.

Therefore, Wu Yuchen directly invited Mr. You Benchang. Mr. You's acting skills are beyond doubt. When he played the carefree Ji Gong, he revealed many life lessons to the audience. Let him be a life mentor again this time!

Then there's the male protagonist's colleague, a middle-aged woman in her forties or fifties, who is the one he confides in and offers him advice when he's troubled.

Wu Yuchen invited He Saifei to play this role. He Saifei's acting career has been very successful in recent years. She played the female lead in "The Passionate Years" and became very popular, so she has never lacked roles.

This time, the character is gentle, warm, and considerate, usually cheerful, and at crucial moments acts like a caring older sister to the male lead, Lin Wu. Casting He Saifei as the perfect choice is excellent.

There's also the owner of an independently run bathhouse, who watched the male protagonist grow up before his sudden death, for which the protagonist prepares her body for burial. This character shouldn't be too old; she needs to look capable, since she can still run her own bathhouse, so around 60 is just right.

Wu Yuchen invited Ms. Xiang Mei from Shanghai Film Studio. She had previously starred in "Women's Basketball Team No. 5" and "The Red Detachment of Women". The role that young audiences are familiar with is the Queen of Wuji Kingdom in the 1986 version of "Journey to the West".

The last one is the old man who often played chess at the bathhouse. He was a somewhat comical character, but after the owner's wife passed away, he became very sad and uttered some philosophical remarks about life. The Shanghai Film Studio has a perfect fit for this role: Mr. Niu Ben.

These are all veteran actors with a wealth of life experience, so Wu Yuchen has no worries about their acting skills.

Several veteran actors were delighted to receive Wu Yuchen's invitation. When Wu Yuchen was filming "Love," he had invited Wang Danfeng from their studio, and the film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, which they were incredibly envious of. So, receiving an invitation from Wu Yuchen this time, especially with such a great script as "Departures," they all readily accepted.

As for the other minor roles, Wu Yuchen didn't need to worry about them; they could be left to his subordinates. He was currently inspecting the prepared sets and offering suggestions for modifications, while also visiting the locations previously selected by the production team to choose the ones that best met his requirements.

……

Just as Wu Yuchen was making final preparations for the filming of "Departures", the Athens Olympics also came to a close.

The Athens Olympics produced Liu Xiang, China's greatest hero. His world record-equaling performance and becoming the first Asian to win an Olympic sprint championship made the whole country proud.

However, at the same time, someone else faced criticism from all sides after the Athens Olympics. That person was none other than Zhang Yimou.

"The performance content is outdated and the performance style is antiquated!"

"A hodgepodge of forced and unnatural approaches!"

"What kind of garbage is this that Zhang Yimou made? Is he trying to embarrass China?"

"Not a single aspect of Chinese culture and spirit has been displayed!"

"It's so outdated! It's neither fish nor fowl! It's neither Chinese nor Western!"

These comments are all directed at the eight minutes in Beijing during the closing ceremony of the Athens Olympics, which are now being called the "black eight minutes" by domestic media!
The first program was a performance of the famous Chinese song "Jasmine Flower" by 14 beautiful young girls. The criticism stemmed from their attire, which made many Chinese viewers extremely uncomfortable: extremely short cheongsams in a red and green floral pattern, with skirts so short they reached only to the hips, shocking many Chinese people.

To quote a certain newspaper, calling it vulgar wouldn't be an exaggeration. Such an outfit would be criticized even on a new store opening program in a third-tier city! It's even harder to imagine that it came from Zhang Yimou!
Tang Yan was among these 14 girls, but she never actively mentioned or marketed her identity and experience as an "Olympic Baby" in her subsequent career. This shows how strong the criticism was and how much it must have affected her.

After that, a group of children performed Peking Opera and Tai Chi, but the audience felt the whole performance was chaotic, like watching a temple fair. Later, there was a stilt walker carrying lanterns, meant to welcome guests, but their costumes were criticized as too eerie and unsettling, looking like a funeral procession, with an overwhelming aura of coffins…

In short, not a single segment of this "black eight minutes" could satisfy the audience; every second was flawed.

This criticism was quite a blow to Zhang Yimou, who had meticulously prepared for it for over four months. After returning to China from filming "House of Flying Daggers," he didn't stay home for long before immediately getting involved in this project.

Fortunately, now that he's back home, he has his wife and children with him. He held his youngest son, who was six months old but whom he had only seen a few times, and felt quite gratified.

Before his father passed away, he told him to have many children, for many children bring many blessings and ensure the prosperity of the family. Now that he has two sons, he feels his father would be happy to see this from beyond the grave. But two are not enough; he wants to have one more.

But then Chen Ting finally made a request to him... "What? Marriage?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Weiping's eyes widened, and he immediately waved his hand, saying:
"No, I don't agree! This marriage absolutely cannot go through!"

Zhang Yimou looked up at Zhang Weiping, surprised by his strong reaction, and then explained, "It hasn't been easy for Chen Ting to be with me."

Zhang Weiping recalled what his wife had told him: Chen Ting was not so easily fooled; she had her own ideas and was always wary of his wife. He absolutely could not let this kind of woman marry Zhang Yimou, as it would be detrimental to his control over Zhang Yimou and would bring too much instability!
Zhang Weiping grabbed Zhang Yimou's shoulder: "Yimou! Look at you now. Because of the Olympics, you're being heavily criticized nationwide, and your reputation has plummeted. You're getting married now? What if the Ministry of Civil Affairs leaks the news and then traces it back to your having a child? What do you think people will think?"
People will think you didn't take the 8-minute Olympic segment seriously at all! They'll think you were just messing around, only concerned with your own marriage, having kids, and having fun! Then your reputation and image will be completely ruined!

Zhang Yimou was taken aback by Zhang Weiping's words, and a look of hesitation and struggle appeared in his eyes. He really hadn't thought about these issues before.

Seeing this, Zhang Weiping continued, "Mouzi, think about it again. What does Chen Ting mean by doing this? She's using the child to blackmail you! If you agree to her this time, what about next time? She'll definitely take advantage of you!"

Zhang Yimou immediately retorted, "She's not that kind of person..."

Seeing how much Zhang Yimou was protecting Chen Ting, Zhang Weiping became even more determined to stop the two from getting married. Otherwise, wouldn't the influence from the pillow talk be even stronger after they got married?
Zhang Weiping dropped a bombshell: "You're getting married now? How can you face Gong Li? Have you forgotten how Gong Li begged you back then? And your daughter, Momo, we've been keeping it from her all this time! She still wants you to remarry her mother. How would she feel if she knew you were married?"

Zhang Yimou was stunned. Both Gong Li and his eldest daughter from his ex-wife were women he felt he had wronged. This hit him right in the heart, leaving him completely dejected.

After a long silence, Zhang Yimou stopped mentioning marriage and asked Zhang Weiping, "How are things going with your negotiations with Ken Takakura?"

Zhang Yimou's words have already shifted the topic to his new film, "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles." He actually wanted to make this film two years ago. After finishing "Hero," he wanted to make "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles," but Zhang Weiping persuaded him against it.

Ken Takakura was an idol that Zhang Yimou admired when he was young. He really wanted to work with him, and he specifically asked Takakura to be the male lead in this project. He even wrote a letter to him.

But Zhang Weiping looked at Zhang Yimou and said, "Yimou, the deal didn't go through. His asking price was too high."

“Impossible! He told me it would only cost $40!” Zhang Yimou questioned.

In the past, Zhang Weiping would have supported Zhang Yimou. But seeing Zhang Yimou's current state, and considering his desire to get married, all of which hinted at a move to break free from his control, Zhang Weiping became even more determined not to go along with Zhang Yimou's ideas any longer.

Zhang Weiping bluntly stated, "Zhang Yimou, let me tell you the truth, we can't make 'Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles'."

"What?! Why?" Zhang Yimou was even more puzzled.

Zhang Weiping spread his hands: "No money!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yimou became anxious:

"No money? No, didn't we sell the overseas rights to 'House of Flying Daggers' for 2 million? And the box office was over 1 million. How could we not have money?"

Zhang Weiping shook his head and said:
"Where did you sell 2 million? I only did this to build your image by exaggerating to the media that you sold that much. Otherwise, you're so far inferior to Wu Yuchen, and you can't even compare to Li An. Where would that leave your face?"

That wasn't all. He continued to criticize Zhang Yimou: "Also, we've already spent 3000 million on publicity alone. And think about the film's investment of 2.8 million. Where are we going to get that much back?"

"House of Flying Daggers' revenue was significantly lower than 'Hero'; in fact, we lost money on the investment! And I still have to pay out of my own pocket to settle your issue of having more children than allowed. Where do you think the company has that much spare cash these days?"

This left Zhang Yimou speechless, as if he had just opened his mouth.

Then Zhang Weiping said to Zhang Yimou, "Yimou, I think we should give up on 'Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles' for now. Didn't you say you had an idea to make an ancient version of 'Thunderstorm'? Why don't we give that a try?"

Zhang Yimou said in a low voice, "Still making period dramas? Wouldn't that cost even more money?"

Zhang Weiping clapped his hands: "This time we can raise funds. If you make a period drama, people will be willing to invest. But if you make 'Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles,' who would be willing to lose money to invest in you?"

Zhang Weiping watched the departing figure of the old man and couldn't help but sneer. He would have to teach this guy a lesson before he would listen to him!
After returning home, Zhang Yimou was somewhat agitated, not because Zhang Weiping had stopped him from getting married, but because he felt his creative inclinations were being interfered with. However, he was always a man of few words, and Zhang Weiping's words were all for his own good; these matters had always been handled by Zhang Weiping.

Moreover, when the topic of the ancient version of "Thunderstorm" came up, he thought of Gong Li. The mention of Gong Li by Zhang Weiping today made him feel quite guilty.

Gong Li wanted to marry him back then, but he had too many concerns and refused to agree, which eventually led to their breakup.

He already has Chen Ting, so it's impossible for him to have anything to do with Gong Li anymore. But he still remembers the promise he made to her on the Great Wall back then, that he would let her play an empress.

Therefore, when Zhang Weiping mentioned the ancient version of "Thunderstorm," Zhang Yimou did not object. If Gong Li was willing to play the empress, he would start preparing for the project right away.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yimou took out his phone, found Gong Li's number, hesitated for a moment, and finally dialed it.

(End of this chapter)