Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 326 Saving the Soldier Lao Mouzi

Hengdian, Zhejiang Province, Ming and Qing Palace Scenic Area.

This is the main filming scene of "Curse of the Golden Flower" in Hengdian, and it is also the most expensive and largest scenic spot in Hengdian Film and Television City.

Lu Kuan and Zhang Yimou stood together smoking and chatting. As far as they could see, they saw a circular building 12 meters high and 28 meters in diameter, like the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

A 20-meter-long staircase connecting it to the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square has also been built, and the exteriors of all the buildings are decorated with golden chrysanthemum patterns.

Hundreds of thousands of silk chrysanthemums were planted in the Taihe Hall Square, forming a magnificent sea of ​​flowers.

"Xiaolu, you always have very high standards for movie sets. What do you think of this place?"

Zhang Yimou had a look of longing on his face, intoxicated by the grand scene he had arranged, and couldn't wait to start filming the climax scene.

"Just imagine, the golden roof, golden pillars, and red walls will be exceptionally conspicuous under the sunlight. The sea of ​​60 chrysanthemums paving the square will be filled with bloody rain and wind, the setting sun will be blood-red, and the earth will be vast..."

"By then, Jay Chou will lead tens of thousands of soldiers in golden armor to fight Zhou Runfa's silver-armored warriors here, and the 24 arrow slits on the bronze chariot will whistle out a rain of arrows..."

Boss Lu interrupted him with a smile: "Director Zhang, stop talking. I'm itching to quit my job as director and go make a movie!"

"Hahahaha!" Zhang Yimou laughed out loud when he heard this. Movie fans like them could understand each other the best.

It's true that I get itchy when I don't touch the director's baton for a few days. When I have a good idea or a shot, I want to set up the setup and try it out right away.

In April, more than 20 people from the Olympic creative team followed Zhang Yimou's "Curse of the Golden Flower" crew from Peking to Hengdian, and then to Wulong.

After listening to Lu Kuan's advice, Zhang Yimou built a meeting tent near the set so that he could both film and discuss work.

"Based on the current progress, 'Curse of the Golden Flower' is expected to wrap up filming at the end of July. By then, the creative team will follow you to Jinling."

The young director nodded. "I spoke to Huo Tingxiao yesterday. The scene restoration and construction are progressing normally. Tom Hanks and Julianne Moore are receiving professional training from our crew abroad. Xiao Liu is also making intensive preparations."

"To be honest, I'm feeling a bit homesick right now. I'm under a lot of pressure!"

Zhang Yimou's expression became more serious: "It's inevitable to have a lot of pressure."

"On the day you held the press conference for the project launch in Jinling, Spielberg told me that he advised you to wait until you were 40 before filming."

"Even though he prepared Schindler's List so thoroughly, he almost gave up in the end. The emotions and significance of this film are too great."

"If it's well filmed, it's not an exaggeration to call him a national hero. But if something goes wrong..."

Boss Lu exhaled lightly and said, "Yes, he told me so, and I have considered it carefully."

"But I want to make some breakthroughs and attempts through the Olympics and the grand staging of "The Sky of History," the looping narrative structure, and so on."

"Bergman also told me that only when an artist is rooted in national culture and national sentiment can he create works rich in emotion."

"I think, when it comes to the emotional involvement of various events in modern history, none has made us Chinese more angry and tearful than the Nanjing Massacre."

There is another reason that he certainly cannot tell, which is to save Zhang Chunru, who committed suicide sadly in 2004 in the original time and space.

Zhang Yimou didn't say anything else. He believed in the level and accomplishments of his fellow junior fellow student, and patted him on the shoulders twice, which was encouragement from a senior friend.

As the two were talking, the artists from the Olympic Creative Team gathered around, and everyone was filled with admiration for the grand and beautiful scene.

Zhang Yimou sang a Qinqiang opera piece "Visiting West Lake: Ghost Grudge" in front of the sea of ​​flowers in a funny way.

The unique rhythm of Qinqiang makes the melody have both melodious and gentle parts that are like weeping and plainting, as well as passages that are gradually passionate and strongly lyrical.

Zhang Yimou's improvisation really looks like the real thing!

Everyone smiled and took out their phones to take pictures, just to relieve the pressure of the increasingly stressful Olympic planning work.

Zhang Yimou actually has a very cheerful personality, which can be seen from his later documentary "Zhang Yimou's 2008".

When the creative team encounters obstacles and hesitates to move forward, or when some plans are repeatedly rejected by the leadership and everyone's morale is low, he is usually the one who takes the initiative to step forward and adjust the atmosphere.

For example, when they were discussing just now, they learned that the budget had been reduced again, and everyone in the creative team looked a little worried. Only then did Boss Lu and Zhang Yimou come out under the pretext of smoking to discuss countermeasures.

Zhang Jigang and Chen Weiya also came over to say hello, and both nodded and smiled at Boss Lu.

During this period of time together, it would be an exaggeration to say that Lu Kuan was so powerful that he made these two high-level artists bow down to him.

But in his daily work, whether it was his overall view, aesthetic attainments, or the use of high-tech means, these two unconvinced troupe leaders found it difficult to find any mistakes in him.

In short, relations have been normalized on the surface.

Lu Kuan suddenly laughed and said, "Director Zhang, your Qinqiang is quite nice, but I heard that Director Chen Weiya's recitation is also quite good."

"Captain Chen, can you show it to everyone?"

Everyone started to cheer: "Let's do some!"

"Weiya, come one!"

Both Zhang Jigang and Chen Weiya could see that the young director was actively showing goodwill, but they didn't want to be the one who didn't know the importance of the matter, otherwise people would look down on them.

"Well, I'll borrow Director Zhang's venue and accept Director Lu's invitation to perform my ugly act."

Chen Weiya graduated from the Choreography Department of Beijing Dance Academy and has been engaged in the art industry for decades. His powerful recitation is well-known in the industry.

He was pulled to the Chrysanthemum Terrace by Lao Mouzi, and all he saw was a sea of ​​silk flowers. He couldn't help but blurt out:

When autumn comes on September th, when my flowers bloom, a hundred flowers will be killed.

The incense soars through Chang'an, and the city is full of golden armor.

"it is good!"

"Awesome!"

"The Central Song and Dance Troupe is the Central Song and Dance Troupe, it's so emotionally expressive and infectious!"

Everyone applauded and cheered, which finally alleviated the depressing atmosphere in the studio.

Lao Mouzi and Boss Lu looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

Chen Weiya, Zhang Jiegang and other people of this physique have deep thoughts, but they also have the uninhibited and casual nature of artists.

At the first meeting, Boss Lu first tried to convince them with the interests of the country and family, and then in daily interactions he treated them like coaxing children, feeding them small pieces of candy and praising them every now and then to satisfy their vanity and self-esteem.

This is often how pride and prejudice are resolved, forcing you to wholeheartedly accept other people's methods.

Lao Mouzi sighed inwardly, no wonder Zhang Weiping always told him that you, the junior fellow from Beijing Film Academy, are more cunning than the Mariana Trench!

Cheng Xiaodong, the deputy director of the "Curse of the Golden Flower" crew, led everyone to shoot the supporting roles, and the creative team returned to the studio to continue the discussion.

Boss Lu presided over the discussion and motioned everyone to look through the materials in their hands.

"Regarding the budget, Director Zhang and I just called Director Zhang Heping again. There's no room for negotiation at the moment."

"Not to mention the budget for our opening and closing ceremonies, even the Bird's Nest budget, originally 40 billion, has been cut to less than 24 billion. The sliding roof that everyone was looking forward to has also been axed. This shows that the higher-ups are determined."

"Everyone should have a clear mindset. The budget for Athens is 8100 million euros, equivalent to 9 million yuan. The Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee has promised that our budget will not exceed that of Athens, tentatively set at around 8.2 million yuan. We must accept that."

Zhang Jigang and Chen Weiya looked at each other in bewilderment. Compared with Chinese artists from New York like Ma Wen and Cai Guoqiang, they knew better that their bodies had the final say.

It's not like you can just submit a report and ask for money just because you have a good idea.

Increasing the budget requires the final signature and approval of the leader. Who is going to ask for it? Are you going to ask for it?
Lao Mouzi sang a duet: "Comrades, don't be discouraged. This is just like making a movie. There are ways to make a billion yuan movie and there are ways to make an 10 million yuan movie."

"If all else fails, we still have one of the richest people in mainland China in our creative team. He's such a business savvy, so when the time comes, let our director negotiate prices with the suppliers!"

Ma Wen was the most lively. He clapped his hands and laughed, "Or maybe it's because the leadership is so far-sighted that they sent us a director who is known as China's most business-savvy. It turns out they had thought of this long ago!"

Liu Heng, a senior screenwriter and familiar with Boss Lu, jokingly said, "Wherever poisonous snakes appear, there must be an antidote within seven steps. That's the truth."

Cai Guoqiang was amused: "That's right, Director Lu Kuan is our antidote."

Boss Lu smiled and nodded twice at Marvin. This visual artist from New York was the crew's funny girl and she was the one who could joke the most on weekdays.

After this joke, the atmosphere in the creative team relaxed.

"Director Zhang, everyone, I think it's okay to disclose the budget figures to the media. What do you think?"

The purpose of widening the road is simple: to relieve stress for everyone.

"From the time we successfully bid for the Olympics until now, there has been a misleading and erroneous narrative both inside and outside China, accusing us of massive construction and extravagance for the Olympics, whitewashing our mistakes to create the illusion of a global audience."

"In February, I was interviewed in the United States, and a foreign reporter even asked us how we planned to use the 2 billion Olympic budget. It was ridiculous!"

Everyone smiled when they heard this, but they all knew it was the truth.

Whether it is the hostile forces in the West or the paid public intellectuals in China, there are many people who try to lead the trend.

"Don't underestimate the international war of public opinion. As the Olympics draw near, all kinds of absurd rhetoric will become rampant."

"If the opening and closing ceremonies of this Olympics are a great success, they will say it's all built on money, that they're using taxpayers' hard-earned money to satisfy a superficial glutton."

"If the results are mediocre, there will be more excuses."

"We're already dancing with shackles, so as long as the organization agrees, we can disclose a rough budget range. It will also be beneficial to the work. What do you think?"

Various press releases in later generations were simply showing off their low standards. During the London Olympics, it was touted as being much more elegant and grand than the Beijing Olympics, but the budget was only a few tenths of that of Beijing. Until Rio in 2016, the old issue was brought up again.

But in fact, according to the financial data of the Olympic Games published by the National Audit Office in 09, the four opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games cost a total of only 8.31 million yuan.

If you don't promote something yourself, don't blame others for labeling you.

Just like Wendi Deng wanted to throw dirty water on him with the photo, if he waited until the dirty water was thrown on his body before washing it off, there was a high probability that yellow mud would fall off his crotch.

Lu Kuan's suggestion resonated widely and attracted a lot of discussion.

In fact, no one thinks that the money is tight, but they just can't accept the possible doubts from the outside world that they spent more than 10 billion to achieve this.

More than 100 billion yuan can be used to pave the Bird's Nest with gold bricks. How ridiculous.

"I agree!"

"I agree!"

"It should be made public and subject to public supervision. It's no big deal."

Boss Lu's proposal was passed unanimously, and everyone's doubts about the budget issue were dispelled, and they all accepted the reality of dancing in shackles.

In fact, everyone present, whether it is the director, the head of the chorus, the artist, or the designer, has to consider the budget in their daily work.

At the beginning, I thought that since this was the centennial Olympics and a national event, the budget should be very sufficient.

Not to mention being able to call the wind and summon rain, at least we are prepared for any eventuality.

But the country is obviously also considering sustainable development and cannot just focus on looking good. After the Olympics, there will be a lot of mess waiting to be cleaned up, which will have a very bad impact.

After getting rid of the ideological burden, the creative discussion for the subsequent cultural performance went relatively smoothly.

As they had been doing throughout the month, everyone started brainstorming frantically.

Propose creative ideas, consider feasibility, and pass filing.

Don’t do it for three days, completely deny it, and start over again...

It can be said that apart from Lu Kuan's proposal at the first meeting to use scrolls to carry and connect the entire event, no creative ideas have survived more than three days so far.

Today, everyone danced and cheered like crazy to pass the program with unanimous votes and enthusiastically promoted it, but they may abandon it like trash when they wake up the next day.

At 6:30 in the evening, at the Hengdian Dongci Building, Jiang Zhiqiang, on behalf of the crew, invited all members of the Olympic creative team and the main actors of the crew to dinner.

Dongci is the first four-star tourist hotel in Dongyang. Its decoration is solemn, elegant, exquisite and luxurious. It is one of the few good dining places in Hengdian.

Of course, this has nothing to do with taste. For adults, eating is mainly about the appearance.

The crew of "Curse of the Golden Flower" set up twelve tables in the hall, and there was also a large round table in the private room that could accommodate more than 20 people, which was reserved for the creative team and the leading actors to sit.

As soon as Jiang Zhiqiang arrived, he pulled Lu Kuan aside to chat.

"Director Lu, congratulations to 'Tangshan' for winning the Best Visual Effects award."

Lu Kuan laughed and teased, "It's not worth mentioning. I should be congratulating Boss Jiang for winning the Oscar for Best Director."

Jiang Zhiqiang was stunned when he heard this, then realized that the best director he was talking about was Ang Lee, and "Lust, Caution" was produced by Ang Lee.

He laughed heartily. "I heard Ang Lee say that you gave him a lecture at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. He's a man who doesn't care about anything else. Apart from filming, everything else is handled by his wife."

"Don't blame him. He doesn't know about your relationship with Miss Liu."

Boss Lu didn't say anything. Of course, there was no need to explain his relationship with Concubine Liu Yi. This was a kind of protection for her.

After a few pleasantries, Jiang Zhiqiang got down to business: "Director Lu, what do you think of the future market performance of Curse of the Golden Flower?"

Like Ang Lee, Lao Jiang also came here to learn and seek the truth.

It's just that Ang Lee was asking about the art of art, while Jiang Zhiqiang was asking about making money. Lu Kuan was puzzled: "Does Curse of the Golden Flower have anything to do with you, Jiang? Isn't it a New Picture project?"

He really didn't know that.

Since arriving in Hengdian, Zhang Weiping has been in charge of everything, and today is the first time he has met Jiang Zhiqiang.

"No, "Curse of the Golden Flower" was mainly invested by Enlight, but the mainland distribution was handed over to New Picture."

Boss Lu was even more puzzled by what he heard: "What distribution capabilities does New Picture have? Aren't you just giving Zhang Weiping a free meal?"

Jiang Zhiqiang glanced at Zhang Weiping, who was chatting and laughing with Zhang Yimou not far away, and sighed.

"Yimou... trusts Zhang Weiping very much. As long as it is his film, it must bring new images and must be the producer and distributor."

"As for whether he has the ability to distribute, Zhang Weiping won't do anything rash; he will subcontract it out."

Boss Lu smiled and shook his head. Lao Mouzi was really being completely dominated by Zhang Weiping.

In fact, not only "Curse of the Golden Flower", many of Zhang Yimou's films follow this operating mode.

Zhang Weiping used his popularity and influence to attract investment, and he himself held shares and operated the business. His name must be signed first on the domestic production list, and the distribution rights also belonged to him.

The reason for this is that it involves some past events.

Zhang Weiping is indeed a wealthy and business-minded person. When Zhang Yimou partners with him, he doesn't have to worry about anything else and can focus on artistic creation.

Zhang Weiping has made every possible arrangement for his wife's work, children's schooling, and elderly care, as well as daily reception and farewell responsibilities.

Secondly, during the preparations for the filming of "If You Are the One" in 1996, the great director and the first generation of Mou Girl had conflicts over relationship issues and eventually parted ways unhappily.

Gong Li then resolutely withdrew from "If You Are the One", and investors also decided to withdraw their investment due to her withdrawal and various other reasons.

A series of negative news hit Lao Mouzi, who had suffered a complete failure in both his career and love life, and made him depressed.

Zhang Weiping came to the rescue by suspending his two real estate projects and investing 2600 million yuan, but ended up losing more than 1800 million yuan due to improper operations.

Zhang Weiping also took the opportunity to enter the film industry and invested 1000 million yuan to establish New Picture.

From then on, the two began a closer cooperation, which has continued to this day.

Therefore, Jiang Zhiqiang’s helplessness is actually the helplessness of many investors who are interested in investing in Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou is very loyal and righteous in this regard, and "If You Are the One" is his Achilles' heel.

When Jiang Zhiqiang asked him about his evaluation and expectations of "Curse of the Golden Flower", Boss Lu deliberately avoided the question because he knew it would be useless to talk about it.

But Jiang Zhiqiang pressed on: "Director Lu, we're already so familiar with each other, and you have such a good relationship with me, so it wouldn't be a problem to share your thoughts, right?"

Lu Kuan said helplessly: "Curse of the Golden Flower is an art film packaged as a commercial film. You plan to release it during the Lunar New Year holiday and Christmas Eve, and many of the people who go to see it are couples in love."

"You guys are so good. The movie ends with lovers becoming siblings. That's too depressing."

"Stephen Chow was the king of comedy in the 1990s. It can be said that Hong Kong's last fig leaf is his "Shaolin Soccer" and Media Asia's "Infernal Affairs."

"But what about 'Journey to the West'? What about 'The Return of the Soul'? 'Journey to the West' directly screwed the Taiwanese film distributors so much that they jumped off a building. It's the same principle!"

The young director used his own example: "For this year's film 'Tangshan', we had already done our best in the early stages of the production. The box office revenue on the first day was over 1800 million yuan, and everyone in the company was desperate."

"If it weren't for the overflow of viewers from The Promise's failure and the marketing roadshow in North America, no one knows what the outcome would have been."

In fact, just like in online novels, repression and abuse of the protagonist are the exclusive domain of famous authors, and the film market is similar.

Works with depressing themes are not mainstream and will not attract the most traffic.

Radi, the producer of "Million Dollar Baby", which won an Oscar two years ago and is also the producer of "The Godfather", traveled all over Hollywood to seek investment, but no company extended an olive branch.

Because of the subject matter of the movie.

Later, Radi tried his best to emphasize that it was because of director Eastwood and Morgan Freeman's participation that he got investment at the Cannes Film Festival, and got investment through pre-sales after the completion guarantee.

Even if "Million Dollar Baby" finally won the Oscar and Eastwood himself won the Best Director award, if such an opportunity were to be presented to the Big Six again, they would still refuse to invest.

"Curse of the Golden Flower" is undoubtedly such a subject.

The total investment was 3.5 million yuan, the domestic box office was 2.91 million yuan, and the global box office was about 6.12 million yuan. Based on the approximate distribution ratio of about 35%, the overall loss was nearly 1.4 million yuan.

Of course, this is a conclusion based solely on box office figures.

Jiang Zhiqiang sighed deeply and didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Is there any way?"

Jiang Zhiqiang felt a little regretful after asking this question. The filming had already started for more than a month. What else could he do?
However, I think Boss Lu has a unique vision in the art and marketing of movies, so I just asked this question out of reluctance.

Lu Kuan was also a little hesitant, but there was actually a way.

Change the script.

Without changing the main plot, some commercial changes were made to the script. I wouldn't say the result is outstanding, but at least it can be considered a qualified commercial film.

"How about this, Lao Jiang," the young director said thoughtfully, "You go talk to Director Yimou and tell him what I just said, but don't mention me."

Jiang Zhiqiang looked at him in disbelief, his face showing joy: "Director Lu, this..."

"I have a good relationship with Director Mou, so if I can help him out in any way I can, I will definitely do it."

"But every director has his or her own artistic pursuits and creative habits. Even if I have good intentions, I can't interfere directly. That's not how it works."

Boss Lu smiled and said, "Old Jiang, this matter still depends on you. If Director Zhang is willing, I will offer some suggestions, and you can consider it."

"Okay, okay!" Jiang Zhiqiang was overjoyed and held the young director's hand tightly. "Director Lu, from now on, I'll be at your service!"

"Oh no! No need, don't be polite."

Is this what you said?

Boss Lu is not usually the kind of person who meddles in other people's affairs, but seeing that Lao Mouzi is about to pounce on him, he will not be stingy in lending a helping hand given such a relationship.

You stand on the bridge and look at the scenery, and the people who look at the scenery are also looking at you on the bridge.

Lao Jiang and Lu Kuan were chatting about Zhang Weiping and Zhang Weiping, while Zhang Weiping and his old partner were also chatting about him not far away.

"Yimou, what a shame. If it weren't for Lu Kuan, you would have been the chief director alone. By then, with the hype surrounding the title of "Curse of the Golden Flower," it would have definitely been a hit."

"Don't say that. Xiaolu deserves to be the chief director. Don't say that again in the future."

Boss Lu wanted to help Zhang Yimou, and his senior from the Beijing Film Academy was also on his side, so it was a two-way effort.

Zhang Weiping knew he was a pushover and thought he was speaking up for his junior, but he refused to admit defeat: "Your disadvantage is that you're too dull, you don't know how to express yourself, and you don't know how to hype yourself up."

"Look at him. He's the richest man in mainland China. He's making a living selling a video website and making a name for himself in North America. Everywhere he goes, he talks about the Olympics and Chinese culture and faith. How could this leader not like him?"

"I think it's not entirely true to say that he's the best businessman among directors. This guy would also be a good hand in the officialdom!"

Zhang Yimou looked at his old partner with a serious expression: "Hey, do you think I'm kidding you?"

"Do you know what Leader Liu said during his conversation?"

"If it weren't for the fact that Wenjie's final ignition plan was too bold and lost points due to technical issues, Lukuan's plan would have been the undisputed first place."

"Although the boss didn't say it explicitly, I could tell. If he wasn't so young and inexperienced, and wasn't afraid of not being able to convince the public and affect his work, I might not even be able to take on the position of chief director..."

Zhang Weiping was horrified: "Really? You're Zhang Yimou! What gives him the right?"

"Why? He's won as many awards as me, his artistic accomplishments are no less than mine, and his international influence is even greater."

Lao Mouzi smiled bitterly and said, "Actually, judging from the contact I've had over the past two months, I think the leaders are worrying too much."

"Look at Zhang Jigang and Chen Weiya. Regardless of their titles of major general or department head, do they still dare to get angry in front of me?"

"It may not be entirely true that they are convinced, but they appear to be submissive."

"I really don't know how he got so many tricks at such a young age."

Zhang Weiping snorted heavily. No matter how much Zhang Yimou valued him, it was not very pleasant to know that it affected his own money-making and hype.

When he gets angry, he even dares to criticize the industry leader Han Shanping. He is quite a scoundrel.

The two were chatting when they saw Jiang Zhiqiang coming over.

"Yimou, Lao Zhang, you've been working hard recently."

Zhang Weiping laughed and said, "Mr. Jiang, what are you talking about? We are all working diligently together to build our business. How can we talk about hard work?"

Jiang Zhiqiang sneered in his heart, you should be lying on Zhang Yimou and sucking his blood diligently.

"Yimou, I came here today to talk to you and Lao Zhang about movies."

Lao Mouzi looked at him in surprise and said, "Okay, go ahead."

"That's right..." Jiang Zhiqiang glanced at the calm Zhang Weiping and laid out all the arguments and evidence the young director had just put forward.

Er Zhang frowned when he heard this, wanting to refute but not knowing what to say.

If it were any other matter, Zhang Weiping would definitely confront you directly. So what if you are an investor?
But listen to this...

That does make sense! Who doesn’t want to make more money?
In order to create hype and cater to the market's demand for vulgar film viewing, Zhang Weiping even requested that the incest plot between the prince and Gong Li be exaggerated in detail in "Curse of the Golden Flower".

Including the bed scene between Bale and Ni Ni in the later TV series "The Flowers of War".

Therefore, Jiang Zhiqiang's words also caused him to think deeply.

It’s not that Zhang Yimou doesn’t understand, it’s that he is very conflicted.

The previous article mentioned the director's ability to self-examine. Zhang Yimou is naturally a director with unique attainments in aesthetics and art.

Then why are there so many bad movies or works with poor reputation?

Sometimes it’s because of the investors, such as in “The Great Wall” and “Three Guns”; sometimes it’s because I haven’t thought it through and haven’t made a good choice between artistic pursuits and market tastes.

"Curse of the Golden Flower" is such a work.

In terms of story, after all, it was modified based on "Thunderstorm", and the work itself surpasses "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers".

It's just that for the audience who are in an entertainment mentality, it's really a headache to see couples turning against each other, brothers fighting each other, fathers and sons killing each other, and brothers and sisters incest, so the reputation is naturally not good.

Now, Jiang Zhiqiang, as the investor, has proposed that the work should be as close to the market taste as possible to avoid poor box office reputation. Naturally, Zhang Yimou has to consider it carefully.

He didn't give in too quickly: "Director Jiang, what can we do? Isn't it too late to make big changes now?"

"Yes, Lao Jiang, please give me some advice. I will consider it carefully." Zhang Weiping was also a little impatient. This was all his money!

Jiang Zhiqiang spread his hands: "What can I do? But..."

He raised his chin and gestured towards Lu Kuan, who was greeting Gong Li. "How about we talk to Lu Sheng?"

Before Zhang Yimou could say anything, Zhang Weiping glared at him, obviously wanting to defend him: "How can this be? Yimou is a well-known director, how can he be with a junior..."

"Weiping!" Zhang Yimou looked at him seriously, "Don't talk nonsense."

Zhang Yimou naturally didn't mind.

Not to mention Lu Kuan, who has a close relationship with him, there is nothing wrong with discussing artistic works as long as the opinions are useful.

Zhang Weiping scoffed, "Director Jiang, our Yimou script was created by two of the industry's top screenwriters, Wu Nan and Bian Zhihong. It went through four or five revisions."

"You said you could use Mr. Lu to help us with marketing and distribution, but the film has already been shot for two months. How can he still be able to change the film..."

"I don't believe it."

Jiang Zhiqiang felt disgusted when he saw the careless bookworm. The boss of Enlightenment Pictures was a shrewd man and could certainly see that Zhang Weiping was a rough but meticulous person.

He only invested a few million in the film and still made a net profit from the distribution commission. The final profit was not particularly relevant to him.

But Zhang Yimou is his living signboard for making money!

You have to maintain this level of status. How can you "ask questions without shame" from a junior from Beijing Film Academy?

Otherwise, he wouldn't have had such a strong opinion about Boss Lu and Zhang Yimou co-directing the film.

Zhang Yimou is his flagship product and he must promote it!
As for the impact of the film's failure on Zhang Yimou, there is a way to eliminate it. If Zhang Weiping really cared about the reputation of Zhang Yimou's works, there would be no bad movies like "Three Shots" released in later generations.

"Alright." Lao Mouzi didn't want the two of them to get into any trouble over this matter, so he just asked, "I'll ask Xiaolu privately tomorrow. You guys don't have to worry about it for now."

Jiang Zhiqiang nodded with satisfaction, knowing that Zhang Yimou was still reliable.

Zhang Weiping was very unwilling in his heart. He looked gloomily at Boss Lu who was chatting and laughing with Gong Li, whom he also disliked, not far away.

(End of this chapter)