Huayu 1992, my entertainment era

"Mr. Zhou, you should have heard about Wang Shuo's situation. In the past two years, the criticism against him has become increasingly severe..."

After all, they are friends. Feng Xiaogang didn’t finish what he was saying.

However, Zhou Ziheng probably understood what he meant.

Wang Shuo can be said to be a controversial figure.

Zhou Ziheng has seen his work "Don't Treat Me as a Human Being".

His work seems difficult to understand and is extremely controversial and unconventional.

This guy's works are usually full of black humor and anti-traditional spirit. He boldly explores various aspects of human nature, including sex, politics, society, etc. The style of many of his works is very radical and extreme, and is even considered to be a provocation to traditional values.

In a sense, his works have had an unignorable impact on the development of Chinese literature and culture.

Let more people realize the diversity and freedom of literature and art.

But it's a pity that he is too radical, like a radical demon king. Everyone wants to defeat him. If he could be more restrained...

Unfortunately, if he restrains himself, he will no longer be Wang Shuo.

Zhou Ziheng had contact with him because of Wang Zhiwen and Jiang Wen.

This guy is the type of person who is fearless. To put it nicely, he has personality, to put it bluntly, he is a hipster.

Because his works and speeches were too extreme and controversial, they often caused social and political controversies, and some of his works were even banned from publication.

In addition, his literary criticism and social commentary are often criticized as being too harsh and unconstructive.

But he still goes his own way.

This situation has led to the situation in recent years where people who like him love him very much, while people who don't like him want to kill him.

This situation has become particularly serious this year, and the literary and art circles have almost reached the point of collectively banning him.

I think Feng Xiaogang saw this situation and knew that his and Wang Shuo's company might not last long, so he started looking for the next buyer.

This was how it was in the previous life.

In 1997, Wang Shuo and Feng Xiaogang took the film "Father and Son" to a foreign award without passing the censorship, which directly led to the banning of several films produced by their company.

The company’s dramas could not be broadcast, and Wang Shuo was collectively criticized, banned and suppressed by the cultural community, so he eventually fled to the United States.

After Wang Shuo left, Feng Xiaogang also started looking for a way out.

"Party A and Party B" came into being under such circumstances.

It was also because of this movie that Feng Xiaogang and Wang Shuo officially became enemies.

It is said that the reason is that after Wang Shuo left, Feng Xiaogang continued to use Wang Shuo's brand.

"Party A and Party B" is adapted from Wang Shuo's novel "You Are Not a Common Man".

But Feng Xiaogang adapted his good friend's novel without notifying Wang Shuo.

I only found out about Wang Shuo after the movie was released.

No matter how good a friend is, if you use their things without permission, the other person will definitely be unhappy.

This is what Wang Shuo did. For this reason, Wang Shuo personally rushed back to ask Feng Xiaogang for an explanation.

Originally, if Feng Xiaogang had explained it to Wang Shuo properly, since they are both friends, this matter would not be difficult to resolve.

It just so happened that Feng Xiaogang made money at that time, and he actually gave Wang Shuo two million yuan as a gift.

The general meaning is, you just want money! I'll give it to you!
As a result, Wang Shuo naturally didn't care about the money, so the two of them fell out and became enemies.

Zhou Ziheng did not want to comment on Feng Xiaogang's character.

He doesn't want to be friends with Feng Xiaogang.

It's business.

Putting aside other issues, as far as directing talent is concerned, this guy is indeed quite capable.

Therefore, when faced with Feng Xiaogang's idea of ​​joining Hengyu, Zhou Ziheng did not refuse immediately.

"If you have a good project, our company may consider investing in you."

He looked at Feng Xiaogang and said.

"Is this true?"

When Feng Xiaogang heard Zhou Ziheng's answer, he was suddenly shocked.

“Of course, our company welcomes any talented director to develop in the company.

As long as you have a good project and pass our company's review, we can invest in you."

Hengyu is indeed not afraid of many people coming to invest.

In half a year, Hengyu made a lot of money.

As long as there is capability and the project is profitable, Hengyu doesn't mind investing.

Moreover, to be honest, the investment budget for current film projects in the mainland is actually not high.

Currently, for projects purely in the mainland, a project worth a few million is considered a good project.

He can still come up with this amount of money.

……

After leaving his contact information with Feng Xiaogang and sending him away, Zhou Ziheng originally planned to return to Guangzhou. Unexpectedly, Jiang Wen called him and asked him out for dinner.

Thinking that there was no need to rush this day, he turned back and went to the restaurant where Jiang Wen had arranged to meet him.

"Here he comes, our international superstar Boss Zhou is here!"

After getting to know him for a long time, I found that Jiang Wen seems very out of touch.

As soon as he saw Zhou Ziheng, he started yelling.

"I think you deserve a spanking!"

Zhou Ziheng didn't pay attention to his words. He walked into the private room while complaining.

There were quite a few people in the private room.

In addition to Jiang Wen and his current girlfriend Ning Jing, there was also Ge ​​You, and the other was a short middle-aged man whom Zhou Ziheng did not know.

"Let me introduce you. This is Ge You, a famous actor from mainland China. He starred in Zhang Yimou's film To Live. You should know him, right?

If you don’t know it, then you are really ignorant! ”

Jiang Wen first introduced Ge You.

"Do you think I'm someone who doesn't know anything?" Zhou Ziheng rolled his eyes and shook hands with Ge You. "Mr. Ge, I've heard a lot about you."

"You're welcome. I have long heard of Mr. Zhou's great name.

I listen to your tapes every night to fall asleep.

I've always wanted to find a chance to get to know him, but there was no chance. "

From an actor's perspective, Zhou Ziheng is actually a junior.

From a singer's perspective, he is not much better than Ge You.

However, Zhou Ziheng has another identity, that is, the boss.

Hengyu Films was booming in Hong Kong, which made his status in the industry soar like a rocket.

Therefore, Ge You seemed very polite when speaking to him.

"This is Mr. Zhou Xiaowen, our senior from the Beijing Film Academy, and also a director.

He started acting in movies in the 1980s and is a bit famous in China. Do you know him? "

After Zhou Ziheng greeted Ge You, Jiang Wen introduced the last middle-aged man.

Zhou Ziheng might not know about other people.

It just so happened that he knew this Zhou Xiaowen.

He began his directorial career in 1986 with the war film "They Are Young".

In 1988, he wrote and directed the crime film "The Price of Madness", for which he won the Honorary Award at the Hawaii International Film Festival.

He is one of the leading figures of the fifth generation of directors in mainland China, but he did not produce many works in later generations.

However, at present, his fame is still very big, only slightly better than Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and others.

"Hello Director Zhou, nice to meet you!"

Zhou Ziheng greeted him politely as his profile flashed through his mind. "I always hear them say that Mr. Zhou is a promising young man. Seeing him today, I find that his reputation is well-deserved."

The other person stood up and greeted him politely.

After greeting several people in succession, Zhou Ziheng sat down next to Jiang Wen.

As soon as he came in, he roughly understood what the place was like today.

It should be similar to Feng Xiaogang.

Some people are looking for investment.

As for who it is, it's impossible to say it's Jiang Wen. After finishing "Sunny Days", he has no plans to shoot a new movie immediately.

It is impossible for Ge You, as he was an actor and he continued to do this profession until Zhou Ziheng traveled through time in later generations.

So, it can only be Zhou Xiaowen.

It's easy if you know what the game is.

The enemy cannot move, I cannot move!
Just wait for the other party to bring it up.

If you are not interested in the proposed project, the worst that can happen is that you find an excuse to turn it down.

If the project is good, just invest in it.

After having enough food and drink, Zhou Xiaowen seemed to feel that the time had come and said to Zhou Ziheng:
"Mr. Zhou, I heard that your company has funds and wants to invest in some mainland movies?"

Hearing this, Zhou Ziheng immediately knew that the sex scene was about to begin.

He nodded, "I do have such an idea, but we won't invest in every play. We are a commercial company, and everything is based on business."

What Zhou Ziheng meant was that he only invests in things that can make money.

What is profitable?

Of course it can get good box office and be released in mainland China.

The reason for investing in mainland movies is to have them screened in mainland China!

If the movie you invested in is banned, then you’ll make a lot of money!
"I have a project here, I wonder if Hengyu is interested?"

After hearing Zhou Ziheng's words, Zhou Xiaowen went straight to the point.

He took out a thick stack of papers from the briefcase next to him, which should be the script.

“This is a story about the Qin Dynasty, and the project was actually planned in the middle of last year.

Originally, Ocean Pictures was prepared to invest 40 million.

But I felt that 40 million might not be enough, so I thought of Mr. Zhou. "

The story of the Qin Dynasty?
Ocean Pictures invested 40 million.

Hearing this, Zhou Ziheng couldn't help but twitch his mouth.

Could it be "Song of Qin"?

In his previous life, Zhou Ziheng knew very little about movies from the 1990s. Most of what he knew were famous movies from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

However, he also knows some movies from the mainland.

"Ode to Qin" is it.

Not only did he watch the movie, he also knew a lot of information about it.

There is no doubt that "Song of Qin" is definitely a good movie.

It set a precedent both in terms of scene and model.

This drama can be regarded as the first commercial hit in mainland China.

It was also the first film to attract large amounts of investment from other regions.

The quality is also very good.

Zhou Ziheng watched the movie in his previous life and thought it was good, so he went to Baidu to search for the movie.

Then, the information he got was still fresh in his memory.

This drama has a very good reputation in later generations.

However, when it was released in the second half of 1996, it was a huge flop.

This play, which cost nearly 40 million yuan to produce, was banned.

Four days after the film was released, the armed police shot dead the film and sealed the copies.

Director Zhou Xiaowen and screenwriter Lu Wei began writing the movie "Tai Song" in 1989. It took them six years to write the script. On New Year's Day 6, Hong Kong Ocean Pictures decided to invest 1996 million yuan in the filming, with Jiang Wen and Ge You starring as the two male protagonists. Such an investment and lineup can be called a luxurious blockbuster configuration.

However, as the speed of developing copies could not keep up, in July 1996, China Film decided to release "The Emperor's Ode" in five cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Chengdu, for the first round, and then release it nationwide a week later.

According to Zhou Xiaowen's later account, on the fourth day of its screening in five cities including Beijing, relevant personnel ordered that the film must be disposed of.

The reason was a sentence, which roughly meant: "Is it appropriate to make up a story about Qin Shi Huang? That night, someone from the co-production company led armed guards to surround the Beijing Film Processing Plant and sealed up the copies that had not yet been sent out.

The next day, all parties received relevant documents, which included stopping all distribution, screening and promotional activities, Hong Kong Ocean Pictures paying a fine of 50 yuan, and Xi'an Film Studio conducting a thorough inspection.

Afterwards, "Song of Qin" completely disappeared from cinemas and all domestic media.

Due to the sudden ban, the company suffered heavy losses, and the producers subsequently turned their attention to the international market.

In September 1996, "Song of Qin" was selected as an entry in the San Sebastian International Film Festival in Spain, and Zhou Xiaowen was invited to attend.

But according to Zhou Xiaowen, when he arrived at the hotel, he met a woman from China who asked him to immediately go to the president of the International Film Festival and "tell him that your film "Song of Qin" will not participate and you decided to withdraw the film yourself."

The woman also prevented the reporters around her from interviewing Zhou Xiaowen.

In response, the chairman of the jury said that even the King of Spain did not have the power to ask him to withdraw any film. "Qin Song" participated in the competition normally and later won the Jury Grand Prix.

However, Zhou Xiaowen did not attend the ceremony on the day of the premiere. According to his recollection, the woman stayed with him in the hotel lobby that night, and Zhou Xiaowen never left her sight from 5 pm to 11 pm.

At 11 o'clock, the other party called to report the situation, and then relayed the above words to Zhou Xiaowen, "Your performance is not bad, but this is what you have to do."

In a word, this drama is a huge pit and Zhou Ziheng doesn't want to get involved in it at all.

He picked up the script and read it.

Sure enough, it was Qin Song.

"I'm really sorry, but we may not be able to participate in this project."

After a pause, Zhou Ziheng continued: "In fact, 40 million is enough, you don't need to invest more.

Movies are risky, if you’re not careful…”

Zhou Ziheng actually understood why Zhou Xiaowen still wanted to find him after receiving an investment of 40 million.

It must be because of his Hengyu.

Last year, Hengyu invested in "The Conjuring", which was just a modern crime film, but the investment was as high as 30 million.

This directly makes Zhang Yimou the director who has received the most investment in mainland China.

A modern film requires so much investment, and the investment budget for a large-scale movie like the Qin Dynasty is of course much higher.

Knowing that Hengyu might invest, Zhou Xiaowen naturally hoped to invest as much as possible.

These directors are all the same. They don't consider whether the investors make money or lose money. If you dare to invest, they will dare to shoot even if you give them 10 billion.

Different investments mean different shooting scenes.

"Old Zhou, why don't you consider it? This project is really good.

I think if it is filmed, it will most likely become the first commercial blockbuster in mainland China.

It might even make you a lot of money.”

When Jiang Wen heard that Zhou Ziheng was not going to invest, he couldn't help but persuade him.

Hearing this, Zhou Ziheng glanced at him.

You really don't have any back pain when you talk while standing!

Not only did he make a lot of money, he would be lucky if he didn’t lose his pants!
Ocean Pictures, a Hong Kong film company that had developed well in the past two years, withdrew from the stage of history directly because of this movie.

He didn't want Hengyu to be eliminated.

"I really can't invest. I have a new play in June, in which I will be the lead actor. The investment budget is very high, and I have to keep some budget."

Zhou Ziheng said this to save face.

(End of this chapter)