Huayu: I'm reborn, but you still force me to be a scumbag?

Chapter 266 Can you act?
Chen Nuo actually doesn't like the play "Under the Hawthorn Tree" very much.

After reading the script for the first time in Beijing, he asked Linghu to go to the bookstore to buy the original work, trying to capture more of the characters' background and the context of the story in the novel.

Unfortunately, even though the book has numerous recommenders on its jacket, such as Lu Chuan, Jiang Kun, and Zhang Jizhong.

But after reading it, Chen Nuo still couldn't like it.

Perhaps his cultural level is still too low and he cannot reach the level of those famous directors.

Or maybe he just emerged from the dark story written by Bong Joon-ho, which was full of twists and turns and chills, and performed that soul-stirring dance.
To the extent that he always felt that the bland, melodramatic love story in "Under the Hawthorn Tree" sprinkled with some sugar was really not very attractive.

Take his Blueberry Nights, a movie that also has a simple plot and tells the same story of love, for example.

Although the song "It's not hard to cross a road, the most important thing is who is waiting for you on the other side" by Blueberry Nights,
and "I can't wait until you are 25, but I can wait for you forever" from Under the Hawthorn Tree.
These two lines express different themes, and it is difficult to say which one is more important.

But after all, Wang Jiawei added thoughts about choice and redemption into love.

Just like real blueberries and hawthorns.

Although blueberries are also small sweet fruits, Wang Jiawei added some salty salad dressing to them, which made the taste richer and more worth chewing than the hawthorn that melts in your mouth.

Not to mention that this kind of fresh and artistic love movie is Wang Mojing's old track. But for Lao Mouzi, it is his first time to get involved in it seriously.

So we won the Palme d’Or, the Golden Bear and the Golden Lion right away?
is it possible?
Before signing the contract, Chen Nuo was not optimistic about the ambitions expressed by Director Zhang.

If it were really that easy to win the three major European awards, Zhang Yiyi's "Spring of the Blind Man" would not have failed to make any splash at all, and would have failed silently in Venice without garnering any rewards.

Therefore, the only reason why Chen Nuo took on this drama was actually because he had the schedule.

Second, he had personally promised at the dinner table that he wanted to film a movie with Director Zhang.

To be honest, it has nothing to do with money.

A pay of 1500 million is not high.

At least, it's definitely not as high as Li Lianjie.

Besides, Twilight's share of the profits has already arrived, so he is not short of money.

Twilight grossed $3.1 million in North America and $6.35 million worldwide, ultimately earning him $5500 million in after-tax profit. However, Summit Entertainment CEO Rob Friedman was unable to survive the year-end board questioning and had to resign, to be succeeded by Will Richardson.

He now has nearly 1 million in his RMB account, so Qi Yuntian went back to BJ and Shanghai to look for a suitable house.

Not to mention his U.S. stock account, which contains at least $10 million worth of Apple stock for 2000 years, and 4 shares of Berkshire Hathaway at more than $50 per share.

In December, when the financial crisis was intensifying, Buffett published a signed article in the New York Times that would later be widely circulated: "I'm Buying America."

This is using his decades of reputation to support the U.S. stock market.

Chen Nuo was also very considerate. After seeing the stock market trend online, he immediately gave half of his shares to the stock god's company without hesitation this month.

You are buying America.

Then I'll buy you in.

In the end, he kept most of the $5500 million in his U.S. stock account and bought stocks of two of the most valuable companies in the future. He finally transferred about million back to China to buy houses.

After all, he didn't really know whether China's real estate would take off as expected, but it was an indisputable fact that the iPhone had started to sell like hot cakes.

In his opinion, it is better to pin hopes on the launch of iPhone 2010 as scheduled in 4 than on the real estate bubble caused by the 2 trillion yuan money injection that was reduced by half for unknown reasons.

If it is true that his butterfly effect reduced the real estate bubble a lot, then more than 10 years later, Chen Nuo feels that he should be able to become a saint.

Anyway, as long as the iPhone sells well, it won’t prevent him from making money.

After all, peace and prosperity is one thing, and making money is another, right?
Back to Zhang Yimou's "Under the Hawthorn Tree", Chen Nuo feels that for him personally, this drama is not very cost-effective in terms of fame and profit.

The money is so little, just 1500 million, and the name...

With the depth of this film, it is impossible for it to win any gold award abroad.

Director Zhang's film was purely based on the Olympics, and his self-confidence was too inflated. He thought that people would pay for whatever he filmed.

Chen Nuo dared to bet that he, the handsome male protagonist in the play who was not deaf, dumb, blind, mentally retarded, did not commit incest, did not have an affair, did not take drugs, and only dated women, was destined not to bring any heavyweight trophies to his trophy display room.

The most you can do is to win some big and small awards in the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong.

Therefore, at this moment, he can only regard this play as an investment.

But it’s not the investment in the play, but the people.

To put it more clearly, it is an investment in Liu XX.

2009年1月21日，旧历腊月25，离大年30过年还有4天。

Director Zhang Yimou has already given a week's notice in advance.

The crew will have a holiday during the Chinese New Year this year, but it won’t be long, just on the first day of the Chinese New Year.

In other words, if the family members and children of the crew members miss their relatives so much that they are willing to travel thousands of miles to visit the crew,

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, they had a day to go shopping with their family in HUB Province Yichang.

But on the second day of the Chinese New Year, we have to come back and start work on time.

When Zhang Yimou announced the news about this bastard, it was not a grammatical error, but the anger of all the crew members who dared not speak out.

At that time, all the staff were silent and no one knew what they were thinking.

However, the male protagonist of this film did not rise up in rebellion, but was the first to accept the offer and said with a smile, "OK, no problem for me".
Everyone is fine now.

In fact, Zhang Yimou didn't want to do such a thing. He was a man with several families and many people. If he didn't go back, his many children would make trouble.

However, the filming of this scene was not smooth.

"Yifei, you see, Professor Xi is playing your mother, right?"

Liu Yifei nodded obediently and said, "Yes, Director."

Professor Xi Meijuan, vice president of the School of Visual Arts at Fudan University, representative of the 10th National People's Congress, vice chairman of the 8th China Film Association, winner of the Golden Rooster, Huabiao and Feitian Awards for Best Actress, sat aside in a blue coarse cloth dress and a pair of reading glasses, smiling as she watched director Zhang Yimou explain the play to his daughter.

Zhang Yimou gestured and said patiently, "Look, when Professor Xi was taking medicine for stomachache, and you said, 'Mom, taking too many painkillers will hurt your stomach,' shouldn't your expression be richer? More emotional, right? That's your mother, Yifei, you know? I want you to be more involved. Don't be so cold and indifferent."

Liu Yifei nodded again and said, "Okay, I understand, Director."

Logically speaking, the director should be pleased that such a famous actress is so obedient.

But Zhang Yimou's face showed no expression. He just nodded slightly and said, "Take a five-minute break and think about it carefully. Don't just agree. Think about it seriously. Then we can do it again."

Five minutes later, with a "start" sound, the scene that had just been NG was performed again.

Xi Meijuan went into the house to take medicine. Liu Yifei was worried about her and reminded her.

Then halfway through the performance, Zhang Yimou shouted, "Cut, take a break."

Then he said to Zhang Weiping, who had just arrived at the scene today to comfort the crew and give everyone red envelopes to calm their anger: "Weiping, did you see that? This is why we can't take a holiday and go home during the Chinese New Year. There is no way, I really have no way. The shooting schedule is really falling behind."

Zhang Weiping had a strange expression, looking like he wanted to laugh, but also a little depressed. "Mouzi, what's going on? Didn't you call me excitedly and say that we had chosen the right heroine for this play?"

"They said Liu Yifei is very talented in filming, not only is her performance amazing, but she also has great improvisation skills. They said the girl's performance wasn't good before, probably because the director's skills were limited.

“This is a rough diamond.”

"Didn't you say all these things?"

Zhang Yimou sighed and said, "I said that."

"Ah, then what's going on?" Zhang Yimou said expressionlessly, "If you ask me, I don't know who to ask. I've been filming for my whole life and have never encountered anything like this. How can an actor's acting skills fluctuate to this extent?"

"Sometimes, I think this kid is just as good as that American girl, Emma Stone, and she can even win an award at Cannes..."

"But sometimes, I feel that my first impression after watching her audition was correct. This little girl really should go back to school for another two years. She doesn't even have solid acting basics."

Zhang Weiping laughed and said, "Mouzi, your... difference is too big, it feels a bit outrageous."

Zhang Yimou said, "You're right, Wei Ping, I feel exactly the same as you do. After filming for a week, I feel it's fucking outrageous. When she was acting opposite Chen Nuo, I really felt that every shot was so beautiful. Whether it's Chen Nuo or her, I feel that this is the Lao San and Jing Qiu that I want."

"But once she plays with other people, or performs some monologues or interludes, I can't believe that she is the same person as the lively Jingqiu before. It's simply..."

"Let me put it this way. You know Xi Meijuan, what a great actress she is. If you want to talk about her emotions, with just one shot and one line, one or two takes would be enough, right?"

"But watch it yourself. Look at the replay. It was just one shot, but it was NGed five times. How do you feel after watching it?"

Zhang Weiping stared at the monitor for a while, then laughed and said, "Mouzi, I don't understand these things. I just think the girl is pretty, with good skin and looks photogenic even without makeup. It should have a great visual effect on the big screen. Well, what do you think?"

Zhang Yimou took a deep breath and said, "My feeling is... like there is something stuck in my throat that I can't feel relieved unless I get it out."

……

……

If Zhang Yimou's words were heard by reporters, with a little processing, they could become an excellent entertainment news headline.

For example, a sensational headline like "Zhang Yimou almost vomited after watching Liu Yifei's acting."

But the fact is, 80% of the content in this movie is the love scenes between Chen Nuo and Liu Yifei.

Therefore, even though Director Zhang felt that he was being teased by his own heroine and was so depressed that he wanted to curse, in the end, the merits outweighed the flaws and the joy outweighed the pain.

"Under the Hawthorn Tree" tells the story of a high school girl from a poor family who went to the countryside to collect folk songs and compile revolutionary textbooks in the early 70s. She met a soldier's son who was an educated youth there.

The two fell in love at first sight, but because of Jingqiu's poor family background, they encountered many obstacles.

In the end, the two people who were in love with each other not only failed to be together openly, but could only date secretly. In the end, they were separated forever because of the male protagonist's terminal illness.

To sum up, this is a period romance movie with the core of a Korean drama.

Therefore, it can be seen how disgusting the relationship between the male and female protagonists in this play is.

Especially because the time in the script is at the turn of spring and summer, which is actually very different from the current cold winter.

It is really inhumane to ask actors to perform outdoors wearing thin short-sleeved shirts.

So when Zhang Yimou was making the shooting plan, he basically arranged the indoor scenes in the coldest months from January to mid-February, and the outdoor scenes in March.

The sweet and tender scenes between the male and female protagonists filled the period before the New Year.

The scene that day was finally shot for the sixth time and was approved by director Zhang Yimou, so Teacher Xi Meijuan could also take a break.

Time passed with Director Zhang gritting his teeth and groaning, and it was January 2009, 1, the 23th day of the twelfth lunar month. There were still two days until the Chinese New Year.

This afternoon was the day Director Zhang felt he could take a break.

Chen Nuo was peeling an apple for Liu Yifei under the yellowish light indoors.

The interior here is built to look like a dormitory.

There were bookcases, group photos hanging on the wall, various tool books on the table, and a very small and narrow camp bed covered with white sheets.

In the play, Jingqiu came to the hospital to see the third brother after she knew he was sick.

The third brother concealed his true illness and only told the other party that he just had a cold and it was not leukemia at all and it was nothing serious.

So Jingqiu believed it, went out with him for a day, and went to a photo studio to take pictures.

Finally, the third brother took Jingqiu back to his dormitory.

This scene begins from here.

A desk lamp was placed on the desk between Chen Nuo and Liu Yifei.

The desk lamp is very bright, and the yellowish light is emitted by the lighting engineer, giving the whole scene a hazy and dreamy beauty.

When Chen Nuo and Liu Yifei were acting opposite each other, director Zhang Yimou was willing to make a big bet.

So this time, he used a rare three-camera arrangement, with a close-up camera for each of the male and female protagonists, and a medium-shot camera that allowed both of them to be in the picture at the same time.

In order to make the performance of the male and female protagonists smooth and natural, the cost of NG was tripled.

But Director Zhang, who was sitting behind the monitor, looked calm and not worried at all.

At this time, he felt that Liu Yifei could go to Cannes to win an award.

Is he afraid of hair?
Sure enough, when Liu Yifei was speaking her lines to Chen Nuo, she had a smile on her lips and her cheeks were slightly red. She played the role of a girl who fell in love very vividly and to the core.

The acting of that vase is completely different from other times.

Liu Yifei took a piece of red cloth she had picked up while shopping with the third brother, glanced at Chen Nuo, lowered her eyes shyly, and asked in a calm tone, "What kind of clothes do you think I can make with this cloth?"

Chen Nuo was peeling an apple skillfully with the knife in his hand and looked over when he heard the words.

In the close-up shot, his eyes stayed on the cloth for only a moment, and then moved from the cloth to the beautiful face of the girl, whose face was radiant under the light.

Beautiful beyond words, this is what Liu Yifei is like when she is shy and has two pigtails.

At that moment, Chen Nuo opened his eyes wider and stared without blinking, obviously dazzled by the beauty that his beloved inadvertently revealed.

Seeing that he didn't reply, Liu Yifei looked up and glanced at him quickly.

Seeing Chen Nuo's burning gaze, two faint blushes suddenly appeared on her face. She lowered her head again and turned her face slightly to avoid the man's disturbing eyes. She asked in a low voice: "I'm asking you, why don't you speak?"

Chen Nuo came back to his senses all of a sudden, smiled a little embarrassedly, and said softly: "Anything is fine, you look good in anything."

When she didn't get an answer, Liu Yifei pouted, as if she was about to get angry, but in the end she still smiled at the affection in the words, then turned her head and said sweetly: "Then I'll do it when I get home, and show you when it's done."

Chen Nuo pulled the corner of his mouth and nodded: "Okay."

The girl then carefully put the roll of red cloth into her bag and whispered, "When the hawthorn tree blooms, I will wear this red dress and go with you. If the flowers are red, see if the color of this cloth is the same."

Chen Nuo was stunned for a moment, and this time it was his turn to lower his head.

He lowered his eyelids, using his thick eyelashes to cover up the melancholy and sorrowful look in his eyes, and said in a normal tone: "Okay, then we'll go together."

Liu Yifei didn't look up, so she didn't notice anything unusual about Chen Nuo.

The girl looked at the bag in her hand and smiled shyly and sweetly.

And as beautiful as her dimpled smile was, Chen Nuo's sad expression looked just as desolate.

In the medium shot, the couple in love, separated by the table lamp, showed completely different expressions in the light and darkness respectively.

One sad, one happy, one left, one right, they divide the picture into two halves, balanced and beautiful.

In Zhang Yimou's aesthetic world, this moment is comparable to the moment in "Hero" where Wuming draws his sword and stabs the King of Qin.

After calling "Cut".

Zhang Yimou tilted his head towards Zhang Weiping, who was packing up and preparing to leave for Beijing, and said, "Did you see that? Tell me what's going on. I don't understand. How can the same person be so different? Can she act or not? I really don't understand."

Zhang Weiping did not return. He smiled and patted Zhang Yimou on the shoulder, saying, "I am relieved anyway. Our drama will definitely be a hit. Mouzi, I am leaving now. You have worked hard. Just keep filming. If there is anything with your sister-in-law, just let me know and I will be there whenever you call."

(End of this chapter)