The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 569 Take it First and Talk Later

The story on the big screen continued, quickly recounting the previous events: after Yue Fei was strangled, Prime Minister Qin ordered that his body be left exposed for three days before being ground to ashes.

As a prison guard in the imperial prison, Wei Shun had many conversations with Yue Fei and was deeply impressed by him. Unable to bear that Yue Fei would not even have a burial place after his death, he secretly took a few friends and tried to transport Yue Fei's body out of the city so that they could find a place to be laid to rest.

No sooner had they secretly transported the body out than Qin Hui's men arrived and immediately gave chase.

What followed was a chase, with people constantly joining in – reinforcements for the pursuers, but mostly righteous individuals who came to help after receiving the news.

There were monks and Taoists, beggars and soldiers, and then it was all a fight.

These action sequences are undoubtedly top-notch, specially designed by Master Yuen, and mostly from stunt teams in Hong Kong. They even specially cast Zou Zhaolong to play the villain.

Moreover, this villain is designed to be very oppressive; most of the righteous people who come to help him die at his hands.

Although the plot is driven by sending enemies to their deaths one after another—this is unavoidable, whether it's the 80s "The Thirteen Taibao of Shanghai" or the "Bodyguards and Assassins" which was originally scheduled to be released in 09, they all follow this approach.

Or rather, in this type of movie, it's inevitable that the villains will line up to be killed; otherwise, if the good guys swarm in and launch a righteous attack, the villains will basically have no chance. So what matters is whether the way the villains are killed is reasonable.

"The Thirteen Protectors of Shanghai" is generally fine, but there are many inconsistencies in the details. For example, the fighting power of the rich man and the student is a bit too high, which causes the rich man's sister to faint and run away, where she is captured by the villain. The villain then uses this as leverage to kill the rich man first and then the student.

In the end, it was discovered that the balance of power between the good and the evil was unbalanced, so the villain, Kuai Dao, was inexplicably forced to switch sides.

"Bodyguards and Assassins" is the opposite. It has no major problems in the details. The deaths are all justified. Whether it is a merchant redeeming the family heirloom of a fallen martial arts master and asking him to guard the last line of defense, or a gambler having a change of heart and turning against the villains, it is all acceptable to the audience.

However, this doesn't make much sense. Historically, Sun Yat-sen raised funds in Hong Kong more than once. If he was hunted down with such a large-scale operation every time, he would not have been able to escape.

Besides, after the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing government's power in the south was very weak, and it was impossible for them to cause such a big commotion in Hong Kong. The approach in "Project A Part II" would have been more reasonable.

Therefore, when "Man Jiang Hong" was still a script, Xu Jiuyang repeatedly emphasized the importance of paying attention to this aspect of logic.

According to the final draft he reviewed, the problem was resolved reasonably well. The only remaining question was whether Zhang Yimou would film it according to the script.

Even if he doesn't cause trouble, some scenes will still be adjusted according to the actual shooting situation, such as if it's not easy to express or if the effect of the filming is not good. After all, there is a difference between text and pictures.

Moreover, literary and artistic works often have a characteristic: what the author wants to tell the public is often quite different from what the public reads from the work, and sometimes even completely opposite.

Taking the previous example of "Man Jiang Hong", it's highly likely that Zhang Yimou, in order to fulfill a betting agreement, suddenly had the scene of Qin Hui reciting "Man Jiang Hong" pop into his head, and thought that the audience would definitely like it.

"It's alright so far, everything seems fine," Xu Jiuyang muttered.

The story is already halfway through, and the first wave of righteous warriors has been almost entirely wiped out. Kui Shun, carrying Yue Fei's body, is resting briefly at the home of a former brothel woman. He couldn't help but glance at Fan Bingbing, who immediately snorted after noticing his gaze, clearly knowing why he was looking at her.

Driven by a certain perverse sense of humor, Xu Jiuyang cast Hu Jun and Bater, in addition to Zou Zhaolong, to play the righteous men protecting Kui Shun. Hu Jun had more screen time and was considered the most skilled fighter on the righteous side. In the end, he perished together with Zou Zhaolong. Hu Jun, on the other hand, died a more gruesome death, no less tragic than his death in "Bodyguards and Assassins".

Yes, the reason Xu Jiuyang asked them to play roles was to tease the "Bodyguards and Assassins" crew a little.

He had auditioned in his past life, but he didn't expect to get a role with a name or a character. He would have been content with just playing a minor role, like a policeman or a soldier.

Of course, the outcome is self-evident.

Moreover, this audition left a very bad impression on him. Although the scandal had been going on for more than a year, the Hong Kong staff were still arrogant, which explains why there was the Donnie Yen vs. Zhao Liying controversy later on.

Therefore, regardless of whether there will ever be another movie called "Bodyguards and Assassins" in this lifetime, and whether Hu Jun and Bater will be cast, Xu Jiuyang decided to secure the roles first.

It's fine if we don't have it, but if we did... that would be really interesting!
So he had planned to have Fan Bingbing play a role in "Man Jiang Hong" because she had a role in "Bodyguards and Assassins" in her previous life, and it was a minor supporting role.

Of course, Fan refused without hesitation, and made no attempt to hide her disdain.

However, whether it was a momentary lapse of judgment or something else, she later said that if they wanted her to star in the film, they would have to offer her a fee of 2000 million.

So Xu Jiuyang persuaded Angela to write her a check for 2000 million, and then she took the opportunity to teach him a lesson with her two mouths.

Those were four dark and chaotic days, during which she went on to describe all sorts of things, from what plants were turned into what sets and what seeds. Although he felt a great sense of accomplishment, he didn't dare to do it again, because in the end, all he could think about was being with her forever.

Although I recovered after a week of abstinence, the thought of that completely involuntary impulse, that infatuation where no one else was in my eyes or mind, still makes me feel awkward and scared.

Getting back to the main point, because the script is solid enough, even though the good guys sometimes misunderstand each other due to a lack of communication, and everyone on their side is fighting each other, the audience's reaction has been quite good.

The reason is simple: no one is going to be a riddle-maker; a few words are enough to explain everything. So the righteous ones immediately joined hands to repel the enemy, entrusting their backs to their companions, since they had all come for the same goal.

This is also the method used to control the righteous forces in the play "Man Jiang Hong". Several groups of righteous people came to seize Yue Fei's body after they learned about Qin Hui's actions and were filled with righteous indignation. They did not know each other and naturally could not coordinate their time and itinerary, which caused many misunderstandings.

However, as mentioned above, upon hearing that it was to ensure Yue Fei's proper burial, the various groups immediately united and became loyal to each other.

One of the scenes involves Shi Xingyu, also known as Kuliqiang, playing a drunken monk who was once Yue Fei's bodyguard, and who comes to help alongside Zhong Fa, who plays a Taoist priest.

Unfortunately, my senior brother is a retainer of the Qin family. After the two sides started fighting, my senior brother made sarcastic remarks about him, saying that we two brothers used to roam freely in the Jianghuai region, but now we are actually hanging around with the Taoist priests of the Shenxiao Sect. It is a disgrace to our master's lineage. He used this to sow discord.

(End of this chapter)