1979: The child's mother is a celestial being.

Chapter 137 The Road No One Has Walked Before, I'll Go First (Revised) (Please Subscribe!)

"Director Wu, have you thought this through?"

"Yeah, I've thought about it."

Looking at Wu Tianming who came to say goodbye, Chen Fusheng felt quite emotional, but not too surprised.

Because on the day of the gathering, he noticed that Wu Tianming was acting strangely, and then he talked to him alone the next day.

I learned that Wu Tianming's confidence was somewhat shaken by the poor performance of his film "The River Without Beacon" in Hong Kong, and I comforted him.

I remember that Wu Tianming had no intention of backing down at the time.

Then this week is the time for the organization to talk to the other members of the group.

Unexpectedly, after the talk,
When we met Wu Tianming again, he had come to say goodbye.

This shows that he has made his final choice.

At this point, no amount of persuasion from Chen Fusheng would be of any use.

Therefore, I can only offer my final blessing.

"No matter what, we're all friends. If Director Wu comes to Beijing in the future, please remember to contact us so we can all have a drink and chat together."

"Okay, I also wish Director Chen's family and career all the best, and I wish Oriental Films to achieve its great goals soon."

After talking with Wu Tianming, Chen Fusheng sat and thought for a while, but still had some doubts that he couldn't resolve. Then he picked up a document and went to Deputy Director Shi's office.

Upon hearing the knock, Deputy Director Shi looked up and, seeing it was Chen Fusheng, smiled and said:
"I knew you'd come, Xiao Chen."

Upon hearing Deputy Director Shi's words, Chen Fusheng asked directly as soon as he entered, "Director Shi, what's the situation with Director Wu? Why is he suddenly going back to the Xi'an Film Studio after the meeting with the organization?"

Deputy Director Shi didn't keep him in suspense and said in a deep voice, "Wu Tianming has management skills. Based on his own opinions, the organization intends to let him go back to run for the position of director of Xi'an Film Studio, in order to cooperate with the national reform of local film studios."

Upon hearing this hidden meaning, Chen Fusheng finally understood, and his doubts vanished.

But he immediately followed up with:

"What about the others?"

"Besides director Wu Tianming, director Chen Huaikai probably won't join your company either due to health reasons."

"Won't I be left all alone?" Originally, their group only had five directors, including him, and now two of them had left. It was hard for Chen Fusheng not to feel heartbroken.

"How come you're all alone? Don't you still have Lingzi and Xiao Han? Besides, Xiao Chen, you've recruited quite a few people recently," said Deputy Director Shi.

"I'm recruiting newcomers who still need training, while directors Chen Huaikai and Wu Tianming are both capable leaders who can work independently..."

Chen Fusheng wanted to complain a bit more, but Deputy Director Shi interrupted him, saying:

“You can keep recruiting! Today, behind closed doors, I’ll be frank with you, Xiao Chen. The higher-ups intend to make film studios self-sufficient in profits and losses. I suspect that many directors will be short of money to make films. As long as your company develops healthily, Xiao Chen, you can definitely recruit more people.”

Hearing Deputy Director Shi's encouraging words, Chen Fusheng chuckled twice and said inconsistently, "Director Shi, I think our company has plenty of manpower!"

"Didn't you just say you were short-staffed?" Deputy Director Shi chuckled.

“It’s not bad now.”

Deputy Director Shi smiled and didn't dwell on the issue.

Before ending the conversation, I inquired about Chen Fusheng's next project and learned that he was still in the planning stages, so I concluded the discussion.

……

Later, Chen Fusheng returned to his office, opened a notebook, and there was already a script on it.

The script is called "Hidden Dragon, Crouching Tiger".

It is a martial arts action film directed by Li An and released in 2000, starring Chow Yun-fat and Zhang Ziyi.

The film tells the story of Li Mu Bai, a legendary swordsman who intends to retire from the martial arts world. He entrusts his confidante, Yu Shu Lien, to deliver his Green Destiny sword to the capital as a gift for Prince Bei. However, the sword is stolen on the very night of its delivery, sparking further conflicts and grudges within the martial arts world.

This film achieved very high box office results overseas, reaching $2.13 million, and has long held the top spot in the overseas box office rankings for Chinese-language films.

It's a very successful Chinese martial arts film that caters to Western audiences. That's its strength.

Correspondingly, this is also its weakness.

Due to the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, it is difficult for martial arts films to achieve both.

Therefore, while catering to the tastes of Western audiences, the film inevitably lowered the perception of domestic audiences.

Therefore, the film's box office in China was not very high, only 1500 million.

Of course, you could also say that it was 15 million in the year 2000...

Indeed, box office figures don't tell the whole story.

However, its reputation in the country is generally poor.

Chen Fusheng has gone all out this time, so he wants to make a blockbuster.

Then they brought out Li An's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Of course, he didn't intend to copy it exactly.

Instead, they wanted to modify it and make it their own.

The more they changed it, the worse it got.

Chen Fusheng had to admit that he had overestimated his adaptation skills this time.

Or rather, it's very difficult for martial arts films to find a balance that appeals to both Chinese and Western audiences.

It was precisely because he was dissatisfied with his own rewritten script that he mentioned in Deputy Director Shi's office that his next film was still in the planning stages.

When Chen Fusheng returned, he read it again and still felt awkward, even worse than the original. He no longer wanted to change it, so he tore it up and threw it into the trash can.

Since the secondary creation failed, what should we do next?
Are you adapting the original story?

Do not,
There are actually many more great films that could be made, but Chen Fusheng doesn't want to make one that he doesn't like.

That's right. Because of the failed adaptation, which wasted a lot of his time and energy, Chen Fusheng's positive feelings towards "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" have now turned negative.

He even stopped wanting to make martial arts films.

After all, good martial arts films can't go beyond national borders; at most, they might have some influence in Southeast Asia.

The key issue is that this track is also difficult to photograph.

Therefore, before Chen Fusheng even started, he chose to cut his losses in time.

Fortunately, he had alternatives in his mind.

“Since martial arts films aren’t working, let’s make an action film. This time, I really want to go big,” Chen Fusheng insisted.

He has three reasons for wanting to make blockbuster films.

the first,

No director with ideals can resist the temptation of blockbusters;
second,

He wanted to use a blockbuster film to kick off Oriental Films' global expansion.
third,

Since Oriental Pictures' vision is to reach for the stars... cough cough, I misunderstood, to become a Universal Pictures, then it is essential to have overseas distribution channels.

So this time, Chen Fusheng wants to use his film to test the waters of overseas box office for future Chinese films and see just how deep they really are.

It's just a road that no one has ever walked on.

I'll go first!
……

With that thought in mind, Chen Fusheng picked up his pen and formally wrote down a movie title on the blank paper behind the torn notebook.

Die Hard!
(End of this chapter)