Huayu: King of Kung Fu

Chapter 131 Are they really that rich?

Lin Hu quite liked "Hero" because its use of color was so good that it was pleasing to the eye.

Lin Hu's favorite battle was the one between Fei Xue and Ru Yue in the poplar forest.

Yellow leaves fluttered in the air, blood condensed on the tip of the sword—

The final scene of that play was rendered entirely in crimson, achieving a beauty that was both aesthetically pleasing and visually stunning.

However, after its release, "Hero" was a box office smash but received terrible reviews.

Back then, there was no rating system for Douban (a type of online game), and netizens were concentrated on places like Sina Forum, Xici Hutong, and Tianya Community.

At the time, mainstream online opinion held that Zhang Yimou was whitewashing the tyrant Qin Shi Huang and glorifying the invaders.

Some people might wonder, Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms and brought order to the world, which is a great achievement, isn't it worthy of praise?

Any commentary must be viewed within the context of its time.

In the years before and after the release of "Hero", the United States was waging wars everywhere and was invincible.

Iraq's million-strong army was like clay chickens and earthen dogs; the Chinese embassy was bombed, and China could only swallow its anger.

Some argued at the time that if the Qin state was the strongest, then unifying the world was the right thing to do. But in today's world, the United States is the strongest; if it were to unify...

In a global context, how should China position itself?

Many people even believe that the reason why "Hero" was able to achieve high box office in North America is because Zhang Yimou was praising the United States by praising Qin Shi Huang. He flattered the United States and made them happy, so they rewarded him with some box office revenue (dog food).

When the domestic movie rating website Douban was launched in 2005, "Hero" only scored 5.9 points, which shows how bad the movie's reputation was.

Many years later, China has developed, the mindset of the Chinese people has changed, and people have come to appreciate the aesthetics in the film, which gradually led to the score rising to 7.7.

Lin Hu hesitated to take on the role, not because of the controversy, but because he felt it wasn't worth it.

He is currently preparing for "Brotherhood of Blades," which he will self-invest in, direct, write, and star in. He will earn much more than he would have just starred in "Hero." Filming "Hero" has somewhat slowed down his earning pace.

Lin Hu closed the script and asked, "If I don't accept the role, will you go after Li Lianjie?"

The three exchanged glances, and Zhang Yimou nodded, admitting, "Li Lianjie is indeed one of the candidates for Wuming."

Lin Hu thought for a moment and said, "Is it possible that you can invite Li Lianjie as well, and I can fight him in the movie?"

'

"You mean, you want Jet Li to play Broken Sword?"

-

"right!"

If Lin Hu were to take on this film, he wouldn't want to fight with Tony Leung, since Leung doesn't know kung fu and it wouldn't be fun.

Lin Hu's philosophy was that action movies should be performed by action actors, so he suggested that Jet Li play Broken Sword.

Upon hearing Lin Hu's words, Zhang Yimou immediately thought that this idea was brilliant.

In the movie, Nameless is a young swordsman, while Broken Sword is a senior swordsman.

In reality, Lin Hu was just rising to fame, while Li Lianjie was an established kung fu superstar; their situations were exactly the same.

The fight between two kung fu superstars in the movie is a huge gimmick and a lot to watch.

However—this involves the issue of billing order. Broken Sword is only second in line, and it's unknown whether Li Lianjie would agree to that.

Also, both Lin Hu and Li Lianjie's salaries are ridiculously high.

Jet Li accepted a salary of US$240 million for his role in "Romeo Must Die," which is approximately RMB 2000 million.

Romeo Must Die was a huge success, and his salary doubled. When he took on the role in Kiss of the Dragon, it rose to $500 million.

Lin Hu took on the role in the Western film "Fast & Furious," for which he was paid $240 million. However, since the film has not yet been released, his salary has not increased.

But his momentum seems stronger than Jet Li's, so there's no reason for his salary to be lower than Jet Li's.

The two of them received a combined $1000 million salary?

Will the movie still be made?

However, since funding was a matter for the investors, Zhang Yimou turned his attention to Jiang Zhiqiang.

Jiang Zhiqiang also felt that a one-on-one duel between the two superstars would be very sensational, but it was just too expensive.

Jiang Zhiqiang is a man of action and ambition; otherwise, he wouldn't have gone all in on "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" with $1500 million and then spent another $3000 million on "Hero".

He thought about it carefully and said, "This is a good idea, worth a try."

Lin Hu readily agreed, "Then let's do it this way. If Li Lianjie is going to act, I'll act too, and I'll match his salary."

When Lin Hu returned home, he went to check on his sister Lin Feng's room.

Lin Feng was reading a book when she saw Lin Hu and said happily, "Little brother, have you eaten yet?"

"No!"

"Then I'll cook for you?"

Lin Hu's family doesn't have a nanny; they either cook their own meals or eat out.

Because he is a celebrity and worried about his privacy being exposed, he only has hourly cleaning services.

Lin Hu said, "Let's eat outside. I'll ask Bingbing if she wants to come along."

Lin Feng is two years older than Lin Hu. After graduating from high school, she worked in Guangzhou for several years.

She actually had pretty good grades and got into university, but in those days, there was a general preference for sons over daughters, so it was already quite an achievement for her family to be able to get Lin Feng out of high school.

Later, when Lin Hu became successful, suitors flocked to his door, and naturally, Lin Hu wouldn't let his older sister marry just anyone.

Lin Hu kept her with him when his family went to Beijing for the Chinese New Year. He hired a tutor to help her review and prepare for the exam.

Let her go to university so she can work for the company in the future.

If it weren't for Lin Hu, the time traveler, Lin Feng's life would probably have consisted of working for a few years, going home for arranged marriages, getting married, having two kids, and living a plain and uneventful life.

When one person attains enlightenment, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven; the Lin family has thus risen to prominence along with Lin Hu.

Lin Hu has transmigrated into this family, so taking care of his family is his duty.

However, he always thought about his real parents and wondered what way he could take care of them.

Lin Hu took his sister to a French restaurant in the neighborhood and invited her to have a Western meal.

"This is an aperitif, sis, please try it!"

"Let's eat together when Bingbing arrives."

"Let's start drinking; this meal will take several hours."

"Taking so long to eat?"

"That's the French way of doing things!"

Fan Binbin arrived shortly after, greeted Lin Feng warmly, and sat down next to Lin Hu.

The three of them were leisurely eating when Fan Binbin asked, "Did you meet with Director Zhang Yimou today?"

"Yes, he asked me to act in a movie."

"So, did you agree?"

"I guess that counts as an agreement—"

Lin Hu gave a brief explanation, and when Fan Binbin heard that he and Li Lianjie were receiving the same salary, he exclaimed in surprise, "Then your combined salaries must have reached 2000 million US dollars! This film has such a huge investment, doesn't it?"

"Where are there so many?"

"I saw in the newspaper that Jet Li has taken on the role in 'Kiss of the Dragon' for a salary of $950 million!"

"The newspapers are exaggerating; they say he got $500 million for that movie. Chinese-language films can't afford that kind of high salary. I estimate he didn't ask for more than 3000 million RMB."

The two were casually discussing something when Lin Feng was completely shocked.

Lin Hu and Fan Binbin were talking about tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan. Lin Feng knew her brother was rich, but she didn't realize he was this rich until today!