Chapter 628 You are blind
While Cheng Kaige was recruiting people for the crew, news that Farewell My Concubine was about to be filmed had already spread throughout the Chinese film industry.
Written by Lin Weimin, directed by Cheng Kaige, with an investment of 8 million US dollars from Hong Kong and the United States...
Such a lineup can be called a king bomb in the Chinese film industry.
Even though Cheng Kaige has been overshadowed by Zhang Yimou in recent years, the fifth generation of directors is gradually entering their creative maturity. This group of people has become the mainstay of the Chinese film industry. As the leader of this generation of filmmakers, Cheng Kaige has long established his position.
The 8 million US dollars investment from Hong Kong and the United States set a record for films directed by mainland directors.
It was already scary enough that Xie Tieli spent tens of millions to shoot "Dream of Red Mansions". At a time when the investment of state-owned film studios was generally around one million, the investment scale of 8 million US dollars in a movie was a complete dimensionality reduction attack.
In addition to the director and the scale of investment, the most discussed issue is naturally "Farewell My Concubine" itself and the original author Lin Weimin.
Not to mention the influence of "Farewell My Concubine", Lin Weimin is a very special person in the domestic film industry.
To be more precise, he has always been somewhat distant from the domestic film industry.
For most domestic writers, once their works have achieved a certain influence, film studios or directors will come to them, and then the two parties will cooperate to shoot a movie to expand the influence of the work. This is a very normal operation in the literary and art circles.
Since Lin Weimin became famous, many film studios and directors have wanted to shoot his works, but they have never been successful. Only a Hong Kong company shot "The Lover".
But it is inaccurate to say that Lin Weimin has no involvement in the film industry at all.
Look at the films he has worked on in recent years, "The Lover", "Old Well", "Red Sorghum", "The Last Emperor"... These films have won major awards in the overseas film market.
Such an impressive record has established Lin Weimin's unique position in the Chinese film industry. Although he rarely appears in the film industry, every time his name appears in the film industry, it will cause a storm.
So many people in the film industry were very surprised when they heard that "Farewell My Concubine" was going to be adapted.
After all, Lin Weimin has been famous for so many years, but there are only a handful of film adaptations of his works.
At the same time, the news that the crew of "Farewell My Concubine" had begun to be prepared also attracted the attention of the media, which quickly followed up with reports.
This has caused a strong response not only in the film industry, but also in the literary world and among readers.
Ten years after its publication, "Farewell My Concubine" has finally been adapted into a film or TV series. Many book fans are ecstatic and are telling others that they can't wait for the movie to be released tomorrow.
In mid-April, Michael Phillips had been in China for nearly half a month. During this time, in addition to communicating with Xu Feng about the preparations for "Farewell My Concubine", he also supervised the filming of "Sunny Days".
That evening, Michael Phillips asked Lin Weimin out for dinner. He planned to fly back to the United States the next day and do some pre-promotion for "Farewell My Concubine" to build momentum for the film.
When Lin Weimin arrived at the place, he found that there was another person next to Michael Phillips.
Jiang Wen's face was filled with a flattering smile, "Teacher Lin, you haven't been to the crew to guide the work for a long time."
"With Mike here, there's no need for me to go."
Several people sat down, the dishes were served, and they ate and chatted.
Jiang Wen sat aside, with a conflicted look on his face, seeming to want to say something but stopping himself.
"Teacher Lin!" he called out.
"What's up?"
“Farewell My Concubine is going to be made into a movie.”
"yes."
"The character of Cheng Dieyi..."
Before he could finish his words, Lin Weimin interrupted him, "Don't let your imagination run wild. Don't you know what your image is?"
Jiang Wen was a little hurt. "Teacher Lin, you are wrong. What is an actor? An actor is like plasticine. We are the same shape as the character. I am confident that I can play the role of Cheng Dieyi well! Really, you have to believe me. Give me a Cheng Dieyi, and I will give you an actor."
Lin Weimin ignored Jiang Wen's words and looked at Michael Phillips, "Did he tell you about this?"
Michael Phillips nodded. "Yes."
"You're still bringing him here?"
Michael Phillips shrugged and spread his hands. "What can I do if he insists on coming with me?"
To translate Michael Phillips' words: This guy followed me here with a shameless face, it has nothing to do with me.
"Teacher Lin, Teacher Lin, please give me a chance!"
Jiang Wen looked humble, bent his body and held up a wine glass.
Lin Weimin was unmoved, "You are just blinding yourself. If you had just told me that you wanted to play Duan Xiaolou, I would have considered it."
"What's the point of Duan Xiaolou? If you want to act, you have to play Cheng Dieyi. Teacher Lin, you know that Cheng Dieyi has been my dream since I was a student. You can't break the dream of a young actor so rudely!"
Lin Weimin waved his hands impatiently, "Stop using sweet talk and moral blackmail! You'd better give up on this idea. Let me tell you this, even if we don't make this movie, we won't ask you to play Cheng Dieyi!"
Jiang Wen looked depressed, "You shouldn't do that!"
"That's true. Just focus on your movie and stop daydreaming about it."
"It won't delay anything. My movie will be finished in a few months, so I'll have time to shoot Farewell My Concubine."
Lin Weimin knew that Jiang Wen was a person who would only take advantage of others, so he simply ignored him. No matter what you said, he couldn't perform.
Leaving Jiang Wen aside, Lin Weimin and Michael Phillips continued chatting.
Michael Phillips also hesitantly told Lin Weimin a piece of news, "Lin, Steven may not direct "Life is Beautiful Anyway"."
Lin Weimin was not at all surprised by the news. Spielberg bought the copyright of "Life is Beautiful" in 1988, but there was no movement for four years. If he wanted to shoot the film, he should have started it long ago.
Seeing his expressionless face, Michael Phillips thought he was unhappy, so he took the initiative to explain: "It's not that Steven doesn't want to make this film, but some Jews in the United States have some opinions about your novel. World War II was an unprecedented disaster for the Jews. The novel "Life Is Beautiful Anyway" uses a comedic way to deconstruct this painful history, which many Jews cannot accept."
Lin Weimin nodded slightly. After "Life is Beautiful Anyway" was published in the United States, there were similar voices, and Roger Strauss even talked to Lin Weimin about it.
However, the literary circle is much more tolerant than the film circle. Despite some small uproar, it did not affect the sales of "Life is Beautiful Anyway".
Over the past half century, there have been many literary works in Europe and the United States that describe the suffering of the Jews during World War II, but the approach of "Life is Beautiful" is something that no one has tried before. Many people believe that the comedy in the novel is not a mockery or blasphemy of war and tragedy, but rather a kind of compassionate and open-minded attitude.
It is precisely because of this that this novel has a considerable number of fans in the literary circles and readership in Europe and the United States.
"The adaptation rights have been sold for four years now. I am mentally prepared. There is still one year left before the adaptation rights expire." Lin Weimin said with a relaxed expression.
The agreement signed that year stipulated that the adaptation director must be Spielberg, so Lin Weimin was not worried at all that Spielberg would sell the script midway.
Michael Phillips laughed when he heard this. Although it was a pity for Lin Weimin that the movie was not made, he earned 800,000 US dollars in copyright fees for nothing, so he did not suffer any loss.
After dinner, Lin Weimin said goodbye to Michael Phillips.
Jiang Wen stood beside the two of them, his face as bitter as a little Cui Ba, looking at Lin Weimin with eyes full of unwillingness.
Cheng Dieyi won’t let me play the role, you are so blind!
Michael Phillips left China and returned to the United States. Xu Feng and Cheng Kaige were busy preparing for "Farewell My Concubine", and Lin Weimin put his energy back into work.
That morning, Lin Weimin had just finished a meeting when he received a call from Lu Yao.
Since the completion of "Ordinary World", Lu Yao entered a long period of creative rest.
"The Ordinary World" overdrew a lot of his creative accumulation. Coupled with more than ten years of continuous writing, Lu Yao suffered from liver cirrhosis and has been recuperating in recent years.
During the period of recuperation, Lu Yao used her spare time to write the creative essay "Morning Starts at Noon" for "Ordinary World". Since last winter, it has been published in "Girlfriend" magazine, which is sponsored by the Shaanxi Women's Federation.
Yenching October Literature and Art Publishing House planned to publish a collection of the creative essay "Morning Starts at Noon", and Lu Yao specially called Lin Weimin and asked him to help write a preface.
Essays have never had high sales, and Guowen Publishing House has never thought of doing it. Lin Weimin readily agreed to Lu Yao's request.
After talking about the business, Lu Yao chatted with Lin Weimin about a recent gossip in the Shaanxi literary world.
The manuscript of "The Last Hun" by writer Gao Jianqun was lost. The novel had just been completed but before it could be published, he let critics borrow it for a sneak peek, but the manuscript was lost.
It is reasonable to say that it was lost on the way to the editorial department.
But he lost the manuscript after lending it to someone else, which was really frustrating, especially since the novel hasn't been published yet. I guess Gao Jianqun wanted to die.
Computers are very expensive nowadays, and there is a certain threshold for their use, so only a small number of writers are brave enough to try to use computers for writing, and most writers still mainly create by hand.
A novel has hundreds of thousands of words. After the author finishes it, almost no one is willing to spend the energy to copy it. No one would think that the manuscript lent to a friend could be lost.
Lu Yao spoke of this with a sense of satisfaction as a veteran. "It would be fine if it was just an ordinary short or medium-length story, but the novel I worked so hard to write was easily lent to someone before it was published. Now that the manuscript is lost, I can only rewrite it from memory. I'm afraid it will be very painful!"
"The Last Hun" is a long novel that Gao Jianqun spent nearly four years writing. Part of it was published in the literary magazine "Lijiang" in the form of a novella under the title "Classic Century, Classic Family, Classic Characters" during these two years, and has received praise from many literary critics and readers.
After listening to Lu Yao's gossip, Lin Weimin had an idea in his mind, "Do you have Gao Jianqun's contact information?"
Lu Yao immediately realized what Lin Weimin was going to do, "You want to poach people?"
(End of this chapter)
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