Chapter 193
The first communication about "The Great Warrior"
At seven o'clock in the evening, Ling Suisui and Pei Xuehai sat face to face in the restaurant.
Ling Sui has strong social skills, but Pei Xuehai is not the type to like small talk. So the two simply went past the opening remarks and launched into a discussion about the film project.
Pei Xuehai's new film is tentatively titled "The Great Hero Wuyou", and she is asked to play the female lead Wuyou.
This story takes place in an imaginary ancient time, and Wuyou's identity is a bit special. She grew up in a mountain. The elders in the mountain formed a hidden sect. They taught her martial arts and trained her to be the most powerful swordsman.
When she was hungry or thirsty, she would hunt and pick fruits in the mountains, and rivers and lakes could provide her with water. The master who adopted her had several houses that could shelter her from the wind and rain and provide her with a place to live.
As for the clothes and daily necessities, they were made from local materials in the mountains. Life in the mountains is similar to the "Peach Blossom Spring" described by Tao Yuanming, where there is only peace and tranquility, without worldly worries.
Ling Suisui pondered the name "Wuyou" and asked, "Can I understand that her worry-free nature comes from having no desires or requests?"
In this world, there are only two kinds of people who can achieve true worry-freeness. One is the omnipotent person who can achieve whatever he wants; the other is the person who wants nothing.
Pei Xuehai’s “worry-free” is obviously the latter. In the scripts he described, Wuyou is simple and beautiful, innocent and naive, and has a bit of a childish nature.
Ling Suisui raised an eyebrow and listened to what the director continued to say.
At the beginning of the story, Wuyou goes down the mountain with a sword on his back to look for his relatives. The sect elders said that her relatives were in the capital and seemed to be doing quite well.
But finding relatives is not that simple. Wuyou, who came from the mountains, was turned away by the wealthy families. Even when she showed her token, no one wanted to verify her identity.
The arrogant dignitaries certainly disdain to have anything to do with Wuyou. The sense of superiority of the "superior class" comes from their contempt for the common people.
However, when she was dealing with the trouble that came to her door, the situation took a sharp turn.
The dignitaries did not recognize Wuyou, but they recognized the sword in her hand - the sword was named Shaowei. Emperor Gaozu once gave this sword to Mr. Ouyang. It was another form of red-lettered iron certificate.
Mr. Ouyang met Emperor Gaozu when they were both poor, and they have been together for decades through thick and thin, never giving up no matter what difficulties and obstacles they faced. If we talk about the merits of following the dragon, Mr. Ouyang should be ranked first.
After the empire was settled, even though Emperor Gaozu tried to persuade him to stay, Mr. Ouyang, who had no children, retired to the mountains and forests and did not care about worldly affairs.
Although he is not in the court, his legend still exists in the court. Twenty years have passed, and Gaozu has become the late emperor. The dynasty today is no longer as prosperous as it was at the beginning of the nation, but Mr. Ouyang's reputation has risen to a higher level.
Now, a young girl came to the capital holding the Shaowei sword. She said that she was adopted and raised, and that the sword was given to her by her elders. How could this not cause a huge stir?
According to popular legend, Mr. Ouyang came from a Taoist sect, and his disciples in previous generations were all famous ministers. They have lived in seclusion for generations, and only after they have calculated the location of the true dragon will they come down the mountain to assist the destined person and create a new era of peace and prosperity.
When introducing this passage, Pei Xuehai's tone was rather teasing, Ling Suisui understood and also smiled.
Don't think that the ancients were all pedantic and old-fashioned. When our ancestors were trying to gild themselves, they were more daring than modern marketing methods. Director Pei is just restoring some of them.
Although Wuyou said that she did not know the name of her master and had never heard anyone mention Mr. Ouyang, and she came down the mountain just to find her relatives, but with the Shaowei Sword in her hand, the powerful people in the capital unanimously believed that she was the new generation of Xuanmen disciple who came to assist the wise monarch.
——The position of crown prince is still undecided at this time. Whichever prince wins Wuyou's support will undoubtedly gain huge political prestige.
Therefore, even if someone later discovered that the Shaowei sword in Wuyou's hand was most likely a replica, the several families tacitly joined forces to suppress the matter.
Whether the Shaowei Sword is real or fake, and whether Wuyou’s identity as a Xuanmen disciple is real or fake, what does it matter?
Pei Xuehai also mentioned a point. When the news that Wuyou was holding the Shaowei Sword leaked out, her relatives emerged like mushrooms after a rain.
In just two days, three families claimed that their own Young Master X and Master X were Wuyou's biological fathers. They couldn't wait to give Wuyou the surnames "Xie Wuyou", "Zhang Wuyou" and "Li Wuyou" to prove her bloodline.
"Wuyou has no surname." Pei Xuehai took a sip of tea and continued, "When I saw General Zhao, I was thinking that Li Sanniang has a surname but no name, while Wuyou has a name but no surname. Sanniang's surname is her shackles, and the powerful people in the capital also want to use the clan system as a cage for Wuyou."
This story begins with Wuyou's search for his relatives. The main plot is to narrate the arguments of the three families of Xie, Zhang, and Li about their relationship with Wuyou. Through this incident, it brings out the princes they each support and what forces are behind them. The intrigues in the court are hidden in Wuyou's daily life, and a fierce outbreak occurs in the middle and late stages.
At that time, the dynasty was facing internal and external troubles, including peasant uprisings and foreign invaders. Wuyou learned swordsmanship to kill enemies, but the world only cared about her empty reputation which left a question mark.
How ironic, how absurd.
From the framework of the script, Ling Suisui tasted strong conflicts and collisions. This film will have two values, Wuyou, who represents the "martial arts" background, and the Beijing dignitaries, who represent the "power struggle" background.
If the director was not Pei Xuehai, Ling Sui would think that he was ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth, as he dared to let these two elements collide in the same movie.
At present, this movie seems to have two layers of twists.
The first layer is before and after Wuyou's "identity was exposed". This kind of transition from being indifferent to me before to being out of my reach later is undoubtedly the highlight of a commercial film and a promotional tool for the sinking market. Watching the powerful people being arrogant at first and then respectful, accompanied by popcorn, can make the audience happy.
The second reversal is that it is difficult to tell whether the Shaowei Sword is real or fake, and Wuyou's identity is in doubt. From an artistic point of view, the subsequent reactions of the crowd completely exposed the hypocrisy of the feudal nobles. Their loyalty to the emperor was fake, and their patriotism was fake. They pushed Wuyou, who had no idea how to govern a country, to a high position and asked her to "assist the wise emperor" just to use her identity to seize power.
The name of the movie is "The Great Hero Wuyou", which sounds quite martial arts-themed, but the actual "martial arts" content is just like Wuyou's right to speak when facing the powerful, which is pitifully little.
Therefore, Wuyou's "Daxia" prefix is just an extremely ironic part of this movie.
Ling Sui still admires Pei Xuehai very much. The sharpness of young people may be worn away with the passage of time, but Director Pei is so old, yet his style is still so courageous and unstoppable.
However, she still has her own opinion on the film.
She asked Pei Xuehai: "You mentioned General Zhao just now. Can I assume that the character Li Sanniang that I played gave you some inspiration about Wuyou?"
"That's a factor." Pei Xuehai nodded, "They are somewhat similar, but also completely different."
Ling Suisui asked again: "I'm a little curious, why did you choose me to play Wuyou. Is it just because of my fighting skills?"
Pei Xuehai was keenly aware of the change in her tone, and now he was the one who was curious.
"You don't want to?" He asked back, "It sounds like your willingness is not very strong. I want to know your reasons."
Okay, Ling Sui shrugged.
She said frankly: "Of course I am willing and honored to be able to participate in Director Pei's work. I was just thinking that, considering the fit of the role alone, your conception of Wuyou is more suitable for interpretation by a newcomer who has never acted before. The kind of natural ignorance and restraint in an unfamiliar environment can be integrated into the role without acting."
Pei Xuehai understood what she meant. She felt that the role of Wuyou was not difficult.
He got straight to the point: "You want to add more drama?"
"You've only written the outline of the script, how can you say you're adding more scenes? Adjustments in the early stages of a script are common."
Ling Suisui said seriously, "Logically speaking, The Great Warrior is a work created by Director Pei, and a young man like me shouldn't interfere. But since you came to talk to me, it proves that you trust my ability. If I don't dare to give you advice, wouldn't that be looking down on your mind?"
"So, even though I am very nervous, in order not to disappoint you, I have no choice but to speak frankly."
Pei Xuehai: ...
Okay, okay, he actually forced her to say it? Young people nowadays are very good at smooth talking.
Okay, he wanted to hear what she had to say.
Ling Suisui: "I like your concept very much. The hero Wuyou is the image of a painting in my mind. Wuyou is a clear white paper, and the actions of the people around her towards her are the colors that fall on the paper, together forming an absurd, weird and ironic painting."
"However, when people evaluate the artistic value of a painting, they often do not consider the white paper on which the painting is presented, even though it is inseparable from the painting and no one can deny its existence."
Isn’t the significance of Wuyou to “The Great Hero Wuyou” just the paper used for drawing?
Pei Xuehai gave her the main narrative perspective and the center of the play, but did not give her any initiative.
In the eyes of the powerful, her opinion doesn't matter. In Director Pei's mind, there is also a lack of imagination about the motivations and actions of female characters when they become the protagonists. However, in the film industry where "female protagonists" are almost unheard of, the impact of this on his artistic achievements was almost zero.
Ling Sui-sui continued, "Thirty years ago, you made a film that exposed the dark side of the feudal dynasty. I was deeply impressed by Ms. Li's performance as a woman in a deep house. She completely deserved the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival."
"Thirty years later, a work that also uses 'sufferers' as the protagonist and satirizes feudal society was presented to me. It would be hypocritical to say that I don't want to act in it. I am not that indifferent to fame and fortune."
Pei Xuehai looked at her several times and felt a toothache.
Xia Tian's words are obviously mean, unlike Xiao Ling, who is allowed to say all the nice things and can even curse people in a roundabout way without any fault.
Some said he was trying to win an award, some said he had made no progress in the past thirty years...but he was still sitting there quietly, not glaring at her, which really lived up to what she had just said about him being "broad-minded".
Having said that, Ling Suisui simply made his intentions more obvious.
"Since whether Wuyou is a disciple of Xuanmen or not, and where Mr. Ouyang went, are the blank spaces you left for the audience to imagine in the film's narrative, why don't we strengthen this style and add another mystery to Wuyou?"
"In fact, I wanted to say this just now - if it was a naive girl, could she really master such a cruel swordsmanship with the purpose of killing people?"
Pei Xuehai did not answer, but looked directly into her eyes.
His attitude towards Ling Suisui changed several times. At first, he was just a newcomer with some talent in the entertainment industry, but he was not worthy of his attention at that time. Later, because of Xia Tian and Ying Nian, he became more and more familiar with this name and gradually developed an interest in it.
When "Zhao Jiang" was released, he thought she was a good actress worth training. He was willing to cooperate with her. Although he was the one who chose her, he had the capital and confidence to do so.
Until now, this momentary change of mood brought him new inspiration. He seemed to see Wuyou in a trance, appearing in front of him in another posture that he had never imagined before.
Wait, she is Wuyou, then he is... ?
Pei Xuehai temporarily suppressed the subtle feeling in his heart and said to her: "You want me to change the tone of the entire script."
Ling Suisui blinked and said, "The final presentation of many classic works is very different from the original idea. That's okay. Director Pei, we will create something different and wonderful."
Wow, you are so arrogant.
Pei Xuehai smiled. Although he didn't respond to her, he also tacitly agreed to the word "we".
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