The more Xu Musen thought about it, the more he felt that this was a good idea.
First of all, the reason why the crew of "Black and White" decided to play the role of Zhou Yuanting was because of Tao Mu. The biggest reason is that he values the publicity channels in Tao Mu's hands. In other words, the promotional strategy of the movie "Black and White" in the mainland depends largely on Feixun.com. Secondly, "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" produced by Tao Mu just made a big splash at the Lingxiao Awards ceremony. The honeymoon period with the organizer Optoelectronics is not over yet. If Tao Mu could come forward to discuss the review of the movie "Black and White" for release in mainland China, I believe the big men in the optoelectronics department would definitely not have the current attitude.
The most important point is that Tao Mu's supervisory ability is great. It can accurately grasp the so-called "political correctness" required by the mainland while also taking ratings into consideration. This is exactly what the Hong Kong producers can never do.
In fact, the reason why Xu Musen strongly opposed Optoelectronics' rectification requirements. A big reason is that he has no idea how to revise the script. He was not clear about what the "political correctness" required by Optoelectronics meant. And this happens to be what Tao Mu is best at.
Although Tao Mu had never produced a movie before, his previous film "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" and the currently planned "Soldier King" are both main-theme military dramas. Xu Musen is now desperate and can only grab Tao Mu as a life-saving straw.
"…The premiere of Black and White in Hong Kong is scheduled for Christmas Eve. The release time is about one month to forty days. Our original plan was to release it in mainland China during the Chinese New Year in February after the film was released in Hong Kong. But now that it has not passed the optical and electronic review, we can't negotiate the release date with the mainland cinemas. If it is delayed any further, I am afraid that we will miss the Chinese New Year period."
In fact, it’s a bit late to talk about the Spring Festival schedule now. If the Black and White crew hadn't gathered so many big names from across Taiwan Straits and Hong Kong, each of them would be a guarantee of box office success. The theater distributors were too lazy to discuss the release date with the Black and White crew. Even so, mainland theaters gave the "Black and White" production team an ultimatum. If the crew of "Black and White" still cannot pass the optoelectronic review by December 24th at the latest, which is before the premiere of "Black and White" in Hong Kong, mainland theaters will have to give the February Spring Festival schedule to other movies.
"The 24th?" Tao Mu was shocked: "Today is the 13th, okay?"
"So!" Xu Musen was so anxious that his hair almost turned white. "I know time is tight. But we have no other options. Who knows how to change the script to satisfy those masters? Besides, even if we change the script, it will take time for us to reshoot and re-edit. How can we get it done in just ten days?"
In fact, according to Hong Kong's efficiency in making movies, it would take just over ten days to revise the script and reshoot the film. However, Xu Musen was always possessed by the thoughts of an artistic worker, and believed that he was a professional who could make movies. The film "Black and White" directed by him is very complete and has solid character arcs both in terms of the film's content and the depth of the characters. It cannot be simply described and defined using one-sided terms such as "good guy" or "bad guy".
The protagonist can do bad things as required by the plot. The villain can certainly be more skilled based on his role. Therefore, in Xu Musen's view, Guangdian's requirement of "villains must be brought to justice" is simply incomprehensible. These are words that only an amateur can say.
So Xu Musen complained a lot in front of Tao Mu, saying that he was too late for this and that, but most of them were excuses. To put it bluntly, Xu Musen just doesn't want to bow down to Optoelectronics. Of course, if we look into this in detail, it may involve the arm wrestling between Hong Kong filmmakers and mainland filmmakers. To take it a step further, it becomes a tacit debate about whether "art should serve politics" or "art has nothing to do with politics".
However, the facts have proved that Hong Kong filmmakers are definitely no match for optoelectronics when it comes to arm wrestling. The more intense the resistance and the longer the stalemate lasts, the ones who will suffer in the end will be the "Black and White" crew. This is how supply and demand determine everything - "Black and White" needs the mainland market to contribute to the box office, but the mainland market has no shortage of a movie like "Black and White" to fill the schedule.
Even without Zhang the butcher, we still won’t eat hairy pigs. This is the confidence that Optoelectronics has in blocking "Black and White".
Unfortunately, Xu Musen realized it too late. The relationship between the two sides has become very strained. If there is no capable person to mediate, I am afraid that even if the Hongcheng production company bows its head and remakes the movie, the optoelectronics department will not easily pass the review. By then, I'm afraid, as Tao Mu said, "Black and White" will miss the best time to be released in mainland China. The ones who will suffer in the end are the producers of "Black and White".
Taking this into consideration, Xu Musen must enlist Tao Mu's help.
With the memory of his previous life as a foundation, Tao Mu also knew that the "Black and White" crew had been arguing with Guangdian for a year, and finally couldn't stand it anymore and bowed their heads to admit their mistakes and change the script. However, due to missing the best release date, the film only earned 8 million yuan at the box office after its release.
At that time, Tao Mu was suppressed by Shen Yu's admirers, and was basically a rat crossing the street and everyone wanted to beat him. Also, because Xu Musen supported Shen Yu's decision to win the Golden Crow Award for Best Newcomer, his relationship with the "Black and White" crew was not good. When I learned about this, I didn't even have time to gloat, and of course I didn't feel sorry at all.
But your stance has changed in this life, and your perspective on things will naturally change as well. Tao Mu really thinks it would be a pity if "Black and White" could not be released in mainland China.
But as for changing the script——Tao Mu is not a professional screenwriter, of course he won't change the script. After much thought, I could only give my suggestions for revision based on the many film reviews I read in my previous life and my own ideas.
Speaking of which, the revised mainland re-release version of "Black and White" in the previous life was really weird. I don’t know what Xu Musen was thinking, he actually asked the screenwriter to change Zhou Yuanting into a white lotus - according to the requirements of Guangdian, the villain must be brought to justice. So after Xu Musen revised the script, it turned out that Zhou Yuanting suddenly felt guilty after seeing Yan Yu die after taking a bullet for him, and took the initiative to surrender to the police. He also volunteered to be a double agent for the police and ensnared the gang boss. In the end, both of them were imprisoned.
It can be imagined that when Tao Mu received the adapted script in his previous life, his inner feelings were more than just "WTF"; it was simply millions of "alpaca" whistling through his heart. Not to mention that the characters of Zhou Yuanting and the gang boss collapsed, the whole idea of the script was completely untenable. Compared with the ending of the classic Hong Kong version, the mainland revised version can only be described as "adding a poor imitation to a poorly written version".
After the mainland version passed review and was released, die-hard fans who had already watched the pirated discs of "Black and White" bought tickets to the cinema, and after watching the movie, they could only curse. I think the mainland remake of "Black and White" is a drop of a cliff, and the ending is like diabetic peristalsis. More and more netizens are posting complaints online. The crew of "Black and White" took the opportunity to put the blame on Optoelectronics. In fact, it is not a scapegoat. After all, the "Black and White" crew did modify the script according to the requirements of Optoelectronics. Optoelectronics was finally approved. The blame for turning a classic work into a shoddy comedy story should be borne by the government.
But Optoelectronics doesn't want to take the blame. And I think the production team of "Black and White" definitely did it on purpose. The two works were deliberately created with such a huge artistic gap in order to embarrass Guangdian. This is definitely a sign of having a rebellious mind and not standing at attention when beaten.
So for a long time afterwards, Guangdian disliked Xu Musen. Any film directed by Xu Musen would find it difficult to pass censorship in mainland China. And even if you pass the review with difficulty, you won’t be able to get a good schedule when the schedule comes. This situation continued for several years. Until the mainland film market developed, the Hong Kong film market completely declined.
To be honest, part of the reason why Xu Musen changed the remake of the script in that way was because he was really angry. I want to let the masters of the optoelectronics department see what the script is like after it is modified according to their review requirements. I want to slap someone in the face secretly. But apart from that, the fundamental reason is that Xu Musen simply doesn't understand the routines of optoelectronics, and doesn't understand how to achieve so-called political correctness.
If you ask a screenwriter from Xiangcheng who grew up and studied in Xiangcheng to revise a classic work that echoes the main theme of the mainland, the difficulty level is much greater than simply asking a screenwriter from Xiangcheng to create a classic work.
So Xu Musen was really screwed up, and he really didn't understand. The way things turned out in the end can’t be blamed entirely on Xu Musen and the screenwriter.
But Tao Mu is different. In his past and present lives, Tao Mu has read so many classic works that echo the main theme. To put it in a common saying, even if you have never seen a pig run, you have eaten pork. After personally supervising the production of a main-theme anti-Japanese war drama, and following a professional team of screenwriters to gradually enrich the script of a main-theme military drama, Tao Mu had some ideas about how to modify the script of "Black and White".
Considering the integrity of the script and the depth of the characters, Tao Mu felt that even if the villain had to be brought to justice in the end, it absolutely could not be a change that was difficult to complain about, such as "being reformed". Instead, we can make a fuss about the male protagonist played by Yan Sheng and the detail in the script that Zhou Yuanting slept with the boss's mistress.
"Can we modify it like this..." Tao Mu was silent for a moment, sorted out his thoughts, and said slowly: "Change it to Yan Sheng knowing that Zhou Yuanting had turned evil, in order to provoke the relationship between Zhou Yuanting and the boss, he deliberately revealed the news that Zhou Yuanting had slept with the eldest sister-in-law. The boss had a grudge against Zhou Yuanting, but relied on Zhou Yuanting's ability, so he did not take any action. But when he escaped, he planned to put all the charges on Zhou Yuanting's head. Let Zhou Yuanting be a scapegoat. Zhou Yuanting noticed the boss's calculations in advance, but did not expose them. Instead, he took advantage of the situation and prepared to trap the boss to death. As a result, the snipe and the clam quarreled, and the police led by Yan Sheng benefited. They caught the two villains in one fell swoop."
Tao Mu paused and said, "I'm not a professional screenwriter. I can only provide some ideas. The specific changes still depend on the screenwriter's opinions. If Director Xu is worried, I can also ask someone from my screenwriter team to help take a look. They are the screenwriters who modified the script of "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" before. Although anti-Japanese war dramas are different from police and gangster dramas, some core aspects should be common. Everyone can sit down and discuss slowly."
As long as he can come up with some ideas, he can take the revised script to Optoelectronics for review. Once the approval is given by the Photoelectric, the "Black and White" crew can immediately prepare for filming. You can also take advantage of the time difference and negotiate with the mainland theaters with the attitude of optoelectronics to finalize the release date first.
Xu Musen was so anxious and angry about the photoelectric block that he really had no idea what to do. Hearing Tao Mu's thoughtful suggestion, he was overjoyed. He didn't take advantage of Tao Mu, and said directly: "I'll listen to you. Come to Xiangcheng as soon as possible, and we'll first finalize your share of the film produced in the mainland. The rest of the things will be left to you to handle."
Tao Mu said: "These are all easy to handle. But there is one thing, when we hand over the script to Guangdian, we have to organize a dinner party..."
Tao Mu didn't say anything else, but Xu Musen understood what he meant. He immediately interjected: "You want me to host a banquet to apologize, right? Oh!"
Xu Musen sighed and said self-deprecatingly, "To be honest, I'm really overwhelmed right now. As long as the review issue can be resolved as soon as possible, and Black and White can be released in the mainland as scheduled, I will be willing to make amends even if I have to drink until I vomit blood."
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