For a director who has won international awards, working as an assistant or associate director can be ostensibly justified as learning from Hollywood experience.
But Zhang Yimou is an impatient person, and seeing the truck director's dawdling manner made him anxious.
A set that could have been completed in three days took the director two weeks to finish, with constant revisions to meet his requirements. In the end, not a single shot was used.
This isn't the first or second time this has happened, and each time it drives Zhang Yimou to the brink of despair. He understands the principle of slow and steady wins the race, but spending so much time on something that isn't being used is just a waste of time.
He complained about these things when he met Xing Baohua, so Xing Baohua asked him if he still wanted to go back or do something in China.
Wong Kar-wai is slow enough, but truck drivers are even more insane. They're slow, yet they burn through cash so much that the production company doesn't even dare to cut their losses.
There's nothing we can do; they can guarantee box office revenue.
The aura of a certain "Brother" is indeed completely incompatible with this role played by the "General".
Imagine how much profit and fame this masterpiece will bring to Brother So-and-so! Even if he's just an assistant director and a junior director.
"I don't want to go back! Mr. Xing, I've been looking at scripts lately, and they recommended a book that I'd like to adapt. It's called 'Fuxi Fuxi,' and it tells a story of suppressed passion," said Brother Mou.
"Let's put the story aside for now. As I just said, I told you to go back and think about it carefully. You immediately gave me the answer without even thinking about it. It seems you don't care at all about the tuition I paid for you! Sending you to Hollywood is to let you see their business model, not only the filming techniques, but also how to commercialize a film."
Xing Baohua became angry as he spoke, and his voice gradually rose.
Zhang Yimou lowered his head and said in a low voice, "The director's job is just to make a good film."
"If I give you ten million, how are you going to conjure up a hundred million for me? Investment is about returns. What if you make a good film, but nobody watches it? Ten million goes down the drain? Who will invest in you in the future?"
“Once it’s filmed, people will watch it, and it might even win an award. I came here today hoping you could invest in my new film; I’m confident it will win an award.”
Upon hearing this, Xing Baohua was momentarily speechless. Was this the most successful commercial director of that year? Or was he the leading figure in commercial directing, having witnessed others sweeping the world box office?
"I won't invest in films that are going to win awards. I only invest in blockbuster films. I won't even glance at films with small budgets. Go back now!" With that, Xing Baohua stood up and turned to walk towards his study.
As he watched Xing Baohua's retreating figure, Brother Mou was speechless for a moment, his expression complex and profound.
In fact, he had already revised the script outline of the book he liked, and he came here this time to talk to Xing Baohua about it.
The film is titled directly after the female lead's name, Ju Dou.
Even if Xing Baohua knew about this film, he wouldn't have invested in it. Although it had won awards, the only advantage it gained was those few sex scenes, which foreigners were willing to watch.
At any film festival, if a film contains nudity, it will at least receive a participation award, or even a grand prize.
This film depicts a tragic family drama stemming from elements of SM, passion between the proprietress and the shop assistant, a cellar, sex, oxygen deprivation, suffocation, and patricide.
To be honest, Xing Baohua really looked down on this kind of film. He had originally thought that if Zhang Yimou came back, he would make a plan and, taking advantage of his newfound knowledge, create a commercial film with some hype and invest in it.
Anyway, he wanted to use this method to launder the money he couldn't spend.
Who knew, this child still wanted to work on art films.
You could lose money investing three million; this stuff wouldn't make much money even if you tried it overseas.
Only visually stunning films or those with compelling storylines can hope to succeed at the box office.
Therefore, directors of Zhang Yimou's generation have only art in their hearts.
It seems like another rich guy has emerged. He's been focusing on big-budget commercial films, but has never succeeded. I think he did succeed once, in a film called *Farewell My Concubine*, with his brother helping him get a role.
It even influences the level of the next generation of directors. That generation of directors all liked to make art films, and then they disappeared.
Using movies to make money was a practice employed by Hong Kong gangs in the past, earning legitimate income through box office revenue.
Besides real estate, Xing Baohua's only quick way to monetize his investments is through movies; technology investments are slower to generate returns.
Originally, Zhang Yimou was on a good path, but now he's being forced to hoard land.
Commercial housing prices are not going up these days, and we'll have to wait several more years, but hoarding land is still helpful. First, he wants to build a warehouse near the airport, which, together with his transport and logistics company, can form a complete commercial link.
Another point is to establish CBD business districts in major cities.
This is considered a big spender; it takes ten or twenty years to see a return on investment. Even though Xing Baohua has over 20 billion yuan, it's not enough to cover his expenses after visiting major cities.
The key is that money cannot be converted into cash quickly.
In the following days, Xing Baohua would visit AVIC whenever he had free time, and even signed several contracts, entrusting AVIC to help develop the main structure of the Minsheng satellite.
One hundred million US dollars also arrived in the account, which was the initial cost of developing the civilian star.
No matter how busy Xing Baohua is, she still has to take the medicine, but it's getting increasingly bitter. Perhaps it contains Coptis chinensis (a type of Chinese herbal medicine)? Maybe she added too much?
The medicine was not only bitter, but it also caused me to have diarrhea one or two more times than usual.
At first, Xing Baohua thought it was just an upset stomach, but it turned out to be due to the coptis chinensis.
That noon, Xing Baohua invited Xie Guangqing, the vice president of Poly, and several of his friends to have lunch together.
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