stonecrandall Chapter 282: Emo
Chapter 282: Emo
In Mainland China, the most exciting thing in the entertainment industry in December is the release of "Hero".
Ever since Zhang Weiping stood up and started a verbal spat with "Xiuchundao" to attract traffic, "Hero" has been in the public eye. In the past few months, we have been constantly releasing news to the outside world to keep it exposed. For example, today the Bangguo distribution rights were sold for US$2 million, and tomorrow Neon sold another US$5 million. A week later, the European and American distribution rights were sold for another US$40 million. The sky-high price, constantly attracting the public's attention with news, has whetted the appetite of many people.
Especially many people who have already watched "Xiu Chun Dao" really want to know whether "Hero" is as good as "Xiu Chun Dao".
For investor Jiang Zhiqiang, he also made a lot of money. He invested US$30 million in "Hero", and the movie hasn't even been released yet, but he has already made it all back. Due to the good response from the market after "Xiu Chun Dao" was released overseas a few months ago, the price of Chinese martial arts and kung fu movies has also increased, so the price of the copyright of "Hero" has also increased.
However, unlike the last time he invested only 3 million US dollars in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", this time he invested 20 million US dollars. Therefore, he did not dare to gamble on the market box office anymore, but chose a safe way. Just sell all the distribution rights first.
Although the profit ratio is not as high as that of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", it is still a huge profit. If the copyright of the disc is included, he has made at least double this time, and he is smiling from ear to ear. Therefore, in China, he is willing to spend publicity money to build publicity for the movie.
To be honest, the lineup of director Lao Mouzi, Jet Li, Liang Chaowei, Maggie Cheung, Chen Daoming and other big names is still very appealing. In addition, the market has been developed by "Xiu Chun Dao", so "Hero" has also achieved Better results than the previous life, with a box office of more than 65 million in three days over the weekend.
Although this is not as good as the more than 80 million achieved by "Xiu Chun Dao", it is still more than 10 million higher than the 50 million achieved by "Hero" in the previous life during the same period.
It stands to reason that this result is already very good, and many people in the crew are also happy, but as the director, Lao Mouzi is not happy. Because after the movie was released, it was greeted with overwhelming criticism:
Take a look at these critical articles in newspapers:
"A sword to "Hero"!"
"Count down the five deadly sins of "Hero"!"
"Hero is only one step away from the bear!"
"The eyes are full, the ears are vomiting, and the mind is numb!"
“Why didn’t ‘Hero’ move the audience?”
"Letter to Director Zhang Yimou: You think of us too simply!"
As for how to scold him, they are really diverse and come from all angles.
Some say that he plagiarized his creativity, borrowing the narrative structure of "Rashomon", as well as the shadows of "Ran" and "Ashes of Time", deliberately imitating "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and the like;
Some accused him of being too servile, deliberately whitewashing the tyrant, flattering the ruling class, and advocating that power is the truth;
Some people are extremely disappointed with him, saying that "Hero" has completely lost the humanistic ideas of his previous films. The characters in the film are completely facialized and symbolic. The entire film is not literary, not commercial, and is completely artificial;
Some people also complained about the script and story of the movie. The plot of the entire movie is too thin and cannot support a movie at all, so they have to fill the time by adding passionate scenes between Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi;
Others criticized the story logic of the entire movie as being too weak. It was simply director Zhang Yimou's unilateral obscenity, which made the audience look like fools...
Even Maggie Cheung's answers to reporters' questions at the premiere were interpreted by reporters as dissatisfaction with the quality of the film. A few days ago, a reporter asked Zhang Manyu at the premiere at the Great Hall of the People:
"Everyone says that the movie "Hero" is a visual feast. How do you evaluate it?"
Zhang Manyu said with emotion: "I came to the Great Hall of the People today. It is so spectacular. I think the Great Hall of the People is a visual feast!"
Nowadays, some media directly make a fuss about Zhang Manyu's answer, saying that she would rather watch the decoration and layout of the Great Hall of the People for 90 minutes than watch her own filming of "Hero".
All in all, after this wave of comments, we finally came to the conclusion that "Heroes" is a bad movie with a luxurious lineup!
There was such a lot of output, but Lao Mouzi was scolded so hard that he had no ability to reply. He himself was not a eloquent person, and besides, he couldn't refute some people's scoldings.
This put Yimou into an emo state!
At this time, Zhang Weiping came over with a smile on his face. He was very satisfied with the results of "Hero". Why did he, Zhang Weiping, spend so much effort over the years to be bound to his "good brother" Zhang Yimou? Isn't it just to make money?
In the past, Zhang Yimou only made literary films, so he could only take the international route of selling copyrights through awards. But now that "Hero" has been released, the box office has reached 65 million in three days. According to this situation, even if it is not as good as "Xiu Chun Dao", the final box office must be more than 300 million, right?
And he saw how profitable the regional copyrights of "Heroes" were this time, and he was very greedy for the tens of millions of dollars earned by investor Jiang Zhiqiang!
Although he won't make much money with his new picture this time, he has his good brother Lao Mouzi, the old hen who lays golden eggs, and knows how to lay golden eggs. Are he still worried that he won't make any money in the future? This confirmed Zhang Weiping's idea that Lao Mouzi must be allowed to make martial arts commercial movies in the future!
Zhang Weiping saw Lao Mouzi reading a pile of newspapers, and guessed what he was thinking. He came directly to comfort him: "Mouzi, don't worry about these comments. What's the use of being scolded no matter how fierce they are? Our box office is not Going up?"
But that's not what Lao Mouzi thinks. He is the director of "Hero", and the movie is equivalent to his child. Now that a group of people outside are criticizing his child, how can he feel better?
Zhang Weiping rolled his eyes when he saw this, and said: "Mouzi, let's do this, I will hold a press conference with you tomorrow, and we will scold you one by one!"
Zhang Yimou felt a little better when he heard what Zhang Weiping said. He felt that his good brother still cared about him, but he said: "Weiping, forget it, let them scold me, I don't want to quarrel with them."
Zhang Weiping said quickly: "No, Mouzi, how can we just scold them? You have to fight back! Only when you scold back can you attract more people's attention, then the popularity of our "Hero" will definitely increase. , maybe the box office will exceed that of "Xiu Chun Knife"!
Zhang Yimou was stunned when he heard this. It turned out that the good brother was not doing justice for him, but for the box office!
Suddenly, Lao Mouzi felt a sense of disappointment in his heart. Then he showed a tired expression and waved his hand to Zhang Weiping: "I'm tired and want to take a good rest."
When Zhang Weiping heard this, he was also angry and said, "I gave you a chance but you didn't use it!" Forget it, I still have to come on stage. If you don’t scold me, I, Zhang Weiping, will scold you!
Zhang Weiping went back to find someone to prepare counterattacks and curses with, leaving Zhang Yimou alone in the room dejected. Was his "Hero" so bad?
At this moment, Lao Mouzi's cell phone rang. He picked it up and looked at the caller ID, then pressed the answer button. He only heard a friendly and hearty laughter coming from inside:
"Senior Brother Zhang, I went to see the screening of "Hero" in North America. It was very good! The composition and colors are amazing. You are worthy of Senior Brother Zhang. I still have something to learn from it!"
This time "Heroes" was not sold to Miramax, but to Sony Classics. Therefore, Sony Classics still adopted the same method as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" at the time to expand publicity while rushing for the Olympics. It has already promoted "Heroes" in North America. Hero" was screened.
Lao Mouzi waved his hands and lamented: "Don't say that, I am being scolded like a rat crossing the street, and everyone is shouting to beat me!"
Wu Yuchen understood what was going on as soon as he heard it. It seemed that Lao Mouzi had not escaped the same experience in his previous life. However, he still pretended not to know and asked, "What's going on?"
Lao Mouzi took advantage of the situation and began to confide in Wu Yuchen. After all, he and Wu Yuchen are both directors, and sometimes only the director can understand the director.
After hearing this, Wu Yuchen did not come up to comfort Lao Mouzi, but asked: "Brother Zhang, do you know why everyone has such a big reaction this time?"
"Why?" Lao Mouzi was also a little confused. In fact, it is not that no one has scolded him before, but it was as violent as "Hero" this time, which was beyond Lao Mouzi's expectation.
"Because of expectations!"
"Expectations? You mean...my transition to filming "Hero" this time does not match my previous style?" Lao Mouzi asked.
"This is one of them. But the more important point is that your movie does not meet the expectations of these pen-wielding men of letters!"
Wu Yuchen continued to smile and said: "Brother Zhang, a few months ago someone said that my "Xiu Chun Dao" was an anti-genre martial arts movie, but in fact, your "Hero" is actually more anti-martial arts at its core!"
Today is the period when Western universal values are spreading most vigorously in China, such as democracy, freedom, resistance, etc. These are the media people of this era who support these the most. And coincidentally, these can be perfectly reflected in the knights in martial arts movies.
The so-called chivalrous person uses force to break the ban. Many things that people usually dare not do can be satisfied through the fantasy of "xiaxia". Therefore, in terms of "Xia", he has always had a spirit of rebellion and resistance. Even Wu Yuchen's "Embroidered Spring Knife" actually reflects this point.
And what about "Hero"? The story of "Jing Ke's assassination of Qin" was originally the most representative story in history. The most tragic and tragic story throughout the ages lies in "knowing that it cannot be done but doing it". In the ending of "Heroes", the knight becomes a sacrificial hero and voluntarily gives up this spirit of resistance and rebellion. Therefore, in the eyes of many people, this violates the "chivalrous" spirit and loses the core of the "chivalrous" spirit.
After listening to this, Lao Mouzi also understood what Wu Yuchen meant and showed a wry smile: "Actually, it's not that I haven't considered this, but don't they say that a great hero serves the country and the people? In my heart, the true A great knight should have such a big picture of caring about the world, but I didn't expect that even Jin Yong would stand up and scold me after reading it, alas..."
When "Hero" premiered on Hong Kong Island, martial arts master Jin Yong was invited. As a result, he expressed his views in an interview two days ago:
""Hero" filmed the famous tyrant Qin Shihuang in history like this. It is completely opposite to the historical image. It deceives the audience and has the intention of exonerating him. It classifies people's value and disrespects life. It’s a ridiculous movie, so I don’t like it.”
Wu Yuchen said directly on the phone: "Brother Zhang, don't worry about Jin Yong's opinion. He has his own position."
It is said that the butt determines the head. In fact, many creators have their own opinions. For example, Zhang Yimou is from Jin, and he definitely prefers Qin Shihuang in his heart; and Jin Yong's ancestor was a bannerman, so he secretly slandered Zhu Yuanzhang at the end of "The Legend of Heaven and Sword of the Dragon", and also cleared up Kangxi in "The Deer and the Cauldron". This time It’s no surprise that I don’t like the glorification of Qin Shihuang in “Hero”.
Then Wu Yuchen said at this time: "Brother Zhang, actually you don't have to be sad. I believe that many people still like your movie, but many people don't have a voice. I think the response to "Hero" overseas is pretty good. .
And no one stipulates that knights must fight against the imperial court. This kind of hero with the world in mind is also a kind of knight. If you die for the sake of the world, you are a hero!
Brother Zhang, your movie is a bit ahead of its time. Now everyone respects Western universal values. When our country becomes stronger, everyone will be more confident in their Eastern collectivism and feelings of family and country. Ten years from now, I can guarantee that the reputation of "Hero" will be very different from what it is now! "
Hearing what Wu Yuchen said, Lao Mouzi felt a lot more comfortable, and then he said: "Hey, when I was filming "Hero", I actually designed another ending."
"Oh? What?" Wu Yuchen asked curiously.
"That is, after the officials shouted, 'King, kill! King, kill!', they laughed together, and added, 'Congratulations, king, you have escaped a disaster!', and then Chen Daoming, the Qin Shihuang, made a meaningful statement smile.”
Wu Yuchen immediately understood after hearing this, and the significance of this sentence was to turn the entire assassination into a satirical unsolved case, that is, the King of Qin was also deceiving, and his words "I didn't expect that the one who knew me best was actually my wanted assassin." Fake, he used his acting skills to gain the trust of several major assassins with his life.
Lao Mouzi chuckled and said, "If I come up with this ending, then the whole thing will be reversed again, and I guess I won't be accused of glorifying a tyrant by these people."
Wu Yuchen said directly: "Brother Zhang, fortunately you didn't shoot like this! If you did, then the movie would probably be criticized even more miserably. Not only does the unknown death lose any sense of tragedy, it becomes like a clown. Qin Shihuang has also become a treacherous person. This movie has no hero at all and has become a bear! Not only will these intellectuals not want to see you, but many viewers will also criticize you!"
Zhang Yimou also smiled and said: "Hahaha, so I thought about it for a while and didn't adopt this ending."
Wu Yuchen nodded: "Well, don't take these scoldings too seriously, just shoot what you think is right."
Later, Wu Yuchen and Lao Mouzi had a lot of chats about the filming techniques and various aspects of "Hero" before the two ended the transoceanic phone call.
Lao Mouzi suddenly felt much more relaxed, and sighed that Wu Yuchen, who was also the director, understood him!